Interviews | Dhunji Wadia & MG Parameswaran | Printweek India

MG Parameswaran 

After working at places like Rediffusion Y&R, Boots Company, and UDI Yellow pages, MG Parameswaran or Ambi joined what is now known as FCBUlka Advertising in 1989. While rising in ranks from VP to CEO to advisor of the agency, Ambi has worked on some of the biggest brands and campaigns in the country. After spending more than two decades at the agency, Ambi decided to call it quits. But instead of announcing any retirement plans, he started a brand new chapter in his life with his advisory company Brand-Building.com. We meet Ambi over a cup of coffee in his new office to congratulate him and to talk about print advertising in India which – as Ambi points out – is going through its own evolution right now. 

Edited excerpts: http://www.printweek.in/features/advertising-awards-destroying-print-advertising-mg-parameswaran-22017

Dhunji Wadia

For a long time, Rediffusion Y&R, an agency known for some of India’s most iconic ad campaigns, had been skittishly skating in the advertising landscape. One of the biggest reasons for that was its flimsy relationship with its senior leaders. In 2014, after the exits of many senior leaders, the agency roped in Dhunji Wadia as its new president. Wadia, of course, wasn’t new to the system; he was already successfully handling the operations of the group’s smaller agency- Everest Brand Solutions. Wadia has over 25 years of experience. Before Everest, he had spent around 18 years with another ad behemoth- JWT India, leading its operations in Bangalore and Mumbai. During his tenure, the agency bagged quite a few prestigious awards for its work.

Today, Wadia is proud of what Rediffusion has achieved under his leadership so far. And he should be. Over the last one and a half years, Rediffusion has managed to create a pretty strong and impressive showreel, and scooped awards for their work including Make in India and Dipper Condoms (for Tata Motors). We speak to Wadia about his journey in Rediffusion so far and about how he stays so calm under pressure, among other things. 

Edited excerpts: http://www.printweek.in/features/dhunji-wadia-challenge-22294

Features | Marketing | Financial Express

Indian Express group (or Financial Express to be precise) and I go way back. I first started working with FE as a Trainee Reporter about 8-9 years back, which was kind of a life changing experience for me. It gave me some sort of direction in my life probably for the first time. I got tremendous amount of freedom despite holding the lowest rank in their editorial community. I worked at FE again almost after 3-4 years when I had taken a break to come back to Delhi. I worked with them in Delhi first and then moved to Bombay, as part of the FE BrandWagon team. Anyhow, FE recently came back to my life and now I am doing a little bit of freelance stuff for them. It's quite exciting to be writing for a newspaper again! :) 

Here is a short piece on an ad, marketing & media social networking website Kulzy: financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/your-friendly-neighbourhood-social-network/150287/

And here is a piece on the English news channels space in India: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/the-breaking-news-conundrum/157177/ 

On how a brand can maneuver its way out of a crisis: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/houston-we-have-a-problem/169602/

Profile | Pratik Thakkar | Kyoorius

Video Interview | Max Hegerman | Kyoorius

Max Hegerman is an expatriate (update: he has now moved out of India) who has been working with advertising giants in India since last few years. Recently, he assumed the role of  managing director at Edelman Digital, India. He will lead the expansion of Edelman India’s growing digital offering. Previously, he has also worked with JWT and Tribal DDB. He has spent past eleven+ years integrating digital capabilities into traditional advertising agencies. At Designyatra 2013, we caught up with Hegerman for a short conversation about digital in India.

Watch the interview here. 

Interview | Ayappa KM | Kyoorius

Interview: Rajiv Rao, NCD, Ogilvy & Mather India

It is just about impossible to find a chink in Rajiv Rao’s armor. He spearheads the creative function at Ogilvy & Mather, arguably the topmost agency of India, along with Abhijit Avasthi. He has created some of the most successful and inspiring pieces of work including the inimitable Zoozoos and Pug campaigns for Vodafone. He is the winner of several national and international awards.

He is one of the great creative minds of our time. He is not only consistently brilliant at what he does but also almost indispensable for his agency and for the Indian advertising industry. And despite of all the success over the years, he just never relinquishes the humility factor. He is one of the most self-effacing guys around in the business. We spoke to Rao about a myriad of things including his early days in Ogilvy, Quentin Tarantino, Bombay, music, Sajan Raj Kurup, Piyush Pandey, his regular day at work and more. Read the entire interview here on Kyoorius or in the 19th issue of Kyoorius Magazine. 

Profile of Creativeland Asia's founder: Sajan Raj Kurup

Dialogue: Partha Sinha

One of the oldest planners in India, Partha Sinha's interview. Read the full interview here.

My Life off Advertising: Bobby Pawar

Ad man Bobby Pawar's interesting life journey.

