NAMS starts tracking upheld complaints ads to ensure they don’t reappear. Appoints Chief Operations Officer responsible for complaint lodging, investigation, redressal and follow-up process

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 24, 2013

Adverting Standards Council of India (ASCI), the advertising content self-regulating industry watchdog, has announced three significant initiatives to ensure faster and more stringent action against all advertisements which violate its advertising code and guidelines. ASCI, through National Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS), has now started tracking advertisements in print and TV nationally against which complaints are upheld. If they continue to reappear without removing or changing objectionable portions of the ad, ASCI will report these advertisements to the relevant statutory authorities for action according to the law of the land.

To speed up the decision-making process and handle the manifold increase in complaints due to NAMS, ASCI has introduced an additional Consumer Complaint Council (CCC) meeting. As a result, CCC meetings will now be held every week instead of every fortnight. This will further reduce the average complaint adjudication time. The self-regulatory body has also appointed  Shweta Purandare as Chief Operations Officer to drive the investigation of complaints besides heading the complaint redressal and follow-up process.

ASCI Chairman Arvind Sharma said, “ASCI has been continually innovating to protect the interests of the consumers and all these initiatives are steps towards that. The proactive tracking  by NAMS earlier of all newly released ads in print and TV and now of all upheld complaint ads and reporting non-compliance to statutory bodies is likely to help substantially in moving towards the goal of eradicating misleading ads. Appointment of a COO and an additional CCC will go a long way in ensuring speedier and more effective complaint redressal process.”

Tracking of upheld ads through NAMS: If any ad after being upheld by CCC for making false claims reappears without appropriate modifications, then ASCI will report the ad to the relevant statutory authorities asking them to take action as per existing rules and regulations.

Weekly CCC Meetings: With the start of NAMS in May 2012, the number of ads complained against went up to 784 compared with 177 ads last year. This is a five-fold increase. To accelerate the decision-making process further, ASCI will have two Consumer Complaint Councils effective June 11, 2013.The first and second CCC will assemble 1^st & 3^rd Tuesdays and 2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays, respectively. Hence, CCC meetings will be held every week. This will reduce the average complaint adjudication time by at least a week. Currently, ASCI is processing between 100 to 120 and through NAMS another 15 to 20 from consumers and intra-industry complained ads per month. So, in 2013-14, the number of CCC processed complained ads may even cross 1,500 which would be more than eight times that in 2011-12.

COO appointment: With many innovative initiatives launched to ensure better filtration of ads violating ASCI code, ASCI’s work load has gone up substantially. Shweta Purandare appointed as COO will play a pivotal role in driving the investigation of complaints and follow up on compliance. With over 20 years’ experience in FMCG/Pharma industry and with a scientific background, she will be responsible for all activities related to advertising complaint redressal process.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Other stories in this section

• Leo Burnett Portfolio Night rocks in Delhi
• JWT Portfolio Night in Mumbai – A night to remember
• McDonald’s goes ‘Pakka Indian’ with pagdi and spice
• Anees Salim of Draftfcb Ulka releases his second book ‘Vanity Bagh’
• News Flash: Havas Media wins media duties of Simmtronics worth Rs 50 cr

It was a big first for Delhi’s advertising industry as 17 top creative minds interacted with and evaluated the portfolios of 59 starry-eyed young creatives

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 24, 2013

It was a red-letter day, rather evening, for Delhi as it hosted its first ever Portfolio Night, courtesy Leo Burnett. Fifty-nine young, starry-eyed young creatives turned up for Leo Burnett’s Portfolio Night 11 in the Capital, held at the plush Maurya. Eighteen top creative minds of the country were there to interact with them and assess their portfolios.

Each creative chief met three aspiring creatives to assess each of their portfolios and give their feedback. This is the format followed by Portfolio Night everywhere. The young creativers from Delhi, Gurgaon and beyond, even from Bangalore. For them it was an evening where they met their idols and heroes – the likes of KV Sridhar ‘Pops’, Agnello Dias, Prathap Suthan, Rajiv Rao, KS Chakravarthy ‘Chax’. It was a dream come true for them, a “once in a lifetime opportunity” as one young creative said.

At the end of the evening, there was a winner – a Portfolio Night Delhi ‘All Star’ – who would be flying to the USA, hosted by Ford Company, to work for a week on the Ford campaign team! Delhi’s All Star was Vaibhav Pande, who currently works for Out of the Box. Pande was voted the winner unanimously by the creative honchos. One young creative’s dream had come true and he knows he will one day soon be lapped by a large agency.

