Opt 2 Hotstuff Cover back page issu 2 2015

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A n e w s l e t t e r f r o m D D B M u d r a G r o u p - I s s u e 2 , 2 0 1 5

H tStuff

Madhukar’s Message

Customer-Centricity

Madhukar KamathGroup CEO & Managing Director DDB Mudra Group

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Customer-Centricity is not a new

phenomenon. In a speech in South

Africa in 1890 Mahatma Gandhi said,

“A customer is the most important

visitor on our premises. He is not

dependent on us. We are dependent on

him. He is not an interruption of our

work. He is the purpose of it. He is not

an outsider of our business. He is part

of it. We are not doing him a favour by

serving him. He is doing us a favour by

giving us the opportunity to do so.”

For decades businesses have been

paying lip service to cliches like

“Customer is King” or “The Customer is

always right”. Today, of course, it has

not only become a necessity but maybe

even something of a business

obsession. The power equation has

clearly shifted. We have moved from the

age of the seller to the age of the

customer. Customers have access to

instant information, are empowered to

share their opinions about products and

services, and have more alternatives

than ever before. Those who ignore this,

may well run the risk of becoming

irrelevant.

In this, the digital age:

• Brands live in fear of angry customers

sharing their experiences on social

media. This makes positive customer

experience crucial.

• Organisations have access to more

customer data than ever before. This

allows them to get closer than ever to

their customers.

Marketing as a discipline and its practitioners have become central to this agenda. Marketing is now more than ever before, all about being the ‘voice of the consumer’ within organisations. The UK Marketing Society recently announced an updated definition of the term – “To create sustainable growth by understanding, anticipating and satisfying customer need.” What could be more customer-centric?

Marketers are now scrambling to adapt. A much-quoted report by Gartner predicted that CMOs would end up with bigger technology budgets than CIOs, as the marketing function became key to interpreting and responding to consumers.

Previous declarations of marketing’s importance to the business agenda now look premature. Only now, when the finance department alone isn't enough to secure growth, is marketing really fulfilling its potential.

There is a huge prize here, if marketers can recognise it! But what does this mean for agencies? It definitely does not mean that procurement will suddenly ease up. CEOs are looking to marketers for creative approaches that deliver growth – but not necessarily the creativity of a 30-second advertising spot.

Agencies have already begun to rethink what they mean by creativity. As technology disrupts industry categories, clients require ‘business creativity’ – the application of creative thinking across business

processes to deliver competitive advantage - not necessarily advertising creativity.

Brands have begun to ask what could be done differently.

• How can they innovate through a service offering or product design?

• How can fresh understanding of the path-to-purchase unlock growth?

• How can brands maintain engagement with consumers beyond an ad campaign that launches and then disappears?

The ad industry has begun to reinvent itself as a provider of a broad spectrum of creative services, ready to help customer-centric businesses. It has begun to identify new growth areas, not as a new industry - but certainly as an industry that is looking to change the way it is used and what it does.

Creativity is all about knowing how to touch and manage customers, non-customers, clients and staff. It is the lifeblood of how a business builds, takes to market, supports through staff engagement the actions that stimulate competitive advantage and growth.

Getting this right is a major challenge for the agency business. But it is a challenge, and an opportunity, agencies – and their clients – cannot afford to miss.

In closing, let me say in the words of Marc Benioff, Chairman & CEO, salesforce.com, “You need to get to the future ahead of your customers and be ready to greet them when they arrive.”

Global Connect

Global Winsadam&eveDDB is Ad Age's 2015

International Agency of the Year

As a result of an amazing performance

both creatively and in new business,

adam&eveDDB took home Advertising

Age’s “International Agency of the Year”

in the recent “A-List” issue. This marks

the 13th Agency of the Year title for

adam&eveDDB.

Past accolades include:

• Campaign Agency of the Year

• Cannes International Festival of

Creativity Agency of the Year

• IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix

• British Arrows Agency of the Year

• Clios Top UK Agency

• Shots Agency of the Year

• More About Advertising Agency of

the Year

• Epica Awards Agency of the Year

• Eurobest Agency of the Year

• LIA Agency of the Year

• Marketing Week Agency of the Year

• The Drum Agency of the Year

DDB DM9JaymeSyfu is Philippines’

Creative Agency of the Year

DDB DM9JaymeSyfu was named

Creative Agency of the Year by the 2014

Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings.

Their total of 820 Creative Ranking

points made them the best performing

creative agency in the country and a

“worthy winner” of the award. It also saw

them making the prestigious overall

Top 10 in Asia Creative Rankings table.

The agency, led by Chairman & Chief

Creative Officer Merlee Jayme, scored a

large proportion of their points for their

Smart Communications ‘TXTBKS’

campaign, however other awarded work

on Pharex, City of Las Pinas and Bodum

also picked up points.

DDB DM9JaymeSyfu was also one of

the very few agencies in Asia to score

points at 10 of the 11 shows that count

towards the rankings. Their biggest

performance was at New York Festivals

where they picked up 260 points

followed by Clio with 170 points.

The agency also did very well at D&AD,

The Work and AWARD.

Alma is Advertising Age’s

Multicultural Agency of the Year

Alma was named 2015 “Multicultural

Agency of the Year” as part of

Advertising Age’s Agency A-List honors

for the nation’s best advertising and

marketing firms. For the second year in a

row, the Miami-based shop took the

multicultural title by combining

technology with a total market approach

to multicultural targets.

In 2014, Alma boosted its interactive

profile with the help of The Social Media

Lab, a proprietary tool that helps identify

and analyze Hispanic conversations

online. Overall, efforts generated an

increase of 28 percent in digital revenue

for the year.

Success for DDB Latvia at Baltic PR

Awards

DDB Latvia’s participation in the Baltic

PR Awards was a huge success with the

agency winning three gold and one

silver.

The awarded campaigns included “Let’s

Beat Stanford” for SSE Riga Alumni,

which also received a prestigious gold

award at the Euro Effie Awards 2014.

At the Baltic PR Awards, the campaign

won the gold in the Low Budget

category.

Also, the LMT rebranding campaign

“Think-Do,” in partnership with Nords

Porter Novelli, Necom and other

partners, was praised at this year’s

awards ceremony, winning the gold in

the Corporate Communications

category.

Tribal Worldwide Shanghai ranked

among world’s best Digital Agencies

by Warc 100

According to the latest ranking released

by Warc 100, Tribal Worldwide Shanghai

was number 15 among the best digital

agencies in the world. Tribal Worldwide

Shanghai is the only China agency listed

in the top 20 rankings.

Warc 100 is an annual ranking of the

world’s 100 best marketing campaigns

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Global Connect

and companies, based on the tracking

results of more than 2,200 individual

award winners across 87 different

effectiveness and strategy awards

schemes held around the world. As a

global marketing independent online

service, Warc’s annual list is recognized

as one of the most reliable and influential

rankings in the marketing and

advertising industry.

DDB Canada takes home six

CASSIES

At the CASSIES annual award show in

Toronto on 19 February 2015, DDB

Canada garnered six CASSIES Awards

from a list of Canada’s top 60

business-building campaigns. The six

awards were recognized for work on six

different clients, and marked the first

time that CASSIES have been awarded

to three DDB Canada offices – Toronto,

Edmonton and Vancouver.

The prestigious CASSIES Awards is

Canada’s only industry awards program

that recognizes business effectiveness

based on detailed published case

studies. This award platform focuses on

hard business results, making these

wins all the more powerful in the eyes of

clients and prospects.

DDB Canada tops ‘strategy’

magazine’s Creative Report Card

On 19 February 2015, ‘strategy’

magazine’s annual Creative Report Card

revealed that DDB Canada is #1 for the

second year in a row, topping the Report

Card’s Agency List after a sweep of

60 awards across nine shows for

13 different clients.

The Creative Report Card’s methodology

tracks and tallies the awards earned by

agencies, marketers and creatives over

the year to let the industry know who’s

at the top of their game. ‘strategy’

selects a range of shows and assigns

every award a point value, weighted to

recognize international, national and

regional shows, in order to determine a

ranking in each category.

‘strategy’ revised the Creative Report

Card this year to offer a more

content-heavy overview of the agencies

that ranked on the list, the campaigns

that helped them get there, and the

points collected for each of the

agencies.

DDB Canada Edmonton earns Top

Honors at the 2015 ACE Awards

At the 36th annual Advertising Club of

Edmonton (ACE) Awards, DDB Canada

Edmonton was the most awarded

agency at the competition, proudly

taking home 16 awards.

Celebrating advertising creative

excellence, the ACE awards honor the

best locally produced work, while

recognizing and rewarding the

professionalism and entrepreneurial spirit

of the industry.

DDB NZ dominates AXIS Awards

2015

DDB New Zealand capped off the

AXIS Awards 2015 with a stellar

performance - taking home the title of

Creative Agency of the Year,

Best Emerging Talent and 34 other

accolades, including three Grand Prix in

3

the Integrated, Digital and Interactive

and Out-of-Home campaign categories.

Overall, the agency was awarded

3 Grand Prix, 8 gold, 9 silver and

14 bronze across 13 different campaigns

for clients: SKY TV, Steinlager Pure,

Speight’s, YWCA and Westpac.

In addition to the wins at AXIS, DDB NZ

has recently been awarded the following:

• Campaign Asia-Pacific Creative

Agency of the Year (two years running)

• Campaign Asia-Pacific runner-up

Digital Agency of the Year

• Spikes Asia No. 1 ranked New

Zealand agency (two years running)

• Effies Most Effective Agency 2012 &

2013

DDB New Zealand scores again at

AWARD

Straight off the back of being named

AXIS’ Creative Agency of the Year,

DDB New Zealand picked up one gold,

seven silver and seven bronze at

AWARD - more than double the metal of

any NZ agency.

Global Connect

Global News

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Omnicom Agencies lead The Gunn Report 2014

The Omnicom networks BBDO and DDB took top honors, first and second place respectively, as the Gunn Report's "Most Awarded Networks in the World". The Gunn Report is an annual analysis of the winners' lists of the world's most important advertising industry award shows.

More than any other holding company, Omnicom had five of the ten most awarded agencies in the world, representing London, Sao Paulo, New York, and Melbourne/Sydney. Clemenger BBDO, BBDO New York, and TBWA/Paris were among the Most Awarded Agencies in Digital.

“Our continued success in The Gunn Report reaffirms our commitment to doing extraordinarily creative and effective work on behalf of our clients”, said John Wren, President and CEO of Omnicom. "Our winning streak is also a testament to having the best talent in the industry. I want to congratulate all our people and agencies for their outstanding performance and creativity”.The Big Won Directory also recognized DDB as the third Most Awarded Network. In addition, Omnicom won the holding company category for the fourth year running.

On the heels of The Big Won, Omnicom agencies took three of the top spots of Advertising Age A-list. BBDO was crowned B-to-B Agency of the Year and adam&eveDDB was named International Agency of the Year. For the second year in a row, Alma DDB won Multicultural Agency of the Year. Advertising Age also recognized Omnicom Group as the world's Most Awarded Agency Company.

Twitter Crowns McDonald's as Best in the Super Bowl

Ad Age was first to reveal the results of "Top Spot," Twitter's online polling where viewers picked the top spot through

hashtag voting for the best ads at the Super Bowl on 1 February 2015. McDonald's earned almost 200,000 more interactions on Twitter than the runner-up, Always.

