MxMIndia

Author: mxmadmin

  • The architecture & identity of the new DDB Mudra Group will be shared with the media on February 28.

    DDB Mudra announces new ‘A’ team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO and MD DDB Mudra Group announced on February 23 that the restructuring of the Mudra Group is complete, and shared a slew of changes in responsibility of his ‘A’ team, pursuant to the Group’s integration with Omnicom and DDB Worldwide.

     

    The architecture & identity of the new DDB Mudra Group will be shared with the media at a press meet scheduled on February 28, in the presence of John Zeigler, Chairman & CEO – DDB Asia Pacific, India & Japan. The effective date for the change of identity and the roll-out will be March 1.

     

    With regard to his senior team, Mr Kamath announced the following:

    Rajiv Sabnis will be President – DDB Mudra Group and will report to him.  He will be responsible for building the DDB Mudra and Mudra brands in Mumbai and the Western Region. He will also be responsible for initiating integration projects and business for DDB MudraMax from the existing clients within DDB Mudra and Mudra.

     

    Ranji Cherian will be President – DDB Mudra Group and will also report to him. He will be responsible for building the DDB Mudra and Mudra brands in the South. He will be responsible for initiating integration projects and business for DDB MudraMax from the existing clients within DDB Mudra and Mudra in the South.

     

    Anurag Bansal will be Director Finance, DDB Mudra Group.   He will now function as deputy to the Group CFO, Dilip Upadhyaya.

     

    Sudarshan Banerjee, apart from his role as Head, Mudra Ahmedabad, will now also be Director – Business Development, DDB Mudra Group and will report to the Group Chief Operating Officer, Pratap Bose.

     

    After a successful stint in Mudra West, Arijit Ray (currently President – Mudra West) will now work with Mr Kamath on a new assignment in the DDB Mudra Group, possibly in the DDB Asia-Pacific network.

     

    “With these changes in place and with Mandeep Malhotra (Mandy) driving the Experiential, Retail and OOH Agenda, Aneil Deepak (Andee) leading the planning and creative function in DDB MudraMax as National Head – Ideas, N.P. Sathyamurthy driving the MudraMax media agenda, Venkat Mallik running RAPP and Tribal DDB, Soumitra Sen and his fast expanding DDB Health & Lifestyle practice, Ashish Mishra in Water, and Radha in Maatra, Vandana Das joining us as President – DDB Mudra Group in Delhi in mid March, Sonal Dabral coming on board as the Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, from  March 1, and Pratap working closely with me as the Group COO and  driving the entire New Business Agenda, I look forward to exciting days ahead,”  said Mr Kamath.

     

    DDB Mudra Group isIndia’s largest integrated marketing communications and services network. Its customized and collaborative approach helps its clients build valuable and enduring brands. The group’s capabilities span Advertising, Media, Digital & Data marketing, Experiential marketing (Promotions, Events, Rural), Trade marketing, Youth marketing, Localization & Pre-Media services and Brand Strategy & Design consultancy.

     

    With over 1,100 employees and 26 offices, offering direct contact across 1,75,000 villages, 4000 towns, 3500 schools and nearly 7 million students, the DDB Mudra Group was India’s most awarded agency network at Cannes, Spikes and Abbys among others in 2011.

     

  • INMA World Congress will hold a two-day conference on May 6-8 in Los Angeles on digital revenue models and transformation strategies.

    INMA in LA to host digital revenue models and transformation strategies

    By A Correspondent

     

    INMA World Congress will hold a two-day conference on May 6-8 in Los Angeles on digital revenue models and transformation strategies. Earl J Wilkinson, Executive Director and CEO INMA said, “We have a fantastic program coming together for the INMA World which will be pushing our industry to identify new growth paths and revenue models under the theme “New Oxygen, New Growth. This will be a conference of aspiration and strategy, and I encourage participation in a program that will transcend national borders and media boundaries.”

     

    Some of the speakers at the conference focusing on digital revenue models and transformation strategies include Digital Revenue Models of the Future by Michael Lamb, Principal, McKinsey & Company. As news publishers aim to price content and get consumers to pay for digital access, McKinsey & Company has developed a four-point look at what media companies should be prioritising in the next five years. They include consumer-paid content, next-generation premium display advertising, how to build lead-generation networks, and video. Learn about the best practices across media companies and the strategies behind these best practices.

     

    Christian Unger, CEO, Ringier AG will talk on Digitisation, Diversification, and Entertainment. Ringier has a 180-year-old history of innovation. Recent years were all about the transformation from a traditional (print) publishing company to a digital and diversified media and entertainment house. This presentation will outline the course Ringier decided to take and experiences made on this journey. Ringier is a Switzerland-based media company with newspapers, magazines, and more in eight European countries as well as China and Vietnam.

     

    The Anatomy of Transformation will be delivered by Clark Gilbert, President and CEO, Deseret News Publishing Company. The Internet is forcing choices. If made definitively, these focusing decisions can lead to new growth and successful transformation. Most newspapers are unwilling to make these tough choices: inching their way down in print costs, still trying to cover every type of story, and trying to do both print and digital in the same organisation. The Deseret News has had unprecedented growth in both print and online areas by focusing its editorial emphasis on stories that are distinct to its voice for faith and family. This has enabled the company to double print circulation, launch a national Sunday, and create a separate digital division – leading to double-digit audience growth and three straight years of 50%+ online revenue growth. This session will focus on the organisation, financial, and content implications of a digital-first strategy.

