ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • Indian brands are still discovering the true power of digital video

    Indian brands are still discovering the true power of digital video

    MUMBAI: While social media is an important ingredient of the digital mix of most Indian brands today, many aspects like video are nowhere close to realising their fullest potential.

    Indiantelevision.com speaks to Famebox Network director Dhruvank Vaidya about this, the increasing popularity of original web content, and the latest reality show ‘Beauty and the Blogger’ that the company is working on.

    How far has video on social media evolved?

    It started with professional content (film and TV) being edited and uploaded on YouTube.  Lately, we are seeing high quality ‘made for the web’ content that is garnering a lot of viewership. More recently, Famebox is breaking new ground with its web reality shows. Thus, innovations in programming formats are drawing newer audiences and advertisers to this medium.

    What are the key elements in making videos shareable on social media?

    The most important is element of surprise.  If you see something unexpected in the video, you are more likely to share it.  Of course, what gets shared on Facebook is very different from what users on WhatsApp choose to share.

    In your opinion, how are Indian brands using video in their digital media mix?

    Indian brands are still discovering the true power of digital video. Most have been using their existing TVCs and uploading them.  Some create a video series (which again looks like a set of TV commercials) and upload it on their YouTube channel but that’s it.  What digital needs is engaging content and constant interactions with your target group. So, it is a lot more than just making videos and uploading them on your YouTube channel.  Having said this, some brands, especially in the fashion category, are using the medium very well.

    Which are the brand categories that are betting high on videos on social media?

    The categories which will benefit the most from digital videos are the ones whose target audience is not very easily available on TV.  Youth is a great example.  They are always on the web, checking social media, watching videos etc.  And brands need to create highly entertaining content to engage with them.  Fashion, lifestyle, consumer goods, phones/ telecom/ technology etc. are all doing a lot on this medium.

    Are broadcasters (channels) collaborating with your network?

    The biggest testimonial to the value that broadcasters see in networks like ours is the recent acquisition of Maker Studios by Disney for US$ 500 million.  Maker, as you know, is a digital video driven multi-channel network.

    ‘Virality’ is a term associated with videos on social media. What according to you makes a video go viral?

    While there are several elements which contribute to making a video popular – content type, editing, how well it is distributed, how many likes/ comments/ shares it gets etc. there is no way to tell which of these will make the video go viral.

    Which are the most popular video topics on web these days?

    While comedy has been getting a lot of press, there is a lot of user-generated content on cooking, fashion, lifestyle, education etc.  Famebox is a pioneer in web reality shows and we have seen a lot of viewership for our show, WebChef.

    Please tell us more about your latest web show ‘Beauty and the Blogger’.

    Fashion and beauty is a highly engaging category and has made a major impact on social media. ‘Beauty and the Blogger’ is built to leverage the high interactivity provided by social media and the excitement provided by a reality show.  The models bring in the glamour while the bloggers provide social media buzz.  This format truly leverages the power of the web and its ability to entertain as well as engage its audiences in real time.

    The reality show will feature eight shortlisted fashion models and the country’s top bloggers who team up for a unique multi-round contest. The show will be initiated through a three-day ground event at an exclusive resort. While the teams will compete against each other, they will also be buzzing on social media in real time.  This is a first for Indian audiences where the on-ground action of a reality show is brought live to audiences via social media.  The event will then be uploaded on the FameBox fashion channel on YouTube and will be available to viewers at large to watch. The winners will be chosen basis their performance in the on-ground event and the social media buzz and influence that they generate.

  • Mindshare launches The Loop, makes adaptive marketing a reality

    Mindshare launches The Loop, makes adaptive marketing a reality

    MUMBAI: Mindshare, the global media agency network, has launched The Loop – a data infused ‘war room’ aimed at helping the agency’s clients to make collaborative and adaptive decisions and across their paid, owned and earned marketing in real-time.

     

    The Loop, a physical room and also a cultural change in working practice, is already operational across five offices in the US. India is the first market outside the US to have a fully functional Loop Room in Gurgaon. A second Loop Room will be up and running in Singapore next week followed closely by Mumbai in June. By the end of June 2014, The Loop will be active in close to 15 markets globally.

     

    Mindshare Asia-Pacific chief operating officer R Gowthaman said, “The Loop Room is not just another technological interface, but a way of life for all of us in Mindshare. As our client’s lead business partner, we take pride in being their marketing spine and The Loop Room effectively breaks down all silos and brings all the key stakeholders into one single room – creative, media, social, digital, content and production. The Loop enables real time tracking of the impact of paid media online; how the paid media works with other marketing assets of the brand thereby seamlessly linking Paid, Owned and Earned media on a single canvas. We have been extremely fortunate to have Pepsico’s support in making the Loop a reality. And as we expand the presence of The Loop Room in more offices, we believe we will be positively influencing the industry to look at Marketing Communications in a whole new way”

     

    The Loop includes multiple screens monitoring data from over 100 sources in real-time. Data partners are defined on a market by market, and on a client-by-client basis. The first tool of its kind to impact not only earned and owned, but importantly paid media, The Loop enables clients not only to plan more adaptively and to benefit from more collaborative and adaptive decision making powered by data, but it also enables the shift of media spend quickly to leverage opportunities uncovered by real time data during campaigns – a holistic process Mindshare calls Adaptive Marketing.

