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Category: NEWS

  • Media insights firm Ormax Media releases findings of its bi-annual study conducted across 1,800 kids in the 6-14 years age group in eight Indian cities

    Chhota Bheem, Salman Khan and Harry Potter most popular among kids: Ormax study

    By A Correspondent

     

    Chhota Bheem continues to be the most popular television character amongst kids as Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif emerge as the most popular film stars, while Harry Potter emerges as the strongest Hollywood franchise. These are part of the findings of the latest edition of Ormax Small Wonders, a nationwide kids track conducted by media insights firm Ormax Media.

     

    Ormax Small Wonders is a bi-annual study conducted across 1,800 kids in the 6-14 years age group across eight cities in India. The study tracks kiddie preferences across 20 different categories. The categories cover various media and entertainment options such as television (characters – kids and GEC), films (film stars – national and regional, film franchises), sports, merchandizing, play items, restaurants and eating outlets, books, websites and ads.

     

    Shailesh Kapoor

    Speaking about Ormax Small Wonders, Shailesh Kapoor, CEO – Ormax Media, said: “The study is now in its fourth year, and has become a benchmark for tracking kids preferences for any brand that’s targeting children. In the latest track, we have covered additional parameters like merchandize consumption and favourite ads amongst kids.”

     

    According to the findings, while Chhota Bheem is the favourite character, Ben 10 bags are the most popular merchandize item amongst kids. Chocolates and aerated drinks emerge as popular ad categories, with Dairy Milk ads being kids’ most favourite.

     

    Ormax Small Wonders is a syndicated report available for subscription to brands across FMCG, media and other categories targeting kids.

     

  • MEC India appoints Ajit Gurnani as Head – West

    Mindshare’s Ajit Gurnani to head west @ MEC India

    MEC India has announced the appointment of Ajit Gurnani as Head of MEC West. He was earlier with MindShare as Principal Partner – Client Leadership on the Aditya Birla Group AOR. Mr Gurnani will report to T Gangadhar, Managing   Director, MEC India.

     

    Speaking about the appointment, Mr Gangadhar, said, “Mumbai is our biggest office by far and I am    pleased that we have found a quality leader like Ajit to head our operations here. Given his rich vein of experience, I have no doubt that Ajit will make valuable contributions – to clients and staff alike”.

     

    A postgraduate from the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, Mr Gurnani has over 16 years of experience in the field of media and marketing. He was part of the Internet task force at HTA and was involved with the exciting early years of the Internet in India. His Internet experience continued with stints at www.jagran.com and Starcom Digital where he was an Internet business solution specialist. His brand management and marketing exposure has been with Marico as Brand Manager and as Head – Marketing with IFFCO, the UAE-based food giant.

     

    About his appointment, Mr Gurnani said “I look forward to working with the passionate team and with MEC’s “active engagement” philosophy, and help create business building work that wins accolades and recognition. The attempt will be to have my feet on the ground, but leap for the stars!”

     

  • The initiative aims to create awareness about issues related to the girl child in India. Priyanka Chopra named Campaign Ambassador for 'Our Girls Our Pride'

    NDTV and Vedanta announce launch of ‘Our Girls Our Pride’

    By A Correspondent

     

    NDTV and Vedanta have launch the ‘NDTV Vedanta Our Girls Our Pride’ national movement to create awareness about issues related to the girl child. The key issues that the campaign will focus on are Nutrition, Education, Health, Foeticide and Infanticide.

     

    Priyanka Chopra was named the brand ambassador for the campaign. To launch the initiative, Priyanka joined Dr Prannoy Roy, Co-chairperson, NDTV and Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta in New Delhi. Also present at the launch were Dr A L Sharada, Programme Director, Population First, Neelam Singh, NGO Vatsalya, UP, Deepak Kalra, Chairperson for Child Rights Protection Committee in Rajasthan amongst many others.

     

    Addressing the gathering via a live-link, Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath said, “We should respect women in our society because both men and women are equal partners to bring out our society forward. According to our Constitution, we have equal rights, so we enjoy equal rights as men and women.”

     

  • A team of Lodestar UM team wins Young Spikes Media Competition 2013, India

    Lodestar team wins Young Spikes Media Competition

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) declared that the team of Lokita Rathod and Vivek Salunke of Lodestar UM, Mumbai, was winner of Young Spikes Media Competition 2013, India.

