ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • Publicis-Omnicom’s $35 billion merger terminated

    Publicis-Omnicom’s $35 billion merger terminated

    MUMBAI: Paris based Publicis Groupe and New York based Omnicom Group have decided to part ways. The duo through a press statement has jointly announced that they have terminated their proposed merger of equals by mutual agreement, in view of difficulties in completing the transaction within a reasonable timeframe. With this announcement the proposed $35 billion merger has come to an end.

     

    A statement released by Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group states, “The parties have released each other from all obligations with respect to the proposed transaction, and no termination fees will be payable by either party.”

     

    This decision was unanimously approved by the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe and the Board of Directors of Omnicom. In a joint statement, Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Lévy and Omnicom Group president and CEO John Wren stated, “The challenges that still remained to be overcome, in addition to the slow pace of progress, created a level of uncertainty detrimental to the interests of both groups and their employees, clients and shareholders. We have thus jointly decided to proceed along our independent paths. We, of course, remain competitors, but maintain a great respect for one another.”

     

    The announcement comes after the meeting of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe, chaired by Madame Elisabeth Badinter which was held on 8 May in order to decide on the action to be taken regarding the proposed merger of equals with Omnicom Group.

     

    The Supervisory Board examined the recommendation of the Management Board, which has unanimously voted to terminate the proposed merger of equals between Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group.

     

    Lévy in an earlier statement said, “The two groups each have a brilliant track record. This merger was always one of opportunity, not necessity. The teams at Publicis Groupe worked diligently to complete the merger, but, in view of the obstacles encountered, the execution risk continued to increase. The decision to discontinue the process was neither pleasant nor an easy one to make, but it was a necessary one. Prolonging the situation could have led to the diversion of the Group’s management from its principle function: to best serve our clients. Our paths diverge today with mutual respect. Publicis Groupe will continue to pursue and accelerate the implementation of its ambitious strategic plan for 2018. I am very confident in our ability to successfully see this through and to achieve all our goals.”

     

    The deal which came in the limelight in July, if worked out, would have created the world’s largest advertising holding company, impacting mostly the Chicago advertising market. The planned merger had called for a 50-50 ownership split of the equity in the new company, Publicis Omnicom Group, with Wren and Levy serving as co-CEOs for 30 months from the closing.

     

    According to an Ad Age report, the proposed Publicis-Omnicom merger would have created a company with a combined market cap of $37 billion and joint 2013 revenues of nearly $24 billion. Combined, the duo could have leapfrogged London-based WPP as the world’s largest advertising holding company.
     

    With the merger being called off, WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell can have a good laugh. Sorrell while talking to CNBC from China said, “I think this deal was driven by ego issues and emotional issues, I think both CEOs wanted to try and dislodge WPP from its number one perch and so it was emotional and egotistical. It was also a case of eyes being bigger than your tummy.”
     

  • Rajiv Lochan to lead all non-editorial operations of The Hindu and Group newspapers

    Rajiv Lochan to lead all non-editorial operations of The Hindu and Group newspapers

    NEW DELHI: The Hindu Group today announced that Rajiv C Lochan had been appointed as managing director and chief executive office of the group with effect from 1 June 2014.

     

    According to the Board of Directors decision announced by the newspaper today, he will lead all non-editorial operations of the company and will join the Board of Directors of Kasturi and Sons Limited (KSL), publishers of The Hindu and Group newspapers.

     

    KSL chairman N Ram and co-chairman N Murali said: “In this digital age when the Indian press, and specifically The Hindu newspaper group, faces radically new types of challenges and opportunities, when relevant and rich editorial content that continually engages a variety of readers and best editorial practices need to go hand in hand with a smart business strategy that thinks two steps ahead, operates with a progressive vision rooted in values, and balances its responsibilities of ensuring value to shareholders, a fair and just deal for employees, and sustained gains for readers, advertisers, and other partners in the business, we are confident that we have found the right person to head the non-editorial operations of the company.”

