By A Correspondent
Den Networks Ltd has announced that Mr Shailender Nath Sharma has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company with immediate effect. He has been associated with the company as President, Operations since 2007. Mr Mohammad Ghulam Azhar has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company. He has been associated with the company as President, Strategy & Business Development since 2007.
By Akash Raha
This year Hindustan Times is celebrating ‘100 years of New Delhi’. It has launched several campaigns and initiatives to propel the celebrations further. The current campaign comes under HT’s already existing property named ‘I love Delhi’, which had launched extensive campaigns and initiatives last year, and the stress continues to grow. Currently, Hindustan Times is the largest English daily in Delhi, according to IRS.
Speaking about this initiative Mr Diptakirti Chaudhuri, AVP – Marketing, Hindustan Times said, “Since we have continued to build our lead over our competitors in Delhi and NCR, we are also attempting to build up a close relationship to the city we cater to. Actually, we are inextricably linked to them… Therefore, each year we pick up a theme of relevance and deal with it holistically. Our main aim and idea is to get the consumers involved.â€
The campaigns and initiatives include Tshirt designing contest, mall activation, reader’s promo, movie screening, film festivals, school quizzes (amongst over 3000 odd kids), painting competition in schools etcetera. The response to these activations were phenomenal as they got over 1700 Tshirt designs, not to mention, 20-25 excellent 100 second movies for ‘Capture 100 years of magic in 100 seconds’. Also, 100 icons of New Delhi (from Rashtrapati Bhawan to India Gate to Karims) were recognized and profiled.
When asked how this is the 100years of Delhi, Mr Chaudhuri explained, “even though Delhi is the capital of India, no one celebrates its anniversaries as it doesn’t have a specific date of creation like many other cities.†Yet, it is said that the foundation of the city was laid sometime in the year 1911 and planned by British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker.
The concept and campaign was developed internally. Mr Chaudhuri said that the marketing concept emanated from an editorial idea which was celebrating the ‘100 years of New Delhi’ and was thereafter transposed to their marketing sphere too.
By A Correspondent
This Diwali, Sun 18 is introducing three channels — Colors, CNBCTV18 Prime and History Channel — in high-definition (HD) formats. With this transformation to HD, viewers can now enjoy a combination of impeccable image delivery combined with unmatched audio experience.
The three channels offer a TRUE HD 1080i picture with 5.1 Dolby digital sound, which will significantly enhancing the viewing experience. Viewers will need to have a HD TV set and an HD set-top box from the DTH platforms such as Airtel, Dish and Videocon and digital cable providers like Hathway to enjoy this HD experience.
The audience opting for the HD format can watch their favourite shows and events without any ad breaks as COLORS HD and CNBCTV18 PRIME HD services will run ad free in the first phase of launch.
Commenting on the move, Gaurav Gandhi, Sun18 North COO & Head — International Business, Viacom18 said, “Sun18 welcomes the addition of the 3 HD channels to its portfolio. HD broadcast offers a superior audio-visual experience and that coupled with strong content from our channels make it an extremely compelling consumer proposition. We believe that over the next few months DTH platforms will expand their HD bouquet and digital cable too will add HD as an additional offering. Sun 18 is working with all potential partners to make these 3 services available pan India.â€
By Writankar Mukherjee, Atmadip Ray & Pramugdha Mamgain
Retailers are countering the economic slowdown by offering interest-free equated monthly instalment (EMI) schemes, which they say are not only helping them pull customers into stores but also encouraging shoppers to buy higher value products.
Such EMI-based sales promotions have staged a big comeback at a time near double-digit inflation has put a heavy strain on household budgets, making people defer non-urgent and big-ticket purchases even on credit because of hardening interest rates.
But transactions carrying zero percent financing have grown more than 50% over the past year, say retailers and bankers.
From apparel sellers such as Arvind Brand’s MegaMart and Fabindia to multi-product retailers such as Future Group, Lifestyle and Godrej, firms reckon that zero-interest EMI options are the most effective discounts they can offer.
While retailers end up bearing the interest for the duration of the credit extended, they see it as an acceptable cost of keeping the sales register ticking during the downturn.
“EMI schemes are removing inhibitions and inducing consumers to splurge on big-ticket items,” says Mr Himanshu Chakrawarti, chief executive of Essar Group’s Mobile Store, the country’s largest mobile phone retailer. He says consumers going for six-month EMIs are buying handsets priced twice than they had initially planned and those going for nine-month to 12-month schemes are tripling their size of transaction.
