MxMIndia

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  • There were many mediapersons participating at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, many regulars and some first-timers. MxMIndia asked some regulars to recount their experience

    Running for a cause, for oneself at SCMM 2013

    By Ananya Saha

     

    There were many mediapersons participating at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, many regulars and some first-timers. MxMIndia asked some regulars to recount their experience

     

    Ameya Joshi

    No training, yet running

    I have been participating since last nine times at this marathon. It is amazing to be a part of it. Having seen it grow from early years to when it has become such a mega event, it is just a super feeling. I took part in the half-marathon, and this is the category I have been participating in since always.

     

    I do not train actually, and it is nothing but laziness on my part. I do wish to participate in the full marathon.

     

    This time, I was running alone without supporting any cause even though DDB Mudra has supported Harmony since the last eight years.

     

    Ameya Joshi

    Deputy General Manager – Leadership, Learning & Change, DDB Mudra Max

     

     

     

    Paritosh Joshi

    The Yoga of Running – SCMM 2013

    Our ancient sages have left behind a legacy that exhorts us to discover Peace, Enlightenment, Divinity, indeed, all the profoundest truths of the Universe, within. Pranayama requires us to focus all our attention on that simplest, most tangible and most fundamental of all metabolic functions: our breathing. Yoga teachers demand that we examine and become aware of every muscle and sinew as we progressively contort our limbs into ever more complex asanas.

     

    Okay, I know what you are thinking. “There, he drifts off into another one of his stream-of-consciousness reveries”. But it isn’t, people. That was what my run this year was all about.

     

    Each time you run a longish distance, say anything above 10 kilometres, you experience something different. On a cold morning in St. Andrews, Scotland it might be stillness and the sharp aroma of freshly mown grass near the Old Golf Course. In Kochi along the Marine Drive, it might be the gentle lapping of the incoming tide on the seawall. In Mumbai this year, with that half-marathon kicking off at 5:40 in the pitch dark, over an hour before dawn, it was, at least for me, about being drawn quietly inward.

     

    The feet set up a rhythm. Soon enough, the breath followed as, in an act of Pranayama, the body resolved the calculus of oxygen intake and energy output. The arms began to resonate like tuning forks to the metronomic beat of feet on street. The back straightened. The head sought a more elegant perch atop the neck. This was the yoga of running.

     

    All petty anxieties and irritants fell away. Everything came into clearer focus: street children prancing about at Worli, horses being put through their paces at Mahalaxmi, exuberant supporters lustily cheering the running pack along- hands outstretched with glucose biscuits (and in one instance, jalebis!), bands striking up merry tunes. The mind’s eye was working 20/20.

     

    And then, bib no. 7744 crossed the finishing mat with his arms outstretched, wanting to embrace the whole world.

     

    Paritosh Joshi

    Media Strategist and commentator

     

     

     

    Bharat Kapadia

    It’s all about training your mind!

    I completed the half-marathon. While I was not supporting a cause, my fitness became my cause. It was a great experience, and I completed it in my best timing at 2 hrs 17 mins. This was my sixth marathon but the very first one after i crossed 60. As a senior citizen, I was entitled to enter the 4 km race but I went for the 21 km. I trained with a group- VFM Group- we have more than 105 people in the group. About 15 of them ran 42 km and rest of them attempted 21 km. I look forward to other marathons.

     

    There was so much energy at the marathon. People were running to support causes, and some were like me who were participating for themselves. It was a great feeling.

     

    At the end of the day it is all about training and training your mind that you can run a marathon.

     

    Bharat Kapadia

    Chairman, Whatuwant Solutions, and Founder at ideas@bharatkapadia.com

     

    Prashant Panday

    Running for confidence and fighting adversities!

    Running the Mumbai Marathon gives me a high I rarely experience elsewhere! It’s a personal challenge. It’s a physical and mental challenge. Running successfully gives me confidence; helps me prepare for any adversities in life. Its uplifting. And very importantly, in the 2 hours that it takes, I am able to crack many problems that seem impossible on normal days!!

     

    Prashant Panday
    Executive Director and CEO, ENIL

     

     

     

    Suman Srivastava

    Two years to the full marathon!

    I ran the half-marathon. This was my third year of participating at marathon. Surprisingly, i could not run even 100 metres three years ago. But now, I did the half-marathon. I have been training for it. I was not supporting any cause at the marathon, though I do support various causes and I am associated with an NGO.

