Category: MEDIA

By A Correspondent

BIG Live, the rural Intellectual Property division of Reliance Broadcast Network, has launched its new rural IP, BIG Disha, across key markets in the Hindi heartland. Travelling across cities, the property will have each city witness two-day career guidance programmes which aim to provide an opportunity for youth to make informed decisions about their career choices. This programme reaches out to students across small towns located around Bhopal and Kanpur and will continue till Sept 30.

The property has already partnered with Gillette for this activity.

With limited opportunity, poor infrastructure and students often having to walk miles to get to school, the Indian education system comes padded in tough conditions. The bigger challenge lies after they finish their education, where limited options and lack of awareness with zero guidance leaves them with the career decision that is most often not the best. BIG Disha is an initiative with the endeavour to bridge the gap and ensure the youth are making appropriate career choices through appropriate career counselling, said a statement from the company.

The programme has four key elements:

• A self assessment session for youth through a specially designed personality assessment questionnaire so that they can understand their interest areas and career options which suits them
• A motivational session which provides them the necessary impetus to help them believe in themselves
• A career counselling session by career launcher experts to expose and guide them towards potential career options and
• Personality development tips to help them improve on grooming and overall presentation

Mr Vineet Mittal, Business Head  BIG LIVE, Rural, said, Through this initiative we want to offer students an opportunity to be able to take well informed career decisions which is their right. Working alongside were marketers who are increasingly reaching out to the rural audiences and BIG LIVE’s rural initiative comes as an answer to suit requirements of reach and depth. BIG Disha is further viralled through our radio network 92.7 BIG FM, which ensures excellent amplification and better reach and participation. Our strategy is to leverage our media network to establish meaningful dialogues with our consumers and while providing exclusive engagement opportunities for brands riding on it.

By A Correspondent

Men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine, GQ India unveils Style Manual 2011, a guide to dressing for Indian men. The issue attempts to be a complete head-to-toe style guide with advice to enable the modern Indian male to discover his own expression of style. The issue will hit the stands at a price of Rs 200.

Mr Che Kurrien, Editor, GQ India said, The GQ Style Manual is a collection of our best and most indispensable fashion advice under one roof  specifically directed at the Indian male. The idea behind bringing out a Style Manual is to help men figure out their own paths to stylishness, and as a means to that end, to demystify the sometimes esoteric world and confusing rules of men’s fashion. Mr Arjun Rampal is someone who exemplifies a distinct sense of personal style, which made the choice of our cover star very easy.

The issue will definitely appeal to the young urbanites who care about their dressing. GQ India’s Fashion Editor, Mr Vijendra Bhardwaj said, How one dresses is an integral part of how a man is perceived in today’s image-driven world, and having a sharp sense of style is a powerful weapon. Sharing his views on working with Mr Rampal, he added, Arjun has an imposing personality. He enjoys his clothes and his clothes flatter him. His wardrobe for the GQ India Style Manual shoot showcases different elements of men’s fashion and style, with a notable focus on ethnic wear and demystifying what’s informal and formal.

Phone addicts not content with all that their gadgets give them can now also get breaking news alerts with Video News Alert, a new VAS service launched by Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, in partnership with Network 18, India’s largest network of business news channels.

The first-of-its-kind service will provide breaking new s alerts in the form of video clips which can be streamed, viewed and downloaded by 2G and 3G subscribers. Subscribers can stream and download video clips, as well as search and view news stories. The service also lets subscribers express their liking for a story, share opinions on it, participate in polls and interact with the story to voice their feelings and concerns.

The exciting new Video News Alert service is a push service via SMS. What’s enticing is the ability to get news in video format. Tata Docomo has always been at the forefront of offering services that are relevant and affordable. We are pleased to partner with Network 18, our content aggregators for this initiative, said Mr GurinderSingh Sandhu, Head of Corporate Marketing at Tata Teleservices Limited.

Customers can avail of this service by SMSing  VIDEO NEWS to 53333, following which a subscription confirmation SMS along with a link to access video news will be sent. Subscribers will then receive three video alerts every day. The charges for data access are 10 paise for 10 Kb and there are no subscription charges to use this service. To de-activate the Video News Service, customers can dial 155223 or SMS STOP videonews to 155223.

By Akash Raha

With the growth of the evergrowing middle class, and spread of education to the grassroot levels, educational print publications seem to be doing fairly well in India. According to AdEx figures, education sector print advertising in H1 2011 saw a jump of 4 percent vis-vis the same period in 2010. However, the top two categories advertising in this segment were Educational Institutions and Coaching / Competitive Examination Centres which contributed to 90 percent of this sector’s advertising. MxM India explored the reasons for the growth in advertising in this segment even as advertising in several other sectors continues to shrink, and the reason advertisers from other categories stay away from education sector print advertising.

