MxMIndia

Category: BLOGS

  • This is your usual formula advertising. However, because they have used bird calls as the creative tool, the ad looks fresh and entertaining. Tells you how a simple device can lift an otherwise ordinary creative

    Debrief: SetWet: Quirky Cool

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    The SetWet guys have released a quirky ad for their deodorant spray called SetWet Cool. Titled ‘Lovebirds’, a group of horny guys make bird sounds to attract the pretty ladies. Exactly like the birds do as their mating call. But our birds, oops, gals, don’t respond, though they seem to be enjoying all the attention. Then our hero arrives. The dude sprays SetWet on his hot bod, instead of making desperate bird calls, and naturally this trick works. He gets the chicks.

     

    It’s a typical before/after format, the sort we see in every other ad. Also, male deos have to show girls swooning, that’s part of the established template, and SetWet hasn’t deviated from it. In other words, this is your usual formula advertising. However, because they have used bird calls as the creative tool, the ad looks fresh and entertaining. Tells you how a simple device can lift an otherwise ordinary creative. And the bird call will help the brand get a distinctive personality, which is crucial in this noisy category.

     

    Still, one question remains: The models featured in the ad are all firangs. Wonder why this is the case. Surely Indians would connect better with fellow Indians. I can only hazard a guess. Perhaps the advertiser chickened out, fearing a backlash from desi feminists. However cool the idea might be, the situation does fall in the realm of eve teasing. And that is a very, very bad thingy in India these days.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyiBE9_Joeg[/youtube] 

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 3. Smart creative device helps the ad stand out.

     

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on nightly news and the morning papers

    Ranjona Banerji: Of Cobrapost sting & rubbish BMM course

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Uttar Pradesh government celebrated its first anniversary with front page jackets for all major newspapers. As far as Mumbai is concerned, was this a little dig at Raj Thackeray and his anti-North Indian campaign do you think? Okay, I’m kidding. But still this need of the Samajwadi Party to reach out to the English newspaper reading public in such a big way is intriguing. Poor iphone/ Apple had to play second fiddle to UP, as The Times of India made it the second jacket. Let us not discuss whether the reader benefits from wading through pages of ads for a newspaper which has no front page…

     

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    When you eventually reach the front page, our collective national pride is still upset by the insult handed out to us by the Italian government. The issue of the two marines on trial for murder who are not coming back still rankles. In that is tied up the breach of the Supreme Court’s good faith and the fact that Sonia Gandhi is of Italian origin. Of course, to any sane person there is no connection between those two apposite arguments but when has sanity played a role in our national discourse recently?

     

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    As a result, the “mysterious” death of rape and murder accused Ram Singh in Tihar jail no longer fuels or consumes television media’s incessant demand for more scandal and sensation. Confused by its own motivations, the fact that the death appeared to have been a suicide and that the man lacked some basic qualifications to be a national hero, the story has died with a whimper.

     

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    The big story though is the sting operation conducted on three large Indian banks by Cobrapost.com, run by irrepressible Aniriddha Bahal, he of the cricket and other stings which made Tehelka famous. Officers of HDFC, ICICI and Axis banks are on tape merrily telling the undercover reporter that they would happily convert his “politician boss’s” black money into white. They also explain how, which is a neat ready reckoner for anyone else so inclined.

     

    So far TV and print media have run with the story but it will be interesting to see how far they take it or whether it just becomes more grist to the nightly tamasha mill.

     

    There is something disquieting for the regular practice of journalism if the only basis for a story being important is how much drama you can milk out of it. At the risk of being a spoilsport, the drought in Maharashtra certainly needs more attention and kudos to CNN-IBN for focusing on it.

     

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    TV news in India has not really yet come to grips with the feature or the news feature – trend stories are almost non-existent and life style stories are limited to Bollywood. Since Bollywood is only forthcoming when it requires a PR exercise, we are still waiting for a coming of age.

