MxMIndia

Category: BLOGS

  • I wonder how many Indians would recognize the international football stars, since the sport is not really famous in India

    Debrief: Pepsi: Not really a game changer

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    It must have cost Pepsi a bomb to hire the services of football stars like Lampard, Torres and Drogba. Not to speak of expensive desi cricketers like Dhoni and Kohli. But does it work? Hmm, am not so sure.

     

    Pepsi continues with its ‘Change the game’ theme this summer. When they first broke with this idea it was quite refreshing in terms of the execution. But am afraid its losing fizz as the idea gets extended. Perhaps it has to do with the way they are extending it. In the new TVC, the football stars play football with a cricket ball.

     

    And there’s a ‘fun’ exchange between the cricketers and the footballers, as the two games collide.

     

    Here are the problems with this commercial: I wonder how many Indians would recognize the international football stars, since the sport is not really famous in India. Perhaps some uber urban lads will, but Pepsi is a mass brand. Which then makes one question the heavy expenditure. Also, the marriage of the two games is clumsily done and the treatment is very predictable. And this directly hits the entertainment value of the ad. The script had to be very spunky and very surprising for it to work. Lastly, the brand has been forced into the situation in a very, let’s just say, unsmart manner. They simply had to find a cool way to make Pepsi an intrinsic part of the storyline.

     

    In short, the ad lacks both, freshness and wit… the key ingredients of any Pepsi ad.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 1. Game changed. Now change the ad.

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] TV arguments that go nowhere

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Few crimes have been more astonishing and more bitterly fought over in the public domain than the murders of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar and the domestic who worked in her home, Hemraj. Unlike the Jessica Lal murder case – where everyone know who the murderer was and the scandal was the cover-up – everything about this double murder remains open-ended four years later.

     

    The role of the media, however, came into question from day 1. it started with the intrusive and speculative reporting about Aarushi’s own life – with ridiculous segments on TV channels about how Aarushi would have celebrated her next birthday, had she been alive. Then, the initial police investigation added more grist to the rumour mill – were the parents swingers, had Aarushi and Hemraj become too close because of the parents’ activities and as a result, had the two been shut up because they knew too much? No evidence was presented to prove any of these speculations, yet the Noida police had no problem putting all these theories into the fray.

     

    Then the expected happened -various domestics were blamed. it didn’t help that Hemraj himself was blamed, by the parents as it happened. His body was found the next day since neither the police nor the family even bothered to check the whole house after the murder of the girl was discovered. His body was on the terrace – not really that far away.

     

    The media at this time, rather than focus on the salacious aspects of the case and dramatising this young girl’s life, perhaps should have put the police under the scanner for destroying evidence, for not treating the Talwar home as a crime scene and for careening between believing the Talwars implicitly to treating them as criminals.

     

    Television on Monday night revisited the Aarushi case as her mother Nupur finally appeared before a court after giving the authorities the run around for a year and was sent to jail. We have seen the Talwars presented as both victims and perpetrators. The media has taken sides and many have sided with the Talwars. The arguments presented have been sweetly naive -how can parents kill their children and neighbours say the Talwars are nice people. The dentist couple also had high profile patients like historian Patrick French who have launched a spirited defence.

     

    On NDTV, there was some soul-searching about whether the media had gone too far, Headlines Today enjoyed chasing Nupur Talwar all over Delhi and told us all about the jail she would be staying in and how she would be treated. On Times Now, we were treated to an expected fight fest. One of the lawyers for the Talwars, Pinaki Mishra, historian French, activist Ranjana Kumari and TV journalist Ashutosh Tiwari and Arnab Goswami himself slugged it out. Or rather, Mishra and French batted for the Talwars, Tiwari for the media, Kumari hardly got a chance to speak and Goswami seemed unsure whose side he was on. He did however ask why no one was bothered about the domestics who were accused at the Talwars’ behest and then let off. Mishra wanted everyone to know he was taking no money – how this impacted the case was unclear. Should his paying clients now feel that he only pays attention to cases he does free. French said that everyone said the Talwars were nice people. imagine writing a history of, say, Hitler, and then telling us many people liked him. it’s hardly a defence.

