MxMIndia

Category: BLOGS

  • In Freaking News, which appears 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

    Bandh a ‘partial success’, no effect on petrol prices

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Tracking Thursday’s Bharat Bandh protesting against the petrol price hike on TV led to a bit of confusion – was it a success or not. As it turned out, the Opposition-led bandh was what is known as a “partial success” so if you’re a half-glass pessimist, that’s the same as a “partial failure”. For Mumbai, TV showed us a bus in Mulund being attacked by a man in a BJP T-shirt – who either did not have the good sense or was just to brazen to hide his face from the camera. But social networking sites seemed to suggest that people did go to work. The morning papers said 60 per cent turn out in private offices and slightly more in government offices (really!). The commercial loss, said The Times of India, was Rs1,000 crore while Mid-Day pegged it at a more conservative Rs300 crore. Of course maybe with current rupee-dollar rate, both figures mean the same thing?

     

    There is also the other question about the loss caused by damage to property by “bandh” enforcers which as every newspaper painstakingly informed us, we the people would have to pay for.

     

    Across the country, the bandh fared better in some parts than others and apparently had no effect in Kerala at all.

     

    Petrol prices, by the way, had not come down by Friday morning at least.

     

    * * *

     

    As the TV news day progressed however, the bandh was sidelined first by BJP veteran LK Advani who announced in his blog that the BJP had made too many bad decisions recently and used the party’s favourite word “introspection”. This kind of took the wind out of the BJP’s sails as the main “bandh” caller. Immediate speculation began about a rift in the party – something political commentators have long known about. http://blog.lkadvani.in/blog-in-english/bjp-a-hub-of-hope

     

    Arnab Goswami interviewed Ram Jethamalani who had said similar things in a letter to Nitin Gadkari and Jethamalani was a hoot as always, even as he lost his ear pieces for a while and Goswami watched precious air time and money dribbling away.

     

    Jethamalani told Goswami he was a clever man who was trying to get Jethmalani round to Goswami’s opinion. Goswami said he had no opinion.

     

    No comment from me either.

     

    * * *

     

    The other big bandh spoiler was the Indian economy and the fall in GDP growth to 5.3 per cent, the lowest in nine years. Our TV newswallahs who usually shy away from the economy – possibly because they know so little about it – were forced to sit up and take notice and so gave us some uninformed guff, interspersed with a lot of dramatic music and stuff.

     

    Since the economic recession in the West in 2008, international TV newswallahs have become experts at this economy stuff and our TV people could learn from them how to use jargon effectively and impressively. Or, they could hire some journalists with a background in business and the economy. This would be particularly useful for the Sensex channels.

     

    Amartya Sen on NDTV sort of turned the argument on its head by saying that this obsession with GDP was misplaced. He started talking about inclusive growth and stuff which usually makes business people and economists turn faint from boredom as they cannot understand what that means.

     

    * * *

     

    At prime time, Headlines Today was still worried about cricket and Rahul Kanwal was in “hot pursuit” of Gautam Gambhir. Arnab Goswami asked why we need such bandhs at all and then proceeded to have a quarrel with Ravi Shankar Prasad about the NDA’s petrol policies.

     

    Mohandas Pai formerly of Infosys came up with a novel solution to bandhs – he said all bandh-callers should sit around statues of Mahatma Gandhi and hold hunger strikes. BJP people looked bewildered having never heard of this man nor seen statues of him anywhere in India.

     

    * * *

     

    Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi in Thursday’s Indian Express said, “Serious thought needs to be given to the ‘paid news’ that is threatening to erode the value and pride of the press and is starting to shake the foundations of democracy. A voluntary code would be the effective answer”.

     

    He was speaking at the annual convocation of the Express Institute of Media Studies.

     

  • June 30 is the sunset date for digitization in the four metros and there are question marks on the readiness. Dinyar Contractor lists the reasons why he thinks delivering before the deadline for the four metros is such a challenge

    The Anchor: Dinyar Contractor on 10 reasons why the digitization deadline is a mighty challenge

    By Dinyar Contractor

     

    1. At the FICCI- I&B ministry meet that was held a week ago in Mumbai, barely 40 days before the analogue sunset date, the I&B officials said that they had reviewed digitization in Mumbai the previous day so their report was immediate and current and they confirmed that 33 per cent of the homes in Mumbai already have set-top boxes. I would like to turn that around factually and say that 67 per cent of the homes did not have digital boxes even 40 days before the sunset. So it is pretty much an impossible task that 67 per cent will get it within 40 days.

     

    2. Let’s look at Chennai. Arasu Cable has confirmed that they don’t have set-top boxes. In fact, a day after the FICCI meet, Arasu had asked its cable operators to log in to the Arasu site and send in their estimates of how many boxes will be required. Arasu will then put together these estimates and float a tender which means they would then start asking for people to give prices for boxes. So for the boxes coming in is way over the horizon for Chennai.

