Issue 4, 2015 - DDB Mudra Group

H tStuff
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f r o m
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I s s u e
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Contents
01
Madhukar’s Message
21- 23
Facts tell but Stories sell
Best of DDB Mudra
Century Ply
Aircel
Cycle Pure Agarbathies
02 - 06
Global Connect
Gulf Oil
Global Wins
Global News
Big Bazaar
Van Heusen
HDFC Bank
07 - 14
Star Plus
The Highlights
Nutralite
New Management Structure
in Asia Pacific
Clinton Health Access Initiative
(CHAI)
Creativity for Growth
India’s first holographic Ganesh
Big Bazaar Bharat Yatra
24 - 25
Bernbach Fridays
Thus Spake Zeigler
Three ways the agency business
can save itself
Ahmedabad Office gets
a spanking new look
Sameer Mehta
New Joinees
26 - 27
Guts & Glory
28
Amazing People
Wassup @ MICA?
15
Thought Leadership
Ajay Dutta
Richa Shah
Sonal Dabral
16-17
Q&A
29 - 31
A tête-à-tête with Sally Ali
18-20
Know More
Alina Hasan
Mehak Jaini
Toru Zaveri
Best of DDB Worldwide
McDonald’s
BASE
32
Media Spotlight
IBC
Last Word
BMW
Mammut Sports
StarHub
Skittles
Deutsch Telekom
Volkswagen
Akatu Institute of
Conscious Consumption
BBVA
HotStuff Book Issue (Cover Inside Front Back)
Open Size : (W) 472 X (H) 345 mm
The Internet of Everything (IoE)
Madhukar’s Message
Madhukar Kamath
Group CEO & Managing Director
DDB Mudra Group
Facts tell but Stories sell
The art of storytelling - it’s as old as the
bible. Jesus Christ spread Christianity
with the help of parables. And, what
were these parables if not stories that
captured the imagination of people for
all time. The parable of the prodigal son.
Or, the parable of the good Samaritan.
Stories which helped them to better
understand the tenets he preached.
Stories that enabled them to be
engaged. To relate. To commit body,
mind and soul.
Today, this communication tool still leads
and nowhere is it more in evidence than
in advertising where you need to
engage with the consumer by building
stories into your marketing messages,
in order to achieve top of the mind
awareness. Because, stories stick.
Facts, figures, statistics rarely do.
Storytelling is a powerful tool that can
mean the difference between being an
iconic and valuable brand to being just
an also ran. We all enjoy a good story,
whether it's a novel, a movie or simply
the description of an experience shared
by a friend. Stories put our whole brain
to work, not just parts of it. We feel
more engaged when hearing narratives
and we remember them more.
What gets remembered becomes
top of mind recall.
Nike is a company that has made the
most of the power of the story. Way back
in 1970, Nike designated its executives
"Corporate Storytellers". The stories the
company leaders told ranged from
recounting the company history - "the
Nike story" - to tales of people simply
getting things accomplished. By helping
their employees understand its past, the
stories helped shape the company's
future.
With the rise of social media, more and
more businesses are realizing the power
of storytelling. Business communication
doesn't just have to be bullet points,
simple statements, or rhetorical rants.
A dose of the human element, emotions,
and branded thinking can result in a
memorable message. Stories build
messages that people care about.
Stories help people bond to messages.
People remember what they care about
and bond with. When you engage
listeners in a powerful, entertaining, and
informative story, they remember it, and
many times they ask for more.
Stories create buzz. The more buzz
about a product or service, obviously the
more awareness there is about that
brand. And, the more awareness there
is, the higher the probability of being in
that top-of-mind position. Your
customers and prospects are making
choices, preferences and buying
decisions every day. Very often, these
decisions are made as a result of what
comes to mind first.
Storytelling has never been ‘hotter’ than
today. The principles and success
factors are closely related with
word-of-mouth, social sharing, social
media in general, brand perception and
the very core of content marketing. The
challenge is in figuring out how to share
that story in a way that aligns with the
needs and priorities of prospects and
customers. But, it’s not just sharing the
story. It’s about making the story so
compelling that it elevates perceptions of
value and urgency resulting in more
qualified leads and faster purchasing
momentum.
Take the clever, adorable and beautifully
made "Monty the Penguin" spot
produced by adam&eveDDB which
snagged the top prize in the Film Craft
contest at the Cannes Lions festival 2015
and secured many an emotional
attachment to the John Lewis brand.
This commercial, told the charming
story of how the best gifts of all come
from the heart. The short ad film
portrayed the uplifting tale of Sam's
pure love for his friend, Monty the
Penguin, and reminded people of the
magic of Christmas through a child's
innocent eyes. The film inspired the
audience to think how they could make
the festive season extra special for their
friends and loved ones.
Or, take the truly heart-warming short
film made by DDB Mudra Group for
McDowell’s No. 1. The 'No.1 Yaari'
anthem epitomized the core values of
“true friendship”. Presented through
a 7-minute long music video, the
poignant story showcased how three
“close buddies” together navigate
through life with the security and comfort
of each other’s company thus celebrating
the most important relationship in the life
of the young Indian – 'Yaari' or closest of
friendships. The hit song "No.1 Yaari"
managed to garner over 10 million hits in
less than 11 months and went on to
become the most famous song for
reunions and alumni meets.
As Bryan Eisenberg has said:
“Effective content marketing is about
mastering the art of storytelling. Facts
tell, but stories sell”.
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Size : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm
Global Connect
Global Wins
DDB Group Singapore named a
Cannes Chimera 2015 Challenge
winner
said: “Over the last five years, we have,
with the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, created a series of
New Zealand placed third. OMD China
was among the top three Media
Agencies of the Year.
In total, over 40 Omnicom agencies in
12 countries contributed to nearly
150 Spike awards. More than any other
holding company, Omnicom agencies
won 4 Grand Prix awards in Design,
Digital, Direct, and Promo and
Activation, as well as 3 Creative
Effectiveness awards.
Colenso BBDO's "Reduce Speed Dial"
innovative campaign for Volkswagen
was a multiple award-winner taking the
top prize in Digital and Direct.
Whybin/ TBWA won a Grand Prix and
two Golds for their "It's Your Call"
campaign for 3AW. DDB Group New
Zealand was among the top three
agencies and won two Grand Prix
awards, the highest honor, in Design,
Promo and Activation.
An initiative by Cannes Lions and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cannes
Chimera challenges the global creative
industry to build awareness and support
for the Global Citizen platform, and help
solve critical global development
problems. For this reason, it’s the award
you want to win more than a gold Lion.
The winning idea from DDB Group
Singapore’s Paolo Agulto and Joseph
Chan was titled ‘Sign up is power’; an
initiative that plans to build booths around
towns in the UK, US, France, Germany,
Canada and Australia which allow people
sign up in support of Global Citizen while
absorbing their body heat. The heat is
then converted into electricity for
communities to prove that even small
acts can make a real difference.
This is the fifth and final year that the
Cannes Chimera challenge will run.
Phil Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions,
2
sustainable campaigns and built
meaningful relationships across the
industry. Most importantly we’ve
hopefully inspired the community to
apply their creativity to the highest of
causes: humankind.”
Omnicom takes Top Honors at 2015
Spikes Asia Festival
BBDO and DDB finished in the Top
Three Networks for 7th Consecutive
Year.
At the annual Spikes Asia Festival of
Creativity, Omnicom agencies continued
to be the most creatively awarded in the
industry. BBDO received the top honor,
Network of the Year, for the second
consecutive year, with DDB placing third.
The award came on the heels of BBDO
winning the Cannes Lions APAC
Network of the Year. Colenso BBDO
won Agency of the Year and DDB Group
"Omnicom once again had a great
showing at Spikes and it's especially
gratifying to see our networks and
agencies continue their winning streak in
an incredibly competitive region," said
John Wren, President and CEO,
Omnicom Group. "I am extremely proud
of the recognition, the work that earned
it, and the people that made it happen."
DDB at CLIO awards
The CLIO Awards, the esteemed
international advertising, design and
communications competition took place
on 30 September 2015 in New York City
Global Connect
and featured an array of celebrities,
musicians and top-tier creative talent on
hand to celebrate the best work of the
year. Alec Baldwin served as host for
the awards, held at the American
Museum of Natural History. The night
also featured performances by
X Ambassadors and Salt-N-Pepa.
The 2015 CLIO Awards was presented
by HP.
DDB DM9 JaymeSyfu
DDB agencies from around the world
contributed to a win of six silver and
seven bronze awards in various
categories.
El Taier DDB wins Agency of the
Year at Antigua Festival
DDB Melbourne‘s Radiant Return for
Radiant won a silver in the Social Media
category and two bronzes in the Direct
Film and Integrated Campaign
categories. It also bagged 2 bronze
Lions at Cannes.
DDB California brought home a silver
under the Films Commercial - under
30-sec category for Clorox’ Bleachable
Moments.
adam&eveDDB also received a silver
under the Films Short Form category for
John Lewis’ Monty’s Christmas. Its
campaign Bad Fit for Harvey Nichols
also earned a silver in the Print and Out
of Home Posters categories and a
bronze in the Print Technique category.
DM9DDB earned a silver for Tell My
Story in the Design Direct Marketing
category for Amor Exigente.
Volkswagen’s Bi Xenon Headlamps by
DDB Mudra Group won a bronze in
‘Design’ off the back of its bronze
Cannes Lion win earlier this year.
DDB Paris contributed two bronze
awards to the haul.
#DDB DM9 JaymeSyfu capped off 4A's
The 18th Agency of the Year Awards as
2nd time Best in Creative and 4th time
Best in Industry Leadership & Community
Service (2 years in a row and
4 years in row)!
DDB Group New Zealand’s April Fools
double bluff cleans up at AdStars 2015
DDB agencies from across Asia Pacific
brought home 15 awards from the
AdStars 2015 Festival held in Busan at
the end of August 2015. The haul
included two crystal, two gold, three
silver and eight bronze awards across
five campaigns.
DDB Group New Zealand won a total of
11 awards for two of its much lauded
campaigns this year, including ‘Reverse
April Fools’ for BMW and ‘Don’t trade
me’ for Paw Justice. The former won
gold in the Branded Viral Videos and
Campaign Videos categories, silver in
PR and Media and a further four bronze
awards in PR and Media. ‘Don’t trade
me’ won one silver and two bronze
awards in PR.
DDB Group Vietnam and DDB Group
Singapore each won a crystal award for
Green Cross ‘Kinetic Energy Shoe’ and
StarHub ‘4G4Good’, respectively.
‘4G4Good’ also took home bronze in
PR.
DDB Mudra Group completed the
awards tally with a bronze in Design for
‘Volkswagen Identity’.
The festival that celebrates Central
America’s creativity, Antigua, took place
in August in Guatemala. Taier DDB won
the maximum recognition as Agency of
the Year and Best Local Agency in
Guatemala, and received a Grand Jade
for its campaign “Checa tu trago” for
Seguros El Roble. The agency won
10 additional medals and awards
including three golds, three silvers and
three bronzes.
DDB South Africa’s Skittles
“YouTube the Rainbow” Radio
Campaign recognized at the
Loerie Awards in South Africa
DDB South Africa’s radio campaign for
Wrigley’s “Country”, “Opera” and
“Disney”, which are made up of
YouTube subscribers’ comments,
excelled in the Cannes Festival Silver
Lions category.
At the Loerie Awards the campaign
received one Campaign Craft Certificate
in the Radio Communication – Direction
category and one Campaign Craft
Certificate in the Radio Communication
– Performance category.
‘The Loerie Awards recognized as the
most prestigious in the region is
dedicated to the recognition of creative
excellence in the brand communications
industry in Africa and the Middle East.
3
Global Connect
Global News
Keith Reinhard receives Clio's
Lifetime Achievement honor
endlessly fascinating world of
advertising. Given a chance, I'd do it all
over again”.
Established in 1959, the Clio Awards
annually celebrate high achievement in
the advertising industry. Other Clio
Lifetime Achievement Award winners
include Dan Wieden (2009), Joe Pytka
(2011) and George Lois (2013)
junior and senior-level creatives, such as
seminars and speaking engagements,
as a way of connecting younger
professionals with seasoned advertising
experts.
