brand equity

THE ECONOMIC TIMES
DECEMBER 23-29, 2015
Viva la
Geekolution
Geek /gi:k/ — An unfashionable
or socially inept person
(Modified) A
knowledgeable and
obsessive enthusiast
ANIRBAN BORA
T
hirty-one
year old Jatin
Varma is as angry
as the Hulk with Shah
Rukh Khan. For its Khan’s
film Dilwale that stormed
theatres and delayed the release of Star
Wars: The Force Awakens in India by a
week. Despite an overly ambitious online
petition to revoke the decision in time for
Indians to partake in what is undoubtedly one of the biggest global events in entertainment. So the world watched with
unrestrained glee, drunk on mass hysteria fuelled by a glut of coverage, the sci-fi
franchise’s seventh episode; while Indian
fans declared their contempt for Khan
and the other usurper, Bajirao Mastani
and set up impenetrable spoiler-blocks
on social media. Some even resorting to
blocking and then ‘unfriending’ those
committing “spoiler jihad”.
When the film does hit screens, Varma
and his friends, cosplaying as characters from the series, plan to block an entire section of a multiplex to watch the
epic tale in peace. The merry company
of Jedis, Wookiees, Stormtroopers and
Dark Lords, however, is not alone in its
passionate reverence of the galactic
saga that began in 1977. At the official
Star Wars party this year, hundreds of
Yodas, Chewbaccas, Vaders, Solos, and
Leias showed up; forming neat lines resembling those outside Apple stores on
the eve of a new iSomething launch, for
a chance to sit in the Battle Pod. “Just
queues everywhere. Like at airport
check-in counters in the morning,”
says Varma. He is what one would call
a fanboy. More proof of the credential is
a rare Lego Death Star, the moon-sized
weapon that can destroy a planet with
a single strike, one he went through
tremendous trial to acquire, and an enviable collection of Yoda-theme socks.
Moreover, as the founder of ComicCon
India he has not only a front-row seat
but is one of the drivers of the geekolution here.
With the likes of HUL, HP and ICICI putting money
behind properties like Star Wars, geek culture is
gradually becoming all culture. By Delshad Irani
Rise of the Geekonomy
Geekdom is no longer a refuge for the
ones we facetiously called “Einstein”;
the intelligent, the studious, the computer geeks, the engineering dorks and
anyone who thinks Scrabble is religion
or reads for fun. What was once a subculture of likeminded individuals feeding off each other’s seemingly weird and
“boring” interests is now pop culture,
which many hundred millions across
the world call their own. The Internet
and social media allowed people, irrespective of their provenance, to easily
find more members of their tribe; human structures built around common
interests and obsessions, be it Wayne,
Spock, Sherlock or the Doctor, Dungeons
& Dragons or Settlers of Catan.
“What was once marginalized and often
ridiculed is now idolized and consistently
celebrated across all aspects of popular
tempting-looking “Skip Maurice” button
appears.
If you skip Maurice, you get the ads! With
Maurice in them! First
he interrupts a yogurt
commercial (while still
continuing with his spiel
about the company’s
various challenges and
achievements in 2015.)
Next, he interrupts a washing powder
ad (he spilled some yogurt on his shirt,
you see.) Then he plays a glamorous
shampoo model. He makes a convincing
toothpaste model. He even pops his head
out of the plug hole during a washing
liquid ad.
Come to think of it, all of these ads could
have been commercials for consumer
goods giant Procter & Gamble — the huge
multi-billion dollar media-buying client
Publicis Groupe lost to rival Omnicom
earlier this month. Could this ad serve as
tongue-in-cheek reference to suggest
that all is not lost?
(Source: businessinsider.com)
TrendTalk
FROM LOGOS TO MOGOS
CAN A SONIC MNEMONIC OR MOGO BE AS
IDENTIFIABLE AND USEFUL AS A LOGO?
AMIT BAPNA
H
DFC was facing a perplexing challenge in its journey
from hi-touch to hi-tech.
“With fewer interactions at
the branch, getting emotional connect
for the brand was a challenge,” admits
Kartik Jain, head – marketing, HDFC
Bank. The bank turned to an unlikely solution: deploying sound in a structuredmanner. The bank hired Soundmusiq
for an intensive sonic branding endeavour which has been recently rolled out
across touchpoints. These include all
ATMs with a sound card, NetBanking,
PhoneBanking IVR and hold music,
YouTube videos, Mobile apps, employee
caller tunes and ring tones.
