MxMIndia

Category: COLUMNS

  • Marketing isn't as easy as it may seem to the naked eye. Neither is brand-building. It takes incisive analysis of behavioural psychology to be a sound marketing professional in today’s world, writes Jaisurya Das

    Jaisurya Das | Start-ups: Cognitive understanding is the future!

    By Jaisurya Das

     

    The Indian start-up has good tidings ahead..What with the three-year IT holiday, it’s pretty much a breeze now. Kudos to the PM for this bold step that finally recognises the need to give a baby a fair chance to survive in this viciously competitive world.

     

    To be honest, I regret the fact that I set up my consulting firm as early as 2003. This would have been the right time as the sops and tax holidays would have made a world of difference.

     

    These initiatives will give new entrants an opportunity to build a corpus over these 36 months and re-invest the same to scale up. This is exactly what is needed. Spot on!

     

    Quite recently, I met up with a few promoters of start-ups and spent time discussing the challenges of the business.

     

    I found most of them to be technology professionals who were deeply concerned about the look-and-feel of their product. In this case, they were all start-ups with apps in the offing.

     

    One or two were outstanding ideas, and the others were all ideas that one of the constituent partners had. Some researched, some with nothing save the idea that they believed in.

     

    Amazing algorithms, and highly friendly UI means the world today for most of these young entrepreneurs. Rightly so since it will enable a smooth experience for the users but how are they going to build an audience? What will be the average customer acquisition cost?

     

    And how would you retain them, and at what cost?

     

    Have you given thought to how you will build a sustainable audience I asked.  I see little prep having been done in this area. Much is about a dream, an idea, an innovation but a great idea really means nothing unless you have a sustained audience to accept, and believe in it..

     

    This is probably why you need effective marketing and brand-building. Deeper understanding of audience behaviour is critical. It’s pretty much akin to the solar system ; You can’t work in the penumbra of the mind. This takes a holistic ownership of the umbra of the brain.

     

    Cognitive understanding is the future. There is no point having future ready technology if you don’t understand what the future audience is going to be like. That would be much like admiring the frills and missing the skirt!

     

    Stick to your core competence and deliver a great product. Let the rest be taken care of by others, who have their onions right, when it’s about making your potential customer tick.

     

    Marketing isn’t as easy as it may seem to the naked eye. Neither is brand-building. It takes incisive analysis of behavioural psychology to be a sound marketing professional in today’s world.

     

    So, while the technology is perfected, it’s critical that this is backed with the right kind of direction in marketing coupled with exclusive focus on a crystal clear brand road-map.  You ought to know where you’re headed after all!

     

    While forecasting in business may have been done to death, prediction of audience ‘needs and wants’ may still be relevant. Yes, the metrics will change and it will no longer by about demographics and psychographics; The only scale of measurement would be the complexity of each individual’s / cluster’s neural networks and the way neurons respond to different stimuli.

     

    Social media, for instance, is a great example of how people of similar age cohorts, respond differently to stimuli be it in the form of images, posts or just an incident. We know little, despite being privy to so much of life through timelines and the like.

     

    The generations of tomorrow will practically store nothing, and will use only short-term memory recall as a method to move on in life. Their RAM will work at breakneck speed, processing rapidly all that is thrown at them. They will however only retain a minuscule portion if at all, and that too only if it is relevant to their immediate life.

     

    The rest will be insignificant.

     

    The challenge will be to package marketing messages into small nano capsules that can travel fast, process real quick and yet be relevant in the context of the time.

     

    Deciphering this maze requires a completely different approach and process. This is where the magic of neuromarketing will step in. Start-ups and the like will have an advantage since they possess an open mind and are willing to take the chance of adopting measures that do not necessarily conform to existing paradigms.

     

    The older brick and mortar firms most often believe that their existing think tank is all-pervading and has the depth to adapt to any change in the audience. Strong think tanks’s am sure, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are future ready.

     

    The future is about the human brain. Accept it.

     

    Jaisurya Das, maverick and marketing evangelist, says he eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. The views expressed in this column are his now. Jaisurya Das is also Contributing Editor and writes an online counselling feature on MxM every Thursday

     

  • The three decent years of advertising 10+ growth makes me jittery, writes Sanjeev Kotnala. Will the good feeling sweeping us last till the real festivals, he asks

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Missing ‘Tip’ Of A Tipping Point

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    The annual Pitch Madison Advertising Report is out and quite a few faces in media are smiling. It is a sunny forecast. Words people were waiting to hear. The euphoria is evident. The trust exists in the forecast. Like earlier PMARs, the industry is sure 2016 report will continue to accurate and directional.

     

    Then what could be troubling me?

    I try to look into 2017 and it does not give me a good feeling. The three decent years of advertising 10+ growth makes me jittery. Will the good feeling sweeping us during the T20 World cup, IPL, five state elections and Olympics last till the real festivals? I wish I had the answers. I only can hope that the brands will treat  2016-17-18 as a potentially single unit and plan with an eye on the future.

     

    Do I have data to support it? NO.

    Is the stage set for self-correction? May be. 

    Still in the absence of the above, I carry on.
    I have been a huge fan of logical Intuitive Intelligence.

     

    I do not like the feeling surrounding the industry.  The smell is not too good. We have been debating fake viewership frauds in case of digital ads. The other media frauds are not even spoken about. Programmatic advertising is projected as efficiency enhancer. Digital continues to fail in accessibility, availability and affordability parameters. In spite of smartphones surge, most mobiles in country remain voice only or data only. People are tired of the Gs. The 4G experience is no different. The digital wave has become a lie. And print has been declared dead so often that now we can have a healthy panel discussion to explain its continued growth. Some institutes may even run a programme ‘Survival Media Guide by Print’.