Luis Miguel Messianu is
ADCOLOR’S 2015 Legend Honoree
Amir Kassaei named as Integration
Jury President by LIA
Now here is an award that is richly
deserved. DDB Chairman Emeritus Keith
Reinhard was presented the Clio Awards
2015 Lifetime Achievement Award, at a
ceremony held at the American Museum
of Natural History in New York City on
30 September 2015. Matthew Weiner,
director, producer, writer and creator of
AMC’s Mad Men presented the Award
to Reinhard.
Anyone who has spent more than five
minutes in the advertising industry
knows Reinhard's name. Noted Clio
president Nicole Purcell: "Keith's legacy
is one that not only includes iconic spots
in advertising, but groundbreaking work
in shaping the creative industry as we
know it today." During his years as an ad
creative, Reinhard worked on advertising
for many major brands, including State
Farm, Anheuser-Busch, Volkswagen and
PepsiCo. But it is the work Reinhard
oversaw for McDonald's while he was
based at DDB Chicago that truly sets
him apart from the vast majority of his
creative peers. When pressed, even
Reinhard would admit McDonald's was
always his favorite client. He helped
mastermind a slew of iconic advertising
for the burger behemoth in McDonald's
early years, including "You Deserve a
Break Today" and a number of other
charming, story-driven commercials.
As he took on a larger network role
within DDB, Reinhard also helped create
Omnicom Group, the global agency
holding company that encompasses a
number of the world's top creative ad
agencies. Said Reinhard as he prepared
to accept the Clio Award, "I am blessed
to have been involved for a lifetime in the
4
LIA, formerly known as the London
International Advertising Awards,
recently announced that Amir Kassaei,
Chief Creative Officer of DDB Worldwide,
has been selected to join the prestigious
Integration jury. LIA is a worldwide award
annually honoring legends, pioneers,
and embodiments of excellence in
Advertising, Digital, Production, Design,
Music & Sound and Technology. This
year’s awards show judging is slated to
take place in Las Vegas between 1 and
10 October 2015.
Kassaei has also been selected as a
speaker for this year’s conference.
Carlos Rangel to participate in
“Creative LIAisons”
The ADCOLOR Industry Conference is
the premier diversity gathering for
professionals at all levels. This year, they
chose to honor Alma Founder and CEO
Luis Messianu for his dedication to
championing diversity on the screen, in
print and in the workplace.
The conference and awards show took
place in New York on 19 September
2015.
Rich Guest and Noelle Troccoli
selected for 2015 min “Sweet 16”
List
In addition, Carlos Rangel, Associate
Creative Director of DDB Chicago, has
been chosen to participate in LIA’s
“Creative LIAisons” event. LIA has been
running Creative LIAisons in conjunction
with their judging period for their annual
awards for the last four years.
During the Creative LIAisons event,
Rangel will take part in a series of
interactive networking events between
The min Integrated Marketing Awards,
which salute the campaigns, ongoing
programs and innovative people who’ve
raised the bar on magazine marketing
programs, named Rich Guest, President
of Tribal Worldwide – North America,
and Noelle Troccoli, Media Supervisor at
DDB New York, to the 2015 “Sweet 16”
Global Connect
list. The awards show was held on
22 September 2015, at the Grand Hyatt
in New York City.
The annual min Sweet 16 list
recognizes 16 of the most influential
marketers and media buyers in
magazine publishing. To be considered
for this list, nominees must fervently
support magazine brands and also be
incredibly active in their field. Rich and
Noelle were nominated based on their
successes in the digital agency industry
by a collection of min’s editorial staff.
Global Change Award launched by
DDB Stockholm
access to a tailor-made innovation
accelerator. The global public will be
invited to distribute half of the total grant
through an online vote. The result will be
revealed at a grand award ceremony in
Stockholm, in February 2016.
The innovation accelerator − a
collaboration with Accenture and KTH
Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm − will give the five winners the
support and knowledge they need to
actualize their ideas. Starting off with an
innovation boot camp in Stockholm,
provided by KTH Innovation, it will be
followed up by guidance from Accenture
Strategy on how to develop the winning
ideas further. This includes the provision
of a one-year training and coaching
program with a particular focus on
circular economy. The innovation
accelerator will also provide exclusive
fashion industry access and offer
possibilities to build networks and try out
the ideas within the fashion value chain.
earphones in the world on Kickstarter
on 31 August 2015. The PUGZ team
Five winners, chosen by an expert jury,
will share a grant of €1 million and get
Since 2007, DDB has been bringing
some of the world’s most exciting
creative pioneers to Spikes Asia. This
year’s DDB Presents… speaker was
Vincent Laforet. A global filmmaker,
Pulitzer prize-winner and former staff
photographer at The New York Times,
Vincent’s core values of creativity and
humanity made him a perfect candidate
for what has become Spikes’ most
attended speaking event.
Vincent presented a seminar on day
one of Spikes Asia, followed shortly
afterwards by a workshop to a
Another first from DDB Stockholm
DDB Stockholm, a co-founder of a
start-up named PUGZ launched its
prototype of the smallest wireless
On 25 August 2015, DDB Stockholm
launched “The Global Change Award”
together with H&M Conscious
Foundation. The award takes on one of
the biggest challenges facing today's
fashion industry – to create fashion for a
growing population while reducing its
impact on the environment. The aim of
the challenge is to protect the earth’s
natural resources by closing the loop for
fashion by catalyzing green, truly
groundbreaking ideas. The question for
fashion is no longer “What is the new
black?” but rather “What innovative
ideas can close the loop?”
DDB presents… Vincent Laforet at
Spikes Asia 2015
consists of techies and designers that
have been working on this dream
project in secrecy for over a year now.
With no wires attached to the phone
you can easily access your PUGZ and
enjoy a smooth wireless experience.
The lightweight and the minimal shape
of the earbuds gives you a perfect fit
and lets you walk around freely, without
bothering with wires or tangles.
The wireless earphones will also be the
first product on the market to be
charged directly through your phone.
So, you can listen and charge at the
same time.
combined audience of young marketers
and creatives as part of the growing
Spikes Academy initiative.
There is no denying Vincent Laforet
knows his craft inside and out. After
years of going backwards and forwards
between photography and directing,
Vincent now refers to himself as a visual
storyteller. While he has an enviable
knowledge of equipment, technology
and gadgets (and 7 million annual
readers to his blog agree), Vincent
maintains it’s the story behind your
content that counts and makes it
go viral.
Here are the key take-aways from
Vincent’s inspirational, and at times jaw
dropping, speaker session at Spikes
Asia 2015.
AIR. Los Angeles-based Vincent came
to Spikes fresh from completing project
AIR. A series of photographs capturing
world cities from 7,500 feet. Over Las
5
Global Connect
McDonald's has seriously boosted its
environmental credentials with its latest
packaging innovation -- takeaway
containers designed for cyclists.
The packaging, designed created by
Tribal Worldwide Buenos Aires fits neatly
onto a bike's handlebars. Launched first
in bike-friendly Copenhagen, Denmark
and in Medellin, Colombia, it has plans
to roll out in Amsterdam and Tokyo.
Vegas the helicopter rose to a
staggering 10,000 feet with an oxygen
starved Vincent hanging out of the door
in the clutches of his trusted harness.
The images he shared, some of which
he showed for the first time at Spikes,
offer a never-before-seen perspective of
world cities. The technology to do this
only became available last year and the
results are breathtaking. In Vincent’s
own words, “Every city has its own
pattern, you can see how we interact
with each other and with the
environment. You can almost feel the
energy in the globe coming out of the
city,” he added.
More with less. With rapid
developments in technology over the
last five or six years, people these days
think everything can be done quicker
and cheaper. Just because you can,
said Vincent, certainly doesn’t mean
you should. With increasing pressure to
do more with less, you have to think
outside the box.
New tools are allowing us to shoot
things in a different way and break the
model. Vincent referenced a
collaboration with UGG for Treadlite
where he overcame budgetary
constraints and leapfrogged what can
be a stifling production process to let
his own creativity flow.
and think out of the box. Starting in July,
the students worked on live projects
with real clients alongside the DDB
creative, planning and account teams,
as part of an initiative designed to
bridge the gap between academic
theories and hands-on practice, helping
young talent to unleash their potential.
In Hong Kong, interns experienced the
process from campaign planning to
creative ideation through both lectures
and hands-on experiences.
In China, teams tackled different
problems and participated in
co-creation alongside weekly ‘Sparks’
sessions where they listened to DDB
veterans sharing their knowledge.
6
On 25 April 2015, at 11:56 am local
time, the tiny Himalayan country of
Nepal was stunned by a massive
7.6 magnitude earthquake with
shocking consequences.
DDB Melbourne rising star makes
2015 The Women in Media Awards
shortlist
DDB Melbourne Senior Business
Director, Julia Sheehan was shortlisted
for 2015’s ‘Rising Star’ by B&T’s The
Women in Media Awards.
2015 Future Bernbachs lift the bar
Launched in 2013, Future Bernbachs
celebrates Bill Bernbach’s legacy and
showcases the agency’s commitment in
educating young talent through
knowledge sharing and best practice
over an intensive three-month course.
Jimmy Lam, Vice Chairman & Chief
Creative Officer of DDB China Group,
who initiated the program, explained
that the interns were in for “the toughest
three months” as the agency gets them
“out of their comfort zone”. “They will
learn how to breakthrough boundaries
DDB Sydney launched Namaste for
Nepal, an art event that assisted the
nation’s rebuilding efforts following the
devastating earthquake earlier this year.
In light of this, DDB launched Namaste
for Nepal; an art auction in partnership
with Save the Children to raise funds to
directly help in the rebuilding efforts of
this small country known as the roof of
the world.
The moral of the story? Question
everything you do, find new ways of
thinking outside the box and don’t let a
process stifle your creativity.
DDB Hong Kong’s inaugural Future
Bernbachs program went underway
with talented interns from universities
across China and Hong Kong enjoying
a taste of agency life in the fast lane.
DDB Group Australia joins hands
with Nepal for relief-effort initiative
On top of that, all interns were actively
involved in each agency’s routine
development.
Tribal Worldwide Buenos Aires
introduces packaging innovation
The Women in Media Awards
celebrates all the inspiring, innovating
and game-changing women in the
industry, and Julia joins an impressive
lineup of women from across Australia
under 13 different categories of
recognition.
The Highlights
DDB Worldwide announces new
Management Structure in Asia Pacific
Chuck Brymer, Global CEO,
DDB Asia, responsible for managing
DDB Worldwide announced a new
DDB offices in Southeast Asia, Greater
management structure in the Asia Pacific
China, Japan, and Korea. He reports to
region on 18 September 2015.
Chuck Brymer, Chief Executive Officer of
DDB Worldwide.
Effective 1 October 2015, the
DDB offices in Australia, New Zealand
and India report directly to headquarters.
Thus, both Madhukar Kamath, Group
CEO & MD, DDB Mudra Group in India
and Marty O’Hallaran, Chairman and
CEO, DDB Group Australia and
Said John Zeigler, “I have worked with
New Zealand report directly to
many talented people, and the time is
Chuck Brymer.
right for these same people to continue to
drive DDB Asia Pacific forward. DDB has
Said Madhukar Kamath, “Since the
been my extended family for so long, and
acquisition of the Mudra Group by DDB in
I will always think of it with fondness,
November 2011, it has been a fascinating
pride and admiration.”
growth journey. As part of the
DDB Asia Pacific network, we learnt a lot
Brymer commented, “John has been a
from John, Marty, David and the rest of
terrific partner for both DDB and myself.
the team in APAC. I now look forward to
He contributed an enormous amount to
working closely with our Global CEO,
our agency’s growth in terms of our
Chuck Brymer. For my colleagues and
people, our work and our clients. We
me, this new reporting structure
wish him well in his new endeavours.
underscores the importance of the
I also look forward to working closely with
David Tang, who leads DDB Group
DDB Mudra Group and the immense
our colleagues in India, Asia, Australia
Singapore was appointed the CEO of
potential for growth in India.”
and New Zealand.”
Pursuant to his retirement from the
agency, John Zeigler, former Chairman
and CEO, DDB Asia Pacific, India and
Japan has taken on the role of Chairman
Emeritus, DDB Asia Pacific effective
1 October 2015.
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Size : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm
The Highlights
Creativity for Growth
‘Creativity is the most powerful tool in
DDB Mudra Group (India) took on this
with ‘ads’ being its sole dimension, while
businesses’ –said Bill Bernbach more
task and met in Beijing and Melbourne in
marketers look for more than 1-P
than half a century ago. This is the
July and August 2015.
solution?
