Category: DAS KA DUM

An unfair question to ask on a platform like this, you may say, but the answer we were looking at is from the prism of a marketer. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 19 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. Any brand and marketing tips you would like to offer political parties given that the next 18 months will see some high profile elections (and a mother-of-all one as well)?

A. The basic principles of marketing are the same, even for political parties:

1. Know one’s core customers, both in demographic and psychographic parameters

2. What is one’s key product proposition in sync with the segment one wants to serve/appeal to

3. How is the positioning of the concerned product superior to other competitive offerings (read pre-election promises)

4. What should be the key planks of the communication and in which medium

5. What is the social media strategy to communicate with one’s key stakeholders, 24×7

6. The communication has to be different by national and hyper-local priorities.

The above strategy needs to be customised depending on whether the party is a defender of the current market leadership position or challenging an incumbent leader.

Having spent over three decades with The Times of India group, our Wizard with Words was decidedly one of the best persons to be asked this question. Without any further ado, here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 23 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. Your views on the Times group split between Messrs Samir and Vineet Jain? As someone who has worked with both very closely, did you see this coming? And what is the impact you see happening in the media in general and Times of India specifically?

A. Division of business/ wealth is a usual practice in owner-driven companies, be it by business or amongst the next generation of owners. I doubt if the media landscape will get impacted dramatically in the medium- or short-term. A development in an individual company generally doesn’t deeply impact an industry landscape. Of course over a period of time, innovation through disruptive technologies and business practices might alter competitive positions in the industry.

So far as the concerned group is concerned, I can’t extrapolate my acquired wisdom (till 2012) to the new imperatives of running a media business and of course the way the concerned entrepreneurs would focus and drive their business. Having said that, I would hasten to add that the concerned entrepreneurs have been demonstrating cutting edge  initiatives and strategy to maintain dominant market position / perception. I presume the divided entities would continue the same trend either to deeper focus on respective businesses or through a symbiotic partnership, in sync with market expectations. These are early days of the new entities and one can’t predict their future direction deterministically, now.

Having spent over three decades with The Times of India group, our Wizard with Words was decidedly one of the best persons to be asked this question as well. Without any further ado, here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 24 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. If your advice was sought by the new Times of India print management, what would it your top counsel?

A. I can’t match the wisdom of the entrepreneurs of The Times of India group. So I don’t have the audacity of counselling them or for that matter any entrepreneur. Otherwise, I would have been a publisher by now.

Having said that, I may put forward a few macro thoughts on the subject::

1. the topography of media landscape has gone through significant shifts. And it’s not yet over if one takes into account many inter-category black swans and grey rhinos which could significantly upend many assumptions. Hence, it is better to reframe the classical management question: what business we are in? Is it a newspaper business or a news business? The answer to this question would determine how would the future trajectory of business would move.

2. a future-backwards multiple scenario-building exercise would enable experimentation of alternatives that would cater to a ‘growth mindset’ as opposed to a ‘fixed mindset’.

3. the classical business model of print media needs to be recalibrated as that’s the elephant in the room. Over-dependence on one element of the monetisation need to be morphed into multiple monetisation routes.

4. the skill for an established legacy business is to balance business process continuity and change.

5. investment in consumer and ethnographic research, even if it’s proprietary as the print industry is in no hurry to create a new currency of audience measurement and extent of immersion in various content in the paper. These would give confidence to the advertisers to take a renewed interest in print medium, rather than using the medium dominantly for tactical purposes.

6. in the age of data and analytics, it is important that every function in an enterprise (including the print media) use data-led insight (complemented by market realities and instinct) for impacting business outcome and consumer experience across the value chain of business. Consequently, every function need to upgrade their legacy capabilities to the new realities.

