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<ul><li><keyword id="2805202" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dentsu-webchutney" source="Orion">Dentsu Webchutney</keyword> today announced that Gautam Reghunath, CEO &amp; <keyword id="4332869" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PG-Aditiya" source="Orion">PG Aditiya</keyword>, CCO will be leaving their positions early next year to set up their own venture. </li><li>With this change, the agency will now be back under the direct charge of <keyword id="222016" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sidharth-rao" source="Orion">Sidharth Rao</keyword>, CEO, dentsuMB Group.</li></ul>Dentsu Webchutney today announced that Gautam Reghunath, CEO &amp; PG Aditiya, CCO will be leaving their positions early next year to set up their own venture. With this change, the agency will now be back under the direct charge of Sidharth Rao, CEO, dentsuMB Group. Sidharth, founder of dentsu Webchutney, will front the agency’s talented leadership team. Gautam and PG will continue to work with Sidharth through this period to ensure a smooth transition for a team that has broken all records nationally &amp; internationally as India’s most successful creative agency over the last few years. Commenting on the news, Sidharth Rao, founder of <keyword id="12348411" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dentsu-webchutney-ceo" source="Orion">dentsu Webchutney &amp; CEO</keyword>, dentsuMB said, “Gautam &amp; PG have been the two most defining hires in our history. As a founder, you want your people to find their calling at the company you build, and the legacy the two of them leave behind is the best possible example of this. From joining at entry-level positions in 2010 and 2012 respectively, and rising to the very top through hard work, passion and just simply being the best in the business at their jobs. It’s a story that makes me believe that we’ve created an organisation where anyone can shine. And now, they have a chance to do it for themselves as creative entrepreneurs.” “There is a lot that we at dentsu Webchutney owe them but none more so than the culture they’ve created for us all to thrive in. Business, clients and talent-wise Webchutney today is at its strongest position ever. Today, we celebrate their leadership. They’ve also assembled an outstanding leadership group, an army of superstars across all levels, all of whom who give me and the rest of dentsu’s management immense confidence in how we will march forward as a company,” Rao added. <keyword id="12348412" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gautam-pg" source="Orion">Gautam &amp; PG</keyword> said, “There is no other agency or network in the country where we would have had the chance to build our careers like we have at dentsu and at Webchutney. We’ve spent nearly 90% of our careers here, so moving on is not a decision we’re taking lightly. Our personal views of what success, failure, and everything else in between looks like have been shaped at Webchutney and the people that we’ve had the privilege of working with &amp; leading here. We’re so proud and thankful for how it’s all panned out.” “As for the future, we’re more excited than ever about this wonderful business and have a few ideas germinating in our heads—ones that we get to build out. But for now, we’ve got a few more months left in this dream job, and we’re just going to try and maximize every minute of it. There are so many exciting new pieces of work launching over the next few months, some of them possibly the best work we’ve ever had the chance to be a part of. The best years of Webchutney are ahead of it and we’ll be cheering from the very front,” they added.

Sidharth Rao to take direct charge of dentsu Webchutney from Jan '22 as Gautam Reghunath & PG Aditiya resign to launch new venture

<ul><li><keyword id="2805202" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dentsu-Webchutney">Dentsu Webchutney</keyword> has onboarded a new client and it is, wait for it, Dentsu Webchutney!</li><li>The agency will launch a series of brand films for its client, Dentsu Webchutney.</li></ul>Dentsu Webchutney has onboarded itself as its agency on record and we are wondering what did the pitching process look like? Did Dentsu Webchutney reject its own ideas at first because "Wo feel nahi aa raha," did they roll their eyes at themselves after seeing their budget for their 'big idea' or did they request themselves to blow up the logo after an umpteenth amount of changes in their copies because ‘the logo is too small’ or did they simply go easy on themselves? From Dentsu Webchutney's blog, all we know is that "the pitch process took years and now they are set to launch a series of brand films for the agency brand after a multi-team pitch." They have clearly taken the phrase 'be your own boss' too literally. Here's how we think the pitching process would have looked like: <div type="image" title="download (2)" msid="81547946" hostid="261"></div> What would they call their weekly Zoom Calls with the client? <div type="image" title="Dentsu calling Dentsu" msid="81548262" hostid="261"></div> It’s debated how much agencies should brand themselves outside of their work or their clients but Dentsu Webchutney is there to challenge this problem. Afterall, who can be your biggest brand ambassador if not yourself? It's like Dentsu Webchutney is the only agency in India that is doing ‘adulting’ right because it has learnt how to take care of its own problems. Aatmanirbhar much? The agency launched a Request For Proposal (RFP) in early 2019, with a clear brief to tell its story - and not unlike most pitches, close to two years later, the results are finally out. Surprise, surprise on who won it! Dentsu Webchutney has enlisted Dentsu Webchutney as its creative agency, with an all-star team leading the charter. To begin with, the agency will launch a series of brand films, focusing on what happens behind the scenes of its path-breaking work. With this win, Dentsu Webchutney (the client) joins Dentsu Webchutney’s (the agency) roster of consequential clients such as Flipkart, Uber, Swiggy, Tinder, IKEA, ITC, The Hershey Company. In their new role as the client, Gautam Reghunath, CEO, Dentsu Webchutney and P.G. Aditiya, NCD, Dentsu Webchutney, released the following statement… “Agility, synergy, innovation and all the buzzwords in ad-land have been achieved at our agency over 2020. We’re now hungry for more (buzzwords). Truth be told, the pitch process took years and was long and winding. Plus, we already kind of knew which agency we were going to go with at the get-go but that’s beside the point. Getting India’s favourite creative agency on board to launch a campaign for us is a massive privilege. It was evident that they GET us like we GET us. Almost like we’re the same people. It was a no-brainer to launch with their pitch creative itself, which began with Bengaluru and will eventually expand to include Mumbai and Gurgaon as well. This partnership feels like decades in the making (22 to be exact) — we couldn’t think of a better agency partner.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Dentsu Webchutney will also be Dentsu Webchutney’s first client in the creative agency category. Will their lack of experience be a negative?" text="Dentsu Webchutney will also be Dentsu Webchutney’s first client in the creative agency category. Will their lack of experience be a negative?">Dentsu Webchutney will also be Dentsu Webchutney’s first client in the creative agency category. Will their lack of experience be a negative?</cmsannotation> A senior at a top mainline agency said it did feel like a risk for Dentsu Webchutney to onboard a “digital-first” agency to build the brand, considering how little digital agencies understood brands &amp; brand building. And that strategic thinking like this needed some gray hair. Once again, not unlike most pitches it took almost two years post the footage was originally shot to see the first real piece of work from the agency. Nevertheless, thrilled about their success, Reghunath and Aditiya once again released the following statement, this time on behalf of the winning agency &amp; apparently, while dyeing their hair gray: “Here’s the thing about Dentsu Webchutney: there’s a brand side to the agency with so much untapped potential it would have been silly of us to ignore. Making the brand synonymous with its people is our agenda. There was no better time after their recent win at Spikes Asia as Indian Agency of the Year. They also seemed like clients who take their work very seriously but not take themselves too seriously — which always helps create great work. Personally, we cannot wait to claim all the credit for this upcoming brand campaign that we had just about a 1% role to play in.” Everyone else at the agency &amp; the brand’s side released the following statement: “While our CEO and NCD have a bit of fun, in all seriousness the films are unscripted footage from the agency’s office floor, where you’ll encounter raw scenes from Dentsu Webchutney’s people. Shot over early 2019 and interspersed with other employee-shot footage, it covers the highs, the lows, and the joys of working in advertising. It also features Webchutney alumni we love and is directed by one too. It’s a call to the next generation of creative talent to express their most vulnerable selves in the process of creating. The campaign will roll out on the agency’s <a href="https://instagram.com/webchutney">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/webchutney">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/27226/admin/">LinkedIn</a>, and <a href="https://facebook.com/webchutney">Facebook</a> first. Watch. Enjoy." Now we are waiting for the client (Dentsu Webchutney) to award Dentsu Webchutney as the best agency.