     

    The Noida police and the CBi, who really should be under the microscope, were not grilled. So one more TV argument that goes nowhere.

     

  • The youth are also bringing about a cultural change in terms of their influence in advertisements, films, music, television, web and others, says Aditya Swamy

    Aditya Swamy on 6 Gen X facts brands must know

    Aditya Swamy

    By Aditya Swamy

     

    Youth today are coming together to bring about social and cultural change

    Besides the social change, for instance the Meter Down campaign or the Anna Hazare’s anti corruption movement. The youth are also bringing about a cultural change in terms of their influence in advertisements, films, music, television, web  and others.

     

    The generation gap between parents and children is breaking down

    For this generation it is the family which is first over friends. In fact, young people today see their parents as role models and know that it is their parents who will stand by them in both good and bad times.

     

    Warm is the new cool for this generation.

    This is the generation which is in touch with their emotions as they want to make the world a better place, and they want to be a better person. This generation is also very quick to help those that seek their help whether it’s about finding a new home, a restaurant, a job and so on.

     

    This is truly an empowered generation

    Because most of them believe that they can bring about a change in the society or their country. Therefore for a brand to give the youth a platform where they are able to display their empowerment becomes a very powerful tool for brands to engage with their audience.

     

    Technology is equal to life

    The youth today are born into a world where iPhone, iPad, tablets and other mobile platforms are just part of their life. For brands to connect with the youth they must look at how their content can evolve around the four different environment i.e. television, mobile, web and the real life screen. Therefore bringing the four together to engage with the youth.

     

    This generation is already inspired

    So they are not looking at brands to inspire, but they want the brands to engage them. Gone are the days when a Shahrukh Khan is seen as an inspiration, today their role models are those people that brought about a change in their surroundings or country and so on. So brands must start having a two way conversation with their audience and once a brand initiates a two way dialogue that’s when it builds a connection with their audience.

     

    Aditya Swamy is EVP and Business Head – MTV India

     

  • Cartoon cannot be promoting somebody, cartoon is always attacking somebody, says Hemant Morparia

    The Anchor: Hemant Morparia on 5 reasons why cartoons can be more lethal than text

    By Hemant Morparia

     

    1. Cartoons are about satire

    Now satire is something that all people in power fear, because the last thing they want is ridicule. So when they face ridicule from ‘janata’ which they are trying to rule over, that is the last thing they would want. For them to appear ridiculous to a reader is a deadly blow.

     

    2. Cartoon is about making somebody laugh

    Why does that person laugh… because he recognizes that there is some truth in that. So there is some truth being outed, a cartoon cannot be bought. You can have a paid media, there could be a planted story but a cartoon cannot be a plant. Cartoon cannot be promoting somebody, cartoon is always attacking somebody.

     

    3. There is an agreement

    There is an agreement between the cartoonist and the reader on the kind of implicit sense of truth. Reader seems to understand that the cartoonist is trying to say something which is true and correct.

     

    4. Cartoon is also something that cannot be edited

    You can edit a text piece but you can’t partially edit a cartoon. Whereas if it’s an article which has a lot of data, different points of views, and so on, that could still be a plant or not telling you some relevant things.

     

    5. Cartoon is an honest voice

    And the reader also knows it. Cartoon is far from being bought.

     

    Hemant Morparia is a well-known cartoonist. Other than a daily pocket for Mumbai Mirror, he toons for various Indian and international publications

     

  • For one, getting Rajesh Khanna back from his long exile is serious lateral thinking. It makes the TVC surprising, noticeable and clutter breaking

    Debrief: Havells Fans: Masterstroke!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Very smart of Havells to rope in veteran actor Rajesh Khanna for their new ad for fans. And the treatment is cool too. I am usually not a fan of celebrity advertising, but this particular one simply rocks.

