MxMIndia

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  • Clients attend festivals like the Cannes Lions to spot inspiring ideas, particularly in the digital, social and mobile and media worlds

    Why CMOs needn’t feel guilty about going for Cannes Lions

    By Delshad Irani

     

    What does a chief marketing officer of a very large global company do when he wants to be proficient in Twitter? He asks the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo to provide the best resource they possess for an intensive reverse mentoring session. According to Antonio Lucio, global chief marketing, strategy and development officer, Visa, it is critically important for him as the head of a global marketing organisation to be an expert on social media and be able to build the Visa brand on platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

     

    Interestingly, he has been a marketer for over 30 years and it is his first time at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the first time Visa has attended the festival as a company. The question then is why now? For starters, digital media has changed the rules of engagement. However, the cases of truly successful integration and application of digital media are few and generally set on loop. “The fact is that when people talk about social they keep using the same concepts and best cases, for instance, the Old Spice campaign. This means that there really isn’t a clearly articulated model,” said Mr Lucio.

     

    So clients like him attend festivals like the Cannes Lions to spot inspiring ideas, particularly in the digital, social and mobile and media worlds. Reasonable grounds for marketers to attend with teams of 5 to 15 senior management level employees.

     

    But, it wasn’t too long ago when if you were a client and you said you want to go to Cannes for the ad festival you might not have got permission from management to do so. However, it is due to the efforts of a few that has led to the institutionalisation of the client’s side of Cannes. Marketers like Mr Lucio can come with midsize teams and it’s no longer considered an indulgence. P&G, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Heineken, Kraft, GM, McDonald’s and Mars, among others are just a few of the big global marketers who were present at the 2012 Cannes Lions.

     

    Some have been attending longer than others. Like Joseph Tripodi, executive vice president and chief marketing and commercial officer, The Coca-Cola Company, who is particularly impressed with the attention the festival is receiving from media owners like Time Warner, in addition to growing participation numbers from clients as well as delegates from agencies. Keith Weed of Unilever, who has come to Cannes three years in a row and has been CMO for as many years said: “We have 15 people here this year and we do a combination of workshops, meeting our agency partners and recognising and acknowledging that creativity is great. In a cluttered media world, we need creativity to cut through.”

     

    So apart from networking and opportunities to meet all their concerned parties, old and some new, in the same place, at the same time, these marketers are on the look out for inspiring work from across the world. And set creative benchmarks wherever possible. According to Cyril Charzat, senior global brand director, Heineken: “It’s very much about stimulating our marketing people to be stronger when they evaluate work from creative agencies; to define what is progressive and inventive. Our key message is to stimulate inventiveness and that’s what we try to do.” And Cannes is a part of that story.

     

    On the Indian front, however, it is not yet a vital chapter. And Cannes remains the exclusive domain of adwallahs, with a light sprinkling of some regular clients like Mr Kakar of Aditya Birla Group, who has been attending the festival for over half a decade. Then there are first-timers like Mahindra & Mahindra. The company wanted to test French waters and therefore Vivek Nayer the company’s VP-marketing for the auto division attended the festival. But he left a tad disappointed and overwhelmed by the creative clutter. Other Indian marketers in attendance were Parle Agro (with Nadia Chauhan also a jury member), Dabur and Flipkart. Clearly, Indian marketers are grappling with the big question – to attend or not to attend? Meanwhile, clients from markets on our left and right, up and down, are strategising on ways to find the best creative result during the seven days spent in the Cote d’Azur.

     

    However, the challenge for most is to put all that inspiring work to actual use. And here’s how some intend to do it. “We are not going to come in like the advertising people who get inspiration and go back home to figure it out. We will have a very structured approach with sessions of inspiration followed by sessions of perspiration, daily.

     

    It’s my responsibility during the week to ensure that Cannes becomes a truly business building program for us,” said Mr Lucio of Visa. In other words, for marketers to take Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity seriously there must be “enough perspiration to pay for the inspiration.”

     

    Fair enough.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

  • Continuing with its Shubh Aarambh campaigns, Cadbury is now focussing on Nayi Dosti ka Shubh aarambh with Friendship Day around the corner

    Cadbury’s ‘nayi dosti ka Subh aarambh’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Cadbury Dairy Milk celebrates the beginning of new friendships with its latest TVC – ‘Nayi Dosti Ka Shubh Aarambh’. The TVC showcases the first magical moments of a blossoming friendship between a young girl and boy on the sidelines of a wedding, an occasion that in itself connotes new relationships. The traditional setting, combined with the contemporary twist results in an easily relatable and youthful TVC which hit TV screens nationwide on July 21 and is expected to have a presence in over 70 television channels.

     

    To further strengthen the brand’s digital presence, the TVC was released online on YouTube and Facebook on July 13. The response in the first 6 days has seen close to 573,000 hits on YouTube and 10,600 likes on Facebook.

     

    Speaking on the campaign Chandramouli Venkatesan, Director, Snacking & Strategy, Cadbury India said: “Cadbury Dairy Milk encapsulates an enormous breadth of emotions, from shared values such as family togetherness, to the personal values of individual enjoyment. The latest TVC celebrates and honours another very important aspect of relationships- the start of a new friendship.”

     

    Abijit Avasthi, National Creative Director, Ogilvy India added: “The campaign is perfectly timed to coincide with Friendship Day on August 5. This is an exciting, action-packed time for youngsters since colleges re-open around this time and they get to meet new people and start new meaningful friendships that last a lifetime.”

     

    The TVC will be supported by a robust integrated marketing campaign, including on-ground activations in 80 colleges, creative print placements, interesting radio capsules in leading radio stations across many cities and outdoor, to urge people to make new friends and celebrate special “friendship moments”.

     

    The new commercial plays out at a traditional wedding ceremony. A teenage girl and boy exchange notes on how every family has a “dancing uncle/aunty” and an “allergy aunty/uncle”. They quickly realize that the two families have much more in common than they thought. When the girl excitedly asks, “Tumhaari family mein mere jaisa kaun hai?”, the boy smiles and replies “Main”. A piece of Cadbury Dairy Milk is exchanged to celebrate their new found friendship and the closing VO states “Nayi Dosti Ka Shubh Aarambh. Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye.”

     

     

  • Questions marks on the business models of ecommerce have led to worries on what lies ahead for click-and-shops

    Is there money to be made in e-commerce?

     

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    There has been a lot of buzz surrounding e-commerce, what with new sites being launched every other day, investment galore and customers finally warming up to buying more than air or train tickets online, one would think that the category come of age.

     

    However, if the front-end gives an impression that everything is hunky dory, a closer look will throw up a completely different picture. There are several reports doing rounds on how Flipkart, the site which is largely responsible for rewriting the game of e-comm is bleeding profusely and unofficial estimates put the losses to around Rs6-7 crores monthly. One does wonder if this is the scenario, then how it is with other e-comm sites and what lies ahead for the players.