The charter of this group was to see
Over a week long ‘hothouse’ under the
foundation of DDB’s philosophy and the
core of our being.
Bernbach’s creative legacy in the light of
How does this belief hold in reimagining
Paul Feldwick’s pioneering thinking as a
the future of our industry in today’s day of
strategist in BMP/DDB London (credited
constant flux and incessant change? In
with inventing the discipline of account
this background of change – How does
planning) and Les Binet’s seminal work
DDB rethink, reimagine and rebuild its
as head of Effectiveness adam&eve DDB.
business and that of its clients?
Les’ analysis of close to a 1000 of the
most effectiveness case studies in
A team of five strategic leaders from
marketing help prove Bernbach’s
across the Asia Pacific region –
assertion about the power of creativity.
Great Wall of China, and then in
Melbourne, the group discussed,
deliberated and designed a set of
fundamentals, tools and processes to
drive DDB and its clients into harnessing
the true power of creativity in its full force
across the value chain of business
growth opportunities.
The group’s work that reframed the role
Carlos Palacios from DDB Singapore,
Leif Stromnes from DDB Sydney, Ian
Could we draw on this rich legacy of
of creativity to drive business growth in
Forth from DDB Melbourne as well as
DDB and define our offering by thinking
today’s times is being rolled out across
Amit Kekre and Aditya Kanthy from
and producing more than 1-D creativity,
offices and clients.t
8
The Highlights
DDB Mudra Group presents
India’s first holographic Ganesh
Lord Ganesh reduce. The calories lost by
nutritionists were present at the pandal to
the devotees were tracked in real time via
carry out free health check-ups and give
calorie meters and they had to burn close
advice on healthy lifestyle on all 11 days.
to 50,000 calories during the 11-day
event, in order to see the unique ripped,
The unique pandal pulled in over 1 lakh
fitter avatar of Lord Ganesh on the
visitors who burnt 5,50,000 calories for
last day.
Shree Ganesh in 11 days. The social
media scene buzzed with 1567 organic
The recyclable holographic technology
followers on Facebook and a
also made Lord Ganesh at Health Cha
commendable number of conversations
Shree Ganesh, an environmental-friendly
on Twitter. A unique feature was the
In 2014, DDB Mudra Group and Nutralite
alternative to the regular statue,
healthy modak prepared with Nutralite.
revolutionized the way India prayed to
maintaining the promise of a clean and
The total earned media was estimated at
Lord Ganesh during Ganesh Utsav by
healthy environment as well. The other
`10 million.
presenting India’s first six-pack abs
rituals from last year’s pandal like the
Ganesh.
on-site weighing machine, calorie
On Nutralite’s association with Health
donation screen (where one can view the
Cha Shree Ganesh-2, Sachin Dingankar,
Keeping its promise of promoting good
calories donated to the deity) and a
Marketing Head, Nutralite said, “Health
health and fitness, Health Cha Shree
donation box (where one can drop off
Cha Shree Ganesh is a unique concept
Ganesh was back this year with India’s
their unhealthy habits and take an oath to
which fits well with Nutralite’s brand
first transforming holographic Ganesh set
stay on the path of good health) were
promise of being the Healthier Choice.
up as Health Cha Shree Ganesh pandal
also in evidence.
We strongly felt that it would be a perfect
at Growel’s 101 Mall, Kandivali (East), the
venue partners.
opportunity for a brand like us to get
During the 11 days, the pandal hosted a
associated and convey the importance of
number of interesting, engaging activities
good health to consumers.”
In its second year, Lord Ganesh at Health
such as body building competitions,
Cha Shree Ganesh pandal transformed
professional Zumba dancing sessions,
Added Aneil Deepak, Head of Ideas,
into a fitter, healthier avatar with the help
diet camps, healthy cooking workshops
DDB MudraMax, “The holographic
of his beloved devotees. The devotees
and cross fit workout sessions, etc. In
technology used for Lord Ganesh was a
had to workout at a temporary gym
collaboration with the health partners –
first in its kind. A Ganapati who gets fitter
created inside the pandal by Gold’s Gym
Wockhardt Hospitals, a team of doctors,
by the day is a sight and a memory to
and donate their calorie loss to help
dieticians, health counsellors and
cherish. We have seen many pandals that
have spent and donated millions, we are
the first to spend calories towards the
Lord. Health Cha Shree Ganesh has set
new benchmarks in promoting
health and fitness.”
9
The Highlights
Big Bazaar Bharat Yatra –
Where are my customers?
2 days, 17 cities, 30 stores, 32 team
members and a total of 512 man hours
spent.
The above numbers could easily talk
about a marathon shopping spree
undertaken by a chosen lucky few at
DDB Mudra Group.
It was a marathon spree, not for
shopping though, rather to understand
the shoppers who do their shopping at
Big Bazaar. The Big Bazaar team in
collaboration with DDB Mudra Group
network undertook a massive multi-city
exercise to understand retail shopper
behaviour across various retail players in
India. The challenge was to bridge the
gap between the ubiquitous push and
pull of product marketing in retail markets
and to define the aspirational lifestyle of
Tier 1 & 2 towns.
While retailers have become highly
aggressive to push their products to
consumers, consumers have become
much more evolved in terms of fulfilling
their needs. In order to witness the shift in
their lifestyle and purchase patterns, the
team decided to investigate shopper
lifestyle patterns and observe their
shopping patterns. The insights gleaned
from this exercise would eventually help
to relook at the business and the
consumer from micro point of view.
With fresh outlook and determination, the
team, armed with research collaterals
such as store observation guides,
consumer interactions guides and linked
in profile formats of the stores, headed to
Big Bazaar and competition stores.
10
Tonnes of curiosity and daredevilry to
observe, shadow and spy upon
shoppers, store managers and
competition stores were required to get
the best insights during this exercise.
The team, not only managed to
understand the purchase patterns of
routine shoppers, they unearthed
valuable understanding about the retail
format. Retail is increasingly seeing a
major shift towards micro-management.
• 2 days, 17 cities, 30 stores, 32 team
members and a total of 512 man hours
spent to understand retail shopper
behaviour across various retail players in
India
• Collected key insights about the retail
format and new consumer realities
• Highlighted the need to upgrade retail
products and formats to cater to the 3
big “S’s” of Retail – Spending Power,
Social Mindsets and Shopping
Behaviour
• Concentration to be on catchment
area based specific consumer lifestyle
and purchase patterns rather than
consumer generalization
Retail outlets and business need to
constantly upgrade their products and
formats to cater to the 3 big “S’s” of Retail
– Spending Power, Social Mindsets and
Shopping Behaviour. The right balance
and understanding of the 3 factors
provide the major driving force for customer
loyalty and repeat purchase rate.
Says Sanjay Panday, Sr. Vice President,
DDB Mudra West, “Working on the brand
day in and day out, we get
compartmentalized in our thinking. An
exercise like this helps us pull back, open
our minds to the new consumer realities
and re-engineer the business in order to
cater to consumer needs more
effectively.”
It would have been a nightmare collating
information from 17 cities, co-ordinating
the availability of resources, identifying
the right catchments and competition
and creating a battery of questions that
help get rich information had it not been
for the dedication and innovativeness by
all the members of the team. Over the
two days of travel, all the experiences
were recorded through a Whatsapp
group which highlighted all the highs and
the lows of the research.
The exercise helped the Big Bazaar team
to uncover consumer relevance attributes
and scrutinize it by degrees to which it
helps distinguish the brand from the
commoditization forces plaguing the
product category and that within cities
there are sub-cities and sub-cultures
trying to stand out from one another in a
very unique manner. Retail businesses
should concentrate on catchment area
(radius of 2-4km from the stores) specific
consumer lifestyle and purchase patterns
rather than categorizing consumers on
the basis of catchment areas as
consumer generalization is increasingly
becoming a thing of the past.
The Highlights
Bernbach Fridays
suggestions or alternatively a concept
sketch for a poster, in order to shortlist
the attendees.
In his introduction Sonal said, “Nalin has
led a very interesting and adventurous life
which also shows in his work. He has
travelled the world and is an international
name in filmmaking. Disappointed by the
fact that India has had a plethora of male
buddy films but is yet to produce a female
buddy film, he has written and directed
what could be called India’s first female
buddy film which is slated for release
across India in Sept /Oct 2015.”
Trust Sonal Dabral to come up with
something new and different every time.
Bernbach Fridays are meant to inspire
and this one certainly did. On 17 July
2015, he rustled up an exclusive preview
screening of the first Hindi feature film
‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ made by the
renowned Pan Nalin, maker of global hits
like ‘Samsara’. As space was a constraint
Six young women from various parts of
India descend on a beautiful old Goan
home for a few days, not knowing that
their hostess has summoned them down
for her wedding. Each of them have at
some time or other smarted under the
tyranny of male dominance. They have
other things in common. They are
fearless, outspoken and ready to take on
the world and unabashedly pepper their
vocabulary with explicit four letter words.
As the stroy unfolds several aspects of
male tyranny be in the domestic, police,
legislative or social sphere are explored
and social taboos turned on their head.
From blaming the rape victim for her
predicament, to delineating the selfish
husband who cannot see beyond his
own needs or the sheer crass treatment
meted out to actresses and singers to the
right to decide ones sexual preferences,
the film sends a powerful message about
the need for women empowerment.
The film is unique at several levels. It
is the first time that an Indian director
has attempted a Female Bonding film.
Male bonding films are a dime a dozen.
Secondly, while it addresses a smattering
of women issues in the context of current
day India, it is not preachy or didactic.
Rather, it communicates its powerful
messages through storytelling and
entertainment, knowing that by
grabbing the heartstrings of the
audience, it can inspire its members to
do something to make India a safer,
better and less biased place for
women in the future.
Finally, in its making, Nalin has thrown
many accepted filmmaking techniques
and conventions to the winds in favour
of what he calls Organic Filmmaking.
He used just two handheld cameras and
a variety of unique methods of lighting to
capture a very realistic and new
cinematic look. The protagonists were
not prepped with detailed dialogues but
were encouraged to speak from the
heart. Thus making them very real and
easy to relate to. Their characters are
revealed in reverse so to speak, with their
flaws, faults and frailties being highlighted
first and their compassion, depth and
goodness coming through in the course
of the film.
at the preview theatre, a contest was held
calling for loglines and tagline
Two other females, a child and a
domestic help, complete the main cast.
The film promises to be a big hit in the
West whose appetite for Indian themes
has been whet by movies like Slumdog
Millionaire.
11
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The Highlights
Ahmedabad office gets
a spanking new look
Mudra Tower is where the Mudra dream
On 25 March 2015, exactly 35 years
Omnicom Group and has more than
began, where its success story was first
after Mudra was born, DDB Mudra’s
100 people working there.
scripted. This was the original
office in Mudra Tower reincarnated into
headquarters of Mudra Communications
a new form – a renovated building. and in the early nineties was the place
where the most iconic fashion
advertising was created for Vimal.
The place where the most endearing
work was done for Rasna and Dhara.
Emerging out of its previous pale self
into something a lot brighter and lighter.
It now houses the office of various units
of the DDB Mudra Group, viz.,
Putting all communication services
under one roof has helped in ensuring
greater collaboration; integration with
the larger team is helping in sharpening
our ideas. The canvas is becoming DDB Mudra West, DDB MudraMax
larger, the campaigns more innovative
The place where numerous
(OOH and Media), Corporate Finance
and the brands a lot more influential. entrepreneurial ambitions incubated, from
and Corporate IT Teams, as well as
Symphony to Paras to Sun Pharma. Hall & Partners Research of the
12
The Highlights
Sameer Mehta elevated to President, TracyLocke India
DDB Mudra Group announced the
elevation of Sameer Mehta to the post of
President, TracyLocke India. TracyLocke
is DDB Mudra Group’s shopper
marketing, field marketing and retail
solutions agency. In his new role, Mehta
reports to Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO
& MD, DDB Mudra Group.
Mehta has been a part of the DDB Mudra
Group since 2005 and has been
instrumental in setting up and growing its
field marketing, retail solutions and shopper
marketing services. He has led the
business transformation of this agency to
offer the entire spectrum of these services
under one roof. With 17 years of
experience in this field, Mehta has
knowledge and experience in helping
businesses grow through interventions at
the point of purchase and this has been
utilised extensively for brands such as
Samsung, Motorola, Hindustan Unilever,
Marico, Sony and others.
