Week at a glance: Devika Seth Bulchandani’s visit; TV ratings; Festive gifting

Fearlessness, delusional optimism - Devika Seth Bulchandani’s many mantras for the ad world

Born in Amritsar to a very conservative Punjabi family, Devika Seth Bulchandani, who was recently elevated as the Global CEO of Ogilvy, was always asked not to do a lot of things by her parents as she is “Girl”. Today, Bulchandani has carved a niche for herself in global advertising, holding important positions in leading ad networks.

Wake up every day and pursue greatness, but do it with goodness, urges Devika Seth Bulchandani

Devika Seth Bulchandani, the global CEO of Ogilvy, was greeted warmly at the Mumbai office of Ogilvy by the team along with Piyush Pandey, Chief Creative Officer Worldwide and Executive Chairman at Ogilvy India.  Together, Bulchandani and Pandey, who have been coworkers for a while, danced  bhangra. All significant advertising events held in Mumbai, the world's capital of advertising, must include the use of Dhols and Dhamaals. Bulchandani also made a suggestion for the team at Ogilvy's Mumbai office to 'keep it going' and 'raise the standard for the network'.

How Shashi Sinha reacted to News18 India’s ‘More reach than GECs’ campaign

When it comes to the consideration set of media planners, News channels have usually been taking a backseat to the GECs, which are showcased to deliver higher reach. This equation changed recently when BARC weekly data showed a news channel trumping some leading Hindi GECs to register higher viewership.

TV news versus GECs: Who can deliver better ROI for brands?

While cynical observers have spent years writing obituaries of TV news, a full page advertisement by News18 India in Tuesday's Economic Times said that the news channel is watched by more people than Star Plus, Sony and Zee TV are.

Indepth: Netflix’s ad tier and measurement: Will other streamers follow suit?

Netflix has announced its ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) service in a handful of countries (India is not one of them, at present). As aptly pointed out by Tammy Parker, Principal Analyst with GlobalData, the pricing has been done in such a way that it will not annoy its investors.

ZEE5 is a blockbuster place, where you can get great shows and movies: Manish Kalra

Adgully spoke to Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 India, to know more about ZEE5’s content strategy, partnerships and marketing plans, as well as the road ahead for OTT in India.

Can creative integrity survive the hypersensitive times unscathed?

We are living in hypersensitive times. Freedom of expression –a right given to every Indian citizen by the Constitution of India – ensures that everyone has an equal say, is able to voice their opinion on different matters, is free to convey their thoughts in a judicious manner, without prejudice and malice.

The big gifting carnival returns - Brands eyeing sales upwards of 25-30%

As India moves towards the crescendo of Diwali, which brings down the curtains on the major part of India’s annual festive season, the opportunities for gifting also gain in prominence. Diwali has traditionally been a festival for getting together with friends and families, gifting and feasting.

Jewellery brands bullish on glittering festive season this year; amp up marketing

As the festive season reaches a crescendo, with Diwali just around the corner, the industry is looking back at this year’s festive season with great satisfaction. Almost all sectors have seen bumper sales as consumer sentiment recovered after two years of subdued living. Along with the other sectors, the jewellery sector, too, is bullish on this year’s festive season. We have been seeing jewellery brands of all hues launch ad campaigns with various offers and new launches to woo the consumers.

Festive Mood: How brands are staying relevant & breaking through the clutter

Tanvi Bosmia, Associate Account Director, SoCheers, speaks to Adgully about the festive mood, post-pandemic scenario, marketing campaigns, new strategies, etc. Bosmia notes that with the effects of the pandemic waning, brands are gradually amping up their marketing efforts again. This has opened up opportunities for the agency to service several new clients.

CoinDCX’s Ramalingam Subramanian on using Harry Potter series to unravel crypto

CoinDCX has used the Harry Potter series to familiarise people with the complex world of crypto. “We chose the Harry Potter series as they have grown up watching it and to link the knowledge of crypto with it is creative storytelling,” says Ramalingam Subramanian, Head of Marketing, Brand and Communication, CoinDCX. He tells Adgully in this interview that with increasing awareness and appreciation that the investors have shown for the long-term potential of crypto, it is growing its prominence in the national consciousness.

