In a first of its kind innovation for shoppers, DEN Snapdeal TV-Shop has unveiled “Haseeki Deal”, Laugh while you Strike a Deal. Jeeveshu Ahluwalia, a stand-up comedian known for his wit and humour, will entertain the audience even as they look for that great bargain on DENSnapdeal TV-Shop. “The idea is to break the monotony of TV shopping with some scintillating humour in the form of one-minute entertainment breaks with Jeevesh,” said ManeeshGoel, the CEO of DENSnapdeal TV-Shop.”We are confident our audience will appreciate this innovation and will turn Haseeki Deal into a roaring success.” The entertainment breaks with Jeeveshu’s comic themes will appear through multiple time slots at prime time on the 24-hour DEN Snapdeal TV-Shop. The “Haseeki Deal” campaign has just broken. Here are the links to some of the teasers of the comic breaks which are now appearing on the channel: Promo 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoGMawsgR6A Promo 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMzMHgb9sto
Read More
Global Consumer Products Pvt ltd is a FMCG start up by Mr. A. Mahendran (Former MD, Godrej Consumer Products) which was Incepted in 2014, with an equity commitment of INR 3150 million (appx US$50 million) from Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank, and Mitsui Global Investment (MGI); the company had hired veteran FMCG professionals over the last one year to form its core management team. They have now entered the market in full force with their first brand- LuvIt , a new range of chocolates. The clutter-breaking commercial turns the conventional logic of sharing on its head. The LuvIt TVC through its tagline “If someone shares, ushaar!” captures the essence of the brand. Initially launched only for the Southern states on Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerela and Union territory Puducherry, the campaign will be for a period of 2 months and will be supported aggressively on television, out-of-home, digital, on-ground malls and hangouts, radio – in short everywhere that youth is at. As a means to add an experiential leg to its overall marketing initiatives LuvIt is planning both mall activation and digital activations to promote not only its products but brand as well. Under the digital activation, LuvIt will drive traffic to its FB page through the ushaar test. Apart from these experience driven ventures Luvit also plan to have product sampling done across 1 million people across the five states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Telangana, Karnataka and Kochi.
Read More
With the number of new fashion weeks cropping up each year, the fashion industry is clearly pacing rapidly and has no dearth of investors who are willing to spend big. With the recently organized Lakme Fashion Week, the season of fashion shows has officially begun and what follows for the models is a string of opportunities to gain exposure and a considerable income. But what really is it like being a model in India? EE caught up with Sony Kaur, Sheela Tiruchi, Parul Duggal, Aakshi Khari and Pooja Bhamrah who are often termed as the “next big thing” in the fashion industry today. These women spoke exclusively to EE and shared their experiences. “I had actually never given so much thought into becoming a model”, says Parul Duggal. Born and brought up in Bhopal, Parul was a runner up in Miss India Universe and has also represented India internationally. “I actually went to Delhi to pursue my course in fashion design and there I was spotted by a fashion choreographer who encouraged me to walk the ramp. After initial hesitation I agreed as it was a good way to earn some extra pocket money but after walking the ramp for Lakme Fashion Week where I was among the top 5 models and was heavily applauded by judges I decided to participate in I Am She”. When asked upon how do such fashion shows provide a platform for young women? Parul responds by saying that these events are the best way to get noticed. “I do not want to pursue acting for now as I am having an amazing experience here. There are institute fashion shows coming up next where I will be walking the ramp again and apart from that I have my own business that keeps me busy”, says Parul as she discusses her future plans. Sony Kaur, born and brought up in Hyderabad, is also one of the major upcoming names in the fashion industry today who recently walked the ramp for Lakme Fashion Week. “For me modeling happened in college as my friend’s sister was a model and they needed one more for a show and the money offered was good. Today I have more than 5 years of experience in the industry and the profession gets more exciting with every passing day”-says Sony when asked about the start of her career. But is there a piece of advice that she would love to share with all the aspiring models? Sony says- “Just be confident about your looks and carry what you wear. Also, do not think too much and have immense confidence in yourself.” Sony will next been seen walking the ramp for the Amazon India Fashion Week scheduled to start today. Sheela Tiruchi an Indian origin model was born and brought up in Germany and moved to India to be a dance choreographer. “I was modeling in Germany too but when I moved to India my main focus was to become a choreographer but then modeling just sort of happened.” So what are the major differences between the models in India and Germany? Sheela responds by saying-“In India, we as models need to have a lot of face value as that matters a lot here. But in Germany you need to be very skinny, be at least 5’11 inches of height and need to have a lot of attitude in your walk. Looks