     

    The ad features Khanna boasting that the winds of change may blow, but that no one can take his fans away from him. A bit of an obvious pun on fans, but in this case it works. There are classical images of the star from his hey days as also from the present time. He even takes a thinly disguised dig at Bachchan, who dethroned the superstar in the seventies.

     

    Here’s why this ad works for me: For one, getting Khanna back from his long exile is serious lateral thinking. It makes the TVC surprising, noticeable and clutter breaking.

     

    The media has taken it up for coverage, and that’s a lot of free publicity for Havells. Imagine if they had used the done-to-death Big B. The ad would have passed by like Ogilvy’s ship in the dark. Also, the execution is pleasing. Khanna speaks with that famous drawl in the voice, a mixture of arrogance and self confidence. Something we identify with him. And his mannerisms are also the same. The laidback charm, the larger-than-life persona. Great stuff.

     

    In short, all that good advertising should be. As a bonus, the commercial makes you want to watch Khanna’s classics all over again.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4. Surprising solution at its best.

  • If an agency fares well at award functions, it is definitely recognized by clients, giving itself an option of fluffing its feathers, says Pratap Bose

    The Anchor: Pratap Bose list 5 reasons why awards are important

    By Pratap Bose

     

    1. It goes without saying that awards recognize good work. If an agency fares well at award functions, it is definitely recognized by clients, giving itself an option of fluffing its feathers.

    2. By actively participating in awards, an agency gets an edge over the other agencies in terms of attracting talent. ‘Award Friendly Agencies’ manage to get better talent.

    3. If an agency is a part of an international/worldwide group, it builds credibility for itself around the network. Awards help an agency be known by every client everywhere.

    4. Awards create healthy competition internally within different teams which leads to overall quality work by setting and breaking benchmarks internally.

    5. If an agency manages to win awards not just for creative work but for other departments as well it comes across as a holistic agency.

     

    Pratap Bose is COO, DDB Mudra Group

     

  • If things don't change, news channels will lose the war to the internet. And lose it much quicker than we had imagined

    Anil Thakraney: Why TV debates have become such an ordeal

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Quite frankly, I am tiring big-time of television debates and chat shows. It’s become an ordeal to watch these. And if things don’t change, news channels will lose the war to the internet. And lose it much quicker than we had imagined.

     

    Here are five changes I would like to see happen, ASAP:

     

    1. Anchors must remain objective at all times. Their personal biases are easy to sniff out, and this reduces the discussion to a charade. One way to make this happen is for the Delhi journos to stop bonding with politicians. And for the Mumbai journos to stop bonding with industrialists and movie stars. Without the distance, it’s impossible to remain neutral.

     

    2. Anchors must offer no opinions. However tempting that might be. That is the job of the members on their panel. And if the anchors are itching to belt out personal views, that must happen in their newspaper columns (and quite a few senior anchors have that opportunity). Or, they can create special programmes on their channels with the agenda to make themselves be heard. Like ‘Arnab Speaketh’ or ‘Rajdeep Unplugged’. Viewers who value their opinions will patronize such shows.

     

    3. Programming heads must find new voices. And more importantly, relevant voices. The usual suspects cannot be shoved into our living rooms all the time. All the more so because programmers have no option but to invite the same spokespersons of various political parties. Therefore the rest of the panelists have to be fresh faces. Seriously, it’s rather comical to have Suhel Seth, Alyque Padamsee, Shobhaa De, Prahlad Kakar, and so on, shower their pearls of wisdom on us every evening and on every topic.

     

    4. Most TV debates conclude very sweetly with ‘The entire system has to be overhauled’. How priceless is that! Here’s a suggestion, guys: Be ruthless. During a live discussion, demand that viewers be offered fresh insights, don’t take nonsense from your guests. And for the recorded shows, if no new perspectives have emerged, simply trash that particular episode. And redo it at a later date. Much wiser to do that than to air mindless stuff.

