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  • Jhaveri has more than 18 years of professional experience. She began her career with an NGO only to move on two years later into the media and advertising arena by joining the media planning department at Contract Advertising.

    Sushma Jhaveri: COO, Madison Communications

    (Total work experience: 18 years+)

    Jhaveri has more than 18 years of professional experience. She began her career with an NGO only to move on two years later into the media and advertising arena by joining the media planning department at Contract Advertising.

     

    She has several years of experience in media planning and research and has worked in companies such as Carat, Mindshare Fulcrum, TME and Synovate.

     

    Jhaveri has worked with clients across categories including names such as Unilever (oral care and deodorant brands), Colgate, Britannia, Godrej Appliances, Heinz, Castrol, Viacom18, ICICI Bank, STAR Network, Shoppers Stop, HDFC, and more.

     

    On the research side, she has been involved with media research, micro market planning software, various ad-tracking studies and also conceptualizing and tracking customised research for various brands.

     

  • Being born in a family that had to shift base quite often, most of Mausumi Kar's early days meant travelling and accommodating to different settings across the state of Nagaland.

    Mausumi Kar: General Manager- Maxus, North and East

    (Work Experience: 18 years+)

    Being born in a family that had to shift base quite often, most of Mausumi Kar’s early days meant travelling and accommodating to different settings across the state of Nagaland. Her father’s frequent posting exercise didn’t allow her to grow roots in a place for more than two years. But then it was time to restore some stability and that’s when her parents opted to send her to Kolkata. From Plus Two to graduating with Honors in English Literature and then specializing in Marketing for MBA, all of this happened in the city of Kolkata for Kar.

     

    It has been close to 18 years now that Kar has been working. She started out in account management after completing her MBA. An accidental bump into media planning and she has been hooked on to it ever since. Kar had a brief but fascinating foray in Sports Research and Strategy. For Kar, it has been an interesting ride so far and she doesn’t see herself hanging the boots anytime soon.

     

    On her reasons for joining the media planning & buying domain, Kar confessed saying, “To be honest media planning and buying was not my profession of choice. Given my academic and extra-curricular activities track records it was a forgone conclusion that I would join the Civil Services. Infact, I had qualified and was just waiting for my training to commence. However, Dr. Subrata Sengupta had happened to see me in my final semesters at B’ School and I was not willing to give up advertising in favour of becoming a bureaucrat. So, that’s what happened.” In fact for Kar, media is a subset of advertising and the fact that there is this fine balance of strategic thinking, consumer insights and creativity is what drew her away from the account management profile that she handled earlier in her career.

     

  • TRIP will be based out of Mumbai and it will be headed by Purushottam Joshi, who is also a partner in this unit

    Taproot’s new TRIP

    By A Correspondent

     

    Taproot India Communications Pvt. Ltd has announced the launch of TRIP (Taproot India Plus), a Creative Execution & Services unit specializing in non-mass media and production activities for the advertising, publicity and marketing industry.

     

    The undeniable truth in mass communication is that any idea is only as good as its execution. Any powerful idea can meet a premature end, if the execution is not up to the mark. Many a times, the extension of a TV, press or outdoor campaign is left with limited innovation, and not looked upon with greater attention to details. Yet, very often, that is the only face of the brand that the consumer interacts with. It is not only about the standard BTL, but every single experience point where a brand has a connect with its consumer. For example, POS, brand signage, in-shop displays, merchandise, exhibitions and events and so on. TRIP, with its core competencies in the above mentioned activities of high end, high value production, hopes to change all that.

     

    Agnello Dias said: “This sort of service does exist in international markets where once the big idea is arrived at, the creative services execution team, with their practical knowledge of on-ground and retail space takes the idea forward in a more engaging, entertaining and effective way. To the extent that at times most clients do brief these set of team independently like one does to a research or a digital agency”.

     

    TRIP believes that a positive approach, understanding of the medium, innovative thinking, huge industry experience and an eye for perfection can make all non mass-media touch points play a far stronger role in the communication mix than they do today, which is merely a support or reminder to the main communication units.

     

    Santosh Padhi said: “The industry spends on retail/on-ground/merchandise are already steep, but sadly, the quality needs to improve much more to honestly justify those spends. The industry has moved ahead quite a bit on film production in last five years with our television work looking far better than what it was a decade back. But we are yet to do the same in other areas.”