New Joinees
Vineet Kindra
Pushpendra Singh
Arijit Chakrabarty
Nilay Moonje
Vineet Kindra has joined DDB Mudra North as Sr. Vice President & Business Partner. A
brand management and communications professional, he has wide ranging experience in
brand building through providing strategic inputs to help realize marketing objectives. He
comes from L&K Saatchi & Saatchi and previously had stints with Rediffusion Y&R, O&M
and Triton in Delhi. Some of the brands he has worked on include Carlsberg/Tuborg,
Huawei, Xerox, Yahoo!, DLF, CNN-IBN and Dabur Hair Oil. He was involved with the
launch of Hindustan Times first “I Love Delhi” festival and the re-launch of HT City. He has
worked on the immensely successful TV commercial for Greenply in 2005 that brought the
brand a lot of recognition. He has an MBA (Marketing) Degree from IGNOU, New Delhi,
and a Postgraduate Diploma in Advertising & Public Relations from Centre for Mass Media,
YMCA, New Delhi.
Pushpendra Singh has joined DDB MudraMax in Gurgaon as Senior VP OOH &
Experiential. He is an astute marketing professional with over 23 years experience in
NBD, Media Planning, Brand Building activities, Events, Outdoors and other BTL
promotions. He was earlier with Street Talk Connect Pvt. Ltd. as Consulting Adviser
where his key responsibility was establishing an outdoor advertising agency. Pushpendra
started his career as a sales officer and worked in various sales and management
positions, mainly in the outdoor advertising sector. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in
Commerce from the Rajasthan University.
Arijit Chakrabarty has joined DDB MudraMax in Gurgaon as General Manager. He has
13 years of cross-functional experience spanning corporate strategy, media sales, and
product leadership. He comes from Greenlam Industries Limited where he held the
position of Dy. General Manager (Product Head – Laminates). He began his career as
Senior Officer, Corporate Strategy and Planning Group, Times of India, Delhi. Arijit has a
Postgraduate Diploma in Advertising and Communications Management from the
Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune and was a first rank holder of the
2001 batch.
Nilay Moonje has joined DDB Mudra West as Group Creative Director. He has more than
12 years experience and has worked on leading national and international brands such
as Amaron Batteries, SBI Life Insurance, Glycodin Cough Syrup, Star TV, Tata Motors,
Parle, Johnnie Walker and Reliance Mutual Fund. He was awarded the Ogilvy Young
National Creative Person of the Year, 2004 and has won several awards at Abby, Mirchi
Kaan, Effie, Kyoorius, National Hero and Asia Pacific Adfest. He has a Postgraduate
Diploma in Advertising and Public Relations, from the K. C. College of Management
Studies and stood first in Copywriting at a Programme in Crafting Advertising at the
Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA), 2002. He also achieved the
First Rank and was awarded Dubai Media City’s IBDA’A International Media Student
2003 Award for Advertising.
13
The Highlights
Wassup @ MICA?
Events
• A 2-day In-Company Management
Development Program was organized
for the sales team of HT Media Ltd. in
Gurgaon.
• MICA was invited as session
facilitators (online and in-person) to help
build global UNICEF capacity in
communication for development.
• MICA Incubator Centre organised its
first Demo Day of the year on 5 July
2015 in association with eChai,
supported by Innovify (a UK based
company builder and Incubator) and
Entrepreneurial Spark (the world’s
largest free business accelerator for
early stage and growing ventures.
Ten start-ups, one company builder and
one accelerator made presentations
while awards were handed out to local
entrepreneurs. The Centre also
hosted a talk by MICA alumnus
(PGP- 2001-03) Varun Dua,
Co-founder and CEO of Coverfox.
• The MICA MDP Centre headed by
Mr. Narayan Nair commenced the
3rd batch of Viacom18 postgraduate
certificate program in Sales & Marketing
Management.
• Mr. Venkatagiri Rao, ex-Executive,
Creative Director, DDB Mudra Group,
Mumbai, and a MICAn from the batch
of 1999-2001 held a session on
‘Creativity + Humanity’ for the MICA
community.
Thought Leadership
• MICA added three new Governing
Council members in Dr. Tridip Suhrud,
Director, Sabarmati Ashram,
Ahmedabad, Mr. Achal Bakeri, Founder
Chairman & Managing Director,
Symphony Limited, Ahmedabad and
Mr. Abhijit Bhaduri, Chief Learning
Officer, Wipro Group, Bengaluru.
• MICA welcomed a new Dean in
Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay and a new
faculty member in Prof. Anjali Bansal
and new staff members in Mr. Brahma
Ghosh Raval and Mr. Govind Chauhan.
• Dr. Nagesh Rao was invited to join
the Editorial Advisory Board of Vikalpa:
The Journal for Decision Makers, a
quarterly peer-reviewed management
journal of Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad.
14
• On the occasion of World Social
Media Day, Prof. Falguni V Oza was
invited to speak at The Social Media
Conclave in Bangalore and later also
recorded a podcast with Web Marketing
Academy, Bangalore. She was also
invited to talk on "Teaching
Methodology" at the Teachers Training
Program at GLS, Ahmedabad.
• Prof. Panda was invited as a resource
person to the 2-day Faculty
Development Program (Teaching and
Learning Process) organised by the
GLS University, Ahmedabad.
• Prof. Dhaval Patel was invited to work
as a mentor for entrepreneurial
healthcare start-ups in USA at MATTER,
an organization currently working with
about 90 companies. Prof. Patel was
also appointed member of the Technical
Committee for the upcoming 2015
Global Social Business Summit
Academia Conference.
• Prof. Shubhra Gaur’s book titled
Charity to Parity: New Dimensions of
NGO Management was formally
released on the occasion of MICA’s
inaugural function.
• Prof. Varsha Jain was appointed as a
reviewer for American Marketing
Association, AMA Winter Conference,
2016.
• Dr. Atish was invited to be part of the
grand jury by PitchonNet.com, the
marketing magazine to choose the top
50 Brands for 2015.
• Prof. Varsha Jain was appointed as a
reviewer for a premier international peer
reviewed journal of American Academy
of Advertising, AAA, Journal of
Advertising.
• Prof. Dipti Kulkarni presented a paper
titled "Forestalling trouble through self
repair in instant messaging interactions"
at the 14th International Pragmatics
Conference in Antwerp, Belgium.
• Prof. U. T. Rao was invited as
speaker on “Industries –
Entrepreneurship & Start-ups” at the
Gujarat Chintan Shivir held in the
presence of the Chief Minister and other
ministers of Gujarat government.
He was invited to be a member for the
core group to suggest / recommend
Start-up Policy for the Govt. of Gujarat.
Prof. Rao was also nominated as part of
the jury for the Make in India Excellence
Awards – 2015.
Mr. Saugata Gupta, CEO,
Consumer Products
inaugurated MICA’s
three residential programs for
the academic year 2015-16,
viz., the 22nd batch of
PGDM(C), the 25th batch of
CCC and the 5th batch of the
FPM on 29 June 2015
The valedictory function of the
10 students who attended a
month long course on Creative
Communication held for Disney
UTV. This was a culmination of
the Bindaas Dream Start –
Certificate Program in Creative
Communication for Disney UTV
at the MICA MDP centre.
MICA conducted a 3-day
In-Company Management
Training Program (ICTP) on
Strategic Corporate
Communication for Managers
from various regional offices
of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
(IOCL).
Thought Leadership
Sonal Dabral
BullsEye Conference 2015
The weekend of 1 and 2 August 2015
saw Sonal participate in the second
edition of "Proud Fathers For
Daughters" an initiative started in 2014
by Atul Kasbekar. This year Atul
partnered with Colston Julian and
Jaideep Oberoi to once again
photograph portraits of Fathers and
Daughters for free. The retouched,
colour corrected prints were then made
available for a small minimum donation
of ` 5000 and the entire proceeds went
to Nanhi Kali, a dynamic NGO that has
made it possible for several hundreds of
underprivileged girls to go to junior
school for an entire year.
ADSTARS 2015
Sonal reported that he saw some
amazing and inspiring pieces of work
from Asia Pacific DDB offices during its
BullsEye Conference 2015. BullsEye is
DDB's Regional Creative meet held
annually. This year it was held from
20 to 21 July 2015 at the Commune by
the Great Wall which is located in the
Shuiguan Mountains, a one and half
hour drive outside of Beijing.
Sonal was invited to serve as a final
judge at the 8th ADSTARS event in
Busan, S Korea. The event was held
from 20 to 22 August 2015. ADSTARS
is the world’s first convergent
advertising festival consisting of a
preliminary online competition running
year round and the main offline
competition in which the finalists
contend for honours and prizes.
Sonal also received the Gold in the
Brand Stars category that was awarded
to DDB Mudra Group for its work on
Volkswagen.
Creative All Stars
On the heels of Spikes, on
14 September 2015, he went to Kuala
Lumpur for the Creative All Stars event.
The theme of the full day conference
this year was "The Next Big Thing”, and
Sonal had the opportunity to showcase
his latest work and also talk about what
he sees ahead for Creativity. He opened
his presentation with an impromptu
rendition of Shah Rukh Khan's Kuch
Kuch Hota Hai which the crowds
absolutely loved.
Other stars that attended included Khai
Meng, John Merrifield, Edmund Choe,
Merlee Jayme, Ted Lim, Gigi Lee, Hwa,
CK Tan and more.
Needless to say Sonal used the
30 minutes slot allotted to him to inspire
with his wisdom, wit and tips on how
to make it to the global stage.
#ProudFathersFor Daughters
15
HotStuff Book Issue
Size : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm
Q&A
A tête-à-tête with Sally Ali
vocation again. I joined a staffing firm
as a Recruiter and handled the
specialized area of recruiting
paraprofessionals from all over the
world. I loved this position because it
was the perfect melding of business
and human relations. I was particularly
effective in this role and helped grow
the business from 50 to 500 people
and triple the income within a year’s
time. They monopolized their market at
the time. I was promoted to lead the
Recruiting team and eventually the HR
team and grew the team from 2 to 20
around the world.
Please tell us a little about your
academic background and the
career path that led up to your
joining DDB Worldwide.
My academic background was certainly
not designed for the job that I am
handling in DDB today! To quote John
Lennon, “Life is what happens to you
when you’re busy making other plans.”
I grew up in NYC, one of five children of
an immigrant family that had crossed
over from the West Indies. Since I was
the eldest, the responsibility of acting as
the mediator of my siblings was thrust
upon me. It was this grounding coupled
with a passion for people that inspired
me to begin working in the Social
Services area of helping children, when
I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in
Psychology. I felt then that my skills and
passion would be put to best use in
helping children. This brought me into
close personal contact with hundreds
of neglected children and those from
homes with domestic abuse. After
doing this for a year, I realized that
I could not cope with the emotional toll
and switched jobs.
This time the pendulum swung to the
other extreme. I joined a firm called
Thomson Financial where I worked as
an Account Manager in the investor
relations team managing the accounts
of several Fortune 500 companies.
I learned a lot about business and
management during my time with
Thomson, but I was ready to move on
after 3 years, towards a people related
16
Size : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm
With my passion in business and HR,
I decided that it was time to return to
school for some grounded learning in
leadership and organizational change
and so I pursued my Masters degree in
New York City. Shortly, after
completing my degree in 2006, I joined
DDB, in Jan 2007, as a Talent
Associate working on Europe, Middle
East and Africa with the former Chief
People Officer of EMEA and a best
practice expert on global talent
management.
What made you join DDB and what
were the milestones of your career
path here?
I have a passion for people and
advertising because it is all about
people.
People are our key assets in
this business and it is their
knowledge, creative talent,
skills and the ability to think
outside the box that provide the
raw material and the fuel to
create our products –
outstanding and innovative
advertising campaigns.
Two years after joining DDB I was
promoted to Senior Consultant, Talent
for EMEA and still held the global best
practice responsibilities. My job was to
drive the engagement of leaders with
the People philosophy by executing
our People 10-point plan, at the time,
with leaders in EMEA. In addition
I developed our first global online
performance appraisal system,
training programs for coaching
managers on delivering performance
feedback and created best practices
around selection and interviewing.
In 2011, our former Chief People
Officer, Greg Taucher, promoted me to
Director, Global Talent, overseeing our
entire talent management practice –
performance management, leadership
and top talent identification and
selection, recruiting & mobility best
practice, diversity & inclusion and
employee engagement survey design
and analysis. Within 3 months of
being in this role, our Global CEO,
Chuck Brymer approached me to take
on the additional responsibility of
being the Director of Corporate
Development. This added
responsibility gave me the opportunity
to be the liaison between DDB and
Omnicom in an operations role.
