Dheeraj Sinha Swapan Seth Beauty Booty

Grey India’s new planning head is set for the grind.

8

PROFILEDheeraj Sinha

Equus Red Cell’s founder is a man of few words.

DEFINING MOMENTSSwapan Seth

32

How the Miss World contest proved lucrative for Zee.

PLUSGLOBAL ADVERTISING

Emerging Epicentre 14

HINDI SITCOMS

Shying Away 26

TAM

Other Side of the Coin 42

OBITUARY

Prabuddha Dasgupta 48

ZEE NETWORKBeauty Booty

40 34 22

As Dentsu snaps up Taproot India, we explore whether independents can stay that way for long.

September 1-15, 2012 `100Volume 1, Issue 8

EDITORIAL

5afaqs! Reporter, September 1-15, 2 0 1 2

Volume 1, Issue 8This fortnight...

The Richards Group is an independent advertising agency based in Dallas in the US. The agency, one of the largest advertising independents of America, has a very interesting message displayed in its lobby.

It reads: ‘Not for Sale Now. Not for Sale Ever.’ The agency has been true to its philosophy for close to five decades now, but the fact is that such statements seem to be rather revolutionary in today’s world.

The fact that the world’s largest advertising network, WPP (Wire & Plastic Products), is itself a result of numerous acquisitions, says it all. A company which started off as a manufacturing outfit has fuelled its growth for 26 years through acquisition and mergers. WPP began its acquisition spree in 1986 with 10 marketing services companies and followed it up in quick succession with two prestigious takeovers - J Walter Thompson (JWT) in 1987 and Ogilvy & Mather in 1989. This growth continued for the group through several other acquisitions like Young & Rubicam, Cordiant Communications and Grey Global Group. In a world dominated by the big ad networks, an independent finds it difficult not to become the target of a takeover.

But, the network giants aren’t the only ones responsible for this situation. If they are ready to gulp the smaller outfits, the independents are also just waiting to be taken over – irrespective of whether the latter is three years old or 30. The lure, often, is just a good price.

In the advertising world, being ‘independent’ is a claim that has turned out to be quite pretentious, nowadays. Especially when the flag bearers like BBH and Mudra have finally given it up. While a few would have resisted an acquisition for years, many new agencies are born just to be sold. Interestingly, as we go to press, the

news of Japanese ad network, Dentsu buying 51 per cent stake in Taproot, a young and renowned Indian independent, floats in.

The reasons for giving up independence could be many – absence of a succession plan, lack of founder’s motivation or to fuel future scope of growth and expansion. The current issue of the magazine tries to find out how long independents can stay that way.

Grey India’s new planning head is set for the grind.

8

PROFILEDheeraj Sinha

Equus Red Cell’s founder is a man of few words.

DEFINING MOMENTSSwapan Seth

32

How the Miss World contest proved lucrative for Zee.

PLUSGLOBAL ADVERTISING

Emerging Epicentre 14

HINDI SITCOMS

Shying Away 26

TAM

Other Side of the Coin 42

OBITUARY

Prabuddha Dasgupta 48

ZEE NETWORKBeauty Booty

40 34 22

As Dentsu snaps up Taproot India, we explore whether independents can stay that way for long.

September 1-15, 2012 `100Volume 1, Issue 8

EDITOR Sreekant Khandekar

PUBLISHER Prasanna Singh

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Prajjal Saha

SENIOR LAYOUT ARTISTVinay Dominic

PRODUCTION EXECUTIVEAndrias Kisku

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIESNeha Arora, (0120) 4077866, 4077837

Noida

Khushboo Varadkar, (022) 40429702-5 Mumbai

[email protected]

MARKETING OFFICEB-3, First Floor, Sector-4, Noida-201301.

Tel: (0120) 4077800.

MUMBAI501-502, Makani Center, 5th Floor,

Off Linking Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai - 400050

Tel: +91-22-40429 709 - 712

BENGALURUS-1, New Bridge Corporate Centre, 777 D, 100 ft Road, Indira Nagar,

Bengaluru - 560038, India

SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIESAkhilesh Singh, (0120) 4077837

[email protected]

Owned by Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd and Printed and published by

Prasanna Singh, at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex, Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar,

New Delhi-110 063.

Printed at Cirrus Graphics Private LimitedB-62/14, Naraina Industrial Area,

Phase II, New Delhi – 110028.

Cover Illustration Gogol

HINDI GECSPoor CousinsWhat keeps the bottom rung GECs there?

POVSensitive adsDoes ‘sensitivity’ in advertising campaigns hurt a brand’s recall value?

28BLACKBERRYGetting into ActionThe mobile phone maker is using its signature red splat.

Inspired by Indian culture, the brand creates a glow.

16GREENLAMBeautiful Idea

P L U S

COMSCORE India is more Social 20

MTS MBLAZE Ablaze on the Streets 52

TATA DOCOMO Larger than Life 52

RED FM Tales of Heroism 54

DS GROUP One Minute Shake 54

LOOP MOBILE Royal Message 56

1812

PHILIPSMaking Light

36CONTENTS

The laminate brand uses the sutradhar concept in its new TV commercial.

Prajjal [email protected]

Riverside> Global buyout fund Riverside and three European fashion retailers are in the fray to acquire India’s biggest home-grown denim brand Spykar Lifestyles after Avigo Capital, which controls about 60% stake in the com-pany, renewed plans to sell the business. The acquirer would get a ready platform in Spykar, which has a strong distribu-tion network and sourcing setup. The brand - with 1,350 point of sales, including 250 stand-alone stores - reported store sales of `325 crore last fiscal in an $800 million denim mar-ket where international brands Levi’s and Pepe hold the lead.

Licenses of all the telecom opera-tors who entered India in 2008

were cancelled. While most of them wrapped up their businesses MTS and Uninor claimed that they were committed to India and that they will win back spectrum when it is auctioned, provided the conditions are right. However, given the high reserve price set for spectrum, what are the chances of their survival in India?

While MTS, which operates a CDMA network, has more than 16 million customers across the coun-try, Uninor, which operates in only 13 circles, has 45 million customers.

MTS: MTS is the only

CDMA-only opera-tor in India had said that it will bid for CDMA spectrum only and won’t jump on to the GSM band-wagon, despite GSM being more popular in India. So, in case the company decides to participate in the auc-tion process it will have no competition and will therefore likely win spectrum.

On the other hand, MTS is also facing trouble. The government of India has hiked the price for CDMA spectrum in the 800 MHz band by 1.3 times, which MTS claims is unfair given that there is no competition for this spectrum. So, even if MTS were to pay only the base price for spectrum it will have to pay `17,200 crore. While GSM operators will have as much for `14,000 crore (though they are likely to face bidding and therefore

might need to pay more for

a pan India network). MTS also has grievance about GSM players getting liberalised spectrum that can be used to offer any wireless service, while CDMA spectrum can only be used for 2G services.

UNINOR: Uninor is the bigger player of the

two with almost three times more subscribers at 45 million, despite being present in only 13 circles (of which it is strong only in nine).

The trouble for Uninor is two-fold: Telenor (which is the majority

partner with 67.5 percent stake) has a troubled relation with its Indian part-ner, the real estate firm Unitech, which it wants to sever ties with and is in the process of finding a replacement.

The other trouble is that the company operates in the GSM space, which is already crowded and will see a lot of interest from operators who want additional spectrum to reduce congestion in their network. But Uninor will have to win in at least a major-ity of circles to have

a viable business case in India. The choice of circles will make it possible for the company to keep the cost of spectrum down.

The company plans to enter the auctions with a plan to fur-ther consolidate it business in these nine circles - UP East, UP West, Bihar & Jharkhand, Kolkata, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, and Gujarat, where it already enjoys a storng pres-ence.

‘‘We are building Saffola edible oils brand to a platform of health products. And as part of the process, we had extended the brand and launched Saffola oats in 2010.’’SAMEER SATPATHY, CONSUMER PRODUCTS MARKETING HEAD AT MARICO ON MARKETERS FOCUSING ON EMERGING FOODS CATEGORIES SUCH AS SUCH AS MUESLI, OATS AND OLIVE OILS IN THE ECONOMIC TIMES.

MTS AND UNINOR

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts> Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc plans to open its first Indian store this year, but the maker of the Original Glazed will find it is not alone in its bid to cash in on the $13 billion Western fast food market in Asia’s third-largest economy. The firm plans to open 80 stores in southern and western India over five years with its franchisee partner Citymax India, which will spend $13.5 million to get the hot sugar-glazed doughnuts rolling.

Panasonic> The Japanese giant is now planning to focus on its professional product business. The company is eye-ing 100% jump in sales of its professional product business to `655 crore by this fiscal, said Panasonic India managing director (system sales division) Toru Hasegawa. The com-

pany till now has been growing the business by 40%.

Usha> Shriram group firm Usha International has exited from its joint venture with Honda Motor Company (HSCI) by selling its entire 3.16 per cent stake to the Japanese partner for `180 crore. Following this, HSCI will now be a 100 per cent Honda subsidiary in India. Usha has had a relationship with the Japanese auto major since 1985 when Honda Siel Power Products (formerly known as Shriram Honda Power Equipment Ltd) was started. The group became Honda’s part-ner while looking to enter the Indian automotive market.

Philips> After conducting a market survey in five five metros, including Delhi and Mumbai, on consumption pat-tern, the company has launched coffee making machines for home use. The company, which identified creation of new categories to supplement consumer lifestyle as one of its growth paths, is banking on products from the portfolio of Saeco International Group that was acquired by its par-ent Royal Philips Electronics in July 2009. These products are available only in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore across 18 retail points, including Chroma retail stores.

Sponsored by

Mahendra Singh Dhoni> India team captain became the first Indian cricketer to announce his own signature brand of international perfumes. The Indian captain will be personally involved in the creation, formulation and development of the M S Dhoni line of fragrances, which caters exclusively to men. The launch makes Dhoni the first-ever Indian cricketer to have his own line of fragrances and is expected to be introduced in India, the UAE and the rest of the world before the year- end.

The acquirer would get a ready platform in Spykar, which has a strong distribu-tion network and sourcing setup.

M S Dhoni line of fragrances will be introduced in India, the UAE and other coun-tries by late 2012.

6 afaqs! Reporter, September 1-15, 2 0 1 2

QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT

MARK

ETIN

G

MTS, which oper-ates a CDMA network, has

more than 16 mil-lion customers, while Uninor,

which operates in 13 circles, has

45 million customers.

Aidem Ventures>Independent media consulting, marketing and advertising sales company Aidem Ventures has been roped in to handle the ad sales duties for the Punjabi general entertainment channel, GET Punjabi. The channel was launched in October 2011 by GEE Info Media and is available across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh (PHCHP). It is distributed on digital and analog platforms. Its programming mix comprises drama, comedy, horror, news, devotional, films, music, cookery and reality.

Identifying the vast potential that rural India has to offer, i9 Media has launched its first print

product, a monthly magazine called ‘Rural & Marketing’. It will focus on content providing factual, analytical and an all-inclusive information and insight on rural India.

With a print run of 15,000 copies, the English magazine will be avail-able across India in all major cities and Tier II and III towns through newsstands and subscriptions. The cover price is set at `80, although the initial invitational price is `50.

Ajay Adlakha, publisher, Rural & Marketing, says, “In spite of having huge untapped potential and revenue generation capacity, the country has no dedicated magazine catering to this segment. The first of its kind, Rural & Marketing will be a guiding force to

policy makers, corporate houses and marketing, advertising, branding and media agencies to help them tap the vast potential of rural India.”

Sanjiv Sethi, rural marketing and management consultant, says, “Currently, rural markets are grow-ing twice as fast as urban markets and they are already much bigger than the urban markets. The companies

are looking for new opportunities and avenues as they are witnessing a decline in their growth rates in urban markets due to market saturation and they do have a huge untouched rural Indian market.”

“Also, there is very little knowl-edge about the rural consumers. I believe the magazine is going to help understand the rural consumer, their purchase decision process and buy-ing patterns,” he adds.

Adlakha further states that the aspirational levels among rural con-sumers today are as high as the urban ones, particularly as they are armed

with high purchase power and disposable income, rationalising the need for marketers to look at such markets seriously.

Rural & Marketing will look at revenue coming in from both advertising and sub-scriptions. The ad-edit ratio will be maintained

at 60:40. The media house is look-ing at companies in the automobile, FMCG, IT and telecom and con-sumer durables sectors, as well as the public sector for advertising interest.

“We are looking at about 30 per cent of our content coming from other countries. This will be done primarily to exchange ideas and opportunities available in the rural regions of the SAARC nations,” he says.

The magazine will also have a digital presence. i9 Media is in the process of putting the website together that will feature any and all information when it comes to rural education, policies and tour-ism, among others, and will not just reproduce the magazine’s content.

The channel will undergo a name change for the second time since its launch in 2008.

Mid Day/ Fullyfilmi.com> As a part of its 33rd anniversary celebrations, Mumbai’s popular tabloid Mid-Day added to its portfolio with the launch of FullyFilmi (www.fullyfilmi.com), an online portal dedicated to Bollywood. The portal targets both dedicated Bollywood fans as well as ones

who take the business of cinema seriously. Mid-Day claims its content strategy is an approach to cinema that does not exist currently.

MEDI

A

Sponsored by

Nirvana Digital>Nirvana Digital, a creator and distributor of audio and video content across internet and mobile platforms, has launched YouTube Content Creators Network. It will work for creation of original content as well as the distribution of produced video content from the Indian market across YouTube channels. Through this network, Nirvana Digital aims to capitalise on the exploding power of YouTube, which at current estimations is at 800 million monthly unique user visits across the globe, and 30 million in India itself.

BloombergUTV>The business news channel owned and operated by UTV in India, has decided to change its name to Bloomberg TV India. The joint venture between Bloomberg Television and UTV Multimedia, will undergo a name change for the second time since its launch in 2008. Launched with the name UTVi, it changed its name after the strategic partnership with Bloomberg Television in 2009. The new identity aims to establish a stronger position of the

international partner. The move follows the recently released campaign ‘The Original Source’, by Triton communications.

I9 MEDIA

Raaniranchi!in

has found a new best friend.

Grehlakshmi leads competition by 77% in Jharkhand (as per IRS 2011).

