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Tag: Cannes

  • Biraja Swain appointed Chief Growth and Innovation Officer of Neo@Ogilvy India

    Biraja Swain appointed Chief Growth and Innovation Officer of Neo@Ogilvy India

    MUMBAI:Neo@Ogilvy India  has  appointed Biraja Swain as chief growth and innovation officer. Other than leading the Neo Center of Excellence, Biraja will also drive growth and build capability in the mobile space and lead innovation for Ogilvy’s current businesses.

    Prior to this role, Biraja was the Digital and Emerging Media lead for OMD’s operations across India & South Asia with over fifteen years of digital media expertise.

    Neo@Ogilvy, India president and country head Rajesh Bhatia welcomed Swain with, “I am thrilled to have him as part of our network and I am certain that he will play a leading role in driving business, innovation and growth, not just for Neo, but Ogilvy India as a whole.”

    Biraja is well known for his penchant for innovation especially in the field of mobile and among the accolades that he has received include acclaimed awards like Cannes and FOMA. As a founding member of OMG and PhD, he created one of South Asia’s largest digital agency networks from scratch scaling to a team strength of over 250 people with the largest digital advertiser in India (Unilever) on board during his tenure. Under Biraja’s leadership Unilever was awarded “Digital Marketer of the year” and “Mobile Marketer of the Year”, for 3 years running across India and APAC respectively.

    In his previous role, Biraja was National Director at MEC Interaction (Mediaedge: CIA) where he led the “Digital Strategy” for clients such as Citi, Beiersdorf, Singapore Airlines & Sony Ericsson. His experience includes work at some of the best technology and media setups in India, including Baazee/Ebay India and Smile Technologies/Quasar. He also has extensive experience of working in international markets of Middle East and Africa during his previous stints based out of Dubai.

     

  • Goafest Creative Abby jury chairs announced for Integrated, OOH/Ambient, Branded Content and Public Relations

    Goafest Creative Abby jury chairs announced for Integrated, OOH/Ambient, Branded Content and Public Relations

    MUMBAI  The Awards Governing Council of Goafest 2016 has declared the jury chairs for Integrated, OOH/Ambient, Branded Content and Public Relations. DDB Mudra chairman and CCO Sonal Dabral will chair the OOH/Ambient Jury of Creative Abby,  J. Walter Thompson  CCO Senthil Kumar will chair the integrated category.  Reliance Broadcast Network  CEO Tarunl Katial will be jury chair for the  branded content category while Madison PR  CEO Paresh Chaudhury will chair the Public Relations category.

    Dabral  has over two decades of experience in advertising industry and has curated many winning campaigns for major local, regional and multinational brands.  He began his career in Lintas and after a brief stint in Mudra Delhi, went on to have an extremely successful stint at Ogilvy Mumbai. He then went on to head Ogilvy in Malaysia and make it one of the top creative offices in the region.   Thereafter, as the chairman and ECD of Ogilvy Singapore, he helped the agency become the hottest agency in the region and the no.1 creative office of the WPP global network. In 2007 he led the agency for it to become the third highest awarded agency in the world at Cannes Lions. He is a prolific winner in most of the regional and international award shows like Cannes, Clio, D & AD, One Show, LIA, Andy Awards, AdFest, Spikes etc,

    Kumar has been celebrated in India and recognized globally for the ability to amplify deep local insights into simple ideas that solve complicated marketing challenges. He has won India’s first and second Film Gold Lions at The Cannes Lions International Festival in 2009.  His ideas have helped build several brands in India including: Levi’s, Nike, Google, Ford, etc. Kumar can be spotted in several creative books under the classifications of writer, creative director, designer, photographer and film maker. His work has risen beyond successful marketing case studies to mine over 100 international creative awards.

    Katial is at the helm of one of India’s youngest media houses and is considered to be one of the most successful executives in the Indian media industry. A stint in adverting followed by over a decade of experience in broadcast with brands like Star and Sony and now Reliance Broadcast, Katial has successfully led high decibel launches of industry tent poles and has always been able to rightly tap the consumer’s pulse. Other significant achievements in Katial’s cap include being voted the NewsCorp Achiever for Asia and being included among the best in the ‘India Today 30 on 30’ list. He was also part of the team that won the first Media Gold at Cannes.

