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Tag: Camlin

  • [Podcast] Media Minds: Kokuyo Camlin CMO Saumitra Prasad on leveraging technology and social media

    [Podcast] Media Minds: Kokuyo Camlin CMO Saumitra Prasad on leveraging technology and social media

    MUMBAI: It’s a brand that much of Gen X, Gen Y and even Gen Z has grown up with. As one of the oldest and most popular stationery brands in India, Camlin has been a mass favourite. Since 2011, Camlin has been a part of Japan’s Kokuyo which enabled it to diversify its existing product range and delve into premium products too.

    In the latest episode of Media Minds, Kokuyo Camlin CMO Saumitra Prasad talks about the brand journey after the ownership change and how technology is helping it stay relevant.

    Speaking about its current digital-first marketing approach, Prasad says, “Initially, it was to check whether technology is a threat to us because we realise that children today are spending a lot of time on tablets and apps as compared to making paintings. We started by developing an app called Camlin Experience App, which would give children the experience of (using) the real colours and what we realised that, over time, children developed an interest in real colours.”

    Social media engagement is also a high priority to get a pulse of the new generation. He is proud of the engagement that the brand is getting on these platforms. He shares that like its offline property Camlin Art Contests, it runs many competitions on Facebook as well which receives great response from kids.

    He also talks about how the brand has been investing in research and development to create product differentiations based on specific needs and likings of users.

    Listen to the complete interaction here:

  • Camlin investing in product development, not TV ads

    Camlin investing in product development, not TV ads

    MUMBAI: Be it the hilarious ad of its permanent markers that showed a dead man resuscitating back to life because of its indelible power or an emotional and sensitive ad of a little school kid sharing his colour set and sketchbook with a poor boy, Camlin India had once been in the race of most iconic ad maker brands. But for quite some years, the story of the brand’s marketing tactics has seen a massive shift. There are no more such stories that stay with the viewer and a growing focus on digital is in the loop.

    Indiantelevision.com recently interacted with Kokuyo Camlin CMO Saumitra Prasad to know more about this shift in the approach. He shared, “Camlin has been investing in developing superior products far more than investing in TV campaigns and that differentiates it from other players.”

    On being quizzed what is his strategy to make the brand visibility grow without focusing much on the TV ads, Prasad noted, “We have tried to create strong communication for markers and mechanical pencils in the past which has served its objective. Currently, social media has become our main source of communication. Our Facebook page has more than 8 lakh fans.  We have even created applications to promote products and the brand’s promise of making learning fun. Also, Camlin is an active partner of Kidzania in both Mumbai and Delhi to organise a brand experience to its consumers and it has given us great visibility.”

    He added, “Camlin being the oldest brand in stationery has a legacy and thus it’s both a privilege and a challenge to manage the brand in its transition of contemporising it without losing its old qualities. While past generations have grown using only Camlin and would always prefer us, today’s children have too many choices and they will not accept our brand just because it’s their parent’s favourite brand. And today’s children are not only very discerning but also strongly influencing the decisions of purchase so they need to be on the side of the brand. Camlin is now a part of the global Japanese company Kokuyo which makes it rich with systems and processes.”

    The brand is extensively focusing on making its products more contemporary and visually appealing by placing a lot of effort on branding and packaging. But only this might not be enough for the brand to top the charts in the stationery market, which Prasad predicts is expected to grow at 9-10 per cent in the coming years.

    He shared, “Camlin has a very high-aided awareness but we will have to accept that when it comes to the top of mind awareness there are many brands which are taking away that share. There are categories in which we have a dominant share like crayons, water colours, poster colours, geometry box, mechanical pencils, markers but at the same time there are categories where we are not the lead brand, like pens and notebooks.”

    The focus is now on the notebook category by developing great products and supporting it with communication and activation support to increase trials and market share.

