Articles for Industry watch

Calvin Klein Jeans hosts music event in Hong Kong

Vibgyor executes launch of Za Perfect Solution Serum

Za, The Premium Beauty brand from The House of Shiseido in association with leading fashion and lifestyle magazine Cosmopolitan hosted an evening to celebrate the India launch of its Za Perfect Solution Serum at the Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. This event was organised by Vibgyor Brand Services, that welcomed the Capital’s jet-set and high-heeled women. Za – The Power of Beauty event featured the launch of Za’s latest Perfect Solution Serum which witnessed the showcase of an exhibition inspired by the Serum through a series of superlative visual stories told through illustrations, paintings, photographs & sculptures by renowned Bangalore based artist Sharon Nayak. The 22 unique pieces of art celebrated a world that is innocent, glamorous, feminine, modern, powerful and everything Beautiful. The Za Perfect Solution Youth Whitening Serum, is the latest Skinovation developed by leading scientists that combines the best of both worlds – Brilliant Skin Clarity and Youth Retention. It features Za’s Breakthrough RETINOWHITE Complex that delivers unmatched Radiance and helps retain Youthful Luminosity from inside-out.

Conventional vs. Unconventional; experiential initiatives a marketer should opt for

Experiential marketing as a domain gives ample opportunity into the hands of a brand marketer to creatively market its product as per their own wish and commands. While most brands connect experiential activities as an extension to the brands overall image and message, there are also a number of brands who have created their own niche in the area by constantly coming up with unconventional and out of the box experiential marketing initiatives to charm their target group. With all brands today investing a significant amount of their marketing budget on experiential marketing initiatives, it is indeed a big question ahead of every marketer today. Should they opt for conventional and safe methods to experientially cater their customers or go for unimaginable and unexpected out of the box unconventional ideas for the same? Taking an example from marketing history, one brand that defines the term unconventional experiential initiatives in the country is Red Bull. Be it Flug-Tag championship or Redbull Tour bus, B-Boying championship or Air Race championship, the brand has always created diverse unexpected experiences for its consumers and all its initiatives have now become a reason why Red Bull is known as one of the most active brands in the country. Though its experiential campaigns have do not appeal to the masses but their uniqueness and authenticity have become the reason of the grand success for the brand. Skore condoms in the past have associated themselves with many safe sex campaigns and social awareness initiatives but none of the experiential ventures could give the brand the spotlight it truly deserved. This however changed with their last experiential venture which was a one of its kind fashion show wherein the garments were made by using-Yes, Skore condoms itself. The fashion show not only gave the brand a status of unabashedly creating awareness about contraceptives but also became one of the most buzz creating events of the year. With examples of unconventional experiential campaigns clearly proving of having a leg over conventional experiential campaigns; it is often questionable why don’t we see more of such unconventional experiential initiatives by brands? The answer to the above question can be the budget. Not all brands spend lavishly for customized experiences for their customers especially when they know that the reach of such initiatives are rather limited. Hence, even in the dynamic marketing environment today brands marketers call mass communication of advertisements as a safer bet on part of brand recall and revenue generation. Brands like Mondelez, Idea, Baggit, Yamaha, Kwality walls, Bru, Kitkat are distinct yet clear examples of brands trying to safely manage their experiential ventures. Most of their activities are limited to new ways of sampling for products or digital campaigns that make an experiential activity seem like a massive success however the real impact made is rather minimalistic. However low budget campaigns such as Ferrero Rochers Diwali activation and we chat QR code campaigns are still recalled by consumers among experiences of a lifetime. So what should a brand do? Come out with an experiential initiative out of the brands image? The answer to the above question is No. Brands today need not come out with concepts that do not relate with their respective brands at all. Doing that would be much more dangerous than playing a safe bet through general activations at malls. Brands marketers need to understand today that as the world of information and technology is evolving the consumers today need a more than usual initiative to be surprised from and for that the experiential ventures have to be carefully and not blindly designed. Brands like Tata Motors, Vodafone, Puma and Coca-Cola are examples of brands coming up with unconventional experiential campaigns that can easily be identified with the image of their brands. All experiential initiatives by the above mentioned brands be it T1 Truck Racing or Urban Stampede, Invisible Dance campaign by Coca-Cola or Anti-Gravity photo booth by Vodafone, are all examples of how brands can come up with unconventional experiential campaigns for brands within their identity and still nail it. So next time you ponder upon designing an experiential campaign for your brands remember unconventional is the way to go.

