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Tag: advertising

  • Olx Autos, Rohit Shetty team up to launch ‘Shetty Ke Car-Naame’ campaign

    Olx Autos, Rohit Shetty team up to launch ‘Shetty Ke Car-Naame’ campaign

    Mumbai: Olx Autos has partnered with Bollywood director Rohit Shetty and actor Sharman Joshi for its first celebrity-led ad campaign.

    The latest campaign titled ‘Shetty Ke Car-Naame’ is conceptualised by Lowe Lintas Delhi seeks to drive awareness about Olx Autos’ ‘Best Price’ proposition for consumers keen to sell their pre-owned cars and consider Olx Autos as the leading destination for the same.

    The digital-first multi-film campaign showcases Rohit Shetty as a consumer keen to sell the cars from his films to Sharman Joshi, who poses as an Olx Autos employee evaluating the cars for sale. The campaign films are a humorous take on the common tropes found across Rohit Shetty’s films, where cars are often shown in a glamorised fashion performing gravity-defying stunts and often forming the centerpiece of the films.

    To leverage this campaign further, Olx Autos will also undertake a digital campaign across various social media platforms to reach more consumers.

    Talking about the association, Rohit Shetty said, “I am delighted to collaborate with Sharman Joshi to partner with Olx Autos for this campaign which brings together my passion for films and cars. As a director, a mainstay of my films have been car stunts which audiences love and admire.”

    “As an automobile enthusiast, I have always had a passion for automobiles, but often found it challenging when it came to selling off my cars while upgrading to a newer car. I hope audiences will enjoy this collaboration and resonate with the values of a fellow car enthusiast,” he added.

    Sharman Joshi said, ”It’s good to be back collaborating again with Rohit on this campaign for Olx Autos. We share a common passion for automobiles and with Olx Autos it was a breeze translating the same onscreen for the short films.”

    Commenting on the partnership, Olx Autos CMO Siddharth Agrawal said, “Rohit Shetty and cars are synonymous in the Indian pop culture and there is no one better than him to bring this campaign to life. Sharman Joshi’s everyman portrayal across his movies fit the mold of what we were looking for in highlighting a pertinent consumer challenge when it comes to selling pre-owned cars. We are excited to bring to life our campaign with these industry stalwarts as we aim to position ourselves as the preferred brand for consumers looking to sell their cars in their car ownership journey throughout their various life stages.”

    Speaking about the creative thought behind the campaign, Lowe Lintas regional creative officer Vasudha Misra said, “It was an exciting campaign to work on from the start. When the team first pitched the idea to me- To bring Rohit Shetty, someone known for his action stunts with cars to promote Olx Autos – I was immediately sold. And like Olx Autos’ great price this has also turned out to be a great surprise.”

  • VidNet 2022: Advertising On OTT – the way forward for the industry

    VidNet 2022: Advertising On OTT – the way forward for the industry

    Mumbai: The OTT ecosystem in India is growing every day with new players coming into the fray and novel, edgy content being churned out. The way we look at online streaming is also changing. Today the market has 40 odd players including regional players. For these platforms to sustain, there are two ways- one: is the AVOD, that’s advertising-supported and the second is the SVOD which is subscription-supported. In a market like India, SVOD remains a challenge. Even as the OTT subscription market in India continues to grow at a gradual pace, it remains an exciting prospect for an increasing number of marketers and advertisers who are keen to promote their brands and ads on these emerging platforms.

    The sixth edition of IndianTelevision.com’s annual VidNet Summit took an in-depth look at the way forward for the OTT ecosystem and all the platforms on it, and the opportunities and the challenges in the space.

    The two-day summit had technology partners Dell Technologies and Synamedia, summit partners Applause Entertainment and Viewlift, industry support partners Gupshup, Lionsgate Play and Pallycon, community partners Screenwriters Association and Indian Film and Television Producers Council, and gifting partner The Ayurveda Co.

    Day one of VidNet 2022 saw an interesting mix of sessions on the subject of advertising on OTT from industry experts and stakeholders on the various panels. The panel on ‘Advertising On OTT – Connecting The New Brand Order’ oversaw bristling conversations from panelists that included MediaCom chief product officer Averill Sequeira, Swiggy head of brand marketing Saurabh Nath, Zee Entertainment Enterprises chief revenue officer-Digital & SMB, South Asia Gaurav Kanwal, ITC head media & PR Jaikishin Chhaproo, Byju’s brand and creative strategy vice president Vineet Singh and Syska Group head of marketing Amit Sethiya. The session was moderated by Madison World vice president Kosal Malladi.

    Today data has become a complete commodity with large OTT players like Netflix, Prime Video, Zee5, Hotstar, Sony liv etc coming in, observed Malladi. Recently Netflix declared that it has decided to support advertising. The advertising revenues on these platforms in the last four years have grown by 400 per cent, Malladi shared. So will the subscription model stay or perish in India? Also, as brands are the numbers large enough for advertising on AVOD?