    Chaudhry has over 24 years of brand communication and reputation management experience across industries and key global markets and is also founder president of the “Indian Forum Of  Corporate Communicators” (IFCC).   Chaudhry’s last assignment was as group president -corporate communications, Reliance Industries, prior to which he was head of communications at HUL and communications leader, Unilever South Asia.  From building the corporate brand of Ranbaxy in North America, Europe and India, to aligning regional communication country teams to bring alive ‘the transition to one Unilever brand’ and driving the corporate name change from “HLL” to “HUL”, to putting together systems and processes for effective global (internal and external) communications at RIL, Chaudhry has led communications for many iconic and tentpole campaigns in India.

     

  • Goafest Creative Abby jury chairs announced for Integrated, OOH/Ambient, Branded Content and Public Relations

    Goafest Creative Abby jury chairs announced for Integrated, OOH/Ambient, Branded Content and Public Relations

    MUMBAI  The Awards Governing Council of Goafest 2016 has declared the jury chairs for Integrated, OOH/Ambient, Branded Content and Public Relations. DDB Mudra chairman and CCO Sonal Dabral will chair the OOH/Ambient Jury of Creative Abby,  J. Walter Thompson  CCO Senthil Kumar will chair the integrated category.  Reliance Broadcast Network  CEO Tarunl Katial will be jury chair for the  branded content category while Madison PR  CEO Paresh Chaudhury will chair the Public Relations category.

    Dabral  has over two decades of experience in advertising industry and has curated many winning campaigns for major local, regional and multinational brands.  He began his career in Lintas and after a brief stint in Mudra Delhi, went on to have an extremely successful stint at Ogilvy Mumbai. He then went on to head Ogilvy in Malaysia and make it one of the top creative offices in the region.   Thereafter, as the chairman and ECD of Ogilvy Singapore, he helped the agency become the hottest agency in the region and the no.1 creative office of the WPP global network. In 2007 he led the agency for it to become the third highest awarded agency in the world at Cannes Lions. He is a prolific winner in most of the regional and international award shows like Cannes, Clio, D & AD, One Show, LIA, Andy Awards, AdFest, Spikes etc,

    Kumar has been celebrated in India and recognized globally for the ability to amplify deep local insights into simple ideas that solve complicated marketing challenges. He has won India’s first and second Film Gold Lions at The Cannes Lions International Festival in 2009.  His ideas have helped build several brands in India including: Levi’s, Nike, Google, Ford, etc. Kumar can be spotted in several creative books under the classifications of writer, creative director, designer, photographer and film maker. His work has risen beyond successful marketing case studies to mine over 100 international creative awards.

    Katial is at the helm of one of India’s youngest media houses and is considered to be one of the most successful executives in the Indian media industry. A stint in adverting followed by over a decade of experience in broadcast with brands like Star and Sony and now Reliance Broadcast, Katial has successfully led high decibel launches of industry tent poles and has always been able to rightly tap the consumer’s pulse. Other significant achievements in Katial’s cap include being voted the NewsCorp Achiever for Asia and being included among the best in the ‘India Today 30 on 30’ list. He was also part of the team that won the first Media Gold at Cannes.

    Chaudhry has over 24 years of brand communication and reputation management experience across industries and key global markets and is also founder president of the “Indian Forum Of  Corporate Communicators” (IFCC).   Chaudhry’s last assignment was as group president -corporate communications, Reliance Industries, prior to which he was head of communications at HUL and communications leader, Unilever South Asia.  From building the corporate brand of Ranbaxy in North America, Europe and India, to aligning regional communication country teams to bring alive ‘the transition to one Unilever brand’ and driving the corporate name change from “HLL” to “HUL”, to putting together systems and processes for effective global (internal and external) communications at RIL, Chaudhry has led communications for many iconic and tentpole campaigns in India.

     

  • Laurent Lafitte to be Master of Ceremonies at 69th Festival de Cannes

    Laurent Lafitte to be Master of Ceremonies at 69th Festival de Cannes

    New Delhi, 11 March: Actor Laurent Lafitte has agreed to be Master of Ceremonies throughout the 69th Festival de Cannes being held from 11 to 22 May under the presidency of Australian director George Miller.

    The actor and comedian will host the Opening Ceremony on 11 May and the prize giving during the Closing Ceremony on 22 May.

    A pensionnaire of the Comédie-Française since 2012, Laurent Lafitte began his career in the 1990s. After a triumphant one-man-show entitled “Laurent Lafitte, comme son nom l’indique”, he embarked on a career in film and theatre. In 2011, he was Master of Ceremony for the 25 Nuit des Molières.