> Bengaluru-based UTL Group, has handed over the creative duties of the brand Karbonn Mobiles to Taproot India. The incumbent on the account is Brand David, Ogilvy India’s third agency. Brand David had worked on this account for about two years, and designed the cheeky television commercial rolled out late last year for the Android A1 phone, which took an overt dig at the price of the Apple iPhone. Karbonn Mobiles recently introduced its new brand extension christened ‘Karbonn Smart’. The new range of products from the stable will be marketed under this umbrella.

> Interface Communications (Draftfcb Ulka’s second agency) has been awarded the creative duties for E.I.D. Parry, a part of the Murugappa Group. The agency’s Chennai branch will handle this account.

For starters, the agency’s mandate includes working on the upcoming communication for the brand’s 225th anniversary campaign. The incumbent on the business is JWT Chennai. Interface Communications already handles the creative duties

for the Murugappa Group’s corporate account. The agency’s Chennai branch had won the mandate around August, 2011.

> Quadrant Communications has won the creative duties of Pune-based Quick Heal Technologies. The agency won the business on the back of a closely fought pitch which went on

for almost two months and witnessed participation from as many as 25 agencies. The size of the business is said to be in the range of `10-12 crore.

Bang in the Middle> Reversing the trend of global agencies launching in India, independent agency Bang in the Middle has launched its operations in the US. The agency is opening offices in Chicago and New York to start with and will expand to other cities later. To facilitate the US entry, the agency has brought on board Saira Mohan as president, Bang in the Middle, USA. Bang in the Middle USA will help mainstream brands which are not owned by MNCs to establish, expand their ambit and enter India.

Sponsored by

Mindshare, the agency which has been bagging the Emvie Agency of the

Year award for the last four years, has once again gained the highest number of shortlists among the total number of shortlisted entries for Emvie 2012. Of the total 126 case studies which have been shortlist-ed for the last round of the Emvie awards, Mindshare has 27.

The case studies from 19 agencies were shortlisted for the presentation round for Emvie 2012, organised by Advertising Club Bombay.

The case studies were presented during August 23-25; while the awards will be given away on September 3 in Mumbai.

Mindshare is fol-lowed by Maxus with 19 shortlists, Pinnacle with 15 and Lodestar UM with 13. MEC and Mediacom Communications have nine shortlisted entries each; while DDB MudraMax and Group M-Dialogue Factory have five entries each. Apart from these, Interactive Avenues, Madison Media Infinity and Starcom MediaVest Group have four each; and Omnicom Media Group and Madison Media Omega have two each. EMC, Jack in The Box, Interface Business Solutions, AD2C, Vizeum and Madison Media Plus have one shortlisted entry each.

In the Best Media Strategy-Consumer Products category, Lodestar UM’s campaigns for Coca-Cola (Winning Hearts and Minds of Indian Teens), Amul (Creating an

Aura), Sprite (Balla Ghumao) and Thums Up (Search for Thunder Star) have been shortlisted. Mindshare has three entries with Lays Baked (Sibling Rivalry), Axe Shower Gel (VJ Jose kidnapped) and Kissan (Kissanpur). Pinnacle has two entries, while Maxus and Madison Media Omega have also been short-listed in this sub-category.

In the Best Media Innovation category, for the Social Media sub-

category, Maxus has two shortlists. While Mediacom, MEC, Interactive Avenues, Interface and Mindshare make up for the rest of the shortlists with one each.

In the Best Media Innovation category for TV, Mindshare and MEC have two shortlists each. The Best Media Innovation for the Cinema, Out Of Home and Digital categories have four shortlists each. The shortlisted entries in the Best Innovation in

Cinema category are Mindshare’s Surf Excel in the movie Chillar Party, Starcom MediaVest Group’s Samsung Galaxy TAB, MEC’s Reliance 3G and EMC Solutions’ Century Ply in the movie Aarakshan.

The shortlisted entries in the Best Media Innovation in Out Of Home category has Lodestar UM’s Project Akshay (India’s First Coughing Outdoor), Mediacom’s Think Blue (India Gate - 3D Mapping), Mindshare’s AXE Deodorant (Fallen Angels!) and DDB MudraMax’s Volkswagen (Volkswagen Think Blue Beetle).

EMVIES 2012

>> ACCOUNT MOVEMENT

ADVE

RTIS

ING

Total 126 entries have been

shortlisted from 19 agencies, of which 27 come

from Mindshare, the winner for

four years.

The agency has brought on board Saira Mohan as president, Bang in the Middle, USA.

aunty pammy

can’t stop gushing.patiala!in

Grehlakshmi is at par with the leader in Punjab (as per IRS 2011).

Smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry has launched a campaign to promote its newly launched red icon or the ‘Splat’, the symbol

for action. Conceptualised by BBDO India, the television

commercial (TVC) showcases various situations and people ranging from a child who is ready to eat a piece of cake to a working woman ready to take a break, and a man who says that he is ready to jump from a flying aircraft. Through vignettes, the campaign establishes that every action taken by its users speaks its own language. It is further pro-moted through the message, ‘Action starts here’.

Krishnadeep Baruah, director, marketing, India, Research In Motion, says, “In today’s fast-paced world, individuals are looking to progress and are ready to take action to be successful. Being a catalyst for action, BlackBerry understands these

motivations perfectly. Action is therefore syn-onymous with BlackBerry and its users. Hence, our new brand campaign reflects people who take action instantly with the power of BlackBerry.”

Josy Paul, chairman and national creative direc-tor, BBDO India, explains, “Inherent in every BlackBerry instrument is a red spark that appears

on your screen when you get a mail or message. It prompts you to immediate action. That was the observation that led us to the big idea. We realised that all the big emotions of life had a symbol but action, which is the very meaning of life, did not have a symbol. This led to the launch idea ‘Action now has a symbol’.”

A GREAT ACTION

Advertising professionals feel that while the thought ‘Action starts here’ is very strong, the

communication fails to live up to the message.Prathap Suthan, managing partner, Bang in

the Middle, remarks, “First off, this is one of those classic global campaigns that get dumped

into the country, without addressing the Indian sensibilities, vernacular and idiom. Big misjudge-ment of the market! I also understand that they need the brand to be pitched higher than the rest, but keeping in mind flagging sales, waning pride, and drastically diminishing brand innovativeness, it ought to have been far more aggressive. The thought of multiple actions is good, but did they need them to be so U-rated?”

According to Suthan, the thought ‘Action starts here’ is very good, but it can’t be limited to sissy actions. “Action is a strong platform. Considering that revolutions have been brought about by texts and BlackBerry (BB) Messenger, the thought has been bullied and sullied into timidity. I think this thought of ‘action’ has phenomenal promise, and I hope they use it to their advantage. For a brand that has been literally trashed by the world, this could have been the comeback of the century. But the ‘action’ has fizzled,” he notes.

“Since other smartphones are fast speeding ahead

of BlackBerry, this seems like the last big push from

the brand, albeit a little late. Although ‘Action starts

here’ seems like a good brief but the creative execu-

tion seems disconnected. I mean, ‘going green’ and

‘eating a cake’ seems far away from the product,”

says Meraj Hasan, vice-president, strategic planning,

Everest Brand Solutions. [email protected]

BLACKBERRY

Getting into Action! In Blackberry phones, the call for action is denoted by a red splat. The mobile phone brand uses the same in its recent campaign. By Anushree Bhattacharyya

Baruah and Josy: Blackberry implies action

priya bhabhiinpatna!

has found a new addiction.

Grehlakshmi is the no.1 women’s monthly in Bihar (as per IRS 2011).

We are very much familiar with the ‘India Growing’, ‘India Shining’ story. In fact, ‘shifting focus to the APAC and more

specifically, to India’, is a part of every global agency head’s speech. But, how many have really looked at India from the perspective of making it their global agency epicentre?

Dominic Proctor, president, GroupM Worldwide has clearly shown his sincerity and commitment towards this region. The former CEO of GroupM India and South Asia, Vikram Sakhuja has been named the global CEO of Maxus. With this move, Maxus will now have its headquarters in India, becoming the first global agency to be headquartered in India. Will other global agencies following Maxus’ footprints?

TOP BILLING?

Many argue that an agency can only have headquarters in a region that gives it a lot

of business. Nakul Chopra, CEO, South Asia, Publicis, argues that not many agencies have even APAC headquarters in India, forget about having global headquarters here. “Even on an optimis-tic note, including China, APAC contributes 25 per cent of the business. Ideally, an organisation should have headquarters where its centre of grav-ity for business is.”

Citing the very topical Olympic example, he states, “Just because India won six medals at this Olympics, does not mean it is going to be the No. 1 at the next. Similarly, I do not see global agencies moving their headquarters to India, immediately.”

Meenakshi Madhvani, managing partner, Spatial Access Solutions, is in part disagreement with Chopra. She says that for many global agen-cies such as WPP, a major chunk of their business comes from APAC. “It completely depends on how much your client is spending in the region and how much billing an agency has. If, for an agency such as WPP, around 35 per cent of the business comes from APAC, India and China being the biggest contributors, then we clearly see this becoming a trend.”

In April 2012, Omnicom-owned Goodby Silverstein & Partners, earlier Chevy’s lead agency in the US, and Interpublic’s McCann Erickson, the brand’s lead agency in India, China and Latin America, formed a 50:50 joint venture (JV)

called Commonwealth. The JV services the global $2 billion account of Chevy, worldwide, where Mumbai was made one of the global hubs for Commonwealth, Detroit, Milan and Sao Paulo.

According to Prasoon Joshi, executive chair-man and CEO, McCann Worldgroup India and president, South Asia, India has the added

Emerging Epicentre?GLOBAL ADVERTISING

With Maxus setting up its global headquarters in Mumbai, do we see many other global agencies follow its footsteps or is this a one-off story? afaqs! Reporter explores. By Shibani Gharat

“Even on an optimistic note, APAC contrib-utes only 25 per cent of the busi-

ness.”NAKUL CHOPRA

>>

“It depends on how much the

client is spending in the region and how much billing

an agency has.”MEENAKSHI MADHVANI

FOTO

CORP

“India has the added advantage of language with business happen-ing primarily in

English.”PRASOON JOSHI

FOTO

CORP

“This is a reverse trend, where an

agency is moving where the talent is and it is a good

beginning.”SHASHI SINHA

FOTO

CORP

“India is growing despite the slow-down. For many global networks,

India is still a focus area.”ROHIT OHRI

SUSH

IL K

UMAR

“Ideas need to be global; stronger

skill sets and stra-tegic planning will

make India the growth driver.”SUBHASH KAMATH

FOTO

CORP

Grehlakshmi is at par with the leader in Punjab.

aunty pummy

can’t stop gushing.patiala!inlaadli inlucknow!

has turned a fan, too.

Grehlakshmi ahead of competitor in Uttar Pradesh by 30% (as per IRS 2011).

Taking a cue from the famous phrase ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder’, the new cam-paign from Greenlam laminates revolves

around the central idea of making the surround-ings beautiful. For the campaign, the brand uses a sutradhar, a ‘Saundarya Premi’ projected as a lover of beauty, who teaches the definition of beauty and how to beautify things around one.

Conceptualised by McCann Erickson, the television commercial (TVC) runs through the various concepts of the Saundarya Premi who makes things look beautiful and is responsible for making the world a beautiful place. As he is shown transforming many ugly buildings and even the nests of birds, the TVC is backed by a song, ‘Saundarya premi.. zamaane ko sajaavan chala.. Sabko beautiful banavan chala.’

But looking into the future, his disciple gets worried that the home interiors will be raw and ugly. It is then that the Saundarya Premi cre-ates connect with the brand and says that in the future, Greenlam laminates will make the world a beautiful place. The TVC ends with the message, ‘Greenlam laminates, zamaane ko sajaane chala’.

Alex Joseph, vice-president, marketing and communications, Greenply Industries, says, “All our campaigns have always focused on the brand’s proposition of creating a beautiful world.

Laminates bring aesthetic beauty to the interiors, whether it is an office or a home. With this cam-paign, we try to show a make-believe situa-tion where the world becomes a beautiful place thanks to the Saundarya Premi and his love for beauty, and

how, going forward, Greenlam laminates will take up the task set up by the Saundarya Premi.”

Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and CEO, McCann Worldgroup India and president, South Asia, says, “The campaign revolves around the core theme of how Greenlam laminates makes everything beautiful. The idea draws its inspira-tion from our very own mythology, where Lord Brahma is known as the creator of the world; here, we have this man as the creator of beautiful sur-roundings. Beauty is his motto and that is what he wants out of his life.”

Interestingly, for the jingle in the backdrop, Joshi created a new language only to add a dash of humour. “After the last commercial about how an old man was spellbound by the beauty of Greenlam laminates and changed his religion to Christianity so that he could be buried in a coffin made of laminates, I felt like having a bit of fun. Everything from the character to the ambience, and the language and manner of his speech was created to bring wittiness,” adds Joshi.

The campaign is currently on air across various television channels. In addition to the TVC, the company will roll out an out of home campaign across 23 cities and will also launch a digital cam-paign.

advantage of language with busi-ness happening primarily in English. About Commonwealth he says, “Mumbai has a lot of international outlook.”

WHERE THE TALENT IS

Earlier, Dominic Proctor, presi-dent, GroupM Worldwide had

himself referred to India as the hub of great talents. So will talent lead to the shift in focus to India? Highly placed sources in the industry have men-

tioned how it was not the business or billing but Sakhuja’s resistance to move out of Mumbai that made Maxus shift its headquarters to India.

“It is a sweet spot between business

and talent,” says Rohit Ohri, executive

chairman, Dentsu India Group. “India

is growing, despite the slowdown. For

many global networks, India is still

a focus area. Very clearly, the India

perspective needs to be looked at. And

only the talent here can give that per-

spective,” he adds. He feels that it was

a great move to bring Sakhuja at the

helm of the agency. “It has become a

trend to see senior Indian leadership as

a part of the global committee.”

We have seen in the

past, that many Indians

are going abroad to

head agencies. Also, at

the same time, we have

expats coming to India,

to give a strong leader-

ship to the existing talent,

the most recent example is of

Matt Seddon coming to head Saatchi &

Saatchi after Kamal Basu’s exit.

