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  • According to the 2011 Forbes India Rich List, the combined wealth of India’s 100 percent richest people is down 20 percent from a year ago to US$ 241 billion.

    Rich list going down: Forbes India

    By Akash Raha

     

    According to the 2011 Forbes India Rich List inflation, corruption scandals and falling stock and currency prices are causing the wealth of India’s richest to diminish. According to the 2011 Forbes India Rich List, the combined wealth of India’s 100 percent richest people is down 20 percent from a year ago to US$ 241 billion. This year’s list also has 57 billionaires in all, a dozen less than last year.

     

    Mukesh Ambani holds the top spot for the fourth year in a row, with a net worth of $22.6 billion this year, despite seeing a drop of $4.4 billion. Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal remains No.2 with a net worth of $19.2 billion, down 26% from last year. Despite the recovery in steel demand, shares of his flagship, ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, plunged 40% due to surging costs.

     

    The biggest dollar loser was Mukesh’s younger brother, Anil Ambani, down $7.4 billion; he slipped out of the top 10 for the first time since his 2004 debut to No. 13 this year. His net worth is estimated at $5.9 billion, down from $13.3 billion last year.

     

    Third richest is Azim Premji, head of IT outsourcer Wipro, whose net worth of $13 billion is lower by 26 pecent from $17.6 billion last year. Mr Premji donated $2 billion worth of shares last December to a trust to fund his education charity.

     

    Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia and Mumbai bureau manager of Forbes magazine, said: “This has been a turbulent year for India’s richest. Despite the economy growing at close to 8 percent, a spate of corruption scandals and rising inflation have taken a toll.”

     

    There are 14 new faces on the list this year. The richest debutante is Ajay Kalsi, coming in at No. 38 with a net worth of $1.39 billion. He is the founder and CEO of London-listed oil and gas outfit, Indus Gas, in which he has more than two-thirds stake.

     

    Father-son duo Kapil and Rahul Bhatia of travel group, InterGlobe Enterprises, make their debut at No. 51, with a net worth of $1.09 billion after their budget carrier IndiGo became India’s third-largest and most profitable airline. Making the list for the first time is also V G Siddhartha, who is ranked 84 on the list with a net worth of $595 million. He founded and runs Café Coffee Day, India’s answer to Starbucks.

     

    Indrajit Gupta, Editor of Forbes India, said: “Even though it’s been another tough year for the wealthiest Indian entrepreneurs on the 2011 India Rich List, the fact that there are as many as 14 new entrants is a clear pointer to the exciting and diverse business opportunities in this part of the world.”

     

    Among the 15 who dropped out of the top 100 altogether are Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa, former billionaires now in jail for their alleged involvement in a telecom corruption scandal; both deny wrongdoing. L. Madhusudan Rao of power producer, Lanco Infratech, saw his net wealth fall 78%, more than anyone else on the list.

     

    Only 19 of the 85 who return to the ranking are better off. One notable winner is Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ Dilip Shanghvi at No. 11. He is the biggest dollar gainer and worth $6.7 billion, up by $1.5 billion from last year. The biggest percentage gainer is Hero Group patriarch, Brijmohan Lall Munjal, ranked No. 21 with $2.7 billion, who broke off his long-standing partnership with Honda Motor.

     

    This year, a minimum net worth of $370 million was needed to make the list of 100, down from $500 million last year. The full list of India’s 100 richest can be found in the October 2011 issues of Forbes Asia and Forbes India, which are available on newsstands now.

    The top 10 richest in India are:

     

    1) Mukesh Ambani; US$22.6 billion

     

    2) Lakshmi Mittal; $19.2 billion

     

    3) Azim Premji; $13 billion

     

    4) Shashi & Ravi Ruia; $10.2 billion

    5) Savitri Jindal; $9.5 billion

     

    6) Sunil Mittal; $8.8 billion

     

    7) Gautam Adani; $8.2 billion

     

    8) Kumar Birla; $7.7 billion

     

    9) Pallonji Mistry; $7.6 billion

     

    10) Adi Godrej; $6.8 billion

     

    Net worths are based on shares prices and exchange rates on October 12. Privately held companies were valued by comparing them with similar publicly traded companies. This ranking, unlike the Forbes billionaires list, has been broadened to include family fortunes.

