MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Replicating existing success stories through variants (called 'formula' in our industry) is fine to a point, but when that becomes the only way of working, you are in for long-term trouble, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Wake up to a World beyond Formulaic Entertainment

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    We are 12 weeks down in 2015, and it’s not been the most action-packed year on the entertainment business front. If you discount the Cricket World Cup, which just happened to be scheduled in this period, and the cautious excitement around BARC, there’s little that the TV industry has to show at the end of the first one-thirds of 2015.

     

    &TV’s launch has been one of the highlight events, but the channel has subsequently stabilised around its launch numbers, now waiting for the next push that could take it into the big league. There have been the regular show launches on Hindi GECs, and some of them have emerged as financially-sound propositions for their channels with above-par ratings, but none of them have made an impact that could fundamentally change the nature of programming in the category.

     

    Ironically, the most exciting programming news of the year so far was around foreign content. HBO brought Game Of Thrones Season 5 to India at the same time as the rest of the world. Despite catering to a niche, it was a move big enough to be taken note of.

     

    But look for other such moves and you would struggle to find much in these four months. The news, the regional, the movie and the kids genres continue to dish out their regular fare. No ideas have been powerful enough to shine through and make an impact.

     

    Star’s immensely successful launch of the Hotstar app is perhaps the biggest television success story of 2015 so far. But if content innovation goes missing, no platform would help over time.

     

    The story is not very different on the Bollywood front. In fact, it’s worse by a margin. Four months down, no Hindi film has crossed the 100 crore mark, which was being seen as ‘too easy’ till a year ago. The only film in line to achieve that benchmark is a foreign film, Furious 7, which has opened and sustained better than any Hindi film this year. And with the next Avengers movie lined up for April 24, we will soon have Hollywood taking the top two spots, while Hindi releases struggle to stay afloat in what is turning out to be the worst period for the industry in about a decade.

     

    At the heart of all these symptoms is the problem of not innovating enough. Replicating existing success stories through variants (called ‘formula’ in our industry) is fine to a point, but when that becomes the only way of working, you are in for long-term trouble.

     

    The audience taste, and exposure to content online and worldwide, is evolving faster than ever before. So while mainline channels struggle to innovate, we have TVF’s Permanent Roommates clocking more than a million views per episode. Before we know it, another couple of online ideas work and we could be talking of a potential dent in television viewership that’s visible on the left side of the decimal point.

     

    Wake up, people. Show us something new, something that stands out as original and exciting, something that truly breaks the clutter, as you like to say.

     

  • New alignment within the group's sales force aimed at meeting higher growth targets with an aggressive approach of Now or Nothing

    Times Network announces slew of appointments

    By A Correspondent

     

    Times Network has announced strategic restructuring reflecting a new stronger growth-oriented operating model. The initiative aims at providing significant growth opportunities and greater responsibilities to the existing leadership in the advertising and sales team which will also inculcate the Network’s new brand philosophy of Now or Nothing.

     

    Given the new drive of being aggressive and restructuring, Hemant Arora who was Head Branded content has been elevated as the Sales Head for Times Now & ET Now. Hemant has more than 17 years of experience in media sales, including print, internet and television. He started his career at the Times of India in 1997.

     

    Some of the other structural changes which have been announced are:

    Hersh Bhandari has been given the charge as National Head of Ad Sales for Times Now. Also, Shilpa Shetty has been appointed as National Head of Ad Sales for ET Now. Since joining the channel, she has been instrumental in increasing the revenue of the channel by a phenomenal ratio. Shilpa is a tough taskmaster and is also the first woman to rise to the position of Head of Sales from within Times Network.

     

    To add to the team, Gaurav Dhawan Will take over as Cluster Head for English Entertainment Channels. His 17 years of extensive experience in managing advertising revenue driven business across Television, Print and Web leveraging strong client relationships, gives him an advantage in meeting his challenging new assignment, where he is pitted against TV’s major domo Star’s English Entertainment business. Also, Jogajyoti Pati will take over as National Head of Ad Sales India 2 for Times Network while Rohit Tugnait will take over as the National Head of Ad Sales & Brand Solutions for zoOm.

     

    MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network said, “This refinement in our working model is designed to keep up with the momentum we had been sailing on through whole of the last year. While 2015 was one of hygiene improvements, 2016 will be a watershed year during which we will make an all-out effort to correct our price:value equation and build our revenue base.”

