PROFILE€¦ · of the movie 3 Idiots. Arjun said, “During October-December 2009, 38 Hindi films...

PROFILEVenugopal Iyengar

RADIO ONEWooing the Listener 12

BAJAJShifting Focus 16

VICKSAction Time 18

PRIVILEGE MATRIMONYMatch Fixing 20

Sun Direct’s newmarketing head.

Seven food and beverages companies havesigned a pledge to market responsibly tochildren. What does it actually mean? 26

36

PIXBlockbuster GambleThe English-moviechannel changes its focus.

42

PERSONALITYCraig DavisThe nomadic chief creativeofficer of Publicis Mojo.

30

August 1-15, 2010 Rs 50Volume 1, Issue 15

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Volume 1, Issue 15This fortnight...It is no secret that marketers know about the increasing clout of children in the buying

process - both direct and indirect - in many countries across the world. In the good olddays before the internet and satellite, the accepted wisdom was that the advertising approachin different cultures and nations should be different.

With the opening up of the world, this theory came in for a rethink. What also came up forrevision was the way in which advertisements were supposed to be presented.This fortnight’s cover story is a result of a change heralded by seven food andbeverages brands with a vow last month.

The India Pledge, as it is called, declares that these (more are scheduled tojoin in) companies will change the way they advertise to children. Among allthe products advertised to children, food and beverages seem to generate the mostnumber of debates, including this one. And everybody has an axe to grind. So,how these companies go about their job will be watched very keenly indeed.Also, what will happen to creative and media plans? How will this affect thechannels dedicated to kids? And how much of this advertising will move toother slots or channels?

India has had its rules for food marketing in place for some time now.Although there are no specific guidelines for advertising - though many areexpecting amendments to the existing Food Safety and Standards Act - tochildren, the ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) watches over theproceedings with an eagle eye.

Other countries have advertising rules in place. It is the next best thing to completelybanning ads for children. Sweden tried a total ban in 2000 but the move failed. But it hasbanned all TV advertising aimed at children under 12. Greece has banned advertisements forchildren’s toys between 7 am and 10 pm. Denmark doesn’t allow sponsorship of any children’sprogrammes. So, whether it is by choice or a forthcoming Act, are Indian marketers going toforgo the pester power advantages that children present?

PROFILEVenugopal Iyengar

RADIO ONEWooing the Listener 12

BAJAJShifting Focus 16

VICKSAction Time 18

PRIVILEGE MATRIMONYMatch Fixing 20

Sun Direct’s newmarketing head.

Seven food and beverages companies havesigned a pledge to market responsibly tochildren. What does it actually mean? 26

36

PIXBlockbuster GambleThe English-moviechannel changes its focus.

42

PERSONALITYCraig DavisThe nomadic chief creativeofficer of Publicis Mojo.

30

August 1-15, 2010 Rs 50Volume 1, Issue 15

EDITORIAL

EDITOR Sreekant Khandekar

PUBLISHER Prasanna Singh

LAYOUTVinay Dominic

LOGISTICSRajesh Kanwal

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIESHansika Koli, (0120) 4077834 4077837 NoidaVarun Mohan, (022) 40429702-5 Mumbai

Neeraj Ranjan, 09886846842 Bangalore

[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

BangaloreS-1, New Bridge Corporate Centre,

777 D, 100 ft Road, Indira Nagar, Bangalore - 560038, India

Subscription EnquiriesGarima Agnihotri, (0120) 4077837

[email protected]

Printed, published, and owned by Prasanna Singh, Publisher,

at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex,

Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi-110 063.

Printed at Paras Offset Pvt. Ltd., C-176, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I,

New Delhi 110 028.

Cover Illustration Tiffin Box

40

INTERVIEWMarcel FenezThe PWC global medialeader’s observations on India.

POINTS OF VIEWSocial Brand SitesAre standalone ‘brand’ socialmedia sites still relevant?

34

28AEGON RELIGAREFoolproof SolutionsDon’t get caught napping isthe message in this TVC.

22

MTSAt Your ServiceA bus that willshowcase thebrand’s products.

PLUSMARUTIReinforcing Indianness 16

EDELWEISSLulling Suspicions 20

INTEX MOBILEEasy Conversations 22

BRAINCHILD BUSINESS SOLUTIONSOnline Executions 32

HAYWARDSCelebrating Courage 32

CAMPAIGN TRAILTV, Print, OOH, Digital 39

ARYAN TVPositioning it Right 42

12

VODAFONEFrom Pug to ParrotGiving what the budget-conscious consumer wants.

M Venkatesh

CONTENTS

The first edition of BrandDerby, a conference organ-ised by BS Conferences - a

part of Business Standard - atGurgaon’s Leela Kempinski Hotelhelped marketers and business pro-fessionals understand how variousbrands achieve success.

The key speakers at the confer-ence included Raj Jain, president,Walmart India and chief executiveofficer and managing director,Bharti Walmart, Shailesh Rao, MD,Google India, Anil Arjun, CEO,Reliance MediaWorks, AnkushArora, former V-P, sale, after-salesand marketing, General Motors andGurinder Singh Sandhu, head, mar-keting, Tata Teleservices.

Getting straight to the point, Jainshared some perspectives on brandbuilding. According to him, themushrooming of modern retail isone of the major developments inIndia and it is something that willprogress by leaps and bounds overthe next two years.The second per-spective was on how interests of theconsumers and the environmentmust go hand in hand and how thiscan be ensured by keeping CSRactivities as one of the key compo-nents of brand building.

Arjun of Reliance MediaWorksspoke about the marketing strategyof the movie 3 Idiots.

Arjun said, “During October-December 2009, 38 Hindi films

were released, out of which 26

were big budget films. The commu-nication had to be very different.”

As part of an alternate realitygame, actor Aamir Khan said(through a video message) that hewould travel through India, leavingclues about his whereabouts and theparticipants of the game would gettwo weeks to track him down. Mostof the destinations for the journeywere Tier II and III cities - placesthat are rarely covered by marketersfor movie promotions.

The idea for Khan’s nationwidejourney came from the story of thefilm, where his friends go in searchof him. Obviously, this journey wascaptured by many news and enter-tainment channels.

Sandhu of Tata Teleservices pre-sented a case study on the launchand the journey of Tata Docomo.

The brand did not try to provokewith an attractive tariff plan - a regu-lar bait in the category. Rather, in abid to do away with the complexityof tariff plans, Tata Docomolaunched ‘pay per second’ and ‘payper character’ - two unprecedentedofferings not provided by any opera-tor in the country then.

Arora of General Motors was thelast presenter and spoke on how,despite GM’s bankruptcy, with theright marketing, the Chevrolet Cruzfound its place in the Indian carmarket.

afaqs! was the online partner forBrand Derby 2010.

‘‘Very few JVs are long-termmarriages. There are few JVsthat last a decade globally...there is learning in terms ofbusiness processes, humanresource management andfinancial control.’’

ADI GODREJ, CHAIRMAN, GODREJ GROUP, ON HIS EXPERIENCE WITH JOINT VENTURES, IN BUSINESS TODAY.

BRAND DERBY 2010

QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT

Papa John’s> In an effort to fur-ther enhance it’s presence, theUS-based delivery pizza restaurantchain Papa John’s is planning to open 10 more outlets thisyear. The company is expecting an average sale of Rs 60,000from each of these outlets. An investment of Rs 200 crorewill be made in next four years to develop Papa John’s busi-ness in India. These restaurants will be opened in high streetand malls across cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune,Gujarat, Hyderabad and NCR.

Akai> Japanese consumer appliance and electronicsmaker Akai is coming back to the Indian market after lyinglow for a couple of years. As part of a licensing and distribu-tion agreement, Global Brands Enterprises will beresponsible for re-introducing the brand in the sub-continent.The company plans to hit the Indian market with applianceswhich includes LED and LCD television, washing machines,microwave ovens and home theatre systems.

DLF> As part of a strategy to exit itsnon-core businesses, realty major DLFhas announced plans to dilute the majori-ty stake in wholly-owned retail management subsidiary DLFBrands. DLF will issue the equity shares to a promoter groupcompany or any other strategic investor. The move is part ofDLF’s stategic decision to exit from non-core business andfocus only on developing realty projects.

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The realty majorhas decided todilute its majoritystake in retailmanagementsubsidary DLFBrands.

Gili> Gitanjali Gems’ premium diamond jewellery brand Gilihas plans to expand its retail network in smaller towns evenas it eyes a 50 per cent top-line growth this fiscal. Gili is look-ing at opening 31 stores this fiscal at an investment of Rs 200crore. The company that recorded a revenue Rs 428 crore inFY’10, plans to invest substantially in marketing activities andadvertising.

General Motors India> The car maker is set to launchthe CNG version of Chevrolet Aveo its mid-size sedan.Chevrolet Aveo is going to be a bi-fuel vehicle with a full-sizepetrol tank. Its running cost is approximately 57 per centlower than a similar vehicle powered by petrol and 25 per-cent lower than a similar vehicle powered by diesel. Owing tolower operating economics and the growing number of CNGstations across India, the company believes that the newoffering will appeal to both individual and fleet customers.

In the next fouryears, thecompany plansto invest Rs 200crore to developits restaurantbusiness inIndia.

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

Frost & Sullivan> The US-basedresearch firm expects that the Indian3G market will have the potential for80 million subscribers within three years of services beinglaunched. F&S states that after having paid close to Rs 75,600crore in license fees, the telecom industry in India will need toinvest a further Rs 28,000 crore to Rs 37,800 crore in capitalexpenditure to roll out 3G services.

LIC>The policyholders of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)will soon be able to pay their insurance premiums throughmobile phones. Till now, only account holders of CorporationBank, in which LIC owns a stake, could use mobiles to paypremiums. This facility was introduced two years ago and isavailable to customers who sign up for the bank’s mobile pay-ment service. Currently, LIC is in talks with few banks and thefacility is expected to roll out this year.

Success Stories

MARK

ETIN

G

India will have toinvest Rs 28,000to Rs 37,800crore in capitalexpenditure toroll out 3G services.

From left: Jain, Sandhu, Arora,Arjun and Rao

Stiring up the competition in theBengali general entertainmentspace, Mahuaa Media has

launched a general entertainment chan-nel (GEC), Mahuaa Bangla. The GECdebuted

last month, with four hours of originalprogramming, including shows such asTwinkle Twinkle Dancing Stars, SurSangram and The Match.

On the vision andstrategy of the channelin making an impact asthe tenth player in thecompetitive BengaliGEC genre, TapasBhattasaly, COO,Mahuaa Media, says,“We are setting out tobring in concepts andprogrammes, whichare closer to the heartof the Bengali viewers.The content isdesigned to create val-ue, which will have a360-degree effect onthe audience, reachingout to all the sectionsof the society.”

The tagline of thechannel is ‘Jomiye DinSaradin’, which means,‘Every time you switchon the channel, youwill be enthralled’.

On the contentfront, the source ofinspiration for MahuaaBangla is the rich liter-ary world of Bengal.According toBhattasaly, the existing GEC playersin the market have not gone beyondpopular authors, such asRabindranath Tagore and SaratChandra Chattopadhyay. MahuaaBangla, on the other hand, hasfocussed on the stories of other liter-ary figures, such as Ram Mohan Royand Jagadish Chandra Bose.

Bhattasaly shared that currently,only 70 per cent of the popula-

tion in the state watches TV, while therest are avid readers. Thus, the idea,first and foremost, is to convert thisset of readers into loyal TV viewers,by offering them content inspiredfrom the literary world.

The channel is also concentratingon building strong weekend viewer-ship by catering primarily to elderly

viewers and kids.Most of the content

on the channel hasbeen outsourced.Among the productionhouses engaged areEndemol, SaibabaTelefilms and ShreeVenkatesh Films.

The channel is cur-rently in talks withleading cable operatorsof the state for distribu-tion deals, and claimsto have achieved 60 percent penetration at thetime of its launch.

As far as its share inthe advertising pie isconcerned, Bhattasalyadmits that crackingthe market would notbe an easy task for thechannel, given that it isthe tenth entrant.However, he pointsout that MahuaaMedia’s existingBhojpuri GEC,Mahuaa TV will helpthe group inspire con-fidence in marketersthat its second regional

channel would not compromise onquality of content or technical bril-liance.

He also shares that of the Rs 300crore advertising spends in the BanglaGEC space, Mahuaa Bangla is eyeinga share of 15 per cent by March-endnext year.

The channel would be competingwith the likes of STAR Jalsha, ZeeBangla and ETV Bangla.

‘‘There is some appetite nowfor M&As. The Industry is stillrecovering, not recovered. Sopeople who need to cash-outwill see it as an opportunity todo so in the next few months.’’

JEHIL THAKKAR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND HEAD, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT, KPMG ADVISORY ON

POTENTIAL M&A DEALS IN THE MEDIA SECTOR IN MINT

MAHUAA BANGLA


Sponsored byNEWSBULLETIN

Five kids will getan opportunity tostar as an ani-mated avatarwith ChhotaBheem.

MY FM > Listeners of My FM in Jaipur will now be enter-tained with a new music show called My World. The show isa daily, running from Monday to Friday from 11 AM-1 AM.The radio station has also got on-board two new RJs to hostlive programmes. RJ Amit will host the breakfast showSalaam Jaipur from 7 AM-11 AM every Monday to Saturdayand RJ Kaveri will host a request show Dil Chahta Hai for lis-teners every Monday to Saturday from 2 PM-5 PM.

TRAI> A new tariff order has been issued by the TRAI forthe various addressable systems such as DTH, IPTV and digi-tal addressable cable TV. According to this, subscribers willhave the advantage of choosing the channels they wish towatch. The service providers have been instructed to providepay channels on an a-la-carte basis to subscribers, latest byJanuary 1, 2011 in case of DTH operators.

B4U> Music channel B4U has undergone a makeover andto support its new look and feel, it has introduced a numberof new shows. As part of the new look, the channel nowsports an animated logo in place of a static one and hasadopted a new channel identity. It has also introduced a sig-nature tune. The channel has also rolled out six new shows,including Orange Funk, Bollywood Bang Bang, Sooper Hits,Morning Masala and Solid Hits. The new shows revolvearound music, health and lifestyle.

