January 16-31, 2011 Volume 2, Issue 2 ` 100

Presents
THE ANNUAL ISSUE

What was the sum of all the action in 2010? And what will the
coming 12 months hold for the business?
A special issue that reviews the past and peers into the morrow.
EDITORIAL
THE ANNUAL ISSUE Volume 2, Issue 2

EDITOR
Sreekant Khandekar

January 16-31, 2011 Volume 2, Issue 2 ` 100

What you hold in your hands is a comprehensive summary of the
advertising, media and marketing business over the past 12 months.
This is the first year of what, we promise, will be an annual feature.
PUBLISHER
Prasanna Singh
CONSULTING EDITOR
M Venkatesh
Presents
The business is full of action. We all know that. I have to admit, though,
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
THE ANNUAL ISSUE
that when I saw all the reports together, even I was surprised by just how Prajjal Saha
much has happened in 365 days. And, mind you, this magazine’s sister SENIOR LAYOUT ARTIST
brand, afaqs!, covers everything that moves – pun intended – on a daily Vinay Dominic
basis! So we do know our news. LOGISTICS
Rajesh Kanwal
Let me introduce you to the issue. We start with Big Noise Campaigns
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES
where creative top shots shortlist major advertising campaigns which, Hansika Koli, (0120) 4077834 4077837 Noida
What was the sum of all the action in 2010? And what will the
coming 12 months hold for the business?
according to them, generated talk among consumers. We follow that up with Varun Mohan, (022) 40429702-5 Mumbai
A special issue that reviews the past and peers into the morrow. Neeraj Ranjan, 09886846842 Bangalore
Exciting Brands – though I must qualify that ‘exciting’ means as ‘being in the
[email protected]
news’ rather than ‘successful’. You will find some prize marketing duds in
Marketing Office
this list (but then, you win some, lose some). B-3, First Floor, Sector-4, Noida-201301.
Tel: (0120) 4077800.
This is followed by a roundup of major launches in print and TV: it is startling just how many new
Mumbai
initiatives took place. If proof was needed at how the Indian scene is teeming, it lies in these pages – and let 501-502, Makani Center, 5th Floor,
me emphasise that we are talking only the two big, apparently mature media! Off Linking Road, Bandra (W),
Mumbai - 400050
The next section is about account movements and people movements. Of course they had to go together Tel: +91-22-40429 709 - 712
because when people move, accounts follow. Or is it the other way round? Bengaluru
S-1, New Bridge Corporate Centre,
We follow that up with a look at the product categories that grew and a few that shrank in 2010. Media 777 D, 100 ft Road, Indira Nagar,
Bengaluru - 560038, India
deals and international digital trends are the other pieces that give a sharp flavour of the year we’ve lived
Subscription Enquiries
through. A two-page obituary section marks the departure of some well known names who have been so Garima Agnihotri, (0120) 4077837
much a part of our lives that it is hard to imagine that they will no longer be with us. [email protected]

And on to the last part of the issue, Plans For The Year, where we ask a whole bunch of senior people to Printed, published, and owned by
Prasanna Singh, Publisher,
look at 2011 and tell our readers what it is that they see. at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex,
Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar,
And to end, all of us here at afaqs! and afaqs! Reporter hope you have a lovely 2011. New Delhi-110 063.

Printed at Paras Offset Pvt. Ltd.,

C-176, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I,
New Delhi 110 028.
Sreekant Khandekar Issue Design & Cover Illustration
[email protected] Tiffin Box

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   June 1-15, 2010 Rs 50 June 16-30, 2010 Rs 50 July 1-15, 2010 Rs 50 July 16-31, 2010 Rs 50 August 1-15, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 15 Rs 50 August 16-31, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 16 Rs 50

  28 28
24
40 34 36
Some small brands have got many
more fans on Facebook than many biggies.
How are they doing it?

DEFINING MOMENTS PROFILE

Kiran Khalap Venugopal Iyengar
chlorophyll’s founder Sun Direct’s new
A new breed of mobile phone thinks back. marketing head.
marketers - helped by a
Chinese push - is making
merry at the cost of
12 42
the big players.
 

  UDAY SHANKAR

CEO, STAR India PEPSICO
Engagement Mantra
Why change something that works?
That is the mantra Indian advertisers use
PIX
Blockbuster Gamble


 Augmented reality. Check
out this experiment.

32 Some brands and their agencies are

crafting ads exclusively for
when they opt for the safe path in their
communication.
The English-movie
channel changes its focus.

30

38
  
   
 regional markets.



  
   
  
 
 
 
How local will local get?

          



  


  


   
 36 8 40 16 PLUS
GODREJ
FIGHTING PROFILE
Ambika Sharma
Jagran Solutions’s COO is
28 8 16 24 PLUS
ANCHOR
38 8 44 46 PLUS
MAHINDRA RENAULT
Emotional Quotient
PERSONALITY
Craig Davis
The nomadic chief creative
SPECIAL REPORT

BACK
 always planning. Anchoring a Change 14
Expect the Unexpected 20 20 officer of Publicis Mojo.

    NICKELODEON CAFE COFFEE DAY
GECS QCN RADIO ONE
PRESENTS
Hitting the Jackpot 22 In Good Nick 32 Going Digital 24
Correct Projection Wooing the Listener

  
       MOUNTAIN DEW ECONOMIST
14
BIG STREET AIRTEL-FACEBOOK
BAJAJ
12
MARKETING TO THE


 

Gripping Stuff
HINDUSTAN TIMES
23
The man in the hot seat when STAR Plus was
Decoding the World 18 Ruling the Roads
DINAMALAR
46 Fun Connection
NDTV IMAGINE
26
Seven food and beverages companies have
Shifting Focus 16
AFFLUENT
26
  
   BLOOMBERGUTV VICKS



 DEFINING MOMENTS BARISTA TITAN Eyes on the Target 23 going through troubled times, talks about its PROFILE DIGITAL DEFINING MOMENTS Being Tamil 46 PROFILE SAB TV YRF-SONY Big, Happy Family 46 signed a pledge to market responsibly to
Pushing the Envelope 34

41

   Sandeep Khosla Clowning Around Did it? Didn’t it? Action Time 18 Brands are leaving no stone
  
  " "     L V Krishnan Spelling it over a Cup Watching the Young recovery and reinvention. Yin and Yang Choose your Poison A G Krishnamurthy CANNES LG children. What does it actually mean? unturned in their quest to attract
  
    % &   '      
  
   
   
TAM Media Research’s The coffee retailer launches Zoop. That’s how Titan wants
VIRGIN MOBILE ZOOM Grey’s new NCDs, Amit The German brand uses a The man who set up an Infomedia 18’s CEO starts a Coming up, a mix of Sony believes that the YRF PRIVILEGE MATRIMONY
  !"        Cost Conscious 30 New Plan of Action 34 Special Picks 52 new innings. comedy and songs. experiment has helped.
Ruling the Kitchens 54
Match Fixing
this consumer group. An analysis.
    (  )     !" #$$ CEO goes back in time. a Scrabble Championship. to get on to young wrists. Akali and Malvika Mehra. virtual bar to connect. ‘Indian’ agency. 20

September 1-15, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 17 ` 50 September 16-30, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 18 ` 50 October 1-15, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 19 ` 50 October 16-31, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 20 ` 50 November 1-15, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 21 ` 50 November 16-30, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 22 ` 50 December 1-15, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 23 ` 50 December 16-31, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 24 ` 50

30
40
40
36 38 32
SAB TV 44
FACEBOOK
LAUGHTER
THE BEST
DEFINING MOMENTS DEFINING MOMENTS
Gerson da Cunha Srinivasan Swamy Trying Out
The grand man of Indian RK Swamy BBDO’s man Will its messaging system
advertising speaks. at the helm looks back at hurt e-mail services?
AAMIR KHAN some interesting moments.

[0U]
12
On screen and even off it, he is a brand
and movie marketer’s delight. What
makes the actor a failsafe option?
12 28
MEDICINE
How this channel used humour to

DEPENDABLE
script a remarkable turnaround
story for itself.
What happens when brands hijack their L’ORÉAL
VOLKSWAGEN
Core-Thought Advertising competitors’ campaigns. TVS Reveal Your Talents
The new TVC promotes Do it Your Way An unusual e-initiative to
just the mother brand. The company has opted for hire Generation Y.

INS
IN
INSI
SIDE STORY
TO
ORY
RY
a vibrant positioning for its
28 The recent order on music royalties
Scooty Pep+ range.
44

34
by the Copyright Board has come as a

40
3G
huge reprieve for radio stations. The popularity of Bhojpuri channels is surging in SPECIAL REPORT
ANOOJ KAPOOR
Hindi speaking markets. Can they gain enough momentum to EVP AND BUSINESS HEAD, SAB TV
split the Hindi viewership over time?
PRESENTS

34
PROFILE
24 8 30 12
PROFILE
Deepesh Jha
PLUS
42 14 12 PLUS
32 8 18 22 PLUS 22 846 44 PLUS Yubaraj Bhattacharya 30 8 46 12 PLUS
Lowe Delhi’s creative head
on his ‘accidental’ career.
IODEX
Immediate Action 18
POKEN
Electronic Introduction 30 ADVERTISING
MARKETING TELEVISION
The new CEO of Mahuaa
has to change perceptions. EFFIES 2010
IN.COM The Secret Life of... TO THE Pushing the Limits 30 The Show Stoppers 18

52
GOOGLE 12

TAKEOFF
MOBILE ADVERTISING HERO HONDA

YOUTH
In the Fast Lane 36 The Search Continues 32 As the Metro rolls on connecting
The Right Connect NEWS CHANNELS A Friendly Ride BIG STREET
AFAQS! EVENTS 36
TELECOM
LITEFAST 360
MICROMAX QUBE more and more points on the map
Hello, Mr President 30
10
Divide and Rule 30
IRS Q2 Becoming Social A Lot of Fun 14 of Delhi, it is leaving in its wake KOTAK MAHINDRA
EYE-CATCHING STUFF Decoding the Figures 42
MAHUAA KHOBOR
36
From all Angles 46
ZUARI CEMENT a change in the mindset of the UTV What it means for the telecom business and
Silver Side Up 14 PROFILE

32
News Innovation Awards (NIA) 2010 ZEE ENGLISH NEWS CHANNELS COCA-COLA AND NESTLÉ Anant Pal Singh
PROFILE IMAGINE NESTLE What’s the News? 44 PROFILE OOH VOLKSWAGEN Champion of Strength 26 consumer and businesses. Why does the DEFINING MOMENTS AVIVA AVIS Living it up, Filmy Style 50 how it might change the nature of advertising in DEFINING MOMENTS VIDEOCON SAPIENT 52
by afaqs! recognised some of the path- A Different Handle 48 Tremors at the Top 50 DEFINING MOMENTS TANISHQ YAMAHA SZ Ice Tea on the Rocks! 20
breaking initiatives that aim to help take Tarun Chauhan Gunning for Linearity Eager for Action SAB TV Tushar Vyas Recovery Mode Look, Who’s Talking K S Chakravarthy Golden Deeds Going for the Kill youth want what it Nakul Chopra It’s About People Driving Yourself OBITUARY V Ramani In the Shade of Fire Finder’s Keepers IRS 2010 Q3
the news business into the future. RADIO JWT’s new Mumbai head The channel is eyeing a spot Bar One is back after a long, 101 MARKETS STARCOM MEDIAVEST wants? An analysis. The adman looks back on The insurance company wants Encouraging customers to
one of India’s largest spending categories. BLOG Ignitee’s MD on the highs The experiential route it is for The services company gives a
High Notes, Low Notes 61 has an open-door policy. in the top three slots. long time.
Getting it Straight 48 Back with GroupM, for a The outdoor scenario in Its latest innovation uses an Small Town, Big Spend 56 Chax looks back on an Reflecting a woman’s Persuading the consumer to
Big, bigger, better? 30 some key events. everyone to donate a picture. drive out. Nandu Narasimhan 62 KV Sridhar 58 and lows of his career. the brand’s co-branded launch. new meaning to poaching. The Report Card 68
second innings. Chennai is looking good. audio module. “unplanned journey”. personality. adopt the new.

afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead 3

BIG NOISE CAMPAIGNS
Experts choose the
campaigns that they
believed, created the
biggest buzz in 2010.

BIG NOISE CAMPAIGNS

OOH 10

BIG NOISE CAMPAIGNS

DIGITAL 6

24 76
EXCITING BRANDS PEOPLE OF THE YEAR
In the jungle that is brand marketing in India, some scored Who were the movers (both in the literal and figurative
while many lost. These are some brands that made news for sense of the word) and shakers of 2010? We take a look
both the right and the wrong reasons. at the comings and goings of people in advertising and
media.

44
BIG LAUNCHES - PRINT & TV
Print and televison witnessed almost non-stop action during
2010. There were some unusual launches inbetween and
PLUS
some heavyweight announcements. We look back on an
eventful 12 months. 62 CATEGORY WATCH

96 OBITUARIES

56
ACCOUNT MOVEMENTS 100 DEALS, M&A, IPOs OF 2010

Every year, agencies live in the dream of netting the catch

that got away the last time and hoping to wrest plum
accounts from the competition. We present the list of 104 INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL TRENDS
accounts that moved agencies last year.

4 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

BIG NOISE CAMPAIGNS
PRINT
14

BIG NOISE CAMPAIGNS

TV
20

110
PLANS FOR THE YEAR
Some of the best people in the business of advertising, digital, marketing, out-of-home, print and television to talk about their
plans for the coming year and take a look at what tomorrow holds.
BIG NOISE
%,*12,6(&$03$,*16

By ASHWINI GANGAL, BIPRORSHEE DAS, KAPIL OHRI AND SURINA SAYAL

Every year witnesses some high-decibel campaigns that strike an instant chord and some
damp squibs. We focus on the campaigns that created a big buzz around themselves in 2010.
This special issue tracks Digital, Out of Home, Print and Television campaigns that stood out,
according to experts.

',*,7$/

*2'5(- ZZZJRML\RFRP

G oJiyo.com (created by Customer Centria)

is Godrej’s initiative to create a computer
simulated space or virtual world, where internet
users can sign up and create an avatar. Once
registered, the members get a fixed amount of
virtual money - measured in the form of ‘Mio’,
the currency of GoJiyo - which members can
use to purchase items such as clothes, caps,
shoes and accessories in the virtual world.

Apart from shopping, members have the free-

9,5*,102%,/( ZZZLQGLDQSDQJDOHDJXHLQ dom to roam inside the virtual world, which
is actually divided into various zones and sub-
zones. For instance, a member can enter a zone
he campaign highlighted Virgin’s value sharing the ‘pangas’. What had always been a regu- named Solaris, which further consists of various

T proposition of STD at 20 paise. Virgin

Mobile created more than 100 unique
short films. Launched during IPL
lar ‘social currency’ offline, soon became a cool
online trend that allowed everyone to enjoy and
participate in the banter,” she adds.
sub-zones comprising the sea, a beach and a
town area having cafés, showrooms, sports sta-
dium, mazes, bridges and buildings.
Season 3, these showcased young people taking
digs (panga in Hindi) at each other’s IPL team Even Dinesh Swamy, associate creative director, Members are empowered to interact with each
through a series of sporting quips across different Tribal DDB, feels that IndianPanga League videos other through text and voice chat and also per-
cities and uploading it on IndianPangaLeague.in had a right mix of cricket and regional humour, form various activities such as skydiving, bungee
and Youtube.com. which made them receive more than one million jumping and rope walking. Interestingly, Godrej
hits. “Many people spend time browsing funny places its products at many locations inside this
The campaign was conceptualised and executed videos on social media and Virgin Mobile grabbed virtual world so as to let consumers experience
by Bates141 and Mindshare. Recently, it won this opportunity and thus managed to get a lot of them.
the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair award. Professionals eyeballs,” he points out. “The initiative showed
believe that Virgin Mobile’s IndianPangaLeague.in the way and reaped the benefits of ‘earned media’ Why was it impactful? Hegde thinks that the
campaign was a first-of-its-kind large-scale initia- in the truest sense,” says Vineet Gupta, managing concept of real life avatar and virtual life avatar
tive in the digital arena which presented the right, partner, 22Feet, adding, “The lesson learned is that was very effectively packaged. “While real life
eclectic, mix of entertainment and fun to the 20-20 in ROI the ‘I’ is just as important as the ‘R’.” „ might bog us down with responsibilities and
cricket series. commitments, Gojiyo.com promises a world sans
 % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 
‘realities’. Experience was the mantra that was
Anjali Hegde, chief executive officer, Reprise
Media (India), thinks that it was indeed a very
*RML\RPHPEHUVDUHHPSRZHUHGWR communicated and, which eventually, the users
got to feel when they logged in,” she says. „
‘different’ way of promoting a product by tugging LQWHUDFWZLWKRQHDQRWKHUWKURXJKWH[W
at the passion chord of the youth. “The premise ZZZIDFHERRNFRP
of the campaign was very close to a young man’s DQGYRLFHFKDWDQGDOVRSHUIRUPYDULRXV 1(67/e NQRZ\RXUQHLJKERXUVFRP
heart - cricket and emotion. The ‘close to reality’
DFWLYLWLHVRQOLQHVXFKDVVN\GLYLQJEXQ
form of the films, the language and the emotions
were a pleasant surprise for everyone and they
soon joined the bandwagon taking ‘pangas’ and
JHHMXPSLQJDQGURSHZDONLQJ A four-part TV commercial campaign
was released by Nestlé starring Deepika
Padukone and Purab Kohli. Each edition led to
 % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 

6 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE ',*,7$/
In the later stages, the user was asked to bring Namrata Balwani, chief operating officer,
together various interior and exterior parts of Media2Win, feels that the campaign was impact-
the vehicle, choose special accessories and final- ful.
ly select a colour for the car.
Balwani says, “As an auto brand, Tata Motors
Once the building process was complete, the used the digital medium, for the first time, to
user was asked to write a review of the vehicle. invite consumers to create their own dream
The user who earned maximum points was car as a build-up to the Aria launch. The teaser
awarded a free holiday trip. The site was created contest created buzz on auto forums and blogs
by digital agency Experience Commerce. as well.” „
the next one like a romantic soap opera of sorts
and aroused the consumers’ sense of curiosity
about what would happen next. Towards the
end of the TVC the consumers were told ‘To see
what happens next log onto www.facebook.com/
knowyourneighbours’.

Sandip Maiti, CEO, Experience Commerce,

finds it innovative. “Nestlé mixed two of
the most primal Indian emotions together -
romance and curiosity - interestingly and led
people over to a very well-sustained and high-
engagement Facebook page called Know Your
Neighbours (with more than three lakh fans).
A lot of people who saw the TVC, and were a
part of Facebook, went over to the page to sat-
isfy their curiosity and, in turn, engaged with
the brand in an entertaining way.” „

3(36,&283 $XJPHQWHG5HDOLW\

P epsiCo experimented with Augmented Reality

advertising or ARvertising last year to engage
youth with the 7Up brand in Andhra Pradesh
company printed on 600ml 7Up PET bottles, dis-
tributed in AP. This coded image was the virtual
key or enabler for users to access the dance videos.
7$7$$5,$ ZZZEXLOGDGUHDPFDUFRP (created by Hungama Digital).
To access these, the online user was
For the uninitiated, augmented reality involves required to open the 7Up website and click

T ata Motors launched an online teaser ad

campaign in September to build curiosity
around the Tata Aria, which is a cross between
the addition of virtual elements to the real
environment. Virtual elements could include
computer-generated images, video clips or tex-
a link - titled ‘Now everyone can make
Allu Arjun dance’ - on the site’s homepage.
It would then prompt the visitor to connect his
an SUV and an MUV. tual information pulled from the internet, while computer with a web camera, select the dance-
the real environment includes elements such as a style video and point the camera to the coded
The automobile firm served banner ads titled printed picture, object, building or landscape. image printed on the PET bottle. Once the ‘black
‘Build a dream car’ across various websites, and white image’ was decoded through the cam-
including Zigwheels.com, Carwale.com, To retrieve additional or ‘virtual’ mate- era, which acted like a reader, the video started
LinkedIn.com, Moneycontrol.com, as well as rial, the user would need an information playing.
the Google content network. ‘reader’ - such as a web camera connected to an
internet-enabled computer or the camera of a The videos could also be accessed on operating
When clicked, the banner ad redirected the user GPRS-enabled mobile phone - which can identify system based internet-enabled mobile phones.
to a website, Buildadreamcar.com. The website the real object and then pull out ‘virtual’ informa-
was like an online workshop, where more than tion contextually related to the object. For this, users were required to down-
500 car parts and accessories, which could be load a special software or application on their
utilised to design and build (assemble) a virtual In the case of 7Up, PepsiCo did a two-month mobile phones. The user could then open the
car from scratch were made available. campaign titled You Click, I (Allu Arjun) Dance. application, select the camera mode and point it
It created videos of Allu Arjun - a Tollywood to the image on the PET bottle, in order to play
To develop the car, a five-stage process was to actor, who is famous for his dancing skills and is the videos.
be followed. The user had to first register on also 7Up’s brand ambassador in the South - per-
the website and clear various stages. In the first forming seven different dance styles, which were Dinesh Swamy of Tribal DDB not only find it
stage, the user was provided with the basic car hosted on the website, www.7Up.in. innovative but points out that, “Early birds always
parts (such as engine, gear-box and tyres), which benefit if they hit the right chord. The company
he/she had to fix accurately in the skeleton/chas- A small-sized code, ‘black and white picture or used emerging Augmented Reality technology
sis in order to move to the next stage. graphic image’, was also developed, which the interestingly to reach out to the youth.” „

8 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 %,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE
2872)+20(

Prasenjit Bagchi, vice-president, west - sales and

marketing, Peacock Media, says, “Docomo’s
launch was very well planned in the media by
MOMS and the simple, yet instantly eye-catching,
visuals like the one with LED lights logo used on
buses in Indore made the new entrant brand an
instant hit.”

Nabendu Bhattacharyya, managing director,

$87202%,/(6 Milestone Brandcom, adds, “Its excellent propo-
sition with huge visibility, especially in Mumbai,
was the highlight and it created immediate aware-
rom the flurry of responses received, onto OOH. It showed an engineer crying with his ness. Its innovative tariff helped creating a buzz.”

F Volkswagen (the OOH campaign was

done by Portland) was ed by was the
clear winner when it came to top-of-
tear drops falling into the two buckets placed on
a mobile van, which held up the billboard. The
second one had the same crying engineer, with
Sengupta of OAP makes a point when he says, “It
had top class creatives and used the market situa-
the-mind recall. ‘Clutter-breaking’ and ‘relevant’ the tears illuminated in the form of LED, which tion of low demand of outdoor to its advantage by
were words used to describe it. again fell in the bucket placed at the bottom of the taking up anything and everything.”
display. The second innovation had a real person
It all started towards the end of 2009, with the hanging from the top of a building, cleaning a glass Other telecom operators like Uninor, Aircel and
Volkswagen Beetle campaign that won a lot of facade - apparently cleaning the window of the car. Idea Cellular managed to create a buzz outdoors.
hearts with its ‘part-by-part campaign’. The OOH Anirban Ghosh, business director, MOMS While Uninor came in with its ‘Ab mera number
at a prominent junction in Mumbai revealed Outdoor Media Solutions had this to say about the hai’ campaign and spread itself flat across most
parts of the Beetle each day, heightening people’s Beetle campaign, “It was a talk of the town innova- outdoor surfaces, Aircel took its social ‘lifeboat’
anticipation and excitement about the imminent tion and thus created huge impact for the brand.” campaign forward. It also launched the ‘Save the
launch. The company also launched an innovative Tigers’ campaign outdoor with a ‘searchlight’
mechanical billboard with just the manufacturer’s Abhijit Sengupta, CEO, Outdoor Advertising innovation.
logo on it and a small model car of the Beetle mov- Professionals (OAP), felt that, “The quality of
ing across the length and breadth of the ‘VW’ sign. sites and innovation built in were remarkable. The Idea Cellular was not to be left behind. With a mis-
brand has lived up to its penchant for outdoor in sion to paint cities green with a range of outdoor
In 2010, the brand continued with its out-of- India as it has shown internationally.” „ media innovations to promote its message: ‘Use
the-box ideas and conducted a unique consumer Mobile, Save Paper’. It transformed bus shelters
engagement event for the Polo called ‘The New into green covers, with potted plants and tendril
Polo Ultimate Test Drive’. Professional German climbers to convey the green message. Its ‘Walk
race driver Ronny Wechselberger was invited to while you talk’ LED moving lights innovation cre-
perform stunts at an on-ground event to showcase ated a hefty buzz as well. „
the features of the new Polo. Consumers were
invited to watch breathtaking stunts, and even
become co-passengers while the stunts were per-
formed. Wechselberger also interacted with them
and provided tips on driving in crowded areas.

A recent campaign for Vento - Tears of Perfection

- extended the idea of the TVC of pure passion 7(/(&20
 % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 

,Q9RONVZDJHQFRQWLQXHGZLWKLWV N ext on the favourite list was clearly Tata

Docomo’s carpet-bombing campaigns (done 7+(27+(56
RXWRIWKHER[LGHDVDQGFRQGXFWHGD by MOMs) across the country.
XQLTXHFRQVXPHUHQJDJHPHQWHYHQWIRU
WKH3RORFDOOHGµ7KH1HZ3ROR8OWLPDWH
While not all of its outdoor campaigns were outra-
geously creative, its multiple logo representations
with four different colours were plastered across
N ext on the popularity list of outdoor cam-
paigns of 2010 was McDonald’s that
painted the town red with its popular crimson
7HVW'ULYH¶ outdoor platforms and managed to build a connect colour and golden arches. The quick service res-
 % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6  with its new ‘Pay Per Second’ offering. taurant (QSR) had launched a Mumbai-specific

10 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE 2872)+20(
outdoor campaign for its new meal category (done the Anchor emblem/symbol was highlighted. The
by Milestone Brandcom) earlier last year, the billboards were also made to look as if the logo,
breakfast menu. This was the first time that now removed, left in its place a white watermark,
McDonald’s was advertising its menu in India. while the rest of the hoarding looked a little yel-
It later pulled in the crowds with a simple, yet lowish, depicting that the logo had been removed
larger than life high visibility, billboard campaign after a long time. Lifelike installers were seen
in Mumbai and Bengaluru for the McDonald’s handling the removal of the signs. The copy read,
Happy Price Menu. ‘Change is Inevitable’.

