MxMIndia

Category: MxM 100 DAYS!

  • "100 reasons why…"? Or, "100 reasons what…"? Damn! Where do I start? says Ajay Kakar

    The ‘Special’ Anchor: Ajay Kakar offers ‘100’ pointers MxM must remember in its journey ahead

    By Ajay Kakar

     

    How time flies!

     

    It seems like just ‘yesterday’, that I was invited by MxM to contribute to its first ‘issue’ to hit the net. I was asked to write on a potentially controversial subject; “8 indications when you know it’s time to bid adieu to your agency”.  While I clicked away on the computer late at night, I was afraid of the potential backlash that I could receive, from the industry that had given me an alternate career and an identity, two decades ago, and till as recently as 2005.

     

    But I was fortunate to receive very warm and encouraging feedback from friends and till-then unknown names, alike, from both the advertising and marketing fraternities. Phew! That was a relief.

     

    And today, once again, it’s late in the night/early in the morning. And I am clicking away on my computer for the 100th issue of MxM. While I feel honoured to have the opportunity to contribute to these two key milestones in the life of this ‘new entrant’, what frightens me this time is that I have an open mandate to write on whatever topic that I like. But with a request that the piece should cover a 100 points! “100 reasons why…”? Or, “100 reasons what…”? Damn! Where do I start?

     

    Having been at the client and agency end, I know the importance of a ‘client brief’.  So here goes…

     

    100 pointers (in no particular order) for MxM to remember, as it continues on its journey towards the next many centuries…

     

    1. The Indian advertising, media and marketing fraternity is a small family. It’s as if we know everybody and all that there is to know.

    The opportunity is to widen our horizons. Introduce a fresh perspective. And increase/improve our learnings by making us realise that there is still a whole new world out there, waiting to be tapped

     

    2. Advertising. Advertising. Advertising. Our world seems skewed towards the visible and glamorous world of advertising, and more specifically the 30 seconder

    The opportunity is to make us realise that there are many powerful weapons in the communication armoury that remain untapped or inadequately used

     

    3. The same few names. All the time.

    The opportunity is to also bring to light the news and views related to the     yet unsung heroes, be they brands, agencies or people, who are blazing new trails, but are still below the radar.

     

    4. India is now being recognised as a strong potential, in the world of brands.  And still, there are miles to go, before we can be acknowledged as an undisputed force to reckon with.

    The opportunity is to bring the best of thinkers and doers from around the world to our doorstep, so that we can speeden up our learning curve.

     

    5. The media always has a pov on our industry.

    The opportunity is to not only have a pov, but to also partner the industry, actively, rather than be a mere bystander and observer.  To become a platform for transformational thinking.

     

    ….As all the loyal visitors of MxM will say, in unison, what is the purpose of my Pointers! MxM not only believes in all the opportunities listed by me, but it has been practising the same for the last 100 issues.

     

    I am a repeat and regular visitor to the site. I know that the site already believes in and practices all the Pointers that I have highlighted, above. I know that the site is addictive. And I join the site’s loyal base of visitors to salute the efforts of team MxM to remain an independent voice of the industry.

     

    The purpose of my piece is not to ‘preach to the converted’ ie. MxM. But to remind them of the path they have chosen. And successfully stuck to, so far. My aim is to remind them of the opportunity. And the need to stay with this path for the many centuries ahead.

     

    So today, let’s celebrate the century gone by, while looking forward to their journey ahead.  For, if you have set off on a path to perfection, the journey never ends. As they say, the match has just begun.

     

    PS: What happened to the brief (100 points)? I have exercised my right as a “client”, to change the brief.

     

    The client (and columnist) is always right! Lol – Ed

    Ajay Kakar is Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group

     

  • 100 days of MxMIndia in the words of Chief Sub-Editor Archita Wagle.

    Archita Wagle: A force to reckon with

    By Archita Wagle

     

    Before I joined MxM, I worked with a newspaper as a senior sub-editor for more than four years. I wanted a change, I wanted to write. MxM offered me a chance. Yes, it was a newly launched company, but when I was invited to be a part of the “founding team”, I decided to take a chance.

     

    For someone who has spent four years editing ‘journalistic’ copies ( that’s my term) and living with the journalistic timings (we ‘subs’ work in the evening and sleep in the morning) to adapt to the style and timings here (I report to work at 7.30 am most mornings) was intimidating. But I was always encouraged to learn and adapt, I was never yelled at for my mistakes, instead they were explained to me. And alongside my editing duties, I was given stories. My first story went as a BIG story. That was the day I was convinced that maybe I will not fail in this, after all.

