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Tag: United Breweries

  • Stefi Dsouza hops over to United Breweries as media lead

    Stefi Dsouza hops over to United Breweries as media lead

    MUMBAI: Stefi Dsouza has traded one beer giant for another, leaving AB InBev to become media lead at United Breweries Ltd, the Indian arm of Dutch brewing behemoth Heineken. The move caps a career that has seen the media planning specialist work her way through some of advertising’s most prestigious agencies before landing client-side roles at major corporates.

    Dsouza’s appointment comes after two years as senior media manager at AB InBev, where she helped the world’s largest brewer navigate India’s increasingly competitive beer market. Her move  to United Breweries—Heineken’s local operation—represents a significant coup for the Dutch company as it battles for market share against rivals including AB InBev and Carlsberg.

    The media planning veteran brings 12 years of experience spanning both agency and corporate roles. Her CV reads like a who’s who of Indian advertising, with stints at Mindshare, OMD India, MediaCom and MediaVest before making the leap to the client side in 2020.

    At Volkswagen India, where she served as media manager and later senior media manager, Dsouza helped the German carmaker navigate the choppy waters of India’s automotive market. She then moved to Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd for a year-long stint before joining AB InBev in 2023.

    Her agency background includes a director-level role at Mindshare and a group head position at OMD India, suggesting she knows how to handle large-scale media campaigns. The Cannes Young Lions India shortlist recipient and Social Samosa award winner has built a reputation as what she calls an “Excel nerd”—no small compliment in the data-driven world of modern media planning.

    The appointment signals United Breweries’ commitment to strengthening its media capabilities as competition intensifies in India’s beer market. The company, which owns brands including Kingfisher, has been battling for market leadership against AB InBev’s portfolio of premium international brands.

    Dsouza’s move also highlights the increasing importance of media planning expertise in India’s consumer goods sector. With digital advertising spend continuing to surge and traditional media becoming more fragmented, companies are placing greater emphasis on hiring specialists who can navigate the complex media landscape.

    Her tagline—”bringing brands live on media, one campaign at a time”—suggests United Breweries can expect an integrated approach that combines traditional and digital channels. Given her track record across automotive, electric mobility and brewing sectors, Dsouza appears well-equipped to handle the diverse challenges of marketing alcoholic beverages in India’s highly regulated environment.

    The hiring represents a small but significant shift in the ongoing talent war between India’s major consumer brands, as companies increasingly poach senior executives from direct competitors rather than relying solely on agency talent pipelines

  • Digital promotions & Kingfisher’s popularity to lead Ultra Witbier in craft beer segment

    Digital promotions & Kingfisher’s popularity to lead Ultra Witbier in craft beer segment

    MUMBAI: Traditionally known to be a whiskey and rum market, India, in the past few years, has developed a fine taste for beers as well. They have started differentiating and accepting that beer, amongst the larger alco-beverage offerings, offers refreshment in a far more suitable manner across a larger number of occasions. They are open to trying newer brands and variants of the drink, which has become omnipresent at all parties.

    United Breweries is one of the largest players in India’s beer market and has been serving its loyal patrons for many decades now. Now, with an intention to provide adequate choices and variety in its portfolio, the brand has recently launched its first craft beer, the Kingfisher Ultra Witbier, which it terms as an authentic Belgian Wheat beer.

    Indiantelevision.com got in touch with United Breweries Ltd head of marketing Gurpreet Singh to know about the brand’s strategy with the new offering and their marketing plans.

    We were keen to know if they have purposefully launched the beer near the Christmas and New Year, but Singh told us otherwise. He candidly said that the brand was busy running extensive research and tests for the development of the product and it is just an added advantage that the final offering got ready close to the festive season.

    Elaborating more on the approach, Singh said, “Over the years, we have been observing that there is a small section of consumers who have shown growing interest in alternate categories of beers. The craft beer space is an interesting development in the beer category, having grown from just a few microbreweries initially to now a host of craft beers in the pre-packed format as well. Some of the offerings in this craft space such as the wheat beers have seen consistent demand which has continued to show signs of growth, displaying adequately a strong trend line.”

