MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • The month-long safety campaign 'Total Quartz Safety Month' – a joint initiative from 92.7 Big FM and Total Oil India, comes to a close with the very successful Total Quartz Safety Run across 21 citiesStory

    BIG FM’s Total Quartz Safety Month concludes

    By A Correspondent

     

    The month-long safety campaign ‘Total Quartz Safety Month’ – a joint initiative from 92.7 Big FM and Total Oil India, comes to a close with the very successful Total Quartz Safety Run across 21 cities of India. Garnering an outstanding response, the campaign reached out to 2 crore+ audiences across the 21 station powerful radio network of 92.7 Big FM. For the run itself, each city saw excellent local support from local traffic authorities, celebrities, NGOs and the local populace seeing over 30,000 people from across the country taking to the streets in support of this campaign. With an appropriate cause, superlative reach and mammoth support, the Total Quartz Safety Run is by far one of the most successful radio campaigns.

     

    With over 50 NGOs ranging Lions Club, Rotaract Clubs, Alert, SoS Care India, Yuva, CareForYou Foundation, Humanitarian Welfare and Research Foundation and NCC, and some of society’s well known faces like singers Sophie Choudhary and Shilajit, actors Hrishita Bhatt, Payal Rohatgi, Ramya Barna, Chirag Patil, Shekhar Singh and Sufi Sayyed, wrestler Sangram Singh, and sportsmen Raju Ganguly and Shanku Guha, along with the top notches in traffic authorities, the month long event has managed to successfully create awareness for the extremely serious cause of safe driving habits. With topics which ranged from dangers of drunken driving to talking on the cell phone when driving, to wearing the seat belts, safe driving tips and more, the response on air was overwhelming, with opinions pouring in from celebrities, experts, people who have been involved in drunk driving cases to just people who had a story to tell.

     

    Speaking about the Total Quartz Safety Run, a 92.7 Big FM spokesperson said, “This is yet another step in our endeavour of positively impacting the lives of listeners. We are extremely happy with the results of this mammoth exercise, across 21 cities of India and the difference which we have been able to create along with our partners Total Oil India. The response from authorities, NGOs, dignitaries, celebrities and the local populace in each of the cities has been overwhelming and extremely encouraging. Through this and each of our other initiatives, we continue to live our brand line Suno Sunao Life Banao.”

     

    Elaborating further, Mr B Vijay Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director, Total Oil India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Being in the business of manufacturing products which help keep your vehicle safe, we emphasise o the importance of road safety. Driving or riding a vehicle on the road is a responsibility and should be taken very seriously. We are happy with the results of the campaign and are happy to have partnered 92.7 BIG FM in this cause.”

     

  • It's Children's Day, and a cross-section of stakeholders help us in this genre check of kiddie TV

    TV for Children: Growing, and how!

    Representational photograph (Kids participating in laughter therapy session in in Mumbai… Photograph by Fotocorp)

     

     

    By Ananya Saha

     

    There was a time, not so long ago in the 1990’s, when the Sunday slot of Mahabharata and animated series meant family viewing or kids genre. Kids were allowed to watch TV with parental permission. And today, kids genre in television media is the third largest after Hindi GECs at 27.6 per cent and Hindi movies at 11.9 per cent according to the FICCI-KPMG 2012 report.

     

    Anita Nayyar

    Acoording to Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media, India & South Asia, the advent of Discovery Channel in 1999 saw a segment of kids watch it for education or interest. “Star World in 2004 had programmes like ‘Full House’ starring kids, but it was really post-2006 when kids became dominant. Their growing viewing needs and dedicated channels for them were addressed by various slots on various channels and some dedicated channels like Cartoon Network, Pogo, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Hungama, etc,” she points out. However, there is no denying the fact that there is not enough programming and print magazines for the young adult making them an underserved audience.

     

    Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP and Business Head, Sonic and Nickelodeon India concurs, adding, “In terms of getting their daily dose of entertainment, this TG needs to flirt with options available across multiple platforms – be it TV, online or print.”

     

    Sashwati Banerjee

    Apart from television content, on the print content, Sashwati Banerjee, Managing Director, Sesame Workshop Initiatives India PLC added, “Books / print is another matter. This is not a generation that is growing up with print awareness and it is reflected by the recent ASeR report which showcases that children in Grade 5 are reading at Grade 2 level. There is a serious crisis in education, and reading, comprehending and fluency are critical indicators to children’s lifelong learning. There is a large number of publishers in India, but very few publish children’s books and a still smaller number specialize in publishing children’s books. Recent reports have indicated that ebooks have a higher growth potential. However, wider access is still an issue as these books require high end mobile devices (cell phones and tablets) to access and use.”

     

    Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Catering to infants to kids upto eight-years, Galli Galli Sim Sim has evolved in multiple ways since it’s inception in 2006. It evolved the format from the classicSesame Streetmagazine style to a more narrative ‘block style’ based on research that children in India are more used to stories or narration. Considering that access to television is limited, Galli Galli Sim Sim produced a radio programme, that is being aired by 10 community radio stations to reach populations with critical messages around health, hygiene, literacy and girl child education.

     

    Talking about Nicklodean and Sonic, Ms Jaipuria, said that Nickelodeon reaches out to 11 million kids pan India. “With media spends on kids channels approximately in the range of Rs 270cr, It is slated to grow further due to a slew of new channel launches in FY 13, she asserted. She also said that with the launch of Sonic in 2011, the investments in the kids genre has grown.

     

    According to a recent E&Y study the children’s genre has emerged as the largest viewership segment after India’s general entertainment channel (GEC) sector. The segment comprised 18.3 per cent of the viewership among 4-14 year olds in 2011, as compared to 16.9 per cent in 2010. The study also states that advertising revenue generated by the children’s genre totalled Rs 2.4 billion in 2011, up from Rs 2 billion in 2010. This is attributed to the growth in the viewership in the children’s genre from 43 million in 2010 to 48 million in 2011. This segment focuses on its target audience through a total of 14 channels in the age groups of 2-4 years and 4-14 years, comprising the majority of the market, as well as 14-18 years.

