Tag: India

Bengaluru, India – India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart, has unveiled its new brand promise – ‘Super products at super prices with super speed’. To communicate this fresh approach, the brand has launched a new campaign, bringing Alia Bhatt in the avatar of a ‘FlipGirl’, the ‘superhero’ protagonist for the Indian shoppers seeking a saviour to affirm their ‘wishlist’.

Dressed in a cape with Flipkart’s signature blue and yellow colours, ‘FlipGirl’ has a sharp eye to avert any danger and help people in need. While saving them from dangers, she also saves the day by offering them advice to shop on Flipkart.

The campaign aims to communicate Flipkart’s commitment to democratising e-commerce and premium brands, making them accessible through faster delivery across the country, establishing itself as the go-to destination for consumer needs. It also brings forward the fact that products across categories, including mobiles and electronics, fashion and lifestyle, home accessories, and beauty, are made available conveniently and delivered to customers’ doorsteps across the country. 

Dushyanth Jayanty, vice president of marketing at Flipkart, noted that since its inception, Flipkart has promised and delivered a great selection at fantastic value delivered at speed, and this has only gotten stronger. 

“This is what we wanted to remind shoppers of – they can count on Flipkart to save their day. ‘FlipGirl’ embodies this for us, and Alia Bhatt’s fantastic skills have brought that to life. So next time, users do not have to compromise on selection or speed to get fantastic value – they can listen to FlipGirl and just shop on Flipkart,” said Jayanty. 

Meanwhile, Hemant Badri, SVP and head of supply chain at Flipkart, said, “ As the festive season kicks in, customers across the country are looking for a companion who can help them answer their need for fast delivery without compromising on product quality and selection. Our robust tech-enabled supply chain will ensure 1-hour delivery to same-day delivery across pin codes, and the FlipGirl concept communicates that to millions of customers across the country.”

Moreover, Flipkart has devised a 360-degree campaign, which was conceptualised by McCann World Group, with a judicious mix of channels to reach its dynamic set of consumers in multiple languages across demographics.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Sony YAY!, a kids entertainment channel under Sony Pictures Networks India, has launched on Malaysia’s unifi TV, owned by Telekom Malaysia. The channel is in the Tamil language and includes seven kid’s entertainment shows including Sab Jholmaal Hai (Honey Bunny), Guru Aur Bhole, Taarak Mehta Ka Chhota Chashma, Kicko & Super Speedo, Paap-O-Meter, Prince Jai aur Dumdaar Viru and HaGoLa.

Sony YAY! is expected to tap into the prominent Tamil-speaking population of the region which comprises a total of 1.8 million people – the third highest in the world, after India and Sri Lanka. Considering the significant size of the Tamil-speaking audience in this region, the launch is a perfect opportunity for the channel to extend its content offerings to an expanded audience base across the South Asian market. 

The launch of the channel in Tamil on one of the largest platforms Telekom Malaysia Berhad (unifi TV) is further set to aid the channel in terms of reach and access. Sony YAY! will be accessible to the subscribers of unifi TV under the Varnam Plus Pack and the Ultimate Pack.

Speaking of the launch, Leena Lele Dutta, EVP and business head at Sony YAY!, said, the span of five years since we launched Sony YAY! the channel has rapidly risen to become the number one kid’s entertainment channel in India. The current Indian channel portfolio in Malaysia has a huge potential and with the launch of Sony YAY! in Malaysia, we will be leveraging this opportunity and extending our diverse range of enthralling kid’s entertainment options to an extremely new and vibrant set of audiences. The launch has made us optimistic about newer opportunities that we can explore to reach young audiences across geographies.”

Meanwhile, Neeraj Arora, EVP and head of international business at Sony Pictures Networks India, commented, “As one of the fastest-growing kid’s entertainment channels in the Indian subcontinent, Sony YAY! has consistently made efforts to become the ultimate entertainment solution in the kid’s genre. The channel has curated and brought a bouquet of international shows and IPs to Indian audiences. This partnership with Telekom Malaysia Berhad will help us cater to the appetite of the rapidly growing audience across the Malaysian market and solidify our position in the global kid’s entertainment segment by bringing popular Indian shows to global audiences.”

Mumbai, India – Global data and measurement-driven media agency Essence has been appointed by beauty brand Plum to handle its integrated media duties in India. Through the mandate, Essence will manage strategy, media planning and media activation for Plum’s brand marketing activities.

