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Tag: JWT

  • Digitas India appoints Saugata Bagchi as Mumbai head

    Digitas India appoints Saugata Bagchi as Mumbai head

    MUMBAI: Digital marketing agency, Digitas India, has appointed Saugata Bagchi as the agency‘s new vice-president.

    Bagchi will also head the Mumbai office and will report to Digitas India president Kanika Mathur.

    Bagchi moves in from Tribal DDB India. His mandate as VP and head of Mumbai will be to consolidate and grow the Digitas India‘s portfolio in the CRM business while making fresh inroads in the digital marketing and branding arena. 
     
    Mathur said, “We are excited about the decade of brand management experience that Saugata brings to the team. With his cross-functional exposure across a great mix of brands and categories – from FMCG and healthcare to telecom and auto – we will be able to further strengthen our client portfolio.”

    With nearly a decade of experience, Bagchi has worked on both sides. He has worked with companies such as Sanofi-Aventis, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and agencies including Sudler & Hennessey and JWT.

    Bagchi has worked across 20 different key brands and categories involving sales and marketing campaigns in the traditional and new media arms of the business.  

  • JWT snaps up Indian ad firm, eyes acquisitions

    JWT snaps up Indian ad firm, eyes acquisitions

    MUMBAI: JWT, the wholly owned operating company of WPP Plc, is acquiring a majority stake in Hyderabad-based Mindset Advertising for an undisclosed amount.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, JWT India chief executive officer Colvyn Harris said the agency is eyeing further acquisitions in the digital space that would bring in a range of services, skills and capabilities.

    “We are taking a majority stake in Mindset Advertising, the leading agency in that market. We will have management control,” said Harris, while declining to specify how much stake JWT would hold in the Indian agency.

    With the buyout, JWT will have Hyderabad as its sixth office in India, helping it to tap into the growing IT, real estate, education and healthcare sectors.

    “The deal will open up new avenues for us. The ad market in Hyderabad is growing at 25-30 per cent. The acquisition is made with an eye towards future growth potential. We look at the right scale and balance when we make acquisitions,” said Harris.

    Mindset Advertising, which offers creative services, strategic planning and campaign execution in digital, print and television, had posted a revenue of Rs 51 million for the fiscal ended March 2011, with gross assets of Rs 43 million.

    Harris said, “Hyderabad figures as one of the most promising cities in JWT‘s growth plans and the integration of Mindset into our global operations gives clients in the city access to the best of what JWT has to offer worldwide. It also gives them access to the services of our family of specialist companies in various communications-related fields, including media planning and buying, digital communications, activation, public relations and market research.”

    JWT has worked closely with Mindset on several clients including Bharti Airtel.

    Santha John, who founded the agency, will head the JWT Hyderabad operation, which has a number of blue-chip clients, especially in Hyderabad’s key sectors of IT, education, health-care and infrastructure.

    JWT Hyderabad will continue with its leadership team of CEO Ram Gedela, director creative Anvar Alikhan, AVP and senior creative director Mark Samuel.

    JWT Hyderabad consists of a team of 44 people and offers a
    full-service range of creative services, strategic planning and
    execution in digital, print and television. Major clients include ADP, Airtel, and Pepsi.

    JWT President Michael Maedel stated, “With the acquisition of Mindset, JWT is represented at a level that allows us to further capitalise on the opportunities developing in the market along with our clients, and to offer more advanced advertising and marketing solutions that meet clients’ needs.”

    Added John, “We are proud to be part of JWT. We have been reputed to be ‘the best advertising brains in Hyderabad, under one roof’. With full access to JWT’s global resources, we now look forward to being able to offer our clients in Hyderabad an even higher level of service.”

    India is one of the fastest growth markets for the WPP Group, with revenues of around $450 million, including associate firms‘ earnings.

    “The group has five of India‘s top 10 agencies and collectively employs around 9,000 people,” WPP said.

    In 2008, JWT had acquired majority stake in Encompass Events, an independent events and promotions agency.