A leap of faith for a brand that has been
wary of splurging on print and television. It rolled out a TV campaign after
With increasing visual clutter, brands
are realising the importance of properties that communicate and strengthen
core values, not necessarily via TV.
a gap of nearly five years. Sound evokes Says Richa Arora, chief operating offimemories, can help create an emotional cer, consumer products business, Tata
layer. At the same time, the mnemonic is Chemicals, “Over time, sonic identity
fundamentally digital, thus putting it in will subconsciously acquire a deeper
a sweet spot.
meaning.” Tata Chemicals has already
The banking brand is not the only us- implemented sonic branding for its newing sound to give it a distinct connect. ly launched Tata Sampann brand and is
Lenovo is in the midst of an extensive close to a roll-out for the flagship Tata
sonic branding project, touted to be a Salt Branding via sound is relatively
global roll-out. Bhaskar Choudhuri, unchartered terrain the world over. In
director – marketing, Lenovo India re- India, Rajeev Raja co-founded India’s
fused to share details, but believes very first specialised outfit Brandmusiq after
few brands use sound in a strategic way. many years in advertising. For Raja, muBeing under-leveraged and under-pop- sic was always a key driver (he performs
ulated, gives brands an opportunity to with retro rockers Wanted Yesterday).
make a distinct statement. “For a rela- But he’d hit a stage where “I had to decide
tively new tech
between ‘same-spot bicycling’
brand like us, it
or trying something new.”
provides an op- We present ‘sketch- And so Brandmusiq launched
portunity to leap- es of sound’ to initi- in 2012, specialising in sonic
branding through creation
frog,” he adds.
ate an understand- of a mogo (musical logo) and
ing of the ‘zone of
mogoscape.
A mix of art and science,
sound and instruit’s a three stage process:
mentation’ that the Brand Discovery in which
brand-owners articulate the
brand can operbrand’s vision, persona and
ate in which best
values, within a structure
reflects its persona best suited to creating a sonic identity, followed by Sonic
and values
Moodboards, in which “we
Rajeev Raja
present ‘sketches of sound’ to
co-founder, Brandmusiq initiate an understanding of
the ‘zone of sound and instrumentation’ that the brand can operate
in which best reflects its persona and
values, shares Raja. The final stage is
Mogo/Mogoscape creation in which
the final sonic identity is created. It can
take anywhere from 6 months to a year
or more.
Continued on Pg 4 >>
RAVI BALAKRISHNAN
W
culture and entertainment,” says Steve
Rotterdam, co-founder of New York based
Bonfire Agency, a ‘full-service marketing
firm primarily dedicated to helping major brands navigate through the geek-infested waters’. “Nerdstream has become
mainstream,” he says, a super-force that
exerts immense influence “over not only
what we watch, read and hear, but what
we eat, drive and wear”.
Continued on Pg 2 >>
Continued on Pg 4 >>
and culture associated with
computing and technology
enthusiasts, regarded as stylish or
Geeking
out, I am
How did Skechers become America’s
second favourite sneaker and can it work
the same magic in India?
hen asked if American sneaker
brand Skechers would ever consider bringing pop music’s enfant terrible Kanye West (who has worked
with Nike and Adidas) on board as a designer,
David Weinberg bursts out laughing, declaring
himself more of a “Stella McCartney than Kanye
West kinda person.” Weinberg who is CFO, COO,
EVP and director of Skechers USA adds, “I saw
him at an awards dinner and heard him speak.
And I guess, for your publication, I wouldn’t say
much more than that! Someone like that certainly
could design but I wouldn’t know if it would be
him. He’s an interesting guy, but Adidas has him
locked up anyway.”
West’s association with Adidas has given
it the overblown cred he’s famous for. He
reportedly began promoting his new
range, badmouthing former paymasters
Nike for not respecting him as a designer. What it’s not given Adidas is
Rather than hav- the prestigious No 2 slot in the
United States market where
ing women get
Nike is still the unassailable
champion. That post is currentleftovers from
ly occupied by Skechers.
a men’s brand
So, how did a brand that startwe’ve gone after ed in 1992 manage to crack one
them specifically of the world’s most keenly contested shoe markets? Especially
David Weinberg
with competition known for
iconic ads, multi-million dollar
endorsements and a take no prisoners
approach to marketing? And more
germane to India, where Skechers is
just starting to make its presence felt,
can the formula be replicated?
Turns out, everywhere in the world,
Skechers follows a common template: being flexible and operating across multiple
categories. It garners buzz for quality, good
price points and being “fashion right”: accessibly stylish rather than avant-garde.
More specifically, Skechers has managed
to make inroads into a segment that other,
more jock-driven brands have ignored.
Subjects: Deep interest in
everything from technology,
comics, movies and TV shows
(fantasy, sci-fi, action and
superhero genres, primarily) and
gaming (video and board games)
to super niches like B-grade
Bollywood movies.
Geek Chic: The dress, appearance
Ad agencybehind the best company holiday card of 2015
Each year, the French advertising agency
holding group Publicis Groupe sends out
a holiday greetings card in the form of a
video. CEO Maurice Levy has
starred in each video displaying his somewhat surprisingly
adept comic acting skills.
This year, Levy has stepped it
up a gear. It starts innocuously
enough: Levy sits in the board
room, talking about the previous year.
He tells us not to expect “anything funny,
or any technological tricks.” But then a
Geek out — Be or become
extremely excited or enthusiastic
about a subject, typically one of
specialist or minority interest
No. 2 in America…
No. What in India?
fashionable. (Source: Oxford dictionaries)
(This cultural appropriation
by people who dress “geek chic”
infuriates the real geeks. Oh the
irony!)
Geekdom Hierarchy
Creators: Inventors of an exciting
‘new thing’
Fanatics: Die-hard fans and
supporters of creators who bring
energy to the movement
MOPs (members of the public):
Fans who turn the new thing into
a sub-culture. This is the paying
public.