     

    The market for kids programming is huge, and the audience in this segment is growing. No wonder then that this November Zee launched ZeeQ, a 24×7 edutainment channel for kids aged 4-to-14-years. There are talks and suggestions of a DD Kids given Doordarshan’s reach. Kids seem to be pampered in the true sense and it is positive pampering.

     

    Even as the category sees more entrants trying to woo the young audience, in terms of advertising pie, this genre ranks after general entertainment and sports. “We’ve seen a range of products and services making the kid the hero – from financial like insurance say an ICICI Smart Kids with the kid at the dinosaur museum or Bank of India with the kid putting his piggy bank in the locker to a flipkart.com with kid avatars of the elders contemplating a buy; simply because they are either targets or influencers and their starring role has the potential for breaking clutter. We’d estimate the kids ad-market between Rs.200crores to Rs.260crores. The pioneer in using kids to demonstrate pester power was Maruti Suzuki’s Esteem report card commercial,” elaborated Ms Nayyar.

     

    With evolving societal structure as well as keenness on kid’s development for the future, Ms Nayyar predicts that “edutainment” will be the biggest driver in the category growth. Kids today are also more exposed .They are more amenable to instruction through entertainment. According to her, the vehicles that will drive the growth will be television, print and online, with online gaining lead.

     

    “Word-of-mouth in this category has really been underestimated but here is a core audience for this marketing phenomenon,” said Ms Nayyar.

     

    Challenges

    Content creators and television channels for kids are increasingly experimenting with applications for cellphones and low-cost tablets and migrating content from a traditional linear medium such as TV to non-linear mediums to expand access to populations that need it the most as well as to enhance and enrich learning experiences for children. Notwithstanding the fact that the advent of digitization in India will be a key driver to the growth of the genre in the near future, mobile devices rather than the television set will be the primary driver to engage children in the future. “We’re seeing this change in theUSas well,” said Banerjee.

     

    But the genre is facing very many challenges even as it looks at growth. As Ms Jaipuria points out:

    – The kid’s category is still hugely under-indexed despite the category contributing 8% to viewership on an All India Level at 4+ age group. TV adsales are under 2% for this genre. Hence investments in the business are under pressure.

    – The fragmentation in the kid’s category is increasing by the day with over a dozen players existing currently. This makes it possible for the broadcasters to offer differentiated content across genres and platforms.

    – Kids as an audience are a tough bunch to target. They do not consume print and outdoor as primary consumers. A large chunk of the marketing investment is on BTL activities such as School Contact Programmes, Retail activation, direct consumer contact using multiple on-round vehicles which have an extremely high cost per contact.

    – Distribution and carriage remains a challenge for this category.

     

    Also, as Ms Banerjee explains, children today are “exposed to all kinds of programming especially in single TV homes. There is also extremely low awareness amongst parents on what children should view and what they should not. There is an imperative need to provide rating guidelines as well as awareness on how media affects children.”

     

    While the experts believe that the greatest challenge is the creation of original content, or even good adaptation, quality is a major issue. There needs to be a very clear understanding  of the sub-slice segment categories to contain the spill to international programmes, CDs and the online world as also increase the share of viewership of the media vehicle.

     

    Says Ms Nayyar: “A lot of content and marketing is done and created for the Sec A and B but we miss a whole other India which invests heavily to educate its kids to give them another destiny. Here, affordable print with in-school promotions with reach beyond the creamy layer would create a whole new bottomline. Also, regional is a huge emerging market; again content with localization and language are opportunities and challenges. Content as always will be both the game player and game changer!”

     

    The growth might also come from other content and entertainment avenues such as gaming. The only challenge is to tap into the potential with the right content.

     

  • Will it be a cracker or a damp squib? Advertisers are optimistic and observers pin hopes on the men in blue as they take on England in cricket until end-Jan

    Enough backers for payback series?

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    The India-England cricket series that kicks off from November 15, 2012 is being billed as a revenge or payback series by most scribes who follow the sport closely. Be it the media, analysts, critics or even players/commentators, virtually all are going gaga about how the current series would be the one to watch out for as India will be fighting to prove its mettle as being the best in the business. The fact that the men in blue were thrashed badly by the Englishmen the last time they played each other makes the cause even more compelling. But is the prevailing sentiment as positive as is being made out to be, or will it be a tough ask for the channel as it begins its quest to draw in more audiences? And, more importantly, what is the response that can be solicited from the advertisers who of late are opting to stay aloof from their association with the sport?

     

    To begin with, the good news is that the tournament begins at a time when most of India is in the mood for celebration what with the festival season already underway. So while partying, visiting relatives and relaxing would be top of mind for most it would also mean being able to sit at home and watch Sachin Tendulkar or Virendra Sehwag get India off to a roaring start. And that’s what is leading everybody to believe that the Series will at least kick off on a high note.

     

    Ayaz Memon

    Anticipating a huge response, senior journalist, sportswriter and now commentator Ayaz Memon is hopeful that the current series will be a success. As Hindi commentator for the current series, Mr Memon sounded positive: “I feel the pressure is more on India as they have to prove a point on the home turf. The fact is that India hasn’t lost a home series since 2004, and also the record since the last 12 months hasn’t been good so the pressure is squarely on the Indian team. Also the team is not in peak form as can be inferred from their recent performances across other tournaments. So one can expect the Indian team to put up a compelling fight, to say the least.”