In a style that matches the McDonald’s campaign, In the second round of the teaser, bamboo scaf-
Mukesh Manik, man-in-charge, Encyclomedia folding was used, giving the impression of an
Networks says of the campaign, “Crisp, clear, installation team working on putting up the new
short and direct message. Message seen, message logo units, while the third round revealed the new
delivered.” logo and message ‘Anchor by Panasonic’. NOTHING LIKE A CONTROVERSY
To end the OOH story, one has to touch upon
The Economist’s clean red and white print cam- the big fight that ensued between P&G and
paign ‘Interpret the World’ that was adapted to HLL on billboard space in Mumbai. It created
outdoor grabbed eyeballs as well. quite a flatter in industry circles with P&G’s
Pantene launching an extended teaser cam-
Another popular campaign in 2010 was one by paign (done by Grey Worldwide), which was
Emirates (done by Navia Asia). After the airline hijacked by HUL’s shampoo brand, Dove.
grabbed eyeballs outdoor last year with its creative
cut-out kiosks in the shapes of things represent- Pantene’s outdoor campaign said, ‘A Mystery
ing places like a starfish for Mauritius, the Eiffel Shampoo 80 per cent women say is better than
Tower for Paris and the head of the Statue of anything else’. This was to be a precursor to its
Liberty of New York, Emirates recreated its kiosk new, revamped avatar. Competing brand Dove,
campaign this year as well. Says Sengupta, “I liked however, seized the opportunity (done by Ogilvy
the way Emirates used the medium innovatively.
The centre medium kiosks were transformed Another teaser campaign in 2010 came from Tata
very nicely, and have certainly attracted all passing International. The brief campaign for its new
eye balls.” brand, Tashi Shoes, was created for the unveiling
of its first retail store at Linking Road, Mumbai.
The campaign generated a buzz with the outdoor
teaser messages, such as, ‘It’s funny how a pair
of really nice shoes can make you feel real good
in your head.’ Another creative read, ‘A stiletto
is more an attitude as opposed to a high-heeled
shoe’; while a third said, ‘Is there such a thing as
too many pairs of shoes? Not in our world, there
isn’t.’ The revealer campaign that was unveiled at
the same outdoor sites, showed the brand name
and pictures of the shoes, with cheeky copy such as
‘99 per cent of men say they love women in stilet- India) to take a pot-shot, with massive hoardings
tos. The other 1 per cent lie.’ of its own claiming, ‘There is no mystery; Dove is
TEASERS WORKED TOO the No. 1 shampoo’ - with many of these hoard-
The logo change by Anchor Electricals in June last JUST OUT, YET BUZZING AWAY… ings strategically placed near Pantene’s ‘mystery
year that kicked off with a teaser campaign, did The recent Reebok Reezig innovation (done by shampoo’ ones.
not go unnoticed. A three-phased campaign done Primesite and Milestone Brandcom) with larg-
by OAP, declared Anchor’s logo change and new er than life shoes placed on hoardings showing off Industry observers had mixed opinions about the
parentage - Panasonic. the zig zag of the new runner was a stunner that ambush. While some commended the swift dive-
managed to find a mention in the list of top OOH in by Dove, others said it was a cheap tactic. It
In the first round of teasers, the billboard showed campaigns. So did Kotak Mahindra’s 25th anniver- finally turned out to be a a case of ‘Love it, hate it,
old signs of Anchor being brought down; here, sary campaign. you can’t ignore it’. „
%,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE
35,17
in 2010, Santosh Padhi and Agnello Dias would
probably place their agency’s work for Conqueror
Papers among the ones at the top of it all. The
others do!

In the campaign, colourful sheets of papers were

rolled up on a board capturing the various facets
of India. No technology was involved in this one.
The campaign won big at award shows throughout
the year. It won a gold and a silver at Cannes and
also made its mark at other shows that included
Clios and AdFest.

“The Conqueror Paper campaign, already famous

for wins at Cannes 2010 is probably the best among
92/.6:$*(1 everything for ideation and immaculate execution
 % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 

efore we get into discussing the sig- and buzz for the brand in question. I can actually :LWKRXWJRLQJGHHSLQWRDFUHDWLYH
B nificant print work that caught the eye
last year, there is a point that needs
think of these two ads since they overshadow any
other print work in sheer magnitude and impact GLVFXVVLRQH[SHUWVIHHOWKDWWKH9RON
to be made. Many found it difficult
to recall too many ‘big noise’ campaigns that hit
done this year.”
VZDJHQDGVIXOILOOHGWKHEDVLFUHTXLVLWH
publications. Does that mean print needs more The campaigns also find favour with Prathap RIDGYHUWLVLQJFDWFKLQJWKHPD[LPXP
innovation? Read on. Suthan (Pat), ex national creative director, Cheil
Worldwide who agrees with Jauhari. Without H\HEDOOVDQGPLQGVSDFH
On the other hand, that assumption may be unfair. going deep into a creative discussion, experts feel  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 

Print has always been seen as a support medium that the Volkswagen ads fulfilled the basic requi-
to the mainstream (read TV). Most of the ‘noise’ site of advertising - catch the maximum eyeballs
made on a channel is easier to remember. and mindspace. It also helped the client gets its
money’s worth.
COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER, MUCH
BETTER Towards the end of the year, Volkswagen also did
Rajeev Raja, national creative director, DDB an extensive print campaign for Beetle, where it
Mudra minces no words. Says he, “Overall, it has positioned the car as an ideal gift during the wed-
been a pretty disappointing year for Indian print ding season. The campaign with the copy reading
advertising. And that is putting it mildly.” Raja’s ‘Bachelorhood deserves a fitting farewell’ finds a
words may sound harsh, but they give food for place among Scarecrow Communications’ founder
thought. But Raja and other creative chiefs did sit director, Raghu Bhat’s favourites. “Ads like these
down, sift and discuss a few print campaigns that give print advertising a good name,” he states. „
stood out and got the attention they deserved.

There have been the exceptions. Volkswagen leads

the way in those that stood out. It was the one
brand that did make the biggest noise through
the year, even in print. With creative and media
partners, DDB Mudra and MediaCom India,
$08/%877(5
it took over national dailies, punched holes in
the shape of its car, gave the medium an actual that leaves no stone unturned to ensure a great
‘voice’ with another ad and got the nation talking. ad. It is clearly a labour of love,” gushes Raj Nair,
Whether they were impressed or not, experts too regional creative director, Contract Advertising.
could not help mention the Volkswagen ads in
their list of favourites. Offering a slightly critical view, Mudra’s Raja says,
“The ad again relies on the familiar technique of
For Polo, Volkswagen announced the beginning creating a face using many objects but manages to
of the hatchback’s sales, taking over The Times of do it in a way that is relevant to the product and the
India (TOI) with a portion of every page cut out topical usage of the brand.” Pat praises the execu-
in the shape of the car. When the Vento, its entry- tion and the effort that went into the campaign.
level sedan in India, followed, an audio device was “It takes execution to another level altogether. A
added to a full page ad in TOI and The Hindu. lot of effort and time went into this and it shows,”
Unfold the newspaper and it played a recorded he says.
message about the car. It became a why-didn’t-I-
think-of-it-before moment for others. &2148(52563$3(5 Next up was old favourite, Amul Butter. Its
campaigns continue to evoke smiles. Shivanand
Mentioning both ads as his pick of the lot, Rahul Mohanty, national creative director, Dentsu
Jauhari, national creative director, Pickle Lintas CONQUERORS AND OLD Communications, is among the ones who rate
says, “I think my criteria for choosing the best FAVOURITES Amul’s jibes at current affairs highly. DaCunha
print will be work that created maximum impact Of all that Taproot India could be proud of Communications, the agency behind the ideas

14 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE 35,17

$33<),==

52<$/(1),(/'

would probably find it interesting at the parallels

that Mohanty chooses to draw.

“This campaign has legs to rival a supermodel’s.

And they know how to use them. Amul’s print
work channels everything that makes life in India
interesting - from the CWG to Robot (The film)
- and turns them into witty executions. They still
make you smile after all these years. Unlike many
supermodels,” says Mohanty. His views are echoed
by Scarecrow’s Bhat and N Padmakumar, national
creative director, Rediffusion-Y&R, “Amul still
attracts eyeballs and evokes a smile. The pun
might be a much-reviled ad technique but when
Amul does it, all is forgiven. Be it ‘Radia-active’ or
‘Phone Banega Karodpati’,” says Bhat. According 0$'+<$35$'(6+7285,60
to Padmakumar the campaign “never ceases to be
fun because of its always-innocent take on current The brand receives a mention from Nair of ity that is right for an iconic brand such as the
events.” Contract Advertising, too. However, he talks Bullet.”
of another creative, which with a picture of an
Mohanty also has a kind word for Weiden+ Enfield owner spells out his obsession as he HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Kennedy’s work on Royal Enfield. The ad used a ‘trips’ on his motorcycle. Creativeland Asia’s work for Appy Fizz and
comic strip look to build a tale around the motor- Grappo Fizz has been well received for its whacky
cycle. “Is it a comic strip? Is it an ad? Royal Enfield He appreciates the execution that makes the nature and typography.
does not care. It uses the comic book format to experience seem authentic. “Royal Enfield does
weave together a wild narrative of a boy who left an interesting job of being absolutely real and Calling it one of his favourites, Rediffusion’s
home on his Thunderbird, met some monks, featuring real users of the brand with good pho- Padmakumar says, “It is totally whacky, ridiculous
some bad cops, landed up in jail and then escaped. tography,” says Nair. Raja agrees, “I really liked and random, which is in keeping with the per-
Gripping stuff, this. And they trust their audience, the Bullet ‘Trip’ campaign. Though adopting sonality of the brand itself. Two drinks that take
which is smart enough to find out things like bike a much used testimonial format, the campaign themselves really seriously, and are unintention-
specifications on their own,” Mohanty says. still has a ring of truth and a certain simplic- ally funny.”

16 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE 35,17
for its unpretentiousness and the art that he sees
reflecting the personality of a brand comfortable in
its skin.

Though Bhat finds the TV press ads ‘cool, with

good lines he feels that the art could have been
more edgy. The other campaigns mentioned by
Dentsu’s Mohanty include the one for Tashi
shoes, which he says is packed with insights into
the very special relationship women have with
shoes and is nicely crafted.

The ‘Love Blossoms Here’ campaign done by

Delhi’s Out of the Box for Mother’s Pride pre-
schools also features among Pat’s favourites. He
approves of the execution and the simplicity of the
creatives.

A support medium? Maybe! But the work pointed

out by the experts could be testimony enough on
behalf of those who still bet on print’s strength
and potential.

5(9$ 0793/$<,1 Next year could be startlingly different, who

knows? „

Raja too has words of praise. “The ad was well

written and was pretty well crafted in terms of
typography. Even though there were so many sizes
of fonts, the story was still readable and connects
with a younger target audience,” he explains.

Taproot, clearly knows the art of print and knows

it well as Padmakumar brings up the work done by
the agency for the Teach India campaign and the
Cannes Lions ads.

“Teach India for its sincerity and honest intent,

apart from good old-fashioned copy and art and
the Cannes Lions ad because it is cool, irreverent
and echoes every creative person’s dream,” he says.

Among Bhat’s other favourites are Ogilvy India’s

work for Madhya Pradesh tourism that looked like
an old manuscript featuring the state’s tourist attrac-
tions. “‘Flow flow, river of love...’, I read every word
of the copy. Nice to see so much love being poured
into a press ad. Makes you want to take the next
flight to Indore,” he exclaims.

Other campaigns Bhat singles out are the Reva

Electric Car campaign by Temple and Bates 141’s w 027+(5¶635,'(
work MTV (Play.in). He likes the Reva creative
%,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE
7(/(9,6,21
says “Meri maa hamesha....” Prasoon Joshi, execu-
tive chairperson, McCann Worldgroup India and
regional creative director, McCann Asia Pacific,
chips in with his take on the insights and calls it
“nice and human,” as does Satbir Singh, chief crea-
tive officer, Euro RSCG India.

K S Chakravarthy (Chax), national creative direc-

tor, Draftfcb Ulka and McCann’s Joshi adored the
Shubh Aarambh campaign, but they don’t rate the
bus stop film as their favourite. Their choice is the
‘slice of life’ spot with the jeans-clad aunty who
embraces modernity for the first time.

Chax says, “I thought pehle tareekh hai by

Cadbury was a stumble - taking the brand away
from the powerful association of chocolate with
Kuch meeta ho jaye - Shubh Aarambh reclaims
Cadbury’s stake in the ‘Great Indian Sweetstakes’
&$'%85<6+8%+$$5$0%+ with a vengeance.” Joshi agrees, “A brand like
Cadbury doesn’t need to keep communicating
product benefits - it needs to strike a deeper
ome television ads have a way of staying romantic. “The guy in the film doesn’t look any- emotional chord and that is precisely what this

S on in the mind. We picked our experts’

brains to find out which ads stuck most
in their heads much after they were first
thing like a loafer; in fact he looks like a bechaara.
The bechaara to kameena twist was a good move,”
he explains.
campaign has done.”

aired. The reasons vary from visibility, popularity,

spends, ‘repeat watchability value’ and the ability Shastry though didn’t care much for the other
to amplify their effect with each airing. two Shubh Aarambh films. According to him,
the two films that were broken after the bus stop
Overall, 2010 turned out to be one big Ogilvy one served to take the whole Shubh Aarambh
Gala as the agency’s campaigns for Cadbury campaign on a downward slide. Bobby Pawar,
(Shubh Aarambh), Indian Railways and Vodafone chief creative officer, Mudra Group, finds the bus
(BlackBerry Boys) were loved by almost everyone. stop film cute. Taking the explanation further,
If Ogilvy had the starring role others were in no KV Sridhar, (Pops), national creative director,
way inferior. Here’s a round-up of the top five. Leo Burnett India, says, “What’s awesome is that
the brand is trying to say ‘Celebrate the attempt
A JOB WELL BEGUN to succeed rather than celebrating success alone’. %/$&.%(55<%2<6
Cadbury’s Shubh Aarambh ad campaign takes the This is amazing as those who succeed are very few
cake, the bakery and the baker’s big white hat. but the ones who attempt good things are plenty!”
The three-film ad campaign has made it to the He adds that the campaign hits home in terms of MEN TO BOYS
‘Top Five’ list of all the eight creative heads we strategy, positioning and casting. Vodafone’s commercial for BlackBerry (‘We are
asked. Most voted in favour of the bus stop TVC, the BlackBerry Boys’), also Ogilvy’s baby came in
which portrays the start of a sweet little love story Explains Santosh Padhi (Paddy), chief creative second on the popularity stakes. Shastry is particu-
between two teenagers. officer and co-founder, TapRoot India, “Good larly amused with the fact that just one small little
ideas are best kept simple and this TVC clearly application - the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)
So what is it about this commercial that has man- reflects it. Steering away from the mandates and - managed to swing market sales in favour of the
aged to catch the fancy of so many hardened ad  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6  gadget.
men? Speaking specifically about the bus stop
ad, Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, national creative 2YHUDOOWXUQHGRXWWREHRQHELJ He is also thrilled with the fact that this ad by
director, Bates 141 has this to say, “It was a lovely
extension of the brand thought, Kuch meetha ho 2JLOY\*DODDVWKHDJHQF\¶VFDPSDLJQV Vodafone for BlackBerry (BB) is totally different
from the existing ads for the phone. “Interestingly,
jaye. It is very easy to create communication for
new brands but far more challenging to extend
IRU&DGEXU\6KXEK$DUDPEK,QGLDQ this application is not even the main feature of the
phone. That’s why it’s great to see how this app
an existing thought forward with something new. 5DLOZD\VDQG9RGDIRQH%ODFN%HUU\ alone has changed phone-purchasing behaviour
And all this without losing the basic essence of the
campaign.” %R\VZHUHORYHGE\PRVWH[SHUWV on part of the youth,” he exclaims.
 % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 
Pawar has something similar to say and calls the
Mahabaleshwarkar thinks that while this particu- ad a brilliantly executed, catchy film that rides on
lar ad is “nice and fresh”, all three films had great myths in this category, the television commercial a simple idea. “The phone was made for hardcore,
insight and have managed to tap into the right beautifully integrates the great Indian insight of no-nonsense professionals and was highly func-
emotions. Others also agree. Ramanuj Shastry, sweet beginnings with lovely casting that not only tional. The broadening of the TG (target group)
national creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, says makes a difference to the film but in a subtle way beyond suited-booted corporate employees, how-
that the Shubh Aarambh ad campaign has used great also targets those that consume the most in this ever, is so much fun,” he justifies his stand.
insights. “The bus stop TVC could have gone category.”
wrong in a nano second,” Shastry enthuses, “but Pops gets personal with his appreciation for this
was handled beautifully.” He adds that the film He particularly likes the way the Indian touch ad as he uses BB himself. He says the campaign
figures in his list because it is startling, sweet and has been slipped in during the part where the boy gives him pride in using it. “I don’t want to be an

20 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*12,6(&$03$,*16
BIG NOISE 7(/(9,6,21
old fuddy-duddy uncle who uses the BB. I have two ads for Pan Vilas, ‘Nawab’ and ‘Happy New other than their own. The ad had only two to
lots of fun using it and this ad highlights this feel- Day’ a breath of fresh air considering the size of three sentences to the effect of ‘What happened?’,
ing of mine,” he confesses. “It would have topped the category and the aggressive way in which it ‘The baby was crying’ and ‘Give him some Gripe
my list had it been created by BB itself instead by has grown over the years, largely with clichéd Water’. The second incident the Idea language ad
Vodafone,” he complains nonetheless. work. “It’s good to note that an investment reminds Pops of is his first trip to Japan, around
has been made to give the brand a premium eight years ago, when he was literally lost in trans-
feel- and why not? At the end of the day it’s lation.
the industrial honchos and CEOs who are the
patrons of pan masala,” he elucidates. The other Shastry points out that the film that encourages
ads that struck a chord with Paddy include consumers to use the phone liberally. “One will
JWT’s Deewana Bana De campaign for SET Max do this only if STD is cheap and this ad for
and Stark Communications’ campaign for sure makes it look that way. I feel like I can call
Kerala Tourism. Kerala to Delhi without batting an eyelid,” he
adds.
Regarding the film titled Sheesha for SET Max,
he says it was a great instance of how the medium On his list, Shastry also finds Airtel’s new cam-
,1',$15$,/ (TV) can be used optimally and appreciates the
script, fast pace and the level of detailing of the
paign (by JWT) appealing, more for its execution
than for the brand thought. “The metaphor of
film. He specifically loved the line ‘Ghar aye ek magically reuniting with your lover sans pangs of
RIGHT ON TRACK biwi aur ek tv’. With respect to the film for Kerala parting is sweet.”
TapRoot’s Paddy feels that the ad is bang on, short, Tourism, he feels the TVCs are a good break from
sweet, simple and very human. “For something the typical postcard location pictures seen in other According to Chax, Idea had lost its plot some-
that is part of every Indian’s life, the product demo ads in this category. and particularly loved the where along the line, but this campaign brought it
is charmingly delivered through a human train visual imagery and music used. back strongly.
comprising folks from different groups of society,”  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 
he says, reminiscing how as kids we all have done Vodafone’s own ad, featuring two little school
this at some point in time. girls, didn’t go unnoticed either. For Shastry, the ,GHD¶VODQJXDJHFRPPHUFLDOVD\VDYHU\
uniquely female insight used is a sheer winner.
He likes how such a simple human device is used “Doing something special for your best friend - VLPSOHWKLQJZLQVRPHRQHRYHUZLWK
to drive home the message. “The film is shot with
a bit of raw earthiness which makes it more real
such as saving a seat or giving her extra sweets - is
something only girls do. A boy would probably get RQHZRUGLQKLVRUKHUPRWKHUWRQJXH,W
and believable,” Paddy adds. He also loved the base teased for the same!” he laughs. “The bit about the KDGORVWLWVSORWVRPHZKHUHPLGZD\EXW
line, which in his opinion, is a big idea by itself. separate code of conduct for women towards their
“They have picked the right track for this campaign best friend has been uniquely done. I do not think WKLVFDPSDLJQEURXJKWLWEDFNVWURQJO\
- the voice of Ashok Kumar is apt for this situa- I’ve written any ad using female insight.”  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1  % , * 1 2 , 6 ( & $ 0 3 $ , * 1 6 

tion; most of the time popular voices are used just

because they are popular,” he smiles. He also liked the campaigns for Ceat Bike Tyres
and Bajaj Pulsar (Fastest Indian) by Ogilvy;
Pops calls this ad ‘a quintessential Piyush Pandey’ and Maruti Suzuki (Kitna Deti Hai) by Capital
and applauds the insight. “I don’t remember Advertising. The Idea advertisement figures in
when I travelled by train last but this ad makes Joshi’s list because he likes the brand’s social take
me want to go again,” he exclaims. When you are in ads, and not about money-related issues such
amongst the largest railway networks in the world as talk time.
and without any competition, you perhaps don’t
need to advertise is Singh’s opinion. “This was a Pawar lived JWT’s Kit Kat commercial with the
superb exhibition of simply endearing the brand to ,'($&(//8/$5 two animated squirrels better. He, however, points
people. It evokes warmth and nostalgia,” he says. out that the ad would have been even better had
For Singh, the sign-off, ‘Desh Ka Mel- Bhartiya the squirrels been made to look more real. Joshi
Rail’ is the icing on the campaign. A WINNING IDEA also likes this ad for its light-hearted feel. The
Moving on from the Ogilvy Fest, here’s a look other campaigns that Joshi likes include Tata
Pawar, however, begs to differ. “This chuk chuk at the third campaign that drew admiration and Power’s ad by Dentsu MediaTech for its ‘non-
gaadi idea was a rather obvious one,” he says but applause from the experts. This one tumbled addy’ feel.
goes on to add that it was “nonetheless, executed out of Lowe Lintas’ cupboard and was created
beautifully.” for Idea Cellular. This campaign carried the core Another of Lowe’s creations, the Tanishq ad
thought “Bolne ke liye bhasha zaruri nahi hoti” (where a girl changes her decision to get married
and played on India’s multi-lingual nature as well after seeing the wedding jewellery by the brand),
as its language sensitivity. was a hit with Pops and Mahabaleshwarkar. The
former equates a woman’s love for jewelry with a
According to Pops, Idea’s language commercial man’s adoration for cars while the latter feels the
says a very simple thing - win someone over with execution would have been even better had the girl
one word in his or her mother tongue. Speaking taken all the jewelry from her parents and then not
of language, he continues with two personal gone through with the wedding eventually!
anecdotes. When he was in JWT, Bengaluru, in
1988 he, Chax and Narayan Kumar had worked HONOURABLE MENTIONS
on a campaign for the brand Gripe Water by CreativeLand Asia’s Frooti ad, Dentsu
3$19,/$6 Woodward. When they broke the campaign the MediaTech’s Tata Power ad, JWT’s ads for SET
Tamil version was deliberately aired in Bengal and Max (Deewana Bana De), Stark Communications’
OTHER GEMS… vice versa. campaign (Your Moment is Waiting) for Kerala
The campaign for Pan Vilas (again by Ogilvy), Tourism and Leo Burnett’s Kaun Banega
was another that was appreciated for its script, This was received very well by consumers who Crorepati series too found space in our experts’
execution and positioning effort. Paddy calls the incidentally learnt the script of the ad in languages minds. „

22 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6

By ANUSHREE BHATTACHARRYYA, ASHWINI GANGAL and DEVINA JOSHI

In the junge that is brand marketing in India, some scored while many lost. Here are some
brands that made news for the right reasons - and wrong.

$,57(/ Airtel followed up the logo change with a coun-

trywide campaign that encompassed TV channels
increased regional ad spends.

A new beginning across all genres. Additionally, it was visible in Amit Syngle, vice-president, sales and market-
Last year, Airtel decided that all the daily papers across language, with a radio ing, Asian Paints says that 2010 has been a good
it was time to change its look, campaign going on at the same time across all the year for the brand. According to him, during the
for the third time in 15 years. stations. While it was an easy task to capture the six months that ended on September 30, 2010,
When it began its journey in attention of the urban consumer, grabbing eyeballs net sales increased by 16 per cent (from `2,551.3
1995, the concept of mobile in the rural parts of country was more difficult. crore to `2,960.6 crore) and PBDIT (profit before
telephony was a distant dream depreciation, interest and taxes) for the period
as there were about 10 mil- Overnight, all the dhabas, the walls as well as
lion phones in India, and all mobile vans went through the makeover and   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  

of them fixed lines. The ini- were re-branded with the new Airtel look. It even
tial look of the brand was branded the Delhi-Bengaluru Rajdhani Express 8VXDOO\EUDQGVLQWKLVFDWHJRU\
designed by then national creative director of
Rediffusion Y&R, Gullu Sen, with the aim of
with the new image - the branded train will be
seen chugging across the country for two quarters.
DUHIRUFHGWRVSHDNWRWKHLUDXGLHQFHV
introducing the concept of mobile voice services in Meanwhile, Airtel launched a digital campaign DFURVVFODVVHVZLWKSULFHRULHQWHG
the country. A two-swoosh design was developed called ‘The Name Game’, inviting people to name
and the brand tagline read Touch Tomorrow. its new logo. The brand has also introduced its 3G IXQFWLRQDOLW\DWWKHIXOFUXPRIWKHLU
The next change came in 2002, when all its
service, which it believes will open a new window
of opportunities. „
FRPPXQLFDWLRQ
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
sub-brands such as Telemedia, DTH and the
Enterprise business were brought under one roof
and branded as Airtel. The new look was designed increased by 12.9 per cent (from `521.7 crore to
by Bengaluru-based brand consulting and design $6,$13$,176 `589.2 crore).
company, Ray + Keshavan.
In 2010, the brand strengthened its connect with
Now eight years later, Airtel went under the knife consumers by taking on the onus of educating
again. It re-introduced itself with a brand new logo them about how to transform their homes. Asian
– with just the letter ‘a’, because it felt the need for Paints wanted to be an active part of this high volt-
a symbol, so that the consumer could easily con- age home-making emotion.
nect. It also changed its promise to Dil jo chahe paas
laye which meant - whatever one’s heart desires, Thus evolved the campaign, Har Ghar Kuch Kehta
Airtel will bring it closer. It also got itself a fresh Hai. This year, that was taken forward by tak-
ringtone, created by A R Rahman. ing positioning the brand in the ‘responsible and
Tactical and technical caring’ zone. The campaign ‘asian paints.com -
According to Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Asian Paints needed to inform its target consumers painting karne ka asaan tarika’ was its expression.
Consults, the current feedback on about Airtel’s that its new product-related website (www.asian- It also launched the new avatar of it Colour Next
new look is negative. He adds, “Airtel is an iconic paints.com) was somewhat like the online version series where new colour trends are integrated into
of a telephonic helpline. What could have become Asian Paints’ colour books. „
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
a dry, information-driven ad campaign turned
,WZDVDIWHU$LUWHODFTXLUHG=DLQ7HOHFRP out to be a charming story that entertained as it

LQ$IULFDWKDWLWGHFLGHGWRFKDQJH
informed, courtesy creative agency Ogilvy India.
%/$&.%(55<
Usually brands in this category are forced to
LWVORJR7KHQHZLGHQWLW\KRSHVWKH speak to their audiences across classes with price- Getting younger with time
FRPSDQ\ZLOOSUHVHQWDVLQJOHIDFHDFURVV oriented functionality as the fulcrum of their
communication. Asian Paints managed to do so
BlackBerry’s (BB) growth
graph underwent some note-
WKHZRUOG without making the main message look like it was worthy changes since Indians
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   the centre of the ad campaign. first began using the smart
phone. Year 2010, in particu-
brand in the telecom category. However, with the The story revolved around a hilarious relationship lar, contributed to pushing it
relaunch the brand has softened too much. In a between two brothers and the brand’s message higher. Last year, the smart
bid to capture the youth, it has lost its sharpness.” about its new website was slipped in cleverly. phone maker came up with a
smart move - as it did glob-
Bijoor feels that the new logo is not ‘new’ as the Though it shared heaps of information with ally. It introduced lower-end
symbol resembles one or two brand symbols, the nation, the website took Asian Paints to a variants for consumers who
which are already in the market. “The new logo high ground on the branding front. The cam- were young but could not
which is a small ‘a’ resembles the Wall’s logo, paign included extensive use of television (four afford expensive phones. It
which takes the point further that there is no films aired on GECs and news channels), print, changed young Indians’ way
uniqueness attached with the new logo.” radio and below the line. In 2010, the brand also of looking at themselves and

24 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
their peers - BB’s approach to the young rode on every now and then, milked them for a while and for a winter fairness cream ad (featuring three
the BB Messenger (BBM). then dropped the price of its previous variants. BB Kareenas stressing on how only moisturisation
is doing that,” he elaborates. „ isn’t enough).
When it was launched, BB was the gadget that
helped corporate honchos organise their sched- The ‘skincare solution’ stand also paved the way
ule better, stay connected to one another and
access official email and other internet resources
%2523/86 for new launches including the recently launched
Healthy & Fair winter fairness cream and intensive
instantly. This year, however, the BB’s target therapy cream (for specific areas such as knees and
group expanded beyond expectations. What began elbows and ankles. The creative idea being that the
as a high-end premium product found its way into cream could make these areas look as good as facial
the restless, enthusiastic hands of India’s vast pool skin). Boroplus Sunscreen Lotion is currently in
of youth. Today, the BB is as much a gadget of the the stage of test marketing.
youth as it is an official phone.
Boroplus also tied up with the Bollywood release
The youth took to BBM with unbridled enthu- Tees Maar Khan and launched a co-branded ad
siasm. Teens, tweens and young adults furnished with the famous item song Sheila ki jawaani in it.
the ‘About Me’ section of their Facebook pages According to sources, the company had earmarked
with eight character-long BB Pin Numbers. This around `2 crore to promote its winter-care product
Boroplus Advanced Moisturising Lotion and pain
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
Skin-deep, and deeper reliever Fast Relief in a co-branding exercise with
%%0ZDVXVHGLQRWKHUZD\VWRR879 Boroplus - from the Emami stable - did something
unheard-of in the cream segment early last year:
Tees Maar Khan. „

