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Tag: Leo Burnett

  • HDFC Life’s ad to create awareness about ‘Financial Freedom’

    MUMBAI: HDFC Life has unveiled a new marketing campaign aimed at driving financial freedom among urban Indian women.

    The campaign has been conceptualised and created by Leo Burnett.

    The creative route of the new campaign is Director of Happiness.‘ The communication insight is that a woman‘s financial independence will let her be a stakeholder in the family decision making process. Financial independence will let her care for others, which gives her true happiness. It will help fulfill all her dreams and aspirations and make them come true for her loved ones as well. Financial independence will thereby, make her the Director of Happiness. This also links back to the company‘s brand philosophy of “Sar Utha Ke Jiyo.”

    Leo Burnett NCD KV Sridhar said,”The Smart Woman product and campaign is targeted towards progressive women-of-today. Keeping this niche target audience in mind, the campaign builds on the commonly felt emotion and insight of the joy in making a landmark contribution towards the family. Keeping the product offering in mind, the film encourages young women to secure their future, so that they can do all that they desire for their family.”

    HDFC Life EVP and head-marketing product and direct channels Sanjay Tripathy, said, “Following the launch of our flagship women‘s product ‘Smart Woman,‘ we have embarked on this new marketing campaign to drive awareness about ‘financial freedom‘ among urban Indian women.”

    The film is centered on a female protagonist and opens in a middle class house showing playful conversations between dad and daughter. They argue to come to a decision about where the parents should go for a vacation on their wedding anniversary. While the father tries to control the budget and keeps suggesting cheaper options, the daughter keeps upgrading to international locations. When the daughter suggests Europe tour, dad refuses because he cannot spend so much, to which the daughter replies “Par main toh kar sakti hoon na.” “Ab aap poochenge, itne paise kaha se aaye. Dad kaafi time se plan kiya hai. Happy anniversary!” All this has been a surprise for the mother all along, who now asks “Kya planning chal rahi itne din se “. Dad gets emotional and replies “Jisse kandhe pe ghumata tha, aaj humme Europe ghuma rahi hai.”

    HDFC Life plans to take its new campaign through different platforms and intensify the brand experience. Apart from television, this film will be supported by other media such as print, OOH, radio, and digital.

  • McCann Delhi appoints Sambit Mohanty as ECD

    MUMBAI: McCann Delhi has appointed Sambit Mohanty as the executive creative director.

    His last stint was with Bates- New Delhi as creative head where he worked for clients like Hitachi and Virgin Mobile.

    McCann Worldgroup chief executive officer Prasoon Joshi said, “I am extremely happy to have Sambit join us at McCann. I have not worked with him earlier but in my interaction with him sensed that he brings in a unique dimension. It‘s rare these days to find people with craft. Sambit has honed his craft and is a superb writer. I am positive that the creative prowess of McCann will get further strengthened with Sambit on board.”

    Mohanty has over 12 years of experience in advertising and design. Starting out as a copywriter at McCann Erickson, he‘s worked in agencies such as Lowe, Publicis, Leo Burnett and Elephant Design.

    He was also behind the ‘Where‘s the Pulp?‘ campaign for Minute Maid Pulpy Orange – a juice drink from Coke. His film for MMPO – ‘deflating oranges‘ – is a part of the Leo Burnett showreel and has been aired internationally in countries like Indonesia, Philippines, Kazakhstan and Mexico.

    Mohanty has worked for clients like Dettol, Mortein, Harpic (part of Reckitt-Benckiser), Tanishq, Britannia, Nestle (Maggi), HP, Indian Express, BBC World, Religare and Chevrolet.

  • Govt directs IBF, AAAI & ISA to submit BARC roll-out plan

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The government on Tuesday directed broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies to submit a detailed plan for making Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) functional soon.

    The directive was given by the Secretary in the Information & Broadcasting Ministry Uday Kumar Verma during an hour-long meeting with Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) in New Delhi, convened to give a strong push for BARC.

    “The ministry instructed the constituent members of BARC to submit a time-table outlining the next steps in the roll out of BARC. But the deadline for the submission of this time table has not been given,” said Arvind Sharma, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) president and Leo Burnett chairman and CEO of India subcontinent.

    I&B Ministry officials said Verma stressed at the meeting that the matter of BARC was gaining importance in view of the New Delhi Television Ltd’s (NDTV) lawsuit in New York against television ratings by TAM Media Research. NDTV has alleged that TAM and its owners Nielsen and WPP subsidiaries Kantar and Cavendish have knowingly failed to act against corruption in TAM’s television ratings system.

