MxMIndia

Author: mxm_india

  • It must come with a great deal of bewilderment for many to discover that a superhuman has the heart of a human within. This should not be a matter of discouragement but of elation.

    Newswatch: Irom Sharmila and the loneliness of the long-distance runner

    By Pradip Phanjoubam

     

    Irom Sharmila is in love with somebody who has been communicating and sharing soul anguish with her in her confinement through letters. A report in The Telegraph, Kolkata declared this loudly. Nothing very strange about this, after all Sharmila is only 39 years of age and has been living alone in a prison cell after having vowed to sacrifice eating to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for nearly 11 years. Her fast completed 11 years on November 2 which is the day her family says her fast began, or November 5 when the newspapers first took notice of her fast and put it on record in the next day’s edition.

     

    The terrible privation she has inflicted upon herself and how she has been coping with it is next only to superhuman, and it is a wonder that her spirit did not break down long ago. Ordinary men and women would have probably lost their sanity by now. She is still very much alive today, carrying on the fight she took upon herself to shoulder. It must come with a great deal of bewilderment for many to discover that a superhuman has the heart of a human within. This should not be a matter of discouragement but of elation. After all, what we want to see demonstrated is an ordinary human pushing the boundaries of achievement and not a god doing what are humanly impossible.

     

    We would in this sense give three cheers to Sharmila for the revelation and not downgrade her stature in any way, although we do feel as a public figure she should have been a little wary and discreet about going public with her very private life. It is also unfortunate that she had not indicated this to the local media, making it seem as if the local media has been party to keeping her feelings under wraps. Or is it a case of efforts by interested parties to do just this? This should become known sooner than later.

     

    But no great damage done, the truth is out, so be it, and hopefully for the better towards the actualisation of the noble cause she is fighting for. Her direct supporters, and all the rest of us, must come to terms with the new and more human image of the lonely tough-willed fighter, and carry the movement forward with renewed vigour. After all the movement is what is important, and with or without an iconic figure like Sharmila as standard bearer, it should carry on without any sense of loss or that the wind in the sails has diminished. She has done enough to highlight the issue, more than anyone behind the cause can imagine every doing. We should not be on the lookout for a martyr in her. Instead we should be encouraging her to end her self-inflicted privation and carry on the struggle without having to go through all the torture of unending hunger. The issue is the draconian AFSPA and not Irom Sharmila, however great she is.

     

    We cannot however help wondering if Sharmila is not under psychological stress more than ever in the past few months. It is learnt that meeting her even by her own family members is no longer as easy as it used to be, permission now having to be acquired from the chief secretary of the state himself. All of us who have visited the iron lady in the past know her confinement was not so strictly guarded. For whatever the reason, her privation was being deepened and surely her loneliness too in equal measures, after all she is a human too. Imagine 11 years in a prison cell all alone, not even in contact with other prisoners as she is in a special jail ward in the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital Porompat so as to enable medical care and nose feeding.

     

    Not only this, going without food is not just about tolerating hunger. In fact, in her case, hunger may not be much of an issue for she is fed through the nose and kept alive. But her self-denial is more about foregoing taste and smell of food, some of the most gratifying of all human senses. Any lesser person would have lost sanity under the circumstance. Is this additional stress having a toll on her? We hope not.

     

    In any case, the campaign against the oppressive AFSPA has been allowed to hinge on Sharmila alone for too long. This was not good for her as she is finding out now, or for the movement, for it deprived individuality of individual campaigners, most of them having simply to rally behind Sharmila, abdicating in the process the need to take individual stances in the manner Erich Fromm described the emergence of dictatorships in “Escape from Freedom”.

     

    The episode is sad in another way though. The paradoxical thing is, to be a public leader entails a great deal of sacrifice of private life. Sharmila as a selfless crusader against the embodiment of an oppressive law automatically came to be lifted on an exalted public pedestal. Sharmila as a shy private woman can lead a happy individual life but will disappear from the public domain. This is the difference between an inspirational leader and a common citizen. The freedom to aspire for either should remain with the individual. Let Sharmila decide her own future without any guilt. She has contributed enough already. Manipur and its resistance against the AFSPA must however continue undeterred even if she decides to retire to a peaceful normal life.

     

    Leaders and Followers

    But there are more to what this recent development has proven. The fact that a personal decision of Irom Sharmila is now seen somewhat as a threat to the campaign against the AFSPA in Manipur is a demonstration of the strategic and structural flimsiness of any protracted struggle to resort to hero worship. It has to be said that Sharmila’s direct followers are guilty of having done this to a great extent. Even if it is not hero worship, they had built their campaign with her as the major, if not the only prop.

     

    The approach should instead have been to see Sharmila as a star campaigner, but not the heart and soul of the campaign, but unfortunately, for whatever their reason, this route was not given much importance. And so a single report of Sharmila’s love affair with a hitherto unheard of man, and her reported statement that she is disillusioned with her followers, caused so much trepidation and even the fear that the campaign against the AFSPA would lose much of its steam.

     

    We hope this does not happen and the movement is able to find new legs that could do with but did not absolutely need Sharmila as a prop if she at all becomes unavailable. Indeed, the myriad human rights organisations actively involved in the campaign must now take time off to rethink, retrospect and reorient their future strategies. Meanwhile leave Sharmila to be where she wants to be.

     

    But increasingly confounding is also the reason why The Telegraph chose to give so much prominence to Sharmila’s declaration of her very personal affair. This is even more intriguing for in all of the 11 long years she has been staging her protest fast, even on the day she completed the 10 year landmark, she was not seen as deserving headline space by this newspaper. Many other newspapers and television channels even ignored the event. So why this sudden interest in her personal affairs, even though it is clear she was the one who revealed it to the journalist who did the report.