NDTV Worldwide> A part of the NDTV Group, NDTVWorldwide and IndiaCan, a joint venture between Educompand Pearson (an international media company with world-leading businesses in education, business information andconsumer publishing), have come together to offer aspiringjournalists a programme in broadcast journalism. The pro-gramme will be launched across 10 centres, primarily inmetro cities.

POGO> The kids channel hascome up with a nationwide con-test, Bheem Ki Team. The contestwill give five kids an opportunity to star as an animatedavatar with their favourite hero Chhota Bheem and hisfriends in a special on-air vignette. The five lucky kids will bechoosen through an on-ground school contact programme. Aspart of this, kids will be invited to send in their entries stat-ing why Bheem Ki Team needs him or her.

Tata Sky> UTV MotionPictures’ blockbuster movieswill now be available on DTHplatform Tata Sky. Viewers will be able to enjoy movies likeJodha Akbar, Race, Kaminey and Kurbaan on Tata Sky. Eachof these movies will be available to subscribers for a periodof four weeks on the DTH platform. In the past, too, UTVshowcased a few of its titles including Kaminey, Wake Up Sidon Tata Sky.

UTV’s blockbustermovies will nowbe available onTata Sky.


Beyond the Obvious

MEDI

A

MTV> The music channel along with Wildcraft has comeup with the MTV range of premium bags and adventure gear.The range includes vibrant and funky travel and adventurebags, duffel bags, laptop bags and tote bags. The range alsocomprises a special Roadies line that includes bags as wellas adventure gear for riding , hiking and cycling as well asother outdoor equipment.

Service providersto provide paychannels on an a-la-carte basis tosubscribers.

The channel isfocussing on thestories of literaryfigures, beyond

Tagore andChattopadhyay.

Bhattasaly: shifting focus

A LOT CANHAPPENOVER COFFEE

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> Law & Kenneth has grabbed the Renault India business. Theaccount size is in excess of Rs 50 crore. Though specialised pitcheswere also made for specific areas such as digital, promos andevents, the agency has won the integrated duties. Around 22agencies approached Renault India, of which about seven werecalled for the first round of presentations. The company is looking at operationaldealerships by mid 2011 in tier I cities. After the launch, Renault plans to open 70dealerships across important tier I and II cities by the end of 2013.

Arecently completed surveyby the Nielsen Company onmedia spends reveals that

advertising spends in main media -television, newspaper and

magazine - in India have soared by32 per cent, in the first quarter of2010. This growth is driven bystrong economic performances andrapidly improving consumerconfidence

This is the highest growthamongst the 12 major markets inAsia Pacific. Overall, across the 12markets, media spends grew by 18per cent.

More specifically, the reportreveals that year-on-year growth forthe 12 monthperiod leading upto March 2010saw an increase of26 per cent inmain mediaadvertising spends inIndia.

The primary motorbehind this climb wasthe newspaper, whichexperienced 30 per centyear-on-year growth inad spends, followed bytelevision that grew by26 per cent. Magazines’ad spends grew by 7 percent.

All other media -radio, outdoor, pay TVand cinema - puttogether, showed agrowth of 28 per cent inthe aforementionedperiod.

The products that have beenadvertised the most belong to thetelecom sector that scored top threeposition followed by LIC WealthPlus.

A quarterly comparison of adspends in India shows that in thefirst quarter of 2010, all main mediarecorded double digit growth tofinish 33 per cent ahead compared to

the same quarter in 2009.

Categories that showed maximumincrease in their ad spends wereservices, food and beverages andpersonal care or hygiene and thenby banking or finance or investmentand education.

Media spends on social issueshave expanded in the past year,owing not only to governmentcampaigns but also to corporationsand brands that have alignedthemselves to relevant socialcommunication.

TV soaps and prime time serialsthat have also shifted their focus tosocial issues, contributed to thisgrowth as well.

Clearly, consumer confidencelevels are highand this speakswell of themanner in whichthe country isaccelerating its

way out of the economicdownturn. The NielsenGlobal ConsumerConfidence Surveyshowed that Indiaemerged as the mostconfident nation in thefirst quarter of 2010.

Piyush Mathur,president, India, TheNielsen Company,opines, “Economicprospects are better,thus consumers’spending propensity isincreasing. This istranslating intoadvertising spends.”

He however cautionsthat now the challenge for marketerswill be right brand positioning andstrengthening brand awareness asvisibility had taken a beating duringthe slowdown.

“The outlook for mediaadvertising across the remainder of2010 appears extremely positive inIndia. Consumers are looseningtheir purse strings,” Mathurforetells.

1 0

‘‘While products may generatemarket share, brands providepricing power and create higherprofits. This is the magic oflogic.’’RAJIV BAJAJ, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BAJAJ AUTO, ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF

STRENGTHENING INDIVIDUAL SUB-BRANDS UNDER A MOTHER BRAND, IN ET


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Back on Track

>>ACCOUNT MOVEMENT

AAAI> Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creativedirector, Ogilvy & Mather, South Asia has received LifetimeAchievement Award 2010 by the Advertising AgenciesAssociation of India (AAAI). The award will be presented inMumbai in a large ceremony, though the date of thepresentation is yet to be announced.

ADVE

RTIS

ING AdFest 2010> JWT wins 11 Lotuses; TapRoot India and

Leo Burnett bag six each> The awards ceremony of AdFest2010 gave nine Indian creative agencies reasons tocelebrate. JWT swept 11 Lotuses across categories, whileTapRoot India and Leo Burnett bagged six each. Ogilvy wonfour metals; Contract Advertising won three; RediffusionY&R, Creativeland Asia, McCann Worldgroup and PublicisCommunications took home one Lotus each.

> Following a multi-agency pitch, Bates 141 hasbagged the creative duties for Monte Carlo. Inall, nine agencies were in the fray. Monte Carlo is

available in exclusive brand outlets (EBO), multi-brand outlets (MBO) and factoryoutlets. Though the brand is present in many cities across the country, its strongestfoothold is North India.

> Valvoline Engine Oils has decided to align its creativeduties with RK Swamy BBDO. The agency won the businessfollowing a multi-agency pitch, in which Draftfcb Ulka and CapitalAdvertising also participated. The lubricant brand has so far

focussed on BTL activities. Now, it plans to focus on ATL as well.

> McCann Erickson has bagged the creative mandate for Dabur’supcoming product. The product is a range of vitamin and mineralsupplements. The agency won the account following a multi-agencypitch, where Ogilvy India, Lowe Lintas India and ContractAdvertising were also in the fray. Of these, McCann, Ogilvy andLowe Lintas are Dabur’s roster agencies. Dabur India plans tospend about Rs 10 crore in the launch phase, which will commence shortly.

afaqs! Reporter, August 1-15, 2 0 1 0

Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate> The Germany-basedhome appliances company is looking for creative partners inIndia. The account size is being pegged at around Rs 10crore. The business will be handled out of Mumbai. BSH islooking at an independent launch early next year. Theproduct portfolio will primarily consist of kitchen appliances.BSH plans to be a Rs 1,000-crore company by 2013. Boschand Siemens are the main brands of BSH.

> Following a five-agency pitch Audi India has appointedCreativeland Asia as its lead agency. The agency has also beenhanded over the digital business. The account size is peggedbetween Rs 20-25 crore. The agency will be responsible fordelivering an integrated multimedia campaign for the launch - from television to weband social media - and will supervise the brand across events.

The studyshows that

Indianmarketers arenow back in

growth modeand this is

translating intohectic

advertisingactivity across

the media.

NEWSADVERTISING

1 2 afaqs! Reporter, August 1-15, 2 0 1 0

Radio One has appointed Starcom Mediavestand Vivaki Exchange to handle its planningand buying media functions following a

multi agency pitch, which was held a month ago.The radio channel has also launched its first

nationwide multimedia campaign, which has a lis-tener centric approach at its core. The mainpromotional activity for this campaign is ‘PlayYour Music Day’, wherein thousands of listenersacross the country will physically visit Radio Onestations in the seven cities that it operates in andplay 13 of their favourite songs.

The first activity was slated for July 28 and waskick-started by an unplugged concert by musiciansShankar, Ehsaan and Loy. Subsequent music dayswere supported on-air by celebrities from the filmand music industry.

The media spend for the campaign will go up toRs 10 crore. The campaign will utilise traditionalas well as new media channels including televi-sion, print, mobile, the

internet, outdoorpromotion as wellas on-groundactivities.

Vineet SinghHukmani, MD,Radio One,explains, “Ourbusinessstrategy isone ofmusic spe-

cialisation and wewant to prove that in a sea of

generic radio stations, we are the only

music station.” Headds that the mainmarketing strategy isa polarisation policywith the intention todemocratise music.

The campaign iscurrently led by fivead films. The filmsare being aired on allmajor general enter-tainment, news,music, movie andlifestyle channels. Six

more films have been shot and are slated for agradual release. All the films feature brand ambas-sadors Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy and highlight thebrand’s promise to deliver product attributes suchas more songs per hour, informative talk fromradio jockeys and no repetition of songs.

Aggressive outdoor and on ground promotion-al activities are being carried out at various

locations in the seven cities, in order to select thelisteners who will play their favourite songs on‘Play Your Music Day’.

To generate a buzz around the campaign, RadioOne is using an anthem song titled Aao ApnaGaana Bajao, composed by the trio endorsing thebrand, download banners which are visible on allkey B2B websites. To increase mobile involve-ment, Radio One has launched song alerts on SMSand has made the anthem downloadable for free.The digital partner for Radio One is 2ergo.

Shyju Varkey, national head, marketing, RadioOne, says “We want our listeners to be involvedwith all aspects of our product’s attributes. Thecampaign aims to heighten this in an unclutteredradio brand space.”

The creative work on ideas, film scripting andprint creation is in house, with support from BlueSky Mind Films headed by Kaustav Niyogi (whoshot the films) and Fork 13, Delhi, which hashelped design the print campaign. �

[email protected]

RADIO ONE

Wooing the Listener The media spend for the radio channels new campaign will go up to Rs 10 crore. By Ashwini Gangal

Hukmani: sound of music

SUSH

IL K

UMAR

Vodafone is back, sans theZoozoos. Following the FIFAcampaign, which was also

without the eggshell characters,comes a tactical commercial to popu-larise the brand’s Rs 4 bonus card forprepaid consumers. This time, thetelecom major has made use of ananimated parrot as its creative execu-tion route. Animation is no newterritory to Vodafone: back when thebrand was Orange/Hutch, it had cre-ated two characters - H and I - as partof its advertising.

The commercial shows the ownerof an Irani café - an animated talking

parrot, the voiceover of which hasbeen given by actor Boman Irani -cribbing about the fact that nothingcan be purchased for a paltry Rs 4 intoday’s age. He draws various exam-ples from real life to prove that eventhe silliest of things cost the highheavens and absolutely refuses tobelieve that Vodafone’s bonus carddelivers a slew of value-adds in justRs 4. The MVO (Male Voice Over)and Vodafone’s standard tetris deliverthe ‘Now, believe it’ kind of explana-tion about the myriad offerings ofthe low-cost bonus card.

The Zoozoos - which are used to

communicate to audiences with highlevels of literacy, who already under-stand the concept and are familiarwith it - have been left out this time,as a different target group is beingaddressed here, for which the brandneeded to be more loud than subtle.

According to Anuradha Aggarwal,vice-president, marketing communi-cations and consumer insights,Vodafone, this is an attempt todemocratise the brand’s bonus prod-ucts. These “low and accessible

tariffs” need to be communicated tothe lower income groups preferably,existing prepaid customers ofVodafone. This would include thebudget conscious SEC C and D, whodon’t spend too much money ontheir service provider, and whostretch their money to the maximumlimit - the kind of customers that livefrom recharge to recharge.

According to research by the

VODAFONE

From Pug to Parrot

continued on page 14 >>

The new campaign is targeted at budget-concious SECC and D consumers. By Devina Joshi

brand, the first reaction anyonewould have to such low-cost offer-ings would be disbelief. “Theprepaid customer has this sense ofsupreme confidence, an understand-ing, that a bonus card offering somuch cannot possibly cost so low,”says Aggarwal. It is this disbelief thattransformed into the insight for thead as well.

The talking parrot is just a devicefor clutter-breaking execution,according to Vodafone’s agency,Ogilvy India. “We had to clearly benoisy and a budget-conscious parrot,who is the stingy owner of an Iranicafé, was the route we thoughtwould fit best,” says Rajiv Rao,NCD, Ogilvy India.

DISBELIEF?

The ad has generated mixed reac-tions in the ad fraternity.

Emmanuel Upputuru, nationalcreative director, Publicis India, says,“Hutch, and now Vodafone, hasalways done what it wanted to -from commercials that never used aword to suddenly Irfan Khan deliv-ering dialogues, making up for allthe earlier silent ads, from an iconicdog following a kid to other iconicfigures, Zoozoos. And now, out ofthe blue, we see this parrot.”

He says that he “doesn’t get it”, as“everything about it is done todeath”. By that, he refers to a talkingparrot, the idea of ‘this much moneycan’t buy a samosa’ and the elementof animation. “The idea is not new,neither is the execution,” he shrugs.

Soumitra Karnik, executive cre-ative director, JWT, finds the ad to befine, but not up to the standards setby Vodafone. “The ideation is cor-rect, with all the right elements, suchas the talking parrot, Boman’svoiceover, a characterisation lent tothe fellow… But the script has letme down,” he says.

If the brand took the pains to useanimation, he says, then expecta-tions would be a bit high, though itis a tactical ad.“Tactical ads featuringIrrfan Khan in the past have beenmore engaging. I’ll say this ad is cuteat best,” he concludes. �

[email protected]

NEWSADVERTISING


Edelweiss has launched a new campaign that aimsto establish the brand amongst a wider audience,in readiness for the brand’s expansion and entry

into the retail category.Specifically, the brand is looking at expansion into

retail broking and mutual funds and entry into lifeinsurance and housing finance. Another objective is toposition the brand, such that it resonates with the ‘NewIndia’ that is progressive, ambitious and receptive tochange.

The target group for the campaign includes the pro-fessional 30-year-old metropolitan male - salaried orinto business - who is an opportunistic ‘doer’, someonewho believes that money will help himtransit to a better future and sees moneyas a surrogate to his self-worth.

“The campaign targets a newer, moreretail audience. Care has been taken notto alienate existing corporate and institu-tional clients. Both the retail and thecorporate sets will co-exist under themother brand - Edelweiss,” explainsShabnam Panjwani, head, marketingcommunications, Edelweiss Securities.

