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The four-year-old company is said to be a pioneer in implementing mapping, tracking and monitoring technology for ad-campaigns in India and are the first ones to rollout digital wall-paintings and glow-in-the-dark ad-units amidst other path breaking accomplishments.

Talking exclusively to Adgully, Mihir Mody, founder and CEO, Adwallz, shared some key insights about the company.

Briefing us about Adwallz, Mody said, “We specialise in wall paintings all over India. We have a network of about 5000 painters in small towns and also a network in around 300 districts in India. We help from planning and designing to executing the entire budget of a brand. This is more of a rural and BTL activity.”

Officially, the team is made up of thirty-thirty five and has eight offices in eight cities with around 30,000 painters.

Wall painting is a very affluent medium, especially where promotion is concerned. This medium was hardly noticed before. There have been companies like Vodafone that spend around five to ten crore on wall painting annually on a national scale, then there are cement industries; then top FMCG companies, telecommunication companies, now even banks have started using this medium.

Sharing the clientele, Mody said, “We handle almost 35 corporate giants as per now like Unilever, HDFC, some parts of Vodafone, Godrej, Philips, Samsung, most of the FMCG companies, the cement companies such as Ambuja and have worked with almost 70 to 80 brands.”

What Adwallz does is they channelise the whole system of ad-wall-paintings and makes sure that every penny spend by a client is used in an effective way.

They have a unique online monitoring system wherein all the painters, equipped with digital cameras, upload their work from a small cyber café, then they are also connected online and the client can actually sit at one place and see how the work is being done.

It is more of a B-town and C-town phenomenon, if I may say. Towards rural side, this medium is really effective since it is cheap. If compared, one hoarding is equal to 5 or 6 wall paintings.” Giving a very significant example, Mody said, “If one has a twenty lakh budget, one can only buy few bill boards in Mumbai or in metros but one can paint the entire Maharashtra in that budget in terms of wall paintings.”

Giving a sense of how Adwallz work, Mody said, “Companies always want to execute and indulge in cheap advertising but also simultaneously want an organised form. My company is the first such firm which is really organised in this space. We work according to client’s market and distribution strategies. Firstly, we understand what the market is like and then we work upon their distribution strategies, then we see how the client’s sales are. Post that, the client gives us a list explaining the expenditure including how and where he wants to spend.”

Talking about the advertising plan, Mody explained, “We understand and identify their competition and give them the actual sense of how this budget should be used and what will be the right way to spend it. Then we go state wise and nationally, also villages to mark a sense of what will be good for them and we give them a break-up of how the money would be used.”

This of course is done only after a thorough research. Adwallz has actually visited 300 cities, met the painters, understood how they work, made them more organized and also gave them a platform to express themselves, so that they can give their work on a regular basis. The best part about it is that they are all street painters. All of them a really fine artists but they are jobless and they can’t market themselves, so in a way it is a valuable platform for them.

Speaking about how wall paintings are better than hoardings, Mody said, “Firstly, this wall painting medium is cheap, secondly it helps in reaching masses, thirdly, since it is more attractive it creates an impact on the consumers and also once a wall is painted it stays for years and expenditure is nothing.”

When asked which have been the most receptive companies in the start, Mody said, “Since I think telecommunication has just started expanding on the national scale so they have been really active and gave us a very positive response. Also for cement companies, this is a very useful medium and so they have also been very optimistic.”

When asked about marketing, Mody told us that first of all ‘word of mouth’ has been really good. Then we also at times go for email marketing and at times, I personally go myself to promote my company.” According to Mody, the company believes in working directly with the clients. They do not believe in roping in an agency.

The company seems to know its business as it has done a thorough research, has painted in villages where there is no electricity, not even transportation and where the painters have even travelled by cycles for one of their clients, Unilever.

With such an amazing network across the country, Adwallz is growing at a fast speed. You name a city and they have it in their kitty. They sure are on a path to painting more walls. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]

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The task for out-of-home was of ultimate importance- Titan wanted to launch their belts and wallets as a pilot in Bangalore city only, which meant that they had to use localized media and avoid spillover as much as possible into other markets. With OOH being the only medium, there was not much room for error- the campaign was a true test of the efficiency of OOH as a medium, and the results would set the tone for the national launch. Mudra Max-OOH, part of the DDB Mudra Group was the outdoor agency for this campaign.

