MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Tips for marketers from Pepsico India CEO D Shivakumar and a checklist from Harish Bijoor on tracking the youth brigade

    Power points to target & track youth

     

    Youth is more homogeneous today than ever before: D Shivakumar Reach the younger & funkier generation 
     

    D Shivakumar

    CEO, Pepsico India

     

    Youth and youthfulness are evergreen concepts. The eternal truths of college, friends, and hangouts, falling in love and falling out persist. There are some differences in this generation due to technology and wider exposure.

     

    Earlier generations saw basic brands and services. This generation has challenges with everything from quality education seats to public utilities. Let’s look at life, technology, relationships with brands and what marketers need to do to connect better.

     

    Youth is more homogeneous today than ever before; they dress the same, talk the same, tap into the same sources for information and quickly form digital tribes. However, small town youth is about conformity, values and tradition playing the role of glue as well as shackles.

     

    They try balancing between being trendy and managing family expectations. Their urban peers are about group belonging, but wanting to stand out -a ‘first amongst equals’ syndrome. They are more ‘global’ savvy. So, brands can be traditional and leading edge with the youth.

     

    Indian youth recognise the world’s fragilities and life’s insecurities. This makes them ambitious about material success. It is about fulfilling potential and owning the badges. The markers are visible ‘money can buy’ symbols.

     

    Their role models are talented sporting geniuses like Messi, Ronaldo and Tendulkar, smart tech guys like the Flipkart founders (Sachin and Binny Bansal), Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Edward Snowden, the whistle blower.

     

    They admire the journeys of Dr APJ Kalam and MS Dhoni and anyone who has achieved rare competence in his or her field. Celebrities are aspirational and advertising which offers a peek into the celebrity’s world wins.

     

    They are idealistic, realistic and competitive, all at once. The choice of careers is getting more diverse. They keep things light and aren’t deeply attached. They realise relationships have side exits.

     

    Girls are postponing marriage to experience independence and be financially secure. Priyanka Chopra’s ‘it’s more than a phone’ ad which tapped into this attitude was a big success.

     

    A competitive society pushes youth to be extra smart or hardworking. Most find the latter a difficult and boring path. Hence they resort to ‘jugaad’, the ‘chota short cut’ or ‘patli galli’. White lies are okay truths for them to get to the goal.

     

    This dark side of youth is sometimes admired and often not condoned by peers and society! Movies have captured this; brands haven’t done so as yet.

     

    Let’s look at the impact of technology. Every young Indian has access to a cellphone. India’s youth population dominates the 200 million Internet user base, the 100 million Facebook users, 80 million YouTube users and 30 million Twitter users. Technology allows youth to have multiple identities, mostly anonymous. It has made them multitasking champions and reduced attention spans.

     

    Mobile phones and social apps have given them a way to connect with the opposite sex in their own private space and express themselves through words and visuals. Youth from ‘love marriage’ families do talk about their girlfriends and boyfriends with their parents. Boys and girls are open to discussing their relationships candidly. Can brands use these insights in their communication?

     

    Technology makes youth consume, converse and create and gives youth social currency, however transient. It needs to be acquired by doing new and different things. ‘Talk value’ brands play a big role in building social currency. Brands can co-create by tapping into this consume, converse, create cycle.

     

    Indian youth are comfortable with consumerism. They happily switch between branded and unbranded choices and use a wide repertoire. Brands give them identity and are important to expressing their coolness but always at the right value.

     

    They want and respect socially conscious brands, however, they do not necessarily reward them with more business. Recycling in technology is a good example. How do brands get youth commitment to ecology and societal issues while staying on business strategy?

     

    The challenge is to market inclusiveness memorably, and be authentic. The good of the brand is in its product promise and delivery, the challenge is in behaviour and responsiveness in the social space. Brands need to engage with youth on their turf, on their terms.

     

    Youth passion revolves around sport, music, movies, shopping and hanging out. The emergence of English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, NBA and F1 threaten cricket’s position. Brands that connect these broad passions do well; brands that force connection do poorly and are mocked for trying too hard.

     

    Youth and aspiration are two sides of the same coin in every generation, aspiration of a new way and today a new technology. Youth always seek ‘the next wave to surf’.

     

    India has 55,000 brands in the FMCG sector. Most of these brands view youth as the prime target segment. Yet, few get it right. Brands fail because they try too hard to be cool and in reality are too cold to be hot!

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

    		  

    Harish Bijoor

    Brand expert & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc

     

    Youth and trends – that’s really an oxymoron, moron! And that opening sentence, in-the-eye, in-the-face, and in the gut, is the way the youth talk. “Hey Dawg” is a loving appellation. Aside hug follows, that could get your shoulder dislocated, but it’s away of bonding and telling you we come from the same generation, and are headed to the same hell.