With its expertise in data, technology and creativity, the agency will help scale the brand across categories and drive enhanced return on investment.

Shivani Behl, chief marketing officer at Plum, said, “Consumer behaviour is ever-evolving, and reaching out to the new-age digital consumer is a process that involves constant learning and feedback. With this context, it is imperative to keep a keen eye on data, and expand our reach to newer audiences and cater to the ever-changing demands of our existing ones.” 

She added, “Hence, collaborating with Essence to leverage their expertise in technology, media and marketing was a logical next step. We are looking forward to this association and we hope it helps us in achieving the business vision we have chalked out for ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Sonali Malaviya, managing director for India at Essence, commented, “Plum is an exciting, fast-growing and purpose-driven beauty brand, which shares Essence’s commitment to data-driven growth and marketing that adds value to people’s lives. Leveraging our cutting-edge use of analytics and technology, we are looking forward to collaborating with the team at Plum as its strategic partner, to help create new growth opportunities for the brand and the business.”

Plum joins Essence’s diverse portfolio of clients across its Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai offices, covering a mix of high-growth, technology-driven startups as well as established local and global companies.

India – Wunderman Thompson India has officially launched Wunderman Thompson Health (WT Health), which is a new specialized practice, offering a unique suite of services which will help health and wellness brands connect more meaningfully with consumers across all platforms of communication.

WT said this is in response to the healthcare sector witnessing exponential growth in recent years. With a multidisciplinary team of 100 plus, WT Health composes of experts across creative, medico-legal, compliance & public health to ensure that technology, creativity & data are drivers of humanizing the healthcare & wellness experience.

Commenting on the launch, Wunderman Thompson Health’s Global CEO, Patrick Wisnom, said, “The launch of Wunderman Thompson Health India is a proud moment for our network. It’s a recognition that our India business has evolved to become a key global healthcare hub. Not only serving the needs of local clients, but also working with our international network agencies, to efficiently deliver dynamic omnichannel content to our global clients. This is an important next step in the expansion of our international healthcare network.”

With vast experience across renowned health and wellness brands such as GSK, Zydus Wellness, Sanofi, Unilever, Pfizer, Bayer, and Abbott, amongst others, WT Health said it will be focused on driving excellence in an evolving healthcare sector and delivering products that are insight-driven and innovative to make a positive impact with key stakeholders.

James Hammond, Wunderman Thompson’s head of healthcare for APAC, commented, “The launch of Wunderman Thompson Health in India is a major milestone for our healthcare business in this region. We’re very proud of our what our team in India has accomplished in a relatively short period of time. We see this as proof that our unique offering, fusing data, technology, science and creativity is producing real results for our healthcare clients.”

Shamsuddin Jasani, CEO of Wunderman Thompson South Asia, also said, “We couldn’t have chosen a better time to launch our specialized practice of Wunderman Thompson Health as the healthcare market is poised for exponential growth owing to an unprecedented demand for robust health and wellness solutions. Health and wellness brands are on the lookout for a partner that understands the specific nuances of healthcare marketing, and we believe we can provide business solutions to brands and can unlock growth by leveraging our core strengths of creative, strategy and martech.” 

Cannes, France – The final day of the Cannes Lions 2022 festival ended on 25 June with Dentsu Creative India bagging the ‘Agency of the Year Award’, making the first Indian agency to win such an award in the history of the creative awards festival.

Dentsu Creative India was recognised for their efforts in the campaign ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ alongside media brand VICE. The campaign focuses on a multimedia experience that takes viewers and listeners to the true historical nature of stolen artefacts at the British Museum.

The campaign also won a Titanium Award, given out to those campaigns that are ‘breaking new ground in branded communications with provocative, boundary-busting, envy-inspiring work that marks a new direction for the industry’.

Speaking of the recent win, Ajay Gahlaut, group chief creative officer for India at Dentsu Creative, said, “Winning the ‘Agency of the Year’ is an emotion I cannot even begin to describe. When I used to watch other agencies win the title I often wondered if I ever would get that same honour. What they say is true. Dreams do come true! I’m over the moon with the Titanium win along with the hat trick of Grand Prix and a whole lot of other metals.” 

