Tag: Dear MxM

By Jaisurya Das

 

I read with interest a recent piece on this website on the huge media war in the English News TV space.My good friend and senior journalist (CE0 – MxM India) felt it was time the sparring partners smoke the peace pipe..

 

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to this week’s Dear MxM, India’s oldest and largest online counselling board for the fraternity!

With due respect to my friend Pradyuman, I beg to differ. Competition of this kind is necessary and only helps put both parties on high alert at all times. Without doubt this has resulted in better stories and more in-depth coverage on both channels. While content may be lacking in terms of width and approach, the fact of the matter is that they are forced to outdo each other hour by hour.

Yes, I agree that the nastiness must be toned down but the peace pipe can be detrimental at this stage. What is necessary is the elevation of the war to a more mature level with mudslinging being replaced with incisive numbers that are realistic and come with significant clarity.

This is what marketing is all about. It is certainly time for them to introspect and devise warfare that is more relevant in the current times. Marketing has come a long way and there are enough and more methods to war on the ground and more importantly in the mind of the customer or viewer in this case.

Get real and fight like marketing professionals. This is the answer. Keep the pipe well serviced but avoid smoking. It kills.

From the smoke to the fire on the ground, here are our questions for the week sent in by our readers in Bangalore, Pune and Delhi.

Sir, my sister lives in Mumbai and is working with a leading news broadcaster. After work, the employees were let off without any advisory that it’s better to stay indoors and not venture out until water levels recede. It’s these ‘intangibles’ which make for a quality media company. Or so I believe. What’s your view? And why do you think that the same organisations which sermonise to the world on how they should be more careful and compassionate don’t take care of their own people.

I agree with you. Organisations need to be more sensitive in such situations and arrange for the safe transportation of their staff. Unfortunately these virtues exist today only in a handful of organisations and leaders.

I am quite appalled when I hear these kind of stories of indifference and in cities like Mumbai where nature’s fury is at its worst in this time of year.

Organisations love sermonising and it is only in such times that the truth is out in the open. What shocks me more is the CEO’s indifference.

Shouldn’t they take charge in such a situation and ensure people are taken care of?! I do hope better sense prevails upon them some day. Amen.

I have been seeing advertisements for migration to New Zealand and admission to universities in that country. I was considering this for my daughter who is in Class 11. But my problem is that I have spent 17 years in ad sales and I don’t know whether there is any future there? What is your view, Sir?

Thanks for writing in to Dear MxM. Migration to these countries are intended to give you a comfortable lifestyle and does little beyond that in terms of career prospects.

This is what I have seen and heard from my countless friends who have migrated to NZ and AUS over the years. They live a good life, apparently stress-free and enjoy a good lifestyle. They earn enough to do that and everyone is happy.

So if it’s career growth you are seeking then this isn’t the place. And moreover people who migrate take any job that comes their way so it’s all about good living, Period.

I had asked this question four weeks back, but it wasn’t published. I am in my final year of graduation and want to do a master’s before taking up a job in an ad agency in the account management department. I would like to know about the merits and demerits of doing a general management programme versus a media or communications management programme.

Sorry about that; we had two similar questions and hence had to drop one. But here we are now 🙂

If it is indeed advertising that you have decided on for your career, then it would certainly make sense to do a focussed PG programme in communication management.

This will help you get the fundamentals in place and will save you the time of learning from scratch. Employment opportunities would be better too especially if you manage to get a good media school degree.

I would urge you to start the process and work towards getting admission in a premier media school to take this ahead. I take this opportunity to wish you all success ahead.

And it’s now time for me to leave you to the rest of your week while I negotiate the Pune roads !

Stay safe friends and take good care of yourself this monsoon ! Till we meet again, Sayonara and God Bless.

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.in. The views expressed in this column are his own.

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

Welcome back, Ladies and Gentleman, to this all-new edition of India’s most read online counselling column for the fraternity.

While the cities in Maharashtra get set to welcome Lord Ganesha, the industry waits in prayer.. This has been a tough storm with revenues having plunged abysmally low. To add to this, the pressures of rising input and manpower cost have landed huge blows to the bottomline of most media companies.

Some suffer out of complacency, some thanks to the aftermath of reduced spending and the others thanks to the lack of a Plan B. Most companies have been caught napping with either CEOs who performed only in boardrooms and the others who travelled overseas while a story was brewing in their backyard.

It is obviously time to get real.This is no time to post selfies and stay visible on social timelines, This is the time to roll up your sleeves, take stock of the situation and work on the Plan B and C. This isn’t an easy phase and introspection is the need of the hour. Far too much time is being wasted on meetings and unproductive long discussions today, If even half this time were to be spent on actually going to the market at CEO level to ascertain the issues, things would be far better.

Yes, it is time the head honchos begin to move into the markets and study first hand rather than rely on anyone else. But this is a tall order since most CEO’s today are good only within the comfort of their plush rooms, fancy cars notwithstanding..

Get real media owners, Get your top management out there in the field. You should be heralding this.

This mayhem demands such intervention !

 

For the rest of you, here are our weeks questions from our readers in Bengaluru, Vijaywada and Mumbai.

