ITV

Tag: Ogilvy

  • Sony Six launches two shows for 2014 FIFA World Cup

    Sony Six launches two shows for 2014 FIFA World Cup

    MUMBAI: Sony Six, a sports and entertainment channel from the Multi Screen Media (MSM) bouquet, on account of the 2014 FIFA World Cup has announced the launch of a flagship prime time football wrap around show ‘Cafe Rio’ and an invigorating live breakfast show ‘Football Extraaa’ on all match days.

    It comes with the promise of encapsulating the most interesting and entertaining aspect of the tournament.

    True to the channel’s philosophy of staying inclusive, the shows will captivate both the football purist and the fringe viewers. The shows will feature some of the most eminent names from national and international football as studio guests including Peter Crouch, Robbie Fowler, Peter Shilton, Mikael Silvestre, Ellyse Perry, Sunil Chhetri along with Bollywood star and football enthusiast John Abraham interacting and analysing the game.

    Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, “2014 FIFA World Cup is the biggest and most anticipated football tournament of the world and keeping with the scale of the tournament we are excited to present to our viewers the most renowned and eclectic line up of current and erstwhile football stars as studio guests. I believe John’s presence will render our show a generous dose of glamour and entertainment while the guests will bring in a lot of wisdom and insight, offering our audience an unmatched primetime football viewing experience. The hosts and experts on the shows are sure to keep the audience assimilated and glued to their television sets.”

    Coming on board as a studio guest John Abraham said, “I am really excited to be a part of ‘Cafe Rio’ the prime time wrap around show on Sony Six. It’s a great platform where you can see me interact and analyse matches with some of the greatest legends of football. I am sure with this convenient match timings and great line up of shows, the viewers will be glued to Sony Six to watch their favourite teams sweat it out.”

    The two shows come with their own unique flavours, with ‘Cafe Rio’ a live primetime show at 8 pm leading up to the match kick-off at 9.30pm is a blend of sports and entertainment, the show entails interesting facts about victorious teams, historical venues and stalwart players along with in-depth analysis and discussion about squads, player forms, group standings and strategies.

    The live breakfast show ‘Football Extraaa’ is a daily morning round up show for viewers to relive the excitement and fun of the previous day matches. The breakfast show will be telecast between 8.00 am and 9.00 am and will review and provide in-depth analysis of the earlier matches. This show will also be interactive where audience can dial in and share their perspective or ask questions to our studio guests.

    The set has been designed to replicate the essence and the fervour of Brazil’s animated and lively carnival, simultaneously evoking the sheer magic of the game. The dynamic palate of colours integrated into the set resonate the Brazilian spirit and passion for football. As an endeavour to enable the audience to experience the magic of 2014 FIFA World Cup, the set reflects the football mania with portraits of eminent players and a background that recreates the ambience of a stadium.

  • 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)

  • Unilever’s Rahul Welde: Consumer communication in a digital world

    Unilever’s Rahul Welde: Consumer communication in a digital world

    SINGAPORE: “Advertising and campaigns are not dead,” said the red-frame bespectacled executive on stage. “Whosoever says that is foolish. The TV commercial is changing from three seconds to as much as three minutes or six minutes. Its form may change but advertising and campaigns are here to stay.”

     

    Most professionals in India are familiar with this gent. Rahul Welde is Unilever vice-president Media for Asia, Africa, Middle east, Turkey and Russia, and he is seen as a media tour de force in the world as he controls ad spends running into billions of dollars for a large part of the emerging markets for the consumer giant.

     

    Welde was speaking at the closing session of Social Matters in Singapore. He said he welcomes the explosion; the fragmentation in media. “I believe it has brought with it tremendous opportunity.  It allows to not go by classical reach and frequency approach that we have to do with mass media where we do a shot gun spray gun approach. It allows us to specifically target specific audiences. But we need to ride all the platforms – TV, print, outdoors, radio, online, social and what have you.”

     

     He pointed out that Unilever is constantly listening to whispers in the digital social universe. “We are constantly on the alert. We are listening. We are reacting to what consumers are saying. It helps us tweak products; attributes and helps build brand love amongst consumers,” he stated.

