Category: MAM

MUMBAI: After recently bagging the media duties of Travelguru, Mudra Connext, a unit of Mudra MAX (Integrated Communications Planning & Implementation), has now added the media mandate of Gulf Oil.

The account size is pegged at over Rs 200 million. It will be handled out of Mudra Connext‘s Mumbai office.

On handing the media duties to Mudra Connext, General Manager – Marketing (Lubricant division) for Gulf Oil Alok Mahajan said, “We are impressed with the capabilities shown by Connext and are sure we have the right partners in them as we begin the new year. The agency‘s past record and performance left a positive mark with us and we are confident of Connext doing some good work on our brand.”
 
Gulf Oil Corporation Limited (GOCL), part of the Hinduja Group of companies, is an established company in the lubricants market. The company offers a wide range of products for the automotive business including lubricants, car care, filters and lubrication systems. 
 
Speaking on the account win, Manas Mishra, EVP & Country Head, Mudra Connext, said, “It‘s a pleasure having a prestigious brand like Gulf Oil to partner with. The company has aggressive growth plans for 2010 and we look forward to adding greater value in both the traditional and non-traditional media space. The challenges in the cluttered lubricant category will need us to think out of the box.”

MUMBAI: The Great Indian Nautanki Pvt Ltd has decided to head for a new creative and media agency, just ahead of the launch of its flagship property Kingdom Of Dreams on 12 July.
 
According to a highly placed industry source, the company will assign the creative duties for the project to Dentsu. GroupM, on the other hand, is tipped to bag the media account.

Earlier, The Great Indian Nautanki had got on board Mud Pie as its creative partner while ZenithOptimedia was the media partner.

The company plans to spend in the region of Rs 80 million to market and promote Kingdom Of Dreams till its launch. It has already spent approximately Rs 50-60 million on marketing and branding internationally across various tourist exhibitions.
 
The Great Indian Nautanki Pvt Ltd has earmarked Rs 200 million towards media and creative spent for the year and will primarily concentrate on the NCR region and the airports.
 

MUMBAI: Madison has retained the lucrative Airtel account. The account size, pegged at Rs 3.5-4 billion, includes the agency on record (AOR) for Airtel and also associate companies Bharti AXA, Del Monte and Bharti Retail.

The competition for such a large account must have been fierce, with pitches coming in from TME, Starcom Mediavest Group, Mediaedge:cia, Percept, Lintas and their various digital and outdoor advertising arms as well.
 
Airtel had called for pitches from various agencies after staying with Madison for five years.

Prior to this Airtel‘s outdoor media was handled by Portland, a part of Group M, but now Maidson is going to handle the consolidated media for the company, including its outdoor activities. Madison already has two outdoor agencies, MOMS and Platinulsara and will be creating another arm to handle Airtel‘s outdoor media activities.
 
Madison Media Group-CEO Punitha Arumugam, “We are really looking forward to being the one stop media agency for Airtel. Doing the entire integrated marketing solutions and media planning for traditional, digital and now outdoor is a huge responsibility which we are happy to handle. Since we are the continuing AoR for Airtel, we will work on on-going projects and campaigns. Now with OOH added to the kitty, we will have more to do, and will try our best to use all media forms to maximise the company‘s ROI.”

NEW DELHI: Strings, which is a popular rock band in Pakistan, has been chosen as the brand ambassador by Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates.

Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer Peter Baumgartner said: “I am personally looking forward to witnessing how the Etihad brand name reaches across the world through the music of Strings. Pakistan is one of Etihad’s key markets and we are pleased to help promote and work with Strings as leading celebrities from this region.”
 
Faisal Kapadia, lead vocalist of Strings, said, “Etihad Airways has emerged as one of the biggest names in the airline industry in such a short span of time. It has been our favourite airline for some time now and we are extremely proud to be associated with the world’s leading airline.”
 
 
Etihad Airways and Strings are working on a series of new initiatives across the world in 2010. Both aim to promote music and culture in Pakistan and around the world.

MUMBAI: Italian soccer club AC Milan and Infront Sports and Media, the club’s official marketing partner, have presented a new marketing concept for the 2010-2011 season.