are not that important there as the models are not very pretty.” Speaking on the challenges for a model in the Indian fashion industry Sheela says,”It is very easy to get it touch with people here but sustaining yourself in the market is very difficult as new models are coming up every day. I feel it’s a very safe profession for girls to be in contrary to the myths prevailing.” Pooja Bhamra, an actor and model, who stormed the audience recently with her walk at the Lakme Fashion Week did not have a conventional start to her modeling career. “I always wanted to participate in Miss India but as I belong to a protected family my parents always refused. So being an obedient kid I continued my engineering and was preparing for MBA when I participated in Miss Queen pageant that I eventually won.” “Today you have to be bold and standout among the rest to sustain in the industry. If I was to give an advice to young models I would say come prepared and don’t be disappointed with rejections as preparation and patience are the key words to survive here” -says Pooja as she completes her stance. Aakshi Khari who was born and brought up in Delhi has established herself as the one of the most versatile models of her time as she walked for all major fashion weeks of the country today. “I started my career as a model when I was 21 at a show in Panipath. Though the show was not of a huge magnitude by my circumstances had me walking the ramp for money. Even when I was in Delhi I regularly visited Malviya Nagar to search for photographers and models but after 6 months of struggle there I moved to Mumbai and decided to establish myself here”- says Aakshi when asked upon her choice of modeling as a career. “In Mumbai, I met Achala Sachdev, Shakhir Sheikh and Utsav Dholakia who became my mentors and taught me everything about the industry from scratch.”- she completes. When asked to give a piece of advice to the aspiring models Askshi says- “Don’t believe in anyone randomly and always remember to be yourself as it will go a long way in helping you.”
Read More
Also known as the home of great ideas, Cannes Lions is perhaps the highest honor forcreative excellence in advertising, each year inspiringa global community of brands, visionaries and advertising specialists. This year at the 62nd Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity,117 Lions were awardedfrom a total of 3,196 entries in the Promo & Activation category.Wetake a closer look and chronicle the reasons behind the success of some of these experiential campaigns. One of the biggest wins of Cannes Lions this year was The Grand Prix being bagged by Grey London for Volvo UK for their product, “Lifepaint” which, as per Jury President Matt Eastwood, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of J. Walter Thompson, had not only raised the bar creatively, but also made a positive contribution to humanity. Eastwood said, “It reinforces a life-long commitment to a strategy of safety and then elegantly turns that to a guiding purpose not just for the cars, but for all of society. It’s a simple, easy to apply solution that will genuinely save lives.” As established from the promo this highly reflective spray paint was developed to extend the brand’s commitment to safety, helping to make cyclists easier for drivers to spot on the roads at night. One of the main highlights of the campaign was not only of how it was designed but also because how it was executed. The thought process of coming up with something that promotes safety on the roads for passionate cyclists is indeed a noble idea but the cheery on the cake is how the promo begins with cyclists describing the problems that they face on the roads and the constant fear of an accident always lurking around the corner. With the sentiments of cyclists driving the qualities of the product, this campaign was bound to win all the accolades it received. Another big winner from the night was the Burger King Proud Whopper campaign which took home a Gold.The experiential campaign was all about how brands with small initiatives can make huge differences. Raising the issue of homosexuality and delivering a powerful sentimental message with such ease was something that has never been attempted by any other brand before. It is a classic example of sometimes how too little becomes too much and how a brand has the power of positively influencing the society with a simple sincere thought. This one is certain to go down in the memory lane as one of the simplest yet most effective experiential campaign ever. Nivea Doll for Nivea in Brazil, was another experiential campaign which bagged the Gold Lion for its innovative thinking and execution. The experience designed by FCB Brazil reminded kids of the reasons for applying sunscreen through a smartly thought of doll activity. An important message which was simplified for kids and taught to them in the manner they would easily understand and deliver for life. This campaign was already in the news for enhancing the sales figure for Nivea as a brand in Brazil and the simplicity and uniqueness of the campaign makes it a worthy winner of the coveted honor. Further worthy and world-enhancing Gold winners included Mexican Red Cross’ SOS SMS, an alarming campaign to motivate and instigate safety among people by the Red Cross society of Mexico. The campaign proved to be a big success as it makes the best use of technology that we all take for granted. The execution was crucial as it needed active participation from the citizens however this campaign proved that you can never go wrong if a sincere efforts are made to bring social awareness to the masses.
