Microsoft India has released its first ever holiday ad film, Hum Rukna Nahi Jaante, celebrating the resilience of the human spirit. The film bids adieu to 2020, putting a spotlight on how people across the country have shown everyday resilience in meeting the challenges that this year has brought, and how technology has played a role in enabling diverse experiences. The film is part of Microsoft India’s #BuildingResilience campaign, launched in September this year to share inspirational stories of transformation across industries, organisations and individuals, driving a conversation around what it takes to thrive in this environment.
Speaking about the film, Hitu Chawla, Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft India, said: “The last few months have shown us the possibility of extremes. On one side are the challenges brought on by the pandemic, and on the other are the inspirational stories of fighting back and transformation. It’s extraordinary how people and organizations across the country have met the challenge with resilience and innovation, using technology to respond, rebound, and reimagine a new world order. Our brand film celebrates this spirit of everyday resilience and the role our technology plays in empowering every person and every organization to achieve more.”
Added Sainath Saraban, Co-Founder and Creative Head, Studio Simple: “We had a clear brief and that was to communicate how Microsoft recognizes and empowers the resilient spirit that exists in every corner of the country, with its products and services. We created a simple yet powerful film that captures the resilient attitude of an unstoppable India. And we are also proud of the campaign line – ‘Hum Rukna Nahin Jaante’ which we are confident will resonate with people strongly and bring about a strong pride of association with Microsoft.”
If you are in Marketing and advertising, you would have watched all the Super Bowl ads by now. Every year around this time, the heat is on between brands to make an impression and get maximum instant reach for their messages. Some try being playful, some introduce new themes, and some try to provoke.
In all, a total of more than 50 advertisements get released in the Super Bowl at an astronomical figure (by Indian standard) of $5.6 Mn per 30 seconds. Most brands must be finding it relevant and efficient, as some brands always have spots aired with the Super bowl. The inventory is almost sold by November of the previous year.
Brand, creative and media specialist mourn the absence of any such opportunity in India. Neither the pre-festival advertising in October nor the hyped-up IPL. And let us not talk of the opening episodes of any of the famed reality shows like KBC, KKK or Bigg Boss – none have the oomph, aah and wah of a Super Bowl.
Not unexpected there is beer advertising as a category dominating the super Bowl commercial. And surprise, everyone investing what we would call a long story format to get their simple message across.
When brands invest in an immediate reach build-up with an event that guarantees a massive number of eyeball, it is good to see them invest big. The super bowl spots maybe shorter version, but these extended versions show the intent.
Like every Super Bowl event, many brands spots are just nice or templated around their style of storytelling. They made you smile and at the same time got the brand message across. All under one roof. You can watch all these spots at Adweek.
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So here are my 12 favourites brand spots. That’s a high percentage of likability from the commercials aired during the Super Bowl. They are rightly messaged, superbly crafted and executed.
While watching the Super Bowl, the consumer mind aperture is open for entertainment and excitement. Hence, the ads that have a similar story presentation style that stimulates and engages are contextually better placed than others trying to present the message in a different way. And one who use the context and the DNA of the event best, win.
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MICROSOFT screened a lovely commercial. The protagonist Katie Sowers- first female super bowl coach, explaining that she wants not to be the best female coach but the best coach. People expect women to do certain things and do not expect to do many other things. However, the first in the filed opens the arena for others. That is like ENCOURAGED BETI ENCOURAGED FUTURE. An attitude we mostly miss in advertising. It is one of the best-crafted spots. It is my Favourite ad.
https://youtu.be/_xPn4DXIj5w
GOOGLE has this ad about how people lived before Alexa. It is contextually better placed in the event environment. It is humorous with some crazy situations to drive home a simple point of what Alexa can do.
https://youtu.be/RF9t2rFmTVE
GOOGLE has another emotionally powerful linking ad. It is very product dominant in all its visual impact and experience and hence my favourite Number II. ,
https://youtu.be/6xSxXiHwMrg
So, how can beer as a category be away from the super bowl?
BUD LIGHT two spots, INSIDE BRAIN, are highly engaging and entertaining.
https://youtu.be/wsnnU3fJTWg
https://youtu.be/pj1meOmpezs
Then there is BUDWEISER, identifying Typical American with their beer. And I am partial to beer advertising.
https://youtu.be/yt-zXuAAD6Q
MICHELOB ULTRA does it one better with its simple message, ‘it is only worth it if you enjoy it.’
https://youtu.be/U7h6Vls-uO8
MICHELOB ULTRA PURE GOLD makes a passionate appeal to pick 6 packs and see how it can change American farming. I literally love this very Patriotic beer ad.
https://youtu.be/ANarZ_113Xc
Another category that uses Super bowl best is cars. Here HUMMER ELECTRIC makes an impactful promise and delivers message quite soundlessly.