When Dentsu Webchutney roped in Dentsu Webchutney as its creative agency

Cannes 2021 winners: Dentsu Webchutney's Gautam Reghunath and PG Aditiya on topping the charts

<ul><li>Once again, Dentsu <keyword id="222017" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Webchutney">Webchutney</keyword> has emerged as the most awarded Indian agency at <keyword id="177378" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cannes-Lions">Cannes Lions</keyword> 2021.</li><li>Dentsu Webchutney's <keyword id="3354572" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gautam-Reghunath">Gautam Reghunath</keyword> and PG Aditiya talk to us about the performance this year, agency's filtering system for Cannes entries, campaigns that won and vision for next year.</li></ul>Dentsu Webchutney topped the charts at Cannes Lions this year with 20 shortlists and 7 Lions for Vice Media's The 8-bit journo, <keyword id="6358977" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="swiggy">Swiggy</keyword>'s The Better Half and World's most reported trailer. It is for the second year in a row that a digital creative agency has emerged as the most awarded Indian agency at Cannes. The agency won 3 Silver and 2 Bronze for ‘The 8-Bit Journo’ campaign, 1 Silver for the ‘World’s Most Reported Trailer’ and a Bronze for Swiggy’s ‘The Better Half Recipes’ campaign, making 2021 Webchutney’s best year so far. This victory didn’t come as a surprise to Team Webchutney, who were quite optimistic about seeing this kind of reaction at Cannes. While the team wishes that they could send all of their work to Cannes, they just have a simple filtration process: gauge the reaction at Indian awards and send work that you firmly believe in. What’s interesting is that Dentsu Webchutney has secured shortlists and won Lions for the same clients, Swiggy and <keyword id="3586025" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Trigger-Happy-Entertainment">Trigger Happy Entertainment</keyword>, two years in a row and as PG Aditiya says, this is his biggest feat. Gautam Reghunath, CEO, Dentsu Webchutney and PG Aditiya, NCD, Dentsu Webchutney further talk to us about their performance this year, the agency's filtering process for Cannes entries, the campaigns that won and the agency’s vision for next year. They told us how the entire agency shares the desire to keep leading the charts and aims to double down on their market differentiation, which is creativity. To find out more, hear this conversation. <div type="Video" msid="83984733" hostid="261" title="Cannes 2021 winners: Dentsu Webchutney's Gautam Reghunath and PG Aditiya on topping the charts" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=83984733"></div>

Cannes 2021 winners: Dentsu Webchutney on topping the charts and goals for next Cannes Lions

<ul><li>Ad &amp; Media Insider in partnership with Wattpad, hosted a 2-part webinar where we brought industry experts to discuss what makes GenZ different than others, which mediums do they use, how to capture their attention in less than 8 seconds, which topics are they most passionate about and why communication can no longer simply be a monologue. </li><li>The panel was moderated by Dr. Marcus Ranney, Champion of Well-being and had Sameer Yadav, Associate Director - Marketing (Chocolates), Mondelez India, P.G. Aditya, NCD, Dentsu Webchutney and Chris Stefanyk, Head of Brand Partnerships, Wattpad as panelists. </li></ul>Generation Z, which includes anyone born after 1996 and is in the age group of 18-24, is not just digital savvy, they are digital natives who are immersed in social media. They are a tweet away, catching up on the news developments and dance trends on Instagram, with an attention span of a gnat, wanting to see real content and calling out fake news. This generation is surrounded by a barrage of information online, spoilt for choice and skip ads that do not keep them hooked beyond the first few seconds. But if you do get their attention in 8 seconds, they are also a generation that binge watches content. India also has the largest population of young people, making them an important target group for marketers. However, marketers in India -- who are largely Millennials or Xennials and invest in traditional mediums -- are still trying to understand the upcoming generation to find out new ways to market and evolve with them. So, to figure out the most effective ways to connect with GenZ and help quell this panic of navigating the clutter, Ad &amp; Media Insider in partnership with Wattpad, hosted a 2-part webinar. Industry experts decoded how to market to this new age group, which channels deserve the majority of a brand’s marketing monnies, and new ways of appealing to the younger generation. The panel was moderated by Dr. Marcus Ranney, Champion of Well-being and had Sameer Yadav, Associate Director - Marketing (Chocolates), Mondelez India, P.G. Aditya, NCD Dentsu Webchutney and Chris Stefanyk, Head of Brand Partnerships, Wattpad as panelists. <keyword id="10216730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="understanding-genz">Understanding GenZ</keyword> GenZ has an attention span of a gnat, which is less than 8 seconds and Millennials have an attention span of goldfish. Tinder, whose core audience is millennials and GenZ, had changed its Twitter bio to “RTs are now hugs” after one Twitter user requested it to retweet at midnight and a few others jumped on the trend. Aditya made a point that GenZ wants to be heard but brands need to respond to their queries as they also forget very quickly. Sharing a yardstick Aditya uses to measure a campaign's success probability, he said, “If someone chooses to interact with your brand, how quickly am I responding? We should use that as a parameter to gauge GenZ's attention span, because if someone tweets about you at 11:47, they will forget it at 11:50.” GenZ adapts to new technology faster than Millennials, Xennials and Boomers but that isn’t the only way marketers should look at GenZ. Yadav highlighted why it is important to segregate them into different psychographic segments and analyse their behaviour. “GenZ is not just an age bracket. You need to consider some beliefs, attitudes and then you try to figure out what are their interest areas, which you can then narrow down to a right set of cohorts you want to target. In this case, even the spillover might be better rather than segmenting them into a different set of age groups,” said Yadav. Building on Yadav’s point, Stefanyk spoke about diversity and commonalities within GenZ. While they might have a different upbringing, they are all looking for honest communication. Stefanyk said, “We realised in our research that GenZ is by far the most diverse generation of all time. For example, 48% of the North American audience claimed to have sexuality other than straight. To connect with them, you need to be serving content that relevantly speaks to them. GenZ wants to be spoken to as an individual and not a group. They are the first ones acting as BS (bull sh*t) detectors. So, they will call you out, at a platform or brand level. In North America, there is a concept called cancel culture which is GenZ using social channels to cancel brands, people or otherwise. At the end of the day, you have to be true to what your platform stands for.” Using the right mediums At-home media consumption as well as online consumption has grown significantly in lockdown, particularly among younger viewing audiences. According to Kantar's report, online video saw the greatest increase during lockdown, with 72% traffic coming from GenZ. However, experts said medium doesn’t matter as much as storytelling does. New-age brands like Swiggy and Zomato continue to explore email marketing regularly. Mondelez’s lion’s share still goes to traditional media and Yadav said that message supersedes the medium. “In India, if you have to reach the masses and drive scale, you will have to go to traditional media. When it comes to marketing to GenZ by using traditional media, it depends on your message. Before we select a medium, we invest more in understanding the platform and research on what consumers are doing on that media, what they are sharing and liking. If you compare 2020 to 80s, of course, brands are moving tremendously towards the digital side but traditional media is here to stay. It continues to be the biggest aggregator followed by other properties,” said Yadav. Mondelez further personalises its campaign for GenZ according to their common interests and finds a perfect time slot when they are open to receiving more information. Yadav said, “We believe in personalisation. GenZ in Kerala vs Nashik is very different. So we try to personalise to an extent that we send out 100-150 creatives at different points of time so that we resonate better with that particular consumer cohort. We try to draft distinct messages for different consumer cohorts. We try to target them at a relevant time in the day, personalise it further according to which region they are in and their interests.” Brands can no longer sell to them: Moving away from monologue to dialogue The panelists discussed how GenZ is increasingly becoming more aware of how advertising works and is able to separate grey from black. They view brands as a form of self-expression and to connect with them, panelists said, it is important to include them in the content-making process. On how brands can ensure that GenZ engages with their stories, Stefanyk said that it is important to choose the right issue they would resonate with, include them in the part of the storytelling process, promise action-oriented results and deliver behavioural change. He added, “Marketers targeting GenZ, bear in mind that purpose means action, not words. Decreasing attention span is a myth if people learn how to engage in content that speaks well to them.” Aditya also highlighted why marketers targeting GenZ should follow just one mantra, that is, be real. He said, “Millennials want brands to have a sense of purpose. GenZ has taken that a step ahead. They are not just satisfied with a purpose, they want real action from brands. The understanding of what is real and fake is way more nuanced right now. We also need more representation in-house. We need a 21-year-old cracking ideas for the 21-year-old. 'Millennialsplaining' is not gonna work. You need GenZ themselves working on campaigns for GenZ. ” So, the best way for brands to connect with GenZ is to take a closer look at your brand's value system, speak to the target audience in their language, and engage in a dialogue, not a monologue. Brands need to understand what the audience wants to hear, and involve them in the process and be real. Watch the full conversation here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="7" retweetcount="2" status="Marketing To GenZ: @docmranney, @wattpad's @cstefanyk &amp; Sameer Yadav. https://t.co/jRpg7ecL2B" createdat="1604399410000" id="1323573174320050179"></div>

