It’s going viral. Each Q&A we hear is firing up the Whatsapp and mail circuit. People have been laughing, screaming out incorrigible reading a response… but there’s no denying that each question-and-answer is profound and funny. Presenting Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. And do come back next week for another round of questions and answers.
Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.
Q. Can one trust audience measurement data?
A. I am a strong advocate of data-based insights to complement decision-making processes. So any measurement data can at best be indicative and should be leveraged for directional purposes. Doubting the credibility of measurement data isn’t a constructive route to move towards an augmented intelligence.
So what are the questions you’ve asked BD for next, a friend asked us on Friday. We obviously didn’t reveal any, except that we’ve tried our best to bowl some googlies, but we are sure he’s going to bowl back some reverse swings. Presenting Week 3, Day 1 of of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das
Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.
Q. If you had the opportunity to relive your professional career, is there one thing – or may be two or three – that you would like to redo? Now please don’t give a politically correct answer.
A.Why should I relive my professional career when I am so grateful that I could do my best what I was assigned to by God through earthly intermediaries. It may not be the best by material standards or by the expectations of a role model. But I didn’t aspire for them either. When one is in a trance of equanimity, there is neither anything to seek, nor anything to achieve.
This is not a politically correct answer. I don’t want to indulge in any etymological dissection of the word political but I feel it’s an oxymoron as when one is political , one can’t be correct.
So what are the questions you’ve asked BD for next, a friend asked us on Friday. We obviously didn’t reveal any, except that we’ve tried our best to bowl some googlies, but we are sure he’s going to bowl back some reverse swings. Presenting Week 3, Day 2 of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das
Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.
Q. Why do you think young, 30- and 40-year-olds don’t take on responsibilities in industry associations?
A.Today’s age cohorts, as mentioned, are navigating multiple paradigms, both at the personal and professional levels. Time for pro bono work is squeezed. The new mantra is ‘What is in it for for me’. It’s difficult to take tech Sabbath where one is engaged 16×365. The grey market occupants have learned the technique due to the onset of self-actualised skew.
His words can make you laugh and almost always set you thinking. So at MxMIndia we decided to do the next best thing: do a Q&A with him every single day we publish.
Presenting Day 3 of Week 3 of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Dr Das, as we know, is currently a big boss at Republic TV, so we wondered how spiritual he could get with a question on the Republic TV bossman Arnab Goswami.
Q. Would you recommend doing Tik Tok videos to Arnab Goswami so as to reach out to the millions who are hooked on to the platform?
A.As a marketing professional, one has to find the synchronicity of a medium to a brand. Ultimately one aims at maximising stickiness to the delivered content, without vampiring the brand objective. For any UGC medium, gravitas isn’t a dominant logic of content creation. What is important is spontaneous and creative participation of users. To that extent it’s a democratisation of content creation. It has its sunny side advantage. News is a serious business and contextual credibility is generally non-negotiable. The current brand initiatives of the Republic Media Network are impactful enough in making it a leading news network in the country in the shortest possible time. If MBO is a metric for measuring the efficacy of a communication strategy, I think R. is on its prioritised path. And an Industry currency corroborates that impact.
Pssst. If you found the question today bold and provocative, we promise you a naughtier one tomorrow
Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.
We hope you are enjoying the Q&As in Das ka Dum by Dr Bhaskar Das… just. There are of course many who say that the column was a no-brainer. Those who’ve had a chat with BD are familiar with his repartees and spiritual responses to down-to-earth issues and problems.
To those who’ve come in late, the link to yesterday’s column is: https://www.mxmindia.com/2019/09/das-ka-dum-with-dr-bhaskar-das-with-so-many-people-losing-jobs-in-the-media-would-you-say-its-a-safe-place-for-people-to-take-up-as-a-career/
And the link to the ones before that are in the last column.
The questions will be answered by Dr Bhaskar Das, the former big boss of the Times of India group and Zee Media and Dainik Bhaskar and now Republic TV. For those who’ve known him or have heard him, Dr Das belongs to the rare species of advertising sales professionals who has this unique combination of being a deeply spiritual being and a very persuasive salesperson. His unique turn of phrase can make you chuckle, but almost always sets you pondering. At MxMIndia, we enjoy our conversations with him. And for every googly we bowl at him, he hits back like no one has ever before.