     

    Backing up his claim, Mr Memon said that the channel has been doing a good job promoting the series. “I will be doing commentary for Star in Hindi and I can tell you that they have done a good job in building up the tournament and promotion-led activities. Even on the print platform the exposure has been pretty good. But we will have to wait and see how it pans out over the next few weeks. But I am sure that the viewership will be higher than the previous Test matches. The fact that you have Sachin Tendulkar playing in the series along with Yuvraj, Harbhajan and also Kevin Pietersen from England etc, I think it will be a marquee series.”

     

    Balakrishna

    Backing Mr Memon’s optimism is PM Balakrishna, COO, Allied Media, who said, “From a cricket and sentiment point of view, I feel people are looking forward to the series. It is being touted as the Grudge Series going by the promotional activities that are being carried out by the broadcaster. The audience really wants to see India thrash the English. So based on the hype, I expect to see more crowds at the stadium and also more ratings for the broadcaster.”

     

    But while the initial sentiment seems bright it is definitely not easy predicting results before the start of the tournament. The prediction becomes even more difficult when the series begins with a Test match and not ODIs or T20 that can guarantee some decent TVRs. When asked about the possible ratings that can be expected, Mr Balakrishna said, “Test matches have never been about ratings like ODIs or T20. But maybe because of the fact that this is a long holiday week, one can expect high ratings at least from the initial match itself. While it would be difficult to hazard a guess, I would be happy to go with an average TVR of 2-3.”

     

    Kartik Sharma

    Kartik Sharma, Managing Partner, Maxus India was more forthright, saying, “Any cricket tournament involving India is always unpredictable but exciting. As Indians, we obviously want our country to win but a sport like cricket is always difficult to predict. If you ask me, the sentiments are purely driven by the results of the first few matches. And going by our ability to digest defeat, we Indians don’t really fare well in that department. By that I mean that if we lose a match or two, we tend to divert our attention to other sports or television properties. But then again, this being a festival/holiday season I expect at least the first few matches to have a decent viewership as people will be at home and thus would be able to watch the matches. By nature, Test matches anyway do not draw in more audiences compared to what the T20 or ODI matches do. So I am expecting an average TVR of 2+ for Test matches and an average TVR of 4+ for ODIs.”

     

    Mahesh Ranka

    Presenting another factor that could guarantee ratings or dismiss them, Mahesh Ranka, CEO, Indus Sports asserted that it may even depend on the opponent playing against India: “If it is Australia or even England, there could be some decent ratings expected, as these teams are ranked higher compared to what a Bangladesh or Zimbabwe series would draw. The thing about England is that we lost to them badly when we went there so hopefully, we can look forward to avenging that result through the current series. And if India happens to win the first match, you could expect more audiences (in the range of 20-30 percent more on the base figure) who will come in for the second match, and so on.”

     

    But in the overall analysis, Mr Ranka is of the opinion that the current series will not have anything great to offer in terms of viewership, at least as far as the Test matches go. “The ratings that Test matches have thrown up in the recent past kind of puts everything under the scanner. Though people (particularly media) tend to hype any tournament, Test matches have never really managed to draw in the audience (viewership). That’s because people have their own mindset behind watching any match and advertisers will always have to move along taking into account the risk of losing out on viewership.”

     

    On the interest shown by advertisers, Mr Ranka said, “From an advertiser’s perspective, one has to always look at why cricket is typically watched: it is brought for reach. There are two things to that. Firstly it is the festival season where advertisers have monies to spend and whether it is cricket or no, they will eventually spend at this time of the year. The rates that could be expected for Test matches in the current series would be in the range of Rs 50,000 to 1 lakh for ten seconds.”

     

    Taking a diplomatic stand Mr Sharma said, “The advertiser sentiment depends on the packages that are being offered by the broadcaster and there are various deals in store. But I wouldn’t be able to comment if the rates are more or less compared to the previous tournaments.”

     

    Presenting a bullish outlook, Mr Balakrishna said that from the advertiser’s standpoint, the sentiment seems pretty positive. “Against the backdrop of digitization, one genre that is the least affected always is cricket, as the sport is not always about being CPRP-led but also about hype and other such factors. So I do see a positive resonance to the whole series from an advertiser standpoint. Also, I am sure that the channel would have factored in the tough economic scenario and therefore would have come up with a competitive package for the advertisers, making it a win-win for both of them.”

     

    So whether it will be a winner or a dampener, what the India-England Series is managing to do is turn the spotlight back to cricket. Which is a good move considering that the recently held Champions League tourney didn’t go down too well with audiences. The icing on the cake would be if India manages to whitewash the team from England. TVCs have been saying that India “Angrezon ki band bajaayega” – that is, will thrash the English. Music to our ears or hitting the wrong notes? The game will tell.

     

  • WATConsult has won the social and digital duties of Godrej Nature's Basket, the gourmet retail venture of the Godrej Group

    WATConsult wins Godrej Nature’s Basket’s digital and social mandate

    By A Correspondent

     

    Social media strategy consulting agency WATConsult has won the social and digital duties of Godrej Nature’s Basket, the gourmet retail venture of the Godrej Group.

     

    The account has been won recently and the execution for the same is slated to begin soon. With the addition of Godrej’s Nature Basket, WATConsult extends its current portfolio and takes the total number of clients to 55+.

     

    Commenting on the win, Rajiv Dingra, Founder & CEO, WATConsult said, “I am delighted with the win of the new account. Since our inception in 2007, it has been the constant endeavour of WAT Consult to create path-breaking creative campaigns that not only make an impact digitally but leave a mark across media. Godrej Nature’s Basket is a leader in its respective industry and by providing excellent quality innovation through strategy, technology and quality of management; we hope that we deliver exceptional performance.”

     

    Mohit Khattar, Managing Director, Godrej Nature’s Basket said, “Social media plays a pivotal role in building strong consumer engagement for Godrej Nature’s Basket. Understanding the importance of this platform, it was integral for us to get on board an agency that can help us drive our vision towards being a preferred world food destination. We look forward to a long and sustained association with WAT Consult.”

