Tag: P&G

P&G rolls out innovative, connected products at CES 2019

LAS VEGAS: Can an FMCG company go the connected product route too?

Well the Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble obviously believes that's the way to go. At a press conference today, the global major unveiled six products at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas during CES 2019. The purpose according to a press release it issued is to share “how the company is leveraging cutting edge technologies to develop new products and enhance everyday experiences for consumers around the world” at the world’s preeminent showcase for global innovation.

Among the six products it featured include:
SK-II’s Future X Smart Store, transforming beauty retail shopping with facial recognition and gesture-driven “phygital” experiences, augmented by SK-II’s proprietary skin science and diagnostics.
Team SK II marketing director global operations Sandeep Seth spoke at length about SKII’s smart bottle which recommends and rewards users for successful applications of the serum. He, however, revealed that the focus of the brand will be China and Japan, the place where the SKII has some seven to eight per cent marketshare. “India is sometime away,” he said.

Olay’s Skin Advisor platform, which uses artificial intelligence to provide personalised skincare analysis and recommendations by analyzing selfies and a short questionnaire.

The Oral-B Genius X toothbrush, which uses artificial intelligence to recognise how users are brushing and provides personalised feedback that leads to better brushing, and superior oral health. Company officials say that product pricing has not been fixed as yet, it is expected to be in the $200-250 range.

The new Heated Razor by GilletteLabs, which features a warming bar that heats up in less than one second and elevates the shave experience, delivering the pleasure of a hot towel shave with every stroke. The focus, according to company executives, is to make the shaving experience a comfortable one for users. “Other innovations can follow,” said they.

Opté Precision Skincare System combines camera optics, proprietary algorithms, printing technology and skincare in one device that scans the skin, detects hyperpigmentation and applies corrective serum with precision application to reveal the natural beauty of skin. The corrective serum is available in light, medium and dark shades and one fill of the serum in the applicator lasts for about 60 applications.

AIRIA, a smart home fragrance system that uses patented, capillary action and heating technology to establish scent-enhancing ambiance with the touch of a button.

DS3 range of personal care products which feature compressed serves of detergent, handwash, detergent. “The products will be great for travellers as they and their packaging is fully dissolvable with water on use,” said a company official. “And they are very compact just a few inches in size.”

“We’re living in a time of mass disruption, where the exponential power of technology combined with shifting societal and environmental forces are transforming consumer experiences every day,” says P&G chief brand officer Marc Pritchard. “P&G is integrating cutting-edge technologies into everyday products and services to improve people’s lives. We’re combining what’s needed with what’s possible. By answering the question, ‘what if,’ we’re delivering irresistibly superior consumer experiences.”

“We’re innovating faster than ever, combining more than 180 years of capability with the entrepreneurial spirit of a lean startup,” said P&G chief research, development & innovation officer, Kathy Fish. “As consumers are changing, so are we. What remains the same is our focus on deeply understanding how consumers live, work and play so we know precisely what they want. When we combine breakthrough science and technologies with this deep consumer understanding, we’re able to deliver transformative innovations that improve life every day.”

The company is scheduled to unveil additional products on Tuesday in P&G’s LifeLab exhibit when CES opens to the public. P&G promises an immersive experience that highlights how the company’s approach to innovation and partnership-building is creating the products consumers want, often before they even know they want them, says the company press release.

January 7, 2019
Gillette launches new MACH3 START with Hardik Pandya

MUMBAI: Joining the MACH3 Turbo and MACH3 original is Gillette’s newest launch – the MACH3 START.

Marking the 20th birthday of MACH3, Gillette has specially designed this new razor with its first-ever 360° aqua-grip handle which entails the understanding of the needs and the problems of younger guys who are just starting to shave.

Guys take pride in their tools – a drill, a game controller, a razor and hence, Gillette has come up with this innovative handle, which features blades that are thinner than a surgeon’s scalpel and coated with a diamond-like-carbon, making the blades stronger, resulting in a close and comfortable shave– even on the 15th shave. Available in a sleek, blue hue, the MACH3 START feels extraordinarily comfortable to hold and allows guys to have total control in any situation – when shaving at the sink or in the shower.

“Gillette takes pride in launching the new MACH3 START which is designed for the millennials who want the added benefit of a secure grip for total control even in wet conditions during a shave. It is being introduced at a lower price point to be more accessible to young men and those who are just starting to shave,” says P&G associate director and country category leader for shave care Indian sub-continent Karthik Srivatsan.

