MxMIndia

Author: mxm_india

  • VIP becomes the first luggage brand in the country to offer e-commerce facility to its consumers across India through its website www.vipbags.com.

    VIP journeys into e-commerce

    By A Correspondent

     

    Buying a VIP suitcase has become easier. Through its e-commerce site (www.vipbags.com), consumers can browse through VIP’s wide range of product offerings and make purchases online. The bags will be delivered to their doorstep within seven working days at no extra cost. Currently, payments can be made only through credit card, debit card or net banking but soon ‘cash on delivery’ will also be offered on the site. www.vipbags.com can also be used for gifting.

     

    Speaking on the initiative, Manish Vyas, Vice President Marketing, VIP Industries, said, “VIP as a brand has through the years been constantly evolving with the consumers to give way to category defining product ranges. The e-commerce feature is yet another initiative that places VIP Industries high up on the social relevance scale. It is focused on bringing the VIP brand experience closer to the consumer base no matter where they are in the country. With the launch of the online purchase feature, we have taken the first step in ushering a new age in the luggage segment.”

     

    Established in 1971, VIP Industries Ltd today has a global footprint with its products available across India and various other countries. Its four factories produce nearly five million pieces a year, making it the second largest producer of luggage in the world.

  • Real estate giant DLF adds Scarecrow Delhi to its panel of creative agencies

    DLF brings Scarecrow Delhi to its roster

    By A Correspondent

     

    DLF has appointed Scarecrow Communications as its creative agency for some of its residential products across India. The agency was selected after a rigorous pitch process. The spends would be sizeable and could fall in the vicinity of Rs 15 crore Though exact figure could not be estimated, but knowing the way residential projects are advertised these days it will be significant.

     

    Commenting on the development, Mr Raghu Bhat, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications, said, “This is a very important win for our Delhi office. DLF is the largest real estate brand in the country. They are looking for fresh thinking and this is a great opportunity for Anindya and the Delhi team to do some great work.’

     

    On the win, Mr Anindya Banerjee, ECD at Scarecrow Delhi, said, “It’s a privilege to be working on a brand like DLF. It is also a challenge to be working on a category that shows immediate results.”

     

    Mr Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, says Scarecrow Delhi has “big plans”. “This win gives us a lot of encouragement. DLF is an iconic brand and this gives excellent visibility especially in the print medium.”

     

    For the record, DLF is India’s largest real estate company. Founded in 1946 by Raghuvendra Singh, it has currently over 3000 acres of planned development in place. It is best known for having developed Gurgaon into a major international sub city. DLF is a well-diversified group and their interests span residential, commercial and retail segments.

  • A comparison of potential gainers and losers in the government’s move to open up retail for FDI reveals that 122 million consumers set to gain while only 40 million traders could get affected

    Stark stats: 40 mn traders may gain, 122 mn consumers could lose if retail FDI is trashed

    By Smriti Seth

     

    The consumer is not king, apparently. The hullabaloo over easing foreign investment norms in multi-brand retail is centered on the notional loss to a fraction of traders in the country and the consumer has been passed over.

    A comparison of potential gainers and losers in the government’s move to open up the country’s $450 billion (over Rs 20 lakh crore) retail segment to foreign direct investment (FDI) reveals that while a section of 40 million traders are likely to be affected by competition from organised modern retail, about 122 million consumers stand to benefit from it.

    Some experts say FDI debate underplays the importance of consumers in an economy.

    “We must not forget that consumers are the most important part of our economy today. They will also be the biggest gainers from FDI in retail, thereby benefiting the entire country,” said Mr Akash Gupt, executive director at PWC.

    The government on Thursday allowed 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, but restricted it to cities with population in excess of one million. It also raised FDI in single brand to 100%. As per the 2011 census, consumers in the 53 most populated cities of the country add up to over 122 million. In contrast, the numbers of people connected with retailing in the country is about 40 million, according to several estimates.

    In big cities, the number of people working in the retail sector is likely to be lot less.

    Buyers are expected to benefit the most from the increased competition in the retail industry in terms of prices and quality. “Competition will push prices down and improve quality of products,” Mr Gupt said.

    Despite the apparent benefit to consumers, some political parties and state chief ministers have come out strongly against the government move. Eleven states have said they will not allow supermarket chains to set up shop. On Monday, the parliament was adjourned because of the uproar.

    The opposition could restrict access for foreign retailers such as Walmart and Tesco to only about 25 big cities.

    Experts debunk the entire notion of FDI-funded modern retail causing a widespread loss of jobs in the unorganised sector, or the ‘kirana’ segment.

    “Since foreign retailers are only being allowed in large cities, it should not have an impact on employment, most of which comes from smaller cities,” said Mr Mathew Joseph, co-author of the report ‘Impact of Organized Retailing on the Unorganized Sector’ published by ICRIER, a think tank.

    “It might have some effect on profitability of small retailers in the beginning, but they will have enough time to brace themselves for entry of foreign players and will recoup quickly”, the report says.

    There are other stakeholders as well who stand to benefit.

    As per the FDI policy approved by the cabinet, the foreign retail outlets have to necessarily source 30% of their raw materials from Indian micro and small enterprises.

    The policy mandates a minimum of $100 million worth of investments, of which at least 50% has to be in back-end infrastructure, most of which will be in rural areas that will fuel employment growth there.

    “Employment opportunities will be created from the need for front-end retail staff; improved supply chains will generate more jobs and sourcing goods from small industries will help in job creation as well,” said Mr Paresh Parekh, partner, retail and consumer product sector, Ernst and Young.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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

  • Anugrah Madison Rural Academy will teach the basics of rural marketing to management students, as more and more marketers turn their focus to rural India.

