ITV

Tag: Ogilvy

  • McCann Worldgroup appoints Sean MacDonald as global chief digital officer

    McCann Worldgroup appoints Sean MacDonald as global chief digital officer

    MUMBAI: McCann Worldgroup has appointed Sean MacDonald as chief digital officer.

     

    He joins from Ogilvy where he has been managing director, emerging ventures. MacDonald, who will be based in New York, succeeds Mike Parker who will be transitioning away from McCann opting to remain based in San Francisco.

     

    “Sean’s strategic background as well as his ability to integrate new digital capabilities to facilitate the way consumers interact with brands will help our clients to fully take advantage of the spectrum of changes in the marketplace. He has a deep understanding of the ways technology allows us to reach consumers, which will help us to accelerate our digital offering across our geographies and disciplines,” said McCann Worldgroup president Luca Lindner.

     

    MacDonald has two decades of experience developing digital and engagement strategies for high profile companies. He joined Ogilvy as a senior digital strategist in 2004, and then rose to head the agency’s digital and engagement strategy areas and later their Ventures initiative. 

     

    Over the years, he has held senior posts at a series of digitally-focused companies, building digital strategy teams and tools, and designing creative digital and social programs for clients in every major category, including such global marketers as Coca-Cola, American Express, DuPont, Nestlé, Cisco and BP. 

     

    “McCann is an exciting place, with vision and momentum and a culture that not only values collaboration but knows how to make it work on a global scale, across disciplines. I’m thrilled to be part of this team,” said MacDonald.

  • WPP reports record ?1.5 billion annual profit

    WPP reports record ?1.5 billion annual profit

    MUMBAI: For 2014, Martin Sorrell’s WPP Group reported a record ?1.5 billion annual profit in 2014, which was up by 12 per cent on reported revenue of ?11.53 billion, which was up 4.6 per cent year on year.

     

    WPP, which owns agencies such as Ogilvy, J. Walter Thompson, and Milward Brown, said 2015 was off to a flying start. Like-for-like revenue in January rose 6.7 per cent, with like-for-like net sales up 3.9 per cent, which WPP says was stronger than the final quarter of 2014 and 2014 itself.

     

    The agency expects to grow net sales by three per cent in 2015 and is looking at a headline operating margin target of 0.3 margin points, excluding the impact of currency.

     

    WPP’s reported billings at ?46.186 billion, were up 6.8 per cent in constant currency driven by a strong leadership position in net new business league tables. On the other hand, WPP saw like-for-like revenue growth in all regions, led by strong growth in North America, United Kingdom and Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & the Middle East and Central & Eastern Europe, and by all sectors, with particularly strong growth in advertising and media investment management and branding and identity, healthcare and specialist communications (including direct, digital and interactive).

     

    The group’s like-for-like net sales growth were at 3.3 per cent, with the gap compared to revenue growth more than the first half, as the scale of digital media purchases in media investment management and data investment management revenue continues to increase.

     

    WPP saw EBITDA growth of 0.7 per cent, up 7.5 per cent in constant currency, reflecting currency headwinds, but giving 0.2 margin points improvement, to 19.0 per cent on net sales, with like-for-like operating costs (+3.1 per cent) rising slower than net sales.

     

    PBIT increase of 1.1 per cent to ?1.681 billion, up eight per cent in constant currency was observed for the year. Net sales margin, a more accurate competitive comparator, up 0.2 margin points to an industry leading 16.7 per cent, up 0.3 margin points in constant currency, in line with target.

     

    WPP saw exceptional gains of ?196 million largely representing gains on the AppNexus and Rentrak transactions completed in the second half, together with other gains of ?45 million, including gains on the re-measurement of the Group’s equity interests, partly offset by ?89 million of restructuring costs, ?39 million of IT transformation costs and ?7 million of investment write-downs, giving a net exceptional gain of ?61 million.

     

    WPP was recognised again in 2014 for creative and effectiveness excellence with the award of the Cannes Lion to WPP for the most creative Holding Company, for the fourth successive year, since the awards inception and another to Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, for the third consecutive year, as the most creative agency network. In another rare occurrence in the industry, in 2014 Grey was named Global Agency of the Year 2013 by both US trade magazines Ad Age and Ad Week. For the third consecutive year, WPP was awarded the EFFIE as the most effective Holding Company.

  • 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.”

