Tag: Das ka Dum

Welcome to an all-new week of Das ka Dum. Some straight, and some not-so questions this week. So without any further ado, here’s the June 29 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. According to you, which sectors will open their purse strings first to media companies?

A. I am usually not an expert on prescriptions. But at a meta level, I believe that purse-opening is a function of both demand and supply. After all, amplification of one’s brands, products, services etc are dependent on business objectives. And those objectives are sector-agnostic. When there is a surge in demand, organisations feel the necessity of reaching out to more consumers for adopting their brands. Hence, once the economy improves, all sectors would open their purse subject to a trajectory of growth that is in sync with their business priorities. Currently, proximity business (BTL, hospitality segment and tourism, to name a few) are under a challenge due to the requirements of social distancing. So, I can imagine they would be the last to open the purse unless they find a way out.

So it’s a predicament that we are all in. Let’s hear it from media veteran Dr Bhaskar Das… Presenting the June 25 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. Given the meagre attendance in offices, it’s tough  for media professionals to make sales calls. In such a scenario how can the rank-and-file sales force go about their jobs?

A. You have missed the adaptability of the sales department. Otherwise how are all media organisations are generating businesses, however suboptimal it may be? Even marketers are realising pattern interruption and both the sides are engaged in virtual conversations and conversions. Old order has changed, yielding place to the new. There are certainly pressures, as the economy and consumer sentiments are tepid (mild word though) but stars shine only in darkness. I am confident that it’s a temporary phase of human society, and things have to improve. Sales team would bounce back but in an altered way.

So here’s Day 2 of our week of ‘sensitive’ questions to Dr Bhaskar Das. So let’s go straight into his response in the June 23 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. In times when the nation is engaged in conflict with a neighbouring country, what’s more important: question the actions of the government of the day or just take statements as gospel truth. What makes more business sense for a news entity… given audience measurement?

A. Audience measurement is an outcome, though public perception is that every activity is for the generation of TRPs. News and other related content follows the philosophy of a channel. If getting TRP has a formula, which your question seems to allude, then all channels would be at the top. Even if popular belief would skew towards an individual’s internal narrative, no news channel believes that its relevant stakeholders are unintelligent. In reality, it’s not so. No one can be prescriptive about the normative. At the end of the day, news channels present facts and opinions in their respective individual styles. Audience is the arbiter. In the age of a ubiquitous social media environment, there is no unidimensional narrative. There is no black or white answer. Life per se has a lot of greys. Even those greys have multiple shades. So why the need to look for a deterministic answer for all narratives?

Welcome to an all-new week of Das ka Dum. This week we ask a few ‘sensitive’ questions to our dear Wizard with Words. The start-of-the-week question will give you an indicator of what to expect in the rest of the week. So without any further ado, presenting the June 22 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. Given the ongoing concerns on the India-China border and the consequent sentiments against Chinese products, do you think media entities should also not accept ads from Chinese origin brands?

A. Media planning and buying is based on a calibrated process, and not on an alleged sentiment. It all depends on the advertisers. They use a media vehicles only as an access point and the advertisement spaces are bought on merit and context of the content. So it’s a business decision. If patriotic sentiments/ interest of the country demand any jettisoning of advertisements, that would also be rational in the changed context. When Nation comes  First, there is no Compromise.

We thought it was a tricky question but he made it out to be very straightforward. Without further ado, let’s hear it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 17, 2020 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. Given the need for leaner organisations, many managements have done away with the second line of leadership. How unhealthy is this trend?

A. In times of crises, the so-called second line might appear to be a luxury for business process continuity. Technically, the system throws up the second line if any contingency arises. Management text books eulogise the process of developing a second line so that businesses don’t suffer from an unusual vacuum of leadership. But in crisis time, leadership emerges from the existing pool and from unexpected quarters. So empirically it need not be unhealthy but in so-called good times, such succession planning helps when there  are surfeit of options available to the employees. In short, overall economic conditions determine what is urgent and what is emergent. Accordingly, management processes are operationalised.

Welcome to an all-new week of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar. So we received this question from a reader which we posed to our Wizard with Words. And here’s what/ how he responded. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. This is from a reader of Das ka Dum: “Everyone asks us to reinvent to stay relevant. But it’s easier said than done. For instance, a senior deskie in a newspaper can do little else. Or an ad scheduling head. Your comments?”

A. Is there anything when ‘done’ is easier than ‘said’. I am not aware of. Secondly, do we have a choice other than anticipating turbulence in our respective sectors and plan a pivoting strategy in advance? When Darwin espoused “survival of the fittest” , it was also easier said than done. But the principles of natural selection function like that, whether we like it or not. To remain in a perpetual beta state is the only option now to navigate the environmental turbulence. Even Andy Grove of Intel opined that only paranoids survive. Of course that opinion is also easier said than done. But he did it.