“It’s important that guys feel equipped to face every day with the right attitude and confidence,” adds brand ambassador Hardik Pandya. “I am excited to be the face of MACH3 Start, that not only takes care of the different grooming needs of the youth but also their preferred looks, different skin types and is also pocket-friendly.”

In addition to the launch of the MACH3 START with Aqua-Grip, Gillette is improving the MACH3 family with sharper blades on the MACH3 original to go up against tough beard hair. The blades are made with high quality stainless steel that is precisely thinned and coated for durability to ultimately cut through beard hair with greater ease. Over the past 20 years, Gillette MACH3 has continued to innovate and advance in precision technology and has delivered on craftsmanship to uphold its reputation.

Gillette MACH3 START with aqua-grip will be available across all modern retail outlets and ecommerce platforms pan India and is priced at Rs 169.

Gillette offers a wide variety of products including razors, shave gel (gels, foams and creams), skin care, after shaves, antiperspirants, deodorants and body wash.

October 18, 2018
Will never look at rebranding Vicks: P&G India

MUMBAI: Nearly all of us remember the Vicks ad that went viral last year featuring transgender social worker Gauri Sawant and her daughter Gayatri. The ad touched and moved many. In the second phase of the campaign, Vicks has launched a new digital campaign for its #TouchOfCare brand proposition.

‘One in a Million’ is yet another inspiring story, this time of Nisha, a young girl who has Ichthyosis, a genetic skin condition. The transformation of Nisha due to the love and care provided by her adoptive parents Aloma and David Lobo, forms the crux of this digital video.

Created by Publicis Singapore, the story is a first-person narrative by Nisha, an orphaned girl with Ichthyosis who was abandoned by her biological parents when she was just two weeks old.

Ever since the company launched its first digital movie in 2017, people have been curious and anticipating #TouchOfCare to turn into a series and a long term campaign. Though the multinational corporation did not see the campaign becoming this big and receiving the response that it did, P&G Healthcare regional associate brand director for Asia Maithreyi Jagannathan said that the objective of the campaign was to drive on the equity of the brand and make it beyond just a cough and cold brand so that people don’t think of P&G only when they are sick.

2017 Vicks #TouchOfCare ad:

The new digital campaign is another example of cause marketing that seems to be the recent trend in the industry. Nearly everyone wants to associate with a cause and showcase that in their advertisement. It may often become a challenge for a marketer to distinguish the media spends between cause driven campaign and functionality driven campaign. P&G however seems to have it sorted as Maithreyi confirms that while this is more of a creative campaign, the company will continue to use its functional campaigns on all media platforms.

The Gauri Sawant film went massively viral on digital as it was a digital-first campaign and only after the team saw the phenomenal response it received, it decided to leverage other traditional mediums to promote the campaign. Similarly, for this second phase of the campaign, while it has kicked off with digital, as and when the campaign grows bigger, it will use a mix of television and print to reach the masses.

Content driven marketing is becoming larger by the day and P&G does not want to be left out on it. Mentioning that it has to be a balance between data driven content and functional advertising, Vicks India country marketing manager Ritu Mittal added, “Content driven marketing is a lot more data driven today because the clear objective is that you need more people to see it. Nobody will share functional advertisement on their social media but thousands will share a powerful content.”

2018 Vicks #TouchOfCare ad:

Vicks has been around for over a decade and many may see the brand as a grandmother brand that the Gen-Z may not completely resonate with. So much so that the formulation for Vicks hasn’t changed in the last 128 years. So, is there a dire need for brand Vicks to reinvent itself? P&G clearly doesn’t seem to think so. Mittal said, “You change the brand positioning only when the brand is not working and Vicks has been doing great numbers for us and so we don’t need to rebrand the product.”

Whether the decision to stick to the traditional form of Vicks works for or against the brand, only time will tell. But maybe the #TouchOfCare campaign was indeed a saviour for the company to get the millennials’ eyeballs as they are all about cause buying.

October 11, 2018
More TV ads by top 10 advertisers in 2018 than 2017

BENGALURU: Indian television broadcasters have a reason to smile in 2018. During the first 32 weeks of 2018, the top 10 advertisers from Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) placed 21.42 per cent more television insertions than in the first 32 weeks of 2017. The combined total number television insertions by BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers across genres for the first 32 weeks of 2018 were 13,255,057 as compared to 10,916,451 insertions during the first 32 weeks of 2017.

