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  • Ms Sharma will be the face of all brand campaigns related to the TVS Scooty brand

    Anushka Sharma to endorse TVS Scooty

    By A Correspondent

     

    TVS Motor Company announced that it has signed on actor Anushka Sharma as the brand ambassador for its TVS Scooty range. Ms Sharma will be the face of all brand campaigns related to the TVS Scooty brand.

     

    TVS Scooty has been one of the most exciting two-wheeler brands for young women. This association with Anushka Sharma only strengthens the brands commitment to its youth target audience and reinforces its positioning.

     

    Commenting on the development, Mr H S Goindi, President Marketing, TVS Motor Company said: “Anushka Sharma was an immediate choice for the TVS Scooty brand. She is well known for being spunky with her distinctive style and is an icon for young girls inIndia. She is seen by young women as one who is living her goals along with being vivacious, independent and successful. We are confident that this association will further enhance the popular TVS Scooty Brand. ”

     

    For Ms Sharma, the association with TVS Scooty dates back to 2005: “It’s almost like ‘homecoming’ for me. As a young woman, I know how important independence and mobility is to me. TVS Scooty has always understood young women ofIndiaand it feels great that I now have an opportunity to be a part of the rich legacy of a brand such as TVS Scooty. It is a breakthrough attitude and style statement that is relevant to today’s young women.”

     

    TVS Scooty has a history of other successful associations with celebrities.

     

  • GSK continue to use rational advertising route to drive sales of its brand Junior Horlicks using Zoot Review format of Buchanan Group

    Zoot review for Junior Horlicks

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    The new campaign for Junior Horlicks using Zoot Review has been released inIndiain Hindi, Tamil and Bengali versions. This is the third advertising campaign in last 2 years for Junior Horlicks which uses the Zoot Review format which has a celebrity nutritionist talking about Junior Horlicks. As in the past, the media vehicle used is television.

     

    The basic idea to use Zoot for Junior Horlicks is to drive sale and focus on the relevance of Junior Horlicks as an expert in early childhood nutrition.

     

    On the campaign, Sanjeev Singhai, Business Director – Indian Sub Continent, said: “We used a credible nutritionist to educate consumers (moms) on the needs of having right nutrients for child’s growth and communicate about the two available variant: Junior Horlicks 123 and Junior Horlicks 456.”

     

    The Zoot Review ads majorly focus on educating consumers, here mothers, on the need for getting the right nutrition specific to kids for right physical and mental development of their small kids.

     

    The Usage of third party authority platform like Zoot Review and a credible nutritionist makes the campaign more acceptable by the masses.

     

    Though an all India Client feedback for current TVC is not available as campaign has just been released, since client is using the same route third time in last 2 years, it’s evident that client is able to achieve his objectives and hence is continuing with usage of Zoot Review TVC template.

     

  • Leading independent digital marketing agency Webchutney announces key movements within the organization to consolidate diverse client portfolio and propel growth

    Growth in mind, Webchutney rejigs leadership

    By A Correspondent

     

    India’s leading digital marketing agency Webchutney has announced key movements within executive leadership across New Delhi and Mumbai. The move signifies a clear mandate to accelerate growth by forging stronger ties with partners and clients, while streamlining vertical units and fortifying operational efficiency.

     

    Ranked India’s number one digital agency in 2008, 2009 & 2011, Webchutney was co-founded in 1999 by Chief Executive Officer Sidharth Rao, and National Creative Director Sudesh Samaria in New Delhi. The agency has grown to over 200 people across New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore with a diverse client portfolio ranging from startups to Fortune 50 companies.

     

    Speaking on the reorganization, Sidharth Rao, CEO, Webchutney said: “The movements reflect our commitment to building internal strength through collaborative growth. The new, dynamic leadership has a proven track record with demonstrated results, valuable experience and seamless operational control achieved consistently. They are strategically positioned to lead the new wave of innovation at a crucial time in the evolution of digital experiences and engagement in India. This also gives us the opportunity to explore new business avenues and evaluate meaningful partnerships that will guide the future of our organization and the digital industry at large.”

     

    Rahul Nanda will don a new role as Partner and President – Mobile Initiatives from his previous role as Chief Operating Officer. The new autonomous division, with focus on product initiatives in the mobile and tablet space is actively building interactive apps and games capabilities. Mr Nanda’s strong credentials backed by 17 years of experience in the digital domain will provide clear direction in cracking the dynamic role agencies and marketers play in monetizing this platform.

     

    Nishi Kant is now Chief Operating Officer – West & South Region from Executive Creative Director at Webchutney.  His outstanding expertise in crafting award winning, interactive digital experiences along with winning digital mandates and building creative portfolios of prestigious Fortune 50 companies like Unilever, Proctor and Gamble among others has received tremendous recognition from national & international quarters.