    According to Zee’s Gaurav Kanwal, the OTT industry in India is in its infancy. “There’s a huge AVOD play for sure, with increased reach more brands will come on board. On the SVOD side, as the economy progresses, people will pay for varied content that they can watch at their convenience. We already have about 70 million people paying for content on various OTTs across the board,” he said while adding, “As we evolve as an ecosystem, the pricing models will evolve as well and then we shall see a massive upswing in the SVOD subscriptions. It will be difficult to sustain only on the back of SVOD so an advertising-supported hybrid model will be the way forward.”

    Speaking about how OTT has caught the attention of brands, Syska’s Amit Sethiya said, “We have started exploring OTT from the last three to four years and the money that we are putting in it is increasing year on year in the entire media mix. From single-digit investment in the medium about four years back the brand has now expanded to double-digit investment. We are in a position to fetch incremental audiences with this new avenue and connected TV is aiding the entire process.”

    The role of agency here is more of a consultant or facilitator, rather than a gatekeeper in bringing the two worlds of brands and the rich, emerging ecosystem of OTTs together, MediaCom’s Averill Sequeira averred. “Am very bullish about the OTT sector, the pace at which they are growing, especially the phenomenal growth, regional OTTs and the void they have fulfilled in terms of quality content. They have opened people’s minds to new forms of storytelling.”

    Sequira spoke of two ways to validate OTT reach and audience. “As far as programmatic is concerned it is simpler as you’re buying the audience and not inventory on the platform. But where programmatic is not available, she encouraged all stakeholders to actively seek metrics such as search volumes, brand recall, and social chatter to serve as ‘proof of the pudding’.”

    On what attracted FMCG brands to OTT, ITC’s Jaikishin Chhaproo explained that their primary target audience is women. “We knew most women were missing the first telecast of their favourite shows and watching repeat telecasts. When that consumption moved to OTT they could watch it at their convenience on hand-held devices, rather than by appointment viewing as on TV. OTT provided that platform seamlessly,” he said, adding that “the other huge chunk of their TG is the youth 18-40, who watch differentiated on OTT only and who aren’t interested in appointment viewing. This age group that forms the core TG of FMCGs is also present on OTT.”

    Swiggy’s Saurabh Nath pointed out that for a food tech brand, the consumer journey is key as there are specific times of the day when food is relevant to their lives. “One can only increase their ‘desire to action’ by building awareness via advertising but one cannot expect immediate action. The kind of marketing that we are talking about is changed and is different when it comes to tech and D2C from that of FMCGs as the cycle is much more condensed,” he said, adding that, “the attribution for the FMCGs was very clear, that the brand will build over a period of time.”

    Nath shared three-pointers on brand equity for any brand to perform well- saliency, meaningfulness, and differentiation. Putting the ad on an OTT may give the brand salience but the outcome in terms of recall, engagement and differentiation will depend on one’s campaign relevance. The industry stakeholders agreed on the importance of “tracking the right metric” for the same.

    For D2C brands like edtechs, content marketing is the way to create love for the brand, affirmed Byju’s Vineet Singh, adding, “We need to figure out what works for us and what doesn’t as marketers first- Brand recall, salience, relevance etc.” Going back to basics is important such as understanding what our requirement is, instead of unnecessarily complicating. We’ve evolved from a world where just pushing the narrative is going to work. Creative excellence from a brand is important.”

    Investments in content continue to burgeon as viewers’ insatiable appetite continues to demand more and more. With all agreeing that OTT’s a high-growth industry with everyone wanting ‘a piece of the OTT pie,’ panelists agreed that the end goal/objective has to be clearly defined for the brand or a particular campaign. Cookie-cutter branding is not going to work for brands.

    It was agreed that OTT platforms need to take some responsibility too, even as marketers need to own it, for ‘passive integration’ will not work. With nearly 18-20 percent of FMCG’s money for television going to OTTs today, expectation setting needs to be clear and realistic.

  • Mango announces Kiara Advani as its brand ambassador

    Mango announces Kiara Advani as its brand ambassador

    Mumbai: Mango has announced Kiara Advani as the new brand ambassador in India on Thursday. She will endorse the Spring Summer 2022 collection and the campaign will be visible across regions and mediums. Mango has also collaborated with Myntra for its brand building.

    The Spanish fashion giant, Mango has established itself as a brand of choice and aspiration, especially among a young fashion-forward audience in India. With its world-class offering and the association with Kiara, a fashion bellwether and beloved of the nation, Mango is set to build stronger brand salience with its shoppers and the actor’s enormous fan base across the country.

    The campaign will be promoted extensively across digital mediums, including social media to reach the brand’s target audience, which largely comprises young urban shoppers. The campaign pivots on the theme of enjoying the flowers of summer and is called, ‘summer blooms with Mango’.

    The 57-second ad campaign, titled, ‘enjoying the bloom’, showcases Kiara enjoying the bounties of summer while wearing bright and colourful ensembles that reflect the flowers and the mood of the season. She is seen enjoying her day out at a flower garden, lush with the season’s blooms and is comfortable, happy and confident – characteristic of a woman dressed in Mango.