     

    The timing, whether by design or coincidence is also curious for only a few days earlier the Union home minister, P Chidambaram had announced in New Delhi that the government was considering a review of the AFSPA. Moreover a reflected halo from the Anna Hazare blitzkrieg in New Delhi was beginning to hover over Sharmila, signifying perhaps liberal India’s conscience was being awoken, and the issue of AFSPA was beginning to attract national attention. It was in the midst of this that the story of Sharmila’s love affair butted in rudely.

     

    The story was heart-warming no doubt despite the hiccups caused by a passage suggesting Sharmila was having very serious differences with her supporters, still the question of its timing as well as the prominence given to it, would undoubtedly make many suspicious that it may have motives other than plain journalistic calibration of news value. Thankfully however, it does now seem the sensational revelation is unlikely to sidetrack the anti-AFSPA campaign.

     

    The development also should bring back the old debate of whether leaders make situations or the situations make leaders. The Sharmila case should again highlight the need to find the right balance between two. Leaders with vision give any movement the right focus and charisma, but it is also equally true that it is the peculiarities of a given situation which throws up a leader. For instance it is unlikely Gandhi could have happened in the 18th Century or Abraham Lincoln in the 20th Century.

     

    This notwithstanding, it would be wrong to also dismiss human agency in shaping event and indeed history. If everything were to be predetermined by circumstance and leaders too were forged only by the impersonal forces of history, as Isaiah Berlin noted in “Crooked Timber of Humanity” a difficult ethical situation would arise whereby it would become impossible to hold anybody accountable for history’s many atrocities. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and all the other mass murderers of history would then appear to be no more than quasi-tragic figures, compelled by historical circumstances to do what they did.

     

    In this context, Pol Pot who killed two million of his countrymen in the span of a decade of his rule, believed whatever he did was for the good of his country even on his deathbed as became evident in what was to be his last interview by Far Eastern Economic Review. It would thus be prudent for the human rights movement in the state to assess the situation arising out of Sharmila’s changed emotional constitution from this light.

     

    Pradip Phanjoubam is Editor, Imphal Free Press.

  • A Harvard Business School professor leads research on how and why the Taj hotels staff were willing to give up their lives when they had the option to flee in the 26/11 seige

    26/11 Mumbai attack: HR practices converted ordinary Taj employees into heroes

    By Saumya Bhattacharya

     

    In the weeks that followed 26/11 – the day on which rampaging terrorists killed some 150 people at 10 locations in South Mumbai, including 11 employees of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel – Mr Ratan Tata made visits to some of the bereaved families. The chief of the Tata group, which owns the Taj via group company Indian Hotels, met a woman who pointed to the garlanded figure of her late husband and said: “My children never realised their father was a hero.” It took Mr Tata by surprise, as he expected to encounter anger and sorrow.

     

    The above anecdote is narrated by Mr Rohit Deshpande, professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), who was interviewing Tata for a five-part video case study on crisis management at the Taj during 26/11. Mr Deshpande started to teach the course at Harvard from October 2010. His students, especially non-Indians, were transfixed by the topic and were incredulous why employees were willing to give up their lives when they had the option to flee.

     

    The student reaction prodded Mr Deshpande, along with Ms Anjali Raina, executive director at HBS India Research Centre in Mumbai to delve deeper into the HR practices of the organisation. The uncommon valour of those who worked at the Taj convinced the duo to research the human resource (HR) practices of the organisation. After all, here was an extremely rare case of employees placing the safety of guests over their own well-being; and in the process some of them sacrificed their lives.

     

    “We wondered whether the HR best practices made them do this and decided to dig deeper into the HR processes,” said Mr Deshpande, while Ms Raina added that: “It was intriguing to unpack the Taj approach to HR and speculate on the linkages between the hotel’s HR policies and practices and the customer service experience.”

     

    The research of Mr Deshpande and Ms Raina spanned more than a year. They began by asking for manuals, wondering if there was training given to these employees for an incident like this one. There was none.

     

    An intrigued Mr Deshpande started to research the HR practices of the company and found three pillars of practices that explained the courage and actions of employees: A recruitment system that hires for character and not for grades; training programmes that not just mentor employees but also empower them to take decisions; and a reward programme that recognises employees on a real-time basis.

     

    “I teach both MBA and executive programmes. In my experience, these practices have been unique,” Mr Deshpande said. Just one aspect- that of recruiting from small towns and recruiting for attitude rather than grades – was unheard of, he added.

     

    This research is interspersed with tales of employee heroism – a 20-something banquet manager helping guests escape; telephone operators staying at their posts and alerting guests to stay indoors; and staff forming a human shield to protect guests at the time of evacuation.

     

    One executive chef at the hotel told the researchers that other groups have tried to hire him, but he refused to go. Reason: There is a connection with the guests.

     

    Generations have come to the Sea Lounge for matchmaking and weddings are celebrated in the Crystal Room; and waiters have been serving people for generations, the researchers were told.

     

    “(At a time when) we are hearing so many stories of human frailty, mismanagement, moral turpitude, the Taj research is about ordinary people who became heroes. It’s about leadership from everywhere, especially leadership from below,” said Mr Deshpande.

     

    The research will be published in HBR’s December 2011 issue. The context for the students and organisations is to learn about HR practices that have been put together on unique criteria, said Mr Deshpande.

     

    The culture of employee-empowerment has been ingrained in the Taj workforce for some time now. For instance, the researchers found similar displays of gallantry at the at the Taj properties in Maldives at the time of tsunami in December 2004. “I realised that just like the character of a human being is the sum of choices made over the years, the culture of an organisation is the sum of values, policies and practices consciously fostered over the years,” said Mr Raina.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

     

  • Ranjona Banerji tracks the big news of the day including the Economic Times play on the word ‘mystery’.

