MxMIndia

Category: BLOGS

  • Hard Knocks: It could do well if briefs were concise and precise… perhaps in 140 characters!

    Anil Thakraney: Any one for brief briefs?

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    A firangi ad pal has come up with a fantastic idea: Clients and ad agency client servicing people should brief creative people only on Twitter. That, no other method should be used, and all current briefing formats must be junked. Brilliant! Because this means the suits will be compelled to tell their creative folks what the advertising needs to communicate in just 140 characters. And it will cut the temptation to file pages and pages of irrelevant info and put out excessive demands from an advert. This will result in sharp, focussed communications.

     

    I recall some years ago when I was in the advertising biz, I did recommend a similar sort of thing. I once bought a wad of tickets from a Mumbai BEST bus conductor. And then circulated the little tickets amongst the agency client servicing people and account planners, insisting that briefs must only be written on the back of the bus ticket. One brief per ticket. Of course, they were outraged. How can one state everything on that size of a paper, was the common protest. Yes, they missed the point completely. Which is the need to keep the brief simple and single-minded, state one promise that the ad must deliver on, and remove all the so-called secondary data, which planners and suits feel very tempted to load on. And which is not just unnecessary, it confuses the hell out of creative people.

     

    Well, no need for bus tickets any more. Technology has provided the answer. Tell your creative people in 140 characters what the ad must communicate and who it should address. If you can do this, chances are very high you’ll get a much better creative output. And if you refuse to tweet and continue to dart out large e-mails, then don’t blame your creative people for coming up with laundry garbage.

     

    Now let me sum up the above column in exactly 140 characters and you’ll notice it still works! No reason a brief should not.

    My tweet: “Mr Suit: Tell me who the target audience is. The brand promise. The desired brand personality. The media vehicles. And then leave me alone!”

    Happy tweeting!

     

    ***

    PS: Loved it that hunky star Akshay Kumar chucked the empty ciggie pack back into the face of the car driver who had carelessly thrown it on to the street. We must all learn from Akshayji. Just one question: How did the hero manage to grab a picture of the incident? Does he take his publicist along wherever he goes? Hmmm.

     

    Image courtesy: Mumbai Mirror.

  • What I don’t like about what’s happening is that the Indian media only stands up for the middle class, for ‘people like us’.

    Hard Knocks: How the Indian media doesn’t champion the cause of ‘lesser’ children

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Just as it happened with crimes against Priyadarshini Matoo and Jessica Lal, our news channels have been busy doing shows on the dead young men from Mumbai, Keenan and Reuben. Just in case you are a Martian, the two were killed by some drunken elements when they protested against sexual harassment of the girls accompanying them. And yes, it’s nice that the media stands up for such people and puts pressure on the system for swift deliverance of justice. So, good show.

    However, what I don’t like about what’s happening is that the Indian media only stands up for the middle class, for ‘people like us’. Because crimes in the metro towns attract more attention, and I daresay, they also excite the advertisers. Which perhaps explains all the campaigns for justice. But the media must also stand up for crimes committed against the have-nots from interior India and run similar campaigns for justice on their behalf, even if this doesn’t interest the advertisers too much. Not just because residents of rural areas are Indians (lest we’ve forgotten), but because they are human beings too and their lives are just as precious.

    To illustrate this apathy with an example, let’s take the case of the heinous crime that was committed in the ‘unhappening’ Khairlanji village of Maharashtra some years ago. Priyanka Bhotmange was attacked by twelve men. They strapped her to a bullock cart as one would a disobedient animal, and dragged her out to the village chaupal. Then, they took turns to rape her, following which they completely stripped her and paraded their ‘trophy’. This was followed by beating her naked body with bicycle chains and publicly gang raping her all over again… and this went on till the mutilated Priyanka stopped breathing. However, not satisfied, the goons continued. The teenage corpse was raped yet again. On realizing the dead body was no longer rape-worthy, the men shoved iron rods into her blood clotted genitals and used pickaxes to disfigure her face.

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGI76__sSA&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

    Did the news channel run aggressive campaigns on her behalf? Were candle light marches held in her memory? Did the media keep the pressure going to get justice for her? The answer to these questions is a sad ‘NO’. Aside from the odd, reluctant story, Priyanka was quickly forgotten. And this, quite obviously, is unfair.