HYUNDAI SONATA is not far behind in its impact with self-parking demonstration has an extra edge on conversation and experience. It is nothing new, but it engages because of the conversation and the way it clarifies self-parking at any place.
https://youtu.be/85iRQdjCzj0
But PORSCHE, Wins the category battle of commercial with THE GEIST. It is so captivating and smart. My favourite number, -3.
https://youtu.be/FJNmHwBgV4M
In FMCG, coke, Pepsi, Doritos, Mountain Dew, Cheetos, Sabra SodaStream and others were there. But there was not much excitement around them. They were what they were.
HEINZ innovative ‘four in one’ commercial does stand out. However, it is a bit disorienting to see them simultaneously- but does that matter?
There was this REESE’S TAKE 5 with ‘The best bar that you have never heard of’. Likeable but then you have seen Bars and chocolates in that territory so many times. For me, SNICKERS beat it hollow any day.
https://youtu.be/SLAV4LYO-yU
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And the last one for Milo Kotnala, the WEATHER TECH spot.
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What say, will we see such hype with brands and IPL, I doubt, but one never knows. Why do you think, IPL will never reach this type of hype as a powerful window with such a hype?
InMobi announced that it has extended its partnership with Microsoft by adding the Microsoft Advertising business to its current portfolio of offerings. InMobi will now be able to offer marketers an integrated solution to power their campaigns built on search capability of Microsoft Advertising and mobile capability of InMobi Marketing Cloud.
Said Mark Richardson, VP of Global Corporate Sales at Microsoft: “We see an immense opportunity to grow the search and display market in India where digital is growing thirty percent year on year. Our relationship with InMobi, India’s first tech unicorn ,will enable Microsoft Advertising to leverage InMobi’s knowledge of the Indian mobile landscape and its go-to-market platform to grow the business further.”
Added Vasuta Agarwal, MD, Asia Pacific at InMobi: “The extended partnership between Microsoft Advertising and the InMobi Marketing Cloud will enable marketers to deliver a unified brand experience to customers by bringing together the best of search and display platforms. Our deep appreciation of Indian marketers’ needs, a keen understanding of the Indian market and a customer-obsessed team, position us uniquely to bring Microsoft Advertising to marketers in India.”
Eros Now announced a collaboration with Microsoft to build a next generation online video platform on Microsoft Azure targeted at its consumers across the globe.
Commenting on the announcement, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO- Eros Digital, said: “The Online Video market has brought a paradigm shift in the way technology is used and will be used to enhance the customer journey and user experience. We at Eros Now have been the earliest movers in the adoption of technology which is a core strength of the brand. The objective and the goal of this collaboration is to ensure we become the primary innovators for the video business and a gold standard for the others to follow. We have immense respect for Microsoft as a company to help us innovate and pave the path for the next generation of online video.”
Added Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President, Microsoft, Corp: “As an innovator in on-demand video, Eros Now has been transforming the way millions of people access and consume content. By using our combined expertise across technology and media, we have an opportunity to build on that foundation and re-imagine entertainment for the rapidly growing audience of digitally-connected consumers in India.”
Said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India: “India is one of the fastest-growing digital entertainment and media markets worldwide, driven by the growth in online video content. AI and intelligent cloud tools will be the next drivers of the media business and will impact everything from content creation to consumer experience. We are very excited to work with Eros Now to redefine the online video watching experience for consumers.”
Publicis Groupe has announced its partnership with Microsoft Corp. to develop and roll out Marcel, its platform that it hopes will “radically change the way the group’s teams and clients connect, interact and work togetherâ€.
Through Publicis.Sapient, its technology and consulting arm, Publicis is defining the architecture and design of Marcel, and conceiving the user experience, notes a communique, adding:“Microsoft will build the platform, and connect it to its deep technology and AI capabilities, leveraging Microsoft Azure AI and Office 365.â€
Said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft: “AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our time, but its real power lies in how it can be applied to amplify human ingenuity. And that’s the beauty of Marcel. At Microsoft, we believe that people no longer just work for companies – companies need to work for their people. Marcel embodies that belief. That’s what makes this collaboration so seamless and natural.â€
Added Arthur Sadoun, Chairman & CEO, Publicis Groupe: “Marcel is a crucial step in Publicis Groupe’s commitment to radically change our industry, for the good of our clients and our people. It’s why we’re thrilled to be able to draw on Microsoft’s ground-breaking talent, capabilities and resources in artificial intelligence, to build the platform of the future, today. Thanks to the dedication of Satya and his teams we’re accelerating on putting Marcel at the heart of the Groupe, to deliver big ideas that harness creativity in all of its formsâ€.