  • 2014 was the year of innovations in digital advertising: CVL Srinivas

    2014 was the year of innovations in digital advertising: CVL Srinivas

    From a media perspective 2013 was the year of the perfect storm and something tells me that there is lots waiting to unfold in 2015.  Was 2014 the lull before another storm? The major event that dominated 2014 was of course the general election and the wave of optimism and hope that has been spreading ever since the new government came to power. Not only was this the most bitterly fought election from a media standpoint; it was the most well orchestrated win combining strategy with clever tactics.  Advertising was only one part of the strategy. 2014 will go down in history as the year that gave a new meaning to marketing of political parties. We now realise that the general election was only the beginning. With a slew of schemes, clever branding and initiatives that touch the common man, the government is turning out to be a very savvy marketer. One hopes the product lives up to its promise.

    The extension granted to TV digitisation was a bit of a dampener for the broadcast sector. There has been some indication that the phase III licensing for radio will soon go through. Meanwhile, India became the second biggest market for Facebook, the overall Internet penetration crossed 200 million and mobile Internet became the most dominant force of change. And yet we have bandwidth issues, call drops and sometimes feel like going back to the old faithful ‘landline’.  As a nation we need to play catch up in digital infrastructure and going forward I hope this is given the highest priority.

    As for the advertising industry, 2014 saw a 12.5 per cent growth (as per GroupM TYNY estimates) as against a global ad spend growth of 4.5 per cent. Apart from political advertising, if there was one sector that stood out was ecommerce. This sector will end up with more than 50 per cent growth over last year closing the year at Rs 2500 crore of ad spend. The upsurge in this sector is expected to continue. FMCG (which remains by far the biggest sector in terms of ad-spend contributing about a third of total advertising) continued to invest in advertising despite supply side pressures, poor volume growth and an uncertain monsoon season. We expect FMCG to end the year with 12-14 per cent growth. Auto has seen a revival both in terms of sales and ad spends. The sector is expected to see a 15-17 per cent ad spend growth in 2014. With petrol/diesel prices coming down, we expect more action in the months to come. Telecom brands are back after a lull, adding to the overall positive trend. All in all it was a good year, although anything less than 15 per cent ad spend growth still seems low for our market. As expected digital advertising grew at 35 per cent, while TV continued to do well with approximately 15 per cent growth. Regional language dailies helped grow the print sector. Cinema turned out to be the dark horse, with 25 per cent growth though on a relatively small base. Unlike the past few years, we had a clear blip during the festive season this year across all media.

    2014 saw a great deal of innovation in digital media advertising. GroupM and our agencies have been at the forefront of many exciting developments. Digital video has emerged as one of the biggest growth drivers of digital ad spend. Mashup, our digital video content unit has seen a lot of traction, we have made over 1500 pieces of digital video content in the past year. Across the industry, we saw many memorable campaigns launched first on digital media. More brands have taken to social media platforms to keep the conversation going, social listening is emerging as a key input for advertising and media planning.  We have worked with clients (like Nestle) to establish social command centers that have given our media and content planners real time insights. Mobile as a medium continues to grow and will soon account for nearly 20 per cent of the digital ad spend. Madhouse is our mobile center of excellence that is now in its third year of operation. Another emerging trend is audience planning, where digital inventory is combined with data to ensure better ROI for brands. GroupM’s Xaxis is a platform that is at the forefront of innovation in this space.

    We have lots to look forward to in 2015 including the ICC Cricket World Cup.

    Here’s wishing you all a Very Happy New Year.

    (These are purely personal views of GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • FCB Ulka appoints Tushar Pal as creative director

    FCB Ulka appoints Tushar Pal as creative director

    MUMBAI: Tushar Pal has joined FCB Ulka as creative director. Pal, started his career at Euro RSCG (now Havas), has over 12 years of experience in mainline advertising.

     

    He has had successful stints at Mudra, Leo Burnett, Rediffusion Y&R and Ogilvy. Over the years, he has worked on iconic brands like Onida, Godrej, Future Group, HDFC Bank, Sony Entertainment Network, Sony Max, Zandu, Times Group, Air India, McDonald’s, LG and Vodafone to name a few.

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Pal said, “I’m very excited to work on FCB Ulka’s vast portfolio of clients. I look forward to some great opportunities and help raise the creative bar on our key clients.”

     

    FCB Ulka executive creative director Haresh (Harry) Moorjani said, “We are happy to have Tushar on board. He brings with him diverse experience on a varied set of brands. We look forward to him adding value to an important set of accounts he is aligned to.”