     

    Currently, WATConsult manages various brands from the Godrej Group. These brands include Godrej Appliances, Godrej Locks and Godrej Security Solutions.

     

  • Why do we still persist in thinking that channel brands can be all things to all people?

    Paritosh Joshi: Channel brand or Programme brand?

    By Paritosh Joshi

     

    In my early days in broadcasting, I would frequently wonder about this very question, mainly because I saw plenty of media weight put behind individual shows and nearly nothing on the channels that housed them. This may not have been strange by itself but for the suggestion I heard frequently about how shows would perform differently depending upon the ‘platform’ on which they ran, said platform connoting the channel.

     

    The issue came back earlier today when I read about the sale of advertising inventory for Super Bowl XLVII topping $ 225 million. Small explanatory note for those not particularly interested in American sporting traditions. The Super Bowl is the Championship game of the American Football tournament conducted by the NFL, the National Football League. The 47th finals will be played on February 3, 2013 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Lousiana. It is the biggest sports event by far of the US sports calendar and attracts major advertising campaign launches including the legendary launch commercial for Apple’s Macintosh computer during Super Bowl XVIII, January 22, 1984. (Stop already. The punters are getting impatient).

     

    Here’s the interesting twist. The event does not belong to a single broadcaster but, since 2008 when Fox carried it, actually rotates between Fox, NBC and CBS in a three-year cycle. XLVI was NBC, XLVII will be CBS and with XLVIII, it will be back at Fox. None of this rotation makes the smallest whit of a difference to Super Bowl.

     

    Cast your mind elsewhere. KBC has run on two major networks. “Friends” and a number of other marquee shows have sometimes been on two networks at the same time albeit with different seasons. Audiences have supported these shows with consistent enthusiasm. There may be a small ‘platform’ effect but in the main, these shows seem to be agnostic to it.

     

    In the meanwhile, another phenomenon is playing out in the world of television, the effective disaggregation of channel content. DVRs are an important spur to this but even sans recorders, consumers also enjoy access to their favourite content online. Piracy it undoubtedly is, but try saying that to a consumer who searches Google for Balika Vadhu Episodes and finds over 4 million results on YouTube.

     

    So how do channels remain brands in the future? Give up the obsession with “General” anything. Brands are about a single-minded commitment to delivering a particular consumer benefit. If you are a comedy channel, well then, deliver comedy. Golf? Cooking? Action? You get the point. These are the kind of brands where the viewer can return to time after time with certainty of finding a particular type of content that she is looking for. Not to mention that these channels don’t need to depend excessively on high cost, big brand shows so long as the content delivers the goods.

     

    The entire evolution of Cable TV in the US, in massive contrast to the legacy Networks: ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox; is in how they have moved to carving up the market along ever tighter benefit propositions. I am particularly fond of a Fox Sports specialized channel, Fuel TV. It does content on only seven extreme sports: Skateboarding, Snowboarding, Wakeboarding, Motocross, Surfing, BMX Biking and UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). None particularly expensive to source, all with small, committed and substantially overlapping audiences. Just the kind of audience-content combination that can build a tight brand-consumer relationship. And what a wonderful job Fuel TV has done to achieve just that.

     

    So why do we still persist in thinking that channel brands can be all things to all people?

     

    Paritosh Joshi has been a marketer, a mediaperson and a key officebearer on industry bodies. He is developing an independent media advisory practice. He can reached via his Twitter handle @paritoshZero

     

  • M R Srinivasan, General Secretary, Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association (CMCOA) speaks to MxM India about how digitization is progressing, or not progressing in Chennai

    Jaldi 5 with M R Srinivasan: Chennai could need 3-6 months for digitization switch-over

    01. The court has extended the sunset date. How is the situation in Chennai post the extension?

    In Chennai currently, there is a big confusion. One day we went to the court and got interim order stay and now the case has gone to the Bench, which will have the hearing on 19th. Secondly, despite our letters to MSOs and MIB from our end, none of them are importing the set-top boxes. SAB said that they will be able to import boxes in 21 days provided the LCOs deposit advance money. But some of our members have already deposited two lakh rupees as advance last month. They are yet to receive to boxes. We will be submitting the dealing to the Court on 19th.

     

    There is uncertainty also because Arasu cable has not been given license yet to provide STB, and once it is given the license it will conquer the market. So, the existing MSO and licensed players are not sure of importing the boxes yet. As they may get wiped out once Arasu gets license.

     

    Four out of eight players who have got license, only three have installed head-ends.

     

    02. What are your expectations from the Bench on 19th?

    Well, they should extend the deadline. And if the extension is given, I&B Ministry should take views from all stakeholders. And all the information should be furnished clearly for and by stakeholders in front of MIB. Verification should be done if the said number of STB have been installed and activated. It should be made known as to how many boxes have been imported and how many of it installed by every player, since the imported boxes are usually smuggled in Middle East or Sri Lanka.

     

    03. How much of Chennai has been digitised, according to you?

     

    Right now, as per active status given to broadcasters by SAB it is 1.25 lakhs. As per our calculation, the active status is 1.3-1.5 lakhs only. DTH players are claiming that they have sold seven lakh connections. Most of these boxes, almost about 300-400 per month, are smuggled out of Chennai. In Chennai, about three-four lakh of these claimed DTH connections are active. We require about four million boxes in Chennai metropolitan area, which also covers the outskirts of Chennai.

     

    04. Even if the extension is given, how much time would Chennai require to reach 100% digitisation?

    Chennai would need 3-6 months to switch completely to digital signals. It is well-known that analogue signals are still on in Delhi and Mumbai where 100% digitization has been claimed. In Delhi and Mumbai, boxes are available aplenty and still they have analogue signals. Here in Chennai, we do not have STBs. It is important that analogue signals are not switched off.

