ITV

Tag: Volkswagen

  • L&T consolidates digital mandate with DDB MudraMax

    MUMBAI: After getting the Rs 1 billion media account of Larsen & Toubro last year, DDB MudraMax has pocketed the company‘s full service digital mandate.

    DDB MudraMax will handle SEM (search engine marketing), SEO (search engine optimisation), web design, online planning, buying and creative for the brand.

    The agency already handled the digital media planning and buying duties for L&T and now has been entrusted with the entire range of digital duties.

    The experience and engagement network arm of DDB Mudra Group runs 36 offices in India. It enables clients to interact at a single point to reach consumers through a complete spectrum of specialist touch points such as TV, print, radio, digital, out-of-home, retail, activation, events, bottom of the pyramid, sports, music, youth and entertainment.

    DDB MudraMax‘s clients include Pepsi, Gillette, Volkswagen, Reebok, Aircel, ITC, Birla Sun Life, Titan, Castrol, Uninor, Star, Colgate, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata, Hindustan Times, Asian Paints, Yamaha, Kotak, Hewlett Packard, Fosters, Ashok Leyland, Western Union, Jyothy Laboratories – Henkel, LIC, World Gold Council, BPCL, TTK Prestige, Wipro Consumer Care, Amway and ACC.

  • McCann strengthens management and creative teams

    MUMBAI: Continuing its string of senior level appointments, IPG‘s McCann has appointed Ranjeev Vij as general manager McCann Delhi and Abhishek Das creative director – digital at McCann Mumbai. Recently, the agency brought on board ex CEO of Iris Alok Lall as executive director.

    Vij has over 18 years of experience in the field. He started his career in 1994 as account supervisor at Enterprise Nexus. After six years at the agency, he moved to Draft FCB Ulka and later shifted to O&M as account group manager. His next move was to join Lowe Lintas as brand director before returning to Enterprise Nexus as account director for a while. After his second stint at Enterprise Nexus, he joined Redifusion DY&R as general manager on Bharti Airtel. After this, he joined Vyas Giannetti as VP and branch head and then moved to IRIS Worldwide as board director.

    During his career, Vij has handled brands such as Airtel, General Motors, Aviva Life Insurance, DHL, J&J, P&G, Pepsico, VISA, HP, Sony and Sony Erickson.

    Das has been in the industry for the past 10 years now having started his career with Ab&m Communications in New Delhi as senior copy writer in the year 2002. After working for two years, he moved to Oxygen and then to Tribal DDB before joining McCann New Delhi as creative supervisor.

    Das has worked with brands such as TimesJobs, SimplyMarry, magicBricks, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Volvo, Nescafe, Kitkat, ESPN Star, MTV and UNESCO during his career so far.

    Das said, “This would be my second stint at the McCann Worldgroup. It‘s been over five years since the last time I was at McCann Delhi and things have changed a lot. Prasoon and I have been in talks about building a strong digital presence for McCann for a while now, and given his vision of things to come, the challenge was very hard to resist. I look forward to adding a host of digital creative solutions to McCann‘s extensive portfolio.”

    McCann Worldgroup chief executive officer Prasoon Joshi said, “Abhishek and Ranjeev are a great combination of new age media thinking with a sound background in the traditional. They both have more than a key role to play to further accelerate McCann‘s drive into the futuristic model and cutting edge offering.”

  • Eight Indian entries make it to the Design Lions shortlist

    MUMBAI: A total of eight entries from India have made it to the Design Lions shortlist at Cannes Lions 2012, including six from the DDB Mudra Group.

    BBH India and TBWA India have also found their entries shortlisted.

    For DDB Mudra, Group, three shortlisted entries have come for automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, two for the Ministry of Tourism’s Incredible India campaign and one for its work on Geebees Food’s Coffee Gold brand.

    TBWA has been shortlisted in the Logo Design sub category for its work titled Elephant Combs for MKV Household Products, while BBH’s Chaplin Chapters for Movies Now has been shortlisted in the Posters sub category.

    DDB Mudra Group’s The Hinglish Project for the Incredible India initiative by the Ministry of Tourism has been shortlisted in two sub categories – Consumer Services and Design Typography.

    The agency developed a typeface that would make Hindi less intimidating and more approachable and friendly so that tourists to the country find it easier to read road signs.

    The fusion-font design allows the reader to discern the phonetic sound of a Hindi character by looking at the corresponding English alphabet superimposed on it. This helped Incredible India create a typeface for foreigners to familiarise themselves with native language. Its Moustache Gym (Volkswagen), Musical Jungle (Volkswagen)and Stay Alert – New York Blackout (Geebes Beverages) campaigns have been shortlisted in the Illustration sub category while Iconic (Volkswagen) has been shortlisted in the Poster sub category.