     

    5. DO NOT PLAY JUDGE. Not in the news bulletin, not in the chat room, not in the panel discussion. And repeat this ten times in your head. When we viewers want justice, we’ll go to the court rooms. Thank you very much.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: Interesting approach by Old Spice. Believe in your ‘smellf’. Good attitude. If they can milk this property, Old Spice can own the category. A lesson for all those after-shave and male deo brands whose ads feature women mindlessly chasing the studs.

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] Jingoist of the year award to Times Now

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    For some reason best known only to Times Now, the channel decided to huff and puff over a Barack Obama campaign ad, which said that not only did Republican presidential candidate hopeful Mitt Romney outsource jobs to Mexico and China as a CEO, but as governor he also outsourced a task to a call centre in India.

     

    My god, the insult – Obama has spent, said Times Now, a million dollars to “trash India”. This news played over and over again on the channel all evening, even as it had to compete with the other “big story which we are tracking” – the release of Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon by the Maoists (that’s another example of a TV extravaganza).

     

    On the Newshour last night, there was Goswami, filled with nationalistic pride, surrounded by Chidananda Rajghatta of The Times of India looking a bit embarrassed, Pramit Pal Chaudhuri of Hindustan Times looking smug and embarrassed, Mohandas Pai, once of Infosys, looking amused and not sure if he could tap sufficiently into his inner jingoist and a few other guests.

     

    Goswami launched full steam into his heartfelt anguish at this perfidy by Obama – when the facts said that Indian companies contributed millions of jobs and billions of dollars to the US economy (a few gazillions and who knows, India might solve all the US’s economic problems). But guest after guest pointed out that all this was election rhetoric and that anger with outsourcing was now normal campaign guff and that whoever won would do little to change US policy.

     

    Goswami, as he watched his argument crumble, smiled wryly and changed tack. He was not, he said, talking about the inner workings of the US election process. He was bothered about perception and stereotyping. Luckily he found one guest who weakly agreed, sorta kinda.

     

    After 15 minutes of sound and fury signifying nothing, and guaranteeing a good laugh for all viewers, the debate petered out as everyone just repeated the same thing. Goswami ended by asking why the Indian government could not spend some money to issue a counter ad. Indian pride, one can only hope, was restored amongst those viewers who spend their time picking up stones and weeds everywhere, hoping to find an insult to India and then demand reparation.

     

    On Friday morning, interestingly, only The Times of India was interested in this story.

    (An aside: the other fight for Indian pride was on the internet over Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher and some chips ad where he mimics an Indian. The Indians won because on the internet, power operates differently!)

     

    * * *

     

    Stewart by the way, took on the sex scandals in the US secret service, hardly guffaw-inducing stuff compared to Goswami.

     

    * * *

     

    Meanwhile, the collector: all day TV told us that the kidnapped by Maoists collector Alex Paul Menon was about to be released. We were treated to some pictures of some bush and scrub with very bad communication lines and no collector. Then in the evening an exhausted man appeared, only to be mobbed by eager reporters. This is one of the fault lines of modern journalism and you have to feel for both parties. The media needs the story and the collector needed some rest. He looked as he himself said, “shattered”.

     

    Since Zee had most of the pictures, everyone had to credit it. Headlines Today and NDTV, instead of showing the bush and scrub, showed us Menon’s father-in-law. The CNN-IBN website told us that the collector was freed hours before he appeared out of the wilderness.

    No explained whether that was inside information or a false start to the race.

     

    Jai Hind!

     

  • The very fact that large clients are investing in digital media shows that clients are spending serious amount of money to manage digital, says Atul Hegde

    Atul Hegde on why Digital is no longer New Media

    By Atul Hegde

     

    1. Serious spenders on traditional medium are now leading the way in digital spends

    When advertisers from the auto sector, FMCG, Corporate brands, Consumer Durables and other serious spenders, which for long have been spending heavily on traditional medium, begin to spend heavily in the digital media, it is the first indication that digital is no longer a new media.

