2016 will be the year of innovations and experimentations: Experts

Under the leadership of Prime Minster Narendra Modi, India is heading towards Digital India. Over the years, digital has witnessed increasing importance when it comes to marketing spends, but most digital content has followed the suit.

According to BCG ‘Shaping the Industry at a Time of Disruption’ report, there are 250 Million digital consumers today in India; the number is expected to shoot up to 600 Million by 2020.

Speaking on the growth of digital, Tara Kapur, Executive Producer, Supari Studio, said, “I believe 2016 will be the year where we see a lot more innovation and experimentation with digital technology in the Indian marketing landscape. Digital storytelling in India is represented by linear, long format films, but in 2016, I think we will be seeing a lot more formats being explored in India on the digital platform.”

Carat mentioned in its Advertising Spend Forecast report that digital media spend is predicted at double digit growth levels of +15.7 per cent in 2015 and +14.3 per cent in 2016, while the Indian advertising market is buoyant as growth prospects in the country remain high at +11 per cent in 2015 and +12 per cent in 2016.

There is no doubt that the permeation of technology touching every life in one way or the other has only enhanced opportunities. But, with these opportunities emerge the need for brands to become more responsible, transparent and for digital communication to enable them to be more useful.

Piyush Mishra, Founder, Pure Advertising opined that year 2015 has been quite challenging in respect to consumer sentiments but off lately it’s been also an eventful year for various home grown brands such as Intex, Patanjali Ayurveda etc. and of course ecommerce industry.

Social media advertising went to new levels – right from Facebook going beyond just number of fans to a focus on engagements and lead generation capabilities, Twitter opened up its advertising options keeping conservative budgets in mind.

Speaking about the emerging trends in online video consumption, Hitesh Chhabra, Co-Founder & CIO, The Garage Communications, said, “Due to the new Auto play feature of videos in Facebook, we will see lot of advertisers placing their audio video content on Facebook. It is going to be cost effective especially to those brands which don’t have big budgets to run the TVCs on National media.”

Content took new turns. While story telling has been closely related to social media over the past few years, visual and video story telling formats picked up pace, with brands creating long and short form content to cater to various demographics.

“Technology is moving way too rapidly in Western markets with brands already integrating 360 degree video, augmented and virtual reality, interactivity and wearable in their digital content strategies. This is something that Indian marketers can no longer ignore and will begin to explore in the year to come,” added Kapur.

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in association with IMRB International, mentioned in their study that the online advertising market in India touched Rs 3,575 Crore by March 2015, a 30 per cent rise from Rs 2,750 Crore in March 2014.

“Advertising media spends would increase in 2016 vis a vis 2015. Digital advertising would gain more prominence in 2016.There has been lot of learning’s in e-tailing and corrections have been taken by large e-tailers to improve on their ROI. Year 2016 seems to be promising and will witness rise in consumer sentiments, concluded Mishra.

Source: IndianMediaBook - Media

Cheil India ropes Vijay Simha & Aneesh Jaisinghani to strengthen its senior creative team

Cheil India announced the appointment of Vijay Simha and Aneesh Jaisinghani to strengthen its senior creative team. Simha and Jaisinghani both will work under the leadership of Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, Chief Creative Officer, Cheil India.

“We have grown substantially in 2015 and we aim to get bigger and more aggressive in 2016 in terms of creativity and technology; the foundation blocks of Cheil. In order to achieve our target we are hungry and keen to get the best in the industry on board to help us in delivering cutting edge work. We are excited to have talented additions in our team and build the Creative Army,” commented Mahabaleshwar.

Simha holds over 16 years of work experience in advertising and digital marketing. Prior to this, he was an entrepreneur for two years. He has also worked with agencies such as Solutions-Digitas, Grey Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Bates and JWT.

Jaisinghani joins the agency from McCann World Group as the executive creative director. In the past, he has been associated with agencies such as Grey, Lowe, Everest, Bates, Contract and Eleven Brandworks.

Source: IndianMediaBook - Media

Mindshare appoints Kevin Rooney as CFO for Asia Pacific

Mindshare APAC, the media agency network of WPP, has appointed Kevin Rooney in the role of Chief Growth Officer, Mindshare Asia Pacific, with immediate effect. He takes on this new role in addition to his current position as Managing Director, m/six Asia Pacific. Rooney takes over from Wendy Walker, who left the agency to become CMO of Manulife in July of 2015.

Speaking on the appointment, Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, AMEA & Russia/CIS, said, “Running a start-up agency is a difficult venture, and Kevin has proven with m/six that passion and agility can lead to an excellent track record for both an agency and their clients.  I am delighted to have him working with us again and look forward to having him bring this same spirit and mindset to Mindshare.”

