MxMIndia

Category: Digital

  • Without doubt, India is one of the most exciting markets for mobile adverting, and pushing it forward is the buoyant and increasing base of active mobile internet users, writes Hemant Jain

    Guest Column by Hemant Jain: Opportunity knocks in mobile internet

    By Hemant Jain

     

    A Facebook status update recently by a college graduate student read: I may be able to live without Facebook, but not without WhatsApp. If status messages and typical buzzwords on various social media networks are a thing to go by, then we have the writing on the wall. Mobile internet in India has already shown signs that it is growing and is only going to get bigger and more powerful.

     

    A look around any hangout space and it is evident that mobiles in India have fundamentally altered the lifestyle of today’s consumers across age groups. And it is no more the top executives who find it convenient to do business from their phones. The scope has widened. It is impacting the way we work, play, interact and live.

     

    Even more recently, to tap the growing e-commerce market in India and increase its access to consumers, Coca-Cola floated an online store for home delivery of its products. Coca-Cola’s move is an industry and sector first in the fast moving consumer goods sector in the country to set up a standalone portal. This development coming from a giant like Coca-Cola sends very strong signal for marketers as well as agencies working in the digital – especially in the mobile advertising space.

     

    As the smartphone usage in India rises, the internet consumption, as a direct corollary shows an upward movement. The smartphone consumption brings along with it the platform to introduce differentiated mobile media offerings that offers massive reach, unique ad placement, and impactful ad formats which augurs well for the mobile advertising industry.

     

    India finds itself in a unique space as far as mobile internet opportunity is concerned, all the variables for a successful equation are in place for this to happen. Starting from the cost of network access and handsets is going down, wireless networks are going up, and Indian consumers already display an insatiable appetite for digital services.

     

    Further, bypassing the personal computer experience and moving straight to widespread mobile access-simply makes sense for a large chunk of Indian users. It would sidestep a host of hurdles associated with delivering affordable internet services to a population that is geographically dispersed and relatively poor, in a country where infrastructure development has been an issue and reach of internet a topic thoroughly contested and debated across various forums.

     

    The Indian mobile Internet consumer:

    Numerically speaking:

    With more than 900 million cellphone connections, India is the second largest mobile market in the world after China. A recent report by Boston Consulting Group stated that the total number of internet users in India is expected to increase from 125 million in 2011 to 330 million by 2016. The report noted that, at present, around 45% of online consumers in the nation use only the mobile to access the Internet. This is expected to increase to 60% over the next three years.

     

    Even though typical Indian consumers have limited Internet access, they have a remarkable appetite for digital content. In fact, they consume an average of 4.5 hours of it daily across offline channels such as television, DVDs, and CDs. And what is really remarkable in this growth story is the fact that use of mobile to access internet has been on a constant rise in the country. A whole segment of business has grown around retailers essentially operating as physical iTunes stores, charging fees to load music and other content onto mobile devices. The net result is that while India is a relatively poor country, more than 70 percent of its urban consumers already spend about $1 a month on content and services through offline, unorganized retail channels-a market estimated to be worth more than $4 billion annually (according to various industry reports)

     

    India has taken a giant leap when it comes to the issue of cost and ease of access to Internet services. The country has seen enough development in devices, networks, operating systems, and operator strategies. The average price of smartphones delivering much richer content, including video, has fallen rapidly over the past sometime. This price tag is significantly less than the cost of PCs.

     

    It has also been observed that mobile devices are considered easier to operate than PCs, and the ability to access websites with a single touch or a voice command. Indian operators have also fuelled this upswing as theyare innovatively offering innovative rate plans for mobile data use, addressing criticisms of the prices of data plans and their perceived opaqueness. Operators have played it smart by offering a very low ticket invitation plan to let the consumer taste the ease of mobile advertising.

     

    This is good news for advertising and marketing fraternity that we have a new medium that presents itself as a potent contender to expand and share the ad budget pie. Mobile advertising is becoming an essential component of the media mix with the digital advertising market in India was pegged at USD 300 million for FY 2011-12.

     

    Current Trends in Indian Market

    Without doubt, India is one of the most exciting markets for mobile adverting, and pushing it forward is the buoyant and increasing base of active mobile internet users. This base is growing and growing fast. According to various industry reports, the mobile userbase in India is all set to touch 200 million mark in a short time. But, the more interesting thing is that as much as 40 percent of these mobile internet users have a single access point, that is, their mobile screens. Since, the mobile penetration in the country still remains a bone of contention, apps are playing an important role in improving the numbers of these mobile internet users.

     

    Developers will find out innovative ways to marry in-app purchases and smart advertising:

    Internet access largely based on mobile apps presents a major window of opportunity for smart and non-intrusive monetisation. Developers will have to take urgent action to monetize their app user base by plugging into telecom-billing for transactions and to create better and stronger mobile advertising solutions. Companies need to up the game be it is though better editing, visual merchandising or marketing.

     

    India being a nation of multiplicity, regional content will do a lot of good for the future of mobile internet. It should be presented in new ways: voice and single-touch mobile-Internet access are essential. Language content will be particularly instrumental in overcoming illiteracy and a lack of familiarity with the Internet.

     

    Mapping consumer’s mobile lifestyle and targeting a better reach

    Mobile internet usage will throw up a mine of data that will allow the advertisers and marketers to become even more aware about the personality and choices of these mobile netizens and offer them better apps and bundled advertising and monetisation opportunities.

     

    This would also allow the producers of good and services to leverage the power of m-coupons merged with hyper categorised offers backed by solid data. This will allow the bringing together of advertising, monetary transaction and distribution platforms on a single hand held device.