     

    Ask any sub, we are the most under-appreciated lot. The people who read the newspaper always read the stories under the reporters’ byline. They never know the hard work that is put in by a sub to clean up a reporter’s copy, to make it an interesting read which will hold the reader’s attention – right from the headline to the last word in the copy.

     

    Therefore if I was asked to name one instance in these 100 days (I have been a part of MxM for less than 60 days till now) that I cherish the most, it would be the day I saw my name up on the website: Archita Wagle – Chief sub editor, acknowledging my contribution to the website.

     

    We are still growing… a lot of people aren’t aware of who or what we are. As we complete 100 days, I wish that soon we become a force to reckon with.

     

  • 100 days of MxMIndia in the words of Executive, Special Projects and Marcom, Insiyah Rangwala.

    Insiyah Rangwala: MxMIndia is here to stay and only to grow

    By Insiyah Rangwala

     

    I had always known that when I do start working I would like it to be for a start-up. Something new and exciting that is still figuring itself and its identity out. Being a part of that process was something I was sure I wanted to look for in my first job. After having graduated and looking forward to getting starting in the real world is when I heard about MxM India. It catered to a niche audience that interested me but I had barely any knowledge about.

     

    Finally after waiting for a while I had my first meeting with Mr. Pradyuman Maheshwari. I was nervous and excited to finally get started. It was a great conversation and I was immediately asked to start 3 days from then. When I got started at the office we were only 3 people. My first morning on my way to work I wasn’t sure what the atmosphere would be like as everyone was much older and experienced than me. I had questions running through my head such as what does one wear, what is okay to say what is not and how I should go about conducting myself.

     

    I was very pleasantly surprised by how relaxed everything was and how helpful Mr. Pradyuman and Mr. Alok were. They were extremely willing to share their knowledge and experiences which I believe was the best way for me to have gotten started. Not knowing anything about how this industry works they were kind enough to sit me down break all the information down and explain to me how things would progress. That is when I realized just how important the clients we service are. Our readers as well as our advertisers. I spent a large amount of time on creating a database with all our prospective readers and getting in touch with people that would be interested in the content we wanted to provide.

     

    Starting from there my job role expanded. We launched and it was a great experience being right at the heart of something that I believe is going to see a lot of success purely because of the innovation within the organization. Now we have expanded to a completely occupied office from where we were only 3 people on my first day. I can now say this with complete confidence that MxMIndia is here to stay and only to grow.

     

  • 100 days of MxM in the words of senior copy editor-cum-correspondent Akash Raha.

    Akash Raha: From Coming Soon to making it big

    By Akash Raha

     

    My journey in MxMIndia so far has been very entertaining and exciting. Starting off with a launch team and developing content from the beginning is always an exhilarating feeling. The feeling then is not of working ‘with’ a company, but rather that of building a company.

     

    I still remember the day when I got my first MxMIndia visiting card delivered, my name embossed on it in bold black. Behind the card, it read “MxMIndia– Coming Soon”. From ‘Coming Soon’ to making it big in the space of 100 days has been a short, yet fruitful journey.

     

    We have carved a special niche for ourselves in the media, marketing and advertising space amongst existing clutter. Completion of 100 days is a big and special milestone for the MxM family and yet there are ‘miles to go before we sleep’.

     

    Over the past few months, covering the print media and news broadcast beats, I was lucky to have been given the opportunity of interviewing and reporting on big developments.

     

    The journey began with two mega events – World Magazine Congress and AdAsia which our team covered comprehensively. Moreover, it gave the opportunity to interact with the big names in the industry.

     

    The print industry at the World Magazine Congress and INMA seem to be preparing for the coming digital revolution and seem to be appropriating the technology of the future. The times ahead seems to be exciting and adventurous for the print industry and for us, who report on all these developments.

  • 100 days of MxMIndia in the words of Office Operations and Support Kishor Kate

    Kishor Kate: The atmostphere of a start-up is fun

    By Kishor Kate

     

    When I came for the job interview at MxM near October end for the position of Office Operations and Support, I was clearly told that there’s a clear growth path ahead of me… and it’s in my hands how I define the way my job here shapes up. I generally run around for odd jobs in the office and supporting everyone in their work. But it has never been a bad experience. The people are friendly and always nice.  I have been encouraged to learn. The boss encouraged me to type and work on the computer. I am enjoying my work here. Yes, there are days when the work hours are long and I have to wait in the office till very late. But MxM is a startup, and it is a small and cozy setting. The experience of working in a office like MxM is definitely different than working in a regular office. The atmostphere here is fun.

