Madison Outdoor’s unit, Platinum Outdoor, continuing its association with Tiago, the new hatchback from Tata Motors, has created an experiential outdoor innovation in Mumbai. After its successful launch in OOH a few months ago, the agency put up an actual real size 3D model of the car on a hoarding in prime location in Mumbai. The agency also used sky-tracker high intensity lights to build curiosity from a distance and give the hoarding an iconic feel. The hoarding was on a heavy traffic route of Western Express Highway in Bandra. Executing the innovation was a real challenge, it took about 50 days to fabricate a 20 foot 3D model of the car, put it up on the hoarding and getting regulatory approvals. This is the first time something of this scale has been put up on a hoarding. In the past, some brands have put up shells of their cars, but nothing to this scale. Says Dipankar Sanyal, CEO, Platinum Outdoor, “We are really excited with this new innovation done for Tiago on the back of a very successful launch”.
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Experiential marketing agency, Fountainhead MKTG, has been conferred with the ‘Outstanding Agency of the Year’ award at the 6th edition of PALM Sound and Light Awards 2016, recently held in Mumbai. PALM Sound & Light Awards, as part of the PALM Expo 2016, recognizes and honors outstanding service in the field of stage, sound and light. With over 22 technical categories manifested this year, the awards ceremony honored individuals and organizations for their contribution to the industry by rendering remarkable services in the live events arena in the Indian market. Fountainhead MKTG, a 21-year old experiential marketing agency which is now a part of Dentsu Aegis Network, has over 250 employees with the offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. The agency has witnessed a rapid growth driven by strong financial performance. The agency recently conceptualized and managed some of the prestigious events such as Royal visit to India of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the global programme ‘Shakespeare Lives’ featuring Sir Ian Mckellen’s Masterclass with Aamir Khan, Mint Luxury Conference, Hello Hall of Fame Awards and many others. In addition to the Agency of the Year award, the agency has also bagged 4 Golds at the Indian Brand Convention's BAM awards for the projects - Mahindra Imperio campaign, Piku and Kayam Churan association, Microsoft Knockout Café and Philips - Lakme Fashion Week. Commenting on the achievement, Neale Murray, Co-Founder & Group COO of Fountainhead MKTG, said, “It’s been a dream run for us this year with a stream of accolades that recognize our effectiveness in experiential marketing. This award reaffirms our philosophy of building brands by creating memorable experiences using state of the art technology and out of the box creative inputs. I thank the PALM officials for the trust they showed in our work and also our clients who’ve partnered us in making this achievement possible.” Brian Tellis, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Fountainhead MKTG, said, “Being a creatively-driven agency, we always believe in building brands through cutting-edge experiences and setting benchmarks in delivery. This achievement is indeed a testament to our strengths in producing innovative experiences at the events. I congratulate each and every member of the team for all their hard work and commitment.”
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The first session of AIM or Artist Industry Meet-up is kicking off on 2nd June at Bandstand, Aurobindo Market in New Delhi, and is stirring up quite some excitement. Seeded by ArtistFAQs and propelled by Everything Experiential and BW APPLAUSE the event has a lot on offer to the community of live entertainment- from insightful discussions, to unique talents, to a distinguished audience and a fabulous after-party; but here is our cut of the ‘top 4 reasons’ why you wouldn’t want to miss this! #1 AIM is an insightful networking opportunity and event for entertainment programmers and live entertainers at large. #2 AIM generates direct B2B business opportunities for artists and entertainers across genres of live entertainment. #3 AIM showcases the talent of promising independent artists from across categories. #4 AIM engages focused communities of event organisers, wedding planners, talent agencies, multimedia production studios, M.I.C.E. agencies and live venues.
