tbr_october_1-15_2010-lr

What happens when brands hijack their competitors’ campaigns.

40

Back with GroupM, for a second innings.

PLUSPOKEN Electronic Introduction 30

GOOGLE The Search Continues 32

LITEFAST 360 From all Angles 46

ENGLISH NEWS CHANNELS Tremors at the Top 50

101 MARKETS Small Town, Big Spend 56

12

Its latest innovation uses an audio module.

VOLKSWAGENLook, Who’s Talking

PROFILETushar Vyas

14

OOHRecovery ModeThe outdoor scenario in Chennai is looking good.

42

October 1-15, 2010 `50Volume 1, Issue 19

EDITORIAL

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

Volume 1, Issue 19This fortnight...Ambush advertising, or ambush marketing, is here to stay. And it is getting more creative all

the while. What actually happens when an attacker adjusts the crosshairs and takes aim at its competitor’s brand campaign?

Most ambush advertising instances are attached to events like sports championships and meets. Some of it happens round the year too. As the examples in this fortnight’s cover story show, brands big and small have let themselves be exposed to ‘sniper fire’ as it were.

Is a brand completely at the mercy of the attacker? Are there any rules in this game? Does ambush marketing always work well? Does the consumer, who one assumes is whom the advertiser wants to sway, really care?

In the case of sporting events, the organiser is keen to make sure that its sponsors’ rights are protected. The organising committee of the London Olympics in 2012, for instance, has already booked all available hoarding space in the city during the Games. The Atlanta Olympics in 1996 is considered a game-changer as ambush marketers went on a rampage, giving the organisers a major headache in the process. In the aftermath, protective rules were tightened further as everyone woke up to the reality.

How does a brand tackle an ambush when there is no such protection? The recent Dove story caused quite a stir in P&G’s scheme of things when it hijacked the latter’s teaser billboard for Pantene.

Though much of the ambushing happen outdoors, today, digital media has made it that much faster for the attacker brand to unsettle the victim. The ambush strategy on the ground is sharpened even further as the hijacker’s arrow blasts it way through sites like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

Cheeky, irreverent, naughty and finding its mark almost every time, ambush advertising can only get naughtier and cheekier as marketers find newer ways to irritate their competitors. It is up to the ‘victim’ to look for insulation.

That is what the cover story explores.


40

Back with GroupM, for a second innings.

PLUSPOKEN Electronic Introduction 30

GOOGLE The Search Continues 32

LITEFAST 360 From all Angles 46

ENGLISH NEWS CHANNELS Tremors at the Top 50

101 MARKETS Small Town, Big Spend 56

12

Its latest innovation uses an audio module.

VOLKSWAGENLook, Who’s Talking

PROFILETushar Vyas

14

OOHRecovery ModeThe outdoor scenario in Chennai is looking good.

42

October 1-15, 2010 `50Volume 1, Issue 19

EDITOR Sreekant Khandekar

PUBLISHER Prasanna Singh

SENIOR LAYOUT ARTISTVinay Dominic

LOGISTICSRajesh Kanwal

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

Neeraj Ranjan, 09886846842 Bangalore

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Marketing OfficeB-3, First Floor, Sector-4, Noida-201301.

Tel: (0120) 4077800.

Mumbai501-502, Makani Center, 5th Floor,

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[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

BARISTA LAVAZZAWin with CoffeeA contest that tests your coffee-making skills.

POINTS OF VIEWReality MoviesAre movie promos on reality shows as clutter-breaking as they are made out to be?

18

48SABHousewives to the ForeAspirational? SAB thinks Happy Housewives’ club is.

20

ITCKnock, KnockThe campaign for Vivel aims to reach half a million households.

PLUSFASTRACKMysterious Moves 16

TATA MFSaving Grace 26

WHERE’S MY BONEEvery Dog... 46

SPIKES ASIAIndian Show 52

BY INVITATIONTraining Theory 64

STAR PLUSBacking the Original 66

ZOOMHitting a Six 72

12

LICShifting PerspectiveA campaign puts the policyholders in focus.

24CONTENTS

M Venkatesh

Telecommunications, espe-cially mobile, has been a key sector driving growth for

several economies in the world, with the number of mobile connections having reached over 5 billion global-ly in July. India and China have been leading this growth, with about 652 million and 720 million subscribers respectively as of July.

However, according to a recent report by Ovum research, the year 2009 saw the worst telecom growth rate in a decade as global telecom operator revenues grew only by 2.2 per cent year on year. The study said slow growth could be attributed to the global economic downturn.

However, even though 2009 might have been a bad year for telecom globally, it had a mixed impact on the Indian telecom sector.

RN Prabhakar, former member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says, “There has not been much impact on Indian telecom sec-tor in 2009, unlike other markets where recession led to a decrease in demand for telecom services as people started cutting their expenses. There was also low demand for high quality value added services in these markets.”

The year 2009 marked the begin-ning of an intense tariff war amongst operators in India, with each vying for a greater hold of the mobile subscriptions market. This led to a substantial increase in the number of mobile subscribers. In 2009, about 180 million new subscribers were added, compared to only 83 million additions in 2008.

Jaideep Ghosh, executive direc-tor, KPMG, says, “From the

government’s perspective, 2009 was good as tariffs were low and more people were getting covered by telecom. Even in rural areas, the teledensity increased last year.”

The huge increase in subscriber numbers also led to a rise in demand for value added services, with opera-tors treating these services as a major revenue generator in coming times since voice average revenue per user (ARPU) has been falling.

Moreover, prices of handsets also came down with several new entrants, both local and internation-al, in the mobile handset industry.

This was responsi-ble for an increase in handset sales, which led to growth in over-all industry revenue, with about 100 to 125 million handsets sold every year.

SC Khanna, secretary general, Association of Unified Service Providers of India, is of the view that “From 2008 to 2009, there has been a growth of about 23-30 per cent in the telecom sector. The telecom market in India is dif-ferent from any other telecom market in the world. India and China are doing very

well in telecom. In fact, India is expanding at a faster rate than China now.”

Gross revenues of the Indian tel-ecom sector in 2009 fluctuated. The gross revenue surged to reach close to `40,000 crore for the quarter end-ing December 2009.

The report also says that in the year 2010, China and India alone will add 329 million new mobile phone connections, equivalent to more than the combined population of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK.

‘‘Blackberry, the brand, is repositioning itself, as its primary audience is no longer corporates. One would be surprised with the enthusiasm of young customers...’’

ANURADHA AGGARWAL, V-P MARKETING, VODAFONE ESSAR, ON THE LAUNCH OF A PREPAID SCHEME BY VODAFONE TO MAKE BLACKBERRY MORE AFFORDABLE, IN BUSINESS STANDARD.

OVUM RESEARCH

QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT

Lenovo> The company in partnership with Intel is under-taking a multi-city campaign to drive closer to its customers. Intel-Lenovo ‘Fun-on-Wheels’ aims to offer a sneak peek into the company’s latest range of notebooks and desktops. A mobile van will showcase Lenovo’s latest range of products and provide consumers a touch and feel experience. This 21-day long campaign will cover more than 12 cities.

Samsung> The electronic appliance company is look-ing at a 40 per cent jump in the sales in the East this Durga Puja. The company is relying on its new products like 3D TVs, LED TVs, new launches in home appliance and digital still cameras to create excitement in the market. In addition, Samsung is also offering its consumers a ‘Dus ka Dum Triple Zero Offer’ which includes zero processing fee and zero interest and verification charges on the pur-chase of any audio visual product.

Reliance Group & Zegna > The Milan-based luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna has formed an alliance with Reliance Brands, a part of Reliance Group, to develop the Zegna brand in India. In the next five years, the joint venture will launch 10 stores across six to seven cites, start-ing with a single-brand boutique to be opened in Hyderabad in October 2010. The company expects India to be the larg-est market in South and South East Asia for the brand.

Sponsored by��

In the next five years, the joint venture will launch 10 stores across six to seven cites.

IMRB> The latest report from IMRB International states that netizens spend close to 3.5 hours per week online. Titled Internet Audience Measurement, the report shows that the netizens spend 12 per cent less time on the weekend whereas the browsing of social networking sites increases by more than 12 per cent on Fridays. The report also states that women spend even lesser time proportionately during week-ends.

Hercules> Hercules Inext Bikeathon, an annual cycling rally recently completed its third season. This year the cycling marathon covered four states in 12 cities of Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Allahabad, Dehradun, Meerut, Varanasi, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Patna, Jamshedpur and Ranchi. Last year over 20,000 bikers had participated in this event and pledged to take up cycling for good health. Star News was the media partner of the event.

A mobile van will showcase Lenovo’s latest range of products.

Chisel & Hammer> Formerly known as Living Room Lifestyle, the company is planning to venture into new busi-nesses with a chain of electronic goods stores across metros and tier II cities. The stores will cater to customers looking for lifestyle electronic goods. Also, as part of its plans to venture into the gems and jewellery business, the company will be manufacturing gold jewellery to be sold in India and outside through exclusive brand outlets.

Fujifilm> The camera maker Fujifilm has launched the FinePix Z700EXR, the first in a new class of EXR touch screen digital camera. The camera offers the latest digital imaging technology combined with a new YouTube and Facebook easy web upload tool. Available in black, red and pink colours, the FinePix Z700EXR has a 12-megapixel Super CCD EXR sensor, a Fujinon 5x periscopic optical zoom lens and ISO levels of up to 1600 at full resolution.

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The company plans to open a chain of electronic goods stores across metros and tier II cities.

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

MARK

ETIN

G

2009 marked the beginning of an intense tariff

war amongst operators, with each vying for a greater hold of the mobile sub-

scription market.


NDTV informed the BSE that it has reached an agreement with South Asia

Creative Assets Ltd - a subsidiary of Astro All Asia Networks, to create a strategic alliance for lifestyle chan-nels in India.

As per the deal, South Asia Creative Assets will acquire a 49 per cent stake in NDTV Lifestyle Holdings (NLHPL) in the pro-posed holding company for NDTV Lifestyle. This will be done by way of subscription, which is worth $40 million (about `1822 crore). NDTV gets to hold on to the remaining 51 per cent stake in the joint ven-ture (JV). NDTV Lifestyle operates NDTV Good Times, the English lifestyle television channel.

Commenting on the deal, Anand Shah, media analyst, Angel Broking Firm, says, “The new deal comes in the wake of ter-mination of a similar pact between NDTV and US based Scripps Networks Interactive for selling major-ity stake in NDTV’s lifestyle broadcast-ing company. The new deal also comes at a valuation similar to the Scripps deal. Moreover, this time, with 51 per cent stake, NDTV gets to call the shots.”

In November 2009, Scripps bought a majority stake in NDTV’s lifestyle unit for $55 million. Scripps Networks Interactive also acquired 69 per cent of NDTV Lifestyle, anchored by NDTV Good Times, with the NDTV Group retaining 31 per cent stake in the JV.

However, the deal was called off in May this year, with NDTV termi-nating its pact.

With the deal being called off, NDTV was once again left to look

for a minority partner to fund its plans for the growth of its lifestyle channel and a planned food channel.

Shah is of the opinion that the deal with Astro is more about the financial support and infusion of fresh cash into debt ridden NDTV.

Astro, an integrated cross media group with a presence in Malaysia, India, West Asia and other regional and international markets, will lend its strategic expertise to NDTV.

Abhay Amlekar, equity ana-lyst, KR Choksey Securities, terms the NDTV-Astro pact as a sound move on NDTV’s part to reduce its mounting debt.

At present, NDTV is a loss mak-ing company with huge debt.

Amlekar shares that the company’s long term debt is about `320 crore and it runs a short term debt of `163 crore.

The total valuation of its lifestyle busi-ness turns out to be `375 crore. The sale of 49 per cent stake to Astro will help NDTV infuse `185 crore in its business, thereby helping it reduce its debt burden to certain extent.

According to Amlekar, the partner-

ship with Scripps meant NDTV netted more cash as compared to the Astro deal. However, it also result-ed in NDTV losing the controlling stake in the company. This time, NDTV gets to retain the major-ity stake and maintain the final and authoritative say in all the business decisions.

“NDTV’s step towards reducing its debt by selling its core assets will pay off in the long term only if it suc-ceeds in supporting these moves by boosting its revenue from the new JV and its lifestyle business,” says Amlekar.

‘‘The space is crowded and their revenues are nowhere close to Hindi news channels. I have my reservations on new players coming in...’’MANAS MISHRA, EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT, MUDRA CONNEXT, ON THE UPCOMING NEWS CHANNELS IN KERALA, IN MINT.

NDTV-ASTRO


Sponsored by��

The monthly magazine Motherland, is priced at Rs 100 and targets 20-50-year-olds.

IBNLive.com and IBNKhabar.com> CNN-IBN’s news portal -IBNLive.com and IBN7’s Hindi news portal IBN Khabar have partnered with Vdopia to power online video advertising on the Live TV section of the respective website. The online feed covers live news being broadcasted on-air, from CNN-IBN and IBN7. The decision came after the com-pany observed a considereable growth in consumption of online videos and online video advertising space. The group is hopeful that this growth to increase in the years to come.

Diabetic Living> Maxposure Media Group has acquired the license to publish Diabetic Living magazine from Meredith Media group of publications. The inaugural issue of the magazine will hit the newsstands in November this year. The group is still working on the nitty-gritty, including cover price, ad rates and print run of the magazine. However, the magazine is likely to be a quarterly with an average of 120 pages per issue.

Oye! 104.8 FM> TV Today Network has re-launched its FM radio channel Meow FM as Oye! 104.8 FM. Meow FM was distinctly targeted at the women listeners. With the new positioning the radio station will focus on the Bollywood quotient. The new tagline of Oye FM is Sabse Filmi. The radio station will offer listeners a mix of Bollywood, RJ talk and humour. The station will tweak its product offering for all its seven stations - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Amritsar, Jodhpur, Patiala and Shimla to cater to distinct consumer preferences.

W+K> Making its foray in print, Wieden+Kennedy has launched a magazine, titled Motherland. The objective behind the launch is to move beyond addressing stereotypical gen-eral interest issues and provide an in-depth perspective on trends, issues and ideas - all emanating from contemporary Indian subculture. Priced at Rs 100, the agency will bring out the issue every month. The magazine targets readers in the age group of 20-50 years, individuals from different walks of life.

Mail Today> The compact daily from the stable of India Today, Mail Today (in collaboration with Daily Mail), claims to have clocked a circulation of two lakh in the capital and has launched a campaign to reinforce this. The group claims that in the last six months it has added a large number of copies, taking its circulation figure up to 2 lakh copies.

The campaign has been designed by TBWA.

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PIX> The English movie channel has announced its new partnership with Sony Pictures Television (SPT). This asso-ciation will grant Indian television premiere rights to the channel for exclusive telecast in India in the first pay televi-sion window of all the new movies released worldwide by SIP in their original language. This is the first such deal for PIX, a relative newcomer channel in the English movies cat-egory.

94.3 Radio One> The radio channel, 94.3 Radio One, has begun a hunt for talent amongst college students across India. Radio One College Championship (ROCC) aims to bring forth the talent amongst students who aspire to be music jockeys (MJs) on the station. ROCC has just kicked off audi-tions across 70 colleges all over the country.

The channel has announced an exclusive tie-up with Sony Pictures Television.

The total valu-ation of NDTV’s

lifestyle business turns out to be `375 crore. The sale of 49 per cent stake will help it infuse

`185 crore in its business, thereby reducing its debt

burden.

> Lowe Lintas has been assigned the creative duties for travel portal, Expedia.co.in, following a multi-agency pitch. Besides Lowe, Grey Worldwide, Publicis Communications and DDB Mudra were in the final race for the business. The account will be handled out of the agency’s Delhi branch. The multimedia campaign planned ahead will be led by online medium. Expedia.co.in is the localised website catering to Indian consumers since March 2008.

> Following a multi-agency pitch, the lingerie brand from Sri Lanka-based MAS Holdings Amante has awarded its creative mandate to Rediffusion Y&R. The account size is pegged at about `8 crore and will be handled out of the agency’s Bengaluru office. In the final stage, four agencies, including RK Swamy BBDO and TBWA, were in the fray for

the business. The incumbent agency on the account is Bates 141.

> After a multi-agency pitch, the Bengaluru-based e-reader-maker EC Media awarded its creative mandate to White Canvas, which

would be handling the launch of the companies e-reader, Wink. The communication strategy is currently focused on direct marketing exercises around the retail environment. Going forward, as more variants are launched, ATL (above the line) activities are also on the cards.

Wink was launched in August, as a multi-function e-book reader that supports 15 languages and also offers more than 200,000 book titles.

Rajiv Dube, director, group corporate services, Aditya Birla Management

Corporation has been elected chairperson of the board of ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India). Dube has been a member of the board of governors for five years, during which he provided active support for self regulation in advertising.

G Krishnan, executive director and chief executive officer, TV Today Network has been elected vice-chairperson of the organisation, while Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, South Asia, GroupM Media India has been re-appointed honorary treasurer.

Other members of the new board of governors are Johnson & Johnson’s Narendra Ambwani, Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care’s Shantanu Khosla and Hindustan Unilever’s Gopal Vittal, representing advertisers.

Bennett Coleman & Co.’s Bhaskar Das, Eenadu’s I Venkat and Vikram Kaushik from Tata Sky will represent the media on the board, while the advertising agencies will be represented by Subhash Kamath of BBH India, Arvind Sharma of Leo Burnett and Srinivasan Swamy of RK Swamy BBDO.

From allied professions on the board are Dilip Cherian of Perfect Relations, outgoing ASCI chairperson Dhananjay Keskar of IBS, Pranesh Misra of Brandscapes Consultancy and Partha Rakshit of Partha Rakshit Associates.

On his appointment, Dube says, “I feel privileged and thankful to the board of governors of ASCI for

providing me this opportunity

to lead the movement on self regulation in advertising in the country. It is a humbling experience to be at the forefront of a 25 year old strong and growing initiative, which has come to be looked upon by society and the government alike as the guardian for responsible advertising communication.”

During the year 2009-10, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) met 12 times and deliberated on complaints against 159 advertisements. Of these, 87 complaints were upheld, while 72 were not upheld. In 71 cases, the ads have been withdrawn or modified appropriately as per the CCC’s decisions, resulting in a compliance

rate of 82 per cent.Commenting on

the past year, Keskar says, “During 2009-10, ASCI celebrated its Silver Jubilee. It has grown in stature, membership strength and recognition. A sustained public relations campaign has ensured growing awareness of ASCI

among the stakeholders and also among the general public. We upgraded our website and made it interactive. This feature and introduction of a toll free number has simplified the process of lodging a complaint about an advertisement with ASCI.

He mentions the support that the organisation has received from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and also the World Federation of Advertisers, who have agreed to fund ASCI over the next three years.

1 0

‘‘You have to be able to build communities... you really want consumers to be the ambassadors for your brand. And you have to build that on a one to one relationship.’’