     

    A more edgy and smarter brand planning

    Coming of the mobile platform into being will eventually force brand custodians to offer more engaging and custom made campaigns on mobile. The message will have to blend seamlessly with that on other media while still maintaining its ability to remain sleek. Agencies can adopt new approaches to developing concepts, pricing, and measurements of effectiveness specific to the medium

     

    Slicing the mobile ad pie finely:

    Coupled with more edgier brand planning and a robust measurement system, the mobile ad pie may be divided more smartly based on language preferences, region – mobile advertising has the opportunity to move beyond just subscription and service based model to a more localised and customised ad selling platform.

     

    Minting the mobile money

    Regulators and service providers will have to find out more acceptable and safer ways for people to carry out monetary transactions on their mobile phones. Things like shopping coupons coupled with apps may be able to deliver the next level of experience and comfort for the shopper on mobile. We can already see that a lot of smart e-commerce players have already redesigned their portals in a mobile friendly way.

     

    The concept of m-wallets really need to take up and offers a lot of space to manoeuvre for both the customer and the seller.

     

    Challenges:

    It is time advertisers moved invested in the medium

    While the hope of a mobile boom is still high, advertisers are still experimenting with the media and this devote a miniscule budget. The revenue from mobile advertising is not keeping pace with the mobile penetration levels in the country and that leads to a crippling effect on the initiatives and innovations that are required for the medium to grow bigger and better. Various industry estimates place the share of mobile advertising at a tenth of the overall digital advertising spend of $400 million (about Rs 2,180 crore ). For the dominant players this is a cause of worry.

     

    Where is the measurement:

    Since, the ad share is low, innovation and dedication of all the stakeholders is also low at present. Advertisers right now cannot figure out how effective a mobile internet campaign is.” Most of the top advertisers in the country devote nearly only 5% of their entire ad budgets for mobile ads.

     

    The pain of absence of any robust measurement in the mobile advertising space is further causing these low budget for the medium. These low budgets stem also from low conversion rates for mobile ads where the percentage of users who go beyond just clicking on an advertisement to completing a transaction is not growing.

     

    New medium demands newer ad formats:

    To make both the customers and brand custodians hooked to the mobile advertising, it is high time that agencies really rake their brains and offer better ad formats that are non-intrusive while being effective at the same time. The newer formats have to be in sync with the mobile browsing experience.

     

    Educate the customer:

    Another major issue is the need to continuously engage and educate the customer about the various possibilities that mobile internet can offer as India has a huge potential in terms of a growing customer experience. E-commerce is expected to be a major driver to further provide pace to Indian mobile internet story. Therefore, the need is to build customer trust. Indian consumers still need a lot of weaning away from cash transactions and need to learn to rely on the reliability of online payment options.

     

    That is the only way how the huge potential residing in the India’s hinterland can meaningfully contribute to the growth of India mobile internet story.

     

    Infrastructure still a challenge:

    Lack of infrastructure has often been touted as one of the major roadblocks in uptake of digital medium in the country and this issue still has been the case running it for digital advertising and advertising on mobile. Though mobile operators have a far better reach compared to the pure play broadband penetration. However, low uptake of 3G hasn’t helped the cause of digital advertising and impedes the growth of mobile advertising in India.

     

    Conclusion:

    With the introduction of low price and durable smartphones in the Indian market, internet access has got a higher penetration and a new meaning especially to the youth of the country. Still, a lot of ground needs to be covered by all the interested parties – the government, the developers, the agencies and the manufacturers of products and services have to constructively work on this opportunity that promises a lot.

     

    Hemant Jain is Senior Vice President and Head, Domestic Business at Hungama

     

  • New Zealand took home the most awards (10), closely followed by Australia with 9 and China and Japan both with 6. India and the Philippines shared fifth slot with four metals each

    4 Indian entries win at 2013 Digital Asia Fest

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital marketing agency bagged two silvers for Tata Docomo, Interactive Avenues won a Silver for eBay and PHD India bagged a Bronze for Hindustan Unilever.

     

    These were the four winning entries from India at the 2013 Digital Asia Festival Awards which honoured the best in Asia Pacific’s digital marketing.

     

    Led by jury president Jason Kuperman, Vice President of Omnicom Digital for Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, the jury awarded a total of 47 winners from a shortlisted 80 pieces of work. They have given one platinum, 13 gold, 14 silver and 19 bronze awards across 26 categories. The much sought after platinum award was given to DDB Group Sydney for ‘TrackMyMacca’s’, their iPhone App for McDonald’s Australia.

     

    Speaking about the entries and the standard of work, jury president Mr Kuperman said, “The work that won the platinum and even the gold winners were campaigns that represented digital at their heart and were able to solve a problem in a way that traditional communication cannot. The strongest work had really good craft, design, a good level of creativity and was able to solve a problem and deliver real value”.

     

    New Zealand took home the most awards (10), closely followed by Australia with 9 and China and Japan both with 6.

     

    The Digital Asia Awards 2013 Agency of the Year Award, given to the agency that has amassed the most points across all categories, was presented to Colenso BBDO New Zealand.

     

    Commenting on the awards, Terry Savage, Chairman of Lions Festivals says, “What has emerged from the awards is a sense of the regions’ ability and drive within the digital market. The winners are truly deserving of their awards for their stand-out pieces of digital marketing.”

     

    The winning work is now available to view on the website at www.digitalasiafestival.com.

     

     

    Category Award Agency Advertiser Campaign Title
    Search Silver Interactive Avenues eBay There’s always a first time with eBay
    Display, Banners etc Silver ibs Tata Docomo Hyper Personalisation – The World’s CRM Powered Personalised Web Banner
    Digital Media Innovation Silver ibs Tata Docomo Hyper Personalisation – The World’s CRM Powered Personalised Communication Platform
    Loyalty Campaign Bronze PHD, India Hindustan Unilever Good Life Club

     

    2013 Winners by Country:

    COUNTRY TOTAL
    New Zealand 10
    Australia 9
     China  6
     Japan 6 
     India 4 
     The Philippines  4
     Singapore 3 
     Malaysia 2 
     Thailand 2 
     Hong Kong  1

     

  • The firewalls have been broken as HR functions realise how social media can be a great ally to attract talent, connect with teams

    Social Media finds its use in corporate HR

     

    By Priyanka Sangani

     

    When Marriott International announced it was opening a new Courtyard by Marriott property in Bilaspur, it got over 300 CVs through its Facebook page. The page was launched just a month ago and already has 1.1 million likes.