    He added, “The wheat beer segment within the various craft offerings therefore have interested us and we have spent some time understanding how the taste preferences towards this variety has developing and where the gaps and opportunities lie.  We did not want to rush in to this segment since these are complex beers and we ran extensive tests across key markets.”

    Singh is hopeful that consumers will ‘enjoy’ this new years’ ‘gift’ from the house of UB.

    Kingfisher Ultra Witbier has already been put on shelves across the states of Karnataka and Goa and will soon be available in Maharashtra, Delhi, and Haryana.

    Speaking about the launch plan, Singh shared that the initial focus for them is going to be digital media as a medium of marketing to build awareness, coupled with on-ground visibility across channels, and an aggressive trial generation plan. “The retailers too will find the Ultra Witbier an easy brand to recommend to their regular consumes. The brand Kingfisher Ultra is well known and retailers trust the consistent quality and supply that UB brings to the table,” he noted.

    Though Kingfisher is known for its impressive lineup of brand ambassadors from the cricketing world, it is skipping having one for the new offering for now and is creating its marketing strategy only around the craft beer.

    Singh shared, “We are currently keeping the narrative entirely about the beer. The marketing is entirely positioned around the authenticity of the brew right from the origins of its ingredients to its style of brewing."

    Further elaborating on the marketing plan, he said, “We are sampling the Ultra Witbier to the beer connoisseurs and we expect their reviews and opinions to influence the other consumers. We are supremely confident of the product and expect the trickle-down effect of this knowledge transfer to eventually influence a large cross section of the beer consumers across the country. Social media and digital marketing will help reach this message to the larger masses.”

    On being asked how is it planning to compete with the already existing and prominent craft beer brands, Singh showed good faith in the propensity the consumers have towards Kingfisher’s products.

    He said, “In this small segment of wheat beers there is already a host of brands that are available. In a crowded shelf of wheat beers the familiarity of a Kingfisher Ultra name and the trust that consumers have towards the quality of our beers will go a long way in generating trials not just with the existing craft beer consumers but also many other consumers who are open to experimentation.”

  • Competing with consumer activities not brands: Kingfisher’s Sheikhawat

    Competing with consumer activities not brands: Kingfisher’s Sheikhawat

    MUMBAI: The liquor market is witnessing major upheavals with umpteen number of alcohol brands battling it out for a slice of the market. The fight is tough since consumers can choose from a wide variety of beer brands – Tuborg, Kingfisher, Bira and Heineken among other local beer brands. 

    Craft beers and microbreweries are niche concepts in India but have been growing rapidly for the past few years. The trend is certainly attracting middle-class Indians, particularly the ones from urban areas who do not mind spending a few extra bucks for a smooth beer. The craft beer market in India is currently pegged at Rs 280 crore and is expected to grow to Rs 4400 crore by 2020. 

    Today, India is the third-largest liquor market in the world with an overall retail market size of USD 35 billion per annum. The annual consumption rate has been increasing steadily over the past six years and stood at 8.9 per cent in 2017. 

    Beer in India is dominated by the off-trade channel (wine-shops), which accounts for 79 per cent of volume sales. Companies, however, are now increasingly focusing on sales through the on-trade channel by associating with music festivals and sponsoring other events. 

    United Breweries (UB), which manufactures India’s most-loved Kingfisher beer, controls 60 per cent of the total manufacturing capacity for beer in India and is the market leader with the national market share in excess of 50 per cent. This explains the company’s major investments and association with various events, sports and other entities. The brand has been associated with the Indian Premier League for over 10 years and continues to engage fans and customers via various on-ground and other marketing initiatives. The company refreshes the labels of all its products every three to four years in order to provide a fillip to the product’s image. 

    Typically, consumers always evolve faster than brands and, hence, brands have to keep up with consumers’ them. Today, India has the world’s most popular beer brands available in the market.

    UB spends 20 per cent of its marketing budget on television and a mere 10 per cent on digital but that is changing, and the company now has a separate team assigned for digital along with a separate digital agency on board. The company leverages all social media and digital platforms while also creating user-generated content. “The audience today is not interested in brand advertising or brand stories but are only interested in stories that suit their line of thinking, and are looking for content and narratives that involve them,” says UB CMO Samar Singh Sheikhawat. 