    Speaking on the occasion, Kiara Advani, a Bollywood actor said, “I’m delighted to be representing Mango, which is one of my personal favourites. I strongly relate to the brand and its philosophy and the new summer collection is an ode to women who are carefree and like to enjoy the seasons with conforming ensembles. As such, I believe, my attitude and style syncs well with the brand’s own and I look forward to being a link between the brand and its audience.”    

    Myntra’s Senior Director Vishal Anand said, “Kiara’s established presence has the potential to pull audiences across the nation and influence people with her sartorial choices. She is a reigning style icon of the country; her fan base is growing by the day. The association with Kiara for the new vibrant -Summer collection is sure to enamour the fashion-forward audiences of the country.”

    Mango’s board of directors and head of expansion Daniel Lopez Garcia, “The new Mango Spring Summer 2022 campaign captures the essence of summer blooms perfectly. The designs have been created by adopting the current trends while leaving room for personal expression among women in the age group of 18-45. With Kiara onboard, we are confident of strengthening our presence further and reaching our target audience, which is also the actor’s core audience.”

  • Weekend Unwind with: White Rivers Media co-founder & Ceo Shrenik Gandhi

    Weekend Unwind with: White Rivers Media co-founder & Ceo Shrenik Gandhi

    Mumbai: IndianTelevision moves on to the next in its series of informal, fun snippets that peek into the mind of corporate executives – akin to a virtual water cooler chat. An attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better, by having them share their nuggets on life and their mantras to deal with the curveballs that life throws – not necessarily revolving around work life – and sometimes going beyond work.

    This week, we have on the hot seat White Rivers Media Co-founder & Ceo Shrenik Gandhi. A zealous entrepreneur, Gandhi cofounded White Rivers Media in 2012. Since then, the agency has featured in Deloitte Tech Fast 50’s ranking- a benchmark of fast-growing tech companies worldwide- five years in a row. Gandhi is also a regular speaker at digital and entrepreneurship summits, including TedX.  

    So here goes…

    ü  Your mantra for life:  My mantra for life is very straightforward- Give joy and pay it forward, always.

    ü  A book you are currently reading or planning to read: ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear is a book that has truly moved me.

    ü  Your fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic: My fitness routine has always been quite simple. It’s basically, getting a cardio workout by 7:30 am and dinner before 6:30 am.

    ü  Your comfort food:  I’m a big fan of Indian cuisine. So, any Indian meal is my comfort food.

    ü  When the chips are down a quote/ philosophy that keeps you going:    When the odds are not in our favour, it’s important to have faith in yourself and believe that things will get better. So my go-to quote in tough times has to be: ‘Believe. Believe in a better tomorrow, always’.

    ü  Your guilty pleasure: Binging on my favourite ice cream from NOTO would probably be it.

    ü When was the last time you tried something new?  I believe I am a curious learner by nature and someone open to new experiences. Last week I tried polishing my table tennis skills, while this week I’m going to try my hand at golf.

    ü  If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?  For the longest time, I was afraid of failing. But if I could give my younger self a piece of advice, I’d say, “fail faster” because failure is what leads to growth.

    ü  What gets you excited about life?  Every day, I get excited about the next day, because every tomorrow has the potential to be extraordinary.

    ü  What’s on top of your bucket list?  Well, I have a long due vacation to Iceland, so it’s fair to say that backpacking in Iceland tops my bucket list.

    ü  A life lesson you learnt the hard way: Again, just two words- Fail fast

    ü  One thing you would most like to change about the world: The world is in desperate need of empathy, and it’s about time this changes. Apart from that, on a more practical note, more financial prudence is the need of the hour.

    ü  An activity that keeps you motivated / charged during tough times: Yoga is something that keeps me charged throughout the day, especially on challenging days.

    ü  What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?  I think meditation works magically when life gets you down. It helps me clear my head which eventually leads me to come up with solutions.

    ü  Your go-to stress buster: As cliche as it may sound, getting some cardio done at the gym helps clear my mind, and it’s my go-to stress buster.

  • Akshay Kumar issues public apology for endorsing pan masala brand

    Akshay Kumar issues public apology for endorsing pan masala brand

    Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar often remains in the discussion for his films. The actor has been in talks on social media again for the past several days. Nonetheless, the discussion is not a film but an advertisement, which he recently did for a tobacco company.

    Kumar was recently seen in an ad of Vimal, after which he was trolled fiercely on social media. The actor is constantly facing criticism from the people, has now come forward and issued an apology for hurting his fans’ sentiments.

     

     

    He took to instagram and twitter to write an apology to his fans and followers. His post reads, “I am sorry. I would like to apologise to all my fans and well-wishers. Your reaction over the past few days has deeply affected me. While I have not and will not endorse tobacco, I respect the outpouring of your feelings in light of my association with Vimal Elaichi. With all humility, I step back. I have decided to contribute the entire endorsement fee towards a worthy cause.”