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Brazil is on the receiving end of its worst recession in several decades. The Organizing committees for the 2016 summer Olympics have taken on a novel approach and are concentrating on barter deals for prospective sponsors and reaping better results. Following the precedent set in the previous Olympics -- when London, carried out similar activities when it was suffering from the 2008 financial crisis, Rio is encouraging “value-in-kind” agreements. Rio had planned a 50-50 split, but organizers now are relying on a record of more than 60 percent barter for the 3 billion real in local sponsorship revenue needed to support the Games according to a Bloomberg report. Hitesh Gossain, CEO of Onspon.com thinks it is the perfect way to go about garnering support for the event, “It is a valid way of functioning. With the economy struggling, not only are companies unfavorable towards cash sponsorships for the right to co-brand with the 2016 Olympics, they possess surplus capacity Olympic organizers can use effectively.” “For me to go to a company now and say, ‘Hey get money out of your bank account and give it to me’ -- it’s a very tough discussion,” said Rio 2016’s Chief Commercial Officer Renato Ciuchini. “We started seeing VIK as a much easier discussion." Not stocked with money, organizers will be looking for more deals like the one they recently entered into with Aliansce Shopping Centers. The 2016 Olympics will take several hundreds of car parking spaces close to the games in return for allowing stores to be branded in Olympic signages. On same lines, Brazilian rental-car company Localiza has signed on as a sponsor. They will be supplying approximately 150 Nissan cars adapted for the 95-day cross-country torch relay and in turn use its Olympics tie-in to attract foreign tourists for rentals, said Herbert Viana, head of marketing. The 2016 Olympics logo will hang from car-rental counters, and a print and digital media Olympic campaign is in the works. Not all sponsorships can be paid for in-kind. Some 90,000 Olympics workers, including 5,000 staffers within the organizing committee itself, have to be paid in cash, and that cash has to come from somewhere. As many as 10 new partners still might be signed before the games begin, though organizers aren’t expecting too lure another top tier partner like Nissan. However Hitesh predicts a positive spin for those brands that are now looking to power the upcoming Olympics, “Brazil’s currency has dropped by 43 percent in the last year and a half. The value of Rio sponsorships was approximately $1 billion in December. That is just $740 million today. With the deals all paid in real, foreign partners maybe getting more for their money, because the value of goods has increased in local terms.”
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Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts today launched the Shangri-La Events Collection and Golden Circle Event Planner Rewards, an industry-leading meeting and events loyalty programme for meeting and travel professionals. This programme will offer meeting and travel professionals and any Golden Circle member the ability to earn elite status as well as earn and redeem points for groups, meetings, conferences and events across the Shangri-La, Kerry and Hotel Jen portfolio. With nearly 100 hotels located around the world from Lhasa to London, Shangri-La offers one of the most extensive collections of inspired meeting and event venues, boasting more than 300,000 square metres of dedicated event space. The group’s hotels are known as the venues of choice for hosting heads of state, Fortune 500 companies, high-profile product launches, weddings and social events. The new meetings and events loyalty programme dovetails with Shangri-La’s “Loyalty Is” conversation and ongoing loyalty transformation, which aims to make Golden Circle one of the most attractive and meaningful hotel reward programmes. “We are connecting with and building deeper recognition for an important group of customers as well as further extending our relationship with our existing loyal Golden Circle members. Meetings and events account for over a quarter of Shangri-La’s business, and we want to reward meeting planners and event organisers for partnering with us to do what they do best,” said Wee Kee Ng, vice president of loyalty and partner marketing. Golden Circle Event Planner Rewards offers the highest level of rewards of any meetings and events loyalty programme. Planners can earn up to 40,000 Golden Circle Points on an event booking – the equivalent of 40 complimentary room nights. In addition, it is the only programme that allows members to earn double points for any subsequent meetings or events booked in the same calendar year. “With Event Planner Rewards, Golden Circle has significantly broadened the value we offer group and event planners worldwide. Event organisers can now earn Golden Circle points on all conferences, meetings and events as well as redeem points towards their future events and meetings or use them for leisure travel and unique culinary experiences.” said Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. Chief Marketing Officer Steven Taylor. As part of its focus on delivering personalised experiences, Shangri-La has revamped its meetings offering with the launch of the Events Collection, which provides planners greater flexibility as well as rich personalisation and experiential options. Unique destination events, anchored in the community and curated by Shangri-La, are among the experiential elements organisers can incorporate into their meetings and events. These “Meetings with More” activities can be team building exercises or themed social activities that allow attendees to contribute to the local community as well as connect with each other. “Our philosophy is simple – we don’t just help planners to organise events, we enable them to design their own experiences with the best of Shangri-La. We take care of the smallest details and deliver beautiful and personalised events which are engaging, polished and productive,” said Taylor. One of the key pillars of the Events Collection is flexibility. To enable planners to enhance their events with added Shangri-La services – including everything from guestroom upgrades to airport transfers, coffee breaks to audio visual equipment – an automatic three per cent event credit is provided. Furthermore, up to 50,000 Golden Circle Points can be redeemed instantly against the event cost, which is unique in the industry. For information about the Shangri-La Events Collection, please visit www.shangri-la.com/EventsCollection. The site features a downloadable Events Collection brochure as well as detailed information on the programme and on unique destination events, including “Meetings with More” team building activities. To join Golden Circle, please visit www.goldencircle.shangri-La.com. Shangri-La has also launched an Events Collection video, a platform on LinkedIn and a dedicated Instagram feed to share event and meetings inspiration from around the world.
