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  • Samsung is India’s Most Trusted Brand; Sony ranks 2nd, Tata is 3rd

    Samsung is India’s Most Trusted Brand; Sony ranks 2nd, Tata is 3rd

    MUMBAI: India’s much anticipated and most rigorous brand evaluation, The Brand Trust Report, India Study, a comparison of the trust held in brands, has been released for 2014. Samsung has emerged as India’s Most Trusted brand this year. Sony ranks as India’s 2nd Most Trusted Brand followed by Tata which has ranked 3rd this year. In 2013, the three brands had ranked second, third and fifth respectively. LG, ranks 4th in this year’s list, followed by the three year leader, Nokia, at 5th place. Hewlett Packard move up fourteen ranks over last year to become India’s 6th Most Trusted Brand and Hero leaps seventy-nine ranks to become India’s 7th Most Trusted. Honda is at rank 8th, followed by Reliance at 9th. Mahindra betters its last year rank by sixty-nine places to get ranked as India’s 10th Most Trusted brand.

    The Brand Trust Report, the fourth in its series, is the result of a comprehensive primary research conducted on the proprietary 61-Attribute Trust Matrix of TRA (formerly known as Trust Research Advisory). This year’s study involved 15000 hours of fieldwork covering 2500 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India and generated 5 million datapoints and 20000 unique brands from which the top 1200 brands have been listed in this year’s report. These brands have been classified into 284 different categories as against 213 categories in 2013. The 244-page report is available for Rs. 14000/-.

    N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, said on the occasion of the report’s launch, “Samsung has grown steadily in trust ranks over the last four years – 5th in 2011, 4th in 2012, 2nd in 2013 and has reached India’s Most Trusted rank this year. When a brand focuses on its trust with intensity, apart from trust the brand gains in market-share, product premium and acceptance of new products as an automatic by-product. Samsung’s strategy of focusing on the core intangibles of its brand is evident from its climb to leadership in BTR 2014.”

    An analysis of the 100 Most Trusted Brands in 2014 revealed that most brands were represented from Diversified with 11, Consumer Electronics with 10, Bath/Beauty with 9, Mobiles with 8, 4-Wheelers, Telephony, and 2-Wheelers with 4 each, and Personal Technology, Sportswear and Aerated Drinks with 3 brands each.

     “Among the top 100 Most Trusted brands, 75 were net gainers while 25 took a fall. The gainers gained an average of 86.23 ranks, while those that fell took a dip of 27.16 ranks on average, showing that the average gain among the top hundred beats the average loss in ranks by 317%. A connected surmise

     

    could be drawn that in the year that was slow for many, brands took the opportunity to focus more on their trust intangibles, scoring points in the process. For long term sustainability and success, it is important that brands have a long term investment in trust”, Chandramouli added.

  • Mike Wilson to spearhead new Australia operations for Havas

    Mike Wilson to spearhead new Australia operations for Havas

    MUMBAI: Havas, one of the world’s largest advertising groups, has announced the launch of a new fully-owned media agency in Sydney, to be spearheaded by award winning media personality Mike Wilson.

    Wilson joins the group after nine years with multi service agency Naked, which he co-founded, and nurtured into an award winning hot shop claiming several Cannes Lions and Effie wins. Wilson’s immediate mandate is to manage the Group’s existing pool of blue chip clients, including new wins LG Electronics and Emirates. He has also been tasked with expansion of the Havas Media Group in Australia and launching specialist brands to provide a strong, integrated offering to clients.

    Mike Wilson will work out of the agency’s Sydney office and report into Vishnu Mohan, CEO Asia Pacific Havas Media Group. His appointment is effective from 25 November 2013.

    On his new role as Havas Media group Australia CEO, Wilson said, “The communications landscape has changed beyond recognition over the past decade, particularly with the advent of digital and mobile, yet there has been very limited innovation in the media agency sector. The time is right. Clients demand a 21st century media agency is available to help navigate this confusing landscape. There also needs to be a media agency destination for hungry young media professionals aiming to forge a career which is rewarding and epoch-shaping. With this new way of working Havas Media will be the agency of choice for the ambitious, where they will be supported, nurtured and challenged to be the industry’s very best.”

    Havas Media Group Australia will replicate the simplified global structure designed to channel the group’s digital, data and content teams into the heart of clients’ teams. Earlier this year, Havas announced the restructuring of its global media operations, which saw the creation of Havas Media Group – consisting of just two media brands Havas Media (formally known as MPG) and Arena.

