MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • Milestone Brandcom creates mesmerizing presence forSwitzerlandtourism across Mumbai

    Switzerland Tourism builds extended recall in Mumbai yet again

    By A Correspondent

     

    Milestone Brandcom, a leading, and fastest growing, integrated OOH brand communications agency inIndia, has executed a surreal campaign for Switzerland Tourism.

     

    This campaign was an extension of their last campaign – “We do whatever it takes to make your holidays perfect”. The core communication objective of the campaign was to fascinate and intrigue people with vibrant images of some the geographical diversity that can be found withinSwitzerland. The campaign tag line was “ExploreSwitzerland”.

     

    The main focus of the campaign was to showcase the different destinations inSwitzerlandalong with very special offers from tour operator partners in India Switzerland, the playground of Europe, has been the dream destination for tourists for decades. Extending across the north and south side of theAlps, it encompasses a great diversity of landscapes – shimmering glaciers, snowcapped mountains, lush meadows and beautiful villages. The climate inSwitzerlandis moderate, with no excessive heat, cold or humidity.

     

    A media plan encompassing 170 media touch points spread well across a selection of formats covering high traffic & footfalls along arterial roads. There was an assorted mix of media touch points such as Billboards, Backlit Bus Shelters, Backlit Pole Kiosks, Large format Mall Facades.

     

    As part of the campaign, to further deliver the desired impact, an exceptional innovation – of a cable car going skywards to & fro from the famousMt.Titlisthat stands tall at 10,000 Feet – was executed on a 30×20 billboard at a prime location at Worli Naka. The innovation was striking and strategically placed at one of the high traffic count traffic signals in Mumbai. It was visible to almost all vehicular & pedestrian traffic moving fromSouth Mumbaito Central and suburban areas of Mumbai.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Imtiyaz Vilatra, Founder Member & Managing Partner, Milestone Brandcom said: “The objective was to bring to light the mesmerizing diversity of landscapesSwitzerlandhas to offer. The campaign aims at targeting the upper middle class who more often than not, invest in a good vacation, the company has come up with various attractive welcoming offers to explore the immaculate beauty thatSwitzerlandhas to offer. The mesmerizing dream-like locations & attractive rates offered by the company, combined with the right media mix along key arterial routes helped in targeting the right audiences.”

     

    “Top of the mind recall & clutter breaking innovations are what separate an ordinary advertising & marketing campaign from a successful one. The objective was to utilize the OOH space effectively and build presence and reach along key arterial junctions & traffic points in order to reach the right TG. The campaign, executed by team Milestone, left no arterial route or media without our brand presence. I believe the work done on OOH in Mumbai was a critical success factor. Milestone Brandcom has delivered an excellent campaign right from planning to execution,” said Ritu Sharma, Interim Director, Switzerland Tourism.

     

    Milestone Brandcom is the fastest growing Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising & media company with operations in 42 cities acrossIndiaproviding services in over 1000 towns. The company offers through the line advertising solutions for brands nationally across multiple OOH media touch points. With a turnover of 220 crore in 2 years of operations, Milestone Brandcom is already amongst the top 3 OOH brand communication service providers inIndia.

     

  • Channels which operate without a robust management team, a unique market position, and a defined target audience, won’t be able to garner sustained and loyal viewership feels Ashish Pherwani

    Analysis: Ashish Pherwani on when it’s right for a channel to pull the plug

    By Ashish Pherwani

     

    Rule of three

    The media business is largely governed by the ‘rule of three’ i.e. companies which are the top three or four players in a genre, or geography, tend to be profitable, while the rest tend to make losses in the long run.

     

    Accordingly, when a TV channel is unable to make it to the top of its segment for a long period of time, chances are it would have been hemorrhaging money for its owners, and that situation cannot last indefinitely.  Eventually, investors will pull the plug.

     

    Expensive programs as drivers

    TV channels which garner a majority of their viewership from reality TV shows and expensive films, and not from lower cost fiction programs, are also susceptible to being shut down in the medium to long term.

     

    Most large channels do not recover their direct variable reality content production and distribution costs through advertisements alone, but use such expensive programs as drivers to build channel loyalty and viewership for lower-cost fiction programs.  If this strategy does not work, and fiction shows continue to under-perform on a TV channel, the chances of broadcasters continuing the channel are remote even in the medium term.

     

    ‘Overhauls’ and ‘Makeovers’

    Over the last decade or so, most unsuccessful channels which have tried ‘overhauls’ and ‘makeovers’ that have failed to achieve their objectives within six to eight months, have eventually shut down their operations.  There are a few exceptions where channels are politically motivated, treated as marketing tools for large business houses, or those who believe they could build channel valuations for a profitable exit, but such companies are few and far between, and the recession of 2009 and the slowdown in 2011-12 have weeded out most of these.

     

    Foreign investors prefer less risky ventures

    In the case of foreign broadcasters enteringIndia, those with deep pockets and who believe in theIndiastory, which I certainly believe in, too, tend to stay invested inIndia.  But some foreign broadcasters prefer a less risky approach than creation of high-cost content.

     

    They prefer to exploit their existing global content library inIndia. Accordingly, more cautious and risk-averse foreign investors wouldn’t continue to fund under-performing TV channels indefinitely, and would rather take the less risky route.

