ITV

Tag: brand

  • Micromax starts its Russia operations

    Micromax starts its Russia operations

    RUSSIA: Micromax, world’s 11th largest mobile phone player has announced the launch of its operations in Russia by extending its innovative product portfolio and services to the users in the country. Micromax has been the clear No 2 smartphone brand by a distance and a clear No 3 overall phone brand (smart+ feature phones) in India, is now gearing up for Russia. With a focus on democratizing technologies for the masses, the company aims to have an aggressive plan to make its mark in the Russian mobile handset marketre-emphasizing on its vision to offer innovative products and service offerings, which are customized to address the needs of consumers in Russia.

     

    Micromax, with its USP of pioneering meaningful innovations based on in-depth consumer understanding, would be operating througha partnership with VVP Group, one of the leading distribution houses in Russia. The partnership is a strategic move, which would provide good reach for Micromax in the regionwith a plan to make Micromax products available across the country, ensuring deeper shelf space and wider outlet spread.

     

    Micromax will be introducing its popular Canvas series of smartphones and Bolt series of smart-feature phones which have been a trendsetter, which have already sold more than 35 million devices across the operating markets for Micromax in the past one year. The company will be launching 14 products in the Russian market in the initial phase, as the brand is already looking at gearing up to be among the Top 4 brands in Russia by the end of 2014. The company is ready with its service infrastructure across Russia with an aim of having more than 60 operational service centers by end of the month. Micromax will also have its exclusive service centersin strategic cities in Russia as the brand strengthens its presence across the country.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Rahul Sharma, Co-Founder, Micromax said, “At Micromax, our emphasis has always been to democratize technology for masses around the world through an innovative product portfolio. As we look to take Micromax to key international markets, we are excited to announce our foray into the Russian mobile handset market which has immense potential not only for smartphones and features phones, but also for innovative tablets and data products. Our initial focus in the Russian market is to replicate the success witnessed in our other markets in the last couple of years. We have carved the vision for ourselves to be the 1st Indian hardware brand to be global and set our footprint with Russia as the first developed market to venture into.”

     

    He further added, “We see a growing trend of data consumption through mobile devices in Russia, and we would be initiating partnerships with the leading operators in the region to aim at efficient data consumption on our devices in the coming year”.

     

    Over the past decade, Micromax has been at the forefront of driving innovation through their innovative product offerings addressing the consumer needs. The company has many firsts to its credit when it comes to the mobile devices market including Canvas Laptab – world’s first dual boot tablet powered by Intel, launched on the 6th of January 2014 at CES in Vegas (Consumer Electronic Show), the first quad-core budget smartphone, phone with a 30-day battery backup, the first smartphone designed specifically for women, universal remote control mobile phones and a list of other innovative devices. The brand’s product portfolio embraces more than 60 models today, ranging from feature rich, dual – SIM phones, 3G Android smartphones, tablets, LED televisions and data cards.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Vasily Sibirtsev, Chairman VVP Group said, “We are very excited to work with Micromax, one of the world’s leading mobile phone brands. Russia is an ideal market for Micromax to bring its innovative product portfolio and services customized for consumers in this market. Our immediate goal will be to build a very strong and robust distribution network to capture a significant share in the Russian mobile handset market. We will be working aggressively to strengthen our presence in the retail space across 9000+ sales points in the country backed by an efficient service infrastructure.”

     

    Amit Mathur, Vice President, International Business – Micromax said “ We believe Micromax products to a promising future in Russia where the smart phone market is booming along with data services.  Micromax has studied this market and will continuously introduce products and applications with consumer insights from the Russia to bring forth world-class products to this market.  We are happy to have found VVP as our strategic business partner to enter the retail market and will strive to maximize our retail strength going forward.”

     

    The partnership with the VVP Group is a strategic move which would provide wide reach for Micromax in regions of Russia as the group has been associated with some of the leading global smartphone players to help them make a strong presence in Russia. VVP is known for its superior logistics setup, warehouses, retail management system and transportation management systems across the main hubs of Russia which will further help Micromax build its footprint in the country. VVP group will be working with partners in all existing channels including federal and regional chains, operators, consumer electronics shops and computer shops, online and other sales points in the country. 

