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Tag: RAPP India

  • RAPP India appoints Lowe’s Kabir Ahmed as group director

    RAPP India appoints Lowe’s Kabir Ahmed as group director

    MUMBAI: DDB Mudra Group’s agency RAPP India has appointed Kabir Ahmed as group director- brand communication.

     

    Ahmed joins RAPP India from Lowe, Mumbai where he was brand services director.

     

    At RAPP India, Ahmed will be managing clients across the agency’s portfolio and report to RAPP India president Venkat Mallik.

     

    Ahmed said, “For me, it was to look at doing something different in advertising. At RAPP India, the true sense of 360 degree, including the digital exercise on a brand, approach to marketing communications and the sheer magnitude of work done for its clients excited me. I look forward to add value to these processes.”

     

    Mallik added, “RAPP India is going through its next phase of growth with a number of new business wins and a truly fabulous array of clients and spread of work. In a typical workday our life moves from a digital assignment to one involving Data and consumer engagement and then to a classical brand-building task. It’s a truly exciting period of time when we need people with deep passion for the communications business supported with a high level of energy and versatility. Kabir brings in just the right blend of enthusiasm and experience for the period ahead.”

     

    Backed with an experience of over nine years, Ahmed has worked for both, brand communication and creative execution for clients across agencies like Percept/H, DDB Mudra, Chennai, and Art Advertising, Mumbai.

  • Pinterest’s new pitch to advertisers; impressive or run of the mill?

    Pinterest’s new pitch to advertisers; impressive or run of the mill?

    MUMBAI: Today, disruption is the operative word and brands of all hues are harnessing the digital medium to create cutting-edge communication. However, online audiences are very impatient and want things instantly – things that can sustain their interest, considering they have a short attention span to boot.

     

    An online platform that has endeavoured to help consumers curate and share things they love is Pinterest. Founded four years ago by Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, Pinterest has caught the attention of marketers with the launch of its various ad inventories over the past six months.

     

    According to a report published in Reuters last month, Pinterest has raised a new $200 million round of funding that gives it a valuation of $5 billion. The company last raised money in October 2013 at $3.8 billion valuation in a round led by Fidelity Investments.

     

    The social media platform stated in the report that it would use the capital to invest in technology, develop its advertising program further, and expand internationally. Pinterest said it has raised a total of $764 million so far from the time of its inception.

     

    Pinterest also introduced a new advertising tool called ‘Promoted Pins’, in January this year. According to digital experts in India, the social media platform tested the inventory in multiple phases. It was just last month that the platform made a small roll out with a group of brands in the U.S. This comprised ABC Family, Banana Republic, Expedia.com, GAP, General Mills, Kraft, lululemon athletica, Nestle’s few products, Old Navy, Target, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and Ziploc.

     

    While on an average it takes around $30 to $40 to advertise on Pinterest, according to experts, with ‘Promoted Pins’, Pinterest aims to improve functionality, generate revenue and serve additional content around the pin. The company also aims at generating between $1 million and $2 million per campaign from its big advertising partners.

     

    To address the large chunk of small and medium-sized businesses Pinterest is going to take a different route and opening up ‘Promoted Pins’ to more businesses in a very Facebook-like advertising model. Instead of paying by impressions, like on Facebook, with Pinterest’s this inventory, brands only pay when people click through to their brand website.

     

    It is learnt that Pinterest is also prepping up to open a data firehose by the name Business Insights API. With this, companies will be able to customize their online campaigns based on user insights.

     

    Pinterest’s move is being likened to what Facebook initiated only to be taken over by Twitter later. Indiantelevision.com spoke to social media experts to understand what this means to an emerging market like India.

     

    Digital Quotient strategy and planning head Girish Mahajan opines that though Pinterest has gained a lot of momentum worldwide, in India, its power is yet to be fully realized. “This is mainly because Indians constitute only eight per cent of the entire Pinterest user base. But if your business is fashion, interiors, arts or F&B, Pinterest could be an interesting tool to make shopping easier and fun,” he says.

     

    “If a brand wants greater engagement of a particular target audience say women, in that case, Pinterest can prove to be tremendously influential. Visual is Pinterest’s strength, a very important factor for retailers. Also when compared to other social media tools, the amount of time required to run digital campaigns on Pinterest in less. Promoted Pins are available on an invite-only basis; it is essentially a CPM-based model. Pinterest is aiming for e-commerce bucks unlike Facebook and Twitter. The platform will evolve more into a second base for e-commerce sites other than FB or Twitter. At present in India, advertising options are not fully available but in the near future, we will witness people leveraging this tool better,” Mahajan added.