    So yes, I am proud that the media fights for the middle class urban victims of crimes. But I would be happier if this passion is also on display for the children of the lesser god.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Lilting tributes continue to pour in for Steve Jobs. Here’s a lovely one from Jonathan Ive, the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. No, we can’t have enough of Jobs, keep them coming! What a man!

  • Introducing a near-daily blog that will see Ranjona Banerji review the nightly news and the fare in the morningers.

    Of 25-year-old TV journos and their half-baked ideas

    Ranjona Banerji

     

    This week was a roller coaster as far as news was concerned. It started with the continuing aftermath of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement, with members of what has so trendily been named Team Anna felt they were being targeted by the government  for saying nasty things about MPs, for being exposed in a sting operation and for not paying their income tax.

    But soon Amar Singh, discredited and beleaguered, had his moment in the sun as he was hoisted off to join his political friends in Tihar jail for his role in the cash-for-votes scam where BJP MPs walked into Parliament waving bundles of money, claiming they had been bribed by the UPA. But one more horrific bomb blast on Wednesday morning, this time outside the Delhi High Court, meant that TV attention moved away from Singh. TV attention is a bit like the eye of Sauron in Lord of the Rings. While it is on you, you burn under its gaze but when it goes away, you can scurry into Mordor and do what you want. It may be advisable for Indian TV news channels to get eyes like a housefly instead which looks everywhere.

    Since the Delhi police and India’s one zillion other investigating agencies had no clue about who was behind the blasts, TV reporters have to be commended for coming up with their own theories within 10 minutes. Why waste time reporting on the events when you can hold forth like an expert, pretending that you know what you are talking about? After all, no one in your studio is going to stop you, question you or, shock, horror, cut you off.

    I realize that youth must be worshipped in India today but there is something disconcerting about inexperienced 25-year-olds running around with mikes and cameras, bombarding us with their half-baked ideas. (My advice for young journalists: spend the first five years with your mouth shut, learning! Radical, eh?)

    It would perhaps be more sensible if TV news channels in India tried to first report and then speculate. It seems incredible that that they go back to the same experts over and again in spite of no one having any clue about who has actually done what. One would have thought that the embarrassment of every expert blaming some Islamic group of the other for the Norway attacks would have been lesson enough, but clearly, no. The evening shows with the star anchors were full of former police commissioners and general celebrity experts holding forth. The amount of hot air released in TV studios could be used as a form of renewable energy once fossil fuels disappear.

    Most language news channels switched from their normal combination of astrology and Bollywood to cover the blasts but some like Sahara Mumbai were happy with their comedy corner. The ticker at the bottom kept us informed of events. Guess you have to keep laughing, no matter what.

    Business news channels are rarely if ever distracted from the stock markets and sometimes even major global monetary policy changes in which politics is involved, pass them by.

    International channels airing in India like Al Jazeera, BBC World and CNN are all gearing up to the 10th anniversary of the September 9 attacks on the USA. The rest of the while they keep us informed about what’s happening in Syria, Sudan and such like places that are too far away for Indian news channels to acknowledge.

    **

    The newspapers had it easier. Early in the week, they focused of course on Amar Singh’s arrest and his fall from grace. The Telegraph, Calcutta (it does not use Kolkata) also talked about him being a Calcutta boy. The prime minister’s trip to Bangladesh also got space, with fans and detractors of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her refusal to agree to the water-sharing agreements with Bangladesh having their say. The boxing bout between Mayawati and Julian Assange also front-paged, including with the Hindu which of course printed the Wikileaks revelations in India.

    The Reserve Bank of India asking banks to allow borrowers to pay back floating home loans without penalty got second billing in Mumbai, perhaps understandably. The Hindustan Times called the BJP to task over protection to the Reddy brothers in Karnataka in a hard-hitting editorial.

    The Times of India did an analysis of three versions of the Lokpal bill on its edit page and seemed to agree the most with Aruna Roy and the NCPRI’s version. This is a break surely from Times Now’s vociferous championing of Anna Hazare’s version and no other.

    Mid-Day launched its new look on Tuesday, with bolder lines, less clutter and better use of pictures. It also reintroduced its edit page.

    By Thursday, the bomb blasts were everywhere with legitimate rage over the fact that the authorities neither had improved intelligence nor security measures in place. It is easier to read these arguments than to decipher what several guests shouting at the same time are trying to say.