    How about a little ethics from owners & managers?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The big news for Friday’s newspapers and Thursday evening’s television will undoubtedly be the assault on Union minister Sharad Pawar in Delhi and whatever happens to Sachin Tendulkar in the match against the West Indies in Mumbai.

     

    But the big news for Thursday was the announcement on Wednesday evening that Cyrus Mistry was to take over from Ratan Tata as chairman of the Tata group in December 2012. Although Mistry – son of Shapoor Pallonji of the giant construction company and a significant shareholder in Tata Sons – was on the shortlist, most of the talk had been of Ratan’s half-brother Noel, who runs Trent.

     

    So plenty of scope for journalistic speculation, projection and detailing from Mistry’s choice of music to his preferred holiday destinations most of which has been fulfilled in the newspapers. The Economic Times also wins the award for Desperate Need for A Pun with the headline ‘Mystery Ends, Mistry Begins’.

     

    Since Ratan Tata will only retire when he turns 75 in December 2012, there is enough time for our largely adulatory business media to tell us everything we never wanted to know about Mistry (or, if you prefer, No-more-a-mystery). Puns, as you can see, are endemic, chronic and largely incurable in journalism.

     

    **

     

    But the biggest issue for the media is more media-related. The edit page of The Times of India carries a long and extremely well-argued lead article by N Ravi of the Hindu group called ‘Censors at the Gates’. The ludicrously large fine on Times Now for defamation has been dissected and dismissed, the dangers of allowing government regulation of the media has been delineated and the Press Council of India and its new chairman Markandey Katju summarily castigated.

    Ravi says, “What is causing consternation among the media now is that to the expected chorus of complaints from parties in power facing media exposure of corruption have now been added the voices of the Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari and former Supreme Court judge and newly appointed chairman of the Press Council of India Markandey Katju. Self-regulation of the broadcast media has failed and there was a need for a state-sponsored body to regulate the media, both asserted at an event held ironically to mark the National Press Day…

    “The debate on the media has somehow got tangled with the discussion on putting in place an ombudsman to tackle corruption among ministers and high public officials though they are two entirely different sets of issues.”

    Ravi points out that much as the media dishes it out, should be able to take it. But he makes a distinction between being subject to the laws of the land and being subjected to unfair legal conditions or restrictions of any kind by the government.

    So far so good. No media person can argue with Ravi. The difference however between being a journalist and owner of a media house emerges at the end of the article when Ravi discusses government trying to stifle the media through its wage board. Regardless of how good a newspaper The Hindu is, let us not forget that the standards of journalism are upheld by journalists and no by owners. Most of the degradation in the media today — paid news, private treaties and other forms of institutionalised corruption – are invented and carried out by owners and managers. The wage board ensures that newspaper owners pay their journalists and other workers. It is hard to understand the moaning and carping of newspaper owners that paying wage board rates will force newspapers to close down. The Times of India, for instance, several years ago switched to the contract system for journalists when the birth of broadcast news created a shortage of journalists and an escalation of salaries. A few that stuck to the permanent employee-wage board system got paid comparative pittances. Some in fact, at the tail end of their careers, found they were earning about the same as trainees.

    It is also well-known that many language papers pay their reporters almost nothing and expect them to make a living through helping the owners through various channels of institutionalised blackmail. When I was with The Times of India in Ahmedabad in the early 2000s and Divya Bhaskar was launched, the other Gujarati papers were horrified that Bhaskar paid English-newspaper rates rather than the usual Rs 1000 a month for reporters.

    The upshot is that wage board recommendations are minimal and most large English and some language papers pay well above them. The recommendations are tailored to the size of the newspaper – they are not uniform across all of them. I do not know of any industry where employees have to be willing to work happily for peanuts while the owners rake it in. Not surprisingly, the journalists are quite happy with the wage board because it means at least they get paid something. Journalists would be even happier if owners and managers did not dictate news to suit their advertisers, gave up Medianet and stopped the practice of paid news.

    So how about a little more media ethics from owners and managers?

     

     

    eom

  • Buyers of books (and other stuff) are now browsing more than ever, and not in the bookshop meaning. Flipkart.com CEO Sachin Bansal on the e-buying phenomenon.

    The Anchor: 5 indications that India is e-commerce-ready

    #1 Internet penetration

    The sheer number of internet users has grown drastically in the past decade. In 2001, the number of internet users in India stood at 7 million. In 2010 this figure had grown to 100 million (source: Internetworldstats). As a result, the size of the market that needs to be addressed by e-commerce players today is very different and has much more potential.

    This growth in internet users is also largely due to the fact that the key enablers for e-commerce are currently coming together in the Indian market. Aspects like broadband and credit card penetration, wireless connectivity, and penetration of hand-held and computing devices have found widespread acceptance today, unlike their limited penetration in 2001. Moreover with mobiles, especially smartphones, becoming more accessible to the average consumer, internet access through mobile platforms is also on the rise.

     

    #2 Multiple players investing to increase awareness and adoption rates

    The players currently operating in the e-commerce space are also of an extremely different mindset. Players are more organized, and understand and appreciate the value proposition offered by the industry far better. E-commerce companies are today making investments in technology and innovation that will serve to strengthen and grow their business in the long run. They are not looking at short-term business solutions but are interested in scaling up their operations over a period of time. They are also taking the trouble to understand the points of concern that consumers may have with respect to online shopping and taking the trouble to address that. At Flipkart, for example, we have started our own logistics company to smoothen last-mile deliveries. We also offer services and features like cash/card on delivery, EMIs and 30 Day Replacement Policies to deal with concerns like revealing credit card details or not being able to check the quality of products online.

     

    #3 Change in consumer mindset

    Additionally, an increasing number of Indians are now trusting online players as a reliable channel for shopping. Post the success of travel sites, more and more customers are beginning to appreciate the convenience of online shopping. They are beginning to realize that the choice, convenience and cost benefits of online shopping outweigh those of physical retail stores, and are turning to e-commerce for more and more of their shopping requirements.