Most effective ways to market to GenZ in 2020

Cannes Lions 2021: India crosses 2019’s tally by winning 1 metal on Day 5, bringing our total tally to 22

<ul><li>Armed with a cookbook that splits in half, a ‘made-for-earpods,’ Spotify recipe podcast for couples, and timecodes to split YouTube recipes -- <keyword id="9731725" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="swiggy-instamart">Swiggy Instamart</keyword> is simplifying <keyword id="11085606" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kitchen-equality">kitchen equality</keyword> like never before.</li><li>The campaign is conceptualised and executed by <keyword id="2805202" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dentsu-Webchutney">Dentsu Webchutney</keyword>.</li></ul>Swiggy Instamart with Dentsu Webchutney launched #TheBetterHalfCookbook in February and disrupted a nearly two-thousand-year-old way of cooking with a unique idea to make kitchens equal: cooking together. The Better Half cookbook gave partners an equal responsibility to split the recipe and cook the meal. Each partner has to follow only their side of the instructions to see their meal come together, together. <div type="Youtube" id="KCevjAO4KGQ" title="The Better Half Cookbook by Swiggy Instamart" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KCevjAO4KGQ/mqdefault.jpg"></div> So far, the cookbooks were available for customers in only Bengaluru and Gurugram, cities where Swiggy Instamart, the grocery delivery service, is currently operational. While #TheBetterHalfCookbook was just the start to making cooking more equal, and faster, Swiggy gave the internet a taste, an eye, and an ear for equality. They have now introduced the most innovative way to use a podcast to promote kitchen equality, giving the world an all-new way to listen to recipes. Called “The Better Half Earpodcast”- this unique format (nicknamed ‘.we’ files to promote sharing) enables two homechefs to listen to their side of the instruction by splitting their earpods. Each earpod plays only one side of the instructions to cook the recipe with your better half in just half the time. Gurbaksh Singh and GD Prasad, Chief Innovation Officer &amp; VP- Account Management, Dentsu Webchutney said: “The idea of splitting the recipe goes across mediums. We’re proud to be the first brand worldwide to innovate using earpods- through the ‘The Better Half Earpodcast’. We hacked how a single audio file can disperse sound across two speakers simultaneously- giving a seamless real-time cooking experience for two people together, through a single file on Spotify.” YouTube recipes, now made progressive Instamart isn’t paying food influencers the big bucks to promote this new way of recipe writing, instead, they’re busy fixing every food influencer’s old recipes! Like the user that comments the ‘lyrics’ to a song, Instamart is also leaving a comment on the most trending recipes video across YouTube- rewriting the recipe for ‘two people to cook it together’. Including those of Nisha Madhuika, Ranveer Brar, Kunal Kapur, and Pooja Dhingra among others, proving that any recipe can be better half’d if you’re ready to cook with your better half. From baked sev puri, jute leaf fritters, Korean street sandwich to honey garlic shrimp. <div type="Youtube" id="weWKswuEnQA" title="Sprouts Poha Recipe | वजन कम करने वाला हेल्दी नाश्ता | Poha Recipe | Sprouts Recipe | Kabitaskitcen" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/weWKswuEnQA/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Shikha Gupta, Creative Director, Swiggy, impresses on us that the comments aren’t a paid partnership. “It’s possible for you to be a fan of a brand, even if it’s not possible to be a customer right now. Even though Instamart isn’t operational outside Bengaluru and Gurgaon, the idea of ‘cooking together’ deserves to be practised across India, and the world. Introducing audiences outside our core markets to these recipes is a selfless act, with long term bets: one we’re very proud of.” “There are multiple ways of using influencers. You don’t just need them to promote your idea. Sometimes, if your idea is worth it- you could use it to promote their content too. By simply leaving a comment, we’re being less intrusive- and giving users the option to cook their favorite recipes (that they’re already watching)- in a progressive way. Like dishes have a meat/vegetarian/vegan version… our aim is for every recipe on the internet to have a ‘Better Half’ version. And we’re getting there… one book, one podcast &amp; one comment at a time,” says PG Aditiya, NCD, Dentsu Webchutney. A genius way of leveraging food influencers and their clout, this move is big on platform insight, zero on budget. Are we now seeing the newest trend in recipes &amp; food writing? Only time will tell.

A podcast, a recipe book and YouTube timecodes split in half, here's how Swiggy Instamart is trying to make cooking a shared, more equal experience

