MxMIndia

Tag: news

  • On December 24, 2012 Ms Kapoor will debut as an RJ with FM radio network 92.7 Big FM for a women-centric radio show called Big Memsaab, through a specially conceptualized segment, 'Big on Style'

    Karisma Kapoor debuts as RJ on 92.7 Big FM’s show

    By A Correspondent

     

    Actress Karisma Kapoor has taken on the mantle of an RJ with FM radio network 92.7 Big FM.

     

    On December 24, 2012 Ms Kapoor will debut as an RJ for a women-centric radio show called Big Memsaab. Through a specially conceptualized segment, ‘Big on Style’, she will play the role of a beauty and style guru who will share her expertise on fashion and trends. The segment will air on Big Memsaab every day between 11am and 12noon across 31 stations of the radio network.

     

    Apart from a multi-media marketing campaign across radio, television, outdoor, on ground and social media, contests will also be hosted on air, wherein lucky listeners from across the 31 cities stand to win a personalized grooming consultation with Ms Kapoor.

     

    Speaking about her association, Karisma Kapoor said, “Having worked in movies and television, I was extremely keen to try a new medium – so I decided to do radio. The Indian media scenario is constantly evolving and radio is the perfect medium for me to be closer to my fans than ever before. I am very excited about my radio debut on 92.7 Big FM’s afternoon show, Big Memsaab. I am confident that my fans will enjoy the show thoroughly and will continue to support me as I undertake this new journey.”

     

    Commenting on the occasion, Manav Dhanda, Network Programming Head, 92.7 Big FM, said, “Ms Kapoor makes a daily appointment with radio listeners, which is a pioneering move. The features of the show will be the first across media, which is very exciting. The format of the show, the pegs that we will touch upon and the innovations planned are what makes the show unique and appealed to her. Radio is a live medium and highly engaging allowing for direct interaction with crores of Indians and fans across the country for a celebrity.”

     

  • The station won 'Radio Station of the Year' at the Asian Leadership Awards, Global Awards for Brand Excellence – Brand Excellence in Media & Entertainment, and Mobbys Awards for Best Mobile Application

    94.3 My FM wins three awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    Harrish M Bhatia

    In an award-winning spree, radio station 94.3 My FM has bagged three major awards recently. It won the Asian Leadership Awards in Dubai, in the category ‘Radio Station of the Year’. It also won the award for ‘Brand excellence in Media & Entertainment’ category in the Global Awards for Brand Excellence organized by the World Brand Congress Awards in Mumbai. 94.3 My FM shared the award with SAB and Movies Now in the category.

     

    The station was also recognized for its new and innovative initiatives in the mobile application space. 94.3 My FM bagged the Best Mobile application in the media category award at the Mobbys Awards held recently in Mumbai. The mobile application from My FM which won the awards has unique integrated features for listeners to connect and engage with the station.  Features like My Connect allow users to go to their city-specific social media platforms. Other features include My Message where one can send a song request or contest participation SMS to My FM with a one-touch key and My Download where end users can download My FM tones as their mobile ringtones.

     

    “I am elated at the recent award wins and the industry recognition for the brand. It not only showcases the growing preference of the brand among its listeners but also strengthens our belief in the localized approach we take in the markets we operate in to reach out to our listeners. I would also like to thank my staff which has worked seamlessly for us to reach this level of excellence. With the recent award wins,  94.3 My FM has not only spelt out its brand pull but also the prominent position that it has taken in India’s radio market,” said Harrish M Bhatia, CEO, 94.3 My FM.

     

  • O&M Mumbai creates CSR initiative for Mattel Toys India along with a pub and a driver service

    Hot Wheels takes ‘Don’t Drink & Drive’ message to pub door

    By A Correspondent

     

    While Hot Wheels is known for epitomizing ‘thrilling vehicle experiences’, it wanted to also impart the message of ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’. O&M Mumbai studied the views and opinions of drinkers and from their discussions drew an insight – almost every drinker believes that it is absolutely safe to drive after a drink or even two drinks. However, the medical reality is that even a single drink can impair the senses of the driver and this fact is dismissed by most as trivial.

