Tag: MRF

Lowe Lintas wins creative mandate for Myntra.com

MUMBAI: Myntra.com, India’s largest fashion e-tailer has appointed Lowe Lintas as its communications partner. The decision to appoint Lowe Lintas is seen as a significant step towards Myntra’s goal of becoming a $1 billion company by 2016. While the brand has been working with creative shops on project basis so far, there was no incumbent agency on retainership before it roped in Lowe Lintas.

Speaking on the announcement, Vikas Ahuja, Chief Marketing Officer, Myntra said, “Lowe’s work speaks for itself – with strong examples of engaging, clutter-breaking communication campaigns across industries. Their team brings great chemistry and zest for success and we are delighted to have them on board as our partners, to take brand Myntra to greater heights.”

For Lowe Lintas, Myntra comes as a significant addition to their already existing roster of some leading clients in the South India which include Tanishq, Britannia, Sonata, Fastrack, MRF, Diamler Benz, Bharat Matrimony, Future Group, Flying Machine, Tata Tea etc.

GV Krishnan, Executive Director, Lowe Lintas said “E-commerce is the category of the future and is growing at a phenomenal pace. What excites us about Myntra is their vision and leadership in the fashion category. We are delighted to partner and meet their ambition to be a billion dollar business in 2 years. We wish to create fandom for Myntra and make the brand endearing, aspirational and yet inclusive to all its consumers.”

Joseph George, CEO, Lowe Lintas summed it up quite succinctly. He said “The company and category they operate in are both future facing. They are a great bunch of guys and we’re absolutely thrilled to partner with them in their journey.”

March 20, 2014
NDTV’s dual-role strategy to double the ‘Profit’

MUMBAI: Since last few years, the eight-year old business channel from the NDTV group, NDTV Profit grappled to make decent business. While the noise about it going under a revamp started mid-last year, it has come to shape now. From March 17, the biz channel will adopt a dual role – that of NDTV Profit during the market hours and NDTV Prime airing infotainment and lifestyle programmes post 5 pm. The logo will also change accordingly.

NDTV Group CEO Vikram Chandra while professing the loss that the group was incurring because of the channel, remarks, “For several years, the bulk of our losses were coming from Profit. In the last few months, Hindi channel has picked up well but the question was whether to sell, shut or restructure the business channel. We didn’t want either of the first two options. So we have innovated and adopted a cost rationalisation method, to be followed by the dual channel strategy.”

Now, everything seems to be falling in place for the channel as it has already managed 80 per cent sponsors for the year, while discussions to get more are on. According to sources some of the sponsors associated with the channel are Micromax, Chroma and MRF Tyres.

“It is not a secret that we don’t believe in television audience measurement (TAM) anymore. We have adopted a sponsorship approach across the network with an idea to get sponsors interested in the programmes before they even go on air,” says Chandra.

The time slots for different programmes have been decided. Education shows would be aired between 6:30 to 7 pm; 7 to 8 pm is for real estate and property; tech and auto programmes will be telecast from 8 to 9 pm; while 9 to 11 pm has been kept for entertainment shows, the details of wish Chandra doesn’t wish to disclose at the time being.

The shows have been produced in-house as well as outsourced. Weekends will have repeat telecast of weekday shows for the first few months. Not sounding too boastful, Chandra remarks, “We are looking to double the ad revenue once Prime begins because this is going to be an exciting channel.”

The annual loss of the channel has come down from Rs 40 crore to Rs 19 crore. “The benefits of cost rationalisation in NDTV Profit will be seen now. Two-three years ago we were losing about Rs 3 crore a month which has now come down to about Rs 1.5 crore a month even with the Prime incubation costs. Once NDTV Prime goes on air, we are confident that every band on the channel will be individually profitable,” he optimistically remarks.

As India enters its last phases of digitisation, Profit/Prime sees itself benefitting. “With digitization, appointment viewing has gone up. Before this, viewers would flip through several channels but now they like to remember fixed times. We will now have fixed bands for tech and auto in which we are market leaders, together with bands for entertainment and property,” adds Chandra.

Another cost-cutting measure taken by the channel has been by shifting its main office from Mumbai to Delhi where besides sharing space, equipments could be shared with others too.

With little over a month left for the revamp, announcement will begin this week. Only time will tell how the arrangement works!

