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  • A fine example of how smart execution is critical to communication. There's no storyboard out here really, it's simply the joy that comes from watching fabulous human bonding. And wonderful performances from both the actors.

    Debrief: Cadbury Oreo: The importance of execution

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    A truly refreshing commercial. Fantastic presentation of father/daughter bonding. There is no idea as such in the new Cadbury Oreo commercial, but the powerful execution gives it a huge lift.

     

    In the TVC, a male exec arrives home. The wife is missing, so his little daughter role plays her mum. And pretends to serve daddy a Cadbury Oreo as if she has laid out a dinner spread for him. And all that happens in the ad is a super, very engaging interaction between the two. Cannot be described in words, you simply have to watch this one.

     

    A fine example of how smart execution is critical to communication. There’s no storyboard out here really, it’s simply the joy that comes from watching fabulous human bonding. And wonderful performances from both the actors. The little girl is totally cute, and the dad plays a subtle role. This contrast works brilliantly. (Imagine the over-acting Shahrukh Khan might have done in this commercial. He would have killed the emotion.)

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfFlaavmqSU[/youtube]

    One more thing: I don’t know if this was intended, but a little beti playing her mommy strikes you subliminally. You are subconsciously left wondering if the man’s wife is no more, or that maybe she’s left him. Or it could be that she’s too busy building her own career. Any which way, that untold angle endears you even more to the father/daughter team. You feel happy for this little family.

     

    Full marks to the ad filmmaker. This is his/her film.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4. Superb direction and acting.

     

  • Tata Motors' main aim behind this campaign is to make both personal and commercial segment consumers aware that there is an all-new Sumo variant (Sumo Gold) with a new, powerful CR4 engine.

    DDB Mudra Max OOH takes Tata Sumo Gold pan India

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB Mudra Max OOH carried a pan-India Out of Home (OOH) campaign for Tata Motors latest car- Tata Sumo Gold. The out of home campaign had commenced on February 28, 2012 and will conclude by the end of March, 2012. While the creative message of the campaign was ‘The Most Powerful Engine Ever’, its target audience are SEC A, B, those in the early 30s and living in the semi-urban and rural areas. The OOH campaign for Tata Sumo Gold is a pan India campaign spread over 200 plus markets. The OOH media vehicles used in each city were – Bill Boards, Unipoles, WallWraps, Walls for Paintings and BQSs.

     

    According to the brief from Tata Motors, the main aim behind launching this campaign is to make both personal and commercial segment consumers aware that there is an-all new Sumo variant (Sumo Gold) with a new, powerful CR4 engine. It allows Sumo Gold to take on different (rough and tough) terrain with ease.

     

    Since most of Tata Sumo’s TG is said to live in the semi-urban centres and that they mainly travel to outside the city to work, one of the strategies was to project Tata Sumo Gold as the vehicle that is adaptable to all kinds of roads and any circumstances. Hence whether it is travelling through difficult and bad roads, small lanes, traffic jams bad patches and other extreme situations, Tata Sumo Gold helps one travel with ease.

     

     

    Locations such as major entry and exit points, national highways, railway stations, religious destinations, bus stands, taxi stands etc were incorporated so as to reach the potential customers at all possible touch-points. For markets where OOH options were not available, Wall-Wraps and Wall painting were done to increase the reach. Cut-outs and LEDs were also installed in various markets to further enhance the appeal of the campaign.

     

    Ashesh Dhar, Head-Utility Product Group, Tata Motors said, “The new Tata Sumo Gold is a result of extensive consumer studies and field tests. The product has been designed to fulfill various requirements, long-awaited by the new generation customer. At the heart of every Tata Sumo Gold, lies a growling engine that thumps out vicious power. The Tata Sumo Gold goes a step ahead in putting the reins of power in the customer’s hands that suits his driving experience, delivering the best-in-class acceleration, power and an excellent torque aided pick-up and pull power. To communicate this message, DDB MudraMax OOH really helped in reaching out to the nooks and corners of the country with the traditional and unconventional outdoor spread.”

     

    Arun Rogha

    Arun Rogha, Group Account Director, DDB MudraMax OOH said, “It was a daunting task to execute a campaign of such a magnitude. While ensuring the optimum geographic spread we all had to take care of the intensity in each market. Strict Roll out schedule along with streamlined logistics helped us keep a check on the timelines. We had to live upto the benchmarks set by the previous launches of Tata Aria and Tata Sumo Grande. Tata Sumo Gold launch was more important considering the TG we had to reach to, throughout the country.”