I managed both positions for 2 years
and then realized that the Corporate
Development position, while exposing
me to senior leadership at DDB &
Omnicom and the inner workings of
our organization, left little room for
strategic pursuit on the talent side.
Chuck and I discussed options and
I took what some at DDB like to refer
to as a sabbatical. Within two weeks
of being away from DDB, I received a
call from Chuck inviting me to rejoin as
Chief Talent Officer and to join the
Executive Board, as one of only two
women. An offer I could not resist!
Please describe your current role
and responsibilities...
I partner with Chuck and Amir to
deliver on the vision of the company.
I set the direction of our talent strategy
based on the corporate strategy.
I reinforce the People, Product, Profit
philosophy through the work that we
do in the People Team. That is that
with talented people, we produce
Q&A
great work that sells. I see our 3 Ps
philosophy as somewhat akin to a
3 legged stool. You cannot achieve
the ideal balance if one leg is too short
or too long.
It is my goal that in five
years time our entire
network will behave more as
a network with constant
collaboration, insights
shared across borders and
the unshakeable and
pervasive belief that People
are our number one assets.
My current responsibilities fall into
three main areas globally. They are
Talent Management, Learning and
Development and Talent Acquisition.
My team consists of 11 people who
are assigned to global projects such
as performance management, top
talent programs, learning and
development, employee engagement
(Voice), recruiting, diversity and
inclusion. A few of these people are
dedicated to leading the People
strategy in a region.
One of the tools that we use to identify
talent is our People Day process
where top talent in each market are
recognized and made visible to senior
leaders around the world. We use our
Voice survey to solicit feedback from
our employees to test the health of our
organization along key areas like
Career Development, Company
Strategy and Innovation, to name a
few. The feedback gives us insights
into what we are doing well and
enables us to improve upon high
needs areas for our success.
Leadership Development is a priority
and we currently partner with
Omnicom to ensure our senior
executives have access to the best
trainings. There are three programs
available to senior executives – the
Advanced Management Program
(AMP) and the Senior Management
Program (SMP), which are the highest
esteemed programs led by Harvard
Business School professors and the
Agency Leadership Program (ALP),
which helps leaders gain and develop
their abilities operating a business.
At DDB Worldwide, we have our
Management Development Program
(MDP), that focuses on developing
and enhancing the skills of mid level
managers. A majority of our
population also has access to
incredible online learning through our
Learning Management Platform,
Grovo.
As the direction of our business is
moving fast, so are the areas of Talent.
Today, performance management,
learning and development and even
recruiting look different than they did
only just one or two years ago. We
need to be more efficient, agile and
faster in the way we identify and retain
talent. We need to pursue a true
blended learning approach to
employee development, because
development can happen on the job,
in a mentoring or coaching
relationship, through a challenging
project and not just in a classroom.
And we need to find talent in the most
atypical places than we ever did
before, in the most dynamic and
different ways than we ever did before.
This is all what my team and I work on
everyday. Striving to find a better way
to identify, develop and retain the best
talents.
What was the main purpose of
your visit to India?
At the top of the agenda for my recent
visit to India was to get a firsthand look
into DDB’s operations in India.
Madhukar Kamath had personally
invited me to come and see what the
DDB Mudra Group is all about.
To understand its operations and get
to know the people who are leading
the businesses in India. It’s a really
complex operation with so many
different businesses working so
closely together under one umbrella. It
requires strong leadership and I found
that the people at the helm who make
up Madhukar’s team are fit for the
challenge. The conversations around
change and growth are so important
today and hearing that India were well
beyond the beginning of this, by
actually doing some of it, was
refreshing.
I’m proud they are part of the DDB
family and proud I get the privilege to
work with these fine people.
Please share your experience of
India and how successful your
visit has been?
During my visit, I had the privilege to
sit in for the six monthly performance
reviews of each of the businesses and
was especially pleased to see that the
presentations were created using the
3 P’s template of People, Product and
Performance. Each business
showcased what it was doing in these
key areas. In return, I provided them
with some insights based on
experiences from other parts of the
world particularly in the respect of Top
Talent, Voice (the employee
engagement tool).
I’ve always heard about the
amazing job that the LLC
team are doing and finally
had the opportunity to see
them in action. They have
been able to realize the goal
of having team members truly
embedded as partners into
each of the businesses.
This is something that only
5% of companies in the
DDB network has
managed to do.
My only regret is that time did not
permit me to meet more people at
DDB Mudra Group. I would have
loved to get to know more of them on
a better footing to really understand
what passion they have for DDB,
their work and for their careers.
I look forward to my next visit and to
meeting more of the fabulous people
at DDB Mudra Group.
17
Size : (W) 235 X (H) 345 mm
Best of DDB Worldwide
McDonald’s | MAC IT BETTER | DDB Sydney
Globally, Big Mac sales were at an all-time low. To restore the icon to its former
glory to an audience who couldn’t care less, McDonald’s did the unimaginable. It
released its legendary Big Mac secret sauce. It began by producing a limited run of
bottles and allowed people to bid for them online. The bids went up to $23000 and
all the proceeds to Ronald McDonald house charities. Once McDonald’s had
everyone’s attention it launched phase 2 “MACITBETTER” which was based on the
premise that everything tastes better when it tastes like the Big Mac. A limited
edition of tubs were created for those who couldn’t afford $ 23000. In only a few
days, thousands of Aussies made everything better. McDonald’s generated 3.8
billion media impressions in just two weeks. And, achieved the highest Big Mac
sales in Australian history. It not only unlocked the love for the special sauce, it
created a new love for the entire brand.
BASE | PhoneAddress | DDB Belgium
The Belgian mobile provider BASE came out with PhoneAddress™, a new
application that allowed online orders to be delivered to a 'phone address'
instead of a home address. If someone wanted to have a pizza sent to the park
or swimming trunks delivered to the beach, PhoneAddress™ made it possible.
The new app connected the delivery service with the consumers in an
interactive way, so that when a person moved, his address moved with him. Via
the GPS signals from his phone the app knew exactly where he was and when
the orders needed to be delivered. The app of the purchaser was linked to that
of the 'delivery boy' so that he could locate the purchaser who, in turn, could
track the route of his order through Google Maps. PhoneAddress™ is
expected to make e-commerce much simpler in the future, more flexible and
above all more mobile. A beta version of PhoneAddress™ is currently available
free of charge on the Android Play Store. Belgian Food delivery service “Royal
Delivery” was the first to partner up with BASE.
BMW | Reverse April Fools | DDB New Zealand
BMW is world-renowned as being the maker of the Ultimate Driving Machine, but also
as the creator of many memorable April Fool's Day pranks. This year's effort was its
most audacious and elaborate yet and involved the world-first reverse April Fools' Day
joke. More than 145,000 copies of the NZ Herald rolled off the press on 1 April 2015
with what appeared to be a bogus ad printed on the front page, inviting people to bring
their car to the Newmarket dealership and swap it for a brand new BMW 1 Series. The
first person to do so, having fulfilled terms and conditions, would be rewarded with the
new car. The ad was intentionally vague and definitely appeared too good to be true.
But daring to dream big on April Fools' Day paid off handsomely for Tiaana Marsh who
swapped her 15-year old Nissan Avenir for a brand new BMW 1 Series worth almost
$50,000 . Tiaana's new BMW featured personalised number plates NOF00L and came
with a five-year warranty and a three-year scheduled servicing included. She also
received a free BMW Driving Experience course at Hampton Downs.
Mammut Sports | Project 360 | Heye Munich
Project 360 is a long term digital communication concept that offers a real benefit
for alpine hikers. It consisted of a team of mountaineers scaling the more than
13000 feet high Aiger mountain in Switzerland and reporting the trek with special
cameras that shot 360 degrees and recorded every thirty seconds automatically.
For this, a custom camera system was developed which needed to be light
weight, steady and reliable without limiting the hikers speed of movement. At the
same time, it needed to shoot pictures in six directions. The system and the
software were tested over weeks. Users can follow the most renowned climbing
routes with a kind of street view. They can also navigate along the route section by
section or browse the detailed data of the route and its history on the website. The
l a u n c h o f t h e p ro j e c t w a s a c c o m p a n i e d b y m a s s i v e m e d i a re p o r t s . T V,
newspapers and online blogs all around the world. The 360 degree experience
was also brought to life at stores sports conventions. The project achieved more
than just opening up new views peak by peak. Mammut evolved from a trusted
outfitter to a holistic preparation partner for any mountain ascend.
18
StarHub | SG50 Singapore Golden Jubilee | DDB Singapore
Deutsch Telekom | Instaconcert |
DDB Germany
Deutsch Telekom believes that life is for
sharing.Itdemonstratedthiswith
Instaconcert which turned an exclusive
by-invitation-only concert from an event for
only a few into a new experience for millions.
The first concert video through the eyes of
the fans, it allowed users to experience the
concert like they were there themselves. For
this Deutsch Telekom got fans to do what
they would have done anyway, take videos
StarHub joined hands with nine voluntary welfare organizations to celebrate
Singapore’s Golden Jubilee with a heartfelt rendition of the National Day
favorite “Home”. To remind Singaporeans of fellow citizens who are not as
privileged but share the same love for Singapore, “Home” was sung in
Singapore’s four official languages – English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. To
accompany the song recording, a full-length music video was shown on
StarHub’s social media channels (YouTube and Facebook), StarHub TV
channels and in Golden Village cinemas. StarHub customers were
encouraged to support the nine VWOs that recorded the song by redeeming
50 StarHub Rewards Points, for a $5 donation. The donations were effected
through the StarHub Sparks Fund, StarHub’s corporate philanthropy vehicle.
Furthermore, as part of their SG50 celebrations, StarHub TV held five weeks of
free previews, culminating in six days of all-access free viewing of over 150
channels during the National Day week. StarHub also offered special mobile
and broadband offers during this period.
Skittles | Skittles Settle It | DDB Chicago
Volkswagen | Too close Moments |
DDB Canada
Skittles Super Bowl advertising in 2015 focused on “Skittles Settle It”. In the
days leading up to the big game, a YouTube video was released that showed
citizens with unusually well-developed biceps on their right arms. “It will be
settled”, the text played over a gonging bell. The 30-second commercial
shown during the 2015 Super Bowl revealed the meaning of those arms. In it, a
small town bestowed with massive right arms gathered around a small table to
the sound of bells. They were there to witness two men arm wrestle with their
ridiculously huge biceps over the last lemon Skittle. This, after all was how they
usually settled things. Trivia: this spot featured 59 custom arms, with makeup
artistes adding muscles, veins, freckles and hair to match each cast member,
including one for the dog, Banjo!
19
HotStuff Book Issue (Page 23 - 24 Gate fold)
Size : (W) 222 + 232 X (H) 345 mm
Volkswagen’s TVC titled Too Close
Moments started with an elevator door
opening to reveal just one occupant. A
nondescript man stepped in and despite
the large amount of empty space chose to
take a position way too close to the other
occupant. Thereafter, the TVC showcased
the same man in several other everyday
Best of DDB Worldwide
Akatu Institute of Conscious Consumption |
The Voice of the Drought | DDB Brazil
and upload them to Instagram. The difference this time was that
everybody was asked to use the same Hashtag.
#EDINSTACONCERT so that all the videos could be located
chronologically and spatially. Then the videos were dynamically
connected by their content management system. As a result users
could use the Instagram player to decide how and from where they
wanted to watch and listen to this concert. Also, every time they
could watch an entirely new video. A new way to experience a
concert was thus made possible by Deutsch Telekom. Proof that
life really is for sharing.
Have you ever seen a drought face to face? Sao Paulo, the
largest city in Brazil with 11.8 million residents faced the
biggest drought in its history. The rains had stopped and the
city’s main source of water from the Cantareira water reserve
h a d re a c h e d i t s l o w e s t l e v e l s e v e r. To r a i s e e v e r y o n e ’s
awarenesss about the importance of water, a typeface was
created from the dry soil of Cantareira and featured on a digital
platform The Voice of the Drought. On the website, people
could write their messages with the letters and share earth's
v o i c e v i a Tw i t t e r. M o r e t h a n 1 4 3 6 3 9 5 8 p e o p l e w e r e
reached. .At the World Water day, the voice was empowered
by the country’s major soccer team, the Corinthians who
entered the pitch with a shirt by the voice of drought.