     

    The company has also tied up with the leading VAS providers in Russia including Odnoklassniki, Russia’s popular social network service; IVI.ru, Russia’s first free video & music service; Viber, the leading global instant messaging application; Facebook; Twitter and M!Live giving users access to social connectivity and unlimited free online games.

     

    Micromax plans to support the launch with a 360 degree branding exercise aiming to enhance the brand visibility in the region supported by marketing campaign across print, online and TV.

  • DDB MudraMax OOH refreshes brand Star Sports

    DDB MudraMax OOH refreshes brand Star Sports

    MUMBAI: STAR India recently revamped the branding of the sports network and unveiled a new brand for Star Sports across six channels — Star Sports 1, 2, 3, 4, HD1 and HD2 and starsports.com.

    To create the awareness and buzz for the new brand identity and to communicate the new brand philosophy – Believe, Star Sports partnered with DDB MudraMax OOH.

    The campaign was rolled out when India tuned in to watch Sachin Tendulkar play the last series of his sports career. The massive OOH campaign was executed in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata as well as across major cities in Gujarat and UP. The campaign used multiple visuals of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as well as the brand logo as part of the campaign creative.

    On the campaign, STAR India executive vice president marketing & communications Gayatri Yadav said, “The work done by DDB MudraMax OOH for the brand refresh campaign has been outstanding. The DNA and essence of the brand refresh was well understood and reflected in the manner in which the planning and media selection was done by the agency. Especially the Star Sports zone and roadblocks conceptualized and executed at Mumbai and Delhi airports are noteworthy and have created a great impact and buzz for the refresh. We are very impressed with the positive reviews received for the campaign. DDB MudraMax has delivered on our expectations yet again.”

    Commenting on this, DDB MudraMax OOH retail and experiential president Mandeep Malhotra said, “Sport is very close to my heart and when the opportunity to associate with a brand standing tall to the passion came up, was really thrilled to create magic. The team did a wonderful job on picking up unusual formats of advertising. Various touch points were exploited and the new identity made it to top of mind recall with a smooth transition.”

    DDB MudraMax OOH VP Spencer Noronha added, “Star Sports aimed at starting a revolution in sports broadcasting and the media strategy was to amplify this sports revolution through an occasion that is relevant to all and thus inspire every Indian sports fan. This soul of this campaign was “premium and classy” and hence it was crucial that the media selection had to be in line with that imagery. We selected the most impactful, most premium and the largest of available media vehicles in each of the target cities to create a statement in the OOH space. The quality of the selected media reflected class and helped the campaign to quickly get noticed and talked about. The eye catching creatives amplified the impact and recall manifold. It’s definitely one of the most memorable OOH campaigns in 2013”

    DDB MudraMax OOH DGM Anurudha Pawar said, “OOH is a communication platform where the brand is racing against time to grab attention and communicate with the TG while he zooms past the media within a few seconds. This makes it all the more important for the brand to use the right media mix and deploy an optimized communication tailor made for the medium. We exactly did this for the refresh campaign. The media vehicles were meticulously handpicked to project class; and the creatives were kept ultra outdoor friendly to specifically communicate the grandeur of the brand. We took the innovative branding route by creating the Star Sports Zone, Stadium visibility corridors and airport roadblocks, to ensure each and every person exposed to the communication carried a positive image of the brand with him in this mind. I am sure we have succeeded doing that.”

    A multimedia approach was used for the campaign. Large format A+ grade billboards and Unipoles, Backlit Bus Shelters, Backlit Pole Kiosks, 4 Sided Backlit Pillars, Large Backlit Glow signs, Drape, Prominent Mall Facades, Digital Screens at airports and Gantries were meticulously selected at key touch points in each city. The creatives were optimized for each of the media formats used. DDB MudraMax also brought in a couple of significant planning and media innovations to help portray the grandeur of the brand refresh and garner high recall value for the campaign. Visual domination was the key.