    “The brand might continue airing the ads till the legal duration of the contract that is binding upon me, but I promise to be extremely mindful in making my future choices. In return, I shall forever continue to ask for your love and wishes,” he added.

    It is worth noting that this advertisement of Akshay Kumar was released recently. The ad features actors Shahrukh Khan and Ajay Devgan too, who were seen welcoming Akshay Kumar in this advertisement. This was the first time that three big Bollywood actors had come together in an ad. Ajay Devgan has already appeared in many pan masala brand advertisements for a long time. There was not much ruckus when Shahrukh Khan appeared in this advertisement. But as soon as Akshay came in this ad, people criticized him fiercely and trolled him.

  • Vidnet 2022: Gen-Z, millennials driving OTT consumption pattern along with non-urban audience, says Carat report

    Vidnet 2022: Gen-Z, millennials driving OTT consumption pattern along with non-urban audience, says Carat report

    Mumbai: The OTT ecosystem in India has been evolving by leaps and bounds in recent times with amazing and diverse content being churned out on the plethora of platforms on the connected web today. Even as the OTT subscription market in India continues to grow at a gradual pace, it remains an exciting prospect for an increasing number of marketers and advertisers who are keen to promote their brands and ads on these emerging platforms.

    IndianTelevision.com organised the sixth edition of its Annual Vidnet Summit with an aim to have an in-depth look at the way forward for the OTT ecosystem and all the platforms on it, and the opportunities and the challenges in the space. The two-day summiit had technolgy partners Dell Technologies and Synamedia, summit partners Applause Entertainment and Viewlift, industry support partners Gupshup, Lionsgate Play and Pallycon, community partners Screenwriters Association and Indian Film and Television Producers Council and gifting partner The Ayurveda Co.

    The first day of Vidnet 2022 saw an interesting mix of sessions on the subject with bristling conversations from industry experts and stakeholders on the various panels. The day’s sessions kicked off with an informative report on ‘OTT Consumption & Advertising Trends’ presented by Carat India associate vice president- strategy Sayami Podder. The report provided insights on the key factors that have driven the growth in the space such as OTT first releases, low subscription cost, regional content, live events and Connected TV. The report also looked at who is driving the growth and estimated that the large potential audience base of 70-80 million paid subscribers comprises the age group of 15-35 years, while amongst women consumption is driven by the 25-35 years age group.

    The report also estimates that the viewing time spent on these streaming platforms have gone up from two hours pre-covid to 4.45 hours, even as the minutes of consumption have spiked from 181 to 204 billion minutes in 2021.

    Video consumption of non-fiction content beyond television on streaming platforms is also on the rise, as per the report, with the viewership for such series on Netflix alone growing by over 250 per cent.

    Digital viewership of non-cricket sports too saw an increase of 310 per cent, according to the report, while the IPL audience is expected to become even bigger with a 20-30 per cent spike in match watch time over IPL 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar.

  • Cred IPL 2022 campaign: Has the brand lost the plot with its ‘nostalgia’ overkill?

    Cred IPL 2022 campaign: Has the brand lost the plot with its ‘nostalgia’ overkill?

    Mumbai: Love them or hate them, you can’t ignore them! Yes, we are referring to the ubiquitous Cred bounty ads. Whether you tune into Disney+ Hotstar to catch the day’s play of IPL or switch on your TV, the Cred bounty advertisements are out in full force. This time around, the brand turned the clock back to the 1990s, going on to serve the viewers a ‘bounty’ful of small screen nostalgia in a scene-by-scene recreation of the period’s all-too-familiar advertisements and television shows. There might even be a risk of overkill, with the jarringly repetitive call of “Cred Bounty” playing on a loop, ad nauseam.

    Nostalgia done right? Let’s hear what the industry executives and discerning netizens have to say on the latest bounty of Cred ads unleashed on the unsuspecting viewer.

    Cred ads have consistently played up the 90s nostalgia factor. Be it their 2020’s ‘Not everyone gets it’ IPL campaign with the decade’s popular film stars, playback singers, musicians who have you jamming to Cred jingles. Or its 2021’s ‘Great for the good’ IPL campaign, that had a staid Jim Sarbh doling out the credit card payment app’s virtues followed by a video of diverse celebs and sports stars from the decade in wholly uncharacteristic avatars. So we had a fuming, ballistic Rahul Dravid, a team of 90’s cricketers featuring in a boy-band and an eclectic Kapil Dev channelling his inner Ranveer Singh to the hilt. There was even a normally reticent, fresh off his Olympic-win Neeraj Chopra showing off his acting chops, though he technically belongs to this era.
    These ads were high on entertainment quotient and managed to grab one’s attention without trying too hard. Of course, whether they helped sell the product or not, is another matter entirely.

    For this year’s IPL season, the Bengaluru-based fintech brand has notably decided to play it a tad differently for its ‘Play it different’ 2022 IPL campaign, promoting its Cred Bounty feature.

