Tag: Nabendu Bhattacharyya

  • Nabendu Bhattacharyya moves on from Milestone Brandcom

    Nabendu Bhattacharyya moves on from Milestone Brandcom

    NEW DELHI: Nabendu Bhattacharyya, an industry veteran with more than two decades of experience in the Indian out-of-home (OOH) space, has decided to move on from his current role as CEO and MD of Milestone Brandcom, the India-based OOH specialist agency from the house of dentsu international.

    He will leave the business on 31 December, ending his more than six-year-long stint with the network, to explore and pursue his personal interests.

    Bhattacharyya said, “My almost seven-year-old journey with dentsu in India has been nothing less than a celebration with a bagful of wonderful memories and some exceptional people that I met across the global network. Dentsu International is an incredible place to be in. It is packed with extraordinary talent and remarkable professionalism in every little pocket of the globe and I must forever reiterate that working with Ashish and Anand has been one of the most phenomenal experiences of my life, professionally and personally.”

    “Even as I embark upon a new journey hereon, my adventures and escapades will, of course, continue to be in the field of creative and business communication. However, it must now go beyond the scope of work that I have been engaged in for the last two decades. I intend to explore and delve deep into the other expanded ranges of advertising and communication and see what I can freshly withstand. I am leaving behind Milestone Brandcom in a rock-solid state and I know it will continue to grow with the strong leadership team that currently sits at its helm,” he added.

    dentsu CEO- India Anand Bhadkamkar said, “Nabendu is a fantastic professional and a veteran in his field. His creative vision, coupled with his leadership skills, makes him an absolute powerhouse. He charges ahead with unrelenting clarity and determination, translating businesses into the unadulterated largeness that they eventually become. I wish him all the luck for his future endeavours, hoping that one day we will get to work together once again.”

    It is pertinent to note here that dentsu international, formerly known as Dentsu Aegis Network, acquired a majority stake in Milestone Brandcom in July 2014. It was by far one of the biggest deals in the outdoor space in India then, and together with Posterscope – the network's global outdoor media agency – went on to establish dentsu as the largest player in the Indian OOH segment.

  • Cars24, Milestone Brandcom launch OOH campaign in Bangalore

    Cars24, Milestone Brandcom launch OOH campaign in Bangalore

    MUMBAI: Milestone Brandcom, the out-of-home agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has released an OOH campaign for Cars24, a platform which sales second-hand cars. Launched in Bangalore, the campaign aims at inviting customers to sell their cars at the city’s Cars24 branch in their very first visit.

    The campaign is based on the insight that, in the current times, the selling of second-hand cars in India is an extremely complex process. In this market, car owners have to visit or meet a number of buyers before making that sale; and Cars24, a focused and specialised player in this domain, intends to make this technique easy with its unique process that allows the sellers to get the right price for their cars in their very first visit.

    Cars 24 VP marketing Gajendra Jangid said, “We aim to provide a quick and convenient way for car owners to sell car in India. The campaign was strategically placed to test the OOH medium and to understand its impact to convey the brand communication to a wider audience. This quarter of the year is always good for used car market and we wanted to create a huge noise before the festive season.”

    Milestone Brandcom CEO and managing director Nabendu Bhattacharyya added, “We got an opportunity here to introduce Cars24 to its core group of consumers through OOH and we have left no stone unturned to create a high impact campaign for the brand. The idea here remains to create buzz and drive home ample curiosity for customers to visit the store and get a first-hand experience on the value of their cars.”

    “It’s a delight to witness such an outstanding response to this campaign. The planning of each site was done using detailed understanding of the city’s traffic pattern and showroom locations. Each site that has been chosen is a high-impact zone, ensuring maximum visibility. The innovation has already generated extensive exposure and significant buzz,” he added.

    The campaign is spread over 70,000 square feet, encompasses large format billboards, bus shelters, buses, unipoles and gantry.