     

    05. How does analogue benefit the stakeholder?

    We have 4G spectrum, but TRAI has not wiped out 2G. With digital, 10-15 analogue channels should be available. Not everyone can afford a STB. One should also think of low-income households.

     

    As told to Ananya Saha

     

  • The Newsnight programme screwup has provided the perfect veil for an attack on the BBC and what we are witnessing is a coordinated assault on its reputation and output

    Peter Mukerjea: Never let a crisis go to waste…

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    The UK media the last week has been dominated by the events at the BBC. Yes – the BBC. First, with allegations, made by over 450 people, who have now come forward after three or four decades, on a TV celeb – the late Jimmy Saville, a one-time Radio Jockey and TV show presenter at the BBC. They have accused him of sexually abusing them as children when they had come across him during their visits to the BBC.

     

    Several other TV celebrities have been arrested and bailed in this connection and a public enquiry has been commissioned by the Government. The enquiry is headed by a respected news man called Nick Pollard – former Head of Sky News who was also later appointed by me as a consultant / advisor to NewsX in its early days, for over a year. Nick’s report and findings are now awaited.

     

    Meanwhile, last week, the very recently (barely two months ago) appointed Director-General of the BBC resigned as a result of a poorly and inaccurately produced daily News programme, Newsnight, where there were accusations saying that a Lord McAlpine had, many years ago, sexually abused children who were under the care of the state at the time. The news programme producers had not bothered to check their facts and simply went ahead and named him, and of course he denied it. As a consequence of this level of inaccuracy and irresponsibility, the Director General resigned and a few others have been suspended pending further internal enquiries.

     

    Now, we’re talking of the BBC. One of the most respected, most watched news organizations in the world and they got it wrong and did not have enough measures in place to ensure that the story they ran with was checked for accuracy. And the man at the top took immediate responsibility and stepped down. That certainly wasn’t the case for the head of another news organisation where phone-hacking was conducted on an industrial scale.

     

    Barack Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel once said, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste.” These words have been heeded by all those people who are detractors of the BBC and find its existence to be completely against their free-market, anti-regulation ideals. They are certainly not allowing this situation at the BBC to go to waste. So they exaggerate the sins at the BBC and simultaneously minimize the crimes of their friends at another news organization currently under investigation, even though the police have now identified more than 4,000 people as possible victims of phone hacking, including the families of dead soldiers, relatives of people killed in terror attacks and a murdered schoolgirl.

     

    The media seem to be getting polarized – those for the BBC and those against.

     

    The Newsnight programme screwup has provided the perfect veil for an attack on the BBC and what we are witnessing is a coordinated assault on its reputation and output. The BBC is by far the biggest and best broadcaster in the world and to try and delegitimize or dismantle the BBC based on two screwups by the same news programme is grossly unfair given that over the years there have been a series of award-winning programmes watched by millions around the world – and consistently, year after year. Figures released by the BBC confirm that over 96 percent of the people in the UK consume BBC programmes each week.

     

    An Ofcom (the office of the communications regulator in the UK) survey in Nov 2011 stated that 59 percent of the people said the Beeb was the news source they most trusted. The next was ITV News at 7 percent! “No newspaper reached 2 percent,” the reporters added.

     

    I believe that the BBC, despite its many faults, should be protected from its right-wing enemies so as to preserve high-quality, non-partisan public service broadcasting. Earlier in the week gone by the Director-General was publicly taken to task by no other than one of his own employees in a one-on-one radio interview. Which other news media company would entertain that? Not many, I would think. The BBC have accepted their mistake, lost their DG and paid an out-of-court settlement of 185,000 Pounds (almost Rs 1.5 crore) to the falsely accused Lord. All of this goes some way to preserve its reputation and dedication to honest, fair, unbiased, incisive reporting. Maybe this crisis will enable the BBC to emerge, as a better, bolder and more robust news organization that what there is presently.

     

    I also wonder how many news organizations in India would take this approach – pay a fine, take the rap and follow up diligently with an internal enquiry if they report on a story where the reported facts are wrong and have been aired unchecked. Not many, I don’t think – at least not in a hurry. But let’s live in hope that maybe, just maybe, one day in India we will get DD to a similar state of play and be seen by the world as having a world-class broadcaster which reaches out to the free people of the largest democracy in the world.

     

    Either way, it’s a good reality check and a lesson in not letting a crisis go to waste.

     

    Peter Mukerjea, celebrated media professional and former CEO of Star India, mulls frequently for MxMIndia.com

     

  • Monica Tata, GM – Entertainment Networks, South Asia,Turner International India has put in her papers

    Monica Tata quits Turner. No replacement for now

    By A Correspondent

     

    Monica Tata, GM – Entertainment Networks, South Asia at Turner International India, has put in her papers. A Turner official confirmed the development and informed that she will be with the company till the end of the year. Ms Tata’s next destination is not known, and it is learnt that her position may not be filled in for the moment.

     

    With over 23 years of experience, Ms Tata has had an excellent record of increasing sales, effective negotiations, P&L analysis and strategic implementation of business operations. She joined Turner in 2004 after a 12-year stint at Star India and earlier at the now-shut Sunday Mail. She is Honorary Secretary of the International Advertising Association, India Chapter and is part of the Indian Broadcasting Federation’s proposed Indian Television Festival core organizing committee.

     

    Ms Tata was recognised as ‘Next 30’ most powerful women to look out in 2010 and was also adjudged as one of India’s hottest young executives of the media industry in 2009 by Business Today magazine and adjudged amongst the Top 50 influential women in media, marketing and advertising by Impact magazine earlier this year.

     

  • New Delhi Television Limited has also launched NDTV 24×7, NDTV Good Times and NDTV India in Malaysia

    NDTV expands global reach; launches in Malaysia

    By A Correspondent

     

    Expanding its reach in the international markets, New Delhi Television Limited has also launched NDTV 24×7, NDTV Good Times and NDTV India in Malaysia. The channels are part of Asia Broadcast Network’s (ABN) new platform in Malaysia and available in a combination of basic as well as especially dedicated NDTV branded packages.

