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Tag: Kartik Sharma

  • “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. 

  • Maxus wins ‘Media Agency of the Year’ at Emvies 2014

    Maxus wins ‘Media Agency of the Year’ at Emvies 2014

    MUMBAI: The winning spree continues for Maxus, which has won 23 new clients, worth upwards of Rs 300 crore in the first half of 2014. The media agency, not only bagged the ‘Grand Emvie’, but also took home the ‘Media Agency of the Year’ award.

     

    Maxus won the ‘Grand Emvie’ for the campaign ‘Power of 49 Elections’- the media movement that changed the role of women in Indian elections for its client Tata Tea Gold.

     

    The media agency, with a total tally of 230 points was also declared the ‘Media Agency of the Year’. It beat Lodestar UM, which bagged the second position with 175 points and Mindshare which managed 95 points and stood third in the winner tally.

     

    What is notable is that Maxus has upped its ranking from the previous year and has replaced Mindshare, which had won the ‘Media Agency of the Year’ award at Emvies 2013. Loadstar UM maintained its position at number two, even this year.

     

    “I would attribute the success to the PACE philosophy of Maxus. The undying spirit of wanting to deliver the best for our client always and their encouragement at all times,” said Maxus South Asia managing director Kartik Sharma on the win.

  • Maxus strengthens regional leadership teams in west and south

    Maxus strengthens regional leadership teams in west and south

    MUMBAI: In the first six months of 2014, the west and south regions of Maxus have been on a winning spree of adding 23 new businesses. To keep up the pace, the media investment planning agency is strengthening its regional teams.

     

    In the southern region, Maxus has elevated Kishankumar Shyamalan to general manager. In his previous role as client leader, Shyamalan was the key lead for the Tata Global Beverages pitch, ultimately converting the business in Maxus’ favour. He is the key architect of the Power of 49 campaign, conceptualised and executed by Maxus Bangalore. He also spearheaded media teams for Titan Industries, Wipro and the Kerala office. He has been a key contributor to all Maxus south pitches over the past six years, and also led the geographical expansion for the media agency in the south. His erstwhile roles include buying head for Maxus south.

     

    The new appointment at Maxus Mumbai is of Monaz Todywalla as general manager. Todywalla will be leading client teams for Vodafone, L’Oreal, HDFC Life and Kotak. She comes with a wealth of experience across categories like FMCG, BFSI, Retail and Confectionary. She joins Maxus from Madison Communications, where she worked on clients such as Marico Industries, Asian Paints, Kaya and Sleek. She began her career with Lodestar where she serviced Amul and SC Johnson.

     

    Maxus south Asia MD Kartik Sharma said, “We are excited to elevate Kishan and bring Monaz on board at Maxus. We have always attracted the very best talent in the industry and have given them every opportunity to grow and prosper within Maxus. We are confident that Kishan and Monaz will be ambassadors of the PACE values of Passion Agility, Collaboration and an Entrepreneurial spirit that drives us to become change agents in a fast paced media environment.”

     

    Maxus India 23 new clients have added Rs 300 crore to the agency’s billing. Maxus has also been pitching for several of its specialist services across digital marketing, experiential marketing, content marketing to give clients an edge in not just media, but also brand messaging and outreach.

  • Maxus launches proprietary planning tool ‘Resolve’

    Maxus launches proprietary planning tool ‘Resolve’

    MUMBAI: Maxus has launched a bespoke tool, Resolve, based on a proprietary survey of consumer insights in India. The findings of the survey are the most in-depth ever to be carried out in the country, claims the agency.

     

    The tool is Maxus’ comprehensive proprietary communications planning tool built using the knowledge and expertise of the agency’s planning leaders. The tool is supported by bespoke consumer-based surveys called Compose, which go beyond simple media usage to explore consumer sentiment towards media channels and the messaging those channels employ. The tool is used by global and local clients worldwide to gain insights on particular markets.

     

    Some of the features and benefits of the tool  are:

    • Proprietary Maxus intelligence has identified specific barriers that a client’s audience, brand, and category are facing and how best to overcome them in communications

    • Resolve makes the complex simple for media planners by prioritising specific communication tasks and identifying the media channels that best deliver them for specific audiences, within each category

    • Resolve planning recommendations are backed by robust consumer surveys, making them powerful drivers for a client’s channel plans

     

    Maxus south Asia managing director Kartik Sharma said: “Maxus’s dedication to data inspired us to create a tool to help our teams make tough decisions and have them supported with strong logic and data. The Compose surveys get behind the attitudes and behaviours of consumers – not just their media usage – and how they view specific channels to deliver specific messages. Resolve has been a success so far not only for our clients, but also helping to push our teams out of their comfort zones, to try new channels and ways of thinking.”

