ITV

Tag: marketing

  • iProspectCommunicate2 dominates DMAi Echo Awards

    iProspectCommunicate2 dominates DMAi Echo Awards

    MUMBAI: iProspectCommunicate2 dominated the DMAi Echo Awards, winning a total of five awards in every category they were nominated in. This includes three Gold and two Bronze awards across various digital marketing categories.

     

    The DMAi Awards in alliance with DMA International ECHO Awards honours stand out innovation, originality and marketing impact in the field of marketing and advertising.

     

    iProspectCommunicate2 and Cleartrip won Gold in the Travel & Hospitality category for API Wizardry. iProspectCommunicate2 along with Remit2India won the Gold in the Financial Products and Services category for Dynamic Exchange Rates. The agency with Standard Chartered Bank bagged Gold for their social media campaign for the Mumbai Marathon 2013.

     

    iProspectCommunicate2 also won a Bronze in Best Creative Use of Search with Remit2India for Dynamic Exchange Rates and a Bronze for Best Insurance Services for ICICI Lombard’s Hyper-Contextual Targeting Engine.

     

    iProspectCommunicate2 received five nominations at the DMAi Echo Awards and have won a medal for each nomination at the recently held award ceremony at Blue Frog, Mumbai.

     

    iProspect Communicate2 managing director Vivek Bhargava said, “These awards demonstrate our innovation in performance marketing; our data analytics led approach has allowed us to constantly build technology solutions to solve our client challenges and increase the ROI received by them. It is interesting to note that most the clients that we have won awards today have been our clients for more than five years.”

  • IAA Conversations on role of polls and media in influencing voters

    IAA Conversations on role of polls and media in influencing voters

    MUMBAI: Election wave is on and is not sparing anyone. In the same context, International Advertising Association (IAA) in its next IAA Conversations will see political party representatives Ram Naik (BJP), Prem Shukla (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Jha (Congress) and political analyst Kumar Ketkar debating.

     

    The panel discussion moderated by Anand Rathi will deliberate on ‘Do Opinion Polls and Media Reports Influence Voters?’ between 4pm and 6pm on 10 April at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai.

     

    IAA India Chapter president & development Asia Pacific region of IAA vice president Srinivasan Swamy said, “Our objective at the IAA India Chapter is to bring about discussions on key issues concerning advertising, media and allied sectors. This edition of IAA Conversations is an attempt to deliberate on an issue that has generated much discussion in the run-up to the general elections.”

     

    Zee Media group CEO and chair of the event Dr Bhaskar Das said, “The role of the media in influencing public opinion cannot be denied and hence this discussion with key stakeholders will bring to the fore issues and concerns on how opinion polls and media reports can influence the masses at election time.”

     

    “Many senior members of the advertising, marketing and media fraternity are invited to be present at the engaging event,’ added Swamy.

  • ‘Sahi Rajneetik Rai Banane Ke Liye Dekhiye Sirf ABP News’

    ‘Sahi Rajneetik Rai Banane Ke Liye Dekhiye Sirf ABP News’

    MUMBAI: Among a sea of news channels gearing up for the impending elections is one that aims to gauge the mood of the electorate and help form political opinion rather than simply airing election news and analyses.

    We’re talking of the Hindi news channel, ABP News, which has not only come up with a slew of shows ahead of the polls but has also undertaken a massive marketing campaign to promote these programmes called “Aap Apni Rajneetik Rai Kahan Banate Hain?” (Where do you form your political opinion?)  

    Significantly, the campaign tries to get viewers to switch to ABP News to form the ‘correct political opinion’ by telling them, “Sahi Rajneetik Rai Banane Ke Liye Dekhiye Sirf ABP News” (To make a correct political opinion watch ABP News).