     

    He spoke about a campaign that Unilever ran in India on the day of the election results on 16 May on Facebook. “We knew everyone was going to be on Facebook to comment, give their views on the election results. The reach block we resorted to asked engaged Facebook users to embrace the change that is coming. We got 35 million impressions; 165,000 reacted and interacted. It was very effective,” he explained.

     

    Welde said that digital is also permitting Unilever to deliver on “target moments.”

     

    For instance, he said that if the weather prediction is that the temperature is going to rise four days from a specific date, then he can choose to flood the various social and digital sites with advertising or messaging pushing ice-creams.

     

    “Let’s take this further,” he said. “This month is Magnum ice cream’s 25th birthday in Singapore. I can reach out to all those who are celebrating their birthday this week or this entire month individually and help create a personal touching moment for each of them with their brand which is Magnum. In the old world of print and television, I could have never done this. “

     

    He also spoke about the Dove Real beauty sketches campaign which was conceived in Latin America but broke in Australia. The idea of the campaign was to convince 96 per cent of women who think they are not beautiful that their beliefs about themselves are untrue.

     

    As part of the campaign, a forensic artist asked women to describe themselves and he drew them without ever taking a look at their faces. The next day a stranger – who had met the women – then described the women sketched the day before to the artist who once again drew them. In almost all’ the cases, the women’s description of themselves and their beauty was not as charitable as the strangers and it showed in the two version sketches.

     

    “The video which was produced by our agency Ogilvy went viral wildly,” says Welde. “We wanted every woman to know and believe you are more beautiful than you think and I think it worked very well.”

     

    Welde and the Unilever team are obviously pressing the right levers.

  • Election Campaigns: How they boosted OOH sector

    Election Campaigns: How they boosted OOH sector

    Since the 2014 elections is being touted to be one of the toughest elections of all time, parties are more than willing to dig deep into their pockets and spend on advertising…especially outdoor since their vote bank lies within the masses on the street of not just the metros but also the tier II, III, IV markets. Therefore, outdoor has become massively important for them. It’s much more rigorous this time.

     

    Election season has given a boost to outdoor advertising industry by more than 30 per cent. Understand, unlike television and print which also exude national presence, the power of outdoor lies in its local behaviour. It helps put up a larger than life picture wherein literacy is not a heavy requirement. You can easily look at the picture and understand the message. As a result outdoor has become a very significant medium for the parties to reach out to the masses who stay in the hinterlands of this country. They are their vote banks, most of whom who may not even have a television at home to watch an ad or are not literate enough to read the paper. It’s outdoor that helps the candidates and parties to reach out to such regions. Now talk of metros like Mumbai, where time is limited and people do not have the leisure to watch TV and read papers, since people are constantly on the run and outdoor helps capture their attention in a very big way. Outdoor inventories  such as hoardings, transit medium, street furniture, mobile vans, railway media all can be placed at strategic locations and just cannot go unnoticed by the target viewer. In a city like Mumbai where consumers are constantly travelling, hoardings play an exponential role in capturing their attention.

     

    The government has estimated a 4.9 per cent rise in economic growth this financial year, against a decade-low of 4.5 per cent last year. Parties have majorly used larger than life hoardings without much innovation in a bid to keep their campaign language simple and direct. National political parties such as Congress, BJP, NCP and the latest entrant in the political game Aam Admai Party (AAP) have also rolled out an outdoor campaign to woo voters pan India. Outdoor has come up as an effective mass communication tool for targeting people on the go as soon as they step out from their home.  This has given rise to the demand of outdoor inventories on big scale especially large size hoardings. Taking the professional approach, these parties have engaged highly lit, strategically located, clutter free hoardings along with bus media.

     

    Interestingly, political parties have also raised ad spend on OOH medium to cater to large number of diverse voters. Focused on innovation, diverse range of outdoor inventory and tactical media planning have brought national political parties closer to outdoor medium.

     

    Digital Marketing and OOH: Combination used?

     

    These political campaigns came up with single objective to influence the decision of voters. Therefore, the demand of quality outdoor products coupled with highest reach gained popularity amongst parties.

     

    Parties used combination of digital and outdoor campaigns for various political promotional events such as rallies, public appearance of prime ministerial and Lok Sabha seat candidate in every constituency, awareness campaign of party’s agenda and promises to the voters and many more.