Sociopaths: Basically, business-
kind.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
A
sk any senior creative
what t hei r biggest
talent-related grouse
is, and they won’t rant
about inter-agency
poaching anymore.
Their freshest woe is losing creative talent to different disciplines, for instance
film writing, direction and production.
The suits in creative agencies have
also lost good talent to marketers every once in a while. In both cases, the
shifts make sense: more money, recognition; what else can mad men ask for,
right? But when an agency suit shifts to
the media side, eyebrows are raised and
for all the right reasons. Media planners
are reputed to have a less glamorous job
than even the servicing intern at a creative agency. “Backroom boys,
nerds, accountants pouring
over their excel sheets all day –
those are the phrases you associate with them,” says T
Gangadhar (Gangs), MD
of MEC India.
Interestingly, Gangs is
one of the few to have
made t hat shi f t
himself. Four years of
account management in Mudra
(now
DDB
Mudra), seven
and a half in
Lowe Lintas (Now M u l l e n L o w e
Lintas), a brief sabbatical, and nine
months at SET Max later, Gangs joined
the unknown world of media planning and buying with MEC. He had
turned the offer down at first, he tells
us. “I didn’t understand why I should
DECEMBER 23-29, 2015
2
The Creative Leap
What’s making suits from creative agencies vault across to the
media side of the business? By Shephali Bhatt
be in media what with more than
a decade of creative agency background. But they wanted someone
from outside the media agency ecosystem. So, first Shubha George
(ex MEC, now head of Red
Fuse) and then Vikram
Sakhuja (ex GroupM,
now Group CEO,
Madison)
spoke to me
and convinced
me to take this
massive risk,” Gangs recalls. He was
scared, he admits. And the trepidation
was largely owing to the stereotypes
around a media planner’s job that he’d
come across.
Eight years old in MEC now, Gangs
has no doubt he’s on the right side
FCB Ulka (now FCB Ulka) to Lodestar
UM in 2007. “My mandate was to grow
the group’s media business in India.
That I was always passionate about
media made it easier to make the shift,”
he says. Little did he know that media
agencies would become more popular
and profitable than their creative counterparts in no time. “Don’t be surprised
if IPG Mediabrands earns more profit
than individual agencies of Interpublic
Group of companies in India this year,”
he says. Sinha bets even GroupM is
likely to have a better bottom-line than
WPP’s creative agencies.
Great for media agencies but
how is this even happening? Ajay
Mehta, principal partner - content+
of the table. He has the blessings of
Global industrymen like Stephen Li
(currently APAC CEO at OMD with
previous stints at Batey Ads and Lowe)
and Pele Cortizo-Burgess, MEC’s
global integrated planning head (ex
Grey North America) , who’ve made
a similar shift just to remain ahead
of the curve. “Earlier creative agencies used to be the Brahmins of the
Marketing system. But things are
changing now. Creative agencies
aren’t the sole claimants of a brand’s
stewardship anymore,” he feels. In
agreement is Shashi Sinha, CEO of IPG
Mediabrands. Sinha moved from Draft
Mindshare
gives me
access to the
best media
and content
partners and
their resources which wasn’t the case
in my earlier stint
Ajay Mehta,
Ogilvy
Mindshare Fulcrum
at Mindshare Fulcrum, who migrated
to media pastures from Ogilvy in April
this year, has an explanation: “Clients
are looking at something beyond TVC,”
he says. They’ve been meaning to do
that for a while now, you’d say. Only
now they’re actually walking the talk,
it seems. They want to create conversation with consumers through traditional and new-age mediums. “Mindshare
gives me access to the best media and
content partners and their resources
which wasn’t the case in my earlier
stint (with Ogilvy),” says Mehta.
This isn’t plain gobbledegook because
as per Gangs, media agencies such as
theirs, are constantly interacting with
tech companies, startups, Google,
Facebook, Twitter, et al just to keep
pace with the changing consumer
landscape. “I’d rather be in that space
than be worried about the big idea for
my next commercial,” he says. By no
means does he want to dismiss creative
agencies though. They’re islands of excellence for account management in his
opinion. “Any suit who’s done the drill
in a creative agency becomes more meticulous in delivering on a day-to-day
business,” Gangs says. One also hears
that creative suits are more seasoned
at collection from clients than the media wallahs. Not to mention the lessons
on storytelling you can extract from a
We are constantly interacting with
tech companies, startups, Google,
Facebook,
Twitter, et al just to keep
pace with the changing consumer landscape. I’d rather
be in that space than be
worried about the big idea
for my next commercial
T Gangadhar
Lowe
MEC
stint in creative agencies to avoid boring number-laden pitch presentations.
That said, the needle is definitely moving towards media men. A few weeks
ago, Sinha was browsing through an
international trade magazine’s annual roundup feature on advertising.
“All senior representatives from India
were the media agency CEOs,” he notes.
If that’s not indication enough of the
changing times, we don’t know what is.
shephali.bhatt@timesgroup.com
GETTYIMAGES
Continued from Page 1 >>
Geeking out...