     

    Saket Vaidya steps up as Chief Operating Officer – North Region from Vice President, Regional Operations. With close to 7 years of technology experience, in his new role, he will broaden the range of specialist services offered by the agency while driving and influencing next-generation digital marketing communication.

     

    Tarana Mehta is the new Chief Strategy Officer at Webchutney from Vice President – Strategy and Business Development. Armed with over 10 years of experience in the advertising /digital industry, she has a proven track record in business development, operational leadership and strategic consulting with a plethora of brands  including HSBC, L’Oreal, Evian, La Roche Posay, Coca-Cola, Kraft, Titan, Mastercard, Barclays & Marico across the Indian and North American market.

     

    Meghana Bhat will move up as Executive Creative Director from Creative Director at Webchutney. A copywriter by skill, & creative strategist by choice, she has helped brands understand and make optimum use of digital media to become more relevant and entertaining to their audience.

     

  • MEC India, a leading media agency, (www.mecglobal.com), announced the appointment of Ritesh Singh as their new digital leader

    MEC India appoints Ritesh Singh as head of Digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    MEC India, a leading media agency, has announced the appointment of Ritesh Singh as their new digital leader. Prior to this, Mr Singh was with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) as the Business Head - India, SMG Digital.

     

    Mr Singh joins as National Director, MEC Interaction and will report to T Gangadhar, Managing Director India and Tushar Vyas, Managing Partner, GroupM Interactions -South Asia.

     

    Speaking about the appointment, Tushar Vyas said: “Ritesh comes to MEC with unrivalled pedigree in managing the digital marketing services business and has the right blend of diversified media experience. We are delighted to have Ritesh lead MEC’s digital agenda and help deliver integrated communications planning for our brands.”

     

    Mr Singh has over 13 years of experience handling activation and digital. In his previous role, he led the conception and deployment of digital strategy. His experience spans an array of clients – Samsung, Aircel, Western Union, General Motors, SAB Miller, Himalaya – to name a few.

     

    Mr Singh shared: “I am excited to join MEC and thrilled to have an opportunity to work for some of the best brands in the country. In these exciting times for digital media, I look forward to work with MEC’s talented digital team to create new benchmarks.”

     

    Praval Singh – Co-founder, Media Redefined said: “Ritesh is a seasoned digital media planner. Not just for media buying but his insights on various online-offline engagement and innovative campaigns have been valuable while we worked together for some of the leading brands in the country. I am quite hopeful that Ritesh on board with his rich experience and attitude of achieving excellence would help MEC soar new heights.”

     

    MEC Interaction topped the digital category at Goafest 2012 with the much acclaimed Reliance Ego-Search campaign. This campaign is also one of MEC’s entries to Cannes this year.

     

  • Happy's Design Cell shall focus on offering services in the space of identity creation / Branding / Packaging and some amount of retail / environment design

    Happy launches Design Cell

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bangalore based boutique agency Happy just announced the launch of its Design Cell. This comes post the announcement of their Mumbai operations in January earlier this year.

     

    “We have been offering design services to many from the day we started. We’ve also been fortunate to win a few awards for our work in Design. We took our time to build a body of work and crystallize on a strategic design process that is our own. The design cell shall work as an independent unit with its own business targets and talent pool. We see a huge opportunity in this space and are confident we can inject new energy and excitement in this space” said Kartik Iyer, CEO, Happy.

     

    Happy’s Design Cell shall focus on offering services in the space of identity creation / Branding / Packaging and some amount of retail / environment design. It will be led by Shilpa Colluru in Bangalore and Pallavi Nayak in Mumbai. While business development will driven from these two offices, the objective is to serve clients from across the country with the creative delivery happening out ofBangalore.

     

    “Having a specialized design cell only seemed like a natural progression for us as it allows us to do a lot more for our clients. It also makes more sense for companies and brands that have been newly formed and are preparing for a launch,” said Praveen Das, CCO, Happy.

     

    “Design is more than just making things look pretty. There is science behind effective design.India is at a stage where her people have begun to develop a strong aesthetic sense and appreciation for design. We believe that this will play a strong ancillary role in shaping the way Indian businesses look at branding and design as a key to drive growth,” added Mr Iyer.

     

    Happy’s work in design has been well noticed and appreciated in the past. The Lee Never wasted Bag went on to win many awards including a Cannes nomination. The Skinny jeans packaging they created for Lee also won a D&Ad nomination. Happy was also behind the new logo of online fashion retailer Myntra.com. The agency also created the logo and worked on the store experience of fashion retailer, Basics Life.

     

    Happy’s inner wear packaging design for fashion brand Basics 029 has also been appreciated and featured on most leading design websites in the world. Happy also recently won 2 bronzes in design at Goafest 2012 – one for direct mail and the other for environmental graphics.

