Tag: Wunderman Thompson

Singapore – In line with Singapore’s continuous efforts to promote safety in situations of crisis, the Ministry of Home Affairs worked alongside Wunderman Thompson Singapore on its latest ‘SGSecure’ campaign, ‘What’s your role?’, to educate the public about what they can do, as well as empower them to play their parts to help keep Singapore safe.

The new campaign by Wunderman Thompson Singapore and the Ministry of Home Affairs features everyday people and shows how they play their roles in protecting others simply by drawing on their personalities and innate strengths.

The campaign was portrayed visually with posters and a short film depicting how individuals can contribute to security with examples such as the ability to bring people together in both peacetime and times of crisis, the eye to spot fake news, the strength to stay calm in emergencies, and even the courage and heart to support those at risk of radicalization.

Nimesh Desai, chief executive officer at Wunderman Thompson Singapore, said,  “Despite being one of the safest countries with a well-established system, we recognise that people living in Singapore cannot take anything for granted. Hence, the premise of the campaign – we all have a part to play.”

Meanwhile, Gerald Chue, group creative director, Wunderman Thompson Singapore, commented, “We wanted to step away from the usual doom and gloom that instils fear, and inspire Singaporeans to rise up instead, by using their own skills to keep our home safe and secure.”

India – Wunderman Thompson India has been appointed as the agency on record (AOR) for smartphone brand vivo in India. Wunderman Thompson was chosen to supervise Vivo’s product portfolio after a thorough review including multiple agencies. They will be in charge of three product lines: the V series, the Y series, and the Series T.

Wunderman Thompson will take responsibility in developing and executing integrated marketing campaigns and digital initiatives for the brand, with a focus on increasing product visibility, reinforcing positioning, and increasing consumer awareness in order to maintain product leadership.

Joy Chauhan, chief client officer at WT South Asia and managing partner at WT Delhi, said, “It’s a proud moment to partner with Vivo in a highly competitive category. At Wunderman Thompson, we inspire growth for ambitious brands, and we are excited about partnering with Vivo to provide business solutions and drive growth for the brand. With Vivo on an exciting growth trajectory, we are thrilled to be part of their growth journey and create stellar work on their new range of products.”

Meanwhile, Karun Arora, head of marketing communications at vivo India, said, “Consumer is at the heart of everything we do at Vivo. During the pitch, Wunderman Thompson team presented a consumer centric integrated approach that resonated with us. We are excited to welcome them as our AOR on product series, I am confident the team will support us in developing engaging communication that supports our overall vision and appeals to consumers at large.”

India – CenturyLaminates has recently launched a new campaign alongside Wunderman Thompson India, to promote its latest laminate lineup to consumers, angling it as a way of putting back fashion into the design of home furniture and decor. Said ad is made in collaboration with Manish Malhotra, a Bollywood fashion designer.

Malhotra, who has had a three-decade presence in the fashion and film industries, has entered the laminates market with the launch of CenturyLaminates by Manish Malhotra, a collection that exudes exclusivity and appeals to high-end consumers. This collaboration allows CenturyLaminates to reposition the competition, which is limited to discussing colours, patterns, textures, and finishes.

CenturyLaminates and Wunderman Thompson collaborated to produce a film series showcasing Manish Malhotra’s creations, aiming to inspire brand-conscious individuals and create a buzz in their social circles. The first film in the series, titled ‘The Video Call’, introduces stylish laminates and their potential impact on home aesthetics.

Keshav Bhajanka, executive director at Century Plyboards (India) Ltd., said, “I am so proud and delighted that CenturyLaminates has tied up with Mr Manish Malhotra, a designer par excellence, to bring this range of laminates to our customers. Over the last few years, we have been witnessing a sea change in customer behaviour & lifestyle. They are looking at brands to amplify their style quotient and enhance their personality. They are aligned with global trends and exposed to international styling.”

He added, “CenturyLaminates by Manish Malhotra introduces a designer of this stature into the laminates category for the very first time. This trend-beating genre of designer laminates – uber cool, super classy and a pride to own – is aptly described as Fashion for your Furniture. Discerning customers, interior designers and architects will now be like painters & sculptors – mixing & matching these laminates, making their imagination run wild as they create their own masterpieces.”

Meanwhile, Arjun Mukherjee, VP and senior ECD at Wunderman Thompson, Kolkata, commented, “Manish Malhotra is synonymous with films and fashion. The films play up this association in the minds of people, making them expect to see the new couture collection. The penny drop moment happens when you realize that for the first time ever MM has created Fashion for your Furniture.”

Vijay Jacob Parakkal, managing partner for East and South at Wunderman Thompson India, said, “The selection of laminates is predominantly guided by the aspects of design and colour, with brand playing a comparatively lesser role. We are positive that this campaign, including the very captivating films, showcasing the remarkable range of CenturyLaminates by Manish Malhotra will bring about a paradigm shift in the laminate purchasing process. By doing so, CenturyLaminates will be firmly established as the foremost choice in consumers’ minds, solidifying its leadership position in the industry.” 

