MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Haridwar, April 1: The Times has decided to drop its controversial Media net practice, Mediaah! learns from a reliable source. It appears the management took this decision after a round of discussion and finally issued this statement after the board issued the diktat

    Mediaah! Breaking! Times stops Media net, controversial practice killed overnight 🙂

    HARIDWAR, April 1: The Times has decided to drop its controversial Media net practice, Mediaah! learns from a reliable source. It appears the management took this decision after a round of discussion and finally issued this statement after the board issued a diktat*.

     

    At what may have been a customary dip on Holi, a senior company honcho took a deep dip in the Holy waters and then got out looking at the skies and told one of his aides: “I dived in to find that the water is crystal clear. There were no impurities.” “Yes, sir, that is so true, sir,” the aide said. “So, if the water can be clear, why can’t our newspaper also be clear of impurities,” the guiding light said.

     

    “Let’s just stop this Net practice,” he said. “But, Sir, how can we reverse it when it’s making good money for us,” asked Aide #2. “No impurities. We will make more money. People will pay more for a purer paper.” “Yes, sir, just as we  all pay more for bottled water,” said Aide #1 with a chuckle.

     

    One of the aides wrote to all the managers and relevant editors announcing them of the decision.

     

    There could be no discussions on the issue, just as there couldn’t be when the net practice was started. And, as it happened, despite wide-scale condemnation, the scheme not only worked but turned out to earn the entire news media sector revenues in the region of around Rs 500 crore.

     

    Meanwhile, it is learnt that Caravaan magazine is planning a 20-page cover story on how Times has cleansed itself. The story will appear in the December 2013 edition of the magazine.

     

    It is likely that other publications which had started a content-for-cash practice may now drop the policy of charging for editorial content. It is hoped that with this, editorial content on the entertainment and party pages will become more meaningful. For instance, a restaurant will be named in the news of its opening and logos and brand names will not be blanked out from photographs.

     

    The Mumbai and Delhi hotel and restaurant association has welcomed the decision and is contemplating a felicitation of all newspaper publishers and owners.

     

    Hey guys, no such luck as yet. It’s April Fool’s Day… Cash-for-content flourishes, and how! Not just in politics, but for entertainment, fashion, events. As we know, the cash-for-content policy is no longer practised by just one news media company. It’s across various newspapers, magazines channels, FM radio stations, websites. Sigh.

     

    The names and entities mentioned in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to any individual or organization is coincidental and in jest. Dil mein mat lena. Don’t take this to heart 🙂

     

     

     

  • After refreshing the content and introducing four new shows, Zee Khana Khazana is all set to present its first television ad, offering solutions for everyday kitchen woes

    Khana Khazana’s first TVC to help women fight kitchen woes

    By A Correspondent

     

    After refreshing the content and introducing four new shows, Zee Khana Khazana is all set to present its first television ad. Through the ad the channel aims to reinforce its positioning through its tagline ‘Ab Khana Sawal Nahi, Lajawab Hai!’

     

    ‘Kal kya banaoon?’ the thought behind the TVC, captures the mindset of every housewife, which is full of questions when it comes to making the everyday meal. It is an insight, picked from their everyday life, which reverberates with them daily. The TVC shows a day in the life of a housewife who battles with the question kal kya banaoon all day, without getting an answer from anyone. Finally, she finds the answer in her own living room, with Zee Khana Khazana. Mansi Parekh, a popular television actress will be seen portraying the role of the worried Indian housewife, with ‘kal kya banaoon’ thought always on her mind.

     

    Amit Nair

    Amit Nair, Business Head, Zee Khana Khazana says “We realized that today’s homemaker is fighting an everyday battle in the kitchen, all alone; because there is no bigger challenge than rustling up tasty, exciting and nutritious meals for her family, day after day. Inevitably, she grapples with numerous food-related questions every day. With this ad we want to strengthen Zee Khana Khazana’s commitment to solve every woman’s food-related query. Scarecrow has done a fabulous job in presenting our proposition on screen. We are confident that our ad will appeal to our target audience.”

     

    Agency name: Scarecrow Communications

    Creative Team: Raghu Bhat, Manish Bhatt, Sarvesh Raikar, Kapil Tammal, Sushil Chintak.

