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  • Facebook signs first agency deal in India with GroupM

    Facebook signs first agency deal in India with GroupM

    MUMBAI: During her recent visit, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, signed the company’s first agency deal in India with WPP’s integrated media and marketing company, GroupM.

     

    “Our partnership with GroupM will benefit clients to reach over 100 million people in India, 84 million on mobile — both smartphone and feature phone —  and custom audiences within the 100 million in urban and rural India.” said Facebook India head Kirthiga Reddy. “We’re excited about this wide-ranging collaboration which combines the strength of the world’s best global advertising platform with GroupM’s market-leading position to deliver personalised marketing at scale.”

     

    GroupM has been creating cutting edge digital solutions for clients and given its access to data and research and has been integrating digital with traditional media for its clients. GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “We are delighted with the Facebook partnership that can help unlock even greater value for our clients. We work closely with Facebook globally, regionally and locally. India is projected to be the largest country for Facebook by people very soon and we see exciting possibilities for our clients. This partnership adds to the set of enablers we have created over the years that can help drive digital adoption in our market.”

     

    For Nokia Lumia, GroupM pioneered the deployment of Facebook’s outcome measurement and leveraged Facebook’s sophisticated targeting capabilities to deliver a 54x return on Facebook ad spend.

     

    Once again, leveraging Facebook’s sharp targeting capability, GroupM delivered outstanding results for Arrow, a premium apparel brand. Arrow was running an end of season sale and wanted to drive a special discount promotion to an audience between 18 to 35 years old residing in metro cities. Arrow was able to deliver a 30x return on Facebook ad spend and a significant redemption rate from this exclusive Facebook campaign.

     

    To add to its digital offerings, last year GroupM India launched Mash Up, a digital content unit which has been creating engaging digital content solutions for brands, the most recent being the digital video campaign with Kapil Sharma for Honda Mobilio. GroupM also manages a specialist mobile advertising company, Madhouse, bringing brands together with mobile media publishers to unleash the power of mobile. Its full service digital marketing agencies Quasar and Blazar include end to end digital solutions for advertising across the web, social media, search, analytics and creative services. As part of the renewed focus on digital, GroupM in the past year has evolved its practices in content, movie activation, experiential marketing and analytics.

  • Behind every great love is a great story!

    Behind every great love is a great story!

    MUMBAI: Love knows no boundaries – whether it is passion of youth or when showing that it is ageless. Featuring for the first time on Romedy NOW as ‘Romedy of the Month’ will be The Notebook which is a chronicle of romance and togetherness on 26 July 2014 at 9 pm.Starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel Adams, The Notebook is presented by Dove and powered by SMC.

     

    Catch an elderly man, Duke in a modern day home for seniors reading a romantic tale from his notebook to his lady co-housemate suffering from dementia. Go back to the old world charm of the 1940s with a young and passionate farm boy Noah (played Ryan Gosling) falling in love with 17-year-old heiress Allie Hamilton (played by Rachel Adams) at a carnival. There is an idyllic romance, an ancient mansion that Noah dreams of owning, and a social class difference that nips the love affair in the bud.

     

    Noah writes letters to Allie for a year but they are hidden by Allie’s mother and remain unanswered. As the two young lovers feel betrayed by the other, the World War II has Noah joining as a soldier while Allie becomes a nurse. A twist to the tale is when a charming, rich, and handsome soldier Lon Hammond Jr. enters Allie’s life as her fiancé.

     

    Seven years later at her wedding gown trial, memories of love come gushing back as Allie sees a photograph of a now wealthy Noah who has bought the abandoned mansion in hopes of getting Allie back. Allie visits him in Seabrook and the flame of love rekindles. But will Allie sacrifice her love for commitment to Lon and lose true love for the second time or reclaim a love that was always hers? Meanwhile, figure out how their story is connected to Duke and his lady companion to make an eternal love story.

