DSPORT, a premium sports TV channel launched by Discovery Communications India, will broadcast the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2018.

DSPORT will air LIVE & Exclusive all the 34 matches of the third edition of the premier T20 competition in Pakistan. Scheduled to begin on February 23, 2018, PSL will see participation from 6 teams including debutant Multan Sultans.

The third edition of the HBL PSL is expected to get bigger and better with the addition of 10 extra games (24 games last season), one new team (Multan Sultans) and participation from some very prominent names in international T20 cricket. Among them are likes of the South African born English maverick Kevin Pietersen, Kiwi master blaster Brendon McCullum, Caribbean T20 stars Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara. Among local cricketers participating will be Pakistan cricket’s biggest superstar Shahid Afridi and former captain Misbah Ul Haq apart from present captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and all current national players including the likes of Mohammad Amir, new batting sensation Babar Azam and veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik.

Besides, the Pakistani superstars are joined by top-tier international players such as Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Chris Lynn (Australia), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), JP Duminy (South Africa) and Rashid Khan (Afghanistan). The player roster also includes Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand), Luke Ronchi (New Zealand), Colin Munro (New Zealand), Jason Holder (West Indies), Darren Bravo(West Indies), Evin Lewis (West Indies), Lendl Simmons (West Indies), James Vince (England), Tim Bresnan (England), Adil Rashid(England), John Hastings (Australia), Wayne Parnell (South Africa), Albie Morkel (South Africa), Imran Tahir (South Africa), Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka).

In a bid to form the initial teams, the five teams from the previous two seasons were allowed to retain two players each from the Platinum, Diamond and Gold category, and three from the Silver category. Multan Sultans were allowed to pick nine players from the five categories in the pre – draft which meant they only had the right to those players which the first five teams didn’t retain in their squad.

The player pool for the HBL PSL Player Draft 2017 will now consist of new signings along with players who were released during the retention window and went unpicked in the expansion draft.

Global Winners will be announced on November 16th at ceremonies in New York City and Sydney

The Global Awards℠ has announced the 2017 Finalists.

For the past 23 years, the international Global Awards has honored the World’s Best Healthcare & Wellness Advertising℠ and has served as a touchstone for celebrating creative achievement in healthcare and wellness communications beyond the barriers of language and culture.

The Global Awards Grand Jury shortlisted 154 entries this year submitted from 22 countries worldwide. Entries achieving shortlist status will be judged by the 2017 Pharma (Rx) and Health & Wellness Executive Juries in a live session in New York City to determine trophy winners. The 2017 award-winning entries will be announced at the Global Awards ceremonies on November 16th in New York City and Sydney, Australia.

This year’s Finalists employed a wide variety of tactics to engage and educate consumers including ambient advertising, humor, social media, event marketing, experiential engagement, and technology.

Entries utilizing ambient advertising achieved Finalist status. The Classic Partnership Advertising’s (UAE) “Footnote for The Breast” for Medcare Women & Children Hospital wanted to raise awareness on the importance of health check, especially amongst local and Arab women. The campaign tackled the issue of taboo: while some health conditions may be taboo to talk about, there shouldn’t be any taboo for checking. Pebbles were placed in the shoes of women who went to mosques or prayer halls, and when they returned and put on their shoes, the “lump’s” message urged women to respond by calling Medcare’s Toll-Free number to schedule their free-of-cost consultation.

Additional uses of ambient advertising include: FCB Health USA “Gay Blood Dumpster” for Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) - the agency constructed a large art installation in Chelsea for PRIDE, New York that featured two dumpsters packed with "Gay Blood" to signify how discrimination dehumanizes a community while simultaneously wasting 617,000 pints of potential donor blood every year! The Bloc USA “Hearing Voices of Support Interactive Art Installation” for Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America, created an immersive interactive art installation for Schizophrenia Awareness Week that featured sensor plates throughout the gallery activating light beams and triggering sound and a video projection of a person speaking, reminiscent of auditory hallucinations but with a twist--the voices were positive. Gallery visitors heard positive stories told by affected people talking about what helps them. People surveyed who experienced the event showed a shift in perception and increased empathy, with more than 80% wanting to do more to help people affected by a schizophrenia-related illness.

Humor drove multiple entries to the trophy round: McCann Health Australia “Poo Romance” for client Metamucil utilized an ironic love story between a giant walking brand icon - a Metamucil jar, and a walking poo to engage pharmacists and consumers. The creative brought to life health messages and raised talkability about a sensitive subject. Ogilvy CommonHealth Australia “The Stool Expert” for client Coloxyl tackled the embarrassment of constipation by introducing Stefan, a stool expert who captures that elusive spot between humor and respect, educating the consumer on the using correct terminology 'stools' without embarrassment and with expertise. Results include 400 earned media placements yielding 350MM+ impressions.

