MxMIndia

Category: BLOGS

  • One Big Idea by Sameer Ganapathy: Personalization at the consumer’s fingertips

    By Sameer Ganapathy, Executive Director, Movie Channels and Channel Distribution, DisneyUTV

     

    Today’s television industry is in a constant state of flux and is working towards designing and delivering programmes that meet audiences’ demands. Audience viewing habits have dramatically changed – never before has TV viewing been so personal. There is a complete shift in consumer expectations and audiences are looking for greater personalization and customization of content on television.

     

    In a continuous effort to adapt to ever-changing needs, broadcasters are focusing on genre-specific programming, tailoring their profile to reflect the uniqueness and density of audience tastes. This transparency has resulted in an outburst of channels spanning several genres like sports, food, comedy, action kids, lifestyle, youth and many more. Like all television genres, action has carved a niche for itself. The action genre is among the most exciting film genres in the world and has recently seen a flurry of launches. National and regional media conglomerates either have entered or have plans to venture into the genre. Despite the fragmentation that has happened in the entertainment world, this is one genre which continues to garner GRPs and viewership as it cuts across all barriers and appeals to all kinds of audiences.

     

    The future of Indian television is going to be in niches; the more you can offer options which target a certain psychographic of the target audience, the more it is actually going to find appeal. As India moves towards digitization, the pay revenue model will become a part of the mainstream model, resulting in an influx of genre-specific channels.

     

  • These duels have to be fought on the marketing battlefield, not in courtrooms. That’s where the real action is

    Anil Thakraney: The Dettol/Vim slugfest

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    So, the Vim (Lever) guys have taken the Dettol (Reckitt) guys to court over the dishwasher ad. This sounds like a lot of fun waiting to happen. Because comparative advertising is always entertaining, as we viewers sit back and watch two marketing giants slug it out.

     

    Hit this link for the full story: http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/02/bang-bang-fmcg-majors-slug-it-out-via-ads/

     

    However, I have always believed that involving the courts to sort out ad disputes is a waste of time, energy and money. For two reasons: One, by the time the court order to pull the ‘offending’ ad arrives, the damage is already done. And even after the court order, a canny marketer will find an innovative way to keep the onslaught going.

     

    In this particular case, I know where Dettol is coming from; even though it’s an old, established brand, their dishwasher is a new product, and they had to do desperate things to grab some of the leader’s (Vim’s) market share. Which explains the full and frontal attack. And it makes enormous strategic sense. Vim has always promised tough action on grease (the ‘visible’ problem). Dettol has played to its core strength, they say it will kill the germs (the ‘invisible’ problem). So it’s a strategic move that makers of Vim should have seen coming, they ought not to be surprised. Dettol’s USP across its product range has been the antiseptic value, so they were going to play that card with the dishwasher too. And methinks it’s going to work, nothing better to get the worried mama’s attention than to speak bacteria with her.

     

    So what should Vim do? Well, they have retaliated, but their reactionary ad, while on the right track, is a tad weak. The ad says that an antiseptic is harsh, and that Vim clears germs too, but that’s not powerful enough. That’s like a rap on the knuckles of a person who’s just punched you in the face. I think Vim should launch an all-out counter attack, and hit Dettol where it hurts. They should create hard-hitting ads on how, for example, the residue left behind by an antiseptic agent can be detrimental to the family’s health. In fact, they should create a huge scare around it. That would put their opponent on the back foot.

     

    Net net: These duels have to be fought on the marketing battlefield, not in courtrooms. That’s where the real action is.

     

    ***

     

    PS: How dare they mock the vegans! I am a ghaas phoos khaanewala, and I take serious offence to this Taco Bell ad. Thanks to the pressure exerted by people like me on the social media, they were compelled to pull this commercial. Good riddance, I say! 🙂

     

    Link: http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/taco-bells-banned-commercial-offends-vegetarians/2jqa6o5h?cpkey=377f705b-f017-5f96-25ec-65077f4c813b%257c%257c%257c%257c

     

  • Ranjona Banerji finds it more sensible to read quotes from politicians in the papers than watch them on telly

    Ranjona Banerji: Budget blues with news channels & papers

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    After careful consideration (which in news channel selection terms translates into a combination of channel surfing and experience) I watched Union finance minister P Chidambaram’s Budget speech on Doordarshan and then switched to Budget analysis on the stockmarket channels. I avoided any channel which had a politician on its expert panel. This is because I know very little about most of the stuff discussed and I’m willing to bet that Deepak Parekh knows much more than me and knows more than Subramaniam Swamy.