    Account Management: Arunava Sengupta, Amitabh Sreedharan, Ankita Ray, Benny Thomas

    Director: Krish (Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi)

    Producer: Satish Fenn

    Production house: Ever After

     

  • The marketing plan targeted relevant platforms to ensure high visibility and create an impact like never before

    Movies Now capitalises on Star Wars franchise

    By Ananya Saha

     

    Star Wars with its franchised series has grown to be so influential that it has grossed over $27 billion. The franchise has influenced generations for over three decades. This March, Movies Now took it a step further by showcasing six blockbuster movies for the first time in HD.

     

    The marketing plan targeted relevant platforms to ensure high visibility and create an impact like never before, which included over 3000+ spots on all national and regional channels, outdoor and OOH presence across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad, high-impact innovations to support the high frequency outdoor campaign, tie-up with Cafe Coffee Day, which enables an outreach to the youth across all 8 metros – Special Star Wars games designed to engage customers, engagement with over 5 million digital audience through Facebook, digital games, apps and digital plan. Apart from this, through a Facebook contest, Movies Now has special edition original Star Wars Darth Vader light sabres that will be up for grabs. While the creative agency for the campaigns was BBH, Posterscope handled the OOH.

     

    Ajay Trigunayat

    Star Wars, even though a very well-known franchise has been shown numerous times on television. Why did Movies Now make it a loud campaign this time? Ajay Trigunayat, CEO, English Entertainment Channels, Times Television Network reasoned, “While Star Wars is a very well known in the west, it is almost unknown to young Indian masses. The campaign objective was to introduce Star Wars in India.”

     

    However, this is not the first time that Movies Now undertook a large campaign for movie promotions. According to Mr Trigunayat, the English movie channel has undertaken a lot of innovative campaigns in the recent past. “A lot of first’s have been achieved during a short span of time in the English Movie Category and TV category as a whole. For Spectacular Spielberg we leveraged a new technology: augmented reality to maximize brand engagement. Thanks to innovative technology and a great idea shoppers in malls in Delhi and Mumbai could interact with dinosaurs. Avatar was the most stunning campaign in OOH where we used a relatively new technology in printing which gave the entire campaign a spectacular 3D effect. In our most recent property Movies Now had tied up with Skyfall and created the largest synchronized campaign with a Hollywood film.”

     

    To keep the engagement with its fanbase of over 2.4+ million on Facebook, there were daily interactions through posts, contests, games and polls. And as the channel insists, “We have got an overwhelming response for Star Wars. The property has been sponsored by Samsung Galaxy Grand and has a host of associate sponsors Airtel, HP, Asian Paints Royale, Standard Chartered, Nivea and Lux ONN,” he said while not revealing the marketing spends on the Star Wars series.

     

  • The campaign achieved a revenue target of INR 10 million, and 4% of the revenue during the End of Season Sale was from Facebook alone

    Allen Solly’s end-of-season sale app generates 2,194% RoI

    By A Correspondent

     

    Allen Solly’s recent campaign on Facebook was focused on translating engagement with fans and customer online into footfalls and sales at physical stores. The campaign achieved a revenue target of INR 10 million, and 4 percent of the revenue during the End of Season Sale was from Facebook alone.

     

    Blogworks conceptualised and created a ‘Scratch Card’ Facebook application, which would allow users to scratch a card virtually and win discounts of 30%, 35% or 40%. They could then take a print of the discount coupon, take it to the store and avail these discounts on their next purchase. The application was available on mobile as well, for Android and iOS platforms. It was promoted through social ads and promoted posts.

     

    Speaking about their digital marketing initiatives, Sooraj Bhat, Brand Head, Allen Solly said, “The milestone is just an indicator of the dominant position we are looking at vis-a-vis this medium, as we put conversations with consumers at the very core of the Allen Solly brand.” He added, “Consumers see Allen Solly as a friend, and we will increasingly play the role of the fashion wingman, giving them advice and tips on fashion and style.”

     

    Rajesh Lalwani, CEO, Blogworks, said, “Allen Solly is a rich social programme that we’ve built using our ‘Three I’s’ model – Insights, Intimacy and Income. Not only do we listen to the consumers, we conduct strategic interventions by asking them for feedback, which helps us engage our fans in meaningful conversations and co-creation. We have designed a programme that has helped in generating more footfalls and sales, which we track rigorously.”