     

    Youth and trends are words that don’t necessarily go together.The moment something sets in, the category moves its cheese, chips and Coke. Trend is for the old.The young believe in change that is forever, and discontinuous.Anda discontinuous trend is really not a trend; difficult to track with method, science and meaning.Those who believe they are trend spotters live in a fool’s paradise.

     

    The trend you write about is as old as the day it was written. This piece is therefore not as much about telling you trends as teaching you how to trend-track. Teach a man to fish, rather than give him the now-truly dead Pomfret you caught this morning.

     

    Since trends are difficult to track, and have this yen to change, there is a great way of keeping in touch with the youth;what they do, wear, speak, eat and drink. Just watch them at it. Track them without them knowing. Catch them in their natural surroundings.

     

    By the way this is not home, school, college or even a spanking new entry-level office. Instead, it is the third-place where they are letting their hair down. Gyms, beauty-parlours, cafes, pubs, discs and more. It is here that they are themselves.

     

    Catch them on Twitter, Facebook or Tagged. Catch them with their pants down, with their second and third digital handles, on sites you never thought guys and girls like them would ever visit.The footprints you track today must be both physical and digital.

     

    Just as there are “physical third-places”, there are “digital third-places”. And thenwhen you havewatched them 1:1 inmyriad “third-place” locations, build that sketch of theirs.This will change in three months flat.Therefore, keep building, calibrating their mind, mood, language, tone and tenor. You just might be on the right track, then. I call this generation “The I-Gen” where I stands for Impatient.

     

    It’s the hallmark of youth. Patience cycles have progressively become smaller. Impatience is the newvirtue.The more impatient you are, the more of a ‘go-getter-youth’ you are.Whenyou can be Impatient, why be patient? Impatience hits you in the face all around.The youth are impatient with love.There are relationships on the front-burner, just as there is a parallel one on the back-burner.

     

    Multi-hob is the way to go. There is impatience in sex and no binding yourself tight within the confines of a marriage. Impatience is everywhere, and the salivating marketer is ready to cater to it.Whenyou fracture your patella and rush to the hospital, there are two cures possible.

     

    The patient one is to be in a cast for six weeks, and the impatient one is dowhat the doctor in the big hospital is recommending. Put in those nuts and bolts and be up and about in a week flat.The marketer here (in benign disguise) is the doctor recommending the high-priced quick-fix versus the low-priced plaster of paris in blue. This is everywhere in the youth space.

     

    Pay the price and get the lost time back.Welive with two currencies today: time and money. And often, time is at a premium. There is impatience in the foods we eat, fast food versus regular. Restaurants versus QSR’s. Quick-serve restaurants versus slow-serve restaurants, if you will. There is impatience in the yen to create wealth, just as there is impatience to spend it all.

     

    The bio-clock of the youth at large is ticking at a pace that seemsmuch more frenetic than at any time in our marketing history.There seems to be very little time to live, might as well live it fast and furious. Fashion, lifestyle, entertainment and digital use is witnessing this impatience all around. What then is the real problem at hand? It’s not what, it’s who.

     

    The marketers in the country who are an older lot,much older than the people they sell to.Whoare good at the old marketing format: Patience Marketing. Impatience is a mindset they just do not understand well enough. Even if they do, there is lip-service done to it.

     

    There is also this dominant attitude and notion in the minds of older marketers (and by old I mean age 30 and above, ouch!), that this impatience is a fad, and it will pass. Marketers instead need to learn and practice impatience. Embrace it within your brand DNA.

     

    Pack it within your brand offering, and showcase it to the youth. Resonate with this impatience and be a part of it rather than criticise and passes value-judgments, as an older person is bound to. Re-check your ‘young quotient’ dear marketer, before you attempt to market to the youth effectively.When was the last time you hit a discotheque and grooved to the tune of Timber and Dubstep? Do you even know what we are talking about? Ouch!

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

     


  • The programme will be conducted by Dr. Rasananda Panda, Professor of Economics and Head, General Management Area at MICA

    MICA to host three-day MDP on business research and analytics

    By A Correspondent

     

    MICA is set to host a three-day residential MDP on “Business Research and Analytics for Effective Decision Making” from 18 – 20 June, 2014 at its Ahmedabad campus. The programme will be conducted by Dr. Rasananda Panda, Professor of Economics and Head, General Management Area at MICA.

     

    Aimed at providing an in-depth understanding of various methods of conducting business research in a variety of management situations, the MDP has been designed to expose the participants to formulating research-problems, applying appropriate research design and skills of data generation, data processing and statistical analysis of basic and advanced levels.