     

    Viewership, the only asset

    To conclude, the only asset a channel has is viewership.  Channels which operate without a robust management team, a unique market position, and a defined target audience, won’t be able to garner sustained and loyal viewership.

     

    If channel management is able to make these three aspects fit seamlessly together, chances are the channel will succeed as a business, else, it would make business sense to pull the plug!

     

    Ashish Pherwani is Associate Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young Private Limited

     

  • Turner remains fully committed to future investments and long-term participation in Indiaand will continue to explore expansion opportunities in this key priority market for Turner, Mr Jain added

    This is a carefully considered business decision: Siddharth Jain

    It wasn’t an easy day at office for Siddharth Jain, Managing Director- South Asia at Turner International India Private Limited. Mr Jain, who had assumed his current role in November last year, took time off to respond to MxMIndia’s questions in an emailed interaction.

     

    What exactly happened… there were promos running for forthcoming shows and then this announcement of pulling down curtains?

    This is a carefully considered business decision based on performance of the channel. We invested substantially and put all possible resources behind Imagine TV throughout. As in any other business, the investments were directly linked to reaching a certain performance benchmark. However, in the two years, Imagine did not grow or perform as per expectations and as a result, Turner made the carefully-considered decision to cease operations of the channel.

     

    Did you consider selling the channel (a la 9X)?

    We worked incredibly hard to exhaust all options to avoid cessation of business operations.

     

    This is the second GEC from the Turner stable that has failed. But your other channels are doing well, with Pogo hitting an all-time high recently. Will Turner try its hand at another GEC or is it quits for now?

    Absolutely. Turner remains fully committed to future investments and long-term participation in India. Having been pioneers in the Indian M&E space in international news and kids’ entertainment, Turner currently operates some of the strongest media brands in India. POGO is indeed doing very well, being the Number one channel in the kids’ TV genre for the last six months (as per TAM). Turner will continue to be leaders in the media and entertainment industry and to explore expansion opportunities in this key priority market for Turner.

     

    What happens to the team and staff of Imagine? Anyone being retained or moved to other businesses?

    Turner will retain some employees for a transition period and some others are being offered permanent roles within other Turner channels to fill current vacancies.

     

    For the other Imagine employees getting impacted, Turner has set up an HR outplacement service which will provide advice on how to write a better CV, interviewing techniques and other job hunting skills. We will also introduce the employees to recruitment consultants, HR professionals from other media organizations and facilitate their new job search. Our focus is to ensure the closure is executed in a fair and appropriate manner for all of them and in full compliance with all legal requirements, employment terms and company policies. We will use our best endeavours to make this as smooth a transition as possible for them.

     

    The integration exercise that Turner carried out in May 2011 didn’t seem go down well with a few key personnel exiting the company eventually. In hindsight, was that what triggered the channel’s downfall?

    The two are not related in any way. Integration really helped in getting better operational efficiencies between Imagine and our other networks. While exits happened in the last one year, if you look across the industry it is in the normal course of any GEC. There is not one person or one department that was responsible but a number of factors that led to the channel not delivering consistent ratings that were required to sustain the business and continued investment.

     

    Why wasn’t there a suitable replacement to Sameer Nair post his exit?

    We are not in a position to comment on Mr Nair.

     

    Are there any plans for your library of programming? And what happens to the programmes signed up?

    As of today, we cease all business operations of Imagine TV. The closure is a complicated process as we are ensuring fulfillment of all our business commitments to advertisers, distributors, production houses and other partners.

     

    As you look back, do you think it was an unwise decision to buy Imagine from NDTV? And would it have been better for you to have launched an all-new channel so that it doesn’t come with the baggage of an unsuccessful channel?

    The acquisition of Imagine was a wholly appropriate, strategic and extensively-considered decision.

     

  • Turner Network has announced the shutting down of Imagine TV's operations

    Sad! Turner shuts Imagine TV

    Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. (Turner) today announced the decision to cease business operations of its Hindi general entertainment channel ‘Imagine TV’, together with its international feed ‘Imagine Dil Se’.

     

    A communique from Turner Network signed by Siddharth Jain, Managing Director, South Asia, said Imagine TV has “not performed and grown as per expectations”. “While some programmes delivered satisfactory ratings, overall the channel was unable to achieve the ratings consistency needed to sustain the business and support continued investment. As a result, Turner made the carefully considered decision to cease operations of the channel.”

     

    “We are grateful to the Imagine team, which includes some of the most talented and creative people in the Indian media industry. We will use our best endeavors to make this as smooth a transition as possible for them, ” he continues.

     

    ” The company remains committed to future investments and long-term participation in India. As one of the largest global media companies operating in India, Turner has enjoyed a successful track record in delivering high-quality, compelling and entertaining content to our local audiences over the course of three decades. We currently operate some of the strongest media brands in India, including HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, POGO, WB, TCM and Boomerang. We will continue to be leaders in the media and entertainment industry and to explore expansion opportunities in this important market.

     

    *Please stand by for more *

     

  • The agency installs a gigantic pen drive at a mall in the city. The installation attempts to highlight and reiterate ‘storage and space’, the USP of the brand

    Six Inches Communications develops unique OOH innovation for Kingston

    By A Correspondent

     

    Six Inches Communications, an integrated brand communications agency, has created an exceptional Out of Home (OOH) innovation for Kingston Technology, the US based, independent memory module company whose products include Solid State Drives, memory modules, Wi-Drive, USB Drives, memory cards and card readers. The installation in the form of an enormous pen drive attempts to highlight and reiterate ‘storage and space’, the USP of the brand.