     

    For more information and the complete list, visit www.forbes.com/india.

  • Mid Day promoted Ask Me for the third time in one month.

    Mid Day hattrick for AskMe

    By A Correspondent

    AskMe was looking at promoting their positioning ‘sabka number ek’ and wanted to generate maximum attention through the promotion. Taking this brief forward, Mid Day created a package for AskMe inside which MiD DAY was wrapped. This package highlighted ‘sabka number ek’ positioning of AskMe along with focus on its features.

    This package was first delivered to Mid Day readers on October 14, 2011. Such was the impact of MiD DAY innovation for AskMe that AskMe implemented the same innovation two more times completing a hattrick for the innovation. Thus a second package was distributed to MiD DAY readers on October 16 and for those who could not grab their Mid Day AskMe package the last two times can grab the third package on October 31.

    Speaking on the innovation, Manajit Ghoshal, MD & CEO, MiD DAY Infomedia Ltd. said, “The effort with this innovation is to stand out and create buzz for our client. This is the third time we doing this innovation within this month which is a testimony to our success at creating hype and packing a punch. The prime motive of the innovation is to communicate in a simple, yet effective manner ensuring call to action. The placement of the number was also very strategic, so as to ensure maximum recall for our readers. Our focus is to adapt to each brand and clients requirement and leverage our strengths to deliver an effective communication platform.”

  • Controversial lobbyist resigns plum PR accounts and shuts a successful (albeit controversial) enterprise

    Niira Radia shuts Vaishnavi. Tatas switch to Rediff (+Edelman) for PR

     

     

    By  A Correspondent

    As captains of Indian industry and the media were busy watching Formula 1 action live in Greater Noida or on telly at their homes or tony watering holes, a PTI message quietly alerted newsdesks across the country. “Niira Radia calls it a day in communication consultancy biz,” it said, adding: ”Controversial corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, the owner of the PR firm which has Tata group and Mukesh Ambani-led RIL as its clients, has decided to exit from the business.”

     

    Although the move sent shockwaves through the trade, MxMIndia learns that the announcement has been in the works for a while. Around three months. Or more.

    Vaishnavi Communications, Ms Radia’s flagship company and a slew of specialised outfits, will shut shop on Monday, Oct 31 evening.

    A member of the founding team reminisced to MxMIndia that this is exactly a decade after it was launched with much fanfare.

    The Tatas were quick to announce that they have awarded Rediffusion with their PR mandate from November 1. Although we do not have a confirmation at the time of writing, it is rumoured that Rediffusion, which reportedly doesn’t currently have a public relations arm that can handle a large account like the entire Tata group, may in turn strike an alliance with public relations major Edelman for undertaking the PR work. Rediffusion, led by Diwan Arun Nanda, has had his share of highs and lows including competition from within the WPP fold in India of which it is a part. It is not clear whether the Tata PR account is bagged by Nanda for WPP network agency or outside of it.

    An ex-staffer told MxMIndia that Ms Radia is known to take good care of her staff. “Most of the 200-odd staffers are being outplaced near-immediately and those who are not will get jobs soon.” MxMIndia isn’t certain of the number of Vaishnavi group employees. Some say it’s around 300, others say given the high attrition rate, the number has dipped.