  • Brand Integration grows in Indian Cinema

    Brand Integration grows in Indian Cinema

    MUMBAI: As the new Rs 200 crore club emerges in Bollywood, it’s also been a strong year for brand integrations in films. Krrish 3 has revolutionised Bollywood content with the most number of brands ever having been integrated in a film. Mates India, a well-known brand integration, film marketing and celebrity management firm, was behind weaving in five brands – Cadbury Bournvita, Flair pens, Tata Manza, Fortis Hospital and Forever Jewelry into the film. And the jobs of Sooraj and Darshana Bhalla don’t end there as post the integration; merchandising has also become an equally important marketing tool in today’s day and age.

    Cadbury Bournvita for example was not only the drink consumed by Rohit in the film while he works in his science lab but as consumers we soon saw special Krrish Bournvita packs on the shelves in our grocery stores. A fly with Krrish contest was implemented which would create a direct connect with the consumer and also allow for the winners to meet Hrithik Roshan one on one if they happen to be one of the lucky winners.  Such activities not only benefit the brands but also help the film maintain its shelf life beyond the first weekend.  Promotions and ads around the integrated products (ex: Krrish Flair pens) keep the buzz around the film alive and hence it becomes a mutually symbiotic relationship.

    Bridging the gap in this relationship is a firm like Mates, which finds the right synergies and creates opportunities for both the films as well as the brands.  Talking about the changing trends, CEO Sooraj Bhalla says, “It has been amazing to see how over the years content and advertsing are seeping seamlessly into each other and providing for a great viewer experience. Krrish 3 has been a very ambitious project for brands too. The belief and the vision has paid off.”  Besides Krrish, Mates has worked on integrating content in many other films such as Race 2 (Audi), Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (MakeMyTrip.com and Jabong.com), Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Birla Sun Life Insurance), etc.

    By Dolly Bhatter, publicist by profession (PR and CEO of a PR firm)

  • Get set for a chocolaty treat with Arjun Rampal

    Get set for a chocolaty treat with Arjun Rampal

    MUMBAI: Won’t it be more fun if a chocolaty, dark handsome hunk is representing the chocolate you are having? Seems the dreams of many chocolate bingers are turning true!

     

    Actor Arjun Rampal, who has wowed his fans with his roles in blockbusters like Om Shanti Om, Rock On, Rajneeti and many more, is all set to don a “chocolate hero” avatar for a new campaign by Mars Inc – one of the leading chocolate makers of the world.

     

    The actor has been loved by all, not just for his movies but also for his hot-bod. He has maintained a position in the industry on the basis of his consistent performances that have earned him critical acclaim and numerous awards. With a personality that celebrates style and panache, Arjun is a perfect match for the new Mars India campaign. The cherry on the cake is that Arjun is known for is love for chocolates.

     

    Talking about signing on Arjun for the new campaign, Mars International India Marketing Director Raghav Rekhi, said, “We are thrilled to have Arjun on board. He is a perfect fit for our new brand campaign as he has terrific mass appeal and strikingly brings alive the attributes that we are looking for our new launch, being passionate, sophisticated, and playful. We are confident that this association will drive visibility for the brand.”

     

    On his part, Arjun was very clear that he only partners/endorses brands that he is satisfied with. “I believe in partnering with brands that I use and appreciate. Mars Inc is a reputed international chocolate manufacturer that makes and sells my favourite chocolates. This is the first time that I have shot for a campaign in which I play a character that is ‘me’- an actor. I am thrilled to be a part of one of the biggest Mars Inc launch campaigns in India and am looking forward to a great journey ahead,” he said.

  • DDB Mudra Group wins gold at ABCI 2013 awards

    DDB Mudra Group wins gold at ABCI 2013 awards

    MUMBAI: HotStuff the external quarterly newsletter of the DDB Mudra Group won a gold in the newsletter category and a bronze in the design category at the Association of Business Communicators of India (ABCI) awards held on 18 October.

     

    On the win, HotStuff editor Pilloo Mullan says, “A Newsletter is only as good as the organisation it holds up a mirror to.  HotStuff therefore derives its success from the achievements and activities of DDB Mudra Group and its young, energetic and very talented people.”

     

    The newsletter was launched as an external quarterly newsletter in January 2012, shortly after Mudra became an integral part of the Omnicom/DDB Worldwide Group with a view to building its brand and showcasing its numerous achievements and awards, its lead in various independently conducted rankings and surveys and the participation of its senior management team at public forums and on global juries.
     