Twitter measured interactions as mentions of the brand, its product, its tailored hashtag, its stars in the ad and other unspecified metrics. Those interaction metrics undoubtedly helped put McDonald's over the top. Over 28.4 million tweets were sent during the game, related to the match and the halftime show, topping last year's total by over 3 million missives.

Amir Kassaei weighs in on Bestads’ Six of the Best

In the last week of January 2015, Amir Kassaei, DDB Worldwide’s Chief Creative Officer was the guest judge for Bestadsontv.com and chose his favorites across TV, Print, Outdoor and Interactive.

Amir is one of the most lauded creatives in the world. He and his teams are the recipients of more than 4,000 national and international awards, including 140 Cannes Lions in the past five years. He was named The Big Won Report’s Top Chief Creative Officer in 2009, and has been one of The Big Won’s Top 3 Chief Creative Officers for each of the last three years.

A past President of the Art Directors Club of Germany and a member of ADC

New York, CCA and D&AD, he has served as a judge in some of the world’s most famous award shows. He was President of the Jury at Eurobest and Meribel in 2007 and judged the Dubai Lynx 2010. Amir has taught at such famous advertising schools as the Miami Ad School, spoken at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership and served as a Professor at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. His most celebrated presentations include “Digital Thinking” and “Manifesto of Successful Marketing”.

AdForum’s Greatest Hits celebrates Eight Campaigns from DDB and Tribal Worldwide

AdForum has recognized eight ads from DDB Worldwide and Tribal Worldwide in its Greatest Hits Awards for 2014. Based on the most watched creative work on AdForum by agency and network members, winning campaigns will be featured on AdForum’s website and in a dedicated newsletter distributed to the greater AdForum community.

Congratulations to all the winning teams!

• Sorry, I Spent It On Myself (Harvey Nichols) – adam&eveDDB – Category: TV, Cinema, Film

• Lost & Found Service (KLM) – DDB & Tribal Amsterdam – Category: Experiential, Branded Content, Stunt

Global Connect

• Toast (Borsodi) – DDB Budapest – Category: Print, Outdoor, Ambient

• King Kong (Trivial Pursuit) – DDB Paris – Category: Print, Outdoor, Ambient

• Fruit Match (McDonald’s) – DDB Stockholm – Category: Digital, Viral

• Caritas Adshel Heater (Caritas) – DDB Tribal Wien – Category: Print, Outdoor, Ambient

• Hello My Name Means (Johnson Baby) – DDB Latina Brazil – Category: Digital, Viral

• Bucket List (WATERisLIFE) – DDB New York – Category: Digital, Viral

Petter Gulli named Media Person of the Year

DDB Oslo’s Executive Creative Director, Petter Gulli was named Media Person of the Year in Norway. The competition for the title included a cultural minister, the chief editor of one of the most prominent TV channels in the market and the Norwegian Head of Google, as well as the American actor/musician Steven van Zandt.

The recognition comes after a year of writing columns for industry papers and delivering keynote speeches, both in Norway and at international events, such as the Epica Awards. The local industry publication Kampanje also referred to DDB Oslo as “the turnaround agency”.

DDB Chicago hosts an Intimate Lunch with Acclaimed Author Adam Morgan

You know Adam Morgan, right?

Well, if you work with under-resourced brands — and these days, who doesn’t? — then you’ve probably thought about challenger brands, those underdogs who manage to do more with less. And if you’ve thought about challenger brands, then you know Adam Morgan because he wrote the book about challenger brands, Eating the Big Fish.

Members of DDB Chicago were lucky to have Adam Morgan in-house to introduce his new book, A Beautiful Constraint. Both practical and thoughtful, A Beautiful Constraint is “a handbook about everyday inventiveness, designed for the constrained times in which we live….” From years of research and dozens of interviews, Adam and his co-author, Mark Barden (another top strategist) have created a tool kit to help make more from less.

Think of A Beautiful Constraint as the optimistic handbook for challenger brands.

DDB U.S. launches “Better by Half” initiative

DDB U.S. announced the launch of its “Better by Half” initiative, a commitment to help promote gender equality at DDB and throughout the advertising industry. “Better by Half” was created as a result of DDB Worldwide’s International Women’s Day campaign around “Empower” in 2014. The Empower website, created by DDB Chicago, featured photos of women from across the DDB Network and tweets from

female employees on Twitter answering the question, “What empowers you?” “Better by Half” will bring men and women together, at every level, to discuss and find opportunities to improve gender balance. Research shows that the better the gender balance in leadership positions, the better the company’s performance.

The initiative will tackle today’s hot topics when it comes to gender in the workplace, including: career development, mentor programs for women, increasing the number of women in leadership positions, developing a network for overcoming women’s challenges, and joining the conversation at industry events and with industry organisations, among many others.

Richard Guest in Mobile Minds @Art Basel 2014

On 2 and 3 December 2014, industry influencers met for the first Annual Mobile Minds Conference, organised by Mobile Media Summit at Art Basel in Miami. The exclusive event drew top players in Mobile for a unique experience during the world’s premier international art show. Richard Guest, President of North American Operations at Tribal Worldwide, attended the conference, sharing his thoughts and ideas on the outlook of Mobile Storytelling in 2015.

Joining Guest on the panel “How Tech is Changing the Agency of the Future”, was David Berkowitz, Chief Marketing Officer at MRY, and Rachel Pasqua, Head of Mobile at MEC. The 30-minute session addressed the unavoidable shift in client/agency relationships as a result of intensified consumer expectations in technology. Craig Cardon, Partner at Sheppard Mullin, moderated the session.

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DDB launches DDB-U in IndiaHeads, based on potential and performance.

The MDP course was a hands-on, interactive, skill-building learning experience, loaded with tools and best practices that prepare one to handle the most difficult of management challenges. All the case studies, tools, techniques and exercises used in the program were based on extensive leadership and management research and real-life agency issues. The program was led by Nigel Beard, Trainer & Facilitator, DDB Worldwide, based at adam&eveDDB in London. Nigel has been with DDB for over 30 years. He lectures and tutors at London’s University of Westminster and is a Member of the UK Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

The goal of the 3-day IMP course was to explore the best contemporary thinking available on professional service firm management and leadership development. It also introduced future leaders and rising stars throughout the DDB Mudra Group to the core principles of leading and managing. The curriculum included extensive pre-reading material consisting of selected case studies

developed by the Harvard Business School and Omnicom University. A large number of these have been specially written after identifying and analyzing situations that have challenged managers of various Omnicom Group Companies and their clients.

The IMP was led by Craig Lonnee, the Chief Development Officer & Regional Talent Management Director of DDB Group Asia-Pacific operating across23 offices in 14 countries.

Said Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & Managing Director, DDB Mudra Group,“Being a ‘People first organization’, we are thrilled to launch DDB-U in India to reinforce the organizational hierarchy of ‘People, Product, Profit, in that order’ with our employees. Through these programs, we have been able to enhance the skillsets and leadership quotient of around 60 of our talented and dedicated colleagues. All in a period of one week. This is just the beginning."

The feedback from the participants was excellent. They learned a lot, made some good friends and, of course, posted several pictures across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

DDB-U@MICA, a learning institution responsible for educating various levels across the DDB Mudra Group was launched in India on 27 January 2015. Working along with MICA Ahmedabad, India's foremost 'Strategic Marketing and Communication' Management School, the DDB Mudra Group conducted two key Career Development and Engagement Programs for its current and future leaders.

This initiative which is perhaps both historic and unique in the DDB world globally, promises to be the foundation for one of the best learning initiatives in the entire Marketing Services and Communication Industry in the country.

At the three-day MDP (Management Development Program) and a unique three-day IMP (India Management Program) held in MICA Ahmedabad, 60 mid and senior level leaders from DDB Mudra Group were taken through bespoke programs addressing specially identified operational challenges and opportunities, designed to deliver on its 'People First' culture. Each of the participants was recommended to the IMP or the MDP by their Operating

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Conducting the first ever MDP in a

dedicated, renowned learning

facility, and with the largest group

ever to attend the course at one

time, was a remarkable experience.

MICA’s outstanding facilities,

support team and hospitality made

this a very special MDP indeed.

Locating the course at MICA added

enormous value to the content,

magnifying by association the

importance of the teaching, the

commercial value of the case

studies and the lessons learnt from

them. MICA’s status lent additional

weight to the management models

and processes we discussed. The

quest for knowledge was all around

us, and I think everyone, participants

and facilitators alike, felt the

pressure to be equal to the ‘MICA

standard’. At one point on our first

day, even a family of monkeys

settled down on a tree outside our

classroom and listened intently! The

enthusiasm to learn is clearly shared

by all campus residents!

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Nigel BeardTrainer & Facilitator,DDB Worldwide.

The Highlights

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India People Day

a day of presentations made by the respective Business and Function heads which showcased their top talent, and their future leaders in the respective Agencies / Operating Units.

John Zeigler wrapped up the day with his advice on the need to focus on Growth and Survival. Here are a few of his observations:

On People

“We clearly have people with huge potential and the biggest challenge is to stretch and learn from our differences to learn from each other. We need to challenge each other.”

On Mobility

“Mobility was a big topic today and I am convinced that India is waiting to take over the world. DDB Mudra Group wants to be the Unilever of its industry.”

On Remote Working

“What is better ‘Homing from Work’ or ‘Working from Home’? You have the

At DDB, people are considered the

ultimate resource and are placed ahead

of Product and Profit. And, People Day

presents an opportunity every year for the

regional and global leaders of DDB to

come together with the leaders of the

country organization to recognize,

discuss, and develop specific plans

around the region’s most talented

individuals.

John Zeigler (Chairman & CEO/DDB

Group Asia-Pacific, India, Japan), Daniel

Simon (Chief Operating Officer & Chief

Financial Officer Asia, DDB Group),

Craig Lonnee (Chief Development Officer

& Regional Talent Management Director -

DDB Group Asia-Pacific) and Veronica

Tucker (Talent Manager – Asia-Pacific,

based in DDB New York) hosted the

India People Day on 11 February 2015

at Mudra House, Mumbai.

Each of them was presented with a

‘Talent Book’ when they presided over

technology and the opportunity. Now you

need to do the math and change the way

you run the business.”

On Content

“Content is the biggest area of

opportunity. Content is King. It can

provide additional income streams that

we don’t have today.”

On Creativity

“The entire organization needs to be

excited by great ideas. We need to spur

and spar with creative people. We are all

creative according to Bill Bernbach. More

than half the millennials are no longer kids

but will soon be parents. We need to

understand this kind of insight and gain

creative control so that we can provide

the right advice to our clients.”

His parting advice - Be hot. Be the

agency to watch.

The Highlights

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India People Day - An Interview withCraig Lonnee

Q1. At DDB, people are considered

the ultimate resource. Please

elaborate.

People drive growth, plain and simple. At DDB, we operate our businesses

aligned to the SERVICE PROFIT CHAIN

(SPC). This model states that the

primary driver of growth and profitability

is client loyalty and viral behavior (the

willingness to tell others about our

services), enabled by a chain reaction

that begins with an engaged workforce. SPC mirrors the DDB Values of

PEOPLE-PRODUCT-PROFIT - we put

our people first by giving them the

opportunities they need to succeed.

