MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has created a new campaign to celebrate the pan India launch of Super Carry, the commercial vehicle (LCV) from the house of Maruti Suzuki.
The ‘Dumdaar’ Campaign for Maruti Suzuki’s commercial vehicle, Super Carry has been beautifully ideated and executed. The campaign highlights the dumdaar features of the powerful mini truck that depicts easy handling and stability of the deck across different geographical terrains, excellent mileage, comfortable drivability of the vehicle throughout long commutes and the reliability of the vehicle with the trust of Maruti Suzuki.
In 2016, Maruti Suzuki ventured into the commercial vehicle segment with the pilot launch of Super Carry in 3 cities. Riding on the company’s trust, quality after-sales and mass-market appeal, it managed to establish a strong foothold in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) space in 2017-18, selling more than 10,000 units. Its smooth car-like handling, roomy interiors, superior overall comfort and advanced safety features make the Super Carry the perfect Dumdaar saathi.
Maruti Suzuki senior director RS Kalsi said, “With Super Carry, we target to fulfill the business needs of our customers. Super Carry is a robust load carrying vehicle that is made for carrying large loads yet offers high fuel efficiency. Moreover, our strong service network brings a huge assurance to the customers.”
He added, “Maruti Suzuki has changed the way India drives; similarly, Super Carry brings in a revolution in the LCV segment. To reach out to more customers, we have opened 235 outlets which are selling this vehicle in more than 190 cities. Super Carry today has crossed 20,000 sales with the 10,000 numbers coming just in last six months.”
Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa mentioned, “Maruti Suzuki is a leader when it comes to passenger cars. So, when a company like Maruti Suzuki decides to launch a commercial vehicle, it has to be special in terms of the product and its communication. Super Carry being the reliable mini truck, deserves a communication that connects with its audience. This campaign according to me, does just that.”
Dentsu Impact national creative director Anupama Ramaswamy said, “The audience for a commercial vehicle is very different from that of a passenger car. Therefore, it was important to look at ways in which we could connect with the prospective buyer both functionally, as well as emotionally.”
The campaign has been rolled out in 11 languages and on multiple mediums ranging from TVC, print and radio which has been able to generate high resonance with customers belonging to different geographies.
MUMBAI: Hej IKEA i Indien! This translates to ‘Hello IKEA in India!’ Unless you’re living under a rock, by now we’ve all heard and read about Swedish furnishing brand IKEA’s great and pompous launch in India!
Indians alien to the concept of assembling furniture themselves lunged at IKEA’s launch in Hyderabad City. This reflects from 40,000 customers trooping in on the opening day, where the retailer rang up sales of a little over Rs 1 crore the same day.
But what really made Hyderabad and the nation go gaga over a company that they had probably never even heard of before 2017? Well, the answer is simple – branding and marketing.
In the global advertising world, IKEA is often cited as a master of branding, marketing and advertising. The company has consistently won the marketing game on social media and traditional mediums to carve some of the finest campaigns to reach out to the masses but India is a different animal altogether. A global campaign or a standard tone would never connect or work with the audiences here as India is an amalgamation of several cultures, traditions and beliefs.
But how do you connect with a country that has a population of 1.35 billion, doesn’t know a thing about the brand and can’t connect with the concept of self assembling furniture? Labour is cheap here so you can just get your local carpenter to fix anything for you in a jiffy. Hire the best agency available and capture nuances in the communication. For this, the Swedish giant hired Dentsu Impact as its official creative agency to launch the brand’s maiden campaign for India. Its ‘Make Everyday Brighter’ ads resonated fantastically well with Ikea’s belief to create a better life every day and drove home a customer traction that none had ever expected.
And now, as IKEA moves ahead aggressively to eke out a niche for itself in the country, Dentsu Impact is steadily helping the brand to discover this new culture and expand its footprint, nationwide.