     

    3. Incidentally, there is a lead time just for a component of a set-top box in the world market today of four months. That means if you order your box today and the manufacturer orders the component, it will be four months before the manufacturer gets the component. What that means is that the box will not be manufactured and it will definitely not reach you before five months. Therefore, if at all there is a postponement, it doesn’t make sense to have any postponement which is earlier than Jan 1, even six months is really cutting it fine.

     

    4. There is a major national level MSO who candidly admitted to me that their HD boxes have landed but they don’t have the funds to clear them. The government had promised 74 per cent FDI as part of the digitization effort but the government has not implemented this and therefore, MSOs have not been able to tap foreign investors. So without enabling funds, the government has put this clause out which does not make any sense.

     

    5. We are talking of a sunset date 30 days from now. So for instance, I as a cable operator go to somebody’s home and I say please take the set-top box. And they say, sure I’ll take it but what is it going to cost me? And I say I don’t know what it is going to cost you because the government hasn’t declared the rate. Now as a customer I would not accept the box.

     

    6. On May 28, the TRAI put up all the analog pay channel tariffs. There is a Supreme Court judgment which says that broadcasters cannot charge more than 42 per cent of the analog pay channel rates for digital. So 42 per cent is the ceiling, however that 42 per cent is completely irrelevant since broadcasters are providing pay channels to DTH platforms at something between 10 to 15 per cent. So from May 28, the ball has started rolling where negotiations have been opened between broadcasters and MSOs to work out some figure for their pay channels that will be somewhere between 10 and 42 per cent. So there is a huge spread in the rates between 10 and 42 per cent, these negotiations are obviously not going to quick and easy. I don’t see these negotiations culminating in three weeks or a month.

     

    7. There was a Parliamentary Committee report which was released and tabled in the Lok Sabha a few days ago where the Committee says that this entire thing should be delayed by at least six months. I see this as the first stone thrown by the government to ripple the waters and start talking of a delay.

     

    8. The TRAI suddenly declared that every digital headend must deliver 500 channels. Incidentally, a major portion of the set-top boxes already deployed are incapable of doing 500 channels. This is again a fact that is not adequately ventilated. They can typically do 350 channels, less than 400 channels. It means that they have to take out may be 2 million of the boxes that have already been seeded and throw them away. Where is the money going to come from? We are not even realistic about what is going on.

     

    9. In Kolkata, don’t forget there is Mamata Banerjee who might rake up the issue against digitization depending on the political capital it might have.

     

    10. Here you have a sunset clause where the government has not enabled anything, they have only been talking of a sunset but they have not done anything to facilitate and to enable the sunset. The delay has nothing to do with the MSOs or the cable industry, it is simply completely chaotic unplanned deputation of the law or total lack of enabling a systematic process in which digitization could have been introduced.

     

    Dinyar Contractor is Editor and Executive Publisher, Satellite and Cable TV Magazine (www.scatmag.com)

     

  • What the media giveth the media taketh away… Ranjona Banerji on how the movement against corruption is desperate to get back what it lost in Mumbai

    Poonam Pandey for Anna movement?

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Urgently required: new media managers for the Anna Hazare movement against corruption. Applicants must have prior experience in rebuilding lost reputations, soothing over internal fissures, creating mass hysteria and taking the Internet by storm. No bar on people who have fudged a few travel bills or Income Tax returns here and there. However, no one with any links to the Congress Party need apply. RSS and other “social organisations” are permissible. Chances of yoga gurus being admitted is at this moment ambivalent.

     

    Okay, they haven’t put out such an ad, but they might do sometime in the future. Because Anna Hazare, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Baba Ramdev are back on TV screens, desperate to get back some of what they lost when the movement fizzled out in Mumbai the last time.

     

    Oh, all those heady weeks of being on prime time TV night after night. Imagine the fun, rushing to buy new outfits, putting all that makeup on, practising your best self-righteous pursed lips pose in front of the mirror for hours, bristling with sanctimonious rage when anyone questioned you, trying to hide your contemptuous laughter when anyone had another point of view – where had it all gone?

     

    Sadly, in spite of their best efforts, it doesn’t appear to be coming back in the same force. What the media giveth the media taketh away. Often without any sense or pattern. One day, you’re god’s answer to India’s problems, the next day your own problems are headline news. Instead of focusing on the wicked prime minister, the media is looking at fights between Ramdev and Kejriwal – don’t they know that Kejriwal is a diabetic and that’s why he had to leave the stage on Sunday after being rebuked by Ramdev? Diabetics, it is well-known, don’t like to be crossed. Especially if their name is Kejriwal. Or even, Arvind.

     

    The need for help is glaring because according to wicked media reports, Kiran Bedi even wants Poonam Pandey, the starlet (actually I don’t know if she ever “starred” in anything) who took off all her clothes after the KKR victory as she had promised, to join the movement. The mind boggles. Apparently, Pandey’s many twitter followers were Bedi’s reason, not supposedly Pandey’s shapely derriere which she revealed to the world. Barack Obama and Ashton Kutcher also have millions of followers. Bedi can approach them next. And, Sunny Leone, porn star turned Bollywood hopeful, must be feeling quite bad.