     

    Purushottam Joshi

    TRIP will be based out of Mumbai, but Taproot’s multi-city network tie ups can support national level requirements too. It is headed by Purushottam Joshi, who is also a partner in this unit; Mr Joshi will be leading this unit as a director and will be the face of this unit with an experienced team under him He has over 25 years of experience in the advertising and print industry. He has worked in large agency networks such as JWT, Euro RSCG and Mudra where he played a key role in successfully leading the Art and Production function and transforming them into critical divisions for those agency’s clients.

     

    With his deep knowledge and vast experience of the industry, Purushottam Joshi, Director of TRIP, feels: “There is a disconnect between what kind of state-of-the-art technology available in the market versus what’s being used or rather how it’s being used to reach consumers.” In fact, he is positive that ventures like TRIP can bridge the divide between brands and consumer across non mass-media touch points in a more relevant and effective way.

     

  • The combo of FM radio & regional TV has worked wonders for the Reliance Broadcast Network

    BIG plans for regional media: Tarun Katial

     

    For once, what you are reading is a truly BIG story. Literally, metaphorically and every way you would like to. A lot has been written about the way his empire that has been expanding its tentacles. It’s been a 360-degree approach to media and entertainment with events and activations getting a fair deal of attention as the radio stations and TV channels.

     

    In fact, there is every reason for the CEO to be delighted with the success of his television channels, network of radio stations and slew of other allied entities. Together, both the BIG networks have been churning out good numbers for RBNL encouraging it to spread its activities across regions in India. Having launched BIG Spark Punjabi and BIG Magic, the emphasis of the network is on tapping the potential from regional settings and that is where they have centred their attention around currently. The next 12-18 months will see the network exploit opportunities in the regional space through both, organic and inorganic route.

     

    Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd met with Pradyuman Maheshwari, Johnson Napier & Meghna Sharma of MxMIndia, and walked them through the road traversed by BIG thus far. While the discussion on the regional foray was the mainstay of the discussion, he also spoke about the launch of BIG RTL Thrill (to be a Male, Action channel in Hindi), on grappling with measurement issues for niche channels and why he is hopeful of radio pulling it off big time post the onset of Phase III in India. Excerpts from the interview:

     

    How has RBNL’s growth story been in 2011-12?

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PnkBC-d4tQ[/youtube]

    It has been a mixed year for us. I wouldn’t say it was great but there have been some good things that have happened. In an environment like this, you’ve got to make the most of what you can do. To begin with, there were some good things that happened in our radio business. One, we were able to get some advantages out of the Phase 3 regulations. With the policies being announced, we have been able to put together some amount of capital expenditure and operational expenditure rationalisation with that and been able to build a more robust network with that. So, over a period of time, we have been able to build content hubs to build some amount of excellence in the quality of work that was getting done across the country.

     

    Tell us more about the synergies of the radio and TV businesses…

    Yes, what has been good for the radio business is that over a period of time we have been able to build more and more 360 degree value using both the radio and television platforms together. It’s actually been equally good for radio and television that we got the regional television business. We’ve been able to draw some serious amount of synergies both in terms of marketing & promotion and content and in terms of the value that we have been able to deliver to clients in the region.

     

    We’ve been able to do some path-breaking work like in UP, MP, Bihar and Punjab we’ve been able to build radio and television content ideas that have done exceedingly well in terms of numbers, revenues and advertiser impact. Also, they go beyond the classic IP that we were creating over a period of time, which comprise numerous regional events, concerts etc to picking up regional insights and building shows and content ideas around it. For example, we created a show in Punjab called the BIG Boli Star which was a huge success and was the number one show on Punjabi Entertainment Television for many weeks. It was an idea that actually played out on radio three months ahead of even television. In Punjab, we have also created the first daily radio and television show live together, where we do the top 20 show from radio live on television.

     

    Are your synergies inclined more towards regional channels and lesser towards the English channels in your network?