When this correspondent caught up with Pops and Aggie during cocktails, Pops remarked: “The talent that we saw this evening is amazing. We don’t get such talent in Mumbai.” Aggie nodded in agreement, and added: “We saw a greater variety here, and the participants are becoming more tech-savvy.” To this Pops excitedly said: “One of the young creatives I assesses was not even an ad guy, he was a Mechanical Engineer from BITS Pilani! And what is amazing is that he had a complete portfolio.”

Outside the hall, this correspondent caught up with a group of three young creatives over a smoke. They belonged to unknown small agencies. When asked why they spent the Rs 2,400 to register for this event, the answer was unanimous: “Sir, we often blow up that much on drinks when we meet on Saturday evenings with colleagues. But today we met and interacted with some of the biggest names in advertising creativity, people whom we would not normally be able to meet. We couldn’t ask for more. It doesn’t matter whether we get selected or not, but at least they told us where we are going wrong and what we are doing right.” This is exactly what Portfolio Night is all about.

It was a lovely evening, with great food and drinks, and a sense of bonhomie and achievement pervaded at the venue. The ad industry in Delhi and Gurgaon owes a thank you to Leo Burnett for pulling it off so well – for the first time in their city.

The 17 Creative Directors present at Portfolio Night 11 Delhi were: R Balakrishnan, Lowe Lintas; Agnello Dias,            Taproot India; KS Chakravarthy ‘Chax’, DraftFCB Ulka; KV Sridhar ‘Pops’, Leo Burnett;  Rajiv Rao, Ogilvy & Mather; Priti Nair, Curry Nation; Shriram Iyer, Lowe & Partners; Sainath Saraban, Leo Burnett; Ajay Gahlaut, Ogilvy & Mather; Kartik Iyer; Happy Creative Services; Soumitra Karnik, Dentsu India; Prathap Suthan, Bang in the Middle; V Sunil, Wieden & Kennedy; Viral Pandya, Out of the Box; PM Praveen Das, Happy Creative Services; Talha Mohsin, DDB Mudra; and Mahesh Parab, DDB Mudra.

Portfolio Night is a global event that provides a platform for aspiring young advertising copywriters, art directors and designers to meet with top-notch creative directors in an evening of advice, networking and even recruitment. While the evening has been called “speed-dating for creatives”, it’s really much more than that. In the 11 years since its inception, Portfolio Night has grown to be a global event, reaching creative hubs in every continent in an evening where the best of the present meet the best of the years to come. Its eleventh year, Portfolio Night brings together thousands of young creatives, hundreds of creative directors, dozens of City Hosts around the world, and a select few Global Sponsors, all in a “one night only” event across the planet.

There were two sponsors for Portfolio Night globally, including in India, this year:

• iStockphoto which offers easy, affordable inspiration with millions of vetted, royalty-free photos, illustrations, videos and audio tracks. Using the most advanced search in the business, customers download a file every second from a collection of more than ten million files for business, marketing and personal projects. iStockphoto started in 2000, pioneering the micropayment photography business model, and has become one of the most successful and profitable user-generated content sites in the world. iStockphoto pays out more than $1.7 million weekly in artist royalties. iStockphoto is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Getty Images.
• VCU Brandcenter: Originally named VCU Adcenter, the VCU Brandcenter is the United States’ premier graduate programme for the business of advertising and marketing communications. It was the first programme of its kind to combine business-oriented communications strategy and brand management tracks with a creative programme for art directors, copywriters and creative technologists in a business setting. Brandcenter graduates work at the best advertising agencies in the industry, such as TBWA/Chiat/Day, Wieden + Kennedy, and CP+B, and on the client side for some of the world’s most iconic brands like Google, Apple, Nike and Coca-Cola.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Other stories in this section

• New ASCI initiatives to ensure faster, stringent action against ads violating its code
• JWT Portfolio Night in Mumbai – A night to remember
• McDonald’s goes ‘Pakka Indian’ with pagdi and spice
• Anees Salim of Draftfcb Ulka releases his second book ‘Vanity Bagh’
• News Flash: Havas Media wins media duties of Simmtronics worth Rs 50 cr

28 top creative honchos of the advertising industry interacted with and evaluated portfolios of 90 young creatives

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 23, 2013

JWT India’s Portfolio Night brought together advertising industry’s legends and bright young creatives under one roof over an eclectic and engaging evening at JWT’s Mumbai office on Wednesday, May 22, evening.