Australia – Tammy Cooksey has recently been promoted from her former position as Perth’s experience director to the position of national head of experience by Wunderman Thompson Australia.

Cooksey’s group at Wunderman Thompson Australia has developed a clientele that includes companies including HBF, Endeavour Group, Synergy, Horizon Power, Keystart, and P&N Bank. With their skill, Tammy’s team has created a distinctive body of intellectual property (IP) that supports marketing, service, and transformation teams.

Mel Wiese, chief strategy officer at Wunderman Thompson Australia, said, “Tammy has built an outstanding team of experience strategists, designers and innovators to deliver growth for our clients nationally. She is an outstanding leader in our business, accelerating our methodology, talent and experience output.” 

Speaking on her new role, Cooksey expressed, “I’m so proud of the team we’ve built here at Wunderman Thompson and look forward to continuing to grow that as our portfolio of clients also grows. The opportunity to share our purpose-led approach to customer experience, and bring broader network experience into our offer is exciting for us and our clients.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Vaishali Sarker, most recently the chief executive officer at Wunderman Thompson Indonesia, has been appointed as the new president of Wunderman Thompson Canada. She moved to the Canada with her family, and her appointment takes effect June this year.

Sarkar served as the agency’s CEO for Indonesia for three years, following the JWT, Wunderman and Mirum merger. During her leadership, they have landed business with water brand Danone AQUA, as well as other business wins such as Perfetti Van Melle, Nestle’s KitKat and Purina.

In her new role in Canada, she will lead the agency’s Toronto and Montreal offices, with clients including HSBC, Microsoft and several automotive brands.

Prior to joining Wunderman Thompson, she has spent most of her career with Ogilvy throughout Asia, growing its offerings and delivering marketing solutions across all disciplines and emerging technologies for brands including American Express, Seagram, Unilever, Nestle, UNICEF, and Johnson & Johnson. She has served its offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and later, Indonesia.

During her only pause from WPP, she served as the CEO at BBDO Indonesia for a year, attracting and retaining some of the best talent for the agency to build a strong leadership team across account management, strategic planning, and creative.

Speaking on her appointment, Sarkar said, “I absolutely love the Wunderman Thompson culture, and the power of our network gives me the opportunity to draw on my experience here in Indonesia to another important market – Canada. Wunderman Thompson North America’s creative reputation is strong, and some amazing work is originating in Canada. I look forward to helping our clients and talent in Canada expand and grow to be the best they can be.” 

Meanwhile, Audrey Melofchik, CEO at Wunderman Thompson North America, commented, “Vaishali is a proven leader in our network who has been at home at WPP agencies for the majority of her career and is deeply familiar with many of the same brands we share as clients. She’s known to be an open leader with a heart for her team and a mind for setting up agencies and clients for success.” 

Australia – Leggo’s, the Australian-made pasta sauce brand, has launched a new campaign via Wunderman Thompson Australia celebrating all the unique twists and spins Aussies have been adding to traditional Italian cuisine.

Titled ‘It’s How We Do Italian’, the campaign encourages the audiences to embrace all the creative ways Aussies do Italian, even if it means breaking spaghetti to fit in the pot.

“Our new campaign is all about celebrating the way Aussies do Italian,” said Katie Saunders, general manager – marketing at Simplot. 

She added, “Leggo’s celebrates experimentation and fun in the kitchen. We want people to feel empowered knowing that no matter how they do Italian or which ‘rule’ they’re ‘breaking’, we’ve got them covered with tasty, quality products.”

João Braga, chief creative officer at Wunderman Thompson in Australia, also commented, “It’s no secret we love to break the rules when it comes to Italian food, so Leggo’s is giving Aussies just that extra dose of encouragement to get out there and add more pineapple to their pizza, parmesan to their seafood pasta, and share their delicious inventions with the world.”

The campaign is launching across various platforms, including OOH, social media, television, Trade and POS.

Bangkok, Thailand – In partnership with Wunderman Thompson and Netflix, one of the top sauce and canned food companies in Thailand, Roza, has co-created a film-to-kitchen sauce inspired by Netflix’s biggest Thai film called ‘Hunger’. The Roza Chef@Home special sauce was derived from the infamous ‘Cry Baby’ noodles featured in the film. 

‘Hunger’ tells the story of a young street-food cook named Aoy who runs her family’s battered stir-fried noodles restaurant. One day, she receives an invitation to join Team Hunger, Thailand’s No.1 luxury chef’s table team led by a famous chef. 

The movie gained epic attention on social media and topped Netflix’s trending movie lists in Thailand and in the world overnight.

“Roza Chef@Home Hunger sauce is a co-creation with Netflix to provide cooking convenience to consumers. With just one bottle of Roza Chef@Home, everybody can be a chef at home as we believe that gathering for mealtimes is the most valuable time for families,” said Khun Suwit Wangpattanamongkol, marketing director of Hi-Q Food Product Co Ltd.

Wangpattanamongkol added, “Our purpose at Roza is to be the food solutions company who fulfills the happiness of families. Having the opportunity to work with Netflix in this Hunger movie has been an enriching brand collaboration with this fresh and exciting concept. The output is a powerful one.”

