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Tag: Abhijit Avasthi

  • Portfolio Night’s ‘All Star’ winner was Mayank Bhayana

    Portfolio Night’s ‘All Star’ winner was Mayank Bhayana

    MUMBAI: For the ones who want to create a mark in the creative world, 21 May was the night. Lowe Lintas and Partners hosted the Indian twelfth edition of the world’s largest advertising portfolio review-cum-recruitment event- Portfolio Night.

     

    The event that was conducted simultaneously in 20 plus cities across the world sought to unite the advertising and design communities in every continent for a common purpose – to identify young and upcoming talent and mentor them on the opportunities that lay ahead.

     

     Mayank Bhayana from Bangalore bagged the Portfolio Night – ‘All Star’ title from India and will be flown to New York to take part in a week-long creative challenge on a specific brief.

     

     The evening saw an impressive turnout of 75 young creative aspirants who presented their work to top 25 creative directors of the country.

     

     Sharing his views on the over-whelming candidate participation and turnout, Lowe Lintas and Partners CEO Joseph George said, “With advertising arguably having lost its monopoly over being the coolest job to have, it was critical that as an industry we kept looking at ways to spot talent who are not just promising but fans of the profession. It was also very gratifying that all the creative stars from across the industry agreed to participate without any hesitation whatsoever. With the kind of response that we received from the candidates as well as the creative directors, it demonstrates the industry’s shared priority of ensuring that this profession remains exciting and attractive to young talent.”

     

    Lowe Lintas and Partners NCD Amer Jaleel said, “It was like the IPL of advertising. It was the place where raw ‘quickies’ and talented ‘big-hitters’ got spotted. There were many from the industry who were on a keen lookout for rising stars of the night. Seeing the enormous energy being exuded by the participants, I wished I too were playing under the floodlights!”

     

     The agency’s NCD Arun Iyer added, “The event was a great opportunity for Lowe Lintas to give back to the community and the industry of advertising. The way the young creative guys came in and engaged the attention span of the CDs for over three hours was worth the whole effort. They not only got a sense of what the real world is all about, but also received enough encouragement and opportunities from a widely appreciated platform such as Portfolio Night.”

     

     Extending his gratitude to the numerous clients who made it a point to support the event, George said, “It was heartening to see the speed with which the clients wanted to participate with us on Portfolio Night. We are thankful to them for realizing a shared passion of spotting young and aspiring talent and giving them the opportunity to see their dreams come true.”

     

     Portfolio Night is a platform for young creative aspirants to have their work sampled by at least three top creative directors from the industry in a single evening. While it helps youngsters gain constructive feedback and guidance on their skill sets, the top Creative Directors get to spot potential talent.

     

     For the review process, aspirants were divided into three batches and each aspirant got the opportunity to get their portfolio reviewed by three CDs. Each CD met three candidates individually for 15 minutes and reviewed their work, ideas and offered them valuable feedback.

     

    The creative heads who reviewed the work at the event included Ogilvy & Mather executive chairman and creative director south Asia Piyush Pandey, Ogilvy & Mather NCDs Abhijit Avasthi & Rajiv Rao, Publicis CCO Bobby Pawar, Josy Paul, BBDO chairman & CCO Josy Paul, FCB Ulka NCD K S Chakravarty (Chax),  TBWA India Nation head – art Deepak Singh, TBWA India CCO Parixit Bhattacharya, Scarecrow Communication ECD Kapil Tammal, Grey Worldwide NCD Malvika Mehra, McCann Worldgroup NCD Pradyumna Chauhan, Scarecrow Communication, founder/director Raghu Bhat,  , Cartwheel Creative Consultancy owner Ramki D Ramkrishna, JWT NCD Tista Sen, Underdog founder Vikram Gaikwad, Contract India NCD Ashish Chakravarty.

     

    The creative heads from Lowe Lintas who were part of the judging panel included Amer Jaleel, Arun Iyer, Shriram Iyer, Ashwin Varkey, Sagar Kapoor and Rajesh Ramaswamy.

     

     As part of its association with Portfolio Night, India’s leading classifieds entity – Olx.in, will offer one candidate a chance to work as an intern for three months on a brief set up by the client. The candidate will be chosen from the final set of nominees shortlisted from the various individual stages.

     

    This year’s Portfolio Night was supported by global sponsor – Shutterstock, Twitter and SquareSpace. In India, the event was supported by Godrej HIT, Idea Cellular, Tanishq, Micromax, Lifebuoy, OLX.in and Myntra who came onboard as Brand Sponsors for Portfolio Night.

