With Social Media being increasingly used as a marketing tool, companies are plugging in to keep in touch with consumers to inform them, to research or give them news or information and to promote their products through this medium. About half the social-media savvy organizations spend one to five per cent of their marketing budgets on social media. Here’s an interesting article published on Lighthouse Insights by Vinaya Naidu, on how some companies have used Social Media creatively to promote their products. We have shortlisted the best 5 out of 18 campaigns. These campaigns have been creative as well as aligned to the objective.

5 Of the Coolest Indian Social Media Campaigns of Quarter 1, 2013

The first quarter of this year has been an exciting one with brands from all sectors using multiple social media platforms to drive home the message.

1. Xperia Z promotions by Sony India: The new Sony Xperia Z launched this March, created quite a stir on social media with Katrina Kaif, the brand’s new face. Along with a dedicated microsite, Twitter buzz around #BestofSony and a Sony Xperia Z playlist on its official YouTube channel, the brand had also created an augmented reality based Facebook application titled ‘Katrina and You’. The app enabled fans to visit the places shown on a map with Katrina in a poster. Her virtual image explained the features of Xperia Z and fans also got an opportunity to have their pictures clicked beside her image.

2. Balakrishnan Vaali by Nestlé Munch: To promote the new Nestlé Munch 4X4, Nestlé India roped in cricketer Virat Kohli as the new face of the brand. However, Virat plays the character of Balakrishnan Vaali who is a regular Chennai guy with affection for coffee and the chocolate. A social media profile was created for Vaali on Facebook as well as Twitter complete with believable details and regular Chennai taste. Vaali connects, communicates and entertains the community besides talking about Munch.

3. Relaunching the new Cadbury Silk: When Cadbury Silk came out with its latest version, the brand did a series of social media activations that were both fun and interactive. Beginning with announcing the imminent demise of Silk, the channels managed to successfully create the right amount of curiosity. And while fans were mourning and sending their farewell wishes, the page brought alive the new Silk for the heartbroken fans. Besides, the brand challenged Silk fans to bid for giant cubes of Silk weighing 14 kilograms each at a mall in Mumbai, by claiming what they would sacrifice to take those cubes home. With a Facebook app and a hashtag on Twitter, ‘Bid for Silk’ sure helped up the curiosity levels around the brand.

4. Special 26 promotions by Viacom 18: The heist Bollywood hit, Special 26 by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, created a formidable social media presence prior to the launch. With simple apps on Facebook that aligned with the story like ‘Which type of con artist are you’ and ‘Akshay’s Special 26’, the movie managed to drive engagement through Facebook. Interestingly, fans could watch an exclusive trailer on a Facebook app only after sharing it on Twitter. On Twitter, amongst other activities,  fans were asked what Akshay could sing for them, as he had sung one of the songs in the movie.

5. Ticket to Idea Filmfare by Idea Cellular: This year the 58^th Filmfare awards sponsored by telecom brand, Idea created a cool campaign ‘#TicketToIdeaFilmfare’ that gave fans an opportunity to earn themselves free passes and feel the glitter of the red carpet. The campaign was executed as a treasure hunt game, where the tickets were hidden in four different places in the city, while Facebook and Twitter were used to provide the clues. Interestingly, the clues related to Bollywood required fans to have a fair knowledge of it.

Amul – “The Taste of India,” has once again got it right with its Bhaag Milkha Bhaag campaign. While many of us wouldn’t know that one of the biggest ingredients of Milkha’s success was Milk, Amul has capitalized on this very well by associating with the movie in a unique way. BestMediaInfo has captured the essence of the collaboration in this article.

Speaking on the collaboration, Nitin Karkare, COO, Mumbai, Draftfcb Ulka said, “Association with the Bhaag Milkha Bhaag film seemed like a perfect next step for the brand after London Olympics, The Amazing Spiderman and Man of Steel. The objective is to reach our TG with the core message of milk as the original energy drink, but at the same time retaining the freshness, topicality and excitement.”

“This movie has a great fit with brand Amul, it stands for striving and winning to become the leader and we want the youth to follow this, to persevere with dedication, awakening the winner in us,” said GCMMF’s managing director RS Sodhi. He added, “Milk, the world’s original energy drink, will help provide nourishment and energy to reach their goals.”

Milkha Singh himself said, “This film will help inspire the youth to win in the Olympics, especially in athletics.”

Watch the Amul Milk TVC here.

Organization Name: SellMojo

Organization Description: SellMojo is a unique social commerce platform, offering businesses the opportunity to sell to their customers with fun, accessibility, and ease within Facebook. SellMojo combines the best parts of an online store platform with a social shopping experience.