    He has excelled in a range of registers from comedy (The Other Side of the Tracks, 16 ans… ou presque, Papa ou maman, etc.), to drama and arthouse film (Little White Lies, Bright Days Ahead, Tristesse Club, Boomerang). 

    Having appeared in Love Punch in 2013 alongside Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson, he has just finished filming Elle by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven and is currently working on Albert Dupontel’s latest film Au revoir là-haut. Lafitte will also star with Uma Thurman in the cast of Marjane Satrapi’s next film – an adaptation of novel by Romain Puértolas: “The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe”.

    Laurent Lafitte succeeds Lambert Wilson who emceed in Cannes in 2014 and 2015. The ceremonies are produced and broadcast on free-to-air Canal+.

  • Laurent Lafitte to be Master of Ceremonies at 69th Festival de Cannes

    Laurent Lafitte to be Master of Ceremonies at 69th Festival de Cannes

    New Delhi, 11 March: Actor Laurent Lafitte has agreed to be Master of Ceremonies throughout the 69th Festival de Cannes being held from 11 to 22 May under the presidency of Australian director George Miller.

    The actor and comedian will host the Opening Ceremony on 11 May and the prize giving during the Closing Ceremony on 22 May.

    A pensionnaire of the Comédie-Française since 2012, Laurent Lafitte began his career in the 1990s. After a triumphant one-man-show entitled “Laurent Lafitte, comme son nom l’indique”, he embarked on a career in film and theatre. In 2011, he was Master of Ceremony for the 25 Nuit des Molières.

    He has excelled in a range of registers from comedy (The Other Side of the Tracks, 16 ans… ou presque, Papa ou maman, etc.), to drama and arthouse film (Little White Lies, Bright Days Ahead, Tristesse Club, Boomerang). 

    Having appeared in Love Punch in 2013 alongside Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson, he has just finished filming Elle by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven and is currently working on Albert Dupontel’s latest film Au revoir là-haut. Lafitte will also star with Uma Thurman in the cast of Marjane Satrapi’s next film – an adaptation of novel by Romain Puértolas: “The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe”.

    Laurent Lafitte succeeds Lambert Wilson who emceed in Cannes in 2014 and 2015. The ceremonies are produced and broadcast on free-to-air Canal+.

  • Australian filmmaker George Miller to head Cannes Jury in May

    Australian filmmaker George Miller to head Cannes Jury in May

    NEW DELHI: Australian director, screenwriter and producer George Miller will be heading the jury of the 69th Festival de Cannes.

    The Festival will be held from 11 to 22 May.

    Reacting to his appointment, Miller said, “What an unmitigated delight! To be there in the middle of this storied festival at the unveiling of cinematic treasures from all over the planet. To spend time in passionate discourse with fellow members of the jury! Such an honour! I’ll be there with bells on!”

    It was in Cannes last May that Mad Max: Fury Road  set out on its fantastic cavalcade across the screens. The film, shown Out of Competition in the Official Selection, marked the return not only of the hero of the legendary saga for the myriad fans of Max Rockatansky, but also the comeback of his creator, Miller, and of the visionary filmmaking that made him a household name around the world.

    The roots of Miller’s career, alongside those of Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford and Phillip Noyce stretch back to the golden age of Australian cinema from the 1980s.

    Originally from a small village in Queensland, Miller wrote and directed Violence in the Cinema, part 1 in 1971. Produced by his friend Byron Kennedy, with whom he founded the Kennedy Miller company, the short film picked up two prizes from the Australian Film Institute. This official recognition encouraged Miller to pursue a career in film and to make his first feature film.  

  • Australian filmmaker George Miller to head Cannes Jury in May

    Australian filmmaker George Miller to head Cannes Jury in May

    NEW DELHI: Australian director, screenwriter and producer George Miller will be heading the jury of the 69th Festival de Cannes.

    The Festival will be held from 11 to 22 May.

    Reacting to his appointment, Miller said, “What an unmitigated delight! To be there in the middle of this storied festival at the unveiling of cinematic treasures from all over the planet. To spend time in passionate discourse with fellow members of the jury! Such an honour! I’ll be there with bells on!”

    It was in Cannes last May that Mad Max: Fury Road  set out on its fantastic cavalcade across the screens. The film, shown Out of Competition in the Official Selection, marked the return not only of the hero of the legendary saga for the myriad fans of Max Rockatansky, but also the comeback of his creator, Miller, and of the visionary filmmaking that made him a household name around the world.