 

Sir, just four months left in this calendar year. How would you say has the year been so far. If you ask me, it’s been terrible, but we are all waiting for Lord Ganesha to bring in happy times.

Indeed, Ganpati Bappa Morya !

The entire media and advertising industry is certainly hoping for better tidings in the months to come. This year has been quite a roller coaster with the month of July dealing a huge blow to revenues.

Some say it is the demonetisation, others blame the GST rollout but am not sure this is only about these factors. As we have seen life has moved on despite all the song and dance on this rollout. In my opinion this is about a very cautious approach to spends now.

All clients are careful about being overly noticed now and lying low without too much fan fare is one way they are staying unnoticed. I see reduced spending even on the retail front with less shoppers actually buying leading a lot of plush malls to fold up. Pune saw Inorbit shut their mall operations a few months back and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more such fall outs.

The only thing that seems to be dong well is food and healthcare, both of which are mushrooming. Eat away and keep those health checks going is the current motto! Incidentally, my motto as well!

 

Sir, my cousin is a budding advertising professional, but he is based in a small, Tier 3 town in Telangana. He has studied in Telugu medium, but he has made some short, 3-minute films and finds that his real calling is in advertising. But he’s worried about the language, which I have told him is not a problem. He can speak, as we say in Delhi, ‘tooti-footi’ Hindi and fair, but accented English. What should be my advice to him? Sorry for the long question.

Good creative professionals will find space, no matter what language they speak. I would urge him to scan the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and try and work for a creative agency there. There are several and a lot of them are doing some good work.

This way, his initial corporate foray will see no language barrier and once he has the requisite experience and a good portfolio, he can move to other cities like Mumbai etc. This way he would find his growth trajectory in shape.

I take this opportunity to wish him all success in his career endeavours.

 

My father would always advise me that my desk should be clear of any pending work when I leave work. It shows your inefficient, he would say. But in media sales, the work just doesn’t end, because there are so many other factors and people who contribute to the decision-making. Sir, I feel a little guilt given what my father said . What is your view…. am I inefficient?

I completely agree with your father and this exactly what I have always believed in. Clutter only adds to your problems and it is thus critical that you dispense with your day’s tasks before you set off home.

More often than once, there is nothing that needs to be postponed and the reams of paper that go with these tasks are best kept away from your workspace once you are done with them.

It isn’t about inefficiency as much as good time management and this goes for media sales too. It is a fallacy that media sales requires you to keep sitting on papers and files. Your job is to get revenue and you cant afford to waste your time in office going through papers.

They are not meant to stay on your table. Get them out and move on with your fundamental objectives.

 

On this note, I take this opportunity to wish all our readers a

Very Happy And Prosperous Ganesh Chaturthi. May our Elephant God bring you and family all success ahead. Till we meet next time then, Sayonara and God Bless.

 

 

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com.For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.in. The views expressed in this column are his own.

 

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

July has been a horrid month for media companies with advertising revenues plummeting by 25%…

Ladies and Gentleman, Welcome back to Dear MxM where we take a pragmatic look at the worlds of advertising, media and marketing week after week. Answering our fraternity’s concerns remain our priority as always.

The month of July is traditionally low on advertising spends in media but this year it was abysmally low and the industry is reeling under this impact. TV, Print, Radio all saw an unrealistic drop.

FMCG, Retail and Real Estate were practically inactive in July this year and this could in all probability be linked to the GST implementation process. Most companies were awaiting their migration and new registration details before they insured any marketing expenditure.

The silver lining I guess is the resurgence seen in the first 10 days of August with the volumes showing fairly decent growth over July. I would imagine that this will show steady improvement albeit more for radio and online considering the cut back on budgets.

Bolstering other sources of revenue is now assuming critical significance for media companies and it wont be long before we see more active content marketing and syndication being bandied around. Cover prices of newspapers and magazines will also witness sharp increase in the months to come.

Staff cuts and other cost-cutting measures etc are already here to stay. I wouldn’t be surprised if annual increments also go back to the old times where a lot of us were at the receiving end of COLA ! For those of you who aren’t familiar with this, it’s Cost Of Living Adjustment where the company gives you an increment in line with the inflation percentage during the year.

Despite the roller-coaster rides, media will remain the madness that we all thrive on…

For now, over to our readers questions for the week…

 

I am a student of computer science in an NIT. I have a great amount of interest in creativity and creating posters etc. Do you think I can make a switch from computer science to advertising?

 

But of course you can! I am a living example of this having taken a switch in my early years from hotel management to sales. Never looked back after that.

It is finally your passion and seeking a medium to allow growth.. You’re education in computer science will always come in handy and more so in the current times. So you wont be wasting all that effort either.

Creativity in advertising is highly technology led nowadays and hence you will get several opportunities to incorporate your learnings too. I suggest you do a course in graphic designing etc to get you started and then maybe intern at a good creative agency to build on your fundamentals.

Soon enough, am sure you will be well onto your creative career ! All good wishes to you my friend.

 

I am a former journalist and am now working with a content marketing firm. I would like to reach out via you and inform that content marketing is a lot of fun. I really don’t understand why people don’t give it the desired amount of respect.

