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Venkat majored in marketing from XLRI, Jamshedpur over two decades ago and has since worked with companies like JWT, Leo Burnett, Euro RSCG and Unilever. More recently, he was Managing Director for an International Online Game Company. He has held multiple Board level positions and business leadership roles for over a decade. Venkat’s brand experience spans 50 different brands and categories, including leading brands from companies like Unilever, SmithKline Beecham, ITC, Indian Oil, Ultratech, Sara Lee, Van Melle, CavinKare, Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC, Tata Communications and HP.

Over the past four years, Tribal DDB Asia Pacific has expanded rapidly, from five offices to 18 spanning 12 countries, with 450 staff. In 2008, Tribal DDB was the most awarded agency network at Media’s Digital Marketing Awards, in 2009, the most-awarded pure digital agency network, and also voted Media’s Digital Agency of the Year by peers and clients. In 2010 Tribal DDB Asia Pacific was again awarded Campaign’s Digital Agency Network of the Year and in 2011 was the Runner-Up.

The Tribal DDB India story has been similar with the agency being one of the most awarded and respected digital agencies in India since its inception. In 2011 alone, the agency won around 15 metals across Abbys, Yahoo Big Chair, Campaign India and Digital Media awards.

Commenting on the new structure Madhukar Kamath said, “With around a 100 million internet users, Digital advertising is acquiring mainstream proportions and it is important to create a leadership structure for Tribal DDB which understands both digital and mainstream brand marketing communications well. With his background in advertising, brand marketing, online gaming and Data & Digital communication Venkat brings a unique combination of skills needed to build Tribal DDB, as well as RAPP at this juncture.”

Commenting on his new role Venkat Mallik said, “Tribal DDB is among the finest digital networks in the world and has a great track record in India. It’s exciting to have the mandate to grow RAPP and Tribal DDB, both of which are leading global new age agencies. We are looking to scale up both agencies quickly while leveraging synergies between them.”

In India, Tribal DDB has a blue chip client list including Idea Cellular, Star TV, McDonald’s, Tourism Australia, Emirates among others. Meanwhile, RAPP has seen very strong growth over the last couple of years with its new industry vertical focused strategy combined with its thrust in building new age data, digital and brand capabilities. The RAPP client list in India now includes Hewlett Packard, Standard Chartered Bank, Johnson & Johnson, Tata Communications, among others.

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The next round of Executive Jury Members includes:

Lisa Bennett, Chief Creative Officer, North American Creative Chair, DDB, USA
Rob Feakins, Chief Creative Officer/President, Publicis, USA
Marty Orzio, Chief Creative Officer, Gotham, USA
Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer/Co-Founder, Taproot, India
Martin Pross, Chief Creative Officer, Scholz & Friends, Germany
Robert Rasmussen, Chief Creative Officer, Tribal DDB, USA
Hugo Rodrigues, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Creative Officer, Publicis, Brazil
Conway Williamson, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, USA

Additional Executive Jury appointments will be announced soon.

Donald Gunn, founder of the The Gunn Report, reprises his role as moderator of the 2012 Executive Jury, and will be joined by Michael Conrad, President of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. Mr. Gunn and Mr. Conrad’s roles as Moderators will be to guide the jury on its path to select of the World’s Best Advertising™.

The Executive Jury will evaluate every shortlisted entry selected by the online Grand Jury. The Grand Jury is comprised of 300 International Creative Directors, making it the most diverse jury of any advertising competition in the world. They will select the ads that earn a place on the shortlist from the first two rounds of judging.

The 2- day New York Show begins on May 2nd , and will feature creative panel discussions, keynote speakers, networking events, the 2012 Executive Jury Press Conference, exhibits, and the May 3rd NYF International Advertising Awards ceremony. All New York Show events and the 2012 awards gala will take place at the landmark New York Public Library Beaux-Arts building located at 455 Fifth Avenue, at 40th Street.