     

  • 100 days of MxM in the words of Deputy Editor Tuhina Anand.

    Tuhina Anand: It was no mean task to have engaged the industry even before our launch

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    We started MxMIndia with a vision to provide our readers something more than the usual reporting that is done in this sector. The last 100 days have been a learning experience, with our quest to provide refreshing content to our readers thus pushing ourselves a little bit more to give that extra bit. It would have been no fun if we had churned out run-of-the-mill stuff day in and day out. As challenging as this might be, it has been no less than a roller-coaster ride.

     

    The biggest challenge was when we were working on our launch edition – September 7, 2011. The site was not launched and we had to approach the industry for news, views, interviews and case studies so that we could have all our sections going on the day of the launch. It was no mean task to have engaged the industry even before our launch and we were appreciated by many for our endeavour.

     

    But we managed to do this, all thanks to the experienced team that we have at MxMIndiawho do not shy away from pushing the boundaries.

     

    There was anticipation and palpable excitement on the day we launched. I remember comparing notes on the response we got from the industry. Since that first day, we have done many remarkable stories that have made the industry recognize us even in such a short period of time.

     

    I also remember once, for our daily segment that we call Anchor, we were looking for a marketer who could write for us. Ajay Kakar, CMO – Financial Services at Aditya Birla Group wrote a piece for us on ‘8 indications when you know it’s time to bid goodbye to your agency’. Kakar ensured that he sent his piece, even though it was late in the night.

     

    The journey has just begun. There would be many more 100s where we, as a team, will do our best to give the best in terms of reports and views to the industry.

     

  • 100 days of MxMIndia in the words of Executive Producer, MxM TV Shruti Pushkarna.

    Shruti Pushkarna: Of high-definition cameras and exclusive video chats

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    MxM India completes its 100 days today, on February 1. It feels like yesterday when I was out in the market, on the internet, making endless phone calls to zero in on the best buy for our video coverage. This would include a high definition camera, a tripod, a microphone and other accessories. After much running around (including the swarmed streets of Chandni Chowk), we finally bought a Kodak zi8 (http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/Zi8_Pocket_Video_Camera/productID.156585800).

     

    Much to my surprise at every event I covered with this camera, or any interview I recorded on it, my audience was awestruck with the compact equipment MxM team moved around with. Many mistook it for a phone, and in every break, be it over a cup of coffee or over lunch, I would be greeted with inquisitive fellas wanting to know more about the camera. And yes I would reiterate to each one of them that we shoot ‘on-air’ quality, full HD!

     

    I must confess, one idea that I borrowed from my past experience as a TV producer, was the decision to buy a gun mic. When you are at an event which is crowded with Television crews with their ‘heavy-duty’ equipment, the one thing that’s common between us and them is the good old gun mic. Believe you me, it puts you in line with the TV wallahs. Of course it’s handy at the same time. You just have to be clever enough to push your mic and slick camera through the aggressive TV crews and get your ‘bites’ for the day. One of my recent experiences being getting sound bites from the DoT Secretary, R Chandrashekar, at thE 6th India Digital Summit, when all TV journos and cameramen ‘gheraoed’ him.

     

    Enough tech talk, let’s move on to content. Among the events I covered in the last 100 days, the two big ones that stood out most in terms of video coverage were, the 38th FIPP World Magazine Congress (WMC) and AdAsia 2011. At WMC, we were lucky enough to get some great exclusive video chats with the FIPP President & CEO, Chris Llewellyn, AIM President and Worldwide Media CEO, Tarun Rai, Cybermedia Chairman, Pradeep Gupta, Kallie Purie, COO, India Today Digital and also members of the Organizing Committee, India Today Group CEO, Ashish Bagga being one of them. And before the conference commenced, on the launch of the event, I was lucky to be close enough to capture the King Khan doing his ‘chhammak challo’! That was my first to have got over a 2000 views within no time at all!

     

    At AdAsia again, we were fortunate to get all the ‘gurus’ of the ad world interact one-on-one with us. Piyush Pandey of Ogilvy & Mather, Prasoon Joshi of McCann, Michael Roth, CEO, Interpublic, Tom Doctoroff of JWT China, Ravi Deshpande of Contract India, CEO of BBDO in Asia, Middle East & Africa, Chris Thomas, and many more engaged with us in candid video interviews. Here again, we stood in line with the usual suspects of the TV world.

     

    Apart from events’ coverage, we had an early exclusive with Reckitt Benckiser’s Chander Mohan Sethi. Here too I struggled to make space with pushy TV crews but finally managed to get the desired answers.

