Dentsu Aegis Network launches CLab

The agency intends to bring in a differentiated approach into the field of celebrity endorsements.

Dentsu Aegis Network, a media and advertising conglomerate, has now expanded its footprint into celebrity endorsement and sports marketing with the launch of CLab. With the launch of this new agency, the network intends to bring in a differentiated approach into the field of celebrity endorsements that is intelligent and is supported through substantiated understanding of the industry.

According to the press release shared by the agency, CLab will deliver solutions that range from brand endorsements, brand integrations, property and content creation to digital associations and sports marketing offerings, including in-stadia branding, image rights, associations, activations, live events and appearances.

Commenting on the launch, Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network - South Asia, says, "Today several of our clients invest huge amounts of money to establish their brand image with the help of celebrity endorsers. This is often done on gut feel. We hope to bring a data based, scientific approach in this area. Many of these celebrities are sportsmen and sportswomen and that gives us a great opportunity to offer both celebrity management and sports marketing under CLab."

Haresh Nayak, managing director - Posterscope Group, under whose executive mentorship the new agency has been set up, adds, "Our vison with CLab is to bring accountability and informed decision making in a discipline which functions on perception, probability and gut feeling of advertisers in getting celebrities/sports personalities to associate with their brands... All the requirements of the Dentsu Aegis Network clients pertaining to celebrity endorsements and sports marketing will be directed to CLab for servicing and a team of experts is now in place to deliver this."

CLab aims to introduce actionable insights with informed decision making into the process of celebrity endorsement. Therefore, to address the existing gaps and evolving nuances of the industry, the unit has developed, The Star Matrix, a unique celebrity insights tool. The tool enables both qualitative and quantitative learning of the celebrity's social sphere, giving a deeper and more refined understanding of their multifarious influence vis-à-vis their social interactions.

Deepak Kumar, vice president - CLab, says, "It's exciting times for the group, which believes in constant innovation and service diversification into sectors that add value to media industry holistically and this has always been a part of our growth strategy... We took timely cognizance of the lacunae that existed and focused our approach into forming India's first data driven celebrity endorsement agency."