    So we have the vintage Nirma Super Detergent ad recreated with Karisma Kapoor starring as the modern-day ‘Deepikaji’ in a near-perfect reproduction of the original ad. Then there was the recreation of the 90’s popular reality TV show Antakshari with its original anchors, Annu Kapoor and Renuka Shahane pumping up the energy levels of their teams ‘Afsane,’ ‘Begane,’ and ‘Tarane’ as well as that of the viewers with their infectious enthusiasm. The latest in the series shows Sharma ji chatting up his neighbour Gupta ji about the prizes in store with Cred bounty, in yet another throwback to the 90s ads. All three of the brand’s latest attempt at rewinding the years are rendered in the definitive technicolour aesthetic of the retro-era that effectively transport one back in time.

    While there were several individuals who felt the fintech brand is “revolutionising” the advertising industry with its novel and innovative marketing experiments to grab attention there were the naysayers too, with one user on social media going so far as to declare, “The only reason I am not seeing IPL this season is due to the flurry of irritating ads from Cred.”

    “I don’t hate the new Cred ads. How can I hate something I don’t understand?,” posted Schbang creative strategist Devargh Mukherjee on LinkedIn, with several voices from the corporate world chiming in agreement.

    Bombay Shaving Company founder and CEO Shantanu Deshpande noted tongue-in-cheek that the quality of the Cred ad is directly proportional to the value of the Cred coin.

    Some were scathing in their critique. “Cred I guess you have bought the wrong book of 1000 best marketing ideas or got the wrong agency. Go buy another one or change your agency,” ABC Talkies founder and chief executive officer Shalibhadra Shah held.

    The ads are conceptualised and written by the brand’s established team of writers, comprising Tanmay Bhat, Devaiah Bopanna, Puneet Chadha and Deep Joshi, and produced and directed by Early Man Film and Ayappa respectively.

    “IPL with Cred is a platform for us to work with iconic celebrities in the most creative and twisted ways possible,” Ayappa had said of the latest 90’s blitzkrieg from the Cred factory.

    There were many who lauded the campaign’s production values and attention to detail to reinvent the bygone era’s ads. “Bhai maan gaye, aapki soch and production dono ko,” extolled one netizen.

    “What makes both the antakshari and the Karisma Kapoor ads stand out is the authentic recreation of the square-sized video and the then picture and sound quality, in order to hit the nostalgia among the credit card users,” stated SoCheers Film director Jitendra Hirawat to IndianTelevision.com. “For this year’s IPL campaign too, they picked up yet another strong insight that most credit card users in 2022 would have grown up in the 90s. Hence, the use of typical 90s ad templates for the execution,” he said, adding that, despite the execution for the campaign being “a little different from all their other properties,” it held up “Cred’s innovative USP.”

    Independent brand strategist Ambi Parameshwaran had a differing point of view. “Cred advertising is attempting to do just one thing: Brand recall. Their ads featuring old film stars and cricketers were much talked about. Their recent series spoofing old ads is patchy. Some of the ads spoofed were hardly memorable to start with. And their spoofs are missing the zing of the Bappi Lahiri or Rahul Dravid spots,” he lamented.

    According to White Rivers Media influencer marketing and video production director Tanish Shah the ad is well shot and packaged too, but slightly more could have been done instead of simply playing repeat. “Perhaps, a lot could have been done to explain the product than just speaking about a particular feature of the product – which is vital. Besides, if I think from that lens, it kind of missed the bus. I’d have to say that the earlier ads were much better, he added.

    There were some who praised the creative agency but dissed the product, saying that Cred ads have done really well in using that to hide a “subpar” product.

    Some industry executives also lauded the brand for the creative freedom the writers of their ads got, positioning “creative freedom” as the most important thing in marketing.

    “Kudos to Cred for giving its agency free rein. However this is also reflective of the dangers of giving agencies free rein,” noted Singapore-based Ambrish Chaudhry on LinkedIn. “Half interesting idea but probably felt more powerful in the boardroom with its advertising and marketing echo chamber than in the real world. Also no consistency with the previous hugely successful campaign and no link to existing brand assets. This could have been an ad for any brand. In my opinion, the recall and link with Cred will be minimal,” he added.

    Similar sentiments were echoed by several creatives. “While everyone’s talking about Cred, Jar, and Zepto for aptly portraying the 80s and 90s, some of us are still dealing with clients who’ve rejected similar ideas in the past and will probably show us these brand films tomorrow as a reference,” rued creative strategist Palak Kaur Anand.

    Meanwhile, J Walter Thompson creative director Anurag Acharya wrote: I think there should be a ‘Cred’ category in ad awards for ads that cater to consumers, not to awards, made for products/services, not for a document called brief.

    One argument that is consistently made out in favour of these ads are that they are meant to strike a nostalgic chord with their target audience- that’s the growing-up-in-the-90 generation and present day credit card users and payers. Millennials aren’t their TG. It’s the people in their late 30s, 40s and 50s, who are the majority spenders of their credit cards. It’s the perfect way to hook the 90s kid, felt many.