     

  • In this edition of Coffee & Conversations, Rahul Kishore spends some quality time with Shantanu Bhanja, Chief Digital Officer, HT Media

    Coffee & Conversations with Rahul Kishore: Week #4: Shantanu Bhanja

    It’s is very difficult to pin Shantanu Bhanja, Chief Digital Officer of HT Media, down to anything. He operates out of Gurgaon and Delhi and is super-busy. But he’s forever courteous, agreed to meet at short notice, and once you are with him, he is at ease and gives you all his attention. I think the time he has  spent in London and Lisbon helped!

     

    I started by asking him:

     

    Are you lucky?

    Yes, Life has been good. Fun things have happened along the way. He worked with Reckitt in London and Lisbon. His bosses have been nice to him although he has taken care to choose his bosses carefully!

     

    The beliefs that define him?

    He read in Reader’s Digest that it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice. He follows it. I have not known of anyone in the industry say negative things about him. He is very courteous, soft-spoken and genuinely makes you feel nice, even if it’s with an impish grin. Whatever you do, do it with a 110% of what you can bring to the table. No half-measures for him.  Ethics: Life needs it. The world is so open. Everything is so transparent. Can’t afford to be non-ethical. It’s not like Shantanu to not be genuine.

     

    How do you destress?

    Shantanu takes three holidays a year. Two of these are international. One is in the UK with a large part of his family being there. If he is really stressed whilst at home, he takes refuge with TV and likes to surf the internet. Reading is a long time love as is theatre. Work is worship for him, so he never lays off it.

     

    If a movie were to be made about his life who would play him?

    He said ME. That is, Shantanu himself! Acting is a hobby and he has essayed the roles of Professor Higgins and Shylock. When pushed, he said Farhan Akhtar or Aamir Khan. They are smart and intelligent and that would be required to play him, he says.

     

    If Bill Gates were to walk in and say here is a 100 million, give me one big idea and it’s yours?

    He has the big idea in his new digital job, though he will not share it for now. It would come in very handy, he says for his new business venture. The digital business can create large business ides, he says.

     

    Dream job

    Doing what I am doing today, else I would have moved on. I work for long stints with companies. He completes eight years this year at HT

     

    Favourite animal and why?

    Tiger, because it’s majestic, powerful and a leader.

     

    One word that describes him?

    Passionate

     

    And, lastly, a CEO he admires?

    Steve Jobs is an almost instant reply. He loves everything about him. His ideas, the fact that he was a visionary, passionate, driven, obsessed and a perfectionist.

     

    Coffee & Conversations with Rahul Kishore will henceforth appear on Mondays

     

  • The premier awards for advertising, media and marketing professionals were presented with much fanfare on Saturday

    IAA Leadership Awards 2015 presented

     

    By A Correspondent

    CMO interviews by Dyanne Coelho

     

    It would be wrong to single out any single IAA Leadership Award winner. All them are super-achievers. Along with a host of top marketers (see list below), Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited managing director Vineet Jain and India Today group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief were among the top mediapersons presented with the IAA honours. Arundhati Bhattacharya of the State Bank of India was CEO of the Year. And CVL Srinivas and Prasoon Joshi from adland were Media Agency Head and Creative Agency Head respectively. Leading mediaperson and director of the Eenadu Group I Venkat was awarded the prestigious Hall of Fame by the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA).

     

    Mr Venkat and several other leading media, advertising and marketing leaders were presented awards at the third annual IAA Leadership Awards in Mumbai. The event, presided by Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, saw leading lights of the fraternity in attendance. The awards presented were:

     

     

     

    Sanjay Tripathi (HDFC Life):

    Marketing is very important in this field. It is not like other industries where the product changes every year. We sell the same product for 20-25 years. We need to understand the needs of our customers and cater to them. When a customer buys an insurance policy, he/she looks at all aspects, not just the price. They need to be able to trust us for a long time period and we can instill this trust through our marketing and service. We need to maintain our efficiency through the years.

     

    Darshan Patel (Vini Products)

    Marketing is a key thing, and we need to differentiate from what others are doing and if you do the right thing, you are going to be successful in this field. First of all, my products were different from what other companies were offering, and I kept investing in my brands, and I advertise how my brands were very consumer-oriented and it was accepted.

