Tag: Mindshare

John Thankamony is Mindshare’s new head – programmatic

MUMBAI: Mindshare, one of India’s largest full service media agency, a part of GroupM, has announced the appointment of John Thankamony as head – programmatic.

John will focus on driving programmatic adoption and the embracing of programmatic tools by Mindshare clients. This will include the development of FAST (Future Adaptive Specialist Teams), Mindshare’s solution for clients to harness the power of data. John will be setting guidelines to work with partners while ensuring that Mindshare’s clients have access to relevant and in-target audiences across quality and viewable inventory that is fraud free. He will also be responsible for harnessing data and technology products to drive performance and business results for clients.

John will operate out of the Mumbai office and be regularly involved with the Bangalore and Gurgaon office. He will report to Vinod Thadani, Chief Digital Officer, South Asia, Mindshare.

Mindshare, South Asia, chief digital officer, said, “John will be focusing on leading our existing programmatic offering and developing the programmatic adoption across our client portfolio. We are sure his ability to interpret strategy into the real time solution will bring in larger value for our clients.”

Thankamony said, “The emphasis given by Mindshare to data and audiences is refreshing. India is at a defining moment in its internet journey with a lot of new digital entities cropping up in the market.”

Thankamony brings to Mindshare a rich experience of almost a decade, including that of helping launch and run programmatic operations from Singapore for the SEA region. He has worked with companies like Amnet Asia, Google Inc, and CRISIL Ltd. He has product expertise in various programmatic platforms having run operations and analytics teams with expertise across multiple global and regional partners.

September 28, 2016
John Thankamony is Mindshare’s new head – programmatic

MUMBAI: Mindshare, one of India’s largest full service media agency, a part of GroupM, has announced the appointment of John Thankamony as head – programmatic.

John will focus on driving programmatic adoption and the embracing of programmatic tools by Mindshare clients. This will include the development of FAST (Future Adaptive Specialist Teams), Mindshare’s solution for clients to harness the power of data. John will be setting guidelines to work with partners while ensuring that Mindshare’s clients have access to relevant and in-target audiences across quality and viewable inventory that is fraud free. He will also be responsible for harnessing data and technology products to drive performance and business results for clients.

John will operate out of the Mumbai office and be regularly involved with the Bangalore and Gurgaon office. He will report to Vinod Thadani, Chief Digital Officer, South Asia, Mindshare.

Mindshare, South Asia, chief digital officer, said, “John will be focusing on leading our existing programmatic offering and developing the programmatic adoption across our client portfolio. We are sure his ability to interpret strategy into the real time solution will bring in larger value for our clients.”

Thankamony said, “The emphasis given by Mindshare to data and audiences is refreshing. India is at a defining moment in its internet journey with a lot of new digital entities cropping up in the market.”

Thankamony brings to Mindshare a rich experience of almost a decade, including that of helping launch and run programmatic operations from Singapore for the SEA region. He has worked with companies like Amnet Asia, Google Inc, and CRISIL Ltd. He has product expertise in various programmatic platforms having run operations and analytics teams with expertise across multiple global and regional partners.

September 28, 2016
Mindshare and HUL partnership dominate Emvies 2016

MUMBAI: The Hindustan Unilever and GroupM’s Mindshare India partnership has proved to be as good as gold – yet again.

For the second year in succession, the WPP group outfit walked away with the Agency of the year Emvies award with a solid unbeatable 395 points in its bag. That was courtesy the eight gold, 18 silver and fifteen bronze metals it pocketed.

There are no prizes for guessing who the client of the year was: Hindustan Unilever.

With seven bronze, fifteen silvers and 11 golds, Hindustan Unilever maintained a massive lead over everyone else with its 310 point tally.

Straggling several laps behind was PepsiCo with just 75 points; yes, that’s how one sided Emvies 2016 results were. But to Pepsico’s credit, it along with GroupM, snared the grand Emvie for Best Integrated Campaign in Consumer Products : ‘when consumers became co marketers.’