JWT India’s Portfolio Night 11 saw the advertising industry’s top 28 creative honchos interacting and evaluating portfolios of 90 young creatives. Each creative chief met with three aspiring creatives to assess each of their portfolios and share feedback.

“It was wonderful to see 90 bright, young minds unleashing their creativity with the legends of Indian advertising. It was a spectacular evening well-conceived. JWT India hosted Portfolio Night with a view to give back to the industry and to recognise and guide aspiring young creatives carve a career for themselves,” said Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT South Asia. “I would specially like to thank my phenomenal team at JWT who have worked tirelessly and put in their best to create this wonderful event. Our ‘Eye-Opener’ campaign has been very well received both online and offline and I would like to thank the industry for coming together to make it a success.”

The 360 degree campaign was a phenomenal success. The popular myths were crowd-sourced from the young advertising community who participated by tweeting their myths on advertising. JWT Mumbai developed those thoughts across social media, posters, TVCs, outdoor and radio spots. Students whose tweets have been picked will be given prizes. The entire campaign can be viewed on http://www.facebook.com/portfolionightmumbai11

The judges were welcomed into the JWT Mumbai office where Portfolio Night’s ‘Eye-Opener’ theme was brought alive across various elements such as atrium drop-downs, posters on advertising terminology and innovative merchandising across the office. Caricatures of each of the creative directors adorned their respective judging stations transforming the JWT office into a vibrant and colourful venue. The evening was electric; and was marked with great food, great music and great industry camaraderie.

List of Creative Directors at Portfolio Night 11, Mumbai (in alphabetical order): Abijit Awasti, Ogilvy & Mather; Amit Akali, Grey; Arun Iyer, Lowe & Partners; Ashish Khazanchi, Publicis; Bobby Pawar, Independent; Carlton D’Silva, Hungama Digital Services; Deepa Geethakrishnan, Lowe; Josy Paul, BBDO; Karl Gomes, Fanatics; K.B. Vinod; Komal Bedi, Rediffusion Y&R: Malvika Mehra, Grey; Manish Bhatt, Scarecrow; Piyush Pandey, Ogilvy & Mather; Prasanna Sankhe, Hyphen; Prasoon Joshi, MacCann Worldgroup; Raj Kurup, Creativeland Asia; Raj Nair, BMB India; Ramanuj Shastry, Infectious Advertising; Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, Bates; Sam Ahmed, Rediffusion Y&R; Santosh Padhi, Taproot; Satbir Singh, Havas; Senthil Kumar, JWT; Sonal Dabral, DDB Mudra; Swati Bhattacharya, JWT; Tista Sen, JWT; Vikram Gaikwad, Creativeland Asia; Debu Purkayastha, JWT; Nandita Chalam, JWT; Priya Pardiwalla, JWT.

Portfolio Night is an event where aspiring young advertising copywriters, art directors and designers meet with several renowned advertising creative directors in a fast-paced evening of advice, networking and recruitment. While the evening has been called “speed-dating for creatives”, it’s really much more than that. In the eleven years since its inception, Portfolio Night has grown to be a global event, reaching creative hubs in every continent in an evening where the best of the present meet the best of the years to come. Now in its eleventh year, Portfolio Night brings together thousands of young creatives, hundreds of creative directors, dozens of City Hosts around the world, and a select few Global Sponsors, all in a “one night only” event across the planet.

There were two sponsors for Portfolio Night globally, including in India, this year:

• iStockphoto which offers easy, affordable inspiration with millions of vetted, royalty-free photos, illustrations, videos and audio tracks. Using the most advanced search in the business, customers download a file every second from a collection of more than ten million files for business, marketing and personal projects. iStockphoto started in 2000, pioneering the micropayment photography business model, and has become one of the most successful and profitable user-generated content sites in the world. iStockphoto pays out more than $1.7 million weekly in artist royalties. iStockphoto is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Getty Images.
• VCU Brandcenter: Originally named VCU Adcenter, the VCU Brandcenter is the United States’ premier graduate programme for the business of advertising and marketing communications. It was the first programme of its kind to combine business-oriented communications strategy and brand management tracks with a creative programme for art directors, copywriters and creative technologists in a business setting. Brandcenter graduates work at the best advertising agencies in the industry, such as TBWA/Chiat/Day, Wieden + Kennedy, and CP+B, and on the client side for some of the world’s most iconic brands like Google, Apple, Nike and Coca-Cola.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Other stories in this section