    Anugrah Madison offers Rural Academy for management students

    By A Correspondent

     

    Anugrah Madison Advertising, the rural division of Madison Communications Group, has launched a rural marketing education service called Anugrah Madison Rural Academy (AMRA) to teach the basics of rural marketing to management students.

     

    With more and more marketers turning their focus to rural India, AMRA aims at catering to that gap by arming students on the basics of rural marketing. Initially AMRA will offer certificate courses of one / two / three credits. If the management institutes are interested in giving an idea of the basics of rural marketing to all their students, it can also conduct a one-day / two-day seminar on rural marketing at the Management Institute’s premises.

     

    Announcing the development at the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the company, R V Rajan, Chairman of Anugrah Madison Advertising P Ltd, said, “With the growing importance of rural markets there is a growing demand for skilled / trained human resources willing to work in the rural areas. Many management institutes across the country have started offering rural marketing as an elective course. But there is a dearth of good faculty who have hands-on experience to provide practical knowledge for teaching the subject. AMRA hopes to fill this gap.”

     

    The faculty from AMRA will be the top management of Anugrah Madison and a few others with several decades of experience in dealing with rural marketing initiatives. Besides, AMRA will conduct the classes at the premises of the Management Institutes over weekends or according to the convenience of the Institute.

     

    Differentiating itself from other institutes that offer rural management courses like IRMA in Anand or other institutes that offer rural marketing as an elective, AMRA looks at customizing the course. It is not a full-time course but is aimed at building a foundation in rural marketing. AMRA will be responsible for course content, faculty and evaluation of students based on assignments.

     

    According to R Seshadri, Managing Director, “Mr. R V Rajan, a highly respected Rural Marketing Professional and one of the Founders & Past President of RMAI will be the Course Director. Initially the course will be offered to only Management Institutes located in South India.”

  • The contrast is endearing – that of a desire to look beautiful. And a real life that's full of stress. Good show!

    Debrief: High on Mia empathy

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Interesting TV campaign from Tanishq for their new sub-brand called Mia. Mia is a jewellery brand targetted at working women. I suppose it’s meant for lady execs who usually wear imitation jewellery at work. And yes, I do think there’s a separate market for this segment. Jewellery pitched for use during momentous occasions like marriages, etc, can’t be adorned for daily wear. Good marketing strategy.

     

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4. Sound strategy backed by relevant creative.

    And what’s even better is that the creative work shines. There are three commercials on air. The idea is this: A female executive feels really happy when she wears her jewellery. Even if she’s stuck in a boring workshop. Or can’t find a parking place at the office building. Or gets a poor increment. The format of each commercial is that in the beginning you see the woman delighted at wearing her jewellery. And later arrives the twist of an ‘unhappy’ work situation.

     

    I like this campaign. For two reasons. One, because of the sharp understanding of the working woman by the advertiser. Which is that whatever be the work pressures, however sadela her job might be, a woman would want to look pretty at workplace. Two, the execution is steeped in reality. Yes, highly boring workshops and car park mess are realities we all totally identify with. The contrast is quite endearing. That of a desire to look beautiful. And a real life that’s full of stress. Good show!

  • Anil Thakraney buttons the Bates boss for a free-n-frank talk about agencies, people & the work they do.

    We’ve bn inconsistent in r work: Sonal Dabral

     

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Sonal Dabral’s career has been nothing short of fantastic. In the nineties he partnered Piyush Pandey and together they turned around the fortunes of O&M. He later flew to Malaysia and then Singapore, and did ditto with O&M’s offices there. A few years ago he took on another challenge: To recreate the magic at Bates, where he is Regional Creative Director, Asia Pacific & Chairman for their Indian operations. While he has been over-seeing India, Sonal physically moved here only a few months ago. And though a few cartons still remain to be unpacked, the man is very clear about the way forward for his agency.

     

    In a rare, frank and a very insightful interview, the 49-year-old reveals his ideologies, his plans for India and his opinions on the ad industry. We also take a trip down his memorable career journey.

     

    What struck me most is how clued in Sonal is about the key challenges that face brands in contemporary times. I don’t always find that in Indian ad agency leaders.

     

    Q: There’s a buzz about you joining Mudra.
    No truth in it at all. But I can understand why the rumours must have started. Balki is the face of Lowe, Prasoon is the face of McCann and Piyush, of course, is the face of O&M. So for somebody of stature to walk into a big agency like Mudra… that just leaves me.

     

    Q: But if they approached you, you would talk to them?
    I won’t be interested. Lots of things to be done out here at Bates.

     

    Q: What motivated you to shift to India after all these years?
    When I joined Bates about three years ago, the agenda as the regional creative head was to improve the creative health of the agency through the right kind of hiring, inspiration and hands-on involvement. Bates, historically, has had some big clients and pockets of excellence with sporadic good stuff coming out. But overall the network’s creative health has not been good. My additional role is that of Chairman, Bates India, and it was the duality of the role that attracted me to this job. Which is to get back in touch with India and yet have a bigger role than what I was doing at O&M Singapore. So my first job was to ensure that we had the right kind of creative leadership in every place. Once that got done in the last three years, we started looking at India as a very important market for us. And India is a place where I can make a visible difference because of my equity out here, because of all the years I have spent here. And that’s why I decided to locate here.

     

    Q: Cut to the past. Why did you leave India in the first place? You were Piyush’s blue-eyed boy at O&M. Doing phenomenally well in the agency.
    In the latter part of the nineties, Neil French had taken over as the regional creative director for Asia. On his first trip to India he saw some print work I had done for Cadbury Perk and he was pretty impressed. He cancelled a lunch meet with Ranjan Kapur and Piyush Pandey and took me out for lunch instead! (Smiles.) And he asked that I move to O&M Malaysia. The agency was going down, and they desperately needed a creative head to come and build the place.