  • Lowe Lintas creates campaign for Fastrack

    Lowe Lintas creates campaign for Fastrack

    MUMBAI: Keeping with the brand’s fun, bold and irreverent image, Fastrack has launched its latest campaign for its watch collection.

     

    The TVC conceputalised by Lowe Lintas features finger break dancing choreographed by Lilach Chen. The youth brand wanted to draw attention to the product category using finger break dancing as a major player as its core thought has always been about the mating game and it wanted the TVC to have a twist on it.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Lowe Lintas’ national creative director Arun Iyer says, “We had to showcase a new collection of watches in a quick, snappy manner while being true to the brand essence. Hooking-up is no big deal and the commercial conveys exactly that. And that to us is very Fastrack.”

     

    The campaign will be showcased on television and digital medium.

     

    On the association, Fastrack marketing head Simeran Bhasin says, “We wanted to do something different to introduce our new line of watches. The finger break dancing in the ad is a unique way to showcase the watches and also plays on the irreverence of the brand.”

  • Instagram photo, video ads on their way

    Instagram photo, video ads on their way

    MUMBAI: Instagram will soon be inserting photo and video ads into the stream for its US members, the three-year-old Facebook-owned service announced Thursday. People will notice the “occasional ad” in the “next couple months,” Instagram said.

     

    Seeing photos and videos from brands you don’t follow will be new, so we’ll start slow,” Instagram said in a blog post on the change. “We’ll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.”

     

    The ads have yet to make their appearance in Instagram’s mobile apps, but the service is prepping people in advance of their release so as to stave off a potential backlash from the community.

     

    The change, though expected, will be a radical one for the more than 150 million people who use Instagram’s iOS and Android applications on a monthly basis. Though a boon for parent-company Facebook’s bottom line, the ads bring with them the potential to alienate active users and could stir up a controversy like the one that bubbled up when Instagram temporarily changed its terms of service at the end of last year.

     

    Instagram, for its part, is promising magazine-quality ads that “feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favorite brands.” The service also said that users can, just as on Facebook, click to hide the ads they don’t like.

  • IAA World Congress: Go digital, focus on new media

    The much talked about 42nd IAA World Congress has come and gone and given many an opportunity to visit Russia, which is generally not on anybody’s tourist map. I am sure all delegates are reasonably happy that they made it to the Congress, whether it was for the Congress speaker presentations or the venue Russia or the opportunity to meet with advertising big wigs from around the world.

    India, made its presence felt at this Congress with 47 delegates, three speakers – Vinita Bali of Britannia, K Srinivas of Bharti Airtel and Sam Balsara of Madison World; and bagging the 2010 IAA Chapter Excellence Award.

    When one visits a new country, in your flight, you replay the impressions you have about the country – so images of the biting cold, vodka and a language that you can‘t understand a word of came to my mind. But on stepping out of the Moscow airport, the heat and the sun gave us a not so pleasant surprise. Since the Conference was in the Kremlin, I was kind of expecting to bump into Putin, but that was another disappointment.

    But, let’s talk about advertising first. The Congress’s 38 speakers were to talk to over a thousand delegates from all over the world about the Consequences of Change taking place all around us.

    If I have to sum up what industry stalwarts like Sir Martin Sorrell, Mark Pritchard, Maurice Levy and other prominent speakers had to say, I would say I have four broad take aways that all speakers touched upon in their presentations:

    Go Digital and focus on new media

    Add value to consumers

    Increase consumer base and compete against non consumption

    Use CSR as a business tool

    Now going into details of what some of the speakers said, Sir Martin Sorrell gave a good overview of the advertising and marketing industry at large. He seemed upbeat about the emerging climate as reflected in WPP figures that he had seen days before the conference.

    He spoke about WPP’s strategy of focusing on BRIC markets, new media and digital, and consumer insights. He highlighted eight trends that he had observed or prophesised about and said because of this the advertising and marketing industry was poised to play a more critical role in the near future:

    Shift in economic power from West to East and North to South.

    Overcapacity in the world and therefore a need for differentiation.