     

  • Premiering as a free-to-air channel on Sky, UMP Stars is a specialty entertainment channel dedicated exclusively to Bollywood

    UTV Stars enters UK as UMP Stars

    By A Correspondent

     

    Following a successful launch in India and the Middle East, UTV STARS now enters the UK market as UMP STARS. Premiering as a free-to-air channel on Sky, UMP STARS is a specialty entertainment channel dedicated exclusively to Bollywood.

     

    Commenting on the expansion in UK, MK Anand, Managing Director- Media Networks, Disney UTV said: “We are pleased to launch UMP STARS in the UK which will complement the presence of our flagship Hindi Movies channel UMP Movies in the region. UK has a large South Asian diaspora and Bollywood fanbase. With the launch on UMP STARS, the TV viewers will now be able to enjoy rich and vibrant Bollywood content. We are proud to extend our media sales association with Sky Media and look forward to another grand entry into the region after the successful launch of UMP Movies in December 2011.”

     

    Advertising representation for the channel in the UK will be handled by Sky Media. Richard Hawking – Operations Director commented: “We’re thrilled to be adding another UMP channel to our portfolio. Following the success of UMP Movies, UMP Stars strengthens and broadens our Asian offering to advertisers while delivering fantastic Bollywood content to Sky’s customers.”

     

    Kamlesh Patel, CEO, TVMedia3.com who exclusively distributes Disney UTV Channels in UK and Europe and sealed the deal between Sky and Disney UTV said: “TVMedia3 is delighted to bring UMP Stars to mainstream UK audiences on the huge success of UMP Movies earlier this year. TVMedia3 looks forward to building and delivering this unique content with the team at Disney UTV to audiences across the world”.

     

    The Broadcasting arm of Disney UTV made inroads into the UK market with the launch of UMP Movies on 12th December 2011. With the launch of UMP STARS, the company further strengthens its foothold in the region.

     

  • The economics for a franchise are simple. Every franchise incurs two kinds of costs, and both are essentially of a fixed nature: the licence fee and player costs

    Where the economics stand for 4 key stakeholders post IPL’s fifth season

    By Ravi Teja Sharma

     

    Beyond the brawls and the bustups, there was cricket. And business, which became steadier and better. As millions continued to watch the cricket, IPL 5 strengthened the league’s business credentials.

     

    Franchises

    Their costs are mostly fixed and they are squeezing more out of each revenue stream. In the humdrum of IPL3, the operative word was ‘valuation’. The then-IPL chief Lalit Modi proudly announced two new franchises, Kochi at $333 million and Pune at $370 million.

     

    In other words, Pune’s owner, the Sahara group, was paying 3.3 times the priciest original franchise (Mumbai, $112 million), setting a new benchmark for valuing a team.

     

    More insanity followed: Modi was dismissed by a tweet, Kochi imploded, and Sahara had second thoughts about its $370 million investment. Sanity returned in season five. “Initially, it was more about valuations, not viability,” said Venky Mysore, CEO of the Kolkata team. More than any other season, IPL 5 has been about viability.

     

    Not of the surviving kind, but of the thriving kind. “For the first time, most of the franchises will be financially better off,” said IPL commissioner Rajeev Shukla.

     

    “Many have become profitable after IPL 5.” Like Kolkata. “We reduced our combined losses by about 50 per cent in IPL 4,” said Mr Mysore. “This year was equally good or better than last year…we should wipe out the remaining losses.” Chennai and Delhi say they have been profitable since season three, and that this year was better.

     

    The economics for a franchise are simple. Every franchise incurs two kinds of costs, and both are essentially of a fixed nature: the licence fee and player costs.

     

    For a metro franchise, the licence fee is around Rs35 crore a year, while the player cost is Rs55 crore. Add sundry expenses, and a franchise is looking at total costs of Rs100-120 crore. On the revenue side, there are essentially three revenue streams.

     

    The biggest revenue contributor is the ‘central pool’. All the money the BCCI raises by selling broadcasting rights and sponsorship goes into a common pool. The BCCI keeps part of this and distributes the rest among teams.

     

    With the BCCI negotiating hard with the broadcaster and sponsors, each franchise’s share of the central pool has steadily increased-from Rs29 crore in season one to Rs40 crore in season four.

     

    “The central payout will increase to Rs 50-60 crore this year,” said Mr Shukla. The franchises have no control over the central pool. They do have control over the other two main revenue streams: ticket sales and sponsorships, from where the good franchises raised, on an average, Rs30 crore and Rs30-40 crore, respectively.

     

    In both these areas, IPL-V saw the franchises, with one eye on growth and another on the bottom line, pushing new levers. Teams say they increased ticket prices and reduced the number of passes, and consequently made more.

     

    “Gate collections in season five would have doubled compared to earlier years,” said Rakesh Singh, joint president, India Cements, the South-based cement company that owns the team, without giving specific numbers.

     

    Amrit Mathur, CEO of the Delhi team, too declined to share numbers, but described ticket sales as “phenomenal”. “We limited passes only to our contractual agreements,” he said. What teams did more was to reach out to the paying fan.