     

    NDTV channels have long been available in more than 18million homes in 75 countries internationally and this agreement marks the first time that three of NDTV channels will be available in Malaysia. Each channel is the category leader in Asia’s largest pay TV market – India and this partnership with ABN will now see them become accessible in South East Asia’s largest pay TV market – Malaysia. Under its slogan ‘Access for All’, ABN aims to offer over 200 channels of news, education, entertainment, movies, sports and local programming, and has signaled plans to offer full triple play services such as video-on-demand, social TV and interactive gaming, alongside high-speed Internet and voice services over a hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network.

     

    The Head of NDTV Network Distribution & Affiliate Sales, Rahul Sood, said, “We are delighted to be part of the ABN platform and reaching new viewers in Malaysia. NDTV has been serving the Indian Diaspora across 75 other countries worldwide and we are glad that the 2million plus Indian community in Malaysia will now also get the chance to see some of the most iconic programs produced out of India. We hope the viewers of Malaysia will be pleased to be informed and entertained like our viewers in the rest of the world.”

     

  • Star Network's Bengali General Entertainment channel Star Jalsha, will be launching in the UK on Sky channel 808 on November 22nd

    Star Jalsha to launch in UK

    By A Correspondent

     

    Star Network’s Bengali General Entertainment channel Star Jalsha, will be launching in the UK on Sky channel 808 on November 22nd.

     

    ‘Jalsha’ is synonymous to entertainment and celebration in Bengali and it is indeed a matter of great celebration for the Star Network to launch Star Jalsha in the UK- making it the first South Asian regional channel to be retailed in the Sky Entertainment Pack, said KevinVaz, President and General Manager, Star Jalsha, speaking from his Mumbai office.

     

    Launched in Sept 2008 and rebranded in June 2012, Star Jalsha dominates the Bengali television ratings in India as the No.1 Bengali General Entertainment channel. With the launch of Star Jalsha in the UK – the Star Network expands its regional offering to the UK’s Bengali community from both India and Bangladesh.

     

    Yeshpal Sharma, Sr. Vice President UK & Europe said, “I share Kevin’s enthusiasm and am pleased to be part of history making Star Jalsha the first regional South Asian channel to be available on the Sky Entertainment Pack. We are very excited to bring Star Jalsha to our UK viewers and as always, our commitment to quality broadcasting will be our utmost priority.”

     

  • Bindass is all set to introduce its brand new daily show – Video Wars powered by Airtel

    Video wars from Bindass

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bindass is all set to introduce its brand new daily show – Video Wars powered by Airtel. For the first time on television Bindass is introducing an entirely new format that provides the contestants a big ticket to fame! With Video Wars, each of the contestants will be able to maintain a video dairy of their best candid moments… So it’s time to blog more and rest less with Video Wars, tapping the young and restless the show offers a sneak peek into the lives of five Young, Restless and bindass individuals!

     

    Expressing their thoughts on television, these funny, crazy youngsters will video blog their way into your television screens. The show will center around the lives of these individuals with a day-to-day video blog shot by themselves of the ‘happenings’ in their lives! These 5 contestants that will compete with each other to entertain you, and only if they succeed in holding your attention will they get to stay on show. The cards are in your hands as viewers! Jo tikega, wo jeetega!

     

    Every week, the least popular contestant will be voted off. The voting will happen across social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Viewers will get an opportunity to eliminate these individuals if their entertainment quotient lowers. The popularity of the contestant on the social media space and through the missed calls mechanism will determine the fate of each contestant on a weekly basis. The more number of ‘likes’, chances are that the contestant gets to stay longer. Whoever manages to stay the longest will win the ultimate battle of fame!

     

    Commenting on the new show, Nikhil Gandhi, Executive Director, Youth Channels, Media Networks Disney UTV, said “We are bringing User Generated Content to life on television for the first time in India. The show empowers the youth to showcase their talent and an opportunity to become famous as the most popular Video Star. This is a daily show format which will be extended online for viewers to interact with their favourite characters as they battle through their daily lives. This is the first daily reality show in the youth space.”

     

  • Extracts from the just-released 'The Elephants in the Room' by Anant Rangaswami

    Are suit-led agencies creatures of the past? And why AAAI must reinvent Goafest…

     

     

    Just a day after the vicinity was in grief over the Shiv Sena chief’s death, at Central Mumbai’s tony nightspot Blue Frog, friends and well-wishers of senior journalist Anant Rangaswami came in to witness (and celebrate) the release of the book ‘The Elephants in the Room – The Future of Advertising in India, 2016’. It was a simple event – emcee Karthik Iyer of Bengaluru-based Happy Creative Services made us chuckle with his wisecracks, Anant’s kids Rohan and Anya presented the first copy to his former boss and mentor Arun Arora (Chairman, Edvance and formerly President and ED, Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd) and finally a few words from Anant Rangaswami. For the rest of the evening, there were good spirits and food for company. The book surely asks some tough questions, and then puts recent history of the business in perspective. Our sub-140-character review: Unputdownable. If you’re in the biz of advertising, download now!

    To get a flavour of the book, we present two passages – one on suit-led agencies and the other on Goafest and why it must reinvent. Enjoy.

     

     

    The Elephants in the Room

    By Anant Rangaswami

     

     

    The very reason that suits ran most of the agencies in India till the late 1990s was due to a simple fact: the creatives didn’t care about, and didn’t know much about, managing a business and managing money. As a result, however talented and however critical to the business a creative was, he or she reported to a suit. It suited both well, during that time, till clients latched on to who, in the agency system, was the magician – and the answer was, ‘the creative’.