She adds that the campaign has beenconsumer tested and found to resonatestrongly with diverse customer sets -from high net-worth individuals to mid-dle-class investors.

The creative duties for the campaignare with boutique agency, Ideas@work.“We were given one word from the clientthat worked as a brief: empowerment,”shares Zarvan Patel, co-founder and cre-ative director, Ideas@work.

The brand uses ‘Now You Can’ as itstagline, and the campaign plays on thetransition from ‘Can’t’ to ‘Can’.

“Today, luxury is no longer a dirtyword and our entrepreneurial spirit isburning brighter than ever. The nation isno longer scared to dream. The campaignhad to reflect this spirit,” says PrashantGodbole, co-founder and creative direc-tor, Ideas@work.

The long-duration TVCs use no spo-ken words, only images and text set tomusic by Ram Sampat. The TVCs havebeen shot largely in Kuala Lumpur and

Langkawi, Malaysia. The film was directed by PrashantGodbole and produced by Films Group. The stills havebeen captured by photographer, Swapan Parekh.

Edelweiss has been advertising since 2007, primarilyto a corporate and institutional audience. January 2009saw the launch of the ‘Now I can’ campaign, with printand television as primary media.

The present campaign will utilise the entire gamut ofmedia, including Hindi and English business, news andentertainment TV channels, print, cinema and the internet.

CAN IT MAKE A MARK?The campaign has received mixed reac-

tions from experts. Prathap Suthan, chiefcreative officer, Cheil Worldwide, says,“The campaign is clearly based on greatconsumer insight and is aimed at corporateemployees. It successfully taps into thefears and doubts that consumers like usfeel, while investing money in investmentcompanies. It’s never about the consumerand his money, it’s invariably about beingtaken for a ride by the company that landsa huge commission due to the investment.Edelweiss has caught on to this consumersentiment perfectly.”

He remarks, “The communicationprovokes me, and Edelweiss is surely onthe right path with this campaign.”

However, he adds that while mirroringconsumers’ suspicions would help gener-ate a lot of interest in the brand, thecampaign fails to provide the next step,that is, conveying to the consumer howexactly the brand plans to step in and help.

Nilesh Vaidya, executive creative direc-tor, Euro RSCG India, says, “While I havenothing against one-word ideas, I feelwords like ‘can’ or ‘can’t’ aren’t ideas any-more. Too many brands have used thesewords in some form or the other. Dieselused the word, ‘stupid’ and BarackObama is the most memorable examplefor the word, ‘can’.”

He adds, “The films are slickly execut-ed, but can you see yourself talking aboutthem tomorrow? I can’t.” �

[email protected]

EDELWEISS

The target group for the campaign includes the professional 30-year-old metropolitanmale who is an opportunistic ‘doer’. By Ashwini Gangal

From Pug to Parrot<< continued from page 12

Lulling Suspicions

Prashant Godbole

Zarvan Patel

Shabnam Panjwani

Aggarwal and Rao: democratising

FOTO

CORP

Aggressively strengthening individual sub-brands in its two wheeler category seems tobe a priority for parent brand Bajaj Auto,

the flagship company of the Bajaj Group.While the brand name ‘Bajaj’ will be dropped

across two wheelers, there will be no brand invest-ments in the form of development work andcommunication for Platina, which yields aturnover of less than 20 per cent.

The word ‘Bajaj’ has ceased being visible in thePulsar logo for almost six months and Discoverwill follow suit shortly.

Milind Bade, head, marketing, Bajaj Auto, says,“For the past one year, we have beenadvertising only Pulsar and Discover andhave not been using the phrase

‘Bajaj Auto’ to market

either. This effort is being noticed and recognisednow. Manufacturers are waking up to this now,customers have always been clued into thisbecause they’re the end users.”

Highly differentiated target groups (TG) forPulsar and Discover is the reason behind the

effort to divorce these sub-brands from theparent brand, Bajaj Auto. Efforts are aimedat making these two individual brandsstronger than the parent brand and to posi-tion them as brands in their own right.

Bade reveals that Bajaj Auto is follow-ing a two-brand strategy as Pulsar and

Discover lie on two extreme ends ofthe consumer spectrum. The TGfor Discover is ‘the commuter’ asit stands for balance, responsibili-ty and all things homely.Conversely, Pulsar, ‘the per-former’, symbolises arrogance,

irreverence and attitude and hence

lies in the sports category.The mind space and level of engagement are

very conventional for Discover as opposed to thoseof Pulsar. Even the media choices differ for thetwo - Discover uses conventional advertising andPulsar uses newer tools such as Advertiser FundedProgramming (AFP) and digital advertising.

“A brand has to have two things - a TG and apromise. When the sub-brands are so distinct intheir promise and have such distinct TGs, theindividual strength and positioning of the sub-brands have to be focused on, independent of thelarger umbrella under which they fall. We’re goingthe FMCG way by doing this,” adds Bade.

Pulsar has a market share of more than50 per cent and is the current market leader, whileDiscover has a 20 per cent market share and oper-ates at a 6 per cent price premium to the currentmarket leader, Hero Honda Splendor.

Bajaj Auto claims that Discover had an outputof 24,000 bikes in the first quarter of 2009 and thenumber moved up to 1,15,000 during the sameperiod in 2010. It has consequently moved fromthe No 9 position to the No 2 position in its class.

In future, new two wheelers manufactured byBajaj Auto will be marketed sans the ‘Bajaj’ brandname and may fall under the Pulsar or Discoverbrand. Other two wheeler brands, including thoseof Hero Honda and Yamaha, still operate underthe umbrella of the parent company. �

[email protected]

The automobile manufacturer is distinguishing its sub-brands from the parent brand. By Ashwini Gangal

BAJAJ

Shifting Focus


Maruti Suzuki is out with acorporate campaign which,like its predecessors, stress-

es on the cars’ ability to provide themaxium mileage. The company hastaken a holistic approach in address-ing everything that concerns anIndian car owner - mileage, mainte-nance and resale value.

The campaign is the result of asyndicated research and a customersatisfaction survey, which showedthat buyers pay attention to the totalcost of ownership of a vehicle, withfuel efficiency being one of thebiggest concerns in selecting any carbrand.

Three commercials titled Yacht,Juno and Tank have been unleashedon television. In the Yacht commer-

cial, a young salesman waxes elo-quent about a luxury yacht to apotential buyer. After listening to along list of facilities available on-board, the buyer asks, “Kitna detahai?” (‘What about the mileage?’)The film closes with the talkativesalesman at a loss for words, and avoiceover declaring thatMaruti Suzuki under-stands Indians’ concerns,and therefore, manufac-tures the mostfuel-efficient cars.

The other two films,Juno and Tank showother over-enthusiasticpresenters of man-mademachines, who aredumbfounded on the big

question of mileage.Sunila Dhar, assistant general

manager, Maruti Suzuki, observesthat the cost of operation is a big con-cern for the owner of a car and

interestingly, theyounger generation ismore conscious of it.“With this campaign, wewill be addressing all thefacets which add value toa vehicle,” she adds.

Maruti also has plansto come up with twomore TVCs on theresale value of a car andits maintenance.

According to Dhar, the ‘Indianness’of the films will strengthen thebrand’s emotional bond with masses.

The campaign has been created byCapital Advertising. The teamincludes Joy Mohanty, senior creativedirector and Parshu Narayanan, cre-ative head, along with PapiyaTahiliani and Kunal Sharma. Thethree films have been directed byAyyappa of Footcandles Films.

Narayanan, says, “Any smartbuyer will first consider the creden-tials of a car maker and later pick theoffering. Things like mileage, main-

Reinforcing IndiannessMARUTI

The new brand campaign highlights the importance ofmileage for Indians. By Rohit Nautiyal

“The focus is onmaking two of ourbrands Pulsar andDiscover stronger

than the parentbrand.”

MILIND BADE

NEWSADVERTISING

continued on page 18 >>Narayanan: credible

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Gone are the days of the exas-perated man screaming,‘Haan, bhai haan’, only to

be handed a Vicks Action 500 thatwould give him relief from com-mon cold. Commercials now haveto be more than just the brandpromise and clients understandthat.

Treading a different path forVicks Action 500, PublicisAmbience has tried to make amore engaging film for the prod-uct with a relevant insight.

The film, through exaggerated with dramatisedactions in a South Indian setting, shows an autorickshaw driver troubled by a blocked nose,headache, bodyache, backache and a sore throat.

The five problems he faces are metaphoricallyrepresented by five other auto rickshaws. Just as thedriver is about to take a normal pill, his passengeroffers him a Vicks Action 500. The driver isinstantly ready to take on the five auto rickshaws,and pulls off some daredevil stunts in the process.

The creative of the TVC is credited to the teamof Ambar Chakravarty, executive creative director,Publicis Ambience, while film production washandled by Hozefa Alibhai, head of Publicis’ filmsdivision and his team. The film has been directedby Anurag Kashyap and produced by Tushar Rautof Coconut Films.

Chakravarty, says, “The film is a sort of tributeto the ordinary Indian and all that he goes throughin his everyday life. The cough and cold are justpart of the other odds that are stacked against him.While the execution remains cheeky, the team tookcare that the product message stays apparent.”

He shares that the TVC contextualises the driv-

er as a hero. The five symptoms could be part ofthe problems he faces in a day and he beats themwith élan. The idea was to make the communica-tion more engaging, watchable and memorablewithout moving away from the message that hasworked for the product in the past.

“We thought that the context setting must bemore engaging and stay close to the heart at thesame time. While the mind reads the product, theheart sees the relevance. Moreover, the Vicks storycomes in strongly and smoothly through the filmand is not abrupt,” adds Rakesh Hinduja, associate

vice-president, Publicis Ambience.On the South Indian setting,

Chakravarty says that while the inten-tion was not to do a spoof but theaction in South Indian movies is“funkier with its over-the-top nature”and makes for a memorable watch.

While further extension of thecampaign is still being worked out, theteam is hoping that the expression of‘Indian heroism’ can be taken forwardinto future communication of theproduct.

AND THE VERDICT…

Having seen the film, experts appreciate the dif-ferent route taken to convey the product

message, and give a thumbs-up to the execution too.“I quite like it. The over-the-top execution is

quite deliberate and the spot itself is quite funny,”says Rajeev Raja, national creative director, DDBMudra Group.

Sandhya Srinivasan, managing partner and chiefstrategy officer, Law & Kenneth, reads the com-mercial perfectly, as she almost echoes the views ofthe film’s creative team. “Vicks Action 500, byvirtue of its name, needed some action in convey-ing its message. The new execution conveys its fivebenefits in an interesting way, without beingdependent on the classic product window.”

However, both agree that the South Indiantreatment of the ad takes away from the originalityof the film. “The South Indian auto driver and aclone of ‘Quick Gun Murugan’ reduce the origi-nality quotient. Quite unnecessary, I thought, as ittakes away from what is otherwise an unusualidea,” Raja says. �

[email protected]

The new brand film for Vicks banks on exaggeration and action to impress consumers. By Biprorshee Das

VICKS

Action Time


tenance and resale value are relevantacross the car models of any manu-facturer.”

In the past few years, the Indianautomobile industry has witnessedthe entry of a large number of inter-national players, and the scene isheating up, especially in the premi-um hatchback segment. Industryexperts are unanimous about the factthat cars in this segment appeal to theeye with all their frills, and fuel-effi-ciency may cease to be the topmostpriority with buyers.

Choosing to differ, Tahiliani says,“Once you own the car, the realityhits you in the form of high cost ofspares and maintenance. Mileage will

continue to be an Indian concern.”The history of Maruti’s corporate

campaigns goes way back to 1983,when the company started takingbookings for its first car, Maruti 800.The first campaign was all about get-ting hands-on with the latesttechnology. While the company con-tinued to build a rapport withIndians through various initiativesover the next few years, its first bigcorporate ad was for Maruti servicestations, which showed how with thehelp of a local boy in Nepal, two guyson the road are able to locate aMaruti Service Station in the middleof nowhere. Another memorablecampaign, ‘Petrol khatam hi nahi honda’was released in 2003.

In its last corporate campaign, thebrand highlighted K-series engines,which are responsible for better fuel-

efficiency in its cars.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK?

The new set of TVCs has garnereda mixed response from the ad

fraternity.

Ankur Khurana, brand partner,planning, Orchard Advertising, says,“The proposition of fuel efficiency isnice, but I am not sure whether thecompany can stick to this in the longrun. In fact, the not-so-fuel-efficientbrands in the premium hatchbacksegment have been well received bythe Indians.”

Titus Upputuru, executive cre-ative director, Saatchi & Saatchi,finds the commercials “cool and veryun-Maruti”. He says, “I really likethe casting in the Juno commercial.”Sharing Khurana’s concerns, he adds,“Considering the entry of foreignplayers in the car market, is mileagestill the single most sought-afterthing? I am not so sure about that.”

Maruti will take the campaign todigital and print media as well. �

[email protected]

NEWSADVERTISING

Reinforcing...<< continued from page 16

(Left) Chakravarty and Hinduja: fighting odds

TheTVCs stress onIndians’ obsession

with mileage.

NEWSADVERTISING

For those who believe in the idea of arrangedmarriages and look up to the online matri-mony services for solutions, Bharat

Matrimony, a part of Consim Info, has launchedPrivilege Matrimony to provide assisted match-making services. As part of this, a customer isassigned a personal relationship manager, whotakes care of the entire process of matchmaking -starting from shortlisting the potential profiles tofixing up the final meetings with the family of theprospective bride or groom.

Though the service has been running for closeto a year, it is only now that the com-pany has decided to launch a TVCand make a noise about its offering.

TALE OF A MYSTERIOUSHAND

The TVC opens with an elevatorshot, showing a well dressed

executive accompanied by a nosy col-league. As the door of the elevatoropens, a mysterious hand delivers anenvelope to the executive. The enve-lope has a picture of a potential bride.True to his nature, the nosy executivestarts an investigation to find out thestory behind the mysterious hand byspying on his colleague.

The mysterious hand makes fre-quent appearances at office, includingthe conference hall, the workstationarea, delivering envelopes and fur-thering the matchmaking process.

To know what’s going on, the nosyexecutive follows his colleague to arestaurant where he is meeting thefamily of a prospective bride. As themeeting wraps up, the nosy colleague lands up atthe deserted table, he is greeted with the mysteri-ous hand holding out the visiting card of arelationship manager from Privilege Matrimony.