     

    Whether one is lucky in love or just carries the love in one’s heart, fans are invited to share their own love story on Romedy NOW’s twitter page with #RememberWhen hashtag and the story. The sweetest one will be rewarded!

     

    And then with the special ‘What would you Do?’ activity on Facebook fans can tell the path they would have would have chosen if they were in Allie and Noah’s shoes.

  • We had a good second quarter: Mark Zuckerberg

    We had a good second quarter: Mark Zuckerberg

    MUMBAI: Social networking site, Facebook has had a good second quarter. The company declared its financial results for the quarter ended 30 June 2014 on 23 July. Its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “We had a good second quarter. Our community has continued to grow, and we see a lot of opportunity ahead as we connect the rest of the world.”

     

    Operational highlights

     

     

    • Daily active users (DAUs) were 829 million on average for June 2014, an increase of 19 per cent year-over-year

     

    • Mobile DAUs were 654 million on average for June 2014, an increase of 39 per cent year-over-year

     

    • Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.32 billion as of 30 June 2014, an increase of 14 per cent year-over-year

     

    • Mobile MAUs were 1.07 billion as of 30 June 2014, an increase of 31 per cent year-over-year

     

    Financial Highlights

     

    Revenue: Revenue for the second quarter of 2014 totaled $2.91 billion, an increase of 61 per cent, compared with $1.81 billion in the second quarter of 2013. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenue would have increased by 59 per cent. Revenue from advertising was $2.68 billion, a 67 per cent increase from the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenue from advertising would have increased by 65 per cent. Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 62 per cent of advertising revenue for the second quarter of 2014, up from approximately 41 per cent of advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2013. Payments and other fees revenue was $234 million, a 9 per cent increase from the same quarter last year.

     

    Costs and expenses: GAAP costs and expenses for the second quarter of 2014 were $1.52 billion, an increase of 22 per cent from the second quarter of 2013. Excluding share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, non-GAAP costs and expenses were $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2014, up 18 per cent compared to $1.02 billion for the second quarter of 2013.

     

    Income from operations: For the second quarter of 2014, GAAP income from operations was $1.39 billion, up 147 per cent compared to $562 million in the second quarter of 2013. Excluding share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, non-GAAP income from operations for the second quarter of 2014 was $1.71 billion, up 116 per cent compared to $794 million for the second quarter of 2013.

     

    Operating margin: GAAP operating margin was 48 per cent for the second quarter of 2014, compared to 31 per cent in the second quarter of 2013. Excluding share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, non-GAAP operating margin was 59 per cent for the second quarter of 2014, compared to 44 per cent for the second quarter of 2013.

     

    Provision for income taxes: GAAP income tax expense for the second quarter of 2014 was $595 million, representing a 43 per cent effective tax rate. Excluding share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, the non-GAAP effective tax rate would have been approximately 36 per cent.

     

    Net income and EPS: For the second quarter of 2014, GAAP net income was $791 million, up 138 per cent compared to $333 million for the second quarter of 2013. Excluding share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses and income tax adjustments, non-GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2014 was $1.09 billion, up 124 per cent compared to $488 million for the second quarter of 2013.

     

    GAAP diluted EPS was $0.30 in the second quarter of 2014, up 131% compared to $0.13 in the second quarter of 2013. Excluding share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses and income tax adjustments, non-GAAP diluted EPS for the second quarter of 2014 was $0.42, up 121 per cent compared to $0.19 in the second quarter of 2013.

     

    Capital expenditures: Capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2014 were $469 million.

     

    Cash and marketable securities: Cash and marketable securities were $13.96 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2014.

     

    Free cash flow: Free cash flow for the second quarter of 2014 was $872 million.

     

    Click here to read the financial report

  • Lai Bhaari goes all out on social media

    Lai Bhaari goes all out on social media

    MUMBAI: Marathi films today are gaining immense popularity among the Hindi and English cinema loving public as a result of the large scale social media campaigns backing them. One such case is that of Riteish Deshmukh’s latest Marathi debut film Lai Bhaari. The film took Marathi cinema to a whole new level and opened to a full house on the 11 June 2014 and is still going strong in theaters even two weeks after its release.

