Ugly Wudi Ranks Number One

In China, a lot of hype has been generated in the last few months, and no, it’s not the Beijing Olympics, it’s Ugly Wudi or Ugly Betty’s Chinese equivalent. On the back of Hunan TV purchasing the rights to the Ugly Betty format, MindShare Invention has been a key stakeholder using this adapted series to leverage a value opportunity via integrated content and title sponsorship for Unilever across a portfolio of their product range which includes Dove and Lipton among others.

Attracting a massive 73 million viewers on opening night, Ugly Wudi came up tops, beating other syndicated Ugly Betty version’s in US, UK, Mexico and India to become one of the most successful branded content programmes ever broadcasted.

Ranking number one in its time slot across 30 markets, Ugly Wudi, garnered an audience share of 8.7% whilst delivering a 11.6% audience share for the younger, harder to reach 4 – 23 year old segment. The highly anticipated second season is due to launch on 5 January 2009 with seasons three, four and five already in the pipeline.

With the increase of clutter within the advertising space, content projects like Ugly Wudi in China are increasingly seen as a solution for brands to engage consumers to communicate the brand essence and values.

Congratulations to Mateo Eaton and team!

Electrifying fashion label roccobarocco launches its bags and accessories in Singapore!

High street fashion label roccobarocco has arrived in Singapore from the runways of Italy! A brand synonymous with style and quality, roccobarocco is a brand for the trendsetters and for the lady who is looking for a sophisticated statement piece that personifies her individuality.

The roccobarocco woman is uninhibited in her style and appreciates the intricacy of details and the innovative mix of materials to give her style an added oomph factor. The brand redefines femininity with designs that oozes attitude with sophistication while accentuating her feminine sensuality.

The A/W08 Collection presents a series of surprises as he cleverly lifts silent materials and muted colours with patent, bling and gold embellishments. Metal accessories, intricate embroidery designs and an innovative and refreshing play of materials is also evident in several collections this season.

The Italian high street fashion label was officially launched on 23rd October at Fashion Bar. It was a night of revelry as we celebrated the official launch in Singapore and showcased the A/W08 bags and accessories collection on an interesting display of body-painted live static mannequins.

Lianbee-Jeco is the appointed exclusive distributor of bags and accessories for premium Italian label roccobarocco, in Singapore and Indonesia. With the addition of prominent fashion label roccobarocco to its stable of brands, Lianbee-Jeco now boasts a full complement of premium leather goods and high fashion bags and accessories. Lianbee-Jeco is proud to be associated with high fashion label roccobarocco, bringing fashion to a different level with the brand’s bold and distinctive style. The bags and accessories line from roccobarocco is available in Singapore at Takashimaya Department Store, Level 2.

MindShare unveils rebrand

Media network Mindshare has updated its identity by introducing a new company logo and altering its name. The WPP subsidiary has replaced its purple logo with a purple and blue swirled sign and has adopted a lower-case 's' in its name, changing it from MindShare to Mindshare.

"The logo has longevity, simplicity and flexibility - it’s future-proof," said Mindshare Worldwide’s marketing director Ailsa Lochrie. "And it’s purple. We’re always going to be purple people."The rebranding is consistent with the agency’s global restructure process, announced earlier in the year, which has included the introduction of new management and tools.The logo was designed by London agency Moving Brands following a pitch that included ten companies.

Media spend to slump in Singapore

In light of the global economic slowdown, Mindshare and Maxus have predicted a 15-per-cent year-on-year decline in Singapore’s media spend in the upcoming year. According to the agencies‚ print will be the hardest-hit medium while TV will be less affected. Its prediction on digital is ambiguous and suggests it may not be affected.

The report is based on data from more than 40 Mindshare and Maxus media clients across a range of sectors, including FMCG, luxury, retail and financial and government services.While the agencies found the decline to be consistent across every other category, the retail and government-services sectors may be exceptions as retail is slated to remain at its current levels and government-service spend is poised to increase.

The release notes Singapore’s automotive, financial services, FMCG, luxury and travel industries‚ spend may decrease by as much as 20 per cent.The agencies highlight that a 15 per cent decline would damage Singapore’s industry. They point to Singapore Press Holdings as an example, noting its 6.9 per cent increase in display ad revenues over the past two years dwarfs in comparison to the potential loss it faces.