High performing staff then yields

groundbreaking strategic and creative

business solutions, in the end resulting in

satisfied clients and ultimately growth for

the agency.

Q 2. Today, DDB Mudra Group

presented and showcased for you its

top talent and future leaders. How

useful did you find this and what

were some of the key learnings?

Remarkably enriching. The senior

management of the DDB Mudra Group,

together with my regional and network

colleagues, actively devoted a full day

discussing engagement plans for around

100 of our most talented – our highest

performing employees in the agency.Key learnings encompassed the value of publicly acknowledging and recognising staff that have proven high levels of performance and potential (this was arguably the most gratifying). The need for a compelling multi-generational – particularly millennial -- strategy to engage their considerable intellect and experience.

Q3. What are the next steps in your plan to best utilize the talent you saw on display today?

Next steps – an engagement plan will be socialized and implemented for each of our 100 or so top talent, focusing on their future potential.

Q4. Are there any plans for creative collaboration across the region?

Creative collaboration or as we like to call it ENGAGING CREATIVITY FOR GROWTH (ECG), has been operating across the DDB Asia-Pacific region for some time. Into the future, across India, we will be bringing BULLSEYE, our regional creative council program and POW WOW, a creative collaboration workshop, where we work on live client briefs, to drive INFLUENTIAL work.

Q5. Are there any plans for exchange of talent across the region?

Yes, in fact just the other day, picking up on our decisions made at India People Day, the region announced it would be leading a talent exchange program involving DDB Mudra Group staff.

Q6. How does India compare vis-a-vis talent with other countries in the region?

In my view, very highly. Why? They are well educated, ingenious, have elevated levels of curiosity, and are flexible in transporting to other countries as their English is arguably better than mine.

Q7. How will India figure in your future plans for the region?

For all the reasons stated, India will

always be at the business end of future

plans for the region. The opportunities

for DDB, in this country, is incalculable.

Into the future, several of the growth

initiatives conceived in India may have

application across the region and

network, including the groundbreaking

DDB-U@MICA training program and

DDB Mudra Group’s robust HR system,

to name but a few.

Q8. A Talent Book was provided to

you. Please share your views on this.

DDB Mudra’s ability to package their

growth initiatives is legendary. It was

interesting to note that each office

showcased their richly talented people

differently. Each lent a deep

understanding of their people in a

memorable and impactful way.

Q9. Any parting words of advice on

what DDB Mudra Group can do

better in future?

• Help the region re-define operations

through ECG – to a large degree India is

already doing this.

• Build a talent community across

offices (perhaps via a mentoring

program) connecting different business

units, office locations, and even floors

within the same building – allow your

talent the vehicle and impetus to share

resources, learn and grow from one

another, regularly.

• We still need to differentiate ourselves,

in order to retain talent. We aren’t yet

offering an opportunity that says

“I’m going to teach you something here

you can't learn anywhere else.” We

need to provide the long-term view – a

company vision, with an aligned

engagement plan, that they can only get

at the DDB Mudra Group.

Craig LonneeChief Development Officer & Regional Talent Management Director– DDB Group Asia-Pacific

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The Highlights

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GutBandhan

opportunity to get away from the normal grind to allow the creative juices to reboot. This year the team focussed on the successes of 2014 and set the agenda for 2015.

Day 1 was spent on independent working sessions for Business Development, Content, Technology and Design where the teams discussed the ups and downs of 2014 and was followed by a Technology session led by Sumit Gupta of IBM. The evening was reserved for the famous Internal Awards Night where the top performers and teams were rewarded with a trophy and a round of shots.

Day 2 began with Vineet Gupta,

Managing Director, 22feet Tribal WW -

India setting the agenda followed by

independent city-wise presentations by

Rohan Talati representing the Bangalore

team, Mumbai’s Shirley D’Costa, and

Delhi’s Vir Kullar.

Two external speakers Satyanarayan

Raghavan, Head of YouTube in India

(in his personal capacity) and Gaurav

Dublish, Founder of Wildcraft, took the

audience through their thoughts and

experiences. This was then followed by

a theme night party.

22feet Tribal Worldwide’s annual offsite,

known as GutBandhan, one of the most

awaited events of the year for the team,

was held on 10 and 11 January 2015 at

the Park Hyatt, Goa. This annual event

was attended by every member of the

22feet tribe.

The company is called 22feet as the

human gut is 22-feet long. They pride on

the fact that they run on gut-fuel. Hence,

the name 'GutBandhan’ to refer to the

event as the coming together of

individuals who are driven by the gut.

The offsite retreat presents an annual

RBI governor gives the Green Battimentors of the underprivileged students “It's not just lip service. They are very serious about working with us.” The ‘Green Batti’, is an initiative launched by Samyak Chakrabarty to bring together young professionals and children from under-resourced communities to facilitate an exchange of life skills, social skills, financial literacy and essential exposure to technology.

‘For India, it's important to have an open world and free enterprise as democracy and free markets are linked,’ said Rajan. He also underscored the importance of

Speaking at an event organized by

Samyak Chakrabarty, Chief Youth

Marketer, DDB Mudra Group, for the

Green Batti project on 13 February

2015, the Reserve Bank of India

governor, Raghuram Rajan urged young

professionals to have a global approach

and emphasized how the orientation

towards India has become more positive

in the developed world.

Referring to the recent visit by high-level

US policy makers, including US treasury

secretary to RBI, Rajan said to the

networks the youth are connected to, as these bring down information asymmetries. He advised the young professionals to leverage this social capital that many are not aware of.

The Highlights

11

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Firki - The Integrated Planning MeetSession 2 dealt with the Influence Tool

Kit and demonstrated how influential

brands grow disproportionately, have a

wider audience, are more efficient and

sustainable.

On Day 2 there was a presentation by

Toru Jhaveri, Director, Brand

Communications, DDB Mudra West.

She spoke of Culture/Sign-banking -

the picking up of micro signs and then

looking at the aggregate, the trend

towards Compulsive Instagramming and

the Selfie Culture and the Rise of

Exercise as Entertainment.

Later, Mou Roy, Director, Brand

Communications, DDB Mudra West said

that if one starts early, every brief can be

EFFIE worthy. This was followed by

individual presentations from each office

on Best Practices they have used on

Brands. A sharing of experiences on

what has worked and what can be done

better.

Finally, Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO &

Managing Director addressed the

gathering on the importance of Planning

saying that it’s not about mainline

A busload of planners from across the

DDB Mudra Group took off from Mudra

House on 1 March 2015 and headed for

Sula Wines in Nasik. And, it was not just

to wet their whistles! Although billed as

a Planning meet, the Introduction said

that it was not about “Planning” but

about how each one of the audience,

brought in their personal expertise, and

added to each other’s growth. Hence,

it promised to be more of an “Integrated

Planning Meet”. Not just connecting

dots but converging them.

Several subjects were covered on

Day 1, including Planning Process &

DDB Tools, Role Definition & Goals,

Focus on Collaboration & Integration,

Vision from Planning, Team Building,

Action Plan, Inspiration, Best Practices

and FUN.

In the days that followed, the focus was

sharply on “Engaging Creativity for

Growth” particularly the need to engage

with the client at a strategic rather than

day to day level. Creativity is what

distinguishes DDB Mudra Group and this

enables it to compare favourably with

the leading management consultants in

so far as helping corporate clients grow

their business.

anymore, as everything is mainline. We

have the privilege of having every service

under one roof.

The Firkies 2015, the internal awards

given to the top performers followed.

There were 180 entries that were sent to

the National Strategic Planning Heads,

across 27 categories, including ‘Best

Brief’, ‘Most challenging Idea/Insight’,

‘Most Entrepreneurial campaign’, etc.

On Day 3, Sonal Dabral, Chairman &

Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group

took the gathering through ‘The Art of

Storytelling’. He shared the best pieces

of work that play on emotions. He

explained about the importance of

having/finding an emotional connect and

shared his own experiences relating

interesting stories around some of the

biggest campaigns that he had been a

part of.

Later, a session was devoted to Teach

for India - the pro bono project that the

DDB Mudra Group has taken up.

Breakaway teams worked on an

exercise and the winning team was to

get the opportunity to make their idea

come alive.

The Highlights

12

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DDB MudraMax’s Misunderstood Scoreboardmakes a cross-border impact

different kind in Jammu &

Kashmir, New Delhi in

India and Lahore, Karachi

in Pakistan.

While spectators felt that

these were normal

run-of-the-mill

scoreboards which kept

on-lookers updated with

the status of the match,

they were caught

off-guard as the numbers

didn’t tally.

As India started to bat and

the first wicket fell, the

Indian wickets column

displayed ‘1’. Within

minutes, the wickets

column read ‘2’. Our

country neighbours standing in front of

the billboards in Lahore and Karachi

celebrated.

The Indians on the other hand checked

the score on their mobile phones and

realized the second wicket hadn’t fallen.

A few minutes later, the wickets column

said ‘3’.

On the day of India-Pakistan WC 2015

match on 15 February 2015,

DDB MudraMax executed a one-of-a-kind

outdoor campaign for Zee News.

As the tension built up, with fans

exchanging videos of varying statistics

of the past matches, DDB MudraMax

installed manual scoreboards of a

Before long, onlookers on either side of the border decided that the scoreboard had gone faulty. To the surprise of the spectators, no one came to rectify the faulty boards, instead the wickets column seemed to be in a hurry.

It moved briskly from tens to thousands to tens of thousands in no time. A similar pattern followed when Pakistan batted. The scoreboard at the end of the match read: India 0 for the loss of 546030, Pakistan 0 for the loss of 546228. After India won the match, the copy on the scoreboard changed. It read “WHEN LIVES ARE LOST, NO ONE WINS”.

The numbers kept increasing and stopped at 547290 for India and 546371 for Pakistan - the numbers of lives lost by soldiers since 1947 during the battles fought between both the countries. Thus depicting that neither country won anything by losing her soldiers.

The message was loud, clear and was well-addressed by the passers-by who started lighting candles at the site, in memory of the fallen. Thus, a powerful statement on the futility of war was well-conveyed through the ‘Misunderstood Scoreboard’.

DDB MudraMax-Experiential createssignature bat for LG

Cricket is a religion in India and to

leverage this craze, DB MudraMax-

Experiential created a giant-sized

signature bat for LG, the official sponsor

of the ICC World Cup 2015. The bat was

created for cricket lovers to write their

wishes for their favourite teams and was

installed at strategic locations across

Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon and

Noida, along with the ICC World Cup

Cricket Trophy, which was kept on

display for spectators.

The bat pulled in the audience with its

sheer size and gave them an opportunity

to send personal good wishes and

messages to their favourite team. The

original World Cup Cricket Trophy being

on display brought back the nostalgia of

winning the World Cup last time and

geared the audience to cheer India to win

it back this year.

The Mumbai location for the bat

campaign experienced footfalls of over

50,000 people. More than 2,500 people

signed on the bat and wished their team.

The zeal multiplied with the presence of

famous Indian cricketer Virendra Sehwag

who addressed his fans at Gurgaon and

Noida.

The Highlights

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South African Tourism invitesIndians to #MeetSouthAfrica

campaign, #MeetSouthAfrica was unveiled in January 2015 which showcased a diversity of experiences available in South Africa.