JOHN ANDERSON, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LEVI’S, ON THE WAY LEVI’S HAS BUILT ITS BRAND, IN BRAND EQUITY


Sponsored by��ASCI

Lux> HUL’s Lux is a brand known for featuring Bollywood beauties in its communication. It has kept up to its starry legacy by adding Asin Thottumkal as the new brand ambassador for its natural variant, Lux Sandal & Cream.The natural variant is available at `15 in select Indian states and cities only. This natural variant is a product that calls for attention by its uniqueness in natural ingredients, fragrance and colour.

Kellogg India> Kellogg India, the Indian subsidiary of Kellogg Company, producer of ready-to-eat cereal and convenience food, has signed on Bollywood actor Karisma Kapoor as the new brand ambassador for its Kellogg’s Chocos range. The product is the Chocos Kpak range, priced at `10. This is the first time the brand has signed a celebrity to endorse its product. This campaign will be supported by a 360 degree marketing plan incorporating both ATL (above-the-line) and BTL (below the line) activities.

> After a multi-agency pitch that saw participation from top agencies, Triton Delhi has won the creative mandate for Delhi Press. As part of the partnership, the agency will be responsible for handling the communication for some magazines of the publisher. Delhi Press brings out 31 magazines in nine languages, including some of the biggest names in the country such as Grihshobha, Woman’s Era, Sarita, Saras Salil and Champak. The magazines reach out to more than 35 million readers.

> Following a multi-agency pitch that involved about

three other agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi has won the creative duties for Credit Information Bureau (India). The aggregator of credit information earlier followed a B2B model; now, entering the B2C space, it sought a creative partner to build the brand and increase awareness in the public domain. The campaign ahead will initially be led by the digital medium, before taking the multimedia approach.

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

>> ACCOUNT MOVEMENT

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ADVE

RTIS

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TV Today Network’s

Krishnan is the vice-chairperson, while Sakhuja of

GroupM has been re-appointed as honorary treasurer.

After holes were punched and tyre impres-sions made in newspapers, who knew what Volkswagen had up its sleeve as its next

media innovation? With strategies that are becom-ing the hallmark of the brand, this time, the German car maker brought another surprise for the readers of The Times of India and The Hindu - namely, a ‘talking newspaper’.

The creative was a full page ad of the Vento, on which a small, black box was stuck - this provided the voice to the ad. As the newspaper was unfold-ed, readers could hear a recorded message about the new sedan. The chips used in the black box were light sensitive and the message would turn off automatically when the paper was folded back.

The communication was carried out across Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai in the two dailies.

Talking about the innovation, Lutz Kothe, head of marketing and PR, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India says, “At Volkswagen, innovation is a way of life and extends beyond our cars to the communi-cation we do for the market.”

Kothe adds, “With this campaign, our aim was to get the awareness of prospective customers for our new Vento launch and drive traffic to our dealers’ showroom. This approach has converted a static medium to a dynamic one. The idea directly correlates to one of our brand propositions, which is innovation.”

The idea, based on musical greeting

cards, took shape with Volkswagen’s media partner, MediaCom India, which took care of the positioning, while DDB Mudra developed the creative concept.

Talking to afaqs! Reporter Divya Gururaj, managing director, MediaCom India, says, “We needed to get quick awareness in a cluttered segment. To top it, the brand is asso-ciated with innovations that stand out, and people expect something different each time.”

“It is indeed a difficult task, especial-ly with a medium such as print, where everything has been done to death,” Gururaj adds.

Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer, Mudra Group says, “The brand lives in popular culture and we have to raise the bar each time. Anything different polarises people. The objective was to get people talking, imprinting their minds and spark-

Look Who’s Talking!VOLKSWAGEN

Marketing ploys that instantly catch the eye are becoming the signature of Volkswagen. To mark the launch of the Vento, its entry-level sedan, the car maker gave newspapers a voice. By Biprorshee Das

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

After a lengthy gap of 12 years, LIC, a reassuring presence in the lives of approximately 14

crore policy holders, has launched a new corporate campaign to spread awareness about its products.

The previous corporate com-munication, in 1999, featured a sentimental yet strong character, Mrs. Sharma persuading consumers to get insured by speaking about her late husband who had secured his family’s future with LIC.

This campaign was used for years altogether. Films about new products were launched from time

to time, but LIC did not roll out another corporate campaign until now.

The current campaign has been created by JWT, Mumbai.

LIC’s creative duties lie with a roster comprising JWT, Mudra Communications, DraftFCB Ulka and R K Swamy BBDO.

Prior to 2006, JWT handled the creative duties for the brand. The account moved from JWT in 2006, but was back with the agency in 2009. Currently, Motivator handles

the media duties for LIC.The campaign is aimed at a TG of

individuals aged 25 years and above, who need risk cover but haven’t insured themselves. LIC’s brief was

to make the brand recognise the changed context and consumers, while re-interpreting the role of life insurance in their lives.

Insurance today is extolled more as an investment to realise dreams, than a vital cover for life’s risks.

Besides being cognizant of these changed consumer attitudes, the brief was to continue with the over-all thought of Zindagi Ke Saath Bhi, Zindagi Ke Baad Bhi. Further, with respect to the campaign idea, two strategic shifts were conceptualised. The first was to see life from the perspective of the potential policy-holder, rather than the beneficiary, as was the case all these years. Also, the mandate was to hint at what could be lost, rather than painting a stark picture of tragedy.

The ad film opens in a crowded market, where a child is separated from her father. The anguish and

Shifting PerspectiveThe campaign marks the brand’s attempt to bring the policyholder to the forefront. By Ashwini Gangal

LIC

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�� >>(Left) Kothe, Gururaj and Pawar: let’s talk

The creative was based on the idea of musical greet-ing cards that converted a static medium into a

dynamic one.

After a double dip in 2008 - a hoarding ban followed by the economic slowdown - Chennai’s outdoor market was bruised and

bleeding. But like all things that go down and even-tually make their way back up, Chennai’s outdoor market too got up, dusted itself and has moved on.

REWIND MODE

Outdoor advertising began in Chennai in the late ’60s with a few billboards. During the

next 25 years, the government gave permission for around 500 billboards to be erected.

It was only in the ’90s that other outdoor for-mats started sprouting. Besides billboards, there were bus shelters, bus back panels, railway sta-tions’ signage, centre medians and airport sites. However, billboards dominated the outdoor scene in Chennai, even though many disapproved of the clutter and chaos.

There were about 5,000 billboards in Chennai, and another 5,000 plus sites in the rest of Tamil Nadu. The spends, from 2007 onwards, were close to Rs 200 crore per annum - over Rs 15 crore per month from the organised sector. The major chunk - about Rs 10 crore - was spent on billboards, about Rs 2 crore on bus shelters and the rest on bus back panels, centre medians or inside airports.

In April 2008, following a government ruling, billboards were removed in Tamil Nadu overnight.

THEN AND NOW

Immediately after the ban, there was a drop of 50 per cent in outdoor spends. About 30-40 per

cent of clients, who were spending only on hoard-ings exited since they felt that the other outdoor format options did not fit their requirements.

During September 2008, due to the global meltdown and recession, advertising spends dipped further, to only about Rs 4-5 crore a month.

It was only from mid 2009 that the spends slowly started getting back on track, thanks to the launch of five telecom operators, namely MTS, Idea, Tata Docomo, Uninor and Videocon.

The outdoor market in Chennai today is esti-mated at around Rs 8 crore. This might touch Rs 10 crore during the festival months of September and October.

GROWING FORMATS

There was a positive outcome too, as a result of the double trouble faced by Chennai’s OOH

industry,” says Khalid Khan, CEO, Brainchild Solutions. “The OOH market in Chennai has matured and has developed more offerings now.”

Earlier, a majority of the outdoor ad spends were pumped into hoardings. Thus, media own-ers too took a shortcut by offering only hoardings to their clients. After the ban, many more media vehicles developed. Bus shelters and large-format wall graphics and wall stickers have emerged as the most popular OOH options in Chennai.

“While the use of other formats is high, these two formats have emerged to be the most com-petitive and preferred options for advertisers - based on their widespread reach and ability to provide larger than life imagery,” says Narendra Kumar Alambara, GM and office head, Starcom Worldwide, Chennai.

D Muralidharan, managing director of the Chennai-based OOH firm, Metro Multimedia says, that in the past few months, branding in rail-way over bridges (ROB) is in great demand and is emerging as another sought-after media.

“These ROBs cut across the main arterial roads like Mount Road, Dr Radhakrishnan Salai, Sardar Patel Road and IT Corridor. They give head-on visibility and are large formats, thus attracting attention,” he says. These ROBs belong to MRTS (similar to the Delhi Metro), which runs inside the city from Beach Station to Velachery Station. Aircel and Airtel have booked most of the ROBs on long-term contracts. Some of the other regulated mediums that have grown are bus back panels, traffic signal timers branding, EMU train exterior and interior branding, railway station and bus sta-tion branding, pole kiosks, foot over bridge (FOB) branding and airport advertising.

“As in Delhi and Mumbai, street furniture in Chennai too got tremendous focus after the ban. The remaining bus shelters in Chennai will also be developed as either hi-tech or stainless steel design,” Khan says, adding that ambient advertising

�� CHENNAI OOH

Back With A BangThe Chennai outdoor market seems to be back on track after two years of lull. By Surina Sayal


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Left: Muralidharan, Khan and Alambara

Before...

During...

After

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After having established itself as a popular brand among the youth with its range of watches and eyewear, Fastrack has ventured further into the

accessories space, launching its range of bags, wallets, belts and wristbands.

Building on the core brand thought of ‘Move On’, Lowe Lintas has created a series of three quirky television commercials for Fastrack bags, roping in its brand ambas-sadors, actor Genelia D’Souza and cricketer Virat Kohli.

One of the films has the two brand ambassadors getting intimate in an ATM. When Kohli signals at the security camera, D’Souza empties her Fastrack bag to cover the same with it. The second film shows Kohli getting ready to head out, when he finds a hickey on his neck. He tries to covers it with the strap of his bag. As he heads out, he bumps into D’Souza, who spots the mark on his neck and haughtily covers it up again with the bag strap. The third TVC has the duo checking in baggage at the airport. On being asked if there is any more luggage, D’Souza cheekily points at Kohli as she exchanges a mischievous smile with the

attendant. A common music score runs through the films and each TVC ends with a product showcase and a voiceover introducing the product.

Arun Iyer, NCD, Lowe Lintas says that the task was to introduce the new category of bags with the ambassadors, while keeping the communication in the personality of the brand. “This is a segment that is fairly large and unbranded. The films show how we interpreted the brand thought of ‘Move On’. Bags are being cleverly used in every situation to ‘move on’,” says Iyer.

The creative team behind the campaign at Lowe includes Iyer, Rajesh Ramaswamy, Rimona Ganapathy, Lohith Chengappa, Sharon Nayak, Mishti Srivastava and Adarsh Atal. The films have been directed by Vivek Kakkad of Curious Films.

Simeran Bhasin, head, marketing and retail, Fastrack says, the venture into the category is part of the plans that were drawn in 2005 when Fastrack was re-launched as a fashion accessory brand. “We realised our strength is in the small front accessories and market research also indicates huge potential in the category. There are small players but no national brands to talk of,” she adds.

On the campaign, Bhasin says that Lowe was briefed to break the clutter of advertising to youth as well as the Fastrack clutter and keep it cheeky and flirtatious - as is

signature of the brand. “The product category had to be the hero of the campaign,” says Bhasin.

The TV campaign is being supported by OOH and digital - with a strong presence on social networking sites and interactive activities on the brand’s website. The campaign will continue until February, 2011. Maxus handles the media duties for the band.

MOVING ON TO THE VIEWS

The TVCs have met with a mixed response from experts. While the slick and youthful nature of the

films have been appreciated, some complain about the lack of product integration.

Nitin Pradhan, executive creative direc-tor, Leo Burnett has a lukewarm response to offer. He says that the attempt to do something fresher is apparent and the films are different from the general ones in the category. However, he would have liked it if the product integration was stronger, espe-cially since it is a launch campaign.

“The engagement, situations, perfor-mances are all nice. The tone, too, will connect with the target audience. However,

if the product could have been integrated a bit more with the script, it would have worked better,” says Pradhan. He picks the airport film to be his least favourite, where the bag seems to have very little role to play. “It is so incidental,” he observes.

Vivek Dutta, business director and national planning head, Hakuhodo Percept, on the other hand, gives a thumbs up to the campaign. “According to me, Fastrack as a youth brand stands out. The brand is being true to its target group. The TVCs are honest and they manage to catch the I-give-a-damn attitude of the youth. They are bold, naughty and fun at the same time,” he says.

Dutta finds the execution interesting, with the music adding to the irreverence of the TVCs. He also finds the characters appealing, which he thinks would ring well with the target audience.

“Genelia and Virat are interesting characters. You real-ly do not know their relationship and yet, somewhere, their naughty sexy appeal gets you at the end of it. I am sure the TG would really connect and take notice of the commercials,” he notes.

On a cheeky note, Dutta remarks that there seems to be a message for all those who do not like the commer-cial... ‘Move on’! �

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FASTRACK

ing off conversations.”The innovation came from the

idea of the Vento. The entry-level sedan is positioned as a car that has been crafted with such passion that even its engineers find it hard to see it being driven away.

“We thought it would be great to give the same passion with a voice to a medium that has no voice. We started with the idea that this passion needs to be heard at the most unex-pected places,” says Pawar.

The creative team at DDB Mudra includes Pawar and Rajeev Raja, national creative director. The copy-writers are Anshumani Khanna and Hemant Sharma while the art has been handled by Timsy Gupta and Trishna Prakash.

Six months of planning went into what seemed to be an uphill task logistically. “A total of 25 lakh chips had to come at a cost that made

sense. It seemed to be a logistical nightmare,” Gururaj explains.

While Volkswagen and the agen-cies chose not to divulge the spends behind the exercise, it is learnt that the chips cost the company less than `10 each.

Interestingly, in early 2009, afaqs! Reporter had reported a similar marketing proposition by Pioneer Book Company, which publish-es magazines such as Meri Saheli and New Woman. The publishing company’s idea was that advertisers would be able to play their jingles even in a print ad.

Lalit Pahwa, director, Pioneer had then told afaqs! Reporter that the audio feature could be enabled with the help of a pre-recorded chip. The chip would be embedded in the page in such a way that when the reader arrived at the page, the audio would start playing; it would stop only when the page was turned.

He had pointed out that the concept could be replicated in news-papers, trade magazines and in-house journals as well. �

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Look who’s...

The youth accessories brand has created a series of three television commercials featur-ing brand ambassadors Genelia D’Souza and Virat Kohli. By Biprorshee Das

Mysterious Moves

Iyer: brand personality

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For the campaign - that ran in The

Times of India and the Hindu - the

automobile company used

about 25 lakh chips.


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SAB TV has extended its brand promise on-ground through the aspirational platform, ‘Happy

Housewives Club’ across 20 cities, where housewives can exhibit their skills and talent.

The family comedy and entertain-ment channel, launched a unique initiative - an exclusive club for house-wives across the country, a group that forms a significant proportion of the TV channel’s target audience. It will be an initiative for the housewives, by the housewives, to engage them with the brand - thereby extending the brand platform and brand promise of Asli mazaa Sab ke saath aata hai.

The ‘Happy Housewives Club’ (HHC), as it is called, is a platform for house-wives, where women from across the country would get an opportunity to exhibit their skills, such as cookery, art, pottery, music, dance or painting.

They could even take up a social cause, cel-ebrate a festival or simply go for a movie or picnic. The club is being rolled out in 20-25 cities in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM) across the coun-try.

On-air promotions have been running on SAB TV and are attracting a good response. The promo shows housewives cheerfully going about their

daily activities, such as watering plants, giving their family breakfast, hanging clothes out to dry, and so on. The promo ends with all these women coming together to meet and chat. To join the

HHC, interested housewives can log on to channel’s website and download the form or call on 022 40369669, after which registration kits and forms will be sent to them. On receiving the duly completed forms, SAB TV’s team would send these housewives their membership cards, welcome kits and other details.

The channel claims to have already received over 10,000 registrations. Interestingly, there is no joining fee involved.

Each club will have five to eight members. In the first phase, 20 cities will be targeted. SAB TV aims to have 2,000 such clubs across India by the end of this year.

SAB TV will assign an Happy Housewives Club manager to each club of about eight mem-bers, who will take care of its day-to-day running. The manager will coordinate the first meeting and provide information on how to conduct activities and run the club. The members will meet once every 14 days.

In every club meeting, members will be given themes by SAB TV. To participate, the club mem-bers need to perform the activity according to the theme, record interesting sections and send this

Housewives to the ForeSAB TV

The channel has rolled out an aspirational platform for women across the country to exhibit their skills. By Surina Sayal

�� $�>>

Money talks, someone once said and someone later even joked that it just says

‘goodbye’. So, if you are paying attention to what your money tells you, the Reserve Bank of India has a word of advice - heed carefully!

After winning the creative mandate for the central bank’s media awareness project, Publicis Ambience, teaming up with noted poet and lyricist Gulzar, has created a television film on the authenticity of banknotes.

The film shows a montage of situations from around the country. The montage, while capturing the various moods and colours of India

carefully, highlights the usage of currency by people and maintains the intention of the film through the execution.

A music score runs through the 60-second film, with a voiceo-ver reciting the words penned by Gulzar. His lyrics tell, often cheek-ily, the various details one must be careful about while ensuring that a bank note is an authentic one.

The film has been directed by Pushpendra Mishra of Flying Saucer Films. It has been produced by Divyesh Satta and the music is by Zubin Ballaporia. The voiceover is by theatre personality Salim Arif.

The creative team at the agen-

cy includes national creative directors Prasanna Sankhe and Ashish Khazanchi. Sankhe is the art director and has also written the copy with Rishi Upadhyay. The film managers at Publicis Ambience are Hozefa Alibhai

and Belliappa Maneyapanda.Speaking on the film, Sankhe

says, “The objective of the film was to tell the people about the various safety features in all currency notes. However, instead of making a plain informative message, we thought there was a wonderful opportunity to tap into a very deep rooted Indian insight.”

He adds, “We, as Indians, inspect everything thoroughly before we buy it. Test it. Check it. Be it a car or a coconut. However, while accepting a note - we don’t bother much. We wanted to cash in on this

Show me the MoneyThe Reserve Bank of India has rolled out a public service TV campaign on the authenticity of banknotes. By Biprorshee Das

RBI

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Sankhe: careful observation


The initiative is being rolled out in 20-25

cities and aims to have 2,000 clubs across India by

the end of this year.

FOTO

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ITC has launched an on-ground initiative for its personal care brand, Vivel, to charm home-makers and give them the brand experience.

The objective of the home-to-home campaign, called Palichunu Oru Matram which means ‘to bring about a radiant change’, is to promote Vivel shampoos and soaps in Tamil Nadu.