New York Festivals International Advertising Awards receives entries from 70 countries, recognizing work in all media in the following competitions: Art/Technique + Technology, Avant-Garde, Collateral, Commercials, Design, Interactive, Hispanic USA Advertising, Integrated Mixed Media, Marketing Effectiveness, New Commercial Director of the Year, Outdoor/Out of Home, Print, Public Relations/Brand Communications, Public Service Announcements, and Student.

The NYF International Advertising Awards Final Deadline is January 27th, 2012. For more information, or to enter go to: http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/main.php?p=2,10

All winning entries in the New York Festivals International Advertising Awards competition will be featured at: www.newyorkfestivals.com.

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Max Hegerman, President, Tribal DDB India said, “Mobile Roadie Hunt @ Idea demonstrates the immense possibilities that can emerge when technology is used in an interesting, interactive and a fun way. Tribal DDB has yet again created a property that is youthful, innovative and more importantly interactive like Brand Idea.”

The video is exciting and carried forward all the elements the show stands for. This website offers users an opportunity to become a Roadie. In order to participate in the contest users have to logon to the website. Once the user logs in, Raghu & Rajiv welcome the user in their unique Roadie style. The user is then asked to logon through his/her Facebook login id. After logging in, Raghu and Rajiv then start analysing the user and his friends on Facebook. Both the brothers analyse the user’s friends on the following parameters, honest friend, hot friend, potential lover, admirable friend, avoidable friend, etc. The winner of the task is eligible to win a brand new Karizma Bike and a direct entry into the Roadies Battleground.

Talking about the brief and the concept, Abhishake Das, creative Director, Tribal DDB India said, “The brief was to extend the Mobile Roadie Hunt property onto social media and we were more than kicked to explore the most exciting space on digital. Idea has always given us the wings to fly on the digital canvas, and Mobile Roadie Hunt @ Idea has the right amount of everything that is digital and everything that works with our TG.”

The aim of this viral was to extend Mobile Roadie Hunt @ Idea to the social media in an interactive manner without losing its essentials characteristics of wild and crazy.

Mahesh Patil, GM, Marketing, Idea Cellular said, “Mobile Roadie Hunt @ Idea property has always been innovative and has pushed the envelope when it comes to an online experience. And ‘Mobile Roadie Hunt 3.0’ has given us the opportunity to tap the social media base which is rapidly increasing not only by numbers, but also in interaction. We’re glad to partner with Tribal DDB who have created a property which will set high standards when it comes to social media integration.”

Saugata Bagchi, AVP, Tribal DDB India said, “The property itself has gone through an image change, from being eccentric and sarcastic with Cyrus being the face of Roadies last year, to being rough and grungy with Raghu and Rajiv – while still maintaining the hallmark distinct personality associated with the Idea Mobile Roadies over the years. As always, we explored the domain and used technology in a very intelligent way to bring forth the brand and the essence of the roadie property.”

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Since Emirates is the official partner of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup the agency will work closely with the brand team in order to develop a communication package around this mega event. The sponsorship entitles Emirates to tickets and hospitality during the matches along with branding opportunities at the venue.

Speaking on the account win, Arijit Ray, President, Mudra West said, “Emirates is one of the most prestigious global brands in the aviation space. It has built a formidable reputation as a world class airline over the last decade or so. We look forward to working closely with the brand team to build and consolidate the position that the brand has owned over the past few years.”
What is also significant is that it was a integrated pitch effort and Tribal DDB will work closely with the brand team on the digital strategy & creative”.

Max Hegerman, President, Tribal DDB India said, “This effort was about as seamless as it gets. It was really about thoroughly developing an idea – and from Tribal DDB India’s perspective, bringing it alive in the digital space. We enjoyed partnering with Mudra, and are incredibly excited to be working side-by-side with them on an account as prestigious as Emirates. Especially since digital appears to be a very important part of their marketing mix.”