Read More
A decade ago, festivals were considered simply a household ritual, but the last decade has seen the events industry heavily capitalizing on such festivals to organize some of their best events. The idea behind is simple, life is incredibly exhausting already, hence why slave over preparations for these celebrations when you can join the latest Holi party or Garba Dandiya event that is already organized and also features your favorite celebrities, interactive activities, food, friends and so much more. But overtime, it seems monotony has caught up making it difficult to tell one event from the next. Heres some inspiration with this list of cultural festivals from around the globe that offer a generous dose of quirk- 1- Dragon Boat Festival, China The Dragon Boat festival, also known as the Dwanwu Festival has been celebrated in China for more than 25,000 years. The main festivities in this festival are drinking realgar wine and dragon boat racing. Dragon boats are giant sized boats painted attractively and embellished with a dragon head and tail. The race begins with the rowing of boats to the rhythm of pounding drums. Once the night falls the breath-taking Dragon Lanterns and brightly lit creations come alive and truly steal the show. 2- Burning Man, Nevada Burning Man is a weeklong annual art, music and everything-else festival held in the middle of Black Rock desert, Nevada. It usually takes place between August 27 and September 3. The festival means it’s a City of Art; the motto is ‘No Spectators’ and everybody has to contribute something to that year’s theme. This very special event which started with 8 people on a San Francisco beach in 1986 has grown to a huge art festival where hundreds of artists come and build art installations, sculptures, art cars and make performances. With lot of talented and skilled professions in the country just imagine the success of a festival like this if organized in India. 3- Lantern Floating Festival, Hawaii Held annually on Memorial Day on Oʻahu’s south shore, Lantern Floating Hawaii brings together over 40,000 people on the beach, joined by thousands around the world via live streaming and telecast for an evening of honoring loved ones and generating collective hope toward the future. Lantern Floating Hawaii is a ceremony where all can come together for a personal and collective moment of remembrance, reflection, and offering gratitude to those who have gone before us. The concept behind the festival is that we are strengthened as a community as we reach out to support others and build understanding of our common values and experiences. 4- Roswell UFO Festival The Roswell UFO incident, also known as Roswell, was a report of an object that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. To celebrate their belief that aliens have landed on earth, there is an annual parade where patrons can dress up in alien-like costumes and attend brief conferences given by alien experts and authors. However, these alien activists don’t discriminate. Non-believers of the alien theory are also welcome to enjoy the festivities and dress up. 5- The Songkran festival Every April, to celebrate New Year, the world’s largest water gun fight takes place in the country of Thailand. And no, it’s not just some small isolated village. We’re talking about an entire country drowning itself with super soakers. But the fun isn’t limited to water guns, as some people prefer buckets or even elephants. Though in India, holi is organized in a similar format but an exclusive water gun fight festival in our country is bound to be a massive crowd churner. 6- La Tomatina What started as something of a street fight between teenagers using tomatoes from nearby vegetable stalls has turned into the largest tomato fight in the world. It happens every year in the small Spanish town of Bunyol and over the course of about 1 hour the town gets so covered in tomatos that the fire department has to come in and spray everything down. This particular festival is already a craze in India with many Indian films showcasing it over the years and several cities having hosted mini versions of it; but a collective large tomato-lunging fest would be oh so spectacular. 7- Cheese Rolling Festival Every year near Gloucester, England hundreds of people gather to watch as locals chase a huge cheese off the top of Cooper’s Hill and tumble a couple hundred yards to the bottom where they are almost inevitably scooped up by paramedics and taken to the hospital. Supposedly if you cross the finish line at the bottom first though, you win the cheese. Being a festival majorly catering towards those with an enthusiasm for sports this one has ‘fun’ written all over it.