If ad insertions by the top 10 advertisers are a yardstick for the increase in television ads, broadcasters and marketers can definitely expect ad revenues to perk up with more number of advertisements during the fag end of 2018. The major Indian festival season is yet to come – hence the ad tempo can only go up. If one were to go by the trends of 2017, the number of ad insertions in 2018 could go up by 15 to 20 per cent as compared to the previous year. During the last 20 weeks of 2017, average television advertisements per advertiser among the top 10 advertisers per week had gone up by 16.97 per cent as compared to the first 32 weeks of 2017. Between weeks 33 to 52 of 2017, the average weekly TV ad insertions by BARC’s weekly list of top 10 advertisers had gone up to 27,163.66 from an average of 23,222.52 during the first 32 weeks of 2018.

Please refer to the figure below for the weekly comparison of the combined total insertions of all the top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 respectively.

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There were 27 advertisers that were present at least once each in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018. Hindustan Lever Ltd or HLL was the biggest advertiser by far during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 with an average of 122,725.65 and 129,604.28 weekly insertions respectively (5.60 per cent increase). At second place was Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd (RBIL) with an average of 59,340.66 and 95,546.63 weekly insertions during each of the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 respectively (61.02 per cent increase). Both HLL at ranks 1 (HLL- 32 weeks) and RBIL rank 2 (29 weeks)/rank 3 (3 weeks) were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017. HLL was ranked first as top advertiser for 25 weeks and second for 7 weeks, while RBIL was present at rank 1 for 7 weeks, rank 2 for 24 weeks and rank 3 for 1 week during the first 32 weeks of 2018.

In 2017, only the above mentioned two advertisers were present in BARC’s top 10 advertisers list during all the first 32 weeks of 2017. This year besides HLL and RBIL, ITC Limited (ITL) and Cadbury India (Cadbury) were also present in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 advertisers during all the first 32 weeks of 2018. Both the companies’ – ITC and Cadbury’s average weekly insertions in 2018 were higher than their average weekly insertions in 2017. ITC, which was ranked third in 2018, had average weekly insertions of 33,002.88 in 2018 (32 weeks average) as compared to 18,959.9 in 2017 (20 weeks average), or a 74 per cent y-o-y increase during the periods under review. Cadbury’s average weekly insertions in 2018 were 18.41 per cent more at 27.410.88 (32 week average) as compared to 23,150.03 (31 week average) in 2017. Please note that the growth of average number of weekly insertions has been calculated by determining the average weekly insertions in the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 only when these brands were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top ten advertisers across genres. The actual difference may not be the one mentioned above.

Most of the advertisers’ average insertions per week when they were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers across genres have increased in 2018 as compared to 2017. Some notable examples are Procter & Gamble (38.51 per cent increase); Amazon Online India Pvt Ltd (16.47 per cent increase); Colgate Palmolive India Ltd (6.44 per cent increase); Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (17.03 per cent increase); Marico (33.05 per cent increase), etc.

A few of notable players that have had a y-o-y fall in their TV ad insertions during their presence in BARC’s weekly lists during the first 32 weeks of 2018 are Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved (Patanjali) (-5.70 per cent*), Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (-2.03 per cent*) and Ponds India Ltd (-4.48 per cent*).It must be noted that fall in percentages have been derived by calculating the difference in average weekly insertions in 2017 and 2018 only when these brand owners were present in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 respectively. The actual difference may not be the one mentioned above.

August 24, 2018
P&G’s new heartwarming film talks about education for all

MUMBAI: In order to reaffirm its commitment towards improving the quality of education, P&G India has unveiled a beautiful new digital film for its flagship CSR program ‘P&G Shiksha’.

The new film portrays the heart-warming story of Appu, who wishes with all his heart to go to school. Unfortunately, there is no school in little Appu’s village. The film is the story of Appu’s anticipation of school and how his father deals with his impending disappointment. Leo Burnett India has conceptualised and created this campaign.

P&G India director of marketing operations Abhishek Desai says, “Educating a child is the first step towards transforming a society and at P&G we are extremely proud to be working towards it. Through this film, we want to make an emotional connection with people and enable them to contribute towards the education of underprivileged children. The heart-warming tale of little Appu reflects the real lives of many children in India. This story is a true reminder of the power of hope, and we are incredibly proud to be able to tell it.”