     

    Kashyap Vadapalli

    Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer, eBay India said: “There is a lot of buzz around e-commerce – new funding, new player announcements, consolidations and closures, expansions into new areas of business – all making news and hitting the consumer consciousness. However, it is certain that e-commerce is here to stay. Reputed players in the e-commerce industry are focusing on building consumer trust by evangelising online shopping’s benefits to them. This is probably of as much importance as it is to convert internet users to online shopping.”

     

    “There is a significant increase in supply side dynamism, especially over the last 2-3 years, where we have seen large brands, manufacturers and offline retail chains increasingly showing interest in the e-commerce opportunity. Once brands with offline recognition participate in e-commerce, comfort levels for end users will also increase. The fundamental characteristic of building a successful e-commerce business is one that provides consumers with ‘selection’ or ‘variety’ and not just ‘deals or value for money’,” he added.

     

    An interesting facet is that for the many outside the few cities where modern retail has penetrated, online shopping provides access to brands which are not available in their city or town, bridging distribution inefficiencies. eBay India Census 2011 identified buyers from 3,311 Indian cities which are shopping online covering all 28 states & 7 union territories of India.

     

    The Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has estimated Indian eCommerce market to be worth Rs46,520 crore or $10 billion in 2011, with a user base estimated at around 10 million people.

     

    Ravi Vora, VP – Marketing, Flipkart said: “The e-commerce story in India is still to reach its full potential. 2011 was the year when this industry finally started to come of age. Today, increased attention from serious players and investors has given this ecosystem a much needed boost. Consumers too are slowly buying into the concept of online shopping – and as online companies continue to improve on their service experience, we see this trend continuing. It’s true that we are seeing the entry of lots of players in the current scenario – and going forward we do expect to see some consolidation in this space. However, the India n e-commerce story is far from over. In fact, in the near future we expect to see it become as robust a model as offline retail is in the country today.”

     

    Mr Vora of Flipkart elaborates that the domestic market has a lot of potential: “The company is scaling up business in order to be able to make the most of it. Our initial customers were the urban, net-savvy youth. However, with our current campaign we have started focusing on offline shoppers, especially in tier 2 and 3 cities. We believe this is where the growth will come from in the coming months – and our aim is to convert these offline shoppers to the online mode. Additionally, we are betting big on the digital business. We think it will expand a lot in the near future and have already made our debut with our online music download service – Flyte.”

     

    K Vaitheeswaran

    While the players talk about potential, and the largely untapped, market in tier II and III towns, there is another side of the story. K Vaitheeswaran, Founder & CEO, India plaza.com, one of the pioneers in online shopping in India, having founded www.fabmart.com in 1999 and later acquired and rebranded as Indiaplaza.com, has been through two cycles of boom and bust in the dotcom. He is of the opinion that the category has already begun to see some correction: “Unlike the first time when most e-comm companies had to shut shop, I think now the scenario will be different. Now the customers have experienced online shopping and know its merits so what one would see is consolidation in this category.”

     

    For him the mantra for success has been by “keeping a ruthless focus on cost management”. So no snazzy address and definitely no stocking inventory or having a warehouse, but focus is on great selection of products, good pricing and timely delivery. It’s a simple market place structure where they have vendors who provide goods and they manage the backend. Mr Vaitheeswaran said: “If you look at our ROCE (return on capital employed), I think we will top in profitability. Today most players are burning money; I mean how can a business be profitable if you are losing money faster than you are making and you are mindlessly growing operations cost? I think its high time people look at e-comm as a business and not merely as hobby.”

     

    The estimated size of the e-commerce industry is Rs2,000 crore (that is if one is looking at margins) minus the travel. This has been growing at 50 per cent, especially last year.

     

    In this growth, Flipkart has played a role which cannot be undermined. With its superfast delivery mechanism and COD (cash on delivery) option, it has revolutionized the e-comm market in India. Its high decibel campaign addressing deterrents in e-comm has also helped in making e-comm amenable to Indians, besides helping the company create a brand name for itself, which has a high recall. However, this has come at a cost for the company. Its investors – Tiger Global Management and Accel Partners (the latter did not revert on our query) – it seems are not keen on investing any further. Hence, now for Flipkart, which has recently acquired Letsbuy.com, the option is to be either open to acquisition by a global giant or look for a larger PE investor.

     

    Mahendra Swarup

    Giving his take, Mahendra Swarup, Partner, Avigo Capital, said: “In the long run, e-commerce will grow, given that internet penetration in India will only rise and more number of population will become comfortable with the medium.”

     

    He believes what has gone wrong is the way e-comm companies have been structured. What the companies have been selling on the net is a value proposition, while at the same time, the cost of customer acquisition remains high. In fact, in many categories like the books there is hardly any margin. He said: “The VC’s have taken the e-comm business to scale, but after a point there is a need for large PEs to come to rescue as in the case of Flipkart.”

     

    Mr Swarup’s company Avigo Capital has not invested in any e-comm sites as he said: “we are not interested in that game”. He makes a relevant point when he says that most e-comm sites have failed to create a mature management and have been stuck at the entrepreneur level, unlike in other parts of the world where entrepreneurs take back seat and hand over the reins in able managers while still remaining the face of the company, fine example being Google and Facebook.

     

    Also their supply-chain management is not that mature, so in reality, they haven’t created anything that will be attractive for a PE to invest: “I think many small e-comm companies who are non-funded have a better chance to survive than the funded ones.”

     

    Mr Swarup said that the whole talk of Amazon buying Flipkart holds no value as the latter has created no value or attractive proposition for the former to buy and as far as customer loyalty on the web is concerned, none exists. He feels niche players providing specialized merchandise like bikes, mountaineering equipments or kids clothing and accessories have a better chance of survival.

     

    However, the whole e-comm buzz has helped players who remained dormant after creating e-comm platforms on their sites. A large player has seen 100 per cent growth in last year by just tweaking its website and catalogue changes with no additional cost. In fact, most players follow no inventory, no warehouse model, unlike Flipkart whose losses is attributed to its business model of stocking products, which has helped it in delivering fast but cost a dent to the company.

     

    Also, the COD model, which has lured many customers to order from the net, is seen as a complete ‘con game’, as one doesn’t get cash immediately and margins gets reduced immensely plus products get returned, thus creating additional cost burden. In fact, this problem could be solved by creating a database which can be shared by the e-comm players with suspect customers similar to banking sector.

     

    Ashutosh Lawania

    However, all is not lost, Ashutosh Lawania, Co-Founder & Head of Sales, Myntra.com, said: “We have been doubling every six months and it has gone as per the plan. Currently there are 120 million internet users in India which is estimated to grow to 300-400 million users. Out of the 120 mn internet users today, only 10 per cent are transacting online. This number will only grow as more and more people will have trust on online shopping. Overall, this is a big market and there is enough for all the players. In the next 12-24 months, I do see some kind of consolidation happening.”