While we have all read about how the launch of IKEA is a positive step for FDI, generating local jobs and a tough fight for e-commerce players, nobody really knows what went into making IKEA’s launch in India grandiose. To understand this, Indiantelevision.com spoke exclusively to the men behind Ikea’s entry in India – Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa and chief creative officer Soumitra Karnik – where they spoke about what went behind the planning, the agency’s strategy for Ikea, challenges while working for an international brand and much more. Excerpts:
How did Dentsu Impact end up bagging the IKEA business for India?
Amit Wadhwa: It was a long process that started way back in February 2016. They called us for the credentials sharing meeting which was more of a chemistry meeting. They shortlisted eight agencies basis the credential meeting and asked us on how they should launch IKEA in India and what should be their strategy. It was quite an elaborate pitch and they gave us three months to work on the pitch which was a little surprising considering how pitches normally happen in India. It took us a lot of time to understand the brand, how it functions and its tonality. Our creative team actually went to Hyderabad and stayed there for a few weeks to understand the Hyderabad market and the requirements for home furnishing there.
So when did you officially get the mandate?
Amit Wadhwa: We officially got the mandate in September 2016. But there’s a lot more that we’ve done for IKEA other than the launch campaign.
What do you mean when you say that? Were they pre-launch initiatives?
Amit Wadhwa: Yeah, we did an employee branding asking people to join IKEA where we used existing IKEA workers to promote the campaign rather than models. We also launched an experience centre for IKEA before the store launch where people could see the products but not buy them.
How was it working for an international brand like IKEA? How interesting was it for you to work on a brand’s entry in a market like India?
Soumitra Karnik: It’s been quite interesting and exciting because every adverting person around the world admires IKEA’s creative ads and it is a dream brand to work with for everyone. However, the challenge is that it’s not really easy to work for IKEA. IKEA is not only about award-winning ads and its products, it’s more than that and you realise that only after you’ve worked with them. The tonality of the brand is extremely exciting as they want to understand the local nuances of each market they enter into.
What was the brief that team IKEA shared with you when you said they want to launch their maiden campaign in India?
Amit Wadhwa: No two countries are exactly the same and moreover India is an amalgamation of many countries. What we have done for IKEA is take their belief and marry it with what India stands for. There are great similarities between brand IKEA and what India stands for. Family culture plays an important role for Indian and Swedish families and that’s well ingrained in IKEA as a brand and all their communications.
How will you ensure that you maintain brand recall through creativity in your campaigns for IKEA?
Amit Wadhwa: We have launched ad campaigns where it talks more about the products available at IKEA rather than just throwing out a good looking ad. We are creating things which are firsts in the IKEA world. The whole endeavour is to keep a balance between creating a brand language since IKEA has to be distinct and at the same time it needs to connect with the Indian consumers. They are very clear that the ads need to be locally relevant to connect with the consumers.
What will be IKEA’s strategy for India under your agency’s guidance?
Amit Wadhwa: It is not a typical client-agency relationship but more of a joint effort by IKEA and Dentsu to ensure we talk to many. Our focus will be on connecting with the family audiences but at the same time, they want to connect with the many.
Who were your target consumers when you created the campaign? Also, going forward, will the campaigns be targeted at anyone and everyone?
Amit Wadhwa: When we launched the first campaign, we wanted to target families and everyone. Now, going forward, while families will be at the core of our communication, we will look at targeting bachelors and elderly couples. You will see shades of many of them in our communication, but the core audience will always remain families with kids as IKEA wants to target families.
What is Dentsu Impact’s plan with IKEA going forward? How will you strengthen the relationship?
Soumitra Karnik: When we started working on the brand, we were super happy but now we are overwhelmed. It’s going to be an exciting journey with many more stories coming up. What the Mumbai store will bring to us is what we are really looking forward to!
Are there any constraints while working for a global retailer in India? For instance, how will a person sitting in Hyderabad connect with a brand that’s Swedish unless you really break it down to their level?