    The roots of Miller’s career, alongside those of Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford and Phillip Noyce stretch back to the golden age of Australian cinema from the 1980s.

    Originally from a small village in Queensland, Miller wrote and directed Violence in the Cinema, part 1 in 1971. Produced by his friend Byron Kennedy, with whom he founded the Kennedy Miller company, the short film picked up two prizes from the Australian Film Institute. This official recognition encouraged Miller to pursue a career in film and to make his first feature film.  

  • Scope of Innovation in Print Advertising

    Scope of Innovation in Print Advertising

    On 16 April, 2000, The Times of India arrived on the doorsteps of millions of Indian households with its front page blank! It carried only the masthead, but no editorial. Blank!! That was the surprise of all surprises. It was our way of telling the world that the dot com revolution had arrived with the launch of indya.com. It took the country by shock! It hit newsreaders right between their disbelieving eyes. You couldn’t help but notice it. Unbelievable, even to us! 

    When we thought of the idea, we didn’t use fancy words like ‘innovation in print’. All we wanted to do was dominate the news! Take over everything. To shell-shock the world, to be remembered! Nobody had dared mess with the front page of Times of India until then. It took a great client like Sunil Lulla, the then CEO of Indya.com, to inspire, appreciate and see this idea right through. 

    Today we see a lot of messy stuff on the front pages of most newspapers. These are not innovations, but desperations. If we want to truly break through, we’ll have to do much better than what we currently see. More importantly, we’ll have to have the inventive fire of a madman and the inspired blessing of a visionary client. Else all we’ll get is paper pulp.

    It is getting harder for advertising to stand out in print. Because editorial is so much more exciting. And it’s being generated at the speed of life. So forget about creating print ads like we did before. We are competing with gripping news. And the only way to fight news is to make news. 

    Which explains the work many of us have seen for Benetton a few years ago. The ‘Unhate’ campaign. It dared to create news. A childlike argument for peace and reconciliation, it created huge buzz. The big pictures of world leaders kissing each other in the print ads incited strong reactions. The campaign was withdrawn but the brand’s point was made. The work won worldwide accolades and the Grand Prix at Cannes.

    To truly innovate in print advertising, it’s important to remember that we are not competing with other ads, we are competing with news. What’s your news? If you have inspired guts, you’ll find the answer. Innovation in print is not a topic of discussion. It’s not an ad… it’s an act!

    (These are purely personal views of BBDO India chairman and chief creative office Josy Paul and Indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Videocon d2h named best ‘Pay TV Service’ at Content Innovation Award in Cannes

    Videocon d2h named best ‘Pay TV Service’ at Content Innovation Award in Cannes

    MUMBAI: Indian direct to home (DTH) company Videocon d2h bagged the ‘Pay TV Service of the Year’ award at Digital TV Europe’s inaugural Content Innovation Awards held in Cannes.

     

    Videocon d2h is India’s fastest growing pay TV operator. For the quarter ended 30 June, 2015, Videocon d2h’s subscription revenue grew 32.2 per cent year on year to Rs 599 crore. On the other hand, the company’s revenue from operations grew 23.3 per cent year on year to Rs 663 crore. Videocon d2h’s gross subscriber base stands at 13.70 million, whereas its net subscriber base is at 10.64 million.

     

    Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot said, “As the fastest growing Pay TV operator in India and the DTH market leader for the fourth consecutive year in terms of incremental market share, Videocon d2h has worked hard for its success in what can only be described as a strongly competitive marketplace. Our focus of providing superior customer service for each and every single one of our 14 million gross subscribers has served as the foundation for several milestone accomplishments for Videocon d2h, including adding 2.64 million subscribers, growing subscription revenues by 38.3 per cent during this past fiscal year.”

     

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera added, “2015 has certainly been a banner year for Videocon d2h. We started the year with the launch of India’s first 4K Ultra HD channel in January, became the most valued Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ with our successful IPO with a market cap of $1.24 billion as of 30 June, 2015. Being honoured with Pay TV Service of the Year award is a celebration of our customer delight approach.”

     

    Accepting the award, Videocon d2h deputy CEO Rohit Jain said, “Being named Pay TV Service of the Year, especially from a global field of innovative businesses, is truly the icing on the cake.”

