MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Star India has asked fans of the master blaster to cheer "Sachin-Sachin" and break the world record of cheers for a hero who has always broken records for India!

    Star India to break another record with Sachin, net max number of cheers

    By A Correspondent

     

    This deserves special space even though we are peeved that it’s easier to get Sachin Tendulkar on record than some of the top guns of Star Sports. Why, it’s easy to even reach out to the CEO of Star India. Or the I&B or sports ministers of the country.

     

    The broadcast network has launched a unique campaign ‘Cheer for Sachin’ to pay tribute to Sachin Tendulkar as plays the farewell series against West Indies next month. Star India is targeting to break the world record for maximum ‘Cheers’ garnered by any campaign ever across the world.

     

    Celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Prosenjit Chaterjee, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Wasim Akram, Rameez Raza and protagonists from the leading serials on Star Plus like Diya Aur Baati Hum and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai have already recorded their cheers. The broadcaster has also reached out to Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary – regarded by many as the biggest Sachin fan to record a special cheer for this campaign.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Gayatri Yadav, EVP-Marketing & Communications, Star India, said, “We are honoured that Sachin’s farewell series will be played on our network. Sachin has made innumerable records during his memorable career; it’s time that his fans make this record as a grand tribute.”

     

    The campaign will run across the Star entertainment and sports network of channels. There will be huge focus on the digital media as well to aggregate all fans for the campaign. The campaign invites fans to dial a number and cheer for Sachin. Star India will donate its share of proceeds from the incoming call revenues to an NGO for sports development amongst youth.

     

    As for the top guns of Star Sports, well to read them, go through some of the pink papers or biz channels instead. Or some of us who carry the communiqués with the hope that they will condescend to speak to us.

     

  • For advertisers and agencies, The Times of India isn't just a strong medium to connect with a powerful, youthful target audience, it is a media brand that adds colour, fizz and hype to a media campaign, writes CVL Srinivas, CEO, Group M South Asia

    CVL Srinivas | What makes TOI a formidable media brand

    By CVL Srinivas

     

    The Times of India has had an amazing journey of 175 years. It occupies a very unique position in the Indian media landscape. I grew up reading The Times of India. In my later years, as a media planner and buyer I have actively dealt with the TOI group. From 2008-2010, I was an employee of the TOI group in its Private Treaties now called Brand Capital) division. Having worked in media agencies or consulted for startups for pretty much the rest of my 20-odd years in the industry, the only time I didn’t have to explain what I did for a living was when I was employed with the TOI group.

     

    I have always admired the way TOI has built its own brands which in turn helped build some of the country’s best known brands. No matter what the purists might say about its editorial style or whacky headlines, it is a media brand that has not just moved with the times, but has often defined it. If the greatest form of flattery is imitation, then TOI surely has been the leader. Most if not all of its practices have been followed by many of its competitors.

     

    Given the challenging times that lie ahead for print media in general and English print in particular, it will be interesting to see how TOI manages to keep its lead. The forays into language dailies and the increased thrust in digital will need to work. Given the group’s track record, there is every chance that we will see more innovation in the years to come as the transformation from a largely English dailies led media business to a more diversified media company takes place.

     

    As an employee of the Times group, I had the good fortune of working closely with some of the finest minds in the media business. Though I had a short stint of two years, it was incredible learning, especially seeing things from the media owner side as against from the advertiser/agency side.

     

    The first thing that struck me was the sheer scale of the business. And the many moving parts that all synchronized so well day after day as if some magical glue had them all bound together. Despite being a very large organization things seem to happen very smoothly. It has a culture that encourages great ideas, big ideas and the machinery and discipline to execute flawlessly.

     

    For advertisers and agencies, The Times of India isn’t just a strong medium to connect with a powerful, youthful target audience, it is a media brand that adds colour, fizz and hype to a media campaign. A front page ad (or now a days the jacket) in the TOI gets a lot of attention and ends up becoming the topic of discussion for the day. The many innovations, be it in size, shape or placement of the ad, that TOI introduced have had a big role in ensuring print advertising stays relevant and top of mind. By combining digital apps with print ads, TOI is smartly riding the digital wave instead of drowning in it.

     

    The next 10 years in our industry will be much more dramatic than the past 175. Media consumption patterns will change as will business models. I am sure TOI will not just stay relevant but shape the times.

