MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Walt Disney India managing director Mahesh Samat resigns as his company is in the process of buying out UTV

    Walt Disney India MD Mahesh Samat resigns

    By Nandini Raghavendra

     

    Mahesh Samat, managing director of Walt Disney India, has put in his papers in the middle of the US entertainment company buying out its Indian partner, UTV, and a possible delisting from the stock exchanges.

     

    Both Disney and Mr Samat did not reply to emails inquiring about Mr Samat’s decision, but more than one person in the company, who did not want to be named, confirmed the development.

     

    Last July, Walt Disney made a $454-million offered to buy the Indian promoters, including UTV promoter Mr Ronnie Screwvala from UTV Software Communications. At that time, the company had said that Mr Screwvala would head Disney’s operations in India while Mr Samat would report to Mr Screwvala in the role of chief executive officer.

     

    Disney had originally invested $44.5 million in UTV more than five years ago for a 15% stake and subsequently increased its holdings to 50.4%.

     

    Mr Samat had joined Disney India in 2007 and rose from being a senior vice president to managing director in three years. An alumni of IIM-Calcutta, he came with over 20 years of experience across India, Asia-Pacific and Europe. He has had worked with Johnson & Johnson as managing director for southern Europe, based out of London.

     

    Prior to that, he worked with Kellogg’s in India, Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis and Boots India. At Disney, he reported to Mr Andy Bird, Disney’s president, and managed all divisions of Disney India except ESPN-Star.

     

    In the period, Mr Samat has been with Disney, the company made a foray into Hindi cinema with a first co-produced animation film with Yashraj called Roadside Romeo.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Mindshare cashes in on early strengths, firms up Mobile Marketing agenda for India.

    Full-service mobile offering for Mindshare India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Being an early practitioner in offering mobile media solutions to clients in India may have paid off for Mindshare India. Having rolled out a dedicated mobile practice division in India in 2006 may have been one of the big factors in Mindshare India being appointed as the network’s Mobile Marketing Centre of Excellence recently. As per the new development that came into effect last week, Mindshare India will now be responsible for driving mobile thought-leadership and establishing best practice with the rest of the network as well as developing and nurturing new talent. In addition, India will also act as a production hub for mobile content production needs, including mobile web sites, augmented reality and online advertising units such as Apple’s iAds. The Indian full-service offering will extend to everything from mobile strategy to ideas to actual development.

     

    The Centre of Excellence team will be led by Ashok Lalla, Leader, Digital Mindshare South Asia. He will be working with Vinod Thadani, Regional Director – Group M South Asia.

     

    Sharing his thoughts on the progress the division has made over the years and the possible reason for India being chosen as the country of choice, Mr Lalla said, “We have invested in the Mobile Marketing space over five years and have developed a very talented team along the way. We have also done a lot of excellent work in the Mobile space which has received plenty of global and national accolades. This track record and the availability of top notch trained talent made India the natural choice for Mindshare’s global Mobile Marketing Centre of Excellence.”

     

    On the immediate changes that could be expected on the talent front, Mr Lalla said, “We are putting together a scalable team including operations that will be responsive to the fast changing mobile marketing space and also serve as the production centre for all Mobile marketing requirements for Mindshare worldwide.”

     

    Applauding the Indian unit for the honours bestowed upon it, Norm Johnston, Global Digital Leader said, “The Mumbai office has consistently been at the forefront of driving innovations in mobile marketing. We want to tap into this expertise and share it throughout our network. Our clients are increasingly looking for smart, cost-effective mobile marketing solutions given the exponential growth in smartphone and tablet penetration and the corresponding uptake in mobile Internet usage.”

     

    When asked whether there would be a change in the way it deals with its siblings from other parts of the globe, Mr Lalla stated, “We are sure that as other networks recognize the quality of the Mobile marketing talent and work coming out of India, they too will look to India to lead Mobile initiatives for them.” In fact, Mindshare India proposes to establish and socialize Mobile marketing best practices and learning opportunities to the rest of the Mindshare network, he said.