Surprisingly, Mindshare did not take its Emvie wins lightly, considering the fact that it had already bagged the Cannes Lions 2016 Grand Prix with its work on Brooke Bond Red Label Six Pack Band. Theirs were the loudest cheers heard during the evening.

The Pepsico-Mindshare combine pocketed the Grand Emvie

If one were to go by metal tally, the second best media agency at Emvies 2016 was Lodestar UM with six gold, three silver statuettes and three bronze. Its point tally: a pale 135.

The third placed agency – though it tied with Lodestar on the points tally of 135 – was Maxus with four gold, five silver and five bronze.

Commenting on the wins Mindshare south Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar said: “The awards are a direct result of the effort and hard work put in by each and everyone in the team. We at Mindshare believe in recognizing our employees’ skills and commitment, which is further driven to a level of aspiration that leads to rewarding experiences such as the Emvies. Winning these awards by such a large margin is not only a testimony to our accomplishments so far, but also significantly adds to the quality of service we intend to deliver. Creating ground-breaking innovations and strategies has been Mindshare’s forte and this has kept us at the forefront in the industry.”

Added GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas: “GroupM agencies have had a dream run at the Emvies this year like most other years. I must first of all congratulate our clients who push us to keep raising the bar year after year. Clients who believe in innovation and back our teams to take risks are the ones who win and in turn help us win. Our teams have worked very hard to keep delivering client delight year after year. We have a strong HR and Talent management culture at GroupM and on days like this we realize how important it is to keep the focus on talent development.”

Hindustan Lever walked away with the client of the year Emvie

“In today’s day and age of extensive media exposure, the greatest challenge is to create clutter breaking communication that is impactful, optimal and delivers the brand message,” exclaimed Emvies committee chairperson Punitha Arumugam. “ As always this year too at the EMVIES we have seen works by media agencies that have not only been pioneering and engaging but also helped change mindsets and helped drive resonance for the brand.”

“The response to EMVIES this year have been the highest ever with record number of entries clearly indicative of popularity of the awards,” pointed out EMVIES Committee co-Chairperson Vikas Khanchandani, “The works entered has been extremely encouraging and impactful showcasing the changing dynamics of both clients and agencies towards curating campaigns through content to deliver ROI, outreach and execution scale.”

In his welcome address, The Advertising Club President Raj Nayak said “In its 16th year. The EMVIES has grown from strength to strength and this year has established a new record in the number of entries. With a jury consisting of over 225 media professionals and clients with judging held across Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, this has been a mammoth exercise in making the process transparent.”

September 2, 2016
Mindshare and HUL partnership dominate Emvies 2016

MUMBAI: The Hindustan Unilever and GroupM’s Mindshare India partnership has proved to be as good as gold – yet again.

For the second year in succession, the WPP group outfit walked away with the Agency of the year Emvies award with a solid unbeatable 395 points in its bag. That was courtesy the eight gold, 18 silver and fifteen bronze metals it pocketed.

There are no prizes for guessing who the client of the year was: Hindustan Unilever.

With seven bronze, fifteen silvers and 11 golds, Hindustan Unilever maintained a massive lead over everyone else with its 310 point tally.

Straggling several laps behind was PepsiCo with just 75 points; yes, that’s how one sided Emvies 2016 results were. But to Pepsico’s credit, it along with GroupM, snared the grand Emvie for Best Integrated Campaign in Consumer Products : ‘when consumers became co marketers.’

Surprisingly, Mindshare did not take its Emvie wins lightly, considering the fact that it had already bagged the Cannes Lions 2016 Grand Prix with its work on Brooke Bond Red Label Six Pack Band. Theirs were the loudest cheers heard during the evening.

The Pepsico-Mindshare combine pocketed the Grand Emvie

If one were to go by metal tally, the second best media agency at Emvies 2016 was Lodestar UM with six gold, three silver statuettes and three bronze. Its point tally: a pale 135.

The third placed agency – though it tied with Lodestar on the points tally of 135 – was Maxus with four gold, five silver and five bronze.