Emirates is widely acknowledged to be one of the most pioneering and innovative carriers in the industry, with state-of-the-art Boeing and Airbus fleet and leading edge in-flight entertainment systems. Emirates is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world and now flies to over 100 destinations in 65 countries, across six continents.

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The winner for the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair was selected keeping in mind creativity in relation to the concept, originality of the marketing initiative, relevance to the brand and integration of marketing campaigns.

There were five categories in all, which were- Best Rich Media Ad, Best Engagement Idea, Best Mobile Solution, Best Digital Brand Solution and the Big Idea Chair Award. Each category had a gold and silver which recognized the efforts by the creative agency and the media agency on a campaign.

Talking exclusively to Adgully about the awards, Nitin Mathur, Senior Director –Marketing, Yahoo! India, says, “From our expectation standpoint there has been an overwhelming response. We got more than 180 entries and this is just the first year, we hit almost like 80 to 90% of all the big agencies. We think the quality of submission has also been fantastic in particular categories. We also think that as digital advertising grows we would like to add a couple of categories like social marketing. Besides we also do Yahoo! Big Idea Chair in other markets, so the level of sophistication in other markets is slightly different but we were surprised with the quality of work here too. We are looking at aggregating the quality of work at an Asia Pacific level by taking the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair at an APAC level.”

In the Best Digital Brand Solution and the Best Engagement Idea categories, Creativeland Asia was awarded a gold in each category for their Hippo campaign- “Consumers become inventory Trackers”. In the Best Mobile Solutions category Tribal DDB was awarded a gold for their Idea campaign- “Use Mobile, Save Paper.”

Sharing his experience on being a part of the jury and winning an award, Max Hegerman, President, Tribal DDB India, tells Adgully, “Being a part of the jury was great. We meet each other three or four time in a year only in jury rooms or award shows, so I have become very familiar with the people who were on the jury with me. I think we have been able to create a rapport on what people like and what are things that are happening in the digital advertising space. In terms of us winning an award I am extremely proud and happy that we have a client like Idea that pushes us to do something innovative. Besides they are a wireless brand and it might be a little easier because we are dealing with a platform we really understand. But it is a challenge for us now to take mobility and leverage it to our other brands as well.”

On winning the highest honour for the day, Sonal Dabral, Managing Partner (India) and Head of Creative (Asia), Bates 141, sharing his excitement with Adgully, says, “We are absolutely ecstatic. For the entire process of creative, management and planning and for everybody involved in the campaign true pleasure happens when you know you have a great idea and when it is recognised at a platform of this nature.”

The media agency on the winning campaign was Mindshare, Gowthaman Ragothaman, Leader, South Asia, Mindshare, sharing his thoughts on the win, says, “I am pleasantly surprised with the winning Virgin Mobile campaign because somewhere in the entire scheme of things it did enter very well but I did not expect it to be such a big idea. It obviously had a lot of merit to it.”

Originally launched in the United States, the Big Idea Chair award has since evolved to becoming a uniquely global award that recognizes creative works in the digital community. The award is promoted to the advertising, creative and marketing communities and they are invited to make a submission in any appropriate category. The awards starting this year will be an independent event; earlier Yahoo! Big Idea Chair was a part of the Effies.

Best Rich Media Ad
Creative: Interface Business Solutions, Gold, Docomo- “Diet SMS”
Media: Same as above
Creative: Webchutney, Silver, Airtel- “Song Catcher”
Media Madison: Silver, Airtel -“Song Catcher”

Best Engagement Ad
Creative: Creativeland Asia, Gold, Hippo-“Consumers become inventory trackers”
Media: Same as above
Creative: Bates 141, Silver, Virgin Mobile-“Indian Panga League”
Media: Mindshare, Silver, Virgin Mobile-“Indian Panga League”