     

    Though a market leader by a huge margin, Mr Lalla is positive of the growth that will come out from its mobile unit in India. “We see Mobile marketing services as a key driver of the overall growth of our Digital business in India. Both in terms of absolute numbers from Mobile marketing services provided, as well as through other Digital marketing services that would be required to complement Mobile.”

     

    While it may be too early to cite the impact of this development on the growth of the division, Mr Lalla is very clear on the focus for the division. “Our focus will be to build a scalable team structure that delivers to the needs of our global network effectively and efficiently. And also use best practices to build valuable brand assets which include Mobile internet sites, applications for different platforms and campaign production capabilities that can be deployed quickly. Also, as said earlier, our key aim would be to keep growing our Excellence in Mobile Marketing services not just within the Mindshare network but across the global Mobile marketing landscape.”

     

  • The maps will be used to monitor TV channel distribution and connectivity

    What’s-On-India launchesTV streetmaps

    By A Correspondent

     

    What’s-On-India, India’s premier TV guidance company has launched a new business vertical – ‘television street maps’ – to monitor day-to-day changes to TV Channel availability and placement across Cable and Satellite households. The service has already gone live and has attracted a host of customers from the TV sector.

     

    The move to launchTV streetmaps by What’s-On-India is considered very strategic, especially in the context of dramatic changes expected in the distribution side of the TV business over the next couple of years due to digitalization being introduced by the government.

     

    What’s-On-India has already expanded this system nationwide to cover 700+ Analogue and Digital head ends across almost 300 towns and cities making it the largest ground coverage in the business.

     

    “Our plans are to expand the system to 1000+ head ends over the next 3 months, besides providing insightful value added services in this space to stakeholders,” said Joydip Kapadia, Executive Vice President, What’s-On-India.

     

    This new vertical has added a series of new customers which include One-Alliance, MSM Network, UTV Network, Viacom-18 among a host of others.

     

    Atul Phadnis, Chief Executive, What’s-On-India said: “We are very excited to enter this space. Over the next few quarters, What’s-On-India will be investing in this vertical to expand its scope across the country as well as to bring in newer technologies and automation for faster information from the ground. We are also integrating TV Street Maps with our EPG Systems for certain breakthrough solutions within the Indian market!”

     

    What’s-On-India Media Private Limited isIndia’s Premier TV Guidance and EPG Company. The company’s technology vertical powers EPG Metadata content from 500+ TV channels into more than 35 million Set-Top-Boxes and devices across Cable, Direct-To-Home, IPTV, mobile TV, Smart-TVs and Tablets.

     

  • Mr Malhotra will be responsible for developing the brand and communication strategy for leading media brands under TVTN

    Vivek Malhotra joins TV Today as VP – Marketing

    By A Correspondent

     

    TV Today Network Limited (TVTN) has appointed Vivek Malhotra as VP, Marketing. As part of his new role, Malhotra will be responsible for developing the brand and communication strategy for leading media brands under TVTN, and will additionally be taking charge of the research and the special projects division.

     

    Mr Malhotra will be reporting to Joy Chakraborty, CEO, TVTN and is expected to play an important role in future plans envisaged by the new leadership.

     

    Joy Chakraborty said in a prepared statement: “As the pioneers of news broadcast inIndia, TVTN products have consistently been breaking new ground across verticals. With Vivek’s understanding of the news category, we look forward to communicating this even better and achieving a serious resonance for each of our media brands. His complementary understanding of research and communication should help us create a superlative viewer and advertiser experience”

     

    Before joining TVTN, Mr Malhotra has a brief stint with BigFM as the head of marketing. Prior to that he served as the Senior Vice-president – Marketing, PR & Research at Bloomberg UTV where he set up the marketing division and held the portfolio since the channel was launched. He also oversaw the distribution and co-ordination at the business news channel.

     

    Mr Malhotra’s earlier stint was with Star News Network, where he headed the trade engagement and the research unit. He also acquired experience around regional products like Star Majha. He was also instrumental in evolving within TV18, an independent resource centre of creative solutions and media research which he later led as a national intelligence unit called ‘The Edge’.

     

  • Ms Mohan will be responsible for programming and operations for the bouquet of channels under the company in India.