  • Comedy Central to push for revenue growth

    MUMBAI: Comedy Central has roped in 30 advertisers after three months of launch and is looking at developing other revenue streams including on-ground events and licensing & merchandising.

    The on-ground events will kick off from the second half of the year. “Comedy goes beyond standup act routines. The events will be a combination of small scale and larger properties. We are exploring ideas. The challenge lies in their execution and doing them in a way that makes economic sense,” says Viacom18 Media senior VP, GM English entertainment Ferzad Palia.

    On the L&M front, Comedy Central will hope to capitalise from MTV and Nick, its two sister channels that have run longer in the Indian market. The channel will launch merchandise products for its show South Park in a couple of months.

    Says Palia, “This will cover a range of products. Because of Comedy Central‘s TG (15-34 years), avenues for purchase may be different from what has been seen. Depending on how this works we could launch merchandise that pushes the Comedy Central brand.”

    Comedy Central‘s first advertiser was Volkswagen. Now it has a roster of advertisers that include Jaguar, Nivea, Idea and Vodafone. “We are looking at doing innovations on TV and also outside it. This could take the shape of advertiser funded properties,” says Palia.

    The focus in the first year will be to get the sales strategy right. “There have been times when we have refused business as we felt that we were not getting a fair rate. Advertisers are getting more receptive towards this genre,” avers Palia.

    Content costs are a challenge with costs doubling in the last 18 months. “80 per cent of our content is acquired. 60 per cent of our content is old which is fine as comedy is evergreen. The balance 40 per cent is new content. We have managed to create a new genre,” says Palia.

    Comedy Central is exploring the possibility of starting local productions. “The challenge though will be to find content that lives up to the international standards,” concludes Palia.

  • DDB India launches Volkswagen’s Polo and Vento campaign

    DDB India launches Volkswagen’s Polo and Vento campaign

    MUMBAI: Volkswagen India has recently launched it‘s ‘once-in-a- lifetime‘ offer on the Volkswagen Polo and Vento.

    The communication has been conceptualised by DDB India.

    The idea behind the campaign is ‘An offer so special, you‘ll come back for it. Even if you have to travel over lifetimes!‘. The objective is to create consumer intrigue and excitement around the offer, even while keeping the brand values intact.

    Volkswagen head of marketing and PR Lutz Kothe said, “The new Volkswagen Polo and Vento campaign creates curiosity with the target to get prospective customers directly to the showroom. This also makes it different to other campaigns.”

    DDB India creative head on Volkswagen Rajeev Raja said, “Set in India of the 1970‘s, it‘s the story of a Parsi gentleman and his son. The Parsi gentleman, typically, is obsessed with his long owned Volkswagen Polo. He wipes away even the slightest blemish on his beloved car with a characteristic ‘tsk, tsk‘. Time passes on and so does the Parsi gentleman. His son now married with a baby, buys new Polo, and as they drive out there‘s a pleasant surprise in store for them. “

  • History TV18 plans to add two language feeds, boost rev

    History TV18 plans to add two language feeds, boost rev

    MUMBAI: History TV18, a joint venture between A+E Networks and TV18, is targeting to launch two more language feeds as it expects a wider regional presence will give it an edge over competitors and boost its ad revenues.

    The factual entertainment channel already has a presence in seven languages, the only one in this genre to have such a wider regional spread. A few days back, History TV18 announced the launch of its Gujarati feed – the others being Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi and English.

    “While we are looking at two more language feeds, the size of the market is key as it has to make economic sense,” said AETN-18 JV GM marketing Sangeetha Aiyer.

    The drive is to offer advertisers a choice. “The business model for the regional feeds is not distribution but to grow ad revenue by increasing yields. The yields in the industry are low at Rs 1800-2200 per 10 second spot for the tier one channels and Rs 800-1200 for the tier two channels in this genre. Our aim is to take the effective yield up to Rs 2500-3000. Our focus is on brands that do national campaigns. But at the same time regional brands that want a national presence will also find us useful,” averrd Aiyer.

    There is also the viewership perspective in this approach. Said programming VP Sudheer KG, “In the factual genre, things are explained and sometimes explanations in English are beyond the comprehension of regional viewers. That is why History had launched regional feeds at the start.”