    Kingfisher beer is manufactured across 31 breweries in India, which means the time between brewery to market is extremely less resulting in fresher and chilled beers for consumers to sip after a tiring day at work.

    While the beer brand’s market share has been dropping over the last two quarters due to microbreweries, craft beers and other new entrants in the market, Sheikhawat is optimistic about Kingfisher’s legitimate consumers who still vouch for the product’s peculiar taste and flavour. “We are not competing with any other beer brand but are competing with anything a consumer wants to do. We are competing with a consumer wanting to go watch a movie or go out partying because, at the end of the day, there are multiple beer occasions. We should ideally be available in cinema halls but in India, you are not allowed to sell inside the cinema hall. Hence, we should be available at all major restaurants near cinema halls.”

    UB launched Kingfisher Storm in May last year. Targeted at the stylish, urban, confident, independent consumer with swag, the beer comes in an electrifying blue colour bottle with ring pull cap. The alcohol content in Storm is slightly low as compared to other Kingfisher products. “A huge base of our consumers still prefers the taste of Kingfisher Strong but the urban audience is looking for a change. We wanted to launch a new product for consumers who love the brand but given an occasion, want to try something different,” says Sheikhawat. 

    Currently available in Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Orissa, Storm will soon be available nationally over the next 18 months.

    UB also launched a new brand under malt-based ready-to-drink beverage called Kingfisher Buzz in 2016 which has only 4.8 per cent alcohol content. Available only in two flavours – Berry and Lychee, Kingfisher Buzz competes directly with Bacardi Breezer, which is a market leader in this segment. Although the original idea for Kingfisher Buzz was conceived 10 years back, it was launched only in 2016. Sheikhawat says, “Buzz is a small brand and we expected it to be a small brand that is targeted at young adults who don’t like the taste of beer but want to consume something.”

    Out of the total portfolio of UB, the company has 20 per cent of its revenue from non Kingfisher brands that are regional or power brands including London Pilsner, Kalyani, UB Export, Bullet, Zingaro and Cannon 1000.

    United Breweries has also begun exporting its products to other countries where Kingfisher Strong and Premium have been the star performers for the brand. Though UB Global is a small business, it is growing rapidly as the company exports to 70 countries including US, UK, New Zealand, Germany, Middle East, South East Asia and Singapore. 

    Also Read :

    Surrogate liquor advertising: Time for change?

    Why do we lack animated ads despite their popularity

    Cinema advertising begins to take centre stage

    Digital takes centre stage on tepid Valentine’s Day for brands

  • Luis Garcia & Sunil Chhetri grace Champions League Tour today

    MUMBAI: Football fans in Mumbai rejoiced as they won the honour of hosting the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken® in India. Heineken® continued its Champion the Trophy campaign in India by giving local football fans a chance of a lifetime to host and unveil European club football competition’s most coveted prize – the UEFA Champions League Trophy in their city for the first time in the programme’s 11-year history.

    The UEFA Champions League Trophy, known as the Holy Grail of club football, will be unveiled by former UCL winner and Liverpool FC player Luis Garcia in the presence of Indian football superstar Sunil Chhetri at the Mahalaxami racecourse on 10 April, 2017. Post the unveiling, eight lucky fans chosen from a Twitter contest will get a chance of a lifetime to play a match with Luis Garcia and Sunil Chhetri, in a five-a-side football game at the Turf Club. Players will be assigned to team Garcia and team Chhetri, as they will go head-to-head in a clash of legends.

    Mumbaikars could get a chance to be a part of the unveiling and witness the match. For details, log on to @Heineken _IN on Twitter and @Heineken on Facebook.

    United Breweries senior VP (marketing) Samar Singh Sheikhawat said: “For true football fans the iconic UEFA Champions League Trophy is the holy grail of the footballing world. Only the best football players in the world get to hold this symbol of the highest level of accomplishment in the sport. Heineken® is bringing the excitement of one of the most celebrated global sporting prizes for fans in India, through the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour and creating engaging fan experiences that go beyond the 90 minutes of the match”.

    The UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken® will make its way across the bustling city of Mumbai, giving fans a chance to witness the glorious trophy. The trophy will make its first pit stop at Shivaji Park, followed by Carter road, moving to BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex). Fans can be part of the Heineken® Trophy Tour experience by participating in a variety of engaging activities at the pit stops, where they stand a chance to win exclusive Heineken® merchandise.