    Yes, the synergies are far more with the regional space. So radio and television have been working exceedingly well together for us. We believe that regional audiences and advertisers like this bundle exceedingly well – any idea that gets created from a point of view that it cannot get amplified but can take a form and shape of a show or content in itself on both the platforms. We created another good platform for kids and mothers in UP, MP and Bihar called ‘Bal Kalakaar’, which we just wrapped up and have just started another series called ‘BIG Memsaab’  in MP, Bihar and Jharkhand. So with these ideas, a lot of these classic FMCG clients who do not have engagement platforms and do not have a 360 degree amplified property are getting exceedingly excited about them. It also helps us to build our brand, build a local connect and build 360 degree engagement for the BIG FM, BIG Magic or BIG Spark Punjabi brands in the region.

     

    You currently have an all-India footprint with BIG FM and with BIG Magic, Spark Punjabi etc in the North. What about the regions where you do not have a presence?

    For the other regions we end up working with the leading regional broadcaster of that region like Star Vijay in the South or ETV in Bengal, Maharashtra, Kannada…

     

    Will you be looking at launching regional channels under BIG CBS network?

    I cannot comment any thing on that for now. India is not one India today; it is a mini-continent. I was reading this article recently which highlighted how brands are picking flavours or building variants for regions specifically. The same is true for media platforms too. It is just the start of how regional television is developing; we’ve had some standard ones in the South and even in the Hindi speaking belt, we have seen how Marathi and Bengali have done exceedingly well. We have our eyes firmly set on the Punjab and Hindi heartland space. I think there will be opportunities over the next 12-18 months that we would want to exploit…

     

    Organic or inorganic?

    Both… we have a firm belief in the regional space. We have seen that very clearly with our radio venture where advertisers now want to boost their noise levels in certain regions but even more so there are consumers who have huge parochial pride who look for local connect and do so very differently with national and regional entertainment mediums.

     

    You tweaked your offering on Spark Punjabi…

    It started out as a completely international content channel dubbed in Punjabi. We had always planned to do more regional content around it. But as we developed, we have seen that the off take of the local content is also as good. So while the international content is doing well we have supplemented it with very good local content. So there have been shows from Punjab in Pakistan which have worked very well here because of the language and cultural similarities. So there have been some changes that we have added on to the channel.

     

    Even Spark which was earlier into general entertainment is now more music.

    We do show a lot of youth shows on it but because it is primarily international shows so there is less that you can do on it; there is more music that we play out with it. We are now doing America’s Got Talent that will be simulcast on spark at the end of July. We have done some music shows like the one where we partnered with ArtistAloud called Thank God It’s Rock on Friday, then there is another one called International Music Favourites, then we have just done a show around Justin Beiber…So the essential insight in youth but we have also realised that with youth the biggest insight is music. That’s because their attention spans are very low and they look for snacking/aspirational content. Some of the heavy series content have been restricted to BIG CBS Prime and BIG CBS Love and is slightly focussed towards older audiences.

     

    And what about Love (the channel)…

    It’s pretty much the same and is performing well. You must have seen our work around Diva Destination – I think it is first of the block. We’ve done an output deal with Fremantle which will give us access to the latest season of America’s Got Talent and a few other shows which you’ll hear about soon.

     

    Would you be looking at getting more Indian content on these channels?

    We do a fair bit of it… we probably do more than a few others. We run a show called I Love Style, we are planning to do the next season of India’s Sexiest Bachelor and India’s Next Top Model…in conjunction with that we plan to do India’s Next Top Model Expo which is a platform for women and luxury brands to come together based on an international format. It is also a platform where casting calls happen for the show. So essentially these channels will stay international, but we’ve cherry-picked some upper SEC luxury ideas on to the channels.

     

    What are your plans for BIG RTL Thrill?

    We’ve been doing some good content acquisitions which I believe we have a good winning library. Hopefully, you should see the channel taking off by the end of this quarter. The content will be primarily Hindi but it will have international content as well. It will be a Male Action channel in Hindi.

     

    And how has the advertiser network grown in BIG CBS stable over last year?

    Our network is unique as it is not a classic one like the Hindi GEC or movies platform. We have built it around the luxurious brands and have unique brands like Kimaya that does a show with us and we believe that because of the kind of content and positioning we build these channels around it gives us an advantage. There is no woman-centric upper-end channel in the country. I believe Love has that unique positioning and that’s why these luxurious brands end up partnering with the channel.

     

    So is advertiser-funded programming the way to go for you?

