MxMIndia

Category: COLUMNS

  • Both client and agencies believes there exists a PC Sarkar-type magic talent tumbler out there

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Talent drought, biggest nemesis of digital and e-commerce

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    A fairly senior advertising professional in the digital part of a well-respected advertising agency made an observation. Last month, he pitched to a hugely funded e-commerce business.  He had nothing against the fairly half-his-age fresh professional sitting to comment and decide on his strategy and approach. He respects their approach, passion, ambition, ideas and a ‘will-succeed’ approach.

     

    He noted, how clueless or shallow they were in marketing and brand creation. This he says is his generous comment after recalibrating for the business approaches and plans most of the e-commerce and digital start-ups have.

     

    There is absolutely nothing wrong in relentlessly focussing on creating a bubble that can attract funding and higher evaluation. The evaluation and the funding are dependent on numbers.  But the brand attractiveness and preference among consumers may give a further multiple is something that is being overlooked.

     

    Both client and agencies believes there exists a PC Sarkar-type magic talent tumbler out there. They expect it to keep pouring out super talent to bridge the talent gap.

     

    I am not sure of what was really bugging my friend. The more I linked within the industry and the system more convinced I am of the drought of talent in this digital area.

     

    E-commerce in particular has been seeing exponential growth in 2014 on back of technology adaption and increasing use of smartphones-tablets and access to better Internet. This has continued in 2015.   The brands, may be rightly so, have been busy innovating on ways to address and attract new customers and increase their on-line traffic. But can they survive on this only.

     

    There is no talent pool to service the exponential demand. And, no one is bothered to create the pool. The current elective courses and short-term sessions in markets still treat it as a subset of main marketing course. Currently, many marketers with half-baked understanding and low-level exposure to digital experience are masquerading as experts.   Nothing can be more illogical.

     

    In light of the increased competition and assured deep pockets, e-commerce has been supporting a fallacy that hands on experience creates cutting edge experience.  Many have paid a high price for attempting to learn on the run, fly-by-wire and course correcting their trajectories. Most of them are the second time entrepreneurs who have failed to create pull or scale up as desired.

     

    Yet, life revolves around scaling up, numbers and feeding expanding ambitions. It is a Russian roulette out there waiting for the other to blink.

     

    The strengthening of the dollar is bad news.  The ROI for venture funds from digital and e-commerce will take a dip. Funds available to fuel the illogical customer acquisition will be under pressure.

     

    We know that in a parity situation the experience and the brand value acts as the differentiator. And this is when under-developing at brand end will pinch. Unlike emails the rule of addiction is no guarantee for continued purchase from an e-commerce site.

     

    Unfortunately, there  exists a high demand for qualified manpower. There are positions out there. Many have seen a rotating door experience of Aaya Ram Gaya Ram and many still waiting to be filled.  But low resource pond has been running at critical dry levels for a long time. Result half-marketers or marketers with weak understanding of digital business needs are ruling the day. This is one area where outsourcing may not work.

     

    It is high time that digital and e-commerce addressed this need. Creating specially integrated courses with relevant universities. Jointly working with professional training institutes for creating short-term directional courses. Increase intake of interns and even create longer duration on the job training programmes. It needs high speed of implementation and scaling up.

     

    The talent shortage is a global problem. Even China, well ahead of the curve in digitisation, is yet to fully address this issue. The good talent available in country will always be pulled by the global opportunities. I am personally not sure if the industry is currently addressing or even looking at these needs.

     

    Oh, there is partial good news. Meanwhile the talent gap pushes increments of existing talent pool, which is unwarranted.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala is Founder and Head Catalyst at Intradia. A Brand, Marketing and Management Advisor. He conducts specialised workshops in the area of IDEATION (Harvest and Liberate) and Innovation (InNoWait). His focus energy in enhancing client’s internal team’s potential and capabilities. In process decreasing their dependence  on external resources. To contact email sanjeev@intradia.in  or tweet at s_kotnala visit www.intradia.in  www.sanjeevkotnala.com.

     

  • It's understandable that a high profile murder case would generate audience interest, but is debating a whodunit with half-a-dozen talking heads the best way of reporting a murder case, asks Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Prime Time News or Murder Investigations?

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    In the short history of news television in India, there would be very few weeks as bizarre as the one we are currently in. We are in the middle of a full-blown investigation of the Sheena Bora murder case, unfolding in near real-time across news channels. Everything else has to take a backseat then, including the disturbing state of affairs in Gujarat.

     

    It’s understandable that a high profile murder case would generate audience interest, especially when it has elements that point to decadence of values, much like the Aarushi Talwar murder case. I’m all for running a story that the audience want to watch. But is debating a whodunit with half-a-dozen talking heads the best way of reporting a murder case? I’m not too convinced about that.

     

    That Indrani Mukerjea, the principal accused here, has a broadcasting lineage has created that much extra interest in media offices. If you have spent at least three-four years in the media industry, chances are very high that you are within one degree of separation from everyone else in the industry. It’s easy for journalists to find colleagues and ex-colleagues who knew Indrani. But very few like Ravina Raj Kohli have chosen to go on record with their views.