Resulting in over 90 minutes of promotion. The earth was
heard through brands, newspapers, and personalities.
BBVA | The Concert no one was waiting for |
Fahrenheit DDB Peru
P e d ro S u a re z Ve r t i z i s P e r u v i a n ’s m o s t l o v e d ro c k s t a r.
Unfortunately, in 2011, Pedro suffered Dysarthria, a rare motor
speech disorder that robbed him of his speech. So, imagine
him making the biggest concert of his life. BBVA the bank of
the people made this possible. It offered all Peruvians a
challenge. If one million people asked him to come back, he
would. People had to sing a petition as loud as they could.in
order for Pedro to hear them. Over one million four hundred
thousand people participated. It was a unique concert in
which Pedro contributed the music and the crowd was his
voice. The concert was a big hit in every possible way. More
t h a n 4 0 0 0 0 p e o p l e a t t e n d e d . I t g a r n e re d 9 0 % p o s i t i v e
feedback in social media. 1916867 data was collected. 1.5
million dollars in free press. It got the concert of the year prize
award by the main newspaper El Comercio and voted by the
people. Paul McCartney came second. But the best prize of all
was a chance to see the legend on the stage again.
situations. He is seen in a grocery store, a train, a restaurant, at
a bus stop and finally even in a public toilet. In every situation,
he stood way too close for comfort much to the chagrin of the
o t h e r p a r t y. T h e n , i n t h e l a s t s e q u e n c e t h e e l e v a t o r d o o r
o p e n ed , a t h i rd p e r s o n e n t e re d a n d s t o od a t a re s p e c t f u l
distance. The message Automatic Distance Control appeared
on the screen. And, the TVC closed with the logo and tagline
Volkswagen. Das Auto.
20
Century Ply | Hamesha Taiyyar | DDB Mudra West
CenturyPly, the leading brand of plywood, laminates and veneers
launched a new brand to serve the value segment – Sainik. Plywood is a
commoditized but complex category with multiple products at different
price points based on various technical parameters. A consumer does
not understand those technicalities but knows his budget. To trigger a
wider brand appeal, the brand was positioned as ‘Hamesha Taiyyar’ to
display the toughness of the ply and its readiness for any eventuality or
hardship, much like a soldier. This thought was brilliantly translated into a
clutter breaking TVC accompanied by OOH implementations. To create a
larger-than-life image of the brand in the consumers’ mind, the storyline
followed a platoon of soldiers engaged in a fierce combat across land
and water, under the most trying circumstances. The testing journey of
the soldiers was matched by the journey of the plywood box, which
eventually tur ned out to be carrying letters from their homes. The
unscathed surface of the box testified to the strength of the plywood
while it also personified the undaunted spirit of the soldiers.
Aircel | Voice on Data | DDB Mudra North
People often avoid calling their loved ones in order to save talk time.
However, communication over social media lacks a feeling of love and
warmth. The real magic of a connection happens when you make a call,
when you hear someone's voice. With mobile data usage dramatically
increasing in India and mobile internet becoming a way of life for many,
Aircel, one of India’s leading telecommunications players decided to give
access to people to call their loved ones with Voice on Data service on
selected data packs. Spread across Television, Radio, Print and Outdoor;
this multimedia campaign had three protagonists, an old man, a teenage
girl and a young man view a friend’s update on social media and apart
from liking and commenting on the post, they also called them up to talk
to them and share more than just a ‘Like’. All the three films end with a
voice over which says “Rishta aur bhi gehra ho jata hai, jab baat bhi ho
jaati hai.” (When conversations happen, the relationship grows deeper).
The ad films have been released across India in Hindi, Assamese, Telugu,
Tamil, Oriya, Bengali and Kannada.
21
HotStuff Book (Page 21 - 22 Gate fold)
Size : (W) 232 + 222 X (H) 345 mm
Cycle Pure Agarbathies | Prarthana ki shuddhata |
DDB Mudra South & East
Gulf Oil | Pick up your ride | DDB Mudra West
Gulf Oil is the fastest growing lubricants brand in India and the
pioneer of products that deliver exceptional performance. To
position Gulf Pride 4T Plus as a superior bike engine oil, the brand
sought to create a connect with bikers and position the product
as an aid to keep their bikes ready and responsive. Thus was
born the idea - Pick up your ride. The idea that the product gives
an ‘Insta pickup’- power at a single tap was translated into a
2-minute star studded ad film. The cast included brand
ambassador Mahendra Singh Dhoni with Gulshan Grover, Dino
Best of DDB Mudra
Big Bazaar | Maha Bachat | DDB Mudra West
To reinforce its position in the market and reach into
the hearts and minds of new customers, Cycle
Pure Agarbathies, the world’s largest incense stick
manufacturer brought Amitabh Bachchan on board
a s b r a n d a m b a s s a d o r. T h e B o l l y w o o d i c o n
endorsed the brand’s new positioning ‘Prarthana ki
shuddhata’ across multiple national media.
Centred on the theme of purity, the campaign
married the functionality of the product to the core
value of the brand emphasizing purity of thought
along with hope and optimism. The theme-line was
translated as two 30-sec ad films produced by
Rising Sun Films, and directed by Shoojit Sircar, of
“Piku” fame, and direct outreach programmes
a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y. A n i n n o v a t i v e d e a l e r s ’
engagement programme ‘Meeting of the Legends’
offered the retail network an opportunity to witness,
comprehend and participate in Cycle’s journey of
growth. Covering the length and breadth of the
country, the programme used a 3D holographic
projection technique to allow the Cycle family a
chance to see the Bollywood icon up-close.
Morea, Harshwardhan Rane and Anushka
Manchanda and others. It was the first time such a
large ensemble of celebrities came together for an
ad film. Shot in black and white, the film opened
with the riding club cruising on their bikes. On
hearing a siren behind them, the riders quickly
pulled forward to organize the traffic so that the
ambulance could pass. Till date, the ad film has
scored close to 600,000 views on YouTube alone.
Maha Bachat (English: super-saving) held for three to six days in-mid
August every year provides massive savings to consumers who shop at
Big Bazaar. With regular sales and deep discounts offered by retailers
throughout the year, price had become a point of parity across retailers
and a new way had to be found to stand out in an increasingly cluttered
environment. The ad campaign positioned Maha Bachat 2015 as the one
stop solution for all consumer needs, with quality products at amazing
discounted rates. The multimedia campaign comprised a striking ad film,
supported by a series of print and radio advertisements running
simultaneously. It featured a montage of various consumers with different
needs being fulfilled at the Big Bazaar Maha Bachat Sale. The film
highlighted a clear shift from basic or lifestyle needs to those based on
consumer moods. Whether it was a need to shop after a break-up or just
to pamper a kid. Big or small, these new-age needs could also be fulfilled
at Maha Bachat 2015.
Van Heusen | Most Fashionable Professional |
22feet Tribal Worldwide
In 2013, Van Heusen launched a digital property in partnership with LinkedIn
called the ‘Most Fashionable Professional’ in a quest to find ten
fashionable professionals who stand out in their work place. The contest
aimed to legitimize fashion in the workplace by providing a platform for
professionals to celebrate it. This year, Van Heusen raised the stakes and
made the competition much more interesting in order to keep users engaged!
The microsite featured interesting content around fashion education and
Power Dressing, to provide an immersive, informative experience for the user.
The shortlisted candidates would also be measured on the basis of their
Power Score (a relative standing among one's LinkedIn network based on
one's profile and skills) to stand a chance to be featured in India's top fashion
magazines and win a wardrobe makeover worth `1 lakh from Van Heusen.
Users stood to receive a gift voucher for submitting five nominations from
their connections, as well as a chance to win vouchers worth ` 10,000 if their
nominees won. By the end of the month-long campaign in August 2015,
Most Fashionable Professional 2015 had received a total of over 61,000
nominations, with impressions of nearly 76 million on the LinkedIn platform.
The ten final winners were featured in a high-fashion shoot that appeared in
the October edition of GQ magazine.
22
Best of DDB Mudra
HDFC Bank | Commercial Vehicle Loan | TrackDDB India
HDFC Bank’s loans for commercial vehicles was targeted at a
very specific audience - deans and principals of schools and
educational institutes. The communication was scheduled for
the first quarter of the financial year, when most institutes
contemplate purchasing or hiring new buses. Initial research
revealed that deans and principals are typically, fiercely proud of
their schools. Appealing to this sentiment would provide cut
through. Since deans and principals receive a lot of letters
every day, it was decided to use an approach where they
personalized the letters even before they opened it! A direct
mailer was devised that seemed like a regular letter. The
envelope had a window through which the TG was prompted to
write the name of their institution. When they pulled out the
letter, it was revealed that they had actually written the name on
a picture of a bus. This gave the impression of ‘the bus being
operational even before it was purchased’! The communication
was thus personalized and implied that the process of acquiring
a bus was now simple and easy.
Nutralite | India’s first holographic Ganesh |
DDB Mudra West
Nutralite was back with
Health Cha Shree Ganesh
between 17 and 25
September 2015 with
India’s first transforming
holographic Ganesh
pandal at Growel’s 101
Mall, Mumbai. This year,
Nutralite along with
DDB Mudra made Lord
Ganesha lose weight and
transform into a fitter,
healthier avatar with the
help of his beloved
devotees who worked out
at a temporary gym
created in collaboration with Gold’s gym inside the pandal. The
calories they lost was tracked in real time via calorie meters. The
devotees needed to burn close to 50,000 calories every day
during the 11-day event in order to see the unique ripped-up,
fitter avatar of Lord Ganesha on the 11th day. The other rituals
from last year, such as an on-site weighing machine, calorie
donation screen and a donation box for dropping off unhealthy
habits and taking an oath to stay on the path of good health were
also installed. A number of interesting, engaging activities such
as bodybuilding competitions, professional Zumba dancing
sessions, diet camps, healthy cooking workshops were
organized. In collaboration with the health partners – Wockhardt
Hospitals, a team of doctors, dieticians, health counsellors and
nutritionists carried out free health checkups and gave advice on
healthy lifestyle. The recyclable holographic technology also
made Nutralite Health Cha Shree Ganesh, an environmental
friendly alternative to the regular clay statues.
Star Plus | Sumit Sambhal Lega |
DDB MudraMax-OOH
Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) | ZincORS |
DDB Remedy India
Sumit Sambhal Lega
is the Indian version
of Everyone Loves
Raymond, one of the
most beloved
American sitcom of
all times and a ratings
powerhouse. In India,
t h e s h o w ’s c o r e
target audience is primarily women and men between age 15
-34 SEC AB and the viewership is concentrated in cities like
Delhi, Mumbai and other 1 mn + markets. Star Plus decided
to implement the campaign using innovations involving
movement and light. The idea was to show Sumit caught in a
tug of war between his wife and kids, and the family he grew
up. Thus depicting the common ‘mard-ka-dard’ situation of
the typical indian male stereotype.To execute this idea, sites
were shortlisted and Sumit was created as a puppet in the
shape of a see-saw with his mother and wife on extreme ends
controlling him. All the elements were in the form of cut-outs.
A m o t o r c o n t ro l l e d w i t h t h e h e l p o f a t i m e r w a s u s e d f o r
simulating motion.
Diarrhoea is the
third leading
c a u s e o f
childhood
mortality in
India, and is
responsible for
13% of all
deaths/year of
children under
5 years of age.
The commmon
perception was
that ORS should be used but does not give immediate relief. To
spread awareness about how Zinc and ORS is effective, a new
terminology was coined Zinc+ORS aka ZincORS and was
targeted at the caregiver world who primarily belonged to the
lower strata of society. The new treatment of ZincORS was seen
as the game changer. The TVC featured a normal rural family
where a little child is suffering with diarrhoea and the father
rushes to buy some lemon. The twist in the story happens when
he is exposed to this new treatment ‘ZincORS’ which sends him
into a whirlwind due to its impact. The child is treated and its
effectivity established through the product window.
23
HotStuff Book Issue (Page 23 - 24 Gate fold)
Size : (W) 222 + 232 X (H) 345 mm
Thus Spake Zeigler
Three ways the agency business
can save itself
answers! Our minds leap to the big creative
This leads me to point two. Agencies
idea and sometimes the business issue
need to talk about their clients’ growth
gets lost. Lately, I have been encouraging
needs. And when we do, great things
all my senior management to ask more
often happen.
questions… and then sit back and let the
client share their business problems, not
their ad needs.
