Tag: Lodestar

  • MEC India appoints Mukti Kumaran as west head

    MEC India appoints Mukti Kumaran as west head

    MUMBAI: MEC India has appointed Mukti Kumaran as its west head. Prior to joining MEC, she was heading the Mumbai branch at IPG Media Brands-BPN. Based out of Mumbai, Kumaran will report to MEC India managing director T Gangadhar.

     

    Gangadhar said, “We are delighted to have Mukti onboard our leadership team. She is a progressive communications professional and brings with her a wealth of experience. I have no doubt she will be a real asset to MEC.”

     

    Kumaran has been a media professional for over 18 years and brings with her a rich experience in strategic planning, buying and new business development. She has worked across markets and has experience on both sides – client and agency. She has earlier worked with Leo Burnett, Initiative Media (LMG), Lodestar and Wipro. 

     

    Kumaran added, “I believe the paradigm of media planning and buying is changing very rapidly. As consumers become platform agnostic and increasingly digital, the approach to engaging with them becomes that much more interesting and challenging. My focus will be to ensure that we are pushing our understanding of consumers and evolving smarter and newer ways to engage our brands with them. Looking forward to some exciting work here.”

     

  • 9X Jalwa’s treat to media agencies

    9X Jalwa’s treat to media agencies

    MUMBAI: Media agencies usually help clients target consumers for their campaign and are usually never on the receiving end. Trying to bring such an interaction to media agency offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru is 9X Jalwa while promoting its new look.

    On 10 June, the channel had donned a new avatar with the tagline ‘Forever Young’, targeting viewers across all age groups who enjoy music that is enduring. The tagline also reflects the Bollywood playlist and music construct on the channel that is perpetual and never grows old.

    According to 9X Media VP marketing Kapil Sharma, consumers have been enjoying the new look on television and so it was high time to target the trade media to create the same amount of buzz. “It is the trade media that get their clients to spend high budgets on our channel. After attracting the consumer media the immediate next step we thought was to target the trade media and highlight this fact across the agencies.”

    Rather than treading the traditional route, it chose to go with fun creative activities in developed by Pure Media. It has created a unique game titled ‘Pic Charades’, which is a fun amalgamation of Pictionary and Dumb Charades using emoticons from instant messaging apps.

    The participating teams will compete with each other to guess the Bollywood songs using these emoticons. The songs featured in these games are from the 9X Jalwa playlist. The team with maximum points wins merchandises.

    Sharma says that through the activation the channel wanted to convey the message that songs remain forever young. “Primarily the songs that we play on Jalwa currently are from the 90s and 2000s. If you like a particular song, no matter how many times you listen to it, it still remains fresh.”

    As emoticons have become a part of everyone’s daily life, the channel thought it right to tap into it. “A lot of times you receive forwards on your personal messenger where you have to guess the name of a song or a movie by using emoticons. We thought this is something that people enjoy and have fun playing it. So why not draw an inspiration and create our campaign revolving around this entire thought,” he highlights.

    Apart from the activities, branding exercises will be done even in Chennai. Different cut outs, standees, posters and tent cards have been put across agencies. Mailers, ads and advertorials are being simultaneously released across trade websites and magazines.

    The engagement goes online as well. If a person misses the chance to participate when the contest is happening in the cafeteria, a tent card is left on the desk of the employee and he/she can email those answers.

    Moreover, the pictures of people participating and people winning prizes will be shared on the 9X Jalwa Facebook page. At present, 9X Jalwa has 126,259 likes on Facebook at the time of penning this article. However its Twitter page needs a push with just 1,280 followers.

    Sharma goes on to say that out of the total budget, 60-70 per cent is spent on the consumer related promotions and 30-40 per cent is spent for trade communications.

  • Nat Geo kick starts the second season of  ‘Covershot’

    Nat Geo kick starts the second season of ‘Covershot’

    MUMBAI: The only reality TV show on photography is back! Nat Geo’s ‘Covershot’ franchise returns with its second season in a brand new avatar to unlock ‘Mission North-East’. And to get the season off to a grand start, National Geographic Channel has organized a photo exhibition of the masterpieces clicked by last year’s contestants.

    Targeting leading agencies, such as Group M, Madison, ZO, Starcom, Lodestar and Mediacom, across Delhi and Mumbai, from 27th January to 4th February for the photo exhibition, Nat Geo aims to create a buzz and conversation-starters around the very coveted, aspirational field of photography and their hugely successful ‘Covershot’ property in its latest season. While the exhibition in itself is a treat for the layman and photography enthusiasts alike, what comes across most poignantly yet again is the fact that the show served as a brilliant platform for amateurs to showcase their talent. And in addition to the more obvious attractions, at a time when National Geographic Channel is primed to launch one of its biggest properties for the year, the photo exhibition stands out as a pertinent, yet engaging go-between to reach out to multiple stakeholders, including their key partners.