     

    A few months ago, Godrej Consumer Products started using Yammer, an enterprise social networking site, not unlike Facebook. What surprised Sumit Mitra, head – group HR and corporate services, the most is the rapidity with which employees caught on to it, irrespective of age, location and hierarchy. It is rapidly emerging as a platform to share best practices across the business, and has now been rolled out across the Godrej Group.

     

    Cisco Systems has brought down its usage of placement agents from 50% to less than 5% of the total people hired over the last four years bringing down recruitment expenses by over Rs 30 crore a year, while L’Oreal India saved on 93% of its recruitment costs last year by using social media.

     

    Look closer and you realise that these aren’t stray examples. From a time when Indian companies instructed their IT departments to put in firewalls to block access to all kinds of social media, they are now exploring how these sites can be leveraged. “We are past that stage where we debate the impact social media will have on productivity; you have to learn to channelise it creatively,” says Prasenjit Bhattacharya, CEO, Great Places To Work, India.

     

    Godrej first started experimenting with social media as an HR tool in July 2012 for Godrej Loud, its campus recruitment programme. “After the initial campus visit, all communication for this initiative was done through Facebook and Twitter. The benefits in terms of reach, cost effectiveness and productivity are significant,” says Mr Mitra. Apart from the tangible cost incurred in flying people across the country multiple times, there was a high hidden cost in terms of management time and productivity. The company has now moved its entire summer internship (and campus recruitment) process to Facebook.

     

    Platform Play

    At L’Oreal India, the use of social media stretches up to mid-management positions as well. Mohit James, director-HR, says that the company has its own company page on LinkedIn and has hired for over 20 senior level positions in functions like IT, marketing innovations and development through social media platforms: “The hiring process becomes a lot more open, cost effective and has a faster turnaround time. Using social media allows you to reach out to far more people than you could have earlier, and it also gives them a chance to see what the brand is all about before they even apply.”

     

    While a number of companies have signed up with Microsoft’s Yammer or are simply using Facebook for their online communities, for those with the tech expertise and inclination, building your own platform is always an option. At HCL Technologies, MEME was the result of a group of enthusiasts who went ahead and created an internal social networking platform despite feasibility concerns from the IT department. With over 80,000 active employees, this is now an integral part of the communication process at HCL. Prithvi Shergill, chief human resource officer, HCL Technologies, says, “The company is present in 31 locations and this is a convenient way to reach out to everyone.” There are special interest pages and the human resources department even uses it to get people’s opinions on policy changes before actually rolling them out.

     

    One big reason why social media is gaining acceptance as an effective communication tool for companies is the entry of the digital natives into the workforce. Over 60% of the employees at Cisco are under 30. The company uses Webex Social, its own social networking platform for all internal communication, including buying and selling things. Subash Rao, senior director – human resources, Cisco Systems says, “It is essential to reach out to employees in a manner that they are most comfortable with. So with most people spending more time on their phones, we’ve ensured that Webex Social and Cisco Jabber, an instant messaging service, are both accessible on the mobile.” The company is now in the process of shifting static intranet pages like blogs to this platform which will make the exchange far more interactive.

     

    “While traditional channels continue to exist we are increasingly finding that our audiences prefer to consume information at their own pace. Moreover, given the dynamic nature of our business employees feel the need to connect informally in addition to connecting formally with their peers,” says Microsoft India’s head of human resources, Rohit Thakur. In August, Microsoft created a special employee microsite using SharePoint for their annual kick-off meeting. “The microsite provided our employees with the facility to register for the event, learn about the agenda and logistics and comment on the topics covered in the meeting. We also used the microsite to poll our employees about their feedback. This will help us design next year’s event in line with the audience needs. All this was possible due to enterprise social technologies such as Yammer, SharePoint and Lync. I also strongly believe the engagement during this meeting helped us drive significantly better business momentum during the quarter,” says Mr Thakur.

     

    Mr Bhattacharya, who has observed various companies up-close says, “Social media is an enabler and allows a multi-dimensional view of the organisation as against the earlier unidimensional view where the conversation was restricted to job description and compensation. Whether you like it or not, social media has an impact on the perception of the organisation. If you are smart about it, you will allow access and use it to promote discussions and dialogues on the company and the brand.

     

    Godrej for instance tried using blogs earlier but with limited success given that the degree of interaction was far lower. “We were looking for a platform to connect employees across the world where we could have a free flow of ideas without hierarchies,” says Mr Mitra. So, if a distributor has run a successful promotion in a small town, he can post details and pictures within minutes and share his experiences. Earlier this kind of knowledge exchange would have taken a few months. It helps that the senior management is fairly active on this platform as well, with Godrej Consumer MD Vivek Gambhir ensuring that he spends at least 30 minutes a day on it. Mr Mitra himself is a part of various groups related to HR and people management.

     

    Last year, Polaris Financial Technology launched its own enterprise collaboration portal, Octopus, which primarily functions as a project management platform. Employees have access to all the details related to the project they are working on, but what sets it apart from other such portals is that it integrates various other social networking features into itself. “The site facilitates sharing of knowledge through the technology wikis and design wikis, and also provides a platform to ask questions. Chances are that someone else may have already encountered the problem you are facing and has a solution, so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” says Sashi Mohan, CIO and CTO, Polaris FT. The company also has a popular video sharing channel, KTube which it uses to share videos on a wide range of issues, not just related to technology.

