MxMIndia

Tag: AIM

  • Lokmat Media Ltd has renamed its advertisement and circulation departments as AIM and RACE

    Lokmat aiming for, and racing towards growth

    By A Correspondent

     

    To drive its growth agenda in a more meaningful manner inMaharashtraand Goa, Lokmat Media Ltd has renamed its advertisement and circulation departments as AIM and RACE.

     

    “In a time like this it is important to enhance focus in our business. The two most important and critical departments for the topline growth of our business are Advertisement & Circulation. Therefore, renaming of the two departments will bring focus to the core competence and also align every team member with the larger vision.  The two teams now have a new vigour to drive the growth agenda,” said Jwalant Swaroop, COO-Publishing, Lokmat Media Ltd.

     

    AIM stands for Aiding Impact Monetization. The advertisement department does chase every rupee in the client’s wallet, but, at deeper level, it has to monetize the impact delivered as response to advertising released in the columns of Lokmat, Lokmat Samachar and Lokmat Times.

     

    ‘Aiding Impact Monetization’ also sets the agenda for AIMERS (members of the advertising department) to provide innovative and skillful selling of solutions to the clients.

     

    RACE stands for Reader Acquisition & Content Engagement.  Traditional circulation strategy, the Lokmat Group realized, will not work any further.  Therefore, the circulation department’s new mantra is to consolidate and widen the target net.

     

    Backed by rejig of its editorial team, Lokmat now promises to deliver more engaging content.  The circulation department, therefore, has to re-align its focus to reader acquisition and content engagement.

     

    “From a pure distribution focus, the circulation department now moves to follow a Reader-Centric approach to acquire and retain readers who are important for our future growth,” said Mr Swaroop.

     

    The timing of the announcement has been most appropriate as the economic slowdown is pushing media owners into re-engineering their businesses.

     

    Lokmat Media Ltd. is one of the leading media houses inIndia. The Group publishes three newspapers, 19 newspaper editions and 58 sub-editions in three languages collectively, in Maharashtra andGoa.

  • Mitrajit Bhattacharya has a few guidelines for big-ticket names looking for the right avenues.

    The Anchor: 6 pointers for luxury advertisers when choosing a magazine

    By Mitrajit Bhattacharya

     

    #1 Whether the magazine caters to the right TG of the brand, not the TG that the planner/ advertiser belongs to, which may not necessarily be the same.

     

    #2 Most luxury brands in this country are consumed by the wealthy, so an income profiling is often better than SEC. The business community scores over the salaried class, who often simply cannot afford luxury (unless they are a rich banker). So, choose your vehicle accordingly.

     

    #3 Often a multi-brand distributor/ company has the same magazine list for all their brands. Decide for individual brands and not for the group; consumers finally see them individually.

     

    #4 Frequently check how the layout of copy/ edit pages is coordinated with that of advertisements. Many luxury magazines go to the extent of designing facing edit pages with relation to the ads and that really helps noticeability/ engagement.

     

    #5 Do not lose sight of sales; maintain the right balance of image-building (which is so critical for a luxe brand) without losing sight of the real impact on sales.

     

    #6 Be sure of the strengths of the medium and use it the best possible way, and not necessarily have the ‘same size fits all’ ad strategy across all media.

     

    Mitrajit Bhattacharya is the President & Publisher, Chitralekha Group & Vice President, AIM.

  • AIM president Tarun Rai says that the quantum of penalty levied on Times Now is not only unreasonable but can set a precedent that would threaten the independent functioning of news media in the country.

    AIM slams penalty against Times Now

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tarun Rai, President, Association of Indian Magazines (AIM), has reacted strongly to the penalty against the Times Now channel in the defamation case brought against it by Justice P B Sawant.

     

    “The quantum of penalty levied on Times Now is unheard of. It is not only unreasonable but can set a precedent that would threaten the independent functioning of news media in the country. Media in India is very vibrant and has helped uphold the strong democratic traditions of our country. It should be allowed to function and grow. At AIM (Association of Indian Magazines) we are extremely concerned about this development and hope for a fair outcome that will encourage media in India to continue to operate independently and fearlessly,” said Mr Rai in a statement to the media.

     

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) earlier had also reacted strongly to the impact of the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the Special Leave Petition filed by Times Now. The channel had asked for relief against the Bombay High Court order directing Times Now to deposit Rs 20 crore and furnish a bank guarantee for Rs 80 crore to hear an appeal in a defamation case.