     

    The programme is ideally meant for senior and middle level managers from – marketing research, data mining, analytics and search engine firms; FMCG and consumer durables companies; telecom, airlines, travel, transportation, hospitality and real estate businesses; companies in retail, tourism, media and entertainment sectors; as well as companies dealing in supply chain management and operations – who are responsible for briefing, conducting or analysing business research, including market research and consumer research.

     

    Commenting on the programme, Professor Panda, MICA, informed, “It has been designed to support participants in brushing up their understanding of research and data analytics via simple to relatively complex multivariate and econometrics tools and techniques, thus helping them make a fortune in 100 billion dollar big-data industries across the world.”

     

    The MDP would be laying special emphasis on how the research can help senior managers in the industry take better business decisions – by correctly defining the research problems, choosing the right research methodology and interpreting the research findings to generate key business insights.

     

  • A quick Q&A with Ajit Thakur, Star India General Manager and Business Head of Life OK, on the channel being the #3 Hindi GEC as per TAM numbers

    Jaldi 5 with Ajit Thakur: Loads to fix & learn before we set our eyes on #1

    There was much cheer last week when Life OK took the #3 slot amongst Hindi GECs in the weekly TAM ratings. But we held back and said that we should wait for another week before interviewing Ajit Thakur, Star India General Manager and Business Head of the channel. The weekly numbers that came out yesterday saw Life OK ahead yet again. MxMIndia spoke with Mr Thakur, hours after it was known that Life OK was the #3 Hindi GEC for the second consecutive week as per TAM numbers.

     

    01.When we met you in December you said Life OK would be No 1 channel in the next 18 months and exact 6 months since then, Life is more than OK. What has worked for the channel for it to be the no 3?

    Firstly, we have not consciously chased rankings. When I said we want to be the No 1 GEC, we wanted to be No 1, and everything else in the middle didn’t matter. No 1 both in terms of perception and market share. What we had gone about doing in the past six months was to up the game. For instance, one of the things we focussed on was to bring in some scale on the channel. In January we started with Life OK Screen Awards and then we did a couple of more events, the recent being Life OK Now Awards which are a television and film monthly awards. Second, we are continuing to work on our disruption agenda. When we last met, we had just launched Tumhari Paakhi and Hatim, both come from very different schools of thought, one is a fantasy tale, targeting kids, while Tumhari Paakhi is an adaptation of a Sarat Chandra novel. Yes we have some originals, there are some ever-lasting characters, we picked those characters and turned them into now what is one of the better shows on TV. It is a drama but not a saas bahu show. In fact as we speak, we are shooting in Singapore….

     

    02. What would you attribute the current rise to, especially in the last two weeks? Savdhaan India turning into an hour?

    There are about 4-5 shows have contributed to it, which is a good thing, right? It is not a one-show wonder. Savdhaan India’s extended hours has worked for sure, Tumhari Paakhi has grown, another shows called Ek Boond Ishq at 8.30 pm has grown, and we have also had Shapath and the Life OK Now awards on weekends. But what worked well for us and not just individual shows was that while everyone was waiting to do their highpoints in the week post-IPL, we went and tried everything in the last week of IPL because I believe there is enough scope for GECs despite cricket. The last week ratings that came in were of the IPL finale week. Everyone fell and postponed their high points while we went and did all of them in that week!

     

    So if you don’t want to watch cricket, we are the channel which is giving you enough and more! I think this is what worked for us first and then the momentum continued. Going forward, while today we are ahead and tomorrow somebody else could be ahead of us, the important thing is if you look at the past 18 months, the channel that has steadily grown and recruited viewers and continued to do that by not showing same kind of content is Life OK. Everything else is going up and down, but we have continuously and steadily grown.

     

    03. You still don’t have too much have on the reality front. You have tried it in the past on Life OK but nothing has turned out to be as big as what some of the others have.

    Yes, partly conscious, partly not conscious. We did try a couple of things like Bachelorette India and Sacch Ka Saamna at launch but both didn’t work as well as we would have liked them to. But at the same time we have not done the tried and tested, singing and dancing which everybody has and that is the conscious past of Life OK’s DNA that we won’t do the regular stuff. I am comfortable in saying that we are growing, we are young, we are learning from our mistakes.

     

    03a. Any format that you would like to do or would like to licence in the near future?

    No International formats, we don’t find anything interesting. This festival season we will be doing our first big talent reality show. Though it is very early to talk about it, what I can tell you is that it will be a creation of genre and we are going to get a mega star on board and that the show will be shot out of India.

