Category: RADIO

  • Germs personified on radio for HUL’s Domex

    By A Correspondent

     

    While most toilet cleaner campaigns focus on TVCs and print, HUL’s Domex has taken to the radio waves in an innovative bid to target the markets of Maharashtra and South India.

     

    Big FM has carried out an innovative and engaging campaign on the pegs of toilet hygiene and sanitization, called ‘Germs Ka The End’, with characters Jaggu Jaundice, Tatya Typhoid and Danny Diarrhea spreading the message of toilet hygiene and sanitization.

     

    Led by National Solutions Head Dheeraj Kumar along with his team comprising Zara Zaki, Sreejith Vijayan and Usha Malasi, the campaign also saw a song rendition by music director and singer Bappi Lahiri, titled The End.

     

    Created against the backdrop of ‘shaayri’, the characterized germs poetically profess the ill-effects of unhygienic and unsanitized toilets through an imaginative exchange of dialogues.

     

    Ashwin Padmanabhan

    Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head – 92.7 Big FM said, “We are happy with the success of the campaign. To be able to tailor solutions to meet client requirements, while also keeping listener sensibilities in mind has been our strength which has been showcased once again with this campaign with Domex. The team has done an excellent job and we look forward to continuing to serve audiences and marketers alike, with innovative and highly engaging offerings.”

     

    George Koshy, Category Head (Household Care), Hindustan Unilever Ltd said, “Toilet cleaners category cues are such that consumers cringe on seeing any form of advertising. Our germ world campaign is our attempt at making this category easier on the eye. In order to make the germ world and its characters popular, we decided to use music as the medium. Mindshare created a unique tie-up with 92.7 Big FM and Bappi Lahiri to create a fun jingle around Domex’s characters – Jaggu Jaundice, Tatya Typhoid and Danny Diarrhea. Radio is a key medium with our audience residing in our key markets. The song enabled us to enter the realm of radio content and away from the by now done-to-death RJ integrations and station roadblocks.”

     

  • 94.3 My FM, Fever 104 FM ink strategic sales alliance

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    94.3 My FM & Fever 104 FM have entered into a strategic sales alliance, which is aimed towards leveraging each other’s strengths and market leadership to offer unmatched value proposition to the radio advertisers nationally. The alliance will offer advertisers the best of both metro & non-metro markets while allowing both the radio brands to sell stations they are not present in. The alliance is for sales, integrated solutions and activations.

     

    Mona Jain

    “The alliance will obviously benefit them. Geographical expansion being the main one. Today, everyone is getting into such alliances and collaborations which means there is no monopoly. Hence, making it a seller’s market and not a buyer’s market,” said Mona Jain, CEO, Vivaki Exchange.

     

    The radio business of DB Corp Ltd, 94.3 My FM is present across 17 growing cities of India ie Jaipur, Jodhpur, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Jalandhar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Udaipur, Gwalior, Indore, Ajmer, Amritsar, Bilaspur, Nagpur, Raipur, Kota and Jabalpur. While Fever 104 FM, owned by HT Media Ltd, is present in the four largest metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. The purpose of this association is to leverage on the strong local understanding that My FM has in the growing markets for corporate advertisers and My FM advertisers will benefit from Fever’s strengths in the metro cities. The main idea behind the partnership is that the customers should benefit by having the best of both – national reach and local relevance.

     

    Harrish Bhatia

    Harrish M Bhatia, CEO 94.3 My FM said, “It’s a win-win situation for both of us as we can accomplish more this way. Nobody understands the pulse of the growing tier-2 and tier-3 markets better than 94.3 My FM and with Fever 104 FM’s strength in the metros we will be able to provide our advertisers a great platform to leverage their brands.”

     

    According to the official statement, 94.3 My FM is the largest radio station network of the growing India (17 tier-2 & tier-3 cities) attracting over 5 million radio listeners (as per IRS, which is similar to Fever’s reach as per IRS).

     

    Harshad Jain

    Commenting on the alliance Harshad Jain, Business Head, Radio & Entertainment, HT Media said, “With this alliance we aim to provide the best of both the worlds for our advertisers. The combination of our strengths in key metro cities and My FM’s strong presence in growing Indian cities will be a great proposition for any advertiser in the radio category. The expertise of each of the brands will be leveraged to the best to offer unmatched radio solutions.”