     

    Q: Am sure Piyush must have been upset with your decision to move.
    Neil spoke to Piyush and Ranjan about this. And they called me for a morning cup of tea on a Sunday. They said Neil sees this as a good opportunity for me. They said they wouldn’t like me to go, but wouldn’t stand in the way either. I thought about it for a long time because I was heading O&M Bombay which was 50 percent of the agency’s business, we were riding high. Anyway, I did a recce trip to Malaysia, and the O&M office turned out to be a small one, though they gave me a red carpet welcome. I came back and thought I would never join such a small place. Then they started writing to me, saying they wanted me out there. You know Anil, I believe in destiny, I believe things happen for a reason. Also, the charm of the unknown has always enticed and fascinated me. The discomfort of going to a new place, that too to a place that has nothing to offer, appealed to me. The same thing happened when I left Lintas to join Ogilvy in 1991. Ogilvy was nothing at that time and the only remarkable thing they had done was the ‘Mile Sur’ film.

     

    Q: But then you eventually left Ogilvy and joined Bates.
    Again, for the same reasons. Helping a place to shape up has always excited me. Maybe it’s to do with a big creative ego, though otherwise I don’t have an ego at all.

     

    Q: The key difference between working in an international market and working in India…
    In India we work a lot on the individual, friendship level. It’s like if I know Thakraney really well, and he is the agency and I am Unilever, then Thakraney and Dabral will work together and create a campaign. Things happen on a very personal level here. In the international markets… and you can call it professionalism or stuck-up-ness… there are still a lot of procedures and processes that get followed. I prefer a combination of the two methods. We are a very chaotic, free-for-all nation and at times that free-for-all-ness helps creativity. But it also brings with it a sense of indiscipline. And this affects the execution of work, that’s where we fall flat. Obviously, in the last 12 years, I have learnt something that’s different from India. And I am trying to get some systems in place in the way we work out here at Bates.

     

    Q: When you first came to Bates India, the good and the bad things you noticed…
    (Thinks carefully.) Creatively we have not been consistent. There is potential but the realisation is not happening. We need to correct that so that our number of hits increases.

     

    Q: The significant changes you’ve made in the last few months.
    I want to make this an agency of people who are not just creative but are intelligent, aware and knowledgeable creative people. True creativity needs you to be curious. The curiosity bit I want to feed as much as possible. Last weekend I invited a film chief from the National Institute of Design to conduct a film appreciation workshop. And it had nothing to do with advertising. Sometime later we’ll have another kind of workshop. Basically, I want to tell people that advertising is the only profession where you don’t learn things from the inside, it will all come from the outside.

     

    Q: What do you look for when you hire creative people?
    Besides obviously the work, I look for a certain amount of authenticity. It might be difficult to get that in a meeting, but you do get a sense of it. It’s very important for any creative person to let his or her guard down.

     

    Q: As a client, why should I choose Bates?
    We are the ‘change’ agency. It’s about making strategies that are based on the shifts that are happening within the product category or within the target audiences. And based on the cultural shifts that are happening within the society. We call that positioning ‘Change Engage’. It means a changed thinking which leads to work that has a two-way communication with the consumers. For example, you saw what happened during the Anna Hazare movement. It was about the power of people coming together really fast and having an opinion about something. Or for example what happened with the Kolaveri video. It’s the power of tech that consumers now have. This means advertising has to change in the way we approach things. We need to make an impact on a consumer for him to start conversing or debating about our brands. The other thing is we are an Asia-only network, so we are still small when compared to a JWT or an Ogilvy. So there’s a certain amount of nimbleness and spontaneity that we have. Also, on a personal front, the wealth of experience I bring with my Indian and global experience.

     

    Q: Why hasn’t Bates really taken off in India?
    It’s to do with the fast changes that have taken place. It’s been only about four years since it has emerged as Bates. Before that all the mergers were taking place. First it was Enterprise, then came David. Also there have been personnel changes. Subhash Kamath left for BBH, I have come now, Sandeep Pathak has taken over as CEO. It’s been going through a churn. It’s only now that we have begun to feel settled.

     

    Q: What’s all this about Smashing Pumpkins and Cabbage Curry?
    Smashing Pumpkins is something I coined for our annual creative conference. We would smash pumpkins at the event. Bates’s earlier colour was pumpkin yellow. And I said we need to be doing smashing work, so that’s how it got coined. Cabbage Curry Fridays I had started in Malaysia and Singapore. Every Friday we would have a chat session or a presentation which had to do with the culture of curiosity I was talking about earlier. I want to tell people that if you don’t have a passion beyond advertising, then your mind will become like a cabbage. (Laughs.)

     

    Q: What’s happening on your movie script?
    There are a couple of ideas in my head. I have started working on it but it’s been going very slowly. I have a story in mind that’s solid and substantial. It will not be a time-pass flick.

     

    Q: I last met you in the late nineties when you were a young, happy creative director. I have a feeling you have become a tough guy since.
    I have changed over the years to an extent which is required to run a place. But otherwise I am not as tough as I should be. Laughter to me is the biggest asset an ad agency can have.

     

    Q: I think in India you’ll have to kick ass at times.
    I totally agree with you.

     

    Q: Would it be right to call Piyush Pandey your mentor?
    He is one of the people. There would be others too like Neil French.

     

    Q: Do you at times feel you should never have left India? Bates is a small player, and had you stuck on, you could have been the captain of a very large ship.
    Not at all. I am extremely happy and I feel very lucky. That I did go and work in Malaysia and Singapore. The exposure that gave me towards communications, advertising, work, etc, couldn’t have happened in India. Also when I was abroad there were offers to head a large organisation here, and those offers won’t run away anywhere. I totally believe in destiny, I wasn’t meant to be here for those 12 years.

