Tag: India

Singapore – Renowned Singaporean filmmaker Lincoln Lin, known for multiple awards in Mumbai International Film Festival and Singapore World International Film Festival, has launched a global platform Filmplace, which provides filmmakers booking options for filming locations.

Filmplace is the Singaporean filmmaker’s first foray into business where the platform also aims to help the local community in earning revenue for their home spaces.

Through the platform, filmmakers can source for film locations within minutes rather than spending days with a fixer or location manager. Users are able to source locations from anywhere in the world.

“With Filmplace, the production companies can book venues for a few hours or even minutes within their fingertips and there is transparent pricing that is negotiable. In addition to that, there are fresh locations daily that these companies can choose from,” the company said in a press statement.

Filmplace has already been rolled out in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea with a supporting office in India. 

“Currently, production companies need to hire a location manager which costs $300-$500 per day to nail down a couple of locations. The companies will then need to receive the locations, so it is very labor-intensive and manual,” Lin commented.

According to Lin, homeowners can monetize their home spaces in the platform where hosts can earn $500 -$2000 for a month, or around $800 per 10 hours, a contrast to earnings from the booking platform Airbnb, where homeowners earn $50-80 per night.

Singapore filmmaker Lincoln Lin, who is also the CEO of Filmplace

In order to get someone’s space enlisted on the Filmplace platform, users must sign up and provide needed information such as pictures of the location that’s going to be listed and the pricing for the company to verify. 

Having reached more than 1600 users, the company said they are beginning to roll out more incentives and convenience for registered hosts.

From 1 January to 28 February 2021, venue owners and homeowners can enjoy reduced service fees from Filmplace for every booking. Regular hosts will be charged a 5% service fee instead of 12% and Pro Hosts will be charged a 3% service fee down from 9%.

With the Pro Host program, space and homeowners can enjoy getting their location featured more prominently on Filmplace. A tier-based rewards system will be introduced sometime mid-2021 so the more bookings that a host gets, the more discount they can enjoy on service fees from Filmplace.

Filmplace will also roll out a mobile app version of its platform this year .

India – India’s Paytm, financial services and e-commerce company, has unveiled its new year film, which showcases a culmination of how the brand’s service has helped every Indian household through the challenging past year brought about by the pandemic.

The film shows glimpses of its host of products and services that use digital technology aimed at improving consumers’ lives, including instant money transfers through the Paytm app, its voice-activated POS (point-of-sale) machine Paytm Soundbox, and mobile payment service Paytm All-in-One QR for the business of merchants.

The brand said the campaign, which is called ‘#Har Ghar ka, Desh bhar ka — Paytm, Proudly Indian’ – which means ‘Of every household, across the country’ – aims to act as a message of hope for the new year ahead, reaffirming its commitment to support all citizens as the nation enters a new year. 

Vice President for Product Marketing Abhinav Kumar said, “2020 as a year saw difficulties come in various ways. The world for once felt the same throughout — fear, anxiety, and many other emotions that swept across. Over the years, Paytm has been present in people’s lives and tried to make a difference in the best way possible. During these unprecedented times, we are glad to be a small agent of help which bridged the gap for many.” 

“‘Har ghar ka, Desh Bhar ka’ is our ode to the many who fought through these tough times and moved forward with courage. The new year brings in new hope and we would like to believe the best is yet to come,” Kumar added. 

Some of the brand’s dedicated COVID programs over the year included distributing hygiene essentials to frontline workers, and serving over 4.4 million meals to daily wage earners in the areas of Noida, Mumbai, Bengaluru, as well as Hyderabad, and Chennai. 

California, USA – Media company The Walt Disney has announced a new leadership structure for the Asia Pacific, with two new leaders for The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) APAC and TWDC India.

While TWDC India has yet to see a new president until early 2021, TWDC has already appointed former executive vice president and managing director for TWDC Greater China, Japan and Korea Luke Kang (pictured) as TWDC’s president for APAC. He will oversee the company’s businesses in ANZ, Greater China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Entitled in his role also are managing Disney’s media networks, direct-to-consumer offerings including Disney+, media distribution and motion picture businesses, as well as other operations across APAC (excluding Disney parks). He will continue driving growth, innovation and brand affinity across these extremely diverse markets, and will closely collaborate with the consumer products team.