     

    On the other hand, Discovery Networks International was named as the Best International TV Networks Group. Discovery Networks CEEMEA also won the Best Series Launch of the Year for Dynamo: Magician Impossible (season 4).

     

    Endemol Beyond was crowned MCN of the Year, whereas the Channel of the Year award went to Eurosport. The award for the Best New Channel launch went to AMC Global. 

     

    Some of the other major winners at the awards were Entertainment One, which won International Production Company of the Year, ITV Studios Global Entertainment was awarded as the Best Content Distributor.

     

    BT took home the award for 4K Initiative of the Year for its Ultra HD Service, whereas the Cloud TV Innovation of the Year award went to Easel TV for Curzon Home Cinema. Orange for Watch with Twitter bagged the Social TV Innovation of the Year award.

     

    The Industry Innovation of the Year went to VOO for the .évasion box and Videowall. Rovi bagged the TV Technology Award (content discovery) award for Personalized Discovery Solution 

     

    The awards were attended by more than 100 programming and technology industry executives in Cannes.

  • Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to inaugurate India Pavilion at Cannes

    Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to inaugurate India Pavilion at Cannes

    NEW DELHI: The India Pavilion at 111 Village International Riviera (Cannes, France) will be inaugurated by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore on 14 May, 2015.

     

    Eminent people including Indian Ambassador to France Mohan Kumar, Marche Du Film Director Jerome Paillard, producers Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra and Bobby Bedi will also be present at official opening of the Pavilion. Marche Du Film is one of the most important film markets in the industry.

     

    Two Indian films, Chauthi Koot by Gurvinder Singh and Masaan by Neeraj Ghaywan have been chosen under the Un Certain Regard category.

     

    A session on journey to Cannes of the film Chauthi Koot will take place on the first day. A post screening reception for the film has also been organized.

     

    FICCI is coordinating the India Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival with the Ministry for the second consecutive year.

     

    The India Pavilion will showcase Indian cinema’s linguistic, cultural and regional diversity by showcasing trailers, displaying literature and brochures on varied aspects. The primary focus would of course be boosting co-production opportunities with countries India has signed treaty with, attracting international studios to shoot in the country and exploring new international partnerships in the realms of distribution, production, filming in India, script development and technology, and promoting film sales and syndication.

     

    Also, the fourth edition of the ‘Indian Film Guide’ will be placed at the Pavilion for the delegates. The ‘Indian Film Guide’ is a comprehensive booklet with information on policy initiatives by the government pertaining to film sector, the listing of Indian companies at Cannes Film Market, Indian Films at Cannes and contacts of important people in the business of filmmaking.

     

    FICCI along with the Ministry will be holding sessions on the sidelines of the festival. The sessions would focus on important aspects like co production agreements, international distribution – challenges and way forward and how to make films reach out to worldwide audience amidst a wider range of issues faced by the sector.

     

    The sessions would have speakers with wide ranging experience in their fields and the likes of Film France COO Frank Priot, Telefilm Canada director international promotion Shiela de La Varende, Film London senior inward investment manager David Shepheard, CNC France director Pierre Emmanuel, ASAP Films producer Marc Baschet, Australia India Film Fund head Anupam Sharma, Special Treats CEO Colin Burrows, Indian filmmakers Nandita Das and Rishi Mehta, PVR Pictures president Kamal Gianchandani, Mongrel Media distributer Charlotte Mickie, Westend Films’ Eve Schoukroun, Dragongate CEO William Pfeiffer, Film London CEO Adrian Wooton and Cinestaan founder Rohit Khattar.

     

    The Government is proactively supporting the sector and has even listed it among the 25 focus sectors under the ‘Make in India’ campaign.

     

    Punjabi film ChauthiKoot (The Fourth Direction) is based on two short stories by Punjabi writer Waryam Singh Sandhu, titled Chauthi Koot and Hunn Main Theek Haan. The story is set in Punjab against the backdrop of the Sikh separatist movement in the ‘80s. It catches the mood of Punjab during the turbulent period.

     

    Masaanset in Varanasi revolves around four key characters, that of a young orphan, a low-caste teenage boy, a girl and her father as they attempt to fight against the morality and traditions typical of the small town they live in. Their lives intersect tangentially when the low-caste boy, played by Vicky Kaushal, falls in love with an upper-caste girl and Richa Chadha’s character finds herself in a sex scandal. Her father Sanjay Mishra finds himself fighting the taboo but in him, the young orphan, played by Nikhil Sahni, finds a father figure.