ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • SES appoints Vishal Mathur as senior sales director – Asia

    SES appoints Vishal Mathur as senior sales director – Asia

    MUMBAI: Satellite operator SES Asia has roped in Vishal Mathur as senior sales director. Mathur brings with him almost 20 years of experience in the satellite and broadcasting industry in the region.

    He will be tasked with implementing the company’s regional sales strategy to support the growth of the company’s fixed data, mobility and video customers, and developing strong customer relationships in the South Asian markets.

    Mathur has led the sales and marketing, business development, strategic planning and regulatory approval efforts of broadcasters such as ESPN Star Sports channel and Zee TV, as well as of satellite services provider MEASAT during his career.

     

  • Star Sports’ ICC World T20 ‘Taiyaari’ campaign draws mixed response

    Star Sports’ ICC World T20 ‘Taiyaari’ campaign draws mixed response

    MUMBAI: Come March and cricket mania is all set to hit the country yet again. The ICC World Twenty20 will kick-start on 8 March, 2016 and official broadcaster Star Sports has come up with a campaign to pull in viewers.

    While last year’s catchy ‘Mauka Mauka’ campaign for the ICC World Cup was a clear winner, the latest one for the ICC World Twenty20 with the tagline ‘Taiyaari Kar Lo’ has drawn mixed reactions from creative heads from the advertising fraternity.

    Star Sports had rolled out teaser ads on television in December last year playing somewhat on the lines of superstition or good luck charm… call it what you may. The teaser ad saw a tenant returning to his previous landlord’s house wanting to rent the place as it was there that he had lived when India won the ICC World Cup 2011. The ad ended by asking viewers to get ready – Taiyaari Kar Lo – for the upcoming tourney.

    The latest ad in the campaign to hit screens featuring none other than the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his celebrity stylist Sapna Bhavnani also plays to the same tune. The ad has created quite a buzz among the digital audience as well.

    The ad shows Dhoni brainstorming with Bhavnani over his next hairstyle and look for the upcoming tournament. Bhavnani plays around with some extreme and some quirky looks for the sports star, each time getting a raised eyebrow or a witty retort from Dhoni on how it won’t work with his fans. Until finally, Bhavnani draws out a wig for Dhoni, asking him to maybe sport the ‘Mahi’ look from the World Cup when India won.

    The campaign lives up to its name, asking the audience to get ready  for the tournament that will ensue from 8 March, 2016.

    The ad is a must watch for all Dhoni fans, who follow his style funda, and also get some insight from the lady who does the ultimate magic.

    When asked about their take on the new Star Sports campaign for the tournament, several creatives from the industry felt that it’s a refreshing new way to treat a cricket tournament. Not going the ‘anthem’ way definitely poses limitations and challenges to come up with ways to connect with the audience with the same fervour.

    Given that it is a campaign on ICC World T20, one can’t help compare it to the magnus opus that Bubblewrap Film’, ‘Mauka Mauka’ was. It not only won several awards but also won millions of hearts.

    “Seldom are there advertisements that touch our hearts and instil that natural feel, which ‘Mauka Mauka’ did. It captured everyone’s imaginations very quickly and the catchy jingle was on everyone’s lips. While ‘Taiyaari Kar Lo’ has handled the subject in an entirely different manner, it does seem a bit low key placed against ‘Mauka Mauka,’” shared an advertising industry veteran.

    Industry insiders, however, also feel that it’s unfair to pit one against the other. “‘Mauka Mauka’ was an instant hit. Ideas like that come very rarely and when they do, they create a legacy of sorts. Hence it becomes extremely challenging to do something in the same category and one up it. But this constant comparison may also blind us from looking into the charm of the new campaign,” opines another executive from an ad agency.

    Nonetheless, giving the new campaign the benefit of doubt, he also added, “But it’s too early to comment on it. This could be a warm up to a more elaborate campaign, which may culminate in an anthem like creative as well. So we should wait and watch for now.”

    How this creative saga pans out over the next couple of months remains to be seen.

  • WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe acquires majority stake in Brazil’s Grupo Maquina

    WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe acquires majority stake in Brazil’s Grupo Maquina

    MUMBAI: After acquiring a majority stake in India’s Six Degrees PR and Alphabet Consulting in September last year, WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe has made its second recent acquisition. The agency has now acquired a majority stake in Brazil’s public relations agency Grupo Maquina.

