MxMIndia

Tag: media

  • The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s restrictions on depiction of tobacco-related products in films and television will also extend to the print and out-of-home media

    Ouch! Tobacco depiction rules effective today, to extend to print and OOH

    By A Correspondent

    It’s November 14, 2011, and along with Children’s Day and the celebration of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary, it’s also the day when the health ministry restriction on depiction of tobacco in the media takes shape.

    While there’s been much awareness of how the new guidelines will impact the film and television trade, tucked away at the end of the amendment is something that the print media needs to also be careful about.

    The relevant ruling states:

    “Wherever brand names or logos of tobacco products form a part of the pictures to be printed in any form of print or outdoor media or footage to be aired through any form of electronic media, it shall be mandatory for the media to crop or mask the same to ensure that the brand names and logos of the tobacco products are not visible, except in case of live or deferred live telecast of sports, cultural and other events or activities held in other countries being aired on television in India.”

    As per the notificiation, all old movies and TV programmes, that is, produced before November 14 displaying tobacco products or its use shall have to mandatorily display:

    a. anti-tobacco health spots or messages of minimum thirty seconds duration each at the beginning and middle of the film or the television programme.

    b. anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent scroll at the bottom of the screen during the period of such display.

    And such programmes will be telecast at such timings that are likely to have least viewership of minors.

    For new films and TV programme, a strong editorial justification for display of tobacco products or their use shall be given to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)  along with UA certification, and it will be accompanied by the following:

    a. a disclaimer, of minimum twenty seconds duration, by the concerned actor regarding the ill effects of the use of such products, in the beginning and middle of the film or television programme;

    b. anti-tobacco health spots or messages, of minimum thirty-second duration each at the beginning and middle of the film or the television programme;

    c. anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent scroll at the bottom of the screen during the period of such display:

    There will be a representative of Ministry of Healthy and Family Welfare in the Censor Board (CBFC).

    In order to restrict display of tobacco brands in old films and TV programmes, these rules  make it mandatory to crop /mask display of brands of cigarettes or any other tobacco product or any forms of product placement, closeups  and for new films and TV programmes  such scenes shall be edited/blurred by the producer prior to screening. The ban on display of tobacco product or its usage also extends to promotional materials and posters as well.

     

    Ministry of Health and Family Welfare notification:

    http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2011/nov/d2011111102.pdf

  • What I don’t like about what’s happening is that the Indian media only stands up for the middle class, for ‘people like us’.

    Hard Knocks: How the Indian media doesn’t champion the cause of ‘lesser’ children

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Just as it happened with crimes against Priyadarshini Matoo and Jessica Lal, our news channels have been busy doing shows on the dead young men from Mumbai, Keenan and Reuben. Just in case you are a Martian, the two were killed by some drunken elements when they protested against sexual harassment of the girls accompanying them. And yes, it’s nice that the media stands up for such people and puts pressure on the system for swift deliverance of justice. So, good show.

    However, what I don’t like about what’s happening is that the Indian media only stands up for the middle class, for ‘people like us’. Because crimes in the metro towns attract more attention, and I daresay, they also excite the advertisers. Which perhaps explains all the campaigns for justice. But the media must also stand up for crimes committed against the have-nots from interior India and run similar campaigns for justice on their behalf, even if this doesn’t interest the advertisers too much. Not just because residents of rural areas are Indians (lest we’ve forgotten), but because they are human beings too and their lives are just as precious.

    To illustrate this apathy with an example, let’s take the case of the heinous crime that was committed in the ‘unhappening’ Khairlanji village of Maharashtra some years ago. Priyanka Bhotmange was attacked by twelve men. They strapped her to a bullock cart as one would a disobedient animal, and dragged her out to the village chaupal. Then, they took turns to rape her, following which they completely stripped her and paraded their ‘trophy’. This was followed by beating her naked body with bicycle chains and publicly gang raping her all over again… and this went on till the mutilated Priyanka stopped breathing. However, not satisfied, the goons continued. The teenage corpse was raped yet again. On realizing the dead body was no longer rape-worthy, the men shoved iron rods into her blood clotted genitals and used pickaxes to disfigure her face.