     

    Abhijit Avasthi, National Creative Director, said, “Drinking & driving messages can get too preachy. This is a fun way of reminding us of the consequences of drinking and driving. A simple idea with a strong message. Hot Wheels along with ‘The Little Door’ (a pub) and ‘Party Club Drivers’ (an after-party driver service) decided to do something unique to spread the social message  ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’. We wanted to impress this fact upon people but when they were least expecting it – this was the idea. So on a Friday evening with the support of our partner pub, The Little Door, we laid emphasis on this social message to people who were most likely to be casual about driving back after a few drinks.”

     

    When car owners arriving at the pub handed over their car keys for the valet to park, we attached specially designed key chains to the owners’ car keys. The key chain we attached had a damaged Hot Wheels car (depicting a car that’s recently been in an accident) with a message that read, “Even a Small Drink Is Enough”.  Attached with the keychain was a tag that had the phone numbers of the Party Club Drivers. When the car owners were exiting, they were handed out their keys with the attached Hot Wheels key chain that carried the social message.  This shocked and alarmed the drivers as the visual impact was powerful. “But most importantly, the reaction was positive. Many decided to call the driver service to drive them home and some called friends and family to pick them up,” Mr Avasthi shared.

     

    The Hot Wheels message was driven home: Drinking, no matter how less, should never be mixed with driving.

     

    Rahul Bhowmik, Director-Marketing, Mattel Toys India, said, “With this unique initiative we wanted to reinforce that pushing the envelope can be exhilarating, but it never pays to ignore the #1 rule of road safety: don’t drink and drive.”

     

  • The industry awaits the first post-digitization numbers from TAM Media. An MxMIndia report

    Let the (ratings) games re-begin!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    After a brief two-month hiatus, the broadcast industry will be waiting with bated breath to lay their hands on the viewership data that will be released by TAM tomorrow – that is, December 19 2012. The day will be of utmost importance in the broadcasting fraternity as it marks the release of data post the digitization drive that transpired across four major metros and also for the fact that the industry expects new trends to emerge, something that was amiss when the analog world was largely in operation until October 31, 2012.

     

    Just to recap, TAM had stopped issuing ratings to the industry citing deferment. In wake of the phase-wise DAS implementation that was scheduled to take place across the four metros, the custodians of TAM Media Research – Advertisers (ISA), Media Agencies (AAAI) and TV Broadcasters (IBF) – had arrived at a joint consensus on the need to temporarily defer TAM TV Viewing data release for the All India market for a period of 9 Weeks starting Week 41 (October 7, 2012, Sunday) and ending Week 49 (December 8, 2012). This deferred data will now be released on December 19, 2012 along with data for Week 50 (December 9-15, 2012).

     

    LV Krishnan

    At a press conference last week, LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media, highlighted the progress that had been made so far post the switch to digitization by the four metros and what were the immediate trends that were showing up in the new universe. What was heartening to note was that most analog homes in Mumbai and Delhi had made the imperative switch to digital with Mumbai recording a 93 per cent conversion rate compared to Delhi that recorded an impressive 97 per cent. On the other hand, Kolkata witnessed only 70 per cent conversion from C&S homes to digital while Chennai recorded more abysmal figure of just 26 per cent homes that had moved on to digital.

     

    Emphasising on the new rating mechanism, Krishnan said that as per the advice of the CIC committee, TAM will not report homes in the DAS area that are not digital. This will lead to the universe also shrinking correspondingly. Thus while analogue data from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata will not be released, an exception will be made for Chennai where it will continue to report analogue data given the low conversion rate observed there. Krishnan added here that the Urban Agglomeration or non-municipal corporation areas in Mumbai that consist of Navi Mumbai, Thane, Dombivli, Kalyan etc will continue to release analog data as they would be liable for conversion when the second phase kicks in. Thus, going forward, the data that would be released will be reported at breaks of C&S 4+, NCS (Terrestrial), C&S Digital 4+ and C&S Analogue 4+ (for non-DAS areas).

