Category: THE ANCHOR

By N S Rajan, Managing Director, Ketchum Sampark

 

In a world in which society and business are largely based on the flow of information and ideas, PR professionals will have to gear themselves to the tectonic shift in the way PR in India will be practised in the coming years as we become one global community.

 

While organizations will need all the assistance to be able to effectively communicate in a world built on dialogue and transparency, the transition from a policy of being closed and communicating by press release, to building genuine human interactions and conversations which is the need of the hour, is far from easy. Guidelines and parameters need to be established and communicated, spokespersons need to be coached and technologies need to be implemented. Of all the professions, PR is better equipped to be able to do this effectively. Yet practitioners also need to extend their capabilities into new domains such as technology and new media besides analytics in order to be able to deliver on this.

 

The future of marketing as a whole lies with integration. Agencies that master the 360-degree approach to strategy, ensuring consistent messaging across all platforms including advertising, design, social media and traditional marketing activities, will be the leaders in their field. As the lines between traditional PR and advertising are blurring, a holistic approach is more vital than ever. PR practitioners need to represent themselves effectively, proving their ability to keep up with shifts in the industry.

 

The increasing importance of mobile and social networks mean that PR professionals must evolve their communications beyond the traditional press release and increase the channels through which they are delivered. With all these shifts in the methods and means of communication, the key to credibility is adopting and adapting to new ideas.

 

If PR practitioners are going to continue to work closely with their marketing brethren and generate significant results for their Organizations or clients, they need to get more comfortable with analytics.

 

The measurability of outcomes requires communicators to sharpen their analytical skills, because “big data” is here to stay, and it is strongly informing communications. Knowing how to organize and crunch data, correlate results and correctly interpret and apply data are core skills that enable communicators to turn the masses of data available to us into valuable business intelligence and ROI metrics.

 

The next few years will see organizations being forced to take the blinkers off and put money behind PR professionals who can get the word out to a wider canvas not only tactfully but more importantly with results. That will separate the men from the boys.

 

By Prabhakar Mundkur, Executive Director, Percept / H

 

When the Russians invented the Sputnik in 1957 everyone thought this was an innovation in space technology with military applications. As it turned out in retrospect, it was an innovation for communications. It became the first satellite in space, just the size of a basketball, which weighed about 183 pounds, and took 98 minutes to orbit the earth in its elliptical orbit.

 

The idea of wireless itself is not new. Remember your first radio transistor? Radio waves transmit music, conversations, pictures and data through the air over millions of kilometers. Radio waves are invisible and completely undetectable by humans. Whether we are talking about a cellphone, a cordless phone or a thousand other technologies all of them use radio waves to communicate. Even things like radar and microwave ovens depend on radio waves. So is this the end of where wireless can take us?

 

All of us have a few dusty power cord tangles around our home. Behind the TV, behind the audio system, behind our desktops… How often have you followed that one particular wire through its various snarls right to the power outlet hoping you are going to pull out the right plug? So I guess you know what I’m getting at. What if you could use those same radio waves that transmit to your cellphone, TV, and wi-fi, to transmit power to your devices? The idea is futuristic but it is not entirely new. The electric toothbrush is a first step in this direction. The toothbrush’s daily exposure to water makes it potentially dangerous were it to charge through a ordinary power charger. Electric toothbrushes recharge through inductive coupling, which again is not new.

 

So imagine a world without power cords. Now add that to your existing digital world of TV, computers, cellphones, iPods, iPads, Facebook, Twitter and other media.
The future of the internet and internet-based technologies may well be cutting our umbilical cord with the power outlet!

 

By Jasmin Sohrabji, CEO, Omnicom Media Group

 

Not sure if I am best qualified to speak on what could be the one big idea that could be a game-changer for news television, and would rather term my thoughts on the subject as ‘back to basics’ than a game-changer! Maybe it exists and maybe it does not…but whenever I switch to a news channel, I see a very qualified anchor engaging with a bunch of people, most of whose point of view I have little or no interest in, and who are definitely not the reason I come to this news channel for! Why can’t we have what was one of the cornerstones of print journalism – The Editorial? I made an effort to read my daily newspaper every morning every single day of my life and stayed loyal to the paper. Why? Not because I need to get the daily news… that I could get anywhere. I did it because I valued the newspaper’s stance on news and its politics. I did it because the newspaper’s editorial helped me shape my own thinking. I read the news to be informed and to form my own perspectives.