     

    PMAR release was like a hormonal shot. TV rejoiced. Print took a deep breath of relief. Radio, OOH and Cinema clapped happily. Digital was confused; not knowing where was it going wrong. The buzz would make one believe that a Digital Media tsunami was right there.

     

    Digital – the fastest growing media is still seeking the tipping point. The Media Marketers fraternity remains frightened of the mirage of a tipping point.

     

    It’s time for media agencies and clients to stop being unidirectional media obsessed.  Digital or otherwise. Their focus need to be efficiencies/ effectiveness and not traders of a particular media. It will do industry a lot good if it also devoted fraction of its time in re-learning and experimenting with traditional media.

     

    Let’s look around.

    TV is going the regional way. Fragmentation seems to be working for it. Soon expect regional channels (of large brands) to start creating revenue music.  TV has been fiercely proactive and adaptive to the demands of third and fourth screen.  It has made better investment in this area. The screen+ or multiple screen measurement of viewership will further strengthen TV position.

     

    GECs seem to be banking on fairy tales- mythology- history or even myths. News TV had been creating sensationalism and anchor brands. The infrastructure stretch is visible in under-productive story follow-up and lack of fresh visuals or insights. Channels can be expected to continue the self-sabotaging process of follow-the-leader for content direction. So nothing remains fresh in the TV shop. They all look and feel the same. This will push for more dosage of Reality TV. More formats and programmes in reality TV will be seen.

     

    Do expect short movies especially made for TV; mini-serials with subtly integrated brand messaging and channel teams creating advertiser brand-centric programmes.

     

    Print is making good with a Net Gain in copies and readers. Its problem has been its dependence on volume growth with decreasing yield. Something brands are finding tough to fight.

     

    Yet, availability of free content, speed of information on social media and audio-visual led TV has failed to dampen the power of editorial engagement through morning newspaper. The question: till when will this continue? It is holding on. The country’s lack of real pace of infrastructural and digital growth brings smile to publishers. It is their ticket business. I am not betting but will not be surprised at another attempt at editorial led weekend paper surviving on cover price is made by one of the leading brands.

     

    Magazines are racing each other to the death bed. Niche magazines with content exclusivity and a digital overlap are the new dudes in town. They are expected to keep engaging their limited audience on higher cover/ subscription price.

     

    Radio is waiting for the real impact of the auctions. There are bound to be course corrections. New content strategies are being drawn and will be tested soon. The gap between auction and implementation is giving brands time to get ready. Fortunately, we are still far away from highly cluttered airwaves.

     

    OOH is waiting for the clients to embrace the digital technology. Cinema is looking at consolidation across screens and markets. Slowly expect a hardening of cinema rates and possibility of enhanced interactivity with centralised discussions and control with chain of screens.

     

    Now what

    Disruptive technology led changes will be the norms. As will be experimentation. There will be a graveyard full with failed and vanquished brands. The investment climate will taper off in some time. The biggies (GEC) of e-commerce like Flipkart, Amazon, snapdeal etc. will have to re-evaluate their media strategies. They will finally move to Mobile and Digital. Do not expect that to happen in next 18 months. The newer apps and services will experiment with localised impact where radio and regional TV will benefit. Many apps and services will continue to die.

     

    The education category will keep dwindling. Hospitality and hospital business will keep increasing. FMCG will continue to be the saviour and will find need to balance their topical-tactical with brand investments. Industry will pray for a Nirma, Ghadi or Flipkart to happen in some category. And the prayers will be answered. I&B ministry will remain cordial with the advertising bodies but will be pressurised to show some stronger reaction to advertised false promises. Media measurement will remain where they are. Print will suffer because of its non-evolving measurement, Radio and OOH will remain unmeasured. Digital will continue to be the most measured and least believed measurement.

     

    Technology may negatively impact employment. Areas where ‘man-in-the-loop’ is not a necessity will be impacted the most. This will build insecurity. And then the euphoric sentiments will die an accelerated death. The more there is a hint of it, the faster the media will fuel the fire. Leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

     

    Media agencies must also be careful in their spending. They need to cover for advertisers that can go kaput in quick time. All large agencies have financial guidelines but they have never proved to be enough.

     

    It may be the right time.

    Take a deep breath and dive deep into implications.
    Do not miss the ‘TIP’ in absence of ‘Tipping point’

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala with 28 years of corporate experience is the Founder of Intradia World. A Brand, Marketing & Management Advisor, he focuses on IDEATION (Harvest and Liberate) and INNOVATION (InNoWait) process and workshops. He is also a certified Life & ‘Mid life transition’ coach.Email sanjeev@intradia.in tweet @s_kotnala web: www.intradia.in  www.sanjeevkotnala.com. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • This has been the best season for award shows on television, both in terms of quality of content and ratings, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Televised Events: The Best Season Ever

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Indian award shows have earned themselves a lot of infamy over the last decade or so. With the rise in social media debates over years, the silliness of the process (or indeed the lack of it) behind selection of winners in various award shows has been criticized extensively. Many stars have also been candid enough in their interviews to admit that they have been offered awards in exchange of a guaranteed event appearance or a discounted fee for a performance.

     

    Right from the selection of categories to the choice of winners, it has been one big mess, across all award shows, without exception. I wrote on this topic in this column back in 2013, and I don’t have to edit a word in that piece to make it 2016-compatible. Some things will never change.

     

    But what has changed is the approach towards the televised events the award shows potentially create. This has been the best season for award shows on television, both in terms of quality of content and ratings. Big Star Entertainment Awards, Colors Stardust Awards, Star Screen Awards and Filmfare Awards have all met with varied levels of success, and have been a lot more engaging in terms of their content than they have been over the years.