Client support for the campaign was extra-ordinary. Based on the ideas presented, product shoots were done specifically for the OOH campaign. Design was just half the work done, however. Innovations were placed with spread; to ensure every corner of the city took note of the campaign. A belt wrapped a crunched billboard, another wrapped vertically around the billboard, a wallet jutted out of the billboard- in some cases, the sheer size of the cut-out used posed a daunting problem- for teams used to implementing 4ft cut-outs, getting a 20ft cut-out in front of a 40 ft square billboard was the equivalent of installing a small billboard in itself. More than 20 people worked in tandem to create each execution of the ‘Crunched’ Billboard!

Along with the installations, a regular OOH media plan was devised which ensured proximity to sales points too. Large, high impact sites were chosen for the entire campaign as the emphasis was on creating quick awareness amongst the target audience.

Another media innovation was the activation of the dhobi network. Instead of executing a normal leaflet distribution campaign; the agency created specially made leaflets that replicated the actual belts and wallets. The belts were placed in the belt loops of trousers that were sent for ironing, while the wallets were tagged to the shirts. Mudra Max-OOH ensured the brand went straight into the houses of the target audience!

Speaking on the campaign, Sonia Lal, VP-Mudra Max-OOH, said- This kind of innovation was possible only because the client trusted us enough and went with our creative thoughts. I am very glad that Titan brought us in on this one. Also, the fact that OOH was used as the only medium to launch the product speaks volumes for the media itself.”

Mandeep Malhotra, President & Head, Mudra Max (OOH, Retail, Experiential), said- “Seldom are brands gutsy enough to give a challenging brief to their OOH partner to create something based on their understanding of media that stands out, complements the marketing plan and delivers the business objective. Titan did just this for their accessories announcement. The current execution helped deliver unprecedented growth in sales.OOH was used as primary media, therefore belting up outdated notions of outdoor being purely a reminder medium.”

Toranj Mehta, Manager, Titan Accessories says, “We would like to thank Mudra Max-OOH for the effort put into the Titan Accessories campaign. Basis the anecdotal response we have received, people have really found the innovations clutter breaking, especially the one with the crunched up flex. Numbers also indicate the same, as sales during the campaign have doubled over pre campaign sales. Overall the campaign has been appreciated for its refreshing take and innovative ideas.”

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The brief Brandscope got from the client, their mainline agency OMD and their creative agency Everest Brand Solutions, was that as part of the launch in addition to a significant hoarding and bus shelter plan a huge impact innovation was required that would add punch to the campaign and create the buzz that a launch activity so deserves.

This was achieved in three distinct ways. The brand promise being restoration of body, mind and mood, Everest Brand solutions wanted to showcase the restoring quality of the product through the outdoor medium. The idea that the creative agency had in mind was to convert a normal bus shelter into a B’lue Restoration Lounge-with a sofa, arm rests, side panels etc depicting relaxation and comfort which would restore the tired commuters while they waited for the bus. This was executed by Brandscope at a shelter on Karve Road, opposite Garware College.

Secondly an inflatable bottle measuring 25 feet was put on a hoarding at S.B road Symbiosis circle which was also supported by a 3D cutout of the bottle with LED display at Kalyani Nagar, near Gold Adlabs, Koregaon Park adding to the buzz. This was supported by a hoarding campaign in the city as well. The bottle being the hero of the launch communication had to be established as a brand icon.

Blue Inflatable Bottle

A huge life size replica of the B’lue bottle was created and installed on a moving platform that was maneuvered by team Brandscope to follow the identified target. This was an interactive and lively activity that added a lot of buzz and surprise element around the brand. People were seen clicking photographs, running around and being lovingly chased by the

Fabian Cowan, Brandscope

Speaking on this opportunity on working with Danone Narang Beverages Pvt Ltd (DNB) and OMD Fabian Cowan- Business Head Brandscope India said, “The beauty of outdoors is that it is not restrictive. If one has the idea, and finds a client and agency who believes in the strength of the idea, then innovations like these can happen more often. Our continuous belief

Haresh Nayak

Brandscope India has and continues to propagate brand led outdoor solutions believing that the future of outdoors is in clutter breaking solutions that are engaging. Commenting on this association Haresh Nayak- Managing Director Posterscope India added, “We believe this to be a defining and welcome departure from the otherwise seemingly common approach of mall activation and mundane customer connect opportunities through kiosks etc. This activity added the extra bit that a brand always looks forward to in the out of home space.”