  • Tata Sky promotes Karaoke service

    Tata Sky promotes Karaoke service

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky had recently announced a new service to its customers- a karaoke service at home! Now, it has come up with an ad campaign to promote its new innovation.

     

    The direct to home (DTH) player has come up with a series of advertisements promoting the service. Of these, one film demonstrates a group of youngsters partying in their room and another shows a family having fun while singing songs on Karaoke. The ad ends with its tagline ‘Kum se kum lyrics toh sahi honge’ (at least the lyrics will be right).

     

    Tata Sky chief commercial officer Vikram Mehra said, “The love for singing and dancing is epitomized by Bollywood movies. Karaoke may be a new activity for a large part of India, but singing as an entertaining and collective activity was never an alien concept. Be it a family function or a night out with friends, singing our favorite Hindi songs in loud chorus adds tremendously to the fun factor of any evening. Capitalising on this sentiment, the Karaoke ads capture the simplicity of tuning into the service any time of the day for non-stop entertainment.”

     

    The concept has been created by agency Ogilvy & Mather(O&M). The professionals who have worked on it include national creative director Abhijit Avasthi and group creative director Sukesh Nayak under production house Curious Films.

     

    Says Avasthi: “Karaoke had to be pitched as a social activity in the realm of enjoyment. While the product was revolutionary we wanted people to see it as on obvious relevant product which seamlessly fits into, rather enhances an already existing moment in their life.  Essentially, all we had to do was to let people know the key features of Karaoke that will make fun moments over singing, even more fun.”

     

    Karaoke is available with an HD + set top box. A mic along with 12 month subscription will cost Rs 1990. One album will always be free to sample while new songs will be regularly added. 

  • Kyoorius Announces Kyoorius Advertising Awards in partnership with D&AD

    Kyoorius Announces Kyoorius Advertising Awards in partnership with D&AD

    MUMBAI: Kyoorius, a not-for-profit initiative by Transasia Fine Papers, and D&AD today announced the expansion of Kyoorius Awards to include Kyoorius Advertising Awards and Kyoori- us Digital Awards, alongside the existing Design and Student components.

    Advertising continues to be a crucial medium for companies to communicate with customers and communicate their brand. However, it has become increasingly complex, since agencies have to create unique messages for multiple channels and platforms to resonate with customers. This called for a critical assessment when defining awards categories – Kyoorius Advertising Awards are comprehensive, and structured to recognise individual components as well as entire ad campaigns.

    The overarching structure of the Kyoorius Awards is to only award work that is worthy of merit. No matter how big the brand, or how small the names behind it; how wide the media reach is or the number of retweets; the ultimate goal is to create outstanding work that works.

    Merit involves beating your own best work and setting new benchmarks for creative excellence. This is why Kyoorius Awards have no winning tier structure – no gold, silver or bronze, and it is the jury’s prerogative to award one or multiple Blue Elephants in any one category, whereas none in another, if entries are not up to the mark.

    For the Advertising Awards, international jury members include Rosie Arnold – Deputy Executive Creative Director, BBH, as Jury Foreman, accompanied by Graham Kelly – Regional Executive Creative Director, Isobar, and Woon Siew Hoh – Regional Creative Director, Hakuhudo. From India, jury members include Abhijit Avasthi – Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, Agnello Dias – Chairman & Co-Founder, TapRoot India, Senthil Kumar – National Creative Director, JWT, and Sonal Dabral – Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather with more to be added soon.

    Together with D&AD, Kyoorius has chosen this specific mix of the top international, regional, and Indian creative minds to ensure that work is compared against industry best practices, while keeping the Indian context in mind.

    Further, Kyoorius and D&AD aim to create a truly neutral and ethical platform that recognises the best of the advertising industry solely on the basis of merit. Unlike any other advertising awards, all jury members gather in India to review, discuss and elect the best of the best over an intensive three-day session. All voting is private, never by a show of hands.

    Kyoorius Advertising Awards are unlike any other advertising awards in India, not only because of the rigorous judging standards, but also because entry fees are fed back into the industry. Funds are used in developing Kyoorius FYIdays, an initiative aimed at stimulating  creative professionals and educating students – India’s future creative superstars.

    Call for entries open 20th March and close on 21st April 2014. Visit awards.kyoorius.com for more information.

     

  • Ads piggyback kids

    Ads piggyback kids

    MUMBAI: The latest advertisement to hit television screens is testimony to the fact that advertisers can’t seem to get enough of children when it comes to publicising brands. And this includes brands which don’t target kids; not even remotely.