Weber Shandwick’s “The Debate Headache” for client Excedrin conducted a social takeover on twitter. During the 2016 US Presidential Election custom head pain relief kits were delivered to top journalists with a tease that a big headache was coming. The morning of the debate, social takeover began on Twitter via a Promoted Trend with the message: “The possibility of a #DebateHeadache is high, Be prepared with Excedrin.” Within hours of the first tweet, media coverage appeared in consumer/lifestyle, business and marketing publications, national/local broadcast—results include 400 earned media placements yielding 350MM+ impressions, 180,000+ engagements across social platforms and more.

The United States took the lead in this year’s Global Awards competition with 78 entries achieving Finalist status. Australia saw 20 entries moving on to the trophy round, followed by the United Kingdom with 19. India moved forward with 7 entries and German agencies saw 6 entries advance. Japan advanced with 5, the United Arab Emirates and China each saw 4 entries move forward. Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Italy each saw 2 entries advance and Brazil, France, Jordan, Spain, and Sri Lanka moved forward with a single-entry.

The Global Awards Grand Jury, evaluated entries to determine the 2017 Finalists. International Grand Jury live judging sessions were hosted by the following agencies: Insight Australia, Loooped London, and TBWA\WorldHealth Chicago.

The Executive Jury, headed by Global Awards Co-Chairpersons Robin Shapiro (Pharma Rx Jury Chairman), Global President, North America of TBWA\WorldHealth and Elizabeth Elfenbein (Health & Wellness Jury Chairman), Partner/Chief Creative Officer, of The Bloc USA , will meet in New York City to determine the 2017 Global Award winners.

This year, News18 India will celebrate Diwali on the borders with our soldiers who will be safeguarding our nation instead of celebrating it with their near and dear ones. Diwali Sarhard Wali will see the channel’s teams travel from Indo-China border in Tawang in the East to the Indo-Pak border in Jaisalmer in the West to Poonch in the North, lighting up the festive time for our army men.

Apart from this Initiative, News18 India is all set to bring a host of other programming initiatives to celebrate the festival of lights with its viewers - a special show ‘Shri Ram Yatra’ which will trace Lord Rama’s journey from Ayodhya to Sri Lanka, exploring places as described in the seven kands of Ramayana to special episodes of its popular shows Lapete Mein Netaji and Bhabhi Tera Dewar Deewana. While the former will host the star cast of Golmaal Again, the latter will feature celebrities from the small screen sharing stories of their way of Diwali celebrations.

Adding to the wide range of Diwali specials, the channel will also telecast two special shows. Dhan Jyoti Parv - On the importance of the five-day long festival including Diwali and Dhanteras; Ghar Aayegi Laxmi A special that will give tips on vastu, home decoration and rangoli-making by experts on the occasion of Diwali.

Tune into News18 India on 19th October for Diwali Specials

I’m going to stick my neck out. Brand owners and strategists can turn complexity into advantage by putting consumer journey or, probably more accurately, consumer experience planning at the very heart of their model.

This represents a new model for making brands coherent. A key measure of change in our industry has been the pivot from ‘the big idea’ to the consumer journey. Ideas big and small remain of paramount importance, but the nature of strategic planning has undergone a tectonic shift. This became really clear to me while working on a recent multi-agency project focused on demonstrating ‘transformation’ to a client.

In the recent past, this project would have been led by account planners from the creative teams. On this occasion, it was led by media planners, powered by a synthesis of data sources and delivering an experience brief for content, media and technology. The project was a hit with clients and all the agency teams as well. A new way of working was born.

1.Consumer journey thinking makes for happier and more united cross-agency teams. This works best if the creative teams are involved in the exercise and receive a brief that puts their work in the journey context. No more reductive creative briefs designed for a TV ad with everything else to follow. Write a new brief that connects a series of experiences.

2.Agreeing on a shared consumer journey model that genuinely covers the totality of experience from consumer to customer, short and long term, makes a massive difference. Also, recognise the difference between a campaign journey, series of events over a short horizon and a strategic view of a brand’s journey health over time.

3.Prepare effectively by data storming with client-side stakeholders and agency partners. Leave no stone unturned, as often a thorough inventory of existing data means that new research initiatives can be avoided and the project speeded up.

Source:Written by Sean Healy at ZenithMedia

One morning recently, an impromptu discussion broke out in the office about what makes for great advertising. We discussed a few of our favorite recent ads and, as one can imagine, the range of suggestions about which was best was broad. Short form and long form. Funny and sentimental. Product-driven and brand-focused. Rational and emotional. While they ranged in length and objective, one thing was clear: They were “must-watch” ads—not filler in between program breaks, but great creative that we want to talk about, share and watch—over and over again.

