O&M has devised a two phase campaign for the IPL, which positions the property as an extremely competitive platform.

According to Anup Chitnis, executive creative director, O&M South Asia, IPL isn’t about the teams and the country. A player may be playing on the same side as his otherwise arch rival, for instance. “It’s all about your performance on that particular day, against the competing team,” he says.
That is why the first phase of the campaign was titled Karmayudh, and a TV commercial, featuring a collection of great cricketing moments, was unleashed on television recently. The ad has been given an illustration effect and it has a motivational anthem playing in the background, which carries lines such as, ‘Na deshyudh, na dharmayudh, yeh hai dharti par karmayudh (This is neither a war of nations, nor is it a war of religions, but this is a fight of performance)’.

O&M has tried to build a do or die attitude in the communication. Chitnis admits that as this is a completely new category and territory in India, the agency took inspiration from the way international sports clubs such as Manchester United are positioned. “We then deduced that a loyal fan base is the most important factor for the IPL, and therefore, the ‘Cricket ka Karmayudh’ platform, to foster a competitive spirit,” Chitnis says.

Press ads and hoardings to that effect were also released, which were all announcement based.

The second phase (the one on air now) deals with the most difficult task: polarising people and asking them to take sides. For instance, one could be originally from Delhi, working in Mumbai, and be a fan of a player in the Chennai team. It will be a case of conflicting loyalties for many – a tough call on which team to support. O&M has flipped the cards and placed all the confusion on the viewer’s table, by directly asking him which side he is on.

Four TVCs in this series have been released, each creating a debate in consumer minds as to which team they would like to patronise. The first ad has a dentist (a supporter of Mumbai Indians) treating a patient (a Delhi Daredevils fan), with the latter getting frightened about his treatment the moment he gets to know about his dentist’s loyalties. By a strange coincidence, the procedure that day turns out to be more painful than it is usually. Another ad has a young man almost getting up to offer his seat to an older man in a bus, but sitting down again promptly when he finds out that the man is a supporter of a rival team. The third ad shows a woman in a lift accusing the person next to her (wearing a Chennai Super Stars sweatshirt) of assault in the lift, while others behind them look accusingly at the baffled man. She walks out of the elevator confidently, flashing a Kolkata Knight Riders keychain subtly before the man she got into trouble.

The fourth ad in the series is on air only in South India, and has two versions. A Bangalore Royal Challenger is shown performing a gig; at the end, in typical rock star style, he rips off his shirt and throws it among the enthused audience, revealing a Royal Challenger shirt inside. Just as he prepares to leap onto the audience below, the people move to the sides and the performer falls flat on his face. As the audience walks out, the performer sees they are all Deccan Charger fans. Another ad has the same situation, but with the teams reversed.

All the ads end with, ‘Which side are you on?’

“In a sense, we’re creating a debate in consumer minds on which team they want to support,” Chitnis says, “while also heating the fight up.” The fight, clearly, will be based on what one likes about a particular team, be it the team’s origin, a particular player, or even the celeb quotient attached to it. Press and outdoor ads bear words that question consumers on these lines (for example, ‘You adore Shah Rukh, love Preity and worship Dhoni. Which side are you on?’). As some are not aware of all the eight teams, another hoarding has the logos of each one, bearing the same question ‘Which side are you on?’).

Well, 44 days, eight teams, 59 matches, no players, only warriors: That is the IPL’s communication mantra to get people to ‘own’ their favourite team.

When the matches commence, there will be strip ads in newspapers informing viewers about the progress of each team.

The campaign has been devised by Chitnis, Anuraag Khandelwal and Satish deSa of O&M, and led by Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, O&M. The films have been produced by Corcoise Films, with the musical abilities of Ashu-Dhruv upping the ante.

Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians have roped in Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as brand ambassador to drum up support for the team in the Indian Premier League starting on April 18.

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians have roped in Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as brand ambassador to drum up support for the team in the Indian Premier League starting on April 18.

