MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Excerpts from the 'What Next in 2016' report presented by Omnicom Media Group India in collaboration with MICA

    Top 10 Digital Trends by OMG

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Omnicom Media Group India in collaboration with MICA (formerly Mudra Institute of Communications), Ahmedabad has released a report titled What’s Next in 2016 – Top 10 Digital Trends in India. The report prepared by Omnicom Media Group India’s Innovation team covers the Top 10 trends for India in 2016, the implications for brands as well as predictions from platform providers like Google and Outbrain.

     

    The Top 10 trends revealed in the report are:

    1. India gets Mobile-ized

    2. Commerce Everywhere

    3. Story Rises Above the Medium

    4. Moment Marketing breaks Silos

    5. Rise of OTT Content

    6. Social Moves into Walled Ecosystems

    7. Internet scales up from Urban to Rural

    8. Vernacular Content Rises

    9. Internet of Me

    10. Form vs Function in Wearables

     

    Commenting on the report Avinash Jhangiani, Managing Director – Digital & Mobility, Omnicom Media Group India, said, “2015 saw consumers getting served up and spoilt by ecommerce start-ups with same-day delivery, 24/7 customer service and 365 days of mouth-watering discounts. This now leads to higher expectations in 2016 and requires brands to reimagine marketing for the new Indian consumer. While change is the DNA for start-ups, it is hard for well-established brands. To counter well-funded start-ups, established companies are being forced to let go of mass marketing channels and adopt digital for higher returns on investments. The trends report provides the necessary direction for brands across industries to invest in digital.”

     

    Guy Hearn, Chief Innovation Officer, Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific said, “There are now so many touchpoints that channel-centric planning makes diminishingly little sense. Instead, we need to better understand both the consumer journey and the consumer experience – and plan with a focus on consumer experience. The marketing department now needs to break down silos to create a focus on better customer experience and product innovation. We do hope that the report inspires the industry for the year ahead.”

     

    Here’s an executive summary of the report:

    2015 saw consumers getting served up and spoilt by start-ups with same-day delivery, 24/7 customer service and 365 days of mouth-watering discounts. These start-ups nailed customer experience and redefined marketing as we know it! This now leads to even higher expectations for 2016.

     

    While change is in the DNAof start-ups, it is hard for well-established businesses. To counter well-funded start-ups, established companies are being forced to let go of mass marketing channels and adopt digital for higher returns on marketing investments.

     

    Furthermore, as we continue to see consumers taking control of brands, companies now need to actively listen and engage with customers in moments that matter to them. Brands investing in content marketing are moving forward now, adopting an integrated media strategy with consistent, persuasive storytelling across channels.

     

    Spends are therefore growing towards mobile, content, social and online video. Also with ecommerce now increasingly enabling the last mile transaction for brands, brands will now be able to develop more effective media and communication strategies for greater marketing funnel throughput.

     

    These trends will lead to increased investments in programmatic media and data platforms for sustainable business benefits. In addition, as mobile internet penetrates further into rural markets, brands have opportunities to reach and engage consumers with OTT (over-the-top) and vernacular content.

     

    It is time to put the customer at the centre (not media)and his/her journey hast to be well understood. It is no more the responsibility of the CMO alone to drive customer centricity in a company. Marketing teams now need to break down enterprise silos and integrate functions for better customer experience and product innovation.

     

  • The Autocar Show will air on ET NOW on Fridays starting December 11, 2015 at 10:30 pm with repeats on Saturday (11:30 am and 3:30 pm) and Sunday (10:00 am and 2:00 pm)

    Autocar joins hands with Times Network for new auto show

    By A Correspondent

     

    Times Network has tied up with Autocar India to offer viewers car reviews by the most authentic and highly insightful car experts on two news channels in India, ET NOW and Times NOW.

     

    Autocar India is widely quoted by the media across the globe for its detailed views. In addition to providing car reviews in the most insightful manner, the magazine gives its readers unmatched access to the automobile industry news. With the likes of Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor – Autocar India, who has three decades of experience, and Narain Karthikeyan, India’s first F1 racer set to grace the television screens, viewers can be assured of the most engrossing and informative ride of their lives with every episode of Autocar India.