Read More
Known as one of the pioneers of international dance in India, Ashley Lobo, Indian Australian choreographer has recently started India’s first repertory dance theatre company Navdhara, thus adding another feather to the cap of the choreographer post DanceWorx which has over 5000 students. With the aim to put India on the Globe in terms of dance theatre, the USP of Navdhaara lies in its abstract format. The audience can draw their own conclusions about the dance and the performance will be followed by an interactive session where the audience can share their own perspective at the end of the show. With their theatrical productions ‘Amaara’ scheduled to be premiered in Mumbai on March 26, followed by shows in Delhi and USA in the next 3 months; EE spoke to the choreographer about their latest production, its concept and other integrating elements. “International Dance Theater as an art is very new in India, the dance form is very abstract in comparison to Indian contemporary art forms which have a story so the idea behind the setting up of Navdhaara India Dance Theater (NDIT) was to bring something new in the country.”- says Lobo, as he explains the idea behind the setting up of NDIT. When asked upon what separates International Dance Theater from other forms of dance, Ashley Lobo responds by saying, “The movement style of this form of theater are very abstract. With most dance performances in India being hugely scaled with multiple highlights the international dance theater symbolizes minimalism, so just like modern art you also have modern dance.” Producing theatrical productions is a costly affair so how does NDIT manage upon the return on investment? To this Ashley Lobo says- “The return on investment here is that we are carving a way for others to follow. Our main aim through Amaara is to go out and do dance better and bring the industry to a different level as far as Dance Theater is concerned.” “In India currently most dancer performances rely on tricks and their main aim is wowing the audience rather than engaging them in dance. In the international world that is looked down upon, so we are trying to go to the international space and it’s a big experiment even for us as the Indian audience is used to being wowed. But through NDIT we aspire to bring in India an international dance form and to elevate the level of dance in the country.”- completes Lobo.
Read More
Jerry Seinfeld, the name largely speaks for itself. Proclaimed as the12th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central, the American comedian, actor, writer, and producer was slated to perform at the Stage 42 festival at SVP Stadium, NSCI in Mumbai last weekend. This event being organized by Only Much Louder was not only heavily publicized withbrands like Askme.com and Baccardi acting as sponsors but the fans too were eagerly awaitingJerry’sfirst ever show in Asia. But joining the long list of ill-fated international acts, this event too got cancelled over the weekend leaving the event industry abuzz with speculations and creating uproar on social media. What led to this last minute cancellation? Was the event a hoax from the get go? Or was it another example of a mismanaged event? With everyone giving their own answers about the fallout at the last hour, EE managed to speak to VijayNair, CEO & Co-Founder, OML,who shared with us the reason behind the last minute cancellation. “Everything was on track till Wednesday, March 11, when we were informed that the show cannot take place because the Mumbai Police would not give licenses for a show on a weekend at NSCI. In my understanding, this was largely due to a major fracas caused by a recent event where at the same venue there were issues related to traffic being held up. An unfortunate reaction to this was that the Police had to re-think licensing of events in this venue. However, the first time we were told about this issue was on March 11. We did everything we could to come up with solutions, including: 1) We offered to book additional parking. Parking for 600 more vehicles were available in the vicinity. 2) We offered to do the show at 3pm instead, so that traffic would be minimal. However, the above was not satisfactory for the authorities and we were told that the event would not get a license. We also spoke to a few members of Parliament who we know, ministers in the government, all of whom tried to help and speak with the authorities, but eventually they all came back saying it wouldn’t be possible. So on the night of the 11th, a few hours before the artist’s crew was going to get on a flight, we called them and cancelled the show. The private jet which was booked for the artist was also cancelled. We were on the verge of announcing the cancellation yesterday when we got a call from the authorities, and I was called for a meeting. Since this would be a last-minute cancellation, the authorities were trying to help us with a plan to let this weekend’s events go on. We were now told that we could get the permission, tentatively, as well. Having cancelled the performance with the artist already, we did our best to re-book a charter and look at every possible option to get them here on time. Unfortunately, with all our travel arrangements changed, parking slots cancelled and crew being re-assigned, it became impossible to make this work. While the chance of making this happen again, at this late a time, was minimal, we did everything we could to make it work. We found a few flight options that could work, but the rest of the logistics couldn’t come together. It was just too late. In short, we were trying to arrange what took us a month the first time around, in 12 hours time.”