“We are witnessing a reverse trend,

where an agency is moving where the

talent is and it is a good beginning,”

says Shashi Sinha, CEO, Lodestar.Joshi feels that India has an advan-

tage being a global headquarters, by

virtue of the kind of crea-tive and strategic talent that is present in the region. But at the end of the day, he says, it is a combination of business,

talent, exposure and out-look that matters.

Subhash Kamath, managing partner, BBH India sees the Maxus move as an exception, but sees it as a hope that could take shape as a trend in the future. “Ideas need to be glob-al; stronger skill sets and strategic planning will make India the growth driver,” he concludes.

[email protected]

Emerging...

‘Beautiful’ StrategyGREENLAM

For the campaign, the brand relies on a sutradhar projected as the Saundarya Premi aka the ‘Beauty lover’, who teaches the definition of beauty and how to beautify things. By Anushree Bhattacharyya

<<

>>

1 6 afaqs! Reporter, September 1-15, 2 0 1 2

“We try to show a make-believe

situation to make the world a beau-

tiful place due to the Saundarya

Premi.” ALEX JOSEPH

he

r-

ent,

l i f

vittroc

tallook

S bh

“The idea draws its inspiration

from our mythol-ogy, where Lord

Brahma is known as the creator of

the world.” PRASOON JOSHI

FOTO

CORP

India - a land popular for its cultural dyna-mism, never fails to surprise one at every walk of life. Right from its festivals to food

and the attire worn by its people – everything has a story behind it. Philips India, one of the major players in the lighting category, draws inspiration from this cultural insight in its new campaign, where it shows the special role of light in the life of an Indian.

Interestingly, it took the company a good

seven to eight months of research to arrive at the insight. Representatives interviewed various people ranging from a married couple and an old man to children and even youngsters living in urban as well as rural areas. To measure the role of light, people were made to sit in complete darkness first, and then when the lights were switched on, asked what light meant for them.

The company also conducted a usage and attitude research in 2011 to get a first hand impression of how the Indian consumer uses light and his or her thought on light/brightness.

The television commercial, titled ‘Zindagi Ki Raunak’, shows how light plays a vital role in every Indian’s life and Philips, being the manu-facturer of various lighting products, acts like a carrier which takes light to the doorstep of every

Indian. The TVC captures this multifaceted role played by light through interesting situa-tions and vignettes. It ends with the message, ‘Philips – Zindagi Ki Raunak’. The commercial is backed by a humorous and tongue-in-the-cheek narrative. Moreover, it also promotes Philips’ promise of providing 20 per cent more brightness.

Vivek Sharma, chief marketing officer, Philips India, says, “After running a successful cam-paign on saving light for the last two-three years,

we wanted to return with an idea that would talk about the functional aspect of the products and at the same time, create a strong emotional bond with our consumers. We thought nothing could be better than talking light/brightness as in India we worship the god of light – Sun, we celebrate the festival of light, ‘Diwali’, and also people have names after light. With the communica-tion, we wished to highlight the deeper meaning of brightness.”

According to Sumit Joshi, senior director, marketing, Philips Lighting India, the company banked on the platform of energy efficiency. “And, from a consumer’s perceptive, energy efficiency is directly linked to compact fluores-cent lamp (CFL) bulbs. Therefore, we wanted to move beyond energy efficiency and talk to the consumer as a leader in the category which currently has 35 per cent market share,” notes Joshi.

Ajay Gahlaut, group creative director, Ogilvy, explains, “Philips is the market leader in the lighting category and therefore it was important to convey that message with lighting being at the heart of the communication strategy. We did not have to look too far as light plays a very important role in the Indian culture. In India, people name their children after light and we

Making Light of the BrandPHILIPS

The new campaign draws inspiration from Indian culture, where light/brightness plays a very significant role, so much so that people are named after light. By Anushree Bhattacharyya

It took the company seven to eight months of research

to arrive at the insight.

“With the com-munication, we wished to highlight the

deeper meaning of brightness.”

VIVEK SHARMA


A BIT OF EVERYTHING

Industry experts are left divided in their opinion. While one lot

calls the TVC a masterpiece, another side feels it is a letdown in terms of concept.

Soumitra Karnik, national crea-tive director, Dentsu India, remarks, “The very first thought that came after watching this ad was a big ‘why?’ I am a big fan of disruptive execution and all the bravado that comes along with it but I found the idea of the script itself quite random

and meaningless. Having said that, the ‘zamaane ko sajaana hai’ idea has a nice feel. I do not find the ‘what’s-his-name-again man’ either credible or interesting. Why is the mood so ‘dukhi’ in the film? Why is he so pasty-faced? Coming from a hugely

talented team which gave the world that exquisite Happydent commer-cial, it is a bit disappointing.”

Providing a planner’s perspective, Naresh Gupta, managing partner, Bang in the Middle, says that it is a fantastic commercial. “There

are so many things going for the commercial at multiple levels. The crafting and the look are ‘beauti-ful’. The beauty man and its takeoff on Kishore Kumar look outstanding. The whole promise of beauty and integration of the brand’s message in the TVC is really nice,” he adds.

According to him, the TVC could have fallen flat on many levels - role of product, overtly showing the range of finish and shades, and many more. “I am glad that the brand was brave enough to rise above the for-mula. Creative should be a weapon in the marketing arsenal of a brand, and this one is,” remarks Gupta.

[email protected]

‘Beautiful’... <<

>>

“We did not have to look too far as light plays a very important role in

the Indian culture.”

AJAY GAHLAUT

SUSH

IL K

UMAR

Here is further proof of the growing impor-tance of social networking among internet users. According to a study released by

digital analytics provider comScore for the month of June, in India, one in four online minutes was spent on social networking sites. Among the top sites visited by users remained Google’s, followed by Facebook and Yahoo! sites.

The findings of the study do not include visits from public access computers (such as internet cafes), mobile phones or Public Digital Assistants.

SOCIAL ROUND THE CLOCK

The study revealed that social networking reigned as the top online activity in India,

accounting for 25.2 per cent of all time spent online in June. This is an increase of 0.8 percent-age points from the previous year, thereby showing the ever-increasing influence of social media on people’s digital media consumption.

Entertainment sites follow social networking, accounting for 10 per cent of minutes (an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous year). Portals accounted for 8.8 per cent of total minutes.

Interestingly, time spent on e-mail dropped by 0.5 percentage points over the previous year, accounting for 8.6 per cent of total online minutes.

GOOGLE SUPREME

Google sites reached out to 57.8 million people aged 15 or older accessing the internet from a

home or work computer, making it the top online

destination in India in June. Following Google was Facebook with 50.9 million visitors (83.4 per cent reach) and Yahoo! sites (65.5 per cent reach).

The study revealed that average minutes per visitor on Google sites, Facebook and Yahoo! sites were 155.3, 224.9 and 63.3, respectively. Facebook ranks the highest in the top 10 online destinations.

Among local brands, Network18 led as the most engaging property, with visitors averaging 31.6 minutes during the month. Other sites include Wikimedia Foundation sites and Rediff.com.

[email protected]

India is More SocialCOMSCORE

According to the study, Google sites, Facebook and Yahoo! sites are among the top online destinations in the country. News Bureau


also celebrate ‘Diwali’, the festival of light. The television campaign highlights the fact that light plays a special role in everybody’s life. In one word, the commercial is about what light does to people.”

The television commercial (TVC) is cur-rently on air across various channels. The company will also launch retail and online activations to further promote its lighting

products.A BRIGHT IDEA

According to Sambit Mohanty, execu-tive creative director, Bates, while

the television commercial successfully holds attention thanks to the cheeky copy, somewhere it loses the main theme and looks confused. “Instead of being infomercial-ish, this Philips Lighting TV has its funny, tongue-in-cheek moments. That said, I feel the ‘20 per cent brighter’ aspect could have led to edgier ideas but at the end of the day, the idea is overshadowed by a larger gener-alisation which is about the role of light in our lives,” remarks Mohanty.

Divyapratap Mehta, vice-president, planning, Grey, says, “This is a good exam-ple of an advertisement doing too many things in one television commercial. I am not sure if the brief is 20 per cent more brightness or to just celebrate light in peo-ple’s life. I would have at least chosen one of the two as a creative magnifier.”

He further adds, “Then the question, whether a brand should celebrate a generic like light or build some sort of differentia-tor? While it can be argued that celebrating the category is a leader’s stance, I still feel consumers today are looking for reassur-ances beyond just bringing alive the generic role of lighting in their lives. Also, they may find the situations endearing but this may not aid brand recall.”

Mehta opines that brightness is a powerful promise which has not been well exploited in the ad. “It almost looks like an afterthought in the film and may not even get registered by consumers,” he adds.

[email protected]

Making... <<

The company will also launch retail and

online activations.

June - 2011 June - 2012 Point ChangeSocial Networking 24.4% 25.2% 0.8

Entertainment 8.8% 10.0% 1.2

Portals 11.4% 8.8% -2.6

e-mail 8.6% 8.1% -0.5

Search/Navigation 3.4% 3.2% -0.2

Business/Finance 2.9% 3.0% 0.1

News/Information 2.3% 2.2% -0.1

Retail 1.5% 2.0% 0.5

Instant Messengers 3.8% 2.0% -1 8

Games 1.6% 1.8% 0.2

Directories/Resources 1.6% 1.7% 0.1

LOOKING BACKTop Online Categories by Share of Total Minutes

SOUR

CE: C

OMSC

ORE

MED

IA M

ETRI

X

Note: June 2012 vs. June 2011, Total Internet: India, Viewers Age 15+ Location Home/Work*

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Reach in % Average Minutes per Visitor

Total Internet : Total Audience 61,004 100.0% 772.5

Google Sites 57,826 94.8% 155.3

Facebook.com 50,890 83.4% 224.9

Yahoo! Sites 39,977 65.5% 63.3

Microsoft Sites 29,363 48.1% 19.8

Wikimedia Foundation Sites 21,031 34.50% 11.1

Times Internet Limited 20,535 33.7% 16.9

Network 18 17,891 29.3% 31.6

Ask Network 15,829 25.9% 3.5

Redi .com India 15,346 25.2% 28.3

NIC.in 13,308 21.8% 23.6

THE POPULARITY STAKESTop Online Destinations

SOUR

CE: C

OMSC

ORE

MED

IA M

ETRI

X

Note: June 2012 vs. June 2011, Total Internet: India, Viewers Age 15+ Location Home/Work*

It is hard work getting Swapan Seth to talk about himself. After much coaxing, he opens up just a bit to think back on the defining moments of his life.My first defining moment was in 1987, when

I accidentally stumbled into advertising. I was quite happy being a salesman aspiring to be a banker until someone pointed at an ad, which was released in a college magazine. It called for people to apply for the position of copywriter.

I applied on a whim and got that job and then I had a massive accident, which kind of coincided with the date that I was supposed to join. I was worried sick that I would lose my job. But kudos to my then boss Ashish Mitra (who used to run HTA in Calcutta) who deferred my date of joining and kind of helped me in kick starting my career in advertising.

The second defining moment was rather a pleasant surprise that also led to the start of my international career (1989). I was dancing with a lady at a conference in Philippines, who hap-pened to be the creative director of JWT, Hong Kong. So while dancing with her I casually

asked her to call me to Hong Kong. Never did I realise that a statement passed so casually would be taken seriously until couple of months later a telex arrived which basically asked me to be transferred to Hong Kong from JWT India.

For me it was a fantastic opportunity as, here I was an young aspiring copywriter at the age of 22, who has spent only one year in advertising and now was being transferred to this glitzy and glamorous office in Hong Kong. My ten-ure at JWT Hong Kong was splendid; I won several awards including a Cannes, Clio and Montreoux and got the opportunity to work under some of the brilliant minds in advertising

The third next defining moment in my career was in 1994 when at the age of 23, I decided to return to India and join Clarion (now Bates) as creative director. This was definitely a life changing moment as the job came with tremendous responsibility. I was running the regional scene by looking after both Bengaluru and Chennai offices. Clarion was great fun firstly because the leadership of Mitra was completely exhilarating and inspiring and secondly, the agency was going through a reawakening phase – which made it a very inter-esting moment to be a part of it.

And the last defining moment was when Suhel (my brother) and I started Equus Red Cell in 1995. I gave up a career going great guns at Trikaya Grey (now Grey). I have always con-sidered myself as an employee of Equus – rather than its owner. The whole experience of it put-ting it together and taking the agency forward has been tough, challenging, and exhausting but at the end of the day, ‘big, small or ugly’ it is something that you have done of your own. I think it is interesting to build a company and to be able to build a sizeable reputation of sort. I think god has been kind to me to give me that opportunity.

As told to Anushree Bhattacharyya


Man of Few Words SUSH

IL K

UMAR

I have always considered myself as an employee

of Equus, rather than its owner.

SWAPAN SETH CEO, EQUUS RED CELL

Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), will now travel across 12 cities on a promotional van, giving

the common man an opportunity to experience KBC ‘Hot Seat’. The on-ground activation, ‘Hot Seat Aapke Shehar’, aims to connect with the audience more closely.

The KBC van designed for the purpose is similar to the original set of KBC, with two computer screens and two chairs where the host, Amitabh Bachchan and the select-

ed participant sit during the show. In each city, the van activity will be on for two to three days, culminating in a small event wherein the selected participants from the city will get an experience of sitting on the ‘Hot Seat’ and answering the questions asked by Amitabh Bachchan played on a recorded video.

Danish Khan, senior VP and mar-keting head, Sony Entertainment Television (SET), says, “‘Hot Seat Aapke Shehar’ is a promotional ini-

tiative designed to drive the brand experience of KBC. It will touch mil-lions of our viewers and give them an opportunity to engage with the show

and experience the magic first hand.”The 12 cities includes

Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Rohtak, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Howrah, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Nagpur and Bhopal.

The activity van started its journey in the last week of August and will end in the middle of October 2012.

[email protected]

Sony Entertainment Television is sending KBC vans to several cities with a Hot Seat inside it. News Bureau

KBC

Knowledge Tour

The promotional van will travel

across 12 cities.

Rajani and Bachchan: unveiling the van

TOYOTATo promote Toyota’s ‘Waku Doki’ campaign, a 10 x 10 feet LED back lit wall was displayed at Bengaluru airport at the domestic arrival to welcome the passengers. The walk through the corridor makes this bright campaign impossible to miss.

Agency: JCDecauxExposure: Bengaluru

New campaigns across television, print, out-of-home and digital media.