     

    Even more tragically, a do-gooding film star has jumped into the fray, tackling social issues plaguing our nation. (Not corruption yet). Once this film star was on the movement’s side. Now he seems to be stealing all the limelight.

     

    Yes, that ad is badly needed.

     

  • The writing is clearly on the wall that all OOH will one day become digital, writes Rajan Mehta, founder and CEO, LIveMedia

    The Anchor: Rajan Mehta on 5 ways how Digital OOH is revolutionizing Out-of-Home

    By Rajan Mehta, Founder and CEO, LIveMedia

     

    One day, all media will become digital and OOH is no exception. Although still in its nuptial stage, digital OOH is quickly revolutionizing the OOH industry and has brought forth the following added advantages which are hard to ignore.

     

    1. Precise Targeting of your Consumer Segment:

    LCD Screens have been installed in places like restaurants, coffee shops, clubs, gyms, salons, office cafeterias, college cafeterias, hospitals etc wherein the profile of people visiting them is easily decipherable. Coupled with this is the fact that we know the geographical location of each of these places and the context that each place has to offer. Advertisers don’t have to advertise on the entire network but can pick and choose screens based on demographic, geographic or psychographic profile of the consumers they want to target, thus enormously improving the efficacy of their campaigns. This kind of sharp-shooting has never been offered before.

     

    2. Different Strokes for Different Folks:

    In today’s world one size does not fit all. Therefore, you have to communicate differently with different customer segments. You may want to show a Blackberry Bold with a pink casing to young ladies while at the same time in a black casing to young professionals. This can be done easily on a digital screen network wherein you can show the creative with a pink Blackberry casing in places like salons etc where young women are present, while in office cafeteria’s which are more male dominated it could be shown with a black casing. Not only this, you could run the creative in Kannada in Karnataka, in English in Delhi and in Punjabi in Punjab. This ensures that we are communicating in the most effective and targeted manner with our potential consumers.

     

    3. New Genre of Entertainment:

    We all know people are very discreet when it comes to media consumption. If there is nothing in it for them they would not consume it. Digital OOH has pioneered a new genre of content which is crisp, trendy and fitting into the lifestyles of people, thereby giving them a reason to look at the Screens while they are out of home. It’s truly like “Get entertained. Wherever you go”. You just need to step into a restaurant, gym, office cafeteria which has a LiveMedia Screen to see what we are talking about. Out-of-home advertising has now become entertainment-/ infotainment-based just like TV and Press, and not simply thrust upon people.

     

    4. Context has been added:

    We all know anything told in a context has a better impact. Imagine someone sitting in a hospital lobby with a Screen in front of him and an Advertisement for a Medical Insurance product comes up. The person would definitely take notice and think about it. The rest depends upon the creative. Similarly, advertising for lifestyle products in a coffee shop makes a lot of sense as these places are all about lifestyle. In addition to the above there are various programmes (content) that run on these screens which also create a context while people are watching. For example, if there is a programme on sports and an advertisement for some sports goods is placed next to it, then it works well as the person’s mind is already tuned into sports.

     

    5. It’s Finally Measurable:

    The bane of OOH has been that it’s not been measurable. Well, digital OOH is changing this paradigm! Since digital OOH is present in controlled environments like restaurants, cafeterias, gyms, salons, colleges, hospitals etc it is easy to reach out to people in these places and subject them to a survey, the data from which can then be used to measure the impact of the medium. Companies like IMRB have been doing this research for quite some time and have developed robust methodologies to collect, analyse and report the data. The current research is done to understand four parameters – demographics being addressed, noticeability of screens, engagement pattern and finally recall of various advertisements.

     

    The medium still has a long way to go but the writing is on the wall that all OOH will one day become digital!

     

    Rajan Mehta is Founder and CEO, LIveMedia

     

  • It's appalling to see the Indian Medical Association and many doctors take offence to the Satyamev Jayate episode on medical negligence, writes Anil Thakraney

    Anil Thakraney: Doc, Aamir ain’t your PR agent!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I find it appalling that the Indian Medical Association and many other doctors have taken offence to the Satyamev Jayate episode which dealt with medical malpractice. And these docs are demanding an apology from the progamme host, Aamir Khan. I would term their reaction a joke, but we are dealing with a serious issue out here, so let’s just say this sort of a response shows up our doctors in a poor light.

     

    To understand why Aamir did no wrong, let’s first understand the format of his TV show. SJ is not a ‘breaking news’ format, the show isn’t highlighting stuff that we don’t already know of. Female child murder, dowry deaths, honour killings… they all exist in our society, they are a sad reality. And so is medical malpractice. There are many doctors and hospitals that do dhandha rather than practice, and this too is well known. The objective of the Sunday morning show is to bring the rats out from under the carpet, and to discuss them and introspect on them. It’s as simple as that.

