Week at a glance: Isobar @10; Zee Bollywood launch; Kerala floods; HUL media biz

Isobar @10: The making of a full service global digital marketing agency
Established in 2008, Isobar today has morphed into a full service global digital marketing agency, driven by the purpose to deliver borderless ideas enabled by technology, to transform businesses and brands. In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD - South Asia, Isobar, shares the story of Isobar – how it came into being in India, expansion, business goals, what keeps the agency competitive, winning clients and much more. 

Airtel and Zee Entertainment announce mega content alliance
In one of the largest content partnerships in the country, Bharti Airtel and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd announced a strategic alliance aimed at driving the growth of digital/OTT video content ecosystem in India. 

Zee Bollywood gets Nerolac, Lays, Cadbury, Nirma Salt on board as channel partners
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) is all geared to launch its new movie channel – Zee Bollywood – on Friday, August 31, 2018. As reported earlier, the channel will replace Zee Classic, which will go off air. With a brand promise of ‘101% Shuddh Bollywood’, Zee Bollywood will showcase curated Masala Bollywood movies, firmly establishing its position as a one-stop destination for wholesome masala entertainers. 

Kerala floods take a toll on Onam spends; brands divert attention to providing relief
Kerala has been experiencing its worst downpour in over a century and the devastation that has followed has seen the loss of many lives, unprecedented damage to the state’s infrastructure and immense disruption to normal lives of citizens. Though the flood waters are receding in certain areas, Kerala is faced with a very long road to rehabilitation and return to normalcy. 

Malayalam News genre sees 98% growth; highest viewership peak for 2018: BARC
The incessant rains that derailed Kerala have kept viewers in the state hooked on to their television sets, who are relying on the medium to keep track of the situation. With 214.1 million Impressions, Week 32 (August 4-10) saw the highest peak for Malayalam News genre in 2018. The genre saw a 98 per cent growth in the week, compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks. 

Media organisations rally donations & essential items for flood-hit Kerala
Major media organisations in the country have initiated efforts to provide relief to flood-ravaged Kerala. 

Star India ups its contribution to Rs 5 cr for Kerala flood relief efforts
Star India announced it will increase its donation to Rs 5 crore for the CM’s Distress Relief Fund for the relief and rehabilitation efforts in Kerala. Star India had previously announced a Rs 2 crore donation, however seeing the scale of the disaster, Star India and its employees stepped up to increase the donation along with its parent company 21st Century Fox. 

How Dailyhunt is fortifying its vernacular base to see growth
Dailyhunt, a leading news and entertainment content application, makes a strong case for promoting and respecting the regional languages of India in its digital campaign, ‘#HarBhashaEqual’. Conceptualised and executed by Mumbai-based, full-service digital agency, What’s Your Problem, the campaign aims at highlighting an in-built bias against our vernacular languages and seeks the support from the youth in India to seek linguistic equality in the country. 

Anuradha SenGupta on CNN-News18’s differentiated weekend strategy
CNN-News18 has been sprucing up its weekend programming with differentiated and innovative formats. The idea behind this refresh is to invest in in-depth and specialised programming that offers viewers food for thought and reflection on the weekends. In line with the same, the channel is also ready to launch a slew of new programmes on the weekends. 

Through Dell Aarambh we have engaged with 1 mn students: Ritu Gupta
Dell India has been fortifying its presence and brand connect in the Tier 2, 3 and 4 markets with its Dell Aarambh initiative. Started in 2016, Dell Aarambh is a pan-India initiative which aims at spearheading the use of the personal computer for education. The project is founded on the understanding that exposure to interactive methods of learning in the developmental years, most easily delivered by using a PC, contributes to the well-rounded growth of a student. 

HUL hands its digital media mandate to Mindshare India
Mindshare India wins the digital media mandate for the largest advertiser in the country, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). With this win, Mindhshare has now become both the traditional and digital media buying and planning partner for the FMCG brand. 

Mullen Lintas bags SBI’s creative mandate, Mindshare is media agency
SBI Life in its effort to establish a deeper connect with its consumers has appointed Mullen Lintas as their creative agency and Mindshare as their Media agency, following a closely contested multi agency pitch. 