     

    Adille J Sumariwalla, Head, DDB MudraMax OOH said, “Tata Motors have been the pioneers in the UV market in India. With the launch of the new Sumo Gold, we had to effectively communicate the new features and powerful engine, the car comes with. To effectively reinforce the message we had planned the media at important consumer touch points. Creative and Medium led innovations were also executed in important markets to break away from the clutter.”

     

  • Fans can participate for a chance to win a trip to a 2012 NBA Finals game.

    Ten Sports and NBA launch ‘Biggest Fan Contest’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Ten Sports will kick off the first-ever NBA Biggest Fan contest on March 31. NBA fans who tune in to NBA games on Ten Sports will be able to answer trivia questions for a chance to win the title of NBA Biggest Fan and a trip to the United States for a 2012 NBA Finals game.

     

    From March 31 till April 26, a trivia question will be asked during each NBA game broadcast on Ten Sports. Fans will have 24 hours to respond to each question via SMS, and will become eligible to win after registering on Tensports.com. The two fans who answer the most questions correctly will be named NBA Biggest Fan and win a trip to the U.S. to experience the NBA Finals.

     

    The NBA will promote the contest across its digital and social media assets in India to engage more fans. Ten and the NBA will produce a series of vignettes highlighting the winners’ experience at the NBA Finals which will air on Ten Sports and NBA.com/India during The Finals.

     

    “We are happy to be part of the NBA Biggest Fan contest to find the most dedicated fans of the NBA in India,” said Atul Pande, CEO of Ten Sports. “This contest reaffirms our commitment to grow NBA viewing in India through various marketing initiatives.”

     

    “We are excited to launch the first-ever NBA Biggest Fan contest with Ten Sports to provide our fans with the chance to win a trip to witness live NBA action,” said Matt Brabants, NBA Senior Vice President, International Media Distribution. “Thanks to our partner Ten Sports, we were able to create an exciting way to actively engage fans and reach out to new audiences while driving viewership for NBA broadcasts on Ten.”

     

    The NBA has comprehensive television coverage in India this season. Taj Television, which operates the Ten-branded sports channels, televises up to three live games per week on Ten Sports. Live games air each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday throughout the season with replays of each game in prime time. Ten Sports also televises the NBA’s marquee events live, including NBA All-Star, the NBA Playoffs, the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals.

     

    The NBA has been actively developing basketball in India since first visiting in 2008 with the Basketball without Borders program. Since then, the league has staged a number of grassroots basketball development programs in the country including Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA and the Mahindra NBA Challenge, the largest, multi-city, community-based basketball league in India. Approximately15 players and legends from the NBA and WNBA have visited India to conduct basketball clinics and engage fans including NBA All-Stars Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Baron Davis.

     

  • It's literally 'aisa mauka aur kahaan milega' as stakeholders go all out to promote IPL 5 starting next week

    Five days to return of IPL mega-carnival

     

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    The annual IPL event is no less than a carnival or a circus and the TVC featuring the two kids with the Eena Meena Deeka song playing in the background aptly sums it. As the countdown begins for the circus to visit our cities or beam in to our TV sets, we take a look at the various marketing activities planned around the IPL.

     

    Once touted as the biggest property for marketers, the game lost some sheen because of the negative coverage it got in its last avatar. Fully aware of the situation, those involved with the IPL have now gone all out to woo audience and it’s no surprise that lately, especially in the last two weeks, one has seen and heard a lot about IPL on various medium.

     

    Eena Meena Deeka- Carnival- Ye IPL Hai Boss
    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lDDabuGLs[/youtube]

    Rohit Gupta, President, Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of DLF IPL, talking about the inventory sold on MAX said: “We are in the process of closing deals and it’s been a regular sellout process. The start was a bit slow, but once our marketing campaign kicked off we have managed to rope in most of the key brands. In fact, we have not dropped our rate which is Rs5.5 lakh for a 10-second spot.”

     

    Mr Gupta, in fact, is confident that the rates will go up once the game begins and more audience comes in to watch the matches.

     

    Talking about the campaign, Gaurav Seth, Senior VP, Marketing and Communications, MAX, said: “We have reached the end phase of a very long campaign that was kickstarted on February 23 with Aisa Mauka Aur Kaha Milega and April 4 will see the culmination of all the activities we had undertaken as the IPL begins. As for sustenance, we will take a call on the basis of the viewership and address the issue accordingly.”

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXQsIgN_530[/youtube]

    Some of the activities that MAX has undertaken include a partnership with Radio Mirchi for 40 stations across India which will include radio spots, RJ mentions, and IPL contests. For OOH, they have taken over 700 units across 70 towns including billboards, bus shelters and various other innovative OOH panels. The print engagement includes both English and vernacular newspapers. They are also engaging the audience through mobile and FB along with BTL activation. It is learnt that the budget earmarked for IPL 5 is almost Rs30 crore.