     

    2. Large clients now have digital media/brand manager

    The very fact that large clients are investing in digital media, whether they are from the auto sector, telecom, FMCG’s, consumer durables  and so on, they have today either digital media managers or digital brand managers. This, in itself, shows that clients are spending serious amount of money to manage digital.

     

    3. Senior clients are regular consumers of the medium

    For any medium to succeed it is important that people who are buying it are also consuming the same medium because only when they consume that media will they realize the power of that media for their brands. Today there are senior clients who have become regular users of the medium.

     

    4. Movies and Cricket video consumption on digital has exploded

    Clients go where there are eyeballs, and inIndiawe view more than we read.Indiais a country where we consume films and cricket, both of which are heavily consumed on the internet. For instance IPL online has seen more viewership this year than the year before. Therefore, the more videos we have on movies and cricket, the more the audience will spend time viewing the videos and as a result, more advertisers will spend money on that medium. The explosion of video consumption inIndia, therefore, is bringing in more serious advertisers to digital media.

     

    5. Emergence of digital media awards (last count there were more than half a dozen)

    Today we find so many digital media awards, which only mean that clients are keen to win awards for digital. In fact, awards are a good way to boost the medium.

     

    Atul Hegde is the CEO, Ignitee Digital Services Pvt. Ltd

     

  • At a time when the Indian media is grappling with all sorts of issues and allegations, the Murdoch saga presents an interesting contrast

    [MJR] The mighty Murdoch empire wobbles

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The cycle of life and death is such a wicked thing, sparing no one, especially not the high and mighty (Thank god, really, for us who are not only low and but are also tiny – I’m speaking metaphorically here). And so the mighty Murdoch empire wobbles.

     

    The Leveson inquiry into media ethics last month and the British parliamentary committee report after an inquiry into Rupert Murdoch’s companies released last week after last year’s inquiry commission both highlight that fall. The parliamentary report indeed calls Murdoch senior “unfit” to run his companies, although the Conservative party members of the commission would not endorse that. The irony for British politicians is that both the Labour and Conservative parties can be accused of getting too close to the Murdochs and their editors.

     

    From the time he bought the Sun and then venerable Times, Murdoch has been a figure of controversy. His disdain for journalists and senior editors was applauded by media moghuls elsewhere as a fine way to treat employees (India’s journalists have also suffered from the Murdoch effect). Murdoch sacked, moved and reduced journalists everywhere to paid hacks, only capable of doing what he assigned them.

     

    At the end, that became hacking into the voice mails of a murdered child’s mobile phone in order to sell more copies of a newspaper.

     

    Murdoch has said he is sorry – inasmuch as he remembers anything at all. Although he does appear to recall a bit more than his son who saw and heard (and read) apparently almost nothing all the while that he ran the European branch of daddy’s company.

     

    At a time when the Indian media is grappling with all sorts of issues and allegations, the Murdoch saga presents an interesting contrast. That Murdoch’s editors bent the rules and ignored media ethics is a certainty but it presents almost the exact opposite of the way that the Indian media operates. Can you imagine any Indian reporter – especially one involved in the glamour world – going to such depths to get a story? Hiring private investigators, bribing police officers – all this shows a commitment to newsgathering that most Indian newspapers had given up and many journalists would faint at the idea of so much hard work. (So much easier to let the PR person write the story which his client has paid the marketing department for.) I am not sure how many would object to the ethical problems raised since we have our own monsters to deal with.

     

    Meanwhile it’ll be interesting to watch as the vultures start circling around.

     

  • I think makers of Limca have blundered big-time on this one. For one, Bebo is over-used in advertising. Waste of money. Cricket has been flogged to death, so that's a waste of time

    Debrief: Limca: Freshness badhao, not pyaas!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Limca has changed its positioning statement this summer. Earlier they used to promise freshness. Now they are selling the drink as a thirst quencher. ‘Pyaas Badhao’ is the new message. And they have punned on the word ‘pyaas’. Thirst for a drink, and thirst for success.