    Promos have been running since 2 April on major crowd-pulling channels such as Star Plus, Colors, Sony Entertainment Television, Life OK, Sony Max, Star Gold, Movies OK, &Pictures and UTV Action during both primetime and non primetime.                                                            

    The outdoor campaign encompassing bus stands, collectors’ offices, toll booths and city entry points has just begun and is focussed on Delhi and 75 cities in Uttar Pradesh (UP) including Lucknow, Allahabad, Dehradun, Varanasi and Meerut among others. UP is the focus of the campaign because in the Hindi heartland, people discuss politics even at the local chai stall. The creative for the outdoor focuses on the youth but is targeted at all age groups.

    The radio campaign has a similar regional focus with spots on Radio City, Fever, Red FM, Oye, Big FM and Radio Mantra while the digital campaign is focussed on high-traffic websites. On-ground activities are expected in the coming weeks. The entire campaign will go on for a month till 2 May. Sources peg the cost of the campaign at nearly Rs 8 to Rs 10 crore. Lowe Lintas is the creative agency behind the campaign, Mindshare is the media agency and Milestone is the OOH agency.

    According to MCCS marketing manager Vikas Singh, “The news genre viewership expands during election. Usually it is six per cent of the universe, and we expect it to grow to nine to ten per cent this time. Politics is a national pastime and everyone has a point of view. Our campaign urges them to watch ABP News to make the right choice.”

    Coming to the shows themselves, the launch of ABP News’ flagship show Pradhanmantri last year was a sort of build-up to the election this year. The other show that concluded just recently was 7 RCR, which discussed the election outcome. 

    Pradhanmatri was anchored by Shekhar Kapoor while 7 RCR was hosted by author Chetan Bhagat.  

    Another show, Ghoshnapatra, anchored by Kishore Ajwani, has top political leaders grilled by a panel of experts and guests about their future plans, if elected to power.

    Other shows launched not very long ago include Newsroom Mein Netaji, Ground Zero Se Dibang presented by Dibang and the ABP-Nielsen poll which is conducted on a regular basis to gauge the mood of the electorate.

    ABP group editor, Shazi Zaman, says, “Our effort is to introduce formats that help us communicate in an effective and meaningful manner.” In addition, over a hundred neighbourhood debates called ‘nukkar bahas’ have captured the mood of the electorate at the people’s doorstep. Also, ABP News’ primetime show, ABP Live, at 9 pm, now consists of election debates.

    “Our effort is to capture the inclination of the electorate through on-ground and studio debates, digital interactivity and large-scale opinion polls. Complementing this is our effort to report and analyse the views and strategy of parties and leaders across the political spectrum,” says Zaman. Abhisar Sharma anchors ground debates and special shows while Sumeirra Khan and Neha Pant anchor debate shows.

     ABP News is betting big on election viewership, putting aside a considerable chunk of its annual marketing plan for promotion. The scale of the marketing plan is one of the biggest in the news genre. At the same time, the channel has come out with a good number of shows to engage viewers during the most crucial battle of the eyeballs that happens once in five years.

  • ThoughtBuzz introduces a new analytics platform, Omnio G

    ThoughtBuzz introduces a new analytics platform, Omnio G

    MUMBAI: The analytics arm of To The New, ThoughtBuzz, has launched a new analytics platform – Omnio G.

     

    The platform is an advanced, feature rich social media analytics medium that will help organisations listen, discover, measure and engage with today’s social and mobile first consumers. Unlike previous analytics platform by ThoughtBuzz, Omnio G will also support facebook and instagram along with all the existing social media platforms including LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs and forums, review sites like Amazon and CNET, QnA sites like yahoo Q&A and twitter.

     

    Companies today use social media as a way to connect with their customers, partners and employees. Consequently social media monitoring or listening is now more important than ever. Gartner predicts that by 2018, 75 per cent of transactions would start on social media and end on the mobile. With the growing use of social media by customers of all age groups, extensive tools are required to collect, analyse and respond to customers.