<ul><li>Ad &amp; Media Insider’s latest property Storyline, brought to you in association with <keyword id="1959531" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="wattpad" source="Orion">Wattpad</keyword>, one of the world’s most loved <keyword id="282281" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="storytelling" source="Orion">storytelling</keyword> platforms, endeavors to decode what storytelling stands for today. </li><li>Today, we bring you highlights from our first three episodes where we discuss how marketers and advertisers are navigating new mediums and innovating to tell engaging stories in today’s highly dynamic world.</li><li>Watch <keyword id="4332869" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pg-aditiya" source="Orion">PG Aditiya</keyword>, Chief Creative Officer, dentsu Webchutney and Pooja Manek, creative director, dentsu Webchutney Bengaluru, <keyword id="2289556" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rajdeepak-das" source="Orion">Rajdeepak Das</keyword>, CEO &amp; Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Leo Burnett and <keyword id="336063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sonal-mishra" source="Orion">Sonal Mishra</keyword>, Associate Vice President- Marketing, <keyword id="6630114" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="unacademy" source="Orion">Unacademy</keyword> talk about creativity and what it takes to tell successful stories in today's world.</li></ul>Stories are almost as old as human existence and with time, storytelling has evolved, hand-in-hand with human evolution. It has been an important part of our history and will continue to be an intrinsic part of our future too. In today’s digitally-driven world, where almost everything is happening online, storytelling continues to be at the heart of it all, albeit in different forms. Brands are still trying to find new ways of telling stories that engage with the consumers, and help the brands seamlessly become a part of their lives. Ad &amp; Media Insider’s latest property Storyline, brought to you in association with Wattpad, one of the world’s most loved storytelling platforms, that endeavors to decode what storytelling stands for today, how marketers and advertisers are navigating new mediums and innovating to tell engaging stories in today’s highly dynamic world. Here are some key takeaways from our first three episodes: Episode 1: PG Aditiya, Chief Creative Officer, dentsu Webchutney and Pooja Manek, creative director, dentsu Webchutney Bengaluru Dentsu Webchutney in 2021 was the highest scoring Indian agency at the Cannes Lions this year, for the second year in a row. This year, the agency got 20 shortlists, bringing home a total of 7 Lions. So we tried to understand what storytelling means for this dynamic young agency. Mediums and Creativity Both PG Aditiya, Chief Creative Officer, dentsu Webchutney and Pooja Manek, creative director, dentsu Webchutney have been responsible for crafting some of the agency’s most-loved campaigns over the last few years. We got to talking to them about how writing for the internet has impacted long-form writing and Aditiya started off with, “If long copy was Julius Caesar, then the internet is Brutus, with the last stab.” And truly, the internet has often been accused of killing long copy. However, Aditiya feels it has given birth to a new writing aesthetic. Today it is not simply about crafting a great video, it could be about writing that perfect tweet or creating that engaging reel. “We have a joke within the team, that if a tweet is taking more than 15 minutes, its not worth it. There are so many trends everyday and at times, brands try too hard to get the most manufactured tweet with very engineered writing. And that’s when you get caught. We all make the mistake of thinking that the younger audience, especially Gen Z, are kids. But honestly, it's time to consider them as grownups and trying too hard comes across as a red flag for them,” explained Manek. What works today On what works in today’s world, Manek says, “Today, it’s no longer about something that is embraced and enjoyed. It is more about what travels. For GenZ, it is usually quid pro quo, you have to give them something for them to give you something back. It's no longer about hard selling, or over-engineering, it's about giving them something to chew on, and that’s how you get their attention.” The internet is also an ephemeral medium. So how does one create engaging stories for the medium? “We try to spend less time on the theory of it and just make sure that whenever one of us has something that's worth not letting go of, we try to make it work,” added Aditiya. User-Generated Content: The Secret Sauce The advent of social media has also given consumers a voice today and user generated content has become an important tool for many brands. Webchutney has come up with a lot of social media campaigns that have gone on to generate UGC, making brands the talk of the town and part of a lot of trends. Talking about one such campaign they did for Tinder, Manek said, “For Tinder’s Valentine’s Day campaign, we were doing something around moving on. We were thinking of a few ideas and we realized that the digital age has made it harder for us to move on because you might want to move on but then you get reminders on different platforms. We all have so many pictures stored on our phones that we don’t delete maybe because we are attached to the memory, or we look good. So we launched a photoshopping service for two days and asked people what they wanted to replace their exes with. And we kept getting requests and replaced people with pizzas or wine. So we ended up photoshopping pictures for close to 36 hours, and that’s the power of UGC. We couldn’t have done it without people actually sharing those pictures. So you give the consumer something which is worth it and you just empower them and then magic happens.” Aditiya said that this idea also busted the myth that you need some kind of incentive to make a UGC campaign work because at the end of it, consumers were not exactly winning something but were simply ‘Axing their Exes’. Watch the full episode here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="3" retweetcount="5" status="LIVE | Join @PGAditiya, CCO, @webchutney and Pooja Manek (@boredmanek), Creative Director, @webchutney in conversat… https://t.co/yH7WRSlYK4" createdat="1644924610000" id="1493548184102080513"></div> Episode 2: Rajdeepak Das, CEO &amp; Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Leo Burnett Rajdeepak Das, the chief creative brain at Leo Burnett is often considered to be one of the most experimental and innovative creative storytellers in the country and a discussion around storytelling would have been incomplete without a conversation with him. In our 2nd episode, we caught up with Das who talked to us about his storytelling journey and how he has evolved as a storyteller, with the evolution of mediums and consumers. He tells us that his love for storytelling started as a child, when his mom would tell him stories from Panchatantra or Mahabharata. “My mother would enact a lot of those stories and I would be awestruck. And when a storyteller is asked ‘And then?’, that’s when you realize the power of storytelling. That’s exactly what we are doing while scrolling social media platforms, looking for our ‘And then’ on these mediums. And I feel, till the time humans are on this planet, the mediums will change but the navarasa won’t,” he said. The Creative Intuition For every creative professional, there is usually a method behind all the madness. For Das, who says he is bad at most languages he has tried to learn, it is more about understanding the human feelings than understanding a language. “For any creative person, it is all about having an intuition, to understand why people say what they say and do what they do. As a creative, you have to have an intuition about what will work for consumers. You have to dream of what people want and then create something out of it,” he explains. He also adds that the best way of bringing these dreams to fruition is by realizing that it can no longer be a one-man show. “Gone are the days when people would consider themselves God and think they know everything. That is impossible today. In today’s world, the only way of creating wonderful stories or bringing our ideas and intuitions to a proper execution is by ensuring you work with people who are smarter than you,” he added. Finding solutions to human problems Earlier this year, <keyword id="261687" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="leo-burnett-india" source="Orion">Leo Burnett India</keyword> launched ‘StreetEye’, a motorcycle mounted device to help map potholes in real time which had the potential of saving thousands of motorcyclists from accidents and mishaps for digital general insurance brand, ACKO. The agency used technology to solve a basic human problem, and according to Das, that is what <keyword id="35666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising" source="Orion">advertising</keyword> should be about. “If I were to reflect on what advertising is all about today, I don’t believe in storytelling. It is all about finding human problems and solving them. Once you are able to do that, you will automatically create stories. And that’s what we did with ACKO’s StreetEye. The brand said, we don’t want to be just about insuring people. We want to get two step ahead and talk about protecting people. We didn’t want to talk about the cure; rather we wanted to do something to prevent the accidents from happening. And this is just one part of it. Everyday, we are working with brands like Reliance, Ariel, Tide, CarDekho, Airtel etc where it is all about using innovation to solve everyday human problems. A consumer doesn’t want advertising, he doesn’t want to buy things. If you are able to become a part of their lives by solving their problems, people will come to you,” said Das. Watch the full episode here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="4" retweetcount="4" status="LIVE | Join Rajdeepak Das, CEO &amp; Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Leo Burnett in conversation with… https://t.co/9f6u7Qr99z" createdat="1645097410000" id="1494272960705675264"></div> Episode 3: Sonal Mishra, Associate Vice President- Marketing, Unacademy Storytellers, since time immemorial, have been exploring formats of narration that span nearly every conceivable gamut. And a lot of brands, in the early days of digital marketing, would stick to short videos. At the same time, there are brands that have been part of long-form stories, where they have seamlessly become a part of the narrative. In the past few years, we have seen Unacademy do that again and again, be it with its association with The Viral Fever (TVF) for hugely popular web series like Kota Factory and Aspirants, or its recent talked-about IPL ads. The brand has, time and again, used long-form content to draw audiences into their narrative, and it has largely worked for the most part. To understand the brand’s secret sauce, we caught up with Sonal Mishra, Associate Vice President- Marketing, Unacademy, who took us behind the brand’s thought process and what has helped them stand out. Crafting clutter-breaking stories Over the years, digital has become a highly cluttered medium where everyone is trying to grab eyeballs where there is limited mindspace. So what are a few factors that Unacademy keeps in mind while crafting its stories? “As a brand, we try to be unique and do the unexpected, but at the same time be relatable and believable. The emotions one derives and the value that you add is what stays with the audience for a very long time. So it's very important to be relatable and believable. Having said that, it is also important to tread on different routes that meet the consumer at different touchpoints in their journey. So it's very important to latch on to a stronger human insight to build that consumer connect,” shared Mishra. For Unacademy, the goal is to engage with learners across the countries, be it in the metro cities or the smaller Tier II and III cities. Therefore, collaborating with platforms and creators who can help them reach out to a larger audience has been at the core of their associations with the popular TVF webseries. “Whatever we do is about becoming a part of our consumer’s life cycle, connecting with them by addressing a topic they can relate to. Our recent property Unacademy Unwind, which was all about music and unwinding hit a different chord altogether. Another campaign we did called Mistakes – the Greatest Teacher, did very well. The campaign said that Unacademy doesn’t just stand for clearing exams or being successful, it also stands for the journey you took. These are a few things that have helped us stand out,” she explained. Creating campaigns by listening to consumers Brands that are able to listen to their consumers, catch their pulse and create content pieces around those insights are usually the ones to woo them. Unacademy has been able to break the clutter through a lot of its recent campaigns. So what is their feedback mechanism that is helping them craft their communications? “Its not that we have figured it all out and know these are the secret ingredients that can make a piece of content work. It's a constant learning for us as well. But the benefits of these partnerships, initiatives, associations have been huge. They've helped us amplify the reach for the brand, build trust and penetrate deeper into the country. There were a lot of learnings from our associations like Kota Factory and Aspirants that we would like to better in the next property that we create. There have been a lot of pluses and we are learning at each step,” she added. Long-form vs short content While a lot of brands have been focusing on creating shorter, bite-sized content, Unacademy has associated with TVF and created highly talked-about webseries that have become a part of pop culture. Why did the brand choose long-form content over shorter content at a time when people are constantly talking about decreasing attention spans? “Understanding the psyche of the audience helped us. A strong story is something we mutually work on with our partners, but at the same time, from a brand standpoint, we have always ensured that the product integrations are so seamlessly weaved into the story into the content, that it doesn't actually disrupt the flow of the story and the audience can continue to enjoy and get entertained. So that is something which we are very conscious of. And that's why whoever we partner with also find the entire journey exciting,” said Mishra. Watch the full episode here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="2" retweetcount="2" status="LIVE | Join Sonal Mishra, Associate Vice President, Marketing at @unacademy in conversation with @AshwinRaghunath a… https://t.co/51eEJystug" createdat="1645443009000" id="1495722508720349184"></div>

Storyline: Where master storytellers tell us what goes behind crafting engaging stories that stand the test of time

