Kingfisher has announced a strategic collaboration with Twitter, making them the first Indian brand to run a cross-platform Twitter campaign. With this tie-up, Kingfisher’s Twitter campaign aims to engage every cricket lover in India with a mobile phone to not only share tweets but also receive tweets from their favourite players, teams, commentators and former cricketers. The campaign will see Kingfisher engage all cricket lovers to share tweets whether or not the user has access to the mobile Internet. The Tweets will be available to offline users through the following two routes: Promoted Tweets sent by Kingfisher’s account (@kingfisherworld) in the Twitter app The Best of Cricket Tweets sent via SMS to any user who places a missed call to 080 6753 0303 Kingfisher aims to create the longest virtual cheer by asking their online community to sing along with them by tweeting with #OoLaLaLaLeO to create the longest string ever. Since Kingfisher are the Good Times partners to 7 teams, all the teams will re-tweet out the #tag OoLaLaLaLeO asking their players to pass it on. The teams will be tweeting out a vine with their players singing the jingle and using #OoLaLaLaLeO, thereby urging their community to participate in creating the longest cheer. Samar Singh Sheikawat, Senior Vice President – Marketing, United Breweries Limited, said, “Kingfisher is all about getting people together to have a good time, and providing them with innovative experiences. We have been long-time supporters of the T20 Tournament and its teams, and innovation has always been at the heart of all of our activities around it. The tournament provides the perfect opportunity to bring people together over real time, real-world moments to carry the conversation forward, on a digital platform..The partnership between Kingfisher and Twitter is a natural fit, and we’re looking forward to much more Good Times in the weeks ahead!” Taranjeet Singh, Business Head, Twitter India, added, “Kingfisher is one of the first brands in India to boldly leverage the full power of the Twitter ecosystem to connect and engage with their customers – be it online, mobile or offline users. Thanks to Kingfisher, cricket fans around the country can get updates on the IPL action and hear the roar of the crowd through organic, promoted or curated Twitter content delivered to their mobile device. Powered by Twitter’s mobile advertising platform and its ZipDial partner’s mobile solutions, Kingfisher’s campaign can be seen on any mobile device with or without Internet access.
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Every once in a while a brand with an innovative appeal and a creative strategy strikes a perfect balance between community and marketing philosophies and emerges with a successful campaign; Goodknight’s Fast Card is one such example. The brand successfully marketed itself in Pandharpur, a pilgrimage destination in Maharastra through a successful promotion executed by Vritti imedia. What was the promotional campaign and how was the product marketed was the topic of a key presentation given by Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Director Sales and Marketing-Vritti Solutions at the RMAI Rural Conclave 2015. “We know how ATL has a limited reach among the people and also we were aware of the fact that for BTL to make a successful impact a greater level of consistency was required. Outdoor advertising was an option but wall paintings cannot be controlled in rural and hence we decided to come up with the Audiowalla Bus Stand Promotional campaign”-said- Rajesh Radhakrishnan as he began to explain the campaign. The Audiowalla Bus Stand promotion was executed in rural areas of Rajasthan, Goa, Punjab and Karnataka and featured the appeal of felicitating a smoother day in the lives of people in the rural areas. Showcasing an example of the promotional activity in Pandharpur, Rajesh Radhakrishnan embarked upon the fact that since Pandharpur in Maharastra is one of the most visited pilgrimage venues in the country the product GoodKnight Fast Card was promoted through making available hygienic water to the devotees, Radio Programs on tourists’ buses, signboards and hoardings on strategic locations. Speaking on the main aim of the activity Rajesh Radhakrishnan said, “We wanted to develop a connection with the people and hence as part of the promotional activity we also distributed samples of the product to showcase its features.” Other experiential connects of the campaign were Bhajan Pandals for devotees with banners, Live LED displays and pamphlets about mosquito related diseases in the area. Another interesting highlight of the activity was the use of the product to enable a mosquito free sleep for tourists and devotees at public houses. With memorable experiences as well as the product features well embedded in the minds of people, Vritti Solutions truly managed to make optimum utilization of the marketing capabilities in the area and best market Goodknight Fast Cards as a product.
