Tag: Neeraj Kanitkar

McDowell’s No. 1 launches #No1YaariCheers campaign to unite IPL fans

Mumbai: McDowell’s No. 1 has launched a cheerful campaign #No1YaariCheers that intends to unite IPL fans and create delightful Yaari moments. It will add a fun and energetic twist to the regular cricket viewing experience.

The campaign conceptualized by DDB Mudra, features IPL players such as Virat Kohli from Royal Challengers Bangalore, Yuzvendra Chahal from Rajasthan Royals, Kieron Pollard from Mumbai Indians and many more, to bring alive the stadium action on the screen.

Speaking about this association Diageo India’s executive vice president and portfolio head, marketing Ruchira Jaitly, said, “Cricket is a sporting extravaganza that brings the entire country together with inspiring sporting action that’s a feast for Indians across the length and breadth of the country. So naturally, we are delighted to be associated with these 6 iconic teams.”

“Moreover, this cricket season is the perfect platform to bring alive the special moments when yaars connect and make magic happen, whether while playing or while watching this tournament. To further add to the fun and entertainment, we are excited to give fans a chance to cheer for their teams with inspiring and playful language like never before. McDowell’s No.1 Soda is proud to share the spirit of Yaari with these amazing teams and build a meaningful new partnership,” he added

Commenting on the campaign, DDB Mudra’s executive creative director- west Neeraj Kanitkar said, “No.1 Yaari, six of the biggest IPL teams and 18 superstars deserve a grand platform. #No1YaariCheers is just that. A new language of Yaari that fuses what yaars do – from showing support to inspiring to teasing to provoking to badgering and everything in between – support, inspire, tease, provoke, badger – with the language of cricket. With the cricketers not having so much activity but simply expressing their Yaari for each other, they brought their style to the cheering/chanting. Making for entertaining shoots and an exuberant bunch of films.”

DDB Mudra executive vice president and business partner Sujay Ghosh added, “Chants (Cheers) connect people and help form stronger bonds with their group of friends and fans. We took this insight and developed a campaign which can play a role in culture during this cricket season. McDowell’s No. 1 has always stood for bonds of friendship. And cheers have always brought fans together and made their fandoms epic, we mounted our idea based on these two inputs and created a new language for fans and friends to enhance the engagement and celebration for this cricket season across languages and regions.”

The campaign is currently live across digital platforms such as Disney+Hotstar, YouTube, mCanvas, Facebook and Twitter.

May 11, 2022
Taproot Dentsu creates launch campaign for Firstpost’s print edition

MUMBAI: To launch the weekly print edition of Firstpost, the news, and media website/app from Network18, Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency from the Dentsu Aegis Network stable, has released a campaign that shows how digging deeper for the truth is so important, today more than ever.

The film takes a dig at the race for breaking news and the prevalence of sensationalism over incisive journalism. It is a dramatic take-down of modern journalism to show, by contrast, Firstpost’s comprehensive coverage of stories that need to be told and heard. The campaign has a TV and print leg to it.

Taproot Dentsu creative director Neeraj Kanitkar said, “The Firstpost weekly newspaper is a remarkable attempt at raising the bar for news reporting. While most other papers scramble from one story to the other, Firstpost gives every story what it really deserves – time. Thereby getting to the bottom of every story. The campaign capitalised on this distinct difference, which allows the Firstpost weekly newspaper to be the last word on the news.”

Network18 group brand advisor Rahul Kansal said, “We wanted to tell potential readers that our newspaper will offer an in-depth read in contrast to the breathless, superficial kind of news that has become the norm in the country. Rather than be preoccupied with breaking news in a half-cocked manner, we want to offer insights, analyses and well thought-through opinion. Taproot Dentsu responded with their usual brilliance and completely turned on its head, the usual paradigms in news. From rhetoric like 'breaking news' and ‘you read it here first’ to ‘proudly last’ and “last mover advantage.”

January 29, 2019
Taproot Dentsu’s campaign for Network18 CricketNext celebrates opinionated fans

MUMBAI: Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has rolled out a new campaign for Network 18’s CricketNext app. The app has standard features like live score updates and also acts as a forum for fans voice their opinion and post video comments.