     

    However, using social media to communicate with your employees, or as a recruitment tool, isn’t necessarily idiot proof. “While finding people may have become easier, a recruiter needs to know how to engage, network and harvest a talent group and not just use social media as a search engine. LinkedIn is more than a platform to acquire talent; it is a medium to build candidate consideration and employer branding as well,” says HCL’s Mr Shergill. Cisco has a separate page for campus recruitments where it gets the alumni from these institutes who are working at Cisco to talk about their experiences as it builds a far stronger connect with potential employees. The biggest challenge, says Mr Rao, is that most companies still don’t take social media very seriously. “You need to have a dedicated resource monitoring social media. If activity levels on your page lag, it has an immediate fall out or impact on people’s interest levels.” This is also perhaps one of the biggest challenges of using social media – constantly updating it with relevant information. While it definitely helps cut down on the deluge of emails and brings in a lot more democracy to the communication process, companies need to ensure that they are providing meaningful -and not distracting- content.

     

    Marriott International launched its dedicated jobs and careers page on Facebook as a result of the traction they were getting from (potential) employees on their hotels page. In addition to job postings, they also update the page with excerpts from Chairman Bill Marriott’s blog and employee success stories. Gurmeet Singh, area director of human resources-Indian subcontinent, Maldives, Marriott International says, “Attrition in this sector is high at about 35% so it’s useful to employ non-traditional methods of sourcing. Besides, the generation is also such that you can reach them more effectively through social media.” A clear indication of how seriously the company takes its social media initiatives is that it has fairly detailed corporate and regulatory guidelines on how to use social media. These have been in place for three years, but are constantly evolving. Prasad Iyer, cluster ecommerce- India, Malaysia & Maldives, Marriott International, says that this is a double-edged sword. “While you want to reach out to people externally, you have to manage expectations internally as well. At the end of the day, it’s a social platform and cannot replace the existing professional systems you have.”

     

    Mr Shergill echoes this sentiment adding that it’s primarily an enabling mechanism and you cannot devote all your energies to it. Then again, there will always be topics that won’t generate the kind of interest you want in these forums and at such times, it’s best to revert to email or face-to-face conversations. It’s also important to ensure that the posts don’t get offensive or aggressive.

     

    Going ahead, while a lot would depend on how these particular platforms themselves will evolve, most companies are working towards moving their e-learning initiatives to social media. Another trend that’s rapidly gaining traction is gamification. L’Oreal has been using an offline game Brandstorm globally for two decades now, and has recently introduced two online games, Reveal and RU HR? The company tries to recruit about a third of its managers through these channels. While RU HR? requires participants to deal with real human resource situations and develop an HR strategy, Reveal is aimed at non-marketing professionals who can get online and participate in say a discussion on supply chain issues and solve a problem to move to the next stage. James says that the benefits are twofold. “Not only does this expose people to L’Oreal, but it also allows the company to assess them in terms of brand fit based on their reactions to various stimuli.” This is followed up with an actual interview since there’s always the danger that it could be a group of people playing the game as one candidate. “The two most important benefits of gamification are crowdsourcing and collecting powerful customer data. Crowdsourcing helps in solving complex business problems where participants bring in a fresh perspective to solve tricky situations. As these games require comprehensive research and study, it also helps the organisation to collect important customer data and statistics,” he says.

     

    One thing that is clear is that as just as social media influences how we communicate in our personal lives, it will have a bearing on how we communicate at work and companies would do well to adopt it, albeit with caution.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Kyoorius FYIday will host a series of intimate, interactive and informal knowledge-sharing sessions and workshops as against the umpteen conferences, panel discussions or just plain speeches by unprepared biggies attended by disinterested industry folk.

    After Designyatra, Kyoorius launches FYIday series with Laura Jordan Bambach

    By A Correspondent

     

    After holding nine editions of the Designyatra very successfully, Kyoorius, a not-for-profit initiative by Mumbai-based Transasia Fine Papers, has announced Kyoorius FYIday. Under the aegis of the ‘For Your Information day’ or ‘FYIday’, a series of seminars, workshops and training sessions will be held periodically across different cities. The platform explores a more intimate, interactive and informal knowledge-sharing format as against the umpteen conferences, panel discussions or just plain speeches by unprepared biggies attended by disinterested industry folk.

     

    Rajesh Kejriwal

    FYIdays will be led by specialist speakers on a defined subject and with a limited attendance of around 100 people for a seminar to 25 people for workshops. To be flagged off in New Delhi on November 28 at Gurgaon and on November 29 in Mumbai, the first edition will feature Laura Jordan Bambach,  President of D&AD & Creative Partner at Mr President – on the UK’s most celebrated boutique digital agencies.  She will share her insights on ‘Digital Campaigns: Building Brands & Memories Through Digital Media’ Said Ms Bambach: “After the overwhelming response at the Designyatra, I am glad to return to India for the Kyoorius FYIday and share  greater detail, insights and interact more directly with Indian designers and  marketers alike. Commenting on the initiative, Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO, Kyoorius said, “The Kyoorius FYI Days is focused on events that are much more specific, engaging and informative. Through this initiative we hope to help bring the local community together to share knowledge, exposure and learning. Over a period of time, FYIdays would have speakers from specific disciplines – Typography, Broadcast Design, Publication Design, Strategic Planning, Strategic Branding, Retail design, Architecture, Product

     

    Design etc – with seminars, workshops and training sessions held through the year and across India – leading up to the annual design conference – Kyoorius Designyatra. Registrations close on Monday, November 25 at www.kyoorius.com/fyiday/

     

  • Leo Burnett's Indigo Consulting blended latest trends in design and technology for simplified, jargon-free content

    Birla Sun Life MF gets Indigo to develop jaanotohmaano.com

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading mutual fund company Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund (BSLMF) retained Indigo Consulting for developing a platform for its recently launched investor education and awareness programme Jaanoge Tabhi Toh Maanoge. Indigo Consulting, a full-service interactive marketing and technology agency from the Publicis Groupe, developed the www.jaanotohmaano.com website that is an integral part of the BSLMF initiative.