    So how effective is this regional plan? Explains Aiyer, “The JV has given itself a three-year break-even time frame for the channel, keeping in mind that this genre dependends heavily on advertising. For the regional feeds, a four to six week period is needed to show clients consistency in delivery. We already have around 60 clients including Maruti, Volkswagen, Amul, Sony and Samsung.”

    The viewership is skewed towards males. Sixty per cent of the viewers are men and out of this, most are in the age group 15-40, according to Aiyer.

    Around 50 per cent of the channel’s viewership comes from the Hindi feed. “Apart from the North belt, even people in Hyderabad and Bangalore watch it in Hindi. After that, comes Marathi and Tamil. The size of the Maharashtra market is big while people also consume the channel a lot in Tamil. After these languages, come the others like English,” said Sudheer.

    Sudheer admitted that Gujarat is a tough market as there are few multi-system operators. “We are the first international channel to offer a local language feed in Gujarati. We are, thus, hopeful that they will see us as offering value. We get inquiries from people who want to carry us. Gujaratis watch news, GECs and movies. But the reason why infotainment has not penetrated there much is that content was not available in their language,” he said.

    What is needed for the regional feeds? “For our regional feeds, we don’t do translation. We do transcreation. This means communicating to viewers in a simple way so that they understand what is happening. When they understand what is happening, they will return again and again to watch. This is how viewership grows as they spend more time on us. On all our regional feeds we have executive producers and language managers who work with studios,” said Sudheer.

  • Volkswagen, Ministry of Tourism join hands for Clean India campaign

    Volkswagen, Ministry of Tourism join hands for Clean India campaign

    MUMBAI: European passenger car manufacturer Volkswagen in association with the Ministry of Tourism has kick-started its Clean India campaign. As per the plan, every year 9 January will be marked as ‘Clean India Day‘.

    The inauguration of this campaign was held at the India Gate in New Delhi today.

    The car manufacturer had launched “The Think Blue campaign” in India in March last year.

    Keeping in line with this pledge, Volkswagen has undertaken many initiatives to keep Indian cities clean and green following the introduction of this campaign, the company said.

    Volkswagen Group Sales India member of Board and director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Neeraj Garg said, “Ever since the launch of our Think Blue campaign in India we have been initiating numerous cleaning drives, campaigns to plant more trees and to stop littering our surroundings by creating art pieces from the scrap that people throw.”

    He added, “Today, we have taken another step in order to encourage more people to pledge towards a cleaner India by supporting the Ministry of Tourism‘s campaign of ‘Clean India‘. It is an honour to be able to work together with the Indian Government towards fulfilling our pledge to Think Blue for a beautiful India.”

    About Think Blue. campaign:

    It is a firm feature of Volkswagen Brand‘s ecologically sustainable activities. Volkswagen connects innovation and responsibility for the environment by acting as a unit. While the Brand stands on three main pillars of Valuable, Innovative and Responsible, Think Blue. stands on the pillars of ‘Solution, Individual Behaviour and Involvement.‘

    The key contributors to the Think Blue. credibility mindset is the Brand‘s low emission, fuel saving products under the umbrella brand of BlueMotion Technologies. BlueMotion Technologies is a range of innovations and refinements that help save fuel and money without taking the fun out of driving.

    About Volkswagen:

    Volkswagen, a leading carmaker in Europe sells its broad model range from the Fox to the Phaeton in more than 150 countries worldwide. Volkswagen offers the Polo, Vento, Jetta, Passat, New Beetle, Touareg and the Phaeton in India.

    Press Contact:

    Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Limited:

    Snehal Kurup / Gagan Mangal
    Snehal.kurup@volkswagen.co.in / gagan.mangal@volkswagen.co.in

    HANMER MSL

    Glen D‘Souza / Arun Thankappan
    glen@hanmermmsl.com / arun.thankappan@hanmermsl.com

  • Volkswagen launches the Vento IPL Edition

    Volkswagen launches the Vento IPL Edition

    MUMBAI: Volkswagen has launched a special edition of its popular model, the Vento, coinciding with Season four and five of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    The Vento IPL Edition will be the first such model to be introduced in the Indian market. The cars will go on sale from the first week of April.

    The Vento IPL edition has various features such as colour touchscreen multimedia player, navigation system and other specially branded accessories. The car is available for Rs 724,000 (ex-showroom) in New Delhi.

    Said member of board and director Volkswagen passenger cars, Volkswagen group sales India Neeraj Garg, “The award winning Vento was specially designed for the Indian customer and has become very popular since its launch last September, hence, the perfect choice for an action model for this market. The Vento IPL Edition adds to our existing line-up as we continue to strive to give our customers innovations and at the same time value for money in our products.”