    By Friday, Praful Patel’s defence of a CAC report slamming the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines and the acquisition of several aircraft took the headlines. The probe into the Delhi blasts is veering between Harkat-e-Jihad-al Islami and Indian Mujahideen, both of whom have claimed they did it.

    The Times of India chose not to front-page LK Advani’s announcement of an anti-corruption yatra and his impassioned speech in Parliament, while Hindustan Times made it the second lead, focusing on the fact that Advani took his own party by surprise. The gist of the newspaper angle seems to be one more political drama, while TV milked what they could from it before moving on.

    The brewing revolt in the tennis world between the top players and the International Tennis Federation over rain problems at the US Open also got play.

    International media is mainly looking at the tenth anniversary of 9/11, stories of victims and heroes and some new chilling tapes of voices from one of the planes which crashed into the World Trade Centre. Irfan Husain in The Dawn has an excellent piece debunking all the 9/11 conspiracy theories. A threat to New York on the anniversary is being taken seriously, making ample effort not to spread panic.

    It seems likely that 9/11 will dominate over the weekend although it will be interesting to see if the BJP is taken seriously in this new effort to regain political centrestage.

  • Hoshiyaar, Khabardaar! Mediaah! cyberspace mein waapis aa gaya hai! No-holds-barred analyses. Mediaah-ishtyle.

    The spirit of Mediaah! lives on

    Hoshiyaar, Khabardaar! Mediaah! cyberspace mein waapis aa gaya hai!The blog is rechristened Mediaah! s3. s3 being short for Season 3, thisbeing the third coming for Mediaah!

     

    After six years of self-imposed exile, Mediaah! returns. In line with the current media order, it’s going to be called Mediaah! s3. s3 being short for Season 3… this being the third coming for the blog. Trittiya, as Amitabh Bachchan would call it.

    And, yes, Mediaah! has a new home @ the all-new homebase for mediapersons and marketers: MxMIndia.com

    Wish me luck. Its my third attempt at being brutal and honest. But like I read Sunil Gavaskar say somewhere that his words may have softened with time, I guess I too may have mellowed in these last few years.

    Plus this time around, Mediaah! is going to be part of a website that I run along with a committed team and friends.

     

    Fastforwarded Flashback

     

    But first some flashback to what really got me off cyberspace and what I’ve been doing all these years. One fine morning, in the middle of the night, on a fine, warm day in the year 2005, I was subject to legal missives from the most powerful newspaper group in the land. My sources in the group’s office told me that the orders were to nail me. There were several friends from India and elsewhere in the world who were willing to fight my case. I tried reviving Mediaah!, but the top legal eagles in the country advised me to be careful. So I depressed the Pause button, and continued with my full-time employment.

    Cut to 2008, where I chucked my job with a leading mainstream media player. I wanted to start an MxM-like site, but I switched to consulting with a college buddy turned journalist and entrepreneur who would run Indiantelevision.com. I was there for just a few months and hopped on to exchange4media.com. Upset with the switch, the buddy even sent my new employers a legal notice.

    I had a fun stint with e4m.com and impact. It’s run by an enthusiastic trio, and a team that’s pretty committed. Little wonder that it’s doing so well. But there were issues which got me to move on.

    It wasn’t easy quitting a cushy job. I felt awful that my family was paying for my principles. But then it’s a great feeling to be able to be able to sleep easy with a clear conscience.

     

    My concerns for Mediaah! s3

    I am not sure if it’s going to be smooth sailing for Season 3 of Mediaah! In fact, I am worried whether I would be able to be as no-holds-barred as I would in the previous seasons. This is because the very people I write about are the folks who will advertise on MxM India. It’ll be a tightrope walk, and I hope to be able to maintain the balance.

     

    The masala

    Okay, okay, I know what you want to know from Mediaah!. What do we feel about G Krishnan’s exit from TV Today. And where’s he going? Are the rumours of his joining ABP or Fox true? What’s the buzz at Bloomberg UTV? Is a former newspaper CEO taking the top job there? What’s our view on the new-look Mid-Day? Can the new look help the paper regain old glory?

    Read all this and more in Mediaah! as we go along. We’ll be back next week. Tab tak ke liye, alvidaah!