     

    The agency has replicated a pen drive on a large format OOH installation which is 31 ft in length, 9.5 ft tall and 12 ft wide at the entrance of Nirmal Lifestyle, Mulund for a period of one month. The concept of the innovation revolves around the idea of giving the users a real life experience of entering a pen drive.

     

    From the exterior, an illusion of people getting into the pen drive will be created while the inner walls of the gigantic installation will have interesting graphics depicting the benefits of the device.

     

    Commenting on the latest initiative, Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director,KingstonIndiasaid: “Kingston pen drives have large capacity and is one-of-its-kind in this category. We wanted to highlight the fact that though pen drives look small, they are huge storage devices and convey the idea that one can carry his/her world in a pen drive; be it music, movies, data, photographs or confidential documents”.

     

    Pravin Shah, CEO and Managing Director of Six Inches Communications said: “In order to communicate the magnitude of space offered byKingstonpen drives we opted for the OOH medium as it gives a brand the flexibility to explore innovation with products in terms of size, shape and experience. The larger-than-life installation will successfully bring to life some of the key benefits ofKingstonpen drive”.

     

    The customers will also witness a painter painting a portrait along with a guitarist strumming a song inside the installation to highlight the idea of bringing the data stored in the pen drive to life whenever required.

     

  • It’s not a fun thing that’s happened, but AN Chorreachose to add his two-bit on what could be (and what should’ve been) done for the Imagine announcement to not happen.

    Anchor: 5 ways how Imagine could’ve survived

    By AN Chorrea

     

    It was indeed shocking to see Turner cease all operations of Imagine TV with effect from yesterday. My considered view is that Turner Broadcast could’ve managed to see Imagine survive the Great GEC Race and also thrive by any of these five programming tweaks.

     

    1. Rakhee round the clock

    Rakhee Sawant may have got into the limelight thanks to Bigg Boss on another GEC, but it’s all the crazy things that she did on Imagine that caught the world’s imagination. And made her a household name. So, wouldn’t it have been a great idea to have Rakhee and Rakhee along all 24 hours?!

     

    2. Reality round the clock

    Imagine isn’t the only channel which is into reality shows… almost every channel is. But remember they started out with one, albeit for just a week. Methinks heavy doses of Rakhee Sawant, Rahul Mahajan and all other types of international and desi formats would’ve got it all the ratings!

     

    3. Maximum Mythology

    All channels have mythologicals, but given its superior rendering of Ramayan and later Dwarkadheesh Bhagwan Shri Krishna and more recently Mahima Shani Dev Ki makes one wonder that if Imagine aired only mythologicals round the clock – with lavish sets, et al – wouldn’t it have worked in its favour?

     

    4. Supernatural mumbo-jumbo

    I am sure you’ve seen Raaz Pichle Janam Ka, the primetime show that’s a reality show showing the practising of past-life regression. The programme is quite engaging leading us to suggest that the channel should’ve gone in for all the supernatural, astrological and other bizarre stuff for at least 18 hours a day. And for the other six hours: more supernatural stuff. Possibly TV shopping for gizmos that can help you cross all barriers in life.

     

    5. Get the original Jhatka from Pogo

    For a man who stole everyone’s hearts in Fauji, Shah Rukh Khan has had a  easonably awful track record on telly ever since he became a superstar. KBC with him as anchor was no great shakes and Paanchvi Paas on Star Plus and Zor Ka Jhatka on Imagine were disastrous. It would’ve perhaps been nicer if Imagine could’ve got Pogo to part with its version of Takeshi’s Castle. While the show’s fun, it’s Javed Jaffrey’s commentary that does the trick and one can keep watching it endlessly. As the show’s name suggested SRK’s Jhatka deserved a kick at all the right and wrong places. Zor ka!

     

    AN Chorrea is a seasoned industry-watcher who writes under a pseudonym

     

  • It was Terrible Thursday for the team as Turner Broadcasting announced closure of Imagine's business operations

    So why did Turner stop Imagine(ing)?

     

    By Team MxMIndia

     

    Just when the Hindi general entertainment space was getting interesting with the top 3-4 players all coming within sneezing distance of each other in the numbers game, the industry was jolted by news of the closure of Imagine, which given its pedigree, was launched with much fanfare not many moons ago. From shock to sadness and even rage (at least on the social media) admirers and naysayers were seen on an overdrive trying to piece the chain of events that had led to the downfall of the channel that was seeing red for some time now.

     

    This was in stark contrast to the kind of emotions that were flying thick and fast exactly a year ago, when Turner General Entertainment was merged into its parent company Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. The emotions then were almost similar to what the channel heads were going through when they flagged off the channel more than four years ago, making it one of the most loud and admirable launches of the time. While anticipation and expectations were riding high on the faces of each and every member of the team at launch, the same was the scenario during the merger exercise last year as the company was probably taking a last shot in reviving the fortunes of the network to see themselves battle against the competent lot at the top. But all that was not to be as tribes from the world of media and outside woke up to the news of the channel shutting down yesterday.