The campaign, which is being conducted by Xpanse Asia, the specialist small town and rural marketing network of Publicis Groupe, aims at giving women an opportunity to experience Vivel’s products without leaving the comfort and convenience of their homes. As part of the cam-paign, Vivel’s team is visiting households, carrying audio messages of the company’s brand ambas-sador, Trisha Krishnan, giving a personal brand message to consumers.

Vivel caters to the mid-segment of soaps and shampoos and through the campaign, ITC targets the women in the segment. “The brand promises to bring a radiant change in the lives of women with its array of products. The objective of the home to home initiative is to give women an opportunity to experience Vivel’s total care with-out leaving the comfort and convenience of their homes,” says Atul Joshi, head, marketing, personal care products business, ITC Limited.

Through the campaign, the brand plans to reach out to half a million households in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Vellore and engage con-sumers by inviting them to experience the brand.

Taking about the success of the initiative, Joshi says the initiative is a perfect platform to engage with consumers, increase brand awareness and inform the audience about our brand offerings. He adds that the initiative of personally delivering the brand message has so far met with positive responses from consumers.

The multi-business conglomerate entered the highly competitive personal care business in July 2005 and has since introduced products in three segments. The Essenza Di Wills brand targets the

prestige segment of the market, while Fiama Di Wills is the premium range and Vivel targets the mid-segment.

Vivel offers a premium range of soaps under the brand name Vivel Di Wills. Vivel Ultra Pro is the anti-dandruff shampoo, while Superia brand

targets the popular segment. Vivel soaps are avail-able in three variants in Tamil Nadu - Vivel Young Glow, Vivel Satin Soft, and Vivel Sandal Sparkle.

The `28,109 crore turnover company is a rela-tively new entrant in the personal care segment. As per The Nielsen Company, the market leaders in the shampoo segment are HUL, P&G, CavinKare, Dabur and L’Oreal India, while the soap segment is dominated by HUL, Godrej, Wipro, Reckitt Benckiser and Nirma.

According to the data provided by Nielsen, quoting the all India (urban and rural) figures from June 2010, the industry size of the shampoo segment is about `3,011 crore, which is growing at more than 9 per cent year on year. The toilet soap segment is worth `8,896 crore and is growing at about 8 per cent year on year. �

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Knock, Knock, Who’s there?ITC

The campaign, Palichunu Oru Matram aims to reach half a million households. By Poojya Trivedi

across to SAB TV. The selected clips will be played in the HHC show, which will be aired on SAB TV every Sunday.

Discussing the new platform, Anooj Kapoor, executive VP and business head, SAB, tells afaqs! Reporter, “This initiative was planned, as India consists of a large number of housewives, who con-stitute a major part of TV viewing audiences. Television is their only source of entertainment and favour-ite pastime. In order to engage and create a bond with the women

viewers, we introduced the Happy Housewives Club.”

This comes close on the heels of the success of SAB TV’s other consumer connect programme, SAB Ka Mela, a fun and entertainment fair organised in Ahmedabad in the month of May.

Kapoor adds, “Through HHC, we hope to win over and create a bond with the women audience among the growing base of SAB families.” This initiative will extend the core values

of SAB, such as positive thinking, driving core family positive values and being happy and optimistic.

However, the promo only depicts young married women. Could that lead audiences to think that older women wouldn’t be welcome? “India is one of the youngest coun-tries in the world, and a majority of the TV viewing female audience would fall in the bracket of 15-35 years. Though there is no upper age limit for joining the club, you need

to be 18 years and above, married and a housewife to become a member,” clarifies Kapoor.

He points out that these clubs are unlike regular kitty parties, as they will help housewives showcase their talents to millions of viewers across the country through SAB TV.

Besides metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon and Kolkata, these clubs are being formed in mini metros and smaller towns too.

This includes Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nasik, Indore, Nagpur, Kanpur, Jaipur, Panchkula, Baroda, Rajkot, Surat, Bhopal, Kota, Agra, Chandigarh, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Jodhpur. �

[email protected]

<< �� "�#�� &

Housewives to...

Through the club, the channel aims at creating a bond with women who consti-

tute a major part of TV viewing.


“The initiative of personally delivering the

message has met with positive

response.” ATUL JOSHI

��

Close on the heels of turning 30 earlier this year (March 25), the Mudra Group has unveiled a fresh brand identity. The group

has rebranded itself and has put its new foot for-ward with a revamped brand logo.

This news was conveyed at a press event, in the presence of the group’s executive board members. The board comprises Madhukar Kamath, group chief executive officer and managing director, Mudra Group; Ajit Menon, executive director, organisation development; Bobby Pawar, CCO; Dilipkumar Upadhyaya, chief financial officer; Jude Fernandes, ED, Mudra Group and CEO, Mudra India; Pratap Bose, chief operating offic-er, Mudra Group and CEO, Mudra Max; and Sandeep Vij, ED and chief knowledge officer, Mudra Group and CEO, DDB Mudra.

Water, Mudra Group’s strategy and design unit, has created this fresh vision, marked by rapid change and progress.

Based on the pillars of empathy, experimenta-tion, expression and dynamic integration, Water has crystallised the group’s new brand platform as

‘Inventive Brand Solutions’ as the Mudra Group will now offer clients just this - inventive brand solutions.

This will be done through the group’s four agency networks, namely Mudra India, Mudra Max, DDB Mudra and Ignite Mudra.

The new corporate brand now sees the histori-cal symbol of Mudra - the hands - freed from the rigid red roundel. This is symbolic of the spirit of inventiveness. Replacing the solid, red circle is the graphic device of the brush stroke. This denotes experimentation, energy and dynamism.

Specifically, the brush stroke signifies the most common behaviour when trying something new.

This brush stroke is also an integral part of the branding of the four agency networks. Each agen-cy is now qualified by a unique symbol - the quote mark (a symbol of conversation) for Mudra India, the degree symbol (denoting influence) for DDB Mudra, the forward mark (symbolising maximal impact) for Mudra Max, and the ‘on’ button (that stands for a spark of ideas) for Ignite Mudra.

The brand has also revealed its new, revamped website, www.mudra.com, created and designed by Tribal DDB, the Mudra Group’s digital and new media agency.

The new website carries forward the Mudra Group’s spirit of inventive experiences, with its design as a simple yet powerful conversational tool.

Commenting on the re-branding, Kamath says, “The dancer’s hands have been freed from the confines of the roundel; this is based on research that shows how a stroke is the starting point of anything new - it shows that you’re free to invent, to be bold and aggressive. This brush stroke will now onwards serve as the red background on which the dancer’s hands are placed.”

It may be noted that the group had re-designed its logo in March 2005. At the time, the hands, portraying a classical Indian dance pose (that is, a ‘mudra’), were meant to stand for the agency’s cultural roots, while also depicting its contempo-rary bend. The re-branding had coincided with the agency’s silver jubilee celebrations. �

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MUDRA GROUP

RejuvenationDrawing on its ‘can-do’ spirit and heritage of entrepreneurial ambition, the group has a new look and perspective. News Bureau

The new corporate brand sees the historical symbol of Mudra in a new light.

��

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Taking the coffee treat to the next level, the coffee retail chain, Barista Lavazza, has rolled out an engagement programme for

its consumers. Master of the Menu is a beverage recipe contest that aims to create uniquely fla-voured concoctions.

The contest provides an opportunity to all con-sumers to share their unique beverage recipes. The winning recipe will be awarded the title of ‘Master of the Menu’, and will be featured in the upcom-ing winter menu across all Barista Lavazza outlets in the country.

“By organising this contest, we are involving our brand lovers, fans and our loyalists to come together and share their original beverage recipes with us. The recipes can be showcased by mak-ing them an important part of our winter menu range,” says Saurabh Swarup, head, marketing and product development, Barista Coffee Company.

The contest, which is open to patrons of all ages, is being organised in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Amongst all the entries received, eight finalists from each of the three cities were selected on the basis of uniqueness of recipes and were invited for the city wise finale event on September 30.

The company, which started serving liqueur coffee in November 2009, is, however, accepting only ‘no liqueur recipes’.

The Delhi leg of Barista Lavazza ‘Master of Menu’ recipe contest has received over 1000 entries and whereas about 1000 entries have come from both Mumbai and Bengaluru. “The response

from our consumers has been overwhelm-ing. The coffee-chain has over 40 stores in Delhi, 25 stores in Mumbai and 28 in Bengaluru. Each retail outlet of the chain, on an average, experiences 350-400 footfalls in a day. The event is being promoted through e-mails sent to the cus-

tomer database, asking them to participate in the contest. Apart from this, in-store promotions are being undertaken across all stores in the three cities through posters, standees, tent cards, registration forms and leaflets. Additionally, the company is also using its website and Facebook to spread the word. The on-ground activities for the coffee-chain are handled by Jagran Solutions.

Entries were submitted either by filling up a contest form available at the outlet or by sending an e-mail to the company. Apart from the recipe being added to the menu, the 24 finalists will get two nights’ free stay at a resort in Punjab.

Owned by Italy’s largest coffee company, Lavazza, Barista currently has more than 200 out-lets in more than 30 locations in India. Besides India, Barista Lavazza also has cafes in loca-tions across Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Oman and the UAE. �

[email protected]

��

very relevant point and make people change their habits and start inspect-ing, if not all, at least some of the safety features.”

According to him, trying to achieve a change in social behaviour is a challenging task and to be able to pull it off is a satisfying experience.

The collaboration with Gulzar also helped, says Sankhe, as the film needed to appeal to every Indian citizen and not a specific target audience.

The film, aired first on nation-al channel Doordarshan as the RBI wanted to get to the grassroot level, followed by cinema halls and eventually, satellite channels. It will be supported by a print campaign and on-ground activa-tions in association with banks. This shall be further followed by

a second phase of the campaign.

WHAT’S NECESSARY?

When asked, creative pundits have spared a kind word for

the execution and the intent of the film but given the magnitude of the problem (counterfeit banknotes), the film has met with some brickbats.

Prathap Suthan, national creative director, Cheil Worldwide likes the analogies and casting and says that the film is charming from a cin-ematic perspective.

He appreciates that it is slanted, aimed at the aam junta in the smaller towns and villages.

“These are the very people who

trust and believe our national legal tender to be sacrosanct and will use more currency in their lives and in daily life than us who live in the met-ros. This is the heart of India, where counterfeit currency will thrive and grow unnoticed and corrode our systems without suspicion,” he says.

However, he thinks that the

film is too soft, given the rampant problem of counterfeit currency.

“This will help me admire my currency note. It is indeed a beauti-ful work of art. However, I need to be told that the note in my pocket could be counterfeit. The urgency, the criticality and the importance of the matter have all vanished under a

veneer of touching visuals and mov-ing words,” says Suthan.

“Harsh inspection is what is need-ed to keep my pockets safe. Ram home the message. In the era of net payments, credit cards, cheques and everything else paperless, this is not the tone or message to be deployed,” he exclaims.

Rahul Jauhari, national creative director, Pickle Lintas expresses sim-ilar views and concerns. “On the execution front, it is beautiful copy - nicely cut and done. The thought is very nice, the craft visible clearly,” Jauhari says.

According to him, the film falls short at its attempt to reach out to the masses and induce a change in the way people behave.

“The communication needs to be a lot simpler, clearer to be under-stood by the masses and to move them to action. This one’s for the galleries, if you ask me. It will draw applause there,” he observes. �

[email protected]

<< �� "�#�� &

Show me the...

Swarup: getting ready for winter menu

Win with Your Own CoffeeBARISTA LAVAZZA

The coffee-retailer has received around 2,000 entries for the Master of Menu contest. By Poojya Trivedi


The film was first aired on national channel Doordarshan - to get to the

grassroot level - followed by cinema halls and satellite channels.

The winning recipes of the contest will be showcased in the winter menu range

at all Barista Outlets.

anxiety of the father and daughter is brought forth in an emotionally charged manner. Brand LIC is then presented as an anxiety alleviator, which helps fulfil one’s responsibil-ity towards loved ones. The film conveys the message with the help of this relatable metaphor.

The creative team on the account comprises vice-president and sen-ior creative director, Debojyoti Purkayastha; vice-president and senior creative director, Vistasp Hodiwala and copywriter, Aayusha Shah.

About the film, Hodiwala says, “We have taken a metaphor from life

that works at a simple, small level, rather than focusing on death in all its seriousness. In the film, the emotion of momentary separation has been exaggerated to convey the message of potential separation of a far greater scale.”

The media mix for the campaign includes TV, print, radio and digital (Facebook and Youtube).

DOES IT MOVE AUDIENCES?

Industry experts, agree that the film is well-made; but harbour varying

opinions as to its effectiveness.Ambareesh Chakraborty, princi-

pal consultant and creative director, R K Swamy BBDO, finds the effort

fine, insightful, touch-ing, and empathetic. “The concept is fresh and touches a chord in this era of serial child-killers. It has taken forward LIC’s old brand territory, of a missing breadwin-ner, differently and memorably. And the verbal reversal at the end brings the mes-

sage home in no uncertain manner. It is a far cry from earlier, heavy-handed commercials,” Chakraborty elaborates. He also finds that the performances by the actors have been skilfully extracted.

Saji Abraham, vice-president, planning, Lowe, says, “Strategically speaking, there are two very broad

ways to treat life insurance. First, paint the grim picture; scare people into buying; remind them of what happens if they die suddenly. LIC seems to have chosen this path for a while now. I’m not sure how this does in the market place, but it’s not something that will make a brand warm and endearing to the con-sumer. Personally, I find the whole approach morbid and ‘guilt market-ing’ led to sell the products.”

He opines that the positives of life insurance, such as ‘the worry-free life’ are more endearing but it is more difficult to do interesting advertising around this. “While the film is well shot and brings out emotions very well; I feel it falls into this logical fal-lacy, rendering the brand relevance very low,” Abraham asserts. �

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Tata Mutual Fund’s new communication, occurring after a gap of about couple of years, aims to make Tata SIP the first

thought for regular investment. The previous campaign, that wasn’t exposed much and didn’t run for too long, played on the concept of an ‘SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) meter’. The present campaign is a long term one and is slated to run for about four-six months.

Addressing the objective of the campaign, Dharmendra Satapathy, head, market-ing, Tata Asset Management, informs, “We want to popu-larise not just the brand but also the mutual fund cat-egory. So, in a sense, it is a social effort.” He adds that the prerogative is to make SIP a common denominator, just like an FMCG product, such that the lay consumer watches the ad film and seeks education about the category. Enlightening the lay person about the category and the jargon related to it is a complementary aim.

Satapathy adds, “Our TG is the 25-45 year old male, belonging to SEC AB+ but the TG may as well be all educated people out there.” He says that within five years, even SEC C is bound to get included in the TG for the brand and for the category at large. In his opinion, this segment is underpenetrated and the campaign will serve to bring about some much desired financial inclu-siveness. He quotes this as the reason the ad film promotes the brand as the most obvious thing that people are missing out on.

The creative duties for the account are with Quadrant Communications, headed by Rajan Narayan, president and chief executive officer. The film has been directed by Pervez Ahmed and

the production house is Ourja Films.The ad film is set around a child’s birthday

party. It opens on a father gifting a piggy bank to his son on the occasion. The son is disappointed with this gift and professes that if the aim is to save money, then investing in Tata SIP is a much better option. When the father displays ignorance regarding this option, the child’s friends mock

him. Product details are then revealed through the child’s dialogues.

The insight used in the commercial is the belief harboured by most parents that the habit of saving regularly is inculcated in a child through a piggy bank. The brand proposition is Bachcha bachcha jaanta hai ki Tata SIP hai investment ka pehla kadam.

Addressing the issue of the child being the knowledge-laden protagonist, Viren Kamdar, national creative director, Quadrant Communications says, “We’ve used the notion of how kids today give gyaan to adults and tell them to move with the times. This is true for gadgets and technology and we have extended it in an exagger-ated form to mutual funds. We have used children

to shake their parents out of their outdated notions about sav-ing and draw their attention to Tata SIP.”

The creative brief was to build category awareness amongst the lay person, presumably unfamil-iar with this investment option. “Most people lack awareness about SIP. To popularise it, we have twisted reality and made this a very ‘evident truth to miss’ kind of gimmick.”

Kamdar adds that the mutual fund category has been gaining momentum in the ad space of late and rates its competitiveness at 7-8 on a 10 point scale. “In the midst of this compe-tition, the USP of the Tata brand is the trust it inspires in consumers,” he says.

Positioning a product as something one abso-lutely ought to be familiar with and playing on brand ignorance in an ad campaign is an oft-seen advertising cliché. The most common manner of executing this is to create a character in the ad film, who is mocked or reprimanded in some way for not knowing about the brand and yet another character - a knowledgeable expert - who educates this person about the brand.

Brands that have used this strategy in the past include Orient’s PSPO (the ‘PSPO nahin

��

Saving GraceTATA MUTUAL FUND

The campaign for the Systematic Investment Plan stresses upon the habit of saving regularly. By Ashwini Gangal


<< �� "�#��

Shifting Perspective

“We’ve used the notion of how kids today give ‘gyaan’ to adults and tell

them to move with the times.”

VIREN KAMDAR

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Hodiwala: emoting well

jaante!’ commercial) and Perfetti Van Melle’s Chlormint (the Dobara mat poochna TVC). Nirma Shudh Namak had also used a similar tactic a few years ago with its ‘Bacche bhi jaante hai iske saare gunn’ commercial.

When confronted with this, Kamdar agrees that the idea is not a new one but reasons nonetheless, “It is very novel in the finance category. Also, using a child in the mutual fund category is a new idea - ads in this category mostly convey the brand message through characters such as graduates and businessmen.”

The commercial is deliberately disruptive as it is aimed at startling viewers. “The act of a kid giving an older person advice is not improb-able; agreed that the content - that is, finance advice - is improbable. However, this is a deliberate exag-geration that is necessary for effective advertising,” Satapathy adds.

He says that another reason for using a child as the main character is to generate an association between the brand and modernity. “We want to position the brand as a modern style of investing and this goal is achieved by showing that the next generation is aware of it and is telling their elders about it,” he explains.

The campaign is primarily TV-led with only one 40 second TVC.

Edited versions of the same (30 sec-ond and 20 second version) will follow shortly. Besides TV and print, below-the-line activities are also on the cards.

DOES THE CREATIVITY WORK?

Industry experts give a thumbs down to this campaign. Gautam

Pandit, partner and senior creative director, RK Swamy BBDO is of the opinion that the ad suffers from classic role reversal as instead of the father educating the child about the investment plan, the ad shows the child telling the father how to invest money.

“A message about a serious topic such as insurance would be more relevant and convincing if a senior

person spoke about it. Due to this role reversal, consumers may not identify with the offering. It is hard to accept a kid talking about SIP and the exaggeration is hard to believe,” he says.