     

    This competition was organised by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), and supported by The Times of India group to encourage young advertising professionals in the country and providing them with an opportunity for international exposure. This year the theme for the competition was “VOTE for a strong INDIA”.

     

    The winning team will  participate in the Spikes Asia’s Media Competition to be held in Singapore next month. This would be an all-expense-paid trip.

     

    The two-phased judging was with participation of senior industry members. Jury members for the final phase of judging were : Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, CVL Srinivas, Chief Executive Officer – South Asia, GroupM; Jasmin Sohrabji, CEO – SouthEast Asia and Nandan Srinath, Director, Times group.

     

  • The Hollywood movie channel to get on aggro mode with the former marketing head of Star India's Hindi movie channels and earlier English channels joining yesterday (Aug 19)

    Neville Bastawalla joins ex-boss Saurabh Yagnik at Pix

    For Neville Bastawalla, the Saal Mubarak greeting on Parsi New Year day on Sunday had a special meaning. The following day was his first at Multi Screen Media as Marketing Head for Sony Pix.

     

    A marketing professional with over 14 years of multi-brand experience, Mr Bastawalla’s previous stint was with Star India where he joined in January 2011 as Marketing Head for its English channels and was most recently Head – Marketing for Star’s Hindi movies channels since February 2013.

     

    Saurabh Yagnik

    Announcing the appointment, Saurabh Yagnik, Executive Vice-President and Business Head – Sony Pix who was not too long ago Business Head of the English channels at Star India (and hence Mr Bastawalla reported to him there), said, “We are delighted to have Neville join the team and we are certain that his experience and understanding of the business and our audience will help us consolidate our position in the genre. We look forward to a long and fruitful working association with him.”

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Mr Bastawalla said, “I am delighted to begin my association with Sony Pix.  The channel has always uniquely positioned itself in the English movie genre, with a strong content library and innovative campaigns for its premieres and other properties.”

     

    Prior to joining Star, he was Head of Marketing at Mid-Day Infomedia where he spent about four years after a stint with Nickelodeon as Senior Marketing Manager. A management graduate in marketing, Mr Bastawalla has previously done stints with HSBC, Walt Disney Company, Contract Advertising and Mudra Communications.

     

  • The GEC goes FTA in UK from September 2

    Colors goes free to air in the UK

    By A Correspondent

     

    General entertainment channel Colors will be available free in the UK from September 2. With this move, the flagship channel of the Viacom18 group, which is distributed by IndiaCast (a TV18 and Viacom18 jv), will not be available as a part of the Viewasia bouquet and will be available to all Sky Digital Viewers as well as being available on Virgin Media’s cable platform, growing the channel’s reach exponentially, adds a communique .

     

    Raj Nayak

    Said Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors in a statement: “UK has a captive fan base for Hindi general entertainment, and we are elated to offer two of our leading brands, Colors and Rishtey, to our viewers here. With this move, we will be reaching out to a much wider audience base giving them an enriching viewing experience of our top class fiction and non-fiction programming”.

     

     

     

    Anuj Gandhi

    Anuj Gandhi, Group CEO, IndiaCast added: “UK continues to be one of our most important markets – where in the past we have challenged the status quo with the launch and success of Rishtey and now with Colors going free to air, we are making our next big move towards leadership

     

     

    Said Gaurav Gandhi, Group COO, IndiaCast: “Our business in the UK has grown tremendously and we have launched three brands (Rishtey, COLORS and News18 India) in three years in the region. Over the last 12 months, we have had phenomenal success with Rishtey that has made us the strongest challenger in the market. With Colors going free to air, we will neutralize the undue distribution advantage that  some of the other South Asian channels have enjoyed in the market, making it a level playing field and we are confident  of  being the leading south Asian network in the UK in the near future”.

     

  • The Mobile Value Added Service (MVAS) market is expected to reach Rs 29,300 crore by the end of 2013 registering a Y-o-Y growth of 15 percent, according to the latest IAMAI-IMRB report

    Mobile VAS Market To Reach Rs 29,300 cr by end-2013

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Mobile Value Added Service (MVAS) market is expected to reach Rs 29,300 crore by the end of 2013, from Rs 26,000 crore in 2012, registering a Y-o-Y growth of 15 percent, according to the latest IAMAI-IMRB report on MVAS in India, released on Tuesday (Aug 20). The impressive growth rate can be attributed to the rising adoption of mobile internet in India, notes an IAMAI communiqué.