    But is the “90s kid” such a prospective demographic as a customer for the brand? Apparently, yes!

    “Well played, Cred, once again! 🙂 Attention-grabbing for those who have grown up with/ seen the older DD ad!,” communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan posted about the campaign.

    So, what is it about nostalgia and why do brands latch onto it for marketing?

    Cred’s not the first, and far likely to be the last to peddle nostalgia- There’s beverage brand Paperboat, which right from its brand name to its packaging has been invoking nostalgia.

    “Nostalgia marketing” is a strategy rooted in psychology, and these processes are incredibly effective. Because nostalgia makes us crave the past, and when used in advertising, it appeals on a sentimental, emotional, and powerful level to the audience.

    Well, if the surge in traffic to its app is any indicator, the strategy seems to have paid off for the fintech brand, at least so far. The Cred app saw a spike in traffic to the tune of 10-20 times during the IPL powerplays this season, according to Ganesh Subramanian, who heads architecture at the fintech company.

    So, whether it’s brickbats or bouquets its ads have been garnering, Cred may well be laughing its way to the bank! How much longer will the “nostalgia economy” work for the brand, however, remains to be seen.

  • L&K Saatchi & Saatchi appoints Avinash Jakhalekar as group creative director

    L&K Saatchi & Saatchi appoints Avinash Jakhalekar as group creative director

    Mumbai: Integrated business and brand growth agency L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has appointed Avinash Jakhalekar as group creative director. In this role, he will be based out of Mumbai and report to L&K Saatchi & Saatchi jt NCD Kartik Smetacek, the agency said on Tuesday.

    Over his 14-year professional career stint, Jakhalekar has worked across Lowe Lintas, Publicis Ambience, DDB Mudra and Network Advertising in various creative roles. After spending three years at Network Advertising, he moved on to DDB Mudra where he managed creatives on brands like Top Gear & Lavasa. His next career move was with Publicis Ambience as senior creative director – art where he worked on brands like Zee TV, Nerolac, Skoda, Citibank, SonyLIV, Brand Factory etc. He then moved on to Lowe Lintas where he was associated with brands like Mumbai Indians, Ultra Tech, Jameson Whiskey, ICICI Pru, Freecharge etc.

    Welcoming him to the agency, Kartik Smetacek said, “Avinash embodies the perfect qualities that I look for in creative person – equal parts talent, energy and resilience. We’re thrilled to have him aboard and look forward to him putting his amazing craft and can-do attitude to work on some of our key businesses.”

    Jakhalekar has managed creative output and rendition for a host of brands across agencies including UltraTech, Mumbai Indians, ICIC Pru, Zee TV, Citibank, Skoda, MX Player, Brand Factory, Burger King, Nerolac Paints among others.  

    Some of his work for brands like Lions Club, Yolo Homes, Natural Ice-cream, Zee TV etc. have gone on to win accolades at prominent award festivals like Goafest Abby, Effie India etc.

    Speaking on his role and responsibility at L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, Jakhalekar said, “It’s an exciting opportunity to be working for an agency that has been making heads turn with its noteworthy work over the past two years. The entrepreneurial spirit within the agency is one of the reasons that made me want to join. I can’t wait to get started and work alongside a fantastic team in producing some great work.”

  • Turn up the volume! Podcast marketing becomes brands’ new favorite

    Turn up the volume! Podcast marketing becomes brands’ new favorite

    Mumbai: Covid-19 disruptions and months-long lockdowns hampered the marketing industry for the last two years. While some mediums became irrelevant during the pandemic, others witnessed enormous growth. One leading example of the latter is podcast! Experts feel that with the restriction on movement during the pandemic, podcast emerged as a screen-free comfortable medium to deliver content to the listeners and consumers are increasingly inclining toward passive entertainment leading marketers to invest more in audio advertising.

    According to a KPMG study, podcast consumption increased by 29.3 per cent in the first year of the pandemic. A survey by Spotify and YouGov says that as of 2021, 50 percent of Indians prefer listening to at least one episode of a podcast every week. In 2018, PWC estimated that among 500 million internet users in India, only 40 million ever listened to a podcast. But the number changed dramatically during the pandemic as the listener base increased to 57.6 million monthly listeners, revealed another PWC report of 2020. The PWC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020 study also predicted that India’s podcast listening market, the third-largest globally, is expected to reach Rs 17.61 crore by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 34.5 per cent.

    By offering advertising opportunities, the podcast is emerging as an influential platform. The key reason behind brands’ interest and increasing spending on podcast advertising is that it works, and it works more effectively compared to the traditional advertising mediums that have become increasingly less effective. It is a popular medium especially among millennials and gen-Z as the medium lets them learn more about self-love, discover something new, cope with anxiety, or simply entertain themselves.

    Surge in ad sales 

    Spotify, which is believed to be the largest music streaming app in India, recorded a surge in ad sales from a big investment in newer services such as podcasts while recording a 16 per cent increase in paid subscribers in the fourth quarter of last fiscal year. According to reports, Spotify has recorded major growth in the regional market, leading them to launch 30 new podcasts with local creators.