    Swati Mohan is VP – Prog & Ops for Fox, NGC India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Swati Mohan has been appointed as the new Vice President-Programming and Operations for FOX International Channels and NGC NetworkIndia. In her new role, Ms Mohan will be responsible for programming and operations for the bouquet of channels under the company inIndia, including National Geographic channel, FOX Traveller, Baby TV, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, Nat Geo Music and National Geographic Channel HD.

     

    Keertan Adyanthaya, Managing Director, FOX International Channels and National Geographic NetworkIndia, said: “Swati comes with a vibrant tapestry of experience in creating content for successful brands. I am confident that she will bring this experience to play in creating engaging and relevant shows for our suite of channels and strengthen them even further.”

     

    Ms Mohan said in a statement: “I am extremely thrilled to be associated with the Fox International bouquet of channels. National Geographic Channel and Fox Traveller are the gold standard in their respective genres and I will strive to create a great line up of international and locally produced content that will enhance the appeal of these channels inIndia”

     

    Ms Mohan comes on board with 12 years of experience in the industry. Beginning her career as a copywriter at Ogilvy and Mather, she went on to making content for television as an Executive Producer at FBC Media and Endemol. Her last five years at Group M across Mindshare and Maxus, had her successfully develop the space of brand building with the aid of specially created content for many advertisers across the country. In her last assignment, she was National Director – Entertainment, Sports and Partnerships at Maxus.

     

  • Suresh has the right combination of passion, talent and commitment to partner our creative and account management teams to take our creative product to the next level, says Rohit Ohri, Executive Chairman, DentsuIndia

    Suresh Mohankumar is National Planning Head @ Dentsu

    By A Correspondent

     

    Continuing with the series of senior-level appointments, the Dentsu India Group has announced the appointment of Suresh Mohankumar as National Planning Head, Dentsu Communications

     

    Based out of Bengaluru, Mr Mohankumar will lead strategic planning and brand management at Dentsu Communications across its offices inNew Delhiand Bengaluru. A seasoned planner with nearly two decades of experience, Suresh joins Dentsu from MudraIndiawhere he was Senior Vice President and Head of Planning – Mudra South.

     

    Welcoming Mr Mohankumar to Dentsu, Rohit Ohri, Executive Chairman, DentsuIndiasaid: “I’m really happy to have Suresh as a part of the leadership team of Dentsu Communications. Suresh has the right combination of passion, talent and commitment to partner our creative and account management teams to take our creative product to the next level.”

     

    Taira Kimura, Chief Operating Officer, Dentsu Communications said: “Suresh brings on board strong experience across brand, categories and regions. I have great confidence in his abilities and expertise to add value to our service deliveries and up the ante at Dentsu Communications.”

     

    On joining Team Dentsu, Suresh Mohankumar, National Planning Head, Dentsu

    Communications said: “The communications business is at a crossroads as convention increasingly gives way to real consumer engagement. That integration and media-neutral planning is the way forward and it is exactly what Dentsu believes in and I believe that Dentsu is uniquely structured to deliver that. Also as part of an organization at the cusp of an exciting transformation, I am very excited about my journey ahead and look forward to my mandate at Dentsu Communications.”

     

    Mr Mohankumar started his career in Account Management with RK Swamy/BBDO in Chennai. He worked with Contract and Lowe inBangalore. He switched to Account Planning in 2000 when he moved to Mudra Chennai. As a strategic planner he then worked with Contract and JWT in Chennai.

     

    Tanishq, BPL, Ford, Volkswagen, Carbon, MRF, Lotte, TI cycles, Henkel, Fa, Reynolds, McDowell’s, Johnson & Johnson and Lipton are some of the brands that he worked on. He cites his experience while working on Tanishq’s ‘karatmeter’ campaign as something that motivated him to become a strategic planner.

     

    A commerce graduate, Mr Mohankumar completed his MBA with a dual specialization in Marketing and Finance from T.A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) in 1993.