     

    Ajay Kakar

    Speaking about the website Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer, Financial Services – Aditya Birla Group said, “Jaanoge Tabhi Toh Maanoge is not just a mere campaign. It is a platform that we can own through time here after. The JTTM website which captures facets of mutual funds now becomes the hub that we will continue to enrich with a lot of informative nuggets, life facts and trivia to make it sticky with viewers.”

     

    Vikas Tandon, Managing Director, Indigo Consulting added, “Most content around this topic is perceived to be fairly technical. The biggest task for us was to offset this notion and present mutual fund concepts in a manner that is high on simplicity and visual appeal.”

     

  • The Japanese government has announced the launch of a new project to aid global promotion of the country's culture, including its anime, video games and cuisine

    Japanese firms advertise on cartoon shows to convey that its brands stand for high quality

    By Shambhavi Anand & Writankar Mukherjee

     

    Why would an imaging brand like Canon advertise its products on cartoon show Doraemon? Canon’s executive vice-president Alok Bharadwaj said the current generation of children aren’t as aware of Japanese electronic brands as previous ones and, hence, the use of the popular cartoon characters for a rub-off effect.

     

    Doraemon, Hello Kitty and Ninja Warriors are popular among Indian children (and their long-suffering parents) and better known than Japanese staples such as Sony and Panasonic or even Toyota and Honda. “In a certain sense, these equities have become large when compared to age-old brands,” said Satyajit Sen, CEO of media buying company ZenithOptimedia. “However, both (sets of brands) operate in different spaces and that should also be taken into account.”

     

    The development reflects the importance of ‘soft’ power, as exemplified by the spread of pop culture icons, such as the Doraemon anime series. “Japanese cartoons have broken the monopoly of western world characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck,” said Mr Bharadwaj. “That same message that Japan stands for high quality will only grow in the kids and boost other businesses.”

     

    Recognising this, the Japanese government has announced the launch of a new project to aid global promotion of the country’s culture, including its anime, video games and cuisine. The Cool Japan funds will start with Â¥50 billion (about $500 million) in backing from the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry combined with 10 billion Yen from a range of companies. For PlayStation maker Sony Computer Entertainment, the popularity of cartoon characters such as Doraemon and Hello Kitty has led to a jump in sales of both gaming consoles and software, said Atindriya Bose, country manager. “The rate of adoption increases when a cartoon character becomes popular,” he said.

     

    The popularity of Japanese anime in India has persuaded an increasing number of companies such as Maruti Suzuki, Honda, GlaxoSmithKline, Hindustan Unilever, and Samsung to use the blue robotic cat Doraemon to promote their products.

     

    That’s where those long-suffering mums and dads come in. Parents tend to watch cartoons since the children are glued to them, said Chitranjan Dar, chief executive, foods, ITC. Which is why Hindustan Unilever promotes Surf Excel detergent and Tresemme hair care on cartoon programmes.

     

    A 2012 study by Cartoon Network showed a majority of parents watch television with their kids. After serials, cartoons are the most preferred genre for parents, ranking higher than news channels. About 75% of parents spend time watching TV at least five-six times a week with their children. This number is even higher, close to 80%, for parents of younger children. Channels say that in spite of substantial growth, the genre is under-monetised, with 7% viewership and just 3% of revenue share.

     

    According to the industry that buys advertising time and space on television and in print, more than 8% of national viewing time – more than that of news channels on most days – brings a horde of advertisers to children’s channels. According to TAM data, Ninja Warrior, Shin-chan and Doraemon have the highest ratings among shows meant for children across channels that cater to them.

     

    Some children’s channels earn close to 50% of their revenue from advertisers targeting adults.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Population First and Social Access will host the day-long workshop in Mumbai

    Gender sensitivity workshop on ad & media frat on Nov 29

    By A Correspondent

     

    Population First, a communication and advocacy initiative for a balanced, planned and stable population, will conduct a workshop titled ‘Men are from Venus, Women are from Mars’ on tomorrow (November 29) at Mayfair Banquets, Mumbai, addressing the media and advertising fraternity. The workshop aims at exploring gender similarities and appreciates the differences, specifically in the workplace and this workshop is designed and managed by Social Access. Population First has been doing these gender sensitization workshops for the A&M fraternity on a regular basis. Last year, a similar event was held in Mumbai along with the Interntional Association of Advertising (IAA, India Chapter).

     

    The workshop will include two panel discussions – one that will highlight the changing fabric of the Indian workplace, and the other, which will explore the idea of self-regulation in the development of the messaging and the possibility of a mechanism to gauge the neutrality and sensitivity of the messages. (*See Disclosure).

     

    (Disclosure: MxMIndia editor-in-chief Pradyuman Maheshwari is one of the panellists in the second discussion)

     

  • The findings of the survey were revealed as part of the workshop 'Men are from Venus, Women are from Mars' hosted by Population First on Saturday, November 30

    Only 50% of companies have a committee to address sexual harassment: Social Access study

    By  A Correspondent

     

    > 88% of employees feel that senior management genuinely support equality between men and women employees

    > Yet 60% of women feel their commitment to the organization would be questioned if they opted for a flexible work arrangement.

    > Only 50% of companies have a committee to address sexual harassment

     

    These are a few of the findings from a survey on ‘gender equality in the workplace’ conducted by Social Access Communications among 130 mid-to-senior-level professionals from the advertising and media fraternity in Mumbai during October, 2013.

     

    The findings of the survey were revealed on the day of the workshop ‘Men are from Venus, Women are from Mars’ hosted by Population First, on November 29 in Mumbai. The workshop is supported by UNFPA and designed and managed by Social Access Communications.