:RUOG0RYLHVIRULQVWDQFHODXQFKHG no celebrity presence, no pretty-face testimoni-

DVSHFLDO%%0HVVHQJHUWRUHDFKRXWWR
als, no visuals of ‘bad’ skin becoming ‘good’ - the’
commercial for its body lotion was all about cel- &($7
FLQHPDIDQVDFURVV,QGLDDQGSURYLGH ebration of good skin and the tale was narrated by
a group of boys at a loss for words on how skin gets
HDV\DFFHVVWRDUDQJHRIFRQWHQW soft with the product.
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
Thus far, Boroplus’ advertising had been largely
functional in nature, dominated by product shots
enabled other BB owners to connect with them and usage demonstration. Amitabh Bachchan has
and find a place on their instant chat-list. A seem- been Boroplus’ brand endorser for the last eight
ingly dry, alphanumeric, sometimes only numeric years (actor Kareena Kapoor also endorses the
string of letters and numbers became a link. brand). Among the last few ads was one where
Bachchan is a pundit, and talks about the cream’s
On the creative front, brand BB gave the advertising various benefits; while another ad had Kapoor cast
industry something to talk about when it awarded in a typical wedding day girl-boy love story, where Idiot proof
its creative mandate to Orchard Advertising. The the cream helps save the day. Another brand to break the clutter in its category
brand’s media duties lie with Starcom MediaVest. was Ceat Tyres. It did so through cause-based
Though the brand is not too active on the com- However, what really marked Boroplus from marketing and advertising. Its campaign, designed
munication front, it did create some noise with an the crowd and probably helped in its push in the by Ogilvy India, had this to announce: ‘The road
ad film that said, ‘Do what you love, love what you is full of idiots’. It was unusual because, though it
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
do’. This happened to be the first time BB - which emphasised the worn-out category proposition of
relies on word-of-mouth communication - rolled
out any big advertising message in the TV space.
:KDWUHDOO\VHSDUDWHG%RURSOXV grip, it did so in a manner that entertained while
it preached. The message was conveyed subtly and
IURPWKHFURZGDQGDOVRKHOSHGLQLWV consumers were left feeling well looked after as
Vodafone took note of the youth-slant and
launched a much-talked-about campaign that SXVKLQWKHOHDGHUVKLSVWDNHVZDVWKH their safety on the roads was shown to be at stake
due to the idiocy of others around.
attempted to position the phone as a device not
just for uptight executives, but also for trendy
EUDQG¶V2FWREHUFDPSDLJQ The brand stood out by communicating the func-
youngsters who checked their emails and ‘pinged’ %RURSOXVNDVDIHGWHHND tionality aspect a tad differently from the rest.
their friends every 20 seconds. The campaign   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   The aim was to promote its range of bike tyres by
titled BlackBerry Boys was created by Vodafone’s highlighting a better wet-grip condition, steering
creative agency, Ogilvy India. leadership stakes was its October, Boroplus ka safed control and safe handling at high speed. Overall,
teeka, featuring Bachchan. It showed people put- Ceat wanted to own the property of good road
The Messenger was used in other ways too. ting a white dot of Boroplus cream (safed teeka) grip and develop a deep connect with human life
UTV World Movies, for instance, launched a playing on the Indian tradition of using a black on roads.
special BB Messenger to reach out to cinema teeka to ward off the evil eye.
fans across India and provide easy access to a To support the two-film TV campaign, an on-
range of content. UTV World Movies used This campaign, instead of talking of specific ben- ground campaign along with Café Coffee Day
BBM as a platform to discuss world cinema, efits, took on the larger task of stressing that was rolled out to promote the brand and address
share related information and execute interac- Boroplus is the trusted name for skincare for 50 road discipline issues. The baseline of the effort
tive contests with its users. crore people in India. Earlier in the year, Boroplus was ‘Be Idiot Safe’. First, it launched a 45-day-
had decided to shift focus from just the antiseptic long teaser campaign where coffee mugs at
According to brand consultant Ashok Dhingra, BB cream to the larger skincare domain. CCD outlets were branded with traffic pictures.
has evolved into an iconic, cult brand in 2010, This was followed by a revealer campaign. Ceat
so much so that it makes Nokia look outdated. In the summer, Boroplus cashed in on the movie used various props, such as grips for phones
He claims that the marketing strategy followed by 3 Idiots and released an ad called Aal izz well (a and mugs to highlight the superior grip of the
BB is exactly the same as that of Nokia. “Nokia line in a song in that movie) for its prickly heat product. In the revealer campaign, the company
came up with innovations and premium variants powder featuring Kapoor, who was also recalled branded about two lakh mugs.

26 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
Pepsi Co then set out to craft a series of engaging Fresh and Juicy’ slogan.
&HDWWRRNWKHLQLWLDWLYHRIVSUHDGLQJ and innovative promotions and campaigns. The The integrated campaign rode on a live stunt - a
brand known for its ‘No one can eat just once’ playful prank - that recorded candid, spontaneous
DZDUHQHVVDERXWURDGHWLTXHWWHRQWKH campaign moved on to being a party snack with its moments of the unsuspecting person on the street.
RQOLQHVSDFHE\ODXQFKLQJDZHEVLWH question: ‘What’s the program?’ And, in order to
give a face to the brand, it roped in actor Saif Ali
These tapes later formed the content of the brand’s
TVC and virals. The campaign carried the tagline,
ZZZEHLGLRWVDIHFRP7KHLGHD"0DNH Khan as the brand ambassador and later got Indian ‘Why Grow Up?’
cricket captain M S Dhoni as the second brand
SHRSOHVHHUHDVRQ ambassador. Called the ‘Juicy mango surprise project’, the
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   brand created nine-feet-tall mangoes made of
For the last two years, PepsiCo has been reaching thermocol, silicon, curd and mango pulp and
The campaign was also supported by digital out to consumers of Frito Lay without any letup. covered in thin vinyl. These were dropped from
efforts. The company took the initiative of spread- In 2008, it launched the campaign, ‘Fight for your trees or rolled down sloping streets and the reac-
ing awareness about road etiquette on the online Flavour’ allowing consumers to vote for a flavour tions of stunned passers-by were recorded. Care
space by launching a website, www.beidiotsafe. of their choice. The flavour with the maximum was taken not to drop the mangoes near elderly
com. It showcased bad driving, traffic violations votes continued to be in the market. It resulted people. This exercise was repeated around 250
and dangerous road habits. The objective of this in the launch of Chip-n-Sauce in two unique fla- times.
social initiative was to acquaint the page visitor vours (Chilli Chinese with Szechwan sauce sachet
with different types of idiots who do not follow and Chatpata Indian with Tamarind sauce sachets Later, an anchor revealed the prank to the ‘partici-
road etiquette and traffic regulations. Ceat also inside the pack) in November 2008. pants’, who were asked to sample the drink thus
launched a mobile game in the hope of reaching bringing in a great direct marketing element to the
more target consumers. In June 2009, Lay’s took a step ahead and introduced whole affair.
its new campaign, Lay’s be a little Dillogical. The
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
K S Chakravarthy, national creative director, Dillogical concept was launched to make a strong
Draftfcb Ulka, shares his views on the brand’s
claim that the road is filled with idiots. He says,
connect with the youth – talking about what one
wishes to do versus what one has to do. Taking the
7KHLQWHJUDWHGFDPSDLJQRI3DUOH$JUR¶V
“What an idea. What a line. This is advertising that idea a bit further, in October, it launched the ‘Give PDQJRGULQN)URRWLURGHRQDOLYH
draws you in, keeps you guessing, almost gives you Us Your Dillicious Flavour’ campaign. Spread over
a heart attack - and then finishes with a line that three phases, the campaign first asked consumers VWXQWDSOD\IXOSUDQNWKDWUHFRUGHG
makes every motorist go ‘Yessssss’. I will happily
buy the writer of the ads a drink some day.” Chax
across the country to send in their entries between
November 2009 and January 2010. The response
FDQGLGVSRQWDQHRXVPRPHQWVRIWKH
particularly liked the ad in which a careless man is was tremendous – 1.3 million entries and the judges XQVXVSHFWLQJSHUVRQRQWKHVWUHHW
pushing a pram on the road while talking on his chose four winning flavours.   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
cell phone. „
In the second phase, the shortlisted flavours - The experiment succeeded in generating the
Cheesy Mexicana, Tangy Twist, Mastana Mango desired buzz. In order to convert this activity
)5,72/$<¶6 and Hip Hop Honey & Chilly - were pilot-
ed in the market with the theme Bachega sirf
into a film campaign, the agency roped in film-
maker Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films. The team
tastiest. Mansi Jain from Delhi (a freelancer with recorded multiple videos and then looked at the
BBC World Service Foundation) came up with rushes, to take a call on which ones they would use
Cheesy Mexicana; Shipra Samanta from Ujjain on TV and online. The campaign was aired on TV
(she designed Tangy Twist), Sagar Devruhkar of on April 27, 2010 and was released on the digital
Mumbai invented Mastana Mango, while banker space soon after. It was taken across 12 cities to
Shouvik Mukherjee of Kolkata thought up Hip schools, colleges and malls.
Hop Honey & Chilly. Mastana Mango won with
over 15.8 lakh votes of the 41.7 lakh votes given by Some, however, are of the opinion that though
consumers and Devruhkar got to take home `50 the brand managed to generate a lot of buzz, it
Lakh and 1 per cent of the sales turnover of that failed to adequately capitalise on it and that the
flavour. „ glory may have been all too short-lived. Sharda
The popular way Agarwal, director, MarketGate Consulting says,
In India, snacking is a habit that is usually accom- “It was clutter-breaking and different from any-

)5227,
panied by tea, coffee, and other beverages apart thing the Indian market had seen before, but I
from being eaten as a side dish with meals. The haven’t heard much about Frooti after that. The
local Indian market is full of a bewildering array category is galloping ahead. Maaza and Slice are
of snack options, ranging from roasted banana much more visible than Frooti and seem to be
wafers and soya chaklis (crispy savoury spirals) capitalising on the growth of the category much
to samosas. But things changed for the domestic more.”
industry soon enough. The local market faced stiff
competition in 1995 when Pepsi Co brought Frito While Agarwal speaks about the lack of a follow-
Lay’s to India. up after an amazingly disruptive campaign such
as this one, a media analyst addresses the issue
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
of relevance. “Frooti is losing its relevance as a
7KH'LOORJLFDOFDPSDLJQZDVODXQFKHGE\ nectar-based drink as pressure is building from
real fruit juice brands such as Tropicana and Real.
/D\¶VWRPDNHDVWURQJFRQQHFWZLWKWKH The market has become highly commoditised and
though this is a category where purchase deci-
\RXWKRIWKHFRXQWU\WDONLQJDERXW Candid camerawork, but that’s it sions are driven by availability at the POS (point
ZKDWRQHZLVKHVWRGRYHUVXVZKDWRQH In 2010, Creativeland Asia crafted a unique out-
door innovation for Parle Agro’s mango drink,
of sale) and in which brand interchangeability is
high, the informed, health-conscious buyer pre-
KDVWRGR Frooti, that was very different from the earlier fers ‘pure’ fruit juices over nectar-based drinks
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   ads that ended with the singsong ‘Mango Frooti such as Frooti.” „

28 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
+25/,&.6 turned to be cost-effective. A media observer is
of the opinion that Horlicks is a heritage brand
people and introduced products that fitted well
with that. The handset marketer was the first to
that has been used by at least three generations launch many innovative products such as handsets
of consumers. While the first and the second with 30 days battery backup, dual SIM or dual
know what it is, it is the third that is the future. standby, handsets that could switch between net-
Says he, “The timing is just perfect. In future, works (GSM to CDMA and vice versa), QWERTY
the consumer will only connect with those keypads and universal remote controls.
brands, which already have a high equity in the
market for decades.” „ The company realised that the Indian customer
always looks at products that deliver value for
0,&520$; money. For example its QWERTY phones is
available in the sub-`5000 band. To communicate
its range, Micromax started with an investment
of `50 crore. That increased to `100 crore as it
Turning into a megabrand mixed television and below-the-line activities and
GlaxoSmithKline’s Horlicks been a popular also roped in actor Akshay Kumar as the brand’s
health-drink brand since the 1930s. It stuck to ambassador.
that one product for nearly 60 years till, in 1992, it
ventured into a second one with the launch of bis- What also helped Micromax - and made it easier to
cuits in two flavours - Standard and Elaichi. Much go deeper into the market - was a readymade dis-
later, GSK launched Junior Horlicks biscuits for tribution setup that was running when it launched.
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
The company was founded in 1991 by Rajesh
Agarwal to distribute computer hardware for
+RUOLFNVFKDQJHGIURPEHLQJMXVWD brands such as Dell, HP and Sony. „

KHDOWKGULQNEUDQGWRDPHJDEUDQGWKDW Creating History

KDVLQWHUHVWLQIRRGVEHYHUDJHVVQDFN For 19 years, it has been in the business of dis- 0,187(0$,'1,0%8)5(6+
tributing hardware. Now, within just two years of
EDUVDQGDOOWKHRSSRUWXQLWLHVDVVRFLDWHG getting into marketing mobile handsets, Micromax
has come a long way.
ZLWKWKDW
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   There was a time, when buying a mobile handset
meant entering a store and purchasing a Nokia
toddlers. The brand underwent a revamp for the handset for a large portion of the consumer base.
first time in 2003 to increase its relevance. GSK However, the scene changed fast with the entry of
communicated to its consumer that the modern Micromax in March 2008. The new kid shook up
and contemporary Horlicks offers ‘pleasurable the market. In India, about 100-120 million hand-
nourishment’ with a range of flavours including sets are sold annually and the size of the handset
Vanilla, Toffee, Elaichi and Chocolate. business is valued at `27,000 crore. In the two
years that it has beenin this business, Micromax
Seven years after that, Horlicks changed again, no increased its market share from 0.59 per cent in
longer just a health-drink brand, it prefers to call 2008 to about 5 per cent (IDC report) in 2010.
itself a megabrand that has interest in foods, bev-
erages, snack-bars and all the future opportunities So how did this desi brand created a dent in a busi-
that arise in the market. To prove how serious it ness dominated by the likes of Nokia, LG, Samsung
was, GSK entered the instant noodles category and Sony Ericsson? According to brand consultant A me too
with the launch of Horlicks Foodles. Cajetan Vaz the main reason for Micromax doing This is another one that started with a bang and
well in the handset business is because it focused ended with a whimper. Launched in early 2010,
Puneet Das, general manager, marketing, GSKCH, on handsets with special features. Then the com- Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh came to the market
says, “We have turned Horlicks from a health pany kept a very sensible pricing strategy that after the launch of Nimbooz by Pepsi Co India
drink to a brand which focuses on health and also worked for it. Communication strategy and and LMN by Parle Agro. It seemed Coke left it a
wellness. The idea was to create uniformity and distribution rounded off a successful approach. bit too late to jump into the fray.
borrow the Horlicks equity to launch any brand or He adds, “Another factor which worked for the
venture into any new category.” company is that Nokia has lost its connect with Nimbu paani was a kind of summer drink that
the consumer.” every Indian household was accustomed to. It
GSK replaced Horlicks’ old look with new packag- is one of the most ancient recipes to beat the
ing and a new logo. Now, all products across the Interestingly, the company focused on rural mar- scorching heat. PepsiCo and Parle Agro launched
Horlicks portfolio have a unified look. Designed kets initially, a strategy that was quite opposite to Nimbooz and LMN respectively in 2009.
by Bengaluru-based Ray and Keshavan, the ‘Wave’ the route followed by marketers. Micromax con-
on the packaging symbolises activity and Sfoorti centrated on identifying the unmet needs of rural Packaged juices constitute 90 million unit cases of
and the milk and wheat visual establishes Horlicks the overall fresh juice market of 570 million unit
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
as the ‘Great Family Nourisher’. The blue and cases (a case constitutes 24 bottles). Lemon is the
orange colours have been a part of the Horlicks
brand over many years and are a dominant part of
7KHQHZNLGVKRRNXSWKHPDUNHW No 1 flavour in the unpackaged juices segment
constituting half the market while the rest is made
the base Horlicks packaging. ,QWZR\HDUV0LFURPD[LQFUHDVHGLWV up of pineapple, orange, sugarcane and mango and
mausambi. Initially, Coca-Cola launched Minute
The glass containers were replaced with plas- PDUNHWVKDUHIURPMXVWSHUFHQWLQ Maid Nimbu Fresh in the markets of Tamil Nadu
tic jars. The drink is available in five different
ranges - Junior to Mother’s. While earlier,
WRDERXWSHUFHQW,'&UHSRUW and moved on to the rest of the country later.

each range had different shapes of bottles, LQ To convey that the product was as good as the
the agency created one uniform shape, which   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
one at home the ad baseline said as much, Bilkul

30 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
ghar jaisa. It went to cities all around the country This non-alcoholic adult drink is positioned as a ucts in the category like Knorr, Tasty Treat and
in a storm of promotional campaigns. Since the lifestyle product for young adults. The brand stands Foodles. On the other hand, Nestlé is now getting
consumer for the nimbu paani was youth, Coca- for modernity and snugly fits in the gap between noticed as it is running parallel campaigns, instead
Cola spared no medium or mode to grab his or soft drinks and hard drinks. While it targets young- of successive ones. Lastly, this burst could be a
her attention. Malls, hoardings, bridges, stations, sters, it’s not a teenybopper kind of drink; rather function of the overall growth of the chocolates
buses and trains, metros, glow signs, were all used it’s a first-jobber sort of beverage. The tagline for and confectionery category. „
to find a place in every youth’s mind. Life-sized Nestea is ‘Lighten Up with Refreshingly Light
bottles of Nimbu Fresh were fabricated and put Lemon Iced Tea!’ and addresses the multi-tasking,
out at major centres of different cities and towns
and in some cases, small bottles were carved on
impatient 20-something consumer who presses
the lift button 10 times and starts honking the sec-
1,.21,1',$
top of bus shelters. A TVC too was introduced. ond the traffic light turns green. The message is to
take it easy with this chilled drink.
The high-decibel, no-holds-barred splash did not
get the result Coke wanted. A market analyst says, Nestea was launched with consumer activation
“The product was launched very late. Why would programmes, road shows and product sampling
a consumer go for this new product while the at youth-centric spots such as malls, colleges,
market already has Nimbooz and LMN for the high-end traditional trade outlets and multiplexes.
past year. It was just a ‘me-too’ from Coca-Cola.” Besides BTL activities, innovative POS (point of
sale) branding was also done. Currently, the media
There were other factors too. Of the entire mix comprises print, OOH, POS branding and
population, only a small number of consumers are radio. TV is not on the agenda. The drink is avail-
health-conscious and based in metros - a large part   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
still prefer carbonated drinks. Moreover, the maxi-
mum demand for Coke’s nimbu paani lies in the 7KLVQRQDOFRKROLFDGXOWGULQNLV
range of 21-30 years, closely followed by the age Focusing for leadership
group of 31-40 years and most of the consumer SRVLWLRQHGDVDOLIHVW\OHSURGXFW Three years after its entry, Nikon India crafted
purchase juice and juice drinks as part of monthly
ration and a few purchase juice occasionally.
IRU\RXQJDGXOWV1HVWHDVWDQGVIRU its own success story. Its biggest achievement lies
in addressing the need of the consumers through
PRGHUQLW\DQGVQXJO\ILWVLQWKHJDS innovative products and by opening up more ser-
Lastly, in any drink it is the taste that matters the vice centres.
most. In this case, however, Minute Maid Nimbu EHWZHHQVRIWGULQNVDQGKDUGGULQNV
Fresh turned out to be too sweet. Consumers   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   With a philosophy which says, ‘trustworthiness
didn’t care much for a sweet nimbu pani. „ and creativity’, Nikon celebrated its 90th anniver-
able in a 400 ml PET bottle, priced at `25. sary in July 2007, the same year it made its debut
in India. Founded in 1917 as Nippon Kǀgaku,
1(67($ The product is also available in high-end groceries
and the focus will remain on all high and medium
the company was renamed Nikon Corporation
in 1988. Starting with the F-mount cameras in
income localities. Soon after its launch, the brand 1959 and moving on to the Titanium cameras and
The big Indian foray was retailed across 8,000 outlets in Mumbai, and a then to camera which were used by NASA and
When Nestea hit the markets on total of 50,000 product samples were distributed. further to the first underwater Nikonos Camera,
November 16, 2010, it was for the first the brand has truly evolved with time. Nikon’s
time that iced tea was made available Nestea apart, in 2010, Nestle transformed itself technology and innovation remains unquestion-
in a bottle. A global brand, Nestea from being one of India’s most boringly con- able till date.
was licensed to Beverage Partners servative advertisers into an adventurous one. It
Worldwide (BPW), a joint ven- revamped its communication (JWT is the creative Nikon’s motto is, ‘Our Aspirations - Meeting
ture (JV) between The Coca-Cola agency) and moved into top gear. To begin with, needs. Exceeding expectations’ set by its presi-
Company and Nestlé in India. The the company re-launched chocolate brand Bar dent, Michio Kariya. Interestingly in India,
venture combines the nutritional One after six years. During this period, the prod- the company worked with a different strat-
expertise of Nestlé with the market- uct had been available but not advertised at all. The egy since its products have been very popular,
ing and distribution leadership of logo underwent a metamorphosis to look fresh, especially in the professional range of cameras.
Coca-Cola and its network of bot- youthful and premium. The re-launch campaign, The only problem was that a consumer often
tlers. which bore the tagline, Kaafi Hai, targeted college- encountered problems in terms of after-sales
goers and encouraged them to be themselves.
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
Nestea is present in over 60 coun-
tries. The flavour and packaging vary
depending on the country. The
Another eyeball-grabbing ad was ‘dancing squir-
rels’ on TV for Kit Kat. Shot in Los Angeles, the
1LNRQDOVRUHYDPSHGLWVFRPPXQLFDWLRQ
creative agency for the product post-production work was done in Dallas. This DQGDGYHUWLVLQJVWUDWHJ\E\DOORFDWLQJD
is Pickle Lintas while the media
duties lie with Lodestar Universal.
itself speaks volumes about the scale of the com-
munication. EXGJHWRI`FURUHVDZ1LNRQ¶V
The company believes that con-
sumers crave for convenience Next was the turn of its coffee brands. Nescafé
ILUVW79&ZKLFKODXQFKHGWKH&RROSL[
above all else. rolled out a full-fledged ad campaign, complete VSULQJFROOHFWLRQ
with a teaser phase, main phase, episodic storyline   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  

In 2010, the product was available only in Mumbai. and association with a Bollywood film featuring
Says Rahul Jauhari, national creative director, the brand ambassador, actor Deepika Padukone. service. Therefore, in India, the company shift-
Pickle Lintas, “It will spread across India in 2011.” ed focused to setting up collection and service
Why so? “Well, Coca-Cola typically breaks new Industry observers attribute Nestle’s recent flurry centres. Nikon India will be setting up over 21
products into new markets via a stepwise or to several reasons. Firstly, it could be a reactionary authorised collection centres across 14 states
phased launch process to study the placing of the move to the Cadbury-Kraft and Wrigley-Mars tie- as part of its expansion plans in the country.
product in the new market before taking the dis- ups or the Britannia-Danone break-up. Secondly, Additionally, the company has added a distribu-
tribution far and wide,” explains Jauhari. Maggi might be facing the heat from other prod- tor in Jammu and Kashmir.

32 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
In an official communique, Hiroshi Takashina, is yet to enter India.
MD, Nikon India, had this to say: “We wanted
to negate the problems that Nikon customers in 7KHLGHDZDVWRGRVRPHWKLQJUDGLFDO Thums Up leads the `10,000-crore carbonated
such non-metro areas are currently facing with ZLWKWKHMLQJOH1LUPD¶VVWURQJHVWEUDQG soft drink market, followed by Pepsi, Sprite and
regard to repairing their products. The new col- Coke. Brand consultants are of the opinion that
lection centres will provide users with a service or SURSHUW\(DFKRIWKHMLQJOH¶VZRUGV Pepsi’s latest effort to tap the youth led to confu-
facility through which they can get their products
repaired without facing any problem. This is a ZHUHDFFHQWXDWHGLQVSHDNLQJLWRXW sion since it is already aimed at the young.

step towards bringing our customers closer to the UDWKHUWKDQVLQJLQJLWRXW The company launched a 360-degree campaign,
brand Nikon.” The company already has 18 well-   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
but failed to create any impact with its new com-
established, authorised Nikon service centres. mercial, an adaptation of a global TVC running in
in the past, like the food fight ad conceptualised the US. Produced by JWT, the TVC did not create
On the retail front, Nikon has expanded its foot- and directed by Prasoon Pandey of Corcoise Films much noise for the brand. Similarly, the company
print with over 50 D-SLR (its single lens reflex) a few years ago, but the brand promptly went launched an outdoor campaign comprising build-
and Coolpix zones and aims to take this up to back to its jingle dominated, formulaic ads as that ing wraps, huge Pepsi Max bottles visible at high
80 by March 2011. Early last year the company seemed to work. traffic zones and youth hangouts. It also conducted
expanded its reach by opening a branch office in experiential sampling.
Bengaluru. With this, Nikon is present in all four But when Nirma decided to look at things dif-
regions of the country - North (Gurgaon), East ferently, the change was startling. 2009 saw some Why did it fail to capture attention? One of the
(Kolkata), West (Mumbai) and South (Bangalore). bold experimentation from the Nirma factory reasons cited is that in many international markets
with the ‘Underwater’ and ‘Projector’ ad films. Pepsi Max is sold as a substitute for Diet Pepsi
The company also revamped its communication The Underwater film was shot inside the water (which has one calorie). The company has to be
and advertising strategy by allocating a budg- with ballet dancers and clothes ‘swimming’ around clear about which brand it wants to retain and
et of `62 crore. 2010 saw Nikon’s first TVC, instead of sea creatures in an artistic manner. This which to phase out. With Diet Pepsi present in
which launched the Coolpix spring collection. was followed up by the Projector film that had a the market, the addition of Max, which has only
Additionally, Nikon India went aggressive on out- young girl use a white sari, drying on a clothesline, been launched in Delhi and NCR region, made
door with neon signage in Mumbai and Bengaluru as the ‘screen’ for the village to project a movie little difference to the category. It, in fact, leads to
as well as POS branding. Nikon India aims to onto it as it is whiter than the actual screen. further confusion amongst consumers.
increase its market share from 45 per cent to 50
per cent in the D-SLR segment and from 13 per In January, 2010, arrived the Splash film (vehicle According to an industry observer, “The diet cat-
cent to 15 per cent in the Coolpix compact camera hitting a puddle and a wave of slush that is arrested egory is less than one per cent of the total volume
segment, by 2010-2011. „ mid-air - just before it is about to fall on a woman produced in India. Further, Diet, as a category, is
who is passing by - after she spouts the Nirma jin- a very metro phenomenon. The consumer in the
gle in a curt, commanding tone). The idea was to rest of the country is hardly bothered and mostly
1,50$ do something radical with the jingle, its strongest
brand property, without veering too far away. Each
consumes original Pepsi or Coke. Also, in the diet
category it is Diet Coke which is leads the market.”
of the jingle’s words were accentuated in speaking
it out, not singing. It made Nirma aggressive, from By introducing Pepsi Max, the company has contin-
being the feel-good ‘brand next door’. However, ued its hit and trial plan, as Pepsi Co India had done
the attempt in 2011 will be to tone this aggressive- in 2003 when just before the Cricket World Cup, it
ness down a notch, as it may have become a case of had launched Pepsi Blue, which failed miserably and
‘too much, too soon’. Nirma is also gearing up for was eventually pulled out of the market. „
a logo and packaging change in 2011. „

5((%2.
3(36,0$;
Different strokes
The detergent brand that started out of Karsanbhai
Patel’s 100 sq ft workshop in 1969 continues to
be popular in middle-class homes. Nirma’s TVC
story dates back to 1982, a year that witnessed the
birth of the first film for the brand, with the effer-
vescent jingle, ‘Washing Powder Nirma’ (created
by composer Vedpal).

