Week at a glance: IPL campaigns; 2019 poll spends; Sports adex; Rajan Anandan

A hard look at the Vivo IPL 2019 campaigns so far
Star’s campaign for Vivo IP 2019 – ‘Game Banayega Name’ – talks about individualistic achievements. It is for first time that the spirit of the IPL reflects the idea of seniors mentoring youngsters to eventually pave the future for them. However, the reactions to the 2019 campaigns have been mixed, with many stating that campaigns lack the fervour of the previous campaigns and have not resonated that well with the audience as the earlier campaigns. 

2019 LS Polls: Rs 3.76 cr in political ad spends since Feb - Google India
With the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections set to commence on April 11, Google India has come up with an India Transparency Report, with specifics of spends on political ads since February 2019. According to the report, political parties and candidates have spent as much as Rs 37,616,400 for 831 political ads on Google in the past month and a half. Out of these 831 ads, 554 have been done by the BJP with a total spend of Rs 12,148,600 since February 2019. 

Sports Adex on Digital grew by 44% driven by OTT platforms: ESP Properties
Overall sports sponsorship saw a healthy growth of 12% in 2018. Sports advertising grew to Rs 7,762 crore. Cricket has gained the ground as IPL hit a maximum. While an overall level of growth of on-ground sponsorship was 20%, cricket witnessed a momentous upsurge of 34% with IPL Central Sponsorship contributing to revenue of more than Rs 600+ crore ($88+ million) in 2018 IPL franchise fee. 

Indian OTT market to be among top 10 by 2022: Assocham-PwC study
India is expected to be the 10th-largest market for OTT in terms of revenue in 2022, according to a joint study by Assocham and PwC. The OTT video market is being propelled by consumer content demand, lower internet prices and portability preferences. Increased focus on localised content is the key to the Indian OTT market. The study added that mobile internet subscribers are set to double from 406 million in 2017 to 805 million in 2022. 

India’s total internet subscribers up at 604.21 mn in 2018: TRAI
TRAI has released ‘Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Reports’ for the quarter ending December 31, 2018. Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 560.01 million at the end of Sep-18 to 604.21 million at the end of Dec-18, registering a quarterly growth rate of 7.89 per cent. Out of 604.21 million internet subscribers, Wired Internet subscribers are 21.42 million and Wireless Internet subscribers are 582.79 million. 

Rajan Anandan moves on from Google; joins Sequoia Capital India
Rajan Anandan, VP for Google South East Asia and India has moved on from the organisation. He will serve his notice period until the end of April. Anandan is set to join Seqouia Capital India as Managing Director. In the interim, Vikas Agnihotri, Country Director, Sales will take over his responsibilities.  

Defining agency 2020 – The priorities, evolution and new rules
How much have the agencies evolved as we are nearing completion of two decades of the 21st century? How will the agency of 2020 look like, what would be its operational structure? What kind of deliverables will marketers be looking for? Who takes precedence in the digital era – the Chief Digital Officer or the Chief Creative Officer? A whole host of very pertinent questions were raised in the session ‘Defining Agency 2020’ at Adgully’s first ever Digi Media Summit, held in Delhi on March 29, 2019. 

Deciphering the media houses of the future
The new business of creating content and monetising it through subscription is where the world is going. With the kind of shifts that we have seen in the habits of consumers in the last decade, the changes that have happened in the media consumption of those consumers is only natural. 

How PR agencies can reinvent to fully leverage digital
The scope as well as the challenges for the Public Relations industry has increased manifold in today’s digital era. With consumers becoming increasingly vocal about their experiences with brands and not hesitating to voice any bad experiences they might have had, along with real-time brand conversations, managing corporate and brand reputation has become a onerous task for PR firms. 

The future of brand experience and the new-age CMO
Creating immersive and personalised experiences for consumers has become the primary objective for marketers. A mass, carpet-bombing-kind of marketing strategy will no longer work as consumers seek to have a relevant connect with brands. 