    According to the scheme of things, BARC would be an apex entity for measuring television viewership ratings in India. It will appoint and monitor service providers like TAM providing on-ground services for measuring television ratings.

    The secretary also expressed dissatisfaction that the responsibility of setting up BARC was given to IBF but there has been no progress after it was registered in July 2010.

    The ministry officials said IBF president and Star India CEO Uday Shankar gave an assurance to the I&B secretary that “the three bodies have come together now and will speedily set up BARC”.

    When AAAI and ISA were asked about the status of BARC, their representatives said they had approved the articles of association of BARC and it was for IBF to take it forward now. IBF’s Shankar then informed the meeting that the document is yet to be approved by the IBF board and once it is done, IBF will get back to AAAI and ISA at the earliest, according to the officials.

    Apart from AAAI’s Sharma and IBF’s Shankar, among those who attended the meeting were IBF Treasurer and Zee Entertainment Enterprises managing director and CEO Punit Goenka, Lodestar UM CEO Shashi Sinha, Draftfcb+Ulka executive director Nagesh Alai, RK Swamy BBDO chairman and MD Sundar K Swamy and Nestle India VP communications Virat Mehta.

    AAAI’s Sharma told Indiantelevision.com that “The meeting was held with specific focus on the progress of BARC. The AAAI and the ISA informed the Secretary that the two bodies have approved and given the Articles of Association to the IBF and are waiting for a revert on the same.”

    Earlier this year, I&B Minister Ambika Soni had told parliament that BARC would be functional soon and its first ratings would be released by July 2013.

  • Saatchi & Saatchi beefs up creative team

    Mumbai: Saatchi & Saatchi is strengthening its creative team with the appointment of Anant Medepalli as creative director and Vihar Patkar as associate creative director.

    Both will start their second innings at the agency. Medepalli‘s last stint was with Leo Burnett-Nairobi. Patkar has been with Salt Brand Solutions since 2011.

    Besides, Saatchi & Saatchi creative director-Mumbai Mithun Mirji has also been elevated to regional creative director. Based out of Singapore, he will handle Ariel and partnering clients in that country. At present, he works with Saatchi & Saatchi ECD Ashutosh Karkhanis and chief creative officer Ramanuj Shastry on P&G brands – Head & Shoulders and Ariel.

    Medepalli was with Saatchi & Saatchi from 2004 to 2009. After spending a couple of years at Leo Burnett, Nairobi, he is back with Saatchi & Saatchi. Meanwhile, Patkar was with Saatchi & Saatchi- Mumbai from 2005 to 2008. In 2008, he had joined Rediffusion Y&R.

  • Arvind Sharma is AAAI president

    Arvind Sharma is AAAI president

    MUMBAI: Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has appointed Leo Burnett chairman and CEO of India subcontinent Arvind Sharma as president for the year 2012-2013 at its Annual General Body Meeting held today.

    Draftfcb+Ulka Advertising executive director and CEO-Mumbai M G Parameswaran has been elected as the vice president.

    Immediate past president, Interface Communications director Nagesh Alai will be the ex-officio member of the new AAAI Executive Committee.

    The other elected members of the executive committee for the ensuing year are Fifth Estate Communications head Ganesh Baliga, Aegis Group chairman India and CEO South East Asia Ashish Bhasin, Publicis Communications South Asia CEO Nakul Chopra, Mogae Group executive director Tanya Goyal, Crayons Advertising chairman Kunal Lalani, Network Advertising MD Vinod Nair, Prem Associates Advertising and Marketing partner Pranav Premnarayen, Matrix Publicities and Media India’s Sridhar Ramasubramanian, Group M South Asia CEO Vikram Sakhuja, Contract Advertising CEO Umesh Shrikhande and RK Swamy BBDO chairman and MD Srinivasan K Swamy.

  • How Indian agencies can win big at Cannes

    How Indian agencies can win big at Cannes

    MUMBAI: India‘s weak performance at the Cannes Lions Festival, the worst in the last five years, is evoking criticism in the advertising world. Sinking to just 14 metals, down from 24 last year, the time has come to retrospect and build on the talent pool that has the potential to create bigger impact in the advertising world.

    The record book looks even worse as India went without a Grand Prix this year. It won three gold, one less than last year, and three silver, seven less.

    India‘s advertising minds need new ideas that are bold and fresh at a time when new markets are emerging to give competition. Some experts feel that Indian agencies lost out at Cannes because the ‘basic idea‘ ‘lacked the magnificence‘ to win big.