    Buzz me if you have a story to tell. Confidentiality assured. There are various ways you can reach me:

    pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, 23050B5D, pradyumanm@gmail.com, @pmahesh, 98338 76278.

     

     

  • If a trainee copywriter came to me with such a script, I would recommend the chap to a psychiatrist.

    Debrief: Unbelievably silly of Volkswagen

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    So, the madness that Volkswagen is notorious for in the print medium (remember speaking newspapers and pages with holes?) has spilled onto the television medium. Except, while the print madness at least got the brand to be discussed, the TV ad is so stupid, you can only scoff and wonder what the hell the Volkswagen guys are up to.

     

     

    The commercial I watched deals with some ‘unbelievable’ offers on their two brands, Vento and Polo. It features a cross dresser at the car showroom, and he/she keeps harassing the salesman about the offers. And the latter, quite exasperated, berates the customer for repeatedly asking the same questions. This weird exchange goes on. The idea is this: Because the offers are so incredible, you won’t believe them and shall keep confirming them at the showroom.

     

    Completely ridiculous advertising. While I am all for mad, it has to be fun mad and not juvenile mad, if you know what I mean. Not only does this ad repel you, it also tells you Volkswagen thinks their consumers are morons and that the company salesmen have the right to treat them poorly. Let me also add this: If a trainee copywriter came to me with such a script, I would recommend the chap to a psychiatrist.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5):  A BIG ZERO. The joke’s on Volkswagen. 

  • The always greedy BCCI is determined to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. And I think marketers must crack the whip and ensure this does not happen.

    Hard Knocks: BCCI needs a third umpire

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    The first day’s play at Calcutta in the current India/West Indies series produced a real shocker. Near-empty stands at the Eden Gardens. Who would have imagined such a day would come in that cricket-crazy city? And this, despite a player like Sachin Tendulkar being in the house, and perched on the verge of a historic milestone of his 100th 100. Now, I realize cricket in India has become a television sport and that’s where all the money comes from. Still, it must be said there is no fun watching a match on TV with no cheering, booing, placards-carrying crowds in the backdrop. That’s the essential part of sports excitement. Already, the TRPs of test match cricket have taken a beaten in recent times, and with no crowds in the stadia, I am afraid more and more fans will give even television viewing a miss. And that would be an alarming situation for advertisers.

    There are many reasons why test cricket is dying a slow death in this nation. The obvious one is the BCCI’s greed, which has resulted in excessive cricket tournaments, leading to crowd fatigue. Then there’s the issue of New India’s impatience with a five-day game. These problems I would leave for the cricket pundits to tackle. However, I must say sponsors and advertisers must come together and set out a few guidelines for the BCCI if they don’t wish that the game, which is always a good marketing vehicle, dies out. Because today it’s test cricket, tomorrow it could be the one-day game. And if the BCCI chaps don’t listen, sponsorships should be cancelled.

    One thing the BCCI must be compelled to do is to ensure that the various cricket associations sell stadia tickets for a low price. Perhaps Rs 20 a ticket. And all minors and school kids should be allowed in for free. Also, facilities in the stadia should be improved so that going for a cricket match is a joy and not a pain in the you-know-where, which it currently is. The very very, very cash-rich BCCI can easily re-imburse the associations for their losses/expenses. This will make sure the stands are reasonably packed at any point of time. And we don’t have a situation where Sachin scores a ton and there’s no-one around to cheer him.

    Bottom line: The always greedy BCCI is determined to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. And I think marketers must crack the whip and ensure this does not happen. It’s no longer enough being passive spectators in the game. It’s time to play the role of a strict referee.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Waiting for a cutting-edge column from Ms Shobhaa De on the Kingfisher mess. Mallya is the lady’s BFF, so let’s see if she gets after him like she does with all else. Will she risk missing out on a yacht invite? Take a guess!