     

    Among the few trends that were observed as a result of the digitization drive, Krishnan pointed out the move had been a boon for niche genres like English and kids entertainment that witnessed a spike in viewership (time spent) during this phase. He noted that about 60 percent of channels with a pre-DAS share between 0 and 0.5% gain in share had witnessed a 4 percent net share gain post digitization. This was not the case for larger market share channels that witnessed a slight reduction in the net share gain.

     

    In order to facilitate the ever-expanding universe size, TAM has said that it would be increasing its sample size by about 400 peoplemeter boxes in the Mumbai and Delhi markets starting from the first quarter of 2013. It has also decided to add another 250 peoplemeter boxes to centres such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata.

     

    While all systems are set for the December 19, 2012 release Krishnan stated that with digitization having set in it was important to be cautious when analysing data in this phase like for example taking averages, looking at trends, not cutting data too fine such as a particular half hour on a particular day, ensuring that sample sizes are sufficient etc. Asserting his gameplan for the future, Krishnan said that for Phase 2, TAM seeks to carry-forward the learnings and continue working with the committee to make it conducive and resourceful for the broadcast environment.

     

    MxMIndia spoke to a few members from the broadcast fraternity to see if not having data for two months made any difference to their survival and what would be their expectations from the new ratings that get released from December 19, 2012.

     

    Ajay Bhalwankar, Head- Content – Hindi GECs, ZEE

    “There is a myth about every Wednesday morning being a scary one….You won’t find us running helter-skelter every Wednesday. Ratings tell you what has been liked and what has not been liked but not what has to be done! So they are just a reference point. We have an internal meter which we follow to check whether our shows are creating magic or not. Initiatives on digital and social media brought us closer to our audiences. This internal judgement is important. I started my career in the ’90s and we had no ratings then for nearly eight years. So, ratings do not bother me.”

     

    Anand Chakravarthy, Business Head, BIG CBS Networks

    “Our issue with TAM has always been that the English entertainment genre has never been well represented. The fact is that the English entertainment speaking audiences are never fairly represented in the sample, due to which the data released is not quite comprehensive. As a network, we have never depended on numbers to sell; we’ve always talked about the quality of content and the quality of our offering which has been our strength. In fact we have always maintained that TAM data is not a yardstick for niche channels like the English entertainment channels because the sample size of TAM does not represent this audience well.

     

    Even with digitization happening, the question, is how well will the new sample represent households that watch English entertainment channels? There could be some amount of movement of market shares between genres as we know that some parts of metros are still not disconnected completely. Therefore the universe size may reduce in some markets that will lead to change in ratings from the larger genres to possibly the smaller genres. But the fundamental issue, does the TAM ratings represent the English entertainment genre well enough and does it have the right sample size and profile of people, the answer to that is no. It will continue to be a problem unless it is addressed very clearly and head-on. That’s an issue that needs to be addressed very quickly. We are working with TAM to see how we can better evolve the system so that the English entertainment space is represented well enough.”

     

    Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP & Biz Head – Sonic & Nickelodeon India

    “What happened was for the good of the industry because it was required that everybody come to a consensus and see that the data is sanitised thanks to the changing environment and that it would give us a better understanding of phase 2. So while life was disrupted for about 8 weeks, it was all for a good cause. But having said that, I also believe that TAM is the only currency that exists in this industry and therefore we did miss its release to some extent. But it was a minor hurdle and nothing major so as to change our lives drastically.