     

    Mr Seth said: “We are reaching out to our audience with one million printed schedules which will be distributed through multiple outlets. We have planned flash mobs across 10 IPL towns. The mobs will give info on IPL by disruption and the sequences will be uploaded on YouTube which we hope will go the viral route.”

     

    “This is the 5th year of IPL so people know what it is. The challenge is to create something that is innovative and appeals to the consumers. Aisa Mauka is perfect as it talks about IPL being an opportunity to bond with family and friends. It invites people to enjoy the IPL experience,” he added, on marketing IPL which has definitely been a mega exercise.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkBVlfisg88[/youtube]

    Extraaa Innings T20 2012 on MAX has also come out with a special video featuring its presenters on the theme of Aisa Mauka Aur Kaha Milega.

     

    Here’s a look at some of the marketing initiatives taken by various IPL teams:

     

    Mumbai Indians

    Mumbai Indians has taken the digital route to connect with its close to 2.5 million fans. The unique marketing campaign by O&M is being digitally driven on Facebook’s MI fan page ‘MIPaltan’. The campaign ‘Players become Friends’ is aimed at increasing the interactivity quotient between the players and the fans in the digital space. The fans can get to be friends with Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel and other team players and know about their real lives, practice sessions and much more.

    https://www.facebook.com/mumbaiindians?sk=app_358303457535779

     

    MI has also unveiled its new website www.mumbaiindians.com, which offers a fresh view for the fans to know more about the team. The new website presents dynamic online tools, easy navigation and is rich in its contents. The fresh look and feel of the website, designed in keeping with international standards, echoes the value which best epitomizes the team – ‘Play Like One’.

     

    Mumbai Indians has recently signed a brand alliance with Walt Disney India, which marks the first time Mickey Mouse will be associated with cricket. The Mumbai Indians Disney merchandise is available for sale in India.

     

    Delhi Daredevils

    Delhi Daredevils, in its bid to engage its fans, signed four remarkable flagbearers of daredevilry as Delhi Daredevils Superfans. These include India’s only IronMan athlete, Anuradha Vaidyanathan; the youngest Indian climber to summit three peaks beyond 8000m, including Mount Everest, Arjun Vajpai; India’s only ultramarathon runner Arun Bhardwaj and the only Indian woman to ski her way to South Pole, Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu.

     

    It also launched the team’s Hindi website, making it the first IPL franchise to create an online destination for cricket fans who would like to follow the game in the language. The English website too had been redesigned. Also on anvil is the launch of mobile version of the website. Smartphone users can download a mobile App to get scores and updates. DD also launched its new official song titled ‘Munday Dilli Ke’ to herald the coming season of DLF Indian Premier League.

     

    Chennai Super Kings

    CSK took its ‘Whistle podu’ further by launching a brand new participative cheer video. Titled ‘Chennai Super Kings ku Raise Your Hands’ this video too is a tribute to the unwavering fan support that the team enjoys. The one-minute video captures a fan formation that gathers momentum, with supporters joining in to form a Mexican wave cheering their favourite team. The video was uploaded on YouTube late evening on March 25, and in less than 12 hours it had already generated over 10,000 views.

     

    In another unique initiative, Washington Apple have partnered with CSK as ‘Official Fruit’ for the upcoming IPL season. South India is India’s largest market for Washington Apples and Chennai, in particular, is the key port of entry and distribution hub and also a key market for the company, hence the association.

     

    Kolkata Knight Riders

    Venky Mysore, MD & CEO of KKR on the marketing initiatives said: “KKR recently unveiled its new marketing campaign, ‘New Dawn, New Knights’. The campaign is about the new team that we have formed and its new attitude and intensity. It signifies the new winning spirit that has been brought in by our new players and the new coach. All of these go a long way in ensuring a new beginning.”

     

    He also said that their digital community exceeds 700,000 and before the start of the latest season of IPL, they are confident of reaching a million. The marketing would be mostly done through merchandising on the digital platform as well as through ticketing. “Contrary to public perception, we don’t go out and buy media, because we don’t need to. We have a brand that we constantly work on. Part of how we do that is to ensure the team is doing well, and we also try to be a part of mutually beneficial associations that can be leveraged. Hence, we develop marketing programmes that allow brands associated with us to activate themselves. For instance, we created a lot of content with our sponsors on digital and electronic media last year which they utilized advantageously,” Mr Mysore said.