Commenting on the wins Mindshare south Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar said: “The awards are a direct result of the effort and hard work put in by each and everyone in the team. We at Mindshare believe in recognizing our employees’ skills and commitment, which is further driven to a level of aspiration that leads to rewarding experiences such as the Emvies. Winning these awards by such a large margin is not only a testimony to our accomplishments so far, but also significantly adds to the quality of service we intend to deliver. Creating ground-breaking innovations and strategies has been Mindshare’s forte and this has kept us at the forefront in the industry.”

Added GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas: “GroupM agencies have had a dream run at the Emvies this year like most other years. I must first of all congratulate our clients who push us to keep raising the bar year after year. Clients who believe in innovation and back our teams to take risks are the ones who win and in turn help us win. Our teams have worked very hard to keep delivering client delight year after year. We have a strong HR and Talent management culture at GroupM and on days like this we realize how important it is to keep the focus on talent development.”

Hindustan Lever walked away with the client of the year Emvie

“In today’s day and age of extensive media exposure, the greatest challenge is to create clutter breaking communication that is impactful, optimal and delivers the brand message,” exclaimed Emvies committee chairperson Punitha Arumugam. “ As always this year too at the EMVIES we have seen works by media agencies that have not only been pioneering and engaging but also helped change mindsets and helped drive resonance for the brand.”

“The response to EMVIES this year have been the highest ever with record number of entries clearly indicative of popularity of the awards,” pointed out EMVIES Committee co-Chairperson Vikas Khanchandani, “The works entered has been extremely encouraging and impactful showcasing the changing dynamics of both clients and agencies towards curating campaigns through content to deliver ROI, outreach and execution scale.”

In his welcome address, The Advertising Club President Raj Nayak said “In its 16th year. The EMVIES has grown from strength to strength and this year has established a new record in the number of entries. With a jury consisting of over 225 media professionals and clients with judging held across Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, this has been a mammoth exercise in making the process transparent.”

September 2, 2016
SBI Life’s #PapaHainNa campaign shines at LIMRA & LOMA 2016

MUMBAI: SBI Life’s #PapaHainNa Social Media Campaign bagged LIMRA & LOMA 2016 Social Media Silver Bowl Award for Best Use of Social outside US. The idea was conceptualized and co-created by SBI Life and their media agency Mindshare India, a part of GroupM. This is an award by the world renowned organization, LIMRA, which is known for its research, learning and development initiatives in the Insurance industry across the world. SBI Life and Mindshare India overcame competition from six countries to achieve this win.

SBI Life’s #PapaHaiNa campaign has showcased excellent use of Social Media to engage their customers in an emotional manner. The campaign is an emotional ballad, in the form of a music video, celebrating the Father – Child relationship, on which the company’s overall communication also focuses. The video was launched on the SBI Life’s YouTube channel along with SBI Life’s Facebook page and Twitter handle. The video received over 1.2 Million views on YouTube and had over 7,150 interactions on Facebook. The song was well received by the audience on social media and had garnered more than 30.5 million impressions and more than 2,912 conversations on twitter, which also led to it trending nationally.

On the occasion of Father’s Day, 21st June 2015, through the campaign, audiences were encouraged to participate by sharing their treasured moments with their Dad using the hashtag #PapaHainNa. The contest received over 125 entries. The selected entries were then featured in the video created using content received during the campaign and was launched on SBI Life`s YouTube channel and Facebook page on Father’s Day.

Speaking on the occasion SBI Life Insurance MD and CEO Arijit Basu said, “As a brand we believe in building a strong bond with our customers. A special day like Father’s Day helps remind everyone of the sacrifices that our parents made for us, and the #PapaHainNa campaign was a way to articulate our gratitude towards them. We are highly honored with this recognition and equally proud of the well-executed campaign that rightfully leveraged the brands messaging and engaged the consumers on various social media platforms.”

Expressing his delight, Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar said ‘’Winning this award is like adding another feather into our hat. These awards showcase the development we have made in the International market. It is a proud moment for me as it proves how our teams’ efforts have exponentially grown on such a large forefront. We shall keep striving to one up our current level of performance, so as to cease more opportunities and wins such as these. ‘’

SBI Life head brand and corporate communication Ravindra Sharma said, “It is truly a matter of honor for us that we have received this coveted award. The award further validates the success of this campaign in connecting to our customers and giving them a platform to express their emotions via social media. SBI Life’s continuous thrive to reach out to our customers and giving them the moments to cherish and celebrate life will definitely lead to many such awards in the coming days as well.”

