MxMIndia

Author: mxm_india

  • No faces, no pictures – maybe that’s why radio captures minds so engagingly.

    The Anchor: 6 reasons a listener can never fall out of love with radio

    By Ashit Kukian

    #1 Radio gives listeners different genres of music and a fresh playlist all through the day. And that is further packaged with warm and friendly RJs, topical banter, guest appearances and lots of surprise elements to keep listeners wowed every minute of every day.

    #2 Radio is credited with being the ‘Theatre of the Mind’ since it engages one’s imagination more actively than a visual medium does.

    #3 The level of engagement and interaction that Radio enjoys with its listeners is incomparable to any other medium.  From conversing with listeners on a daily basis, to celebrating their joyous occasions of life, Radio touches the lives of all its listeners.

    #4 Radio provides listeners with Infotainment – relevant and topical information presented in as entertaining a way as possible. Radio then serves as a mood-enhancer by catalyzing one’s mood and uplifting the spirit of the listener who tunes in.

    #5 Listeners can relate to the medium in a very personal and intimate way. It can be a loyal friend to some and a confidant to others. So much so that you’ll often find listeners confiding in RJs about their deepest fears and problems.

    #6 Being a local medium, Radio fits seamlessly into the fabric and framework of the city. It serves as a lens through which listeners can get a glimpse of the pulse of the city.

     

    Ashit Kukian is COO, Radio City 91.1 FM.

  • Prashant Panday: ‘Coz radio is sexy!

    By Prashant Panday

    It’s indeed great to be in the radio business! Provided you are the leader and have managed your costs well! Provided you are a listenership leader and your listenership helps you command a good enough pricing in the market! Provided your work culture is so much fun that you are able to retain the top talent and top management both! Provided you have managed your business so well that you are well prepared to take on future challenges and opportunities! In short, provided you are a Radio Mirchi!

     

    For the rest, radio has been an uphill challenge right from the time the auctions for Phase-2 ended in Jan-Feb 2006. Right from then, losses have only mounted for most broadcasters. When things started to get a little better, they got a lot worse when the economic slowdown hit in 2008-9. When things got a little better again last year, and many of the larger broadcasters achieved EBITDA breakeven, almost half the license period had ended. In the radio business, if you hit EBITDA breakeven at the mid-point of your license period, you have no hopes of delivering returns to your shareholders. That indeed is the story of most radio broadcasters.

     

    However, the future does look brighter than the past has been. Provided again, if broadcaster handle their businesses sensibly in the future; provided they bid reasonably and sensibly in Phase-3 auctions. Those who chase network size at any cost will continue to be in trouble for the next 15 or even 25 years. Those who bid smartly – even losing a few important stations in the process – will be able to make the radio business profitable.

    One has to remember this – radio is not TV – here costs are paramount. This realization is more important than anything else. In radio, one has to keep one’s head down; focus on brand building; not get too flashy or ambitious; and keep plodding away at the key drivers of the business. That and that alone matters in the radio business!

    For such broadcasters who bid sensibly, the road ahead is indeed exciting. The radio industry has scaled only the 5 percent peak – 5 percent as a share of the total advertising industry. The 8 and percent peaks are set to be scaled in the next few years.

    As the number of cities increases, the importance of radio is bound to increase. First there is Phase-3 to provide the impetus – taking the penetration of radio to more than 300 towns. Then there is bound to be the next phase – Phase IV – in which the government is sure to add more frequencies in the major metros. That should give radio another big impetus. In fact, the government can launch both phases 3 and 4 simultaneously.

    The radio industry has given an easy formula for the government to offer more spectrums to radio broadcasters, thus more than doubling the number of channels in the major metros. Simply reduce the gap or separation between two adjoining FM channels from 800 Khz to 400 Khz and the number of frequencies will double! Everyone will gain – most so the government which can rake in much higher license fees. Equally so…..the listeners at large…..who will get much more programming variety to choose from. This will help broadcasters also who will get to operate different formats – after all, in which other media segment is there such a shortage of formats? There are more than 750 TV channels, thousands of newspaper titles and tens of thousands of outdoor sites and websites. Why then are there so few radio stations?

    To end, radio has always been a sexy medium. It’s the medium in which advertisers can truly dive and get the best out – at a regional and local level. Advertisers who predominantly use TV can use radio to give a local flavour to their campaigns. Advertisers who primarily use newspapers can use radio to give a “smart personality” to their brands. Radio is poised at that interesting cusp – when people who work in good radio companies can grow their careers much faster than they can in comparison to TV and print companies. Radio is truly a sexy medium!