  • Baahubali-2 teams up with Hike Messenger & Camlin

    MUMBAI: In a bid to magnify the overall output for the sequel of one of the greatest Indian Motion Picture and SS Rajamouli’s dream Project – Baahubali 2 — The Conclusion, team Brand Street India and Why? Stay! Calm! have brought aboard two internationally viable brands Hike Messenger and Kuyuko Camlin. This partnership is to build the Franchisee Baahubali and take it to the next level where the audience will be attached with some intriguing and interactive content and not just a vanilla campaign.

    With a user base of over 100 Million, Hike Messenger is an ideal preference to engage younger audiences not just on their online platform but social media as well. Team Hike has come up with a unique strategy of extending the Baahubali Franchise to the next level. The Brand has come up with various animated stickers based on the sequences from the movie. Some cute Chibi stickers that will gain popularity in the coming days as the characters from the movie Katappa, Devasena, Bhallaldeva and Baahubali become popular. All these stickers are live now on the Hike App. Along with this, one can also suit themselves to the movie’s royal looks by applying face-filters of the characters.

    Further, Kuyuko Camlin, one of the renowned stationary brands with a diverse customer base across the nation, is organising a painting competition at Kidzania Mumbai. The selected 20 kids are going to get a chance to meet the star cast of the movie at an exclusive event where these kids will be showcasing their piece of art to the stars of the movie. The brand also plans to engage the kids during summer camps as an extended promotional activity. A social media campaign on the lines of creating a trailer by using one’s own creativity has already been executed on their page. Camlin is also promoted on Baahubali Social media pages every Friday as “Camlin Friday Fan Art” where Baahubali fans share their piece of artwork and paintings on Baahubali pages.

    Kokuyo Camlin CMO Saumitra Prasad commented, “Kokuyo Camlin is proud to associate with Baahubali 2. Camlin has always promoted art in India as we believe that creativity is more important than knowledge. We are very confident that people will get to experience the magnificent world of art & imagination in Indian cinema with the release of Baahubali 2”

    Why? Stay! Calm! managing partner Kanika Mohan Saxena said, “Baahubali is the Biggest Franchise in Indian Cinema which cuts across all age groups and both Hike Messenger and Kuyuko Camlin are the best suited brands to interact with youngsters in their own unique style and tone. It will be interesting to see how these brands with a similar yet spread out target audience comes together to promote the movie both in a traditional, as well as the online way through interactive campaigns.”

    WSC head, branded content & alliances Nirav Khandhadia commented, “The task at hand were to seamlessly merge the core-values of the Baahubali franchise with the brands. We have crafted innovative campaign ideas with both our brands, which will give the Baahubali franchise reach beyond the movie release. This approach will instigate high customer engagement along with building a deeper connect and reliance with our client.”

    Brand Street India national head Surendra Singh expressed, “The huge popularity of Baahubali surely helps both these brands to reach out to their target audiences in a clutter-free way. Both these brand campaigns with Baahubali are driven by fresh ideas and a wide reception from all stakeholders.”

    This association has been creatively implemented by Why? Stay! Calm! Who are strategic partners to Brand Street India in the domain of Film Integration & Content Production. They have recently been instrumental in the association of Lotus Herbals’ with Jolly LLB 2, Uber’s with Phillauri and Voltas AC’s with BadrinathkiDulhaniya.

  • An ‘Infectious’ association

    An ‘Infectious’ association

    MUMBAI: For colleagues at the then Saatchi & Saatchi who saw them fighting with each other, it came as a surprise when Ramanuj Shastry and Nisha Singhania quit within days of each other, to start an enterprise of their own.

    Singhania makes no bones about it. “We still have a lot of fights. Of course, it’s all related to work, but we aren’t the kinds who will just nod our heads to what the other person has to say,” she admits. How do they resolve these conflicts? “We try and convince the other. At the end of the day, it is all about logic and creativity,” she answers.

    What began as an association when the duo first met in Rediffusion Y&R blossomed into an up-and-coming agency christened ‘Infectious’. Ask them why such a title and Singhania says it has to do with their belief that their work should be infectious. “We wanted to solve clients’ business problems, rather than focus only on creating communication like large agencies. Our work is to engage people and for that to happen, the work had to be communicable. We wanted to start an epidemic of good with ideas that spread,” she adds.