Park Wannasiri, chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson Thailand also said, “This collaboration took us a year to make happen, starting with R&D, to production line and distribution. From the entertainment world to your kitchen, Roza Chef@Home Hunger sauce is the next level of brand experience where anyone can satisfy their Hunger from screen to table in five minutes.”

Durban, South Africa – Whilst media coverage on sports gives athletes essential exposure, they also become the root of objectifying women due to camera angles that focus on female athletes’ certain body parts.

These tendencies in media encouraged Unilever’s global beauty brand Lux, a brand that aims to support women against everyday sexism, to release a campaign that encourages sports media to do a more responsible coverage by focusing on female athlete’s winning shots and strengths during competitions, instead of highlighting their certain physical attributes.

Done in collaboration with Wunderman Thompson Singapore, the ‘Change The Angle’ campaign is associated with a 66-second ad highlighting the statements of female athletes that encourage audience and media to see their strengths instead of objectifying them. The ad also shows statistics on sexist sports coverage, revealing that there are 2500 pictures that objectify female athletes during 2021 Olympics.

Moreover, Lux has also collaborated with South African Volleyball Association and sports broadcaster SABC to organise a volleyball game where female players wore sports attires with QR codes on it, which are the same areas that are usually shown by sports broadcasters. When the QR codes are scanned, it will be directed to the Change The Angle campaign.

Severine Vauleon, global brand vice president of LUX, said that when they discovered that athletes, especially women, are more likely to be objectified due to the camera angles in sports coverage, they realised that they need to act on it.

“At LUX, we believe that beauty should be a source of strength, and that the focus should be on celebrating the beauty of their strength, skills and achievements in sport,” Vauleon added.

“The ‘Change The Angle’ campaign website offers six simple guidelines to effect change in how female athletes are portrayed – and we hope that everyone who’s keen to see change will spread the word,” Marco Versolato, CCO at Wunderman Thompson Singapore added.

With its commitment to fight sexism, Lux has released DE&I training programme last year which aims to stop bad behaviour in the workplace. A certain course in the programme named ‘LUX Allies Against Workplace Sexism’ is designed to help counter sexism in the workplace.

India – Wunderman Thompson India expands its client roster after winning the brand building mandate of Tata Astrum Super, a brand of hot rolled sheets from Tata Steel – a company which is associated with the agency for more than 90 years. 

Within the long-term partnership, Wunderman Thompson India has been working on brand-building projects for Tata Steel Corporate, and other retail brands like Tata Tiscon, Tata Shaktee, Tata Kosh, Tata Pravesh, and Tata Wiron.

In the new mandate, Wunderman Thompson India will help Tata Astrum Super brand in building a competitive edge so it can command a premium over branded & unorganized players, forge bonds with channel partners, and connect with end users. The agency will also help in maintaining the brand’s promise to resonate with both fabricators and end users.

Vijay Jacob Parakkal, senior vice president & managing partner at Wunderman Thompson Kolkata, said that they are pleased to have Tata Astrum Super into the Wunderman Thompson brand family, and they are confident in giving justice to the new mandate that they will handle.

Earlier this year, Wunderman Thompson India also bagged the strategy and creative remit of Czech automobile brand ŠKODA.

India – In a tribute to the large network of roads and highways of India, storage battery manufacturing company Exide has launched a new campaign to pay tribute to the various journeys in one of the largest countries in the world through various folk art styles and sounds that are being used across India.

The campaign, conceptualised by Wunderman Thompson India, set out to use traditional artforms like Gond, Kalamkari, Thangka, Pithora, Patachitra, Ganjifa, Kalighat, Madhubani, Bastar, Miniature Painting, Bhil, Pichwai, Chittara, Warli, Kurmli Sohrai and a lot more to be used for the animation of the ad.

Moreover, the soundtrack of the ad also takes cues from instruments intrinsic to India, like the Ravanhatta, Carnatic Mandolin, Dotara, Rabab, Tumbi Tanpura, Kanjeera, Tasha, Dhol, Dholak and Tabla.

Commenting on the campaign, Uttio Majumdar, chief marketing officer at Exide, said, “For an iconic brand like Exide that can truly claim a national presence and recognition, any piece of creative paying a tribute to it must also be as epic. The ‘Moving Canvas’ does that and shows how an iconic battery brand unites us and is behind millions of journeys across this massive country.”

Meanwhile, Senthil Kumar, chief creative officer at Wunderman Thompson India, commented, “It was time to bring alive the purpose of the brand that moves our nation in the most seamless narrative ever. The ‘Moving Canvas’ is a testament to how creativity can beautifully bring together culture and craft to celebrate the world’s most diverse country in every frame. Kudos to Uttio and the wonderful marketing team at Exide for choosing to amplify the brand expression through animation.”

Lastly, Arjun Mukherjee, senior ECD, and vice president at Wunderman Thompson Kolkata stated, “When we started this journey, the goal was that for an iconic brand like Exide, whatever we create must also be epic. This 2 minute [and] 5 seconds film that you see is actually 9 months and 12 days of our lives and is an ultimate tribute to the artists and artisans of India.”