MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Having survived and survived with flourish in the last five years has been no mean feat for Creativeland Asia. Team CLA and their clients talk to MxMIndia on what makes the agency such a hit.

    Five years of Creativeland Asia

    Sajan Raj Kurup

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    As Creativeland Asia (CLA) completes five years of existence, one cannot ignore the fact that the agency has managed to find a foothold in this industry and not just that but has managed to do very well for itself. At its birth in 2007, CLA was just another name started by an awardwinning ex-creative head with a few others but slowly and steadily it has managed to find a place for itself and this has only happened because of its cutting edge and consistently good work on accounts like Frooti or for German luxury automobile manufacturer Audi which won a GrandPrix at both Spikes Asia and Goafest. And of course the much acclaimed work for Hippo.

     

    Talking about CLA, Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman at CLA said, “Completing five years is a landmark especially in a market like India but what makes this even more special is that we have made it on our own terms. I believe that India is one of the most creative countries and I have wanted to show that creativity to the world. While on the downside, making it on your own in India also becomes difficult because of various reasons and that’s the challenge we took. We managed to reach this point only because of the unconditional support that we have received from our friends who have been with us through thick and thin and our clients who became our biggest investors by believing in us.”

     

    He added, “At CLA we have created a culture that is quite ingenious to our way of working. We have created a culture of excellence and most importantly we have stayed away from the muck. This has helped us in focusing on real work that has worked for the clients. We may have won awards but I can vouch that none of them were scams as we steer clear of them. There is no work for awards sake but only work that works, that’s been our motto and I can say that today people outside of CLA recognize this culture and there are many young people who want to join us only because they know of our culture and our commitment to creativity. I don’t know if we have created a perfect place but we have created a place we are proud to be part of.”

     

    Work@CLAVikram Gaikwad, Partner and Executive Creative Director, Creativeland Asia

    I realise that if you are doing what you really want to do, five years can go by before you know it. I am happy and proud that we have managed to live up to the plan we discussed the very first day of Creativeland’s inception, and we have stood by our principles from the very first day. We have consistently worked towards excelling in whatever we wanted to do. We also have our clients to thank who believe in us without whose partnership this achievement would not have been possible.

     

    Anu Joseph, Executive Creative Director, Creativeland Asia

    Sitting at Raj’s dining table five years ago, I knew we could be where we are today, if we stuck to Raj’s vision for Creativeland. There was clarity about how we were going to go about things. There have been ups and downs, heartbreaks and pressures, but it has been a pleasure walking into work every single day. And of course, there is so much we owe to our client partners who have invested their faith in us. They have been the force behind every piece of work we have done.

    These words clearly show that Mr Kurup is happy with the way CLA has shaped up. In fact, CLA is the first and the only agency from India that has made to the World’s Leading Independent agencies list in 2010. He points five events that made CLA in the last five years for the agency: CLA creating benchmark in creativity with every category it has worked on, from being a 4-5 member team to being 90-member team and creating a strong agency culture without any compromise, recognized as a leading independent agency and getting Grand Prix for real works, lasting relationship and innovative thinking and lastly being able to consistently deliver good work.

     

    Giving his take on working with CLA, Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India said, “I find Creativeland to be a good creative melting pot, one that is not restricted to typical media avenues. As an owner-driven agency, Creativeland is capable of doing things their own way and coming up with solutions, while keeping the core brand messages in mind. Their ideas have worked very well for us. Some of the work has been exposed to our colleagues in Germany, and has been appreciated.”

     

    Another of CLA clients is Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) where the agency has been working for long. K Ramakrishnan, President, Marketing, CCD, said, “Our journey with CLA is over five years old now. There is huge similarity between the organisational ethos of CCD and CLA in the sense that both started out as small organisations with a huge determination to make it big and to a large extent are on our way there. Another, is the spirit of youthfulness. Notwithstanding the growth that both the organizations have had, our relationship continues to be one to one.”

     

    “CLA’s focus on turnaround time where they have been able to churn out relentless number of creative outputs, on time each and every time, the youthfulness in their thought process and the spirit of a small agency in terms of ownership of brands and hunger for growth, contribute to their success in a short span of time, added Mr Ramakrishnan.

     

    As for the future of CLA, Mr Kurup is categorical as he says that while they are open to partnering provided it’s on their own terms however there is no plan to sell CLA to any bigger network. He said, “I have started CLA with the prime motive of building it up, selling it definitely not in the plan.” He added, “We have been growing on our own terms and have been saying no to businesses that we don’t feel comfortable working with. What CLA delivers is a personal touch to the clients and we don’t want to settle for anything less but only high quality ideas that delivers.”

     

    As for scaling up, CLA plans to open an office in London and is working on it. It has two offices in India and one regional office in Singapore. Also, the future for CLA is in getting on the content in a big way and it has taken a step towards this by getting into the movie business and more will follow in the future.

     


  • This campaign by 92.7 BIG FM is an extension of the larger campaign called 'Mumbai Manao, Life Banao'

    Vivek Oberoi to flag off BIG FM’s ‘Cigarette Bhujao Life Banao’ campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    On World No Tobacco Day, 92.7 BIG FM, Mumbai launched a noble campaign ‘Cigarette Bhujao Life Banao’, in its endeavour to contribute to the welfare and development of society. Vivek Oberoi, a strong anti-tobacco campaigner, joined hands with 92.7 BIG FM to sign a pledge against smoking at the BIG FM studio with RJ Ankit.

     

    To promote this cause and enable widespread awareness amongst the audience, across the city of Mumbai, the actor signed ‘Out Smoking’ on huge cigarette caricature cut-out which will be placed in the Infiniti Mall, Andheri premises, so that people can support the campaign and spread awareness on the ills of tobacco.

     

    The campaign takes on the issue of smoking and the various harms related to it, which have ended many lives. This campaign by 92.7 BIG FM is an extension of the larger campaign called ‘Mumbai Manao, Life Banao’ which celebrates the spirit of Mumbai. As part of the campaign for World No Tobacco Day, 92.7 BIG FM’s RJ Ankit spoke to various celebrities like Vivek Oberoi, Javed Jaffrey, Ayushmann Khurrana on dangers of smoking and its effects. Besides this listeners shared their experiences and doctors gave tips.