    The freedom to do the kind of work the two of them wanted to was the mainstay of this self-funded agency. “We wanted to ‘do’ as well as ‘say’. For instance, when Camlin asked us to create a print ad for Children’s Day, we ‘did’ an activity instead. We created a ‘join the dots’ ad, which kids had to colour and parents were urged to upload on their Facebook page. It was a very successful engagement and within 24 hours, took the likes on the Kokuyo Camlin FB page from 150 to 15,000,” says Shastry.  The activity went on to be nominated by Facebook Studio for best use of the social networking website by any brand.

    According to Singhania and Shastry, what sets their agency apart is the quality of ideas, lesser turnaround time, and personal involvement in every business. The client list is a mixed bag of biggies like HCL, DNA and Camlin and start-ups like Pied Piper and Braces & Smiles. For some clients, the agency handles all their marketing requirements while for others, it looks after specific projects.

    For an organic set up, Infectious was lucky to have bagged two clients even before it launched. However, Singhania and Shastry are candid about the fact that clients are usually more comfortable giving business to larger agencies. Besides, it did take them a while before winning the confidence of heavyweights like HCL and DNA.

    Infectious is headquartered out of Mumbai with a presence in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata and has a young, energetic, hand-picked team of 15 running it. “We have worked in various agencies, so when people heard that we were starting something of our own; we got a lot of calls, especially from the youngsters. And since we have worked with them, so we knew what we could expect from them. We are blessed to have hand-picked talent,” says Singhania.

    In addition to having a young team, the agency saw no harm in advertising itself. “Very few advertising agencies ever advertise about themselves. What is the harm in doing so? The logo adaption is our way of having fun. Digitally, one can do so much to engage with people, let alone clients,” says Shastry. Though he quickly adds that at its core, the business is still about ideas and digital is only a medium. Speaking of elections, he says that most political parties engaged and optimized their reach via the digital medium. Even Infectious created a special campaign along with DNA to urge people to go out and vote.

    What do the next five years look like for Infectious? “Five years is a very long time. We are a ‘work in progress’ agency, with plans for the next 100 days,” say Shastry and Singhania at once.

    What about network agencies snapping up independent agencies? The duo feels that in most cases, it is a win-win situation where network agencies bring in resources and scale while independent agencies bring in local expertise.

    And with Goafest coming up, the agency which is all for awards as long as they are for real work, the future holds only great promises.

    One wouldn’t be wrong in saying that like Monday mornings and coffee (chai, in some cases), Singhania and Shastry are a perfect combo.

  • Rediffusion – Y & R appoints Venugopal Chandrasekhar business head, Mumbai

    Rediffusion – Y & R appoints Venugopal Chandrasekhar business head, Mumbai

    MUMBAI: Rediffusion – Y & R has appointed Venugopal Chandrasekhar as the business head, Mumbai.

    Chandrasekhar moves in from Bates 141 and has also worked with Contract Advertising and Brand David.

    Chandrasekhar has worked on brands such as Amul, Camlin, Philips Lighting, Bajaj Sunny Zip, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, VIP, Bharat Petroleum, Heinz, Shoppers’ Stop and LG Mobile Phones.

    Chandrasekhar was also involved in the launch of the English News channel CNN-IBN of the Network 18 Group. At Bates 141, he had been actively working on AIG Corporate, Tata AIG Life Insurance and AIG Mutual Funds. He also led the successful transition of Colgate into Bates and led the team on the Unilever Brand, Ayush.

    Rediffusion – Y & R Mumbai VP Neville Medhora said, “Venu has handled a varied set of clients and brings a lot of experience to the table. He has exceptional strategic and relationship skills and I am looking to him to deliver that across our clients and within the agency.”

    Chandrasekhar added, “The thought of being a part of the next stage of consolidation and growth of an iconic agency like Rediffusion – Y & R truly excites me. There is a whole bunch of extremely talented guys out there hungry to do sparkling work on some fascinating brands. Heading a business unit which has a lethal combination of experience and exciting young talent is what motivated me to sign up.”