MediaCom bags Vivo’s Media Mandate
Following a competitive multi-agency pitch, GroupM’s media agency MediaCom has been awarded the media mandate for Vivo, one of the largest mobile phone brand - in India. 

Ashit Kukian appointed as CEO, Radio City; Abraham Thomas moves on
Abraham Thomas departs as CEO of Radio City, after spending three years with the organisation, to pursue other business interests. Ashit Kukian joins as the new CEO of Radio City. According to sources, Abraham will exit on September 30. 

Coca Cola India strengthens leadership; Sundeep Bajoria takes over as VP – SWA
Coca-Cola India, a leading beverage company that offers a range of beverage choices to consumers, today announced changes to its leadership structure. The new structure is designed to enable the India & South West Asia business to be a growth engine for The Coca-Cola Company by capitalizing on emerging opportunities while continuing to build on talent development. 

Mark Reed contends for top spot at WPP
As WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, contemplates who will succeed Founder and CEO, Sir Martin Sorrel and ensure a smooth transition, Mark Reed, former Strategy and Digital chief is quickly becoming a favourite according to reports. 

DAN appoints Kumar Deb Sinha as Country Head - The StoryLab
The StoryLab (TSL), the specialist content agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has roped in Kumar Deb Sinha as the new country head for its India operations. Based out of Mumbai, Sinha will report to KartikIyer, President Media Brands and Amplifi – Dentsu Aegis Network India and the Executive Sponsor for TSL in India. 

Amaresh Godbole takes over as CEO Digitas India
Digitas, one of India’s largest digital agencies and a Publicis Groupe brand, has announced a change in its country leadership. Himani Kapadia, CEO Digitas & Sapient Razorfish, who has been with the company for 11 years, is stepping down to pursue other interests. Amaresh Godbole, currently MD India for Digitas, takes over the reins as CEO of the brand. He will report to Saurabh Varma, CEO, Publicis Communications India, and to Annette Male, CEO Digitas APAC for the brand. He will also join the Publicis Communications country leadership team. 

Star India replaces Channel V with the launch of Star Sports 3
Star India announced plans to launch a new sports channel that will feature content in regional languages called Star Sports 3. The initial broadcast by the channel will be the Indian Super League Season 5. The channel will also offer audio feeds in the languages of Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, and Malayalam to target regional markets. Additional language feeds are also being explored. The new channel will also accommodate live sports events that will clash with the timings of other broadcasts. The channel got the approval of the Ministry of Broadcasting and Information for launch in place of Channel V. 

WATP standoff with Artists Forum; fresh Bengali content goes on a hiatus
In the state of West Bengal, the shooting of all television shows has been stalled due to an on-going standoff between the Artists’ Forum and the Welfare Association of Television Producers (WATP). The issue has been going on since last Tuesday when senior members of the artistes' forum appealed to everyone to resume shooting. 

WB Government intervenes in WATP and Artists Forum deadlock
With neither body willing to compromise, West Bengal, Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee stepped in to resolve the conflict. She called a meeting between both parties in the presence of the three broadcasters. The meeting was also attended by renowned actors Prosenjit Chatterjee and Soumitra Chatterjee as well as representatives of WATP. At the end of the meeting, Banerjee reportedly told the press that problems concerning all parties had been resolved and the shooting would resume. 

Offbeat: AleyaSen’s idea of mathematical code & the world’s existence
AleyaSen, Co-Founder, Ad & Feature Film Writer, Director & Producer, Chrome Pictures, is one of the most highly respected and reputed female ad film directors in the country today. 

Ad land’s Young Guns: Nishant Malsisaria, Dentsu Webchutney
Nishant Malsisaria, Director – Paid Media, Dentsu Webchutney, has hands on experience in Planning, Buying and Strategy of Paid Accounts across different channels and media vehicles available in the market, depending on the right fit for the client. 

BARC Wk 33: Zee Anmol consolidates top spot; FTA channels see gains
BARC ratings for Week 33 (August 11-17) [HSM (U+R): NCCS All : 2+ Individuals] saw FTA channels gain grounds once again among the top 10 Hindi GECs in Rural+Urban. Zee TV was on the downswing this week.

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