It is indeed true that India is a country where education is valued and is sought after. The population of the aspiring middle class to is constantly increasing. India as a country has always been serious with education, says Mr Anindya Ray, Vice President, Lodestar UM, Academics and good job are a sign of ultimate success. Alternative careers like sports, singing, adventure related sports etcetera, are not the staple for the vast Indian middle class. Even though of late such alternative areas are coming up, but a basic level education of graduation is a must. Hence education will always be on the growth path. In fact, during the worldwide recession of 2008/2009 when India was having a soft market situation, when all other advertisers were holding on to their media spends, education sector still showed a growth and was the leading spender.

Mr Premjeet Sodhi, President, The Collaborative, Lintas Media Group too touched a similar note and said,Education as a sector is fairly liberalised and there is a lot of private/corporate interest in the sector. A large and growing youth population provides an opportunity for private enterprise in India and hence this sector is on the anvil of significant growth. From the advertising perspective, its prominence in advertising shares is mainly because of the huge number of companies that contribute to the advertising of the sector. In the future, more companies are expected to start advertising. Besides, even the existing ones are expected to increase their advertising spends. However, it remains to be seen if these spends will be retained within the print sector or will television and digital take more and more of it. The recent trends do suggest that it will be a challenge for print to continue to grow in this domain. If one were to estimate the growth not in terms of volume but in value then the trend may already be unfavourable for the print category.

As the number suggests, 90 percent of the advertising in this segment come from Educational Institutions and Coaching / Competitive Examination Centres. The rest 10 percent comprises Computer Education, Vocational Training Institutesand other categories. When asked why advertisers from other categories don’t see this segment as an opportunity to advertise and get to the young and educated Indians, Mr Dinesh Vyas, Business Head, MEC India said, Advertisements gain a lot from the editorial content of a magazine. It might be true that educational publications are doing well and is a medium to reach young-educated Indians but several categories might be a misfit in the publication. A consumer buys educational magazines to know more about education and an advertisement about diamond sets or deodorants would be a total mismatch. While advertising, it is important to match the environment of the magazine

When asked the same question, Mr Ray said, Yes it does make sense for advertisers from other segments to advertise in this sector  theoretically though. However in our country, education is a serious subject and entertainment, technology, consumer durable industries do not want to be in that atmosphere. More so, because there is not a single minded education platform in India and the best that you have are the various education supplements with mainline dailies.

In a burgeoning population of educated Indians, the scope of growth in this sector is likely to soar in the years to come. With it, the advertising revenue will rise too and the sector will grow further. However, in the world of digitisation, the current players will have to throw caution to the wind and plan well ahead of time.

According to Mr Sodhi, as the AdEx data suggests, The education sector is highly dis-organised and fragmented. There have been attempts by various education brands to monetise either their education materials/periodicals, events and their chain of training centers, websites, etcetera by associating with other advertising brands. However, I am not aware of many formal education sector print that can be consistently be used as an advertising media by others.

How much the sector grows in future, and whether or not it will put up good show at IRS and other measurement researches, only time will tell. But currently, going by the media planners verdict, this sector seems to be giving good value for money for its advertisers even though, some semblance of organization will only help the medium on their bullish ride forward.

By A Correspondent

After the successful revamp of the Zee News’ brand positioning from Zara Sochiye to Jazba Soch Ka, driving the thought leadership stance to action, Zee News has rolled out its award winning CSR campaign “My Earth My Duty”, with the objective of evoking people’s thoughts while motivating them to take concrete action towards mitigating the effects of climate change, by planting close to 1 crore saplings on September 12. The objective underlined the channel’s new brand philosophy of “Jazba Soch Ka” or The Power of Thought, resting their belief in the fact that when a thought awakens, it awakens the nation.

On Monday, September 12, the Zee News tree plantation drive was flagged off from Leh in the presence of Mr Ajay Maken, Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, who also planted saplings symbolizing “Hope” for a better and a greener future, in the area left ravaged by a cloudburst last year. From Leh to Kanyakumari, the campaign involved more than 50 million young volunteers planting and nurturing saplings across the length and breadth of the country.

A series of ground events such as rallies, seminars, camps, painting competition, street plays, etc have also been organized across the nation to spread the message and draw people’s attention to the subject. The message was extensively spread by utilizing various media vehicles comprising electronic media; promos, special news bulletins, discussions, and print, radio, mobile and new media including Facebook and Twitter.

The campaign was launched in association with Ministry of Youth (NYKS & NSS) and was presented by Suzlon and their corporate initiative “Pure Air Lovers’ Society”. Zee News also joined hands with organizations such as UNDP, UNV, ETF, ITBP, NCC, CRPF, NSS and WWF to take the message forward.

Mr Rohit Kumar, Head – Marketing, Zee News, said, “Our concern and objectives regarding the environment remain the same. Global warming and other environment hazards continue to pose serious threats. For the second year, we shall endeavour to spread awareness about these threats and not only awaken people’s thoughts but generate public response by inspiring them to act against climate change and plant the maximum number of trees on September 12. At Zee News, we always believe in the Power of Thought.”

The campaign’s phenomenal success last year has already been registered with the Limca Book of Records for the planting of more than 73 lakh trees in a single day across 2.5 lakh villages and all the district headquarters.