     

    Jeetendra Thackeray, producer of Lai Bhaar on the success of the movie said, “This is the first time a Marathi movie has garnered a response among the audience that so far only Hindi action packed blockbusters with A list star cast enjoyed. Everyone, including Marathi, Hindi and English cinema goers showed interest in the movie and there’s a reason for that. Online marketing and social media helped us connect with our audience in a way no other Marathi movie has done before. The response was massive. Interesting campaigns, enticing contests and easy steps to book tickets has actually changed the scenario for us and we are thrilled! Ritiesh’s stardom and his promotional tours across the state have also fuelled our online campaigns further.”

     

    A full-fledged digital media campaign was carried out to promote the film to its audience. As a part of this strategy, a number of engagement activities were carried out. These included the selfie contest where users were asked to submit their Lai Bhaari selfies on the film’s official social media properties. Dialogue promos from the film depicting the fiery Mauli were released giving the audience a glimpse of the character portrayed by the inimitable Riteish Deshmukh.

     

    A countdown to the film’s release executed in the form of cover pictures (updated daily) on Facebook also helped keep the anticipation levels on an all-time high in the minds of cine-goers. All communication regarding the path-breaking film was disseminated in Marathi to target the relevant target audiences. Additionally, a dedicated tab gave all users the ability to book tickets right off the bat from the Facebook page.

     

    Marathi cinema has always been characteristic of quality cinema; however, this is the first time that a film like Lai Bhaari has been created with a commercial potboiler perspective in mind. While this has been a first for Marathi Cinema, it has also been a first for the way the film was marketed.

     

    Everymedia Technologies has executed the social media campaign for the movie.

  • Social Media-the stadium for 2014 World Cup

    Social Media-the stadium for 2014 World Cup

    MUMBAI: Brazil had a reason to cheer this FIFA World Cup season. While it lost the big title, it was still the hub of all the excitement related to the football extravaganza. What is interesting to note is that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter became another venue where the action unfolded with an audience comprising global fans.

     

    The entire span of the World Cup saw a total of 672 million tweets being sent out: the highest number, Twitter has announced so far related to any event.

     

    Of the 672 million tweets, a bulk of the conversation was during the live matches. The semi-final between Brazil and Germany saw fans sending out more than 35.6 million tweets —setting a new Twitter record for a single event.

     

    The other top four matches were Germany versus Argentina with 32.1 million tweets. Next was Brazil versus Chile which garnered 16.4 million tweets followed by the match between Netherlands and Argentina receiving 14.2 million tweets. Finally it was the Brazil versus Colombia game which got 12.4 million tweets.

     

    Three of the top five most-tweeted moments occurred during Brazil’s 7-1 semi-final loss to Germany on 8 July, while the other two moments came in during the final match. The top five moments that generated the biggest peaks of Twitter conversation, measured in tweets per minute (TPM), during the entire tournament was Germany defeating Argentina to win the World Cup final with 6,18,725 TPM. Next was Germany’s Sami Khedira scoring a goal assisted by Mesut Ozil during the semi-final versus Brazil which got 5,80,166 TPM. Germany’s Mario Gotze scoring the winning goal of the World Cup on 13 July generated 5,56,499 TPM. Germany’s Toni Kroos scoring his second goal in the semi final against Brazil was fourth in line with 5,08,601 TPM. Finally, Toni Kroos scoring his third goal during the same semi-final match against Brazil garnered 4,97,425 TPM.

     

    The top 10 mentioned players in India during the WC were Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, David Luiz, Robin Van Persie, Neymar Junior, Mesut Ozil, Pepe and Wayne Rooney.

