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Mirum and IDFC Mutual Fund

Mirum, which is part of the WPP Group, won the digital media mandate of IDFC Mutual Fund. The account will be handled by the agency’s Mumbai team. It will provide brand strategy, creative services and manage the brand’s social media platforms. Further, the agency will also look into executing the salesforce marketing cloud. Mirum's technological services will be used for web development, UI/UX and SEO. In June, Mirum appointed Sooraj Keswani as the director of brand management and strategy, where his role would be to partner with clients, and help them to achieve their business growth objectives. 

Beam and Words and Smoke Lab

Communication-first agency Beam and Words won the digital marketing business for homegrown premium vodka brand Smoke Lab. The mandate of the agency would be to expand the brand’s social media presence. Beam and Words had also won the social media mandate of the luxury designer brand, Tarun Tahiliani. The agency is managing the brand's social media and new campaign launches on social platforms. 

Essence and Rebel Foods

Rebel Foods has appointed Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency that is part of WPP, as the integrated media agency of record (AoR). The account, which will be handled by the agency’s Mumbai office. Essence will handle strategy, analytics, media planning and media activation for Rebel Foods. As part of the partnership, Essence’s first few activities for Rebel Foods include campaigns for Faasos, which would be targeting fast-food lovers. The other brands under Rebel are Sweet Truth, Behrouz Biryani and EatSure, among others. 

In July, Essence had bagged the integrated media duties for Plum, a vegan beauty brand. The agency’s responsibilities include managing strategy, media planning and media activation for Plum’s brand marketing activities.

Earlier this year WPP announced that it would be merging Essence with Mediacom to form EssenceMediacom. The new agency will operate across 125 offices and include 10,000 people. 

EFGH and JJ Tax

EFGH, a newly founded agency by Emmanuel Upputuru and Joyce Shepherd Upputuru, won the creative mandate for JJ Tax, a chat-based tax app. The account win, which was not won via a pitch process, will see the agency handling the brand’s entire marketing services. Last year, JJ Tax had recorded a milestone of 1 million downloads.

Madison Media Infinity and Polycab India

Madison Media Infinity, which is a unit of Madison World, won the media agency-of-record for the electrical solutions brand Polycab India. The account was won in a multi-agency pitch. Polycab India Limited is one of India’s leading manufacturers of wires and cables and a fast growing FMEG (fast moving electrical goods) company with a consolidated turnover of INR 122+ billion. Madison World through its 11 Units served last year, as many as 500 Advertisers, including Godrej, Marico, Asian Paints, Titan, Blue Star, TVS, Raymond, Ceat, Pidilite, Bajaj Electricals and McDonald’s. 

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

Biz Moves: Mirum, Essence, Beam and Words, Madison Media Infinity

Note to readers: Media Mavens is a new Storyboard18 series featuring media investment firms and power players - the X-Women and X-Men who make the big calls on how and where to spend advertisers' money. This is a peek into their minds - how they work in a dynamic landscape, the next big trends they’re watching for, insights into what advertisers need today, the disruptions driving change and the factors driving their decisions. Watch this space for all that and more.

It’s been two quarters since ratings are back, which has spelt good news for media planners and buyers especially as we get into the great Indian festive season or the Golden Quarter, as it is known in the marketing world. Overall there is a lot of media buying happening in the television ecosystem where planners are looking at a long list of factors such as reach, affinity, engagements and integrations before spending any ad money. But that’s not all. The media landscape is fast-changing and through our new series - Media Mavens, we decode the shifts that matter. 

Amol Dighe is CEO, Investments and Business Development at one homegrown media investments company Madison Media. In an interaction with Storyboard18, Dighe talks about how planning and buying is quickly becoming media neutral and tells us how the return of ratings has helped in decision-making. 

Read on

Are you happy with the return of BARC ratings?

This has been a big relief. It always helps to have the measurement mechanism for decision making. Ratings form the basis on which decisions on channel selection and spends are made. However, factors like affinity and reach cannot be ignored. 

