Contract Advertising hit by successive account losses
Contract Advertising, especially their Delhi office, is believed to have lost a string of accounts while some others are being re-evaluated, which sources say have led to a loss of Rs 7 crore
Contract Advertising, Delhi, is believed to have lost several accounts in the past six months and some others are being re-evaluated, resulting in losses to the tune of at least Rs 7 crore. This was one third of their Delhi office revenue as on December 2018, claim highly placed sources.
Leading standalone health insurance player Max Bupa, exchange4media has heard, called for a pitch in the capital a few months ago. While several big agencies have participated in the pitch, Contract isn’t going to be part of it. Contract was working on the account since the beginning of 2018.
Another Contract Advertising account, which is up for a pitch, is Orient Electric, a CK Birla Group company. However, Contract is participating in this one. The agency has been working with Orient Electric on this account for the past three years. Also, Anchor Health & Beauty Care from Mumbai which had Contract Advertising as the agency on record for the past couple of years is believed to have ended their contract as on December 31, 2018, for entirely different reasons though. Their creative mandate is currently being handled by Hats On, a Mumbai-based agency.
Another big loss for Contract Advertising, which exchange4media was the first to report, was the Domino’s account which had been with Contract for nearly two decades. The size of the account is believed to be approximately between Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 4 crore, making it one of the biggest accounts for Contract in Delhi. FCB India has won the account, even though nothing has been officially announced yet.
Aviva Life Insurance, another of their clients, is currently in the middle of a pitch and Contract is also participating in it. The agency’s association with Dabur Glucose D has also reportedly ended. Aviva Life Insurance has been working with Contract Advertising for close to three years now. Negotiations are also believed to be on with some clients to continue the collaboration. In all, Contract Advertising has roughly faced losses of approximately Rs 7 crore in revenue in the past six months in a growing market like NCR, said a source close to the development.
The past six months have been rather rough for Contract Advertising with CCO Ashish Chakravarty announcing his decision to move on. He join McCann Worldgroup after leading Contract for six years. His ECDs in Mumbai and Delhi, Kapil Mishra and Mayur Hola, too resigned and Contract had to put in place an all new leadership team, headed by Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, a veteran in the industry.
But sources say the crash has been rather gradual, with the past two years contributing majorly to the agency’s slump. Most people who have over the past few decades worked with Contract say the agency set up by ad guru Mohammad Khan in India was not a typical second agency to JWT (now Wunderman Thompson), then HTA, it was a fairly independent and powerful agency. The agency was not reporting to JWT India directly but instead to JWT Singapore till Chairman and CCO Ravi Deshpande’s exit in 2013.
The first wave of change was noticed after the exit of their CFO Vivek Kamath who was an old hand in the agency and was known for not being a pushover. Things changed after he left Contract and was replaced with someone who was working with J Walter Thompson office then, and thereon the parent company in India became a lot more controlling.
A Contract insider who blames the agency’s decline on the enforced JWT (now Wunderman Thompson) culture and the domination of the parent company says, “Despite being a part of J Walter Thompson, Contract has always functioned as a separate independent entity. But then there were major changes after Vivek Kamath left. Hiring became tougher, replacements weren’t okayed. At the beginning of 2016, there was a 61-member Creative team in Delhi, which was expanded on the back of solid growth. But over the past two years, one by one they had to be escorted to the door because the agency could no longer support them. Till the end of 2018, the Delhi team size was back to 17-18 which was reminiscent of what it was in 2013-14 before the massive growth the agency had witnessed.”
A former employee says, “In 2013, the Delhi office had two big businesses, one of them was Domino’s, and the size of the Creative team in the capital did not exceed 12, the Bangalore office had lost one of its key accounts - Jockey - and the Bombay office was relying on three big accounts for revenue – Shopper’s Stop, Asian Paints (which are still with Contract’s Mumbai Office and industry sources peg the account worth at Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore respectively) and Cadbury’s. In the next two years, the Delhi team focused on winning new accounts and by 2015 new spaces had to be created in the office to accommodate the growing Creative team.”