I don’t entirely agree with you on the desired respect bit. In fact there is a lot of interest in content today and it is getting a fair amount of attention.

I was quite recently speaking to a friend who works for a VC fund who told me that there were several investments being garnered by content companies offlate.

It is just the fact that a lot of the activity that happens isn’t in the media glare but the interest levels are certainly building up. Content and content marketing is here to stay and I would imagine be worthy of large investments in the years to come.

This will also pave the way for more contemporary and effective content being made available for users and companies.

 

Sir, I was reading MxM India last fortnight and was shocked to read that in July 2017, print ad volumes dropped over 30% over June 2017, just the previous month. Is this just a blip or the new normal?

Yes, this is an unusual blip thanks to all the market forces and GST implementation. Most companies are holding on to their campaigns to get their migration to GST all in place.

While volumes are likely to be on the lower side in print and TV,  Radio and Online will definitely see renewed growth over the next few months.

Retail and real estate will certainly spend more on radio and online given their tighter budgets.

I wouldn’t be too worried about this current fall.

 

On that note of optimism, it is time to bid adieu for this week.. Do have a fabulous week and a thrilling weekend too !  Keep sending in those questions on editor@mxmindia.com and we will have your answers waiting for you! Till then next time then, Sayonara and God Bless !

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.inThe views expressed in this column are his own.

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

I just read about the new Bill that they are seeking to pass in Maharashtra that will allow establishments with 10 or less employees to start without registration. This is a major amendment to the archaic Maharashtra Shops and Establishment Act and certainly the need of the hour.Ladies and Gentleman, welcome back to an all-new edition of Dear MxM.

 

In case you are wondering what this act or this amendment has to do with our fraternity, let me remind you that some of the best startups be it in advertising or alternate media are small and employ less than 10 people. This will greatly ease the pressure on young/small entrepreneurs and free them from the inspection raj that they are faced with.

More often than once, the shop act inspectors demand bribes for small deviations that they may notice. Often it is as innocuous as not displaying the list of holidays on the wall of your office, despite every employee being sent this well in advance. And the only way you can prevent a ridiculous fine is to just give them what they demand and get them out of the place.

I sincerely hope this Bill goes through and allows for small businesses to operate fear-free and focus on their objectives, rather than waste good man hours entertaining corrupt inspectors.

Often it is these impediments that slow down progress for startups and cutting the red tape isn’t always possible.

Allow young companies to grow. Do not stifle them with regulation and process. This isn’t how progress is made.

I wish they do the same with a host of other prehistoric laws that we have to deal with in our country.

 

But for now, it is time to take a look at our very interesting bouquet of questions from our readers.

 

Sir, do you think some of our television news channels are too obsessed with politics? Is politics the only thing that makes for news?

Oh, absolutely! There is nothing else that is covered any case. It’s politics or Kashmir and more politics. That is how innovative our news channels have got today 🙂

I completely take your point since there are several pain points of our citizens beyond politics and none of these get any mention or if at all, a passing one.

Somewhere, I believe they have lost the plot and believe that viewers can be fed anything 24/7.

However, I do believe that the impact of this will be seen over the next 18months and overall viewership will decline substantially. Digital is already the proffered option for news what with its immense immediacy and accessibility. It is only a matter of time now and we will most certainly see a lateral shift out of television news.

Unless of course the current crop of channels seriously relook their content complement.

 

Why is that the various agencies hiring communications professionals in the country – whether it’s in journalism, advertising or PR – do not hire trained manpower in their respective domains?

Shouldn’t only those qualified in culinary stuff be reviewing food? Or CAs doing financial advertising and journalism?

Thanks for writing in with an interesting observation but the fact of the matter is that writing in itself is a specialised domain!

While cross-domain and niche domain knowledge is important, not all domain specialists can write and vice versa. So you may be a great chef but that doesn’t make you a good content professional. Each of these domains requires skills of a varied nature and it isn’t always possible to marry them.

Having said that, there are several cases of domain specialists becoming outstanding writers, but they remain a minority. I trust I have been able to answer your concern on this !

 

Why should the media sector have any age limits for people working? After all, why is the age of 58 considered limiting, when you can work on till 65 or 70 years with ease?

Honestly I agree with you but this isn’t always practical since some of the segments / departments need high energy levels such as sales. Spending long hours on the field isn’t always easy after a particular age and all of us tend to slow down, no matter what we may think.

It is also important to understand the most neural degeneration happens post 50 and hence decision making and multi tasking may get affected or slowed. These are all reasons that we cannot shy from.

However, there are several hundreds of people who are exceedingly competent and active well above the age of 60. Organisations have to constantly change and bringing in younger resources are important. This cannot happen without existing people retiring at some point of time.  I always believe that smart media organisations must employ some of their great staff who have retired through contracts and utilise their strengths for mutual benefit.

Often companies are losing great talent by virtue of this rule and getting the best of both worlds is the answer. I do hope companies are listening!

 

On that note of hope, it is time I move on with the rest of the week.

 

Have a wonderful weekend ahead and do take good care of yourselves. Stay well-protected this monsoon and enjoy all the garam chai and pakoras life can give you! Till we meet again, then this is Jaisurya Das saying Sayonara and God Bless.

