MxMIndia

Tag: Lara Balsara

  • Nobel Hygiene is a manufacturer of disposable hygiene products

    Lara Balsara joins Nobel Hygiene Board

    By Our Staff

     

    Nobel Hygiene, manufacturer of disposable hygiene products, has announced the appointment of Lara Balsara to its board of directors.

     

    Said Kartik Johari, VP-Marketing & Commerce, Nobel Hygiene: “We are glad to have Lara onboard with us. She is a legend in the media and advertising industry. Her insight and expertise will add great value to the company especially at a time when our brands are embarking on media intensive journeys. There is an emotional connect with her, too—Nobel Hygiene was one of her first accounts that she reached out to as a media trainee during the beginning of her career at Madison. Our association has only grown stronger with time. Throughout the years, Madison has been a valued partner and we hope to deepen this relationship over the next phase of brand building.”

     

    Added Balsara: “My association with Nobel Hygiene started way back in 2005. I have seen the company and its various brands grow from strength to strength over the years. I am delighted to be a part of its Board. The categories that Nobel Hygiene operates in, come with their own set of very unique challenges. With the right mix of media and medium we can create an unbeatable combination that can take brand awareness to the next level. The sky is the limit.”

     

  • Continuing with our extracts from the second edition of the MxMIndia Annual, we present contributions by Lara Balsara and Nabendu Bhattacharyya

    What Ticks for Indian Consumers/ Children -Lara Balsara and Nabendu Bhattacharyya

    Continuing with our extracts from the second edition of the MxMIndia Annual, we present contributions by Lara Balsara and Nabendu Bhattacharyya.

     

     

    Stay truthful and honest about brand attributes

     

    By Lara Balsara

     

    TV is the lead medium today when it comes to targeting kids and their moms. Kids and their moms love to watch serials, cartoons and movies in that order. Cinema, shopping malls, computer games are key media touchpoints that marketers must consider. Book reading being a popular habit in metros, bookstores could be used as a touchpoint. Internet as a medium is growing in importance with the number one activity being playing games, followed by searching for information and social networking online.

     

    		  

    Do children notice OOH advertising?

     

    By Nabendu Bhattacharyya

     

    Children are increasingly the target of advertising because of the amount of money they spend themselves, and because of the amount of money they influence their parents to spend – their pester power. Studies show that by age 12 children have developed their behaviour as consumers, effectively recognise advertising in its various forms and are able to adopt critical attitudes towards it. Advertisers recognise that brand loyalties and consumer habits are formed when children are young and vulnerable and will be carried through to adulthood.

     

     
     

    The most important thing is to stay truthful and honest about the brand attributes and promises made. No one likes being cheated or mis-communicated to.

     

    		  

    Today, children are bombarded with marketing every moment that they are awake via television, radio, print, OOH, internet as well as other electronic media. Like most adults, even children spend majority of their time outdoors – going to school, classes, recreational activities etc. With the advancement of media and technology, the future of OOH (Out-of-home) is brighter than ever. Yes, children notice OOH advertising, amongst many other forms of advertising and it plays a substantial role in their decision making. Children are very observant, and also have an established mind-set of their own.

    The use of relatable characters, heroes, icons, celebrities, vibrant colors, free coupons and free gifts are all common ways in which brands connect with children. Viral marketing, special programmes, contests and activities run in schools, malls, amusement parks etc are some other ways brands capture the children’s attention. TV channels like Cartoon Network, Disney etc. have child-centric advertising focused on the impulse buy and junk foods category. Brands like Cadbury, Kellogg’s, HUL, Colgate, Maggi, and Britannia are heavy spenders for television spots. Children are also exposed to out-of-home advertising on their way to school via bus shelters, bus branding, billboards etc. During weekends, children are exposed to advertising in malls, multiplexes, game centres and movie theatres. Majority of children today are tech-savvy; at an early age they get exposed to technology via the internet, TV video games, iPad’s and smartphones. It is a known fact that children are great influencers in decision-making processes and this includes decisions around food, technology, vacations, car etc. Also, marketing in schools and within specialized kids clubs, organised by brands have also proliferated in recent times.