     

     This year we have noticed many new trends such as advertising via mobile vans, LED, huge display screen at traffic junctions, public announcements, heavy advertising on railway and bus stations etc. A lot of BTL activities are also planned around the city like Narendra Modi T-shirts, Arvind Kejriwal’s Cap and Rahul Gandhi’s Mask to list a few.

     

     What after election?

     

    The elections this year is expected to boost the ad revenues across sectors in double digits. And this boost will help sustain even the OOH industry for the rest of the year. It is only an addition to the already existing and growing business of OOH as a whole. So, we do not think that there should be any coping issues. There will be business as usual. Elections are a once in a five year phenomenon. We do not depend on elections alone, therefore…right?! The elections will get over in a few days. And April-May are the best advertising months. Its summers…and holiday season for schools too. So, a lot of advertising happens across the summer FMCG brands, tourism and education too.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Global Advertisers MD Sanjeev Gupta and indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to these views)

  • Doordarshan Sahyadri Prerna Puraskar 2014

    Doordarshan Sahyadri Prerna Puraskar 2014

    MUMBAI: Doordarshan’s Sahyadri Channel will be commemorating “Mother’s Day” on 11th May,2014 with the telecast of a special event “Prerna Puraskar,2014” which will be a special awards function showcasing the unique bonding of “Mother-Daughter” as well as focusing on the theme of “Ladki Padhegi to Ladki Badhegi. This year the whole event has been designed in a way to extract a commitment from leaders of all sections of the society to support girl child education so that it paves the way for her all round success and progress in life. The event proposes to tie up with people from cross section of society and NGO’s who work towards girl child progress.

     

    This event is strongly supported and sponsored by “Clinic Plus “a brand that celebrates the relationship between a mother and a daughter. It signifies this evolving dynamic of a mother-daughter relationship, and acts as a true companion strengthening their bond. Prerna Puraskar identifies the role of Doordarshan as a public broadcaster; it had also won the Bronze Lion Award at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in 2006.

     

    The following mother-daughter personalities will be awarded at this event with the “Prerna Purasakar, 2014”.

     

    Daughter, Poorvi Bhave & Mother, Varsha Bhave

    Varsha Bhave an artist, composer and teacher of Hindustani Classical Music. She is the founder of “Kalangan” an organization which seeks to make children aware of their inclination for the performing arts – including music, theatre, dance and moulds them in to being good artistes. Recipientof Natyadarpan Award for her outstanding performance in the field of natya-sangeet.  Poorvi Bhave started her career as a News Anchor with Star Majha and currently hosting popular shows like “Ghe Bharari” “Mejwani Paripoorn Kitchen” “Jallosh Suvarnayugacha”. She debuted in Mrathi Film “Pitruroon” last year.

     

    Daughter, Ms. Sohaa Kulkarni & (Mother) Neena Kulkarni

    Neena Kulkarni is veteranfilm actress and producer. She has appeared in many Hindi and Marathi movies viz., Garam Masala, Nayak, Dum, Guru, Dum, Paheli. She is a popular face on Indian television and theatre. In 2006, she produced a Marathi Film “Shevri” which won the best film & best actor award at The Pune International Film Festival. Her daughter, Ms. Sohaa Kulkarni is currently The Creative Head for Dashami Creations Production House. She has also been the Executive Producer with the entertainment channels like Zee Marathi & Sony.

     

    (Daughter) Tejashree Walawalkar & (Mother) Jagruti Walawalkar

    Tejashree is one of the most popular child artists in Marathi Cinema & Television. She started her career with Marathi Film “Aaji Ani Naat” and won the audiences with her performance as “Ramabai Ranade” in “Unch Maza Zoka”, a popular television show. Her mother, Jagruti works for LIC of India and have been awarded by Pune Muncipal Corporation as the best LIC Agent.

     

    Daughter, Ms. Shubhada & Mother, Manik Varadkar

    Shubhada is a fine exponent of Odissi and a cancer survivor. Shubhada was awarded prestigious awards like “Singar Mani” “Priyadarshini” “Maharashtra Gourav” by some of the leading organisations. Recently Shubhada has received a prestigious “Mahari” Award 2011 of Orissa. Shubhada has been teaching, performing and conducting workshops in India and abroad for more than a decade. Shubhada is an empanelled artiste of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Her mother, Manik Varadkar is a social activist, working relentlessly for poor, needy and downtrodden children. She believes that every one of us must give back to the society in any way possible, be it voluntary or monetary services.