     

     

  • With HBO pushing its two new movie pay channels, it is time to ask whether there is a market for 'premium' ad-free channels in the Indian TV viewing arena

    HBO’s ad-free channels: good enough to pay more for?

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    The campaign to promote the launch of two channels – HBO Defined and HBO Hits – by HBO Asia and Eros International Media has started. The premium advertising-free movie channels plan to redefine the pay TV movie space in the country.

     

    The channels available on DTH operators – Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV – bring the best of Hollywood and Bollywood together. The channels are currently on air and are available for a free preview in the initial phase of the launch.

     

    HBO Defined and HBO Hits will showcase content through HD and SD feeds on Dish TV and SD feed on Airtel Digital TV. These will be offered at a special introductory price of Rs 49 and Rs 69 for SD and HD services, respectively.

     

    MxMIndia finds out if there is a market for such ‘premium’ channels in India and if they’ll be survive the competitive market:

     

    Anilkumar Sathiraju, AVP and Head South, DDB Mudra Max

    While there is a market for ad-free channels, am not too sure how long will they be able to survive. Today, in a scenario where 600+ channels exist, there are many channels which are still yet to make a mark. In that situation, while viewers are likely to sample an ad-free channel(s), I am unsure if they will be able to sustain for long.

     

     

    Divya Radhakrishnan, managing partner, Helios Media

    HBO is a subscription based channel globally. It started accepting ads due to the distribution structure of the Indian TV industry. Now with digitization and DTH getting seeded across homes in India, the viewers are getting used to pick and pay for their channels and not just a bundled offering from the cable operator.

     

    As much as it’s not a good thing to hear for our business, ad avoidance always adds greatly to TV viewing experience especially in the movies and sports space. Hence if reasonably priced, it will have takers in the high-end homes. Mainstream channels in their HD avtaars get talked about more for its minimalistic ads more than the channel clarity.

     

    Having said that, the content will need to be extremely compelling for the consumer to shell out more bucks. Old titles, repeated zillion times on TV in the past coming in an ad-free environment may not hold that much appeal however latest releases may do so.

     

    Dhruv Jha, GM (Content and Experiences), LodestarUM

    There is an emerging space, I have heard consumers/viewers comment, “Let’s watch it on HD, virtually no ads.” Movie viewing experience without ads can be more pleasurable. There is a discerning viewer and with rising incomes and free time being at a premium… pay for channels will start playing in a niche targeted segment.

     

  • Launched in 2005 in Mumbai, this is the major re-launch for the daily

    DNA dons new look, brings back edit page

    By A Correspondent

     

    The six-edition English newspaper DNA, is sporting a new look from today. The newspaper has added the edit page and an oped page as well. Along with the newspaper, the website has also gone in for an overhaul.

     

    Informing the readers of the changes, Ravi S Joshi, Editor, DNA wrote in his communique, “Starting today, your DNA has changed. Because your needs and aspirations have changed. Because your reading habits have changed. Because you have changed. To address that change, we have made the new paper more navigable, readable and classier.” The redesign has been done inhouse by Design Editor Nitin Tuse

     

    He further added, “In our quest for the 2020 of news media, we’ve redesigned our website and made it responsive – it dynamically fits to screen of any device, be it your PC, phone or phablet. That’s a first for any newspaper website in India is also dynamic. And in the days to come, you’ll see a lot of innovations not only in the website, but also in the paper.”

     

    A readers’ page also also been added. With an aim to become more interactive, the stories in the newspaper would give out Twitter handles. DNA has also formed a Shadow Editorial Board, which is “college-going men and women regularly sit in our newsroom and tell us what they want us to do. You’ll find their contribution to this paper on Page 4.”

     

  • WATConsult has released a report on the social health of e-commerce brands in India

    E-commerce brands Myntra, HomeShop18 and Ebay top in overall social engagement with consumers.

    By A Correspondent

     

    Social media agency WATConsult has released a report on the social health of e-commerce brands in India at the 3rd WATSummit. The report extensively tracks the social media sentiments of eight leading e-commerce brands, Flipkart.com, Inkfruit.com, HomeShop18.com, Jabong.com, Myntra.com, Snapdeal.com, Yebhi.com and Ebay.in.