  • JWT CCO Delhi Adrian Miller quits

    JWT CCO Delhi Adrian Miller quits

    MUMBAI: JWT India CCO Delhi Adrian Miller will be leaving the agency by the end of June.

    After his departure, the WPP company, will revert to the earlier structure of five executive creative directors based on respective client needs.

    JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris says, “Adrian is a very talented and accomplished creative and has decided to leave for personal reasons.”

    Miller added, “Owing to personal reasons I have decided to leave India. Having worked throughout Asia I am familiar with the challenge of moving across countries and cultures.”

    Harris noted, “With our talented team of creatives in Delhi overlooking and upholding our creative standards, I’m confident that we will continue to deliver to our benchmarks during this transition.”

    The current creative leadership team of five ECDs based in Delhi will continue to lead their respective teams working with their specific brand and clients responsibilities.

    The integrated communication company, JWT India, partners with various clients including Airtel, Aditya Birla Financial Services, Bharti Retail, Pepsico, ITC, Godrej, Hindustan Unilever, Hero Honda, Sony Vaio, Sony Bravia, Nike, Nestle and Nokia.

  • LB‘s Ganesh Nayak and Greeshma Jos win AAAI-Cannes Young Lions competition

    LB‘s Ganesh Nayak and Greeshma Jos win AAAI-Cannes Young Lions competition

    MUMBAI: Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and The Times Group have proclaimed the winners for AAAI-Cannes Young Lions Creative Competition 2011.

    Leo Burnett Mumbai‘s art director Ganesh Nayak and copywriter Greeshma Jos will be participating as the official team from India for the International Young Lions Creative Competition in June 2011 to be held in Cannes.

    The winners were chosen from amidst a total of 165 entries, received for the competition themed — ‘Don‘t Bribe. Follow Rules‘.

    There was a two-phased judging process and the jury had names such as BBDO India chairman and NCD Josy Paul; and JWT, Mumbai senior VP and ECD, creative head Tista Sen.

    The Times Group, the official festival representatives of Cannes in India, will sponsor the wining team‘s trip to Cannes.

    Announcing the result convener of the competition, Vinod Nair said: “The Times Group and AAAI are giving a rare opportunity to young creatives in India to participate in Cannes Lions and compete with the very best young talent in the world.”

  • Airtel’s logo christened ‘Wave’

    Airtel’s logo christened ‘Wave’

    MUMBAI: Telecom giant Airtel has christened its redesigned logo as ‘Wave‘.

    Wave is crowd sourced and has been chosen after a six month long excercise. Airtel initiated the online contest, ‘The Name Game‘, in the same month as the logo was redesigned. 
     
    In this game, customers were invited to recommend a name for the company‘s new logo. The consumer engagement programme attracted nearly 150,000 entries. Three names were shortlisted – ‘Wave‘, ‘Hug‘ and ‘Curve‘. Eventually, ‘Wave‘ won the battle.

    With this, the mobile operator attempts to bring alive the brand repositioning of ‘dil jo chahey paas laye‘.
     
    According to an official communiqué, the name Wave refers to the sweeping changes that Airtel aims to bring towards enriching the lives of its 200 million plus customers in 19 countries across Asia and Africa.

    It is also symbolic of ‘wave‘ of progress and prosperity that brand Airtel continues to bring in the lives of its customers everyday, through its exciting products and services.
     
    The creative duties of Airtel lie with JWT, while the media buying and planning is handled by Madison.

  • LMG Kolkata wins three media accounts

    LMG Kolkata wins three media accounts

    MUMBAI: Lintas Media Group, Kolkata has won the media duties of Bengal Shriram Hi-Tech City and Srei Infrastructure.

    Also, National Jute Board has reappointed Lowe Lintas, Kolkata to handle its creative duties and Lintas Media Group, Kolkata to handle the media duties.

    The agency’s billing through these wins makes a total of Rs 500 million.

    All the accounts were bagged following multi-agency pitches. The pitch for National Jute Board account also involved JWT and PerceptH.

    National Jute Board had invited a pitch on the expiry of its three year contract with Lowe Lintas. This new appointment is also for a period of three years.