     

     

    According to the report, MVAS for the enterprise market is estimated to grow by 25 percent to reach Rs 600 crore by the end of FY2013. Further, the report finds that the enterprise market is expected to grow by 30 percent in FY 2014 to reach Rs 780 crore.

     

     

    According to the report, falling prices of handset, device capabilities and cheaper data accessibility are the primary drivers for the growth of enterprise MVAS market.

     

    The major categories of the MVAS services in the Enterprise segment are CRM (Customer Relationship Management Solutions); Corporate Communications; Cloud based Services and Web Conferencing.

     

     

    The report further finds that a Special Category: BYOD (Bring your own Device) has emerged in the market in recent times. It is estimated that there will be an Rs 100-INR 150 per device per month opportunity for an enterprise that is moving towards BYOD. However, this solution will bring in the required synergies only when the scale of the enterprise is more than 1000 employees.

     

  • Viacom 18 ties up with Amagi for micro-targeting TVCs via DART, HUL to run different TV ads on Nickelodeon for various regions

    HUL to run region-specific ads on Nickelodeon as Viacom18 ties up with Amagi for micro-targeting

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 and Amagi Media have announced an alliance to increase advertising effectiveness on television using the latter’s technological prowess.

     

    Using Amagi’s DART technology platform, Viacom18 will enable Hindustan Unilever to simultaneously run different television advertisements in different regions on Nickelodeon. This innovation will allow HUL to micro-target its communication in each region. Amagi calls this “creative-versioning” where different television creative in terms of product variant or a different creative rendition of the same advertiser is played in different regions on the same channel simultaneously. Creative versioning addresses critical needs of both broadcasters and advertisers seeking to optimize their Return on Investment (ROI) from the television spot. Given the TRAI’s recent 12 minute ruling on advertising, broadcasters and advertisers have been seeking ways to optimize their Return on Investment and stretch the time within the limited inventory.

     

    Sudhanshu Vats
    Srinivasan K.A

    Said Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom 18: “As a leading broadcaster, Viacom 18 has been pioneering several innovations and has been at the forefront of providing newer platforms for improved customer deliveries. This initiative further builds on our strategic thrust of sharper segmentation. We are pleased to partner with Amagi and Hindustan Unilever on this unique concept of micro-targeting.”

     

    Srinivasan K.A, Co-Founder, Amagi Media added: “We are happy that we have been chosen as the partner to enable this innovation. This is the first time worldwide in television advertising that a single spot bought nationally has been used to communicate different brand messages in different regions. Such micro-targeting is going to be the future of television advertising.”

     

  • Laqshya's Hyderabad team executes campaign to project Neeru's as Hyderabad's premier traditional clothing brand

    Laqshya integrates Neeru’s Emporio glamour to Hyderabad airport

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has turned stylish with the Neeru’s Emporio campaign executed by outdoor major Laqshya. The concept has used is a mix of brand advertising and sensory marketing.

     

    Flyers at the Hyderabad airport are now being treated to ingenious advertising highlighting the three best features of Hyderabad – biryani, Nizams and Neeru’s. Real have been showcased on mannequins placed at the centre of the baggage conveyor belt. A clothing display has also been placed in the shopping centre of the airport.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Avnish Kumar, Director, Neeru’s Emporio said, “We are delighted that Laqshya could exactly execute the idea to create a highly engaging brand interaction at Hyderabad Airport.” Elaborating on the thought behind the campaign for Neeru’s, Shashi Sinha, Senior Vice President, Revenue (Media Assets and Airports) at Laqshya, said: “The Neeru’s Emporio campaign blends brand advertising with suitable product placement. Besides enhancing brand value it also makes Neeru’s an aspirational brand for elite consumers. The airport is an ideal location to create this kind of brand immersion. Retailers will surely find the airport to be a fertile ground for sourcing customers.”