     

    By focusing on paid media, which drives owned and earned media, and by bringing together every discipline and stakeholder into a collaborative decision making process, The Loop delivers a core part of the modern marketing arsenal, without which clients can be out of step with today’s fast paced consumer lifestyle.

     

    The Loop has two modes – ‘strategy’ and ‘campaign’. In ‘strategy mode’, The Loop enables collaborative and adaptive decision making through the mixing of fast and slow data across a spectrum of different disciplines, including business planning, strategy, creative and communications planning, and across client agency networks.  In ‘campaign mode’, Mindshare takes third party data feeds and tools and combines them with industry leading proprietary media spend, performance tracking and intelligence systems, to provide instantly actionable insight that can be executed in real time across paid media.

  • ABP creates a big bang on outdoors

    ABP creates a big bang on outdoors

    MUMBAI: With elections season buzzing in, ABP News rolled out an extensive nationwide outdoor campaign.  The mastermind behind this campaign was Milestone Brandcom.

     

    The idea behind this campaign was around “Aap apni rajneetik rai kahan banate hain.” The outdoor touch points involved spots such as tea stalls, tiffin delivery boxes, public benches and mobile vans to reach out to the common man across cities.

     

    Launched on 1 April, the campaign lasted a month and was specifically tailored to different regions in the country for maximum impact.

     

    The brief given to agency was to urge common people to not form their opinions on politics and politicians while discussing them with each other. Instead, created a campaign message to watch the channel for comprehensive reportage of the most crucial elections. The campaign was designed keeping in mind the congregational places where all strata of society across regions, cultures and dialects meet.

     

    Milestone launched a full-fledged outdoor campaign in Delhi NCR, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Kolkata where over 1000 sites were put up covering five lakh sq ft making it one of the most visible campaigns this year. The site locations covered strategic spaces with heavy footfalls such as major junctions, railway stations, office complexes, food courts etc where people would normally group and chat about politics.

     

    Stickers and ply-cards were put up on benches asking them not to form political opinion while discussing politics on their morning jogs and to make an informed choice after watching ABP News. This exercise covered the Lodhi Garden in Delhi, Jogger Park in Mumbai, Raja Park in Agra and Dr Ram Mohan Lohia Park in Lucknow. Railway announcements were carried out in Uttar Pradesh which is the largest state for the elections. The state also saw mobile vans driving across 150 towns educating and informing the masses, posters were put up at various grocery, barber shops, tea stalls etc purporting them to watch ABP News.

     

    In Mumbai, Milestone targeted the office goers by placing leaflets with the message “Don’t talk while having food and don’t make political opinion while having food” inserted in lunch boxes delivered by Dabbawallas. To capture the youth and urban class, the activation was extended to Café Coffee Day and McDonalds outlets where tent cards and posters featured the message. 

     

    Over 200 outlets across the five markets were covered with this activity. Skits were performed in the canteens of colleges, food courts, Dhaabas and Tea Stalls with the objective to create awareness about the TVC of ABP News at ground level.  The skits discussed elections and the responsibility of every citizen to choose the right candidate for betterment of the nation.

     

    Milestone tied-up with around 15000 tea stalls in around 200 cities in UP, Mumbai and Delhi where Danglers and posters were put up asserting the campaign and not to form political opinion while drinking tea. Around 25 lakh tea cups branded with the same message were distributed at these stalls. This was an attempt to cover the highly promoted concept of politicians having chai with the public during these elections. On 16th May ’14, T3 terminal at Delhi airport will air ABP News covering the election results for all travellers so they can catch every event of the landmarked day.

     

    According to MCCS, marketing manager Vikas Singh said, “ABP News Campaign asks its viewers ‘Aap apni rajneetik rai kahan banate hain’. The on ground activation is a tactical intervention to capitalize on the current election frenzy bringing alive the core message of “apni rajneetik rai sahi jagah banayee”. Chai seems to have taken centre stage this election and we have attempted a serious take on this. The humble tea stall frequently sees animated political discussions and hence we identified it as key pillar for the activation idea.”