     

    They added: “Rajiv brings to his challenging role as MD & CEO of KSL dynamism and social awareness combined with a winning record as a professional who has led in driving performance and transforming the culture of large organisations in step with rapidly changing times. We are excited about this change at the helm of our business operations.”

     

    Lochan was a partner with McKinsey & Company and founding location manager of McKinsey’s practice in Chennai. His focus in McKinsey was to help leaders and leadership teams drive performance and cultural transformation of their organisations. In addition, he focused on the social sector, primarily rural economic development and financial inclusion.

     

    Lochan is currently the trustee of IKP Trust and will continue to devote time to public health issues in rural India. He graduated from IIT, Madras and has advanced degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia Business School.

  • KV Sridhar joins SapientNitro

    KV Sridhar joins SapientNitro

    MUMBAI: World is surely moving towards digital, maybe that’s why KV Sridhar (Pops) decided to join digital agency SapientNitro.

     

    Very excited to join this new breed of agency which is redefining storytelling, he wrote on his facebook page. He will join the agency as chief creative officer in India, starting 1 July.

     

    After spending 17 years in Leo Burnett, his exit left everyone shocked. A t the time of leaving the agency Pops had said, “It has been a purposeful journey for me at Leo Burnett, growing with and having a chance to play a key role in shaping the agency’s creative prowess. I have had the opportunity to work with and get to be friends with some of the brightest creative minds in the world, work on some of the most exciting campaigns, with some of the most amazing clients. I wish Saurabh Varma (CEO of the agency in India) and Leo Burnett great success.”

     

    His current move has left everyone surprised as well. On his appointment, he said, “I am excited about joining SapientNitro, it allows me to connect with the new generation. This is something completely future facing, there are very few senior guys actually embracing new media today.”

     

    Leo Burnett recently replaced Pops with BBDO’s RajDeepak Das, who will head the agency’s creative function across India.

     

    SapientNitro, part of Sapient, is a USA-based agency with interests in what it calls integrated, omni-channel commerce. The agency has offices in 31 cities spread across The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

     

    Globally, the agency has over 1,000 clients including names such as Chrysler, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Lufthansa, Target and Vodafone.

  • Digital Quotient appoints new sales head

    Digital Quotient appoints new sales head

    MUMBAI: The data driven social & mobile marketing firm, Digital Quotient, has announced the addition of Bhaskar Singh to its team.

     

    The move is in line with Digital Quotient’s aggressive move into arena of data analytics and audience marketing to provide holistic solutions to its wide customer base. Singh joins the agency as sales head for their audience marketing platform.

     

    At his current role, Singh will be heading nationwide sales strategy and revenue generation for Digital Quotient with a focus on business development, establishing contacts and creating growth opportunities.

     

    Digital Quotient digital marketing head Santosh Kumar said, “We are committed to bringing the best practices and values from the industry through creativity, technology and analytics. Our Audience Marketing platform is a key division that helps our clients to reach right target audience by mapping intent, behavior and relevance and provide effective insights in digital media buying. Mr. Singh brings sound knowledge and experience of selling digital solutions to clients which will add more value to our vision and growth.”

     

    Prior to joining Digital Quotient, Singh worked with Tribal Fusion, now known as Exponential as the interim national sales director where he was responsible for heading & managing national advertising sales. He also handled online sales for leading regional news media group Malayala Manorama, and has also worked with Infomedia India.

     

     “I am looking forward to this great opportunity of working with Digital Quotient. The energy and passion of the team here is infectious and I confident that together we will be able to deliver the best solutions to clients nationwide,” commented Singh.”

  • Global Advertisers expands its reach

    Global Advertisers expands its reach

    MUMBAI: With office premises shifting from south Mumbai to the city’s western suburb and rehabilitation of slums going on full swing, the Virar region in Thane district has emerged as a preferred destination for business expansion plans of MNCs, national companies and SME business players.

     

     

    Growing opportunities, rapid improvement on connectivity, affordability of real estate prices and infrastructure: the demand of promotional campaigns have increased tremendously in this region. Most of the brands have opened their outlets there and looking for best advertising solution to create awareness amongst Mumbaikars.

