ITV

Tag: CVL Srinivas

  • Indian AdEx to increase by 12.6 per cent in 2015: GroupM

    Indian AdEx to increase by 12.6 per cent in 2015: GroupM

    MUMBAI: India’s advertising investment is expected to reach an estimated Rs 48,977 crores in 2015, up 12.6 per cent from last year. This was revealed in GroupM’s biannual advertising expenditure futures report titled This Year Next Year (TYNY).

     

    As per GroupM, for the calendar year 2014, the ad spending stood at Rs 43,490 crores, which was an increase by 12.5 per cent over 2013. This growth was attributed to the heavy ad spending due to the General and State Elections and industry categories like e-commerce and Telecom. The FMCG sector, which contributes to nearly a third of the AdEx, had a steady year, growing broadly in line with the industry average.

     

    Last year began with uncertainties on the political and economic front. Once a stable government came to power the mood changed to one of cautious optimism.

     

    GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “With a new Government coming to power the negative sentiment has lifted but there is still some bit of caution amongst advertisers. We continue to operate in the same zone as last year at an overall level. Digital, TV and cinema are expected to be the high growth media channels. We are seeing a lot more confidence amongst local businesses to invest in brand building than before. This is a positive sign for the industry. Penetration of smartphones coupled with the popularity of online video is making FMCG spend more on digital. Another trend is the emergence of categories like e-commerce and the increased competition in telecom both of which are aiding the growth of traditional media channels including print and TV apart from digital.”

     

    As per the report, e-commerce is expected to lead the charge in 2015 in terms of ad spend growth although from a relatively smaller base than more established categories. There is increased competition in this sector and no dearth of funding. The FMCG, auto and telecom sectors are expected to do better than the previous year. More multinational entrants under single brand retail are likely to add to ADEX spending in the retail category.

     

    The report added that the recent rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will stimulate the banking sector, reactions of which are evident on a buoyant stock market. This year will possibly see a number of IPOs as there is a sense of stability in policy and investors are willing to take more risks. The market will also see higher spends from the Central Government as they showcase their new initiatives.

     

    As per GroupM’s research of the Indian media industry, digital media continues to show the maximum growth with 37 per cent in 2015. Digital has been growing at an average rate of 35 per cent over the last two of years. Within digital media, video, mobile and social will be the biggest growth drivers this year.

     

    Television shows a higher growth percentage in 2015 compared to last year with 16 per cent. TV channels will especially be bullish with cross media integration via their own digital platforms. The big ticket event this year is the ICC Cricket World Cup in February and March, with scope for programming and advertising innovation during the tournament.

     

    Even with pressures on advertising revenues, the print medium shows an increase by 5.2 per cent as against the 2014 estimate of 7.6 per cent; however print magazines continue to be on the decline, as several are looking at digital delivery mechanisms.

     

    The surprise element in the media mix has been cinema advertising, which finally closed 2014 with a 25 per cent increase. This year too, GroupM estimates this media category to grow at 20 per cent, as multiplex chains consolidate, leading to a more organised and accountable environment. With technology fuelling exhibition and distribution, especially in smaller towns, consumers will get a better viewing experience.

     

    GroupM South Asia managing partner – Central Trading Group and Mindshare South Asia CEO designate Prasanth Kumar added, “Over the last few years, Indian media has been in a state of change. The next three to five years will be about embracing technology, which will allow both advertisers and media owners to customise distribution to a premium niche audience with very nominal margin of error. In 2015, programmatic buying will see an impetus, as all media in the future will see automation, backed by smart data and analytics.”

  • Mindshare appoints Prasanth Kumar as south Asia CEO

    Mindshare appoints Prasanth Kumar as south Asia CEO

    MUMBAI: Mindshare APAC, the global media agency network part of WPP, has appointed Prasanth Kumar or PK as he is popularly known, to the role of south Asia CEO.

     

    Currently head of GroupM’s Central Trading Group and a member of GroupM’s south Asia executive committee, PK will report to GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas and Mindshare Asia Pacific COO Gowthaman Ragothaman.

     

    The announcement was made following the news that the current CEO, Ravi Rao will be transitioning into a new role within GroupM, the details of which will be announced shortly.