    Prashant Panday is CEO, Radio Mirchi

  • From household names to forgotten history: Story of India's grand old brands such as Binaca, Dalda & Moti Soaps

    Binaca, Dalda, Moti… Kahaan Gaye Woh Brands!

    By Bhanu Pande & Ratna Bhushan

     

    There was a sense of deja vu when, earlier this month, Titan Industries acquired Swiss heritage brand Favre Leuba for 13.8 crore. “The brand Favre Leuba has been dormant, we intend to revive the brand in India,” explained Mr Harish Bhatt, COO of Titan, India’s largest watchmaker. The 1960s and 1970s were the glory days of the 274-year-old brand, and it even sold in India for about five decades till the early-1980s, a recall that Titan now wants to capitalise on. If it succeeds, it will be a rare instance of an Indian company acquiring an old, but flagging, brand and giving it new life.

     

    In the last two decades, for example, Bunge didn’t manage that turnaround with Dalda. Neither did Dabur with Binaca, or Hindustan Lever with Hamam and Moti. The reasons are many: the new owners did not want to, or failed to, or had a change of plans. “It’s unfortunate that a lot of companies acquire brands and then don’t know what to do with them,” says Mr Ramesh Chauhan, chairman of Parle Bisleri. In 1994, Chauhan sold five aerated-drink brands-Thums Up, Gold Spot, Limca and Citra and Rim-Zim-to Coca-Cola, only to see them mostly being left to drift or die.

     

    Another drifter is Dalda, the iconic vanaspati brand that was a market leader till the 1980s. In 2003, when US agri and foods company Bunge bought Dalda from Hindustan Unilever for 90 crore, the brand had travelled the arc from being the proxy for its product category to a marginal existence. Bunge’s reason for the buy- a toehold in a new market-could have put Dalda back in the reckoning.

     

    The company tried, but the cooking-medium market had shifted — from only unhealthy vanaspati in the 1970s and 1980s to healthier refined oils. Bunge India did not respond to an email. A senior brand professional, who handled a cooking oil brand in the early-2000s but did not want to be identified, says Bunge was essentially a commodity player and lacked the “marketing mindset” to revive Dalda. “The company launched refined oil variants under Dalda, but it was too late, too little,” he says.

     

    Industry players say Dalda now has a share of about 2% in refined oils, where the leader is Fortune of Adani group (13%) and brands of Ruchi Soya (10%). In vanaspati, Dalda is still among the top brands with 12% share, but the segment itself has shrunk significantly.

     

    A worse fate has befallen Binaca, an oral care brand whose popularity in the 1970s and 1980s was next to that of only Colgate, and which was also a prefix to a much-loved radio programme, Binaca Geetmala. Binaca has faded to near oblivion in the subsequent two decades. Dabur bought it from Reckitt Benckiser in 1996 — for “less than 1 crore” according to an official at Dabur who was involved with the deal — with the intention of reviving it to ride into the white toothpowder segment.

     

    Dabur failed in that product diversification because the category was stagnant and margins thin, and it withdrew.  Mr Sunil Duggal, CEO of Dabur, calls Binaca’s acquisition a “gamble that did not pay off”. “Sometimes, when a brand is available at a throwaway price, you don’t think twice about picking it up,” he says. “We bought Binaca hoping to leverage it in some way, but it didn’t work.”

     

    Following an organisational restructuring, Dabur decided to focus on brands that had some herbal association. Binaca, not being one of them, languished. Mr Duggal says Dabur put the brand for sale, but found no takers at the designated price of 25 crore. It is still present in Dabur’s portfolio as a toothbrush brand; Mr Duggal declined to reveal Binaca’s contribution to its revenues, but says it has helped the company recover its acquisition price.

     

    Mr Viren Razdan, managing director of Interbrand India, a global brand consultancy, says the value in an acquired brand can be broken into four parts: its equity (what it promises); its culture (how the previous owner honoured that promise); its infrastructure (distribution, marketing and sales); and the visual expression of its identity (advertising). “How it ‘fits’ into the future ambition of the acquiring company is what dictates how it is cultivated, or destroyed, for a larger good,” he says.

     

    Killing competing brands by buying them was one flank of Coca-Cola’s entry strategy. While Dalda and Binaca were neglected and dying before they found new buyers, Mr Ramesh Chauhan’s array of aerated drinks were market leaders when Coca-Cola bought them in 1994. Between them, Thums Up, Gold Spot, Limca, Citra and Rim-Zim had a 70% share.

     

    Coca-Cola wanted to kill Thums Up and Gold Spot to give its own competing brands — Coke and Fanta — greater space to grow. But such was the popularity of Thums Up, it has always remained Coca-Cola’s largest selling brand in India despite poor marketing support in the initial years.