     

    Debarata Mukherjee (Coca-Cola)

    It is competitive from the outside, but if you look at the industry from the inside, the per capita consumption is very low, so the real need is to grow the market. The percapitas in India are 15, 16, compared to global averages of 95, 96. We are competition-aware, but not competition-focused. It is good to be aware of what others are doing, but I think collectively we have the mantle of growing the industry. If you look at the water space, it is all unbranded, but you’ve got the Kinley commercial which is about trust in every drop, creating a brand in a category with so much competition. So I think the task is to make sure that we have sustainable, profitable, competitive advantage by building brands through marketing. While competition is important, all of us have accountability on the mantle to grow the business together.

     

    Yadvinder Singh Guleria (Honda Motorcycle & Scooter)

    See,. a job for a marketer in India is difficult, because you cannot have the same language to communicate with the entire demographic of the country. We have a large geographical spread and different languages, and at the same time we do not have a so-called national language. Every region has so-called likes and dislikes, so this becomes a real challenge for any marketer in India to have a common linkage and to be able to connect the dots between various regions, to arrive at one communication for the brand.

     

    We take regular feedback from our regional teams who are sitting in the market and try to find a connection to bring them together on a particular point. Then somebody at the corporate level takes a decision so that we are at the pulse of the market.

     

    Amarjit Singh Batra (OLX)

    India is a market where internet penetration is very, very low. Now it is a bit better than what it was a few years back. Still I think we are about 20-30 percent of the market which is very low compared to a 1.2 billion population. What marketing allows you to do is to reach people beyond people who are on the internet. I’m talking about offline marketing here. It helps with the battle of the minds as well as the battle of the market share, because it allows you to reach out to everybody, and those people will also be on the internet sometime. So as an internet brand I think it’s important to also look at offline marketing as a tool, and I think most of us are doing it today.

     

    One way we did that is via marketing to create awareness of the brand. We have also taught people as to how to go about using OLX. Our marketing campaigns have also got education about how to use our brand. One more thing is that we have realised that India is not going to be on PC, so we have developed our brand for mobile and we also used marketing communication to tell people that you can use your mobile to access OLX. With that we were able to move the market faster than what it was.

     

    Congratulating winners, Mr Sinha said, “Politics is like marketing in many ways. In my experience I have learnt that Indian consumers are a very different lot, very different from consumers internationally. They are emotional, relational and definitely need value for money – paisa vasool is a must. So when we are speaking to the Indian consumers as marketers, much as we in politics do, we need to keep these aspects in mind.”

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Srinivasan K Swamy, President of IAA’s India Chapter said, “This is only the third year of the IAA Leadership Awards and it has already established itself as an industry standard. I would like to thank for the support I received from Raj Nayak for putting steam behind an award that the industry looks forward to.”

     

    Speaking about the initiative, Raj Nayak, CEO, COLORS said, “IAA is undoubtedly the best platform in the industry bringing together creative minds, and the IAA Leadership Awards celebrates the leaders who empower like-minded individuals to push their boundaries with great campaigns and hard work. Associating with the event is an absolute honour and we would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to the winners for their contribution towards the development of the industry. We look forward to further our association with IAA and continue to applaud the efforts put in by professionals on this national platform.”

     

    Also speaking on the occasion were Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 and Kaushik Roy, President – Brand Strategy & Marketing Communication, Reliance Industries Limited. Network18 Group CEO AP Parigi joined Messrs Swamy, Roy and Nayak in the presentation of a memento to the minister.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • If your place of employment has taken a policy decision to ignore the sort of stories that you feel strongly about, protest or even better, quit, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: The new, sloppy world of Indian journalism

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Prime Minister of India is apparently upset that the media targeted his minister VK Singh for his “presstitute” remark, while ignoring the good evacuation work that the former chief of army staff had done in Yemen.

     

    In these media-obsessed times, where we are given more importance than we are worth, perhaps the PM’s comments are understandable. What I find intriguing is the number of working journalists who agree with Narendra Modi about the lack of attention paid to India’s exemplary role in evacuating people from the dangers in Yemen. If you work in a newspaper or a TV channel or a website, then you have a say in what goes into your paper or appears on your channel or on your website. To come on Twitter and start ranting about “the media” as one entity which ignored events in Yemen is childish and exposes your own irresponsibility. What were you doing? Does your job have no value or meaning? Can you not make your voice heard in your newsroom? In that case, what sort of a journalist are you? The best newsrooms after all are those in which there is healthy discussion and that is a euphemism for a fight!

     

    And if your place of employment has taken a policy decision to ignore the sort of stories that you feel strongly about, take a stand. Protest or even better, quit: that way you will show the world the depth of your beliefs and your ideals.