    The ad in question is for IDBI Bank and rolls with a little girl sitting beside her friend, saying she loves to eat ganna (sugarcane) but can’t until she gets a new set of teeth which is why her pal is busy peeling it for her. The commercial ends with a voiceover: ‘Bank aisa, dost jaisa’. Two other ads are part of the campaign conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) and have children speaking of their friends in different scenarios.

    O&M NCD Abhijit Avasthi exults: “When we started work on the new campaign of IDBI Bank, we were very clear that we are changing the campaign and not the values that the bank stands for. The idea we came up with does exactly this. In an innocent and charming way, we are telling people ‘What if a bank would do what a friend would do’. When you say something like this, you really don’t need to say much more.”

    Indeed, the ad has charmed its way into people’s hearts, especially on social media. But that doesn’t stop one from wondering what kids can possibly have in common with a bank!

    Again, this isn’t the first instance where children have been used to sell products and services which they have nothing to do with; be it detergents, power inverters, cars, insurance policies or e-commerce websites. So what is it about kids that advertisers find so attractive? Ad veteran Alyque Padamsee reasons that people notice kids more than they do adults. “It is heart warming to see kids on screen. And who does not love them?” says he.

    Padamsee gives the example of Vodafone’s earlier campaign. “Vodafone used a little boy and her dog for its ‘everywhere you go, our network follows’ campaign, and it worked for them. Everyone remembers the commercial and it beautifully conveys the message the telecom company wants to tell people.”

    “Anything in life can be told through the eyes of a child. It’s not difficult,” says BBDO’s chairman and chief creative officer Josy Paul who elaborates on the point by giving the example of the agency David (founded in 2000 by BBDO) and adds, “When you joined the agency you got a resignation letter, not an appointment letter. You had to resign from adulthood to join David. The whole philosophy was to think like a child.”

    The other factor is that kids today play an important role in family decisions, say buying a car. Remember the ad with the Sardar kid whose car doesn’t run out of petrol ever – that’s how Maruti Suzuki tried to convince people about the car’s performance.

    Ernst & Young consultant (media) Mihir Date goes to the extent of calling present-day children decision makers. “What they watch on television is what they want. For example, my nephew only watches Cartoon Network but wants everything shown on the channel, be it a kiddie product or not,” he says.

    Peer pressure too plays an important part where kids want what their friends have; points out Date, adding, “And marketers have been smart enough to understand the GenY. It is working in their favour to use kids in advertisements wherein both kids and parents get targeted.”

    There are enough and more examples where brands and their creative agencies have used situations or scenarios where kids fit in beautifully, and the overall image is always happy and colourful. Say Nerolac paints, now being promoted by Shah Rukh Khan, which earlier had the jingle ‘Jab Ghar Ki Raunak Badhani Ho’ with happy scenes of children prancing around while the walls of their homes are being painted in bright colours.

    However, there’s a flip side as well to using kids in commercials.

    Says ad film director Prahlad Kakar, “If the brand value or what they stand for is not woven well into the story, then the message will be lost.”

    Padamsee agrees: “Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan are all over the place. They endorse so many brands; do we remember which commercial stands for which brand? Hardly… Similarly, one might notice and love the kids in an advertisement but that doesn’t mean that people will remember the brand. Many a times, the ad gets noticed but the brand isn’t.”

    While this is an open debate, it’s true that putting children in the ad is a sure way of getting viewers to like it, most of the times at least…

  • Ogilvy Mumbai positions IDBI Bank as Bank aisa dost jaisa

    Ogilvy Mumbai positions IDBI Bank as Bank aisa dost jaisa

    MUMBAI: After a successful run of the elephant campaign, IDBI Bank and Ogilvy have decided to refresh the communication.

     

    While friendship was always the ultimate message in all their previous work, it was time to say it differently. Elaborating on the association, Ogilvy & Mather executive chairman and creative director, south Asia Piyush Pandey said, “Our initial thrust for IDBI Bank a few years ago had been to tell the world that just because we are a big nation-building bank, does not mean that we are not approachable to address your smallest need. And now when we look at the next step in the evolution of the communication, what better than the universal emotion of childhood friendships to symbolise the role that IDBI Bank plays in its customers’ and partners’ lives.”

     

    On the campaign, O&M NCD Abhijit Avasthi said, “When we started work on the new campaign of IDBI Bank, we were very clear that we are changing the campaign and not the values that the Bank stands for. The idea we came up with does exactly this. In an innocent and charming way we are telling people ‘What if a bank would do what a friend would do’. When you say something like this, you really don’t need to say much more.”