     

    Myntra, which started with offering personalized merchandise, now sees almost 55 per cent demand from the footwear category. There is potential and there are ready customers so the e-comm story which began as a roller-coaster ride will see some correction to pave way for future growth.

     

    However, one should pay caution to the business model as speedy growth comes at a cost and for running a business what one must always remember is the basic – be profitable and do whatever it takes to achieve that. However, e-comm in India right now has become nothing less than a soap opera.

     

  • XRBIA Developers initiated a social media campaign wherein they created their Facebook page as a tourism destination

    Xrbia goes social to promote project

    By A Correspondent

     

    XRBIA Developers’ aim was to bring consumers closer to realizing and living their dream of an idyllic house in a dream country. This was the genesis of XRBIA’S dream campaign. The idea was to create a country which was perfect, where people were happy; there was no rush; air, water and environment was clean. And thus giving shape to the idea, XRBIA went in for a threefold strategy: The team started with a teaser launch promoting XRBIA as a country, which lead to the press conference announcing XRBIA as an affordable housing developer and finally moved to launch the first project at Hinjewadi in Pune.

     

    XRBIA Developers initiated a social media campaign where they designed their Facebook page as a tourist destination. XRBIA engaged users with tidbits about the country’s cultural nuances, including its culinary habits, nightlife, and so on and so forth. This engagement program started with a unique contest of “where in heaven is XRBIA?” This campaign drew a lot of interaction with almost everyone having an opinion on where XRBIA was located. This set the ground for the rest of the campaign where the developers shared more information about XRBIA and the life there.

     

    The outcome of the campaign resulted in about 30,000 likes, which is commendable, as the teaser ended on June 20, barely 4 days after the launch. Since then, there have been more than 4 million page views and 1.3 million unique visitors on the Facebook page.

     

    This is a first-of-its-kind campaign, especially for a real estate brand. The concept of promoting XRBIA as a country was initiated with the thought of running the teaser campaign as a tourism campaign where people are invited to experience the country. The line “Visa on Arrival” was coined to invite people to visit XRBIA. This idea behind the thought was that once the teaser campaign was over, the real estate brand would be revealed and people would be invited to stay at their dream destination.

     

    Before XRBIA was unveiled as real estate company, many of the interactions on Facebook were about people asking where the new country was, some even asking if it was a rebranding campaign by Serbia. Some even applied for a job in the country. The high amount of interaction reinforced the success of the campaign.

     

  • In India, it has offices in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad

    ODigMa to expand to Australia and SE Asia

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    ODigMa, the online marketing agency, is looking at expanding its footprint beyond the Indian shores. The immediate plan is to have its presence in Australia and South East Asia and the agency has already made headway in its bid to have a presence in Australia. In India, it has offices in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

     

    Talking about the edge that ODigMa has, Advit Sahdev, CEO and Founder, ODigMa said: “Our expertise lies in data analysis and that’s our differentiator. We do a complete analysis on the data available and advise our customers how this data can be used to optimal use. Precise targeting helps our clients in getting desired returns.”

     

    OdigMa uses Big Data analysis, which as per a report by McKinsey in 2011 about using Big Data in social media analytics companies, can increase innovation, competition, and productivity. The report suggests that Big Data allows organizations to create highly specific segmentations and tailor products and services precisely to meet those needs. Using Big Data for social media analytics will help companies to create new products and services, enhance existing ones, and invent entirely new business models.

     

    The agency has come out recently with a Facebook analytical tool which it claims is the one of its kind available. The tool which is already available to ODigMa clients helps in going beyond the interactivity that is currently available on this page.

     

    Started two years back, the online marketing firm services over 100 clients including brands like MTS, Marks & Spencer, MakeMyTrip, HiDesign and DoCoMo among others. It builds innovative social media tools using analytics and BigData.

     

    The agency, whose first client was Wildcraft, takes pride in the fact that it promises to do work that can be measured. Mr Sahdev said: “We have done work that has helped our clients grow and the best part is that all of this can be measured. We also do a lot of work in website optimization.” He points how he advised one client to follow the offline model of having happy hours for an e-commerce site to drive traffic during the day when usually it would see lesser visitors. Also for an automobile launch in Ahmedabad, ODigMa got the live streaming on FB and a FB campaign that got the company a good number (140 in total) of qualified lead in a week. The service helps in a more personalized solution and helping in better conversion especially works for e-commerce sites.

     

    On the reaction of clients on social media marketing, Mr Sahdev said: “My experience says that everyone is willing to try it for a short period, say for 4-5 months and gauge the response. It’s only if they have met with success in these months that they want to commit long-term.”

     

    In terms of trends in the social media marketing, Mr Sahdev pointed that the big thing is to have videos. He also stated that their company is focusing in a big way in the creation of video and also promotion of those videos. In fact, the videos, he feels, should not be more than 30-40 seconds long but should be different from a TVC as the requirement on social media is different but the message has to be put in an interesting manner with an eye that on social media. The key is sharing, hence the content should be such that encourages sharing instantly.

     

  • The objective of the page is to disseminate community radio information to a wider public and engage with over 134 operating community radio stations

    MIB starts Facebook page for community radio

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a bid to establish a direct communication between the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and various stakeholders of community radio fraternity in the country, the ministry has launched a dedicated page on Facebook- ‘Community Radio India’.

     

    The objective of the page is to disseminate community radio information to a wider public and engage with over 134 operating community radio stations of the country and other stakeholders. The page will update the stakeholders on status of licences, screening committee meetings, permission agreements, clearances for new community radio station, consultations and events.

     

    This platform would also enable community radio stations to share information about their radio programmes, upcoming events, success stories, photographs and their challenges.

     

    ‘Community Radio India’ page also aims to encourage new and aspiring stakeholders of community radio by regularly updating them on CR policy, guidelines and by answering their queries. The information shared through ‘Wall’ posts will not only be helpful for them but would also inform individuals interested in community radio.

     

    The Facebook page on community radio not only portrays the vibrant history of community radio movement in the country using ‘Timeline’ feature but also hosts key documents related to policies. The page also carries frequently asked questions (FAQs), relevant documents and photo albums of key events. The ‘Wall’ on Facebook page would facilitate discussions while enabling a participatory communication channel on issues pertaining to community radio stations.

     

    The scheme has been identified as a core intervention during the XII Five Year Plan and it is expected that the Plan period would see a quantum jump in the number of Community Radio Stations set up in the country.

     

  • Popular mobile video platform Vuclip launches a mobile portal for women and promises a lot more for Indians on the go

    Vuclip wows women with video…on the go

     

    Text and Video by Shruti Pushkarna

     

    Mobile video portal Vuclip unveiled India’s first mobile video portal for women in New Delhi on July 11. The video portal for women, Mira!, is designed to appeal to the independent women of our times. Mira! draws content from around 30 content providers in India, as well as globally, to offer videos across a host of categories that interest women. The mobile portal will feature content relating to health, beauty, fashion, lifestyle, parenting, cookery, entertainment, astrology and much more.