On an ethical stand point, Pandit adds that the gesture of the kids mocking the father is a complete no-no as it is insulting and disrespect-

ful towards the older generation.Senthil Kumar, executive crea-

tive director, JWT India, comments on the tried and tested creative for-mula used in the commercial. “I hate formulas. I believe that the audi-ence out there wants you to surprise, engage and connect with them at every touch point. They don’t have time for the same old formula in a new form,” he says.

He adds that usually cute kids help endear adult audiences if one plugs in emotion, humour, a deep human insight or any real hook that will engage and hold attention beyond 30 seconds. “This one, though, lacks a good right hook to connect with the investor out there,” he says.

Kumar concludes that he is not sure if the tactic of using the child as a spokesperson of financial invest-ments will really work in the market. He asserts, “How many parents like it when their teeny boppers start teach-ing them stuff? Kids know more but will any child put his father down in front of his friends?” �

[email protected]


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Out of home media company Laqshya has expanded its presence in the western mar-ket by adding more than 400 out of home

(OOH) media assets in Pune, which is an upcom-ing hub for a number of companies and industries.

The OOH formats that will now be part of Laqshya’s inventory include billboards, pole kiosks, traffic booths and mobile vans in Bund Garden Road, Kalyani Nagar, Yerwada, Kharadi, Kondhwa, Camp, Wakdewadi, SB Road, University Road, Baner, Aundh, Kothrud and Bajirao Road, cover-ing most parts of the city.

Pune is fast emerging as a key location for multinational firms. Here, the outdoor medium has long been seen as a significant vehicle to reach out to target customers, with different media being popular amongst different industries. Pole kiosks offer frequency and immediacy, traffic booths and other transit media ensure repeated exposure, especially in a city which is concentric in nature (unlike Mumbai). In fact, this was the second loca-tion where the Indian Outdoor Survey (IOS) was conducted by MRUC, after Mumbai.

Shashi Sinha, national sales head, Laqshya Media, says, “Mumbai’s twin city, Pune, has shown a lot of promise as a lifestyle destination and has attained significant importance in the media plans. We will now market premium sites in the city. This move has been largely applauded by our advertisers and agencies and most of them have already shown interest. Our aim would be

to continue offering innovative and professionally integrated OOH services to brands.”

With the inclusion of Pune, Laqshya will now have media assets in 14 cities across the country. It also has presence in Sri Lanka and Dubai.

Laqshya functions through three divisions, OMI (Outdoor Media Integrated) - the OOH media agency, Laqshya Outdoor, which offers a media assets in the OOH space and Laqshya Airport, which has exclusive rights to the green-field airport project in Hyderabad and the Bandaranaike International Airport (Colombo, Sri Lanka). �

[email protected]

The out-of-home company has added more than 400 sites in Pune to its inventory. By Surina Sayal

LAQSHYA

Expanding Footprints

(Top Left) Sinha: the inventory includes billboards, pole kiosks, traffic booths and mobile vans.

<< �� "�#��

Saving Grace

The use of a child is to deliberately make it disruptive and draw attention between

the brand and modernity.

Before revealing this gadget named Poken, it is important to under-stand the genesis of its existence

through a conversation between a media professional and Dr. Networking:

Media professional: I am a networking addict.Dr. Networking: Are you just an online social networking addict?Media professional: No. I meet a lot of professionals in daily life and exchange business cards with them.Dr. Networking: Is there any problem with it?Media professional: Yes! there is a problem with exchanging cards. Once I have exchanged the visiting cards, I take a lot of time in extracting and arranging their contact details in my database. Besides, searching for the online presence (on networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook) of the people I share business cards with is also a time consuming process.Dr. Networking: Oh! My dear friend, you don’t need a medicine rather you need a gadget called Poken.

THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS CARDS

At first glance, Poken looks like a pen drive (storage device). In reality, it is a USB-

enabled social business card, developed by the Switzerland-based company, Poken.com. It not only allows its users to exchange their contact details but also empowers them to share their presence on various social networking sites in seconds. How?

To transfer the contact details stored in Poken, to begin with the user needs to first plug the device into the USB port of his computer, which is connected with the internet. Once plugged, the device automatically directs the user to Poken.com, where he or she can create his virtual business card and feed in information such as name, designation and other contact details.

The user can also add his photograph and provide clickable links - displayed as icons - of his various social networking profiles. More than 40 social media sites, such as Linkedin.com, can be linked with the social business card.

To exchange information/cards with people in the real or offline world, the Poken users are required to bring their Pokens close (about 0.5 inch) to each other, and wait for few seconds until the devices exude a green light. The green light indicates that the business cards of the two users have been successfully exchanged.

The information acquired could then be retrieved by plugging the device into the internet enabled computer. Soon after it is plugged, the

POKEN

Electronic IntroductionSocial media gadget Poken, provides networking and brand-building opportunities to users.

��


With the growing need to store data, storage space always seems to run

short. And with mobile devices becoming ubiquitous, the need to be able to access anything and eve-rything is leading to the exponential growth of memory devices.

To tap this growing potential, the flash memory maker, SanDisk ,has launched the SanDisk Memory Yatra, which aims to reach out to gizmo-geeks of all ages. The pan-India activity involves educating the target group about the benefits of flash memory.

“The importance of memory is very high right now, with the surge in digital devices. So, this initiative will allow us to engage our custom-ers and make them more familiar with our products,” says Manisha Sood, country manager, SanDisk

India & SAARC.The activity aims to

make the target group aware of the company’s wide range of offer-ings, which is available at various price points. “Consumers know about memory cards, but they do not pay attention to these memory devices. When they buy a digital camera, they don’t pay attention to which brand of memory card they should use or what capacity they need. We want them to know about the availability of our products in various capaci-ties and various price points,” Sood explains.

The initiative covers Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kochi, Pune, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Guwahati. The

SanDisk memory van will traverse all the hot

spots of the various cities it travels to.

Sood says, “In big cities, con-sumers have many digital devices to handle. But in smaller towns, the-phone becomes the only important device that people carry with them everywhere and use it as everything - to save pictures, music or any other data. This leads to the need for high-capacity memory cards.”

Phones today are loaded with multiple features and are also very affordable. For instance, a particular

Nokia phone costs about Rs 2,500 and allows 8 GB of storage. For this campaign, the company’s primary target is SEC B, C and D, who are aware of memory cards, but do not know what type of cards best suit their needs.

The canters are designed to engage with the consumers, while demonstrating the entire product range of SanDisk. The mobile van has a signature wall and memory wall set up for the product demo. The inside of the van is divided

Jogging Their MemoryThe flash memory maker reached out to consumers through on-ground activities. By Poojya Trivedi

SANDISK

(Left): Sood displaying the product and SanDisk canters

�� >>

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Recently, Google announced its new search service called Google Instant. Compared to the existing search process on Google -

which suggests search terms and displays search results only after the user clicks on the ‘Google Search’ button or presses the ‘Enter’ key, the ‘Instant’ version not only suggests search terms but also displays search results as soon as the user begins to type or key in words in the search bar.

This implies that a user will start getting the results even before he finishes typing his full search term or presses the ‘Google Search/Enter’ key. The Google (Instant) search bar will display the prediction or suggestion of keywords, while the corresponding search results will be presented below the search bar.

For instance, if a user enters the key word ‘coc’, Google Instant will suggest words like ‘Coca-Cola’, ‘coco’, ‘coconut’ and ‘coconut water’ and simultaneously show search results for ‘Coca-Cola’. Now, if the user adds the character ‘k’ to ‘coc’, the search suggestions and results displayed below the search bar will change instantly. In the case of ‘cock’, it shows results related to cocktails.

The search ads served via Google AdWords programme on the right side or top of the search results page as sponsored links, will also begin to appear as the user keys in keywords, even before the user finishes or enters the complete search term. Thus, a user will get to see different and more search ads during the search process on Google Instant.

For the same example mentioned above, the

user will see an ad titled, ‘Employment in Coca-Cola’ when he keys in ‘coc’ and as soon as he adds the character ‘k’, he will get to see an ad titled ‘Designer cocktail dresses’.

To begin with, Google Instant services will be available in a few markets such as the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia. In India, the service is expected to be launched after

some time. Till then, Indian users can experience it through Google.com, instead of Google.co.in.

Though Google has clarified in its blog that there will be no impact of ‘Instant’ search on the ranking of search results, yet many digital experts believe that the new search system will mostly affect the websites which depend on the search engine for traffic.

“In the US, various websites have already start-ed reporting fluctuations in their traffic figures,” claims Milind Mody, chief executive officer, eBrandz, a search marketing company based in


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Google has launced new search service which can have serious ramifications on the search engine optimisation (SEO) business in comparison to search advertising. By Kapil Ohri

GOOGLE INSTANT

The Search Continues

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The service will be avail-able in markets such as the US, UK, Italy and Spain.

device pulls up a web page called poken.com/dashboard, where details of shared business cards are show-cased. In case the user wants to visit the social networking profiles of the various business associates he gath-ered the business cards of, he can directly click on the social network-ing sites’ icons (on the bottom of the social business cards) and land on the desired profiles in absolutely no time.

A Poken can save up to 64 social business cards in one go. The con-tacts after being transferred to the desired location, empties the space to further save new business cards.

THE BRANDING OPPORTUNITY

Marketers can employ Poken for brand building purposes.

Naidu Darapaneni, founder and chief executive officer, Versant Technologies, the Hyderabad based company which is the exclu-sive reseller of Poken in India (Pokeninindia.com), explains, “Advertisers can print their logos or stickers on Pokens and can also

explore the online branding pos-sibility.”

The online branding option includes branded social business cards, skins and banner ads served on Poken.com dashboard. The com-pany has plans to charge about Rs 100 from advertiser to serve banner

ads on per user and monthly basis.He adds that companies use

Poken during business events and conferences organised or sponsored by them.

“Some of the global brands such as BMW, Adobe, Microsoft, SAP and IBM have used Pokens in their events,” adds Darapaneni.

BMW utilised branded Pokens in an event named Trend Forum, organised in Munich, Germany in December 2009.

Poken has recently launched an Apple iPhone application which offers similar functionality. The same technology will soon be made available on other smart phones.

Poken is priced at about Rs 1,500. It will be interesting to watch whether Poken will take off in India, especially considering the fact that it will be of no use if the other person does not own the same device. �

[email protected]

<< �� "�#��'$

Electronic...

Mumbai, which has offices in the US as well.

He adds, “Google Instant search will have more impact on the organ-ic search business (search engine optimisation) compared to the paid search (search advertising using Google AdWords programme).”

Bhaskar Thakur, co-founder and chief executive officer, RankUno Interactive (a Pune-based search marketing agency), says, “Earlier, the focus was on choosing the right set of keywords to make search engine optimisation (SEO) effective. However, from now onwards, the relevance of each word of a search term will become important and search agencies/advertisers will be required to focus on the order of keywords of a search term.”

He adds that searches for terms such as ‘Delhi five star hotels’ and

‘five star hotels in Delhi’ could pre-dict different results while the search process is on - based on the order of keywords. In the earlier Google search system, both keywords/search terms were treated equally.

Clarifying it further, Mahesh Murthy, co-founder and chief exec-utive officer, Pinstorm, says, “The challenge for search agencies/adver-tisers will be to optimise and create content/pages related to each word for a long tail search term.”

Will Google Instant affect the

paid search business? says, Murthy. “The keywords selection process for AdWords based advertising will become more strategic and advertis-ers will have to increase the number of ‘ad groups’.” An ad group rep-resents a grouping or collection of keywords for which a search ad is being served. Thus, the advertiser will end up buying more keywords.

Thakur believes that the Google Instant search system is actually an opportunity for advertisers. “Search ads will be displayed even before the

search process is over, so there could be more opportunity for companies/brands to serve their search ads in advance, even before the search pro-cess ends,” he says.

However, brands serving ads on search will need to be careful as the system may count impression even for searches which may not be apt, says a search marketing expert.

“One area that Google Instant could play a role for users could be that of local search because that’s one area where the search queries are more vague (as a person may not know what exactly he would like). In such a case, the intelligence that ‘reads your mind’ will be wel-comed. But overall, just as one uses or ignores ‘auto form filler’ sugges-tions, the same is likely to happen with Instant Search once its novelty rubs off, and it becomes the way all search is,” Ashok Lalla, president, digital, EURO RSCG (India) points out. �

[email protected]

<< �� "�#��'�

The Search...


(From left) Mody, Thakur and Murthy: great opportunity for advertisers

> Hungama Mobile has appointed Sunny Virmani as VP-international mobile business. He will lead Hungama’s global growth and opera-tions in the mobile space and will work closely with the company’s con-tent and service partners globally.

He has over 13 years of experi-ence in filmmaking, entertainment, marketing, consulting and tech-nology. He has worked with many prestigious and boutique companies in the US and in India.Prior to joining Hungama, Virmani was president of VCXel Entertainment, where he led the strategic direction and opera-tions of the company.

> Cleartrip.com has appointed Niraj Seth as the CMO. He was earlier the head of marketing at online jobs por-tal, Monster.com. He will report to Stuart Crighton, CEO, Cleartrip.com, and will be based in Delhi. Seth is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and has more than 17 years of experience. Of this, he has spent more than 12 years with Bharat Petroleum and in 2006 he moved to Monster.com.

DIGITAL

MARKETING

> Nirmal Pulickal the ex-asso-ciate creative director of W+K has joined Mudra Communications as executive creative director, North and East. Based out of Delhi, he will report to Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer, Mudra Group and work with Ajay Naqvi, EVP and head, Mudra North and East, handling accounts like HBO, Wrigley and Philips.

A graduate in English literature from Fergusson College, Pune, Pulickal has 12 years of experience in advertising. He started his career in 1998 with Clarion (now Bates141). Later, he moved on to agencies like Contract Advertising, McCann Erickson, Ogilvy & Mather, RMG David, Young & Rubicam and finally to Wieden+Kennedy in 2008.

Over the years, he has worked on brands such as Nike, Royal Enfield, Chevrolet Beat and Cruz, Incredible India, Indigo, Singapore Tourism, Citibank, Asahi Glass, United Colors of Benetton (UCB) and Cornetto Walls, among others.

> Nitin Makdani, ex-business head - consumer electronics at Cheil Communications has moved to LG Ad as vice-president. He will be the overall in-charge of the agency while working towards strengthening the existing verticals, as well as devel-oping new verticals, to establish LG Ad as a full-fledged communica-tions agency.

Makdani is an MBA from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad and has over 15 years of experience in advertising. He also did a course in advertising and marketing from Pennsylvania University.

He started his career in 1994 with Mudra Communications followed by Rediffusion Y&R. In 1996, he moved to Everest Integrated Communications, where he spent six years handling clients like Godfrey Phillips, Honda Scooters, Caltex Lubricants, Fena Detergents and Maxima Watches. In 2003 he joined Hakuhodo Percept Delhi as client services director, where he worked on Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki two-wheeler brands. This was followed by another brief stint at JWT as client services director, before he moved to Cheil in 2006.

ADVERTISING

A compilation of some major people movements in the last fortnight

> Madhuri Sapru, managing partner, Kinetic & Dialect South Asia, who handled the position since mid-2006 has put in her papers at the agency. Before join-ing Kinetic, Sapru held various positions at Tata Teleservices. Earlier. She was working for the Tata Group managing the Tata brand and also led the Tata Group AoR. She has more than 21 years of experience, most of it at the client’s end with companies such as Nestle, Blow Plast, BPL Mobile (now Loop Mobile) and the Tata Group.

OOH & BTL

> The India Today Group has appointed veteran journalist MJ Akbar as the editorial direc-tor of India Today - English and International editions, tak-ing over Prabhu Chawla’s responsibilities at the organi-sation. Akbar will also have the additional responsibility of Headlines Today as editorial director of the channel. While, Chawla has been redesignated as CEO and editor (languages). The latter will explore possibilities to bring more Indian language titles in future.

Akbar had launched a weekly English newspaper titled The Sunday Guardian in early 2010. Also, he is the chair-person of Covert, a fortnightly news magazine launched in May 2008. In the past, he has also been associated with The Asian Age as founder, editor-in-chief and manag-ing director and has been editor-in-chief of The Deccan Chronicle.

> Bloomberg UTV has appointed Manoj Menon as senior vice-president, ad sales. He will report to Deepak Lamba, business head, Bloomberg UTV. He will be respon-sible for increasing the channel’s revenue and capitalising on the channel’s renewed programming and branding. Earlier, Menon was head, ad sales, STAR Movies and STAR World. He has more than 17 years of experience in ad sales, of which 11 years have been spent at STAR Network.

> Red FM has announced multiple appointments in its programming team. With an aim to strengthen the sta-tion’s senior management in programming, Vaibhav Vishal has been appointed as the NCD, while Rohit Kulkarni is the new national client solutions head. Mayur Chikramane has joined Red FM as the regional programming head - North and Macoy D’Souza comes on-board as the regional programming head - West.

Before this, both Vishal and Kulkarni were associated with MTV. Chikramane was earlier associated with Fever 104 FM and D’souza was with the media industry and had previously led the regional programming teams for Big FM.

MEDIA

>> MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS<<��

��

Whether Research In Motion (RIM) puts the Indian government’s security

concerns to rest or not, one cannot deny that the BlackBerry phone user base has widened steadily in recent times and that the average age of the user has only got younger.

The ‘smart’ phone, if you will, has moved beyond being just a device for a hotshot executive to check e-mails on the go. It has moved beyond being only a business phone. Controversy or not, the BlackBerry Messenger or BBM is one of the more hep con-cepts with the youth and ‘Give me your BB PIN’ is common usage.

All in all, move over corporate honchos - the bubbly young have staked a claim in the fun BlackBerry space as well. Vodafone Essar’s new campaign for BlackBerry is recognis-ing this very trend and conveys the message in a simple yet cheeky man-

ner with ‘BlackBerry Boys’.Having created quite a buzz

already, the television commercial, designed by Vodafone’s long trusted creative partner Ogilvy India, passes the message very figuratively.

The film begins with five men dressed in formal attire - singing about how special they are, being BlackBerry users or ‘the BlackBerry Boys’. The group, much to its cha-grin, is gradually joined by a whole bunch of youngsters singing the same song, saying how they all do the same fun thing and stay connected socially while they are on the move.

Besides the implied message, the campaign pushes Vodafone’s BlackBerry service plans for its pre-paid customers in India at pocket friendly prices.

The creative team at Ogilvy includes creative directors Rajesh Mani and Mehul Patil. The TVC has been directed by Prakash Varma of

Nirvana Films.Talking about the campaign,

Rajiv Rao, national creative director, Ogilvy India, says, “I remember the look on the faces of the top execu-tives in suits, sitting in business class, having to share their seat with a young guy like me in a crumpled T-shirt and torn jeans. It was this

feeling that was very similar to the BlackBerry phenomenon a few years ago - when getting a BB was like a big perk in the organisation.”

“Today, besides the top execu-tives, a lot of youngsters are using BlackBerry for various reasons. Inspired by this insight, we thought - how about getting these typical BB users singing a song about BB and themselves - and then letting a bunch of youngsters completely take over what was meant to be their stage, since they are the new users,” Rao adds

The lyrics of the song, says Rao, had to be simple enough to look like one that is made by the same men in suits.