     

    But no, you have that loan, your child’s education, your weakness for shoes or whatever. So much easier to do a sloppy job at work and then come to social media to slam this entity called “the media”. Imagine how good a journalist you are when you pretend that there is such a thing as “the media” which thinks and acts as one. I use the word “sloppy” deliberately because if you are a job-worker then you have no business being a journalist. I find this category of journalist more repulsive than those who openly support a political party. At least they take a position openly in their professional life, whether you agree with them or not. But these say-nothing-at-work-and-rant-on-social-media journalists are nothing but snivelling cowards who pretend to have principles but only care about their pelf.

     

    But given the state of media managements today and the general standard I see around me, I give thanks that I have been unemployed for five years now and counting. And thanks to this column, unemployable as well!

     

    **

     

    Since I wrote about how no one knows what Rahul Gandhi did when he was away from public life for two months or what he did, this joke on Twitter after his speech at a rally and in Parliament seemed appropriate: apparently, he’d been learning to speak Hindi!

     

    **

     

    Other political parties in India must be either tearing their metaphorical hair out or hugely relieved that the national media’s obsession with AAP means that this Delhi-based parties regularly wins newsprint space and airtime over even the prime minister of India. One of those bane and boon situations…

     

  • The 'Ouch' Awards was a prelude to the more serious RedInk Awards organized by the Club scheduled for April 30, which applauds excellence in journalism

    Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal steal the show at Press Club Mumbai’s ‘Ouch Awards’

    By Dyanne Coelho

     

    Ouch! The Press Club Mumbai organised the the ‘Ouch’ Awards, a satirical awards show that felicitated the blunders made in the media industry. The event hosted by stand-up comedian Anuvab Pal, featured trophies given out on a humorous note to known names who t some point or the other stood out for the wrong reason. The ‘Ouch’ Awards was a prelude to the more serious RedInk Awards organized by the Club scheduled for April 30, which applauds excellence in journalism.

     

    “A lot of media is made up of people making asses of themselves and that’s getting a lot of readership and viewership. This is just a way to laugh at ourselves, to recognize the milestones of stupidity,” said Gurbir Singh, Chairman of the Mumbai Press Club.

     

    The award for Transparency in Public Life went out to none other than Arvind Kejriwal for his tweet; ‘Running 102 fever since yesterday. Severe loose motions. Sad that I won’t be able to attend office today.’Seems like he’s taken transparency in politics to a whole new level.

     

    Following this award was the ‘Global Ouch for Leadership in Absentia’ award; which, no prize for guesses here, went to Rahul Gandhi.

     

    There was a long list of nominees for the ‘Golden Ouch for Advancing the Cause of Women’ including Abu Azmi, Sharad Yadav, Mulayam Singh, Giriraj Singh, Tapas Pal and many more. Finally it was a tie; Giriraj Singh walked away with the award for advancing the cause of women and furthering relations with foreign nations, while Sharad Yadav bagged the award for his racist remarks on the skin of South Indian women. “I massage him with Fair and Lovely,” said Yadav’s massage man who picked up the award on his behalf.

     

    For the joint effort of furthering the cause of women’s safety in our country and highlighting a supposedly male-dominated society, the ‘Silver Ouch for Advancing the Cause of Women’ undoubtedly went to A.P. Singh and M.L. Sharma, the defense lawyers in the Nirbhaya gang rape case, who made their thoughts very clear to the world in the BBC documentary, India’s Daughter. Speaking of BBC, the news channel received a special Ouch for ‘Best Science Reporting’, for turning the ‘hadron’ collider into the ‘hardon’ collider. A dressed up Prince Charles received the award from Mr. Ayaz Memon.

     

    The Ouch for ‘Confession of the Year’ went to Coast Guard Officer B.K. Loshali for shooting down a Pakistani boat, once again using biryani as a metaphor for Indian hospitality. Part two of this award went to Public Prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam for his biryani lie in an attempt to build public opinion against Kasab.

     

    The Golden Ouch for Best History Reportingwent to Capt. Anand Bodas for his insistence that Indians, and not the Wright Brothers, were the first to fly planes between countries, continents and even planets, and that too in all directions, forward, backward and sideways as well.

     

    The Ouch for ‘Labors in Family Planning’went to none other than BJP MLA, and RSS member, Sakshi Maharaj for putting forth the suggestion that all Hindu women have four kids. In his absence, a woman with 11 kids stepped forward to pick up the award on his behalf.

