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Euro RSCG dropped as Havas restructures
Come September 2012, Havas will drop the Euro RSCG name globally and rename the agency Havas Worldwide, as it restructures to put digital at the core of its activities around the world. Havas said it will be working toward bringing its media and advertising capabilities together by housing them under one brand name, but said it will maintain them as separate identities. In addition the agency introduced its new umbrella brand titled Havas Digital, which will operate across both media and creative as it moves to integrate digital into its agencies and strategies. "We are changing the name of our core global brand. We have a simple structure and we want to show that we are better integrated than our competitors as well as being more agile and fleet footed," David Jones, CEO, Havas & Euro RSCG Worldwide, said. In its annual report Havas reported total revenue of €1,645 million for 2011, an increase of 5.9% from the previous year, with digital and social media billings make up 23% of its total revenue. In the Asia-Pacific, Havas reported growth of 9.8% for full-year 2011 and 7.0% for the fourth quarter. The region's two main growth engines were China and Australia, with the region accounting for 16% of its revenues. |
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Ogilvy India wins Ma Foi Randstad's creative account
International HR (human resources) service provider Ma Foi Randstad has awarded its creative mandate to Ogilvy India. The agency's Chennai branch will handle this account. The agency spokesperson has confirmed the news to afaqs!. The development is the result of a multi-agency pitch process that was conducted in Chennai recently. In the near future, the brand is all set to get active on the communication front. Integrated brand-comm India has worked on the creative duties for this account in the recent past. It may be recalled that earlier this year, Ogilvy India's Chennai branch had won the creative mandate for Woodward's Gripe Water. At the time, afaqs! had carried an exclusive report announcing this acquisition. The brand, an offering from the TTK Healthcare stable, is a popular OTC (over-the-counter) remedy for infant colic. As per industry estimates, the size of the business is about Rs 5-10 crore.
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UTV Action to organise second edition of the Panja Championship
UTV Action will organise the second edition of the Panja Championship across three cities - Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The arm wrestling championship, which will commence on March 14 and end mid April, will be executed by Pentagon Activations. The championship, which engaged over 22 media agencies last year and expects higher participation this year, will see agencies competing with each other according to the global standards of arm wrestling. The participating agencies are expected to include Group M, Madison, Starcom, Carat, R K Swamy BBDO, MPG and others. Each agency will have one male and one female winner, who will be gratified with the Jabra WAVE, a bluetooth headset which has three layers of wind and noise reduction. These winners will then go on to participate in the grand finale, which will be held in their respective cities. The championship will culminate with the declaration of one male and one female winner, who will receive a Nintendo Wii gaming console.
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Fountainhead executes India’s first Mixed Martial Arts league
In the wake of its foray into the sports entertainment genre with Ring Ka King, Colors took another step to mark its dominance in the alternative sports entertainment genre by collaborating with Raj Kundra and Sanjay Dutt of the Super Fight League (SFL), a Mixed Martial Arts league, and acquiring the broadcast rights for the same. The on-ground aspects of this fighting league are being managed by Fountainhead Events & Promotions. The Super Fight League, India's first professionally organized Mixed Martial Arts fighting league, kicked off on March 11 at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai. Building on the growing interest in alternative and non-cricket sports entertainment, a unique format has been adopted for the Super Fight League. It involves real freestyle fighting, preceded by 45 minutes of live Bollywood-style entertainment from leading stars like Bipasha Basu. Over the course of one year, the Super Fight League will travel to Delhi, Chandigarh and six other cities.
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AMO bags creative duties of Tatva edible oils
AMO Communications has been assigned the creative duties of Tatva nutritionally enhanced edible oils. The account will be handled out of the agency’s Delhi office. The spends for the marketing and promotion for this financial year are yet to be finalised. Jain informed that they would be in sync with the creative strategy. Other key clients of AMO Communications include Punjab Tourism, Rajasthan Tourism, Sansui, Kelvinator, Era Landmarks, Rubberwala Developers, Elbit Developers, Indian Oil Corporation, Goa Tourism and Jumbo Electronics.
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Future Group initiates pitch for supply chains vertical; re-branding on the cards
Future Supply Chain Solutions, the logistics and supply chain vertical of the Future Group, is scouting for a creative partner. The process began around a couple of weeks ago and is still in its nascent stages. This is a targeted pitch in which only select advertising agencies are being asked to make presentations. The authorities have started issuing invitations to a few prominent agencies. The pitch will take place in Mumbai. The Future Group team remained unavailable for comment on the matter. The agencies that are currently in conversation with the authorities on the account have received an initial brief that will form the basis of their presentations. The company that currently operates under the brand name Future Supply Chains, plans to undergo an extensive re-branding exercise. The name is slated to be changed to FSC, the abbreviated version of the current name. The name change and re-branding exercise will be accompanied by a complete logo revamp as well. The objective of this effort is to revise the way the brand is perceived by potential clients/customers and consequently attract new clients. TV will form a part of the media mix for the brand's upcoming campaign. Future Supply Chains, an end-to-end consumer logistics company, was established in April, 2007. It offers supply chain management solutions such as factory-gate logistics, storage and fulfillment, retail store replenishments, movement (nationwide and intra-city), cold chain management, freight forwarding, custom clearances, reverse logistics and distribution services. The company also provides a range of value added services such as inventory planning, control support, vendor management and supply chain network modeling.