    The agency mandate includes promoting Indian Jute and jute products in the Indian and International markets. The specific products identified for the next round of the campaign include Jute Geo Textiles, Jute Handicrafts, Jute Yarn, Jute Furnishings and Jute Shopping bags.

    A combination of different media channels will be put into play including press, TV, radio, Internet along with exhibitions, email marketing as well as CRM programmes.

    Lintas Media Group SVP Mahesh Motwani says, “At Lintas Media Group we practice the principle of deliver more, and that is exactly what we do with our existing clients and we will replicate this with our coveted new clients.”

    The account for Srei Infrastructure moves from Motivator, who handled the company’s media duties for a short period of time.

    Srei Infrastructure corporate communication and brand management VP and head Braj Kishore said, “During Lintas Media Group’s (LMG) last association with us, we found Lintas team to have understood the holistic infrastructure business model of Srei and the media mix required to communicate this unique model to its key stakeholders. LMG’s task becomes very critical in evolving a strategic media fit to fulfil this task and they are best suited to deliver this.”

    The mandate for LMG will be to work out an optimal media strategy targeting key opinion leaders of the country to position Srei as one of the oldest, one of the largest, one of most innovative, Integrated Infrastructure Institution.

    The infrastructure company is also expecting the LMG team to use the existing as well as creating new media properties to drive home the positioning of Srei.

    Meanwhile, Bengal Shriram Hi-Tech City SEZ assistant vice president Raghav Vohra stated, “The fact that Lintas Media Group ranked second among the media ranking order and their successful media approaches to prominent brands made us choose LMG as our media partner. We look forward to communicate this message to the entire community together and are confident of having a long term association with them.”

     

  • IPL: Consumer connect initiative ‘Godrej Power Play’ announced

    IPL: Consumer connect initiative ‘Godrej Power Play’ announced

    BANGALORE: Godrej today announced a nation-wide consumer connect initiative through the fourth season of the Indian Player League (IPL, IPL-4) – the ‘Godrej Power Play‘, an initiative that could be the largest from the Group so far since it started brand re-building three years ago.

    Says Godrej Consumer Products Executive VP Tarun Arora, “Godrej, ever since its re-launch in April 2008 under the ethos of Brighter Living, has been in the forefront of launching powerful initiatives to engage and delight our consumers. We are happy to bring in ‘Godrej Power Play‘, wherein Godrej becomes the nation‘s first brand to foray into mass multi-category loyalty cutting across all types of consumers and 90 plus product/brand lines. ‘Godrej Power Play‘ allows consumers to participate in the thrill of the IPL by creating their own cricket teams, exchanging players, winning awesome awards while creating a lifestyle of their own using Godrej products‘ in the process as they play along the duration of the IPL-4 season.”

    Consumers of over 200 Godrej products across 90 product categories (including booking amounts for select Godrej Realty projects) will be able to take part in the ‘Godrej Power Play‘.

    Arora added, “The brand equity of the master brand Godrej has been exceeding all our internal benchmarks since our re-launch. Our mass media communications plans are being worked out for the ‘Godrej Power Play initiative‘. The campaign will be across all mediums including print televisions, points of purchase, on the products, internet, social media, communities, etc. We have also tied up with two of the IPL teams – Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for amplification of the ‘Godrej Power Play‘ initiative.”

    “While our television plans are being worked out, I am sure that we will be present on most GEC channels-national as well as regional and a few news channels, maybe a few lifestyle channels. The plans should be finalized by the tenth or eleventh of this month,” revealed Arora to www,indiantelevision.com.

    The creative work for this campaign is being done by JWT and the media buying is through Madison.

    Both -the ‘Godrej Power Play‘ and the mass media campaign begin with the commencement of IPL4 on 14 April. Participating in the ‘Godrej Power Play‘ is simple-when a consumer buys a Godrej product from categories ranging from soaps to furniture to white goods, he has to send an SMS or call up 09167500100 or log onto www.godrejpowerplay.com and get the name of the cricketer for every distinct product along with value assigned to the cricketer, while creating a virtual bank balance.