     

    The addition of facebook and instagram will enable existing clients to connect their facebook and instagram accounts and get an in-depth view of analytics for the pages they manage. Marketers would also be able to compare fan/follower activity on facebook and instagram with data outside their own assets. This will enable them to measure effectiveness of their campaigns across wide range of social platforms. Users would also be able to add multiple pages and view analytics for each of their pages on facebook and instagram accounts. The tool also has a premium layer, geared towards agencies that allow one to track multiple accounts enabling them to compare fan growth rates, engagement rates and demographics across all their pages.

     

    ThoughtBuzz founder and CEO Anshul Jain commented, “Instagram allows brands to engage with users visually,” He further stated, “Addition of instagram and facebook along with the existing support for social platforms like Twitter will empower marketers with data to analyze which content connects best with their consumers and benchmark how are they performing against competitors”.

     

    Omnio G builds on the previous ThoughtBuzz platform, introduced in 2013. It was built from the ground up on cutting-edge technologies such as Mongo DB and the Grails framework. The platform runs on Amazon Web Services platform to ensure maximum uptime and scalability. Existing customers will be moved to Omnio G gradually and new customers can start using Omnio G from today.

  • PepsiCo India’s Shivakumar says collaboration will be the key to growth

    PepsiCo India’s Shivakumar says collaboration will be the key to growth

    MUMBAI:  “One needs to look at brands which will help each other grow as well as benefit the industry…”

     

    This was the message conveyed by PepsiCo India chairman and CEO D Shivakumar to a large gathering of who’s who of the industry on Wednesday, as he took them through the highs and lows of marketing, media and advertising in 2013 and indulged in crystal gazing to see what holds for the communication fraternity in 2014.

     

    In the coming years, Shivakumar sees a conflict between independent growth and dependent growth among agencies as well as brands.

     

    Giving the example of telecom, Shivakumar said, “Telecom would not have been what it is today if Airtel would not have collaborated with Nokia or Vodafone with Samsung. “

     

    Apart from all this, the industry is all about innovation wherein size doesn’t matter but all depends on how fast a company is in responding to consumers.

     

    As the industry waited for the leader with ‘fighter’s instinct’ to share his views at the IAA organised event called ‘Retrospect and Prospects’, Shivakumar stepped on to the stage and made it clear it is more about paying tribute to the city (Mumbai) which has taught him a lot and that he will wrap up within 60 minutes.

     

    He started with how the city and the people he met here have helped him grow in his career and went on to touch upon various aspects which affect the industry starting with how last year saw the emerging markets slowing down and how it devalued the currency.  

     

    Not indulging much in the negatives, he highlighted how 2013 was the defining year for the digital space. “The smart phone which gives the power of internet in every person’s hand has opened up the whole world of opportunities for them. It has empowered women and youth,” he said while pointing out how a billion phones were sold last year and this year will see many more being sold.

     

    People using internet through mobile phone is much higher than through fixed internet, globally, hence, he urged marketers to shift their media strategies.  With that note, he estimated that the year 2014 will see the world media industry spending $505 billion.

     

    The general elections in India will play a major role in deciding which way the country and the various sectors will head. Shivakumar said in the coming months India will see about Rs 1,000 crore being spent on advertising by political parties, 2.5 times higher than what was spent in 2009.

     

    The year will also see a shift in the manner the money will be spent. The shift will be in favour of the digital medium wherein 10 to 15 per cent will be spent on the platform as the first time voters (160 million) are on social media.

     

    Shiv believes that regional markets play an important role as regional languages are driving growth in the number of TV channels. The same stands true for print as well. “We are a hyper fighting market and can never be satisfied with just a couple of choices. But with so much proliferation, it is time to collaborate?” he questioned the audience.

     

    He then added how TV has been a major contributor in unearthing talent in the country. With too many dance, singing, etc reality shows gracing our television sets only shows the potential this wonder has, he said.

     

    Maybe that is the reason behind the company (PepsiCo) launching its channel with MTV to help budding talent get a platform to showcase talent.

     

    For brands which depend on celebrities, one needs to understand how social media has changed the equation and how brands as well as celebs need to help each other reach high numbers (likes and followers) on social media platforms.