Got some great campaign that has been published recently? Upload it on afaqs! for the world to see.Visit: www.afaqs.com/advertising/creative_showcase

LIMCALimca added a dash of freshness with its outdoor campaign to highlight the campaign theme – ‘Pyaas Badhao’, that communicates, first increase your thirst and then quench it with Limca. It features Kareena Kapoor with the message ‘Pyaas Badhao Limca Se Bujhao’. Agency: GloExposure: Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat

XRBIA Xrbia Developers after launching the brand through the teaser route promoting Xrbia as a country released its digital campaign with a contest that followed up its positioning. The company on a microsite invited participants to win the chance to be the President of the country that is Xrbia and a 1 BHK flat as well.

Agency: Studio High

OOH DIGITAL

KOHLER The TVC for the new collection of Kohler bathroom products shows a couple destroying their house and everything that’s in it, except for the Kohler-fitted bathroom.Creative Agency: Leo BurnettCreative Team: Sainath Saraban (executive creative director), Kaushik Datta, Nikhil Pandey (creative directors), Manmeet Singh (copywriter), Pallav Medhi (art director)Production House: Cutting Edge PicturesDirector: Jon Gwyther

ALPENLIEBE JUZT JELLY Perfetti Van Melle India has launched Alpenliebe Juzt Jelly. The new product will reinforce Alpenliebe’s irresistibility proposition, and will be endorsed by Kajol. Creative Agency: McCann Erickson, New DelhiCreative team: Prasoon Joshi, Tirtha Ghosh, Nakul SharmaProduction house: QED Films Director: Abhijit Chaudhuri (Dadu)

TALWALKARS INDORE The ad promotes the fat discounts offered by Talwarkars to make you fit.

Creative Agency: Anil Publicity Bureau, IndoreConcept: Raj TandonDesign: Amjad Khan

MARUTIIt is a crisis management corporate ad that Maruti Suzuki has come out with, in the wake of the situation at their Manesar plant.

Creative Agency: Publicis Capital, IndiaCreative Team: Publicis Capital, Delhi

HERO MAESTROWith the Hero Maestro, the two-wheeler company is trying to position its new range of scootys as a perfect vehicle for men, breaking away from a common notion that it is for women.

Creative Agency: DraftFCB Ulka , IndiaNCD: K S ChakravarthyCreative Team: DraftFCB Ulka, Mumbai

TELEVISION

GODREJ SECURITY SOLUTIONSThe new campaign for Godrej Security Solutions takes the earlier positioning ‘Musibat bataake nahin aati’ to the next level.

Creative Agency: JWT IndiaCreative Team: JWT MumbaiProduction House: FootcandlesDirector: Ayappa

PRINT


RELIANCE 3G TAB

So when you are not happy with the reach you

get with one social media giant, it is easy, you get two! Reliance C o m m u n i c a t i o n s , for its new Reliance 3G Tab V9A, brought together Facebook and Twitter for an online treasure hunt.

The five-day activ-ity spanned five cities – Mumbai, Kolkata, Indore, Delhi and Chandigarh. The online treasure hunt required users to unlock the loca-tion of a hidden tab through tweets.

Logging in at Reliance Mobile’s Facebook

page, users needed to click on the ‘Tweet-a-Tab’ application. Once the app opened, the user saw a live map of a particular city. With a different hash tag for every city (#Reliance3GTabInMumbai), users needed to tweet with the same. The city map zoomed in with every tweet. When the map zoomed in at 100 per cent, the location of the hidden tab was revealed. The

first person to reach the location won the tab.

The activity was done in Mumbai on August 13. It is Kolkata’s turn next. It will be conducted in Indore, Delhi and Chandigarh on August 15, August 16 and August 17, respectively.

According to Shivani Suri Dhanda, deputy general manager, brand and marketing, Reliance Communications, “mashups” (of Facebook and Twitter) are an inter-esting opportunity to look ahead at as one cashes on the speed of Twitter married with Facebook’s

massive reach.“Leading brands in

India, including us, have done some exciting work on Facebook and Twitter separately. But ‘mashups’ are the next big thing internationally on social media and that’s how the ‘Tweet-a-Tab’ idea germinated. It takes the immediacy of Twitter and explodes it with Facebook’s reach, using a very simple Google Maps zoom-in concept,” Dhanda said.

The activity was sup-ported by ATL media as well. Having partnered with Bindass and radio stations such as Big FM,

Radio One and Fever FM, Reliance amplified the campaign further. The company’s media partners promoted the hashtag for each city along with radio jockey mentions and promos.

The eventual winner of the activity will go live on air.

Dhanda stressed on the increas-ing significance of social media for brands and said that it is an inevi-table platform for brands to listen, converse and engage.

Not too long ago, in May, Reliance Communications had launched an extensive digital cam-paign supporting its mainline communication promoting the two-year collaboration with Google to exclusively market Android devices in India.

The social media agency for the brand was Social Wavelength.

[email protected]

Mixing FB and Twitter

Stories featured on this page highlight innovative marketing techniques using various

media vehicles like print, digital and out-of-home.

Dhanda: cashing on speedy reach

An online treasure hunt required users to log in through a Facebook app and locate a hidden Reliance 3G Tabs by their tweets. By Biprorshee Das

The initiative married Twitter’s

speed and Facebook’s reach

Indian mobile consumers are showing an inclination towards bigger screens. Eight of the 25 handsets featured this month have screens that are four inches or larger. News Bureau

For many in India, it seems that a smartphone is a device based on the Android operating system

(OS). This can be gauged by the fact that all the major handset majors - except Nokia, Apple and BlackBerry - and including the Indian brands - have at least one Android smartphone in their portfolio. This consumer sen-timent is also reflected in the Handset Hotlist Survey (August, 2012) of The Mobile Indian (www.themobilein-dian.com), as 18 out of the most searched for 25 handsets are based on the Android platform.

In this month’s survey, Nokia’s C5 03 relinquished its Numero Uno position to Samsung Galaxy SIII after occupying the slot for a record nine consecutive months. The sec-ond position was bagged by Sony

Xperia Go, which made its entry into the list soon after its launch. Also, this month’s Handset Hotlist saw 13 new entrants, of which nine were Android-based handsets.

In the Handset Hotlist for August 2012, 11 of the top 25 handsets are from Samsung, four from Sony Mobiles, three each from Nokia and LG Mobiles, two from HTC, and one each from Micromax and BlackBerry.

Commenting on the survey, a spokesperson of The Mobile Indian says, “In India, smartphones based on Android 2.3 operating system are still the most sought-after because most handset marketers have not rolled out Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).”

The spokesperson further adds, “The mobile internet experience seems to be among the top priorities for Indian mobile consumers and this explains why eight of the handsets featured this month have a screen size of four inches or bigger.”

The Handset Hotlist Survey (August, 2012) is based on a study of online preferences of about one million people who visited the web-site (themobileindian.com) in July, 2012.

[email protected]

Samsung LeadsTHE MOBILE INDIAN SURVEY

TOP 25 HOTLIST - MAY 2012Rank in July ’12

Last Report Change Brand and Model No. Price (`)

1 7 6 Samsung Galaxy SIII 37500

2 NA NEW Sony Xperia Go 18500

3 NA NEW Nokia 808 PureView 31000

4 NA NEW BlackBerry Porsche Design P9981 133990

5 NA NEW Nokia Asha 305 4700

6 5 -1 Samsung Galaxy Y Duos 8900

7 4 -3 Samsung Galaxy Y S5360 7000

8 1 -7 Nokia C5-03 8500

9 6 -3 Samsung Galaxy Pocket 6190

10 NA NEW Sony Xperia Neo L 14000

11 18 7 Samsung Star 3 Duos WiFi 5390

12 8 -4 Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus 15500

13 12 -1 Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos 11900

14 NA NEW LG T375 Cookie Smart 4600

15 17 2 Samsung Wave Y S5380 6300

16 NA NEW Micromax Superfone A56 5900

17 NA NEW LG Optimus 4X HD 35000

18 NA NEW HTC Desire C 13650

19 15 -9 Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 10000

20 NA NEW LG Optimus L5 13000

21 NA NEW Samsung Galaxy S Advance 19500

22 11 -10 HTC One V 17000

23 NA NEW Sony Xperia U 12750

24 NA NEW Sony Xperia S 28000

25 25 0 Samsung Champ Deluxe Duos C3312 3890

The times of Hum Paanch and

Dekh Bhai Dekh have long

gone for the top Hindi general

entertainment channels (GECs), since

the only comedy that is visible on this

flock is of the stand-up variety, which

is more of a reality show than comedy.

The top GECs have lately shied away from the comedy dramas or sitcoms. Is it due to SAB TV, or are they trying to focus on other genres?

FEAR OF LOSING THE GRIP

The marketers observe that the GECs have got quite a grip over

the female audiences. It is universally believed that comedy and sitcom are genres that cater more to male audi-ences. A senior media expert opines that female audiences are generally attracted to melodrama and trauma, being offered through the soaps.

Also, bringing a sitcom in the prime time slot means experimenta-tion with a new audience-set (implies male), which may create a negative effect on the otherwise loyal audi-ence of the channel (read: female). He adds that though the comparative costs of sitcoms are less than those of

soaps and reality shows, the channels keep away from them in the fear of losing a share of their loyal audience.

A NICHE PRODUCT

It cannot be ignored that these chan-

nels enjoyed a loyal set of viewers for

their earlier sitcoms such as Hum Paanch

(Zee TV), Dekh Bhai Dekh (Sony) and

Khichdi (Star Plus). However, it can

be said that the channels have recently

started focusing on the other genres

more than the comedy dramas.

Marketers believe that the avail-ability of a niche product in the genre, Multi Screen Media-owned SAB TV, is also a turn-off for other channels. Shripad Kulkarni, CEO, Allied Media, says, “Though the channel shifted its ownership and even jumped from being a GEC (launched in 2000) to a comedy channel (2003) to a youth centric channel (MSM bought over in 2005) to again a comedy channel (2008), it has created a niche for itself.”

He adds, “While SAB has estab-lished itself well, it might be possible that these kinds of shows are not working much for the other GECs.”

IS IT GECS VERSUS SAB TV?

A general entertainment chan-nel caters to a wider range of

Thanks to SAB TV, the top Hindi GECs have been staying away from Sitcoms. Is this the sole reason? By Raushni Bhagia

SITCOMS

Shying Away


>>


Does ‘Sensitive’ Advertising Hurt A

Brand’s Recall Value?A recent TVC for 18 Again carefully skirted the actual message of the brand till the end. Does such

advertising compromise the product message? By Biprorshee Das

THIS IS A RHETORICAL QUESTION! IT SHOULDN’T. IN THE CASE OF BRANDS SUCH AS 18 AGAIN, I DON’T THINK THE MESSAGE WAS DILUTED OR LOST at all. From the word go, the visuals and

the Indianised-version of the Madonna

song works together to grab the attention

and the curiosity of the viewer and leads

to the product section that explains the

product story quite efficiently.

I was only shocked by the fact that

there is a demand for such products and

they are now available over the counter

(OTC).

The option is to be upfront and

showcase the product benefit. If you

remember, that commercial for a genital

skin whitening cream did exactly that.

Both were touchy subjects and one

just did the job more tastefully than the

other. But, having said that, I am still in

a state of shock.

IN CASE OF BRANDS AND PRODUCTS THAT TREAD ON CULTURALLY SENSITIVE ISSUES LIKE FAMILY PLANNING, INTIMATE HYGIENE OR SEXUAL health, brands normally tend to skirt

around the issue especially if the catego-

ry is nascent.

For example, condom advertising was

very euphemistic to begin with and only

much later did it get bolder and more

explicit.

I guess this is because consumers

are not ready for it yet and it causes

awkwardness and embarrassment and

it is difficult to sell a product with

those attributes. Having said that, this

of course causes the brand to be less

upfront and apparent to the consumer.

However, these brands often generate

disproportionate conversation due to

their innate unconventional nature.

For example the 18 again product has

probably very little TV air presence but

it has generated much more conversa-

tion. This more than compensates for a

brands weak linkage in the commercial.

A TABOO CATEGORY OR A SENSITIVE AUDIENCE CANNOT BE EXCUSES AT ALL. YOU HAVE TO FIND WAYS TO GO AROUND IT.

The primary objective of advertising must remain the communication of the product mes-sage. Also, the awareness for some products is very low, especially in the lower strata of society. While I understand and completely buy the point that certain communication could hurt the sensitivities of the people, particularly in a country like ours, one must still have to think of ways to communicate the message convincingly.

Categories have done it too. For instance, in the ’80s and ’90s, the sanitary napkin cat-egory was a big taboo. And yet advertisers and agencies have successfully advertised products over the years.

Alcohol has been subject to many restric-tions in this country. But that hasn’t stopped manufacturers from creating brands out of their products. In more recent times, con-traceptive pills have been advertised on mainstream media without the audience having to squirm when they view the commercial.

It is incredibly difficult, no doubt, when one is faced with building such ‘taboo’ categories. Too many minefields have to be encountered. But therein also lies the exhilaration of the challenge.

Director, MarketGate Consulting Executive Creative Director, Cheil WorldwideVice-president, Planning, Lowe Worldwide

INDEPENDENT AGENCIES

When I was at Leo Burnett, my problem was to make the creative product look good and to come up with cutting-edge ideas. The day

we started Taproot, internet, electricity, water, a city-wide ‘bandh’, people not coming to office - became my problems. Now, if somebody is saying ‘Give me 2 per cent of your stake and let me take care of all that’, I’ll be happy to comply.” This came from Santosh Padhi, chief creative officer and co-founder, Taproot India, when we met him 10 days ago. That was just a hint at selling out, and the confirmed news of Dentsu buying 51 per cent stake in Taproot has just floated in.

Both parties seem to be happy. “Aggie (Agnello Dias) and Paddy (Santosh Padhi) are globally

recognised and celebrated creative talents. This alliance will give a significant fillip to our growth plans for India,” says Rohit Ohri, executive chairman, Dentsu India Group.

Post the acquisition, Paddy says, “Though we will still be involved in the daily management, we will now get more time to do justice to the creative product. Besides, Dentsu’s digital expertise, financial prowess and client relationships will be an

added advantage.”There has been a slew of takeovers in the past

with the big ones like Trikaya-Grey, Clarion-Bates, Lintas-IPG, Ambience-Publicis and

Zen-Publicis. More recently, the Omnicom-Mudra, Dentsu-Aegis and Publicis-BBH deals were nothing short of star marriages. And now comes the Dentsu-Taproot deal.