He will report to Rebecca Campbell, chairman of international operations & direct-to-consumer at The Walt Disney Company.

“With his deep understanding of our businesses in Asia Pacific, Luke is ideally suited to lead our efforts in the region. He has played a critical role in transforming our business in Asia optimizing operations, developing successful new revenue streams, and rapidly moving to roll out Disney+.  I’m confident that he and our extended team will deliver even more value as we continue to manage and grow Disney’s DTC and media businesses in the region,” said Campbell.

On the other hand, Kang commented, “I’m grateful for the confidence Rebecca has placed in me. I look forward to driving the Company’s business in Asia Pacific as we continue to evolve rapidly in order to engage our consumers across multiple touchpoints. It is an honor to build upon the legacy that Disney has established in some of the most exciting markets in the world and lead these amazing teams.”

Prior to his position, aside from his duties as an executive vice president, he had also worked as executive vice president & managing director for TWDC Greater China. He also worked for management roles for Viacom/MTV Networks in Asia Pacific and Monitor Group Asia Pacific Region before joining Disney in 2014.

Mumbai, India – It is safe to expect that with digital platforms now tightly weaved into peoples’ lifestyles, ads on such type of media must be enjoying a high level of trust among viewers, but a study by Nielsen shows just otherwise – where traditional media still reigns supreme, at least with Indian viewers.

The study, which was commissioned by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), found that ads on traditional media continue to enjoy a high trust among Indian consumers where an average of 84% of consumers find ads to be credible across newspapers, TV, and Radio, while text or SMS ads were shown to be the least trusted at 52%. 

This comes as no surprise as TV also emerged to be the top medium for consumption of ads with 94% of consumers, followed by digital (82%), print (77%), and radio (29%). 

Meanwhile, looking into sectors, those advertisements from educational institutions received a very high level of trust at 82%. The report noted that the finding may be due to cultural factors, where Indians have a strong belief in education as a means to secure their future. 

Ironically, ASCI found that a significant portion of misleading ads come from the education sector.

ASCI’s job of monitoring the education sector is even more crucial, given these findings. In India, the poorest of people prioritize education spends over other necessities. Most educational institutions promise job guarantees or make false claims of being the No. 1 or guaranteeing 100% placement without any objective data or evidence. We are doing our best to make sure that such false advertising is removed from the market.

Manisha Kapoor, Secretary General, ASCI

The sector of home care products such as detergents and mosquito repellents also acquired high trust levels, where on the other hand, those ads from real estate brands were among the least trusted by consumers.

Turning the focus on consumers, in terms of taking action when they see a misleading or offensive advertisement, the study found that about a third of consumers are likely to discuss this with their family and friends, with another third making the move through a post on social media; however, almost 30% of consumers do not take any action.

Kapoor said, “I thank ISA for being a joint convener of the Trust in Advertising study. ASCI feels responsible for not only maintaining consumer trust in advertising but also guiding brands to advertise honestly and impactfully. Consumer trust and brand reputation are some of the most valuable assets an organization owns, and honest advertising is key to building brand value over the long term.”

Sunil Kataria, chairman of the ISA, said, “Brands are built on the back of long term communication with consumers and audiences. It is in the advertisers’ own self-interest to make sure that all communication is honest and truthful, so consumers can trust advertising messages, and thereby, brands.”

In September, ASCI announced that it has expanded its monitoring of misleading claims to include digital ads. The regulatory has also earlier released its official COVID guidelines for advertisers.

The study was conducted with people across age groups in 20 centers in India, including metros, smaller towns, and rural areas.

India – Tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, its India arm, has released a sentimental ad, which walks viewers through the journey of one of the front liners during the pandemic – the drivers on the road.

India imposed its first nationwide lockdown in March, and just like most regions, essential workers, such as those whose line of work involves driving trucks and PUVs, are left with no choice but to continue plying the road amid the virus threat. 

The ad revolves around one driver’s perspective who opens the scene, thinking, “I have been driving trucks for years now, but for the first time today, I am scared.”