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The Glitch, a leading independent agency today announced the elevation of Pooja Jauhari to the post of Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. In this new role, Pooja will be taking charge of all the agency business nationally and will help carry the company vision forward as they expand into newer markets both locally and internationally. Pooja was leading the Strategy & Business function prior to this in her role as Vice-President, Client Strategy at Glitch. She comes with a vast array of experience of over 12 years in companies like Unilever, JWT, Contract Advertising and World Wide Media. Speaking more about the new appointment, Rohit Raj, Co-Founder & Right Brain at The Glitch said, “Pooja has been a key part of our evolution & growth as an agency and has been taking decisions and moving the company forward the way we would have and sometimes better than we would have. We feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as her to run the company and this frees up time for us as founders to concentrate more on our core areas of expertise and help scale the company further.” Varun Duggirala, Co-Founder & Left Brain at The Glitch further added “At its core Glitch has always stood for disruption in the advertising landscape and as we expand further the need is to have someone at the helm of affairs who unleashes this disruption with a strong strategic and business focus. So it was a no brainer to have Pooja take over this role to lead the charge for Glitch as our CEO.” Adding more about her role, Pooja Jauhari, CEO at The Glitch said, “We are in the business of impact driven advertising, we help clients sell their products and not just talk about them. The fact that today I get to grow, evolve with and lead the most diverse set of creative and strategic talent helps make this stint exciting and challenging. I look forward to continue working with the founders and taking forward our collective vision.” Founded in 2009 by Varun Duggirala and Rohit Raj "The Glitch" has delivered several award winning campaigns over the years. With offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, The Glitch manages close to 50 accounts across industries including brands like Lakme, Whisper, Kurkure, Lifebuoy, Lay’s, Pears, Cornetto, Set Wet amongst manyothers.
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The Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA), the apex body of the Indian events industry, has re-elected Sabbas Joseph as its president for another term of two years. Joseph is the Co-founder of Wizcraft and has been serving as President at EEMA since 2014. The new term begins 21 July 2016. The decision came through during EEMA’s annual convention EEMAGINE 2016 at the General Body Meeting held on 1 May in New Delhi. Following a unanimous nomination in favor of Joseph, the congregation has also empowered him to choose the leadership team which would form the successive National Executive Committee of EEMA. In an attempt to extend equal opportunity and impartiality to the process of choosing the leadership team, Joseph has invited members of EEMA to nominate themselves for the role. In an open letter he announced, “While we set the path forward for the second term which would commence from end-July, we commit ourselves to EEMA and the growth of the industry. May the power of EEMA grow and may India benefit from the contribution of our events industry. The new term gives us a chance to create a new leadership team. All of us should have equal opportunity to play a part in building and creating our future. While roles and designations should not matter, I would like to request those interested in participating in the leadership team to write to me directly. Please share what agenda you would like to focus on, the amount of time that you have on hand for the same, and what your contribution could be. It is an opportunity to shape the industry, administer the present while creating a future that we can all be proud of. The deadline for responses is May 15th, 2017.” During Sabbas Joseph’s tenure as EEMA President since 2014 the association has paved the way for numerous developments within the events industry including single-window event licensing and pre-approved event venues; and is assertively working towards health and safety compliance at events, regularization of copyright laws and licensing, use of state owned venues for recreational purposes etc.
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Candid Marketing, a strategic brand activation agency, has appointed Puneet Malhotra as Managing Partner. Puneet will play a key role in developing the existing business and nurturing the growth of the agency. With experience of over 16 years in the industry, Puneet has worked on brands from diverse industries, offering a range of experiential solutions including Brand Activation, Event Management, Digital & Interactive. During these previous stints, he was responsible for demonstrating success in delivering high impact, result-oriented, consumer-centric campaigns for brands like Bausch & Lomb, Intel, Samsung, Eicher Volvo, HP, Turner International, Max Life. Prior to joining Candid, Puneet was AVP at Cheil Worldwide driving activation business for Samsung as well developing new Business for Cheil in the Activation space. Speaking on Puneet’s appointment, ATUL S NATH, Managing Director, Candid Marketing said, “We are delighted to have Puneet join the team and have our clients benefit from the breadth & depth of knowledge and experience he brings. I am looking forward to Puneet working closely with Amrita and myself in charting the future course of Candid Marketing in the next 20 years!”.
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