     

    So, we end up with the same generic talking heads that we see all the time when a non-political story gets prime-time coverage. But when you see Rahul Roy as one of them, you know it’s getting really desperate.

     

    Last month, I read Avirook Sen’s book on the Aarushi murder case. Coming from a journalist who followed the case and the trial all the way through (for Mumbai Mirror), and continues to do so even now, the book was an eyeopener in many ways. I have spent a fair share of my primetime viewing on the Aarushi case, but when I read Sen’s book, I realised how little I knew about the case till then.

     

    I then googled a few news channel videos from the day of the verdict, and even found Sen on-air in a couple of them. But he got only about half a minute to speak on about three occasions, and while you sensed in that short time that he was the one who knew the case better than everyone on the panel, including the anchor, you never got to know his point-of-view in that short period of time.

     

    If viewers are interested in a story, investigative journalism of Sen’s quality would engage them a lot more than debates based on half knowledge and conjectures. But then, that requires some effort, doesn’t it? As Sen says in his book, there were several days in the Talwars trial when he was the only journalist at the Ghaziabad court.

     

    Are news channels getting addicted to this easier way out, where debates from the comfort of the studios are the new form of journalism? It would seem so, going by what we see all the time.

     

    One hopes that there are young journalists with fire in their belly wanting to change that perception!

     

  • Let us also not forget that Peter Mukerjea, the current husband of the murder accused Indrani Mukerjea, was once the head of Star India. When they started 9X together, it was a massive media event. The subsequent collapse of 9X was equally controversial and caused tremors through the media. All the more reason for the media to focus on the case

    Ranjona Banerji: The facts of the Sheena Bora case are incredible enough to justify focused media coverage

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Not surprisingly, the news has been filled with the Sheena Bora murder case. The accusations, allegations and investigation details as they have emerged have been weird, bizarre, unbelievable and diabolical. They also involve influential people and that gives the story extra oomph.

     

    But it is in cases like this that the media often gets the most flak. The Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj murder case was a watershed moment for the media. While there were congratulations for the re-focus on the Jessica Lal murder, the media went to town with implied motives in the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder, encouraged by police and later CBI speculation about sexual orgies, incest and several other sexual relationships. The sanctity of forensic evidence also went for a toss as TV cameras showed the whole world and its uncle clambering over the crime scene.

     

    Have we learnt anything since then? Apparently, yes. The police for one thing have been more circumspect about releasing both information and crackpot theories. Rakesh Maria, Mumbai’s media-savvy and well-seasoned police commissioner is personally handling the case. And most of the wacky unbelievable stuff being has been coming from the family itself.

     

    Let us also not forget that Peter Mukerjea, the current husband of the murder accused Indrani Mukerjea, was once the head of Star India and perceived to be very close to Rupert Murdoch. He was at the time one of the most powerful men in India. He and Indrani were also very high profile. When they started 9X together, it was a massive media event. Pradeep Guha, ex-Bennett Coleman, ex-Zee, was also going to be part of it. The news channel NewsX was to be headed by a star team led by Vir Sanghvi. The subsequent collapse of 9X was equally controversial and caused tremors through the media. All the more reason for the media to focus on the case.

     

    But the facts alone are enough. So far we have a woman accused of murdering a sister who is actually her daughter. Her current husband denies all knowledge of everything. The couple’s driver said his boss and one of her former husbands (not the father of the victim) were co-conspirators in Sheena’s murder. The “lady accused”, as Maria calls her, also had a son who she presented to the world as a brother. He makes all manner of accusations against his mother including that they were abandoned by her. The victim and her stepfather/brother-in-law’s son from an earlier marriage were in a relationship. Her sister/mother disapproved. This caused all manner of friction. The father of the abandoned brother and sister has not yet spoken out. This one paragraph ought to be enough to explain just how compelling and incredible the story is.

     

    The media from that perspective has no option but to follow this story. As usual some newspapers will be better and some will be worse than others. Some news channels will go into overdrive. But so far, most channels have had the same news. There has been some speculative reporting but how can there not be? However as usual, the panel discussions or debates or tamashas have been most questionable mainly because this is where gossip and uninformed judgment masquerade as profundity. The funniest of all was on Barkha Dutt’s show on NDTV when various high profile women and has-beens sat in judgment over Indrani Mukerjea with nary a thought of their own pasts. So be it. The story is juicy enough.

     

    On another “discussion”, a guest pointed out that the media had to cover the story because how else will people know? Indeed. A stellar thought that one wishes media critics would ponder on!

     

    There will be the usual carping about how the media did not carry this or that. However, it is also true that if the media did not cover this story there would as many counter allegations.

     

    As it happened, I also read about and saw on TV, in the same evil biased media, stories on the Patel rally in Gujarat, the subsequent violence, the army being called out. Also on the data of growth by religious community in India. Narendra Modi’s anodyne comments on violence. On the status of the One Rank One Pension protests. Rahul Gandhi wandering about here and there. The launch of the GSAT-6. Usain Bolt’s remarkable 200m dash to gold at the World Championships in Beijing. Should I bore you with any more news that has been available to us aside from the Sheena Bora murder?

     

    As usual, the same people who complain about what the media did not cover use links from media sources to prove their point.