Chairman Emeritus / DDB Group,
Asia-Pacific, India, Japan
intensely.
people to wear sunscreen on cloudy
We don’t have enough of these business
conversations, but we need them. The
goal. It’s not about communications or
industry run deep.
making a new ad; it’s about
understand the power of creativity; and
the focus on efficiency (minimizing cost);
rather than effectiveness (maximizing
returns).
So what are the answers? I wish I had
them all – I don’t. But have we made
practical steps to try to address some of
the issues?
Here are three things that I believe we
need to be doing more of.
• Listening to clients – and asking them
the right questions about their
business, not their communications.
• Talking growth and revenue, not ads.
• Matching creativity to business solutions.
It sounds simple – but most of the time
these are things that don’t come
naturally to many traditional creative
agencies. But when we try, good things
happen. We just need to do more of it –
client by client, one opportunity at a time.
Let’s start with listening. We don’t listen
enough because we are always trying so
hard to demonstrate that we know the
24
approached us with an interesting
problem. How could they encourage
The problems facing the advertising
good work; the failure of businesses to
work. A major skin care brand
Take notes. Ask questions. Pause. Listen
point is to ask about the client’s business
I have written before about the dearth of
Here’s a real-life example of how this can
comprehension – it’s about knowing
days? People’s skin can still be damaged
by UV rays on cloudy days, but most
people do not know this. It was a classic
behaviour change brief that required
people to think differently about the way
the category had been defined.
what keeps clients up at night — the
By having better conversations with our
ability to understand the levers of growth
client, we developed a new product idea
and the real problems they are facing
for them: Cloudscreen. In essence, a
within their business.
sunscreen designed for cloudy days,
Thus Spake Zeigler
sold in packaging that distinguishes
it from standard sunscreen.
A communications campaign supported
the new product. But the most important
element was that changing the
packaging impacted behaviour.
The lesson from this is to have bigger
conversations earlier in the process.
Start broad; don’t narrow down to
execution until you’ve had that discussion.
It’s up to agencies to engage clients in
these conversations – to demonstrate
our creative capabilities and go beyond
the ad. To get more briefs like this, we
of creativity to business solutions.
That is where the opportunity lies.
The result was the McDonald’s Surprise
need to show we’re interested in the
Agencies bring with them a deep
business issues and engage in a way
(helping people to wake up) with
understanding of consumer behaviour.
where the brief isn’t ‘locked up’. The
surprises (entertaining branded content
Clients need better understanding of
possibilities lay open to generating
consumers – particularly when it comes
such as tongue-in-cheek themed visuals,
creative business solutions.
to the web-savvy millennial generation.
The Neutrogena example demonstrates
the need to talk about growth. We need
It’s all about customer engagement not
just brand awareness.
to understand the growth agenda of the
An agency should be able to bring its
client. And if you’ve read what I’ve
deep understanding of consumers into a
written elsewhere, you’ll know that I think
client’s process of comprehension. It
recognizing this need for growth is
should be a true partner as a business
fundamental to restoring our fortunes as
develops its strategy. And it should be
an industry.
able to develop creative business
Marketing can be the major growth driver
solutions, not just creative ads.
Again, this is an area we have had
for a business; you can’t cut your way to
success with.
growth. In the current climate, marketers
are under pressure from the CEO to
deliver growth – whether that comes as
higher sales, higher market share, better
leads for sales teams, or some other
measure. We are convinced that the
Neutrogena product launch delivered
better growth than an ad campaign
would have.
In Singapore and Taiwan, DDB worked
with McDonald’s, which was facing
Alarm, a mobile app that blended utility
inspirational quotes, Sony Music songs;
and McDonald’s coupons) designed to
make every morning a little happier.
It was a new way to engage consumers,
to deliver coupons, and to optimize the
offers based on the data collected by the
system. And it worked. Not only did we
deliver engagement, in the form of app
downloads and usage, we also drove a
lasting impact in breakfast sales. And we
could only do so because we combined
creative thinking and consumer
understanding with the business agenda
of our client.
growing competition at breakfast time.
As the Neutrogena and McDonald’s work
The client had run successful promotions
shows, our business is capable of
around breakfast, but needed a
responding to the challenges it faces.
long-term solution that did not risk
Engaging the client more effectively is
erosion of the price consumers would be
one pillar of what we at DDB call ECG –
willing to pay for their meals.
engaging creativity for growth. It is a
The challenge was to develop something
platform that turns better understanding
In advertising we talk about
that would engage consumers beyond
of a client’s business into creative
effectiveness. Let’s talk about growth
the communications of any other brand,
solutions.
instead. When we start talking about
and to be ‘always on’.
growth, it resonates with clients, and
As an industry we are uniquely placed
more importantly the CEO and CFO.
We focused on phones. We realized that
to match creativity to our client’s growth
the first thing adults in our markets do in
agenda. Our goal must be for these to
Finally, my third point, let’s talk about
the morning is reach for their phone and
become the main focus of everything we
creativity. Not just the creativity of a
engage with either Facebook, email or
do, not just the occasional one-off
30-second TV spot, but the application
news apps.
opportunity.
25
Guts & Glory
DDB MudraMax crowned ‘Best Promotional Marketing Agency in Asia’
DDB MudraMax won the prestigious
‘Best Promotional Marketing Agency in
Asia’ at the coveted 15th Dragons of
Asia Awards by PMAA held on
30 September 2015 in Kuala Lumpur.
Asia, Navy Dragon for the Best
Campaign in India, Gold Dragon for the
Best Innovative Campaign, 3 Silver
Dragon awards, 1 Bronze Dragon
award and 5 Black Dragon awards.
DDB MudraMax swept the award show
with the highest tally of 12 Dragon
Awards and 76 points in total. It won a
Red Dragon for the Best Campaign in
DDB MudraMax’s innovative ‘Health
Cha Shree Ganesh’ campaign was a
multiple winner. It picked up Gold for
the Best Innovative Campaign,
Navy Dragon for the Best Campaign
in India and the prestigious
Red Dragon for the Best Campaign
in Asia.
For 15 years, the PMAA Dragons of Asia
has been recognizing and showcasing
the very best of the best in ‘results
driven’ Marketing Communications
throughout Asia and this year was no
exception.
Spikes Asia 2015
DDB Mudra Group returned from 2015 Spikes Asia with a total tally of three
awards-one Silver for Misunderstood Scoreboard, in the promo and
activation, one bronze for Volkswagen’s ‘Don’t Drink and Drive - Vodka’ in
Film - CHARITIES, PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY & AWARENESS MESSAGES
category and Health Cha Shree Ganesh in Branded Content &
Entertainment category.
26
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&A
Guts &QGlory
Kyoorius Design Awards 2015
DDB Mudra Group emerged triumphant with a Blue
Elephant at the Kyoorius Design Awards for Volkswagen’s
Identity Bi-Xenon Headlamp campaign.
2015 Campaign for Dignity Awards
Out of hundreds of entries received from across India, eight shortlists were
chosen from DDB Mudra Group. From those, DDB Mudra Group North was
presented a silver award for its poster submission called ‘Buddha’.
EMVIES 2015
DDB Mudra Group was
awarded a Silver for
Misunderstood Scoreboard
and a bronze for Health Cha
Shree Ganesh at the
coveted EMVIES 2015.
ADSTARS 2015
DDB Mudra Group received a
Gold in the Brand Stars category
for its work on Volkswagen at the
ADSTARS 2015 event in Busan,
S. Korea.’
CLIO Awards 2015
DDB Mudra Group won a Bronze in the Out of Home category for ‘The
Misunderstood Scoreboard’ done for Zee News. The CLIO Awards is an
annual award programme that recognizes innovation and creative
excellence in advertising, design and communication.
27
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Amazing People
Ajay Dutta
DDB Mudra North. An account
management person by profession,
she has dabbled in her spare time with
design, in the form of logos, signboards
and hoardings that shine amongst the
colorful graffiti on the bustling streets of
Kolkata. Her latest romance is with
baking.
Ajay Dutta is a key member of the
TracyLocke team in Bengaluru and as
General Manager is responsible for
managing Client Operations, Servicing
& New Business Development for
TracyLocke-South.
Referral Money. In yet another short
film-cum-commercial styled as RNB
Global University, he dons the role of a
father of a young college going
daughter who designs in-house a
dishwashing machine for her mother.
His wonderful journey with the Mudra
Group began on 17 December 2007
and according to him involved “loads of
learning and the experience of
accomplishing challenges.” As Branch
Manager, he was successful in Mumbai
achieving the best branch award
(2007- 08). This was followed by a
transfer on promotion as DGM to the
North where he led the operations for
Multiplier & Street Smart (2009 -12).
Then, in 2012, Ajay was moved to
Bengaluru to manage the Samsung
Account which he did successfully for
three years.
In an English Play “Death” he takes to
the stage as a crazy Bengali professor
who wants to research the psyche of a
lunatic serial killer on the loose but in
the end gets killed by him.
What not too many people know is that
Ajay is blessed with a creative streak
and is adept at donning many hats. He
has trained himself in Kannada and as a
professional actor. He has acted and
directed short films, commercials, plays
and ad jingles. Among his creative
accolades was directing the short film
“The Cheat” where he essayed the role
of an elder brother who catches and
confronts his young brother on drugs.
His other hobbies are singing,
composing and watching movies.
His music album Ehsaas which
celebrates innocent love was released
on Valentine’s Day 2012 on 'YouTube'
and 'celebrates' 5000+ hits so far. This
song has his vocals and music by Ajay
& Rajat Pendharkar.
Richa Shah
In yet another short film on Paper
Conservation, he plays the role of a
School Teacher in a village recycling
paper and helping school kids.
In a TVC called Taxi for Sure, he acts as
a senior gangster who finds a new way
of offering cash to a Mafia Head –
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Richa Shah is currently, working as
Manager-Brand Communication with
Her recipe for success has been to not
judge a product. Just see what is best
in it and tell the story. This simplistic
approach and pure creativity helped her
clinically bring out the best solutions,
making her a promising graphic
designer and a true businesswoman.
Her creative work in the form of logos,
menu cards, print ads, in-store
branding has rewarded her amply with
travel in the Asia-Pacific and Europe.
By the age of 24 she had built up a
formidable reputation for her talent and
experience in graphic designing with a
client base which included brands like
Kafe Bindass, Cube, Honda, Hyundai,
Crafting Thoughts Management and
AgroShine, to name a few.
Then, life suddenly threw her a curved
ball and she found herself in a
completely new world, the USA. Here
too she was able to put her designing
and people skills into play and soon
had a clientele of local businesses such
as Sidamo Café and a iComply LLC.
She called her enterprise DezignLounge.
In the process she learned the local lingo,
the culture and mentality of general
target audience. Additionally, she taught
herself something new. To bake.
Today, she is passionately involved in an
extra-Mudra affair with cupcakes. She
is Zomato listed under the name Petite
Delight - The Cupcake Place.
(No prizes for guessing who designed
that ‘logo!’). On offer are hot favourites
such as Ginger-Cinnamon, Marble,
Butterscotch, Rum and Spice, Banana
Walnut, to name a few. And, the
reviews like her cupcakes are to die for!
But don’t just take anyone’s word for it.
As they say, “the proof of the pudding is
in the eating”, so the next time you are
in Delhi, just try one!
Know More
Alina Hasan
Strategist,
DDB Mudra West
Food’s fashionable makeover
The last time I ordered steak at a
restaurant, what I was served instead
was a beautifully plated indulgent looking
entrée. A skilfully sliced, neatly stacked
piece of meat, with a perfect stroke of jus
smeared across the plate and a side of
the most delicately styled vegetables.
It got me thinking. Since when have
restaurants in India started putting so
much effort into the way their food
looks?
Masterchef Australia, an Australian
cooking show, is often credited with
introducing the concept of ‘plating’ into
India’s popular culinary consciousness.
While expensive tableware would provide
a touch of luxury on important
occasions, the food itself was primarily
about flavor. Even the thali, celebrated by
tourists and food photographers, was
intended to index higher on nutritional
balance and less on visual delight.
Masterchef helped people understand
the importance of the appearance of
food – its construction on a plate, the
colors of the ingredients, the garnishing,
all put together artistically to create visual
delight.
Since then, the evolution has been rapid.
