Tag: South Asia

Bangalore, India – HiveMinds Innovative Market Solutions, the full-service digital marketing and consultancy firm by Madison World, has announced its expansion in Delhi-NCR with a new office in Gurugram.

HiveMinds specializes in performance marketing, display, e-commerce, and programmatic buying. It manages digital mandates for Domino’s, BigBasket, Coinswitch Kuber, and Trell, as well as e-commerce mandates for brands such as Crompton, P&G, and Nivea, as well as Saffola Honey, and Sugar cosmetics, among others.

Following this endeavor, HiveMinds has also appointed its vice president, Mohit Grower, as the new head of the new north branch. Grover brings with him intensive experience across insurance, travel, and entrepreneurial industries.

Commenting on his new role, Grover said “I feel after building businesses in the highly competitive travel industry for over a decade, this will be a great next phase of my career. I look forward to assembling a formidable team and delivering value to our clients in the region.”

Meanwhile, Jyothirmayee JT, HiveMind’s founder and CEO, shared that he is delighted to bring in a leader with high ownership and entrepreneurial spirit as their Delhi branch head.

“With the growing client roster, we feel that a senior team based in the region will be better placed to engage at the strategic level and contribute to overall growth for our clients,” said JT.

Sam Balsara, Madison World’s chairman, said, “With offices opening up gradually, the demand for on-site teams is also coming back. With Mohit at the helm, we’re now poised to expand our presence in North India to attract new clients and service the existing clients better.”

Mumbai, India – OMD, the media network of Omnicom Media Group in India, has elevated Anisha Iyer, former chief product officer, to be its new chief executive officer.

Iyer brings with her over 18 years of experience in the advertising business, with a niche in digital and technology. Prior to joining OMD in 2019, she previously worked with global media network Mindshare, advertising agency Madhouse, and media investment firm GroupM, where she delivered cutting-edge solutions and best-in-class strategy for a range of clients spanning FMCG, pharma, auto, travel, telecom, e-commerce, food, and retail businesses.

As the new CEO, Iyer will be responsible for leading the organizational vision and steering strategic goals across the business with a focus on leading future-ready teams. She will also be enhancing client relationships and delivering solutions across the board.

Commenting on her new role, Iyer said, “It’s a pivotal time for our industry and I am excited to navigate the tides in creative collaboration with stakeholders and driving OMD India to new avenues of growth and development.”

Meanwhile, Kartik Sharma, OMD’s group CEO for India, believes that with Iyer’s digital prowess and creative mindset, she will be able to lead the organization to greater heights and accelerate the momentum of growth.

“With her understanding of our clients, industry, and market, she is undoubtedly the inimitable successor for the role. We look forward to welcoming her back to India and working with stakeholders to unlock greater potential and empower our clients to make better decisions, faster,” said Sharma.

Mumbai, India – Chimp&z Inc, the full-service digital advertising alliance from Merge Infinity Network, has announced its global expansion in New York and Toronto.

Through the expansion, Chimp&z Inc will be able to accelerate the growth of its international clientele and cater to partners on their roster on the American market. Moreover, the expansion will enable Chimp&z Inc to provide digital integration, martech solutions, and performance marketing services globally. It will also help drive the brand presence of its new ROI-driven social media arm – Yellophant Digital.

Under the leadership of Chimp&z Inc’s co-founder, Lavinn Rajpal, the agency will immediately undertake efforts to hire a full-stack agency structure and release open positions for talents across technology, digital marketing, and creative, as well as design verticals in New York and Toronto offices.

Rajpal and Angad Singh Manchanda, Chimp&z Inc’s co-founder, shared that the expansion is aligned with the agency’s ambition to create a truly global entity with a diverse team of professionals to bring the true power of integrated marketing to their partner brands. 

“With these two offices, we intend to work with brands across the spectrum with a specific focus on lifestyle and luxury brands, which has been our forte in India. The sheer magnitude of this market will provide enormous scope for our creative & tech services,” they said.

This August, Chimp&z Inc has won India-based skincare brand The Derma Co‘s social media mandate, and was tasked to drive the brand’s digital sales.

India – VICE Media Group’s international news network, VICE World News, has launched a new multimedia project, aimed at exploring the most disputed artifacts displayed in the British Museum. 

Titled ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’, which was developed in collaboration with creative agency Dentsu Webchutney, includes an interactive mobile site, where users can take a tour of the museum via Instagram filters and immersive audio. They can also scan objects including the Rosetta Stone, Parthenon Marbles, and Benin Bronzes, to unlock an augmented reality, which steps back in time to show the moment these items were removed.