     

    As for the release of data once again from tomorrow, we have to see what the new TAM has in store for the industry. They must be having their hands full as of now but then there is a committee which is looking to sanitize data that gets released. With the digitization numbers already pouring in, we are eager to see the kind of trends that the kids entertainment genre has managed to throw up. I see content and marketing playing important roles as they will drive viewership to the genre. So I would wait to see what TAM has to offer and take that lesson to phase 2 of digitization. I am sure that TAM will keep themselves abreast of the sample size and formation based on the manner in which digitization gains acceptance. So the universe will also move accordingly and I am sure that TAM would have taken into account that factor. Whether it is SEC fragmentation or it is the universe movement, TAM surely would have taken all these things into account. Also, digitization will only help the industry in terms of it becoming more transparent and more measurable and the fact that the niche genres will have a better chance to survive.

     

    Also, it will become an environment where the reliance on ad-sales will witness a drop. It will not vanish completely but we will see more reliance on subscription, which will be a good thing. All this won’t happen overnight as only 4 metros have been included in phase 1, which will move to 38 other cities in phase 2 that will take another 4-6 months. But in the end the country will be digitized for good.

     

    From a qualitative perspective, we would like to see different slicing of data especially from a demographic and psychographic perspective in the kids’ genre. Traditionally we have been doing 4-14 yrs which is sliced 4-9 and 10-14 yrs and the more we look at kids today and the fact that they are becoming more dynamic today, there is a need to relook at the slicing by TAM.

     

    Ajay Trigunayat, CEO, English Entertainment Channels, Times Television Network

    We are of the view that it’s difficult to capture rapid macro-transitional changes:

     

    1. Analog >> Digital migration

    2. Panel Updation

    3. Change in SEC definition

     

    We certainly understand it’s a challenge to condense this transitional period but we are hopeful TAM will accurately reflect these changes soon.

     

  • The Aaj Tak font has been announced the winner of the "Visual Communication award" at the CII Design Excellence Award in New Delhi

    Aaj Tak awarded CII Design Excellence Award

    By A Correspondent

     

    The ‘Aaj Tak font” from Aaj Tak, the Hindi news channel, has been announced the winner of the “Visual Communication award” at the CII Design Excellence Award in New Delhi. The award was presented by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which has been associated with Design Summit for the past 11 years.

     

    The font for Aaj Tak is designed to look strong, upright and with a little quirk of stubbornness for a channel that is stubborn to keep reporting the way things are and not package them in a ‘easy to digest’ form. The letterforms were designed as ‘open’ forms keeping in mind the small screen size which many Indian households still have. The design for ticker version was complex as it had to be used in small moving size.

     

    The CII Design Excellence award is the celebration of very best of Indian design over the past 24 months. It seeks to demonstrate the value of design to the Indian industry and will be a true acknowledgement of the prowess of Indian design, innovation and originality.

     

    Commenting on the achievement, Ashish Bagga, Group CEO, India Today Group said, “Congratulation to our design team for such a commendable job. Design plays an important role in differentiating our brand with the competition & making it stand out. Innovation has been core to our all our design and this award will motivate us to further enhance our capabilities.”

     

    The design award was presented to Aaj Tak on the first day of the summit in the overall category of visual communication.

     

  • Star UK has announced the launch of Star Gold on Virgin Media as part of their 'Asian Mela' offering

    Star Gold launches on Virgin Media in UK

    By A Correspondent

     

    Yeshpal Sharma

    Adding another feather to the cap of the Star Network UK operations, Yeshpal Sharma, Sr Vice President Star UK & Europe, has announced the launch of Star Gold on Virgin Media as part of their ‘Asian Mela’ offering.

     

    Mr Sharma stated, “With the launch of Star Gold on Virgin Media, the UK’s largest cable platform, the Star Network has further strengthened its offering to its loyal and growing UK viewers.”

     

    Star Network channels available on Virgin Media’s ‘Asian Mela’ bundle now include Star Plus, Star Life Ok and Star Gold.