LIMRA is the trusted source of industry knowledge for over 850 financial services firms. LOMA is committed to business partnerships with over 1,200 world-wide members in the insurance and financial services industry. The 2016 awards program categories recognized how social media is being used to educate consumers, recruit employees; showcase how companies are integrating social media initiatives to support campaigns. The awards recognize those who are adopting the growing list of new platforms and advance ‘social good’ through their programs.

For the awards, thirty-six companies submitted 57 entries for consideration this year. LIMRA and LOMA enlisted 41 financial services executives and social media subject experts to judge the submissions. This win signifies how Mindshare and SBI Life are working together to utilize the social media platforms effectively to engage with consumers and meet their business goals.

September 1, 2016
SBI Life’s #PapaHainNa campaign shines at LIMRA & LOMA 2016

MUMBAI: SBI Life’s #PapaHainNa Social Media Campaign bagged LIMRA & LOMA 2016 Social Media Silver Bowl Award for Best Use of Social outside US. The idea was conceptualized and co-created by SBI Life and their media agency Mindshare India, a part of GroupM. This is an award by the world renowned organization, LIMRA, which is known for its research, learning and development initiatives in the Insurance industry across the world. SBI Life and Mindshare India overcame competition from six countries to achieve this win.

SBI Life’s #PapaHaiNa campaign has showcased excellent use of Social Media to engage their customers in an emotional manner. The campaign is an emotional ballad, in the form of a music video, celebrating the Father – Child relationship, on which the company’s overall communication also focuses. The video was launched on the SBI Life’s YouTube channel along with SBI Life’s Facebook page and Twitter handle. The video received over 1.2 Million views on YouTube and had over 7,150 interactions on Facebook. The song was well received by the audience on social media and had garnered more than 30.5 million impressions and more than 2,912 conversations on twitter, which also led to it trending nationally.

On the occasion of Father’s Day, 21st June 2015, through the campaign, audiences were encouraged to participate by sharing their treasured moments with their Dad using the hashtag #PapaHainNa. The contest received over 125 entries. The selected entries were then featured in the video created using content received during the campaign and was launched on SBI Life`s YouTube channel and Facebook page on Father’s Day.

Speaking on the occasion SBI Life Insurance MD and CEO Arijit Basu said, “As a brand we believe in building a strong bond with our customers. A special day like Father’s Day helps remind everyone of the sacrifices that our parents made for us, and the #PapaHainNa campaign was a way to articulate our gratitude towards them. We are highly honored with this recognition and equally proud of the well-executed campaign that rightfully leveraged the brands messaging and engaged the consumers on various social media platforms.”

Expressing his delight, Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar said ‘’Winning this award is like adding another feather into our hat. These awards showcase the development we have made in the International market. It is a proud moment for me as it proves how our teams’ efforts have exponentially grown on such a large forefront. We shall keep striving to one up our current level of performance, so as to cease more opportunities and wins such as these. ‘’

SBI Life head brand and corporate communication Ravindra Sharma said, “It is truly a matter of honor for us that we have received this coveted award. The award further validates the success of this campaign in connecting to our customers and giving them a platform to express their emotions via social media. SBI Life’s continuous thrive to reach out to our customers and giving them the moments to cherish and celebrate life will definitely lead to many such awards in the coming days as well.”

LIMRA is the trusted source of industry knowledge for over 850 financial services firms. LOMA is committed to business partnerships with over 1,200 world-wide members in the insurance and financial services industry. The 2016 awards program categories recognized how social media is being used to educate consumers, recruit employees; showcase how companies are integrating social media initiatives to support campaigns. The awards recognize those who are adopting the growing list of new platforms and advance ‘social good’ through their programs.