    Volkswagen group sales head of marketing and PR Lutz Kothe added, “Globally Volkswagen introduces special editions which have been very successful. The IPL edition is our first step towards a similar initiative. We will be adopting a complete synergetic marketing approach during the IPL to reach out to our customers across our carline.”

  • Volkswagen’s campaign for Beetle aims at wedding season

    Volkswagen’s campaign for Beetle aims at wedding season

    MUMBAI: With the beginning of the wedding season, Volkswagen has launched a marketing campaign for its new Beetle, positioning the small car as the perfect wedding gift.

    The new campaign comes with a tagline, “Marriage does come with its rewards”. It says that the Beetle is an ideal gift for this special occasion. 

    Volkswagen Group Sales India Head of Marketing & PR, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Lutz Kothe said, “The Beetle has been able to trigger emotions like no other car has been able to for decades and it continues to do so across the globe. It is more than a mere car, it is a timeless gift that anyone would love to give to their loved ones and what better occasion than marriage. The New Beetle campaign tries to draw exactly that.”

    The campaign will hit print, online, digital and out of home media across six major cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. It will run until middle of January next year.
     

  • Midem 2007 conference to focus on music and brands

    Midem 2007 conference to focus on music and brands

    MUMBAI: The increasing collaboration between the music industry and brands will be a key theme at the Music for Images conference at Midem 2007.

    Launched in 2004, Music for Images explores how music is being used in film, video games, TV and advertising. The fourth edition of “Music for Images” will take place at Midem on 22 January.

    The 41st edition of Midem will be held in Cannes, France, from 21-25 January. Music for Images 2007 comprises three dedicated panels focusing on video games, film/TV and advertising/branding. Once again this year panellists will include major representatives in each field and the entire programme will be chaired by US music industry figure Glassnote Records (US) president Daniel Glass.

    Returning for the third consecutive year at Music for Images will be the ever-popular listening sessions. A total of three separate listening sessions will once again provide companies with the opportunity to submit and play their tracks in front of international music supervisors who are actively looking for music to place in video games, adverts and film scores.

    The first panel to kick off the conference is called Video Games: The Latest Challenge for Labels and Composers?. Headlining the session is the music visionary/producer and founding member of legendary funk outfit Chic, Nile Rodgers. The music producer, associated with an impressive array of artists from Madonna to David Bowie, is also the founder of one of the world’s leading labels for licensing and distributing videogame soundtracks, Sumthing Else Music Works. As such he will be giving his insight into the new opportunities for artists and leading talent in this newly emerging musical genre.

    Other speakers include Nick Wiswell, audio manager, Bizarre Creations (“Project Gotham Racing”); Richard Jacques, composer for titles such as “Jet Set Radio” and “Headhunter” and Eckhardt Consulting’s Randy Eckhardt, in charge of music licensing for Guitar Hero, one of the most critically-acclaimed music games to date.

    The New Role of Music in Feature Film Marketing will be the second dedicated focus and presents an exclusive look at how music has become a key element in the feature-film business. The session is organised with Hollywood sync agency Zync and features Drew Sherrod, music supervisor for Open Road Entertainment and Niki Gascon, director of music for Warner Brothers Pictures.

    The third and final panel poses the question Are Brands Shaping the New Music Economy? While the music industry is looking for new revenue streams, brands are searching to build deeper connections with consumers. The promising but complex mix between music and brands ranges from the simple sponsorship deal to innovative partnerships. Expert representatives from each side will be looking at how best each can work with the other.

    Speakers for this panel include McDonald’s (Germany) VP marketing and communications West Region Johan Jervoe, Volkswagen (Germany) head of services/sponsoring Cornelia Schneider and Sony BMG Entertainment (UK) VP Futures Duncan Bird.

    On 22 January, Sony Computer heads up the first listening session in which the winner will have his music placed in a video game and also be offered a work experience session with Richard Jacques, the award winning composer.

    The second listening session will offer contestants the opportunity to submit music for the series Grey’s Anatomy. The US music supervision agency Zync will ask contestants to compose or propose tracks for a specific set of scenes from the series. One or several winners will be retained by The Chop Shop’s Alex Patsavas, music supervisor for Grey’s Anatomy and other US shows.

    The third listening session will offer the winner a placement in a forthcoming Activision video game. The “Music for Images” conference is organised in association with: Frukt (UK), music strategy and communications agency; Music4games (US), music for video games; Zync Music (US), music marketing company specialised in ad, film and TV placement and entertainment magazine Hollywood Reporter.