Nirma as a brand has, for the longest time, been

about its loud jingle, in-your-face happy mothers
with packs in their hands and the frock clad girl – The easy tone
basically, a successful formula of the ‘80s and ‘90s In a category dominated by the idea that ‘winning
which the brand refused to let go of. According to Hit and miss is everything’, it isn’t easy to stand out. Reebok’s
Manan Soni, director, Purnima Advertising (the Pepsi Max, a zero-calorie, no-sugar cola, was tar- attitude towards sports and fitness, in the recent
agency working on Nirma projects since forever), geted at the 25-35-year-old urban young adults. past, has been about rediscovering one’s love for
“What we did all those years ago appealed to a cer- Pepsico thought it was time to press ahead jwith sports, and the brand’s approach towards sports
tain generation. That generation has changed and the addition of yet another low-calorie cola. is, according to its brand managers, ‘fun, bold and
so has their thinking now, which called for a bit of ‘Maximum kick, no sugar,’ screamed the tagline. provocative’.
a branding change too, to keep it alive amongst the The brand was introduced in the UK, followed by
new target audience.” a launch in Italy in 1993 and since then is present Two years ago, Reebok went in for a soft launch
in 40 countries. Abroad, Pepsi Max competes with of Easy Tone - a range of sports shoes for women
There had been the occasional experimentation Coke Zero, Coca-Cola’s no-sugar variant, which that help in toning the body (by offering the right

34 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
amount of resistance while walking), but the prod- Milad on Saturday and Holi on Monday). changed the business of durables.
uct was launched fully only in 2010. Sports shoes
for women is a particularly challenging category in The ad shows two mothers waiting at a bus stop Samsung entered India in December 1995 as a
India, as women would rather splurge on a pair of for their children. They spot each other’s shopping 51:49 joint venture with Reasonable Computer
stilettos rather than spend `5,000 in buying expen- baskets - one woman’s basket sports a packet of Solutions (RCSPL), owned by Venugopal Dhoot
sive sports shoes – or so went popular opinion. Rin, while the other has purchased Tide Naturals. of the Videocon Group. Samsung bought out the
But the pilot phase revealed that in tier II and III The Tide lady looks proudly at her purchase and latter’s stake in November 2002 and became a
markets, there was an overwhelming response. brags about Tide’s khushboo aur safedi bhi offer- wholly-owned subsidiary of its South Korean par-
ing (fragrance combined with whiteness). When ent company.
Digital as a medium helped in popularising Easy the school bus rounds the corner and drops off
Tone more than traditional media. Reebok created the two children, the Tide lady’s boy is wearing In the same year, the Korean company announced
a community of fitness instructors and trainers a visibly dull shirt, while behind him emerges that it had reached a turnover of `5,400 crore.
on Facebook and launched applications such as a boy clad in a spotless white shirt, who runs Samsung, today, is one of the biggest consumer
Tone Messaging Service which was a language past the shocked Tide lady, over to his ‘Rin’ durable brands present in India, thanks to its
comprising ‘butt pictures’ as the alphabet, to get mother. To make things cheekier, the boy asks his three-fold strategy and ability to cash in on areas
people talking. User-generated content was also mother, Aunty chaunk kyun gayi? (Why is aunty so that the Japanese consumer durables and home
encouraged. People got to upload videos of their shocked?), where the word chaunk (shock) could made Indian consumer durables firms ignored.
own ‘butt dances’. This became a hilarious section easily be a reference to Tide’s punch line, Chaunk Also, it has come out from under LG’s shadow
for visitors and virals were born of it. gaye? The voiceover concludes that Rin is behtar or in the process.
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
For Reezig, the story is a little different. Animated While Japanese brands like Sony were more or
TVCs were launched which had cricketers M S
Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh at the end of it. Dhoni,
0DQ\EUDQGVKDYHGDEEOHGLQ less inaccessible to Indian consumers thanks to
the super-premium price of their products, Indian
for instance, was made to deliver the line ‘Energy FRPSDUDWLYHDGYHUWLVLQJDWVRPHSRLQW brands failed to launch products keeping the
drink for your feet’. The whole idea was to bring
freshness into the category as, generally, the use of +RZHYHUWRPDNHFRPSDULVRQVZLWK evolving technology in mind. The companies still
sold old-generation products. Samsung launched
sports stars in such commercials is mainly the seri-
ous variety, either with a success story encapsulated
FRPSHWLWLRQLQYROYHVGLVFUHWLRQ:LWKWKLV products that were affordable to the ‘common
man’ and also ensured that its product were manu-
in 30 seconds, or training secrets or tips dished out DG5LQEURNHHYHU\UXOHLQWKHERRN factured with the latest technology. Samsung India
before viewers. According to Reebok executives,   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   recently unveiled Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung
such a TVC helped break the clutter and move 9000 Series LED LCD TV.
away from the typical training-led advertising for a superior to Tide, when it comes to whiteness, and
shoe range that costs `7,000-8,000. at a ‘chaunkane wala’ price of `25, at that. A super, Apart from introducing innovative products, the
‘Issued in the interest of Rin users’, completed the company focused on after-sales services, a key
Mall activation was employed to induce trials. commercial. area often ignored by companies. Samsung, on
Outdoor hoardings were utilised in a unique the other hand, consolidated its after-sales ser-
manner - hoardings carrying 16x8 ft replicas of the Many brands have dabbled in comparative advertis- vice that further turned out to be a major reason
shoe were placed in strategic locations. The objec- ing now and then. However, to make comparisons for consumers to buy its products. Distribution
tive of the campaign was to reinforce the benefit with competition involves discretion in execution, was beefed up and today, Samsung India, has
of the Zigtech technology and how it reduces wear such as air-brushing or pixelating a competitor’s 17,000 outlets across India. It also reached out
and tear of leg muscles by up to 20 per cent. The brand name or pack shot, and most definitely, to its customers directly through road shows and
key challenge was to promote bold looking shoes keeping away from referring to rival brand names. demos of the products and distribution of pam-
at expensive price points. „ With this ad, Rin broke every rule in the book.   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  

According to HUL, the advertisement “rein- 6DPVXQJGHFLGHGWRVRPHWKLQJDERXW

5,1967,'( forced the promise to consumers that Rin delivers
superior whiteness, through a claim is based on LWVLPDJH,WZHQWDERXWFUHDWLQJD
laboratory tests.” ASCI intervention and legal
issues had the ad withdrawn from television, but
SUHPLXPEUDQGLPDJHE\HPSKDVLVLQJ
not before it had done the damage. RQWKHGHVLJQDQGWHFKQRORJ\DVSHFWVRI
Some feel this was a smart move on part of Rin to LWVKLJKHUSULFHGSURGXFWV
counter Tide Naturals causing a dent in its sales.   ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  

Others felt it was desperate and distasteful. Brand

experts felt that this could spark off a trend - phlets and promotional literature in regional
release controversial, capsule-duration ads, which languages.
do their job by the time they are pulled up.
Next, Samsung decided to something about
the image. It went about creating a premium
Hit and run 6$0681* brand image by emphasising on the design and
Thursday, February 25, 2010 was an eventful day technology aspects of its higher-priced prod-
in the history of Indian advertising. It marked the ucts and building a more affluent customer
launch of one of the most controversial ads on base.
Indian television: the now-infamous Rin com-
mercial that directly took on – bombarded would Sponsorship of cricket and cricketers created even
be a better word - competitor Tide in a form of more buzz. It also had movie stars like Aamir Khan
comparative advertising that broke all the rules. and a non-cricket sportstar like Abhinav Bindra to
The high-voltage TVC was supported by a media Dreams into reality promote its consumer durables range. In October
plan that included primetime slots across all major From a low key entry into India 15 years ago to last year, Samsung roped in actress Priyanka Chopra
GECs and news channels, in an effort to deliver becoming one of the mega brands in consumer to promote its home appliance products. „
maximum impact over that long weekend (Eid-e- durables and mobile handsets, Samsung India has -------------------------------------------------

36 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
63,&(-(7$1',1',*2 changed its menu to hot Indian meals, and the ad
once again showed how the brand offers a little
This TVC served two purposes. It not only
pitchforked Tanishq up and put it at par with tra-
more than your average low-cost carrier. ditional jewellers for wedding occasions but also
had Tanishq pushing its diamond jewellery range
Rival Indigo took an entirely different approach. It for an occasion such as marriage, usually dominat-
emphasised three factors: on-time performance, a ed by gold. The campaign increased the emotional
hassle-free experience while booking and constant quotient amidst consumers, apart from leading to
low fares without gimmicks. However, the brand, a sharp increase in brand recall. A print campaign
like many others, fell prey to the category percep- that followed was more community specific.
tion of being a ‘cheap’ way to fly.
In August, Tanishq rolled out its Glam-Gold
Indigo countered this with several on-board ini- collection in collaboration with the World
tiatives such as tongue-in-cheek messages on its Gold Council. If the task was to get Tanishq
unique food packaging, or even funny messages to make inroads with its diamond collection
on its boarding ramp such as ‘Here comes the in the gold-dominated wedding space in April,
hotstepper’. Indigo too didn’t want to go for the the job in August was the opposite - to get
typical advertising modus operandi, and came up gold among the consideration set of buyers
with the ‘on-time performance’ ad that showcased for party occasions, or in the fashion space.
all the elements that go behind Indigo’s timely Gold is considered traditional, boring and
performance, from its engineers, pilots, even chefs unfashionable, something for the oldies. This
and ground staff, everything comes together in a perception had to be changed, and gold had to
synchronised way to deliver the ‘clockwork’ situ- be seen as ‘cool’ and aspirational.
ation. Print ads were also released to this effect.
There stepped in the ‘Sacrifice’ ad that showed
Indigo even tried to do tongue-in-cheek initiatives a lady clad in gold jewellery, visiting the book
More than discount brands? like e-mailers and other digital creatives to pull launch party of her author friend. Soon, people get
The category of low cost airlines, till even two its competition apart. For instance, one of its attracted to her and wish to interact with her while
years ago, was commoditised. A low-cost airline e-mailers to corporate went ‘Let the bad times the author feels lost at her own party.
was characterized as one with cheap fares under- roll’, a not-so-subtle dig at Kingfisher’s ‘Let the
cutting its competitor and ruling the arena. Things good times roll’. Observing this, her friend fakes a headache and
became hotter for the existing players when Jet makes a hasty exit from the party, along with her
and Kingfisher jumped onto the bandwagon. partner. On the way back home, he asks her why

7$1,6+4
she lied about the headache. She responds that it
The interesting part of 2009 was that during the was a better option than ruining someone’s even-
economic slowdown, even corporate executives ing. The man smiles in appreciation.
used to flying full-service airlines, were forced to
try SpiceJet or Indigo, but this wasn’t enough. The Apart from this commercial, Tanishq rolled out
two brands had to ensure the larger players in this its ‘Queen of Diamonds’ contest (in its second
segment didn’t walk away with the cake. year) which had a quiz format and winners were
selected through a lucky draw. Diamonds worth
2010 saw SpiceJet move away from being ‘the `5 crore were given out as a part of this exercise,
cheap ticket airline’ to one that offers a value and there were 4,500 winners across 119 stores in
proposition. ‘Get more when you fly’ was the cam- 76 Indian towns.
paign idea arrived at in 2009 and the brand took
it forward in 2010 with a series of four ads each By attempting to be both traditional and contem-
highlighting one aspect of the airline beyond the porary, Tanishq tried to prove that it had an equity
obvious price point one – great return fares, web strong enough to stretch from the ‘Mangalsutra’ to
check in (the couple ad), taking care of unaccom- All that glitters… the ‘Diamond necklace’. „
panied minors, and on-time performance. These Tanishq has been perceived as the modern, almost
ads ran from January to June. The attempt was cosmetic jewellery brand, but somehow not right
clear – branding, but without indulging in category
clichés such as clouds, the sky, sun, pretty airhost-
for traditional family occasions or weddings. It
decided to set this right and focused on diamond 7$7$6.<
esses providing blankets to passengers and so on. jewellery in the first half of 2010. According to
Sirish Chandrashekar, senior manager, marketing,
In November, Spicejet took this further with the Tanishq, weddings contribute to 50 per cent of a
‘fresh food on board’ ad that showed a tired house- jeweller’s sales, and hence, the focus this year was
wife whipping up a meal for her husband at an on the key wedding months in India.
obscure hour as he arrives by flight. Food is a big
thing for Indians and a cold sandwich is often what The Tanishq team profiled nine communities in
they are greeted with in low cost airlines. Spicejet India, including Punjabis, Malayalis, Tamilians
and Assamese since wedding jewellery is com-
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
munity specific. March and April witnessed the
7KHLQWHUHVWLQJSDUWRIZDVWKDW ‘reluctant bride’ campaign, conceptualised by
Lowe Bangalore, which aimed at the wedding
GXULQJWKHHFRQRPLFVORZGRZQHYHQ jewellery segment, an area traditionally ruled by
family jewellers. The job was to position the brand Reaching for the skies
FRUSRUDWHVXVHGWRIO\LQJIXOOVHUYLFH as a catalyst in decision-making. The TVC told the Last year turned out to be a pretty Jhingalaala year
DLUOLQHVZHUHLQGXFHGWRWU\6SLFH-HWRU tale of a mother, who uses Tanishq’s range of wed-
ding jewellery to persuade her ‘modern’ daughter
for DTH player Tata Sky. Starting from January
and going right up to the end of the year, the
,QGLJREXWWKLVZDVQ¶WHQRXJK to see herself as a bride. The reluctant daughter brand rolled out announcements and innovative
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   opens her mind to a proposal. advertising (its creative agency is Ogilvy India)

40 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 Ente Nadu,

Source: Webtrends October 2010

(;&,7,1*%5$1'6
BRANDS
campaigns. The year began with the brand’s Tata a maximum of 15 days, once every year. individual products also. The campaign fleetingly
Sky+ offering at the price point of `5,999. This stressed on the USP of each of Volkswagen’s six
was followed by the ‘Cold War Campaign’ that In pre-Diwali price drop offering Tata Sky con- cars present in the Indian market. Special fea-
portrayed Tata Sky+ going to the rescue as the veyed that it was available at `999 - the USP was tures such as Bi-Xenon Cornering headlamps
battle for the remote raged during the IPL season. the fact that no conditions applied. October upped (Phaeton), DSG gearbox (Touareg), TSI technol-
In June 2010 Tata Sky launched its high-definition the party mood when the TruChoice Packages ogy (Passat), iconic design (Beetle), electronic
(HD) products, timed to coincide with the FIFA were launched. These allowed customers to cus- stabilisation programme (Jetta) and lastly, the fuel-
World Cup and Wimbledon. tomise their channel combination in such a way efficient engine (Polo) were highlighted. The
that the subscriber could get started on any of the
July was special in a different way. Tata Sky broke Popular Packs (including two free regional racks)
its touching education-centric Badalte India Ke beginning at `150 per month, after which channels
Badalte Classrooms Campaign, comprising interac- could be adds from Optional and Regional Packs.
tive services that help viewers learn via Tata Sky.
Brand ambassador Aamir Khan, brought on board Optional Packs comprise genres such as Hindi
in 2008, featured in this campaign. Popularising movies, music, English news, kids and so on,
interactive services, Tata Sky covered a gamut of while Regional Packs comprise language channels
areas, with special focus on educational services such as Marathi, Bengali, Tamil or Gujarati. The
through applications such as Actve Wizkids, Actve ads featured Khan in the garb of a pesky salesman
Stories, Actve Learning and Actve English. and that of an annoying barber.

Wizkids is designed for preschoolers. It has learn- Tata Sky underwent a change in top-level manage-
ing games and stories that let children enjoy their ment as Harit Nagpal moved in from Vodafone campaign deliberately moved from high-end fea-
favourite stories on television. Actve Learning and took over as managing director. He stepped tures (such as fancy headlights) to something as
lets the viewer take daily quizzes covering into the shoes of Vikram Kaushik, who had been basic as fuel efficiency. This was an effort to stress
with the group since 2004 and led Tata Sky to on the fact that the brand has something to offer
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6   emerge as a strong DTH brand. for all segments of society, right from the affluent
3RSXODULVLQJLQWHUDFWLYHVHUYLFHV7DWD According to Vikram Mehra, chief marketing
crowd out to the lower end majority seeking value
for money above all else.
6N\FRYHUHGDJDPXWRIDUHDVZLWK officer, Tata Sky, giving maximum value to a sub-
scriber for every rupee spent has been the brand’s Volkswagen also launched an interactive website,
VSHFLDOIRFXVRQHGXFDWLRQDOVHUYLFHV motto since its launch. “The brand is not just about www.innovationsforeveryone.com, as part of this
smart advertising, it’s also about the product living campaign. It reinstated the brand’s efforts of mak-
WKURXJK$FWYH:L]NLGV$FWYH6WRULHV up to its promise. It’s always about convenience ing people the core of the movement. In the digital
$FWYH/HDUQLQJDQG$FWYH(QJOLVK for the consumers and customer-centric proposi-
tions based on strong consumer insights.” „
space, Bluetooth technology was used to create
interaction with consumers. People could down-
  ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6    ( ; & , 7 , 1 *  % 5 $ 1 ' 6  
load information about the brand and reach the

Mathematics, Science and General Knowledge

92/.6:$*(1 Internet page via this technology. The target group
comprised the young and progressive urbanite as
while Actve English helps viewers improve their well as the new-age middle class, individuals fall-
English-speaking skills. ing within the age bracket of 25-44 years.

This initiative, that invented a new way of learn- While the effect of the launch of the Phaeton was
ing on TV in 10 lakh Tata Sky households, served there, the launches - and their communication - of
to take the brand’s Actve English initiative for- the Polo and Vento created waves with consum-
ward. Launched in January, it aimed at enhancing ers. For Polo - its first hatchback in the Indian
conversational English skills amongst Indians, par- market in March - Volkswagen innovated and
ticularly housewives, who harboured insecurities how! A Polo-shaped hole, a play on the car’s minty
SUSHIL KUMAR

while speaking in English and didn’t have the time namesake, was made in the ToI (see Big Noise
or confidence to join a coaching centre. Campaigns). Group M’s Dialect (brand solutions
division) also conducted a consumer engagement
Tata Sky came up with the interesting ‘housewife’ event, ‘The New Polo Ultimate Test Drive’.
ad to promote its Actve English service. It shows
a lady explaining in broken English how Actve And then they burned my hair The launch of Vento took a new stand. The
English helped her get over her embarrassment German car maker Volkswagen sustained its TVC positioned it as a car that was crafted with
while attempting to speak in that language. In innovative approach that began in 2009. After so much love and passion that the makers back
mid-conversation, she switches to perfect English the Passat and Jetta, it was the turn of the Polo, in the factory found it hard to part with it. An
- throwing out a tip that it is not pronounciation, Vento and Phaeton to drive out on Indian roads. OOH campaign, Tears of Perfection, extended the
the word is pronunciation. The carmaker married its communication and Vento’s positioning.
the launches with typical German thoroughness.
In order to further strengthen its educative Says Neeraj Garg, board member and director,
offering, Tata Sky formed a strategic content part- Volkswagen initiated the Innovations for Everyone Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group
nership with Turner International India to make campaign in August. It figured as part of the Sales, India, “During January-November 2009,
CN+ available to its users. second phase of its branding process. The com- we sold 2,638 cars. The figure soared to 26,855 for
munication coincided with the market launches of the same period in 2010. On January 1, 2009 we
In August, the brand launched its ‘Once-a-year the New Beetle and Touareg. The second phase had 14 operational dealerships. On January 1, 2010
Subscription Holiday’ plan popularised by the was an aggressive effort on the part of Volkswagen we had 40 and as of December 1, 2010 we had 61
Milkman Campaign in which Khan puts forth the to make a firm corporate branding statement. The dealerships,” Garg shares.
question, ‘Why pay for DTH while you are away main objective was to emphasise on a more central
on vacation?’ to viewers. This was the first time positioning of the mother brand. He adds that though the Beetle and Touareg were
in the DTH industry that such plans were intro- launched in 2009, it was only in 2010 that sales
duced - subscribers could discontinue services for The brand didn’t entirely miss out on highlighting began in a big way. „

42 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

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/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

BIG
LAUNCHES
2010
6321625('%<!

Print
&
TV
/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

/ $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *   / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & + ( 6  % , *  / $ 8 1 & +

LAUNCHES
%,*/$81&+(6

By SUMANTHA RATHORE and ANINDITA SARKAR

Print and television witnessed almost non-stop action during 2010. There were some
unusual launches in-between some heavyweight announcements. We look back on an
eventful 12 months.

35,17 1HZODXQFKHVUHYDPSVDQGDFTXLVLWLRQVPDGHXSWKH\HDULQWKH,QGLDQSULQWLQGXVWU\

fter the lull in 2009, the past year was their advertiser base,” he says.

A one that the print industry rejoiced in.

It was all happening - new titles being
launched, more editions of existing
Many tabloids were in expansion mode. Mid-
Day was the sole exception, being sold to Jagran
titles. Hindi led the action. VIEWING IT DIFFERENTLY Prakashan (JPL). The latter launched three edi-
ThreeD was a rage amongst the print publications tions of its bilingual
NEW HEIGHTS in India last year. Many magazines and dailies tried compact daily, Inext; one
It was the Hindi print media that held the baton their hand at it. If Mid-Day came up with the first from Gorakhpur and the
high and grew steadily. Though companies trod 3D ad for UTV Group, Dainik Bhaskar converted others from Jamshedpur
carefully in the first quarter of the year, taking an entire edition in 3D. According to reports, the and Bareilly. JPL now
small steps to recovery, they didn’t falter. Jaipur edition of the newspaper carried around 35 has, in its portfolio, Mid-
ads in 3D. The features and pictures also used 3D Day English as well as
HT Media, which had hived off its Hindi news technology. Gujarati and Inquilab.
business wing under its subsidiary Hindustan
Media Ventures (HMVL) in 2009, raised Rs 270 After Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and It also launched a new
crore through an initial public offering (IPO) in Jharkhand, Hindi newspapers trained their sights corporate identity bringing its entire media offer-
March. ings under one umbrella. Jagran also increased the
count of its Cityplus editions and was launched
The year saw much action at the HMVL Group. from several locations including Ahmedabad and
Hindustan finally launched its long-pending Kolkata.

ON THE BALL
After Mid-Day Multimedia was taken over by JPL,
on Bihar. Prabhat Khabar introduced its all-colour a new entertainment division, ME, was launched
Muzaffarpur edition in October and plans to by Mid-Day Infomedia to focus on the effective
launch a Bhagalpur edition. It is getting ready for utilisation of multiple media vehicles, including
a head-on collision with Dainik Bhaskar, which is print, web and mobile and provide brands with
soon to enter the state. consolidated entertainment marketing solutions.
7KUHH'ZDVDUDJHDPRQJWKHSULQW
SXEOLFDWLRQVLQ,QGLD,I0LG'D\FDPHXS Dainik Bhaskar launched two editions in Jharkhand
- Ranchi and Jamshedpur - and a Jammu-centric
Amar Ujala launched its tabloid-sized daily,

ZLWKWKHILUVW'DGIRUWKH879*URXS edition. It is also planning to launch multiple edi-

tions from Bihar. The Dainik Bhaskar Group was
'DLQLN%KDVNDUFRQYHUWHGDIXOO aggressive in its existing territories. In September,
HGLWLRQLQWR' the group launched an edition from Bhatinda,
Punjab and another from Nagour, Rajasthan.

Gorakhpur edition in December and two sup- Apart from this, the Group introduced printing Compact, from Gorakhpur and Bareilly. According
plements for the youth - Jano English (in Uttar facilities at Sirohi and Barmer in Rajasthan, and to well-placed sources, JPL is also planning to
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand) and announced its plans of coming up with facilities in introduce a regional language version of Inext
Yuva in Patna. Itarsi and across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. soon. Currently, the tabloid has a mix of English
and Hindi content. There are plans of introduc-
Jano English, an eight-page tabloid is produced in ing a version that will have a mix of English and a
association with BBC Hindi. It teaches English. regional language. The first project will be either
Hindustan became the first all-colour newspaper in Telugu or Kannada.
in Bihar by setting up a printing facility in Patna.
Right from the time it entered
The otherwise staid Jharkhand market too Madhya Pradesh, the Patrika
throbbed with activity. All the newspapers in that Group had chalked out aggres-
market slashed their cover prices by half, one sive plans for the market. Last
month before Dainik Bhaskar made its debut in A senior media analyst says that the decision to year, it launched the group’s
Ranchi. India hadn’t seen anything like this before. launch an IPO by HMVL was more of a strategic sixth edition in Gwalior.
At a time when other English dailies were busy decision rather than a financial one. That wasn’t
carving their way into new territories, The Pioneer the case with DB Corp. “The IPOs helped them Post that, it made its entry into
launched six editions of its Hindi version in order create awareness about their respective companies Chhattisgarh and launched two
to consolidate its presence in UP. and products and certainly helped them expand editions (Raipur and Bhilai)

44 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*/$81&+(6
LAUNCHES 35,17
within a gap of six division of resources
days. While the big- and time and energy.
gies were shifting The real problem was
their focus to greener in the circulation and
and fairly untouched The group also revamped Bangalore Mirror in sales team overlap.
pastures, NaiDunia July. The paper, which is distributed along with Our sales team was struggling to give equal focus
was busy strengthen- TOI, is also available at a standalone price of `1.50. to both the offerings,” says Gautam Dalal, vice-
ing its position in its president, marketing.
existing market, MP. It came out with what it calls BCCL also announced the launch of Brand
the “first time ever by a Hindi daily” - a newspa- Capital, an innovative offering to provide funding But now with the decision to shut down the maga-
per for school children in Indore titled NaiDunia to growth-oriented enterprises for their long-term zine, Dalal feels that the team of the company has
Disha. advertising needs. It is based on the rationale that got back its core focus, which has resulted in the
for an entrepreneur to match the existing players’ improvement of the quality of sales.
share of the market, it is imperative to match their
share of voice in the media. The Telegraph launched an edition that caters to
readers in nine districts across coastal Orissa, and
The Indian Express scrapped its 12-year-old tie- one in Patna.
up with the Jammu & Kashmir-based daily, The
Himalayan Mail, in February. Much happened It already had an edition that caters to the cities in
within the Hindustan Media Group as well. western Orissa. With this launch, it now covers
Hindustan Times (HT) introduced specific sec- the whole of the state. The Hindu, too, got into
tions for NCR - Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad the spirit of things by launching a Hubli edition
and Ghaziabad - in the main newspaper under in July last year.
the brand name First. Printing facilities were
set up in Indore and Raipur to reach out to the Dharitri, the Oriya
readers in the heartland of the country (MP and daily, announced its
plans to enter the
English arena with
Orissa Post. It will be
introduced this year
with five editions across Rayagada, Bhubaneswar,
Sambalpur, Angul and Balasore.

