Category: Agency News

IPG Mediabrands, WPP and Omnicom Media Group in shortlist for Amazon’s global media mandate

The World Trade Centre, which has served as Amazon India’s headquarters since the company’s inception, houses 18 of its 30 floors, accommodating around 5,300 employees.

IPG Mediabrands’ initiative is the incumbent agency for Amazon. It won the company’s account in 2013 and defended it in 2017. As per reports, IPG will continue to service Amazon in 2024. The new mandate will commence from 2025.

Who are advertising ‘pitch consultants’ and what do they actually bring to the pitch table?

New age brands or start-up brands are more driven by looking at the clutter breaking ideas that can help them get traction. But, they don’t really look at things from a long term perspective. (Representative image by Nick Fewings via Unsplash)

Pitch consultants and their structured process have come to stay in advertising. Storyboard18 reached out to brands and pitch consultants who decoded the role of the latter in pitching, and spoke about their learnings during the whole process.

EXCLUSIVE: IPG agencies corner Air India’s media and creative business; marking a huge win for the group

Air India’s Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson and Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of the board of Tata Sons, at the unveiling of Air India's new look and logo at an event in 2023.

Initiative, part of IPG Mediabrands, won Tata Group-owned Air India’s media planning and buying mandate after a competitive months-long pitch last year. The account is one of the most prestigious in the country as the iconic airline brand undergoes a transformation.

Scarecrow M&C Saatchi bags the Gopal Snacks’ creative mandate

Raj Hadvani, wholetime director and chief executive officer, highlighted, "In the highly competitive and impusle buying snacking category, we believe that Gopal Snacks has the potential to cater to every consumer across India and the globe with our unique taste and quality. Scarecrow M&C Saatchi's competence in understanding brand, contemporary strategising and storytelling makes them perfect growth partners." (Representative Image: Mauro Gigli via Unsplash)

The full-service creative duties of the brand will be handled by the agency’s Mumbai office, stated the company in the release.

Mum’s the word: Ad and marketing agencies wary of talking about the poll-related work

It’s quite a predicament, says one ad agency head who wished not to be named. “On the one hand, you want to talk about the work because it is an election-related campaign, on the other hand, it would be tricky if you do,” he said. (Representative image by Kristina Flour via Unsplash)

Ad and marketing agencies are not willing to openly talk about political campaigns for 2024. Reasons range from contract-related clauses to party orders to fear of social media backlash and impact on employees.

WPP’s AKQA and Grey to merge in five markets

Established in 2019 by IITians Anurag Kedia and Gagandeep Makker, Pilgrim is one of the fastest-growing Beauty and Personal Care brands that offers 100+ SKUs across facecare, haircare & skincare products, makeup, and fragrances. The brand’s diverse selection of beauty products is made with ingredients sourced from various parts of the world, all of which are approved by PETA and the FDA, highlighted the company. (Image source: Claudio Schwarz via Unsplash)

In Australia, Italy, Belgium, and the United Arab Emirates, AKQA will be the leader and Grey will lead the brand in China.

EXCLUSIVE: Varahe Analytics, the agency behind BJP’s ‘Dulha Kaun Hai’ viral film

BJP is the highest spending political party on platforms like Google and Meta. As per Google’s Ad Transparency Report, the party has spent Rs 5.37crore on Google ads in the last 30 days. On Meta the party has spent Rs1.31 crore in the same period. (Image source: BJP via Instagram)

BJP’s campaign mandate is with a host of agencies, both big and small. Additionally a lot of the campaign work is also done by their in-house team of media, creative and marketing experts.