     

    04. You have got to No 3, the key thing now is to maintain the lead. How do you plan to ensure that?

    According to me, there are three highlights of where we are today. First and foremost is that being the younger No 3, we will try harder to retain the humility we have shown. We will continue to be resilient and stay focussed.

     

    Second, we will keep breaking rules, that’s our DNA. Everybody does singing-and-dancing, we will do something else, everybody does saas bahu, we will do something else, and we will try and change the rules of content and marketing.

     

    The third and one of the most important things we learnt when we started out was that many of the established producers and writers were engaged with the top channels. We said we will build our own talent pool. In the past two-and-a-half years, we have worked with loads of new people. Half my heads of department have never done TV before, one person has come from publishing, another from research and marketing. We will continue engaging with new people and work with new producers, get new people in and give them a chance. But we also have some of the big producers coming in. Our next big shows is by Ekta Kapoor, the no 1 talent in Television. We have 3-4 from other big producers, but at the same time we will continue working with new talent.

     

    04a. Does that mean that you will now be spending more on production, up from the relatively low spends you’ve done so far?

    Our spends were moderate, not low. But remember, I am just talking about fiction, we are not going to spend a lot on non-fiction. I think the return on investment on non-fiction is very questionable. Even the best products are not making money.

     

    05. Back to your earlier statement of wanting to be No 1 by June 2015. You are #3 already, but you are just 12 months away from your target?

    The top slots keep yo-yoing but the one to beat is Star Plus. It has set high benchmarks, so, yes, we would like to set our eyes on it. But we still have a lot of our own problems to fix and have some learnings. Once we figure things out in the next six months, we will take a shot at it. Right now, I am not looking at Star Plus.

     

  • Introduces an audience measurement matrix Gross Impression Points

    Milestone Brandcom launches Milestone Optimizer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Milestone Brandcom has launched a ground-breaking audience measurement eco-system labelled ‘Milestone Optimizer’. Milestone Optimizer will cover 35 cities to provide an exhausted knowledge bank of opportunities and scope for planning in the outdoor advertising space. The optimizer introduces a new measurement matrix Gross Impression Points (GIP) for the OOH Medium. GIP Or Gross Impression Points definitively measures the reach and frequency of an OOH campaign giving it a holistic planning solution.

     

    The intensive web based tool is an industry first built on technology and scientific data collated over the years that will help marketers, media planners and buyers make superior and cost effective outreach to consumers. Giving a more wholesome look on media planning by providing factual data collected on traffic count, consumer behaviour and segmentation, the Milestone Optimizer provides accountability at time when most agencies refer to instincts rather than science. Milestone Brandcom has invested over 5 crore rupees in developing this apparatus and has covered top 10 towns in India which account for 75 per cent OOH advertising spends. The cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkatta, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Ludhiana.

     

    Nabendu Bhattacharya

    Nabendu Bhattacharya, MD & Founder Milestone Brandcom said, “The Milestone Optimizer is a culmination of countless hours of hard work, research and scientific planning by our team. We have invested a great deal in the tool in an attempt to make OOH planning a lot more organised and scientific in the industry. Through the use of the Optimizer, brands will soon grasp the scope in this 1900 Crore INR sector and understand how underutilized it is in the country. The GIP measurement matrix is a complete scientific measurement solution that will redefine the OOH Industry. This is another benchmark in Milestone Brandcom’s journey”

     

    The Milestone Optimizer provides reach and frequency of different modes of OOH advertising through Gross Impression Points (GIP) that can also be compared with the more conventional forms of advertising such as print, TV and radio. It allows one to evaluate category benchmarking and market threshold level of activity giving a whole new dimension to media planning. It is combination of the latest technology and years of experience.

     

    The Milestone Optimizer tool was developed with the support of Industry veterans, media owners, marketing and brand managers across categories and brands. IRS iLAP (Hansa Research); TGI (IMRB Research), Traffic Study (Gfk Mode); Technology Partner (Unikov Technologies) are few of credible databases used in developing a robust scientific planning OOH Tool.

     

  • How does an Indian, who has virtually no interest in nation-vs.-nation football for four years, become an ardent fan of a soccer-playing national team, wonders Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: FIFA World Cup: Patriotism With A Twist

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The Football World Cup kicked off last night in Brazil. The month-long tournament is the only sporting event besides the Olympics that truly unites sports fans across the world. All other sports have their catchment areas, but soccer is the world’s favorite sport by a safe distance.

     

    All that being said, the craze for the FIFA World Cup in India amuses me every four years. Yes, football is the second most popular sport in India after cricket. Both television ratings and consumer research show that besides WWE-style wrestling entertainment, no other sport has the potential to challenge football’s number two position over the next decade in India.