MAGAZINES
If newspapers had a good time going out of their
home grounds or launching new editions, the
magazines business too saw much excitement.
There were launches and more launches as well as
consolidation, revamps, buying and selling.
The National Capital Region (NCR) was a focal
point for many English and Hindi dailies and Chhattisgarh). Nothing, however, came of its Specialist magazines had a great time last year.
almost all the big players tried their best to for- intentions to launch two full-fledged editions for It started with Condé Nast India, the publish-
tify their presence across the region by increasing the respective cities. er of Vogue and GQ, announcing its plans to
their local coverage. The Times of India (TOI) launch Condé Nast Traveller. The magazine was
launched its Gurgaon edition in September 2010. HT Media introduced HT Brunch in a magazine launched later in October.
format. With a cover price of Rs 100, it will be
Rashtriya Sahara launched a separate edition for a quarterly. Brunch will continue as a weekend WorldWide Media (WWM) brought in Lonely
Ghaziabad in August (it was earlier being serviced supplement with the main Hindustan Times. Planet in a magazine format in January. While
by the Noida-Ghaziabad edition). Apart from Continuing with its strategy of providing ‘more’ Conde Nast Traveller is a bi-monthly magazine,
sprucing up its NCR presence, the Hindi daily local coverage HT also introduced dedicated Lonely Planet is a monthly offering. Both maga-
also expanded its footprint in Uttar Pradesh by local pages for five locations in Punjab - Patiala, zines bear a cover price of Rs 100.
launching Varanasi edition. Bhatinda, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana.
Two days after the launch of Lonely Planet, veter-
PLANNING IT RIGHT The lifestyle and entertainment supplement, an journalist MJ Akbar launched a weekly English
Almost all the big English dailies launched edi- HT Café, launched by HT in Mumbai went newspaper in Delhi titled The Sunday Guardian.
tions in new markets or were busy chalking out through a change in size. From a tabloid-sized The newspaper was released in London as ‘India
plans for their existing markets. daily it became a broadsheet and focuses more on on Sunday’. WWM revamped its women’s offer-
ing, Femina in January and also launched BBC
After Tamil Nadu, TOI has its eye on the Kerala Knowledge in November.
market. The first edition is to be launched by
mid-2011. For this, Bennett Coleman (BCCL) has While KA Advertising is handling the creatives of
entered into a strategic tie-up with Mathrubhumi, Bollywood now. The three-year-old business daily BBC Knowledge, the media buying and planning
a Malayalam daily. According to the tie-up, from HT Media, Mint, launched its sixth edition was done in-house. The new bi-monthly offering
Mathrubhumi will provide its printing facilities in Ahmedabad, along with Mint Money, a pullout is a mix of three other BBC magazines - Wildlife,
and its distribution network to TOI. on markets, investing and personal finance. Focus and History.

Apart from this, BCCL is all set to launch two DNA, got out of the magazine business and shut In January, another global group, International Data
more editions in Coimbatore and Madurai. The down its Me magazine for women. The group has Group launched its fourth title, Computerworld,
Coimbatore edition will be launched this month decided to focus only on news. “Magazines are in India. The magazine is IDG’s largest and most
with an estimated initial print run of 70,000 copies. not our forte. The distribution of magazines and popular brand. IDG also has CIO, PCWorld and
The Madurai edition will be launched in March. newspapers is totally different. Moreover, it meant ChannelWorld, each addressing a separate seg-

46 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*/$81&+(6
LAUNCHES 35,17

ment of the Indian IT market. magazine for the music industry - SoundBox International titles kept making their entry in India
To tighten its grip on the English speaking popu- - in June last year. Select Publishing’s first offer- throughout the year. Meredith Media Group of
lation, ABP Group launched the India edition of ing was Box Office India, a film trade magazine Publications awarded the licence for publish-
Fortune magazine. The sixth international edi- launched in September 2009. Next Gen Publishing ing Diabetic Living to Maxposure Media Group
tion of Fortune is being published as a monthly launched a B2B magazine aimed at the power sec- and the inaugural issue hit the newsstands in
in India through a licensing agreement between tor, PowerWatch India. November last year.
Time Inc and ABP Group.
Worldwide Media also launched the Indian edi- There were many first-timers too. Bengaluru-
Delhi Press revamped Sarita. The flagship brand tion of Home Trends, a magazine on architecture based Boutique Publishing India came out with
from the group will hit the newsstands in its and designs. This is Home Trends’ 11th edition Furs, Fins and Feathers, a one-stop information
new version this month. The Hindi fortnightly is across the world and the Indian version will have guide for all animal lovers and wildlife enthusiasts.
undergoing a change in the design and has a new 10 issues every year, each priced at Rs 250.
tagline - Har Pal Yuva. And as an indicator of how niche one can actu-
It was also for the first time ever in India when ally get is Meter Down, a 24-page general interest
The Pramath Raj Sinha-promoted 9.9 Mediaworx an automobile biggie came up with a magazine monthly magazine, launched in Mumbai early last
launched a magazine targeted at the next genera- last year. Mercedes-Benz India came up with a year. The idea was to provide auto rickshaw pas-
tion of CIOs and the senior IT managers. Titled lifestyle offering, Mercedesmagazine, catering to sengers in Mumbai with quick-to-read articles.
IT Next, the magazine has a print run of 10,000 the company’s customer base. The magazine was
copies and a cover price of Rs 150. launched with a print run of 15,000 copies as com- LOCAL CONNECT
plimentary copies for Mercedes-Benz’s customers Jupiter Media and Entertainment Ventures and
Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor launched a food in India. Express Publications Madurai (a part of the New
magazine titled SK, with ‘Eat well, live well’ as Indian Express Group) entered into a strate-
its focus. SK was launched in a joint venture with All Sports Magazine (ASM), owned by the Essel gic alliance that will enable a synergy between
Impulse Marketing, a direct to home marketing Group, announced its plans to enter the Gulf with two Kannada news brands, Kannada Prabha and
company. His channel is also expected to go on-air multiple editions as well as a desire to introduce Suvarna News 24x7. Both groups are hopeful
in the first half of this year. language editions in the country.

BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT As the situation started normalising after 2009,

Infomedia 18 sold its entire stake in Glyph almost everybody had one agenda on their
International, its publishing content services busi- minds - diversification. Advertising agency
ness, to a US-based graphics services firm Cenveo. Wieden+Kennedy forayed into print with the
The divestment was seen as part of Infomedia’s launch of a magazine, Motherland “to provide an
strategy to exit non-core businesses and deploy in-depth perspective on trends, issues and ideas that synergies will be explored in the editorial
resources to focus on core media segments, search, emanating from contemporary Indian subculture”. network as well as in product and space market-
internet and directories services. ing.
Two well known international titles Businessweek
E-Sense Entertainment, that publishes Yuva, start- and Newsweek changed hands and became The Times Group launched a weekly called Vijaya
ed producing Go-Getter, the in-flight magazine Bloomberg Businessweek and Daily Beast Next catering to the upwardly mobile population
of GoAir Airlines from March. From generating Newsweek, respectively. Though the latter con- of the area. Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi rolled
content to procuring ads, layout and printing the tinues to be called Newsweek in India. out editions from Alappuzha in its home state and
copies, E-Sense handles all aspects of the maga- another from Bahrain.
zine. Go-Getter, launched in 2008, was being
handled by Bhaskar Custom Media Publications,
$VWKHVLWXDWLRQVWDUWHGQRUPDOLVLQJDIWHU Pioneer Book Company, the publishers of the
a part of Dainik Bhaskar Group. DURXJKDOPRVWHYHU\ERG\KDGRQH womens’ magazine Meri Saheli, launched a
Marathi version, Maajhi Saheli. Hema Malini
There were more specialist launches. In the last DJHQGDRQWKHLUPLQGVGLYHUVLILFDWLRQ continues to be the editor of this magazine as well.
year, bi-monthly Hindi magazine on hair care,
skin care, beauty, cosmetics and style titled New
(YHQDGYHUWLVLQJDJHQFLHVIRUD\HGLQWR Careers360, the careers magazine published by
Maheshwer Peri through Pathfinder Publishing
Age Beauty was also launched. The publisher, WKHSULQWPHGLD India, launched its Hindi edition.
Source Publishers, also has a five-year-old English
magazine, New Age Salon, aimed at salon, spa Joining the bandwagon of first timers was the
owners and professional stylists. Bloomberg Businessweek’s new design is a Indian Railways, which floated a tender for an
reflection of creative director Richard Turley’s in-house magazine for its passengers. This move
Spenta Multimedia also launched a bi-monthly vision of a comprehensive and an easy-to- was to ensure that the Indian Railways does not
consumer jewellery magazine, Adorn, targeted at navigate magazine. lag behind the airline industry when it comes to
high net-worth individuals, who are well-estab- in-travel reading.
lished and aspiring consumers of the gem and A few magazines changed hands in India as well.
jewellery industry’s high-end and high-fashion Maxposure Media acquired the licence for men’s This year becomes all the more interesting even if
products. The publisher of BoxOffice India, Select magazine FHM India from Next Gen Publishing it is to just wait and see what the future has in store
Publishing Company, launched its second trade last year for an undisclosed amount. for all the newly-launched publications. „

48 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*/$81&+(6
LAUNCHES
7(/(9,6,21 ,WZDVQ¶WDVLIHYHU\WKLQJZDVKDSSHQLQJLQSULQW7HOHYLVLRQWRRKDGLWVVKDUHRIQHZODXQFKHVERWKIRUHLJQDQG,QGLDQ

premium stuff that it sells, industry players believe

that its business model is built with enough depth
to extend its possibilities and create a direct con-
sumer connect through online, digital, mobile
platforms as well as on shopping catalogues.

STAR CJ Alive, with its array of around 300

premium branded products in three categories -
home appliances and telecom, fashion and skin
care, and quality electronics products and other
lifestyle enhancing products - reaches out to view-
ers in over 40 cities.

WHAT’S-ON-INDIA

ome channels vanished, others came in a weekend wherein they got to do, among other

S and yet others rebounded in a new ava-

tar. Here’s what went on, on television
screens countrywide.
things, sky diving from an altitude of 13,000 ft
above the sea level.

Result? The strong communication pushed view-

UTV ACTION ers to take another look at it. It also helped the
It was two years after the UTV Bindass Movies channel double its ad rates.
launch that UTV Global Broadcasting (UGBL), the Less-explored genres are opening up. What’s-On-
broadcast arm of UTV Software Communications, India is an example. Commercially launched in
decided to fade out the channel. June, the channel generated tremendous word-
of-mouth across seven states - Gujarat, Punjab,
The idea was to stop focusing only on the youth, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
but also target the male audiences in all the Pradesh and Karnataka. This also contributed to a
Hindi-speaking markets (HSM) with a strong host of cable operators putting the channel on as a
focus on A, B and C cities with one million plus value-add to aid their subscribers.
viewership. That was when UTV Action came
into being on January 1 as it flaunted the tagline The channel airs programme recommendations as
‘Be Prepared.’ With this launch, UTV believed well as TV timings of other channels. It highlights
that action content would fetch high GRPs (gross specials on various networks, whether sports,
rating points and thus result in higher return on news, reality shows or blockbuster films. The
investment, RoI). recommendations are designed to inform and
surprise viewers about shows or specials they did
The intent was clear. Focus on more male view- STAR CJ ALIVE not know about. Besides this, it also broadcasts
ers and action movies. The launch was marketed In August, Star CJ Network India, the 50:50 messages in the form of promos, sneak previews
heavily across TV and outdoor, supported by on- JV between Star India and South Korea’s CJ O and contests for other channels.
ground activities. Around 3,500 10-second spots Shopping, decided to convert its home shopping
were booked across 20 TV channels. Around channel Star CJ Alive as a 24-hour entity from the A TV guide channel had been attempted at least
300 hoardings in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, six-hour slot run that it used to have on Star Utsav three times earlier - twice by the STAR network
Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Lucknow announced during its 10-month-long pilot phase. and once by the Zee network. This category has
UTV Action. The company used digital cinema proved to be successful in some of the developed
across 50 cities to promote the channel. During the pilot phase, STAR CJ Alive witnessed markets. But it was too early for the Indian market,
40,000 consumers availing its services with brands believed industry experts.
The channel gave its allies an experience of a like Satya Paul, Adidas, D’damas, LG, Corelle,
Samsung, Benetton, Canon, Philips, Morphy Today, the market is maturing and the category
879$FWLRQ¶VLQWHQWZDVFOHDU)RFXVRQ Richards, Tanishq, Reebok and Olay. is slowly capturing eyeballs because of the chaos
in the digital market with hundreds of channels
PRUHPDOHYLHZHUVDQGDFWLRQPRYLHV The pilot phase also helped Star CJ Alive to study available – on DTH as well as C&S homes. With
the market and consumer behaviour with regard such a dramatic increase in choice, What’s-On-
7KHUHODXQFKZDVPDUNHWHGKHDYLO\DFURVV to the home shopping industry experience and its India wants to organise the TV viewing market
WHOHYLVLRQDQGRXWGRRUVXSSRUWHGE\RQ potential in India. STAR realised that there lay a
huge potential given the growing flexible income
by previewing and showcasing content on other
channels.
JURXQGDFWLYLWLHV of Indian consumers. Until then, there was just
one lone 24 hour player - HomeShop18. Though it could take a while to evolve, the
channel could actually influence the primetime
lifetime. It took 40 people including its trade asso- The new channel has given the television shop- viewing habits of consumers in the long run. It
ciates and contest winners for an exotic vacation ping experience a better face than what it had until is an important audio visual platform to promote
to South Africa. The associates were exposed to the launch. Armed with the kind of branded and various channel shows.

50 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*/$81&+(6
LAUNCHES 7(/(9,6,21
FOX INTERNATIONAL/DISCOVERY that Will Change Your Life. probably, had been the most awaited launch of
the year. The industry believes it will address the
Discovery Turbo, on the other hand, is all about need-gap of the highly under developed English
speed and thrills. The content revolves around programming as a category.
cars, boats, bikes, aircraft et al. Discovery Turbo
also focuses on motoring events. The channel is ADAG’s entry into the English GEC space made
skewed towards males in the age group of 18+. quite a few headlines in the second half of the
year. The network planned to launch three English
Industry players believe that it is the ultra-niche entertainment channels in a JV with CBS group
positioning that has helped Discovery Turbo - Big CBS Prime, Big CBS Spark and Big CBS
Love. The roll out was initiated with Big CBS
Prime, in direct competition to Star World, AXN
and Zee Café. With Big CBS Spark and Love,
meanwhile, the network aims to create the vari-
ety’s own niche genres in the youth and women
target segments.
As audience tastes become more discriminating
and preference for content gets more sharply Big CBS Networks planned a clever and timely
etched, content mixes will grow from generic campaign for Big CBS Prime that revolved around
to specialised and target audiences from being the American President’s visit to India. It created
broad and all-encompassing to compact and dis- a big buzz. The campaign went like this: ‘While
tinctly defined. Fox International and Discovery President Barack Obama is in India, Big CBS
Networks Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo Prime would not steal his thunder.’ Outdoor and
were the smart movers that set an example. radio campaigns read: ‘After you, Mr. President’.
attract top-class lifestyle and affluent brands on The hoardings displayed the American flag, with
In July, Fox International Channels (FIC) rolled board not just for ad spots but as sponsors too. Big CBS Prime branding. The outdoor was
Discovery Science is more broadbased as it deliv- launched in Mumbai and Delhi, while the radio
ers the right sounds to parents and to the younger campaign played out in 10-12 of Big FM’s key
audience. The education sector too has been giving markets.
more importance to audio visual entertainment
that will help simplify education. That makes this Big CBS Network also unveiled a four-week-long
launch a very interesting one to watch out for in integrated campaign to mark the launch of Big
the long run. CBS Prime. The campaign was a mix of tradi-
tional and non-traditional media across TV, radio,
The other advantage is that unlike with various print, out-of-home, digital, experiential market-
networks wherein carriage fee becomes an issue ing, retail touch points, in-flight entertainment,
when there are 10 news channels and the network mobile and online applications and comprehensive
out FX, National Geographic (NG) HD, NG wants to add another one, Discovery Science and social media coverage.
Wild, Fox Crime, NG Adventure, NG Music and Discovery Turbo stand to gain because there is still
Baby TV. no science channel. Nor is there a channel similar The communication was created by McCann
to Turbo. Erickson. The objective was to build a premium
A subsidiary of Fox Entertainment Group, FIC is image for the brand. The creative idea behind this
a part of Rupert Murdoch’s global media estab- BIG CBS campaign was to highlight Big CBS Prime as the
lishment, News Corporation. The new launches, destination for the ‘latest, freshest and
coupled with the two existing brands of FIC, hottest’ entertainment concurrent with
National Geographic Channel and Fox History & what’s happening in the US. Big CBS
Entertainment, added up to a basket of nine chan- Prime targets young people in the upper
nel offerings from the network in India. SEC A. The four key driver shows
being marketed through this campaign
The idea was simple: to add up a strong and were NCIS, Survivor, Bellator and
dynamic line-up of channels where the primary Letterman.
focus would be to rapidly grow the network’s busi-
ness in India. The expectations are as high as the
noise levels generated by Big CBS. It is
The network was expected to help Fox create expected to shake up a genre that earns
greater impact. Result: they did provide the net- an annual ad revenue of approximately
work with more width and breadth, giving it more Global interest in the Indian broadcast space refus- `900 million.
options to market the channels among each other. es to die down. CBS became the last of the four
American majors to enter India (Fox/Newscorp, TEN CRICKET AND TEN ACTION+
The year started with Discovery adding two Disney/ABC and NBC in various forms have been Zee launched Ten Cricket in August, coinciding
unique content channels, Discovery Science and here before along with Viacom and Turner). This, with the ODI Tri-series between India, Sri Lanka
Discovery Turbo as it aimed to offer relevant and New Zealand, and to push it directly against
non-fiction content in a highly cluttered Indian Star Cricket and Neo Cricket. The idea was to
television market. %LJ&%6¶REMHFWLYHZDVWREXLOGDSUHPLXP increase its revenues from sports broadcasting with

Discovery Science, targeted at the whole family,

LPDJHIRUWKHEUDQG7KHFUHDWLYHLGHD cricket – but naturally - being the driving force.
Ten Cricket showcases features programming
focuses on cutting-edge scientific research and dis- EHKLQGWKLVFDPSDLJQZDVWRKLJKOLJKW%LJ including magazine shows and archival program-
coveries and covers subjects related to the human ming, apart from live matches.
body, genetics, astronomy and space. The chan- &%63ULPHDVDGHVWLQDWLRQIRUWKHµODWHVW
nel’s portfolio includes shows such as Master of
the Universe: Stephen Hawking and 100 Things
IUHVKHVWDQGKRWWHVW¶HQWHUWDLQPHQW In the earlier part of the year, Zee upped its stake
in Taj TV Mauritius to 95 per cent and in Taj

52 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

%,*/$81&+(6
LAUNCHES ',*,7$/
Television (India) to 100 per With the growth of digitisation, the channel can The news channel was launched on the premise
cent. This gave the company an help Zee increase its revenue opportunities. It can of Ki Khobor? (What’s the news). The launch
entry to telecast over 100 days also help clients tap consumers in terms of tar- campaign for the channel was conceptualised and
of international cricket from geted advertising while distribution revenues are executed by Rediffusion Y&R.
the Pakistan Cricket Board, also expected to show an upward movement with
Sri Lanka Cricket Board, West some more action in the direct-to-home (DTH) The launch of Mahuaa Khobor took the total
platforms. number of Bengali news channels in West Bengal
to nine. The existing news channels in the market
MASTIII include STAR Ananda, Kolkata TV, News Time,
The launch of Mastiii came bang in the middle of 24 Ghanta TV, R Plus, Ne Bangla and Channel
the rising crescendo from 9XM, MTV and B4U 10. Mahuaa Bangla debuted with four hours of
Music. In July, Sri Adhikari Brothers’ music chan- original programming, including shows such as
nel debuted with a mix of music and humour. And Twinkle Twinkle Dancing Stars and The Match.
it seems to have worked. Mastiii promises to be a
music destination catering to audiences between The idea was to bring in concepts and programmes,
6-60 years of age, with comedy as a thread. which are closer to the heart of the Bengali view-
ers. The content is designed to create value, with
About 75 per cent of Mastiii’s programming com- a 360-degree effect on the audience, reaching out
prises music. The comedy programming includes to all the sections of the society. The tagline of the
gags, spoofs, pranks and comic acts, performed by channel is ‘Jomiye Din Saradin’, which means,
well-known comedians such as Raju Srivastava, ‘Every time you switch on the channel, you will
Indies Cricket Board, South Africa Cricket Board Sunil Pal and Suresh Menon. The channel follows be enthralled’.
and Zimbabwe Cricket Board. It also has an access an interstitial format - there will be no half- or
to telecast the UEFA Champions League Soccer. one-hour shows, only one- or two-minute gags.
The channel also launched a multimedia campaign
Ten Action+, a soccer-driven channel, which was that takes a dig at the content currently dished out
a rechristening of Zee Sports, came about in the on GECs.
bid to expand Zee’s sports broadcasting portfolio
further. Launched in September, it became the To mark its proposition right, Mastiii launched
third channel from the company after Ten Sports a campaign that spanned television, outdoor and
and Ten Cricket. below-the-line. It spent `5 crore on its television
and outdoor campaigns which were based on the
Ten Action+ showcases the world’s leading live belief that viewers are bored with the existing
and exclusive football action and aims to look at content on television, be it daily soaps or reality
growing the sports business and consolidating shows. The satire worked and the channel has
Zee’s position as the leading sports broadcaster in been climbing on the GRPs charts and is almost at
the country. par with 9XM.
On the content front, the
:LWKWKHJURZWKRIGLJLWLVDWLRQ Mastiii takes on any subject and views it in a
humorous way - whether it’s the common man
source of inspiration for
Mahuaa Bangla is the rich,
7HQ$FWLRQFDQKHOS=HHLQFUHDVHLWV facing the challenges of the Indian hinterland literary world of Bengal.
from flood waters to death beckoning government Since the existing GEC play-
UHYHQXHRSSRUWXQLWLHV,WFDQDOVRKHOS hospitals; the wise man at the village chaupal who ers in the market have not
FOLHQWVWDSFRQVXPHUVLQWHUPVRI gone beyond popular authors such as Rabindranath
Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Mahuaa
WDUJHWHGDGYHUWLVLQJ Bangla was an attraction as it focused on the stories
of other literary figures, such as Ram Mohan Roy
and Jagadish Chandra Bose.
The channel aims to be entertaining and informa-
tive, showcase live and exclusive matches from According to media experts, only 70 per cent of
the Spanish La Liga, UEFA Champions League, the population in the state watches TV while the
Italian Serie A, UEFA Europa League, English rest are avid readers. Thus, the idea, first and fore-
Championship, Carling Cup, Scottish Premier most, for Mahuaa Bangla was to convert this set
League and Dutch Eredivisie, among others. of readers into loyal TV viewers, by offering them
content inspired by the literary world.
There is also a host of preview, review and maga-
zine style shows, along with original live studio As far as its share in the advertising pie is con-
programming. Football experts will explain the rhymes the world’s joys and miseries into soulful cerned, cracking the market was not an easy task
subtleties of the game with exact precision, mak- couplets, from Yuvraj Singh’s form to Mallika’s for the channel, given that it is the 10th entrant.
ing use of the channel’s newly-acquired Piero 3D hemline; parodies of famous Bollywood scenes However, Mahuaa Media’s existing Bhojpuri
virtual graphics package. highlighting current issues like recession affecting GEC, Mahuaa TV is expected to help the Group
the cash reward on Gabbar Singh. inspire confidence in marketers that its second
Controversial goals, tactical play and disputed regional channel would not compromise on qual-
moments are analysed through the real-time tran- MAHUAA KHOBOR/MAHUAA ity of content or its technical lustre.
sition of live action into virtual reality. BANGLA
Mahuaa Media rolled out its Bengali news chan- Mahuaa Bangla has ambitious plans. It wants a 15
Ten Action+ also showcases content from Chelsea nel, Mahuaa Khobor, in West Bengal on August per cent share of the `300-crore advertising spends
TV, Liverpool TV, Manchester City TV, Barca 30. The news channel followed the Bengali GEC, in the Bangla GEC space by March 2011. It will be
TV, Real Madrid TV and Bayern Munich TV to called Mahuaa Bangla, launched by Mahuaa Media interesting to see how the GEC fares in a market
keep viewers updated with the latest team and in July 2010. The group also owns a Bhojpuri where it has to compete with the likes of STAR
player news from clubs around the world. GEC called Mahuaa TV. Jalsha, Zee Bangla and ETV Bangla. „

54 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

ACCOUNTS
$&&2817029(0(1762)7+(<($5

By DEVINA JOSHI and KAPIL OHRI

Every year, agencies live in the hope of netting the catch that got away the last time and hop-
ing to wrest plum accounts from the competition. Last year too was no exception. We present
the list of accounts that moved agencies.

&5($7,9($*(1&,(6

he year started quite slowly for creative Hakuhodo. It also lost WagonR to Dentsu India. The loss led to all sorts of rumours regarding the

T and media agencies. There wasn’t much

excitement initially.
Equus Red Cell bagged Studymate (Hindustan
Times), Maxima Watches (from Saatchi & Saatchi)
Travel Masters India Corporation and Glaxperts.
supposed inefficiency of Rediff’s top management,
especially because it also lost Colgate in July.

A shaky start The writing seemed to be on wall when, in the

The year began with some action from the smaller Grey Bengaluru hit the jackpot with Bharti AXA previous year, the pitch for Airtel DTH went to
agencies and independent firms. Skoda made General Insurance, which moved from Contract JWT and not - as many expected - to Rediffusion.
headlines by shifting its `30-crore creative duties Advertising, while Leo Burnett scored with Says Sunil Gupta, managing partner, Results
from its long-standing agency Law & Kenneth McCain Foods India and Kohler India. Mudra won International Group, South Asia and regional
(L&K) to Saints & Warriors. L&K made up by the hefty `50-crore Philips-Electrolux account, director, Aprais, South West Asia, “Why do clients
grabbing the `40 crore Kelvinator account and the along with Lavasa Corporation and Kalpataru Real change agencies? Why do clients bring on board
Sansui accounts from Saatchi & Saatchi. Estate. another agency or multiple agencies? Obviously it
is to keep their current agency on its toes.”
There were one-off wins such as Publicis Ogilvy India won four businesses in this period
Ambience getting JK Helene Curtis and VIP including IndusInd Bank, Ramco Systems, Spice That need not be a bad thing as it leads to healthy
Luggage; TBWA/India winning IDBI Mutual Group and the `250-crore International Cricket competition. But the true catalyst for the Airtel
Funds; Lakme Salon going to BBH; McCann Council (ICC). Percept/H won the creative duties account bidding farewell to Rediff, according to
Erickson roping Greenply and Budweiser moving for UIDAI’s Aadhaar pilot project. DNA moved Gupta, is the change in its branding and hence, the
to W+K India. Micromax moved from Draftfcb from old friend Contract to Rediffusion-Y&R. need for fresher thinking, with severe competition
UIka to Lowe Lintas India and the adidas 2010 W+K won HCL Technologies. entering the market. “It is sad that when competi-
campaign went from TBWA/India to Ogilvy India. tion becomes severe, accounts start moving. One
Telecom makes headlines ought to have faith that the current agency can
Of cars and financial accounts Grey Worldwide struck gold with the `200-crore tackle the pressures,” Gupta muses.
Draftfcb Ulka started the second quarter with a Reliance Communications’ GSM & CDMA busi-
hotshot win: the `50-crore Hero Honda Motors nesses that moved from Cartwheel Creatives. Among other developments, Bates 141 won
Commonwealth Games 2010 sponsorship project. Grey also won Killer Jeans and Intex. Monte Carlo (which moved from JWT), Centre
Bates 141 landed Zen Mobile. Lowe Lintas won For Sight and Amrit Group (Poultry Group).
Maruti 800, Nirula’s India, Somany Tiles and But the bumper account movement arrived on Times Television’s Mango channel roped in BBH
Sanitaryware and Canara Robeco Mutual Fund. August 11, when the `400-crore Airtel moved India whereas another new launch, United Stock
from Rediffusion - Y&R to JWT. Rediff had been Exchange, selected Cartwheel Creatives for its `15
Losing Maruti 800 was just the beginning for handling the brand since its inception in the ’90s. crore creative duties.