  • Star Pravah chalks out marketing strategy to promote new look

    Star Pravah chalks out marketing strategy to promote new look

    MUMBAI: The blue has given away to silver with a red streak and that is how Star Pravah aims to align itself with its parent network Star India. Starting 3 February, the channel came up with a fresh look with a new logo, tagline and a completely different philosophy.

     

    The new tagline ‘Swapnanna Pankh Nave’ (dreams have new wings) is to indicate that the focus is shifting towards a younger female audience. Three new shows launched are also promoting its new philosophy that of encouraging modern young Maharashtrian women to channelise their dreams. “The fiction shows we are coming up with talk about individualism of women. They aren’t regular saas bahu shows. Our story characters will support the tagline,” says Star Pravah creative head Jayesh Patil. The current shows are also going to have tweaks introduced soon to suit the younger CS 15+ SEC A B C audiences as opposed to the earlier universal audience.

     

    The three new shows are Be Dune Daha (produced by Dashmi creations), Lagori Maitri (Endemol India) and The Supriya Sachin show- Jodi Tujhi Majhi (produced by Sachin Pilgaonkar). More shows are slated for a mid April launch. Lagori Maitri has replaced Swapnanchya Palikadle at 8:00 pm while the latter has been shifted to 6:30 pm due to stagnant ratings. Be Dune Daha at 9:00pm has replaced Ambat God which has been taken off air. “We are looking to target a slightly more upscale audience. We have also altered the broadcast design by bringing in different visual grammar and stay away from the traditional way of storytelling,” says Star Pravah channel head Prem Kamath.

     

    Promotions of the new look have already begun in its marketing campaign and will run till mid next week. The focus of the campaign, created majorly by an in-house team, is outdoor and TV and not the usual print medium. Both BTL and ATL activities have been used across Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur for which sources say Rs 5 crore has been spent. “Given the exposure on TV, print wasn’t bringing additional reach,” says Kamath.

     

    ATL activities involve promoting it predominantly on Star Pravah and network channels as well as some other Marathi news channels like IBN Lokmat, ABP Majha and TV9 Maharashtra. Outdoor promotion is focussed in metros and 1 million plus towns in Marathi localities tipping more towards using stations than hoardings. An OBD service has been created inviting people to sample their new shows by making telephonic calls to them which will have recorded voices of the protagonists.

     

    The BTL campaign specifically involves a Mentorship Programme that will begin by 1 March for women who have dreams to achieve something in various fields. Five women from various cities will be selected after a round of entries. They will be brought to Mumbai for a day and given training by mentors from the profession they want to enter. The TG for this outdoor activity is women in the age group 18 to 34 years, both single as well as married. The first edition of this month long activity will be telecast somewhere in April. The radio medium will be used to call out entries for this event.

     

    Although the channel was aiming to refresh itself some time ago, it only took complete shape now. Soon, old shows will be giving way to new, modern and younger shows. Seems like even the regional channels are looking to tap the youth quotient of the country.

  • HUL y-o-y ad spends up by 13 per cent, down q-o-q by 2.6 per cent in Q3-2014

    HUL y-o-y ad spends up by 13 per cent, down q-o-q by 2.6 per cent in Q3-2014

    BENGALURU: Indian FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited spent 13 per cent more in Q3-2014 towards advertising and marketing at Rs.929.46 crore as compared to the Rs.822.16 crore during Q3-2013, but 2.57 per cent lower than the Rs.954.02 crore for Q2-2014.

     

    During the nine month period ended December 31, 2013 (y-t-d), the company spent Rs. 2773.26 crore, 15.04 per cent more than the corresponding period during the last year. During FY2013, HUL spent Rs.3231.88 crore towards advertising and marketing during FY2013.