    Although all the group websites have been curiously pulled down, a list available on a cached page and according to some industry sources, the following were some of the Vaishnavi group’s clients: Tata Capital, ITC Foods, Infinity Retail, Indian Hotels (Taj), Trent, HCC, Ascendas, Voltas, Rallis, Tata Teleservices, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, CMC Limited, Tata Steel, Tata Coffee Limited, Tata Consultancy Services, JK Tyre, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, CII, Tata Motors, IMG-CHENNAI OPEN 2011, Dr. Batra’s Positive Health Clinic, Bennett & Coleman & Co. Ltd provigator.com), Lavasa Corporation Ltd, Tata International, Tata Technologies, Titan, Tata Communications, Himalaya Drug Company, All India Management Association, Roots Corporation Ltd (Ginger hotels), Tata Tea, Tata AutoComp, Tata Sons, Tata Elxsi, Fresh & Honest Café ltd, Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd, Schnider Electric, Credit Analysis & Research Ltd, Landmark, the Reliance (Mukesh Ambani) group, and actor Priyanka Chopra amongst others.

    MxMIndia did not receive statements issued by various players. However, these have appeared on the Moneylife and India Today magazine sites: http://moneylife.in/article/niira-radia-shuts-down-communications-consulting-business/20974.html and http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/niira-radia-exit-from-consultancy-business/1/157997.html.

    Mr Ratan Tata: The Tata Group respects the personal wishes of Niira Radia in not renewing any client mandates. She has built Vaishnavi from scratch into the company it is today, often subordinating her personal and family interests in favour of her clients’ priorities.

    Reliance Industries: “We regret the decision of Ms. Niira Radia to discontinue her association with the business of communications consultancy and not renew any of her client mandates. We have enjoyed a professional and fulfilling relationship with Ms.  Radia and her team over the last three years. Ms. Radia’s commitment has been very impressive and she has always led her team in a manner that tactical developments do not lead to a de-focus on the strategic issues.

    However, we do appreciate and respect her wishes for a compelling need to focus on her family and personal issues. Ms. Radia leaves behind a very capable team and an indelible mark on the communications consultancy business. We wish her the very best for the future.

    Ms Niira Radia: To give precedence to my personal priorities of family and health, I have decided against renewing any client mandates and to exit the business of communications consultancy…. I thank our key clients for their understanding and mutual agreement to bring closure to this decision. I am also grateful to them for their support in taking my decision to its logical conclusion, offering assistance in mitigating the damages and thereby fulfilling all our existing contractual commitments.

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp

  • All the Diwali 2011 Specials

    Diwali specials by: Markand Adhikari, Ranjona Banerji, Karthi Marshan, Ajaz Memon, Lakshmi Narasimhan, Sudeep Narayan, Prashant Panday, Sukumar Ranganathan, Prathap Suthan, Anil Thakraney

    All the Diwali 2011 Specials

     

    It’s great to be in the media…

     

    Markand Adhikari: It’s growth and growth

    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4550

     

     

    Ranjona Banerji: Giving with a twist

    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4555

     

     

    Karthi Marshan: An age of delight
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4544

     

     

    Ajaz Memon: It’s a time for happy choosing
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4537

     

     

    Lakshmi Narasimhan: The icing on the cake
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4545

     

     

    Sudeep Narayan: A world of many hats
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4560

     

     

    Prashant Panday: ‘Coz radio is sexy!
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4557

     

     

    Sukumar Ranganathan: Journos and media exec in a unique position
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4563

     

     

    Prathap Suthan: It’s great to be in the creative business
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4551

     

     

    Anil Thakraney: It’s changed my life. No, really
    http://www.mxmindia.com/?p=4540

     

     

    Package coordinated by Rishi Vora with Tuhina Anand, Akash Raha and Shubhangi Mehta
    Big Story image: Rafiq

  • The Anchor: 8 pointers on why a brand needs parenting

    By Manosh R Sengupta

     

    #1 A Brand is a life form… more importantly, a human life form, endowed with a soul (values); a spirit (emotions); a mind (think) and a body (behaviour). Together, these faculties create its personality (image). A brand’s life’s purpose is measured by the strength of its relationships and the value it creates for them.

     

    #2 Like any new born child the brand needs to nurturing, nourishing and parenting. To be instilled with a set of values; nurturing its emotions; guiding its personality as it develops into maturity and helping it to mentoring its relationships.