56 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

$&&2817029(0(1762)7+(<($5
ACCOUNTS &5($7,9(0(',$$*(1&,(6
Contract lost Tata Indicom and Tata Walky to specialists roped in for specific tasks by brand rarely advertised in India, hired Orchard.
Draftfcb Ulka, but retained Tata Photon and Pepsi. TapRoot retaliated by stating that this was a
also won the `30-crore Lava Mobile account. win independent of external factors. MTS shifted its `200-crore business from
Creativeland Asia managed to soar with Audi, Saatchi & Saatchi to Rediffusion. Saatchi fought
a `20-crore account. Paras Pharma’s Livon and DLF appointed Ogilvy and Pickle Lintas moved back by winning Bharat Petroleum (Retail),
Ricova moved to Cut the Crap from Mudra. away from Percept/H, while Blackberry, that has which it shared with Scarecrow. „

Euro RSCG won Maxx Mobile, a `10-crore

account. Law & Kenneth won the `50-crore

0(',$$*(1&,(6
Renault India business. Lowe Lintas won Himachal
Pradesh Tourism (along with other agencies like
Adman, Mode, Partner, AMO Communications,
Quantum Media and Square), DSP BlackRock
Mutual Fund (which it shared with TapRoot he first quarter of 2010 was about client after General Motors in the previous quar-
India), HomeShop18 and Expedia.co.in.

McCann Erickson won Dabur’s vitamins and

T media agencies making sure that they
retained their old businesses. Madison
Media kept the `100-crore General
ter. This time it was media duties for Airtel.
Madison Media and Mindshare won the `50-crore
Shriram Transport Finance Company and the `20-
mineral supplements account, and the Big-CBS Motors business, while Mindshare retained crore Dhanalakshmi Bank businesses, respectively.
creative duties. General Insurance Corporation of Unilever (media spends - `1,000-1,200 crore) and OMD kept it short and simple with two wins:
India empanelled Mudra, Triton and Concept for ZenithOptimedia clung on to Aviva Life Insurance Hindustan Pencils and Cotton World. Karishma
its creative duties. Mudra also won Huawei, a big- (`30 crore), all of which were major feats. Initiative and Alliance Advertising together won
ticket launch that spelt `200 crore in media terms. the `30-crore Wynncom telecom businesses.
RBI’s media awareness campaign went to Publicis Says Meenakshi Madhvani, co-founder and chair- Lodestar UM won Tata Sumo (from Maxus) and
Ambience, while Rediffusion won Amante and person, Spatial Access Solutions, “Media agencies Star Health & Allied Insurance. ZenithOptimedia
Balaji Telefilms’ motion picture projects. Barely retained far more businesses than creative agen- won Kingdom of Dreams, Chicco (baby care) and
having launched in India, iconic brand Harley cies. This could be because media reviews seem McCain Foods India.
Davidson moved its `15-crore account from The to be just a matter of procedure or global review,
Republic to Saatchi & Saatchi. The Raghu Bhat- whereas creative ones were probably triggered Neo Sports moved from MEC to Maxus (it was
Manish Bhatt founded agency Scarecrow won because of dissatisfaction with the creative agency.” worth `20-25 crore) while Mudra Max won Gulf
Religare Arts Initiative, while TBWA won busi- Oil Corporation, Apollo Hospitals and Kalpataru
nesses worth `40 crore. Moreover, moving a media business is more Real Estate.
cumbersome, as media involves more relation-
Pepsi ruffles feathers ship building or negotiating for money and puts Coca-Cola’s turn
Bates 141 won MTV, while DDB India won Olive far more pressure on a client’s operating system. Lintas Media retained the `350-crore Sony
Telecom (`50 crore) and Bajaj Allianz (`60 crore), Madhvani adds that though the Unilever busi- India account, while winning the `35-crore
which it shared with incumbent M&C Saatchi. ness stayed with Mindshare, the FMCG giant did Intex Technologies and Urban Health Initiative
Greenlam moved to McCann, while Dainik bring in another agency, OMD, even if only for (Bill Gates Foundation) businesses. The bump-
Bhaskar left Euro RSCG for Meridian. digital. “This could be a sign of what is to come,” er news arrived in the form of the `200-crore
hints Madhvani, adding, “advertisers are increas- Coca-Cola India account moving its media
ingly hesitant to put all their eggs in one basket.” duties from Madison Media to Lodestar UM.
However, Lodestar lost the ` 150-crore
Mediacom won a steady stream of businesses L’Oreal account to Maxus. Maxus also
including Streax, Vasmol and Turkish Airlines. won the Parle Products account (`50 crore)
Lintas Media Group (LMG) got lucky with two from TME.
wins: Voltas, the `35-crore media spender (moving
from MPG), and the `50-crore Religare account Reliance Communications’ GSM and CDMA
(moving from NAC Advertising). business moved to MEC and OMD from Mudra
Max. OMD also won Venus Water Heaters,
Media Direction didn’t have a great first quarter. Sangam India, Puma and Ferrero Group. Starcom
It lost Mercedez-Benz to MEC, SBI Mutual Fund won Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Radio
to Allied Media, and Amrutanjan to Vizeum. One, while Vizeum won Dalmia Cement Bharat
2QHRIWKHELJJHVWFUHDWLYHDFFRXQWV Lodestar UM happily skipped along winning
Population Service International of India [PSI],
Limited (DCBL) and Maya Appliances.

RIWKH\HDUZHQWWR-:7ZKHQLWZRQWKH Omron Healthcare and Verisign, while Carat A little something for everyone
won Nikon, Deutsche Bank and Parag Milk LMG won the `90-crore Union Bank of India
`FURUH$LUWHODFFRXQWIURP Foods. Down South, Mindshare Chennai won the account from Motivator. Lintas Media Group also
5HGLIIXVLRQ< 57KHODWWHUKDGEHHQ Muthoot Pappachan account. won Expedia.co.in, Envista Education and Travel
Network Brand. But LMG lost the `400-crore
KDQGOLQJWKHEUDQGVLQFHLWV Multiple wins, multiple losses ITC account to Madison World.
RK Swamy Media Group/Media Direction had
LQFHSWLRQLQWKH¶V a whale of a time in the second quarter of 2010, OMD hogged the Renault-Nissan business.
scoring several hits – many of them large-sized Mindshare won Videocon D2H and Electrolux
TapRoot India (set up by Agnello Dias and Santosh ones. It won 18 businesses such as Allahabad (ZenithOptimedia was the incumbent on both),
Padhi) surprised everyone by winning Pepsi’s Bank, Adarsh Developers, Asian Motor Works, as well as Philips television (incumbent: Carat, but
World Cup campaign project worth `25 crore. Basecamp, Bayer Pharma, Central Bank, Calcom the Aegis Media company continues to handle the
“Pepsi’s advertising has been fairly pedestrian over Cement, Chaitanya Developers, Gemini Oil, account globally).
the last few years. The brand was probably looking Makro Technologies, Noel Pharma, Rasa, SBI,
out for experimentation,” Gupta says. UCO Bank, United Stock Exchange, Victorinox, Huawei’s media duties went to Mudra Max
West Bengal Tourism and Zuari Industries. while OMD India won Cleartrip.com, SAH
The losing agency tried to play things down by Petroleum, Paramount Farms and Maxus Delhi
insisting that TapRoot was just one of the many Madison Media went on to retain another major won Greenpeace. „

58 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

$&&2817029(0(1762)7+(<($5
ACCOUNTS
',*,7$/$*(1&,(6
n what could be seen as a digital con- Hotels.com, the hotel accommodation book- Another notable movement was that of Suzlon’s

I quest, many traditional advertisers went

on to strengthen their digital initiatives.
ing site affiliated to the US-based travel group,
Expedia.com, which was active in India since the
last two years and was handling the digital market-
website which roped in Dentsu Digital and
Webchutney. Rediffusion - Y&R bagged the digi-
tal creative and media duties of ITC’s stationery
Let’s start with a big one. HUL moved its digital ing from its Singapore office, roped in Zed Digital brand, Classmate.
media duties to OMG. The FMCG firm wanted to manage display advertising, social media mar-
a dedicated agency to focus on the online medium keting and online affiliate marketing for Hotels. Renault India appointed Law & Kenneth Digital.
and take its digital business forward. OMG han- com (India) in 2010. The automobile company assigned the task of
dles digital marketing - search, display and mobile online reputation management, consumer engage-
marketing - for brands like Dove, Axe, Kwality Even Fila, which hadn’t been so hot on digital ment and sales leads generation through digital
Walls and Knorr. The estimated size of the HUL marketing, opted to hire an agency for the same. It medium to the agency.
digital business was more than `30 crore in 2010. brought in Rediffusion-Wunderman as its digital
AoR in May. The agency has created a website, Maxus Interaction had three creditable wins
Other prominent advertisers that announced Fila.in for the brand. in Google India, Kerala Tourism and Future
plans to strengthen their digital presence were Generali. Google used digital media for the pro-
Parle Products, Vodafone, Eureka Forbes and Pantaloons and FutureBazaar appointed Maxus motion of Chrome, its internet browser. Money
Mercedes Benz. Parle appointed Law & Kenneth Interaction for digital media planning and buy- didn’t seem to be a problem. The estimated
Digital in March to beef up the online presence ing functions. Apart from that, the Future Group spend by Kerala Tourism on digital media in 2010
of Parle G, Monaco, Hide & Seek, Parle Marie, brands employed mobile, search and social media was `5 crore.
Melody, Monaco Smart Chips, Digestive Marie marketing through Maxus Interaction.
and Krackjack. Anil K Nair, managing partner, Amaron Batteries appointed Optima Advertising
Digital Law & Kenneth, says, “We also manage Recreation for its online marketing. Sapient selected Zed
Parle Products, social media presence.” It was all about online destinations or recreating Digital to handle its digital media business and
existing ones. Lee hired 22Feet to strengthen its search marketing function.
Maxus Interaction bagged the digital media busi- social media presence in July. The agency cre-
ness of Bausch + Lomb in the first quarter. Eureka ated Lee.in and also started a social media content They just love digital
Forbes too called for a digital pitch for the first time initiative called ‘Trial Room’ where consum- The last quarter saw the activation of some more
ever and signed up Quasar. “Eureka Forbes was ers can consume and create content related to traditional advertisers on the digital space. Mobile
not so active on the digital marketing front till the various categories. handset-marketer Micromax, which till then
beginning of 2010. We were assigned the task of hadn’t looked at digital, appointed Lintas Media
revamping the EurekaForbes.com site and use dig- Domino’s Pizza selected Quasar Media to man- Group for digital media planning and buying.
ital media to engage, create awareness and generate age its digital creative and media business. Isobar The company manages the digital creative part of
sales leads for Aquaguard, AquaSure, Euroclean was hired to manage the digital destination of the business on its own. Micromax even created a
(vacuum cleaner) and Eurovigil (security system) Perfetti Van Melle’s brands. The agency will microsite called MyfirstAndroid.com and initiated
brands,” says, Sandeep Singh, co-founder and revamp and re-launch the corporate website of its digital campaign on In.com.
business head, Quasar. The estimated size of the the company, Perfettivanmelle.in. It will incor-
business is less than `1 crore. porate dedicated and interactive sections for Another brand, which has not been very active on
Perfetti brands Alpenliebe, Mentos, Chlormint, the digital media, Peter England, hired 22Feet for
Mercedes Benz (India) and Zee Entertainment Happydent, Big Babol and Center Fresh online creative and social media work. The agency
Enterprises appointed GroupM’s digital agency on the site. established a website, PeterEngland.com, launched
MEC: Interaction for their digital media busi- a Facebook page and a YouTube channel. Gupta
nesses. The agency points out that the digital Essar Group’s Aegis Global Academy, an edu- says, “We will revamp the Peter England website
media work for Mercedes Benz focused on cational institute that offers MBA in customer and make it an interactive destination.”
display advertising (planning and buying) and management, appointed Indigo Consulting to
social media marketing, which includes han- manage its social media and search marketing In the same quarter, Coca-Cola appointed Reprise
dling the Facebook presence of Mercedes Benz presence. Kaya Skin Clinic, owned by Marico, Media (India), the joint venture between US-based
while Zee Entertainment’s digital media hired Ignitee Digital for social media marketing. Interpublic Group (IPG) and Interactive Avenues
work mainly comprises of e-mail and Marketing Solutions (IAMS) - for digital market-
social media marketing of its various channels ing and putting its TV commercial first on the
and programs. digital media platform, before it made the TV ad
live on TV channels.
Even online firms went looking for agencies. In
March, Timesjobs.com appointed Zed Digital to Volkswagen, busy as ever, appointed Grey Digital
handle digital media planning and buying, social India for its digital creative business in November
media and search engine marketing for the site. (it was earlier handled by Tribal DDB).

The more the merrier Some known brands announced the appoint-
The second quarter witnessed the adoption of dig- ment of dedicated social media agencies for social
ital marketing by some well-known brands, which
had not experimented with this medium before. 7KHVHFRQGTXDUWHURIZLWQHVVHG media marketing. Pizza Hut signed up Hungama
Digital for its social media marketing campaign in
WKHDGRSWLRQRIGLJLWDOPDUNHWLQJE\ October. Yatra.com partnered with OMLogic for
Bisleri roped in digital agency 22Feet. Says Vineet social media marketing initiatives.
Gupta, managing partner, 22Feet “We will soon VHYHUDOZHOONQRZQEUDQGVZKLFKKDGQRW
launch the packaged water brand’s digital destina-
tion at Bisleri.co.in.” The agency also scored with H[SHULPHQWHGZLWKWKHPHGLDEHIRUH Roots Corporation, a subsidiary of The Indian
Hotels Company, appointed a Mumbai-based dig-
Titan Eye+. The agency activated the eyewear ,VWKLVWKHEHJLQQLQJRIWKH ital agency, Windchimes Communications, which
brand on Facebook and will soon revamp the handle the social media marketing for its low-cost
Titan Eye+ website. GLJLWDOFRQTXHVW" brand of hotels, Ginger. „

60 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

&$7(*25<:$7&+

By SURINA SAYAL CATEGORY WATCH

In what always turns out be an interesting exercise, analysing the performance of categories
invariably throws up some unexpected results.

he beginning of a year is a good time to that the growth of a category like this is hardly Cremica in the west and Dukes in the south. The

T track the performance of various catego-

ries and how they moved up or down.
afaqs!Reporter takes a close look at
surprising in a country like India. “We’ve
always been happily generating holy smoke at
the altars of our 33 million odd devi-devtas ,
entry of new players and also new variants from
existing brands has expanded the market signifi-
cantly in the last year.
the categories that grew or lost size. The figures Sufiana and Khufiana shrines, and our various
for percentage growth or decline are from IMRB. cathedrals and churches. In some little way, In the second half of 2009,
perhaps the cult status of a little brand like PepsiCo India’s food divi-
Cycle Agarbatti has generated more urban fans sion Frito Lay launched
who may light one up not just in prayer, but as Aliva. Early 2010 wit-
a room freshener too.” nessed the entry of the
UK-headquartered United
Biscuits, introducing its
flagship brand, McVities.
7KHELVFXLWVPDUNHWLQ,QGLDLVSHJJHGDW United Biscuits which is the
DURXQG`FURUHZLWKPDMRU third-largest biscuit maker
in the world, acquired a
SOD\HUVOLNH%ULWDQQLD3DUOHDQG,7& manufacturing unit in Himachal Pradesh. Cashing
in on the health factor in India, the first prod-
ILJKWLQJIRUWKHOLRQ¶VVKDUH7KHELVFXLW uct that was launched in India was McVities’
PDUNHWKDVH[SDQGHGVLJQLILFDQWO\ Digestive, as a ‘healthy’ biscuit. Worldwide, the
brand is positioned based on its whole grain con-
tent. With the slogan, ‘Whole Wheat At Its Heart’.
In India, its positioning is based on two proposi-
tions - health and taste. The brand has adopted the
tagline, Taste Ki Nayi Language.

United Biscuits followed up this launch with

McVities Cookies priced at an affordable `10,
which competes with Britannia’s Good Day and
Sunfeast Special. Britannia went one step ahead in
2010 and launched Tiger Fruit and Nut at a very
affordable `5 price point.

AGARBATTI (UP 22 PER CENT) Tiger, over the year, has seen huge success with
In India, the agarbatti (incense stick) market is its variants, Tiger Glucose (`5 for a 100-gm pack)
huge and growing. Agarbattis are sold both in and Tiger Cashew Badam (`6 for 75 gm). It has a
rural India as well as in the metros and the usage market share of 30 per cent in the glucose biscuits
is driven by tradition and religion. Some well- segment. This opened up a whole new market base
known brands include Cycle Agarbattis, Hem, for biscuits in this price range. The brand now has
ITC’s Mangaldeep, Kuber, Nag Champa amongst variants such as Chocochips, Strawberry, Banana,
a host of others. The market is largely unorganised Butterscotch, Pineapple and Elachi.
with hundreds of players.
Not to be left behind, in 2010, Britannia launched
Many players have realised the importance of the NutriChoice New Year pack, the Health
advertising and have been investing in the same. Starter Kit, priced at `100 that was targeted at
Cycle Agarbattis managed to create a buzz with its those who make New Year resolutions but don’t
advertising on radio and outdoor campaigns. For follow them. The Health Starter Kit contained
example, it turned six bus shelters and a hoarding one pack each of NutriChoice Hi-Fiber Digestive,
in Mumbai into mini-pandals. NutriChoice 5 Grain, NutriChoice Nature Spice
Cracker bundled together with a Fit Sip Sipper
One of the bus shelters was Bluetooth-enabled and a fitness chart.
with opt-in permission marketing, where anybody BISCUITS AND COOKIES
could download more than six Ganapati wallpa- (UP 11 PER CENT) Interestingly, following the lead of chocolates,
pers, one ring tone and two videos, audio tracks of India loves it’s chai and its companion the biskut. biscuit brands launched assorted gift packs around
the Cycle Agarbatti radio spots and even TV com- It is no wonder that the biscuit and cookie category festive seasons. Britannia launched its Greetings
mercials on their mobile handsets. grows in volumes every year and 2010 was no packs, while Parle launched Occasions. Going
exception. forward, another brand, Kraft Foods, has plans to
Narayan Devanathan, chief strategy officer, launch its globally popular Oreo Cookies in India
Euro RSCG says, “As a fervent devotee, I’d The biscuit market in India is pegged at around too.
like to believe it’s the ever-growing omnipo- `9,000 crore with major players like Britannia,
tence of the one true god - Sachin Tendulkar Parle, ITC fighting for the lion’s share. There is LCD TVs
- that is responsible for the increased prayers, also a fair share of competition from private labels Rapid economic growth has revolutionised the
offerings, pujas and hence the growth of this and local players like Surya Food’s Priyagold in Indian electronic industry. Among the range of
category!” On a more serious note he adds the north, Anmol Biscuits in the north and east, electronic products, television remains the most

62 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

&$7(*25<:$7&+
CATEGORY WATCH
the trophy for growth is noodles. In a single year, South India hasn’t been explored fully in this
it has got redefined. From being a one-player- category. If companies like GSK and Indo Nissin
dominated category, it is now the most keenly Foods can make an impact, the south could give
contested one. HUL, GSK, ITC, Nestle and a host this category a new growth impetus.
of regional players big and small (Ching’s Secret,
Future Bazaar, More Retail and Reliance Retail)
are all fighting for this category.”

Richa Arora, founder and chief strategy officer,

Five by Six Consulting, believes that thanks to
Maggi noodles, this category has come to occupy
a very special space in the Great Indian Snacking
Story. She says, “With penetration levels of
nearly 50 per cent in SEC A and 30 per cent in
SEC B, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say
popular product with consumers. that for some consumer segments noodles and
macaroni have become a kind of a ‘staple snack’
In the past, the Indian TV industry has witnessed as opposed to a ‘variety snack’. What drives the
a rapid shift in trend from the standard Cathode growth of this category is its uniqueness in sat-
Ray Tube (CRT) technology to the Liquid Crystal isfying a consumer need for a filling, convenient
Display (LCD) technology. Over the last two years snack which is hot and homemade. There is
the price of liquid crystal display technology has no other equivalent branded snack of a similar
dropped by 30 per cent. Such reduced prices have nature.”
contributed to the increased sales of LCD televi-
sions across India.

Brands such as Videocon, Sony, LG, Samsung,

Panasonic, Sansui, VU, BenQ, all of which intro-
duced LCD TVs, slashed prices over the years.
Sales picked up in 2008 and accelerated after that.
With more and more affordable LCD screens, it
has become easier for a consumer to procure these. LOW-END HANDSETS
A case in point is Sansui. Its range starts from as Towards the end of 2009 and all through 2010, the
low as about `10,000 for a 19-inch screen. The low-cost mobile handset market grew by leaps and
larger screens are the more expensive, going up to bounds with new smaller players shaking up the
over `1 lakh for some brands. foundation of established handset marketers.

While LCD TVs have become more affordable Brands like Micromax, which came in with styl-
over the past couple of years, this has also led to ish and functional low-end handset models, made
the growth and increased sales in smaller towns. companies like Nokia look at their marketing
Naresh Gupta of Cheil Worlwide points out a typ- Adds Narayan Devanathan of Euro RSCG, strategies again. The latter, too, began launch-
ical consumer behaviour here, “In any small town “I believe that a bunch of continuing cultural ing low-end phones or dropped the prices of the
of India the packaging in which the LCD came is truths - life continuing to be fast-paced, families existing ones. Micromax’s attractiveness lay in the
left for display in the balcony for a few days before continuing to be starved for time, more work- fact that its phones are loaded with all essential fea-
ing women balancing work and home (ergo tures. The company managed to offer features like
men still not cooking more at home), increasing advanced camera, internet browsing, Bluetooth
proportions of bachelor and bachelorette pads - and dual SIM functionality at unbelievably low
%UDQGVVXFKDV6RQ\/*6DPVXQJ have contributed to the mushrooming growth of prices. It even took on Akshay Kumar as a brand
3DQDVRQLF6DQVXL98%HQ4DQG these products.” More brands have entered the
market as a natural consequence. Where there
ambassador, along with his wife, former actor
Twinkle Khanna (they appeared in the ‘Bling’
9LGHRFRQZKLFKLQWURGXFHG/&'79V used to be one Maggi, there are now Foodles, model’s campaign).
Knorr noodle soup bowls and so on. Where
VODVKHGSULFHVRYHUWKH\HDUV6PDOOHU there was one Bambino and Savorit vermicelli, More brands jumped into the fray. In came
WRZQVDUHODSSLQJWKHPXS there are multiple options in not just vermicelli
but a whole lot of other pasta variants, including
Karbonn, Fly, Maxx, Spice, Onida, G’Five and-
Lava. Never had so many handset manufacturers
instant macaroni products. launched all at once. Later in 2010, telecom major
Bharti also entered the market, via a subsidiary
it is disposed off to the raddi wala. This is done Gupta also feels that with more players coming in company, Beetel. In September it launched eight
to tell your story of pride of acquiring your first and distribution becoming mass, the category can handsets within the range of `1,700-7,000. The
luxury product. The credit here though is entirely grow manifold. He also points out that, currently, reason for launching these was attributed to the
to the marketers who rode the better content wave healthy growth of 30 per cent that mobile phones
and transformed the replacement market,” he says. in the range of `2,000-6,000 were seeing in India.
To put things in perspective, over 130 million
NOODLES, MACARONI, :KHUHWKHUHXVHGWREH0DJJLWKHUHDUH handsets are being sold in India each year.
VERMICELLI (UP 19 PER CENT)
The market for this category has shown strong QRZ)RRGOHV.QRUUQRRGOHVRXSERZOV Gupta of Cheil Worldwide attributes this growth
YoY (year on year) growth for many years now. DQGVRRQ:KHUHWKHUHZDVRQH%DPELQR to changing lifestyles. He says, “The increase in
This year is no exception. penetration has made phones accessible to a host
DQG6DYRULWYHUPLFHOOLWKHUHDUHPXOWLSOH of people. This audience is not driven by old rules
Naresh Gupta, national planning director, Cheil
Worldwide opines, “The category that should get RSWLRQVLQFOXGLQJPDFDURQLDQGSDVWD and old brands. They evaluate everything with a
fresh perspective. They are driven by two inter-

66 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

ADVERTISING FILMS OOH DIGITAL PR EVENTS

KATHA MEDIATIX INDIA LIMITED

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Fun Republic Lane, New Link Road, Andheri West,
Mumbai 400 053. Tel : +91 22 2674 4844
[email protected]

Sco 21, Sec 7C, 1st Floor, Madhya Marg,

Chandigarh 160 019. Tel : +0172 3920327

17A Madan Mohan Talla Street, 1st Floor,

Kolkata 700 005. M : +91 22 9830011766

Katha London Advertising Agency

788 -790 Finchley Road, London, NW 11 7TJ
 Katha.

The agency with a sharp expression.

If you have an expression that matches

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and a few more Nuts.

Wanted
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&$7(*25<:$7&+
CATEGORY WATCH
esting things: phones open up new opportunities non-essential items in the wake of the economic
that didn’t exist earlier, and the constant transient downturn. While the cola wars and spin-offs and
nature of their work has meant the need for two spoofs on one another were avoided by soft drink
SIMS. Both were tapped proactively by the new brands in 2010, vibrant campaigning by most
entrants. They rewrote rules and gained market brands managed to connect with and catch the eye
share.” of consumer during the long summer and beyond.

SMALL CARS Interestingly, in 2010, the two soft drinks giants,

The small car segment in India has exploded spec- Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in India came together
tacularly. Last year, for instance, saw the delivery with other F&B brands for a voluntary, self-reg-
of an estimated 4,50,000 small cars. Take a look at ulation initiative to help promote healthier, active
the roll-in: it started in January with the launch lifestyles to Indian children. This helped build
of Chevrolet’s Beat. The car was priced between value and credibility for the brands.
`3.34 lakh and `3.94 lakh. Volkswagen’s Polo
drove into the country in February, while Ford WASHING POWDER
Figo was later launched on March. This was fol- (UP 13 PER CENT)
lowed by the launch of Nissan Micra in July.

The market has been flooded with small car

options for the consumer, the Maruti Swift,
Hyundai i10 and i20, Maruti Alto, Ford Figo,
Chevrolet Beat, Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Micra,
Maruti A-Star, Maruti Ritz, Fiat Punto, and not
to forget India’s very own innovation, the super
compact Tata Nano.
SOFT DRINKS (UP 23 PER CENT)
The small car category, says an observer, is driven Last year’s summer was hotter in more ways
by a very simple motive. When one starts doing well than one, especially for the soft drinks market.
in life, he or she announces it by acquiring a car. Following the multiple launches in the lemon
He adds, “While a car in itself may be the license to drinks market of Parle Agro’s LMN and PepsiCo’s
escape the everyday mundaneness of life, it can’t be a Nimbooz in 2009, came Coca Cola’s Minute Maid
pure indulgence purchase solely. Upfront cost, run- Nimbu Fresh.
ning cost and cost of upkeep are all very important
purchase drivers and only small cars fit the bill.” Lemon drink companies squeezed the opportu-
nity that they saw in launching packaged variants
of India’s favourite cooler. Arora of Five By Six
Consulting says, “A large part of the growth is like-
ly to be accounted for by the ‘scorching summer
effect’. Unofficial temperature records suggest
that the summer of 2010 was hotter than many
summers in the last couple of decades.”