     

    The ‘Golden Ouch for the most Non-Violent Statement’ for his sweeping accusations on Mahatma Gandhi and Subash Chandra Bose went to former SC judge and former PCI Chairman, Markandey Katju.

     

    For a blooper in a newspaper image, the Ouch went to the Hindustan Times for the PTI image that showed a Chinese trade delegation, but was captioned as convicts of the Shakti Mills gang rape being taken to prison. The newspaper had printed the wrong image.

     

    The Golden Ouch for the best criticism of the press was bagged by Gen. VK Singh and Justice Markandey Katju jointlyfor the coining of the term ‘Presstitutes’ which is a combination of people of the press and destitutes.

     

    For her tweets on Marathi Cinema, and for uplifting the American popcorn over the taste of the Indian Vada Pao and Misal, the Golden Ouch for food Critic of the year went to Shobhaa De.

     

    The final award of the night and the most prestigious of the Ouchies, the Lifetime Achievement award was awarded to Indian politician, Subramanian Swamy, for his consistency in continually delivering provocative comments on both enemies and friends alike. In his absence, the award was received by none other thanShri Narendra Modi, or maybe just a lookalike.

     

    It seems that no stand-up comedian can walk off stage without taking a crack at Arnab Goswami. Anuvab Pal concluded the award ceremony by sending squeals of laughter and giggles through the audience with his imitation of the Times Now journalist’s on-screen manner.

     

    Happy with the outcome of the first ever Ouch Awards Ceremony, Gurbir Singh proposed making the event a regular one, “We have received a positive response this time, and we look forward to making this an annual event on a larger scale next year onwards.”

     

     

    1. Golden Ouch For Transparency in Public Life.

    Citation: For his evangelism in pursuing transparency and detoxification of self andthe’body politic’ – and for his great progress from singing to stinging and some very surprising mud-slinging!

    Winner: Arvind Kejriwal for his tweet on loose motions.

     

    2. Golden Ouch For Leadership in Absentia

    Citation: For going on extended vacation when the ‘party’ needs him most, for staying away from parliament at its most critical moments, for his enormous vocabulary of two key words: ‘women’s empowerment’!

    Winner: Rahul Gandhi.

     

    3. Golden Ouch For Advancing The Cause Of Women.

    Citation: For excelling in the field of gender prejudice in the face of enormous domestic competition, and for successfully hurting the sentiments of a friendly African nation.

    Golden ‘Ouch’ for Advancing the Cause of Women (and For Improving Foreign

    Relations)

    Winner: HONOURABLE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM
    ENTERPRISE GIRIRAJ SINGH 

    AND JOINT GOLDEN OUCH WINNER

    For crudely changing the complexion of parliamentary discourse by his racially-charged comments on the skin of South Indian women and his response to the criticism of HRD Minister SmritiIrani 

    Winner: HONOURABLE JD(U) CHIEF, SHARAD YADAV

     

    4. SILVER OUCH FOR ADVANCING THE CAUSE OF WOMEN.

    Citation: For their consistent, unstinting commitment to the cause of misogyny and patriarchy despite the valiant battles being fought for independence and respect by the women of India and their supporters.

    WINNERS: Tie between two defence lawyers M.L.Sharma and A.P.Singh in the Nirbhaya case.

     

    5. GOLDEN OUCH FOR CONFESSION OF THE YEAR.

    Citation: For either shooting down a Pakistani boat or simply shooting his mouth off – using ‘biryani’ again as a new metaphor for Indian hospitality.

    Winner: COAST GUARD DIG, B.K. LOSHALI

     

    6. GOLDEN OUCH FOR CONFESSION OF THE YEAR – PART 2.

    Citation: For his extraordinary morality and misplaced sense of pride in cooking up a ‘biryani lie’ to build public opinion against a prisoner on death row and thus expediting his execution.

    Winner: SPECIAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, UJJWAL NIKAM

     

    7. Golden ‘Ouch’ for Best Science Reporting (Rising to the Occasion!)

    Citation: For provoking and arousing laughter and embarrassment around a serious scientific phenomenon by alluding to a male sexual phenomenon that is best not talked about

    WINNER: THE BBC for calling the Large Hadron Collider the “Large Hardon Collider”

     

    8. Golden ‘Ouch’ for Best HISTORY Reporting

    Citation: For insisting that Indians flew planes centuries before the Wright Brothers (and Air-India), that these planes flew between nations and planets, that they flew forwards, backwards and sideways –– and above all, that these were no flights of the imagination.