    The industry is expected to grow by 47 percent in 2011 to reach Rs.46, 520 crore by the year-end, according to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India. Online retail (excluding travel ticket booking, etc.) will account for 6 percent, or about Rs.2, 700 crore, of the total market. By 2015, this space is expected to grow to about $10 billion. E-commerce users today stand at 10 million (including travel) and this number is constantly growing.

     

    #4 Popularity of online travel sites

    Certain sectors related to e-commerce have already proven themselves in terms of their growth and popularity. Online travel sites began to do well even when there were hardly any players in the online retail sector. This has given e-commerce companies the confidence that the Indian consumer is open to the idea of shopping online and the success story of online travel has consequently begun to rub off on other verticals as well.

     

    #5 Growing investment in an e-commerce eco-system

    Market trends are not going unnoticed and more and more professionals/industry bodies are giving serious consideration to e-commerce as a viable investment option. There have been extensive investments made in the e-commerce ecosystem by both government and private players. The realization that the industry players are in this for the long term and are building up their business, keeping in mind benefits to the consumer and the economy, have fuelled an interest that can only speak well for the Indian e-commerce market.

    We have been a big believer in the e-commerce story of India. With the country poised to become one of the largest e-commerce led economies in the world, we will continue to aggressively invest in this space and contribute to this growth story in every way we can.

     

    Sachin Bansal is the CEO and Co-founder of Flipkart.com.

     

  • Flipkart.com’s founder Sachin Bansal talks about how the peculiarities of the Indian buyer have become the online store’s strengths.

    Flipkart: Making e-commerce click with an Indian flavour

    Sachin Bansal is the CEO and Co-founder of Flipkart and oversees all the customer facing activities of the company ranging from technology to marketing. He is also in charge of Flipkart’s corporate divisions which include the finance and legal departments. A graduated from IIT-Delhi with a degree in Computer Engineering, he joined Amazon.com in India in the year 2006. He left the company to set up Flipkart in 2007, and talks to Tuhina Anand about current developments and future plans.

    Q: With plans of Amazon firming up in India, how do you think this will affect Flipkart, considering the might of Amazon?

    E-commerce in India is at a very nascent stage. The industry is evolving and the growth will escalate with the entrance of serious players like Amazon. Such a development should boost the momentum that the e-commerce market is now witnessing. We do not see this impacting Flipkart’s plans to a great extent. We have met all the benchmarks that we had set for ourselves and will continue to do so in the near future.

    Q: Do you think that India is a different market and even a behemoth like Amazon can’t succeed unless it understands Indian sensibilities like Flipkart has, especially with its COD option which even FashionandYou has adopted to?

    Amazon has the advantage of being an established brand name. However, the challenges posed by the market in India are unique – from supply-chain and logistics to warehousing and payments. Any company which is starting operations in this country will have to invest time and resources to overcome challenges that most other companies operating in this space have already faced

    Q: There has been a lot of speculation on Flipkart looking for PE/VC funding. What is your response to it?

    We are not commenting on any speculation with respect to our funding.

    Q: What are some of the portfolio expansion in terms of selling that one should expect from Flipkart in the next few months?

    We have recently added categories like healthcare and personal products as well as home appliances. We will complete the entire gamut of electronics first and will then look at other categories. We will continue to add more products / selection to our existing categories as well. For example, we have recently added tablets, desktops and peripherals like printers and scanners to our computers category.

    Q: Any plans of partnering with Indian e-book reader companies to offer on Flipkart?

    We are keeping a close watch on this market and also studying similar models abroad. We will definitely give this space serious consideration when we see that the opportunity is right in India.

     

    Q: What would you say has been the reason for Flipkart’s success?

    We were confident of the space and the model we were operating in.  We continued to focus on delivering a positive customer experience by ensuring convenience and a hassle-free shopping experience at every customer engagement point, and this translated into strong word-of-mouth promotion for us.

    Our obsession with customer experience, coupled with offers, EMI options as well as setting up our own delivery network to take care of last mile delivery bottlenecks, has worked in our favour and made it easier for customers to trust us.

    What started off as a modest venture has gone on to becoming one of India’s leading online shopping destinations with 2,500 employees across the country. We are present across ten product categories – movies, music, games, mobiles and accessories, computers, gaming consoles, MP3 players and iPods, personal and healthcare products and home appliances – and are still growing. In books alone we have nearly 11.5 million titles, making us the largest online book retailer in India.

    We now have a registered user base of 1 million customers and are currently selling 22,000 items a day, clocking daily sales of Rs 1.5 crore.

    Q: Recently, the brand has been active in advertising, especially with the new TVC; what really prompted this move at this point of time? How are these TVCs being supported offline?

    While most consumers in Flipkart’s core target group understand the benefits of online shopping, such as selection, price and convenience, many are held back by apprehensions associated with online purchase of physical goods. These range from shipment of faulty products, delayed or lost shipments and the reluctance to divulge credit card details online.

    The campaign, which talks of some of our path-breaking initiatives like payment on delivery, product warranty and 30-day replacement policy, seeks to address these concerns and bring those shopping offline into the online space.

    Our national campaign on TV and print is being supported by other mediums like OOH and radio. These will be used to expand reach in markets that already have high e-commerce penetration like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

  • A regular kind of sod sings some nonsense inside a recording studio, words that sound like a cross between Tamil and rustic English. I found it neither funny nor entertaining.

    Hard Knocks: Why this Kolaveri Di, indeed! Why?

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    When I first came across links to Kolaveri Something on the social media sites, I quickly ignored them. Thinking this is another one of those time-pass videos that keep getting shared by virtual pals. But the video went viral in a matter of days, and by now millions have watched it and the world is talking about it.