    Local creators tapped into the trend by understanding the need of the time. While the pandemic brought unavoidable challenges to life, podcasts made content consumption easier.

    As digital players are moving back to the traditional way of storytelling, open mics and sharing content through audio, audio platforms expect even bigger growth numbers in the upcoming years. Gaana.com, another leading music streaming app, is also eying to improve its marketing efficiency by 50 per cent by the end of 2022, tells Gaana head of marketing Shashwat Goswami. 

    Goswami says that their efforts are dedicated to diversification and personalisation. Revealing the marketing strategy for the year, he states, “Our major focus is non-music content for the year because the growth trajectory in the future will be led by podcasts.” 

    On being asked why is so hopeful about the growth of podcasts, he explains that podcasts are highly personalised and getting hyper-local. “Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular among local communities, if it goes at the same pace, we can expect growth in tier 2 and 3 cities,” he asserts. 

    Brands are all up to leverage the medium 

    This change in numbers attracted many brands to invest in the medium. If we see the trends, brands like Oppo, Netflix, HDFC Life, Unacademy, Cadbury’s, and many more started investing in the medium a long time ago. 

    The Man Company, an ultimate solution to becoming a gentleman, is soon launching a very exciting show with a significant modern gentleman as the host and an amazing lineup of guests, reveals The Man Company director-brand marketing Rumi Ambastha. 

    Ambastha feels that this becomes a platform that’s worth exploring both from an education and entertainment perspective. 

    QuackQuack founder and CEO Ravi Mittal says, “The usage of podcasts is going up in India. Our observation shows people who were listening to music are now also switching to podcasts for entertainment, knowledge and inspiration. We are finding this concept interesting for marketing our products.” 

    “Podcasts should see continuous growth in India for now as people opt to get more productive with their free time and consume more audio-based content. Audio-based marketing has a tremendous scope from a sponsorship point of view if done in the right manner leading to a win-win for the podcast and the brands,” he adds, while evaluating the future of podcast marketing. 

    The popular dating app Bumble also collaborated with JioSaavn during the pandemic to spread the message of being together among young adults. With a highly-engaged and young user base, JioSaavn was the perfect destination for Bumble to build a community to foster safe, meaningful, and true connections. 

    Dairy Milk Silk also launched a campaign with Spotify to bring lovestruck couples together. The campaign was targeted toward the couples who couldn’t meet during the lockdown. According to Spotify official data, the campaign reached five million+ listeners and eight thousand Spotify users opted to gift a Dairy Milk Silk to their loved ones. 

    Supertails, an online vet consultation platform, also invests in podcast marketing. Supertails co-founder Varun Sadana says, “We definitely see podcasts as an interesting brand building tool and are working in this direction. Our initiatives for the medium are still in the works and we’re excited to see how our community takes it when we launch.”

    Well! Not just the mainstream brands but other industry players are also investing in the medium. Scenic Communication, a leading communication agency, has invested in the medium by collaborating with leading podcasters. 

    Scenic Communication co-founder Anindita Gupta says, “We invest in the medium by collaborating with leading podcasters.” She added, “as a communication agency we are aware of how significant this platform is going to be in the future of brand engagement and we are working towards a strategy to involve most of our clients to create a presence on this platform.” 

    The relevance of podcast: Explained by experts 

    Gupta feels podcast as a medium has rapidly evolved over the last five years, mainly as an alternative to video, as it allows people to reduce screen time, multi-task, and still consume content of their choice. 

    “Over a period of time, podcasts also became a source of knowledge, entertainment and news, helping both podcasters and brands to engage with a fast-evolving audience willing to ‘Listen’ instead of being attached to an ‘immersive viewing’ experience all the time. This is how podcasts started as a marketing medium and are now used as a tool for brands to showcase their products and services,” affirms Gupta. 

    Adding to it, The Man Company’s Ambastha says, “podcast emerged as an interesting respite from all other video streaming platforms. So one can say podcasts literally and figuratively found their space and voice during the pandemic.”

    “Podcast is a welcome change from the erstwhile omnipresent mobile phones. Gives you the liberty to watch and do other household chores or workout all while listening to your favorite personalised podcasts,” she explains.

    Pulp Strategy founder and MD Ambika Sharma shares that podcasts are a great way to reach hyper-targeted audiences. “Podcasts can be information, and engagement on-demand while audiences are on the go, they are easy to tune into and offer the advantage of repetitive engagement if the content is great. It is a very useful medium for new-age brands that are majorly targeted to millennials and gen-Z and if we deep dive into the demographics of the users of audio platforms, we realise that 75 per cent of their consumers are from these age groups. Hence, audio streaming platforms become relevant for dating applications,” she further says. 