     

    Kolkata, for example, had 10 cars going around the city and doubling up as ticket counters. The team also did corporate sales to fill up the 80,000-seater Eden Gardens.

     

    For next year, it is looking to convert some of those seats into hospitality boxes, whose revenue potential is 20 per cent more. Teams earned more from sponsors too by selling advertising on 10 designated spots on a player’s uniform.

     

    “We expect it (sponsorship revenues) to be 50-75 per cent higher than year one,” said Mr Mathur. Chennai’s strategy was to cut back on sponsors. “We wanted to clear the clutter and charge more instead,” said Mr Singh of the Chennai team, whose sponsors include Aircel, Gulf, LifeOK, Amrapali and Usha.

     

    Some other nascent revenue streams are gaining ground, like merchandising. “About 10-12 per cent of our revenues this year came from licensing and merchandising,” said Colonel Arvinder Singh, COO of the Punjab team. And the Delhi Daredevils is looking to lend its name to sports bars, the first of which has come up at the Delhi airport.

     

    For teams owned by corporates, in addition to a tangible payback, there’s also an intangible one for the main business. For example, all the branding on the Bangalore players is from the liquor and airline brands owned by team owner Vijay Mallya.

     

    “That has been our main priority,” said Russell Adams, vice president-commercial operations for the Bangalore team. Similarly, India Cements has used IPL to drive into markets other than the South.

     

    Besides the visibility from player jerseys, it has been wooing cement traders in cities in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with a package of an IPL match in Chennai and a pilgrimage to Tirupati.

     

    “This was a masterstroke for us: to enter a market dominated by biggies like Ultratech,” said Mr Singh. It all contributed towards viability-of the long-term kind. And valuations, today, stand forgotten.

     

    Broadcaster

    Viewership addition tapered, but it’s still a critical mass watching. There’s pressure on two of the numbers that matter for SET Max. According to TAM, which tracks TV viewership, the number of people who tuned into IPL grew just 0.4 per cent this year, against 12.9-19.8 per cent in the previous ones. And they watched less.

     

    If they saw 4.5 per cent of all the minutes they could have in the first three years, they saw 3.5 per cent in 2012, the same as in 2011. Or, a TVR (television viewership rating) of 3.5 per cent. That said, even a TVR of 3.5 per cent is top draw, more so if it comes with a reach of 162.9 million.

     

    “No programme will give the pan-India reach that IPL does for two months,” said Nandini Dias, COO of media-buying house Lodestar Universal. It is why, she added, SET Max commands a 60-70 per cent premium in pricing over another programme with an identical TVR.

     

    This year, SET Max charged Rs5 lakh per 10 seconds, the same as in 2011 and 150 per cent more than in 2008. “Ratings fell, but we did not drop our price,” said Rohit Gupta, president of Multi Screen Media, which runs SET Max. Mr Gupta declined to disclose revenues, though he admits it is “lower than 2011”.

     

    A senior official from the channel, not wanting to be named, said revenues from IPL-IV crossed Rs1,000 crore, against Rs800 crore in IPL 3and Rs260 crore in IPL 1. SET Max’s original deal, struck in 2008, was for $1.02 billion (about Rs 4,000 crore) for 10 years.

     

    This was revised in 2009 to $1.64 billion (Rs 6,560 crore) for nine years. When the number of matches increased from 60 to 74, in 2010, this number increased further, said Mr Gupta, on a “pro-rata basis”. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show the current deal would be for about Rs 8,000 crore and that SET Max needs an average of Rs 1,050 crore a year over the remaining five years to break even.

     

    “IPL has become a brand that is big enough to sustain for many more years,” said Piyush Pandey, executive chairman of Ogilvy & Mather India. Added Ms Dias: “If IPL remains in the top five programmes through the coming year, it could still command its 60-70 per cent premium.”

     

    The other broadcaster, Times Internet, which owns the rights for international broadcast, Internet, mobile and valueadded services, and radio, expects to break even this year. According to CEO Rishi Khiani, Times Internet is paying Rs 67 crore a year to BCCI.

     

    It reached 26 million viewers this year-an increase of 55 per cent over 2011. “If you sell it right, there is an opportunity,” said Mr Khiani.

     

    Sponsors

    They got their bang, in different ways. For more, they will likely have to pay higher. IPL’s main sponsors only have good things to say about their pricey tie up. The established talk about reaching a wider audience.

     

    “We were well-known in the north, but now have spread awareness in other parts as well,” said Rajeev Talwar, group ED at DLF, which paid Rs 40 crore a year for the title sponsorship. The fledgling talk about IPL as the main piece of their brand strategy.

     

    Karbonn Mobiles started in 2009 and tied up with IPL in 2010. Sashin Devsare, ED, said IPL put Karbonn “in the consideration set of a mobile buyer.” Likewise, Volkswagen, which came to India in 2007.