Murugavel Janakiraman, founder, Consim Infoobserves that matchmaking is a time consumingprocess and a relationship manager can make

things a lot easier. “The communica-tion is an attempt to reach a largerchunk of young professionals panIndia. If you visit privilegematrimo-ny.com, you will see that it just givesaway the basic information about theservice, along with the contact details.There are no profiles,” he adds.

Privilege Matrimony has a team of100 relationship managers. It plans tostart Privilege Matrimony Lounges tofacilitate customer-relationship man-ager interaction. The first set of thesewill be opened in the South.

The creative has been cracked by1pointsize. The creative teamincludes executive creative directorsSharad Haksar and Anantha Narayan,copywriter E Prakash and accountmanager Aswin Rao. The film hasbeen put together by the team atFootcandles.

Narayan shares that the service

has been positioned as something different fromthe brand Bharat Matrimony, which has a strongSouth Indian feel to it. He adds, “Every office hasa bunch of nosy people who are always charged upto pull the leg of a colleague who is surfing a mat-rimony website. Another such situation is when afriend just puts your name in a search engine andit throws up the link to a matrimony website withyour profile. He explains, “That is where a rela-tionship manager steps in to avoid theembarrassment and be that ‘someone’ who maynot have met you, but understands your needs.”

BIG WEDDINGS

Anindya Banerjee, executive creative director,Law & Kenneth comments, “The casting is

bang on and the production is superb. Every timeyou look at it, you discover interesting patterns.For instance, the ‘helping hand’ progresses fromthe normal to the bizarre.”

Naresh Gupta, director, strategy and planning,Dentsu Marcom, feels that the relationship shownin the commercial is similar to the one peopleshare with their banking officers. “Wedding is a bigmarket in India and initiatives like these go a longway in increasing the customer base,” he adds.

According to experts, the online matrimonyindustry in India is expected to reach 21 millionregistrations with revenue of Rs 297 crore by2010-11. �

[email protected]

PRIVILEGE MATRIMONY

Privilege Matrimonyhas a team of

100 relationshipmanagers.

Janakiraman andNarayan: customisation

The matrimonial service helps customers with a relationship manager to assist them in matchmaking.By Rohit Nautiyal

Match Fixing


To create awareness about the videocalling facility of its IN 4470mobile phone model, Intex

Technologies, the owner of the Intexbrand of mobile phones, has kick-starteda month long interactive banner advertis-ing campaign.

As part of the campaign, the brand willserve social banner ads on Ibibo.com.The ads enable Ibibo members to makefree phone calls to their friends. In thefirst week, ads were served randomlyonly on the profile pages of Ibibo.comusers (approximately 3 million uniquevisitors per month). Later, the IntexMobile IN 4470 banner ads will be dis-played on each webpage of Ibibo.com.

How will it make calling possible? The bannerad unit will be small in size and have some textsuch as ‘Ab baat karo Face to Face with Intex IN4470 mobile phone. Call for free’, with phoneimages embedded on it. It will prompt users toclick. When clicked, the ad will redirect the user toa landing page, where the user will find a virtualIN 4470 mobile phone with some more details.Thereafter, the user will be required to enter orkey-in his own and the receiver’s mobile contactnumbers to make a phone call.

Once done, the caller will get a call from a land-line number, which will first inform him that thecall is sponsored by the Intex IN 4470 phone andlater, connect him with the other user.

As soon as the call gets connected, a webpagewill open, which will showcase two virtual IN

4470 mobile phones, along with the photographs(retreived from Ibibo profiles) of the caller and thereceiver showcased inside the phones screens.

“This whole process will virtually demonstratethe capability of video calling on the IN 4470

mobile phone,” says Vinayak Kumar Lal,general manager, marketing, IntexTechnologies

After the call is over, the banner willautomatically update the profile status ornews feed of the Ibibo.com user indicat-ing that the member has made a phonecall using the IN 4470. “Status updatefunctionality through the usage of bannerad will provide us word of mouth mar-keting and also prompt other members ofthe site to try it,” Lal says.

To provide additional reach andengagement, Intex Technologies has inte-grated other social networking platformssuch as Facebook and Orkut within the

ad campaign.The landing page of the Intex banner ad on

Ibibo.com will provide an option to the user toinvite or share the banner ad with their friends onother social networking sites. For instance, anIbibo.com member can share the ad with friendson Facebook. In this case, the Facebook user willreceive a news update - which will have a clickablethumbnail sized picture of the ad unit - on his orher profile page. The user can click on it to accessand make phone calls. However, banner ads willnot be served directly on Facebook.

Lal claims that the banner ads are live for aboutfive days and the company has already receivedabout 2 lakh clicks on them.

The ad unit has been conceptualised by IntexTechnologies and Ibibo.com jointly. �

[email protected]

Easy Conversations

MTS, the mobile telephonybrand from Sistema ShyamTeleservices (SSTL), has

launched an on-ground initiative,MTS on Wheels, to engage its cus-tomers. The month-long initiativehas been designed to take telephonyservices to the customers’ doorstep.

The activity is targeted at thecompany’s existing customers inSEC A and B for data, and SEC A, Band C for voice products.

MTS on Wheels is an air-condi-tioned bus, which houses all thefacilities available to customers atMTS branded retail outlets acrossthe country. The vehicle is beinghandled by four to six personnel.Different zones have been created

inside the vehicle, such asinstant activation zone,instant recharge zone, dis-play zone, VAS zone, data productzone, customer service zone and playand win zone. Each zone addressesrelated customer requirements.

For instance, the facilities provid-ed by the instant activation zonewould include instant activation ofSIMs, instant clicking of passport-size photographs and photocopyingof proof of address.

“These zones have been createdso that customers can walk in and geta feel of handsets, data and voiceproducts. Since we have alreadycrossed a million subscribers, themotive behind the activity is to

deliver customer satisfaction,” saysKeshhav Tiwary, chief operating offi-cer, Kolkata & West Bengal, SistemaShyam TeleServices.

Beginning from Kolkata, the buswill complete its journey in Burdwanby August 15. During this period, itwill travel through 35-40 towns ofWest Bengal, addressing customersneeds related to voice and data serv-ices.

The company is using its existingcustomer base to promote the activi-ty through targeted SMSes. TheseSMSes are being sent to the sub-scribers in a specific area, which the

vehicle would visit on a particulardate.

The company roughly spendsabout 25-30 per cent of its overallmarketing budget towards BTLactivities, while the rest goes towardsATL activities. SSTL is a JV betweenthe Russia-based Sistema and ShyamGroup of India. �

[email protected]

MTS

An AC bus will give customers access to MTS’products and services. By Poojya Trivedi

At Your Doorstep

The social banner ad units are empowering Ibibo and Facebook users to make free phone calls. By Kapil Ohri

NEWSDIGITALINTEX MOBILE

Top: Landing page and social banner ad of Intex


We will change our food advertising tochildren.” This first line in therecently drafted India Pledge, signedby seven food and beverage majors, is

perhaps the beginning of a new chapter ofcommunication in that space in India. Or is it?

On July 19, Hindustan Unilever, Coca-ColaIndia Inc, General Mills India, Kellogg India,Nestle India, Mars International India andPepsiCo India Holdings came together for avoluntary, self-regulation initiative to helppromote healthier, active lifestyles to Indianchildren. A few days later, Cadbury too announcedthat it would join in very soon.

The chief commitment is ‘no advertising foodand beverage products to children under the age of12 on TV, print or the internet’ (except forproducts that fulfill specific nutrition criteria basedon scientific evidence). This pledge, which shallcome into effect from December 31, 2010, is in the

wake of similar pledges recently taken by thesecompanies in other parts of the world (see box).

What led to this change of heart? How will thecreative and media plan change for thesecompanies? What are the legal guidelines in thisregard? And most importantly, what are the socialand moral implications of communicating tochildren? afaqs! Reporter seeks some answers.

A RECAP

India is the 12th country to be party to such apledge. The India Pledge is modelled on the EU

Pledge, and it is among the few developing nationson that list to be a part of this ‘movement’.

The India Pledge seems to be a product of aglobal school of thought and companies that havesigned on have probably done so because of aglobal directive - so far, only Indian arms ofinternationally networked companies have signedon. No Indian company has yet come to the fore

expressing interest in it. Shalini Degan, categorydirector, delight and lifestyle, Britannia Industries,thus responds to our question of why Britanniaisn’t party to the pledge: “Our products areapproved by the FDA (Food and DrugAdministration) and are healthy, which isprobably why we were not approached. There isno need for us to say ‘From now on we will …’.Britannia is not looking for mileage like that. Imean, who will that document really reassure?”

While that is clearly subjective, the signatoriesthemselves are touting the India Pledge as a majormilestone for the food and beverage industry. Saysa Coca-Cola India spokesperson, “We havecollectively worked in identifying a best practicemodel of self-regulation.” Sidharth Singh, vice-president and head, processed foods, HUL adds,“This is a voluntary response by the leaders in thespace and we are confident that more Indiancompanies will join us in our commitmenttowards responsible advertising to children.”

MORE TO IT…

Not everyone thinks the reason behind theIndia Pledge is as simple as a global directive.

To understand the full implications of this‘voluntary’ pledge, take a look at the legalframework concerning this matter. Thegovernment of India had set up the Food Safetyand Standards Act, 2006 which created a bodycalled the Food Safety and Standards Authority ofIndia (FSSAI). The FSS Act, when formed, sawthe cancellation of other Acts in the spaceincluding the Prevention of Food AdulterationAct, 1954 or the Fruit Products Order, 1955. It wasan initiative to give greater legal backing to issuesin the food production and marketing space.

In addition to this, the Advertising StandardsCouncil of India (ASCI) came up with a code inthe food and beverage space in December 2007,which lays down certain guidelines that marketersought to follow. There has been talk for quitesome time that the FSS Act, thoughcomprehensive, perhaps may not exactly be “sharpenough” to have marketers take it seriously. TheASCI has, therefore, recommended its own foodand beverage code guidelines to the FSSAI totighten the rope for stricter implementation.

Dhananjay Keskar, director, IBS and chairman,ASCI, says that the FSSAI is considering therecommendations. According to sources, theFSSAI is likely to amend the Act as a result of theserecommendations - a decision that will only betaken by this year-end or early next year.

Not everyone agrees. To Sam Balsara, chairmanand managing director, Madison World, and ex-AAAI and ASCI president, all this concern forover-consumption of products like soft drinks,chips, chocolates and fast foods is unnecessary andobesity amongst kids is more of an issue indeveloped markets like Europe and the US.

“If one looks at the per capita consumption ofthese foods, barring the metros, consumption ofsuch items is low in India. How many childrenhere are obese because of watching advertisementsof chocolates and fast foods? I think the concern ismisplaced and a little far-fetched,” he saysemphatically.

Further, he feels that while it is a good attempt,the pledge might be an overreaction because ofwhat’s happening in the Western world, as by andlarge, “marketers are a responsible lot”.

CHANGE OF HEART?Seven food and beverages companies have signed a pledge to marketresponsibly to children. What does it actually mean? By Devina Joshi

TIFF

IN B

OX

METAPHORS AND HYPERBOLE

Children today are highly competitive, andtheir sense of self often comes from how

richer, taller, sharper, smarter, or stronger they arethan their peers. For years together, advertising hasfed on the insecurities faced by kids, and in somecases, even thrived on it.

K V Sridhar aka Pops, NCD, Leo Burnett India,recalls an ad for Maruti where a child whose daddrops him to school on a scooter feels embarrassedas he watches other children turn up in theirfathers’ gleaming cars. “This was clearly a play onlow income levels and a resultant feeling ofinadequacy,” Pops recalls. Such examples abound.

Clearly, advertising affects children across twoparameters: directly, where products are targeted atthem, and indirectly, where they are unwittinglymade influencers in categories not meant forthem. The latter could involve all sorts ofcategories beyond food, including cars, electronicitems and toiletries, and the route taken here isoften one of comparative advertising.

Here, a marketer could play on lifestyledisparities and social status, making a childbelonging to a low or middle income group feeldeprived, pitiable or ‘uncool’, or worse, a failure ifhis family doesn’t own a particular brand. Thisalso affects his relationship with his familymembers. Also, here, often one aspect of a product– such as a sound system in a car – is made thehook for the overall product.

In case of products meant for children,encouraging over-consumption, or exaggeratedclaims can harm a child. Over-consumption offood items could lead to obesity, a tangible effect,which is why perhaps the Food and Beveragecategory is the first one to come under the scannerwhen issues of marketing to children come to thefore. Exaggerated claims on the other hand, couldhave disastrous effects on a child’s psyche and thisis not always measurable.

Over time, snack brands have attempted goingthe healthy route, but some brands take ‘benefits’to an extreme. Shailaja Bajpai, media critic andconsulting editor, The Indian Express (and co-author of the 1996 book The Impact of TelevisionAdvertising on Children), recounts past campaignsfor brands such as Complan that made ‘tall’ claimsof making children taller with consumption.“Over indulgence is not good,” she states, “andwithout scientific evidence, to make preposterousclaims that your child will grow taller, or that oneenergy drink or biscuit will make your child agenius, is obviously unethical.”

Furthermore, children have vivid imaginationsand marketers should be cognizant of that. Surely,there’s no harm in experimentation, but oneneedn’t go over the top. “Marketers cannot expectkids to understand hyperbole,” says Degan ofBritannia. “I mean, the kids could replicate stuntsseen in ads. These are formative years and the linebetween imagination and reality blurs for them.”

‘CHILDISH’ BEHAVIOUR?

Sociologists attribute the increased effect of adson children to two factors: first, the high expo-

sure to media and second, the parents themselves.According to Nandini Sardesai, sociologist andmember of ASCI’s CCC (Consumer ComplaintsCouncil), media explosion is making childrenmore materialistic, status and price conscious.Years ago, clothes and textbooks were passed onto

siblings. Today’s child knows the concept of myroom… my books… my things. Children are now‘proud’ owners of Facebook ids under false names,and also want make-up, hair curls and other suchthings in blatant emulation of adults. This makesthem soft targets for marketers. Sardesai talks ofthe four effects which repetition and reinforce-ment in advertising generate: projection,imitation, suggestion (subtle or not) and role-play(a kid puts himself in the ‘superior’ boy’s shoes).