     

    Arnab Goswami

    Speaking on the partnership, Arnab Goswami, President – News and Editor in Chief, TIMES NOW and ET NOW, said, “We are delighted to have tied up with India’s most respected experts in the automobile circuit to launch The Autocar Show. I am sure that Hormazd and his team will make the show a one-stop destination that caters to the needs of everyone interested in the magical and enticing world of automobiles. The Autocar Show, which will air on ET NOW and Times NOW, will add to the world class quality, variety and relevance of our programming bouquet.”

     

    Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor – Autocar India said. “We are thrilled to have tied up with Times Network which will give a huge boost to the popularity of The Autocar Show. It’s not just the fact that both ET Now and Times Now are undisputed leaders in their genres but the high energy and passion of the Times Network that motivates us to go that extra mile to deliver cutting edge content.”

     

    The Autocar Show is bound to keep viewers hooked with the variety of its content. The show will review the latest Skoda Superb before any other Indian media! It will look to heighten the enthusiasm through feature activities that have never been carried out before such as driving the Lamborghini Hurracan to Khardung la Pass, the highest motorable road in the world! In addition to such feats, the show will keep viewers informed through its segment that will shed light on the automobile market scenario.

     

    The Autocar Show will air on ET NOW on Fridays starting December 11, 2015 at 10:30 pm with repeats on Saturday (11:30 am and 3:30 pm) and Sunday (10:00 am and 2:00 pm).

     

  • Tournament to be held in AP and Telangana between December 10 and January 31 2016

    Eenadu announces the ninth edition of Eenadu Champion Cricket Cup

    By A Correspondent

     

    After eight successful editions, Eenadu Champion Cricket (ECC) tournament is back with the 2015 edition. The tournament will have participation from innumerable institutions across the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as remarkable feats will be showcased and new benchmarks will be made.

     

    This state-level open cricket championship will have qualifying matches played at district and regional levels in both the states, culminating in the grand finale.  Finally, the big league matches will be played in the biggest battle ever to win the Championship Cup.

     

    Eenadu Champion Cricket (ECC) is organized by Eenadu Eetharam – the special initiative of Eenadu which has spearheaded authentic news and quality driven Infotainment, setting high standards aimed at the Youth.

     

    As part of the new format, in the qualifying matches, teams from all the districts will fight it out in two categories – juniors & seniors in the age group of16 to 22 years and there will also be day and night matches. This new addition to the format will make it more challenging for the teams and interesting for the audience.

     

    The tournament will be on 3 levels, i.e. District, Regional and one final ECC Cup. District winners would compete for the Regional Championship Titles. The 5 Regional Championships titles — Rayalseema Rockers, North Andhra Ninjas, Central Andhra Challengers, Telangana Tigers & Hyderabad Heroes will be battling it out in the final matches.

     

    The day and night matches will be under flood lights for the Seniors from the regional level while the Juniors will be playing during the day. There will be 10 overs knock-out matches for the districts and 20-overs knock out for the regional level. The winners emerging from the regions will pit against each other in a league format of 20 overs. 5 league matches will be played in Vijayawada and 5 league matches in Hyderabad. The grand finale will be held at LB Stadium in Hyderabad.

     

    A J Christophe

    Acknowledging the contribution of the stakeholders of ECC Cup’ 2015, A J Christopher National Head, Sales & Marketing Eenadu, said “we would like to thank all the sponsors, franchisees, players, organizers, the Media and fans from across Telangana & Andhra Pradesh for supporting this tournament and being instrumental in shaping the success of ECC Cup over the last 8 editions. With the tagline of Mee Aata Mee Paata, the event aims to offer the audiences a package of competitive Cricket and unparalleled Entertainment, the way they want it – It’s Their Way. We wanted to give back the youth a new and evolved tournament, which they have loved and helped us build over the years, the way they would like to truly enjoy it.”

     

    International Brands like Honda, Oppo & LG have partnered with the event to ensure that they aid in the quest of reaching out to the talent at the grass root levels and provide each and every one an opportunity to make it big.