     

    Most industry bigwigs, analysts and other expert type people appeared to like the Budget or at least assume that that Chidambaram was on the right track. Quotes from politicians of other parties are full of scorn, which is perfectly understandable. But it is more sensible to read quotes from politicians in newspapers than watch them have apoplexy on TV.

     

    In fact, I have decided that since age determines that blood pressure problems are close on the road ahead, watching prime time news TV is bad for health, state of mind, mental peace and so on. It is far more sensible to check on TV news through the day and studiously avoid it between 8.30 to 10.30 pm.

     

    Meanwhile, back to the Budget. The Times of India headline says: ‘PC Nets Big Fish’ in a drawing that takes its inspiration from Life of Pi, the movie. Intriguingly, the front page box tells us that the drawing is inspired by a recent Hollywood movie that bagged four Oscars without naming the movie. Medianet or a desire by TOI editors to tax the minds of their hapless readers?

     

    The Hindustan Times goes with ‘PC Offers Growth Tablet’. The Indian Express seems closest to home with this one: ‘1997: Dream, 2013: Wake-up’. My only objection here is that as far as possible, hyphens should be avoided in headlines. No damage would have been done with ‘2013: Wake Up’ except for extra therapy for an anal retentive subeditor. The Economic Times plays it straightforward with ‘FM Doesn’t Declare Elections’. Unlike its predilection in the past for over-the-top graphics, it settles for sticking a blue turban a la Manmohan Singh on Chidambaram’s head. However to me as a result, he looked a bit like Swami Vivekananda!

     

    In spite of the market crashing the general consensus was that this was the sort of workman-like Budget expected and needed. To provide ample fodder for political commentators and prime time TV actors, Nitish Kumar chief minister of Bihar liked the Budget (and wrote a special piece for ET) and Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat didn’t.

     

    The Times of India managed to find a loophole in the Budget’s tax provisions to give readers a row of women wearing bikinis on the top of one page – ostensibly to educate us on how much supermodels across the world earn. A more gratuitous form of sexual exploitation it would be hard to find. For reasons of gender equality and comparative commodification, a few pictures of buff, waxed male supermodels would have been appreciated. No?

     

    **

     

    Twitter was abuzz through the day, with jokes winning over analyses – well on my timeline at least. The tax for the super rich got the most scorn – especially the figure of 42,800 as the number of super-rich earning more than Rs one crore a year in India. You have to admit, it’s laughably low. The bank for women had many puzzled and then soon jokes began over the fate of deposits made by men which ran into risqué territory.

     

    **

     

    How am I to survive without watching Arnab Goswami every night? It is a question I am still grappling with…

     

  • It's superb because it strikes at the heart of the tournament; the IPL is more fun than games, it's an outdoor party where everyone is legally allowed to make a complete fool of themselves

    Debrief: IPL: Tamasha full-on!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Good fun campaign from Sony MAX for IPL 2013, I love it. And I say this despite the fact that I abhor this format of ‘cricket’, if it can be called that. That’s because the campaign is tailor made for this pyjama sport.

     

    The punchline sets the tone straightaway: ‘Sirf Dekhneka Nahin’. It’s superb because it strikes at the heart of the tournament; the IPL is more fun than games, it’s an outdoor party where everyone is legally allowed to make a complete fool of themselves. And for a change, a celebrity has been cast intelligently: Choreographer Farah Khan.

     

    Khan visits people’s homes/offices, and encourages them to not just watch the IPL, but dance wildly as well. She, along with her equally peppy ‘live band’ companions, shows people the right moves, and this makes the ads entertaining. In one commercial, Khan demonstrates to some serious officers how to celebrate when a player hits a boundary. This leads to madness in the boardroom. In another ad she gets some rather ‘healthy’ kitty party ladies to let off steam, causing an earth shaking situation, quite literally.