     

    While Twitter was buzzing, Facebook wasn’t far behind. 350 million people joined the conversation during the entire span of the World Cup generating 3 billion interactions (posts, comments and likes).

     

    Brazil’s demolition by Germany spurred around 66 million people to create more than 200 million Facebook interactions in the semi final match. People thronged to the platform: 10.5 million people from the US in the final and host country Brazil with 10 million. Men in the age group of 18-24 posted on Facebook the most as compared to any other demographic. This was followed by men aged 24-34, women aged 18-24, women aged 24-34 and men aged 13-17.

     

    NeymarJr saw the most fan growth on his page since approximately 15 million fans ‘liked’ his page since the beginning of the World Cup.

     

    Meanwhile, to give  a perspective of the  fervor and excitement surrounding FIFA World Cup – Vdopia a leader in online and mobile video advertising recently released an info-graphic calling it ‘The ultimate multi-screen event’ after  examining the impact of online and mobile devices on fan interaction with the World Cup.

     

    The report found that fans across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and India were following the FIFA on multiscreens like TV followed by mobiles and then laptops. The most significant trend the report noted was a paradigm shift in consumer’s video consumption behaviour termed as “multi-screen intake” or “platform agnostic” intake. Simplified, it means a typical consumer who was watching the match, checked FIFA updates and shared highlights of his favourite match on his mobile, updating them on Facebook, looking up for some information on their tablet or just sending an email – all during the same time.

     

    Some of the finds mentioned that the mobile has become the second most preferred medium in APAC after television with 80 per cent of the respondents looking at television+smartphones. It also said that 2,50,000 Indian unique viewers visited football sites everyday via their mobile. It says that the social buzz volumes in India were the highest between 8:00 pm to 4:00 am.

     

    The report further mentions that India saw one of the highest ever online sports audiences in May with 6.5 million viewers who watched 59.7 million sports related videos in May 2014.  The report appropriately sums up that the 2014 FIFA World Cup has been regarded as the ‘most social event ever.’

  • Now brands can manage Facebook ads on the go

    Now brands can manage Facebook ads on the go

    MUMBAI: Facebook has announced that it will now help advertisers to manage their Facebook ads on the go with an ads manager on mobile devices.

     

    Using the Facebook (iOS, Android and mobile site) apps, marketers can now pause or resume campaigns. Brands can also edit budgets and schedules. The service will allow brands to view insights and respond to alerts. They can also bookmark on their Facebook app.

     

    The social media company in its blog mentioned that it will be rolling out the feature globally in the coming days and by the end of the summer, all advertisers will have access to it.

     

    Interestingly, Google too released native iOS and Andrioid apps for its Adwords Express, an ad platform, at the same time. The service is aimed at getting small businesses on board. The feature is currently available only for the US market.

     

    The move by both Facebook and Google will make lives of marketers much easier moving forward.

  • Nielsen to track TV viewership on mobile devices through FB

    Nielsen to track TV viewership on mobile devices through FB

    MUMBAI: With changing times, researchers want to know more than what people are watching on their TV screens. They now want to know what people are viewing, on the go.

     

    Nielsen, a research company, has announced a partnership with social media giant Facebook to know what TV viewers are watching on their tablets and other mobile devices. The agency currently tracks TV viewing habits through peoplemeters.

     

    By the end of this year, Facebook will send aggregated data on the age and gender of users watching TV shows on their smartphones and tablets to the research agency. Facebook is said to have been working with Nielsen under strong privacy principles.

     

    In the past, Facebook had came under much criticism for a research activity it had conducted in 2012 on anonymous users by modulating the user feed to elicit certain types of emotions from them.

     

    “The world is shifting radically, and so we had to evolve our measurement so that we could capture all of this fragmented viewing,” said Nielsen EVP Cheryl Idell to LA Times.

     

    When device users will watch TV shows on apps that have Nielsen ‘software meter’ embedded, they will be notified about their views being counted unless they wish to opt out. However, Facebook insists that this will be an anonymously collected data that will be shared with Nielsen.