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGI76__sSA&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

    Did the news channel run aggressive campaigns on her behalf? Were candle light marches held in her memory? Did the media keep the pressure going to get justice for her? The answer to these questions is a sad ‘NO’. Aside from the odd, reluctant story, Priyanka was quickly forgotten. And this, quite obviously, is unfair.

    So yes, I am proud that the media fights for the middle class urban victims of crimes. But I would be happier if this passion is also on display for the children of the lesser god.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Lilting tributes continue to pour in for Steve Jobs. Here’s a lovely one from Jonathan Ive, the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. No, we can’t have enough of Jobs, keep them coming! What a man!

  • Naming no Names is the mid-week column by well-known novelist, columnist and counsellor, Gouri Dange.

    Gouri Dange: Dealing with journos hungry for quotes

    Do you really want to be that rent-a-quote person?

    They’re polite, of course. And young. And completely unaware of how tiresome they can be. The phone call goes something like this: “Hello, I’m writing a story on thisthatandtheother, and I was hoping to talk about it to you.”

    At first, in the early years, you feel quite pleased to be called up in this way. You drop what you are doing, and whisper urgently to anyone who is sitting around you, “It’s The Press, they want My Opinion”.  People around you immediately go dead silent in deference to this Moment – it’s almost as important as if you were invited to address the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Republic Day. [The woman who works in my house says that Republic Day is when there is good circus to watch on TV (the parade) and Independence Day is when all phaltus go on doing bud-bud on TV, and Budget Day is when some ‘chassmister’ (erudite looking person in glasses) gives you the bad news about fuel and vegetable prices so that your idle boozard husband can tell you that you need to pick up a few more dirty-dishes-doing jobs to stay ahead of prices.] But I digress.

    So, in the early years of being contacted by journos to give them ‘expert quotes’, you are inordinately happy to oblige. You proceed to hold forth on your subject, while the journo at the other end furiously scribbles or keys in as you speak. The rude shock comes a few days later when you ring up 60 friends and tell them that you are being Quoted, and not to miss reading the relevant article that day. You have made these calls before you have opened the paper and actually read your quote. Three things can now happen. A) The journo who you waxed eloquent to for 20 minutes has simply not used your quote – either she didn’t understand a word of what you spoke or there was no space for your quote. B) Worse, she may have misquoted you comprehensively, where you end up sounding like an envious whiney loser who hates everyone else in your field; as a bonus, she has got your name wrong. C) All your pearls of wisdom have been used, in fact what you spoke constitutes the whole article, but you have been given no credit. Your name is not mentioned at all. It is as if this article was born via immaculate conception.

    A few such incidents, and you get older and wiser pretty quickly. You’re at the next level of the rent-a-quote market. Someone calls, and you first get a good sense of what this journo is going to be saying in his/her article first. Then you carefully choose your words, keeping it all very very simple, and hope for the best. You are also now smart enough to request:  can you please call and read out or email me what you’re quoting from this conversation? This way you can clarify, I said ‘intuition’ not ‘tuition’ and other such things. But there’s nothing much you can do about being described by the journo as a music listener who “bubbles over with names, when asked about her favourite musicians”. Or being described randomly as ‘unputdownable’ or ‘peripatetic’ or ‘intrepid’ – all favourite journo adjectives. Makes you sound like some wandering pest.

    Some journos send you a list of questions to reply to by email. This may sound better than having to gabble on the phone and then get thoroughly misquoted. However, the level of detail required from you in replying to these questions would surely be the equivalent of writing the entire story yourself, and also perhaps could be that PhD proposal that you’ve been postponing writing.  Too much hard work.

    Some of them will pop up on Gchat and say the following: Hiiii….I need quotes from celebs, psychologists and young people on ‘Long distance marriages: Is it workable or a recipe for disaster?’ …need the quotes along with high res images in 3 hours. Can u help pllleeez??”  Your only option is to quietly log out.

    Here’s another double-edged thing about being quoted in newspapers and magazines, though. Whatever garbled version of your quote appears, the lay reader immediately takes you very seriously and your stock rises dizzily in your field. However, colleagues tend to go nudge-nudge and deduce that you are rather idle and/or have friends in the Press and are a bit of a Quote Bank. So it’s a bit of a toss-up – to be quoted or not to be quoted?