  • Abhijit Avasthi bids adieu to Ogilvy

    Abhijit Avasthi bids adieu to Ogilvy

    MUMBAI: The national creative director of Ogilvy, Abhijit Avasthi, has decided to move on from the agency after almost 15 years.

     

    Known as one of the gems of Piyush Pandey, Avasthi has been instrumental in some of the memorable ad campaigns for brands like Coca Cola, Cadbury, Fevicol etc.

     

    “Advertising has taught and exposed me a lot of things. Taking these learnings, I want to move on to do something which I love over and above advertising,” says Avasthi and adds, “It would have been unfair on both me and Ogilvy if I cannot give my 100 per cent to what I love doing.”

    “Both Piyush and Rajiv (Rao) have been aware of my intentions for a while now and have been very supportive about it,” he says while adding that his exit was planned well so that things don’t fall out of place at the agency.

     

    With an engineering background, Avasthi started his advertising career in 1997 at Enterprise Nexus as a trainee writer. After working there for two years, he went on to join Ogilvy as creative supervisor. In 2002, he was then made creative director and in 2005 was elevated as group creative director.

     

     “I’m taking a break to figure out what should be my next move,” he informs.

     

    A memo regarding his exit was sent out on 28 October 2014 to the employees. “He is currently serving his notice period and will be associated with the agency till end of November,” says a source within the company.

     

    The memo reads:

     

    After a stunning performance as National Creative Director Ogilvy India, Kinu has opted for a creative twist in his professional story.  He has chosen to go independent and would also be pursuing some of his other interests.  Consequently, he will give up his responsibilities as N.C.D. as of 30 November 2014.  However, Ogilvy India is the first to associate with Kinu in his new endeavour and he will be our Creative Consultant on a few key projects.  Kinu will also partner Rajiv and me in developing and implementing a robust on-going creative training programme for Ogilvy India.

     

    Kinu’s contribution to our creative reputation, first as a senior creative team member and then as N.C.D. with Rajiv Rao, has resulted in the new age creative revolution at Ogilvy.  He has helped build great brands, client relationships and a super strong creative culture in our organisation.  His reputation extends beyond India and he is respected as one of India’s most talented creative professionals.

     

    Rajiv Rao will take full charge of the National Creative responsibilities and will discuss the creative responsibilities of current creative leaders over the next few weeks.
     

    Meanwhile, we salute Kinu for his immense contributions and wish him the very best in his next inning.

     

  • Vh1 Supersonic to bring the best EDM artists to Goa in December 2014.

    Vh1 Supersonic to bring the best EDM artists to Goa in December 2014.

    MUMBAI: Vh1 Supersonic that began last year will continue to enthrall audiences this year too with world renowned artists like Paul Van Dyk, The Chainsmokers, Stanton Warriors, BL3ND, Funkagenga, Hook N Sling, Mark Knight, Mat Zo, Maya Jane Cole and many more turning up on Candolim beach in Goa from 27-30 December 2014.

    The creators of Vh1 Supersonic, LIVE Viacom18 have decided to take the annual event for just four days, this year and have offered a year-long set of experiences through multiple brand extensions. Vh1 Supersonic 101 (campus gigs), Vh1 Supersonic Club Nights and Vh1 Supersonic Arcades (outdoor arena events) will take fans far beyond the main festival and enable them to engage with some of the most popular DJs in their home towns on an on-going basis.

    Viacom18 INS senior VP and business head Jaideep Singh said, “Utilizing our numerous platforms across the live music and entertainment sector, our vision at LIVE Viacom18 is to reach out to aficionados of music, ignite the collective passion for dance music and fulfil the needs of devoted music lovers that at the moment, are not being met in the current Indian music festival market”

    Party-goers can kick back in one of the numerous hangout zones, filled with fun activities; lose themselves in a novel from the onsite library; weave through the larger than life art installations; strike a bargain at one of the stalls in the hippy market; join in the beach sports and stay active with Zumba lessons in the fitness corner; or indulge in some of the finest cuisine that India has to offer.

    LIVE Viacom18 has chalked out a 360 degree campaign for Vh1 Supersonic 2014 that will spread over print and digital platforms, which will be mainly focused in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore but will also extend to five other cities across the country. With over 200 cab covers, Out of Home advertisements, Radio spots, DSA’s and digital activation, LIVE Viacom18 is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that Vh1 Supersonic becomes an affair to remember. They’ve also roped in 300 campus ambassadors to bring the spirit of the event alive on college campuses across India.