Renu Bansal, DNB

Mamtha Morvankar, Senior VP-OMD-“The key objective of B’lue was to create instant awareness for the brand coupled with building relevance & credibility. Restoration lounge was created out of mundane bus shelter to drive the brand message “restores body mind & mood”. The idea of moving billboard of B’lue in the Malls was to maximize consumer engagement & we

Mamatha Morvankar, OMD

Both the innovations of moving billboard & restoration lounge delivered the brand objective and we are pleased with the operational efficiencies showcased by our outdoor partner.”

As part of the Posterscope group Brandscope has continued to attract clients that believe in this approach. Recent associations with Hilton, Hampton, Finnair, Nissan Teana, Standard Chartered Credit Cards, BSH Home Appliances, Killer Jeans, India Bulls, Bianca Home Décor, Tilak Industries, Euro Kids, Time Technoplast and now Rustomjee have contributed to this belief of Brandscope.

For the record, Brandscope is part of the Posterscope India Group and comprises presence across Traditional OOH through Posterscope and Brandscope, Hyperspace (Retail, Digital OOH & Digital Retail), PSI (Airports and International campaigns).

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Under the McValue – Super Lunch Super Deal offer any one can enjoy one Burger, one Coke and one Fries pack for Rs.55/- in Mumbai.

“The communication strategy put into practice Out-of-Home was to first tease & excite the audience about ‘something’ that McDonalds was up to, and about to change with ‘Lunch will never be the same again’ message,” said Hanoz Patel, Founder Member & Managing Partner at Milestone Brandcom. To build up the anticipation until the offer launch, we installed a 36-hour reverse timer showing hours, minutes & seconds on 3rd Jan 2012 until it zeroed in at noon on 5th January 2012.

The offer so great needed a rather dramatic reveal approach, for which the agency employed a bell ringer to ring in the new offer on a giant bell installed on mobile billboard & hoardings at some of the prominent & busiest junctions in the city like Mahim Causeway, Peddar Road junction, etc. The giant bell was rung at an interval of every 1-hour between noon & 3pm on the day of the offer launch and continued for the entire campaign period.

“In addition to just creating awareness of the offer with the reveal campaign, we also went the extra mile to bring further reinforcement around the offer hours everyday between noon & 3pm”. A giant clock was mounted on a hoarding, showing people the actual time; and when the clock would strike noon, 1, 2 & 3pm the arms would point to a Burger, Coke & Fries conveying the McValue Offer hours in the simplest but innovative ways. A reminder alarm was also set for every hour between noon & 3pm everyday, for the entire campaign period.

The campaign was executed across 6 cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad & Baroda. A media plan encompassing 310 media touch points spread well across a selection of formats covering high traffic & footfalls along arterial roads, neighbourhood proximity and transit media & junctions. The media touchpoints comprised of – billboards, unipoles, gantries, bus shelters and display boards inside high footfall density stations.

“Since it was an offer starting midday, the plan was heavily skewed towards morning traffic movement for better recall for action relevant to the midday offering.” added Patel.

Commenting on the campaign, Rameet Arora, -Senior Director Marketing (West and South) – Mc Donald’s India, said, “It’s always exciting to be doing innovation. It’s the difference between a good and a great campaign. I believe the work done on out of home in Mumbai was a critical success factor in a most successful launch.”

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A Comms brought to the Indian market the innovation of streaming communication on multiple LCD panels in electronic stores. It has successfully been running campaigns connecting premium brands with technology climbers. Snapdeal.com is the first brand in e-commerce segment to display in Croma and E-Zone outlets across India on such a large scale.