Rooney’s new role will have him overseeing all aspects of growth across the agency, and he will work closely with Mindshare’s leadership team to optimize their product development, business plans, and create new revenue streams.

With nearly 12 years’ experience within WPP roles across North America, Global and APAC, in both management and business development positions, Rooney is well placed to drive Mindshare’s growth in the region.

“At m/six we have always been renegades, working at a tremendous pace, allowing our teams the freedom to come up with daring and challenging ideas, and then bringing these ideas to life for our clients.  The Mindshare values of speed, teamwork and provocation are ones that we have lived and breathed since our inception. Working across both agencies marks a significant change in the way that m/six will collaborate with Mindshare; from a resourcing and product development perspective,” expressed Rooney.

Source: IndianMediaBook - Media

MY FM hikes advertising rates by 25%

In a strategic move, Dainik Bhaskar group’s MY FM announced a hike in ad rate by 25 per cent across all 17 stations. The decision to hike rates has been taken to address the current inventory crunch. The rates will be effective 1^st February.

Commenting on this, Harrish M Bhatia CEO, My FM, said “We are a strong customer centric organization and invest a lot in understanding the taste and needs of our customers, this approach has helped in building in a strong differentiated product. We enjoy undisputed leadership across all our stations and more and more advertiser want to leverage our leadership position to reach out to their target audience.

Today radio is integral part of all media plans, there is a huge potential for radio in the Indian pie to grow significantly to come closer to the global average of 8 to 9 per cent of media spends.

“Our inventory has been peaking and increase in Ad rates is the only way to balance, we want to deliver a good listening experience to the listeners and better ROI to our advertiser. Our markets are growing at an exponential pace and many smart advertisers have realized that radio is the most effective way of reaching out to the audiences. Our advertisers know the value the proposition and differentiated offering we bring to the table”, added Bhatia.

My FM is the second radio station to hike the advertisement rates this week as recently Radio One has also announced a hike of 25 per cent in advertisement rates across its 7 markets, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

Source: IndianMediaBook - Media

Ad Pick of the Week: Jyotshna Kalita appreciates #shareyourstory

This week, when asked Jyotshna Kalita, Managing Director & Creative Head, Halcyon Media about her favourite ad film, she appreciated the initiative by Delhi based NGO Breakthrough #shareyourstory. A digital campaign rolled out to raise the voice against women harassment and to educate the young generation.

Under the campaign two promotional films have been launched, urging women to share their story with their sons. The campaign also delivers a strong message ‘Don’t let what happened to you; happen to other women’.

Here Kalita shares her view exclusively with IndianMediaBook.

Which ad film grabbed your attention in past few days and why?

I was pleasantly surprised to see how someone was using mainstream media to create a conversation for social change. There are two films. Both showed a mother sharing her brush-with- sexual-harassment story with her teenage son. It’s a very simple idea, but it communicates volumes. The change of mind in the son in both the films – is very real, and hence convincing too.

If given a chance, what changes would you like to make into it?

If given a chance I would have made one of the films a little more edgy (read different) than the other. I would have touched upon the taboo subject of sexual harassment or exploitation within the family. Like the creators of the campaign say – sexual harassment in India’s male dominated society is way more deeply rooted and way more subtle, disguised. Every other person you meet will have a sexual-harassment-within-the family story to tell.

Did the advertisement make you want to buy the product?

It surely made me go to the campaign page, the NGO’s website and check all other content they have.

Humour and Emotions, what works most in India?

Both, actually. Provided we pitch it to the right audience at the right time. Research and statistics apart, it is fascinating to observe what works here and what does not. We are such a diverse milieu, exposed to cross cultural trends – that we can surprise the best of experts. I think its the pitch that matters. You can touch the right chord with your consumer with the funniest of films!

What three things should keep in mind while making an ad?

A.While making an ad film, I would begin with the acknowledgement that i am talking to someone who has absolutely no need to buy my product. He has zero interest in knowing how good my brand is. All he is concerned about is his own well-being and happiness. This helps me narrow my focus to arrive at the right premise. I would say, thumb rule number one is, respect his/ her freedom of not choosing to buy your product. So rather than telling your consumer that he needs your product, tell him what the product can offer.

B.Culture is important. Even if you are talking about change, it has to be relevant in a certain cultural context.

C.Simplicity of communication. Life is complicated enough, I won’t buy your product if you harass me with complicated communication 

Please give your last word for this ad and rate the ad out of 10.

#shareyourstory campaign is 100 per cent relevant, effective and it strikes a chord with all women. I will give 8 out of 10 to it.

Source: IndianMediaBook - Media