Location: Chembur, Next to R.K. Studios

Role Title: Intern

Role Description: Social Media, Content creation

Role Responsibilities:

• Manage SellMojo’s presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ in tandem with the team
• Pitch post ideas to bloggers who write about the industries in which we operate
• Launch contests and giveaways for our users

Qualification Requirement:

• College student

Skill Set Requirement:

• Smart
• Hard worker
• Detail oriented
• Talented writer

Experience Requirement: Previous experience with content writing would be beneficial. Even if they don’t have previous experience, ability to create content is required.

Compensation/Stipend: Rs 5000/month

Application Process: Write to Nameet/Janvi on hello@SellMojo.com

— By Mariya Sethjiwala, Sophia BMM

Dressing up is something we all love to do. Whether it is for parties, functions or social gatherings, what you wear reflects on your personality. The same goes with your favourite celebrities!  You judge them so much on the basis of what they wear. Whether the apparel a celebrity wears is a hit or a miss, depends a lot on the kind of stylist they hire. A fashion stylist is what we are talking about here.

Do not confuse a Fashion Stylist with a fashion designer. A designer designs the clothes a person wears. A fashion stylist smartly puts together an entire outfit for you, complete with accessories and bags and even hair and make-up. A fashion stylist is responsible for putting together clothing ensembles to meet the demands of specific clients. They work to get a person ready for a particular event or lifestyle choice.

To be a fashion stylist, it is a no-brainer first up to have a unique sense of fashion. You should be confident enough to experiment with your wardrobe in order to stand out at a function. A course in fashion designing is not necessarily a criterion here. A good understanding of latest trends, colours and hues and what-goes-with-what is! Therefore reading high-end fashion magazines is highly recommended.

To get you noticed in this field, like most other fields in the fashion industry remains a challenge. For beginners, working with a magazine or other lifestyle organisation helps. You should stick around with one organisation for a good period of time in order to build relations with people who might hire you as their stylist in future. Also another great way to begin would be assisting an established stylist. Working under a known stylist can you help you gain clients of your own as you tend to meet a lot of people and get to spread the word that “You are here!!”

As a stylist to a celebrity, you are always under constant pressure to give your client fresh looks every time they step out for an event. With the ever growing sense of fashion of the audiences and with the fashion police always looking for its next victim, being on your toes always is a must. You should also be willing to experiment and invent your own fashion trends to make your client stand out rather than always following the rule book.

A stylist needs to be a good communicator as you are required work with a team of professionals to style your client. Also, once you start working, it is advisable to ask some models styled by you to pose in order to create a portfolio that you can show to people. One of the most demanded professionals in the fashion industry, Stylists are being widely recognised as a key factor in building an image for celebrities.

Organization Name:  BMMBox.com

Organization Description: The one-stop shop for all stuff BMM!

Location: From home

Role Title: Creative Writer/Photographer

Role Description /Role Responsibilities:

Creative Writer – We are looking for someone to write fun, whacky, entertaining articles for our site. If you think you can make people smile/laugh with your words, puns then this is the position for you.

Photographer – If you take photographers and are pretty good at it, then we’d like to have you on board for a photo-essay series. If you capabilities lie in bringing out the essence of one topic through myriad photographs, then this is an opportunity you must take up.

Qualification Requirement: FY/SY/TYBMM

Experience Requirement: Nil

Compensation/Stipend: A certificate of appreciation shall be given. You will be given credit for your content we upload on the site.

Application Process: Email current and updated resume + 2 writing samples (on any topic) to connect@bmmbox.com

Selection Process: Sifting through resumes, followed by phone interview

Key Dates: Applications close on April 30, 2013

Organization Name: Last Bench Forum

Organization Description: One Stop Solution to a Brand’s Need.

Location: Goregaon East, Mumbai.

Role Title: Junior/Senior Designer cum Visualizer.

Role Description: Visualizing & Designing ideas for clients. Looking at designs and coming up with solutions for a much more exciting design. From a corporate identity to Background design.

Role Responsibilities:

1. Visualizing & Creating designs as per description
2. Creating appealing designs for the client
3. Improvising Designs

Qualification Requirement:

1. Efficient & Skilled Designer.
2. At least a Graduate in Mass Media and/or with a degree/diploma in 3 D animation from a leading designing institute.

Skill Set Requirement:

1. Skills: Excellent artist, proficient in English & Hindi, sketcher and visualizer.
2. Technical Skills: Working knowledge of Vector and Raster softwares like Photoshop and Corel Draw or equivalent.
3. Attitude: Positive, adaptable, enthusiastic, creative, hardworking and innovative

Experience Requirement: Experience, if any, is recommended but fresher may also apply.