     

    “The thought process behind the alliance has been to fill in the gaps in the market. Clients come to us who want certain networks while some want a pan India approach. This will help us reach out to both,” Mr Bhatia told MxM India, adding, “We did a drill and found out the challenges ahead, now let’s see how its goes. We have just announced the alliance.”

     

  • BIG FM takes ‘Panja League’ pan-Punjab for Ambuja

    By A Correspondent

     

    After much success for the first leg for Ambuja BIG Panja League, Reliance Broadcast Network’s 92.7 BIG FM has teamed up with Ambuja Cements to extend the successful arm-wrestling championship to the entire Punjab region. The property is an extension of the radio station’s involvement in regional sports entertainment properties across Tier II and Tier III towns in the country.

     

    Kicking off this month, Ambuja BIG Panja League will witness on-ground activities and auditions being conducted across 30 towns across the Malwa and Doaba regions of Punjab including larger cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bhatinda. The end of this two-month initiative will witness the crowning of the ‘Panja Champion’ of Punjab. The finale on-ground event will be aired on Spark Punjabi.

     

    According to Rajneesh Verma of Ambuja Cement, “strength and Punjab are inseparable”. “Passion and spirit make Punjab very special. For Ambuja too, strength is second nature – strong cement builds strong homes. Strong people build strong organizations. Ambuja is built on these beliefs. Ambuja, thus, identifies with the spirit of Punjab – its faith in its own abilities and its faith in its own traditions. Ambuja BIG Panja League is an opportunity for people of Punjab to participate, show their panja power and celebrate this festival of strength,” he said.

     

    Said Vineet Mittal, Business Head – BIG Rural, “We are looking forward to creating and sustaining the sports entertainment genre while presenting offerings that appeal to audiences across Tier II and Tier III towns.”

     

     

  • Grey India bags creative duties for multiple brands of RBNL

    By A Correspondent

     

    Post a multi-agency pitch process in Delhi, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited has entrusted Grey India with its creative duties. The pitch process saw participation of several leading agencies. Grey Delhi will handle 92.7 BIG FM, BIG Magic (UP, MP, Bihar and Jharkhand) and Spark Punjabi (part of Big CBS), Grey Mumbai will handle Big CBS Prime, Big CBS Love and Big RTL Thrill.

     

    Dheeraj Sinha

    Dheeraj Sinha, Grey’s Chief Strategy Officer, South & South East Asia, said, “This was a pitch which didn’t feel like one. It felt like we were partners discussing strategy and responding to creative ideas. The vibe between the teams on both sides has been great and that to my mind is the biggest starting point to a successful partnership. I am fascinated by the role of media in today’s changing cultural landscape and see a big opportunity for us in this space, especially with the width of offering Reliance Broadcast Network has across radio and television. We look forward to redefining some codes in this space.”

     

     

    Confirming the development, Dip Sengupta, VP and Branch Head, Grey Delhi said “It’s a big win for Grey India. When we entered the fray, it was for the radio business, a hugely exciting opportunity. What makes the win sweeter is being awarded the mandate for the entire RBNL portfolio. What helped was the fabulous chemistry with the client, along with hunger, passion and some sparkling work !”

     

    “As usual we didn’t approach the creative through traditional above the line advertising. We tried to find solutions for Big FM, whether they came through programming, slugs, on-ground activation, events or digital ideas. Most importantly we had great fun working on the pitch and that obviously showed in the work we presented,” said EVP and National Creative Director of Grey India, Amit Akali.

     

    Jishnu Sen

    For Jishnu Sen, CEO & President (Grey India) Delhi is a priority market this year and starting the year with this win is of huge significance for the agency. “It’s like having 15 runs to make of the last over and hitting the first ball for a six,” he stated.

     

  • Radio One operating profit grows exponentially

    By A Correspondent

     

    Radio One Ltd, now renamed Next Radio Ltd, the joint venture between Next MediaWorks Ltd and BBC Worldwide, has declared its audited financial results for the year ended March 31, 2013 at the annual board meeting held recently.