I was reminded of the importance of great creative as I reviewed the results of a new, joint research project by Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS) and Nielsen. The results reinforced an old saw of advertising: creative is king! Creative is the thing that drives what we engage with, share, talk about, debate, remember and buy. Creative has great power, regardless of where, when and how it runs. Heck, Apple’s 1984 ad to introduce the Macintosh computer remains one of the most talked about of all time—and it ran a single time on national TV.

The study sought to quantify the sales contribution of five key drivers contributing to advertising’s effectiveness: creative, reach, targeting, recency and context. The study findings show how the relative balance between these drivers has changed over time and how it works across TV and digital channels. The most interesting aspect for me was that the results demonstrated that creative quality contributes as much to a brand’s in-market success as all other factors combined. Further, the study found that when creative is strong, it’s the overwhelming driver of in-market success: up to 80% for traditional TV and 89% for digital advertising. Conversely, when creative is weak, the sales lift is weak across TV and digital, and other media factors are the main drivers.

Great creative, in short, remains the single most important factor in the success of any ad campaign, across both traditional TV and digital platforms. New tools and techniques can enhance, extend and better target reach, and new formats and destinations seem to arise every day to help advertisers find their consumers. But they simply can’t match the power that great creative delivers when it comes to driving truly successful ad campaigns.

This, of course, raises several questions: What is great creative? How do marketers know if their creative is “great?” And how do they achieve great success with it?

In the past, marketers have relied on qualitative and/or quantitative self-report copy testing to evaluate creative. Essentially, they made decisions based on biased consumer responses often aided by their professional eyes and instincts. Essentially, they went with what they thought would work. While this may have kept very poor advertising off the air, it left some potentially great work on the drawing board. And if they had a piece of creative they needed to cut down/compress, they might have relied on personal judgment.

This is where consumer neuroscience increasingly plays an important role for marketers. That’s because the current suite of tools combining EEG, eye tracking, facial coding and biometrics, along with self-report surveys, offer a unique opportunity. Not only can these tools measure and evaluate on a macro level (i.e., what works and what doesn’t), they go even deeper, providing moment-by-moment insight that can pinpoint where a spot(s) needs to be adjusted. The results enable a collaborative approach between marketers, creative agencies and researchers to help go from early stage to primetime success—avoiding the cutting-room floor that has claimed too many could-have-been-great ads. This is because consumer neuroscience measures what traditional research methods cannot. Methods like surveys can only tap into our conscious responses, which we know are often heavily biased and are only one, arguably smaller, component of how we consume media. Studies have shown that the majority of our decision-making happens non-consciously, so much of what drives everyday decisions—including what we’ll purchase, watch and talk about—requires tools that can measure these responses.

Several years ago, we developed a model designed to understand the explosion in content platforms and the types of creative that can be optimized for each. Our Brand Immersion Model became a framework for defining the relationship between the immersive platform of TV and digital’s flexible platforms. Our research found that TV, through its unmatched ability to create new, unconscious emotional connections, has the power to form need states—which make consumers receptive to brand messages—where none existed before. Flexible environments play a key role in reinforcing need states. So the two work together in powerful, synergistic ways.

It’s important to understand this relationship in order to develop creative that will be great on each platform. The Brand Immersion Model breaks down the two primary ways to engage with content:

Highly Immersive Platforms: Viewers are more apt to be passive participants, observing content that substitutes the viewers’ emotional state with the emotional lives of the onscreen characters. If those characters need a product, the viewer feels that same need. Examples include television, virtual reality, theaters and home theaters, IMAX and events like the Olympics. Immersive content enables us to experience others and generate need states that previously did not exist.

Highly Flexible Platforms: Viewers are more apt to be active participants, constantly searching for something that engages them. This content requires the need to already become established. The content or advertising then supports this need. Examples include smartphones and tablets with email, social media and the websites that provide a never-ending search for more. Flexible content enables us to develop our own experience and satisfy need states that already exist.

Television is highly effective as an advertising platform because it is the primary medium that can create a need state, either through experiencing the needs of the onscreen characters during the primary content or through the high emotional involvement with on-screen characters during the advertising itself.

With flexible experiences, individuals seek out an experience more customized to their interests. For the most successful executions, this can result in higher engagement with content than on an immersive platform because it’s tailored to what the consumer is seeking. The reason for this heightened engagement is that the content is user-generated—people seek to broaden their conversations with each other and trusted sources like influencers instead of with the stories of new characters in an advertisement. Unless the ad is for a product the consumer already knows that he or she wants at that moment and it takes up enough of the screen to get noticed without turning the viewer “off,” it cannot generate the same level of connection.

So how do you ensure that your creative and different platforms go hand-in-hand for the most optimal engagement? How can we move from must-skip to must-watch? And how do we turn turn-out into tune-in? It’s simple: tap into the full spectrum of consumers’ responses— both conscious and non-conscious—to uncover areas of emotional impact, visual hot spots, blind spots and inform the strongest possible creative development.

Written by Carl Marci, Chief Neuroscientist,Nielsen