     

    The early registration deadline is Friday, March 9.

     

  • Having worked on both sides, client and agency, Aniruddha Oka is in the perfect position to give us his point of view.

    The Anchor: 7 ways of building a successful agency-client relationship

    By Aniruddha Oka

     

    #1 Like any business relationship, a successful agency-client relationship stands on the basic pillars of involvement, trust, mutual respect, empathy, freedom and space.

     

    #2 Firstly, for a relationship to be successful it has to be a win-win situation in the long run. And it’s here that the empathy becomes an important factor where one needs to see from other’s window, of course without detriment to one self.

     

    #3 A successful relationship can be built on trust, integrity and an egalitarian platform where both the parties respect and acknowledge the need for each other. This is built only over time, and one needs to invest that.

     

    #4 Getting to know the client’s brands/products/services as much as he/she does, if not better, is essential. Specifically so for industrial/techno products. Get to know their clients and customers, because a different perspective and POV is what clients seek and respect their agency for. And without a deep understanding of client’s customers, an agency cannot provide one. Similarly, getting to know the agency key people as ‘people’ is critical for understanding their unique strengths to harness.

     

    #5 Respect each other’s capabilities and give freedom/space/time to do their best in what they are best at. Understand and appreciate that clients have their internal clients too, and so does the agency.

     

    #6 Be truthful, honest and frank while giving advice, since it helps both, clients and agency, in the long run. I’d rather be remembered for a piece of advice that’s not liked, than one that was not right but just pleased someone.

     

    #7 Meet off-line in a deliberate and planned way to give and take feedback. Encouragement works wonders and does not cost much, but surely goes far beyond.

     

    Aniruddha Oka is Chief Operating Officer, Quadrant Communications.

     

  • Discovery channel has been ranked third, ahead of all the Hindi general entertainment and sports channels. TLC has been ranked fifth, ahead of all lifestyle, English entertainment, English news and English movie channels.

    Discovery Channel and TLC ranked amongst the top 5 most trusted TV brands in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Discovery Network Asia Pacific’s two flagship channels in India – Discovery Channel and TLC have been ranked amongst the top 5 most trusted television brands in India by The Brand Trust Report 2012.

     

    Discovery channel has been ranked third, ahead of all the Hindi general entertainment and sports channels. TLC has been ranked fifth, ahead of all lifestyle, English entertainment, English news and English movie channels.

     

    Rahul Johri, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, South Asia said: “This recognition by the Brand Trust Report 2012 is a reflection of our strategy to entertain viewers across India with the highest quality and differentiated non-fiction programming like Curiosity, Man Woman Wild and Swamp Brothers. We would like to take this endorsement as a source of encouragement for our future endeavours in creating new genres, trends and programme formats that resonate with the Indian audience.”

     

    Discovery Channel, India’s leading non-fiction channel, entertains viewers in multiple languages with a range of programming across genres including natural history, survival, technology, engineering, wildlife and India. TLC, India’s favourite lifestyle channel, since its launch in 2004 presents refreshing entertainment on travel, food, fashion, luxury, wellness and many other exciting lifestyle trends.

     

    N Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory, publishers of The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2012 said: “It is prestigious that Discovery Channel and TLC have been ranked third and fifth, respectively, among television brands by influencers-consumers in the 15 cities of the study. The study reflects how deeply Discovery Channel and TLC are trusted as measured by a comprehensive Brand Trust study on TRA’s proprietary 61-components.”

     

    The Brand Trust Report (BTR), compiled and released annually is the result of an exhaustive survey undertaken by the Trust Research Advisory (TRA). The methodology includes BTR questionnaire which is designed to illuminate approximately 425 aspects of brand trust, of which 391 were directly brand-related. The study also questioned respondents about two other important brand trust influencers – brand recall and the trust-experience of brands, the latter of which they were requested to furnish reasons for.

     

    The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2012 research was conducted among 2718 ‘influencer’ respondents across 15 cities. The study was the most intensive undertaken on Brand Trust across the globe, generating nearly 2 million data points and 17,000 brands. Indian Statistical Institute helped create a statistically robust Brand Trust Index which has been used to hierarchically rank India’s brands on the basis of trust.

     

    Discovery Communications is the world’s number 1 non-fiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in 210 countries and territories. Discovery empowers people to explore their world and satisfy their curiosity through 130-plus worldwide networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Science and Discovery HD, as well as leading consumer and educational products and services, and a diversified portfolio of digital media services including HowStuffWorks.com.

     

    Trust Research Advisory (TRA), a part of the Comniscient Group, is a company dedicated to understanding and simplifying concepts related to Trust. TRA was conceived in 2008 to decipher, analyze and measure Brand Trust, to make it universally understood and easily applied. The organization’s focus areas include Research, Publishing, Trust Training, and Licensing.

     

  • ad:tech 2012 opened to a packed house in the capital, with digital experts from India and 15 other countries attending (Text & Video report).