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews nightly news and the fare in the papers the morning after

    Times for news media to report on each other

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s move to divide the state up into four parts obviously hit the headlines on TV on Tuesday night, competing with tycoon Vijay Mallya and his attempt to save Kingfisher Airlines. Since every political party other than the Bahujan Samaj Party took exception to this plan on some grounds or the other, it had news impact. Also as was eagerly pointed out, this took the shine off just-launched Rahul Gandhi’s UP poll campaign.
    Oddly though, Hindustan Times decided that the news did not deserve the front page in Mumbai – although it made it in Delhi – and only scant treatment within. Most other papers decided that this bold move was front page-worthy. Perhaps HT is going with the old belief that Mumbai is not interested in anything that happens in its own backyard. In which case it could have given it a local spin like ‘If UP breaks up, then Maharashtra becomes India’s biggest state’ or something equally parochial.
    **

    The fact that most media bodies are taking on the judiciary in the Times Now-PB Sawant defamation case is most heartening. If Rs 100 crore is the penalty for using the wrong photograph, most media houses would have long been bankrupted and had to close down. While using Sawant’s photo instead of PK Samantha’s photo in a judicial bribery case was unfortunate, the channel did apparently correct itself and apologise. There does not seem to have been any malice on the channel’s part here. In which case, Rs 100 crore is excessive.
    It would be wise not to get into too many “freedom of the press” arguments here. Clearly, the media is not free to defame, slander or libel anyone. But the media is liable to make mistakes and those mistakes cannot be misinterpreted as being deliberate and malicious.
    Largely thanks to the aggressive and sensationalist posture taken by television news channels, the conduct of the media has itself become a topic of conversation in India. While in itself this may not be a bad thing, it is dangerous when it becomes obsessive and every sundry TV guest becomes an “expert”. The media is open to scrutiny but a Katju-like approach is unnecessary and unlikely to be fruitful.

    **
    Having said that, how about a contrarian point of view? Is it time that newspapers and channels started reporting on each other? The Guardian took on Murdoch and The News of the World over phone-hacking. The Independent has now exposed the BBC over a set of documentaries about Malaysia. But in India, we are terribly polite about each other. Barring the Hindu – which has taken on its competitors like exposing holes in the Hindustan Times’s Bhopal editions sensational stories about babies having sex change operations – most media outlets spare each other.
    Is there room for change or should we give this British method a wide berth and live together with each other’s mistakes in perfect harmony?
    It may well be likely that owners and journalists have two different viewpoints here. Owners stick together very closely and as we have seen, the Indian Newspaper Society operates almost as if with a single mind, often to the detriment of journalists and sometimes, journalism.
    Any ideas?

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews nightly news and the fare in the papers the morning after

    Rantings of a Federer fan: give us more sports coverage!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I have to confess that my weekend was consumed by tennis – the last ATP tournament of the year before the finals in London, where of course only the top 8 men in the world compete. Roger Federer’s amazing run was my focus and Sunday night was a wonderful triumph as he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for his first title at the indoor tournament in Paris.

    Which led to Monday morning’s papers with great excitement. Yet, hardly to my surprise, the Mumbai edition of the Times of India was happy to reduce the news to a brief. Over the past few years, sports coverage in TOI has become rather pedestrian and predictable. It sticks to cricket and then willy-nilly fits in whatever other sport it thinks is the flavour of the week – again predictably, football and Formula 1. This is a far cry from the early 2000s when the TOI was lively and dynamic in its sports coverage. Even more strangely, in these jingoistic times, peppered with aman ki asha, the victory of the Indo-Pak tennis duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisan ul-Haq Qureshi was also given short shrift.

    The Hindustan Times when it launched in Mumbai had an excellent sports section – good writing, mixed coverage, giving ample space to all the sports which people are interested in these days. Of course, they carried the Federer and Bopanna-Qureshi stories.

    Mid-Day has always had an excellent and comprehensive sports section and a good understanding of news.

    But my vote has to go to DNA’s Mumbai edition which had held firm against the falling standards in other sections of the paper by providing, for my money, the best sports mix in the country. Pictures are given importance as are stats and facts and there is an attempt to cover every sport. Hat’s off.

    I have to make it clear that I have worked for DNA, TOI and Mid-Day and enjoyed my time at all of them and have never worked at Hindustan Times.

    TV news channels are very fair to all sports in their sports bulletins. I might suggest to TOI that someone in their sports section might check exactly which events are shown by the sports channels to try and increase the scope of their coverage. Of course, then it might be all about golf and pro-wrestling!

     

    **

     

    The unfortunate death of former player and cricket writer extraordinaire Peter Roebuck was covered extensively in Indian papers and on TV. It took some time about his suicide and alleged sexual harassment/assault charges to emerge but the tributes certainly have poured in and continue to do so. Again, Mid-Day’s sports pages have a good package – a well-considered tribute by Clayton Morzello, details about his last moments and a gem of a Roebuck piece from the past.