     

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    Markandey Katju, chairman of the Press Council of India, has decided that there needs to be a minimum qualification to become a journalist. If indeed the venerable former judge had bothered to speak to any journalists, he might have got some very different feedback. A lot of the problems which bother people about journalists today originate precisely from the fact that most new recruits come from journalism schools, almost all of which are substandard. In the good old days (sigh, nostalgia) when journalism was a vocation and not a career (bad salaries, terrible working conditions and no public adulation) there were many more committed people around. The corporatision of the media has meant that brainless and clueless “Human Resources” departments have taken over recruitment and they do with that they think is the obvious route – rubbish “BMM” and other such courses. I have yet to meet a journalism undergrad who knew or understood anything at all. And because they have no real college education either, their knowledge base – essential for a journalist – is non-existent or stuck at school level.

     

    We have lost a lot by succumbing to those courses for our resource base. Some of the best older journalists around came from other professions and some did not even have college degrees but those who were successful had a burning passion for journalism. A nose for news and language skill is all that is required. Neither can be taught.

     

    Katju has since decided to apparently take on the journalism schools themselves. Now that makes sense.

     

  • Excellent work, and it must have taken Cobrapost months (and a lot of leg work) to execute this story. Full marks to the team. We need more stories like this

    Anil Thakraney: Dirty laundry: Cobra’s shocking expose

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I was not very impressed with Aniruddha Bahal’s literary efforts, but am a huge fan of his stinging journalistic skills. Along with Tarun Tejpal (Tehelka), and now at his own venture (Cobrapost), Bahal has planned and executed some fantastic exposes. The most memorable being the one on match-fixing in cricket, and the other one on Indian parliamentarians accepting cash to ask questions. Both shook the nation.

     

    Cobrapost’s latest sting operation is equally shocking and depressing. Even as the government finds new ways to burden the aam aadmi with more taxes, it appears the rich have been happily legalizing their ill-gotten wealth, not by flying to Switzerland, but by paying a visit to the friendly neighbourhood desi bank. Cobrapost’s investigation reveals how, across the length and breadth of the country, well-known banks like HDFC, ICICI and Axis, coolly and helpfully help you launder your dirty money.

     

    What’s totally staggering about the story is this: The laundering process operates as a very well oiled machine, with staffers down the line aware of its existence, some even adept at handling it. This means the racket has been going on for a long time. And two, the innovative options these banks provide to wash your funds. These include offering insurance policies for cash, opening benami accounts, using accounts of their other customers to channelize the monies, offering lockers for safe keep, and so on. It’s in fact, well, a laundry list! Every single method totally illegal, and in brazen contravention of the RBI guidelines.

     

    Excellent work, and it must have taken Cobrapost months (and a lot of leg work) to execute this story. Full marks to the team. We need more stories like this because money laundering directly hits the financial health of the nation. Of course, the key question is: Will anything come out of this story? Perhaps not. Obviously many netas have been washing their dirty linen at these laundries, so you can well imagine the outcome. But, a journalist must do his/her job, and that’s what the Cobrapost team has done.

     

    I must add here that two years ago I had a very nasty experience with my bank. Not only were they mishandling my account, they were always rude, and were very thrilled to see me go. I was surprised at the time, but it all seems to add up now. Why bother about genuine customers when the real moolah lies with the fake ones?

     

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    PS: Haha. Brilliant commercial by Volkswagen Beetle. Simple and highly entertaining. The power of lateral thinking at work.
  • It's now a given; the moment a cricketer retires, by default he walks into the commentary box. The latest entrant, VVS Laxman, is painful to hear. He speaks poorly, provides zero insights, and has a voice that makes a sixer sound like a boring thingy

    Anil Thakraney: VVS: Very Very Sad

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    It’s now a given; the moment a cricketer retires, by default he walks into the commentary box. When, ideally, his first priority ought to be coaching young teams and/or joining/starting a sports academy. This is because commentating is far more lucrative, and it carries zero responsibilities and headaches. I am quite certain Rajya Sabha MP Shri Sachin Tendulkar has already begun work on his diction.