    Commenting on the new operations, Havas Media Group global MD, Dominique Delport said: “Australia is one of the most dynamic and exciting markets in the world and we are committed to replicating the success that our creative agency Havas Worldwide has witnessed under the leadership of Anthony Gregorio, CEO of Havas Worldwide. Mike’s introduction came to us at a pivotal time for our Australian operations. Vishnu Mohan, our Havas Media Group CEO for the region, has known and respected Mike for years and, as the wider restructure at Havas developed, it became essential that we brought in someone who has worked across the specialist disciplines within the industry. Mike’s broad minded and cross disciplined approach to media will be instrumental to our success in this important region.”

  • Samsung Mobiles is India’s Most Attractive Brand, Sony takes 2nd place

    Samsung Mobiles is India’s Most Attractive Brand, Sony takes 2nd place

    MUMBAI: The latest report from TRA (Trust Research Advisory) – India’s leading brand insights company – titled India’s Most Attractive Brands 2013 (MAB 2013) was released.

     

    Samsung Mobiles emerged as India’s Most Attractive Brand in 2013. India’s second Most Attractive brand is the consumer durables leader Sony, followed by Nokia as the third most attractive across all categories.

     

    India’s top three Most Attractive brands are very close together with just two per cent separating them. Following at fourth place is LG, the South Korean consumer electronics leader with eight per cent attractiveness score lag from the previous. Placed at India’s fifth Most Attractive brand is India’s home-grown conglomerate – Tata – trailing its predecessor by 11 per cent. The results are based on a primary survey conducted with 2,505 consumer-influencers across 16 cities based on TRA’s proprietary matrix of 36 Brand Attractiveness Traits.

     

    Launching the report, TRA (a Comniscient Group company) CEO N. Chandramouli observed, “The force of attractiveness is a primal force that affects all of us with the same intensity – whether it be attraction with other humans, objects, places or brands. As a brand insights company, TRA spent years understanding the basics of attractiveness by delving into several subjects ranging from philosophy to physiology, religion and communication, and have developed a robust proprietary matrix for deciphering the complex subject of Brand Attractiveness.”

     

    At the All India level, Lux, the bath/beauty brand from the HUL stable is India’s sixth Most Attractive brand nearly 48 per cent behind Tata in Attractiveness Quotient. The next four brands are within single-digit gaps of each other with Maruti Suzuki ranked seventh, Godrej ranked eighth, Bajaj ranked ninth, and Dell the Technology leader, ranked India’s tenth Most Attractive brand. India’s top 10 attractive brands include two mobile phone brands, two consumer electronics brands, and three from the diversified category, one each from FMCG, Automobile and Technology categories.

     

    Elaborating on the usefulness of TRA’s matrix, Chandramouli added, “Brands spend billions in advertisements trying to be attractive to consumers, but at best such approaches range between ad-hoc and haphazard. TRA’s Brand Attractiveness matrix will give brands a scientific tool and methodologies to improve their Attractiveness Quotient with their consumers, helping brands deploy their resources more efficiently and target their messages more accurately.”
    In Western India, the Attractiveness Quotients are quite different from national scores with Sony being ranked as West Zone’s Most Attractive brand. This is followed by LG at second place, Tata at third, and Samsung Mobiles as Western India’s fourth Most Attractive brand.  Mumbai’s choices for the top three attractive brands were Sony, LG and Tata respectively.

  • Grey India appoints Samir Datar as branch head

    Grey India appoints Samir Datar as branch head

    MUMBAI: Grey India has appointed Samir Datar as branch head for its Delhi office. In his new role, Datar will report to Grey India CEO and president Jishnu Sen.
    Grey India branch head (Delhi) Samir Datar is confident of tackling the tough Delhi market

    Confirming the development, Sen said, “Samir is an excellent advertising professional and a great leader too. I am thrilled that he has agreed to come on board. I am sure that he will lead our Delhi operation to great heights.”

    Datar added, “Delhi is a very challenging market when it comes to advertising. I am absolutely excited about joining Grey Worldwide and take on the challenge to grow the operations in Delhi.”

    In his earlier stint, Datar has worked with JWT, Cheil, GIIR and Law & Kenneth. He has worked across diverse categories and has an experience in automobiles, durables, mobile phones, FMCG and infrastructure. He has handled brands such as Maggi, Sunrise, Nature Fresh, ESPN Star Sports, Samsung, LG and ITC.

    Datar who has spent more than 20 years in the industry has also worked in planning and account management.

  • Arvind Pal Singh joins ValueFirst Digital Media as head-creative and communication

    Arvind Pal Singh joins ValueFirst Digital Media as head-creative and communication

    MUMBAI: Arvind Pal Singh has been appointed ValueFirst Digital Media head- content, creative and communication.