     

    So my amusement is not so much about the following or viewership of the World Cup. That is logical and even expected. My amusement is about following of specific teams.

     

    Every four years, we see news footage and newspaper stories about fans of certain teams, often the ‘third-world’ teams such as Brazil and Argentina, gathering at public places in India to watch World Cup games. These “fans” can give local fans of the respective nations a run for their money. They wear the team colours, know their team inside out and some even carry the nation’s flag on them.

     

    How does an Indian, who has virtually no interest in nation-vs-nation football for four years, become an ardent fan of a soccer-playing national team? There is no rational explanation to this bizarre phenomenon. But we are not the most rational country in the world, are we?

     

    I have two hypotheses. The first one says that the choice to support a team is to spice up the viewing of the World Cup. So you first take the decision “I must watch the Football World Cup”. The reasons for that could range from entertainment to social expectations. You then wonder: “Now that I’m watching the World Cup, I must decide whom I am supporting”. Making a favorite team choice is critical because it would create higher engagement with the tournament, and also create volatile water cooler conversations at office.

     

    The second hypothesis is about the choice of the team itself. Most Indians tend to go for Brazil traditionally, for the strong third-world or brown-skin connect, I believe. Argentina has been a strong second favorite. The post-colonial effect ensures most European teams are ignored, though the ones that are not-so-British (such as Spain) have found some traction over time.

     

    These choices having been made, the real amusement lies in the journey over the month of the World Cup. From being a forced fan to a natural fan can be some transition. But we Indians can make that transition within days, even hours. From “I choose to support Brazil” to “I love Brazil” to “Brazil BrazilBrazil” is a quick turnaround.

     

    And if your chosen team indeed loses, you can behave as if the world has come crashing down. Though I suspect the hurt would last far shorter than that of India losing the final of a Cricket World Cup, a la 2003.

     

    So, be prepared for bleary-eyed colleagues in your office for the next one month, behave like they were born and brought up in Argentina (or Brazil), and that Maradona (or Pele) is the biggest influence on their lives. And if you spot some foreign-looking flags on the streets, just remind yourself that you are still in India!

     

    TV Trails is a weekly column written by Shailesh Kapoor, founder and CEO of media insights firm Ormax Media. He spent nine years in the television industry before turning entrepreneur. The views expressed here are his own. He can be reached at his Twitter handle @shaileshkapoor

     

  • Launches seven new channels in the bouquet

    TheOneAlliance records decent growth

    By A Correspondent

     

    TheOneAlliance, MSM Discovery Private Limited(MSMD), the joint venture between Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd and Discovery Communications India have announced that they continue to be the authorized sole and exclusive distribution agent for Multi-Screen Media Private Limited, Discovery Communications India and TV Today Network Limited to various distribution platforms – Cable (both analogue and digital), DTH, HITS, IPTV and Hotels and Commercials Establishments.

     

    Apart from the current 24 premium channels distributed by MSMD, the networks will be making heavy investments in the form of new channels such as MAX 2 – a contemporary Hindi Movie channel showcasing great Indian cinema, PIX HD, AXN HD and, a new entertainment channel from the MSM stable. The network is also acquiring premium sporting properties for their sports and entertainment channel, Sony SIX, which is broadcasting a world of unparalleled sports entertainment with something to satiate every sports lover’s appetite with blockbuster events like NBA, UFC, TNA Wrestling and Australian Open tennis. Sony SIX has also been telecasting the recently concluded hugely popular cricketing tournament IPL, and is the home of international football for the next 5 years with exclusive rights to telecasting the world largest sporting spectacle FIFA World Cup 2014 – Brasil & FIFA World Cup 2018 – Russia along with UEFA EURO 2016.

     

    Discovery communications India will be launching Investigation Discovery (ID), a suspense hindi entertainment channel, TLC HD and Animal Planet HD in the near future.  Over the course of the next one year, both the networks are looking forward to launch new channels in both SD and HD across different genres

     

    Speaking on the occasion N. P. Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Multi Screen Media said, “We believe in nurturing and fostering positive and strong relationships with our partners which is mutually beneficial to both and we are happy to extend this partnership to the future also. We are very confident that TheOneAlliance is perfectly enabled to monetize the valuable and exclusive premium content that we produce and acquire.”

     

    “Discovery has a very strong partnership with Sony and we are fully committed to The One Alliance. It is Discovery’s endeavor to provide the Indian viewers with the finest entertainment and The One Alliance will continue to distribute our eight current channels and our new launches across India,” said Rahul Johri, EVP and General Manager – South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific and Head of Revenue, Pan-Regional Ad Sales and Southeast Asia.