     

    Milestone Brandcom MD Nabendu Bhattacharyya, said “This was a very significant project for us as we are amidst the biggest political event of our country and ABP News is a prestigious media house known for its honest and comprehensive coverage of news. We have utilised all media resources to create an expansive campaign to reach out to people across barriers and have used some very unconventional tools to do so such as setting up tea stalls and inserting leaflets in tiffins delivered by Dabbawallas. The campaign has already started showing results and has been appreciated by the target group and is another feather in the cap for Milestone Brandcom”

  • Lowe Lintas & Partners re-launches digital division as ‘LinTeractive’

    Lowe Lintas & Partners re-launches digital division as ‘LinTeractive’

    MUMBAI: After partnering with IPG’s full-service digital agency Interactive Avenues last year, Lowe Lintas & Partners is taking the association to the next level and re-launching its digital division, ‘LinTeractive’.

     

    While ‘LinTeractive’ will offer services and solutions to clients across digital platforms, what will set it apart will be its focus on brand strategy and creative throughput that will form the core of its digital strategy. The end offerings will be delivered seamlessly across multiple platforms by teams of domain specialists comprising strategists, technologists and creators.

     

    The full-service digital entity will be helmed by Lowe Lintas & Partners CMO Vikas Mehta, who has been entrusted with an additional responsibility of heading ‘LinTeractive’.

     

    Announcing the launch and sharing his vision for ‘LinTeractive’, Lowe Lintas & Partners CEO Joseph George said: “The relaunch marks Lowe Lintas & Partners’ broader vision of strengthening its group offerings and our proven ability to deliver in-market success for our clients. ‘LinTeractive’ will work closely with brand teams and Interactive Avenues in conceiving and executing ideas that consumers want to belong to and get involved with.”

     

     ‘LinTeractive’ will be managed as a part of the group Lowe Lintas & Partners India, working closely with their advertising counterparts at Lowe Lintas. According to the agency, there is a clear attempt to mainline the digital offering and approach it as an integrated offering.

     

    Outlining the agenda for ‘LinTeractive’ in India, Mehta said: “With ‘LinTeractive’, we are making a decisive move towards mainlining digital and embedding it into the core of all our offerings including advertising, PR, activation, brand consulting and so on. We believe that digital disciplines have become too crucial to brand success to be treated like a specialist-only function.”

     

     ‘LinTeractive’ will add a layer of brand and consumer engagement expertise on top of the usual capabilities offered by most digital agencies including search, social, web|mobile, technical development, analytics, campaign activation and digital media.

     

    The new division will work with existing clients of Lowe Lintas & Partners on digital integration as well as with independent clients as a full-service digital agency. Interactive Avenues would continue to partner ‘LinTeractive’ for execution in areas like SEO, SEM, technical development, and online media planning and buying.

     

    ‘LinTeractive’ would function with offices in Mumbai and Delhi with plans to open the Bangalore arm soon.

  • Election Campaigns: How they boosted OOH sector

    Election Campaigns: How they boosted OOH sector

    Since the 2014 elections is being touted to be one of the toughest elections of all time, parties are more than willing to dig deep into their pockets and spend on advertising…especially outdoor since their vote bank lies within the masses on the street of not just the metros but also the tier II, III, IV markets. Therefore, outdoor has become massively important for them. It’s much more rigorous this time.

     

    Election season has given a boost to outdoor advertising industry by more than 30 per cent. Understand, unlike television and print which also exude national presence, the power of outdoor lies in its local behaviour. It helps put up a larger than life picture wherein literacy is not a heavy requirement. You can easily look at the picture and understand the message. As a result outdoor has become a very significant medium for the parties to reach out to the masses who stay in the hinterlands of this country. They are their vote banks, most of whom who may not even have a television at home to watch an ad or are not literate enough to read the paper. It’s outdoor that helps the candidates and parties to reach out to such regions. Now talk of metros like Mumbai, where time is limited and people do not have the leisure to watch TV and read papers, since people are constantly on the run and outdoor helps capture their attention in a very big way. Outdoor inventories  such as hoardings, transit medium, street furniture, mobile vans, railway media all can be placed at strategic locations and just cannot go unnoticed by the target viewer. In a city like Mumbai where consumers are constantly travelling, hoardings play an exponential role in capturing their attention.

     

    The government has estimated a 4.9 per cent rise in economic growth this financial year, against a decade-low of 4.5 per cent last year. Parties have majorly used larger than life hoardings without much innovation in a bid to keep their campaign language simple and direct. National political parties such as Congress, BJP, NCP and the latest entrant in the political game Aam Admai Party (AAP) have also rolled out an outdoor campaign to woo voters pan India. Outdoor has come up as an effective mass communication tool for targeting people on the go as soon as they step out from their home.  This has given rise to the demand of outdoor inventories on big scale especially large size hoardings. Taking the professional approach, these parties have engaged highly lit, strategically located, clutter free hoardings along with bus media.