     

    Srinivas commented, “Prasanth was a unanimous choice for this role. He is a very dynamic leader always full of ideas and a true organisation man. In the past ten years he has played a stellar role in ensuring GroupM’s scale is leveraged to maximise value for our clients. He has championed some exciting partnerships for GroupM both in the digital and traditional media spaces. I am sure under his leadership Mindshare will scale new peaks and delight its clients with a quality media product. I’d like to thank Ravi Rao for his contribution and wish him the very best in his new role within the network.”

     

    Kumar’s role is effective 1 March 2015.

  • 2014 was the year of innovations in digital advertising: CVL Srinivas

    2014 was the year of innovations in digital advertising: CVL Srinivas

    From a media perspective 2013 was the year of the perfect storm and something tells me that there is lots waiting to unfold in 2015.  Was 2014 the lull before another storm? The major event that dominated 2014 was of course the general election and the wave of optimism and hope that has been spreading ever since the new government came to power. Not only was this the most bitterly fought election from a media standpoint; it was the most well orchestrated win combining strategy with clever tactics.  Advertising was only one part of the strategy. 2014 will go down in history as the year that gave a new meaning to marketing of political parties. We now realise that the general election was only the beginning. With a slew of schemes, clever branding and initiatives that touch the common man, the government is turning out to be a very savvy marketer. One hopes the product lives up to its promise.

    The extension granted to TV digitisation was a bit of a dampener for the broadcast sector. There has been some indication that the phase III licensing for radio will soon go through. Meanwhile, India became the second biggest market for Facebook, the overall Internet penetration crossed 200 million and mobile Internet became the most dominant force of change. And yet we have bandwidth issues, call drops and sometimes feel like going back to the old faithful ‘landline’.  As a nation we need to play catch up in digital infrastructure and going forward I hope this is given the highest priority.

    As for the advertising industry, 2014 saw a 12.5 per cent growth (as per GroupM TYNY estimates) as against a global ad spend growth of 4.5 per cent. Apart from political advertising, if there was one sector that stood out was ecommerce. This sector will end up with more than 50 per cent growth over last year closing the year at Rs 2500 crore of ad spend. The upsurge in this sector is expected to continue. FMCG (which remains by far the biggest sector in terms of ad-spend contributing about a third of total advertising) continued to invest in advertising despite supply side pressures, poor volume growth and an uncertain monsoon season. We expect FMCG to end the year with 12-14 per cent growth. Auto has seen a revival both in terms of sales and ad spends. The sector is expected to see a 15-17 per cent ad spend growth in 2014. With petrol/diesel prices coming down, we expect more action in the months to come. Telecom brands are back after a lull, adding to the overall positive trend. All in all it was a good year, although anything less than 15 per cent ad spend growth still seems low for our market. As expected digital advertising grew at 35 per cent, while TV continued to do well with approximately 15 per cent growth. Regional language dailies helped grow the print sector. Cinema turned out to be the dark horse, with 25 per cent growth though on a relatively small base. Unlike the past few years, we had a clear blip during the festive season this year across all media.

    2014 saw a great deal of innovation in digital media advertising. GroupM and our agencies have been at the forefront of many exciting developments. Digital video has emerged as one of the biggest growth drivers of digital ad spend. Mashup, our digital video content unit has seen a lot of traction, we have made over 1500 pieces of digital video content in the past year. Across the industry, we saw many memorable campaigns launched first on digital media. More brands have taken to social media platforms to keep the conversation going, social listening is emerging as a key input for advertising and media planning.  We have worked with clients (like Nestle) to establish social command centers that have given our media and content planners real time insights. Mobile as a medium continues to grow and will soon account for nearly 20 per cent of the digital ad spend. Madhouse is our mobile center of excellence that is now in its third year of operation. Another emerging trend is audience planning, where digital inventory is combined with data to ensure better ROI for brands. GroupM’s Xaxis is a platform that is at the forefront of innovation in this space.

    We have lots to look forward to in 2015 including the ICC Cricket World Cup.

    Here’s wishing you all a Very Happy New Year.

    (These are purely personal views of GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • ‘GroupM Circuit Colombo 2014’ to pave the way for the newest phase in media

    ‘GroupM Circuit Colombo 2014’ to pave the way for the newest phase in media

    MUMBAI: Global digital expert and leading media innovator GroupM on Tuesday announced ‘GroupM Circuit Colombo 2014,’ which will take place in Colombo on 4 December, featuring an impressive line-up of speakers and a comprehensive programme.