Vodafone’s brief to the agency was to expand the usage of the BlackBerry beyond the traditional post-paid cor-porate segment. With the pre-paid offering, youngsters have the option to control their expenses on the

service and experience the suite of offerings.

Anuradha Aggarwal, vice-pres-ident, brand communications and insights, Vodafone India, says, “We noticed that BlackBerry had become an aspirational phone with the youth and we wanted to make Vodafone the preferred service provider. The objective was to be different. To be different with a simple message can be challenging, too.”

The television campaign will be supported by print and outdoor pro-motions.

BOYS’ SPEAK...

The campaign has evoked mixed responses from the advertising

fraternity, while the light hearted nature of the film has been much appreciated.

Satbir Singh, chief creative offic-er, Euro RSCG India observes that the BlackBerry had become a “very straight-jacketed for the stuffy” kind of a phone.

“BlackBerry had become a device for the guy who replied on Lotus Notes at ungodly hours. In reality, the number of people who ask you for your PIN has been rising steadily. BBM is the lifeblood for scores of gossipy young things,” notes Singh.

He says that the commercial changes the perception in a delight-ful way.

“Indeed, I love the light hearted ‘boys’ bit. It’s catching on as a for-ward on social media. What else do you need,” Singh says.

Prasanna Sankhe, national crea-tive director, Publicis Ambience, a self-confessed BlackBerry hater, is not impressed by the new position-ing of the BlackBerry.

“People like the efficiency of the BlackBerry and in some way, in the corner of their hearts, desire to project themselves as a part of this corporate BlackBerry world. I don’t know how prudent it is to erode that strength,” says Sankhe.

Having said that, Sankhe likes the ‘feel good’ factor and music of the commercial - as one has begun to expect of the Vodafone communica-tions. According to him, given the nature of the client, a bigger creative leap with a relevant insight could have been possible. �

[email protected]

VODAFONE/BLACKBERRY

The ‘BlackBerry Boys’ are the new craze in town. Vodafone’s new campaign says that the smart phone no longer belongs to only the corporate honchos. By Biprorshee Das

Not Just For the Big Boys


Move over corporate

honchos - the bubbly young have

staked a claim in the fun BlackBerry

space as well.

Rao: Targeting the young

Here’s your tool to create ripples..

Come, get into act....


LENOVO The film for Lenovo’s range of personal computers is based on the fact that most of Indian household PC purchases by the youth needs parental approval.

Creative Agency: Hungry & FoolishFounder and Creative head: Anto NovalCreative Directors: Praveen Raj and Prem KishoreFilm Director: Milind DhaimadeProduction House: Equinox Films

JACK AND JONESAs part of the outdoor campaign, the European fashion brand rolled out fully wrapped Innovas for seven days in the Capital.

OOH Agency: CashurDriveExposure: Delhi NCR

BUILDADREAMCAR.COM The site empowers consumers to assemble and build a virtual car using machinery and accessories available on the site. It is rumoured to be a teaser campaign for the upcoming vehicle called Aria, a crossover between MUV and SUV, by Tata Motors.

Digital agency: Experience Commerce, Mumbai

HINDUSTAN TIMES The TVC is a part of the four-film series. With the Commonwealth Games and reality shows being the case in point, the idea of the campaign is to bring people closer to sports and also to propose a change in the way people are putting pressure on children to participate in reality shows.

Creative Agency: Lowe Lintas, DelhiCreative Team: R Balki, Deepesh Jha, Amer Jaleel, Shayondeep Pal and Harpal SinghFilm Director: Nikhil Rao

PHILIPS ELECTRONICS The TVC for Philips energy efficient lighting talks of how the product is a good bet to save energy.

Creative Agency: DDB Mudra DelhiChief Creative Officer: Bobby PawarCreative Director: Neville ShahCreative Team: Hassan Jafri, Radhika Kapur and Saurabh DawarFilm Director: Prakash Varma

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

AIRTEL The creative is about the Airtel-Manchester United School Programme. The copy says how aspiring footballers in 240 schools across six cities will undergo rigorous trials led by Manchester United coaches while the 20 most promising players will head to Manchester to train at the club’s facility.

Creative Agency: Rediffusion Y&RCreative Head: Jaideep Mahajan

TELEVISION

COCA-COLACoca-Cola, the official beverage partner for the Commonwealth Games, has launched a 45-day long outdoor campaign. The OOH firm has opted for large formats like frontlit hoardings, bridge panels, building wrap around the Centerstage Mall and façade branding on The Great India Place in Noida and vertical displays in the amphitheatre of Ansal Plaza Mall, New Delhi.

OOH Agency: MOMS, DelhiExposure: Delhi NCR

VIVANTA BY TAJ HOTELS & RESORTS The ad is the launch campaign for Taj Group’s Vivanta. It’s a 5-star hospitality brand positioned in the upper-upscale segment. The creative through various words brings alive the brand experience and philosophy.

Creative Agency: Rediffusion Y&RCreative Head and Copywriter: Anisha SarinArt Director: Sanket PathareBrand consultancy and Design Firm: Landor Associates

VIMAL The ad talks of Vimal’s recently launched anti-microbial fabric that allows sweat free use. The campaign is designed keeping in mind young entrepreneurs with a hectic work schedule and social life mixing fashion with a functional benefit that is communicated with a floral metaphor.

Agency: Grey AdvertisingExecutive Creative Director: Karan RawatSenior Creative Director and Art Director: Goral AjmeraCopy Supervisor: Pallavi Chakravarti

PRINT

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OOH

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SUSH

IL K

UMAR

....and turn ripples into waves.

YEARS OF

Theme: Crisis of credibility in India Media

Plus: Best of 15 - goof ups, letters, cartoons, pictures and

thought provoking, rip roaring features.

Outlook’s 15th Anniversary Special Issue: October 25th

Welcome aboard to the most awaited issue any magazine

ever published.

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If the run-up hadn’t gone horribly wrong with accusations of corruption, failing infrastructure and the resultant media and public outcry, it would have been interesting

to see whether ambush advertising would have reared its - some say ugly - head in this month’s Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi. The CWG committee has its hands full without this adding to its woes.

Games meets and championships tend to bring out the guerilla in the advertiser while the organisers have a torrid time trying to nip it in the bud and protect the sponsors’ turf. Ambush advertising has been a part of the Super Bowl in the US, the Olympics (Winter and Summer), World Cup (football and cricket), Marathons and even beach volleyball.

Globally, legendary conflicts like adidas-Nike (Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and the Football World Cup this year), Olympus-Canon (US Open tennis, last year) and Carlsberg-Budweiser (Football World Cup, 2010) have been played out in a blaze of publicity that helped the attacker brand. In each of the cases mentioned, the first-named has been an official sponsor. But the others too got more than anyone had bargained for.

The battle for eyeballs, perhaps fittingly, takes place outdoors. And appropriately enough, one can expect the hijacker to lie in wait round the next billboard or hoarding. There are Indian examples in plenty, both at sporting arenas and elsewhere. The 1996 Cricket World Cup saw the Pepsi-Coke face-off which gave birth to one of Indian

advertising’s memorable lines: Nothing official about it. One of the more striking ones off the sports field was Kingfisher-Jet Airways billboard war that was talked about for many months after it first appeared.

In India, most ambush advertising happens off the sports field possibly because, cricket aside, there is no big sponsor involved in sports. The CWG, for instance, despite the star athletes attending, has just a handful of official sponsors.

When campaigns are hijacked, it is the teaser ads that are most vulnerable to being targeted

especially if the teaser goes on for too long. Last month, the Pantene-Dove billboard conflict made headlines. What makes a brand want to hijack another’s campaign? What are the finer points of ambush advertising? Is it fair?

STREET BRAWLS

Recently, consumers in India were baffled by a couple of hoardings that screamed for their

attention. First, a shampoo brand (P&G’s Pantene, as it turned out later), claiming to be the leader in its space, launched an outdoor campaign that said, ‘A Mystery Shampoo 80 per cent women say is better than anything else’. Pantene’s extensive teaser campaign was supposed to be a precursor to its new, revamped avatar. What P&G didn’t know was that someone was watching. And that someone reacted with alacrity.

Hindustan Unilever’s shampoo brand, Dove, seized the opportunity to take a pot shot. Massive hoardings came up claiming: ‘There is no mystery, Dove is the No.1 shampoo’. Often, these hoardings were strategically placed near Pantene’s ‘mystery shampoo’ ones. While some marketing managers applauded HUL’s clever spoiler, others had mixed opinions. P&G, in the meantime, went ahead and filed a case.

Other highly-visible examples in India include Nescafé’s launch of granulated coffee a week before Bru was to have done the same, sabotaging the entire sets of creatives prepared by the latter. The Zee-Bhaskar combine Diligent Media Corporation took The Times of India


By Devina Joshi

w

Teasers that are about

intrigue andaren’t central to the

campaign to follow are the most vulnerable.

41afaqs! Reporter, October 1-15, 2 0 1 0

� �� Group to court because the latter’s campaign for Maharashtra Times had ‘sabotaged’ the Grey Tape launch campaign for Diligent’s newspaper, Daily News & Analysis (DNA). Similarly, Dainik Bhaskar’s teaser campaign for its launch in Ranchi was ‘hijacked’ by Hindustan. So where and how does one lay the ambush exactly?

It is not as if ambush advertising cannot happen on TV. Airtel Digital’s teaser campaign with a red couch took a pounding when Big TV’s ads pulled the rug from under its red sofa. Hijacking an ad is considered an art and a science by a section. It is an art, some experts point out, when the creative is put together and unleashed on an unsuspecting rival. And it is science when you can calculate how far you can go and, at the same time, stay within legal limits. Or, when and how much of a competitor’s campaign can be ‘sabotaged’ without it backfiring on the aggressor.

LAST-MINUTE SURPRISES

At what point in a brand’s campaign cycle can sabotage take place? The answer is: absolutely

any point. Experts, however, agree that the teaser phase is when a brand is most vulnerable to attack.

According to Anand Halve, director, chlorophyll, there are three key “occasions” when sabotage is likely to take place. The first is the teaser phase of a campaign. It is the equivalent to giving “advance notice” so that a competing brand can step in.

The second situation is akin to, in boxing

parlance, “bleeding with a glass jaw”. A glass jaw is a chin that practically begs to be punched severely. A brand might open itself up for attack by providing gaps that a competing brand can fill in. In some cases, it would seem that the affected brand was just asking for it.

The third scenario is simply stealing someone else’s thunder creatively. Sixteen years ago, Pepsi’s ‘Nothing official about it’ was a statement on Coca-Cola’s ‘Official sponsor of the Cricket World Cup’. It was a way of turning a competitor’s bragging to rubble. “There was no question of any opportunity being created by Coke, nor were there teasers for Pepsi to pick on. It was simply irreverence on Pepsi’s part, which made the word ‘official’ sound stupid,” says Lloyd Mathias, chief

marketing officer, Tata Teleservices, giving an advertiser’s perspective.

Teasers that are about intrigue and not central to the campaign to follow are the most vulnerable. On the other hand, teasers that are just the prequel to a strong, well thought-out, long-term position are quite safe. K S Chakravarthy (aka Chax), national creative director, Draftfcb Ulka, cites an example. When Maharashtra Times tried to hijack DNA’s outdoor teasers, not much happened. DNA’s hoardings of people with taped-up mouths were merely the opening salvo of a strong ‘Speak Up, it’s in your DNA’ juggernaut. “MT wasted some money and DNA went on to become the launch of the year,” muses Chax.

GAMES BRANDS PLAY

Why would a brand take open swipes at its competitor in such abrasive ways? “For

the same reason someone would wear a yellow suit - instant attention,” quips Sainath Saraban, executive creative director, Leo Burnett Delhi.

Sabotage usually happens when brands stop talking to consumers and start talking to each other. Most of the time, this is just an opportunity to show off how clever a brand is, with the target group being the competing brand/agency. It is about one-upmanship. “The consumer is left confused, and may still not know why to buy your brand,” says Vikram Mehra, CMO, Tata Sky.

According to a survey by chlorophyll, women didn’t get the Dove-Pantene saga at all nor did

they fully comprehend the play on the word ‘mystery’. The logic is simple. If one were to take a pot shot at a long-term property associated with a brand (such as a claim like one-fourth moisturising cream or even Nike’s tagline ‘Just do it’) the effort has a chance of being understood. Whether it works or not is another debate.

“But if you attack something as obscure as a ‘mystery shampoo’ and ‘being number one’, which the consumer might not so strongly associate with any of those two brands, then it doesn’t work,” Halve deduces. Typically, the brand that faces eyeball-to-eyeball competition goes the sabotage way the most. Furthermore, categories that enjoy just two big players as adversaries are happiest doing this.

Would it perhaps be logical to conclude that a challenger brand is most often seen sabotaging a market leader’s communication efforts? Not really. Branding experts feel it is not a challenger brand that sabotages, it is the challenger mentality in any brand that does so - the panga lena hai attitude. It’s akin to the Shah Rukh Khan versus Aamir Khan debate. Shah Rukh knows he’s the numero uno, but still likes to behave like a challenger, and attacks Aamir all the time.

Sabotage is obviously a short-term strategy, a pit stop, and there may not be anything wrong with that. It is said that the really good ones make a statement about their own brand - taking a swipe

at competition while doing it even if there has been a mishap.

When Pepsi’s Michael Jackson world tour was cancelled a few years ago, it left millions of fans - and the sponsor - disappointed. Coca-Cola, however, was quick to step in with the line, ‘Dehydrated? Time for a Coke’. Consumers loved it, because it came from what Coke stands for as a refreshment drink.

SNOOPERS’ INC?

Not every hijack attempt works in favour of the cheeky brand. Often, the hijacked

brand gets the benefit of the hijacker’s media budgets. The primary objective of a hijack is often entertainment. “You’re not in the business of advertising only to entertain. Every marketer’s primary objective is to get people to buy your product,” cautions Mehra of Tata Sky.

Others such as Chax feel that if a brand attacks a competitor’s inherent brand values, it can work. For instance, when Thums Up said ‘Grow up to Thums Up’, it was attacking Pepsi where it hurt - its inherent sweet taste, and the vulnerability of its kiddy-consumers to being called kiddies. But when the attack is purely on a competitor’s ad, finding after finding indicates consumers don’t understand - or appreciate - such efforts.

Where does one draw the line? Saraban of Burnett feels it depends on the people creating and approving the communication. If it’s a one-off project and they’re getting their kicks, no worries. “There are no absolutes here. One man’s ‘tongue-in-cheek’ is another ‘in bad taste’,” he muses. �

[email protected]

What should a brand do to make sure that its campaign is not broken? Harish Bijoor, brand strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc suggests five rules that could help.

Integrity insulation: Don’t ever lie, intentionally or un-intentionally. Do not try to stretch the truth. The further you stretch it, the further it lends itself to ridicule and ambush marketing. It’s like an elastic band. Stretch it far, and when you leave it, it hits hard...very hard!

Hyperbole insulation: Advertising is a creative process. The brand positioning statement offers integrity. At times, the ad positioning statement builds on this. The execution, which sits atop this uses every hyperbole to make the creative endearing. Avoid a situation where hype overtakes reality.

Teaser-insulation: Avoid teasers at all cost. Even if you use it, do it with quick updates. Don’t tease the competitor too much. Not worth it. Let the sleeping competitor lie.

Tall-claim insulation: Stop making those tall claims altogether. You are offering the competitor a tall and thick whip to flog you with. Tread the path of product claims with integrity.

360-degree insulation mindset: The days ahead are competitive. Examine every piece of creative with a 360-degree mindset that explores society, competition, advertisers, the green language and more importantly the inclusive language at large. Don’t offer a gap in any of this which the competitor can use to sabotage perfectly good creatives in other ways.

Watch Out!

Sabotage is obviously

a short-term ploy,a pit stop, and there

may not beanything wrong

with that.

� ��


Self-starter, solutions provider, team leader, relationship build-er, strategic thinker, persistent,

down-to-earth, keen listener and a go-getter. No, you won’t find these mentioned in Vyas’ CV. These are a few adjectives picked up from various recommendations written by various media professionals - associated with Vyas - on his Linkedin.com profile.

His recent move to GroupM as managing partner, South Asia to head the digital business is his second term with the agency. His first stay was seven years long.

Born and brought up in Damnagar (Gujarat), a town with population of about 17,000 people, Vyas followed the ritual of pursuing engineering (electrical and communications engineering from Shantilal Shah Engineering College, Gujarat), after finishing higher secondary. Instead of learning the science of commu-nication, the engineering course helped him develop an interest in the art of communication. “While stud-ying engineering, my interactions with marketing professors built my interest in advertising.”

In 1996, Vyas got admission in MICA. After finish-ing the course, he secured a media planner’s job in the Kolkata branch of Bates Clarion. There he was assigned the task of creating media plans for vari-

ous international cigarette brands like Benson & Hedges and 555, which ITC was planning to launch back then. In mid-1999, he moved to HTA Fulcrum, the WPP agency for Unilever accounts.

Vyas started taking an interest in digital media during the late ’90s, when the digital industry experienced the dotcom boom. He began his experiments with internet advertising while working on brands like Close-up, Axe and Sunsilk.

The boom - which motivated many people to start their own ven-tures - encouraged Vyas too, to come up with his own company. While at HTA Fulcrum, he teamed up with his old MICA classmates Kedar Lele and Ruchira Gupta to devise a busi-ness plan. “We wanted to create a media trading and exchange platform, which would ease the process of buy-ing and ordering of advertising (TV and print) inventory through the internet medium. Then the bust hap-pened and our idea died on the paper itself,” recalls Vyas.

When HTA Fulcrum became Mindshare, Vyas was asked to set up and handle its digital division. He kick-started the operations with a team comprising Madan Sanglikar (now with Mindshare Interaction) and M V Rajesh (now with OnMobile).

“Mindshare Digital happened immediately after the dotcom bust and there were less expectations from digital at that time.”

In late 2007, Vyas’ decision to quit GroupM and partner with digital media technology start-up Surewaves came as a surprise to many. “I am a start-up person at heart. I would have regretted for the rest of my life if I had missed it in 2007. There was an opportunity to apply internet technologies to other mediums. I happened to meet Rajendra Khare, who was earlier with Broadcom India Research, and Surewaves happened.”

What made him quit Surewaves? “All the while at Surewaves, I was in touch with GroupM folks as many of them are beyond just ex-colleagues. There was an unwritten pact that I will review my decision after three years of joining Surewaves.” Despite his exit, he still owns some stake in the company.

Now that he is back with GroupM, what are his plans? Says Vyas, “There is a famous quote: ‘Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.’ There are many things you go through in start-up environment which will have immense relevance in high growth or estab-lished businesses. Only time will tell what I have done with my experience.” �

[email protected]

“Only time will tell

what I have done

with my experience.”