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.in. The views expressed in this column are his own.

By Jaisurya Das

 

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome back to your favourite counselling board, Dear MxM! Incidentally, we are the country’s longest running counselling forum for the advertising, media and marketing fraternity.

As you can see, that makes us both old and mature, much like a good vintage wine. Mellow, smooth and a rich blend of flavours from the industry.

I have been watching over the recent trend of people to announce their hiatus from social media, almost as though the world is at the brink of extinction. Almost every one seems to be trying this nimble method of checking your social popularity,

Interestingly, these posts often go unnoticed and this results in the social abstinence being quietly abandoned and the person sheepishly returning to the forum again. So much for the announced exit.

Inclusive lives that thrive on the imagery around the social persona. It is an interesting world that we live in now. Marketers will need to understand this psyche well to be able to make firm inroads. Increasingly, only brands that can impact one’s social life will get that niche in the consumer’s mind

If it isn’t socially relevant for me, I wont buy. This will be the paradigm that future brand managers will need to bear in mind. Social relevance of their brand and how this can be carefully strategised.

Will my brand make a difference to what people will opine on my consumer. If the answer is yes, you have a winner.

Achieving this isn’t easy. In fact, it will be increasingly difficult in the future with more social media options springing up. Fathoming how people’s minds work in this huge marketplace would require intelligence of a new order.

Do we have it in us to seduce this generation?

 

Well for now, it is time for our readers’ questions for the week…

 

We keep very long hours at the workplace, leaving us with little time for any recreation or keep ourselves fit. Is there a rule for organisations on having a fitness room/gym for staff?

Am afraid there isn’t any I have heard off! Yes, some corporate houses have inhouse gyms and yoga rooms but this isn’t because it is mandatory.

If you ask me, you are better off associating your workplace with just work and not an entire lifestyle. Do remember, that the more such perks are provided, the more time you will spend at your place of work. Finish your work and just get the hell out of there. There is a world outside your office, young man!

 

I was reading about a certain news television network being indicted by the government for tax lapses. I have deliberately not named the network because the name isn’t relevant. Obviously, like it is with everything, there’s a right or a wrong, and either the channel is right in saying the government is trying to nail it because it airs content that is harsh on the powers that be, or the taxwallahs are right in saying the network must pay up. Will we ever know the truth?

Honestly, I doubt it. But how does it really matter? I don’t think anyone is above the law and there ought not to be such a hue and cry on an investigation. If all is above board, why make a noise at all.

I have always believed in the fact that there isn’t smoke without a fire. I am not a judge or an authority to check the veracity of all these clean chits or accusations being made, yet I do know that something is wrong somewhere.

I sincerely hope that the channel is question gets a clean chit and this is more so because it is our fraternity. But, If they are in the wrong, then I would certainly be as ashamed as the rest of us.

 

My brother is a journalist and I am into advertising. We both work as hard, but I find that while I used to get paid lesser than him initially, after five years, my salary is twice as him. And this is when he keeps getting performance awards in his organisation. Why this disparity between two arms of the media?

Thanks for writing in, my friend. No, this isn’t disparity. This is just one benefit of taking all the heat! And this is the case across industries. Sales is where the maximum burn out happens.

The pressures are often unparalleled and the companies just try and insulate their sales force with incentives etc.

Moreover, I do not think it wise to benchmark ones own salary with capability or potential. If you do like the environment and the job, the call is yours. Salary, learning, investment or sheer task. The decision is yours but do remember that you can’t have it all.

 

Thank you readers for joining us week after week on Dear MxM.. Do enjoy your weekend ahead and take good care of yourselves.

Till we meet again, Sayonara and God bless!

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work, visit www.xanadu.co.inThe views expressed in this column are his own.

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

I spoke to 27 people today to check on how many of them watched the news channels regularly, only to be told by 24, that TV news did not form part of their media consumption on any given day…

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome back to Dear MxM! I had this faint hunch that the TV news breed of viewers began and ended with my generation. But somebody is still watching all these channels, or so says BARC, and the channels who are screaming numbers most often.

I seriously wonder who this audience is, considering that it’s definitely not the youth of today who I thought were an important segment to be focusing on. Flirtatious buyers and consumers they are and thus far more relevant to most of the advertisers on these channels, yet they remain far removed from all this and quite happy living with their laptops and smartphones.

Digital is certainly gaining and with more programming now getting focused on this medium, this will be a space to watch as we go along. I wouldn’t be surprised if the TV channels fade into oblivion as time goes by.

No, am not playing ‘prophet of doom ‘and just addressing a worry that I have as an avid mediawatcher Print is already at the risk of going the dinosaur path and now TV News channels could also be a distinct possibility.

I am almost certain that my friends in this industry hate me for all that I keep saying, but that is entirely their problem.

I just believe that we need to get far more relevant for the audience of today and that breed is certainly not you and me, who remain happy cribbing and yet tuning into TV news.

Maybe we need to conduct a humungous study across the youth in our country to study their expectations of television and more specifically news.

Is there just too much of news that has no relevance to their lives ( this is where I see the problem) or is it just not exciting enough to bother about it.