     

    Actor Vivek Oberoi has been associated with the Cancer Patient Aid Association (CPAA) for over ten years. This opportunity with 92.7 BIG FM gives him another platform to spread awareness across a wider audience. Mr Oberoi, while speaking to RJ Ankit, said he strongly felt about the need to spread the message of the dangers of smoking and how tobacco-related diseases like cancer, tuberculosis can wreck the lives of individuals and their families alike.

     

    Commenting on this initiative, a company spokesperson said: “As the leading media brand that reflects the city’s passions and emotions, we believe in using our medium – radio to spread awareness and promote noble causes which are of relevance to the society. This campaign has been conceptualized to draw attention towards World No Tobacco Day. As a brand that celebrates Mumbai’s passions, this is our way to create awareness and draw people away from using tobacco.”

     

  • Hindi News Channel, Aaj Tak hosted the Aaj Tak Care Awards in the capital on June 6 to honour the corporate entities who are changing the face of the society by their CSR initiatives

    Aaj Tak Care Awards are good news for society: Aroon Purie

    Bollywood Star Akshay Kumar & Aroon Purie, Chairman & Editor-n-Chief, India Today Group with winners of Aaj Tak Care Awards

     

     

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    Mr.Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the Aaj Tak Care Awards

    TV Today Network’s Hindi news channel Aaj Tak hosted the first edition of Aaj Tak Care Awards on June 6 at the Taj Palace Hotel inNew Delhi. The awards seek to honour corporate entities who have contributed towards inclusive and sustainable development keeping in mind the society as the focal point.

     

    Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee graced the event as the chief guest and felicitated the winners at the awards ceremony. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who launched the Aaj Tak Care awards anthem, was also present at the awards ceremony.

     

    Inaugurating the awards ceremony, Aroon Purie, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group said: “The industry realises it must make more than just profit; that it must give back to the society. TV News channels have been accused of concentrating only on what’s wrong with the society, so these awards are ‘good news’.”

     

    Speaking at the event, Mr Pranab Mukherjee urged the corporate sector to build CSR in a big way into their business: “You need to give back to the society. We need more Nandan Nilekanis to join the cause. CorporateIndiahas to help with new ideas to deal with some of the prevailing socio-economic issues. We need to work together towards a better future.”

     

    Aaj Tak Care Awards were given away in five different categories, Education, Empowerment, Environment, Healthcare and Livelihood. Leading research agency, IMRB International filtered entries for participation in these awards based on parameters like replicability, sustainability, people participation and innovativeness. In the second phase, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI), with their expertise in various sectors, partnered to further shortlist the companies. They compared and evaluated the CSR initiatives of all entries and nominated the final 40 companies for the second phase. The third and last phase of the Aaj Tak Care Awards was the selection process by the jury where eminent personalities debated and arrived at a list of final 12 winners.

     

    The Jury was chaired by Mr Gurcharan Das, Chairman, author & management consultant. Other jury members included, Prof Dipankar Gupta, noted sociologist; Mr Arun Kapur, Executive Director, Learn Today; Mr Sandeep Pandey, social activist; Mr Rajender Singh, environmentalist & chairman, Tarun Bhagat Sangh; Dr Ashok Seth, Chairman of Fortis Group of Hospitals (Cardiovascular Sciences & Cardiology Council); Mr Sandeep Chachra, Executive Director, Action Aid India.

     

    Commenting on the awards, Joy Chakraborthy, CEO, TV Today Network said: “The Aaj Tak Care Awards is an endeavour by the TV Today network to recognize and honour the real champions of corporateIndiawho have positively impacted the society. We looked at companies who have gone beyond their corporate objectives of growth and profitability, and laid an emphasis on the improvement of the society as their larger objective.”

     

    List of winners in all five categories:

    Education

    Amway India Enterprises Pvt. Ltd

    PVR Limited

     

    Environment

    Suzlon Energy Limited

    ONGC

    Dabur India Ltd

     

    Healthcare

    Eli Lilly & Company

    JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd

    Standard Chartered

     

    Empowerment

    Gitanjali Gems

    Microsoft Corporation

     

    Livelihood

    Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)

    First Source Solutions Ltd

     

  • Karmik designers like Rohit Bal, Neeta Lulla, Anamika Khanna, JJ Valaya, Rocky S, Shantanu & Nikhil, Rina Dhaka and Kavita Bhartia to be part of the show

    ‘I Love Style’ powered by Karmik on BIG CBS Love

    By A Correspondent

     

    After the success of India’s Glam Diva, BIG CBS Love has launched its second home grown property, ‘I Love Style’, powered by Karmik. BIG CBS Love, the joint venture channel between Reliance Broadcast Network and CBS Studios International, is known for its international content. The channel has recently begun to create content locally and ‘I Love Style’ powered by Karmik, will be the ultimate destination for to all that one would desire to know on style and fashion.

     

    Karmik, the latest name to accessible designer-wear fashion, is the most appropriate partner for the show, and together, the brands promise to offer a show that depicts style and panache.

     

    At a press conference, held in C’est La Vie Lounge, Mumbai, Neeta Lulla, one of Bollywood’s most celebrated designers, along with Genelia Deshmukh, shared insights of some of her famous bridal outfits, the intricacy that goes in to dressing up a bride, what fashion really means and why she loves style.

     

    I Love Style will take all the style and fashion-conscious women through an intimate expedition of the latest in style, fashion, grooming and more.

     

    As the show progresses, it will feature biggest names in fashion from the Karmik stable like Rohit Bal, Anamika Khanna, JJ, Valaya, Rocky S, Abraham & Thakore, Gaurav Gupta, Ranna Gill, Shantanu and Nikhil, Rina Dhaka, Kavita Bhartia and more…

     

    The show is hosted by the model and anchor, Karishma Naina Sharma and is backed by veteran fashion guru, the founder editor of Harper’s Bazaar India, Sujata Assomull as the style expert on the show.

     

    The show will also go on-ground with audience connect properties like ‘I Love Style Bazaars’ – where designers with quirky styles will be invited to showcase their collection; and ‘I Love Style Parties’.

     

    Ensuring connect on social media, BIG CBS Love and Karmik will also launch a hunt for their stylish ‘Karmik Diva’.

     

    Commenting on the show, Mr. Vishal Rally, Business Head, BIG CBS Networks said: “The property is unique and first of its kind in India, tailored keeping in mind the specific preferences of our audiences. We are confident that we have the right concept to ensure the show delivers everything that the audiences desire to know on Style. We are happy to partner with Karmik and see excellent synergies coming into play which will benefit both consumers and marketers alike.”