    GroupM Circuit will be a platform to discuss the future of digital marketing featuring speakers from digital powerhouses Google, Facebook, Xaxis and GroupM. The event will be held at Park Street Mews and will be attended by heads of organisations and heads of marketing of top corporates.

    GroupM chief operating officer Sabry Haniz affirmed: “The potential of digital is yet to be fully realised. GroupM will be connecting the digital circuit in Sri Lanka and pave the way for the newest phase in media. We are looking forward to opening minds, inspiring new methods of connecting with audiences, and taking the industry to a whole new playing field.”

    Emphasising the group’s commitment to innovation, GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas commented: “Digital media is gaining popularity all across Asia and it is becoming imperative for brands to go digital. GroupM has been at the forefront of shaping the digital media landscape globally and here in Asia. Through this initiative we hope to answer some of the questions marketers have about digital and share some best in class case studies from around the world.”

    The opening keynote on the ‘Impact of Digital in Today’s World’ will be delivered by Google India director for ecommerce and online classifieds Nitin Bawankule. A panel discussion on Multi Screen Planning and its relevance to Sri Lanka will follow.

    Xaxis India director Atique Kazi will speak on ‘Programmatic that works – The Basics, The Opportunities and The Pitfalls!’ Kazi will shed light on the basics of the subject while explaining how to leverage programmatic advertising, demystify programmatic, dispel misconceptions, and provide pointers to making programmatic work.
    A panel discussion on ‘Comparing ROI of Digital Media to Traditional Media’ will follow. Despite digital media being a buzzword within the industry for a number of years, only a handful of brands have tapped its inherent potential; too often, it is a last minute add-on to a media plan. This discussion will plumb the depths of this topic, comparing the ROI between traditional media and its digital counterparts.

     

    GroupM India Social Practice Head Karthik Nagarajan will address the topic: ‘Can Social have a Strategy?’ While going viral is the marketer’s dream, the internet is a graveyard of many such initiatives. This session will analyse the success of some of the most socially-active brands globally and delve into their strategies through case studies.
    His session will be followed by a panel discussion on ‘The Value of an Online Influencer’. Trends in data suggest that the modern consumer is increasingly wary of an advertiser’s promise, relying more on external recommendations, which are perceived to be unbiased. The discussion will explore the value of an online influencer to a brand, and how best to leverage a positive review, and manage negative sentiments.

     

    Facebook Global Marketing Solutions Agency Head Vidyadhar Kale will discuss ‘From Mobile Marketing to Marketing in a Mobile World’. He will explore mobility and how it will be the driving force for Facebook, and digital media overall. The address will include data on Sri Lankans and mobile trends.

     

    The panel discussion ‘What’s Next in Digital?’ will evaluate the receptiveness of the relatively conservative Sri Lankan audience and will explore both, a forecast for digital media in Sri Lanka, as well as how communications teams can best exploit these trends. This will be followed by the keynote panel discussion moderated by GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas on ‘Marketing in the Digital Age,’ as he speaks to leading marketers across brands in Sri Lanka on their experienced with digital media and advertising.

     

    The GroupM Circuit Colombo will also feature an interactive ‘Experiential Zone’ by Crossworks Digital Experiential Lab showcasing state of the art technology for participants to experience first hand. The inspiring collection will include a Holobox display unit, a Directional speaker, Marker based AR on brochures and magazines, a Digital Sampling Tray, an Oculus rift, a Virtual Wardrobe, a Recipe Vending machine, and a Magic screen.

  • Mobile trumps desktop as 55 lakh consumers visit the Grand Diwali Mela!

    Mobile trumps desktop as 55 lakh consumers visit the Grand Diwali Mela!

    Mumbai: The Grand Diwali Mela organised by GroupM in association with Google, Amazon.in, LINE, Games2Win and Hungama.com was a runaway success, attracting over 55 lakh visitors. The first of its kind initiative by GroupM to take the offline concept of Diwali Mela to an online destination was a hit with users across India.  The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ saw very high engagement with users, who spent time getting product samples @ Re.1, enjoying movies and videos, playing games and greeting each other via the LINE messenger. The number of visits on the virtual mela as well as time spent surpasses any offline brand activation initiative organised during the festival in India.