     

    KKR is working to create new revenue streams like merchandising and licensing. Since various third party reports indicate that KKR is the most valuable brand franchise, they are looking at ways to strike licensing agreements to monetize on the same. As a result of multiple merchandising deals, they have made available a number of branded KKR merchandise like T-shirts, hats, head bands, fridge magnets, pens, ties and so on.

     

    “The market segment that IPL attracts is very different from that of a Test and One Day format of the game. I think it depends on the product. If you look at toothpaste today, you have hundreds of brands, but it all depends on how you package it and how you market it. So the challenge for us is to keep working on the product, its packaging and delivery, and if we do a good job, then we would be successful as a franchise,” he added.

     

    Rajasthan Royals

    Rajasthan Royals has again tied up with Sanskar School for their annual inter-school Kanni Thahryamal Tournament to develop, nurture and motivate young talent at the grassroots level. Various Rajasthan Royals players, including Rahul Dravid, scouted for talent at the tournament and. RR also supported the Ambuja Jaipur Marathon 2012 as Official Fitness Partner.

     

    They recently unveiled the pink-coloured training jersey dedicated to the city of Jaipur, the team’s home. On the digital front, the focus is on interactivity and their fan zone on the website encourages fans to express themselves through content, videos, images, forums or polls. Points are awarded based on interactivity on the website which can be redeemed for exclusive memorabilia and merchandise.

     

    UltraTech Cement Limited is the team’s Principal Sponsor for IPL 5. The cement brand has been associated with the squad since 2008.

     

    Kings XI Punjab

    This IPL team hosts the Kings XI Punjab Cup, a tournament organized to provide a platform for young guns to showcase their talent. Through this annual tournament, KXIP aims to nurture talent at the grass root level by giving them an opportunity to display their talent.

     

    Kings XI Punjab has initiated an activity with Institute of Fashion technology at Punjab University. As a part of the initiative, the aspirants were given an opportunity to design their favourite local team’s merchandise. The chosen designs have been used in the merchandising of Kings XI Punjab.

     

    The team associated with Indraprastha All India Sports Foundation to launch the one-of-a-kind reality show ‘Cricket Champs’. This reality show is being powered by Kings XI Punjab and a number of players from the franchisee are also part of the proceedings. This pan-India initiative is featuring on UTV.

     

    Deccan Chargers

    Emirates International has come on board as the Team Sponsor for Deccan Chargers. DC also kick-started its Blue Campaign in Hyderabad with ‘its gotta be blue’ line celebrating food, music and cricket. Some Tollywood films have also associated with Deccan Chargers for promotional campaigns. DC is also taking the digital route to connect and interact with its fans in a better way.

     

    Royal Challengers Bangalore

    RCB launched its new website earlier this month, which is aimed at making navigation easier for its fans. The site has new collection of photos, videos and other downloads for its followers. Most of the initiatives are on the RCB site.

     

    Pune Warriors

    This IPL team has been focusing on interacting with its fans with its website. In keeping with the name, the site has sections like ‘Our Warriors’ which give information about the players, War news and Warrior Club Updates. The Bhartiya Nrityanganas or the cheer queens with the Indian flavour will be encouraging the team on field. The team has also associated with Bookmyshow for buying tickets for the games.

     

  • Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils are doing good business according to bookmyshow, the online agent for five IPL teams

    IPL 5: Online ticket sales picking up pace

    By Ameya Chumbhale

     

    If ticket sales of the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League are anything to go by, India is certainly not cricket fatigued.

     

    Mumbai Indians, which began its online sales on March 1, claims to have sold close to a third of its tickets already. Some of these tickets are priced as high as Rs40,000 – the most expensive among all teams.

     

    Pune Warriors (PWI) and IPL winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK), as well as Delhi Daredevils are also doing good business, said bookmyshow’s chief executive officer Ashish Hemrajani. Bookmyshow is the online agent for five IPL teams, including Mumbai Indians (MI).

     

    Online sales are critical to the success of the IPL as stadium sales usually commence only a few days before the match. “Last year, we sold close to 60per cent of our ticket inventory online through thermal printing which enables us not to have restriction on quota for online sales. This means the system allows us to print tickets similar to international practices and also allows the Mumbai Indians fans to choose their own seats,” said an MI spokesperson.

     

    Hemrajani says bookmyshow has already sold 50,000 tickets this year. “Mumbai and Pune are doing really well, while ticket sales of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab have picked up over the last two days,” he added.