Rotterdam calls them “firestarters” because it’s their passion that
ignites conversations and interest, focusing attention on brands.
Firestarters are extremely social,
opinionated and eager to share that
opinion. Naturally, even brands
which aren’t endemic to their universe want to be a part of the conversation. But the cape-on-a-soda-can
variety of marketing won’t cut it.
“It’s a challenge to get the core fan
to not only accept but talk, embrace
and endorse. But, for instance, if
an agency wants to create a comic
for a brand, you don’t get someone
who can make it look like a comic.
You get someone who can make it a
comic.” Alas, most efforts fall in the
make-it-look-like category. And, at
worst, marketers dismiss the superfan with reasons like “too niche”
and “too small”.
From Porn To Tongs: The stars haven’t always aligned (Star Wars trivia)
The pornographic parody
movie ‘Star Wars XXX’ saw a
500% increase in DVD sales since
the beginning of December ‘15.
In 2013, this is what the Obama
administration said, tongue
firmly in cheek, in response to a
petition for the US government to
build a Death Star;
deficit, not expand it.
2. The administration does not
support blowing up planets.
3. Why would we spend countless
taxpayer dollars on a Death Star
with a fundamental flaw that
could be exploited by a one-man
starship?
In 2002, Enron Corp’s internal
company documents released by
US federal regulators revealed a
strategy dubbed ‘Death
Star’ by the company’s energy
force to move everything from a
bowl of cereal and dog to the car
parked in the driveway.
In 2014, Prime
Minister
traders who used it to manipulate
California’s power system to
increase profits during the 20002001 energy crisis.
1. The construction of the Death
Star has been estimated to cost
more than
$850,000,000,000,000,000
We’re working hard to reduce the
The Force goes cray cray: Star
Wars branded products include
Lightsaber BBQ Tongs, Death
Star tea infuser, limited edition
mascara and Darth Vader
vacuum cleaners. R2-D2
appears on the exterior of an All
Nippon Airways (ANA)
Dreamliner aircraft, the first time
ever that a Star Wars character
has appeared on a commercial
airplane.
tomers the opportunity to imprint
their debit cards with Star Wars imagery. Says Kusal Roy, GM & head payments & unsecured loans, ICICI
Bank, “This customised offering is
yet another compelling proposition.
We believe that it too will appeal to
our young customers and it will
strengthen their relationship with
us even further.”
Furthermore, marketing efforts
are usually restricted to properties like ComicCon or top-rated TV
BRAND
RANKS
his address at
Madison
Square Garden
with the line
“May the
One of the world’s most famous
and loved ads is Volkswagen’s
‘The Force’, featuring a kid
dressed as Darth Vader, who
tries, often in vain, to use the
shows and mega film releases like
The Avengers and Star Wars. Tribal
structures with geeks or superfans
or firestarters at their core, however, are built around everything
from stand-up comedy and music to
graphic art and B-grade Bollywood
movies. In music, for instance, says
Saurabh Kanwar, who was VP, content and communication, Channel
V and now the founder of digital
agency Flarepath, “it’s not just the
guys affected by Snoop and thugs
The weekly Twitter Advertiser Index lists the
brands which have generated most engagement with users on the platform
Narendra
Modi ended
force be
with you”.
The Marketer Awakens?
Over 50 brands have inked deals
with Disney Consumer Products
for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Companies like HP, Hindustan
Unilever, ICICI Bank, Café Coffee
Day, Hero, Lego, Funskool, Myntra
and Big Bazaar, among others.
Although not particularly clever
or imaginative, these attempts are
targeted at the legions swept up in
the frenzy or simply suffering from
a case of FOMO (fear of missing out).
ICICI Bank, for one, is offering cus-
Twitter
Advertiser
Index
GETTYIMAGES
from the Bronx. There are college
kids rapping in Tamil and Bengali
with a fanatic following. For brands
whose challenge is content, these
are deep rich veins to explore.”
Small, niche, yes. But think of the
300 rabid-fans who’ll gladly take
a bullet for you,
Varma says, “this
is the influential,
buy i n g publ ic.
Identifying and
aligning a brand
with great content — that’s not
flimsy or just nostalgic anymore —
early means you won’t have to kick
yourself five years later.”
Or, one could get Yoda to do it. Kick
some derrieres that is.
delshad.irani@timesgroup.com
As on 16th Dec ‘15
BRAND
ENGAGEMENT
INDEX
1
2
3
4
5
@Myntra
@HotStarTweets
@Lifestyle_Store
@TheQuint
@RomedyNow
@Myntra: The launch of Forever21 and
a contest to give away 21 free coupons,
#ShaadiToBassBahanaHai to capitalize on wedding season conversation and a co-sponsored
contest with Adidas #AdidasIcons helped
Myntra become the most engaging brand on
Twitter.
@HotStarTweets: Hot Star stays in the top 5
by continuing to engage users on the back of
shows like ‘Is Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon’ & ‘On
Air with AIB’. The secret: sharing exclusive content and keeping communication quirky around
the AIB show.
@LifeStyle_Store: Lifestyle’s contest
#SuitedForOccasion
helps it break into
the Top 5 in the
index.