Highly reliable sources say that between the end of 2013 and 2015, Contract Advertising had won 30 businesses, including Docomo and Microsoft, and their Delhi office alone grew from a Rs 17-18 crore agency to over Rs 30 crore agency in two years flat, which was an unprecedented growth for the advertising agency. Mumbai didn’t grow then as much because it was a market which was saturated, unlike Delhi which had new businesses coming in. Of course, the Mumbai office then lost the Mondelez account, first the Halls & Choclairs business to L&K Saatchi and Saatchi due to international realignment of business and lastly Celebrations to Ogilvy.
Another ex-Contract resource says a lot of senior leaders at Contract Advertising were unhappy with the change in the style of working after Rana Barua, then CEO, quit the organization. “With the new management coming in, the culture was not the same. Contract was a very creative-led agency wherein the creative leadership would take the calls, even strategy was cracked by the creative leads when the idea was finalized. But later it became more management oriented, typical JWT culture started creeping in, which was more servicing oriented.”
A creative professional who has worked with Contract said: “All the accounts we would win then started getting clubbed while being publicized as J Walter Thompson Group wins and rarely as Contract Advertising’s wins individually.” Summing it up, the professional said: “Contract was a separate entity, a respected separate entity. But in the last two years it has been reduced to a JWT-owned entity and has lost miserably after being throttled and not just neglected.”
Responding to exchange4media’s query, Raji Ramaswamy, CEO, Contract Advertising says, “Contract India has won a number of new businesses and projects in the last two years like Bata, Veeba, Wipro - four brands, Sony SAB, Brigade, McCain, Khimji, Nayara Energy, Oppo, Godrej Interio, to name a few. Our specialized offerings like Design, Digital and Core Consulting have won over 10 new projects and businesses. We are currently handling all the clients that you have mentioned in your list and it is business as usual with all of them. We will be announcing yet another new business win in a couple of days. The wins in the last two years are far more than any losses that we may have had and we continue to win assignments and businesses every month across the country. Contract has a unique culture built over 30 years that we are proud of and will continue to build on it.”
(Exchange4media got a response from Contract Advertising on the story on 11th June and on 13th June the agency announced through a press release that their Mumbai office has won the mandate for Godrej Interio.)
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Social Beat wins SEO mandate of Tata CLiQ tag rss
The account was won after a multi-agency pitch
e4m e4m Social Beat has won the SEO mandate for Tata CLiQ, one of the fastest-growing omnichannel marketplace in India. Social Beat has been entrusted with optimizing existing content, as well as launching new, optimized category pages systematically on Tata CLiQ’s platform to scale monthly organic traffic by 2x over the next year. The account was won after a multi-agency pitch and will be serviced by Social Beat’s offices in Mumbai.
Shishir Kataria, Director - Marketing, Tata CLiQ, “Shoppers, e-commerce or otherwise, continue to heavily rely on search and discovery throughout their shopping journey, be it engaging with the latest fashion trends or hunting for the best buys. No wonder a platform's ability to be a part of this journey organically drives significant consideration for it amongst potential shoppers. We, at Tata Cliq, are confident that Social Beat will help us develop and optimise content that is highly discoverable to grow our engagement and revenue. Our goal continues to be to drive more and more shoppers to our platform with optimised and curated products and relevant content.”
Vikas Chawla, Co-Founder, Social Beat said, “We are thrilled to partner with Tata CLiQ in their growth journey. We aim to scale traffic to the Tata CLiQ platform manyfold over the next year. Our team of specialised SEO and Content strategists will be working closely to achieve this”
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ShareWill OOH dazzle this festive season?
As the celebrations begin, experts tell us the trends and challenges for the OOH sector this season
Be it the flower-clad taxis in Mumbai for Made in Heaven Season 2 promotion or Zomato’s ‘kheer mangoge kheer denge’ billboards, India's OOH advertising sector has undergone substantial transformation and expansion in the recent years. Even though the medium was severely hit during the pandemic years, it has now managed to rebuild its status. Now, with the onset of the festive season, elections and the cricket world cup, OOH is expected to see more and more advertisers come on board.