     

    The inaugural match on April 4, between the CSK and MI in Chennai, is sold out. Chandrabhan, general manager, marketing at Chennai SuperKings said online tickets for the second and third matches are also sold out. CSK has kept 60 per cent tickets for on-ground sales as “Chennai is known for fans queuing up to buy (movie and cricket match) tickets,” he added.

     

    Since the first IPL season, on-ground ticket sales and television viewership have moved in tandem, say media planners. “Both went up for the first three years of IPL, and both came down last year. The link is very strong between the two,” said Ajit Varghese, managing director (South Asia), media agency Maxus and Motivator.

     

    Multi Screen Media, the company that operates Sony Max, which broadcasts IPL matches, has signed six sponsors till date. Among them are Vodafone, Pepsi, Hyundai, Idea and Tata Photon. It had nine sponsors last year. MSM, according to sources who did not want to be named, has sold only about 50-60 per cent of the ad inventory until now as against 75-80 per cent around the same time in 2011.

     

    According to industry sources, MSM is charging around Rs5 lakh per 10 seconds and they expect it to rise if television viewership goes up in the first seven to eight matches.

    MSM president Rohit Gupta confirmed that the company had signed six to seven sponsors and some of them have come on board for deals valued at over Rs40 crore.

    “We have sold nearly 70 per cent of the ad inventory and expect it to reach 80 per cent before going into the tournament,” said Mr Gupta who is confident of filling up the ad spots, as it will take only a sponsor or two more to do so.

    Generally, associate sponsors get a certain percentage of the ad inventory as a part of the deal.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

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

     

  • Powder juices perform well in these markets as they are economical and nourishing, says the boss of packaged instant refreshment biggie Rasna. Piruz Khambatta tells MxMIndia what's not to love about Rasna, and why colas and 'dark' drinks are not a threat.

    We’re after the hot, poor countries: Piruz Khambatta, Rasna

    In a day and age where cola beverages have captivated the attention and pockets of the youth and masses to a large extent, there are still a handful of juice-based companies like the old-yet-strong Rasna that are still posing a threat to the cola players. In fact, if Mr Piruz Khambatta, Chairman and Managing Director, Rasna Pvt Limited is to be believed, the volumes of colas are seeing a downfall while juice-based drinks are churning out highest volume consumption.

     

    On the sidelines of the Mindshare-Brand Equity Compass 2012, MxM India’s Johnson Napier got Mr Khambatta to reveal the secret behind the company’s strong and consistent growth showing, on the need for regular product innovations and what the future augurs for brand Rasna.

     

    Q: Rasna has been around for quite a long time. What are some of the new trends that the soft drinks market has thrown up in the recent past?

    We’ve been the market leader for more than 20 years. To be a market leader you’ve got to have 2-3 facets right like the need to have a good product, a good distribution chain and a good marketing practice. All these three cannot exist without proper customer insight and knowledge. For example, earlier people wanted soft-drinks, today they want fruit drinks. Earlier, people were looking at drinks only for enjoyment but today they are looking at drinks for the nourishing value that it can bring. There were days when it was believed ‘deeper the colour better the drink’, if it was dark, it was good. But today the reverse is true. Today, if it is dark that means you have put more colour in and as a result the consumer doesn’t want to pursue such drinks.

     

    The question that arises is: how do you create a new product, how do you do proper marketing, how do you do proper distribution without customer feedback and knowledge? So I believe that today it is the duty of the top management (decision makers) to be in touch with the customer and know what is the customer’s requirements. Also, it is about doing research in a way that you interpret it correctly. Like I always say, if you are a good doctor you will interpret the X-ray film or the CT scan film yourself; you should not wait for a report card that will tell you what the outcome is. In the same way, companies should be able to read the data themselves – collect the data and find out the problematic areas. All this has to be done in record time as well, as most of the time when the issues are identified and sorted out the trends have changed. So management has to push for research and have it done in quick and record time.

     

    Q: At a time when cola products are flooding the market in a heavy manner, how are juice-based soft-drinks manufacturers like yourself keeping pace?

    I would say the sales of colas are actually going down. If you see market data, cola volumes are either in the negative or at the least. The highest volume data today is from juice-based drinks. At Rasna, we have never believed that we compete with a cola or a juice company; our actual competition is with water. That’s because the price-point is starting from Rs 1 a glass to Rs 5 a glass while competition starts from Rs 5 a glass. In fact the competition should thank us with folded hands because we are converting people from water to a beverage in the first place so that they can go and reap the benefits of it later.

     

    Q: How essential is it for beverage companies to keep innovating products to adapt to the changing palates of the consumers?