He added, “Not just me I think no one in the entire Indian ad industry has been part of such a huge haul of Lions ever before. And I do believe we are the first full-service Indian agency to win the title of Agency of the Year. I doff my hat to the entire team responsible for the Unfiltered History Tours.”

Meanwhile, Amit Wadhwa, CEO for India at Dentsu Creative, commented, “We are undeniably proud to be associated with a campaign that takes top honours on a global platform. This indeed fuels the fire of passion and commitment in the team that has relentlessly worked on it. The entire credit goes to each one of them who has been involved, to all our present and ex-colleagues who have worked so hard on the campaign. They are the real winners.”

On other awards, APAC winners at the ‘Film’ category include:

  • ‘Shot on iPhone 13 Pro: The Comeback’ by Apple, TBWA\Arts Lab Shanghai, Lunar Films Shanghai (Gold Lion, Silver Lion)
  • ‘Chatpat’ by SOS Children’s Villages India, FCB India Delhi, Kinnect Mumbai (Silver Lion, Bronze Lion)
  • ‘Metaverrrrrrr’ by Krungsri First Choice, Leo Burnett Bangkok, Factory01 Bangkok (Silver Lion, Bronze Lion)
  • ‘Machine-Gun Mouth’ by Battlegrounds Mobile India, DDB Mudra Mumbai, Early Man Film Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai (Bronze Lion)
  • ‘Party’ by Cheers, GIGIL Taguig, Arcade Film Factory Makati (Bronze Lion)
  • ‘The Wisdom of the East’ by 5 Takabb, Phenomena Co. Bangkok (Bronze Lion)

The campaign ‘Adeli’ by Unipads and VMLY&R took a Bronze Lion in the category ‘Glass: The Lion for Change’.

Meanwhile, in the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ category, the campaign ‘The Missing Chapter’ by P&G and Leo Burnett Mumbai won the Grand Prix award. Other winners include:

  • ‘Smart Fill’ by Unilever, VMLY&R Commerce India Mumbai (Silver Lion)
  • ‘Child Marriage Prevention Loan’ by IPDC Finance Ltd and Amal Foundation, Grey Bangladesh Dhaka (Bronze Lion)
  • ‘Goodie Box’ by Everybody Eats, DDB New Zealand Auckland (Bronze Lion)
  • ‘Quest for Dyslexia’ by Samsung, Cheil Worldwide Beijing (Bronze Lion)
  • ‘One House to Save Many’ by Suncorp Group, Leo Burnett Sydney (Bronze Lion)

Cannes, France – The Dentsu Creative India team has won multiple awards at the ongoing Cannes Lions 2022 Festival, most notably for the campaign ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’, done in collaboration with media company VICE.

At the moment, the campaign has won two Grand Prix awards, both in the ‘Radio & Audio’ and more recently, in the ‘Brand Experience & Activation’ categories. The campaign also won a Gold Lion in the ‘Digital Craft’ category for its personalised storytelling and experience, and a Silver Lion in the ‘Mobile’ category for its mobile-led category.

The campaign also won a Silver Lion award for media and entertainment and two Bronze Lion for audio-led creativity as well as cultural insight.

Amit Wadhwa, CEO for India at Dentsu Creative said, “It is our Day 3 at Cannes and we are on top of the world to win yet another Grand Prix and Silver Lion. It is indeed blissful to take back 2 Grand Prix in addition to the many metals. It has been a mind-blowing experience so far. While we party harder for this one, I am in awe of the level of global creativity and innovation displayed at the festival. We are totally looking forward to witnessing more innovation ahead and expecting many more wins.”

Meanwhile, Ajay Gahlaut, group chief creative officer for India at Dentsu Creative, “Today, we have made history with another tremendous victory. A Grand Prix and Silver! Kudos to the entire team for the massive win. I am enthralled with the mark ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ campaign and everyone behind it has left. My heartiest congratulations to all of them. It’s time to celebrate while we wait to increase the number of our wins.”

The campaign with VICE aims at exploring the most disputed artefacts displayed in the British Museum. Included in the campaign is an interactive mobile site, where users can take a tour of the museum via Instagram filters and immersive audio; as well as a series of podcast episodes.

Dentsu has recently launched ‘Dentsu Creative’, which unites its creative agencies, including DentsuMB, 360i, and Isobar, and expands its entertainment, earned attention, and experience capabilities.