     

    Adding to that Rajesh Kaul, President TheOneAlliance said,” TheOneAlliance is one of the most stable & dynamic distribution partnerships in the industry. Given the current strength & the aggressive future investment plans of our partners, TheOneAlliance will continue to excel as the powerful leader in the industry.”

     

    Effective 1st, April 2014, TheOneAlliance ceased to distribute the television channels – Times Now, ET Now, Movies Now and Zoom.

     

  • Eikona did a curtain raiser on the PR buzz created by the FIFA custodians during the week prior to the opening day in Print media

    Eikona samples football popularity before World Cup

    A week before the launch of any product, film, or event is extremely crucial. The pre-buzz prior to the launch created with multiple touch points across editorial, advertising, teasers / promos not only build up curiosity but also pulls the target audience to sample it, at least once. More so, for a massive global sporting event like FIFA, the communication has to get through boundaries of Age, Gender and SEC (Socio Economical Classification), Geography etc.

     

    Effectively, FIFA is not a very new phenomenon to India. The roaring success in FIFA 2006 has played a key role in repositioning Soccer as one of the most preferred sporting events among the Indian TV audiences. What made FIFA 2006 bridge with the Indian TV audiences? Amongst many, buzz creation was one of cornerstones towards making FIFA 2006 a success story. Within the construct of FIFA 2006 buzz, PR played a key role in influencing and pushing Indian audiences to take interest, watch and re-watch FIFA telecast.

     

    Eikona, the PR Audit division of TAM, did a curtain raiser on the PR buzz created by the FIFA custodians during the week prior to the opening day in the Print media in comparison with India – West Indies Cricket Series. According to the findings, soccer received an amazing 3 times higher editorial coverage than cricket during the 6 days ending on the first day of FIFA 2006 – June 9, 2006. Front page, sports sections, special supplements etc. FIFA was everywhere in practically every newspaper. Needless to say, these play a vital role in diverting eyeballs towards the channel and the game.

     

    Having proved the media hype created around soccer, if one were to analyze the day by day build up, one notices that June 9th, the first day of FIFA 2006 received the highest editorial coverage touching 54,000 CCMs as compared to cricket with a mere 7,000 CCMs – a huge 8 times higher.

     

    Across the six metros (Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad), Mumbai newspapers generated the highest editorial volumes focusing on Soccer/FIFA touching close to 48,000 CCMs. Incidentally, cricket too received the highest volumes in Mumbai, only at one third that of soccer. Infact, across the 6 metros, soccer on an average received 3-4 times higher editorial space than cricket.

     

    It furthernites that across the six metros, at a language level, while English newspapers contributed 140,000 CCMs of editorial space to soccer, cricket received a mere 41,000CCMs. Soccer crazy Bengali papers allotted 11,000 CCMs to Soccer while cricket simple received 800CCMs.

     

  • ET Now's '5 Year celebration' reloads with the Theme of 'Five years of excellence

    Biz channel ET Now turns 5

    By a correspondent

     

    Leading business news channel ET Now has completed five years of meaningful existence in India. The channel has carved a niche for itself over the years with superior coverage and analysis of markets, business and economy. ET Now’s ‘5 Year celebration’ reloads with the Theme of ‘Five years of excellence.

     

    Extending their wishes, noted industry captains had the following messages to share: “ET Now is not only the default channel but also the go-to channel, when you know something is happening out there and you want to get a grip of it”, said KV Kamath – Chairman, ICICI Bank. NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys had the following to share: “Congratulations to ET Now for completing five wonderful years. ET Now has scaled up using innovation, hardwork and some extraordinary ideas. They have reporters who are enthusiastic, energetic, hungry, inquisitive and very persuasive. Their anchors ask deep, proactive questions and bring out the best in the interviews.”

     

    “My congratulations and best wishes to ET Now on its fifth anniversary. In an increasingly cluttered media landscape, the channel stands apart for its insight, initiative and integrity while covering Indian business and the economy. With the country poised yet again at a crossroad, I look forward to watching the channel as it unveils the next chapter in the story of a nation on the move,” observed Anand Mahindra, Chairman & MD, Mahindra & Mahindra.

     

    To drive consumer engagement, the channel arranged a contest titled ‘YOU WISH.YOUWIN’ that invited the viewers to share their messages on Facebook, Twitter and Google + using #FiveYearsOfExcellence. The best entries received till 17th June were entitled to win some cool gifts.

     

    On the programming front, the theme of ‘5’ was brought alive through a set of 5 fund managers; CEO’s and  economists that appeared on various shows from morning till evening.

