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The idea behind the new 360 degree campaign is to maximize the reach to males over 30 years and increase the brand recall and awareness amongst the consumers in Tier II towns. The on-going campaign started in the first week of December, and will continue until December end.

The Ground Campaign managed by Integrated Experiential Solutions (IES) — a specialist division of MOMS and a unit of Madison World, is an extension of the communication proposition on media that aims to promote & bring alive the Muthoot Fincorp’s new offer ‘Gold Loan in 3 min’. The 20 day Road show covers than 20 towns in various cities across North India of Delhi, Punjab & Haryana

The DGM, Saumen Roy stated , “The challenge with the ground campaign was to make the brand presence felt & drive footfalls into the Branch besides educating the customers on the hassle free three minute processing and availability of the Gold Loan”

The specific aim through the ground initiative is of educating the consumers to interact with the consumers in their catchment areas near the branches and convey the speed at which the gold loan can be made available at Muthoot Fincorp as well as detailed knowledge on the services.

Finding a gold coin in a bowl filled with ornaments before the opponent was the key engagement hook on the canter to raise awareness on Express 3 Minute Gold Loan. The engagement was designed to check the speed of completing a particular task to convey the Express 3 Minute Gold Loan service. The activity was such that it also appealed to the women audience. Spot gratifications greatly increased the excitement amongst the winners. The audience is also given a chance to win a lucky prize via scratch card; the prize can be claimed by visiting the nearest branch.

Commenting about the campaign, a spokesperson from Muthoot Fincorp elaborates, “The main objective of this on-ground module is to extend campaign communication proposition & to convey the fast paced availability of gold loan in a world where small things in life take more time to get fulfilled when Muthoot Fincorp gives them a gold loan in just 3 minutes. The idea was to build brand awareness & connect to the TG in the catchment area through the campaign. We have taken the on-ground route to strike a chord with the consumers by tapping into their emotions. The stiff competition in the market makes it all the more important for us to communicate the advantages over competition. We wanted to enhance the knowledge of the TG, especially the traders about the benefits and the availability of a loan which can be procured & processed in just 3 minutes”

Commenting on the Campaign Success; Saumen Roy, Business Head, IES said: “Currently No. of people contacted in the past week have been 11,600 with hot leads being 7500 & branch walk-ins in the first two weeks of the campaign. Since Muthoot Fincorp competes with both established and growing players, it becomes essential for us to bring out the convenience and speed of processing the Gold Loan which sets it apart from others. The idea is to make a dent in the consumer mindset on the ease of fulfilling their dreams with Muthoot Fincorp 3 minute express gold loan”.

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Madison has 13 entries in totality of which Madison Media Infinity has 9 shortlists and Madison Media Plus has 4 shortlists. Madison is followed by Mudra Max, MediaCom and MEC with 8, 7 and 5 shortlisted case studies respectively.

M&C Saatchi Direct & Digital Communications has two shortlisted entries while OMD, ZenithOptimedia India, JWT, Optima Advertising Pvt. Ltd, Interface Business Solutions (I) Pvt. Ltd., Omnicom Media Group, Group M- Dialogue Factory and Platinum Communications Pvt. Ltd. have one shortlisted entries each.

The case study presentations will be conducted across three days – 16th, 17th and 18th of August at Weligkar Institute.

On 16th August the case studies will be presented under the following categories-

Best Media Strategy- Consumer Products

Best Media Strategy- Consumer Durables

Best Media Strategy- Services

Best Media Strategy- Media/Media Property

Best Media Research

Best Media Innovation- Ambient Media

Best Media Innovation- Events

On 17th August the case studies will be presented under the following categories-

Best Media Innovation- Digital (Search)

Best Media Innovation- Digital (Social Media)

Best Media Innovation- Digital (Mobile)

Best Media Innovation- Digital (Web)

Best Media Innovation- Print

Best Media Innovation- Radio

Best Media Innovation- Direct Marketing

On 18th August the case studies will be presented under the following categories-

Best Media Innovation- TV

Best Media Innovation- Out of Home

Best Media Innovation- Cinema

Best Media Innovation- Branded/Scripted Content

Best Integrated Campaign. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]

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Rajdeep, a digital media and marketing professional has graduated in Computer Science from the US and has worked in companies like Wunderman International in India and W3i and Critical Mass in US, apart from being an independent Digital Consultant. He has extensive work experience in digital branding, social media marketing, mobile, ecommerce, and direct marketing. On the agency side he has worked on media planning, buying, analytics, web design and content strategy for Fortune 100 clients. In his current role Rajdeep will oversee the agency’s digital operations in Delhi for all existing and emerging digital media initiatives including display, video, SEM, mobile, social and emerging media.