     

    But this instant migration from the pitch to the box isn’t easy, and most of the cricketers struggle very badly, at the cost of the viewers. The latest entrant, VVS Laxman, is painful to hear. He speaks poorly, provides zero insights, and has a voice that makes a sixer sound like a boring thingy. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has been tormenting us with his clichés for years, and the less said about motor mouth Sidhu the better. Sanjay Manjrekar communicates like a novice, and Ravi Shastri has been hired purely to generate senseless hysteria. Sunil Gavaskar and Saurav Ganguly are the notable exceptions, the saving grace. I am also reminded of Lala Amarnath from back in the seventies. He used to come up with sharp observations; we would, as kids, eagerly await his gems at the end of each match day.

     

    And of course, Imran Khan, the late Tony Grieg, Richie Benaud and Ian Chappell have always been a delight to listen to. What this tells you is that having been a cricketer may help to commentate better, but it does not necessarily make you an interesting communicator. Either you have the gift of the gab or you don’t. Therefore, the sports networks have to exercise quality control, they simply can’t hire every cricketer who calls it a day. And I haven’t even begun speaking about the nonsense that goes on inside the Hindi commentary box. These days I mostly watch the Indian cricket telecast minus the sound.

     

    Just as a good movie director won’t necessarily make a good film critic, just as a great painter won’t necessarily become a reliable curator, just as a kickass CEO won’t necessarily be a good dad, the same theory applies to sports commentary. I am quite certain there is enough talent out there for cricket commentary (after all, this nation is flushed with ‘experts’), and all that the television networks have to do is to find them. It’s their laziness to conduct this search that has ended up saddling us viewers with rank bad commentators.

     

    Get some fresh blood in the box, dear Sony Max, ESPN/Star Sports, Neo, etc. In fact, the IPL is a good place to start, unless you’ve already signed up Sidhu, VVS and Sivaramakrishnan. In which case it’s now left to the sexy cheerleaders to save the day.

     

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    PS: Nice IKEA commercial. Notice how the inter-play of need for storage room and need for room in relationships lifts an otherwise ordinary promise: Total furniture solutions. Wonderful!

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWJImv6ci9I[/youtube]

     

  • One Big Idea by NP Sathyamurthy: Bundling is the way forward for regional channels

    By NP Sathyamurthy, President & Head – Media, Mudra Max

     

    If we look at the viewership pattern of the top one or two regional language channels, their viewership is fairly consistent. They have the opportunity to guarantee some GRPs, and then charge cost per rating point. That would find a lot of takers.

     

    It is viable in regional language channels because they offer far more consistency in GRPs, than Hindi GEC at a broad level.

     

    And in the process they are likely to get higher returns from investors. They can definitely demand more for an ad spot than they are doing now – if they offer a guarantee. If they adopt this approach, they can also sell their second-level programmes, which are not very high rated, but which are reasonably good. It would definitely work from the revenue perspective, and advertisers would be far more confident, if it is guaranteed. To put it simply, they would benefit in two ways – by getting higher revenues, and a higher share of the advertising pie.

     

    The other option that networks have is to bundle in various language channels, and sell them as combination. Currently, they are all selling them as individual channels. For a number of advertisers a couple of markets in the South, Maharashtra and West Bengal are priority one markets. If they offer them as a bundle, they can get a higher share of the advertising pie at the cost of so-called national channels catering to Hindi-speaking markets.

     

  • One Big Idea by Maheshwar Peri: Is ethical media viable any longer?

    By Maheshwar Peri, Chairman, Pathfinder Publishing

     

    In light of the recent happenings, I wonder whether ethical journalism is any longer viable. Can we make great journalism a paid-for product?

     

    Look at all the news media brands launched in the last 20+ years. Those that do not have the advantage of a 100-year history, that thrive on conditions suited for them. Those that got into the business of news media to carve out a space for themselves on unique propositions based on geographies, targeting etc. that were supposed to be largely their own.

     

    Drill down further and see how many of them have been successful and profitable — NDTV, TV 18 group, Times Now, Eenadu TV, ABP News etc… How many have been profitable? DNA, Mint, Business Standard – are they profitable? And can they ever be profitable? In fact, on the television side of the business, the two biggest news channels have consistently lost money. What has changed from where we were say 50 years AGO?