     

    Running a marathon is more of an internal challenge, where you have to tell yourself that you can do it, and of course you can do it.

     

    I will try to run a full marathon before I hit 50, which is two years from now.

     

    Suman Srivastava

    Founder & Innovation Artist, Marketing Unplugged

     

     

     

  • Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj to produce television shows on social issues in India

    Ashok Amritraj makes TV show of docus on social issues

    By Sangeetha Kandavel

     

    Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj made his only Indian movie to date – South Indian director Shankar’s Jeans – more than a decade-and-a-half ago. The film scorched the box-office, but the “time and effort” and the “chaos” of making a movie in India dissuaded him from launching other ventures here. Until now, that is.

     

    Ashok Amritraj – brother of former Indian Davis Cup captain Vijay and a tennis ace himself – plans to produce a television show that will highlight social issues through documentaries shot by teams contesting for the grand prize – the chance to showcase their work at the Cannes Film Festival. The show, called Chance of a Lifetime and supported by the United Nations, will be the first from Mr Amritraj’s Hyde Park Image Nation India and is expected to go live this July. It will be hosted by Mr Amritraj himself.

     

    “For the first time, the contestants would also get access to footages of the UN, which have never been shared before,” said Mr Amritraj, 56, chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment. “The winning team’s work will also be shown at the UN.” Mr Amritraj made Jeans in 1998 after a successful stint in Hollywood, where he produced films like Bringing Down the House, Premonition, Shopgirl, Moonlight Mile, Double Impact and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

     

    In total, his films have grossed more than $2 billion (about .’10,700 crore) worldwide. He had said that though he enjoyed the movie-making experience in India, he couldn’t allocate more time here as his business is global. “That would mean taking 18 months out my life to come and set up a movie.”

     

    He said filmmakers from the Middle East, India and Singapore are likely to take part in Chance of a Lifetime. “Three India channels are in the race to telecast this show and we will finalise them in a month’s time,” said Mr Amritraj, who has worked with Hollywood stars like Bruce Willis, Sandra Bullock, Sylvester Stallone, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman.

     

    “Currently, the contestants are being identified.” He expects shooting for the show to begin in April. Mr Amritraj, however, feels that the India entertainment industry has a lot of catching up to do. “On a financial basis it’s growing but not as much as other markets. Russia, Brazil, all are growing faster.” He pointed out that even movies made in the UK, France, Italy, Japan and South Korea consistently bring in revenues of more than $100 million. “Here, movies are a $25-30-million business.”

     

    He is also cautious about committing to more Indian projects. “Let me make it clear we don’t want to do numbers like a studio. It’s finding an individual project that could be interesting,” Mr Amritraj said. “And, we don’t want to do things that have already been done in India.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • MxMIndia will bring you the first and only Indian Media Power List & series on Emerging Leaders

    Announcing: the MxMIndia Media Power 50 + the MxMIndia Emerging Media Leaders Series

      

    There are Lists and Lists and Lists. And there are some which try to keep the entire universe happy but not so with the MxMIndia Media Power 50. There will be just 50 ranks out there and there is no process of nominations or jury meetings.

     

    Some info on MxMIndia Media Power 50:

    • The Listing depends on the ‘power’ wielded by an individual and not just ‘bigness’ of office or organization (or the media spends). Based on a proprietary model that is updated frequently and with recordings made for scores through a calendar year so that the last quarter’s work doesn’t over-influence the final rankings. Work on the Media Power 50 began in early 2012.
    • The Media Power 50 list will be a pan-media list, and not just news media. However, it will not include advertisers/marketers (so a Nitin Paranjpe of Hindustan Unilever will not feature in the list even though his mediaspends far exceed the turnover of many media companies).
    • It will include owners and professionals.
    • The Media Power 50 list will follow the MxMIndia Code of Ethics.
    • There have been various power lists that have been published and some like the India Today Power List features media folk in it, but the last such power list was published in Sunday Mid-Day around a decade back

     

    The MxMIndia Media Power 50 will be announced on Monday, March 11, 2013… a day before the commencement of premier M&E sector event – FICCI Frames 2013.

     

     

    The MxMIndia Emerging Media Leaders Series

    The MxMIndia Emerging Media Leaders Series will be a bi-monthly series and will see nominations being invited from specific segments from the Indian media, marketing and advertising world. A jury will deliberate and decide on who among the contenders fits the bill. Since the number is limited, the decision is not going to be easy, and we will take our time on deciding on the list. We will also do our homework on each and every candidate before it comes up for the jury meeting.