For a television channel that’s determined to fight for the need for transparency in public life and government, its launch date appears to be a closely guarded secret. But now it’s confirmed: Tomorrow, May 6. Why a Saturday, one may ask. Because that’s the first day of the week (Week #19 of 2017) as per BARC measurement. And Goswami, as he must, keeps a close watch on his viewership numbers.
Before we had  confirmation on the date, we did have word from the Star India Corporate’s PR agency that Republic TV would start streaming on the OTT platform with effect from tomorrow. No time stated.
Having said that, Republic is on a roll in terms of marketing across media. It has a healthy set of advertisers: Vivo, Jio, Renault, Hike, Yes Bank, Microsoft, Ravin, Nestaway, Future Group, Havell’s, Gionee, Lloyd, Raymond and Ola. Star India, we are told by sources, will continue to be an advertiser, though its logo is missing from today’s Mint ad.
We asked ChromeDM, specialists in research on connectivity to give us a report on the availability of Republic TV, for, distribution along with content and revenues will eventually speak about the success of the channel.
And this is what Pankaj Krishna, Founder & CEO, Chrome DM said: “Currently, on an average, an English News Channels has an availability of 45.1% among Urban Homes in India. With its soft launch, Republic has 18.4% Urban India availability (as per Chrome OTS or Opportunity to See, 3rd May 2017). In Mega Cities, Republic is currently available in 32% of the Households.â€
Note this is for data as of May 3. A distribution industry expert we spoke with said that the availability will leapfrog once the channel goes on air, as even though the deal is inked, some discerning networks do not like to air test signals. So the expert we spoke with said the ChromeDM data as of now may not be the right measure to look at right now.
However, MxMIndia is a neutral observer and it’s important that you know facts as they are. Also, according to the ad, distribution deals have been inked with all platforms. Other than Hotstar, Republic will be available on Jio, Ditto and we are sure other platforms too.
“There’s a buzz around Republic TV, and even if deals aren’t inked, viewers will want to watch it and will ask for it… at least for the first few weeks. Moreover, it’s free-to-air, so the pull factor increases,†said one distribution network owner.
A media buyer and marketer we spoke with requested to speak on anonymity. Here’s what both echoed.
That the buzz around Arnab Goswami has increased after he quit his previous employer.
The legal notice which Goswami spoke about making an emotional appeal touched a chord, and there is a certain amount of sympathy for him.
The issues with Pakistan are raging, and that’s a topic Goswami is passionate about
There are enough inefficiencies across the country which Goswami will definitely dwell on
Meanwhile, other channels are also getting their act together. Both India Today and CNN-IBN have launched shows at 7pm and also relooked at the rest of the primetime programming. Extension of primetime to 7pm will expand the viewership in all.
As per BARC ratings for Week 17 (April 22 to 28), Times Now was the leader followed by India Today, CNN-News18, NDTV 24×7 and BBC World News. NewsX and WION didn’t figure in the Top 5. This data is for urban and rural viewership from amongst males of 22 years and above.
MxMIndia also spoke to industry captains and while all of them wish Republic TV and Arnab Goswami the very best, they do acknowledge that it’s not going to be an easy ask. There are comparisons made to how CNN-IBN (now CNN-News18) scored a march over NDTV 24×7 when Rajdeep Sardesai started the channel, but those were early in the history of English news television in India. Times Now didn’t exist and Headlines Today (now India Today) was near-inconsequential.
And what is our view? Well, who doesn’t like a David outwits/ outshines/ kills Goliath story. We all love it. But then we are going to be as neutral as it’s possible. We report on the business regardless who gives us business.
However, there are issues which are beyond just R&R… in this case ratings and revenues. It’s the kind of journalism we will see on Republic TV. And hence across all channels. Will channels talking about the noise be contributing to the noise in their own way? Will the new style of television journalism – nationalism and raising questions against it – actually damage situation on the ground, even though the viewership of English news channels is limited.
It’s our third ‘Big Story’ on Republic. Or fourth? We’ve lost count. But, then, it’s possibly one of the biggest media launches in the last decade.