Amarjeet Hudda, Chief Operating Officer, Laqshya Media Group, believes most of the clients spend a lot of money during the festive season, especially for Durga Puja, Dussehra and Diwali, targeting their customers in a festive mood. The categories that spend heavily during these months are Auto, Consumer Durables, Real Estate, Organised retail, and E-commerce.
According to Dipankar Sanyal of Platinum Outdoor, there was a huge surge in the festive season last year, and he expects the same this year too. “Last four to five years have turbulent for outdoor. It was picking up in 2019, but then Covid came and everything went flat for two years,” he mentioned.
According to EY-FICCI’s M&E Report 2023, OOH media grew 86 percent in 2022 to Rs 37 billion. The value includes traditional, transit and digital media, but excludes untracked unorganised OOH media such as wall paintings, billboards, ambient media, storefronts, proxy advertising.
Sharing the brand’s perspective, Shivam Ranjan, Head of Marketing, Motorola-APAC, said, “We are going into this festive season with a strong mix of media, including OOH. Within OOH, we are focusing on digital OOH, due to its capability of programmatic serving, measurability, and near real-time insights that allow us to be agile with the communication and optimisation of our campaigns.”
With urbanisation, improved infrastructure, rising consumerism and an increased spending power, clients' expectations from OOH advertising too have evolved. “The clients expect better ROI on every investment, best in class innovations, tech-led planning and execution. Today, technology plays an important role starting from planning the campaign, to measuring metrics to ROI,” Singh explained.
Another trend that Sanyal has observed is that traditionally advertisers looked at spending on OOH nearly two weeks prior to the festivities, but now, most advertisers have now started advertising a week earlier so that they can get maximum eyeballs. Additionally, the digital OOH advertising (DOOH) has also emerged big. The digital OOH screens increased to around 100,000 and contributed eight percent of total segment revenues.
“Now with digital, there is more space for advertisers to come in one frame. Because of this, you can see it is getting more attractive. The innovations too are coming in at a much lower cost and creating a greater impact,” shared Sanyal.
The only challenge with the medium, according to Ranjan, is OOH being a fragmented industry with lack of measurability and agility. This becomes a serious issue for ROI-centric brands. However, the growth of DOOH, which is dynamic, agile and measurable, is giving marketers the confidence to invest in the medium backed by relevant data and outcomes.
Adding to this, Hudda highlighted that availability of good media spots is the biggest challenge in this season as media assets are limited and demand is very high. Due to the gap in the festive season, many clients are not able to fully optimise their campaigns. Rather sometimes, clients are even compelled to divert their budget which adversely impacts the industry, he shared.
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Banking on positive consumer sentiment: BFSI optimistic on doubling festive AdEx : Cache
Some categories within the sector, however, may spend more in the quarter that follows the festive season
The BFSI sector is expecting a surge in demand for loan during the festive season and is looking at increasing its ad spends to cash in on the celebration spirit. Industry leaders say they are hopeful of witnessing a good growth in the number of applications for auto loan, home loan, credit card and health insurance during October, November and December due to positive consumer sentiment this year. However, though most of the BFSI players are planning to double their advertising budget this time compared to the previous year, there are some who are not investing too heavily on marketing during the festivals as they plan to save the money for the fourth quarter.
According to Shailendra Singh, MD & CEO, BOB Financial, they witness incremental growth every year during the October-December quarter, and they anticipate an increase in consumer spending as well as new enrolments for cards this year too. “There remains a surge in customer demand for credit during the festive season,” said Singh.
Singh shared that the company is fully geared up for the launch of #FestiveShoppingRewards on all Bank of Baroda credit card variants under the theme ‘Reimagine Festivities’. They would kickstart festive offerings with the start of Navratri.
The festive season does not just see the demand for credit go up, but there is an increase in applications for health and motor insurance too during this time of the year.
Aabhinna Suresh Khare, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, BajajCapital Ltd, shared that among insurance products, health insurance and motor insurance reign supreme during festivals. According to Khare, the demand for mutual funds and SIPs too sees a hike.
“Overall, the festive season presents an opportune moment to secure insurance coverage. A plethora of attractive products and services are on offer, with financial institutions extending special discounts and promotions to entice new customers,” said Khare.