The most significant changes are the reduction from 42 to 32 sponsors and the introduction of a four-tier sponsorship hierarchy – Top Sponsors, Premium Sponsors, Official Partners and Official Suppliers. The soccer club says that the new concept improves the presentation and visibility of the partners, their brands and messages as well as further increasing the level of exclusivity.
 
 
The concept introduced for AC Milan follows the philosophy of “less is more” and looks to offer a much higher level of exclusivity to commercial partners.

AC Milan’s Top Sponsors will be guaranteed a four times increase in TV visibility compared to the previous seasons. In addition, each of the Top Sponsors will benefit from four dedicated AC Milan star players promoting their respective brand image and associating it with the club in TV commercials, print advertisements and other communication campaigns.

The new strategy for AC Milan also includes a revised Corporate Hospitality offering for the club’s home matches in the Serie A and Tim Cup (Coppa Italia). Designated areas offering a panoramic view of the pitch, outdoor terraces and first class catering services for lunch and dinner will exclusively be reserved for sponsors and their guests. 
 
AC Milan deputy chairman, CEO Adriano Galliano says, “The new and innovative sponsorship strategy created by Infront will offer much added value for A.C. Milan’s commercial partners. Today, AC Milan has one of the strongest brand values among the Italian clubs. The opportunity to take advantage of Infront’s worldwide network and expertise enables us to close the gap in comparison to other European clubs’ sponsorship and commercial revenues.”

In the past, Infront has streamlined the marketing programmes of sport properties, including the majority of FIS World Cup competitions and the DFB Cup in Germany.

Infront Board of Directors member Marco Bogarelli says, “Infront came up with a really innovative formula for AC Milan’s commercial partnerships. Companies that wish to associate their brands with the premium football brand A.C. Milan are offered ad hoc solutions that enhance their visibility in a highly attractive environment. Infront provides AC Milan with its comprehensive local as well as international experience – gathered in the field of football and many other sports.”
 
AC Milan and Infront will also continue to improve the club’s online and new media strategy. The partners will mainly focus on the development of the Milan Media Factory, an integrated pool of content about AC Milan – tailored for various platforms including broadcast, online (websites, webTV, social networks) and mobile media.

MUMBAI: Air Asia, the low fare Malaysian airline, will spend around $5 million on publicity to coincide with its flight being introduced to Delhi and some other Indian airlines.

Air Asia CEO Azran Osman Rani told indiantelevision.com that he preferred print and online publicity to television commercials. The airline’s marketing manager Steven Lee said while the publicity in north India will be in online and print, the airline may take to hoardings and other outlets in south India.
 
He said that the airline had succeeded because of its aggressive marketing, creative branding, and aggressive advertising.

The airline announced the launch of services of its long haul low fare affiliate AirAsia X to New Delhi with a “1,000 FREE SEATS” bonanza for online bookings made on 5 June on the New Delhi – Kuala Lumpur sector, for the travel period from 4 to 31 August. This one-day offer will allow guests to fly to Kuala Lumpur at an all-in-fare from Rs 1862. The daily Delhi-Kuala Lumpur flight will commence from 4 August.
 
Jointly, the AirAsia Group will have a total of 120 flights weekly to the various points in India which include Tiruchirappalli, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochin, Trivandrum, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai to Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
 

MUMBAI: Warner Bros Consumer Products (WBCP) has appointed Entheos Consulting and Dream Theatre as its licensing agents in India. The two companies will represent WBCP in matters of hardline, softline, publishing, food and beverages, personal care and promotional licensing.
 
As part of the agreements, Indian consumers will soon have access to a range of global brands of WBCP – including Superman, Batman, Justice League, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo and Harry Potter.

While Entheos Consulting, headed by Nagarajan Subramanian, will represent WBCP in the hardline, softline and publishing categories, Dream Theatre, headed by Jiggy George, will establish the licensing business for WBCP‘s portfolio of brands in the areas of food and beverages, personal care and promotional activities.
 
Said WBCP MD – Greater China, Southeast Asia and India Bianca Lee, “We are pleased to partner with both Entheos Consulting and Dream Theatre in the important India market. Both of these organisations represent a host of experience in their respective fields.” 
 