     

    CVL Srinivas is CEO, Group M South Asia

     

    (For the benefit of some our journalist readers who may not be in the know, Group M is billings-wise the largest media management agency in the world. Advertisers use various media agencies some of which are part of Group M – like Mindshare and Maxus – to plan their adspends and place their ads in print/ electronic/ digital/ outdoor/ others. Group M agencies represent the interests of large advertisers like Hindustan Lever)

     

  • The Times is not what it was, but that is because India is not what it was, writes Sidharth Bhatia

    Sidharth Bhatia | Times have changed, so has the Times

    By Sidharth Bhatia

     

    For most readers of the English language media, the Times of India is not just a newspaper, it is a habit that goes back generations. At least in Bombay, where the paper was founded, there must be families who have got the Times every morning for decades. In my own home, I recall reading it as a schoolboy, a college student and ever since. I have a personal connect too-I worked for its sister concern in the same building.

     

    But I speak of it not as a journalist, nor a former employee of sorts. My relationship with the Times is that of a reader and a Mumbai resident. And, as it turns 175 years, I must confess it is a relationship that has remained strong but one that has seen a few ups and downs.

     

    Ask any old time reader and they will tell you that the Times is no longer the paper it was. This is usually the response of those who love the good old days and feel the paper has given up on many of its earlier values-its journalism is often poor, the language is casual and full of mistakes, and its story selection too leaves a lot to be desired. (Too much entertainment and fluff is what they will say.)

     

    Of course the Times is not what it was, but that is because India is not what it was. India has changed tremendously in the last two to three decades-how exactly is not the point of this piece. But what is to be noted is that as the country’s leading paper, the Times of India has kept in step with those changes. Some may even argue that it has led those changes. The much-maligned Page 3 for example is a reflection of the aspirations of a new class of people who want to be noticed and admired socially. They want to feel they have “arrived.” The Times was the first to understand this emerging trend and introduced a full page which would have pictures of parties, with prominent guests showing off their finery. The older, more conservative readers sniffed at this vulgar display of wealth and status, but it became a hit. Every newspaper has a similar page now. For some years, that section is now run as a paid supplement through “Medianet”, which works on a commercial basis, so it is more an ad than news.

     

    For the record, I do not read that section, and I may not even be its target audience. But the main paper, which I devour every morning for almost an hour, gives me all the news in the city, the nation and the world. It offers cogent and high quality commentary on the edit page. (full disclosure-I occasionally write for it.) The business coverage is flimsy, since the paper no doubt thinks interested readers also buy the Economic Times, but the sports pages are comprehensive. It is the first paper that one picks up and it keeps one engaged over the morning cuppa.

     

    But of course, there is some merit in the statement – allegation? – that the Times of today is no longer the Times of yesterday. A few years ago it was noticed that the news pages of the Times were getting frivolous and devoted a lot of real estate to silly issues. By that people usually mean Bollywood. In recent years, gradually, filmstars have been nudged back into the supplements, though it is also a fact that they have now assumed a larger than life dimension in our daily lives.

     

    Perhaps what is more of a concern is that the paper – and this unfortunately applies to the mainstream media in general too – now speaks to and speaks of almost exclusively about the middle classes. The needs and demands of the middle class have now become most important. At one time, newspapers in India spoke up for the under privileged and the indigent, focusing on their problems and bringing these to the attention of the power structure. In the post-liberalisation era, the mainstream media has become a spokesman for the well off; the poor have been largely forgotten. In this, the media has abdicated a prime responsibility. This is obviously a generalization but one that has some merit. Ironically, the Times of India can be very feisty when it wants to be, and has been more activist than in earlier times. As the country’s leading paper, it needs to show the way through its coverage and articulate the voice of those who remain unheard and unseen.

     

    One hundred and seventy five years is not a small timespan. At a time when newspapers around the world are suffering, the Times of India has survived and thrived. It keeps opening new sections. The daily newspaper scene in India, with all its travails at the moment, is vibrant and robust and serves its purpose of bringing independent news to its readers. That is something to cherish.

     

    Sidharth Bhatia is a senior journalist, commentator and author. He can reached at @bombaywallah

     

  • Sangita P. Menon Malhan, author of the recently published 'The TOI Story' finds The Times of India (and the company publishing it) an innovation machine, forever balancing extremes.

    Sangita P Menon Malhan | Re-discovering … The Times of India

    Sangita P Menon Malhan

    By Sangita P. Menon Malhan

     

    Whenever I revisited Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment or Altdorfer’s The Battle of Alexander, irrespective of how many times I had seen these art works before, I was always pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a rare detail, a hidden element that made me see these paintings in fresh light. The interpretations changed. There was a different message each time, and finally, it all converged to reveal the big picture. This is how I came to discover The Times of India, over the span of a decade when I researched for The TOI Story.