Das ka Dum will feature Monday through Friday, except on our ‘no edition days’. Enjoy Day 4.
Q. If you had the opportunity to relive your professional career, is there one thing – or may be two or three – that you would like to redo? Now please don’t give a politically correct answer
A. Why should I relive my professional career when I am so grateful that I could do my best what I was assigned to by God through earthly intermediaries. It may not be the best by material standards or by the expectations of a role model. But I didn’t aspire for them either. When one is in a trance of equanimity, there is neither anything to seek, nor anything to achieve.
This is not a politically correct answer. I don’t want to indulge in any etymological dissection of the word political but I feel it’s an oxymoron as when one is political , one can’t be correct.
Editor:As we mentioned before, some of the words and phrases our dear BD uses could go over your head. So, purely in reader interest, we will link such words to the dictionary meaning. Now we don’t think etymological is a tough word, but perhaps equanimity might well be for some.
We’ve got Dr Bhaskar Das to do what he’s super at: share his gyaan in his inimitable manner. Presenting The Wizard of Words with Das ka Dum. Week 3, Day 4.
If you want to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar..
Q. You have worked with various media mavens in the last decade. Samir and Vineet Jain, Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka, Girish Agarwal and now Arnab Goswami. Since you are a spiritual person, please tell us: In the service of which boss did your soul feel the bestest?
A.Any soul is impervious to external triggers. Besides, there is no duality between two interacting souls. I saw them in me and I was in them. At a cognitive level, all the referred names in your question have enriched me and whatever I am today is due to the cumulative enlightenment they have ushered on me.
I can imagine the answer won’t satiate your vibrant mind. I can assure you that real correctness is apolitical. My answers come from the core of my heart. They are socio-politico agnostic.
It’s going viral. Each Q&A we hear is firing up the Whatsapp and mail circuit. People have been laughing, screaming out incorrigible reading a response… but there’s no denying that each question-and-answer is profound and funny. Presenting Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. And do come back tomorrow for another round of questions and answers.
Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.
Q. We’ve asked you a lot question on the health of the media business. Would you say the Festive Season 2019 will be possibly the worst ever for media entities?
A. You are looking for deterministic answer (usual for a journalist) to a transient situation. There is nothing christened as best or worst times. It’s in our mind. It’s a cycle (one that frequently happens these days due to VUCA headwinds). Human beings tend to behave bad in good times, so bad times follow good times and vice versa. The old adage works: as you sow, so you reap. So the current perception of worst times will also pass. In a VUCA world, one needs to detox more frequently. A bend is not an end.
Presenting Week 4, Day 2 of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. And do come back on Thursday for another round of questions and answers.
Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.
Q. It’s Gandhi Jayanti tomorrow. Any Gandhi-ism (or thought/statement) that you think is most appropriate for the Indian media as it attempts to sail through these VUCA times?
A. To my mind, Mahatma Gandhi represents certain values that would always be relevant. In fact in a VUCA world, its relevance would be more beneficial, if practised in their true spirits. Fundamentally, he espoused goodness for all and by all. He also postulated truth and non-violence as non-negotiable foundation of everything. These principles are sector-agnostic and quintessentially pertinent. My conviction has succinctly been expressed in Albert Einstein’s golden words on the Mahatma: “Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”.
After a break for Gandhi Jayanti, Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das is back. Enrich yourself, and enjoy!
Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.
Q. Everyone says print is dead or is dying. What is your forecast for the Indian print media?
A.Your question has the germ of the answer: death is the beginning of life. No one dies. It’s only the form that migrates. I strongly feel that News on Paper won’t ever die. In fact no business dies. It’s the morbid attachment to form/formats and business model that stymies possible transmigration to a contemporary/ evolved/ market-friendly (read user-friendliness) state. Those who believe in survival of the fittest (as a business for sure) would never get afflicted by extinction. One needs to migrate from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
In the prevalent interconnected and interactive, anytime, anywhere world , where consumer activism is dominant, a passive medium with active audience (that a print medium is) needs to transport itself to a different mindset to complement other formats of delivery. In an ecosystem economy, a platform-based fluid existence would be a good route to thriving existence.