PATRICK RONA, PRESIDENT, TRIBAL DDB ASIA-PACIFIC

“The device explosion is going to happen” In January 2012, Patrick Rona, who was earlier president of digital agency Tribal DDB Worldwide Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and chief digital officer of DDB Group EMEA, was relocated to Singapore as Tribal DDB Asia Pacific's new president. Rona had joined Tribal DDB from OgilvyOne, where he ran the global Unilever digital marketing account. Before this, he was at Digitas in London. Payal Khandelwal of FE caught up with Rona during his recent trip to India to know more about his experiences in the Asian market, the challenges that are unique to India and expected trends in mobile and social media. Edited excerpts: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/the-device-explosion-is-going-to-happen/952347/

Howard Draft, the executive chairman of global advertising agency network Draftfcb

Howard Draft, the executive chairman of global advertising agency network Draftfcb, is one of the most respected and authoritative names in the direct marketing business. In 2010, Draft was inducted into the Direct Marketing Association Hall of Fame and was also awarded the Chicago Advertising Federation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Read the interview here: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/-We-need-to-move-beyond-traditional-marketing-vehicles-/949402

Interview: GLENN OSAKI, PRESIDENT, MSL GROUP ASIA

Glenn Osaki is the president of MSL Group Asia and is also a member of Publicis Groupe's China management board. Before moving to Shanghai in January 2005, he was managing director of MSL Group's Los Angeles office for six years. He has been with MSL for about 24 years. MSL Group and its three companies in India (20:20 MSL, Hanmer MSL and 20:20 Social), which were formed in 2009, underwent a brand identity change. In an exclusive chat with BrandWagon’s Payal Khandelwal, Osaki talks about how the shift in brand identity, which was done to bring in the maximum strength of the global network, shaped up. He also talks about the challenges for the PR industry in Asia Pacific (Apac), whether clients still consider PR a tactical function and also why ad agencies managed to win most PR Cannes Lions last year. Edited excerpts: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ad-agencies-are-not-doing-better-pr-work/897855/1

A comprehensive feature on crowdsourcing in advertising

An exclusive interview with Hernán Sánchez Neira, CEO, Havas Media Intelligence

Hernán Sánchez Neira is the chief executive officer of Havas Media Intelligence, a network of Havas Media which develops and implements advanced solutions in the field of business and consumer insights, strategic planning and accountability. Within this role, he oversees global business units such as The Havas Media Labs, Catalyst, Marketing Technology and the group's research and modelling divisions. In 2010, he was declared a “Media Maven” by Adage for being the brain behind Havas Media's global research Brand Sustainable Futures. In an interview with Payal Khandelwal of FE, Neira talks about the challenges faced by companies while communicating sustainability to consumers and how sustainability is on top of mind for consumers in fast growing markets like India. Edited excerpts: Click here

An interesting feature on Adlander's second professions

An exclusive interview with Group M's Vikram Sakhuja

Sakhuja talks about the performance of the industry in the last six months of 2011 and gives his predictions for the second half. Read all this and more here.

A New Odyssey (Vodafone Zoozoos)

During the second season of the Twenty20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2009, there was a buzz about some egg-headed characters which had taken over the Indian television screen. There was a lot of excitement, interest and curiosity about these delightful and funny characters whom mobile service brand Vodafone and its creative agency Ogilvy India had decided to call the ‘Zoozoos’. These egg-headed creatures spoke an alien language and laughed wickedly, but everybody could understand what they had to say about Vodafone’s value-added services (VAS). And soon the Zoozoos became the real star of the IPL ad breaks, so much so that along with tracking their favourite IPL team’s ever-changing fortunes, cricket fans were also keeping tabs on the latest antics of the Zoozoos.
The Zoozoos attained cult status with everyone in the country talking about them. They had millions of fans on Facebook and even Vodafone and Ogilvy’s rivals described them as the best clutter-breaking tool any brand or its creative agency had come up with in recent advertising history. Early this year, the Zoozoo’s latest avatar—the 3G Superhero—was released to coincide with Vodafone’s launch of 3G services. And now, the Zoozoos are embarking on a new adventure as Vodafone gears up to launch them in international markets. FE Brandwagon traces the journey of the Zoozoos in India and what makes them universal. We also bring you some amazing, hitherto unknown, trivia about the Zoozoos.

To read more, click here

World famous VFX specialist-Michael Fink

Interview of Michael Fink, CEO and senior visual effects supervisor, Frantic Films (Prime Focus Group company) at Campaign India (Just found it :))
BTW, he created the first Coca Cola Polar Bear ad in 1993!!

Here is the link.

A comprehensive feature on fake brands in rural India

Cover story on Sonic Branding