Almost a third of the high-end mobile phones, such as the iPhone and the latest models of Blackberry and Android-based phones, sold at the Mobile Store are paid for through instalments. The company, which rolled out EMI schemes at its 1,200 stores across the country over the past couple of months, recently became India’s largest seller of BlackBerry smartphones.
Instant approval of loans and minimal documentation help speed up EMI-based transactions, says Mr Parag Rao, senior executive VP, HDFC Bank. He says the bank has seen a more than 100% spurt in this loan category over the past year with an average transaction of 30,000. “Since the amounts are much smaller compared to home or car loan, the EMIs don’t pinch much,” he says.
Consumer durables and jewellery sellers were the first to offer such sales schemes, but now retailers across product categories are betting on interest-free instalment schemes. For consumers, this spells the return of consumer financing schemes, which had dried up during the global meltdown in 2008 and 2009 when banks turned away from most unsecured lending schemes.
But the return of such schemes is becoming a major motivator at a time when studies are showing consumers are searching for the best deals and discounts like never before. A latest study by NM Incite, a Nielsen-McKinsey Company, shows that conversations about deals and discounts account for 50% of all conversations in social media forums this Diwali.
“Deals are becoming the primary motivators to consider purchases. This more than anything will decide which brands will win a greater share of wallet this season,” says Mr Adrian Terron, Head, NM Incite India.
From apparel and mobile phone sellers to furniture and computer stores, retailers across the board are reporting a jump of 10% in sales on average driven by deals like EMI schemes. They say the average bill size has also grown simultaneously by 10% to 15%.
EMI-based sales have doubled for consumer electronics during this festive season, retailers say. In the case of products such as LCD and LED televisions, nearly 15%-17% of all purchases are being made through such schemes, says Mr Devang Mody, business head (sales finance) at Bajaj Finserv Lending.
The lender has tied up with manufacturers such as LG, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic and durable retailers including Croma, Vijay Sales and Reliance. It expects the festive season to generate EMI-based sales worth 750 crore.
For jewellery retailers, hit by the double whammy of inflation and appreciating gold prices, interest-free instalment schemes have become a veritable lifeline.
Furniture retailers, staring at halving of growth to 10%, are finding a much-needed growth driver in zero-interest EMI schemes. “With inflation kicking in and discretionary spending capability of households going down, EMI schemes will become more relevant as these facilitate consumer instant gratification while paying in easy instalments later,” says Lifestyle International managing director Mr Kabir Lumba.
Future Group’s Home Town is similarly offering products on interest-free EMIs, as is Style Spa, which joined the bandwagon a fortnight ago. Fabindia launched an EMI scheme this month on purchases of 50,000 and above, which covers apparel and other products. “We intend to tap the burgeoning professional class through this scheme,” the company spokeswoman said.
Analysts say retailers stand to gain even as they absorb the interest component when they offer zero-percent EMI schemes. “While such schemes may impact their margins, the interest gets accounted as a cost they need to bear to generate sales,” says Mr Devangshu Dutta, CEO of retail consultancy Third Eyesight.
Source:The Economic Times
Copyright © 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved
By Shubhangi Mehta
Though the Diwali campaigns this season did not create much hype as they were fewer than in the past, going a little back in time we have seen some absolutely delightful campaigns, from Cadbury’s “Iss Diwali aap kise khush kar rahe hain?†and Coca-Cola to Samsung’s Diwali commercial or the latest Tanishq campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.
Which is the Diwali commercial that has been an all time favourite for the industry? MxM India asked the biggies themselves.
Mr KV Sridhar aka Pops, NCD, Leo Burnett, said, “My favourite Diwali commercial would be ‘Iss Diwali aap kise khush kar rahe hain?’ by Cadbury, which was out almost a year ago. For me and I’m sure for everybody else, the best way to celebrate Diwali is to catch up with near and dear ones and make them happy. Hence I found the commercial very real.â€
Mr Dheeraj Sinha, Regional Planning Director, Bates, said, “The Diwali campaign that has appealed to me the most is the Fiat Festive season campaign done by Bates. The campaign goes a step beyond the Diwali promotional offers etc and talks about the philosophy of Fiat, therefore I find it more appealing.â€
Mr Rajiv Rao, NCD, Ogilvy & Mather, said, “I know it’s my own agency work but I can’t resist saying that it is Cadbury’s ‘Iss Diwali aap kise khush kar rahe hain?’ There is so much of humanity and it breaks the clichéd concept of just greeting only your family and close friends on Diwali. It is most definitely my favourite Diwali campaign.â€
Mr Bobby Pawar, COO, Mudra, however took a different tack, saying, “No ad campaign has been able to capture a place in my mind; I really cannot think of any Diwali campaign that has appealed to me so much as to be called my all-time favourite campaign.â€
Cadbury’s seems to be the brand and campaign to have captured minds and hearts, and the sweet taste of success is certainly well deserved. But with such a wealth of creativity on tap and such a rich diversity of cultural references available all over India, it is high time a new, iconic ad or campaign came forth.