    It’s not advertiser-funded but advertiser context programming. It’s not funded by anybody but by us but is contextually relevant to a luxury brand. That is the way to go for us as we believe that outside of the English magazines luxury brands have very little room or platform to advertise on without too much wastage. Television works far better than any other platform to be able to give you that audio-visual appeal.

     

    And has that worked for Spark too?

    On Spark we have seen a lot of youth off-take like Vodafone 3G, Airtel 3G, Justin Beibers etc. So telcos are the big clients today. When you look at our regional channels, you have the classic FMCG clients who advertise with us in significant volumes. We’ve been able to build 360 degree properties for clients like Reckitt Benckiser, which is known to be a tough advertiser in the marketplace – they did a whole property for us for Big Memsaab in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand etc with Harpic as well as Dettol; HUL has been with us for a long time and so is Tata salt, Godrej, P&G, SC Johnson, Nestle, etc.

     

    Do you see this move receiving impetus with the onset of digitisation?

    I think the English channels will tend to benefit very well both in terms of availability and subscription revenue. Channels like these are key to any platforms channels list because if they want to draw in ARPUs and if they want significant premium on the English side of the business they need to have enough such channels on the platform. We believe this is really the time for channels such as these to be in the marketplace.

     

    One of the peeves facing English magazines is that readership studies do not reflect the kind of profile of the audience very well. Do you feel this also applies to niche channels like the ones you have?

    If you look at how TAM does its sampling on the digital base they have an issue on how they do their sampling on the digital base. And when you cut SEC A it is essential to cut digital because if you are hoping for somebody to buy an outfit from Kimaya or high-end luxury items you are safely assuming that he or she has a STB or a DTH box at home. If you start to sample audiences like that you end up getting very small sample sizes and the data pretty much reflects nothing. So obviously there is an issue with the way sampling is done and boosters are put in that profile of audiences. Over a period of time, TAM has been assuring us that they will boost the sample size and change their sampling mechanism but that hasn’t happened yet.

     

    They are said to be increasing the sample size by 650 meters soon…

    But I do not know how that will help the SEC A profile. Because suppose if I am a sample house and have a DTH connection at my place and I subscribe to a certain pack on it like Platinum, Silver or Gold…now the first thing there is whether my sampling matching the universe of the number of people who are on the Silver pack. So if Dish TV has 100 subscribers and if 60 of them are on the Silver pack then does TAM reflect that 60 or does it reflect nothing? Because as you measure in a digital pay environment it becomes very difficult to sample basis the universe sampling of the DTH box or the STB. What happens in the UK or the US is that measurement does not extend to channels outside of the ones which are on the base line.

     

    That’s because in a sampling mechanism you will never be able to cover the entire luxury or specialised channels viewers…

    We’ve been engaging with TAM and discussing how these surveys are ought to be done. There is no point getting into a rating platform that does not actually represent the base level on any of these digital platforms. So if I have seven different DTH platforms and seven MSOs and they have different pacts and different universal samples take different pacts, so how does that reflect into the TAM measurement sample? If you get picked up as a sample home, how do you become a sample home? Nobody knows the universe to pick a sample, right? So what gets picked on the sample is most common between all platforms, which is the base channels.

     

    Guess that’s the way to go for niche channels such as yours?

    In fact you could refer to the survey that is done by BARB in the UK you’ll get a sense of what the others are doing.

     

    BARC has taken from the BARB model, though it’s taking too much time

    It ought to have been done a while ago. We have far too many diverse interests now.

     

    There is this whole issue of carriage fees that is obviously expected to take a dramatic turn post digitalization. What are your thoughts on the issue?

    I think it already has changed to some extent. People understand that content that is required by any MSO who has to fill 500 channels is not easy. Are all 500 channels willing to pay that much carriage fee? They need to understand if they want to compete with DTH, they should be able to offer better or at least similar service, if they want to retain customers. And if they are able to communicate that promise effectively then you have to have content on your side.

     

    You had made your foray in the SAARC region with Sri Lanka this year. How has that been doing?

    Our big focus in the international market is through Big Magic which is to take it across Indian audiences. It is still in its early stages but its strength has been the content. And because of the regional programming has allowed the network to connect with audiences. We have already launched in Canada and we plan to take that to the US, UK and Australia as well. So it gives us a fairly good footprint across the globe. Sri Lanka has our CBS channels, but Hindi channels are going everywhere.