    @ ad:tech: Go beyond clicks, marketers told

     

    Text and Video by Shruti Pushkarna

     

    ad:tech 2012 opened to a packed house today in the capital. The event boasted of digital experts not just from India but 15 other countries. Welcoming the delegates, Rammohan Sundaram, Event Chairman and Founder, CEO & Managing Director, Networkplay Media Pvt Ltd., said, “We promised to make this second edition of ad:tech in India bigger, better and bolder, and I’m excited to see such a huge turnout this year which is set to surpass our footfalls during the last ad:tech. This packed hall full of delegates, speakers and partners from so many different parts of the world, bringing in vast knowledge and experience, seems to have turned Delhi into the digital capital of the world!”

     

    Day 1 saw parallel panel sessions on brand strategy, performance marketing, retargeting and remarketing, branded content marketing, innovative technologies for improving brand engagement, advertising opportunities in online and social gaming, and video as a driver for user and advertiser engagement.

     

    Shiv Singh of Pepsico @ ad:tech 2012
    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnh9V8wlMd8[/youtube]

    Real-time Marketing in a Hyper-connected Ecosystem

    Shiv Singh, Global Head of Digital, PepisoCo made the first keynote presentation of the day on real-time marketing. With 30 billion status updates published on Facebook every month and 250 million tweets published everyday, Mr Singh reiterated the scary times a marketer is living in today. With this crazy amount of penetration where none of these people care as much about brands, a marketer’s job only becomes tougher. So to fight this, Mr Singh believes, “…brands need to use their budgets not just for distribution but for creating content and then depending on their users for distribution of that content.”

     

    Mr Singh touched upon a few themes in his presentation, one of them being, real-time marketing. To explain real-time marketing, Mr Singh cited the example of Lady Gaga walking down Fifth Avenue in NY sipping a Pepsi. For real time marketing to happen, he would have to be there, smart enough to click a picture or make a video clip, send it to the Pepsi content studio, who would then rework and upload it for billions of fans in the next few minutes. That explains in a sense the power of real time marketing. Mr Singh admitted, “The entire marketing cycle from strategy and insight to execution takes months and months, and so how can one compete with a tweet or a Facebook status update which is published in seconds. That’s where real-time marketing comes in.” He added, “But for real time marketing to happen, six essentials are – real time insights, real time response, real time content studio, real time co-creation, real time distribution and real time engagement.”

     

    Mr Singh also stressed on the need to focus on connectedness in real-time marketing. Brands he believes need to go beyond the role of sponsorship and play the role of an observer, a curator and a creator. He said, “What happens in the digital is seeping and pervading into every other industry. TV ads become trailers for larger digital experience. There is a need to weave social media in everything you do.” He concluded by stating that the ultimate goal for every marketer or brand is to create ‘value’ and value comes from not just transactions but human connections.

     

     

    Brands are Now Publishers

    The session looked at the pressing issue of ‘what is the need for brands today to embrace content?’ The panel was moderated by Ravi Kiran, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Friends of Ambition, and the panelists included- Wasim Basir, Director, Integrated Marketing Communications, Coca Cola India & South West Asia; Atit Mehta, Country Media Manager, Hindustan Unilever Limited; Nikhil Rungta, Country Marketing Head, Google India; Aditya Swamy, EVP & Business Head, MTV India.

     

    Ravi Kiran kicked off the debate with a fundamental question, “What is the compelling need for brands today to embrace content? What consumer behaviour change does one see that forces one to embrace content?” Mr Basir of Coca Cola had the answer ready when he said, “Consumers don’t need messages today. We have to tell them stories.” Mr Rungta echoed Mr Basir’s view when he admitted that consumers today are bombarded with so many messages that it is becoming increasingly important to tell a story to catch their attention. He said, “Marketing today needs to be inside the content. Users will go and find you if they have a need. The user today is saying to us, ‘don’t come knocking at my door’.”

     

    Atit Mehta also shared the worrying ad ignorance numbers that have gone up in the last two to three years. He said, “Advertisers today face a typical situation where they are spending more and reaching less.”

     

    The question to address seems, whether the consumer is ignoring the messages because of proliferation or whether the message is boring in itself. Mr Basir agreed that it is not like the earlier days when advertising was between content, rather today content is between advertising. So there is definitely a need to tell one’s message differently.

     

    The other point that was addressed in the session was if there is a need to create interactivity between consumers and brands. Mr Atit Mehta stated that interactivity is extremely critical today. He said, “I am spending on understanding and listening to the consumer. I want to know if the consumer understands what I am trying to tell him/her.” Mr Ravi Kiran asked the panelists of marketers are doing enough in India to embrace content. Mr Rungta replied, “Marketers are realising that this is important and if I don’t do this, I’ll not have a great feedback from my users. If your messaging is worthwhile, it will become content. Kolaveri video is a classic example in this sense, where an ad for a film turned into a viral on the internet.”

     

    Marketing Masters

    ‘Marketing Masters’ shared their learning, insights and best practices on the usage of digital for their brands, in this session. The session was moderated by Arun Tadanki, Managing Director, Yahoo India.