     

  • Mobile Video traffic in India is poised to grow exponentially in the next three years

    Sony LIV launches its movie subscription service

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sony LIV has announced its foray into the movies subscription service with blockbuster movie content. With this initiative, Sony LIV continues to expand its content offerings from catch-up content to sports, to music to original exclusive series and now, to the movies subscription service.

     

    India, besides its large market size, is among the countries with the fastest smartphone growth in Asia. Mobile Video traffic in India is poised to grow exponentially in the next three years and Sony LIV, the first Video on demand service by a broadcaster in India, is seeking to bolster its foothold in the online video space. Globally, SVOD is poised to become the largest revenue source in 2020, overtaking OTT advertising. But in India the market is at a nascent stage with a huge growth potential in future. (Source: Digital TV Research)

     

    Sony LIV will let consumers stream all mega blockbuster movies at a very nominal price. The service will be accessible to consumers through its website or via the Sony LIV app available on Google Playstore (for Android users) and Appstore for (iOS users). With the latest and a vast range of movies from across the genres, users can pay for the subscription through multiple e-payment options such as credit card, debit card, Internet banking and direct billing services.

     

    Uday Sodhi, EVP and Head -Digital Business said, “The movie subscription service is a convenient and affordable way for film lovers to enjoy their favorite blockbuster hits on their preferred digital devices. We have a wide assortment of cinematic treats on offer that users can access in a single click. The different subscription models ensure that they pay as per their consumption levels. The move is targeted towards making the digital platform the only destination that consumers need to turn to in order to fulfill the entire spectrum of their entertainment needs.”

     

  • The bid amounts in the negative mean the two teams won’t get any share of revenue from the board’s central pool, but have to pay money to it. Hence they are expected to go the whole hog to minimise their losses

    Budgeted brands may join IPL bandwagon after entry of two new teams

    By Ravi Teja Sharma

     

    The entry of two new teams could offer an opportunity to brands that want to jump on to the IPL bandwagon but have limited budgets, said media planners and agencies.

     

    Each of the two teams will have 10 sponsorship slots to sell on the jersey – on the cap, shirt and trouser. None of these is pre-committed to any brands, unlike in the case of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan (RR), the teams that have been suspended for two years.

     

    In the reverse auction conducted by the Indian cricket board earlier this week, industrialist Sanjiv Goenka’s New Rising won the Pune team with a bid of minus Rs 16 crore and handset maker Intex got Rajkot with a bid of minus Rs 10 crore.

     

    The bid amounts in the negative mean the two teams won’t get any share of revenue from the board’s central pool, but have to pay money to it. Because of this, these teams are expected to go the whole hog to minimise their losses.

     

    Vinit Karnik, national director at ESP Properties, a sports and entertainment consultancy of media management giant Group M, said the two new teams might not be able to charge a premium immediately. But since they would be getting top players from both CSK and RR, they might still be able to ride on these players to gain traction.

     

    Among the eight original IPL franchises, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings (before they were suspended) earned Rs 40 crore to Rs 50 crore a year from sponsorship deals. Other teams such as Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore get around Rs 30 crore. The new teams could make around Rs 20-25 crore from sponsorship a year, media planners said.

     

    Melroy D’Souza, chief operating officer at sports marketing firm Professional Management Group, said Pune would do better than Rajkot on sponsorships, especially with the possibility that New Rising, which got Pune with the lower bid among the two winners, would get to pick the first player from the draft.

     

    That could probably be MS Dhoni, who remains the most sought after player in IPL.

     

    “For the audience in small towns (such as Rajkot), there will be limited amount of brands that will be interested,” said D’Souza. Karnik, however, said Rajkot would be the real hotspot among the two new teams.

     

    “This is the first time that an IPL team has come from Gujarat. The state is a passionate follower of cricket and it has a big base of local business houses, who would love to leverage on the opportunity.”

     

    Large businesses and local brands from Gujarat include the likes of Adani, the tile manufacturers of Morbi, large watch manufacturers such as Ajanta and Orpat and diamond trading houses of Surat.