The last question to ourselves (and as in the headline): Do we see Republic TV killing Competition?
Our response: We don’t know. Yes, we do care and we will be delighted to report on the numbers. We will await the BARC ratings over the next few weeks quite how in the old Hindi films the old parents would wait for the ‘daakiya’ for an update.
Our normal end-line would’ve been: May the best channel win.
But here, we will say: May good (and smart) journalism win.
Microsoft has unveiled a first look of the new MSN in India. Designed from the ground up for a mobile, cloud first world, the new MSN combines premium content from the world’s leading media outlets with personal productivity tools that help you do more. Built around the insight that the knowledge and information that enriches your life should be accessible regardless of where you are or what device you are using, the new experience is available on the web and will soon be available across all major device platforms, including Windows, iOS and Android.
“We have re-written MSN from the ground up for a mobile-first, cloud first world. The new MSN brings together the world’s best media sources along with data and services to enable users to do more,” said Sanjay Trehan, Head of MSN India, Microsoft. “The new MSN focuses on the primary digital daily habits in people’s lives, helping them complete tasks on the web and across all of their devices, roaming data and personalized settings to keep users in the know wherever they are.”
MSN is partnering with some of the world’s best and most authoritative sources, including The New York Times in the U.S., Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun in Japan, The Guardian and the Telegraph in the U.K., Le Figaro and Le Monde in France, and Lance and Estadão in Brazil, and many more.
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In India, Microsoft has partnered with top local content partners, including Hindustan Times, NDTV, India Today, Indian Express and Network 18.
Spanning multiple sections including sports, news, health & fitness, money, travel and video, the new MSN provides a global perspective from thousands of publishers across the world. Information ranges from the latest stats on over 200 global sports leagues, reviews of over 1.5 million bottles of wine, to over 300,000 gorgeously photographed recipes and more. MSN’s expert editors are able to draw from the over 1,000 sources to hand-curate content for individual markets and cultures.
“With an audience of nearly 425 million people coming to over 57 markets around the world available across the three major device platforms, the new MSN presents an enormous opportunity for publishers” said Adam Anger, General Manager for Asia Pacific, Microsoft Advertising “With over 50% of people accessing content on dedicated apps, this release is in lockstep with where usage is happening.”
The new MSN brings actionable information and the opportunity to act directly at the point where people are actively engaging, from personal productivity tools like shopping lists, flight status and savings calculators, to integrated access to popular sites like Outlook.com, Facebook, Twitter, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype. At the top of the page, there is a personal stripe allowing you one click access to top services so you can stay on top of what’s happening in your life.
With barely a week to go before the soccer world cup FIFA 2014, Sony Six, the official broadcaster of the tournament in India, has managed to sell half its on-air advertising inventory, MSM president Rohit Gupta has said.
“We will be closing in most of the deals for the remaining inventory next week”, he said. The tournament will also be aired on Sony Six HD in English and Sony Aath, the Bengali channel of the network. According to TAM data shared by Sony Six, in 2010, 62.7 million Indians tuned in for the FIFA World Cup.
“This year we are expecting the viewership to cross 100 million and it will be at least 50% of the IPL (Indian Premier League),” said Mr Gupta. IPL 2014 received viewership of over 185 million and the 2012 World Cup T20 raked in a viewership of nearly 120 million in India.
“To that extent, football viewership in India is growing at a steady pace of 20-30%,” he added. The data also shows that in 2013 alone 155 million Indians watched football matches on various channels, which is only second to the top game — cricket, which is watched by 209 million Indians.
While the channel has mnaged to ink deals with some of the top advertisers including Hero Motocorp, Xolo Mobile, Microsoft, Havells, Sony India, Samsung, UB Group, Micromax and Diageo, some advertisers have shown concern over the odd match timings. While the sponsors have paid anywhere around Rs 15-20 crore, a 10-second slot on the channel is selling at Rs 2-2.50 lakh, which is almost half of what it had charged during the recentlyconcluded IPL.
“It is not a problem at all because 60% of the matches start before midnight”, said Mr Gupta. Concurs Basabdatta Chowdhury, CEO, Platinum Media, a subsidiary of the Madison World. She said, “A good number of matches will be played at 9.30 pm and World Cup timings have always been in the night. Moreover, South East Asia is a huge football market and therefore some of the match timings have been adjusted to suit the viewers. So timing is not a concern at all.”