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Mr. Tommy Hilfiger will visit Beijing, China, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his namesake brand. Between May 24 and 26, Mr. Hilfiger will host events throughout Beijing including an exclusive recreation of his Fall 2015 Hilfiger Collection runway show, which marks the first time the brand is bringing the event to an international setting. Debuted at New York Fashion Week in February, the Fall 2015 collection is inspired by American football, fusing stadium spirit and varsity motifs with Hilfiger’s classic American sportswear designs. The complete show experience will be transported to Beijing for the runway event, which will include looks from the men’s and women’s collections and take place against the backdrop of Hilfiger’s football stadium set. “For the first time, we’ll transport our entire New York runway show to a new setting abroad,” said Tommy Hilfiger. “I’m excited to bring the spirit of an authentic American football game to China and share the unique experience as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations. It’s the perfect platform to share our signature style and brand values across men’s and women’s fashion with a new audience in China, and a great way to celebrate the opening of our largest store in the country.” “Since we entered the Chinese market, it has been an important region for the expansion of our global business,” said Daniel Grieder, CEO, Tommy Hilfiger. “Today, with our solid foundation of over 100 stores across the country, we are able to embark on a number of exciting strategies focused on unlocking the growth potential, sharing our all-American heritage, and expanding our brand presence and business.” Also being launched is a two-story Tommy Hilfiger store at the In88 shopping center spanning over 500-square-meters (5,400-square feet) and reflecting the brand’s “classic American cool” DNA. Bespoke décor reflects the brand’s all-American heritage and is inspired by a blend of tradition and modernity, from over-dyed patchwork rugs, vintage furniture and antiques to digital screens and custom-designed lighting fixtures. The store’s visually striking façade stretches over 30 meters along two sides of the mall, while large windows host high-resolution digital screens that display the latest Tommy Hilfiger advertising campaign videos and imagery, creating an engaging and immersive brand experience. Hilfiger’s 30th anniversary trip to China will be complemented by an extensive digital program designed to engage the Chinese consumer and shared globally via Tommy Hilfiger’s social media channels, including Weibo and Wechat. Friends and followers of the Tommy Hilfiger brand are invited to join the conversation using #TommyChina.
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When BCCI in 2008, formally made the announcement of India’s very own T20 cricket tournament, Indian Premier League to be held every year, the decision was welcomed with applause all over the world. For a country like India where cricket has almost a holy quality, IPL came as an ingenious decision. Now the blue eyed fans would not have to wait four years for ICC One-Day International World Cup to cherish their favorite sport. Also with IPL promising to be a blooming opportunity for young cricketers within the country, more money and support was pumped into the idea by Bollywood and honchos of the corporate world. Thus, in the first year of its inception itself the sport became an unprecedented conglomerate of Cricket, Bollywood and Entertainment and the entire nation went crazy for it. Events from the bidding of cricketers to even the making of IPL sets and production value were all sellable quotients now and marketers capitalized on every single opportunity to ride on the soaring high popularity waves. The UK-based brand consultancy, Brand Finance, valued the IPL at US$2.01 billion in 2009 and then at $4.13 billion in 2010, the reasons of popularity were obvious. Brand marketing reached a new level all together with multiple brands ranging from diverse genres of lifestyle like Moov (pain relief medic) to educational institutions like Amity University becoming sponsors of the IPL. Also brands like India’s biggest property developer DLF Group paid 2.50 billion (around US$50 million) to be the main sponsor of the tournament for 5 years from 2008 to 2012 and from 2013 season, the American food and beverage company PepsiCo took over title sponsorship for five years valued at 396.8 million, and also became the exclusive beverage supplier for the IPL teams in the 2013 season. However, the tables today have been turned and over the years with the inception of more controversies and preference to entertainment over the spirit of cricket itself the Indian Premier League (IPL) has embraced the sobriquet of the ‘Indian Problem League’, and is seen to be doing more harm than good for Indian cricket and cricket in general. Speaking of the controversies, The Indian Premier League has always been about the abundance of Cash, Cricket and Controversies. While cash and cricket were the essence, controversies like the suspension of Lalit Modi, speculations over the match fixing row with cricketers like Shreesanth being involved and the infamous SRK scuffle at Wankhede added to the degraded spirits to the game and the trust of high spirited fans in their favorite sport was somewhere lost in the glitz and glow of the format. Till 2012, IPL remained a big threat to most Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) as it meant a significant drop in viewership and a dip in ad revenues. But Post 2012, there’s been a change in the modus operandi of Hindi GECs. As a huge low in the ratings