The film has been launched across social media platforms YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Now in its 14th year, P&G Shiksha continues to make critical infrastructure and learning interventions by building and supporting schools across the country thereby providing underprivileged children with access to education.

In India, many children do not have access to quality education because of the absence of schools or infrastructure. P&G Shiksha has built and supported over 1500 schools which will impact the lives of more than 1.2 million children.

Leo Burnett South Asia managing director for India and chief creative officer Rajdeepak Das adds, “P&G Shiksha has been doing so much work for education across the country. It is no small feat to build and support 1500 schools that will make a difference to the lives of over 1.2 million Indian children. We wanted to tell our audience about this positive impact in an interesting way. Appu’s story represents all the children who want to study, but have no schools around them. This is a heartfelt, humankind idea, and we are proud of this piece of work from Leo Burnett India.”

With the objective to holistically improve the lives of underprivileged children, P&G Shiksha is working extensively to provide necessary amenities from building classrooms to building toilets, providing clean drinking water to setting up drinking water stations and playgrounds across India.

May 4, 2018
Agencies in India Have 18 Finalists in 45th Annual One Show, Including 10 for McCann Worldgroup India

Agencies in India have 18 finalists’ entries for the 45th annual One Show, as announced by The One Club for Creativity, the world’s foremost non-profit organization celebrating creative excellence in advertising and design.

McCann Worldgroup India, Mumbai leads the way with 10 finalists, including seven with McCann Health, Delhi for Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan “The Immunity Charm”.

Hindustan Petroleum has five finalists for its own “Roads That Honk”.

Agencies in India with one finalist each are Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai for RNW Media “#NotMusicToMyEars”, FCB India, Mumbai for Times of India“Shindoor Khela – No Condition Apply” and Famous Innovations, Mumbia for CaratLane “The Personalised Ring Box That’ll Get You a Yes”.

To view the complete list of The One Show 2018 finalists by discipline, please visit http://www.oneshow.org/finalists/2018/.

This year’s One Show has 1,643 finalists representing 42 countries, selected from 19,800 total entries. The US has the most finalists with 669, followed by the UK with 117, Japan with 94, Canada with 86, Germany with 78, Brazil with 70, France with 65 and Australia with 59.

Globally, BBDO New York is the agency office with most One Show finalists with 68, including 10 for Downtown Records’ “Live Looper” featuring the band the Academic and eight for P&G “The Talk”.

Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago has 34 finalists, including 16 for SC Johnson “Kiwi Portraits Completed” campaign and individual ads, and Wieden+Kennedy, Portland has 33 finalists, including 11 for a variety of KFC work and eight each for Old Spice and Nike entries.

Other offices with the most One Show finalists entries are Dentsu Tokyo with 32, McCann New York with 29, Droga5 New York with 25, Jung von Matt in Hamburg and DDB Paris both with 21, and AlmapBBDO, São Paulo and DAVID Miami with 20 finalists each.

The entry collecting the most finalists is SC Johnson “Kiwi Portraits Completed” campaign and individual ads by Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago with 16 spots.

Droga5 New York’s “The Truth is Hard to Find” campaign and ads for The New York Times picked up 14 finalists, while McCann New York’s “Fearless Girl” for State Street Global Advisors has 13 finalists spots. Both Cossette Toronto’s “SickKids VS” work for SickKids Foundation and DAVID Miami’s “Google Home of the Whopper” for Burger King have 11 finalist spots.

The One Club for Creativity awards shows each have their distinct focus. The The One Show focuses on creativity of ideas and quality of execution, while theADC Annual Awards maintains its historical concentration on craft, design and innovation.

This year’s winners will be announced on two nights of The One Show during The One Club for Creativity’s Creative Week, May 7-11, 2018 in New York (http://www.oneclub.org/creativeweek/).

The first night of The One Show, covering Branded Entertainment, Design, Direct Marketing, Health, Wellness & Pharma, Intellectual Property, Moving Image Craft, Public Relations, Responsive Environments, Green Pencil and Cultural Driver will be Wednesday, May 9, 2018, 6:00 pm-12:00 am at the Ziegfeld Ballroom, 141 West 54th St.