But it was a campaign with a unique difference. Research revealed that certain regions like Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh attract more international holiday travellers and that travellers from these regions could best express certain emotions of experiences such as pleasure, eternity and beauty only in their mother tongue. So, it was decided to use vernacular language to arouse curiosity and likability among these prospective travellers, thus bringing alive emotions that resonate with customers at a regional level to draw a stronger connect with the potential travellers.

The creative executions of the #MeetSouthAfrica campaign were customized with the use of impactful one-liners in local languages that were engaging and appealing. The skilful use

South Africa is a world in one country with every province offering a wide variety of unique experiences and exceptional attractions that go into making up a most memorable holiday.

South African Tourism wanted a campaign that would attract more Indian travellers to the country. And, what better way than to communicate the variety of experiences people have when they travel to South Africa. Working on this creative platform, the team came up with the idea of an OOH 'travel post-card', the old friend of travellers around the world. A new outdoor advertising

of vernacular expression led nicely into the English description and visual imagery and made it stand out in the OOH medium which has a very short span to catch the attention of a consumer. The visuals integrated the underlying essence of the campaign through impactful illustrations on adventure, scenic beauty, wildlife and luxury experiences on offer in the Rainbow Nation.

The campaign was launched across 14 cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Bengaluru among others. The media mix comprised large format hoardings, bus shelters and ambient media such as malls in strategic locations to further enhance consumer reach.

In addition to the outdoor campaign, South African Tourism also launched a robust digital promotion programme to engage with and drive more visitors to their website http://country.southafrica.net/country/in/en/

13

LG Electronics India, has been the official

global partner of ICC for several years

and was a part of 2015's biggest

sporting spectacle, the ICC World Cup

2015. With this activity, LG brought the

game closer to the cricket fans and gave

them a platform to share their wishes

directly with their favourite team.

14

The Highlights

Wassup @ MICA?Dutta, National University, Singapore. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Head-HR , Adani Power Limited delivered the valedictory address.

• LitComm (MICA’s Literary Committee) held AuthorSpeak where two big names in the world of graphic novels Orijit Sen and Appupen came and spoke.

Speaking Engagements

• Prof. Panda chaired a session on Leadership in the Changing Environment at the 18th Nirma International Conference on Management (NICOM-2015) held at Institute of Management, Nirma University. He was also invited to participate at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in a session on Sustainable Energy for All.

• Lavji Zala (KEIC) was invited as a visiting faculty at Department of Library and Information Science at Gujarat University to share his thoughts on “Digital Archival Management/Digital Library”. He was invited to make a presentation on “Increasing usage of e-resources in college libraries” in the quarterly seminar jointly organized by ADINET and K. K. Shah Jarodwala Maninagar Science College, Ahmedabad.

• Prof. T. T. Sreekumar Pillai gave a keynote speech in the inaugural session of the international seminar on “Media Initiative for Peace and Communal Harmony in North East India”, organized by Assam University, Silchar, Assam.

• Rahul Mane (RA) presented a research paper on ‘Utility of User Networks for Development Communication: A Social Network driven approach for Diffusion of Innovation’ at the Third International Conference on Creativity, Grassroots and Innovation (ICCGI), at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

• Prof. U. T. Rao was a keynote speaker at the echai Demo Day at Entrepreneurship Development Institute

Sweet Success

• MICA participated in the “Vibrant

Gujarat Global Trade Show 2015”

organized by the Government of Gujarat

and was accorded the status of ‘Institute

of National Importance’.

• MICA won the Green Warriors award

set up by the Ahmedabad Mirror –

Times of India group for the most green

campus among educational institutes in

town.

• Surabhi Goswami, Anshuman Sharma

and Sonal Dhingra (all PGP-2) presented

their brand extension idea at the finals of

Brandathlon at Transcend 15, SIBM

Pune for which they were awarded the

‘Best Business Idea’ prize for their

recommendations.

Events at MICA

• A two-day Workshop on Positive

Deviance and Liberating Structures was

conducted by Dr. Arvind Singhal,

University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP).

• A one month training programme on

Marketing and Brand Management was

held for executives from Cadila

Healthcare Ltd., Ahmedabad

(Zydus Cadila). The programme was

inaugurated by Pankaj Patel, CMD,

Cadila Healthcare Ltd.

• MICA hosted TEDx 2015 which saw

eminent personalities like Piyush Mishra

(actor, lyricist, singer), Akshai Abraham

(founder pf Project KHEL), Nirali Karthik

(classical vocalist), Moji Riba (film maker),

Rishad Saam Mehta (travel writer),

Sarbani Das Roy (psychotherapist) and

Madhu Kishwar (women’s rights activist)

to come to MICA and speak about their

life experiences and share insights of

their work.

• The 2nd edition of MICA’s International

Communication Management

Conference (ICMC) with the theme

“Digital Future : Content, Community

and Communication” was inaugurated

by Prof. Renee Hobbs, University of

Rhode Island, USA and Prof. Mohan J

(EDI) of India’s annual entrepreneurship

event Empresario and also at Gujarat

Law Society Workshop on

Communication & Entrepreneurship.

• Prof. Manisha Pathak Shelat was

invited to be a member of the Scientific

Committee for the Media Education

Research Section of the International

Association for Media and

Communication Research ( IAMCR).

• Rashmi Taparia (RA) participated and

presented a paper on “Understanding

and Differentiating the Online Purchase

Behaviour between Males and Females”

at the ICMC 2015 held at MICA.

• Prof. Panda was invited as a

discussant to the National Development

Convention on “Resources, Institutions

and Development: Contestations and

Possibilities in Globalizing India”

organized by Gujarat Institute of

Development Research (GIDR). This

apart, he also delivered a talk on

Building Economic Consensus: The Role

of India Inc. at Ahmedabad Management

Association (AMA), attended the

2nd Assam International Agri-horti Show

2015 at Guwahati and was invited as a

subject expert on Economics to design

the undergraduate economics

specialization course curriculum of

Ahmedabad University.

• Prof. Keval Kumar gave the

valedictory address at the International

Conference on ‘Changing Media,

Changing Audience’ held at the

Department of Communication Studies,

Pune University.

Eminent Visitors

• Prof. Kerstin Mey, Dean of Faculty

Media, Arts and Design (MAD),

University of Westminster visited MICA

to explore opportunities for collaborating

with MICA.

• Harish Krishnamachar, Country Head

and Senior Vice President at World

Sport Group (WSG) came for the MICA

Colloquium.

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The Highlights

15

• A group of Indian Administrative

Service (IAS) officer trainees visited MICA

for a one-day tour to learn more about

MICA and the government projects that

the institute is involved in.

• S. P. Shukla, President - Group

Strategy and Chief Brand Officer,

President - Defence Sector and Member

of Group Executive Board, Mahindra &

Mahindra Ltd. visited as part of the

MICA Lecture Series (MLS).

• British author and poet William N.

Herbert, Prof. of Poetry and Creative

Writing, Newcastle University, UK took

sessions with the CCC students.

• Renowned sarangi maestro Ustaad

Moinuddin Khan visited as part of ICMC

cultural programme.

• Baradwaj Rangan, Senior Deputy

Editor, Hindu and National Film Awardee

for ‘Best Film Critic’ came as part of the

Yellow Umbrella Culfest.

• Budhan Theatre Group - a dedicated

participative theatre group and

ambassador of community right

performed at MICA as part of the

PGP-Culture and Communication

course.

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The Highlights

HotStuff Book Issue (Page 4)Size : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm

New Joinees

Ajay Menon Tejali Shete Jaydeep Gokhale

Ajay Menon joined DDB South as Sr. Creative Director on 11 February 2015. Prior to joining DDB, he was working with JWT, Chennai as Sr. Creative Director & AVP. His past stints include brands like HP, Bosch, Mitsubishi Motors, Cinthol, Godrej, Blackberry, MRF and others. He has won gold for a campaign for Assets, a real estate section for the Times of India. Ajay is a compulsive reader with a keen interest in music and movies. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, from PES College, Bangalore University.

Tejali Shete joined DDB South as Sr. Creative Director on 2 March 2015. Prior to joining DDB, she was working with Leo Burnett (Kuala Lumpur) as a Sr. Art Director. Her past stints include brands like Samsung, Coca Cola, P&G – Pantene, Godrej Cinthol, Asian Paints, Louis Philippe and others. She has won silver at Effies, silver at Goafest, bronze at Goafest. Her hobbies include music, dance and football. She has a Diploma In Applied Art from L S Raheja School Of Arts.

Jaydeep Gokhale joined TracyLocke

as AVP on 9 March 2015. He was

previously with Atco Health Care,

Shaw Wallace, Firmenich Aromatics

India, Tech Pacific India, Play! Audio

Enviroments, Integra Retail, Percept

OOH.

He has also worked with Ergo Asia Ply

Ltd as Account Director. He is a BSc

Physics graduate with an MMS in

Marketing.

The DDB Mudra Group cricket team made it to the top of the cricket league after a nail biting finals match played against Interactive Avenues on 31 January 2015.

The day began well with DDB Mudra Group winning the toss and electing to bowl first. In 20 overs, Interactive Avenues scored 155/4. DDB Mudra improved on this, hitting 161/6 in 19.3 overs to claim its right to the APL Champions Trophy.

With 63 runs each under the belt, Ameya Joshi and Ravindra Jadhav were respectively declared Man-Of-The-Match.

The Undisputed Champions!

16

HotStuff Book (Page 17 - 18 Gate fold)Size : (W) 232 + 222 X (H) 345 mm

17

Media Spotlight

ET Panache - 20 February 2015

Brand Equity - 4 March 2015

Kyoorius - March-April 2015

Brand Wagon - 17 March 2015


Times of India - 15 February 2015

Business Standard -16 February 2015

18


17

Best of DDB Worldwide

BBVA, the official bank of the NBA celebrated the renewal of its sponsorship of the NBA by proposing a spectacular challenge to its global ambassadors Kevin Durant and James Harden. Called #theblindfold, the unusual challenge was not for the players to work against one another, but to discover what they were capable of doing by working as a team. The stunt saw the two players 7,800 km away from one another, connected only by mobile, with the goal of Durant coaching a bl indfolded Harden to play against an opposing team. The spot was filmed in both the US and Spain. A blindfolded Harden (who was in the city competing for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team) was on an urban street court erected on the roof of the BBVA Tower in Madrid and Durrant was at home in Oklahoma City guiding Harden’s every move. The ad, a metaphor for teamwork, technology and communications skills, aimed to reinforce the group’s brand as a global, digital enterprise that coaches people to reach their goals.

BBVA | Blindfold | DDB Spain

DDB Chicago’s 30-second "Never" spot for State Farm followed a young man from his single, partying days through major life changes and into a previously unimaginable existence with a wife and kids in the suburbs. In each scene, the hero vowed "never" to do something, only to do it immediately in the following scene. "I am never getting married," he said at first, after spotting an attractive girl at a pool party. In the next scene, he was ring shopping. Other things he promised never to do, then did: have a kid; move to the suburbs; get a minivan; and have a second child. In the final scene, with his wife and daughters snoozing on him in

front of the TV, he offered a twist on the theme, saying: “I’m never letting go”. The spot ended with on-screen text, the logo and a male voiceover: "For all the nevers in life, State Farm is there.” The finished spot was well-paced, charming and funny, and reinforced State Farm’s long positioning as the company that is there for people and helps them with all those unexpected twists in life, not just their stuff.

