Category: DAS KA DUM

In cricket commentary lingo, a la Ravi Shastri, our Wizard with Words has hit the ball (our question) out of the park. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 6 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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Q. For purists, the five-day Test is the final frontier. But does Test cricket still enthuse an IPL ka deewaana like yourself?

A. In the context of your question, I recall Mark Twain once commented that “rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated”. The same could perhaps be said for Test cricket, which, in recent times has risen from its ashes and proved wrong many naysayers of the format. We have seen it’s evidence in the India-Australia series, in the New Zealand-England series and then with Sri Lanka. They were no less exciting than IPL matches.

I admit that the South Africa and West Indies series attracted less crowds, but to say that days of Test cricket are numbered, might be a sweeping conclusion. It’s true that the small formats of the game suits the hurly-burly life of the younger generation, but ICC is trying to inject some new lease of life to the Test cricket- one of them being the Test Cricket World Championship.

Finally, as a journalist, you would be able to appreciate that a short format article has appeal to some segments of an audience. But that doesn’t mean that long format articles have no takers. If the current attention span of You Tube viewers is barely two minutes, then the binge viewing of OTT platforms would have been dead by now.

This was meant to be a question, and our Wizard with Words has now given us a task. Read all about it in the response by Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 7 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. Since so many film stars are putting on better acts in TV ads than in films or OTT content, do you think the film awards should have a special category for Best Performance in a Video Commercial?

A. Interesting idea. In fact IAA India chapter has a category of award for the Brand Ambassador of the Year. But it doesn’t directly evaluate performance of stars on some predetermined parameters, as in the case of film awards.

One can’t deny that it requires skill to enact a script in 30/45 seconds and capture the essence of a communication in the most impactful manner.

I have a suggestion: why not MxM start the award and get some first-mover advantage!

Since he is such a great follower of the game, we thought we should ask him this question. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 12 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 way India lost the WTC finale could well see the end of the road for some Test cricket careers? Fair/unfair thing to happen?

A. As an Indian, I definitely felt bad about the loss, but in any game, there has to be a winner and loser. And India lost to a good team, in every aspect of the game. I know it is easy to be intelligent after the event, and as the cliché goes, examining things in hindsight is a great science. Even if I am accused of that, in my humble opinon, the Indian team members appeared to be a tired lot. Most players have just returned from the IPL. One can deduce it from the performance. For example, Shubman Gill, who scored four successive centuries in the IPL. And, Virat Kohli. Even as I say this, there is a tremendous comeback from an unexpected player like Ajinkya Rahane who was kicked out from the team for more than 18 months. So, sometimes, the so-called punishmentworks.

Look at the Australian team. Pat Cummins didn’t’ come. I get a feeling that he must be preparing for the WTC finale. Many Australian team players were not typical IPL players. I am not blaming the IPL for the Indian team performance in the World Test Championship finale, because I enjoy IPL. But if performance is a litmus test for any form of sport, then Test teams can’t be selected based on performances in a few IPL matches and Ranji  Trophy encounters. Test matches needs patience and an ability to play in different conditions. What you can do in limited over cannot be done in a five-day Test match.

There is nothing like being unfair in a competitive match. Either you play to win, or decide to go by a result as it happens. Victory loves preparation and there is no substitute for that. And that preparation can’t be for just 20 overs. I don’t know which player will be dropped or not, but I am sure that you can’t solve an existing problem with existing solutions. One has to rethink the entire strategy which will determine whether India can make a difference in Test matches. The parameters for different formats of the cricket matches have different imperatives and they require different strategies.

It’s a question, we’ve asked in the past. And we thought we should ask again, as things keep changing. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 14 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 are told you spent some students in marketing and communications in Ahmedabad earlier this week. With so much changing in the world, will B-school lessons learnt today be relevant two years from now?

A. It is always refreshing to connect with students as one gets the thinking pattern of the new generation, so there is an opportunity to learn for me too.

Secondly, management education or for that matter most disciplines need recontextualisation due to changing frontiers of knowledge, accelerated pace of technological development altering the learning landscape due to intersectionality of knowledge. An MBA is no exception to that. In fact most of the management schools are in touch with industry to continuously adjust the industry expectations without abjuring academic rigour. Students are also aware of it and they incorporate new subjects for their interest like blockchain, AR/VR, analytics and so on.

I am a firm believer that MBA education or for that matter any education would never be redundant. In fact when the work environment gets volatile, it is all the more important that one not only upskills in one’s core capability areas but also goes beyond the comfort zone and learn new skills which keeps one future-ready or rather future-proof. I know it’s a cliché that learning is life-long but it’s actually so these days, as every 18-24 months, the existing knowledge in any discipline gets dysfunctional. Hence to remain perpetually free from obsolescence, there is no choice to unlearn and relearn in areas that that ensure continuity of meaningful employment.

The question is self-explanatory, and Dr Bhaskar Das has been, as always, very candid. Here’s the June 15 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. GroupM’s 2023 Global Mid-Year Forecast predicts a 12% India adspend growth in 2023 and 13.36% next year. Do you see such a double-digit leap happening?

A. I have never understood how these estimates are arrived at. One can’t deny the practitioners’ empirical experience, but the reality is that companies plan their spends by quarter if not by months or weeks. Depending on the market volatility – downward or upward, the investments are dynamically conceived and continuous reallocation of marketing spends are calibrated given immediate priorities. Secondly, to arrive at an average number across formats of media delivery and centres can’t be more than a guesstimate. I can imagine digital spend would go up compared to legacy media but at an absolute level, the investment may not be low. Hence a generic percentage would be difficult to conceive. Finally, there is no third-party data about below-the-line spends. I presume that the estimate of BTL spends are taken into account.In view of the above three factors, I strongly believe that the actual spends would be more than the estimated one, though it would differ by different sectors. I have always maintained that I believe in the India growth story amidst stagflation/ recession in various economies and recent GDP estimates are encouraging enough to buttress my condition of rising graph of marketing spend (not necessarily only adspends).