    Prior to this, Singh(who is fondly known as Candy in the industry) has worked with Purple Focus for three years and in Capital Advertising for eleven years. He is also the founder of an advertisement agency called Magic Mushroom which he started before joining Purple Focus.

    In his 16 years of career Candy has been associated with brands like LG, Electrolux, Maruti Swift, Citifinancial, Nestle, Godfrey Phillips, Allan Soothers Bajaj RE, DLF, Nokia (BTL), Tata Indicom (BTL), Eicher motors and Reliance Big Magic.

    Singh said, “After spending almost two decades in the advertising space, I have realised that what comes between ideas and the consumers is the client who wants to play safe. For every idea that sees the light of the day, there are hundreds of rejected ideas behind it. The digital world on the other hand provides an opportunity to directly interact with the consumers. Engaging consumers online to form meaningful long term communities is one of the most interesting challenges for me here at ValueFirst.”

    ValueFirst Digital Media CEO Vishwadeep Bajaj added, “I am delighted to have Candy on board. I believe that he can leverage his industry experience and understanding of the consumer to attract, engage and retain consumers on ValueFirst digital properties.”

  • Rediffusion Y&R ropes in Komal Bedi Sohal as NCD

    MUMBAI: WPP‘s Rediffusion-Y&R has brought on globally awarded creative talent Komal Bedi Sohal as national creative director in India.

    Prior to joining Rediffusion, Sohal spent the last 11 years abroad, with her last assignment being executive creative director for Lowe Middle East and North Africa, based in Dubai. She now moves to India to be based in Rediffusion’s head office in Mumbai.

    Sohal’s advertising career spans 19 years, during which she produced award-winning work for global brands such as Harvey Nichols, Land Rover, LG, Citibank, Colgate, Virgin Atlantic, Axe deodorants, and Microsoft Xbox.She is ranked number 2 in ‘The Top Art Directors in the World’ by The Big Won Creative Ranking 2011 and has been in the top 10 for the past five years.

    Her stash of international awards includes the Grand prix, gold, silver, bronze, and finalists at Cannes, One Show, The ANDYS, Art Director’s Club, Clio, Dubai Lynx, Mena Cristal Awards, London International Awards, New York Festivals, EPICA, and Loeries. Her work has been featured in the annual publications of D&AD, Communication Arts, and Luerzer’s Archive.

    Rediffusion-Y&R chief creative officer and vice-chairman Sam Ahmed said, “Komal and I have worked together for several years. She is a fierce and compassionate leader. The craft and finesse she brings into her work is incomparable and world class. She is a school of art direction. It’s almost impossible to find such talent and I’m happy that she’s moving her life to India to join us. This will be good for our industry at large as we can all learn from her craft and execution skills.”

    Sohal said about her new role, “It’s homecoming in more ways than one. Both the city and the agency have a special place in my heart, and I am eager to get started right away. We are going to create ideas that are impactful and iconic, executed beautifully.”

  • LG buys out HP’s mobile operating system WebOS

    LG buys out HP’s mobile operating system WebOS

    MUMBAI: Global consumer durables and electronics maker and marketer LG has acquired Hewlett-Packard‘s mobile operating system WebOS.

    As part of the acquisition, LG gets source code for WebOS, related documentation, engineering talent, related WebOS Web sites and HP licenses for use with its WebOS products along with the patents HP obtained from Palm.

    The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

    LG said that it intends to use the operating system in its smart televisions and not mobile phones. LG is focused on Android as its mobile operating system of choice.

    WebOS is an operating system that showed promise but many feel that it was mismanaged by HP. It was supposed to be the feature that would save Palm who then sold it to HP. The operating system‘s luck seemed to flounder further when HP decided to pull the plug on its mobile initiatives in 2012.

    The deal isn‘t a complete surprise, with LG already reportedly looking at the platform for use in its products. In fact, the company had been eyeing WebOS for a while.

    A media report quoted LG Electronics, president and chief technology officer Skott Ahn saying that the deal “creates a new path for LG to offer an intuitive user experience and Internet services across a range of consumer electronics devices.”

    The report further said, “WebOS team will make up the heart and soul of the new LG Silicon Valley Lab, with its Sunnyvale, Calif., and San Francisco sites joining LG‘s global R&D locations in the Valley, alongside WebOS offices in San Jose and Chicago.”

  • Global home audio equipment market to reach $20 bn by 2018

    Global home audio equipment market to reach $20 bn by 2018

    MUMBAI: The global home audio equipment market is marked by rapid developments in digital technology. Changing media consumption habits and tastes have resulted in a paradigm shift in the home audio equipment market towards alternative and non-traditional solutions such as soundbars and speaker docks for audio playback.