     

     

     

  • Taj Television is India’s largest distribution agency and has a powerful repertoire of over 47 leading television channels

    It’s ‘Wah, Taj!’ for Zee & Turner group channels, new co to distribute Zindagi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEE) added another feather to its cap by bringing on board India’s largest distribution network, Taj Television India Pvt. Ltd. (Taj Television). Taj Television is India’s largest distribution agency and has a powerful repertoire of over 47 leading television channels. This includes well-known brands belonging to ZEE, Zee Media Corporation Limited and Turner International India Private Limited. Taj Television distributes channels which are leaders in 15 out of the 19 markets and has nine leadership channels across eight genres.

     

    Punit Goenka

    Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO, ZEE commented, “I am pleased to announce that Taj Television, which earlier was distributing Ten Sports channels, will now distribute all the channels of Zee Entertainment and Zee Media Corporation, while also representing Turner channels as its authorized agent. I would like to thank all our DTH and Cable partners who have been part of our growth journey and look forward to their continued support to Taj Television. Arun Kapoor, who has successfully led Mediapro for the last three years, would continue to provide leadership to Taj Television. Rajesh Sethi would continue to be the CEO for Sports broadcasting network of ZEE.”

     

    Arun K Kapoor, CEO, Taj Television, said “ZEE has been the pioneer in Indian television and has the experience and leadership capability to shape the future of pay revenues in India. With Taj Television being created as the distribution entity for the network, we bring together the best of television channels to our customers. We are confident that the new channel Zindagi will really connect with the viewers and help grow Taj Television offering even stronger. We are committed to quality and achieving leadership through fair and transparent business practices.”

     

    Atul Das, President, Taj Television, said “With digitization having been completed in Phase I and Phase II cities in India, we now look forward to its implementation in rest of the country. Taj Television would aim to create a harmonious relationship within the ecosystem and create value for all stakeholders. With a leading portfolio of television channels, both in the national and regional space and with a powerful portfolio of sports programming, we are excited about the future of pay revenues in the country.”

     

    Taj Television distributes ZEE’s well-known brands like Zee TV, Zee Cinema, &pictures, Ten Sports, Zee Cafe, Zee Studio, Zing and a powerful repertoire of regional language channels including Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada and Zee Tamizh, besides the HD channels like Zee TV HD, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Studio HD and Ten HD. Taj Television also distributes channels of Zee Media Corporation, the largest news network in India with two national and eight regional channels. These channels are available across the country.Taj is also distributing the leading channels in the kid’s space and English movie segment, including HBO, Cartoon Network, Pogo, CNN and Warner Brothers as an authorized agent of Turner International.

     

  • What’s the big issue about criticism, especially when it comes with a constructive solution-oriented approach, asks Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: In A Politely Incorrect Industry, Can You Call A Spade A Spade?

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Those who attend movie trial shows would relate to the predicament I’m about to share. Have you seen a movie at a trial, sat tortuously through it wondering what they were thinking when they were making it, and thenfaced with with the question you would pay anything to avoid: “How did you like it?”

     

    Seasoned industry folk have mastered the art of responding to such questions. They would tend to say all the good things first, and then point out the big issue as an appendage: “But I just felt that if you spend some time explaining the story, the film would work better.”

     

    This infectious living-in-a-bubble-at-launch-time disease has fast passed onto the television industry as well. Whenever a new show goes on air, I try and sample it for a couple of episodes, purely out of a disciplined habit inculcated over more than a decade. Seventy-eighty percent such experiences are excruciatingly boring. Mediocre writing and direction is rampant, and there’s only that odd show that stands out as being smartly made.

     

    Whenever I liked something new, I used to make it a point to call or message my friends at the relevant channel about how it made me feel. Silence meant ‘not liked’, not ‘haven’t watched yet’.

     

    But of late, this formula has stopped working. Imagine that you get a message from a channel friend, who has put his heart and soul into a new project, at 8.45pm, only 15 minutes before the new project goes on air for the first time ever. His message is brimming with excitement, requesting you to watch and give your feedback, because “it really matters”.

     

    This scenario forces me to reply at 9.30 or 10pm, whatever the end time is. And my option to reply with my true thoughts (which could be “your team has killed the spirit of the concept you tested with us” or “sack the director now! NOW!”) can be limiting at times.

     

    Hence, out of no choice, and actually with a baggage of guilt, I started behaving like the filmi guy at the trial, who would slip in the big negative as an inconsequential by-the-way. But the more I thought of this behaviour, I found it dishonest on every count, both to the client and to myself.

     

    What’s the big issue about criticism, especially when it comes with a constructive solution-oriented approach? Can Indians stop being less touchy and more objective about their work? Can they not get that just because they have produced or marketed something, it need not blow everybody’s mind?