     

    Here are a few reasons why televised events (not the ‘awards’ part of them) are flourishing, and will continue to do so:

    1 The focus of these events has shifted from awards to entertainment, keeping the television audience in mind. The TV audience can’t care less about who won the Best Music or the Best Supporting Actor. Most of them don’t visit theatres or follow Bollywood anyway. They just want to be entertained, via comedy and dance performances. This has been understood better than ever before.The fact that the winners are announced in the media days before the televised event is aired further brings weight to the performances.

     

    2. Younger Bollywood stars are a lot more uninhibited about what they can perform or say on the stage, and are willing to go that extra mile, well knowing that these events build their equity, by exposing them to the masses via television. Ranveer Singh has been in top form this year, killing it at every show he has been a part of.

     

    3. Top shows (except Naagin) have a rating of 3-4% today, vis-à-vis 5-7% a few years ago. Award shows have been outperforming running fiction and non-fiction content by rating in the 3-6% range.

     

    4. The clutter of sameness on GECs has been bothering viewers for a while now, and televised award shows are emerging as effective clutter breakers.

     

    5. By making Filmfare a ticketed event this year, not only did the magazine manage to get an additional source of revenue, it also made the televised event look a lot more purposeful. Some other award shows may not have the equity to go ticketed, but it’s a new dimension in the mix nevertheless.

     

    As we get closer to the Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb 28 (Monday early morning IST), it is safe to say that the “awards” part of the award shows is nowhere close to that level of aspiration (for the talent) or credibility (for the audience). But the entertainment part of the televised events is finding viewer traction. A lot of traction.

     

  • "The battle that we are fighting now though is on two fronts. One is the affiliates, supporters and members of the BJP and its larger family. And the second is members of the media themselves. It is customary, or has been, for journalists to stand together when they are attacked. But watching some TV news channels or reading the tweets of some journalists, you wonder where this profession is heading," writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Standing with journalists in this hour of need should be a must, not an option

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The intimidation of journalists is not new and it is not unprecedented. And yet it is intriguing that this is reason that some of us come up with when there are new attacks on our community. The physical attacks on reporters by lawyers outside the Patiala House Court on two days this week cannot and must not be condoned.

     

    The Mumbai Press Club held a protest meeting outside its gates on Wednesday and I was proud to be part of this. At a discussion afterwards, some of us tried to analyse what has been happening and how we should respond. Many senior journalists like Darryl D’Monte and Sidharth Bhatia were reminded of the run-up to the Emergency and the eventual clampdown on the media by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975. Nikhil Wagle reminded everybody that it is not just BJP or RSS governments which have attacked journalists – just about every political party has. Gurbir Singh spoke about the murder of Jagendra Singh for exposing the criminality of a Samajwadi Party politician. Ayaz Memon reiterated that we have to fight on, against all odds.

     

    The battle that we are fighting now though is on two fronts. One is the affiliates, supporters and members of the BJP and its larger family. And the second is members of the media themselves. It is customary, or has been, for journalists to stand together when they are attacked. But watching some TV news channels like Times Now or reading the tweets of some journalists, you wonder where this profession is heading. Regardless of which political party you feel you support or like or prefer, what does it say when you choose that affiliation over your junior staff and fellow journalists being attacked for doing their job?
    Does the newsroom of Times Now, for instance, hold together or how does it cope when its editor-in-chief is bombastically yelling for some bizarre notion of nationalism every night when this is how its reporters are treated by supporters of the government?
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Wheres-the-SC-now-lawyers-taunted-me/articleshow/51032085.cms

     

    Meenakshi Bhanja of Times Now, in this piece carried in The Times of India and others from the stable, writes about how 40 lawyers surrounded her: “One lawyer asked, “Kaun ho tum?” I said I was a Times Now correspondent. I showed them my SC pass. Other lawyers in the crowd snatched my SC pass and tore it up and started taunting me, “Ab le aao SC ko apne saath. Kahaan gaya SC iss waqt?””

     

    At the very least, one would have expected a bombastic anchor to lambast those lawyers after that?

     

    But no, we were just murdering democracy with one more yelling match on who was more nationalistic and how students were the scourge of society.

     

    Maybe George Bush was right: if you are not with us, you are against us?

     

    **

     

    Meanwhile, there is evidence that the videos that have been doing the rounds of JNU students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar being seditious were in fact doctored. One would expect our patriotic news channels to issue some sort of apology but expectations, as Hindu philosophy tells us, are bound to bring us distress.

     

    But here are a couple of tweets to make your life happy.

     

    This is Swapan Dasgupta, who openly bats for the BJP who shows some grace at least, even if a “but…”:

    “I checked with responsible people. There is a part of video clip I retweeted that may be dodgy. I erred & say so openly. Larger q’s remain.”

     

    And this is former colleague Abhijit Majumder, editor of Mail Today, about whom I am speechless:

    A fake video doesn’t change the fact that Kanhaiya organised event with break-India posters, slogans, intention. So, #IStandWithNation

     

    The nation however is larger than petty patriotism and hopefully always will be.

     

    **

     

    And to a miserable end, this is the sad story of Malini Subramaniam, hounded by the Chhatisgarh government and police for reporting for Scroll.in
    http://scroll.in/article/803821/how-the-chhattisgarh-police-succeeded-in-hounding-out-those-who-questioned-it

     

    **

     

    If you don’t understand that there’s a battle, perhaps you really should look at PR as a career option. At least that way you will be honest about what you do.

     

  • Perhaps journalism in India has now reached one more crossroads. There are some of us who agree with Ravish Kumar but we have reached a terrible depth. We have to reclaim the higher space. There are others undoubtedly, who will always kowtow to those who hold the purse-strings and who will bend towards whichever political party is in power. These have always existed but they were once the minority. Now one fears, they are the rulers, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: We need to save journalism from ourselves, as Ravish Kumar of NDTV India has pointed out

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Much as the nation has been rocked by the events of the past two weeks, so has the media. We have seen a breakdown of law and order in the national capital, a student arrested for sedition, a university under siege for expressing itself, a terrorist attack in Kashmir, a state held to ransom by rampaging citizens, journalists attacked, fake tweets being upheld by the government and videos allegedly being doctored and shown without any attempt at verification by a hysterical media.