     

    Conceding its strength, the company re-launched Thums Up, making actor Akshay Kumar as its face. Today, according to market research firm Nielsen, Thums Up remains the country’s largest aerated drink with a share of about 15% of the 13,000 crore category.

     

    Thums Up made its own story, but Gold Spot and Citra (citrus drink) could not. A former Coca-Cola India executive says the company let those two brands die a natural death to give life to its competing global brands — Fanta and Sprite, respectively.

     

    Coca-Cola did not respond at length to a questionnaire on its thinking behind these four brands. “As for Gold Spot, we are the owners of the trademark, but do not share future plans for our brands,” was all a company spokesperson offered by way of explanation. “They seem to have no attachment to the brands,” says Mr Chauhan about Coca-Cola’s approach to Gold Spot and Citra. He feels even Limca has been not marketed to its full potential.

     

    For acquirers, more than emotional attachments, such brand buys acquisitions are about business strategy. For example, says Mr Prathish Nair, brand consultant at Bangalore-based Transcend Brand Consulting: “When the acquired brands are regional, the companies deliberately don’t take the brands national so they can block regional rivals.”

     

    It’s what PepsiCo India has done with Uncle Chipps, which was the largest selling potato chips brand in India till 2000. PepsiCo acquired it from Amrit Agro in 2000 to drive its own growth in snack foods.

     

    But PepsiCo also had its flagship snack-food brand, Lays, to push. So, while it markets Lays aggressively, Uncle Chipps is distributed in select states, primarily Northern ones, to combat smaller brands. Similarly, Hindustan Unilever has ploughed Hamam, once a national brand of repute, on regional duty. Clearly, more than the brand, it’s about the business.

     

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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

  • If you think you've haven't had enough with the original, here are 9 variants of 'Why This Kolaveri' that's still a rage on You Tube and elsewhere.

    The Anchor: 9 variants of ‘Why This Kolaveri’ that have had YouTube afire!

    If you think you’ve haven’t had enough with the original, here are 9 variants of ‘Why This Kolaveri’ that are still a rage on You Tube and elsewhere.

     

    #1 First, the original in HD:

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR12Z8f1Dh8&feature=aso[/youtube]

    #2 Sharad Pawar slap version

     

    While we strongly condemn the attack on senior minister Sharad Pawar, what we have here is a variant that could well give the original a run for its money.

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIhQm6gcUCw&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

    #3 Gujarati Kolaveri

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEQ6N-rJmUA[/youtube]

    The Gujaratis on the social networks were particularly pleased that  their homegrown DJs and RJs came up with this static image verson:

     

    #4 Funny Kid

     

    We thought it wasn’t really funny, but judging by the ‘views’, this version too has had its followers

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoZivBhTNZ0&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

    #5 Female version

     

    Again, no great shakes, but yet again the song’s popularity is such that even a mediocre cover could get a reasonable following

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW6gSMXXtPY[/youtube]

    #6 Japanese dance

     

    You’ve got to see it to believe in what we said: anything with Kolaveri will get huge hits!

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfprwzgHDtE&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

    #7 Violin version

     

    Interesting version, but no great shakes.

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBdvjLDiT7o&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

    #8 Marathi Kolhapuri version

     

    The only reason why this makes it to this list is the bizarre heights people have been to in doing their Kolaveri versions

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_FjmF2K0cQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

    #9 Chipmunk Version

     

    Chipmunk versions are in, not just of Sheila Ki Jawani, but also Why This Kolaveri!

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvHMq1B_3Cc&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

    #10 Side step Mani

     

    Well, actually, you could be better off not viewing this.

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8uNjyxGgR4[/youtube]
    Nine-u variants-sa. Sa-sa-sa-saa. Not enough-u? Sorry, folks, after having watched so many of them, we couldn’t stop-u talking-u this way-u. Sob, sob!
  • The Government’s decision to allow FDI in retail has opened up possibilities for international retail giants who till now have been waiting in the sidelines.

    IKEA, Carrefour welcome FDI

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    The Government’s decision to allow FDI in retail has opened up possibilities for international retail giants who till now have been waiting in the sidelines. While Indian politicians are busy either batting for FDI or opposing it vehemently, the international biggies are playing safe and watching their step before making any decision.

     

    IKEA, the international home products company that has been clear that it will only enter India when 100% FDI will be allowed now seems to have crossed that hurdle. With Indian government allowing 100% FDI in single brand retail, it clears way for the Swedish furniture giant to make its presence in India.