     

    Mr. Pradeep Hirani, founder of Karmik said: “What would have better than to partner with and BIG CBS Love to make a stylish show - ‘I Love Style’. I am sure that people will love the show.”

     

  • For four-and-a-half years, unknown to everyone, Magal has been the anonymous writer behind 'The Secret Journal of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala', a popular parody blog that tore into people in the news with biting sarcasm

    How ‘Fake Jhunjhunwala’ writer Aditya Magal impressed the ‘real’ Jhunjhunwala

    By Sruthijith KK

     

    On Tuesday, 26-year-old Aditya Magal nervously walked into the Nariman Point offices of billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Most people who looked up from their terminals didn’t glance a second time, possibly concluding that the boy-faced youngster must be an internship-seeker at Rare Enterprises. But Jhunjhunwala himself took a keen interest in Magal, seating him in his private office, enquiring about his background, his family, his stylish haircut and his girlfriends.

     

    As word about the young visitor spread, Jhunjhunwala’s colleagues – hardnosed traders and analysts – streamed into his office to meet Magal. They shook hands with him. Everyone smiled. Some said they were fans. Magal’s stock was on the rise. The encounter, facilitated by ET, saw uproarious moments.

     

    For four-and-a-half years, unknown to everyone, Magal has been Fake Jhunjhunwala, the anonymous writer behind ‘The Secret Journal of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’, a popular parody blog that tore into people in the news – politicians, actors, journalists, other stock market players, anyone – with biting sarcasm.

     

    He caricatured the identity of Jhunjhunwala, an opinionated ace stock picker with interesting quirks, into a loud, wildly entertaining character who spared none. His blog gets 30,000 unique visitors a month.

     

    Magal’s Twitter account is followed by more than 45,000. Even his online fan club has 2,500 followers on Twitter. Well-known people on Twitter, such as Gul Panag and Pritish Nandy, are amused by his writing.

     

    Not everyone’s amused though. Like some journalists, who were mercilessly taken down by the Fake Jhunjhunwala, who then called the real Jhunjhunwala to complain. “I told them I don’t write it,” the real Jhunjhunwala said. “Then they wanted to know who wrote it. Arrey, how do I know?”

     

    Kingfisher boss Vijay Mallya once told Jhunjhunwala that he liked to start his day by reading his tweets. “The first time I didn’t say anything. Then, another time he again said, ‘Rakeshbhai, you are very funny, what all you keep tweeting?’ Then I told him I don’t write it,” Jhunjhunwala said.

     

    In his column in The Indian Express, editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta mistakenly attributed Fake Jhunjhunwala’s tweet to the real Jhunjhunwala, to illustrate the prejudices and dominance of the “upper caste, creamy layer of our society”. The newspaper later apologised.

     

    Magal carries clear disclaimers on both his Twitter bio and his blog. And as long as he does that, Jhunjhunwala says, he has no problems with what he writes. “Who am I? You have a right to express yourself. And you are saying you are not me. Then what is the problem?” In a country where people compete to take offence, Magal picked the right man to parody.

     

    As it happened, Magal didn’t pick Jhunjhunwala. The blog was started in 2008 by Mark Fidelman, an American who then worked in Indian real estate. Inspired by the success of the Fake Steve Jobs blog, Fidelman created the blog as a platform to vent his frustrations with India after his business here suffered. After three months, Fidelman told Magal, who he knew through a business association, about the blog, and asked him to take over. Magal says he started laughing.

     

    “I have been following Rakesh sir since the time I was 20 or so. I was following a number of investors and gradually, what Rakesh sir said started making the most sense for me.” Magal dabbled in the stock markets and like countless retail investors before him, was taken in by Jhunjhunwala’s knowledge and his uncanny ability to make the right bets.

     

    If he was a follower before, writing the blog for four years turned Magal into something of a devotee. He has read and watched nearly every interview the investor has given. He knows everything there is to know about Jhunjhunwala, from the year his sister got married to the architect of his Lonavala home. From the brands of cigarettes and whiskeys he prefers to the Mercedes S Class he drives. “Why, I also have a Bentley,” Jhunjhunwala helped along, amused by Magal’s grasp of J-trivia. But Magal knows not just trivia about Jhunjhunwala. He also knows his investment portfolio closely.

     

    But Magal’s natural funny side is more often on display. At lunch with this correspondent, he recited a poem: “Jhunjhunwala goes to Lonavala to live in a house by Killawala.” Nitin Killawala is the architect. In Jhunjhunwala’s office, as his colleagues gathered around to meet the famous blogger, Magal parodied Jhunjhunwala’s TV appearances. His habit of talking up the India story, the peculiar way in which he says ‘humongous’. Everyone laughed.

     

    When Jhunjhunwala lit another cigarette, Magal told him that he should cut down on his smoking. “What is this sir? Earlier in interviews you used to say you smoked 10-15 cigarettes. Now you say 20-25. And you have stopped doing yoga.” Jhunjhunwala demonstrated some yoga-style breathing for him.

     

    The atmosphere was warm and convivial. When Magal sought permission to click some pictures of his office, Jhunjhunwala readily agreed. “Please, please, do. Click whatever you want Aditya, we are simple people.”

     

    Jhunjhunwala found Magal so funny that he saved his number as ‘Aditya Joker’ on his phone. “You are a natural joker. You have a talent for humour,” he said.

     

    Niraj Dalal, who works with Jhunjhunwala, said he was relieved to meet Magal. “People used to suspect it’s me!” Jhunjhunwala said he also thought the writer was someone who knew him closely or worked with him. “There were things only seven or eight of us would know and that would be on the blog. That used to unnerve us,” Dalal said.

     

    Jhunjhunwala asked Magal what he wanted to do in life. “Write books and help people. The moment I have a plot ready in my head, I’ll drop everything and write a book,” he said.

     

    Jhunjhunwala wished him the best. Magal invited Jhunjhunwala to visit his Bangalore home sometime. “Surely. Will you invite me for your wedding?” Certainly, Magal said. “Will you come in a helicopter, sir?”

     

    Magal told Jhunjhunwala that he would love to write his autobiography if he ever considered writing one. The investor was hesitant. “Why should we self-glorify? Let’s see when it comes to that.”