     

    Phew. Too much to take? It is not going to get any easier, judging by the way we are going.
    Journalists in India took out marches at various cities to protest against the way their colleagues were abused and beaten up by lawyers at Patiala House Court even as the police watched. For this, they were mocked by very senior columnists like Tavleen Singh who said she had not seen journalists marching for some 30 years. In fact, that is untrue. In Mumbai at least, journalists have protested in many forms, including marches, when their colleagues have been attacked by political parties.

     

    I was at the march in Mumbai, as I pointed out in my last column, and every senior journalist there was aghast at the way that some news channels were covering the “crisis” at Jawaharlal Nehru University. I would wager that most of them know more about journalism and the way it should be practised than all our TV anchors put together.

     

    Times Now and Zee News were seen as the main culprits in this game of “my nationalism is better than yours” because both had shown videos of JNU student Kanhaiya Kumar shouting anti-national slogans without authenticating them. The videos have turned out to be doctored. Times Now’s editor in chief Arnab Goswami denied that he had shown the videos when called on it by Sidharth Varadarajan, one of the editors of thewire.in, and ran demands onscreen for an apology. However when confronted with evidence that he had shown the videos on air, Goswami capitulated. So much for him “saving the nation” every night. You might argue that journalism needs to be saved from him.

     

    A journalist with Zee News, Vishwa Deepak, quit the channel because he claimed he could not live with the fact that his channel had shown the doctored video knowing it was fake and that he and the staff had been forced into further falsification. Zee Media has contested this.

     

    But for calling Times Now and Zee News on this reprehensible form of journalism, many of my former colleagues have called me a hypocrite. So be it. I would rather be called that than applaud such practices.

     

    But the biggest surprise of the week came from Ravish Kumar of NDTV India. In what seemed like a Howard Beale “Mad as hell” moment (from the 1976 film Network which should be mandatory viewing for every journalist), Kumar spoke to his viewers about the sickness that has infected television journalism today. For 41 minutes, he kept you riveted as he talked about how the practise of journalism has been pummelled by its own people. The screen blackened as he spoke and he played out just the sound of screaming news anchors and enraged politicians and students.

     

    Yes, it was gimmicky in parts and yes it was over-emotional and dramatic at times but it was no less true for all that. Kumar exposed much of what is wrong with journalism today and did it without putting himself above it. I salute Ravish Kumar for having the courage to change the pattern, if only for one night. He has held up a horrible mirror for us to look into. You as a journalist may dismiss him but you would do so at your own peril.

     

    Perhaps journalism in India has now reached one more crossroads. There are some of us who agree with Ravish Kumar but we have reached a terrible depth. We have to reclaim the higher space. There are others undoubtedly, who will always kowtow to those who hold the purse-strings and who will bend towards whichever political party is in power. These have always existed but they were once the minority. Now one fears, they are the rulers.

     

    I feel the worst for the young journalist who comes into the profession full of hope. Speak to a few of them and their disillusionment is evident. But if they have to make a living, what are they to do? Those who should be their mentors are now the perpetrators of fraud.

     

    **

     

    I come back once again to journalists who do not stand up for other journalists when they are under siege. What is one to make of them? If however there is any fellow feeling left in us, which can manage to overcome political differences, then I feel we should be brave when we are threatened, not capitulate. And if you do not think that journalists are under threat, do read this:
    http://scroll.in/article/803975/insidious-intimidation-delhi-police-visit-homes-of-journalists-covering-the-jnu-row

     

    **

     

    My friend and former colleague Neeta Kolhatkar put out a tweet last week about a protest march being held by the Mumbai Press Club. Just for this, she was threatened on Twitter with gangrape. She immediately complained to the police and to Twitter India. I can only hope that she gets the full support of all journalists to make sure that the obnoxious Twitter account is identified and caught. In this, at least, I hope our partisan differences can be put aside?

     

  • The Annual Conclave should be one of the most relaxed and motivating time the performing team can spend together. But does it really do that, ask Sanjeev Kotnala

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Where will you waste your Annual Conference this year?

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    ‘Annual Conclave’ in most organisations brings a smile to the faces. It is a not-promised but hinted reward for the last year performance. Or is it an investment into future performance. The jury is divided. Most take a middle path like many advertising campaigns and stick to ‘Investment in last year performers for next year performance’. Most likely they are right.

     

    The annual conference should be the MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES.  It must beat any other experience and like FOGG, keep working.

     

    Then they go ahead and spoil the party. They use every possible trick in the trade to ensure that it does not remain a ‘most memorable’ experience. End result – another year, another waste of an opportunity called annual conference.

     

    Let’s try mapping an experience.

    Most likely the employees get the first hint of annual conclave not from management but from admin department. They smell it. May be the finance guy or the ‘EA’ to the director lets the cat out of the bag.

     

    For an unknown period, ambiguity continues. Anxiety builds up. Department heads starts enquiring for selection criteria. Everyone is lobbying to get his or her friends- loyalist – and love a seat. It is worse than the process of declaring candidate for election!

     

    Till the nth hour (exaggerated), no one is able to say with confidence, what is happening, when will it happen and it times will it happen at all.

     

    The story starts with the ‘law of precedent’. We go to annual conclave with out any specified agenda and objective. It is couched under motivation and reward. Brainstorming and ideation. Experience and excitement.