“Hrithik symbolises the spirit of the team,” said R Balachandran, director of the newly formed Indiawin Sports — a subsidiary of Reliance Industries which owns the franchise outfit, at a media conference to outline the team’s marketing campaign on Monday.

The actor is figuring in a promotional video campaign to muster support for the team through a Hindi song Duniya Hila Denge Hum (Let’s rock the world).

The franchisee announced the ticket prices for the first two matches that the team plays at Wankhede Stadium here and D Y Patil Stadium in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, on April 20 and 27 respectively.

“Ticket prices range from Rs 250-500 to the upper end Rs 3000-5000 for the first match, while for the second match it ranges from Rs 200-400 to Rs 1000,” he added.

In an inspiring move that is bound to capture the imagination of today’s tech-savvy and brand-conscious youth, Acer has announced that Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan will endorse Acer Brand and its products.

Acer, one of the world’s top PC brands is the leading Notebook vendor in Europe and ASEAN Bloc.

Speaking on this occasion, Managing Director, Acer India, W.S. Mukund said, “The tie-up with Hrithik is a natural fit with the personality of the brand, which stands for youthful, trendy, friendly, adorable and aggressive. Brand association with Hrithik, the leading film star with a string of successes such as Krrish and Dhoom 2 , will give us a better mind share among the young and the first time users. In fact, Acer, in a short span of time has established a large network of channel partners and has more than half-a-million customer base in the country.”

Hrithik added, “I look forward to partnering with Acer, the fastest growing PC brand globally. With many of its technological innovations and breakthrough moves, Acer products can really bring lot of “can-do” attitude and style into the lives of consumers today.”

Mukund further revealed, “Adhering to our philosophy of ‘caring through innovation’, we have equipped our products with a suite of friendly and intuitive interfaces called “Empowering Technology” that gives the users fast and easy access to cutting-edge hardware and software solutions. Fulfilling Acer’s mission of breaking the barriers between people and technology, the customer-centric “Empowering Technology” suite brings the latest high-tech innovations in intuitive form, allowing customers to easily experience all the benefits of an Acer system. And this tie-up between the two titans will give a new meaning to this experience.”

This tie-up between two titans will give a new meaning to this experience, according to Acer.

Sprite with agency O&M comes out with an innovative copy of Pepsi Ad of Yougistan! The ad though a copy in a cheesy way sends across the message of Sprite. Seedhi baat. No bakwaas.”

The ad start in the same way a boy trying to climb the balcony of her gal…..and as he falls down a man comes out and ask tum kaha se aya ho??? the boy reply Mehi Jungalistan Se Aaya Hoon but the man instead of getting existed shuts the door down. The boy apply’s talcum power and again calls the man out and says Mehi Firangistan se aaya hoon, after that  Main Kabirstan se aaya hoon…..still no effect on the man…..as the boy stands dejected……another boy walk in with Spirte in his hand and rings the door bell……Man comes out and asks Ab Tum Kaha Se AAYA HO???? Boy 2 reply’s Mehi…Pados Se…..man satisfied with the answer calls his sister KANTI out……The guy and gal stand in the balcony and the boy down says TUM WahaN? Par Kaise?….the guy two replies……..Yeh Hai Hindustan Meri Jaan….

So O&M does it again for the client very intelligently getting Sprite a milage of the exsisting popular of YOUNGISTAN!

Goa fest got cheers for few more agencies. JWT, Leo Burnett, Mudra and Nirvana films got various awards as they had won gold award in Abby’s were automatically shortlisted for grand prix.

Leo Burnett won the Out-Of-Home Grand Prix for its work on Luxor Highlighters ‘Che’ and Print Single Grand Prix for Luxor Highlighters ‘Che’ ‘Charlie’ ‘Hitler’. JWT also won 2 Grand prix awards, the Integrated Advertising Grand Prix for its work on The Times of India ‘Lead India Poised’ campaign and the Film Single Grand Prix for the Nike Cricket ‘Traffic’.
Mudra won the Radio Grand Prix for Cycle Pure Agarbathies ‘Jai Dev…Jai Dev’. While O&M won a Gold Abby for its Neo Sports ‘Gas’ campaign, it missed winning the Grand Prix, but its production house, Nirvana Films won the Film Craft Grand Prix for the same.