     

    Launching the portal at the Press Club of India in New Delhi, Chief Guest Prof Kiran Walia, Delhi NCT’s women development minister, said: “Mobile phones are emerging as an economical tool for accelerating mass-scale development of women. Studies show that the mobile phone has helped women feel safer, more independent and connected, and has opened new professional avenues and income sources for women. As India’s first mobile video channel for women, I hope that this initiative will help boost mobile adoption among women, and will encourage the creation of more women-oriented mobile content.”

     

    Prof Kiran Walia, Delhi NCT’s women development minister, with a part of the the VuClip leadership team

    Vuclip also unveiled the findings of its global survey in which almost 40,000 women users participated from 176 countries, including nearly 13,000 women from India. The survey found that besides voice and text, 60 per cent of Indian women respondents use their handsets as a primary source of entertainment. As many as 80 per cent of the respondents reported steady increase in time spent on mobile-viewing. Besides movies and music, Indian women also loved watching TV soaps, funny videos, sports, news and celeb gossip on their mobile. Women between 18 to 35 years comprised 65 per cent of the Indian respondents, while 24 per cent were under 18 years and another 11 per cent were over 36 years.

     

    Commenting on the survey findings, Meera Chopra, Vice President-Advertising, Vuclip India, said: “Even as the adoption of mobile among women grows in India, it is encouraging to note that mobile is already becoming a woman’s preferred source for content. While 37 per cent women from India reported that they spend more than one hour daily on TV, print or radio media, a close 32 to per cent women reported that they spend over an hour to access mobile content every day.”

     

    Vuclip’s Global Vice President-Marketing, Judith Coley, said: “In contrast to the developed countries, internet in the developing world is arriving on phones before traditional computers. About 59 per cent of internet users in India get online via mobile phones. We hope that Mira! will help spark a revolution in the way women’s mobile content is perceived – by content providers, brands, and women themselves. Cisco predicts that mobile video will increase 25-fold to account for over 70 per cent of total mobile data traffic between 2011 and 2016.”

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biLDcqZ-TkY[/youtube]

    Speaking about the choice of the name for the portal, Ms Coley said, “Mira!’ in Latin is the root word for ‘wonderful’, while in Spanish, ‘Mira!’ means ‘look’. Mira! is also the name of a bright star. The Mira! Woman is busy, engaged, radiant and full of life. She wants to make the most of every moment, and when she takes a break, she turns to her mobile phone for entertainment, news and tips.”

     

    MxMIndia also spoke to Salman Hussain, Vice President- BD & MD (India & Middle East), Vuclip. In his conversation with MxMIndia, Mr Hussain talks about the genesis of Mira!, Vuclip’s content partnerships, the road ahead and more.

     

    Excerpts from the interview:

     

    How did Vuclip decide to come up with a women mobile channel? And why ‘Mira!’?

    Vuclip launched in India in 2008 and it’s a mobile video portal. We were trying to get people to watch the videos they wanted on their mobile phones and it’s primarily search-driven. What we saw happening over the past couple of years that we’ve been around was that there were a lot of topics that were being looked at which were women-oriented and that was the genesis for us to create a verticalized portal with women-oriented content on it. The precursor to that was a global survey we conducted, where about 40,000 women responded, out of which 13,000 were in India. We asked these women that if we set up something with the kind of content they are looking at, would that be of interest for you. So that was the genesis for it. And Mira, the name was an amalgamation of the different things it means in various languages.

     

    Have you partnered with a content provider for all the content on the mobile video portal?

    Absolutely. Vuclip in India works with almost 80 content partners. We work with the large movie production houses, someone like a UTV. Then we work with television channels like a NDTV. We also work with a lot of regional players, like MAA TV down in AP, we also work with quite a few local news channels as well.

     

    So what about the content on Mira…

    Mira sort of becomes a subset of what’s happening on Vuclip. If you look at the Mira portal, you will see there are various kinds of content available, like the traditional entertainment genre, there’s also news so somebody like an AP (Associated Press) becomes a partner for that.

     

    If you could also share some mobile viewing trends in India indicated in the survey conducted by Vuclip.

    Vuclip is doing more than 4 million video views a day in India. We have an audience of more than 10 million unique users that are coming on to Vuclip each month. To talk about the kind of categories that people are viewing, they range from the typical movie related content, astrology, cricket and so on. But that’s not the only thing people watch. For example, you’ll be surprised that one of the big things that people look at is animation and nursery rhymes.

     

    Are you looking to launch any other channels apart from this women’s channel?

    Yes, there is a huge roadmap we have in terms of content that’s coming up. It will cover all genres. So there’s sports, music, devotional, cricket, health. It’s always going to be an ongoing process.

     

    Is this going to be an Instagram for video?

    Not really, because Instagram looks more at user generated content. In this case, we are more search-oriented, where we are saying that there is some curated content that’s available. But I think we’ll sort of move towards that phase eventually because while it’s easier to do that for images, it’s a lot tougher to do the same for video. Right now there is a huge demand for watching video content. I think as the space evolves, since video is still very nascent in Indian market, we will see folks starting to generate more video content. And that’s when we will see a video for Instagram sort of thing happen.

     

    Is Vuclip only for airing proprietary content? Or is it also into social video sharing?

    You know social is a very large aspect of why Vuclip grew in the first place. So if I watched a video which I liked, the biggest advantage that Vuclip brought to the table was that I could just forward that very quickly via Facebook, or tweet it or sms it to my friend. So that virality is what helped us grow in India. An interesting stat I want to share, when Vuclip started, 65 per cent of views came from search. But in the last four years, more than 65 per cent views come from people sharing. And that’s been the trigger for our growth.

     

    What are the infrastructural obstacles that something like Vuclip faced in being able to deliver bandwith-heavy content quickly? And what are the ways in which you worked around them?

    That is our USP, that’s really what we brought to the table in the Indian context. We have our own proprietary technology, whereby we can take a video and in real time make it match the handset which is requesting for it. Today we support more than 5,000 different kinds of devices and that has been our biggest strength in India. We have grown with the growth of mobile internet in India. With the advent of 3G and 4G, I think it’s only going to help us grow in a much faster manner.

     

    Will Vuclip be open to partnering with niche content producers to create subject or domain-specific content channels like this women’s channel?

    Absolutely. We are seeing content providers in three categories right now. Someone like a UTV is a much more tech-savvy partner who knows internet and mobile, and already has curated content. So it’s easier for us to work with them. But if you look at more regional content players, that’s been our focus for the last one year. And as we talk to them, they have great aspiration in terms of going mobile but they don’t know how to. So we are working with them, educating them and trying to get them to edit and tag their clips. From our perspective, we are a great distribution partner for them.

     

    Do you have to partner with each carrier?