For the awards, thirty-six companies submitted 57 entries for consideration this year. LIMRA and LOMA enlisted 41 financial services executives and social media subject experts to judge the submissions. This win signifies how Mindshare and SBI Life are working together to utilize the social media platforms effectively to engage with consumers and meet their business goals.

September 1, 2016
Mahendra Upadhyay is Mindshare’s Data & Technology head

MUMBAI: Mindshare has announced the appointment of Mahendra Upadhyay as Head of Data and Technology. His role has been effective from July 1, 2016.

In his new role, Mahendra will be responsible for data and technology duties within the Product team at Mindshare. While he will operate out of the Mumbai office, Mahendra will also regularly be involved with the Bangalore and Gurgaon office and will be reporting in to M A Parthasarathy (MAPS), Chief Product Officer, South Asia, Mindshare.

Mindshare South Asia chief product officer M A Parthasarathy commented on the appointment, “We are very pleased to have Mahendra on board. We have a clear agenda to create category and client solutions powered by data & technology. We recognize the need for very different skill sets to drive this. Mahendra has a proven aptitude to create clarity & drive innovation through data. He has delivered growth & business results across categories. We have full faith that his passion for data and technology will ensure that Mindshare continues to deliver revolutionary solutions that significantly impact business results.”

Commenting on his new role, Mahendra Upadhyay said, “I am both honored and excited to be a part of the Mindshare family. I strongly resonate with Mindshare’s values of speed, team work and provocation and am eagerly looking forward to work alongside a fabulous team and help redefine standards.”

August 29, 2016
Mahendra Upadhyay is Mindshare’s Data & Technology head

MUMBAI: Mindshare has announced the appointment of Mahendra Upadhyay as Head of Data and Technology. His role has been effective from July 1, 2016.

In his new role, Mahendra will be responsible for data and technology duties within the Product team at Mindshare. While he will operate out of the Mumbai office, Mahendra will also regularly be involved with the Bangalore and Gurgaon office and will be reporting in to M A Parthasarathy (MAPS), Chief Product Officer, South Asia, Mindshare.

Mindshare South Asia chief product officer M A Parthasarathy commented on the appointment, “We are very pleased to have Mahendra on board. We have a clear agenda to create category and client solutions powered by data & technology. We recognize the need for very different skill sets to drive this. Mahendra has a proven aptitude to create clarity & drive innovation through data. He has delivered growth & business results across categories. We have full faith that his passion for data and technology will ensure that Mindshare continues to deliver revolutionary solutions that significantly impact business results.”

Commenting on his new role, Mahendra Upadhyay said, “I am both honored and excited to be a part of the Mindshare family. I strongly resonate with Mindshare’s values of speed, team work and provocation and am eagerly looking forward to work alongside a fabulous team and help redefine standards.”

August 29, 2016
Mindshare and Culture Machine partner to launch ‘Content Lab’

MUMBAI: Mindshare a part of GroupM is partnering with Culture Machine to launch ‘Content Lab’ as part of their Content+ division. Under this partnership, Mindshare’s clients will have access to Culture Machine’s patent pending Big Data Content platform, Intelligence Machine (IM), as well as it’s Programmatic Content tool, Video Machine (VM), in addition to the latter’s team of Analysts, Data scientists, Machine learning experts, Channel Management, Audience Growth and in-house Content Studios across North and South India.

Both firms will work together to co-create unique and differentiated content for the digital environment. The motive to create ‘Content Lab’ is to use best practices in digital content marketing by marrying cutting edge data science with content creation, across languages, nation-wide.

Intelligence Machine and Video Machine, the internal technology platforms of Culture Machine, have been helping power the rapid growth of it’s media brands that span Being Indian, Put Chutney, Blush, Epified and Awesome Sauce, part of a growing network of brands that account for 600 Mn Monthly views across Youtube and Facebook. While Intelligence Machine, through its rich data driven insights, identifies the content recipe for brands and creators that resonate with their targeted audience and enables them to translate the insights into a reliable programming strategy; Video Machine makes high quality videos at scale from any given audio or text source.