Amit Wadhwa: It’s definitely a challenge, but an interesting one! We understand that there could be challenge in terms of acceptance since it’s a Swedish brand and Indians probably had never even heard of it, but with the right communication, you can overcome that challenge. We really think we were able to overcome that but are working towards creating better communication going forward.
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) headquartered in Gurgaon, has expanded its footprint to Bangalore. The agency has set up a team of business, creative and strategy leads to run its operations in the city.
While Montu Sangha has been roped in to head business, Amish Sabharwal will head creative. Krittika Chakraborty, meanwhile, has been promoted to head strategy for Dentsu Impact in Bangalore. As part of their new mandate, the trio will not only be in-charge of the existing businesses at Dentsu Impact, especially IKEA, but will also look at opportunities to expand the agency’s offerings and thus, revenues.
With more than 14 years of experience in the business of communication, Sangha has worked across agencies in consulting and with the marketing teams of global brands such as HP and GE in India and the UK. During her stint with agencies, she has worked on the launch of brands for Unilever and ITC Foods. In her last role, she was the South Asia lead for advertising and promotions in GE Healthcare.
On joining the Dentsu Impact family, Sangha says, “I am very excited and look forward to my new role at Dentsu Impact, Bangalore. It is a great opportunity to partner with an iconic global brand like IKEA for their successful launch in India which is a key market for them. In the coming months, my focus will also be on identifying new areas of growth for Bangalore operations and to build a team that can offer a bouquet of services in the coming years.”
For Sabharwal, this is his second stint with Dentsu Impact. He joins back from JWT where he was taking care of the Pepsi business. There, he was also involved in the revamp of Gatorade and the launch of Sting.
Sabharwal adds, “IKEA is not just another brand. It’s a culture. And it is great to be involved in scripting the India chapter after being an integral part of the pitch team. Both Montu and Krittika are great professionals and human beings to work with, and we will make sure that the impact is both heard and seen. I really thank Amit and Soumitra for the faith that they have shown in us.”
Chakraborty has been with Impact for the last six years. She has nearly a decade of experience across marketing, branding and communication strategy. She has worked for a variety of categories such as automobiles, publications and home furnishings. She has been instrumental in leading strategic thinking on large scale businesses such as Maruti Suzuki and IKEA and is a keen believer in insight mining and storytelling for the digital age.
Commenting on the expansion, in a joint statement, Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa and chief creative officer Soumitra Karnik mention, “We have picked the best talent from inside and outside our organisation to take care of our Bangalore operations and IKEA is a very important part of this. We are sure that with Montu, Amish and Krittika at the helm, we will build a strong statement in the market.”
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has strengthened its strategic planning function by roping in Aditya Kilpady as the national planning head.
Kilpady will report to Amit Wadhwa, president of Dentsu Impact with a dotted line reporting to Narayan Devanathan, group executive and strategy officer, Dentsu Brand Agencies, South Asia.
Commenting on his new role, Aditya Kilpady says, “Marketers are expecting an integrated and synergistic approach to improve business and overall effectiveness. In this respect, collaboration is so crucial. Dentsu Impact has triggered a transformation with a singular vision to innovate the way businesses and brands are built. By bringing synergies in integration and seamlessness in ‘one solution’, I am looking forward to create a fantastic future for brands with my client and network partners.”
Aditya comes in with over two decades of cross-cultural experience across verticals and geographies. His previous stints have been with Contract India, Bates Malaysia & Singapore, FCB China & India, and Pratama Indonesia. He has been involved in strategic thinking that impacted bottom-lines of Indian and multi-national companies and been awarded for marketing effectiveness at EFFIEs and AMEs.
Talking about Kilpady’s joining the team, Devanathan mentions, “Over the past few years, there has only been one mantra behind Dentsu Impact’s stellar delivery to and beyond client expectations—a tight-knit group of talented people who believe in teamwork, and in together innovating the way brands can be built. Aditya is a stellar addition to the team—as much for his attitude as for his aptitude and experience. He will be instrumental in helping the agency create brave new solutions for a brave new world.”