     

    Star Gold is the Star Network’s dedicated 24-hour premium Bollywood movie channel, 100% subtitled in English. It boasts one of the largest Bollywood movie libraries in the world. Star Plus and Star Life Ok are 24-hour premium Hindi General Entertainment channels, with English subtitles.

     

    Emma Jones, Director of Content Acquisition at Virgin Media said, “Star Gold is a fantastic addition to our Asian Mela bundle. This is great news for customers with access to even more Bollywood entertainment; Virgin Media is the TV destination to enjoy the best movies around.”

     

    Virgin Media’s Asian Mela bundle now provides access to 13 South Asian channels for just £12 a month. Star Gold is available on Virgin Media on EPG channel number 801.

     

  • "Ekdum Bajedar" has been conceived by Meridian Communication

    Stop Not launches new campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Perfetti Van Melle India (PVMI), the market leader in sugar confectionery well-known for its clutter-breaking advertising is launching a fresh campaign for its latest offering in the snacks category Stop Not Disks. The new television commercial is woven around the product”s attribute of being super crunchy that in turn leads to humorous incidents. The commercial is slated to go on-air from the December 17 across all major channels.

     

    Commenting on the new campaign, Ramesh Jayaraman, MD, Perfetti Van Melle India, said, “The core idea of the new Stop Not campaign is derived from the brand”s attribute of being crunchy. The “Crunch” is so loud that it disrupts events all around with unexpected results. The TVC is high on enjoyment and humor, and we are sure it will catch on with the youth.”

     

    The campaign will be launched in two executions, portraying different situations and will carry the same message “Ekdum Bajedar”. The first situation features a family spending a lazy Sunday afternoon together at a park. The story changes track when a boy in the same park bites into his Stop Not Disks and the loud crunch distracts the father, who misses catching his son as he jumps off a tree. The second situation is a diving contest where the diver, who has a chance to win gold, completely misses his dive due to the loud crunch of Stop Not Disks.

     

    Credits:

    Client: Perfetti Van Melle India Pvt. Ltd.

    Agency: Meridian Communication Pvt. Ltd

    Creative team: Anurag Khandelwal, Satish Desa

    Account management team: Kevin Jacob, Sumera Dewan, Mohit Ahuja, Samrat Bedi

    Production house: Tubelight Films

    Director: Prashant Issar

     

  • The Augmented Reality application was soft launched on December 16 and recorded 250,000 downloads of the app on the first day

    Times of India launches ‘Alive’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Times of India Group has soft-launched its Augmented Reality experience application, Alive. To its surprise, on the launch day of December 16th, the app was downloaded 250,000 times, leading to 300,000 augmentation views on a single day. This significantly surpassed internal estimates of about 15,000 downloads on day one. Augmented Reality is a technology that bridges the online and offline worlds using the mobile phone. It allows readers of the newspaper to interact with a print medium, and get access to rich media content, such as videos, photos, and polls. The Times of India’s Alive App boasts of being the first augmented reality service launched in India by a media company.

     

    On December 16, the most popular augmentation was a video interview between Arnab Goswami and Salman Khan, where Salman Khan sheds light on his darkest days when diagnosed with a disease. This story was augmented by 65,000 users over a four-hour period.

     

    Times Internet CEO Satyan Gajwani said, “We love bringing new technology solutions that add value to our users. Alive is exciting because it is a new dimension to a medium people are used to and comfortable with. We’ve thought hard about where AR actually adds value and where it’s just a gimmick, and we’re working to ensure that each augmentation brings something new to our readers.”

     

    BCCL Managing Director Vineet Jain, said, “Times of India believes in innovating constantly and out of the box thinking. This technology has existed for years as QR code readers, but no newspaper in the world has used it editorially to delight its readers. We are excited to bring a new level of interactivity to the newspaper every day, and there is more to come in the coming weeks. Times of India and Alive is just a small peak into how the future newspaper will look in the era of convergence.”