    Not for Vuclip itself because if you are able to go on to a rediff or a yahoo on your phone, you will be able to go to Vuclip, it’s an off-deck site. And it’s free to the consumers, so there’s no billing integration required. But we are aligned with all the major carriers in India and that’s because we believe that the more we get to know about the consumer, the better product we can offer. Similarly, it’s a two-way path for the carriers as well; we provide a lot of insight in terms of what the consumers are watching. We are also able to tailor the experience for individual carrier depending on the kind of networks they have and depending on the kind of regions their audience is in.

     

    And how is it in terms of revenues?

    We are looking at two revenue models. We are looking at advertising increasingly becoming a larger play for us. I think it’s still in the nascent stage. What we have also been able to establish in parallel is like a ‘freemium’ model, where we take a subset of the audience that comes to us and up sell them on some premium video content for which they explicitly pay, and we proactively push out that content to them on a daily basis.

     

  • The list of appointed CEOs on social media like HCL boss Vineet Nayar and RBS India head Meera Sanyal, however, is still rather small

    Why CEOs find social media a double-edged sword

    By Nikhil Menon

     

    Recently, the CEO of Southwest Airlines in theUShit on a novel idea to get customer feedback directly from the source. He put up a question on LinkedIn asking: ‘How can an airline make you, the flier, more productive?’ He got 137 answers from people; many of them detailed essays on what his airline could do to improve its customer experience.

     

    “That kind of real, authentic feedback is very hard to get when you’re the CEO,” said Hari Krishnan, CEO of LinkedInIndia, as he recounts this story. And there, in a nutshell, you have perhaps the single most important thing about social networks – they are a great leveller. They also blur the line between what was considered one’s professional and personal space.

     

    From Donald Trump’s tirades against Barack Obama to Michael Dell’s constant praise for Dell’s employees worldwide and Vijay Mallya’s defensive tweets hitting back at critics of his ailing airline, CEOs are stepping up to make themselves heard. And while these are early days inIndia, promoter-CEOs and heads of business families like Anand Mahindra, Mallya and Naveen Jindal are early movers. The list of appointed CEOs on social media like HCL boss Vineet Nayar and RBS India head Meera Sanyal, however, is still rather small.

     

    Prakash Iyer, CEO of Kimberly-Clark Lever, admits that Indian executives are one step behind foreign CEOs in cashing in on the social media phenomenon: “Whenever something new comes along, we tend to see the negatives more than the good things. But CEOs, no matter what generation or industry they’re from, have to realise that social media is here to stay. And if they’re not using it, they are missing something.”

     

    If that’s true for heads of private companies, it’s truer for senior bureaucrats inIndia, who are known more for shunning the spotlight than soliciting it. Considering that, Amitabh Kant is a maverick. The 55-year old CEO of the DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor) has an active Facebook account with 1,500-odd friends, a Twitter account he occasionally updates and even a personal blog, amitabhkant.in. Mr Kant reads and writes extensively on his pet interests – travel, urbanisation, photography, technology and cuisine – and also likes connecting with people who share those interests: “Social media has been a powerful and enlightening influence on my work. I read and discuss articles on infrastructure and urbanisation around the world.”

     

    What’s more, he thinks that others of his ilk should follow suit. “What’s the point of resisting social media? It’s a highly transparent world,” he said, relaxing at hisDelhihome after his mandatory Sunday morning golf session. “And civil servants need to understand that, especially in the RTI (right to information) age. In fact, I feel that the government should ask every bureaucrat above the rank of joint secretary to compulsorily be on social mediums to become more accessible to the people.”

     

    As long as we’re in the realm of wishful thinking, Jessie Paul has a gem of her own. As the battle to decideIndia’s next president rages on, the managing director of Paul Writer jokingly urges people to consider her for the position. When asked about her ambition to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan, she chuckled: “I am a woman, so I am in a political minority. Besides, I am a Tamilian, married to a Bengali, so I should be acceptable to both Jayalalithaa and Mamta di. Why not?”

     

    Her irrefutable logic is met with much hilarity and even endorsement by the people who follow her. But looking beyond her easy candour, what’s interesting is how the managing director of Paul Writer effortlessly wields social media across half-a-dozen platforms.

     

    For Ms Paul, who is a regular on content sharing and networking sites like Slideshare, Youtube, Facebook and Flickr, online networking sites are food and drink.

     

    The author of a book on frugal marketing and former Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Wipro was one of LinkedIn’s first users inIndiain the early 2000s. In fact, Mr Krishnan of LinkedInIndiasaid that Jessie Paul is a case study, in the way she created a network of CMOs in her earlier avatar to trade best practices. Ms Paul eventually quit Wipro and started Paul Writer, through which she gives companies the benefit of her experience on tackling the social media beast. “Social media is more than about making friends or killing time; there’s some serious knowledge sharing going on, and more importantly, there are huge business opportunities waiting to be explored there,” she said.

     

    Some may argue that given her marketing background, it should be no surprise that Paul is so comfortable with social media. And it’s also worth mentioning that Amitabh Kant hasn’t been a ‘typical’ insular bureaucrat either. It’s been easier for Paul and Kant to brand themselves because social media has always been core to their interests and professions.

     

    Mr Kant, a 1980 Kerala cadre IAS officer, was earlier Joint Tourism Secretary with the Ministry of Tourism. He was also part of the teams that came up with the ‘Incredible India’ and ‘God’s Own Country’ (Kerala) branding campaigns in his former avatar. Mr Kant has written a book, Branding India, and is now co-launching an online initiative to promote ‘ancient Indian cuisine’. “It’s important to have interests outside of work. And using social media doesn’t take really much time – not when you’ve got the whole world on your smartphone,” he said.

     

    Using social media for casual networking may be a stretch, given that many CEOs don’t even use it for work. Tanvi Bhatt, founder of Panache Studios, advises many senior managers on personal brand management, of which online reputation management is a part. She said that less than 5 per cent of the senior executives she meets have a social media account.

     

    “They’re not even on LinkedIn, which I find amazing. These days, clients and partners Google senior executives before meeting them face to face. And if they don’t find them online, they start having doubts about the person’s or organisation’s credibility,” she said.

     

    The reasons for not having an account vary. Some CEOs are conservative by nature. Others don’t understand social media – and prefer to be safe rather than sorry. And then there are those who feel ‘I don’t need to do this, I’m the CEO’. Ms Bhatt said: “A lot of them think in terms of ‘what’s in it for me?’, whereas they should be thinking ‘what can I share from my knowledge and experience with the world?”

     

    Rajiv Dingra’s company WATConsult was one of the early movers in the social media consulting space back in 2007. And while he’s done a lot of work with companies, getting CEOs to apply themselves to the socialscape has been frustrating. “Frankly, Anand Mahindra is the only top CEO doing a good job – he connects with interesting people on a personal level, addresses complaints and leverages customer testimonials. The rest are rather boring,” he says. But there are those, like 30-year old venture capitalist Kris Nair, who are the very opposite of boring.