     

    Annual conclaves happen because of precedence.  Year after year the pattern gets partially tweaked. Location changes but patterns remain. Year after year the monies get wasted.

     

    Let’s starts with the budget. Which is always less than required. The organisation knows that a minor increase will make a huge difference but it fails to react.

     

    Then comes the list of delegates. This is always more than what budget can accommodate. There is hardly any differential and qualitative selection. The normal way is to cut the list at a predefined designation level. Performance be dammed!

     

    Unfortunately, an opportunity to create healthy internal competition, making a reward statement and flaming individual ambition is lost. This is just the beginning.

     

    The ever-expanding list of delegates brings ‘London’ to ‘Lonavala’ and  ‘Greece’ to ‘Goa’.  The single rooms become double occupancy. Double starts tilting to hit triple occupancy at the junior level. The luxurious 4-5 day soon starts looking as 3D2N setup. Definitely not a plan for the most memorable experience.

     

    Financial directive demands need of disguised business activity for the investment. It helps to take it out of perk and rewards; which can be interpreted as taxable. This is where knowledge part of conclave took a backdoor entry many years back. The rules are different but the format remains unchanged.

     

    Slowly reviews were added. It increased participant’s anxiety. The target unveiling joined the agenda. Words like motivation and life balance started echoing in discussions.

     

    Suddenly the internal department and everyone with dream of a being a copywriter starts suggesting mundane ‘2020’ or ‘Target 500’ and ‘We will make it’ slogans. The real problem was when such silly titles are approved and collaterals are generated around it.

     

    Finally, the programme is created. It sounds more like a torture than excitement. It is an exercise in regimentalised life. As if all were tiny toddlers.

     

    There is likely 9-14 hours of collective one-way airport darshan, because the most cost-effective flight and carrier were picked. Few drinks on the flight is normal that too if you are the unfortunate one being taken in a cramped foreign location.  There is a nice non-guided tour of the hotel. That is what you get.

     

    The thought of allowing time for delegate to experience the local culture, learn by observation never crosses the mind. The actual opportunity of creating a memorable experience is lost.

     

    The Annual Conclave should be one of the most relaxed and motivating time the performing team can spend together.

     

    Let’s define how to go about it.

    Do a complete background work. Get budgets approved and location finalised. Finalise venue and dates.

    Take HODs in confidence. Decide the criteria for list of participants. Make HODs co-owners to the criteria. Leave no space for ambiguity. Move this information to the delegates as fast as possible.

    Create a relaxed schedule. Avoid using more than 20% of the time in official work.

    Finish the reviews at-least a fortnight before the conclave. Define and declare the targets well in advance. Ouch, that hurts. Something you are not in sync with. Go ahead and unveil the accepted targets at the conclave. Please do it all in four hours of collective serious conclaving if you are staying for three days.

    Ensure decent timed flights. Avoid class differentiation in travel. Plan delegates’ welcome at airport. Ensure they are properly received.  Arrange for a comfortable unrushed travel to the hotel.  Pay for early check-in if needed. Avoid waiting time at hotel. It is one of the most irritating things.

    Use not-more-than 40% of useful waking hours for collective official events. This is where people interact and participate. Count your evening awards and cocktails in this.

    Now let the people be free to use their time. Keep 60% time for this. Whatever you do, ensure minimum one complete day and evening is free for the delegates. Let them be un-caged. Let them plan themselves. Let then find their comfort. Let them do what-ever-they-want. Please do not keep an official get-together in the evening of the free, uncaged day.

     

    All your employees are adults. Treat then the same way.

    Here is a dream conclave plan. It is a five-day long event. It is selective for your star performers. It is with the theme of ‘DARR KE AAGEY JEET HAI’. It is adventurous and it is in Pattaya. Remember it is not one and the same thing. But once you do (I know who can manage this) there will hardly be anything that will hold your team back.

    The 6D5N package includes two second-half and three nights of free uncaged life. Oh that’s too long. Maybe it needs customisation according to budget and taste.

    The team is exposed to increasing levels of adventure. They graduate from Parasailing and underwater, to bungee and interaction with live animals. They move to scuba (even for non-swimmers) to local food and massage. They move from fire walking to walk on glass and end up bending the rod. The trip culminates with tandem Para jump from 13000 feet.

    Before I forget there is time for your motivational war cry session and an evening of cocktail and team interaction too. Try it out this time and see the difference in the stride of your team.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala with 28 years of corporate experience is the Founder of Intradia World. A Brand, Marketing & Management Advisor, he focuses on IDEATION (Harvest and Liberate) and INNOVATION (InNoWait) process and workshops. He is also a certified Life & ‘Mid life transition’ coach.Email sanjeev@intradia.in tweet @s_kotnala web: www.intradia.in  www.sanjeevkotnala.com.

     

  • You may argue that they may not always get it right and that they have hurt your sentiments but they have also held up a mirror to the worst of us, writes Ranjona Banerji on The Telegraph

    Ranjona Banerji: The Telegraph… India’s most anti-national newspaper?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Judging by reactions on Twitter, The Telegraph, Calcutta is India’s most anti-national newspaper. Not only that, it is also misogynistic, sexist and who knows, some may even find it seditious!

    Am I joking?

     

    Let me put it to you this way: The Telegraph, Calcutta is currently India’s most courageous and witty newspaper. It is also India’s most in-your-face newspaper when it comes to the current government in power at the Centre.

     

    Of course, almost all Indian newspapers has taken the BJP government at the Centre to task on the issues that have torn us apart over the last few months. Completely unlike most of our news channels which have bent over backwards to say to the government, “Look at me, look at me! See how loyal I am to you!”

     

    The Telegraph, with its front-page headlines, has taken dissent to another level. But let’s start with the headline that upset everyone the most, the misogynistic and sexist one. After Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani gave her impassioned speech in Parliament, where she offered to cut off her head and put it at BSP leader Mayawati’s feet and kept calling Rohith Vemula “a child”, most news channels went into paroxisms of ecstasy.