The campaign aims to celebrate the opinionated fans through two films starring former Indian cricketer, Anil Kumble.

Speaking about the campaign, Taproot Dentsu creative director Neeraj Kanitkar said, “The all-new CricketNext app is a homage to the ultimate cricket fan who is always ready with an opinion but has nowhere to voice it. This app is a platform where this fan’s every opinion on team selection, on-field strategies etc. is not only heard but welcomed. The TVCs are a dramatic representation of this, with Anil Kumble literally breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging the ultimate fan’s opinion.”

Network18 group brand advisor Rahul Kansal noted, “Cricket Next is a next level app for the next level fan. Beyond just giving live scores and basic commentary, it invites passionate cricket fans to offer their opinions and share their insights on the game. The film tries to dramatise this promise; that it's an app where fans rule.

January 28, 2019
Onida revives iconic devil for IPL campaign

MUMBAI: Homegrown electronics brand Onida, a part of Mirc Electronics, was one of India’s most recognised and acclaimed brands in the early 90s and 2000s. Its CRT TVs helped popularise the brand along with an unforgettable brand ambassador-a devil, replete with horns and a tail, who was later replaced by a married couple in 2010.

Though its advertising furore died down in the last decade, we are going to see a revival of the iconic devil. As summer rolls in, Onida is gearing up to release a new campaign for its air conditioners, which is timed with the Indian Premier League (IPL), wherein the company is also a presenting sponsor. Rs 20-30 crore has been earmarked for advertising across all formats with Rs 20 crore exclusively to be spent on the IPL with a focus on television.

Mirc Electronics MD Vijay Mansukhani believes that today the IPL is the hot property in India to invest and the money will be well spent. The campaign consists of 10-second and 30-second ads that will run across television and digital between April and May.

The brand has roped in Taproot Dentsu to conceptualise the summer campaign which will be followed by seasonal campaigns around the year. Onida will launch a washing machine campaign during monsoon and for microwave ovens during Diwali.

Since Onida’s devil has been one of the most memorable icons of Indian advertising, Taproot Dentsu Mumbai creative director Neeraj Kanitkar says that they just had to bring him back. The devil has been resurrected in a new avatar as a die-hard fan of Onida inverter ACs. The challenge for Onida will be to engage the generations Y and Z who may wonder ‘what’s the big deal behind a two-horned man’.

Earlier, the advertising budget was restricted to one to two per cent but has been hiked to three to four per cent today. The company is also reorienting its outlook to suit the digital age as Mansukhani believes that it is the way forward and the revenue from this medium is increasing.

Mansukhani is aware that the AC segment today is cluttered with the general perception that foreign brands such as Daikin, Carrier or O General are far superior and better and Onida wants to change that.

Budget constraints and the government’s state taxes and policies had forced Onida to cut back on its advertising and marketing for the past several years. “We had to set up 40 factories and hence the budget cuts. But now with GST, everything has come to a level playing field and Onida has bounced back with profits,” he adds.

Onida holds a mere eight to nine per cent of the total market share in the air conditioner space and the penetration for air conditions in India is as low as five per cent which comes majorly from urban areas and metros. The segment contributes 45 per cent to the company’s annual turnover of Rs 370 crore. Mansukhani expects it to double this year to Rs 700 crore and reach Rs 1500 crore by 2020. Onida will now focus on the rural market and is betting big on IPL to create awareness about the company during the league.

He sniffs at the idea of exclusively partnering with particular e-commerce sites, as is the norm today, stating that people should be given the freedom to buy from where they liked.

Onida is also a major exporter to Gulf countries, which contribute almost 65 per cent to the company’s export revenue while shipments to the fast-growing East African market (Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia) and the SAARC countries account for 16 per cent of its export revenue. In addition to Gulf countries, Onida has presence in Russia, Ukraine and the neighbouring CIS countries.

With temperatures expected to soar in the coming days, Onida’s timing to relaunch alongside the IPL is apt. Can the company bring back its lost fortune with the aid of its trusty devil while competing against celebrity-backed rival brands? As they say, ‘the devil lies in the details’!

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April 5, 2018