     

    Siddharth Jain

    Replying to questions put forth by MxM India (read interview),  Siddharth Jain, Managing Director- South Asia, Turner International India Private Limited put it out right and straight as he said: “This is a carefully considered business decision based on performance of the channel. We invested substantially and put all possible resources behind Imagine TV throughout. As in any other business, the investments were directly linked to reaching a certain performance benchmark. However, in the two years Imagine did not grow or perform as per expectations and as a result, Turner made the carefully-considered decision to cease operations of the channel.”

     

    Mr Jain is probably being modest in quoting that the channel did not perform as per expectations in the past two years, but the writing was on the wall in the first three months of 2011 itself, when the channel failed to get the viewers and advertisers excited with its most expensive property that cost the company in excess of Rs50 crore to produce. ‘Zor ka Jhatka’, hosted by Shah Rukh Khan, failed to get the desired ratings and didn’t do much to push the channel in the top league as was expected. In fact, in an interaction with the media before the show went live, an exuberant Sameer Nair had vouched that the show along with a few others would catapult Imagine among the top 3 in the Hindi GEC space. Wishful as he was, that was not to be. Its failure forced the thinktank at Turner to come up with steps to plug the loopholes, even if it meant changing its course altogether.

     

    Sameer Nair

    Thus in April 2011, Turner announced the merger of Turner General Entertainment into its parent company Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. This was followed by the formation of a special committee comprising various Turner officials such as Monica Tata and others along with officials from Turner General Entertainment Network including Sameer Nair and Harsh Rohatgi with the intention of charting out a long-term course for the channel. This move was even vindicated by Steve Marcopoto, President, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific (TBSAP), who went on to explain the need for such a proposal, which was to assess its performance and chart a long-term course for Imagine. But just when the merger was announced, Sameer Nair did the unthinkable by announcing his decision to exit the company.

     

    In an interaction with MxMIndia Editor-at-Large Anil Thakraney, Sameer Nair was quite upfront about the reason for his decision to move on: “I was used to operating independently. After Turner took over, one had to integrate into the Turner system. And this made me just a department head. And so I left.”

     

    Expressing concern towards the chain of events that led to the closure of the channel he said, “I am quite shocked and disappointed to hear that they’ve decided to shut the channel down. They (Turner) seemed to be quite gung ho about Imagine, and I thought they were going full steam ahead. There is a lot of investment and a number of jobs at stake.”

     

    Mr Nair’s exit from Imagine was followed by a few other key exits and the network’s failure to find a suitable replacement. Even attempts to vow the audiences by launching a slew of reality and mythological shows didn’t do much for the channel as it still figured in the #6/7 slot amongst its peers in the space.

     

    In fact, even as recently as 2-3 months ago, the channel was going all out with its promotional activities as it announced the launch of new shows. But that too has been brought to a halt as Mr Jain explained: “We cease all business operations of Imagine TV. The closure is a complicated process as we are ensuring fulfillment of all our business commitments to advertisers, distributors, production houses and other partners.”

     

    The news came as a rude shock to producers, some of whom were in the midst of production schedule (see story: Rude Shock for Producers & Performers). Rajan Shahi who had launched ‘Jamuna Paar’ on Imagine just a little over a month ago, refused to comment on it saying “it would be too premature”. Other producers like Siddharth Tewary, the Sagars who had ‘Chandragupta Maurya’ and ‘Dwarkadheesh’ aired during primetime were incommunicado as they grappled with the sudden turn of events.

     

    JD Majethia

    JD Majethia who had launched two shows, ‘Jassuben Jayantilal Ki Joint Family’ and ‘Ek Packet Umeed’ four years ago said: “It’s sad and shocking. It was a channel which with the entry of Vikas Behl at the helm of things looked poised for bigger things, a turnaround but that was not to be. It’s a huge setback for producers and for those who work on a per day basis. A daily show means a minimum of 100 people associated with it in various capacities and with Imagine closing down, it spells doom for them. All that talent and labour goes down the drain. It’s a loss of about Rs200 crores worth of yearly business for Imagine and the industry on the whole.”

     

    Veteran producer Dheeraj Kumar of Creative Eye Productions said: “It was an overnight decision but it could have been done a bit smoothly. I am hopeful that Turner with its huge umbrella of channels would give us a chance of providing content to them. I am optimistic.”

     

    Programming propaganda

    Ever the one to influence viewers and attract the attention of the advertisers too, content was one of the biggest setbacks for the channel, going by the buzz emanating from experts. While the start for the Imagine was glorious, as it did manage to attract sizeable channel share (see chart below) and even break into the 150+ GRP mark at some point, it was an experience that was shortlived. The maximum channel share that the channel attained was 8.5 in H2 2009.

     

    Source: TAM Media Research / TG: CS 4+ yrs / Market: HSM / Period: H1 (Jan-Jun) & H2 (Jul-Dec) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 till April 7, 2012

     

    Mohit Joshi
    Divya Radhakrishnan
    Karthik Lakshminarayan
    Pankaj Krishna

    Explaining the implications, Mohit Joshi, Managing Director, MPG said, “The General Entertainment domain is very competitive and each channel is constantly improving content and production. The viewer has many options today and hence has become more ruthless with the channel choice. In spite of a great start, Imagine lost it mid-way. In an attempt to gain viewership and numbers, it resorted to telecasting shows like Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, Rakhi Ka Insaaf and so on. Though these shows could have given a short-term boost in numbers, in the long run, viewers didn’t find the content appealing enough. Also these shows dented the channel image by giving it a ‘sleazy’ tag – which is not acceptable in the GEC domain.”