     

    Overall, the FMCG giant saw standalone revenue during Q3-2014 increase by 9.39 per cent to Rs.7037.78 crore from the Rs.6433.69 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year and increase by 4.31 per cent from the Rs.6747.20 crore during the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    Its nine month revenue to December 31, 2013 increased by 8.67 per cent to Rs.20472.47 crore from Rs.18839.25 crore during the nine month period ended December 31, 2012. HUL had revenue of Rs.25206.38 crore during FY2013.

     

    Based on this advertising and marketing  spends percentage with respect to revenue during Q3-2014 was 13.21 per cent, in Q3-2013 it was 12.78 per cent and in the immediate preceding quarter it was 14.14 per cent.

     

    The corresponding advertising and marketing spends percentage of overall standalone revenue was slightly higher at 13.55 per cent during the nine month period ended 31 December 2013 at Rs.2773.26 crore as compared to the 12.8 per cent (Rs.2410.75 crore) during the corresponding period of last year. During FY2013, the percentage of standalone revenue that the company spent towards marketing and advertising was 12.82 or Rs.3231.88 crore.

     

    HUL’s PAT jumped by 22.02 per cent to Rs.1062.31 crore during Q3-2014 from Rs.871.36 crore in Q3-2013 and was up by b16.26 per cent from the Rs.913.80 crore during Q2-2014. PAT for the nine month period of FY 2014 at Rs.2995.36 crore was lower by a little less than half a per cent as compared to the Rs.3009.47 crore during the corresponding period of last year. HUL’s PAT for FY2013 was Rs.3796.67 crore.

     

    The company reported healthy performance and growth in most of the segments it operates in. Here is a reproduction of a part of the company’s press release.

     

    Soaps and Detergents deliver a healthy performance

     

     Skin Cleansing delivered another quarter of volume led growth. The category performance was driven by Dove, Pears, Lifebuoy and Breeze. Pears was relaunched during the quarter with a new proposition around younger looking skin. The liquids portfolio saw accelerated growth led by Lifebuoy Handwash.

     

     In Laundry, growth was led by the premium segment. Surf growth was buoyed by the robust performance in Surf Excel Easy Wash and Excel Matic while Rin saw good growth on the bars portfolio. Wheel was re-launched with a superior formulation at the end of the quarter. Comfort fabric conditioners continued to lead market development with sustained high growth. Household Care delivered another strong quarter with both Vim and Domex growing in double digits.

     

     Personal Products growth steps up

     

     Skin Care grew well in a slowing market. The re-launch of Fair & Lovely, with the new ‘Best Ever Formula’ and a focused activation plan in the last quarter, is on track. Lakme and Dove grew well and the facial cleansing portfolio registered strong growth, driven by a range of differentiated innovations launched earlier in the year.

     

    Hair Care sustained its strong growth momentum with broad based double digit volume growth. Dove led the category performance with accelerated growth while Sunsilk, Clinic Plus and TRESemmé continued to make very good progress.

     

     In Oral Care, both Pepsodent and Close Up delivered stepped up double digit growth in a competitive market. Pepsodent GermiCheck which was relaunched in the last quarter with a superior product and proposition did particularly well. A&P investments were significantly stepped up to sustain our competitive position in this category.

     

     Colour Cosmetics maintained its strong innovation led growth momentum across both Lakmé and Elle 18. Lakmé continues to strengthen its position in premium make up driven by a range of exciting and contemporary offerings from Absolute and 9 to 5.

     

     Beverages led by double digit growth in tea

     

    Tea delivered another quarter of broad based growth with Taj Mahal, Red Label, 3 Roses and Taaza growing in double digits, driven by a strengthened mix and focused in-market activities. The sustained thrust on leading market development for tea bags, enabled flavoured and green tea bags more than double sales in the quarter. The Lipton Clear Green Tea portfolio was expanded with the launch of new packs. In a slowing Coffee market, Bru continued to drive category premiumization, led by Bru Gold.