7. consequent to the previous point, the human resources department has to reassess the capabilities existing in each function and upskill them depending on the capability levels and invest in hiring new talents with state of the art capabilities. In the same way, HR has to constantly find out the need for learning and development for all departments to enable the organisation stay ahead of the curve

8. finally, all the departments must work in tandem to take forward the super-ordinate growth hacking ambition of the organisation.

An unfair thing to put our Wizard with Words on the spot, but we thought we’ll ask it nevertheless. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 25 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. Goafest and the Abby One Show have kickstarted. Any words of advice to those agencies who have stayed away from the awards?

A. In a democratic culture (as is in India), individual/ collective choices have to be respected, as long as they are not infringing on national interests. Hence those agencies who have not sent their entries must have a legitimate reason and I am not privy to the same.

Incidentally, I don’t have any database who haven’t sent their entries. Let’s talk facts: both for Media Abby and Creative Abby, the number of entries has gone up this year. Let’s celebrate that, rather than wondering who all haven’t sent their entries. Goafest is rocking and would continue to rock.

What’s your view on the issue? Well, read the response by Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 26 edition of Das ka Dum and form your view. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. On Day 2 of the Goafest & Abby, Leo Burnett was Digital Specialist Agency of the Year, FCB was PR specialist agency, Mindshare Technology Agency of the Year. Would you say, the days of the specialist agency are over, or is it that the Big Boys are also going truly 360 degree?

A. As they say, when everything changes, nothing changes. The circle ⭕️is conserved. I loved the focus on specialised capabilities of different agencies and they have won distinctions in their space. But that doesn’t mean that the other areas of an agency services are redundant or ignored. From that point of view, your last observation is true. Increasingly, marketers are looking at new age capabilities that encompass their business in a holistic manner (read 360 degrees) to access different cohorts of audience as per their tastes and preferences. In an exploded and imploded media landscape, an omnichannel understanding is more relevant than a unidimensional approach, unless a specific situation demands so.

We were debating whether we should ask this question or one on the IPL final. Mother Nature helped us make the choice. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das’s response to our question in the May 29 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. We missed you at the Goafest and the Abby. What’s the buzz around the twin events that has been reaching you?

A. I am touched that you missed me at Goafest. Whenever I hear about the so-called buzz (read whisper), I get reminded of a quote of Lord John Russell: It is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation. How is it connected? Simple. The journalistic secret desire of a so-called whisper didn’t reach me. What reached me are facts that can be equated with the voice of the M&A industry.

Look at the facts:

number of entries, partners who were excited to be part of the annual mega festival, inspite of a tepid sentiment of advertising market, the size of the number of delegates at the festival, great speakers (there is, of course, always scope for improvement for improving the quality of fertiliser to increase cognitive nutrition), the presence of both legacy players and new age tech-enabled players, the presence of FTA channels who generally used to shun Goafest (going by facts, and not perception) in the past, May heat was a challenge but it could not dampen the spirit of the participants from the annual celebration, etc etc. Nothing else reached me worth mentioning.

Net-net Goafest rocked and the two industry bodies demonstrated exemplary camaraderie to execute the mother-of-all industry events in a befitting manner.

Whattamatch! Even if we were done with the last of the post-match interiews and presentations around 3am. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das’s response to our question in the May 30 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. Would you say CSK was a worthy winner of IPL 2023? A word on GT: So near, but yet so far?!

A. Your first question when IPL started regarding which team I would be backing. I specifically mentioned CSK. I knew it was an emotional aspiration. Over a period of two months, that emotional expectation got converted into a conviction for many reasons: strategic and focused leadership, all team members knew what role they were expected to play, combination of experience and youth (experience: important for crunch situation, power and audacity for the youth), confidence in the team even when the team lost matches as MSD never changed the team. During the IPL, the team has not had any caps/ distinctions, yet they went ahead with their task (individual milestones were less in priority than team achievements).