     

    An IKEA spokesperson informed MxM India, “The IKEA Group welcomes the Indian Government’s decision to allow 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment for single brand retailers. We will now over the next few days look into the details of the decision and we expect to present more information shortly about our intention to establish retail operations. India is since long a strong and growing purchase market for IKEA.”

     

    IKEA has been looking towards India increasingly over the years to outsource its products including textiles and carpets and the country finds the retailers focus in its social initiatives. Looks like it’s not far when IKEA would announce its plan for India and be present in a market which is seen by many International retailers as crucial because of the changing dynamics and economy of the country. In fact, giants like Walmart is already present but in Cash & Carry business with a partnership with Bharti Enterprises. Tesco has strategic partnership with Tata Trent for back end and supplying for Tata’s Star Bazaar. French retailer Carrefour too has opened last year its cash and carry store in Seelampur area in Delhi.

     

    Carrefour’s statement on FDI in India stated, “Carrefour welcomes the Indian Government’s decision to allow up to 51% foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail. This legal evolution should contribute to modernise Indian food supply chain and to fight against food inflation for the benefit of Indian customers. It will also provide farmers and local SMEs with new outcomes and will more generally contribute to India’s economic development. Carrefour will remain attentive to the finalisation of this new regulation and continues the development of its cash and carry operations. Please note that we cannot give you any further elements.”

     

    The move is a welcome relief for the international biggies but it now remains to be seen how and when these giants make their entry into the front end of the business in India.

  • That a journalist like Jigna Vora was arrested in the J Dey murder case brings us to a very sad pass, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Crime & Journalism

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The arrest of journalist Jigna Vora in the J Dey murder case is quite horrifying, anyway you look at it. That a journalist can be accused of instigating the underworld to kill another brings us to a very sad pass. While rumours of Vora’s involvement have been doing the rounds for a couple of months, the actual arrest itself is a shocker.

     

    It is pointless to speculate on guilt and innocence just yet and the media, which often takes arrests at face value initially and only asks questions later, has been very carefully following presumption of innocence route here. (If only it would do it at all times!)

     

    One thing is clear though: editors need to be more aware of what their crime reporters are up to and how far they push them to get a story. In 25 years in journalism and most of them in Mumbai, I cannot remember any crime story which invoked more than salacious reader interest. The best result might be the two very good movies made by director Ram Gopal Verma – Satya and Company. The close relationship between some journalists and the underworld is hardly an industry secret. Oswald Pereira’s novel, ‘Beyond the Newsroom’ should be a must-read for all young and budding crime reporters.

    The other problem here is the relationship between the police and reporters who often get carried away and see an arrest as surety of guilt – quite the opposite of the attitude in Vora’s case. It is another matter than so many accused get acquitted by the courts by lack of evidence. The media stands guilty on two counts here – one, for romanticising the underworld and two, for taking the police at face value.

    Young reporters are not to blame so much as their mentors are. The romantic idea of this all-powerful underworld which runs Mumbai is just that and it is far from the reality in today’s world. The days when Vardarajan Mudaliar, Haji Mastan, Karim Lala and later the Naiks, Dawood Ibrahim and so on ran Mumbai are long gone. Prohibition was lifted decades ago, smuggling was no longer as lucrative after liberalisation and after the slum rehab schemes started, land-grabbing was taken over by the state and the police. And as drug usage is (thankfully?) not as high in India as it could have been, we are still a conduit rather than a market profitable enough for the powerful South American cartels to get directly involved in. The famous underworld was reduced to normal criminal activities. There is no Al Capone like figure any more.

    But younger journalists, fed on the myths, get taken in. As editors themselves are getting younger, they get excited too. A little dip into history may not be a bad idea.

    As for the Vora and Dey case, it is curious and sad.

     

    **

     

    The slap received by Sharad Pawar led the media into some needless self-excoriation. Was it given too much importance? Did it blank out other important news? Should the media have followed the Katju directive and immediately focused on poverty and development issues instead? Blah blah blah.

    The fact is, the slap was news. And that is the job of the media: to give you the news. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves for being misunderstood, let us accept that we are the carriers of misery, sensation, death, depression and all the other strange, horrible and wonderful things that human beings do to each other and the world around us.

    Why get so defensive about it?

     

    **

    Talking of being defensive, Press Council chairman Markandey Katju’s piece trying to explain himself in today’s Times of India is quite amusing.

     

    eom

  • With Bobby Pawar at the helm, CEO Colvyn Harris hopes to see JWT India achieve greater creative focus

    Raising the Bar: Colvyn on JWT with Bobby

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    The last few days have witnessed media and advertising circles going gaga over news of a restructuring exercise at JWT and the surprise coronation of Bobby Pawar as the Chief Creative Officer & Managing Partner, alongside the elevation of three of its key ECDS to the post of NCD – Swati Bhattacharya, Tista Sen and Senthil Kumar. But what has kept the industry guessing is the swiftness with which this transformation has been carried about and who from JWT is responsible for this smooth makeover.

