Noor Fathima Warsia

noorw@exchange4media.com @Noor Fathima Warsia

Indian agencies had entered 266 pieces of work in Outdoor Lions this year. Of these, 12 pieces of work, forming seven broad entries, have made it to the shortlist. The entries include two from Ogilvy India, two from Creativeland Asia and one each from Mudra DDB, Bates 141 and TapRoot.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 22, 2010 9:19 AM

Press Lions, the shortlist of which has also been released today, has seen an overall decrease in entries from India. From the 244 entries sent this year, 29 pieces of work across 13 broad entries have made it to the Press Lions 2010 shortlist. Mudra DDB has four broad entries (10 pieces of work); McCann Worldgroup has two broad entries (three creatives in all); TapRoot has two entries (four creatives). Leo Burnett has one campaign with four creatives shortlisted, Ogilvy India, too, has one campaign with three pieces of work. RMG India has one campaign with three pieces of work. Bates 141 and JWT India have an entry each in the Press Lions shortlist.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 22, 2010 9:17 AM

After winning a Grand Prix in 2008 in the Direct Lions category, getting no Lions in 2009 and in 2010 was disappointing. Like Promo and Activation Lions, this year saw the highest number of entries ever from India in this category. However, Jury Member Ramesh Iyengar, Chairman & MD, Select Direct Marketing Commns, reminded that numbers did not matter when the work was not good.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 22, 2010 9:11 AM

The Promo Lions added to the positive news for Camp India on day one, with Ogilvy India winning a Bronze Lion for the AICMED. However, 141 Sercon’s Vijay Singh, who was a member of the Promo & Activation Jury, explained that many entries came close in making the cut, but lost out due to presentation and lack of focus on results, which has 30 per cent weightage in scores.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 22, 2010 9:10 AM

In the second year of the PR Lions, India has won a Silver Lion, which went to BBDO India for the work done for Gillette, titled ‘Woman Against Lazy Stubbles (W.A.L.S.)’. Jury President Paul Taaffe said that not just in India but across countries, PR agencies got a “kick in the bum” with advertising agencies taking most awards. He added that he expected the situation to change in the next year, as the PR agencies became more aware and active about the category.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 22, 2010 9:05 AM

Sales are gone, parties are back, creative professionals are here and so are marketers in large numbers – Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010 has begun. That simply means, it is again seven nights of no sleep, breaking news, creative debates, India's performance on a global platform and yet some more about brand building. Now, who would mind that year after year!

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 21, 2010 8:49 AM

The first day began with a steady flow of Indian delegates at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010. The customary hellos and hi’s were still on when the Direct, Promo and PR shortlists were being discussed, and needless to say that with just four in Direct, and two in Promo, everyone was disappointed.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 21, 2010 8:46 AM

The first day of Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010 dedicated two sessions to the ‘design’ factor in brand building. In the first session, Luciano Deos, President, Abedesign – Brazilian Association of Design Companies, took an unconventional look at designs coming from BRIC companies, where a silent shift from ‘Made in’ to ‘Designed in’ was taking place. The more mainline aspect was discussed in the session that delved on discovering the balance between intimate and vision.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 21, 2010 8:44 AM

Despite seeing one of largest numbers of entries ever sent from India in the Direct Lions category, there are only four pieces of work that have made it to the Direct Lions shortlist at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010. These include two entries from McCann Worldgroup and one each from Bates 141 and Grey Worldwide.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 21, 2010 8:42 AM

Like last year, this year, too, Indian companies had sent 12 entries for PR Lions. And only one has made it to the shortlist – BBDO India’s ‘Women Against Lazy Stubble’ for P&G’s product Gillette.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 21, 2010 8:41 AM

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival has renamed Promo Lions to Promo and Activation Lions this year. Like Direct, Promo too has seen one of the highest numbers of entries ever sent from India. However, of the 103 entries sent, only two – one from Ogilvy India and the second from Bates 141 – have made it to the shortlist.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 21, 2010 8:40 AM

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010 has seen a fresh burst of focus from the organisers to increase the advertiser participation. While on the one hand, there are more advertisers speaking, on the other hand, there are increased advertisers in attendance as well. A big step was seen from ITC India this year, the company has sent 10 delegates to Cannes – this is perhaps the highest ever number of delegates coming from an Indian advertiser to Cannes.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 21, 2010 8:38 AM

The Advertising Agencies Association of India is facing one of its biggest challenges, and the bone of contention is the controversial Reckitt Benckiser media pitch. Even though AAAI has stated that given the clauses, no agency should participate in the pitch, it is understood that there are at least four agencies that have been in conversations with the client.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 18, 2010 8:37 AM

The exchange4media Conclave 2010 is over. The big question - how was it? Well, we had 100 per cent speaker turnout, over 200 delegates and some of the hottest discussions on issues pertaining to media service brands and advertisers. The conversations were no holds barred (Reckitt Benckiser pitch was discussed at length!) and there was so much more to learn from some of the speakers like Irwin Gotlieb, Ashutosh Srivastava, Rahul Welde, Tim Love and even though via a video conference, from Mainardo de Nardis as well.

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 14, 2010 8:53 AM

For many years now, agencies have been trying with no success to bring some kind of a pitch-fee process to avoid free display of ideas to just any advertiser. But corporate major Reckitt Benckiser astonished many when it decided to reopen its media review, and asked agencies to pay a fee to participate in the pitch. The pitch is said to be CPRP-linked and has another clause that agencies call ‘preposterous’. While AAAI is fighting this particular battle in its own way, has the industry thought through the bigger dilemma that stares it in the face?