     

    “We needed to raise brand awareness,” said Lutz Kothe, head of marketing and PR, Volkswagen Passenger Cars. “All these sponsors would have got five times worth exposure for every rupee spent,” said Hiren Pandit, managing partner with media-buying agency Group M.

     

    “But over a period of time, that exposure becomes a blind spot if there is no other engagement.” For example, Vodafone used ad campaigns to push specific business ideas: ‘happy to help’ in 2008, the Zoozoos in 2009 and 2010, 3G in 2011, and Internet services this year.

     

    In contrast, DLF was content being the title sponsor and having an on-ground presence. All sponsorship deals are due for renewal.

     

    “Most were done on an anticipated performance of the league,” said Basabdutta Chowdhury, CEO of Platinum Media, a unit of Madison World. “Now that it has a proven record, BCCI would be looking at higher value.” The season of BCCI hardball is beginning.

     

    Promoter

    BCCI’s golden goose is IPL and it is making it work overtime. Just how important the IPL is to the entity that runs cricket in India can be gauged from one statistic. In 2010-11, the IPL accounted for 48 per cent of the revenues of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

     

    Add revenues from the Champions League Twenty20, which owes its existence to the IPL, the figure shoots up to 60 per cent. IPL is BCCI’s golden goose, and the board is making it lay as many eggs as it can.

     

    This means birthing new revenues streams by adding more dates to a packed cricketing calendar or earning more from existing streams by negotiating hard with those who want a piece of the IPL. Both have yielded smart financial payoffs for the BCCI.

     

    Thus, in 2009, was born the Champions League, which essentially gives the BCCI and the top four IPL finishers a revenue kicker. The same year, BCCI renegotiated the TV deal with Set MAX and squeezed out 78 per cent more.

     

    In 2011, it added two teams to the IPL (one has since folded) at a valuation that was about thrice the maximum from the initial lot in 2008. Overall, the number of matches increased, which translated to higher TV and sponsorship revenues.

     

    The BCCI earned more. So did the franchisees, as the BCCI shares some part of its broadcast and sponsorship revenues with them. BCCI’s ‘surplus’-the equivalent of a corporate net profit-has increased from Rs 11.6 crore in 2008 to Rs 118.8 crore in 2010.

     

    Numbers for the last two years are not available, though the BCCI had forecast a surplus of Rs 209.9 crore for season four.

     

    “BCCI revenues have gone up,” is all that Rajeev Shukla, commissioner of IPL and vice-president of BCCI, is willing to disclose. Revenues could increase further as all sponsorship deals are due for renewal now. And even as it says it will address scheduling concerns, the BCCI has allowed all franchisees to play three T20 matches with teams from tier-II cricketing nations like Canada, the US, Netherlands and Ireland.

     

    “This will spread awareness about IPL and improve the league’s reach next season,” said Mr Shukla. And also improve the BCCI’s financial health.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • The world's largest retailer has recently hired consultancy firm KPMG to conduct due diligence on hundreds of existing vendors as well as potential future suppliers to ensure that they are not involved in any unethical or illegal activity

    Beware! Walmart will not do business with corrupt businesses!!!

    By Rasul Bailay

     

    Walmart Stores plans to snap ties with companies that supply products to its stores if they are involved in any kind of corrupt practices, making it the first retail company to undertake such a stringent initiative in India.

     

    Stung by the bribery scandal that surfaced recently in Mexico, the world’s largest retailer has recently hired consultancy firm KPMG to conduct due diligence on hundreds of existing vendors as well as potential future suppliers to ensure that they are not involved in any unethical or illegal activity.

     

    Bharti Walmart, the equal wholesale retailing joint venture between the US retail chain and New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises, sources supplies from vendors ranging from multinationals such as Hindustan Unilever and Colgate Palmolive to hundreds of small and medium enterprises.

     

    As companies in India, like in Mexico, are susceptible to pay bribes at various levels to get reams of licences required to start and operate businesses, Walmart wants to make sure they do business with only those vendors who don’t indulge in such activities.

     

    This is second such anti-corruption initiative launched by Walmart in India in recent months. Earlier, as reported by ET, the world’s number one retailer mandated KPMG to educate and create awareness among the Bharti Walmart’s staff about anti-corruption practices.

     

    As an American multinational, Walmart is bound to abide by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a US law that prohibits companies registered in that country and its subsidiaries across the globe from indulging in any sort of corrupt practices.

     

    A company spokesperson said this move was part of its “previously announced” worldwide review of its anti-corruption programme that was initiated in March 2011. “This includes developing and implementing recommendations for FCPA training, anti-corruption safeguards, and internal controls,” said the spokesman.

     

    The latest initiatives by Bharti Walmart are the direct fallout of the bribery scandal in Mexico, a person with the direct knowledge of the situation said.