     

    Based on the multiple scoring parameters of the analysis, Myntra.com, HomeShop18.com and Ebay.in come forward as the scorers among the top 8 e-commerce players in the industry. The report analyses the social media and online trends of the e-commerce portals on parameters like Social Reach, Engagement, Growth, Response Time, Content Type and Audience Quality. The report also analyses the share of voice, brand sentiment, online reputation, source and keywords for each player in the online space.

     

     

    Snapdeal.com, Homeshop18.com and Myntra.com are e-commerce players with faster growing base on Facebook and Twitter. However Ebay India boasts of the highest engagement on Facebook and Twitter followed by Homeshop18.com and Myntra.com.

     

    Homeshop18.com tops the chart as e-commerce player with the highest YouTube growth but Yehbi.com has the highest YouTube engagement.

     

    The top three players with high overall social media engagement are Myntra.com, Ebay India and Yebhi.com.

     

    Homeshop18.com is the brand with the fastest response time on Facebook and Twitter. The top 3 players with high overall response time are Homeshop18.com followed by Myntra.com and Flipkart.com.

     

    From an overall e-commerce industry perspective negative sentiment stands at a 48 percent as against the positive sentiment of 13 percent. The rest of the conversations of 38 percent were found neutral. Jabong.com has managed to sustain the top position for neutral and positive sentiment while Flipkart.com on the other hand has the highest neutral conversations of 64 percent to its credit.

     

    While comparing the social image of brands on Facebook, Myntra.com is a brand with least negative and maximum positive conversations.

     

    Only 16 percent of the products ordered from an ecommerce player were received on time. Delay in delivery still is a big concern for all players in this industry.

     

    The report also gives a closer look at the posting activity on leading platforms like Facebook and Twitter. While Tuesdays and Thursdays are the most active days on Facebook, Mondays and Fridays dominated twitter with the maximum tweets. Surprisingly, social media activity on weekends on both platforms reduced as compared the activity on weekends.

     

     

    In terms of engagement, the top three brands on both Facebook and Twitter are Ebay India, Homeshp18.com and Myntra.com.

     

     

    Commenting on the analysis, Rajiv Dingra, Founder & CEO, WATConsult said, “Crores of rupees are spent regularly by e-commerce brands to acquire new customers, but who are the champions who have managed to engage with their consumers consistently and coherently? Our report highlights the activities carried out by these eight leading ecommerce players on various online platforms and seeks to identify trends related to the digital marketing of these brands.”

     

  • The IAMAI's Internet Economy Watch Report for February shows that the jewellery segment clocked a 117 percent y-o-y growth when compared with last year in the e-tailing category

    Jewellery e-tailing registers 117% Y-o-Y growth

    By A Correspondent

     

    According to the Internet Economy Watch Report for February 2013, released by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the jewellery segment clocked a 117 percent y-o-y growth when compared with the numbers of corresponding month last year in the e-tailing category. Branded Apparel category recorded 59 percent y-o-y growth with 6.73 million user visits in February 2013 as compared to 4.24 million hits in the corresponding period last year. The footwear and designer label segment registered a y-o-y growth of 23 percent and 13 percent respectively when compared with the number of online user hits from last year.

     

    Data captured from prominent e-tailing sites reveals a significant y-o-y growth of 39 percent in online user visit to mobile phone segment with 5.41 million hits in February 2013 as compared to 3.90 million in February 2012.  Online user visit for books which witnessed 2.46 million hits in February 2012 declined to 2.41 million in February 2013.

     

    While irctc.com registered 9 percent y-o-y growth in the e-ticketing segment, air tickets booked online in February 2013 were 0.95 million as compared to 0.91 million in February 2012, a 5 percent y-o-y growth. The monthly tracker reveals that the number of resume uploads has gone up to 1.09 million in February 2013 from 0.76 million in February 2012, whereas, the number of profile uploads on matrimonial websites has witnessed a significant y-o-y growth of 78 percent in February 2013. Profile uploads on matrimonial sites is 1.02 million in February 2013 as compared to 0.57 million in the corresponding month last year.

     

  • Cartoon Network, Film Kraft Productions and Toonz Animation have partnered to create four animated movie sequels based on the Bollywood movie Krrish

    Animated Krrish on Cartoon Network, soon

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a first-of-its-kind endeavour, Cartoon Network, Film Kraft Productions and Toonz Animation have partnered to create four animated movie sequels based on the Bollywood movie Krrish.