@TheQuint: The
Quint saw a lot of
engagement this
week coming off the
back of their news
articles. A large
part of the engageMOST ENGAGED VIDEO
ments were RT’s
and Favourites. The most engaged tweet was
a video of Salman Khan walking out after his
acquittal.
@RomedyNow: Romedy Now saw a lot of
engagement this week around a contest they
ran for the hit show ‘How I Met Your Mother.
#HIMYMOnRomedy got fans involved with the
added incentive of winning some goodies.
Source: Twitter
The index looks at the live list of all advertisers on the
platform and measures the total number of user engagements with all the Tweets that they sent out that week
- specifically this is a sum of all the replies, retweets and
favourites across all tweets that week.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
Are Indian creatives
missing the digital bus?
Ad veteran Liqvd Asia’s KS Chakravarthy
on why now’s the right and only time to
switch to digital
GETTYIMAGES
A
bout 20 years ago,
advertising underwent a rapid and
radical transformation. Print as
we knew it disappeared. Long, lovingly crafted body
copy started giving way to ads that
had just a picture and pack. Hinglish
burst in on the national consciousness. Desi became the new cool.
Heartland sensibilities ruled.
A whole new breed of creative
people stepped effortlessly onto centre stage. And a whole generation of
‘English’ writers faded away to write
their book and reminiscence about
the good old days.
Digital is doing today to all advertising what TV did to print.
The rules are changing. The eyeballs have moved on. The smartphone owns minds and hearts as no
other medium ever did.
This time, unfortunately, there is
no brave new breed to step into the
breech. Not in the same way, at least.
‘Mainline’ has stayed stubbornly
on the outer edges of relevance. And
digital is populated largely by people
with considerable talent, energy and
inventiveness — and little grounding in the world of brands and brand
communications.
So why is digital in India lagging the
world so badly? Because it most certainly is — and the numbers prove it.
Digital spends are still a pitiful portion of most clients’ budgets. Brand
building digital content — as against
the mandatory social media activity
and search — is largely left to multinationals who
have clear,
g loba l ly
l a i d -
down guidelines on how much they
have to spend on ‘new’ media. And the
traditional agency world still sneers
at these tiny budgets, and continues
slaving away at the big slice of the pie
for increasingly smaller crumbs.
Are Indian agencies going to reinvent themselves the way agencies
have across the world?
The trends aren’t encouraging —
most large agencies have started
digital divisions, ring-fenced them
with high, rigid walls, and left them
to their little sliver of the pie.
The truth is, there is zero cross
fertilisation of either talent or ideas
within the vast majority of the big
agencies.
The brand guys work on the big campaigns — and the digital specialists
are left to ‘take it forward digitally’,
whatever that means.
So where does that leave a really
bright, talented 28 year old in today’s world?
The last time around, the clients, the
Go where the future is,
because a few years
from now, there will be
nowhere else to go
agencies and, most importantly, the
people doing the work, didn’t change.
The client just wanted a new medium
to be the lead — and those who could,
stepped up, did and flourished. Those
who couldn’t faded away.
Today, unfortunately, most creative people in the mainline agencies think digital is where you
can do looooong TV commercials.
Engagement usually means an emotionally loaded script. Vines and
Instagram videos are cool things
you share with friends in between
the times you spend racking your
brains for the next scam print ad and
cracking the next amazing TV script
that is never going to be made.
My advice to every bright youngster in advertising is simple and
unambiguous.
Make the switch.
You just can’t get digitally savvy
in the conventional agency structure. Because the structure ain’t
built for it. And it ain’t going to
change anytime soon.
On the positive side, the digital advertising world is desperate for creative people who can think brand.
Think video.
And you can do both. You have the
basics right, you have been through
the grind, cut your teeth on films
with tiny budgets none of your seniors want to touch.
Now is the time to cash in. Go
where the future is, because a few
years from now, there will be nowhere else to go.
Digital is a wonder world of opportunities for anyone with ideas.
Television forces you to tell linear,
and ultimately predictable stories.
Digital lets you begin with an idea
that you instinctively know will appeal to people — and lets you bring
it to life in a hundred new, exciting,
unexpected ways. Smartphones are
letting you engage with video content
practically 24x7.
Video is the huge new creative opportunity. Indians consume video
compulsively — and yet marketers
in India spend less on video content than any comparable market.
Because there aren’t enough people
who can write quality video content that can engage, entertain and
move people
Technology has made video easier
than ever before. Most smartphones
can shoot very decent HD. Most
Hollywood blockbusters include key
shots that have been taken on a simple SLR camera like the Canon 5D. In
two years or less, film will be a quaint
word you use when you are feeling
nostalgic. Ask Kodak.
But here is the biggest reason you
should be in digital, as a creative
person. On television, the client is
the boss. Safe is an acceptable adjective — even desirable, to some.
TRPs and GRPs are bought — and
used or abused.
On digital, on the other hand, the
consumer is finally king. There are
no viewers — just people who choose
to view your stuff. Your idea gets seen
if people find it worth seeing.
An idea that can be terrifying to
some. And exhilarating to others.
The question is, where do you
belong?