     

    Viral Oza, Marketing Director, Nokia shared his perspective on what’s the big deal about digital. Digital, he said, “…is a part of life and not a way of life. It’s neither offline nor online, but it’s both!” He also shared some data on the number of internet users in India. Out of the 100 million users, more than 75 percent of the internet usage is driven by youngsters. He reiterated the need for brands to ‘engage’ with consumers. Citing data, he said, “More than 30 percent consumers refer to internet for accessing information on brands and 40 percent of those consumers convert into referrals. 30 percent consumers recommend products to their peers based on their experience.” He added, “Marketers as we know it today are talking in a monologue- we don’t know if anyone is listening. Digital marketing means that we give the people the tools and a story and they will tell your story. The new communication mode is Dialogue.”

     

    Karthi Marshan, EVP & Head, Group Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. chalked out the steps to transform digitally for a marketer. The underlying idea of his presentation was that a marketer need not be intimidated by technology, the real challenge is to convince the top leadership of the need for transformation.

     

    Virginia Sharma, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, India/South Asia, IBM India spoke about a corporate character that IBM enforces and stands for, and how digital will help shape a belief over the next 100 years. She said, “To keep a brand vibrant and growing, it needs to be relevant and relevance can be created if there’s something deeper in the brand.”

     

    Anurag Mehrotra, Vice President, Marketing, Ford India cited six trends in the market today in his presentation- i) increasing growth in reality television viewership ii) shift to ‘common man’ more pronounced than ever iii) growth in social media- 57 percent of people talk to people more online than they do in real life iv) growing influence of social media v) explosion In internet consumption vi) word of mouth is key.

     

    The trends indicate the need for integrated marketing campaigns. Mr Mehrotra said, “Ford has recognized the inherent power of reality voiced through the words, thoughts, feelings of consumers. Hence the Ford motto is- Real people, Real experiences.”

     

    Gian Fulgoni of comScore @ ad:tech 2012
    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQkpiJxLufg[/youtube]

    All the presentations by the Marketing Masters seemed to underline one basic point, that of the need to integrate digital in everything you do, to build around platforms and not campaigns alone.

     

    State of the Global Internet with Lessons learned from Measurement of Online Advertising

    The last keynote of Day 1 was a presentation on the state of global internet by Gian Fulgoni, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, comScore. In the session, Mr Fulgoni tried to provide a comprehensive understanding of how to best measure digital advertising effectiveness based on lessons learned from comScore’s extensive research.

     

     

    Some findings:

     

    i) Among various research points shared during the presentation, Mr Fulgoni stated that US was no longer the centre of the online universe. In 2011, US internet population versus the Rest of the World internet population was a 13 percent vs. 87 percent

    ii) Asia continues significant growth in the size of internet audience. Growth has slowed in North America and the European growth is mostly driven by Russia

    iii) Indian internet users are much younger than global average. 75 percent of audience is under 35 years compared to 52 percent of the world and 55 percent of the region

    iv) India’s internet usage is relatively low compared to similarly sized countries

    v) Young people drive internet consumption in India today, suggesting future overall usage will rise dramatically. India’s heaviest internet users are in the age group of 26 to 34 years

     

    Mr Fulgoni listed a few concluding points from the lessons learned from online advertising.

     

    i) The click is at best an incomplete and at worst a misleading metric

    ii) Display advertising is an efficient and effective way to build sales both online and offline

    iii) Accurate delivery of media plan is critical

    iv) Facebook is a very efficient way to amplify reach and persuasiveness

     

    Mr Fulgoni closed the session by stating, “Online advertising is effective both as a direct response and a branding strategy.” But he added that ad effectiveness needs to be measured beyond the ‘click’.

     

  • Truth is, nothing like a story of two 'decent' groups behaving like hooligans inside a five star hotel. And absolutely nothing like it if one of the parties happens to be a movie star. And secretly, we would love it if the battle rages on.

    Anil Thakraney: Yes, we want to read about the Saif punch-nama!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    As usual, the knives are out for the media on the carpet coverage of Saif Ali Khan’s moment of madness at the Taj in Mumbai. The noble souls of the nation opine that too much attention is being given to what was just another brawl in a public place. That the media has lost it, that it must instead focus on serious issues.

     

    Reality check, people. I can assure you all these so-called nobles were hooked to their TV sets and read every single word in the newspapers on the fisticuffs saga, and they fully relished the drama. And then later quickly logged on to Twitter and got busy dissing the media. Such is the hypocrisy we suffer from.

     

    Truth is, nothing like a story of two ‘decent’ groups behaving like hooligans inside a five star hotel. And absolutely nothing like it if one of the parties happens to be a movie star. This sort of stuff is sensational, riveting and great fun. And secretly, we don’t want the opponents to reach a quiet truce, we would love it if the battle rages on, and some more blows on the nose will be soooo cool! Yup, we all love masala news, whether we confess to it or not.

     

    And this is not peculiar to India. If a Hollywood star behaved thus, respected newspapers like The New York Times and The Independent would dive right into the action. Celebrity news, especially of the violent kind, sells like hot potatoes; we are all suckers for it. Bottom-line: Saif’s nefarious deed collided with another big story: Congress leader Kripashankar Singh’s ill-gotten wealth. And the latter was given secondary importance to the Wasabi confrontation simply because that’s what excites us people. We are sick and tired of the routine political and civic stories, we need a break from these bores. And the media will give importance to what viewers/readers want, that’s the hard business reality.