    The tour will end at its final destination at the Taj Lands End, Bandra. This will be followed by the Trophy Tour Party, an evening of glamour and sports which embodies the Heineken® spirit of opening new worlds.

    Mumbai was chosen for the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour through a Twitter contest by Heineken® across four cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata). The contest encouraged fans from each city to tweet, vote and compete for their chance to host the trophy. Each city was given a specific hashtag, for example: #ChampionTheTrophyBLR – for Bangalore, #ChampionTheTrophyMUM – for Mumbai, and fans battled it out online with the maximum tweets to win the rights to unveil the trophy in their city. The competition was close, but after days of continuous voting and tweeting, the city of Mumbai emerged victorious.

  • Kingfisher bets on VR marketing with ‘KF 360 cities’

    Kingfisher bets on VR marketing with ‘KF 360 cities’

    MUMBAI: With Facebook and Youtube going full throttle to maximise the reach of VR by encouraging 360 degree content on its platforms, it’s no surprise that several Indian brands are looking to make the most of it.

    After Tata Motors, it’s now alco-bev giant Kingfisher’s turn to give a taste of Virtual Reality to its consumers with its latest campaign ‘KF 360 cities’ that allows users to have an immersive tour of major Indian cities. Apart from Samsung Gear and Google cardboard, one can experience the same by simply tilting their mobile phones while enjoying the 360 degree video on Youtube or Facebook.

    “The ‘KF 360 cities’ campaign is the perfect opportunity to bring destinations to people instead of the other way around. Forget maps and GPS, and explore India like you’ve never done before. Whether it’s the backwaters of Kerala, the sand dunes of Jaisalmer or the beaches of Goa, Kingfisher will truly show you how to have a Good Time,” shared an excited United Breweries Limited marketing SVP Samar Singh Sheikhawat.

    With a larger goal of showcasing how a fun time is incomplete without Kingfisher in any city, . Kingfisher has created this virtual reality campaign in association with Spectra VR, leveraging the growing popularity of VR headsets. While currently the VR experience is available for selected cities, Sheikhawat assured that over a period of time the brand will cover 30 to 40 cities through this campaign.

    “We have been dabbling in VR at a smaller scale in varied so but now we are gathering steam and momentum when it comes to using VR technology in our marketing strategy,” informed Sheikhawat.

    The brand’s previous campaigns in VR include Kingfisher Super Chasers VR Game, during the IPL season where the brand used VR gear to transport users into a virtual cricket stadium, giving them an immersive gaming experience. The game created a lot of fan frenzy during theKingfisher on-ground activations across the country, with even cricketers trying their hand at the game.

    When asked if the limited accessibility of VR headgear would limit the reach of the campaign, Sheikhawat clarified saying, “That’s true of any new technology that comes in. And we believe that with spectrum and bandwidth increasing in the country, and technology companies like Samsung pushing the VR evolution from their end, it will only get better from here. It’s advantageous for the brand to be one of the early adopters of this really cool proposition in marketing. We are betting on it for sure.”

    Sheikhawat admitted that there is a marginal difference between a regular and VR campaign when it comes to the initial investment, but that depends completely on the quality of the content, and the experience the brand offers, as same campaign could be enjoyed by using an expensive Samsung headgear or a free Youtube plugin.

    While it is too early to say if the marketing predictors and marketing mojos are right about the the impending VR explosions in marketing, but for the time being brands such as Kingfisher are looking at it in a big way.

  • Kingfisher bets on VR marketing with ‘KF 360 cities’

    Kingfisher bets on VR marketing with ‘KF 360 cities’

    MUMBAI: With Facebook and Youtube going full throttle to maximise the reach of VR by encouraging 360 degree content on its platforms, it’s no surprise that several Indian brands are looking to make the most of it.

    After Tata Motors, it’s now alco-bev giant Kingfisher’s turn to give a taste of Virtual Reality to its consumers with its latest campaign ‘KF 360 cities’ that allows users to have an immersive tour of major Indian cities. Apart from Samsung Gear and Google cardboard, one can experience the same by simply tilting their mobile phones while enjoying the 360 degree video on Youtube or Facebook.