Solving the performance marketing conundrum
Performance marketing is disrupting the way companies advertise as well as market their products. This data-driven marketing and advertising strategy is giving digital marketers valuable insights into their performance, their brands’ reach, conversion rate and much more. Increased focus by brands on providing personalised experience to consumers is fuelling performance marketing. 

Focusing on multi-facets of the industry, Goafest 2019 unveils speaker line-up
Renowned cricketer Virender Sehwag, Bollywood actors Pankaj Tripathi, Kalki Koechlin and Siddhant Chaturvedi of the recent ‘Gully Boy’ fame, global advertising maven Gordon Bowen, boxing legend Mary Kom, creative genius Madonna Badger and authors Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu, will be amongst many others to address the knowledge sessions at Goafest this year. 

Sanjay Gupta appointed as Country Manager, India by The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company has announced some major changes in its leadership team for the APAC (Asia Pacific) and Middle East region. Star Sports CEO, Sanjay Gupta, will be the Country Manager for India with a direct responsibility for the studio business in the country, Uday Shankar, Chairman, Star and Disney India and President The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, has confirmed the development in an internal communiqué. 

Agnello Dias takes on additional charge as Creative Chairman at DAN India
Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has announced an enhancement in its creative structure. Agnello Dias, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder Taproot Dentsu, will now take on the additional responsibility of Creative Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network India. In his new role, Dias will now also guide and mentor the creative output of all DAN India companies even as he continues his services with Taproot Dentsu. 

DAN expands Anand Bhadkamkar’s role to CFO & COO South Asia
Following DAN’s announcement to promote Ashish Bhasin to the expanded role of CEO - Greater South, Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman & CEO India, the global media & marketing communications conglomerate has now entrusted Anand Bhadkamkar, CFO, Dentsu Aegis Network - South Asia, with the additional charge of Chief Operating Officer India. 

Mayoori Kango to build partnership between Google and DAN, Publicis
Mayoori Kango, who recently joined Google as Head of Industry – Agency Business, has revealed her mandate at the tech major. Kango’s first order of business will be to nurture the relationship between Google and two agency networks – Dentsu Aegis Network and Publicis Groupe. Prior to this appointment, she was associated with Publicis Groupe’s Performix.Resultrix. 

Smartphone digital marketing to take over print media marketing in 2019
Smartphone brands will cumulatively spend over Rs 330 crore on digital marketing in India. 72 per cent of this spending will be consumed by digital marketing over mobile platforms with the remaining being spent on web platform marketing. This was revealed by the first edition of the ‘Smartphone Digital Marketing in India’ report, released by techARC. 

15 DD Free Dish slots sold through 39th e-auction; highest bid at Rs 57.1 lakh
The first e-Auction for MPEG 4 slots (39th e-auction of DD Free Dish), as per the new policy guidelines for DD Free Dish, was successfully conducted from March 27 to 29, 2019. The highest bid price was Rs 57.1 lakh, which is almost 1150 per cent premium over the reserve price of Rs 5 lakh. 

Election Commission seeks MIB’s response on NaMo TV launch
The Election Commission of India has sought the response from the MIB over the recently-launched ‘NaMo TV’ (earlier called Content TV) after complaints were filed by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. NaMo TV, which has the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the logo, airs Modi’s election speeches every day and propagates various policy initiatives taken by him. The channel is being hosted by all major DTH platforms. 

Josy Paul to head Cannes Lions’ Roger Hatchuel Academy Selection Panel
Nine experts from across the creative communications and marketing world will join forces to select the 40 students who will take part in the annual training course at Cannes Lions. Inclusion and diversity will be the key focus in the selection process. BBDO India’s Josy Paul has been appointed Head of the Selection Panel. 

Offbeat: Sahil Vaidya – Witty views and aggressive music
Sahil Vaidya is the co-founder of one of India’s fastest growing design and digital agencies – The Minimalist. Being one of the youngest founders in India, Vaidya co-founded the company along with Chirag Gander during his final year at IIT Bombay. The Minimalist started as a Facebook page that addressed social issues in a witty and thought provoking manner and went on to gain massive recognition on social media in a short span of time.