     

    Once upon a time, Journalism was a noble profession. People with a deep passion for the society and a commitment to telling the truth sought to work in the field of journalism. It was the profession of the ‘jholawala’. However, the manpower costs of news media organizations are at their peak now. Market forces have invaded. For all those who have freedom to write the truth, very few are willing to compromise their salaries. Most job movements even in journalism are for ‘better career’ prospects, and ‘possibly’ compromised work places. Much of the media corruption starts because ‘your’ salary comes from ad revenues.

     

    When some editors draw salaries in eight figures, how can it ever be viable?

     

    So, in the light of high costs, is ethical journalism any longer viable? In my view, the solution is with us. Do we have it in us, as those who believe in ‘ethical journalism’, to work for less pay?

     

  • Is it entertaining/engaging, will people enjoy repeat exposures? If you are doubtful of this, trash the idea. The Frooti ad, after the first exposure, is very painful to watch

    Debrief: Frooti: Simple. But boring.

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    To Frooti’s credit, at least they haven’t put out a typical lifestyle ad. At least there’s an idea, which is the ‘drool’ factor. As in, when you are really hot and thirsty, you would stare longingly at the sod who’s gulping down a cold drink. But apart from that, the TVC goes downhill.

     

    So, SRK downs the drink, as some footballers and kids continuously stare at him. That’s pretty much all that happens. For some strange reason (perhaps because it’s a football field), they’ve used what sounds like a Spanish track, which is Greek to most of us, so it adds no value to the commercial. But the bigger mistake is that of using Khan. Because he’s over used and over abused in advertising (and media), the moment the film opens with him, you switch off mechanically. Given that the idea is so simple, they definitely needed a rarely used celeb, if at all.

     

    There’s another problem: When you decide to keep things simple, which is a good thing in advertising, the first question you need to ask yourself is this: But is it entertaining/engaging, will people enjoy repeat exposures? If you are doubtful of this, trash the idea. The Frooti ad, after the first exposure, is very painful to watch. Even you are a diehard SRK fan, which I am not. I think this very critical factor was overlooked at the storyboard stage, when it should have been on top of the agenda for a cold drink ad.

     

    Net net: Shah Rukh Khan just bagged another load of big moolah. And Frooti got forgotten in the bargain. Waste of money.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hn6EzpB9KA[/youtube]

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 1. Yawn.

     

  • One Big Idea by Gautam Kiyawat: Going back to basics will help news channels

    By Gautam Kiyawat, CEO, Madison Media

     

    The future of News, as we know it, is not in broadcast. It is in individuals accessing news on their time, on their screen of choice, about areas they are interested in.
    It is not about who breaks it first or who shouts loudest. It is about well-presented points of view backed by analysis, even if it is after the event.

     

    Shouting heads, sometimes six at a time on split screens, do not make for compelling viewing. A news anchor is a guest in your living room and will do a lot better to behave that way on screen.

     

    Broadcast news needs to take a bold, deep breath and get back to the basics. Analysis and presentation, wrapped in a unique positioning – that forms the bedrock of programming.

     

    My holy grail is Fox News. Ignore their political stance; it is up there right on top of the news broadcast mountain. A single-minded, bold positioning leading to an incredibly strong programming lineup. Less focus on news, much more on analysis and opinion. Packaged and presented with professionalism, enthusiasm. And pride.

     

  • Although the Pew Research Centre's State of the Media report doesn't paint a rosy picture for American media, it applies to journalism and journalists everywhere, notes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Disquieting news for media

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    An interview with lawyer Harish Salve on Karan Thapar’s Devil’s Advocate on Sunday night underlined once more why the media better serves its purpose by taking a balanced and objective view on issues. Salve was lawyer for the two Italian marines accused of shooting two Indian fishermen. They left for Italy to vote promising to come back; the Italian government now says they won’t.

     

    As usual, we have whipped ourselves into a patriotic frenzy with people almost going as far as boycotting their daily dose of peejo and pasta but I suspect it won’t quite come to that. Connections have been made between Sonia Gandhi, Mussolini, Finmeccanica, Quattrochi, leaving out so far Machiavelli, the Borgias, Leonardo da Vinci and Dante Alighieri.