     

    Await an announcement on the first of our Emerging Media Leaders Series on Friday, February 1.

     

  • At the BES Expo, I&B Minister Manish Tewari said with the exponential growth in the media space, a paradigm shift has taken place wherein regulations have to keep pace with changing technologies across platforms

    Regulation must keep up with tech: Manish Tewari

    By A Correspondent

     

    Manish Tewari

    At the BES Expo, Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Manish Tewari said with the exponential growth in the media space, a paradigm shift has taken place wherein regulations have to keep pace with changing technologies. An enabling statutory environment has to be in place to keep pace with changes taking place across platforms. “The changing landscape of the Media and entertainment industry has enabled it to become one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy. This has been facilitated by policies that have encouraged investments, sustainability for business models and promoted entrepreneurship and innovation. It was imperative that the industry, specially the broadcasting sector, has learnt to adopt, adapt and innovate with the changes taking place,” he said.

     

    The minister further stated that the renewed thrust by the industry has reinforced the concept of inclusive growth, is a developmental model that addresses the concerns of each stakeholder and recipient by the effective placement of social development programmes and policies. On the issue of democratization of media, Mr Tewari stated that it was important to understand the implications of this process on the social ethos of the country and the people at large.

     

    Mr Tewari also said that due to the paradigm shift taking place, broadcasting would always remain a dynamic medium of communication, and the guiding principles for this sector would always be innovation, ingenuity and the vision to converge technologies. Conferences such as BES Expo 2013 provided an opportunity to introspect and bring about changes at the policy level keeping in mind the roadmap and requirements of the future, he remarked.

     

    Addressing the delegates, Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, said technology had brought about a major change in the lives of the people. The shift was also visible in the way the broadcasting sector was functioning. The challenge lay in absorbing the innovations in the critical sectors. Mr Pitroda also gave an overview of the initiatives undertaken by the government to strengthen the national knowledge network and public infrastructure system.

     

    In the course of his address, I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma highlighted the changes that had taken place in the sector in view of the policy initiatives undertaken recently and the immediate concerns to be addressed by the industry.

     

  • Anuj Gandhi, CEO of IndiaCast and the yet unnamed proposed jv of IndiaCast and DisneyUTV on what the new entity means for the business

    Jaldi 5 with Anuj Gandhi, CEO, IndiaCast: No dramatic, but fundamental change

     

    Anuj Gandhi, CEO of IndiaCast and the yet unnamed proposed jv of IndiaCast and DisneyUTV and a veteran in the distribution space, on what the new entity means for the broadcast business

     

    Anuj Gandhi

    01.         IndiaCast was already distributing Disney channels in India though UTV wasn’t being distributed by you… so there will be no dramatic change on the ground. Right?

    No dramatic but fundamental change in the way we are perceived in the market.

    02.         As someone who has been a participant and watcher of the Indian broadcast space, would you see any more consolidation in the space?

    Some small pieces are still to be sorted but no major change at the national level – next phase may focus in the regional space

    Will IndiaCast be ‘game’ for more partners from independent clusters of channels?

    We will look for quality rather than quantity and also brands/products which add value to the overall bouquet

    03.         Much done, yet Mediapro with 70+ channels is still far ahead of IndiaCast. What will narrow the gap in the weeks/months/years to come?

    I don’t think we need to narrow any gaps – will like to focus on what we have and how to ensure that we get our fair share in the market.

    With distribution companies such as IndiaCast playing a critical role for monetization of channels in a digitized world, do you see such a consolidation move helping achieve that?

    Yes, it does. Also, it gives us a much wider reach and helps in better negotiations.

    04.         Your international and new media distribution and syndication will not be part of the jv. Would you see independent JVs/consolidation happening towards that too?

    These streams are still growing for us and traditionally there hasn’t been much consolidation, so not sure. We would like to build on what we have rather than aggregation.

    05.         It’s interesting that the world’s largest media conglomerate (Disney) ties up with a jv of the fourth-largest media conglomerate (Viacom) for distribution. Was it just the ground realities in India that brought you’ll together or was it a lot more?

    I think it is the way distribution business in India works where aggregation happens at the content level. So, it is just ground realities in this market.

