ITV

Tag: Percept

  • Zomato hires live events pro Kunal Khambhati from Bookmyshow

    Zomato hires live events pro Kunal Khambhati from Bookmyshow

    MUMBAI: That the food delivery and tech megacorp Zomato has big ambitions in the live space became apparent when it acquired PayTM’s Insider ticketing business for Rs 20,480 million. It That move  gave it instant access to a platform as well as data around a few million customers who were using it which would make it easier for it provide them further services, including live events and going out experiences.

    Now the company has hired Kunal Khambhati, the former head of live events and intellectual property at BookMyShow. The recruitment has happened just as Zomato is gearing up to launch its long-talked-about going out app, District, that will serve users looking for restaurant bookings, payments, live performances, sports events, staycations and holiday rentals. Khambhati’s role will be to look after the live entertainment vertical of the app. 

    He has oodles of experience under his belt: he played a big hand in live events and IP for nearly eight years, across India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Before this, he had held the position of associate vice-president – marketing strategy & sales at Percept for nearly 10 years.  He is a 2006 graduate of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management. 

    At Zomato, Khambhati is most likely expected to work alongside former Twitter exec Rahul Ganjoo and Pradyot Ghate (spent several years in Zomato across product, tech and growth) who will lead the District app. 

    Zomato  had hired Zeenah Vilcassim as CEO of its live entertainment division last year from Bacardi where she  was the marketing director of  India. 

    When District launches, Zomato will have three apps – Zomato, (food delivery), Blinkit (grocery delivery ) and District (going out).

    That’s not all:  Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal wants to take Zomato live into the stadium space as well, partnering with those who are willing and upgrading the infrastructure. 

    The execs at Zomato live are sure going to have their hands full. 

     

  • Network Advertising appoints Pooja Nair as VP – strategic planning

    Network Advertising appoints Pooja Nair as VP – strategic planning

    NEW DELHI: Network Advertising has strengthened its account planning division with the inclusion of Pooja Nair as VP – strategic planning. Nair comes with an experience of over 16 years and has worked in agencies like Ogilvy, JWT, Publicis, Saatchi (Colombo), Percept, and TBWA. She has considerable experience in handling cross-category brands like Huggies, Ponds, Bosch, Nutrela, Garnier, Godrej, Head & Shoulders, Oil of Olay, Electrolux, Allen Solly, Standard Chartered Bank, and many more.

    Network Advertising chief strategy officer Sunit Khot said, “We are glad to have Pooja on board the Network team. Her cross-category experience coupled with her natural curiosity will be invaluable to us in strengthening our integrated offering that is based on a strong strategic foundation.”

    Nair said, “What attracted me to Network is their philosophy of integrating Strategic Planning across all their functions, which essentially makes every Networker a thinker. I am looking forward to my role to enhance this already strong thinking culture within Network. The exciting cross-category roster of clients and the agency’s integrated offering makes it a dream for any strategic planner.”

    Network Advertising MD Vinod Nair said, “An integrated agency like Network needs to consistently over-deliver in the thinking area to bring alive our commitment to the brands we work on. Pooja is a welcome addition to the Network family and another brain to keep working on our mission of doing right by the clients we handle.”

  • Percept integrates media companies into single entity ‘Percept Media’

    Percept integrates media companies into single entity ‘Percept Media’

    MUMBAI: Percept has restructured and integrated its media businesses into a single entity ‘Percept Media’ with effect from 6 July 2015. The restructure will enable Percept to bring greater focus and offer better synergies and efficiencies between the various media arms, thereby presenting a wider array of services and solutions to stakeholders.

     

    Currently, Percept Group encompasses Allied Media – the media planning, evaluation and buying unit along with the digital media services arm and Percept Out of Home – the communications specialist providing solutions in the outdoor and rural media arena. The revised structure will see the two media service companies integrate into a single vertical under the nomenclature ‘Percept Media’, to become a single platform offering innovative and collaborative 360-degree media solutions to stakeholders.

     

    Percept COO Ajay Upadhyay will serve as chief mentor to guide the integration process of the media vertical, while Percept One COO Sanjay Shukla will be responsible for directly supervising the entire integration and restructuring process as a part of the Percept One portfolio.