     

    So please, kripa karein, and be a little less hypocritical.

    PS1: There have been allegations that the incident was engineered by the actor’s PR machinery to get some buzz going on his soon to be released flick. Bollocks, I say. Wish our PR industry was that smart. Alas!

     

    ***

     

    PS2: Ah! Sci-fi comes into hoardings. Super media innovation in London. A hoarding that ‘recognizes’ you and customizes content for you. High time we saw some excitement happen on this oft neglected medium.

     

    Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/shortcuts/2012/feb/20/advertising-that-can-recognise-you

  • The satellite rights for the movie have been snapped up by Star Network for a record Rs48-50 crore for 11 years

    Salman Khan sets a Rs50cr record by selling satellite rights for Dabangg sequel

    By Nandini Raghavendra

     

    If you have been wondering whatever happened to Chulbul Pandey, news is that the Dabangg star – Salman Khan – will be back this Christmas in a sequel of the 2010 hit. And even before Khan begins shooting for Dabangg2 next week in Mumbai, the satellite rights for the movie have been snapped up by Star Network for a record Rs 48-50 crore for 11 years, according to a trade source closely associated with the deal. Also the music rights have been acquired by T-Series for over Rs 10 crore, said the same source.

     

    Though Hemal Jhaveri, senior vice-president at Star Gold confirmed the deal, he refused to share the details of the deal or the price. Jhaveri is responsible for acquiring the satellite rights for Star’s Hindi network, which includes Star Plus, Star Gold and Life OK.

     

    Just like his box office record, Khan’s satellite ratings have been trailblazing. Bodyguard, another of Khan’s blockbusters, registered a record television rating points (TRP) of 10.3 when it was aired on Star Gold in December 2011. The channel expects nothing less, if not more from Dabangg2, said Jhaveri.

     

    TRP, given in percentages, is a measure of what percentage of people in a defined time band and a defined profile watched a particular programme, a number which is keenly followed by the advertising industry and ads allocated accordingly to the one garnering the higher numbers.

     

    A film is considered a success on TV if it can manage to garner an average 2.5 TRP through the year, apart from the high number it garners on premieres. For example, the ICC Cricket World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka last year garnered a TRP of 21 (on three channels – Star Sports, Star Cricket and Doordarshan).

     

    Over the past few years, satellite prices have been playing a key role in bank-rolling films with at least a third of the movie’s cost of production coming from selling these rights prior to even beginning production.

     

    A Win-Win Situation for Channel

    It is also a win-win scenario for the channel, which generates both eyeballs and revenues by exclusively broadcasting a successful movie over a number of years. Competition among TV companies wanting to acquire the rights of hit movies has, as a result, led to an increase in the acquisition price of many recent big films.

     

    Hrithik Roshan’s Krissh3 and the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Don2 was said to have been sold to Sony for Rs37 crore each, while Aamir Khan’s Talaash and Karan Johar’s Agneepath went for Rs40 crore.

     

    Channels usually spend an average of Rs 200-300 crore a year to acquire film titles for their library. “Increase in satellite prices for big-ticket films has a direct linkage to maximising gross rating points (GRPs), for the channels,” said Rakesh Jariwala, film segment leader, Ernst & Young.

     

    Movies contribute as high as 30 per cent to a channel’s GRPs. The channels also generate revenue from syndication and overseas subscriptions for the films they buy.

     

    Over the past two years, it’s been a close race between Star and Sony, with each raising the stakes with every new film. For Star, with films like Bol Bachchan, Son of Sardar, Ghayal Returns and Housefull 2 all snapped up, the slate for this year looks full while Sony has Aamir Khan’s Talaash and YRF’s Ek Tha Tiger among others.

     

    “We have built on the content game and we are confident of the returns as well as its ability to garner TRPs beyond the premiere,” added Mr Jhaveri. While Dabangg, produced by Arbaaz Khan Productions, was acquired by Ashtavinayak Cinevision, the sequel has so far not been sold to any corporate house, although almost every film corporate, including Hollywood studios in India, have been very eager to have it on their slate. Prices offered have ranged between Rs100 crore and Rs130 crore, though industry sources say in all likelihood the brothers will release the film themselves, after the success of Johar’s Agneepath.

     

    Star Network’s recent track record with Bodyguard, Singham and Ra.One, all notching up record TRPs, has also worked hugely in its favour. And with Star also holding a strong portfolio of Salman Khan’s films – Dabangg, Wanted, Ready, Bodyguard, Tere Naam, Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya- for 7-8 years, backing a Khan package may help garner more eyeballs.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

  • HT Media Limited has 'upped the ante on design and content' with the new avatar of Brunch Weekly. Brunch is the popular weekly lifestyle and entertainment magazine from Hindustan Times launched in 2003.

    HT revamps Sunday supplement Brunch

    By A Correspondent

     

    HT Media Limited (HTML) unveiled the new avatar of Brunch Weekly on February 19. Brunch is the popular weekly lifestyle and entertainment magazine from Hindustan Times launched in 2003. It is currently circulated complimentary with HT and select editions of Mint on Sunday, and is the largest read English lifestyle magazine in India with a circulation of 13.1 lakh and growing.