of the IPL had been witnessed and the GEC channels seemed not to be bothered by the sporting extravaganza anymore and upped their ante to bring on more content oriented shows that have managed to steal the limelight from the gentleman’s game. Taking the example of 2015, they have gone ahead and launched ambitious, high investment television shows bang in the middle of the IPL season. From reality shows (India’s Got Talent 6, Indian Idol Junior 2 and Nach Baliye 7) to fiction (Dostiyaan, Yaariyaan Manmarziyan, Reporters, Sankatmochan Mahabali Hanuman, Fear Files, Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani, Gulmohur Grand, Mere Humnawa, Rangrez) the programming platter of 2015 seems more crowded than ever before. The low phase of the game has also had significant changes in the attitude of key marketers who were left in a precarious situation with the sudden downfall of the game but recently with the development of unique and creative intellectual properties like the Indian Soccer League, Pro Kabbadi League, Super Fight League and others they too are seen jumping off the IPL bandwagon and are investing in more sports and content oriented genres of properties. Not only are such marketing experiences for the brands less expensive than the IPL but the growing popularity of these sporting properties have also led to a possible end of the monopoly of cricketing dominance existing in the country for years. With a shift in focus and clearly visible low ratings it is only a matter of time before the property goes back to its roots and re-iterates its focus, but until that happens we wonder if pumping any more money into it is a good idea.
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Conceptualized by Live Viacom18 and Cineyug, MTV Bollyland brings together two of the hottest genres in the Indian music scene – Bollywood and EDM – to Kolkata. MTV Bollyland City Concert will feature legends of Bollywood music Atif Aslam and Kanika Kapoor performing to pulsating beats by DJ Chetas and DJ Anshul. Popular Pakistani musician Atif Aslam, known for chartbusting numbers like ‘Tera Hone Laga Hoon’, ‘Tu Jaane na’, ‘Pehli Nazar Mein’ while Kanika Kapoor, one of India’s rising playback singer is known for famous tracks like ‘Baby Doll’, ‘Lovely’ and ‘Kamlee’. MTV Bollyland City Concert will take place in Kolkata on the 2nd of May, 2015 at Nicco Park Big Lawns, Salt Lake City, Kolkata. MTV Bollyland is a property featuring of popular Bollywood soundtracks with heady electronic beats, aimed to create a unique experience meant to keep dancers tapping their feet. An extension of the annual MTV Bollyland, the city concerts will travel across 12 cities PAN India, thrilling audiences with a thumping mix of Bollywood Dance Music
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Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) as an industry body was established in 2005 with the objective of promoting, improving, developing and strengthening the cause of Rural Marketing in India. Amounting to 12.2% of the world’s population, rural market today, represents the single largest potential market and accounts for 53% of FMCGs and 59% of durables sale in India. Thus, in an attempt to highlight and reflect upon the challenges and opportunities in rural India, RMAI engaged its various stakeholders- corporates, rural agencies, media, academicians, and influencers, in a knowledge sharing and thought provoking platform with the Rural Marketing Conclave 2015 on May 8-9, 2015 at The Grand, Vasant Kunj. The Rural Conclave 2015 kicked off with a welcome address by Sanjay Kaul, CEO, Impact communications and President, RMAI, who highlighted the importance of marketing in rural for brands in the competitive brand driven business environment today and some effective measures on how community building and business development as two integral aspects should work hand in hand. Keynote address of the conclave was delivered by Pradeep Kashyap, CEO-Mart, who spoke about the emerging opportunities in the rural areas of the country. “Defining the Rural Consumer 2.0” was a panel discussion that followed next. The session included Gurpreet Wasi, Principal Consultant, IMRB, Alpana Parida, President, DY Works and Puneet Vidyarthi- Head Rural at JCB India as key speakers. The session highlighted upon the aspirations of the rural community and people towards an urban lifestyle and the phenomenon had resulted in a coinage of “ruurban” as term defining the fusion between the two. The first day of RMAI also featured sessions on “Geo Marketing” by Sapna Ahuja, Sr. VP, Strategic Operation and Alliance at Map my India, “Path Breaking Execution in Distribution” by Geroge Angelo-Executive Director at Dabur India, “The Advent of Mobile in rural” by George Paul-Director and Head of Marketing at Ericsson India Ltd and “Mobile as a new media engagement” by Vipul Mathur, Category Head and Head Mobile & Rural Marketing at Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Other important highlights of the first day were sessions on “Public Private Partnership in Rural Sector” headed by Sanjay Panigrahi-CEO at Sahaj E Village Ltd, Dilip Chenoy MD & CEO at NSDC, “Rural in Digital Space” by Anurag Banerjee, Founder, and Director-Digital Empowerment Foundation. The Flame awards case study for Best Channel Development of the Year and Best Use of Technology featuring Mahindra and Mahindra Financial services and Project Disha by Dabur India Ltd marked the end of day one of the RMAI Rural Conclave 2015. Day 2 of the conclave began with the special theme address by Dr Shivkumar, Chairman and CEO Pepsico India Holdings Pvt Ltd who spoke about the future opportunities and unexplored ventures of rural marketing in