Says Punitha Arumugam, Group CEO, Madison Media, “I am delighted to have Rajdeep join our team in Delhi and I am sure he will strengthen our already strong Digital team.”

Says Mr. Rajdeep Bhattacharyya, on his joining Madison, “I am excited to be a part of the Madison family and to get this opportunity to work with and learn from all of Madison Media’s digital talent, as we set about growing our digital expertise further. Integrated media approach is at the core of Madison Media’s offerings and I look forward to play a part in continuing to develop a world class media company.”

Madison Media’s spend in Digital accounts for about 10-15% of total digital spends in the country. The agency does digital work for clients like Airtel, Cadbury, ITC, Levis, Britannia, Godrej, Tata Tea, Bharti AXA, Spice Jet, etc… The agency has also won several awards at Cannes, Yahoo Big Idea Chair, Emvies and Goafest in the digital and new Media space.

Madison Media was in the news earlier this year for winning the coveted ITC media planning and buying AOR that it is currently handling through its unit CREST.

Madison Media is India’s foremost media agency handling media planning and buying for blue chip clients including Airtel, Godrej, Cadbury, ITC, General Motors, Marico, McDonald’s TVS, Britannia, Asian Paints, Tata Tea, Shriram Transport Finance, Levis, SpiceJet, Axis Bank, Domino’s, Bharti Axa, MaxNewyork Life Insurance, Tata Salt, Acer, Dish TV, Imagine TV, Times Television Network, Indian Oil and many others. The gross billing of Madison Media is Rs. 3000 crores.

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Given the growing importance of India, SMG has created the position of Chairman to oversee the India operation. A dedicated CEO for SMG India will be appointed soon.

Speaking on the appointment, Andrew Swinand, said, “We are delighted to have found an extraordinary leader for SMG India, and for our growing LiquidThread operations in APAC. Srini brings with him nearly two decades of business experience and we are excited about him being part of the SMG family. We are confident that he will make a strategic difference to our India business and drive the Human Experience Company philosophy”

Brian Terkelsen said “Srini will have the responsibility of heading LiquidThread in the region. LiquidThread moves beyond simply placing brands in ready-made entertainment properties.We combine an all-screen approach with rich human understanding to create and curate content that will reach specific audiences. We welcome Srini, who will spearhead the LiquidThread offering in the APAC region.”

On the new role, CVL Srinivas said, “SMG’s promise to be the Human Experience Company is fascinating and future-focused. I look forward to working closely with the teams at LiquidThread and SMG to translate this vision into tangible value for our clients”. ”

Srinivas will take charge with effect from 5th January 2011 and will be based in New Delhi.

LiquidThread represents the next stage of audience aggregation and content development for SMG. In line with the network’s digital, open source approach, LiquidThread will increase the scale and innovation of SMG’s content creation, moving beyond branded entertainment to create communities, conversations and advocates for brand properties. LiquidThread was launched in the US in April 2010 and will now be rolled out across the Asia-Pacific region.

CVL Srinivas has a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani and a Masters in Business Administration from XLRI Jamshedpur. He has previously worked at Maxus and Madison in leadership positions and was part of the start-up team at Fulcrum (now Mindshare-Fulcrum) on the Unilever business. His latest assignment was at The Times Group as Director – Private Treaties.

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The company did not call for a multi-agency pitch and the incumbent agency on the account was Mediaedge:cia (MEC).

The news was confirmed to Adgully by Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World.

In mid-October this year Madison Media won the media duties for ITC. The pitch was initiated earlier this year for an agency that could handle the media duties for the entire ITC portfolio across all its verticals. The account size was reportedly believed to be a phenomenal size of over Rs.400 crore.

Some of the major brands by the company- Pidilite include Fevicol, Fevikwik, Dr Fixit, M-Seal, Hobby Ideas etc.

Pidilite’s product offerings include Adhesives and Sealants, Construction and Paint Chemicals, Automotive Chemicals, Art Materials, Industrial Adhesives, Industrial and Textile Resins and Organic Pigments and Preparations.

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So when they started considering to expand in Asia, they thought of exploring various markets. After looking into the markets actively, BMB decided on the Indian market. Beattie felt that the Indian market was an exciting market for creative services and will be the next big thing in the coming years. So they thought of teaming up with an Indian agency which had a very strong understanding of the media space in India so as to learn the Indian market’s diverse and cluttered environment. And who better than Madison World, the 22 year old communication group which has had a long standing reputation for its media services. Madison World’s advertising unit mc2 which was dealing with clients like Brother International (India), Rajasthan Tourism, Organic India and Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance was thus chalked out to be merged into the joint venture with BMB.