Commenting on the launch of ‘Content Lab’, Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar said, “We are delighted with our partnership with Culture Machine. Their combination of technology + content is great step towards engineering our vision on ‘Content+’, a division of Mindshare India that helps brands with great story-telling, penetrating consumer timelines and conversations.”

Mindshare content division head Devendra Deshpande added, “With brands willing to invest in content, it is up to teams like ‘Content Lab’ to create or curate great ideas and platforms that will capture the imagination of the end consumer. As digital media fuels consumtion of traditional TV and radio, ‘Content Lab’ is an avenue that allows us push the agenda forward on branding and entertainment. This is evident with the campaigns for Star Plus; we have proven success that sparked conversation around the two new shows on television on digital and social platform.”

“With 28 OTT platforms, emergence of new video formats like Live, 360, Vertical video and all social platforms turning to Video, how does one know what content to create, for which platform and create it at scale? In partnering with Mindshare, we are bringing the answers by combining the best of the technology, content and advertiser world into one Lab to build India’s leading practice of data backed Branded Entertainment”, said Culture Machine CEO and founder Sameer Pitalwalla.

“We, at Culture Machine, are delighted to add Mindshare to our growing list of clients that includes Unilever. With this partnership, our goal is to help advertisers use science and technology to know what content to create, and then marry those insights with the best creative minds in the business to create Branded Entertainment that delivers for both audiences and advertisers”, said Culture Machine president Siddharth Narula.

August 10, 2016
Mindshare and Culture Machine partner to launch ‘Content Lab’

MUMBAI: Mindshare a part of GroupM is partnering with Culture Machine to launch ‘Content Lab’ as part of their Content+ division. Under this partnership, Mindshare’s clients will have access to Culture Machine’s patent pending Big Data Content platform, Intelligence Machine (IM), as well as it’s Programmatic Content tool, Video Machine (VM), in addition to the latter’s team of Analysts, Data scientists, Machine learning experts, Channel Management, Audience Growth and in-house Content Studios across North and South India.

Both firms will work together to co-create unique and differentiated content for the digital environment. The motive to create ‘Content Lab’ is to use best practices in digital content marketing by marrying cutting edge data science with content creation, across languages, nation-wide.

Intelligence Machine and Video Machine, the internal technology platforms of Culture Machine, have been helping power the rapid growth of it’s media brands that span Being Indian, Put Chutney, Blush, Epified and Awesome Sauce, part of a growing network of brands that account for 600 Mn Monthly views across Youtube and Facebook. While Intelligence Machine, through its rich data driven insights, identifies the content recipe for brands and creators that resonate with their targeted audience and enables them to translate the insights into a reliable programming strategy; Video Machine makes high quality videos at scale from any given audio or text source.

Commenting on the launch of ‘Content Lab’, Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar said, “We are delighted with our partnership with Culture Machine. Their combination of technology + content is great step towards engineering our vision on ‘Content+’, a division of Mindshare India that helps brands with great story-telling, penetrating consumer timelines and conversations.”

Mindshare content division head Devendra Deshpande added, “With brands willing to invest in content, it is up to teams like ‘Content Lab’ to create or curate great ideas and platforms that will capture the imagination of the end consumer. As digital media fuels consumtion of traditional TV and radio, ‘Content Lab’ is an avenue that allows us push the agenda forward on branding and entertainment. This is evident with the campaigns for Star Plus; we have proven success that sparked conversation around the two new shows on television on digital and social platform.”

“With 28 OTT platforms, emergence of new video formats like Live, 360, Vertical video and all social platforms turning to Video, how does one know what content to create, for which platform and create it at scale? In partnering with Mindshare, we are bringing the answers by combining the best of the technology, content and advertiser world into one Lab to build India’s leading practice of data backed Branded Entertainment”, said Culture Machine CEO and founder Sameer Pitalwalla.

“We, at Culture Machine, are delighted to add Mindshare to our growing list of clients that includes Unilever. With this partnership, our goal is to help advertisers use science and technology to know what content to create, and then marry those insights with the best creative minds in the business to create Branded Entertainment that delivers for both audiences and advertisers”, said Culture Machine president Siddharth Narula.

August 10, 2016