     

    Following the exit of Allied Media erstwhile CEO Shripad Kulkarni, earlier this month, P M Balakrishna has been elevated to the position. He will also hold the position of Percept Media executive vice president.

     

    Rajneesh Bahl has been promoted to the post of Percept Media executive VP and will also continue to serve in the capacity of Percept Out of Home CEO, overseeing the entire OOH operations for the company. Milind Dewulkar will take charge as CFO of the newly created Percept Media vertical.

     

    The restructuring in the Media business is in keeping with the evolving and dynamic changes in the M&E industry and will enable Percept to offer greater efficiencies in the way it operates and functions. The new structure would also offer Percept’s clients greater synergy in the range of solutions and service offerings in the media domain thereby translating into greater value add and a heightened level of customer service and value for all stakeholders.

     

    The Percept Media leadership team will soon be drawing out a comprehensive plan encompassing the branding, structure, services, revenue and business development strategy for FY’16.

  • Research imperative to exploit big sports leagues

    Research imperative to exploit big sports leagues

    MUMBAI: The year 2014 witnessed the emergence of sports as it rekindled the nation’s hope and sports channels played a huge role in creating buzz in the arena of sports.

     

    The successful league models in Kabaddi, Cricket, Hockey, Football, Badminton and Tennis paved the way to create viable career options for young Indians. However, the key to success remains in monetization and return of investment for stakeholders and the sustainability of their business models.

     

    In a session of FICCI Frames moderated by Group M national director sports and entertainment Vinit Karnik, which had Percept joint MD Shailendra Singh, DOIT media founder Radha Kapoor, KKR CEO Venky Mysore and various sports franchise owner Abhishek Bachchan, panelists spoke on the issues relating to a national policy on sports.

     

    Infrastructure status to build stadiums and facilities, challenges before rights holders to monetise sports content, franchisees business models and a national curriculum on sports were some of the topics that were touched upon.

     

    The panel spoke aggressively against federation becoming a regulatory body and intruding into business strategies of a privately owned entity. Speaking on the same Singh said, “The growth is determined by demand and supply, you can make money of something you go for it. India has a large youth population desperately waiting for an opportunity to make a career out of sports but what’s stopping them is poor infrastructure and that is where Narendra Modi is going wrong. The federations are unwanted obstacles headed by corrupts. They make things difficult and people walk off from doing a business. I organised a similar tournament like IPL in 1999 but Dalmiya called it Masala and asked me to stop it immediately. Today BCCI cherishes the IPL.”

     

    While Venky Mysore, who closely works with the BCCI being the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), emphasised on the commercial sector saying, “While it’s easier to work with the BCCI considering the fact that one has to deal with less number of people compared to the sports ministry, their intrusion in the business and strategic affairs of the franchisee is a bit irrational. KKR has made money out of IPL and we are a debt free franchisee – a fact that I am proud of. For any brand to work in India you need fans and the ratings show that KKR matches always bag the pole position. So every new sport has room but it should not be rushed as the loss is immense.”

     

    While non-cricketing sports are also emerging in the major sporting league category, making money out of them is difficult for broadcasters, addressing the issue Bachchan said, “When Charu came to me with the Pro Kabaddi concept, I was shocked. But after seeing the ground reality my perception changed. There are more than 1500 Kabaddi clubs in Mumbai desperately looking for an opportunity and a platform to showcase their talent and Star and Pro Kabbadi League opened it up for them. The Indian Super League (ISL) is another example of broadcasters and corporates coming together to put up an exquisite event. Due to the ISL deal that ensures ground level improvement of the sport, more kids are getting the infrastructure they deserve, which will show its relevance 10 years down the line.”

     

    DOIT Media founder served for more women participation and declared new platforms for women in India. “We are launching a new kabaddi league dedicated to women, which will ensure their participation and it’s just the beginning. Every sport in future may have a female version too because the talent exists but gets rusted due to lack of use.”

     

    Every major sport now has two leagues but all of them are not profitable for the broadcaster. Kabbaddi changed rules to rope in more revenue generating opportunities and the federation supported it, cricket also did the same with innovations like strategic time out. While it is very important not to lose the authenticity of the sport, generating revenue is a big necessity in order to ensure longitivity.     