     

    The ‘Grand Diwali received an overwhelming response with over 55 lakh visitors,the majority of which came from mobile phones with over 45% women visitors!. On October 24th, Diwali day, the mela received over 4.6 lakh visitors! In all mela visitors spent over 125,000 hours browsing various brand and entertainment stalls in the mela besides which many more hours were spent on partner sites – Amazon.in, Games2win and Hungama.com. Interestingly almost half the visitors discovered the mela through Search and LINE Messenger.

     

    The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ emerged as the largest online sampling platform for brands. Over 150,000 samples were shipped across India, with 70% samples going to Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The samples ranged from skincare and household products relevant to both men & women. To celebrate the partnership LINE Messenger came out with a set of special edition stickers for the ‘Grand Diwali Mela’. More than 5 million ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ stickers were exchanged in during this festive season, as visitors wished friends and family via the LINE platform.

     

    Popular Diwali games like Rummy and the Diwali Chakri kept people engaged and entertained with over 36 lakh game plays. Diwali Chakri which was a special game launched by Games2Win to celebrate Grand Diwali Mela – saw over 1M plays!

     

    On the success of the Grand Diwali Mela, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “We are excited about the success of the first Grand Diwali Mela. We were able to create a great platform for consumers to come and sample products and interact with brands. It is also heartening to see the reach of the virtual mela was not restricted to the metros but filtered down to smaller towns where the digital penetration is growing exponentially. We also have seen a distinct spike in access via mobile phones, a clear indicator that India is opening up readily to mobile data and communication.”

  • Share of news channels in total AdEx is encouraging: CVL Srinivas

    Share of news channels in total AdEx is encouraging: CVL Srinivas

    NOIDA: “Indian news industry is as vibrant as the different cultures of India,” said GroupM south Asia CVL Srinivas as he presented the keynote on Innovations in news selling at the 7th Indian News Television Summit.

     

    Srinivas, sharing a media agency’s perspective on news and brands, added that the news industry today needs a lot of balance especially in terms of reportage, content for different audiences across platforms. 

     

    As for the AdEx, he informed that in the country the advertising expenditure for television stood at Rs 16,000 crore. “The news channels take 13 per cent share of the pie which is encouraging as the viewership of news channels stood at 10 per cent,” he stressed upon.

     

    Talking about the ad spend growth in the country, he informed that the television medium was growing at a rate of 14 per cent overall. The Hindi news genre was growing at 15 per cent, closely followed by regional news at 10 per cent while English news genre stood at seven per cent.

     

    Moving then onto brand research, Srinivas felt that today brand research is undergoing a radical change and old measurement methods are being questioned. Throwing some light on GroupM’s one such initiative, Social Command Centre, he said, “It is a virtual conference room that monitors the digital space and provides rich insights about consumers and brands.” And stated the example of Nestle which uses the tool to monitor chatter and gather buzz around the brand digitally. 

     

    Honda using the popular comedian Kapil Sharma to launch a series of campaign online, which garnered 1.5 million hits, was another example, he highlighted upon. He went on to say that cause-based marketing should be initiated and brands should ask themselves, how do we evolve ourselves to become more meaningful entities?  “Once brands are able to answer the same, there will be a lot of headroom for improvement and growth,” he opined. Providing another example, he said an agency called Crayon Data was able to come up with tastegraphs that showed the purchasing and behavioural pattern of different audiences in well-segmented clusters.

     

    He further went on to add that the evolving Indian digital space sees 220 million Indians active on the digital front spending  almost 200 minutes a day online either checking mails or watching videos. “This implies that the new medium cannot be ignored,” he informed.

     

    According to Srinivas, news broadcasters need to keep in mind a few things for the future such as co creating socially responsible agendas with brands, invest more in digital, adopt new metrics such as consumer sentiment, social buzz, social impact, viewers’ profile and lastly getting into big data.

     

    In his closing remarks, he said that while the upcoming digital environment has caused a big disruption to some it will provide a huge opportunity to the news industry and sky is the limit.

  • 7th Indian News Television Summit: Innovation for higher ad revenue

    7th Indian News Television Summit: Innovation for higher ad revenue

    MUMBAI: ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ is an age old adage. Operating in a cash crunch environment, this seems to be just what Indian news broadcasters will have to do  if they want to continue to beam into homes. 