     

    Q: One creative chief of a large Indian agency you most admire.
    (Thinks for a long time.) I like the way Aggie (Agnello Dias) and Padhi (Santosh Padhi) have gone about their work. The way they have approached business, the kind of work they are doing. Their small size has not held them back. In terms of the large agency Chairmen, is there anyone I envy or admire? Well, no, not really.

  • Jaisurya Das highlights the signs when it's time to move on and get your career in order

    5 indicators of when it’s time you should start looking for a new job

    By Jaisurya Das

     

    1. Your boss smiles through the day… he probably found a new job!

    Tough to ask him (or her) actually but in all probability the smile is an indicator of things to come. Either the company has just decided to make him the big boss or he decided to call it a day and found his dream job. Or may be it’s that Hawaii vacation at someone else’s expense.

     

    2. Everyone is spending a lot of time chatting on their machines… the place just got too complacent!
    It’s nice isn’t it when even the field force can actually enjoy the luxury of a nice office and the computers. Wonder how long the company will survive. May be a good idea to check if the leaders are playing too. It’s career time dude. Don’t play, work. If not here then elsewhere before your career disk needs a hard reboot.

     

    3. Your customers give you a cup of tea and discuss the political climate… they don’t want to do business with you!
    Good customers and relationships that you believe can bail you out on performance and suddenly you notice lengthy meetings have essentially covered everything from the telecom scam to the Anna Hazare campaign and even the diving stockmarket. Hey, weren’t you there to discuss work? Take the hint: business with you is a no-no now for them!

     

    4. You believe you have learnt everything there is to the business… it’s about time you start meeting people sharper than you!
    Increasingly popular knowledge syndrome as I call it and interestingly causing even the larger companies getting hit. Often this belief spreads like a virus too. Let me tell you from experience. Three decades living on media probably taught me just about the basics . One learns by the hour now, be it audience, brand or just competition!
    Start talking to people around you.. You might just get a realistic view of what it takes to succeed….

     

    5. You have the ‘just got my dream job’ smile even after a year of work… You just stopped working!

    Ah ! Life is made isn’t it and your living on cloud nine thinking of your next holiday, the latest Tab and the evening cocktail and the swanky new lounge down the road. Have you realised that it’s also about time that you delivered on your targets and KRAs. Wonder if you still remember them or is it the delicately flavoured jamaican dark rum that just too prominence ?

     

    And, yes, if you decide to move on, sit back and think of all your successes and failures in the last job. It may just become your best operations manual for a great career ahead. Best wishes.

     

    Jaisurya Das is a veteran mediaperson and chief mentor and founder, Xanadu Consulting Group. A popular mentor and counsellor, he is Contributing Editor, MxMIndia, and guides readers at Dear MxM every week (see: http://www.mxmindia.com/dear-mxm)

  • 'The documentary is about an evolving system of corruption that needs to be countered urgently.'

    Just below the surface: Filmmaker Umesh Aggarwal

    By Johnson Napier

     

    Dignitaries and members of the fourth estate may have found it a pill too bitter to swallow at Mumbai’s Madame Cama Hall, Kala Ghoda on Saturday when they were given the lowdown on the murky deals that transpire in the worlds of print and broadcast journalism. The affair was a documentary screening by Umesh Aggarwal, director of News & Entertainment Television on ‘Brokering News-the inside story of paid news.’

     

    Umesh Aggarwal talked to MXM India on the motivation and challenges encountered behind the making of the film, and what stance th industry needs to take to curb the menace. Excerpts:

     

    Q: What was the motivating factor for attempting to unveil hideous information prevailing in the news broadcast and print sector?

    For the last few years the manner in which news reports were presented in Newspapers and on News channels had become a topic of joke. It was not merely restricted to my group of friends but many people had started taking news reports with a pinch of salt.

     

    A copy that was sensational, almost making most news items “entertaining” had become a norm of the day. There were various examples where a serious follower of news could catch contradicting reports in the same newspaper/channel. The question was whether news organisations owed any answer to their readers/viewers.

     

    During 2009 elections, News media blatantly partnered with politicians and political parties. The entire journalist community was aware of what was going on but no one raised a voice. Perhaps, the Press Council & others had no teeth or intentions to rock the boat.

     

    As far as I can remember The Hindu was the only paper that allowed space for a debate on Paid News. Articles written by Late Shri Prabhash Joshi, &  P Sainath raised valid questions. Yet “market leaders” refused to touch the story. In early 2010, Outlook published a cover story “Paid News of India”. While reading that story I could visualise a film.

     

    I started following the story carefully. Just by scratching the surface a dark side of media was right in front of me.

    Every aspect of news be it political, business, sports or entertainment had a price tag.

    Even panel discussions on an important national issue were ‘fixed”. Guests were invited to give the discussion a particular slant. Selection of guests wasn’t dictated by the editorial policy of the group but there were other considerations.

    I thought that it was only English press that indulged in paid news. I was wrong. The problem was and is worse at the vernacular media. I was aghast to know that one of the most respected newspapers in north India actually auctioned its bureau. The highest bidder was made to pay to the group, he was also expected to run the bureau and pay salaries. In lieu of all this… all his stories straight went to the press.

    I had the notion that business journos were corrupt. It turned out that all industrialists cultivate political journos as well because they are the ones close to the powerful politicians – and they are the ones who broker deals.