     

  • Micromax, Karbonn, Apple occupy next 3 slots as handset revenue grows 14.7 percent to touch Rs 35,946 Cr in FY13

    Samsung replaces Nokia as #1 cellphone in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Indian mobile handset market posted revenues of Rs 35,946 crore in FY 13 compared to Rs 31,330 crore in FY12 showing a growth of 14.7%. This was mainly due to the increasing uptake in smartphones by the Indian consumers.

     

    The 18th annual survey ‘V&D 100’ by Voice&Data magazine covered over 30 mobile handset companies doing business in India across categories like feature phones, multimedia phones, enterprise phones and smartphones. Both multinational and Indian mobile phone firms were surveyed for this report.

     

    The biggest surprise of the year was Korean electronics maker Samsung dethroned Nokia from the top position. The Finnish handset maker had been holding the fort for over a decade.

     

    Samsung’s rise in the Indian market is attributed to its rich product portfolio that was able to cater to customers of all budget categories. Samsung handset prices range from Rs 1,500 to Rs 50,000. Samsung mobile handsets come in varied screen sizes. These two factors helped the company grabbing customer’s attention, besides the product quality and new features.

     

    Samsung ended the year with revenues of Rs 11,328 crore compared to Rs 7,891 crore in FY12 showing a growth of 43.6%. The company also became the market leader with 31.5% market share.

     

    The former leader of the Indian mobile phone market Nokia dropped a rank to be placed at No 2 in the Voice&Data survey with 27.2% market share with a significant 18% drop in revenue.

     

    In the 12 months ended March 2013, Nokia revenues from Indian operations were placed at Rs 9,780 crore compared to Rs 11,925 crore in FY12. The revenue loss at Nokia has been staring at Nokia worldwide in view of a few strategic missteps. Nokia’s drop in market share started when the company failed to sense the need of a dual-SIM phone for the Indian consumer, and the same was tapped by the Indian players years ahead of global players like Nokia.

     

    On a global ground, not embracing the most popular and most accepted operating system – android – for its Smartphones, gives its potential customers very little choice.

     

    Nokia’s Lumia series phones that witnessed huge growth globally in the initial phases could not draw much attention in India.

     

    “The rise of smaller local players like Micromax, Karbon, Lava, and Zen is a clear indication that consumers want cheaper feature rich phones. The next phase of mobile penetration in the bottom of the pyramid India will be driven by these companies,” says Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor of Voice&Data.

     

    Homegrown handset company Micromax captured #3 position among V&D100 Top10 mobile handset brands for the year 2013. Though it performed pretty badly in FY12 and the first quarter of FY13, through some smart thinking and innovative products, the Gurgaon-headquartered phone maker grew by 58.6%. By the end of the last fiscal, the company posted revenues of Rs 3,138 crore compared to Rs 1,978 crore in FY12. With this Micromax enjoys a market share of 8.7%.

     

    Closing in next is Karbonn Mobiles, the company among the Indian handset players that grew most consistently. In FY13, Karbonn grew by 73.1% to register revenues of Rs 2,297 crore compared to Rs 1,327 crore in FY12. IN FY 2013 Karbonn grew by 32%.

     

    With thism the Bengaluru-based UTL Group and Delhi based Jaina Group Joint-Venture Company, Karbonn captured a market share of 6.4% and is placed at #4 position in the table. Last year they were placed at #5.

     

    Also making an entry into the Voice&Data Top10 table in the handset space is Apple that grew a mammoth 417.2% to post revenues of Rs 1,293 crore in FY13 compared to Rs 250 crore a year back. Though India was never a focus market for the Cupertino-based smart device maker till Steve Jobs’ era, in the last two years Apple has started making inroads, though slowly.

     

    In the last fiscal, the company made some disruptive changes in its sales strategy which paid off. Appointing Ingram Micro and Redington as the national distributors for their entire sales, and offering EMI schemes to the consumers to buy the most coveted Apple product changed the game for them. The company now enjoys 3.6% market share in India with the smallest number of handset models in its portfolio.

     

  • The News Broadcasters Association has welcomed the recent statement of I&B minister Manish Tewari that news channels must get an extension on the 12-minute ad cap till the final phase of digitization is complete.

    NBA welcomes Manish Tewari statement on 12-min ad cap

    Manish Tewari

    The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has welcomed the recent statements of Manish Tewari, Minister for Information & Broadcasting, that news channels must get an extension on the 12-minute ad cap, “at least till the final phase of digitization is complete”.