State Farm | Never | DDB Chicago

For over 50 years, concerned people have been fighting to break the silence in cases of oppression or mistreatment. Yet, in Brazil only 40% of victims of oppression and human rights violations would report their plight to the authorities. To encourage everyone to break their silence, DDB Brasil broke the radio silence inside tunnels by broadcasting its audio message where the radio signals cut off. It demonstrated with impact that the time had come to not be quiet. People were urged to join the voices of Amnesty International. DDB Brasil’s innovative use of radio took the top award in the Audio category of the Bill Bernbach Awards.

Amnesty International | Spot Against Silence | DDB Brasil

Media Spotlight

Deutsche Telekom | Wi-Fi Dogs | DDB Dusseldorf Everyone knows the problem: frightened by unexpected phone bills, people often waste their precious holiday time searching for free Wi-Fi. Aware of this, Deutsche Telekom wished to present “Travel & Surf”, a Pass for worry-free mobile Internet surfing abroad, by drawing attention to the more absurd things people do to find the connection. How? By creating the craziest – and cutest – of them all, Jose’s “Wi-Fi Dogs” a start-up that claimed to have developed a training technique that enabled dogs to locate the nearest Wi-Fi source. So holiday makers could rent one of Jose’s dogs and follow them while they sniffed their way to the nearest router. Improbable but not impossible, the Wi-Fi dogs aimed to make people laugh but also to question the absurdity of their holiday behavior. Was it still necessary to spoil all that time looking for Wi-Fi when there was an easy solution like “Travel & Surf”?

ET Panache - 20 February 2015

Brand Equity - 4 March 2015

Kyoorius - March-April 2015



Times of India - 15 February 2015

Business Standard -16 February 2015

HotStuff Book Issue (Page 19 - 20 Gate fold)Size : (W) 222 + 232 X (H) 345 mm


Radiant 's new range of products conta in a number of breakthrough technologies that keep colors newer, for longer. To prove it, DDB Melbourne created Radiant Return - an audacious 'product demo' of the brand's claims. The integrated campaign centered on a series of web films, shot over two weeks with director Stephen Carroll and Exit Films. The concept involved purchasing garments at retail stores (shot using hidden spy cameras). The clothes were then worn in a series of extreme torture tests - from pig feeding to garbage collecting. Afterwards, the items were washed, using Radiant, in real world conditions. Finally, a 'return' was attempted at the stores where the garments were first purchased. Of the 14 garments purchased, 13 were successfully returned (one item was unexpectedly torn by a spiky fish during filming). The online films form the hub of the campaign and are supported by digital media, PR, a social seeding strategy, outdoor and television.

Radiant | Radiant Return | DDB Melbourne

Uniforms For The Dedicated | RagBag | DDB Stockholm

StarHub | 4G4Good | DDB Singapore

McDonald’s | Lunchbox | DDB Sydney

The self-driving car is a hot topic at the moment and Centraal Beheer Achmea, the Dutch insurance company known for its funny commercials, saw in it an opportunity to be exploited. Their premise - technology is there for a self-driving car. It's just that, we're not ready for it. That's why there's Centraal Beheer insurance. The new ad running on TV explained features of the self-driving car and at first appeared to be a promo for the car itself. But, even as the voiceover extolled the virtues of the technological innovations, it led to all kinds of disastrous accidents by people distracted at the sight of seeing a car with no driver. DDB’s spot crammed a lot of slapstick into its 60 seconds, leading into the brand’s “Just Call Us” tagline.

An airport might be a romantic place to run to your love, but sometimes certain questions are more important, like what the Netflix password is. A man ran through an airport looking for a woman about to get onto a plane. He scrambled through the crowd, jumped over luggage, checked flight times, and finally saw the woman he was looking for on the second level of the airport. He screamed out to her “Elizabeth!” but she did not hear him and continued walking. The man then ran up the escalators to try and catch up with her. After a very long run, and some intense searching, he finally found himself right beh ind her. “E l i zabeth.” She was surpr ised to see h im “Steven.” He replied, “I can’t believe I caught you.” Elizabeth almost broke into tears “You came back. I knew you’d come back.” Steven replied “I have to ask you something.” Elizabeth rep l ied “Anyth ing . ” S teven asked “What i s the Net f l i x password?” She looked stunned, in disbelief at what Steven had asked, but gave him the password anyway: “ilovesteven.” “It’s all lowercase? One word?” Steven asked. She confirmed and Steven walked away. “You gotta get it, to get it.”

Centraal Beheer | Self-Driving Car | DDB Amsterdam

Netflix | Airport | DDB Vancouver

Swedish fashion brand Uniforms For The Dedicated pioneered and tested a unique project with the goal of all major fashion brands following suit. It was called The RagBag to be used by stores to bag purchased clothes. When someone bought something new, he or she could then donate something old by simply removing the new purchase from the bag, flipping the bag inside out, inserting the used garment, resealing and placing it in a postbox. Since postage and address had already been printed on the bag, the garment would find its way to a charity where another cycle would be added to its life. So instead of letting the bag go to waste, it was used to empower brands and consumers to make a difference through recycling and social responsibility. The RagBag initiative promoted recycling and social responsibility by using something every shopper had in his or her hand, the shopping bag. It was an easy way to move from talking to acting – through a simple shopping bag.

In an initiative never before seen in Singapore, customers of StarHub Mobile were empowered to pledge their unused talk time, mobile data and SMS for a good cause. Entitled 4G4Good, this unique charity campaign enabled eligible StarHub Mobile post-paid customers to pledge their unused talk time, mobile data and SMS in support of selected beneficiaries. These beneficiaries were from AWWA (Asian Women’s Welfare Association), CPAS (Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore), ISCOS (Industrial & Services Co-Operative Society), SAVH (Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped) and SPD (Society for the Physically Disabled). They were selected as their clients and caregivers would benefit greatly from mobile communication for staying in touch with their loved ones, potential employers and medical help, yet they were in circumstances where maintaining a mobile communication device was difficult or impossible. Through this community-centric public engagement, StarHub was able to reach out to its hundreds of thousands of eligible mobile post-paid subscribers to support 500 beneficiaries for one year with free talk time, mobile data and SMS.

In an effort to get more Aussies interested in their newest fast-food fare, McDonald's Australia set up a pop-up restaurant in the shape of a gigantic lunchbox. The massive red and yellow box was first set up in Melbourne’s Federation Square, with plans to pop up in the Gold Coast, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. The mobile restaurant handed out free AUD 3 (£1.60) mini steak taster wraps as part of the restaurant's efforts to highlight the new steak offerings on the menu. Unlike the steak products on the US menu – which are chopped steak – the offerings Down Under featured marinated and slow-cooked pieces of rump steak. The new menu in Australia included two new McWraps (Steak & Garlic Aioli, and Steak and BBQ), a steak salad with Thai-style dressing, and a steak and egg wrap. The company also launched its first ever consumer outreach exercise, inviting customers to ask questions on their Our Food Your Questions website.

2019

Best of DDB Mudra

21 22


Orbit | Eat, Drink, Chew Orbit | DDB Mudra NorthCanon | Creative Solutions | TracyLocke

Pan Bahar | Pehchan Kamyabi Ki | DDB Mudra North

TVS Motors urged people to express their love in its latest d ig i t a l campa ign , t he scoo te r b rand came ou t w i th a long-format film urging couples to come closer and spend more time together. The film opens with a wife complaining and the husband trying to assuage her feelings by offering chocolates and flowers. But al l she wants is a ride on his Wego. All through, the couple is seen communicating in sign language and only later is it revealed that only the husband has hearing and speech impairment. The wife, however,

reminds him that it's not always necessary to ‘use words ’ to say someth ing . The campa ign was primarily on the digital media. Scooters are also the fastest growing segment in the automobile industry, with a growth of 25 per cent year on year. TVS enjoys a 2 7 - 3 0 p e r c e n t m a r k e t s h a re i n t h e s c o o t e r category which sees sales of about four lakh units a month with an equal number of male and female customers.

Pan Bahar has a rich legacy and is a heritage Pan Masala brand. To launch Pan Bahar Crystals in the ultra-premium segment the brand needed to be invested with a unique and aspirational identity that consumers could easily associate with success and the glorious feeling of 'having arrived'. And, who better to promote this than Saif Ali Khan? Of royal descent and the epitome of sophistication, Saif represents a class of people whose achievements are their identity - they don’t need to shout out loud that they’ve ‘arrived’. He, therefore, complimented the heritage and the class of the brand which can justly lay claim to be worn as a badge, a symbol for the kind of success, that’s understated yet not underestimated.

Logitech | Driving Engagement | TracyLocke

In the Digita l world, Logitech is regarded as a successful Swiss company focused on innovation and quality. Since 1981, it has been designing personal per ipherals that help people enjoy a better experience of connecting intuitively with technology. Logitech needed to increase awareness for Logitech products and make its brand more visible. To do this TracyLocke decided to drive “Engagement” with the audiences as it was earlier missing in larger prospects. The team also had to reinforce the brands visual Identity. The team focused on VM and Fixture Work successfully executing the LFR Unit in Gurgaon and the KIOSK installation at the airport. Design and set up of Exclusive brand Store's was another feather in the cap, one each in Delhi and Kolkata.

Pfizer | Gelusil MPS Antacid | DDB Remedy

In the recent Nielsen study of ‘Most Trusted Brands of 2012’, Gelusil MPS Antacid was ranked No. 18 in the Personal Care (OTC) category. Research revealed that Indians tend to ignore or self-medicate to get relief from acidity but many consume inadequate dosage leading to partial relief. To establish Gelusil as an expert in the acidity domain and ensure growth above category as well as competition in 2013 called for a different approach. So two characters ‘doctor’ and ‘dadi’ were created to tell the story of ‘acidity relief’ and Gelusil, in an interesting conversational manner. The stories are imaginatively crafted around a humorous duel between the two. The doctor brings the scientific approach alive by talking about Gelusil and its contents, while the loving dadi with a ‘chalta hain’ attitude towards acidity, finally becomes a convert to Gelusil and its scientific way!

TVS Wego | Louder Than Words | 22feet Tribal WW

Canon a world leader in Imaging Technologies is reputed for bringing quality products to the market. It minimizes its environmental footprint by focusing on the development of resource conserving products that are smaller, lighter and easy to recycle. Brands like Canon look at life ahead of the curve to maintain their leadership and relationship with the customer. Canon needed to expand while cutting costs but without compromising on its Brand Image. Focusing on Tier III cities provided the opportunity to make the brand grow and yet contain its expenses. Canon also shifted to smaller stores and was therefore able to cut on the retail costs and balance the ROI. Several other creative solutions for cutt ing costs were developed. In l ine with Canon’s ROI focused approach, TracyLocke developed the designs for the brand into a linear and straight down format.

In l ine wi th i ts g loba l approach to pos i t ion ing in 2014, Wrigley’s Orbit gum kicked off its new campaign: “Eat. Drink. Chew Orbit” which emphasized the benefits of chewing gum after eating and drinking. To connect instantly with it TG and reinforce the brand message of oral health care with a fresh and new approach the brand used the celebrity endorsement route but with a humorous twist. The Indian adaption of the campaign featured Bollywood actress, Deepika Padukone

who was shown breaking up with Sandy (her favourite food ‘sandwich’) even as she walked into an event with a lot of media presence. The clingy ex, played by an animated sandwich, protests to the break-up, claiming that she had just given him a ‘ love bite’. Padukone turns around and eats an Orbit Sugarfree gum, thereby finally saying goodbye to the clingy ex-lover.