    Growth and importance of digital companies. He cited the example of Google being the biggest media owner in the UK.

    Growth in retail.

    Internal communication and the challenge of getting people to work together.

    Shift in coordination from global to local.

    Importance of CSR and the use of CSR not for a social cause but more to meet a business purpose or goal.

    The Government in all markets is becoming extremely important and influential and a huge spender on advertising.

      

    India‘s Kaushik Roy at the Congress in Moscow
    		  Mark Pritchard, the global marketing   and     brand building officer at Procter and Gamble made a pitch for brands to move from marketing to serving a purpose. He also touched upon why a brand exists (what is its purpose or soul); what does the brand stand for (its benefits or its heart); and how is the brand expressed (its execution or body). To make his point come alive, Mark shared some examples of the work they did on Pampers in Russia, based on the insight that when babies sleep well at night,they are 

    active and grow up healthier; PUR, a campaign for clean water in Africa and from our very own India, the famous Gillette – Shave or Not to Shave campaign. No international conference can now be complete without the mention of this campaign! Divya, please take a bow. He also emphasized on the fact that when an organization does all these things, it boosts employee morale.

    Eric Joachimsthaler, spoke very passionately on Challenger Brands. He emphasized that organisations should forget about Disruption and focus on Deep Dive. The key difference between Disruption and Deep Dive being, in Disruption companies would focus on optimizing their own value chain, focus on market sharing and competing against the next competitor. While in Deep Dive the focus is on optimizing your consumer’s value chain, focus on market creation and competing against non consumption.

    He made his viewpoint come alive by giving the example of Flip, a video camera that could upload photos immediately on Facebook in six seconds and achieved 34 per cent market share in US in three years, because of understanding and capitalising on the need gap in the market. He also emphasized on the need for 365 day Communication and not 360 degree communication and the need to create social currency. Whilst Sir Martin spoke about the need for differentiation because of overcapacity, Eric felt it was no longer possible to differentiate your product in today’s fully wired and instant world.

    Vinita Bali was eloquent and said that challenger brands usually have less resources, so they employ sharper strategies, act faster and make better use of scarce resources and these are the qualities necessary for challenger brands to survive.

    The panel discussion on Media Opportunities in the BRIC markets, had Sam Balsara, representing India and the Panel spoke about how the only way to make the advertising business grow was to make the client’s business grow and aggressive use of new media and a better understanding of new media by agencies would help the cause.

    Microsoft and 20th Century Fox made a joint presentation on how they promoted and marketed the biggest animated film of the year Avaatar, highlighting that when two giants tango together you can get delightfully surprising results.

    Day 2 had Maurice Levy open the Congress and he spoke about companies‘ need to take their responsibility to society seriously and that they will be rewarded for doing that.

    Rich Riley from Yahoo spoke about taking the online platform to the next level and how Creative and Media agencies could use digital to engage with consumers in a meaningful way.

    Another interesting panel discussion was on The Advertising Agency Model which had representation from Group M, Publicis Groupe and Joanne Davis Consulting. The panel highlighted the lack of communication between clients and agencies, and groaned about the growing influence and power of procurement managers in agency-client relationships.

    Nikesh Arora from Google, highlighted that 26 per cent of the world’s population is online and 24 hours of video is uploaded every minute on YouTube. He also said that the internet provides instant feedback, interactivity with advertisers, a borderless world and gives a notion of mass personalisation. He emphasised that the last 10 global brands have all been built online – Google, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

    Another interesting presentation was from K Srinivas of Airtel, where he took the audience through the miraculous Airtel story of how it became the No. 1 telecom service provider in India through an innovative business model, focussing on outsourcing of core functions to overcome shortage of resources, but investing heavily on the brand.

    IAA also had a special package for their Young Professional Members, which gave them an opportunity to be part of the Congress at a fraction of the regular delegate fee. 16 youngsters from around the world, including me took advantage of this offer, including five from India.

    The evening entertainment organised by the IAA World Congress organisers gave the delegates a good flavour of Russian customs, from a gala dinner at The Kremlin Palace Congress Centre Rooftop Ballroom, to the Bolshoi Ballet. After the gala dinner, there was an after party on the roof top of the Ritz Carlton, at a Lounge called O2. Reminded me of our AER Bar at Four Seasons; O2 lounge gave an aerial view of the Kremlin and the Moscow skyline by night.