     

    #3 A brand’s position in society (human life) is defined by the value it creates within the human ecology system of live, work, play… much like our own lives.

     

    #4 A Brand is the result of an intercourse (intellectual and emotional) between two partners – Agency (brand-mother) and Client (brand-father). The labour-pain phase is a testing time for both parents. The sensitivity of the brand-father towards the prospective mother, greatly impacts the healthy formation of the baby in the womb. The attitude of the partners towards each other determines the future of their child. Is a child of Lust or Love? Is the relationship between the Client and the Agency that of a mistress (one-night stands: limited to just a billing opportunity / a cheap vendor) or a long-term partner (life-time commitment: a trusted strategic partner with an equal share of accountability and ownership).

     

    #5 For any parent, their child is the ONE asset that is irreplaceable. The brand is no different. All other assets of an Organization are replaceable… not the brand. Take away the name ‘Coca Cola’ and the whole enterprise transforms into just another bottling unit.

     

    #6 Ask any parent about their MOST valuable asset and the answer will be ‘our children’. It is the same for the brand. As a thumb-rule, the value of a brand should be a minimum of 40% of an enterprise value – to underscore the point, if Apple sold its business but retained the brand, the buyer would have to pay just 49% of its total enterprise value (based on Millward Brown’s BRANDZ valuation of 153 bln $ and Ycharts enterprise value of 298 bln $). Some example of brand value as % of their enterprise value: Google = 61%; IBM = 43%; McDonald’s = 76%; Coca Cola = 46%; Microsoft = 34%.

     

    #7 Yet, we parents have to learn to let go of our children, remembering the words of Khalil Gibran, “Your children are not your children… and though they are with you they do not belong to you.” Organizations may enjoy legal rights over the trademark but its emotional ownership lies with the various stake-holders, especially the customers. In the era of Digital Social Media, the consumers hold sway on facets of the brand, which used to be the ‘brand-managers’ territory.

     

    #8 And last but not the least, the experience of giving birth to one’s child – labour pains – is that of a spiritual-orgasm. It’s nothing short of a miracle when a woman willingly undergoes intense physical pain just for the reward of sublime joy, at the birth of her child. In a metaphorical sense, I connect to this phenomenon through my work. Having parented a few brands (notably Idea Cellular), I can vouch for this.

     

    Manosh R Sengupta is Brand-parent, Nurturer, Mentor, brand-@itude

  • It’s the time to celebrate and even though the chips may be down, a cross-section of media folk think it’s good to be in the trade.

    MxMIndia wishes you a Delightful Diwali!

     

    Happy Diwali. The mood’s upbeat. Our cricketing heroes, disgraced by their defeat in England, have effected a revenge in the one-dayers. The slowdown exists, but then things aren’t down and out thus far.

    And, heck is it great to be in the media. It’s always been great to be here.

    There have been times in the last 25+ years in the business when I’ve told myself that it was perhaps a wrong decision for me to chuck my admission to a B-school. But those moments have been few and far between.

    Agreed there’s much mediocrity and decay in most media. Even though the media damns the government and corruption across the country, its own corridors have their own share of dubious acts.

    However, despite all of this, there is much excitement around the media. New papers, new magazines, new websites (MxMIndia included), new mobile platforms, new channels… yup, the business is doing well.

    Then there are new recruitments and people movement, scandals and controversies, M&As and MoUs… yup, it’s all happening out there.

    We hope you enjoy reading our package and thank all the people who’ve helped to make this happen.

    Enjoy Diwali and the festivities.

    We’ll be back on Monday.

    Cheers

    Pradyuman Maheshwari

  • The Press Council has laid down guidelines and has recommended that the media should be strict when dealing with paid news.

    Goa journo’s sting to expose paid news. No wrongdoing, says Herald editor

    By A Correspondent

    The phenomenon of paid content masquerading as news has been around for a long time. But the issue of ‘political paid news’ came under spotlight especially during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

    On Tuesday, Mr Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, a journalist based in Goa, filed a complaint with the Press Council of India alleging that Herald, a leading newspaper in Goa, has been publishing “dubious ‘political’ interviews of aspiring candidates, ahead of the forthcoming assembly elections scheduled for early 2012”.