So how exactly does this work? Aurora Comms uses multiple television panels in electronic stores to create an experiential zone for brands. While some brands may use the medium as pure-play display medium, for some it also works as sampling. In the case of Snapdeal.com, which already has a recall among tech-savvy and upwardly mobile audiences, this tie-up will only take it to the premium consumers of the two electronic stores and make them aware of its creative approach of getting the “Best Deals everyday”. That Snapdeal.com itself has a presence and attractive offers in the same major cities as Croma and E-Zone are, is the X-factor of this tie-up.

Having known new media marketing inside out, A Comms will continue to monetize consumer footfalls with snapdeal.com and create result-oriented campaigns. This is easily a win-win situation for the retailer and the marketer.

Commenting on the medium, Samir Vithlani, Director – Key Accounts, Aurora Comms, said, ‘It is our endeavor to deliver targeted consumers in a contextual manner. Croma and E-Zone attract intellectual consumers and therefore we worked on offering branding and showcasing the deal site across these stores.”

Abhimanyu Rishi, Head Activations, Snapdeal.com feels this will flash the e-commerce site before the eyes of a new audience. “The footfalls in electronic stores in India are tremendous and always increasing. Our tie-up is a unique attempt to promote Snapdeal.com to the smart, upwardly mobile urban citizen. We want to drive home our messages innovatively, not intrusively,” he said.

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The mandate to Milestone Brandcom was to give full justice to the thought of bringing about the exuberance of the show throughout the outdoor campaign. Hanoz Patel, Founder Member & Managing Partner at Milestone Brandcom said, “A show with such unsettling aggression of the heavy weights to reckon with like 7’ tall wrestler or a 149 kg person deserved a larger than life representation. This kind of scale could not have been better depicted on any other media but outdoor, where medium becomes the message itself, as a result Milestone Brandcom devised a media plan & communication ideas both high on volume & scale.”

It was thus imperative to showcase the drama, action, humour and tension that formed the backdrop for these fights to bring the action in the ring alive on the streets. Milestone Brandcom creatively extended the campaign theme for the required buzz & hype around the show with the following innovative communication ideas for the show:

- Scott Steiner tearing apart a huge billboard with his lethal blow
- Monster Abyss smacking a heavy weight trailer, crushing it into pieces
- Booking a double-decker billboard one on top of the other to accommodate Matt Morgan dwarfing & crushing the high rise buildings below
- Extended boundaries of the billboards, to accommodate the colossal wrestlers all into a single frame of billboard

“Milestone Brandcom is a ‘thinking’ OOH agency, and that is our key strength in creating difference in our service offering to our clients. We have time & again delivered unique ideas and innovative media applications in the OOH space that are in the best interest of the brands & campaign themes. We strive to create benchmarks & push the limits, campaign after campaign, which is best illustrated with multiple innovative ideas conceptualized & executed from our end for our various clients including COLORS.” added Hanoz Patel.

Commenting about this OOH communication approach, Rajesh Iyer, Head Marketing, COLORS said, “The ‘Ring Ka King’ thriller campaign is the physical representation of the excitement that the show embodies. We wanted to bring the action of the ring alive throughout our communication. To bring out the adrenaline pumped exuberance of the show into our promotional activities we collaborated with our creative partners to come up with a campaign, which could do full justice to the thought. All our promotions for Ring Ka King, be it the print innovation with Mid Day or disruptive campaign across outdoor, radio and TV, is high on volume and scale.”

The OOH media plan covered 1200 media touch points spread well across a selection of large formats covering high traffic & footfalls along arterial roads and transit media & junctions. The media touchpoints comprised of – billboards, cantilevers, unipoles, gantries, public utilities, bus shelters, bus side panels and boards inside high footfall density stations.

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In line with its history of unique firsts, Jet Airways – India’s premier international airline sought to innovate with the aircraft wrap and virtual billboard in the sky idea to allow brands greater opportunity to be present where it mattered. After all what could be more eye catching then a large aircraft coming in to land or take off with a brand being advertised on its entire fuselage. It is a medium that will surely catch the requisite eyeballs not only with Jet Airways guests, but the entire passenger population at any airport.