     

    As a result I was compelled to click on it and must say I was left pretty unimpressed. A regular kind of sod sings some nonsense inside a recording studio, words that sound like a cross between Tamil and rustic English. I found it neither funny nor entertaining. And was left wondering what I had missed out here. Incidentally, I felt the same when the Pakistani band Beygairat Brigade went viral.

     

    Three observations I have to make in this matter. One, it’s abundantly clear that you can now use only social media to launch a brand with a huge bang. If there ever was any doubt on that, then it can be laid to rest now. Owners of mass media need to pay close attention because as time goes by, more and more advertisers will take social media a lot more seriously, and not as a ‘secondary’ medium which it is currently treated as. These are not freak incidents but a clear warning sign for the future.

     

    Two, no one can predict with any degree of accuracy what can go viral in the virtual world. I found the Kolaveri video quite stupid, but millions of people don’t think that, they love it. Maybe a study needs to be conducted on this subject, and it would be quite helpful. However it’s clear people have found a way to showcase their ‘talents’. I already see many imitators busy at work.

     

    Three, my own guess is that the best chance to strike gold on the net is to be as absurd and loony as possible. And the more rustic and unrefined you are, the better your chance of getting noticed. Now all of us have a real shot at being stars!

    ***

     

    PS: So, Cyrus Mistry is the chosen one, and by all accounts this seems to be a decision made purely on meritorious considerations. However, one wonders if things may have been different had Ratan Tata married and had his own children. Would the Dynasty Raj have played a part? Like it happens in all walks of life in India? Well, we’ll never know. My own hunch is this: Mr Tata would still have used merit as the yardstick. Indeed, it is this culture that makes the group unique in this nation.

     

     

  • Tom Doctoroff, JWT North Asia Area Director, Greater China CEO / JWT Shanghai, speaks to MxMIndia in this video interview

    Need to focus on consistency: Tom Doctoroff, JWT

    [youtube width=”300″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qvtd5T__QI[/youtube]

    By Tuhina Anand

    Video by Shruti Pushkarna

    Tom Doctoroff is a JWT man who has worked with the agency across geography. Having started his advertising career at Leo Burnett in Chicago he later moved to JWT. In 1994, he moved to Hong Kong as Regional Business Director for clients such as Pepsi, Philip Morris/Kraft and Citibank and then in ’98 to China as the Managing Director of JWT Shanghai. In 2002, he was appointed Northeast Asia Area Director (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea) and Greater China CEO. In 2008, he also assumed leadership of JWT Japan. Mr Doctoroff has played a key role in the growth of JWT in North Asia.

     

    Q: How do you see JWT based in the scheme of things in Asia today?

    I think that we have a lot to be proud of. JWT has an extremely cohesive management structure where all our goals and values are aligned, and I’m particularly proud of our creative community which is probably one of the jewels of our global network out here in Asia Pacific. I think we’ve got people who are proud of their own output in their own countries. One thing that I’ve always liked about JWT is that we are not cultural imperialists. I’ve never felt for example that because I’m in China, even 13 years ago, that I am on the other side of the world. We have a company culture that does respect individual idiosyncrasies and that’s very important to avoid this hegemonistic-macho advertising ethos. So, I am proud of JWT. We’ve certain things that we could do better, like digital where we’ve been a little bit slow, but I think we are catching up now. We are trying to bring into the agency an ethos of the need for digital to reinforce brand ideas. As for India, JWT in India is a powerhouse and it has a lot to be proud of. And I’m sure that it will overcome some of the frustrations of the past year because everybody knows it needs to be done.

     

    Q: How do you see JWT China in terms of creativity, going ahead?

    If this doesn’t get broadcast in China I’d be happy because I don’t want to appear arrogant where I live, but I think we set the standards of creativity in China. Honestly, we have a very stable management team and a very stable creative leadership team, and what that means is that we create an environment of safe self-expression within the agency as a whole. So we usually are the ones that are doing the firsts, we won the first Cannes Grand Prix, yes it was for print but it still didn’t happen by chance; it’s because we have a belief of what creativity is and how people work together in the agency and in collaboration with people outside the agency, even outside of China to develop engagement platforms. So I am very proud of our creative leadership. People call us the ‘temple of advertising’ and I think that’s because we’ve been so stable for such a long time. I’m not saying we don’t have weaknesses but creatively speaking, I think if you ask around, we tend to define a high ground to a certain extent.

     

    Q: What are the two things that you would advise to people in the industry which they could follow to get more ROIs?

    As soon as you bring in the ROIs, you bring in a different question altogether. So before we get to ROI, I think that one needs to always focus on consistency. A consistent brand idea, a consistent engagement idea that is genuinely media-neutral. I think the danger is that as we experiment with new forms of technologically-enabled engagement, we forget about the primacy of an idea. And if you start your media plan without having that idea clearly understood by all, then you have chaos. One thing that is critical in new markets is order, in consistency, in clarity of ideas or else people will tune you out. Nobody wants to figure out how the internet or how the digital app or the landing environment connects to the TV ad. So consistency is always key, and that will always require a high degree of conceptual craftsmanship. And the second thing about digital is that all digital is not the same. There is certain digital that is relevant to campaigns, there is certain digital that is relevant for customer relationship marketing, there is certain digital that is more transactional at the point of purchase; some of those belong inside the agency and then the big question is how you make sure that the entire agency is digital, but having a digital core centre of expertise as a heartbeat within the agency with some of that for outside the agency. So agencies need to know who they are first and then build their digital strategy based on that.

     

    Q: Talent is an issue; how much of an issue is it and how do you tackle it?