While these are the obvious effects, there aresubliminal messages that advertising gives out,such as lifestyle imagery, or social stigma. Thepsychological impact could include a child gettingenamoured by a fast car in an ad. Thinking ‘speed’becomes cool. A young girl who is dark may notimmediately associate herself with the‘repercussions’ of her skin colour, but the impactwill remain with her.

“Unwittingly, a child is being educated with thekind of lifestyle he sees in advertising,” says Bajpai.“These images stay with them when they grow up,on how they should be, what they should looklike, how they should dress or the kind of cars theyshould drive,” he adds.

CHANGE OF PLANS?

Television accounts for, on an average, 80-90per cent of ad budgets for food and beverage

companies (depending on the brand, the market),following which come print and the internet. Thisdevelopment could probably spell a change inmedia plans for the signatories.

For instance, it will make a difference to theway kids’ channels are utilised by these brands.While these advertisers may not stay awaycompletely from a kids’ channel, they may beforced to target shows meant specifically for olderchildren, and stay away from those meant for theunder-12 age band.

Some of these signatories such as Coca-Colaand Unilever already have strict marketing-to-children policies in place and, therefore, don’ttarget certain products on shows meant for 8-12year olds. “And most in the impulse category, suchas soft drinks, anyway don’t address that agegroup,” says Punitha Arumugam, group CEO,Madison Media. “But the pledge could imply achange in TV spots for those in the snackingbusiness, like biscuits and chocolates,” he adds.

Generally, FMCGs dominate a kids’ channel,and food and beverages come next. But as themedia environment does not operate in silos, anadvertiser could, by default, end up reaching ayounger child even by putting up a spot on BalikaVadhu. “Perhaps what ‘responsibly’ means is thatyou don’t intentionally target these kids, is all.These marketers are talking about responsibleadvertising. They’re not talking about notadvertising,” shrugs Arumugam.

On-ground activities in schools need notsuffer, as long as the property has something to dowith the constructive growth of the child, such asawarding recognition to talent or organisingquizzes. But these too, will clearly be for the olderchild, as the pledge clearly instructs signatories tostay away from primary schools, unless certainnutrition criteria are met.

On the creative front, preposterous orexaggerated claims will be shown the door.Content changes could include not showing thatthe happiness or intelligence of a child depends on‘a’ product, or not casting children below a certainage for some products. Abhijit Avasthi, co-NCD,Ogilvy India, feels that if one borrows somethingfrom life and uses it in an interesting way, all’swell, as long as one is not planting a ‘devilish’thought in a child’s mind. “Today’s kids see farmore contorted stuff in films. They have a fairsense of TV advertising and know not to take it tooseriously,” he says. The smart marketer knows thathe can’t fool children. Perhaps the India Pledge isa manifestation of that ‘smartness’.

Having said that, the creative fraternity feels theuse of imagination in storytelling is a vitalingredient while communicating to children. “Justlike cartoons, comics or fairytales, they accept it asa legitimate form of storytelling and laugh it off,”shrugs Avasthi, and if there is a moral in the adstory, it is even better. �

[email protected]

2 7afaqs! Reporter, August 1-15, 2 0 1 0

COVERSTORY

AND ELSEWHERE...

Union of European BeveragesAssociation (UNESDA)

Australian Beverage Industry

The U.S. Childen Food and BeverageAdvertising Initiative (15 firms)

Canadian ChildrenÊs Food andBeverage Advertising Initiative (18firms)

The EU Pledge (11 companies)

Thailand ChildrenÊs Food andBeverage Advertising Initiative (7companies)

The Responsible ChildrenÊs MarketingInitiative of the Australian Food andBeverage industry (16 companies)

South Africa Pledge on Marketing toChildren (24 companies)

Brazil Public Commitment on Foodand Beverage Advertising toChildren (24 companies)

Russian Pledge „On limitation ofadvertising to children‰ (9 firms)

The Mexican Marketing to ChildrenPledge (14 companies)

India Pledge: (7 companies)

2006

(Other countries that adopted the standard)

2007

2008

2009

2010

On the creative fronttoo, preposterous

or exaggeratedclaims will, in all

likelihood,be shown the door.

POINTSOFVIEWAre Standalone ‘Brand’ Social Media

Sites Still Relevant?

BRANDED SOCIAL MEDIASITES ARE RELEVANTONLY IF THERE’S ASHARED INTEREST, APASSION AMONG THEUSERS. THEY MUSTDERIVE VALUE OUTof it, which they may not get

in general interest sites. For

example, if branded commu-

nities are build around

categories like gadgets or

social causes which foster a

sense of belonging they stand

a chance of survival.

I also checked with the 20-

somethings in my office who

were/are actual users of the

Sunsilk site and their

response was: “Earlier the

website didn’t harp on the

offerings and hence made me

feel a part of a larger group.

Also when Gang of Girls

started off, the Facebooks and

the Orkuts were less known.

If I want to know about

brands and the tips they offer

I will visit the website, but

definitely not for social net-

working.”

I AM SEEING A BIGTREND IN CONSUMERBRAND MARKETING: THECENTRE OF GRAVITY IN360 DEGREE MARKETINGIS SHIFTING FROM TVCOMMERCIALS TOonline communities.

In 360 degree marketing,

brand managers start by iden-

tifying a big social object

(lifestyle, passion or cause)

that is connected with the

brand values. Then, they

build an online community

around the social object and

create a campaign to energise

their evangelists across chan-

nels. This is followed up with

a connected campaign around

the same social object.

The campaign aims to

recruit evangelists into the

brand-hosted community. As

such campaigns build upon

the work done in the previous

campaigns, they add new lay-

ers to the community each

time and attract attention over

time. The Pepsi Refresh

Project is a great case study.

TAKE THE CASE OFJIMMY CHOO TRAINERSHOES WHICH USED ALOCATION-BASEDSOCIAL NETWORKINGSITE CALLEDFOURSQUARE.COMfor a real-time treasure huntaround London.

A pair of Jimmy Choo trainerschecked in (virtually) at variouslocations and the news was noti-fied to followers of Jimmy Choothrough Foursquare updates.

Consumers who visited theplace (in reality) - before thetrainers left and checked in atother places (virtually) - got afree pair. In just three weeks,over 4,000 people got trainers.Daily in-store sales went up by33 per cent at zero advertisingcost.

Imagine if the exercise wasattempted at driving traffic to anystandalone branded social mediasite. Building the site, generatingtraffic and managing relevantcontent and sustaining it wouldhave been a Herculean waste ofmarketing money.

Brands using social media forpromotions outweigh those usingpaid media and creating destina-tion sites with a social mediafunctionality.

THE TEMPTATION ISTO GO FOR ESTAB-LISHED SOCIAL MEDIASITES WITH EYESCLOSED. BUT IF THATWERE THE CASE,NIKE+ - A HARDCOREbranded website - wouldn’t exist.Nike+ is a website that givesrunners their statistics, via a chipin their shoe. On the other hand,creating a site for a one-off gameis asking for trouble.

It all depends on seeing itfrom a consumer’s point of view.Is he or she looking for informa-tion? No-strings-attachedentertainment? A first job? Adeal? In most cases, we say‘Everything for everyone’, andthat’s where the problem begins.

If you have a high-involve-ment, short-term promo in mind,perhaps you should go wheremost young people are - socialmedia. If it’s information to beshared with a specific audience -the answer is a branded website.

It’s all about Engagement,which again depends on thebrand, the activity and the plat-form. It is not always aboutnumbers - though I would be red-faced if a social media page Icreate gets only two highly-involved members.

CVS SHARMADirector, Arc Worldwide (India)

GAURAV MISHRACEO, 2020 Social

SUBHOMOY SENGUPTACreative Head, Digital, Rediffusion Y&R

LAKSHMIPATHY BHATVP, DraftFCB Ulka


Recently, Sunsilk toned down the social media features on Sunsilkgangofgirls.com. Will brands’ social mediasites lose their relevance in the time of Facebook and Twitter? By Kapil Ohri

SUSH

IL K

UMAR

Starting out with his own advertising agencyin Australia to heading global creative teamsat leading creative agencies across the world

and eventually launching Brand Karma, a brand-centric social media website, this Aussie takescreativity very seriously indeed.

Moving around seems to be something Davishas been doing for almost forever. After decidingon various career options that “sounded fantastic”,it was late in life that he chose advertising.

FINDING HIS PLACE

At one stage I wanted to sail all the time. Thenyou also go through the time when you want

to be an astronaut but then you didn’t have anAustralian space programme. You must go to Indiato become one. I wanted to be a chef. Just beforegoing to university, I also did law. Just a monthbefore that I was going to do social work,” Davislaughs

The job assignments Davis took up to pay hisway through university and doing what he calls“strange courses” had little to do with advertising.Among other things, he worked as a trainee brokerin an investment company and even helped set upa finance arm for Hewlett Packard.

“I decided on HP because it was next door tothe university. I could enroll full time and workfull time and get away with it, which I did. I man-aged to finish university. HP paid me. I had a cleanconscience when I left,” he says.

He soon teamed up with friends who werestudying fashion design to start a company thatwould do fashion shows. Davis was 22 then. Afterhaving done that for a few years, a major turningpoint arrived when he decided to take up a 12-week course in advertising and once again, he tookup a job in another finance company writing

financial documents and prospectuses to fund hiscourse.

“I needed another change and thought advertis-ing seemed interesting. While we were doing whatwe were (doing fashion shows), we came to theedge of advertising quite often,” says Davis.

Finishing the course, he ventured out to starthis own agency with a former client from the fash-ion industry. New business came in the form offashion labels and also from his ex-employers.

JOURNEY’S BEGINNING

It was good fun but it was a very meagre existencein the beginning. It was the time when I actual-

ly lived in the office because I could not afford therent anywhere else. Then slowly things got betterand I could pay other people and also pay myself. Icould also afford some rent somewhere,” heremembers.

Running the agency for around nine years andsuccessfully so, Davis’ next defining momentarrived when David Droga (Saatchi & Saatchi’screative head in Singapore), whom Davis met dur-ing the advertising course, suggested that he moveto Singapore and work with Saatchi. Droga wasleaving Singapore to move to Saatchi, London.

“I went to Singapore, had a look at Saatchi, achat with Dave and that was it really. Things werehappening fast. I got to Singapore by January-end,1999,” Davis says. Coming to Cannes after that

and meeting Bob Isherwood, the then worldwidechief creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi gaveDavis the opportunity to run the whole of theregion for the agency, which meant moving to yetanother city, Hong Kong.

“I was not sure if I was ready to move since wehad just come to Singapore. Nonetheless, I wentto Hong Kong with my wife. My wife liked theplace and we moved in the beginning of 2000. Westayed there for four years. I loved it there,” hesays.

Recalling those days, Davis says, “I spent a lot oftime in China, Japan and India with Saatchi. I hada wonderful time and met a lot of great people.Those were terrific years.” Soon Davis decided tomove on but decided not to return to Australia. Hechose to live in London with his wife and childreninstead and he headed off to join JWT London.Davis was soon given the responsibility to run theagency’s work in Europe, Middle East and Africaand further down the line was handed the globalreins.

“It was great fun and a big challenge. It was anexercise in cultural engineering really. It was acombination of being very clear about what every-one at the company was supposed to do and thengetting people either motivated to do that or bringpeople in to do that,” he says of his JWT stint.

LIVING WITH CHANGE

Four years hence, Davis after having discussedwith his family decided to return to Australia.

The constant moving, Davis says, helped himbecome comfortable with change. “I like it. I real-ly enjoyed it. One of the things I enjoyed mostworking out of Australia was working with peoplefrom absolutely different backgrounds and cul-ture. I love the unfamiliarity of that,” he exclaims.

Davis says that the one thing he remembersmost is being given the same piece of advice atthree different points in his career by three differ-ent people. Ursula Hufnagl, who ran one of thebiggest photographic and model agency inAustralia while Davis was running his fashioncompany, one of his former employers during hispre-advertising days and Alan Webber, editor ofHarvard Business Review once had one commonadvice to give him: ‘Always work with the very bestpeople.’

“I have always been easily led. I have alwaysbeen curious about new things. I think that is whyI love this business because it is always changing.There is no room for getting bored. I have donethis for 20 years now.”

Marrying creativity with curiosity is what heconsiders to be one of his strongest virtues. Hesays, “Curiosity is a great thing. You cannot be inany way a creative person without being funda-mentally a curious person. That is the raw materialyou work with in your brain. If you do not havethat you cannot make anything.” �

[email protected]

Craig Davis is a nomad who maintains that travelling and working around the world has helped him become a bettercreative professional. afaqs!Reporter checks out Davis’ itinerary in life. By Prajjal Saha and Biprorshee Das

On the Move, Constantly


PERSONALITY

I love this businessbecause it is always chang-ing. There is no room for

getting bored.

NEWSPEOPLE

CRAIG DAVISCo-chairman and chief creative officer,

Publicis Mojo Australia


Brainchild Business Solutions,an emerging technologyprovider for outdoor media

companies has announced thelaunch of an online solution for out-door advertisers and agencies.

The solution has been launchedthrough the group’s agency business,Brainchild Outdoor MediaSolutions. It is an online platform,www.oohcrm.net, where advertisersor their agencies can browse throughthousands of outdoor sites, shortlistthe sites that fit their TG and requestfor quotations for those sites.

Khalid A Khan, chairperson andchief executive officer, BrainchildGroup, tells, afaqs!Reporter, “The idea behind thisapplication is to enable advertisers and their agen-cies to execute pan-India campaigns through oneagency from the convenience of their desks. Withthe help of this platform, media planners can sub-mit media plans for thousands of sites fromhundreds of different markets in just a few hours.”

There is no fee being charged to use this plat-form. However, though the service is free, accessto it is not open to all. The application access isgiven on request only to genuine users.

On receiving a request, Brainchild creates anaccount for each authentic user. The user logs inand can browse the entire inventory list with rele-

vant site level data and photos arranged accordingto cities, states, media categories and formats.Next, the user selects the specific sites andrequests proposals. Brainchild sends across a pro-posal within 24 hours and a discussion can takeplace, offline, between the two parties.

Once the advertiser raises a release-purchaseorder, all these sites are tagged with that client forthe duration of the campaign, where advertisers

can check their campaign relatedinformation, including fresh photoswith their creatives, which will beupdated on the site. The advertisergets a login ID and a link, My ActiveCampaigns, to check their campaignrelated data along with fresh photos(with date). The fresh photos areuploaded once in every 15 days.