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and in the papers

    What the government can’t, Goswami can!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Last night on Times Now, Arnab Goswami took on the case of an Indian couple in Norway whose children have been taken away from them by the Norwegian authorities. What the government of India could not do, perhaps Goswami will. Child welfare is a concept that Indians know little about (any journalist who has visited orphanages in India or tried to meet any official in the concerned government departments will know what I mean). Therefore, the outrage is all to do with Indians being made to suffer rather than the legality of the case. Indians, as we know, cannot be criticised, attacked, ridiculed, or made fun of. We absolutely will not tolerate it. Look at the anger over a reference to Amritsar’s Golden Temple on American comedian and TV host Jay Leno’s Tonight Show if you want further proof.

     

    Meanwhile, it is amusing to watch Goswami use the BJP’s Mahesh Jethmalani for target practice. If I was Jethmalani, I would ignore calls from Times Now for a bit. It’s not easy to defend the BJP and its Sangh Parivar friends when the debate is about freedom of expression.

     

    TV anchor Barkha Dutt’s American-type accent as she interviewed US talk show empress Oprah Winfrey was also amusing. Where did that come from? Can Winfrey not understand if there’s not a couple of rolled rrrs in every sentence?

     

    **

     

    The Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad has made two arrests in the July 13, 2011 bomb blasts in Mumbai. However, given the police track record in such cases, TV and newspapers both displayed a little scepticism here. The two arrested are already in custody for some other cases and the masterminds are still elusive. Everyone has pointed that out. In which case we must ask ourselves if we really want to see giant photographs (Hindustan Times) of police officials with photos of the accused in their hands? Needless glorification of public servants who are just doing their jobs? Return of favours by grateful reporters?

     

    **

     

    It is a measure of how much Anna Hazare and his friends have faded from the public eye that their letters to political parties did not get the full treatment from the media. They asked many questions to which no party has bothered to provide any answers.

     

    **

     

    The Salman Rushdie controversy continues to intrigue and annoy. It seems to have taken precedence over whether the army chief was born in 1950 or 1951.

     

  • The popular tabloid changed its size for the January 25 edition for the launch of heavyweight wrestling show Ring ka King in India.

    Mid Day is a broadsheet – for a day

    By Akash Raha

     

    Mid Day appeared in a strange avatar on January 25 – as a broadsheet. The innovation was aimed at enhancing the impact of the launch of heavyweight wrestling show ‘Ring ka King’ in India.

     

    Manajit Ghoshal, MD & CEO Mid Day Infomedia Limited said, “This broadsheet innovation employed by us is a stimulating and stylised way of advertising. It introduces a surprise element, which helps in better impact and recall of the communication. It has been our continuous endeavour to create path-breaking strategic solutions for each of our clients to reach their target audience. This innovation has been one more step in that direction, as it strengthens our repute to innovate and be a solutions provider and a brand partner to our esteemed advertisers.”

     

    Colors had been looking for a strategic partner to assist in the launch of the show called ‘Ring ka King’, which will be launched on January 28, 2012 on Colors.  The brief shared with the Mid Day team was to communicate the debut of this show in India in a clutter-free manner. Further ideation on the brief led to the concept of creating a larger-than-life canvas where the launch can be communicated in an impactful manner.  The wrestlers are of enormous hulk and it was felt transforming into a broadsheet format would be a compelling way to communicate their arrival. The insights revealed from a study conducted on the kind of target audience led us to the following copy “Itna bada hai inka akaar, ki bada karna pada yeh akhbar.Teen din pehle de rahein hai khabar, Taaki aap rahein tayyar.””, which communicates the launch in a dazzling and eye-catching manner 3 days in advance. We wanted to highlight the fact that a special affair calls for a broader and bigger canvass.

     

    Commenting about this innovation, Rajesh Iyer, Head – Marketing, Colors, said, “The Ring Ka King thriller campaign is the physical representation of the excitement that the show embodies. We wanted to bring the action of the ring alive throughout our communication. To bring out the adrenaline pumped exuberance of the show into our promotional activities we collaborated with our creative partners to come up with a campaign which could do full justice to the thought. All our promotions for Ring Ka King, be it the print innovation with Mid Day or disruptive campaign across outdoor, radio and TV, are high on volume and scale.