Commenting on JWT’s wins, Agnello Dias, NCD, JWT said, “When we created the campaign, we didn’t expect it to turn out so good. We’re very happy with the way it’s been appreciated.” About the Grand Prix awards, Dias feels that it is best to give out recognition to multiple agencies than just one agency of the year.

Sharing his thoughts on the new Grand Prix awards, KV Sridhar, NCD, Leo Burnett, says, “It makes more sense to have Grand Prix than Agency of the Year and Campaign of the Year. You don’t have one winner today. We won twice and so did JWT. India for the past 4-5 years has been doing one great piece of work that is shining internationally; last year it was Happydent and the year before that it was Levi’s. To be able to dominate in the world we need more than one idea. 1.2 billion people cannot survive on one great idea doing well at the world stage. Grand Prix is the way of actually celebrating great ideas from every vertical. Both Lead India and Luxor might do very well internationally, this year.” He also adds that the reason of GoaFest and the way this entire festival has developed is because they wanted to give the opportunity for ideas, not agencies, to climb up and get celebrated.

The TRP gainer for NDTV imagine Ramayan is far ahead in terms of trp when compared with other myathological serials in the same gener.  There is no monopoly in GEC’s programming and myathological serials are no different

But how is that the auidence which is today getting too used to the western lifestyle is interested in a serial like ramayan??

The viewship of these serials is the key to the question. According to the survey done in the SEC AB class it was quite evident that the comfort that parents have to watch the serial with their kids makes it popular. Ramayan and Mahabharat have survived 3000 year through books, vedios and now dvds. These programms are now gaing viewership from not just oldies but the custome drama is getting the younger generation to its hook too.

There are speculations among the advertisers to promote the serial through toys and ravan being the hot favourite vilen amongst the childrens.  Well only time wiill tell how the trend will be when it comes to the war of the Gods in the TRP race but for now ramayan has a lead 

The new Mc Donalds ad about the Mc Delievery has innovatively presented a hindi proverb “Pet mein choohe daud rahe hai’ which  mean that one is desprately hungry. The creative team at leo burnett had a brief of projecting the urgency of hunger statisfaction with quick service of Mc Delievery.

The film open short of animated mice running in a marathon with a complete atmosphere of cheers and fan supporting. The ad very interestingly high lights that  McDonald’s is the official restaurant partner at the upcoming Beijing Olympics, the ad is a symbol of that ‘sport meets food’ association, although Kadam of Leo Burnett insists that the idea was thought of first, and then the fit with the Olympics just happened.

The animated film successfully transforms into a regular film as the whole scene become one of events in a persons empty stomach. Arvind Singhal, head, marketing, McDonald’s India, West and South, reveals that the campaign aims to highlight the convenience aspect of the McDelivery service to families, teenagers and the youth populace alike. “We want our customers to think of our McDelivery service whenever they hear or say the phrase, ‘Pet mein choohe daud rahe hai’, and are feeling hungry, so we took the saying literally as it is and created an ad around it.

The creative duties for the Future Group’s retail brands, Central and Brand Factory, have been awarded to Lowe Bangalore. Both brands were up for a pitch a while ago. The incumbent agency was Percept H.

Confirming the news to agencyfaqs!, Rajesh Seth, vice-president, marketing, Central and Brand Factory, says, “We were looking for a Bangalore based agency, which could handle both retail brands for us. A marketing budget of Rs 25 crore has been chalked out for these two brands, and an extensive expansion is on the charts.”

Of the budgeted Rs 25 crore, Rs 15 crore will be devoted to Central and Rs 10 crore to Brand Factory. Print advertising will account for 30-35 per cent of the funds, outdoor, 20-25 per cent, and radio, 8-10 per cent. The remaining money will go into research and below the line activities.

Percept H had been handling the businesses since they were born, Central in 2004 and Brand Factory in 2006. The other agencies that participated in the pitch were O&M, Temple (a local agency), McCann-Erickson and Percept H.