Best Mobile Solution
Creative: Tribal DDB, Gold, Idea-“Grow a virtual Tree- Use Mobile, Save Paper”
Media: Mindshare, Gold, Idea-“Grow a virtual Tree- Use Mobile, Save Paper”
Creative: Mindshare, Silver, PepsiCo-“Quaker Oats-Mission For India Healthy Heart”
Media: Same as above

Best Digital Brand Solution
Creative: Creativeland Asia, Gold, Hippo-“Consumers become inventory trackers”
Media: Same as above
Creative: Webchutney, Silver, Tata Tea-“Jaago Re”
Media: Madison, Silver, Tata Tea-“Jaago Re”

Big Idea Chair Award
Creative: Bates 141, Virgin Mobile-“Indian Panga League”
Media: Mindshare, Virgin Mobile-“Indian Panga League”

By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]

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Max Hegerman, President, Tribal DDB India converses exclusively with Adgully, giving his viewpoints on the potential of the new media and other challenges within this space.

“There is a bit of change in perception in digital. Part of that is because of mobility. There is so much buzz about 3G coming to India. People are still thinking major opportunities in mobility. They are thinking past desktop or laptop, they are thinking mobile. I am trying to see how in our agency we can withstand our knowledge anything mobile and digital. In the beginning it was viral, but now the buzzword is Social. There are still questions about how to monetize. We are trying to educate clients – trying to change their metrics. We want to and are trying to gauge the type and quality of conversations of brands. Who are these people who converse? For example the recent Volkswagen talking print ad, we have links, we look at them and try to gauge them, even negative basis, and we try to engage those people,” Hegerman said.

Hegerman goes on to say how when he joined, he tried not to have any expectations because he knew the internet penetration levels were low in the country. “When I came I tried not having any expectations, in my interviews everyone was telling me how nascent it was. And during my research I realized how low the penetration levels there were. I came here knowing there is going to be some challenges. But I also realized sooner I hit the ground, it would pick up. I tried to learn from what was happening and spend 5 or 6 months just watching and learning. Facebook was so popular here. It was popular for a reason because it filled the need that Indians have. Indians want to reach out and make friends and communicate. In China it was so much different, people used the internet for different reasons like transactions and buying, here it is more about society and social. Facebook is a useful tool for me. I knew coming here; I won’t be able to sell the way I used to sell in the west. What is popular here was viral when I first came and now social. Now it is more about building integrated campaigns where it is offline, online, activation, events, all of it tied together. So where does digital begin and end?” he asked.

At Tribal, Hegerman has been able to train a good team who understands his thoughts and visions. . “From a technology standpoint, we have people who understand what’s happening here in India and have the relationships with people from Yahoo, Google, Apple, Blackberry etc to know what’s happening around the world. Tribal has a position called ‘Technologist’, whose sole purpose is to understand what is happening within the digital space and be able to work strategically with our clients, creatives and account management and figure out how to apply those new things. I think this is what sets Tribal apart because it has a digital strategist which blends the two worlds of account planning and higher technology together. I mean creatively we have got a young team that is aggressive, that’s very in hand with what’s happening. One of our biggest tools is being able to present creative ideas and strategies but also able to implement them. That being said, I don’t think you can be fully satisfied, so I am expecting my team to always push more and always looking for new ideas, new relationships and partnerships because we do not have the hands on skill for social media. We are learning but we do not have in house mobility expert. Some of our core strengths would be that we have people who are dedicated specifically to technology. Our team is a very young team but it is a digital team who has come from a digital background,” he further added.

“The first and foremost key milestone was the focus on digital. I think when I started Madhukar’s challenge to me was how can I make Tribal DDB the most successful and sexy digital agency in India. I think when I started about 30 per cent of our revenues were offline and about 30 percent of our team, our employees were offline. So I think the first highlight was to make the focus on digital,” he said commenting upon the key milestones with his association to the agency.