Stipend: For Fresher – Travelling Expense + Based on skills; For Experienced – Anywhere in between 1.5 – 2 L per annum

Application Process: Sending in Resumes @ pragnesh.lbfartworks@gmail.com along with your creative portfolio.

Selection Process: Scrutinising Resumes. Selected Candidates would be called in for a Personal Interview.

Notes, if any: We are also looking out for Scripting, 3 D Animators and Editors for FULL Time and/or Part Time.

Organization Name: Last Bench Forum

Organization Description: One Stop Solution to a Brand’s Need. “720 degree Media Agency” as we call ourselves.

Location: Goregaon East, Mumbai.

Role Title: Junior Scriptwriter cum Copywriters.

Role Description: Full time Job opportunity in Scripting for web shows and short films. Also Content writing when need arises.

Role Responsibilities:

• Scripting and Preparing Copy & Content as per the requirement.
• Editing or Proof Reading of the existing clients.

Qualification Requirement:

• Efficient & Skilled Writers.
• Graduate in any stream.

Skill Set Requirement: Skills: Excellent oral and written communication skills, Proficient in English & Hindi, Excellent in the art of Scripting. Technical Skills: Working knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). Attitude: Positive, Adaptable, enthusiastic, creative and innovative

Experience Requirement: Fresher may also apply.

Stipend: For Fresher – Travelling Expense + Based on skills. For Experienced – Anywhere in between 1.5 – 2 L per annum

Application Process: Sending in Resumes to tejas.lbfartworks@gmail.com along with a sample script in English (MUST) and Hindi (OPTIONAL).

Selection Process: Scrutinising Resumes. Selected Candidates would be called in for a Personal Interview.

Introduction
My Name is: Suhrid Pawar
BMM College: SIES College, Sion
BMM Specialisation: Advertising (Batch of 2007)
Currently Working at: Senior Copywriter at Saatchi & Saatchi Focus

Suhrid’s Take
Does being a BMMite give you an edge over others?
Yes it does. Only if you are absolutely clear about what you want to do in life. Just a BMM qualification will not make you a media mogul overnight. The degree definitely gives you an edge as it exposes the workings of media in conjunction with society and consumers. The course opens up your mind to questioning, re-imagining, and demystifying the entire media industry and finding your own space in between all the chaos.

Do the subjects in BMM help you know the reality of the job? Is there any place for theory in the creative world?
The subjects give you an overall idea about how the industry runs. Realities have to be experienced on your own by doing internships, interacting with people from the industry, reading blogs and scouring media sites for trends and predictions. Theory is no doubt important. It makes one’s base firmer and allows one to be well-informed and open to change.

BMM or BMM from a particular college? Does it make a difference?
Makes a difference based upon the faculty. This is the biggest problem with the course as of now. The course is such that it needs people from the industry to come and share knowledge, which is difficult given the timings and commitments of professionals. Also, the right mindset towards running the course helps a lot. Almost every college in the city has BMM but not all of them are equipped with the right faculty or facilities, which is a shame.

Internships during colleges – are they relevant in the long run?
Yes they are. An internship gives you the chance to interact with professionals, get a taste of the life in media and also helps you to build contacts.

Career Queries
Work Experience or Higher Studies? What’s your pick? Why?
I would suggest a couple of years of work experience and then going for higher studies. If you want to go in for design or any specific line of the media, then a Masters helps. Otherwise, work is the best university.

How did you start your career?
I was part of a freelance ad agency started with my colleagues in BMM. We worked really hard during the second and third year, but had to discontinue as most of us left for further studies, including me. I wanted to pursue a Masters for which I went to British Council, met consultants and finally decided to do an MA in Communication Design from Kingston University.

Were you clear about which field you wanted to get into right from the beginning?
I was clear I wanted to get into advertising, Copywriting more specifically as I had done a Diploma in Applied Arts before the BMM course. This gave me clarity about my professional aspirations.

Any particular incident that helped you decide on your career option?
My decision to join the Diploma came after a disastrous HSC result. I failed in Maths and subsequently took an aptitude test, the results of which stated that I wasted two years in Science, and anything related to Arts would be really good for me. That was the turning point in my life

Tips for BMMBoxers:

• Don’t fall into the trap of drugs, smoking and drinking and believing that all that is required for getting great ideas
• Look everywhere around you for inspiration
• Don’t expect the college to do things for you
• Ask questions about everything. Debate. Read anything and everything
• Stay on top of trends in the industry and get a good grip on English