Central is a showcase, seamless mall, based on a departmental store format. It houses more than 300 brands across categories such as apparel, footwear and accessories for women, men, children and infants, music, books, coffee shops, food courts, super markets (Food Bazaar), fine dining restaurants, pubs and discotheques. The mall has a separate section for services such as travel, finance, investment, insurance, concert/cinema tickets, bill payments and other miscellaneous services. In addition, Central houses Central Square, a dedicated space for product launches, impromptu events, daring displays, exciting shows and art exhibitions.

Brand Factory is a one-stop shop for Indian and international fashion brands, which are offered on discounted rates all through the year. Some of the brands that the store offers are Arrow, Esprit, Van Heusen, Louis Philippe, Levi’s, Titan, Lee, Pepe Jeans, Wrangler, Lee Cooper, Nike, Adidas, Biba, Liberty, Red Tape, Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Revlon and Maybelline.

The brief that was given for Central was that of a space for communities where people from various segments and societies could come together. Brand Factory needed to be communicated as a brand that offered an organised retail outlet to bring various brands together. The store targets the youth and derives strength both from the various brands it stores as well as the nature of its own brand.

Currently, Central has its stores in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. Seth reveals that stores will be set up in Delhi and Mumbai towards the end of April. By the end of 2008, Ahmedabad, Vashi, Thane, Indore, Coimbatore, Kolkata and Chennai will also have Central stores.

Brand Factory stores can be found in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Ghaziabad. Another store is to come up soon in Bangalore. The company plans to set up 55 stores in the next 10 years.

Rupert Murdoch is having talks with the jain family over a strategic partnership. The most aggressive media group times of india is being eyed by the most aggressive media tycoon of the world. Rupert Murdoch is said to have almost ownership 40% of world media and the walstreet journal takeover most recently has proved that the man has a long wish list.

There is alot of buzz in the market as to what these two companies can do together. Though according to the strict norms of foreign investment of only 26% and mandatory to have a  local editor makes print media an unattrative option but seeing the stregth of times of india its too tempting to let go.

Times of india has been in the indian market for past 200 years and circulation of 6,40,000 and vast product protfolio starting from print to website. It has a tie up with BBC for the magazine content for the bestsellers like Femina and Filmfare.

Murdoch today is 77 year old and has not much time to leave a mark on the south asia as he has done in Australia, UK and USA but his son James is surely to take the legacy ahead in the 21st century. The industry analyst over rule the fact that the two media groups can create a monopoly as there are more than 200 morden print houses in the country and times of india still struggles to have a connect with the local crowd.

The fact that murdoch has been applying dirty tactics for getting the media groups through influence in the political front and surely a democratic country like india cannot accept foriegn invasion in the most democratic english daily of the country

Youngistaan is an advertisement designed by JWT and is going straight to address the Gen-next the term Youngistaan sound different and also features two new actors Deepika and Ranbir along with the company’s long hold brand ambassador Mr SRK.            Soumitra Karnik vice president of JWT says the TVC Youngistaan is the expression given to individuality – the need to do one’s own thing. Both co-actors in the TVC have a huge fan fallowing and are surely adding to the brand building process. The commercial has been made in mind to capture the youth through a young lovers angle. Where the guy wants to come enter some how to girls room for pepsi and how he gets caught at the attempt. Further on we see how the guy not only saves himself but also gets what he wants. The whole idea clicks because of the TVC of young image and also the tag line Yeah Hai Youngistan Meri Jaan. Punita Lal, executive director, marketing, PepsiCo India, says, “The Youngistaan idea captures the energy, excitement and irreverence of the young, confident India.”Hari Krishnan, vice-president, JWT, adds, “Youngistaan is a feeling that is racing through every youthful nerve in the country today. Brand Pepsi will simply tap this energy and help the youth express this emotion.”The ad is being supported by radio, outdoor, web and wireless media. The campaign will encourage contests, inviting youngsters to talk of what Youngistaan means to them. They may even be invited to create ads themselves on the Youngistaan concept