     

    The Telegraph the next day however ran this tagline “Mother India, at your service and ready for the supreme sacrifice, comes” above the headline, “Aunty National”, with a picture of Irani looking suitably dramatic. From BJP supporters to women, social media went into a frenzy of rage. To call a woman aunty! How dare! So sexist, blah blah blah.

     

    To me, it was quite funny. I have been called aunty for decades and I am an aunty and I do not see it as insulting. It is true however that trolls and BJP supporters often use the term “aunty” when they want to abuse people on social media so it is not surprising that they found the term aunty offensive.

     

    In all fairness, I share this article from NewsMinute which objects to the auntification of Irani:

    http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-telegraph%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98aunty-national%E2%80%99-dig-smriti-irani-needs-be-called-out-39384

     

    The Telegraph, the next day, carried a more serious headline, referencing the tweet put out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi the day after Irani’s speech. He just said “Satyamev Jayate” and a link to the speech.

     

    So The Telegraph’s headline went “Satyamev Jayate” and proceeded to list all the lies which Irani gave in her speech. Perhaps our gaga news channels might have gone into the specifics of her speech before applauding her dramatic prowess.

     

    Incidentally, since sexism and misogyny is all the rage in the accusations being thrown back and forth, I have a complaint. In Irani’s speech, she said that that no mother can kill a child, presumably discussing the allegations against her in the suicide of Rohith Vemula. Not only does this comment reek of patriarchy, it also implicitly implies that childless women are more likely to be murderers. As an aunt and a woman without children, I am deeply offended.

     

    **

     

    On February 18, The Telegraph’s front page said, “The Nashun” with a photograph of the prime minister’s back. This is what happened, the paper said, when those in power shun responsibility.

     

    On February 16, the day after those lawyers at Patiala House Court beat up journalists, JNU students, teachers and activists, the headline was the strongest: “PATRIOT” it said, with riot in red. The police had watched while these lawyers went on a rampage.

     

    One of its best headlines also targeted Irani and her past as a TV actress in Hindi soap operas, with “Kyunki mantriji kabhi student nahi thi”. This was very clever because “Kyuni Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thi” is the soap that made Irani famous. And Irani is also famous for changing her educational qualifications in various election commission affidavits.

     

    **

     

    In today’s climate, it takes chutzpah and courage to take on our rulers. I salute The Telegraph. You may argue that they may not always get it right and that they have hurt your sentiments but they have also held up a mirror to the worst of us. Congratulations!

     

  • The huge success of films and also Naagin on weekends makes one wonder why weekday shows aren't rating at weekend levels despite more audience availability, asks Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: PRDP… And the search for blockbuster ratings

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Salman Khan starrer Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was only a moderate success in its theatrical release last Diwali. The film broke the record for the highest opening day box-office, on the strength of its lead star, aggressive promotions, a chartbuster title song and a wide festive release. But thereafter, it struggled to consolidate, getting patronage largely from smaller towns and single screen theatres.

     

    The film eventually ended its lifetime India business at well less than Rs 200 crore, only about 60% of Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s business, another 2015 Salman Khan release. It scored an average 56% on Ormax’s WOM (word-of-mouth) rating, a measure of audience appreciation, well short of Bahubali (83%) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (77%), and not in the Top 15 of the year.

     

    None of this came in the way, however, for the performance of the film on television. In BARC India’s ratings released yesterday, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo(Star Gold) outperformed Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Bahubali to emerge as the most-watched television premiere from 2015. It also set the number to beat in the short history of BARC India.

     

    The film was promoted as a Valentine’s Day attraction on television, though it is safe to say that the few urban Indians who celebrated Valentine’s Day (Sunday makes it tougher) didn’t do so by watching PRDP together on the telly. But then, we know by now that those “few” are too few to count, in the context of audience measurement.

     

    What the big-city theatre audiences look down upon as kitsch, is gold for television viewers. Ironically though, when Bollywood uses mass television to promote its new releases, it never quite gets this dichotomy. The notion that everyone who watches TV goes to theatres every other weekend is of course a highly flawed one. The actual proportion is less than 10%.

     

    The huge success of films and also Naagin on weekends raises another pertinent question: Why are weekday shows not rating at weekend levels, despite more audience availability on weekdays primetime? If the top weekend properties can attract more than 6% audiences to one destination, why are the top weekday shows even struggling to touch the 3% mark.

     

    On the face of it, high fragmentation on weekdays is the explanation. But in real terms, it’s more a symptom than a cause. Weekdays are seeing increasing fragmentation because they lack those marquee content pieces that have the ability to aggregate audiences. It perhaps becomes easier to maintain the quality of storytelling in a biweekly show than in a daily. Shouldn’t we be seeing more biweeklies and weeklies then?

     

    Whichever way one looks at the data, the success of movie premieres like PRDP suggests that audiences will aggregate to one destination, no matter how high the clutter is, if the content has the requisite pull. Outside Naagin, our television lacks such aggregators today. Will 2016 give us another one? Your guess is as good as mine.

     

  • News channels have to start salivating and hyperventilating from the time we wake up and rush bleary-eyed to our TV screens to check if a leaf fluttered in the night and we missed it, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Lacklustre coverage of a lacklustre Budget

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Lacklustre. That’s how the coverage of the Union Budget 2016 looked on television. Maybe it’s that the budget itself was lacklustre. But like all Union Budgets in recent times, it was a bit of this and a bit of that. No Big Bang, no Big Ticket reforms, no economic clichés for subeditors to drool over.