    It’s an issue at the most senior level. I find that the biggest issue for talent is that many senior people – and this is in China, I don’t think it’s the same in India – there is an abstract nature of advertising which makes people feel insecure. Chinese people want to have a sense of control over their destiny and they revere the concrete, and so what we often find happening is that people in their desire for control either start leading dysfunctional agencies, their own small agencies or they leave the industry altogether. So what we need to do is find ways to make a long-term career in advertising seem safe. Part of that is financial and frankly in China it’s not a problem, because once you get to be senior in China as a local person, the pay is quite respectable. But the real issue is making sure that you are providing a platform for senior management to stand up and feel confident on, and that requires a lot of persuasion and a lot of coaching as people come up to the ranks. On the junior level or the mid-level, it’s really a question of liberating their creative potential and making them feel that when they will open their mouth, they will be saying something that’ll be appreciated; and that gets into corporate culture and how you have an environment of dangerous silence, safe self-expression where proactivity is truly rewarded in a meritocratic sense. So advertising has to be very meritocratic and that’s something that’s not always compatible with traditional Chinese culture. But we make it quite meritocratic, so our attrition rate is much lower than the industry average is.

     

    Q: What do you think of Indian advertising in recent times; how do you think it has improved?

    I have been working with India tangentially for 17 years so there’s been huge progress. I think the progress first came on the production level. The change started around 10 or 12 years ago. I just noticed the ads didn’t look that cheap, the production values were pretty high. And now when I take a look at Indian advertising, I think that it is strong. It is very culturally rooted which is fine, as long as that culture is not gimmicky and it comes from cultural insight as opposed to just a celebration of anything Indian. So I personally think that strategically Indian advertising is very strong, execution has become better. I just think that the unfortunate thing is because of its proud confidence in the Indian identity, it’s not as accessible to many people around the world but it’s good, it’s made much progress.

  • Is Phase III a chance to expand listenership reach, or further consolidate positions in a particular region. It’s both, and more, for FM radio players.

    Phase III countdown: ‘Overbidding will kill stations’

    By Robin Thomas

    FM radio listenership has more or less remained stagnant for a while since the completion of FM phase II. The soon to be launched FM phase III may have therefore brought some respite to FM stations across India. For some phase III is an opportunity to expand their listenership reach to newer cities and towns, yet for others it becomes an opportunity to further consolidate their position within a particular state/region. If Multiple Frequencies are allowed, it will introduce different genres of FM radio within the same city, thus encouraging new listeners to tune in.

    The drawback however would be the marginal FDI increase in radio to 26 percent from the earlier 20 percent. This marginal increase in FDI will probably discourage investors from taking the full plunge into the phase III bidding process. News is not available in the best of forms too, as FM stations are allowed to source news only from All India Radio.

     

    Mr Prashant Panday
    Mr. Harshad Jain
    Mr Harrish M. Bhatia
    Mr Rana Barua

    Despite all these developments, FM stations face a whole lot of other challenges which may have a direct or indirect effect on their phase III plans. The Music Royalty issue still remains unresolved, as a result of which FM stations, particularly in small towns, have to pay higher royalty. With expansion there would also be an increase in operation costs, and employee or talent management could be another challenge. MxMIndia spoke to few FM players to find out their views on the challenges for FM stations in phase III.

     

    Mr Prashant Panday, CEO, Radio Mirchi explained, “If people overbid in Phase III, they are finished. Radio is not like TV. One has to be extremely cost-conscious. One has to keep his head down while doing the business of radio. Phase III has e-auctions. There is a very good chance of bids going haywire. This is what each bidding broadcaster has to keep in mind.”

     

    Mr Harshad Jain, Business Head, Fever FM observed, “Phase III will bring with it a set of inevitable challenges like rising costs to set up new stations, and getting new audiences while the radio industry on the whole is still grappling with current costs and investments.”

     

    Mr Harrish M Bhatia, CEO, MY FM said, “The most important is the Royalty Issue; till the time it is completely resolved, it is quite difficult for the radio industry to grow efficiently. The absence of an acceptable radio measurement tool is another challenge. Content restriction is a big restraint for the industry as we are not allowed to provide self-generated news content. The challenges faced by the radio industry in the cities and towns other than the six metros are more or less the same as above.  To overcome these, the industry as a whole needs to work in tandem.”

     

    One of the possible challenges that FM stations can no longer remain immune from is the global economic climate. The uncertainty hit the world economy just before the FM phase III rollout, which may have some impact in the bidding process. “India as an economy is still expected to show healthy growth rates despite global sluggishness and we believe Radio will see greater volumes in a downturn too. The key issue is the ability to take up prices that will be difficult to manage in a downturn,” explained Mr Jain of Fever FM.

     

    According to Mr Bhatia, “The global showdown is more of metro phenomenon, hence it has not impacted the tier 2 and tier 3 cities. In fact, the radio business growth, even for existing players, is expected from non-metro cities.”

     

    In an earlier interaction with MxMIndia, Mr Rana Barua, COO Red FM had said, “I believe we should be taking complete cognizance of the fact that there is definitely a slowdown. The clients, advertisers, everybody are extremely, extremely careful about the money they are investing in any form of media. Taking things for granted and creating business plans for next two or three years seems passé now.”

     

    Three schools of thought emerged from this interaction, one which believes that the economic slowdown is a metro phenomenon. The second line of thinking is that the despite the global slowdown, the radio industry will continue to grow. And the other believes that the industry must admit the fact that there is a slowdown and hence the industry must take a cautious approach especially during the phase III bidding process.

  • While the FM phase II may have been well received by the industry, all FM stations have reported break-even. Smaller FM stations are more likely to face huge challenges ahead.

