Week at a glance: Martin Sorrell’s India plans; Focus on purposeful business

S4 to launch in India in Feb-end, will reveal CEO’s name soon: Martin Sorrell
Speaking on Day 1 at the IAA World Congress in Kochi, Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital Limited, discussed the potential in data content and digital media planning and buying. He also announced that his companies, S4 Capital and Media Monks, were on the cusp of setting up their operations in India. Adgully caught up with Sorrell to know more about his India plans. 

Why do brands continue to make misleading claims in ads: An industry perspective
Ads violating the advertising code and making misleading claims are on the rise despite strong measures to check violations. Adgully spoke to Shweta Purandare, Secretary General, ASCI; Harish Bijoor, Brand Expert & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc; N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research; and Saurabh Uboweja, International Brand Expert and CEO Brands of Desire, to understand this issue as well as the process of monitoring ads, complaints redressal mechanism, and measures in place to penalise the violators. 

Piyush Pandey makes a strong case for sustainability of human emotions
Speaking on ‘Brand Communication for Social Change’ at the IAA World Congress in Kochi, Piyush Pandey, Global Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy & Mather, made an emotional appeal for sustainability of human emotions, which, he felt, is under threat in the digital world.  

We have to set standards of ethical use of machine learning: Marc Pritchard
“What if brand could be force for good and a force for growth?”, this was Marc Pritchard’s, Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble, interesting proposition while speaking at the ongoing IAA World Congress in Kochi. Pritchard emphasised on living the brand’s purpose and not just talk about it. 

We have to take stereotypes out of advertisements: Paul Polman
Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, gave a passionate talk on ‘Shaping Society Through Purposeful Business’ and urged companies to run their businesses by heart, because he felt that businesses can’t succeed in a society that fails. 

We are extremely bullish about adex in India: Sameer Singh
Sameer (Sam) Singh, CEO, GroupM South Asia, sees private consumption and government spending continue being the bedrock in terms of GDP consumption. A turnaround is also seen in terms of private investment and that seems to be picking up. Prasanth Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, GroupM South Asia, said, “We are expecting spends to be almost 50/50 between special events and elections. Closer to 20-25 per cent will actually go to digital media.” 

Nestlé, Disney among brands halting ads on YouTube for offensive content
Nestlé, Disney, Epic Games and Dr Oetker have pulled out their ads from the YouTube platform following allegations of the presence of a paedophilia network. 

Dentsu Aegis Network SEA acquires digital marketing agency Happy Marketer
Dentsu Aegis Network SEA has acquired Happy Marketer Group, Southeast Asia’s leading data-driven digital marketing agency headquartered in Singapore. Post-acquisition, it will be rebranded as Happy Marketer, a Merkle Company. 

Global ad spends to grow 4.3% in 2019, but Internet ad spends to decline: WARC
New forecasts based on data from 96 countries by WARC, the international marketing intelligence service, predict a 4.3 per cent rise in global advertising spends this year, pushing total investment to over $616 billion. This follows on from a 5.4 per cent rise in 2018 – the strongest growth since 2011. 

Gender Neutral Marketing - why brands should go for it?
Ankoor Dasguupta, Vice President – Brand Solutions | Marketing | Special Projects, SHEROES, writes about the reawakening of understanding the raison d'être of marketing – the essence of consumer behaviour and how the user engages with various forms of messaging along with the importance of gender-neutral marketing. 

Building brands through cause marketing & social impact: P&G’s Sonali Dhawan
“Today, #ShareTheLoad is no longer a campaign that belongs to Ariel alone, it has become a social movement, not just in India but outside the country as well,” says Sonali Dhawan, Marketing Director, P&G India, and Fabric Care. Truely global brands can spark powerful conversations that take a life of their own, and #ShareTheLoad is something that everybody now uses across every conversation. 

MX Player has 100 partners, 175 mn monthly active users in India: Karan Bedi
Entertainment app MX Player has rolled out its first 5 MX Original Series that will go live starting February 20, 2019. The ad-supported video on demand platform will stream premium content for free. In an interaction with Adgully, Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player, speaks a length about the growth strategy for India. 

Sachin Bansal invests Rs 650 cr in Ola
Ola, one of the world’s largest ride-hailing platforms, today confirmed an investment of Rs. 650cr (~$92 million) from Sachin Bansal, India’s foremost internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Flipkart. This investment is part of Ola’s larger Series J funding round and is in Bansal’s personal capacity as an investor. 

New WPP and Waze partnership opens up in-car driver market
WPP and Waze have announced a new collaboration to make it simpler for retail brands to run campaigns on Waze, the global social navigation app owned by Google. The partnership, designed to direct drivers to retail locations through en route messaging, will launch in Canada, France, Italy, the UK and the US. 

Low CPT & maximum effectiveness keep brands coming back to Print
“Benefits of print are low CPT compared to other media, wide reach, and commendable affinity. Also, it is less prone to switches in preferences of the consumers over a short campaign period,” says Pratyush Chinmmoy, Chief Marketing Officer, Mirc Electronics. 

SBI Card is geared to build a stronger connect with millenials: Hardayal Prasad
SBI Card, one of India’s largest credit card issuers, has unveiled its new brand identity designed to appeal to the millenial generation. Adgully spoke to Hardayal Prasad, MD & CEO SBI Card, to know more about the new brand identity, the increased focus on the youth TG, offering financial services in an era of technological advancements and more. 

Discovery appoints Megha Tata as Managing Director of South Asia
Discovery Asia Pacific has appointed Megha Tata as Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery Communications India, effective April 1, 2019. Tata joins Discovery from BTVI, where she was spearheading the India business. She will be based in Mumbai and report to Simon Robinson, Managing Director, Discovery Asia Pacific and Chief Financial Officer, Discovery International. 

How Tata Tea is keeping its Jaago Re drive relevant in South India
For the first time Tata Tea’s premium brand in Andhra Pradesh, Chakra Gold, has developed its ‘Jaago Re’ (‘Meluku’) campaign specifically for the women of the region. Conceptualised by Mullen Lintas, the new TVC endeavours to awaken AP women’s strength towards self-empowerment, while battling debilitating patriarchy and discriminatory societal norms. 

Twitter India expands transparency around political ads on the platform
In line with its commitment to enforce stricter policies for political advertisers and providing clear, transparent disclosure for all ads on the platform, Twitter has announced the expansion of its political ads policy and transparency approach to include India, Australia and all European Union member states. 

Ad land’s Young Guns: Rohit Dhingra, CEO & Co-Founder, TAGG
A fitness enthusiast, Rohit Dhingra, CEO & Co-Founder, TAGG, is a young entrepreneur from Delhi. His strong inclination towards technology and the zeal to make it big in life gave him the idea of starting his own company of technologically advanced electronic products.

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