     

    Divya Radhakrishnan, Founder, Helios Media, said, “GEC is a highly competitive segment and the cost of running a GEC is very high. Imagine had reached a level of stagnation especially in the last six months, however shutting down was not expected.”

     

    Karthik Lakshminarayan, COO, Crest, said: “Imagine had the brand heritage of NDTV and Turner. I think it was sheer bad luck that they eluded that one show which could give them success like Kyunki did for Star, Saat Phere did for Zee, Ballika Vadhu for Colors and Bade Acche Lagte Hain is doing now for Sony. For a GEC to break even it takes 4-5 years so one needs to stay invested for a long period to see the returns, hence the move is a surprise.” In fact, he has a surprising statement to make: “Their overnight decision has caught us unawares and our media plan needs a quick revision. We had spots to go on air on the channel as we talk. I think now those spots are up for grabs and may the best player win.”

     

    Blame customer pull, not distribution!

    There are primarily two ways of impacting Channel Trials – namely Consumer Pull led by content affinity, and Broadcaster Push led by Distribution initiatives, explains Mr Pankaj Krishna, Founder and Managing Director, Chrome Data Analytics & Media (see Analysis: How Imagine lost due to consumer pull, not distribution. “Going by Chrome OTS numbers (Opportunity To See – percentage of households that have access to a channel) – Imagine TV has clearly been in the league of the top GECs with an OTS of 95% across HSM.”

     

    According to Mr Krishna, “consumer pull clubbed with Strategic Distribution Planning has a huge impact on the overall performance of a channel”. “Over the years, Imagine lost out on factors contributing to the former.”

     

    Staff shocked

    It was Terrible Thursday for the staff at Imagine. They had no clue of the closure, even as they had faced yet another week of dismal ratings from TAM. Said Jain on the fate of the staff: “Turner will retain some employees for a transition period and some others are being offered permanent roles within other Turner channels to fill current vacancies. For the other Imagine employees getting impacted, Turner has set up an HR outplacement service which will provide advice on how to write a better CV, interviewing techniques and other job hunting skills. We will also introduce the employees to recruitment consultants, HR professionals from other media organizations and facilitate their new job search. Our focus is to ensure the closure is executed in a fair and appropriate manner for all of them and in full compliance with all legal requirements, employment terms and company policies. We will use our best endeavours to make this as smooth a transition as possible for them.”

     

    There has been much dismay in the brodcast fraternity too. Colors CEO Raj Nayak in fact made a clarion call to the industry via Twitter: “To all my friends in the TV business. Let’s try & accommodate our friends from Imagine wherever we have vacancies in our system.”

     

    Way ahead

    The move does spell a warning for other broadcast majors to sit up and take notice. Let’s not forget examples of a few channels that had to shut shop midway including Star One, Zee Next, 9x and Real for lack of vision and programming blunder.

     

    Ashish Pherwani

    As Ashish Pherwani of E&Y writes in his analysis for MxMIndia (when is it right for a channel to pull the plug): “Over the last decade or so, most unsuccessful channels which have tried ‘overhauls’ and ‘makeovers’ that have failed to achieve their objectives within six to eight months, have eventually shut down their operations.” According to him, for a channel to succeed, “the only asset it has is viewership. Channels which operate without a robust management team, a unique market position, and a defined target audience, won’t be able to garner sustained and loyal viewership. If channel management is able to make these three aspects fit seamlessly together, chances are the channel will succeed as a business, else, it would make business sense to pull the plug!”

     

    Turner may probably pay heed to Pherwani’s suggestions if it ever were to take another swipe at launching a Hindi general enterainment cahnnel  channel. Going by its past track record where it teamed up with Alva Brothers to launch Real and proceeded by acquiring Imagine from NDTV, chances are that the network may already be on the prowl hunting for its next prospect. Until then, the network seems content to bask in the laurels of its sister channels that have been showing good growth in the genres they operate in.

     

    Written by Johnson Napier with inputs from Anil Thakraney, Ashish Pherwani, Pankaj Krishna, Kshama Rao, Tuhina Anand and Robin Thomas

     

  • Producers and performers were shocked by the Turner decision to pull the curtains down on Imagine

    Rude shock for producers and performers

    By Kshama Rao

     

    Producers woke up to a rude shock on Thursday  to the news of Imagine shutting shop. If IPL wasn’t enough, then the closing down of a TV channel meant further doom for the producers.

     

    JD Majethia

    Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific Inc. (Turner) dashed off a letter that to the producers and the media about Imagine being wound up with immediate effect, so much so that shootings had to be abruptly cancelled on Thursday as the TV giant didn’t want the channel to spend on even one day of shooting!

     

    While the industry is still reeling from the news, the worst affected are the producers whose shows were running on the channel. Rajan Shahi, who had launched Jamuna Paar on Imagine just a little over a month ago, refused to comment: “It would be too premature”. Other producers like Siddharth Tewary, the Sagars who had Chandragupta Maurya and Dwarkadheesh running on primetime were incommunicado as they grappled with the sudden turn of events.