     

    Child-targeted marketing earlier was concentrated on sweets and toys; it now also includes clothes, shoes, a range of fast foods, sports equipment, computer products and toiletries etc. To get children to notice their campaigns, brands adopt an entirely new communication strategy targeted to these evolving consumers. In India, brands like Cadbury, Britannia, McDonalds, HUL, Lays amongst others have focused products targeting children. Children are a large consumer segment for a variety of brands. The communication strategies are carefully crafted after observing the receptiveness of a product across numerous groups of children. Cartoon characters launched as movies will be followed up by television series and then be merchandised on hundreds of products from t-shirts to toys.

     

    To conclude, children are an important TG for brands while planning their communication strategy as they do play a substantial role – directly or indirectly in the decision making processes of the household. The market for children’s products and food is enormous. Thus, they represent an important demographic to advertisers because in addition to their own purchasing power they influence their parents’ buying decisions and are the adult consumers of the future.

     

     

    Tomorrow (Aug 19): Family – Vijay Bobby and Avik Chattopadhyay

     

     

  • The main takeaway from the conference in less than 140 characters: Newspapers and Digital will co-exist. Concentrate on just one, and you’ll perish. Short video clips are the future and revenue-friendly.

    Newspapers, digital must co-exist for survival: INMA South Asia Confererence 2013.

    By A Correspondent

     

    Of the various newsmedia conferences organized in the country, the annual International News Media Association South Asia Conference is by far the most well-attended. Yes, there are newspaper groups which are conspicuous by their absence, and owners who have a fair say in decision-making aren’t all there, yet care is taken to not allow it to lose focus.

     

    Each conference is curated and this year saw longer panel discussions, shorter case studies (read: self-plugs) and a newer set of speakers with the theme being ‘Print: Thriving in the age of digital’ . There were more media agency honchos addressing delegates (CVL Srinivas, Anupriya Acharya and Lara Balsara) and a panel of editors saw some hard talk on newsroom integration*. There were frequent references to Amazon founder’s acquisition of Washington Post through the conference and how the new digital reality could not be ignored.

     

    Yes, there were a few sessions which saw more chatter than the others, and some of the captains gave Day 2 a miss, but that didn’t prevent some engaging talk over one-and-a-half days.

     

    Arunabh Das Sharma

    On Day 1, the registration started over lunch with an address by Jagran group CEO and President, INMA South Asia Division. Mukund Mohan, the scheduled conference moderator who is Managing Director, Microsoft Ventures in Asia, wasn’t present so Arunabh Das Sharma, President, BCCL and INMA South Asia Board of Directors was moderator.

     

    So what was the main takeaway from the conference? In keeping with the times, let’s put this in less than 140 characters: Newspapers and Digital will co-exist. Concentrate on just one, and you’ll perish. Short video clips are the future and revenue-friendly.

     

    Earl J Wilkinson

    This was very eloquently presented by Earl J Wilkinson, CEO and executive director, INMA, who ensures INMA is on top of engagement with the industry and in thought leadership. Storytelling is vital, he stressed in this co-existence of the digital and printed forms.

     

    Mr Wilkinson of course knows that the takeaways are important in meets like these where there are a fair number of people in attendance are company-sponsored and don’t really care much about the content.

     

    Lara Balsara

    But the quote of the conference came from Lara Balsara, Executive Director, Madison World. She said: “Print is like the Sun. It keeps rising in the East and declining in the West.”  The young Ms Balsara words are sure to be used in many sales presentations in the coming months.

     

    In fact one senior adsales honcho told us in private that he will use this the next time a Madison buyer tries to beat him on price, saying television is more effective than print.