The second night of The One Show, awarding work in Cross Platform, Film, Interactive, Mobile, Print & Outdoor, Radio, Social Influencer Marketing, Social Media, UX / UI, Penta Pencil, Best of Show and other special awards, takes place on Friday, May 11, 2018, 6:00 pm-2:00 am at Cipriani, 55 Wall St.

The preeminent festival showcasing the intersection of advertising, innovation and creative thinking, Creative Week also includes the ADC 97th Annual Awards, the dynamic Young Ones Education Festival, inspiring sessions with some of the biggest names in the industry at the Creative Summit, and the exclusive Executive Creative Summit, open to a limited number of top-level leaders (founders, CCOs and managing partners).

The One Club for Creativity (http://www.oneclub.org), producer of the prestigious One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Creative Week and Portfolio Night, is the world’s foremost non-profit organization recognizing creative excellence in advertising and design. The ADC Annual Awards honors the best work across all disciplines, including Advertising, Interactive, Design and Motion. Creative Week takes place in New York City every May and is the preeminent festival celebrating the intersection of advertising and the arts.

April 17, 2018
MAM round up of the week

MUMBAI: The world of media and advertising never seems to have a dull day with another action-packed week coming to an end. Amid the yo-yoing fortunes of the industry, the newsmakers held their sway. Indian Television Dot Com brings to you a round up of the most important news events over the past seven days:

Mindshare South Asia’s organisational restructuring

Media agency, Mindshare, part of GroupM announced the organisation restructure this week by elevating Amin Lakhani as the new president of client leadership at Mindshare India. In his new role, he will manage core client capabilities across all offices in the country.

Additionally, Anita Kotwani has been promoted from her existing role to senior vice president of new business and Premjeet Sodhi will join Mindshare South Asia as senior vice president of Mindshare Fulcrum, South Asia and will lead Team Fulcrum across South Asia. Premjeet’s new role is effective March 2018.

Madhusudan Gopalan takes over as P&G India MD and CEO

P&G India elevated Madhusudan Gopalan who as the new managing director and CEO who will take over from 1 April 2018. Madhusudan is currently leading the P&G business in Indonesia and will take over from Al Rajwani, who is set to retire from the company after 37 years of service after the end of the financial year. Until his retirement, Al will help in on-boarding Madhusudan on the India business and enable a smooth transition.

Gopalan has over 18 years of experience working for the company across business units and diverse geographies like India, US and ASEAN countries.

Google Pay launches in US, UK

Globally, in an attempt to become a hit in the vast payment space, Google launched its payment system, Google Pay in US and UK markets where users can pay for public transport in London, Portland and Kiev.

In India, Extending its Google Tez option, the Indian payment app will now enable bill payments for electricity, gas, water, DTH as well as postpaid mobile. You just have to link your biller accounts once and directly pay from your bank account. Tez supports Bharat BillPay and doesn’t add any transaction charges.The app is supported in English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu languages.

The bill paying feature would include major utilities like Reliance Energy, BSES and Dish TV and would cover all states and major metros. The app supports all major and small scale banks in India for payment.

GroupM, Ogilvy unveil Effectiveness Lab

Wavemaker, GroupM’s media, content and technology agency partnered with creative powerhouse Ogilvy, to create a first of its kind Effectiveness Lab in India. This unique collaboration, between the two WPP agencies will develop data-validated points of view on creating effective communications across consumer interaction platforms.

Branded content is the first space the Lab will explore, probing how consumers respond to different content strategies, creative approaches and formats. As marketers increase spends on the creation and deployment of content, it is crucial to bring intelligence to what drives effectiveness in the content space.

ABBY Awards announces 2018’s jury chairs

The week also saw Advertising Club and AAAI’s ABBY Awards announcing the illustrious Jury Chairs for the Media, Broadcaster, Publisher, Branded Content & Entertainment, Specialist and Craft Categories. Chairing the jury for each of these categories are stalwarts and veterans who have played an instrumental role in leading the respective categories towards new echelons of growth. The Media category will be judged by Madison World chairman Sam Balsara, Branded Content and Entertainment category will be judged by BIG FM CEO Tarun Katial.

ABBYs 2018 will be a highlight at the leading advertising convention, Goafest, where once again the entire advertising and marketing fraternity is expected to come together in Goa, between 5th April, 2018 and 7th April 201 at The Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, North Goa.