     

    Earlier this year, a scandal surfaced in Walmart’s Mexico unit accused the subsidiary of bribing government officials in almost all the provinces in that country where the Bentonville-based retailer has operations. The US Justice Department has started its own probe against Walmart over the allegations of the systematic bribery to obtain licences in Mexico.

     

    In India, KPMG will scrutinise the vendors and classify them in three categories of red, amber and green, the person quoted above said asking not to be named. Bharti Walmart will continue to do business with vendors rated ‘green” by KPMG while it will immediately snap ties with retailers rated ‘red’. It will be Bharti Walmart’s choice to engage with vendors that are placed in the ‘amber’ category by KPMG.

     

    A KPMG spokesman said the firm does not comment on “company-specific matters”.

     

    The head of one of Bharti Walmart’s local vendors said his company has already passed the KPMG test more than a month ago and he added that such a scrutiny has happened for the first time in the last few years that his company has done business with the cash-and-carry joint venture.

     

    “It’s a very good step. It will help the retail industry if more and more companies undertake such initiatives,” says Saloni Nangia, president, Technopak Advisors, a consultancy firm. “Supplying goods to modern retailers are a huge opportunity and the vendors will not jeopardise this opportunity with companies like Walmart by not complying.”

     

    After unsuccessfully lobbying with various Indian governments to open the country’s closed retail sector, Walmart finally entered the country in 2007 through a joint venture with Bharti in the cash-and-carry or wholesale retailing segment, an area where India allows fully-owned overseas ownership. So far, Bharti Walmart has opened 17 Best Price Modern Wholesale stores in various cities, which sells multi-branded products, but only to other retailers and businesses.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

     

  • Mr Guillois will report to Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India

    Digitas India appoints Tim Guillois Sr VP, social media

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digitas recently announced the appointment of Tim Guillois as the senior vice president for social media in India. Mr Guillois will report to Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India. Mr Guillois joined Digitas in February 2012 from France where he was working for Blogbang, a social media agency. He brings over 13 years of experience in building brands using social media.

     

    Speaking on his appointment, Mr Guillois said: “I am honoured and excited to be a part of the Digitas India team. The Digital space in India is unique, and we are looking forward to developing services and  models which are unique to India and at the same time bring-in the best of Digitas’ best practices.”

     

    Kanika Mathur of Digitas said: “Digitas has seen tremendous growth in India over the last few years. As the Digital space evolves in India, it gives us immense pleasure to have Tim on board leading Social media. I am confident that Tim’s experience and passion for social media will strengthen our business and lead it to new heights.”

     

    Digitas in India is positioned as an integrated digital agency which brings the best solutions including strategic insights, analytics, creative, user experience, technology and production, Digital media planning and buying, Social media, E-commerce solutions and CRM.

     

  • Service, Relationships, Brand Experience, Distribution and Visibility that marketers need to focus on, says Jagdeep Kapoor

    The Anchor: Jagdeep Kapoor on 5 things brands often forget & fail to create an impact

    By Jagdeep Kapoor

     

    1. Service: Brands may be good products.  However, good products may not be good brands.  This is because, without the element of ‘Service’ a brand is incomplete.

     

    2. Relationship: My Brand mantra is ‘Sambandh Nahi Toh Sab Bandh’. Relationship with your customer and consumer is essential for a brand to grow and develop. Transaction might get sales, but it is relationships that build brands and businesses.

     

    3. Brand Experience: The brand experience in terms of quality of the product or the pleasant interaction with the brand will be remembered.  A consumer always remembers a pleasant brand experience leading to repeats.

     

    4. Visibility: Invisible brands die.  Many years ago in my book 24 Brand Mantras, I had written “Joh Dikhta Hai, Woh Bikhta Hai”.  Visibility whether in the media or at the trade level is important for the growth of brands.

     

    5. Distribution: My brand mantra is “Distribute or Perish”.  Without availability and distribution, whether online or offline, brands cannot survive. With distribution, brands will thrive.

     

    Jagdeep Kapoor is Chairman & Managing Director at Samsika Marketing Consultants

     

  • By Invitation: Mahesh Murthy on the Pinstorm list of the most influential Indian individuals and brands in the social media

    India’s Most Influential

     

    If you’ve been in the Indian media and are active on social networks, you just can’t ignore Mahesh Murthy (~5500 Facebook followers, ~18500 Twitter followers, 11600+ Linked-in connections!). On Saturday, he tweeted about the new Influencers rankings that his company Pinstorm produces, and the last time he did that, we noticed it was pretty well-received. However, we thought it would be a good idea to wait a bit and let the system get more robust. So when chanced upon his tweet on the Influencers 2.0, we checked out the list and invited him to write this piece for MxMIndia readers. And slipped in a request to send it the next day. That would be an impossible suggestion for most people, but we knew that Mr Murthy can will deliver. The Pinstorm founder and Seedfund managing partner is online nearly 24×7. Plus he understands the needs of our site and the profile of our readers: he has had first-hand experience of working with brands – now at Pinstorm and earlier with Ogilvy, Grey etc in advertising. He headed Channel [V] for a bit in the mid-1990s and a slew of media/onlne properties his companies PassionFund and now Seedfund have backed, including afaqs.com. – Ed

     

    By Mahesh Murthy

     

    Imagine you were a brand that bought a spot on Satyamev Jayate, or on one of the many IPL matches that we just got done with. Depending on the deal you struck, your placement must have cost you between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for every 10 seconds of airtime. Not counting the Rs 1 crore or so it must have cost you to produce the ad and pay the agency.