• New ASCI initiatives to ensure faster, stringent action against ads violating its code
• Leo Burnett Portfolio Night rocks in Delhi
• McDonald’s goes ‘Pakka Indian’ with pagdi and spice
• Anees Salim of Draftfcb Ulka releases his second book ‘Vanity Bagh’
• News Flash: Havas Media wins media duties of Simmtronics worth Rs 50 cr

Milestone Brandcom executes integrated, innovative OOH programmes and activations to delight consumers in four cities

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 23, 2013

Indian food is known for its masaledar taste. Building on the Indian mindset, McDonald’s has added a new variant to its menu card: the Masala Grill burger, billed as ‘Pakka Indian’. The new Masala Grill is a tasty burst of Indian flavours. The McDonald’s TVCs highlight typical Indian behaviour when it comes to bargains, instalments and the like, humorously relating them to the burger’s Indian flavour.

The launch was actively supported by a 360 degree holistic marketing campaign with a mix of TVCs, print, outdoor and in-store promotions. Milestone Brandcom extended the OOH campaign across 300+ touch points in four cities. The outdoor campaign continued for a period of three weeks. Large format touch points like billboards, gantries, wall wraps and unipoles were used and extended presence was built using bus shelters across all major junctions and arterial routes.

Rameet Arora, Senior Director, Marketing & Menu Management, McDonald’s India – HRPL, said, “The campaign acknowledges and celebrates the colourful life that Indians typically lead. Right from our inherent habit of looking for value in every bargain to our competitive spirit, it captures the elements that make us truly Indian. The communication has been crafted to create an instant connect between the product and the consumers. It attempts to actively engage customers to reach out to what they believe is Pakka Indian.”

The communication objective was to create an instant connect between the ‘Indian-ness’ of the burger with consumers. To distinguish the campaign on OOH and interact with consumers more effectively, Milestone Brandcom took the communication message from OOH on to activations.

To draw more attention to these spicy delights, Ronald McDonald’s look was spiced up to appear more ‘Indian’. Across all McDonald’s outlets in India Ronald was seen wearing a pagdi (turban). An instant hit with the youngsters and other customers, Ronald completely stole the show and employees of McDonald’s stores requested they too be given this pagdi! Along with Ronald, the employees and delivery boys for McDonald’s wore this pagdi. The pagdi was customised across various regions to appeal to religious diversity.

Stalls were set up across all major McDonald’s outlets and promoters took interviews of consumers asking them if they were aware of the new spicy delights and what they thought of Ronald’s new avatar. Many customers, fascinated with the pagdi, even went ahead and took photos for a memory. Their feedback was then captured and posted on Facebook for them to share with their friends, tagging McDonald’s India. A picture that got more than 10 likes would be rewarded with a free Masala Grill.

The love for ‘masaledar’ food with herbs and spices is clearly seen in an Indian kitchen. McDonald’s decided to add some spice to an otherwise monotonous day at Kalyan Mall in Mumbai. A circular platform with three mortar and pestles was set up in the central atrium. A group of ladies dressed in traditional Indian attire were seen grinding spices on the podium and inviting people to pound spices and interact with them. To make it more exciting, arrangements for on the spot clicking and printing of pictures complemented the activity to make it a ‘Pakka Indian’ experience to cherish.

Commenting on the campaign, Hanoz Patel, Founder Member & Managing Partner, Milestone Brandcom, said, “We are honoured to be associated with brand McDonald’s. We have executed great work together in the past. The objective for the Pakka Indian campaign was to maximize impact of the new launch. In order to create buzz among customers, it was essential for us to take an unconventional approach. We carried the message of ‘masaledar’ across engaging innovations at relevant audience-centric touch points.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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Vanity Bagh, published by Picador, is the story of how inside every big Indian city, there is a tiny Pakistan, and the emotions involved

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 22, 2013

Anees Salim

Following the success of his debut fiction book, The Vicks Mango Tree, Anees Salim, Creative Head of Draftfcb Ulka, Kochi, has released his second novel, Vanity Bagh (Picador). The new book depicts how inside every big Indian city, there is a tiny Pakistan.