     

    MxM India meets the man who has effected the change – Colvyn J Harris, CEO, JWT India. In a detailed conversation, Mr Harris reveals the new creative direction that the agency will root for with the coming in of Bobby Pawar, the unmatched experience that would be delivered to clients and how he could get back to serving the industry with the easing of the creative function at JWT. Excerpts:

     

    Q: Apart from the CCO and NCD level restructuring exercise, have there been any other senior-level elevations at JWT?

    The restructuring exercise where creative is concerned is over. We have Bobby Pawar as Chief Creative Officer; he will be supported by three NCDs comprising Swati Bhattacharya in Delhi, Tista Sen in Mumbai and Senthil Kumar in the South. There are a set of ECDs who would work in partnership with the above team. There won’t be any replacements as such where the earlier ECD posts are concerned.

     

    Q: Were there any other candidates you considered other than Bobby Pawar, including any international contenders?

    We did consider international candidates but we were very clear that we needed somebody who had roots in India, who understands the country in which we operate – the nuances and sensibilities of India. As for Bobby, he has international experience, having worked in BBDO and Ogilvy in the US. So that’s the best of both the worlds that one could ask for.

     

    Q: Was it a long chase to get Bobby Pawar take up the offer at JWT?

    It was not a chase actually; it was fairly mutual. We felt that he had the right qualities to lead and help us deliver on a vision which is to be the very best in what we do.

     

    Q: Knowing Bobby’s liking towards working for an indigenously-run agency like Mudra (before Omnicom buying out a majority stake), what was the differentiating factor that convinced him to take up an offer at the WPP-run agency?

    I think where JWT is concerned, we may be global and affiliated to WPP but we are finally rooted in India. If you trace the lineage of JWT India, it is actually Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA). We have not shed any of the institutional attributes that JWT or HTA was built on. So I think that foundation continues and we are as Indian or as global as a client would want us to be. For creativity to flourish and thrive and do well, you need a platform. JWT has some large and reputed clients. We work with the leaders in every category so the work you do is going to get visible. So it’s an opportunity that presents itself to all of us who work for JWT. And for talent, what more can you hope for other than the set of clients that we have? We work with the best known Indian clients and we work with the world’s most admired brands, whether it is Nike or Pepsi…

     

    Q: How has the industry reacted to the nomination of Bobby Pawar? Moreover, what has been Sir Martin Sorrell’s reaction to the appointment?

    Sir Martin Sorrell and Bob Jeffrey (Worldwide Chairman and CEO, JWT) are very happy with the decision. They realize that I also need a partner to carry forward this responsibility. JWT is a big ship, we have been suit-led for too long. So this gives us a nice balance.

     

    Q: Yes, don’t you think the agency has been suit-led for a while now?

    That’s not how you should look at it because we have eight ECDs, because our scale of operations is large – in Delhi we have around 380 people. So if you were to compare you’ll understand that wherever we operate we are completely full-service; all skills operate in all offices. We just didn’t have somebody to drive the creative agenda for us with a greater focus. That’s because when you run businesses or lead an agency on a management framework you take your eyes off the ball on a greater platform. So Bobby’s going to play that role.

     

    Q: Having being suit-led for some time, would you then agree that the agency did witness a creative slump post the going away of senior resources like Agnello Dias and Josy Paul?

    Not at all. Whatever talk you hear is all loose talk. When people don’t know then there is talk but finally the success of a company is derived by how our brands perform in the marketplace – which is a great success as all of them are leaders. The success of an agency is how our people perform – again, all of them have done extremely well, and finally, where success is concerned there are financial benchmarks and there are creative benchmarks and we have been very consistent in winning. Senthil is an international award winner, the Mumbai office is the most awarded agency… so you have got all the success stories that you need.

     

    Q: How would you also react to the claim that your former creative heads took along some clients with them after they quit JWT?

    They didn’t take clients as such; they took projects along with them. We still have over 200 clients; we can’t be a hundred percent of every client all the time. I am sure a client chose to exercise his judgment on an idea which will help his business. We definitely respect that and welcome it. In both cases, they got something good so I am happy.

     

    Q: Coming back to Bobby Pawar, what would be expected out of him? What’s his mandate as CCO?

    Firstly, he has a team – he has NCDs, ECDs and a team of about 300 people in creative. So he’s gonna have to set an agenda for creative. That means there will be a vision and a purpose that we want to go back to. And after that it is actually how do you achieve those objectives – how do you deliver on that vision, how do you execute that vision, how do you get the work to look better… So that’s the agenda that he would be riding on.