February 10, 2014
Chennai based Feroze Khan defends MRF National Indian Junior Touring Car Championships in Style

DELHI: Chennai based S. Feroze Khan, defended his Indian Junior Touring Car title in style at the end of the recently concluded 2013 MRF National Championships. Feroze, piped Ananth Pittawala of Team N1 from Mumbai in a sensational finish, to win the second and final race of the day at Greater Noida’s Buddh International Circuit (BIC) to seal the championships. Ananth was in great form on the day, having won the first race already and looked set to win the second as well, but Feroze obviously had other ideas. This capped a memorable season for Feroze, where he won six out of the nine races spread over three legs across Chennai, Coimbatore and Greater Noida. It all started with a season opening hat-trick of wins for him at his ‘home’ circuit at Sriperumbadur, Chennai. His exploits in the season, have also enabled Team Rad Racing to win the Team Constructors Title at the championships.

Feroze, a rising star in Indian Motorsports, was born to a well-known family in Chennai with a legacy of racing. Grandfather Sattar Khan used to race during the Sholavaram times and was a middle weight boxing champion for two years, besides racing cars like ambassadors, fiats and imported cars like mustangs. Feroze’s father Ayub khan is two times JK Tyre National Champion. His father obviously was a natural role model.

Feroze started his racing career with Cars India in 2010 and finished 5th in his first race out of 18 cars starting at 10th position on the grid. He ended the year placed 3rd overall. The following year in 2011 he finished 2nd. His steady rise continued and he has now won the Indian Junior Touring Car Championships, two years in a row. He will always be remembered for starting 21st on the grid and emerging 1st in a race in 2012.

Expressing his thoughts at the end of the race and obviously delighted at the result, Feroze said, “This result was important to the team and me to convince us that we are on to good times. It is one thing winning a competitive tour once, and another to win as a defending champion. The pressure of expectations is something you have to live with in any competitive sport. The credit goes firstly to Radha Selvarajan, our chief tuner, who is so knowledgeable and such an inspiration and secondly to the entire team. Friends and family, including my dad have always been there for support and I can never thank them enough. I just hope, I am able to move on to bigger and better things and fulfil the dreams they have of me.”

Large scale series production touring cars race each other in the Indian Junior Touring Cars circuit. These include Maruti Esteem cars fitted with Maruti Esteem MPFI engines only .Zen, Esteem and Swift Blocks may be used as long as the same dimensions as the Esteem block are maintained. This year’s championships saw 24 teams in all participate representing places like Chennai, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ooty and Trichy.

September 19, 2013
Dentsu wins a part of MRF’s advertising duties

MUMBAI: Dentsu Communications has won a part of the creative mandate of MRF. The account was won after a robust multi agency pitch process. Dentsu’s Communication executive creative director Ashwin Parthiban and national business head Suresh Mohankumar will lead the business.

Dentsu Communications will be creating newer aspects of the brand for consumers to see it in a new light altogether

On winning the prestigious account Dentsu India Group executive chairman Rohit Ohri said, “We’re delighted with this opportunity to partner MRF in India. It’s not just a dream come true for us, but also an opportunity to rapidly scale up our operation in Chennai. Dentsu Communications and Dentsu Media will be working together to provide integrated communication solutions on the business.”

Dentsu Communications will be creating newer aspects of the brand for consumers to see it in a new light altogether.

Commenting on bringing onboard Dentsu Communications as a creative partner, MRF executive vice president – marketing Koshy Varghese said, “At MRF we are looking at further consolidating our leadership position. We have plans to unveil new aspects of our brand to consumers. In this context we needed a partner who has an understanding of the automotive segment, and is in a position to work closely with us to fulfill our objectives. Currently Dentsu Communications meet this requirement of ours.”

September 10, 2013
JWT continues to strengthen its planning team with senior hires

MUMBAI: JWT India announced senior level appointments of Gulshan Singh as vice president and strategic planning director and Jasravee Kaur Chandra as vice president and strategic planning director across its Delhi and Mumbai offices.

JWT India VP and strategic planning director Gulshan Singh

A graduate of HEC Paris, Gulshan combines the skill sets of an MBA from a top global business school with over 10 years in building brands in various capacities. Gulshan joins from Lowe Lintas, Bangalore, where he was leading planning for brands such as Tanishq, Titan Sonata, MRF, USL, Apollo Hospitals, 3M and Tata Tea, which won an Effie in 2012.