The year 2010 also saw a couple of launches in The market for washing powder or laundry deter-
the soft drink category in India. Pepsi, in August, gents was spurred by changing lifestyles, growing
launched Pepsi Max, a new sugar-free cola targeted purchasing power, awareness about personal
at the 25-35 year age group while November saw hygiene, responsiveness to brands offering supe-
the launch of an iced tea, Nestea, a global brand. rior value and the spread of audio-visual media.
Licensed to Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW),
the newly-formed company is a joint venture Added to all this, there was a drop in the price of
between The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé washing machines. As a result, the washing pow-
He also adds that in this market those who were S.A. The product was also launched in the lemon der market grew significantly. In fully automatic
looking at a slight difference from others, chose a flavour and was made available in on-the-go 400 washing machines, even the prices of front loading
Figo or Polo or Punto, while the rest decided to ml PET bottles machines have seen a dip. The fact that machine
stay with Maruti and Hyundai. washing clothes tend to take up more washing
Bottled water, fruit and vegetable juice also con- powder helped consumption along.
Even richer households, that typically own big- tinued to grow strongly as more consumers turned
ger sedans, opt for a small car as their additional to these products in the search of healthy options. In India, washing powders constitute a major
vehicle, either for female members or youngsters Energy drinks witnessed a slowdown in sales chunk of the laundry detergent market (nearly 70
or for smaller trips. Many times even those who because, being a premium product and priced per cent) while the rest consists of soaps and bars.
can afford a sedan actually prefer buying a smaller high, it not considered a necessity. Importantly, The major brands in this category include Ariel,
hatch-back on account of chaotic traffic and park- more consumers refrained from spending on Wheel, Ghari, Nirma, Surf, Tide, Rin and Henko.
ing constraints.
“Packaging innovation and price wars led to an
All these factors make the small car segment
very important for the industry. Additionally,
7KHVPDOOFDUFDWHJRU\LVGULYHQE\DYHU\ increase in penetration,” says Anand Ramanathan,
manager, KPMG Advisory Services. Detergent
international players are also very positive on the VLPSOHPRWLYH:KHQRQHVWDUWVGRLQJ brands have based communication and brand
prospects of small car segment in India. messages on features like whiteness, freshness,
ZHOOLQOLIHKHRUVKHDQQRXQFHVLWE\ fragrance, ease of use and stain removing open-
Helping all this is the abundance of raw material and
cheap labour in addition to the 100 per cent Foreign
DFTXLULQJDFDU$QGWKHPDUNHWKDVEHHQ ing up the category a lot more. Players slashed
prices and offered freebies or ‘extra’ grammage
Direct Investment (FDI) permitted in the sector. IORRGHGZLWKVPDOOFDURSWLRQV than before. „

70 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

&$7(*25<:$7&+
CATEGORY WATCH
f some categories sold impressively, between two extremes. When it comes to food, These machines operate on infrared technology

I there were others that tanked. Listed are

some of those categories that will hope
that 2011 will turn out to be better.
we either know fast food or slow food. ‘Medium
food’, it appears, is not a very appealing concept.”
and many are lightweight and can be placed any-
where. These are found in the lobbies or toilets
of hotels, shopping malls, corporate buildings,
He explains that is because people are always has- airports, offices and even golf clubs.
sled and hurried from minute to minute, they
don’t bother about things like cooking. “We just These machines consume very little electricity
eat stuff that’s already prepared by someone else and shoes are polished in 30-40 seconds flat. Says
- at home or at a restaurant, or a thela or dhaba. Anand Ramanathan, manager, KPMG Advisory
Or, we want to vehemently protest this hurried Services, “The availability of substitutes such as
life and completely turn the clock back, and say: instant shoe-shines offering greater levels of con-
“Let me prepare a meal from scratch and enjoy venience coupled with a time saving proposition
the journey as well as the destination.” Hence the has affected this category adversely.”
no-no to the ready-to-cook concept.”
Devanathan of Euro RSCG believes that this
While Devanathan attributes the decline in the is also because of the changing trends of shoes
RTC category to human behaviour, Arora of Five altogether. “While employment in the uniformed
By Six Consulting feels that it is because the taste services is visibly down, white collar uniforms
factor does not come up to the mark. She says, themselves are on the downtrend, as our friends in
“When it comes to preparations like daal-subzi, the Vodafone Blackberry boys starkly portrayed,”
the consumer benchmarks it to the familiar home- he says. According to him, from Jharsuguda to
MEDICATED DRESSINGS (DOWN made taste. That is not so in the case of snacking Jhumri Talaiya, and from Kargil to Kovalam,
28 PER CENT) where the objective is diametrically opposite - sports and fashion footwear, as they’re called,
With the market being small as it is, consisting only experimenting with unfamiliar tastes. RTC mixes have sneakily usurped the once venerable position
of a few branded players like Johnson & Johnson’s in this area (gravies and cooking mixes) do not occupied by shiny leather shoes and boots.
Band-Aid and Hansaplast from Beiersdorf India, deliver on the taste aspect sufficiently.”
there hasn’t been an expansion in any way. The SHAVING BLADES, RAZORS
category is in fact, ruled by Band-Aid which has She adds that the RTC category will continue to (DOWN 4 PER CENT)
become a generic term when it comes to referring remain in the realm of an emergency-urgency The slight dip in volume growth of shaving blades
to adhesive bandages. use product for a very small segment of Indian can be attributed to the increase in sales of elec-
consumers. tric shavers and better quality razors. However,
Band-aid became even more visible when, in 2003, Ramanathan of KPMG says that he expects value
it made Virender Sehwag, its brand ambassador. SHOE POLISH growth to stay strong.
Band-Aid had, many years ago, also been launched
in various shapes and sizes: strip, patch and spot Jayanta Sengupta, consultant and currently
as typically, most people would not like to waste a Dean Academic Affairs, Unitedworld School of
longer strip for a small wound. Business, believes that when it comes to personal
grooming in many industries like entertainment,
While these were all innovations based on consum- advertising, and others, the clean shaven look is
er insights done a few years ago, the brand hasn’t not hugely desirable and this is not a new phe-
spent much on advertising recently. According nomenon.
to Ramanathan of KPMG, with many imported
brands now available – and the fact that duplicates It is mainly corporates in the big cities that require
have sprung up – the category is taking quite a a clean-shaved appearance. “If you look at David
beating. Beckham and so many Bollywood icons, many
sport the stubble. In fact, in industries like adver-
READY TO COOK MIXES (DOWN tising, if a creative director is clean shaven, people
12 PER CENT) would ask him ‘Are you trying to look like an
account executive?!’,” he says. Also, in BPOs and
With boot polish men and boys rooted to railway other call centre jobs, again, the appearance of a
and bus stations, charging only a few rupees to person is not crucial as they are not out meeting
shine one’s shoes, it is not surprising that the shoe clients. Add to that concepts like Friday dressing
polish market hasn’t grown. The hectic lifestyles and people moving to a more dressed down life-
has probably led to the demise of the old polish- style. However, the decline could have more to
at-home ritual. do with the unpopularity of double-edged blades.
Many men now prefer styling their beards, rather
Realising this, Kiwi, had some years ago, launched
Express – a liquid shoe polish - that was very handy
for those in a rush. These innovations helped the
brand create a market for itself. Kiwi came up
with this innovation to displace the leader, Cherry
Blossom. Kiwi also pioneered the shoeshine sponge
which was a big hit. Most of the new product
launches of Kiwi were in line with the changing
Despite being flooded with players like Gits, Shan consumer preferences - when consumers opted
Mixes, Aashirwad from ITC, Ashoka Cooking for semi-casual Suede and Nubuck shoes, Kiwi
Mixes, MTR Express Gravies and Saras, the ready launched shoe care products for that category.
to cook (RTC) market plunged in 2010.
Recently, though automatic shoe shine machines
Devanathan of Euro RSCG offers an explanation. that work on sensor technologies have taken away
He says, “The world knows best how to oscillate the need to shine or clean ones shoes at home.

72 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

&$7(*25<:$7&+
CATEGORY WATCH
than going all clean. In fact, Philips in dentifrice option, driven by avail-
its communication in 2010 showed ability deeper and deeper into the
how its personal grooming range hinterland. The increasing presence
of electric shavers for men can help of affordable toothpastes options
them maintain or create the stubble over the last 10-12 years (Colgate
look. Cibaca, Babool and Anchor) has has-
tened this decline,” she points out.
TOOTHPOWDER (DOWN
16 PER CENT) VANASPATI (DOWN 14
PER CENT)
Vanaspati or vanaspati ghee, a fully
or partially hydrogenated vegetable
cooking oil, often used as a cheaper
substitute for ghee is made from
palm oil. The most famous brand of
this in India is Dalda. However, this
too is shrinking.

Some attrribute vanaspati’s decline

to the fact that it is an old economy
product in a new economy. In fact, in
the retail market, vanaspati has been
yielding ground to refined oils for

Before you ask what it is, tooth-

powder is a mildly abrasive powder
that is used in combination with,
or without, a toothbrush to main-
tain oral hygiene. In India, these
include brands like Vicco Vajradanti
and Dabur’s Lal Dant Manjan. This
is another category that has kept fall-
ing, and falling.

A major factor is that, over the years,

toothpaste has become cheaper.
Today, toothpaste is available in the
most affordable packs of as low as
`5. People have made the gradual
move from old-style datoon (stick
of Neem) to toothpowder to tooth-
paste.
many years now, as consumers shift
Explains Ramanathan of KPMG to (perceived) healthier alternatives.
Advisory Services, “The relevance Does this mean the end for vanaspati.
of a category such as toothpow- The jury is still out on this one.
der is under a cloud of uncertainty
what with aggressive expansion in Many in the metros are shifting to
the related substitutes category from lighter vegetable and olive oils for
both a packaging and pricing per- cooking. This trend is slowly perco-
spective.” lating to smaller cities and towns as
well. for example, brands like Saffola
According to Arora of Five by Six have been advertising the Healthy
Consulting, for long, the toothpow- Heart proposition for a while now.
der category has had a pronounced The consumer had no reason to disa-
gree with them.

7RGD\WRRWKSDVWHLVYHU\ Another factor that has caused a

dent in this category is the adul-
DIIRUGDEOHLWLVDVORZDV teration controversy. In 2009, it was
discovered that certain manufactur-
`IRUDVPDOOSDFN3HRSOH ers were using refined farm stearin,
KDYHPRYHGIURPGDWRRQWR a non-edible by-product of crude
palm oil, to make cheap vanaspati.
WRRWKSRZGHUWRWRRWKSDVWH Genuine vanaspati was about `13
(per kg) more expensive than adul-
terated vanaspati. This put added
skew in terms of being limited to a pressure on genuine manufacturers
few states. “Toothpaste is the modern of vanaspati. „

74 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

PEOPLE
3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5

By BIPRORSHEE DAS

Who were the movers (both in the literal and figurative sense of the word) and shakers of 2010?
We take a look at the comings and goings of people in advertising, digital, media and out of home.

$'9(57,6,1*
t would be an understatement if we said India, as did executive vice-president Dipika

I that the year was an eventful one when

it came to people movement in the ad
world. Ad-folk hopped, skipped and
Narayan. Gupta moved to join Dentsu Marcom
as director, strategy and planning, a specially creat-
ed position at the agency. But just after 10 months
jumped with gay abandon. Some of the develop- Gupta moved to Cheil.
ments were surprising, some expected but all of
them significant. Also in restructuring mode was Lowe Lintas as
it moved to a two-NCD structure with execu- 2JLOY\ 2JLOY\
RESTRUCTURING... tive director Amer Jaleel and executive creative *UH\0XPEDL *UH\0XPEDL

FOTOCORP

FOTOCORP
Restructuring within agencies seemed to be the director Arun Iyer being handed the mandate. $.$/, 0(+5$
order of the day in the first quarter of 2010. Old hand, Madhu Noorani took on the role of
Publicis led the way with Aniruddha Banerjee, chief creative planner, a newly-created role, while
brought back to head planning. We were seri-
ous about strengthening the agency significantly,
whether it was creative, planning or account
management. We knew we needed a strong crea-
tive leadership and we found that in Amit and
Malvika.” Akali and Mehra say that leaving Ogilvy
was not really in their scheme of things, let alone
joining Grey till a meeting with Tim Mellors,
vice-chairman and global creative director changed
FOTOCORP

3XEOLFLV their minds.

1RW\HWGHFLGHG 3XEOLFLV /RZH/LQWDV /RZH/LQWDV
%$1(5-(( .+$=$1&+, -$/((/ ,<(5
“We then knew that we must get out of our com-
fort zone and it usually takes just one challenge
president and chief operating officer, Publicis executive director Joseph George was made the to do that. Everybody at Grey was honest. They
Ambience and Ashish Khazanchi, national crea- deputy chief executive officer. knew there was a problem. The pillars had already
tive director, Publicis Ambience being named been set up, but it is not just about leadership. It
chairperson and vice-chairperson of the agency, Former McCann Erickson man Naveen Gaur is about changing the culture. Everybody is doing
respectively, in January. Banerjee, who had taken marked his return to advertising as he replaced it and fighting to get better work out,” says Akali.
up the position left vacant by Ashok Kurien three Mohit Beotra to head the Delhi office. Among other Mehra adds that among the first things she did
years ago, however, changes at the agency, Deepa Geethakrishnan, at the agency was to assure the creative team that
surprised everyone by who handled the creative output of the Bengaluru the duo were here to stay and pull the team along
quitting later in the year. office, moved to Mumbai handling a regional role, quashing any doubts about the stability.
Khazanchi is in charge Rajesh Rangaswamy and Abhijit Ghosh were
of business development appointed to head the Bengaluru branch while According to Akali, the tone was well set for India
along with oversee- creative director Ashvin Varkey was promoted to with the developments at the agency, first world-
ing creative output at the role of group creative director. wide and then in Asia. The agency strengthened
SUSHIL KUMAR

Publicis Ambience.
Around the same time, Ogilvy Bengaluru lost its
3XEOLFLV,QGLD
Not to be left behind, well-known creative duo and group creative direc-
0,65$ Publicis India promot- tors, Amit Akali and Malvika Mehra. While
ed its COO, Hemant both were working as a team since 2004, Mehra
Misra, to CEO while had been with the agency for 16 years. Ogilvy’s
Madan Mohan returned to the agency as the loss was Grey Mumbai’s gain. The agency roped
executive vice-president after a three-year stint the duo in as national creative directors.
at TBWA India where
he was the COO, West The interesting point in this - as observers noted &RQWUDFW$GYHUWLVLQJ &RQWUDFW$GYHUWLVLQJ
6FDUHFURZ&RPPXQLFDWLRQV 6FDUHFURZ&RPPXQLFDWLRQV
operations. later - was that Grey was an agency not known to %+$77 %+$7
have the best creative reputation. But with Akali
The restructuring was and Mehra coming onboard, Grey’s intentions
well placed and not to pull its socks up were loud and clear. This was the Mumbai team bringing in ex-Grey man Hari
without reason. Publicis something that was well accepted by the seniors at Krishnan - from Star Plus where he was the
3XEOLFLV,QGLD
had just lost a couple of the agency as well. VP-marketing - to head the Mumbai branch.
'HQWVX0DUFRP senior hands. National
SUSHIL KUMAR

&+(,/ planning head, Naresh Jishnu Sen, COO, Grey India says, “The restruc- On the creative side, Titus Upputuru after a
*837$ Gupta quit Publicis turing began a while ago when Bindu Sethi was short stint at Dentsu Marcom joined Saatchi &

76 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5
PEOPLE $'9(57,6,1*
Saatchi as executive creative director of the agen- On his joining Bates, he says, “The agency’s port-
cy’s Delhi operations. The year also saw the launch folio and work was something I almost envied at
of Scarecrow Communications, an agency started times. Moreover, I was looking forward to work
by Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat, six months with Sonal once more, who is a great teacher.”
after they quit Contract Advertising. The agency According to Mahabaleshwarkar, an agency’s cul-
had quite a good run through the year bagging sig- ture is set by its top management. He believes that
nificant business such as Religare Enterprises and being creative is not just the creative team’s job.
churning work that garnered attention. All departments must and do come up with ideas; -:7 -:7
be it creative, planning or servicing. Something 1RW\HWGHFLGHG 1RW\HWGHFLGHG
Media agencies too made some senior level chang- Mahabaleshwarkar sees and admires at Bates. &+$8+$1 6(48(5,$
es in the period. ZenithOptimedia India appointed
Dnyanada Chaudhari as the managing direc- With the monsoon came Tarun Chauhan returned after nine years at
tor of its West and South operations in January. news of Anand Suspi Lowe Lintas. Chauhan joined back as senior
Chaudhari joined the agency from Hindustan (heading the Delhi vice-president and managing partner, replacing
Lever where she was head of media services. creative output at Lowe Dhunji Wadia who quit JWT in May. However,
Lintas) bidding adieu to the agency also lost some experienced hands with
VivaKi Exchange - the consolidated media the agency and ending ECDs Anuja Chauhan and Elvis Sequeira
buying arm of Starcom MediaVest Group, Zenith- an 11-year association. bidding adieu. Chauhan, known for her work on
Optimedia and Solutions Digitas - promoted Having worked on brands such as Pepsi and Nokia ended a 17-year
Mona Jain to COO. Jain was earlier the India brands such as Maruti, old association with the agency.
5HGLIIXVLRQ SUSHIL KUMAR
head, strategic investments. It also announced the /RZH/LQWDV Micromax, Nestle,
formation of VivaKi Nerve Center in India. The -+$ Hindustan Times and Among the other important events that took place
model was formed to deliver digital capabilities to Havells, among others, in the quarter was the promotion of Mudra’s
Publicis Groupe and its clients in new media. Suspi’s was a void that Arijit Ray. He was made president of Mudra
needed to be filled quickly. The answer came in West. For the last two years, he was the executive
Nerve Center takes care of the technology invest- the form of Deepesh Jha who was handling a vice-president and head Mudra West.
ments such as technology for search marketing similar role to Suspi’s at Rediffusion-Y&R’s Delhi
and social media of the three agencies. It also branch - joined Lowe as executive creative direc- Grey remained in
handles training of employees across various rel- tor. the news with more
evant disciplines. Pavan Chandra was appointed appointments with
as the managing director. Chandra has been with “At this level, it is really not about the brands or Amit Shankar and
ZenithOptimedia since its inception in India. In clients but a work culture that you see yourself Ketan Desai coming in
his last role, he served as the chief strategy officer. most comfortable with. What I like about Lowe is as the creative head and
that creative work here is to genuinely address the branch head respective-
SEVERING LONG TIES problems of marketers. We are not being clever ly, of its Delhi branch.
The second quarter saw many experienced just for the sake of being clever,” says Jha. The agency further
hands leaving behind agencies they had spent con- 0XGUD:HVW strengthened its creative
siderable time with. It began on the beach. As the Interestingly, Jha and his colleague at Rediffusion- 5$< team in Mumbai with
advertising fraternity gathered in Goa for this year’s Y&R, Jaideep Mahajan, once creative heads on Karan Rawat who
edition of the Goafest, Bates 141 announced the Airtel, one of the largest businesses that the agency came in as the executive
end of the agency’s hunt handled, had been promoted earlier in the year. CD. This was one more strategic appointment as
for a national creative The former, of course was given the mandate to Rawat had considerable experience working on
director. Bates roped in head the Delhi creative while the latter an added Killer Jeans, a business the agency announced it
Rediffusion-Y&R’s chief responsibility of the LG account. had won soon after.
creative officer, Sagar
Mahabaleshwarkar Mahajan moved on as well, later in the year It wasn’t all lose-lose for Rediffusion-Y&R. Tina
who joined after a (November), to JWT as the vice-president and Sachdev came back to the agency as the Mumbai
16-year spell at Ogilvy executive creative director. Not a mere co-inci- creative head from JWT Bengaluru.
and three more at dence this, as only a few months earlier Airtel
5HGLIIXVLRQ Rediffusion. became one of the biggest account movements of One of the more major
%DWHV
FOTOCORP

the year, going from Rediffusion to JWT. developments though

0$+$%$/(6+:$5.$5 An eager stu- in the quarter came in
dent of the arts JWT was the big newsmaker during the period. the media agency arena.
and a cricket enthusiast, Mahabaleshwarkar Ravi Kiran, chief exec-
moved to Bates to work once again with Sonal Shortly before the Airtel win was formally utive officer, Starcom
Dabral, his ex-colleague at Ogilvy and now announced, the agency roped in Saatchi & Saatchi’s MediaVest Group,
the chairman and regional creative director at Adrian Miller as the chief creative officer in its South Asia, called it
Bates 141. Delhi office. quits at Starcom. Kiran -:7%HQJDOXUX
ended an 11-year asso- 5HGLIIXVLRQ
Rediffusion-Y&R suffered another casualty in the JWT made another significant appointment as ciation with the group. 6$&+'(9
period when its national business head (Airtel),
Ajay Naqvi joined Mudra as executive vice-presi- Besides being the CEO
dent and head of Mudra, North and East. for South Asia, Kiran was
also given the additional
With the speed at which they were losing business responsibility of setting
and people, it seemed that Rediffusion was up up several non-classical
against challenging times. But, Mahabaleshwarkar businesses and disci-
says that it is just a rough phase the agency is going plines across 11 markets
through and according to him, the agency has /RZH/LQWDV -:7 in Asia as Emerging 6WDUFRP
SUSHIL KUMAR

-:7 (YHUHVW 1RW\HWGHFLGHG

FOTOCORP

already been through something similar earlier Market Leader -

and would come around this time as well. &+$8+$1 :$',$ Specialist Solutions. .,5$1

80 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5
PEOPLE $'9(57,6,1*',*,7$/
He has been tight lipped in his papers at the agency. Cadell is headed to agency. “The opportunity on the Cheil side of
about his plans saying join McCann Worldgroup as regional managing things was far too great to ignore. Cheil is saying
his decision was more director for Southeast Asia and Australia. His some very interesting things - there is a charm in
to do with taking a appointment will be effective from his month. creating a new kind of agency and at Cheil, we
much-needed break. plan to do exactly that,” he says.
The last month of the year also saw Dentsu’s
Among other develop- Gupta calling it quits at the agency. He moved to Gupta adds that Cheil is an evolving animal that
7LPHV*OREDO%URDGFDVWLQJ ments in media agencies, join Cheil Worldwide as national head, planning. is taking steps to go in a new direction - and in
5.6ZDP\0HGLD*URXS
FOTOCORP

Chintamani Rao, who particular, move away from purely being recalled
5$2 retired from Times This position was previously unoccupied at the as ‘that Samsung agency’. „
Global Broadcasting
where he was the vice-chairman of Times Global
and advisor to Times Private Treaties of the Times
Group, took charge as the head of RK Swamy
Media Group/Media Direction in July.
',*,7$/
he digital space - the most happening Times of India Group,
Rao replaced Les Margulis who put in his papers
as the president at the agency. With an experi-
ence spanning 36 years in the media industry, Rao
T space, as touted by many - witnessed
significant developments in terms of
people especially in the second and
Fremantle Worldwide
and Reliance ADAG.

marked his return to a media agency with this third quarter of the 2010. At StratosHear, Sanghvi
development. will ‘drive’ alliances
In the beginning of the year, Rajesh Aggrawal, pres- with telecom and media
MORE RESTRUCTURING… ident, Dentsu India had disclosed that the agency companies to grow the
0HGLD&RQWDFWV
It was the last quarter of the year that probably had identified digital as one of the key growth areas 6WUDWRV+HDU7HFKQRORJLHV company’s business in
witnessed the maximum noise when it came to indicating Dentsu’s 6$1*+9, India and other mar-
important people movements. There was more intention to beef up kets. Sanghvi says it was
restructuring that took place as senior agency lead- its digital department. a particularly difficult
ers bid adieu to their former workplaces. MSN India’s Krishna decision to leave Media Contacts after having
Prasad was roped in as spent a reasonable time building up the brand and
Mahesh Chauhan (Mash) called it a day at chief experience officer the company.
Rediffusion-Y&R as group CEO. That rounded to head its digital divi-
off what turned out to be a difficult year for the sion in March. Prasad, According to him, the decision was inevitable
agency as it also lost two significant accounts - with 16 years’ experi- 061,QGLD since mobile was a key area to work on - one
Airtel and Colgate-Palmolive. Questions were ence, quit MSN India 'HQWVX,QGLD that boasts of high penetration and yet being
raised on the way the agency’s functioning was after a seven-year stint 35$6$' nascent when it comes to being exploited as a
being taken care of. Mash, however, denied this in October 2009. marketing medium.
was the case and said it was a mix of professional
and personal reasons that led to the development. Mainly responsible for creating content strate- The challenges before him were two-fold. One,
gies and alliances to drive internet users to MSN hiring people in a company that was relatively new
Interestingly, sister firm Everest Brand Solution’s India network websites, Prasad was also part of the and secondly, trying to bring about a change in the
president D Rajappa moved in to fill Mash’s team that launched MSN Search and MSN Video mobile marketing habits of the industry.
in India. Having begun his career with advertis-
ing, Prasad says that his decision to return was Network18 lost an experienced hand when Surya
prompted by the desire to do more than just basic Mantha joined venture capital firm, Omidyar
work in the digital space. Network, as director. Mantha, who was execu-
tive director, convergence at Network 18 had also
“As a publisher, you are almost at the end of the worked with Web 18 as its chief executive officer
chain. Working with an agency gives you the for about four years.
opportunity of bringing to life the digital experi-
ence starting at zero from the planning level,” he At the venture capital firm belonging to Pierre
5HGLIIXVLRQ (YHUHVW%UDQG6ROXWLRQV says. Coming from Microsoft, a company starkly Omidyar, the founder of eBay Inc, Mantha focuses
1RW\HWGHFLGHG 5HGLIIXVLRQ
different when it comes to work culture, Prasad on investment areas related to digital media, con-
0$+(6+&+$8+$1 5$-$33$
says it was a challenge to make the initial adjust- sumer internet, mobile
ments and adapt. value-added services
shoes as Rediffusion president. Not done with the and mobile payments.
surprises yet, ex-JWT Wadia was named as the per- Much has been spoken about the potential of the
son who would take over from Rajappa at Everest mobile medium in India given its penetration in And then there were
Brand Solutions. Funnily enough, this is the the country. With the rising number of service those who chose to
second time Rajappa is replacing Mash. Earlier in providers and handset companies, it is but an obvi- move on from their
2006, when Mash moved on from Everest Brand ous medium for marketers to target. existing responsibili-
Solutions to head Rediffusion, it was Rajappa who ties to form start-ups
took charge at Everest. In perspective, the second quarter began with of their own. Prasanth 5HGLIIXVLRQ< 5
$JHQF\'LJL
FOTOCORP

Media Contacts’ (Havas Media’s digital arm Mohanachandran and *20(6

Also bidding adieu to Everest was NCD N in India) Kushal Sanghvi moving on to join Karl Gomes joined
Padmakumar (Paddy). Paddy stayed within StratosHear Technologies, a mobile technology hands to set up a digital
the group though, as his next assignment took and marketing firm as executive director, business agency called AgencyDigi. Mohanachandran had
him to Rediffusion-Y&R, where he would partner development, media and alliances. recently quit OgilvyOne as the executive director,
Minakshi Achan as co-NCD. digital services, OgilvyOne and Neo@Ogilvy after
One of the founding members of Rediff.com, spending about a decade with the Ogilvy group.
Another bunny was pulled out of the hat when Sanghvi has more than 15 years of experience in the Mohanachandran has had prior experience of man-
Lowe Lintas India’s CEO, Charles Cadell put media space working with companies such as The aging a start-up, his own digital agency, eDeltaC

84 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5
PEOPLE ',*,7$/0(',$
Communications, which was eventually acquired vice-president, web entertainment. Among the significant appointments made in the
by the Ogilvy group in the year 2000. eDelta third quarter was Cleartrip.com getting in Niraj
Communications was later rechristened Ogilvy With its ever-increasing popularity, social net- Seth as chief marketing officer, a specially cre-
Interactive and, then, Neo@Ogilvy. Gomes, ex- working site Facebook finally started hiring in ated position. Seth joined the travel portal from
NCD, digital, Rediffusion-Y&R has many years of India by setting up base in Hyderabad. Facebook Monster.com, the online jobs portal where he
experience in the digital arena. appointed Kirthiga Reddy as director of online looked after the markets of India, Middle East and
operations and Manoj Varghese as director of South East Asia. Says Seth explaining his move,
Having spent more than 13 years in the industry, user operations. Reddy with 14 years of work expe- “My strength lies in understanding the consumer’s
Gomes has been involved with the digital medium rience joined Facebook.com from the US-based
for nearly 10 years. He worked as an independent Phoenix Technologies where she was the vice-
consultant after he quit Rediffusion-Y&R in 2009. president and general manager and headed the
India operations.
Mohanachandran says that the belief that every-
thing is - or will be - digital, led to the birth of Varghese worked with Google in his last assign-
AgencyDigi. Much like Sanghvi, he too says that ment where he was director, people operations,
the biggest challenge was getting the right talent. responsible for human resource and staffing func-
“I know we have managed to tackle this to a large tion for Japan and the Asia-Pacific regions. He has

SUSHIL KUMAR
extent when I see our belief reflected in the team’s also worked with Dell India, Infosys Technologies 0RQVWHUFRP ,QGLD79,QWHUDFWLYH
&OHDUWULSFRP (63167$56SRUWV
passion,” says Mohanachandran. and Maruti Suzuki. 6(7+ 0$+(1'58