     

    Interestingly, political parties have also raised ad spend on OOH medium to cater to large number of diverse voters. Focused on innovation, diverse range of outdoor inventory and tactical media planning have brought national political parties closer to outdoor medium.

     

    Digital Marketing and OOH: Combination used?

     

    These political campaigns came up with single objective to influence the decision of voters. Therefore, the demand of quality outdoor products coupled with highest reach gained popularity amongst parties.

     

    Parties used combination of digital and outdoor campaigns for various political promotional events such as rallies, public appearance of prime ministerial and Lok Sabha seat candidate in every constituency, awareness campaign of party’s agenda and promises to the voters and many more.

     

     This year we have noticed many new trends such as advertising via mobile vans, LED, huge display screen at traffic junctions, public announcements, heavy advertising on railway and bus stations etc. A lot of BTL activities are also planned around the city like Narendra Modi T-shirts, Arvind Kejriwal’s Cap and Rahul Gandhi’s Mask to list a few.

     

     What after election?

     

    The elections this year is expected to boost the ad revenues across sectors in double digits. And this boost will help sustain even the OOH industry for the rest of the year. It is only an addition to the already existing and growing business of OOH as a whole. So, we do not think that there should be any coping issues. There will be business as usual. Elections are a once in a five year phenomenon. We do not depend on elections alone, therefore…right?! The elections will get over in a few days. And April-May are the best advertising months. Its summers…and holiday season for schools too. So, a lot of advertising happens across the summer FMCG brands, tourism and education too.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Global Advertisers MD Sanjeev Gupta and indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to these views)

  • ‘Half Stories – The Journey of Doing Right’

    ‘Half Stories – The Journey of Doing Right’

    MUMBAI: Digital L&K Saatchi & Saatchi crafted an online campaign ‘Half Stories – The Journey of Doing Right’ for Tata Capital. The campaign aimed at connecting ordinary people with simple stories and needs to other people, and gave them the opportunity to script a happier end together.

     

    The 24×7 live online campaign has unfinished stories that would draw people’s attention due to its incomplete nature and gave them an opportunity to complete the stories through online monetary contributions or through social sharing.

     

    The Do Righter- Pankaj Trivedi undertook a 2000km bike ride across India to find and film everyday stories of everyday people living in the remotest parts of the country. These films with suggested solutions were made into webisodes that were uploaded on a dedicated website and promoted using social media, blogs and PR. The site also has a payment gateway for online donations

     

    Digital L&K Saatchi & Saatchi won the Award of Excellence (Gold) in the Integrated Campaign – Social Responsibility category at the 20th Annual Communicator Awards for Tata Capital’s ‘Half Stories – The Journey Of Doing Right.’

     

    Commenting on the campaign Anil K. Nair, CEO (Digital) & Managing Partner, Digital L&K Saatchi & Saatchi said This Campaign has been an amazing experience. It actually leverages social media for social change and proves that business can work for social good too. It was a mammoth journey across Northern India with the campaign serendipitously unfolding every day. It was actually ‘Live Creativity’ at work.”

     

    Veetika Deoras, Head Brand Marketing, Corporate Communication and Digital Vertical, Tata Capital said “The ‘Do Right’ initiative is a key initiative for Tata Capital and our aim through the initiative is to help propagate the philosophy of ‘doing right’ by inspiring people to do right, provide platforms to doing right and doing right ourselves.”

     

    Tata Capital has also launched a website www.doright.in, which will act as the main platform for all the initiatives under the ‘Do Right’ campaign.

     

  • GroupM appoints Steve Williams as Maxus North America CEO

    GroupM appoints Steve Williams as Maxus North America CEO

    MUMBAI: Maxus has appointed Steve Williams as chief executive officer North America. The announcement was made by Maxus Global CEO Vikram Sakhuja. Williams will be based in New York and he will join Maxus on 1 June. He will report to Sakhuja and to GroupM North America CEO Kelly Clark.

     

    Williams is currently president of PHD New York, a position he has held for the last two years. He was previously CEO of OMD Group in the UK, where he led a team of 550 professionals.

     

    “Steve has a great reputation as a leader and a client partner,” said Sakhuja. “He has a terrific track record of success in both the UK and the US, and he is a perfect fit for the ambitious Maxus culture.”

     

    “We are confident that Steve will help us take Maxus to a new level,” said Clark. “I know from competing against Steve that he can be a very potent force, so I’m delighted he’s now on our team.”

     “I am excited to be joining Maxus and GroupM. I am thankful for the incredible journey with Omnicom Media Group, but I’m now looking forward to a new journey with Maxus, who are uniquely positioned to grow locally and globally. I love the team’s energy and ambition,” mentioned Williams.