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Tag: Nabendu Bhattacharyya

  • A ‘Milestone’ Journey…

    A ‘Milestone’ Journey…

    GOA: It is myth that in GoaFest it is only the glamorous agencies which participate. Over the last two years, it can be noted that many new specialised agencies have taken home Abbys for impressive pieces of advertising. Among this set of newbie winners is Milestone Brandcom.

     

    Indiantelevision.com asked Milestone Brandcom MD Nabendu Bhattacharyya how it feels to sweep away Abbys amongst many other mainline agencies.

     

    Take a look at what he had to say… 

     

    “Looking back at our four year journey in the dynamic industry that we call advertising, I am filled with pride at Milestone Brandcom’s journey and success. Yesterday at the GoaFest, we won five out of the seven awards that we were shortlisted for and placed third on the table, competing with industry stalwarts. It is a very big moment for us at Milestone Brandcom and we hope to accomplish much more.

     

    I grew up in Kolkata, surrounded by art, football and culture but my first love was always advertising. Two of my brothers were creative directors in advertising agencies so naturally I set the bar high for myself. In 1993, I kick started my career as a summer trainee at Ulka when advertising was just coming into its own. It was obvious that the possibilities in Indian advertising were endless and largely unexplored. I went on to leave my family and girlfriend who later became my wife behind in Kolkata to work at Selvel’s Delhi office where I had my first brush with the OOH industry. After five years at the company, I decided to move on to Emirates Neon in Dubai, hoping to learn more. As I never really fell in love with Dubai, I returned to join Mudra’s JV with Vertigo and a year later I joined Ogilvy in 1999 where the idea of Milestone Brandcom was conceived.

     

    Starting as a senior consultant, my journey at Ogilvy has made me who I am today and has had a considerable effect on Milestone Brandcom’s journey as well. After 10 eventful years at Ogilvy and over 16 years in the industry, I decided to start Milestone Brandcom with four colleagues after the bottom line started to restrain our creativity. Today, we at Milestone Brandcom put creativity and delivery above everything else and the success of our campaigns stand testament to that.

     

    We started with just 25 passionate employees in six offices, our head quarters being a tiny space in Andheri. We had a few clients and many skeptics. We wanted to change industry standards, we wanted to weed out the hurdles that came along with corporate culture and we wanted to deliver. Due to our persistence and knowledge, we quickly went on to win some of the biggest OOH accounts such as Colors, McDonalds, Binani Cement, Axis Bank, Dish TV, Tanishq and Tata Docomo within six months. Through strategic planning, innovative technology and creative solutions, Milestone Brandcom has completely transformed the outdoor landscape to bring about a forward looking, healthy and positive outlook towards the industry.

     

    As I write this, Milestone Brandcom is a game-changer in the industry that employs over 200 employees with offices/representatives in 42 cities in the country and over 100 active brands. The story of the underdog doesn’t end there. We are also the largest OOH agency in India.

     

    I hope we add many more ‘milestones’ in our journey ahead…”

     

    (These are purely personal views of Milestone Brandcom MD Nabendu Bhattacharyya and indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to these views)

  • Milestone Brandcom forays into rural marketing with Milestone Outland

    Milestone Brandcom forays into rural marketing with Milestone Outland

    MUMBAI: Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising and media company Milestone Brandcom has expanded its footprint with a communication division dedicated to low income and rural consumers Milestone Outland.

    It has appointed Ajay Sundaram to the post of country head and vice president of this new division. The outfit will have a team of 50 members operating pan-India within a month from launch.

    “At Milestone, we believe in investing in talent, knowledge and insights. We want to help the brand reach its customers wherever they may be. Therefore we felt the need to go rural. Milestone believes it is essential to gain an understanding about the impact of these elements to succeed in the Indian rural markets. Our future growth strategy involves offering this service to our existing and new client‘s. Therefore we have appointed established experts in the field of rural marketing who are equipped with the skills of surviving in these markets,” commented Milestone Brandcom founder and managing director Nabendu Bhattacharyya.

    He reveals that the intention of starting this division is to challenge the current status quo in rural consumer communications.

    Marketers focus is shifting towards low income consumers in tier 2 and 3 towns as the next level of growth is expected from smaller towns. India‘s rural population comprises of 12 per cent of the world‘s population presenting a huge, untapped market. Taking into consideration the population density in rural India, it offers vast opportunities that brands cannot afford to disregard.

    The Indian rural market consists a variety of mind-sets, cultures, and lifestyles. More than 70 per cent of India‘s population lives in villages. The size of the market increases many fold with the coupling of the LIC (Low Income Consumers) market.

    It offers a huge opportunity for the media and advertising industry. There lies a massive availablility potential among these consumers because of the increasing disposal income and awareness levels. Studies have shown that the rural consumers across all income segments exhibit marked tendency to spend on premium products which are backed by strong brand values, where they correspond to their own aspirations and quality needs. These consumers are the future for brand‘s survival & sustenance in Indian markets.

    According to the McKinzey Report, India will be the 5th largest consumer market by 2025 and income levels will almost triple. Rural consumer communications is therefore a growth strategy for Milestone Brandcom. Milestone Brandcom has over 100 active brands in its roster; it is a natural extension of the company‘s offerings from OOH, events-promotion, retail solutions and rural consumer communications.

    “Increasing brand consciousness and disposable incomes has made the rural consumer more demanding and selective in his purchase behaviour. Rural markets demand a sustained effort by brands to expose the consumers to the products via activities related to brand building and product acceptance. We plan to reach out to the low income rural consumers and give them an opportunity to understand the various choices in terms of brands and products via continuous penetration through different modes of OOH advertising. To effectively succeed in the markets, campaigns have to be tailored to requesting the consumers to keep in mind the nuances of their language, dialect and customs prevailing in their region,” said Ajay Sundaram.