     

    A series of four movies will be created between 2013 and 2014, the first of which, titled Kid Krrish, will air on Cartoon Network on July 14, 2013.

     

    Siddharth Jain

    Siddharth Jain, Managing Director, South Asia, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd. said, “At Turner, our aim has always been to push the boundaries and deliver innovative and entertaining content across all our channels. Cartoon Network, the ultimate destination for fun and animation, will now be home to Bollywood’s biggest superhero in a whole new animated avatar. The Krrish franchise has been very well received by kids across the country and we are certain that they will be enthralled and excited to watch this adaptation of their superhero on Cartoon Network!”

     

    These movie sequels will follow the childhood adventures of Krishna (from the movie Krrish) who discovers that he can help people and save the world with the special powers bestowed upon him by Jadoo (from the movie Koi Mil Gaya). But in order to protect his identity and loved ones from the wrath of his enemies, he must don the mask of superhero Krrish!

     

    Rakesh Roshan, Director, Film Kraft Productions (India) Pvt. Ltd. said, “I have always pushed the limits by making different kinds of entertainment films and have always planned new strategies to promote them. Since Krrish 3 will be ready for release this Diwali, I wanted to revive the memory of Krrish with children and the newer generation who may have not seen Koi Mil Gaya or Krrish. I am happy to have collaborated with Turner, the oldest and most popular children’s channel in Asia and Toonz Animation, who are the best in creating animated content in Asia, to make this first of its kind animated film series, where a live action film is adapted to make animation series for television.”

     

    “The animated Krrish franchise are fun films that are guaranteed to be a visual treat with mass appeal. It is not every day that 11 year olds get to be super heroes! We are thrilled about partnering with the legendary Rakesh Roshan and Cartoon Network. This is a huge milestone as far as Toonz Animation is concerned,” said P Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd.

     

     

  • A massive marketing campaign, a new fan dance move from Farah Khan, a bigger panel and lots of Extraaas… will IPL 2013 thrill again, asks MxMIndia

    IPL 6: In the mood for Extraaa

    The nine IPL team captains line up after signing the MCC Spirit of Cricket board at the Pepsi Indian Premier League opening ceremony held at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on April 2. Copyright: BCCI. Photo by Ron Gaunt/SPORTZPICS

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    The opening ceremony of one of today’s most popular and expensive sporting properties may have matched its impressive track record over the years. And the organisers could thank celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, rapper Pitbull et al who were joined in force by cricket legends as they steered their way into winning the hearts of the audiences. In fact, the viewership numbers being predicted from the opening ceremony this year is expected to exceed 55 million, a fact that is being reported extensively even across foreign media.

     

    There’s no doubting the effort that has been put in by the organisers and broadcast partner Set Max as the task facing them this year was winning back the audiences that had gone adrift over past few seasons. Apart from a string of new measures and a high-profile marketing campaign, the buzz that was created around IPL 6 was dubbed as being the loudest so far, or so is the claim. Much of the credit to that is being owed to ace choreographer Farah Khan who bought in an element of newness this year with some signature moves involving cricket.

     

    Highlighting the experience this year, Neeraj Vyas, Business Head, Max said, “Firstly, the sentiments have been very positive around the IPL. It follows India’s recent performance against Australia which has kind of boosted cricket sentiments in the country. The other thing about the IPL is that it is cricket of the highest quality and degree and is extremely competitive and edgy, but there is also a lot of entertainment value attached to it. For example, the IPL campaign that we did around IPL this year is very entertainment-led and had director-choreographer Farah Khan playing host. As you’ll observe she is advocating everyone to not just sit but to be a part of the game by dancing to three key moves commonly associated with cricket – fours, sixes and falling wickets.”

     

    In fact the campaign has been a huge hit on the online space where it has crossed the 2 million mark on YouTube. “So the whole scale around IPL is much bigger this year than last year. It definitely has managed to arouse enough hype and curiosity. In fact if you see our marketing budgets, we have invested 15 per cent more than last year. There has been a substantial effort that has gone behind the marketing campaign this year. The same can be reflected through the huge buzz and reach that can be sensed everywhere and across all platforms.”