     

    Even as the newspaper celebrates its 175 years, it is ironic how little is known about it in the public space. Its first Indian owner was Ramkrishna Dalmia. He had built a fortune in jute and cotton, and bought this newspaper from its British owners in 1946. He was some sort of a critic of the government of the day (notably of Jawaharlal Nehru). Dalmia made a few bad speculative trading calls, and found himself in huge debt. The paper was transferred to his son-in-law and business partner Shanti Prasad Jain, and though “it remained in the family”, the Times of India effectively changed hands.

     

    When Shanti Prasad’s grandson, Samir Jain, came on the scene in the early 1980s, The Times of India was going through tough times. It had emerged from seven “zero years”, a period when the government had taken control after allegations of financial impropriety against the management. The industry was a in a traditional mould, with newspapers more levers of power and influence in a socialist set-up than genuine, viable businesses.

     

    The industry saw itself in the role of a nation builder, with erudite editors of the fourth estate expounding on government policy. Through the columns of the newspaper, they engaged in dialogue with the powers-that-be and the intelligentsia on the “issues” of the day. Besides, for Samir Jain, the other businesses of the family were in decline. Competition in the media industry was growing. India was seeing the first shoots of economic liberalization.

     

    With this context, the 1980s and ’90s became the defining period for the Indian media, with The Times of India at the centre of transformation. Samir Jain resolved that his newspapers will make money for him. Advertisers were required to pay much more, in accordance with the “value” that his papers were providing them. In turn, editorial content and design was made more lively, “relevant” and racy to appeal to the emerging urban consuming class. “Aggregating audience for the advertiser” became the credo of The Times of India.

     

    This was the seed for fundamental changes in the Indian media space. The advertiser, and by extension the audience that the advertiser was targeting, became the point of focus. This defined the new hierarchy of content. If this advertiser – and his target group – preferred local issues or more leisure, lifestyle and travel in the newspaper, so be it. If these readers wanted to quickly make sense of how policy announcements impacted their lives, write-ups were de jargonized and tailored to meet this need. Colour was introduced, first through glossy supplements and then across the board in the newspaper.

     

    To be sure, there was vehement resistance to these changes as they unfolded over a decade. Editors questioned the new paradigm where the entire organization would align with (or be subservient to) the advertiser. The newspaper was not to be treated as a commodity and the enterprise was not to be seen as a business. There was no scope for levity in content, declared the editorial cadre. They saw this as “trivialization”, “commercialization” and a “dumbing down” of the media.

     

    In a complex debate, both sides of the argument had their merits.  Over time, however, not only has The Times of India implemented most of what it set out to, its success has persuaded many leading rivals to follow suit and expand newspaper readership manifold.

     

    It may have gone overboard on occasions. People leading the change within the group admitted to me that in simplifying content for the reader, they may have erred into oversimplification of issues. Besides, there is always the conflict between news the reader “ought” to know versus news he “wants” to know. The Times of India may have neglected social and national issues in trying to stay relevant to the urban middle classes.

     

    They have tried to pull back and restore balance, not necessarily by changing the content in the newspaper. Rather, their social campaigns like Teach India and Lead India are meant to help the youth engage in social issues. The premise is that youngsters today prefer working constructively on problems, rather than only read and analyze them in newspaper columns.

     

    The Times of India, and its reclusive vice chairman (or VC) evoke extreme reactions. Without getting into judgments, I believe they have done away with the larger-than-life editor. The current editors who run the newspaper, brilliant they may be, but are barely known to their readers. We no longer have the signed editorials on the front page. They are well and truly aligned to the value system of the organization.

     

    The Times of India has also come in for flak for initiatives like Medianet. Shorn of frills, this means that space in the editorial columns of the paper’s supplements is available for a price. This is a tricky one. All one would wish for is that the disclosures are more visible and comprehensive, as is the norm for any self-respecting publication, though that would mean diluting the value proposition of Medianet.

     

    A clear positive for the newspaper is the way it has contributed to the state versus citizen discourse. It is clearly and deliberately on the side of the citizen, whether that has to do with the prioritization of news, the nature of issues taken up in its columns, the interpretation of policies and so on. It is not intimidating; it does not preach.