A good independent agency is worth its weight in gold. Three-and-a-half-year-old Taproot India, for instance, has been under

the scanner in the fertile acquisition market more than once, for over a year now. Going solo is not a problem. What an independent agency has to answer is this: how long can it stay solo successfully? Why is it that, unlike other businesses (like the media publishing market), in the advertising or media industry, being independent for very long becomes a limitation and, therefore, selling out to a larger entity becomes the best - and often the only - alternative?

CONSOLIDATION CULTURE

Timmy Kandhari, independent media analyst and former executive director,

financial advisory services, PWC, says, “Often, for big networks, the only type of growth is to acquire smaller independents. They don’t know how else to grow after

a point. Individual agencies also stand to gain by being part of these networks.” To understand the situation clearly, one needs to look at it from the buyer’s and seller’s perspectives.

The buyer’s perspective is driven by external economic conditions that make the marketplace an ideal hunting ground. For starters, globally, there appears to be the need for agency networks to consolidate offerings and offer more uniform solutions to clients across markets. Acquiring agencies is an effective way to do this.

Nakul Chopra, CEO, Publicis Communications, South Asia, says, “Consolidation is happening at a global level. Going forward, we will see more acquisitions and successful independent agencies will find it worth their while to consolidate with larger networks.”

Even if some clients are more willing than others to step out of their long term agency relationships and be more open to independent agencies coming in and doing projects for them, the networks that protect these clients’ interests will, in turn, see how best they can acquire these smaller agencies.

SLICE OF THE ACTION

As growth rates in European and American markets plateau and those in Asia and the

emerging markets soar, networks are hungrier for a slice of this rapidly growing ‘emerging market pie’. Acquiring successful agencies in the growing markets is the quickest way for these listed

How long can an independent ad agency remain independent? Is there a sell-by date beyond which it cannot afford to remain solo?

By Ashwini Gangal

U P H I L L T A S KIL

LUST

RATI

ON B

Y GO

GOL

“This alliance between Dentsu and Taproot will give a significant fillip to

our growth plans for India.”

ROHIT OHRI,DENTSU INDIA

SUSH

IL K

UMAR

“Though we will still be involved in the daily management,

we will now get more time to do justice to

the creative product.” SANTOSH PADHI

TAPROOT

PAVI

TR S

AITH

networks to up their value on the stock market and consequently enjoy incremental revenue.

Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director, Madison World, explains, “Whenever the global economy is down, mergers and acquisitions take place to get a leg-up especially in markets like India and China.” From the seller’s perspective, there appears to be a ‘tipping’ point, beyond which continuing as an independent becomes a limitation for an agency. Can this threshold, at which the inevitability of a sell-out is felt, be quantified? What is that exact juncture at which the ‘For Sale’ sign goes up?

BBH, for example, sold out to Publicis after 30 years when its global strength was around 1,000 people while Taproot sold out with 33 people after less than four years of being in the business. Arvind Sharma, chairman and CEO, Indian subcontinent, Leo Burnett, quantifies the threshold at a total staff strength of 100 people, while according to Ashok Kurien, founder of Ambience Advertising, one can’t stay independent “unless you find four or five partners, two big clients and have 12 months staying power in the bank”. In the opinion of Prem Mehta, former chairman and managing director, Lintas Group, a creative agency may find it beneficial to tie up with larger organisations once its revenue crosses Rs. `crore.

Mehta explains the `50-crore remark. He says, “That kind of billing implies that it will have 10-12 big clients. That’s when it needs to start looking for more which means managerial, creative, strategy skills and also new services in order to survive.” The critical determinants that could contribute to the decision to sell can be categorised into business and personal needs.

MEDIA VS CREATIVE

From a business perspective, most agree with the rubber band metaphor when it comes to

agencies – functioning as an independent is like

stretching a rubber band; overstretch it and it snaps… unless of course it is replaced with more elastic. This is the bandwidth that a larger network can offer. For most independent agencies this proverbial elastic typically means getting ‘scale’.

Scale gives an agency access to big-ticket clients that are beyond reach. Independents are pitted against the big daddies that have a global client share of over 85 per cent. Once an agency has exhausted the clients within its reach, the only way to infiltrate the region that contains the big, globally aligned MNC clients is to belong to a larger system. In fact, ‘scale’ can be interpreted in another way when it comes to comparing creative and media agencies: The general sense is that scale is the reason it is becoming more difficult for media planning/buying agencies to remain independent as opposed to creative agencies. This is mainly because creative agencies are more about ideas and processes - things that don’t require scale to sustain – and media agencies are more about tools and technology – things that thrive on scale.

“A creative agency could stay independent for life but a small media agency may find it difficult to stay independent beyond a point,” says Nikhil Rangnekar, CEO, media and analytics, Spatial Access. Secondly, for an independent agency’s growth needs, such as expanding into newer

geographies or diversifying by launching new arms like design, digital or activation outfits, infrastructure and funding are a must. Belonging to a network brings in that support.

Thirdly, access to global knowledge, expertise, research and managerial tools and technology are other necessities for growth are more easily obtained by becoming part of a global giant. Mahesh Chauhan, co-founder, Salt Brand Solutions, sums it up, “Most businesses can be ‘IPO-ed’. But agencies can’t. So how does an agency go public, raise money for growth and expand? If you are not ‘IPO-able’ on your own, the only way to ahead

forward is to sell out to a global buyer.”Nagesh Alai, executive director, India

Operations, Draftfcb Ulka Group, says, “The tipping point is when one’s entrepreneurial drive reaches a level of incompetence and one cannot take the pressures of ownership business any longer.” In this case, the term ‘level of incompetence’ is not a negative phrase. It means ‘peaking’ or getting to the maximum performance point. This could mean that the founder has exhausted his business connections, the growth rate has reached a plateau or has begun to dip or the agency has lost a big account and needs to cash-out simply in order to stay afloat.

VALUATION GAME

Mehta explains how the main business reasons for selling out have changed over the years.

“The imperatives for the ‘transfer of balance equity’ (he prefers this term to ‘selling out’) to IPG from Lintas (2007) were very different from the reasons for smaller outfits wanting to sell-out today,” he says. Back then, it was more a question of integration of services driven by the needs of networks that didn’t have presence in India and needed to service their global clients who were finding their feet in the Indian market. Today, the sense is that a lot of the sellouts are happening because of valuation and monetary goals. “Financial considerations override everything else” he says.

However, there are some who view a sell-out as the most natural, prudent, self-preserving entrepreneurial move for an agency and not as something driven by mere monetary temptation. Srinivasan Swamy, managing director and CEO, RK Swamy BBDO, calls it ‘Entrepreneurial Premium’. “If somebody can make money and get a premium from their enterprise, why not? A sell out is nothing but an entrepreneur extracting value for his entrepreneurship and getting rewarded for what he has created,” he argues.

IT’S PERSONAL

The agency business is a person-driven business and there are factors that have more to do

with the individual needs of the founders.A founder may decide to cash out when his

personal goals have been met. This depends on the vision and pre-determined objectives that he entered the market with in the first place. In fact, the peak point is often linked to the age, motivation and ambition levels of the promoter. A founder’s motivation may wane with age, he may not want to carry on with the responsibility of running a business or may simply burn out.

Selling out to a large network, especially in the absence of a succession plan of one’s own, is

3 3afaqs! Reporter, September 1-15, 2 0 1 2

Indi

aG

loba

l

Acquiring network

Acquired agency

Date of acquisition

% stake acquired

Valuation Age of the independent at

acquisition

Dentsu Aegis Media July 2012 100 £3.16 billion ($4.9 billion)

44 years

Publicis Groupe BBH July 2012 51 (in addition to the existing 49)

Between £140 and £144 million

30 years

Omnicom TBWA 1993 (stock deal) 100 $100 million 22 years

Omnicom Group Mudra October 2011 41 (in addition to existing 10)

Estimated at Rs 1,700 crore

32 years

IPG Lintas May 2007 49 earlier and now rest

- 38 years

Publicis Groupe Capital Advertising September 2007 Majority stake - 15 years

>>

“Today, financial considerations over-ride everything else when it comes to agency mergers or

acquisitions.” PREM MEHTA,

EX-LINTAS

FOTO

CORP

“Whenever the global economy is down, M&As get a leg-up especially in mar-kets like India and

China.” SAM BALSARA,

MADISON WORLD

FOTO

CORP

“Successful independent agencies will find it worth their

while to consolidate with larger networks.”

NAKUL CHOPRA,PUBLICIS,

SOUTH ASIA

FOTO

CORP

Zee Network acquired the rights for Miss World 2012 with live and exclusivity clause in the country for the fifth year in a row.

The network simulcast the event live on August 18 on three channels - Zee Cafe, Zee Studio and Zee Trendz.

According to market sources, the network has garnered an estimated revenue of ` one crore from this single-day event which was telecast live. The presenting sponsor, diamond brand Orra, came on-board for about `35 lakh, while the powered by sponsor, Cadbury Bournville, must have spent about `20 lakh.

Aquaguard, the co-presenting partner, reportedly spent an estimated `10 lakh on

the association.Apart from this, the channel apparently charged

about `3000-4000 for a 10-seconder.Unlike the general entertainment channels,

when advertisers sponsor shows on a specials interest channel like this, they also get a certain amount of FCT (free commercial time) beyond

the particular show. Say, X advertiser has sponsored a show, Y, on a

niche channel. Then, the advertiser enjoys certain amount of FCT even after show Y is over. This is mainly because the viewership is lowers compared to the Hindi GECs (which have predominantly high TVRs).

Meanwhile, the network had simulcast the previous season on Zee Cafe, Zee Studio and Zee Trendz, along with a Hindi telecast on Zing. This season (2012) saw a higher number of contestants (117), breaking the previous record of 115 contest-ants in the 2010 edition.

The special titles in the current season were Beach Beauty, Sports, Beauty with a Purpose, Multimedia Award, World Fashion Designer Award, Top Model and Top Talent.

TGIF, as a restaurant partner, helped in various branding activities. Also, TGIF screened all the live events.

The Miss World Organization has owned and managed the annual Miss World Finals since its launch in 1951. The organisation claims that it has raised more than £250 mil-lion for children’s charities in the 61 seasons of the show. Miss World is franchised in more than 100 countries.

[email protected]

ZEE NETWORK

Beauty Booty

The network has garnered an estimated revenue of `1 crore from this single-day

live telecast.

The presenting sponsor for Miss World 2012, Orra, came on board for about ̀ 35 lakh, while the Cadbury Bournville spent approximately ̀ 20 lakh to ‘power’ the event . By Raushni Bhagia

The Hindi general entertainment space isn’t a homogenous world at all. The classifica-tion is stereotyped - not according to the

sub-genre of content but according to the gross rating points (GRPs) garnered each week.

The first category belongs to the ‘elite’ - Star Plus, Sony, Zee TV and Colors - which garner more than 200 GRPs every week. In the second category are channels such as SAB TV, Life OK, Imagine, Real and 9X, which average around 100 GRPs every week, while the third group, which houses channels such as Sahara One and STAR Utsav, average at less than 40 points, each.

While the third group is completely out of the race, the 100-GRP category - also called the second rung GECs - have kept the fire burning. They try to retain the buzz with interesting programmes or with the big names that head the given channels.

Interestingly, the prognosis of this category has been quite mixed. On the one hand, there are the channels backed by big names with heavy invest-ments on programming, which could have made it to the big league but failed. 9X, Real and Imagine are interesting examples. Then there are channels which got a fresh breath of life after attempts at revamping and repositioning. Take channels such as SAB and Life OK (earlier STAR One) which have their own set of loyal viewers and have been fairly successful. So what makes or breaks a chan-nel in this sub-category of second rung GECs?

THE 100-GRP-MARK

In the media planners circuit, it is said that if a GEC crosses the 200-GRP mark, advertis-

ers are ready to pay a premium. Meanwhile, to even be considered by advertisers, a GEC has to stick around the 100-GRP mark. A channel like

Imagine could reach the 100-GRP mark only for a few weeks, riding on the high decibel show Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. But it couldn’t sustain viewership or build on the buzz once the non-fiction property went off air. Apart from perception, the 100-GRP mark is important for economic viability.

With almost the same programming costs, there is a huge gap in the ad rates commanded by the respective channels. For instance, the top rung GECs claim a rate of `80,000-1,20,000 (per 10 seconds) during prime time, depending on the popularity of the show. But, for a second rung GEC, even the best scoring show will not fetch more than `75,000-80,000 for a 10-second spot.

For channels which score below 100, the asking rate will be half or even less than what the second

rung GECs could ask for. The deciding factor here, are the non-prime time rates. Consider this: For Star Plus, Zee TV, Colors and Sony, the non-primetime rates range between `18,000 and10,000, while for channels such as SAB TV and Life Ok, it is anywhere in the range of `13,000-8,000. Since the deals are mostly signed on the basis of reach versus Cost Per rating Point (CPRP) ratio, higher the reach, higher is the CPRP. Result? A top Hindi GEC stands to demand a high CPRP.

“When it comes to second line Hindi GECs, Hindi movie channels emerge fierce competitors. And since it’s all a GRP game, the channels have to reach a threshold that is in the range of 100-150 GRPs (the range that a top Hindi movie chan-nel captures) so as to command a good CPRP to sustain their revenue model,” says Navin Khemka, managing partner at ZenithOptimedia. Experts note that channels that are able to sustain them-selves in the range of 70-120 GRPs command a CPRP of `10,000 (estimate) for a 10-second slot.

SIBLING REVELRY

The two successful second-rung GECs, SAB TV and Life Ok, are part of the two large

broadcasting networks which have top rung GECs in their respective bouquets. SAB belongs to MSM (Multi Screen Media) and Life Ok is STAR India’s second GEC. Irrespective of their ranks or the slots they fall into, the cost of programming and distri-bution remains the same. Normally, a channel has to spend `8-12 lakh for 30 minutes of fiction pro-gramming. This implies that it has to spend `2.5-3.5 crore a week just to complete its prime time programming of four hours. In addition, there are slots such as afternoon and weekend.