    If you choose not to be, then here are some ways to duck out. Tell the journo to call you four hours later. They’re usually plugging in quotes at the last minute, and it is likely that they don’t have four hours, plus you sound busy and important. So you’re safe. Or come up with something exotic. Huff and puff on the phone and say you’re climbing Kilimanjaro. The poor dears will hurriedly get off the phone so as not to cost you roaming charges.

  • I find it appalling that the Bachchan-baby-obsessed media has so quickly forgotten the humiliation of the recent past.

    Anil Thakraney: Why the media must boycott Abhi-Ash baby birth

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Aishwarya’s yet-to-be-born baby has become national news. Front pages of newspapers and prime time programming on television carry minute details of the event. Astrologers have been consulted to predict the sex of the baby, and the whole nation knows which hospital has been chosen for the historic delivery.

    Well, I am not going into the importance of the story vis-à-vis more pressing matters, that’s for Shri Katju to worry about. I just find it appalling that the Bachchan-baby obsessed media has so quickly forgotten the humiliation of the recent past. Remember the Big Wedding? When journalists waiting outside Pratiksha and Jalsa for days together were completely ignored by the Bachchan clan. When some photographers were beaten up by Amitabh’s then chhote bhaiyya Amar Singh’s goons. When the newly wed couple didn’t even extend the courtesy of emerging for a single photograph.

     

    Yup, it’s all forgotten. The media is back to cover the baby birth with full gusto. And the journos are ready to get humiliated all over again. Have we no shame? Have we become so beygairat? In fact, according to Mumbai Mirror, a guideline has been issued by the Broadcast Editors’ Association on how TV channels must conduct themselves during the event! And to think this sort of a guideline ought to have been issued during the 26/11 terror attacks, and who knows… some lives could have been saved. Tells you how jumbled up our priorities are. While to some extent I can understand the junta’s interest in the new member’s arrival inside India’s ‘first family’ household, if we in the media have any self respect left, we should boycott the event.

    Of course, that’s not going to happen. Kya karein, we are like that only.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Speaking of Beygairat Brigade, here’s the whacko Pak band with their popular number titled ‘Aalu Anday’. An otherwise ordinary track that became a rage courtesy the social media. Intersperse faces of the lads with those of our popular TV anchors and the song works marvellously!

  • We need to once again take a hard look and check if what the Press Council chairman says is entirely wrong. Some-soul searching would actually do us good, and perhaps we’ll hire better personnel in the media.

    Hard Knocks: Sadly, Mr Katju may have a point

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    The Chairman of the Press Council of India, Justice Markandey Katju, is determined to sort the Indian media out. Some days back I expressed skepticism on whether he’ll succeed in his noble endeavours. Here’s the link to that piece.

    http://www.mxmindia.com/2011/10/hard-knocks-katju%e2%80%99s-unreal-expectations/

    It appears Mr Katju read my post (hehe), and perhaps out of frustration, has lashed out at the Indian media. He’s basically questioning our skills, integrity and competency levels. Naturally, there’s collective outrage in the media frat, and an angry desi media is a dangerous beast, you don’t mess with it. I would be quite surprised if Katju remains for very long in his chair.

    Having said that, and having been sufficiently offended, we need to once again take a hard look and check if what the man says is entirely wrong. Some soul-searching would actually do us good, and perhaps we’ll hire better personnel in the media. So let’s examine Katju’s critique and his three key problems.

    He says the Indian media divides people on religious lines and is anti-people. A sweeping generalization, no doubt. But there IS a section of the media that caters to specific communities and their respective communal biases. A section is even aligned with political parties. And this ideological bias comes to the fore during riots and elections. So what Katju says isn’t entirely wrong.

    He says TV channels focus on cricket and other celebrities. And Katju doesn’t like that very much. Well, that’s true. We do pay too much attention to entertainment and celebs, and I am guilty of that too. And often hard news gets buried somewhere. Yes, we do need to worry about excessive flooze in the media, for sure. But I don’t know how this will ever get sorted out. Because the truth is: Advertisers are more interested in Katrina Kaif’s fashion mantra rather than the survival plans of the family members of that RTI activist who got killed. That’s the sad commercial reality.

    He believes journalists have not studied economics, politics, literature and philosophy. Is he entirely wrong? Switch on the news channels and you’ll notice the general knowledge skills of most anchors and reporters. Yes, it needs a lot of beefing up, we have to admit that. Most journalists are too busy chasing celebs to find time to read Shakespeare, that’s another fact of media life.