     

    On air and on ground sponsorship in IPL is very expensive and out of the reach of brands with smaller budgets, said Basabdatta Chowdhuri, chief executive at Madison Media Group’s Platinum Media. “But there is still considerable visibility to be had by signing up with newer teams. In a limited budget, you can get decent mileage through a new team as well. In that same money, a brand will only get a few spots on television during IPL,” she said.

     

    A media planner who did not wish to be named said the other advantage with newer and relatively smaller teams is that brands can negotiate that much more and get more bang for their buck.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The North makes a merry mess of everything to the extent that even those of us who are not from the South know that something is amiss, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Peeves about Pronunciation

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    In the Indian Express of December 10, Kabir Firaque wrote an article about how Assamese names are often mispronounced by Indian in general and especially Hindi-speakers. He was referring largely to the little political spat between current Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and the BJP in the state over this issue. However, the media were also mentioned.

     

    As anyone who is not from the Hindi heartland knows, there is every chance that your name and your language will be mangled beyond repair by journalists on television. Firaque explains how something as basic as murder victim Sheena Bora’s name is pronounced wrong almost every time it is used on TV, which is very often. The “Bo”, he says, is not the “Bo” of “Bose”; it is the “Bo” of “Bond”.

     

    How much effort does it take to get the pronunciation of a word correct, if you’re job is to speak in public? My teeth are on edge every time Kolkata is mispronounced (always). It is not “Kol” as in the “pol” of politics. It is “coal-kaata”, with a soft th. Might as well call it Calcutta as every Bengali has called it in English for years, just as every  Bengali calls the city Coal-kaatha” when speaking Bengali. Even the grating Hindi “Kul-kuthha” is better than the abomination of the Kol-pol.

     

    Okay, rant over.

     

    Of course, no one has more right to complain (sorry, Tarun Gogoi) than every state in South India. The North makes a merry mess of everything to the extent that even those of us who are not from the South know that something is amiss. It started with Doordarshan’s Hindi news bulletins years ago, which referred to the states of “Keral” and “Tamil Nad”. Since then, whatever the Hindi belt things is correct is what goes. The only thing in their defence is that no one from the rest of India can really make out why the “zh” stands for in so many names. The only possibly positive outcome for the media by the shocking revelations of the Niira Radia tapes is that more people now know how to pronounce Kanimozhi’s name correctly. Or somewhere close to correctly.

     

    On a personal note, and this has nothing to do with the media, my own name because of its peculiar spelling has been pronounced wrong my whole life. I now find it amusing, mainly because I’m not a politician trying to win an election on sectarian grounds. The best mispronunciation of my name was in Norway where the offensive “j” was replaced to give me an interesting “Ronya”. Maybe I should have changed it to that to start a whole new merry-go-round!

     

    **

     

    Is the following sentence incipient sexism or just someone trying to be too clever? The December 10 edition of the Dehradun edition of The Times of India carried a story its front-page News Digest and also on the inside pages headlined, “Girl turns back groom for flunking IQ test”.

     

    Let’s let the “girl” go though if you are old enough to be married legally, you are not a girl but a woman. The first line of the story reads, “God save men from brides like this.” The line is so offensive in so many ways that one can only hope that someone, either the writer or the sub-editor was trying to be funny. The story is about a woman (bride) who discovers that her groom who was supposed to be an engineer was quite clueless about most things and probably lied about his education.

     

    In fact, if I had edited or written this story my first line would have been, “God save women from lying men like this”.

     

    As is clear, I am not with the zeitgeist. Patriarchy rules.

     

  • Here are BARC's urban + rural ratings for Week 4​8​ of 2015 (Nov 2​8​-​Dec 4, 2015)

    Colors back to #2 in Week 48 of BARC ratings

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Week 4​8​ ratings from BARC​ for ​Saturday, 28th November 2015 to Friday, 4th December 2015) sees a lot of the old and some new.

     

    Note these numbers are combined for urban and rural audiences, and subscribers to the data will know how the rankings are dramatically different for urban audiences.​ And ditto for rural or free-to-air audiences.