    Commenting on the importance of engagement through varied approaches, Ms. Debarpita Banerjee, VP, Marketing, National Geographic and FOX International Channels, said, “When the show itself is such a visual treat, the best way to announce the launch would but naturally be through its visuals. A walk down the exhibition aisle would demonstrate the length and breadth of talent showcased on Covershot.”

    10 exciting episodes, 10 illustrious contestants, 1 cut-throat competition – ‘Nat Geo Covershot: Mission North-East’ will take you on the exquisite north-eastern trail this season, with host Shibani Dandekar and judges Rajiv Laxman and Lana Šlezi? – launching early April.

     

  • Tata Chemicals to kick start ‘Swach Silver RO’ campaign in Feb in Karnataka, West Bengal

    Tata Chemicals to kick start ‘Swach Silver RO’ campaign in Feb in Karnataka, West Bengal

    BENGALURU: Tata Chemicals announced the pilot launch of its Silver RO purifiers range in Karnataka and West Bengal today. Depending upon the acceptance of its products, the company plans to complete the all-India roll-out over the next two months.

     

    It is working with its media buying agency – Lodestar – to launch a Swach Silver campaign in early February across regional television, metro branding in Bengaluru and Kolkata, car branding, outdoor and banners and radio jingles, revealed company sources.

     

    At the launch of two models of RO water purifiers, the company showcased a 15 second TVC created by Draft FCB Ulka in Hindi. “There will be two more TVCs’ on similar lines and will run in Kannada and Bangla in the respective states. Once the pan-India roll-out is complete, we will have it in nine languages,” revealed Tata Chemicals Head of Water Purifier Business & Strategy Consumer Products Business Parag Gadre while talking to indiantelevision.com . “We are working on a media plan with Lodestar and expect to have the campaign on by the second week of February in these two markets,” informed Gadre further.

     

    Eyeing an 8-10 per cent market share of the organised RO and UV water purifiers market over the next few years that the company estimates as around Rs 2,600 crore, Tata Chemicals will spend around 20 to 25 per cent of revenue towards mass media communications say industry sources. Over the next 12 to 15 months, the company should cross revenue of Rs 50 to 60 crore, and hence its ad budgets would be in the range of Rs 10-15 crore until the end of the next fiscal in March 2015.

     

    Overall, Tata Chemicals estimates the size of the RO, UV, gravity and other types of water purifier market in the country as Rs 3,500 crore per annum that is growing at a CAGR of 22 per cent. In terms of number of units, Tata Chemicals pegs the current size as about 85 lakh units, of which the RO and UV water purifiers’ market size (that includes four or five national level players and many local and regional players) would be about 14 lakh units. National level players contribute to about 8.5 to 9 lakh units, and Tata Chemicals is eyeing an 8 per cent market share of this segment.

  • Bipin Pandit is The Advertising Club COO

    MUMBAI: Bipin Pandit, who was the general manager of The Advertising Club, has been named as the chief operating officer.

    The announcement comes close on the heels of the name change of The Advertising Club (then The Advertising Club Bombay) and the appointment of committee members. The decision was made at the first managing committee meeting held immediately after the AGM of the club.

    Pandit will report to The Advertising Club president and Lodestar UM CEO Shashi Sinha and the managing committee of the body.

    “When I had joined The Advertising Club Bombay, we used to have only one event Abby‘s. But now we have so many events happening. We also send young marketers and students to Cannes. My job will now be to travel and see that The Advertising Club is seen as more as a national body. I want to do new things and do existing things interestingly.”

    Pandit had joined the club in 1998 as the executive secretary to the manager and was later promoted as the GM.

  • Ad Club Bombay is now The Advertising Club

    MUMBAI: The Advertising Club Bombay has decided to rename itself as The Advertising Club. The decision to change the name was ratified at the club‘s annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday to provide it a national character.

    The club also announced the members of its management committee.

    Lodestar UM CEO Shashi Sinha will continue to be the president of the club, while Aditya Birla Group – Financial Services CMO Ajay Kakkar has been appointed as the vice president. Kakkar replaces Time TV Network MD & CEO Sunil Lulla.

    DDB Mudra Group COO Pratap Bose has been assigned the role of secretary whereas Sujoy Ghosh will take over as joint secretary.

    Ogilvy India‘s Madhukar Sabnavis is named as the treasurer of The Advertising Club.