Either way, broadcasters may need to seriously start thinking. There isn’t much time to waste on meaningless ranting and gloating supremacy!

 

On this note, I take you straight to this week’s complement of questions from our readers in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. Thank you for writing in!

 

 

I have been reading with interest your weekly Q&A for the last year. I have just joined a course in media and communication from an institute in Pune. I need to take a decision on selecting my specialisation between Advertising, Public Relations and Media Planning. My core interest is in business development and client servicing and each of these areas interest me. If the scope for growth is the factor, what according to you is the best option for me?

Thanks my friend. Do keep reading us!

Good to hear, welcome to the fraternity. Honestly all these sectors have a fair amount of business development and client management and hence the field is open.

However, it may be a good idea for you to focus on advertising as your career and take up a client servicing opportunity. This will offer you a decent blend of business development and account management and will thus keep you enthused.

Client servicing can also in future open opportunities in media sales and brand management hence in my opinion would be a good place to kick off your career.

 

Thank you for answering my questions last month. Sir, I have been reading about how Artificial Intelligence is gaining ground in marketing. How can I learn more about it?

My pleasure! Yes, there are areas in brand building where AI tools and technology is being put to use, though as of now in a very nascent form.

As of now in India, the only specialised comprehensive courses on AI are at the IIT’s in Mumbai, Kharagpur, Hyderabad and Chennai as far as I know. The Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru also has a good course, I am told.

I am not sure that they really cover the marketing interface and it’s application in brand building and management, but you could check with these centres and take a closer look at the curriculum.

Besides these, there exists the vast information that is available online including several research papers that have been published.

I think it would take a while for India to catch up with the latest in this segment but, yes, it is a fascinating area and can open infinite possibilities for brand builders. The generations of the future are bound to see this become integral to their lifestyle and brand messages will become far more exciting and involving with the use of artificial intelligence.

Companies like Google have already made rapid strides in this area and devices to power this will increasingly get more affordable too.

 

I find many typographical mistakes in newspapers so I thought there will be a vacancy for a proofreader or a similar job with newspapers. But I was told that the proofreader’s position has been eliminated by most newspapers. Wonder why? Because mistakes continue to be seen. I was told that I should try my hand at being a copy editor. Which is a waste, because I know I am better at picking typos. What is your view?

My view is don’t even bother becoming a proofreader since it is not going to get you anywhere. Those days are long gone and both mistakes and technology co-exist now. The mistakes are enormous and I completely agree with you on this observation.

I have often asked my friends in the newspaper industry as to why these aren’t prevented like the old times but have never been given a satisfactory answer!

I think it is both a combination of us relying on technology-powered spellchecks to take care of all this, combined with the lethargy and indifference of page-subs to look at these things with an eagle eye.

But I do agree that it may be a good idea to consider copy-editing which will give you ample opportunity to do all this and also dabble in some writing depending on the print brand you work on. And, yes, we can certainly do with some copy editors who are seriously good at spotting all the typos that creep in almost every day in the leading newspapers of our country !

 

But for now enough copy from me.. It is time for me to get back to my knitting and you, yours! Have a splendid rest of the week and a jolly good weekend. Take care of yourselves till we meet again. Sayonara and God bless !

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work, visit www.xanadu.co.in. The views expressed in this column are his own.

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

Ladies and Gentleman, Welcome back to yet another edition of Dear MxM!I seriously wonder if there is any merit in account planning in today’s context of ever morphing audiences? Am afraid I don’t think so!

To plan would be folly. To listen is the crux…

What is critical today is the deep understanding of who your potential customer is and how he thinks. What triggers his flirtatious buying behaviour and what makes him tick…

#BrandTQ as I call it is the need of the hour. What is your brands Titillation Quotient ? This is the number the audience is seeking today.

Do not waste your energy into learning prophecies of a past that has ling gone by…!

Yes, the sermons over and done with! Here’s a quick look at our readers concerns…

 

Sir, how tough is it to make it horizontal shifts in organisations. For instance, move from client service to account planning? I am gong to be graduating next year and I don’t know which stream to select at my placement stage. Please advise.

To be honest, geometry was my weak point so am not sure If even understand horizontal and vertical beyond lines being drawn quite unnecessarily for an exam…

Jokes apart, yes this shift is possible and I know of several senior account planning professionals who have their roots in client servicing. Yet, if you ask me, the account planning function today is not significant any longer.

Marketers are grappling with audiences that are morphing by the hour and planning in itself is irrelevant in such a marketplace. I urge you to focus your energies on deciphering audiences and the way the human brain functions in the current context more than anything else.

 

I find that in the name of equal representation, women get preferential treatment in the media, and this often leads to an unequal status for men. So men are the weaker section in the media. What is your view?

Now, that sounds like a typical MCP view to me! What preferential treatment are we talking about.

If this is about the #periodleave that organisations have adopted, then you can are looking at this through a skewed prism.

I have been in media for over three decades now and I don’t see where women are being singled out for preferential treatment.

Stop confusing human anatomy with preferential treatment for god’s sake!

 

I hear that the media is facing tough times because of demonetisation and now GST – in terms of advertising. Is this true? So do you think it’s the right career to be in?