     

    Maquina Cohn & Wolfe, with 240 employees across offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, has the combined talent and experience to meet demand for global integrated marketing services from Brazilian companies and multinational companies alike. 

     

    Maquina was founded in 1995 by Maristela Mafei. Today, Maquina is known for its digital and integrated communications work across numerous industries, including finance, education, consumer technology, retail, entertainment, government and tourism. The agency has specialty divisions focused on digital, video content, branding, advertising and package design services.

     

    “Latin America has become a very important region for our clients and Brazil is a critical market for Cohn & Wolfe. After working with many good agencies, we were most impressed with Maquina’s excellence in digital and integrated marketing. They have an impressive client base and an equally impressive leadership team. We share values, including creativity, entrepreneurship and focus on client service, which will ensure a strong and long-lasting partnership and joint success,” says Cohn & Wolfe CEO Donna Imperato.

     

    Mafei will remain director-general of Maquina Cohn & Wolfe, reporting to Imperato. Marcelo Diego and Daniella Camargos will continue in their roles as co-CEOs, reporting to Mafei. They will keep their positions as partners with Maquina Cohn & Wolfe.

     

    The agency’s roster of both public and private sector clients includes Credit Suisse, EY, Zara, Xerox, Carrefour, L’Oréal, Nextel, MetLife, Bridgestone, GP Investments, Embratur, BRMalls, Qualicorp, Hypermarcas, Raízen, BRF, Grupo Estacio, Insper and Gafisa.

     

    “We recently celebrated our 20th anniversary and I couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments of our remarkable teams and the work they have done for our trusted clients,” says Mafei. “What I envision for our next 20 years can be achieved by becoming part of the Cohn & Wolfe family. This partnership will bring unmatched strengths globally that will benefit our current multinational clients and attract many more here and throughout Latin America. We will continue to provide the best of our culture, but will now be associated with one of the largest agencies in the world.”

  • Rediffusion-Y&R Group partners with The Social Street

    Rediffusion-Y&R Group partners with The Social Street

    MUMBAI: Rediffusion – Y&R Group and The Social Street have entered into a strategic alliance to provide value added marketing services to clients of Rediffusion – Y&R, Everest Brand Solutions and Rediffusion Wunderman effective from 1 March, 2016.

     

    The alliance will enable Rediffusion-Y&R Group’s clients to benefit from The Social Street’s network, capabilities, and expertise in bringing together more effective and optimised solutions to clients. This integrated offering will include digital, media, experiential, out of home, retail, entertainment, cause marketing and also extends to semi-urban and rural activations and outreach.

     

    Rediffusion-Y&R Group president Dhunji S Wadia said, “This is one of the deepest integrations to date, marking yet another milestone in the Group’s plan for a consolidated media investment management operation. Our services are designed to offer an integrated yet seamless solution across the communications continuum. The focus is to bring competitive advantage to our clients and our companies.”

     

    The Social Street founding partner and chairman Pratap Bose added, “This is going to be a very exciting journey for both Rediffusion and us. It will be a great growth story to tell the world. Our shared vision and collective capabilities should help us serve nothing but the best to all the clients as part of this alliance. We are all focused on one single client centric objective through this alliance and that is unlocking value for clients. With the wealth of expertise in both Rediffusion and TSS, I have no doubt in saying that we will make it the strongest and successful alliance ever.”

     

    The Social Street founding partner and CEO Mandeep Malhotra said, “I am personally very excited about this alliance and looking forward to creating many stories together in this journey with Rediffusion. My career in the agency world started with Rediffusion and it feels now that the circle is getting closer. There is nothing more exciting for me then working with energetic, talented, committed and a fun team. Organisations that partner or compliment each other in this manner are going to be more nimble footed in the future, in creating customer-oriented value.”

  • Rajasthan Govt earmarks Rs 100 crore for tourism campaign; O&M is creative agency

    Rajasthan Govt earmarks Rs 100 crore for tourism campaign; O&M is creative agency

    MUMBAI: The Rajasthan government will be launching a multi-year, multi-modal and multi-narrative domestic and international tourism campaign on 15 January, 2016 and has set aside a corpus in excess of Rs 100 crore for the same.

     

    Over the next few years, the government is expected to spend the money on the campaign, which envisages rebranding Rajasthan Tourism, including a new logo. The state has partnered with Ogilvy & Mather for the creative side of the campaign.