     

    How is the arrangement with CBS going?

    Good. It’s a JV. They contribute a lot in terms of content, programming. We have four new shows coming up this year including Sherlock Holmes from the US for which we are very excited. It’s the first on Indian television.

     

    And in terms of films, are you looking at acquisitions?

    We do a fair amount of that but it’s mostly on weekends because it is a series channel and we don’t want to mix and confuse the viewer. Our focus is on America’s Got Talent, American Idol and X Factor which will keep us ahead as it’s going to be relayed live from the US. One side you’ll have Simon Cowell on X Factor, another side JLO on Idol etc…

     

    So what’s the next big thing from RBNL?

    I think on the radio side, we are very excited about the phase III. We want to go to the deepest part of the country and it will be a big play. We also want sports on the radio. We’ll want to buy ICC’s rights on cricket for radio – live commentary. And we are also very excited about this play between regional TV and radio. The combo has been a really good one for us.

     

    What are your plans on the regional channels front? Are we going to see more of them in the next year or so?

    There is no given timeline to it. We will now focus on consolidating the two we have. And when RT Thrill is launched it’s going to be 3+3 English channels. Six is a lot. We want to get through that before we decide to launch more.

     

    Is South an area you are looking at?

    I don’t think so because even are radio stations don’t extend too much to that area. Our strength lies in the HSM belt. Except for Karnataka, we are not very big down south.

     

    You have various divisions beyond radio and TV channels…

    We did a lot of work on Big Live so we do a lot of live events – about 50-60 of live event formats in the country. Today as per sheer value and volume, we are the biggest IP owners in the country but we don’t speak about it too much. And we are slowly and steadily building over these platforms. We have gone beyond building classic entertainment formats to engagement platforms so we are doing more and more things that matter to the consumer.

     

    And awards too?

    Yes, we do about 50 awards or more than that across regions. We have also started doing some interesting thing like Big Disha, which is about providing career counselling to tier 3 and 4 college kids. And P&G is actually working with us on it. We do something called Mele Ka Big Star where do big melas and do a kind of talent hunt which eventually comes on to TV and radio. We also do another one which is called Big Aasman which is grooming platform which we created for tier 2 and semi-urban women who plan to move to the metros. We do a lot of this but we don’t talk about it too much. They do well for the brand, for the advertiser and for the consumer.

     

    Since advertisers also get the benefit of radio, does that cannabalise on the revenue of the radio station or is it all factored in?

    It’s all factored in; they chip the revenue. We don’t put the money of live event or on radio but it’s really more of the 360 degree market share strategy. It ends up delivering more value to the advertiser, which helps us in building a stronger relationship.

     

    Any big IP events coming up?

    We already have 3-4 of them. We have the BIG Star Entertainment awards that happens at the end of the year on Star; we just finished the BIG Young Achievers awards which will appear on Star Plus next month… Then there is BIG Star IMA awards, Television awards…

     

    Fair number of tie-ups with Star?

    Yes, three of them are on Star. But we also work a lot with regional guys.

     

    What about Digital? What is your presence there?

    We do a lot of digital stuff too. We deploy content on as many devices as we can. We also work very closely with BigFlix. We have launched the BigFlix services in addition to Big Magic service in North America. We are doing a dual-play.

     

    Finally, in terms of revenue ratios, how is the organisation doing?

    I think it’s 70 per cent radio and 30 per cent television, but we want to get into 50:50 ratio. It will take about 18 months from now to get to that ratio.

     

    With Big Magic Marathi and Bengali channels coming up?

    You can ask me this as many times as you want to… (laughs) But it’s too early to talk.

     

  • The columns by famous Indian TV anchors Rajdeep has reduced the effectiveness of the Hindustan Times edit page by half, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Why TV anchors must not write on edit pages

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I now understand the pain of being a TV journalist. There is no avenue within the medium to become a pontificator. For print journalists, it’s easy. You work a few years as a reporter-correspondent-sub-editor and then some boss type person decides you have some writing skills that can be further explored or some pages fall short of stories and some boss type person makes you write a quick news analysis or you are a boss type person and decide (or someone tells you) that the world wants to know what you think. And you know how angry print journalists can get if their “columns” are stopped, if you read the excerpts of Kuldip Nayar’s memoirs. The reader then believes that these columnists and analysts are experts.