     

    Please turn the page with an exasperated huff or change the channel if it annoys you that much. But I for one am going to keep watching this unbelievable murder case unfold: my vicarious self has beaten my self-righteous, sanctimonious, incessantly grumbling high moral horsie self in this case!

     

  • Because it was not just the primetime debates but also the all-day broadcasts which have anchors, reporters, random guests and members of the general public all attributing motive as well as diagnosing the prime accused, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: So how long news channels take to prove me wrong in my defence of their coverage of the Sheena Bora murder case?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    So how long did it take for news channels to prove me wrong in my defence of their coverage of the Sheena Bora murder case? One day? Two days? I still vigorously defend the decision to cover the murder – surely one of the most intriguing and compelling in recent times – but the manner of coverage? O my sweet lord!

     

    I understand that many of us fancy ourselves as crime-solving detectives. And apparently a good number of us imagine ourselves to be psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists as well. Because it was not just the prime time debates but also the all-day broadcasts which have anchors, reporters, random guests and members of the general public all attributing motive as well as diagnosing the prime accused, Indrani Mukerjea.

     

    Television, sadly, is the worst culprit here. Again, it suffers because it puts its news-gathering process on camera. In a print or web journal, the reader does not know how you got your information and while this means that reporters do not become world famous in their neighbourhoods and their mummy-daddy’s friends, it also means that they do not become notorious. There were times, watching the coverage, when you felt you were in a movie about how bad the paparazzi and an intrusive media can be. This reporter from Times Now chasing after Sheena Bora’s boyfriend and or step-brother or step-nephew Rahul Mukerjea at Mumbai airport is the best example of how not to practise journalism. Or, at any rate, not to share it on air for viewers to be impressed with how low you can sink.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sinr35K4UJo

     

     

    Of course tabloid journalism exists and has a massive following. Let us not fool ourselves that the human race is only concerned with the philosophy of the Upanishads, Plato and Wittgenstein. Anyone who tells you that is a liar and not even a good one at that. The worst of human nature fascinates everyone. But speculation about why someone did what they did is not journalism. It’s drawing room conversation and water filer gossip. And it’s not good journalism, no matter how much it sells.

     

    However, thanks to the media we have found out more about the Mukerjeas, Boras, Khannas, Dases, Rais and their friends than we perhaps know about our own families. We have seen the lure of media fame entice friends, relatives, colleagues into sharing their tiny titbits of information and conjecture and for all we know, downright lies, about the Boras and Mukerjeas. Senior and not-so-senior journalists who worked with the Peter and Indrani Mukerjea have told us what they think of them and shared their experiences. We have also heard from every single person whom Sanjeev Khanna ever had a drink with at the CC&FC in Calcutta.

     

    I want to make it clear that there is no moral high ground here for any of us, especially the media which by its very nature trawls the garbage heaps of humankind. But there is a way of going about this which is not so downright foolish. Arnab Goswami’s nightly courts border on the hilarious, if only because they have become caricatures of themselves. NewsX has been rivalling Times Now with its judgmental hysterics. These so-called high society grande dames, with enough skeletons in their own closets to rattle a few medical college storerooms, sitting on judgment in TV studios is another farce. To me in fact it exposes journalism’s biggest downfall – to have insufficient background information on your sources or public faces. The psychiatrists and psychologists who are happy to come on TV to diagnose the accused, without ever having met them, is nothing but outright publicity-seeking. This includes former police officers, some of whom had terrible track records when in office. These high-powered members of the public showcase themselves as desperate publicity seekers – and not so different from those they seek to condemn.

     

    Newspapers meanwhile have moved on and the Sheena Bora case no longer dominates the front pages. My one beef here (if I am still allowed to use that word) is with the Times of India’s Dehradun edition which did not think the good people of North India needed anything but cursory information about the horrifying assassination of Kannada scholar and writer MM Kalburgi. That is criminal stereotyping of your readership, especially when the news of his death is all over news channels.

     

     

  • If the Ink Awards have to really grow and make an impact, it will need huge support, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Smudged Industry Awards!

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    The second edition of the Dainik Bhaskar Ink Awards was held in Mumbai on August 21. It is unique with awards given out in two categories – creative and media. Something that is important to retain and build on. Everyone congratulated each other and went home happy.

     

    I was party to conceptualising the Ink Awards and push the first edition before leaving Dainik Bhaskar. What I witnessed was dramatically different. An evolved version that may be was need of the hour. But on display was smudged ink of mediocrity. It definitely did no justice to the initial objective and final rendition.

     

    It was good to note that the spread and depth of entries across agencies and client had improved. A lot many brands and agencies joined the race, a good sign. A new well designed-beautiful trophy added to lustre of the award, an Exchang4media group initiative.

     

    The introduction of DB Ink Legend is a natural progression. Piyush Pandey Executive Chairman and National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather was an apt choice. His words echo in my head: “Someone has got to come out and say ‘I can do better’….  There is enough shit happening – let’s get down and do some good advertising”. That sums up my observation.

     

    One should not point fingers. Who is responsible is immaterial. What is important is the question; are we going to really take our learnings and push the final frontier? Will we make the third edition of the Ink Awards something that you dream of?