    Bottom line: It’s easy to get offended by Shri Katju’s crazy generalizations. And dismiss them as outbursts of an angsty uncle. Still, it will serve us well to pay attention. He isn’t entirely inaccurate.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Watch this show as Barkha Dutt interviews a Google chief. You’ll notice what a struggle it is for her to have a meaningful conversation with a new media specialist. It’s not her fault, really. Most of us old-world journos would find it tough going. A glaring example of the schism between the old media and the new media. Also, hope Mr Katju didn’t watch this one. Else he’ll accuse us of being zero on media, apart from literature and philosophy!

     

    Link: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/in-the-google-of-things/215082

  • Naming no Names is the mid-week column by well-known novelist, columnist and counsellor, Gouri Dange.

    Gouri Dange’s Naming No Names: Cheeni kum!

    “You mean you don’t watch the cookery shows and competitions on TV????!!!” – people ask me, using up their entire quota of question marks and exclamation marks for the month. Well I do, sort of, but here’s my problem with them, and why I can’t watch any fully from beginning to end: First, the Indian food shows. The Indian shows invariably have self-consciously decorated kitchens as the background (the usual backlit shelves, phalanx of shiny knives, matchettes and muddlers, bubblegum pink walls, and suchlike). In front of this kitchen from kitschland is prancing (or trying to look as if) a fattish johnny stuffed into some garish shirt, trying hard to keep up the amusing chit-chat while clanging spoons and vessels together. There’s nothing to endear these chaps to me – not the maniacal chopchopchop of a Yan of yesteryear, or the lithe handsomeness of a Bourdain, or the extravagant booziness of a Floyd. Besides the nameless Indian chaps, there are the brand-name Indian cooks, smiling fixedly into the camera and serving up, what else, jazzed up versions of tandoori chicken. I tend to switch channels when I hear ‘adrak-lasan-pyaaz, pyaar sey bhuniye’. Then there are those non-cooking Indian food shows, in which hung-over-looking beefy chaps (always in khaki shorts) bumptiously muscle into dhabas and thelas and then turn around and wax eloquent into the camera. No fun. On top of it, when some of them snigger about the spelling or the naming of some of the dishes, and make the busy street-vendor stop what he’s doing and look foolish while he unsuspectingly explains what ‘Tandoori Manchurian’ is (stale, overdone joke) to the camera, I want to hurl a plate of instant noodles at them. (But my previous TV took its aakhri saans after going through a long melodramatic deathbed scene, when I threw a dibbi of sindhur at it; so chucking noodles at the new one is a serious no-no. It’s written in the manual.)

     

    As for the phirangi food shows, here’s my problem: either the person actually has adenoids, or speaks in that breathless way, to indicate shock and awe at the wondrousness of the food that he’s handling (it’s usually a Brit affectation); plus nowadays, with Indian food going places, they’re always going on about some aromatic ‘masalarr’ as they call it, and there’s cumin in everything. Or then it’s that lady who’s been named after the English word for kalonji seed. You know her, with the jaunty tilt of her head and the saucy positioning of other body parts served up for the camera on a plate. Ya, ya, I know guys reading this will say “jealous, jealous”, but honestly she’s a coy bore, and has a cloyingly heavy hand with the cream and butter and chocolate. The only thing I like about the western cookery shows is the big warm kitchens and the lush gardens that lie beyond that. But I get insanely jealous of this and switch channels.

     

    And then there are the chef championships. Again, my problem is that there’s far too little food and far too much drama. Call it OCD, but when I see contestants crying and wiping their noses in tension and despair, I want to say severely, like my ma used to (during traumatic chappati-making lessons): “Stop snivelling, wash those hands, and only then go near any food, you big cry baby.” On top of it, the Indian version of Masterchef has you go right into the humble homes of the aspirants and you know that they have far too much riding on winning this competition, and it gets all too sentimental and saccharine for my liking. I mean come on…food mixed with tears? Not a winning combo for me. (The least appetizing of all of this of course is the commercial breaks – currently there’s that daft girl going on and on about her phone working even when the lift shuts; how life-defining is that!) Again, there’s also too much non-food paraphernalia – immunity pins and aprons and t-shirts to be won, rather than actual food to be seen on screen. But here too I love the locales where the competitions take you – I mean cooking out in the open in Central Park while people row slowly past on boats or walk briskly by! Just for that I may cry my way into one of these shows, and teach everyone a thing or two about Indian masalarrs. Or I may indulge in that stab of envy and switch channels.