     

    JD Majethia had launched two shows, Jassuben Jayantilal Ki Joint Family and Ek Packet Umeed four years ago (on January 21, 2008) when former Star TV honcho Sameer Nair had spearheaded NDTV Imagine amidst much fanfare. He said: “It’s sad and shocking. It was a channel, which with the entry of Vivek Behl at the helm of things, looked poised for bigger things, a turnaround but that was not to be. It’s a huge setback for producers and for those who work on a per day basis. A daily show means a minimum of 100 people associated with it in various capacities and with Imagine closing down, it spells doom for them. All that talent and labour goes down the drain. It’s a loss of about Rs200 crore worth of yearly business for Imagine and the industry on the whole.”

     

    Mr Majethia said that it was the channel’s “unclear philosophy” that did it in. When they started out, the mantra they had adopted was positive, light hearted, happy programming but then Colors launched with its emphasis on “high drama” and Imagine started floundering. The channel lost its focus, couldn’t make shows that could connect with the masses and hence lost the plot. “But as I said, things had begun to look up with the entry of Vivek,” he added.

     

    Another producer, on the condition of anonymity, who had worked for Imagine said it was the haphazard way of doing things and not following a clear brief that cut the Imagine story short.

     

    Veteran producer Dheeraj Kumar of Creative Eye Productions however played down the whole thing. His show Sawaare Sabke Sapne Preeto which was launched a year back was going strong and he said: “Just like how you get surprises in life, this too was a surprise for us. I wouldn’t call it a shock. I guess these things happen. You think, Turner wouldn’t have thought before taking this decision. Yes, it was overnight and could have done a bit smoothly with advance intimation but it’s alright, I have no complaints as we have had a good creative collaboration with them. Personally, I am not worried about my workers because we are a big production company and they would be absorbed in some or the other project. I am hopeful that Turner with its huge umbrella of channels would give us a chance of providing content to them. I am optimistic.”

     

    Aasiya Qazi, an actress who made a debut with Ekta Kapoor’s Bandini which ran for over a year and followed it with Deeya and Tony Singh’s Dharam Patni that was pulled off air in January is “shocked”. “It was the channel that gave me a chance to start in this industry. It gave me two shows, so yes, I am definitely shocked. I don’t know what happened and whoever I have spoken to are equally clueless. I didn’t even know why Dharam Patni was pulled off air abruptly a couple of months back. I feel sad for the artistes and the crew of the new shows like Jamuna Paar that had gone on air a couple of months ago. It’s demoralising for them,” she says.

     

    Vishal Karwal, who plays the title role of Dwarkadheesh in the Sagars’ ambitious mythological on Lord Krishna, is both “happy and sad. I was happy because I wanted to come back to Mumbai. I have been shooting inBarodafor the show from Mondays to Fridays and it had begun to get to me. I was in talks with the producers to let me go to Mumbai. I am sad for the workers whose bread and butter depend on these daily shows. They don’t earn more than Rs10-15,000 a month where as for actors like us, we can still survive.”

     

    He terms the sudden development as “unprofessional and devoid of professional ethics. The channel hasn’t been doing well for a while now and even the new channel Life OK overtook it in the numbers game.”

     

    Sources in the industry said the producers whose shows were largely affected won’t comment on this considering their dues are yet to be cleared. Worst hit are the Sagars whose two shows, both mythologicals and lavish productions, Dwarkadheesh and Chandragupta Maurya and others like Shahi who had barely launched a new show with a massive set.

     

    A source said: “One wrong word in the media and they run the risk of not getting their dues. They have already been hit badly so any press statement could jeopardise their equation with the channel.”

     

    So it’s wait and watch for now.

     

    Kshama Rao is a senior journalist tracking the television trade for over 15 years.

  • We still don't know how the President acquired this army land for herself. Did she use her position as commander and chief of the armed forces, revenge for those hours of standing in the Republic Day parade with her hand to her forehead? Or did someone do all this for her?

    [MJR] Women on top: A caricature and a cartoon

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    This week, we have to share the honours between two very important women. First – this is not because she is more important but because she sort of is, in an official kind of way – the President of India, Pratibha Patil.

     

    According to a group of ex-soldiers (you know the lot, formerly noble and so on and now a bit, well, suspect) have claimed that 2.6 lakh acres of army land in Pune, meant for housing jawans, has been taken over by the President to build her retirement home. If that wasn’t bad enough, two colonial-era bungalows have been broken down in the process.

     

    Now everyone knows, especially since Adarsh, that no one – not the army, not the government – actually wants to build anything for jawans. Since Adarsh, we also know that senior defence personnel, bureaucrats and politicians will happily take any government land cheap and make luxury homes for themselves and their families.

     

    Given Pune’s proximity to Mumbai, it is possible that the President was inspired by the Adarsh adarsh (that’s a pun by the way. It is clear, I make this clear, as we approach the next noosemaker, because it is possible that I will find my own neck in a noose. Jokes are verboten you see).

     

    Still, in all the fire and outrage – now an essential ingredient to any dish in modern India – we still don’t know how the President acquired this army land for herself. Did she ride in on silver, flashing her firearms? Did she use her position as commander and chief of the armed forces, revenge for those hours of standing in the Republic Day parade with her hand to her forehead? Or did someone do all this for her?

     

    * * *

     

    And then we reach the Great Supreme Leader who is incapable of staying out of the noose and the news. The indomitable Mamata Banerjee, crusader against communists and cartoonists. Ambikesh Mahapatra, a chemistry professor at Jadavpur University, apparently a hotbed of dangerous anti-Didi-ists, forwarded a cartoon which used dialogues from Satyajit Ray’s film Sonar Kellato poke a little gentle fun at the removal of Dinesh Trivedi as railway minister.

