Week at a glance: MOBEXX 2019; Sanjay Gupta quits Star-Disney; new FB logo

MOBEXX 2019 sets the agenda for a future-facing mobile ecosystem in India
MOBEXX Summit and Awards, Adgully’s premier event for the mobile industry was held on November 5. The day-long event brought together the most successful mobile and marketing leaders to share their insights and expertise on how they are making mobile their No. 1 priority. 

MOBEXX 2019 award winners announced
Collectcent Digital Media was adjudged Mobile Advertising Agency/ Organisation of the Year. PivotRoots Digital was declared the Most Promising Mobile Agency of the Year. Ingenious Programmatic Plex was awarded the Most Outstanding Programmatic Platform for Mobile Advertising award. 

Star-Disney India’s Sanjay Gupta moves to Google as VP of South East Asia
Sanjay Gupta exits Star & Disney India as Country Head, a role he stepped into on April 02, 2019. Sources have confirmed that Gupta will move to Google as VP – South East Asia operations, a role previously held by Rajan Anandan. 

Sanjay Gupta’s departure a big personal loss to me: Uday Shankar
Uday Shankar, President, The Walt Disney Company, APAC & Chairman of Star & Disney India, has called Sanjay Gupta’s departure from the organisation as “a big personal loss to me” and added that it will leave “a void in my life that would be impossible to fill”. 

Punit Goenka’s gets Board’s nod to continue as ZEEL MD & CEO for 5 more years
Punit Goenka’s re-appointment as Managing Director and CEO has received in-principle approval of the Board of Directors of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL). The re-appointment is for a further period of five years. 

Dentsu India launches Slingshot; Kunal Dubey, Lucky Saini to lead Division
Dentsu India has announced the launch of Dentsu India Slingshot. To be led by Kunal Dubey and Lucky Saini as Country Heads, this latest outfit from brand Dentsu India will provide specialised marketing and digital solutions in the areas of digital strategy, brand play book and media play book. 

Discussions at MOBEXX 2019 

Sameer Singh unleashes the power of TikTok
TikTok has taken the social media world by storm. As described by Sameer Singh, Vice President – Monetisation, ByteDance (India), the parent company of TikTok, “TikTok is a platform that creates one creative expression. It is probably the simplest video creation tool on this planet.” 

Why customer obsession is good for business: Vivek Jain
‘Customer Obsession’ rather than customer experience is what Vivek Jain, Chief of Product, Technology and Operations, MX Player, stresses on. He affirmed, “The belief of a company should be to do good to the customer. If you do good to a customer and create value for him, in the long term you’ll learn how to extract that value and sustain your business.” 

“OTT is gaining traction in mobile advertising at the cost of social media”
The panel discussion on ‘Embarking into 2020’ at MOBEXX 2019 highlighted the importance of behavioural patterns of users on different platforms and how to tackle them by understanding the reason behind why they use that platform. 

From optimisation to innovation - The next practices that define mobile business
As the mobile space evolves at a fast pace, practitioners in this space have observed that best practices are becoming clichéd as they are rooted in the organisation and are not necessarily custom tuned to a new or agile organisation’s demands. 

Putting the customer at the heart of the mobile experience
With creating great experiences at the centerstage of every marketer’s strategy, how the entire mobile experience can be optimised for customers has become of paramount importance. 

The challenges of building brand trust in a trust-deficit India
Today, everybody is spending more than half of their screen time on platforms that are UGC-oriented, including social media, casual content-oriented platforms and all such platforms over-indexed on borderline content. Thus, the need for brand safety, as content is uploaded from any source or from some fake sources. 

Effectively tapping the opportunities in an expanding mobile ecosystem
Mobile has become a very important part of our daily lives. With the growth of smartphones that we have seen over the past few years and the strong ecosystem that India provides in terms of exciting data rates, the mobile growth opportunity is tremendous. 

Other top stories of the week 

Facebook rebrands company logo; retains old branding for mobile app
Started as a single app 15 years ago, Facebook has updated its company branding to be clearer about the products that come from Facebook. The new logo has been launched, further distinguishing the Facebook company from the Facebook app, which will keep its own branding. 

Eenadu launches OTT platform - ETV Win
Eenadu Television has launched over the top platform ETV Win and will offer all network content on a single platform. Currently, the OTT platform is being offered for free but a subscription model will be rolled out in the future. 

Dabur’s smart marketing move during Delhi pollution crisis stands out
Delhi’s poor air quality is dominating news. In a smart marketing move, Dabur has released its print campaign for its Chyawanprash. The full page print campaign on The Times of India for Dabur Chyawanprash promotes the immunity boosting properties of the brand. 

Birthday boy Shah Rukh Khan’s brand journey
For nearly three decades, Shah Rukh Khan has been entertaining people all over the world. Along with the adulation of millions of fans, Khan is also the darling of brands, endorsing numerous brands from Pepsi to Hyundai, Big Basket and D’décor, and a lot more. 

Doordarshan @ 60: High on nostalgia
As the national broadcaster, Doordarshan has been entertaining and informing the nation for 60 years. To mark the occasion of DD’s 60th anniversary, some of the leading TV actors reminisce about their favourite DD shows and walk down memory lane. 

Slowing economic growth has hit ad spends in key categories: Shobhana Bhartia
HT Media has reported a 2 per cent increase in its consolidated total revenue for Q2 FY2020 at Rs 580 crore. EBITDA increased by 139 per cent, and margins at 14 per cent vis-à-vis 6 per cent in the previous year, driven by softening of newsprint prices and continued focus on cost. 

Ormax Media launches OOH measurement service for ambient media
Ormax OHM (Out-of-Home Measurement) offers real-time audience measurement solutions to owners and resellers of ambient media, such as malls, multiplexes and airports. 

BARC Wk 44: Sony SAB holds on to its numero uno spot on pay platform
BARC India data for Week 44 (Saturday, October 26 to Friday, November 1) of 2019 shows 6 of the Top 10 Hindi GECs register decline in their gross viewership [HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals] on all platform.