     

    The Indian TV news business has been grappling with several issues. Close to 400 channels account for a small per cent of ad spends. High carriage fees and cutthroat competition for the ad rupee have made the going really tough for those in the news business. 

     

    With this as the backdrop, comes leading Indian media service Indiantelevision.com’s Seventh News Television Summit entitled ‘Monetisation in Transformational Times” on 28 October at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.  It seeks to address how those in the news TV ecosystem can develop more robust or new business models, including new revenue streams such as digital online video, syndication, off the air ground activities, advertiser driven programming solutions, among many others. 

     

    The highlights of the half day premier news television industry confab  are a keynote by News Broadcasters Association president and India TV chairman and editor in chief Rajat Sharma followed by a discussion on ‘Meeting the challenge for today’s TV news networks, a one-on-one with ITV Network MD Kartikeya Sharma and then a keynote from leading media agency Group M south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas.  .

     

    The session ‘Content monetisation through conventional and digital platforms of news channel’ will see a reveling discussion on how business heads are meeting the challenge of low ad rates and near zero subscription revenue with rising cost through alternative options such as syndication of news, events, digital etc. Included in this session are NDTV group CEO Vikram Chandra, TV Today Network CEO Ashish Bagga, IBN18 Network CEO Avinash Kaul, Doordarshan ADG News Mayank Agarwal and Focus News Network group CEO Neeraj Sanan.

     

    ‘Innovation in news selling’ will explore novel ideas for media agencies and brands to increase their ROI from their investments on news networks and what innovative methods can be drawn for both to achieve a win-win business model. Opening the session is Srinivas’ keynote followed by a discussion with IPG Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha, CNN-IBN and IBN7 national revenue head Vishal Bhatnagar, India TV senior VP and country head – ad sales Sudipto Chowdhuri and Zee Sangam national sales head Harsha Vardhan Dwivedi. The sessions will be moderated by Provocateur Advisory principal Paritosh Joshi.

     

    Editors of networks will discuss how far they will go to allow money to drive content in the session titled  ‘Monetisation for editorial independence’. ITV Network editor in chief Deepak Chaurasia, former India TV editorial director and veteran journalist QW Naqvi, Mi Marathi consultant Nikhil Wagle and moderator Aaj Tak and Headlines Today editor at large Rahul Kanwal will take the stage. In a separate discussion,  Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan will discuss how it can offer solutions to advertisers and news networks to further ad revenue.

     

    Says Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari: “So far the news television industry has not been able to harness substantial subscription revenues, even as carriage fees look set to rise with digitisation being delayed. Hence, it needs to look for solutions to hike revenues from the advertising inventory – the threat of the reduction of this has been staved off at least for now – they have, apart from working closely with advertisers and agencies to offer solutions that opens up the revenue pipeline for them further. The challenge is to increase their yields while increasing the ROI for advertisers. I believe the seventh news television summit will help give both advertisers and news channels some pointers as to how they could achieve this jointly.”

     

    The presented by sponsor for the event is Jia News, silver partners are Akamai, India News, NewsX, Sakshi TV, TV9, growth partner is SureWaves, Amagi is lanyard partner, support partners are CNBC Awaaz and CNBC TV18, online media partners are radioandmusic.com and tellychakkar.com. The event is executed by ITV 2.0 Productions.

     

  • GroupM with Goggle to launch online Diwali Mela

    GroupM with Goggle to launch online Diwali Mela

    MUMBAI: WPP’s GroupM has announced its plans to launch an online platform called ‘Grand Diwali Mela’, which will be India’s largest festive season online destination.

     

    The initiative is supported by Google and will allow consumers to take the neighbourhood mela experience to their favourite screens – across mobile, tablets or desktops.  The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ will go live on 1 October and last till the Diwali.

     

    Speaking about the unique initiative, GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “As more Indians go online, digital media is already an integral part of our everyday lives. We have conceptualised a virtual Diwali mela for users in the country to experience the festive season in a specially designed online platform, where brands will showcase their latest products, run promotions and sampling along with all the fun and entertainment elements that are part of the festive season. Leading brands are excited about the potential of this initiative, and this could possibly become the largest digital activation platform for this festive season.”

