Tag: Dr Bhaskar Das

Welcome to the start of an all-new week. A mixed bag of questions we have for our Wizard with Words. Fairly simple and straightforward, nothing provocative about them. But that’s what we think. We leave it to you to decide. So without any further ado, here’s 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. Nidhi Razdan has moved from News TV to academics? You too have been spending a fair amount of time in teaching and formulating strategies for M/B-schools. Good idea for media folk to explore?

A. Anecdote-based generalisations suffer from a debility of statistically insignificance. Just because one works in the media, the transition to academics need not be an ipso facto reality. I admit media practitioners, especially journalists, are ensconced in the higher orbit of cognitive capabilities, but it’s more true by exceptions than as a rule.

We thought it would be a googly, but it’s not easy to get our Wizard with Words out leg-before. The answer is also simple and straightforward. End the week on a spiritual note with Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Safe times…

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

Q. Exactly 50 days for Ganesh Chaturthi. We know you are quite a Ganapati devotee (bhakt would’ve been appropriate, but it’s kinda a bad word these days!). Any special prayers for Him for our A&M sector?

A. Avatars of God are for the comfort of the mere mortals. The Almighty knows all. Our prayers gives us peace and hence it has a role to play to calm our raw nerves. So my prayer or collective prayer of the public at large would converge to the well-being for all, where the fortune of A&M would also get subsumed.

Now we weren’t sure if we should ask this question to Dr Bhaskar Das. After all, it’s an MxM problem. And doesn’t concern the rest of the world. Or perhaps it does. Presenting the June 30 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. The PR head of a leading news network advised its marketing team not to advertise on MxM because we’ve been critical of the flagship channel’s content. Is it right to link spends with coverage? Should we expose it? Or just let it be?

A. In a utopian world, the church and state ought not to be linked. But utopia has always been likened to a chimera. But you can be honest and transparent by keeping your audience informed that they would be missing the valuable content of your business associate as your coverage wasn’t as per their expectations. Hence apologise to your readers.

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.