     

    Magal gifted him two Ganesha idols, which Jhunjhunwala is known to collect. He asked a colleague to place the brass idol alongside dozens of idols on a shelf in his office. The other one, a sandalwood idol, he placed right in front of him, along the five monitors on his desk that he uses to watch the movements of his empire of wealth.

     

    Before Magal left, Jhunjhunwala asked him if there was anything he could do to help. “I’d be foolish not to ask you for investment advice. But then I’m not a pretty girl and you are not tipsy,” Magal said, referring to a wisecrack Jhunjhunwala made during an interview regarding his rule about stock tips. Jhunjhunwala made an exception, and gave him a stock tip. “Buy.”

     

    As he rode the elevator down and got into the waiting cab, Magal was overjoyed. When he walked in, he didn’t know what to expect. “I can now cross off one item on my bucket list,” he said.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • As I&B Minister Ambika Soni meets stakeholders tomorrow to decide on the June 30 deadline, MxMIndia presents a status report from the 4 metros

    Ready, Steady, Go? Or Delay?

     

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    With less than a month to go for the sunset date of June 30 for Phase I of digitization of cable television in India, MxM India gets you a status report from the ground in all the four metros, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

     

    As per the directive issued by the government of India and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are to be completely digitized by June 30. Starting July 1, all analogue signals will be switched off. But is the industry geared up to meet this deadline? And moreover, are the consumers aware of this change that will bring about a significant change in their television viewing. While all industry stakeholders seem to be in favour of digitization, they all have their share of concerns. Some believe that an extension of the deadline will be a welcome gesture by the government while some feel that any extension at this point will only slow down the process further. The industry, some believe, is lacking a sense of urgency to embrace this change and roll out the new technology.

     

    MxMIndia learns that I&B Minister Ambika Soni has called for a meeting of all stakeholders tomorrow, Friday, June 8 at 3 pm at the Vigyan Bhavan. A final decision will be taken post this meeting. An earlier meeting with I&B ministry officials held on June 1 generated mixed take-outs. While one participant at the meeting told this writer that there was no indicator that there will be a postponement of the Sunset Date, another industry captain told MxMIndia that there were fair signs that the D-Day will be pushed by at least two months, if not six.

     

    Meanwhile, MxMIndia gets you varied views from stakeholders as well as media experts on the status of digitization for Phase I.

     

    Cable operators unprepared to meet the deadline, blame lack of set top boxes and consumer awareness

    Mumbai: Arvind Prabhoo, Owner, Orbit Television Network: The deadline cannot be met because most of the MSOs have run out of boxes. The LCO has to place an order after which it takes about a week or so for the MSOs to bring in the boxes. The other problem is, since it was May, approximately 30 percent of the people were on vacation, so they have not really spoken to a LCO on the requirement of STBs. Also, despite all the ads running on digitization, people are still quite wary of STBs and the technology, especially the older generation. Explaining it to the elderly is becoming a major problem for installation of the set top box because at such a place one has to spend almost one hour explaining the need and benefits of this technology. So in a day if you get five homes like these, your day is gone. Thirdly, at this time in Mumbai, most cable operators are busy taking care of the monsoon issues and this exercise goes on for about a month or so. Moreover, the task has not been tackled with any kind of seriousness so far. Then there have been ads by DTH players saying that cable will cease to exist post July 1 which has become a deterrent. It takes some time for the LCO to convince the consumer that cable will not switch off, it’s only the analog transmission that will be blacked out. There is no clarity if digitization is going to increase the cost of channel viewing or it’s going to decrease it or if it’s going to have any effect at all. In Mumbai, I don’t think more than 35 percent of the required STBs have been seeded. If the extension comes, again there will be complacency amongst the operators but at the same time, if it starts raining tomorrow in Mumbai, the efficiency to work, transportation etc, will all go haywire. Only 5 percent installations took place in the entire month of May as people were travelling and before that there were exams, so not many installations happened. If the government decides to postpone the date, it will be a welcome gesture but if on June 30 the analogue signals black out, there will be total chaos.

     

    New Delhi: Nagraj, Cable Operator, Old Seemapuri: Only 10 percent boxes have been seeded as of now.  Customers are not ready to take the set top boxes, they are not ready to pay. On the other hand, distributors are putting so much pressure to purchase boxes from them saying that if we don’t purchase the boxes now, they will increase the prices later. Government hasn’t issued a single declaration notifying the exact price of the box. And then there’s the issue of Rs. 45 share, how can we survive in that? I don’t know what has prompted the government to lower the rates of cable to this level. Videocon d2h came out with an ad recently saying that cable will cease to exist after June 30, so switch to d2h. Why isn’t the government reacting against such advertisements, this just means that they are teaming up with Dish players. Misleading ads are adding to the confusion and the customers have not been made aware of the issue well enough, they think that if they have to switch to digital they can just buy Dish. I fear that we will have to surrender and leave this profession after July 1. We have been trying to approach the Minister of I&B but she is avoiding us and not giving us a time to meet.

     

    Chennai: M R Srinivasan, General Secretary, Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators Association: It’s not possible to meet the notified deadline of June 30. As far as Chennai is concerned, we have a 3 million subscriber base for digitization and of the 3 million so far only 2 lakh boxes have been seeded and the rest of 2.8 million is left. There are two MSOs available in Chennai and none of them have ordered for the new boxes till date. As far as I know, both MSOs have only 15000 boxes and the requirement is for 2.8 million. Moreover, the Tamil Nadu government has written a letter to the I&B ministry for an extension of the sunset date. We require an extension of at least six months.

     

    Kolkata: Swapan Chowdhury, General Secretary, Cable & Broadband Operators’ Welfare Association: Nobody is going to meet the mandated date. If it still happens on the set date then the channel/platform will be different, it will be the DTH players who will be given a chance to do business.   As far as seeking an extension goes, it’s not the cable operators but the MSOs who should seek for an extension because they are not able to supply the set top boxes. There is no physical stock of STBs. There are about 40 lakh STBs required in the Kolkata Municipal area and the existing MSOs have supplied only 4.5 to 5 lakh boxes. At the maximum they would have 50,000 to 1 lakh more boxes, which means with less than one month left, the remaining number will face a black out if digitization is implemented by July 1. The government was supposed to conduct four open house discussions for each metro but Kolkata has not been taken into account. Only recently, last week I&B Secretary Mr Uday Varma visited Kolkata and conducted a meeting in the Writers’ Building. After the meeting we have come to know from the daily news that he has agreed to talk to the MSOs and the LCOs for implementation of DAS. Right now only 15 to 20 percent boxes have been seeded and if digitization is implemented on July 1, then a minimum of 50 to 60 percent of the market will black out.

