Category: MAM

MUMBAI: Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has pulled the plug on a television ad from Bajaj Allianz for danger of misleading consumers.

ASCI‘s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) has also pulled up Godrej Sara Lee and Aswini Homeo and Ayurvedic Products for their TVCs and instructed modifications in them.

Upholding consumer complaints, ASCI has taken action on three TVCs – Aswini Homeo Arnica Hair Oil, Bajaj Allianz Shield Plus and Good Knight Aerosol of Godrej Sara Lee.
 
The Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance TVC has been barred from airing the commercial on TV in its existing form. These advertisements were found to be in violation of Chapter 4.1(d), 4.1 (e) and 3.2 (b) of the ASCI Advertising Code.

ASCI observed that the Bajaj Alliance Shield Plus TVC compares the advantages of insurance products with fixed deposit scheme of banks, and hence, there is likelihood of the consumer being misled as a result of the comparison. Also, the advertisement unfairly denigrates bank FDs directly. Subsequently, the advertisement was withdrawn by the advertiser as instructed by the CCC.
 
The claims of the TVC of Aswini Homeo & Ayurvedic Products Ltd of “hair fall control in four months”, and “dandruff control in six months”, were not substantiated with clinical tests/trials reports. CCC, thus, instructed the TVC to be modified.

ASCI also instructed removal of objectionable portions from the Good Knight Aerosol TVC which shows a girl inhaling the mosquito repellent spray. This is a dangerous act and since the advertisement is shown on kids channels, the ad calls for a more stringent modification.
 
According to ASCI secretary-general Alan Collaco, “The numbers of complaints against misleading, dishonest and indecent ads have substantially increased over the months. Consumers are becoming more vigilant and aware about their rights and duties. After the Marketing Responsibly Seminar organised by ASCI, there is even more compliance by advertisers to the codes of ASCI. As of now, there is about 98 per cent adherence to the CCC decisions of ASCI.”

Complaints against the TVCs of Volkswagen AG, DLF IPL, Amul Macho, Sunfeast Dream Cream Biscuit, Kotak Insurance, Chevrolet Cruze, and Kumbhat Holograms were not upheld by the CCC as they were not substantiated.

MUMBAI: Taking a clue from the celebrity-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), ESPN Star Sports has appointed Amitabh Bachchan to build the brand equity of its Champions League T20 series.
 
Bachchan has already begun to shoot for the promotional films and stills for the event that will be held in South Africa this September. 
 
While talking about the ESPN-AB partnership, Bachchan wrote on his blog, “I have been signed on to endorse ESPN for the Champions League Cricket T20 tournament to be held in South Africa in September. And because of paucity of time we had to shoot all the promotional films and stills for print and short seconders for TV and dub it by the evening in order that they are able to release the publicity soon.”
 
He further added, “Thankfully it has all gone off well and I have just completed the dub for what we shot in the morning. But the rush and the speed with which it all had to be done was some kind of a marvel.”
 

MUMBAI: The Advertising Agencies Association of India has decided to confer the AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award 2010 to Ogilvy & Mather South Asia executive chairman & creative director Piyush Pandey.

The AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to an individual, based on the leadership of the industry as an individual, contribution towards advancement and professionalism in the industry and to set an example of personal integrity, values and ethics consistent with the standards expected.
 
Announcing the name of the winner, AAAI president and JWT CEO Colvyn Harris stated that “Pandey is indeed an inspiration to everyone and the most deserving recipient of this year‘s award.”

“Pandey has won so many personal accolades that the industry is justifiably proud to claim him as an icon of professionalism and creativity. He has been recognised by every industry body, both in India and globally. Notably in 2004 he became the first Asian to be the president of the Cannes Jury in 51 years of its history,” he said. 
 
Piyush Pandey became the national creative director of Ogilvy & Mather India in 1994 and was inducted to Ogilvy‘s worldwide board in 2006. He has also been named the most influential man in Indian advertising seven years in a row by The Economic Times.

