MAM
OgilvyOne invests in India
MUMBAI: OgilvyOne – the world’s largest CRM and interactive agency – has recently invested in the establishment of a database development and management team in Bangalore. This team, initially comprising four new hires, will work on behalf of the worldwide Bridge database management team, which manages databases for international clients from around the world.
The team will report to CS Krishnakumar based in Bangalore who in turn reports to Fernando Spella, leader of the worldwide team, based in the region’s head office in Hong Kong.
Ogilvy & Mather CEO, India and South Asia John Goodman was quoted in an official release saying, “This is only a small step, but I think it marks the beginning of something significant – India becoming a hub for our worldwide data management business.”
OgilvyOne Worldwide Director, Consulting and Bridge Regional Fernando Spella stated, “We have been developing our Bridge application and data management business for seven years. In line with the growth of the business we had a need to boost our team. After reviewing the options, India was by far the best. It has the people with the right skills and drive.”
AD Agencies
The smell that told Mumbaikars which station was next
Tata AIA turns Mumbai’s Parle-G memory into a sharp, city-wise outdoor play
MUMBAI: When a biscuit factory became Mumbai’s unofficial station announcement. Long before smartphone maps and automated announcements, commuters on Mumbai’s Western line relied on their noses. As trains rolled into Vile Parle, compartments filled with the warm, sweet smell of baking biscuits from the Parle-G factory. It was a cue to gather bags, wake dozing children and shuffle towards the door.
Now that memory has been pressed into service by Tata AIA Life Insurance as part of its 25-year anniversary outdoor campaign — a city-by-city salute to the lived moments that shape urban life.
One hoarding, mounted close to the old factory site, reads: “We have been protecting Mumbaikars since Vile Parle smelled of freshly made biscuits.” Spare. Local. Loaded.
The broader campaign, rolled out across major metros, leans hard into contextual storytelling. In Kolkata, it nods to trams. In Pune, to Magarpatta’s transformation. In Bengaluru, to a time before IT parks. In Chennai, to OMR before it led to tech corridors. Each line anchors the brand’s longevity to a shared civic memory.
The Mumbai execution is the most evocative. For decades, the Parle-G factory was more than a production unit. It was a sensory landmark. Residents nearby set their clocks by the factory horn. Office-goers marked their commute by the waft of glucose and flour. When the plant shut, the city lost more than jobs. It lost a rhythm.
By placing the hoarding beside the former factory, the insurer collapses distance between copy and context. The site does half the storytelling. The rest comes from commuters who remember opening steel tiffins packed with Parle-G, or jolting awake as the train slowed.
It is a neat piece of brand positioning. Rather than trumpet balance sheets or policy counts, Tata AIA borrows emotional equity from the city itself. Twenty-five years becomes less a milestone and more a presence — steady, local, embedded.
Outdoor advertising is often a blunt instrument. This one is anything but. It whispers. It remembers. And in doing so, it sells trust without sounding like it is selling at all.
The scent may have faded. The memory has not.