     

    The survey stated that while 88% of employees feel that senior management genuinely supports equality between men and women employees, more men than women respondents believe so.

     

    “By and large the advertising industry treats men and women fairly, and that is a heartening piece of news. However, there is significant scope for improvement as far as sensitivity towards sexual innuendo is concerned,” said Lynn de Souza, the founder of Social Access Communications, the knowledge partners for the workshop.

     

    23% of men and women feel organizations make assumptions about people’s capabilities based on gender, age, pregnancy and family commitments.

     

    As far as flexibility of work is concerned 60% of women feel their commitment would be questioned if they opted for flexible work hours, while only 35% of men feel they can actively consider a flexible work option. 55% of people feel they have not been encouraged to apply for other positions in the organization.

     

    “This stresses the fact that both men and women should benefit from greater flexibility in the work hours,” pointed out Ms de Souza.

     

    The most disturbing statistic that came out of this survey was that only 50% of companies in the advertising and media world have a committee to address sexual harassment, even though it is now required by law. Nine per cent of employees, both men and women, have faced inappropriate sexual contact at the workplace. Further still, 17% of people have observed someone else in the organization being sexually harassed. Interestingly, men have responded that they are ‘uncertain’ about what construes sexual harassment.

     

  • After a Facebook post by publisher and activist Maheshwer Peri and some outrage on the social network platform, man-of-many-parts Suhel Seth announces he will return the Rai University doctorate that he was awarded last week

    Facebook posts get Suhel Seth to give up Rai doctorate

    By A Correspondent

     

    He is one of India’s best known faces on television panel discussions. Suhel Seth, ad man-turned-communications consultant and managing director of Counselage, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Rai University last week.

     

    But  a Facebook post by Maheshwer Peri, Careers360 CEO-promoter and may we call him an ethical education activist, got him to give it up as there was outrage over Mr Seth’s accepting the recognition from a university which, as Mr Peri put it, “is most likely to abuse it to reach out to ignorant students”. “How I wish our celebrities acted a bit responsibly and did their homework,” Mr Peri’s post on Facebook added.

     

    There was much outrage after this initial post on Facebook with many people casting aspersions on Mr Sethi’s credibility. Almost an hour after the initial post by Mr Peri, Mr Seth reacted with:  “I had no clue…will return this immediately” and later added: “In fact even at the damn convocation I said this was a fraudulent event…I was told that this was a legit university and so on… but I agree… it is a fraud and I will have nothing to do with it…”

     

    After Mr Seth’s pronouncement, there was an expression of delight at the decision. “Bravo Suhel Seth,” exclaimed one post.

     

  • Yahoo's Big Idea Chair Awards India 2013 has marketing boss Nitin Mathur on the jury panel. We think it's a cause of concern given doubts being raised on a possible conflict for the coveted awards

    Not a good idea. Yahoo’s Nitin Mathur on Big Idea Chair Awards India 2013 jury

    By A Correspondent

     

    Yahoo! India announced the jury for the 2013 edition of the much-awaited Yahoo Big Idea Chair Awards, and we aren’t too happy about the composition. While it is the web company’s prerogative on who should constitute the jury, we don’t think it’s a wise decision to have its own marketing head being part of the judging process. As per the names sent to MxMIndia, we found a mention of Nitin Mathur, Senior Director Marketing – India and South East Asia at Yahoo occupying pride of place, albeit at the end of the list.

     

    While we do not question the credibility of Mr Mathur, who is a seasoned marketing professional having worked with Yahoo since 2007 and earlier with Sapient, Times Internet, Indiainfo.com and Sahara India, the presence of the organiser which is also a media vehicle brings in questions of a possible bias creeping in. Potential winners of the Big Idea Chair award may also be advertisers of the Yahoo platform and therein lies the conflict.

     

    The Big Idea Chair is a coveted initiative from Yahoo that recognizes the power of creativity, innovation and imagination within the online advertising community, notes a communiqué. The awards, which were brought to India in 2005, would earlier be part of the Advertising Club’s Effies Awards. From 2010, they have been held independently.

     

    Other than Mr Mathur, the entries will be judged by a panel including well-known names from the world of advertising and marketing:

    > Aman Malhotra, Head Digital Marketing – Mobile Business, Samsung India Electronics Ltd

    > Archna Vyas, RM – Media and Corporate Communications, SEA, Reckitt Benckiser

    > Anita Varma, Director, Digital Driftwood Pvt. Ltd

    > Atit Mehta, Media Services Manager, Hindustan Unilever Limited

    > Karl Gomes, Chief Fanatic, Fanatics

    > Kartik Iyer, Co-founder & CEO, Happy Creative Services

    > Manu Jain, Co-founder and Managing Director, Jabong.com

    > Nikhil Rungta, Chief Business Officer, Yebhi.com

    > Praveen Gupta, Head – Digital Business, Tata Docomo

    > Ranajit Ghosh, Head of Media,PR , Digital operation and Brand Essenza Di Wills, ITC Personal Care

     

    The winners of the Yahoo Big Idea Chair Awards India will be announced sometime this month. For more information on Big Idea Chair, check www.bigideachair.in

     

     

  • The IAMAI survey also indicated that Flipkart was the most frequented e-tailing site followed by ebay, Snapdeal and Jabong

    40% preferred COD in their online Diwali shopping: IAMAI

    By A Correspondent

     

    While credit card usage took precedence over cash in online shopping during Diwali 2013 as per a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the COD delivery is not insignificant at 40 percent giving an indicator of confidence levels over sharing vital credit card info online. The dipstick study conducted from October 30 to November 4 in 15 cities, to understand the online shopping trends during the festive week, finds that majority of the transactions took place through credit card, debit card or net banking. The survey finds that 59% of the respondents used credit card to shop online, while 28% used debit card, reflecting the maturing of consumer behaviour in urban markets. 40% of the respondents however, mentioned that they opted for cash on delivery as their payment mode. A total of 3480 responses were received to the survey.