     

    Nowhere in the episode on medical ethics did Aamir suggest that ALL doctors are corrupt. Rather, I vividly recall him assuring the audiences that he isn’t pointing a finger at the entire medical community. Just as all of us don’t ask for dowry or indulge in foeticide, obviously all doctors aren’t corrupt. That’s a given. But for the rats to be brought out, naturally the show will discuss issues where criminal minds have been involved. This makes people aware of their own rights and alerts them about the safety precautions they need to take in various situations. The show won’t work if the entire duration is spent featuring all the good guys of the nation, will it? Who will deal with the rats then? In addition, SJ did invite the good Dr Devi Shetty (and a few other good men) to the show, so I just cannot understand why the med frat is up in arms.

     

    Here’s what I suspect has happened: The doctors, who are almost always treated with huge amount of reverence in this nation, aren’t able to deal with a situation where suddenly someone has decided to openly discuss medical malpractices on a public platform.

     

    Dear docs, hire a PR agency if you want paeans to be sung in your honour. And dear Aamir bhai, please bash on regardless.

     

     

    P S: Now THIS is what Mr Nandan Nilekani ought to be doing to get the junta interested in his Aadhar card yojna. The Aussies have created a simple little film to encourage citizens to participate in the census collection process. Notice that it’s basic level, entertaining and is packed with cool graphics. Even the lowest denominator would get it. Nilekani should sanction a film like this. So much better than all that confusing, complicated talk on TV chat shows.

     

     

  • In Media Mullings, Peter Mukerjea envisages a scenario that will enable the media industry in India to reshape and reinvent and become truly 'world class'.

    Peter Mukerjea: Dream On… after all we’re in March 2012!

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So, if I were the next Minister of Information & Broadcasting for the Government (which is about as likely to happen as a month of Sundays) here are the 7 things I would want to do in my first 7 days of taking on the job. Sorry Ambikaji, this, of course, is not to say that you’re not doing a fine job, which you are – but like my school report card said term after term, ‘Could do better’.

     

    1. I’d start with issuing a mandate to privatize Doordarshan asap and thus enable the public to buy shares in the new entity and operate it like a proper commercial organisation and remove all Government control over it. I’d call a Nandan Nilekani, Deepak Parekh kind of person and get him to take on the project of getting this done in no more than a year. He could in turn invite the world’s best financial gurus and merchant bankers to have them pitch for the job. Then to appoint a proper CEO and a management team to develop a growth plan for the business which would include online, social media, cable distribution and task them with getting on with that in the following 12 months. They would report to a Board and be accountable to them and the shareholders.

     

    Benefit: The taxpayer would not need to fund DD any longer and its independence would be ensured. Profitability would emerge which would enable DD to become the largest media company in India and compete with the likes of STAR , ZEE or any of the international companies like the BBC or CBS or SKY or FOX. It would then attract the world’s best talent and be seen as a jewel in the crown for India. The company would bring about an amalgamation of all media activities under one roof and take its place in the list of leading companies of the world. If the Oberois can do that with their hotels, there’s no reason why that cannot happen with DD.

     

    2. I’d create an OFCOM (the regulator in the UK) like organization who would be responsible to the Minister for all the regulatory issues and they would have the power to prosecute and de list broadcasters if they didn’t follow the letter (and spirit) of the law. This would be run by socially responsible individuals with distinction and standing in the community.

     

    Benefit: This would in turn, enable the various media organizations in the country to be mindful of their social and legal responsibilities and not abuse the same. OFCOM would also be required to ensure that the people that run these various media companies are categorized as ‘fit and proper persons’ to do so. Managing media will then not be the direct responsibility of the Minister who could then take an unbiased view on issues if they were ever escalated to the Minister.

     

    3. I’d call TAM and get them to install an overnight rating measurement system and give them one year to do that. No more. Meanwhile, to expand the current system to include rural markets across India and to do this in 6 months. If they were not able to commit to getting this done I would invite other Research and Technology companies from India and the world over to replace TAM.

     

    Benefit: We would move industry to the 21st century and be similar to other developed markets where overnight ratings are the norm. This will help broadcasters , content producers and advertisers alike and will also be a reflection of the consumer. The expansion of the measurement universe would benefit the country as whole and content providers and advertisers would then pay more attention to the needs of the rural consumer and this will help the current imbalance between the urban and rural.

     

    4. All news channels in the country, both Indian and foreign would be required to present their credentials via a barometer of measurement which is based on quality, integrity and depth of journalism rather than GRP’s (ratings) alone. This would apply to all forms of news – be it entertainment, sports, business, current affairs, social etc.

     

    Benefit: The consumer would benefit by being presented with news reporting which is responsible and credible but not driven solely by sensational and scandal. Maybe there will be a news channel from India that will emerge to compete with the BBC or CNN in international markets. Here again, if Infosys can be world class, there’s no reason why a news channel from India cannot be world class.

     

    5. I would remove all financial barriers immediately to foreign participation in all media and would therefore allow 100 percent FDI in media and media related technology businesses. However, those owning and running these media and technology companies must be Indian nationals as is the law in the US.

     

    Benefit: This will attract the world’s largest companies to participate in the growth of Indian media and speed up digitization and internet connectivity in the process. This would provide a base for on line connectivity for all, across the length and breadth of the country from the smallest of villages to the largest of cities which would in turn accelerate communication and exchange of information for all Indians everywhere.