     

    The challenge before the creative agency was to craft the dialogues for each one of them. O&M group creative director Harshad Rajadhyakasha explained, “We wanted moments from a child’s world, because anything else would have been unfair to the campaign and fake. In one film a kid says, “One day my pant tore in school and my friend walked behind me all day to cover me.” It had to be as honest and as silly as that.”

    The campaign will see four films wherein in each one there are two kids and one kid is telling people why the other one is his or her friend. Curious’ Vivek kakkad has directed the films.

  • Center Fresh presents Gum charades

    Center Fresh presents Gum charades

    MUMBAI: Center Fresh, with its ‘Zubaan Pe Rakhe Lagaam’ proposition, has recently launched a digital campaign called ‘Gum Charades’.

     

    Ogilvy & Mather handles the brand. The agency’s NCD Abhijit Avasthi said, “Center Fresh is a youth driven brand and is in the process of establishing itself in the digital sphere. Through Gum Charades, Center Fresh is revamping a popular game and adding a digital twist to it. We hope this game will be a hit among 15 to 24 year olds.”

     

    To translate the real experience of playing dumb charades to the digital medium a microsite has been created: www.centerfresh.in/gumcharades. To popularise the concept of Gum charades and drive traffic to the micro site, the brand has tied up with TV channels like 9XM, Channel V, M tunes and Zoom for content integration and will also be airing radio spots on popular radio stations in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Perfetti Van Melle India category head – gums Mandar Keskar, said, “Most digital initiatives today are adapted from television campaigns. With the growing relevance of digital as a medium especially amongst youth (our core TG), we realised that it’s important to customise brand content for this medium rather than adapt it. Gum Charades, is one such initiative in this direction. As far as the concept is concerned, it’s rare to find a popular game with a natural brand fit; we have been quite lucky in this aspect.”

     

    “We wanted an idea which was platform agnostic for Center fresh,” said Maxus Delhi general manager V Narayanan. “The concept of Gum Charades resonates seamlessly with the brand proposition, which consumers are willing to share across their social networks for its unique entertainment quotient.” The media agency is behind this idea.

    Apart from the microsite, the game can also be played on Facebook where an app has been created and on mobile platforms like Rocketalk and Vuclip.

  • Comparative advertising gets thumbs up from advertisers

    Comparative advertising gets thumbs up from advertisers

    MUMBAI: A brand trying to downplay its competition is nothing new. For years now, one has witnessed a brand praising itself and claiming to be better than its rival. What has changed over the years is the method; from ambush to disguise to in-your-face comparative advertising, brands have tried it all to catch customers‘ eye.

    And in doing so, many a times, advertisers and brands have either gone overboard or crossed the line of ‘ethics‘ to get in trouble with customers, associations or rivals. The latest to enter the troubled waters was one of the leading toothpaste brand.

    In the TVC, launched earlier this month, HUL‘s Pepsodent takes on Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste, Colgate. The advertisement shows Pepsodent Germicheck claiming to be 130 per cent superior in terms of germ attack power over market leader claim of having strong teeth even after four hours after brushing.

    The ad which got more than four lakh views within a week on Youtube, took the world and especially the social media by a storm. It took a new turn when after a lull, Colgate-Palmolive (India) decided to drag Pepsodent to the Delhi high court.

    Are we not mature enough to take comparative advertising? Can one call it a below the belt marketing? According to Leo Burnett national creative director KV Sridhar, “There is nothing wrong in comparative advertising until and unless the ad is stating facts to the consumers. A consumer needs to know what is good for them be it any product.”

    He goes on to say that a TVC should be engaging for consumers as well as state specifics. When asked about Colgate dragging Pepsodent in court, Sridhar says, “Fight here is about superiority of brands. But one shouldn‘t forget about the interest of consumers as well.”

    Similarly, Ogilvy& Mather‘s NCD Abhijit Avasthi too feels that if an ad is factual and beneficial to consumers then there is no harm in naming the competitor. However, he adds, “Even if we are open to such form of advertising, it is important for a brand to also be open to it. Otherwise, such fights will only become a matter of laugh among others.”

    Advertising filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar sings in the same tune and believes that there is no harm in airing such ads if a brand has enough proof that their ingredients are better than the one they are claiming to be. “Customers have a right to know that which brand is better for them, because they are the ones who are investing their money.”

    The advertising world is okay with comparisons so maybe it is high time for brands too to open their minds and enter the fight without a veil.