     

  • His appointment follows the induction of V Natarajan as Vice President- Brand Marketing and Strategy

    Sabyasachi Ghosh joins Delhi Press as Ad Sales Director

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sabyasachi Ghosh

    Sabyasachi Ghosh has joined Delhi Press as the Advertising Sales Director. He will be leading the advertising sales function across the group publications.

     

    Mr Ghosh was previously at Ananda Bazaar Patrika for four years, where he was leading the advertising sales for ABP and Telegraph, and then later their magazines division. Prior to that, he spent close to 17 years in GroupM in various roles, spanning both domestic and international markets. He started his marketing career in Response division of Times of India in Kolkata in 1988. Ghosh has a BA in Economics from Jadavpur University and an MBA from IISWBM, Calcutta University.

     

    At Delhi Press, Mr Ghosh will be in charge of managing the entire revenue stream for the group from advertising and sponsorship activities for its magazine brands, online sites, events and reader activations. His mandate is to work out the strategic and tactical programs for unlocking the latent values in many of the group’s publications that are already leaders in their respective genres, developing marketing extensions around the existing portfolio, as well as nurturing some of the recent launches and acquisitions. He will be reporting to Anant Nath, Director of Delhi Press.

     

    Mr Ghosh’s appointment comes on the heels of induction of V. Natarajan as Vice President- Brand Marketing and Strategy. In this role, Mr Natarajan is spearheading the overall responsibility of brand management of Delhi Press magazines and the corporate brand and strategy at the group. He is leading the brand management team, which is responsible for ideating, developing and executing brand management programs for various group publications.The brand team, through its initiatives, is to support both advertising sales and circulation sales for developing marketing programs to facilitate increased consumer awareness and equity for Delhi Press magazines. Natarajan comes with a rich experience of over 20 years in brand & marketing having worked with The New Indian Express, Business Standard, and the ABP group. Natarajan has an MBA from Faculty of Management Sciences, Delhi and an engineering graduate from Jadavpur University. He will also report into the Director, Anant Nath.

     

  • The Vikatan group with an array of Tamil publications is now looking towards building an events calendar and launching verticals under its popular titles

    Vikatan Group focuses on events as growth strategy

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    Tamil publications group Vikatan has charted out its plan for next year which will help it in accelerating its growth. The group is stepping up its interest in doing on-ground activities as it sees immense opportunity that these events provide while helping in growth as well as building the brand further. The strategy being to give advertisers additional platform, increase circulation and bring into fold new readers with new and some revamped offerings.

     

    Talking about their plans, Pravin Menon, National Head, Ad Sales, Vikatan Media Services, said, “Vikatan is a strong brand with a heritage of 85 years and we feel that with our print, digital and on-ground offerings we have a very strong portfolio to deliver to the clients as well as readers and meet their needs.”

     

    Vikatan is now working on finalizing its events calendar for 2013. The focus being that the events will not just help in reaching their advertisers and giving them an additional platform but also their readers. Especially with the reach that Vikatan has it will help them in making inroads with customized events in various parts of Tamilnadu. As Menon puts, “We have a deep understanding of the Tamilnadu market and we want to leverage that. This we want to combine with our diverse offerings by building on ground activities and launch verticals of the mother brand.”

     

    In this regard, the group which has under its umbrella Aval Vikatan, a fortnightly has targeting women, and launching Aval Vikatan Mangalam. This will be a wedding special and is positioned as one stop point for brides-to-be. The edition is planned for January 2012. The magazine highlights different community weddings of Tamil Nadu, different types of foods served at wedding, tips for a fun wedding, wedding collections, beauty tips, unique wedding themes, jewelry, honeymoon destinations and best photographers, among others.

     

    The idea is to catch the readers and advertisers in the wedding season. This will also be present in a digital avatar.