India – Global adtech Criteo has announced plans for its first regional Technology Operations and Analytics Centre in Hyderabad City in Telangana, India, with the aim to strengthen its support for clients and partners. This centre is part of the adtech’s strategic plans to expand and scale its operational capabilities across APAC and beyond. 

Hyderabad was selected as the headquarters of Criteo’s regional technology centre given the location’s strategic connection to the information technology (IT) industry and its concentration of talent, robust IT infrastructure, and long-term growth potential. This centre seeks to support Criteo’s operations in India, Southeast Asia, Australia-Pacific, Greater China, South Korea, and Japan. Its digital advertising services (AdOps) function will also support Criteo globally, including EMEA and Americas.

Moreover, Criteo is also planning to hire around 150 engineers, data analysts, and solution architects over the next two years. By expanding its talent pool to scale operations and accelerate co-innovation of AdOps solutions with regional customers and partners, the adtech progresses on its commitment to power the world’s marketers and media owners with trusted and impactful advertising.

Kenneth Pao, Criteo’s executive managing director for APAC, said, “Over the past few years, Hyderabad has transformed into a global tech hub, with its immense growth potential and vast talent pool. With the development of this centre in a strategic location, Criteo remains committed to supporting our regional customers and partners by scaling our operational capabilities and ensuring that they can innovate with leading AdTech solutions created for the fair and open internet.”

Apart from the development of this centre, Criteo has also been ramping up its investments and product expansion in APAC, including the expansion of its Retail Media offerings and efforts to help marketers and media owners activate first-party, privacy-safe data through its Commerce Media Platform strategy.

Pao added, “Looking ahead to the rest of 2022, Criteo will continue to prioritise integration, scale, and with our APAC infrastructure investments, product innovation, and partnerships. Ultimately, strengthening our leading position in commerce media.”

Mumbai, India —The Indian division of the media agency network, OMD, has appointed Charul Tomar as its new head of strategy. She will be reporting to Anisha Iyer, CEO of OMD India.

Tomar holds an extensive understanding of the media industry with over 13 years of diverse experience having worked with leading market research and media agencies, like Kantar, Nielsen, and Mindshare, Tomar brings with her robust cross-functional experience in the market research, insights, and strategy and media analytics.

In her role at OMD, she will be spearheading impactful, strategic initiatives across the board, building upon existing strengths, and driving the next stage of OMD India’s growth story while working with key stakeholders to build a strong, strategic foothold in the region. She will also be in charge of accelerating efforts around nurturing a culture where attention and empathy are treated as valuable currencies to take a more humanistic approach towards the client and people relationships.

Furthermore, advancing the mandate of the organization, she will be instrumental in augmenting the Red Spine – OMD India’s nerve centre, ensuring that each component of the system remains interconnected in an efficient way. With a spotlight on furthering Omni’s potential and an emphasis on leveraging OMD Design – the robust and highly-adaptive end-to-end process by OMD, she is all set to further capitalize on emerging trends and make complex decisions faster. In essence, Tomar will be navigating OMD India in bold new directions to achieve exponential growth and success.

Speaking on the appointment, Iyer shared, “We are stoked to have Tomar on board with us. She is a fine strategic leader and frontrunner when it comes to having a pulse on the confluence of consumer, brand and insights.”

Iyer added, “Her appointment comes at a time when OMD India is undergoing significant momentum and one that is fuelled by the most promising talent in the industry. I am certain that Tomar’s valuable expertise, combined with her drive and commitment, will help us take our offerings to new heights. The future looks promising!”

Simultaneously, Tomar, said, “I am truly excited to be on board with OMD India, chiefly due to their commitment to futureproofing and their ability to adapt and innovate in an ever-changing marketplace. The agency exudes a strong vision and energy on the back of an exciting 2022 it has had so far, and I look forward to leveraging my experience to formulate game-changing strategies and deliver scalably business solutions, all while keeping empathy and attention at the core of what we do.”

With Tomar joining the team, the agency now has three highly driven and seasoned women leaders at the top. Iyer’s grand vision is one where diversity plays a huge role in growth and development and provides everyone equal opportunity to prove themselves, making talent the most valued asset.

Delhi, India – The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) have released a set of guidelines that lay down boundaries for unacceptable portrayals and encourage advertisers to create more progressive gender depictions.