    Ayaz Memon’s piece in Deccan Chronicle (and perhaps Asian Age as well?) on Roebuck is not just expectedly well-written but also insightful and moving.

    **

     

    The appalling attack on journalists by apparent henchmen of the sacked and perhaps disgraced Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna was covered by everyone. It should be noted by all such feudal Indians that this kind of behaviour will no longer be tolerated. Henchmen and goondas have to be either retrained to be acceptable bodyguards or vanish. Just like “public sentiment” is an unacceptable excuse for violence so is “love” for some invariably shady politician or fixer.

    **

     

    The imminent collapse of Kingfisher Airlines has taken up much air time and newsprint but perhaps no one has had as much fun as tweeters. It’s worth taking a trip there to check the jokes as well as the support!

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews nightly news and the fare in the papers the morning after

    Amitabh Bachchan and the circus and the King of Bad Times!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    What seems to be the imminent collapse of Kingfisher is now looking to dominate the news. Newspapers are full of it – and not just on the business pages – and one can expect TV to follow soon. Ironically there was Vijay Mallya celebrating the “success” of India’s entry into Formula 1 just a few weeks ago; now he is described as “cash strapped”.

    On top of that, we have Air India employees claiming they have not been paid for months, which means that the glory story of Indian’s aviation industry may be heading for some dark days ahead and should also move out of business pages and papers into the mainstream.

    It would be fitting if our umpteen business channels would get their heads out of the stock market and examine a collapse like Kingfisher’s. We spend so much time congratulating ourselves for every teeny achievement by any random Indian anywhere. Surely we can expend a little effort to explain to readers and viewers why things have gone wrong?

     

    **

     

    Given the amount of excitement the collapse of the News of the World generated earlier this year, the second questioning of James Murdoch by a group of British MPs should have got some more airtime, surely, from international channels. Especially since firebrand MP Tom Watson likened the young Murdoch to a mafia chief. Indian TV and newspapers both covered the questioning but the BBC remained obsessed with the Eurozone crisis and so on.

    Interestingly it also took a long time for the BBC to acknowledge the riots which broke across the UK this summer. Is there some decision to keep home news quiet and just show prime minister David Cameron making a speech every now and then? Like Doordarshan of the old days?

    **

     

    Edits in most newspapers focused on the first convictions in the Gujarat riot cases of 2002, pointing out that while this was a rare occurrence which must therefore be lauded, there was a lot to do before peace and harmony could be established in Gujarat. TV channels need to get their heads around some basics of journalism: first report the facts and then get obsessed with reactions. For almost 30 minutes the other day the ticker on Times Now told us that Zakia Jafrey was happy with the verdict without telling us what the verdict was. Jafrey’s response is not the primary news. Time to go back to school? Oh, sorry, I forgot, most young journalists today have come out of some journalism school or the other.

    **

     

    Am curious to know whether anyone is going to tell us anything about the impending birth of the child of Aishwariya and Abhishek Bachchan. The fight between Amitabh Bachchan and the media is not new – it existed for most of his illustrious career and seemingly made no difference either to his fortunes or indeed to the film media’s. But to have a code of conduct over a celebrity event is surely too precious. Celebrities would not exist if it wasn’t for cooperation with the media. I guess Bachchan senior will send out tweet at the relevant moment and the whole world will know. The circus acts can follow later.

  • It has an unbeatable thrill, the sort you get when you are playing a game and want to achieve higher scores.

    The Anchor: 7 points to learn from being in business

    By Chhaya Balachandran Aiyer

     

    #1 That you are on your own; and you get your pay package based on how well not only you but your entire team works.

    #2 That how much you earn is dependent not only on how hard and how well you work but can fluctuate drastically with how the market, the competition and the client operate. You have no one to complain to, or another job to switch to.

    #3 That while it is not as easy or as fun as ‘being the boss’ appeared  when I was an employee, it has an unbeatable thrill, the sort you  get when you are playing a game and want to achieve higher scores.

    #4 That the challenges are only more exciting and tougher as you move ahead because the goal post just keeps moving forward.