     

  • It’s the time to celebrate and even though the chips may be down, a cross-section of media folk think it’s good to be in the trade.

    MxMIndia wishes you a Delightful Diwali!

     

    Happy Diwali. The mood’s upbeat. Our cricketing heroes, disgraced by their defeat in England, have effected a revenge in the one-dayers. The slowdown exists, but then things aren’t down and out thus far.

    And, heck is it great to be in the media. It’s always been great to be here.

    There have been times in the last 25+ years in the business when I’ve told myself that it was perhaps a wrong decision for me to chuck my admission to a B-school. But those moments have been few and far between.

    Agreed there’s much mediocrity and decay in most media. Even though the media damns the government and corruption across the country, its own corridors have their own share of dubious acts.

    However, despite all of this, there is much excitement around the media. New papers, new magazines, new websites (MxMIndia included), new mobile platforms, new channels… yup, the business is doing well.

    Then there are new recruitments and people movement, scandals and controversies, M&As and MoUs… yup, it’s all happening out there.

    We hope you enjoy reading our package and thank all the people who’ve helped to make this happen.

    Enjoy Diwali and the festivities.

    We’ll be back on Monday.

    Cheers

    Pradyuman Maheshwari

  • Introducing Naming no Names, an all-new mid-week column by well-known novelist, columnist and counsellor, Gouri Dange.

    Gouri Dange: Most art reviews leave us feeling weak & witless

    Introducing Naming no Names, an all-new mid-week column by well-known novelist, columnist and counsellor, Gouri Dange.

    Dange is a brilliant writer (disclosure: MxMIndia only publishes brilliant writers!). And exceedingly funny.  But it’s not forced humour. Her simple, middle class-y view of life and everything around it will be evident from her observations of the strange and often pointless stuff we see in the media.

    Without much ado, presenting Gouri Dange. The column: Naming no Names. Every Wednesday, on MxMIndia’s Journalism channel:

     

    Most art reviews leave us feeling weak and witless

     

    Why does one read reviews? To get a little glimpse of what to expect when you read, view, or listen to creative effort, right? Works fine with most reviewing. For instance, a music review will clearly tell you that a singer was in peak form and reminded you of his illustrious grandfather in the rendition of his Bhairavi. A book or film review will tell you what works and what doesn’t, at least for the reviewer. A dance performance will be reviewed in terms of the dancer’s grace, rhythm, expression…you get the point.

     

    It’s the art reviews that stand quite apart, leaving most people completely flummoxed not to mention gobsmacked. Take a look. I swear I am not making any of this up – I couldn’t write like this even if there was a gun held to my head:

    “For this artist of course colour is almost another type of vessel – rather than just a vehicle, it is a protective continuum for a soft and vulnerable molusk-like feel that she besets her canvasses with. The motifs of chaotic profusion resonate against the happenings of frontal development that bring functional ethos to a standstill.”

     

    Now in this mindblowing welter of words and ideas, it may be nit-picky of me to say this, but molusk is not spelt right. But what’s a little misspelling in the midst of all this gobbledygook? I mean somebody please, please tell me what frontal development is…and what, pray what, is the functional ethos that has been brought to a standstill? And how does one beset the canvas with this so-called molusk-like feel. I mean, did this writer go to the same kind of schools and colleges that we did…or is there some secret institution that teaches you to write gibberish, especially to review art.

     

    There’s more priceless twaddle:

    “Interestingly known more for her impressionist zeal the paper works in this show reveal that the artist is busy shedding its primary historical role as a representation of the object in favour of the dynamic engagement of physical form in real space. …The whole symbolism unravels in essence as a container for visual but in-depth illumination in thought.”

     

    When I read bits of this out to an art historian and curator friend of mine, she laughed, and then cried a little at the sorry mess that masquerades as art reviewing. She tells me that all contemporary Indian art reviews in the newspapers and magazines are full of gormless gabble of this kind.

     

    P G Wodehouse would have had a field day if he read any of these. Remember his favourite piece of inanity: “Across the pale parabola of joy…”?