    With such instances being brought to light, a report compiled by the Press Council of India appointed sub-committee comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Kalimekolam Sreenivas Reddy “to examine the phenomenon of paid news in the Lok Sabha elections” gains more prominence.

    (The full report can be found at http://presscouncil.nic.in/reportPaidNews.htm.)

    The report states that in the area of political paid news, it is not easy to find evidence that pins responsibility for such corrupt practices on particular persons and organizations due to its illegal and clandestine nature.

    But Mr Nagvenkar has backed his claim with records of four telephonic conversations with Herald’s marketing manager Mr Tulsidas Desai, three of which were recorded on October 20 and one on October 22. The conversations, he says, indicate that the newspaper regularly indulges in such paid political news. He also alleges that the marketing manager of the paper could not have pushed a deal like this without the consent, “tacit or otherwise”, of the editorial leadership.

    The report also makes a note of Election Commission’s concern about the latest complaint  that some of the newspapers even offer packages at hefty sums, offering specific services such as projecting the image of a political party or a candidate in a positive manner or giving negative publicity to the rival party or candidate. The rates of such packages vary, depending upon the standing and circulation of the newspaper in the area covered by the constituency.

    Mr Nagvenkar gave credence to the Election Commission’s concerns recently when, posing as Bernard Costa, a fictitious person seeking to contest elections from the Velim assembly constituency in South Goa, contacted Mr Desai and asked about getting a political campaign interview published as news content.

    “Desai told me, (Bernard Costa), that I could get a political campaign interview (15 inches by eight news columns, to be exact) in the newspaper for Rs 86,400, and for an additional Rs 50,000, I could be interviewed on the Herald Cable Network (HCN), the local cable news channel operated by the same media group. None of the paid content will carry an ‘advertorial’ tag.”

    Mr Desai further explained to Mr Nagvenkar about the interview of a potential electoral candidate, Mr Raymond D’Sa, which was published in the Herald on October 20 and which had cost Mr D’Sa Rs 2 lakh.

    Asked about the repercussions he might face after publishing such an article, Mr Nagvenkar replied that he is no stranger to the media banning him. But he hopes that the Press Council will issue strictures against the newspaper as “it’s an open and shut case and the evidence is irrefutable.”

    (The full text of Mr Nagvenkar’s story can be found at www.paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com.)

    When asked to reply to Mr Nagvenkar’s allegations, Mr Sujay Gupta, Editor, Herald said: “I wish to emphatically deny that any editorial content which has appeared in the Herald, without the “advertorial” tag line has been paid for.”

    To Mr Nagvenkar’s claims of the editorial being in the know, Mr Gupta replied: “Editorial was not in the know of any such negotiations or discussions the marketing had with any candidate or anyone else. The stray remark that “editor people” would be in the know… is also incorrect”.

  • Introducing Naming no Names, an all-new mid-week column by well-known novelist, columnist and counsellor, Gouri Dange.

    Gouri Dange: Most art reviews leave us feeling weak & witless

    Introducing Naming no Names, an all-new mid-week column by well-known novelist, columnist and counsellor, Gouri Dange.

    Dange is a brilliant writer (disclosure: MxMIndia only publishes brilliant writers!). And exceedingly funny.  But it’s not forced humour. Her simple, middle class-y view of life and everything around it will be evident from her observations of the strange and often pointless stuff we see in the media.

    Without much ado, presenting Gouri Dange. The column: Naming no Names. Every Wednesday, on MxMIndia’s Journalism channel:

     

    Most art reviews leave us feeling weak and witless

     

    Why does one read reviews? To get a little glimpse of what to expect when you read, view, or listen to creative effort, right? Works fine with most reviewing. For instance, a music review will clearly tell you that a singer was in peak form and reminded you of his illustrious grandfather in the rendition of his Bhairavi. A book or film review will tell you what works and what doesn’t, at least for the reviewer. A dance performance will be reviewed in terms of the dancer’s grace, rhythm, expression…you get the point.