However, some media planners have raised concern over the distribution of Sony Six and how many market it reaches in comparison to other established players like ESPN Star Sports and Ten Sports. “The distribution of Sony Six is 50-60% of that of other top sports channels in the country. So advertisers are pretty apprehensive about the reach of the platform and that why the channel is left with so much unsold inventory. Unavailability of Sony Six could be a dampener to its advertising revenues,” said a senior media planner who didn’t wished to be named.
But Mr Gupta says distribution of the channel is not a concern at all. “The biggest testimony of that is the IPL figures. If we didn’t have the reach then how is IPL viewership growing?” he asked. The channel has also planned a two-hour wrap around show on Sony Six which will be aired for 32 days and the channel has signed in actor John Abraham to spearhead the show.
Call it the seven-year-itch or whatever, but the capital’s PR circles are abuzz with the gentle changes in LinkedIn and Facebook information of senior PR professional Meenu Handa.
Ms Handa has moved on from the position of Director, Corporate Communications at Microsoft India to the same designation at Amazon.
At Microsoft where she worked for seven years and six months (Oct 2005 to March 2013), she was part of the India Leadership Team and the global PR council. Her responsibilities included strategy, development and execution of both internal and external communication including analyst relations. Additionally, she was responsible for an integrated corporate citizenship program that reflected Microsoft’s commitment to India and its CSR charter (source: Ms Handa’s LinkedIn profile).
Earlier, she worked with IPAN (later IPAN Hill and Knowlton and now IPAN Hill+Knowlton Strategies) for 15 years. At Amazon where she will be heading the PR and communications functions, Ms Handa will be based in Gurgaon.
Online apparel brand Zovi.com has announced, in collaboration with Microsoft, the launch of an all-new shopping application built specifically for Windows 8-based PCs and tablets to coincide with the global launch of Windows 8. The app features innovative content presentation and provides a unique shopping experience.
The Zovi app is primarily designed for Windows 8 devices and tablets and will be available for free on the Windows Store. It enables users to purchase apparel and accessories for both men and women. Users will have access to high-quality images on the product pages for all items on display and can make payment via cash on delivery.
The Zovi app was showcased at the Windows 8 India launch on October 26. Speaking about the collaboration, Manish Chopra, CEO, Zovi.com said, “The Zovi app has been designed to leverage the aesthetic elegance and convenience of the Windows 8 User Interface to offer a unique experience in shopping for fashion and lifestyle online on Zovi.com.”
Commenting on the launch of the app, Amrish Goyal, Director – Windows Business Group, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Windows 8 provides a fast and fluid experience that makes apps shine. The Windows Store has an amazing array of apps at launch, and Zovi offers a compelling shopping experience.”
For most of us a blog is a destination to put up a view, an experience, a rant, videos and photos – some vivid, others vicarious – and then get back to a mundane life. But five hardcore bloggers from Chennai decided to be an exception when they founded IndiBlogger.in, a congregation of Indian bloggers who totalled some 27,000 at last count.
With a tagline ‘Indians by birth, bloggers by choice,’ the IndiBlogger team fields more than 70 requests daily from wannabe Indibloggers. Vineet Rajan, 27, one of the directors who set up the site said: “We started off trying to just create a directory that allowed bloggers to submit their blogs.”
Over the years, more features have been added based on what the community demanded on its discussion forums. For instance, the site now has IndiVine, a chat application, and Indi-Rank, a ranking algorithm for bloggers in India.
In many ways, in its current avatar IndiBlogger is a social network for Indian bloggers.
“It’s like LinkedIn for bloggers with an exclusive dashboard, and activity feeds that let them track other bloggers’ posts, and more,” Mr Rajan pointed out.
It’s a unique concept and community, but at the end of the day it needs to make money. IndiBlogger’s revenue stream is, what Rajan calls, “earned media”, which he says is what brands are clamouring for. “With its blogs IndiBlogger can help brands build more trust and credibility than any other online media can,” he claimed.
Mr Rajan cites Neilsen Global Trust in Advertising survey, 2011 that shows less than a third of netizens trust ads; in comparison 92 per cent who have faith in peer and word-of-mouth recommendations.
IndiBlogger’s first brand engagement was with Microsoft through a blogger meet in 2007. Since then IndiBlogger has organized 50 such congregations; these have been coupled with over 50 contests with brands across sectors like consumer goods, travel & aviation and retailing among others. Samsung, Pepsi, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Castrol, Cleartrip and Tata Docomo are some brands that have engaged with consumers through IndiBlogger.