     

    The directive occurred following a district court in Pune asking the channel to pay Rs 100 crore as damages in favour of Justice (Retd) PB Sawant for alleged defamation. The defamation case was registered after the channel published a photograph of Justice Sawant in place of another judge with a similar name, in connection with the Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam.

     

    Times Now had appealed to the Bombay High Court.

  • WWM CEO and incoming AIM President Tarun Rai on the launch of Good Food, the Engagement Study and the future of magazines

    Huge expectations from ‘Good Food’: Tarun Rai

    Tarun Rai has been the CEO since 2008 of the Worldwide Media group which, during his tenure, has seen several new launches and titles. The most recent in the long list of magazines is BBC Good Food which is to be launched on October 21. In a conversation with MxM India’s Akash Raha and Shruti Pushkarna, Mr Rai, who took over as AIM President from Mr Pradeep Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Cybermedia, talks about the Engagement Study, Good Food, Zinio platform and the future of magazines in India.

     

    [youtube width=”350″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKPL01uKuDA[/youtube]

    Q: You are launching BBC Good Food in India. What are your expectations from the magazine?

    I just got to hear that the magazine is ready; it’s bound, ready for dispatch. We are launching BBC Good Food on Good Food Day, October 21, which we are celebrating and we are encouraging people to try something new on the day. We have huge expectations from Good Food. India is changing, food habits are changing. People are experimenting with food both in their kitchen as well as when it comes to eating out in restaurants. We believe that the time is right for such a magazine. There are no precedents; there are no international food magazines in the country. We are going into uncharted territory and we are beating a new path. There are dangers but as I said, somebody has to do it and we believe that the potential is huge. And the response we’ve got from advertisers for the magazine is excellent and you’ll see it in the number of ad pages we’ve got in the first issue.

     

    Tarun Rai on Indian magazines becoming successful international brands
    [youtube width=”350″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gdT17SBAtk[/youtube]

    Q: Several international brands are licensed to India. When do you see an Indian title becoming a successful international brand?

    As you know Femina and Filmfare are heritage brands for us and they are doing fantastically well. Femina already is present in Sri Lanka. Filmfare we’ve licensed last year to UAE and we’re hoping that we will take it to many countries; there is already interest because Bollywood today is international. The Indian diaspora still wants to connect with Bollywood and I think very soon you’ll see Filmfare in many other countries. The other advantage is, thanks to what people say the ‘digital issue’ but I see it always as an opportunity, we are already on the Zinio platform with Filmfare for the past month; and the response has been fantastic. Almost 60 percent of our total sales of all the magazines that we’ve put on Zinio have been for Filmfare because this is the demand which is coming from the international markets and now suddenly it has become very easy to subscribe to Filmfare just at the click of a button. So I think there are going to be huge opportunities on some of the brands like Filmfare and Femina.

    Q: What do you feel at being appointed the President of the Association of Indian Magazines? What does this responsibility mean to you?

    It’s an honour… I have been a part of AIM for four years now, pretty much as soon as I joined the industry. For me it has been a fantastic experience. I come from advertising and I had no idea about the magazine business. Thanks to my membership of AIM, very quickly I was co-opted to the magazine industry. I have learnt a lot from my peers in AIM and I owe a lot to them. Mr Pradeep Gupta, the outgoing President, has had a terrific run in the last two years and as I take over from him I hope to continue the good job that AIM has done over the last two years. We are a small organization but I think we have learnt a lot to collaborate and make sure that we do things that are beneficial to the entire industry. Right now we are too small. We are just 3 percent of the total ad spends. We deserve more, but just by saying that we deserve more we are not going to get it. So we have to do things to convince the advertisers about the strength of our media. That is the reason we instituted the engagement survey and we are going to take it to its right conclusion by having a proper campaign around it and material which will convince the advertisers. That’s just one of the things. Generally speaking, the magazine industry can do with a higher profile.  So my attempt will be to raise the profile of the magazine industry by doing activities. One of the things it will do is to bring more talent to our business. The way our industry is growing we need a lot of people very fast. We need different kinds of people; with this digital opportunity that has come up we need different and varied kinds of young people to come to our business. By raising the profile of the industry we will also attract new talent to the business. That is going to be one of my important priorities.”