Following talks over months, Madison India announced a 50-50 joint venture with the UK based creative agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB) on the 31st of September 2010 in Mumbai

The enterprise is said to provide creative services to advertisers. As part of this JV, a leading Creative person from BMB London will be based here in Mumbai to offer BMB India clients a global – standard creative product. BMB India will be led by Prabha Prabhu as CEO and a Chief Creative Officer from UK will be appointed imminently.

Adgully spoke to the men in question and tried to find out how BMB looks at India as a market and why did Madison feel a need to enter into a JV.

Speaking about the need for a joint venture Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, contended that Madison World was in the lookout for various options to improve their creative services. Besides to be just more than Madison Media, it was a realistic decision for Balsara to “team up with someone and make rapid progress, since we desired to have a strong and credible offering in the creative area.” So Madison teamed up with BMB’s strong creative presence so as to match Madison Media’s reputation

While Madison World is only looking to support the well known creative fame that BMB enjoys, BMB is here to understand the Indian market a little better, because Indian market is the next big thing in terms of advertising spends and creative ideas. McGuinness feels that he wants the BMB team in London to understand how things operate in India, because India is the future of business and advertising. “We are India to learn. It’s not about us coming here with a lot of wisdom; it is about us learning as much,” he says.

Initially the JV seeks to set up a team of 30 people, and gradually the team size will be increased to meet the ambitious spirits of Madison World and BMB. Both the deemed agencies want to provide their best strengths in media and creative to provide good work to their client and will want a build a good reputation to start off with.

Seeming very ambitious about India as a market, Beattie seeks to harness the growth of the joint venture with a strong combination of BMB’s creativity and a good understanding of media provided by Madison World.

Some of the challenges that Beattie sees is to find an audience and at the same time to get clients and to build the recognition around BMB. A few categories of brands that the JV will be looking to bank upon are travel brands, leisure brands, technology and mobile technology.

While BMB is looking forward to explore the markets across the sub-continent, the UK based agency feels that India is the right start to build on a good reputation and a back of mind recall for their creative services. On the other hand, Balsara feels that the move is a practical approach to raise the strength of Madison World’s creative offerings.

As the top two names in creative and media have come together, the leaders in the specific areas of interest and the clients will be looking closely at the new advances. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]

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Madison World’s current advertising business of mc2 will be merged into this joint venture. BMB India will be led by Prabha Prabhu as CEO and a Chief Creative Officer from UK will be appointed imminently. Talking about the new partnership, Trevor Beattie, Founding Partner, BMB, said, “India has long held a special place in my heart. It’s perhaps always been BMB’s destiny to spread our wings to Mumbai and beyond. We can’t wait to get started. We have esteemed partners in Madison and nothing short of a media superstar is Sam Balsara. There’s always been a strong cultural bond between the ad communities of India and the UK. I think this brings us even closer. It’s a perfect fit.”

The joint venture is an effort by Madison to spread its identity outside the media space, and to establish itself in various aspects of communication. Speaking exclusively to Adgully, Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, said, “For a long time now we have been exploring various options to beef up our creative offering. We want to be more than just being Madison Media, and one very key focus area is obviously creative service. We thought we needed an external partner with a strong presence that could match Madison Media’s reputation.”

He further added that, “We have to be realistic and hence we came to a conclusion that lets team up with someone and make rapid progress, since we desired to have a strong and credible offering in the creative area.”

BMB is co-owned and headed by the Trevor Beattie. During a decade-long stint as Creative Director and Chairman of TBWA/London, he produced award winning work for clients as diverse as PlayStation and Playtex. He set up Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB) on Election Day 05.05.05. BMB now lists McCain, Carling, ING, Samsung, Ikea, Selfridges, TUI Travel and Virgin Money among its clients. BMB now will have offices in UK, USA and India. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]

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Says Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, “Digital has now become the focus area for most advertisers. Many agencies have set up independent digital agencies, but we at Madison believe that this expertise should reside within Madison media planners and buyers, given the importance of this medium in the coming years. Madison Media now has over 20 Digital practice experts”.

Madison Media’s spend in Digital accounts for about 10-15% of total digital spends in the country. The agency does digital work for clients like Airtel, Cadbury, McDonald’s, Levis, Britannia, Tata Tea, Bharti AXA, Spice Jet, Spice Mobile, etc… The agency has also won several awards at Cannes, Yahoo Big Idea Chair, Emvies and Goafest in the digital and new Media space.

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Adgully: How did you end up in this business?