    During the last 5 years most of the vernacular news channels were launched while elections were round the corner. It wasn’t merely to catch eyeballs but it was discussed openly during editorial meets that how political parties could be tapped (or trapped) for resources. These horror stories are not a products of my imagination, they came from the horse’s mouth. Many journalists shared their experiences, yet they couldn’t come on record.

    Political parties, corporate houses & event managers have devised newer ways to “buy” positive reports. At press conferences journalists are expected to drop their visiting cards. According to their position/ status a gift will be delivered to them. Not only that this gift can be exchanged for hard cash at designated outlets. Can you imagine journalists indulging in such practices?

    The final straw was when the two-member subcommittee of PCI submitted its report on Paid News, and it was scuttled. I somehow managed a get hold of the original report. I knew I had to make a film. Why should media be allowed to remain absolutely unaccountable for its actions?

     

    Q: What were the imminent challenges you faced in producing the documentary?

    The first challenge was to decide “who is this film for?” Journalists already knew what was happening… others though cared for news but “would they be interested / do they bother how ownership patterns, management dictating editorial staff/ business deals etc. impact news?”

    The next challenge was how to make it a visual narrative. Interviewing 5–6 people & converting it into a roundtable discussion was a format that didn’t appeal to me. And visuals narrative required great amount of research, & sourcing of news clippings.

    And there were people who agreed to come on camera but when we reached there to shoot they developed cold feet & we returned.

    And of course there always was this inner conflict of being a whistleblower to your own community…my connections with television news runs deep. Lots of my dear friends work with newspapers & channels but, finally, the urge to make this film went beyond all such personal conflicts.

     

    Q: Were you, at any point in time, influenced by people who were being spoken of in the documentary?

    No. No one ever tried to influence us. In fact most of the journalists were forthcoming in sharing their experiences but only OFF CAMERA.

     

    Q: Did you make any attempt to contact or gather information from those individuals or organisations who were being named/accused in the documentary?

    We contacted them. Either they were “travelling” or refused politely while wishing us Good Luck.

     

    Q: Cannot this documentary act as solid proof and be submitted to the concerned authorities to solicit action on the wrongdoers?

    That’s not for me to decide. The film is in public domain. Besides, this is not a film about individual wrongdoers – this is more about an evolving system of corruption that needs to be countered urgently if news media has to retain its credibility. Personally, I would be happier if the documentary has a preventive impact rather than a corrective one.

     

    Q: While a good start has been made, according to you what does the industry need to do to stem such a malpractice?

    I feel, there are enough reasons for us to be proud of Indian media. Yet its credibility is being questioned and there are valid reasons for that. Today it is run like any other business, yet it is not accountable to any one like other businesses are. A mere question about its conduct is treated as a threat to free press or freedom of expression. Those who advocate self regulation must ask themselves whether self regulation is working! If it is not what steps are to be taken? Media has to allow itself to be questioned.

     

    Q: What is your message to the youth who want to pursue a career in the field of broadcast and journalism?

    Choose your icons carefully. Primarily it should be journalism that should attract them… money and glamour should be the accessory and not the uniform, it should be a part of the package & not the package itself.

     

    Q: A word on the next project that you seek to undertake?

    India becoming a hub of clinical trials… legally & illegally…

  • The veteran journalist on our media today & all that's changed since he was active both on and off air

    Primetime debates an excuse for doing TV cheap: Mark Tully

     

     

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    [youtube width=”350″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RilcOb3GrQ[/youtube]
    [youtube width=”350″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdgXFlJ8g1g[/youtube]

    He likes to refer to himself as ‘British who is much influenced by India’. Often called an ‘expert on India’, Sir Mark Tully is famous for his extensive reportage of the changing social, political and economic trends in India as the BBC India Correspondent and as BBC Bureau Chief later. He quit the BBC in 1994 after an argument with the then BBC Director General, John Birt, where Mr Tully accused him of running the corporation by fear. But his deep-rooted familiarity with India and its culture made him stay on here even after his term ended with the BBC.

     

    Sir Mark Tully has co-authored and authored quite a few books on India, his latest being Non Stop India which he released in the capital last week.

    He is currently the regular presenter of the weekly programme, ‘Something Understood’ on BBC Radio 4.

    In this interview with MxM India at his Nizammuddin residence, the veteran journalist shared his views on what he thinks of the Indian media today. Mr Tully also shared some instances from his BBC days to point out the changes that the media has seen over the years. While he seemed extremely hopeful of the print media, he felt there is a need to hold back the expansion in Indian television to see what’s going on really. “Technology,” he says, “is being badly used to overload journalists, particularly in multimedia organizations, to make journalists into radio, television and online journalists at the same time, with the net result that they have absolutely no time to find out what’s going on.”

     

    And although he believes that India has a great future, he urges India to stop following the western model and to create its own way forward.

     

    Q: Much has changed from the time you wrote No Full Stops in India. If you were to write that book now, what would change?

    I think the big thing that would change would be that India is in a very different position economically than it was before, and India is in a very different position in what I call ‘morale terms’ as well. At the end of the ’90s, things were looking very bleak in India, we’d had twenty years or more of Neta-Babu Raj and the economy was stagnant basically because of that neta-babu raj and all the bureaucratic controls that existed, particularly controls on investment and on doing business. So that would be very different. But one thing I would say which would not be different would be the emphasis on that India must find its own way ahead and not simply ape and follow American or the western model.

     

    Q: The Indian media has gone through an explosion in the last five to 10 years. As someone who dominated the airwaves just before that, what’s your take on the current explosion?

    Well I don’t think I ever dominated the airwaves but what has happened basically is that television has taken over in a big way and sadly radio, the media which I love best and which I think is a very very important media, has not been allowed to develop properly because the government has restrained control over news and current affairs. Television has expanded and I believe that what is now needed with television is to sort of in a way call a hold to the expansion and look at what is going on on television and see whether improvements cannot now be made in that.