“Our business model is the sameas any other OOH media agency. Weown a good number of sites now andwe have OOH sites from our trustedassociates, which we list onoohcrm.net. Media owners can pres-ent their inventory to a huge mediabuying audience globally. Also, those

media agencies that are operating in specific mar-kets can take this opportunity to enhance theircapability to execute pan-India campaigns,” saysKhan.

For now, the platform covers about 7,000 properties across 650 towns and cities in India.The portal, www.oohcrm.net, showcases all theOOH media offered by Brainchild, including bill-boards, transit, street furniture, airports, ambientand digital media. The plan is to showcase the out-door media units from all the Indian states andevery city and town with a population of more

Haywards 5000, the soda andbeer brand from SabMillerIndia, has rolled out an on

ground activation to engage with itsaudience. The brand is spreading itsmessage to its target audiencethrough a series of street plays heldin various cities and towns acrossHaryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The company’s new communi-cation, Haywards Hai Toh HauslaBuland, promotes the unwaveringspirit of the common man to main-tain his resolve, despite the toughcircumstances in his life.

Commenting on this initiative,Derek Jones, director, marketing,SabMiller India, says, “The HauslaBuland campaign is a perfect plat-form to reach out and connect withthem. We believe these street plays

reflect the character of the brandand are a good learning for the peo-ple of India.” Launched in 1983,Haywards 5000 is the flagship brandof the company.

The activation agency for thebrand is Jagran Solutions.

The experimental marketingagency has introduced a series ofstreet plays with a character calledHaywardian. The protagonist,Haywardian, embodies the traits ofa resilient and optimistic individualwho has realistic ambitions andtakes action towards fulfilling them.He wants to move ahead in lifethrough fair means, believes in hardwork and does not seek short cuts toachieve his ambitions.

The play depicts the story of howHaywardian maintains his optimism

in tough situations and graduallymoves towards the next milestone.

Ambika Sharma, chief operatingofficer, Jagran Solutions, says, “Inthe current market scenario, brandslook for a communication mediumwhere they can engage and commu-nicate the brand proposition directlyto their consumers. Street playshave been a very instrumental andeffective medium in fulfilling this

objective.”The agency, which has already

used the medium for other brandssuch as Mahindra and DLF, gath-ered that it helps in developing andestablishing a direct and strongbrand connect with the consumers,with a high return on investment.

The activity is being carried outin Tier I, Tier II and Tier III cities inUP and Haryana, targeting con-sumers in the age group of 20-40years belonging to SEC C and D.

She adds, “The activation brings

HAYWARDS

The new platform offers online solutions to outdoor advertisers and agencies. By Surina Sayal

BRAINCHILD BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

Online Execution NEWSOOH

The brand is engaging consumers through plays. By Poojya Trivedi

Celebrating Courage

Sharma:entertainingaudienceswith streetplaysSU

SHIL

KUM

AR

The application enables advertisers and agencies to

execute pan-India campaigns.



Surprises could be rude or notwelcome and going by the newAegon Religare Life Insurance

campaign, it could make one buyinsurance, too. Known for its cam-paigns that have taken alternativeroutes to communication in the cate-gory (Wonder Babies and KamInsurance Lene Ki Bimari), the insur-ance company now talks of how lifehas an uncanny way of throwing sur-prises - not necessary pleasant ones -and how it is always better to be prepared.

The three television commercials have beencreated by Ogilvy India and produced by NirvanaFilms for the ‘Life Can Surprise You’ campaign.Through everyday situations, they show how justabout anything can happen at anytime.

The first TVC shows a laughter club with agroup of senior citizen laughing out loud in a park.Soon, a bee flies right into the mouth of one of themen as the rest of the group watches in shock.

The second film shows three men returning

from a fancy dress party, dressed up as a cow, a rab-bit and a deer. The one dressed as a deer stops thecar and heads to the forest nearby to answernature’s call - when he is shot at by a hunter!

In the third commercial, a young executive isshown talking into the phone, walking across hisoffice. He soon enters a room where he leansagainst a glass window - only to fall out of it. A cou-ple of men who had just removed the glass fromthe window look around with surprise.

Each ad ends with a cheeky music note and a

line that says ‘Life can surprise you’.This is Ogilvy’s first campaign for

the company after the businessmoved from Contract Advertising.The team includes Anup Chitnis,ECD and Anuraag Khandelwal, sen-ior creative director.

Highlighting the need to beinsured, the campaign, using humouras a premise, ensures that the messag-ing lands as relevant and avoids beingmorbid or frivolous. The brief said

that the campaign should put across the messagethat it is an uncertain world with certain solutions.

Explaining how the films are actually openended, Pradeep Pandey, director, branding andcommunication, Aegon Religare Life Insurancesays that it is just a bee that is shown moving in andnot anything fatal that happens to the old man. Thehunter is shown shooting at the antler and not nec-essarily the man and the height of the building is

NEWSPEOPLE

The campaign puts across the message of an uncertain world with foolproof solutions. By Biprorshee Das

AEGON RELIGARE

Don’t Get Caught Napping


<< continued from page 34

Don’t Get Caught...

PROFILE |NEWS

When Venugopal Iyengar joinedMahindra and Mahindra, in1993, straight out of Pune

University, it taught him how little-pre-pared he was for the real world. In theyear that he spent there as an automo-

bile engineer, Iyengar realised thattheories don’t work outside the class-room. He went on to pursue an MBA inMarketing from Pune University.

Iyengar then joined ORG-MARG(now The Nielsen Company), theresearch firm, as a research executiveand was given the automobile, liquorand tobacco beats. He was involved inthe concept testing, pricing researchand communication design for brandssuch as ITC, Smirnoff and Mahindraand Mahindra. He spent two-and-a-half years there.

It was also a time when retail wasbooming. A friend told him thatShoppers’ Stop was looking for people.An interview with B S Nagesh con-vinced him to join retail. He joinedShoppers’ Stop as the head of the mer-chandising division for kids.

He describes that stint as ‘a funride’. “We were strong in the West andSouth and were launching for the firsttime in the North, which had its ownpeculiarities,” he reminisces.

Delhi, for instance, had differentkind of consumers, in terms of theirspending patterns, the time and natureof spending and most importantlytheir motivation towards spending.Another revelation for Iyengar was theimportance of children in making apurchase decision. However, gettingthe parents to spend was difficult. Forthe average Indian consumer, evennow, kids’ apparel is somethingthat has a short shelf-life as kidsoutgrow them fast. So parents tend to be prudent.

In 2001, he got an offer from Buena VistaInternational which ran kids’ branded programmingblocks (Disney animation) on various channels such asDD, Sony and Eenadu. Iyengar was responsible forpromoting the blocks. With the advent of 24-hour kids’channels, however, the viewership of blocks starteddipping as the platform was losing strength.

In 2002, he moved to kids’ channel Nickelodeon,part of MTV Networks. Despite being in a two-playermarket then, Nickelodeon wasn’t able to garner sub-stantial share. “I learnt about the importance of strongdistribution and localisation,” he says. Later, Iyengar,who was yearning to work on a larger canvas, grabbedan offer from Zee Cinema and joined as deputy vicepresident, marketing. He learnt the fundamentals ofmass television, calling it an ‘eye-opening’ experience.

One of the things he and his team implemented at

Zee was break-monitoring. Researchsuggested that people found it boringto watch movies because of the longbreaks. “We made the breaks consis-tent and made it more engaging byproducing content for the breaks.”

Next, he went on to join Disney asmarketing head in 2006. Disney givesimmense importance to franchisemanagement. He cites the example ofteen show Hannah Montana whichwas promoted heavily on and off-airand on various platforms. He went on

to head marketing for Jetix and Hungama as well in thenext 24 months.

While at Disney, he had worked with DTH opera-tors. “Sun Direct was a chance for me to do marketingof a different kind and get involved in content anddevelop VAS with the second-largest player in theDTH space,” he says. His new job entails managingSun Direct and Sun HD, creating compelling productpropositions for both, working with retail channels,ATL and BTL activities, creating promotional offersand simplifying communication.

Being from the broadcaster side, Iyengar believes hehas an advantage. “It is about making a difference to theway people engage with television - from the viewingexperience to the manner in which you watch TV andmaking consumers see the higher value of that experi-ence,” says the cycling and running enthusiast. �

[email protected]

PROFILE I VENUGOPAL IYENGAR I HEAD I MARKETING I SUN DIRECT

Fleet of FootBy Sapna Nair

“Learning thefundamentals

of masstelevision

was aneye-opener.”

FOTO

CORP

not shown in the Window TVC.“You do not need to be morose allthe time to advertise in this category.We have been careful not to go overthe top. This is really not laughingout loud material but this is how youhold the people’s attention. You donot want to remind people of thesame grim realities,” says Chitnis.

“It is very easy to show a smilingfamily in an insurance ad but then noone would remember it. Our objec-tive was to inform and impress theconsumer and so it better be some-thing new and fresh,” adds Pandey.

The Rs 5 crore-campaign, led bytelevision, will be supported by digi-tal and online media. Mediacomhandles companies media duties.

SURPRISE VERDICT

The films evoke mixed responsesfrom creative experts. While

some see humour taking away theseriousness of insurance, others saythat the insight could be more seriousthan one imagines.

Ambar Chakravarty, ECD,Publicis Ambience is a tad disap-pointed. He says, “Insurance is aserious business. Humour hereneeds to calibrate, keeping in mindthe category and the consumer”.

Nitin Pradhan, ECD (Uninor),Leo Burnett, on the other hand,finds the approach fresh. He is of theview that it is a good positioning forthe brand to take and will resonatewell with the audience. “Watchingthe ads from a viewer’s point of view,I find them engaging and easy toremember,” says Pradhan. He addsthe lighthearted take, if taken with apinch of salt, is far more serious thanactually showing a grim situation.

“Surprise, by definition, does notcome every day. Hence, the situationin such films must be believable.One must be careful because therecould be a very thin line betweenwhat is believable and what is con-sidered outlandish,” he says.

Both Chakravarty and Pradhanput their money on the Windowfilm, which they think is more relat-able. “A joke will not make me buyinsurance but a good argumentwould. The Window film does that.It is more relevant than the rest andyet funny. The rest are a bit over thetop and come across as trying toohard,” says Chakravarty.

Pradhan agrees. “The Windowfilm looks the best and most real. Itlooks like it could actually happen.The others might just make one feel,Yaar, ye thodi hota hai,” he quips. �

[email protected]


> BBDO has announced the appointmentof Nagessh Pannaswami as head ofits Mumbai operation. Pannaswamimoves in from McCann Worldgroup,where he was leading Altitude, one ofMcCann’s key divisions, which focuses onIndia’s growing list of entrepreneurs andSME clients. He will report to Ajay Jhala,CEO, BBDO India. He will be responsiblefor the creative culture, new business development, overallgrowth and performance of BBDO’s Mumbai operation, whichhas a core group of blue chip clients such as P&G Gillette India,Godrej, Bayer and J&J.

> Rajib Sinha, general manager, Dentsu Communicationshas moved to LG Ad as general manager. He will report to JuneKim, managing director, LG Ad. In this new role, Sinha will beresponsible for planning the way ahead for the agency andoverseeing all the accounts. Sinha is a science graduate andhas an experience of 13 years in software and advertising.Over the years, he has worked on brands such as Nestle,Aircel, Panasonic, Reckitt Benckiser, Woodland and LG.

> Gopal Krishnan, ex business head, Rediffusion Y&R hasmoved to Mudra as vice-president. He will be based in Delhiand report to Ajay Naqvi, executive vice-president and head,North and East, Mudra. The news has been confirmed bysources close to the development. He will mainly look aftersome key accounts, contributing to the overall growth of theagency.

> JWT Delhi has announced the appoint-ment of Adrian Miller as chief creativeofficer. Earlier, Miller was executive cre-ative director, Saatchi & Saatchi,Malaysia and Singapore. He will be basedin JWT Delhi, the agency’s largest oper-ating unit in India. He will work closelywith Rohit Ohri, senior vice-president andmanaging partner and Colvyn Harris,

chief executive officer, JWT. At JWT Delhi, Miller’s main focuswill be to lead clients into an idea driven space that is medianeutral. The appointment is expected to strengthen the officeand will consequently ensure future leadership in the market.

> Grey Delhi has roped in Ketan Desai to head the branch.He shall be designated associate vice-president and branchhead and report to Jishnu Sen, chief operating officer, GreyIndia. Desai began his career with Grey in Kolkata 11 yearsago. He has worked in several Grey offices across several ver-ticals such as automobiles, media, FMCG, hospitality and

tobacco. He has worked on brands such as Audi, Revlon andHindustan Times. More recently, Desai has been focussing ondeveloping Grey’s unique HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and cafe)

offering.

> Anindya Banerjee has joined Law &Kenneth as executive creative director ofthe Delhi branch. He will also be responsi-ble for handling the Kolkata office andreport directly to Anil Nair, CEO and man-aging partner, and Praveen Kenneth,co-chairman and MD. Banerjee has over15 years of experience across agencies,

working on brands including Maggi, Hewlett Packard, IBM,Vodafone, Limca, Dabur Vatika, GSK (Crocin, Crocin Pain Reliefand Eno), Allen Solly, LG Phones and Maruti. He was also thearchitect of Maggi’s Me and Meri Maggi campaign.

> The specialist small-town and rural marketing unit ofStarcom Mediavest, Xpanse Asia has got on-board SheetalDasgupta as business director. She will be based out of

Mumbai and will report to Sandip Bansal,country head, Xpanse Asia. In this newrole, she will lead the business develop-ment, opening new categories of clients.Her job would be to develop business andeducate clients on the right way to lookat rural marketing. Dasgupta joinsXpanse Asia with 15 years of experience,of which 10 years have been spent inrural marketing.

> Hemanth Shah, executive vice-president and revenuehead, Times OOH, the out-of-home arm of Times InnovativeMedia, has moved to Lintas Media Group(LMG) as president, out-of-homeInitiatives. At LMG, he will report to chair-man and CEO, Lynn de Souza. In his newrole, Shah will look at LMG’s expansioninto all OOH consumer spaces, includingretail, events, transport, sports and out-door. He will work with the group’s otherOOH arms, Aaren Initiative and KarishmaInitiative, to service existing accounts andbring in new businesses. Shah has over 20 years of work expe-

rience, of which 15 years have been spentin the OOH industry.