     

    Not to be left behind in the production department, Set Max has gone the extra mile this year where its studio and expert panelists are concerned. Affirmed Mr Vyas, “We have a brand new set of Extraaa Innings this time around; it is a set that is bigger than any other set that you’ll see in recent times. And joining Gaurav Kapur and Samir Kochhar will be two new hosts, Karishma Kotak and Rochelle Maria Rao. The there’ll also be big names associated with cricket like Navjot Sidhu, Harsha Bhogle, Ajay Jadeja and Sunil Gavaskar. What we’ve also done is added new names to the roster like Kapil Dev and Rameez Raja. They’ll primarily be driving the show in Hindi. So it’s also the best line-up that we have where studio names are concerned.”

     

    Not wanting to stop at that the broadcasters sensed immense opportunity in reaching out to the masses beyond the metros and tier 2, 3 towns and who until now were denied their share of voice in the affair. The wishes of the many Indians who reside in far-off towns and rural belts will be realised as they can enjoy the matches in Hindi as well. Asserted Vyas, “Another new addition this year is the airing of content in Hindi. That was done to essentially reach out to interior pockets of India who are more comfortable with Hindi commentary. Also, if you saw our coverage last year we had upped our quotient of Hindi usage on XIDs. So there was a lot of Hindi banter that happened between the expert panellists which was a decision that was taken intentionally. And this year we have just expanded that by having a dedicated Hindi feed. So the idea was to reach more and more people.”

     

    Number-crunching affair

    It has been widely reported on how the IPL this year has heeded the demands of the marketers and have offered them advertising value worth a steal. According to estimates, the channel expects to earn close to Rs 900 crore overall this year and much of this will come from top clients like PepsiCo, which is the title sponsor for the tournament, having signed a deal in the range of Rs 50-60 crore. Set Max has also sealed associate sponsor deals with eight clients including Godrej, Havells, Panasonic, Karbonn Tabs, Usha International, Cadbury, Tata Docomo and Samsung Mobiles.

     

    Highlighting the response received from the clients this year, particularly new entrant PepsiCo, Mr Vyas said, “The response from the clients goes to show that IPL is still a massive brand and secondly, as I said earlier, it is the reflection around the positive buzz surrounding Indian cricket at the moment. So there has been an extremely positive sentiment from the viewers as well as the advertisers.”

     

    He added, “Client-wise if you ask me, the best thing to have happened is Pepsi’s association with IPL – who are the on-ground as well as on-air partners. Given their past history, they will naturally bring in their own flavour to the tournament. I know for a fact that they are planning some special campaigns that will begin during the IPL. In a sense, Pepsi probably understands cricket better than most other brands as they have been associated with the sport for around 15-20 years. So one can expect them to bring in their own creativity around cricket, which is always entertaining to say the least.”

     

    Confirming Mr Vyas’ sentiments, Vinit Karnik, Head of Sports and Live practice at GroupM ESP said through a statement, “We’ve been part of IPL since its inception and we strongly believe that IPL is India’s biggest and the most powerful marketing platform for brands to leverage the combined appeal of cricket and entertainment. This season has been a busy and fruitful season. We had the opportunity to work closely with the Sun Group’s Sunrisers and have enabled the new franchise get off to strong start with 10 on-ground official partnership/sponsorships including Make My Trip, 7UP, Garnier, Kingfisher, Live In Jeans, Manyavar, Sheltrex, RN Sports etc…. We also advised Vodafone backed by a comprehensive valuation exercise based on proprietary data and insights which helped them build a case to renew their on-ground associate sponsorship for another 5 years. Other high profile deals which we managed to facilitate this year included Bajaj Allianz and Mumbai Indians, Flying Machine and Royal Challengers Bangalore among others.” The total value of all the on-ground deals enabled and activated by GroupM ESP in IPL 6 is estimated at US $ 15 mn.

     

    On to another important number that’s watched closely by all, the ratings for IPL 6 is expected to outdo that put up by the previous season. According to statistics released by MEC-Meritus, average TV rating for the league stage is expected to go up from 3.8 last year to 3.9 – an increase of 2.6% (15+ years, Male/Female, SEC ABC). Also, MI (23%), Chennai (19%) and KKR (14%) are the most popular teams while support for Hyderabad has gone up by 200% (2% to 6%). Further, the study notes that Sachin Tendulkar (80), MS Dhoni (79), Yuvraj Singh (76), Virat Kohli (74) and Virender Sehwag (73) are the most popular Indian players in the League while Chris Gayle (60), Ricky Ponting (55), Brett Lee (51) and Kevin Pietersen (50) are the most popular foreign players.