     

    Daughter, Manaswini Lata Ravindra & Mother, Lata Pratibha Madhukar

    Manaswini is a young theatre person who was recently invited by the Royal Court Theatre in London to participate in a workshop for young playwrights. Manaswini believes that the only way to help and change society is to engage with social service. Theatre, she realized was an entertaining, engaging and a challenging medium to raise social issues. CIGARETTES, was her first full-length play and then she wrote Alvida, Mazy Vatanich Kara Khura, Ekmekaat and Lakh Lakh Chanderi. Copywriter with Big 92.7FM, Columnist in Sakaal, Kalamnama & Scriptwriter for various daily soaps like Eka lagnachi Dusri Gosht, Lek Ladki ya gharachi. Owing to her mothers’ involvement with some of the key social activist movements in India (for 10 years Manaswini’s mother, Lata helped Medha Patkar with the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan. Mrs. Lata is a Social Activist, Researcher & Trainer.

     

    Daughter, Anijali Kirtane & Mother, Padmini Govind Biniwale

    Anjali is a Creative Writer, Researcher and Short Film Maker. Popularly known for her creative writing she has written books like Passion Flower, Hirvi Gani, Cherry Blossom & Dr. Anandibai Joshi: Kaal Aani Kartutwa which was converted in to a short film which won the Best Documentary Award of Maharashtra State. The film was also selected in the Baltimore Marathi Convention in U.S.A. She has inherited the writing skill from her mother Mrs. Padminin who is Lecturer, Marathi Poetess & Fiction Writer. Her writing includes tremendously well written Marathi books like Ranatla Diva (Story Book), Midas (Poems) and many more.

     

    Daughter, Janhavi Deepak Vartak & Mother, Jyoti Vartak

    Janhavi is a 14year National Level Gymnastic Champion. In the year 200,0 she participated and won the national championship in Sub Junior level, under 10group at Jodhpur in Gymnastics. She also plays Kabbadi for Maharashtra Kabaddi, Association. Her mother, Jyoti is a home maker and has inculcated in her children the invaluable traits of determination, courage to fight all odds and the determination to win.

     

    Daughter, Vidya R. Thakur & Mother, Anusya Padir

    Vidya is a renowned ENT Surgeon having vast experience of working with leading hospitals in Mumbai. Her mother Ansuya Padir hails from a tribal village Kotwal Wadi situated in the dense forest of Raigad Dist. Social Activist, Anusya has been instrumental in providing basic facilities at Khandas Tribal Area under Gram Sadak Yojana, Housing under Adivasi Gharkul Niwas scheme,Bore wells etc. She also runs a HPCL retail outlet Pursharth Auto Services at Kalamboli.

     

    Daughter, Tejashree Amonkar & Mother, Bharti Amonkar

    Tejashree is a singer and the granddaughter of Kishori Amonkar. Though a degree holder in fashion technology, 27-year-old Tejashri has gained firsthand knowledge of the techniques and execution skills of Hindustani vocal music. She also performed solo at the Arohi festival where music lovers found her performance likable and acceptable. Her mother, Bharti Amonkar is a fine exponent of Odissi. She has been performing at state level since last 30 years.

     

    Daughter, Rupali Ambure & Mother, Pratibha Khairmode

    Rupali is the first women to be appointed as DCP in Indian Railway. She is a woman of principle, attitude and courage. The famous Jalgaon Cyber Crime case was cracked by her and she made sure that the accused was arrested. Her mother, Pratibha Khairmode was a State government employee for her children being her ultimate life, in order to develop their career; she struggled a lot but fulfilled all her duties with a smile & vigor.

     

     Telecast of “Prerna Puraskar 2014” on Doordarshan Sahyadri Channel on 11th May, 2014 (Sunday) from 3.30pm onwards.