     

    Source: IAMAI, 2013

     

    The survey also revealed that electronics and accessories topped the list of items for online shoppers during Diwali. 41% respondents said they purchased travel tickets online, while 39% said they purchased garments.

     

    Source: IAMAI, 2013

     

    29% of the respondents mentioned that they purchased products in the range of INR 3000 to INR 5000. Interestingly, 20% of the respondents said that they purchased goods worth more than INR 10,000 and above. A mere 5% said they purchased goods worth INR 100 to INR 500.

     

    According to the survey, Flipkart was the most frequented e-tailing site followed by ebay, Snapdeal and Jabong. Among the booking sites, IRCTC was the top followed by Bookmyshow, MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Cleartrip.

     

    Source: IAMAI, 2013

     

    According to the survey, 31% of online shoppers were from Delhi NCR followed by greater Mumbai with 22% respondents. Bangalore was third with 12% respondents.

     

    Source: IAMAI, 2013

     

  • Upclose with Laura Jordan Bambach and Tim Lindsay who were in for Kyoorius FYIdays and to evangelise the D&AD awards

    Kyoorius about Digital & D&AD: Interviews with Laura Jordan Bambach & Tim Lindsay

    Laura Jordan Bambach and Tim Lindsay with Rajesh Kejriwal, CEO and founder, Kyoorius

     

    Laura Jordan Bambach, Executive Creative Director of Mr. President and president of D&AD, and Tim Lindsay, CEO, D&AD,  were in Delhi and Mumbai last week for Kyoorius FYIdays and to evangelise the D&AD awards. The Kyoorius FYIdays is going to be held on a regular basis, presented by &pictures in partnership with CNBC-TV18’s Storyboard (Disclosure: MxMIndia is a media partner of the event).  The 100-plus audience in both cities (who paid Rs 1500+taxes) to get there is testimony to the success of the effort.  Good content ensures good, interested crowds, says Rajesh Kejriwal, founder-CEO, Kyoorius, matter-of-factly. Pradyuman Maheshwari and Johnson Napier caught up with Ms Bambach and Mr Lindsay at the Mumbai leg of Kyoorius FYIdays and a D&AD-hosted evening for the ad frat.

     

    It’s harder to win a D&AD award than any other award: Tim Lindsay With 4G, I hope to see a real shift to digital: Laura Jordan Bambach
    D&AD needs no introduction to the creative fraternity in India. But, as with the craft that it evangelises, the only way to move ahead is to refresh and grow. Earlier this year, it inked an agreement with design specialists Kyoorius to conduct the Kyoorius Awards. And now D&AD has yet again partnered with the Rajesh Kejriwal-led Kyoorius to promote the coveted D&AD awards.

    Tim Lindsay, CEO, D&AD was in Delhi and Mumbai to meet with the industry and reaffirm its commitment to give back to the industry, especially the young, in terms of providing quality training and education. Lindsay underscores the difference that D&AD brings to the table as a not-for-profit initiative.

     

    We hear D&AD has big plans for India

    Yes we do have big and important plans for India. We are not going to get everything done overnight; it’ll take us some time.

     

    But India is Cannes-country

    Well, everyone is a Cannes-country but we are different from Cannes. If I could put it crudely, the money that we generate we put it back in the industry mainly supporting new creative talent coming into the industry. While Cannes is a wonderful effort – and I love going there –it takes money out of the industry and invests little through training, seminars etc but D&AD is there to stimulate support and inspire creative excellence.

     

    It’s not that D&AD is new to Indian creatives. You’ve been getting a fair number of entries for your awards. So what’s going to be different?

    Yes we have been getting entries from here. Where India is concerned I’d like to share some personal experience here: I used to be president of Lowe Worldwide and while Lowe and Lintas were going through that global merger and when I was coming here in India for the Board meetings, i started to get a very healthy respect for high quality of Indian advertising particularly the stuff that was intended to change behaviour of a product…but given the level of talent and quality of work from design and advertising I think India is under-represented at D&AD so we would like more D&AD jurors, we would like more entries from India…

     

    R Balki, you know, doesn’t send entries to awards. Will you convince him to take part in your award show?

    I doubt that will happen but I have a healthy respect for his standard of work. The work that they have done for Lifebuoy is fantastic.

     

    What’s the one thing that should convince the fraternity to send in more entries to D&AD

    D&AD operates at a number of levels. In terms of the awards, it is the global yardstick for creative excellence. We are not ashamed to say that it is harder to win a D&AD award than any other award; the quality and integrity of the judging process at D&AD is better than any other awards show and what makes that the case is the quality of jurors that we have. We have around 200 fantastic people from around the world and about 60 per cent from outside the UK… so to be awarded a Pencil and be judged by that set of people is a huge accolade. The more important thing is that we reinvest all the money we make from our award show and the commercial activities. And because our awards income, which is the main part of our revenue, comes from all over the world including India we want to support creative industries in those places from where we derive our income.

     

    So from the entries that you have been getting from India thus far, have you reinvested in India?

    Not in the direct sense but more in terms of setting a standard and being an inspiration to the creative industry we have. But we have made some changes in the last 2-3 years where we have a D&AD Foundation and we want to spend the money we make in the most effective way to support creative excellence around the world. Also, there are key centres of excellence and India is in the process of becoming a great creative superpower of the future.

     

    In terms of the number of entries, what is the growth that you expect from last year?

    Through our partnership with Kyoorius and because of the footprint they have in the design and advertising industry, we would certainly help raising awareness of D&AD and that will certainly help having a positive impact on the awards entries. We should be happy to get over 500 entries as a start this year.