     

    Studying it over these years, I find this an innovation machine, forever balancing extremes.  It is, at times, the prima donna of the print medium – stylish, urban and uppity. At other times, it is the self-proclaimed ally of the citizen, comme Spiderman. To its competitors, it may have occasionally seemed like the dreadful Bhadrakali with her many arms. Journalists from the old school see it as the destroyer of the medium. Marketers hail its clever initiatives. The TOI manages to fit itself into several roles. It uses its plurality as a strategic weapon.

     

    For every Delhi Times – its advertorial, entertainment, promotional supplement – there is (was) a Crest. To offset the hype and hoopla around its glamour ventures – Miss India, Miss World, there is an Aman ki Asha, promoting Indo-Pak relations. It also gives voice to the drawing room angst of the middle class. It puts the spotlight on these issues, and is able to provide an outlet for the aspirations and often the collective indignation of the masses, even as it goes ahead and pushes its concept of Medianet.

     

    This X factor, with all its contortions, has become the hallmark of the newspaper. Its unpredictability and the rate at which it is willing to try something new keep it relevant and young. As the world around it becomes more and more turbulent, it is the innovation gene that will perhaps see it through in the future.

     

    New Delhi-based Sangita P. Menon Malhan is author of ‘The TOI Story’, a book on the Times of India, published by HarperCollins.

    The views expressed here are her own

     

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

    Guest Column by Hemant Jain: Opportunity knocks in mobile internet

    By Hemant Jain

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

    The Indian mobile Internet consumer:

    Numerically speaking:

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

    Current Trends in Indian Market

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

     

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

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

     

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

     

    Mapping consumer’s mobile lifestyle and targeting a better reach

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

     

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

     

    A more edgy and smarter brand planning

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

     

    Slicing the mobile ad pie finely:

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

     

    Minting the mobile money

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

     

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

     

    Challenges:

    It is time advertisers moved invested in the medium

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

     

    Where is the measurement:

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

     

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

     

    New medium demands newer ad formats:

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

     

    Educate the customer:

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

     

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

     

    Infrastructure still a challenge:

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

     

    Conclusion:

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

     

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

     

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

    4 Indian entries win at 2013 Digital Asia Fest

    By A Correspondent

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

     

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

     

    2013 Winners by Country:

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

     

  • A superb speech, tributes from all over and the Bharat Ratna see a glorious beginning to Sachin Tendulkar's new innings in life

    Sachin’s second innings starts in style

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    It was early 2000. It was a Saturday, I had to drop by at my Chartered Accountant’s office on Bhawani Shankar Road in Central Mumbai. I took the 201 bus which wormed its way through this road on to Shivaji Park where my car was parked. As the bus started, the conductor shouted out a stop or two later: Shardashram School Sachin Tendulkar.

     

    I was familiar with the area, a batchmate lived in the building across the school as did former Finance Minister Madhu Dandavate. The bus stop was named after ‘Shardashram School’. A few of us peered out of the bus window, to check if the wonderboys Sachin and (then?) buddy Vinod Kambli were around. The newspapers then were full of their exploits.

     

    Sachin Tendulkar was always destined for bigger things, and the media adulation for the boy has been unparalleled. In 2005, I remember wanting a story done on whether he should retire given his lean patch. None of the journalists in my team or the few accomplished writers I spoke to agreed to write. They refused, citing other commitments. In fact until the social media arrived, one could hardly read any criticism of the man.

     

    Others could get out to a rash shot, but for Sachin it would be being bowled on a brilliant delivery. It’s not that journalists were not being true to their jobs, but it’s possibly because we believed that #10 could do no wrong. It was perhaps his commitment to the game. Even on the Ferrari episode, while there are many who still haven’t forgotten how he sought a duty waiver which he could’ve easily paid, Tendulkar came out with just a few bruises.

     

    So what does the master blaster do post-retirement? Having been hot on the endorsement circuit for over two decades, surely the taps wouldn’t turn dry overnight.  But his various interviews over the last year and his farewell speech on Saturday have me convinced that there will be more than one opportunities coming his way. Television, for one. Given the way sports broadcast is growing, channels will surely be eager to cash in on the Sachin wave. Motivational speaker, is the second. I am sure large corporations would like to have him speak to employees, premium clients etc.

     

    While the Bharat Ratna award is welcome, it could make things difficult on the business front. Bharat Ratna awardees come #7 in the Order of Precedence in the Government of India’s protocol list, way ahead of the three chiefs of the armed forces. He will need to get that wee bit more discerning and careful with his endorsements and commercial ventures.