    At Rasna, based on what the customer wants we have made our products more juicier and fruitier and with more vitamins, glucose, calcium, and so on. I believe that as we have to dress with the times, so also, products too have to keep pace with the times. I could proudly say that most of our products have kept pace with the changing times and most importantly, the heart of Rasna is the value-for-money proposition that we offer our consumers. People consume Rasna because they find it value-for-money. Even today after so many years, we still remain one of the most value-for-money soft-drink companies in India. In Rs 2 nobody can give you as much vitamins and calcium and a juice which is as fresh as a freshly squeezed juice. In fact I think the biggest challenge is to keep the price-point at Rs 2 itself. My products have been priced at Rs 1, Rs 2 and Rs 10 for the past ten years and they haven’t changed as yet despite the slowdown and rising inflation. That is the strength of our strategy and the direction that we want to take as a company.

     

    Q: What is the growth that you have put up in the past year and what do you anticipate for 2012?

    We have always been growing at a double digit rate which is higher than the average growth rate of the market. In fact we have been growing more than the carbonated soft-drinks market. I always push my team to acquire a larger growth number. It also depends on the intensity of the summer as the soft-drinks market are summer-dependant. For the current year we have two major campaigns, one is with Genelia D’Souza and the other is with Virendra Sehwag. Sehwag will be seen promoting Rasna as an energy drink and not just a soft-drink juice.

     

    Q: What are your core mediums for carrying out promotional campaigns? Is digital being considered as an active medium by Rasna?

    We do not want to take the digital route as yet for our campaigns. As for Rasna, the vanilla markets could best be reached by television. In fact I am a big fan of television and films and I would also like to put my money on cricket. As for digital marketing, I will only use it as a tool to know what the customer wants but I wouldn’t be pursuing the medium aggressively as yet.

     

    Our budgets for television campaigns this year is about 50 per cent more than last year and would be in the range of Rs 30-35 crores. Right now we are going big on Hindi GECs; cricket is something that we are waiting for the broadcast players to quote the right price. I believe the prices will come down and maybe we could look at associating with IPL more seriously.

     

    Q: How have you grown across the many international markets that you are present in?

    We have our presence in more than 40 countries and we are doing localized marketing across each of these markets. Multinationals who make one ad and try to run that across countries have failed miserably and we do not do that. Some areas we do not advertise as distribution does it for us but in some areas we are on television, in-store etc. It all depends on the needs of the market.

     

    Q: Any plans to venture into new and emerging markets in the coming days?

    For Rasna, it is the hot and poor countries that we are after. Countries like Vietnam, Egypt etc are our key markets as I believe that powder juices perform well in these markets as they are economical and nourishing. Probably it is not as fun for the sales workforce but for the top management it is fun to be present there.

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp

     

  • It has been more than a week since newspaper distribution in Kerala has come to a stop due to demands from the Newspaper Agents & Distributors Association.

    KAAA asks govt to end Kerala newspaper distribution impasse

    By A Correspondent

     

    Continuing with the situation that has been created by the newspapers vendors in Kerala, T Vinay Kumar, President, Kerala Advertising Agencies Association (KAAA) has addressed the issue. In a letter to its members he has mentioned how the strike has affected the advertising agencies and the loss of considerable amount of business in the last one week.

     

    As both the parties including the vendors and the publisher cartel being adamant with no signs of issue being resolved, KAAA has been left with no option but to interfere to safeguard its interests, and has made a statement in mainline dailies requesting the CM and the involved parties to take a stand to end this impasse.

     

    They have also planned a symbolic distribution of newspapers near Ernakulam Public Library today (March 29), followed by a meeting in front of the residence of Justice VR Krishna Iyer who will share his views on solving the issue.

     

    It has been more than a week since newspaper distribution in Kerala has come to a stop with Newspaper Agents & Distributors Association demanding 50 percent commission of the cover price of the newspaper, pension, medical insurance, extra payment for advertising supplements, and stoppage of inserts, among other things. The Hindu, Mathrubhumi and Malayala Manorama have vehemently opposed these demands while Indian Express has agreed to 40 percent commission.

     

  • Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd has applauded the Delhi state government's stand on 'No postponement' for the deadline mandated by the government to convert to digital signals via set-top-boxes by June 30, 2012.

    [94 days to D-Day] Hathway applauds Delhi govt

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd has applauded the Delhi state government’s stand on ‘No postponement’ for the deadline mandated by the government to convert to digital signals via set-top-boxes by June 30, 2012.