BARC ratings are back but there has been a change in measurement methodology. Do you think that has impacted ratings?

When the ratings were back, we saw a change in the pecking order of News channels. Some channels dropped in ratings while some channels saw an increase in their ratings. We are still seeing a fluctuation where the final pecking order does not seem to be settled as of now. We will have to continuously monitor the trends and performance of the category. So yes, managing the flux will be challenging.

We understand ratings are important but what are the other factors that help you choose one channel over the other? 

As I said, performance of the channel in terms of ratings forms the basis on which decisions on channel selection and spends are made. Then there is reach and affinity which is also critical. Other factors like what is the kind of value the channel offers to the brands in terms of special deals, integrations, activation etc, which also determine the share of investment the channel gets. For example, if the brand associates with the channel for an Impact property with content integration etc, then naturally the share of spend on that particular channel will be higher. So, spending on a channel will depend on what role the channel plays for the Brand, in addition to the ratings it garners.

Secondly, trade feedback also becomes important for channel selection. Feedback from various market or consumer surveys in a particular geography are also considered while selecting a channel.

After the ratings returned there was a lot of shuffling in terms of rankings. What about rates? 

When the ratings were back, we saw a change in the pecking order of news channels. Some channels dropped in ratings while some channels saw an increase in their ratings. We are still seeing a fluctuation. As buyers, this needs to be keenly watched and deals will be dynamic till this settles down.

Everyone is always talking about reach but are ad rates and reach directly proportional?

As we have seen, News Channels are not major reach builders. They add some reach in some brand TG’s but the role is largely for building frequency. Combination of factors like frequency, trade pull, affinity, network strength etc., determine the final rates for the news category.

With the festive season round the corner what are the factors you are considering while doing business with a broadcaster? Any genre that is leading the charts?

News Channels should focus more on reach and increasing share of ‘organic content’ and reduce the share of sensational content. They should make the environment more conducive to get more brands on board. They should also try to make News genre attractive for the female by marketing news as an all adult category

News channels could well focus on reach by increasing share of organic content and focusing on monetizing their marquee anchor shows and non FCT elements especially during festivals.

Demand and supply estimation especially during the festive season is critical. Many of the channels have impact properties to leverage the festive demand and the demand for regular inventory is also high. As smart buyers, we have to navigate these challenges to ensure visibility for brands. 

What are the big trends in GEC, especially with the festive season just around the corner? Between GEC and Sports, who has an upper hand during the festive season and why?

There is a lot of action happening in the festive season especially in the GEC and the sports genre. Marquee shows like KBC, Jhalak have already started with Big Boss etc, slated to launch shortly. These shows are big opportunities for brands to build saliency, awareness and launch new communication etc., during the festive season. Also, there are big blockbusters planned during the festivals which help. Brands can ride on the heavy promotion and leverage these properties by product integration, etc.

Ditto with Sports. A packed cricket calendar during the festive season is good news for brands which are heavy on sports. The Asia Cup, Bilateral Series followed by the World Cup is ample enough opportunity for brands.

Are there any big pandemic trends that have continued? With the stay-at-home crowd now out of home, what are the differences in spending patterns that you’ve seen?

Largely, things have settled down. Things are back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of planning. However, dip ratings across genres is a worrisome trend as that’s impacting deliveries.

With digital and an ever-evolving ecosystem how has the role of the media planner and buyer evolved over the years? 

We have seen how digital has evolved so quickly and has become a strong medium for advertisers according to all the media reports. It’s no longer a support medium and has become one of the leading mediums. It’s challenging and at the same time exciting for planners and buyers to build plans now. A lot of creativity and out of box thinking is put in when plans are made now. Bundled deals, integrated deals are in the offering and Networks also have realized that integrated deals are the need of the hour now. Planning and buying is becoming media neutral, which is the right direction.

What are the big trends to watch out for?