  • Ogilvy & Mather bags Center Fresh campaign

    Ogilvy & Mather bags Center Fresh campaign

    MUMBAI: Center Fresh will now be available in a different flavour. The refreshing chewing gum as an natural extension to the brand has launched the Paan flavour. The flagship brand of Perfetti Van Melle India roped in Ogilvy & Mather for the new campaign.

    The Center Fresh Paan campaign devised by Soda Films reaffirms the base brand positioning, while announcing the arrival of the new flavour. Directed by Rajesh Krishnan and produced by Ameya Dahibavkar, the TVC translates into its tagline Zubaan Pe Rakhe Lagaam (Keeps your mouth shut).

    Commenting on the launch, group product manager Chaitanya Shekar said, “Center Fresh and Paan have significant synergies, given their mouth-freshening properties and it was only a matter of time in getting this logical extension on the brand. We are extremely excited about this new launch and we believe this format will open up new avenues for consumption of Paan in a quick and fun way.”

    Giving an insight into the TVC, Ogilvy & Mather national creative director Abhijit Avasthi said, “We have all come across the not-so-pretty sight of people stuffing Paan into their mouth and talking. Half of the time it‘s not even clear what they are saying. But they go on, without caring whether the spit is staining their clothes or flying off from their mouth and landing on the other person‘s face. We took this insight and crafted a funny ad that showed the consequences a dhobi‘s son has to face due to his talking while chewing Paan.”

  • Center Fresh ropes in Dhanush as its brand ambassador

    Center Fresh ropes in Dhanush as its brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Perfetti Van Melle India (PVMI) has signed on singer and actor Dhanush as the new face for its flagship chewing gum brand Center Fresh. Dhanush will feature in the new television commercial of the brand and in all mobile and internet communication.

    Commenting on Dhanush‘s association with the brand Perfetti Van Melle India, category head-Gums Mandar Keskar said, “While Dhanush is taking his first steps in Bollywood, in our key markets he is very popular especially among the youth. We are really looking to leverage Dhanush‘s equity to help take Center Fresh to the next level.”

    The brand feels that Dhanush perfectly embodies the Center Fresh spirit at the core of which is Freshness – thus making him a natural fit.

    Commenting on his endorsement, Dhanush said “It feels great to be associated with Center Fresh which is one of India‘s most loved brands. Looking forward to work on some exciting campaigns for the brand.”

    Ogilvy& Mather‘s NCD Abhijit Avasthi commented: “We are quite excited to work with Dhanush. After Kolaveri Di and now – Raanjhana, all eyes are definitely on him. His value addition to the brand will be immense.”

  • Anurag Kashyap features in new TVC for Cadbury

    Anurag Kashyap features in new TVC for Cadbury

    NEW DELHI: Cadbury Dairy Milk Shots‘s new TVC has been launched to introduce the Rs 10 pack called ‘Shots with Friends‘ featuring filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. The TVC hit screens across the nation on August 1, 2012 and is present across 60 television channels.

    The TVC captures the spirit of friendship by showing a group of friends bonding and celebrating with Cadbury Dairy Milk Shots. The commercial is based around the plot of an audition which lends the Bollywood connection and makes it easily identifiable and enjoyable, especially for the youth.

    The commercial is an extension of the brand‘s ‘mann ka laddoo‘ concept. The ‘chocolate ladoos‘ that are a part of each character‘s thought bubble act as the ‘sweet‘ metaphor that symbolise and connect the range of positive emotions they experience. The closing VO summarizes the mood of the TVC, “Dosto ke saath kuch meetha ho jaye”

    The opening of the TVC shows Kashyap sitting in a café and struggling to find the actress and describing his dream cast on the phone, he realizes they are much closer than he expected. The young group of girls on the neighboring table is ecstatic, to say the least, when they hear the director describe someone that looks exactly like them.

    Cadbury India director, snacking and strategy Chandramouli Venkatesan said, “The bite size format of Cadbury Dairy Milk Shots allows it to be an easy alternative to ‘snacking‘. The new TVC captures the essence of the product aptly- sharing among groups of friends, and further builds on the brand‘s core message of celebrating small but significant occasions with Shots.”

    Ogilvy India NCD Abhijit Avasthi added, “The Shots proposition of ‘mann mein ladoo phoota‘ has been a resounding hit with the youngsters. To talk about the ‘Shots with Friends‘ pack we decided to build on the same with the slant being on a group of friends wishing for something fantastic instead of an individual. Also, we thought it would be sweet and charming to tell the story with a group of girls instead of making it male-centric. It‘s turned out much funnier than we had imagined and Anuraag Kashyap‘s cameo is the icing on the cake.”