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has won the creative mandate for bathroom solution brands Roca and Parryware. Both accounts have been won following a multi-agency pitch that lasted for more than two months.
As part of the win, the agency will manage the digital, social, and mainline duties for both Roca and Parryware. Roca is a 100 year old brand, a world leader in the definition of bathroom space whereas Parryware is India’s leading sanitaryware brand, a 100% subsidiary of the Roca Group.
Roca Bathroom marketing head Mayuri Saikia said, “Dentsu Impact are a young team with fresh ideas and thinking. They will certainly infuse new energy in the brands and we look forward to working in collaboration with them to create strong brand communication moving forward.”
Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa said, “We are delighted with the opportunity of strengthening these brands in the Indian market. It is a great start to the year for us and we look forward to a long lasting partnership here.”
Dentsu Impact NCD Soumitra Karnik added, “The team of Roca and Parryware took pains to explain these to us in detail and with this clear understanding we were able to come up with some exciting ideas.”
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact has won the creative duties for all brands from HT Media – including Hindustan Times, Hindustan (Hindi), Mint, Shine.com, HT Campus, Career Plus, Study Mate, English Mate and Bridge School of Management. With this move, Dentsu Impact becomes the prime strategic and communication partner for HT Media handling communication for all brands from the group, barring its radio brands Fever FM & Nasha FM, which are handled by Ogilvy & Mather.
The HT Group, which has so far worked with multiple agencies for different brands, initiated a process of consolidating all the brands with one single agency sometime in November 2016. Post an exhaustive pitch process, in which some of the country’s top agencies participated, HT finally decided to award the duties to Dentsu Impact.
HT Media groum CMO Rajan Bhalla said, “We wanted to move to a single partner for our diverse brand portfolio. Dentsu was already handling Hindustan, Mint and Shine.com and their team has done excellent work for the last few years, hence the decision to go with them.”
Dentsu Impact presiden Amit Wadhwa said, “This is a big win for us and an important one. When a group like Hindustan Times decides to award its entire portfolio of brands to one agency, it shows the level of trust as well as spirit of partnership from both ends. We are extremely excited and are rearing to create some interesting work.”
Dentsu Impact national creative director Soumitra Karnik added, “It’s a fabulous start to this year for us. Winning all the brands of HT group is something any creative agency would kill for. Along with this great news also comes great responsibility. We are quite committed to doing some great work on each brand.”
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact has won the creative duties for all brands from HT Media – including Hindustan Times, Hindustan (Hindi), Mint, Shine.com, HT Campus, Career Plus, Study Mate, English Mate and Bridge School of Management. With this move, Dentsu Impact becomes the prime strategic and communication partner for HT Media handling communication for all brands from the group, barring its radio brands Fever FM & Nasha FM, which are handled by Ogilvy & Mather.
The HT Group, which has so far worked with multiple agencies for different brands, initiated a process of consolidating all the brands with one single agency sometime in November 2016. Post an exhaustive pitch process, in which some of the country’s top agencies participated, HT finally decided to award the duties to Dentsu Impact.
HT Media groum CMO Rajan Bhalla said, “We wanted to move to a single partner for our diverse brand portfolio. Dentsu was already handling Hindustan, Mint and Shine.com and their team has done excellent work for the last few years, hence the decision to go with them.”
Dentsu Impact presiden Amit Wadhwa said, “This is a big win for us and an important one. When a group like Hindustan Times decides to award its entire portfolio of brands to one agency, it shows the level of trust as well as spirit of partnership from both ends. We are extremely excited and are rearing to create some interesting work.”
Dentsu Impact national creative director Soumitra Karnik added, “It’s a fabulous start to this year for us. Winning all the brands of HT group is something any creative agency would kill for. Along with this great news also comes great responsibility. We are quite committed to doing some great work on each brand.”
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network that has been in the news recently for its wins on Maruti Suzuki digital and IKEA, has strengthened its account management team by roping in Megha Jai Sadhwani as the vice-president. She will report to Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa.