Warner Bros India country manager Blaise Fernandes added, “With the appointment of Entheos and Dream Theatre, we look forward to the very popular Warner Bros brands ranging from the classic Looney Tunes to the contemporary iconic brands like Batman being brought closer to the Indian consumer.”
 

NEW DELHI: AirAsia X, the low fare Malaysian airline, has earmarked a budget of $5 million for advertising in India. The publicity campaign will coincide with its flight being introduced to Delhi and some other Indian airlines.

AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman Rani told indiantelevision.com that he preferred print and online publicity to television commercials. The airline‘s marketing manager Steven Lee said while the publicity in north India will be in online and print, the airline may take to hoardings and other outlets in south India.
 
He said the airline is succeeding because of its aggressive marketing, creative branding, and aggressive advertising.

The airline, which claims to be the world’s best low cost airline, announced the launch of services of its long haul low fare affiliate AirAsia X to New Delhi with a “1,000 Free Seats” bonanza for online bookings made on 5 June, 2010 on the New Delhi – Kuala Lumpur sector, for the travel period from 4 to 31 August, 2010.

This one day offer will allow guests to fly to Kuala Lumpur at an all-in-fare from as low as Rs 1,862. The daily Delhi-Kuala Lumpur flight will commence from 4 August.
 
Jointly, the AirAsia Group will have a total of 120 flights weekly to the various points in India which include Tiruchirappalli, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochin, Trivandrum, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai (to Kuala Lumpur and Penang).
 
 
AirAsia is also offering great hotel rates and exciting packages under AirAsia Go, its one stop travel portal at airasiago.com.

MUMBAI: Wanting to ensure that the upcoming Fifa Soccer World Cup turns out to be a world-class spectacle, South African beer brand South African Breweries (Sab) has invested an estimated R 170-million ($22.3 million).

The fund has been invested in infrastructure in South Africa‘s townships; Castle Lager campaigns and marketing in support of the World Cup; and what it says is a number of packaging innovations.
 
Sab recently reached an agreement with Fifa and the host cities to provide beer at the Fifa Fan Fests during the tournament.

Besides supplying beer to the fan zones, Sab has a plan in place to ensure that the country is fully stocked and supplied with beer during the tournament.
 
ab estimates that it will sell an additional 100 000 hectalitres of beer during the five-week World Cup period that equates to 30-million x 340 ml of beer over and above normal consumption during the June/July period.

With the anticipated increase in demand for beer over the five-week tournament period, the brewer is ensuring that plans are in place to encourage consumers to enjoy the company‘s beers responsibly throughout the duration of the tournament.

MUMBAI: Automaker Maruti Suzuki has reshuffled the ad agencies that handle its brands. In the process, it has terminated the services of Hakuhodo Percept, which recently spearheaded its WagonR “Blue eyed boy” campaign. The agency was handling four Maruti brands – WagonR, A Star, Grand Vitara and Maruti 800.

Earlier, Maruti‘s 13 brands were handled by four creative agencies, but now with Hakuhodo Percept no longer in the picture, the four brands it was handling will be distributed amongst its three other creative agencies Dentsu India, Lowe Lintas and Capital Advertising. 
 
Dentsu will handle the WagonR account, while the Grand Vitara and A Star accounts will go to Capital Advertising. Maruti 800 will be looked after by Lowe Lintas.

“We had to drop one of the agencies from our roster as we wanted to consolidate our position and confine ourselves to only three agencies. The fact that this move comes in just after the WagonR launch is only coincidental and has nothing to with that or any particular campaign. The decision was made based on our internal assessments and valuations,” Maruti Suzuki chief general manager, marketing Shashank Srivastava told Indiantelevision.com.
 
Estimates are that each of the brands would be billing Rs 100-400 million annually. All put together, it is estimated the Martui advertising business that Hakuhodo Percept handled could be anywhere between Rs 400 million to Rs 1.2 billion a year. 
 
Speaking about the brand communication planned in the near term Srivastava said: “The Ritz and K series campaigns are currently running well. Next in the pipeline is a ‘total cost of acquisition TVC‘ which looks at the overall cost of running a car, the cost of fuel efficiency, running etc. This TVC will not be for any one of our brands but for the Maruti Suzuki group as a whole.”