We’re waiting.
[Link] Debrief: In the midst of the drought, the Diwali ads that caught Anil Thakraney’s eye.
By Anil Thakraney
Diwali special
Not much Diwali themed ad action this season. Guess because the sentiment is a bit dull in the market place, thanks to the heavy inflation. How do I gift stuff to anyone if all my savings have been burnt on getting KLPD? *(For the one-track mind wallahs, that’s Kerosene, LPG, Petrol, Diesel.)
Still, three ads caught my attention. The Cadbury’s ad I have already dealt with earlier. The other two are from Coke and Big Bazaar.
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| [youtube width=”320″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfH9hm9Ea7o[/youtube] |
| Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2. Only for the jingle. Watch this commercial with your eyes shut, and it works rather nicely! |
Coke: Great audio, poor video
To begin with, there’s no direct connect between a soft drink and Diwali. No one gifts a cola on D-day. Unless, of course, very subtly the Coca Cola guys are asking us to do just that, since we are all so bloody broke! Coke’s ad wants us to light ‘two extra diyas’ this Diwali. I suppose this is an extension of their ‘open happiness’ idea. And the execution involves kids lighting diyas at their regular haunts. College canteen, girls’ hostel, on the wall that serves as ‘stumps’ for their cricket matches, etc.
I think it’s a nice idea wasted on juvenile imagery. Coke should have taken the ‘share happiness’ route and come up with situations that are touching and emotional without being heavy. ‘Khushiyaan baanto’ as a concept lends itself to emotion very well. Even the jingle is warm and tugs at the heart. But the silly visuals leave you cold and detached. I suspect this is what happens in the desperation to feature kids at all costs. Even accepting that, surely there’s more to youngsters than canteen and cricket.
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| Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 3.5. For the advertiser’s deep empathy with the target consumers. |
Big Bazaar: Relevant and thoughtful
It’s a simple, no-frills Diwali commercial. And you know what? It works perfectly well for me. Because the idea and the execution reflect a clear and sharp understanding of Big Bazaar’s core target market.
The TVC features a teenage girl inside her home. She looks fed up of her regular salwar kameez, and yearns for a stylish one she spots in a magazine. The setting and the casting clearly tell you this is a lower middle class household. However, her dad, who’s decorating the house, smiles and tells her: ‘Diwali aa rahi hai’. And yes, it’s time to hit Big Bazaar and get hold of that salwar kameez, and more!
Good one. I like the fact that Big Bazaar is totally clued in on their key customers, which is the middle and the lower middle class segment. And this results in an engaging, warm, and very relevant communication. Big Bazaar and the ad agency will definitely not win any awards for this effort, but the store will surely get many footfalls this festive season. And in the end, that’s what really matters.
By A Correspondent
We now have the final word from the man himself. Not couched in the unnecessary niceties that make for press communiques, the text said: “Hi, wanted to share that I have resigned from Zee and will join (the) TV Today group as CEO replacing G Krishnan from 1st Dec.”
Needless to say, the trade has been buzzing with the news of Mr Joy Chakraborthy, Zee’s executive director (revenue and niche channels) and a veteran media industry professional, putting in his papers last week.
MxMIndia broke the story on Saturday, October 22 evening even as many senior executives in both media conglomerates were unaware of the development.
We received the message from Mr C late on Monday. In the evening, TV Today Network chairman and managing director Aroon Purie met HoDs and announced the move. This was followed by a formal mail to all staff. Earlier in the day, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited officially proclaimed that Mr Chakraborthy has stepped down after a stint of six-and-a half years.