     

    Salve however explained matters in a sober and non-hysterical manner which did not absolve the Italians of shooting the fishermen but pointed out how international law worked. There can be little doubt that television-induced madness has afflicted our nation. Strangely, anyone at any time could have looked at the matter coldly and dispassionately and explained it to the reader and viewer. But where’s the fun in that, eh?

     

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    The Pew Research Centre’s State of the Media report has some disquieting news for the American media but it applies to journalism and journalists everywhere. Cost-cutting in news rooms has affected the quality of journalism everywhere. Coverage of live events by premier news channels has dropped by 30 per cent since 2007 and interviews – which require fewer resources – have risen by a corresponding 31 per cent. Story lengths are down and subjects like sports, weather and traffic which are easier to cover have gone up.

     

    In the print media, algorithms have replaced journalists in some instances. The report says, “This adds up to a news industry that is more undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories, dig deep into emerging ones or to question information put into its hands.” The report was scathing about events like presidential elections, observing that campaign reporters act more like “megaphones than investigators”.

     

    As beats drop, organisations and companies are using social media to bypass the traditional media and speak to the general public. In a sense, then by cutting news-gathering and journalism costs, the news media has worked to remove itself from the market. This cannot be worthwhile in the long run.

     

    There is one additional fear which Pew has expressed – that as more companies use “native” advertising with embedded messaging, readers and viewers will be confused about “sponsored” content as opposed to news content.

     

    This of course is something that we are well aware of in India and yet have managed to do nothing about. Paid news, Medianet and its variations are rife. In fact, “medianet” has practically become a generic term for unethical journalism and is no longer even seen as a Times of India or Bennett Coleman brand – almost everyone does it one way or another.

     

    The news media in the West has fallen under threat since the economic downturn. The problem is that while the economy may improve at some point, the damage done to journalism by cutting standards will be irreparable. The inability to understand and effectively use the digital space has also hurt traditional journalists and news organisations. This means that skill sets have been lost and the primary goal of journalism – to inform and make aware – is under threat.

     

    The lessons for India are no less real. The increasing corporatisation of the media has meant that the profit structure has taken precedence over everything else. While the need to be financially viable is non-negotiable, when cost-cutting attacks your core competency you are indeed cutting off your nose to spite your face. The only thing that achieves is to open the door to unscrupulous cosmetic surgeons and charlatans. Welcome to the new media.

     

    http://mashable.com/2013/03/18/newsroom-cutbacks-hurting-journalism-pew-study/

     

    Ranjona Banerji’s Twitter handle is @ranjona

     

  • I have a bad feeling Justice Katju thinks of Indian journalists exactly what he thinks of the rest of India; perhaps he believes that 90 percent of us are fools, and that might be the reason for the latest diktat

    Anil Thakraney: Katju Sir, how do you teach curiosity?

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Haha. Press Council Chairman Justice Shri Markandey Katju has bowled another deadly googly. He now demands that journalists must have certain qualifications before they are hired, and he wants that to be mandated by law. Here’s the link to the story in mxm india: http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/03/mxm-mondays-do-journalists-need-to-be-qualified/

     

    I have a bad feeling Justice Katju thinks of Indian journalists exactly what he thinks of the rest of India; perhaps he believes that 90 percent of us are fools, and that might be the reason for the latest diktat. Be that as it may, one question immediately comes to mind: What sort of a qualification would Justice Katju deem as being appropriate for journalists? Is he happy with the Diploma in Mass Communications sort of a thing? Or does he have something else in mind? Doctorate in social sciences? Master’s degree in law? PhD in qualitative research? Graduate degree in English Literature? Would be interesting to know what would satisfy the boss.

     

    Incidentally, does Justice Katju know that Carl Bernstein, the celebrated American journalist who broke the sensational Watergate scandal, wasn’t even a graduate, that he dropped out of college at the age of 16 to be a journalist? There are plenty of such shining examples. This is not to say the media should hire only school and college drop-outs. Every degree brings value to an individual’s skills, that’s common sense stuff, so there’s no point arguing with that. And it works for all walks of life. But I am not really sure where Justice Katju is going with this, where is he going to draw the line in terms of mandatory education levels.