     

    According to RAPP India president Venkat Mallik ‘Promoted Pins’ will work well but only if brands handle them well. “If the promoted pins are overly ‘salesly’ they are likely to get rejected. The visual of promoted pins needs to look like content that is generally interesting to people with related interests and then have a sales message may be one layer down. There are a number of theories about the kind of pictures that get the largest amount of likes and repins and some of those could potentially serve as guidelines on how to make promoted pins work better as well,” mentioned Mallik.

     

    Facebook’s buying of Instagram last year added a lot of value especially in a market like India.  According to social baker Nike, MTV and Starbuck are the top brands in Indian on Instagram.  Ignitee social media head Nikhil Kharbanda says that many Indian brands prefer Instagram to Pinterest because of the former’s reach and subtle advertising option such as sponsored post/video. Though Instagram doesn’t release numbers according to many international news reports, the application has doubled its user base in the last one year.

     

    “The way ahead in creating effective communication on social media is to bet high on image marketing. It can be noted that currently, Indian brands are interestingly using Instagram in their digital media mix but I am positive that with platforms such as Pinterest introducing affordable advertising options, there will be much more action seen from brands in this space,” adds Kharbanda.

     

    Whether Pinterest will be able to make a dent on Instagram’s popularity with Indian brands, only time will tell…

  • V-Guard’s appoints RAPP India as its digital agency

    V-Guard’s appoints RAPP India as its digital agency

    Mumbai: Consumer electrical and electronics company, V-Guard, has appointed RAPP India as its digital agency.

     

    RAPP India’s mandate will be to plan strategic initiatives for V-Guard on digital while managing its end-to-end digital and social media presence. The account will be handled by RAPP India’s Gurgaon office.

     

    On winning the account, RAPP India president Venkat Mallik said, “What excites us about V-Guard is the team’s vision and leadership in the Consumer Electronics Category. We’re absolutely thrilled to partner with them in their journey towards becoming a company with a highly diversified portfolio & national presence. Digital will play a huge role in this journey. The mandate for us is to make this category exciting for consumers. Digital can help us do this while we continue to build on V-Guard’s leadership position.”

     

    V-Guard’s corporate communications head Nandagopal Nair said,” V-Guard is in the process of building its digital ecosystem for the brand; it was important to align with an Agency who understands the complexities and challenges of the brand as well as the environment we operate in. RAPP brings a sharp, insightful digital thinking which would help build the V-Guard brand in the Digital space and partner us in this journey. RAPP was able to demonstrate their capability with a well thought through, cohesive strategy on what the brand needs to do in a laddered manner in the digital environment.”

  • RAPP India launches McDonalds Royale Burger through McDElections campaign

    RAPP India launches McDonalds Royale Burger through McDElections campaign

    MUMBAI: McDonald’s and RAPP India have recently launched the #McDElections campaign for the launch of two premium burgers – the Grilled Chicken Royale and the McPaneer Royale, in their menu.

     

    Phase 1 of the campaign kicked off with all the McDonald’s foods seemingly electing the leader amongst their candidates. The cast included a number of participating candidate burgers each with an interesting personification and McDonald’s foods that play their supporters. With the just to be launched Royale Burger duo threatening to sweep the polls.

     

    Each of the candidates had a manifesto (on www.mcdelections.in) that was designed to help them win the McDElections in the light of the threat from the new Royale Burger Duo. The prelaunch viral video, done for Phase 1, mimics a classic TV interview of two of the candidates McSpicy Paneer and Chicken Maharaja Mac.

     

    Facebook posts and banners set up the context of the McDElections with the candidates and their supporter foods all campaigning for victory.
    But the inevitable happens, and the Royale Burger Duo wins the McDElections and forms the McDSenate. And the campaign moves to phase 2.

     

    The Phase 2 Viral video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoJMVxrH8wI) had the first interview of the Royal Burger Duo after they swept into power. The Royale Duo talk about their manifesto and the many “Right to Taste” bills that they intend to pass like ‘Burgers must be eaten with two hands’ and how one should enjoy eating a burger like a king, and savour each bite. But even as they have come into power the voices of dissent can be heard and the Chicken Maharajah Mac and the Spicy Front are quite vocal about the fact that they will either give the Royale Duo a tough time from the opposition or skeptical about how long the Royale Duo will last in Power.

    Two interesting aspects of this campaign are the Breaking News section and the Twitter campaign.