By A Correspondent

Saam TV, the Marathi GEC from the Sakal Media Group, generated tremendous response for a contest revolving its Ganapati Visarjan (immersion) coverage. The SMS-based contest received close to 2 lakh messages within an 18-hour duration. The response was received from as many as 21 states and also from every district of Maharashtra. Though all the other Marathi channels, both GEC and news, tried to cash in the Visarjan, none of them were able to get such response. This can be attributed to Saam’s coverage of not only Mumbai but across Maharashtra including cities like Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Kolhapur and other smaller towns.

The contest involved nine questions related to the favourite deity of Maharashtra – Ganapati Bappa, asked in a period of 18 hours starting from 8am on September 11, to 2am on September 12. The questions were asked at a regular interval of 2 hours. The prizes for the contest included gold-plated jewellery, wrist watches and travel vouchers. Apart from huge responses from across the districts in Maharashtra, Saam TV also received responses from all over the country, notably from Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi and MP. Such a wide response is almost an unprecedented occurrence in the Marathi television industry and shows that the Ganapati coverage on Saam TV was received well by not only its own viewers but also viewers across Maharashtra.

By Akash Raha

Automotive monthly Overdrive celebrates this month with its 13th anniversary issue. As part of the celebrations it has launched an iPad application and a brand-new site (www.overdrive.in).

The 500-page collector’s issue is on the stands, priced at Rs 200. Talking about Overdrive and the 13-year-long journey, Mr Sandeep Khosla, CEO, Infomedia18 said, “We believe the journey for Overdrive has been very successful. Through these 13 years there have been a lot of changes in the world of automotive journalism and in the sphere of print journalism as a whole. Overdrive has been able not only to adapt but to adapt quickly and better than any other player, which has given it the edge it currently holds… There are a lot of reasons that have worked for Overdrive otherwise as well. The biggest probably is the constant endeavour to seek and present quality content to the consumers.”

The Overdrive Auto community has grown since last year’s launch of its Hindi edition and also its social media initiatives. Also, the Overdrive TV show is being successfully aired on three channels.

When asked how Overdrive is faring in terms of its competitors in the market, Mr Khosla said, “…if you look at all major competitors that we have today, all are Indian arms of international players who derive a lot of their content and design from their parent publishers. Overdrive has been the only purebred Indian automotive magazine which, we believe, has worked to our advantage. We are able to understand the needs and wants of an Indian consumer much better than any international titles. And we are not forced to comply with guidelines and thinking which are not relevant to our market. However, we have also stressed on keeping ourselves a step ahead in terms of content and presentation to that of the various international titles.”

Content innovation

Referring to the content of the collector’s edition, Mr Sirish Chandran, Editor, Overdrive said, “We have some great auto stories which the editorial team has put together covering not only the moto-world in India but across the world. Our 13th anniversary special sees our biggest comparo test ever. The newly launched Maruti Suzuki Swift takes on six of its toughest rivals in the Indian market. In addition to this there are some great cars and bikes, comparos, reviewed from across the globe, news from the auto world and a runup to the Indian GP in our motosport section.”

The issue also includes a bumper consumer engagement activity for readers, with over Rs 26 lakh worth of prizes to be won including a Toyota Etios Liva, a chance to drive a Maserati in a international race track, an exclusive Indian Grand Prix VIP visit with Force India, an All Terrain Vehicle, and freebies.

iPad app and website

When asked about the differentiating factor of the Overdrive’s iPad app, Mr Amit Seth, Head – Marketing, Infomedia18 said, “There are several USPs; for starters it’s all about a great user experience. It’s not just putting the issue in digital format up on the iPad. We have customized each and every article and story for the medium. From customized covers to adding videos, pictures and specifications of different cars and bikes to optimize user experience. So what you get is all the information at your fingertips without having to go to a number of places. Every aspect of the application has been specifically worked on for ease of use and to make the experience lifelike.”

About the website, Mr Chandran said, “We have unleashed the all-new website and wish to provide the overdrive fans a better experience online. A reader can now get online and watch and compare every car and bike being sold in the Indian market today.”

Mr Khosla said, “Overdrive has always been at the forefront of technological evolution with regards to the automotive magazines in India and we wish to keep our edge intact. We are today looking to capture consumer space across platforms. The iPad is today one of the most important platforms. It only extends our leadership in the automotive domain on different platforms such as magazine, television, web and social media. That is one of the key differentiators for Overdrive today: versatility across platforms.”

Campaigns and initiatives

Overdrive has also been promoting its 13th anniversary offerings: Special collector’s issue, Overdrive iPad application website across various platforms and media. On television, there are TVCs running on CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN IBN, IBN7 & Lokmat, Vh1, Mtv and NDTV Good times. Web banners, mailers and innovations have also been carried out on the online space. OOH properties across India, with billboards in Mumbai and Delhi too are activated. Specially created POP material for organized retailers in major metros and also retail outlets across India has also been worked upon.

With so many offerings from the Overdrive stable, the person who has to gain the most is the consumer. What remains to be seen is how other auto magazines react to Overdrive’s aggressive manoeuvres.