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Tag: Danone

  • Indian brands turn heads and hearts at Kantar’s ad-effectiveness awards

    Indian brands turn heads and hearts at Kantar’s ad-effectiveness awards

    MUMBAI: Culture met creativity head-on, and Indian brands walked away with the spoils. Danone, Hindustan Unilever, Haleon and Godrej Consumer Products were among the big winners at Kantar India’s Creative Effectiveness Awards, which celebrated five years of ads that hit both hearts and wallets.

    With more than 1,350 Indian creatives tested in 2024—out of 12,000 globally—the winners were chosen not by agency suits, but by the toughest (and truest) critics: everyday consumers. Think festival rituals, everyday mishaps, Bollywood throwbacks and even snarky political satire. The kind of stuff that makes you nod, laugh or text your mum.

    HUL took home the crown across TV and digital. Meanwhile, Godrej Fab tickled funny bones with its satirical punch, Pond’s struck a Bollywood chord, and Nihar shaved off grooming clichés with flair.

    To mark the fifth anniversary of the awards, Kantar unveiled a snappy new mantra—distilled from half a decade of tracking India’s most powerful campaigns. Turns out, the most effective ads haven’t lost the plot: culture still sells, and creativity still seals the deal.

    The report’s insights are as spicy as a masala chai:

    ●    Culture is comfort food: Great Indian ads are like dal—with a creative tadka. They’re emotional, familiar, and loaded with meaning.

    ●    Tiny moments, big memories: It’s not grand gestures but the small stuff—rainy train stations, puja rituals, awkward family dinners—that truly lands.

    ●    Multilingual magic: Language may vary, but emotion doesn’t. The most effective brands ditched the Hindi-only formula for regionally rooted storytelling.

    ●    Execution eats strategy for breakfast: Music, humour, idioms, casting—get them right, and you’ve got a winner.

    Influencer-driven content, says Kantar, isn’t just noise—it holds eyeballs 2.2 times longer than standard ads, and delivers a 58 per cent average salience score. That’s gold in today’s skip-happy world.

    In India, you don’t invent culture—you tune into it, add some flavour, and serve it up with feeling. That’s how brands go from ads to icons.

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  • OMD APAC promotes Namrata Roy to vice-president strategy

    OMD APAC promotes Namrata Roy to vice-president strategy

    MUMBAI: OMD APAC has elevated Namrata Roy to vice-president strategy, marking another step forward in her four-year tenure with the media agency network.

    Roy, who most recently served as associate vice president strategy for OMD India, brings extensive experience in media strategy and client leadership to her new role. Her promotion comes after successfully leading strategy for OMD India and previously heading strategy for OMD Malaysia, where she managed key accounts including Danone, Nissan, and Allianz.

    Prior to joining OMD in 2021, Roy held the position of strategy director at Zenith Malaysia, where she managed the Nestlé account. Her career spans over 15 years across leading media agencies, including roles at DDB Mudra Group, Madison Media, Dentsu Aegis Network, and Mindshare.

    Roy’s experience includes working with prominent brands such as Cipla Health, State Bank of India, Mondelez India, and ICICI Group. She began her career as a management intern at Ogilvy, working on Unilever and Mondelez accounts.

    An IPA Advanced Certificate holder in effectiveness, Roy’s appointment reinforces OMD APAC’s commitment to strengthening its strategic leadership across the region.

  • Protinex taps influencer marketers to push Immuno Nutrient Calculator

    Protinex taps influencer marketers to push Immuno Nutrient Calculator

    MUMBAI: Protinex in association with Filter Coffee Co is conducting an aggressive influencer marketing campaign to promote its Immuno Nutrient Calculator.

    The activity, which started during Protein Week, has received tremendous response via various sets of influencers, with demand growing especially on Instagram. Filter Coffee Co, which holds a strong foothold in influencer marketing campaigns, is strategically using a mix of macro, micro, and nano influencers and phasing the campaign to build engagement and brand value. The agency has also included a mix of celebrities, non-celebrities, and digital content creators to provide a wider reach and ensure the message on raising awareness around tracking health and immunity reaches maximum people.

    Protinex has also got on board expert nutritionist Mitushi Ajmera for professional advice and reliability of the calculator. The adult nutritional supplement protein brand’s calculator helps track the level of immuno nutrients that help in building immunity, such as Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, B12, Zinc, etc in one’s diet.