     

    Maxus India national director insights Priti Maurthy said: “Properly identifying a brand’s top communications tasks and understanding how to use media to deliver on those tasks is on the one hand an art. At Maxus, we also believe there should be an appropriate level of science applied to that challenge as well, which is why we’ve developed Resolve.”

     

    “Resolve is a robust, data-heavy tool that relies on consumers’ attitudes and sentiment, as well as our own proprietary intelligence, to tackle the real issues that our clients are facing. We’ve created the tool in line with our unique proposition, ‘lean into change’, challenging the status quo with something different. We can be confident about the suggestions Resolve generates because we have the data to support our decisions,” she added.

  • Maxus wins businesses worth over Rs. 300 crore

    Maxus wins businesses worth over Rs. 300 crore

    MUMBAI: Maxus, yet again retains the title of the most ‘dominant’ agency as per the latest RECMA report, a qualitative assessment for all leading media agencies in India.

    It is the fourth consecutive year that Maxus is on the top of the RECMA ratings. Along with this, the agency also won business across 23 new clients, worth upwards of Rs. 300 crores in the first half of 2014. These new clients include Tata Sons, JK Tyres, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Unitech, Paytm, Askme.com, ICC T20 World Cup 2014, Cigna TTK Health Insurance and BML Educorp.

     

    Maxus South Asia managing director Kartik Sharma said, “Over the last 12 months, Maxus has made an effort to become future ready in a digitally charged media environment. We approach planning and investments in an integrated manner with emphasis on new media concepts that brings digital media, content and data together with traditional TV, print and radio. We believe this gives us an edge in the market, helping us delight to our existing clients and bring new clients into the fold.”

     

    “Our ‘Lean into Change’ approach has given us a healthy double digit growth in 2014” Besides their expertise in core traditional media, Maxus today is a full- fledged media solutions agency with expertise across digital, mobile media, data and analytics, branded content and programming. Talent across these verticals are embedded in the network and work closely with core client teams,” added Sharma.

     

    The new approach at Maxus has resulted in several ingenious campaigns like “Power of 49” for Tata Tea, Kotak Jifi, Vodafone Fan Photo and Tata Sky’s innovation around the IPL. Maxus was the first agency to set up a digital command centre for Nestle, where the marketing and agency team to monitor data from various social feeds and take real time marketing decisions. This ensured judicious use of budgets across media with a low percentage of wastage. The approach also helped expand business with new clients across industries ranging from e-commerce, banking and insurance, sports, retail, healthcare, etc.

     

    In 2014, Maxus was part of WPP Team Red (head by MEC Global) that won the Vodafone account across several countries, retaining the account in India. The expertise of a long client relationship with Vodafone domestically brought about great insight during the pitch process.

     

    It can also be noted that this year, Maxus has also brought on board two senior leaders – Navin Khemka in New Delhi to head the North and East region and focus on new business development and Anand Chakravarthy heading Maxus, West and some of their key client relationships. Earlier in the year, Maxus won the digital agency of the year and a number of metals at the Abbys 2014 for their new media capabilities.

  • Maxus brings Navin Khemka on board as managing partner

    Maxus brings Navin Khemka on board as managing partner

    MUMBAI: Maxus has appointed Navin Khemka as its managing partner. Khemka will be heading the north and east regions for the media agency and will also be responsible for new business development across the country. He will report to Maxus south Asia managing director Kartik Sharma.

     

    With over 17 years of experience in the advertising and media industry, Khemka’s last appointment was with ZenithOptimedia, where he left as managing partner. With a tenure spanning the last eight years, he was initially the trading lead for key accounts such as Nestle and HP. He subsequently took over the business leadership of the HP account, delivering some award winning campaigns such as the HP Serena Williams campaign at Lakme Fashion Week. Thereafter he took on the additional role of new business director for India. He was instrumental in bringing on new clients such as Honda, Toshiba, Uninor, McVities, Karbonn Mobiles, Godfrey Philips, Best Rice, Greenlam Laminates, Olx.in, Jabong.com, Yatra.com at ZenithOptimedia.