the country. Following him were case study presentations by Vijay Sharma, GM, GSK Consumer Healthcare Ltd and Siddhartha Choudhary-Headm Marketing at WaterHealth International. Both the presentation dwelled on how marketing campaigns initiated by both brands aimed at creating a community impact and marketing of the products came as a natural output. “Rural is more about doing it the right way” was the theme of another insightful presentation by S Shivakumar-CEO of ITC. S Shivakumar during his presentation spoke about how marketers should try to fill in the missing elements in rural to better market themselves. Following next were sessions on theme “Where does Creativity Begin” and “E- Commerce, Entrepreneur Case” featuring Sangeeta Talwar, MD, Flyvision Consulting, Raj Kr Jha, National Creative Director at Geometry Global and K S Bhatia, Founder & CEO Pumpkart.com The post lunch sessions of Day 2 also featured case study presentations of GoodKnight Fast Card, Marico Ltd, Greenlight Planet and Nerolac that enabled the audiences to get a glimpse and absorb the nuances of the successful journeys in the domain of rural marketing. The end of day 2 was marked by the announcement of Corporate Excellency Awards wherein India Post bagged the Corporate Excellency Award in Government Area. In other categories the award for Excellency in services was given to Sate Bank of India, Hero Motor Corp was adjourned as the winners in Automobile category, LG Electronics bagged the honor in the category of Durables and it was Hindustan Unilever that won the corporate excellency award in the FMCG category.
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Cricket is no longer the only dominant sport in India as the country with its citizens have opened up to the idea of accepting other sports not only in the form of an interesting career option but also in the form of the content that they would love to watch on television. As a result numerous other intellectual properties apart from the Indian Premier League (IPL) such as India Super League, Super Fight League and Pro Kabbadi League have come up challenging the game of cricket on every sphere be it the entertainment that they offer or in the terms of the flamboyant content. While IPL is a brainchild of BCCI and was launched in 2008 in form of India’s very own T20 cricket tournament, other intellectual properties like The Super Fight League is an India based mixed martial arts promotion formed in 2012 by Sanjay Dutt and Raj Kundra, The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is a professional kabaddi league in India managed by Mashal Sports Managing Director Charu Sharma and India Super League is a professional football league in India launched in 2013 with the objective of catering to the avid football lovers in the country. In terms of Participation, The Indian Premier League clearly has the upper hand as the majority of India still celebrates cricket throughout the country. However, the passion and the quality of talent witnessed on the Pro Kabbadi League and India Super League platforms has truly outlined that in the presence of required resources and proper guidance the two sports can also establish themselves in the same fan following league as Cricket. Also the successive editions of these intellectual properties are likely to only add up to the interest of future sportsmen to reflect upon these as a choice for a successful career option ahead. The Super Fight League too, seems to be steadily catching up on the pace and is expected to grow further in the upcoming years. However in terms of affiliation, the monopoly of cricket seems to be coming at an end with most advertisers demarcating their budgets to thrive on the audiences growing interest in other sporting events of the country. Also small and medium scale advertisers who did not had the budget to associate themselves with cricket earlier can now be seen openly promoting the new IP’s as it gives them more branding opportunities in the same investment figures. While India Super League has leading brands like Hero, Maruti Suzuki, Amul and Pepsi co India as its prime sponsors, the Pro Kabbadi League also is managing a lot of advertising revenue from the Future Group and its entities. The Super Fight League has also roped in a sponsor in form PACL India Ltd and is garnering more advertiser attention with every edition. Another important aspect that determines the overall success of a sports intellectual property in India is the revenue being generated from viewership on television. And as far as this aspect is concerned though de-regulation in television has brought a significant amount of exposure to other sports and their properties but the generation of revenue by them in this regard is minimalistic and cricket seems to be the only sports resulting in profits. However industry experts are of the view that the new intellectual properties cannot be expected to take on the popularity of cricket at such an early stage and the generation of television revenue is a milestone they will hopefully achieve in the next few years. So is IPL the clear winner among sports IP’s in India? Well, the situation is more complex than what it looks like. Though currently all the interrelated elements and intricacies of revenue generation root for the continued success of IPL for now but a clear shift in the audience interests from the sport of cricket can be easily witnessed symbolizing the growing success of India Super League, Pro Kabbadi League and Super Fight League as well. With the organizers adding more interesting elements to each new edition making it better from the previous one it is only for time to tell which sports IP in India will register the ultimate win.