     

    The Union Finance Minister begins his speech at 11 am. But news channels have to start salivating and hyperventilating from the time we wake up and rush bleary-eyed to our TV screens to check if a leaf fluttered in the night and we missed it. The formula was more or less the same on all channels: some pro-government economists, some anti-government economists, some cagey industrialists and some investment experts who speak a language no one else can understand.

     

    The one journalistic scoop of the morning on television before the Speech was that the Budget would be farmer-oriented. This great nugget of investigative journalism came from the Prime Minister himself who said that his government was going to double rural incomes by 2022. The salaried class as usual hoped that income tax would be abolished. Corporates hoped that corporate taxes would be abolished and thus it was hopes and expectations beyond reality can deliver as usual.

     

    Unfortunately for Budget mavens, the Oscars were also live in the morning hours and thus interspersed with “fiscal” and “deficit” and “subsidy”, were excited “oohs” and “aahs” about Bollywood and now Hollywood star Priyanka Chopra’s appearance on the red carpet and the Dolby Theatre Stage. This was in fact a welcome break from the tedium of financial jargon masquerading as prescience.

     

    There was also an amusing interlude when one TV anchor who hadn’t seen or read up on the Oscars even though she was giving us the highlights of what was going on, fumbled while trying to explain what The Danish Girl was all about, forgot who was transgender and why Alicia Vikander won best supporting actress in the said film.

     

    Of the morning lot, Rajdeep Sardesai on India Today TV was the most entertaining, Dr Prannoy Roy fans had to wait to get a darshan on NDTV and the only post-Budget programme I enjoyed was questions on personal taxes on CNN-IBN. Nowadays it is hard to tell the difference between Times Now and NewsX and as usual they decided that the Budget is best explained by party spokespersons who don’t understand economics, thus ensuring that we have the usual slanging matches one way or another.

     

    **

     

    The morning papers seem equally lacklustre. However, since they had more time to think about it, The Times of India for some reason has channelled its inner Elton John and headlined page 1, “Glowing in the wind”. I however got utterly confused because the first few pages were about a new ipad, a new MotoG and the greatness of West Bengal. By the time I reached ‘Glowing in the Wind’ I forgot all about the Budget and thought there was a fire somewhere. Basically, the Budget could mean that India is a candle in tempestuous global gales or that we could be snuffed out in one puff. I think.

     

    Meanwhile, in attempt to soothe the confusion in readers’ and viewers’ minds, the Times of India has explained the laws of federalism within the world of Bennett Coleman to its readers which basically says that the editors of all the newspapers, the Akond of Swat at Times Now and the tweets of owner Vineet Jain all exist in parallel universes. I will buy anyone who can cogently explain this edit page piece which appeared on Monday February 29, a drink at any press club anywhere in India.

    http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-editorials/federalism-in-structure-pluralism-of-views/

     

    Newspapers like the Hindu and Indian Express focused on the government’s new-found love for farmers and harped on the indication that the “suit-boot ki sarkar” had been given a reality check. To be fair, TOI also mentioned this supposed shift by the government from its core voters to the voters who have felt abandoned.

     

    **

     

    I did not make a New Year’s resolution on January 1, 2016 but I will make one now. I am not going to watch news television’s painful attempts at Budget coverage ever again.

  • Unmet deadlines in our work, political system and every sphere of life are a malice that has been holding the nation back, rues Sanjeev Kotnala

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Damn the deadlines?

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    The Goafest Abby deadline was extended and it surprised no one. It was not an exception to a rule. It was expected. The potential entrants knew deadlines would be extended. They live a life of extended deadlines. Agencies do it while pitching but forget the art when there are regular day-to-day interactions with clients. Unmet deadlines in our work, political system and every sphere of life are a malice that has been holding the nation back.

     

    Ø Why things don’t happen on the schedule and set deadlines.

    Ø Why do we willingly accept a 3-4 times budget escalations due to delay.

    Ø Why do we accommodate the resultant chain reaction.

     

    On the other hand, we are mostly on time for our flights. I am not ridiculing your complex work by comparing it to reaching airport to catch your flight. May be breaking every deadline and project complexity into manageable units like reaching airport on time.

     

    Delay needs explanations. Needs excuse. Timely delivery needs no such things. People who succeed mostly maintain timelines and schedule. They have to. To deliver on multiple fronts. DEADLINES PUSH PEOPLE TO BE MORE EFFICIENT.

     

    Deadlines suddenly put pressure and forces people to focus and move quickly. It demands them to concentrate on only what is important and needs to be completed.

     

    Mostly people do not set their own deadlines. It is set by other people. Bosses, friends, family and loved ones. And they use such deadlines as a means and only criteria of setting their priorities. Approaching non-negotiable deadline makes your whole body react with right reflexes. The adrenaline rush takes care of the worrying mind. All that one sees is the deadline and the end post. This ensures timely completion. So, should you be setting yourself unmanageable deadlines – tight deadlines that will put into the mode described here. Hopefully not.

     

    By sticking to deadlines, you are able to do a lot more. The completion of any and every task is known to pump in that additional energy to attack the next one. And working with deadline has a side benefit- it forces you to stop procrastination. Suddenly even with these deadlines and many task staring at you- you acting with purpose add poise to the whole attempt. It leads to a lower stress.

     

    It may really be helpful to SET IMAGERY DEADLINES WHERE NONE EXIST AND STICK TO THEM. It is a simple trick but it helps. Put your own deadlines to important work you do. Keep them in manageable blocks and you are sure to catch the flight

     

  • In India newsrooms are run by manager-editors whose sole concern is often pleasing the management by reckless cost-cutting, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: No one for a Readers’ Editor? + Dehrudun media blues…

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Concerned citizens of Dehradun are currently involved in a struggle with the government of Uttarakhand over the “Smart City” scheme rolled out by the Centre. The state government decided to opt for the “Greenfield” provision and develop 250 acres of a partly functioning tea garden in the heart of the city into a “smart” zone. Citizens, tea garden workers, environmentalists and conservationists would rather that the city of Dehradun is improved and that a historic tea garden is not destroyed.