Along with heading the media sales, Mr Chakraborthy was also the business head of niche channels which includes Zee Khana Khazana, Zee Café, Zee Studio, Zee Trendz, ETC and Zing, a communiqué said. At the time of writing, there was no written communication from TV Today on Mr Chakraborty’s appointment.
Mr Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zee) said, “I have accepted his resignation with a heavy heart. He did lead a strong team at Zee that will continue to be part of our family. The entire Zee family wishes Joy all the success in his new endeavors.â€
Zee will be announcing the appointment of a successor for this position in the near future.
Information courtesy Zee corporate site: Over and above Zee, Mr Chakraborthy has rich experience of 15 years in strategic media sales across media organization like The Times of India Group and Star Network. His academic armory includes graduation from National Defence Academy, Masters in Marketing Management from NMIMS and, more recently, the Advanced Management Programme from the Harvard Business School.
By Ranjona Banerji
After almost a year, I decided to watch We the People on NDTV. Ever since the Radia tapes were made public, I decided not to watch NDTV or read anything by Vir Sanghvi. This may be ridiculously self-indulgent but I did feel that they did journalism a disservice. However, since this We the People was about the demand for a ‘Right to Reject/Recall’ and featured Kiran Bedi, recently exposed for being a bit creative with her accounting habits, I thought it would be worthwhile to swallow my sanctimony and watch what happens.
Of course, no one called out Bedi for her bill-making. But the discussion did display the naiveté of Team Anna when it comes to its demands to save the nation. Congress MP Navin Jindal had to point out to the highly decorated IPS officer that it was not the job of members of Parliament to build roads. This task was best taken up at the local level. One would have expected Bedi to know at least that much.
Several objections over the ‘Right to Recall’ were raised by the audience, mainly to do with electoral expenses and the problem of having incessant elections. An annual audit of MPs was then called for — so that the voter could assess what his or her representative had done. Once again, Bedi  —  whose idea it was — could not provide a framework within which this report card would function.
Dorab Sopariwalli pointed out that it was arrogance and an insult to the voters of this country if elected representatives were referred to as “galat†as in wrong or bad. He also said that many middle and upper class citizens do not exercise their franchise, which is also a problem.
Several panellists — social activists, politicians, former bureaucrats — had divergent views on the right to recall/reject, which proves at least that the argumentative Indian is still alive.
One only wishes that anchors on these shows would push their panellists a little harder and call them out on sophistry, obvious fuddling and ignorance.
**
 If TV in India very often demonstrates how distance and scepticism are difficult for this brand of journalism, the sheer partisan nature of some of them is very amusing. Times Now, a constant champion of both Indian Against Corruption, Anna Hazare and the remaining core members of Hazare’s advisers, found itself in a bind when Swami Agnivesh alleged that the money donated to India Against Corruption had gone into a trust run by Arvind Kejriwal. As it turns out, Agnivesh’s contention was not denied by Team Anna. The explanation proffered, in a nutshell, was that they had not got down to doing it yet. Times Now reporters and anchors (not Arnab Goswami) went into victim-mode over the allegations and expressed pain that Agnivesh had made such remarks. The reporter pointed out that Team Anna feels that people are conspiring against them, which means that there is a conspiracy against them — the clarification in case, presumably, the viewer did not understand the first time. Why oh why did Agnivesh choose this time to make this allegation, asked an anguished anchor.
At the risk of sounding like a fuddy-duddy lecturer, one cannot understand TV’s allegiance to ratings. But this looks like they’re monitoring who their viewers sympathise with and then doctoring the news to suit that constituency.
Hmmm.
Source: News Content Track – A service of TAM Media Research Pvt. Ltd
Channels: Aaj Tak, CNN IBN, Headlines Today, IBN 7, India TV, NDTV 24/7, NDTV India, Star News, Times Now & Zee News
Period: Wk 42 – Oct 9 to Oct 15, 2011
Note : Analysis is based on the telecast duration
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.
By A Correspondent
Media agency major Mindshare has appointed Mr R Gowthaman as Chief Client Officer for the Asia Pacific region, effective January 1, 2012. Mr Ravi Rao, who has been leading the South Asian operation for Team Unilever since 2009, will succeed Mr Gowthaman in the position of Leader, South Asia effective Jan 1.
Mr Gowthaman will be based in Singapore and will report to Mindshare APac CEO, Mr Ashutosh Srivastava.  According to a press communiqué, he will lead a team of regional client leaders who provide strategic direction and coordination for Mindshare’s work on key regional and global accounts across all Asia Pacific countries.