     

    Ashish Pherwani

    While each session was critical to the theme, the CEOs’ panel moderated by Ashish Pherwani of Ernst & Young was the highlight. The topic was: ‘Why is Publishing Continuing to Thrive in South Asia?’ It also gave that vital glimpse of what the industry leaders — Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, BCCL; DD Purkayastha, MD & CEO, Ananda Bazar Patrika group; Jacob Mathew, executive editor, Malayala Manorama; Pawan Agarwal, non-executive director, Dainik Bhaskar Group and Mr Sanjay Gupta of Jagran — are thinking and the directions their respective organizations may be taking in the next few years:

     

    Ravi Dhariwal

    According to Mr Dhariwal, newspapers are an extraordinarily good value consumer product and there is much emphasis on habit-forming. There is a fair deal of innovation happening here and the sector sees stiff competition, the battles being tougher than what are waged by a Pepsi or Hindustan Unilever.

     

    Mr Purkayastha raised the issue of innovation and asserted that the digital media penetration is much lesser in South Asia than the West. Regional publications were customizing with relevant content and there was a strong growth in advertising. The ABP CEO and MD added that there is a lot more potential for growth. Newspapers are very adaptive of the times and have been diversifying into other segments like television, radio, OOH etc.

     

    Mr Mathew stressed on the quality of journalism and said the demand of news was being met by newspapers. The hyperlocal coverage had helped build communities and the form of the newspaper offered a range of ads that can’t be executed on digtal.

     

    Mr Agarwal threw some points not stated by the others. He said that in Tier 2 and 3 towns, the commuting time wasn’t very high and hence the window of opportunities for newspapers is high as people step out for work only at around 9-9.30am. Print are a fantastic platform for retail advertisers and a day’s paper is cheaper than a cup of tea,  he added.

     

    Sanjay Gupta

    Mr Gupta underscored the vital role of print in news media and its credibility since television news is just 20 years’ old. There is much headroom with newspapers and the editorial operations are managed at a low cost.

     

    The next edition of INMA South Asia Conference will also be held around this time next year in Delhi.

     

    *MxMIndia unofficially supported the INMA South Asia Conference 2013

     

  • Even though hiring may not have stopped entirely in some sections, there is gloom all over

    Jobs Not OK Please!

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    If you’re among those contemplating switching jobs given growth constraints at your current place of work or just the sheer temptation to move on to a job more thrilling, you better think twice. Going by the reactions drawn from the Indian media and entertainment marketplace and from consultancy firms dealing with manpower issues, companies are in no mood to go on a recruitment drive, unless of course, there is a dire need for the same.

     

    With 2012 starting off on a sluggish note and with the crisis making a fresh comeback, the growth forecast for the media and entertainment sector is being questioned unabatedly by all and sundry: will media will touch the 12% ballpark growth figure that was estimated for year 2012. This in turn will dictate whether there are enough opportunities for brands and clients to go talent hunting or whether they’ll have to make-do with internal makeshift arrangements to handle extra responsibilities.

     

    But the prevailing sentiments definitely don’t appear inspiring on the jobs front, be it for clients looking to source great talent at the senior level or for those wanting to explore opportunities beyond their current realm. Explaining the current sentiment in the marketplace, Abha Kapoor, Executive Director, K&J Search Consultants that specialises in placement services for media executives reckons that after 2008-09, the M&E sector has become a lot more conservative in terms of both headcount and pricing. She observed, “The trend being observed currently is that mid-level people are being involved to do high-level jobs. There is also lack of funds coming in from P/E, venture capitalist firms into the sector. For example, our firm K&J is used to working for three start-ups simultaneously including mid- to CEO level. We’ve always had a television start-up, a radio start-up, an internet start-up but that’s because the money was coming into the sector. Right now that is not the case.”

     

    According to Ms Kapoor, this trend has led to a shift in paradigm. “First there was lot of chasing that was done for talent, and salaries too were high, but right now there is lot of talent that is available but the headcount is not that high,” she reasons. According to her, there are no new jobs being created and there are also not enough replacement requirements.