     

    6. I would remove all price control mechanisms instantly for the pricing of cable TV & internet connectivity provided by cable operators, MSO’s, DTH and other service providers as this would urge them to provide their services at prices that are market driven and competitive. None of these services are ‘essential commodities’ and therefore should not come under the purview of price control. However, each such service provider would be required to provide channels from each available genre, in proportion to the viewership they attract e.g. GEC channels – say 25 percent, News say 5 percent, Sport – say 10 percent, Natural History – say 5 percent, Music – say 5 percent, languages – 50 percent and so on.

     

    Benefit: The consumer would benefit the most as services would be provided at commercially viable rates and the quality of service would undoubtedly be enhanced as the various service providers would compete to retain and grow their consumer base for their custom, by improving service levels and quality. The Government should have no role in pricing media and entertainment services.

     

    7. All private FM radio stations would be free to broadcast news and current affairs, weather, traffic info, business news, for as long as they feel is commercially viable. Private FM radio stations would also be free to broadcast any genres that they choose to and the license fee for each genre would be adjusted (by OFCOM) according to the value of the genre – ie talk radio, sport phone in, 24-hour news & current affairs, Bollywood music, Indian classical music, education, health, western pop music, western classical etc etc.

     

    Benefit: Consumers across the country would then receive news on their FM radio stations and be informed rather than exist in the dark as they are currently. If we believe that the right to information is a democratic right for all , then we must live upto that ideal and enable private FM radio stations to provide a news service to their listeners 24 x 7.

     

    I doubt that any of these will see the light of day in the near future but I do hope that decision-makers in India will move quickly to turn all of these into reality as they will help the media industry in India to reshape and reinvent and become truly ‘world class’. Or else we can dream on!

     

  • In Media Mullings, Peter Mukerjea on why James Murdoch must move to India

    Peter Mukerjea: Rupert & Son

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So, it’s finally happened that James, or JRM as he is known within the company, has stepped down. I’d said that he should (see Firstpost.com article) and for whatever it’s worth, I’m glad that he has.

     

    Enough has been written and no doubt more will be written about the rights and wrongs of the people involved in the entire phone hacking case and we will never know who will finally go to jail for the crimes that are alleged to have been committed.

     

    But that would be looking back and surely it’s much more fun looking forward and trying to gauge what’s about to happen next. If Rupert is true to his word, JRM will now be spending more time on international operations and on the TV business at large . Now that leads me to suggest that he should for Newscorp’s sake spend at least 75% of his time in India looking at new business opportunities that exist in the country. STAR experienced it’s highest ever growth in it’s business under JRM’s watch when he was the CEO in Asia. That’s not a coincidence, I can assure you. Conversely, STAR experienced it’s lowest growth when JRM left the Asia region and handed it over to pixies in Hong Kong who had no clue about India. For example, the lady who was given the baton by JRM had never visited India ever in her life. Strange decision, it has to be said.

     

    JRM, on the other hand, was a respected executive and was seen as a path-breaking scion of his father. And the fact that not everyone loved him was simply par for the course and to be expected. He was effective in reshaping STAR’s fortunes and turning a loss making company into a profitable one.

     

    Incidentally I continue to believe that none of the new channels that popped up in 2007/8 would have happened if Rupert had not taken his eye off Asia but he moved JRM to London to run SKY and with that opened up the gates for newcomers. Some channels failed to make the grade – 9X & Imagine for example, and others did well – Colors & 9XM for instance, but none of these should ever have been allowed to get started given the complete dominance that STAR had on the market. And all the people that went to run these channels, including myself , were almost all from STAR.

     

    Since then STAR has held up well, although after a wobbly start. Credit for which should be given wholly to JRM for giving autonomy to the current leadership in managing their business and most importantly cutting them loose from the Hong Kong intermediary, which was rightly cut to size.

     

    JRM’s big opportunity is now to push ahead with developing a range of new TV and other media products for the India market and enable it to grow speedily to create a very clear leadership position with plenty of blue sky space between the No1 and the rest. And only he can make that happen by physically being there and making the big decisions which would otherwise be lost in power point presentations between numerous layers of management.

     

    This would in turn spur ZEE and Sony and MTV and the rest to do the same and compete with each other and with the pace that STAR would have set for them. This will then collectively turbo-charge and accelerate the industry as a whole and taking full advantage of the economic growth that the country is experiencing. The next 10 years for the media business in India will be huge and despite the slowdown in the global economy the pace of growth will be better than almost anywhere else in the world.

     

    JRM once said “let’s make the best use of a crisis” or words to that effect and I think this is a crisis that has presented itself for just that opportunity. He has moved to New York from London but may be he should have a home in Mumbai too and really shake up the market. There’s tons to do with a very exciting future for a 40-year-old – like JRM, which regular or even above average executives will simply not be able to take full advantage of. They can at best take limited risk, if at all – but JRM can and he should.

     

    Will he or won’t he? Or will he slip in and out of the country quietly, once very few months and leave the big opportunity to the pixies once again? If he ends up doing that he will have missed a great opportunity to grow the business and also to get himself back up and be recognised as being one of the best TV executives in the world. After all, he is the son of Rupert.