    “The ‘KF 360 cities’ campaign is the perfect opportunity to bring destinations to people instead of the other way around. Forget maps and GPS, and explore India like you’ve never done before. Whether it’s the backwaters of Kerala, the sand dunes of Jaisalmer or the beaches of Goa, Kingfisher will truly show you how to have a Good Time,” shared an excited United Breweries Limited marketing SVP Samar Singh Sheikhawat.

    With a larger goal of showcasing how a fun time is incomplete without Kingfisher in any city, . Kingfisher has created this virtual reality campaign in association with Spectra VR, leveraging the growing popularity of VR headsets. While currently the VR experience is available for selected cities, Sheikhawat assured that over a period of time the brand will cover 30 to 40 cities through this campaign.

    “We have been dabbling in VR at a smaller scale in varied so but now we are gathering steam and momentum when it comes to using VR technology in our marketing strategy,” informed Sheikhawat.

    The brand’s previous campaigns in VR include Kingfisher Super Chasers VR Game, during the IPL season where the brand used VR gear to transport users into a virtual cricket stadium, giving them an immersive gaming experience. The game created a lot of fan frenzy during theKingfisher on-ground activations across the country, with even cricketers trying their hand at the game.

    When asked if the limited accessibility of VR headgear would limit the reach of the campaign, Sheikhawat clarified saying, “That’s true of any new technology that comes in. And we believe that with spectrum and bandwidth increasing in the country, and technology companies like Samsung pushing the VR evolution from their end, it will only get better from here. It’s advantageous for the brand to be one of the early adopters of this really cool proposition in marketing. We are betting on it for sure.”

    Sheikhawat admitted that there is a marginal difference between a regular and VR campaign when it comes to the initial investment, but that depends completely on the quality of the content, and the experience the brand offers, as same campaign could be enjoyed by using an expensive Samsung headgear or a free Youtube plugin.

    While it is too early to say if the marketing predictors and marketing mojos are right about the the impending VR explosions in marketing, but for the time being brands such as Kingfisher are looking at it in a big way.

  • Twitter and Kingfisher co-created Name Targeted videos for IPL fans

    Twitter and Kingfisher co-created Name Targeted videos for IPL fans

    MUMBAI: Wouldn’t it be great to have the celebrity you swear by mention you in a Tweet, or send you a personalised video message? Social media platform Twitter understands the influence an actor or a sports star has in our lives, and how by bringing these stars close to their fans, an amazing engagement can be created. Riding on this thought, it had devised a campaign for its long term partner Kingfisher for the IPL season. Conceptualised by Twitter India, the campaign allowed the brand to record the star players from six major IPL teams customised messages with fans’ names in them –a first of its kind marketing initiative in APAC, the social media giant claimed.

    To make this possible, Twitter went through its archival data looking out for popular first names. Along with it came each person’s preferences and interests including sports.

    “We looked into the data and drew a pattern on it. For example, if there are significant number of ‘Amit’s as Mumbai Indian fans, we would add  ‘Amit’ to the list of people, and Kingfisher would get the Mumbai Indians team to record a personalised message for all the ‘Amits’,” Twitter India Business Head Taranjeet Singh explained the mechanism behind the campaign.

    Though Kingfisher’s IPL campaign on Twitter had started along with season 9, it wasn’t until the season gained momentum in its third and last quarters that Name Targeting was initiated. Once started, it was a high frequency campaign that generated close to 500 odd videos dedicated to fans. Given that Vivo IPL 9 was a pre scheduled event, it allowed Twitter and the creative team from Kingfisher to plan a month ahead. Though most videos were shot before the tournament began, some were done while IPL season 9 was running based on the feedback on the campaign.

    public://image0.png

    While team Twitter worked closely with the brand, the campaign required quick response and production of content to keep up with Twitter’s data base in a very short time which was made possible with the collaborative effort of the brand’s creative agency JWT, and digital agency 22Feet.

    “We received excellent feedback for this campaign. With the help of the Twitter team, we were able to create something intangible for the IPL fans, and we could feel their appreciation for the campaign in the form of Tweets and messages. Apart from the paid campaign, the videos themselves generated several organic impressions for us riding on the brand power,” shared United Breweries, marketing SVP Samar Singh Sheikhawat.