It’s the festive season, and we couldn’t help asking this question to ‘Wizard of Words’ Dr Bhaskar Das as part of our Das ka Dum series of Q&As. Provocative questions, Thoughtprovoking responses. If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar…
Q. You are almost always colourfully and stylishly dressed. Now what if a 22-year-old in your organisation does the same: wear green trousers or a yellow jacket to work or even worse: a client meeting?
A. I presume your wonderment about the colour skew in my outfit has no pejorative insinuation to lack of sartorial finesse (either by age cohort or by occasion inappropriateness). At a meta level, colours do contribute to change in one’s dopamine flow. So long as it’s not garish and asymmetrical with the combo and the personality, it needn’t be out of place. These days, in the start-up ecosystem, the freedom expressed through outfit/ dress is more evolved amongst the Generation Z or others who defied demographic gravity.
The larger confusion that you might be harbouring is the conflation between form and content. Both are different but can be complementary. It needn’t be an either-or. But lack of content can’t be camouflaged by the garb of colour.
There is of course corporate protocol which needs to be adhered by all age groups for disciplinary requirements. It differs by organisation. There are practices of weekend dressing or outfits on festive occasions. ‘Judgmentality’ on the same is superfluous. Every organisation is justified in its approach. Incidentally, I have also followed the same protocol during my career. May be I engendered in you some confusion where my colourful personality (an expression full of modesty and not narcissism) got seamlessly mixed with my outfits.
While the tone of the Q&A Dr Bhaskar Das in Das ka Dum is one of fun with provocative questions and responses given in his inimitable style, we couldn’t help slipping in a slightly serious and topical question today. Given that he was Group CEO of Zee Media Corporation Ltd, the company that owned the paper, it would be incorrect for us to ask him to compromise confidential information, so we asked him a very generic question. Read on…
Q. As a veteran media professional, what are your sentiments on the closure of DNA’s print editions? And do you think other media groups should also consider a similar transition given that the print business model works well only for the leaders in the pack?
A. I always believe that hindsight is a great science for diagnosing what is right or wrong. In any business, venture calculations can go awry. Yes, one feels sad that DNA print has shut shop after 14 years of existence. It definitely carved a niche amongst the newspaper-reading audience. Its brand salience is alive in a popular Zee News show and the digital version gains traction on the Web.
One can’t extrapolate learning from episodic cases. Each business and its model is unique and has unique challenges. Hence any deterministic answer on the last part of the question can at best be speculative. Astrologers may be good at that. But a pracademic (practising academician) like me would not be suitable for that.
Presenting the Q&A with Dr Bhaskar Das on the last day of Dassera Week 2019. Enjoy and Enrich yourself
If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar..
Pssst: Do come back on Monday, October 14 for a cracker of a Q&A. And not one, but two of them. A Double Dhamaka of sorts!
Q. We’ve asked you for your views on the owners of media companies you’ve worked with. Who among the professional managers you’ve worked would you say you’ve learnt a lot from?
A. If one’s mind is open and perpetually curious and incorrigibly paranoid about obsolescence, every individual becomes a source of learning. So naming specific individuals may be challenging as so many individuals have contributed to whatever I am today.
I have also learnt from global sources by attending conferences and through constant upgradation through pedagogic immersion ( ncluding my PhDs).
My kindergarten, school, college and university was BCCL and all my bosses and colleagues had been great teachers. Then ZMCL (Zee) had been a source great learning about various media formats through bosses, peers and colleagues. And later my stints in DB Corp, and now Republic Media Network have kept the search for pebbles continuing on the shores of knowledge.
It’s going viral. Each Q&A we hear is firing up the Whatsapp and mail circuit. People have been laughing, screaming out incorrigible reading a response… but there’s no denying that each question-and-answer is profound and funny. Presenting Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. And do come back next week for another round of questions and answers.