     

    T Gangadhar

    T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC India, said, “Our study suggests that the IPL seems to have matured as a property. The study clearly establishes that ratings in the first phase (first 18 games) impact the fate of the entire league. With Pepsi activating their title sponsorship in a big way, the BCCI launching the IPL Fantasy League and India’s strong performance against Australia, the first stage of the league could get further momentum.”

     

    According to Mr Vyas, in terms of ratings expectations, “People need to realise that IPL is now a mature and a long tournament that last 76 games spanning 54 days. Nothing of this scale ever exists in the country. In fact about 30 per cent of the games are played in the afternoon…so despite all these ground realities it sustained an average rating of 3.5 last year, which according to me is nothing short of a miracle. If you look at GEC shows today, no one manages to retain audiences over such long periods. And this despite the fact that about 30 per cent of the matches are played in the afternoon. So we will be happy if we are able to retain the ratings at that level or even better it to around 4 or so.”

     

    Amin Lakhani

    Agreeing with Mr Vyas, Amin Lakhani, Principal Partner, Mindshare said, “I’ve always maintained from the start that where cricket and especially IPL is concerned, there has been a positive sentiment observed. It kind of picks up in terms of popularity and buzz closer to the start of the tournament. The thing about IPL is that it is now a time-tested property; only last year was an aberration. It has always been a winning property and will continue to do so. It is too early to write it off. And frankly, I am not even bothered about viewership as it a 76-match affair spread across 54 days…whatever ratings it has achieved has been brilliant so far. I can’t think any other property that has managed to do so in such a scale and manner. Where viewership is concerned, I feel even if it manages to hold at 4 or above would be a very good thing.”

     

     

    Mona Jain

    But feelings seem to be mixed for Mona Jain, CEO of Vivaki Exchange, who remarked, “I expect the ratings to display a similar trend to that of last year. Also, where the campaign is concerned I believe they should have started that much earlier on mediums like television, outdoor, radio etc. And the fact that IPL is an established property maybe that’s the reason the broadcaster maybe wanting to push the property closer to the start of the event. I guess more emphasis was paid on leveraging the event then trying to build it up.”

     

    While there may be a few naysayers who’ll be raising questions on the waning demand of the sport in India, SET MAX would want to prove them wrong by posting numbers a notch better than at least the previous season. One will have to wait and watch if King Khan managed to work his charm to at least get the inaugural event off to a flying start.

     

  • India ranked #4 in the pecking order of shortlists, albeit a distant one as UK, US and Australia saw 51, 38 and 25 shortlists respectively at the Festival of Media Global scheduled to be held in Montreux, Switzerland from April 28 to 30

    Mindshare gets 7 shortlists at Festival of Media Global

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare shines with seven shortlists from among the 11 entries that Indian media agencies find themselves for the big metals at The Festival of Media Global scheduled to be held in Montreux, Switzerland from April 28 to 30.

     

    India ranked #4 in the pecking order of shortlists, albeit a distant one as UK, US and Australia saw 51, 38 and 25 shortlists respectively. Interestingly, the India flag is flying ahead of Spain (8), New Zealand (7), Thailand (7) and Germany (6).  Brazil and China had two shortlist each.

     

     

  • It's vital to exert all possible pressure to get Ogilvy back to the Creative Abby, writes Pradyuman Maheshwari. An Ogilvy not participating in the Creative Abby is like a China or USA not competing in the Summer Olympics!

    MxM Comment: Sad to see an Abby minus Ogilvy… Time to ‘lagao’ pressure to get ’em back!

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Doom in the world outside almost always rings music to the newsperson’s ears. So, while it was heartening to have scooped the news on Ogilvy choosing to skip the Creative Abby at Goafest 2013, we were saddened by it. Deeply.

     

    This is not the first time that an agency is boycotting the Creative Abby. Lowe/Lintas has been doing it for years. R Balki has his reasons, which some believe are valid. Every year, there are stories of agencies not sending in any entry – many essentially because they don’t believe they’ve done awardwinning work in the year and some because it’s a drain on resources.

