MxMIndia

Tag: Earl Wilkinson

  • She will oversee INMA South Asia’s growth strategy and execution

    Madhavi Sekhri appointed head of INMA South Asia Division

    By A Correspondent

     

    The International News Media Association (INMA) has appointed Madhavi Sekhri as Head – South Asia Division. She will oversee INMA South Asia’s growth strategy and execution. Sekhri succeeds Priya Marwah, who headed INMA’s South Asia Division since 2007. Sekhri’s last assignment was with HT Media Ltd. as head of brand and marketing for the business daily Mint. Prior to that she spent nine years with The Indian Express.

     

    Regarding her appointment and INMA’s plans for South Asia, INMA CEO Earl Wilkinson said: “Madhavi joins INMA at a time when INMA has great momentum in this region. We aim to increase our footprint at an accelerated pace in South Asia. Having Madhavi on board with her experience in this space will further this.”

     

    Added Rajiv Verma, president of INMA’s South Asia Division and an advisor with HT Media Ltd: “In the very near future, we will see INMA members being more actively engaged within South Asia and better connected globally. Madhavi’s appointment enhances our focus on broadening INMA’s reach in South Asia.”

     

     

  • The key to growth is for newspapers to transform into newsmedia, says Earl Wilkinson.

    INMA 2011: New Oxygen, New Growth

    By Tuhina Anand

    Earl J Wilkinson, Executive Director and CEO, INMA spoke on New Oxygen, New Growth at the INMA-5th South Asia Annual Conference, titled ‘Roots and Wings – strengthening our core business and exploring new opportunities’. During his presentation, Wilkinson spoke about the transformation from being a newspaper to newsmedia which is where the opportunity for growth lies. The key is to identify the platform values of each medium be it newspaper, Smartphones  or tablets and use them accordingly.

    Wilkinson said, “The consumer view of newspaper is changing today as they are accessing news from webs or apps. With the changing view there is also need of new skill sets for the new media including next generation data analysis and deep understanding of consumer behavior among other factors.” He pointed that culture change is the foundation for growth story line.

    He listed three challenges that publishers are facing today- identify growth, how to remain relevant and manage complexity. He also listed the growth levers for news publishers which include operational efficiency, superior competitive strategy, best practices, sales excellence among others but what is relevant is that in this list culture change has moved up the ladder and become a key lever for growth.

    On Culture Change, he underlined the importance of listening to the market, focus relentlessly on differentiators and prioritize expenditure while putting away the rest. Wilkinson said, “Culture change is the only path to growth and in the new ecology to succeed one needs to prioritise platforms and diversify revenue streams.”

    He also talked about integration being the future and pointed how many print people are touching digital but not vice versa. He added, “While culture change is crucial to revenue, there is also a need to speak, understand and invest in readers and not indulge in one way conversation with them.”

    Opening the session and giving an overview, Tariq Ansari, INMA South Asia President and MD, Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd said that the sessions over the two days will look at imparting pointers on ways of strengthening existing business , understanding verticals where investments can be made and at the same time think on new horizons and take their business forward.

    I Venkat, Conference Moderator and Director, Eenadu talked about reinventing the print medium. He mentioned how print has undergone change with segmentation with introduction of city supplements and focusing on its target audience. He also highlighted the example of Filmfare and Femina which have enlarged their purview with awards and beauty competition. The newspapers are leaving no stone unturned to reach its TG by getting into festivals, awards, educations and job fairs too.

    He also talked about localized newspaper where Eenadu has gone beyond city, district, zone to constituency. He concluded by saying that for a newspaper every column is an opportunity. He added, “The print advantage is that while you can zap an ad on television, same is not possible in print.”

  • The INMA conference started today in Bengaluru with 220 newspaper owners, business and editorial leaders and allied professionals in attendance

    INMA conference starts, packed house!


    By Akash Raha

     

    The International Newsmedia Marketing Association, better known as INMA,  kicked off its annual South Asia conference in Bengaluru today to a full house. The two-day event is taking place at ITC Gardenia under the theme ‘Roots and Wings: Strengthening Our Core Business and Exploring New Opportunities.’ MxM India spoke to Earl J Wilkinson, Executive Director and CEO, INMA to know about his expectations from the conference. Around 220 delegates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uganda amongst others are in attendance.

     

    Mr Wilkinson said, “What I’m looking for from the Bengaluru INMA South Asia Conference is, where are the new pockets of growth in the region? Have newspapers hit a peak with readership? What are the value drivers in advertising for newspapers as competition intensifies? Where does the creativity reside among South Asian newspapers? To what degree are global trends in digital media being adopted by South Asian newspapers? Where does the Indian newspaper story fit in the broader global context of transformation and culture change?”