     

    The Member of Parliament tag is also going to raise some expectations from Tendulkar as he will now not have excuses of being busy with the game. There will be pressure on him to cleanse the administration of sports bodies he has no connection with, make BCCI more accountable, ensure India wins more at the Olympics, take cricket to the Olympics and ensure there are more facilities for sports across the country.

     

    Sachin’s source of monies – from the contract he has with the Board of Control of Cricket – ended with the second Test against the West Indies. This meter officially stops ticking after today, the scheduled last day of the match. But, of course, the older endorsement deals will continue for a while. I am sure his manager -Vinod Naidu and his firm WSG – will ensure that the Bharat Ratna continues to rake in the moolah just as Kapil Dev is even 20 years after he bowed out (1994).

     

    > Visit www.starsports.com or the numerous Youtube pages for his speech and his press conference address.

     

    > Full text of Sachin Tendulkar’s ‘Thank you’ speech at the Wankhede Stadium:

    http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report-full-text-of-sachin-tendulkar-s-farewell-speech-at-wankhede-stadium-1920240moolah just as Kapil Dev does even after two decades post retirement (1994).

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp.com

     

  • Q&A with the Marketing Head (National Channels) at Zee Entertainment on why he’s betting big on the &pictures airing even after the film doing so well on Zee

    Jaldi 5 with Akash Chawla: Extreme reactions on digital is name of the game

    By A Correspondent

     

    After the stupendous success of the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chennai Express on Zee TV, the film will now share on the Zee group’s recently launched film channel &pictures on November 23 at 8pm. The channel is pulling all stops to make this premiere an even bigger success than Zee TV with a digital innovation to promote the airing.  An interactive voice response (IVR) system has been created where people can get call a toll-free number (18001035515) and get a reminder on the movie on their phones in Shah Rukh Khan’s voice. The channel is promoting the film in a big way in the digital media. The movie is going to be promoted is via the blogging community. Four lucky bloggers will be selected to relive the journey Shah Rukh and Deepika did from Mumbai to Rameshwaram. The bloggers will tweet and post their travel experience with the  &pictures hashtag on Twitter and build a buzz for the upcoming premiere. In addition, an aggressive marketing strategy has been initiated on traditional media like, TV, radio, print, OOH and cable. Akash Chawla, Marketing Head (National Channels) at Zee Entertainment took time to respond to our questions.

     

    01. Given that it’s coming close on the heels of Chennai Express scoring an all-time high on Zee, wouldn’t there be a pressure on achieving similar ratings?

    Zee is a 20-year-old GEC and Chennai Express is the biggest blockbuster ever in the history of the box-office. It premiered on Zee TV within three months of its theatrical release. Considering the above, Zee definitely had an advantage over &pictures. Having said that, there are still 70 percent of our viewers in the Hindi-speaking markets who hadn’t seen the movie then and hence would now become a target on &pictures. Plus there’s a lot of repeat value for such movies. Hence we’re definitely expecting high returns as being demonstrated by the push that’s been given.

     

    02. The decision to promote the film’s telecast via the digital and specifically the travel blogger route is interesting. But since the number of those connected digitally who will watch a film like Chennai Express is limited, why such an emphasis on digital?

    62 million of the 82 million Facebook users in India are connected via mobile. 40 percent of the Google searches happen via mobiles. We believe in small towns especially after brands like Micromax and Karbonn have reduced the prices of smartphones and have special tariffs by the operators, the mobile phone has become a compulsory medium replacing a bicycle. People who consume the digital media are one of our biggest targets and &pictures is utilizing this base to the fullest.

     

    03. Perhaps reaching out via smartphones as against via bloggers would’ve been more appropriate?

    As I said, &pictures is going to make maximum use of this base!

     

    04. In many ways, your move to promote to consumers via the digital route as against just newspapers etc is an indicator that the traditional media is not as indispensable as it used to be (for promotions). True?

    When one is talking to the masses at large, especially in a category like a video content like ours, audio visual media is of primary essence. Therefore conversion on TV still plays a pertinent role. Newspapers play the role of creating appointment and building scale if right format is taken. The digital route provides a targeted surround and reaches the right consumers.  When it comes to all TG, the blend of digital and traditional gives maximum impact.