     

    The Breaking News section which constantly refreshed captured the action in the McDElections eg – ‘McVeggie Burger calls for all Veggies to unite in a bid to fend off the Royale Challenge’ or ‘Royale Duo mobbed in Mumbai’. It also got featured on Facebook and on www.mcdelections.in
    The twitter campaign drew inspiration from the action in the Lok Sabha Elections using #mcdelections tweets crafted around real life stories of the current elections.

     

    The latest from McDonald’s India is the ‘Know Your Royale Burger’ contest to check how well the people know their Royale Burgers. There will be 40 lucky winners announced everyday, who can win their Royale burger vouchers.

     

    The McDonald’s India Twitter handle (@mcdonaldsindia) will also launch the ‘Right To Taste (RTT)’ and many more exciting competitions shortly.
    Says Rameet Arora, Senior Director Marketing & Menu Management, McDonalds India “Capturing the mood of the customer and the buzz in the air is always a trick that elevates campaigns and gives them life. The McDelection campaign did just that! The Royale burgers launch got a fitting launch platform through this highly engaging and interactive digital campaign”.

     

    Says Venkat Mallik, President RAPP India, “The McDElections campaign has provided us with a fantastic platform that helps us set up the food value of current and new Royale Burgers from McDonald’s mixed in with the spice that the election brings in. The wide cast of characters with 7 candidates and many supporters has helped us build a property which can potentially go on for a really long time ahead. The campaign lends itself extremely well to all parts of the digital landscape and we have used Facebook, Viral Videos, Youtube, a Microsite, Twitter and Banners”

  • RAPP maintains its winning streak by winning Aditya Birla Money

    RAPP maintains its winning streak by winning Aditya Birla Money

    MUMBAI: RAPP India, a part of the DDB Mudra Group and one of Omnicom group’s leading multichannel agencies has maintained its winning streak this year by adding Aditya Birla Money to its clientele.

     

    RAPP will be responsible for creating go-to-market strategies and digital campaigns for Aditya Birla Money’s Wealth, Broking, Real-Estate and other Distribution business.

     
    Aditya Birla Money is the second client that Rapp has signed up within the Aditya Birla Financial Services Group. Birla Sun Life Insurance being the first, having been signed on last year.

     

    Commenting on this occasion, Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer-Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group says, “Equity and other alternate assets must be on the consideration set of mass India, if they are to give life to their dreams. At Aditya Birla Money we are committed to provoking our target segments to self-realize the role and importance of money management in their lives and we were looking for a strategic communications partner who can help us bridge this gap. With RAPP India, we are glad we have found an agency that will not only guide and partner with us in the expression of our brand, but more importantly, also help us strategize for the way forward”.

     
    Said Venkat Mallik, President, RAPP India, “ABFSG is a very valuable relationship for us at RAPP.  Aditya Birla Money is a very good addition to our ABFSG portfolio with its focus towards reinventing the way financial service businesses operate. We are looking to bring in innovation into the way Broking and Wealth Management businesses market themselves through creativity in content and in the channels used, while working along with the very bright team at ABM”.

     

  • Tribal DDB’s Bagchi and Rapp India’s George get additional charge

    MUMBAI: DDB Mudra Group‘s digital agency Tribal DDB and multi-channel agency RAPP India have given additional responsibilities to Saugata Bagchi and Bijoe George.

    George, who is vice-president of RAPP India, will now handle the agency‘s operations in the West and South. He will also continue to lead RAPP‘s key client in India, HP.

    While, Tribal DDB VP Bagchi will now be in charge of the West and South operations for Tribal DDB through Mumbai and Bangalore offices.

    Both, George and Bagchi will continue to report to Tribal DDB and Rapp India president Venkat Mallik.

    Mallik said, “We have had a very good 2012 for both Tribal DDB and RAPP. The new structure with expanded roles for Bijoe and Saugata will help us leverage their skills better &build on the progress we have made in 2012. The year 2013 should see us deepening our capabilities anddelivering higher quality business and creative solutions for our clients while we build RAPP and Tribal DDB into stronger bigger communications agencies.”

    Bagchi said, “We‘ve had a strong hold in the western market and were able to further consolidate it in 2012. I am very excited about this new opportunity and believe that with our new improved digital skill sets, our clients in Southern India will increasingly contribute to the fast pace of growth that we‘ve set for Tribal DDB India.”

    “Over the last few years RAPP India has won many blue chip clients and 2013 would further propel our growth story. It would be exciting to lead this growth and transformation. Given RAPP‘s legacy in the data analytics space combined with its media neutral offering, clients across verticals will find the RAPP proposition a compelling one,” George said.