By Kapil Ohri

TUSHAR VYAS I MANAGING PARTNER - SOUTH ASIA I GROUPM

Taj Television India has launched Ten Action + as an exclusive football channel.

This is the third channel from the company after Ten Sports and Ten Cricket.

Ten Action+ will showcase the world’s leading live and exclusive football action. Talking about the channel, Atul Pande, CEO, Sports Business, Essel Group, says, “This affirms our commitment to grow the sports business and consolidate our position as the leading sports broadcaster. The channel will bring the best football action from around the world.”

Ten Action+, which will be ‘entertaining and informative’, and will showcase live and exclusive matches from the Spanish La Liga, UEFA Champions League, Italian Serie A, UEFA Europa League, English Championship, Carling Cup, Scottish Premier League and

Dutch Eredivisie, among others.Apart from these, there will be a

host of preview, review and maga-zine style shows along with original live studio programming before the games kick off at the weekends. Countdown2Kickoff (C2K), will follow the football action every Saturday and Sunday and track breaking news, live scores, results, standings and fixtures.

Experts on the team will also explain in detail the subtleties of the game with exact precision using the channel’s newly acquired Piero 3D virtual graphics package.

Controversial goals, tactical play and disputed moments will be analysed through the real-time transition of live action into virtual reality.

Ten Action+ will also showcase content from Chelsea TV, Liverpool TV, Manchester City TV, Barca TV, Real Madrid TV and Bayern Munich TV to keep viewers updated with the latest team and player news from clubs around the world.

In January this year, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL), which owned 50 per cent stake in Taj TV, increased its stake to 95 per cent. �

[email protected]

The new channel, Ten Action+, will be all about football. News Bureau

TAJ TELEVISION

(�� Innings 2.0

FOTO

CORP

Mumbai-based technology consulting, digital marketing and software develop-ment company, blueMango solutions

has tied up with German tech solutions company, Kinoton to market the state-of-the-art Litefast range of 360-degree digital display systems, which can be used for marketing and communication out-of-home.

The Litefast 360° range comprises multimedia LED digital signage displays, whose 360-degree presentation can be viewed from all angles, attract-ing three times as many visitors and customers as conventional flat screens.

These displays are suitable for locations that see a constant flow of visitors, such as airports, cinema halls, railway stations, shopping malls, clubs, theme parks, trade fairs, company foyers, hotels and restaurants.

The body consists of a cylindrical LED display, resting atop a sleek cylindrical stand structure. Litefast displays come in three variants - Mini, Magic and Motion - with a range of sizes and display options.

The transparent Litefast Mini desktop mod-els are a face-to-face advertising medium for high-traffic locations, such as sales and trade fair counters, customer desks, checkout areas or

display windows. The Mini stands at a height of about 16 inches or 1.3 ft, and can display text and images.

Litefast Magic is a larger format display, stand-ing at approximately 7 ft. It is a multimedia platform for any kind of video, commercial or

trailer. The innovative LED display technology provides good colour space, colour brilliance and contrast.

Since Litefast Mini and Magic are transparent

LITEFAST 360°

From All AnglesMumbai-based blueMango solutions has partnered with a German company, Kinoton, to market new display systems in India. By Surina Sayal

��


Has it ever happened that you so wanted to go for an exotic holiday but

couldn’t, because you did not have the heart to leave your pet pooch alone at home? For pet owners who are obsessed with their canine friends, dog lovers Jimmy Jain and Apeksha Harihar decided to launch a magazine focussing on dogs. Titled ‘Where’s My Bone’, the lifestyle offering will cater to pet owners from middle income and high net worth group.

Where’s My Bone is tentatively priced at Rs 75. It will be launched in January 2011 and will be a quar-terly offering.

The company is promoted by Jain, chief executive officer and Harihar, editor and founder, Where’s My Bone.

The magazine is looking at

advertisers from various sections, including those who are into related businesses, pet friendly hotels, dog food companies and “basically any-one who wants to reach out to the pet owners,” says Harihar.

The magazine is in the final stages of talks with Mahindra Homestay, Petsmart Pet Products and a few dog salons in Mumbai for advertisements.

It also aims to attract advertise-ments from other small but growing dog related businesses such as dog travel agencies which suggest pet friendly vacations, pet photography related businesses and dog bakeries.

It will have an initial print run of 2,000 copies and aims to take the figure up to 5,000 copies by the end of the year. The magazine will be available at Landmark and Crosswords outlets and pet shops

across the metros of the country. Harihar adds that 70 per cent of the circulation will be through a sub-scription based model.

Talking about the content of the magazine, Harihar says, “Where’s My Bone will be a strictly dog lifestyle magazine and it will have nothing to do with dog nutrition and training.

There are many magazines which cover that aspect. We will cater to those who want to give their dogs a better life. We want to make India a well equipped nation for pets, like many other countries.”

Each edition of this quarterly will have a different theme, includ-ing travel special, beauty special, fashion special and photography special issues.

The magazine’s closest compet-itor will be the six-year-old Dogs and Pups magazine, a bi-monthly in the same genre.

Where’s My Bone will, on an average, have 50 pages, out of which 70 per cent will be dedi-cated to content and the rest will be taken up by advertisements. �

[email protected]

Every Dog Has His DayThe lifestyle magazine for dogs is good news for pet enthusiasts. By Sumantha Rathore

WHERE’S MY BONE

�� !$�>>

These displays are suitable for locations that see a con-stant flow of visitors, such as airports, cinema halls,

railway stations, shopping malls and clubs.

Harihar: for the love of dogs

Tentatively priced at Rs 75, the

magazine will focus on a better lifestyle

for dogs.


� ��

Are Movie Promotions on TV Actually

Clutter-breaking?Of late, almost every new movie gets onto a reality show on TV to announce itself. Are these as

clutter breaking as they are made out to be? By Rohit Nautiyal

THE RESPONSE DEPENDS ON HOW A MARKETER HAS UTILISED - OR UNDERUTILISED - THE PLATFORM. THE SUCCESS WILL SOLELY RELY ON THE SYNERGY BETWEEN THE storyline of a film and the theme of a

particular reality show. Such an associa-

tion is fruitful either before the release

of the film or within a few days post its

release.

Film producers have realised the

importance of being a part of the small

screen. At the same time, a 13-week-

long reality show has understood the

significance of star power in titillating

the viewers.

Recently, on the eve of the release of

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, actors

Ajay Devgan and Emraan Hashmi made

an appearance on Emotional Atyachaar on Bindass where they became a part of

the crew and not a single promo of the

movie was played during the show. All

this happened without disrupting the

show’s format.

While the makers of a film are able

to reach a varied number of audiences

across different channels, the right buzz

is created for the reality shows as India is

a star-struck nation.

YES, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. WE ARE LIVING IN AN AGE WHERE FILM PRODUCERS ARE NOT CONTENT WITH RUNNING MOVIE PROMOS ON ‘X’ NUMBER of reality shows - which are now a cru-

cial part of a film’s media plan. They

want more innovation. If a movie is

treated as brand then integration is a

must.

The best part is that no money is

exchanged in such deals, making it a safe

bet for the producers on both the sides.

Usually, general entertainment channels

(GECs) are preferred as they ensure eye-

balls. While it’s convenient to do this in

the case of big budget movies or movies

with star power, small films lose out on

this opportunity.

However, now regional markets are

also exploring such associations between

reality shows and films in a big way.

Though in-programme integration is the

future, many innovations in this segment

are yet to see light of day.

IN TODAY’S CONTEXT, THE VERY FACT THAT EVERY FILM MARKETER PLANS APPEARANCES ON REALITY SHOWS ON THE EVE OF A film’s release speaks volumes for the popu-larity of reality shows, their effectiveness in generating buzz around a film and the reach of television as a medium.

Having popular actors make an appearance on reality shows is definitely a delight factor for the viewers as well. Zee TV pioneered the initiative of roping in film celebrities for special episodes of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa way back in 2005 and the competition followed suit.

However, the current trend where the entire cast of an upcoming film visits every ongoing reality show dilutes the effectiveness of the publicity campaign. It is overkill.

It also substantially reduces the returns for the reality shows as there is little or no differentiator between the celebrity appear-ances across various shows. Now, is the time for film marketers to select the right platforms to showcase their upcoming releases in a way that makes it a win-win situation for everyone across the board.

��)�*+�Business Head, Zee TV

,��,��-(.��/��AV-P, Marketing, UTV Bindass

�0��1��0COO, P9 Integrated


digital signage displays, they can also be used to showcase actual products inside the display.

The third variant, Litefast Motion display is a customised version, which hasn’t been introduced in India yet.

Besides its attractive 360-degree display, and the chance to showcase actual products, other advantages are that the messages on display can be updated automatically in a flash, organised in accordance with the tar-get group and presented with precise timing when required. Additional real-time information, such as news or timetables, can also be combined with commercials, music clips or movie trailers.

Discussing the launch of Litefast in India, Aditi Manduskar, direc-tor, blueMango solutions says, “I met the Kinoton representatives while at a digital media conference in Singapore and was very impressed

with the product. They, too, were looking for a representative in India, which is how we decided on the partnership.”

Harald Naether, vice-presi-

dent, sales, Kinoton’s Litefast 360° Displays, says, “blueMango’s pro-found know how regarding digital marketing technology, their mar-ket expertise and their commitment to superior customer service makes them the perfect contact for our Litefast customers in India. We are looking forward to a fruitful coop-eration.”

Manduskar explains that after interacting with a few members from the media industry, they came to believe that everyone is now look-ing for a medium of advertising that is more vibrant and innovative than the flat LCD and LED display panels.

“We hope to bring in Litefast 360° Displays as the new, unique and

vivacious trend for the advertising world in India,” she says.

Litefast was launched interna-tionally in 2009 and blueMango is in the process of importing it to India. blueMango is currently look-ing at selling these displays, and may explore the possibility of leasing them out in the future.

The cost of purchasing a Litefast Mini is about Rs 3.5 lakh, while Magic is steeply priced within the range of Rs 30-40 lakh, depending on the software and sound systems one purchases with it.

The company is currently mar-keting the product to OOH media owners, outdoor ad agencies and shopping malls. While the product has the potential to attract eyeballs and comes with the ‘German engi-neering’ label, it remains to be seen whether the steep pricing would act as a hurdle, or whether advertisers would view it as a premium OOH medium that is clutter-breaking and worth investing in. �

[email protected]

<< �� "�#��%�

From All AnglesAdditional real-time

information, can also be combined with commercials

or music clips.

ENGLISH GENERAL NEWS

Tremors at the Top

The English general news genre has been following a set rank-ing since a long time, with

Times Now leading the pack with a lion’s share of the viewership pie, as per TAM Media Research data. There had always been a tussle for the No.2 position between CNN-IBN and NDTV 24X7.

In 2009, Times Now enjoyed undisputed lead-ership, with a majority share of (yearly average) 30 per cent (C&S, 25+, All India, 1 mn+) of the general news channel genre. It was fol-lowed by NDTV 24X7 and CNN-IBN, which commanded relative shares of 23 per cent each. In 2008, however, Times Now and NDTV 24X7 were vying for the No.1 spot.

The year 2010 saw CNN-IBN gradually expanding its share among the other channels, while NDTV 24X7’s share has been declining. Times Now’s share of the market has declined over the past few weeks.

From a relative share of 21.4 per cent in January 2010, CNN-IBN’s share in July was 23 per cent, while NDTV’s share has gone down from 24.3 per cent in January to 20.3 per cent in July. Times Now’s share, too, declined from 29.3 per cent to 25.2 per cent.

August saw a major upheaval in the English general news space. In Week 33, CNN-IBN’s share increased to 26 per cent, close to the No. 1

player, Times Now, which had garnered 27 per cent share.

Week 34 onwards, however, the rankings gradually changed. CNN-IBN grabbed the No. 1 position with a majority share of 24.4 per cent. It was followed by NDTV 24X7 as second player, with a market share of 23.4 per cent. Times Now slipped to No3, garnering 22 per cent relative share in Week 35.

In Week 36, the gap between CNN-IBN and

Times Now was 3 percentage points, while in Week 37, the gap broadened to 5 percentage points. As per the TAM report (Week 38), CNN-IBN continues to be No.1 with 29 per cent share of the English news genre, followed by Times Now, which is at No.2 with 27 per cent share.

While no particular reason could be ascertained for the shuffle in the genre, media analysts believe that a dip in distribution could have led to the drop in viewership of Times Now because for a genre such as this, fluctuations in viewership is not led by programming changes. Neither has there been a big event to which this can be attributed.

NDTV 24X7 is at No.3 in the latest week and commands a 20 per cent relative share, followed by Headlines Today, which has garnered a share of 12 per cent. Among other channels, News9 has garnered a share of 6 per cent, followed by IMN News and BBC World News, which have garnered relative shares of 3.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

While CNN-IBN has clearly replaced Times Now in the last six weeks, media planners would like to wait for another six weeks before pro-nouncing a verdict.

As of now, it seems that the English news genre is slated to see some action. �

[email protected]

��

For English news, a fluctuation in viewership is not led by programming changes. Neither has there been a big event to which

this can be attributed.

After a long time, things are stirring up once again in the English general news genre. The space was ruled by Times Now but now others are catching up. By Sapna Nair

��

While TapRoot India got seven spikes, BBDO and Mediacom were No.2 and No.3 with four and three metals, respectively. News Bureau

SPIKES ASIA 2010

Time to Celebrate

While last year India had 65 shortlisted entries at Spikes Asia, this year saw 80 entries from the country in categories

including Print, Print Craft, Media, Outdoor, Digital, Design, Direct and Sales Promotion, TV/Cinema, TV/Cinema Craft, Radio and Integrated.

Leading with a tally of seven metals, TapRoot India won four gold, two silver and a bronze. The agency bagged one gold and one silver Spike, both for Transasia Papers in Print Craft category. In Print category, the agency has bagged one sil-ver Spike, also for Transasia Papers. The same campaign also got it a gold Spike in the Outdoor category.

In the Media category, the agency won a gold Spike for The Times of India’s ‘India-Pakistan Peace Project’. The same campaign was awarded a gold Spike in Integrated and a bronze in Direct & Sales Promotion category.

BBDO is the No.2 Indian agency with one gold, two silver and one bronze. The gold Spike is for Aviva Life Insurance (Education Street to School Program) and two silver Spikes for 7UP Lemon and P&G’s ‘Women Against Lazy Stubble’ (WALS) - all three in the Media category. Again, in Direct & Sales Promotion category, the agency grabbed one bronze Spike for P&G Gillette Mach 3 for WALS.

Mediacom is next with one gold, one silver and one bronze. One Gold for Gillette Mach 3 and the silver for anti-aging cream, Olay - both in the Media category. The agency also won a bronze Spike in the same category for Gillette Mach 3.

Ogilvy has managed one gold Spike in TV/Cinema category for the Breakthrough campaign on domestic violence awareness.

With a total tally of 6 metals, JWT has won four silver and two bronze. It got two silver Spikes for GSK’s ‘Horlicks Pro-Height Room’ and Ehsaas Foundation’s ‘Dhobi Ghat’ - both in the Print category. In Direct & Sales category, the agency picked up a silver Spike for ‘Horlicks Pro-Height Room’. In the TV/Cinema category, JWT grabbed a silver Spike for ING Bank’s ‘The

Chase’. Additionally, the agency won two bronze Spikes - one each for Atul Sharma’s ‘Fold-Out Yoga Cards’ in the Design category and Fujifilm in the Print category.

Next is Mudra DDB with one silver Spike and one bronze Spike in the Print Craft category for Srujan. Also, the Mudra Group grabbed a bronze Spike for Federal Bank.

McCann Worldgroup won a silver Spike for Onida Washing Machine’s ‘Clothesline’ in the

Outdoor category, and one bronze Spike in the Outdoor category for Onida Washing Machine.

In the Digital category, Grey Worldwide India won a silver Spike for Wockhardt Hospital’s ‘Orthopaedist Harvard Medical International’.

In the Media category, Creativeland Asia won a silver Spike for Frooti.

Leo Burnett India won five bronze - two for Sambhavana Trust in Print Craft category, two for Tide Detergents in Print category, and one more for Bajaj Electricals in Radio category.

Bates 141 managed one bronze Spike for Virgin Mobile’s ‘Indian Panga League’ in Media category and one bronze Spike for Net Protector’s cam-paign, titled ‘Stolen Signature’.

MediaCom Communications Mumbai and BBDO India, Mumbai have been ranked No.2 and No.3 Media Agencies of the Year. This is part of the Special Awards category.

India had no shortlisted entries in the TV/Cinema Craft category. Spikes Asia 2010 was hosted in Singapore bringing together 1,400 ad professionals in Asia Pacific region. �

[email protected]

Spikes won by various agenciesAgency Gold Silver Bronze Total

TapRoot India 4 2 1 7BBDO 1 2 1 4Mediacom 1 1 1 3Ogilvy India 1 - - 1JWT - 4 2 6Mudra Group - 1 2 3McCann Erickson - 1 1 2Grey - 1 - 1Creativeland Asia - 1 - 1Leo Burnett - - 5 5Bates 141 - - 2 2 7 13 15 35

AND THE WINNERS ARE

This year saw 80 entries from the country in categories includ-

ing Print, Print Craft, Media, Outdoor, Digital, Design, Direct and Sales

Promotion.

in both formats - traditional and digi-tal - has also picked up tremendously.

ADVERTISERS’ VIEW

After nearly 18 months of liv-ing without large-format OOH

options, advertisers have learnt to use the available options effectively.

“Besides telecom, the strong retail base in Chennai has also used the available outdoors well to commu-

nicate their message,” says Alambara.He suggests that advertisers,

both national and local, can max-imise their OOH investments in Chennai. “Creating (or recreating) their messaging to suit the existing OOH options will help most adver-tisers gain from the limited scope that OOH offers in this market.”

While the national outdoor size would account for roughly 7-10 per cent of the total advertising spends - in Chennai, it is slightly higher (in the 10-15 per cent range) due to extensive outdoor usage by retail. While this would have gone down

significantly by volume, it has not dropped drastically in value - because the cost of the OOH options available have shot up dramatically to fulfil the increased demand from advertisers.

WHAT’S AHEAD?

Alambara points out a few issues that need to be tackled here.

This includes a uniform code and proper regulations that are yet to be put in place. An element of doubt exists, with numerous illegal options still in operation. Another factor is that designs of bus shelters are not uniform. Chennai has over

600 shelters, and different formats are being implemented across sites. Thus, advertisers are unable to use a common template across different shelters.

Also, the cost of existing OOH options has spiralled to cope up with the increased demand, making it unviable for smaller advertisers. Where there are mistakes, there are learnings too. Khan concludes, “The Chennai OOH industry has bounced back, and is slated to gain what it lost due to earlier setbacks, before the end of this year.” �

[email protected]

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Back With A Bang


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Rural culture is not finely differentiated,’’ said Suman Srivastava, CEO, Euro RSCG who kicked off the event. He said that before the downturn, India was shining and

so were the marketers. And ‘Shining India’ was taking place in small towns too. For example, MS Dhoni.