The company launched #BlessMeGanesha campaign during Ganesh Chaturthi. “Our goal for this festive season is not only to provide financial solutions but also to create memorable experiences and deepen the connection with our customers,” said Khare.
Though all major sectors spend heavily on advertising during the festive season, within the BFSI sector, some categories spend more in the quarter that follows the festive season.
Explaining the trend, Samir Sethi, Head of Brand Marketing, Policybazaar.com, said that the festive season has varying impacts on the BFSI sector. In the banking sector, for instance, the demand for loans surges as many individuals purchase items and undertake home renovations. Conversely, in the insurance category, the festive season doesn't result in significant changes. Instead, the insurance industry experiences its peak season after the festive period, particularly during the fourth quarter of the financial year.
“As the festive season approaches, there is a noticeable increase in car sales though, leading to a surge in the demand for motor insurance. Consequently, we see a significant uptick in the requests for motor insurance policies. During the festive period, there is an upswing in demand for various categories, such as electronics. However, in the insurance sector, this period doesn't significantly affect us, so we don't run specific campaigns targeting festivals. Nevertheless, we do roll out multiple campaigns throughout the year, and some of them may coincide with the festive season,” said Sethi.
According to the TAM AdEx report on BFSI sector across media for H1, the advertising volume of the sector grew on TV, radio and digital, but declined in the print medium. The report indicated that ad impressions on digital saw 91% rise during Jan-Jun '23 over Jan-Jun’22. The increase was 32% for radio and 4% for TV. The ad space of the BFSI sector decreased by 7% in print.
Speaking on media mix, Singh shared that BOB Financial has a good mix of customer segments belonging to Tier I, II and III. So, understanding their needs and preferred form of media channels, the company will reach out to them through relevant media promotions. “For the easy discovery of our offers, we shall have a dedicated offers page with regular promotion of top offers on our social media and other digital channels,” said Singh. Without disclosing the figure, Singh shared that the company’s promotion budget has surely increased from last year and it will be visible through their multi-channel promotional activities.
According to the TAM report, in the BFSI sector, life insurance is the leading category on TV and radio whereas mutual funds is the top category on digital.
Khare highlighted that in recent times, Bajaj Capital has observed a significant growth in audiences on online platforms and the changing preferences of their clientele. “This observation led us to recalibrate our marketing approach, placing a heightened emphasis on digital avenues,” said Khare.
He further added, “Our promotional efforts are primarily digital-focused, accentuating areas like social media engagement, search engine outreach, content-driven marketing, and targeted online advertising. As we approach the festive season, we've fine-tuned our online approach. By harnessing the insights from data analytics, we aim to grasp our clients' needs and inclinations better, ensuring our content is both tailored and pertinent.”
Khare also mentioned that Baja Capital has doubled its advertising budget compared to the previous year.
“This increase in our ad spend signifies our confidence in the opportunities this festive season presents. This impressive surge in our budget allocation underscores our dedication to maximizing the potential of this festive season and driving significant expansion within our business. We firmly believe that this increased investment in advertising will not only elevate our brand presence but also lead to an exceptional uptick in customer engagement and sales.”
For Policybazaar.com, the media strategy primarily involves a blend of television and digital platforms, an approach that has remained consistent in recent years and is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.
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OMD appoints Dileep Raj Singh as Head of Digital for APAC
Singh will report to Charlotte Lee, CEO of OMD APAC
OMD has added a Head of Digital (HOD) to its Asia Pacific (APAC) regional leadership team with the hiring of Dileep Raj Singh.
Singh is a digital native and brings with him a wealth of experience across product, media agency and client side in APAC, North America and the United Kingdom. His last 10 years have been spent building diverse digital marketing teams covering areas like performance marketing, digital media planning, ad/martech, product marketing, branding and measurement.
As HOD, he will accelerate OMD’s digital leadership agenda, rooted in helping clients address their business challenges and digital ambitions. He will be supporting OMD’s local teams in APAC on operational excellence, and digital transformation frameworks and roadmaps; and the development and implementation of our digital leadership agenda. He will also be working hand in hand with both our regional and global networks to initiate complementary workstreams for our clients in APAC.