  • Dalmia Group assigns OOH duties to Milestone Brandcom

    Dalmia Group assigns OOH duties to Milestone Brandcom

    MUMBAI: Dalmia Bharat Group has awarded its OOH mandate to Dentsu Aegis Network’s OOH Media & Experiential agency Milestone Brandcom for the eastern region following a multi-agency pitch. The business will be handled by the agency’s Kolkata office. This win adds to the growing kitty of Milestone’s clients in India.

    Milestone Brandcom shall provide OOH Media & Experiential Service to Dalmia Bharat Group, which includes planning, buying & creative innovations of outdoor media & experiential communication across six states in East region which includes Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sikkim, UP and WB.

    Dalmia Bharat Group Group marketing head BK Singh says, “We have very strong confidence in the long-term growth opportunity of the Indian cement industry. We have ambitious plans to leverage this opportunity through our core experience and proven expertise in the industry.”

    Dalmia Bharat group executive director of sales and marketing in East Indrajit Chatterjee adds, “We are the fastest growing cement manufacturer in Eastern India with unique multi-brand portfolio and have an ambitious growth plan for this region. We want to leverage the expertise of Milestone Brandcom in this market to establish all our brands.”

    Dalmia Group Cement is one of the leading brands in the country in terms of annual turnover. In the East, especially in Orissa and Bengal, Konark cement is a household name and carries solid equity among the customers.

    Milestone Brandcom CEO and MD Nabendu Bhattacharyya mentions, “We are excited at the prospect of partnering with Dalmia Bharat Group to comprehensively leverage OOH to engage with their consumers across brands & markets. I truly believe, OOH promises a great brand engagement through innovative outdoor solutions and drive conversations around their brand promise. We hope to deliver value on back of our ability to mine data and research for them and create some disruptive iconic campaigns for them through this association.”

  • Paramavatar Shri Krishna: Milestone Brandcom rolls out innovative campaign

    MUMBAI: Milestone Brandcom, the out-of-home agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has rolled out an innovative campaign to create awareness and buzz for the launch of &TV’s magnum-opus, Paramavatar Shri Krishna.

    Natkhat Krishna surely brought out a smile on the faces of Mumbai residents through attractive outdoor advertising at key routes and locations. Each innovation depicted a unique proposition which was brought to life through OOH. Be it Krishna tied up, his sling shot, Kalia Daman, lifting of Gowardhan mountain or peacock feather on his head – each innovation stood out amidst the clutter. A unique little Krishna Wobble head innovation brought out the fun element on the billboard. These innovations truly justified the story of naughty little Kanha’s journey to being worshiped as Paramavatar Shri Krishna.

    The outdoor innovations for the show have come to life with collaborative efforts of &TV and the Milestone Brandcom team. Considering OOH medium as one of key communication platforms to promote the show, the agency strategically identified prime locations that could garner maximum eyeballs. With a total of 12 innovation-based creatives on 12 different units these creatives stood out in the OOH space. Apart from Mumbai this campaign was rolled out in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Kanpur & Nagpur.

    Commenting on the campaign, Milestone Brandcom MD Nabendu Bhattacharyya says, “Innovation is one of the key elements which we focused on while executing the campaign and ensured they stand out on OOH space across markets. We are very excited with the response as each innovation had a Krishna story which truly captured the show proposition.”

  • Northpoint Centre of Learning & Dentsu Aegis launch OOH Advertising programme

    Northpoint Centre of Learning & Dentsu Aegis launch OOH Advertising programme

    MUMBAI: Given the technological metamorphosis that out-of-home (OOH) is currently witnessing, it has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments in the Marketing Communications industry.

     

    For the young job seeking community, the sector has opened up lucrative career opportunities. Consequently, with much room to maneuver for ambitious youngsters, Dentsu Aegis Network and Northpoint have announced the launch of the ‘Post Graduate Program in Out Of Home Advertising (The PGP-OOHA) programme. 

     

    The PGP-OOHA programme is being conducted by Northpoint Centre of Learning, a Management Resource Development Centre, located in Khandala, in collaboration with the leading out-of-home agencies – Posterscope India and Milestone Brandcom.

     

    Designed to develop future managers, the course is a six-month fast-track post graduate career programme.  It is designed to give a thorough working knowledge of OOH advertising and communications including retail, rural and experiential and how they are all inter-related. 