     

    Revenue grew 16 percent to Rs 50.41 crore for the year ended March 31 as compared to Rs 43.48 crore in the corresponding period last year.

     

    EBIDTA profit grew exponentially to Rs 18.41 crore in the year ended March 31, as compared to Rs 0.25 crore in the corresponding period last year. The EBIDTA margin for the year ended March 31 was at 36.5 percent which is in line with the best in the media industry.

     

    Profit before tax (before exceptional items) improved to a positive of Rs 0.58 crore in the year ended March 31 as compared to a loss of Rs 17.78 crore in the corresponding period last year.

     

    The operations were sufficiently cash positive for the first time.

     

    Radio One MD & CEO Vineet Singh Hukmani said ‘We have transformed our business with strategic restructuring. Our focus on profiled educated audiences helped us move 100% advertising revenue to our ‘on air’ product. Led by our international formats in Mumbai and Delhi, we are delivering high quality differentiated products in each of our 7 cities at the lowest cost. Added to this we have initiated up to a 30% increase in advertising rates successfully.’

     

    Radio One, which runs 94.3FM, is keen to participate in Phase 3 bidding and is looking to expand to high value metro markets. “We are hopeful that the MIB will soon allow existing players with 10 year licenses to extend to 15 year licenses before phase 3 bidding. This will result in confident bidding by existing players,” added Mr Hukmani.

     

     

  • Big FM announces leadership changes

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd. (RBNL) has announced the consolidation and strengthening of functions within its radio business, 92.7 Big FM, through strategic elevations across key positions.

     

    Ashwin Padmanabhan

    Ashwin Padmanabhan takes over as Business Head from being Business Head for West and South; while Nitin Jain takes over as National Sales Head, at Big FM. Mr Jain will now oversee the national sales function as he leads the team from the front. Shalini Dureja has been appointed as Vice-President, Head Impact Sales West & South. In her new role, she will service key clients, sell key innovations and intellectual properties, while maximising revenues. Kiran Thangarajan gets promoted to Cluster Head, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

     

    Charanjeet Arora moves to the position of Regional Business Head – North 2, which includes the regions of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan. Sanjeev Sharma joined 92.7 BIG FM in 2010 as the Regional Head (Govt. Business) based in Chandigarh growing quickly through the hierarchy to his current role as National Head – Government Business, where he will be responsible for revenue generation for both the radio and television businesses.

     

    Tarun Katial

    Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network said, “We have always been immensely proud of the quality of our workforce. It is they who help create ever-growing value for our customers while driving profitable growth for the company. As the radio business continues to dominate key markets across India, we feel the need to streamline business divisions to derive maximum value within us. We are confident that these moves will help us transform into a more holistic radio business and see us achieving better growth in the near future.”

     

  • Radio Mirchi too announces new appointments

    By A Correspondent

     

    Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL) has announced key appointments to its senior management team.

     

    Vivek Modi will now be heading the North cluster of Radio Mirchi. He replaces Sachin Tagra as the Cluster Head for the Northern region. Mr Modi joined Radio Mirchi as a Cluster Head – East in 2011 and has played an important role in driving the growth of the brand in the region. Prior to Radio Mirchi, he headed the Marketing Communications team Vodafone Kolkata. In his new role, Mr Modi will now be responsible for driving Mirchi’s growth in its target region.

     

    In another development, Radio Mirchi has appointed Sarvmeet Oberoi as the new Head of IPR (Sponsorship). Mr Oberoi has been associated with Radio Mirchi for over 7 years in a variety of roles across sales and strategy functions. He broke new grounds in the digital space with the launch of Mirchi Mobile – a service enabling listeners in a particular location to listen to Radio Mirchi broadcast of another location of their choice, using the mobile platform. Going forward, Mr Oberoi will be responsible for the growth of Intellectual Properties.

     

    Announcing the new appointments, Sujata Bhatt, EVP, HR & Marketing, said, “Vivek and Sarvee are seasoned professionals and will add lot of value in their new roles. We wish both of them the very best.”