“We will continue to invest and win in digital as part of our wider goal to be our clients’ most trusted business transformation partner,” said Charlotte Lee, CEO of OMD APAC.
“It is our global ambition to continue our leadership position in digital, data and technology. In line with this ambition, we are excited to have Singh come on board the OMD APAC leadership team. His background of agency, in-house and start-up experience position him perfectly to understand and address our clients’ business needs,” added Lee.
“Digital media and access to our audience, as we know it, is changing quite rapidly around us. This puts most of us in a delicate but remarkable position, a position from which we can shape and contribute to conversations about the next evolution of digital media. As we embark on this journey, I want to leverage the strength of the OMD network – people, technology, data, tools and platforms – to help our clients pivot and navigate through all the new and evolved possibilities in digital media. With this, I aim to position OMD as an unrivaled partner for our current and future clients; to dominate and succeed in this incredibly competitive and multifarious digital realm,” said Singh.
Singh will report to Lee, and work closely with the team including Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), David McCallen, and Chief Client Officer (CCO), Sadhan Mishra, to drive and support APAC local markets as well as regional clients on digital, data and technology needs.
Mishra was promoted to CCO of OMD APAC recently in June 2023. He will continue to be CEO of OMD Singapore, a position he was promoted into last August. Mishra has been with OMD for over 13 years and in his concurrent new role as CCO, he will focus on key client relationships, understanding their business needs and ensuring we remain a critical partner on their transformation journeys.
McCallen was elevated to the role of CSO of OMD APAC in April 2022, and was previously the CSO of OMD New Zealand for five years where he helped the agency to attain the top place in the market for new business, overall billings and award wins. Since starting in the APAC role, his focus has been on connecting and elevating strategic best practices across the region, building capabilities across a range of strategic outputs, and supporting new business growth both regionally and locally.
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Chandrayaan 3: Brands over the Moon
Some of the best moment marketing posts on India's crucial lunar mission
The nation is in a celebratory mood with its moon mission Chandrayaan 3 making its smooth landing on the lunar surface on the evening of August 23, 2023. The Pragyan rover is in pursuit of discovering water on the moon and is a vital feat for India's ambitious space research.
To celebrate this momentous episode in Indian space research history, netizens have taken to the internet to express their excitement, hopes and fears for the nation's lunar mission. Joining them are brands who have crafted creatives to mark the historic occasion and capture the emotions of the nation who have their eyes set on the moon. Here is our pick of some of the best Chandrayaan 3-moment marketing posts.
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BCCI rakes in Rs 4670 cr in Women's Premier League team auction: Jay Shah 26 Jan
WPL has broken the inaugural auction record of Men's IPL in 2008, tweeted Shah
As expected, Wednesday turned out to be another historic day in Indian women's cricket with BCCI having a windfall gain of Rs 4,600 crores by auctioning five team franchises for the first season, a higher sum compared to what men’s IPL franchises offered to the cricket body during the launch in 2008.
Adani, IndiaWin Sports, Royal Challengers, GSW- GMR cricket and Capri Global have won the bid, BCCI secretary Jay Shah tweeted.
Shah shared in a series of tweets, “Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men's IPL in 2008! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs.4669.99 Cr in total bid.”
“This marks the beginning of a revolution in women's cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity. The #WPL would bring necessary reforms in women's cricket and would ensure an all-encompassing ecosystem that benefits each and every stakeholder.”
“The @BCCI has named the league - Women's Premier League (WPL). Let the journey begin…”
The country's top corporates had bid aggressively for the league. Over 16 groups including IPL franchise owners, Adani group, Torrent and Haldiram were believed to be in the fray.
Given the popularity of IPL in India, the event is touted to be a big draw for all stakeholders involved.
The BCCI was reportedly expecting ₹4,000 crore gain through team auction.
It’s noteworthy that Viacom18 has won the Women's IPL media rights for Rs 951 crore for the next five years creating euphoria around the league whose first season will be held in March.
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