Being part of the network is an advantage because the channel can bank on the programming library of the parent, which include movies as well

HINDI GECS

Poor Cousins?In the last few years, the industry has been witness to the failure of a few GECs - 9X, Imagine and Real. A report on the economic viability of channels on the trailing end of the GEC list. By Anindita Sarkar


>>

Being part of a network is an advantage because of the parent’s large library bank.

one way of ensuring your business is sheltered after you. Subhash Kamath, managing partner, BBH India, says, “The founder’s blood, tears, sweat and toil go into building a business. And as he walks away into the sunset he will want to leave his baby in good hands where it’ll grow.” He adds that an owner could also decide to sell because he feels the agency brand is bigger than the actual worth of the business and that with the backing of a large network it can finally reach its full potential in tangible terms. It could also be the general restless nature of today’s entrepreneurs that makes them cash out. Spatial Access’ Rangnekar reasons, “Many agencies are set up by brilliant people who have vision and ambition. After a few years they get bored and want to keep doing new things.”

Not everyone wants to be taken over. “At Saints & Warriors,” says Pushpinder Singh, founder, “we are acutely aware of this phenomenon. Hence, there is an urgency to scale up and de-risk the company with multiple revenue streams.”

MOVING FORWARD

Soon, there could emerge a new type of agency network model – ‘the network of independents’

- in which a large number of small independent agencies could come together and compete with the biggies. “It is ‘the mid-sized independent agency’ that will be an extinct species soon. Small agencies will come together, decide to pool in their resources so that they can compete with the big networks while simultaneously reaping the benefits of staying independent,” says Anirban Chaudhuri of Strategic Planning & Conversation Enablers Group, a Delhi-based consultancy.

Will the independent homegrown agency die out? “We’ll see people setting up their own agencies, but it’ll be in the hope that they’ll get acquired at the right time,” predicts Ohri of Dentsu. One has to wait and watch.

[email protected]

<<

Uphill Task...

“In our company, there is an urgency to scale up and de-risk the company with multiple revenue

streams.” PUSHPINDER SINGH,SAINTS & WARRIORS

FOTO

CORP

“A sell-out is nothing but an entrepreneur extracting value for

his entrepreneurship and getting rewarded

for it” SRINIVASAN SWAMY,RK SWAMY BBDO

FOTO

CORP

Pammy aunty in Patiala, Raani in Ranchi, Laadli in Lucknow,

Priya Bhabi in Patna and lacs of other young, social, stylish

and affluent women are reading Grehlakshmi.

With great content and a refreshing attitude, we’ve got women talking across India. From successful professionals to social butterflies everyone is here! To share your brand story with them, talk to us today!

.

The figures talk for themselves!

Key States Grehlakshmi Grehshobha Meri Saheli

Uttar Pradesh

Bihar

Madhya Pradesh

Jharkhand

Uttaranchal

Punjab

% Reach

423957543838

% Reach

332632263268

% Reach

3646

36

47

49

42

d

audience as compared to the niche channels. With the unmentioned elimination of one of the genres (that is, sitcom), the channels are all fuelled up to focus better on the other genres of programming.

Anita Nayyar, CEO, India and South Asia, Havas Media, says, “There are many newer innovations happening with the ‘daily soaps’ genre itself. Social problems are get-ting involved. There is a shift from one female protagonist to couple-centric stories. The channels are actually focusing on other genres.”

She opines that there is no gap felt due to this one less genre when one analyses a programming mix of a channel. “One-off comedy won’t make much of a difference, I believe.

It’s simply a new definition of the offering,” she adds.

Kulkarni of Allied Media states, “The GECs are left to newer formats and newer programming, rather.”

Also, the marketers say that there is a certain consistency in the story line when it comes to daily soaps or the reality shows, for that matter. “With this consistency in the series, it ensures a consistent viewership to the channel. Whereas the sitcoms are more episodic, wherein the appoint-ment viewing is lesser,” adds Nayyar. Hence, she believes that the assured ratings are at risk with the GECs.

IT MUST CLICK

Both broadcasters and marketers believe that the writing and cast-

ing is very important in the sitcoms if the show must resonate well with the audience. A broadcaster, on con-dition of anonymity, says, “There are a couple of shows that have a tinge of comedy. But a full-fledged sitcom is not to be seen on the top four GECs. The major problem is that it is dif-ficult to make a good comedy - it must click.”

With the examples of Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuyein (Zee TV) and Parvarishh (Sony), he mentions that humour can be inculcated in the running script.

[email protected]

<<

Shying Away...


From small town to big grind, Dheeraj Sinha has trav-elled the distance. Now, the head of planning, Grey India, South and South East Asia has started on

another journey.A planner’s greatest trait is to understand a variety

of things. And Sinha has had his experience early on. Sinha’s family moved to Bareilly when he was very young. Life thereafter was a series of small-town-big town-bigger town movements. He has lived in Patna, Bihar Sharif and Hazaribagh, Pilani and Delhi. “It helped me see and understand a lot of India,” explains Sinha. That understanding now extends to people.

Graduating in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, Sinha landed a job in KPMG. Soon, he discovered that he was good at debates and that he had a knack for communication and understanding people. “That made up my mind and I decided to go to MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications) to study,” says the planner.

After passing out of MICA in 1999, he was picked up by McCann and employed in Psl Erickson. Sinha put his power point skills to good use in his pitches and the agency won many businesses. But Sinha felt that he wasn’t getting anywhere because he was neither doing planning nor account management.

“Everyone said that unless you spent 5-7 years in the industry, you can’t get into strategic planning.” He was all set to quit, when McCann’s business started turn-ing around. Sohrab Mistry and Santosh Desai offered him a planner’s job. “I got to work with a lot of senior planners and on brands such as Reckitt Benckiser, Mastercard, Goodyear and LG.” Sinha stayed there for seven years before moving out to join Euro RSCG in Delhi to head its planning for Delhi, in 2005. A few days later, he was back in Mumbai.

“It was a difficult time. At that point, my wife was expecting and she quit her job. Hence from double income, we went to single income.” His stint at Euro

RSCG Bombay lasted eight months. Sinha joined Bates as associate vice president - plan-

ning. “At Bates, there were small businesses worth a few lakhs, and with McCann I was used to big busi-nesses. I wondered what I would do?” That was when he decided that he had to find the way himself.

“At my welcome lunch at Bates, I was briefed on a Marico pitch – for a new soap that they were launch-ing. We won that business and came on the Marico roster. “From there on, we started mapping the corpo-rate culture for the company. One of our campaigns, ‘Uncommon sense’, went on to win a Gold Effie in India, was an APAC Effie finalist and became a case study at IIM Ahmedabad.”

Sinha was also the chief architect of Bates’ new positioning – the ‘changengage peo-ple’. He helped the agency win several new business pitches and create some spectacular award winning work on Virgin Mobile, Fiat and Tata AIG.

“Our point-of-view had to be so sharp, so sparkling, that the client could not deny business to us, because being a small agency, our starting point was zero.” Citing the Virgin story, he recalls, “The client said that they had shortlisted two agencies and that one of them was lunatic.” Sinha feels that there was a tremendous sense of

energy and camaraderie at Bates. Sinha is also a published author. His first book,

Consumer India: Inside The Indian Mind And Wallet came out last year. How did that happen? “I used to write papers to document stuff. His first paper - Changing Mindset of a Billion Minds - won the coveted Atticus award from WPP. That was the start-ing point.”

Sinha feels that Grey “has a great role to play, both regionally and globally. It is in a very high-energy sort of phase. My short-term plan is to start to understand the people and their work. The long-term plan is thought leadership. We have to create content that is glowing,” declares Sinha.

[email protected]

By Shibani Gharat

The chief architect of Bates’ new positioning.

The Traveller

DHEERAJ SINHA I PLANNING HEAD I GREY INDIA SOUTH & SOUTH EAST ASIA

The NDTV-Nielsen tussle has brought to the forefront a long standing issue which, although old, remains equally relevant for

all stakeholders. TAM has been knocked about by its users just too often. However, careful obser-vations clearly suggest that the advertisers have always been the more silent stakeholders. So, why is it that the advertisers are less disappointed with TAM compared to the moaning broadcasters?

CREDIBILITY MATTERS...

TAM is not a local outfit but a joint ven-ture between AC Nielsen and Kantar Media

Research. Evidently, advertisers firmly believe that such global entities would never make deliberate attempts to manipulate data and thus mar their reputation - neither locally nor in global market.

Advertisers and marketers agree that the sample size taken up by TAM for the Indian TV view-ing population is much smaller in size than what should be; geographical representations are weak, wherein the skew is more toward the western regions and some markets from the South. In fact, many times, when targeting the premium SEC A audience, a media planner uses his gut feel along with data analysis since the representation usage of this segment in TAM is almost flawed.

“But that’s because the system was designed when media was less fragmented; today, while the industry has become more complicated, TAM, to a large extent, still stands in the bygone era,” says a top telecom marketer on condition of anonymity.

Consequently, advertisers almost unanimously agree that while TAM’s data research is blemished, data manipulation is something that a globally-led organisation would not do. Anyway, any research always comes with its own limitations, they aver.

THIRD-POINT VIEW...

If not more, the services offered by the third party TAM are equally shared by the broadcasters and

the advertisers. And in this case, the advertisers more often than not, accept the judgment pro-nounced by it, without too many questions asked.

Why? Because they believe that TAM has been appointed “to provide us with a fair judgment and therefore we accept it on face value. Meanwhile, since the judgment is passed on the broadcasters, this section feels unfairly judged and victimised,” is the industry consensus.

It’s as simple as this. Under-reporting, over-reporting or even an exact precision of a television

channel’s numbers does not hurt an advertiser as much. Say, if a brand decides to spend `100 on television, it will choose to spend on a channel which, as per TAM numbers, matches the brand’s objective and target audience. Meanwhile, for a brand like Micromax, it’s more about brand recall and saliency and so, engagement is a ‘must’.

Consequently, Micromax could choose to spend

that very `100 on other media vehicles such as

on-ground or digital rather than TV. So, for an

advertiser, the fight is more about choosing the right

channel and the right media platform. But for a

broadcaster, that `100 spent is its bread and butter.

Hence, the whining of the broadcaster is louder.

NO OPTION BUT TAM...

TAM’s monopolisation in the Indian market is by default and not by design. For years now,

the Indian television industry has been belting TAM for its opaque strategic procedures and whis-pering the need of another body that will take up an equal and open responsibility. And yet, none of those profound thoughts have taken shape in real-ity. Yes, the industry did find an alternative in a body

like aMap but nevertheless, the majority chose to go

by TAM since the sample size used by aMap was

even smaller. Result? aMap (Audience Measurement

& Analytics) had to shut shop in August, 2011.

Industry experts believe that despite being a part of the industry since 2005, aMap had not been able to make much of a dent in the research market and hence not many agencies subscribed to aMap. Since research requires huge investments, the company failed to monetise.

The industry also feels the urgent need for the active launch of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), a nationwide audience research joint body by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI).

BARC was formed in 2008 but was formally launched in March this year. However, the body is yet to start functioning. The IBF suggests that the ISA and AAAI are responsible for the slow progression of BARC and even as the blame game continues, it seems like it will still take a while before BARC finally finds shape as a solid and preferential body governing TAM.

Till then, TAM will be the only choice for a brand to give a certain direction to its overall media plan (which is also designed on gut feel) and therefore, continue to be the Holy Grail when it comes to TV audience measurement.

[email protected]

TAM

The Other Side of the CoinCareful inspection clearly suggests that the advertisers, have always been the more silent stakeholders in the matter of the impact of TV ratings. afaqs! Reporter finds out why. By Anindita Sarkar

Advertisers believe that the global entity would never

manipulate data deliberately.

OUTLOOK

Print magazines are increasingly taking to the digital medium more seriously, embracing technology to deliver interactive experiences

for readers. Among the latest is the weekly general interest news magazine, Outlook that ahead of Independence Day brought alive its cover page with an augmented reality engagement.

The activity, carried out in partnership with Bengaluru-based mobile marketing firm TELiBrahma, featured an interactive cover page of the latest Independence Day special issue of Outlook that required to be scanned with a mobile device. When users scanned the page with a smart-phone or tablet using TELiBrahma’s-patented intARact app, the cover page came alive. The users were directed to a poll based on the issue’s special story on ‘The Greatest Indian after Gandhi’.

Users were also directed to the Wikipedia page, where they could access additional information on their devices. A feedback page was made available too, to garner responses.

Commenting on the activity, Narasimha Suresh, chief executive officer and founder, TELiBrahma, said, “Outlook is the first magazine to augment its cover page, giving readers an excit-

ing and interesting way to know more than just what is available in the magazine. Outlook is no longer just a static magazine but is ‘intARactive’ through our world’s lightest and most powerful AR browser.”

intARact is TELiBrahma’s visual recognition platform that enables innovative engagements on mobile phones based on the mobile camera view. With the intARact app, any image, advertise-ment, editorial, brand logo, quick response (QR) code in newspapers, magazine, internet, televi-sion or outdoor that is interact-enabled helps a user access information and be delivered with relevant engagements.

Calling this a natural extension of the print medium, Suresh told afaqs! that through digital engagement, TELiBrahma is attempting to push the traditional media to the next level. He is of the opinion that the print medium has not yet lever-aged digital to its fullest potential on one hand and on the other, the digital strategies of print have not delivered the expected results when it comes

to revenue.“Print, while it continues to leverage its own

potential, must deliver superior experiences on digital for both consumers and advertisers. Digital is important for consumers because of its interac-tive nature. We are trying to bring those benefits to print,” Suresh said.

[email protected]

Celebrating Interactivity


“TELiBrahma is attempting to push the traditional media to

the next level .”NARASIMHA SURESH

Stories featured on this page highlight innovative usage of media using various vehicles like print, broadcast, digital and out-of-home.

The print medium has not yet leveraged digital to its

fullest potential.

Partnering with TELiBrahma, the magazine’s cover page delivered an interactive experience for the readers when scanned with a mobile device. News Bureau

Compared to last fortnight, the advertising fra-ternity has been buzzing with the movement

of people at various agencies. The big news is that

Vikram Sakhuja, former chief executive officer (CEO) of GroupM, India and South Asia, has been named as the global CEO of Maxus. Sakhuja replaces Kelly Clark, who will now move to head the GroupM’s operation in North America.