> Primesite, Mudra MAX’s out-of-homesolutions unit, has roped in MonishaMitra as general manager. Prior to this,she was with Kinetic, GroupM as head -strategy and planning. She will be basedout of Mumbai and will report to MandeepMalhotra, senior vice-president.

OOH

> Digital video advertising solutionprovider Vdopia has roped in LovnishBhatia as general manager, businessdevelopment. Earlier, Bhatia was work-ing with Viacom18 as senior manager,business development. Bhatia willreport to Debadutta Upadhyaya, vice-president, India, Vdopia. Bhatia hasmore than 10 years of experience. Hejoined Viacom18 in 2008 and was looking after the ad salesof MTV India, Nick India and Colors websites.

> US-based digital advertising solution provider, Zedo, hashired Sanjay Sinha as senior vice-president. Sinha wasearlier with i-Media Corporation (IMCL), the digital arm ofBhaskar group, as general manager, ad sales and market-ing. Sinha has about 19 years of work experience acrossmedia and telecom. Of that, he has spent about 12 years inthe media space.

> Guneet Singh, lead, integratedmarketing and communications, con-sumer and online, Microsoft India hasquit the company to become an entre-preneur. Singh has partnered withHarish Bahl, founder and chief execu-tive officer, Smile InteractiveTechnologies Group and TarunSobhani, erstwhile director and ad

sales head, AOL (India) to become director and co-founderof Dealsandyou.com. Bahl and Sobhani are the other co-founders of the group buying site.

DIGITAL

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

NEWSPEOPLE

ADVERTISING

> DTH player DishTV has appointedRC Venkateish as chief executiveofficer. The post of CEO was vacantsince 2009 after Vinay Aggarawal quitthe organisation. Early this month,Venkateish had put in his papers atESPN-STAR Sports (ESS) India as man-aging director. He has 27 years ofexperience across marketing and media sectors.

MEDIA


than 5 lakh by end of this year.The platform not only provides

site level data and photos but alsogives indicative rates, thus aiding themedia plan as per the allocatedbudget. Finer details about the exe-cution and final pricing are discussedoffline between theadvertiser-agency andBrainchild’s representa-tive.

How does this winover other sites that havesimilar offerings? A con-fident Khan says, “Wecover the whole of India,not only metro andmini-metros. For exam-ple, from Bihar, we have

about 50 cities and towns in ourinventory. I am not sure if one canname even five cities from Bihar,unless you belong to Bihar. That isthe kind of coverage we are offer-ing.”

Currently, about a dozen ofBrainchild’s clients ranging fromeducation, infrastructure and retailsectors are already using this applica-tion.

Khan concludes, “Itwill be very interestingto see whetherBrainchild will have tocompete with big OOHmedia agencies or, alongwith them, leverage eachother’s strength andoffer the benefit to theadvertisers and theindustry as a whole.” �

[email protected]

Online Execution << continued from page 32

alive the brand proposition. It hasbeen designed keeping this specifictarget group in mind. It reaches outto the audience andcreates opportunitiesfor engagement withthe consumer, as wellas delivering the brandmessage.”

The play is devisedto sensitise people tothe company’s market-ing proposition, theconcept of ‘BulandHausla’ and how a common manwill rise slowly but steadily if hemaintains his resolve despite toughcircumstances. The play also high-lights the merits of adopting fair

means, hard work and education.After the skit is over, the audi-

ence is asked to share incidentsfrom their life’s struggle and is pre-sented with Haywardsmerchandise.

The activity, which started inJune, is being con-ducted for a montheach in Haryana andUP. The activity willcover 12 places inHaryana, such asSonepat, Panipat,Karnal, Ambala,Panchkula, Jind,Hissar, Rohtak,Bahadurgarh and

Riwari, Gurgaon and Faridabad,and 17 cities in UP, includingKanpur, Unnao, Basti, Barabanki,Sitapur, Badayun, among others. �

[email protected]

Celebrating... << continued from page 32

The play stresses onthe rewardsof adopting

fair practices.

Khan: wide reach


CADBURY ECLAIRS The Doob Le Zara campaign of the chocolate shows howEclairs make things exciting. The ad shows boy at a boringretro party and as soon as he pops an Eclairs, the situationturns chirpy and more colourful.

Agency: Contract AdvertisingExecutive Creative Director: Raj NairCreative Director: Kapil Sawant Film Director: Razneesh GhaiProduction House: Via Us

NOKIA X6 The telecom giant has put up a wall wrap on one of thebuildings in DLF Cyber City.

Creative Agency: Wieden+KennedyExposure: NCR

DUREX A banner ad to promote the Durex game, Putacaponit.in,was created on eve of World Population Day to increaseawareness about condom usage among youngsters. Userswere required to click on various sperms floating on theweb page and put a cap on each of them.

Creative and Media Agency: Interactive Avenues

SUGAR FREE In Sugar Free’s Step to Fitness campaign, brand ambassadorBipasha Basu urges people to take simple steps to fitness byusing the stairs instead of the elevator. The brand attemptsto move people from being fitness thinkers to fitness doers.

Agency: Rediffusion Y&RChief Creative Officer: Minakshi AchanCreative Head: Anisha SarinFilm Director: Uzer KhanProduction House: 30 secs of Fame

PARACHUTE ADVANSED The new campaign focusses on a single minded benefit –better growth of hair. The idea Khubsurat Hai Badhna workson the thought that growing as a process is gradual andbeautiful. Agency: McCann EricksonExecutive Creative Directors: Rahul Mathew andAkshay KapnadakFilm Director: Prakash VarmaProduction House: Nirvana Films

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

DIGITAL

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

AMUL In typical Amul style, the ad does a humorous take on therecent wedding of Mahendra Singh Dhoni with the copy:Jhat Makhni Pat Byah.

Agency: DaCunha Communications, IndiaCreative Director: Rahul DaCunhaCopywriter: Manish JhaveriCartoonist: Jayant Rane

TELEVISION

DLF SHOPPING FESTIVAL Making a noise about it’s ongoing shopping festival, therealty company has fabricated a life size ladies bag on amobile van.

Concept: DLFOutdoor Agency: Global AdvertisersExposure: Metros

MERCEDES BENZ The creative introduces the new E-Class variant with newfeatures for safety, performance and eco-friendliness. Thecopy boasts of how one might consider it an evolutionaryleap but for Mercedes it is just the next step.

Creative Agency: RK Swamy BBDOSenior Creative Director: Chandrashekhar Copywriter: Sean Gomes and Sanjay Ramanathan Art: Sean Gomes

MINT The campaign is forMint Money, a specialsection of researchedand analysed contenton markets andinvesting in thebusiness daily. Thecopy in this particularad talks of global realestate prices and theresearch findings.

Agency: Ogilvy,GurgaonCreative Director:Shailender Mahajanand Jossy RaphaelCopywriter: Manmeet SinghArt: Vimal Singh

PRINT

PRESENTSCAMPAIGNTRAIL

OOH

SUSH

IL K

UMAR

MARCEL FENEZ > THE GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA LEADER, PWC

“To be global, you have to be in India”Fenez, who was present at Cannes this year spoke to afaqs!Reporter on how media trends

are changing vis-a-vis India. By Prajjal Saha

Marcel Fenez, the global entertainment andmedia leader, PWC provides strategic busi-ness advice to media companies, specifically

on market entry into developing economies such asIndia and China. He is also the current elected chairmanof the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association ofAsia (CASBAA). At Cannes, where he was a speaker, hetook out time to talk to afaqs!Reporter on globalmedia trends, Indian media and also China.

afaqs!Reporter: When a global media branddesires to launch in India, what precautionarymeasures do you advise?Fenez: The first thing I would tell the brand owneris not to enter the Indian market with global under-standing. They will have to forget everythingthey’ve heard before and get rid of any misconcep-tions. They will have to do their homework on thelocal market, with the people in India - on theground information is of utmost importance.

The third thing would be an encouraging one -the improved and established infrastructure, whichis helpful for media companies entering India.

There are many examples of international brandsfailing in India. Any new brands entering the Indianmarket should learn from these mistakes. It is alsoimportant to get good local advisors.

afaqs!Reporter: Does that mean that the glob-al aura of the brand doesn’t work in a marketlike India?Fenez: You can certainly come with the globalappeal of your brand, but you cannot bank on thebelief that ‘one size fits all’. You might have thepower of your brand, as people are attracted by that.

But you should also not forget that the solutionalways has to be local.

afaqs!Reporter: What would bethe future of television distri-bution in the country? On theone hand, the pipeline is get-ting clogged, be it cable orDTH, while on the other,everyone is fighting to find aplace in the prime band.Fenez: Ultimately, we allknow that the big endgame isthe big pipe, though we willhave to define how far awaythe end is. There are next-generation networks, like wesee in Singapore or Australia,which could be the answer.

Consider the wholemobile story in India. Weknow that in India, whilethere is an explosion ofmobile, there are very fewinternet users or mobileinternet users. At somepoint in time though, thatwill change.

So, I think that theinteresting dilemma isthat you have someinfrastructure progress-ing slowly, but you alsohave the market

demand really ramping up. Will this happen quick-ly enough? That is the dilemma.

I think if it continues at the current rate, thenyou will see some significant clogging of those exist-ing pipes. Ultimately, that might restrict theopportunity the Indian market has. There is a realurgency around addressing that issue.

But, because of these issues, traditional mediastill has a pretty long life in India. That is why manymedia organisations are interested in the Indianmarket, because it has so many dimensions to it. Ithink that is what makes it a fascinating market.

afaqs!Reporter: Traditional media, such as tel-evision and print, still take away 85 per cent ofrevenue from advertising. What will it take tochange that pie in the next few years? Or, doyou think it will stay the same?Fenez: I do not think the dial is going to move allthat much in the next five years because of the pipeissue. Ten years from now, you will begin to seesome change. Over a five-year period, you will seesigns, but you will not necessarily see it having a sig-nificant impact.

That said, some really interesting things wouldhappen to some brands, where they will use digitalmedia, but on a very small demography. Thosebrands, however, would target a relatively nicheaudience, who could afford such access and have alifestyle that plays to that.

But, to answer the basic question of whetherthings would change dramatically in the near future- no, they would not. That does not mean there isno innovation. It just means that for big advertiserstargeting big audiences, it is still the same.

afaqs!Reporter: Can small, niche brands sur-vive on digital media, without any massadvertising?Fenez: It would depend on what their target audi-ence is. If their target is of a certain demographic,they could actually reach the audience quite quick-ly and cheaply through digital media. They wouldnot need to look at hi-fi TV spots. So, I definitelythink that they could survive and do well.Obviously, the big consumer brands may still go toTV and print.

Previously, I would have said that youth or sportsbrands would go the digital way, but not anymore.IPL has again changed the way the future was to beshaped.

afaqs!Reporter: People are still struggling touse the mobile as an advertising medium,especially in India.Fenez: I think that story has been true across theworld. We have been talking about mobile for longnow, but we have not seen it translating into num-bers yet. There is a basic reason for that.

At the end of the day, the mobile phone is adevice that is user friendly, a service provision that isreliable and rich content. In some markets, therewould be one or two things present together; but inIndia, there is none. It’s hardly surprising, therefore,that there hasn’t been any significant movement interms of mobile advertising.

In other markets that are beginning to addressthe three points, we are seeing some traction. Thedevice revolution over the last 18 months has reallybegun to change the landscape. Now, people have adevice, an interface that they are beginning to getcomfortable with. So, the device problem has beensolved. So, now we are beginning to focus on con-tent. There are also issues over infrastructure insome markets.

I think it is a journey, but the jour-ney is now really happening. Untilnow, people were wondering over thekind of content, without thinking ofthe device. But once the device infra-structure is in place, the focus couldshift to content, maybe some news orsports. But we need the device that wecan really believe in.

afaqs!Reporter: You first thinkabout the content, and thenadvertising?Fenez: Well, first you think about theconsumer! What is it that the con-sumer wants on his mobile? Work thatout, and then think how the advertis-ing proposition fits with that.

When the consumer did not havethe device with which he could visu-alise what he wanted, then it was always going to befairly narrow.

afaqs!reporter: Magazines across the worldhave seen a decline. Do you think magazineshave to reinvent themselves? Do you thinkthere is still hope for print magazines?Fenez: We have to be careful while talking aboutmagazines. We have to specify which format we aretalking about. Magazine brands have a definite life.The question is the format. The drivers are defi-nitely technology and what the consumer wants,but markets differ.

For example, consumers in China like to be seenassociated with brands. There is a cultural thing thatsays, “I get value by being seen with a brand”. Oneof the great brands in the world is a magazine, andyou want to be seen with an iconic brand. You can-not have it on your mobile phone. You want to beseen carrying a copy of a great publication.

That is such a local market fact. It should not beoverplayed, because it does not apply to everyone.But it means that even in markets that are highlyconnected, you still may get a print product.

There is no question that the e-readers in manymarkets are making consumption of magazinesonline a true proposition. Many magazine brandsare now looking at what could be extensions of thebrands. Would that be in print? It will depend frommarket to market. In the Indian context, I think itwill be in print.

It could be true in the case of mass magazines.Trade magazines, for instance, may be more online.Consumer magazines could be slightly different.So, I think local market factors could make printproducts survive for longer than they otherwisewould have.

While we say that, broadband means everything.But broadband has to be affordable and accessibleand you will still find some local-market variations.

afaqs!Reporter: How do you compare theChinese and the Indian markets?Fenez: The thing that is similar is advertisinggrowth. After that, there is almost nothing in com-mon. The good thing is that there are particularlybig ad spends that are coming into both markets.When you look at the complexion and the featuresof each market, they are really very different.

A part of that, of course, is historical, and has todo with the control of content. Some of it has to dowith infrastructure and also the impact of demo-graphics. The average family sizes in India and

China impact many things including media con-sumption. The one-child policy in China has reallyhad a big impact. To me, other than the growthstory, they are very different.

afaqs!Reporter: Specialised channels in Indiahave been struggling in terms of advertisingrevenue, because the skew is always towardsthe mass channels. Content acquisition, attimes, could be very high for the special chan-nels, but the subscription money is not there.What is the way out for them?Fenez: In some markets in niche areas, it is nor-mally about subscription, and then very highlyfocussed advertising. That is the normal model.