     

    The Commissioner of Taxes and the other state officials of the State Government of Delhi had recently called a meeting of all cable TV service providers in Delhi. The purpose of the meeting was to confirm the readiness of cable TV service providers to roll-out Digitable Addressable System (DAS) to consumers across Delhi and review the current progress of implementation. The commissioner directed the service providers to deploy set-top-boxes in consumer homes by June 30, 2012 and reiterated that there will be ‘no postponement’ whatsoever in this deadline.

     

    As per The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2011, the cable TV industry is required to convert all subscribers from analog signals to digital.

     

    Commenting on the directive by State Government of Delhi, K Jayaraman, Managing Director and CEO of Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, one of the leading MSOs, said, “The industry is happy with the decision. The digital roll-out will enable consumers to watch high quality digital television channels of their choice.”

     

  • BIG FM launches 'Big Indian League' for IPL5; is exclusive radio partner to Kings Xi Punjab and Deccan Chargers.

    IPL 5: BIG FM takes on mania with ‘BIG Indian League’

    By A Correspondent

     

    BIG FM aims to create an overwhelming experience for cricket fans across the country with the ‘BIG Indian League’.  This campaign brings golden opportunity to listeners across its 45 station network, to not only relive their passion for cricket on radio by supporting their favorite teams, but also a chance to win a grand cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh and tickets to the IPL finale. BIG FM has already partnered exclusively with two leading IPL teams Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab promising listeners exclusive and interesting entertainment updates on these teams.

     

    BIG FM is said to give T20 on radio a new exciting twist built around the game, wherein listeners have to conclude the answer by putting forth a maximum of 20 questions to the RJ. The game will have four listeners representing one of the teams playing in the IPL that respective day with BIG FM RJ. The person who guesses the right answer using the lowest number of questions wins cricket goodies and also gets a chance to win the grand prize of Rs 1 lakh.

     

    In addition to this, BIG FM will recreate the magic of IPL with the BIG Indian League championship in metros including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai. The cities will witness a mall activity to shortlist top 8 teams of the city. These eight local teams will then fight for the title of BIG India league Champion for the city. In Hyderabad and Chandigarh, the winning team will get to play a real match with the respective city IPL teams. BIG FM will also include live updates and insights of the cricket including toss and scores updates and players’ performance for all the matches.

     

    Leading cricket expert Aakash Chopra will share the insights on the matches being played and give out player trivia while leading comic Surendra Sharma will add effervescence to the cricket fever with his witty one-liners.

     

    The initiative will be promoted aggressively across mediums and all the updates will have their digital foot print across social media platforms of BIG FM.

     

    This property offers a an exciting and extensive platform to all the marketers who are keen to showcase their brands around this cricket season and ride on its multi-media promotions and massive scale of BIG FM.

     

    The Company Spokesperson said, “In our country, cricket is the national passion and as a brand that celebrates people’s passions, BIG FM is going all out to entertain listeners during this cricket season like never before on air, on-ground and digitally. We are committed to delivering highly engaging cricket-listening experience on radio with innovations in programming and marketing. Our scale and ability to drive quality content during this season is sure to make it deliver huge value for consumers and customers alike.”

     

  • The Times Internet CEO tells MxMIndia that indiatimes.com plans to take its IPL tieup to more interactive lengths in the 2012 season.

    IPL 5: Indiatimes to make experience better: Rishi Khiani

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTWC38mFJB0[/youtube]

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    The Indian Premier League (IPL) has signed up with indiatimes.com to be its official online broadcaster for IPL 2012. Addressing the media in New Delhi, Rishi Khiani, CEO, Times Internet Limited shared the enthralling online cricket experience indiatimes.com is set to roll out with its unique new features this year. This is indiatimes’ second IPL season as official online broadcaster.

     

    Mr Khiani shared the new product features that have been added to enrich the viewers’ experience this season. Citing the differentiating factors from last year, he said, “We have taken a lot of social features that we played with last year and the Facebook integration that we did last year and moved to a whole new level. We’ve got something called the IPL Battle Ground which is a far more community driven game-ified version of the Facebook chat that we had last year. So the whole community element is a big differentiator. We have taken the offline experience of watching cricket with friends and made it even more interactive. We have added far more features to the player this season. We have added cue points and a video scorecard below the player. Another functionality that has been built into the player this year is the DVR, Digital Video Recording, this allows you to go back in time to watch something you have missed.”

     

    Indiatimes observed a 79 percent increase in viewership in India last season, and is expecting a similar increase this season as well. Statistics suggest an equal split between the male and female viewership ratio online. To make this season bigger and better, certain innovations have been made to add to the wholesome IPL experience. The homepage is designed in a way that it has everything in and around IPL which makes it in a way, ‘destination IPL’, with all the touch points of IPL in one place. Other innovations include an interactive scorecard, DVR, a high definition video player and a Video on Demand (VOD) section. The VOD page will have a lot of editorial packaging in the form of celebrity moments in the match, fun moments in the match, packages of all Fours or all Sixes and so on. Some of the other content features that have been added this year are, latest tweets, Match key moments, Fun Facts, Player interviews, Pre-match shows and TOI RSS feeds.