     

    But what can a TV journalist do? Having spend years running from pillar to post saying “I am standing at the gate waiting for something to happen” interspersed with many in facts and of courses – “I am of course standing at the gate in fact” – does someone say to him or her, here’s half an hour of TV time as a reward for so much standing, now say what you want?

     

    No, instead you become a prime time anchor and you have to ask other people what they think. And some of those people, in fact, of course, have to be print journalists who have now become analysts and columnists. Talk about rubbing salt in it.

     

    The result is that you yourself don’t know what to think. If you have ever read any columns by famous Indian TV anchors (I think Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagorika Ghose of CNN-IBN and Barkha Dutt of NDTV, all have columns in Hindustan Times, which has reduced the effectiveness of its edit page by half) you will know what I mean. Half the time they plug their own channels and shows and the rest of the time they sort of sum up what’s happening. There’s very little original thought there except some anodyne comment. No provocation, no incisive comment, no contrarian viewpoints. This comes from years of TV panel discussions where you have to listen to other people. Print journalists are terribly egoistical and after a few years stop listening to other people and only like other people to listen to them. This gives them a great advantage as pontificators.

     

    (I must here advise newspaper editors to end this new trend of giving columns to journalists with little or no experience because they are even less readable than TV anchors. Youth may be attractive but it has its limitations.)

     

    What is the solution for famous TV anchors? Instead of bothering to write which they can’t, they should get their back on usual suspect panellists. Call them to their studios and make them question the anchor. The anchor will then hold forth while the panellists listen. However, the anchor is not allowed to ask questions…

     

    This way, we might find out if they can actually think. India wants to know.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist, commentator and Contributing Editor, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are her own. Twitter: @ranjona

     

  • MxMIndia announces special volumes to celebrates its first anniversary, plus one big editorial or business initiative every Friday… starting tomorrow

    Special volumes to celebrate a year of MxM!

    Yes, MxMIndia will soon be a year old. We launched on Onam Day 2011, that’s September 9, and in these last 10-odd months, we believe we have gained much with your faith and patronage. And our team and associates putting in a lot of toil.

     

    To celebrate our anniversary in September, our team is putting together three special volumes:

     

    1. The Annual celebrating the One Big Idea. A collector’s issue, comprehensive and uputdownable.

    2. The MxM M-List. A first-of-its-kind who’s who of media planning and buying professionals in the country.

    and

    3. A compilation of our most popular ‘anchors’. The anchor has been an integral part of MxMIndia. A must-have companion for every media professional

     

    All of this and more.

     

    In addition, starting tomorrow and until the anniversary on Septmber 9, await the announcement of one or more new editorial and business initiatives. Every Friday. Enjoy!

     

    If you would like to participate in any of our initiatives, write to:

    For editorial: editor@mxmindia.com

    For sales: sales@mxmindia.com

    For booking your copies: subscribe@mxmindia.com

     

     

  • TJ's, a brand of FMCG products made exclusively in Tihar Jail, Asia's largest prison complex, will soon be available in the outlets of Reliance Retail

    Tihar Jail in talks with Reliance Retail, Spencer’s & Vishal Retail to sell products

    By Rasul Bailay

     

    TJ’s, a brand of FMCG products made exclusively in Tihar Jail, Asia’s largest prison complex, will soon be available in the outlets of Reliance Retail, one of the largest retailers in the country.

     

    “Over the months, every Reliance Retail food and grocery store in Delhi will display TJ’s products,” said Neeraj Kumar, former director-general of Tihar Jail, who earlier this month assumed office as the commissioner of Delhi Police.

     

    TJ’s branded products, including spices and bakery products, are being sold in Reliance Retail outlets in Gurgaon for the past two months.

     

    “We are already an official vendor to Reliance Retail and have a vendor code,” a jail spokesman said. He said jail officials are also in talks with other retail chains such as Spencer’s Retail and Vishal Retail to sell TJ’s products through their outlets.

     

    Behind the walls and iron gates of the Central Jail of Tihar, more than 600 inmates are working in two shifts in a factory within jail No. 2, making a range of products, including bakery items, spices, stationery, furniture, garments and detergents.