    Moscow as a city is similar to Delhi in winter in some ways – very wide roads, majestic buildings and flowers (tulips no less). But despite the wide road, the traffic and the traffic jams make you wonder if you are still in Bombay! With the onset of spring, the lush green gardens and flowers were in full bloom, the warm weather also got most of Moscowites out on the streets, enjoying the warmth, making walking on the streets, a delight.

    Quite a lot of Indian delegates were fortunate to bump into Indian taxi drivers from South India, most of whom came to Moscow 10 – 12 years ago to study medicine and because of circumstance landed up doing all sorts of businesses except medicine. They proved to be good tourist guides for us for both Moscow and St Petersburg city to show its historic sights. St Petersburg is another must see city, a one-hour flight from Moscow. The city again is very historic with many parts in the city looking a lot like Rome, but on a bigger scale.

    Russia as we all know is famous for its vodka, but what many don’t know is how a Russian has his vodka. Chilled vodka is poured into a short glass and right next to it comes another glass of orange or tomato juice. Instead of mixing the two together, like many of us do, they first take a gulp of the vodka followed by the juice. And by the way Russian girls don’t drink vodka.

    So on the whole, the 42nd IAA World Congress provided delegates a good overview of the state of advertising in the world today and gave me an opportunity to tick off Russia from the 100-places-to see-before-you-die list.

     

    (The author is Madison World Business Development & Diversification Manager)

  • Denim Jeans Makers Looking for the perfect brand fit

    Daring, stupid, wild and innovative, are some of the campaigns that the biggest jeans brands in the country are currently running. In an attempt to connect with today‘s youth, wacky and out-of-the box below-the-line (BTL) marketing campaigns are being used, in an obvious bid to build brand connect and appeal to one‘s intellect (okay not really the latter).

    Spykar is encouraging youth to get creative with denim

     

    Take a look at what Levi‘s, Wrangler, Spykar, Diesel and Pepe‘s marketing teams are up to these days, and one will notice that brand building and brand positioning are the key focus area for them, as they attempt to build a loyal customer base amidst this ever changing market.

    Spykar Jeans currently has a contest running, “Denim regeneration,‘ which is specifically aimed towards fashion designing students, even though anyone who wants can participate. The basic objective of the contest is to make something out of your old denims. It could be clothes or accessories like wallets, bands etc. The top five winners get various prizes which include digital cameras, PSPs, etc. Also the winners will receive internships with the company. This contest is a part of the company‘s pan India brand building campaign, and it‘s being promoted in all the Spykar stores.
     

     
    Wrangler is sticking to its image of being rough, tough and wild, with its latest spring summer 2010 “Dirt Bike Denim” collection.

    Wrangler is targeting women to its macho wear

    Wrangler India marketing manager Anshul Chaturvedi feels, “The brand is associated with a rugged masculine image and is keen on cashing in on that. It is what differentiates Wrangler from others. While male customers are the prime focus, the brand is now trying to rope in more women customers.”

    The new dirt bike denim campaign focuses on the action, adventure and thrills of dirt bike and motorcar racing, with roughed up, greased and washed down denim jeans, and traditional biker shirts being a part of this new offering. While the posters and hoarding typically show a guy and his bike sporting the new Wrangler collection, there is of course a good looking biker girl by his side, showing off the latest in women‘s wear by Wrangler, which include racer back and off shoulder tees, molly fit jeans and much more.

    Wrangler‘s strategy for BTL marketing seems simple and time tested. It is strengthening its brand position by maintaining the brand‘s macho image across all its campaigns (the previous one being ‘forever wild‘), and even though the posters and hoardings of the cool jeans, nice bikes and hot girls are such a cliché, maybe they appeal to today‘s youth and their wild side.