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Dance and Music Festivals area rage amongst the youth all over the world. Not only are such festivals unabashedly loud and flamboyant in terms of their production values but they are also a safe bet to engage a mass audience though an event. Thus, more and more of such festivals are being organized at local and national level these to capitalize on the young audience that is willing to pay a large amount of money for the same. However an alarming fact about such routine festivals is that lack of innovation and creativity in terms of the content they offer. This, this time at EE we list down 5 of the most unique dance and music festivals across the globe. 1-Meadows in the Mountains (Bulgaria) This unique music and dance festival takes place in the serene surroundings of Bulgaria’s Rhodope mountain range and offers a chance to commune with nature to a blissful soundtrack of afterhours house, disco and techno. An important highlight of Meadows in the Mountains festival is that it has an honorable commitment to eco-friendly partying: the organizers are committed to sourcing timber shacks, art installations and stages from the local forest. Appearing on those stages are all kinds of live bands which include genres like funk, dub, alternative and jazz ones and, of course, the obligatory earnest men with acoustic guitars. The festival is also hugely popular for the post-festival pool party, tickets for which are sold separately. 2- Fusion Festival (Germany) Communal, countercultural and often described as the European Burning Man, anything goes at Fusion festival held at Larz, Germany. Located, oddly enough, on a disused military airfield, the four-day programme of the Fusion Festival is packed full of music and performance art, art installations and sculptures also dotting the site. The distinguishing factor of this festival is that the emphasis isn’t just on performers to perform but also the attendees are encouraged to dress up, bring instruments and generally express themselves however they see fit 3- Bahidorá (Mexico) Festival, carnival and hipster-honeytrap, Bahidora music festival organized in Mexico is a 24 hour party that celebrates not just the passion of the music but the spirit of life itself. The setting is gorgeous with acts being performed next to a sparkling blue river flanked by palm trees. The revellers colourful: many are resplendent in jazzy beachwear and feather headdresses, with a fondness for spontaneous processions. As for the music, it’s a mix of carefully selected indie, electronica and hip hop: Coco Rosie, Modeselektor and De La Soul. A point worth mentioning is that Bahidora is the only music festival in the world where you can learn circus skills and kayaking. 4- Fuji Rock (JAPAN) This unique festival organized at Niigata prefecture in Japan is different as you require a trip up a mountain by cable car to see the performances. The 20 minutes of highwire travel is all takes to reach the glorious stage and is a good illustration of the festival’s vast size. The festival is known for its beautiful verdant setting in the Naeba resort and is the biggest music festival in Japan 5- Wilderness (UK) Wilderness is as much a celebration of the inner life (there are talks and debates, a spa and yoga classes) and good old fashioned back-to-nature activities (horse-riding, wild swimming and foraging) as it is a music festival. Hence this music festival attracts crowds that are not average festival goers on the lookout to get hammered. There’s more of a family friendly vibe to the festival where an entire family can go and simply unwind themselves. The beautiful lakeside Oxfordshire setting Wilderness calls home will host an excellent line-up of musicians including Bjork, Ben Howard and funkmaster George Clinton, performing with his legendary bands Parliament and Funkadelic.
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