Touched with a wistful small-town feeling in the midst of a teeming city, Vanity Bagh is a darkly comic tale of how Imran Jabbari, inspired by the legend of Abu Hathim, an aging don, forms a gang with his friends called ‘Five and a half Men’ in their mohalla, and how they dispense a batch of stolen scooters to different parts of the city and become prime terror suspects after the scooter bombs explode.

“I have always been fascinated by the role of Pakistan in the Hindu-Muslim relationship in India. A minority of Hindus thinks all Muslims are pro-Pakistan and a section of Muslims secretly feels that they can empathise more with Pakistan than India. I wanted to portray this air of mutual distrust without employing a serious tone about the divide. And I think Vanity Bagh is a prototype of any Indian city,” said Salim.

When asked if he had ever experienced discrimination in the name of religion, Salim said, “During the Kargil war and after the Mumbai terror attack, Indian Muslims were frowned upon. I think a minority of Hindus feels that all Indian Muslims are Pakistan loyalists and belong to the other side of LoC. Such generalisations pain and anger me.”

In the book, one of the prime accused in the 11/11 serial blasts, Imran is destined to live in captivity for the next 14 years. He kills time plotting jailbreak until he is assigned to the bookmaking section of the prison. The new job equips him with a new facility: each time he opens a book and stares at its blank pages, he sees them scribbled with tales from Vanity Bagh. Imran thus traces the history of animosity between Vanity Bagh, nicknamed Little Pakistan, and Mehendi, a Hindu neighborhood. The solitude and reflection that characterise Imran’s narrative is undercut by communal tension and a simmering violence.

Having spent most of his growing up days in a home library, Salim calls himself an autodidact. He spent his adolescent days travelling across India, seeing places and meeting people. In 1995, he joined Ulka as a trainee copywriter and, except for a short sabbatical, has been working in the same office.

He made his literary debut last October with The Vicks Mango Tree (HarperCollins), which tells the story of a journalist who disappears during the Emergency. Salim has two more books coming out in 2013. The Blind Lady’s Descendants (Tranquebar) is written as a suicide note of a young Muslim from a little known Indian town. Tales From A Vending Machine (HarperCollins) is a hilarious story of a young girl employed at an airport coffee shop.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Other stories in this section

• New ASCI initiatives to ensure faster, stringent action against ads violating its code
• Leo Burnett Portfolio Night rocks in Delhi
• JWT Portfolio Night in Mumbai – A night to remember
• McDonald’s goes ‘Pakka Indian’ with pagdi and spice
• News Flash: Havas Media wins media duties of Simmtronics worth Rs 50 cr

Simmtronics has five manufacturing facilities – three in India, one in Dubai and one in Singapore – and is ranked as the No. 3 global tablet maker

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 21, 2013

Simmtronics, a technology giant ranked No. 3 in tablet manufacturing globally, has awarded its media duties to Havas Media India. The account size is pegged at about Rs 50 crore.

Speaking on the appointment, Indrajit Sabharwal, Managing Director, Simmtronics, said, “We have very aggressive plans for the year and wanted a like-minded partner on board. It was a tough fight between equally competent agencies. Havas Media’s response, the understanding of our brief, the customized media solution recommended and their huge passion for our business was something we were looking for. We are pleased to have them as our partner and are sure they will contribute significantly to our business growth.”

“The Havas knowledge of the mobile and telecom industry was impressive. Moreover, they have worked with prominent brands, know how to build a brand amid the clutter today and how to position it appropriately,” added Smarth Bansal, Brand Manager, Simmtronics.

Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media Group India and South Asia, said, “It is a great win and further consolidates Havas Media’s position in India. It is also a very interesting category and we look forward to working with them.”

“The past two quarters have been good for Havas with many new business aquisitions.             With this win, we are very hopeful of keeping up this momentum through this quarter as well,” said Mohit Joshi, Managing Director, Havas Media India.

Simmtronics has five manufacturing facilities – three in India, one in Dubai and one in Singapore – and has sales offices in UAE, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macedonia,                Republic of Moldova, India, the UK, the USA and Singapore. It is the only technology company in the world whose manufacturing ranges from various computer components to a complete consumer product, including tablets PC, motherboards and VGA cards.

Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd has tied up with Digilife Distribution and Marketing Services (DDMS), a 100 per cent subsidiary of HCL Infosystems, to distribute its tablets in India.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Other stories in this section

• New ASCI initiatives to ensure faster, stringent action against ads violating its code
• Leo Burnett Portfolio Night rocks in Delhi
• JWT Portfolio Night in Mumbai – A night to remember
• McDonald’s goes ‘Pakka Indian’ with pagdi and spice
• Anees Salim of Draftfcb Ulka releases his second book ‘Vanity Bagh’

The agency will be in charge of brand and resort marketing. The Mumbai office of the agency will handle the account

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 20, 2013

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India has appointed Law and Kenneth India as their new creative partner for their flagship brand, Club Mahindra, with immediate effect. The agency will be in charge of brand and resort marketing. The Mumbai office of the agency will handle the account.

The business was awarded to Law and Kenneth after an extensive agency search which lasted a few months.

Speaking on the appointment, Indranil Chakraborty, Chief Marketing Officer, Mahindra Holidays, said, “A true creative partner for us would be the one that can level up to the unique challenges our business faces and we finally decided on Law and Kenneth.”

Speaking on the win, Anil S Nair, CEO and Managing Partner, Law and Kenneth Communications (India), said, “It’s an honour to be the chosen one for Club Mahindra to partner them in their next phase of  growth. The Club Mahindra team has some exciting plans ahead and we are eagerly looking forward to doing some great work on the brand.”

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts is a part of the hospitality sector of the Mahindra Group. Started in 1996, the company’s flagship brand Club Mahindra today has a customer base of over 150,000 members and over 40 resorts in India and abroad.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Other stories in this section

• New ASCI initiatives to ensure faster, stringent action against ads violating its code
• Leo Burnett Portfolio Night rocks in Delhi
• JWT Portfolio Night in Mumbai – A night to remember
• McDonald’s goes ‘Pakka Indian’ with pagdi and spice
• Anees Salim of Draftfcb Ulka releases his second book ‘Vanity Bagh’

The Singapore-based company offers a platform to browse and discover available outdoor and OOH advertising spaces

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 17, 2013

Singapore-based EatAds.com, a global online marketplace for media buyers and sellers of outdoor and OOH media, is expanding strongly into the Indian market. EatAds.com offers the advertising world a platform to easily browse and discover available outdoor and OOH advertising spaces. Over 100 media owners are already listed in Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Bangladesh, Thailand, and now some of India’s largest outdoor owners have listed on the site.

Media buyers in India, like the rest of the world, have been increasingly frustrated that the discovery and planning process very often takes weeks. Almost all other industries, from property to job search to supplier sourcing, have all been transformed by the use of efficient online sales channels. Now, Indian media owners have access to a channel that their buyers much prefer using.

EatAds.com is an online platform that facilitates the search and discovery of outdoor and OOH advertising space for media buying agencies, public companies and SMEs around the world. Spreadsheets proposals may be obsolete very soon.

Co-Founder Dhruv Sahgal said, “All listings are created with factual data about the specific space, including pricing, availability, images, and location information. With the click of a button a buyer in India can reach out to an owner in Singapore.”

Speaking about the Indian market, Co-Founder Nigel Hembrow commented, “Being such a large and fragmented country, we had always suspected a need for EatAds.com in India, and over the past months all the Indian buyers and sellers we have met here have validated this need. We’re excited to be working with our Delhi-based partner to grow our user base in India.”

Times OOH, one of India’s strongest outdoor owners, is excited by the potential of the EatAds.com platform. Other Indian media owners already using EatAds.com include Bright Outdoor, Graphisads, Roshan, Midas, to name some. To date EatAds.com already boasts a database of over 6,000 listings, and over 100 media owner accounts.

With the company growing fast, they are bolstering their in-house technical team and have rebuilt the site for rapid scalability. EatAds.com is now live with standard search and will be launching innovative buy-side and sell-side features soon. Based on this success, they are already in discussions for their next round of funding.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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The new vision calls for the company to change the level of the business from advertising-level to a solution-level provider

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 16, 2013

Cheil Worldwide, a global marketing communications network headquartered in South Korea, yesterday announced a new vision to mark the 40^th anniversary of the company. It also unveiled a new corporate identity reflecting the vision.