     

    My observations are not personal. It is what I heard the audience say. It is what seniors were snubbing about (no names). It is not about giving trophies before they were announced. It is not about a totally out-of-sync AV and MC. It is neither about mistakes by MCs and technical glitches and nor about the ill-fit of guest speakers and their ill-poised speeches. I do understand you have compulsions when the award is low key.  But if one is awarding even suboptimal output, it raises a pertinent question: what are the standards we are setting and what standards we want to breach?

     

    They are purely a classic example of under-delivery and non-alignment of processes. The awards left many questions. The answers are right in front of the organisers. If the Ink Awards have to really grow and make an impact, it will need huge support.

     

    Here are few observations and thoughts. Listed neither in order of  priority, nor in chronological sequence. They are something that the award owners and the organisers must debate and decide on their plan of action. Ink Awards are just a reference as they were the last one I attended.

     

    1. BRIEFING THE MC OR WHETTING THE SCRIPT.

    The misguided MC kept of referring to ‘(Print) Agency of the year award ‘ (Madison) as the biggest award of the night and thus downplaying ‘(Print) Client of the year’ (Glaxo Smith Kline). Unfortunately there was no ‘Creative (Print) agency of the year’.

     

    2. THE QUALITY OF ENTRIES AND WINNING ENTRIES.

    The ads that won Glaxo- client of the year stated the standard of the awards. I acknowledge the client’s acumen and understanding to enter it in the first place. I think organisers are aware of the good work done in print and plan should be made to chase agencies that do such work. I did not see even their Mosaic entrants entering these awards.

     

    3. MISSING THE GOOD WORK.

    The work from Times of India was the one that pulled the event up. Across its media properties, the work was substantial and of high quality. Even in this category there is good work from HT, Hindustan, Mid-day, Patrika, Malyalam Manorana, Hindu, Eenadu which was not entered.

     

    4. CONTACT PROGRAMME.

    Ink Awards need a roa show. It needs agency level connects. It needs to start the process much in advance and in a far more targeted way to include the agencies and clients known for great print work.

     

    Look at it, missing from the entries were the Abby winners, Mosaic Entrants, did not participate.

     

    5. TREATING MEDIA BRANDS SEPARATELY.

    At initial stages, it seemed we were in a Media House awards show. May be media brands that releases work in self-owned-media need to be treated differently. Otherwise the winner presentation must be paced in such a way that media winners are not cramped together.

     

    6. TOO MANY AWARDS.

    Are we not diluting segments by having awards for specific groups – like retail- real estate etc.? There has to be balance and must not completely be dictated by media business interest.

     

    7. PRINT CREATIVITY ELEMENTS.

    It may be better to look at the craft level and also award Best Typography, Best photography, Best Illustration etc. in addition to best art direction.

     

    8. THE AUDIENCE.

    Other than the front roundtable populated by sponsors and presenters, rest of the crowd was primarily awardwinners. At the end of the show, every one had a smile on their face. It is a good tactic that adds fun and joy in the event.

     

    But, if there are plan to make the Print Creative Media Awards get real big and a force to reckon with, one needs real audience and maybe a venue that does justice to the awards.

     

    9. CRAFT IN CATEGORY

    Seriously there were categories that could make to stand-up comedy show. Irrelevant and illogical in the second edition. Please educate me on something like Print by a dominant TV advertiser.
    Oh, the idea of National- Regional and local seems so tempting when the awards construct was developed. Now it is the weakest spot. It is tough to break Ink awards into Ink–North-East- West-South-centre to promote creativity and inclusion of the regional and local agencies and clients. May be the regional awards winners at Madras / Kolkata / Bangalore ad clubs (add an event in west – Ahmedabad and centre –Indore) be given direct entry to really do justice to regional and local work.

     

    10. CONNECTING WITH POTENTIAL ENTRANTS.

    It is evident from the entries that no direct efforts were made to connect with agencies and clients qualifying for local and regional tag. Result mediocrity of creative expression was paraded throughout the evening. Maybe this is something that needs to be reconsidered.

     

    11. # SHORT.

    If one was really wanting social media and in this case the tweets to work and flood then a hastag like #DainikBhaskarInkAwards that ate some 23 characters is not the best thing to do.

     

    12. DIGNITY OF PRESENTING AWARDS.

    More than two presenters even for business sense does not make sense. More so when neither the award giver nor the receivers have been briefed on the process and markings on the stage. It makes a circus of the awards.

     

    I sincerely hope that the organisers and owners of the Dainik Bhaskar Ink Award a property that is relevant and right in the slot do some soul searching and device ways and means (a plan that is monitored) to ensure that third edition is huge and with no glitches. I know I can just hope as an outsider.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala is Founder and Head Catalyst at Intradia. A Brand, Marketing and Management Advisor. He conducts specialised workshops in the area of IDEATION (Harvest and Liberate) and Innovation (InNoWait). His focus energy in enhancing client’s internal team’s potential and capabilities. In process decreasing their dependence on external resources. To contact email sanjeev@intradia.in  or tweet at s_kotnala visit www.intradia.in  www.sanjeevkotnala.com. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • The Sheena Bora murder case has exposed in no uncertain terms television's obsession with primetime discussions, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: What’s left to discuss on primetime news TV on the Sheena Bora murder case except psychobabble?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Sheena Bora murder case has exposed in no uncertain terms television’s obsession with primetime discussions. No matter what else is happening in the “nation that wants to know”, the human instinct is to focus on this one murder. And certainly, not just is it the sort of sleazy scandal that excites, there are also daily twists and turns to keep the issue alive.