     

    Mixed response from the Multi System Operators (MSOs), admit to shortage of boxes

    Jagjit Singh Kohli, CEO, Digicable: No we are not ready, we are expecting an extension of the date. The main issue is that there are not enough set top boxes available to meet the demand. We are asking for an extension and most likely it will happen.

     

    M G Azhar, COO, DEN Networks: We are ready to roll, we already have the boxes in. If you talk of the larger MSOs, they have got all the boxes ready and the DTH players also have the boxes ready. So in terms of preparedness, we are ready. Only if the government steps in and changes the dates, otherwise I see nothing holding it back. Resistance is coming in because LCO thinks that once these boxes are put, he will lose control but that’s not the case. We look at them as partners and we want to take them along. We are ready to meet the deadline.

     

    Ravi Gupta, Independent MSO, Delhi (Delhi Distribution Company): No, we are not ready to meet the deadline of June 30. It is almost impossible to install digital cable system in such short time as given by the government. Even if we manage to collect funds and purchase the material, it is not possible to install it in the given period of time. Secondly, no company in the world can provide you with set top boxes in less than six months’ time. Thirdly, government announced the terms and conditions of licensing on May 28 and we submitted our license applications by June 1 and till date nobody has been issued a DAS license. How can we operate without a licence? The government has taken no expert view on this matter before formulating the policy. After July 1, the people will sit without television.

     

    Dish TV ready for digitization, no shortage of STBs

    Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV: The entertainment arena of television viewing will witness a paradigm shift after digitization is implemented in four metros. As we are Asia’s largest DTH players we have around 12.5 million subscribers in India. We welcome the noble move of digitization by the government. This is a humongous task in terms of implementation and we are ready to take first move of Phase-I in four metros. Though DTH industry is already burdened by multiple taxation but for us we are not short of STBs and we are ready to roll on. There is a buzz that the Sunset Date will be extended but till the government is not issuing or confirming we cannot comment on this.

     

    Broadcasters prepared to meet the deadline but not sure if the rest of the industry is ready

    Rahul Sood, Head- Network Distribution & Affiliate Sales, NDTV: From a broadcaster’s perspective we are definitely ready but the question is while we are ready, is the cable fraternity, especially the LCOs and distributors, ready to go out and make that extra effort to install boxes? The DTH companies are ready, the broadcasters are ready, it is just the local cable operators and the distributors who might not be ready. While the MSOs are also ready, the resistance is coming in from LCOs and distributors. So those are the two key people who’ve got to make sure that this happens. We are not expecting any magic in 30 days to happen, that all analogue will convert to digital. But the process will start from July 1 and I think once the analogue signals are off then the process will gather a lot more momentum. So there has to be that impetus which will come from the ground. Consumers will start asking for the box and the cable operator or the DTH provider will not have a choice but to give it because if he doesn’t give it, somebody else will. But let’s be clear that it will not be a switch over from 0 to 100 in one day, it will happen over a period of time and the process will gather momentum starting July 1.

     

    In India, till the time you don’t switch off someone’s water or electricity meter nobody goes and pays the bill. So that’s the reality of the Indian psyche that we only wait for everything to explode and then we wake up.  So everything in India is last-minute! I can assure you that if government delays this and gives an extension of deadline, we will be having the same discussion six months later as well. If the cable guys don’t do it then the DTH guys will take over, not that the consumer will be blacked out.

     

    Media planners based in the the four metros feel the industry is not prepared to meet the deadline

    Nandini Dias, COO, Lodestar UM, Mumbai: Moving to 100% digital is a significant change. If July 1 is the deadline by now at least 90% digitization should have been in place across the four metros. My understanding is that it is far from it. In addition the industry bodies of the affected industries have not put out any guideline on the next steps. By now ISA, AAAI, IBF all should have put out some guidelines, implications etc. for clients and agencies to follow. For example, viewership and ratings maybe significantly affected. So as per the usual behaviour pattern the deadline is likely to just get shifted.

     

    Mohit Joshi, MD, MPG, Delhi: We are not ready to meet the deadline for the digitalization. I read somewhere that over 19 million set-top boxes are to be shipped to India during 2012 in order to fulfill the ambitious programme to digitize the country’s cable network according to ABI Research predictions. I’m not sure whether we have the infrastructure / back-end for the same. Moreover, there is not much of general information among the viewers and finally there seems to be no urgency in the system. Even the media is downplaying this whole issue.

     

    Raj Datta, Senior General Manager, TME, Kolkata: I don’t know about other metros but keeping Kolkata in mind, I don’t think we are ready to meet the deadline. The main reason behind it is the fact that a lot of low-income households have cable connections and it would be a tedious task to replace that with setup boxes. The main problematic area is the Sec D and E unlike Sec A and B where it won’t be difficult to replace setup boxes with analog system. The demand is much higher than the supply and manufacturers are running against time to fill that gap.

     

    Sriram Sharma, Vice President, SMG India- Southern Operations, Chennai: See it’s a directive saying they will have to complete it before June 30 in Chennai, so I guess it will be done. Most of them have already geared up for it, there are two networks in Tamil Nadu, Arasu Cable and SCV. About 80 to 85 percent of the total TV homes are cable and satellite homes and they are handled by them. If these two are taken care of then 85 percent of it will almost be completed. So I am sure they are geared up for doing it and I have also seen these two networks distributing set top boxes free of cost to begin with and then amortising the cost over the next four or five months. So they give you an STB and instead of charging Rs 120 or 150 a month, they’ll charge you Rs. 180. So that Rs. 50 a month will be amortised over 6 to 8 months. So it should happen as it will benefit the industry as a whole.

     

    An independent commentator on how the deadline is quite a challenge given the state of preparedness

    Dinyar Contractor, Editor and Executive Publisher, Satellite and Cable TV Magazine: Nearly 67 percent of the homes in Mumbai still don’t have digital boxes, so it’s pretty much an impossible task that this 67 percent will go digital in the remaining days. In Chennai, Arasu Cable has confirmed that they don’t have set-top boxes. Incidentally, there is a lead time just for a component of a set-top box in the world market today of four months. That means if you order your box today and the manufacturer orders the component, it will be four months before the manufacturer gets the component. What that means is that the box will not be manufactured and it will definitely not reach you before five months. TRAI has declared that every digital headend must deliver 500 channels but a major portion of the boxes already deployed are incapable of doing 500 channels.