     

    Poonam Saxena, Editor of Brunch Weekly, commented on the launch: “Brunch has an unmatched reach and a large bank of extremely loyal readers who have enjoyed the magazine over the last eight years. It was time to give our readers something new, something unexpected and something fresh. Readers will be delighted with what they find on their doorstep every Sunday morning. It is the same magazine we all fell in love with all those years ago, but with an exciting new look and feel, and more entertaining and interactive content. Brunch just made Sundays better!”

     

    The brand promises its readers “The Good Life” week after week with gripping content that covers various lifestyle and entertainment-related genres. The revamped Brunch includes several new features including weekly contests and feature series, celebrity columns, and stories with web codes that can be scanned for exclusive supplemental content. The lineup of Brunch columnists includes Vir Sanghvi, Rajiv Makhni, Seema Goswami, Shikha Sharma and Sanjoy Narayan.

     

    Rajan Bhalla, Head – Corporate Marketing & Magazines, added, “We decided to give Brunch a makeover for the benefit of our readers. More than three million people across the country read Brunch because we give them an exemplary reading experience. Brunch is a Sunday ritual for them; something they eagerly look forward to. We wanted to give our readers a clutter-free, sharp, witty, entertaining, and interactive start to their Sundays. All the favourites are still there, we have simply upped the ante on the design and content. The new, arresting masthead and crisp and clear pages give Brunch a contemporary edge. We are certain readers will love Brunch’s new style.”

     

  • The world wide circulation of The Economist has passed the 1.5 million mark for the first time

    The Economist circulation in India grows 26% y-o-y

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Economist inIndiaregistered an impressive 26 per cent growth (year-on-year) in its circulation as per the latest ABC period [ABC UK/US July-December 2011] to reach 34,953 copies.

     

    Suprio Guha Thakurta, managing director,India, said: “This is the eighth consecutive ABC increase, confirming our belief that curiosity about the world is growing rapidly inIndia. We have made considerable investments in developing the magazine’s circulation inIndiaand the results are heartening.”

     

    TheIndiaperformance is in line with the growth of The Economist globally. The world wide circulation of The Economist has passed the 1.5 million mark for the first time. It has achieved print circulation of 1,487,010 in the latest ABC period [ABC UK/US July-December 2011], combined with a digital-only paid circulation of more than 100,000 in December 2011.

     

    Andrew Rashbass, CEO of The Economist Group, said: “It took us 160 years to reach one million circulation, but only seven years to reach one and a half million. We now expect to reach two million within five years, fuelled by rapid growth in digital circulation. By then, we expect to have more digital than print readers.

     

    Although our print circulation continues to rise, at some point in the near future it will go down as more and more of our customers choose to read us on a tablet or e-reader. We’re relaxed about that because we are discovering great opportunities in digital having already reached a digital-only circulation of more than 100,000. Over 75 per cent of these readers are new to us and 12 per cent had previously given up their print subscription.”

     

    The following table is a breakdown of ABC UK/US released and certificated figures July-December 2011 for the print circulation of The Economist.

     

    Table: Combined growth figures for The Economist in print and digital:

     

    Print CirculationABC UK/USJuly-December 2011 Print YOY GrowthABC UK/USJuly-December 2011 Digital CirculationData sourced from The Economist
    Global 1,487,010 +0.9% 100,000 

     
    UK 210,384 +0.1%
    North America 844,766 +1.3%
    ContinentalEurope 241,726 +0.4%
    Middle East andAfrica[MEA] 29,129 +0.4%
    Asia Pacific 146,531 +2.2%
    Latin America 14,474 -14.4%
    Combined total circulation: 1,587,010

     

     

    With a global print and digital circulation of over 1.5million and a reputation for insightful analysis and perspective on every aspect of world events, The Economist is one of the most widely recognised and well-read current affairs publications. The paper covers politics, business, science and technology, and books and arts, concluding each week with the obituary. Its website (www.economist.com) offers articles from the past ten years, in addition to web-only content such as blogs, debates and audio/video programmes. The Economist is now available to download for reading on Android, iPhone, or iPad devices.

     

  • Hosted on Youtube on the February 8, sung by the latest rage, Dhanush of the Kolaveri Di fame, the anthem video now boasts of a Gold Trending Medal from YouTube, with over 4 million views as on February 22

    Mindshare’s YouTube record with ‘Boost Sachin Anthem’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare, India’s leading media services agency has recently created a unique milestone for itself on the back of a powerful digital media strategy. A record breaking 1 million hits were clocked for the ‘Boost Sachin Anthem’ in just under 2 days, making it the fastest video on Youtube to have reached a million views.

     

    Hosted on Youtube on the February 8, sung by the latest rage, Dhanush of the Kolaveri Di fame, the anthem video now boasts of a Gold Trending Medal from YouTube, with over 4 million views as on February 22.

     

    The challenge for Mindshare was to create buzz around the brand and noteworthy 23 year long association with Sachin Tendulkar as their brand ambassador. Therefore, there could not have been a better proposition than creating a dedicated anthem in the honour of the little master.

     

    The task was twofold – first, bringing the idea to life. This involved creating a powerful piece of content with carefully thought out celebrity recommendation, to scripting and final production, all of it mandated to the in-house content experts within Mindshare ESP.