Meanwhile, the Delhi branch of R e d i f f u s i o n - Y & R appointed Bhaskar Ghosh as branch head. He filled the space left vacant by Abhik Santara, who had quit the agency in May. Ghosh will report to Amitava Sinha, COO, R e d i f f u s i o n - Y & R . Prior this, Ghosh was with Contract Advertising’s Delhi branch, where he was senior vice-president, account management.

TBWA roped in Subho Sengupta as executive vice president and head of its Delhi office. He will han-

dle operations for the Delhi office. Sengupta moved in from Law & Kenneth, where he was head for the agency’s Kolkata operation.

Elephant, the inde-pendent strategic design outfit, has pro-moted Ravi Kabara as president. Kabara, who has been with the outfit since 2008, will be responsible for expanding the reach of Elephant brand, ensuring that the quality of delivery, teams and operations remain excellent.

JWT roped in Nitin Pradhan as execu-tive creative director (ECD). Based in Delhi, Pradhan will handle the Airtel business and also work on special projects from time to time. Earlier, Pradhan was working as execu-tive creative director at McCann Erickson.

Draftfcb Ulka appointed Dennis Koshy as vice president (VP) for its Bengaluru branch. He will man-age the agency’s Bengaluru operations. Earlier, Koshy was vice president and cli-ent services director at JWT and managed a large chunk of JWT’s

business across its Bengaluru and Chennai offices.

Ajit Menon has put in his papers as executive director, organisation development, DDB Mudra Group. Menon will join the Dalmia Group as executive director.

A round up of some major people movements in the last fortnight>> MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS<<

MAINLINE

VIKRAM SAKHUJA

RAVI KABARA AJIT MENON

NITIN PRADHAN

DENNIS KOSHY

BHASKAR GHOSH

SUBHO SENGUPTA


Sony Pictures Television (SPT) appointed Sunil Punjabi to lead Indian operations for

AXN. The network has created a new role of business head for him. He will report to Ricky Ow, executive vice president (EVP)and general manager, networks, Asia, Sony Pictures Television.

Punjabi will be based in Mumbai and will lead the local team for all business func-tions. He will also be responsible for over-seeing the day-to-day management of the channels, with the development of business opportunities and chan-nel equity.

He will implement go-to-market strategy for

new channels and also oversee the development, acquisition and production of a content mix for SPT’s networks in India.

Punjabi moved in to SPT from Cinemax India where he had put in his papers in May as chief executive officer (CEO). He had joined Cinemax India in 2010.

Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) has appointed two new business heads at Big FM. Pankaj Vassal has been appointed as vice president (regional business head) West and East and will report to Rabe T. Iyer, business head, Big FM. He will be responsible for business growth and overall profit and loss for the business vertical. Whereas Neeti Virmani has been appoint-ed station head, Mumbai and will be responsible for meeting revenue targets.

Vassal, who has more than 15 years of expe-rience, has earlier worked with organisations such as Amway, Motorola, Asian Paints and Essel Packaging, while Virmani has 14 years

of experience across general management, marketing and sales at mass consumer focused organisations such as Aircel, Pepsi, Airtel, Aptech and STG.

Zee TV’s non-fiction head Ashish Golwalkar ended his 12-year stint with the channel. Golwalkar joined Zee in

April 2001 as executive sales - international busi-ness. Later, he was given the mandate to drive content syndication and international business at Zee and then moved on as brand manager, marketing for both fiction and non-fiction pro-gramming.

Prior to joining Zee, Golwalkar had two short stints at Broadcast Worldwide and City Cable Networks.

MEDIA

SUNIL PUNJABI

ASHISH GOLWALKAR

In a new development, Tanmay Mohanty has taken over as chief operation officer (COO)

of Resultrix’s India operations. Resultrix is part of Performics, a company owned and operated by the Publicis Groupe. As part of the new mandate, Mohanty will report to Gulrez Alam, global COO, Resultrix. Earlier, Mohanty was COO at Interactive Media and Communication Solutions (id8 Labs).

Kushal Sanghvi, managing director, Spiider Digital Hub (formerly Concept Digital), has quit the organization. He is now the chief execu-tive officer (CEO) at Span Digital, the specialised digital arm of Delhi-based Span Communications.

DIGITAL

KUSHAL SANGHVISU

SHIL

KUM

AR

as fiction and non-fiction. Besides, marketing and distribution costs, which might be at par or even more than programming costs, are shared.

This is where channels such as SAB or Life OK have an advantage over contenders such as Real and Imagine. An independent channel can struggle to complete 24 hours of programming - a failed attempt makes a huge dent financially.

Avinash Pillai, national buying director, Mediacom, says, “If the network is to acquire a high profile movie at a high cost, then the offer-ing can be telecast across all its chan-nels - flagship as well as second GEC. Monetisation becomes easier.”

That also helps lure an advertiser.

“Advertisers see more value in group

deals as against a standalone, owing to

higher reach and frequency efficien-

cies,” notes Pawan Jailkhani, chief rev-

enue officer, 9X Media. Independent channels are unable to package their offerings (with other channels) and have to compromise on rates and deliver disproportionately higher value.

Often, being part of the larger network stands for the group’s over-all ambition. As Sundeep Nagpal, director, Stratagem Media, says, “The decision by a large broadcaster

to launch a second channel has more to do with a network strategy and less to do with its costs and profitability.”

For instance, when a large net-work plans to launch a second Hindi GEC, the thought behind it is based on three major objectives: firstly, to capture as much viewer-ship share for the network and stop a competitor from grabbing a large

chunk of that share. The second objective is to block

bandwidth as well as strengthen the network’s position for negotiation with the MSOs and cable operators.

Thirdly, it helps attract smaller advertisers to a national platform or offer the smaller channel as a value addition. “But the same idea becomes a costly proposition for a standalone channel,” says Sejal Shah,

national buying head, Starcom.The biggest challenge for a stan-

dalone channel is also to decide when to turn truly pay (mostly they are registered as pay channels, yet choose not to mandate collections, in order to broadbase their reach). SAB TV and Life OK have not just survived but also succeeded in their own respective worlds and found

niches - the former as a family com-edy channel and the latter as one that establishes its core thought that life is not that bad. Experts also agree that both the channels run on lower pro-duction costs when compared to the larger players - and hence no large reality shows or star casts.

UTSAV FORMULA

Sahara One was launched as Sahara TV in 2000. Now, despite the

small numbers, Sahara One still exhibits a strong pull in the deeper pockets of MP and UP. “Sahara is cash rich and is here for the long haul. As for STAR Utsav, it is the only free-to-air channel from the STAR bouquet and reaches the rural market like DD,” says a top media planner.

New channels are seen as an opportunity by planners and adver-tisers alike. A challenger can either end up expanding the overall viewer-ship base or fragment it further.

[email protected]

Acclaimed photographer, Prabuddha Dasgupta passed away on August 12. He succumbed to

a heart attack while on a shoot. Dasgupta was 56.

Widely known for his black and white art, Dasgupta’s iconic career spanned over three decades, particularly in the fashion world.

His first book ‘Women’ (1996) was a controversial collection of portraits and nudes of urban Indian women. His other books include Ladakh (2000), Work (Bodhi Art) (2006), Longing (Bodhi Art) (2007) and his last one was published in 2009 called Edge of Faith.

Pursuing both commissioned and artistic work, Dasgupta’s work has been exhibited internationally and published in many magazines.

Remembered by the fashion industry, Indian advertising too misses the artist. Senior professionals who have worked with Dasgupta on various campaigns spoke to afaqs! Reporter in tribute.

Says Subhash Kamath, managing partner, BBH India, “Prabuddha (Dasgupta) was an awe-some lensman and I remember him fondly from my days on Arrow shirts. He used to shoot most of our campaigns then. What I remember most

about him is that he is probably the only pho-tographer I know who used to discuss the brand strategy and the idea first before getting down

to execution. It was genuinely a privilege working with someone as intelligent and talented as him.”

“Prabuddha was part of the agency team that created the signature look for DeBeers. It was an honour to work with a legend and a thorough professional,” says Dhunji S Wadia, president, Everest Brand Solutions.

Alok Nanda of Alok Nanda & Company says, “Prabuddha was close to me and Trikaya (now Grey). He was almost like our in-house photographer. We have worked on some of the most memorable campaigns together. Not many people know but every picture on the entire Mauritius Tourism campaign was shot by Prabuddha. I remember I was the writer on the campaign and Vikas Gaitonde was the art director. He used to just get everything so quickly

and unfailingly. I have some amazing memories with him and I am deeply saddened.”

“Prabuddha was a fine man first and a formi-dable photographer thereafter. He was touched by a very special talent and he left a permanent mark on the photographic canvas of this coun-try. Evidently, God wanted his portrait shot,” says Swapan Seth, chairman, Equus Red Cell.

[email protected]

The acclaimed artist succumbed to a heart attack on August 12; Dasgupta was particularly known for his black and white photography. News Bureau

OBITUARY

Prabuddha Dasgupta

1956-2012


He was known for his black and white art, across

his 30 year long career.

A challenger can end up expanding the viewership base or fragment it further

<<

Poor Cousins...

Patient: Doctor! I have severe tooth-ache.Doctor: Which one?P: Molars, incisors, canines. The whole thing!D: Ah! I can only treat you for your right molar. For the left you have to meet Dr. Blahblah, for the incisors you should meet Dr. Blublu.

Aren’t we living in the age of specialists? I won’t be surprised when the above conversation becomes a

reality. May be it already is! Ok! What does all this have to do in a Marketing/Adver t i s ing /Communica t ions magazine?

A seemingly innocuous tweet a few days ago by Mubin Khan (http://twitter.com/khan_mubin) triggered a small conversation (see box) and hence this post. Some senior industry professionals participated in it.

My two cents! Marketers are dogged by a few issues:

handling communications but to handle many other issues which are unique to each industry.

-cations’ has now fragmented.

still are integrated communica-tions consultants aren’t affordable.

What does this lead to?

many of the activities, while trying

pulling strings with many special-ists.

b. In the process, marketers try to keep the one-ness of the commu-nication pieces and find themselves at unease in handling the other pieces required for organisation growth.

-cific knowledge’ which probably is best for that particular vehicle (say SEM/SEO) and almost thrust it down the marketer’s throat, lead-ing to further fragmentation of

communication.It is true that we need to have spe-

cialists who know more and more of less and less. But the overall health, which is always at the doorstep of peril should not get compromised in the process of treating the right molar. We are heading there, pretty much!

Full Circle?

When computing started, there was a central processor and thin/

dumb clients. With the PC revolu-

to the computer. The central servers

retained/enhanced their intelligence, with limited use. Today is the age of cloud computing!

Although the intelligence has now been distributed to the servers, the clients and the entire network, but we still operate from a client - a single window. Maybe that’s something the advertising industry needs to learn from! It is great to have intelligence distributed and specialised across vari-ous media vehicles and marketing tools. But agencies (I’d rather use the term consultant-executors) must be willing to provide a single window to operate from. Even if there are specialist agencies as separate entities, the services can still be offered under a single banner.

Communications’ is achieved with-out taxing the marketer’s bandwidth. That’s precisely what the agencies of the 90s used to do. The marketers loved it! Few agencies have taken to

is few’. Going the full circle and pro-viding a single window for integrated marketing communications would certainly bring back the friendly neighbourhood marketer’s love.

What say?Thanks are in order to Mubin

Khan, Paritosh Joshi, Lynn De Souza and Ravi Kiran.

NANDA KISHORE SETHURAMAN

Well-known professionals write on issues that they feel passionately about

The Cyclic Movement

(The author is head, marketing, BOI AXA Investment Managers.)

In a bid to establish its huge presence in Mumbai and Pune, Tata Docomo had built the

world’s largest signage displaying the company logo on the hillside of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at the start of the Western Ghats near Khopoli village.

The structure has been built over an area of 30,000 square feet and measured 125X234 feet. The signage is easily visible at a dis-tance of 3.5 kilometres from all angles. It took 60 people working in shifts for 12 hours every day

over a period of 90 days to build this mammoth structure.

The structure is constructed with 120 tons of steel and it took

400 litres of paint to colour the entire Tata Docomo logo.

The innovation is execut-ed by OOH agency Milestone Brandcom.

Speaking about the initiative, Anupam Verma, chief operat-ing officer, Tata Docomo, rest of Maharashtra circle, says, “The sig-

nage was an attempt to create a global landmark on one of the most beautiful highways of India. However the signage is able to garner high visibility because of its massive structure and prominent location and hence sets us apart from others.”

[email protected]

The 125X234 feet structure is constructed with120 tons of steel and 400 litres of paint. It is built over an area of 30,000 square feet. News Bureau

TATA DOCOMO

Larger than Life


With the change in proposi-tion of MBlaze from ‘High Speed Internet’ to ‘Always

On’, MTS executed a laptop inno-vation as a part of its out of home (OOH) campaign to promote the proposition further. The OOH cam-paign was an extension to the existing

television commercial (TVC).Focussing on the key features of the product,

the hoarding was transformed into a 15X15 feet laptop fitted with LED screen and it showcased MTS ‘Always On’ TVC. A big MBlaze dongle with blinking effect was also attached to the lap-top, to give it a real feel of the internet experience. The keyboard was backlit to enhance the feel of the laptop.

The interesting part of the innovation was that both the screen and the keyboard were made on the flat plane of the hoarding. However, the lap-

top was made in such a way that it gave a 3D effect, as if the keyboard has been separately attached to the screen.

“The innovation is part of our national campaign ‘Always On’ featuring Shraddha Sharma and Anupam Mukerji for our latest ‘Unlimited Social Media’. Taking the core insight of the campaign, our brief to the agency was clearly aimed to highlight the power of

social media in today’s network and inter-connected world, where individuals are no longer bound by constraints of geography, where eve-ryone has the power to be what he or she chooses to be,” says Arvind Kumar, chief operating offic-er (COO), UP East and UP West Circles, MTS India.

The major challenge while execut-ing the innovation was the installation of the LED screen amid heavy rains, as well as its protection from water, along with the permissions from gov-ernment bodies to execute it.

The one month long outdoor campaign is an insight taken from the national campaign ‘Always On’ that talks about the real life stories of two ordinary individuals - Shraddha Sharma and Anupam Mukerji - who leveraged the power of social media to earn huge followers, fans, fame and success.