     

     

    Seeing these lucrative prospects, Global Advertisers has expanded its portfolio with two beautiful sites in Virar.  “We have always brought new advertising avenues for our clients, suiting to their product and budget.  Virar is growing in terms of population, rail and roadways connectivity have further strengthened this region. These two factors combined together have paved way for a steady economic and industrial growth of Virar. Our news sites of 40X40 are located on the highway and with such a great size, we are expecting to reach out to thousands of potential customers everyday,” said Global Advertisers MD Sanjeev Gupta.

     

     

    Presently, more than 1.2 million residents stay in Vasai –Virar region making it fifth largest city in Maharashtra.

  • 4 out of 10 manifestoes talk about child rights, says CRY

    4 out of 10 manifestoes talk about child rights, says CRY

    KOLKATA: After launching its nation-wide campaign ‘Vote for Child Rights’ election advocacy campaign in November last year, the Child Rights and You (CRY) has again attempted to look at the political parties’ manifestos from child rights perspective.

     

    CRY which had launched the campaign in all major metro cities now aims to see whether political parties have given enough importance to issues related to children in promises made for the next five year.

     

    Manifestos of 10 parties viz INC, BJP, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M), SP, AIADMK, DMK and JDS were looked at from the framework of children’s Right to Survival, Development, Protection and Participation.

     

    Some of the key quantitative findings say that only four parties out of 10 – BJP, CPI, DMK and CPI(M) have mentioned children/child rights issues in a separate section. While for rest of the parties it is mentioned in a scattered way mostly under headers like ‘Education’ and ‘Health’.

     

    Average representation of content on children’s issues in 2014 party manifesto is around 11 per cent while in 2009 it was 9.75 per cent. “There is a marginal increase seen as far as quantitative representation is concerned,” the official added.

     

    It further reveals that none of the party talks about the societal role and steps that need to be taken to ensure that children have their right to live, develop, and build their capabilities and interests. Also, none of the parties has looked at all/ different perspectives of child rights/ children’s lives.

     

    CRY would love to ensure that political parties and people in power take heed to ‘Putting Children First’ always among other agendas and give top priority to children’s issues and commit to changing the situation of children in our country.

     

    The manifesto was based on CRY’s in-depth analytical report ‘Status and Trends in Child Rights in India-An overview of the Past Decade’, and covers the aspirations of children across the country. The report comprised of views of development thinkers and practitioners in the Child Rights arena and provides a detailed analysis of child rights indicators.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, CRY (East) regional director Atindra Nath Das, said, “Vote for Child Rights campaign is our way of ensuring that there is political will behind our justified demand to protect Child Rights. It is imperative that the best interest of the child be put at the centre of all policies, legislations and practices, and the Vote for Child Rights campaign focuses on that solely.”

     

     “This is our attempt to remind politicians and governments in power that it is their obligation to undertake all measures in protecting and promoting child rights,” Das concluded.

  • Global Advertisers rolls out campaign for Adlabs Imagica

    Global Advertisers rolls out campaign for Adlabs Imagica

    MUMBAI: Global Advertisers has rolled out dynamic outdoor campaign for Adlabs Imagica by engaging large size and panoramic hoardings across Mumbai.

     

    Being launched in the summer holiday season, the ad campaign has promoted the park as the perfect destination for families and youngsters.  Keeping its core target audience in mind, Global Advertisers’s team judiciously selected the hoardings in prominent areas of Mumbai such as Bandra, Andheri, Vasai, Dahisar and many more.

     

    Global Advertisers MD Sanjeev Gupta said, “In this scorching heat, most of the Mumbaikars are exploring new ways to beat the heat and enjoy the family holiday season. Our outdoor campaign has certainly generated buzz for Adlabs Imagica in the city by reaching out to the maximum number of potential visitors. The media planning and sales team have executed the campaign with mix of high impact hoardings which has provided phenomenal coverage to the campaign and successfully generated curiosity and interest amongst consumers.”

     

    Adlabs Imagica aims to make its summer celebration even more special and memorable with 26 themed rides and attractions for the young and the old, including the five new kiddie rides this summer.