    The lesson so far for FM players

    By Robin Thomas

     

    FM Phase-I Policy was approved by the Government in July, 1999. Under Phase I policy, a total number of 21 FM radio channels are operational in 12 cities. FM Phase II on the other hand has a total of 336 channels in 90 cities across the Country whereas the much awaited FM Phase-III policy seeks to extend FM radio services to about 227 new cities. Phase-III will cover all cities with a population of one lakh and above, simultaneously, there will be a total of 839 new FM radio channels in 294 cities. In addition to this Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in radio has been raised from 20 per cent to 26 per cent, if allowed, multiple frequencies will bring new genres in radio leading to content innovations, and the overall advertising pie is also expected to rise from the estimated 5 per cent.

     

    While the FM phase II may have been well received by the industry, all FM stations have reported break-even. Smaller FM stations are more likely to face huge challenges ahead especially since the music royalty issue is yet to be resolved. Overbidding in phase I and II could be just one of the issues, MxMIndia asks some of the industry players what lessons the FM radio industry can learn in Phase III from the earlier Phase I and II.

     

    Mr Prashant Panday
    Mr Rana Barua
    Mr Harrish M. Bhatia
    Mr. Harshad Jain
    Mr. Ashish Pherwani

    Mr Prashant Panday, CEO, Radio Mirchi observed, “One main lesson from Phase I and II – Do not bid so aggressively that you can never recover your investments. Those who bid sensibly in Phase-II (very few) are making PAT profits this year. Those who did not are at best making EBITDA break-even. Some are still making EBITDA losses. These people sometimes feel overjoyed that they have turned EBITDA positive; but fail to realise that the returns on investments only start after you turn PAT positive. There are barely 4-5 years left for the licenses to get over. If a company is not PAT positive yet, it has no hopes of generating any decent ROI. This is the main learning from the first two phases.”

     

    “The 2nd learning is about being able to bring brands. But to build brands, companies need profits. So again, if you have bid wrongly, you don’t have enough resources to build brands. That’s what our research shows every quarter. That except for Mirchi and maybe one-two other brands in some specific cities, no other radio station has been able to build a brand. They may have listenership, but they still don’t have a brand. There are no attributes that people assign to these brands. No values that the brands stand for. Without a solid brand, listenership suffers. Pricing suffers. And long term profitability suffers” he added.

     

    In an earlier interaction with MxMIndia, Mr Rana Barua, COO Red FM said, “One of the critical learning that a lot of us had in phase I and II is not to overestimate the potential of the market. The biggest challenge that lies for all of us is knowing that uncertainty has become such a huge thing today, therefore I think a cautious approach is going to be extremely critical.”

     

    According to Mr Harrish M. Bhatia, CEO, MY FM, “What was witnessed in Phase 1 and Phase 2 is totally different than Phase III. The Phase-3 rollout will increase radio penetration, making it a pan-India medium, reaching tier II & III towns. The most important thing that the radio players need to keep in mind is to bid realistically.”

     

    Mr. Harshad Jain, Business Head, Fever FM had a different viewpoint, he said, “The regulatory amendments in phase III are ultimately expected to facilitate industry growth.  FDI has been increased and might drive some additional investment in the industry. I do believe that FDI should have been raised further to actually fuel growth and overall industry development. Another key change is to allow multiple frequencies in the same city but we will have to wait and watch how this rolls out in practice. Another key shift in policy is the e-auctioning route as this will take the license fee to new highs, especially for frequencies in metros like Delhi and Mumbai.”

     

    Mr. Ashish Pherwani, Associate Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young, has seven point suggestions to the FM players, some of them are  the key aspects that all radio companies need to address vis a vis phase III are: –

     

    1. “Which licenses to bid for-  How well the new stations complement the existing bouquet of stations in terms of tactical sales, the future revenue potential from these stations both from the point of view of generating local revenues and adding on to the revenue generating ability of other stations, etc.”

    2. “Bid values- The bid value should logically be based on the revenue generating ability of the station over its license period, and expected costs.

    3. “Alliances.  Some radio companies need to consider which stations to bid for on the assumption that they will form alliances with other networks that together will provide advertisers with national, regional or state-wide reach.  In addition, radio companies with existing ad sales.” In addition to these, “Trade licenses that add value to other networks, Using FDI effectively, Build better MIS and control mechanisms to prevent operational chaos and Focus on People” are some of his suggestions to the FM players.

     

    As one of the industry player said FM Phase-III is not the same as Phase I and II, true, but it is bound to have challenges of its own perhaps even more bigger and tougher. MxMIndia will focus next on the challenges for FM radio in Phase-III.

  • Licenses, bidding, alliances… the world of radio is complex – and remember, there is going to be a phase 4 one day. E&Y Associate Director Ashish Pherwani on Phase III must-dos

    The Anchor: 8 key aspects of Phase III that radio companies need to address

    By Ashish Pherwani

     

    #1 Which licenses to bid for:

    The answer is quite complex, as it needs to consider the ability to sell the new stations both singly and as a bouquet, how well the new stations complement the existing bouquet of stations in terms of tactical sales, the future revenue potential from these stations both from the point of view of generating local revenues and adding on to the revenue generating ability of other stations, etc.

     

    #2 Bid values: 

    The bid value should logically be based on the revenue generating ability of the station over its license period, and expected costs.  But when you factor in that the revenue generating ability depends on the listenership position the station achieves, the rest of radio company’s station network, the efficiency of the sales team, expected competition in the market, etc, and the cost depends on variables like the license period (10 or 15 years), the rate of music royalties, the ability to share infrastructure and content, etc, it’s a complex decision to make!

     

    #3 Alliances:

    Some radio companies need to consider which stations to bid for on the assumption that they will form alliances with other networks that together will provide advertisers with national, regional or state-wide reach.  In addition, radio companies with existing ad sales alliances may need to reconsider these in the light of the licenses they propose to bid for.

     

    #4 Trade licenses that add value to other networks:  

    Radio networks are entering the phase where they will be able to begin trading their licenses.  Some radio companies may want to exit, and valuations aside, may find buyers in those wishing to enter the segment, as well as those which need to increase their presence through a more assured mechanism.  Particularly if multiple frequencies are permitted.