Ajit Varghese: I was pursuing a four-year degree course in agriculture engineering. But in the third year, I realised that it was not for me, so I started preparing for the IIMs’ CAT. I recognised that a management degree would be the right qualification to have. I got through Xavier’s, Bhubaneshwar, and at that time, in the early ‘90s, the economy was opening up. That, according to me, was the life-changing moment; it opened up the mind and vision. I was good at physics and mathematics, so my analytical skills continued to develop. And I continued to be strong at research. I was among the few students in the institute who wanted to be interviewed by a research agency. I was a part of one of the largest surveys carried out at that time: the general consumers’ survey on cigarettes. I completed a year at IMRB. Then I started thinking that I should be a data provider or a solution provider, and that’s when I realised that media would be the right career option. I did not take media as just another avenue for a job — I wanted to make a difference. At Lintas, I spent a lot of time on Unilever products. Unilever is an institution in itself and young people should spend at least two-three years there. Anyway, because I had the analytical bent, I could make a lot of early contributions to the industry. Just when I had completed three years at Lintas, CVL Srinivasan called me with an offer: the group head of Coke at Madison. The agency had just won the account and I shifted to Delhi; it was a huge career step in the media for me. I grew as a person under Vikram Sakhuja who is constantly challenging, and constantly innovating. I have been lucky to work with good people.

AG: How did you hone your skills for the business?

AV: The number of pitches we made gave me an opportunity to network with clients and hone the skill-sets to run the business. So those are the skill-sets that Madison Infinity helped me gain. When I came to Maxus, I think it was waiting for me to unlock the potential. So I set up an agenda that can we be the best creative media agency in the country. So even if we are 50-60% there, at least we have an identity. At that time, we were talking about engagement, the 360-degree approach…and I thought that it was a must. But what will still make us stand out is the power of our ideas. In 2006, we were not even shortlisted for any of the awards; and in 2007, we straightaway jumped to the Number 2 position, winning Emvies. And in 2009, we won two awards at Cannes. I am not saying that awards are the be-all and end-all, but they are a reflection of the recognition you have won in the industry.

AG: What is powering your current strategy? And would you talk about ‘relationship media’?

AV: We are focusing on the power of ideas. But that is not the only approach. How do we connect the start with the end [of any campaign initiative]? To me, that can be done only by bringing in more accountability. So if you have the power of ideas and accountability as the two pillars on which you stand, you create the concept of ‘relationship media’. We wanted our product, and not just the execution, to speak for us — and that is what we call relationship media. In other words, we keep the consumer at the core. If we help our clients build better relationship with consumers, then consumers will be loyal to a brand. For that, we will have to look at our consumers in segments and fine-tune them. Then using the power of ideas, explore ways to connect with them and use the 360-degree approach. India, to me, was the best platform to form this agenda, because Maxus India is at a slightly more advanced stage than Maxus in other countries.

AG: How can the relationship with consumers be strengthened?

AV: In order to do that, I have to spend more time on them, and glean insights [about what they want]. Accordingly, ideas can be developed and attempts made to make them magical. After that starts the measurements, the analytics of input-output co-relations. So that is what our product is all about.

AG: What have been the most challenging moments in your career?

AV: I characterise such moments as exciting, not challenging. I am very lucky that I have always worked under excellent bosses. I have met some of the best people in the industry from whom I have picked up key strengths. And I have worked with some of the best clients. Obviously, sometimes you find people who are challenging but I think that is a part of the trade. A challenge is not to get bored; I hope I don’t get bored and exit the industry. I find it challenging to retain people. I feel it is a challenge for the industry too; because of the way our revenues are structured, we are not able to retain talented people after a point.

AG: Tell us about Maxus…

AV: Once we established the vision for creativity, we wanted to set up a stable structure, which means the ability to drive the practice and run offices. In terms of billing, in Delhi alone, we have touched around Rs850 crores. Mausumi Kar heads the Delhi office. Will set up offices in Kerala and Kolkata by July.

AG: You have mentioned ‘creativity’ a couple of times, what is it exactly?

AV: It is something like a disease, when you have a disease you show symptoms. We said a Maxusite should have a symptom of thinking out of the box, and should also have ‘Childitis’, a disease in which you show great curiosity. Our motto is: “If it is difficult we like it, and if it is impossible we love it.” We are extremely passionate people and are committed to our clients’ business. And that, according to me, stands out as the Maxus culture today. On the other hand, we are able to cross the table and challenge their hypothesis.

AG: How important is it to provide integrated solutions to clients. Many companies have started to do that of late…

AV: Integrated media is a given. To me, that is nothing new, we had set this in our group five-seven years back. Again, for me, the difference lies in the power of ideas.

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Prior to this, Shermann was the management supervisor – account management for Ogilvy & Mather.

Shermann has over 13 years of experience in the advertising industry. He has worked with companies such as Barclays Bank, Axis Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata Indicom, AXN, Airtel, HBO, Hindustan Lever and Star Plus.

Shermann started his career with Primesite Outdoor advertising in 1999 and moved on to The Media Network in 2001.

He worked with Madison Outdoor Media Services and later, in 2002 moved to Portland India Outdoor advertising as group account director.