     

  • CEOs of the media and entertainment sectors are bullish about the sector’s revenue growth, notes a PwC survey

    Captains cool on M&E revenue

     

    By Ananya Saha

     

    Media and entertainment sector captains are confident confident about revenue growth over the next three years and continue to focus on the consumer, recognizing the need to meet their rapidly evolving demands.These findings were presented in consulting firm PwC’s 16th Annual Global CEO Survey, ‘Dealing with Disruption: Adapting to Survive and Thrive’. Providing a sector perspective on the results of this year’s survey, drawn on interviews with 56 Entertainment & Media CEOs in 23 countries, and an in-depth interview with Peter Tortorici, CEO, GroupM Entertainment Global, the following is a summary of the trends and beliefs of the industry CEOs surveyed:

    Continuing focus on shifting consumer spending and behaviours

    The impact of shifting consumer spending and behaviours on growth continues to be a key concern for E&M* CEOs, with 75% concerned or extremely concerned, in line with last year’s survey – and higher than almost any other industry. And 88% anticipate changes to their customer growth, retention or loyalty strategies, in response to this.

     

    Investments in technology and speed of technological change continues

    73% of E&M CEOs expect to increase their investments in technology over the coming year, while 61% are concerned about the speed of technological change, 19% above the global cross-industry total – showing that technology remains a key enabler for E&M companies to keep apace with consumers’ rapidly evolving demands.

     

    The power of customers, clients and social media users

    Customers, clients and social media users are influencing business strategy and E&M CEOs are responding by strengthening their engagement programmes with these groups. 100% of E&M CEOs say customers and clients somewhat or significantly influence their business strategy, with 93% strengthening their engagement programmes with these two stakeholder groups. 70% report users of social media as being somewhat or significantly influential, with 95% of these CEOs strengthening their engagement programmes to this stakeholder group – 17% above the global cross-industry total.

     

    Concerns over intellectual property and customer data remain

    55% of E&M CEOs are concerned about a lack of trust in their industry, against a global cross-industry total of 37%, with 59% concerned about their inability to protect intellectual property and customer data, 25% above the global cross-industry total, reflecting continued concerns around piracy for the industry.

     

    Talent management strategies likely to change

    88% expect changes to their talent management strategies over the coming year, highlighting the continued focus on finding and retaining key talent – which remains a concern for 57% of E&M CEOs, against 65% last year and this year’s global cross-industry total of 58%.

     

    Overall confidence in E&M revenue growth

    E&M CEOs’ overall confidence in revenue growth over the next three years remains resilient with 80% feeling very or somewhat confident, with a year-on-year dip in confidence over the coming year, from 84% to 70% – reflecting a slight recalibration of expectations of the time that a return of investment will take.

     

    For more graphs and numbers: http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/2013/industry/entertainment-and-media.jhtml

     

     

     

    * Note: Although MxMIndia refers to the media and entertainment sector as M&E, PwC calls it E&M. We have stuck to E&M in the copy of this report

     

     

  • IAA India chapter President Srinivasan K Swamy on the IAA Leadership Awards will be different from the Impact Person of the Year and the attempts to keep the selection process transparent

    Jaldi 5 with Srinivasan K Swamy: IAA awards will recognize successful marketers, agency and media professionals

    The International Advertising Association’s India chapter announced the IAA Leadership Awards yesterday (Monday, December 17). The objective of the awards is to recognize individuals in the fields of marketing, advertising and media, who have made enormous professional contributions and delivered business success to their companies. The inaugural awards are to be held in February 2013 with I&B Minister Manish Tewari as Chief Guest.

     

    In an interview with MxMIndia, Srinivasan K Swamy, President of International Advertising Association and CMD, RK Swamy BBDO, spoke on the awards, the intent behind them and how they will be different from the others.

     

    01. Personality awards always get ‘political’. Why did the IAA get into this activity?

    Company or Brand Awards do not recognize adequately  individual’s contribution. If the process is transparent, which is what we will ensure through Nielsen research team and audit by Ernst & Young of that, we believe we can avoid all controversies. The IAA membership comprises individuals from advertisers, advertising agencies and the media. It is therefore most appropriate that IAA honours individuals from these related fields in a common platform.

     

    02. How will you ensure that every one from amongst the fraternity participates in the voting?

    There can be no guarantee that everyone will vote. But efforts will be on to ensure that many votes will be gathered to ascertain the true winner in the chosen category.