Manish Dureja, Vice President, Marketing at Jet Airways further added, “The aircraft wrap is like a flying billboard that allows you to take your brand to the skies quite literally. All of us at Jet Airways are immensely proud and happy to have innovated to create another opportunity for media buyers. We are happy to partner with Nokia Lumia as our launch customer and are certain Nokia will reach out to its target customers through this unique branding opportunity. We are confident that this unique media vehicle will leverage the power of innovative brand communication to a focused group of prospects and will deliver value for money to brand managers across India that will opt to take their brands to the skies in the months ahead.”

Viral Oza, Director – Marketing, Nokia, said, “The Amazing Everyday Journey has been designed to live and share the consumer’s everyday adventures. The Nokia Lumia branded plane with Jet Airways will surely brighten the day of its passengers with its vivid colours and execution. This has created a new marketing and consumer engagement benchmark.” He added, “We have created some amazing moments for our consumers since the launch of the Nokia Lumia range through the Lumia Taxi, flash mobs, flash cricket & luxury helicopter rides, and the Lumia aircraft will take the ‘amazing quotient’ of this campaign a little higher”

Nokia also announced the ‘Spot the Lumia’ consumer competition. To participate, consumers will have to spot the Nokia Lumia — on the plane, or outdoor, at Nokia retail or even on TV — and upload the picture onwww.facebook.com/nokiaindia. 50 consumers with the most innovative pictures will get to attend the amazing Sky Party on January 20th. The Sky Party will be a 2 hour extravaganza on board the Nokia Lumia Jet Airways flight with some amazing experiences for consumers. The aircraft will take off from Mumbai and will land back after the party.

The Nokia Lumia Jet Airways aircraft has already started its journey, as it flies across destinations in India from 1st January until 31st January, 2012.

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Mumbai based En Route Media has recentlyintroduced the country’s first ever in –taxi entertainment and advertising network, which goes by the name of Flo.

Flo is a tablet like device embedded in the passenger seat’s headrest. This elegant travel companion’s sole objective is to relax its traffic-ridden audience with light entertainment and relevant information. Flo already has four distinct channels presenting contents from genres such as Entertainment, Fashion, Lifestyle, Cars, Technology, Travel, Food and Sports.

The resultant high levels of engagement and impact greatly benefit brands looking to find new ways to target busy professionals on the move. En Route Media offers a few select advertising spots, which create maximum impact and call-for-action. This proposition has already attracted advertisers such as Volkswagen, the Economist and Siemens to try this new medium.

For content partners Flo brings on the opportunity to showcase their content, and finally find a way to catch the segment of their audience that’s always on the move. Upon asking Shikha Modi, Content Head, En Route Media, about the idea behind the content on Flo and their partnerships, she said, “We understand that passengers want to relax during their cab journeys, so we make sure the content we select consists of a mix of light entertainment, quick tips, news updates and local information. The passengers’ feedback to this bouquet of videos is constantly being monitored through our smart backend servers. That way we are able to provide content specifically tailored to the audience’s preferences.”

Even though Flo is a rather young product, it boasts of a kaleidoscopic list of national and international content partners. Here is what some En Route’s existing partners had to say about this young company’s wirelessly managed entertainment platform:

CNBC TV 18 shares shows surrounding business, infotainment and technology. Saket Saurabh, Head – Marketing, CNBC-TV18 says “We’re always looking at new and innovative ways to reach our viewers. Flo offered us a differentiated & captive platform and offers us an additional medium to sample our channel.”

Rohit Kumar-Marketing Head – Zee News Ltd says, “Flo is a great digital medium which captures attention instantaneously, we have partnered with En Route to deliver special news capsules of the week and run live news tickers on their screens for people who are always on the move.”

According to Red Bull India, “Flo is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the World of Red Bull. Whether it’s the high action sports content featuring feats like the first Formula One car at the World’s highest motorable road or whether it’s giving Indians a taste of the world’s best break dancers at Red Bull BC One, Flo is the perfect vehicle to reach a captive audience. As Red Bull moves towards becoming a media company, outlets like Flo allow the company to evolve on new platforms and constantly push the evolution of sharper focused and smarter content formats”

En Route’s lists of content partnerships also include names like Bollywood Masala, Geobeats.com, Watchmojo.com, Fox Traveller, and stand up Comedian Papa CJ.