     

    Mahapatra and a neighbour were, therefore, arrested and kept in jail for one night for not only forwarding this hurtful and nasty cartoon but also outraging the modesty of a woman. They were also beaten up by members of the Trinamool Congress for the same crimes. The police, also upset at this mocking of the Great Supreme Didi, made a mockery of the justice system.

     

    In all this fun and games, could Didi be far behind? She promptly piped up saying those who commit crimes will be punished. Quite right.

     

    It goes without saying that Mahapatra’s act of forwarding the cartoon showed him to be a communist and therefore deserving of every punishment meted out to him. It also proves that West Bengal or Poschim Bongo or whatever it’s called, has to stop these illegal acts of laughing, giggling, sniggering, smirking at Didi’s expense. Is it any wonder that Dada has left the Kolkata Knight Riders and joined Pratibha Patil in Pune?

     

  • Campaign featuring Rajasthan Royals players to be supported with brand activation and social and digital media to reach out to millions of cricket fans in the country

    HDFC Life’s new campaign propagates ‘Never Give Up’ attitude

    By A Correspondent

     

    HDFC Life, one of India’s leading private life insurance players, has unveiled a new advertising campaign featuring the players of Rajasthan Royals to promote and propagate its brand philosophy of ‘Self Respect’. HDFC Life has been associated with Rajasthan Royals for the fourth consecutive year as the Associate Sponsor.

     

    Commenting on the new campaign, Sanjay Tripathy, Executive Vice President and Head, Marketing and Direct Channels said: “Our campaign carries a simple yet compelling message. The theme is focused on the spirit of ‘Never Giving Up and Moving Forward to face all challenges’. With the new IPL season, the Rajasthan Royals’ commitment is focused on giving their best to the game. Their attitude is not solely to win or lose, but to perform for the team. In simple terms, they play with pride, self-respect and determination.”

     

    Mr. KV Sridhar, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett, said: “Through this simple ad, we have tried to showcase the significance of HDFC Life’s brand value ‘Sar Utha ke Jiyo’. When a team gets onto the field, full of zeal to perform their best, it doesn’t really matter what would be the result, but to play the game for pride and self-respect.”

     

    HDFC Life plans to drive the core essence of the association through different platforms and intensify the brand experience. It will drive a focused TV campaign on the news genre, followed by the movies segment to derive maximum visibility for the campaign on account of regular news updates on the IPL property. The campaign will be running along with exciting contests across prime multiplexes in India (Fame, Fun, Big Cinemas, Inox and Cinemax).

     

    In digital space, HDFC Life will leverage on the cricket frenzy season and drive users to a very engaging contest on Facebook. The users will not only get a chance to interact with the other cricket fans, but also get an opportunity to win exciting IPL Rajasthan Royals merchandise. The company, in partnership with Indiatimes and  Youtube IPL, will roll out a unique HDFC Life Zone to feature the Man of the Match, best batting innings and best bowling innings as the ‘Sar Utha Ke Jiyo’ moments of the day. Through this unique partnership, HDFC Life intends to reach out to millions of consumers across the country.

     

    For the on-ground activation, HDFC Life ‘Game of Pride’, an interesting mall activation drive will be rolled out in two phases across four cities.

     

    Campaign Credits for Rajasthan Royals 2012:

    Creative agency – Leo Burnett, Mumbai

    Executive Creative Director -  Rajesh Mani

    Creative Director -  Manan Mistry

    Copywriter – Rajesh Mani, Akshay Seth and Shatrughan Tripathi

    Art Director – Manan Mistry

    Production House – Opticus Inc

    Director – Sanjay Shetty

     

  • The motive behind launching the site was that a challenging business environment demands versatile skills and subject matter experts have to transcend the boundaries of management and communications to stay in the game and keep winning

    Now upgrade your skills with Gyaan Niketan

    By A Correspondent

     

    Recently www.gyaanniketan.com – an online platform for upgrading your skill sets, remain relevant in your jobs, and survive in a highly competitive global environment – was launched.

     

    The motive behind launching the site was that a challenging business environment demands versatile skills and subject matter experts have to transcend the boundaries of management and communications to stay in the game and keep winning.

     

    The website helps one optimize their performance and constantly raise the bar. With the help of the website, one learns to hone their skill sets; enhance their performance at work; and track the trends, developments and technological changes defining their specialized fields/markets.

     

    At Gyaan Niketan, one also get the opportunity to interface with mentors and consolidate domain-specific and managerial credentials that will enhance their performance at work and accelerate their movement up the growth curve.

     

    The focus of the website is to combine relevant theories with the practice of conducting business in today’s global economy. Their focus is on re-skilling professionals, through Education (Learn), Experience (Do) and Expertise (Act).

     

    Their aim is to enable the applicants to equip themselves through the online platform and expand their horizon in their chosen areas of specialization.

     

    One can achieve all these and more with Gyan Niketan – a group of knowledge networked individuals with extensive experience in coaching, mentoring, training and teaching-by logging into our online collaborative platform.

     

    The site will be online with full blown features of payment gateway, video, chat room and so on.