MindShare unveils new management line-up

MindShare and Maxus Singapore has promoted Sony Wong to MD while also bumping up Bharad Ramesh to deputy MD for MindShare.Ramesh moved to MindShare Singapore, from MindShare China, in August 2007 to work regionally on GSK and he will retain his managing partner duties for GSK regionally.

The promotions are part of a new company direction which also includes structural reorganisation, process consolidation and broadening of service offerings covering branded content, search and mobile, and marketing consultancy work. Media planning and buying will remain a mainstay of the business.

"To effectively manage these parallel business growth systems as we move into the new MindShare organization, we have to reinvigorate MindShare’s current management setup in order to allocate sufficient focused attention across the increased business function areas," a spokesman said.

Mindshare Singapore tops the industry again

Mindshare Singapore topped the Media Agency of the Year category for the 4th year in a row at Marketing Magazine’s annual rankings awards night which took place on 3 September 2008 in a sold out gala event held at the Singapore Marriott.

Over 500 industry players attended the event where 40 trophies were handed out across 11 categories. The Awards were strictly decided through extensive polling of marketers in Singapore.

"I think the inauguration was a runaway success, in terms of turnout as well as content. It covered not just the key categories of creative, media & PR, it also covered interactive, DM, Sports, Event marketing etc. Considering there are so many other award shows in Singapore, it is fair to single out the success based on the fact that this is the benchmark Industry award voted by senior client marketers as well as agency professionals," Sony Wong, Leader of MindShare Singapore, said.

The backing and support from the industry was also particularly pleasing to Marketing's editorial director, Tony Kelly who said he was overwhelmed by the support shown in both attendance at the event and supporting the event in other ways. "We really were delighted that the industry has embraced these awards and recognizes that this is the most valid and accurate way to recognize excellence in agency performance and relationships," Kelly said.

Tiger beer engages football fans

Tiger Beer recently had a give-away roadshow at Raffles Place recently, leveraging on buzz around the 2008/2009 Barclays Premier League.

Rather than simply running a full-page cover ad on the New Paper on 25 August, Mindshare Singapore conceptualised the idea of a creative guerrilla marketing effort and launched it during a roadshow at Raffles Place.

Saatchi and Saatchi was in charge of creative content development and produced 2,000 limited pieces of a survival kit for Tiger Beer's football fans. The package included a "Late Night Hunger Guide", a "Tiger Instant Vocal Remedy", a stress ball and a pre-match workout guide.

To complete the picture, the kit also contained a Tiger Female Pacification Kit. "As most wives and girlfriends would not be thrilled with the prospects of playing second fiddle to the EPL again, the kit contained a tongue-in-cheek Tiger Female Pacification Kit to guide fans on how to keep their other halves happy while continuing to catch the EPL action throughout the season," executive business director for Mindshare Singapore, Jimmy Lim said.
The kits were snapped up an hour before the roadshow ended.

New Mindshare drives off with Daimler in China

Reported By: Adaline Lau, China – Beijing, Marketing Interactive


Beijing - Mindshare Beijing has landed the bulk of Fujian Daimler's marketing assignments that expand beyond media buying and planning to include PR and brand strategy.

Mindshare's new unit called "Business Planning" won the research management and brand strategy, while its new implementation division "The Exchange" took the media buying and PR management.

Mindshare's new "Invention" unit will be in charge of media planning. Siew Ping Lim, leader for Mindshare's Beijing office said the win was a "clear demonstration" that its new agency model provides a broader offering of marketing services to clients above media planning and buying".

Mindshare's Business Planning used local insights to create a strong communication planning strategy and was believed to be a significant factor in the agency winning the business.

Mindshare also proposed strong content and activation ideas all the way down to a dealership level which were believed to have been another significant factor in the client's decision.

Ogilvy Fuzhou picked up the creative execution work and production that involved a pitch against BBDO, ADK and a local agency.

Fujian Daimler Automotive is Daimler's commercial vehicle joint venture in China and includes the brands of Mercedes-Benz Viano and Mercedes-Benz Vito MPVs.

Hello Singapore!

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