    WINNER: Captain Anand J. Bodas for Educating the Masses on India’s Aeronautical Achievements in Vedic Times

     

    9. Golden ‘Ouch’ for his ‘labours’ in Family Planning

    Citation: For asking women of a certain religion to labour’ their entire adult lives producing babies and thus working tirelessy for the cause of resurgent majoritarianism.

    Winner: SAKSHI MAHARAJ FOR URGING HINDU WOMEN TO HAVE MORE

    CHILDREN

     

    10. Golden ‘Ouch’ for the most Non-Violent Statement

    Citation: For having an instant opinion on every issue and for his sweeping attacks as ‘imperialist collaborator’ on the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, and of the founder of the Indian National Army, Subash Chandra Bose.

    Winner: FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGE and FORMER CHAIRMAN, PRESS

    COUNCIL OF INDIA, MARKANDEY KATJU, ON GANDHIJI

     

    11. Golden Ouch For A Newspaper Blooper

    Citation: For the best caption in the print media that outlines the care and detail that goes into addressing the photographs that accompany news items.

    WINNER: HT for referring to the Shakti Mills rape convicts and showing a Chinese trade delegation photo.

     

    12. Joint Golden ‘Ouch’ for the best criticism of the press

    Citation: For hurting the sentiments of commercial sex workers by calling media people “presstitutes”. General V.K. Singh for hastily coining the word, and Justice Katju for endorsing it with his usual efficiency.

    Winner: GEN VK SINGH & JUSTICE MARKANDEY KATJU

     

    13. Golden ‘Ouch’ for Food Critic of the yer

    Citation: For a remark in delightful poor taste, elevating the lowly American popcorn above the thundering all-conquering indigenous warrior taste of VADA-PAO and MISAL.

    Winner: SHOBHAA DE

     

    14. Lifetime Achievement

    Citation: For consistently and eloquently delivering highly provocative statements with exquisite sophistry, confounding both enemies and allies alike

    GOLDEN OUCH for Lifetime Achievement

    Winner: SubramaniamSwamy

     

     

     

  • Carlton will be reporting into Tarun Rai and will continue to lead HDS's creative leadership

    JWT elevates Carlton D’Silva as CEO, Hungama Digital Services

    By A Correspondent

     

    Carlton D'Silva

    J. Walter Thompson South Asia has named Carlton D’Silva as the new Chief Executive Officer, Hungama Digital Services. Carlton will be reporting into Tarun Rai and will continue to lead HDS’s creative leadership as its Chief Creative Officer.

     

    In his new role, Carlton will be responsible for leading the growth at HDS and further enhancing its creative output. He will partner Tarun to seamlessly integrate and deliver on J. Walter Thompson South Asia’s creative vision to offer the best value proposition to its clients. Carlton will have complete oversight of all six offices of HDS, including Hungama Promo Marketing.

     

    Tarun Rai

    Announcing his elevation, Tarun Rai, Chief Executive Officer, J. Walter Thompson South Asia said, “Carlton is a dynamic, creative leader with strategic capabilities, which makes him an ideal choice to head HDS. He is young, ambitious and has the drive to take HDS to the next level.”

     

    Carlton has spent close to 16 years with HDS. He is imaginative and inspiring and has diverse experience of working with some of the biggest brands in the country. He has won several awards and accolades for HDS across national and international award shows.

     

    Neeraj Roy

    “We are delighted to elevate Carlton as the CEO of HDS. Apart from being one of the most experienced digital advertising professionals in India, Carlton has demonstrated tremendous leadership qualities in leading a team of top performers who have won accolades for their clients and given them innovative and sustainable solutions with impactful and engaging consumer interactions. In his new role, Carlton will prepare our clients from leveraging creative digital activations and transform their communities to transactions. I wish him all the very best, always!”, said Neeraj Roy, Director on board, HDS.

     

  • India TV Yuva awards are given away every year to youth icons who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in their respective fields

    India TV Yuva Awards celebrates achievers

    By A Correspondent

     

    Union Ministers Smriti Irani and KirenRijiju, Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor were among youth icons presented with India TV Yuva Awards recently.

     

    The awards were given away at a glittering event held at Taj Palace Hotel. Following the electric opening performance by Prince Dance troupe, Rajat Sharma, Chairman & Editor-in-chief, India TV, welcomed the Senior politicians, Bollywood, Television Sports Stars and captains of industry. During his address, he expressed his happiness over the magnanimous growth in the stature of India TV Yuva Awards. He also outlined that this initiative is solely targeted at inspiring the entire generation of future leaders by way of honoring the Achievers who still have a long way to go in their respective fields.

