Author: Dr Bhaskar Das

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: Apple, the phone and computer maker, has been releasing special ads for the Chinese new year for some seven years. Would you say that if it wants to be recognised as an Indian brand, it must also be producing big budget ads for the various new years observed in India?

A: A basic tenet of strategy, be it business in general or corporate communication, is that it has to be deaveraged, by market, by market and by context. Any generic application or a copycat execution is generally a sure recipe for failure. What applies to a particular market might not be relevant to the socio-cultural-economic context of another country.

Having said that, I must admit that your idea makes sense to immerse marketing communications and align with the cultural context of the country. It can improve the brand affinity. And for this one needn’t have to invest in the so-called “big budget”. It requires smart execution which is not a function of money, always. As a cult brand, I am sure Apple would make the right moves which would strengthen its current perception as apple of consumers’ eyes.

Since most of us are groping in the dark on what will finally happen, we asked our Wizard with Words to check for his views. Here’s the January 24 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: You’ve tracked both Zee and Sony India very closely since they set up in the 1990s. Now that the merger has been called off, your sentiments. And do you expect fresh alliances elsewhere for both

A: The outcome of the protracted discussion is certainly disappointing for both the parties, I presume, as it has a significant strategic advantage for both the partners.

Now what? It would be a matter of conjecture and it is too early to even comment, let alone a prediction. I can only say that markets hate vacuum and concentration of power. So I won’t be surprised if some white knights or dark horses appear and market would achieve equilibrium after initial turmoil.

Hmmm. We love watching the parade, even if it’s a cold January morning. We asked our Wizard with Words to check on how the parade can be promoted to better viewership. Here’s the January 25 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: Every Republic Day, there’s a magnificent parade happening in Delhi and the state capitals. But viewership levels are very low since it’s a holiday. How do you think should these be promoted to attract more consumption?

A: Generally total viewership is never evaluated on the basis of performance of one programme on a particular day. GRPs or relative market share or TSPVs are the usual metrices for selection of a TV media vehicle. Hence, working on increasing viewership of a national holiday programme is a zero-sum game (specially for a news channel).

You should also be considerate for Aam Janta to indulge in escapism (read revenge tourism) from the daily din and bustle of their working life. Now they can’t feel guilty about the declining viewership of a programme.

We couldn’t have not asked this question to our Wizard with Words. Here’s the January 22 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: From a purely marketing academic standpoint, how do you view the crescendo around the Ram Temple consecration scheduled for today?

A: If the collective spiritual and emotional state of the nation is organically participating in this event, why should we view it through a default prism of an intellectual elite (assuming we all are). From a marketing point of view, I discern it as an opportunity for ‘Moment Marketing’. I can’t pinpoint how the occasion would be leveraged though pure play classical advertising, but I am pretty sure about the ancillary benefits in terms tourist attraction and its concurrent impact on brand consumption, hospitality and real estate offerings. I strongly feel that the trickle-down effect of this crescendo would result in an economic resurgence of Ayodhya.

Yet another attempt to get our Wizard with Words to give us a provocative answer. It’s not exactly what we wanted him to respond, but, you could, like us, read a little between the lines. Or perhaps not. Here’s the January 18 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: The Effies awards are scheduled to happen tomorrow. Do you see this edition possibly the last starring the big agencies given that loads of effective works are being done by newbie agencies?

A: This trend has been happening, albeit at a slower pace, for the last few years. I don’t agree with your forecast that big network agencies would not enjoy the same position as it was in the past. It’s a fact that a lot of newbie agencies are participating in Effies, but big network agencies are also acquiring new capabilities to service their clients evolving needs. So the size of their network would work in their favour. As I have always maintained in this column that it’s the quality of work that determines the winner. Mere size won’t ipso facto guarantee success. Effies awards are a great reflection of that quality work.

Yet another attempt to get our Wizard with Words to give us a provocative answer. Here’s the January 19 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: If a marketer were to seek your advice on who s/he should retain for digitally-led advertising what would your advice be? A part of a large global network which can offer scale and global exposure or a young, hungry upstart that’ll be cheaper and produce more effective work?

A: It is not about digital advertising. It’s about marketing/ advertising in a digital world. Secondly, depending on the business/ marketing priorities of the client, a partner is selected. Big or small agencies, as mentioned by you, have their respective capabilities. So one can’t say what is a perfect choice for partner selection. That’s when the budget for the communication/ marketing task play a key role in deciding on which option to go for.

We are back to our old tricks of provoking our Wizard with Words to give us a juicy answer. But that’s the last thing we can expect to do… provoke him, we mean. Let’s read his reply to our question for the January 17 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: Jio changed the rules of the game last year by offering IPL cricket viewership at no cost. Disney Hotstar also followed suit with the World Cup. Now do you see them incentivising viewers to watch? Am sure there can be a tech-led solution where an audio watermark is offered and viewers need to log that? What say?