     

    Kareena Kapoor is the new brand ambassador. In the commercial, Bebo encourages a young, budding cricketer to sweat and toil so that he can become a successful player. Of course, lots of Limca drinking shots happen along the way. Totally unhappening stuff, I say.

     

    I think makers of Limca have blundered big-time on this one. For one, Bebo is over-used in advertising so she adds little to brand recall. Waste of money. Cricket has been flogged to death in advertising, so that’s a waste of time. But the biggest mistake is giving up ‘freshness’ and opting for a needlessly loaded story. Yes, I am aware ‘freshness’ is a generic concept for cold drinks, but that’s where the challenge for creative people lies. On how to lift a regular thought by creating wow executions. Stunning renditions should have been tried on ‘taazgi’. The new ad tries very hard to establish the ‘pyaas’ of doing well in life. Worse, Bebo demands adequate footage too… what’s the point of using her otherwise? And in all this crowded mess, the brand gets lost.

     

    Not working, people. Go back to ‘taazgi’ and go back to the drawing board. And hurry, the summer shan’t last forever!

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 1. Strategy shift bombs.

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] The Modi merry-go-round continues

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    As expected, the release of the report by lawyer Raju Ramachandran into Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 riots got TV channels into a frenzy. Having whipped themselves up over the “clean chit” given to Modi by the Special Investigation Team, the indictment of the chief minister by the “friend of the court” provided just the kind of contradiction that Indian TV thrives on.

     

    However, the arguments for and against Narendra Modi and his “crimes” or his “achievements” have become old and tired. As have the panellists. There on NDTV was Jainarayan Vyas putting up a stout defence of Modi. And, of course, a short while later he was on Times Now. Kumar Ketkar, editor of Divya Marathi provided the objective line – while slamming Modi for his well-documented anti-minorities stance – also appeared on both.

     

    But at the end of the day, little is achieved with such debates. The BJP and Modi’s fan club spew their spiel. Modi’s detractors have their own. The debate moves along predictable lines. The events have become so far away that the details have been forgotten which leads to even more chaos. Both Nidhi Razdan and Arnab Goswami had a tough time controlling some of their panellists who as usual forget all rules of civilised behaviour once a TV camera is turned on them. Smriti Irani of the BJP, for instance, gave us ample proof of how she can now graduate to the “saas” role in a poisonous soap – if they still have them on TV that is.

     

    (A disclaimer: I was deputy resident editor of The Times of India, Ahmedabad, from 2001 to 2004 and have a fairly good idea of what happened during the riots. Watching people who were nowhere around in those dark days holding forth can be both a frustrating and amusing experience.)

     

    * * *

     

    The big TV event of the week is of course the first episode of actor Aamir Khan’s Satyameva Jayate on the Star channels and DD. He dealt with the contentious and emotional issue of female foeticide and India’s skewed gender ratio. It was a well-researched show, with the subject presented from various angles and certainly struck a chord with the audience. The cyber world went gaga, judging from the number of tweets about the programme. Newspapers the next day were also congratulatory.

     

    If there was criticism – especially on Twitter, the home of manufactured outrage – it was about whether female foeticide was such an unknown problem after all as well as whether any change would happen as a result of the show.

     

    It is amazing to hear journalists talking about whether social change can result from media efforts, since we know from our own experience what a slow and pain-staking experience that can be. Your 140-character aphorism may take seconds to go out to the world; change on the ground takes a tiny bit longer than that.

     

    * * *

     

    An evening at the Mumbai Press Club was a great opportunity to meet up with former colleagues and old friends. The now annual awards for journalists in categories from crime and cricket to politics and the environment is a very good idea. Giving the lifetime achievement award to Vinod Mehta was a winner – since he promptly said that working in Bombay (as it was then) were the best years of his life!

     

    Applause all around.