     

    However, what is there to discuss? The police are still investigating the case. Confessions are not enough to convict anyone. The charge-sheet has yet to be filed. The legal process is long and complicated. And yet, everyone and his mother and brother are ready to sit in judgment. Yes, the case is fascinating. But any discussion, such as it is, is nothing more than a gossip amongst friends. Since Siddhartha Das declared himself as the father of Sheena Bora and Mikhail Bora, he has been the latest exhibit on TV, his handkerchief-covered face notwithstanding. Out of curiosity, I travelled to the Bengali news channels to see how they dealt with this new Calcutta connection to the case. I was not disappointed. They were far more aggressive in their line of questioning than the English news channels and Das was not allowed to make any excuses for his negligence of his children and his sudden desire to claim them. The advent of Das only meant we were spared an endless parade of all the people who had ever had a drink with murder suspect number three, Sanjeev Khanna, at one or the other club in Calcutta.

     

    The question however remained: what is there to discuss? The case is news but… The same moral questions, the same outrage or amazement or disgust that a mother could murder a child (although it is still an accusation so far), the same psycho-babble about modern times and social climbing, the same pat responses about why people behave the way they do. In fact, you might as well have been watching various combinations of Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer instead of news channels.

     

    Comments in newspapers have been more interesting than the sameness of these nightly discussions and I must confess that I myself have succumbed to writing about it. Without I hope any psycho-babble. Of course, some channels have tried to move away from this case. The continuing agitation of our retired armed forces personnel for the implementation of the One Rank One Pension promise, the assassination of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi, the 1965 war with Pakistan, the renaming of Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi, the fiddling with the Nehru museum so it moves beyond Nehru, Central ministers making presentations to the RSS, trouble in Manipur… some of these have been discussed, some have been reported.

     

    But having ventured so far, perhaps it is also time to question why news channels have not delved into the jungle of questioning the achievements of this government quite the way newspapers have. Columnist after columnist, many of whom applauded Narendra Modi’s coronation as prime minister, appear to have changed their tune or made some adjustments along the way. Some like Pratap Bhanu Mehta have asked relevant, tough questions. Other like Sadanand Dhume wonder what’s happening. Tavleen Singh and Meghnad Desai continue to offer advice although no one seems to be listening to them…

     

    Journalists who were once happy to be openly associated with the BJP are now shying away and trying for neutrality. Although in the popular discourse, all journalists are actually paid agents of the Congress party or Motilal Nehru’s grandfather, the reality, as everyone within the fraternity knows, is a bit different. Even the internet trolls, who reacted viciously to any slight adverse mention of Narendra Modi and the BJP appear to have lost their sting, as Shivam Vij analysed in a comment for newslaundry.com: http://www.newslaundry.com/2015/09/01/why-modi-bhakts-on-twitter-have-lost-their-sting/

     

    The rest of the media business seems to be business as usual: Managements coming down hard on newsrooms and editors for mentioning industrialists and their wives without approval and consent and more start-ups trying to grab the internet space.

     

  • TVF Pitchers manages to bring an authenticity of portrayal, in turn getting the appreciation of a fairly large corporate population of India, across industries, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Split Personalities: TVF Pitchers & Rural Ratings

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Two strikingly contrasting events highlighted the week that was. On Sunday, the season finale episode of TVF Pitchers went online. During the week that followed, BARC India conducted roadshows to share more information on rural ratings. I have written about both these topics here over the last few weeks, but their proximity in time is fascinating, even though it is purely coincidental.

     

    TVF Pitchers achieved a major milestone by featuring on the IMDB Top 250 TV shows charts, where it is currently ranked no. 38, ahead of Friends, Dexter, House Of Cards, and the likes. The show has also received considerable, some would say disproportionate, attention from online media. One such article (by Quartz India) is headlined “How an Internet show on startups delivered a stinging blow to Indian TV”.

     

    TVF Pitchers has watershed qualities to it, a lot more than its predecessor Permanent Roommates. The latter was a romcom, and while it differed from our regular television fare, it was not entirely unfamiliar, especially if you have seen some of the many Bollywood romcoms over the last decade.

     

    But TVF Pitchers enters an area Indian entertainment has never been able to capture authentically – the corporate world. Barring an odd Rocket Singh, most films that have dabbled in this world have caricaturised it, none less than one that was called “Corporate” itself (in which a management trainee gets a cabin to herself, of a size that most CEOs would be envious of). In our TV serials, we hardly see offices anyway, and work is just an excuse to get the men out of the house.

     

    TVF Pitchers manages to bring an authenticity of portrayal, in turn getting the appreciation of a fairly large corporate population of India, across industries. It is corporate but not elitist. It also does not have the shackles of censorship (or self-censorship) around it. It is just intelligent fun.

     

    At about 2 million views per episode, the numbers speak for themselves. But the perspective of mass vs. niche should not be lost here. 2 million is less than 10% of the viewership of an episode of a typical hit Hindi TV show. And these are shows that have hundreds (often thousands) of episodes. We are talking of different degrees altogether.