     

    05. It’s tricky dealing with the digital media fraternity given that it’s unorganised and may not always be as ‘influenceable’ as the organised media. For instance, while there were mixed reviews from critics in the newspapers, digitally, we saw extremes. Some lampooned the film while a few gushed. Given this, isn’t too much dependance on digital promotions tricky? Almost like playing with fire?

    Extreme reactions on digital media is the name of the game. In fact, we saw extreme reactions when Zee Cinema aired Himmatwala. The film didn’t do that well on the box-office. But it didn’t mean that it did bad on television as well or had negative viewing. (The film fetched 5561 TVTs on Zee Cinema). While we all play with fire, today we can’t escape the fact that digital media has become an integral part such that we can’t ignore it. In our view, innovations on digital front have always been appreciated and have yielded results. Therefore while we’re playing with fire, we’ll kindle the flames in the right direction.

     

  • I&B minister convenes meeting of Consultative Committee of Information & Broadcasting and discusses implications of the Leveson Report in India

    I&B consultative committee discusses Leveson Report and implications for India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Manish Tewari

    Minister for Information & Broadcasting Manish Tewari chaired a meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry. The meeting discussed the Leveson Report and its relevance / implications in the Indian milieu. A presentation on the Leveson Report and its relevance and implications in the Indian context was made before the members.

     

    Welcoming the members, Manish Tewari said that in the last two decades, the media landscape has undergone an exponential transformation. In both the Indian and the global context, certain structural paradoxes emerged, which required the focus of concerned, conscientious and committed stakeholders of the public discourse. While there were diverse interests in play in the media space the challenge was always to find the golden mean so that the concerns of different stakeholders could be taken into account. Mr Tewari added that the Leveson Report was being discussed before the Committee so that the issues raised could be debated and discussed and the implications in the Indian context could be analysed. While the Government had always supported the ‘Self Regulation’ mechanism in the media domain, of late, a need had also been felt even amongst the stakeholders that a model statutory underpinning the self regulation framework may be looked at. The Leveson Report was an example of a model that had been conceived in the British context after due deliberations and debate. He further stated that the endeavor would now be to also compare other similar models around the world and understand the implications and applications better juxtaposed against the Indian context.

     

    While appreciating the initiative of the ministry in discussing the broad features of the report, Members of the Committee emphasized that discussions should be broadbased accounting for changes across the media space which included the broadcasting and new media also. Members also emphasized that while the current model was very country specific, an attempt ought to be made to discuss the matter with all critical stakeholders accounting for the diversity in the media space. Members also mentioned that the roadmap for the public broadcaster with regard to the regulatory mechanism could also be looked into so as to ensure a comprehensive analysis of the process. Members also felt that in order to ensure a roadmap for the future, it was necessary to outline institutional mechanisms which took into account the changes that were in the offing in the different media segments.

     

    Members who attended the meeting included Dr Anup Kumar Saha, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, Shatrughan Sinha, Ramya Divya Spandana, Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi, Barun Mukherji, Bharat Kumar Raut, M P Achuthan, Mohammed Adeeb and Pyarimohan Mohapatra.

     

  • The former India Today Publishing Director has joined the English daily dna has s appointed Malcolm Mistry as CEO

    Malcolm Mistry joins dna as CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Zee group’s English daily dna has appointed Malcolm Mistry as CEO.

     

    Mr Mistry has over two decades of experience across the India Today and Indian Express groups. As Publishing Director at the former, he was responsible for the flagship India Today magazine and all its language avatars, Business Today and Readers Digest amongst others. In addition, he was the chief architect of the sales synergy process as he created a unified sales team across various brands. His last stint saw him turning entrepreneur and launching Ushta Te HR Consultancy Services to provide recruitment solutions across key verticals like media, advertising and luxury. The appointment, say industry observers, will be a boost to the sales function at dna which needed a ‘face’.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group said: “We are delighted to have Malcolm on board. His extensive experience in leading strong media brands will help build on the momentum and navigate ‘dna’ into a phase of high growth.”

     

    On his new role, Mr Mistry said: “dna has strong brand equity. I am excited with the challenge of raising the bar and creating a more vibrant ‘print plus’ product with greater consumer traction and increased shareholder value.”

     

    dna is now part of the Zee Media Group which also comprises a slew of television channels and digital offerings. Dr Bhaskar Das, formerly President, Bennett, Coleman and Co and associated with several industry associations, is Group CEO. The position of CEO at dna has been vacant since K U Rao moved on to a Zee group firm and later exited the media conglomerate.

