MAM
Naukri.com bags Consumer Connect ‘Campaign of the Year’ award
MUMBAI: Job site Naukri.com, has won the “Campaign of the Year” award for the Hari Sadu television commercial at the Advertising Club Kolkata, Consumer Connect Awards.
FCB Ulka New Delhi, the creative agency which worked on the commercial, also conferred the honours of a National Trophy in the “Consumers Services Category,” informs an official release.
Naukri.com COO Hitesh Oberoi said, “The Hari Sadu commercial is very close to our hearts and has been widely appreciated by its viewers in terms of its humour, story line and originality. The winning of the ‘Consumer Connect Award’ for Naukri.com and FCB Ulka is recognition of the toil and labour in creating a fictitious character, which has come alive. More importantly we are delighted that our consumers have recognized the very spirit of the advertisement which reflects the understanding of the brand Naukri.com and their connect to the brand.”
FCB Ulka’s Aakash Sharma added, “It always feels great to win awards but this time around it is doubly so. We’ve won two. It’s rewarding and exciting to see our work recognized as the real consumers play a major part in these awards.”
Every entry goes through the two-panel study to generate a Consumer Connect Score. Each entry is taken through two separate consumer panels. First a “Market Assessment” is conducted to determine the current perception of the brand. Then a “Stimulus Assessment” is conducted with a matched panel to measure the impact the entry had on consumer’s perceptions of the brand, adds the release.
Short listed entrants then present a live presentation of the case study in front of a panel of judges and an audience of their peers who will determine the winner. They take into consideration the following:
— The Consumer Connect Score: Key measurements on how the advertising entered changed perceptions of the brand. This is presented by Advertising Club Calcutta.
— Assessment of the advertising task: Analysis of the market situation and the role communication must play.
— Understanding of the consumer: Insights that led to the advertising solution.
— Creative solutions: The creative and media strategy used to obtain the desired response.
The Consumer Connect Awards, were instituted by the Advertising Club Kolkata, in the year 2003 to mark its 50th year. They seek to honour communication that connects best with their respective consumers.
MAM
Talking heads: TV9’s chief takes the host’s chair with style — but could do with a laugh
Barun Das has swapped the boardroom for the studio and is pulling off a polished interview show — mostly
MUMBAI: There is something quietly audacious about a media chief who decides that running a television empire is not quite enough and plants himself in front of the camera for a good chinwag with the great and the good. Barun Das, chief executive of TV9 Network, has done precisely that, and for the most part, he carries it off with considerable aplomb.
Duologue with Barun Das, now in its fourth season on JioHotstar, is exactly what it says on the tin: two people, two chairs, no frills. In the earlier seasons, Das has sat across from a rather stellar roster, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Aparna Sen, Viswanathan Anand, Kiran Rao, among many other renowned names. And in the fourth instalment he has had guests of the likes of Aamir Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Bianca Balti (Italian super model and cancer survivor), Lothar Matthäus (German football World Cup-winning captain). Throughout, he has coaxed from them nuggets that their publicists would probably rather keep under wraps. Cricket, relationships, spirituality, acting, health, behind-the-scenes machinations that plague politics, intellect, nepotism, nothing is entirely off the table.
Das’s greatest asset is his manner. Unhurried, well-dressed and disarmingly calm, he has the rare gift of making his guests feel so thoroughly at ease that they occasionally forget they are being filmed for television. The questions arrive softly, like a spinner tossing up a googly rather than a fast bowler hurling bouncers, and more often than not, they draw out a telling answer. He has no cue cards or teleprompter to help him along, which is probably a rarity for a host. Some credit must go to the research team operating quietly in the wings, who evidently do their homework so that Das does not have to fumble for his.
Where Duologue stumbles, however, is in its almost determined refusal to lighten up. Each 45-minute episode carries the solemn weight of a budget speech. A dash of wit, a moment of mischief, the odd belly laugh, none of it makes an appearance. Serious conversation has its place, but even the most earnest of interviewers, think David Frost at his best, knew when to let the air out of the room.
Das has built something worth watching. He simply needs to remind himself, and his guests, that a smile never hurt anyone.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5.
Available on JioHotstar.