  • Percept restructures; gets Shiv Sethuraman as CEO

    Percept restructures; gets Shiv Sethuraman as CEO

    MUMBAI: Percept has gone ahead to consolidate its diverse strategic business units to a single holistic entity called Percept One. The agency currently stands at having revenues of worth Rs 1,250 million. Along with this the agency has also appointed Shiv Sethuraman as CEO of Percept One, with effect from 14 July, 2014.

     

    He will be responsible for leading business development and integration of all marketing communication (marcom) services, creating opportunities for synergy within and across the marcom businesses of the Percept group, attaining profitability and revenue growth organically and inorganically, as also paving the roadmap for the overall marcom business of the Percept group. Sethuraman has a challenging mandate of driving a 30 per cent year-on-year growth with a target of achieving revenues worth Rs 2,750 million by 2017.

     

    Previously, the marketing communications services business of Percept spanned three separate verticals, namely creative services, media services and other marcom services. The creative services vertical encompassed advertising, brand marketing consultancy and communications, corporate identity, strategy, creative, design and packaging and integrated marketing communication consultancy services.

     

    The media services vertical spanned media planning and buying, out-of-home media, retail media, rural media and digital media. The third vertical included a host of services including experiential marketing, sports management and marketing, incentives, conferences and exhibitions management, event management and marketing, celebrity endorsements and talent management, entertainment branding and marketing, branded entertainment, brand activations and promotions, public and media relations and social media marketing.

     

    Sethuraman has had a remarkable two decade long career in the media and communications domain. He has handled dynamic portfolios spanning global brand development and business acquisition and served as country head in Europe and also in India.

     

    Prior to joining Percept, Sethuraman was associated with TBWA, India in the role of CEO and personally led the Nissan, Adidas and infrastructure/realty cluster within the agency. He kick-started his advertising career with Ogilvy where he cut his teeth on many of the key clients of the agency such as Cadbury, Castrol, Unilever and Shell amongst others. He moved to Ogilvy, Paris in 2001 as global business director and was later elevated to the position of MD, Ogilvy & Mather, Paris where he acquired large global and regional accounts such as Louis Vuitton, Coca Cola – Europe and Europcar and also managed several businesses including IBM, Unilever and Nestle. 

     

    Sethuraman said, “Percept has been a pioneer in the entertainment, media and communications space and has set many benchmarks over the decades. With the creation of Percept One we are now bringing together the very successful individual businesses to create an integrated entity. This entity is already 700 people strong and has over Rs 1250 million in revenue, making it one of the leading companies in its space. The mandate and the challenge is to use this size and scale to propel us to a faster growth trajectory. I look forward to working closely with the team at Percept to ensure that Percept One reaches its goals.”

     

    “We strongly believe that Shiv will be able to provide the leadership that Percept One needs to become a strong unified marcom service.  His global leadership experience and brand experience will help us achieve the scale and growth targets we have set for ourselves,” added Percept director Ajay Upadhyay.

  • Percept bags SSK’s creative and media biz

    MUMBAI: The Percept Group has been roped in to handle the SSK LED Lights creative and media account.

    IBD India, a Percept Hakuhodo company, will handle the brand communication for SSK LED Lights. The media duties for the brand will be handled by Allied Media, the media arm of Percept Limited.

    The estimated communication budget is between Rs 550 – 600 million.

    SSK Group brought SSK-LED Lights to India with intent to exclusively manufacture and sell LED lighting solutions. The promise of LED as lighting solutions for future due to its cost, energy and environment efficiency has prompted SSK to launch this venture.

    SSK Group managing director Govind Uttamchandani said, “IBD‘s understanding of our product, it‘s market and eco system backed by their consumer‘s understanding made us comfortable. The creative approach that came aligned with their long term strategy sealed our choice.”

    IBD India managing director Rahul Gupta said, “LED Lights is a game changer in the lighting industry and we are excited about partnering with the brand.”” Establishing and anchoring SSK as a pioneer in sustainable lighting solutions that has every bit of benefit in favour of the consumer will be our first step with plenty planned ahead.”

    IBD India is an integrated brand development company and specialises in providing holistic solutions across the brand spectrum – from advertising, films, identity management to interactive media and other touch points.