Mr Vikram Sakhuja, GroupM CEO for South Asia said, “Gowthaman has done a fine job of laying the architecture of the new Mindshare in India, by re-shaping the organization into one capable of delivering business planning, integrated communication solutions and robust media implementation for its clients via highly customized offerings. In the process he has re-enforced Mindshare’s supremacy in India as being not only India’s largest Media Agency, but also the best.â€
By Anil Thakraney
There are two things I will do this Diwali for sure. One is to try my best to make my house soundproof in order to escape the deafening cracker explosions. And two, avoid the other mega explosion: Mr Shahrukh Khan. The man is leaping out at you from every single media vehicle, whether it’s old media or new media. I even fear going to the loo these days, the star may creep up on me there too.
On a serious note, I wonder if the carpet bombing of the media that SRK and some other producers do really makes a difference to a movie’s fortunes. Khan has, of course, gone ballistic in his marketing and has even done brand promo tie-ups, gaming, merchandise… the works. Not to speak of the PR machinery on overdrive. I am not sure how much the marketing budget for ‘Ra One’ is, but it would be safe to assume it’s at least 30% of the cost of the film, and that’s many serious crores of expenditure. When you consider ‘Rang De Basanti’ scored big with zero marketing and SRK’s own ‘Chak De, India’ made no noise and still went on to be a big hit, you wonder if movie makers are wasting their money. It’s Diwali, a long holiday weekend, and there’s no reason why the janta won’t fill up the multiplexes anyway, especially with Shah Rukh in the house.
There’s another thing: This level of marketing raises expectations to dizzying heights. And if the movie doesn’t live up to those, it comes crashing down even harder. Recall some of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s more recent films. As it’s often said, nothing kills a bad product faster than brilliant marketing. So perhaps it makes sense to cut out the marketing expenditure, and invest it into the film’s production. Keep the expectations low, and then surprise and delight the audiences with great cinema. Guess SRK is destined to learn this lesson at a huge price.
As for me, this 360 degree blast for ‘Ra One’ ensures I keep 180 degrees away from the multiplexes. I can only handle that much noise. Good luck to SRK!
***
PS: One media ‘innovation’ I totally detest is the half-page cutout ads in the newspapers. Where the front page of the newspaper arrives half. This makes it very unwieldy and painful to hold the newspaper. Perhaps the new press council head, Mr Katju, should clamp down on this malpractice. Paid news I can live with (it’s easy to smell it out). But not deformed newspapers that are a struggle to deal with.
By A Correspondent
Global consumer products giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB), parent of Clearasil, Durex, Dettol, Harpic, Lizol, Veet, Mortein and other iconic brands, announced the launch of a collection of fun and easy-to-play online and mobile minigames called crazieRBrands. These games are available on RB.com and players have the opportunity to win an exciting and unforgettable trip for two, worth nearly £8,000, to one of eight amazing destinations worldwide – including New York, Cape Town, Bangkok, Barcelona, Switzerland, Iceland, Brazil or India.
The selection of eight minigames in the crazieRBrands suite includes fast action and memory games presented by some of RB’s most famous Powerbrands. The Veet game lends an air of humour to the leg-waxing task and even cleaning a toilet bowl is rendered fun when playing the Lizol game. Each of the crazieRBrands games rewards the player with the sense of achievement that comes with being at the top of their mental game – in addition to the potential to win an exciting trip for two.
The online and mobile crazieRBrands games are designed to raise awareness of RB’s corporate brand among students and graduates early in their career, by improving recall of the RB brand and tying it back to its iconic, innovative Powerbrands such as Dettol, Harpic, Veet, Lizol, Durex and Clearasil. The games aim at further increasing the recall with the RB Brand.
The crazieRBrands suite of games is available on iPhone and Android, aimed at the target demographic, of which roughly 70 percent owns a smartphone, and 81 percent plays mobile games on a weekly basis.
Mr Chander Mohan Sethi, Regional Director – South Asia, Chairman and Managing Director Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd, said. “We have a unique culture that’s most suitable for young professionals who enjoy quick decision-making, coupled with a fast-paced and agile environment. To continue our rapid growth we are always looking for innovative ways to make ourselves better known among the next generation of managers. These games are a great idea to help people make the connection with RB and the speed at which our business operates.â€
The crazierBRands games and mobile app have been developed in partnership with The Workroom and social media agency TAMBA.