 

News on TV has become a ‘come share your thoughts, everyone’ platform today and frankly, viewers would rather stay loyal to a stronger editorial from the lead editor/anchor than the ability of the news editor to bring guest panels whose point of view viewers have not bought into. Like I said at the start, maybe it’s there and maybe it’s not; but when I switch to my news channel of choice, I should stay on not for the guest panel, but for the very insightful editorial I am about to hear.

 

By Zafar Rais, Founder and CEO, MindShift Interactive

 

Social media has revolutionized the way a marketer thinks today. The Indian digital advertising market this year is estimated at Rs 2,851 crore and is expected to double to about Rs 4,391 crore next year as a result of which platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest are persistently evolving to help brands connect instantly with consumers. Consumers realise the power of the medium and use it to voice their opinion on brands and events around them. The awareness for using social media to promote and leverage brands has tremendously increased in the recent times, as a core part of their marketing strategies.

 

There are different ways through which one can ensure maximum outreach through various platforms on the social media front. We need to take into consideration various aspects while planning a social media campaign. While planning a social media campaign it is important to go beyond the numbers and look at what your consumers would like to engage with and share.

 

Choosing the right platform: Social media engagement does not restrict itself to the presence on Facebook, Twitter and Slideshare. A platform like Facebook is key to create the right engagement whereas Twitter works best to create maximum buzz about the brand. E-commerce portals have identified Pinterest as a key platform to ensure they reach out to the right target audience. It is essential to identify the platform that will suit the personality of the brand and the nature of engagement of the campaign. It is the core responsibility of a brand to identify the nature and personality of the consumers that you wish to engage through their campaigns. The campaign ideas and the theme need to revolve around the type of consumers that we wish to communicate with.

 

Integration of various platforms on Social Media also works best for brands to ensure a large number of consumers are targeted through their campaign. Whether it’s social media for small business or a large B2B social media marketing campaign, companies should integrate social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Slideshare to their websites. This allows prospect customers to gain insights on how a brand would engage with them and gain additional information on the latest happenings which may not be present at such a high frequency on the website.

 

Social media integration is the stuff that successful social media marketing campaigns are made of and it ensures that genuine interest is sparked by real people around a brand. Building a community of repeat customers will help a brand gain in social finance and create a credible social name among consumers in general.

 

Integration and the right mix of content ensures that genuine interest is sparked by real people around a brand and it is up to each brand to take the onus of understanding their consumers prior to marketing to them.  Building a community of repeat customers will help a brand gain in social finance and create a credible social name among consumers in general. That is what would truly give business a holistic, integrated strategy and will be born and acknowledged in the future. Awareness of the right trends with the people can be chalked basis the research and evaluation of past case studies to understand the touch points and make a campaign a great success.

 

By Agnello Dias, Co-founder, TapRoot India

 

In my view, the one big idea that can transform the advertising agency business in India would be to bring on a uniform fee structure. Currently the agencies work on various payment models and that has led to a situation where agencies are reduced to being seen as a service provider instead of a partner in building brands. The various compensation models, be it a retainer fee or a commission fee, also have no uniformity and change to meet the needs of the clients and the agencies. In this situation, the worst thing to happen is that we now fail to estimate the exact value of our industry, which has become impossible. With no real valuation available the industry has also lost out on its chance to emerge as a contributor in the value chain where advertising comes only much later.

 

Hence, a uniform fee structure is the need of the hour for the advertising fraternity. This will help in advertising getting its due which otherwise is being relegated to the background when it comes to clients, and seen as a quick solution provider, which should not happen. Once a fee structure is in place, it would be a positive step towards bringing back advertising to the main realm in a marketing strategy.