His previous work experience includes market research with IMRB and TNS, planning with FCB and a brief stint in consulting – spread across India, the Middle East, and Europe. He has worked across categories such as automotive, consumer electronics, education, energy, FMCG, F&B, financial services, healthcare, logistics and media and entertainment with a wide array of brands including DHL, GM, Indian Oil, ITC Foods, Marico, Nestle, P&G, Voltas, and the Zee Network. He will be working towards creating an ‘Indian consumer-friendly‘ approach to sustainable lifestyles, and is looking forward to exploring this in JWT.

JWT India VP strategic planning director Jasravee Kaur

JWT India chief strategy officer Bindu Sethi said, “We have responsibility of some of the most iconic, the biggest and best brands in the country. Our quest is to be thought and idea driven to ensure that our brands lead their markets and categories. Gulshan and Jasravee will add to JWT‘s robust planning talent pool with fresh experiences and perspectives.”

Jasravee has over 13 years of experience in understanding and building brands. She started her career with ORG-MARG where she was involved in innovative and participatory research (ethnography, critical incident, semiotics etc.) for brands like Knorr, Annapurna, HBO, Lux, Coke and Dove. She transited to strategic planning with stints at Lowe Lintas, Leo Burnett and Rediffusion Y&R. She has strategised for both national and MNC brands such as Lifebuoy, Hamam, FAL, Lacto Calamine and taken up blue sky projects for Uninor, Liril and Lakme.

Quick-witted and profound, Jasravee has a keen eye for the meeting point ‘betwixt contradictions‘. She loves arriving at paradoxes as well as breaking myths about consumers. Astute and intuitive, Jasravee loves to witness and participate in the inherent drama of diverse subcultures; be it rural households, youth, truckers or the small city migrants. Her exposure to diverse categories has ensured as well as sustained this.

August 1, 2013
JWT bags K7 Computing’s creative biz

MUMBAI: JWT has won the creative mandate for antivirus company K7 Computing.

The account will be serviced out of the agency‘s Chennai office.

The agency‘s work includes developing a new brand positioning strategy and 360 degree communication solutions for the brand.

JWT Chennai will also create communication solutions to address K7’s retail and corporate customers.

“K7 is engaging JWT to develop a strong marketing strategy that will help the brand reach out and connect with its customers and establish K7 as a leading player in the domain of antivirus and internet security systems”, K7 Computin CEO J. Kesavardhanan said.

JWT Chennai has a portfolio of clients that include MRF, Univercell, GRT Hotels, GRT Jewellery, Sunrisers (Sun Networks IPL business), Renuka Builders, Casa Grande, Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank, TI Cycles and Reynolds pens.

March 14, 2013
Sun TV gets JWT to build its IPL team brand

MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran-promoted Sun TV Network Ltd. will soon start building the brand of its recently won Hyderabad IPL team. For this exercise, the company has mandated the creative duties to JWT India.

JWT will handle the entire launch communication package for the yet-to-be named Hyderabad IPL franchise. This will include developing a new identity for the team including jersey colours and a 360 degree multi-media campaign.

The account will be serviced out of the agency’s Chennai office.

Sun TV had bought the Hyderabad IPL team for Rs 4.25 billion for a period of five years till 2017. From 2018, Sun will own the franchise in perpetuity and will pay 20 per cent of the franchise revenue every year as fee to the BCCI.

For the record, the Sun Group has its presence in cable and satellite television, FM radio, newsprint and aviation.

JWT Chennai‘s recently won the creative business of GRT Jewellers. It also handles accounts of brands like MRF, Univercell, GRT Hotels, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, TI Cycles and Renuka builders.

December 10, 2012
JWT gets GRT’s jewellery account too

MUMBAI: WPP‘s creative agency network JWT‘s Chennai office has won the mandate for developing communication for the jewellery business of the GRT Group. This win is a consolidation for the agency, which also handles the Group‘s hotels business.

JWT Chennai‘s portfolio of clients includes MRF, Univercell, GRT Hotels, Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank, TI Cycles, Dalmia Cements and Renuka builders.

The GRT group is one of the largest jewellery retailers in Tamil Nadu and is fast expanding into other states in the South.

“They wanted a communication partner who has both a pan India presence and a good understanding of the jewellery consumer. JWT with its strong network presence and a deep understanding of the jewellery consumer thanks to its long association with world leaders like DTC was the ideal choice,” a statement from the agency said.

November 16, 2012