     

    The double-blind study involves Nielsen assigning numbers to names of TV shows and giving it to Facebook which will then aggregate the age and gender of the users that have seen a specific show. Nielsen claims that Facebook won’t be aware of which numbers relate to which shows while the social networking site claims that the study will not influence any type of online advertising displayed in users’ feeds.

     

    However, the data will be used by advertisers to better target majority of mobile watchers for ads that are inserted within shows.

  • Sony Pix goes big on social media and promotions

    Sony Pix goes big on social media and promotions

    MUMBAI: In the genre of English movies in India, nine players have been vying aggressively for a larger market share and online presence. One amongst these nine is Sony Pix. Read on about its efforts which include innovative micro properties on Facebook and giving out ‘money can’t buy merchandise.’

     

    The channel has been following a three point strategy since 2012. Sony Pix and AXN EVP and business head Saurabh Yagnik explains, “We began by investing in quality content. We then wanted to build a stronger perception and thirdly we wanted to innovate to break the clutter.” 

     

    Firstly, the channel invested in content by tying up with MGM. It bought the Bond franchise for three years including Sky Fall. Along the way, Pix had a makeover in late 2013 changing its previous tagline ‘Hollywood is Here’ to its current one ‘Stay Amazed’. The identity was unveiled with the world premiere of Skyfall in October 2013.

     

    It also premiered Men in Black 3 and The Amazing Spider Man. During the MIB3 premiere, Pix had launched an anti-alien day, where the channel said that eliminating various kinds of aliens from society was the need of the hour. Hash tags were displayed on the TV screen during the premiere, encouraging people to tweet. At that time, Yagnik had said that the initiative had trended through the day at number one and two in India and worldwide at number four. Similarly, with The Amazing Spiderman, Pix pitched the campaign around the amazing people in every person’s life, creating a web of amazing characters and stars.

     

    Earlier, the channel had also created ‘Premiere PIXathon’ where four back to back movies were premiered on a single day. “We chose movies that had four big stars, or spoke about Hollywood’s four big stars and what makes them click with the audience, four big cricketers and their achievements, and with this, we used the message of the ‘power of four’ for our big Premiere Pixathon,” Yagnik had said at that time.

     

    For 2014, the lineup includes Captain Phillips, The Hobbit: Desolation of the Smaug, The Amazing Spider Man 2 and Hercules.

     

    Next, to build a stronger perception, the channel started ‘Pix Premiere Nights’ on Facebook to give viewers an opportunity to watch a movie a day before it is actually released in India. Winners are chosen on the basis of a contest. In all, 2,200 winners across 10 cities will be provided passes to watch a mega movie on 11 screens. To facilitate the winner’s attendance, a special helpdesk has been set up. So far the contest has been held for Robocop, Spiderman 2 and The Hobbit.  Next in line is The Expendables 3. As reported earlier by indiantelevision.com, one such initiative could cost the channel anywhere between Rs 2-3 crore.

     

    Pix, which has more than two million followers on Facebook, according to Yagnik, decided to break from the clutter by creating micro properties on Facebook like: ‘Legendary Monday’ which has inspiring stories about celebrities; ‘Thoughtful Tuesday’ that is all about celebrity quotes; ‘Pixonomic Wednesday’ has box office collection facts while ‘Desi Thursday’ is a clash between Bollywood and Hollywood. ‘Superhero Friday’ includes all about action heroes while ‘Saturday Talks’ is about famous movie dialogues. The week culminates with ‘Gizmo Sunday’ which is all about gadgets.

     

    The channel plans to announce breaking news about Hollywood through the re-launch of its animated character ‘Notty Pixy’ on Facebook. “She is a gossip reporter who provides Hollywood news first in India,” Yagnik says. He flips a well bound book to showcase a list of Hollywood stars, reporters, movies, events and websites that are the “sources” for ‘Notty Pixy’s’ news.