     

  • PR inIndiawill see exponential growth in strategic services for which very few agencies are prepared or are ready in terms of expertise. The vanilla PR services will see a solid decline, says Mr Jamal

    [PR] We challenge to innovate & thereby set trends: Khalid Jamal

    It ain’t a small agency but its ’boutique’ way of doing PR, where it goes beyond the obvious towards building, managing, reinforcing and protecting reputation is what endears the agency to its clients and goes a long way in laying solid foundation for a long-term partnership. Much of the agency’s good showing could be attributed its leader Khalid Jamal.

     

    Mr Khalid Jamal possesses close to two decades’ experience in Reputation Management having handled over 300 key clients drawn from across all sectors. He has also been awarded numerous awards by IMM and PRSI for innovative work done by him.

     

    In an interaction with MxMIndia’s Johnson Napier, Mr Khalid delves on Orion’s journey in the country thus far, on the two units that have been delivering top-notch growth for the agency and also scrutinises the current state of the PR industry inIndia. Excerpts:

     

    How has Orion PR delivered on the growth front in 2011-12?

    The year 2011-12 has been excellent for Orion PR as we doubled the growth digit compared to previous year. Two verticals which contributed to this growth are: Crisis Management/Issue Advocacy Practice and Social Media/Digital.

     

    How would you assess your client roster across the several domains that your offer your services in?

    We work with a number of clients from established Indian corporates to MNCs. However, the new users of PR (the growing mid-level companies and large SMEs) are going to drive PR more significantly than the good-old PR users, and hence, would be our focus for growth.

     

    How would you rate your agency on the parameter of client retention?

    Performance-delivery on each account at Orion PR is well-above average in the industry. However, one has to be guarded against the general tendency to compare ‘PR account retention’ with that of ‘advertising account retention’; the two are different disciplines; hence the parameters to be applied have to be different, contextually. I would imagine that this aspect should be compared with that of Management Consultancy firms, where the periodicity of the accounts are determined by the scope of the assignment and the clients’ needs.

     

    How do you review your practices each year so as to stay ahead of the curve on a consistent basis?

    You have to feel the pulse of the clients’ businesses and its operating environment and challenge yourselves to innovate and align with clients’ interests. If this is followed in spirit, there is all the reason why you will be on cutting-edge. At Orion PR, we constantly challenge ourselves to follow this operating philosophy: challenge to innovate and thereby set trends.

     

    What is the shift you observe in the way PR as an industry functions today to what it did, say, about a decade ago?

    Absolutely nothing. It is what it used to be. However, you will see a change effecting over the next few years as the old give way to the new in mind and material; as the old-gen of PR moves over and the new gen takes over. The good news is that PR has started attracting some real good and fresh talent, and not the second shifties as it used to happen till recently. This is a significant development in the Indian PR industry and I hope it continues for good.

     

    Where do you see Orion PR placed in the PR pecking order amongst its contemporaries?

    I do not believe there is such a thing as pecking order in PR. Unfortunately, it’s an industry which is famed and defamed by a few big mouths who bask in their own wishful thinking and ‘number crunching’. That’s fine if they get their share of five by one cc quote with a mug shot. It’s nothing beyond that. Any service which is driven by the practioners’ expertise can’t be, and shouldn’t be, compartmentalised into the so-called numbers and pecking game. By the way, the whole process of defining a pecking order of the Indian PR firms suffers from the lack of credibility and a credible process. So lesser said the better.

     

    As for Orion PR, we are distinguished by our rich experience and expertise which attracts our clients, especially for high-end strategic PR campaigns, which remain our focus area, and not the vanilla services.

     

    How do you think social media has impacted PR and its functioning?

    Orion PR has a dedicated social media division called Orion Digital which has done some path-breaking work. We do not pay lip-service to digital, but rather produce integrated campaigns which make measurable contributions to clients’ communications initiatives.

     

    We have invested significantly in social media and digital for over the last three years which has begun paying dividends only now.

     

    However, if you talk of overall PR industry scenario, Social Media hasn’t impacted PR as much as it should have. Clients still have to make a choice between the digital wings of ad agencies and PR agencies; and this is where the dichotomy lies. PR agencies have a lot of catching up to do in this domain to be able to compete with the digital outfits of ad agencies. However, with the growing online activism, PR agencies will be advantageously placed to handle social media/digital.

     

    Including talent, what are some of the big challenges facing the PR industry in India?

    I don’t think ‘talent crunch’ is a big challenge today. With the infusion of fresh talent into PR and with a little reorientation of the pool, this problem, by and large, could be resolved. The real problem of ‘talent’ is at the senior level like any other industry, and there is no quick-fix solution for this. As the industry matures, this issue too will be naturally addressed.

     

    The other problems facing the PR industry are:

    1. Lack of understanding of its functioning by majority of clients

    2. ‘Cottage industry’ type of internal functioning, and haphazard growth

    3. Lack of consistency and respectability

    4. Lack of organised industry forum

    5. Ethics

     

    What are your views on international agencies venturing into India?

    It’s good as long as it adds value in terms of learning and development. Else, it’s just another dot on the map of their reach.

     

    What is the future you foresee for the PR and communications space in India?

    PR inIndiawill see exponential growth in strategic services for which very few agencies are prepared or are ready in terms of expertise. The vanilla PR services will see a solid decline, and I fear, would continue to be the cause as to why PR is yet to get its due recognition. I hope we will be the profession who didn’t miss the bus!