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Tag: Gowthaman Ragothaman

  • Industry Address: Can India lead the cross media measurement solution for the world

    Industry Address: Can India lead the cross media measurement solution for the world

    Mumbai:The 3rd edition of Indian Digital BrandFest 2023 kicked off and had brands, advertisers, and tech platforms discuss all these trends and more. The summit looked at the latest trends driving the change in consumer behaviour and how it has impacted the industry’s growth.

    Whether it was a boom in influencer marketing or the popularity of short-video platforms, brands did not hesitate to jump onto the digital bandwagon to up their marketing game. So Indiantelevision.com is taking this opportunity to bring a host of industry experts together under one roof to discuss all these new trends shaping the future.

    One such session was an industry address on how India can lead the cross media measurement solution for the world. It was led by Aquiliz founding member Gowthaman Ragothaman. Attached here is the presentation of the whole session.

    India CMM IDBF 2023

     

  • Airtel acquires strategic stake in blockchain company Aqilliz

    Airtel acquires strategic stake in blockchain company Aqilliz

    Mumbai: Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it has acquired a strategic stake in blockchain-as-a-service company Aqilliz under the Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme. The deal is subject to applicable statutory approvals.

    Singapore-based Aqilliz has developed a patented hybrid blockchain platform Atom, that integrates differential privacy and federated learning on a distributed digital ledger. This allows brands to create secure and consent-based solutions to engage with customers in a rapidly evolving digital economy that’s becoming increasingly decentralised.

    Airtel aims to deploy Aqilliz’s advanced blockchain technologies at scale across its fast-growing ad-tech (Airtel Ads), digital entertainment (Wynk Music and Airtel Xstream) and digital marketplace (Airtel Thanks App) offerings.

    “We, at Airtel, are deeply researching new technologies that drive the future of a digitally connected India,” said Airtel Digital CEO Adarsh Nair. “This relentless focus on innovation is also enabling us to unlock new growth engines within Airtel. Blockchain technology is maturing and we see its application across areas such as adtech, creator economy, and loyalty programs. We are thrilled to have Aqilliz join our Startup Accelerator Program and be part of Airtel’s digital innovation factory.”

    “We are extremely excited to be a part of Airtel’s digital innovation play and bring this first of its kind blockchain technology to India,” said Aqilliz founding CEO Gowthaman Ragothaman. “Legacy customer engagement, ad tech and marketing technologies are built for centralised databases. The future of the digital economy is already pivoting to managing value exchanges between brands, platforms and the consumer. Aqilliz’s patented technology will enable Airtel to capture and carry this value exchange in the form of consent and provenance across the digital supply chain. We look forward to working closely with the team at Airtel.”

    Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme invests in early-stage start-ups working on technologies that have adjacencies to Airtel’s business offerings.

  • Mindshare launches blockchain pilot with MediaMath

    Mindshare launches blockchain pilot with MediaMath

    MUMBAI: Mindshare, the global media planning and buying agency that is part of WPP, together with Zilliqa, the blockchain platform, are building a programmatic alliance on blockchain designed to explore the application of the technology in the advertising ecosystem.

    The aim of the alliance is to realistically assess the applicability of blockchain technology into the world of advertising where billions of impressions are viewed online, by testing two critical components of this technology – one on the throughput and the other to arrive at the right consensus protocol.

    The alliance includes multiple businesses in the programmatic advertising supply chain including advertisers, advertising agencies, Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), Supply Side Platforms (SSPs), Data Management Platforms (DMPs), trading desks, independent verification companies and publishers. It also has the potential to include key opinion leaders or industry experts, if required.

    Mindshare and Zilliqa have partnered with MediaMath, Rubicon Project and Integral Ad Science in developing the first prototype – “Project Proton” – which aims to transform the current programmatic advertising ecosystem by providing a way for all the stakeholders across the value chain to interact in a secure and verifiable manner through smart contracts on a high throughput blockchain. This makes it suitable for the enterprise level implementation of the project for all the partners involved in a transparent manner so that all the actors in the ecosystem can completely trust each other allowing the entire programmatic ad space to grow.

    Mindshare announced a partnership with Zilliqa last year to build blockchain applications for the digital advertising industry. Project Proton is the first phase of this partnership that will evaluate how Zilliqa’s blockchain protocol can address some of the potential applications of this technology to the advertising industry. Findings should be ready before the end of the year.

    Mindshare AMENA chief development officer Gowthaman Ragothaman says, “We are absolutely delighted and thankful to have MediaMath, IAS, Rubicon Project and Underscore CLT partner with us on this project with Zilliqa. There are many claims and speculations on the applicability of this technology to our business. Project Proton is designed to test this, particularly in the areas of building consensus and managing high throughput.”

    The Key members of the Project Proton Alliance Are:

    Mindshare: Mindshare is a global media planning and buying agency that is part of WPP. It has 8,500 employees across 116 offices in 86 countries and global revenues of $34.5 billion annually. Clients include Unilever, PepsiCo, GSK, Yum Restaurants, Dyson, American Express amongst others.