    Laments Leo Burnett chairman and CEO Indian sub-continent Arvind Sharma, “Cannes is a contest of great ideas executed brilliantly. This year unfortunately we had very few big bold ideas. We won some gold metals but they were for execution specialities like typography and film direction. For winning in ideas, we bagged smaller trophies. What we need is bigger, bolder and fresher ideas across categories like we had in the past with the Luxor and the Lead India campaign.”

    In a fast-changing global environment, exposed to new technologies and market situations, Indian agencies need to realise that every year is a different ball game and the need of the hour is to adapt.

    Says JWT chief creative officer and managing partner Bobby Pawar, “We need to understand that every year the game changes and you just have to keep doing better and smarter from year to year. Take the example of Usain Bolt. Every time he fails to make it, he tells himself ‘I am going to train harder and get where I want‘. That is a lesson we all got to learn.”

    The most glaring under achievement of the Indian agencies perhaps is the failure to make it to the Digital and Mobile Lions shortlist. In an age where every advertiser is vying to go online or be present on the mobile platform, and where every day sees a new innovation in the digital space, the Indian agencies failed to impress the jury enough to even make it to the final lap.

    The accent for digital is rapidly evolving across the world and the subtle tone is to come out with bolder ideas. For executing these ideas, one needs the apt technology and infrastructure.

    “When you compare India to other developing nations even in the realm of digital, I would say we are in The Stone Age. When the bandwidth for an exceptional online campaign is not available, how can you expect any path breaking work? In the case of mobile too, I feel we need ‘imagineers’ and not just programmers and engineers. It is the imagination that needs to grow and develop that will then translate into award winning work,” says Pawar.

    Expanding reach across platforms is also becoming an important tool reflective of the changes in the advertising world. Says Scarecrow Communications founder director Manish Bhatt, “The definition of creativity is changing. Creative is not just a clever idea or stunning execution anymore. It also includes factors like how much response a campaign manages to evoke. Entries that have evoked stunning response can change the world and look superior than the other works. Entries which go beyond the common benefit of the product and do something for the society have cut ice with the jury.”

    Cannes Lions Tally
    Year
    Awards
    2008
    23 (including Grand Prix)
    2009
    25
    2010
    17
    2011
    24
    2012
    14

    Worse, India‘s achievement in the traditional categories wasn‘t too impressive. Admits Law and Kenneth CEO and managing partner Anil Nair, “The traditional categories – print, TV and outdoor – have become fiercely competitive, and there is a lot of innovation within them. Our work is one-dimensional, which in a way suits our local requirements. But this did not catch the fancy of the jury. Some of the work like for Nike and Google have a lot of spin in new media technology, but we have not been able to demonstrate that kind of thinking. The works we have sent are majorly in print.”

    So what are the key learnings from this year’s somewhat disappointing performance at the biggest ad fest?

    “The learning for me is that we should win more in the traditional category like Films which is a major medium here. We don’t have any metal in films apart from one that is in film craft. We should have won more metals even in radio, outdoor and now digital,” says McCann Worldgroup India chairman and CEO Prasoon Joshi, the man who led his agency to win a gold for Outdoor.

    Sharma, though, likes to see the glass half full. “I‘m sure India has the talent and the passion it takes to win big at Cannes. This year‘s results will push us harder and I‘m sure we will do well next year,” he concludes with a note of optimism.

  • Leo Burnett bags Silver in Press, bronze in Radio

    MUMBAI: India has taken its total metals tally to six at Cannes Lions 2012, four of which have come from the Press Lions category.

    Leo Burnett’s work for Bajaj Electricals won it a silver Lion in the category which has traditionally been a favourtite among Indian agencies.

    This year saw 31 indian entries being shortlisted in the Press Lions with DDB Mudra Group having the maximum entries (10), followed by Leo Burnett (8).

    This year’s Press Lions Grand Prix went to apparel brand United Colors of Benetton for the controversial ‘Unhate’ campaign by Italian agency Fabrica Treviso.

    Apart from Leo Burnett’s silver, Ogilvy won two Bronze Lions for its work on Perfetti Van Melle’s Mentos brand and Mattel Toys’ Hot Wheels. A third Lion was won by BBDO India for its work on White Collar Creatives.

    Of the two Indian entries shortlisted for the Radio Lions, Leo Burnett’s campaign titled ‘Punishment’ for Mumbai-based book store Strand won a Silver Lion. This was the solo win the category from India. The winning entry entails a conversation between Mahatma Gandhi and a little boy.

    India has scored a blank in the Cyber category.