     

    The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ will bring together two of the biggest activities Indians like to indulge during any festive season, shopping and entertainment, as users experience in offline Diwali mela. Shopping is an integral part of our Diwali celebrations when the whole family spends on an array of product categories. Diwali is also a time of celebration with family and friends where music and movies and games are part of every get together. All these offline experiences will be available to online users at the ‘Grand Diwali Mela’.

     

    Google India country head Rajan Anandan added, “We are delighted to be working with Group M on this innovative platform, that will be first of its kind initiative to kick off the festive season in India. Our teams are very excited about this and we are sponsoring the effort that will be accessible across all kinds of devices – including mobile phones.”

  • “Content is a key pillar to provide breakthrough solutions for clients”: Kartik Sharma

    “Content is a key pillar to provide breakthrough solutions for clients”: Kartik Sharma

    He took charge in January this year and since then there has been no looking back.

     

    The humble and calm, Kartik Sharma, the managing director south Asia of Maxus, has had a great year, so far. Maxus India began 2014 on a high note with several breakthrough campaigns like “Power of 49” for Tata Tea, winning business worth Rs 300 crore, new senior management appointments. The ‘agency of the year’ title at Emvies 2014 was the cherry on the cake.

     

    Sharma has been with the company for seven years and has contributed to shaping the Maxus brand, creating client delight and helping Maxus dominate industry awards along with Ajit Varghese who has been appointed CEO Asia Pacific.

     

    The agency was named as the fastest growing media agency by RECMA and retained the title of the most “dominant” agency profile for the fourth year in a row in 2013.

     

     Indiantelevison.com’s Meghna Sharma spoke to the man, who specialises in communication planning, behavioural economics, media research, analytics and technology, to know what Sharma attributes these achievements to; his blueprint for the agency in the coming months, and industry’s forecast.

     

    Excerpts…

     

    How does it feel to be the ‘Media Agency of the Year’? What made you differ from the competition?

     

    It’s a fantastic feeling to be ‘The’ media agency of the year, something which we have been dreaming for over seven years. Emvies being the most coveted and respected forums in India, winning here gives us tremendous satisfaction as the award is a reflection of effective work done for clients. The difference over competition is our focus across all clients (we won a metal for 10 clients) and across various categories suggest Maxus’s focus across various disciplines which we have been building over the years. Some of our competitors have won only on a few clients.

     

    Your client Tata Beverages won the ‘Client of the Year’ for ‘Power of 49’ campaign. Were you expecting it? According to you, what made the campaign a success?

     

    We were expecting good wins for the ‘Power of 49’ campaign. The client of the year was a bonus. The reason for the success of the campaign was that it was based on some fantastic insights and impeccable execution. Also, the entire timing of the campaign enhanced the effectiveness of the campaign.

     

    It’s not even been a year since you took charge as MD, how has the journey been so far?

     

    The journey so far has been fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for more. Apart from winning the Emvies ‘agency of the year,’ Maxus has been winning consistently over the last few months. Consistent wins across award forum which includes Asian Marketing effectiveness awards for data analytics innovation, win at the WPP Atticus on analytics, recent wins at the MMA, Smarties (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze), again Agency of the year at the Big Bang held by Ad club Bangalore, highest award at the WPPED cream awards clearly indicates the focus that Maxus has on doing effective work across clients.

     

    Apart from the wins, we have added several senior leaders to Maxus who have rich experience in building brands. This helps us do cutting edge work for our clients. Overall, it has been an extremely satisfying journey so far, with many more exciting projects for the rest of the year.

     

    The year 2014 has started on a good note for Maxus with over Rs 300 crore businesses. What would you attribute it to?

     

    Our record at pitches is at the back of integrated thinking that we bring to the table backed by great insight. Every pitch we work very hard irrespective of the size of the business. We spend a lot of time understanding the brand challenge which helps us craft integrated communication solutions and not media plans.

     

    Apart from this, a lot of emphasis is also on delivering ROI and measurement.

     

    You also bought in new people to strengthen the team. What will they be looking and what more can we expect from Maxus in the coming months?

     

    All our senior leadership’s single line mandate is to provide client delight. Till now they have done a fantastic job and even in the future the mandate won’t change. Our goal is always to be the trusted partner for all our clients.

     

    The agency recently launched Resolve. What was the idea behind launching it and what has been the response from the clients on it?