     

  • MEC appoints Marie-Claire Barker as global chief talent officer

    MEC appoints Marie-Claire Barker as global chief talent officer

    MUMBAI: MEC, www.mecglobal.com, today announced the appointment of Marie-Claire Barker as its first global chief talent officer. 

     

    She will work with the agency’s global CEO Charles Courtier with the aim to discipline leaders and people and culture teams around the world, to deliver a consistent talent strategy and approach as to how MEC attracts, evaluates, motivates and grows their people.

     

    Talking about her new responsibility, Barker said, “I want to be in a business with a palpable culture.  MEC’s talent manifesto, which encourages each employee to thrive within the context of work, is something that really intrigues me.”

     

    “I have a strong desire to change the face of talent management in our industry, so operating in an environment that encourages uniqueness and innovation in a culture where employees feel there are no barriers to reaching their potential is what has drawn me to MEC,” she added.

     

    Barker previously worked with Ogilvy Group for six years where she worked as chief talent officer, responsible for driving and delivering talent strategy for their 22,000 staff, globally. 

     

    Commenting on the appointment Courtier said, “Marie-Claire has an absolute passion for the growth and development of people, and I know that she’s looking forward to working with MEC leaders to drive a culture where each employee is able to contribute in a meaningful way to improve business results, and reach their own personal potential.”

  • This Diwali should I gift Chocolates or Mithai?

    This Diwali should I gift Chocolates or Mithai?

    All of us know that as Diwali is nearing there is always a debate; should I gift Chocolates or mithai at home, to my friends and my business partners. It’s been a tradition that every part of India celebrates this great festival of lights by sharing joy and happiness with sweets. But over a period of time as the new generation has entered this world there has also been a marginal deviation in the thinking when it comes to gifting and sharing sweets during diwali. This is partially because of the strategy adopted by many chocolate brands (which include homemade chocolate brands and products from the big MNC’s) who have entered this market to capture some share of the mithai market during this great festival across India. Let’s look at some key differentiators between the two.

     

    1.      Traditional & Emotional: Diwali is a festival which has lot of history and tradition which date backs to many years.  Most of them love to preserve the values of traditions connected with sweets made and prepared at home. These traditionally prepared sweets bring in plenty of love and emotional expressions when they are exchanged with your relatives, family members and friends. While the promotional campaigns of many chocolate brands try to bring the emotions through their advertising but they are not able to capture the real essence that a mithai is able to deliver. Every ingredient that goes into a mithai has that warmth and emotional connection with the audience which touches his or her heart.

     

    2.      Wider Choice: There is no limit when you think of preparing mithai. Since mithai is very meticulously prepared by hand the touch of authenticity further enhances its taste, which is missing in chocolates though some brands try to use some special ingredients to come closer to the mithai. The good old parents and grandparents always relish the wider choice that one has when it comes to mithai. The natural ingredients have more positive impression as compared to the artificial flavors.

     

    3.      Pricing v/s Presentation: Mithai’s are still easily affordable as the prices are not so steep. You have a larger choice to pick from. You can taste it at the sweet shop before you decide to buy your preferred mithai.  And when you prepare it at home you can use genuine ingredient to make it healthier, tasty and less expensive. This is not true with Chocolates but when it comes to Corporate gifting due to its attractive packaging and presentation Chocolates scores over the mithai.

     

    4.      Innovative & Delicious: One can experiment lot of innovation while preparing a Mithai and that has been the hallmark of traditional sweets. One of the most popular items that have caught over the years has been the mithai for health conscious audience. This is prepared from quality dry fruits which are preferred over the chocolates by many diabetics as chocolates are perceived to be more rich and sweet. But chocolates have a larger shelf life compared to mithai and therefore it has an added advantage as compared to mithai when gifting to the corporate and sending it out of station through couriers, to far off friends.

     

    Both chocolates and mithais have their merits and demerits when it comes to sharing and gifting during diwali. But with the change in the audience pattern there is a different point of view between the two. While mithai has still stuck to the core values of maintaining the traditional image but the chocolates has wooed the new generation audience with their product and packaging to explore chocolates instead of mithai every diwali and every other festive season.

     

    Let us wait and watch the various marketers in this category are planning and what would be their strategy to woo the mithai audience.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Ganapathy Viswanathan, who is an independent communication consultant with over two decades of experience in branding, communication and public relations, and indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to these views.)