Being a part of a larger association is a factor that Tribal looks at leveraging upon. “It is a double edge sword. If you ask me, who has the more successful approach to digital, is it a network that has merged with our genes, is it DDB Tribal, I think for us it is a bit of a different paradigm, because we are purely digital, we can stand on our own. I think there are plenty of opportunities for us but I try to look at what is relevant for Tribal. In our minds, it should be about digital.” Hegerman said.

According to Hegerman, if at all there is a challenge that digital agencies face it would be the fact that usually clients restrict themselves to a budget when it comes to doing digital. “I think there is understanding and awareness that digital should be incorporated. People do understand that it should be a part of their strategic plan. However most of the time, clients say they need digital but they have a budget. So what can we do with no money? If there is a challenge or a frustration, then that would be it. So I think it is one of those situations where it is going to take some time. Now since we are working with few regular clients who are seeing the results of digital in their work, we know that next year, there will be a budget. In fact we are being told by several of our clients, that those budgets will come offline. They now see the value in investing long term in social and digital. In the social media, it is just the beginning because with mobility and WAP sites, it will soon disappear and give you full fledge online experiences,” he further explained.

Hegerman believes that the only way to change the mindset of clients is to implement as much as engagement initiatives as possible. “Digital agency should essentially take one step to change the mindset of clients by starting and ending each conversation by talking and defining about engagement. Unlike radio, television, print, there really isn’t engagement back and forth. For us, brands can say what they want but often they are afraid to listen to what people are saying back to them. It is people’s ability when they talk about the negativity about brands, not everyone is going to be happy with all brands. Two way communications is necessary for the growth of a brand,” he stated.

Hegerman says that with 3G coming in to India, one would probably get a more diverse set of advertisers. He further added, “3G will change not just advertising but even Indian culture because they will have access to a mobile phone. When you are talking about the computer you are talking about SEC A and B, I think we should start thinking of how to get outside of those paradigms. I think it is really how we can understand from a mobile perspective and how we can address through mobility the language that exists or create a language that is unique.”

Terming Tribal a pure digital agency, Hegerman wants to be thought of when clients are thinking about a strategic digital agency, “I want them to think about us when they are thinking of a digital agency. I want to raise the profile of Tribal DDB,” he said. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]

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Gomes has been in the industry for near about 13 years now and has spent 10 of those in the digital space. After several freelancing assignments, he was appointed design head at Digital Branding Solutons – a business unit initiated by Mudra Group.

Gomes was one of the key members to establish Tribal DDB – another Mudra venture that was dedicated to providing solutions for digital media. Gomes moved up the ladder and occupied the office as national creative director at the agency.

He moved on to Arc Worldwide – the marketing arm of Leo Burnett – in 2007 and brought fame to the agency, and himself, with the Luxor Highlighters campaign for which he walked away with a bronze at Cyber Lion held at Cannes in 2008.

During his time at Tribal DDB, Gomes was celebrated for his work towards TimesJobs.com, LIC and MTV. He carried out a banner ad campaign for TimesJobs.com that saw him win gold and bronze at Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) Awards at Goldfest 2006 and silver at Asia Pacific Adfest 2006 in Thailand among several other awards. His work on a website created for LIC and an online campaign for MTV India on World AIDS Day gathered accolades aplenty and won him many Webby Awards.

The story of his immense accomplishments does not end here. He was roped in as a jury member at the Cannes International Advertising Awards in 2008 and acted as a jury member for Cyber Lotus at Adfest in 2009.

Through his corporate stint thus far, Gomes has worked on clients like ICICI InfoTech, ICICI Prudential, UTI, Interlabels, Systime Computers, Datamatics Group, Paco Rabanne, Hugo Boss, Carolina Herrera, MphasiS Group, Castrol, Wipro Infotech, Godrej Furniture & Interiors group and many others. It is believed that Gomes will be taking a break from the usual corporate practices for a while and shall be exploring avenues in days to come.