     

    Mr Nair, who heads Opdrage Ventures and has invested $20 million in about 33 companies so far, is unapologetically himself. He speaks his mind on everything from entrepreneurship to poetry to physics, rails at ‘idiots’ with the odd four- or five-letter word thrown in for emphasis. Sitting at a posh coffee shop in Bandra, Mumbai, he pushes his iPhone across the table so I can get a look at all the social apps on it. After the first dozen or so, I lose count.

     

    “A lot of my deal sourcing happens through social media. So I have to speak to my target audience of entrepreneurs and members of startup communities in a language they understand. I can never be a ‘suit’ and keep saying the right things,” he said, adding the last line with obvious contempt. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, however. Once Mr Nair wrote against the Anna Hazare-led agitation and that got him in trouble, with threats pouring in online and offline. Then there was the time one of the investors in his fund asked him to curb his freewheeling style on social media.

     

    “They were afraid I might leak confidential information. That didn’t make me stop, of course, but I have mellowed down for sure,” Mr Dingra conceded that at some level, he understands the concerns senior executives have. “Being on social network is like being in a press conference 24/7. People can be particularly myopic and unforgiving on the Internet. The media can take your words and twist them around. You need to have a thick skin and take the bad with the good.”

     

    Ms Paul added: “Unlike western consumers, some buyers inIndiaare still immature. People will target you online if the washing machine made by your company doesn’t work. You have to be pretty confident of your service, especially if you’re in a B2C model.”

     

    While the possibility of being targeted always looms large, Meera Sanyal, chairperson and country executive of Royal Bank of Scotland Group feels social media provides a quick and very interactive channel for customer feedback.

     

    “While some of this may not be complimentary- if one uses the opportunity to remedy problems swiftly, then the organisation can build really good relationships with clients,” she said, “Therefore, I do act swiftly upon complaints directed to me in my official capacity, but in general on social media, I interact as an individual, sharing personal thoughts and views.”

     

    Ms Sanyal stood as an independent candidate for elections fromSouth Mumbaiin

    2009. She may not have made it to Parliament as the people’s representative, but is tremendously popular among tweeple, or people on Twitter. She says she began using Twitter ‘on an experimental basis’ some years ago. While she was a little hesitant at first, with some coaching by youngsters at home and work, she’s now a total convert.

     

    “The 140-character ceiling forces crispness of thought and posts from across the world keep me updated on the latest news and candid views of some very interesting people,” she says. How To Draw The Line – The first and perhaps most important thing to know before creating an account is which medium works best for you. Do you want to make friends, build business contacts, be a thought leader, recruit people or just read the latest news from your industry?

     

    Jessie Paul offers an easy-to-remember guide. “Facebook and LinkedIn are about who you know, while Twitter, Pinterest, Slideshare and Google Plus are about what you know,” she said. If getting on to social media is the first step, the second and perhaps more important thing is to avoid making a fool of oneself. Mallikarjunadas CR, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group, said he doesn’t know what to think when he sees his peers playing games or watching dodgy videos in the middle of the day.

     

    “You have to be aware that people will form opinions based on all this,” he said, quoting the example of a person from his network, a senior TV channel executive, who bad-mouths brands left and right. “As a professional, one has to be careful when criticising people, organisations or brands. You may need their business tomorrow.”

     

    Mr Kant doesn’t write on anything that may get him into trouble; preferring to remain with topics like his travels, macro-economic issues and the occasional book or malt that captures his imagination. And like any proud parent, he cannot resist the occasional FB pic of his daughter’s graduation fromOxford. But apart from his busy Facebook page, he is quite selective about the people he chooses to add to his networks. Mr Iyer of Kimberly Clark Lever says that it’s important to come out of the shadow of the company you represent and present your human voice.

     

    “Anand Mahindra isn’t out there to sell one more car. It’s about listening to others and learning from them.” Being offensive or shallow is a lesser crime compared to being boring, feels Ms Paul, who advises people to stay away from social media unless they have a content pipeline. While you may have a lot to share, it all depends on how you weave it in your conversations. The good news is top executives seem to be getting it. As social media catches on, few can resist its lure. As Paul said: “Every time I log in, it’s a party out there.”

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • The founder and CEO, Myntra.com talks about the growth story of Myntra in a crowded marketplace, on the USP that sets it apart from its peers and what are its plans to derive next phase of growth in India

    We’ll continue focus on customer delight, says Myntra’s Bansal

    E-tailing in India has seen some brisk business being conducted by a few players in the recent past. While some may brand the space as crowded, there are a few players who have created a niche and are gaining handsome dividends too. Like Myntra.com, that has been consistently doubling its revenues every 5-6 months for the past 15 months and is currently doing over 8,000 transactions daily. According to Mukesh Bansal, Founder and CEO, Myntra.com, the opportunity to offer the widest catalogue across national and international brands, 24/7 shopping, 30 day returns and Cash on Delivery are some of the features unique to online shopping and have helped grow the market.

     

    In an interaction with MxMIndia, Mr Bansal talks about the growth story of Myntra in a crowded marketplace, on the USP that sets it apart from its peers and what are its plans to derive next phase of growth in India. Excerpts:

     

    What according to you are the factors that are driving the growth of the e-commerce marketplace in India?

    Some factors that are enabling the growth of the e-commerce in India:

     

    > Internet penetration:India, currently at 120 million users, is one of the fastest growing internet markets in the world and is expected to touch 300 million by 2015. This has led to opportunities for a vast number of businesses to mushroom online. E-commerce is the largest and the fastest growing segments online.

    > Success of online travel sites & ticket bookings: This has led to increased confidence among consumers to venture into online shopping.

    > Convenience: Widest catalogue across the best national and international brands, 24/7 shopping, 30 day returns and Cash on Delivery are some of the features unique to online shopping and have helped grow the market.

    > Investment from VCs and private players: Investors are looking at e-commerce as a long term investment portfolio as the space has shown tremendous potential to become a multi-billion dollar business.

     

    How would you analyse Myntra’s growth story in India over 2011-12?

    Myntra has been consistently doubling its revenues every 5-6 months for the past 15 months and is currently doing over 8,000 transactions daily. Our daily traffic has grown to over 4,00,000 visits and our network has grown to cover 1,200 towns and cities across the country. With over 350 of the best national and international brands, Myntra is, today, the largest online retailer in the fashion and lifestyle segment.

     

    We are also one of the well-funded companies in the space and at the current growth rate, we are confident of achieving our target of Rs500 crore by the end of this financial year.

     

    The e-tailing space is flooded with players offering the same set of user services, what is the USP that Myntra brings to the table? 

    Back in 2010, Myntra took a bold decision to enter the full catalogue, current season segment to retail merchandise on MRP. Along with the largest catalogue of marquee brands, Myntra was able to target untapped markets across the country coupled with on-time delivery and flexible policies.

     

    Cash on Delivery as a payment option became an instant hit among our shoppers and today constitute about 65 per cent of our overall business.

     

    Could you summarize what your core TG of online shoppers looks like?