The innovation was installed at Mahanagar Crossing in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It is executed by Madhulika Advertising and Publicity Services (MAPS). Further the com-pany planned to execute more such innovations across the state.

[email protected]

Ablaze on the StreetsMTS MBLAZE

The hoarding was transformed into a 15X15 feet laptop and a big MBlaze dongle with a blinking effect was attached to the laptop to give a real feel of the internet experience. By Jhumur Nandi

Kumar: internet power

Verma: on the initiative

The house of Dharampal Satyapal (DS) Group has launched YoMil, a milk-based

powdered beverage ‘one minute shake’. The product, launched under brand Catch, carries the tagline, ‘Minute sirf ek, paani se bana shake’.

Continuing its tradition of high decibel below-the-line (BTL) activi-ties, the DS Group has again planned an innovative activation for YoMil, represented by the YoMil Cow. The

canter van activity comprises of a life-size animatronics cow that moos, blinks its eyes and moves its tail and neck. A promoter sitting in the van instantly grabs eyeballs as he takes out the four flavours of YoMil (Choco Milky, Milky Mango, Milky Rose and Milky Kesar Badam) from the cow instead of milk, and offers it to the onlookers for sampling.

Conceptualised and executed by the in-house team of the DS Group,

there are five such canter vans that will travel through 250 towns in Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets across the country for five months. The activ-ity will also involve school contact programmes. It is planned keeping in mind the target group (TG) that includes all age groups starting from

children to youth and adults.The school contact programmes

will use the YoMil Cow canter van along with other independent activi-ties.

The group will also target the

Five YoMil Cow canter vans will travel to 250 towns covering various schools and Tier 2 markets across the country for five months. News Bureau

DS GROUP

One Minute Shake


>>

Red FM launched a campaign in Delhi to promote its radio series, Crime Ki Keh Ke Lenge,

through the out-of-home (OOH) route, to get listeners connected and empathise with the protagonists. The series introduced listeners to real life heroes – ordinary people who had the courage to stand up against crime in the Capital.

The campaign creatives fea-tured images of the protagonists to let listeners know about the people whose brave acts are featured in the programme. The messages on the

creatives, such as ‘Ek maa, Shalini ne kidnappers ki keh ke li’, ‘11 saal ke Mehul ne choron ki keh ke li’, and many more, describe the brave deeds of the protagonists.

More than 100 different media touch points were used for the campaign, including billboards, bus shelters, foot over bridges, street furniture and metro station signages.

The outdoor media is intended to reinforce connect with the audience. Hence, the media plan effectively covers the inner and outer ring roads, arterial roads, connectors to NCR regions and signages in important metro stations.

Nisha Narayanan, senior vice-president, programming and projects, Red FM, says, “Crime is a new genre for radio, the relevance of which is even more in our capital city. The campaign thought for our prime time show comes from an inherent responsibility to highlight what we think should be brought to the notice of our listeners. These heroes are also

a part of our listening universe, and the deeds instil a sense of pride in their fellow citizens.”

The main objective of the campaign was to highlight the increasing rate of crime in Delhi, along with the stories of those who fought it, to encourage everyone to fight against crime. The series and the campaign was specific to Delhi, as the radio station localised the content as much as possible, wherein the issues related to the city were reflected in the on-air programming.

The OOH campaign continued for 15 days starting from the first week of August.

However the series highlighted 15 heroic sto-ries of men and women who had braved crime in NCR. Radio jockeys Peeyuush and Swati featured one such story of a commoner on their show every day on Red FM Delhi’s breakfast show, Morning No. 1.

[email protected]

Tales of Heroism RED FM

Over 100 different media touch points were used in the campaign that included billboards, bus shelters, foot over bridges and metro station signages highlighting the bravery of commoners. By Jhumur Nandi

Narayanan: series insight

corporates through 40 vending machines at various corporate houses and BPOs. It also plans to take the

activity to the airports, railways and inter-state bus terminals.

To spread the communication, other media such as print, radio, television and digital will be used, including the BTL activity connected to a radio activity spread across 35 towns. The television commercial will start from the first week of September.

Atanu Gangoly, category head, confectionery and powdered concen-

trate, DS Group, says, “DS Group has defined its growth with singular focus on product innovation in line with explicit customer requirements. With YoMil, we are launching a cat-egory and not a product which is a powdered beverage that gives you a

milky shake when mixed with water. We are expanding our product port-folio in the segment whilst focusing on convenience, taste, affordability and health, and offering an industry first, yet again. We are targeting all age groups starting from children to adults and with YoMil, we aspire to build a focused consumer connect while catering to evolving customer requirements.”

[email protected]

LUKE KENNY Head of Programming, 9XO

I often read more than one books simultaneously. Currently, I am

exploring two autobiographies, Keith Richards’ Life and Francois Truffaut’s The Films in my Life. Along with these two, I am also reading Stories, a collec-tion of short stories, put together by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. It’s a fun read and quite invigorating. Life is the story of the life of the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards; being a fan of the band and of music, as

a whole its a fascinating read. Francois Truffaut was a legendary filmmaker who contributed greatly to the cinematic landscape of the 20th century, yet even he was as inspired a filmmaker as his book says.

I favour most genres but I’m partial to the dark themes (horror, gothic, occult, classic literature, fantasy). Books about music and film are also part of my collection. It by Stephen King was the first book by King that I read and I have been a lifelong fan since then, I own almost everything there is about the man and his work. Next, Lust For Life by Irving Stone is a beautifully told story.

Also, my favourites include The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger, Chronicle by Bob Dylan. My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin, who, I feel, is the genius creator of the his-tory of cinema. Next on my reading list is Neuromancer by William Gibson.

As told to Raushni Bhagia

One minute... <<

Royal Message

Loop Mobile executed a large scale out-of-home (OOH) campaign across various media

formats to promote its Xtra++ Prepaid Plan that offers extra talk time and SMS to subscribers based on monthly usage. The plan also offers 2GB mobile inter-net data usage per month for the first three months.

To grab eyeballs and spread visibility, the brand had cre-ated a 20X10 feet hoarding that show-cased an image of a boy sitting on a throne. The 4X10 feet cut out of the throne juts out of the hoarding with a message that reads, ‘Now talk like a King, Extra talk time, extra SMS, Lifetime validity’.

It was carried by 300 different kind of units across 12 categories of OOH options including bus shelters, BEST (Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply and Transport) double decker bus branding, bus back panel and seat branding, station hoardings, mobile hoardings, railway station branding, skywalk

pillars and Meru cabs.The brand has also taken the on-

ground route to connect with the audience. It organised road shows at college festivals, and special promotions at Independence Day

retail promotions between August 13-15 across Future Stores. At the same time, it has capital-ised on high footfall locations such as sta-tions, malls, beaches and tourist spots on August 15, and collaborated with special promotions on Independence Day at Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivali.

Surya Mahadevan, chief operating offic-er (COO), Loop Mobile India, says, “With the mobile market being pri-marily dominated by prepaid, new pre-paid offers driving unique value propo-sition and loyalty is the need of the hour. The aim behind the campaign is to create a customer engage-ment opportunity

through OOH.”Executed by Poster Publicity, the

one month long outdoor campaign concluded in the last week of August. It was spread across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, targeting various segments of customers.

[email protected]

The campaign was targeted at all

consumer segments.

“The idea behind the campaign was to create a customer engagement opportunity

through OOH.” SURYA MAHADEVAN

The creative hoarding is supported by more than 300 outdoor units across 12 categories of OOH options. By Jhumur Nandi

LOOP MOBILE

Gangoly: ‘a category, not a product’


If there is one place you can keep going back to for a holiday, where would it be? I’m an explorer by nature, so I’ll have a long list. I’m fond of Europe. I like both Barcelona and Lisbon, because both places have a certain blend of madness.

Tell us three good things about travelling. Explore!, take a break and absorb more.

When you travel, what is a must carry for you? Sun protection.

When and where did your best holiday happen? My last holiday in Lisbon, Potugal. It was a blissful family time (along with my mom) for three weeks together.

As a traveller, what’s your tip for the others? Carry your iPhone, if you have one.

A colleague/co-worker from your industry with whom you would like to go on a holiday. None else but my husband, Farhan (Akhtar).

Have you ever been surprised by the taste of food, outside India? Where? Portugal offered lot of surprises. It has a variety of meat and I enjoy eating good meat.

What and where has been your best bazaar bargain so far? Street markets across the world.

What has been your worst travel moment? Why? It was a trip to Corfu, Greece with one of my girl friends. We went island hopping and I left all my money somewhere. I had to cut hair to make money.

What is the best souvenir you ever bought for anyone? Lord Ganesha.

ADHUNA AKHTARTV personality and celebrity hair stylist

If there is one place you can keep going back to for a holiday, where would it be? I’m an explorer by nature, so I’ll have a long list. I’m fond of Europe. I like both Barcelona and Lisbon, because both places have a certain blend of madness.

Tell us three good things about travelling.Explore!, take a break and absorb more.

When you travel, what is a must carry for you? Sun protection.

When and where did your best holiday happen? My last holiday in Lisbon, Potugal.It was a blissful family time (along with my mom) for three weekstogether.

As a traveller, what’s your tip for the others? Carry your iPhone, if you have one.

A colleague/co-worker from your industry with whom you would like to go on a holiday. None else but my husband, Farhan (Akhtar).

Have you ever been surprised by the taste of food, outside India? Where?Portugal offered lot of surprises. It has a variety of meat and I enjoy eating good meat.

What and where has been your best bazaar bargain so far? Street markets across the world.

What has been your worst travel moment? Why? It was a trip to Corfu, Greece with one of my girl friends. We wentisland hopping and I left all my money somewhere. I had to cut hair to make money.

What is the best souvenir you ever bought for anyone?Lord Ganesha.

ADHUNA AKHTARTV personality and celebrity hair stylist

Edgy Explorer

JOBSWITCH

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Ph: 09819984998 Email: [email protected]

[email protected]

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Post: Senior copywriterCompany: Thought BubblesProfile: Must be well versed with print ads, tvcs, radio and should be in love with ideas.Must have worked with an agency of repute.Exp: 3-5Location: MumbaiEmail: manoj.motiani@thoughtbubbles.in...........................................................Post: Business Development ManagerCompany: Webchutney Studio Pvt Ltd.Profile: Meet and or exceed revenue targets by prospecting and qualifying solid business opportunities that are in line with Webchutneys short and long term objectives. Exp: 5-10Location: New DelhiEmail: samar.abbas@webchutney.net...........................................................Post: Associate Creative Director (Copy)Company: Flags Communications Pvt. LtdProfile: Exceptional creative portfolio that shows off strong concepts, headlines and copywriting across print, radio, TV, interactive and more. Experience developing brand or program names is a bonus.Exp: 12 - 15 yearsLocation: Delhi / BangaloreEmail: nidhi@flagscommunications.com...........................................................Post: Sr Manager/DGM - Online MarketingCompany: People GroupProfile: Lead online marketing strategy and operations and deliver channel and online marketing performance goals set by the leadership team.Exp: 4-9Location: MumbaiEmail: amruta.s@peopleinteractive.in...........................................................Post: Marketing ManagerCompany: SB Advertising and Events Pvt. Ltd.Profile: Should be identifying the market potential & generating prospective proposals as well as sell space/time in LED Display Panels.Exp: 4-9Location: KolkataEmail: newappointment@sbae.co.in...........................................................Post: Manager - Business

DevelopmentCompany: C S Direkt Events & Exhibition Pvt LtdProfile: Will be responsible for cold calling, pitching in new business/clients, making powerpoint presentations and assisting the team in getting business.Exp: 4-7Location: MumbaiEmail: itti@csdirekt.com...........................................................Post: Log 5 Communications Pvt. Ltd.Company: VisualisersProfile: Ideas, Ideas. That’s all we want from you. Excellent software skills imperative (Illustrator, Photoshop) .Exp: Minimum 2 year Location: MumbaiEmail: jobs@log5communications.com...........................................................Post: Business Development ManagerCompany: Manipal-Ace Event Management Co.(P) LtdProfile: Graduate with good contacts with corporates in private & public sector preferred having experience in Event Industry.Exp: 3-5Location: Bengaluru/BangaloreEmail: kumble.np@manipalace.com...........................................................Post: Asst.Manager - New Business AcquisitionCompany: Edge Brand Architects India Pvt Ltd.Profile: Responsible for generating revenues for the company and meeting the brand/ marketing managers of various organizations regularly.Exp: 3-5Location: MumbaiEmail: jobs@group-edge.com...........................................................Post: Business Development ExecutiveCompany: Hitendra Advertising and Marketing Ltd.Profile: Incumbent should be having relevant experience.Exp: 2-7Location: PuneEmail: hamplindia@gmail.com...........................................................Post: Event ManagerCompany: De Eventopia Crafts Pvt. LtdProfile: Accountable for the production of events like

exhibitions, fairs, festivals, conferences, promotions and product launches.Exp: 2-4Location: DelhiEmail: career@themeintegrated.in...........................................................Post: Business Development ExecutiveCompany: WITS Interactive Pvt LtdProfile: Responsible for bringing in new business and co-ordinate with the Operations Team for smooth and successful execution.Exp: 2-4Location: MumbaiEmail: Shilpa.somani@witsindia.com...........................................................Post: Business Development ManagerCompany: Fanfare DesignProfile: Smart Candidate having pleasing personality should have an excellent English communication skill and be good in presentations.Exp: 2-4Location: MumbaiEmail: sangita@fanfaredesigns.com...........................................................Post: Business Development ManagerCompany: Business Sphere GroupProfile: Candidate should be preferably MBAs having experience in marketing/sales or space-selling in a reputed organisation.Exp: 2-3Location: Delhi/NCREmail: bussinesssphere@rediffmail.com...........................................................Post: Sr.Business ManagerCompany: Media Moments Insight Pvt. LtdProfile: Will be managing the Communication Objective of the Brand end to end by understanding the customer needs.Exp: 1-6Location: Bengaluru/BangaloreEmail: careers@mediamoments.in...........................................................Post: Business Development ManagerCompany: BigCity PromotionsProfile: As part of our business development team applicant would be required to represent BigCity brand and WIN new business.Exp: 1-4Location: Bengaluru/BangaloreEmail: [email protected]...........................................................


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