Noor Fathima Warsia Jun 7, 2010 8:18 AM

Ever since the global Nokia pitch in 2009, the fee structure, or the commission of a media agency, has been discussed at every forum. The industry has expressed its concerns on this business model, saying that they see it as a self-deterioration path for agencies. Agencies themselves are not comfortable with the model because they know that a business is not won just by scoring a 9/10 on the pitch – the commercial is not just the last, but the only key step. And yet there doesn’t appear to be a solution.

Noor Fathima Warsia May 31, 2010 8:32 AM

The creative industry has been debating the efficiency of the concept of a National Creative Director for a while. Some agencies have even worked with a dual NCD model over the past few years. The television industry, too, has been seeing a change of sorts since last year. Whether it is Star Plus, Zee TV or, more recently, Imagine TV, an overall Programming Head concept doesn’t seem to fit in the future strategies of these companies.

Noor Fathima Warsia May 24, 2010 8:24 AM

Social media platforms are consumed at a personal level when it comes to individuals – a Twitter or a Facebook account is personal, companies don’t have any control over what their employees are putting on status messages or discussing, and many times what should stay within office conversations, is reaching clients and competition… Technology, when not understood fully, can be very tricky.

Noor Fathima Warsia May 17, 2010 8:25 AM

Twitter surely has impacted India in a manner no one could have imagined. We are talking about political storms, new peaks of cricket controversies, celebrities’ rise of a different kind and even influence house like Lalit Modi seeing one of his worst times – all with some credit (frankly lots of it) to the little blue bird. However, one can’t help but wonder where Google’s Buzz got lost in all this. The bigger and better me-too doesn’t always work?

Noor Fathima Warsia May 10, 2010 8:21 AM

Last month, Kester Fielding, Global Media Procurement Director, Diageo had made three observations about media service brands globally – that the perception around them had not changed, that their business structure had not evolved and that they were having the same conversations today that they did a decade ago. When industry minds such as Kester Fielding are of that opinion, media service brands should sit up, deliberate and worry a bit.

Noor Fathima Warsia May 3, 2010 8:27 AM

The going is not so good for Creative Abby. As if the continuous result leak for the last three years was not enough, this year, the voting process has come under the scanner, rendering four ‘guilty’ agencies. The AAAI Managing Committee has discussed the matter and has suggested the withdrawal of awards from these four agencies that had voted for their own work. The Bombay Ad Club, that owns the Abby Awards, would be discussing the issue next week and a final decision is expected soon after.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 28, 2010 8:25 AM

Editors, anchors and news channels per se, are perfect subject for any conversation. Whether it is monologues of sorts on platforms like Twitter or dialogues and conversations in boardrooms and dining rooms – everyone has a view on our national news broadcasters. And it is near impossible that Times Now, or rather Arnab Goswami, is not a part of those conversations. As is true of most big stories, there is prize and problem of being Arnab Goswami.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 26, 2010 9:36 AM

Ad serving technology has been discussed in the digital space for some time now. Many don’t bring the conversation up again for the sheer complexity of the data that it involved. Matthew Hunt, MD, UK, Adconian, spoke further on ad serving and the role that it played in the technologies of tomorrow. Also speaking on the subject was Gian Fulgoni, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, Comscore, who spoke about measurement and how simple actions impacted online measurement.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 21, 2010 8:44 AM

The digital domain has many new learnings for the industry stakeholders every day. In a session that brought mobile and ad serving networks under focus, experts at Festival of Media observed that it was not ‘year of mobile’ as much as it was ‘decade of mobile’ and we have been there for the last two years now.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 21, 2010 8:42 AM

The print medium, too, came under the scanner at a session at the Festival of Media 2010. The speakers – Alisa Bowen, SVP Head of Consumer Publishing, Thomson Reuters; and Mike Cooper, Global CEO of PHD – deliberated on how the medium was utilised by brands at present and what the future gamechangers could be.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 21, 2010 8:36 AM

The Festival of Media Awards 2010 was announced at a ceremony in Valencia on April 20, 2010. The Awards were spread across the global media agency networks, with the likes of Havas, MediaCom, VivaKi and OMD winning Jury Awards. Indian agencies won no awards at the Festival this year. However, MediaCom India’s work for Gillette got two High Recommendations, and Mindshare India’s Lux Perfect Bride received one High Recommendation at the Festival.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 21, 2010 8:32 AM

The last session at the Festival of Media 2010 should make media service brands concerned. Diageo’s Global Media Procurement Director, Kester Fielding, was speaking on the ‘true value of media’ and stated that media agencies were having the same conversations today that they did a decade ago. He said that the perception of media service brands and their business models had not changed.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 21, 2010 8:30 AM

One of the most ‘unique’ sessions at the Festival of Media 2010 was dedicated to nation brand building and how countries and coffees could be the global brands of tomorrow. The speakers included Maria Luisa Francoli, Global CEO, MPG; Turespana’s Enrique Ruiz de Lera; and Juan Valdez Cafe’s Luis Fernando Samper.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 20, 2010 9:05 AM

Maarten L Albarda, who until recently was Worldwide Director, Media and Communication Innovation, Coca-Cola Company, is now the VP, Global Connections, Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABInBev) – the company that owns beer brands such as Budweiser, Becks and Stella Artois. ABInBev has developed a fourth muscle of late – the marketing muscle – and Albarda spoke to the audience at the Festival of Media on what that signified and what the final means and end of that route were.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 20, 2010 8:59 AM

Many delegates at the Festival of Media complimented C Squared for making it through the tough spot that the festival was in, but many also pointed out that the subdued audience due to the travel situation in Europe was a dampener despite the efforts. That said, the Festival of Media 2010 managed to finish Day One on a positive note, and the agenda for Day Two looked interesting as well.

Noor Fathima Warsia Apr 20, 2010 8:55 AM