This is Megha’s second innings at Dentsu Impact. She worked with the agency for four years before moving to Australia last year. Prior to joining Dentsu Impact, Megha worked with Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney, where she was responsible for the Mondelez business – Cadbury chocolates, The Natural Confectionery Company and Sour Patch Kids.
“Coming back to Dentsu is like coming back to family for me. The agency houses some of the best minds in the industry and working with such people is always exciting and inspiring. Adding to that is the fact that this is probably the most forward thinking agency in the industry right now, one that has evolved its brand solutions for clients in the most innovative and integrated manner. I’m really looking forward to be part of this evolution and also applying my learnings from the Australian market here,” Megha said.
Other agencies that Megha has worked with include JWT & Publicis, where she handled communication for Pepsi, Nestle chocolates & Nestle Maggi. She also donned the hat of a marketer and worked at Adidas India before making her return to advertising.
Wadhwa said, “Megha is valuable asset wherever she works. What sets her apart is her passion towards brand building and people. With Dentsu Impact growing at a rapid pace we certainly need the right people around to ensure we don’t loose momentum and that’s why the moment she decided to come back to India, getting her back in the team was an easy decision.”
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network that has been in the news recently for its wins on Maruti Suzuki digital and IKEA, has strengthened its account management team by roping in Megha Jai Sadhwani as the vice-president. She will report to Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa.
This is Megha’s second innings at Dentsu Impact. She worked with the agency for four years before moving to Australia last year. Prior to joining Dentsu Impact, Megha worked with Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney, where she was responsible for the Mondelez business – Cadbury chocolates, The Natural Confectionery Company and Sour Patch Kids.
“Coming back to Dentsu is like coming back to family for me. The agency houses some of the best minds in the industry and working with such people is always exciting and inspiring. Adding to that is the fact that this is probably the most forward thinking agency in the industry right now, one that has evolved its brand solutions for clients in the most innovative and integrated manner. I’m really looking forward to be part of this evolution and also applying my learnings from the Australian market here,” Megha said.
Other agencies that Megha has worked with include JWT & Publicis, where she handled communication for Pepsi, Nestle chocolates & Nestle Maggi. She also donned the hat of a marketer and worked at Adidas India before making her return to advertising.
Wadhwa said, “Megha is valuable asset wherever she works. What sets her apart is her passion towards brand building and people. With Dentsu Impact growing at a rapid pace we certainly need the right people around to ensure we don’t loose momentum and that’s why the moment she decided to come back to India, getting her back in the team was an easy decision.”
MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact that was in news recently for winning the Maruti Suzuki digital business and the IKEA account, is expanding its investment and expertise in digital and CRM with an eye on the future landscape. The agency has launched two new divisions – digital and CRM that will be strategically driven by Dentsu Impact head – planning Kartikeya Srivastava.
The agency has also roped in Sanjay Pokhriyal as vice-president, CRM.
Over the past one year, Dentsu Impact had been advancing steadily in digital and CRM capabilities with an idea to create in-house expertise that would help the agency own the idea better and provide holistic brand solutions to its clients. Meanwhile, the agency will continue to partner and work with other Dentsu Aegis Network digital agencies, depending on client requirements.
Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa said, “If we talk about brand building, digital and CRM are the two most important elements that continue to gain prominence every single day. However, today these two are more often than not discussed more from a technology and process point-of-view rather than brand-out or brand-led. What we at Dentsu Impact would want to do is to seamlessly bind these two elements together along with the brand idea. This is the reason why Kartik was a natural choice.”
Kartikeya added, “Digital and CRM are becoming great enablers in creating unified experiences and finding new ways to build brands. It is also a challenge because it requires change management, breaking of silos and reorienting the way people look at these functions not so much as technology or process led, but rather as brand and experience led.”
Sanjay said, “Dentsu Impact is the most exciting place to be in as it strives to build capabilities to deliver holistic and consistent brand experience for its partners.”