     

    However, I have a larger point to make: My own experience in journalism has taught me that aside from obvious skills like writing, articulation, research-gathering, etc, the Number One talent every journalist must possess is Curiosity, with a capital C. Minus that, a journalist is pretty much useless. And this is true whether he/she works for a mass TV channel or a niche industry portal. All the degrees collected by the individual are junk if he/she isn’t inquisitive by nature.

     

    So then, dear Justice Katju, how do you teach someone to be a nosy parker? That single most important journalistic attribute. I would really like to know, I am curious! 🙂

     

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    PS: Good TV campaign by END7, an international NGO. The ads show how celebs react when faced with a ghastly tropical disease. Apart from other big names, it features our very own Ms Priyanka Chopra. Ready to squirm? Er, at the disease, not her acting skills.

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYimJKg9QiE[/youtube]

     

     

     

  • One Big Idea by Aditya Swamy: Evolution from the idiot box to the smartphone

    By Aditya Swamy, EVP & Business Head, MTV

     

    In 2020, for an 18-year-old, the smartphone was in his home before he was born. Just as the internet was for a person born in the 90s. With the rate of adoption of technology increasing rapidly, the emergence of the smartphone as a platform and not just a device is the next big leap in our industry and this will change the way content is produced, distributed and consumed forever.

     

    While people primarily use their televisions and computers to view content, trends clearly indicate that they will start using multiple devices to access this digitized content and in India, smartphones will have the lion’s share of this new device adoption.

     

    Singapore leads the world at 7.2%, which is the traffic that comes from non-computer devices. India is still only at half that at 3.7%, but what’s interesting is that a whopping 90% of this comes from mobile phones. In 2011, 150 MM smartphones were sold in India. The 3G user base is projected to hit 200 MM by 2016. And increased Wi-Fi availability is making mobile connectivity a very real experience.

     

    The interface is moving from the large screen to small, attention spans are getting crunched, and with each passing day content options are increasing exponentially. This will mean looking at our business through a very different lens from what we do today.

     

    At MTV, we see ourselves as content producers first, being in the business of young people, and not as broadcasters. The more platform-agnostic our content is, the more advantage we can take of this increasingly fragmented device diet among young people. And the more time we spend being our audience, the more naturally we will evolve with them. Stay Hungry, Stay Raw !

     

  • It's well conceived, many of us men would identify with these everyday life situations. Good idea and an equally good execution. This ad assures us that not all Indian men are bad guys

    Debrief: ICICI Prudential: Ad bhi achha hai

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Everyone I’ve spoken to likes the new ICICI Prudential commercial. And I agree with them. That’s because it rides on a tremendous insight: We men (at least some of us) gladly put ourselves in the line of fire to protect our near and dear ones.

     

    Themed ‘Bande Achhe Hain’, the TVC features a collage of such situations. An elderly gent comes in the way of the blazing sunlight on his wife’s face. A dude moves himself in the direction of the passing traffic to keep his lady partner safe. Another one prevents his missus from banging her head against an open cabinet, and so on. It’s well conceived, many of us men would identify with these everyday life situations. Also, what makes the communication strong is that most of us men don’t make a fuss when we do these helpful things, unlike the ladies, hehe.

     

    Good idea and an equally good execution. What I also like is the timing. With increasing incidents of rape and molestation in the nation, desi men are at the lowest point in terms of favourable imagery. This ad assures us that not all Indian men are bad guys. Nice to see a campaign that celebrates men, quite rare in this country, we guys usually (and deservedly) get trashed.

     

    If there’s one little problem I have, it’s the idea’s link with ICICI’s various insurance policies. That link is a bit tenuous, and the advertiser can only hope for a positive rub-off over a period of time. Of course, we already know that ICICI bank’s staffers are really achha bandas. Reportedly, they convert black to white, minus any fuss. 🙂

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Hx2T4ciws[/youtube]

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 3.5. Pleasing ad, strong on empathy.