    While the campaign’s scale otherwise required a significant amount of time and monetary investment,  having an existing partnership with Twitter put Kingfisher at an advantage when planning this campaign. Being sponsors for six of the IPL teams also acted in the brand’s favour, as it allowed Kingfisher access to the cricket stars as part of the sponsorship commitment. The initiative was included in the overall budget the brand set aside for IPL 9, which, according to Sheikhawat, could be close to 30 percent of the brand’s marketing budget for this financial year.

    public://image1.png

    This is the second time in a row that Kingfisher has tied up with Twitter India for its IPL campaign. Sheikhawat asserted that this campaign proved to be a great opportunity to leverage the brand’s partnership with Twitter. The fact that the campaign was tailor made for Kingfisher only added to the advantage.

    “From day one the response was high for the campaign, with 250 per cent increase in the brand’s Daily Positive Sentiment. Not to mention that the brand interacted with over 85,000 IPL fans over the course of the campaign through the videos,” Taranjeet Singh added.

    ‘Daily Positive Sentiment’ is a unit or score coined by Twitter that measures the overall sentiments behind tweets targeted at a celebrity, a brand or a handle, or even a hashtag or a campaign.

    “Daily Positive Sentiment gives out the general emotion behind most of the tweets on a subject. We use a tool called Crimson hexagon that does the analysis on emotions behind tweets after assimilating certain keywords and other data points,” Taranjeet Singh explained.

    In line with Facebook’s reactions the Daily Positive Sentiment score is a powerful tool to gather consumer insight for brands.

    public://image2.png

    When asked if Twitter would be willing to partner with other brands and build a campaign using Name Targeting, Taranjeet Singh responded with, “We don’t work with clients on a transactional basis. We look at their objective and then we come up with solutions on how to shape those business objectives through our platform. If we have a client on board whose communication object requires a campaign and name targeting works to achieve its communication objective, we propose it to the brand. But if its campaign requires other innovations such as conversational videos, tweet camps, and other such initiatives that we have earlier offered our clients, we will suggest those. Or maybe we come up with an entirely new solution.”

    In parting, Taranjeet Singh added that the Indian market has become a seat for innovations on the partnership front for Twitter, with many more exciting projects in the pipeline.

  • Twitter and Kingfisher co-created Name Targeted videos for IPL fans

    Twitter and Kingfisher co-created Name Targeted videos for IPL fans

    MUMBAI: Wouldn’t it be great to have the celebrity you swear by mention you in a Tweet, or send you a personalised video message? Social media platform Twitter understands the influence an actor or a sports star has in our lives, and how by bringing these stars close to their fans, an amazing engagement can be created. Riding on this thought, it had devised a campaign for its long term partner Kingfisher for the IPL season. Conceptualised by Twitter India, the campaign allowed the brand to record the star players from six major IPL teams customised messages with fans’ names in them –a first of its kind marketing initiative in APAC, the social media giant claimed.

    To make this possible, Twitter went through its archival data looking out for popular first names. Along with it came each person’s preferences and interests including sports.

    “We looked into the data and drew a pattern on it. For example, if there are significant number of ‘Amit’s as Mumbai Indian fans, we would add  ‘Amit’ to the list of people, and Kingfisher would get the Mumbai Indians team to record a personalised message for all the ‘Amits’,” Twitter India Business Head Taranjeet Singh explained the mechanism behind the campaign.

    Though Kingfisher’s IPL campaign on Twitter had started along with season 9, it wasn’t until the season gained momentum in its third and last quarters that Name Targeting was initiated. Once started, it was a high frequency campaign that generated close to 500 odd videos dedicated to fans. Given that Vivo IPL 9 was a pre scheduled event, it allowed Twitter and the creative team from Kingfisher to plan a month ahead. Though most videos were shot before the tournament began, some were done while IPL season 9 was running based on the feedback on the campaign.

    public://image0.png

    While team Twitter worked closely with the brand, the campaign required quick response and production of content to keep up with Twitter’s data base in a very short time which was made possible with the collaborative effort of the brand’s creative agency JWT, and digital agency 22Feet.