     

    Two, tactfully seeding the content, where “people” would make it viral. To accelerate this, the Search and Social Media Experts at Mindshare went onto ingeniously seeding the content through contextual search and social media platforms of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

     

    Alok Sinha

    “The purpose of strategy at Mindshare is very simply to try and turn our brands into currencies of popular culture. Cultural currencies that fuel consumer conversations are far more valuable in today’s wired world than passive opportunities to see. The Sachin anthem is a great example of this belief. The team spotted an existing cultural meme in Dhanush and then went on to leverage it via executional excellence across content production, brand integration and social seeding. The Boost case also highlights the necessity of jugalbandis between strategy and the content & digital technology teams to create meaningful brand led cultural currencies,” said Alok Sinha, Leader Strategy – South Asia at Mindshare.

     

    Leading the mantle, the Mindshare strategy team required not just meticulous, but dynamic planning on a real time basis. By putting the brand’s content in the hands of the consumers it was a calculated risk and a bold strategic stance by the team. But today, Mindshare stands tall as GSK’s proud partners, while history is being written.

     

    Jayant K Singh

    “As a part of our marketing efforts on Boost, this time around, we wanted to celebrate Sachin’s long standing ‘Stamina’ association with the brand. A Sachin anthem, that people would resonate and rise with, was our instinctive choice. While we were certain that Dhanush’s popularity would help accelerate talk ability around Boost, our partner agency Mindshare’s contribution, through a well thought out strategy and execution in making it a “first” on many accounts for GSK, has successfully brought our intent to life,” said Jayant K Singh, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Health Care.

     

    Mindshare is a global media and marketing services network with billings in excess of $27.8 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 114 offices in 82 countries throughout the North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, each dedicated to forging competitive marketing advantage for businesses and their brands.

     

  • infrastructure, piracy, and a fragmented industry are some of the challenges facing content owners in the digital space, says Jai Maroo

    The Anchor: 5 Challenges for film & entertainment industry in the digital space

    1. Lack of Infrastructure:

    One of the major challenges in digital space is lack of infrastructure and poor internet connectivity. The problem of bandwidth has been there for some time now. We need better streaming solutions and internet penetration inIndia. With 3G, and now 4G, coming on the scene, though the initial rollout has been slow, all plans are geared for boosting rollout and hence consumption of entertainment on digital platforms is expected to get a boost.

     

    2. Fragmentation in the Industry:

    We have a fragmented industry in terms of sheer number of platforms and business models. In present scenario, there is no clear leader except a handful of them who are making profit. But with more investors in the space, we are seeing both, better quality platforms and more sustainable rollouts, which are further fuelling the consumers’ digital consumption habit.

     

    3. Menace of Piracy:

    Piracy is another menace that the industry has been fighting against. Some of the players in digital space, like YouTube for example, have been taking some strong measures to ensure that the legitimate owner of the content gets fair share of the revenue. Additionally, content owners are increasingly partnering with platforms and finding win-win partnership models and working together to build the consumers’ habit of legal content consumption.

     

    4. Technological Challenge:

    Content owner face a lot of challenges to digitize and re-purpose the content. Technologies are getting redundant at a faster pace. It is a challenge for the content owners to cope up with the fast-growing technology and avail their content in compatible format for a particular platform. However, players are emerging with the scale to be able to handle this fragmented consumption and build better and more sustainable revenue streams, and bring all the efficiencies of scale. This also gives opportunities to bring in innovation in the presentation of the product.

     

    5. Need for better equipments

    Another hindrance is slow adoption of newer and better equipment/ end user device to access video content. But, the variety of gadgets available in the market at reasonable price points and loaded features are expected to address the problem.

     

    Jai Maroo is Director, Shemaroo Entertainment

     

  • A quick look at what happened @ the premier congregation of digital marketing, media and ad professionals

    10 takeaways from ad:tech 2012

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    ad:tech 2012 concluded in New Delhi on Feb 24, with the two-day conference witnessing invigorating keynote sessions and insightful panel discussions. MxMIndia takes a look at some of the major takeaways from the biggest digital marketing, media and advertising event.

     

    The world has gotten a lot more challenging for marketers- With 30 billion status updates published on Facebook every month, 250 million tweets published every day and 5.3 billion views in a 24-hour period on YouTube, marketers have a lot to compete against. With this kind of crazy amount of penetration, it’s a horrible time for marketers. Shiv Singh, Global Head of Digital, PepisoCo said, “From a marketer’s standpoint, from strategy and insight to execution takes a whole bunch of research, figuring out a creative, writing a script, it’s all a several months’ task. It’s so hard to compete with a tweet or a Facebook status update that is published in five seconds.” If Facebook were a country, it would be the 3rd largest in the world. With consumption patterns changing, it is important for marketers to take cognizance of where their customers are.

     

    Everyone’s a storyteller- In the changing digital world, the source of information has ceased to matter. Everyone is becoming a storyteller, a relevant owner of content. Marketers need to realise that consumers are also content creators for brands. Arun Tadanki, Managing Director, Yahoo India said, “The purchase cycle is far more complex because consumers are not simply recipients of your brand messages, they are curators of your brand message.” Anurag Mehrotra, Vice President, Marketing, Ford India said, “People want to co-create, the control of messaging is shifting and consumers are increasingly critical of manufacturer-speak.” Viral Oza, Marketing Director, Nokia said, “Give the people the tools and a message and they will tell your story.”