    Driving forces propelling growth in the market include incessant developmental cycle of innovative products with technologically advanced features and growing consumer preference for high quality content.

    The average unit price of audio products is on a continuous decline mainly due to the availability of advanced technologies that simplify the production process and attributed to general reduction in production costs. The global market for consumer electronics is being driven by the growing demand for home audio equipment, home theater systems, MP3 players, camcorders, digital cameras, flat panel televisions, and in-car audio aftermarket equipment.

    Increasing levels of disposable income and consumer acceptance of innovative technology developments is helping expand the market for electronic products, especially digital consumer electronic goods.

    Global Information presents two market research reports covering the global home audio equipment and electric household appliances markets from its premium research partner Global Industry Analysts.

    The global market for home audio equipment is forecast to reach $20 billion by the year 2018. Home audio equipment represents the next big market after television in the overall consumer electronics industry. Several experts consider the consumer electronics (CE) industry, of which Home Audio Equipment is a part, to be relatively recession proof. CE products such as MP3 players, computers, Blu-ray players and video games provide economic sources of entertainment for families stressed by the growing economic uncertainties originating as a result of the global economic meltdown.

    Several electronic devices have become an almost essential part of general living, particularly in the developed world. Growth in the industry is being fueled by rocketing sales of new technologies such as Blu-ray and resurgence in the Home-Theatre-in-a-Box (HTiB) market.

    The global market for home audio equipment is characterized by intense competition. Suppliers and manufactures of Home Audio Equipment are constantly altering product ranges by making them more user-friendly and less visually intrusive in order to enhance market position. Products with high appeal, aesthetic design and innovative features are likely to win the race. Apart from adding additional product features, manufacturers need to design and implement effective marketing strategies to position their products appropriately in consumer mind set.

    Players profiled in the report include Bose, Boston Acoustics, Harman International Industries, Philips Electronics , LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp and Sony.

  • Dheeraj Sinha moves to Grey India

    Dheeraj Sinha moves to Grey India

    MUMBAI: Former Bates regional planning director Dheeraj Sinha, who quit the agency in May this year, has joined WPP‘s Grey India as consultant and will head planning for South and South East Asia.

    In a statement to the press, Grey India president and CEO Jishnu Sen said, “I have been looking for a planning partner, someone to lead the strategic thinking of our team for a few months now. I have been a huge fan of Dheeraj‘s for a while. His reputation precedes him. His work, his awards, his publishings are all testimony to his prowess. So when Dheeraj started his consultancy, we became his client. And the chemistry is fabulous. So I can confirm that Grey has taken him on as a consultant and we look forward to this exciting partnership”.

    Sinha said, “I feel a great sense of energy and determination about the people at Grey. In all my interactions with Jishnu, Amit and Malvika, it looked that we can play as a team to create some magical work. The focus on creating sparkling work comes from the regional and global leadership which is critical for success. So when they proposed a longer term role, it felt like the right thing to do”.

    In a career spanning nearly 12 years, Sinha has worked with agencies like McCann Erickson and EURO RSCG in India and has worked on the brand strategy for several multinational and Indian brands, including Fiat, Virgin Mobile, MasterCard, LG, Reckitt Benckiser, TVS Motorcycles, Max Bupa, Marico, Dabur, and Cavin Kare.

    He started his career in 2000 with McCann Erickson as associate planning director and then moved to Bates in 2005 where he served as regional planning director till May 2012.

    He also launched his first book, ‘Consumer India: Inside the Indian Mind and Wallet‘ last year and authored a chapter ‘Bridging Gaps – Retail in the Emerging Indian Market‘ in a book titled Shopper Marketing.

  • Initiative India makes key level appointments

    Initiative India makes key level appointments

    MUMBAI: Initiative India has named R Venkatasubramanian and Vishnu Sharma as senior vice presidents. Both Venkatasubramanian and Sharma will be based in Delhi.

    Venkatasubramanian will oversee investments and sports while Sharma will be in charge of strategy and insights for all clients of the agency in Delhi.

    Initiative India president Manas Mishra said, “These key appointments will help take Initiative into a superior level of delivering business and media solutions for clients. I look forward to welcoming Venkat and Vishnu as part of my leadership team.”

    Venkatasubramanian is returning to Initiative after two shorts stints at Maxus and MPG. He earlier worked worked with Initiative for almost a decade.

    Sharma is presently national head of sales, strategy and business analytics at HT Media. He has experience of more than a decade working with national brands Airtel, Hero Honda, LG and others at Group M and Madison.