Yes, media is going through a rough patch, though am not convinced that all this is because of demonetisation and GST rollout. Yes, this has impacted a few sectors like real estate but this is also working towards greater transparency.

I am no fan of any particular political party or government, but I sincerely believe that it is prudent to give reform in governance time to prove its mettle.

Critics we will always be but at some point of time one must realise that good governance comes from a lot of strife and change….

 

On this note of promise, let me leave you to ring in the weekend. Do take good care of yourselves and keep yourself well protected from the fury of the rain gods!  Till we meet again then, It is me, #JD saying Sayonara and God Bless You All!

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.inThe views expressed in this column are his own.

By Jaisurya Das

 

Do readership studies matter any longer? I seriously wonder.

Ladies and gentleman, Welcome back to yet another edition of your favourite counselling column! This week, I received two letters on the subject of readership studies (one of which I have responded to in this column) and that set me thinking on their efficacy and need today.

From what I hear from my friends in the advertising world, they hardly ever look at them any longer and most media buying decision are back to the days of gut and clear market leaders. A lot of this is thanks to the muck thrown around each time a new study is published with warring factions disputing the numbers.

I don’t blame the media planners and buyers for not bothering about them any longer; it’s become a mockery of research anyway. That apart, today’s clients are far more informed than in the past and most often have their media options pre-decided. It’s more buying than planning that happens in most markets of our country. Some markets like Pune don’t even have media planners from the true definition point of view.

And so, we rely on gut like we used to close to two decades ago when both professional network and bonding moved campaigns more than numbers. The only difference is that the young media sellers of today do not have the relationship skills that a lot of the older generation had. Or they are just plain disinterested and market visits are more centred around comfort zones.

Well, the proof of the pudding is in eating it and hence only revenues will tell down the line. One thing is apparent though, the market is always ‘down’ for the current crop of sellers.

I rest my case.

 

Straight to our reader questions from Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad:

 

Sir, I am a student of advertising and marketing and have been shocked to hear of newspapers warring each on the readership survey findings. And it’s these very newspapers who sermonise on probity in public life and how politicians and governments are inefficient and ineffective. What right do they have when they can’t even run a measurement system in harmony?

Good question and a very valid observation too! Thank you for writing into us.

I completely subscribe to your thoughts on this. It is indeed quite ludicrous to see media companies getting into these matters which could easily be ironed out by discussion and implementation of checks and balances.

This is typical of a scenario that emerges when brands are in competition. You often tend to get carried away and lost sight of the macro picture and waste your energies on petty street fights!

What is needed is a robust system that all members accept as neutral and fair and then go about implementing that sensibly. The whole point of an independent survey is this and if members are unable to decide what constitutes a fair system, there really is no point in wasting energy and resources on a large survey like this.

Grow up and get your onions right once for all!

 

I have been seeing many advertisements for mass media programmes in all parts of the country. And in some of these colleges, a cursory enquiry made revealed that they don’t even have good faculty out there. How are they even allowed to function? Why doesn’t the media damn them from taking hapless students for a ride?

I agree and it is important for media brands to highlight this lacunae that has been fuelled with hundreds of institutes mushrooming over the country. Most of them are not even accredited and hence do not follow any laid down procedure or norm.

I have personally seen some of these institutes who don’t even have basic infrastructure and work with ‘briefcase faculty’ who are ill equipped to impart any serious learning. Unfortunately, students and parents do not always do a reference check and get carried away by the advertising and end up paying huge fees for qualifications which mean nothing more than the paper they are printed on.

It is an important issue and I do hope media takes this up seriously and more so since they are eventual employers and need high quality talent.

 

My brother’s friend from college was telling us how they have major gender discrimination in film production companies. That boys get a preference because they can work late nights etc? Is this really true?

I personally don’t think this is true. I know of several young women employed in production companies and they have never mentioned any such discrimination.

If at all, it must be an exception rather than the norm. Yes, it does increase the responsibility of the company to ensure there is adequate security and transport arrangements to take care of the women employed but that is about it.  Women are very much there in film production and work round the clock depending on the need.

I don’t think this is an issue nowadays and while there may be a few occasions that the men are asked to do the late nights, there is certainly no discrimination that I have heard off.  And if there is something like this you notice, then move companies!

 

So all is fair and handsome after all! On that note of equality, I shall get on with the rest of my week and leave you to your weekend planning! Till we meet again then, Sayonara and God Bless.

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.inThe views expressed in this column are his own.

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

Human beings must exit Earth at the earliest opportunity and Lunar travel must be made possible by 2020…

Ladies and Gentleman, Welcome back to Dear MxM, India’s largest counselling platform for the fraternity of media, advertising and marketing..

One thing is certain and that is the fact that Stephen Hawking knows what he is saying..

Given this piece of advice, all of us in media should be plastering our pages with this bit of news. But we will have nothing on it, despite this being tweeted by the world’s leading media companies over the past few days..

We somehow find so many matters of interest in our own country that we often forget matters of global importance. Matters of the bovine ilk seem to be highest on our media priority list now. Let Hawking say what he wants, nothing will shake us !

The larger point here is that Stephen Ol’ boy knows exactly when a lot of things will happen and there is sweet nothing we can do about that. It is hence sensible to pay heed to it .