     

    This INMA conference will also focus on the unique opportunities ahead for South Asian newspapers in which they seek profitability and would also like to adapt and create more revenue streams in the digital domain. The INMA conference will host top newspapers publishers and marketers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and give them the opportunity to share learnings with each other. The sessions are expected to take delegates through a world of ideas and innovations which will give them insights into ways to grow newspaper advertising, circulation and brand across titles and across consumer platforms.

     

    Mr Wilkinson further added “It’s a very high-level, relevant programme for South Asian newspaper executives. I don’t just want to hear from the speakers. I want to hear from the delegates. Are they curious and pushing for answers and ideas?”

     

    Mr Tariq Ansari, INMA South Asia president and Managing Director, Mid-Day Multimedia welcomed the delegates and Mr I Venkat, Director, Eenadu, who is also the conference moderator, gave his opening remarks, charting the changes that have been seen in the newspaper publishing scene.

     

    Image courtesy INMA.org

  • AdAsia tackles the question of how marketers can make good use of the digital revolution.

    AdAsia: From chat rooms to Twitter

    By Akash Raha

    That the digital revolution is already here, and is here to stay, is a given. But marketers are still perplexed on how to make full use of this phenomenon. In AdAsia 2011 a complete session was devoted to this very issue, and to be more precise, the subject of social media was discussed. The session in context was called ‘From chat rooms to Twitter… what next?’

    The panelists at this session were Kate Day, Communities Editor, Daily Telegraph Online, Arvind Rajan, Managing Director & Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, LinkedIn and Earl Wilkinson, Executive Director and CEO, INMA. The session was moderated by Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Vivaki.

    The session proposed that discussions were going to be a reverse of what this conference is about ‘Uncertainty: The new certainty’. What the session proposed was ‘Certainty: The new uncertainty’. It is certain that over the next few years the driving force will be social media. However, the uncertainty aspect is only what it means to marketers, media company etc.

    Ms Day said, “The question one often asks is, ‘What is the next big platform?’ My answer is it’s all about the people rather than the technology. Actually the underlying shift is with the patterns of behaviours of the people involved and audiences. Brand and customer relationship is the key. If that’s the case, then what platform is next does not matter because the people are here.”

    All the panelists stressed on the need to build consumer relationship and make the social media experience more real and humane. The consumers today want to interact with a human rather than with an automated interface, they want real conversation, moreover, in real time. It is essential to “get your own house in order and make the customers feel at home”. Also, often while we talk about social media, there are assumptions made about the product, content and consumers. Such clichés are something one should stay away from and not base one’s social media plans on them. Crating content and platform for ones invaluable customers is the key.

    FB, Twitter and LinkedIn are three global platforms, but as Mr Rajan said, the reason they are used still remain different. Twitter is a syndication platform. FB is for friends and family and LinkedIn is a professional network. The social media platforms are still new, there is still a lot to be done and lot of understanding needed. The essence is to have meaningful conversation with the audiences, connect with the customers and once that is done, it can be leveraged upon.

    Earl Wilkinson, of INMA also shared his learning in the field of social media apropos newspaper publishers across the globe. He pointed out how sharing has becoming the value added special sauce for journalism online. And in a way, he emphasized that digital times have saved journalism. Now that social media is here already, and everyone knows that communication is essential, the trick is how to structure the communication. For newspaper publishers, the way forward is going to be projecting newspapers and news brands as a trusted voice out in the community and the blog-sphere and get the audiences back on the websites.

    Arvind Tobaccowala of Vivaki said that the essence to being leader in social media space is differentiating content. Speaking about social media platforms he expressed hope for Google+. He said “Google is an amazing company… Believe it or not, Google+ will work, and it will work in a very big way. I don’t know how it will fit into broader eco system but it will be interesting to watch.”

    Pointing to sharing content on the social space as an interesting behavioural aspect and social media phenomenon, the panelists expressed hope that it will only grow further as it is a great way to engage with the audiences. Mr Tobaccowala also pointed out that on the social media space it is important to understand the behavioral aspects of the consumers. There are heavy users and heavy influencers. Right now the focus is less on heavy influencer… Heavy influencers can be further be divided into advocates and detractor. In a nutshell, he stressed that it’s imp to talk to detractors because they are the ones who are more vocal, even more than the advocates. Social media helps rediscover the idea of sharing in new and different ways to new and different audience. The essence is to start with Social media and start with it now. The panelists beseeched everyone to get on it and one might stumble upon something wonderful… “It is not necessary that you always know what you are doing,” said one of the panelists. Also, one should not look for any returns, one will get it eventually. Social media is new and still developing. Not everything that one experiments with comes out right, but one should try nevertheless. Ms Day emphatically suggested, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” advocating that even if a few ideas don’t turn out right, it is a must to explore social media, as it is the big thing of the future.