With more and more cricket being telecast, it will be critical to monitor the impact on viewership on other genres. Also, it will be interesting to see how the digital medium leverages sport in tandem with TV.

Media Mavens: The return of ratings has been a big relief, says Madison Media’s Amol Dighe

Top media investment forms in India are working to refresh their teams with future-ready talent. According to industry estimates, media agencies in India are increasing their workforce strength by about 12-15 percent this year. A quarter of these recruits will be on-boarded to drive new capabilities from content to commerce.

Marketing is rapidly transforming on the back of evolved consumers, believes Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker, a WPP group company. “Instant access to information and products/services has put the consumer purchase journey on steroids. Ability to access, enhance and activate data in ways customized to cater to every individual need of our massive consumer base is key to success,” he says.

Today, the GroupM-owned agency is looking for data analysts, audience scientists, content specialists, and more performance marketing experts to augment teams. The company wants its talent to be entrepreneurial to keep up with the scale and speed of work today. Much like the mainline creative and digital marketing companies, media investment agencies are also ideating in real time for several brands and are no longer just crunching weekly viewership numbers or strategising one big project at a time.

The talent quest

Homegrown company Madison World has been hiring more freshers from various academic streams to increase the agency’s bench-strength, says the company’s executive director Lara Balsara Vajifdar. She adds, “We are hiring for more thinking roles as doing roles are getting automated. We are also looking at more specialized roles to boost domain expertise across categories.”

Madison World also wants its talent to “be happy”. The agency uses Happyness.me, a proprietary tool that measures the happiness quotient of corporations and its people. Happyness.me is a part of media veteran Raj Nayak’s company House of Cheer. Vajifdar says the agency is setting up periodic surveys to keep a check on employees’ happiness quotient.

Last year, Omnicom Media Group India launched ‘OMG Bootcamp’, with a focus on training and developing aspirants for the future. This paid internship program focuses on helping young graduates hone their craft and not only tests their mettle but also gives them the opportunity to work full-time at OMG and its agencies. 

Anju Kurien, talent head at Omnicom Media Group – India, is looking for “problem solvers and integrated thinkers”. OMG India is also invested in adding new skill sets to its existing team members. Kurien shares, “With transformations in the advertising ecosystem, brands today are turning to media-agnostic professionals with a keen understanding of integrated thinking. It plays a key role in having a larger understanding of the brand and consumer needs.”

Identifying the roadblockers

Attracting and retaining the right talent is the biggest challenge facing ad companies today. Gupte points to the increasing level of competition agencies are facing from companies in other industries looking for similar profiles and fishing in the same pool. “Apart from media agencies, today we compete with marketers, consultants and even tech companies for talent. As industry leaders, the onus is really on us to add to the talent pool,” says Gupte.

The agency is building a steady supply of talent suited for the roles that are opening up. Wavemaker India regularly hires freshers from colleges and gets them on board after grueling classroom and on-the-job training. The agency is also upskilling its current workforce to keep them future-fit.

Kurien notices another trend that’s proving to be a challenge for recruiters at agencies. 

“The challenge faced during the courtship journey from recruitment to joining is a new phenomenon. Candidates are on the lookout for opportunities, sometimes even while they are in the courtship period. Today, it is more important than ever to keep potential candidates engaged until they are fully assimilated into the system.”

The advertising industry is grappling with one of its worst talent crises ever. The problem isn’t that there aren't enough talented people. It’s that many people don’t want to join agencies these days. Making matters worse is the exodus of talent to brands’ side, with new-age companies like D2C firms and streamers attracting the best of the lot with bigger paychecks and better work-life balance.

Further exacerbating the issue are phenomena like ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘the Great Reshuffle’ which is defined by a large-scale resignation by working professionals who are prioritizing both flexibility and fulfillment. In April 2021, according to LinkedIn data, globally two-thirds of the workforce had either left a job or considered leaving a job. The trend continued into 2022.

The Great Skill Reset: Audience scientists, integrated thinkers, people with high HQ in demand

MADISON