And if this has to get greater attention, then our dear fraternity need to consider it important enough to cover; In ‘breaking news’ or whatever!

The other advantage is that a topic such can also provoke some heated discussions and the panel can have the usual brood of panelists with handlebar moustaches and without.

Table thumping and chair acrobatics can also be used effectively. 3D visualisation and special effects can also be deployed allowing channels tremendous liberty to innovate. You could even have anchors dressed in space suits and paraphernalia such for added TRP.

So much can be done but is this news worthy huh ?

if you think it is, then my friends, make the required noise. Let India know that Mother Earth may not be as friendly as we believe it to be and Branson’s Virgin Galactic may just have a longer waitlist than expected !!

For now, no more waiting, my readers… straight to our set of questions from the cities of Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad.

 

Sir, I am reading about GST everywhere. I also see ads saying that some day-to-day things will be cheaper or get more expensive. I hear my accounts guys saying that their leaves could go for a toss in August when all the filings have to be done. Tell me Sir, for us in the media is GST a good move?

Thanks for writing in to Dear MxM. It is honestly too early to gauge the possible impact of GST on media but I do foresee it resulting in higher DVC (direct variable costs) for the publishers and media owners.

All consumables will now cost higher than budgeted levels and these increases haven’t been planned for. Revenues on the other side are just about looking up and the gap would increase resulting in lower profitability.

And as we are all aware, the major cutbacks happen on manpower costs (which is the second-largest cost for media owners) when there is a profitability issue and hence this is an imminent danger. Yet, I wouldn’t want to sound an alarm without seeing how GST will pan out effective July.

So till then, let’s hold our comments and hope for the best.

 

I was reading with interest your views on the noise factor on English news channels? Other than using the remote and not watching the channel, isn’t there any legal or regulatory recourse available?

Unfortunately not. In fact I did make a serious recommendation on noise meters to BARC in my column. This was a feeble attempt of then being able to have the pollution control boards play ombudsman to curtail noise pollution 🙂

But this apart, as of now there is no regulation as watching TV and /or any channel is left to the viewer and there is no compulsion either.

Different matter that all of us are actually paying for this noise! So the only solution is good quality ear plugs. Amazon informs me that they have an interesting electronic one that has a built in noise cancellation feature. Maybe it should be offered bundled with the DTH package !

 

My office is undertaking repairs and we have been asked to work from home or cybercafes or coffee lounges. But there is no extra money being given to us for our communication costs, since we don’t have wifi everywhere and coffee at Starbucks or CCD is expensive. Would it be fair to expect my company to offer a special allowance for this period when we incur some expenses for office work?

Yes, I agree with you on this, A data allowance should be provided to all of you in this interim period and this isn’t a huge cost in today’s times.

Bereft of this, expecting employees to pay for official use is unfair, though I must confess that you are saving on conveyance to and fro to office during this period.

Additionally, you also get the option of the occasional nap since no one is watching ! So, either way, just enjoy it my friend.

 

On that note of promise, I wish you all a fabulous weekend. Do take good care of yourselves this season and for those of you close to the shore, may the tides be kind. Till we meet next week, It is me Jaisurya Das saying Sayonara! Stay blessed.

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com.For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.in.The views expressed in this column are his own.

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

Something is monumentally wrong with the current definition of ‘Breaking News’

 

Welcome back, Ladies and Gentleman to a fresh new incisive edition of Dear MxM, India’s numerouno sounding board for the fraternity. The real point here is that I seemed to have lost the plot and that is not good news, what with my decades in this funny business of media.. 

Till about an hour ago, I believed ‘breaking news’ and such ominous tags announced an important piece of information that made a difference to some of us, if not the larger interest of the country, world as the case maybe… 

But I was obviously wrong.

A national news channel that often features some brilliant minds had the amazing confidence to tweet a Breaking News alert of their coverage on…hold your breath!  

“Upma must be made the national dish” ! Yes, an actor said this but is this really a news break? 

Am afraid after seeing this, I am at a complete loss for words and find it extremely difficult to say very much more in this brief introduction to this weeks Q&A. 

Readers are this recommended to take my responses to these questions with ample seasoning… 

 

Sir, I am very interested in commercial art, and while I believe that working with newspapers and magazines is the ultimate high since there are challenges every day, I am told that the money and brighter future is in advertising. Please advise what I should do.

I wouldn’t entirely agree with you on this. It really is organisation dependent more than industry.Several media companies also pay handsomely though not at entry level. It also greatly depends on your area of specialisation i.e. graphic design, packaging design, web design etc. The institute or college that you have graduated from also makes a significant difference at the point of entry.

Hence to generalise would be incorrect. I would urge you to decide your port of call depending on the exact nature of work you wish to do and then zone in on shortlists.

I must however add that advertising agencies may give you more creative expression than newspapers and magazine who most often work with standardised style sheets and brand design.

 

I am in Class 11 in Bengaluru and want to pursue a career in sales. I don’t know whether I should look at advertising sales or sales for other goods or services. How can I decide on where I should look at?