     

    Agreeing with Ms Kapoor’s observations is Pankaj Raj, Managing Partner, Search Value, a firm specialising in placement services for senior media execs. “Earlier, people were not willing to accommodate new talent due to financial constraints but right now they are saying, do not go overboard with the hiring; do so only if extremely critical or make-do with internal replacements only,” he said. “So the current trends suggest internal movements as the in-thing and also, salaries are not being hiked to the levels that it was done earlier.”

     

    Reasoning the recurrence of the slump, Sarabjit Sachar, Founder and CEO of Aspirations said, “My reading is that it is a consolidation phase; it’s not going to go away easily. If you assess the media in the recent past, there were several takeovers that took effect like that of Nai Dunia being taken over by Jagran Group etc. This led to many senior people looking out for options at other places. Many organisations felt that they could either absorb them or give them roles as per the necessity. But what happens in a takeover is that the roles are not that enriching. Secondly, there is a lot of realignment that is taking place where the whole organisation’s business is being realigned into certain other businesses or products. Here the trend is that they want to retain the same resource and not hire anybody from outside. Thirdly, it is also about consolidation where most units are facing shutdown due to larger plans by parent groups. So while the falling value of rupee, hike in petrol prices etc have played some role more than that it is solely about consolidation.”

     

    According to Mr Sachar, it is due to consolidation that there is a shortage of senior positions in organisations. “Due to this, senior executives will find themselves in two situations, one is where the role is not enriching and therefore they would want to leave, or they would not be left with a choice and therefore would leave the organisation.” According to the response that his firm has been eliciting, there has been a big drop in senior positions within organisations. “There are a lot of candidates at the top level who are not able to shift jobs due to lack of decent availability. I think the figure is somewhat in the range of 30-40 per cent. Even amongst the media companies, what they would’ve hired at the top level is down by 25-30 per cent this year.”

     

    Industry in caution mode

    On the strains being felt across domains, Mr Raj opined: “Sector-wise if analysed, radio isn’t hiring anyone right now, print is on a business-as-usual kind of hiring while television is almost zero. That said, digital is the best performing of the lot and is seeing hiring taking place in full swing. Overall the mood is of caution and being sensible.”

     

    Providing an insight on the trend being felt in the broadcast space, Yannick Colaco, COO, Nimbus said, “From what I understand, the MIB has recently issued licences for new channels and more channels means more jobs. Also, with the digitization drive in full swing that should act as a boost for the industry as it will increase monetization abilities of all broadcasters. All these factors will lead the industry to its next phase of explosive growth. Today, everything is a function of demand. If you have more number of channels coming up it will only have a more positive impact on the overall growth of the industry.”

     

    Throwing light on the trend at his organisation, Colaco said, “There are specific functions in the company for which we are hiring people. For example, World Series Hockey that was taken up by us was a new project and we went ahead and hired a whole bunch of people for the job. So as business grows, we will obviously need more talent. The thing is that when you have explosive double digit growth one year and when you move to single-digit growth in the next, it is considered to be a bad thing. So even if the growth is not what was expected from the medium, it is still a good single digit growth and that is what should be considered by the industry.”

     

    The status at the Discovery Network is also not gloomy. Said Discovery Network, Rahul Johri, Senior Vice President and General Manager (South Asia): “Discovery continues to expand its business in India. We have a robust portfolio of eight distinct brands satisfying curiosity of millions in India. We recently announced our foray in the kids genre with the launch of Discovery Kids that offers entertainment embedded with learning. Discovery is committed to the Indian market and will continue to invest here.”