     

    Enjoy!​​

     

     

     

  • It’s an accolade that's for the truly well-deserving. And for the True Achievers of 2015 in the Indian Media, Advertising & Marketing arena

    Announcing the Mediaahperson of the Year 2015

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    It’s the day.

     

    December 11, 2015.

     

    The day we had said we will announce The Mediaahperson of the Year!

     

    The last two years have seen the announcement happen coincidentally on the same day as the older and doubtlessly better known Impact Person of the Year award. It was even suggested by some souls that our attempt was to undermine them and because our choice matched theirs’ last year, we thought it’s better to announce it earlier than them. Even though it’s wiser to do it waiting for the entire year to be completed. Perhaps in January of the following year.

     

    So how are we different from other awards?

     

    First, it’s not based on a survey. It’s not based on any industry poll. But it’s based on a study conducted by me through the year.

     

    Second, it’s an A&M industry study. Agreed CEOs are important, but we are looking at CMOs and not CEOs of well-marketed organisations.

     

    Third, we look at performance through the year, and don’t base it on the highs of the last two quarters of a year which tend to influence any voting-based process.

     

    Fourth, we give you a clear reason why we chose the winner, and why we didn’t choose others which may have done some striking work.

     

    And fifth, we are as sincere and honest about the awards as one can get. There were suggestions that we should make it an on-ground event. But then that comes with its own set of issues. Perhaps next year.

     

    So the Mediaahperson of the Year 2015 is an online award. It’s an accolade that’s for the truly well-deserving. And for the True Achievers of 2015 in the Indian Media, Advertising & Marketing arena.

     

    There were many who came into contention.

     

    For instance, Uday Shankar for Star India continuing with some bold steps in sports and digital. But this has possibly been one Star’s worst years in the last three. Its flagship channel is facing a tough climate on the entertainment front. Life OK is just about going ok-ok. Not taken the path it ought to have. Some other channels have turned laggards. Shining bright, but not brighter than a few others.

     

    for Zee: Stupendous performance by Zee Anmol! Still one of the more profitable media conglomerates. But the flagship channel has needed some attention, despite Kumkum Bhagya

     

    Raj Nayak or Sudhanshu Vats for Colors and/or Viacom18: Yes, but not of the level that would put it ahead of our winner

     

    Joseph George or R Balki for Lowe Lintas: I think they came out to be a very strong contender. Have won huge awards starting last year. Also, set up a second agency. But,  there were a couple of  notches lower than our eventual winner

     

    CVL Srinivas for GroupM: Over the last two years, Srinivas has transformed the face of the holding company. It’s a lot more visible, in fact often even more than the high profile arms like Mindshare and Maxus. Plus, he has done much in industry groupings.

     

    Ashish Bhasin for Dentsu Aegis: This year saw him getting set for the big league, but it’s 2016 that could be Bhasin’s year. Watch out for him.

     

    Arnab Goswami:  Undoubtedly, the most impactful face on news television today. But that he’s been for some years, na?

     

    This list could continue. There are many, many achievers. Some in digital – like the people being Scoop Whoop and In Shorts. Or the Jains of The Times of India for going strong despite the vagaries of the business. Or Google…

     

    So who’s the Mediaahperson of the Year 2015?

     

    We were looking at someone who has made a significant impact in the last year. Has achieved it against several odds.  Also,  this achievement should have been through the year or if it happened only in one part of the year, then it should stand out amongst the various others.

     

    We have great pride in announcing that the Mediaahperson of the Year Award goes to…

     

    Punit Goenka, Shashi Sinha, Partho Dasgupta and Team BARC

     

    Punit Goenka
    Shashi Sinha
    Partho Dasgupta

    First a confession, I didn’t expect BARC to take off. Let’s face it, BARC happened because the industry failed to advise TAM on an ongoing basis and thereby keeping a check on its activities. All the issues about government regulation on ownership of the agency wouldn’t have happened if the industry had counselled TAM through the last decade-odd.