     

    Currently, Vikatan has 10 magazines including their flagship brands Ananda Vikatan, Aval Vikatan and Junior Vikatan. The group has been very active this year in making itself visible to people and pushing itself further to reach the potential readers. Recently it launched a weekly magazine Timepass , an entertainment magazine targeting those young at heart. To launch the magazine the group had also come out with a TVC. Hence, as one can understand that there has been a shift in the way the group is marketing itself. There is an increased emphasis on the digital media and reaching people through the social media. The Vikatan Group is more aggressive and looking at a comprehensive strategy to reach their customers.

     

  • MxMIndia commissioned DDB Mudra Concrea to check what Mumbai & Delhi collegians would like to see happen in the media

    What do our metro collegians want?

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    From tracing behavioural patterns of the customers from the comfort of their offices a few years ago to carrying out extensive fieldwork in the remotest parts of India today, marketers have come to realize the facets that really drive the populace to take a liking to a product or an offering. In fact, analysis drawn up from extensive market research activities today enables marketers to go the extra mile and bombard the consumer with offerings that are relevant to his or her liking. But what such exercises have managed to do in the recent past is also gaze into patterns or strata that were not catered to in much detail before.

     

    Like for instance, the youth. There’s no denying what this TG has managed to do to every brand and the marketer who scamper to have a piece of his or her attention. That India is a nation where more than half its population is young (including children), makes this TG a goldmine for brands seeking them. But while brands are making use of umpteen mediums to pass on their message to the young populace, what was important was finding out whether the youth is satisfied with what is being thrown across to them. And if they are not satisfied, then what would be the ideal solutions they feel could drive the industry into the future.

     

    As part of the MxMIndia Annual print edition, MxMIndia commissioned youth marketing and communications consultancy firm DDB Mudra Concrea to conduct a survey and question a cross-section of the urban youth on a stream of solutions or ideas they felt were standouts from each of the following mediums -television, print, radio, digital, outdoor, creative and PR & events. The survey was conducted among 700 students from the top 5 colleges in Mumbai and Delhi NCR region. These comprised Jai Hind College, K.C College, St. Xavier’s College, H.R. College of Commerce & Economics and Sophia College for Women in Mumbai whereas from Delhi the list comprised Lady Shri Ram College, Hans Raj College, Hindu College, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Jesus & Mary College.

     

    To begin with, in the domain of television about 32 per cent respondents said watching television on mobile would be great, while 26 per cent said they preferred having video phone facility on television. A further 23 per cent said that they preferred watching television on computer while 18 per cent were in favour of having social networks on television.

     

     

    For the domain of print, about 48 per cent respondents were in favour of the medium being interactive while 38 per cent said that print media sampling was what excited them. The remaining 14 per cent of the respondents thought that QR codes would be the next big thing that would drive this domain.

     

     

    When asked about digital, about 42 per cent respondents felt that augmented reality gaming was something unique while 26 per cent felt that topical memes was good. A further 24 per cent felt that location-wise tagging was a neat feature to exist while 8 per cent said that live streaming concerts was exciting.

     

     

    As for radio, about 45 per cent respondents felt that consuming radio on the internet would be a big boon followed by 23 per cent respondents who said that having genre specific stations would drive the show in India. This was closely matched with 22 per cent respondents who said that community radio stations would be the way ahead for India.

     

     

    For the domain of outdoor, the idea that took the cake was installation art that was supported by about 35 per cent respondents. This was followed by 29 per cent respondents for whom augmented reality was important. Summing up the table was the remaining 17 per cent respondents who preferred having more LED-based hoardings.

     

     

    In the domain of PR, about 42 per cent respondents were in favour of having more UGC-based platforms. A surprising 33 per cent felt that doing away with the regressive Medianet  offering would do wonders for the medium while the remaining 26 per cent felt that disintegration of corporate-politics-media will bode well for the domain. It is of course known that Medianet is not a policy of any PR agency, but that of a leading media company. The ‘paid editorial’ policy is also practised by many print and electronic media companies.