     

    Q: Do you expect Bobby to get his set of clients from Mudra to JWT or wish such a natural progression to occur given his stature at Mudra?

    We are not looking at that. In our gameplan, Bobby fits extremely well and our strategy is to improve the work, change the benchmark, create new standards…and that’s what we are doing.

     

    Q: So while Bobby gets to set a new creative agenda, do you see a creative shift coming about at JWT?

    As I said, our agency has been very successful. What we will do is that we will jointly set a vision, and as a team we will have to work jointly on delivering on that vision.

     

    Q: Would Bobby lend his expertise to other domains under JWT like digital, activation, public relations, direct marketing, etc…?

    Yes, of course. We talk about idea-centricity – the idea at the centre based on a brand and how you seamlessly use every touchpoint to the audiences identified. So it’s a one seamless idea which we will try and make it a big platform idea.

     

    Q: With Bobby at the helm, will the focus now be on reclaiming the ‘most awarded agency’ tag – that was his claim to fame at Mudra, making it the most awarded agency in recent years?

    If you look at our work, we are all over the place. Now with Bobby at the helm, we want to raise the bar and improve our standards. We want to be recognized firstly at an Indian platform, we want to be recognized globally and we definitely want to improve our body of work. But all said and done, it is not about winning awards; it is also important that the work we do for clients is effective and successful for them in the market. That’s priority No 1. If that work goes on to win awards then that’s fantastic. So it’s actually an and/and rather than an either/or.

     

    Q: Any new verticals being planned for take-off?

    Nothing as such. We have design, digital, Thomson Social, Encompass… so we are not looking at anything else right now. But digital is something that we are looking at going forward with and that’s why we have hired Max Hegerman.

     

    Q: Moving on to you, how would your responsibilities change, going forward? Is there anything that has been planned for you?

    I think my responsibilities will reduce, hopefully, because I have been on a treadmill and a rollercoaster at the same time last year. Hopefully this new change will give me some breathing time…

     

    Q:…It could also allow you to get back to serving the industry and catering to several issues like you did while you were the Chairperson of Goafest.

    I used to be involved on a big scale earlier but I have cut it down as it takes away a lot of your time, but it’s important for us industry leaders to be a part of the industry; to engage with people who make it what it is today so that this industry, firstly, is successful. On an overall basis, it’s industry definitely for me; it is what you give back as well. And also the network as well; we are a global company, and that is also equally important for me to look after.

     

    Q: Lastly, if you were to set a goalpost for JWT in 2012, what would that be?

    I think if by the end of 2012, we are able to do good work on our key clients and that is acknowledged by clients first, and then maybe awards as the second parameter, I think that will be a great step forward.

  • As Vinod Mehta, the editor of Outlook mag says, in our profession we must always remain spectators, and never try to become players. However tempting it is to dive into the arena.

    Anil Thakraney: Always the spectator. Never the player

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Quite saddened to hear that a fellow journo may have abetted the murder of crime reporter J Dey. Mind you, the allegations against her have still to be proved in the court of law, so we will know the facts only after the legal process is done.

     

    However, here’s a concern and let me first illustrate this with a little example. I had once gone to interview the Maharashtra Power Minister, armed with some tough questions on the frequent power outages in the state. He was already surrounded by 20 fawning reporters from the state’s vernacular press. And the mantri insisted I do the interview with all of them seated in the background. He said he had to rush to Pune for a meeting, and would not have the time to meet me separately. Yes, I had taken a prior appointment but these silly things don’t matter to netas. With not much choice in the matter, I agreed. And after each serious question, the minister would loudly guffaw and make fun, looking to his audiences for support. And yes, the reporters behaved like his cheerleaders, and would also laugh as he laughed. Of course, this didn’t matter to me at all, and I went on firing. This is because when I do an interview, it’s like making love, my entire attention is on the subject, and as Metallica sang, nothing else matters. But it doesn’t need too much intelligence to figure that the reporters had either sold out or were desperate to sell out. Or at the very least badly wanted to bond with the powerful man.

     

    The reason I share this incident is because, as Vinod Mehta, the editor of Outlook mag says, in our profession we must always remain spectators, and never try to become players. However tempting it is to dive into the arena. As Radiagate showed us, close proximity to power and pelf is seductive. It is very tempting to go heady and jump over to the other side. And delude yourself into believing you can do it too. Those who have fallen for this attraction have almost always burnt their fingers. It’s always a fatal attraction.