     

    And then the process of setting up BARC took an endless amount of time.

     

    It almost didn’t happen. There were issues about what the ‘ownership’ of BARC would be. Should the advertising agencies be represented on it? Etc, etc.

     

    The turning point in BARC’s history happened when our three primary recipients – Zee managing director and CEO Punit Goenka was appointed BARC chairman and later Shashi Sinha as Technical Committee chairman and Partho Dasgupta as CEO.

     

    The process of appointing vendors and setting up systems took its time. At first there was the government hounding them about the date for set-up and then the industry was putting the pressure.  There were also issues of funding the entire exercise because the monies were big.

     

    There was also the ghost of IRS and the MRUC, where despite being a joint industry body, the new readership study was ridden with controversies.

     

    The anxiety levels for BARC continued till the date of launch – April 29, 2015, when it needed a hurriedly done conference call to finally clear the release.

     

    There have been hiccups like with any industry measurement exercise. In fact, it impacted Punit Goenka the most, as Zee TV showed a slide in Week 1. In fact, credit must go to him for having chosen to steer ahead despite Zee facing the heat.

     

    Things were ironed out in time, and continue to be.  Shashi Sinha’s inimitable style of achieving the impossible was put to use several times over. And Partho Dasgupta calculated pragmatism worked.

     

    The next big milestone was the launch of the rural measurement. Done for the first time ever in Indian broadcast history.

     

    Once again there were pressures, from reasonably high sources.

     

    But the collective convincing from Goenka, Sinha and Dasgupta worked.

     

    While the three of them deserve much of the credit, the BARC board and the rest of the team also need to be applauded.

     

    They are very deserving winners of the 2015 Mediaahperson of the Year!

     

    Taaliyaan!

     

  • Prior to the new assignment, Subha was the Senior Editor & National Head – Special Projects at Times Network

    Subha Chatterjee appointed Group Editor -Special Projects at Network18

    By A Correspondent

     

    Subha Chatterjee

    Network18 announced the appointment of Subha Chatterjee as Group Editor –Special Projects. This is his second stint with the company, after a period of seven years. In the new role, he will drive special interest and customized properties across all platforms which help organizations connect with their target customers, trade and influencers in an innovative way.

     

    “I am pleased to welcome Subha to Network18 Group. Not only does he bring with him extensive experience in broadcast media, but he also excels in strategic and creative leadership which I believe will help in steering key projects within the group,”said GirishNaik, Chief Human Resources Officer, Network18.

     

    Prior to the new assignment, Subha was the Senior Editor & National Head – Special Projects at Times Network where he played a pivotal role in creating multiple revenue streams across programming genres through unique customized conversations, contributing significant revenue to the Network. He has over 15 years of award-winning experience in the media industry and is a British Chevening Scholar from the London School of Economics.

     

    Commenting on his new role, Subha says, “I am delighted to take on the new role with Network18. The world of branded and new media content will open up a world of exciting opportunities and Network18 with its unique content offerings across platforms will be an exciting hub for new ideas and conversations”.

     

  • Conceptualised and executed by Leo Burnett #OLXMADAds is a unique platform which makes selling fun

    OLX launches #OLXMadAds

    By A Correspondent

     

    OLX has unveiled #OLXMADADs, a unique platform which enables users to sell their products in a fun way.

     

    #OLXMadAds is a one of its kind initiative by the brand as it promotes user-generated content in form of video ads. Sellers can now create their own video ads in seconds and tell the world about their products in an engaging way through 10 specially created characters that not only inform but also entertain. Thus bringing in a completely new dimension to selling, by making it fun.

     

    The agency has made sure that the entire process of making these MadAds is simple and convenient for users.  Just a few clicks and your version of MadAdis ready to sell your product.

     

    The 10 characters created by Leo Burnett are Astronaut Nasa Musa, YogaNandShri, Bomb Bomb Bole, Dr Threesome Awesome, Death of Elizabeth, Lallan Top, Law-D Lady, Mr. Bananas, AachooPichoo and Silly Lilly.