     

    Ever the anxious language lover, not understanding what I’m reading used to eat me up. I had then taken to reading these sentences out loud over and over again, hoping to tease the inner meaning out like I do to extract a tick from inside the dog’s ear. All I got was a headache and a bit of a stammer.

     

    Here’s some more, from another place:

    “The function of colour in her palette is like a mooring of moments, of deeper shades or shifts that create a vortex of lines around the contours of a heady sprinkling of forms to the articulation of a surface and the evocation of more than a fleeting shadow. Full dense volumes in tiny notations oscillate happily with solid forms. The complex tensions between the parts and the whole that animate these spellbound paintings are all around her.”

     

    Spellbound paintings? Again I quibble, but can we at least have the grammar go right when talking bunkum?

     

    My question is, who is this stuff written for, in the newspapers? Must be for the aliens amongst us. I can’t see real people read this and call out to their spouse or sister: “Hey we must go see this show, it has cartloads of functional ethos and oscillating notations… come, let’s hurry there now“!

     

    And the other thing I am just dying to know is whether reviewers who write like this, talk like this too? Meaning writing claptrap is one thing, but actually mouthing it with a straight face, can they do it? You try it – try reading that molusk excerpt out loud to someone in your home, with a straight face. Guaranteed to bring the house down.

    This confirms one theory, that the word vocabulary has an Indian origin. It comes from: voh-kya-boli-rey?

  • My life has changed totally after I moved from advertising to journalism. For the better, of course.

    Anil Thakraney: It’s changed my life. No, really

    My life has changed totally after I moved from advertising to journalism. For the better, of course. Here’s how:

     

    I earn a lot less. This means no boozing, no smoking and no partying. In fact, I have had to give up on all good things in life. No problem, this keeps me fit. I am 10 kgs lighter now.

     

    I seldom get invited to parties. And Page 3 parties, in particular, are totally out of the question. This has to do with the ‘unhip’ journalism I do. No one wants to risk pissing their VIP guests off with me in the house. But this also means I have started doing yoga in the nights. Healthier than partying, no?

     

    Folks in Mumbai go to jail if they are caught driving drunk. But I get into serious strife for parking in a no-parking area. And that’s because I once did a sting operation on corrupt traffic havaldars. And these guys have a wonderful memory, aside from deep pockets. But that’s cool. Anyway I hardly drive because of the killing petrol prices.

     

    I have spent many hours in the company of beautiful movie stars. Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, to name a few. Asking them about their intimate secrets and desires. What fun! But I have also discovered how vulnerable, ambitious and insecure they are, just like the rest of us. I emerged from these meetings totally disillusioned. But that’s okay. I can boast to my mama who lives in Alwar that I have Priyanka’s cell number.

     

    I have discovered that all the cricketing gods I idolized since childhood are actually quite petty, opportunistic and materialistic people. That they give a rat’s arse for their fans, and have interest only in making money. This has left me depressed for sure, but there’s an upside: I watch very little cricket now. Good. I have time to follow more productive passions.

     

    My not-very-sweet views on netas and underworld dons over the years have worried my family members a lot. They fear I may not return home one day. But that’s fine. At least I feel wanted by someone.

     

    And of course, people now look at me with a little more respect, which was not the case in advertising. When I last went for a snack to a very packed Kailash Parbat at Lokhandwala, the manager told me I’ll have to wait one hour forty minutes for a table. When I proudly told him I am a happening journo, he very graciously reduced the waiting time. To one hour thirty five minutes.

     

    Yup, it’s great to be in the media!

  • We just have to reach deeper into the recesses of our memories, look deeper within our souls and remember the fundamentals of how communication works.

    Karthi Marshan: An age of delight

    It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of belief, it is the epoch of incredulity, it is the season of Light, it is the season of Darkness, it is the spring of hope, it is the winter of despair, we have everything before us, we have nothing before us…

    Isn’t it truly?

    Never before now have we in the marketing and communication disciplines known so much, about what our consumers and audiences are doing, thinking, saying than we do today, thanks to the pervasive power of the internet, social media, brain scanning et al.

    For the marketer, it is truly time to celebrate. Never before has she had access to so much information about media consumption, at so granular a level. This can only mean that the lazy, opaque premiums commanded by oligarchic media vehicles will evaporate soon, allowing marketers to be able to pay for value they can see.