     

    No, we can’t bat like Sachin. We can’t act like Amitabh. We can’t be politicians. We can’t be underworld dons. We must remain who we are: Spectators. Whose only job is to observe, report, analyse, have a beer and go home.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Shekhar Gupta is a below-average interviewer on TV. His show on NDTV is a downer. But this one I watched shell shocked. Dear Ekta, plunging necklines DON’T work on all women. In your case, it literally makes for a dirty picture. Avoid.

     

    http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/walk-the-talk/walk-the-talk-with-ekta-kapoor/217039?hp

  • The challenges for Pix are on two grounds: one is to be No 1 in the category emphatically and convincingly, beating both Star Movies and Movies Now, and then to ensure profitability and growth quarter after quarter, year after year.

    The Pix plan for genre leadership

    By Rishi Vora

     

    Sony Pix, the English movie channel from the Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd (MSM) bouquet is, with aggressive content acquisition and marketing strategy, looking to push its channel share up in a bid to get to the top league. Where competition is quite intense between Star Movies and Movies Now. This year, the channel shifted its focus from its positioning – ‘We Tell Stories’, to ‘Hollywood is Here’. The strategic tie-up with Sony Pictures Entertainment has given enough strength to the channel as far as content is concerned. The deal was finalised in 2010, which means starting 2011, Pix has done enough on the programming bit to enter the much-desired Hollywood mainstream space.

     

    Commenting on the progress of Sony Pix, Executive Vice President and Business Head, Mr Sunder Aaron said, “The channel has delivered great results over the last couple of years. Today, we’re a consistent major player in the category. We have been fortunate to achieve our goals in terms of ratings, reach and distribution. The channel’s new library from Sony Pictures Entertainment, which includes some of the finest titles and  block busters have delivered great numbers.” Elaborating on the channel’s content efforts, Programming Head, Mr Amogh Dusad, said, “This year, we premiered six to seven movies every month, all blockbuster films. And that helped us improve our overall ranking in the category.”

     

    The channel saw yet another big change in 2011 – on the packaging and presentation aspects. Himmat Butalia, Marketing Head, Pix, said, “We consciously tried to look at the younger audience and see how we could engage them in various ways. As for promoting our titles, every movie has a different kind of a marketing angle to it.”

     

    “The Movie Club, one of our major properties, has done well. We’re at 15,000 members now from 4000 a few months back. The reason it’s such a fantastic property is that it allows viewers to watch movies absolutely free of cost. The channel’s marketing efforts include a mix of offline and online (Facebook brand page and YouTube, Webisodes etc) campaigns.

     

    With a host of programming and marketing initiatives, Mr Aaron referred to how Sony Pix beat HBO in the ratings game, in 36 out of 47 weeks.”Ratings of the past quarter shows that Pix has upped its market share to 19 per cent as compared to HBO which stands at 14 per cent (source: TAM, CS 15 +, 6 metros, SEC AB, Week 27-39).”

     

    For the next quarter, we want to take Pix into the leadership position. While we have been No1 in the category, and have been No 1 in every market from time to time, we want to be in that position on a more consistent basis. The performance of the channel over the past 18 months has shown that this is achievable. The growing response from our fans has overwhelmed us. The future also holds a lot more big titles premiering on the channel. We will do our best as a channel and as a brand to continue innovating, surprising and delighting our audience.”

     

    The Movies Now- Star Movies tussle; Opportunity Sony Pix
    The launch of Movies Now shook up the line-up a bit. One week after launch, the channel managed to grab the No 2 position. This, as experts view, happened at the back of a huge distribution push, investment on content – acquiring a few big-ticket movies, and then the strategy to repeat those titles on a regular basis. What Movies Now success did, is broad-based the category, so from 60 GRPs, the category of English movies has increased to about 75 GRPs. However, the channel did begin to see a dip with Star Movies catching up. Mr Dusad remarked, “Movies Now being beaten by Star Movies is an indication that sustaining leadership is a challenge if you’re not investing in content on a regular basis, acquiring new titles, doing premiers etc.” In the last six months, Mr Dusad pointed out that Pix beat HBO in 23 weeks, and that they’re looking at taking on the top two players with a host of new initiatives in 2012 (TAM CS 15 +, SEC AB, 6 metros). The idea is to first get to channel share of 20 per cent.

     

    The challenges for Pix are on two grounds: one is to be No 1 in the category emphatically and convincingly, beating both Star Movies and Movies Now, and then to ensure profitability and growth quarter after quarter, year after year.