    Godrej has involved the Fantasy Cricket League for assigning ratings to each IPL player. The cricketer‘s value increases based on his performances during the IPL. Various prizes, including weekly prizes and a mega -prize – A trip to London to visit Lord‘s Cricket Ground along with a cricket guru for company to watch India play England.

     

  • JWT ropes in Lubna Khan as AVP and strategic planning dir

    JWT ropes in Lubna Khan as AVP and strategic planning dir

    MUMBAI: JWT has roped in Lubna Khan as its associate vice-president and strategic planning director.

    At JWT, Khan will be working on the GlaxoSmithKline account. Previously, she was senior planning director at Cheil Worldwide for nine months.
      
    Khan began her career as a clinical therapist at Safdarjung Hospital in 1998. After working there for one year, she moved to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where she worked for a period of nine months.

    For the next five years, she worked as a communication specialist in the health, wellness and fitness industry and in 2005, she joined BBC World Service Trust as communication specialist; she worked here for nearly three years.
     
    Khan then moved to Rediffusion Y&R as partner strategic, where she worked for one year and seven months, before joining Wunderman International as brand planning director and working their for one year–till May 2010. 
     
    With a career spanning over 15 years, Khan is a specialist in consumer insight, brand strategy, creative planning, integrated marketing, communications research and digital branding.

  • JWT wins creative duties of CVC

    JWT wins creative duties of CVC

    MUMBAI: JWT has won the creative duties of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for three years.
    The size of the account is pegged at Rs 1 billion a year.

    With plans to launch a series of anti-corruption campaigns, the CVC had called for a pitch for its creative duties last year. RK Swamy BBDO and Ogilvy India were the other agencies shortlisted.

    The Commission will adopt the Incredible India route and opt for out-of-home media for its campaigns. It will also use television and print to a certain extent.

    Based on the recommendations of the Committee on prevention of corruption, the CVC, an apex Indian government body, was formed in February 1964. An autonomous body, the Commision is free of control from any executive authority and is responsible for monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government of the country..

  • Mango Slice launches campaign featuring Katrina Kaif

    Mango Slice launches campaign featuring Katrina Kaif

    MUMBAI: PepsiCo‘s mango drink, Slice, is launching a new campaign featuring Katrina Kaif on 19 February.

    There will be a 40-second long television commercial, which will be supported by robust outdoor and on-ground activation. Mango Slice will soon roll out its experiential activity called ‘Mango Lounge‘ across India.

    The campaign is created by JWT.

    Says JWT VP and executive creative director Soumitra Karnik JWT, “The current film builds on the already popular Slice Aamsutra campaign. Aamsutra was designed as a brand idea to give the consumer a differentiated and superior mango experience. In the current TVC, the importance of ‘waiting‘ is highlighted as one of the ways by which one can truly enhance the pleasure of enjoying the real taste of mango. The insight is true to the mango fruit which is seasonal, and we eagerly await rest of the months for it to arrive.”

    Shot in Thailand, the new TV commercial also coincides with the launch of new Mango Slice Handy Pack.

    “I am very excited to be a part of the new Slice campaign as it beautifully highlights the concept of indulgence for all mango lovers including me. Set in a magical, dream like forest, the campaign celebrates mango as the sweet fruit of patience. I also relate to the theme of ‘Sabr Ka Phal Meetha Hota Hai‘ as it holds true to my life and my journey in Bollywood”, said Katrina Kaif.

    The TVC is directed by Karina Taira and is produced in Hindi and other Hindi and other regional channels.
    Added PepsiCo India juices and juice drinks director Homi Battiwalla, “Mango Slice continues to enjoy strong growth in the juice and juice based drinks category and we are looking forward to another exciting mango season with the launch of our new campaign and the 350ml Handy Pack. The Aamsutra series has been very well received by mango lovers and has carved a distinct brand identity in its category. With this new campaign, we have taken the concept of indulgence and pleasure to another level and look forward to creating more excitement amongst consumers.”