     

    It’s the art reviews that stand quite apart, leaving most people completely flummoxed not to mention gobsmacked. Take a look. I swear I am not making any of this up – I couldn’t write like this even if there was a gun held to my head:

    “For this artist of course colour is almost another type of vessel – rather than just a vehicle, it is a protective continuum for a soft and vulnerable molusk-like feel that she besets her canvasses with. The motifs of chaotic profusion resonate against the happenings of frontal development that bring functional ethos to a standstill.”

     

    Now in this mindblowing welter of words and ideas, it may be nit-picky of me to say this, but molusk is not spelt right. But what’s a little misspelling in the midst of all this gobbledygook? I mean somebody please, please tell me what frontal development is…and what, pray what, is the functional ethos that has been brought to a standstill? And how does one beset the canvas with this so-called molusk-like feel. I mean, did this writer go to the same kind of schools and colleges that we did…or is there some secret institution that teaches you to write gibberish, especially to review art.

     

    There’s more priceless twaddle:

    “Interestingly known more for her impressionist zeal the paper works in this show reveal that the artist is busy shedding its primary historical role as a representation of the object in favour of the dynamic engagement of physical form in real space. …The whole symbolism unravels in essence as a container for visual but in-depth illumination in thought.”

     

    When I read bits of this out to an art historian and curator friend of mine, she laughed, and then cried a little at the sorry mess that masquerades as art reviewing. She tells me that all contemporary Indian art reviews in the newspapers and magazines are full of gormless gabble of this kind.

     

    P G Wodehouse would have had a field day if he read any of these. Remember his favourite piece of inanity: “Across the pale parabola of joy…”?

     

    Ever the anxious language lover, not understanding what I’m reading used to eat me up. I had then taken to reading these sentences out loud over and over again, hoping to tease the inner meaning out like I do to extract a tick from inside the dog’s ear. All I got was a headache and a bit of a stammer.

     

    Here’s some more, from another place:

    “The function of colour in her palette is like a mooring of moments, of deeper shades or shifts that create a vortex of lines around the contours of a heady sprinkling of forms to the articulation of a surface and the evocation of more than a fleeting shadow. Full dense volumes in tiny notations oscillate happily with solid forms. The complex tensions between the parts and the whole that animate these spellbound paintings are all around her.”

     

    Spellbound paintings? Again I quibble, but can we at least have the grammar go right when talking bunkum?

     

    My question is, who is this stuff written for, in the newspapers? Must be for the aliens amongst us. I can’t see real people read this and call out to their spouse or sister: “Hey we must go see this show, it has cartloads of functional ethos and oscillating notations… come, let’s hurry there now“!

     

    And the other thing I am just dying to know is whether reviewers who write like this, talk like this too? Meaning writing claptrap is one thing, but actually mouthing it with a straight face, can they do it? You try it – try reading that molusk excerpt out loud to someone in your home, with a straight face. Guaranteed to bring the house down.

    This confirms one theory, that the word vocabulary has an Indian origin. It comes from: voh-kya-boli-rey?

  • These last few months of the year are a good time to be in the Out-of-Home industry for reasons other than the ballooning sales and all-time high occupancy of Outdoor sites.

    Ajaz Memon: It’s a time for happy choosing

    It’s that time of the year again.  New “Kandeels” and crackers are bought.  Old lights left from last year are dug out.  Festivities abound in the season of the Festival of lights.  For the quarter of the year which is considered peak season for Out-of-Home, what does it mean for the Outdoor industry to be part of the over-the-top Promotions?

    While it is a truism that except for very select brands, Outdoor continues to be a support medium for Mainline media, it is also true that off-late Diwali is the time when outdoor comes into its own.  This is so because while most of mainline media are targeted at getting consumers to shop, the actual shopping is done when the potential customer gets out of home to a point of purchase. Thus the medium which targets the client closer to the sales point is outdoor.  Smart brand custodians have realized the power of this medium and are harnessing it specially during the festival season giving rise to the “peak season” phenomenon during Diwali.