Moreover, the immersive history tour includes a series of podcast episodes, featuring interviews with experts from these countries, namely Aboriginal rights activist Rodney Kelly, Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor, and Rapa Nui governor Tarita Rapu. It is accessible through the mobile site TheUnfilteredHistoryTour.com and all major podcast platforms.

John Montoya, VICE Media Group’s senior director of audience and content strategy, shared that they wanted to continue to educate the audience on the historic and modern inequalities, using technology and social media. 

“There is still so much to unpack about colonialism in Britain today, and we hope that this project can play a part in furthering this,” said Montoya.

Meanwhile, Dentsu Webchutney’s COO PG Aditiya, creative director Binaifer Dulani, and group account director Karishma Changroth, believe that through the project, the people from the countries these artifacts came from can tell their side of their artifact’s history to every visitor in an incredibly immersive way. 

“We hope this encourages every visitor to start engaging in meaningful dialogue about reconciling with our uncomfortable shared pasts in an equitable manner,” they said.

Vice said that the project follows VICE World News’ video series ‘Empires of Dirt’, which uncovered stories of colonialism.

The project is accompanied by social activation across VICE Media Group’s network, including VICE World News’ Instagram account.

India – Digital agency RepIndia has appointed Guru Mishra, former director of buying at creative firm Isobar, to be its new vice president of media.

Mishra brings with him over 12 years of experience from his previous multiple strategic roles. Aside from his previous work at Isobar, Mishra has also worked as the digital planning executive of media company Lintas Media Group. 

In his new role, Mishra will be bolstering RepIndia’s media planning and buying pipeline by delivering innovative solutions to clients across digital.

Commenting on his new role, Mishra said, “I am truly honored to be a part of an extremely talented team and have full confidence in our capability to provide best-in-class creative, media, and tech solutions in line with the evolving digital landscape.”

Archit Chenoy, RepIndia’s CEO, commented that Mishra’s experience leading digital strategic business units has displayed a profound understanding of the most effective ways to execute and buy by using data and technology. 

“With Guru on board, I look forward to tackling new challenges and navigating digital and linear media while scaling this thinking across central teams,” said Chenoy.

In September this year, RepIndia has announced its renewed partnership with global beauty and personal care brand Sephora in India, to be the brand’s social media agency.

Mumbai, India – Notebook and tablet brand Lenovo has launched a new campaign to further strengthen its brand presence in India by highlighting the different ways its personal electronics are helping consumers, may it be in education, ensuring consumers’ security, and adding to the environment’s sustainability. 

Done in collaboration with creative agency The Womb, the campaign ‘We’ve Got Your Back’ features four different ads with a unique direction – literally, the films only show the backs of people in the ads. 

The campaign’s team said that through this, Lenovo aims to stand out from the other corporate campaigns in the country. Suyash Khabya, The Womb’s creative head, noted that it is easy to bring out emotions through the face, but in this campaign, they needed to land their idea “through the backs.” 

“It was quite a challenge, but I think we’ve done a great job of it. We wanted to keep the stories real. So we shot in the Puducherry Lenovo factory. We shot the teachers in Meghalaya. We shot kids in the jungles. And that’s why the films appear so authentic,” said Khabya. 

Titled, ‘Security’, ‘Make in India’, and ‘Education’, as well as ‘Environment’, each of the ads shows Lenovo’s commitment to consumers and the country such as in building a sustainable future, empowering teachers and students in the remotest of locations, and creating a community workforce that manufactures in the country, as well as the brand’s commitment towards security in processes and devices.

Navin Talreja, The Womb’s founding partner, said, “‘We got your back’ is a beautifully shot visual treat served in the form of four beautiful stories, that take the audience on a journey of Lenovo serving the community, environment, and its many stakeholders.”

Amit Doshi, Lenovo’s CMO for India, also commented, “The films have, of course, been shot wonderfully and hold a place of pride for us. However, the effort goes well beyond that and includes countless hours spent together in unearthing these stories and uncovering the human emotions central to each of them.”

Mumbai, India – Digital agency Yellophant Digital has acquired the digital marketing mandate for CarBoli, the online portal for selling pre-owned cars. 

CarBoli is an online platform where people can bid on their new and used passenger motor vehicles, lorries, and trailers, as well as semi-trailers. It provides sellers and buyers the best price for their cars in just three easy steps.

The partnership will see Yellophant Digital managing CarBoli’s 360-degree digital presence, spanning from social media creatives, digital campaigns, media, and innovations.