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Best of DDB Mudra

23 24

Huawei Honor | #TestofHonor | 22feet Tribal WW McDowells | No.1 Yaari Jam | DDB Mudra South & East

Huawei, a world leader in telecommunications is also a major player in smartphones globally. Launched in October 2014, Honor is an independent Internet Smart Phone brand under Huawei Terminals. Research showed that, with increased usage of mobile apps, camera and digital entertainment content, battery back-up was a very important consideration for customers whi le dec id ing on the purchase of the i r smartphone. Taking a cue from this insight, Huawei executed a digital campaign #TestofHonor that showcased the exceptional battery life of its soon-to-be-launched Honor 4X smartphone. Viewers had to call on the number - 07045386911, which dialled into a fully-charged Honor 4X smartphone, and the battery was tested with the number of calls the phone could take, without a recharge. The contest, run via YouTube feed, showed the phone live, and viewers had to keep dialling in, for as long as the phone's battery lasted. The last person to call till the battery lasted would win a free Honor 4X smartphone. The activity was live streamed at www.hihonor.in/testofhonor.

Thus Spake Zeigler

Sony Max | IPL teaser | DDB Mudra West

In another World Cup year, Sony looked to score with IPL. The

brand needed to neutralise the fatigue impact of the World Cup,

by keeping the campaign very emotional, different and generic

at the same time. The campaign went on air with teasers on

24 February 2015 fol lowed by a big 60-seconder, the big

anthem track. This was fol lowed by three more creatives

around the theme of the anthem ‘Isme hai dilon ka pyaar, yeh

hai India ka tyohar’. The anthem had two very powerful lines

which encapsulated the entire flavour of the campaign. Smaller

versions of the anthem ran on TV until the 20 March 2015. Post

that, three other creatives went on air. Through these IPL was

projected as the biggest unif ier in India. India is a land of

festivals, where people come together and the IPL is now part

of the festival calendar.

I recently asked a senior team at DDB for

a show of hands. Who, I asked them,

would be willing to do their job for half

their current salary? Not surprisingly,

there were few takers.

Yet the question wasn’t asked out of idle

curiosity. It is an increasingly likely

scenario, given the challenges facing the

business model of advertising. The

situation is so severe, in fact, that in my

view, the current collapse of the

advertising business is likely in just five

years.

Every year agencies are faced with

demands for a ten per cent reduction in

the Full Time Employee (FTE) rate and

we think we’re doing well if we settle at

eight per cent. The multiplier effect our

industry has relied on for so long is also

slowly being withered away. To ease the

pressure, agency managers have cut

costs to meet these demands. But there

is a point at which savings can only come

by reducing people. And you can only

cut so far before your ability to deliver is

compromised, after all we are meant to

be in the people business. We are facing

a vicious circle in which cost-cutting will

lead to a decline in performance, which

will then be used to justify further

cost-cutting. And in an industry that

relies on talent as its USP, this is

concerning.

Clients either don’t seem to understand

this or they are ignoring the problem.

Why is there such a disconnect between

clients and agencies? The industry has put forward multiple cases and explanations. Some argue that the rise of the procurement function has led to the commoditisation of creativity, with clients believing they can buy creative ideas, as they would stationery. Others point to an oversupplied agency market, which has led to ruthless price competition. And some still claim that agencies have failed to sell a solid case for their services to client-side executives, particularly to finance teams.

There is truth in all of these. But they are all reflections of a broader truth. The issues the agency world faces are rooted in the changing priorities of the marketing function within client organisations. In fact, they are rooted in the failure of marketing to fulfil its full potential.

Today our clients have different business challenges. There are few real ‘new’ products – we have moved from an age of invention to an age of consolidation. Today’s business environment is about gaining share in very tight markets. The role of ‘promotion’ is also very different. In many organisations marketing is basically marketing communications. The remaining three ‘Ps’ have been taken over by other departments or by consultants.

I think part of our problem is we don’t often talk about the context of our industry with relation to context of our clients’ business. We tend to think an ad is an ad, whenever it was made. But if you want to fully understand the mess the advertising industry is in, we should start with the role of client-side marketers within their own organisations.

Dr Philip Kotler, one of the most influential thinkers about marketing and S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the North Western University Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago, has been warning of the rise of the ‘One P Marketer’ for over a decade. Marketers, he argues, are often under pressure to

meet short-term sales goals, and that has become their chief role.

This means marketing has in many firms failed to reach its potential. In classic definitions of the discipline, it is the ‘voice of the consumer’ within organisations, and should be playing a key role in guiding areas like product innovation. Instead, it often plays a secondary role to manufacturing, promoting products that have already been created. Or as Kotler put it: “senior management tells marketing what it expects the company to sell, rather than listening to marketing's ideas of what can be sold.”The result is a department with less influence internally, and less connection with the actual drivers of the business. A study by Adobe, for example, found that 80% of CEOs do not trust marketers, 70% of CEOs believe marketers are disconnected from business results, and 69% of CEOs believe marketers like to stay too much in ‘their creative and social-media bubbles’.

You could argue that this is unfair – marketers have ended up focusing so much on promotion in part because they have been put under pressure by CEOs to generate short-term sales. But, rightly or wrongly, it is the situation the entire marketing ecosystem faces. It means agencies are supplying solutions for a non-core business unit – and if agencies are only there to drive short-term sales uplifts, their work will never be viewed as a long-term driver of business performance.

The rising influence of procurement reflects this transition of marketing to a secondary department. Procurement is a process function. It reports to finance, and is focused on the efficient management of money. It is not about the effectiveness of the work relevant to the business goal. In too many cases, procurement has shifted the emphasis onto efficiencies (namely, minimising the amount of cash leaving the business)

The demise and rise of our industry

John Zeigler

Chairman & CEO / DDB Group,Asia-Pacific, India, Japan

Amazing Spiderman 2 premiered on Indian television on Sony PIX on 2 March 2015. To build excitement and generate awareness, DDB MudraMax executed a one-of-a-kind outdoor innovation lasting 10 days across Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Backlit 3D installations and hoardings of Spiderman lifting a rickshaw were placed at strategic locations in order to create an Indian connect with the superhero. The onlookers approved of this innovation as a stimulating attempt for ensuring that nobody gives Amazing Spiderman 2 a miss. Other outdoor mediums such as backlit panels, billboards and pillars were also used for the campaign.

Sony PIX | Amazing Spiderman 2 | DDB MudraMax OOH

In November 2014, McDowell’s No. 1 had released #No.1Yaari campaign to celebrate the essence of long lasting friendship. The campaign comprising the song - ‘Aisi Waisi Dosti Nahi Ye Number One Yaari Hai’, sung by Mohit Chauhan, music by Rajeev Bhalla and written by Sonal Dabral was released digitally and then across other media platforms. Within two months, #No.1Yaari short film received over 5 million views (Facebook + YouTube). Inspired by the campaign, ‘No. 1 Yaari Jam’ was conceptualized as a one-of-a-kind national engagement platform for bands, singers and music lovers. First, the baton was passed by Rajeev Bhalla and Sonal Dabral to Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy who created their version of the anthem. They, in turn, invited Indian Ocean to create their version of the No.1 Yaari anthem. Through ‘No.1 Yaari Jam,’ McDowell’s No.1 created an opportunity for friends to get together and celebrate close friendship. To enter the contest, bands or a group of friends had to sing their own version, submit videos online and nominate a group of their friends to make their own version. The winning group would be selected through audience voting an artiste’s choice and would be featured on Pepsi MTV Indies for a month.

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Guts & Glory

away from effectiveness (maximising the

cash coming into the business).

There is, of course, good evidence that

creative advertising can work far more

efficiently than non-creative advertising,

and that investment in creativity pays

dividends over the long term. But on the

whole, marketers (and their agencies)

have not sold this case properly to

finance directors. The finance

department likes predictability of

performance, so their default option is to

view investment in creativity as a luxury,

compared with the necessary

investment in media exposure. Media

spend can be controlled, modelled and

predicted in a way that creativity cannot.

So how do we change the industry

deliverables to create and leverage more

creative advantage?

It is all about changing how and why we

engage. It's all about knowing how to get

best thinking first before any work is

done; about allowing enough time for the

thinking to be strong then doing work

that delivers. I believe it’s time to use our

greatest asset – creativity – to prove to

brands that agencies can build the

business growth they are seeking.

I call it Engaging Creativity for Growth or,

put simply, ECG. It’s using an agency’s

creativity and know how to develop a

new product, a new distribution

advantage, a new way of connecting

socially with customers.

If we don't change to meet these

business needs, sure, there may well still

be a creative industry. But business in

general will keep accepting the mostly

bad work it receives today. Real creative

talent will migrate to more

entrepreneurial areas to invent and

evolve. And business will start a new

cycle of low growth and 'competitive

inadequacy’ – so many signs already

point to this today. Getting this right is a

major challenge for the agency business.

But it is a challenge, and an opportunity,

agencies – and their clients – cannot

afford to miss.

25

DDB Mudra Group bagged a silver, a bronze and five finalist awards at ADFEST 2015. Under Direct Lotus, it received a silver for the Health Cha Shree Ganesh campaign for Nutralite in the Direct Ambient Large Scale category and a bronze also for Nutralite in the Field Marketing category. Under Design Lotus, it was awarded two finalists for Volkswagen in the Poster category. Under Press Lotus it bagged a finalist for Hometown under the Best of Home Appliances and Furnishing category and under Print Craft Lotus it received two finalist awards for Volkswagen under the Art Direction category.

HotStuff the external newsletter published by DDB Mudra Group was awarded a bronze in the Newsletter category at the 54th Awards event of the Association of Business Communicators of India held in Mumbai on 27 February 2015. The award was presented to Pilloo Mullan and Neeti Nayak the Corporate Communications team of DDB Mudra Group by Bharat Patel, Chairman & MD, Dainik Sandhya Prakash – Bhopal. This is the second consecutive year that HotStuff has picked up an award from the ABCI.

DDB MudraMax won a gold, a silver and four bronze awards at the fifth edition of exchange4media’s annual OOH Conference and NEONS Awards in Gurgaon on 27 March 2015. In all, 49 awards were given away (including Popular Choice and Excellence Awards). DDB Mudra Group received a gold for Nerolac’s ‘Rang De Patang’ (Most Innovative Use of Moving Media), a silver and a bronze for Zydus Wellness’ Health Cha Shree Ganesh (Innovative Creation of a new medium) and (Best Outdoor Plan -strategy); two bronze for South Africa Tourism’s Meet South Africa (Innovative Use of Existing Medium) and (Travel & Leisure); a bronze for Shine.com’s Mr M (Others).

54th ABCI Awards

exchange4media OOH Awards

Thought Leadership

Sonal Dabral Jury President @ADFEST 2015

Madhukar Kamath

26

HotStuff Book IssueSize : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm

Sonal Dabral, Chairman and CCO, DDB Mudra Group had the honour of being invited to be the Jury President of Direct Lotus category at ADFEST 2015 which took place at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand from 19-21 March 2015. After presiding over the Direct Lotus Jury, Sonal also joined the rest of the Jury Presidents to judge the Intergrated Lotus, Innova Lotus and the Lotus Roots category.

