Evolving Role of Planning at APG

Guy Murphy, Global Planning Director, JWT chaired the judging committee at this year's APG Creative Strategy Awards. In his article in Campaign, he sights examples from various APG entries in this year's competition to elicit the evolving role of Planning as a function in the industry.
Through the various APG entries he illustrates the various functions that planning has adorned in agencies across the world; from the Content planners at Mother to the Channel planners of McCann Erickson, from Cultural Planning at JWT Mumbai to BBH's brand of Behovioural Planning for Axe, Japan, planners seem to have done it all.

Click here to view Guy Murphy's article in Campaign that was published prior to the APG Awards ceremony.

Exhibiting Planning's rigorous strategic role as Cultural Planners, The Diamond Bride Case study from DeBeers India won a special prize and JWT won one of the only 5 golds at the APG Awards in London for the same paper.

JWT Shines Again With Creativity And Innovation

Ford's new commercials on Kinetic Design showcases JWT's prowess on blending strategy with great creatives. Kinetic Design is the new Ford design language, drawing car lines based on movement. The movement works as a central foundation of each piece and is the inspiration behind the executions. Under the heading "The movement inspires us”, a campaign was developed to inform the viewer what Kinetic Design is; the new design of the current high-end brands.

Check out Ford's commercials on Kinetic Design, one for each of it's brands.

Innovation was given new dimensions by both Nokia and Nestle's Kit Kat. While Nokia used a special ad to launch the new Nokia 5800, Kit Kat reinforced the concept of "Have a break, have a Kit Kat" with a new digital campaign.

Click here for the Nokia 5800 ad

Repositioning of Rakhi Sawant

Dr Anupama Wagh-Koppar, VP & Strategic Planning Director, JWT Delhi, illustrates how easily Rakhi Sawant repositioned herself successfully...
An exercise, brands struggle to do credibly, in the best of scenarios.

Click here to find out what lessons brands can learn from Rakhi's repositioning.

Anxious India

Atika Malik, Senior VP and Executive Planning Director, tells us how JWT is tracking consumers' anxiety in India along with Millward Brown.

A proprietary JWT study, Anxiety Index was started to track the levels and intensity of consumer anxiety and, importantly, the drivers of anxiety.

JWT partnered with Millward Brown to understand the drivers of the Indian consumers' anxiety. In its study, JWT India and Millward Brown focused on three major cities in India. Five hundred adults aged 18-49 from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore were interviewed face-to-face about their anxiety levels and anxiety drivers. The study examined safety and security concerns—the threat of terrorism, military hostilities, crime, etc.—and economic worries such as the cost of health care, the cost of living and job security. The study also takes a closer look into how different categories are being affected by the recession, including FMCG, consumer durables and services.

Click here to view the findings of the study and its implications for brands.

JWT AnxietyIndex

Real time data is a must to cope with anxious consumers during recessionary times. In an effort to provide exactly that, JWT started AnxietyIndex.com. The blog, authored by JWT planners around the world, chronicles how various brands have adapted their marketing, pricing and communication strategies to suit the recession-hit consumers.

Find out how some communities are teaming up to beat the recession in Singapore or how a lot of brands are resorting to price tactics around the world or how this era has given rise to "luxury shame" and how retailers in US are dealing with it.

While at AnxietyIndex don't forget to check out our anxietyindex Trends and Research page that maps out JWT's PoV on future recessionary trends.

JWT wins at AME Asia

A particularly debated topic in recession-dominated 2009 has been the criticality of effectiveness of brand communication. The AME competition, now in it's 7th year, not only identifies Asia's top creators but rewards those that add value to consumers and businesses.

JWT Mumbai posted two major wins in the recently concluded Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards. JWT Mumbai's Teach India campaign won Bronze in the Most Effective Use of Direct Marketing category, and their Lux Temptation campaign, for Hindustan Unilever Limited, won Gold in the Most Effective Use of Public Relations category.

To find out who else won at AME 2009 click here.
View the 2 winning entries from JWT Mumbai here.

JWT buzzing with Creative Cases

Who would have known that a product like the band aid, used to heal messy cuts and wounds could actually become a fashion statement with a coolness quotient. Our colleagues at JWT Sao Paulo did just that. They roped in designer Alexandre Herchcovitch to design a line of high-fashion Band-Aids, which debuted at São Paulo Fashion Week and went on to become the accessory of the moment in Brazil, even among the unwounded. The success of the idea is prompting Client J&J to take it global.




And in Japan, JWT relaunched a brand in style . They came up with a lavish 7-minute mini film for relaunching Unilever's Lux brand in China and Japan. The film titled "Alchemist" stars Cathering Zeta Jones, and aims to build an emotional connection with young female consumers in both markets through a memorable storyline.












Click here to view the Lux Film.

New media tools in plain English

Christine Bella, planner in JWT Japan pointed us to a delightful source: CommonCraft. For all those amongst us who feel we don't quite understand what some of these new things are all about, how they work and how we should make the best use of it all.

Social media in plain English




Twitter in plain english




Social Bookmarking in Plain English





Wikis in Plain English

JWT India Planners buzzing with papers and points of view

“Bite reality: Breaking 7 myths about the most wanted 700 million”. Ankit Vohra tackles myth by myth and argues systematically about the realities of rural Indian markets and takes a stance on the implications.
Will digital marketers find an audience unwilling to be empowered in rural India? Will online social networking have any relevance at all? How will the culture codes affect internet-mobile growth? Jitender Dabas asks searching questions in “When Rural met Digital”.
“Sense of self in Web2.0” … the face and the mask could be changing places. Shujoy Dutta on managing our public personas, the increasing role of feedback, and some food for thought for marketers.
To read the papers, click here.

Brand Chakras study on Indian Students

What do Indian students really want? Beyond the usual surveys, the latest Brand Chakras study reveals what deep seated needs education brands can satisfy. On the one hand, a clear demand for “entertaining education” and on the other hand a yearning for mentors and inspiring role models who can give them individual attention and prepare them for life. Typical of so many other Indian consumer groups, the Indian student too today is asking for a magical combination. “The Call for Dronacharya”, a joint initiative of JWT India Planning and SRM University, a qualitative and quantitative study across 8 centers and students from different education streams. To see an executive summary, click here.

Guy Murphy on "What Planning should think about in a recessionary year"

First instincts for the things Planning should think about in this recessionary year ahead: Guy Murphy, in his blog to JWT Worldwide Planners
Friday, January 9th, 2009
1. Category, not brand.
Tighter finances will mean consumers will start to make decisions between categories, rather than just between brands within a category. Not Gap vs Uniqlo, but clothes vs CDs. Look closely again at the buying decision. How healthy is the category for your JWT brand? Do you need more category messages?
2. Brand’s value voice.
This year, more than ever, brands will have to talk more about their price in some way. How do you maintain a sense of brand in that conversation? How can each of JWT’s brands talk about price in a way that is still branded?
(Harrods do this well. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYZXwt6t5Bw).
3. Effective versus efficient.
Always worth distinguishing between ‘doing things right’ (efficiency), and ‘doing the right things’ (effectiveness). The tendency in a recession is to not think hard enough about the latter of those two. What is the minimum number of the right things that a JWT brand should do this year?
4. Confidence.
Consumers can smell a brand’s confidence. Having a sense of success about a brand this year will be the kiss of life, and vice versa, e.g. money-back guarantee vs ‘2 for the price of 1′ (see Hyundai’s latest confident move www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVAWviuVmK4. How can we ensure JWT’s brands look in touch with difficult times but still appear sure of their own future?