<ul><li>A recent study by Deloitte found that India ranks highest among 18 countries in terms of anxiety during the second wave of the pandemic.</li><li>We are constantly living with the fear that someone close to us or someone we know might succumb to the virus.</li><li>A lot of agencies have upgraded their policies to help their <keyword id="6357081" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="employees">employees</keyword> navigate through this tough period and to push them to take care of their <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword>.</li><li>From switching to 4 work days a week to hiring full-time, in-house counselors, here’s how they are helping their employees tackle burnout and take care of their mental health.</li></ul>Do you also feel your heart racing when you receive a call from a relative you haven’t spoken to in a while? Or when a friend, who usually texts, suddenly calls you now? You are not alone. We are all either grieving someone’s loss or feeling anxious that we might have to, soon. It is no secret that the second wave of COVID-19 has had a severe impact on our collective mental health. We are feeling dejected or overwhelmed with the huge spike in cases everyday. As of today, there are 2.33 crore active cases in India. And people who are clinically diagnosed with mental illness such as Obsessive-compulsive Disorder, depression, autism, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have found their struggles quadrupled. Many COVID survivors, who do have the privilege to find an ICU bed and pay for oxygen cylinders, are facing survivors' <a href="https://theswaddle.com/survivors-guilt-is-hitting-covid19-survivors-in-india-complicating-their-grieving/">guilt</a>. A recent survey by Deloitte titled Global Consumer Tracker’ found that India ranks highest among 18 countries in terms of anxiety during the second wave of the pandemic with 21% of consumers in India anxious, followed by Chile at 16%. The ad industry has also been impacted severely. This week, we lost a young star from the advertising world, Syed Mohammed Talha Nazim, to COVID. Social media is still flooded with pleas for oxygen and ICU beds. At such a time, it is becoming increasingly challenging to focus on work and continue leading normal lives inside our houses. Ergo, there is an urgent need for improved, empathetic and caring HR policies and counselling sessions at the workplace. It is critical to prioritise employees’ mental well-being rather than seeking updates on their daily tasks. Advertising agencies bear the additional responsibility of coming up with optimistic campaigns that drive change and raise awareness. Despite facing the blues of working in isolation and pressure to overperform in a dismal atmosphere, ad agencies are increasingly pushing their boundaries to come up with empathetic campaigns to help our country. Lately, thanks to #<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/detoxwork/">Detoxwork</a>, many agencies have been called out on LinkedIn for forcing their employees to be available 24*7 and meet deadlines. While it is extremely saddening to read those stories, it is no surprise that we continue to sustain our toxic culture. Over the years, the advertising industry has normalised inhuman working hours. In 2017, Tadashi Ishii, CEO, DAN Japan, had to resign after the suicide of an overworked junior employee. It did raise some questions back then but the topic was brushed under the carpet as always. This time, in India, we have lost two lives to advertising's work stress. They were<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-agencies/news/cheil-india-comes-under-criticism-for-allegedly-asking-employees-to-work-from-office/articleshow/82308605.cms"> forced to come to office</a> as India observed a national lockdown. Even those who are working from home -- are overworked, constantly in-between calls, they do not have the time for their families even if they sit right next to each other. However, there are a few agencies that are prioritising their employees’ wellbeing. We reached out to a few digital and creative agencies to find out what measures they have taken to help their employees look after their mental health and asked to share a few tips on what we need to do as an industry to make sure we don't forget our teams' mental health amidst a crisis, and here is what they said: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:" text="Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:">Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Virat Tondon lintas" msid="82574512" hostid="261"></div> Health and wellbeing of our people is the need of the hour and our priority. A COVID war-room with all the leadership across the agency and different offices, HR and Admin teams, has been created to keep a lookout for providing help – with a hospital bed or oxygen or any other assistance. Employees well-being and recovery is tracked by the HR team. Our Panel doctor is available for any assistance and has conducted sessions for employees giving guidelines on prevention and the first response to be taken. The Lintas Employees Welfare Trust released a Covid Care package in September 2020 that included financial assistance and counsellor support for employees who need to cope with stress or have mental illness issues. Our focus has been to let people take care of their health, their loved ones, without feeling the pressure of work deliveries. People spend a very large part of their lives with the organisation they work for. It Is their second home and it’s natural to have that level of compassion for them and do the most you can do. Their health and wellbeing directly impact not only the quality of their lives but also impacts the quality of their work and output. Everyone knows that in theory and should attempt to put it into practice. Leaders need to take the necessary steps and put this belief into action. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:" text="Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:">Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Aditya Kanthy" msid="82574492" hostid="261"></div> The first thing we have to do is normalise the conversation around mental health. And the pandemic may well be a tipping point, where people have realised the importance and seriousness of this challenge. Mental and emotional support is crucial in these times. We started on our journey before the pandemic in early 2019 by bringing on board India’s leading Employee Assistance Provider. In this program, licensed counsellors champion mental health recovery through awareness, education, and empowerment of our people. This was perhaps one of the industry’s first such initiatives. Not only us but DDB as a network globally has also done meaningful work on this subject. So, we have learnt a lot from their experiences as well. It guides our approach – which is to take as full a view as possible. We understand that while counselling helps, we have to do more to make a serious dent. In a situation where many of us have friends and family who are going through the worst phase of the pandemic, on-ground support resources for those who have contracted COVID-19 can alleviate a great deal of anxiety. This includes quick and verified access to medical help, comprehensive insurance, flexible leave policies, and better balance of work and life. On an industry level, at the cost of sounding repetitive, our first step is to acknowledge the problem and talk openly about it. When C-suite leaders champion the cause, it makes the conversation accessible, real, and addresses the stigma attached to mental health issues to a large degree. Peer support plays a huge support too. At the DDB Mudra Group, we make a visible effort to do so with our #justask meets, where anyone in the company can talk to me candidly and anonymously if they feel so, about any issue that’s affecting their work life. Secondly, we also have to be cognizant that a person’s quality of life beyond work, is directly linked to their mental health. So, let’s respect boundaries between work and home and acknowledge people’s lives outside the workplace. One way we do that at the Group is by valuing empathetic leadership and using that as a performance indicator. Each business leader is responsible for ‘people’ metrics just as much as Human Resources is. Everyone with a responsibility for other people is involved in this process. Finally, it also helps to bring clients into the conversation. They too are looking to work with partners who are dealing with this issue as progressively as possible and there is much to learn from them too. And that partnership is crucial to making progress on this subject. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:" text="Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:">Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Gautam Reghunath" msid="82574485" hostid="261"></div> As agencies, we attempt to maintain reputations as fun, dynamic places to work, but beneath the surface, it’s obvious that many of us are often grappling with various cultural and personnel issues including burnout, overwork and more. People need to know it is ok to be vulnerable and that having trouble with your mental wellbeing does not mean someone cannot do their job capably. It is in the interest of the workplace for every office to provide policies or through their actions show that it is okay for people to speak their truth. Our key aim over the last few years has been to normalise conversations around mental health and one of the first steps was to include it as a permanent official part of the agenda at all our executive committee and quarterly leadership meetings. It starts from the top and sets the tone for all decisions through the year. As our primary actionable measure, we’ve engaged with the Hank Nunn Institute (HNI) as our partner for mental health support services for around two years now. HNI’s trained professionals are available to all employees who can schedule their time anonymously, for free and without the office’s intervention, to discuss either personal or professional aspects of their life. Some weeks are packed, some are not, but what’s important for us is for everyone here to know that it’s okay to seek out someone to talk to if you feel the need to. The teams at Webchutney have also been experimenting with a few employee-sourced ideas on how we can be better to ourselves around areas of mental health &amp; work pressure. Along with planned down-times, we recently piloted our first ever winter break last December where the entire agency with the support of our clients shut shop for two whole weeks. It’s obvious that work-load management has a direct impact on how happy and satisfied we are at work. We’ve tried to turn timesheets, often loathed at agencies, into a tool to have open honest conversations around work timings and over-work. All team leaders who have colleagues clocking over 50+ hours a week have to mandatorily schedule discussions around reasons for this overtime with the CEO every fortnight. Outlier weeks are normal, but we’ve seen a drastic improvement in workload management purely because we’re all discussing this honestly &amp; frequently. Our industry is built around deadlines &amp; deliverables. It’s full of talented people who know what it’s like to find themselves at the intersection where moments of magic meet the point of serious stress. Our learnings with all these measures have been many and the focus on mental health resources aside, for creativity to really thrive, our need to adapt and change has never been more obvious. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:" text="Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:">Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Akshay gurnani" msid="82574545" hostid="261"></div> It's empathy that is the need of the hour - from our employers to our clients. It's important for us to listen, acknowledge &amp; act upon what an individual may be going through in these trying times. It's important to also understand how we as an organization can help our team members better. We have an in-house therapist who is accessible to aid our employees, free of cost for as many sessions as they would want. Whether it be automating processes that help in increasing the efficiency of work for all our teams to sending out automated monthly reports, we have been pushing our teams to not take up any work on weekends. Mental health is a priority thus 2 mental health leaves have been assigned to teams to avail anytime in the year. We have ramped up hiring to reduce workload and ease out hiring gaps across teams. We have aligned our clients with the situation at hand and aligned them on how we can create better synergies in these difficult times. Our leaders need to be able to ask the right questions to the clients to comprehend briefs better &amp; reduce the number of reworks. It's imperative to have honest conversations with clients and push back on timelines, owing to the fact that currently our teams are facing resource crunches due to either them or their families being affected by COVID19. We have sent out emails to our clients informing them to expect delays and this has been received quite positively. Digital Marketing is not a "life or death" industry. One less or a delayed post will not affect anything, this is something that clients need to realise and accept. Using the reach of the brand pages, we would like to talk about a message that's more important than selling a product under these times. It's important to come together as a community to urge people to register for vaccination, adopt double-masking, staying indoors, etc. This is the time to show more empathy towards agency partners as well. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:" text="Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:">Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="roopa badrinath" msid="82574562" hostid="261"></div> At Wunderman Thompson, we recognized the importance of mental health from the time WHO declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. As a company we have been communicating openly about the importance of mental health to ensure that the stigma attached with it is addressed with honesty. Mental Health has a deep impact on how we think, feel and act and impacts our relationships with our family members, friends and colleagues. It impacts our mood and our general behaviour. Behavioural changes is a natural reaction to the stress, fear and anxiety that people are feeling as a reaction to the threat posed by COVID-19. It is important to acknowledge that it is normal to feel that way and focus on ways to reduce the stress inducers. The pandemic has created a lot of anxiety around personal health, family health, children’s education and relevance of skills in a changed world to name a few. One of the critical things that we realized early on is the need for empathy and trust driven leadership style. Leaders were constantly reminded about empathy and kindness and were encouraged to have regular check-ins with their team members. Once the initial euphoria of WFH evaporated and the lines between home and work started getting blurred, we constantly and consistently reminded our people to set up a routine and stick to it; draw boundaries for themselves; take breaks in a normal work day just the way they would while in a physical space. We encouraged all our team leads to ensure that their team members took time off from work even if they were going nowhere. As is evident from all the global reports, women have borne the maximum brunt due to the pandemic. Their care giving, household and online schooling responsibilities multiplied manifold. Teams were sensitized to be mindful of this and have flexible options for setting up meetings. We launched an all-women Employee Resource Group (ERG) which will be run for the women and by the women of Wunderman Thompson. This group has taken upon itself to launch several initiatives in the next couple weeks to help women navigate the additional challenges thrown at them. As a company we recognized that sexual harassment can be a reality even in a virtual workplace and ran workshops on sensitizing employees about virtual sexual harassment; how to recognize and report the same. To ensure that employees seek help we are constantly reminding them about the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) where they can reach out to trained counsellors in the strictest of confidence to address their mental well-being issues. This service is available even to the family members of employees. We are confident that all the curated health and wellness programs like compassion meditation, mindfulness hacks – dealing with anxiety, building meaningful connections, staying positive, harnessing the power of sleep that were offered to employees last year will hold them in good stead to deal with the current situation. Currently all employees have access to a COVID stress management program which offers Meditation, Yoga, Breathing Exercises, self-care, Gratitude Session to name a few.