Why television channels are deep diving into experiential

Advertisements on television became a raging sensation immediately after their inception as not only did they have the ability to address the variety of masses at the same time but also because of the fact that they resulted in high recall value for the brands. But down the years advertisements have somewhat lost the interests of the viewers and today they are mostly looked upon as the barriers between anavid viewer and the main content of the televised program a viewer eagerly waits to see. The shift in the trend has not only forced brand marketers of consumer products to add an experiential leg to an overall marketing campaign but this has also significantly impacted the television channels. Forcing them to get creative in terms of their own marketing techniques, which so far were limited to the replay of advertisements of their own shows on their own channels. Many TV channels after witnessing the shift moved on towards using print media as a medium to better market themselves. Hence, towards the early 20th century most entertainment television channels were seen advertising about their upcoming shows and movies through front page of major newspapers in the country. However, when even the newspapers moved towards the digital era,a newer change in the marketing process has been observed lately and a demand for television channels to experientially woo their audiences was rightly felt. A few early adapters of this change ventured into experiential as a reason of this demand and today are enjoying a distinctive identity and widespread popularity over other tv channels of their category. A notable example in the category is MTV India which was always looked upon as a music television channel but lately managed to create a connect with the youth of the country through their diverse campaigns such as MTV Campus Dairies, Karobonn Bloc Party, MTV Bollyland. Selfie Challenge among others. Their initiative MTV Coke studio has too garnered unabashed success and is an audience favorite today leading to unfathomable success for the channel. Another example of the same is the English music channel VH1 which after associating and creating an IP VH1 Supersonic has become the synonym of western, rock, metal, trance and unconventional music in the country. The Zee channel group has also understood the importance of creating consumer experiences over the years, their campaigns as a group or even individual channels be creating a misunderstood score board during the ICC World Cup 2015 or promoting the kids shows aired on their channels through mall activations and kids’ activities have all resulted in the audiences feeling more close and connected to the channels which in turns results in a positive brand image for the channel and increasing viewership quotient. Other channels like Sony, Pogo and Star Plus can also been seen joining the bandwagon recently with their respective initiatives for such using drones SankatMochanBahubali Hanuman, Science exhibitions and Star Parivar Meet and Greet Initiatives. Movies Now as an English entertainment channel too promoted the promoted “The Wolf of Wall street” premier through an array of installations at Goafest. As a result the movie became one of the most watched premiers in the history of television. Clearly the effect of experiential is visible and cannot be overlooked anymore by television channels. Television channels marketing managers should realize that experiential campaigns have truly emerged as the need of the hour if they have to make their presence felt in the minds and hearts of the audiences today. With the revolution of information technology and the excess of information availability around the audiences, it will need more than a traditional marketing route for a channel to successfully market itself. And with the world of experiential marketing full of opportunities to explore it is a must for every television channel today to hop on the journey of creating unique experiences for viewers and join the war of creativity to successfully market themselves.