     

    In today’s complex and dynamic media environment the shift from media plan to communication plan was imminent. We saw this coming and started work nearly three years ago where Maxus India worked with the global leadership team to develop a proprietary framework called “Relationship Media” (RM). The heart of RM is the ever evolving and non-linear purchase pathway & media has a critical role to play in this pathway. Also the pathway changes dramatically by the category type.  All the standard industry tools cover very limited touch points and also do not factor the brand/category challenge. For example whether you are selling a financial product or auto, which are typically targeted towards say men, the standard industry tools will throw similar media choices. This is because they don’t address consumer pathways. They just look at plain demographics. Resolve was our answer to address this challenge where more than 60 touch points are captured, the pathway for each category is mapped and a multi touchpoint optimisation now made possible at the hands of our planners. It’s a revolutionary tool which uses primary research done by Point logic for 25 categories with a sample size of more than 2000 individuals.

     

    The beauty of the tool is that it recommends the media task for the brand (beyond just building salience) and shows the most influential touch points (beyond just reach) to achieve a particular task. We have received extremely positive feedback across clients as such a tool doesn’t exist and is able to add terrific value to their communication plans. 

     

    Digital, data and technology were identified as the key growth drivers for Maxus. What are the key areas for you?

     

    I mentioned earlier in the year that Maxus will focus on digital, data and technology and there is no change in that. Additionally, I would say content is a key pillar, which can provide breakthrough solutions for clients. The ‘Power of 49’ campaign is a good example of the same. Over the next few months you will hear many more case studies from Maxus.

     

    Today digital is no longer just another medium but has become an integral part of a marketer’s plan. What digital strategies do clients expect from Maxus?

     

    The digital landscape is an ever evolving area and most of our clients expect integrated full service solutions from us. In fact we currently do many things beyond digital planning & buying. We work in other areas such as owned media management, social, creative development, website development and even CRM.

     

    Name some of your best digital campaigns.

     

    The list is pretty large. In no particular order a few examples are our search work for Fiat which was appreciated and won many awards. Our campaigns for Tata Sky where we demonstrated the product features across various websites using the remote and not the status bar, Vodafone Selfie is a great example of meshing digital with activation and many many more.

     

    GroupM revised annual advertising expenditure (AdEx) estimates for 2014 to 12.5 per cent from 11.6 per cent. What are the reasons for it? Which sectors are spending and how is the year looking?

     

    The sentiment post elections have been positive with a new and stable government. One of the key sectors adding to growth is retail and more specifically e-commerce brands. They are aggressively investing in building brands in both traditional and digital media. Other industries like auto, telecom, financial services & FMCG are expected to increase spends.

     

    What are the challenges ahead for you and Maxus?

     

    Currently, one of the key ingredients of our past few years’ success has been the culture and that’s critical for us to maintain at all times. The key challenge is to maintain the culture of Maxus at all times. At the end of the day ours is a people business and if we can keep the culture intact which we define as PACE (Passion, Agile, Collaborative & Entrepreneurial) then we will be in a good place. 

  • HDFC Bank Named India’s Most Valuable Brand In Brand Ranking

    HDFC Bank Named India’s Most Valuable Brand In Brand Ranking

    MUMBAI: According to the first ever BrandZ™ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands ranking announced today, the combined Brand Value of all the brands in the rankingis almost $70bn.HDFC Bank is India’s most valuable brand, with a value of $9.4bn. Carried out by marketing and brand consultancy Millward Brown in conjunction with WPP, the valuationis the only one in India that takes into account consumers’ opinion of brands to calculate thecontribution that product brands make to business success.

    The BrandZ™ India study shows that India’s unrestricted ‘right to play’ for businesses has nurturedgreat diversity amongst brands in the ranking.The Top 50 come from 13 different categories. Seventeen are multi-national corporations (MNCs), 26 are private Indian brands and seven are state-owned brands. This indicates that India is an open, fertile market for building valuable brands, irrespective of age, origin, structure, category, ownership or even price range.

    HDFC Bank, the no.1 brand, has a network in more than 2,100 cities. It is popular with its 28 million customers for launching mobile apps designed to make banking easier, and running literacy, education and skills training programmes in rural areas. The No.2 brand, Airtel, is the fourth largest mobile operator in the world with nearly 300 million customers, while India’s largest commercial bank, State Bank of India, is at No.3 in the ranking.