     

     Packaged Foods growth steps up; Kissan, Knorr and Kwality Walls grow in double digits

     

     Kissan further accelerated with both Ketchups and Jams delivering strong growth on the back of impactful activation. Knorr had a good quarter particularly on Instant Soups which more than doubled volumes while the growth in Kwality Walls was driven by sharper in-market execution and the robust performance of Cornetto and Creamy Delights. Magnum continues to do well.

  • ZMCL launches Zee Purvaiya in Bihar, Jharkhand

    ZMCL launches Zee Purvaiya in Bihar, Jharkhand

    MUMBAI: It was in October last year that Zee Media Corporation got the board approval to acquire up to 100 per cent stake in the regional infotainment channel – Maurya TV. Now, with the onset of the New Year, there are few new beginnings – Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) has rebranded Maurya TV as Zee Purvaiya and launched it on 16 January in Bihar and Jharkhand.

     

     

    As of now, ZMCL has only snared a 37.87 per cent stake in Maurya TV but plans are to hoick that to 100 per cent in a phased manner. Zee Purvaiya operates on the terrestrial entertainment network (TEN) format that the network launched with Zee Marudhara (formerly called Zee Rajasthan Plus) with a balanced telecast of news and infotainment programmes. The big focus being on regional news, viewers will get to watch full-fledged bulletins during morning and evening primetime with a short news capsule being aired every hour.  The other programmes include:  current affairs, fiction, non-fiction and factual.

     

     

    “It will be of relevance to every viewer. The content will be focused towards Bihar and Jharkhand, capturing the culture, language, rituals of the states as well as showcasing the differences in the two states in certain sections,” says ZMCL CEO Alok Agrawal.

     

    Following the footsteps of its parent company that recently came up with a campaign to woo youngsters, even Zee Purvaiya is planning to cater largely to a young audience. Even its channel branding – a bright yellowish-golden logo with the tagline ‘nayi soch nayi umang’ is in keeping with that target audience’s taste.

     

    Led by EVP & business head Amitava Bhattacharya, the channel has a team of 90 professionals, some of whom have been retained from Maurya TV. While Shiv Pujan Jha is the resident editor, Indu Singh is the programming editor, Rakesh Tiwary the marketing head and Harsh Vardhan Dwivedi the sales head.

     

    The main office of the channel is located in Patna, with three bureaus being located in  Ranchi and Dhanbad in Jharkhand and Saharsa in Bihar .

     

    While the management was unwilling to disclose the names of the advertisers on board, apparently discussions are on with about 35 corporate, government and local advertisers. Channel sources say that they are targeting to generate revenues of almost Rs 20 crore per annum.

     

    The promotional campaign that began on 20 January across mediums such as – radio, print and outdoor – has been planned to run throughout February by Kolkata based Genesis Advertising with a spend of  approximately Rs 2 crore being pumped in. 

     

    A canter activity was undertaken in Patna and Ranchi to let audiences know about the channel. Moreover, 50 spots have been taken in the two states for outdoor promotions. For print advertisements, space has been bought in leading papers like Times of India (Bihar – Jharkhand), Hindustan and Prabhat Khabar.

     

    “It’s a channel that’s like a buffet. It will be a one stop place for entertainment, news and factual information as well. Apart from this we are also launching reality shows. We are already reaching about 70 per cent in terms of C&S penetration,” says Bhattacharya.

     

    The idea is to be keep it free-to-air (FTA) for six months, post which it will become a pay channel at approximately Rs 10 per month. As of now, Zee Purvaiya is only available on cable TV. However, discussions with DTH players are in progress. But because of the huge presence of cable TV in the two states, executives are confident that it will reach about 85 per cent of the population. It is being beamed off Insat 4a at 83 degrees east.         

     

    Zee Purvaiya is set to expand ZMCL’s presence in the ubercompetitive regional space. In fact, the network is looking to capture other regions as well. It will soon be launching Zee Kalinga in Odisha, following the winding up of  the now defunct Zee Gantalu.