     

  • Bollywood is ready to take on Team India with a string of releases during IPL

    Given cricket fatigue (and India’s poor showing), Bollywood lines up releases during IPL

    By Ameya Chumbhale & Meenakshi Verma Ambwani

     

    This season, Bollywood’s ready to take on Team India, and is not even scared of the IPL googly. After the drubbing in England, followed by the humiliation Down Under, the cricket-crazy nation seems to have developed some kind of a cricket fatigue, and Bollywood, seizing its opportunity, has lined up a string of releases during the busy cricket season.

     

    Unlike the previous four seasons of the IPL, when Bollywood deferred new movie launches during the well-televised IPL season in April-May, this year at least half-a-dozen big films, with close to Rs 200 crore riding on them, have planned their releases bang in the middle of the event. These include Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar-starrers as well as a Raju Hirani scripted film.

     

    “IPL has lost its charm,” says Mr Utpal Acharya, head of distribution and acquisition at Reliance Entertainment, which has co-produced the Karishma Kapoor-starrer Dangerous Ishq. “We are confident that audiences will visit cinema halls irrespective of IPL this year.” Almost all the others who are releasing their films in April-May endorse Mr Acharya’s views.

     

    From Sajid Nadiadwala , who is releasing a sequel to the successful comedy flick, Housefull, which has been acquired by Eros, to Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is releasing the Raju Hirani-written Ferrari Ki Sawari , to the Priyadarshan-directed Ajay Devgan-starrer Tezz, and the Mukesh Bhatt-Emraan Hashmi Jannat sequel –they all think that films will do well this summer.

     

    “People are not only going to watch IPL all of April and May. So, we are releasing Ferrari Ki Sawari during the school vacations, which we think is the ideal time for family audiences,” says Mr Samir Rao, chief executive officer at Vinod Chopra Productions. With cricket touching a low after the euphoric World Cup victory last year, Bollywood’s taking everything on the front foot.

     

    Says Mr Deepak Marda, joint managing director Cinepolis India, “I believe the lacklustre performance of the Indian team and the lack of buzz around the IPL has given confidence to film producers to schedule their movie releases during the fifth IPL season.” The dip in cricket’s popularity is evident from the fact that average ratings of the fourth IPL were the lowest among all the seasons.

     

    TRPs of the matches averaged about 3.91 across six metros compared to 5.51 in IPL-3 . In the past four seasons, Bollywood, realising that it couldn’t match up to the fire power of IPL, decided to join the cricketing tamasha, with some stars being owners of some teams, while many others endorsing the game’s biggest brand by revenues during the games, and at the aftermatch parties.

     

    IPL’s impact was so huge that cinema halls wore a deserted look — some even start showing IPL matches live — and film producers didn’t dare to launch new movies. Before IPL was launched in 2008, the April-June period was considered the best for new movies since it coincided with the vacation for students. Things changed a bit in the past two years, when Mukesh Bhatt’s Jannat (in 2009) and the romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu (2010) bucked the trend and made some money in the middle of IPL season.

     

    “The growing number of movies released every year have led film producers to plan their releases in a manner that they do not clash with each other. This too has led film producers to choose April-May to release their movies ,” says Mr Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer of Big Cinemas.

     

    Top executives in the movie hall business, like Mr Sunil Punjabi, chief executive officer at Cinemax agree with Saksena and expect the first quarter of the 2012-13 to be better in terms of revenues than the previous year due to a stronger line-up of movies. Hollywood too has slotted a few releases like Men in Black-3 and The Avengers as well as James Cameron’s Titanic which is being re-released in 3D, all which should add to the kitty during the same period.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • There are many problems with these awards shows in the Indian context, and for their own credibility, the organizers must do their damndest to sort them out.

    Anil Thakraney: ‘Giving’ season for Bollywood & TV-land

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    It’s that season when many organizations will gave away many awards to many Bollywoodians. And the number of award givers is increasing with time, and I hope it stops right here. It would be a joke if in the year 2020 we have stars lining up for 30 events. Rather, I wish there were, at the most, two ceremonies, so that the awards are truly coveted and valued.

     

    Aside from numbers, there are many problems with these awards shows in the Indian context, and for their own credibility, the organizers must do their damndest to sort them out.