     

    Addressing a concern on connectivity issues while viewing live feed online, Mr Khiani said, “The video player is built in with an adaptive streaming as per network availability. We have created a stream that would work for broadband connection but also work really well for people who have narrowband connections, so connectivity shouldn’t be an issue.”

     

    Mr Khiani also said that their idea is to create a 360 degree experience, a holistic experience which is something that TV cannot create. Indiatimes has partnered with All India Radio (AIR) for IPL commentary, so all cricket fans can tune into AIR to listen to commentary of IPL. The commentary will also be available on an IVR which will have the advantage of giving a recap of sorts every time one dials in.

     

    Mr Khiani stated that the total spends for this season would amount to around $6 million. Talking about the overall investment this year, Mr Khiani said, “We will probably spend less this year in marketing because last year it was just ten days before the tournament and we had to make sure that we got all eyeballs onto the site, but this year we know what works and what doesn’t work. We have a community base that’s already been built up last year that we can do some sort of targeting to. So the costs have actually come down in terms of marketing.” In terms of revenue, he said that a 40 percent increase has already been recorded from last year and they are expected to break even this year.

     

    Sponsors for this year who have already signed up include Coke, Samsung and Maruti as presenting sponsors. Out of these, Maruti and Samsung are repeat sponsors from last year. HUL and Hero have signed up as the co sponsors for this season, again both are repeat sponsors from last season. Sponsors under the New Partner Categories include, E Bay, Kotak Mahindra bank, Citi Bank and Karbonn Mobiles.

     

    Mr Khiani said that Indiatimes has observed a clear growth in terms of both page views and monetization through the sponsors. He also said that a tournament like IPL has a ‘halo effect’ in terms of returns on investment. He said, “The halo effect is something that we see not just from current monetization this season but from annual deals we do, like the video inventory that we sell. We also introduce new formats for potential advertisers who then get introduced to the Times Network and once they are introduced to the Times Network and they have seen return on investment, they are bound to advertise with us. We’ve seen them advertise with us through the year. So that halo effect kicks in. So in terms of monetization, it is a good investment and in terms of the brand association with IPL and the halo effect, it’s even better.”

     

  • TAM Data (GRPs Channel shares of HGECs)- Wk 12 ’12

     

    Source: TAM Peoplemeter System
    TG: CS 4+ yrs
    Market: HSM
    Period: Wk 11: Mar 11 to Mar 17, 2012
    Period: Wk 12: Mar 18 to Mar 24, 2012

     

     

    About TAM Media Research

     

    TAM is a joint venture between Nielsen Company & Kantar Media Research. Besides measuring TV Viewership, TAM also monitors Advertising Expenditure of Television, Print & Radio through its division AdEx India. Since 2004, it extended its presence in the PR Measurement & Analysis space for Corporate/Marketing Clients by setting up a separate division Eikona PR Measurement.

     

    In 2007, the joint venture introduced RAM (Radio Audio Measurement) service to track Radio Listenership for the Indian Radio Broadcast Industry. In year 2009, TAM launched a division, called TAM Sports that specializes in monitoring Sports Sponsorship ROI.

     

    TAM Media Research’s objective is to fuel media insights that will drive the growth of the Indian Media Industry.

     

  • TAM data Top 10 programmes on HGEC – Wk 12 ’12

     

    Source: TAM Peoplemeter System
    TG: CS 4+ yrs
    Market: Hindi Speaking Market
    Period: Wk 12: Mar 18 to 24, 2012

     

    

    About TAM Media Research
    

     
    

    TAM is a joint venture between Nielsen Company & Kantar Media Research. Besides measuring TV Viewership, TAM also monitors Advertising Expenditure of Television, Print & Radio through its division AdEx India. Since 2004, it extended its presence in the PR Measurement & Analysis space for Corporate/Marketing Clients by setting up a separate division Eikona PR Measurement.
    

     
    

    In 2007, the joint venture introduced RAM (Radio Audio Measurement) service to track Radio Listenership for the Indian Radio Broadcast Industry. In year 2009, TAM launched a division, called TAM Sports that specializes in monitoring Sports Sponsorship ROI.
    

     
    

    TAM Media Research’s objective is to fuel media insights that will drive the growth of the Indian Media Industry.