     

    #5 Using FDI effectively:

    Given the increase in foreign investment that is expected to be permitted, radio companies are already looking to identify partners / investors.  The long term strategic fit and the degree of control that is required to be diluted are key areas that need to be considered.  Particularly since there will also be a Phase 4 one day.

     

    #6 Go for multiple frequencies:

    If they do come into being, the key questions will pertain to the programming mix – what genre should the new station be? – and ad sales – how not to discount the existing station’s rates when selling space to advertisers.

     

    #7 Build better MIS and control mechanisms to prevent operational chaos:

    Given the growth in the number of stations, the need to refine processes, automate, and ensure an adequate level of controls in the new, and existing, stations, will be key.  As the span of controls increases, controls always get less effective.  Processes which were performed manually across 20 or 30 stations won’t continue to operate across a 100 stations.  Key persons from existing stations will be used across new station launches, and that could cause the controls environment in existing stations to get lax.  Integrating station infrastructure and content, centralising capex and support function, implementing standard operating procedures and accounting checklists could benefit radio companies.

     

    #8 Focus on people:

    When 300 stations become 900, the number of people is expected to grow by 175 percent as well.  Recruitment, training, and then monitoring the new set of radio operations will be a challenge by itself.  Not to mention managing the inevitable poaching!

     

    Ashish Pherwani is Associate Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young Private Limited.

  • FM stations experiment with content to go beyond traditional programming and give listeners a differentiated experience.

    FM stations go for out-of-the-box content

    By Robin Thomas

     

    Often criticized for airing uniform content across channels, FM radio stations have already begun exploring content that goes beyond just regular Bollywood music. Unlike print, television or the internet, radio in India continues to be a highly regulated medium. Contents across various radio channels are restricted to music, though multiple frequencies if allowed by the government is likely to change this. News on FM radio has already been given a nod by the government of India, but not everyone in the industry is chuffed about this development as it restricts news to be sourced only via AIR (All India Radio).

     

    Nisha Narayanan

    Meanwhile, even as the ups and downs over restrictions continue, FM stations are leaving no stone unturned to offer their listeners out-of-the-box content, each station wanting to sound different from the other. Fever FM for instance, has a mythological show, ‘Ramayan’ with huge fanfare and ‘From Russia with Love’, an infotainment programme. Radio Mirchi airs ‘Sunday Suspense’ in Kolkata, wherein the RJ (Radio Jockey) narrates stories written by authors like Satyajit Ray, Saradindu Bandhopadhyay among many others. Red FM on the other hand initiated shows like ‘Red Arrest’ and ‘The Mental Show’ in Delhi and Mumbai respectively.

     

    Ms Nisha Narayanan, Senior VP Projects & Programming, Red FM said, “Red is known for innovative programming. In the present, the two most innovative program initiatives are ‘Red Arrest’ in Delhi and ‘The Mental Show’ in Mumbai with Suresh and Hoezay. The treatment of both is edgy, humorous, shocking, tongue-in-cheek, and the response has been phenomenal. They both have been the talking point of Delhi and Mumbai Stations respectively and have gained tremendous traction. The mails , calls , responses have been consistently pouring in – and it’s not a surprise!”

     

    Mr Sriram Kilambi, Marketing Head, Radio Mirchi stated, “Sunday Suspense is an amazing show in Kolkata. It is produced in-house by our Mirchi Team in Kolkata. The show has many firsts to its credit – being the first in its genre – and has been supremely well received. The show is targeted at the general Kolkata public who is afraid that the current generation will start to lose touch with Bengali literature. This show has been one of our biggest successes thus far.

     

    Sunil Kumar

    “Sunday Music Company on the other hand is a show in Mumbai that basically talks to those behind the music of the latest release. So, while you get a lot of movie reviews, this is a one-of-a-kind music review that tells you about the music, its makers etc. Sundays have been very strong for Radio Mirchi, largely thanks to innovative shows like the SMC.” he added.

     

    According to Mr Sunil Kumar, MD, Big River Radio, “FM stations have experimented a lot with music content, and they are doing a good job by offering differentiated content within music itself. Today listeners are able to identify their favourite FM stations and very soon there will be further differentiation in content, with or without regulations.”

     

    Ashish Pherwani

    Mr Ashish Pherwani, Associate Director, Media & Entertainment, Ernst & Young observed, “Content innovation in FM radio still has a long way to go, as currently every other FM station is plays popular music with little bits of innovation here and there. I believe content innovations will actually happen once multiple frequencies are allowed which is likely to happen in phase III.”

  • The Anchor: Devraj Sanyal on the 10 songs you’re sure to hear on FM radio

    #1Satyameva Jayate: From the most awaited album SuperHeav’… It’s the track which brings the nation together… has that anthemic feel.

    #2 Lady Gaga, The Edge of Glory: A must-have artist in your playlist, the biggest pop icon the world is gaga over.

    #3 Enrique Iglesias, Dirty Dancer: The most loved artiste in India, one of the highest selling in the country.

    #4 JLO, On the Floor: The biggest club hit in recent times… gets JLo back on the music scene.

    #5 Raab Rakha, Love Breakups Zindagi: Very young and vibrant song, a direct connect to today’s youth.

    #6 Jessie J, Price Tag: Purely for its lyrics… It’s not about money money money.

    #7 Watch The Throne, I love you so: A must-have for hiphop fans – two hiphop idols in one album!

    #8 Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas, Blackmail: Played on all the radio stations on their classic shows… Kishore Kumar is definitely hamaare dil ke paas.

    #9 Yeh Dosti, Sholay: An evergreen friendship track.

    #10 Senorita, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara: Very cool, very young, from a new-age young film.

     

    Devraj Sanyal is the Managing Director of Universal Music India