    For the media owner / seller, it is also time to exult. Hard work will win, because it will deliver measurable results. And results will be rewarded. Bullies will perish, the honest will prevail. For the number crunching nerd who lived in the dungeons of the marketing world, his day in the sun has come. Marketing will be more and more about teasing knowledge out of numbers, and less and less about flying off to Mauritius to shoot bikini clad models draped on car bonnets. Unless the NumberTaker decrees it, of course.

    For the creative disciplines, it would at first appear that the end of the world is nigh. But nothing will be further from the truth. When creatives learn to harness to power of data, they will be liberated from the burden of having to say “Trust me” time and again.

    For the newcomer to this world, it is truly the best of times. Because old-timers are finding it harder and harder to say stuff like…Do it my way, because I have 30 years experience at this…So much has changed in the last 15 years that the very tenets of communication effectiveness are being questioned daily. In the marketing and media disciplines, it is as if we have just been informed that the earth is not, after all, the centre of the universe, as we have been told for hundreds of years until now.

    But all is not lost for the old-timers either. We just have to reach deeper into the recesses of our memories, look deeper within our souls and remember the fundamentals of how communication works. Then we must understand how to interpret those principles in this era of terabytes.  Before we knew how to write and print, we passed down the wisdom of our ancestors mouth to mouth. We are right back there. As babies, we learnt to talk by listening first, we learnt to appeal to adults by imitating them. It is time to remember, time to reapply ourselves. It is time to

    Rejuvenate, refresh, renew ourselves. It is time to be born again communicators. It is the best of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the epoch of belief, it is the season of Light, it is the spring of hope, we have everything before us…

    Karthi Marshan is Head Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Group

  • From a growth standpoint, this Diwali is looking very, very promising. The fact that there is tremendous traction from the consumer’s end, monetization becomes that much easier.

    Lakshmi Narasimhan: The icing on the cake

    Digital is one of those categories in the whole of media spectrum which has seen steady growth for many years now. One can say with all the confidence that it is the most accountable medium; one which saw good traction even at a phase when many companies in India were witnessing the brunt of the slowdown in 2009. Post that, I would say there was no looking behind and the digital industry grew in double-digit numbers.

    This festive season is like the icing on the cake. We’ve seen in the recent past, many new ventures in the Internet space, WAP sites being launched, many apps being introduced by companies; increasing numbers of active Internet users, penetration of smart-phones, tablets etc all tell a fabulous growth story. It tells you that information is just a click away, doesn’t matter where you are. The result of all this is the changing consumption of digital media from a consumer standpoint.  As far as digital media is concerned, it is just the right opportunity to engage with consumers.

    From a growth standpoint, this Diwali is looking very, very promising. The fact that there is tremendous traction from the consumer’s end, monetization becomes that much easier.

    So yes, Diwali has been good for us (Web 18) and mostly there are positive signs for the industry as well. What we must look to do from here is to carry forward the momentum to next year.

     

    Lakshmi Narasimhan is CEO, Web 18.

  • The next five years are going to be a golden period for the broadcast industry.

    Markand Adhikari: It’s growth and growth

    Diwali is a special time for broadcast channels for they can tweak their programming towards catering to the festive moods of consumers, especially the news and entertainment channels. The festive season also brings in additional revenues in form of ad sales or sponsorships on key events and properties.  Media owners generally do get some benefit out of the festive season, where consumers are in the buying mode and when maximum sales happen during the year. We see categories like jewellery and consumer brands do a lot of advertising on TV.

     

    This season, we’ve seen quite a lot of traction from advertisers. A very good year – one of the best I would say for the broadcast industry, if we consider the past four to five years.  We’ve come up with some really good programming for Mastii. And I’m sure a lot of other channels are doing their bit around Diwali.

    Going forward, I think the broadcast industry will see growth and more. Next Diwali, as I see it, will be even better as far as business growth is concerned. Channel owners will up their ad rates. Subscription revenue will increase and once that begins to happen, on-air spots will be sold at a premium. That’s a big challenge, but I’m sure the industry is moving towards that, slowly but surely.

    As far as competition is concerned, with increasing media fragmentation, I think that companies which are able to hold their ground for next three years, will reap maximum benefits, as the way I see it, next five years are going to be a golden period for the broadcast industry.

     

    Markand Adhikari is Managing Director, Sri Adhikari Brothers