Dai-ki Lim, President & CEO of Cheil Worldwide, announced the new vision in his speech to mark the 40^th anniversary. “Starting today, the key word that identifies Cheil Worldwide is ‘move’, which is about changing the level of the company. We will change the level of our business, from advertising-level to a solution-level, as well as our approach to work from a work-level to an emotion-level.”

The company slogan, ‘Ideas that Move’, reflects the new vision. Cheil makes no secret of its desire to move the company to the level where it can move its clients and ultimately, the world. “The emotional cycle, where I can move your hearts, then you move our clients’ hearts, and the company moves the world, is the vision for Cheil that I dream of,” Lim added.

Setting out an ambition to become a global top class company, Cheil has highlighted five core competencies – creativity, digital expertise, brand experience, analytics and integration – which will all be transmitted through its global networks. The integrated agency makes it no secret to continue to push a sustainable agenda to be a socially responsible company, which will in turn benefit the company, consumers and the society as a whole.

The new vision has already achieved some success. Cheil Worldwide has been pushing hard to further strengthen its retail marketing, digital strength and brand experience which give it an integrated shape and allow it to create work that goes beyond traditional advertising.

On the visual front, the new corporate identity represents the company’s commitment to position itself as a top global player based on its creativity. The new face also captures Cheil’s strong will to breathe with the contemporary generation and create solutions ahead of the times through the open design system which can proactively make responses in line with changing media and environments.

Hari Krishnan, Chief Operating Officer, Cheil Worldwide SW Asia, commented, “We are already feeling a new kind of energy radiating within our offices, our people, our teams. Our conversations, our approach and the work we are creating reflect our renewed global vision of Ideas that Move.”

Cheil’s growth over the last four decades has been more than remarkable. What used to be a small Korean agency now has 57 offices in 32 countries, close to $600 million revenues, and over 4,000 employees globally.

In terms of creativity, the network enjoyed a stellar performance recently, including 12 Cannes Lions and 19 Spikes Asia in 2012. The agency’s work for Tesco Homeplus picked up a Cannes Lions Grand Prix in 2011. This year alone, Cheil scooped up one Grand Clio, one Silver Clio, One Show Design Gold Pencil and 11 AdFest awards.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Other stories in this section

• New ASCI initiatives to ensure faster, stringent action against ads violating its code
• Leo Burnett Portfolio Night rocks in Delhi
• JWT Portfolio Night in Mumbai – A night to remember
• McDonald’s goes ‘Pakka Indian’ with pagdi and spice
• Anees Salim of Draftfcb Ulka releases his second book ‘Vanity Bagh’

Other agencies in the fray were Mindshare, Madison, Zenith Optimedia and Mudramax

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 16, 2013

Maxus has the won the media business of redBus.in in a recently conducted pitch process. redBus.in, an online bus ticket-booking site, recently started advertising on television and other mass media. It was a highly contested pitch with even sister media agency Mindshare participating. Other agencies in the fray were Madison, Zenith Optimedia and Mudramax. Maxus is on a roll yet again in 2013 with wins like Nestle Digital in Delhi, Tata Tea in Bangalore, and now redBus.

Sanchayeeta Verma, GM, Maxus South, who was the key lead in the pitch, said, “redBus is a highly reputed name in the travel space. We are very excited with this win and believe our role is to help our client navigate and maximize the opportunities of change in an always-on, fully digitised media world. We’re looking forward to partnering redBus in their exciting journey towards exponential growth.”

LK Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, redBus, said, “As an ecommerce travel brand launching in mass media for the first time, we were looking for the right blend of aggressive presence, yet delivering efficiently for the business. In Maxus, we found a partner that showed innate understanding of what our business needs are, and complementing it with sound planning and buying capabilities in media. We’re excited to embark on this exciting journey during which we’re sure Ajit Varghese (MD, Maxus & Motivator – South Asia) and his team will be big contributors.”

RedBus.in started in 2005, driven by a personal experience of one of the founder members. During Diwali of 2005, one of them wanted to spend the festival in his home town. Since he didn’t know his schedule till the end, taking a bus was the only choice. He ran around town hunting for a ticket, but they were all sold out minutes before he reached the travel agents. That’s when he thought of the possibility of providing consumers the convenience of booking a bus ticket over the internet. The objective was two-fold: to ensure that they don’t have to leave the confines of their comfort to book a ticket, and to help them get a ticket when they need it the most.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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