     

    Haanji, lots of masti, naatak and mazaa, which is the correct route for IPL. Khan does a fab job as the loud, energetic dance master, she is like this in real life too, and therefore she performs effortlessly. Her madness rubs off on all the others. Also, must say the script is well crafted, the junta will enjoy this comic stuff.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 3.5. Perfect approach for tamasha cricket

     

  • One Big Idea by Josy Paul: The idea of India – and how advertising makes it work

    By Josy Paul, Chairman & NCD, BBDO India

     

    India pulls in different directions. Fragmented by religion, disintegrated by language. Nations within a nation. But within this enormous diversity, we seek unity. Our separation makes us want to connect even more. And so we search for platforms and opportunities that unify, ideas that give us identity, allow us to feel one.

     

    Cricket is one such idea. In India cricket is not a sport, it’s our unification symbol. It’s our nationality. It gives us common language.

     

    Bollywood is another big idea. It’s our mother tongue. We can all understand it. We love it because it binds us. Bollywood icons become larger than life not because they are born great, but because we thrust greatness upon them – in our desperate need to find gods that all of us can believe in.

     

    The third idea that unifies the nation is advertising.

     

    Advertising in India is more than about pushing brands, it plays a bigger role than that. It is the nation’s glue. ‘Hamara Bajaj’ was the surrogate national anthem when it broke new ground in the early nineties. It was our idea of India. It helped us forget our differences.

     

    That’s the power of what we do. Advertising helps us confirm our Indianness, gives meaning to our identity and offers Indians common ground.

     

    Which is why some campaigns spread faster than others. Tata Tea’s ‘Jaago Re’, or TOI’s ‘Lead India’, or Asian Paint’s ‘Har ghar kuch kehta hai’, or Alpenliebe’s ‘Lagey Raho’. Campaigns that give us speech. That help us find common phrases, popular lingo, jokes and gossip, and create common action. Like Gillette’s ‘Women Against Lazy Stubble’ and Aviva’s ‘Book Wall of Education’. Songs like ‘Har ek friend zaroori hota hai’ are played over and over again, because they reiterate our nationality. They bring us closer.
    Advertising, like cricket and Bollywood, serves a larger purpose. Our national identity and unity depends on it.

     

  • One Big Idea by Niloufer Dundh: Mobile is the big medium to focus on

    By Niloufer Dundh, Founder of Ventes Dundh (formerly Sr Vice-President & Head, Integrated Media, Hungama Digital)

     

    Every medium has a role to play. I have been lucky to have worked across print, radio, television, out of home and digital. This diverse exposure has taught me that it’s very important to understand the role your medium can play to truly get the maximum for your client/brand.

     

    As for the ‘One Big Idea’, I think mobile is the medium to focus on. And why not? That’s the only medium we give our 100% to. It’s the only medium we consume solo. I would bet on mobile as it allows us to reach where Unilever can’t distribute and where SBI can’t possibly open a branch, we have for a long time discussed how TV s penetration in rural India is still abysmal.

     

    So what must a mobile plan endeavour to provide a client/brand:

    • Ability to micro target an area, vicinity or a location

    • Ability to elicit consumption as its possibly the last screen a consumer will interact with before purchase

     

    The one big idea that mobile needs besides the two unique properties listed above (which only a mobile plan can provide) is some “awe” content experience, that’s something that television provides in India. If we can come up with a large content property that is sustainable and with a celebrity then mobile advertising will find a new high amongst marketers as this will lend talkability to mobile advertising which is currently missing – the wow factor can only be provided by content.

     

    Here at Hungama, we took baby steps with Mobisur – a digital reality hunt using the mobile IVR platform as a means to allow anyone with talent to just pick up the phone and sing with renowned singer Shankar Mahadevan. This is the just the beginning and I am sure in the years to follow there will be many more… Possibly a MasterChef on mobile!!

     

  • Narendra Modi continued to dominate television news with his speech at a BJP meeting and the Wharton drama, notes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Warring over Wharton

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The world of twitter was abuzz with the Wharton India Economic Forum and Narendra Modi. As the day progressed, Wharton withdrew the invitation to the Gujarat chief minister and the event’s main sponsor, the Adani group, also backed out. The war of words between Modi fans and Modi detractors on social media got some extra fillip and as usual soon deteriorated into insults and name-calling.