     

    Police Commissioner Kumar said jail authorities plan three shifts as TJ’s products find their way into the lucrative modern retail market. These products were earlier sold only through government offices, Khadi outlets and Kendriya Bhandar stores.

     

    Mr Kumar said jail authorities are in the process of fulfilling requirements such as adding barcodes to products and mentioning the nutritional value of food products before taking them to all Reliance Retail stores in the National Capital Region. “All these formalities are done,” he said.

     

    Reliance Retail did not respond to an emailed questionnaire till late on Tuesday.

     

    TJ’s brand was born in 1995 with bakery products. Over the years, the portfolio has expanded to include handloom and textile, apparel, furniture, mustard oil, stationery paper products and even phenyl for household uses.

     

    In recent months, it has started making soaps, detergent powders and blankets, among other items. In the pipeline are cosmetic items such as face wash and henna. TJ’s products comply with global food safety norms and are certified under various ISO norms. Tihar’s backing school is certified by London-based global technical agency Moody International.

     

    TJ’s revenues have risen from Rs2.36 crore in 2004-2005 to about Rs18 crore in the last fiscal year. TJ’s products’ first brush with the organised retail happened late last year when jail authorities showcased products at Select Citywalk Mall in the city, and got overwhelming response from shoppers. This prompted the jail to open a kiosk in the mall to sell TJ’s products.

     

    Mr Kumar credits brand consultant Suhel Seth, who visited the jail in April, for initiating talks with retail chains. Mr Seth said that after visiting the jail in April he wrote to a host of corporate honchos, calling for promoting TJ’s. “This is a great branding opportunity,” he said.

     

    He expects TJ’s to become a Rs300-crore business, with net profit of Rs30 crore, in the next one year mainly by retailing through branded stores. This would help the jail ramp up capacity and supply products to other cities, Mr Seth said.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • While the intent is right… Maggi is an old brand and it needs to build bonds with consumers to stay relevant in their lives… the execution left me totally unmoved

    Debrief: Maggi: Weak stories

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    ‘Spreading happiness’ is an interesting platform for Maggi. Going beyond just the fast food narrative, the new ad tries to bring out people’s happy association with Maggi noodles. So as to build an emotional connect with the brand. The theme is: ‘Meri Maggi – 2 minute mein khushiyan’.

     

    The commercial features Amitabh Bachchan as the host, as we watch vignettes of junta’s happy Maggi moments. A hungry biker is fed Maggi by a stranger woman. Some kids use candles to cook Maggi. A bahu wins over her in-laws’ affection by serving them Maggi (really?). These are supposed to be authentic consumer stories. And Big B dutifully invites viewers to send in their own Maggi tales, which will be shared with everyone.

     

    While the intent is right… Maggi is an old brand and it needs to build bonds with consumers to stay relevant in their lives… the execution left me totally unmoved. The Maggi tales/moments/whatever need to have some adrenalin, some energy and most importantly, a surprise element. If they remain at the basic level, which currently is the case, the communication isn’t able to do its job. Because the emotional quotient is very weak. And yes, Bachchan plays an over-paid prop in the commercial.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmE4xnWoTQ4[/youtube]

    We need touching, heart-felt stories, dear Maggi. Cook them up if you can’t find real ones. And take your time, you don’t need to do it in two minutes. Just like good food, good things take time to happen. 🙂

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2. Right idea. Let down by very average execution.

     

  • The chosen songs bring out the emotion of the situation in the film so evocatively, feels Subhash Kamath

    The Anchor: Subhash Kamath on his favourite Rajesh Khanna songs

    By Subhash Kamath

     

    I do have a list of my favourite Rajesh Khanna songs. I love them as these songs are incredibly well written along with absolutely brilliant lyrics and compositions. These songs also bring out the emotion of the situation in the film so evocatively.