“It was an intense round of judging with my fellow jury members and in keeping with the ‘Be Bad’ theme of ADFEST 2015, we were totally ruthless in sifting the best from the rest,” quipped Dabral.

Speaker @SPJIMR“Stereotypes become a problem when they become a lazy

option. They are simplistic and just wrong,” said Sonal Dabral

when he participated in a panel discussion on 'marketing to

women' at the SP Jain Institute of Management campus on

Visiting Faculty @NID

Sonal was invited by the Films and Video department at his alma mater, the National Institute of Design from 2-3 February 2015 to give pre-production master feedback

Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & Managing Director, DDB Mudra Group

was invited to share his rich experience from his long career in the

corporate sector with the participants of the CEP on "Strategies for

Organisations' growth" held at the SJM School of Management, IIT

Bombay from 19 to 23 January 2015.

Executives from leading organizations such as Axis Bank , BOB Capital

Markets, Canara Bank, Capgemini India, Electronic Payment and

Services (P) Ltd, Future Group, GSK Pharma, HDFC Ltd, IndusInd Bank,

NABARD, Oil India Ltd and ONGC attended the programme.

31 January 2015. From all accounts, the students found it a

brilliant session, as he took them through his journey, his

understanding of advertising, from the dusty bus in Agra to

being the Chairman and CCO of DDB Mudra Group.

to 13 PG First Year students who subsequently went on to make their respective individual advertising film projects.

27

Samyak ChakrabartySamyak Chakrabarty, Chief Youth Marketer, DDB Mudra Group had the privilege of speaking at the Seeds of Peace annual meet "Gather+962" which was held at the Mövenpick Resort at the Dead Sea in Jordan, from 26 February to 1 March 2015. Over three productive days, it brought together emerging leaders with established figures from the world of philanthropy, diplomacy, finance, education, technology and media to exchange best practices. Founded in 1993, Seeds of Peace is a peace-building youth organization based in New York City.

Mandeep MalhotraDDB MudraMax was invited by the state government of Andhra Pradesh to pitch for a street furniture project in January 2015. This provided Mandeep Malhotra, President, DDB MudraMax – OOH, Retail & Experiential, a great photo op with N. Chandrababu Naidu, the President of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh who is currently serving his second non-consecutive term as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.The Honourable CM is a key contributor to the change in IT industry in Andhra Pradesh.

Having grown up on a steady diet of war films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s epic ‘Apocalypse Now’, Rambo First Blood Part II and the TV series ‘Tour of Duty’, visiting Vietnam (or ’Nam) was always on his wish list. And, earlier this year, he got to represent India at the regional DDB Bullseye meet at Vietnam.

Landing in Ho Chi Minh City (better known as Saigon) the first thing that struck him was that there were hardly any Indian tourists. Notwithstanding the visa-on-arrival facility for Indians. Or that the high-octane city of commerce and culture is marked by a pulsating energy that can make people from India feel right at home!.

At the office of DDB Vietnam, he was closeted for two whole days. It was an immersive experience getting to meet the best minds from across the region and watching them present their best work - for this was a countdown to Cannes – and only the topmost ideas would make the cut. The hours zipped by as they debated, discussed, appreciated and ripped apart idea after idea, in their quest to separate the good, the bad and the ugly (there were a few!). The evenings, of course, were reserved for letting their hair down and the good people at DDB played the perfect hosts – from arranging a night-time Vespa tour of the city to helping them sample authentic Vietnamese cuisine.

Sambit Mohanty at Bullseye

Thought Leadership

Pradeep DebnathCreative Director, Interbrand India

Pradeep Debnath

28

Amazing People


Interbrand India was chosen from over

7000 entries across the world as a

finalist in the TDV MERAGRA design

contest. TDV MERAGRA contest was

the first design competition launched by

"The Design Village" in collaboration with

Uttar Pradesh government, Department

of Tourism and the Dutch Embassy. The

goal of the competition was to call for

thematic designs which not only explain

Agra as ‘City of Taj’ but also bring other

facets of Agra to their best use for representation.

The contest’s mission was to acknowledge and reward the design which had the potential to express the City of Agra in the most magnetic way. The design needed to brush off the bewildered image of Agra which seems to be lost in transition. It needed to celebrate Agra as a ‘world destination’ which is green, rich with handicrafts, equipped with world heritage sites, great culinary and wonders.

The City of Agra attracts more than

2.5 million domestic and foreign visitors

annually. To enhance the experience of

the visitors and for creating a sense of

belonging amongst citizens of India, the

Uttar Pradesh government undertook a

project to create an identity for this

vibrant city. To fuel this intention,

MERAGRA was conceptualized with an

intent to welcome varied views of the

City of Agra.

After few rounds of judging and scrutiny,

Pradeep’s design was selected as one

amongst the best three designs. The

slogan of his poster was- ‘Passion with

Purpose’. Talking about his logo, he explained, “In creating the identity, I built on the same passion which built Agra to make it more purposeful. ‘MERAGRA’ thus stood for finding opportunities to make passion purposeful. The identity, based on a heart created with the letters ‘M’ and ‘A’ not only taps into the passion of the people, but also creates a distinctive graphic language that can spread across the environment, digital and even mobile applications.”

Further explaining the concept of his poster, Pradeep said, “My design for ‘MERAGRA’ attempts to create a memorable brand for Agra, as the first step in rejuvenating the glory of the city. The need to create a memorable and recognizable identity that people across all demographics could relate to, was the primary task. To do this, deep diving into the city’s rich cultural past seemed apt. Agra was built centuries ago around one powerful emotion ‘Passion’. Whether it was the monuments, craft, recipes or more, passion is what went into making them. The outcome was magnificent. This outcome was the ground for all the design elements used in the poster.”

Amazing People

On 19 March 2015, Anurag Bansal,

Chief Financial Officer and Executive

Board Member, DDB Mudra Group was

awarded a place on the 5th Annual

CFO100 Roll of Honour. He was

accorded the recognition under the

‘Integration of Technology’ category.

This is his second consecutive year

of being accorded the recognition.

He was also the only awardee from the

marketing communication fraternity.

The CFO100 is an annual initiative to

distinguish India's finance leader's

extraordinary contributions to the

corporate world. CFO India magazine

identifies and brings together 100 CFOs,

who are clearly a cut above the others,

to honour their achievements in areas

including cost management, raising

capital, green initiatives, risk

management, governance and strategy.

The CFO100 is an annual benchmark for rising stars among India's CFOs.The Jury for this year’s honour included 12 important names from senior management teams of various multinational organizations.

Anurag was awarded with the recognition under the ‘Integration of Technology’ category along with financial heads from Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited, Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Limited, Birla Sunlife Insurance, Phoenix ARC Private Limited, JBM Auto Limited, SLK Group, iMerit Technology Services and Anudip Foundation, Sansera Engineering Private Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical and Vodafone India Limited.

29


Anurag Bansal

As Associate Vice President – Buying at DDB MudraMax, Delhi, Kabir Sen is responsible for media buying, deal management and unconventional media and impactful ideas for clients. While client relationship and bonding are a priority which he achieves through maximizing returns for them via strong relationship with media partners, his real strengths lie in leveraging unconventional, innovative media and out of the box thinking (Kuch Hatke…Soch).

He has independently handled Bollywood Movie Marketing for LG, and

has developed Advertising Funded Program (AFP) for LG Mobile and LG Microwave.

Among his accolades can be counted an Agency Excellence Award by LG Electronics India, a Client Excellence Award for Outstanding Performance by Bata India and Carrier Midea; Agency Excellence Award by DDB MudraMax (Media) for “Dependability and Loyalty”.

But, it’s not all work and no play for Kabir who also has an abiding passion for theatre and has made the stage his second home. Theatre, he tells us,

teaches him life lessons and lets him be whoever he wants to be! “It's such an amazing feeling to stand alone on the stage in front of an audience. I feel so empowered standing centre stage, looking out into the audience; the lights shining back at me.”

Kabir has been on stage from his school days and over the last 25 years, he has been associated with professional theatre groups like Prayog (Delhi), Little Theatre Group (Mumbai) and Aamra Kajon (Delhi). He has been in more than 150 shows in different parts of India and has performed in Hindi, English and Bengali plays like Aurangzeb, Court Marshel, Saheb-Biwi-Gulam, The Price, Aaurat, Avam Indrajit, Kabuliwala, Dilli Chalo, Pagla Ghora, Akorik, Andhajon, Hamlet the Prince of Garanhata, Gotraheen, Ascharya Basanto and many more.

The accolades he has won include 2nd Best Actor award for ‘Aaurat’ (Hindi-1983) & Avam Indrajit (Hindi-1984) and Best Actor award for Khanan (Bengali-1992).

Kabir Sen

Know More

30

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On our responsibility as advertising people Bill Bernbach said “All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.” So when campaigns are hailed for doing so, we must examine them closely, lest we lull ourselves into a false sense of achievement. Using the media’s focus on the plight of women in our cities (the obviously upper caste and class slant to the conversation notwithstanding), we’ve seen a spate of advertising campaigns dealing with the subject. Look at us fighting the good fight firmly in the corner of women’s rights, they yell. We’re oh-so-progressive. Not enough critical attention has been paid to how this really plays out in advertising. Yet, we’re quick to applaud progressive brands and progressive views on gender in campaign after campaign. What signal are we sending? Sexism is easy to spot in item girl (Item girl refers to a promiscuous woman usually portrayed as a dancer in a bar or nightclub in Bollywood films) type advertising for products targeted at men with its attendant subtext of objectification. She is a thing to be had. Her affections are easy enough to win. The man must see it as his right. The more insidious ones are those that presume to speak on behalf of women in categories that sell to them or those that

ride on the subject by telling us stories

featuring apparently progressive women

and themes. They often stumble all over

their own preachy self-righteous selves

but they do get people talking. Does that

kind of work have a place in the

pantheon of advertising?

We're in the business of making our

brands relevant. We make our way into

hearts by entertaining or moving people.

Not by lecturing and certainly not by

presuming to give women permission.

That is what advertising does when it

commands us to respect women or

expects to be lauded for the conceit that

the tigress boss who orders a man to

work late into the evening is actually the

doting wife who still cooks for him and

coaxes him back as she waits for him.

Yes, I’m taking as an example, the

campaign for a major telecom brand in

India, that stirred up a social media

outrage.

What about this story should surprise

us? That she's a boss? Or that she

cooks for her husband? It is impossible

to answer that question without feeling a

little shame about the starting point of

such thinking or underlying assumptions

that drive the plot. So, if it doesn’t work

as storytelling, maybe it attempts to win

us over by showing us a different

“progressive” view of the world. What

does this say about the way we see the

world? That we think it’s our job to give

women permission to be bosses and

housewives at the same time. Really, we're that progressive? Perhaps, we do more service to society and lift it to a higher level when our stories create a moment of magic from the mundane. When we choose the chastising whisper over the theatrical scolding, by telling stories that move us with their observation of how sexism plays out unwittingly in our lives everyday - the sexism underlying a man's expectation that a woman give up her career to be with him or that she dress down because it distracts from what she’s saying - over those that lecture by putting a seal of approval on second marriages or dark-skinned brides. Maybe it's the heavy-handed way in which some of these stories are told. Maybe it’s the seduction of the epic statement over the subtler charms of the everyday. Maybe it’s the execution. Maybe it stems from a misunderstanding on how advertising works or what people seek from brands. Whatever the reason, these grand and lofty overstatements are a different type of sexism because they so self-consciously reference the very institutions that repress women yet pat themselves on the back. They indulge in an exaggerated sense of their own importance while ignoring the principles of what effective advertising must do. This is not progressive advertising. It's just another type of brutality.