The ad shows how, more than the virus itself, other challenges are battled out by essential workers such as isolation and the scarcity of basic needs such as food during the height of the lockdown. 

“Since everything is shut now, I have to cook by myself, and sleep in my truck,” the driver narrates. 

Throughout the ad, the driver delivers moving realizations on the pandemic.  

“These days, every mile brings in a new challenge, and everyone is scared to help,” he said. 

He further goes, “To defeat this pandemic, it is important that we win these small battles every day.”

The 140-second spot, which was released in mid-November, has already gained massive traction, with views on YouTube currently at 8M. 

One user said, “I got goosebumps ??❤️?? respect ????” 

Another one commented, “Great thought. Great [film] making, [not] an [ad], it’s a documentary of a century…”

Through the release of the ad, Bridgestone also wants to assert its commitment to customers as a helpful aid during the pandemic, where in the video, the man is shown being given one of Bridgestone’s life-saving kits.

Since the imposition of India’s lockdown, the tyre company has implemented a number of assistance programs such as the sanitation of truck fleets across 22 cities and the distribution of  life-saving kits to truck drivers. In addition, it has also donated health essentials such as PPEs, masks, and meals to doctors and households.

The brand said on its Facebook, “The coronavirus pandemic paused our day-to-day life with a nationwide lockdown. While some of us had the liberty to stay at home, others had to keep driving through. Witness the journey and the triumph of our “Heroes on the Road” and how Bridgestone extended the support to protect them with a sanitization drive of their vehicles in order to serve our nation.”

India – Tinder India’s latest ad campaign, #InOurOwnWay, depicts the current dating scene among young people in India who are creating new ways and means of dating, especially during the pandemic.

The video shows the different faces of dating today: be it making a mundane outdoor hopscotch date memorable, improvising the lack of a public swimming pool, making the effort for a virtual dance party, or exploring the city on cycles.

The short film is a stark reminder of optimism still being evident through making various possibilities, especially when physical distancing has become a norm nowadays.

“The pandemic has significantly diminished opportunities of chance encounters and interactions from our lives especially for our young members. But human connection endures, unconstrained from rules of physical distance and barriers (both social and physical) and we continue to be inspired by our community,” said Taru Kapoor, general manager for Tinder and Match group-India.

He also added, “Our members have creatively co-created and figured out new rules of meeting, hanging out and falling in love. None of this is surprising, Gen Z has always set their own pace, created their own rules and thrived despite constraints and COVID has only accelerated this ingenuity-this is the spirit we are championing and celebrating.”

The video was conceptualized and created by creative ad agency BBH India

“In creating a music video for Tinder, it is the Tinder community who came up with the ‘creatives’ – the many ways of dating. All we had to do was to reflect and celebrate them. ‘In our own way’ is a refrain that champions their spirit – from choosing who to be with to setting their own pace to meet-ups at places which may not have seen dates before,” Executive Creative Director for BBH Delhi Vasudha Misra said.

In addition to that, the video featured an original soundtrack composed by music director Mikey McCleary, with vocals by Indian-American rapper, singer, songwriter, and dancer Raja Kumari.

Speaking about the lyric-writing process, Kumari commented, “Working on the lyrics and music has been a very rewarding experience and I’m grateful to be the voice of such an inclusive and progressive campaign. I hope it inspires people everywhere to be themselves and love and live in their own way.” 

Mumbai, India – Local-based entertainment super-app ZEE5 has partnered with XroadMedia,  a cloud- and server-based content discovery and recommendations back-end solutions for  digital media, to ramp up its hyper-personalized video-on-demand (VOD)  offerings and social media services. 

Through the partnership, ZEE5 will be using XroadMedia’s content discovery platform Ncanto, which will help in creating multiple content discoveries, recommendations, and personalization use-cases for its users.

“ZEE5 has always believed in the power of great content and powerful technology coming together to offer the best experience to a viewer. We believe gone are the days of broadcast; even the current trend of viewing audiences in clusters and cohorts will soon give way to individual personalization,” stated Rajneel Kumar, business head for expansion projects and head of products at ZEE5.