     

    I also learned from Twitter that Union finance minister P Chidambaram did a Google Hangout, taking questions on the budget. The choice of technology/forum was discussed on Twitter with most thinking that the Congress was late to the social media party and had chosen the wrong platform. The UPA has been neglectful and a bit North Korean about the internet and if it wants to earn brownie points from netizens, it can start by getting rid of section 66A of the Information Technology Act.

     

    **

     

    Modi continued to be the topic of conversation on television over both his speech at the BJP meeting – televised live on Sunday – and the Wharton drama. On Karan Thapar’s Last Word on CNN-IBN, N Ram, Kumar Ketkar, Swapan Dasgupta and Najeeb Jung discussed Modi’s speech and his prime ministerial prospects. Ram, Ketkar and Jung were unimpressed and Dasgupta tried to tailor his remarks to the argument. He did not for instance launch into an expected defence when both Ram and Ketkar discussed Modi’s intemperate language towards the prime minister, although Thapar felt that personal criticism was par for the course in politics and Ram pointed out that the Congress/UPA had to be taken to task for its misdemeanours. All three non-BJP commentators discussed the many contenders for the top job within the BJP and how Modi was not a sure shot, his speech notwithstanding. The BJP’s lack of geographical footprint was also discussed. Again, Dasgupta seemed a bit downcast.

     

    On Times Now – which I only watched for a few seconds – Dasgupta seemed to have regained some spirit and was arguing with far more vigour over Wharton’s behaviour. The day on television however was consumed with the resignation of Raja Bhaiya in UP over the murder of a police officer and his imminent arrest.

     

    **

     

    The media failed with the rapes and murders of three sisters in Bhandara, Maharashtra – although kudos must go to Mid-Day for correcting that, sending staff to the area and rigorously following up on the story.

     

    The other story which is not getting enough play is the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh. The country is in turmoil over war crimes trials for those who supported Pakistan in the 1971 war for independence. Like in Tahrir Square, young people gathered in Shahbagh in Dhaka demanded justice and the death penalty for Jamaat-e-Islami leaders who were against the freedom movement. The blogger Rajib Haider who spearheaded the movement on social media was murdered. The courts gave in to public pressure and handed out death penalties to Jamaat and other leaders. The Jamaat hit back but the Shahbagh protestors and civil society have not backed down.

     

    In all this, to mainly concentrate on president Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to his in-laws’ village is bad journalism. One understands that the current zeitgeist is to only get an India angle on every single story for readers who are so jingoistic that they cannot apparently digest news any other way. In which case, I might like to remind our media that India had a significant role to play in Bangladesh’s separation Pakistan.

     

    Although CNN-IBN did send a correspondent to Bangladesh the coverage was sparse. In newspapers, most of the coverage has been limited to the edit and opinion pages.

     

    **

     

    The Economic Times has an interesting story on how celebrity advertising is working in India – a subject which has interested me lately. Apparently, in spite of what the gossip pages say, Shah Rukh Khan is still on top. I was just happy that the ads which annoy me the most – Priyanka Chopra for Garnier, Anoushka Sharma for “fearer underarms for Nivea, Bipasha Basu for McVitie’s and Sakshi Talwar for Kellogg’s were not mentioned at the top of any lists! http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/18804798.cms

     

  • Why doesn’t a smart TV news channel offer Justice Katju his very own daily show? For half an hour every evening, our all-round expert vents on national television, gifting us with his gems for the day in his inimitable style

    Anil Thakraney: Wanted: Justice Katju Unplugged!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I like Justice Markandey Katju. Not necessarily as the chief of the Press Council, but as an ever-green television personality. He is like a breath of fresh air on the news channels that otherwise saddle us viewers with the same bunch of bores and jokers. Katju won my heart when he famously declared that 90 percent of Indians are fools. Though I would have loved him even more if he had pegged that figure at 99 percent. That would be a more accurate description.

