An agency is only as good as its clients: Kartik Sharma

If clients are not bold, there is no way agencies can do good work, says the Managing Partner of Maxus India

e4m by Priyanka Mehra
Published: May 10, 2013 8:29 PM  | 4 min read
An agency is only as good as its clients: Kartik Sharma

While brands are constantly trying to ascertain how to optimise media spends, leverage multiple touch-points to engage, and interact with consumers in order to enhance the influence of brand communication, Maxus India’s approach to media is deeply rooted in the agency’s proprietary philosophy called Relationship Media (RM).

“At the heart of RM lies putting the consumer at the centre of everything we do and understanding their barriers and gathering insights that will help break those barriers. It’s a rigorous process striking a balancing between science and art. When you put the consumer at the centre, in essence you become neutral to media platforms. When CMO budgets are under pressure, this approach helps even better as it does not start with any pre-conceived notion of which media to advertise on,” shares Kartik Sharma, Managing Partner, Maxus India.

Sharma also believes that the old world order of doing things with a certain template approach to brand building using media is fractured.

Today both advertisers and agencies have no choice but to be bold and experiment. “An agency is only as good as its clients. If clients are not bold, there is no way agencies can do good work,” he added.

The data equation
Whilst clients and agencies alike are grappling with the two pronged challenge of firstly getting access to the right data and secondly its optimum usage, the range of data metrics available today add to the challenge leading to an overload of data. Maxus India believes in tackling this as a collaborative process with clients. “Once you get good data, we use our proprietary tool called Live. It’s a cutting-edge tool which at one hand acts as a real-time dashboard to understand campaign effectiveness and at a different level can be used to do scenario planning. Live is the only tool by any media agency which ranks amongst the top three tools in the world, as per a research done by Forrester. In fact, the tool resides at the client’s end which helps clients take faster decisions. The beauty of the tool is its simplicity and the ability to be media agnostic. Any data, as long as it is quantitative in nature, can be input into the tool,” shared Sharma.

The agency leverages data to create robust statistical models to understand business drivers and use it for both, optimising and future forecasting.

The agency has recently launched a proprietary tool called Resolve, developed by the global planning team. Resolve helps in articulating key brand tasks based on barriers and then recommends the ideal touch-points. The data is based on rigorous primary research done across consumers. The tool looks at more than 70+ touch-points and depending on the task, it recommends the relevant touch-point.

The other proprietary tool Maxus uses is Bingo; developed by GroupM, which is a multi-city media mix optimiser. Maxus also leverages QED a proprietary tool which uses the power of econometrics to optimise media investments.

“Till date, we have two large projects using behavioural economics, and the results are encouraging. We will be doing many more studies in the next few months and release many new ground-breaking researches that the Indian market has never seen before,” shared Sharma.

Media planning: The next game-changer
Sharma believes that while the media buying activity can be boiled down to a single metric called savings for the client, planning is not so easy. Hence, many clients don’t understand the value of planning. Planning at a philosophical level is about what to do and buying is about how efficiently you can do it.

“If you get planning wrong, then it does not matter how efficient you were in the buying process. Some clients have started valuing planning. To me personally, this is going to be a game-changer in the next few years,” he added.

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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur

The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more

e4m by e4m Staff
Published: Oct 27, 2023 6:15 PM  | 1 min read
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With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.

The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.

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Swapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out

The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'

e4m by e4m Staff
Published: Oct 27, 2023 6:07 PM  | 1 min read
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Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."

The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."

COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.

Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.

He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.

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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK

Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board

e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 26, 2023 11:48 AM  | 1 min read
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e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.

Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.

According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.

As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.

A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.

Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.

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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall

The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall

e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 26, 2023 10:54 AM  | 1 min read
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Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.

“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.

“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.

"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."

"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."

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e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 25, 2023 4:39 PM  | 1 min read

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e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 25, 2023 4:38 PM  | 1 min read

KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias

Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments

e4m by exchange4media Staff
Published: Aug 24, 2023 3:35 PM  | 1 min read
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KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.

Mehta will play a pivotal role in driving KlugKlug's growth and expansion within the Indian market and be responsible for Sales & GTM Strategy

Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.

Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."

Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."

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