     

    In recent months dna has gone in for a new look, appointed an editor-in-chief and also undertaken an aggressive marketing campaign.

     

  • Text of the speech delivered by I&B Manish Tewari on the occasion of National Press Day media and public interest

    Corporate ownership of media is an inescapable reality as is surrogate political ownership: Manish Tewari

    (Text has been edited for style at some places. Some bold formatting and capitalizing of text has been retained)

     

    Honourable Vice President of India Hamid Ansari Sahib, Chairperson of the Press Council of India Justice Katju, Secretary I&B Shri Bimal Julka, Ladies and Gentleman.

     

    Allow me to commence by congratulating the Media fraternity on this auspicious occasion. The National Press Day always provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the state and the role of media in the current milieu.

     

    In the last two decades the media landscape has undergone an exponential transformation. This epochal change has been facilitated by the emergence of the World Wide Web. Starting life in the Defense Advanced Projects Laboratory of the Pentagon it has truly revolutionized the way we live and conduct our interactions.

     

    As I have stated on numerous earlier occasions:

    a) The internet is the largest experiment involving anarchy in history-and it has succeeded. (The last four words are mine).

    b) It represents the largest ungoverned space on planet earth.

    c) Never before in history have so many people from so many places had so much power on their fingertips.

    d) Every two days more digital content is created than from the dawn of civilization until 2003.

    e) What is evolving is a tale of two civilizations; one physical that has evolved over the millennia and one virtual that is still very much in formation.

    f) The New Media rides on the back of this World Wide Web.

     

    What still has not been analyzed in depth and detail is-how this democratization of news creation, aggregation and dissemination a bottoms up process – sans editorialization is impacting both print and broadcasting newsrooms in addition to transforming the contours of the media space.

     

    There are some other pertinent questions that the first generation of the digital age should address with some measure of dispatch to ensure that the process of defining agreed global rules of engagement commences in right earnest in the virtual civilization, for example – at what point does a personal “tweet” essentially a digital freedom of expression – turn into a “mass broadcast” – a telecommunications business, in effect one that has to be held to certain standards of accountability?

     

    Allow me to turn to the other hard question of our times and the subject of our deliberations today, i.e. media and public interest.

     

    Public interest has but myriad subjective connotations. It can and may mean various things to various people but what public interest certainly cannot mean is the promotion propagation and proclamation of private Interest in any area of human endeavor.

     

    Speaking in the Rajya Sabha in 1974, Late Shri R K Mishra an eminent journalist himself, made an incisive though a very blunt and some may term even a provocative observation about the Media and Private interest. An articulation that raises hackles in certain very influential quarters in our country whenever it is reiterated. He stated and with your permission quote;

     

    Now where is the freedom of the Press? What do we have? In India we have the freedom of the newspaper owner; In India we have the freedom of the newspaper proprietor and in some cases the delegated freedom which is enjoyed by the newspaper managers ……and the working journalists will continue to be paid employees doing whatever the newspaper proprietor wants him to do.”

     

    Pungent but profound words that have proven to be almost prophetic in their import. Though obviously this adage does not have universal application even in the Indian context but a few would seriously contest that selectively it is a non-sequitur. Rather than react with the usual display of indignation perhaps the media industry would be better served if stakeholders were to calmly and dispassionately consider evolving the means and measures of putting Chinese walls cast in concrete between commercial considerations and editorial autonomy. Recently in influential publications very eminent editors have voluntarily relinquished their managerial responsibilities. This is indeed laudable and an example that inspires emulation by one and all.

     

    On the occasion of the National Press Day we must rededicate ourselves to the cause of empowering the working journalist as well as creating the necessary wherewithal that supports truly Independent Media initiatives.

    Corporate ownership of the Media is an inescapable reality as is surrogate political ownership as well as government ownership in the public broadcaster format. While one can possibly argue about the pros and cons of each of these paradigms but life is circumscribed by the given reality and not the utopia of Shangri-las. The moot point being that there are diverse interests always at play in the media space. The challenge therefore is to always try and find the elusive golden mean so that Public Interest does not become a permanent casualty at the altar of competing and contradictory private interests. In the UK this dilemma was articulated cogently in 1995 by the then Conservative government’s White Paper on media ownership: The paper stated and I quote-

     

    “A free and diverse media are an indispensable part of the democratic process. They provide the multiplicity of voices and opinions that informs the public, influences opinion, and engenders political debate. They promote the culture of dissent which any healthy democracy must have…. If one voice becomes too powerful, this process is placed in jeopardy and democracy is damaged.”