    These last few months of the year are a good time to be in the Out-of-Home industry for reasons other than the ballooning sales and all-time high occupancy of Outdoor sites. It is a quintessentially Indian Festival.  Almost all corners of the country are lit up with every possible spectrum of colour. While most of these colours are seen at offices, residences and side streets, its Outdoor which lends colour to main streets and junctions, indeed it does so round-the year, but specially during the festivities when most outdoor options are lapped  up to cater to the burgeoning shopping crowd.

    While it is obvious that consumer durables lead the pack in Festival-specific advertising, other segments are not too far behind when it comes to inducing purchases on this propitious occasion right from jewellery to realty, everyone recognizes that this is the best time to make people buy your product. Auspicious-time-to-shop coupled with the financial windfall of a Diwali Bonus leads to a unique purchase inclination for majority of Indians. And the intelligent brands are there leading the pack, following their potential buyer right from the time he leaves his house till the time he reaches anywhere where there is a potential purchase to be made. This is achieved thanks to the phenomenal reach and variety of options that OOH accords the smart brand manager. Yes, it is indeed a good time to be a OOH Professional.

    However the picture is not rosy for all.  Out-of-Home inventory is growing at a phenomenal rate, unfortunately far higher than the growth rate of the industry itself.  While in the good old days there were literally waiting lists for decent OOH options, today the glut of new media has led to the quirky scenario that you actually have decent Outdoor options sometimes vacant on Diwali.  The festival season has become the great leveler for deciding an Outdoor options’ ultimate appeal. If your site is unsold even on Diwali, its time to rethink about your inventory or costing or both. Having said that, more options only lead to more choice for the advertising community, ultimately promoting  the very same consumerism culture which the brands are themselves promoting. So Happy Diwali and Happy Choosing to all.

     

    Ajaz Memon is Director, Network Media Solutions.

  • My life has changed totally after I moved from advertising to journalism. For the better, of course.

    Anil Thakraney: It’s changed my life. No, really

    My life has changed totally after I moved from advertising to journalism. For the better, of course. Here’s how:

     

    I earn a lot less. This means no boozing, no smoking and no partying. In fact, I have had to give up on all good things in life. No problem, this keeps me fit. I am 10 kgs lighter now.

     

    I seldom get invited to parties. And Page 3 parties, in particular, are totally out of the question. This has to do with the ‘unhip’ journalism I do. No one wants to risk pissing their VIP guests off with me in the house. But this also means I have started doing yoga in the nights. Healthier than partying, no?

     

    Folks in Mumbai go to jail if they are caught driving drunk. But I get into serious strife for parking in a no-parking area. And that’s because I once did a sting operation on corrupt traffic havaldars. And these guys have a wonderful memory, aside from deep pockets. But that’s cool. Anyway I hardly drive because of the killing petrol prices.

     

    I have spent many hours in the company of beautiful movie stars. Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, to name a few. Asking them about their intimate secrets and desires. What fun! But I have also discovered how vulnerable, ambitious and insecure they are, just like the rest of us. I emerged from these meetings totally disillusioned. But that’s okay. I can boast to my mama who lives in Alwar that I have Priyanka’s cell number.

     

    I have discovered that all the cricketing gods I idolized since childhood are actually quite petty, opportunistic and materialistic people. That they give a rat’s arse for their fans, and have interest only in making money. This has left me depressed for sure, but there’s an upside: I watch very little cricket now. Good. I have time to follow more productive passions.

     

    My not-very-sweet views on netas and underworld dons over the years have worried my family members a lot. They fear I may not return home one day. But that’s fine. At least I feel wanted by someone.

     

    And of course, people now look at me with a little more respect, which was not the case in advertising. When I last went for a snack to a very packed Kailash Parbat at Lokhandwala, the manager told me I’ll have to wait one hour forty minutes for a table. When I proudly told him I am a happening journo, he very graciously reduced the waiting time. To one hour thirty five minutes.