     

    Now both these programs got TRPs of around 3. That means around 3 per cent of India’s 121 million cable and satellite homes had tuned in. That’s 3.6 million households.

     

    Now imagine you were interested in the youth audience – and let’s keep it broad – say anywhere between 14 and 30 years of age. That would be about 1 such person per household – or 3.6 million people. And now let’s imagine you were interested in SEC A/B and not so much in C/D/E. So you have to cut that 3.6 million youth down to around 1 million at the most, that is if you’re feeling generous

     

    So it cost you around 500,000 or more rupees to reach 10,00,000 upscale youth once, for 10 seconds. On the programmes with the greatest reach in India. Most other TV programmes will have a fraction of this reach – where you’d be lucky to get 100,000 upscale youth watching your ad.

     

    Youth online

    Now let’s turn our attention to an entirely different medium. Let’s say that for some reason, Farhan Akhtar mentions your brand on a tweet. Or on his Facebook fan page. Or on a blog. Guess what your direct reach would be? About 10,00,000 people – mostly all upscale youth. Now let’s say just 1 per cent  of those re-tweet it. That’s 10,000 people. And if each of those re-tweeters has an average of around 150 followers, it’s now gone out to another 15,00,000 people. Even adjusting for duplication, that’s a total reach of 20,00,000 or more people. That’s more youth than the biggest TV shows in India can get you to.

     

    Now imagine that all of it is for free. Or, at best, for a teeny-tiny budget.

     

    And now imagine other people also talk of you online.

     

    Shashi Tharoor, our parliamentarian from Kerala directly reaches 13,00,000 people. Amitabh Bachchan reaches twice as many. Keeping showbiz aside, Yuvraj and Dhoni both directly reach more than Shashi Tharoor does. And the Dalai Lama, from his remote outpost in Dharamsala, directly reaches out to an amazing 44,00,000 people. The Delhi and Mumbai editions of The Times of India together don’t do that.

     

    But it’s not all celebs. Kiran Bedi reaches 4 lakh people online – mostly SEC A/B folks. That’s more than any show on MTV can get you across to. My friends Mehul Patel and Vishal of Pentagram can each get you to over a lakh people apiece, directly. More than any English business programme can.

     

    A section of the Pinstorm India Influencers 2.0 rankings of resident Indians (Please click to be taken to the live page)

    Mankind is the medium

    In this digital world, people don’t necessarily get their news and information from websites or TV channels. They get it increasingly from other people. The new medium isn’t digital: it’s you and me – and the places we talk.

     

    Facebook has 50 million Indians on it. That’s more people than watch Star Plus in the country. And 7 million of those are on Tata Docomo’s Facebook page. Approximately 7 times the monthly reach of MTV’s TV channel. So who needs who – does Docomo need MTV? Or is it the other way round?

     

    Once a Shahrukh Khan needed Filmfare and its circulation of 25,000. Today @iamSRK has a circulation of 25 lakh and a reach of twice as many. One would imagine a single tweet from him could double Filmfare’s newsstand sales if he chose to be gracious.

     

    Potential influence, not just reach

    But the power of different people on social media isn’t just that of their Facebook fan base or Twitter followers. That would be as silly as saying Doordarshan has a reach of 135 million just because every set in India can receive it.

     

    Social influence is measured based on many factors. How often do you talk – is it the notoriously taciturn @Aamir_Khan who has tweeted all of 90 times in the last few years? Or is it the motormouth @Agnivo who has tweeted over 2 lakh times in the same period?

     

    How often are your tweets forwarded or re-tweeted? What is the reach of those re-tweets? How often do people act on your tweets by replying to you – and how often do you engage back in conversation?

     

    All of these are factors that go into measuring one’s potential to influence online.

     

    The Pinstorm India Influencer Rank

    At Pinstorm we track the online influence of almost 5,000 Indian people and brands every day.

     

    We first created this list of social media mavens -and we add to it every month. Then we use scores from three different international measurement services – Klout, PeerIndex and Kred which look at an entity’s strength on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora and blogs – and then apply our own algorithm to these scores to arrive at a consolidated score and rank.