     

    The course comprises modules, research projects and workshops followed by an internship with Posterscope and Milestone Brandcom.

     

    A strong emphasis will be laid on student performance evaluation through projects and practical assignments and research done by the students. While the entire semester will provide a comprehensive perspective of OOH advertising and communications, the latter part will be project-based with hands-on production and execution experiences.

     

    Northpoint Centre of Learning chairman Prem Mehta said, “The launch of this program is another step in keeping with Northpoint’s mission to prepare young graduates for careers in specialised areas of business.  Once again, Northpoint has tied up with the leaders in the OOH industry to ensure relevance of training content, training by industry professionals and substantial field and on-job internships to prepare job-ready managers.”

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO South Asia and Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific chairman Ashish Bhasin stated, “Today, Dentsu Aegis Network is amongst the fastest growing communications groups in India and understand the need of trained talent that the industry currently needs. Therefore, we are committed to developing professional talent for the industry as a partner on this programme.”

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network will consider all successful candidates for final placement.

     

    Milestone Brandcom MD and CEO Nabendu Bhattacharyya opined, “Our objective is to create and attract talent to the OOH Industry where no such formal program existed prior to this, we believe this OOH program will benefit many new entrants as well as the existing trade practitioners in this dynamic Industry. Our, overall objective is to bring in fresh minds into the OOH Communications business for the exponential growth of the Industry. As a Leading OOH Group, “OOH Program” is our contribution to the Industry.”

     

    Posterscope Asia Pacific regional director and Posterscope Group India managing director Haresh Nayak added, “Posterscope has always prided itself in being innovators, be it in terms of team construct, offerings, services or thought leadership for the last 7 years. This initiative is an extension of that belief, of ‘innovating the way brands are built’ and talented people are the nucleus of innovation. This platform will attract and nurture these talents who will be the future minds and leaders in the Out of Home space.”

  • Industry sees higher growth than GroupM’s 12.6 per cent estimate

    Industry sees higher growth than GroupM’s 12.6 per cent estimate

    MUMBAI: “Acche din aa gaye hai,” said GroupM south east Asia CEO CVL Srinivas while unveiling the agency’s ‘This Year, Next Year 2015’ annual report.

     

    As per the report, India’s advertising investment is expected to reach an estimated Rs 48,977 crore in 2015, up 12.6 per cent from last year with digital leading the pack with 37 per cent growth and television following at 16 per cent.

     

    Last year, the growth of 12.5 per cent was attributed to the heavy ad spending due to the general and state elections and industry categories like e-commerce and telecom. Keeping the same positive attitude, the agency feels that 2015 will also move upwards.

     

    Agreeing with it, the industry believes that with the economy going up in a positive manner, the numbers could even go higher.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Parle Products marketing general manager Praveen Kulkarni says, “ARPU (average revenue per user) is going to be better this year and ad spends will increase further.”

     

    According to him, various initiatives taken by the government will bear fruits in the coming months. “2015-2016 will see a positive turnaround in the economy and the overall AdEx can grow up to 15 per cent,” he adds.

     

    Voicing the same sentiments, HDFC Life marketing, product, digital and e-commerce senior executive vice president Sanjay Tripathy, sees an upward trend across all media. “The gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 6.9 per cent in 2013-14, and if it continues to grow, then AdEx is bound to increase as well. I see it going even beyond 12.6 per cent and as for digital, it can go up to 40 per cent,” he states.

     

    However, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India CEO and managing partner Anil Nair is a little conservative about the numbers. “Digital has various buckets from where the revenue comes in. Apart from media, there are other digital assets like apps as well. I don’t think we can put a number on the growth as I feel the industry will take at least one more year or so to touch a 37 per cent growth number,” he says, as he believes that numbers could increase for categories like retail but one cannot generalise.

     

    “Definitely, the medium is growing faster than the rest but I would still peg it a little lower,” Nair adds.

     

    As for the television, with new channels being launched by networks as well as investment in the digital platform and the ICC World Cup followed by the Indian Premiere League (IPL), the medium is moving forward.