     

    [Creatives who aspire to head agencies must learn that, however painful it may be, they will have to gain more than a rudimentary understanding of accounts, of finance, of administration, of taxation. Currently, a number of agencies have suits as CEOs ONLY because the creatives fail at what are hygiene skill sets for managers].

     

    Ranjan Kapur perhaps saw this trend coming before anyone else. While he was clearly the head of Ogilvy in India, he saw the opportunity in leveraging the growing reputation and charisma of Piyush Pandey. During Kapur’s years, we saw the face and image of the agency change. While JWT (then HTA) had built a redoubtable reputation for their planning, by the late 1990s, Ogilvy was transformed into the most creative agency in the country as far as popular perception was concerned. Not just Ogilvy – it was Piyush Pandey who had become the God of Advertising Things.

     

    While Kapur pushed himself, cleverly, more and more into the shadows and pushed Pandey more into the sunlight, his contemporaries at the two largest competitors of the time, Prem Mehta at Lintas and Mike Khanna (and later Colvyn Harris) at HTA (to become JWT later), failed to notice what Kapur was up to – and why he was up to whatever they were up to. Mehta held on till he sold his stake in Lintas to Lowe; the status quo remains at JWT, and Ogilvy has, without a doubt, occupied the number one creative agency spot in India.

     

    Kapur, I would argue, saw the future and bet on it. It could not have been easy, at that time, to buck the trend and allow and encourage a creative to become the face of the agency. In hindsight, some of the most memorable advertising work in the past two decades have been on brands handled by Ogilvy – Cadbury, Fevicol, all the avatars of what is now Vodafone, and so on. All these resulted in glory for Pandey and a small amount of reflected glory for Kapur.

     

    But that was a small price to pay – the success of the agency, as far as Kapur’s boss Sir Martin Sorrell was concerned, was due to Kapur.

     

    Today, Lowe is run, whether you like it or not, by Balki. JWT is still run by a suit.

     

    It’s important, for many reasons, for the agency to be run by a creative. The foremost is that when it is apparent that a creative runs the agency, and is not just the head of the creative department, it sends a signal that the ‘environment’ will be more creative-friendly. It makes it easier to recruit and retain creative talent for the creative-led agency than for the suit-led one.

     

    It’s not that the only solution is to insist that a creative heads the agency. It could be in the form of the Piyush-Rane partnership (which was defined by Kapur’s formula), where the creative is the face of the agency. In Rane’s case, he has defined his job as one that will ensure that the environment allows Piyush and his team to focus on the creative product, while he looks after the mundane essential tasks such as finance, accounting and general administration.

     

    But make no mistake about it – the suit-led and the suit-as-the-face agency is a creature of the past. For a moment, let me get back to Salt, which is a new agency headed by a suit, Mahesh Chauhan. Why is Salt doing well, defeating my entire premise? Because, while Chauhan calls himself and sees himself as a suit, his clients and his creative colleagues see him as a creative. Chew on that.

     

    Take a look around you – at all the agencies headed by suits – and at all the agencies headed by creatives. Look at who is winning. Look at who is struggling.

     

    It’s not a surprise. As Sir Hegarty said, I’ll repeat, “How can we not have a creative person at the top of a creative business?”

     

    It’s time for the suits to actively push their creative heads forward and actively recede into the backgrounds. The creatives must be the faces of the agencies – otherwise the creatives will begin leaving.

     

    So will the businesses, as many have sadly learned.

     

    It’s not going to be easy, but it has to be dealt with, sooner rather than later. I told you, it’s an elephant in the room.

     

    A few days ago, my brother, JP Rangaswami, wrote in his blog: “Business is personal. It’s about relationships. It has always been so. Until we tried to forget it and concentrated on making money, not shoes. [As Peter Drucker said, people make shoes, not money]. Then, for a short while, business became not-personal.”

     

    In India, the entire advertising industry is about relationships. It’s personal. And, to paraphrase Drucker, in this business, you create communication, not money.

     

    ****

     

    The AAAI, in the current form, has become an elephant – a white elephant. Unless they change, there is no reason for them to exist.

     

    Which brings me to another elephant. The AAAI has given birth to it and, by some accident and aided and abetted by some office bearers (almost all heads of large creative and media agencies who convince their friends in media houses to sponsor it) it is still alive. The elephant is called Goafest.

     

    Speak to any event manager and tell him you want to do a major event in Goa in April – and he’ll tell you that you’re nuts. It is, verifiably, the hottest month of the year in Goa, with the average temperature being around 33 degrees C (high) and 27 degrees C (low). I’ve checked historic data to save you the time.

     

    Yet, from the time that Goafest was created, it’s been held in the first fortnight of April. Never earlier, never later.

     

    If you live in Mumbai, you’re tempted, every month, to run away to Goa and get away from the pressures of living in the megapolis. Every month except April – because not only is it hot, it doesn’t rain. March is alright, because it is cooler. May is alright, because it begins raining. April is a bummer, because it’s hot and humid.

     

    Yet Goafest is held every goddamned year in April.

     

    Why? Why? Why? When I first thought of the question, I was reminded of a lecture I attended when The Times of India, my then employer, sent me to a course at IIM Ahmedabad. The lecture was on the Toyota system, where ‘Seven whys’ would help Toyota employees on the assembly line arrive at the root cause of problems.

     

    Hazel Rogers from Australia makes the 7 Whys easy to understand.

     

    “The 7 whys is a technique that I believe was developed as part of the Toyota factory quality push, back in the mists of time. It’s since been taken from the manufacturing paradigm and used in IT quality theories. It’s a great method for getting to the root cause or at least one of the root causes of any problem. So it’s a great tool to use with EFT!

     

    What is it? Start with a problem. Keep asking “why?”, until you’ve gotten to where you can’t go any further, or you’ve found some interesting “hidden” thinking! You don’t HAVE to ask why 7 times precisely.

     

    For example:

    I’m procrastinating…

     

    Q Why do I procrastinate?