  • Micromax starts its Russia operations

    Micromax starts its Russia operations

    RUSSIA: Micromax, world’s 11th largest mobile phone player has announced the launch of its operations in Russia by extending its innovative product portfolio and services to the users in the country. Micromax has been the clear No 2 smartphone brand by a distance and a clear No 3 overall phone brand (smart+ feature phones) in India, is now gearing up for Russia. With a focus on democratizing technologies for the masses, the company aims to have an aggressive plan to make its mark in the Russian mobile handset marketre-emphasizing on its vision to offer innovative products and service offerings, which are customized to address the needs of consumers in Russia.

     

    Micromax, with its USP of pioneering meaningful innovations based on in-depth consumer understanding, would be operating througha partnership with VVP Group, one of the leading distribution houses in Russia. The partnership is a strategic move, which would provide good reach for Micromax in the regionwith a plan to make Micromax products available across the country, ensuring deeper shelf space and wider outlet spread.

     

    Micromax will be introducing its popular Canvas series of smartphones and Bolt series of smart-feature phones which have been a trendsetter, which have already sold more than 35 million devices across the operating markets for Micromax in the past one year. The company will be launching 14 products in the Russian market in the initial phase, as the brand is already looking at gearing up to be among the Top 4 brands in Russia by the end of 2014. The company is ready with its service infrastructure across Russia with an aim of having more than 60 operational service centers by end of the month. Micromax will also have its exclusive service centersin strategic cities in Russia as the brand strengthens its presence across the country.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Rahul Sharma, Co-Founder, Micromax said, “At Micromax, our emphasis has always been to democratize technology for masses around the world through an innovative product portfolio. As we look to take Micromax to key international markets, we are excited to announce our foray into the Russian mobile handset market which has immense potential not only for smartphones and features phones, but also for innovative tablets and data products. Our initial focus in the Russian market is to replicate the success witnessed in our other markets in the last couple of years. We have carved the vision for ourselves to be the 1st Indian hardware brand to be global and set our footprint with Russia as the first developed market to venture into.”

     

    He further added, “We see a growing trend of data consumption through mobile devices in Russia, and we would be initiating partnerships with the leading operators in the region to aim at efficient data consumption on our devices in the coming year”.

     

    Over the past decade, Micromax has been at the forefront of driving innovation through their innovative product offerings addressing the consumer needs. The company has many firsts to its credit when it comes to the mobile devices market including Canvas Laptab – world’s first dual boot tablet powered by Intel, launched on the 6th of January 2014 at CES in Vegas (Consumer Electronic Show), the first quad-core budget smartphone, phone with a 30-day battery backup, the first smartphone designed specifically for women, universal remote control mobile phones and a list of other innovative devices. The brand’s product portfolio embraces more than 60 models today, ranging from feature rich, dual – SIM phones, 3G Android smartphones, tablets, LED televisions and data cards.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Vasily Sibirtsev, Chairman VVP Group said, “We are very excited to work with Micromax, one of the world’s leading mobile phone brands. Russia is an ideal market for Micromax to bring its innovative product portfolio and services customized for consumers in this market. Our immediate goal will be to build a very strong and robust distribution network to capture a significant share in the Russian mobile handset market. We will be working aggressively to strengthen our presence in the retail space across 9000+ sales points in the country backed by an efficient service infrastructure.”

     

    Amit Mathur, Vice President, International Business – Micromax said “ We believe Micromax products to a promising future in Russia where the smart phone market is booming along with data services.  Micromax has studied this market and will continuously introduce products and applications with consumer insights from the Russia to bring forth world-class products to this market.  We are happy to have found VVP as our strategic business partner to enter the retail market and will strive to maximize our retail strength going forward.”

     

    The partnership with the VVP Group is a strategic move which would provide wide reach for Micromax in regions of Russia as the group has been associated with some of the leading global smartphone players to help them make a strong presence in Russia. VVP is known for its superior logistics setup, warehouses, retail management system and transportation management systems across the main hubs of Russia which will further help Micromax build its footprint in the country. VVP group will be working with partners in all existing channels including federal and regional chains, operators, consumer electronics shops and computer shops, online and other sales points in the country. 