     

    With inputs from Meghna Sharma

     

    Imaging: Rafiq

     

  • Aegis Media's Vizeum celebrates its third anniversary as some of its clients applaud its efforts and contribution

    Clients applaud Vizeum as it celebrates third anniv

    From the MxM Infodesk

     

    Media agency Vizeum celebrates its third anniversary and the agency is celebrating the event along with parents Aegis Media India which acknowledges the agency’s positive contribution to the kitty.

     

    “Clients just seem to love them,” said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India and CEO South East Asia, Aegis Media. “I congratulate Yesu (S Yesudas) on the extraordinary leadership provided by him.  I also congratulate each member of the Vizeum team on the wise career choice made by them.”

     

    Explaining further on the mandate for Vizeum India, said S Yesudas, Managing Director “We do not have any dreams to be the largest or among the largest media specialists in terms of financial size.  But we really want to be known as a credible consultant who builds bridges of relevance with its clients”

     

    But finally it’s the clients word that is the final call on how a service provider like a media agency is doing. Here are views from three of these:

    Shivnath Thukral, Group President – Corporate Branding and Strategic Initiatives, Essar Group:  “Vizeum rides the highs and lows of my organization, understanding the circumstances under which we operate.  It is achieved through a complete understanding externally and internally. They think the way we think.  They enmesh themselves in the work we do. They help meet our aspirations”

     

    Vivek Krishnani, Head of Marketing, Distribution and Syndication, Fox Star Studios India: “Vizeum came to us with an approach to help make a difference to our business and they did just that!! In an industry where logic of share of voice  can be to outshout by increasing media spend and thereby being susceptible to wastage – With Vizeum’s help we have been able to optimize our spends and get more for less !! I admire their persuasiveness and the desire to do more which reinforces their partnership spirit and drive to achieve excellence!!”

     

    Aditya Swamy, EVP & Business Head, MTV India:  “Vizeum is an agency that focuses on finding a non traditional approach to a brief. Eager to show maximum bang for the buck, their recommendations are truly customized to meet the challenge at hand. Strategic partnerships, clutter breaking innovations and leveraging relationships have been some of their key strengths. I congratulate Yesu and his team  for completing 3 action packed years in India and look forward to working together in the future too”

     

    Rajesh Mani, GM- Marketing & Retail TI Cycles and BSA Motors  (Murugappa Group): “The decision to move to Vizeum was much deliberated upon at our end after they made their pitch which impressed us.  It is a two year old relationship now and the comfort with them has only grown.  Their team as well as the top leadership stay involved in our business as our own team gives us great comfort. We wish them the very best ”

     

  • Star India has ended its alliance with Ananda Bazar Patrika on the news channels Star News, Star Ananda and Star Majha

    Star India ends alliance with ABP on news channels

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s now official. Star India has ended its alliance with Ananda Bazar Patrika on the news channels Star News, Star Ananda and Star Majha Star India Pvt Ltd and ABP, the principal shareholders, have agreed to discontinue the Star brand affiliation with Media Content and Communications Pvt Ltd (MCCS). Going forward, Star wishes to focus on building their brand on their core business that is general entertainment, a communique signed by MCCS Chief Executive Officer Ashok Venkatramani said.

     

    “Given the current regulatory environment and structural issues ailing the Indian cable and satellite television market and the news genre in particular, Star took this extremely difficult decision to withdraw its brand from the genre,” a communique from Star India said.

     

    MCCS today announced that its popular Hindi news channel, STAR News, will soon be rechristened ABP News. Bengali news channel STAR Ananda becomes ABP Ananda and Marathi news channel STAR Majha will be called ABP Majha. The three 24-hour news channels are owned by MCCS , a joint venture between the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group and STAR India Pvt Ltd.

     

    MCCS has sustained its affiliation with Star brand for 8 years and both have benefitted from this association. The core business of the ABP is news and it wishes to promote and establish its own brands in the broadcast news space through its subsidiary company – MCCS, the communique added.

     

    The discontinuation will come in effect in phases from a period of two to four months and the partners will work together to ensure a smooth transition during this period.

     

  • MxM India commissioned leading media analysis firm Ormax Media to survey Hindi TV news viewers to find out how they have adapted to the change in name from Star News to ABP News.

    Viewers’ thumbs up to ABP News: MxMIndia – Ormax Media survey of News TV viewers

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s been a week since Hindi, Bengali and Marathi news channels, Star News, Star Ananda and Star Majha were rechristened ABP News, ABP Ananda and ABP Majha respectively. MxM India commissioned Ormax Media, leading consumer insights and consulting firm, to conduct a survey on news television viewers to elicit their response to the rechristening.

     

    And the findings are overwhelmingly in favour of ABP News: that people are aware of the change, 85 percent feel that the name change is inconsequential and 10 percent even find the new channel better than before! And most importantly viewers seem to be echoing the Star News line with 92 percent of those survey saying other than the name, nothing had changed in the channel.

     

    Clearly, the findings of the survey conducted by Ormax Media indicate that viewers in the chosen target group have adopted considerably well to the rebranding of Star News as ABP News. Commenting on the results, Shailesh Kapoor, CEO, Ormax Media said, “The high awareness for the brand name change is a significant achievement for ABP. They have managed to make a smooth transition. The results tell us that the consumers have taken the name change in their stride comfortably.”

     

    In an interview with MxM India when the name change was announced, MCCS CEO Mr Ashok Venkatramani had remarked that out of the three 24-hour channels set to be rebranded, the Marathi and Bengali channels, Majha and Ananda as suffixes are unique and have grown in popularity and acceptance but the same is not true for the Hindi channel where the suffix is ‘News’ which is a generic term.

     

    Ormax Media conducted the survey on a target audience of males in the age group, 24-44 years in SEC ABC, who are regular Hindi news viewers. With a sample size of 200 respondents, the survey was conducted in 14 markets: Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Kolhapur, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Indore, Gwalior, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly and Allahabad.