(The author is chief creative
officer, Liqvd Asia. Views expressed
are personal)
DECEMBER 23-29, 2015
3
Adblock Plus reveals how it makes its money
Popular ad blocker Adblock Plus has revealed for the first time exactly how it
makes is money.
The Adblock Plus revenue model has long
been a contentious one. Adblock Plus charges
some companies to appear on its “Acceptable
Ads” list — a white list that allows some uninterruptive ads to be served to its users.
But critics have compared this model to
everything from “blackmail,” to “extortion” to
being like a “Mafia-like advertising network.”
One of the biggest issues among Adblock
Plus’ detractors was that it was not transparent enough about how the model works.
That changed last Wednesday. Adblock Plus’
“about” page now has a section on how the ad
blocker is financed.
(Source: businessinsider.com)
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
JWT’s most successful national creative director gets a
bigger mandate as chief creative officer. Here’s what he
intends to do with it By Ravi Balakrishnan
I
n March 2008, during a visit to JWT’s
Chennai office, Senthil Kumar excitedly
shepherded me through some rough films
he’d created on a brand that shall remain
unnamed. The films were crazy and irreverent. Some of them glaring anachronisms in an era that was already tending towards
political correctness. A particularly memorable
one subtly attempted to slip a brand message at
the end of what purported to be one of the MMS
scandal films that were starting to do the rounds
at the time. Very few of them struck me as the sort
a client, especially one with a reputation for being
conservative, would bankroll.
And yet Kumar was slogging away at creating
these, aided by friends, shooting them himself
over weekends. He was probably not the first Indian
creative to realise that
sharing weird, irreverent videos was going to
be one of the main uses
of the internet. But the
only one I know who, even
without a brief, actually
began creating “shareable
content that will go viral”
long before it became an
overused catchphrase.
He was enthusiastic
enough about what
he did to come up
with these ideas
a nd p o s s e s s e d
enough patience and
resilience to
deal with the
( s omet i me s
i nev it able )
rejection
t hat c a me
his way.
PHOTOS: NITIN SONAWANE
The years leading up to Kumar becoming chief
creative officer at J Walter Thompson have seen
him a part of a three and then two national creative director structure. The revolving door of seniormost creatives at JWT has already been well
documented, with the agency invariably opting to
bring in external talent instead of picking a clear
leader from within its ranks.
However, neither Kumar’s track record (including 16 Cannes Lions, 10 One Show Pencils and 7
D&AD Pencils) nor spending close to 15 years at
the agency guaranteed him the top job. Nor a good
equation with new CEO Tarun Rai who, in a previous stint in 2005, had shipped Kumar into Mumbai
from Bengaluru. Rai admits, “I did look out of the
agency as well for leadership. I took my time since
I didn’t want my evaluation to be just about how
things were seven years ago.” Meeting other canSome of Senthil's greatest hits from left to right: Nike didates gave Rai the chance to see how Kumar had
Make Every Yard Count, The Times of India - A Day in the
evolved, his interactions with clients and peers,
Life of Chennai, Levi's Slim Jeans and the Pepsi Huddle
his equation with the global creative council
and the respect he commanded. A former boss
instance. However, after J Walter Thompson expeof Kumar’s claims he would often tell his young has been with the agency ever since.
And so, becoming CCO is also a reward for a rienced firsthand the dangers of proactive creativcharge to focus more on brand building work instead of pursuing wilder, more creatively exciting long, patient wait. While Kumar himself doesn’t ity gone rogue (search Ford Figo and JWT India)
ideas. Its advice Kumar appears to have taken to offer any comment, industry buzz indicates he he has brought more structure to it via Pop up
heart considering some of his most visible work was approached by several agencies, prominent Gallery. Every creative person was given a brief
among them a global indepen- via Post-It notes on 15 brands from Pepsico and a
over the last few years has been on
This posi- dent looking to reinvent itself. week to come up with ideas. These were then put
the agency’s biggest brands like
Another rumour suggested he up at an exhibition, with clients invited to give the
Pepsi, KitKat and Nike.
tion has
was on the point of starting a work they liked a green dot, disliked a red and the
For Kumar, it’s vindication. An
been
career as a director of both fea- ‘maybes’ an orange. Of the 50 ideas, 24 got green
engineer by training he discovdots and five of those are actually being produced.
ture and ad films.
ered his creative chops in interalmost
Making movies does feature Kumar says, “I want to celebrate the fact that comcollege competitions where he
notorious
in the list of Kumar’s ambitions ing up with ideas should not be reactive.”
wrote, acted and mimed, besides
as far as
Previous creative directors have claimed
but it’s now playing second
being an avid sportsman. He won
fiddle to his plans for J Walter change of any sort at JWT is a tough exercise.
cash prizes that helped him tide JWT is concerned.