    4AM Worldwide chief creative officer Anand Nair thinks that audio-based content has certain transparency and intimacy to it. “The beauty of listening to a well-conducted podcast as it transports the listener to the room where the host and the guest are conversing makes it feel like a personal experience. Whether from entertainment or from a learning perspective, this kind of engagement is remarkable in the times we live in where distractions abound,” asserts Nair. 

    “Podcasts make more sense for a certain type of brand targeting a certain type of audience thanks to the level of intimate and extensive engagement it offers. It makes the speaker appear as an authority thus inducing trust which is the precursor to most purchase decisions,” he further says, adding that, “If used strategically as part of a larger media plan, it can help build recall and become a channel to build more evangelists for the brand since the audience listening are likely to be among the influencers of their social circles.” 

    Moreover, podcasts appeal to the mass audience as it has the added advantage of less attention span which does not require any extra screen time making them an ideal option for consuming productive content even in a busy schedule. 

    Grapes Digital CEO and co-founder Shradha Agarwal thinks that podcasts as a platform show a great affinity for story-telling. Explaining further, she said, “The sector has always shown significant growth, which in the past two years got the desired mileage with the onset of a pandemic that necessitated a reduction in the screen time which worked in favour of podcasts.”

    “However, the listenership for podcasts is growing, but on a small base because in the end, it’s difficult to define how many listeners have actually tuned in for how many minutes but there is an immense scope in the industry to grow.”

    “In recent times, various categories of brands have started advertising audio marketing. The brands usually tap the millennials or people in the age bracket of 20-40 years. With the rising popularity of podcasts and the wide reach it exercises, diverse brands are foraying in this platform where e-commerce, fintech, education, food delivery apps etc are highly active on the platform,” Agarwal attests.

  • Abbys 2022 onboards six adland executives as jury chairs

    Abbys 2022 onboards six adland executives as jury chairs

    Mumbai: The Abbys Award Governing Council on Monday announced the names of six advertising professionals, who will be judging Abbys 2022 along with the international judges as jury chairs. The jury panel will include MullenLowe Lintas group chief creative officer and chairman Amer Jaleel, Elephant Design co-founder and director Ashwini Deshpande, Havas chairman and chief creative officer Bobby Pawar, BC Web Wise founder and MD Chaaya Bharadwaj, DDB Mudra Group chief creative officer Rahul Mathew, and Leo Burnett CEO and chief creative officer for South Asia Rajdeepak Das.

    The council had earlier announced three international jury chairs namely, Menno Kluin, Aricio Fortes, and Myra Nussbaum, from the global advertising industry, who will be judging Abbys 2022.

    As global creative head of Unilever’s Lifebuoy business, Amer Jaleel has contributed to the brand’s success over the past decade – in India and across the world. Spearheaded by him, Lifebuoy’s ‘Help a Child Reach 5’ initiative was named among the most effective campaigns in the world. Amer has built brands like Micromax, Olx and Havells among others. He has also conceived and led the journey for Tata Tea’s ‘Jaago Re’ movement. His portfolio includes brands like Google, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Prudential and Bajaj Auto.

    Bobby Pawar has won more than 400 local and international metals. He was IAA India’s Creative Agency Leader of the Year (2021) and Campaign Asia’s Creative Person of the Year (2011) for India and South Asia. Consistently ranked amongst the most influential and creative people in India, Bobby has worked for seven years in the United States with long stints at Ogilvy, New York and BBDO, Chicago.

    As the co-founder and director of Elephant Design, some of the international Awards won by Ashwini Deshpande are ReBrand100 (USA), A’Design (Italy), Worldstar (Germany), AsiaStar (Singapore), Lexus Design Award (Best of the Best). The jury president at D&AD and London International Awards, she is also on the Jury at Cannes, One Show, New York Festival, Spikes Asia and Design for Asia. Elephant Design was also awarded Design House of the Year at Lexus Design Awards India.

    With Chaaya Baradhwaaj at the helm, BC Web Wise has woven several successful cases in digital brand marketing. Major awards won include Microsoft Cyber Lions with a ticket to Cannes in 2005 and over 200 metals across The Abbys, DMAI Echo, Digixx Awards, Asian Consumer Effectiveness Awards, National Marketing Excellence Awards.

    Under Rahul Mathew’s creative leadership, DDB Mudra became the first Indian agency to be crowned APAC agency of the year at Spikes Asia. Work from the agency has won four Grand Prix at Spikes Asia in the last three years. In 2019, DDB Mudra became the first agency in the world to win the D&AD Impact Prize Fund. According to the 2021 Campaign Brief Asia ranking, DDB Mudra Group is number three in India. While the WARC 2021 ranking places DDB Mudra group as number one Effective Agency in India and Asia. Apart from judging many prestigious award shows, Mathew is also the jury president for press and outdoor at D&AD 22.

    Rajdeepak Das has built Apollo Eleven, a division of Leo Burnett, and comprising a team of young IIT Aerospace engineers, social media influencers, musicians, product designers and environmentalists who came together with one common passion. Das has won over 250 metals at Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, Clio, Spikes Asia, Effies and others.