Last November, HUL’s Surf Excel used IndiBlogger to engage with women bloggers on the site via a blogger contest called ‘Surf Excel Matic #GetSmart.’
Targeted at urban women in the 25+ age group, Surf managed to reach a little over 25 lakh netizens using IndiBlogger and its tools like IndiRank and IndiVine, says an HUL spokesperson. Maximum readers were from the cities of Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune.
“Bloggers are publishers and the popular ones have a good readership .They know the art of expressing their views and thoughts on a certain topic in an interesting way which also wins them dedicated following over time. The popular bloggers also have good networking skills which they use to publicise the content on their blogs on various social platforms,” said the HUL spokesperson.
When popular bloggers write about a brand and its core message, it reaches their followers and readers of the blog. This also results in a lot of user-generated content for the brand, essentially making these bloggers the brand’s ambassadors, added the HUL spokesperson.
In the Surf Excel Matic contest, although only 41per cent of the participants were women, they garnered more than 55per cent of the entire readership of the campaign, thereby, helping the campaign achieve its objective.
For Castrol, which wanted to engage with passionate bikers, IndiBlogger was an extension of the lubricant brand’s presence in digital and social media. In the ‘Castrol Power1 Biker code of India’ contest, bloggers were encouraged to share what biking meant to them. The contest got 170 entries and the blogs attracted an audience of roughly 1 million viewers within the first 30 days of the campaign.
“Besides creating a powerful platform to engage with bikers, the contest enabled us to gather rich insights about our target group, which is the passionate biker,” said Saugata Basuray, deputy head of marketing at Castrol India.
Besides being an aggregator, IndiBlogger also provides assistance to people who approach the site with technical queries about how to make a blog, how to get a domain name and so on.
A 14-member team spread across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi are responsible for maintaining the site, providing assistance and monitoring for offensive content. The blogger meets are mostly outsourced to event management companies who liaison with core members of the IndiBlogger team.
Started with an investment of Rs10,000, the site turned profitable in June
2010 and, according to Mr Rajan, their blogger database grew 37 per cent in 2011-12 over the previous fiscal year. He is wary talking about the company financials but says the website is on track to achieve $2 million revenues by 2015.
Blogs are today gaining currency as a medium for engagement and Kanika Mathur, president, Digitas India, a digital marketing agency, says the influence that blogs can have on a brand is hard to dismiss. “People who go online today are looking for a point of view, so either they get this point of view from the brand or from a third person. Bloggers are a set of experienced people whose opinion has great credibility as they are not from the brand side,” she said.
If Facebook wants to open its doors to kids under 13 – as well as acknowledge the millions that are already there – it’s going to need to tread cautiously.
The social network is testing technologies that would link children’s pages to those of their parents and enable parents to approve friend requests and access to applications, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
These mechanisms wouldn’t be introducing young children to Facebook for the first time, but rather would give them a way to be there officially.
While the fact that young children are using Facebook is about as secret as the gambling at Rick’s in “Casablanca,” the notion of shepherding more kids onto the platform is bound to be controversial for reasons ranging from cyber-bullying to the unseemliness of potentially feeding their data into the engine that drives Facebook’s advertising business.
The report has already triggered a reaction from regulatory powers, with US Reps Ed Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, writing to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: “While Facebook provides important communication and entertainment opportunities, we strongly believe that children and their personal information should not be viewed as a source of revenue.”
There’s evidence to suggest that millions of parents would welcome the opportunity to give their children access to Facebook, with a Microsoft Research-backed study showing that 36 per cent of parents surveyed had knowledge of their children joining Facebook before they turned 13. But even though millions of children are already illicitly using the platform, Facebook could be more exposed legally if it opts to bring them out into the open, since the current setup allows for the company to maintain that the site is not designed for children under 13, according to Linda Goldstein, chair of the advertising, marketing and media division at law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
“I think they’re going to be buying a lot of additional regulatory headaches,” Ms Goldstein said. “The value of the data and the ability to eventually capture this data at such an early age is interesting, but they’re going to have to weigh that against consumer perceptions.” In order to move forward with any plan to open up the platform to children under 13, Facebook will need to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which states that sites collecting data from children under 13 must obtain parental consent.
If you are in Marketing and advertising, you would have watched all the Super Bowl ads by now. Every year around this time, the heat is on between brands to make an impression and get maximum instant reach for their messages. Some try being playful, some introduce new themes, and some try to provoke.
 By Pradyuman Maheshwari [updated]
By A Correspondent