February 24, 2018
Rajiv Gopinath new CCO at Starcom India

MUMBAI: In a bid to enhance strategic product and delivery and usher in greater opportunities, Starcom India (Starcom) has appointed Rajiv Gopinath as its chief client officer (CCO). Gopinath will interface with key clients and will bring in perspective on businesses, enabling the company to develop strong client relationships.

Gopinath’ s last stint was in East Africa where he headed planning on Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble (P&G), and other local businesses across seven sub-Saharan African markets. Prior to that, he was in China where he did extensive planning on P&G.

“The dynamic marketing communications landscape is both a challenge and an opportunity. It calls for upstream strategies that bring in radical business transformation for brands,” said Starcom India group CEO Mallikarjun Das. “Starcom today is as much a business partner as a communications partner, offering deep-level category insights, data-driven personalised communication, real-time marketing and predictive models. We map the full consumer journey and come up with effective, media-neutral, integrated solutions.” Das said that Gopinath, with his experience and thought leadership, would enhance Starcom’s strategic offering still further and deliver the desired business results for clients.

Said Gopinath, “Starcom is one of the few agencies that has truly has a pulse on the consumer and can leverage the power of integrated communications. It has great expertise on the evolving media product and a wonderful set of clients. I am delighted to get this opportunity and look forward to it.”

November 13, 2017
Vicks launches #TouchOfCare campaign

MUMBAI: Vicks, a brand synonymous with care globally, has launched a heartwarming new campaign ‘Touch of Care’. It reasserts the importance of care while challenging and seeking to redefine what family is in contemporary society. The campaign leads with the idea that ‘Family is where Care is’ portraying the real life story of an orphan and her newfound ‘mother’.

Created by Publicis Singapore, the story is told in the first person by the orphaned girl Gayatri herself. The film beautifully captures how Gauri cared for Gayatri as her own, against all odds, with deep compassion and love. The story reflects the challenges that Gauri faces from the rest of society, as a transgender woman.

The Vicks Brand has stood for Family Care in India for over 50 years. However, family today is not always as tightly defined as it once was. With the changing face of life across India and an increasing number of people living away from their traditional environments –the idea of family now goes far beyond just biological connections or sharing a surname. Vicks has therefore adopted this bold and progressive stance- that above all else, it is care that is the ultimate definition of what a family is.

According to P&G CEO Nitin Darbari: “Vicks has always been about the gentle touch of a mother’s care, as she caresses and gives relief to her child. With the #TouchOfCare campaign we are going a step further and expounding the importance of care beyond just the traditional perception of family. The campaign shows how people who, though not connected by blood, end up being family through care itself”.

Publicis Singapore CCO – global clients Ajay Thrivikraman commented “Looking for a way to express this powerful idea was both a heartening and humbling experience, once we realized that stories of extraordinary care are all around us in real life, and we are honoured that Gauri and Gayatri gave us an opportunity to share their story of care with the world.”

Publicis Communications APAC chief strategy officer Ed Booty said: “Great brands don’t just reflect safe and accepted norms, instead they dare to set agendas in culture at large. That is our ambition with this work for Vicks – to give the timeless idea of Family Care a fresh and contemporary meaning.”

Film director Neeraj Ghaywan said: “It was an immensely gratifying and inspiring experience to put together Gauri and Gayatri’s story. #TouchOfCare questions our conventional understanding of a mother and what constitutes a family.”

March 31, 2017
Ketan Desai new Grey group India president – north

MUMBAI: Grey group India announced the appointment of Ketan Desai, as president north. Desai has been in the Marketing Services businesses for close to two decades, most of which has been with Grey in Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Colombo and until recently as the chief operating officer of Grey Bangladesh.

He brings with him experience from across geographies in India; across domains of Advertising; Activation and Shopper; across clients such as ITC, P&G, Marico Audi, Revlon, Gujarat Ambuja, Hindustan Times, CRY, Suzlon etc. Apart from GREY, Ketan has worked with TBWA too where he set up its Shopper Business.

Desai will be based in Grey’s Delhi office and will work closely with Grey group India CMD Sunil Lulla. Lulla said, “Grey is enhancing its talent and leadership pool with Ketan Desai. He brings in the relevant diverse skills required to navigate contemporary communication needs of Grey’s clients”

Desai said, “It is a privilege to be able to partner this marquee list of clients and help build their brands in Grey’s famously effective way.”

January 9, 2017