     

    Brands are now publishers– In a world where consumers are bombarded with messages, brands need to find a way of telling their message differently, they need to embrace the art of storytelling to engage users. Marketing needs to be inside the content. Nikhil Rungta, Country Marketing Head, Google India said, “Users will go and find you if they have a need. The user today is saying don’t come knocking at my door- users are beginning to ignore your message.” To fight this situation, marketers need to learn a new and better way of telling their message differently. They need to be content creators rather than just being content distributors. If they can create content, in a digital social world, the consumer will act as a vehicle to carry that content across. Therefore it is important for brands to understand the compelling need of enveloping their message in pure content form. Brands have to go beyond sponsorship, and become curators and creators of content.

     

    Growing influence of social media- Study says that 57 percent of people talk to people more online than they do in real life. 78 percent of people trust consumer opinions posted online. Gian Fulgoni, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, comScore said, “Social networking has exploded globally. Nearly 1 in 5 minutes online is spent on social networking sites.” Brands need to take notice of the value of social in fundamental areas like connecting with people, finding long lost friends, sharing experiences. Personal connection on social can help brands connect and engage better with consumers. Digital is increasingly becoming a part of life and so marketers need to weave social media into everything they do.

     

    Listen, engage, transform- The new mode of communication is Dialogue. Brands need to first listen to their consumers and then engage them in a dialogue to transform and inspire their purchase intent. Viral Oza, Marketing Director, Nokia shared data stating, more than 30 percent of consumers refer to internet for accessing information on brands. 40 percent of those convert into referrals. 30 percent recommend products to their peers based on their experience. Therefore a marketer’s dilemma is really to adapt or die. With millions tweeting, it becomes important for the brands to listen in rather than throw out more messages at the increasingly bored consumer. Narasimha Jayakumar, COO, E-commerce, Homeshop18 shared that in their model of business, social media served more for listening to consumers and helping solve their issues. He said, “We use Facebook mainly to address consumer issues, problems with products etc. Once your consumer knows you are listening it is easier to start a dialogue.” Pete Blackshaw, Global Head of Digital Marketing and Social Media, Nestle said, “Three operating pillars of our roadmap at Nestle are “listening, engaging and transforming.”

     

    Technology matters less- An interesting point emerged from debates and discussion that it is the basics in the business that matter the most and technology should be looked at as a vehicle for delivering a powerful message. Technology enhances the message and the experience but marketers should not start with the technologies. They matter less, marketers need to focus more on user behaviours and the data they generate. Karthi Marshan, EVP & Head, Group Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd quoted Douglas Adams, “It’s technology if it was born after you.” The idea is to believe in the power of storytelling, believe that a strong narrative still helps engage and not be intimidated by technology.

     

    Shrink, Simplify, Serve- Small is the new Big. Marketers need to rethink digital in a world of smaller and smarter screens. Pete Blackshaw, Global Head of Digital Marketing and Social Media, Nestle said, “We need to think harder about simplifying our messaging and serving the consumer. We need to shrink, simplify and serve. Our screens are shrinking and so we need to simplify to serve better.” The future of shopping is small screens and the world is increasingly becoming contextual. Richard Dunmall, Vice President, Global Accounts & Agencies, Microsoft Advertising said, “Every surface can become a digital source of content in the future.” Marketers need to focus more on creating simpler messages that can reach consumers in any form.

     

    Youth driving internet consumption in India- Gian Fulgoni, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, comScore shared data that indicates that young people drive internet consumption in India today which in turn suggests that future overall usage will rise dramatically. com Score’s extensive research on the state of global internet also indicates that Indian internet users are much younger than the global average. 75 percent of audience is under 35 years compared to 52 percent of the world and 55 percent of the region. India’s heaviest internet usage comes from people in the age group of 26 to 34 years.

     

    Move beyond the click- Gian Fulgoni shared some lessons learnt from online advertising in his presentation on the state of global internet. Research indicates that click is at best an ‘incomplete’ and at worst a ‘misleading’ metric. Clickers represent a small and declining segment of internet users. Global click ratio on individual campaigns are pitifully low. So, ad effectiveness needs to be measured beyond the click. Marketers need to go beyond the click and explore other ways of measurement. Mr Fulgoni said, “There are two other ways. One is that you measure the change in behaviour, so what we do in the case of comScore, we take the comScore panel, take the people who are exposed to the campaign and a group of people who weren’t exposed to the campaign and then measure how their behaviour changed. And that behaviour change could be, did they go and visit the brand website, did they conduct a search using the brand name, did they get information or did they buy the product, did they buy it online or offline. Those are all behavioural metrics. You can also see if you changed the attitudes. Did the awareness of the brand go up, did recall go up, did favourability go up, did purchase intent go up? But those are all kind of intervening attitudinal metrics and not hard behavioural ones. But both sets can be used and I think they are far better predictors of the effect of a campaign than a click.”

     

    ad:tech is here to stay: ad:tech has emerged as ‘the’ premier destination for digital media, advertising and marketing and the organisers announced that the next year’s congregation would also happen in New Delhi on Feb 20-23.