Flo is a modern two way medium that enables Mumbai’s radio cab passengers to enjoy their journeys, and provides a gateway for channels and advertisers to reach a predictable audience in an uncluttered environment via the impact of audio-visuals.

Flo in the near future will be expanding to New Delhi, and promises to provide Location-Based Services, route maps, points of interest and other useful travel information all at the tip of their fingers.

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The core objective of the offer was to promote the convenience of cashless shopping, coupled with great offers and anytime access to their bank account, all with Axis Bank Debit card. The media objective of the campaign thus was to cue awareness for the cashback offer on Axis Bank Debit cards.

In view of this fact, Milestone Brandcom devised an all-pervasive OOH media plan to tactfully target the audience on the go, across strategic locations, following them right up to the last mile. The idea was to cue awareness & action, where they would typically purchase electronics, books, movies, music, gifts and much more for their family & friends during the festive season.

The outdoor campaign was spread across 25 cities/towns, encompassing 19 states in India. “A strategically selected vehicle mix of large format along arterial routes, high footfall transit media and most relevant last mile touch points maximized the brand exposure & offer communication. For a product category like debit cards whose usage is purely based on impulse purchases, outdoor media offers the best opportunity to not just create awareness but also trigger a response by enticing the shopper enough, just at the right time & place at the last mile.” said Hanoz Patel, Founder Member & Managing Partner at Milestone Brandcom.

The large format media was spread along key arterial routes with large billboards, public utilities, gantries & wall wraps, whereas transit media covered the train exteriors, railway stations, metros signages, panels inside metro trains and bus Q shelters. Lastly the most captivating media with looming presence was used for the last mile impression in the shopping neighbourhoods, with mall signages, pillar signages inside malls, mall drop downs, large mall facades, signages & kiosks in shopping areas & markets.

As part of the strategy the campaign also witnessed creative executions & cutouts on key traffic intersections for the desired impact & clutter breaking visibility spread across cities.

With the execution of the above across-the-board strategy, the promotional offer enjoyed an extensive reach & desired response in quick time.

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The event, a press conference, was a translation of a+ philosophy, good makes good, from the beginning till the end. Right from the invitation that highlighted good virtues, to the ambience displaying good, nay, great lives & personalities who have served as a testament of good making good, to a show that further elaborated the story of good makes good through Nestle history & the 4 tier product (a+) processes, up to the launch with a celebrity who epitomizes the said class of a+ perfectly, Sonam Kapoor.

As a 6 part Audio-Visual show, the event was conducted in a talk show format, being led & conducted by the renowned actor & humanitarian, Anupam Kher, in conversation with the Nestle Business Head South Asia, Mr. Kumaran. The storyline described the journey from genesis of Nestle nearly 140 years ago, to the general belief systems regarding milk that Nestle is due to change with its revolutionary new product, to the 4 processes of farm, cold chain, quality check & processing and packaging, and finally a proclamation by Chairman & Managing Director, Nestle India Limited, Antonio Helio Waszyk, introducing the milk in person along with Sonam Kapoor.

With a multi-intermission show flow, and not one but two celebrity plug-ins, the precision & timing of the show was of utmost importance and delivered to perfection. Summarizing the words of General Manager Dairy, Nestle India Limited, Kumaran Nowuram, “I was very pleased with the launch event. It turned out very well. A high quality event for the launch of a high quality product!”

On the subject of this incredible association & not merely an event, Milestone Connect Sr. Vice President, Shivneet Singh says, “We are thrilled to be associated with the Nestle brand. Working on the project with Nestle was an actualization of our own philosophy & commitment of delivering added value & high quality of service for the brands we work with. Their philosophy Good makes Good could not have been translated into such a tremendous event had it not been for the good efforts right from the conception to the designing, to the production, to the execution, of a lot of good people involved in the project. It is not a solitary success that we have achieved through this, but a Milestone in our relationship with Nestle.”

Since its inception, Milestone Connect has helped world-renowned brands like American Tourister, Samsung, Tata Sky and GE to name a few, engage with their consumers & create the desired brand experiences.