     

    Our scores are graduated out of 100 – and you can see them live at Pinstorm.com/ii. As at the time of writing this – and things can change every single day, Aamir Khan leads the individual influencer rankings with an II score of over 80 out of a possible 100. The only other entity with a similar 80+ score is NDTV, who heads our influencer rankings on the organisational or brand side.

     

    As you can imagine, Bollywood and sports personalities dominate the individual rankings, with 15 of the Top 20 individual rankings. The five exceptions being Rajdeep Sardesai, Shashi Tharoor, The Dalai Lama, Kiran Bedi and ex-adman and now comic tweeter Ramesh Srivats.

     

    Surprisingly, media properties don’t quite dominate the brand influence rankings, with just 8 of the top 20 positions. But cricket leads with 10 of the top 20: with CricInfo, CricketNext, IPL and 7 IPL teams holding top ranks.

     

    The best-ranked consumer brand in online influence terms is Samsung, followed by IndiaGames, Ixigo, Vodafone, Flipkart, Airtel and HCL.

     

    A section of the Pinstorm India Influencers 2.0 rankings of Indian brands (Please click to be taken to the live page)

    The purpose of maintaining these lists wasn’t just so social celebs could boast of their rankings to each other.

     

    Truth is that the vast majority of the 5,000 people we track aren’t celebs in the traditional media world. Perhaps you’ve not heard much of Madhavan Narayanan, Malini Agarwal, A R Karthick, Jaydip Parikh, Rahul Banker, Kaveri Ahuja or Sundar Raman. These people (and, I must somewhat embarrassingly add, myself too) appear in the Top 75 influencer list for India. With online influence scores greater than that for Viveik Oberoi, Shabana Azmi or the online avatars of The Economic Times, MTV or Star Plus.

     

    In India’s online world where there are more people on the net than there are TV sets – and where more people already access the net from their mobile phones than do from their desktops and laptops – where would you put your marketing rupees?

     

    At Pinstorm we suggest to marketers that a well-thought-through group of online evangelists, people who are interested in your product category and have credibility – should be lovingly tended and cared for. New announcements and launches should be shown to them first – because if they like what they see, they might talk about it online.

     

    And that combination of reach and credibility could do you a lot more good at lot less than a Rs 1 crore TV commercial shown repeatedly for Rs 10 lakh every 10 seconds.

     

    The Pinstorm India Influencer List is live and visible online at http://www.pinstorm.com/ii  We maintain lists across brands, residents of India, Indian non-residents and politicians. Mahesh Murthy is the founder of Pinstorm, India’s leading digital-first brand management firm.

     

  • Cartoons have caused incalculable damage in the recent past, writes Ranjona Banerji in 'Noosemaker'

    Ranjona Banerji: Cartoons as weapons of mass destruction!

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    All efforts are now being made to wipe out India’s most dangerous weapon of mass destruction: the political cartoon. This awful instrument of power, if it falls into the wrong hands (ie, cartoonists), can end up doing the most terrible damage to reputations, thin skin and “sentiments”.

     

    In recent times cartoons have caused incalculable damage. But strangely – and this is their enormous reach – the cartoons have emerged from the past where they had been lurking. It is not enough to imagine that because today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s sev puri wrapping, the power of the cartoon is diminished. It has an insidious way of reappearing in other forms – like those other lethal objects, books. And even worse, textbooks.

     

    Young minds, while they can easily absorb news of war and cruelty and indeed thrive on the vulgarity which passes for entertainment in India, would be irreparably tainted if faced with a political cartoon. And yet, by stealth for what else could it be, these cartoons have managed to inveigle themselves into textbooks.

     

    It started however with that other source of free expression, the Internet. Someone committed the most heinous act of forwarding a cartoon making fun of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. But in spite of the strict action taken against the transgressor, the cartoon has only got bolder.

     

    Soon after a cartoon from 1949 was discovered being satirical about the delays in putting the Constitution together. Not only did it show the Constituent Assembly as a snail but it showed Dr BR Ambedkar sitting on the snail, with a whip in hand and then Jawaharlal Nehru whipping the snail. This is wrong on so many levels and particularly to snails. What have these fat sluggish creatures done to deserve whips? They have no feet and they cannot move any faster. There are no records about the action taken against the cartoon in 1949 by the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals but one can only hope that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will soon be holding a mass agitation at the Ramlila grounds in Delhi to increase awareness about this subjugation of snails. Good luck with getting hundreds of naked girls to agree to have snails crawling all over their bodies – a normal PETA method of agitprop. But protests there have been and there must be.

     

    And now we have a cartoon from 1968 implying that students in Tamil Nadu knew neither Hindi nor English. Now what could be more insulting to the education system of the past? Implying that students had been taught nothing is most unfair. How can the education system from 1968 possibly stand up for itself? It is therefore only right that the protests should happen in 2012.

     

    The other way of course is to put the cartoon on the endangered species list and wait for the World Wildlife Fund to step in…