Maxus India scores big at Asian Marketing Effectiveness and Strategy Awards 2015

Global communications consultancy firm Maxus has won 5 awards at the prestigious Asian Marketing Effectiveness and Strategy Awards. The glittering award ceremony that took place recently saw over 600 entries contending for top honours. India had a total of about 15 shortlists across different agencies out of which 6 were from Maxus India. Maxus India won 2 silvers and 1 bronze award for Tata Tea Power of 49 Campaign and 2 bronze awards in the data analytics and retail analytics categories too. An elated Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, South Asia Maxus commenting on the win said,“Maxus has always made strong, enthusiastic and consisted efforts to achieve the best and future ready in a digitally competitive market where every agency is striving for better than the best. We at Maxus believe these wins have given us an overall and stronger edge in the market, helping us bring unlimited satisfaction to our existing clients and bring new clients into the fold. We are of course ecstatic about the wins! We would like to share the credits with Tata Tea who have believed in the idea and the entire team who has put in the hard work over the years. These wins also prove beyond doubt that Maxus has an undying spirit of wanting to deliver the best for our clients always and keeping them involved at the levels without any hesitation.” Result Category Title Agency Advertiser Silver Media Strategy – Non-Alcoholic Beverages Tata Tea – Power of 49 : The media movement that changed the role of women in Indian elections Maxus Tata Global Beverages Silver Media Strategy – Integrated Use of Media Tata Tea – Power of 49 : The media movement that changed the role of women in Indian elections Maxus Tata Global Beverages Bronze Data & Analytics – Business Intelligence (BI) Retail Expansion Contraction Maxus Maxus Bronze Data & Analytics – Multiple Data Sourcing/Merging I Know Which Half of MyAdvertising is a Waste Maxus Maxus Bronze Media Strategy – Media Strategy for National Brand Development Tata Tea – Power of 49: The media movement that changed the role of women in Indian elections Maxus Tata Global Beverages

Nissan Scouting for Racing Driver in India

Nissan and PlayStation will once again be searching the virtual world of Gran Turismo 6, for a real world racing driver. The GT Academy prepares for its biggest year yet and once again offers gamers the chance to live the dream as a NISMO Athlete. GT Academy India Live Qualifying will begin on June 5th 2015 in Delhi and will proceed to Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai as per the following schedule: City Dates Venue Delhi 5th – 7th June DLF Place, Saket Mumbai 12th- 14th June Infinity 2, Malad (West) Bangalore 19th – 21st June Phoenix Market City, Whitefield Chennai 26th – 28th June Express Avenue, Royapettah GT Academy Online Final Qualification round commenced on 2nd June 2015 and concludes on the 16th June on Gran Turismo 6 for PlayStation 3. Online gamers will have an opportunity to drive the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo as a part of qualifying. Ten winners from the Live Events will then join ten winners from the online game at the Indian National Final to be held in July 2015, with the chance to grab one of six places at the famous Silverstone Race Camp. Last year over 5000 gamers from all over India competed against each other in the race to the GT Academy final race camp. Six fastest contestants from the National Final in India then made it to Silverstone to compete with the winners from other regions. Abhinay Bikkani, one of the finalists from India last year, is currently racing in the Nissan Micra Cup in Canada. Announcing the second season of GT Academy in India, Guillaume Sicard, President – Nissan India Operations said, “ When we speak about innovation and excitement at Nissan, we not only mean our cars but go beyond that with initiatives like GT Academy. Over the years, the competition has given aspirants and dreamers an opportunity to race real racing cars on tracks all over the world. We are glad that we were able to fulfil one Indian’s dream last year and proudly launch the GT Academy 2015 today in India.” A new competition, ‘GT Academy Asia’, will also be launched for 2015. The Asian region will feature Thailand and India, both of which were introduced to GT Academy in 2014 as part of the International competition, and will also be open to gamers from Indonesia, the Philippines and Nissan and PlayStation’s homeland, Japan. The winner of the GT Academy in Asia will bag an opportunity to race at the Dubai 24hrs in January 2016. The 2015 GT Academy competition will be the biggest year yet for the virtual to reality competition. Gamers from up to 24 countries around the world will be able to enter, with GT Academy International and Asia reaching a staggering 2.2 billion potential entrants. Nissan and PlayStation are looking for the very best to progress from virtual racing to the real world of racing for Nissan. Since the first GT Academy competition in 2008, millions of gamers have competed for the life-changing prize of becoming a professional racing driver. Former GT Academy champions Lucas Ordoñez and Jann Mardenborough have both enjoyed considerable success as professional racers and this June will compete for Nissan at the very pinnacle of motor sport in the LM P1 class at the famous Le Mans 24 Hours while Mark Shulzhitskiy, previous GT Academy winner for Russia will be driving the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo at the legendary endurance race. NISMO Athlete Ricardo Sanchez, is enjoying the life-changing journey of GT Academy and is currently racing a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 in the prestigious Blancpain Endurance Series in Europe. Such success proves that winning GT Academy is a genuine opportunity to launch a dream career as a racing driver. For more information about GT Academy India including how to enter and the location of Live Events please visit: www.nissan.in/innovation/gt-academy |www.facebook.com/nissanindia | #RacingDriverWanted