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Western Railway empanels eleven agencies
Western Railway has wrapped up its fast-track creative pitch. The newly appointed agencies have been empanelled separately for Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Indore. The creative mandate for the Mumbai division will be handled by a roster comprising Sai Advertisers, Mercantile Advertising, Prabhatam Advertising, Snappers Advertising & Marketing, Concept Communications and Inter Publicity. The creative mandate for the Ahmedabad division will be handled by a roster comprising Navnitlal and Co, Interads and Apex Advertising. The creative mandate for the Indore division will be looked after by a roster comprising Deepak Advertising and Anil Publicity Bureau. This empanelment is the result of a multi-agency pitch process that was conducted in Mumbai recently. The process began in January and the final presentations were conducted earlier this week. Amongst other things, the process also required the participating agencies to submit various artworks on topics such as 'Prevention of trespassing on railway tracks', 'Promotion of new ticketing options (ATVMs)' and 'Safety at Manned Level Crossing Gates'. The shortlisted agencies were then required to display a Powerpoint presentation/short film on their selected topic to the authorities. According to Western Railway's online notice, these selected agencies will now be required to look into Western Railway's day-to-day creative work, release of advertisements in different languages (display and tender notices) to recognised newspapers, production and release of radio jingles to various radio channels, production and release of TV ads/other electronic publicity material to various TV channels and assistance in handling other routine PR activities.
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Universal Music launches new division 'U-bee'
After unveiling the first EDM music label, Universal Music Group India has further strengthened its brand with the launch of a new division ‘U-bee’ in its business development department. The new division is formalized to create brand anthems and corporate jingles for the clients. It is also associated with brands to create proprietary music for media exploitation which can be monetized through music sales. Universal Music India & SAARC MD Devraj Sanyal said, “The medium to large enterprises especially the SME segments are leaning on innovation as a big part of their brand plan. UMI's new vertical helps create brand anthems which will further fortify their branding using ‘Music’ as their medium. Apart from these songs being used in frontline and BTL advertising, the ability to use these pieces to actually generate revenue is phenomenal using UMGI's own networks, is an industry first as these songs sung by major artistes are also great compositions on their own”. Universal Music India digital & business development head Ashish Joshi said, “In today’s market, having a strong brand can significantly change the way your consumers see you. And music lends that strong impact to a brand. While the aim is to enhance brand recognition, memorability and throughout of advertisements, we will use our digital network and other media partnerships to create additional revenue stream for such brands.” UMGI has also been partnering with ad film production houses, media and communication agencies to provide music for television commercials using digital network and other media partnerships to promote the anthems. |
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How would you rate this year’s budget for media industry?
The budget is a great opportunity to build investors' sentiments and remove anomalies which is vital for growth. Last year, due to unfavorable global factors, India’s economy was largely affected. This year, the Finance Minister has proposed a fair bill which is for the most part populist in nature. It bodes well for new investors. For the IT industry however, this is a moderately encouraging bill and has made few strides in the development of the sector. Certain benefits we see that will accrue to the industry at large would be:
- Scale and roll-out UID in 50 districts
- Introduction of mobile-based Fertilizer Management System has been designed to provide end to-end information on movement of fertilisers and subsidies. Nation-wide roll out during 2012
- A central “Know Your Customer” depository to be developed in 2012-13 to avoid multiplicity of registration and data upkeep
- ADTC and GST Bills
Equally significant is the fact that broadband penetration in India stands at just 1% as against the wireless tele density of 74%. With the national broadband plan envisaging 160 million broadband connections including 60 million wireless broadband connections by the year 2014. There does exist a need to support this growth path. Levy of zero service tax on internet and broadband service would certainly act as a catalyst in this process. The government must also spend on upgrading technology infrastructure in the country as well as invest heavily in e-governance. This will serve many purposes. It will create demand locally, bring efficiency and transparency to government, as well as improve education through e-learning. Service tax exemption on advertising on media platforms, excluding TV and radio, could result in availability of up to Rs 1,500 crore more to advertisers for spending on campaigns, according to industry experts. Given that marketing budgets of companies always take into account the service tax component, now there will be more money available to be spent on media other than TV and radio (which are not exempt from service tax). According to him, the total annual advertising spend in India is currently estimated at USD 5 billion (around Rs 26,000 crore), of which around 45 per cent is spent on television and radio. In the Budget for 2012-13 Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced that "selling of space or time slots for advertisements other than advertisements broadcast by radio or television" will come in negative list and will be exempt from 12 per cent service tax. The budget heralds good news for growing sectors like outdoor and digital. The service tax exemption would ultimately benefit the advertisers who spend a lot on outdoor and Internet. According to the 'Pitch Madison Media Ad Outlook 2012' (PMMAO) report the Indian media advertising industry has been pegged at Rs 25,594 crore in 2011. Government has taken proactive steps to reduce the cost of the 3G Handsets. For mobile productivity applications, we require penetration of good (3G) mobile data connection. If Government could provide sops to Telecom operators for providing 3G connectivity in Rural markets, it would increase the penetration of Mobile productivity applications like Education, Healthcare, Mgoverance. Like every year this year’s budget has also given the Indian citizens reasons to laugh and cry. Hope this government’s outlook to media and advertising industry would come out productive in more than one aspect. |
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