     

    Q: Do you think the Engagement Study that AIM has come out with will solve the measurement woes of the industry? Moreover, do you think that the advertisers will accept it as a robust currency?

    You never know until you try, and this is our attempt. Now it’s up to us to convince them. One piece of research is not going to do it. The good news is that the media buyers and the advertisers themselves are trying to understand media better. Ambika Srivastava spoke about the touch point study, the brand experience points, about how magazines score very highly when it comes to influence. So the conversation has already started. We want to push that conversation along where the judgment on one media is not only dependent on the numbers but also dependent on the quality of numbers, on the quality of engagement. And therefore the engagement survey is just the first step; it is not going to persuade people overnight but we don’t know whether we’ll be able to persuade people till we make our first step. So this is our first initiative to do that.

    Q: What are the take-aways from the India edition of the World Magazine Congress, moreover, on the 360-degree opportunity theme?

    It is called the 360-degree opportunity, not challenge, because I am of the firm opinion (and the board of FIPP was of the firm opinion) that we should look at it as an opportunity rather than as a threat. I just think it’s a fabulous place to trade ideas, to get to know what people in the developed market are doing, what people are doing in the South East Asian market which is still coming up. It’s new territory for us. Organization structures are being experimented with; we had this whole thing about how do you manage content along with so many platforms, do you have a core editorial team…? Business models are being experimented with. So to me it’s still a time of flux. Everyone agrees it’s an opportunity which we cannot ignore; do we have the right answers yet, maybe we don’t but this is a forum where you can learn, you can share, you can discuss and hopefully going forward we will arrive at some solutions which will work for different magazines.

     

    Q: What according to you is the future of magazines in India?

    I think the potential for magazines in India is huge. I always say that magazines, specially the lifestyle and special interest magazines, in India are a sunrise sector. So if it’s a sunrise sector, we are only 3 percent, the only way is up. We are too small to go any lower than that, the only way for us is up and I am very bullish about magazines in India.

  • Tarun Rai speaks to MxM India about raising the profile of the magazine industry, and other plans for AIM

    Magazines deserve more: Tarun Rai (with video)

    Story by Akash Raha and video by Shruti Pushkarna

     

    [youtube width=”325″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhPNt1g3SXU[/youtube]

    Mr Tarun Rai, CEO of Worldwide Media, recently donned the role of President of Association of Indian Magazines. In a conversation with MxM India, he spoke about the development and the role of AIM in the magazine industry.

     

    Reacting to the development Mr Rai said, “It’s an honour… I have been a part of AIM for four years now, pretty much as soon as I joined the industry. For me it has been a fantastic experience. I come from advertising and I had no idea about the magazine business. Thanks to my membership of AIM, very quickly I was co-opted to the magazine industry. I have learnt a lot from my peers in AIM and I owe a lot to them.”

     

    Mr Rai was earlier the Vice President of AIM and took over from Mr Pradeep Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Cybermedia. He said, “Mr Pradeep Gupta the outgoing President, has had a terrific run in the last two years and as I take over from him I hope to continue the good job that AIM has done over the last two years. We are a small organization but I think we have learnt a lot to collaborate and make sure that we do things that are beneficial to the entire industry. Right now we are too small. We are just 3 percent of the total ad spends. We deserve more, but just by saying that we deserve more we are not going to get it. So we have to do things to convince the advertisers about the strength of our media. That is the reason we instituted the engagement survey and we are going to take it to its right conclusion by having a proper campaign around it and material which will convince the advertisers. That’s just one of the things. Generally speaking, the magazine industry can do with a higher profile.  So my attempt will be to raise the profile of the magazine industry by doing activities. One of the things it will do is to bring more talent to our business. The way our industry is growing we need a lot of people very fast. We need different kinds of people; with this digital opportunity that has come up we need different and varied kinds of young people to come to our business. By raising the profile of the industry we will also attract new talent to the business. That is going to be one of my important priorities.”

     

    The AIM names were announced at the annual general meeting of the apex association of magazines, held soon after the proceedings of Day 1 of the World Magazine Congress concluded. The current office bearers are Mr Mitrajit Bhattacharya as Vice-President, Mr Rajmohan as General Secretary and Mr Paresh Nath as Treasurer. Mr Rai and his team will hold office until 2013.