Vibgyor appoints Abhishek Thakur as General Manager Delh

Vibgyorbrand services, experiential marketing agency specializing in brand activation and consumer engagement programs recently appointed Abhishek Thakur, as the new General Manager for their Delhi Office. Abhishek has more than 14 years of experience in media houses like Times of India, Star India PvtLtd along with several agencies like Solutions Digitas, Leo Burnett. He had worked on several projects like launch of Hitachi Global Storage technology, Intel Core2duo Asia Pacific launch, etc. He was also part of creating and executing various shows on Zoom Tv such as Max Style Series , Femina Miss India, Zoom Holi Party and Red carpets for Friday releases. Sharing his experiences on the new innings in his career Abhishek said, Vibgyor has created and executed array of experiential marketing ideas for numerous brands across different verticals. Just like the name itself, the company has excited and involved the clients and its consumers across the length and breadth with integrated marketing solutions, now with the opportunity given to be part of it, will try and add to the sheen while getting involved in Exciting work which makes it “VIBGYOR” Speaking on the new change in the organization AnkurKalra,CEO, Vibgyor Brand Services said,“Abhishek brings with him a great wealth of experience from both the agency as well as clients perspective and we look forward to him being able to add value to team Vibgyor as the Delhi head of CS & BD. Vibgyor has been able to grow its topline by over 50% in the last year and we are looking at bettering that number in the current financial year”.

Cheil India appoints Ogilvy’s Sanjeev Jasani as Head of Digital

In yet another significant announcement, Cheil India has appointed Sanjeev Jasani as Head of Digital. Jasani is one of the most celebrated Digital Marketing professionals in the country. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President and Head of Digital at Ogilvy Delhi. He has been at the helm of OgilvyOne for the past 9 years and has a truly impressive profile, having grown the office substantially since taking charge. Over the course of his career, he has worked with blue-chip clients such as BMW, Nokia, Sony and American Express and has played an integral role in making OgilvyOne India the most awarded digital agency in the country with multiple Echos, Effies, Spikes and even a Yahoo Big Idea Chair to their name. With a degree in Commerce from St Xavier’s College Kolkata and an MBA from ITM, Sanjeev has worked at O&M for over 14 years. Prior to that, he has done stints with JWT and Contract. Commenting on the appointment, Shiv Sethuraman, Group President of Cheil South-West Asia said: “We are thrilled to welcome someone of Sanjeev’s talent and calibre on board. Our Digital team is already one of the biggest in the country and we have a demonstrated record of producing excellent work. We were on the lookout for a leader who could help us take it to the next level and in Sanjeev, we’ve found that leader. He not only has a deep desire to drive memorable and creative work but also has the digital chops to ensure that the work is based on a sound understanding of technology and consumer behaviour online.” Sharing on his experiences towards joining the organization Sanjeev said, “Digital Marketing is a lot like Jazz. Its beauty is not in the predictable notes; it’s in the improvisation. A digital agency today needs to be open and hungry, let go and adjust quickly to the ever fast changing consumer. Cheil India according to me has shown the desire to walk this path. I’m very excited to be part of this hungry and nimble organization.”