Thompson. The goal is not best- Agnello Dias (now founder Taproot Dentsu) likover the lack of pocket money. He
Every decision is
ing local peers but becoming ened it to steering the Titanic away from an icedisappointed his father, a senior
Agency of the Year at Cannes in berg. Josy Paul, now chairman and CCO, BBDO
executive at BHEL, by quitting risky but this is a
less than half a decade. Digital believed the agency was like Saturn with beautithe firm to pursue advertising. good risk to take
first is a mantra that typically ful rings but a rigid core: “The minority is trying
Starting off at a small shop, he
evokes a cynical yawn, but J to make a difference; I can't say that of the majorset his sights on Trikaya Grey, Tarun Rai
Walter Thompson has proven ity yet.” Kumar’s metaphors are simpler, more
the hottest Indian agency in the CEO, J Walter Thompson
it can work with ‘Make Every optimistic and culled from his abiding interest
mid-90s, applying every month for South Asia
Yard Count’ for Nike, ‘Crash the in sport: “We may be in different positions like
seven months at a stretch. Shortly
after finding his feet, he was sent to head creative IPL’ for Pepsi and an online only film for KitKat defender, mid-fielder or striker. But we are working together, playing on the same side, as a team
at its f ledgling Sri Lanka operations, a risky which doubled up as a video greeting card.
A lot of Kumar’s more youthful enthusiasms with one goal to score.”
proposition at the time, considering his Tamil
heritage. He moved back to India to join JWT and still persist: his fondness for proactive work, for
ravi.balakrishnan@timesgroup.com
Continued from Page 1 >>
Bawdy
Copy Begins
At the risk of getting meta (something that most creators find as
delightful as their viewers/readers
find it an annoying self indulgence) this
is bawdy copy
about Bawdy
Copy. Or more
specifically our first logo for the
column which was crowd sourced
long before the term became a fad.
A young Bangalore based creative
soldiered away, coming up with a
distinctive visual mnemonic that
accurately represented the spirit of
the column. It was loved by everybody who wasn’t actually featured
in Bawdy Copy; we still recall an
irate letter writer devoting an entire
paragraph claiming the ‘vulgar logo’
added insult to injury. Or words to
that effect.
But here’s something we were reminded of recently. The prize for creating the logo was apparently a trip
to the Cannes Lions, something the
creative was understandably eager
to claim. He only required a no objection certificate from his
boss though,
who we learn,
said he’d issue
one only if the
creative signed
a contract
locking himself
to the agency for three years. The
youngster decided against signing the contract and so didn’t go to
Cannes that year but went on to do
great things — like co-founding one
of India’s most exciting independent
agencies.
A happily ever after conclusion, if
you will. As for who his boss at the
time was...well you didn’t expect us
to serve up everything on a platter
did you?
Got any funny emails floating
around your office or at home?
Seen a scam in someone’s portfolio?
Please send them to us at
bawdy.copy@timesgroup.com.
We’ll dish all the dirt you dish to us
Continued from Page 1 >>
From Logos...
ANIRBAN BORA
No. 2 in America…
“We li ke women” says
Wei nberg when asked
how Skechers came to
lead the category in the
US. But behind the glibness is a marketer shrewd
enough to catch a trick many
other players have missed.
Says Weinberg, “Adidas and
New Balance don’t cater to women.
We’ve always been good at colour,
size and fitting.” Throw in the fact
that women tend to buy more shoes
than men and Weinberg says,
“Rather than having them get leftovers from a men’s brand we’ve
gone after them specifically.”
There’s also a lot more to choose
from. Skechers has 40,000 SKUs
across several thousand styles and
500 to 700 new launches each year.
Not everything becomes com- Ups, he claims, remains a hit with
mercially significant but there’s consumers; there are requests for
a large assortment. When it comes the range and it still sells in some
to the competition, “Other than parts of the world. The company
football and classics I don’t think has bounced back from the finanyou can find significant hundreds cial setback too: “It went up to
of new Adidas, Reebok or Puma. $2 billion with Shape-Ups, came
New Balance has been selling the back down to one billion four and
same shoe for 20 years. We are pro- will go to $3 billion in four years”,
lific since we have more categories says Weinberg.
Driving this is international
and are attuned to new product development”, says Weinberg.
business growing at 30% to 35%
a nd double digit
The brand claims it’s
growth in the home
too diverse to be repre- Behind the
sented by a single ce- glibness is
market. India with its
mix of 700 MBOs and
lebrity. Of course, the
a marketer
3 5 exclusive stores
last time Skechers was
in the news for being shrewd enough across 40 cities is a
market Weinberg’s opassociated with a celeb to catch what
it was for all the wrong
timistic about, purely
basis how Skechers
reasons. Its Shap e - others have
has done elsewhere.
Ups range, endorsed missed: caterby Kim Kardashian
has more than
ing to women Europe
doubled over the last
(aka Mrs Kanye West)
two years and is not as
ran into trouble with
the Federal Trade Commission. underpenetrated as India. China
Skechers ended up paying $40 mil- is expected to clock in $350 million
lion to settle charges of having de- to $400 million next year. There’s
ceived consumers with claims that enough leg room to grow says Isaac
Shape-Ups helped with weight loss John, former CMO, Puma: “Value
and body toning. Asked what the and aspiration are the prime drivbrand learnt Weinberg says, “It ers. With the number of runners
ultimately turned into a very posi- increasing at some point, we will
tive thing, getting us into the tech- have more feet on the street here
nical athletic (space), increased than the US.”