  • 4 out of 10 manifestoes talk about child rights, says CRY

    4 out of 10 manifestoes talk about child rights, says CRY

    KOLKATA: After launching its nation-wide campaign ‘Vote for Child Rights’ election advocacy campaign in November last year, the Child Rights and You (CRY) has again attempted to look at the political parties’ manifestos from child rights perspective.

     

    CRY which had launched the campaign in all major metro cities now aims to see whether political parties have given enough importance to issues related to children in promises made for the next five year.

     

    Manifestos of 10 parties viz INC, BJP, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M), SP, AIADMK, DMK and JDS were looked at from the framework of children’s Right to Survival, Development, Protection and Participation.

     

    Some of the key quantitative findings say that only four parties out of 10 – BJP, CPI, DMK and CPI(M) have mentioned children/child rights issues in a separate section. While for rest of the parties it is mentioned in a scattered way mostly under headers like ‘Education’ and ‘Health’.

     

    Average representation of content on children’s issues in 2014 party manifesto is around 11 per cent while in 2009 it was 9.75 per cent. “There is a marginal increase seen as far as quantitative representation is concerned,” the official added.

     

    It further reveals that none of the party talks about the societal role and steps that need to be taken to ensure that children have their right to live, develop, and build their capabilities and interests. Also, none of the parties has looked at all/ different perspectives of child rights/ children’s lives.

     

    CRY would love to ensure that political parties and people in power take heed to ‘Putting Children First’ always among other agendas and give top priority to children’s issues and commit to changing the situation of children in our country.

     

    The manifesto was based on CRY’s in-depth analytical report ‘Status and Trends in Child Rights in India-An overview of the Past Decade’, and covers the aspirations of children across the country. The report comprised of views of development thinkers and practitioners in the Child Rights arena and provides a detailed analysis of child rights indicators.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, CRY (East) regional director Atindra Nath Das, said, “Vote for Child Rights campaign is our way of ensuring that there is political will behind our justified demand to protect Child Rights. It is imperative that the best interest of the child be put at the centre of all policies, legislations and practices, and the Vote for Child Rights campaign focuses on that solely.”

     

     “This is our attempt to remind politicians and governments in power that it is their obligation to undertake all measures in protecting and promoting child rights,” Das concluded.

  • Akanksha, O&M ‘force’ celebs to help for free

    Akanksha, O&M ‘force’ celebs to help for free

    MUMBAI: If you are an organisation in desperate need of a service but don’t have the money to put out an advertisement, what do you do? Well, just let the advertising agency do the talking!

    That’s what NGO Akanksha did when it could no longer wait for teachers for the underprivileged kids under its care and protection.

    Akanksha’s brief to Ogilvy & Mather was clear: “The organisation does not have money for advertising, but it needs to reach out to thousands of people and tell them we need teachers, because when that happens, the teacher applications will go up.”

    O&M lost no time in getting onto the job at hand and the result was ‘Message Barter’, a ‘smart yet sweet’ way of getting celebrities to help these children without spending a rupee. “The insight was that you cannot say no to a child, especially when a child does you a favour and asks for one in return. You just can’t refuse! So in a way, we actually ‘forced’ the celebrities to help us,” says O&M associate CD Jigar Fernandes.

    “Another very, very important guiding point is that when you meet the kids from Akanksha, they are so intelligent, well spoken, street smart and always up for fun. I can guarantee you that if you do not know of their backgrounds, you would never guess, where they come from. So yes, the idea had to reflect the smartness and cheeky attitude of these cool kids.”

    A video was filmed with Hrithik Roshan being ‘forced’ to ask his fans to apply as teachers with Akanksha in return for services rendered by the kids – promoting the actor’s film Krrish 3 outside theatres and on streets. Similarly, Farhan Akhtar and Chetan Bhagat among other celebrities, and social media influencers featured in the video. The video was then mailed to the celebrities. Luckily, the Bollywood brigade jumped into the fray and through their facebook pages and twitter handles, urged people to not only watch the video but also apply for the job of teacher at Akanksha.

    Akanksha authorities were rendered speechless when traffic on the NGO’s official website (www.akanksha.org) increased four-fold and teachers’ applications witnessed a 160 per cent rise.

    “We didn’t set ourselves any target because this was a very new and unexplored experiment. In the end, it worked,” says Fernandes, proudly. A 10 member team worked on the campaign and took almost a month to execute it. Akanksha too was involved in the process; the NGO’s Chitra Pandit and Nupur Bhargava believed in the idea and were part of it from the scratch itself.