-quotes Vijay Nayar. FANS TOOK TO SOCIAL MEDIA TO VOICE THEIR OPINIONS ON THE CANCELLATION OF JERRY SEINFELD AND REGISTERED SOME INTERESTING RESPONSES ON THE SAME. AMAN SETH USED FACEBOOK TO EXPRESS HIS THOUGHTS AND UPDATED- They were right. The world has become very small and connected. I mean, Jerry Seinfeld will be spending his saturday night alone at home in USA because of parking problem in India. -.- #SeinfeldCancelled AN INTERESTING RESPONSE FROM NISHANTTANWAR WAS A SARCASTIC COMMENT WHICH READ- Now waiting for another documentary as a gift from some foreigner called “Parking in India!” #SeinfeldCancelled SAPANVERMA TOOK OUT HIS ANGER ON THE INCIDENT BY POSTING- Situations where Mumbai doesn’t have “parking issues”: – Match at Wankhede. – Political rallies at MMRDA. – Bollywood award shows anywhere. If parking was really an issue, the govt should’ve shut down all offices in Andheri East a decade ago. #SeinfeldCancelled The twitterverse too, witnessed some explosive reactions on the Jerry Seinfeld Cancellation with SagarMehratweeting- @sagarvmehra Mar 13 Congratulations fellow Mumbaikars! Our infrastructure has made it to Jerry Seinfeld’s future monologues! Way to go!! #SeinfeldCancelled HardikShah,said; @hardlyavailable Mar 13 Moral police cancels AIB show, traffic police cancels Seinfeld show. Clearly the only comedy we get is from our police #SeinfeldCancelled @shiladitya Mar 13 Much respect to @vijay_nair and his calm, concise explanations of what led to #SeinfeldCancelled hope this turns around for all it impacted An event of such high magnitude when cancelled results in an earth shattering set-back for the organizers. In the past, events of international performers like Christopher Nolan and the band Metallica have also been cancelled creating bigger problems for the organizers in the process. The operational head Rajesh Chandwani and his three team members of DNA Entertainment Network event even went behind the bars as the police had received several complaints after the Metallica show was cancelled. On being asked how will OML survive this loss, Vijay Nayar-“ A lot of you have been nice enough to send me texts and messages to see if we are doing alright. I am not going to lie. The loss from this show is the single biggest loss for us ever and possibly among the biggest in our industry. We are still a small company of 70 people and have worked really hard to get where we are at. This is a significant setback and looking at Excel sheets right now is not a particularly pleasant exercise. However, businesses are not run by Excel sheets, they are run by people. My team has the capacity to absorb this and continue pushing ahead, but many others won’t and it will be a tragedy if people have to shut down their businesses for things that they can’t control. So yes, we will survive this and will do whatever it takes to ensure that situations like these don’t arise in the future.” Members of the event industry too seemed disturb about the sudden cancellation of this much hyped event. HumayoonZaidi, CEO, Event Network says-“The situation is very sad from the industries point of view. The organizing team was prepared for the event but because of the existing red tapism the event could not take place. The surprising fact is that till now, multiple events have taken place at the same venue but the police have never created a problem before.” Amanveer Singh, Director at Ten Events and Entertainments comments-“The cancellation of this event has led to heavy discussions happening internally at EEMA. The event has been cancelled due to government interventions, what needs to be done now is reaching out to the public and explaining the entire situation.” So what can an organizer do if a heavily marketed event falls apart at the last minute due to divergent reasons? Do event companies have a contingency action map planned for such times? SharadMathur, Director of EMG Entertainment address the questions and responds-“Events can always have plan A and B but if the main content of the show that sells the tickets goes missing how can you ever replace that? There is no backup for such circumstances. When asked upon where does the solution lie to avoid such last minute fallouts? SharadMathur completes his stance by saying- “Well, I think it is time now for the entire industry to unite and figure out the reasons behind the cancellations of such events and institutions like the government of India should support us. We also promote international culture when we organize such events and thus we need to find out the real issues that lead to cancellation of such events and jointly work towards resolving them.”