     

    Jaisurya Das, COO, Sakal Media Group expressed concern with the current situation as he said that the print sector was indeed experiencing rough weather. This had to do with the rise in oil prices, fall in value of the rupee and global uncertainty. But that didn’t have to do anything with his organisation which has been recruiting people as and when the need arises. But things are not that rosy for the sector, going by what Alok Sanwal, Project Head & Editor, iNext had to say. He said: “From what I have heard it is not an extremely upbeat mood where recruitment is concerned. As far as new recruitment drives are concerned, they would be faced with a challenge but then again I haven’t come across organisations that’re on retrenchment mode or anything like that. So the jobs scenario too is on a cautious and alert note, so to speak.”

     

    The tide is not as bad for media agencies, it seems. Lara Balsara, Managing Director, Madison Media said that they were recruiting people for replacements and new positions because they had won some new businesses. Similarly, Sujay Ghosh, Senior Vice President, DDBMudra South said, “We are still recruiting as per our plan, because we don’t see any major dip in our revenues. Also, our involvements with clients have gone up significantly, so we can’t afford not to hire. But I have heard that in some industries, hiring freeze has started.”

     

    A similar sentiment was felt by radio players like Red FM who prefer to see an upside to the whole issue. B Surender, Senior Vice President and National Sales Head, Red FM seemed confident as he said: “The job scenario is still very good within the radio industry and it is not facing any extreme situation. In fact, radio tends to retain quite a lot of talent and it is handling the current situation quite well compared to other mediums and thus is better prepared to handle the slowdown than any other medium.” Echoing his thoughts, Prashant Panday, CEO, Radio Mirchi said: “At Mirchi, we continue to attract the best in the industry. We recruit our senior management cadre from FMCG, telecom, durables, auto and allied industries. We have no problems in hiring excellent quality talent…”

     

    So while caution is the name of the game, recruitment will be an exercise that the industry will engage only if essential. Those seeking an exponential growth in salaries and designations in the shortest possible timeframe may have to hold on to their wishes, unless, of course they bring exceptional value to a company. For the others, it is about waiting for the right moment to take the leap.

     

    With inputs by Robin Thomas

     

  • The advantages of thinking outside the media box.

    The Anchor: Lara Balsara’s 5 reasons media agencies should attract talent from outside

    By Lara Balsara

     

    #1 Thinking beyond numbers and objectivity. A typical media planner tends to think very objectively and tends to opt for plans and media that are supported by numbers and makes only data-based decisions. Whilst this is a basic necessity, you have to use your imagination based on quality of content, its appeal to different target audiences, etc for your plan to be a holistic media plan that is based on rigour and discipline but does not lose out on the soft factors. If you look only at hard numbers, most media plans would look exactly the same and that would not serve the brand’s purpose.

     

    #2 To come up with innovative and comprehensive solutions. Media in India has now been a specialist discipline for over 15 years and therefore there is a certain sameness in thinking that has come about among professionals. To counter this, you need people who are better with lateral thinking capabilities as they would balance a plan supported only with numbers. When you have a diverse talent pool working together, each individual brings in their own unique perspective and their area of expertise; as a result you come up with a brilliant strategy, idea and execution. At Madison Media, we have experts in analytics, account planning, creative and content integrated in the core media plan and we have seen this diversity work magically for our clients.

     

    #3 Scope of media is very broad. Today anything and everything is a communication medium, and the biggest challenge for media agencies is to come up with new and interesting ways to reach out and engage with audiences. Increasingly with so much noise in the marketplace, there is a need not just to expose your target audience to the message, but to affect them in a deep and engaging manner. If you look at media awards, which are a barometer of good media thinking, you will see some outstanding examples.

     

    #4 There isn’t enough talent available. It’s a simple issue of demand versus supply. Media professionals are in huge demand and there is a huge shortage of good talent available. Media agencies have no option but to look outside.

     

    #5 Media professionals rock. Having said all the above, you can’t underestimate the skill sets of media professionals; they are the most equipped to handle almost any job in communications, but the same can’t always be said of other communications professionals’ ability to handle a core media planning job.

     

    Lara Balsara is Director, Madison World.