     

    03. In many ways, the award appears to be quite like the Impact Person of the Year award, run by the exchange4media group. The selection process is similar. They had AC Nielsen earlier and now IMRB. You have Nielsen. IAA of course has E&Y to audit and validate the process. Your comments?

    The Impact Person of the Year chooses only one individual. We will have many CMO winners from various marketing categories, best advertiser CEO, best creative agency CEO, best media agency CEO, best news anchor, best news editor etc. We believe there has been no attempt so far to bring so many successful marketers, agency personnel and media people together and applaud their outstanding contribution.

     

    04.  Will there be a ‘lifetime achievement award’ too?

    There will be a Lifetime Achievement Award. More on that on the awards night!

     

    The AAAI used to have one, but it appears to have discontinued…?

    AAAI has not discontinued it.

     

    05. On a lighter note, why did you award Nielsen and not Hansa for the initial research process?

    Isn’t it obvious?  Why create an impression of conflict of interest?

     

  • I&B minister Manish Tewari to be chief guest at awards do to award media, ad & marketing professionals

    IAA sets up leadership awards for media, ad & marketing professionals

    By A Correspondent

    The International Advertising Association’s (IAA) India chapter today announced the establishment of the IAA Leadership Awards to recognize individuals in the fields of Marketing, Advertising and Media, who have made enormous professional contributions and delivered business success to their companies.

    These Awards will be given annually and the first edition is scheduled for February 2013 in Mumbai. Manish Tewari, Union Minister of State (independent charge) of Information and Broadcasting will be the Chief Guest. Over 500 senior marketing, advertising and media professionals from across the country are expected to attend.

    The IAA Leadership Awards will celebrate an individual’s innovative thinking and performance excellence that lead to outstanding success of the product/brand. The Awards also indirectly seeks to acknowledge the fact that the disciplines of marketing, advertising and media have to come together for the brand’s success, by having all three functional disciplines awarded simultaneously.

    Srinivasan Swamy

    Talking about the awards, Srinivasan Swamy, President of International Advertising Association said, “The IAA Leadership Awards salutes the brilliance of top professionals whose contribution makes our industry what it is. These annual awards, over time will be seen as the most coveted recognition an industry practitioner will receive for all his hard work and leadership qualities, that brought about success to the product/brand.”

    To ensure that the recipients’ of the awards are determined in a fair and just manner and to ensure the process is seen as transparent, IAA has appointed the experienced marketing research company A C Nielsen to execute the nomination and voting process. Further Ernst & Young has been appointed to audit and validate the entire process. The winners will be decided in a two-stage selection process; the first stage will include nominations and shortlisting by seasoned marketing, media and advertising professionals; and the second stage will be the final selection of winners by a voting process among the shortlisted nominees, by respective senior industry peers.

  • Anil Dua, Senior Vice President – Marketing and Sales, Winner – marketer of the year – 2-wheeler

    Meet the IAA Awardwinners-2 | Every year is action-packed: Anil Dua

    By A Correspondent

     

    How has the two wheeler category been performing – and how would you rate Honda Motcop’s performance vis-à-vis the industry?

    Two wheeler category, this year, has been subdued. Two wheeler industry is used to of double digit growth. Last year it was 15%, and year before that 24%. The growth this year, so far, has been 4 to 5%. But the market sentiment is good, and things are going to look up.

     

    As far as Hero is concerned, we just finished January – where we have recorded our highest ever numbers.

     

    Would you say major growth for two-wheelers would now come from rural markets?

    Whether the growth comes from rural and small town markets, or from metros is very product specific. If you look at some of our products like Impulse, pleasure, Ignite – urban areas are contributing majorly more so from small towns. As for rural areas – they are not highly penetrated, and hence there is far more scope. If monsoons are good – leading to good agricultural growth, and good fund flow, and infrastructure development – then certainly rural areas would drive growth.

     

    Can you share your plans for higher end brands and products?

    As is public knowledge, we have tied up with EBR. Idea there has obviously been to look into high cc products – which we are developing and they would see the light of the day in due course of time.

     

    So when do we see real action in high end segment?

    Every year is action packed for us and if you look at the last half decade or so, every year we bring 7-8 new things to the customer. The coming fiscal is not going to be any different. Having said that, when you are No 1, you have to be there in all segments. Hence, action would not only be in high cc segments – but across segments.

     

    Lastly, your expectations from the budget.

    The economy needs some drivers of growth and we are optimistic about the budget which would have stimuli for growth. As the Indian market is under penetrated, low interest rates and ease of penetration would definitely help.