    Our typical shoppers fall in the age bracket of 20-35 years (SECAB) with about 70 per cent of our shoppers being male. About 55 per cent of our shoppers are from tier 2 & 3 cities with the rest in top 10 cities.

     

    What is the emphasis you lay on the distribution/delivery across India?

    One of the biggest challenges for any e-commerce player is to effectively manage its supply chain and logistics. At Myntra, we are constantly upgrading our processes to provide a hassle free shopping experience while strengthening our in-house logistic network. We are currently operational in over 12 cities across the country and plan to reach as much as 70 per cent of our customers directly via our own logistic network by the end of this year.

     

    What is the impetus that you are laying on the marketing/communication plans for Myntra?

    Our latest TVC hit the networks in June 2012 across major national channels. We are now entering regional markets in the south with language specific ads in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

     

    We are also partnering with various other properties that enhance our fashion quotient.

     

    Do you think e-tailing is gaining ground in India at the expense of other modes of shopping?

    The overall lifestyle category in India is pegged at approximately $50 billion, growing at 16 per cent CAGR. This is one of the largest categories, not considering travel & tourism. The industry is expected to cross $100 billion in 2015 with approximately 5-8 per cent of this being online. This clearly indicates that the market is big enough for both to co-exist.

     

    What are the challenges in running a successful e-tailing network in India?

    The biggest challenge for any e-commerce player is to effectively manage its supply chain (inventory, logistics etc) and customer experience. Delivery team and customer support being the two main touch point for an online retailer, utmost importance needs to be given to both these aspects.

     

    At Myntra, we are constantly upgrading our processes to provide a hassle free shopping experience while strengthening our in-house logistic network. We are also constantly training and motivating our CC teams to imbibe the Myntra core values and pass them on to our customers.

     

    What are your plans for the next phase of growth in India?

    According to recent reports, online apparel will be a $2 billion market by 2015 and we see great potential to grow in this environment. Our investments in technology, brand and supply chain is already paying dividends and we will continue to focus on delighting our customers.

     

    We are also adding new features on our interface to aid our customers in their buying process and helping them make the right fashion choice with our fashion blog called Style Mynt.

     

    Social media is a very important platform for us and we are making steady progress with over 6.5 lakh fans on our Facebook page while Twitter, Google and Pinterest are gaining momentum.

     

  • It doesn't really matter which industry you choose, every one of them will eventually be a job in the media, writes Paritosh Joshi

    Paritosh Joshi: So you want a job in the Media?

    By Paritosh Joshi

     

    MBA from a leading business school in the American Midwest, two years with a boutique investment bank in Boston and then this young man lands up for a chat about what he needs to do to get a job in the media.

     

    It is still easy to think there is a clear demarcation that sets the media apart from the rest of the world. Aamir, Ashton, Arnab and Aishwarya are in the Media. (They don’t even need surnames to identify them). Media people ‘need no introduction’. Us grunts have nothing worth introducing and thus, don’t need to be introduced.

     

    Or is it so simple?

     

    There were the Media people but they were few and readily identified as such. M J Akbar dazzled us with his insight in columns for a newspaper he edited. Rajat Sharma put people into the dock, quite literally, as he hosted a talk show. Derek O’Brien got all of us furiously scratching our heads even as he quizzed school kids. Madhuri Dixit sent testosterone levels into orbit merely by counting from 1 to 13. And Lalu had to invoke Sridevi’s cheeks in search of a universally comprehensible metaphor for Bihar’s roads.

     

    Then Tim Berners-Lee came along and changed everything, although for years after he thought up hypertext in an obscure corner of CERN, we would scarcely have known it.

     

    By the late 90s, regular blokes discovered that it was possible to find a wider audience for their periodic rants on WWW than they previously could muster around a water cooler or in a cafe. The web log, then portmanteau-ed to weblog and finally truncated to blog was born either in 1995 or 1997 (you can find an interesting history here).

     

    Then blogger came along in 1999, bang in the heady days of the Dotcom Boom and setting up a blog became Luddite-proof. From the very beginning, the blogging community had a wide range of interests and capability. The largest majority would create an account in an idle moment never to visit it ever again. A few would invest time and effort in their posts and endeavour to reach out to an audience with regular, engaging updates. Remember that these were people operating far away from the conventional notion, but what they were doing was indisputably publishing.

     

    Everyman had just stormed Fortress Media.

     

    It began with the written word. Soon enough, authors had found ways of adding pictures to their words. And the web was becoming more clever all the time. It was able to transport not just text but sound and video too. Also, devices to record audio and video had started to shrink in price and size even as they got massively more powerful, thus putting near professional quality sound and image acquisition within reach. Events unfolded at a rapid pace thereafter. Amazon pioneered a lightweight handheld device for reading digital publications. The Kindle was a runaway success and for the first time, books could be self-published by anyone with a good idea and capable penmanship without ever being imprinted onto the dead-tree medium. Soundcloud allowed wannabe speakers, singers and instrumentalists to distribute their art and craft without surrendering themselves to the crafty gnomes of the music industry. Youtube opened doors for every standup comic, ballerina, burlesque queen and cute kitten to show off its talents on glorious Technicolor video.

     

    But wait, we were talking about an investment banker contemplating a career in the media. So what’s with this long riff about what we now refer to, rather condescendingly I might add, as User Generated Content?

     

    Well, it wasn’t just individuals that got inspired to start using the all new powers of WWW to talk to their “Audience”. Businesses of every stripe saw the opportunity too. To be rather more honest, what they saw was consumers – happy and irate, sounding off about their brand experiences in these wide open spaces and were left with little choice but to deal, for better or worse, with what they were getting. Surely we’ve all heard the now almost apocryphal story of Coca Cola’s attempt to take down a fan page on Facebook that spectacularly backfired? To the point where they had to pretty much say ‘Let bygones be bygones and let’s be friends’? (Moral: Don’t clobber, co-opt).

     

    You see what’s happening here. Companies and brands were becoming broadcasters and publishers.

     

    At no time before in the history of our human civilization has communication across every conventional fence and barrier been so easy, inexpensive and by implication pervasive or ubiquitous. And barring the rare exception, individuals and entities find it more productive to be participants in this endless feast of reason and flow of soul than mere mute spectators. There’s even a taxonomy to describe different levels of involvement with media: Paid media are, as the name suggests, those that you have to buy access to. Earned media are where the media voluntarily carry news or content about you. Finally, owned media are, again as evidenced by the name, those that you own and control. Who doesn’t want earned and owned media?

     

    And what was it that we were talking about when we began this ramble? Ah, yes. A job in the media.

     

    I told the young man, he could stop looking. After all, every job- FMCG, Banking, Automobiles, Telecommunication, <insert randomly chosen industry name here> eventually, was going to be a job in the Media.