    #5 That the success of any business is completely dependent on the business owner’s vision, drive and focus and this then helps to drive the quality of team members they can retain and attract, and the level of ownership that team members have towards their jobs.

    #6 That every department is critical for the success of an organization, be it admin, HR, production, strategy, etc… every link is critical.

    #7 Nothing can change the fortunes of a company than the ultimate truth   for any business, the acid test, which is customer experience through the product and service it offers. This means know the customer, know the market, continuously improve your offering, delivery and service.

    You simply have to be the best, the most preferred.

     

    Chhaya Balachandran Aiyer is the Founder-MD of BC Web Wise.

  • Anil Thakraney reviews ads twice a week. In his inimitable style.

    Birla Sun Life Insurance: Realism works

    Birla Sun Life’s ‘Protection Solutions’ financial plan seems to be targetted at the reckless urban youngsters who don’t plan for their future. And prefer to live for the moment. The TVC tries to strike at this flippant, carefree attitude to life.

     

    The ad features a young couple walking in the rain, as they look for a cab. The girl cribs a bit, so the hubby reassures her he will soon buy a car, as his promotion is round the corner. Meanwhile she too has some good news to announce but no, it’s not what the excited chap thinks. A baby isn’t on the way yet, but she has got an increment in her salary. As this banter goes on, the man narrowly misses being run over by a speeding car, much to the relief of missus. The message: ‘Kahin aap apne sapno ko kismet par to nahi chhodh rahe?’

     

    [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/31714764[/vimeo]

    Well, there’s nothing new out here in terms of the strategy. Fear factor and human emotions as a route has been used ad nauseum in the insurance category. However, must say the execution is nicely done. The young couple looks like regular folks you’ll walk past on the streets, and their mannerisms/conversations are very real. Also, they act very naturally. The use of realism should work for the brand… middle class young Indians would empathise with the couple and the situation. A fine example of how good execution can lift an otherwise over-used approach.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5):  3. But full marks to the ad filmmaker. 

  • If we really want to make a difference, we need to go after the big fish. Exposing the big daddies of corruption will make the real difference, as the 2G scandal has shown.

    Hard Knocks: Exposing the big daddies of corruption

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Mumbai Mirror’s cover story on 15/11/11 caught my attention for different reasons. The story involved conflict between a traffic cop and a celebrity nutritionist, and yes, it had to do with petty corruption. Here’s the link: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/15/201111152011111
    5025305142b58e3baa/PautiWhat-for-Celeb-nutritionist%E2%80%99s-fine-fight-against-corrupt-cocky-cop.html

     

     

    The story reminded me of the one I had done years ago for a tabloid. Dressed as a rich cat, I drove around on the streets of Mumbai breaking every single traffic rule, while being filmed by a battery of photographers. And on every single occasion, I was let off after ‘tipping’ the havaldar. At the time it was a sensational story. I received thousands of happy and angry e-mails. And yes, I was pretty chuffed at having pulled off a ‘big’ story.

     

    However, down the line, I have had a change of heart. I am no longer proud of what I did that day. Sure, some lowly traffic cops got pulled up or were suspended for a bit, but what did the story achieve beyond that? Did anything change? The answer is obvious: No. I now realise there’s no greatness or value attached to exposing the small fry of society. They are sitting ducks, easy to be caught with their hands in the till, and putting them under pressure makes no difference anyway.

     

    Given that, I really think the Indian media as whole must move on from such worthless stories. If we really want to make a difference, we need to go after the big fish. Exposing the big daddies of corruption will make the real difference, as the 2G scandal has shown. There’s another thing, and this is more personal in nature: I am convinced it’s pointless even blaming the small operators in the food chain for being corrupt. When the entire system is so rotten, when corruption is so deeply embedded in this nation, with its tentacles going right to the top, does it really make any sense in punishing the chhota mota chors? Which is why I no longer quarrel with traffic cops, autorickshaw drivers, cabbies, ration card office clerks, municipal office clerks, etc, when they cheat me. I quietly pay them off. Because they are just tiny leaves of the huge corruption tree we have all collectively planted and nurtured.

     

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    PS: Totally adore the new Benetton ‘Unhate’ campaign. Controversial, funny, irreverent and very Benetton. But a tad disappointed they ignored the subcontinent. Imagine SM Krishna and Bina Rabbani Khar together? Hmm. That would be heavy!