 

By N Ramamoorthi, President & Country Head, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

 

PR in India has often been associated with outcomes related to very select communities. Shareholders, investors, business audiences, influencers. How about adding the public at large?

 

It is natural for companies to engage with stakeholders who have a tangible influence on their business – through customer service, marketing, advertising, and local community programmes. Why should they engage with people who have no direct connection with their business?

 

Because the public is becoming involved.

The basic lesson from the (oft quoted) Anna Hazare movement – even though there was no constitutional need to do so, Parliament had to engage with a group of people who got involved.

 

As a country, we are going through a difficult period of economic change. On the one hand, significant development – new roads, schools, malls and airports. On the other, a segment of population that can see, but does not have the means to experience this development. (And I don’t just mean the bottom of the pyramid here).

 

This disparity will either lead to unrealistic expectations, or to resentment. And then at the first opportunity, to involvement. Think about the recent case in Mumbai where there was a brief movement against payment of road tolls.

 

It is not that any of these feelings are new. It is just that they are now gaining a stronger voice. Through social media and even through traditional media – look at the number of articles that use members of the public to support their story.

 

It would therefore be a great idea for companies to actively add the public to their list of stakeholders. Research their opinions – on the company and its corporate reputation, on its leadership, on its products, on the industry even. Find and associate with a cause that resonates with the public. Proactively put programmes in place to advocate the cause. Show how the company works towards achieving it.

 

This will not only ring-fence a company from potential crises, but also help its business in the long run.

Miles Young, the Worldwide Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather recently had this to say at a ThinkTank Live summit, “In the new world, the role of PR is to help socialize the enterprise”. To me, it means, give the public “emotional ownership” of your company.

 

After all that’s what PR is all about, isn’t it? Not just consumer, but Public relations.

 

By Monica Tata, General Manager, Entertainment Networks, South Asia, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd

 

I believe that the unique gamechanger for the broadcasting industry will be a robust monitoring system that is in touch with changing times and which captures the growth of our industry correctly across all genres. Currently channels are getting under-represented, and this is adversely affecting their monetization.

 

Also I believe that the broadcasters need to be paid rightfully for the value they bring to the table. The current CPRP system does not fully take into account the increase in eyeballs that has come by with increased investments in distribution of channels & content. While the kid’s category GRPs have grown by 9%, reach has grown by 17% for the same period, which means that we now reach to 34 mn kids versus 29 mn. The English movies genre on the other hand has grown from 4.90 mn to 6.06 mn thereby fueling the growth by 23% (Source: TAM Q2 2012 over Q2 2010).

 

The advertising rates increase only takes inflation and channel performance into account without completely doing justice to this increased reach of the channels which has come on the back of continuous increased investments by the broadcasters.

 

Going forward, amongst other things, a robust monitoring system and broadcasters being rightfully paid for the value they bring to the advertisers will help fuel the growth of industry.

 

By Sajjan Kumar, VP, Imaging, Nikon India

 

The internet is the one of the biggest technological innovations mankind has ever had, which surely seems to have stirred a revolution. At the time of its inception, the inventors couldn’t fathom the sensation it would become or the major role it would play in our day-to-day lives. The internet world as we know it today has undergone far-reaching changes since its early days while becoming a critical communications infrastructure underpinning our economic performance and social welfare.

 

Starting from its modest birth, the Internet has already profoundly changed our economic and social world and will remain the same in the future. If today’s Internet is a crucial element of our economy, the future Internet will play an even more vital role in every conceivable business process. It will become the productivity tool “par excellence”.

 

Internet technology is ever-evolving. It is predicted that cloud control is key to the future of the internet, and with the growth of smartphones and tablets, mobile technology is now at the heart of personal computing. People are using the mobile web and applications to interact with friends and family through social media, as well as access, explore, buy and consume everything from content and services to information, entertainment and utilities, from anywhere at any time. In a world increasingly dominated by mobile devices, location and relevancy matter, the businesses should aim to take advantage of the unique characteristics and benefits that the mobile platform can provide.

 

The next big move will be to tap users browsing the internet through mobile devices, and using various channels within the mobile medium to garner high traction for the business. This will bring about possibilities like we have never had before.