     

    But what remains my personal favourite, was my interaction with whom I call the epitome of broadcast journalism, Mark Tully. He was candid, honest, precise. His love and belief in broadcast journalism did not deter him from highlighting the follies of the trade. He didn’t seem angry at what TV journalism looks like in the country today, he only seemed concerned. As a man who likes to call himself ‘a British who is much influenced by India’, his worry for issues, social and political, came through in almost all his responses pertaining to India’s developmental story. As a TV producer myself, I exchanged many stories with him off the camera, and some of them seemed similar to the ones he narrated to me from his times. For me it turned out to be quite a unique and enlightening discussion on ‘media’.

     

    There is so much more that I have experienced in these 100 days as part of team MxM, be it interviewing the likes of Vinod Mehta and Mark Tully or witnessing a new avatar of Arnab Goswami giggling like a school boy to Vinod Mehta’s jokes at the launch of the latter’s memoirs.

     

    But as the rhyme goes, ‘100 days, 100 days, so clap and sway and say hurray’!

     

  • 100 days of MxM in the words of senior correspondent Shubhangi Mehta.

    Shubhangi Mehta: Where ‘highs’ & ‘lows’ are treated like a comma, never a full stop

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    Waking up on wintry mornings at 8.30 am, getting out of my cozy bed, freshening up and entering the MxM India office (my study) where my laptop is my colleague and my Blackberry is the boss’s messenger. Strange eh? Well, this is precisely my life at MxM India, and if not every day, at least most days I have been in absolute high spirits.

     

    To be very honest, when I joined MxMIndia, I wasn’t really sure of the future, neither mine nor MxM’s but that’s where the ecstasy was and more so, it was the trust of the MxM team that I was good enough to do the job.

     

    The past four months have been a mixed bag for me in terms of highs and lows just like a regular journalist working anywhere, but what makes it different to be at MxM is that here ‘the highs’ as well as ‘the lows’ are treated like a ‘comma’ and never a ‘full stop’.

     

    Whenever we work in a company, it becomes a second family for us but working with MxM made me realise that this place has actually become like a family for me as I am a part of the foundation team.

     

    What makes me feel proud is that despite the challenges we have managed to do some high-quality work, be it the breaking news or the exclusive news of agencies bagging businesses or the fun of doing the ‘Big stories’, we do it all here at MxM.

     

    It is after joining MxM, I felt personally responsible for the misses on my site. If a story on my site is appreciated, it makes me feel content, no matter whoever’s by line that story has.

     

    The reason which makes the working experience different at MxMIndia is that each of us is responsible for his/her work. We are all colleagues here and the attitude of pushing someone else behind in order to accomplish one’s own goals is nowhere to be seen.

     

    No doubt, the same routine everyday makes life seem a little monotonous. But, what the hell? Every work becomes monotonous in a while, it’s the way we do that work which makes a difference.

     

    In the past year, I had often questioned myself many times if this is what I want to do in life. Is journalism something I want to continue with? Is advertising the beat I enjoy writing on? Well, working with MxM I have realised that I need to stop ‘trying’ to fit in, this is something I was born to do, because even if I commit mistakes it simply means I am trying. ‘Try and don’t give up’ is what MxM has taught me.

     

  • 100 days of MXM in the words of senior correspondent Robin Thomas.

    Robin Thomas: Still so much to learn about this fascinating medium called Radio

    By Robin Thomas

     

    My Congratulations to Team MxM on completing 100 days. At MxMIndia, I handle the radio and Out-of-Home (OOH) beats. Since I have handled radio before, it did not take long for me to settle down at MxM. Radio has always, and perhaps will always, be one of my favourite mediums because of its ability to reach not only the masses, but also the unreached, all this through just sound.

     

    There are many stories that I loved doing at MxM but two of my absolute favourites are the radio stories – ‘RJ mentions need to be regulated?’ and ‘Radio One turning international’.

     

    The RJ Mentions story is close to my heart because it was my first big story at MxM.

     

    The Radio One story involved chasing a lot of people and getting confirmations from multiple sources – some extreme hard work but the end was fruitful.

     

    OOH, on the other hand, is a completely different ball game altogether, for me. The type of stories, the people in the industry and the medium itself is vastly different from the radio beat, my comfort zone.