    That is perhaps why post The Lord Leveson enquiry the British government with broad Multi Partisan support promulgated the Royal Charter on Media Regulation recently despite opposition by powerful interests in the British Media Industry. Unfortunately this development has not found resonance in the otherwise vacuous realm of public polemics in our country.

     

    In both the Indian and even the global context certain structural paradoxes have emerged which require the focus of concerned, conscientious and committed stakeholders of the public discourse.

     

    THESE ARE:

    (a) PARADOX OF THE SHORT FUSE-INCREASED INFORMATION DISSEMINATION MECHANISMS QUA INCREASED INTOLERANCE OF THE OTHERS POINT OF VIEW.

    (b) PARADOX OF FLAWED REVENUE MODELS QUA QUESTIONABLE REVENUE GENERATION PRACTICES

    (c) PARADOX OF TRPsS QUA THE TRUTH

    (d) SENSATIONAL MEDIA TRIALS QUA A FAIR JUDICIAL TRAIL GUARANTEED BY ARTICLE 21 OF THE CONSTITUTION.

    (e) ANONYMITY MASQUERADING AS PRIVACY IN THE NEW MEDIA SPACE-THE SPECTRE OF THE ‘HIDDEN’ PEOPLE AND THE DARK NET.

    (f) NON EMERGENCE OF GLOBAL RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN THE VIRTUAL CIVILIZATION.

    (g) LAST MILE NEUTRALITY AMONG CARRIGE PROVIDERS SO THAT CONTENT PROVIDERS GET A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD AND ARE ABLE TO REAP THE BENEFITS OF CONVERGENCE.

    AND THE QUINTESSENTIAL DILEMMA

    (h) SELF-REGULATION QUA A STATUTORY REMIT.

     

    If I were to liberate my thoughts from the seemingly vexed issues that bedevil the media remit and ask a very simple question as to what is the Fundamental Public Interest of our times? The answer can perhaps be articulated in one simple sentence- upholding the constitutional values which define the very idea of India. As we go about our everyday chores dark clouds of fascism loom ominously over the horizon- a great evil stalks our land. The first casualty of this specter would be the constriction of liberal spaces, curtailment of creativity and circumscribing the right to challenge the conventional and think off the beaten path. If the alleged expose about state sponsored stalking is correct I would be worried not as a woman but as a civil libertarian about the Orwellian state that some “esteemed” gentleman seek to construct.

     

    William Shakespeare in his epic Julius Caesar wrote

    “There is a tide in the affairs of men

    Which taken at the flood leads to fortune
    Omitted, all the voyage of their life
    Is bound in shallows and in Miseries
    On such a full sea are we now afloat
    And we must take the current when it serves
    Or lose our ventures.”

     

    History bears testimony to the harsh reality that evil has always triumphed when good men have chosen to keep quiet and do nothing. When the immediate has taken precedence over imperative! When like Lord Neville Chamberlain we have been naive enough to believe that compromising with the forces of fascism, right reaction and national subversion can buy us the peace of our times.

     

    At such a crossroads ladies and gentlemen do we today stand!

     

  • The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has granted an interim hike of 19 percent in DAVP rates for the print media with effect from October 15, 2013, pending the receipt and acceptance of recommendations of the 7th Rate Structure Committee

    Pre-poll sop? I&B ministry grants interim 19% hike in DAVP rates of print media

    By A Correspondent

     

    You will not read this interpretation in any newspaper. Nor will any news channel discuss this in its various panel discussions. Perhaps social media may. But you never know. For, it’s seen as a sop to newspapers ahead of the elections – the rest of the State elections to be held this month and next and the 2014 general elections. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has granted an interim hike of 19 percent in DAVP rates for the print media with effect from October 15, 2013.

     

    The rate card decided by the 6th Rate Structure Committee (RSC) was valid till October 14 and even though a 7th RSC was constituted by the MIB on May 31, 2013, the recommendations haven’t come in so far. According to a communiqué, the ministry has received a number of representation from various stakeholders and DAVP for grant of immediate interim relief in the Print Media Rate Card of DAVP pending revision of rate card on the basis of recommendations of 7th RSC.

     

    Accordingly, a proposal for grant of an interim hike was considered by the MIB in consultation with Ministry of Finance and the Election Commission of India. All stakeholders have been to cooperate with the Rate Structure Committee so that its recommendations may be finalized at the earliest.