     

    Despite wide and deep attractions, Rajasthan’s lack of tourism marketing over the last 25 years has resulted in the state falling considerably in international tourism (its share has fallen from 33 per cent  to 20 per cent of international travellers) and domestic tourism arrivals (the state gets half of Madhya Pradesh’s 63 million internal tourists) because of aggressive efforts from other states. Tourism is not only employment intensive but capital efficient: it generates 78 jobs per million rupees of investment compared to 45 jobs per million rupees in the manufacturing sector. It not only provides jobs to a wide spectrum of job seekers but many opportunities accrue to women (internationally women account for 70 per cent of the workforce of tourism).

     

    Rajasthan principal secretary Tourism Shailendra Agarwal said, “Rajasthan has not conducted a tourism campaign for the last 25 years and this effort could attract at least one million incremental tourists with a considerable multiplier effect on growth and employment for our state.”

     

    Ogilvy & Mather South Asia executive chairman and creative director Piyush Pandey added, “Rajasthan Tourism is the campaign I have been waiting for, for the last decade. It is my home state and I think I owe it an impactful and effective campaign. I am looking forward to the exciting times ahead.”

     

    The campaign is part of an overall plan for Rajasthan Tourism 3.0. Rajasthan Tourism 1.0 was from Independence till the early 80s whose engine was the state’s landscape. Rajasthan 2.0 began with heritage hotels and forts. Now Rajasthan Tourism 3.0 will combine assets from both phases with an aggressive marketing campaign, a new logo and packed experience calendar that is being developed.

     

    The state government has also appointed a Steering Committee to monitor the creation and implementation of this campaign that includes Mira Mehrishi (Member Secretary Chief Ministers Advisory Council), Shailendra Agarwal (Principal Secretary Tourism), Malvika Singh (member Chief Ministers Advisory Council and Writer), Shoba Narayan (author and journalist), and Anil Chaplot, (Director tourism).

  • Hero Cycles appoints Rohit Sharma as chief communications officer

    Hero Cycles appoints Rohit Sharma as chief communications officer

    MUMBAI:  Hero Cycles announced another senior level executive appointment of Rohit Sharmaas as Chief Communications Officer. His core responsibility is leading and driving all communications for the Hero Cycles group and thereby heading and managing the Public Relations and Corporate Communications functions as well.

     

    According to Pankaj Munjal, CMD, Hero Cycles MD Pankaj Munjal said, “We extend a warm welcome to Rohit Sharma. He joins us as an integral part of our key marketing team. We value the space we occupy in the collective consciousness of the Indian people and amongst our well-wishers. Hero Cycles is fast growing into a brand which stands for quality, friendliness and health. I am sure that Rohit will help develop our reputation capital at all levels and for multiple audience sets simultaneously. I wish Rohit Sharmaall the best in his new innings with us.”

     

    Commenting on his appointment Sharma said, “In my role as the CCO, my endeavour would be to create a brands which people would like to spend their time with and make a part of their everyday lives. I believe that Hero Cycles is a strong culture brand which is both timeless and age agnostic. It represents a free-spirit which and is loved both by the masses as well as the classes. As part of the kaleidoscope of the mother brand Hero, UT and FireFoxbrands hold immense potential and promise. I look forward to assisting our CMD, Mr. Pankaj Munjal in all international and domestic acquisitions as well as entrepreneurial projects which would help further expand the groups’ business and reach across the country and the globe.”

  • Parineeti Chopra urges women to #Ownthose5days at new Whisper Ultra launch

    Parineeti Chopra urges women to #Ownthose5days at new Whisper Ultra launch

    MUMBAI: In a bid to enable India’s women power through their chosen path of success and #OwnThose5Days of the month, Whisper India launched the New Whisper Ultra. Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra along with Mandira Bedi unveiled the new Whisper Ultra and simultaneously busted one of the most prevalent period myths of hiding sanitary napkin packets in a newspaper, by tearing open a giant newspaper covering the New Whisper Ultra pack.

     

    Chopra and gynaecologist Dr. Nandita Palshetkar highlighted the benefits of the new product from Whisper India.

     

    During the launch, Chopra stressed upon the need for women in India to realise their dreams and be unstoppable in life, saying, “In today’s day and age, women are donning various roles and undertaking numerous responsibilities. They are going that extra mile to test their capabilities and abilities both professionally and personally. I think as new age ultra girls, we should have an unstoppable attitude on all 30 days of the month and not hold ourselves back on those five days as well. It is high time women broke away from senseless period taboos and kudos to Whisper for enabling us to stride ahead even during periods. We need to remember when we have a superior sanitary napkin like the New Whisper Ultra that offers five times better protection than ordinary pads; we can follow our dreams and #OwnThose5Days with confidence.”