Having said that, I must mention that there is no doubt that GT was one the best, if not the best teams in the tournament in terms of consistency, aggression and exemplary leadership. May be luck didn’t favour them in the final hour. Finally, here is a trivia: CSK won in Gujarat where a Chennai player rocked and the winning shot for CSK was delivered by a Gujarati. This is our India and this is the distinct mosaic of IPL.

What’s your thinking on the question we’ve asked? Well, read the response by Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 31 edition of Das ka Dum and form your view. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. The last month of the first half of the year starts tomorrow. Anything you would like to see happening to give H1 a better look-and-feel?

A. I am getting a mixed signal: while World Bank update notes that although significant challenges remain in the global environment, India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. So, overall performance of the economy may be better than other parts of the world, but there are multiple headwinds for many sectors, including M&E, and many specific organisations, for sustaining demand growth consistently. The need of the hour is focused attention to macro and micro environments so that irrational exuberance emanating from the performance of one quarter need not flow to the next. While a growth mindset is a must, one needs to be alert of possible challenges that can torpedo future plans any time. So, conservation of resources and reduction of wasteful practices in an organisation are key.

We thought it would be good to get the views of our Wizard with Words on this development. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 1 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. The BBC is hiring its first ever Chief Brand Officer to brace itself as it looks at a digital-first future. Do you think Indian broadcasters should be getting inspired?

A. Hiring a Chief Brand officer (CBO) – may be under different designations – has been a practice for eons, especially in multinational FMCG/ durable companies. The arrival of a digital ecosystem has only created more urgency for it as consumer activism is getting articulated (true or fake) through a ubiquitous presence of social media and earned media.

Usually a CBO is expected to play a critical role in driving value for the consumers, across the value chain of the company’s operating environment so that the brand’s core integrity resonates in each and every activity of the Brand. In case of BBC , I can imagine that the CBO will work pan-BBC, across all Content (TV , audio, video and website) platforms. The audience / consumer value is evaluated on the metric of whether the present and potential consumers are willing to pay to enjoy the services of the Brand ( BBC, in this case). This evaluation would permeate both supply side and demand side of the business. As a specialist function, CBO can really orchestrate ( if other departments allow- hence the CBO must directly report to the CEO) a homogeneous brand message for each and every activities of the Brand. This is a good move, specially in india where BBC is increasing its footprints in multiple languages and the CBO has to be highly alert about relationship with host country regulators.

We thought it would be good to get the views of our Wizard with Words on an issue on which we have asked him a question in the past. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 2 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. While it was a CSK v/s GT finale, there was as much action off the field with Linear Television battling it out with Streaming. Who, would you say, won?

A. The jury is still out on the subject, as there are claims and counter-claims about the actual viewership. It has a direct implication on the advertising monetisation model. There is no third party data (not known to me at least) to conclusively declare who is the winner, unlike the IPL trophy winner.

IMHO, the consumer/ audience is the real winner. They have choices and how! For some time to come, both the formats will co-exist and consumption behaviour would differ by age cohorts and region. The more granular and trustworthy the data would be, the advertiser would get better ROI for their investments.

Now you may say it’s unfair to ask a question that can’t be given a quickie reply, but we asked it nevertheless. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 5 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. There is growing concern for data privacy and hence ethical and responsible use of consumer data? How should marketers ensure personalised experiences and still comfort consumers that their data is safe?

A. I know that the issue is akin to a Hamletian dilemma. While technology has enabled hyper-personalisation, but privacy concerns amongst consumers are also a reality. Corporates have to learn to leverage the two symbiotically, rather than treating them as two activities in silos.

Some of the possible route of doing so are:

1. Gather critical data only that’s required for a particular business,

2. Take prior permission from customers about how an organisation plans to use the data,

3. Data collection and analysis, when done in conjunction, it could yield rich dividend for personalisation,

4. Deep listening to customers’ issues, understanding their lifestage challenges and shun the temptation of making false promises.

I know my suggestions might sound prescriptive, but purity of purpose can help use the two critical elements of business/ marketing synergistically.