     

    For one, there must be absolute integrity in the judging process. Everyone and his father knows some winners get picked by non-jurists. Often either by the organizers themselves or by their sponsors or associates. And this gets amply proved when everyone who attends the show gets an award, and only the winners land up for the events. This is not the way it pans out either at the Oscars or the Golden Globes. And that’s the reason why Aamir Khan shuns these tamashas. Surely there is a way to deal with this continuing malaise. Maybe the will is lacking.

     

    Two, since all the moolah comes from television rights, these shows are tailor-made for the tube. Quite a few acts don’t happen on stage, they get inserted in later. This makes no sense. If the stars are going to perform on stage, then they must do so in real time, in front of the hundreds of people in the audience. Because capsules get inserted in later, the show looks pretty artificial and scripted. Again, nowhere does this happen in the world. Organizers must make it mandatory for performers to perform live. That’s the beauty of an event. If we wanted to watch recorded stuff, we’d watch the regular TV shows.

     

    And third, because these events get packaged as TV dramas, awards become the side show. ‘Extras’, in filmi lingo. In fact, awards for vernacular films and for the technical crew get done in a big rush, so that the entire time and energy goes into entertainment. Which is dance and thakela banter. Awards should be the big act, the rest of the stuff woven around them.

     

    Lots of issues to be dealt with, and I am not even talking of the shoddy camera work. Hope one day we can put out an awards show that the West will envy and emulate.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: If you haven’t watched ‘Shattered Glass’ already, you should quickly grab the DVD. Especially if you work in the media. It’s the story of a young reporter who cooks stories and quotes to quickly rise up the hierarchy. And also to deal with the intense pressure in the newsroom. This can so easily happen to any young journo. A warning for everyone.

     

  • After working with TBWA for almost 4 months,yatra.com is again on a lookout for a creative partner. Sources close to the development have confirmed the news to MxM India.

    Yatra.com on lookout for a creative partner

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    After providing TBWA with its creative mandates in August last year, yatra.com, the travel porch has once again called for a creative pitch. The account size then was pegged to be around Rs15-20 crore.

     

    Before TBWA, Yatra.com had appointed Rediffusion Y&R as its creative agency in 2009; while Leo Burnett was the official agency in 2007.

     

    The online travel company entered the market in August 2006. It had initially appointed Everest Brand Solutions as its creative agency, and Mudra’s media agency, Optimum Media Solutions (which was re-christened Mudra Connext), handled its media duties.

     

    Yatra Online Pvt Ltd. is a travel company providing information, pricing, availability and booking facility for air travel, hotels, buses and car rentals across 5,000 large cities and small rural areas around the globe. It acts as a complete tour planner for travellers and is a one-stop shop for every travel need.

     

  • Taste, Timing, Hygiene & presentation of the dish are some of the parameters based on which the contestants will be judged. Srujan Lokesh the well known face of Kannada television will be the host of the show.

    Suvarna TV launches Kitchen Khiladigalu

    Star Network’s Kannada General Entertainment channel Suvarna has announced the launch of a cookery based reality show called “Kitchen Khiladigalu”.

     

    On this show, people who passionately cook as a hobby and have absolutely no experience in the food industry fight for the title of ‘Best Cook of Karnataka’.The show gives an opportunity to common people to showcase their culinary skills.

     

    Sihi Kahi Chandru the face of cooking in Karnataka will be the judge of the show, Taste, Timing, Hygiene & presentation of the dish are some of the parameters based on which the contestants will be judged. Srujan Lokesh the well known face of Kannada television will be the host of the show.

     

    Miditech is the production house who will be in charge of executing the show.

     

    The show goes on air from 30th January 2012 – 8 pm, Monday to Friday. The Title sponsor of the show is Knorr.

     

    Business Head of Suvarna Anup Chandrasekharan said, “Karnataka is a state of various cultures, traditions & food habits, this show will not only be a competition for the best cook in Karnataka but will also showcase the different types of food people eat in the state. The participants of the show will represent the various regions of the state. Overall the show will be a family entertainer, which will have fun, contest and food.”

     

    He further added, “We have already done auditions across various regions in the state to identify the contestants who will compete for the ultimate Kitchen Khiladi’s position. These contestants where identified based on their culinary skills and the passion they have towards the art of cooking.”