     

    This is also not the first time that Ogilvy is threatening a skip. It took all of Colvyn Harris’s persuasive power to convince a Piyush Pandey in 2009. I still remember giving the headline ‘Please Piyush, Please’ to an Impact magazine cover carrying Colvyn’s interview around that time.

     

    The JWT (then-also-Goafest) boss was lucky that Team Ogilvy agreed to participate, but Ad Club prez Shashi Sinha, AAAI chief Arvind Sharma and Goafest committee chair Nakul Chopra haven’t been successful in winning them over.

     

    The reason that Abhijit Avasthi gave my colleague wasn’t convincing. There’s obviously a lot more that he’s not telling and is perhaps being polite on record. This is what he told us: “We won’t be entering in the awards as we have felt that they were not energizing our people as they used to earlier. So we decided to take a break and may be see later what happens.”

     

    A Goafest grand prix or gold not energizing employees enough! Wtf!!!!! The cheers from the team every time a winner is announced, the run to the stage and the final group picture with everyone yay-ing (and not to mention the various interviews given after the wins) are testimony to the sentiment in the Ogilvy camp after every Goafest. Look at the picture alongside… this is at the Creative Abby last year. No energy?

     

    It’s evident that there’s more to this boycott. I am told one of the issues is that Team Ogilvy believes there’s not much done to ward away scam ads. I agree that there are many ads which are made-for-awards. But, there’s little that the Ad Club can do, especially when an entry is found eligible as per rules. If a well-known agency and hotshot creative guru have no scruples and aren’t embarrassed about sending a scam ad, the best deterrant is exposure. Let them get exposed! And I am sure they will – over time – stop sending scam work.

     

    The Advertising Club is not the personal property of any individual or group. It’s a body of elected members from within the fraternity. Madhukar Sabnavis, Vice Chairman and Country Head, Discovery and Planning, O&M India and recently appointed Member of the Worldwide Board of O&M is Treasurer of the Ad Club and member of the 13-member managing committee. Let me repeat this: The #3 honcho of Ogilvy India is one of the five big officebearers of the Advertising Club.

     

    Couldn’t he have done something to avoid this from happening? Whatever happened to the meeting of Creative Directors?

     

    Goddammit, an Ogilvy not participating in the Creative Abby is like a China or USA not competing in the Summer Olympics! Or an IPL without Chennai Super Kings. Or idli served without chutney or sambar.

     

    Okay, comparing an adfest to the Olympics or even an IPL is stretching it, but you get the sentiment?!

     

    When I spoke with Shashi Sinha yesterday and asked him to react to the fact that it’s a huge, huge setback, he said setback is too strong a word. He did admit though that it will affect the Abby. Sinha is a pragmatic man. He has successfully managed to clean the Creative Abby judging process and the awards have been happening without a hitch (or a leak) over the last few years.

     

    Most people my colleague spoke with were shocked to hear the news. And all those who I interacted with unequivocally said that the Abby this year will lose its sheen. “The credibility of the awards takes a major blow, as will the attendance at Goafest,” commented Anant Rangaswami on Facebook.

    So will we now have a Balki participate in the Creative Abby? I don’t think Lowe will this year, because his peeve is with the process followed.

    There’s a belief that it’s the participating that’s critical, not the winning. That’s good to say and hear for losers, but, remember, it’s all about winning.

    It’s critical that the advertising fraternity gets together to work on a solution. And it’s important for the Advertising Club to effect these in doublequick time.

    From what I am told, Ogilvy’s absence this year is a done deal. No comebacks. Sad, as we’ll now also have cynics making remarks that one of the reasons why Ogilvy isn’t participating is because it doesn’t hope to win much this year.

    I still think another attempt should be made. Push them hard! Do it via the clients, do it via Miles Young or Sir Martin Sorrell. Lagao all the pressure!

    It’s not a Fevicol ‘jod’ yet… and am sure the impossible can be achieved.

    In the interests of God, awards and advertising 🙂

     

    As for the energy, let’s send the Red Bull kids!

     

    MxMIndia believes that the advertising fraternity must get together and ensure unity. Forums like Goafest and the Abby must not be allowed to fade in importance and/or value.

     

    See link:

    Advertising Club mancom: http://theadvertisingclub.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=234&Itemid=77