BlueStone shuns over-the-top imagery to create relevance for watch jewellery

In an exclusive chat with Adgully for their column Marketing Minds, Harshna Pasari, Head of Marketing, BlueStone, speaks about their revolutionary products, where through cutting edge technology they have launched some interesting products this year, growth of the watch jewellery category, and more.

How Plum is encouraging corporates to address mental health of employees

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Saurabh Arora, Co-Founder-CTO, Head of Healthcare, Plum, speaks about the company’s initiative to address mental health of employees at workplaces, its proprietary series – ‘Mending’, associating with mental health storyteller Tanmoy Goswami, and more.

Present leadership is being redefined by women: Kanwaljeet Kaur Soni

In conversation with Adgully, Kanwaljeet Kaur Soni speaks about the changing dynamics of corporate life, digital dependency in the post-pandemic world, importance of gender sensitisation, how to maintain work-life balance, and more.

How Tally Solutions is making biz management a seamless & connected experience

In conversation with Adgully, Jayati Singh, Chief Marketing Officer at Tally Solutions, speaks at length about supporting and helping the MSME community, emerging trends in B2B marketing, collaboration with Social Panga, and much more. Edited excerpts:

How redBus built a strong connect by being culturally relevant to Bharat

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully for their column Talking Insights, Pallavi Chopra, Senior VP & Head of Marketing, redBus, spoke in detail the ideation, concept of the campaign.

Overall, mass campaigns are no longer effective: Rakesh Jaitly, Oracle Applications

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Rakesh Jaitly, Senior Sales Director, Oracle Applications, speaks at length about their various customer engagement product offerings  and how customer engagement has today become the backbone of every company to meet customer expectations.

Happilo aspires to cross the Rs 1,000-crore mark in CY23: Vikas Nahar

In conversation with Adgully, Vikas Nahar, Founder & CEO. Happilo, reveals how the brand is more focused on capturing the large unorganized dry fruit market greater than increasing share in the organised sector.

Asia Cup 2022 registers 51% ad volume growth compared to Asia Cup 2016: TAM Sports

TAM Sports, in its analysis of the advertising during the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022 and comparing it with the previous two editions played in 2016 and 2018, has revealed that indexed Ad Volume growth was up by 51% in Asia Cup 2022 over Asia Cup 2016 (T20 format). However, compared to Asia Cup 2018, this year’s edition saw a 35% decline in Ad Volumes.

India’s influencer marketing industry to reach Rs 2,200 crore by 2025

The Influencer Marketing Report 2022 was released by Influencer.in, an influencer marketing platform and an initiative by Social Beat, to provide insights on how influencer marketing has become one of the most important channels that big brands are leveraging as part of their digital marketing. The report is based on over 500 + survey responses by Indian content creators, and over 60 marketers in the April to June period of this year.

KBC continues to be the favourite property of advertisers

Over the years, ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ has become synonymous with hopes and dreams of millions. KBC’s season 14, which went on air in August this year, has seen more than 260% growth in views as compared to the last season for the same duration on Sony LIV. 30% of these video views are recorded through connected-TV sets. Furthermore, 'KBC Play Along' has also expanded its audience, with 80% of the users coming from the heartlands of India.

Hitachi assigns creative duties to BBH India

Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Ltd, India’s premium air-conditioner brand ‘Hitachi’, has appointed BBH India as its creative strategy & advertising agency partner. With this appointment, Hitachi aims to create a high decibel brand awareness and strengthen its brand leadership amongst the New Informed World consumer.

Nielsen includes YouTube measurement in Total Ad Ratings

Today Nielsen announced the incorporation of YouTube measurement for desktop and mobile within its Total Ad Ratings (TAR) solution in additional three markets in APAC: Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Tata Play Binge becomes a standalone OTT

The all-new Tata Play Binge offers content from 12 languages from popular OTT apps such as Disney+ Hotstar, ZEE5, Voot Select, SonyLIV, MX Player, hoichoi, Namma flix, Chaupal, Planet Marathi, Sun NXT, Voot Kids, Eros Now, Hungama Play, ShemarooMe, EPICON, DocuBay & Curiosity Stream.  Upcoming integrations include Apple TV+, Lionsgate Play, Travelxp, Shorts TV, Reeldrama, Manorama Max, Tarang Plus, Koode and more. Netflix Combo plans are available for Tata Play DTH subscribers, and Amazon Prime Video can be accessed with an add-on subscription on Binge.