     

    Paritosh Joshi was until recently CEO, Star CJ. He has been a marketer, a mediaperson and a key officebearer on industry bodies. He is Strategic Advisor, Ormax Media. He can reached via his Twitter handle @paritoshZero

     

  • Let's not forget that it's the profits of today's so called BadCo that were used to acquire, build and grow the television businesses in the first place, which are now seen as today's GoodCo

    Peter Mukerjea: GoodCo, BadCo & NewCo

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So it has finally happened. The break up of a mega corp. And it’s happening before our very eyes, and like global warming, it’s a sign of the times. In years to come, students at media schools in India and elsewhere in the world will be reading how the media landscape evolved and how new media slowly, but surely, took it’s place in society. The demise of print and eventually, television, along with the numerous obituaries on the subject will all be in the history books eventually. How media moguls like Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch were literally pushed off their lofty perches and new names and faces like Mark and Sergei took their places will all be a chapter or two in reference books. The erosion of the powerful dominance of print media brands will be replaced by brand names like Google, Facebook, Instagram. This period in social history will be seen by students of media studies as part of a process of evolution and not much more.

     

    But for those of us who are seeing this unfold, it’s indeed an interesting and captivating phase.

     

    Speaking to friends and ex-colleagues in New York, LA and in London recently, it seems many of them are seeing this as the transitioning of one company which comprises of both GoodCo and BadCo to several NewCos. Many of them are also now wondering how many more NewCos will emerge from this, and how soon, but more importantly for them, who will run them. The share price of the company stock has always been a subject of conversation amongst those fortunate enough to get share options, and the fact that it has been static or of negative value for long periods of time has been a source of annoyance. But the fact that this announcement has caused a flutter of activity and raised the share price is seen by many to be a good thing for them personally, so they can now actually make some use of the stock options and realise some value. Most also believe that this value will increase more dramatically when the family gives up control but that could be like waiting for Godot.

     

    Let’s not forget that it’s the profits of today’s so called BadCo that  were used to acquire, build and grow the television businesses in the first place, which are now seen as today’s GoodCo. Like God made little green apples, surely there will come a day, very soon, given that the seed of thought has been planted, when these very television businesses at GoodCo will also be spun off into individual entities, driven by the same principles that are the cause for the split today – providing better shareholder value and value creation. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

     

    The company which is the largest revenue driver within GoodCo could well find a viable financial spreadsheet reason and which showcases a scenario where better shareholder value could be created if certain parts of their GoodCo were then hacked off and cut away into separate entities as they were losing money or were no longer beneficial to their shareholders.

     

    I do think that the possibility that billions of dollars of further investments into the UK and Europe being stopped and being diverted to the US is more of a veiled threat than reality, but the possibility that the Euro Zone and their currency itself may not survive for too long, will have financial planners everywhere crunching their numbers and hedging their bets in all sorts of different currencies, anyway. So for Rupert Murdoch to say this so plainly in a recent CNBC interview is not altogether surprising but is reminiscent of childhood cricket games, where if one could not get to bat then, they would pick stumps, bat and ball and go home so no one else could play either. Maybe some of those billions will head to India or Afghanistan or Pakistan, where there’s plenty of low hanging media fruit and bargains to be had for those with pockets of cash.

     

    In India though, the trend compared to the UK seems to be the reverse and where each of the various media segments – print, television, cable, radio, outdoor and new media are all growing – albeit in an unregulated and pressure cooker kind of environment. This has to be great news for those working in the industry, and the business case for setting up several GoodCo, BadCo and NewCos would be different but the ethos and principles would of course be the same.

     

    Maybe it’s time for the head of an Indian conglomerate to sail across to meet the boss of the media company that is now busy setting up GoodCo, BadCo, NewCo and  ‘make him an offer that he can’t refuse’ as they say in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. Not that this is in any way connected to the words used by British MPs in the select committee set up to investigate the hacking scandal in the UK – when asking James Murdoch if he ever felt that he was running a mafia company or words to that effect? James Murdoch was, of course, most offended by that question and as expected, he refuted it completely.

     

    Nevertheless, maybe it’s time for an Indian company to do what Rupert did some decades ago when he moved out of Australia and bought papers in the UK, thus  creating a global media company. For an Indian company now to own a few internationally acclaimed newspaper titles around the world, then cut losses by injecting Indian cost control systems and management into them would create real shareholder value – rather like the brilliant way in which Tatas have done with the Tata Motors acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover which was a real BadCo and is now a true GoodCo.

     

    Maybe this is where the NewCo will come in.

     

  • Cadbury Bournville will pull out all stops for the cinema release of The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) inIndiawith one of their biggest and innovative integrated marketing campaign yet

    The Dark Knight Rises in India with Bournville

    By A Correspondent

     

    As the countdown to Christopher Nolan’s epic conclusion of the Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, kicks off around the world, Cadbury Bournville has partnered with Warner Bros to celebrate the release of the most anticipated Hollywood blockbuster of 2012.

     

    Cadbury Bournville will pull out all stops for the cinema release of The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) in India with one of their biggest and innovative integrated marketing campaign yet.

     

    The Cadbury Bournville-TDKR integration comes to life with special brand packaging, in-store branding, on-ground activities and television and cinema campaigns. The campaign has been designed and created, going through great lengths to ensure engagement across all touch points to reach out to dedicated fans of the movie franchise as well as Bournville loyalists.

     

    However, the biggest component will be Bournville’s digital campaign, especially created for the TDKR association. The digital campaign has been brought to life with a large format online contest that will add to the wave of anticipation and excitement with the legion of movie buffs and dark chocolate aficionados.

     

    The Dark Knight has already taken centrestage on Cadbury Bournville’s Facebook page, which has over 1.5 million fans, with contests and gave 100 lucky fans prizes through an innovative pixel contest.

     

    The digital campaign also features a specially created 30-second ‘digital commercial’ viewed exclusively on Cadbury Bournville’s official YouTube channel. The video is interactive in nature as daily trivia around the Batman franchise will be posted on it with exciting prizes for lucky winners. Those with the right answers will win passes to the pre-screenings of TDKR which will be organized in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.

     

    Mr. Chandramouli Venkatesan – Director, Snacking & Strategy, Cadbury India said: “As the fans await the movie of the year to be released in India, we plan to take the ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ release to greater heights and even greater excitement among Bournville consumers. The movie characterizes strong feeling of emotions among youth, something that Bournville lovers are known for. The Bournville brand fit with the Dark Knight franchise cannot be any better than this. It’s like the Dark Knight really has a Dark companion in India.”

     

    A specially created 30 second TVC on the Cadbury Bournville-TDKR promotion will be starting in the second week of July. The TVC will be aired on television channels and cinema theatres.

     

    The special TDKR packs of Bournville will run an online contest for customers where one lucky winner will stand a chance to win a free trip for two to Warner Bros Movie World in Australia. The contest will be available on all packs of Bournville.

     

    The association will be promoted in-stores through heavy trade activations in traditional and modern trade throughout the month of July. The campaign will continue to be driven through direct marketing and promotional activity.