    Because I’m stuck on using the tools I have here (on the computer)

     

    Q Why am I stuck, when there people available to help me?

    Because I haven’t asked for help

     

    Q Why haven’t I asked for help?

    Because they will think I’m stupid, I should be able to figure it out.”

     

    I’m not going to the 7th question, as much as I didn’t need to when trying to figure out the answer to why Goafest is held in April.

     

    It’s held in April because the planning is appalling, so there’s little time to raise the money to afford Goa hotels in months with better weather.

     

    To give you an idea of what can be done with better planning, you need to look no further than another event held annually in Goa, Kyoorius Designyatra. Their 2012 edition was held in September; they’ve already announced that their 2013 edition will be held in August.

     

    As I write this, I’m certain that speakers are being spoken to, that hotel room prices are being negotiated and sponsors being contacted.

     

    Compare this with Goafest. Going by the history of Goafest that I can claim to be associated with (which is from the 2008 edition), it’ll be sometime in January 2013 before the AAAI management committee discusses the April 2013 event. Once they meet, and they decide on possible dates, they need to talk to The Advertising Club, the owners of the Abbys, the awards which are held at Goafest. Once The Advertising Club agrees, they will begin the process of contacting possible speakers – for whom, unlike Designyatra, they have no budget for. (They do pay for airfares when requested and for the accommodation within India). Ideally, they look for speakers who are happy to come to India at their cost – and that shrinks the pool of prospective speakers dramatically.

     

    It doesn’t help that speakers get notice of less than two months from the day the request is made.

     

    So this, then, is the product that is Goafest:

    1. On the Thursday, a meaningless Conclave ( I use the capital C to emphasise how AAAI views it), where the entry is by invitation only to CXOs and to the handful of marketers who are bullied into attending by their agency partners

     

    2. On Friday, the event is open to the public, and the bar is open as well. Kids loll around drinking and flirting (as I would if I was their age), while speakers like Dan Wieden, Sir Martin Sorrell, Sir John Hegarty, to name a few, are besieged by trade media for interviews in the burning April Goa sun.

     

    3. Speaker sessions start by around 4. Most of the kids are too drunk to attend; some have success with their flirting. It’s difficult to fill the seminar hall. All kinds of devices have been attempted, including a chance to win an iPod if you attend. So Scott Goodson of StrawberryFrog has an audience of less than 300, of the 3000 who are attending the fest.

     

    4. Friday evening sees the Media Abbys. Those from the creative agencies don’t care and they’re off to Martin’s for a piss up. The youngsters from the creative agencies continue to flirt. The media agencies win and lose, and there’s a piss up as soon as the bars open (inexplicably, they close during the awards presentation ceremony).

     

    5. Saturday morning sees most of the media agency executives leave. The bar is open, those who remain do the same as described in points 2 and 3 above.

     

    6. Saturday evening sees the Creative Abbys (during the presentation of which the bar is still closed).

     

    7. Losers bitch about the judging (admittedly, it was the least in 2012) but head for the bars once they’re opened.

     

    8. Some of the lucky delegates have sex with partners they’ve met for the first time in Goa.

     

    9. International visitors tell Indian trade media that they’re very happy with how their Indian offices are doing, even if their Indian offices are doing terribly.

     

    10. Sunday morning, all fall down.

     

    This is absolute rubbish. What the AAAI demonstrates, first by scheduling the event in April, and then by the content they create, is an absolute contempt for the intelligence of the average advertising professional in India. They have the temerity and the arrogance to call it the “Cannes of India”, much in the same spirit that Maharashtra’s chief ministers compare Mumbai to Shanghai.

     

    Unless the AAAI reinvents Goafest, it’s a downhill ride from here.

     

    The AAAI needs to re-focus on the premise of Goafest. To begin with, they’re trapped, by the very name of the festival, to hold the event in Goa. Goa has become, over the years, a very expensive destination – except if you live in Mumbai or Pune. To someone from Kolkata , Singapore and Bangkok are cheaper. At short notice, even in April, it could cost you a small fortune to fly to or from Goa at short notice. Ask Lodestar’s Shashi Sinha, who had to make a last minute change a few years ago and ended up spending Rs.18000 on a one-way ticket from Goa to Delhi on the Sunday after Goafest.

     

    Forcing the event to stay at Goa makes the festival exclusive and not inclusive. It is slowly becoming an annual ritual for the industry from Mumbai to take a few days off. We see a few hundred each from Delhi and Bangalore; from the rest of India, the number will be in the low double digits. Perhaps 10-15 from Kolkata, and another 10-15 from Chennai.

     

    It’s time to become truly inclusive, and start moving the festival around the country. That’s why Goafest traps you. For God’s sake, if the entire advertising industry cannot come up with a new name for an advertising festival, it’s a little sad.

     

    (In the short term, you can be sure that next year’s attendance will take a beating, thanks to the sluggish market and the pressure on margins).

     

    Learn from Designyatra that content is King, not the entertainment. I’ve attended two editions of Designyatra in Goa and one in Mumbai – and all three have had superlative content. Content that keeps you riveted to your seats and taking notes. Speakers you want to walk up to and hug once they’ve finished. Conference halls that are packed to the rafters.

     

    And there’s no free alcohol, no parasailing, no tattoos. Designyatra is serious business – and the delegates seem to profit from it – there are more attending every year. There are no major costs in event management, as all the sessions are held in hotel banquet halls. Sponsors are happy to support the event, because they’ve seen, over the years, the quality of the delegates and the level of involvement.

     

    The old adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. On the other hand, if it is broke, fix it. Goafest is broke. Fix it.

     

    Extracted with permission of the author Anant Rangaswami

    from The Elephants in The Room – The Future of Advertising, 2016.

    Pages 152, self-published.

    The book is also available as a free download from Firstpost.com.

    More information and interactions at facebook.com/theelephantsintheroom