Read More
Samsung as a brand has the history of pushing the envelope as far as innovative experiential endeavors are concerned. The brand is back in news for the same as they have recently unveiled a new concept called a “Safety Truck.” The mechanism of the concept is features a wireless camera on the front of a truck and four big monitors on the back. A live stream from the cameras is then displayed on the screens, making it possible for drivers to see what’s in front of the truck. The experience has been generated with idea to reduce the possibility of road accidents and has already managed to create a worldwide sensation with the experiential researchers lauding the efforts of Samsung on adding yet another feather to their golden experiential cap. Most people wonder what drives the experiential adrenaline rushfor Samsung and why are they so successful in terms of experience generation? Well, we at EE have the answers decoded for you as we present the top 4 learnings from Samsung’s experiential campaigns across the world. 1- Let the technology speak for itself Samsung as a brand never believes in humans talking and selling their technology driven products through personal interaction. They have instead consistently come out with innovative campaigns where it is the technology that is communicating with their prospective customers like a human. Be it the ‘French Spiderman puts Samsung’s Galaxy Gear to the test’ experiential campaign or the highly advanced Samsung Galaxy 6 phone launch events or the Giant Photography experience to promote its NX11 camera. The brand has always tried to establish an intimate and indispensable relationship between technology and humans in a way that no other brand has ever attempted before. Closely looking all of their experiential campaigns all of them can be easily understood to be subtly underlining the theme ‘Who needs humans when you can make Samsung technology your best friend.’ 2- Adding celebrity influence Samsung usually never relies on one single celebrity brand endorser for its experiential ventures. Be it its experiential activities or launches in India or abroad it has almost always used a variety of celebrity mix to make its products appeal to masses at one go. Clear example of this is the Samsung Galaxy 6 launch party in the US recently where Samsung got a variety of celebrities to use their phones and get clicked in the process. Also Samsung in India has been recently seen associating with the likes of Huma Qureshi, Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Amir Khan and others. With this strategy not only is the brand is able to capitalize on the popularity of diverse celebrities one after the other but they also add a surprise angle to all their initiatives and leave the audiences in a mode of anticipation of what the brand might come up with next. 3- Smart associations Samsung also like most brands is known to associate with other events of diverse genres to better market itself. However what makes these associations beneficial for Samsung is the parameters on which it joins such collaborations. Looking back into Samsung’s experiential history one can easily understand it has only made association with events which majorly caters to the youth, which is the primary target market for the brand. Its notable associations with ‘Party on with Chatathon’, ‘Young Innovation Awards’, ‘College Festivals’ and Sporting associations with the likes of IPL, Asian Games, Paralympic Games etc. prove the point. 4- Innovative CSR initiatives In case of most brands while their experiential initiatives are all about telling the story of their brand and products, their CSR initiatives are known to be marked by associations with NGO’s or donations to the needy for a good cause. Samsung however has created their own niche in terms of CSR campaigns too as much similar to their experiential ventures their CSR initiatives are used by the brand as an opportunity to display the unique features of its technology while fulfilling the mandate of CSR in the process. Looking closely at their initiatives such as the development of Samsung smart schools where the technology of Samsung is used to educate underprivileged children, technological support of disabled in the rural areas, tech savvy means of sustaining the environment and others are worthy examples of how Samsung as a brand has truly diversified in all its initiatives while staying well within its ethos to display the same message and establish the same connection with all their endeavors.
Read More