     

    Sharma said, “Navin comes with a varied skill set and extensive experience across various product categories. He is an ideal leader to spearhead the Maxus team, and uphold our PACE value system across the organistaion.  At Maxus we endeavour to push the boundaries to delivering excellence for our clients, to achieve our 10/10 mandate.”

     

    Khemka said, “I am delighted to be a part of India’s most dynamic agency – Maxus.  Brand needs are changing and Maxus is geared up to providing a holistic solution to its clients. I look forward to work closely with the team and help provide seamless, media neutral solutions to our clients. Driving growth for Maxus in existing and new geographies also makes my role challenging. I am looking forward to exciting days ahead.”

     

    A graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and MICA, Khemka started his career with Mudra where he worked for five years. Prior to ZenithOptimedia, Navin worked at Cheil Communications, Mindshare and Carat.

  • Maxus is “Most Dominant Agency” 4th year in a row as per RECMA 2013

    Maxus is “Most Dominant Agency” 4th year in a row as per RECMA 2013

    MUMBAI: The year 2013 has been an exciting one for Maxus in India. From winning new clients like Tata Global Beverages, Nestle India, Musafir.com to name a few to dominating industry awards.

     

    Continuing with the winning steak, Maxus India has retained the title of the most “dominant” agency profile for the fourth year in a row as per the RECMA 2013 report.

     

    They were the only agency to be rated as “dominant” as per the ratings. The RECMA report is the Qualitative Assessment for 2013 for all leading media agencies in India on the basis two parameters – vitality & structure. This is the highest level of ratings awarded by the agency RECMA, for the agency that demonstrates a balance between the two parameters.

     

    Speaking on the new RECMA Ratings, Maxus south Asia managing director Kartik Sharma said, “2013 has been an exciting year for us. We won 17 new businesses, worth over Rs.600 crores. We made substantial investments to strengthen our offering across core media, digital, branded content and activation. This is also reflected in the number of industry awards the agency won during the year.” He added, “From a people point of view, the new RECMA ratings are an indicator of the 10/10 vision that drives us to delight our clients and customers. We are governed by Passion, Agility, Collaboration and an Entrepreneurial spirit (PACE), a mission statement that drives us to deliver the very best and meet challenges head on.”

     

    Late year, Maxus India also saw several high profile talent related milestones, with Ajit Varghese moving into a new role at as CEO, APAC, Maxus and Kartik Sharma taking over as the new managing director, Maxus India.

     

    Maxus India also began 2014 on a high note with several breakthrough campaigns like “Power of 49” for Tata Tea, a senior management promotion with Sanchayeeta Verma as head, Maxus South and Anand Chakravarthy joining as head Maxus, West.

  • Maxus India brings on board Anand Chakravarthy as West Head

    Maxus India brings on board Anand Chakravarthy as West Head

    MUMBAI: Maxus today announced the appointment of Anand Chakravarthy as West Head. Anand will report into Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, Maxus South Asia, will be leading the region from the Mumbai office. Some of the clients under his supervision are Vodafone, L’Oreal, Tata Sky, Colors and Fiat Motors.

     

    Commenting on Anand’s appointment, Kartik Sharma, MD, Maxus South Asia said, “We are excited to have a senior leader from the industry in the Maxus team. Anand comes with a rich and varied experience across categories and brands, not to mention his immense knowledge of working with one of the country’s largest media and entertainment brands. We are confident he will push the PACE agenda for Maxus and help our team deliver the 10/10 vision for our clients.”

     

    Speaking on his appointment, Anand Chakravarthy, West Head, Maxus said, “As a marketing and broadcast media professional, I have watched Maxus emerge as a thought leader in a dramatically changing media environment. The opportunity to be part of this winning team and help create value for an enviable portfolio of clients is an exceptionally exciting opportunity I look forward to.” 

     

     Prior to joining Maxus he was the Executive Vice President Marketing at Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd & Business Head for the Big CBS TV Network. He has been part of the Executive Committee at Reliance Broadcast Network since its inception in 2006. Anand was instrumental in building the organization, from a start up to a multi-media entity today with play across Radio, Live Entertainment and Television.

     

    Prior to joining RBNL, Anand was Associate Vice President, Strategic Planning at LOWE, where he crafted communication & brand strategies for several Unilever brands like Surf Excel, Wheel, Vim, Domex, as well as financial brands like HSBC, ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, IL&FS and Tata Mutual Fund. Anand started his career with Research International, a part of WPP’s KANTAR Group, specializing in quantitative & qualitative research. At Research International he worked on multiple categories like foods, household & personal care products, consumer durables & automobiles.