Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman, McCann-Erickson India, who will chair the outdoor and ambient media jury at the 55th International Cannes Lions 2008 in France to be held next month, talks to Business Standard about the performance of the Indian advertising industry at Cannes and his vision for McCann India.
Blackstone Group, a global private equity player, is set to increase its focus on India. After setting the ball rolling on its corporate private equity and recently starting off its real estate opportunity focus, the company during the past week has set up Blackstone Altius Advisors, an event-driven strategy focusing on opportunities in the Asia Pacific region. Event-driven strategies are those where PEs fund merger and acquisitions or bankruptcies scenario.
KPMG, the $20-billion global advisory and audit firm, is set to broaden its basket of operations in India as it sees annual growth of 40 per cent in the coming years as well. At present, a significant chunk of KPMG's global client service support is being outsourced to Outsource Partners International, a strategic partner, in India. Going forward, the outsourcing volumes are expected to double.
Cellphone advertising is witnessing the first few signs of how it has the potential to become big in the near future. Hindustan Unilever and Coca-Cola, two of the biggest advertisers in the country belonging to the fast moving consumer goods sector, have launched campaigns this month to tap mobile users.
"If Bisleri does not receive this compensation, we will take legal action against Coca-Cola for violating the contract and the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement," Chauhan, chairman and managing director of Bisleri, India's leader in packaged-drinking water and creator of the Maaza brand, told Business Standard.
Bisleri, India's largest packaged-water player, said it would contemplate legal action against Coca-Cola India if the latter did not agree to its objection over the registration of the Mazaa trademark in other countries. Bisleri, however, insists that Coca-Cola has applied for registration of the Mazaa trademark in countries where the brand is not present and has objected to it on grounds that it is a breach of agreement under which Coca-Cola had acquired the rights of Mazaa.
STAR India, a wholly owned subsidiary of STAR Hong Kong, is exploring the possibilities of getting into the print media business in India. Last week, top STAR executives including STAR Hong Kong CEO Paul Aiello, STAR India CEO Uday Shankar and COO Jagdish Kumar were in Bangalore for meetings with possible joint venture partners for the print foray. The company is said to be in talks with Vijay Mallya's UB Group.
The rise in raw material costs has caused a 10 per cent increase in the retail prices of fast-moving consumer goods as companies are passing on the rise in costs.
This is as definitive as it can get. Dutch global beer major Heineken is understood to have outlined its intent to Vijay Mallya's United Breweries that it does not want to have any conflicting presence in India.
If you are an entrepreneur and apprehensive that the global market meltdown will strain your fund-raising plans, fear not. India-focused private equity and venture capital funds raised $7 billion (Rs 27,958 crore) in 2007, excluding real estate, last year. They had garnered a similar amount in the corresponding previous year, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a venture capital research company.
Danish beer giant Carlsberg is all set to commence production from its 2 greenfield breweries - one each in Aurangabad & Kolkata. Carlsberg together with beer major Heineken is part of the $11 bn global takeover of British brewer Scottish & Newcastle, which has 37.49% stake in Mallya's United Breweries. Heineken is also planning to launch its flagship beer brand Heineken in association with Asia Pacific Breweries. Total beer market in India is valued at 8 million hectolitres.
Jon Wilkins, founding partner of Naked Communications, which gives communication consultancy to some of the world's biggest companies such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and Nokia, is looking for people to set shop in India. Initially, he wants to work with only three people here, who have an entrepreneurial spirit & an understanding for brand strategy. He is attracted to India for 3 reasons - India is ready for change, ad market here is growing rapidly and new channels are opening up.
Mumbai's McCann Erickson and Ogilvy & Mather have made it to the list of top 50 advertising agencies in the world. The list came out of awards survey titled The Gunn Report. Some of the other award-winning Indian performers such as Grey Worldwide, EURO RSCG & Lowe India were from the print advertisement space. It also surveyed whether award-winning commercials helped the products. The survey found that out of 400 award-winning commercials, 86.5% led to better product sales.
Targets women with new offerings such as Baileys cream liqueur and Nilaya. Liquor maker Diageo India is planning a big marketing push for its core brands such as Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and newer offerings in India such as Baileys and Nilaya. Both Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff have nearly 90 per cent share in the premium segment of the scotch and vodka market.
Australian Foods, owner of the Cookie Man brand, is on an expansion drive to double its number of stores across India in the next one year. The company has been following a unique model of retailing its cookies through own franchise stores. Cookie Man products are not sold in any other outlet and their franchise stores are located only in malls. The company will continue with this model for its next batch of outlets as well.
International digital marketing company Digitas has partnered with Solutions to enter the digital marketing sector in India. Digitas is owned by global advertising major Publicis Groupe. The new entity will be called Solutions Digitas. Digital marketing was not just online marketing and India is an upcoming market for digital marketing. Digitas will also introduce Prodigious digital production that manages the technology end of digital marketing for clients such as GM & P&G.
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), aiming to expand and double sales of its flagship brand Cinthol, has recently roped in actor Hrithik Roshan as brand ambassador.
French cosmetics major L'Oral recorded a turnover of Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion), and a growth of nearly 40 per cent, in India in 2007. L'Oral India, launched 13 years ago taking into account the sheer size of the Indian market, has recently set up its own manufacturing plant in Pune. L'Oral India imports most of its products from its own facilities abroad and manufactures the rest in Pune. L'Oral spends 30.7 per cent of its worldwide turnover on advertising & promotions.
World Sport Group India (WSG), the sports marketing partner of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is in talks with three more sponsors, one each from the banking, petroleum and airlines industries to sign deals worth $200 million (about Rs 800 crore) for ground sponsorship of the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. These sponsors will have an opportunity to exclusively advertise their brands on the grounds for five years.
Encouraged by the buzz created among the consumers by the Black Dog 12-year-old deluxe, the company has now decided to launch the 8-year-old centenary variant of the brand. Despite a tagline reading "Proudly old-fashioned since 1883", it has tried to make a connection with the younger lot. With the existing restrictions on liquor advertising, USL has promoted the brand by having strong on-trade presence through exclusive tie-ups with retailers.
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