     

    But the 10% mark may just be the first step in a journey that the ‘parallel TV movement’ may have to make over the next five years. I say “TV” because that’s really what it will compete against. We would need more companies like TVFs and more shows in more genres to grow the market. There are a few others that already exist, but they lack the belief and confidence that shines through TVF Pitchers.

     

    Our mainstream television couldn’t possibly care less about these developments. The rural ratings are round the corner, and the gap between the two worlds is bound to widen. But if the 10% number grows to even 20% over the next year or two, more advertisers, especially those targeting the bigger cities, will begin to evaluate their options. It’s “our kind of TV” after all.

     

    But lest we should get carried away, every online show will not be a TVF Pitchers. And therein lies the real problem, the one of scalability.

     

    Let’s see what the future has in store. Besides, of course, Permanent Roommates Season 2.

     

  • It's reached a stage with TV news where channels are overjoyed that they managed to type out a sentence of "breaking news" two seconds before they others. Now if only they were as happy when they manage to do that without spelling or grammatical errors, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: You have to commend Times Now on their audacity, pretending they have cracked the Sheena Bora murder case

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I have criticised The Week That Wasn’t, the news parody show headlined by Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijaykar, several times in these columns. My main grouses were that their jokes were getting tired and they seemed to be swinging to the right – cutting back that is on criticism of Narendra Modi as both prime ministerial hopeful and now prime minister.
    But I have to concede that their take-off on Arnab Goswami’s primetime debates is superb. Last week, we dealt of course with the Sheena Bora murder case with Broacha as Goswami yelling at his own panellists, waving papers and solving the case. My best bit however was the attention to detail: the Times Now “Burning Question” and the computer-generated flames that run across the screen in case viewers are too stupid to understand what “Burning Question” means. The Week That Wasn’t was spot on here. And yes, they did make a little gentle fun of the prime minister too…

     

    **

     

    While on Times Now, you have to commend their audacity. On and on they go, pretending that they are the chief investigators in the Sheena Bora murder case. More like the chief instigators. On Tuesday morning, the screen scrolls proudly declared that Times Now was “the only channel to confront key players”. Really? Is that their job? If they are inside the investigation rooms, then they might as well broadcast that live as well. Wouldn’t we like to see Arnab Goswami competing with Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria on who can ask the best questions? Why let down your loyal viewership like this? The Nation Wants to Know!

     

    **

     

    The main competition to Times Now in the give-me-the-credit-for-everything game is India Today television where its chief anchors almost behaved as if they solved the One Rank One Pension standoff all by themselves. So dear boys, if you were actually at the negotiating table with the retired armed forces personnel and the government, why so coy? Come out and admit it and take all the credit. If you weren’t there, stop pretending that you are responsible, with your breaking news claims via Twitter.

     

    It’s reached a stage with TV news where channels are overjoyed that they managed to type out a sentence of “breaking news” two seconds before they others. Now if only they were as happy when they manage to do that without spelling or grammatical errors…

     

    **

     

    I always wonder though how the two cheerleaders for the government on India Today TV deal with their So Sorry cartoon series which continues to make biting fun of all politicians, the esteemed members of the government included. Must be so hard to swallow…

     

    **

     

    Delhi journalism circles are all abuzz with the news that the senior journalist behind the anonymous Twitter handle @LutyensInsider will soon be revealed. The handle was in trouble after journalist Swati Chaturvedi not only reported it for vicious, personal abuse but also filed a police case. The Delhi police commissioner confirmed on Monday that the person had been identified and “strictest action” would soon be taken.

     

    Chaturvedi was very brave because usually women just ignore troll attacks. But she felt this one went too far, accusing her of stalking a politician for sex. Not unexpectedly, the main support that @LutyensInsider got was from a rightwing blogger.

     

    Chaturvedi is wisely not taking the name and shame route but we will soon know who it is, as soon as the police act.

     

    **

     

    The big news of the last week was that The Hindu is launching a Mumbai edition at last. And the editor of this new paper will be a good friend and current editor of Mid-Day, Sachin Kalbag. Congratulations to both!

    http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/09/04/the-hindu-mumbai_n_8086948.html?1441349746

     

  • All sessions were rich in content and context, and were tailored to the Indian experience and relevance, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Mini-AdAsia, only much better!