     

    The Indian ad industry has been faced with two issues for long: one is scam ads and the other one is plagiarism. How do you handle that at D&AD?

    The plagiarism thing is easier to answer. A lot of ideas get borrowed and sometimes ideas come up simultaneously in different places and have no connection with each other. What we do to tackle plagiarism is we choose the jurors and we do not interfere in any way and they make their own decisions. Also, at D&AD we do not have to give an award to any category so usually we do not give awards in 2-3 categories because the jury does not find the standard of work high enough.

     

    Scam advertising is a completely different thing. The questions we ask are: is it for a real brand, is it for a real client brief, did it run (in case of advertising), did it sell (in case of design) and did the client pay for it. The things that we think are not right we research and if the jury expresses any doubt on a piece of work,  we check it out further. I think the level of awards for scam ads has gone down in the past 5-7 years because the shows have been more stringent and systematic about checking things out.

     

    Does the D&AD award show also entertain creative entries from media agencies?

    The twin-core of D&AD when it started was advertising and graphic design and it has expanded to include other digital categories and also product design, retail design etc.

     

    What has been your experience with the Kyoorius Design Awards this year?

    I have only heard good things about the Design Yatra and I think we can surely help as we know how to run an awards show be it the entries, judging process etc we can only make it a smooth affair. I am sure that it would grow only further.

     

    Would you like to look at organising an advertising award here in India?

    Yes, certainly. We want to.

     

    How soon?

    It is still early days to talk about that.

     

    		 Laura Jordan Bambach has been to India before, but so impressed was she in her last visit to the Kyoorius Designyatra, that she chose to come in for the inaugural Kyoorius FYIdays initiative held in Delhi and Mumbai.

    Bambach, Executive Creative Director of Mr. President and current president of D&AD, spoke on how brands can survive in a digital world. To drive home the point, Bambach provided examples and ideas that companies could adopt to make their way into the hearts of their consumers.

     

    MxMIndia caught up with the digital diva and got her to share experiences and digital mantras that brands can be adopted here in India. That, and also the possibility of getting her agency Mr. President to launch operations in India. Excerpts:

     

    There’s so much being said about how digital is changing the way companies are going about doing their business. Is it for real? Is digital really as big as we think it is? Or just a lot of talk and less action?

    I think in terms of the actual consumer behaviour and in terms of the changes it brings about in the society ,it is very real and also very powerful. I think what entities like Twitter and others have done is that they have changed the equation between consumers and brands. If you love a brand, you almost expect to be a fan of the brand and you expect the brand to participate in the conversation and communication that happen on the platform…

     

    But ‘likes’ are not necessarily a true indicator of what’s going on out there, is it?

    Yes it’s not but if someone has a like on Facebook and if they are a real fan of the brand and if they are really talking to you about things that they find interesting and you are building a community then it’s great. Like, for example, I worked on a big project for a telecommunications company and they did a fantastic television commercial where you could chose the outcome for the main characters involved on Facebook…they ended up getting around 1 million likes because the story was really engaging for people watching the television ad. But they found it impossible to translate that into conversation for brands because the people that liked the television ad aren’t necessarily the same people that buy their products so it’s not used in the right way as it should.

     

    One of the reasons that there is not much work happening on digital is because agencies work on commissions. And while they make more money from television commercials which they can’t out of work on digital. Do you think this is the reason why there isn’t much evangelisation of the medium and there’s not much quality original creative work?

    I think what you’ve said is right and the budgets we have to work with for a digital campaign compared to those for television commercials always shock us, but I think there are great examples of integrated work where big budgets are going towards connected campaigns with social and digital thinking being at the heart of it.

     

    While we talk of integrated work the reality is that most of the work is being done for the medium of television which is then redirected to digital…

    It’s the common way of doing things, but it is the wrong way. If you can unlock the digital strategy first and not the medium then it could work. So it does not matter what medium it is expressed in but I think having a digital strategy at the heart of a brand is what is going to make it more successful.

     

    So we shouldn’t feel too bad about the state of digital affairs here in India. It’s essentially the same problems that are faced in the more developed markets like Europe as faced here.

    Yes, it’s kind of the same but we shouldn’t feel too bad about it.

     

    Is it also an issue of talent, especially in digital agencies that are not able to find good talent…

    Sometimes you need to have the good old-fashioned thinkers and planners, which is not impossible to find. There are plenty of agencies out there who are more digital-centric and who have great talent to handle everything.

     

    What is your view on the kind of work that gets produced out of India?

    In general I think the work out of here is just fantastic. Digitally I think we are not seeing loads of work atleast at D&AD from India. I think with the rollout of 4G internationally I am hoping to see a real shift to digital…

     

    Talk of performance at award shows and India has put up a bad show where digital is concerned be it at Cannes, Spikes or the recent Digital Fest. What according to you should the agencies be doing to spruce up their digital tally?

    What I have observed elsewhere from small agencies is that it takes a disruption between the agency-client process. You will find some really good integrated digital work coming out of countries like New Zealand and Australia and it has to do with their attitude of being different.

     

    But given that India has long history of storytelling and folklore still doesn’t put us up there in terms of creative wizardry…

    Yes I agree. I think India’s design work is comparable to some of the best that there is…even traditional advertising. It’s just the digital category has not produced enough top-notch work as yet…

     

    If you were to offer pointers for marketers or agencies on what the approach they should have towards digital, what would they be?

    Firstly, they need to find stories that people want to hear not what they want to tell. Also, how you launch something is also important as what you launch so you need to have a good strategy on how you are going to do that. Be brave; look two things at social for – insight and inspiration. Digital agencies need to channelize their focus on strategy as if they are to become big in the future then they should have proper strategic direction or else they’ll end up becoming production houses.

     

    Lastly, when do we see Mr. President in India?

    Yes, we are working in that direction but I cannot disclose the finer points on who is going to be our partner or things like that. But it’ll happen very soon.