     

    That apart, Justice Katju is a highly entertaining man. He speaks his mind ferociously, doesn’t shy away from television pow-wows, and revels in controversial situations. Although the man denies he makes such sensational remarks to court controversies, I am quite certain Katju enjoys being on prime time. It’s perhaps an unfulfilled desire being satisfied. This explains why he frequently provokes powerful people/groups, and gets into television skirmishes. His more recent targets of ire were BJP’s Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi. Previously, he’s taken on the media, movie stars, cricketers, Mamata Banerji, Pakistan… the list is long. Shri Katju has an opinion on everything under the sun and the moon, and his kickass views are always captivating. When he’s not invited to the TV studios, our man lets off steam on his Twitter page.

     

    And this gave me an idea: Why doesn’t a smart TV news channel offer Justice Katju his very own daily show? A ‘Justice Katju Unplugged’ sort of a thingy. For half an hour every evening, our all-round expert vents on national television, gifting us with his gems for the day in his inimitable style. That Katju is totally entertaining we already know, but having served as a judge, he carries enormous credibility (which is why Suhel Seth and Shobhaa De, who too have an opinion on everything, don’t qualify). I think the show will score heavy on the TRP charts. And it will be a welcome break from the same dull bores we watch on television debates every evening.

     

    So here’s hoping one of our TV honchos makes this offer. I am quite positive Justice Katju will lap it up. Even though the first target of his vitriolic attack could be that very channel, you can never rule anything out with His Honour. See, that’s why the man is such a hit.  🙂

     

    ***

     

    PS: Haha. Any ad person will tell you these posters are an agency creative’s nightmare. A couple of Irish designers have turned the worst comments from clients into hilarious posters. They are funny, provided you read them after a few large pegs.

     

    Link: http://www.demilked.com/sharp-suits-posters/

     

  • One Big Idea by Kunal Mukherjee: Increation – The new age of communication

    By Kunal Mukherjee, Director Marketing, UTV and Bindass Networks

     

    Increation is a concept I came across some time ago when I read a book by the renowned author Jerone Boschma. His latest book, ‘Generation Einstein, smarter, faster and socially more aware’, led to significant media hype in The Netherlands. He specializes in communication strategies targeting children, adolescents and families. In 1998, he co-founded Bureau Keesie, which has built up an impressive track record of finding solutions for organizations (profit or non-profit) who want to really get in touch with today’s young people.

     

    Bindass over the years has created in-depth understanding of the Indian youth and has used this expertise to contribute to the Indian edition of this book, Generation Einstein, which was launched late last year.

     

    The book throws light on new-age communication techniques and the one that I firmly believe can be the needle mover in youth communication is ‘Increation’. It’s a method of creating concepts together with your target audience; it involves thinking up and creating solutions across a variety of areas, such as new products, concepts or methods of communication, together with the consumer – the real fans – under the guidance of experts.

     

    Increation involves putting many ideas to test, then trying to use the reactions to narrow down or further fine-tune the ideas. The researcher will look for overlaps on what connects to solutions, leading to that one big insight that results in that one big idea. Young people are aptly suited to working with increation projects as they are extremely creative and dynamic, due to the globalized world around them throwing out information in abundance, which the young minds absorb. Increation signifies moving away from the good old suggestion box, in which people could post their ideas and which was a cheap mechanism for a company to come up with new products without the costs of involving their own R&D department.

     

    This generation wants to be “in control” of what they see, read or do, whenever and wherever. They do this both actively and passively: actively by making their own content and passively by deciding for themselves what content they wish to see, do, or read at any given time. As communication specialists sometimes we continue to think from the standpoint of the technical possibilities of the machine, and leave the emotional context completely out of the equation.

     

    India is one of the youngest nations in the world today. By the time you get to the end of this article it would have aged a little bit more in reverse; it would have become younger. The youth today have a sense of purpose and confidence that is far beyond their years. They are the masters of their own destiny, architects of their own ambition and at one with what they feel. A better world for them begins with a better understanding of oneself.

     

    We at Bindass don’t claim to have all the answers, but we do have a roadmap to discovering and interpreting the youth of today and the world that has shaped them.