     

    I have been involved with this movement and have attended a couple of meetings. And sadly for me I have had to cringe, cower and cravenly apologise for the sort of media coverage this protest has received. First, my gratitude to the media – the protest has been generously covered in almost every newspaper which has a bureau in Dehradun and by local TV as well. But that is where the gratitude turns a little to disgruntlement.

     

    Because not a single newspaper has managed to get details of the protest correctly. For instance, and this I know firsthand, my father who is president of the Friends of the Doon Society, one of the NGOs involved, has been quoted on the issue. However, no journalist spoke to him and he spoke to no one. It’s not a bad quote but he didn’t give it. The Friends of the Doon has spearheaded the agitation but at the last big meeting at the tea gardens, Friends of the Doon officebearers have been identified as belonging to Citizens for Green Doon. And so in every report in every newspaper: little mistakes, carelessness and lack of attention to detail.

     

    I have interacted with some young reporters at one venue and they were all bright, young and enthusiastic people. And I do not know if the errors were theirs or someone at the desk or shortage of space or what. But it is not hard to guess that it is a combination of all three. The problem is that the Indian media does not take such transgressions seriously. How many newspapers in India have ombudsmen? (This is rhetorical question or perhaps you can do some homework?) A little quote missed here, a little fake attribution there, it’s all considered par for the course.

     

    Nor do we have researchers who check back on quotes. This is a laborious, labour-intensive and time and money consuming process. No wonder we don’t bother in India since newsrooms are run by manager-editors whose sole concern is often pleasing the management by reckless cost-cutting.

     

    All I can say is being on the receiving end of journalistic carelessness and having to explain their actions and find excuses without being disloyal to my profession is turning into a very difficult exercise! And this loss of trust does not help in the long run for any publication.

     

    **

     

    While on the subject of ombudsmen (ombudspersons?), The Hindu celebrates 10 years of having a readers’ editor. SA Panneerselvan writes careful, considered columns as he takes on the issues of the week and the criticism that the newspaper has faced. The letters column sometimes carries criticism of the readers’ editor which illustrates a journal which takes its readers seriously!

     

    Here, The Hindu traces its 10 year journey with its three readers’ editors:

    http://www.thehindu.com/specials/10-years-of-the-hindus-readers-editor/article8295971.ece

     

    And here Panneerselvan explains the process: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/responsive-editorial-team-makes-selfregulation-work/article8292582.ece

     

    **

     

    The other newspaper which once had a readers’ editor at least for the Mumbai edition was The Hindustan Times, where Sumana Ramanan started the process very well but it seemed to falter after she left.

     

    Time for a rethink or at least a think all round?

     

  • It's a crisis out there with comedy content on television and in cinema, writes Shailesh Kapoor. The quality (and quantity) has been down!

    India is waiting to be Tickled

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    It’s common knowledge that comedy is a popular genre of entertainment content worldwide. India is no exception, of course. Comedy is one of the most preferred genres for both television and theatrical consumption in India. It is also a unifying genre, binding age groups, genders, social strata and regions, on the strength of its powerful benefit, that of de-stressing.

     

    Yet, over the last few years, especially the last two, we have been in probably our worst phase in terms of the quality (and even the quantity) of content being dished out in this genre in India. There have been sporadic success stories in the regional space, but for the purpose of this piece, let’s focus on Hindi language content.

     

    About four years ago, SAB TV had promised a lot in this genre. They had some exciting new shows on-air. But in recent times, the channel has lost some of that momentum, and its flagship show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah has lost its slot leadership too. Sensing the gap perhaps, Life OK has entered a similar space now, with Hamari Bahu Rajni Kant launching last month and May I Come In Madam coming up next week. The female perspective in Life OK’s comedy is unmistakable. How well this ‘experiment’ works will be in known soon.

     

    The only fiction comedy success story over the last three years has been Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain, the &TV programme that managed to find resonance, in its characters, treatment and setting. But even that show has not managed to grow after a very strong start. Star Plus’ attempt in this genre, Sumit Sambhal Lega, an Indian adaptation of Everybody Loves Raymond, failed to create a stir. Color’s Mrs. Pammi Pyarelal (2013) was a non-starter too. Zee TV’s weekend offering Neeli Chhatri Wale found an audience, but never quite skyrocketed on the popularity charts.

     

    With Taarak Mehta past its prime, the fiction comedy genre faces an apparent opportunity situation, whereby there is a huge audience available, but the right content just doesn’t seem to come by. Instead, non-fiction (though scripted) comedy has been in the spotlight over the last three years, because of the immense popularity of Comedy Nights With Kapil, and the subsequent migration of the star to Sony, announced formally earlier this week.

     

    In films too, the situation is not too different. The entire 2015 has only three mainstream comedy releases in Bollywood: Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon and Singh Is Bliing. This year, two sex comedies released and bombed badly within a week of each other.

     

    There has been much talk in the industry, especially television, about how comedy is a tough genre to write and that we just don’t have the writing talent for it. Production houses and channels cite examples, one after the other, of how they have burnt their fingers with the genre. Those bad experiences have been wrongly rationalised as: The audiences do not like watching comedy in a daily format.

     

    The notion is evidently not true. The need to de-stress goes up with every passing year, and with it, the lucrativeness of the comedy genre keeps rising as well. A lucrative genre doesn’t mean mediocre content will deliver. But in times where new launches in other genres have failed one after the other, there are very high chances that the next big fiction hit on Hindi television will be a comedy show.

     

    When and on which platform that happens, is the million-dollar question indeed.