COVID strain and its impact on mental health: How ad agencies are helping employees cope with anxiety and burnout

<ul><li>Brands in India are desperate to associate with budding sports stars and ready to jump onto any opportunity that helps them stay relevant.</li><li>However, when it comes to celebrating our athlete’s wins, brands often take the focus away from the champion and make it all about themselves.</li><li>The issue of brands dominating social media moments and making it about themselves isn’t new and the answer is in the question itself -- simply avoid making moments about yourself but a lot of brands don't seem to get it right. </li><li>Advertising folks tell us how to get your moment marketing right without taking away the focus from the trend.</li></ul>It is day 6 of <keyword id="395647" type="SPORT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo-Olympics">Tokyo Olympics</keyword> 2020 and the Indian contingent has bagged one silver medal in weightlifting so far. A month before the Tokyo Olympics began, from Mia to Omega, brands in India launched an array of campaigns to cheer our champions. Afterall, we have one of the largest contingents this time with 120 athletes from 85 disciplines and brands have followed suit by ensuring that they leave no stone unturned to support their athletes. The once-in-a-four-year summer tournament has attracted sponsorships from across categories. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has signed Edelweiss, INOX Group, Nippon Paint, Amul, Raymond, JSW Group, MPL Sports Foundation and Raymond as sponsors. Oakley, Mia by Tanishq, Visa India, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Puma India and sponsors JSW, Omega, BridgeStone and Rin have launched ads to celebrate the journeys of different athletes. After Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, according to her management company IOS Sports &amp; Entertainment, quite a few brands rushed to get her onboard. She created history by becoming the first Indian weightlifter to win the silver medal at the Olympic Games. Chanu also became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games in the Women's 49 kg category. As per media reports, brands across categories like nutrition, sports brands, personal care, beverage and regional brands wanted to onboard the 26-year-old weightlifter as their brand ambassador for campaigns and long-term digital associations. So far, Chanu has partnered with Adidas and Mobil oil. After another silver feather in her cap, her endorsement fee is also expected to double. Shortly after her win, she was also offered free pizza for life by Domino's and the brand garnered a lot of attention from the press and the internet for this gesture. <div type="twitter" handle="dominos_india" handlename="dominos_india" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1074660192883621888/XRjWNq8A_normal.jpg" favoritecount="544" retweetcount="82" status="@gitartha_k Aapne kaha, aur humne sunn liya 🙏 We never want @mirabai_chanu to wait to eat 🍕 again so we’re treatin… https://t.co/PMvPfCa9NP" createdat="1627135343000" id="1418934590950027269"></div> This reflects how brands in India are desperate to associate with budding sports stars and are ready to jump on any opportunity that helps them stay relevant. However, the situation was a little different on social media. Brands of all kinds and sizes did celebrate her win but the focus was on their products and services and not on Chanu’s feat. A few internet users called out the brands that made Chanu’s win all about themselves. <div type="twitter" handle="hoopdoge" handlename="sluggy⁷ˎˊ˗ ᴮᴱ" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1411314545159643138/LdQljHq3_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="0" status="In other words, here’s about a bunch of brands made the occasion all about themselves 🤙 https://t.co/1QkRxDpM45" createdat="1627207615000" id="1419237720539295751"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="manishkalghatgi" handlename="Manish Kalghatgi" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1134699965853437952/QChverfJ_normal.jpg" favoritecount="0" retweetcount="0" status="Do any of these capture your imagination? Are the brands inserting themselves into the moment with any impact? https://t.co/Vz7SXEvrq3" createdat="1627207149000" id="1419235766954123272"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="narayananh" handlename="Narayanan Hariharan" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/755719421860065281/a6WLbNYx_normal.jpg" favoritecount="8" retweetcount="1" status="Did they really celebrate #MirabaiChanu's victory? Doesn't appear so.It was all about their respective brands. https://t.co/HWzyti1v0D" createdat="1627206944000" id="1419234908057194496"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="aniketchitnawis" handlename="Aniket" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1253988807331901445/Dx-Hh7Yf_normal.jpg" favoritecount="67" retweetcount="11" status="aka they totally made it about themselves https://t.co/w0ZjrBNXCw" createdat="1627204097000" id="1419222966215213061"></div> Comedian Varun Nair also uploaded an Instagram Reel showcasing how some brands leveraged Mirabai Chanu's win with poor moment-marketing skills. His caption read, “It seems that Athlete ka achievement celebrate karna aur khudka dhandha should go hand in hand.” <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Albeit, there were a few brands like Dunzo and Amul, who have mastered the art of moment marketing, that kept champion Chanu’s victory first and gained a lot of appreciation from their consumers. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> When it comes to moment marketing, the most important factor is time. It is crucial for brands to churn out their creative before the trend dies. However, in order to meet deadlines and be a part of a trend, if they somehow forget to include the subject of the trend, they might as well stay mum. When it comes to Indian Premier League, the focus in brand campaigns and social media creatives is on Virat Kohli’s sixers or Mumbai Indian’s win. So, why are we not following the same rules for Tokyo Olympics? Advertising folks shared their thoughts on how to find the right balance between being a part of a social media moment and not making it all about yourself. Here’s what they had to say: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder of Zoo Media &amp; FoxyMoron:" text="Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder of Zoo Media &amp; FoxyMoron:">Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder of Zoo Media &amp; FoxyMoron:</cmsannotation> It is great to see that brands are recognizing and appreciating sports beyond cricket. However, the focus needs to be on celebrating the athlete and the sport in question, as opposed to exploring yet another window of opportunity for product placement. Integrating a product into generic occasions such as Mother’s Day or Diwali is expected since the objective is to showcase how a particular brand of sweet or confectionery item can further uplift personal celebration. But in the case of special and specific events such as the Olympics, the larger narrative leans towards commemorating a shared national success, bringing the country together. Brands who are looking to capitalize on these fluid moments, are aiming to be a part of a trending conversation in the country. In addition to solidifying their support for the athletes, they want to gain visibility, build relevance with the audience, and create top of mind recall for themselves. It is a mark of upstanding creativity on the part of the brand when they can seamlessly integrate themselves into these conversations. Certain brands like <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CRtRwQ9J9iN/" target="_blank">OBL Tiles</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CRt0ADFisa-/" target="_blank">Real Juices</a> have paid homage to Mirabai Chanu in an admirable way, by leveraging moment marketing smartly instead of simply looking at ways to superimpose the product in the post. Collectively, brands and creative agencies need to focus on celebrating the spirit of India and what it means for us as a country as opposed to the brand. When the association is slightly more refined and thoughtful, it will resonate with the audience and build engagement. In India, cricket is a religion. Thus automatically, the awareness about the sport, and its subsequent reach and engagement is very high. When brands associate themselves with Cricket and its players, they are hoping to piggy-back not only on the credibility of the players but also on the prestige that the sport enjoys in our country. While other sports such as weightlifting, badminton, archery are gaining momentum and popularity, it is still a far cry from Cricket. Thus, if brands want to adopt this narrative, they will have to create heroes in order to do so. For Olympic sports, the objective then transforms to uplifting the athletes and the sport. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Dentsu Webchutney's P.G Aditya, Pragya Sarin, Stuti Sudha, Benedict Gershom and Kushal Lalvani:" text="Dentsu Webchutney's P.G Aditya, Pragya Sarin, Stuti Sudha, Benedict Gershom and Kushal Lalvani:">Dentsu Webchutney's P.G Aditya, Pragya Sarin, Stuti Sudha, Benedict Gershom and Kushal Lalvani:</cmsannotation> The issue of ‘brands making moments about themselves’ isn’t new. In fact, when done tastefully and consistently, it’s even become part of culture (looking at you, Amul!). But it’s not scaled well on the internet. In the early 2010s, commenting on real-time events was novel, so even doing the bare minimum felt enough as long as you were capturing the moment. But latching onto trends, just to catch that inevitable spike in engagement, is still one of the most common false positives which brands that don’t have social/digital as a focus area tend to fall for. So, how do you not make it about yourself? By not making it about yourself. Simple. When you don’t use the athlete to talk about your brand, and instead, use the power and reach of your brand to hype the athlete/sport, the creative opportunities are endless: maybe change your DP to the athlete’s for a day, slide into their DM and congratulate them personally, or even more, remove the ‘end’ from the ‘trend’ and help sustain the conversation by supporting the sport altogether. One brand that’s led by example for this is OYO (their print ad that syncs your calendar to the games is only the latest in a series of campaigns where they’ve prioritized being a fan, before being a brand). But if you’re thinking “I’m not a sports brand. What legitimate value does endorsing/supporting a sport or an athlete add to my brand?”, there’s nothing criminal about that line of thinking too. Just don’t do the bare minimum creatively and congratulate yourself over false positives. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Rajeesh Rajagopalan, National Business Head- Grapes Digital:" text="Rajeesh Rajagopalan, National Business Head- Grapes Digital:">Rajeesh Rajagopalan, National Business Head- Grapes Digital: </cmsannotation> Some of the ads are interesting, and some seem to be riding the wave. When brands do moment marketing, the intent is to celebrate these athletes. Some of the brands get this right, but some got lost in the crowd. The key to any moment marketing campaign, be it sports or some other topic- is weaving a story with the brand values and not being in your face or doing a sales push. The brand that has been acting moment marketing is Amul, way before social media even existed. When we talk about an IPL team or a player from the cricket team acknowledged, we get to know a lot about the player, their personalities, their image, which becomes easier to draw a reference from their personality and weave it into a moment marketing post. Imagine doing that with an athlete about whom brands know nothing? The struggle in front of brands remains in what form the personality must represent in their brand value. So, most brands end up doing generic posts, which merely look like it is all about them and not about the athlete. I think brands need to do a lot more homework when they congratulate an athlete. Otherwise, a simple congratulations post would look better. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Akshara Vasavda, Creative Lead, Schbang:" text="Akshara Vasavda, Creative Lead, Schbang:">Akshara Vasavda, Creative Lead, Schbang:</cmsannotation> This is the lowest hanging fruit and a pick your battles situation. Brands do topicals for every single thing, and Olympics as a whole are considered moment marketing - whatever happens within Olympics, especially with Indian players, becomes a moment to capitalise. ‘Capitalise’ is the operating word. Very few brands actually manage to come up with something creative, seamless, and impactful enough to actually mean something when it comes to ‘topicals’. Just scroll past it, unless you see something that strikes you visually or creatively. As far as I know, IPL is treated the same way, except there’s way more audience awareness so there’s more opportunity to do layered communication and bank on the audience to ‘get it’. That’s just my personal understanding! <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="84678943" title="With rising COVID-19 cases associated with the Olympic Games, will brands get the most bang for their buck?" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

Here’s how brands can avoid making our athletes’ win at Tokyo Olympics all about themselves