    “We received excellent feedback for this campaign. With the help of the Twitter team, we were able to create something intangible for the IPL fans, and we could feel their appreciation for the campaign in the form of Tweets and messages. Apart from the paid campaign, the videos themselves generated several organic impressions for us riding on the brand power,” shared United Breweries, marketing SVP Samar Singh Sheikhawat.

    While the campaign’s scale otherwise required a significant amount of time and monetary investment,  having an existing partnership with Twitter put Kingfisher at an advantage when planning this campaign. Being sponsors for six of the IPL teams also acted in the brand’s favour, as it allowed Kingfisher access to the cricket stars as part of the sponsorship commitment. The initiative was included in the overall budget the brand set aside for IPL 9, which, according to Sheikhawat, could be close to 30 percent of the brand’s marketing budget for this financial year.

    public://image1.png

    This is the second time in a row that Kingfisher has tied up with Twitter India for its IPL campaign. Sheikhawat asserted that this campaign proved to be a great opportunity to leverage the brand’s partnership with Twitter. The fact that the campaign was tailor made for Kingfisher only added to the advantage.

    “From day one the response was high for the campaign, with 250 per cent increase in the brand’s Daily Positive Sentiment. Not to mention that the brand interacted with over 85,000 IPL fans over the course of the campaign through the videos,” Taranjeet Singh added.

    ‘Daily Positive Sentiment’ is a unit or score coined by Twitter that measures the overall sentiments behind tweets targeted at a celebrity, a brand or a handle, or even a hashtag or a campaign.

    “Daily Positive Sentiment gives out the general emotion behind most of the tweets on a subject. We use a tool called Crimson hexagon that does the analysis on emotions behind tweets after assimilating certain keywords and other data points,” Taranjeet Singh explained.

    In line with Facebook’s reactions the Daily Positive Sentiment score is a powerful tool to gather consumer insight for brands.

    public://image2.png

    When asked if Twitter would be willing to partner with other brands and build a campaign using Name Targeting, Taranjeet Singh responded with, “We don’t work with clients on a transactional basis. We look at their objective and then we come up with solutions on how to shape those business objectives through our platform. If we have a client on board whose communication object requires a campaign and name targeting works to achieve its communication objective, we propose it to the brand. But if its campaign requires other innovations such as conversational videos, tweet camps, and other such initiatives that we have earlier offered our clients, we will suggest those. Or maybe we come up with an entirely new solution.”

    In parting, Taranjeet Singh added that the Indian market has become a seat for innovations on the partnership front for Twitter, with many more exciting projects in the pipeline.

  • Omnicom Malaysia names OMD India’s Shyam Ravishankar as digital head

    Omnicom Malaysia names OMD India’s Shyam Ravishankar as digital head

    MUMBAI: Omnicom Media Group Malaysia has appointed Shyam Ravishankar as head of digital.

     

    Ravishankar joins Omnicom Media Group Malaysia from OMD India where he was the business director in charge of digital and mobility services.

     

    In his new role, Ravishankar will be working on key accounts across OMD and PHD to drive adoption of digital technology and create integrated marketing experiences.

     

    He will report to Omnicom Media Group, Malaysia CEO Andreas Vogiatzakis and his position is effective immediately.

     

    A digital strategist with over 13 years of experience and a specialist in data-driven brand building strategies, Ravishankar has knowledge across key areas such as performance marketing, SEO, social media and digital analytics to name a few. Over the course of his career, he has worked on a plethora of industries such as technology, education, travel, real estate and financial services.

     

    Vogiatzakis said, “Shyam is a digital evangelist, and a great addition to the team. His experience will complement our existing talent pool and help us deliver an even better product and exemplary service. Shyam is particularly skilled in creating synergies that provide an integrated offering incorporating the best of digital and weaving them with offline strategies. As a network, we are committed to investing talent to ensure that we are ahead of the curve when it comes to digital expertise. We are thrilled to have Shyam on board.”

     

    Ravishankar added, “It feels great to continue being a part of the network in a different market. This is an exciting opportunity to work with a talented and welcoming team in a market that has great potential when it comes to digital. I am looking forward to lead the network’s digital prowess and further strengthen our offering.”

     

    Prior to his roles at Omnicom Media Group, Ravishankar worked in Mindshare on the United Breweries, Tata Steel and Nike accounts.