Since many organisations have switched to a Work From Home/Anywhere or hybrid regime, we thought it would be good to ask this question, especially in the light of a view that WFH has led to a loss in prosperity of some tech organisations. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 16 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. With Covid being history, do you think it’s time to junk WFH and bring back work to the office

A. Work From Home (WFH) or Work From Anywhere (WFA) is a debatable topic and companies are divided about their approach to the issue. The tech companies are very vocal and unambiguous about their approach though the position shifts from time to time. In some cases, India Inc could lose a segment of workforce as WFH suits them. Again it’s a general impression, though corroborated factually in many cases. IMHO, the decision to work from home or work in office should be decided on the type of job which may be external-facing or internal-facing.

Let’s face it: we may not have seen the last of the Covid or other pandemics in the world. There have been some positive effects in terms of cost-optimisation as well as employee satisfaction but it may not be prudent to impose a draconian verdict that WFH or WFA is harmful for an organisation. At the core of it, I feel that organisations may not be knowing how to evaluate performance and contribution of a remote worker or for that matter, how to create an objective evaluation system that is hybrid. Hence, I feel I can’t give any deterministic answer either in favour or against WFH if organisations don’t approach the subject with a new frame of reference.

An unfair question to ask, but, as we have said in the past, we don’t profess to be fair while asking questions. Just joking. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 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. It’s not yet the end of H1 of 2023, but without looking at performance numbers, who according to you has been the star media performer this year?

A. Since there is no audited third-party data on business performance ranking so far as media companies are concerned, a perception-based ranking would be fraught with lack of reliability. Having said that, if one goes by the ‘noise factor’, I can imagine companies like Alphabet, Meta and Jio would continue to be the leading winners as business taking into account both the demand and supply side of the business (SVOD and AVOD).

We’ve asked questions on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the job scene in media, but we thought we should ask this given the new report that has been published. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 21 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. According to Forrester Research, AI will lead to 7.5% of US advertising jobs (around 33k) being lost by 2030. All in clerical, secretarial and admin. And some sales. Do you think this could happen in India too?

A. Every now and then we have so-called experts predicting post-technological progress about job losses or job replacements. Generalically, AI/ChatGPT 4 are the new buzzwords which are being perceived as causing many job losses. I don’t strictly subscribe to it because while technologies as mentioned above can mimic cognitive intelligence of the human brain, they can’t replace human creativity, ingenuity or future problem solving. I do agree that the technologies as discussed in this question are going to replace a lot of repetitive and monotonous jobs which result in increasing work efficiency and productivity. But is it not true for so many tech improvements that have been taking place over the years? I also agree that some monotonous jobs will get replaced but more jobs will be created. Now that requires that human beings have to upskill or learn new skills to remain relevant. Until and unless human beings stay in denial or find ostrichism as a comfortable position, I don’t see any immediate threat. Instead of considering generative AI as an adversary, it is good to co-pilot and collaborate with technology and combine it with human  intelligence and resilience to deliver better outcome to future tasks.

One more question given Artificial Intelligence (AI). Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 22 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. Ogilvy is asking brands to disclose the use of AI-led influencer content to the public, so as to avoid deception. Is this the way to go?

A. There are two elements in your question. One is AI-led Chat GPT. And the second is the credibility of the influencers. Both of them have their pitfalls and are currently prone to misuse because all types of so-called innovators have jumped onto the bandwagon. Ogilvy is right because while a brand’s image takes a lot of time to build, it can be destroyed very fast in case consumers find the content suspicious. It’s better to be safe than sorry. The role of influencer may not be bad per se and can be creatively used, combined with intelligence and after checking veracity.

A serious question but what was, we guess, a fun thing on two news channels (or perhaps more of them). Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 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. Last week, two Hindi news channels innovated with their reporting on the cyclone. One walking on the streets of an affected area and another in a helicopter, all from a studio of course. What’s your view: do these experiments dilute the credibility of news journalism, or all’s well for entertaining television?

A. First a disclaimer: I am not a news channel owner so all my perspectives would suffer from the infirmities of a layman.

Good journalists are expected to be cognitively more empowered than hoi polloi like us. And as an entrepreneur they know what keeps the cashbox ringing.  You must be wondering about the divine responsibility of maintaining objectivity and gravitas of a news media organisation including news channels. But what do you expect when there is a plethora of purveyors of parity content or news. The number of channels in the news space is 400 so one has to stand out to gain attention, TRPs and accordingly advertising revenue – the holy grail of the economics of news channels.

To my first point is what the channel owners are doing and they should know what they are doing.

But is the audience/ viewer also unintelligent? If I paraphrase a cliche that every audience deserves the channel it gets, and sensationalism, dramatisation, overhyping improves the dopamine flow in the brain for the audience in general. Exciting content is in a sense the opiate of the masses (with apologies to Mr Karl Marx).

I am not a great consumer of news as I don’t spend much time on nice-to-know content. And of course being apolitical, I spend more time on academic content. In view of this, whether a news medium has gravitas and credibility or not, it doesn’t matter. As a discerning member of the group of audience, I have ways of crosschecking news that matters. People debate about polarised content, people debate about hyper-sensationalism… I wonder why. Because one has the choice not to consume content of a specific news brand. In a hyper-personalised environment, reading about universal gravitas and need for leader guarding the reader/ viewer is an anachronistic concept. So your concern doesn’t t concern me.