<ul><li><keyword id="758541" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Prime">Amazon Prime</keyword>’s latest <keyword id="878518" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Social-Media-Campaign">social media campaign</keyword> ‘Missing Me’ reminded us of <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>’s ‘WherestheF’ campaign from September 2020. </li><li>This made us wonder if <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> has normalised stealing original ideas in the name of ‘trends.’ </li><li>We reached out to experts to understand what are the perils of working on such similar ideas in today’s world. </li></ul>In the social media world, brands often use a creative template that is conceptualised by one agency and tweak it a little to jump on the bandwagon. Brands don't just take ‘inspiration’, they use almost the same template and put their logo on it without seeking consent from the creator. We have normalised replicating one brand's idea for another by calling it a 'trend.' Nobody has a ‘unique voice’ anymore -- everything today is a copy of a copy of a copy. (For example, take Snapchat’s stories, Twitter Stories, Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories) <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> (Most of us are pretty clueless about who started this ‘India vs US’ trend first) At the end of the day, advertising is a business of ideas and without ideas, no agency would exist. After the advent of social media, however, agencies have violated their own code of conduct about idea duplication that they have been following for years now. It has become convenient for brands to adopt original ideas and formats on social media, in the name of ‘trends’, to grab their consumer’s attention. While one might argue that a brand only draws inspiration from the original idea to jump on the bandwagon, the same format can help another brand become more popular and even viral -- leaving the brainchild behind the campaign’s idea feel betrayed and boiling in rage. The creative person behind this brilliant idea, in return, can only calm his/her rage by commenting on the post, “Hey, that was my idea” and the industry moves on. Another day comes by, another post is uploaded without credit and another brand goes viral for an unoriginal idea. At the same time, brands also consciously try to put out formats that can be deemed worthy enough to be picked up and go viral. In March 2020, digital agency Schbang had written an open letter to the advertising industry titled ‘It is time to kill that #trendingformat’ after it saw thousands of content creators following their formats and the agency even agreed to have jumped on the bandwagon in the past. It read, “Every day some of us have lost our unique voices to a trend. Not entertaining consumers anymore. Just high-fiving each other on the ‘earned media. Let’s make mediocrity unhappy and hard work great again. Let’s make art that’s tailor-made for brands.” <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Schbang articulated and reflected upon what we are trying to convey with this story, almost a year ago. It is about how social media has allowed brands and agencies to leech on each other’s ideas and breed mediocrity. This week, Amazon Prime India dropped 'Me' from its logo across social media pages and soon, everyone was talking about it. A few more brands like Dunzo, Pepsi, Parle G and Tinder India picked up on this and removed 'me' from their creatives, which was possibly a collaboration between the platform and these brands. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> But wait a minute. Did you also feel a déjà vu? We have heard of this before. Sounds too similar, doesn’t it? We couldn't help but compare Amazon Prime Me (Mobile Edition) campaign with Flipkart and Samsung's '#WhereTheF' campaign from September 2020 and spot the uncanny resemblance. Allow us to refresh your memory. For a few days in September 2020, Flipkart had tweeted without using the alphabet ‘F.’ Some of the words in its tweets were like ‘rom’, ‘itness’, ‘irst’, ‘inds’, and others. A-listers and brands joined in and started looking for Flipkart’s ‘F.’ Users were curious about what’s cooking and Flipkart later announced that it was a marketing ploy for Samsung's phone launch. Samsung had taken the front page of the Flipkart store to promote its Samsung Galaxy F41 and used Flipkart's social media pages to build some buzz around its launch. <div type="twitter" handle="Flipkart" handlename="Flipkart" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1267713887165485061/WUR4QXtd_normal.jpg" favoritecount="371" retweetcount="18" status="rom early morning jogs to late-night workouts head to our app or all your itness needs!" createdat="1600583405000" id="1307567688756027404"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="Flipkart" handlename="Flipkart" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1267713887165485061/WUR4QXtd_normal.jpg" favoritecount="167" retweetcount="16" status="We are still inding the solve. This is the irst time we are acing this problem, but i anyone knows or inds the miss… https://t.co/h2M3w97Aak" createdat="1600587024000" id="1307582870790090753"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="Flipkart" handlename="Flipkart" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1267713887165485061/WUR4QXtd_normal.jpg" favoritecount="110" retweetcount="8" status="What seemed like un and games beore, has become serious now. Two whole days &amp; we have not been able to type the let… https://t.co/GfKY202Vkr" createdat="1600687963000" id="1308006236995149825"></div> And now, Amazon Prime got a few brands to tweet without the letters ‘ME’ to announce the launch of its mobile edition. Both of these campaigns have a similar strategy: make a typo to get noticed on the platform, edit your social media bio, support it with a hashtag and get more brands to tweet about it so that there’s a continuous momentum on social media to earn organic PR. While it wasn’t a trending format, it is a similar idea and template, executed a few months apart with little changes: brand name, colour and timing. Had it been a TVC or a giant billboard, Amazon Prime would probably have been accused of plagiarism. While on social media, it is okay to revise and pass the derivative ideas as their own. So, we reached out to experts to understand the perils of working on similar-looking ideas today and discuss if social media has normalised <keyword id="10590919" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="idea-theft">idea theft</keyword>. Here is what they said: Lloyd Mathias, Angel Investor and Business Strategist: I think this a cool twist in moment marketing, where brands pick on ongoing conversations and insert themselves with casual banter weaving their brand messaging. When brands indulge in casual repartee, it helps them come through as casual and friendly and in a sense endear themselves to their audiences. When Flipkart kicked off the #WheresTheF trend back in September the obvious reference was to the more commonly used WTF so part of GenZ speak. It also played on Flipkart’s logo that used the F! Brands like Samsung and Swiggy were quick to pick on this pitching their own lines dropping the letter F. Amazon taking this on with its own variant for Amazon Pri….with the ME missing now has other brands latching on taking the opportunity to up their social media game. This campaign - on the missing ME - that's creating immense curiosity, is driving both interest and sparking off reactions from other brands, fuelling the conversation. These catchy, smart, low coats conversation builders help boost excitement in social media platforms, helping the brand up it's salience and is a welcome trend in an increasingly digitally savvy society. Harish Bijoor, Brand Guru &amp; Founder, HarishBijoor Consults Inc: Good ideas have a restricted shelf-life. Once a brand has used it, it becomes part of used-lore, and loses its original sting. That is the risk of using ideas used once, time and again by others. Social media is really an anarchy. Ownership of ideas is seldom respected. People lift thoughts and ideas without a qualm. Chasing idea-theft is therefore a very laborious task out here. When a brand does have an original idea, the best way to protect it is to go hammer and tongs on it, and go to town with its exposure. If the exposure is large enough, the one who wants to copy it will think thrice before doing it. Abhik Santara, Director and CEO ^ a t o m: It is sheer lazy marketing - by clients and agencies. And both are to be blamed equally. If an agency goes with a new idea/innovation, clients are asking to see a reference. How is that possible? It's a new idea. Similarly, agencies are getting too comfortable to present ideas which have topicality built in. It is easier to ensure a certain amount of engagement on popular subjects. But does that create any difference or add to the core of the brand? Null! A good performance campaign should help the brand and a good brand campaign must deliver performance. It's not either or. Agencies which are equipped to understand and deliver this, will drive the future. The battle of communication between rivals is not new in marketing. It has been happening for many decades. But that was when communication was one sided, and markets were fragmented. Today, in the digital era, it is walking into fire. Consumers will pick it up, competitive brands will lash out. And probably the brand which is being copied gets more mileage out of it. Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner, Enormous Brands: I think the online world is all about conversations and fueling those conversations and making sure that you are the guy who's benefiting the most from those conversations. Couple of years back, if I came across a campaign that somebody else has already, we would put an end to ours. But what I see happening is, if I'm the originator of that kind of a thought, and lots of people wanting in on that one, you got a good thing going: you got a campaign you started off, more and more people joining in the conversation. The conversation that you started is actually working in your favor: the world is talking about it. They get some reflected glory, but the main glory, the guy who started off the conversation, that just exactly how the whole hashtagging of it or how you started all those conversations the way it works. Akshara Vasavda, Creative Lead, Schbang: Amazon’s campaign definitely feels similar right now, but how they take it forward might change everything. But yes, they've chosen a route that now begs scrutiny because of its obvious similarities to campaigns of well known competitor brands. Personally, I don't think following a trend is that big a deal. Almost every single thing we consume today is a copy of a copy. Of course outright plagiarism is wrong, but when it comes to creativity in advertising, it's not just the idea on a conceptual level that makes things happen. So yes, the idea might be similar, but how it's executed, in what context it's executed, the end objective, all of that determines the success of the idea. Even if we copy a Cannes winning idea and slap it on a random brand, it won't work if the rest of the aspects aren't fitting in. If Amazon is intentionally or unintentionally copying Flipkart - a) the consumers are smart enough to see through this and it won't appeal to people as much because the intrigue factor will be lost. b) if the consumers do end up liking it, it automatically means that they did something that stood out and made people like the idea despite it being similar to a competitor brand that is also equally well known in India. Basically, in the end, the consumers decide if the brand can get away with 'copying' or not. It would be a very different conversation for things like films, shows, music, etc. But this is advertising we're talking about. Creativity is simply an added layer in the process of marketing the product - the end goal is to generate buzz, get outreach, get sales, etc. If that happens, all is good. If that doesn't happen, even the most unique idea won't be appreciated. The Internet largely works on meme culture. This culture has now trickled down to digital advertising as well where 'formats' essentially become 'memes'. It's got its pros and cons. If your brand puts out an innovative format, and other brands end up using it as a trend, that's big validation for your own brand. Most brands wouldn't look at it as idea theft. In fact, brands today consciously try to put out formats that can be 'picked up' and go viral. But the flipside is that while some brands are pushing for innovation to be the leader of the trend, some brands are happy following trends instead of creating them. That comes down to the agency culture and the creatives working on these brands. It definitely doesn't feel like a case of idea theft right now. And where there have been cases of lazy plagiarism, like I said earlier, the consumers (and even agencies) are smart enough to call it out. P.G Aditya, National Creative Director, Dentsu Webchutney: Similarities like these exist across the spectrum, everywhere. There are multiple campaigns over the years that have removed a part of their brand name/logo/core asset as a teaser to launch something (the most popular global example is the I-Hop, the pancake chain, which changed its name to I-Hob on the internet to announce its new range of Burgers). That campaign by Droga5, NYC, went on to become a huge winner at Cannes Lions a few years back. Check it out here: <div type="Youtube" id="shhowrlz318" title="IHOb, IHOP, DROGA5 New York" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/shhowrlz318/mqdefault.jpg"></div> On a side note, of course, all of us in the creative business can do a better job of celebrating our influences. Users applaud originality and inspiration with the same gusto as long as they’ve loved the work. Sure, we might not lose customers by being less original in our advertising, but we may gain a few more if we’re loud and proud about what’s inspired our thinking.

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