     

  • Times Internet partners AIR for live IPL commentary

    By A Correspondent

     

    Times Internet Limited (TIL) and AIR will broadcast live commentary of 33 select Pepsi IPL 2013 matches over AIR’s National Channel and FM Gold. Updates for all matches will be broadcast on AIR FM Rainbow Channel.

     

    The running commentary of the matches of Pepsi IPL 2013, including the Playoffs/Final, being played in India, will be broadcast alternately in Hindi and English on National Channel and FM Gold Network. The coverage area of National Channel includes Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa, Pondicherry, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and parts of Assam, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The live commentary of all 33 identified matches will be broadcast over National Channel of AIR which is available all over India.

     

    Satyan Gajwani

    Speaking on the association, Satyan Gajwani, CEO, Times Internet, said, “We’re delighted to renew our association with AIR on Pepsi IPL. By partnering with All India Radio, Pepsi IPL 2013 will tap into a new set of cricket fan audiences across India, particularly beyond the metros.”

     

    “All India Radio, which has always been in the forefront of popularizing sports in India including cricket, is happy to bring live and exciting action from IPL to its listeners”, said LD Mandloi, Director General, All India Radio.

     

  • 92.7 Big FM hikes ad rates by 20-30%

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Limited has announced a 20-30 percent increase in the advertising rates on its FM network, 92.7 Big FM. The rates will apply across its stations in metropolitan areas and tier II markets across the country.

     

    92.7 Big FM’s decision to increase rates comes on the back of enhanced network performance and delivery, leading to higher market demand from advertisers, both retail and national, said the network.

     

    Ashwin Padmanabhan

    Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head, 92.7 Big FM said, “92.7 Big FM stands amongst the leading radio networks of the country. Our product mix, ability to innovate, solutions approach and unparalleled reach, sees us catering to almost 1800 clients on a monthly basis. It is now time to consolidate, while ensuring the aural experience is of best quality. This price correction will ensure that the core product and promise remain relevant to the audiences while delivering optimum value to the advertisers.”

     

  • Dentsu Marcom gives clarion call for Pass Pass

    By A Correspondent

     

    DS Group launched a new campaign for its confectionary brand Pass Pass, the branded mouth freshener. Pass Pass leverages the opportunity of bringing people and relationships closer once again. And that became the centrepiece of its positioning: Human bonding and Closeness. It’s new. But it’s also timeless.

     

    The new campaign, with TV playing the pivotal role, creates imagery stemming from the positioning of closeness. The brand creates a world that enables these many moments in many different ways for all kinds of people, using different touch points in the ecosystem: social media, radio, real-world experiential engagement, and point of sale activities.

     

    The TVC drives home the point, through collection of visual montages shot in scenic locations, that closeness isn’t limited by age and shows both young as well as old people sharing moments of closeness.

     

    The film opens with a young woman opening the window of a car and letting the sunshine in. Next we see a young woman walking away after having opened a door. Then we are shown a man and a woman whose hands touch as they are passing by and the woman turns around and walks away smiling. After this, we see a man coming up and greeting a young lady who is holding a Pass Pass family pack seated with her friends who is very happy to see him and beams widely. We cut to a middle-aged man picking up his woman, almost suddenly, in an open field. We then see a bunch of young men and women holding hands on a terrace and grooving to music, as one of them passes on a sachet of Pass Pass.

     

    We see more people coming together and connecting like a young man teaches a much older woman how to ride a scooter, youngsters bonding over a bonfire and a guitar tune. The film ends with people from all age groups coming together and sharing moments over a dinner on a terrace lit by lamps.

     

    The film has a duet of a male voice over with an interlude of a female singer. The male voice over beckons us to ‘khidikiyan kholdo, darwaazon ko khula chodh do, haathon ki phire se haathon mein daalo, kisi ko gudh gudao, kisi ko gaud uthao, dosti karo, mohabbat karo, gale milo, aankh milao, kisi ko phir apna banao, taaya taayi mausa mausi sab se pyaar karo, raho hamesha pass pass’. In between this warm friendly voice over, the female singer takes off with the lyrics ‘pass pass aao, mahaul mehkao’.