I think, in the particular case of India, there isstill room for progress. But then, there are otherstreams of revenue that people need to consider. Wehave not yet got our minds around the transaction-al components in some of these more niche areas.

If you start talking about channels as content ver-ticals, you begin to open up whole new areas.

In the meantime, it is also a matter of how to getmore addressability. Theoretically, the nice thingabout niche is that it means that you can get a high-

ly targeted audience. Pay channels all over the worldwould argue about that - it is not about the masseyeballs, but the right eyeballs.

So, if you say content acquisition is much high-er in niche areas, then one needs to look at theextensions of the content.

One needs to think not just platforms, but howto use the brand to interact with consumers. Thedifferent versions of the Idols across the world, forexample, are not just about the basic voting. TheAmerican Idol has its tours and the Indian Idol has itsacts, and so on.

afaqs!Reporter: Do you think in a market likeIndia, advertisers are ready to pay a premiumfor specialised channels? It is still a quantita-

tive-led system. Will that changeand move to qualitative?Fenez: You have to go back to theconsumer again, which shall say whatyour brand is and who you can reach.If you want to reach the high-endsegment, one knows where the con-sumers are and what they arewatching. So, it becomes much tar-geted that way. But, let’s face it, inIndia, the majority of advertising isstill about reaching millions and mil-lions of people. I think there iscertainly a place for the niche.

The Indian ad market has beenvery small until recently. Inevitably,the first sort of rush of new activitywill be around the mass brands. Thenext wave would be around moresophisticated and niche ones. And

that is when you start getting into some of theseother considerations.

Most markets demonstrate the same things. It isjust over what period of time, which is the issue.

afaqs!Reporter: What are the advantages ofbeing in India for a global brand?Fenez: You cannot call yourself a global brandunless you are in India. It is as simple as that. To betruly global, you have to address the major marketsof the world, and so, you have to be in India. Tome, that is non-negotiable.

There are things that are happening in Indiaover the past 20 years, which overseas companiescan learn from as well. A market that is as dynam-ic also provides learnings for other marketsglobally.

But it is not just about a brand that is workingits brand value by bringing stuff in. It is also abouthow you create a local version of the brand. Thatis when you really get that soft spot.

afaqs!Reporter: What has been the learningfrom the Indian market?Fenez: People will make mistakes. India is a pret-ty good case in point. Many brands came into India35 years ago and then went out again. Well, theydid it the wrong way, and they learnt the lesson.That lesson is very valuable when you are solvingproblems in other markets around the world.

The Zee channels, for instance, have beenaround the world. That is very compelling and thatworked very well. Zee was one of the first non-USor UK channels to have a worldwide presence.This was followed by Russian and Arabic chan-nels. So, that is a very good example. �

[email protected]

“In India, themajority of

advertising is stillabout reaching

millions of people.I think there is

certainly a place forthe niche.”


INTERVIEW

The first sort of rush ofnew activity will be

around the mass brands.The next wave would be

around more sophisticatedand niche ones.


In a bid to aim for the larger pie, Pix has decid-ed to change its focus from being a premiumEnglish movie channel known for airing classic

Hollywood movies, to one that airs current block-busters. In fact, the shift began last year, when thechannel aired Slumdog Millionaire.

Talking about the new strategy, Pix businesshead, Sunder Aaron says, “It’s a step-up in strate-gy, not a change. We have accelerated the processof transforming our channel. The intention wasalways to make it a current movie channel, and theseeds of that were sown last year.”

This year, the channel wants to get moreaggressive with its new positioning. For that, it hasalready donned a slicker and more contemporarylook. Besides, blockbuster movies such as HurtLocker and District 9 have been lined up.

“Advertisers and viewers flock to channels thatair current blockbuster movies. We want to get alarger share of the English movie genre, aiming for25 per cent share, and play in the league of HBOand STAR Movies,” he says.

As of this year, STAR Movies commands anaverage share of 42 per cent, followed by HBO,which holds 28 per cent (Jan-Jun 2010, C&S, 15+,all India). Pix currently holds a 14 per cent share.

When it was launched, the channel enjoyed aclear distinction of being a premier English moviechannel that would air classics. About why thechannel is changing its positioning, Aaron says thata brand could be launched with a certain position-ing, but could evolve into something else.

“When we launched the channel, we alwaysknew where we would take it. We needed tolaunch with a lot of library movies, because the

economics demanded it. Now that we have built asolid base of viewers over the last few years, andthe channel has thrived and done well, we decidedto reinvest in it,” he explains.

While the library movies are still on the chan-nel, they are neither as predominant, nor are theyscheduled on primetime as frequently as they wereearlier. Aaron admits that in order to play the realbig game, blockbuster movies is the way to go.

With its old positioning, Pix attracted a sizeablechunk of older viewers. In order to attract youngerviewers, the Pix movie club was launched, whichscreens big Hollywood releases at reduced pricesfor students in various cities. The channel alsoplans to get another season of the FootballAssociation Challenge Cup, popularly known asthe FA Cup, in order to widen its reach.

Pix, Aaron claims, has the clear advantage ofbeing the only Indian Hollywood channel.“Unlike other channels, Pix is made in India, forIndia, by Indians. We programme our channelshere and that’s a big advantage we have,” he says.Movies around Indian themes will also find theirway to the channel.

The channel is also slated to launch a brandcampaign towards the end of September tostrengthen its positioning in the market. �

[email protected]

The Patna-based PatliputraGroup, which has interests inreal estate, telecommunica-

tions and pharmaceuticals, is all set tomake inroads into the media sector.

The group plans to launch a newschannel called Aryan TV, which willcater to audiences in Bihar andJharkhand and will make its debut inAugust.

Talking about the planned launch,Anil Kumar, chief managing director,Patliputra Group of Companies,says, “ The media sector in Bihar isgrowing year on year by 10-12 percent. The last entrant in the market

was Maurya TV, launched by PrakashJha. The channel is learned to havegot good response from advertisers.This gives us the confidence.”

Currently, there are 15 newschannels in the Bihar market.

Speaking on the channel’s roleand place in a crowded market,Kumar says, “We will be the voice ofthe people. Also, in terms of content,news will constitute 75 per cent of airtime, while the remaining 25 percent will be entertainment based pro-gramming.”

The revenue for broadcast (elec-tronic) media in Bihar, comprisingthe GECs and the news channels, isestimated to be Rs 20 crore. Kumarinforms that as far as advertising rev-enue is concerned, 60 per cent ofrevenue comes from the governmentsector, while the private sector con-tributes 40 per cent. �

[email protected]

ARYAN TV

The English-movie channel is aiming for a 25 per cent share in the genre bytelecasting blockbuster movies. By Sapna Nair

PIX

For Better or Worse?NEWSMEDIA

“Advertisers andviewers flock tochannels that air

current blockbustermovies. We want toget a larger share.”SUNDER AARON

The news channel will cater to audiences in Bihar and Jharkand. By Sangeeta Tanwar

Positioning ‘It’ Right

Kumar: for the people

Currently, there are 15 news channels inthe Bihar market.


NEWSBOOKS

ARNAB BANERJEEExecutive Director-sales, marketing andoutsourcing, CEAT

In the book the author has used several instancesfrom the Mahabharata to raise the constant

dilemma about what is good. Is goodness based onsome fundamental principles? Is it contextual? Is itrelative or are there several interpretations of good-

ness? Bheeshma’s stand of not interfering when Draupadi was beingdisrobed presents us with a very difficult moment of truth. Krishna’s callof duty to Arjun during the epic battle of Kurukshetra was also debatablefrom the context of what purpose did it serve? Das raises several suchquestions which are really thought provoking. The book has a lucid styleand leaves a deep impact. It is indeed difficult to be good in every situa-tion with conflicting calls of duty. Das has brought this dilemma alive intoday’s context.

Although it is difficult to find time so I read most-ly over the weekends. I pick up books frombookstores in the malls or from the airport. I have ahabit of browsing for books and pick up a book pure-ly on impulse.

I am about to read a biography on Timur thelame. I developed interest about this terrific warriorafter my recent trip to Uzbekistan.

As told to Poojya Trivedi

Reading Room

WHAT WOMEN WANTThe Global Marketplace Turns Female Friendly

Author: Paco UnderhillPublisher: Simon & Schuster

The author of the hugely successful Why We Buyand The Call of the Mall, reports on the growing

importance of women in everybody’s marketplace -what makes a package, product, space, or service“female friendly.”

Underhill offers a tour of the world’s marketplace with shrewd observa-tions and practical applications to help everybody adapt to the new realities.The author examines how a woman’s role as a homemaker has evolved intohomeowner and what women look for in a home. He raises question such as:Why the refrigerator has trumped the stove as the crucial appliance? Thepoint is writes Underhill, “while men were busy doing other things, womenwere becoming a major social, cultural, and economic force.” And, as hewarns, no business can afford to ignore their power and presence.

SHIFTHow to Reinvent Your Business, Your Career, and Your Personal Brand

Author: Peter ArnellPublisher: Broadway Business

Now in his fourth decade of branding and mar-keting for companies such as Samsung, Reebok,

DKNY, GNC, and Pepsi, Peter Arnell explains howyou can use some of the same strategies that famous brands do, in order toimprove your own image, life, and career. Arnell knows this firsthand becausehe applied many of these same strategies to transform his own life by losing256 pounds.

How did he do it? By creating an idea he calls ‘Shift.’

New Arrivals

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2 Years 48 Rs. 2,400 /- Rs. 1,440 /- 40 %

The Steal-a-Deal Offer

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JOBSWITCH

JOBSWITCHOrganization Name: Games2winIndia Private LimitedPosition: Business ManagerProfile: Looking for a candidatewho has been in the Internetcontent and online advertisingbusiness for at least 2 years.Location: MumbaiEmail: maya@games2win.com............................................................Organization Name: SparrowInteractive Pvt. Ltd.Position: CopywriterProfile: The applicant should haveexcellent command over written andspoken English. She/He must becreative in thoughts with strongvisualization skills. Experience of atleast 2 years is desired.Location: DelhiEmail: jobs@sparrowi.com............................................................Organization Name: India MARTIntermesh LtdPosition: Channel Sales ManagerProfile: Candidate with relevantexperience in DSA Handling,Franchise and Channel distributionis desired. She/ He should have atleast 3 years of relevant experience.Location: HyderabadEmail: jobs@indiamart.com............................................................Organization Name: AmbienceLtd.Position: DGM-MarketingProfile: The applicant shouldpossess a degree in EventManagement from a leadinginstitute with at least 8 years ofexperience.Location: GurgaonEmail:ambienceprojects@gmail.com............................................................Organization Name: MRMWorldwidePosition: Art Director and AccountDirectorLocation: MumbaiProfile: Art Director: The applicantshould have a degree in art from aninstitute of repute, hands offexperience in Digital Design –Websites, Online Campaigns etc. ofover 7 years, thoroughunderstanding of digital mediumand the ability to generate &visualize ideas quickly, managecreative projects and translateservicing briefs into creativestrategies for online media.Account Director: The candidate willbe responsible for successfuldevelopment & implementation ofboth global & local client campaigns,

identifying & progress strategicdevelopment & new businessopportunities with clients,work withthe MRM Team to ensure leverageand appropriate application ofguidance for Global initiatives. Atleast 6 years DirectMarketing/CRM/marketingexperience within an Agency or theClient side is desired.Email:manoj.mansukhani@mccann.com............................................................Organization Name: WITSInteractive Private LimitedPosition: Senior VisualiserLocation: MumbaiProfile: The incumbent shouldhave the ability to developexceptional brand communicationacross all mediums, capability ofunderstanding client requirements& aspiration and to be able totranslate brief into solutions. She/He should have a degree/diploma inGraphic Design/CommercialArt/BFA with a minimum 2 yearsagency experience and an interestingportfolio across mediums. Extensiveknowledge of Corel draw/Photoshop/ Illustrator/Flash/Indesign is desired.Email:[email protected]............................................................Organization Name: VibgyorBrand Services Private LimitedPosition: Business DevelopmentManagerLocation: Delhi & MumbaiProfile: The candidate will beresponsible for managing existingrelationships effectively as well asreaching out to new clients andoffering them innovative solutionsin the field of promotional andexperiential marketing. She/ He willbe leading a team of 2 – 3 marketingexecutives and give end to endsupport to clients thereby creatingsustained and viable businessopportunities for the organisation.2-5 years in Business Development /client servicing in a field related toBTL / Event management is desired.Email: hr@vibgyor.in............................................................Organization Name: PrimetimeInternational Services Pvt LtdPosition: Account ManagerProfile: The applicant should befrom media or consumer goodsindustry with a post graduation inMedia / Marketing. Experience of atleast 2 years is desired.Location: Mumbai

Email: kajal@primetimeindia.com............................................................Organization Name: Percept Ltd.Position: Manager - PR (CorporateCommunications)Profile: The incumbent will have todraft press release, coordinate andensure timely dissemination of thesame. Experience of at least 2 yearsis desired.Location: MumbaiEmail: jobs@perceptindia.in............................................................Organization Name: PMGIntegrated Communications Pvt LtdPosition: Account DirectorLocation: BangaloreProfile: The successful candidatewill assume a highly fulfilling roleof leading and managing overallfunctions of client servicing andmarketing communication projects.She / He will proactively canvassand develop new accounts andbusiness & oversee day to dayoperations. Degree/AdvanceDiploma in Mass Communications,Business or Marketing Managementwith 8-10 years’ experience in clientservicing and/or Marcom projectmanagement is desiredEmail:sophie.johnson@pmgasia.com............................................................Organization Name: TheEconomist GroupPosition: Sales DirectorLocation: MumbaiLocation: MumbaiProfile: Candidate must have goodcommunication skill and should beable to handle large sales team. She/He should have good exposer ofNorth, East, South and West as aRegional Sales Manager in anyFMCG company dealing with thefrozen foods. At least 15 years ofrelevant experience is desiredEmail: hr@freshvalley.in............................................................Organization Name: WatermelonAdvertisingPosition: Art DirectorLocation: MumbaiProfile: The successful candidateshould have the ability to work in ateam, generate brand andcommunication ideas and followthrough to execution. She/ Heshould have Art Degree., an existingArt + Copy team is particularlywelcome. At least 3 years ofexperience, with some exposure tomajor brands is desired.Email: [email protected]............................................................


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