‘‘The slowdown pushed us even deeper and marketers devised new media plans, price cuts, discounts, inclusive advertising etc for ‘Bharat’,’’ he said.

He then raised the question as to what is really ‘Bharat’ and how is it different from ‘India’. ‘‘To understand Bharat there is a need to go to unchartered territories. The divide is about how do they think and nothing else,’’ he said.

According to him, Bharat can well exist in metros and India can exist in rural as well.

While Bharat is about tradition, suspicious of western culture, believing in arranged marriages, buying tried and tested products and brands; India is about changing, open to western culture, being open about love marriages and on the lookout for latest brands and products in the market.

He said that marketers need to focus on tackling mindsets and also need to dissect the non-metros. He also suggested avoiding falling for clichés and avoiding being condescending.

‘‘Bharat and India exist next to each other,’’ he concluded.


101 Markets, presented by Amar Ujala, discusses and explores the promise that small town and rural India holds. The third edition had insightful case studies on campaigns designed specifically for small town India and the challenges pertaining to this market. Excerpts from the presentations. By Payal Khandelwal

Associate Sponsors

Special Address: Suman Srivastava, Euro RSCG

Research Masterclass: Shonali Ghosh, The Nielsen Company

Shonali Ghosh, director, client

solutions, The Nielsen Company said, ‘‘New products and ideas have been synthesized in the lives of people living in rural and small town India. Now they are moving into a new future.’’ She gave an example of FMCG which had 9

per cent growth in urban and 15 per cent in rural. However, small town growth not as strong as rural.

According to her, one of the reasons for rural growth is accessibility. High-end products are growing in small towns. And metros are growing too due to migration. Ghosh said that in terms of ‘perceptions’, rural is poor, agrarian and isolated and in terms of ‘potential’, it is collectively rich, full of growth opportunity and sustainable. ‘‘There is a lot of focus and concerted effort on rural. There have been various corporate initiatives like E-choupal with a common theme of empowerment.’’ She said that the two triggers for the growth are media and education and rising consumerism. Specifying the role of market research, Ghosh said that ‘‘Market research will contribute to determine price, product, place and communication.’’

Marketers Panel 1: Neeraj Garg, Abbott Healthcare

Marketers Panel 2: Samir Gupte, Ogilvy Action

Neeraj Garg, COO, True Care

Business, Abbott Healthcare presented a case study on pharma marketing in rural and small towns. ‘‘35-42 per cent of pharma’s income comes from small town and rural,’’ he said. According to him, the challenge is to reach rural and

small town due to low population density and huge spread. Moreover, healthcare does not have an option of advertising. General therapies are the most important for growth here and there is also a growth in prevalence of chronic diseases but people aren’t aware of them.

He said, ‘‘Mass market is low income group households, therapy areas - largely primary care and where the doctors’ profile is primary care practitioners.’’ Some of the key decisions to tackle this market included democratising the quality of primary healthcare. ‘‘As diagnosis is very important in rural areas, we made diagnostic products. We also redefined the profile of people as medical reps. 500’’ ‘‘The focus of marketing programme has been knowledge up-gradation and relationship building. Technology can be very useful in rural markets.’’

Presenting a case study on ICICI

Prudential Life’s campaign, Samir Gupte, country head, Ogilvy Action said that while LIC is a big player in rural, private players are looked at with suspicion and the thinking in rural is still agrarian which means short-term and insurance is long

term. Thus, rural is about mindset.The objective of the campaign was to get rural to

start thinking about financial planning for children. ‘‘We realized that farmers’ dreams are based on their children and they realise the value for education see it as a way of development.’’ Thus, Pragati ki Anokhi Paathshala was launched. On day one, things related to the development of child like communication skills, and vedic maths were shared with the students. The second day was kept for ‘Arthyudh’ with parents where they were asked to plan out their monthly expense etc. After two days, a reckoner with similar exercises was given to the parents. Children’s photographs were put in branded frames and given to the parents. This helped in getting entry into potential households for sales pitch. ‘‘This program helped in brand consideration and spontaneous awareness,’’ concluded Gupte.

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During the panel discussion, the moderator, Amit Baruah, who is head of BBC Hindi said that, ‘‘English is an aspirational language but when it comes to growth in

journalism, it is in Hindi and regional language.’’ Neeraj Sanan, VP-marketing, MCCS said that the news channels have the power

from influence and money from advertising. However, he said, ‘‘A Hindi news channel reaches out to more people than a lot of English channels put together but English media walks away with 400-500 per cent premium.’’ According to Divya Gururaj, MD, Mediacom, regional publications are the clear winners as that is where the boom is happening. ‘‘All the regional publications are moving up quarter on quarter. In the TV space too, there is a big boom in regional channels.’’ She said, ‘‘There are three interesting trends that are emerging: India is unique as there is both homogeneity and heterogeneity, there is a pride in being Indian and media has become very personalized. People want to consume vernacular media.’’

Prajjal Saha, deputy editor, afaqs! raised the question of Hindi vs regional. ‘‘While there is pride in consuming regional, it might not be the case with Hindi probably because Hindi is not a language of one particular state.’’ However, there is a sense of change in the last few years, he said. ‘‘Today high end brands would advertise in a Dainik Jagran or a Dainik Bhaskar.’’ He also feels that Hindi TV is more popular than Hindi print. Madan Mohapatra, chief marketing, Future Group mentioned that while Hindi daily penetration is 6.8 per cent, English daily penetration is 1.9 per cent. ‘‘However, it’s a perception when it comes to readership. The reality is that English commands twice the revenue of Hindi. There is 80 per cent of English daily readership in SEC A-B as compared to 49 per cent of Hindi dailies.’’ However, he added, ‘‘We are moving from English to the mother tongue to get maximum share of hearts. The pace will depend on reducing the gap in product category and TG.’’

Gururaj rounded up by saying that this is the tip of the iceberg as there is a lot of potential. ‘‘Another area to look at in the future is vernacular digital boom,’’ she said.

The moderator for the panel discussion Narayan Shankar, VP and branch head Mumbai, Rediffusion-Wunderman started the session by saying that, ‘‘The ongoing

challenge is that these markets (rural and small town) are very dynamic as compared to urban markets.’’

KV Sridhar (Pops), NCD, Leo Burnett said, ‘‘ The fact is that there are several Indias and we need to have market specific communication. As the cultures are different, we need to relate to people to build a brand otherwise the local clients will come and take

over your market. A recent example is Micromax taking over Nokia.’’ According to Pops, there are two classes - rural educated and urban educated, rural rich and urban rich. ‘‘Indian advertising needs to realize that India is not same anymore. We need to have more vernacular commercials,’’ he said.

Sandip Bansal, country head, Xpanse Asia said that we need to see how urban and rural relate to each other. He mentioned that there are some ads that do connect like Uninor but there are not many like that. ‘‘We need to understand the environment to connect to consumers. There is a need to go beyond just language as more things are changing in their lives. We need to find out what are they tuned into.’’ Josy Paul, chairman and NCD, BBDO India said that for small towns and rural, one should be looking at market development. He stressed on the importance of outsourcing. ‘‘We need to have local writers in advertising. We will give them an action oriented idea to work on. Local partners can help you create localisation.’’

Ashwini Deshpande, consulting editor, Sakal said, ‘‘At Sakal, we realized that even a state like Maharashtra is not homogenous. Thus, content is more important than language. If we don’t understand the intelligence of our consumers how will we reach them? She agreed with Paul that the answer lies in ‘‘outsourcing resources’’.

PANEL DISCUSSION 1 PANEL DISCUSSION 2English rule: The challenge from Hindi Have Indian creatives finally understood

small town India?

(From left): Neeraj Sanan, Madan Mohapatra, Amit Baruah, Divya Gururaj, Prajjal Saha

(From left) Narayan Shankar, KV Sridhar, Josy Paul, Ashwini Deshpande, Sandip Bansal

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Delegates during one of the sessions Ashwini Deshpande Suman Srivastava

Samir Gupte (left) and Amit Baruah Shonali Ghosh (right) Sandip Bansal (centre)

Ratikant Satpathy,Orissa TV

With a slew of new shows being launched on vari-ous GECs, each one

wants to stand out from the clutter when it comes to promotions. A new ambient campaign by Zee is noteworthy in this respect.

For its new show, Sanjog Se Bani Sangini, Zee TV has branded seats in 100 BEST buses in Mumbai. The innovation involves installing an ‘arm’ across each seat, such that any passenger sitting on that seat would appear to have affectionately draped his arm across the shoulder of the co-passenger next to him. Zee TV wants its viewers to “feel the love”. The uniqueness of the idea and the realistic creatives has grabbed eyeballs.

The first 20 seats in each bus were used for the innovation. This involved putting up 10 ‘arms’, and the cost of advertising worked out to around `5,000 per bus. The cre-atives were executed by bus seat-back advertising specialist, Tinta Media Creations, a sister-con-cern of Emnet Samsara Media.

Shonak Gholkar, CEO, Tinta Media Creations says, “We wanted to take innovations on bus seat backs one step forward. Thus, when Zee approached us with this idea, we were very excited about it.” He shares that this innova-tion was more challenging. After creating dyes for the arm, and then printing; the ‘arms’ were laminated, so as to reduce wear and tear and get a more realistic look.

Gholkar also informs that while Zee TV has advertised with BEST buses in the past, this is the channel’s first bus seat-back campaign.

For the same show, Zee TV had undertaken a pre-launch interactive marketing campaign. The first phase of the campaign invited viewers to participate in the naming of the show. The channel had also urged viewers to write in with

their own love stories, the best of which would be showcased on-air, by inviting the couple for an exclusive interview on Zee TV.

Akash Chawla, marketing head, Zee TV, says, “The interactive marketing campaign launched for Sanjog Se Bani Sangini was the first of its kind in the Hindi GEC space. The show was named on the basis of suggestions made by our viewers. When you involve the viewers at every stage of a show, it creates a greater sense of belonging and ownership. The response to our call for viewers to share their unique love stories has been over-whelming.”

In alignment with the premise of the show, the channel has also launched instant love com-patibility checks on the mobile platform. By merely keying your sun sign your partner’s sun sign the channel would offer mobile users an instant compatibility rating for their relationship. Recently, Zee has been pulling out all the stops

when it comes to OOH advertis-ing. For another show, the latest edition of Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar, the chan-nel has created special Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Music Zones at select bus stops across Mumbai. The entire bus stop will have Sa Re Ga Ma Pa branding, including lights and a music setup replete with speakers and associated paraphernalia. Also, illuminated, life-size cut-outs of

microphones with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa branding will be seen hanging between adjacent buildings at prime areas in Mumbai, akin to impressive and stunning Diwali kandils.

The channel is also organising an on-ground BTL activity, ‘College Ka Singing Superstar’, which is being held across 15 colleges in Mumbai, and 10 in Pune and Delhi each. Zee will also organise musical events in residential colonies, with the support of local politicians or associa-tions. The event will have a live orchestra and a singing competition for the residents.

Chawla adds, “The life-size microphones and College Ka Singing Superstar initiatives are just the beginning of a comprehensive campaign.”

To explore further branding and promotional opportunities, Café Coffee Day has been selected as the on-ground partner for the display for standees, drop downs and danglers. �

[email protected]

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Holding On To It...ZEE TV

Bus seat-back and bus-stop advertising were used to promote ZEEL’s new shows. A smart idea to drive home the point of innovative advertising. By Surina Sayal and Sangeeta Tanwar


Win exciting prizes worth Rs. 5000/ from STAR News by playing ‘SMART Idea Contest’ on www.afaqs.com

The activity involved installing 10 arms, and the cost of advertising worked out to

around `5,000 per bus.

Gholkar: innovative thinking

ASHUTOSH TIWARIExecutive Vice President : Strategic Marketing at Godrej Group

The series, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, is a fantasy epic with lots of sub-layering in

social psychology, philosophy and interestingly, management. The most striking aspect of the series is its treatment of the classical good versus evilbat-tle. While what is evil or ‘wrong’ is definitively so,

there is nothing which is definitively ‘right’. That sounds suspiciously like a strategy! One is clear about what should not be done as compared to what’s the right choice. It also has a mix of factors contributing to deci-sion making at different points of the narrative. Decision making is not about making choices from various isolationist factors; rather, it is about choosing from different plausible equilibrium points in the environment.

Most of the books that I read pertain to evolution, be it from a socio-logical point of view or from a scientific: genetic or anthropological point or a cultural, religious point. Some of my favourite authors are Spencer Wells, Nicholas Ostler, Stephen Hawking and Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Evolution gives fascinating insights into understanding societies, cultures, people and hence consumers and behaviours. It also helps sharpen one’s ability to cross reference information to create patterns and knowledge.

Interest in fiction is also consequently guided by a similar philosophy, and hence, the interest in fiction grounded in either history, fantasy or philosophy.

As told to Poojya Trivedi

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The book maintains that if you understand the basics of brain, you can sell more. The author

says that around 95 per cent of our decisions are made by the subconscious mind. The Buying Brain offers an in-depth exploration of how cutting-edge neuroscience has an impact on how we make, buy, sell, and enjoy everything, and also probes deeper questions on how this new knowledge can enhance customers’ lives. The book provides the key to brain-friendly product con-cepts, design, prototypes, and formulation of effective packaging, pricing, advertising, and in-store marketing to build stronger brands that attracts deeper consumer loyalty.

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Using the framework of the Tata Management Training Centre and the Center for Creative

Leadership, the author explores the three worlds of the manager - the inner world, the world of rela-tionships and the world of getting things done. And

the importance of emotional quotient to progress as well as intelligence to get ahead in your career. It also talks about the deadly personal qualities of bonsai-trapped leaders and the traps for organisations.

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Trainees’ expectations from organisations have changed over the years, but expectations from

trainees have changed much more.I seriously think that the word,

‘trainees’ should be changed to ‘young directors’. Because that is the attitude they come with nowadays - aiming high and asking where they can be in the next five years.

The journey from a trainee to a full-time employee is an important professional journey for anybody. However, when a trainee walks in today, he or she is already thinking of sitting on a senior seat. They are impatient for success, growth and look at ways to secure quick learning, followed by quicker acquisition of responsibilities.

Most trainees today are pretty clear about what they want from the organisation and very vocal about it. When I look back, I feel that the trainees of yesteryears were so differ-ent from the ones that walk in now.

During the ’80s and ’90s, train-ees were ready to do anything and everything. They just wanted to be closer to the gods, hear them speak and win their attention and affection, by doing sheer hard labour. This was with the hope that some day, the trainee would get a golden chance for all the current suffering.

Today, however, trainees do a reference check on the organisa-tion before entering it, list down the names of people whom they want to work with, are clear about what they

want to learn in the period allotted to them, know their rights and use it.

As the trainees’ expectations have changed with the years, so have expectations from them.

Trainees were earlier looked upon as merely additional hands but over the years, companies have realised the importance of developing talent and have started investing a lot on trainee development programmes, to reduce the overall learning curve.

For organisations, it’s a great opportunity to have trainees, because they get to build a team from scratch,

especially in the current scenario where getting the right talent itself is difficult. However, many organisa-tions still make the mistake of using trainees for running errands. Such organisations usually have high attri-tion rates at the trainee level.

On the other hand, for organisa-tions that are serious about grooming the talent, it is important to first identify what they expect out of the internship and then set the training agenda. Organisations should explain their expectations to the trainee.

An ideal trainee should have a

clear set of goals before the start of the training. Having a mentor dur-ing that period is also a necessity. All trainees should ask for one and share their goals with the mentor.

The trainee should be inquisitive about knowing more than what is being taught, and exhibit the desire to get the maximum from the trainer in the limited period of the train-ing. They should be open to all kinds of learning assignments and get involved in understanding other functional areas of the organisation.

Trainees should maintain the decorum and policies of the organi-sation. They should behave like employees from day one and under-stand that they are in the organisation to learn, and not merely to observe.

Trainees need to show a sense of belonging and exhibit their commit-ment to the training. They should show interest in the organisation itself and get noticed for that.

Today, companies want to create a talent pool, which becomes the future of the company. Hence, the expec-tations from trainees also change. In many organisations, trainees are expected to conduct themselves as full-time employees from day one and value-add in their own small way to the business.

The expectations on both sides have grown but with scarcity of tal-ent, expectations from trainees have grown much larger and faster. �

AJIT MENON

New Imperatives

(The author is executive director - organisation development, Mudra Group.)

Some of India’s well-known professionals write on issues that they feel passionately about ��

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STAR Plus, with its recent launch Kaali - Ek Agnipariksha, now has an original show in the late-night prime-time slot.

Kaali is on-air at 11 PM, and the channel plans to roll out another show, Maryada at 11:30 PM. So far, like other competing GECs, STAR Plus too was airing repeat telecasts of its shows, Chaand Chupa Baadal Mein and Sasural Genda Phool in the 11 PM - midnight time band.

This is not the first time that STAR Plus has extended its prime-time until midnight. Way back in 2004, the GEC had two shows, namely Kahiin Toh Hoga and K-Street Palli Hill, airing at 11 PM and 11:30 PM, respectively. K-Street Pali Hill was targeted at male audiences to broaden the chan-nel’s viewership.

In the past, during STAR Plus’ heyday the con-cept of repeat programming wasn’t very popular, until Colors changed the rules of the game.

In the current scenario, when fragmentation is high and viewers have numerous choices to select from, STAR Plus’ strategy to replace reruns with fresh programming in the late-night slot is being seen as a brave move by industry observers.

STAR Plus’ market share in the 11 PM- 11.59 PM time band is either on par or more than its closest competitor. For instance, in Week 34, Colors claimed a 23.5 per cent relative chan-nel share; while STAR Plus had a share of 21.2 per cent. In Week 36, STAR Plus was ahead of Colors, where as in Week 37, both the channels are on par with 21 per cent share.

Ravi Kiran, CEO, South Asia and emerging

market leader of specialist solutions, Starcom MediaVest Group, says, “It’s a bold move on their part and involves effecting change in TV viewing behaviour. Only compelling content and word-of-mouth will get them new viewers.”

Will original programming enable STAR Plus to command a premium over its competitors for advertising in the 11PM-midnight slot?

Kiran opines that if the shows do well, STAR Plus stands to gain but the premium earned would be marginal. This is because, he explains,

advertisers look at total viewership; for them, it’s not a game of original versus repeats.

However, while measuring the success of the fresh programming, it would be unfair to compare a show at 11:30 PM with the 9:30 PM offering - “it has to be a slot by slot comparison,” adds Kiran.

Manas Misra, executive vice-president and coun-try head, Mudra Connext, states “Currently the 8 PM-11 PM slot in the GEC space is fully occu-pied. It makes sense for STAR Plus to bring in fresh programming and benefit by building a new slot altogether. The content in this slot has to be mainstream. The late-night slot will open up new markets for players and advertisers, by broadening the GEC basket.”

