Week at a glance: Changes in MIB; HUL ad spends; Salman punch for Appy Fizz

As every year before, this year too has seen a plethora of ads around Mother’s Day. Industry experts that Adgully spoke to feel that brands are somehow missing out on addressing the ‘modern mom’ – the Millennial woman who is multi-dimensional, well aware of gender equality, sees herself more as a friend and mentor to her kids. The industry experts feel that this modern mom has moved on far ahead in life, whereas brand communication is still stuck in a time lapse. 

Parle Agro is all set to give its popular brand Appy Fizz a fresh boost with Salman Khan on board as the new brand ambassador. The new marketing campaign and brand ambassador for the sparkling apple drink is linked to the aggressive growth and expansion targets set for 2018, in line with making Parle Agro achieve a Rs 5,000 crore brand turnover by the end of 2018. Leading Parle Agro’s charge is Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & Chief Marketing Officer, Parle Agro, who has been with the company for 15 years. 

Winners of the 2018 D&AD Awards were announced on April 26, 2018 amid much fanfare. Playing a significant role in this edition of the Awards was Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media Group, India and South Asia and CEO - Havas Group, North India. Nayyar was the Jury President for the Media category – the only Indian to be part of the 2018 D&AD Jury. Nayyar recounts her experience as the Media Jury President. 

In a late night Cabinet reshuffle on May 14, 2018, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been assigned the independent charge as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. He is replacing Smriti Zubin Irani, who has been relieved of the post of I&B Minister. Irani will, however, continue to be in charge of the Textiles Ministry. 

Close on the heels of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore taking charge at the MIB, the Ministry has got on board a new Secretary. Amit Khare, an Indian Administrative Officer of the 1985 batch of the Bihar Cadre, has been appointed as the new MIB Secretary. Khare will take on his new post after the superannuation of current MIB Secretary NK Sinha on May 31, 2018. 

The two-day jury process for Kyoorius Creative Awards 2018 wrapped up on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. A specialist jury, selected together with the One Club of Creativity and composed of the top creatives from across the world, judged all submitted entries. Adgully was present at the Open Jury session and spoke to some leading creatives in the advertising industry who are part of the Jury for the 5th edition of Kyoorius Creative Awards, to get their impressions on the Awards, the entries received, and more. 

During the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018, HUL stepped up its advertising and promotion spends to support innovations and marketing activations. HUL’s Q4 FY2018 advertising spends stood at Rs 1,070 crore, compared to ad spends of Rs 853 crore in Q4 FY2017, a growth of 25 per cent. HUL’s ad spends for the financial year 2017-18 were at Rs 4,105 crore, a growth of 18 per cent over spends of Rs 3,470 crore in FY16-17. 

Ashok Venkatramani has been appointed MD of Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) post his exit as Director from Chrome Analytics and Media Private Ltd. He was a former CEO of ABP News Network. 

Zee Media has also announced the appointment of Purushottam Vaishnava as Editor-In-Chief & Business Head for Cluster-1 of Channels. All the Editors of Cluster-1 of channels, including Brajesh Kumar Singh (Zee Hindustan), Anirban Choudhury (Zee 24 Ghanta), Sudhir Sharma (Zee Salaam), Zee Kalinga, Zee Bihar-Jharkhand, Zee Rajasthan, and DNA Jaipur will report to Vaishnava. 

The sampling methodology and panel design of BARC India has been certified by one of India’s most prestigious institutions – the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata. The certification is for the original design of 22,000 homes and the expanded 33,000 panel. The representativeness of BARC India’s panel – the cornerstone of its TV Viewership measurement system – was earlier certified by CESP, a global multi-media body that audits media research as well as Ernst & Young (EY). 

Joyee Biswas is joining Facebook as Head of APAC Sports Partnerships. He will report to Dan Reed, Facebook Head of Global Sports Partnerships. Biswas will come aboard in late May. In this role, Biswas will lead the team that manages partnerships with APAC-based leagues, teams, athletes and media. 

After being at the helm for nearly a decade, Vittorio Colao is stepping down as CEO of British telecom major Vodafone Group. Taking over the reins will be Group CFO Nick Read. Colao’s exit comes at a crucial time, as Vodafone’s India operations are close to being merged with Idea Cellular. 

Data growth does not necessarily come from increased utilisation of existing methods, but from new avenues as the number of connected devices expands. The burning question is how can we intelligently use huge volumes of data for business transformation, says Pradipto Chakrabarty, Regional Director, CompTIA India. 

The W-Suite | Tara Kapur, Chief Marketing Officer, Supari Studios: Long distance runner, travel enthusiast, tea addict, book & film lover, strategist – Tara Kapur dons several hats. Kapur is also a founding member of Vitamin Stree. Working at a start-up like Supari Studios, she has had the opportunity to oversee various roles at the organisation. In a nutshell, her role has been to help the company grow through various channels – through business partnerships, media interactions and community building. 

Offbeat: Suraj Nagappa, Vice President, Isobar and Head of South India Operations, has largely worked in the digital marketing space with organisations like Citibank, Accenture, SAP, IBM, Toyota, Honda Cars, Honda Scooters, Panasonic, Hitachi and Ministry of Tourism, across agencies like Ogilvy, DDB, Dentsu and Interactive Avenues. Nagappa’s core expertise is in managing project teams, recruiting and developing people and building new capabilities and delivery models in a shared service center. 

Facebook announced the release of its “Zero Friction Future” program with multiple industry research whitepapers put together by KPMG, which will aim to define, understand and solve friction in purchase journeys to unlock new avenues for business growth. The whitepapers are based on primary research and insights survey conducted by Nielsen. The first report, titled ‘Eliminating Friction in Smartphone Path to Purchase’, highlights that friction accounts for approximately two-thirds of consumer dropouts while buying smartphones and media friction contributes to approximately one-third of the dropouts. 

BARC ratings for Week 19 of 2018 (May 5-11) [HSM (U+R): NCCS All : 2+ Individuals] saw the FTA channels continue strong. Zee Anmol maintained a firm grip on the No.1 position. Interestingly, all the top 5 shows on Hindi GECs in Rural+Urban this week belonged to the Zee stable – 3 from Zee TV and 2 from Zee Anmol.