     

    Although it started as a fortnightly column, Peter Mukerjea’s Media Mullings will now appear regularly on MxMIndia, but with no definite frequency.

     

  • In Column #1: The absence of Indian papers at a Heathrow lounge & what irks him about NDTV in UK

    Peter Mukerjea. Why no Indian papers in the lounge?

     

    ‘Read your comment to Anil Thakraney’s blog’, a friend smsed me a few weeks ago. I said I hadn’t, only to discover that the ‘PM’ on the messageboard was none other than Peter Mukerjea. One of the brightest stars in the media, Peter may have had a setback with 9X and INX Media, but there is no denying that the former Star India CEO has been one of the finest minds and much admired captains of Indian broadcasting. He may be in distant England, but he’s still clued in to what’s happening back home.

    I wrote to ‘PM’, thanking him for dropping by and invited him to write for us. He agreed… so here we are.

    MxMIndia is proud to present Media Mullings, a new fortnightly column by Peter Mukerjea.

    As you’ll figure as you read along, he’s also a brilliant writer.

    – Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Media Mullings: No desi papers in this lounge!

     

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    I’m sitting in the Emirates lounge at Heathrow airport about to board a flight to Dubai en route to Mumbai. The flight’s delayed a wee bit as a passenger has suddenly changed his/ her mind about making the journey and so the bags need to be offloaded!

     

    This delay isn’t unusual in itself but but I’m now weighing up my options of how I would spend the next 30-40 minutes having already arrived early and had a glass of wine with a snack, checked my emails etc.

     

    Thankfully there are no TVs in the lounge and I suddenly realise that this is such a pleasant change from the airport lounges in India. So, TV is not an option. I could be on my mobile talking to friends and family but I’ve done that too. As it’s nearing the end of the day, I’ve read my favourite newspaper but then i catch the sight of the newspaper rack and wander across to see what other papers there are and which one I might fancy.

     

    The array of newspapers is fascinating as one would expect in a high quality airport lounge – starting with The Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune amongst others from France – Le Monde, der Speigel from Germany, Italy and even Hong Kong. Of course, being the Emirates Lounge you would expect to see papers from the Middle East in Arabic and also in English such as Gulf News and Khaleej Times.

     

    As I’m en route to India, I’m quite eager to read an Indian paper, even if it’s may be a day old, but given that the news changes so little on a day-to-day basis , I knew I wouldn’t miss much if I got hold of yesterday’s paper either. But, no such luck. There wasn’t a single Indian paper in sight – not today’s and not even yesterday’s!

     

    I thought there must be a run on the Indian papers and that they must have all gone. So, I asked the lovely lady at the desk but she claimed ignorance and said that she didn’t think that they carried any Indian newspapers. She politely pointed me to the business centre and suggested that I check on the net.

     

    Now that surprises me. We’re the world’s largest democracy and we have some fairly decent, vaguely readable newspapers being published but they weren’t part of the offering in an English lounge of the Emirates airline. How astounding I thought.

     

    But I figured that the newspaper executives in India or their distribution agents couldn’t care less about ensuring the presence of Indian newspapers in such a place. After all, it couldn’t be too much of an effort to get these to all the lounges in at least the primary destinations around the world. After all, Spanish, Mandarin , English and Hindi are being touted as being ‘the’ four most widely spoken languages in the world today and yet we don’t have at least a presence of our national language papers in this lounge.

     

    Or that they are so far ahead of the game that they believe that it isn’t worth putting newspapers in lounges and those who are interested will find what they need to know on the internet. How true and how clever and so ahead of the curve.

     

    But the airline ought to reflect their clients’ needs and consider keeping Indian papers for so many of us who travel on their airline.

     

    And on the subject of Indian TV channels, particularly the news channels, I was pleasantly surprised recently to find that NDTV 24×7 had suddenly appeared on my TV screen at home in England, even though I don’t recall subscribing to it. I’m not complaining. And it’s not like Virgin or Sky give anything for free. When I found out that this news channel was available within my existing service, I was delighted and rushed to watch with much enthusiasm rather like a dog rushing to fetch a ball that he’s just been thrown.

     

    The excitement, equally rapidly, changed to annoyance when I actually started watching the channel. And I used to love watching NDTV once upon a time. And then after watching for a while I figured what was wrong with it. There were far too many commercial breaks. But what was even more annoying was that there were no commercials.

     

    In India we sometimes forgive the news channels for the poor quality of the news, thanks to the fact that the commercials occasionally make you chuckle or they provide some light entertainment and relief from the often horrid news that sits in between the commercial breaks. But then the penny dropped – it must be OFCOM – the name of the body that governs broadcasters and has been set up to make sure that they are staying within rules of decency and broadcast regulation in the UK.

     

    Thankfully they also govern – on commercial time usage, and heavily penalise any broadcaster who overruns the permissible secondage as stipulated by OFCOM. In India no one bothers and it’s a free-for-all, despite there being regulation to that effect.