     

    The launch event culminated with an interesting interaction between teen college girls, Chopra and Dr. Nandita wherein the girls shared situation and problems they have faced during their periods, which the duo addressed highlighting the benefits of the product.

     
  • Tata Motors bets big on experiential marketing; rolls out ZICA ‘7 Senses’

    Tata Motors bets big on experiential marketing; rolls out ZICA ‘7 Senses’

    MUMBAI: Tata Motors has unveiled a unique immersive marketing campaign titled ‘7 Senses’ for it’d recently launched ZICA. 7 Senses is designed to give a complete experience of the car, making all the senses work together to create an emotion that is greater than the sum of its parts. The campaign will unfold in a phased manner and will cover all seven senses namely sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, intuition and equilibrium.

     

    According to Tata Motors passenger vehicles business unit president Mayank Pareek, with #madeofgreat campaign the company has charted a new course in its brand building and transformation journey. “We continue to roll-out compelling campaigns with an aim to bring our consumers closer to the brand. We are gearing up for the ZICA launch and as a build-up to the launch, it is imperative we provide our customers with an immersive experience of the car and further help build a brand recall. Through the ZICA ‘7 Senses’ campaign we will not only ensure that our customers experience the car, but also cherish the experience.”

     

    ZICA 7 Senses: The campaign has been derived out of the insight to make one feel livelier and young at heart rather than mundane like daily chores of automated choices.

     

    Sight: ZICA truly embodies the company’s Impact Design language, a philosophy which forms the over-arching design brand and stands for ‘Immediate Impact at first sight. Lasting Impact over time. To truly experience the youthful, energetic and bold character of the car even before it is launched, Tata Motors will be rolling out a Virtual Test Drive App that elevates the simplicity of 2D Video into an immersive 3D experience.

     

    Smell: ZICA is a fresh product that will connect with the youth as well as anyone who is young at heart. It will make a person feel great while also making him/her look aspirational to their peer group. Distilling these attributes into a bottle, Tata Motors will be introducing the ZICA signature fragrance that captures the spirit of youth.

     

    Sound: Recognising the dynamic consumer world where connectivity is an increasing need for all, ZICA comes equipped with an audio acoustics system designed exclusively by HARMAN. With an eight speaker audio system and speed dependent volume control, ZICA will deliver a new level of driving and ownership experience.To further enrich this surround sound – like experience, Tata Motors will introduce the ZICA anthem, a soundtrack of a new generation, that can be played on the HARMAN infotainment system. The superior quality of the infotainment system and the peppy beats of the anthem is sure to pump you up.

     

    Taste: Tata Motors truly understands that life isn’t just about the big achievements, but about the little victories in life. To celebrate these little joys of life, the company will introduce ‘The Zica Chocolate,’ which will allow an individual to reward themselves for the goals achieved in life.

     

    Touch: The ConnectNext Infotainment System delivers the entire world at your fingertips. ZICA introduces new segment-first applications like the Smart NAVI and the Juke-Car app. The first-of-its-kind NAVI app displays TBT (Turn By Turn) Navigation when connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The NAVI app also provides guidance on Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) and Next Maneuver, which helps in simplifying navigation while driving. Along with Bluetooth pairing, it also supports speed volume control, steering wheel mounted information controls and phonebook on-the-fly.

     

    The Juke-Car application, a first-in-segment feature, utilises mobile hotspot to create a virtual network and host a service for sharing list of available songs in the device. All connected devices can view the song list on the hotspot device. Users can place their requested song queuing. The Juke-Car app then plays the songs one after the other. All this and more is just a touch away in the ZICA.

     

    Intuition: With the intelligently designed 22 utility spaces, ZICA comes with more storage spaces than its competitors, which gives a new dimension in intelligent design, making traveling in a ZICA more intuitive than ever before.

     

    The car comes loaded with multiple storage spaces such as a smart driver side pocket, cup-holders on front console, tab holder in glove box, smart recessed storage on dashboard, which make the drive experience very comfortable.

     

    Equilibrium: The ZICA has been designed and programmed to deliver best-in-class fuel economy and a peppy driving experience with segment-first features. Turning the key puts all the senses into overdrive and when the car is in motion, it helps one leave all worries miles behind without her/him even knowing it, that is when one attains complete balance in life and this is true Equilibrium.