He added, “We have benchmarked their solution for a few months and found adoption and click-through-rates on recommendations were significantly higher along with a substantial increase in average time spent by a user. XroadMedia’s cloud-based services have also provided us with a higher level of flexibility to serve personalization use-cases and I’m confident this partnership will heighten our seamless content viewing experience, a feat we take great pride in and work tirelessly to maintain.”

Furthermore, Ncanto will aid ZEE5 in creating dynamic personalization of VODbased on interests and watching behavior. 

“Our partnership with ZEE5 is another major milestone in the history of XroadMedia and proves the progress we have made over the past few years. We are particularly excited to work with ZEE5 as they are using our solution to its full extent – from personalizing entire screens in the user interface via creating and managing editorial services to applying our solution across multiple content types and sources. We are very pleased with this partnership, as the application of our solution shows how important personalization is to ZEE5 and I am sure together we will push the boundaries of content discovery and personalization even further in the future”, said XroadMedia Co-Founder and CEO Adolf Proidl.

Bengaluru, India – Local-based mobile marketing startup Whistle has announced the launch of its PIN code feature in its platform to target hyper-localized marketing strategies for locals.

The feature, which utilizes the country’s Postal Index Number (PIN), allows marketers to specifically target local audiences that may be interested in a marketing campaign using data sets catered to the endpoint PIN code. 

This allows marketers to directly promote their campaign to consumers in the form of promotions like deals, discounts & Diwali bumper offers, introducing new goods & products, offering home delivery service, special opening hours during festivals & occasions, and many others.

“With most businesses being severely impacted by the pandemic across the country, small size firms, entrepreneurs and shop keepers are particularly struggling to stay afloat. Our aim is to empower these enterprises digitally through MarTech; help them overcome such obstacles and grow their businesses by making marketing technology tools available at an affordable cost,” Satya Kiran, CEO of Whistle said.

Launched in 2019, the company has since then ventured into providing martech solutions for its clients.

Singapore – India-headquartered IT and consulting firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has partnered with global technology company Zoho to adopt its solutions in customer relationship management, IT service management, and e-commerce for its global-wide businesses.

Within the partnership, TCS will utilize Zoho’s technological application stack in data analytics, AI business leverage, and unified search to help improve their clients’ approach to CX strategy, design, and customer insights as well as in marketing, sales, and service transformation.

“TCS has a business-led approach to consulting and enterprise transformation. Zoho takes the same approach to its technology, offering a vertically integrated platform of leading business applications and services. We are confident that through TCS’ reach and influence in the market across 46 countries, more enterprise organizations globally will experience the benefits of Zoho’s deep technology stack and world-class applications,” said Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation.

Furthermore, the alliance will allow future business clients to explore new revenue opportunities and gain operational efficiency, whether from remote or in-office locations.

“Enterprises are adopting best-of-breed product suites for customer service functions, because they provide the digital power and flexibility required to create the right engaging customer experience at the right moment,” said Aarti Devi, global head of customer experience management and enterprise application services at TCS.

India – To promote local businesses in the middle of the country’s annual festival of lights Diwali, Mondelez India launches a hyper-localized ad campaign that will encourage local promotion of local retailers across India.

The ad campaign leverages artificial intelligence to promote geo-targeted visibility of more than 1800 participating local retailers, across over 260 pin codes in the country. 

Initially, the video ad campaign depicts an Indian family rejoicing in the festivity of Diwali, while highlighting the gifts being given are from local businesses. The video campaign ends with the message “When all of us support our local stores, all of us can have a Happy Diwali.” Custom video ads are also produced for certain areas to promote local businesses.

“Throughout festivities exchanging gifts and sweets holds a significant emotional value and embarks the beginning of a new era, and it makes us extremely proud about the fact that we humbly found a place in this small, yet important tradition.  Moreover, this year, than any other warrants for acts that signify new beginnings and the potential  of goodness in an imperfect world, and our recent Cadbury Celebrations campaign infuses this  thought at the back of evoking generosity,”  commented Anil Viswanathan, Senior Director – Marketing (Chocolates), Insights and Analytics, Mondelez India. 

Context video for the hyper-localized ad campaign.

The campaign will run until the 15th of November, a day after the initial observance of Diwali.