     

    Consequently the broadcasters in India stuff the commercial breaks with as many seconds of commercial time as they can sell, put logo after logo on the tickers and call it branding or ‘added value’.

     

    And given that the same news channel feed is delivered to the UK, they are governed by OFCOM which means that these commercial breaks with super excessive secondage will not be allowed to go on air.

     

    NDTV, it seems, is having to fill the gaps in their commercial time on the UK service with stacks of inhouse and channel promos. The promos are never as sexy or funny as the TV commercials and filling the channel with boring promos makes the channel’s news service look seriously out of sync with any other home-grown news channel available in the UK. They really ought to do something about this and tighten up the volume of commercial time being stuffed into the breaks in India. Sadly though, this applies to almost all the channels in the country who find it hard to raise the prices of their commercial time and in order to increase revenue, they simply expand the duration of the commercial breaks knowing that no one’s watching. But then, when the channel is transported overseas , it becomes a messy channel indeed and no wonder it does not get too much local advertising in the UK , for the UK , from the UK. Surely there’s a smarter way to do this.

     

    At least they cannot say ‘I wasn’t aware of it ‘. No prizes for guessing who said this when and in what context.

     

  • The classic before/after trick may just have worked for a tea brand, but for a deo brand, the idea sucks, writes Anil Thakraney

    Nivea Fresh Active: Totally off-putting

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I want to congratulate the Nivea brand manager for finally smashing that done-to-death route of men’s deo advertising: There are no hot babes in hot pursuit of our Nivea dudes. What we see in the new commercial are only men. So far so good.

     

    But from hereon, things go horribly wrong. There are many ads in India (and am sure the whole world) which bore and irritate us. But there will always be a few that piss us off so much, it leads to a rise in blood pressure with a burning desire to demolish the television set. Sadly, Nivea has managed to achieve that.

     

    In the commercial, a group of men yawn very loudly, offensively and repeatedly. And then they use Nivea Fresh Active and starting aaahing, as if suddenly refreshed. This classic before/after trick may just have worked for a tea brand. For a deo brand, the idea sucks. And as for the execution, it never occurred to the ad’s self indulgent creators that listening to men yawn crudely is NOT entertaining or funny in the least. In fact, it’s extremely annoying.

     

    Disastrous advertising. Guaranteed to get you agitated. I keep the remote control on the ready the moment I hear the first bloody yawn.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 0.5 Rubbish deo ad. But half a mark for not using swooning babes.

     

  • While Ranjona Banerji commends The Times of India's for focusing on environment and getting Sunita Narain as guest ed, the stories were 'same old, same old'.

    Gimmicky, unappetizing green times

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    What is the general feeling on the pista-green shade adopted by Bennett Coleman newspapers for World Environment Day, June 5? To me, not only did it look unappetising (not that I have anything against pistachios, quite the contrary) but it also seemed gimmicky. The giant Fiama de Wills ad which ran horizontally from top to bottom and half the page on TOI did not help either.

     

    The effort has to be commended – Sunita Narain of Down to Earth as guest editor and a whole slew of stories on the environment. However, the kind of stories chosen were “same old, same old” and that, even for an interested party like me, it was a bit yawn-inducing. Wagging fingers about environmental degradation and human iniquity is now passé. The movement has progressed since then and practical applications and answers would have perhaps been a better track to follow. An opportunity lost, unfortunately.

     

    Most other newspapers just paid basic lip service to the day, so plaudits for Bennett Coleman there.

     

    **

     

    Sachin Tendulkar taking his Rajya Sabha oath should have been a fairly simple matter, with a requisite press presence suitable for a star. But this propensity for national hysteria can get a bit boring. Yes, we have already discussed in great detail the whys, wherefores, whens, hows, what-ifs and wisdom of this move. So apart from breathless coverage we also had some laboured debate on NDTV about Tendulkar and the Rajya Sabha.

     

    When there are no major issues at hand then TV’s desire for “scintillating” discussion (can’t find the sarcasm emoticon) falls a little flat. Even Arnab Goswami’s going round and round the mulberry bush over India against Corruption and Baba Ramdev’s on-off love affair was uninteresting since there were very few answers that India actually demanded from either of them.

     

    **

     

    Watching a press conference with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee after the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday was fascinating. If he were not so busy being the main trouble-shooter, the Congress could have used him as their chief TV debater. His breadth of knowledge is so large and understanding so acute, he sort of stops people in their tracks. I suspect that journalists are a little frightened of asking him the frivolous questions they usually do of others. Imagine what Mukherjee would do to Nirmala Seetharaman or Ravi Shankar Prasad in a TV debate?

     

    **

     

    Since the French Open is into its second week at Roland Garros, it is a pleasure to see so much coverage on so many sports pages. I take the Hindustan Times and the Hindu off the hook here – they have always given fair play to tennis. But even the Times of India which barely manages a nod to other tennis tournaments has clearly decided that a Grand Slam is worthy of its venerable attention. So too the Indian Express, which gives a little nod to sports and focuses on cricket, has been covering events in Paris.