     

  • One Big Idea by Ashish Jalan: To excel, we need to attract professional strategic thinkers

    By Ashish Jalan, CEO, Concept Communication Ltd

     

    Public relations used to be long considered as a job of ‘liaisoning’. To liaison with media, various stakeholders, opinion makers, influencers etc. Today, PR has a very different role to play and agencies are partnering clients to strategically consult to build reputation, build brands, build corporate image, build consumer affinity and loyalty, build strong opinions and lobbies as well as create shareholder value. To the extent that today, larger agencies have managed to create areas of specialization within the overall PR space. Until recently, this was still a relatively one-way communication from the client and agency. Word of mouth was restricted by geographies and reach.

     

    The advent of social media has changed the dynamics of PR. Voice of consumers, shareholders, opinion-makers can make or break reputations at the speed of a tweet. The game changer for a PR professional today would and can only be to leverage this medium strategically to create as many ambassadors for his brand/client and maintain its relevance constantly. The challenge obviously is to create relevant content and issues which would entice debate and interaction amongst the constituents in favour of the brand/client. With no boundaries, the vibrating impact of such a program is mind numbing, but the opportunity it presents is enormous.

     

    But the real game-changer in the PR agency business, according to me, is going to be the professional strategic thinkers we are able to attract into the industry. Experiential marketing, management, planning experts, who come with domain knowledge, fresh new insights and ideas.

     

  • Yes, advertising volumes on television and print were up as per AdEx figures for 2012 from TAM Media Research

    TV volumes up 10% in 2012, print up 9%

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    So how was the last calendar year for adspends? Annus horribilis or a horrible year, as many analysts dubbed 2012, or was it not that bad a story after all?

     

    There have been many recaps of the year, but rather than prose, here, let numbers do the talking. Courtesy of TAM Media Research whose AdEx India division painstakingly computes data for ad volumes for the television and print sectors, amongst others.

     

    The growth figures are indicative of how we are doing. TV ad volume grew 10 percent and print was up 9 percent.

     

    Note: the analysis is based on ad duration in seconds for television and CCMs for print.

     

     

     

     

  • One Big Idea by B Surendar: Need a RAB-like initiative to evangelize radio

    By B. Surendar, Senior Vice President & National Sales Head, Red FM 93.5

     

    What sense does it make to identify the ‘one big idea’ that can elevate the future prospects of FM radio industry in India if we cannot first relate to the one big problem that’s holding it’s pace of growth?

     

    Factors going in favour of FM radio:

    • The ever increasing mobile penetration which has already surpassed 70 crore out of an estimated population of 120 crore in India means a lot to FM radio which is being demanded as a basic feature on mobile handsets, which in turn have already replaced the traditional radio sets as the primary mode of listening.

    • The unique concept of ‘drive time audience’ uncovered through the medium of radio combined with the automobile industry boom here.

    • The love and affinity of youth to FM radio in a country with the youngest youth population.

     

    No wonder, radio penetration is said have jumped from 59% to 77% of the population in the four leading metros Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, leaving the powerful print media behind in sheer reach already.

     

    The question that arises is – Why is radio’s share only around 4% of the ad pie when the international average is much higher and what should the industry players do to get a more deserving share?

     

    How can FM radio effectively compete with emerging media like digital and old but vulnerable media like print for a decent share of mindspace and budget of the advertisers

     

    That brings us to the ‘one big idea’ for the growth of this medium.

     

    Radio players will have to pool their resources and launch a RAB (Radio Advertising Bureau) kind of initiative in India on the same lines as that undertaken by countries like the USA, UK, South Africa, etc to evangelize this amazing medium.

     

    The key objectives:

    • To enhance the perception of radio as a primary medium for advertising

    • To make radio a easier medium for marketers & ad agencies to buy and capture value

    • To promote the innumerable positives of the medium like the spell it has on youth; superior mood enhancing ability as compared to other popular media; captive & upwardly mobile car audience it provides; embedded ability to innovate,; minimal ad avoidance which is so badly required to target certain not-so-spicy product categories like BFSI, Health, etc; synergising effect with new media platforms like digital, mobile and BTL; media multiplier effect with traditional mass media like TV & newspapers; ability to reach affluent audience; uncluttered aural route to the buyer’s mind; high reach, frequency & time spent and last but not the least; low turnaround time required and the terrific value for money solutions that it offers.