A: I have a general conviction that technology or organisations don’t disrupt markets. Markets get disrupted by the consumers. Organisations can send prompts in the form of offerings to attract customers but they have to be predicated on values (from consumers’ prism) and high quality of services.

An organisation might not always be correct in the planned efficacy of an initiative (that’s normal) but dynamic companies have prompt course-correction Plan B, Plan C etc.

In this case, your speculation may be tested technically and I can’t comment on that, but in a buyer’s market , marketing enticements are normal. And in the jungle of competitive offerings , only the fittest (conceptually and execution superiority including speed) would survive. As per Jio’s track record, I see taletale signs of strategic aggression and an indomitable spirit to win in the marketplace.

We know our Wizard with Words is a very keen follower of the game, so we asked him this question for the January 15 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: Sony-Zee, Disney+Star-Jio/Viacom… From the audience/consumer point of view, what’s better: the more the merrier or creation of giants via consolidation?

A: It’s common human frailty to get deterministic answer akin to taking a polarised position on an issue.

In a perfect competition, it’s good for the consumer as they can make informed choices from amongst a variety of options. If perfect competition slowly moves towards an oligopolistic or monopolistic situation, the same choice options would be curtailed. That’s how market behaves and one can’t blame organisations for the same. If an organisation could get strong consumer loyalty through quality products and services, it’s not their fault. Anyway, there are enough regulatory frameworks against restrictive practices.

Market is the best arbiter. The fittest would always survive.

After you read this A&A, assume, hypothetically of course, the name of media baron sitting next to our Wizard with Words. And then re-read the answer. And smile. Without any further comment, here’s the January 12 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: If you were on a two-hour flight with a well-known media baron next to you, what advice you would like to offer her/him?

A: Assuming that wishes were horses, let me try to answer your question in the same elevated spirit.

First, I shall feel hugely privileged to get an exclusive audience with such a persona as her/his wisdom can expand the vistas of my learning. After all, the illustrious Entrepreneur would have built/ expanded a media empire. So once my Learning gets over, I would like to explore the media baron’s readiness for the future world of media which is in a constant state of flux due to technology, consumer behaviour and inter-category reconfiguration of monetisation opportunities.

Post that, I shall say sayonara while leaving the aircraft and get down from my horse and call for a Uber to go back home.

We know our Wizard with Words is a very keen follower of the game, so we asked him this question for the January 15 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: Purely as a longstanding observer on leaders and leadership, is it a good idea to have so many in captaincy of a cricket team like we’ve been seeing in India?

A: I believe in general that leadership is about delivering an outcome, and inspiring a team to believe in shared values and shared destination.

Given these basic tenets of leadership, let’s look at the character required for each format of the game. While T20 is about innovatively breaking all rules of the game with courage and gumption, T50 needs a mix of aggression and caution (at an estimated ratio of 65:35). And in the case of Test matches, temperament, patience and knowledge of the techniques of the game are very critical.

These are true for both the leadership and the team members. A superior skill in one format might not be  possible to transfer to another format.

The challenge is to nurture three different sets of team who have to mingle and spend time together to develop camaraderie among themselves and the leader to earn the confidence of the team and decide on the composition of the team, depending on the various situational imperatives (apart from usual alleged politics and nepotism which is an organisational ‘given’).

It’s the same as any business- legacy or startup temperament, or sector-wise challenges, or imponderables of consumer behaviour etc. Cricket or sports in general have their respective business models. But the skill, character , culture and strategy make all the difference between success and failure—and that’s equivalent to delivery of an outcome.

Net-net , I am in favour of changes in the captainship and team composition on the basis of my logic.

The idea was to provoke him to give a juicy answer, but given that we have he’s one of the few academically inclined industrypersons, we were bound to get an answer like what he has given. Here’s the January 11 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: As we enter an election year, who does one trust for news that is authentic and one that all of us can trust?

A: I align with your concern. In the age of post-truth and deep fake, it is well nigh impossible to decode what is truth and what is false. In an environment of ubiquitous presence of social media, everyone can be a content creator and there is no accountability for fact-checking. Everyone loves to share, including forwarding and re-forwarding, which has been engendering different levels of socio-political and cultural tension.

With the ensuing general election, these trend would only get more intense—perhaps it’s a curse of digital world.  As they say, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. So citizens need to act responsibly and verify facts from reliable/ multiple sources before participating in spreading/ sharing information whose veracity could be in doubt. We have no choice but to live with this new social reality. But one need not be a victim of this as gullible citizens.