     

    We have all been on the other side at some point or the other. Listening to appreciation about our labor of love can be a high, while criticism, especially when coming from trusted parties, can deflate you. But the ratings or the box office will deflate you anyway within a week. A bubble is never a stable place to live in.So, at some point of time in the recent past, I decided to shed the fear and the inhibition, and decide to say it like it is.

     

    I would urge others in the business to consider liberating themselves of the responsibility of being polite and dishonest, within and outside the organization. You will discover how it can empower you from within. Not to speak of the respect you are likely to win over time!

     

    TV Trails is a weekly column written by Shailesh Kapoor, founder and CEO of media insights firm Ormax Media. He spent nine years in the television industry before turning entrepreneur. The views expressed here are his own. He can be reached at his Twitter handle @shaileshkapoor

     

     

  • The launch of the app coincides with the most awaited football series of the year – FIFA World Cup 2014

    Tata Sky unveils popular app around FIFA WC

    By A Correspondent

     

    DTH player Tata Sky has launched its popular application Everywhere TV on PCs (laptops and desktops) on the eve of FIFA 2014. The Tata Sky ad campaign, announcing the launch of the app coincides with the most awaited football series of the year – FIFA World Cup 2014, which can also be viewed live on Tata Sky Mobile app.

     

    The campaign speaks to at all the football fans in India who don’t have a second TV at home and could end up disturbing their family members by watching FIFA on the common TV in the middle of the night. It shows how football fans can now enjoy their favourite matches on their laptop, anywhere, without disturbing anyone else.

     

    One of the ad films features a husband watching the match on his laptop, sitting in the bathroom to avoid disturbing his wife. Only when he cannot contain his ecstatic appeals on the football match, does the clueless wife get up and locate him. Similarly the other ad film shows a surprised mother coyly walking into her teenage son’s room, when she hears the boy celebrating a ‘Go…go…Goal’ sitting in the cupboard of his room.

     

    Vikram Mehra, Chief Commercial Officer, Tata Sky said, “The Everywhere TV service launch has been timed just before the football World Cup, to ensure that home laptop doubles up as the 2nd TV at home, thus allowing youngsters to watch late night football matches on their laptops with headphones without disturbing their entire family.”

     

    Sukesh Nayak, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy& Mather also commented on the ad campaign, “If one observes a typical football fan we see that he is not the one to hide his excitement, whether it is his happiness at a goal scored or his anger against a wrong move. Taking this insight we created messaging for Tata Sky Mobile App that lets you watch the live telecast of FIFA World Cup on laptop and other devices. The message was very simple; you could hide and see football but your excitement will still give you away.”

     

  • The ad campaign for TVS Wego is based around a simple but effective brand proposition, 'We Time'

    Dentsu says it with ‘We Time’ for TVS Wego

    By a correspondent

     

    Dentsu communications has unveiled a new campaign for TVS Wego. Since its launch TVS Wego has been the scooter that promises to give young couples their own private time together. The ad campaign for TVS Wego is based around a simple but effective brand proposition, ‘We Time’.

     

    To launch the new and improved Wego 110, loaded with latest cutting-edge features and incorporating modern design elements, the team found the perfect opportunity to find an even more contemporary take on “We Time”. The brief was to further establish the proposition of ‘We Time’.

     

    However, in a category where most scooters have started to take on a unisex positioning, a couples bike needed to find a life truth that is powerful enough to cut through clutter and create deeper emotional connect with this audience. Thus was born the idea of an “equal partnership”, something that is so much more than lip-service, in the lives of couples today.

     

    Aniruddha Haldar – Head of Marketing for Scooters, Corporate Brands & Media said, “TVS WEGO is designed for the modern urban young couple. It strives to meet a critical need of quality time together ‎- “WE TIME”. The new campaign showcases this effectively, beautifully using the metaphor of marriage vows of the couple. The advertising is clutter breaking, contrary to category codes and is receiving rave reviews. As creative partners Dentsu Communication has delivered a winning campaign that will go a long way in cementing TVS WEGO proposition of WE TIME in the minds of the sophisticated urban couple, and making it their preferred brand.”

     

    Ashwin Parthiban – Executive Creative Director – South, Dentsu said, “TVS Wego is a sharply defined brand that celebrates the equality of roles and responsibilities between today’s urban couples. The bike is designed for two, to be ridden by either. The vows taken during most Indian weddings, while walking around the sacred fire, require that both the man and the woman take turns to lead – signifying the equal part they play in their journey of life. The magical fit between this cultural truth and the brand’s purpose is the stuff great creative is made of. The vows, of course, have been re-purposed to reflect the way today’s young couples take tradition, and give it their own meaning.”