 

By Suresh Srinivasan, Vice President (Advt), The Hindu Group of Publications

 

One must look at the overall landscape of the media industry to understand the survival and growth strategy. Growth for the media business has come from diversifying to various multimedia offerings. The print players have gone on to have various properties in different mediums, be it television, radio or OOH among others.

 

The overall industry has been growing at a moderate pace. For the print industry, the game-changer has been the supplements. These supplements are specific in targeting people thus catering to a specific need and taste. Specific targeting also becomes possible with multiple supplements which are also very innovative.

 

While supplements are something that we have already experimented with, if one were to look at the game-changer idea for print it would be to explore possibilities of making the product more conversational. In today’s era, the internet is one of the biggest threats to the newspaper business but one can look at integrating this medium with print and leveraging it to reap benefits. One can take up local micro issues using the reach that print has and then take the discussion further online. This would also help in getting the emotional connect which is extremely necessary to make print relevant to its consumers. Another game-changer idea would be to look at ways to get the FMCG companies who have moved to television, to start spending on newspapers. Print can give the FMCGs who are traditionally big advertisers great value, but the need is to show these players how this category can benefit if they up their spends on this medium.

 

By Mandeep Malhotra, President & Head, Mudra Max

 

It’s a difficult time for the Indian economy with slowing consumer demands and rising interest rates impacting the overall growth. This has subsequently led to cuts in the advertising budgets with the OOH sector taking the hardest hit compared to any other advertising sector. The absence of aclear tool to measure ROI’s, has led to OOH being a residual recipient of the media spends. The big thing that will shape the out of home space in future is “Digitization”. Though it is at a nascent stage in India, it is evolving. The pace of switch to digital will be significant inside the airports, railways stations shopping malls and other controlled environments. The falling prices and improving quality of flat screen display mean that static posters can be replaced by snazzy digital commercials with moving pictures, sound and sometime interactive features.

 

Technology will be a key ingredient in the progress and I foresee a future where the messages will be contextual to the audience. Digitization and technology has to be increasingly used to drive the media and help innovate. We hope to see a future where billboards would be intelligent enough to guess the profile of the audience by sampling through visible data and catering to ads that are relevant to the audience for example, the “make” of the car (pattern recognition) passing by will play a key role in assessing the profile of the audience.

 

By Atul Phadnis, CEO, What’s-On-India

 

Digital TV homes in India will soon in the next few months, overtake analogue TV homes. Besides the digital TV wave via cable and DTH, we are also seeing mobile TV and OTT as new modes of TV distribution. In this environment, the one big idea that never ceases to amaze me is TV content search!

 

As channels proliferate and increase in existing and newer genres including regional, adventure sports, crime, science, education, etc, we are seeing a dramatic consumer dependence on the EPG for navigational and search purposes. The EPGs are set to evolve and become more ‘Indianised’, with increased coverage and regional focus via translations into Indian languages.

 

Newer STBs and DVRs have improved search

In newer STBs, viewers will be able to search by actors, moods, genres – leading to a richer user experience. However, the day is not far where viewers will be able to save their preferences via an individual, personalized login. Search is set to get personalized…

 

Effect of abundant choice on viewers

A host of studies that we have conducted reveal a fall in appointment viewing and an increase in unplanned or random viewing due to a bigger basket of choice per each average viewer.

 

So how will viewers find their favourite shows in the future, especially when they get more than 500 channels?

 

Search is one step from consumption

In all the observations we are seeing with viewer behaviour, one consistent insight coming through is that viewers are always searching for TV shows before viewing/consumption. Whether that search is on the EPG or a crude search via channel surfing or a very intuitive search on our apps, we as viewers like to sift through options before we settle on the programmes that we watch.

 

In the future, we expect that search will explain consumption to a great extent.

 

Game changer?

TV search will continue to play a key role in shaping viewership and channel choices in the coming days. The funny thing is these changes are happening so seamlessly – so much so that very soon, we will be asking ourselves how such a major transformation could take place in just one blink!