     

    The company has also tied up with the leading VAS providers in Russia including Odnoklassniki, Russia’s popular social network service; IVI.ru, Russia’s first free video & music service; Viber, the leading global instant messaging application; Facebook; Twitter and M!Live giving users access to social connectivity and unlimited free online games.

     

    Micromax plans to support the launch with a 360 degree branding exercise aiming to enhance the brand visibility in the region supported by marketing campaign across print, online and TV.

  • Awards shouldn’t be taken very seriously: R Balki

    Awards shouldn’t be taken very seriously: R Balki

    MUMBAI: A leader is said to be the one who takes criticism in his stride and recognition is the last thing on his mind. We wonder if this is the driving thought of filmmaker and the chairman and chief creative officer of the ad agency Lowe Lintas & Partners R Balki?

     

    At the recently concluded Effie Awards conducted by the Advertising Club, Lowe Lintas walked away with the Agency of the Year honour as it bagged six gold, five silver and five bronze metals at the award ceremony. But the man, who is the driving force behind the stupendous work, proclaims that awards have never been in his priority list.

     

    In fact, most of the award shows of the advertising world have in any way not earned the required respect from the ad fraternity. While some have been shunned by most of the advertisers, some have not even been noticed. And some agencies have started their own award shows in order to bring in quality, for instance Lowe Lintas’ True Show or Ogilvy and Mathers’ Envies.

     

    Unlike the showbiz that’s full of award functions and celebrities gracing them as well, the award shows of the ad world are a low key affair attended by few and the number of participants being even fewer. And if in such a scenario, an award function manages to bring almost the entire fraternity together, it certainly means something. The 13th edition of Effie received a great response with almost every agency gracing the event.

     

    Lowe Lintas led the Effies leaving Ogilvy & Mather behind by 35 points, but the winning companies’ boss still stood by his belief that these functions are about partying and winning and losing doesn’t really matter. Indiantelevision.com probed Balki a little more to get an insight after his agency’s grand victory. Excerpts:

     

    On a personal level, you have been very vocal about what awards (don’t) mean to you! So what do you and your team have to say about winning the Effie?

     

    It is not about winning or losing but an evening of celebration. Effies have always been a constant part of the industry and we have always participated in it. It is a democratic agency where many feel that we should enter the agency and not others. So we enter in the shows where the team as a whole wants to participate.

     

    So if you win, you party with a lot of noise and if you don’t win then you should party without making a big noise. I think winning and losing is a part of the game and I don’t think awards should be taken so seriously. It’s not a death and life scenario at all; it is not that if one wins an award we are better or otherwise. I believe that it is the work that speaks and it could be good or bad without winning an award.

     

    Awards are not important but if the team feels that they want to participate in a certain award then they are free to do so. The team right now felt that it should participate in the Effies and so we went ahead and did. Tomorrow, if the team feels that it doesn’t want to participate in any award then we will not. It all depends on the team.

     

    Anything you would like to change about Indian advertising awards?

     

    One hundred per cent we would like to initiate an award where advertising should be just the way it is. It can neither be all about effectivity nor creativity. I think creativity is to make things better and sometimes it is not about making it better. Sometimes great ideas also don’t work. It cannot be just about effectiveness or blind creativity. There is a way to judge advertising ads. It is funny that an industry which creates so many ads and brands hasn’t been able to create an awesome award function for itself.

     

    Whom do you see as your main competitor especially during award shows?

     

    We don’t believe in award shows so we don’t believe in competitors. There are a lot of good agencies; O&M is a great agency which is during great work. There are few others as well but two agencies which are doing some great work are O&M and Lintas.

     

    Which would be the one award which you would like to hold in your hands? Since you have dabbled in films it can be a film award too?

     

    Since I don’t believe in them, I guess I will have to think hard before I say that. Right now, I don’t know if there’s an award that exists that really catches my fancy.