    By Sanjeev Kotnala   The International Advertising Association India Chapter’s Silver Jubilee Summit ended at Kochi with a bang. It was almost like a mini-AdAsia, but with much better content. All sessions were rich in content and context. They referred often to global examples, but the talks were tailored to the Indian experience and relevance.   The tempo was set on the inaugural day by a much-appreciated session by Amitabh Kant, on Branding India. The format — banking on keynote speakers to deliver precise and focussed content, rather than have a panel discussion — was a huge success. A 50:50 mix of Indian and foreign speakers delivered engaging messages on ‘What’s coming next’, which was the theme of the summit.   The presentations that brought the house to attention were ‘Make your own change- designing the future you want’ by Cindy Gallop, founder of MakeLoveNotPorn; ‘Technology as an Aggregator’, by Parminder Singh, MD Twitter (SE Asia/India/MENA); ‘How programmatic works’ by Michel de Rjik, CEO Xasis Asia pacific and ‘Meet the Champion Disruptor’, a conversation with Ritesh Agarwal, Founder of OYO Rooms.   One must make special mention of Ralph Simon, Chairman and CEO, Mobilium Global Group who incorporated local nuances and current Indian topics (even delivered in Hindi) while speaking on ‘What’s coming next to brands and products through Mobile’.   In India, three things work the best: Cinema, cricket and politics/religion. The summit had elements of all three with sessions by Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev.   Not to forget the mega-evening at Bolgatty Palace by Mathrabhumi. It was a provided a rich experience of Kerala culture, street cuisine and hospitality. Kudos to the IAA team for arranging lovely hotel packages and a reasonable delegation fee structure that ensured a lot of regular people – including students from Kerala — could attend. It was a pleasant surprise to find most of the sessions sticking to the time limit.   If I rank the summit a nine out of 10, rather than give it full marks, there are three reasons for it. First, because of the lack of effective Wifi access. Second, for cutting short many talks on Day 3 only to allow Arnab Goswami a lengthy session on ‘Why I chose to disrupt TV News’, which was already covered at Goafest. And third, for not inviting me to the Chill Room! 🙂   Sanjeev Kotnala is a senior media and marketing/brand strategy consultant. This article first appeared in dna of brands dated September 7, 2015

  • While I don't have any issues with the current set of officebearers, my humble proposition is to ensure some succession plan for the legacy to bear fruits, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Think we need ‘Young Talent’ quota in industry associations

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    ‘Quota’ is in the air and you can shout out the word loudly without being in a minority. It is time that we take this opportunity for pushing something selfless in our agenda.

     

    Before you get me wrong, here is the disclaimer. My focus is to appreciate the relentless selfless industry service by a set of people in advertising and marketing industry bodies. These men and women of exceptional calibre have given their best years to it. They have magically been able to find time to do all this pro bono. They have sacrificed their family and at times professional life at the altar of the responsibilities they hold. They have time and again leveraged their personal network to add meaning to industry events. My head bows in deep respect. I sincerely appreciate their effort.

     

    My humble proposition is to ensure some succession plan for the legacy to bear fruits. It’s vital to plan to groom and later hand over the baton to the next generation.  Hopefully, it will truly reflect the industry’s growing youth composition. In the process we may get to invite new thoughts, ideas and energies and may redesign the whole agenda. I know this is a wishful thinking.

     

    No, I do not have any issue with the current set of officebearers. In fact in last three years we have seen a lot more action and inclusiveness in the processes, events and working at all the main industry bodies. Three cheers to that! Yet, I don’t know why but it always seemed like a game of musical chairs is being played.

     

    I am sure it is not a reflection of dearth of talent and potential leaders in the industry. There always are people with enough suicidal streaks to love to take on position that only brings in criticism. It takes a lot more of you than it can ever give you back.

     

    Positions like chairman, president, treasurer and secretary need experience and proven performance. They magically remain uncontested. But even at the cost of reframing and expanding the base, industry bodies may look at a quota for Under-30 and 30-40 years of age for executive members. We may consider even years of relevant experience as qualifier. Which could works better. In fact the voyeuristic b*****d in me is panting to see elections fought for these positions.

     

    The young leaders will get groomed and battle-scarred. They will learn by taking small opportunities and challenges providing for smooth change of guard at a later date.  There are not many young leaders who are interested in this call for selfless dedicated work. May be quotas will enthuse them to join in. Many after experiencing the brickbats and ‘no thanks’ that comes with that will drop out.  The ones who stand by this test by fire shall be the ones who will help take the industry bodies further.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala is Founder and Head Catalyst at Intradia. A brand, marketing and management advisor, he conducts specialised workshops in the area of IDEATION (Harvest and Liberate) and Innovation (InNoWait). His focus energy in enhancing client’s internal team’s potential and capabilities and in the process, decreasing their dependence on external resources. To contact email sanjeev@intradia.in  or tweet at s_kotnala visit www.intradia.in  www.sanjeevkotnala.com. The views expressed here are his own.

     

     

     

  • Colors' media response on taking the top spot was restrained, in line with the BARC India advisory on what constitutes responsible use of data. However, the same cannot be said about many other channels, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Silly Point: Taking Trade Communication To Consumers

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    It’s been a week of very little action on-air, but there haven’t been too many dull moments behind the scenes in the television business. As the atmosphere around the release of the first rural ratings three weeks from now builds up, so does the battle for top honours in the Hindi GEC category.

     

    Last week, Colors toppled Star Plus by a single GRP (in Hindi-speaking markets), and this week Star Plus took back the top spot, but with an even smaller gap than last week. We may just be seeing the beginning of a very exciting battle for leadership.

     

    Colors’ media response on taking the top spot last week was restrained, and we did not see any press announcements or electronic mailers. It’s also in line with the BARC India advisory on what constitutes responsible use of data in trade communication.