Progressively Patronizing – Indian Advertising and Sexism

Aditya KanthyNational Strategic Planning Head, DDB Mudra Group

Know More

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The biggest advantage of the digital industry is the lack of legacy. This allows all players an opportunity to define the rules for themselves and draft their own charter. However, by virtue of it being clubbed with the advertising industry,a lot of its practices are being forced on the digital industry. The onus is on each of us to make sure we do not fall into that trap. While emulating might seem to be easiest, it will not be the most effective. Imagine asking an industry where all hell breaks loose over a typo to be ok with the concept of perpetual beta. Tough. But if they really want to be a part of this change, there are a few things they would need to reconsider and relook.

First of all, it requires a complete overhaul of the current culture where everything starts and stops at the ‘creative director’. Organisations need to stop building creative functions and instead work towards building a creative culture. One where every individual is encouraged to contribute and make mistakes, without the fear of being judged or overruled. Where every individual is able to provide unbiased feedback, irrespective of whom it is meant for. Building a strong culture is the foundation of any successful organisation and in the case of digital it becomes even more critical as it runs the risk of being overpowered by an existing (advertising) culture.

Hiring is another critical pillar. Digital organisations need to understand and embrace a dramatic shift in who and why they hire. The new breed of talent is doing things in new ways. This kind of

talent doesn't necessarily fill any job description or stereotype. It is therefore important to redefine hiring policy and revisit retention policies. To not just hire people for skills but to ensure that the work that is expected out of them is in line with what they have been hired for. The biggest challenge is not competition but the inability to foster an entrepreneurial spirit within the organisation. That can only happen if you give your people the freedom to do what they are good at and foster an environment that encourages them to make mistakes.

The other challenge is to attract the right technology talent. This is a tough task given that for most of India’s technology talent, joining a Digital Marketing organisation is not even an option. Their preference would be the likes of Google, Infosys, TCS, etc. It's a massive task therefore to not just increase awareness for ourselves within the tech talent pool but also build systems within the organisation that allow them to lead the mandate, given that in most cases technology is the differentiator. It is important for all digital organisations to have a clear and strong tech / innovation story that helps them in attracting this talent.

Digital organisations need to get over the Advertising hangover. Advertising is just a small aspect of what this medium can deliver. Today, digital players have the opportunity to directly impact every aspect of the marketing organisation including CRM, Loyalty, Business Intelligence and Sales. It is important to

focus less on just competition and a lot more on collaboration. This includes collaboration in the technology space and service providers who so far have probably been looked at as vendors only. This also requires a huge change in the internal team structures that makes the potential technology partners look at us as serious collaborators. For long the industry has looked at itself as a services player. Today, we have the opportunity to move a significant part of our offering from a service offering to a product offering. That requires a fundamental change in how we define our life cycle, our revenue streams and our team structures. It includes a different mindset that believes in investing for the future in new ways. It requires a stronger focus on prototyping and creating our own briefs rather than hiding behind one or the lack of one.

Last but not the least, we need to reinvent our approach to leadership and encourage younger, fresher talent to step up and take charge in a manner that is disruptive and focuses more on changing the game rather than focusing on game changers.

It is time for Digital to move out of the advertising fold in India and make a mark of its own. The organisations that provide that independence to their digital counterparts are the ones that will reap the benefits.

I am lucky enough to be a part of one.

The Advertising Hangover…

Vineet GuptaManaging Director22feet Tribal Worldwide

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32

Size : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm

We all know the drill. The buzz of the phone on the bedside table. The Sunday conference call. The “I’ve-got-to-send-a-quick-email” holiday. Sure, it’s 7.30 pm on Friday, but not in California, it’s not. Somewhere, someone is at the office, and they have something terribly important to tell you. Right now.

The traditional lines between work and life have been blurred. The idea of checking out and “powering down” is no longer viable for many of us. Constant connection to our clients, colleagues and work means office environments and working hours have become a fraction of what we call work.

This is not news – it’s seen as a cause of our diminishing home lives. We’re worse off for it. Worse parents, husbands and wives. Worse people.

There is another theory: this phenomenon has led to a new state – a third state – where we are always a bit at work, always a bit not at work.

The major factor, of course, is technology. Devices, applications and processes have transformed our access to one another, and the way we work.

The presumption in discussions about work-life balance is that this has been a one-way street; these devices and applications have simply bled work into life, diminishing the latter and letting the former grow dominant. I’m not sure that’s true.

The OECD has found that nations in which people work the fewest average

hours (Turkey, Mexico, Korea, Chile) also have the poorest work-life balance. Working more hours doesn’t equal a poor work-life balance. The number of hours devoted to leisure (“socialising with friends/family, hobbies, games”) has no correlation with the time devoted to work.

Something is happening to the way we work and socialise, allowing us to do these things simultaneously. Sure, there are times where we are only at work or at leisure, but so many of us often find ourselves in situations that cannot reasonably be described as 100% either. Imagining work intruding on home is very easy. What we ignore is the opposite. There are enormous benefits to work feeling less like work, to life intruding.

Working hours were not a critical consideration in The Sunday Times’ 100 Best Companies to Work For Rankings. Environment was. Physical space was. Even closeness of relationship with co-workers was. Anyone who has seen the BBC’s The Call Centre, which features the firm Save Britain Money – consistently rated as one of the country’s top five workplaces – can see the benefits of work made to feel like life.

And we can see that merger happening in technology more than anywhere else. No longer are leisure products restricted to that space, and no longer are work tools viable if confined to those occasions.

Tools and technologies designed for leisure (and dismissed as for kids) – instant messaging, multiplayer gaming,

vanishing messaging, gesture control – are rapidly and effectively being appropriated into the workplace just as fast as tools designed for work are being disrupted or discontinued (now BlackBerrys, next linear email).

Whole corporations are lubricated internally by off-the-record, person-to-person group chats that more closely resemble teenager-friendly messenger products of old (remember MSN?) or new (WhatsApp) than email. Gaming dynamics have been applied to business problems such as group training and dynamic problem-solving. Accenture’s Gamification and Workplace Behaviour Modification podcast is its most popular download.

The blurring of lines between leisure and work poses a challenge to marketers. Work and play are no longer clear-cut and this means targeting that third space. How can products or services make life support work and work resemble life?

The success of the iPhone over the BlackBerrys will, in part, go down to its recognition of that third space. Products, services and businesses as diverse as Graze, Skype, Soho House, Barclays Cycle Hire and Nike+ FuelBand all play in that third space.

As technologies further blur the lines, products, services and businesses will need to specifically and effectively serve that space, and those that serve only one extreme or the other will find themselves pushed toward the margin.

Understanding the new 'third state'

Alex HeszDirector of Digitaladam&eveDDB

Editor - Pilloo Mullan | Editorial Team - Neeti Nayak and Siddharth Raman | Cover Design - Prasad Kamtekar, Art Director, DDB Mudra West.

Artwork – Vithal Malgundkar and Sachin Panchal | Print Production – Chandrashekhar Deshmukh and Hrushikesh Inamdar, Gutenberg Networks India.

Last Word

HotStuff Book Issue (Cover Inside Front Back)Open Size : (W) 472 X (H) 345 mm

Madhukar’s Message

Customer - Centricity

01

Global Connect

Global Wins

Global News

02 - 05

Back to the Books

DDB Launches DDB- U in India

06 - 07

Media Spotlight17

The Highlights

India People Day

An Interview with Craig Lonnee

GutBandhan

RBI governor gives the Green Batti

Firki - The Integrated Planning Meet

DDB MudraMax’s MisunderstoodScoreboard

Signature bat for LG

#MeetSouthAfrica

Wassup @ MICA?

The Undisputed Champions!

New Joinees

08 - 16


BBVA

Amnesty International

State Farm

Deutsche Telekom

Radiant

Uniforms For The Dedicated

StarHub

McDonald’s

Centraal Beheer

Netflix

18 - 20

Best of DDB Mudra

Canon

Pan Bahar

Orbit

TVS Wego

Logitech

Pfizer

Huawei Honor

Sony PIX

McDowells

Sony Max

21- 23

Thus Spake Zeigler

The demise and rise of our industry

24

Guts & Glory

Thought Leadership

Madhukar Kamath

Sonal Dabral

Sambit Mohanty

Mandeep Malhotra

Samyak Chakrabarty

Amazing People

Pradeep Debnath

Anurag Bansal

Kabir Sen

25

28-29

26-27

Know More

Indian Advertising and Sexism

The Advertising Hangover…

Understanding the new 'third state'

Last Word

No Shoes, No Wallet, No Problem

30-31

IBC

ContentsIs Apple Pay gonna be old news before you even had the

chance to use it? Maybe. New technology developed at

Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India, is making even the

most advanced alternative payment methods look like

bartering with gold doubloons. Facial recognition software

finally found a use for itself besides creeping everyone out.

Facepay might finally be the answer.

Facepay’s state-of-the-art scanning technology uses an

individual’s distinctive facial capillary structure to identify

them much in the same way fingerprints do. Every person’s

capillary networks are different (yes, even identical twins)

which makes this new scanning technology a natural fit for the biometric payment industry. And it’s

not just a pipe dream: Facepay facial scanning is now an acceptable form of payment at all of

Shanghai’s 100% Genuine Imported Foods chain stores. Never heard of it? The Australian-based

chain is targeting $2 billion in Chinese sales by the end of this year and hopes to open up over 5,000

Chinese locations in the next few years.

This nationwide pay-play marks a smart move by Facepay as the country quickly becomes the

epicenter of alternative mobile payment technology. National favorite Alipay currently accounts for

80% of mobile payments in China with Apple Pay and Android Pay being launched in early 2015.

And new surveys show that as many as 75% of American shoppers are open to alternative payment

methods thanks to increased security concerns surrounding traditional credit cards and cold, hard

cash. The biggest hurdle for retailers and payment processors may be convincing skeptics that

with increased technology actually comes increased financial safety.

Surprisingly, 100% Genuine Foods isn’t the only brick-and-mortar store willing to take a risk on

facial scanning payments. A handful of Finnish cafes have agreed to soon install facial recognition

software developed by tech firm Uniqul that measures facial geometry for identification. It’s no

fluke. The biometrics industry is expected to grow to over $23 billion globally by 2019 and is

catching the attention of everyone from startups to global beverage marketers. Would you feel

comfortable letting a cash register scan your expression for a loaf of bread? If Facepay has

anything to do with it, you will soon enough.

Sources: Psfk.com, Takepart.com, Banktech.com, Bostonglobe.com

No Shoes, No Wallet, No Problem

HotStuff Book Issue (Cover Front Back)Open Size : (W) 472 X (H) 345 mm

A n e w s l e t t e r f r o m D D B M u d r a G r o u p - I s s u e 2 , 2 0 1 5

H tStuff

Opt 2 Hotstuff Cover back page issu 2 2015

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