Under his leadership, Ogilvy has become a creative powerhouse: It has been named India‘s most creative agency ten times in the last eleven years and has won twenty nine Lions. More recently, under his leadership, the Ogilvy & Mather creative team let loose the adorable Vodafone zoo zoos and set the country ablaze. It went on to capture every possible media space and imagination.
 
The award will be presented at a ceremony to be largely attended by leaders of the industry, and clients in Mumbai. The date of presentation of the Award will be announced shortly.
 

MUMBAI: Killer Jeans, the flagship brand of Kewal Kiran Clothing, has appointed Grey as its creative agency. The account will be handled from the agency‘s Mumbai office.
 
Said Grey VP and Mumbai head Hari Krishnan, “We are happy to have added a fashion brand like Killer to our portfolio. We will apply our learning on the youth segment and our integrated marketing skills to consolidate the equity for brand Killer amongst the youth.”
 
Added VP – marketing Sandeep Varma, “We were impressed by Grey‘s all-round skills. We look forward to some fresh new ideas that will take our brand to the next level.”

MUMBAI: Following a multi-agency pitch, Coca-Cola India has appointed OgilvyAction, the activation arm of Ogilvy India, for creating shopper marketing programmes for the company‘s brand portfolio.

As part of its new mandate, OgilvyAction will work across all key channels where Coca-Cola India operates in the country.
 
Said Coca-Cola India VP customer & commercial leadership Sumanta Dutta, “We are excited to appoint OgilvyAction as our agency partner to drive Coca-Cola India‘s entire shopper marketing business programme in the country. We look forward to working with them in this fast changing retail environment.”

Coca-Cola India has chosen OgilvyAction to invest heavily in shopper marketing as a strategy to increase incidence levels. OgilvyAction, through its specialist shopper marketing practice, will assist Coca-Cola India to create innovative programmes to engage and convert shoppers into buyers at critical points of sale and drive consumption.
 
According to O&M India group president – North & East Sanjay Thapar, “Over the last two years, we have invested time and resources in setting up a good team of shopper marketing professionals who understand shopper behaviour and recommend ideas that convert shoppers into buyers.”

Adding further, OgilvyAction vice president – retail Rahul Saigal, “We understand the change that is needed from merely creating danglers and posters that mimic ATL campaigns to creating in-store ideas that marry a brand‘s philosophy and channel objectives to the shopper‘s behavior and journey.”
 
OgilvyAction specialises in managing and helping marketers win in “The Last Mile” by utilising a discipline-neutral mix of communications services in the areas of shopper, trade, experiential and promotional marketing, across rural and urban markets.

MUMBAI: The recently concluded soccer World Cup on ESPN saw 64 million viewers tuning in, up from the earlier edition‘s base of 40 million viewers, while the final duel notched up a rating of 2.52.

The match between Spain and Netherlands, which ran into extra time and was locked in defensive warfare, earned less ratings than the 2006 final contest between France and Italy that got a TVR of 3.4.

Overall, the soccer World Cup got an average TVR of 0.83, lower than the 2006 average of 1.1 TVR, according to Tam data.

Not surprisingly, the viewership emerged stronger among males 15+ SEC A,B. In this coveted TG, the average TVR stood at 1.64 compared to 2.2 in 2006. 16 million males watched the event this time compared to nine million in 2006.
 
This year‘s final got an average TVR of 5.6 compared to 6.2 in 2006, among males 15+ SEC A,B. The last four matches (semis, final and third place) got an average TVR of 1.5 for c&s4+ and 3.4 among males 15+ SEC A,B. This was a slight decline compared to 2006 where the figures were 1.6 and 3.5 respectively.
 
In West Bengal, the average TVR for the entire event reached 4. In Assam it was 3.8 and in Kerala 3.2.

The viewership profile was similar to that of 2006. 67 per cent of viewers were male compared to 66 per cent in 2006. SEC A,B made up for 59 per cent viewership compared to 56 per cent in 2006. The 35+ TG contributed 47 per cent viewership compared to 44 per cent in 2006.
 