     

    An NBA statement from Secretary General Annie Joseph  said that “it is happy that it has been understood that the industry is in a dire financial condition, like many other sectors of the Indian economy, with ad revenues being slow, carriage fees continuing to be burdensome and credible subscription revenues being out of sight”. “In a such a severe economic scenario in the country and on the ground, a forced curb on advertising will have a catastrophic impact on revenues of news broadcasters forcing many to take drastic steps that would have an unavoidable, adverse impact on quality of service and jobs. It is estimated that if the ad cap were indeed implemented at this stage, the revenue loss across news channels would be in excess of Rs 500 cr, forcing cuts of at least that amount in costs, if channels have to survive. The NBA respectfully agrees with the Minister for I&B that the 12 minutes cap on advertisements per clock hour be kept in abeyance and such restrictions “kick in only when the benefits of digitization are apparent so that broadcasting companies can make good their advertising losses with subscription fee”. NBA also urges that the burdensome and crippling nature of carriage fees which have no business to exist in a truly digitized environment is also addressed urgently.”

     

    NBA has requested the MIB and TRAI to come out with a final notification keeping the ad cap for news channels in abeyance as above, in the next 10 days as any delays beyond that will have an irreparable impact on the industry.

     

  • Sales growth of more than a dozen key consumer goods categories in the June quarter was lower than both the previous quarter and the year-earlier period

    FMCG majors feel the pinch as consumers cut spending

    By Sagar Malviya

     

    It’s official: rising prices and slowing growth are making Indians check their household shopping list from soaps, shampoos and skincare to packaged groceries and food items.

     

    Market researcher Nielsen’ data shows that sales growth of more than a dozen key consumer goods categories in the June quarter was lower than both the previous quarter and the year-earlier period, more than one industry insider said.

     

    Overall FMCG sales grew 11% in value terms in the June quarter, down from 12% in March and 17% in June last year, they said, quoting Nielsen data. Consumer goods companies confirmed the slowdown in demand. “The overall FMCG sector is seeing a slowdown in the last few quarters from double-digit growth few quarters ago to around 2% volume growth now,” Harsh Mariwala, chairman at Marico, said.

     

    Combined sales of companies including Hindustan Unilever, Dabur, Godrej Consumers, Emami, Marico, GSK Consumer, Nestle India, ITC and Colgate India grew 13% during the quarter ended June, down from 15% a year earlier and 22% in June quarter 2011. Mr Mariwala expressed hope that good monsoon rains and a boost in manufacturing will check the slide.

     

    “With a good monsoon and boost in manufacturing sector, we don’t expect demand to deteriorate further,” he said. With the rupee on free fall, however, not all share Mr Mariwala’s optimism. Analysts say the Indian consumer industry fundamentals are deteriorating and the tailwinds that supported the sector during the last couple of years are waning.

     

    “With sharp rupee depreciation and essential commodities like crude and palm oil firming up, the headroom for gross margin improvement looks a lot smaller in second half than in the first half of this fiscal year,” a JP Morgan report dated August 19 said.

     

    According to data, growth in overall non-food segment slowed to 13% in the year ended June from 15% in the year ended March. The biggest fall was in the male grooming segment where sales growth almost halved to 6% in June from 11% in March.

     

    Nitin Paranjpe

    Nitin Paranjpe, CEO of the country’s largest FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever, while declaring the company’s June quarter numbers last month had said, “There is a general slowdown across categories. We are witnessing a significant slowdown from early 2013 to the middle of 2013.” To overcome the slowdown in demand, companies are looking to increase or at least maintain their margins.

     

    “For the first time, we are offering incentives to our sales force to sell higher margin products and have constructed three buckets – gold for high margin, silver for medium margins and bronze are lower margin,” Sunil Duggal, CEO of Dabur, said. Salespeople get more money if they sell gold products.

     

    Companies with mass-market portfolios hope that consumers will continue to buy staples, even as they check spends on discretionary or premium products.

     

    Vivek Gambhir, managing director of Godrej Consumer Products, for example, said a lot of the growth slowdown has been at the premium end, and hence his company has been insulated by overall slowdown thus far.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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