     

     

    For the domain of creative or advertising, about 40 per cent respondents said that it would be good to see young brand ambassadors while 39 per cent said that they wanted to see more interactive digital creatives and 21 per cent felt that integration of consumer realities in strategy would be useful.

     

    Youth Say:

    “I’m a TV addict. I live, eat, sleep TV. Thanks to 3G and TV-Mobile, I get to watch TV anywhere.”

    – Sarthak Nagpal on the medium of television

    “The Volkswagen ‘Feel the Shiver of Excitement’ print ad was one of my favourite newspaper ads of all time. Everyone talked about it for a whole week.”

    – Raghav Bagai on the print medium

    “The Nintendo Wii actually helped me lose weight! I think interactive gaming is the future of the gaming world.”

    – Faateh Ahmed on the digital medium

    “The fact that I listen to the radio anywhere and anytime on my mobile is surely one of the best innovations in this stream.”

    – Nitin Jethani on the radio medium

    “The best way you can market your product is to make the consumer experience it. So put it out there and let them perceive it.”

    – Barkha Singh on the medium of Outdoor

    “The City Ninjas initiative started by Anisha Sharma is an awesome way to get to know any city.”

    – Jubin Jacob on the medium of Creative

    “The Red Bull Stratos jump is probably one of the most memorable things to happen in our time. Our parents had Neil Armstrong, we have Felix Baumgartner!”

    – Priyanka Kumar on the PR medium

     

  • Dentsu Communications, a full service independent communications agency and a part of the Dentsu India Group, has begun operations in Kochi

    Dentsu strengthens Southern India network

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Communications, a full service independent communications agency and a part of the Dentsu India Group, commences operations in Kochi.

     

    Rohit Ohri, Executive Chairman said, “Our commencement of operations in Kochi is part of our larger strategic plan of accelerated growth in India. We’re now fully equipped to offer integrated communication services to all our clients in the Southern India. Arijit Ray, CEO Dentsu Communications, Suresh Mohan Kumar, National Planning Head and Ashwin Prathiban, Regional ECD (South) will drive this new initiative. I’m confident that under their leadership, we shall see a new spurt of growth in this region.”

     

     

    Commenting on the expansion and the South market, Arijit Ray, CEO Dentsu Communications said, “We are extremely upbeat about our operations in the South. The Bangalore operation is our largest and most integrated with 3 pillar clients. Toyota, Nissin and TVS. With a clear focus on building the Bangalore operation into a hub of excellence to cater to all markets in the South, the capability and talent building process is bearing fruit. With a fully integrated, Creative, Events, Media and PR Team, that has conceived and executed the Etios Motor Racing programme, the team is set to leverage integrated opportunities on current and potential clients. What is heartening is that we have been able to build our strategic integrated capabilities around our clients brand and business mandates.”

     

    Adding further, Mr Ray said, “We see a lot of potential in Kochi. We have a great team that understands the local nuances to start our journey in Kerala. Saji Jayakumar our Kochi head and his team will surely do everything to make it a stellar operation.”

     

    Ashwin Parthiban, Regional Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Communications said, “Dentsu’s Kochi presence offers exciting creative possibilities, and an interesting opportunity to work on a mix of both local and national brands that are based in Kerala. There is a refreshing appetite for path-breaking creative ideas among clients here, and benchmarks are set very high. But most importantly, Keralites have a rich story-telling culture, not to mention a very evolved appreciation of film, and this mix provides delightful creative inspiration.”

     

    Suresh Mohan Kumar, National Planning Head, Dentsu Communications said, “Kochi office underlines Dentsu’s emphasis on and commitment to southern markets. Our key differentiator would be our ability to conceive and deliver totally integrated communication solutions. Bangalore will continue to be the planning and creative hub but we will tap into our teams’ local expertise to provide our clients with solutions that make a difference in the market place.”