Gaurav Grover, CarBoli’s founder, commented, “We are excited to see the 360-degree strategy that the agency has in store for us and we plan on making CarBoli a pan India brand with such a successful agency onboard. It shall be an exciting collaboration.”

Meanwhile, Preksha Seth, Yellophant Digital’s co-founder, commented that the automobile sector, which deals with selling pre-owned cars, has a huge potential, as more and more people are gradually making the shift towards an online-first approach. 

“What separates CarBoli from the rest is its easy navigation and user interface which makes the customer process convenient. We look forward to a long partnership with the entire team of CarBoli,” said Seth.

India – Online parenting community platform, FirstCry Parenting, has partnered with programmatic digital ad company PubMatic, to make its audience data segments available across PubMatic’s premium inventory. This will be through PubMatic‘s audience data platform, Audience Encore.

FirstCry Parenting boasts a user base of 20 million and engages parents via a wide range of parenting content, from curated video and editorial articles on parenting, which is validated by medical experts, from tracker tools to meal plans and parent forums. Its audience is segmented into expecting parents, parents of infants, toddlers, and school-aged children, enabling advertisers across industries and sectors to connect with the relevant target demographic of their choosing.

Through the partnership, PubMatic will further expand its Audience Encore, which is designed to improve how marketers and data owners transact by aiming to give more control to the data owner and better ROI for the advertiser. Data providers and publishers with first-party data can upload their segments to the platform, generate a Deal ID for single, recurring, or customized use, and then transact programmatically, alongside premium PubMatic inventory in private or open marketplaces.

Moreover, the partnership will enable media buyers to leverage FirstCry Parenting’s rich audience segments across all digital screens and channels, including mobile, connected TV, and the open web on PubMatic’s premium inventory. The direct integration allows buyers to activate data at the supply level which can lead to increasing the campaign performance via improved scale, viewability, and click-through rate.

Supam Maheshwari, FirstCry’s founder and CEO, believes that the combination of PubMatic’s premium inventory and FirstCry’s valuable audience data is a real win for advertisers.

“FirstCry Parenting harnesses the accumulated knowledge and experience of parents on FirstCry for several years, making this a complete resource for new families embarking on their parenting journey. Engaging with young families is an opportunity for brands to introduce themselves to a generation of prospective new customers,” said Maheswari.

Amit Yadav, PubMatic’s country manager for South Asia, said that with the prevalence of third-party cookies continuing to decline and consumer privacy paramount, it is important for agencies to re-define audience addressability strategies to optimize reach. 

He further shared that poor cookie match rates can be addressed when data targeting is applied at the SSP level and passed via a deal ID, which typically represents a multitude of domains. 

“Media buyers who use Audience Encore to target high-value segments like FirstCry Parenting’s segments typically report increased efficiency, more control, better transparency, increased scale, higher quality buys, and greater efficacy,” said Yadav.

New Delhi, India – As a part of the Candy Day and Diwali Festive season or Festival of Lights, hard-boiled candy brand Pulse has launched its annual property, ‘Candy Day, The Pulse Way’, with a one-of-a-kind digital activation called ‘#PulseTongueTwisterChallenge’.

The campaign aims to bring people together on an active social media community and challenge their speed and fluency through the Pulse Tongue Twister. 

Created in collaboration with creative and performance digital agency FoxyMoron and creative and CRM agency Wunderman Thompson, the twister challenge had been spearheaded by social media personalities, namely, Sanket Bhosle, Sugandha Bhosle, and Varun Sharma attempting the challenge.

Arvind Kumar, DS Confectionery Products’ general manager of marketing, shared that through the Pulse Tongue Twister Challenge, they aimed to bring in an added element of cheer and fun to the festive celebration. 

“The initiative is an opportunity to engage with our vibrant online community and celebrate the spirit of festivity with dual enthusiasm,” said Kumar.

To participate, interested participants must make a reel accomplishing the tongue twister, and upload their attempt on Instagram with the hashtag #PulseTongueTwisterChallenge, tagging @passpass_pulse.

The challenge had started from 1 November until 4 November 2021. The winners will enjoy an array of prizes such as a laptop, iPhone XR, and bluetooth portable speaker, among others.

Prachi Bali, FoxyMoron’s national head client partnerships and business head for North, commented, “This campaign does the most important thing that any festive campaign should do, which brings people together over shared laughs and it’s wonderful to see the teams achieve that while keeping audiences engaged.”

The ‘#PulseTongueTwisterChallenge’ is now live across Pulses’ Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.