     

    However the cynic in me says that since some European football tournament is due to start this week, tennis may soon be back in the briefs sections.

     

  • Is there life beyond Sachin and Dhoni and Shah Rukh and Abhishek? Yes, says Manish Porwal, recommending six faces that could be tapped.

    The Anchor: Manish Porwal on 6 celebrities who marketers have ignored till now

    Is there life beyond Sachin and Dhoni and Shah Rukh and Abhishek? Yes, says Manish Porwal, recommending six faces that could be tapped.

     

     

     

    Gautam Gambhir: One of the most consistent youngsters in the Indian team, Gautam was accused of being puny, under-confident, reserved and almost a misfit for any proud brand. In spite of his reasonably good looks and much better cricketing records, he was, at best, fitted into one-in-many celeb kind of brands. I remember how difficult it was to get work for him, off the field. Today, the king of Kolkata, he is a knight both off and on field. I hear his price is going to double and that still is a fraction of Dhoni’s. Grab him, India Inc!

     

    Kamal Haassan: I guess he waited so long to marry a brand that the brands no longer see him as an eligible groom. Initially wary of brand endorsements, Kamal, is now not also being approached. Next only to Rajni Sir, he has the power to change governments, not just brand choice. He lost an opportunity to stand for a brand so far. Or shall we say, brands lost the opportunity to make Kamal stand for them?

     

    Rajeev Khandelwal: Aamir Khan of television and Aamir of films, his acting prowess and his success also couldn’t get him to endorse many brands yet. A part of it was his choice, as he wanted to be discreet and away from media but for his core work. Rajeev is almost anti-social [not on social networking sites]. A sure loss for FMCG brands wanting to woo the quintessential housewife.

     

    Rakhi Sawant: Are you raising an eyebrow? That’s fine. The queen of entertainment and TRPs was too controversial to be used by the safe world of advertising. Understandable that most brands would not want to touch her with a barge pole, as an endorser. But hey, advertising folks, I thought you were smarter and cuter than that. What about an anti-hero in a low involvement and impulse buy brand wanting quick recall? Rakhi still gets attention, good or bad!

     

    Abhay Deol: Too niche for the mass brands and too mass for the niche brands, Abhay didn’t get slotted well for brand endorsements. A potential, good-to-grab, keep-and-see-grow, Abhay is hitherto unexplored by the big daddies of advertising and endorsements. Holds more promise than sirji, for sure.

     

    Chetan Bhagat: The person who rules the social networks and college canteens of young and Tier 2 India, doesn’t feature in a single TV commercial. He touches the hearts and computer screens of more than a million youth. He knows his worth but do brands? A gross mismatch of expectations keep him away from the ad world

     

    Manish Porwal is Managing Director at Alchemist Talent Solutions

     

  • The moment they positioned it as the 'poor man's' car, they took the sex out of the equation. No one wants to be perceived as a loser when it comes to his car

    Anil Thakraney: Nano: Manufacturing success, marketing failure

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Last night, I watched a very interesting documentary on Nat Geo. No, it wasn’t about lions or elephants, it was about all that went into the making of Ratan Tata’s dream car, the Nano. The programme was fascinating, as the producers went through all the challenges and problems the Tata group faced to bring the so-called ‘one lakh’ rupee car to life. And they also spoke to the designers and the engineers as well as to Ratan Tata himself. (A quick aside: Why Shri Tata prefers to speak only to firangi journalists and production teams is something I’ll never understand.)

     

    Must say I was left quite impressed with the manufacturing marvel little Nano is. Okay, so it isn’t really a one lakh rupee car on the road, but at its price point it does pack in a lot of goodies, is reasonably comfy for four passengers and is hugely economical on fuel consumption. And most importantly: because it’s tiny, the Nano can slip into any little parking space… a huge bonus in city conditions. And yet, the car hasn’t taken the market by storm. Sales have been below expectations, in both urban and rural areas. Strange? Well, not really. Because Tata’s marketing team screwed up a really good thing.

     

    The moment they positioned it as the ‘poor man’s’ car, they took the sex out of the equation. Even at a low cost, a car’s association with status and pride must be maintained. No one wants to be perceived as a loser when it comes to his car, a person’s most visible possession. This simple little consumer insight eluded such highly paid and experienced marketing minds.

     

    The bad news is that the damage is done. Whatever tricks the Tata Nano marketing guys have up their sleeves, it will be very difficult to erase the ‘poor man’s car’ image. I would like to meet Mr Tata and discuss this, but he seems to be allergic to desi journos.

     

    But here’s the good news for Tata. After watching the Nat Geo documentary, I have decided to buy the Nano. Because it’s a real value for money gaadi, and what people think of me has never mattered anyways. All that the Tata group can hope for is there are more misfits like me in this nation.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: ‘A Step From Zero’ is a cool web idea from Coke. The film features a youngster who turns his sad life around by practicing a new dance move. The film’s gone viral and the dude’s become famous. This was a web project where people were invited to shoot videos of their dance moves and submit them for selection. Nice web idea from Coke. A good case study for marketers struggling with the digital space.