For now, just look at your books at junior college. Why are you worrying about all this in Class 11. You have a long way to go before you graduate and hence it isn’t sensible to waste your time on deciding which segment is better for a sales career.

Get your scores going, complete your graduation and then decide. There is enough opportunity in both these industries and hence just focus on your academics young man !

 

My girlfriend and I work in the same ad agency, and are planning to get married. While the office doesn’t have any rules on married couples working, I think it’s healthy that we don’t work in the same place. What is your view – on the concept of a husband and wife working in the same organisation?

Personally, I don’t think it is a great idea though I have seen several cases such even within my own teams. It is fine as long as you are not in the same segment or function and there is no official interaction required beyond the regular coordination.

However, it isn’t always sensible considering the fact that irrespective of what anyone believes, there is always a bias that creeps in and more so if the two of you are at different levels in the hierarchy.

I have seen this kind of a scenario working well too so there are always exceptions to the rule if you still believe both of you must stay on.

 

For now, I must move on and hence it is time to wish you all a super weekend and much good cheer. Do take care of yourselves and be good!  Till we meet next time then, Sayonara and God Bless !

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com. For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.in The views expressed in this column are his own.

 

By Jaisurya Das

 

The good thing that has happened is the past month to media is centred around the science of cloning. Considering the state of affairs in the English news segment, this may herald a new revenue stream after all… 

Ladies and Gentleman, Welcome back to a fresh new edition of Dear MxM laced with our characteristic ‘in your face’ style. Yes, we enjoy it and the fun is part of our raison d’être…

Ever since I can recollect, several hundreds or scientists, genetic experts and researchers have been working tirelessly to be able to perfect the art of cloning. As luck would have it, we haven’t got too far with that or so it seems.. 

But what these wizards of science didn’t bargain for, was the Indian media springing up a huge surprise by entering the cloning arena! I am not sure whether this needs much explanation for our fraternity, but this is increasingly worrying… 

Slowly but surely. every anchor is doing everything to become a loud avatar with rapid fire retorts, high decibel ‘nays’ and more. Deriving inspiration is acceptable but blindly adopting histrionics isn’t a great idea, more so when you keep positioning yourself as sensible. But, who is listening? After all the noise is getting the numbers as of now, LCN or whatever!

I was wondering if there was a possibility of a kind media soul who would just give us a good news bulletin every day. Just news- unadulterated and honest. 

No opinions either,  Leave that to us.

For now, its our readers questions all the way from Delhi, Chennai and Chandigarh.

 

I don’t know if this question has been asked earlier. I am an advertising professional. While working on a project recently, I realised that I don’t know enough about the country. So I have decided that I am going to undertake a six-month ‘Bharat Yatra’. My concern is that my bosses say I just can’t take off for six months. What should I do, Sir? I know the ‘Bharat Yatra’ will enrich me majorly, but I can’t afford to lose my job. Please advise

Hi ! Thanks for writing in to us at Dear MxM! Am glad you are concerned, my friend. No employer is going to stroll off on a ‘Bharat Darshan’ for six months. That is far too long a period for them to manage without a resource in your function!

There is enough material available to read on and hence save the travel bug for later when you can afford to take a sabbatical. As of now, going on this trip may necessitate you also finding employment in the travel trade at the end of it..

Just hold your horses and work the butt young man!

 

My father is going to retire later this year, and he was just told last week that his services will not be required by the company because he would’ve passed retirement age. It is so unfair, because he lives ad breathes the media. Shouldn’t the rules for employment be revised and people until 65 be allowed to work?

Well, you have a point and I have also wondered how good people aren’t utilised beyond the stipulated 55 or 58 years of service. I have personally worked with several excellent resources who were among the best at their respective functions and age never stopped them from exceeding expectations year on year!

However, companies today have a different view and wish to have themselves powered by a much younger lot. It is also about the persona of the company that they wish to project and hence the salt and pepper hair and receding foreheads often don’t fit in anymore.

If you ask me, large companies ought to find a way to use a lot of the skills that the seniors have in one way or the other. If not anything, they could be used to train the younger lot, handle compliances, management audits etc on a contractual basis. I hope the companies are listening!

 

I’ve been a journalist for the last two years, and am now making a switch to marketing. Do you think it is right for my bosses to say that I have to start from scratch and that my two years don’t really matter?

I think they are right in saying so. You have good experience but it isn’t relevant in the next role. Relevant experience is valued more than anything else. Yes the fact that you know the industry and have worked as part of it does have an advantage but that isn’t enough.

If you are passionate about marketing, you will do well to make up these two years so just forget about all this now and focus on becoming a good marketing professional. Your content experience will only be an additional skill at marketing to power your business presentations, collaterals etc. So think of it as a blessing and move on.. ! I wish you all the best !

 

On that note of promise, it is time for get back to what I am best doing which in this case is eating a good breakfast! Enjoy your weekend in the rains and stay healthy. And yes, do keep sending in your questions on editor@mxmindia.com and we promise to answer them all! Sayonara and God Bless !

 

Jaisurya Das, maverick and media evangelist eats, sleeps and makes love to brands. His consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India and Co-Founder of pune365.com.For more on his work visit www.xanadu.co.in The views expressed in this column are his own.