    Zilliqa: Zilliqa is a blockchain platform tailored towards enabling high-throughput data-driven decentralized applications. Zilliqa also provides a secure and efficient smart contract layer to enable secure-by-design smart contract programming and verification.

    MediaMath : MediaMath helps leading global marketers deliver personalised digital advertising across all connected touchpoints. Over 9,500 marketers in 42 countries use MediaMath’s enterprise software every day to launch, analyse, and optimise their digital advertising campaigns.

    Rubicon Project: Founded in 2007, Rubicon Project is one of the world’s largest advertising exchanges. The company helps websites and apps thrive by giving them tools and expertise to sell ads easily and safely. In addition, the world’s leading agencies and brands rely on Rubicon Project’s technology to execute billions of advertising transactions each month. Rubicon Project is an independent, publicly traded company headquartered in Los Angeles, California

    Integral Ad Science (IAS) : A global software company, headquartered in New York, that builds verification, optimisation, and analytics solutions, acting as leaders in viewability, brand safety and ad fraud.

    Underscore CLT: Underscore CLT develops cryptographic ledger technologies to power real business solutions for marketers and their partners.

  • Mindshare launches emerging markets growth hub – FAST

    Mindshare launches emerging markets growth hub – FAST

    MUMBAI: Mindshare APAC has launched FAST Hub (Future Adaptive Specialist Team) in Singapore, supported by EDB, to enable brands to benefit from the growth opportunities appearing in emerging markets.

     

    FAST brings together the best of WPP as well as industry leading companies and products including GroupM, Kantar, WPP Data Alliance, CrayonData and Jivox, to build sector specific solutions to enable marketers to use real time insights to drive real time marketing and media actions, including hyper-targeted content creation and distribution.

     

    The launch is a response to the increase in data availability and the parallel rise in data and technology led marketing opportunities such as programmatic and performance advertising that leverage this data.

     

    Targeting the consumer packaged goods (CPG), banking, consumer healthcare, telecoms and automotive sectors, FAST will allow clients to adopt and implement adaptive marketing strategies covering programmatic, performance marketing, customised data alliances, digital analytics, data management platforms (DMP) and real-time marketing.

     

    The Singapore FAST hub is anticipated to grow to a 63 members outfit over the course of the next three years, and the six teams will lead the product development for this suite of services for all growth and emerging markets for Mindshare’s clients, wherever they are in the world.

     

    Mindshare Asia Pacific COO Gowthaman Ragothaman said, “The industry is still grappling with a deluge of data. We want to help simplify this for our clients and provide them a bespoke solution that solves their business problems. The role big data plays for a CPG company is totally different to the influence it has on the banking sector or auto industry. Our ability to provide customisation is one of the key differentiators for FAST.”

     

    Mindshare AMEA, Russia & Emerging Markets chairman & CEO Ashutosh Srivastava added, “The talent to drive these services is scarce, but Singapore provides FAST with a thriving ecosystem for learning and development. Together with EDB’s support, this will immensely benefit Mindshare and our clients, help brand marketers find more effective and profitable opportunities for growth, and also develop young Singaporean talent for the data-driven marketing world. For the young talent, this is a great opportunity to work together with some of the brightest minds in the business, and do the best work of their career.”

     

    Commenting on this partnership, Singapore Economic Development Board assistant managing director Kelvin Wong said, “When you look at how mobile, social and e-commerce are changing the behaviour of Asia’s consumers, it is clear that brand owners are turning to their agencies with a very different set of needs. Mindshare, by centralising a suite of data, technology and domain-centric capabilities, is well poised to serve global clients who require specialised expertise in the growth and emerging markets. We welcome the establishment of Mindshare’s FAST hub, and look forward to building Singapore’s digital marketing ecosystem from strength to strength.”

  • Mindshare APAC launches adaptive solution suite for brands

    Mindshare APAC launches adaptive solution suite for brands

    MUMBAI: Mindshare APAC has launched FAST (Future Adaptive Specialist Team), a unique solution suite, which aims to provide data led adaptive marketing services to brands looking to make sense of the deluge of data that is engulfing marketing communications. 

     

    One of the key headwinds that brands are facing due to this data deluge is the dynamism and uncertainty in the customer journey and the primary purpose of FAST is to help clients take control of the same.

     

    Mindshare’s FAST is the first of its kind in Asia Pacific from any marketing communications company.

     

    FAST comprises six services that clients can choose from or use as an integrated solution. As part of Data Management, powered by The Data Alliance from WPP, FAST provides data advisory services to help clients prepare their data management strategy, and to help them on how they can use technology to make sense of the data.

     

    Performance Marketing is an insights-driven outcome-based service that helps clients harness the power of search, e-commerce and mobile marketing in an integrated manner. With Programmatic Strategy, Mindshare has developed a proprietary architecture that leverages GroupM’s global scale with advanced behavioral targeting that delivers dynamic advertising to the most valued target at the most opportune time. 