     

    The findings of the survey, categorized under ‘awareness’, ‘impact of name change’ and ‘any other changes’, are as below:

     

    AWARENESS

    As far as awareness of the change in name is concerned, of the 200 respondents, 83 percent viewers were aware that Star News had become ABP News

     

    IMPACT OF NAME CHANGE

    • When asked what the name change from Star to ABP means to them, for 85 percent of the respondents, the name change was inconsequential to their watching the channel
    • 10 percent of the respondents claimed that they will watch the channel more after the name change stating better logo and better presentation as primary reasons for the preference.

    Some responses from these 10 percent viewers are:

    • “Naya look achcha laga channel ka”
    • “Pehle se zyaada fresh lag raha hai”
    • “Mujhe channel ka naya logo bahut pasand aaya”
    • “Presentation ka tareeka kuchch alag sa laga mujhe achcha laga”
    • “Display achcha ho gaya hai”

     

    And just 5 percent of the respondents said that they will watch the channel less after the name change citing lack of credibility due to absence of the Star brand name as the main reason.

     

    Some responses from this group of 5 percent viewers are listed below:

    • “Star News bada naam hai, ABP kabhi suna nahin”
    • “Pehle ka naam achha lagta tha, abhi ka naam ajeeb sa hai”
    • “ABP mein woh attraction nahin hai jo Star mein tha”
    • “Jab Star News tha toh wahan news sabse pehle aati thi, ab pata nahin kya hoga”
    • “Pehle Star company ka channel tha, abhi lagta hai kisi politician ne le liya hai”


    ANY OTHER CHANGES?

    • When asked if the viewers had noticed any other change in the channel apart from the change in name, 92 percent of the respondents said that nothing else had changed in the channel besides the name.
    • Only 8 percent of the respondents believed that apart from the channel name, brand logo and presentation style had also changed.

     

  • I & B Minister lends a patient ear to industry stakeholders' issues with meeting the digitization sunset date of June 30 for Phase I; timelines to be discussed at the June 15 taskforce meet

    Decision on digitization deferred to June 15

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a closed door meeting between the Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials and industry stakeholders, I&B Minister Ms Ambika Soni is learnt to have given a patient hearing to the various concerns raised.

     

    With just 23 days to go from the notified sunset date of June 30 for Phase I of digitization of cable television, the industry stakeholders confessed to their lack of preparedness and shared individual concerns in great detail with the officials.

     

    MxMIndia has learned that the government made it clear that the purpose of the meeting was to take stock of the situation and not for an adjournment or a postponement. The government it seems wanted to hear the people who actually have to implement DAS.

     

    Sources tell MxMIndia that the Local Cable operators (LCOs) and the Multi System Operators (MSOs) complained about the lack of set-top boxes (STBs) and also informed the government officials that as of today only 20 percent installations (of STBs) have been completed. The LCOs also expressed disconcert with the prescribed revenue share and requested the government to revisit the matter. Broadcasters once again raised their concern over carriage fee. MxMIndia is told that all parties stated their respective concerns with none of them contradicting each other.

     

    While Ministry officials heard all the concerns voiced by industry representatives, there were no formal announcements made by the government on the timelines for digitization.

     

    The Ministry handed out forms to all parties present asking them to duly fill them out with details of the level of preparedness, issues and the time needed to achieve the task at hand. These will be studied by the Ministry and in the next task force meeting scheduled for June 15, there will be a comprehensive discussion on the timeline for Phase I.

     

    Sources tell MxMIndia that the industry was present in full attendance with all sections represented adequately. From the I & B Ministry, apart from the Minister, also present were, Uday Kumar Varma, Secretary, Rajiv Takru, Addl Secy and Supriya Sahu, Joint Secy (Broadband & Policy). Representing Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was Parameswaran N, Principal Advisor (Consumer Affairs/International relations/Broadcasting & Cable Services).

     

  • By Invitation: Mahesh Murthy on the Pinstorm list of the most influential Indian individuals and brands in the social media

    India’s Most Influential

     

    If you’ve been in the Indian media and are active on social networks, you just can’t ignore Mahesh Murthy (~5500 Facebook followers, ~18500 Twitter followers, 11600+ Linked-in connections!). On Saturday, he tweeted about the new Influencers rankings that his company Pinstorm produces, and the last time he did that, we noticed it was pretty well-received. However, we thought it would be a good idea to wait a bit and let the system get more robust. So when chanced upon his tweet on the Influencers 2.0, we checked out the list and invited him to write this piece for MxMIndia readers. And slipped in a request to send it the next day. That would be an impossible suggestion for most people, but we knew that Mr Murthy can will deliver. The Pinstorm founder and Seedfund managing partner is online nearly 24×7. Plus he understands the needs of our site and the profile of our readers: he has had first-hand experience of working with brands – now at Pinstorm and earlier with Ogilvy, Grey etc in advertising. He headed Channel [V] for a bit in the mid-1990s and a slew of media/onlne properties his companies PassionFund and now Seedfund have backed, including afaqs.com. – Ed

     

    By Mahesh Murthy

     

    Imagine you were a brand that bought a spot on Satyamev Jayate, or on one of the many IPL matches that we just got done with. Depending on the deal you struck, your placement must have cost you between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for every 10 seconds of airtime. Not counting the Rs 1 crore or so it must have cost you to produce the ad and pay the agency.

     

    Now both these programs got TRPs of around 3. That means around 3 per cent of India’s 121 million cable and satellite homes had tuned in. That’s 3.6 million households.

     

    Now imagine you were interested in the youth audience – and let’s keep it broad – say anywhere between 14 and 30 years of age. That would be about 1 such person per household – or 3.6 million people. And now let’s imagine you were interested in SEC A/B and not so much in C/D/E. So you have to cut that 3.6 million youth down to around 1 million at the most, that is if you’re feeling generous

     

    So it cost you around 500,000 or more rupees to reach 10,00,000 upscale youth once, for 10 seconds. On the programmes with the greatest reach in India. Most other TV programmes will have a fraction of this reach – where you’d be lucky to get 100,000 upscale youth watching your ad.

     

    Youth online

    Now let’s turn our attention to an entirely different medium. Let’s say that for some reason, Farhan Akhtar mentions your brand on a tweet. Or on his Facebook fan page. Or on a blog. Guess what your direct reach would be? About 10,00,000 people – mostly all upscale youth. Now let’s say just 1 per cent  of those re-tweet it. That’s 10,000 people. And if each of those re-tweeters has an average of around 150 followers, it’s now gone out to another 15,00,000 people. Even adjusting for duplication, that’s a total reach of 20,00,000 or more people. That’s more youth than the biggest TV shows in India can get you to.