  • 22 Indian entries in fray for Outdoor Lions

    MUMBAI: The Outdoor Lions shortlist at this year’s Cannes Lions has 22 entries from India with four each from McCann Worldwide, Leo Burnett and Brand David Communications, three each from Ogilvy and Mather and the DDB Mudra Group, two from Bates Mumbai and one each from Grey Worldwide and DraftFCB+Ulka.

    The McCann’s campaign for Western Union Money Transfer earned it three entries in the sub category of Banking, Investment and Insurance for the Franklin Gandhi, Lincoln Fahd and Queen Mao executions.

    The fourth entry from McCann is for the Keeping the Legends Alive for SaReGaMa India during the Sawai Gadharva music festival in the Special Build sub category.

    All four entries of Leo Burnett’s are in the sub category Home Appliances, Furnishings, Electronics and Audio-Visual for its executions themed Cigarette, Socks, Fish and Eggs for Bajaj
    Electricals Exhaust Fans.

    Brand David’s entries are Pig Attack, Buffalo Attack, Deer Attack and Goose Attack in the sub category Cosmetics and Beauty, Toiletries & Pharmacy. The agency carried out the executions for Soliance Pharma Products Peptocid Antacid Tablets.

    O&M’s work for Yahoo earned it two shortlist spots: one in the Special Build sub category (Carry Heavy Attachments) and one in the Transit sub category (Truck Attachment). Its third entry came in the form of the Chanting Lighter campaign it conceptualised and executed for the Cancer Patients Aid Association’s Anti Smoking Initiative. This entry falls in the Small Scale Special Solutions sub category.

    The DDB Mudra Group secured its three shortlist entries for its work on Steadfast Shredders titled Elvis, JFK and Roswell in the Business Equipment and Services sub category.

    Bates’ two spots on the shortlist were for the agency’s work for Park Avenue Wrinkle Free Shirts in the sub category Clothing, Footwear and Accessories.

    Grey’s entry was shortlisted in the Home Appliances, Furnishings, Electronics & Audio-Visual sub category for its work on FujiFilm India, while DraftFCB+Ulka’s entry came in the sub category
    Fundraising, Charities, Appeals, Non-Profit Organisations, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages for its campaign titled Falling Hoarding for Mumbai Traffic Police.

  • Seven Indian entries make it to Direct Lions shortlist

    Seven Indian entries make it to Direct Lions shortlist

    MUMBAI: Seven Indian entries have been shortlisted in the Direct Lions category at Cannes Lions 2012. While BBDO India has got two entries shortlisted, McCann World Group, Leo Burnett, O&M, DDB Mudra Group and Cheil Worldwide have gained themselves one spot each.

    BBDO India‘s entries were shortlisted in sub categories – ‘Dimensional Mailing‘ and ‘Direct Response Digital: Email Marketing‘ for its campaigns for Johnson‘s Baby and Child Welfare Fund respectively.

    The campaign for Johnson‘s Baby, titled India‘s First D.I.Y. Calendar for Babies, was targeted at new and first-time mothers with the key objective being to design a piece that would not just be a calendar, but engage mothers and help increase their play time with their baby.

    The D.I.Y. calendar was designed to showcase the different stages of the first 12 months of the baby‘s life, leading to his/her first birthday. Each month represented a different piece of baby article that instructed the mother about the new things she should introduce to her baby.

    Its second entry, titled World‘s Youngest Job Applicant, was targeted towards senior executives in corporations to help fund the education of underprivileged children. Using the insight that most senior executives normally do not delete an email job application, BBDO created job applications with attached CVs of underprivileged children and e-mailed them to these executives. The CVs detailed the hardships these kids went through in an effort to get a basic education for themselves, and went on to tell the reader that with his help these children could one day apply for the same job.

    Earning it the second nomination at this year‘s Cannes Lions, Leo Burnett‘s Ink Pad campaign for Door Step School has been shortlisted in the sub category Ambient Media & Print Collateral, Non-Mail (Small Scale). The initiative was an effort towards increasing awareness and participation in the client‘s adult literacy drive. The objective of the promotion was to give uninterested adults the first taste of how much fun learning could be.

    DDB Mudra Group‘s second shortlist came in the form of its campaign Growing Trees for Prism Papyrus Private / Fedrigoni in the sub category Business Products and Services. The objective was to create awareness about Fedrigoni‘s new range of recycled papers and subsequently increase sales. The target audience, drawn from both existing and new customers, was corporate print buyers and sellers in Mumbai.