     

    One of the OOH stories I really enjoyed working on was Milestone Brandcom launching its rural and digital divisions. Another story that gave me a high to work on was the OOH rural story, mainly because most of the industry players have been saying that the next phase of growth in OOH media would be coming from tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

     

    I have always enjoyed writing about the radio industry, but there is still so much I have to learn about this fascinating medium and there is still so much to do. I am also looking forward to getting comfortable and doing some really good work in OOH media as well. To all the radio and outdoor players and the readers, please continue giving me your feedback – positive or critical, and I will do my best to keep you informed and provide a good read.

     

  • 100 days of MxMIndia in the words of Contributing Editor Jaisurya Das.

    Jaisurya Das: A stupendous start

    By Jaisurya Das

     

    Yeah! We are a 100 days strong and boy hasn’t it been fun at DearMxm!

     

    I recollect when we kicked off with the inaugural column we were almost certain we would be writing our own questions and it would take ages before our readers sought our advice…. Well, we were wrong and the very next week the response started coming in and soon we were battling on what to answer each week since most of our readers had multiple queries and each of them significant.

     

    DearMxm also got popular thanks to the brief intro to each column which was Pradyuman’s idea and it has been a super journey covering the high and lows of the industry. The past 3  months have been so full of action, be it companies or people in them . Investments, launches, huge people movement, shake ups, collaborations or just analysis .

     

    And through all these days we stayed glued on to the market to bring you the best snapshots of the action remaining true to our beliefs always . I feel particularly emotional since this column and idea itself means so much to our core belief that mentoring makes people.

     

    Dream big, start visualizing yourself in that avatar and the world will turn around to give you all that you want from it . We have the power to do it and belief is the starting point!

     

    For our readers today, I reproduce my personal selection of the “  5 best questions ” we have received and responded  from our archives.

     

    Thank you dear readers for making us feel so warm, strong and cared for.  We do hope we will always live up to your expectations of us being there for you always….

     

  • 100 days of MXM in the words of Web designer Rafiq Barak

    Rafiq Barak: What keeps me going is the challenge of the creativity

    By Rafiq Barak

     

    My day officially starts at 7.30am. At a time when most of the people are waking up, I am uploading content on MxM website, ensuring the photographs are right, and checking for a variety of characters which get into websites. The job requires a sharp eye and mind, not easy first thing in the morning.

     

    After the content is uploaded, then there are the newsletters that I have send out after a set of test mails.

     

    If all this sounds routine, most of the time it is…But what keeps me going is the challenge of the creativity. Be it the big story images, or the design work I do for the website.

     

    If you think images are easy work, and one can ‘borrow’ from the web…it is not. MxM has a strict code of ethics where I can lose my job for picking up photographs from the Internet without permissions. So I have to be creative with what I have. Sometimes, the concept of the story is simple and has ready images.

     

    But the real challenge is when the concept is abstract and the image has to be created. One story image I enjoyed working on was the recent Hindu ads big story. Sir (my boss) had suggested a concept but I went ahead with something I had created and sent it to him. I took a chance and it worked…he responded with ‘excellent’. It was good to be appreciated.

     

    All of this requires good planning…But at night I go to sleep with a clear mind that the work I did for the day was my own and on the right side of the law!

     

  • 100 days of MxMIndia in the words of Senior Assistant Editor, Johnson Napier.

    Johnson Napier: Century @ MxM – Chalta hi jaaye…

    By Johnson Napier

     

    It seems like yesterday; like I had just walked into this modest yet cosy office that had just about made its foray into the online world with a bang. The initial feelings that engulfed me while I stepped foot into the premises a couple of months ago was that of friendliness and familiarity. Familiarity, as I was making a headway back to the arena from where I had made an exit a few months ago, and friendliness as I was about to be joining a workplace where the employees were all known and familiar to me. From then on, the ride has been a challenging yet motivational one for all of us. It is not easy trying to be the best in a field where there are already established players but there is something about MxM India – apart from the clutter-breaking news and stories that it churns out everyday – that makes it a place worth existing.

     

    Of the many different Media domains that one gets to read about on the website, there is a dedicated space for the PR industry – often the neglected lot – who finally have a voice and a channel to air their views on. From CEOs to business heads and even individual entrepreneurs, most have welcomed this new gesture by actively participating in the exercise by way of columns, interviews, news etc. Of course, there are the regular beats that update the viewers of the ongoing state of the industry but it is the effort in going the extra mile with attempts such as these (PR, Journalism, etc) that brings about a cheer amongst the industry at large.

     

    As we complete a century, we hope to be making more noise around the work that we do and keep engaging the industry on a profound level so as to be the hub of providing resourceful and insightful opinions around the world of media.

     

    Here’s to completing many more century days in the future!!!