     

    Gaurav Mehta, Chief Marketing Officer, OLX South Asia, said, “The #OLXMadAds campaign extends our brand philosophy further. User generated content is core to the OLX platform and hence it is important for OLX to help our users generate high quality and engaging ads. We have evolved to the times when transactions become easier if the ad content is both functional and interesting. In our continued endeavour to assist users in selling faster, this campaign does a good job of educating users with a different perspective.”

     

    RajDeepak Das

    RajDeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett India, said, “OLX India, being India’s largest marketplace wanted to engage consumers in a unique way. In this age of content creation and sharing, with millions of videos being passed around each day through YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook and other social networking sites, we wanted to provide OLX users a tool that not only simplifies selling but also makes it fun. Thus was born #OLXMadAds. The #OLXMadAds platform is a true demonstration of how we can use creativity and technology together to create magic for a brand.”

     

  • The objective of the campaign was therefore to help them rediscover the joys of sharing, specifically on Facebook, and all the wonderful things that it leads to

    Facebook urges women to rediscover the joys of sharing

    By A Correspondent

     

    Facebook India recently launched a campaign to encourage women in smaller towns across India to share more on Facebook. Conceptualised by Taproot, the three digital films, titled ‘Clothes’, ‘Sangeeta’ and ‘Jhansi’, aim to re-introduce the magic of Facebook to those who have taken to it but not to sharing on it.

     

    According to statistics while a majority of these women were accessing Facebook through their mobile phones regularly, they were not sharing as much personal content in the form of posts, videos or pictures but viewing other content as passive consumers. The objective of the campaign was therefore to help them rediscover the joys of sharing, specifically on Facebook, and all the wonderful things that it leads to.

     

    For maximum impact, the campaign was broken into 2 phases- the first phase being to inspire sharing again through a series of films and then following up with education on safety features within Facebook.

     

    Each film holds a mirror to how sharing on Facebook goes beyond the online world to real-life friendships and relationships. From getting in touch with long lost friends to bridging the generation divide, Facebook is at the heart of joyous moments every day.

     

    Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer & co-founder, Taproot Dentsu said, “It was important to have a more human / real approach. Without pushing too much we wanted to communicate how the brand can play an important role in their day to day life to bond with their friends and families. I think we were successful to get every single bit right, be it the conversation, cast or set up, all of these captures the TG’s world very well.”

     

  • The new name reflects an integrated brand alignment as it allows us to leverage the strength of the Sony parentage, says CEO NP Singh

    It’s now official. The Sony network will be called Sony Pictures Network

    By A Correspondent

     

    Even before it started in 1994, as journalists we would call it Sony TV. But the flagship entertainment channel was called Sony Entertainment Television, and in those days when there was no Set Wet gel, it took us some time to get used to referring to the channel as SET. Nahiiiiiiiiin!

     

    And then somewhere along its 21-year journey, the company was called Multi Screen Media, and us in the mainstream media (MSM again) were are asked to call it MSM. Some would even refer to it as MSM Sony. When the IPL happened in the late 2000s, SET Max was referred to as Sony Max, as it will now be called we understand.

     

    Why it was called Multi Screen Media in the first place, one wonders. Well, whatever be the reason, from now, Sony is going to be called Sony.  And the Bravia will also be prefixed with that.

     

    Here’s what NP Singh, CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India has said in a statement:

    “After 20 years of successfully experimenting with many firsts including redefining how cinema and cricket are viewed on Indian television, Multi Screen Media (MSM) has renamed itself as Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN).  The new name reflects an integrated brand alignment as it allows us to leverage the strength of the Sony parentage. Naturally, we are guided by a new wave of optimism as we set forth on a journey of exploring new vistas of entertainment.  Sony Pictures Networks India will continue to serve its audiences across geographies. More channels, more genres, more content, more movies, more digital and more television. This is our 6-fold path to serve the multitude of viewers whose hopes and expectations, we are aiming, to exceed. Our focus will remain on becoming the first choice in television and digital entertainment in the country.”

     

    Hmmm. This is the time to celebrate the new name getting official. Ay, Soniye, let’s bring out the bubbly.