    Using Instagram as one of the key platforms and engaging influencers to amplify the campaign, Protinex aims at raising awareness and driving traffic towards its new feature, which is also providing a free consultation with a 30-day personalised diet.

    Till date the brand message has been supported by Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Riteish, and Genelia Deshmukh, content creators like House of Misu, Roshni Chopra, Nisha Aggarwal, Shrima Rai, Priyanka Kalantri, Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya, Vivek Dahiya, amongst others, across platforms like Instagram, YouTube, etc.

    The campaign is being conducted on Instagram using  multiple features like static posts, videos, IGTV, stories, and reels. Protinex has also been impressive in gaining traction on YouTube for the initiative.

    Madhuri Dixit – https://www.instagram.com/p/CDGpGH8HoLY/

    Riteish Deshmukh – 

    Genelia Deshmukh – 

    Roshni Chopra – 

    “In the past few months, we all have realised the importance of a good immunity system and with the launch of our new Immuno Nutrient Calculator, we want more and more people to be able to sit at home and track their health at ease. The entire influence marketing activity which we are conducting has helped us build this awareness and we are glad people are waking up to it. With the demand of influencer marketing having shot up in the past few months, we are glad to partner with Filter Coffee Co., who bring in detailing and the correct set of influencers for our brand. Our partnership with trusted Influencers to drive the importance of a nutrient-filled diet, has got us great brand recall, and more importantly, it helped us inspire healthier eating and drinking choices while building consumer trust,” Danone India MD Himanshu Bakshi said.

    FilterCoffee founder and CEO Anuja DeoraSanctis said, "With more and more people getting health conscious and looking to adapt newer lifestyle habits, our aim was to create a buzz around the same and help them understand their immunity levels. A healthy lifestyle is imperative in today’s fast world, and with our network of influencers, we look forward to continuing to reach out to maximum people possible.”

    Till date, the brand has reached over 20 million users, witnessing an engagement of over 7 lakh and an average engagement rate of 5.2 per cent.

  • DDB Mudra wins creative duties for Protinex

    DDB Mudra wins creative duties for Protinex

    MUMBAI: Protinex, the leading nutritional supplement brand from the house of Danone, has awarded its creative duties to DDB Mudra, following a multi-agency pitch. DDB Mudra will bring in its expertise to strengthen the brand’s communication and architecture.

    Indian diet is primarily carbohydrate-heavy and protein deficient. A 2017 research by Indian Market Research Bureau* revealed that protein deficiency in India was more than 70 per cent. Until a few years ago, adult nutrition was an ignored topic. Indians are now considering their health and wellbeing seriously.

    They are gradually making themselves aware of protein deficiency and its underlaying effects on human health. Building on this insight, DDB Mudra researched this category deeply to map all the touchpoints of a consumer journey and lifecycle.

    Read more news on Protinex

    Danone India MD Himanshu Bakshi said, “Protein awareness is an important part of our brand commitment since the understanding about Protein is very nascent in India. Effective communication is a vehicle through which we deliver our promise of inspiring healthier eating& drinking habits. DDB Mudra will help us translate this promise to action as we embark on an exciting journey to create impactful communication around Protein”.  

    DDB Mudra West managing partner Anurag Tandon said, “Adult nutrition is a category withgrowth potential. Working with a name like Protinex is a matter of pride for us, since they not only have a long-standing reputation in the market but also a vision to further the brand in multiple ways. Our fresh perspective inhow to create consumer awareness about protein deficiency resonated well with Protinex’s goal to create relevance in this segment.”

  • Wow, exclaim kids at Hershey’s product

    Wow, exclaim kids at Hershey’s product

    MUMBAI: Wow Design, a strategic brand design consultancy, has associated with Hershey’s for strategising the packaging design for its new range of healthy flavored milkshakes.

    Evolving Indian consumers prefer richer, superior experiences when it comes to food and beverages as they are exposed to it on global excursions. The health foods category in India too is slowly evolving to meet with the consumers preferences.

    Wow Design is a strong believer in creating elegant and impactful packaging, as it’s the face of any brand and allows an interaction of only a few minutes with the consumers before they make up their mind.

    For Hershey’s product launch, Wow Design evaluated both – the current brand drivers and the challenges in launching a product that would appeal to both the buyer (mothers) and the consumer (Kids). These drivers were – existing equity with the consumers in delivering rich experience on taste, flavor and mouth feel and an aspirational imagery attached to the brand. The challenge was to find a fine balance between delight for kids and healthy goodness for mothers in a pack of milkshake while exhibited on the same shelf as its Indian competitors.