     

    Q: We have had a Press Council Chairman Justice M Katju virtually damning the media and media persons. There are many who agree with him but say he’s got no right to say it. As an outsider now, do you agree with Justice Katju’s views?

    I think that maybe he overstated the case, probably he did. But I don’t think we should react hysterically as journalists. I think that we should examine ourselves and see what is going wrong and there are things which are going wrong. And the first thing I would say is our failure to stand together to resist the onslaught of commercial pressures which have turned television and newspapers, and even radio into commercial rather than news organizations. Secondly, I think that we journalists, very much need to examine the way we exercise the editorial function. There isn’t, particularly in television, enough editing going on. I’ll give you one example, the Bombay attacks, if the editor in the studio had exercised tight control over reporters in the field then we wouldn’t have gotten into the mess that we did over the Bombay attacks. That’s just one example. Time and again, you see examples of shows which drift on, breaking news which drifts on without any apparent editorial control. And thirdly, what I find whenever I ask anyone in television, whether there are reviews of what has gone on the day before or a week before so that people can learn from their mistakes, so that you can criticize and benefit from that criticism, I’m always told that reviews don’t take place. When I worked in BBC World Service Radio, we used to have two meetings regularly every day; part of that meeting was looking forward to the news we would be covering that day or expected to have to cover and part of it was very much a review, and a critical review of what we’d done the day before.

     

    Q: Your views on the long-drawn-out debates with the usual suspects as panelists on Indian television prime time news?

    Well, as someone who is sometimes on these panels, frankly I am amazed that there are so many of them. There is a stage army of people really who come on to these panels and they always get politicians, and the political parties send the same people every time. And I think this is largely an excuse for doing television on the cheap. I personally believe that we should have other ways of presenting the news, discussing the news than endless panel discussions, and of course one way which you would have seen nearly often enough is through news and current affairs documentaries.

     

    Q: And while Indian media has gone through this explosion, how would you think the British media has seen the last decade?

    Well I think that the British media has changed a great deal in the last decade because of course of the media which you are in, the internet and the electronic media, that has had a very considerable effect on newspapers. Newspapers have been the main victims really and you’ve got a situation in London for instance, where a historic paper like the ‘Evening Standard’ is now given away free because it couldn’t get enough circulation to attract advertising. I think the commercial impact has been there in Britain as well. And the other thing I think change has come to over very much, which I think is a pity, is that there is far more of correspondence giving you the news in conversations with presenters rather than properly crafted news stories; and very often television just turns into bad radio. The other day I saw a comedian do a wonderful imitation of these dreadful interviews where clearly the presenter has warned the correspondent of what the question is going to be. So the presenter very earnestly asks him a question like, ‘Is the rupee going to fall further?’ And the correspondent says, ‘Yes, yes you are quite right, that is the big question.’ That sort of thing rather than the properly crafted news stories. And also like in India, because it is so much easier to broadcast from the site, there is too much broadcasting from the site now and too much repetition. I was watching the night that Gaddafi was killed, and you saw the same pictures going round and round and round.

     

    Q: Since the time you were active and on the field in India, what do you think has been the changes that the political class has had towards the media?

    I think the political classes have become more organized, they have these spokesmen now and all that. I think some of them rather like coming on the Tele, they weren’t so interested in coming on the radio. When I was with the BBC, it was a strange fluke of history really because the transistor radio had come and so radio listening was very widespread but all the listeners had was to listen to the All India Radio. So lots of them turned to the BBC as an alternative source of news and we became in effect, a domestic news broadcaster. So that meant that the politicians were much more concerned about the BBC than I think they are now, their attention is much more on the local media now.

     

    Q: And vice versa? Journalists towards the politicians? After all they are all in the hunt for the exclusive?

    I’m not sure that there has been any big change about that except one thing, I wouldn’t say they are in the business of exclusives, they are in the business of much less worthwhile, which is ‘bites’. Time and again, when I go to a book launch or something like that, quite often a young journalist would come up to me and say, ‘can you give me a bite?’ That didn’t use to happen nearly as much. And we used to have many more set-piece interviews. I must in my time have done five or six interviews with the Prime Minister, with Indira Gandhi, I interviewed Rajiv several times, I interviewed Morarji, I made a whole film about Morarji. Now you don’t see those set-piece interviews and the big leaders don’t seem to have as many set-piece press conferences as they used to have.

     

    Q: What’s your view on the Indian print media? With the breaking news constituency now clearly dominated by news television, has Indian print been able to adapt itself to the new times?

    I think that the Indian newspapers do seem to have adapted quite well, circulation figures as far as I know are doing very well. What there has been I think which is very important and very good thing really, is there has been a realization of the power and influence of the media in languages other than English. Even twenty years ago, general assumption of advertisers was why bother to advertise in a Hindi or Punjabi or Bengali media because people who read those papers, they don’t have much money, they can’t buy what we advertise. So all the stress was on the English media. Now if you look at the top ten newspapers, you will find there is only one English newspaper in that, and that was the Times of India. So I think this is a good and healthy development which has taken place.

     

    Q: Do you think a News of the World-like scandal could ever happen in India?

    Yes it could happen anywhere. I’m not saying that I have evidence that people are tapping phones here but there’s obviously a risk that journalists will fall into that. If you take the whole question of sting operations which comes fairly near that, there have been cases In India where sting operations have been mounted against the wrong person or not for proper reasons and that has caused problems and we do know perfectly well that in the local press, in remote areas, sting operations are sometimes used as a way of blackmailing people. In my view, sting operations should only be used when there is a story of very considerable importance and there is no other way of getting at it.