    The digital space was chosen as the destination as Akanksha’s target audience is largely urban educated youth which is most likely to be on social networks.

    The first-of-its-kind campaign, not only wooed celebs and helped the organisation, but it also won the agency the interactive award by BestAdsOnTV.com.

    Click here to watch the video

     

  • LS elections: Mumbai shows the finger

    LS elections: Mumbai shows the finger

    MUMBAI:  It’s been 20 days since the largest democracy in the world started polling. Half of the country has already undergone the process while a few more wait eagerly to get inked.

     

    These elections unlike the others in the past are different. Thanks to the role media played this time around. Political parties of course didn’t leave any medium to woo people to vote for them. From television to online, their presence was and still is everywhere. What is more interesting is that even television channels – general entertainment as well as youth – along with print told people to step out and vote.

     

    In the sixth phase of polling, Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, was supposed to make a difference. Today almost 18 crore voters from whooping 117 constituencies, which comprised 11 states and one Union Territory went out for polling. 

     

    While Bihar witnessed 60 per cent voter turnout, Jharkhand-63.4 per cent, Madhya Pradesh-63 per cent, Assam-71 per cent, Puducherry-82 per cent, West Bengal- 81.42 per cent, Uttar Pradesh-58 per cent, Rajasthan-59 per cent, Chhatisgarh-65 per cent and Tamil Nadu saw a 73 per cent voter turnout. The six constituencies of Mumbai witnessed the lowest voter turnout amongst the lot- 53.1 per cent.

     

    And this after all the efforts taken by both the television channels and the brands, who went out and out to woo the voters of the city. 

    While the celebrities stepped out of their comfort zones and happily got clicked with their inked fingers, it was the common man of the city, who did not show up in the polling booth, and not like it was expected. The only saving grace, that by the end of the day, the city had recorded a 53.1 per cent voting turnout.   

     

    Looks like in the city of dreams, many didn’t want to wake up from their sleep and go out in the scorching heat. And this, even after most companies including a few media houses were shut as it wanted people to vote.

     

    Though, many in the city may rejoice over the better performance as compared to the last Lok Sabha polls, reality is that an even better voter turnout was expected from the city. And it is perhaps, the lowest amongst the states that have cast their votes so far.

     

    Somehow the city and its citizens that don’t get tired of cribbing, doesn’t cast its vote. The reason (educated) some feel is that what difference will it make? For them, the policies made by the government are made for the poor and the rich and the middle class is bound to suffer no matter who comes to power.

     

    While there are still a few who want to vote but couldn’t find their names in the list. They are tired of the officials and the process. A few also feel that at least in Mumbai, the political connect is missing. “The old style of campaigning has been taken over by twitter and electronic media, and so that personal touch is missing,” says an executive from the media house, who couldn’t vote since his name was not in the list.

     

    In fact if a few have to be believed, one entire housing society, which comprises some 8,000 plus houses in the North West part of Mumbai, could not find their names in the voting list. “They have lost so many votes by this,” adds a source from the industry.

     

    But at least some did go out and get inked.

     

    When we contacted RK Swamy BBDO chairman & MD, Srinivasan K Swamy, he said, “Yes, I did vote. I got to understand that many names were taken off the voter list from various booths. These were people who have voted in the past. Though they had their voter’s ID card they weren’t allowed to cast their vote.”

     

    Colors CEO Raj Nayak too showed off his inked finger but feels that today people have become insensitive and selfish. “It’s all about ‘I, me, myself’. They won’t make the effort to vote but then they will be laid back and criticise the government. I don’t think any other country in the world can have such a smooth process of voting such as in India. The staff is courteous and the police do their job well. It hardly takes time to go and cast your vote!”

     

    Curry-Nation founder Priti Nair mentioned, “Frankly, I thought there was huge buzz about voting this time and genuinely thought a lot more professionals are all enthusiastic about voting. I am quite shocked at this turn out.”

     

    DDB MudraMax OOH, Retail and Experiential president Mandeep Malhotra said, “Yes I did cast my vote and I am really sad on the turnout. While Bollywood and cricket celebrities did show up on the polling booth, where were the others? It is sad to see that this is how the city responds to a once in a five year event.”