The guidelines were announced in an event held at India Habitat Centre and is presided by Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani, following the launch of its GenderNext report in October 2021, a study by ASCI and Futurebrands.

The guidelines encourage advertisers and creators to deploy the SEA (Self-esteemed – Empowered – Allied) framework that guides stakeholders in imagining as well as evaluating portrayals of gender in their advertising by building empathy and aiding evaluation, as well as the 3S framework, which provides a checklist to guard against tropes and implicit stereotypes that creep into advertising.

“Gender portrayal is a complex and nuanced issue and the guidelines provide an interpretation of ASCI’s Chapter III (related to harmful situations), which deals with ads that can cause harm to individuals or society. Gender stereotypes are harmful because they lock individuals in certain roles and perpetuate certain dynamics that are harmful to society. Advertising, through subtle and implicit depictions, reinforces certain harmful stereotypes and overlooks the aspirations of individuals and groups,” ASCI said in a press statement.

These frameworks can prove to be extremely useful for marketing and advertising professionals to improve their advertising ROIs.

Speaking on the guidelines release, Irani said, “While there are women who are happy with the incremental change that has been made in the advertising industry, women of my generation are a bit more impatient. It is time not only for the men but also for the women in the advertising industry to step up. This is a very important move, and I believe that there is a long journey to be undertaken to turn the thinking but it’s required now. Work in this area must move with more and more speed and organisations like ASCI should lead this, the action beginning with its member base.”

Meanwhile, Subhash Kamath, chairman at ASCI, commented, “The new guidelines were created after extensive consultation with many partners- both from industry, as well as civil society organisations, including the Unstereotype Alliance and UNICEF. These guidelines are a big step forward in strengthening ASCI’s agenda to shape a more responsible and progressive narrative. We are grateful to the government and Shrimati Smriti Irani for supporting these guidelines, and to the many partners who have been with us on this journey.”

Mumbai, India – Consumer bank DBS has partnered with Bajaj Finance, the lending arm of non-banking financial services company Bajaj Finserv, to launch its first-ever credit card in India called ‘Bajaj Finserv DBS Bank SuperCard’, which is powered by Visa. This is designed to de-clutter customers’ wallets, eliminating the need for having multiple credit cards.

Through this partnership, DBS Bank India and Bajaj Finance aim to create an end-to-end digital experience and proposition for customers while catering to a large customer franchise across the geographic distribution of Bajaj Finance Limited.

The SuperCard will provide its customers with benefits and rewards across different product categories and exclusive benefits on Bajaj Finserv’s range of products and services available across the country.

Prashant Joshi, DBS Bank India’s head of consumer banking group, stated that this SuperCard is a transformative credit card experience curated to eliminate friction in the payments journey and transparency in billing so that customers can ‘Live More and Bank Less’.

“The credit card space is seeing robust growth. We are confident that the SuperCard developed in partnership with Bajaj Finance will help eliminate the need for multiple cards, widen the access to credit and offer compelling rewards and benefits to our customers, thanks to the BFL franchise network. Our vision is to leverage the strengths of both organisations and offer an end product which guarantees rich rewards and best-in-class customer experience,” said Joshi.

Meanwhile, Anup Saha, Bajaj Finance Limited’s deputy CEO, noted their partnership with DBS bank for this co-branded credit card further strengthens their position to deliver a seamless customer experience.

“The Bajaj Finserv DBS Bank SuperCard, as the name suggests, not only provides various industry-first benefits across lifestyle, travel and subscription categories but also provides exclusive Bajaj Finserv EMI network benefits like cashbacks on ‘No-cost-EMI’ loan down-payments & redemption of cash points against the same. It also has Bajaj Finserv Health benefits bundled into it. Bundling all this together, this card is a clear contender to become the most preferred card in our customers’ wallets,” said Saha.

Sandeep Ghosh, Visa’s group country manager for India and South Asia, said, “As more consumers turn to credit cards for their daily and discretionary needs, they actively seek easier access to credit alongside curated benefits and privileges. The Bajaj Finserv DBS Bank SuperCard has been designed to offer the best of both worlds. We are excited to partner DBS Bank as they launch their first credit card in India and are confident that the card’s unique value proposition will appeal to a large segment of Indian consumers.”