     

    Now imagine that all of it is for free. Or, at best, for a teeny-tiny budget.

     

    And now imagine other people also talk of you online.

     

    Shashi Tharoor, our parliamentarian from Kerala directly reaches 13,00,000 people. Amitabh Bachchan reaches twice as many. Keeping showbiz aside, Yuvraj and Dhoni both directly reach more than Shashi Tharoor does. And the Dalai Lama, from his remote outpost in Dharamsala, directly reaches out to an amazing 44,00,000 people. The Delhi and Mumbai editions of The Times of India together don’t do that.

     

    But it’s not all celebs. Kiran Bedi reaches 4 lakh people online – mostly SEC A/B folks. That’s more than any show on MTV can get you across to. My friends Mehul Patel and Vishal of Pentagram can each get you to over a lakh people apiece, directly. More than any English business programme can.

     

    A section of the Pinstorm India Influencers 2.0 rankings of resident Indians (Please click to be taken to the live page)

    Mankind is the medium

    In this digital world, people don’t necessarily get their news and information from websites or TV channels. They get it increasingly from other people. The new medium isn’t digital: it’s you and me – and the places we talk.

     

    Facebook has 50 million Indians on it. That’s more people than watch Star Plus in the country. And 7 million of those are on Tata Docomo’s Facebook page. Approximately 7 times the monthly reach of MTV’s TV channel. So who needs who – does Docomo need MTV? Or is it the other way round?

     

    Once a Shahrukh Khan needed Filmfare and its circulation of 25,000. Today @iamSRK has a circulation of 25 lakh and a reach of twice as many. One would imagine a single tweet from him could double Filmfare’s newsstand sales if he chose to be gracious.

     

    Potential influence, not just reach

    But the power of different people on social media isn’t just that of their Facebook fan base or Twitter followers. That would be as silly as saying Doordarshan has a reach of 135 million just because every set in India can receive it.

     

    Social influence is measured based on many factors. How often do you talk – is it the notoriously taciturn @Aamir_Khan who has tweeted all of 90 times in the last few years? Or is it the motormouth @Agnivo who has tweeted over 2 lakh times in the same period?

     

    How often are your tweets forwarded or re-tweeted? What is the reach of those re-tweets? How often do people act on your tweets by replying to you – and how often do you engage back in conversation?

     

    All of these are factors that go into measuring one’s potential to influence online.

     

    The Pinstorm India Influencer Rank

    At Pinstorm we track the online influence of almost 5,000 Indian people and brands every day.

     

    We first created this list of social media mavens -and we add to it every month. Then we use scores from three different international measurement services – Klout, PeerIndex and Kred which look at an entity’s strength on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora and blogs – and then apply our own algorithm to these scores to arrive at a consolidated score and rank.

     

    Our scores are graduated out of 100 – and you can see them live at Pinstorm.com/ii. As at the time of writing this – and things can change every single day, Aamir Khan leads the individual influencer rankings with an II score of over 80 out of a possible 100. The only other entity with a similar 80+ score is NDTV, who heads our influencer rankings on the organisational or brand side.

     

    As you can imagine, Bollywood and sports personalities dominate the individual rankings, with 15 of the Top 20 individual rankings. The five exceptions being Rajdeep Sardesai, Shashi Tharoor, The Dalai Lama, Kiran Bedi and ex-adman and now comic tweeter Ramesh Srivats.

     

    Surprisingly, media properties don’t quite dominate the brand influence rankings, with just 8 of the top 20 positions. But cricket leads with 10 of the top 20: with CricInfo, CricketNext, IPL and 7 IPL teams holding top ranks.

     

    The best-ranked consumer brand in online influence terms is Samsung, followed by IndiaGames, Ixigo, Vodafone, Flipkart, Airtel and HCL.

     

    A section of the Pinstorm India Influencers 2.0 rankings of Indian brands (Please click to be taken to the live page)

    The purpose of maintaining these lists wasn’t just so social celebs could boast of their rankings to each other.

     

    Truth is that the vast majority of the 5,000 people we track aren’t celebs in the traditional media world. Perhaps you’ve not heard much of Madhavan Narayanan, Malini Agarwal, A R Karthick, Jaydip Parikh, Rahul Banker, Kaveri Ahuja or Sundar Raman. These people (and, I must somewhat embarrassingly add, myself too) appear in the Top 75 influencer list for India. With online influence scores greater than that for Viveik Oberoi, Shabana Azmi or the online avatars of The Economic Times, MTV or Star Plus.

     

    In India’s online world where there are more people on the net than there are TV sets – and where more people already access the net from their mobile phones than do from their desktops and laptops – where would you put your marketing rupees?

     

    At Pinstorm we suggest to marketers that a well-thought-through group of online evangelists, people who are interested in your product category and have credibility – should be lovingly tended and cared for. New announcements and launches should be shown to them first – because if they like what they see, they might talk about it online.

     

    And that combination of reach and credibility could do you a lot more good at lot less than a Rs 1 crore TV commercial shown repeatedly for Rs 10 lakh every 10 seconds.

     

    The Pinstorm India Influencer List is live and visible online at http://www.pinstorm.com/ii  We maintain lists across brands, residents of India, Indian non-residents and politicians. Mahesh Murthy is the founder of Pinstorm, India’s leading digital-first brand management firm.

     

  • With this, Airtel mobile customers acrossIndiacan enjoy exclusive access to mobile and video content of soccer matches during UEFA Euro 2012

    Airtel bags exclusive video rights on mobile platform for UEFA Euro 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bharti Airtel recently announced that it has bagged exclusive video rights on the mobile platform for the biggest soccer extravaganza of the year, UEFA Euro 2012. With this, 183 million plus Airtel mobile customers acrossIndiawill have exclusive access to mobile and video content from UEFA Euro 2012 and choose from a wide range of services such as Go! Go! Go! Contest, live feeds, SMS or MMS score updates, games, mobile magazine and so on.

     

    The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship or UEFA Euro 2012 will be held from June 8 to July 1, 2012. Europe’s top 16 soccer teams (including Germany, England and Portugal) will be fighting for the Euro 2012 winner’s title during 19 power-packed matches that will span across 21 days.

     

    The exclusive video rights for UEFA Euro 2012 continues to reinforce Airtel’s long term commitment to soccer and other sports that appeal to discerning urban youth audience.