     

    Q: Rupert Murdoch isn’t a bad name here in India… our values are different.

    Perhaps he’s not a bad name in India because he isn’t a name here really. Yes he is involved marginally in television here but you don’t have Murdoch newspapers here and you don’t have a channel like Fox News either. And you haven’t had a phone-tapping scandal like the News of the World one. So maybe he is comparatively unknown here, although maybe he wouldn’t like to hear that.

     

    Q: And what about our corporate sector? You have written a whole chapter celebrating the Tatas. Did the Radia tape controversy impact your views on the group? Especially Mr Ratan Tata?

    Well that’s all very muddy and I mentioned in my chapter about Ratan Tata and I mentioned that his voice was heard but I didn’t come to any conclusion about it. The reason why I’ve written about Tatas in my book was something which some people haven’t quite understood. It wasn’t really to investigate them and say that are they good or are they bad, what is good about them, what is bad about them. The thing was really to bring to the attention of people, the remarkable achievements of the Tata group once they were freed from the restraints of the Neta-Babu raj and of the license permit raj. So that was the intention, to demonstrate the enormous ability that there is in India if only we can get governance right. And also to get into the book some criticism of the government and bad governance by business because I always contend that if only business will raise its voice against bad governance then we may get something done about bad governance; because if business doesn’t flourish, then the economy doesn’t grow and all the politicians seem to be interested in is the economy growing. But I would just add one thing there, I don’t believe that business should be able to dictate the policies of the government; I do believe that business needs to play a role in a balanced economy in which all sorts of other elements are also playing a balanced role.

     

    Q: The fact is that the news media is dictated by technology these days. Is that a good thing or bad?

    Well, you know, I didn’t think things in life to be wholly good or wholly bad. There are advantages in technology and disadvantages. The great disadvantage I think of technology now is that it is the ability to transmit news on the spot is being badly misused. It’s being badly misused by the endless badly edited breaking news syndrome. It’s being badly misused by this overuse of this syndrome of a presenter talking to a journalist on the spot. And it’s being badly used to overload journalists, particularly in multimedia organizations, to make journalists into radio, television and online journalists at the same time, with the net result that they have absolutely no time to find out what’s going on. So the ability to communicate in any way is of course valuable but we always forget that there can be over-communication. I think many people spend far too much time in front of screens rather than meeting people face to face. Recently I did a radio programme about the difference between talking to people on the net and talking to people face to face.

     

    Q: India doesn’t have any news on private radio (except of course the government saying that private FM saying you can take All India Radio feeds). Do you think that once in, there could be yet another dramatic change in the way we will see news?

    Yes, I think there would be a dramatic change, I think it will make a difference to FM radio. It would give FM radio many more listeners. If you take the example of Britain, the No. 1 political show of the day is not on television, it’s on radio; the one which sets the agenda is the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. If you go to Britain and you talk to a lot of people, for many people it’s almost become fashionable to say ‘I don’t watch television but I do listen to radio’. Radio is a hugely powerful medium and of course news can be prepared to broadcast on FM radio, it will make a big difference to radio and I think there will be many people who’ll turn to FM radio for their news.

     

    Q: And one final question: Telling a story on radio versus telling a story on television?

    Well I think telling a story on radio is much harder than telling a story on television. But, and I firmly believe this, the pictures on radio are better than the pictures on television. And the pictures you tell/show on radio, you describe on radio, the stories you tell on radio are much more likely to stick in people’s heads than television shows are. The art of radio broadcasting, in many forms of radio broadcasting, is to make each listener think that you’re speaking to them individually and I think you can do that in a much deeper and more meaningful way on radio than you can do on television.

  • How to cultivate the client – and nourish your business.

    The Anchor: 5 ways to maintain a healthy client-agency relationship

    By Akshar Peerbhoy

     

    #1 No is a simple two-letter word. Learn it, memorize it and say it!

    “No” really is the hardest thing to tell a client, right up there with “goodbye” and “sorry”. However, if you don’t get yourself to say it, the consequences could be much harder to deal with! If you can confidently say, “No” and live by it, your client will actually respect you and the agency, far more than a desperate-to-please yes-man!

     

    #2 Set clear expectations.

    Like marriage, you should always know what you’re getting into when you sign a client on. If you don’t, then set your cards on the table right at the beginning. He might ask you for the moon, but be frank and tell him just how far you are ready to reach out for him.

     

    #3 Under-promise and over-deliver.

    When you sit in the client’s boardroom with the suited lot, don’t be over-eager to display your grey matter and spill all your beans at once. And, don’t promise the afternoon’s deadline. No matter how passionate and eager you may be, it’s always the best strategy to promise him the lamp post and then deliver the stars.

     

    #4 Be his best friend.

    If you can share a drink with your client and talk about anything under the sun, except your work, you are probably going to find your rightful place in his good books as much as at his corner office. Ask him about his pending promotion or tell him where to eat on his next vacation in Hong Kong. He’ll remember to forget your few mishaps and missed deadlines, in time!

     

    #5 Remember the three Vs – Value, Value and Value.

    The ultimate test of any client-agency relationship is always reserved for the end of a contract term. This is the time when the agency folk succumb to excessive nailbiting and nervous breakdowns. The strongest survive, not only because of points 1-4, but also because they have delivered value to the client, time and again. Value beyond savings, free media space and extra ideas. Value as defined by the client. Even if it means being at the meeting 20 minutes earlier each time. Or finding his vendor for him. Do it, it will save you a lot of trouble on D-day!

     

    Akshar Peerbhoy is Director at Maa Communications.

  • India is a vast, complicated, multi-layered nation. There is room for every kind of business out here. Co-existence is indeed the soul of this nation.