This time the top ad categories were Cellular Phones, Cellular Phone Service, Two Wheelers, DTH Service Providers and Non Aerated Soft Drink. The top advertisers were Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Nokia, Samsung and Hero Honda.

MUMBAI: MTV and Wildcraft have launched the MTV range of premium bags and adventure gear.

The range includes travel and adventure bags, duffel bags, laptop bags and tote bags amongst others.

The products are priced between Rs 745 and Rs 2,995 and are available across exclusive Wildcraft stores as well as trade shop-in-shops.

The range also comprises a special Roadies line that includes bags as well as adventure gear for riding, hiking and cycling as well as other outdoor equipment including a range of sleeping bags and tents. 
 
Announcing the partnership, Wildcraft India director and head – marketing Gaurav Dublish said, “This initiative mirrors our constant endeavour to attempt the seemingly impossible, keeping up with the fickle and constantly changing youth. MTV, known for their close connect with the youth are the obvious partners and choice for this initiative. We hope to reach out to our consumers as a dynamic new brand becoming the ultimate answer to their needs in our category.”
 
Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez along with MTV VJ’s Rannvijay, Ayushmann and Bani J, unveiled the merchandise range today. 
 
Viacom18 SVP consumer products and communications Sandeep Dahiya said, “We are excited to partner with Wildcraft to enter into yet another important category in the youth space. What makes this range unique is the mix of innovative product features with international creative & design elements.”

Wildcraft manufactures backpacks, rucksacks and travel & survival gear with up to 25 year warranty across product categories.

MUMBAI: Primesite, Mudra Max’s out-of-home solutions unit has roped in Monisha Mitra as GM. 
 
Prior to this appointment, she was with Kinetic, GroupM as its Head – Strategy and Planning.
 
Mitra has over 14 years of experience. She began her career with Trikaya Grey and then moved to Pratibha Advertising as senior account executive. In 2000, she joined Percept and later moved to hungama.com as Promotion Heads before heading to the Gulf. 
 
Some of the notable clients she has worked on include Arrow, MTR, Ruf&Tuf, BPL, Airtel, Hero Honda, HTC, Tetra Pak etc. Monisha was also involved in noteworthy campaigns like launch of AT&T in ROM, Gujarat and Goa and launch of Airtel Magic.

MUMBAI: Percept Talent Management (PTM) has roped in former Globosport Digital CEO Rajnish Sahay as its CEO.
 
In his new role, Sahay will be in charge of all three new business verticals in PTM – creating intellectual properties (IP’s) for talents; client servicing which involves creating a customised talent pool based on the client base; and the traditional model of acquisitioning and managing talents across all genres.
 
Percept joint MD Shailendra Singh added, “Talent management has soared to a new plateau in today’s digital age. With Rajnish’s unique background in both the talent management and the new media business space, we look forward to PTM going global and scaling new heights.”
 
At Globosport, Sahay was responsible for providing a 360-degree approach to celebrity management which included the new media business portfolio also. He has also worked with UTV, Star TV, Rediff.com and Indiatimes in the digital and telecom business vertical.
 

MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group’s small town and rural marketing unit Xpanse Asia has appointed Sheetal Dasgupta as business director.

Based in Mumbai, Dasgupta will report to Xpanse Asia country head Sandip Bansal.

In the newly created role, Dasgupta will lead the business development, opening new categories of clients. She will use her exposure in rural and urban marketing communications to add meaning to the ambitions of marketers in this space.
 
Bansal said, “The rural marketing space is evolving rapidly and clients are looking for innovative solutions to achieve their objectives in the most productive manner. In this new role, Sheetal will help us identify new clients and work with existing clients to reach the small towns and rural hinterland with a fresh set of ideas.”
 
Dasgupta comes with over 15 years of experience, of which 10 years have been spent in rural marketing with RC&M where she headed the marketing function as general manager. 
 
Most ecently, she ran her own entrepreneurial venture. She has also worked with Hungama Digital, Solutions Digitas and Times Innovative Media.