     

    Stating the example of recently announced yet-to-launch &TV, ZEEL chief sales officer Ashish Sehgal believes that with new channels comes added inventory. “World Cup and IPL will obviously help the channels as well as digital mediums. And as and when Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) releases its data, the advertising spend on television will see an upward trend as well,” he says.

     

    However, Sehgal is a little cautious as well and believes that the numbers will be more close to reality when the next financial year begins in April.

     

    The out-of-home (OOH) sector will see a drop this year as the agency estimates it to grow only by four per cent. Milestone Brandcom (part of Dentsu Aegis Group) MD and CEO Nabendu Bhattacharyya adds, “I guess GroupM has based the report on last year’s general elections but I believe that the sector will continue to grow by 10 per cent as the economy is stable. With e-commerce investing heavily on the medium and support of real estate and jewellery brand as well as infrastructure growing across cities and towns in the country, the medium has nothing to fear.”

  • Tata Docomo retains Milestone Brandcom as its OOH agency

    Tata Docomo retains Milestone Brandcom as its OOH agency

    MUMBAI: Tata Docomo has retained Milestone Brandcom as its OOH agency following a recent pitch.

     

    Milestone has been the incumbent agency on board for over four years and this time the agency bagged the outdoor media mandate for two additional regions, namely Delhi and Rajasthan.

     

    Building on their incredible portfolio, this is another feather in the cap for Milestone Brandcom as they continue to deliver the best creative services in the industry.

     

    Milestone Brandcom managing director and CEO Nabendu Bhattacharyya said, “Tata Docomo is one of the most trusted and successful brands in the country and their faith in us past four years and further mandate and our capabilities encourages us to set the bar higher. We are extremely thrilled to continue this relationship with the Tata’s and hope to achieve more milestones and set the industry benchmark even higher with our deliveries.”

  • We want to professionalise the  Indian OOH industry: Ashish Bhasin

    We want to professionalise the Indian OOH industry: Ashish Bhasin

    MUMBAI: While many Indian outdoor agencies are still struggling to get their due recognition, there are a few that have changed the game. One name that is worth mentioning is Milestone Brandcom. According to sources, the five year old agency has annual revenues over Rs 320 crore and is a leading outdoor company based on billings.

     

    Things are going to get even better for the agency from now on. Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired majority share in Milestone Brandcom. With the acquisition of OOH agency, combined with Posterscope, a Dentsu Aegis Network’s global outdoor media agency, the network has strengthened its roots in this space.  

     

    Nabendu Bhattacharyya will continue as CEO and managing director of Milestone Brandcom and will report to Dentsu Aegis Network south Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin mentions, “With rapid retail expansion and ever evolving transmit media there is a lot that can be done in the outdoor industry. We added Milestone Brandcom in our family because there is a fit. Nabendu and his team are extremely passionate about this space. We hope that the move will help professionalise the Indian OOH industry.”

     

    “This investment now establishes clear leadership for us in the medium, making us the leader in the OOH and OOH Retail space in India. We believe that OOH will play an increasingly important role for clients in years to come so we are delighted to be able to offer clients a market leading service,” adds Bhasin.

     

    Bhattacharyya is extremely thrilled to join hands with Dentsu Aegis Network. “The main idea behind this development is to understand global practices better and execute them here. Our philosophy is very similar to Dentsu Aegis Network’s and we are confident that as market leaders we will continue to be at the forefront in the business,” he says.

     

    With a 175 strong team of specialists, Milestone Brandcom is the most awarded OOH agency in India with clients like Colors, McDonalds, Axis Bank, L’oreal etc. The agency also has many other verticals such as event promotion, activation division, rural OOH activation, retail and digital OOH division.

     

    It was recently when Milestone Brandcom had launched ‘Milestone Optimizer’, a powerful tool which optimises OOH media plans by tracking 25,000 sites across India and providing Gross Impression Points of an OOH campaign, which is one of its kinds in the country. The company will retain its identity, branding and culture and share its knowledge in creative and OOH planning with the group.