     

    How has the three point strategy helped Pix?

    Revealing TAM data, the channel says that during the first quarter (April 14 to June 14) Star Movies stood first with 19.80 per cent market share while Pix followed closely at the number two position with 19.30 per cent share. The difference was just 0.50 per cent. However, in the same quarter during the primetime slot, Sony Pix led the charts with a market share of 23.6 per cent with Star Movies a distant second having a market share of 17.90 per cent (TAM Market: All India 1 Mn+ TG CS 15+AB).

     

    On Facebook, Pix has been leading the number one spot with 11.68 per cent engagement rate. Engagement includes likes, comments, shares and number of fans. In the second place is Movies Now with a 4.55 per cent engagement rate. Star Movies India and HBO India follow next with engagement rates of 3.35 per cent and 1.07 per cent respectively. Tonic Media is the digital agency that looks after these activities for Pix.

     

    Sharing details about future plans of the channel, Yagnik says that the channel will provide its audience with ‘money can’t buy merchandise’. For example, viewers can win the blue t-shirt worn by Tom Hanks for the film Captain Phillips, which will be premiered on 27 July. Yagnik adds that the t-shirt comes with a certificate of authenticity. Soon thereafter, the blood stained shirt and tie worn by Jamie Foxx in the movie White House Down is up for grabs.

     

    Yagnik revealed that Pix has been seeing revenue growth upwards of 25 per cent and is now available in HD on platforms like Dish TV, Hathway, Fastway and in Cable.

     

    According to Maxus managing partner north and east region Navin Khemka “the channel is trying to use innovative ways to capture audiences. By giving out exclusive merchandises it will attract audiences who will participate in a genre that is fragmented. They key objective is to build loyalty for the channel and therefore is a good strategy.”

  • FIFA World Cup Final sets Twitter, Facebook abuzz

    FIFA World Cup Final sets Twitter, Facebook abuzz

    Mumbai: Football is fodder for social buzz. And when a European team and a Latin American team are battling to take home the FIFA World CUP, it can scale new heights. As it did in the case of the final last night when Germany emerged triumphant by sneaking a goal in in the second half of extra time. According to both Twitter and Facebook, the World Cup Final has set new records for them as far as social engagement is concerned.

     

    Twitter announced the  game peaked at 618,725 tweets a minute, smashing the previous record of 580,166 tweets per minute set during Germany’s wipeout of Brazil in the semifinal. The total number of tweets: 32.1 million during the game.  But the German-Brazil match holds the record at 35.6 million tweets for the most socially active sports event ever.

     

    Facebook said that its timeline was buzzing like never before with 88 million users making a record 280 million interactions (posts, likes, comments) when the Germans and Argentinians chased the ball on the field during the final.  The previous highest was 245 million interactions, which was registered during the SuperBowl in 2013.

  • All India Bakchod re-lives 90’s era of Indian advertising

    All India Bakchod re-lives 90’s era of Indian advertising

    MUMBAI: Don’t judge them by their name. All India Bakchod (AIB) is what they call themselves. They are probably India’s most vocal bunch of youngsters on YouTube. They definitely make you LOL (laugh out loud) with every take of theirs be it on films, politics to even advertising.

    Team AIB which includes names like Tanmay Bhat, Rohan Joshi, Gursimran Khamba and Ashish Sakya who are popular on the digital world. The podcasters today have over 38.5 K Twitter followers, 504,286 likes on Facebook and over 505,473 YouTube subscribers.

    AIB for their latest video has collaborated with Voctronica to a pay tribute to the evergreen era of Indian advertising. It can be noted that AIB has partnered with Snapdeal and has subtle mentions of the brand for this video. Snapdeal also is selling AIB merchandise. The video has been watched over 136,260 times on the video-sharing site at the time of filling this story.

    AIB with this video takes you back to the time when advertising was all about catchy jingles.

    Click here to watch the video