     

    Real-Time Marketing, hallmarked by The Loop, is an adaptive decision making engine that influences the dynamic consumer journey, using real time insights to drive real time actions. 

     

    Finally, FAST provides capabilities in Digital Analytics with tools to better understand the digital trail, attributed right down to the last mile action. And for clients who have rich Enterprise data, Mindshare will integrate its own proprietary data with 3rd party data to provide Big Data services in partnership with Crayon Data by developing brand specific affinity graphs.

     

    Designed specifically for clients with centralized needs, Mindshare has gathered digital specialists from across the network to create five FAST hubs, located in Singapore, London, New York, Shanghai and Mexico City. FAST is particularly open sourced in building strategic partnerships in each of the Hubs to leverage local knowledge and expertise and they are fully integrated within the existing agency teams in the region.

     

    Mindshare Asia Pacific COO Gowthaman Ragothaman said, “In the last 15 days, FAST has built up significant traction, demonstrating its value to our clients and their businesses. It is more than just a concept, it is a step in the right direction – one that is built on a sound understanding of our client’s business needs and their expectations of what the future of media should be. By adding new and evolved capabilities and leveraging off of our global scale, FAST showcases Mindshare’s ability to constantly and quickly adapt to the need of the day, and is poised to be our key differentiator as it begins to deliver results for our clients.”

  • Mindshare is the number 1 media agency in India: RECMA ratings

    Mindshare is the number 1 media agency in India: RECMA ratings

    MUMBAI: Mindshare has emerged as the number one media agency in India as per RECMA’s latest qualitative assessment for all leading media agencies in India.

     

    Mindshare has scored high on the parameters of client profile, momentum, competitive pitches and resources to emerge as the leading agency in India. Besides its expertise in core traditional media, Mindshare is a full- fledged media solutions agency with expertise across digital, mobile media, data and analytics, branded content and programming. Talents across these verticals are embedded in the network and work closely with core client teams.

     

    Mindshare chairman, emerging markets Ashutosh Srivastava said. “I’m pleased to see this endorsement from RECMA for the agency’s position in India. Mindshare continues to be at the leading edge there – in harnessing data to power more creativity and innovative use of media platforms for marketers, and bringing to life its proposition of adaptive marketing.”

     

    Mindshare Asia Pacific COO Gowthaman Ragothaman added, “I am particularly satisfied with the recognition on structure and vitality. We continuously re-engineer our teams in line with the changing demands from our clients as well as the media and marketing landscape. Our suite of services now reflects a full-fledged marketing communications company.”

     

    Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar stated, “This is a win for each and every member of the Mindshare team. Mindshare has always been the leader in innovation, and we believe it is extremely vital for us to prepare ourselves and our clients for a relevant tomorrow.”

     

    “With our adaptive marketing philosophy, we have ensured our clients have the competitive advantage, and their communication is superlative. We are grateful for their belief in us, to deliver on our common goals of brand building. We are proud of the fact that our clients continue to work with us on initiatives that are continuously pushing the boundaries of media investment and communication, as we successfully redefine the media industry in India,” added Kumar.

     

    The RECMA country qualitative evaluations offer an extensive and up-to-date assessment of the media agencies based on a set of 18 key performance indicators segmented into two main categories: 

    ·       Compitches and Momentum = Vitality

    ·       Structure and Client Profile = Structure

  • Varun Channa appointed as Mindshare Malaysia MD

    Varun Channa appointed as Mindshare Malaysia MD

    MUMBAI: Mindshare APAC, the global media agency network part of WPP, has appointed Varun Channa as managing director of Mindshare Malaysia.

     

    Channa takes over the role from Mindshare managing director Gerald Wittenberger, who returned to Europe at the end of 2014. 

     

    Mindshare Asia Pacific COO Gowthaman Ragothaman said, “We are totally delighted to welcome Varun on board, who brings a wealth of experience across industries and markets. This is the beginning of a new chapter in the whole new world of connected media, where content, creativity and consumer data in the Malaysian market is at the centre of all activities and importance.”

     

    GroupM Malaysia CEO Girish Menon added, “With Varun, we have hit upon a fantastic combination – with JWT, he honed his skills in developing communications solutions for some iconic global brands and then as a tech-savvy marketer with Danone in three different fast-growing, competitive markets, he got his hands dirty developing marketing solutions to deliver strong business results. I believe these are the combination of skills and experiences that our clients increasingly expect from the head of their agency, so I am confident that Varun will lead Mindshare to even greater success.”

     

    Channa said, “It’s a pleasure to be part of Mindshare Malaysia in these exciting times when media is playing an even greater role in growing our clients’ business. Seeing the pipeline of innovative digital solutions we have, I look forward to us adding greater value to our clients’ business.”

     

    He joins Mindshare after six years with Danone Indonesia, where he helped turn around their fresh dairy business and developed the roadmap for their Isotonics. Prior to that, he was marketing head and part of the start-up team for Danone India and also spent nearly 15 years with JWT India at their Mumbai office working with Unilever and other key clients.