MxMIndia

Author: Dr Bhaskar Das

  • We thought we could provoke our Wizard to taken on the gods of marketing. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 19 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

    Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das | Many large and respected FMCG companies have been found to be deceiving customer with incorrect labelling? Your view?

    Bhaskar Das PhotographIf 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. Many large and respected FMCG companies have been found to be deceiving customer with incorrect labelling? Your view?

    A. I feel it’s more about inappropriate claims of such brands in their over-zealous attitude to differentiate with competitive brands and position the respective brands in the mind of the consumer. This ultimately results in consumers getting deceived in believing the claims as ‘true’. In the name of creativity, such claims are touted as creative freedom where the interests of the consumer are sacrificed at the altar of increasing sales. In the age of instant gratification, brand-building is more about speed-dating, as some creative guru has opined, and in the responsibility for brand-building, including positioning claims, ethical caution must not be thrown to the winds.

    The regulatory bodies need to proactively intervene to ensure that end-consumers don’t get shortchanged in the corporate hurry to win at any cost.

  • Yet another attempt to to provoke our Wizard of Words to give an aggressive answer. Have we succeeded? Decide for yourself… here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 25 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

    Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das | Do you view the hiring of non-journalists like influencers & celeb as content creators a dilution of integrity?

    Bhaskar Das PhotographIf 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. How do you view the increasing trend of media organisations hiring non-journalists—like influencers and celebrities—as content creators? Is this broadening the scope of journalism, or diluting its integrity?

    A. I don’t have appropriate database to support your conclusion about news organisations re recruiting influencers/ celebrities. There might be some staccato examples of such an induction for saliency but hardcore news/ feature content has to be generated on a sustained basis which is beyond any gimmicky steps.

    I can imagine that any reasonably good/ renowned news media organisation, worth its ilk, would certainly leverage AI/ other tech software across its newsroom in different ways: For example: the complete automation of some news content, such as blogs on stocks and commodities (depending on the focus of the new organisation) as well as on weather and pollution levels.

    Automation augments editorial capabilities for such edit tasks that helps quick translation, transcription, large document analysis etc.

    Besides,  content prioritisation processes can track what is trending on Google/ other social media and run an algorithm that looks at how much traction a news brand can get from different keywords that are trending. The outcome could guide editors on which stories are gaining traction with their relevant audience. The editors can also evaluate the impact of their stories vis-a-vis competition and the speed of breaking stories. All these are possible because of advancements of technology.

    Technology, especially AI, can offer analysis to help newsrooms have an edge over competitors. One needn’t then over-rely on any gimmicky staff.