     

     

    Diesel exploited “Be stupid” to create brand awareness and stand out from the rest of the pack

    Diesel jeans, which has tied up with Reliance Brands in India, probably has one of the wackiest BTL marketing campaigns ever seen in the country. “Be stupid” the Diesel campaign which was started before its first store even opened, was meant to create hype, curiosity and publicity. Celebrities sported the “Be stupid” tee shirts at social dos and in various public events. Be stupid merchandise and stickers along with tee shirts were distributed,

     

    Posters, store walls, flyers, and banners carried sayings like “Smart may have the brains but stupid have the balls,‘ “The stupid are the only ones carrying the banner of interesting”, “Smart may have the plans…but stupid has the stories” “Smart had one good idea…and that idea was stupid.”

    In fact, even the Mumbai marathon had wacky “be stupid” banners around, while there was even a “be stupid” party amongst other promotional activities done for this campaign. The Reliance brands marketing team felt “This campaign has been very well received. The teasers generated the right curiosity, the response has been really good and the campaign will continue as it is in line with the philosophy of the brand.”

    Levis is rewarding youth who have it through its “change the world” campaign

     
    Levi‘s current ‘Change your World‘ campaign is being done in order to celebrate its completion of 15 years in India, apart from further strengthening of its brand.

    The campaign includes three major initiatives. The first initiative is to identify 15 youngsters, through an online process, who embody the personality of Levi‘s and support them with fellowships of Rs 100,000 each. The second initiative is to identify a promising rock band for which the company will produce a music video featuring Priyanka Chopra. The band will also be given an opportunity of going on a three-city tour. And, the third initiative of this “Change the world” campaign is in association with Chevrolet and Apple, where the brand is giving customised Chevy Beats, iPhones, Mac Books and iPod Shuffles to youngsters who wear Levi‘s accessories.

    The campaign was launched on 9 April, across 40 cities in India and is expected to reach more than 25 million people. To create the required impact, over a 160 plus billboards, 80 plus bus shelters, 25 plus facades, multiplexes, 80 plus bus wraps, 100 plus cantilevers, 90 plus road medians, 70 plus kiosks, 40 plus Café Coffee Day outlets, 50 plus gantries, 80 plus unipoles and more than five mobile vans were used.

    For a better response the media were carefully mixed and balanced according to the city. In Mumbai a greater focus was on cantilevers whereas in Delhi it was on ambient media.

    Levi‘s India senior manager Vishal Bhalla said, “The Levi‘s change your world campaign is one that we are particularly excited about. I cannot overstate the stellar role that the team at Percept, led by Ovez, has played in amplifying the campaign, and giving it the scale and stature befitting such an initiative.” The over all outdoor and ambient spend by Levis on this campaign was approximately Rs 40 million.

    Pepe Jeans, is playing up its fashionable and stylish positioning

     
    The Pepe spring summer ‘10 collection introduces a contemporary and versatile range of highly trendy designs and the latest styles for the season. The collection is an ideal blend of high street elegance, eclectic bohemian styles and relaxed tomboy looks for women. For the men, the collection emphasises on high street fashion, classic summer and resort wear, promoting a more relaxed look and feel. To attract the appropriate target group and create visibility the outdoor medium is being used. The campaign is youth centric and its main objective is to introduce a larger than life image of the brand as well as serve the purpose of brand building.

    The outdoor campaign, executed by Moms, Madison‘s OOH division, principally focuses on Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Cochin and Kolkata. Pepe Jeans has strategically chosen a cluster of sites on Mumbai‘s Mahim Causeway to create a larger than life impact in a high morning traffic area. Also, innovation has been carried out in their Bandra (in suburban Mumbai) hoardings to stand out, using a lighting technology which has been introduced to partially light them up; thus attempting to break the clutter and grab attention from the passer-by. Apart from this it has also used mobile vans, wherein Pepe Jeans brand ambassador Alexa Chung has been highlighted through a huge cut-out.

    “In India a very large audience falls under the age group 25 and 35 years respectively and that is the age group Pepe targets. The positioning has been consistently fashionable and stylish in terms of communication (advertising and promotions) and we planned to use the outdoor medium to be highly visible at all strategic location in the targeted cities,” says PJL Clothing India director Chetan Shah.

    Clearly, with the denim players sharply positioning and differentiating themselves and getting hyper on the promotion front, the jeans market will definitely expand further. And that is exactly what are they hoping will happen.