     

    Another challenge as Mr Aaron pointed out will be to increase the number of advertisers on the channel, and help generate higher revenues, thus leading to higher budgets in acquiring bigger and better titles. On how well has the channel done in the past one year revenue wise, Mr Dusad said, “I can’t share the numbers, all I can say is that we’ve been growing at a decent rate. Clients are happy to spend more with us. Every year, our range of advertisers is increasing and the money spent by them on the channel is also increasing. And we’re seeing a lot more stability in our growth.”

     

    Digitisation will bring in subscription revenues – a big opportunity, now that the ordinance is passed by the government. The category growth, which is about 30 per cent, the channel will do well to achieve similar growth. There’s a lot to be done for Pix to be No 1. Who knows what’s in the offing. Zee Studio is behind Pix, though with a much lesser share. Coming from the Zee stable, one cannot write the channel off.

  • MediaVest Worldwide has bagged the SuperMax business

    MediaVest Worldwide bags SuperMax business

    By A Correspondent

     

    MediaVest Worldwide has won the SuperMax media account and will handle for the latter media planning and buying across all media. The business was won in a multi-agency pitch that was conducted earlier this month. MediaVest will handle this business from their Mumbai office with immediate effect.

     

    Confirming the development, MediaVest VP in Mumbai Dinesh Rathore said, “We are delighted to have won the SuperMax business and are looking forward to partnering them. This has been a good year for our agency. We are looking forward to building on this momentum in the coming year.”

     

    Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has recently has picked up over 14 new businesses in the past few months from their Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore offices including most recently the Aircel TV and Digital business.

  • Educomp Schools, as part of its growth strategy, has appointed Aegis Media's Vizeum India as its media AOR.

    Vizeum wins media duties for Educomp Schools

    By A Correspondent

     

    Educomp Schools, as part of its growth strategy, has appointed Aegis Media’s Vizeum India as its media AOR. Media agency Vizeum India, which operates in 55 countries, will now handle Educomp Schools’ media mandate in India to identify the appropriate communication programmes and deliver the same most cost optimally.

     

    Founded in 1994, Educomp Solutions is a globally diversified education solutions provider. With an employee base of more than 10,000 professionals, Educomp serves 26,000 schools and 15 million learners and educators in India as well as the US, Canada, Singapore and Sri Lanka. The company works closely with schools to implement innovative models to create and deliver content to enhance student learning.

     

    Educomp Schools provides educational content / IP and educational infrastructure to a range of differentiated preschool and secondary school brands in its quest to be the school service and Infrastructure provider of choice for all demographic and psychographic segments of society across India. Between the three brands, Universal Academy, Takshila Schools and The Millennium School with their different learning systems, the infrastructure and fee structures, its schools provide distinctly different schooling experiences to students and parents.

     

    Partho Dasgupta, President, Educomp Schools, said, “We are happy to confirm the appointment of Vizeum as our strategic media partners. Their overall result-oriented approach is quite unique and interesting. They are mandated to help us overcome some of our business challenges. We look forward to working with Vizeum and wish them all the very best.”

     

    Commenting on the win, S Yesudas, Managing Director – Indian Subcontinent, Vizeum, said, “We have pleasure in welcoming Educomp into the Vizeum family. It is a challenging assignment and we are fully geared up with the right delivery solutions. We look forward to addressing the business issues of the client as their extended brand team. We are thankful to the Educomp management for considering us worthy to partner them. This business will be handled out of our Delhi office.”

  • AIM president Tarun Rai says that the quantum of penalty levied on Times Now is not only unreasonable but can set a precedent that would threaten the independent functioning of news media in the country.

    AIM slams penalty against Times Now

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tarun Rai, President, Association of Indian Magazines (AIM), has reacted strongly to the penalty against the Times Now channel in the defamation case brought against it by Justice P B Sawant.

     

    “The quantum of penalty levied on Times Now is unheard of. It is not only unreasonable but can set a precedent that would threaten the independent functioning of news media in the country. Media in India is very vibrant and has helped uphold the strong democratic traditions of our country. It should be allowed to function and grow. At AIM (Association of Indian Magazines) we are extremely concerned about this development and hope for a fair outcome that will encourage media in India to continue to operate independently and fearlessly,” said Mr Rai in a statement to the media.

     

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) earlier had also reacted strongly to the impact of the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the Special Leave Petition filed by Times Now. The channel had asked for relief against the Bombay High Court order directing Times Now to deposit Rs 20 crore and furnish a bank guarantee for Rs 80 crore to hear an appeal in a defamation case.

     

    The directive occurred following a district court in Pune asking the channel to pay Rs 100 crore as damages in favour of Justice (Retd) PB Sawant for alleged defamation. The defamation case was registered after the channel published a photograph of Justice Sawant in place of another judge with a similar name, in connection with the Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam.

     

    Times Now had appealed to the Bombay High Court.