     

    Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Minister of State for Home KirenRijiju were conferred the India TV Yuva awards for best young politician, female and male, respectively.

     

    Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan presented the award to Smriti Irani, while Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat presented the award to KirenRijiju.

     

    Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor won the Special Award that was presented to her by Shatrughan Sinha. Musicians Aman and Ayan Ali Khan were presented Special Award by singer Daler Mehndi. Sonam Kapoor was presented the India TV Yuva award for best female actor by Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal. Arjun Kumar was given the award in best male actor category by Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma.

     

    Cricketer Suresh Raina’s brother collected the Sports Icon Award from Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) V K Singh on his behalf as he is busy playing IPL. Shuttler P V Sindhu got the best female sportsperson award from Congress leader Salman Khurshid.

     

    In the Business category, Neha Kirpal, director of India Art Fair, got the the India TV Yuva Award for best female businessperson from Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav, while Rahul Sharma, co-founder of Micromax was given the award for best male businessperson by senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi.

     

    India TV Yuva awards are given away every year to youth icons who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in their respective fields that include politics, sports, music, films, television and business. The awards were instituted in 2013 to honour the most promising young faces of the nation.
    The winners were selected by a jury led by Sarod maestro Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan, and included noted personalities like Prasoon Joshi, Vandana Luthra, Prof Pushpesh Pant and India TV Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma.

     

    Speaking about the awards, RituDhawan, Managing Director & CEO of India TV highlighted her faith in Gen Y, “It is these icons who most certainly are making our country proud now & will keep doing so in the future, while they take India to a new high in the times to come. It is indeed an honour for us to honour the spirit of excellence.”

     

  • The change happens with effect from April 27 with several other new shows planned to start alongside a revamp of Uff! Yeh Nadaniyaan as Total Nadaniyaan

    Big Magic goes in for a revamp, will turn into a 24×7 comedy channel

    By A Correspondent

     

    Laughter, the Relaince Broadcast Network management believes, is seriously good business. So from light-hearted humour offerings which Big Magic was at pains to underscore a year back, it’s now going to be a 24×7 comedy channel, in Hindi.

     

    This happens with effect from April 27 and the timing, one media planner put it, is just right given that BARC ratings are scheduled to be unveiled on April 29.

     

    The change will see popular show Uff! Yeh Nadaniyaan going in for a revamp and coming back as Total Nadaniyaan on April 27 at 9.30pm.  Several other new shows are also planned to start alongside.

     

    Talking about the changes and more comedy on the channel, Paritosh Painter, Network Creative Director at RBNL, said: “At Big Magic, we strive to offer content that is only fresh and full of over-the top comedy. Total Nadaniyaan, will bring in a sense of absolute LOL comedy followed by quirky characters represented by the madness of each character.”

     

    Says Chief Strategy Officer Sunil Kumaran: “We believe comedy is emerging as a very relevant genre and we as RBNL shall be tapping into it more extensively across our TV and Radio media platforms.  Big Magic as a  channel promise is to refresh, rejuvenate audience and this new show re-launch is  a step in that direction – poised towards the objective of creating an ultimate comedy destination.”

     

    According to information available, Big Magic is going in for a significant content upgrade with new scripts, characters. There will also be reality and non-reality shows based on international formats. A 360-degree marketing blitz is also planned with a heavy emphasis on radio and the existing RBNL network of media entities.

     

  • 'Unmetros' signify the non-metro urban Indian markets (Tier 2 & 3 markets) which are fast emerging as India's key growth centres

    Dainik Bhaskar unveils ‘Unmetro – The Action is Elsewhere’ campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    DB Corp Limited (DBCL) announced the launch of ‘Unmetro- Action Is Elsewhere’, a new campaign aimed at marketers, advertisers and the media planner/buyer audiences. Designed as a digital / social media campaign, it will also be supported by Print, OOH and also supported by the company’s Unmetro Conclave events, which have over a period of time developed into one of the most noteworthy pan-India marketing events focused on exploring and analyzing the untapped economic potential of India’s non-metro towns and cities.

     

    ‘Unmetros’ signify the non-metro urban Indian markets (Tier 2 & 3 markets) which are fast emerging as India’s key growth centres. These markets are at the core of dynamic progress, being under served and hence presenting an opportunity of rapidly growing consumer demand, with significant purchasing power and greater media reach. This potential of Unmetros, together with the rise of digital media, the fragmentation of mass media, the growing power of young consumers, creates a very compelling proposition for the Indian retail industry. Also significant is the leveling out of purchasing power across India that brings into focus the markets beyond the metros.