  • Percept kick-starts marcom unit with IPL report

    Percept kick-starts marcom unit with IPL report

    MUMBAI: Percept Limited, India‘s leading entertainment, media and communications company, has launched a new unit, Percept Media Lab, which will delve into analytics, forecasts and future trends and concepts in the marcom space.

    The new unit will be led by Allied Media CEO Shripad Kulkarni.

    The first report to churn from the lab is “Comprehensive Statistical Viewership Analysis of IPL 5”, which forecasts IPL TV viewership using approach of analytics, advanced statistics and audience research.

    The next initiative of Percept Media Lab is a M3 project. At the heart of M3 is a big 20000 sample size consumer study, which will explore the path to purchase or P2P for 10 product categories in the context of marcom challenges and strategies.

    This study will measure the importance of key drivers for each of the categories and perception of top brands on each of those. The high point of this study will be the unique M3 model in collaboration with Pointlogic, a world Leader in marcom planning and analytics that combines cutting-edge research, advanced mathematical modeling, and flexible software tools to deliver optimum message and media touch point combination for maximising market share.

  • Percept to release Rush in May

    Percept to release Rush in May

    MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company will release the Emraan Hashmi-starrer Rush in May, though the exact date has not been revealed.

    The film has Hashmi playing a charismatic investigative journalist who plunges into a deadly engineered cat and mouse game.

    The film, launched in 2009 as Raftaar24/7, was delayed because of ill health and subsequent death of director Shamim Desai who completed the film except for three songs.

    Creative director Priyanka Desai then revived and completed the crime thriller.

  • Percept launches campaign for Indian Olympic Squad

    Percept launches campaign for Indian Olympic Squad

    MUMBAI: Percept Limited has unveiled an all India campaign, called”Go for Gold”, coinciding with the start of 365-day countdown to the largest sporting event in the world.

    Sportspersons such as Vikas Krishan (Boxing), Bajrang Lal Takhar (Rowing), Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis) and Madhurika Patkar (Table Tennis) have also joined the campaign.

    Through this initiative, the company aims to highlight the incredible potential that the Olympic holds for India.

    Percept will roll out a communication plan in a phased manner over the next year for the”Go for Gold” Campaign. Awareness would be created through a series of events, campaigns and media vehicles. Starting from the official”Go for Gold” anthem launched with the Indian Olympics 2012 contingent, the campaign will have a title sponsor and associate sponsors supporting it.
     
    The campaign will also include a”Go for Gold” torch run from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, wherein chosen athletes will carry the torch across the country. Mini events will be organised across 50 cities with local celebrities honoring the torch arrival.

    Branded campaigns will be used around this activity, and a percentage of the funds generated out of sales will go to the Athletes Fund’, the company said. A”Go for Gold” concert with performances from Bollywood artists will also be held as part of this drive.

    The campaign will have a presence in the online space too with athletes getting active on social networking platforms and updating their fans on their practice sessions and preparations on a regular basis.

    As part of the campaign, the athletes will also walk the ramp in fashion shows. Official team apparel and a”Go for Gold” merchandise launch are being planned later next year. This range of”Go for Gold” Olympic 2012 merchandise will be available in organised retail stores all over India.

    A farewell dinner will be hosted for the Indian Olympic Squad. Autographed”Go for Gold” merchandise from this event will be auctioned and the proceeds of the sales will go to the Athletes Fund.

    Percept is also planning to launch a range of Olympic medals as part of the merchandise range. It will be created using the images of the top 10 Olympic stars who have brought glory to our country.

    Percept has also tied-up with tour operators to ensure special packages for Indian travelers visiting Olympics 2012 in London. Fan Parks will be set for sporting enthusiasts, wherein they get a chance to watch the games from close quarters.

    Percept joint managing director Shailendra Singh said,”This campaign is an opportunity to engage 1.3 billion Indians into the Olympic flavor. This campaign will be spread across the country and enable maximum participation from citizens all over. Our athletes have brought great accolades for us in the past and we are looking forward to them to make a clean sweep of the gold rush in the forthcoming Olympics. We as a country are proud of our squad and together wish them all the best for the games.”