Misra points out that though the viewership base for the 11 PM-midnight slot will be smaller than the 10 PM-11 PM slot, STAR Plus will undoubtedly have the first-mover advantage.

A 30-minute episode of a fiction show entails an additional investment of Rs 5-6 lakh by the channel. With two new launches, STAR Plus is spending an additional Rs 12 lakh per day, as against zero cost involved in airing repeats.

Given the high costs involved, is STAR Plus’ strategy to offer viewers fresh programming worth its salt?

A senior media planner, on condition of ano-nymity, shares that new shows in place of repeats translate into more investment. However, to get it right, the channel has to play the rate versus rating game. �

[email protected]

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Will the channel’s move to extend prime-time until midnight help it get new viewers? By Sangeeta Tanwar

STAR PLUS

Backing the Original “It’s a bold move but only compel-ling content and word-of-mouth

will get the channel new viewers.”

RAVI KIRAN

“The late-night slot will open up new markets for play-

ers and advertisers, by broadening the

GEC basket.” MANAS MISRA

into three zones: USB, mobile and imaging.

The USB zone focuses on the company’s USB flash memory devices; the mobile zone emphasises

the memory-card range for mobile phones; whereas the imaging zone is about the memory cards used in digital cameras. The three zones will help the respective consum-ers understand the nuances involved while buying memory devices.

The company will use a branded canter that will move around the city

for seven days. It will also promote the activity through radio informing the audience about the movement of the canter. At the canter, the con-sumers can learn about the various products of the company through games and quizzes, where consum-ers could also stand to win prizes.

With the growing potential of

mobile devices, the demand for memory cards has been on the rise across all regions in India, especially among the youth. “About 140 mil-lion handsets were sold in India this year, and about 40 per cent of them come with memory slots,” says Sood about the market scenario.�

[email protected]

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Jogging...

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OOH agency is celebrating its second anniversary by launching a 10-day outdoor campaign in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi. By Surina Sayal

POSTERSCOPE

Out for a Walk

Out of home (OOH) agency Posterscope India has completed

two years of its operations in India. With an aim to celebrate its second anniversary and to communicate this to clients and industry members, the OOH agency launched an outdoor hoarding campaign.

The creative for the outdoor campaign shows the figure ‘2’ in 3D style and the copy reads ‘840 Campaigns, 63 Clients, 25 Offices. 2 Successful Years. This is just the beginning.’ The 10 day campaign has been run-ning in three cities namely, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

Discussing the outdoor hoarding campaign, Haresh Nayak, managing director, Posterscope India, says, “We are an OOH agency and we believe OOH works and helps cre-ate brand largeness and impact, so the idea was to reach out to corporates, clients and our partners through this medium itself.”

This is not the first time that an agency has used out-doors to communicate its own message.

In the past agencies such as Ogilvy India and Rediffusion Y&R devised hoarding campaigns to communicate shifts in their addresses. Ogilvy designed a creative and humorous campaign that gave directions to its new office in Goregaon East, Mumbai, when it shifted its office in 2009. While Rediffusion Y&R shocked the industry insiders with its campaign that said things such as ‘Kingfisher account moves’, ‘Taj account moves’ - smartly denoting that with the agency moving to a new address, the agency’s clients too were chang-

ing locations.Speaking on Posterscope India’s completion

of two successful years in India, Nayak says, “We have had a phenomenal success in the last two years, where the agency has grown from noth-ing to more than Rs 100 crore, which is a good achievement in the OOH business. We have won 63 clients, out of which 70 per cent are on Agency on Record (AOR) basis.”

Some of the recent client wins for Posterscope India include P&G, Nestle, Air Asia, YouTube and Bharti AXA.

“In the last two years, we have consolidated our OOH business and seen it grow; we have also diversified into retail in a big way through Hyperspace and we believe that as the infrastructure develops in India, retail as a category will continue to have double digit growth,” says Nayak.

Posterscope India has a presences in 25 cities. It has more than 85 team members across India. Some of of the Posterscope India’s key cli-ents are Future Group, Philips India, P&G, Nestle India, Essar Group, Titan, Tanishq, Samsonite, Lee Cooper, Levi’s, Bharti AXA, Ray-Ban, Amul, Mont Blanc, Google, AirAsia,

GoAir, Adidas and Blue Star among others.Going forward, the OOH agency plans to fur-

ther consolidate its two core businesses, namely, OOH and retail, through its brands - Posterscope and Hyperspace. “We will also announce offerings and services which will be new to the market in a few months time,” shares Nayak.

He further adds, “Since, we are getting into the festive season now, our core focus in next couple of months will be to maximise our presence and consolidate our market position.” �

[email protected]

This is not the first time that an agency has used outdoors to communicate its own message. It also plans to further consolidate its two core

businesses, namely, OOH and retail.


Every year Gujarat’s ports have been successfully contributing to the nation’s export import sector and driving growth.

Gujarat was created on May 1st 1960 out of the 17 northern districts

of the former state of Bombay. Bordering with Pakistan in the north-west, and the Arabian Sea making up the state’s western coast, the state has a geography which has and can be the basis of its growth and development. With the largest coastline of 1,600 kilometers in the country, Gujarat is dotted with 41 ports: one major, 11 intermediate and 29 minor ports.

The state, endowed with favourable port locations is the nearest maritime outlet to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Gujarat’s maritime sector is con-sidered to be the most pro-active and well developed sectors in India. During 2009-10, the non major ports together handled 206 million tonnes of cargo, which accounted for 75 per cent of the total cargo handled by all the minor ports in India.

Gujarat has a vast hin-terland comprising fast developing Northern and Central

Indian states. Neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, which constitute 35 per cent of the total exports, are potential customers for Gujarat ports. Export of surplus food grains from these mainly agrarian states and import of fertilizers to these major con-sumers, offer great potential of growth of cargo.

According to the 11th Five Year Plan of the Government of India, the GDP. The manufactur-ing sector is expected to grow

at 12 per cent requiring high quality infrastructure in roads, railways, ports, power and telecommunications.

According to the data from Ministry of Shipping, Indian ports handled around 412 million tonnes of cargo in 2009-10, 90

per cent of which were contrib-uted by the major ports. The port activity, in terms of ship turn-around time, waiting time and average ship per day output, has �� -opment scenario. The existing major ports are under tremen-dous pressure to handle the �� into demurrage (detention of a vessel on port beyond the time agreed upon) and huge loss in the foreign exchange.

The minor and intermediate ports of Gujarat handle about 8.5 per cent of national ship-ping cargo. Gujarat ports handle about 16 million tonnes of cargo, which account for 70 per cent of the total cargo handled by all minor ports of India.

The Gujarat Maritime Board �� -lion metric tonne during the year 2009-10 an increase of over 30

SPECIAL INVESTMENT REGIONS

Minor and intermediate ports of Gujarat handle about 16 million tonnes of

cargo, 70 per cent of total cargo handled nationally.

The ports in Gujarat have been the growth drivers for the state’s economy.

1. Along the 1600 Kms. of coastline of Gujarat, there are 41 ports, of which Kandla is a major port. Out of remaining 40 ports, 11 are intermediate ports and 29 are minor ports under the control of Gujarat Maritime Board.

2. These ports can be broadly classified into three categories :

�� weather direct berthing facilities

�� ports

�� !� � �� "�� " ��"�� #

PRESENT STATUS OF THE GUJARAT PORTS

NAVIGATING GROWTH: THE PORTS OF GUJARAT

LOCATIONS OF GREENFIELD PORTS IN GUJARAT

Mundra

Sikka

Dahej

Hazira

ChharaMaroli

Vansi Borsi

Mahuva

Pipavav

Mithivirdi

Dholera

Khambhat

Positra

Modhawa

Sutrapada

� ��

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

� �� the previous year.

“Gujarat ports are one of the �� growth rate is 13.14 per cent. ��!�� "�� nearly 6 per cent and the growth rate of non major ports is 35 per ��#� �� Gujarat Maritime Board.

Port Policy of the Government of Gujarat envisions to increase the state’s share in the export and import sector and the inter-national trade and commerce. It is estimated that over 50 per cent of the investment com-ing to Gujarat in future will-be port based. Taking full advan-tage of the strategic location of the Gujarat coast, the state shipping authorities are encour-aging ship building and ship repairing facilities apart from establishing manufacturing facili-ties for cranes, dredgers and other ��

Gujarat is home to the world’s largest ship recycling yard in Alang. Approximately 10 Km long sea front on the

western coast of the Gulf of Cambay adjoining Alang-Sosiya village is developed as ship recycling yard.

The recycling yard, with a capacity to break over 4 million metric ton per annum provides direct employment to about 25,000 skilled and unskilled labours. It also provides indirect employment through downstream industries like re-rolling mills, oxygen plants,transporters and scrap yards.

Gujarat is one of the leading industrialised state of India. It houses a number of multina-tional corporations, large private sector companies, strong public sector enterprises and a large number of medium and small scale units. While sharing 5 per cent of Indian population, Gujarat contributes 21 per cent in exports and 13 per cent in India’s industrial production.

DEVELOPING NEW PORTSGujarat Maritime Board under

its Port Privatisation Model has been actively promoting and � � �� $��

to develop all weather direct berthing ports in participation with well known private port players. These capital incentives port projects are being devel-oped under Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) policy and will be transferred back to the Maritime Board after completion of 30 years.

The currently developed �� include Pipavav, Mundra, Dahej and Hazira.

Looking at the target-ed growth rate of 8-10 per cent, it is estimated that the Indian ports will have to reach a minimum capacity level of 1500 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by the year 2016-17.

Major ports are already facing prob-

lems of congestions and limitation in expansion of port facilities. In these circumstances, ports in Gujarat have an oppor-�� % " ��growing demand and supply. Accordingly, port projects are �� "��been carried out and envisaged to create total port capacity of 557 million tonnes at the end of �� &'�*��

Source: Annual Report 2009-10, Ministry of Shipping

TRAFFIC HANDLED AT MAJOR INDIAN PORTSPORT Target 2009

(April-Dec.)Actual 2009(April-Dec.)

Actual 2008(April-Dec.)

$ �� 10.03 9.63 8.26Haldia 33.44 24.61 31.86�� 40.24 41.73 32.50%�� 50.06 49.31 48.22Chennai 47.64 45.83 41.66Tuticorin 16.34 17.63 16.42Cochin 13.85 12.06 11.77New Mangalore 29.82 27.11 27.71Mormugao 31.74 31.26 26.46Jawaharlal Nehru 50.41 44.55 44.10Mumbai 39.47 40.36 38.58Kandla 58.30 59.74 55.74Ennore 9.25 8.13 8.52&�'�( �� 430.59 411.95 391.80

Gujarat ports handled traffic of about 205.5 million metric tonnes during

2009-10, an increase of over 34 per cent year-on-year.

Source: Port Officer, Ship Recycling Yard Alang

ALANG’S BEACHING PERFORMANCE

Year No. of Ships

2000-01 2952001-02 3332002-03 3002003-04 2942004-05 1962005-06 1012006-07 1362007-08 1362008-09 2642009-10 348)*+*/++��&�� 152

The world’s largest ship recycling yard at Alang has been recycling ships in hoardes.

��

Zoom, the Bollywood channel, is celebrat-ing its sixth anniversary this year. The channel, launched in 2004 as an out-

and-out fashion destination, has evolved into a complete Bollywood channel.

Omar Qureshi, editor-in-chief, Zoom Television, says, “We are using our anniversary to bring Bollywood closer to our audience. Our programming and marketing strategy is to focus on and highlight six attributes that define Zoom.”

Dishing out film led content, the channel has got on board actors including Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor and Imraan Khan to rep-resent the channel’s six appeal communication strategy.

Each of these stars stand for six different attributes that the channel flaunts. These are sexy, stylish, cool, naughty, bold and passionate.

The channel has put together content compris-ing songs, special features, vignettes and music revolving around the six Bollywood stars. This is

in addition to the channel’s regular shows such as Planet Bollywood and Encounters with Qureshi.

It is conducting on-air contest to seek audience participation to celebrates its anniversary.

Zoom calls itself a ‘complete Bollywood’ chan-nel and Qureshi says that the channel questioned its positioning as an-out and-out fashion and life-style channel in 2008. The point was how niche could the channel be - given the subject itself represented a niche genre.

It was at this time that Zoom decided to broad base its offerings with a combination of more urbane, upscale content with Bollywood at its core. Currently, the Bollywood channel

Zoom competes with music and youth led chan-nels such as UTV Bindaas, MTV and Mastiii. Qureshi asserts that for Zoom, Bollywood is the core genre, while for others, Bollywood content is a subset. For other channels, lifestyle content revolving around hotels, luxury and reality are the main drivers.

As per TAM data, C&S, 15+ (July 11-September 11), the three leading channels in this space are Bindaas, Mastii and B4U Music, with average channel shares of 15.1 per cent, 12 per cent and 11.8 per cent. Zoom is placed No. 8, with an aver-age channel share of 7.8 per cent. �

[email protected]

ZOOM

Hitting a SixZoom is celebrating its sixth anniversary by highlighting six brand attributes. By Sangeeta Tanwar

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Qureshi: bringing Bollywood closer

��


JOBSWITCHOrganization Name: One97 Communications Limited Position: Senior Manager - Sales (Mobile Marketing)Location: Noida, Mumbai, ChennaiProfile: The candidate will be responsible for selling mobile marketing campaigns and solutions to agencies, brands, retailers and media groups from concept through to execution and collaborating effectively with the GM of the Enterprise Division and SVP of Mobile Marketing to optimize revenue performance across industry verticals. She/ He should be a B.E./B.Tech (Preferably) and MBA or degree equivalent in Business / Marketing / Management and have at least 5 years of B2B experience within the Agency, Mobile Marketing and/or Mobile Advertising worlds.Email: [email protected].............................................................

Organization Name: Gauge advertising and Marketing Private Limited.Position: Director- Client Servicing and Art DirectorLocation: DelhiProfile: Director- Client Servicing is expected to have mature understanding of today’s corporate challenges and provide solutions accordingly. She/ He will be required to maintain existing relationship by fostering new ideas and exploring new business avenues with them. Experience of at least 12 years is desired.Art Director should have relevant experience of 4-5 years and excellent command over creative software like Corel Draw, Photoshop, Ilustrator, indesign, flash and HTML.Email: [email protected] .............................................................

Organization Name: WITS Interactive Private Limited Position: Senior VisualiserLocation: Mumbai Profile: The incumbent should have the ability to develop exceptional brand communication across all mediums, capability of understanding client requirements & aspiration and to be able to translate brief into solutions. She/ He should have a degree/diploma in Graphic Design/Commercial Art/BFA with a minimum 2 years agency experience and an interesting portfolio across mediums.

Extensive knowledge of Corel draw/ Photoshop/ Illustrator/Flash/ Indesign is desired.Email: [email protected].............................................................

Organization Name: Asymmetrique Communications Pvt.Ltd.Position: Copy HeadLocation: MumbaiProfile: The successful candidate will be studying the brand and its competitor’s communication strategy, converting brand briefs into relevant and effective ideas / concepts. She/ He should have strong communication skills to translate ideas into designs and vice versa, executing ideas into copy for all media of advertising / communication and handling responsibilities to create refreshing work. The candidate will be heading the team of copywriters and senior copywriters ensuring that they deliver the results as per the creative brief and as per the requirement of servicing team. Ideally a English Honours / Mass communication graduate / post graduate who has a flair for writing an at least 5 years of agency experience is desiredEmail: [email protected].............................................................

Organization Name: Peppermint CommunicationsPosition: Writers / Journalists / Asst. Editor and Senior Graphic Designer / VisualizerLocation: MumbaiProfile: The candidate should have excellent editorial skills. She/ He will be responsible for creating & writing content for our websites, newsletters, and press releases. The candidate should be a graduate, preferably with a degree/diploma in journalism or literature.Senior Graphic Designer / Visualizer will be handling Brand Designs - Identities, environment and communication. She/ He will be responsible for conceptualizing and designing visual communications, converting brand briefs into relevant and effective ideas / concepts, effective visual translation of ideas and executing ideas into all forms of visual communication media. The applicant needs to have good knowledge of Photoshop, InDesign, CorelDraw, Illustrator and other design related software’s. Over 5 years of experience is desired for the post of Senior Designers and 2 – 5

years for Junior Designers.Email: [email protected].............................................................

Organization Name: Xebec Communications Private Limited & Xebec e-Media Technologies Position: General Manager - Client Servicing Location: MumbaiProfile: The applicant should have minimum 7 years of ad agency experience, working at Client Servicing profile, besides having knowledge about various verticals i.e. Print, TV, Radio, Outdoor etc. She/ He needs to have Excellent Communication skills and prior experience of managing a team. Email: [email protected].............................................................

Organization Name: Religare Securities LtdPosition: Manager- Business Development - Internet SalesLocation: MumbaiProfile: MBA/ BBA (Marketing) & Experience of at least 4-8years in Internet sales is must.Email: [email protected].............................................................

Organization Name: Fun Multiplex Private LimitedPosition: Assistant Manager - SalesLocation: Mumbai Profile: Candidate with 3-5 yrs experience in media sales with good communication skills can apply.Email: [email protected].............................................................

Organization Name: RAJ PublicationsPosition: GM - Marketing (Print Media)Location: DelhiProfile: The applicant should have Excellent Communication, Presentation & Analytical skills with at least 5 years experience of sales and marketing in ‘Print Media’ Industry. Email: [email protected] .............................................................

Organization Name: Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Pvt LtdPosition: Senior Manager - Business Development- Digital MarketingLocation: BangaloreProfile: Candidate from Ad Agencies/ Media Background doing sales are preferred for the vacancy. Experience of 4 – 6 years is desired.Email: [email protected]

To advertise, contact:

Neha Arora Ph: 0120 4077868

email: [email protected]

Aarti Khatri Ph: 022 40429706

email: [email protected]

To view other jobs in Marketing,Media and Advertising, log on to:

http://jobs.afaqs.com

Prajavani, the flagship Kannada daily from The Printers Mysore Group, yet again proves that it is indeed the most trusted and respected in the category. We just grew by 9,68,000* more readers. And, at a time, when the print industry has generally shown signs of sluggishness. More and more Kannada readers choose Prajavani, because it is the voice of Karnataka. A trusted, dynamic voice you cannot ignore.

Growth comes naturally to us. This time it was even faster!57 lakh readers agree.

��*

��

The influence of truth

�� Sudip Nag, GM (Advertisement) - 96861 88840. �� Vijaya R - 98440 92091, Tony Doulton - 98450 67371, Anantha Krishnan - 81477 52856 �� Deepak Menon - 98106 65814 �� Kaushik Laha - 98303 23151 �� A V Vinod Babu - 99520 16709 �� Ramachandra Rao - 98490 41737 �� Rajeev Pathria - 98201 51642. Or � ��[email protected]

PRAJAVANI THE MOST TRUSTED KANNADA DAILY

*Sou

rce:

IRS

2010

Q2

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