     

    Here goes my list:

     

    Chingari Koi bhadke from Amar Prem
    [youtube width=”500″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpM0jPd6-7w[/youtube]
    Kuch to log kahenge again from Amar Prem
    [youtube width=”500″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95UdAo4JdJI[/youtube]
    Nadia se daria from the movie Namak Haraam
    [youtube width=”500″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Vl6pNCE8U[/youtube]
    Zindagi kaisi hai paheli from the movie Anand
    [youtube width=”500″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vgDb4TQneA[/youtube]
    Mainetere liye hi saat rang ke sapne again from the movie Anand
    [youtube width=”500″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC8DuvNCjbY[/youtube]
    Yeh Shaam mastani from the movie Kati Patang
    [youtube width=”500″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sZg4EUB3IM[/youtube]

     

    As for the dialogue, the favourite will always remain the one from Anand… Babumoshai, Zindagi ek rang manch hai aur hum sab is rang manch ki kathputliyan hain…. The role played by Rajesh Khanna was really powerful, one of a dying man who had the ability to still laugh and make others laugh. I remember a scene in the movie where he makes light of his illness and Amitabh Bachchan in total frustration says, “Agar main kahoon ki tumhein lymphosarcoma of the intestine hua hai toh?” and Rajesh Khanna just smiled and says, “waah waah, baabumoshai, bimaari ho to aisi.” I think it was incredible how he delivered his dialogues and performed his role in the movie Anand.

     

    Subhash Kamath is the Managing Partner at BBH India. He is also passionate about music and is part of a music band called Wanted Yesterday.

     

  • XRBIA Developers initiated a social media campaign wherein they created their Facebook page as a tourism destination

    Xrbia goes social to promote project

    By A Correspondent

     

    XRBIA Developers’ aim was to bring consumers closer to realizing and living their dream of an idyllic house in a dream country. This was the genesis of XRBIA’S dream campaign. The idea was to create a country which was perfect, where people were happy; there was no rush; air, water and environment was clean. And thus giving shape to the idea, XRBIA went in for a threefold strategy: The team started with a teaser launch promoting XRBIA as a country, which lead to the press conference announcing XRBIA as an affordable housing developer and finally moved to launch the first project at Hinjewadi in Pune.

     

    XRBIA Developers initiated a social media campaign where they designed their Facebook page as a tourist destination. XRBIA engaged users with tidbits about the country’s cultural nuances, including its culinary habits, nightlife, and so on and so forth. This engagement program started with a unique contest of “where in heaven is XRBIA?” This campaign drew a lot of interaction with almost everyone having an opinion on where XRBIA was located. This set the ground for the rest of the campaign where the developers shared more information about XRBIA and the life there.

     

    The outcome of the campaign resulted in about 30,000 likes, which is commendable, as the teaser ended on June 20, barely 4 days after the launch. Since then, there have been more than 4 million page views and 1.3 million unique visitors on the Facebook page.

     

    This is a first-of-its-kind campaign, especially for a real estate brand. The concept of promoting XRBIA as a country was initiated with the thought of running the teaser campaign as a tourism campaign where people are invited to experience the country. The line “Visa on Arrival” was coined to invite people to visit XRBIA. This idea behind the thought was that once the teaser campaign was over, the real estate brand would be revealed and people would be invited to stay at their dream destination.

     

    Before XRBIA was unveiled as real estate company, many of the interactions on Facebook were about people asking where the new country was, some even asking if it was a rebranding campaign by Serbia. Some even applied for a job in the country. The high amount of interaction reinforced the success of the campaign.

     

  • Bang in the Middle would be responsible for strategizing and implementing an entire suite of digital services to spruce up Dulux's online presence

    Dulux ropes in Bang in the Middle for digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    Akzo Nobel India, the maker of Dulux Paints, has signed on Bang in the Middle as its digital communication partner. Bang in the Middle would be responsible for strategizing and implementing an entire suite of digital services to spruce up Dulux’s online presence.

     

    Commenting on the association, Pushkar Jain, Marketing Manager, Dulux, Akzo Nobel India said: “We are actively engaging in the digital space so as to create interactive dialogues with our consumers and even reach out to a larger audience base. Through our association with Bang in the Middle, we hope to impact consumer behaviour through digital experiences.”

     

    Expressing delight on winning the Dulux, Naresh Gupta, Managing Partner, Bang in the Middle said: “It is an honour to be associated with Dulux. They have been early adopters of digital media and we look forward to working with them on enhancing their digital footprint.”

     

    Bang in the Middle would be responsible for planning, and executing a 360 degree digital branding of Dulux through a highly engaging social media strategy.