    A thoughtful decision was taken to leverage on the richness and consistency of the product to establish it as a milkshake versus the available flavored milk products. The designs stemmed from the core concept of it being the ultimate healthy milkshake that kids deserve.

    The final result was clean, yet communicative range of packs that retained the global appeal of the brand Hershey’s and connected effectively with the health-conscious Indian consumers.

    Wow Design partner and executive director Deepti Kshirsagar said, “The design strategy needs to work for the dual target audience – one the consumer and second the decision maker. Coming from an aspirational yet familiar international brand like Hershey’s, the trust aspect for the mothers and tastefulness for the kids could be taken care of with a prominent brand endorsement in the design. The challenge was to imbibe the healthy goodness of the product, as that becomes a primary concern for the mothers and impact decision making to a large extent. ”

    Wow Design partner and executive director Saswata Das said, “The rapid growth of the flavored milk beverages category in India has attracted many global players like Danone and even Coca-Cola to enter this segment. We helped Hersheys’s to take on the Indian players and charge a premium for their unique positioning and fortification benefit.”

  • Wow, exclaim kids at Hershey’s product

    Wow, exclaim kids at Hershey’s product

    MUMBAI: Wow Design, a strategic brand design consultancy, has associated with Hershey’s for strategising the packaging design for its new range of healthy flavored milkshakes.

    Evolving Indian consumers prefer richer, superior experiences when it comes to food and beverages as they are exposed to it on global excursions. The health foods category in India too is slowly evolving to meet with the consumers preferences.

    Wow Design is a strong believer in creating elegant and impactful packaging, as it’s the face of any brand and allows an interaction of only a few minutes with the consumers before they make up their mind.

    For Hershey’s product launch, Wow Design evaluated both – the current brand drivers and the challenges in launching a product that would appeal to both the buyer (mothers) and the consumer (Kids). These drivers were – existing equity with the consumers in delivering rich experience on taste, flavor and mouth feel and an aspirational imagery attached to the brand. The challenge was to find a fine balance between delight for kids and healthy goodness for mothers in a pack of milkshake while exhibited on the same shelf as its Indian competitors.

    A thoughtful decision was taken to leverage on the richness and consistency of the product to establish it as a milkshake versus the available flavored milk products. The designs stemmed from the core concept of it being the ultimate healthy milkshake that kids deserve.

    The final result was clean, yet communicative range of packs that retained the global appeal of the brand Hershey’s and connected effectively with the health-conscious Indian consumers.

    Wow Design partner and executive director Deepti Kshirsagar said, “The design strategy needs to work for the dual target audience – one the consumer and second the decision maker. Coming from an aspirational yet familiar international brand like Hershey’s, the trust aspect for the mothers and tastefulness for the kids could be taken care of with a prominent brand endorsement in the design. The challenge was to imbibe the healthy goodness of the product, as that becomes a primary concern for the mothers and impact decision making to a large extent. ”

    Wow Design partner and executive director Saswata Das said, “The rapid growth of the flavored milk beverages category in India has attracted many global players like Danone and even Coca-Cola to enter this segment. We helped Hersheys’s to take on the Indian players and charge a premium for their unique positioning and fortification benefit.”

  • Leo Burnett ropes in Amritraj Thakur as VP – planning

    Leo Burnett ropes in Amritraj Thakur as VP – planning

    MUMBAI: Leo Burnett has appointed Amritraj Thakur as vice-president- planning at its Delhi office.

     

    In his new role, Thakur will work closely with Leo Burnett executive vice president – integrated strategy planning Antony Rajkumar in sharpening the agency’s strategic focus on key clients.

     

    Thakur started his career in advertising in 1999 and soon left the industry to become a specialist in the consulting space. He moves back to advertising with Leo Burnett after a long hiatus, and having worked with many multinational clients in diverse areas such as strategy planning, business analysis, consumer research, etc.

     

    He joins from Intellecap Consulting India where he worked as associate vice president.

     

    Leo Burnett India North president Samir Gangahar said, “Amritraj comes with rich experience in communications and more recently in consultancy. In him, we have found a strategist who has the ability to grasp business problems and think through compelling solutions that will add value to clients’ businesses. In his experience of over 15 years, he has acted as the change enabler for many clients across industries. I’m sure his strength in strategy and business analysis will prove to be an incredible asset to us.”