    Hard Knocks: The retail FDI tamasha

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Total bullshit is going on over the subject of FDI in the multi-brand retail market. India is a vast, complicated, multi-layered nation. There are all sorts of market segments out here, based on all sorts of classifications… social, economic, regional, etc… each with its own needs and behavioural patterns. There is room for every kind of business out here. Co-existence is indeed the soul of this nation.

     

    Take a drive down Bandra in Mumbai. At a traffic signal, affectionately parked next to each other, you will notice a Benz, a Nano, a Luna and a bicycle. Ditto in a Punjab village. A loaded farmer would flaunt his latest Rolex. While one of his minders is eyeing that brand new 20 inch colour TV. Similarly, there is a market for Tesco. And a market for Nilgiris super market. And a market for the guy who runs the local kirana shop. Because there are various market segments they cater to. And even within each segment, a consumer would have different needs at different times. A housewife will want to indulge in a super store. But back home in the evening she will call her kirana guy for six eggs and pickle.

     

    And if at all there is increased competition, isn’t that a good thing for the consumers? Retailers will have to improve their offerings and service. The grocer in my building complex is a smart chappie, he’s already seen the future. Not only does he promptly send me maida and bread, he also helps with paying my electricity bill and offers to get appliances repaired, for a small fee.

     

    So basically, the whole tamasha is about the opposition parties trying to show the Congress-led UPA in a poor light. By scuttling their ideas. And the only thing they’ve managed to achieve is to get the anti-corruption bill off the agenda, as the parliament fights over retail chains.

     

    Who would have thought Walmart could trump Anna Hazare. Happens only in India.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Quite liked this ad from Chrysler. Talking tough, talking steel, talking business. Detroit’s fighting back, and how! Also, aggro, spirited singer Eminem is the perfect guy to represent them. Good one.

  • The ninth edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, set to take place on December 2-3 in New Delhi, will see a lineup of big names speaking on the theme of 'Keeping Pace with a Changing World'.

    Power-packed sessions at HT Leadership Summit

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leaders from around the world will congregate in the country’s capital, as the ninth edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit takes place on December 2-3, 2011 in New Delhi. The theme of the summit this year is ‘Keeping Pace with a Changing World’.

     

    On the occasion, Sanjoy Narayan, Editor in Chief, Hindustan Times, said, “In modern India, change is constant. In the last two decades, it is said, India has changed a lot. So has the world around us… The changes that India faces are, thus, on several fronts – some domestic, others global. And all of these changes throw up for India the challenge of keeping pace with them. It is with this in mind that the 9th edition of the annual Hindustan Times’ Leadership Summit this year offers a platform for debating these issues, to which there are, of course, no easy answers.”

     

    The annual summit has become a powerful forum bringing together leaders from all walks of life and encouraging interaction and debate on the burning issues of the moment. The inaugural session at the summit will be that of Pranab Mukherjee who will share his thoughts on the opportunities and challenges facing India.

     

    It will be followed by an innovative session on education trends from around the world – ‘The Education Prism: Global Perspectives’. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of India, Dr John A Quelche CBE, Distinguished Professor of International Management, Vice President and Dean, CEIBS and Gregory W Cappelli, Co-CEO, Apollo Group and Chairman, Apollo Global, will be speaking at this session. The Keynote Address of the day will be given by Tun Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, and he will be speaking about ‘The Challenges of Change in the 21st Century’.

     

    The other speakers on day one will be Kaushik Basu and Norman Pearlstine, Chief Content Officer, Bloomberg LP, who will be discussing the global economic crisis; husband-wife team Carol and Ken Adelman, who make up Movers & Shakespeares, will be sharing management lessons from Shakespeare’s plays in a repeat of their hugely successful session from the World Economic Forum at Davos earlier this year.

     

    The highly anticipated penultimate session of the day will see economics maverick Dr Steven Levitt, author of the popular Freakonomics books and professor at the University of Chicago, share his unique perspective in a session entitled ‘Unconventional Thinking for an Unpredictable World’.

     

    The closing session on the first day will look at the hot-button topic of the Arab Summer and will see Dr Paul Salem, Director, Carnegie Middle East Center and Emile Hokayem, Senior Fellow for Regional Security, The Internal Institute for Strategic Studies, discussing its causes and consequences.

     

    The second day of the summit will start with the keynote address by LK Advani, who will share his views on ‘India’s Yatra into the Future’. Mr Advani’s session will be followed by a special session led by the former Prime Ministers of Australia and Spain – John Howard and Jose Maria Aznar – on the recent social and economic upheavals around the globe.

     

    Actor-director Farhan Akthar and actor Vidya Balan will chat with Vir Sanghvi in the popular Hindi Film Industry session.

     

    Other speakers on day two are Mehbooba Mufti, President, Jammu and Kashmir Prople’s Democratic Party, Asfandyar Wali Khan, President, Awami National Party, Pakistan and Dr Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy, in a session titled ‘Settling Disputes for a Common Cause’.

     

    Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Wikileaks, will be addressing the delegates via video on the second day.

     

    The final session of the summit will be addressed by Chief Ministers Sheila Dixit (Delhi), Prithviraj Chavan (Maharashtra) and Dr Raman Singh (Chattisgarh), who will speak about the connection between Personality Power and Good Governance.

     

    The sessions will be chaired by eminent leaders of the media world such as Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Suhasini Haidar, Karan Thapar, Vir Sanghvi and Sanjoy Narayan.

     

    The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2011 is guaranteed to bring a fresh new perspective on the critical issues and problems we find ourselves facing today. By leveraging the power of debate and discussion, this ninth edition of the Summit will tackle the challenges of change with insight and clarity.