    Services businesses (Banking, Telecoms and Insurance), which are the nerve centre of today’s Indian economy, are prominent in the ranking.Seven of the Top 10 brands, and 30% of the Top 50 brands, come from the service sector. Financial services stand out, with the12 banks and insurers in the ranking holding the largest proportion (37%) of total Brand Value.Analysis shows these brands have built value by successfully achieving scale – both ingeographical reach and the diversity of their offerings. Telecoms, Personal Care, and the Food and Dairysectors also feature strongly in the Top 50. The data shows that these brands – along with the other FMCG brands in the ranking – excel at connecting with Indian consumers.

    The average Brand Contribution (ameasure of the impact brand alone has on value) of the Top 5 brands is far higher than the overall average of the Top 50, illustrating the positive impact that building a strong brand has on the financial valuation of the brand. These brands create powerful connections by being meaningful to consumers,and differentiating themselves from others.

    The BrandZ™ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2014

    Key findings highlighted in the BrandZTMTop 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands include:

    •    Being meaningful and different builds value – India’s most valuable brands are highly relevant to consumers and differentiate themselves through service, new offerings and brand experiences. One such example is personal care brand Colgate (No.28) – even after 70 years in India the brand has successfully remained relevant and continues to differentiate itself from the competition.

    •    India has evolved into a brand powerhouse – its Top 50 most valuable brands have as much Brand Power (consumers’ predisposition to choose that brand over another) as the global Top 50, and are ahead of the other emerging economies.

    •    Private sector players and multinational corporations dominate – together these contribute around 85% of total brand value. They have succeeded by nurturing a strong relationship with Indian consumers.

    •    Megabrands lead the game – like other fast growing economies, India is dominated by a handful of big brands or companies that own stables of brands: the Top 5 account for 45% of the ranking’s total value. Their tremendous scale and ability to cater to a wide spectrum of the population has translated into financial gains.

    •    ‘Balanced brands’ is the mantra – brands that are able to build both strong connections with consumers and business scale that leads to the creation of financial value are contenders for entering or rising up the BrandZ ranking. Three out ofthe Top 5 Indian brands demonstrate this balance.

    •    Consumer technology is ‘the category waiting to happen’ – there are currently no home-grownconsumer technology brands in the Top 50, but this category is on the verge of emergence. The presence of Indians working in the sector globally is high, and consumer-facing technology brands founded by young entrepreneurshave already started to gain ground.

    •    ‘Indianizing’ products and services is important – the many successful international brands in the ranking have taken the time to understand Indian needs and tastes and adapt to them. Noodles, food seasoning, soup and sauce brand Maggi (No.18), personal care brand Colgate (No.28) and beverage brand Horlicks (No.20) are mastersat this – and are thought of as Indian brands by most consumers as a result.

    •    Old and new sit side by side – living with one foot in the ancient world and one in the modern makes consumers equally receptive to heritage brands (Bajaj Auto, No.5, established 1945) and new brands (Airtel, No. 2, established 1995). More than a quarter of the Top 50 brands were created after the economic liberalization in 1991 while Dabur, No.22, was established 130 years ago.

    Prasun Basu, Millward Brown’s Managing Director – South Asia, said, “The stronger the relationship a brand can build withconsumers in its category, and the more it canleverage that to build scale, the more sustainable and profitable it becomes. All of the Top 50brands are reputable, successful engines of growth for the future of India. Any global manufacturer that makes the effort to understand the diversity of the Indian consumer’s needs, tastes and aspirations, and which can build a proposition that is both meaningful and appropriately differentiated,will succeed in building a strong brand.”

    David Roth, CEO of The Store, WPP added,“With the second highest number of social networking users in the world, and the third highest number of users of mobile devices, developing an e-commerce strategy that focuses on social and mobile platforms is essential for brands in this region.”

    CVL Srinivas, CEO GroupM – South Asia, added,“We are already seeing the impact of the purchasing power of the internet and mobile users in India, with the exponential growth of e-commerce companies in the space of travel, e-tailing, ticketing and many main line brands increasing their brand building budgets to digital media in multiples.”

    In addition to the rankings, special awards were also presented to brands among the Top 50 under the following categories.

    Millward Brown BrandZ India Awards 2014