     

    “The film celebrates human bonding. You don’t have to be young to enjoy moments that you are spending together. The world seems to be drifting apart with technology pulling people into lives that are largely individual. Today people are caught with themselves, their own lives, more than ever before. Increasingly, people are spending time with gadgets like laptops, cellphones and their work lives. Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc do bring people together but limits physical interaction. You can’t shake hands with a laptop or tickle a cellphone can you?” said Titus Upputuru, NCD, Dentsu Marcom.

     

    The campaign has a lyrical quality to it. “We have had jingle based films and we have had films led by voice over. Seldom do we have them coming together in the same communication. We have had this combination in films like Silsila where Amitabh Bachchan’s deep voice over is interspersed with Lata Mangeshkar’s Ye kahan se aagaye hum. The Pass Pass film attempts to recreate the magic of voice over and song to leave the viewers wanting more,” he said.

     

    Rajeev Jain, Sr General Manager, Marketing, DS Group said, “Pass Pass has built its equity from its ubiquity and has established itself as a brand that inspires togetherness and stands for ‘Human bonding and Closeness’. The campaign also focuses on the message that Pass Pass has become a part of the lives of many Indians’ as their favourite branded after mint and it encourages people to come together, no matter what the age is. It also says that family is the new friend. Generation gap is now a gap too thin and is a myth in today’s world.”

     

    Each element of the campaign invokes people to come together and get close to each other. The print and POS shows people coming together with evocative lines like ‘Haathon ka tanha tehelne na do’.

     

    Credits:

    Client:Dharampal Satyapal Ltd

    Creative Agency: Dentsu Marcom Pvt Ltd

    Account management: Sunita Prakash, Payal Dhawan

    Planning: Narayan Devanathan, Rabia Sooch

    National Creative Director: Titus Upputuru

    Creative Team: Jitendra Kaushik, Richa Sharma, Anees Aazar

    Director (of the film): Shashank Chaturvedi (Bob)

    Production House: Good Morning Films

    Music: Anandh

    Working title of film: Pass Pass - Raho Hamesha Pass Pass

    Duration: 45sec, 30sec, 20sec and 10sec

    Campaign breaks as of: May last week (27th May)

    Exposure (mediums used): Television, Digital, Radio and BTL activations & POP materials.

    Broadcast duration: 8 Weeks

     

  • Radio City bags gold at NY festival

    By A Correspondent

     

    FM network Radio City 91.1 FM has won a Gold in the ‘Best Sound’ category for ‘Radio City Acapella Jingle’, at the recently held New York Festival.

     

    Commenting on the award, Kartik Kalla, National Programming Head, Radio City 91.1 FM said, “We have an exceptionally dedicated and passionate team which believes in innovating. At Radio City it is our constant effort to encourage our team to experiment & go beyond the conventional route, and awards only boost them further.”

     

    New York Festival’s International Radio Programs & Promos Competition for The World’s Best Radio Programs & Promos honours radio programming and promotions in all lengths and formats from radio stations, networks and independent producers from around the globe.

     

    The winning jingle can be heard at http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/worldsbestradio/2013/pieces.php?iid=458311&pid=1.

     

  • 92.7 Big FM goes retro in Mumbai too

    By A Correspondent

     

    After achieving much success in Delhi with the retro re-positioning adopted late last year, 92.7 Big FM’s Mumbai station has also turned retro. With its new tag line ‘Hit the, Hit Rahenge’, the station promises music from the 1960s to the 1980s along with heritage songs from the ’50s.

     

    The repositioning was effected on Sunday, June 23 and unveiled to the media last Friday (June 28). The announcement comes close on heels of its show ‘Suhaana Safar with Annu Kapoor’ launching with much fanfare.

     

    Said Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head – 92.7 BIG FM, “The decision to turn retro is backed by extensive research and audience mapping. As has always been our endeavour, we innovate with our offerings to ensure highest levels of listener engagement providing a ‘Life Banao’ experience. Our new positioning allows listeners to live in the present, while celebrating the past and we are confident of an excellent response as we look forward to further engaging with listeners and marketers alike.”

     

    According to a communique, the relaunch also promises a local flavour with Marathi-speaking RJs and play-out of Marathi music in the course of the week. The revamped content strategy will offer updates on stock and gold prices, city and sports news, traffic and weather status, music-related trivia, etc.