    In order to drive the point home, the DDB Mudra Group used a design innovation instead of using a conventional poster. Making the exercise more appropriate to the brand that is fiercely eco-friendly, these posters were printed on Fedrigoni‘s recycled papers. Thus, rather than preach about the benefits of using recycling paper, the innovation demonstrated the same in a visually-engaging manner.

    McCann Worldgroup has been shortlisted in the sub category of Dimensional Mailing for its work for SaReGaMa India titled Keeping The Legend Alive. The objective of the campaign was to maintain interest in the Sawai Gandharva music festival after the passing away of its founder Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.

    To grab eyeballs, McCann used SaReGaMa‘s tapes of the late Panditji‘s recordings to create his musical portraits where each portrait was intricately weaved using over 1,100 meters of tape. Five musical portraits were created and each was brought to life with the legend‘s voice, using the audio CD on the canvas.

    O&M‘s shortlisted entry this year is its campaign named iFold for Vodafone India in the sub category Best Low Budget Campaign. The aim of the campaign was to spread awareness about saving paper. The idea was to encourage people to fold their bills and other correspondence extra in order to use smaller envelopes thus saving paper.

    Cheil Worldwide‘s Minus One Project, which it conceptualised for Samsung Printers, has been shortlisted in the Corporate Image and Information sub category. The target of the campaign was to encourage sustainable printing practices and was targeted at existing and new customers.

    The Minus One Project encouraged people to print documents after reducing the font size by just one unit. This reduced the number of pages required to print the document by up to 50 per cent and people could save trees even while taking printouts. Hence they found a solution relevant for the brand as well as nature. Minus One was adopted by many corporate organisations, schools, colleges and other institutes and presented Samsung Printers as a brand that comes up with smart solutions for complex problems.

  • Four Indian entries to contest in Cannes Lions Promo & Activation category

    Four Indian entries to contest in Cannes Lions Promo & Activation category

    MUMBAI: Four entries from India have made it to the shortlist of the Cannes Lions 2012 Promo and activations category.

    These include JWT‘s work for Times of India Kerala titled God‘ Own Delivery Boys, DDB Mudra Group‘s The Killing Stapler campaign for the Sanctuary Magazine, The Door Step School‘s Ink Pad initiative by Leo Burnett India and Percept/H‘s Anti Terror Bag campaign.

    JWT has been shortlisted in the ‘Publications and Media‘ sub category. The campaign was carried out when Times of India launched its Kerala edition. Kerala has been dominated by language dailies like Malayala Manorama and The Mathrubhumi.

    In order to grab eyeballs and enter with a bang, TOI needed a campaign that would relate to local tradition. Drawing upon ancient local folklore, the newspaper employed 108 elephant delivery boys across 10 cities from where the local editions were to be published, 126 boat delivery boys across 1,500 km of backwaters and 180 kalari warrior delivery boys across the hill country.

    The campaign used local loudspeakers, postcards, posters, press ads and radio spots to announce the phone number to call for home delivery anywhere in Kerala reaching out directly to urban and rural homes across the state. More than 100,000 newspapers were delivered on the launch day with a total of 500,000 plus newspapers delivered across seven days.

    The Killing Stapler campaign, which has been shortlisted in the sub category ‘Use of Guerilla Marketing in a Promotional Campaign‘, was aimed at creating awareness about the negative impact of paper wastage through printed copies on wildlife.

    To reach this objective, DDB Mudra Group designed a special stapler and discreetly placed around obvious sites as a part of the environment. This stapler, when used, printed a stamp at exactly the point the stapler held the paper intact, thus making the user realise how the printout harmed the environment. The agency planted 135 staplers over a span of nine days.

    Leo Burnett‘s Ink Pad campaign for Door Step School has been shortlisted in the sub category ‘Charities‘. The initiative was an effort towards increasing awareness and participation in the client‘s adult literacy drive. The objective of the promotion was to give uninterested adults the first taste of how much fun learning could be.

    In order to bring illiterate adults, Leo Burnett placed a transparent sheet with cut-outs of the alphabets of Hindi (devanagari script) on top of a regular ink pad which allowed illiterate individuals to print their name. A door to door activation was conducted with the help of local volunteers, using the ink pad and thus turning the symbol of illiteracy – the thumb imprint – into a tool to write and encouraged people to enroll for the adult literacy programme.

    In the Public Health and Safety, ‘Pubic Awareness Messages‘ sub category, Percept/H has been shortlisted for its anti terror awareness campaign titled the Anti-Terror Bag. With the aid of law enforcement agencies, Percept/H agency placed a special knapsack inside local trains that contained a device that would tick like a time bomb and then announce a safety message.