     

    Leo Burnett India executive strategy planning Antony Rajkumar added, “Amritraj has spent a large part of his career in the consulting space, solving complex business problems for both Indian and International clients. That experience coupled with his temperament, natural intelligence and passion to study and influence human behaviour, will add tremendous value to our clients’ businesses, and thus for the agency itself. It’s great to have someone like him on the team.”

     

    Thakur said, “Leo Burnett’s outlook on how the client’s business is evolving and the role communication companies can play in the change is spot on. I’m truly excited to be a part of the team that believes in defining the purpose brands and creating targeted and meaningful conversations with consumers. After having worked in the consulting space for more than 10 years, I was looking to get back to advertising. I would be foolish to have missed the Leo Burnett opportunity, as it has in its team some of the finest strategic thinkers in the country.”

     

    Over the years Thakur has worked with Unilever, Bosch, NCSoft, RDF Media, Danone, in designing new market entry strategies, implementing sustainable business models, managing marketing and communication requirements and new product launches.

  • Havas Media Group strengthens Indonesian team

    Havas Media Group strengthens Indonesian team

    MUMBAI: The largest media group in Indonesia, Havas Media Group, has appointed Pranay Shah Singh as head of strategy for Indonesia.

     

    In his new role, Singh will be responsible for strengthening the strategic output on key clients including, XL Axiata, Danone, AXA, LG Electronics and Kakao Talk. He will also work closely with account leads, innovation and new business teams to drive the adoption of group’s proprietary – meaningful brands research and meaningful connections planning process that helps brands connect with people and create shared value for brands and consumers.

     

    He will report jointly to Havas Media Group APAC chief strategy officer SK Biswas and Havas Media Group Indonesia CEO Riadi Sugihtani.

     

    Biswas said, “In addition to his media expertise, Pranay brings with him a lateral thinking approach to consumer insights, branding and business issues that connects well with the Meaningful Brands approach at Havas Media Group. He has also shown great curiosity and enthusiasm for the market and I have no doubt that he will prove to be an asset to our pool of clients, who are banking on our support to reach the next level in their meaningfulness journey .”

     

    Singh joins the agency with ten years of experience in the dynamic Indian media industry, where he developed an expertise in strategic planning, media research, consulting and content marketing, working with multinational media agencies and boutique consulting. His last stint was with ZenithOptimedia India, where he led communications planning for FMCG companies like Reckitt Benckiser and Nestle. His involvement in social initiatives like Dhriti and recognition as a rising media star in India by Brand Equity magazine, are testament to his interest in the evolution of communications, and how it impacts society and culture.

     

    Singh said, “I am delighted to be a part of the expanding Havas Media Group and exploring new media horizons of Indonesia, one of the giants of Southeast Asia that is witnessing unprecedented consumer growth.” 

     

    Last year the group launched its second agency brand Arena in the country, which has been on a winning spree nabbing the business of Indofood and LG Electronics.

  • Publicis wins the creative business for Ambuja Cement

    Publicis wins the creative business for Ambuja Cement

  • Havas picks up majority stake in Mediaxis MPG

    MUMBAI: Fortifying its position in the Swiss ad market, global media group Havas Media has acquired its majority stake in Zurich based media group Mediaxis MPG.

    Havas Media and MPG have been associated for the past nine years. The majority stake is in effect from today.

    Mediaxis MPG will remain the group‘s main operational brand and founder Peter Hofstetter will continue as chairman and member of executive committee. The management of the company will remain on board as key elements on the new long-term joint expansion plan.

    Mediaxis MPG is a qualitative media agency with a client list that includes Reckitt Benckiser, Danone, Lindt, Barclays and Hermes.

    Havas Media CEO Alfonso Rod?©s said, “The Swiss market is a key market for Havas Media and I am delighted that following a prosperous nine year relationship, the management team have decided to further commit to the group and officially join our other 122 markets worldwide.”

    Mediaxis MPG chairman Peter Hofstetter added, “We have all prospered as a result of our partnership and joining the Havas Media team is a natural step in further strengthening the group‘s operations in the Swiss market. The existing management team have committed to driving this group forward and look forward to continuing to benefit from Havas Media‘s tools and wider thought leadership activity such as its Meaningful Brands framework.”