Week at a glance: Budget 2021 expectations; Brands & India-England series; Trending Now

Gabba win, economic revival, home soil play - why Ind-Eng series will be bumper for brands

India’s rocking performance against Australia in the recently concluded cricket series has further spurred viewer and advertiser interest in the game. As it is, cricket is a religion in India and any major tournament rarely fails to elicit huge traction with spectators. Now, the country is gearing up for the India-England series, the first such international cricket series to be played on home soil ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country.

Clients need to be incentivised to spend more on advertising: Ashish Bhasin

With the Budget session of Parliament commencing from today, all eyes are on the Union Budget 2021-22 that will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. Coming out of a year severely disrupted by the global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the industry is looking for growth impetus from the Budget.

ASCI toughens stance against objectionable ads; urges consumers to #ChupNaBaitho

To raise consumer awareness about objectionable advertisements, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is launching #ChupNaBaitho, a call-to-action digital campaign. The campaign is one of several initiatives planned by ASCI for this year to create awareness about objectionable advertisements and encourage consumers to report such advertisements. In the three-month pilot, ASCI will focus on Mumbai and New Delhi.

Brands need to be prepared for consumer scrutiny of science-backed claims: Experts

Post the Coronavirus pandemic, a major shift that has come in consumer behaviour is the fact that they are relooking at the ‘Nutritional Information’ and ‘Ingredients’ labels of brands. Consumers are scrutinising the efficacy of products based on a single priority – their health and wellness.

Data privacy – An illusion or a possibility?

The increasing transition to digital, largely fuelled by the pandemic, has brought to the fore serious questions regarding how safe is our information and data in the digital ecosystem. There are growing concerns over how we are losing control on our own data. We no longer know who is tracking our digital footprints, or listening in to our private conversations, or accessing what we believe are private chats with friends and families, and even more alarmingly, tracking all our digital transactions.

Driving CSR initiatives during pandemic times – India Inc shows the way

While the pandemic disrupted the plans of many companies, there were some companies that undertook various initiatives to support their staff and the community during the tough times. While these were more tactical moves, but the commitment of pursuing long term CSR campaigns will always be a challenge due to the pandemic. How corporates plan to shift their gears and work on bringing their CSR efforts to pre-COVID-19 levels will need some out-of-the-box thinking and deep passion for CSR.

Women are gifted leaders and efficient team players: Valerie Pinto

W-Suite is a special initiative from Adgully that has been turning the spotlight on some of the most remarkable women achievers in M&E, Advertising & Marketing, PR & Communication industry. In conversation with Adgully, Valerie Pinto, Chief Executive Officer, Weber Shandwick, speaks about how she managed her professional and personal life during the time of pandemic, tackling the various challenges thrown up by the COVID-19 and lockdown situations, what makes women the best in crisis management, and much more. 

Landing pages are a perfectly clean marketing tool permitted by the law: Times Network

In light of the recent developments in the TRP ecosystem in the country, Times Network has sought to clear the air over the bonafide usage of Landing Pages. In a statement issued, Times Network has reiterated that landing pages are “a perfectly clean marketing tool permitted by the law in India” and very commonly used across the world by broadcasters and advertisers to market themselves to viewers.

Facebook expects to face more significant ad targeting headwinds in 2021

“We had a strong end to the year as people and businesses continued to use our services during these challenging times,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook, during the presentation of the social media giant’s financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020. Adding further, he said, “I’m excited about our product roadmap for 2021 as we build new and meaningful ways to create economic opportunity, build community and help people just have fun.”

“Brands need to build omni-channel strategies that put consumer needs at the centre”

Smita Murarka, Vice President - Marketing & E-commerce, Duroflex, is optimistic about revival in the new normal in 2021, where businesses will strategise to make up for the lost time in the pandemic-hit 2020. At the same time, she also feels that we are likely to live with the pandemic for a good part of 2021 as well.

Average Ad Volumes per publications up by 90% in Q4 of 2020: TAM AdEx

Average Ad Volumes per publications increased by 90% in the 4th quarter of 2020, compared to the average of Q1, Q2 and Q3. Average Ad Volumes per publications dropped by only 11% in the 2nd halves of 2020 over 2019, showing a recovery in Print Ad Volumes during the Unlockdown period (H2, 2020). However, compared to 2019, ad space in 2020 dropped by 33%.

"Successful rebrands are grounded in business logic and are not exercises in vanity"

To get a clearer perspective and a deeper insight on strategy and design, and how the business has evolved in the last two decades, Adgully caught up with Lulu Raghavan, Managing Director, Landor & Fitch, to find out how their company has grown and delivered value to clients and also how Design & Strategy has emerged as a highly specialised field.

“TV will continue to be one of the largest advertising mediums in the near future”

Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Head, Hindi Mass Entertainment and Kids TV Network, Viacom18, speaks about the dominating trends in media in 2021, OTT co-existing with linear broadcast television, creating differentiated and disruptive trends across genres and more.

Budget 2021 should support MSMEs and allow access to credit: Prasad Shejale

India is gearing up for, what is being termed as, a never-before Budget, which will be the country’s first paperless and mobile. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently launched the Union Budget Mobile App, which will give complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill etc., as prescribed by the Constitution.

We’ll see the convergence of a ‘CTO, CFO and CMO’ mindset in 2021: Ajay Kakar

Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer, Aditya Birla Capital, in a short and crisp way, highlights the trends that will dominate in 2021. He also points out the uncertainties that will continue in the year ahead, such as the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19, recovery of the economy as well as an undecided consumer.

Understanding the make-up of a CEO Influencer

Today, corporate leaders are more exposed to public scrutiny than ever before. In the past, the customer facing image of the company has traditionally been a brand ambassador or a mascot like the Maharaja of Air India. But today, more than ever, CEOs of companies lend the voice of credibility to the organisations’ mission.

Opportunities in the area of personalisation are immense: Bharath Sastry

Bharath Sastry, CEO, Vistaprint India, sees great opportunity in the area of personalisation or customisation, and adds that individuals and companies are not left with a choice anymore and need to embrace digitisation partly or wholly. This will also create related developments in many other industries.

How Tata Coffee Grand is using sonic disruption as a successful marketing strategy

In conversation with Adgully, Puneet Das, Senior VP, Marketing - Beverages, Tata Consumer Products, speaks at length about the thought behind the campaign, the strategy to strengthen Tata Coffee’s presence in the coffee market and also using sonic disruption as a marketing strategy.