     

    Yup, it’s great to be in the media!

  • We just have to reach deeper into the recesses of our memories, look deeper within our souls and remember the fundamentals of how communication works.

    Karthi Marshan: An age of delight

    It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of belief, it is the epoch of incredulity, it is the season of Light, it is the season of Darkness, it is the spring of hope, it is the winter of despair, we have everything before us, we have nothing before us…

    Isn’t it truly?

    Never before now have we in the marketing and communication disciplines known so much, about what our consumers and audiences are doing, thinking, saying than we do today, thanks to the pervasive power of the internet, social media, brain scanning et al.

    For the marketer, it is truly time to celebrate. Never before has she had access to so much information about media consumption, at so granular a level. This can only mean that the lazy, opaque premiums commanded by oligarchic media vehicles will evaporate soon, allowing marketers to be able to pay for value they can see.

    For the media owner / seller, it is also time to exult. Hard work will win, because it will deliver measurable results. And results will be rewarded. Bullies will perish, the honest will prevail. For the number crunching nerd who lived in the dungeons of the marketing world, his day in the sun has come. Marketing will be more and more about teasing knowledge out of numbers, and less and less about flying off to Mauritius to shoot bikini clad models draped on car bonnets. Unless the NumberTaker decrees it, of course.

    For the creative disciplines, it would at first appear that the end of the world is nigh. But nothing will be further from the truth. When creatives learn to harness to power of data, they will be liberated from the burden of having to say “Trust me” time and again.

    For the newcomer to this world, it is truly the best of times. Because old-timers are finding it harder and harder to say stuff like…Do it my way, because I have 30 years experience at this…So much has changed in the last 15 years that the very tenets of communication effectiveness are being questioned daily. In the marketing and media disciplines, it is as if we have just been informed that the earth is not, after all, the centre of the universe, as we have been told for hundreds of years until now.

    But all is not lost for the old-timers either. We just have to reach deeper into the recesses of our memories, look deeper within our souls and remember the fundamentals of how communication works. Then we must understand how to interpret those principles in this era of terabytes.  Before we knew how to write and print, we passed down the wisdom of our ancestors mouth to mouth. We are right back there. As babies, we learnt to talk by listening first, we learnt to appeal to adults by imitating them. It is time to remember, time to reapply ourselves. It is time to

    Rejuvenate, refresh, renew ourselves. It is time to be born again communicators. It is the best of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the epoch of belief, it is the season of Light, it is the spring of hope, we have everything before us…

    Karthi Marshan is Head Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Group

  • From a growth standpoint, this Diwali is looking very, very promising. The fact that there is tremendous traction from the consumer’s end, monetization becomes that much easier.

    Lakshmi Narasimhan: The icing on the cake

    Digital is one of those categories in the whole of media spectrum which has seen steady growth for many years now. One can say with all the confidence that it is the most accountable medium; one which saw good traction even at a phase when many companies in India were witnessing the brunt of the slowdown in 2009. Post that, I would say there was no looking behind and the digital industry grew in double-digit numbers.

    This festive season is like the icing on the cake. We’ve seen in the recent past, many new ventures in the Internet space, WAP sites being launched, many apps being introduced by companies; increasing numbers of active Internet users, penetration of smart-phones, tablets etc all tell a fabulous growth story. It tells you that information is just a click away, doesn’t matter where you are. The result of all this is the changing consumption of digital media from a consumer standpoint.  As far as digital media is concerned, it is just the right opportunity to engage with consumers.

    From a growth standpoint, this Diwali is looking very, very promising. The fact that there is tremendous traction from the consumer’s end, monetization becomes that much easier.

    So yes, Diwali has been good for us (Web 18) and mostly there are positive signs for the industry as well. What we must look to do from here is to carry forward the momentum to next year.

     

    Lakshmi Narasimhan is CEO, Web 18.