Starcom MediaVest Group to launch Project Jumpstart

Starcom MediaVest Group South Asia has announced that its launching a new initiative titled Project Jumpstart, under which it will support start-ups and ambitious small companies in the marketing and communication business.
Mumbai headquartered out-of-home media network Milestone Brandcom is going to be the first company to be covered under this alliance initiative.

Milestone Brandcom was recently created by a group of professionals from the out of home industry, led by former president of Ogilvy Action, Nabendu Bhattacharya.

Commenting on the initiative, Starcom MediaVest Group South Asia CEO Ravi Kiran, (pictured) said, “Ideally, we want all the best talent in the market to work for us and our clients. In practice though, many young and ambitious people in this part of the world want to be entrepreneurs today, rather than formal employees.  Project Jumpstart is our humble attempt to create a mutually beneficial relationship, which helps us leverage the energy, drive and creativity of start ups and small companies and helps them benefit from the management, intellectual and operational depth of our organisation.” 

He added, “After an uncharacteristically lacklustre year, the out-of-home industry in India is on the verge of a major rebound and we believe this is the best time to take new steps and forge new alliances. We like the vision of Milestone, and the passion demonstrated by Nabendu and his team. Their collective experience and strong media owner relationships sets them up for success and we are happy to lend them our support as they get started.” 

Starcom MediaVest Group and Milestone Brandcom have signed an MOU recently. Milestone Brandcom CEO Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “The fundamental texture of the out-of-home business in India is changing and it is our belief that active collaboration between like minded companies, rather than outdated models based purely on dominance and control, will start creating value for clients from now. Genuine innovation, application of market leading technologies and real world planning capabilities, will create differentiation for OOH agency networks in the future.”

A company statement says the collaboration is “aimed at bringing greater transparency and accountability to OOH and Ambient Marketing as a discipline and enhancing return on client investment and objectives.” These include customisation and application of international tools and best practices, development of India specific planning and measurement frameworks, import and application of new OOH display and production technologies, development and licensing of IP based ideas and structured assets, and technology enabled near-real time monitoring & tracking systems and management dashboards. 

Navia Asia, which manages the out-of-home needs of clients of all VivaKi media brands in India as well as its AOR clients, will continue to operate independent of this arrangement.