     

    However, the same cannot be said about many other channels. In a silly trend, we are seeing more and more channels promote their “leadership position” on-air, on their own platform itself. Then, there are ads in mainstream print, not just the pink papers, on a certain channel beating others in its genre. The target group, time bands and the period of reporting are selected to suit the output. Even after that, some of these ads promote “leadership” where the gap is less than 5%. And these are genres where total viewership is so low that even a 20% gap won’t constitute real leadership.

     

    This flow of ratings information in the mainstream media is something we could have done without. The usage of the term “TRP” by consumers has gone up significantly over the last two years. When “iski TRP sabse achhi hai” becomes the reason to like a show or a channel, you know there’s a problem.

     

    The problem is not very different from what happens in Bollywood. Box-office figures are central to a lot of communication around films. Consumers speak about the 100-cr club with a lot of false confidence, emanating from truckloads of media information but no perspective on how to read it.

     

    However, there’s a reason why the TV problem is worse. In films, at least the numbers being discussed have a physical meaning. They are in Indian Rupees after all. In TV, no one outside the media industry (and some would say, many within it too) knows how to read the ratings data. It’s just a notion, and hence, it is easy to be misdirected by what one sees and reads.

     

    Once in a while, you see a genuine e-mailer based on ratings data that makes you go: “Whoa, that’s some achievement”. But in the clutter of many claims and counter-claims, they just become one of the many things being said.

     

    But while one can debate the idea of good trade communication vs. poor trade communication, there cannot be much debate against the merits of sparing the end consumer of information on TV ratings.

     

    They, the end consumers, are the ratings themselves. If they start watching something because it rates well, we can be caught in an infinite loop of silliness.

     

  • Since the beginning of the year the journalists of Khabar Lahariya have consistently and frighteningly been harassed on their mobile phones by a man who calls himself "Nishu". Neither the police nor the phone company, Vodafone, have been able to help. The reactions of the police are reprehensible. The horror is not just about journalists not being able to work. It is also about how you can be harassed to such an extent that you cannot work

    Ranjona Banerji: Journos of Khabar Lahariya need our support. Despicable harassment must stop

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    This is a horrifying story from the editor of Khabar Lahariya, an independent journalism effort from Uttar Pradesh, which has done commendable work. The reporters in Khabar Lahariya are all women. Since the beginning of the year they have consistently and frighteningly been harassed on their mobile phones by a man who calls himself “Nishu”. Neither the police nor the phone company, Vodafone, have been able to help. As the editor’s article shows, pasted below, the reactions of the police are reprehensible. The horror is not just about journalists not being able to work. It is also about how you can be harassed to such an extent that you cannot work.

     

    As journalists, this is one case where we need to put our collective heads together and pull out all the stops to help Khabar Lahariya. Sexual harassment is one part of this story but more than that, it is an effort to push you into utter helplessness. It must not be allowed to succeed.
    http://theladiesfinger.com/the-policeman-said-why-dont-you-tell-me-what-gaalis-he-whispers-in-your-ear/

    **

    Both these clips caused a lot of laughter on social media, but… to have panellists on televised debates slapping each other? You might argue that this was inevitable. News channels push for “debates” on controversial subjects and allow (encourage?) participants to get as vicious as possible with each other. Usually though this animosity is verbal.

     

    On a discussion on Radhe Maa, a Mumbai-based “guru” who has got into a little trouble for dowry collection and her predilection for dancing to Bollywood songs in miniskirts, two contestants – also “holy” types – decided that hitting each other was the only way out. IBN7, the channel on which this happened, has this stern, terse comment on its website, IBNLive: “We didn’t expect this kind of behaviour from our guests and we strictly condemn this.”
    One is sure they didn’t but you have to wonder about the direction which these “debates” are going in general.
    http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/discussion-on-radhe-maa-turns-violent-during-live-discussion-on-ibn7-1095504.html

     

    The second such incident was on a discussion on India News when an Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson was slapped by a former Aam Aadmi Party member. The anchor tried to be very strict and headmistress-ish but the guests were beyond taking a ticking off seriously. Violence went very quickly from verbal to physical.

     

    We go on and on about the greatness of Indian culture but clearly we have very different notions of what culture means. Where does hitting people during a televised debate fit in? I have only seen this before on the Jerry Springer type of show where it is actively encouraged of course. Perhaps news channels need to put some of their studio guests in cages so that they do not attack each other?

     

    **

    Why do we still have an Information and Broadcasting ministry? Is the Government of India so weak that it needs a whole ministry to protect it from the media exercising its rights? Surely trolls on social media are enough?

     

    But jokes aside, they’re all the same. The UPA went after cartoonists and people who criticised Sonia Gandhi. And the current government has been using show-cause notices to new channel either for someone to prove their loyalty or because someone genuinely believes that free speech is a hindrance.

     

    GSTV, run by the mammoth Gujarat newspaper Gujarat Samachar, has received a show-cause notice from the I&B ministry for a programme it carried on Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in which the motive behind an unnamed politician’s “Clean India” or Swachh Bharat initiative was questioned. The charge sounds ludicrous almost, but here we are. Of course, Gujarat Samachar has an intriguing relationship with the powers-that-be and this could be an old grouse coming to the fore.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/media/for-swipe-at-swachh-bharat-leader-gujarati-channel-gstv-gets-the-broomstick/articleshow/48963465.cms