     

    Kishore Biyani
    Girish Agarwaal

    Kishor Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group has flagged off the launch of the campaign, as a 60 second film, which will be amplified with the help of print ads, web banners and across the Unmetro web page. The campaign idea revolves around the fact that, generally people have been enamoured by life in the metros, while the real action is brewing in the Unmetro heartland of India, to say that the ‘Action is elsewhere’.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the digital campaign, Girish Agarwaal, Director, Dainik Bhaskar, said, “We see a whole new opportunity in Unmetros where the rising affluence levels and changing consumption patterns are opening doors for marketers to service these new regions. Consumerism is on the rise, as also the desire to experience better lifestyles and enjoy global brands. This has created numerous opportunities for both national and international brands in India. Through the Unmetro initiative, we champion the cause of Tier II and III markets, helping marketers and advertisers to serve these markets better and play a role in transforming them into stronger growth centers.”

     

  • 25 outstanding journalists to be honoured with RedInk Awards on 30 April

    NDTV’s Dr Prannoy Roy to be honoured at RedInk Awards in Mumbai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dr Prannoy Roy, Executive Co-Chairman of NDTV Group, has been awarded the Mumbai Press Club RedInk Award 2015 for Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Journalism for his consistent and pioneering contribution to news television in India. Dr Roy will be honoured for his service to journalism at a glittering ceremony on Thursday, 30th April in Mumbai at the Jamshed Bhaba Auditorium, NCPA, by Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis.

     

    Dr Roy along with his wife and journalist Radhika Roy in 1988, were the first to set up a television news production company called New Delhi Television, now called NDTV. In later years, Dr Roy made a mark for his incisive and pioneering coverage of election news and changed the way people consumed TV news with his ground-breaking programmes such as ‘The News Tonight’ and ‘The World This Week’. After years of producing the news for Star News, Dr Roy launched his own broadcasting network with NDTV 24X7, NDTV India and other channels in 2003.

     

    Dr Prannoy Roy was chosen for the RedInk Lifetime Achievement Award from a shortlist of senior editors by a survey among 200 journalists all over India, and a final consideration by the Managing Committee of the Mumbai Press Club. RedInk Lifetime Achievement award winners in previous years include the late Vinod Mehta, Kuldip Nayar, N Ram, and Mrinal Pande.

     

    Judging for the RedInk Awards, which includes as many as 10 categories have just been completed, and as many as 24 journalists who have produced outstanding and impactful stories in calendar 2014 will also receive awards along with Dr Prannoy Roy on 30 April at the NCPA. The judging process proved to be a herculean task with over 800 entries in the print/online category and nearly 250 stories from television journalists. Each of the categories 10 categories had a dedicated jury of senior persons with domain knowledge assigned to judge the entries. A special curator was also assigned to sift the large number of entries in each section and guide the judges.

     

    The judging process brought in well-known names such as Harsh Mariwala, chairman of Marico, for the Business category, Dr Kiran Shaw Mazumdar, chairperson of Biocon, for the Health & Wellness category, Justice Kode and former Mumbai Police commissioner M.N. Singh for the crime category and Sudanshu Vats, CEO of Viacom18 for the ‘Entertainment & Lifestyle’ stories.

     

    Star India is the Presenting Partner for the Mumbai Press Club RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2015. Some of the awards partners includes Aditya Birla Group, Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Zee Entertainment, Eros International, SevenHills Hospitals and JSW Steel.

     

  • BBC earth inspires audiences by sharing the incredible wonders of our universe

    MSM & BBC Worldwide announce partnership on BBC Earth in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    On Earth Day, Multi Screen Media Private Limited (MSM) and  BBC Worldwide announced the intention to form a strategic partnership to launch BBC Earth, a new premium factual television channel in India.

     

    BBC Worldwide will draw on its extensive catalogue of programming from the BBC’s foremost factual film makers and reputation for excellence in the factual genre, while MSM which runs the Sony network of television channels in the country has extensive experience in operating and distributing television channels in India.

     

    BBC Earth inspires audiences by sharing the incredible wonders of our universe. The channel showcases the work of the world’s foremost factual film makers as it seeks to take audiences on a thrilling journey of discovery. From the smallest creature under the microscope to the limitless expanses of space, BBC Earth brings viewers face to face with heart pounding action, mind blowing ideas and the wonder of being human.