     

  • One Big Idea by S Yesudas: Need a common yardstick for measuring impact of advertising

    By S Yesudas, Managing Director – Indian, sub-continent, Vizeum

     

    When I was asked for my perspective, the first question that crossed my mind is if there’s indeed such a line that divides something above and below in the consumer’s mind. Actually there isn’t one. We also have a new line now – ‘On’line. Each of these have different ways of being measured too, making it quite complicated for the advertisers. With increasing demands for accountability from the clients end, one of the biggest moves could be to look at the possibility of a common yardstick for measuring the impact of advertising across media. The below-the-line operators are more suited to do this considering the future of advertising – moving to mass to direct. The above-the-line focused operators will not find it easy to make changes considering the quantum of money invested through the current measurement mechanisms. This opens a door for people who are willing to invest and perhaps also learn through the process and emerge victorious.

     

  • The jingle sucks, it's slow and drab, makes you feel sleepy, writes Anil Thakraney on the new Mahindra XUV500 ad

    Debrief: Mahindra XUV500: Lacks the ‘wow’ factor

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Mahindra XUV500’s new ad is a classic case of noble intention backed by wanting execution. In short, operation successful, and you know the rest.

     

    It’s a good idea, perfect for a rough terrain SUV. A group of friends, a bit bored with life, zip off on a wildlife safari in South Africa. The setting immediately allows the vehicle to demonstrate its ruggedness. And once you’ve cracked that, it’s now all left to the execution. As the jingle belts out a sweet melody, our friends, as expected, encounter some wildlife. Giraffes, rhinos, wilder beasts, ostriches, etc. They finally have a close encounter with a cheetah, the ad’s show stopper, so to speak.

     

    Two problems with the execution. The jingle sucks, it’s slow and drab, makes you feel sleepy. When it should have been adventurous and uplifting, given the setting. They should have used one of those superb Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara songs, that would have worked nicely for pals on a long journey. The other problem is with the wildlife sighting. It’s either a cut-paste job, or the editing is poor. The encounters with animals don’t look real at all. An idea like this needed a ‘wow’ treatment; it should have had us on the edge, especially when the cheetah mounts the Mahindra XUV500’s bonnet. Because it looks like cinematic trickery, the TVC leaves you unmoved.

     

    Sad, really. They ought to have pulled all stops to make this idea rock. Instead it remains at the average level.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 2.5. Good idea. Deserved kickass execution.

     

  • One Big Idea by Ashwin Sashital: Glocalization – television in a world without boundaries

    By Ashwin Sashital, Vice-President, Business, Big RTL

     

    Global television broadcasters have changed their programming to adapt to local needs and preferences in Asia, a surefire indicator of the glocalization of television broadcasting. It has made worldwide audiences available to the world’s leading broadcasters by tearing down barriers posed by time, space and national boundaries.

     

    The development of ‘global television’ has prompted a theoretical paradigm shift in international communication research from imperialism to globalization.

     

    Glocalization is actually borrowed from intersection of universalization (globalization) and particularization (localization). Globalization of television broadcasting is a two-way process involving ‘push’ and ‘pull’ exchanges of power between global and local players.

     

    The conceptualization of glocalization is a two-way process involving push and pull or exchanges of power between global and local media giants.

     

    Localization of programming content means a strategy adopted by companies to localise content in a stepwise approach. The language-by-language block approach or country-by-country approach seems to be the strategy to tackle the differences within a region.

     

    Localization strategies in programming include broadcasting in the local language via dubbing or subtitling, rescheduling or repackaging programmes to suit local viewing preferences, buying materials from local studios and producing local programming through co-production or forming joint ventures with local sectors.

     

    The future of globalization for most of the broadcasters depends a lot on programme localization. Rather than regarding globalization as a process that uniformly subverts local imperatives, it is a process of glocalization in which the local exercises influences in constituting the global.

     

    So the degree of localization of content largely depends on the target audience, viewership base, popularity of channel and financial strength of the channel.

     

    These challenges have initiated Global television broadcasters to adjust their programming strategies from rebroadcasting Western American versions of programmes in Asia to engaging in some form of local programming to suit each market’s taste. This is cultural or Media Imperialism.

     

    So Going Glocal is the way.