So what are the odds that Indian
price points and visibility.” Shape-
4
BAWDY
COPY
ANIRBAN BORA
Can Senthil Kumar Change
The Game At JWT?
DECEMBER 23-29, 2015
consumers, particularly women,
get lured by Skechers? The offering will have to go beyond assortment. According to Sandhya
Srinivasan, chief strategy officer
L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, sneakers in India are more unisex than
some of the overtly masculine categories. Isaac believes the brand
with the best running shoe will
win the race: “That tells you how
forward the brand is as far as technology is concerned. Right now, all
the big three or four have a technology they can call their own.
(Skechers has) got to find something and run with it.”
India has become increasingly
concerned with fitness as evinced
in the rise in the number and frequency of city-wide marathons.
Of course, there’s also a large
segment more enamoured of the
idea of fitness than getting fit
which results in a larger number
of sneakers bought. The opportunity is huge for whichever brand
— be it Skechers or its more wellentrenched competitors — manages to convert a casual interest
in fitness to the active pursuit of
it. Or is able to make the slackers
believe the only motivation they
need to get fit is yet another pair
of sneakers.
ravi.balakrishnan@timesgroup.com
In a cluttered, over-exposed
world a sonic identity could provide brands a layer of emotion
and recognition sustainably and
memorably, the Holy Grail for all
brands. “Nearly every brand is
a multi-platform brand now, and
the sonic opportunities are limitless. Just think that all the customers are now walking around
with a speaker in their pocket!”
says Joel Beckerman, founder of
one of the oldest sonic branding
agencies, the US based Man Made
Music. (Read – Making The Right
Sounds)
Richa Arora of Tata Chemicals
sees the mogo as a longterm brand
asset, to be deployed the way they
would a logo or visual identity:
consistently across all communications and consumer touch
points: From TVC, radio ads, digital to events, activations… even
ringtones, she shares. The mogo
in its ultimate form goes beyond
Making
The Right
Sounds
Joel Beckerman, of ‘Man Made Music’ creator of sonic
identities for AT&T, HBO, Imax, Southwest Airlines etc,
shares his vision for this niche form of branding
Why Sonic?
With fewer interactions
at the branch, getting
emotional connect for
the brand was a challenge
Kartik Jain
Head – marketing,
HDFC Bank
an audio mnemonic to creating
an audio signature. One key challenge is people confusing it with a
jingle which really are two separate things. “The issue is to shift
the benchmark of brand owners
from a tactical ‘jingle’ to owning a
strategic long term ‘sonic identity’
as an asset”, says Raja.
brand is different, and evMan Made has been in busi- eryone has different sonic
ness 17 years. Our work has opportunities. There are no
always been about sonic cookie cutter solutions.
branding — even before the
term was fashionable. We’ve Why Sonic Now?
moved from a communica- Nearly every brand is a multition focused to an experience platform brand now, and
focused world. Brands need the sonic opportunities are
to make emotional
limitless. Just
connections with Nearly anyone think that al l
a l l t h ei r au d i - can identify
the customers
are now walking
ences. It ’s as i f
when music
Apple showed the
around with a
world that loved and sound
speaker in their
brands do better feels right and pocket! Usually
business. General
people come to
market brands in synchs with
us just looking
technology, com- their vision of
for a sonic logo
munications, airas a sign-off for
the brand
lines, retail, restheir advertistaurants — even financial ing, or a sound for their app.
services — approach us to We introduce them to our aptap into our entertainment proach which is about createxpertise and help tell their ing a sonic strategy for the
story with music and sound. brand and giving them an
It is an incredibly efficient authentic voice that delivers
shortcut to emotion. Every on their brand and business
objectives and that’s where
the fun begins.
What are the
major challenges?
When brand strategy is either unclear or emotionally
flat, or when key stakeholders have very different visions. We need a clear, powerful story to tell to create
work that is meaningful and
will stand the test of time.
It also can be a bit of a challenge when key stakeholders
are not involved from the beginning. Many CEOs, CMOs
and even COOs have been
involved in our workshops.
We’ve learned so much about
some brands from executives who might not consider
themselves ‘creative’. Nearly
anyone can identify when
music and sound feels right
and synchs with their vision
of the brand.
amit.bapna@timesgroup.com
amit.bapna@timesgroup.com
Regn.No.MAHENG/2002/6711 Volume 14 Issue No. 51Published for the Proprietors, Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. by R. Krishnamurthy at The Times Of India Building, Dr. D.N.Road, Mumbai 400 001 Tel. No. (022) 6635 3535, 2273 3535, Fax- (022)-2273 1144 and printed by him at (1)
The Times of India Suburban Press, Akurli Road, Western Express Highway, Kandivili (E), Mumbai 400 101. Tel. No. (022) 28872324, 28872930, Fax- (022) 28874230 (2) The Times of India Print City, Plot No. 4, T.T.C. Industrial Area, Thane Belapur Road, Airoli, Navi Mumbai-400708 and (3) TIMES
PRESS, Plot No. 5A, Road No. 1, IDA Nacharam Ranga Reddy District, Hyderabad-500076. Editor: Ravi Balakrishnan(Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act). © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of the Publisher is prohibited.