    Commenting on why the club has undergone a name change, Sinha said, “We have changed the name with the intension of giving the ad club a national footprint.”

    Ajay Chandwani (Percept) and N Rajaram (Airtel) continue to be a part of the new management committee. The other members include Punitha Arumugam (Director – Agency Business at Google India), Sameer Sathpaty (Marico Consumer Products), Ajay Trigunayat (Times English GECs‘ CEO), Sanjeev Bharghava (JWT India) and Sajan Raj Kurup (Creativeland Asia).

  • Lodestar UM bags SAIL media biz

    MUMBAI: Following a multi-agency pitch process, the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has zeroed in on IPG‘s Lodestar UM as it media partner. The incumbent agency on the account is Mindshare. Media reports peg the account size at Rs 500 million.

    Lodestar UM COO Nandini Dias confirmed the news to indiantelevision.com. Work on the account has started in anticipation of aggressive communications strategy by SAIL this year.

    SAIL is a fully integrated iron and steel maker, producing both basic and special steels for domestic construction, engineering, power, railway, automotive and defence industries and for sale in export markets.

  • Maxus and Lodestar UM to jointly handle Wipro’s media biz

    MUMBAI: Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting has awarded its media duties to Maxus India and Lodestar UM following a multi-agency pitch that took place about a month ago.

    The account size is estimated to be around Rs 1.5 billion collectively.

    Wipro has about 20 brands and they will be handled by Maxus including Santoor deo. Santoor‘s other products will be handled by Lodestar UM.

    Prior to this, the account was jointly handled by ZenithOptimedia, DDB Mudra Max and Lodestar UM.

    Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCLG), a business unit of Wipro Limited, has a range of consumable commodities. The first product to be introduced by WCCLG was vegetable oil, later popularized under the brand name ‘Sunflower Vanaspati‘. It offers personal care products, such as Wipro Baby Soft and Wipro Safewash, toilet soaps like Santoor and Chandrika and international brands like Yardley. Its portfolio of lighting solutions includes products like Smartlite CFL, LED and emergency lights.

  • Mindshare leads in global billing rankings in India

    MUMBAI: With a share of 18.6 per cent, GroupM‘s Mindshare is the leading media agency in India, as per the RECMA Global Billings Rankings 2011. The agency grossed billing of $1.05 billion in 2011 with a growth of 10 per cent.

    Mindshare is followed by Madison Media, which with a share of 11.2 per cent, has recorded a growth of 15 per cent as compared to previous year. The agency‘s overall billing rounded to around $630 million against $548 million in 2010.

    With a billing of $570 million in 2011, GroupM‘s Maxus takes third position with an industry share of 10.1 per cent. The agency had made $455 million in 2010 and registered a growth of 25 per cent in 2011.

    Meanwhile, Mediabrands‘ Lodestar UM has 8.7 per cent industry share with 15 per cent growth recorded in 2011. Lodestar UM‘s billing was $490 million in 2011 as compared to $426 million in 2010.

    Vivaki‘s Zenithoptimedia, though at No. 8 spot, has registered highest growth of 40 per cent amongst other agencies. Agencies like Havas Media‘s MPG, Media Direction and TME have seen a loss in the share. MPG recorded a loss of 20 per cent while Media Direction and TME have seen negative growth of 29 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

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  • IPL ratings stand at 3.3 TVR for 57 matches

    IPL ratings stand at 3.3 TVR for 57 matches

    MUMBAI: The fifth edition of the Indian Premier League is seeing a fall in ratings as the matches reach the middle cycle of the tournament.

    Data from Tam Sports C&S 4+ All India market shows that the event has got average viewership of 3.33 TVR for 57 matches compared to a 3.44 TVR for the same period last year and 4.65 TVR in 2010. The reach is also lower at 155 million compared to 157 million a year ago.

    For the first 46 matches, the rating was 3.4 while the reach was 151.8 million.

    Lodestar UN COO Nandini Dias said the agency expected the performance of this year’s edition to be lower.

    “The delivery of cricket over the past six to eight months has not been that high and we had expected the IPL to continue this trend. We were aware that the ratings would be lower than last year but we still went ahead and used the property. The performance has been in line with what we expected,” Dias said.

    The IPL this year is continuing the trend of previous years where the start is good but there is a lull in the middle. The expectation is that during the final stretch it will pick up momentum.

    Dias also feels that the recent allegations of illegal dealings at the IPL would have no impact on the tournament.

    “In the past also there have been controversies. But people have continued to watch the game. What has been seen in the past is that despite a controversy there is no loss in viewership. Indians love cricket,” she added.