     

    Samyak Chakravarthy of Operation Black Dot feels that though slowly the turnout did improve but the youth turnout was still less in comparison to the total size of electorate per booth, “and this is worrisome.”

     

    He along with his team through the initiative Operation Black Dot tried motivating people, especially the youngsters to go and fulfill their duty. Many youth icons too supported the initiative.

     

    May be the next time the city goes out for voting, more push and initiatives will be needed to get the city voting: How about taking the electoral machine to each house? Is the Election Commission listening?

  • Digital agencies eye GoaFest 2014

    Digital agencies eye GoaFest 2014

    MUMBAI: While the 2013 edition wasn’t exactly the best, with the controversy around ‘scam ads’ and a couple of heavyweights like Ogilvy and Creativeland Asia bowing out, this year’s Goafest promises to be a definite improvement over its predecessor.

     

    The ninth edition has been postponed to May because of the ongoing elections and will revolve around the theme ‘Brand Baaja Baraat’. The fest will focus on macro-economic issues affecting advertising. There will be a first-of-its-kind leadership summit addressed by an interesting line-up of speakers. Among other changes, Goafest 2014 will have a new category ‘promo activation and PR’ while adding Broadcaster and Publisher Abbys to the existing list of awards.

     

    Speaking of awards, taking a cue from last year’s fracas, the committee has introduced changes to the judging process after feedback from creative professionals. The selection process will comprise two rounds with a gap of 10 days in between. Short-listed entries from round one will be put up on the Goafest official website. Complaints backed by evidence will be considered for review by jury chairman for that particular category.

     

     Significantly, the ‘digital’ category – which caught the industry’s attention last year – promises to be even bigger this year. Goafest 2014 chairman Srinivasan Swamy said he would be able to give the exact number of digital entries post 23 April, the extended deadline for submission of entries.

     

    It can be noted that in the Media Abbys’ category which received 660 entries, 40 – 45 per cent of them came from digital-related categories. The organisers had expanded the digital category to include relevant sub-categories in the 2013 edition. This year there are around nine sub-categories in digital, two in mobile, six in digital craft and nine in best use of digital media

     

     Though the likes of Leo Burnett, Ogilvy and Creativeland Asia are not participating, lots of digital agencies are really looking forward to the fest.

     

    Ahead of Goafest 2014, ad2campaign co-founder and managing director Madan Sanglikar tells indiantelevision.com, “Last year’s Goafest got everyone talking about the burning issue of ‘scam ads’ rather than brush it under the carpet. Scam ads are a reality and we need to have regular debate and discussion to keep them under control.”

     

    Sanglikar went so far as to suggest ways to curb scam ads. “Firstly, by creating a separate category called ‘proactive ads’ that would showcase ads which were never released but could have made a difference because of their innovative appeal. This would give creative people due recognition while acknowledging that these ads did not constitute real campaigns. Secondly, by instituting an open rating/meter which shows how many brands have been participating in questionable tactics. The assumption here is that clients are usually in cahoots with creative people in the making of scam ads,” he explains.

     

    Speaking of digital agencies, Sanglikar says, “Digital is main-stream by now. So digital agencies are no different from other agencies and if there is a fest for the advertising industry, it cannot be complete without digital agencies. Having said that, there have lately been too many award shows for digital agencies, so Goafest will also have to create a better differentiation.”

     

    ibs, which won the Grand Prix last year for its Tata DoCoMo digital campaign, is eager to participate in Goafest this year too.  “We are letting the younger lot to lead this year. We are allowing them to enter their work and make the submissions with absolute freedom and empowerment. Given this change, we are hopeful that the rank and file of the agency will get more deeply involved in the Goafest. While we are optimistic of some of our work getting noticed, winning awards is not the most important objective for us at Goafest this year”, says ibs MD Sabyasachi Mitter. He adds that success at Goafest would help draw the immediate attention of the entire advertising fraternity.

     

    According to sources, while a few mid-sized digital agencies are giving the fest a miss as they are cutting down budgets and will be selective while entering awards. On the other hand, a few big digital agencies are submitting a good number of entries and are positive about being recognised for their good work.