MAM
StrawberryFrog readies to spearhead cultural advertising in India
MUMBAI: India is a nation of movements. There’s anti-corruption movement, farmers’ movements, and a host of other social movements. There’s now also a cultural movement in advertising.
Spearheading the cultural movement in advertising in India is New York-based advertising agency StrawberryFrog. The agency’s founder and chairman Scott Goodson says cultural movement advertising starts with an idea that is relevant to the target audience rather than the product.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Goodson said StrawberryFrog is following its clients into India. Seeking to participate in a rapidly growing market, he said India makes a sensible destination for the agency as its core is about movements.
The agency has already worked with an Indian brand and audience when it conceptualised the ‘Rise’ movement for homegrown farm equipment-to-software group Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). The movement advertising for M&M was based on the idea that people want to rise, succeed and create a better future for them. The ‘Rise’ advertising movement was crafted from the responses it received in a research it carried out among the users of M&M products and services.
The advertising focussed on an individual’s desire to rise to his potential and conveyed that Mahindra as a company also believes in striving for a brighter future. “Working on the Mahindra Rise movement was one of the highlights of my career. Anand Mahindra is a mind blowing person to work with and the compassion he feels for social causes and the way he works towards them is admirable,” points out Goodson.
The 15-year-old works US agency works on the concept of cultural movements in advertising or — as Goodson puts it – movement advertising. Explaining the idea, Goodson says, “The whole idea is that instead of starting with the product and trying to push it out in the market like traditional advertising, we go in search of an idea that is relevant to a wide group of individuals and then tie the idea to the product, making it (the product) relevant to the consumer.”
Movement advertising, he explains further, is something about an idea that people care about and is on the rise in a particular culture, thus allowing you to tie it back to the brand. Movement advertising also combines new innovative digital and social media with social advertising. It all starts with an idea that is relevant to the target audience rather than the product.
“Indian audiences are different. They love advertising that is emotional and touches the heart but it has to be in an Indian way,” explains Goodson.
“Its about what you want the consumer to do rather than think or feel. It is about creating a movement that is relevant to the consumer in the context of the brand. We carry out research on what people in the target segment care about, what are their values and concerns and philosophies?” adds Goodson.
The recent global campaign by global airline Emirates is the handiwork of StrawberryFrog. The brief was to come up with a campaign that links nearly 300 nations with one common thought or idea. Goodson and his team delved into the research thrown up by their team about air travellers and were faced with an insight that said, “People felt that the world is too big and that is why there are a lot of misconceptions. People felt if we made the world a more connected place it would be better.”
Working from here, Goodson came up with the ‘Hello Tomorrow’ movement (as he calls it and not campaign) which showed that every traveller is connected with the other making the world a cohesive interlinked unit. The term ‘Hello Tomorrow‘ is coined by Goodson himself. The movement aimed at conveying the message that ‘Tomorrow Brings Us Closer to New People, New Experiences, New Styles, New Friends.’
Brands
Hemlata Sharma joins ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer
Former Zee Media distribution head to steer growth, partnerships and strategy
MUMBAI: Hemlata Sharma has joined ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer, bringing with her more than three decades of experience across television, telecom and media distribution.
Sharma most recently served as head distribution, research & CRM at Zee Media Corporation Limited, where she worked closely with editorial and senior management while overseeing distribution, consumer research and customer relationships for 14 news channels including Zee News, WION, Zee Hindustan and Zee Business, along with ten regional state channels.
In that role, she led nationwide distribution across platforms such as DTH, Hits, IPTV, cable networks and DD Free Dish. She also drove consumer research and strategic insights on a pan India scale, analysing content performance, anchor impact, programme slots and audience behaviour to guide editorial decisions and programming strategy.
Her portfolio also included managing one of the largest alliances with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and overseeing the global distribution monitoring of Wion across North America, Mena, Europe, Africa, APAC and Australia.
Earlier, Sharma briefly served as head sales and distribution at Triplecom Media Pvt Ltd, an engagement driven OTT platform bringing together content, gaming, music and advertising for the entertainment distribution ecosystem.
Her earlier career includes a senior vice president stint at Ten Sports Network, where she played a key role in relaunching the sports broadcaster as an independent bouquet comprising Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action and Ten Golf following the Zee takeover. During this period, she moved from vp west to head strategy for cable and dth and later national head retail distribution, helping build the network’s retail distribution vertical across India and launching dedicated golf and football channels.
Before that, Sharma spent over six years at Bharti Airtel as general manager operations for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. She initially led marketing and corporate communications before moving into sales leadership, where voice sales grew by 86 per cent and revenues by 96 per cent. She later headed business operations, expanding annual business volumes to Rs 100 crore while significantly reducing operational costs.
Sharma began her long association with the media distribution ecosystem at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited as regional head sales and distribution for central India. During that period, she played a role in the early rollout of pay television channels including Zee Cinema, HBO, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, while also contributing to the launch of Siti Cable in key central Indian cities.
With her new role at ONEOTT Broadband, Sharma is expected to focus on strengthening business strategy, expanding partnerships and driving growth across the company’s broadband and digital distribution ecosystem.