Food aficionados today are much more
likely to give the aesthetics of food as
much importance as its flavors. And
aesthetically pleasing food needs to
check a number of boxes - how it is
plated, what kind of cutlery it’s being
served with, what the table setting is like,
how each of these elements complement
the restaurant’s ambience. Dining is
increasingly driven by aesthetics,
evolving into an experience where the
meal being served should ideally be in
perfect harmony with the atmosphere.
The verbal aesthetics of food have
changed as well - people are familiarizing
themselves with the technical terms for
different cooking styles, for ingredients
from around the world and for popular
entrées from French towns and far-off
Latin American countries.
The process has been accelerated by
social media savvy consumers.
Instagram, Facebook and foodie forums
such as foodtalkindia overflow with
images that romance the precise
placement of food, with beautiful lighting
and beautiful filters setting the tone for
practically every meal, including coffees
and croissants eaten at one’s breakfast
table, in-home.
And, what are the broader implications of
these changes? First, and most obvious,
is the need for restaurants and eating
joints to raise the bar on décor, plating
and serving food. But the search for
visual delight is playing out in less
obvious and more interesting ways as
well. Home-bakers are using Facebook
to display their registered brand logos
and elegantly crafted cakes and pies;
roadside dhabas are investing time in
branding their menus, chaatwallahs are
using mouthwatering images on their
thelas to attract consumers, all in an
attempt to create a ‘visual identity’ of
their own.
This appreciation of culinary aesthetics
has even given rise to careers like food
styling and food photography which are
being taken up by young entrepreneurial
Indians and are focused solely on the art
of making food look great. Industries like
music, lighting, e-décor are offering
themselves up as complementary
services to food. Special cooking
playlists, dinner table music, themed
chinaware – the potential for ancillary
services that enhance food’s inherent
appeal has never been greater.
And what does this mean for packaged
food brands? Packaging and design
could gain precedence over price points
and SKUs, visualization of food products
in commercials could become the new
battleground for styling, and marketing
initiatives could be built around educating
consumers about food, its frills and
trimmings. We can already see these
shifts manifest themselves in products all
around us – elegantly plated work lunch
services; delightfully designed bottled
beverages (think Innocent and Paper
Boat); hybridized junk food and
reinvented snacking staples (bacon
scented caramel popcorn, anyone?).
There is also interest in the publication of
visually stunning content around food,
whether in the form of video-zines,
dedicated food-art magazines like
‘Meatpaper’ or the Webby award
winning Panna.
The future of food is food designed for
sensorial delight, encompassing not just
flavors, but aromas, textures and visual
dazzle. It is a scenario full of infinite,
exciting possibilities.
29
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Know More
Mehak Jaini
Strategy Director,
DDB Mudra West
Slogans go slang
How often do you find yourself or people
First, they all have a very high degree of
around you using phrases from
audio-visual exposure. Everyone should
advertising as if they had become part
have heard or seen it. If your neighbour’s
and parcel of daily lingo? ‘Yeh Dil
never heard of ‘waaasssuuuuppp’ you
Maange More’, anyone? As both
could come off looking like a complete
curators and creators of culture, this
weirdo.
makes for an interesting phenomenon to
understand and replicate.
Second, when a catchphrase is picked
There are perhaps hundreds of examples
social influence of the phrase is
like these that have made their way into
our language. Each one following a
fascinating gene-like propagation as
suggested by Richard Dawkins (1976) in
his meme theory. Dawkins defined the
meme as ‘a unit of cultural transmission,
or a unit of imitation.’ So really, any
communication – tunes, phrases, acts,
ideas – that creates its own repetition,
spreads, imitates and evolves into new
forms is by definition a meme.
Meme theory is based on a biological
model where ideas and fashion are
considered similar to genes and
successful ones behave like successful
up by figures of authority or stature, the
amplified. Sehwag’s mention of ‘India Ka
Tyohaar’ (IPL’s latest campaign), for
instance, helped its popularity.
Third, more often than not, the more
brand neutral the phrase, more the
chances of it gaining cultural currency.
That’s why Dhara’s line ‘my daddy
strongest’ became commonplace while
lines like ‘kachua jalao, machhar bhagao’
though very memorable, never made it to
everyday conversations.
With this, the stage is set for advertising
catchphrases to travel. But, what about
the actual phrase makes it ripe for
entering daily language?
genes. ‘What an Idea, sirji’, for instance,
travels and survives in the world like a
Ad lingo that truly travels isn’t just
successful gene.
memorable, fun, funny or creative. It is
above all, useful.
What is it about some ad memes that
make them behave like successful
Utility, dry as it may sound, underpins
genes? And, what conditions help them
every successful ad-meme. The phrases
travel on in the world?
that travel are able to communicate an
30
existing, often unarticulated feeling,
belief, idea or behaviour. They give you
interesting, participative phrases. Be it
Mountain Dew’s ‘darr ke aagey jeet hai’
that lets you offer light-hearted
encouragement and confidence to a
friend faced with a gutsy task, or
Cadbury’s ‘pappu pass ho gaya’ as a
spontaneous celebration of a dear one’s
achievement.
Anchored in powerful consumer
behaviour, not only do these phrases
help express an unspoken feeling, but
they do so in an extremely sticky manner.
Setting the phrase to music or rhythm, or
delivering it through an interesting
alliteration, helps create an earworm
effect, making them easily replicable and
helping them roll off our tongue when the
moment is right. ‘Pappu pass ho gaya’,
effortlessly rolls off the tongue, often
making it the first announcement of
achievement.
Does a successful ad meme mean good
business? Or, it is just fun? It’s a question
Les Binet and Peter Field have asked
before us (‘The Long & the Short of It’)
and proved that more famous advertising
campaigns equal more success. That’s
reason enough to create the next big ad
meme.
The question, then, to ask ourselves is
what unexpressed emotions can we
powerfully help articulate?
Know More
Toru Jhaveri
Strategy Director,
DDB Mudra West
How the shelfie, smarter sister to
the selfie, is quietly reframing
social networking currencies
The selfie is a phenomenon. A Fact of
Life, lamented and lampooned, here to
stay. It is perpetuated by an ever-growing
eco-system – celebrity endorsement,
physical equipment, tips and tricks,
listicles, memes. And yet, in all of the
cacophony around the selfie, we run the
risk of failing to notice a stealthier cultural
current, one that actualizes social
media’s promise of a ‘curated self’ in
ways that are more complex,
sophisticated, and arguably more
compelling.
I’m talking about the #shelfie. Artfully
constructed images of bookshelves,
clothing, food, home décor, curiosities,
collectibles – any everyday object set to
delightful effect – blending into a
background, cleverly juxtaposed,
achieving a striking contrast. You’ve seen
some, and you might have unwittingly or
intentionally even created some.
Dale Hrabi, writing in the Wall Street
Journal, pinpointed shelfies as the
preserve of the ‘design cognoscenti’,
caustically describing them as “Portraits
of one’s taste…hopeful bids for attention
in which one’s aesthetic and one’s ego
overlap.” There’s no arguing that shelfies
have a wink-wink, nudge-nudge quality
to them, the texture of a knowing nod
among peers who move in the same
intellectual or aesthetic spheres. Peers,
not necessarily friends. And, that’s what
makes them interesting.
The selfie has a transparent ‘look at me!’
agenda and is intended to create ripples
of low-grade envy amongst family and
friends, however loosely defined. But the
shelfie’s bid for attention is quieter and
more strategic. Shelfies are much more
tasteful than a Facebook humble-brag,
but much more humbling as well. After
all, in manifesting the ingenuity of the
creator, shelfies also test the viewer’s
ability to engage in multiple levels of
decoding – Can they appreciate the
composition? Can they identify the
references to artists/ writers/ books/
films/ designers? Can they then respond
appropriately, either with commentary or
with a shelfie of their own?
bygone eras. With one critical difference
– earlier, taste was private – domestic
and in the case of creative industries,
professional. People would have to visit
your home or collaborate with you to
understand and appreciate your
aesthetic. Today, as Hrabi has pointed
out, the shelfie allows people to
showcase their taste to large audiences,
who can admire it from afar.
The social currency up for grabs here is
the oldest one of all. Not the popularity
that social networks were designed to
deliver and measure. What is at stake in
the arena of the shelfie is taste – that
lingering, old-school vestige of snobbery,
reinvented for our times. What music do
you listen to? Which authors do you
read? Which designers do you patronize
and where do you go to get your organic
whole-foods? How far to the peripheries
of popular culture do you travel and what
is the cool, exciting, edgy material that
you identify and bring back with you?
How appropriately can you exhibit these
wares?
Equally, though, shelfies are rich fodder
for inspiration and expression. They litter
Pinterest, Instagram and are steadily
encroaching on Facebook. They allow
people to showcase the things that they
are passionate about – venerable
institutions such as the New York Public
Library and the Guardian newspaper
have both run shelfie contests to
celebrate readers’ love for books. They
remind us that life is not only about
appearances, and that not all types of
appearances are equal. They represent a
profound desire that runs underneath the
exhibitionism and the desire to look
clever – the longing to not just be
beautiful, but to have a beautiful life, and
to remember to enjoy and commemorate
its beauty.
It is no coincidence that shelfies mimic
the still-life and portrait paintings of
It’s easy to get caught up in
shelfie-invective. Shelfies perpetuate
class distinctions and hierarchies,
encouraging people to play to the tune of
a narrowly defined cohort – hipster,
vegan, goth, knitting fetishist.
31
Media Spotlight
Bombay Times - 16 September 2015
Bombay Times - 22 August 2015
Brand Equity - 09 September 2015
Business India - 30 August 2015
32
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Brand Wagon - 11 August 2015
Brand Wagon - 11 August 2015
Last Word
The Internet of Everything (IoE),
Governments and Businesses
The Internet of Everything – the networked connection of people, process, data and things – has the
potential to make governments and businesses more productive, efficient and profitable by reducing silos
between departments and agencies, improving data flow, aggregation and mining, and by improving citizen
and consumer services.
Cisco’s analysis estimates that IoE is poised to generate $4.6 trillion in Value at Stake for the public sector
and more than $14.6 trillion for the private sector over the next 10 years. This article will focus on the
potential for governments’ use of the Internet of Things and the implications for the business community.
This valuation stems from the new ability to manage assets, optimize performance and create new business
and planning models. The five primary drivers for the public sector’s IoE valuation are: 1) citizen experience,
2) connected militarized defense, 3) cost reduction, 4) employee productivity, and 5) increased revenue. All
of these (except for possibly #5) have direct or indirect benefits for its citizens and will improve perception
of the elected bodies.
Governments (and their citizens) have already begun utilizing the Internet of Everything to improve the
everyday lives of its people. Examples vary, but below are some of the more interesting ones with direct
impact on people.
-In Panama City, citizens’ groups placed RF transmitters in potholes that send tweets to the local
government every time a car drives over them. This allows the government to not only identify potholes that
it would have had to find manually but also determine the prioritization of repair based on the volume of
traffic.
-Smart grid technology enables municipalities to measure residential, commercial and industrial power
demand in real time. This allows for a better resource allocation during the heavy demand seasons and time
(i.e.,summer, work hours) in order to reduce the instances of outages as well as maintain proper energy
source diversification. In one Oklahoma test of the smart grid, 98% of consumers in the test group saved an
average of $200 during the 100+ degree summer months.
-In Australia, measures that allow farmers to monitor their cattle herds offer the possibility of more accurate
and timely returns to government for subsidy regimes, and for managing animal health on a national and
potentially international scale. For instance, being able to monitor herds from birth enables the tracking of
Mad Cow outbreaks to feeding operations or farms, helping to stop the spread of the disease.
Implications: Governments are investing in and implementing the IoE into their strategic platforms and
seeing the potential value for their citizens. Businesses should be heavily focused on how they can benefit
from the IoE as well. Businesses and brands should allocate more resources and focus on connecting
departments, processes and data to reduce costs and inefficiencies, make more informed decisions and
improve delivery effectiveness and ultimately revenue. With $14.4 trillion in value at stake, businesses
cannot afford to not invest in the Internet of Everything.
Editor - Pilloo Mullan | Editorial Team - Hirak Kapasi, Siddharth Raman and Akanksha Mishra | Cover Design -Sachin Panchal, Gutenberg Networks India.
Artwork – Vithal Malgundkar and Sachin Panchal | Print Production – Chandrashekhar Deshmukh and Hrushikesh Inamdar, Gutenberg Networks India.
HotStuff Book Issue (Cover Front Back)
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