STAR India roped in Among other movements during the period,

Lalit Bhagia as vice- Yuzdi N Badhniwalla joined Bengaluru-based mind and connecting brands with the consum-
president, digital in online ad network, Ozone Media as vice-presi- er’s heart. Having done that right in Monster, I
June. Bhagia was with dent, marketing, sales and alliances. Badhniwalla thought it was time to move to another exciting
Digitas, the digital had recently quit Starcom IP, the digital arm of category.”
marketing agency of Starcom MediaVest Group as general manager.
Publicis as executive He sees travel as a price-sensitive category and
vice-president and head, 123greetings.com roped believes that there is a need to bring in a strategic
'LJLWDV Asia Pacific, digital. He in Darpan Jain as chief approach to brands along with tactical campaigns
6WDU,QGLD
%+$*,$ left the agency after over operating officer besides that continue to be important.
eight years to move to making a few senior
the client side where he level appointments for ESPN STAR Sports also beefed up its digital
is responsible for both internet and mobile proper- ad sales. Jain joined the team with Arvind Mahendru who joined the
ties of STAR India. online cards website channel as head of digital media to look after
from Firefly e-Ven- properties such as mobile, 3G, streaming and
“I looked at my role in STAR as one that could tures, the digital arm 0HGLD9HVW*URXS website from both the business and the develop-
possibly shape the entertainment industry of India of HT Media where he 2]RQH0HGLD ment perspective. In his previous role, Mahendru
given the changing habits of media consumers was the deputy general %$'+$1,:$//$ was the senior vice-president, new media at India
because of the digital medium,” says Bhagia. manager, technology. TV interactive. „

According to him, expectations are huge from the

digital business of STAR and a lot of questions
on the ability of the medium to be able to build
a scaleable business will be raised. The mandate
0(',$
before him was to convince everybody that it is rint, radio and television media had quit the company last year. With more than 20
a business which can generate revenues and scale
for the company in both the short and long term. P a movement-packed year. Print, in
particular, witnessed significant
movements in the sales and marketing
years of experience, Rajmohan has been associ-
ated with The Times of India, India Today,
Hindustan Times and Outlook Group, besides
Bhagia sees consumers at one end who continue department. In radio (FM stations), BIG FM Images Consumer Media.
to do appointment viewing and have just begun saw a lot of senior level appointments in the first
to consume media on the mobile using traditional and second quarters of the year. According to him, Open was an exciting chal-
applications. At the other end is the lean-forward lenge. “The biggest challenge ahead was to build
consumer who wants to control the media he STARTING EARLY brand awareness, which through our marketing
consumes at his time and pace and on the device In the news was Dinesh K Srivastava who campaign carried out in June was successfully
he wants to. moved out of Delhi Press group early in the taken care of,” he says.
year. Srivastava was the group business manager
“The first one is a definite and immediate oppor- and was responsible for national business activi- In the same quarter, Raj Chengappa was appoint-
tunity while the second one is what we need to ties. He ended a 28-year-long association with ed as editor-in-chief of The Tribune Group of
invest in for the future. Having done so, now the group and moved to Eastern Panorama, an Publications replacing H K Dua. Chengappa,
the key challenge is to be able to execute on our English language gen- who was the managing editor, India Today,
plans,” says Bhagia. eral interest magazine ended an association that lasted almost 30 years.
as VP, marketing.
Moving further into the year, LinkedIn decided Hindustan Media Ventures appointed Dhiraj
to discontinue its association with NetworkPlay, RPG Group’s Open Soni as head of marketing for its Hindi
the exclusive seller of its ad inventory in India. magazine roped in R daily, Hindustan. Soni had replaced Gowri
The US-based business networking site Rajmohan as pub- Satyamoorthy. But later in July he left the
appointed Dhiman Mukherji at a senior level lisher. Rajmohan company and was replaced by Rajesh Kumar,
position in ad sales along with Sunny Saurabh moved in from Images who came from Ogilvy & Mather (O&M),
,PDJHV&RQVXPHU0HGLD*URXS
SUSHIL KUMAR

as head, advertising solutions. Mukherji was Consumer Media in November.

head, ad sales at AOL.in while Saurabh was 2SHQ0DJD]LQH Group replacing
working with UTV New Media as assistant 5$-02+$1 Umesh Kumar who Staying in the news, HT Media lost its chief

86 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5
PEOPLE 0(',$
marketing officer, AIDEM Ventures. He media industry, Dutta has spent 20 years of his
Neelanjan Shome, entered into a fresh career with the ABP Group.
who quit the group arrangement with
after spending three NDTV, wherein the The period also saw Rajiv Jaitly moving from
years. At HT Media, latter would outsource The Indian Express after a year. He was presi-
he was responsible for the ad sales services to dent, marketing, at the company. Jaitly has 24
managing the group’s Nayak’s new company years of experience spent across sectors such
+70HGLD assets in print, radio 1'790HGLD but on renegotiated as media, FMCG and telecom. Prior to joining

SUSHIL KUMAR
1RW\HWGHFLGHG and the internet. $,'(09HQWXUH terms of engagement. The Indian Express, Jaitly was associated with
6+20( 1$<$. Bhaskar Group as president, marketing and ad
Shome had earlier Set up in November sales, where he spent a little more than a year.
spent close to a dec- 2002, NDTV Media
ade with PepsiCo where he was responsible for was responsible for the sales of media compa- Jaitly’s role at The Indian Express was taken
starting up PepsiCo’s non-carbonated division nies such as NDTV, Sahara One, Filmy, UFO up by Dinesh Gulati who joined as executive
in the Asia-Pacific and also handled the brand Digital Cinema and Firangi. On the digital vice-president. Gulati moved in from Etisalat
marketing for the beverage brands of the com- front, it handled the India sales for Facebook, where worked for over a year. In a career
pany in the region. He has also worked with Microsoft Advertising, MSN, MSN Video, spanning two decades, Gulati has handled vari-
Young & Rubicam, Indonesia and Lintas India. MSN Mobile as well as Bollywood Hungama ous responsibilities including managing a profit
and EquityMaster.com. centre, marketing, finance, sales and customer
IT CONTINUED… service. He was also associated with Reliance
Among the other significant appointments dur- However, hit by the recession bug, sales were Communications for around six years. The last
ing the period included S Balasubramanian under pressure during 2008-09. And with a fall position he held at the company was that of
who was named head of marketing, new media in the advertising revenues for NDTV, the com- CEO, West.
at Dinamalar, the Tamil daily. Balasubramanian missions paid to NDTV Media also decreased.
joined the daily from Galatta.com where he was Meanwhile, NDTV Group renegotiated busi- There were many sen-
the senior vice-president, ad sales. ness arrangements with NDTV Media, because ior media professionals
of which commissions to NDTV Media reduced who moved out to start
Dipayan Chowdhury was promoted to execu- as well. Also, NDTV Media, the company, could their own entrepre-
tive vice-president, revenues at DNA. With the not take up competitive businesses and Nayak neurial set-ups. Jiggy
newspaper since five years, Chowdhury was realised that people did not see NDTV Media George quit Cartoon
heading its Delhi branch. He has also worked as neutral and it lost new business opportuni- Network as executive
with other newspapers such as the Anandbazar ties, which then led to him moving on to launch director, South Asia
Patrika (ABP) and Business Standard. AIDEM. in 2009 after an asso- &DUWRRQ1HWZRUN
ciation of eight years. 'UHDP7KHDWUH
In radio, Big FM named Priya Krishna as its ENTREPRENEURIAL BUG AND George set up of his *(25*(
Chennai station head. Krishna returned to Big OTHER STORIES own entertainment
FM for a second stint from SS Music where she The period, April to June, began with DNA company called Dream Theatre in June, bag-
was the regional sales head, South. The station appointing Deva Dutta as vice-president, rev- ging the licensing rights for Warner Brothers,
also elevated Viplove Gupte to the position of enues in Bengaluru. Dutta joined DNA from Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Chorion.
national programming head from associate VP, The Printers (Mysore) where he was head of
programming and roped in Soumen Ghosh national advertising sales, circulation and HR. George has more than 15 years of experience
Choudhury as the national business head. in marketing, sales and the licensing industry.
Talking about his “With my cross functional experience, I think it
While Gupte is responsible for the programming appointment, Dutta was about time I did this. Dream Theatre began
strategy devising the creative mix, Choudhury says that DNA is a with two purposes - representing other brands
looks after the business aspects of the FM busi- promising paper with and building our own brand. Both objectives
ness across the channel’s 45-station network in innovative content and have been met,” he says.
the country. bets on his experience
to contribute to the On the radio front, Synergy Media
The big news, however, came from NDTV future of the compa- ,QGLD([SUHVV Entertainment’s My FM promoted Harrish M
when Raj Nayak, along with his team quit ny. With over 27 years 1RW\HWGHFLGHG Bhatia as CEO. Bhatia, till then was the COO
NDTV Media to launch a new media company, of experience in the -$,7/< at the radio station. He had joined My FM since
3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5
PEOPLE 0(',$
the station’s launch in Manu Joseph who became the new editorial Today Group. However, after a few days of
2007 as business head. head. “We have had a great relationship with this development, Chawla left the group to
Sandipan and he remains a friend. Fortunately, join The New Indian Express Group as its
Bhatia, while saying there was no immediate gap on his leaving. editor-in-chief.
that 2010 had been Manu has been a part of the core team and we
rather good for the did not really have to Another interest-
station, argues that look outside to fill the ing move came when
from an industry per- gap,” says R Rajmohan. Colors’ marketing
SUSHIL KUMAR

0\)0
spective, a lot more head, Rameet Arora,
%+$7,$ needs to done. “The Around the same decided to move on.
challenges before the time, Ayaz Memon Arora’s next destina-
industry remain. After who had quit DNA tion was the fast food
Phase II, there has been almost nothing that joined IMN News major McDonald’s - he
has been done for radio by the government and (formerly NewsX) as joined as senior direc-
while the year ahead seems promising unless consulting editor. At '1$ &RORUV tor. Arora, who headed
,011HZV 0F'RQDOG¶V

FOTOCORP

FOTOCORP
the government takes serious steps ahead, the DNA, Memon was 0(021 $525$
the marketing function
industry will face a tough time,” he says. editor-at-large and for Colors ever since
later continued as col- the launch of the chan-
Big FM continued with its senior level appoint- umnist. Noting that TV was a different medium nel, is considered to be one of the key people
ments bringing on board Paikar Jamal as the from print, Memon says the move has proved to who drove the channel’s success story.
programming head, Delhi. With 13 years of be a learning experience. “I had been involved
industry experience, Jamal has worked with with the television medium intermittently. After On his move, Arora says, “My stint with launch-
radio brands across the country and interna- Jehangir Pocha had spelt out his ideas for a ing Colors was easily the most exciting thing
tional markets. Prior to joining Big FM, she recast channel, I thought it afforded an interest- I could have hoped for. But as a marketer, a
was with Arabian Radio Network (a network of ing new challenge,” he says. challenge to grow one of the world’s most
international FM stations) working in the capac- famous brands in India was ‘unputdownable’. I
ity of senior producer. India Today moved into restructuring mode am happy to have expanded my horizons with
announcing changes in its top management McDonald’s.”
Anuj Gandhi resigned from his post as the along with the formation of an SBU within
CEO of Den Networks. Gandhi had joined the Living Media to address the opportunities in Arora began his career in advertising in 1996
company in September 2007 and had played an Indian language publishing and related exten- and has worked in agencies such as Rediffusion-
important role in making Den Networks one of sions in the regional language domain. Y&R, McCann Erickson. Prior to joining Colors,
the important multi-system operators (MSOs) he had worked for more than eight years at Leo
in India. However, Gandhi continues to be the Prabhu Chawla was designated the editor (lan- Burnett where among other brands, he also
director in Den’s TV distribution company and guages) and chief executive officer of the SBU worked on McDonald’s.
still serves as an advisor of the company and its along with being consulting editor to Business
joint venture entities. Today. Before the development, Chawla was in THE FINAL LAP
charge of editorship of India Today - English Major developments in the print sector in the
MID-YEAR SHIFTS and international editions, as well as its related final quarter of the year included Niranjan
In the third quarter of the year, another senior extensions. Vidyasagar’s elevation to the post of head, digi-
employee of Open magazine decided to exit. tal business at Mid-Day Infomedia. Vidyasagar
The editor-in-chief of the magazine, Sandipan MJ Akbar took over who has been associated with Mid-Day for over
Deb decided to call it Chawla’s responsibili- five years replaced Nirvan Biswas.
quits. Deb was associ- ties at India today as
ated with the magazine editorial director along The Economist roped in Mahesh Nambiar as
since its launch for with the added respon- sales director, India towards the end of the year.
over two and a half sibility of Headlines He joined the weekly newspaper from MSM
years. Before joining Today as editorial (erstwhile Sony Entertainment Television)
Open, he was with director of the channel. where, during his five-year stint, he was respon-
Outlook magazine. Akbar reports to Aroon 7KH6XQGD\*XDUGLDQ sible for heading all-India sales for AXN.
2SHQ0DJD]LQH
SUSHIL KUMAR

Purie, chairperson and ,QGLD7RGD\

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1RW\HWGHFLGHG
Deb was replaced by editor-in-chief, India $.%$5 At The Economist, Nambiar’s mandate is to
'(%
3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5
PEOPLE 0(',$22+
increase the market share in the domestic news- Genesis, among others. in the final one as well. Conflict of interest and
paper ad space and to use his experience to overlap led to the much talked about Sameer
develop the international ad market as well. Before joining Big FM, Sahjwani was with the Manchanda-Raghav Bahl split after an asso-
BCCL group as chief creative consultant where ciation of five years.
Besides MSM, he was responsible for revamping Zoom and
Nambiar has also offering creative insights to Radio Mirchi. Manchanda, the man who helped set up IBN18
worked at STAR India Broadcast along with Rajdeep Sardesai for the
for seven years as sen- Other significant developments included the Network18 group, decided to resign as joint
ior manager and has elevation of Neeraj Chaturvedi within the managing director of the company in October.
had stints at India and HT Media group. Simultaneously, Bahl, founder and managing
Eastern Engineers and Chaturvedi, who was director of Network18, quit from the board
Bennett, Coleman & the chief operating of DEN Networks, the cable distribution firm
Co (BCCL). officer (North and established by Manchanda.
5DGLR&LW\ East) at Fever FM, was
5HG)0
FM stations too promoted to the posi- While Manchanda cited the need to focus on
%$58$
witnessed some sig- tion of head, solutions his own venture, Den, as the reason for this
nificant changes at the marketing team, HT ‘break-up’, the move, according to industry
senior management level. Rana Barua for- Media. Having joined experts, was prompted because of TV18 deci-
mally took charge at Red FM as business head Fever 104 FM in +70HGLD*URXS sion to walk into a distribution agreement with
in November. Barua, who spent four years at 2006, Chaturvedi has the Sun TV group to form Sun18 that would
&+$7859(',
Radio City as the executive vice-president and also had worked with distribute 33 channels. These also included
programming head, had put in his papers earlier Tata Administrative Network18’s group of channels such as Colors,
in the year. Services where he spent almost a decade. MTV, CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN and VH1. It
is pertinent to note here that Den has a joint
Barua says his decision was prompted by Much like the first quarter’s big news, the venture distribution bouquet with STAR India
the fact that Red FM was a part of a much media fraternity was in for another big surprise and Star Den. „
larger network. Like Bhatia, Barua too sees
trying times ahead for FM radio with licensing
issues, rolling out of Phase III and even news
broadcasting. 22+
Big FM made another arly last year, Gautam Jhanjee joined
addition to its senior
management team with
Sunil Sahjwani tak-
E MOMS, Madison’s outdoor division
as deputy general manager, North. He
took over the reins from Krishnendu
ing over as national Ghosh, who had moved to Milestone Brandcom,
programming director. Nabendu Bhattacharyya’s OOH venture, as
At the helm of the regional head, North.
creative programming %&&/
team spread across %LJ)0 Having spent almost a year with MOMS, Jhanjee 1DYLD$VLD 3RVWHU3XEOLFLW\
0HGLDVFRSH3XEOLFLWDV /*$G
the country, Sahjwani 6$+-:$1, later put in his papers with the company and 7$1'21 02+$17<
works with the corpo- joined US Adcom in mid-December to head the
rate team on the programming strategy, its new business development functions.
execution and sales enables. sales and marketing, TDI International put in his
In January, Gourav Tandon, national director papers. In March, he went on to join Mudra Max
An ex-advertising professional, Sahjwani is also at OOH specialist network, Navia Asia (an arm as senior vice-president focusing on strengthen-
known to have played an instrumental role in of ZenithOptimedia) was promoted to the post ing the agency’s outdoor business. Raj Mohanty,
launching Channel V in India. of chief operating officer (India). Tandon was in senior business director, Poster Publicity called
charge of business development since April 2009. it quits moving to LG Ad, a Korean creative
With over 20 years of experience, he has worked He eventually moved out of Navia Asia later. agency as general manager.
in the creative function at companies such as RK
Swamy BBDO, Percept Picture Company and In February, Vikas Bhambri, vice-president, In November 2009, telecom brand Uninor
3(23/(029(0(1762)7+(<($5
PEOPLE 22+
appointed Navia Asia as its outdoor agency. The Prabhudev, an OOH
latter brought in Aman Chaudhary as national professional with
client services director in February, just to handle about 15 years of expe-
the Uninor account. Chaudhary was deputy gen- rience, moved in from
eral manager, Percept OOH, before this move. the DPI Group and
Media 24x7, two sister
NORTH AND SOUTH concerns with interests
MPG Active, part of MPG India, appointed in OOH digital print- '3,*URXSDQG0HGLD[ 7LPHV22+ 0XGUD0$;
Rajeev Luthra as business director. This is ing, media and sports 0LOHVWRQH%UDQGFRP /0* .LQHWLF*URXS0
Luthra’s first stint in the OOH domain. marketing, where he 35$%+8'(9 6+$+ 0,75$
spent five years.
In April, Reliance Media World announced the GroupM as its head, strategy and planning.
appointment of Navneeth Mohan to head its The agency also roped in J Prakash as busi- Mandeep Malhotra, who was till recently sen-
BTL offerings covering events and activations. ness head, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Prakash was ior vice-president of Primesite, at OOH solutions
Mohan has spent almost a decade in the events the group account manager, Ogilvy Landscapes unit of Mudra MAX, was promoted to the post of
business at Encompass, a WPP group company. before this move. president, OOH services at the agency.

Laqshya’s erstwhile president, projects, Indrajit POSTER BOYS Madhuri Sapru, managing partner, Kinetic &
Sen, took over as CEO in April. Sen was also Navia Asia was in the news again when it Dialect South Asia, who handled the position
made responsible for both the media owner- announced the appointment of Cyrus Dumasia since mid 2006, put in her papers in September.
ship business and the agency business, OMI, at as head, Western region. He joined Navia from She had joined Kinetic after Pratap Bose joined
Laqshya Media. This development followed the TDI International. O&M India as CEO.
exit of Satish Singh, president, OMI. In a par-
allel development, Soumitra Bhattacharyya, Starcom MediaVest Following the resignation of Sapru, Kinetic
who had quit Laqshya in February 2009 after Group India promoted appointed Rajul Kulshreshtha as its managing
spending two years as CEO came back and took Kaushik Chakravorty director in November. Kulshreshtha has been
over as president, corporate affairs. as group chief oper- with GroupM for the past six years, initially
ating officer - OOH. heading the LG business and then going on to
In May, RK Swamy Hansa appointed Tyronne This was a newly-cre- head Motivator, a GroupM media agency.
Devros as VP, Hansa Outdoor. He reports to ated position within the 7',,QWHUQDWLRQDO
Surojoy Banerjee, CEO, Hansa Outdoor. Devros group. Sanjay Dayal, 1DYLD$VLD
was VP, Integrid Media, Mumbai. general manager, ITM '80$6,$
moved on to TDI
Aaren Initiative, the Media Services as associate vice-president. By the
outdoor arm of Lintas end of December, Chakravorty was given overall
Media Group (LMG), charge of the outdoor business at SMG.
appointed Charan
Jeet Singh as associ- Mediascope Publicitas strengthened its OOH
ate business director. media team in India with three more appoint- ,70
6WDUFRP0HGLD9HVW*URXS,QGLD 7',0HGLD6HUYLFHV
Reporting to Vivek ments. Anirudh Kanade came on board as
Lakhwara, CEO, Aaren vice-president, projects. Sanjay Malkani, and &+$.5$9257< '$<$/
Initiative, Singh will /DTVK\D0HGLD Gulrez Haider also joined as assistant vice-
take care of the agency’s %+$77$&+$5<<$ president, West, and AVP North respectively.
existing clients in the The end of the year saw Katha Mediatix, the OOH
North zone. Hemanth Shah, executive vice-president and arm of Mumbai-based Katha Group, make two
revenue head, Times OOH, moved to Lintas significant appointments to strengthen its new
Media sales company Publicitas roped in Robin Media Group (LMG) as president, OOH business verticals. It brought on board Pabitra
Carruthers to head Mediascope Publicitas. Initiatives. Roy as chief creative officer and Aniruddha
June also saw Milestone Brandcom Pal as executive vice-president, strategic alli-
bring on board Ganesh Prabhudev Primesite, Mudra MAX’s OOH solutions unit ance. Roy was senior vice-president, creative,
as regional head, South India and member, roped in Monisha Mitra as general manager. BEI Confluence, a creative agency, while Pal was
executive committee. Prior to this appointment, she was with Kinetic, business head, Planman Marcom. „
2%,78$5,(6

By BIPRORSHEE DAS REST IN PEACE

They will be missed. Afaqs! Reporter joins the fraternity in paying tributes to those who
passed away last year.

colleague at Ogilvy, Sridhar, who now heads the first three letters of Radha and Eustace.
Ideas RS says, “He gave me the opportunity
to grow as I wanted to at the agency.” Sridhar Fernandes will also be remembered for Limca’s
particularly remembers the time in 1976 when ‘Lime n Lemoni Limca’ campaign. He launched
Ogilvy’s Chennai office lost four of its core the Limca logo and worked on the brand for its
members in an air crash and Sridhar was the campaigns in print, outdoor and cinema.
only person who survived. Ayer, who operated
out of the Mumbai office, visited the Chennai Sylvester da Cunha, chairperson, DaCunha
office every week and along with Sridhar, met Associates becomes nostalgic as he says, “His
the bereaved families. “It was an eye-opener for was the most creative mind responsible for
me,” he says about the man with a razor sharp many award-winning ads that have passed into
brain and a large heart. history.

Padamsee, who headed the creative function The early LIC ads and James Finlay (fashion
at Lowe Lintas, remembers Ayer as one of brand) were created by him. He also applied his
the nicest gentlemen he met in advertising. talent to create communication for the uplifting
His keen interest in finance led people to of the deprived children.” His son, Rahul, who
describe him as an ad man who thought like is the creative director at DaCunha Associates
a banker. „ thinks that Fernandes was simply India’s best

650$1,$<(5

cartoonist and a real genius.

Bharat Dabholkar, ad veteran, theatre person-

T
he beginning of the year saw the demise ality and the man behind many Amul Butter
of SR (Mani) Ayer. Ogilvy’s ex-head ads, says, “Who can deny Fernandes’ brilliance
honcho passed away on February 9. of creating the Amul moppet? Those were
He was 75. Ayer moulded today’s advertising different times and the team at ASP created a
veterans like Piyush Pandey and was a peer to revolutionary campaign called Amul Butter. The
others like Alyque Padamsee, R Sridhar and original creation is commendable.”
Roda Mehta among others. Ailing for a while,
Ayer was living in his hometown Chennai. Ayer Padamsee too remembers Fernandes as not a
is survived by his wife, son and daughter. typical advertising person.

By the time he retired from Ogilvy in January “He always emerged as a brilliant artist and
1994, Ayer had spent 36 years at the agency. an intense worker. Fernandes created a his-
Ayer joined Ogilvy, then known as SH Benson toric mascot, next only to Air India’s Maharaja.
India, in 1958 as a copywriter and took over Behind his quiet demeanour lay a great sense of
the reins of the agency in 1973 as its managing humour,” he says. „
director when he was only 38. Ogilvy was the
only agency that the legend worked with. Before
joining Ogilvy, he was a journalist with the Free
Press Journal. (867$&()(51$1'(6

W
Responsible for bringing in talented individuals hen the ad industry was just getting
like Sridhar, Pandey and many others to Ogilvy, over the shock of Ayer’s departure,
it was Ayer who turned Suresh Mullick into a came more sad news. On March 12,
creative professional. Mullick had joined the Eustace Fernandes, 75, the creator of the cheeky
agency in the servicing team and was shifted Amul girl, passed away.
to the creative side because Ayer saw the spark
in him. Mullick went on to create history with The cartoonist and illustrator, is remembered as
the Freedom Films, which include Mile sur mera an ‘intense worker’ and a ‘brilliant artist’.
tumhara, Freedom torch and Desh Raag.
Way back in 1966, the Amul account was given
‘A man with a large heart’, ‘Someone who was to an advertising agency called Advertising and
more than just a boss’, ‘Friend, mentor, guide Sales Promotion (ASP). The team of Sylvester
and so much more,’ are just some of the expres- da Cunha, Fernandes, Usha Katrak and Marie
sions colleagues use to describe Ayer. For the Pinto worked on the account creating the
most part, he is remembered as an extremely immortal tagline, ‘Utterly butterly delicious
kind-hearted, disciplined man, who believed in
the philosophy, Work is Worship.
Amul’. The rest, as they say, is history.
.00$7+(:
After working on Amul for three years, Fernandes

T
Pandey, executive chairperson and creative left the agency. Later, in 1974, he along with he print industry lost KM Mathew, the
director, Ogilvy South Asia, remembers Ayer as Usha Katrak, K Kurian, Fernandes and Radha veteran from Malayala Manorama on
a tough and sincere person. “He was the creative Khambadkone set up Radeus Advertising. As a August 1. The 93-year old chief editor of
light for us all these years,” he says. Pandey’s matter of fact, the word Radeus originated from the publication leaves behind him a rich legacy.

96 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

2%,78$5,(6
REST IN PEACE
Interestingly, Mathew nurtured dreams of paper, he or she starts scribbling away. That was
becoming a planter before joining Malayala the beginning of the Parker idea of ‘Makes you
Manorama as general manager in 1954. The want to write more’,” he says.
measure of his dedication to work can be gauged
from this fact: he attended office even the day Kamal Basu, chief executive officer, Saatchi &
before his death. Saatchi, calls Narasimhan an idea-a-minute guy.
“I got to know Nandu better during his second
Colleagues remember him as a great, humble stint with us. He was overtly passionate about
man, who made it a point to know each and the work at hand and his mind was always tick-
every member of his staff by his or her first ing. His quitting was a loss to Saatchi. However,
name. Almost everyone who has worked for with Solutions Digitas being a partner company,
or interacted with Mathew cherishes the time the proximity did not disappear. I wish strength
spent under his tutelage. TR Gopalakrishnan, to his wife and daughter to cope with the loss,”
editor-in-charge, The Week, says, “It falls to few says Basu. „
people to leave the kind of legacy left behind by
KM Mathew.”

As chief editor of the Malayala Manorama

Group, he led the expansion and growth of the
Malayala Manorama daily newspaper. It became 1$1'81$5$6,0+$1
one of the country’s largest circulated newspa-

W
pers with editions in India and abroad. hen it came, the news stunned the ad
world. Just 46, the national creative
Recalling his interaction with Mathew when director of Solutions Digitas, Nandu
they launched Week in 1982, Gopalakrishnan Narasimhan, succumbed to a heart attack on
says, “It was a bold experiment then - to launch November 12. He is survived by his wife and a
an English news magazine from Kerala, taking daughter.
on established publications such as India Today
and Sunday,” he says. An ad veteran, teacher and a fine human being,
Narasimhan is fondly remembered by peers and
Gopalakrishnan considers Mathew a people’s colleagues as a fun-loving person. Narasimhan
man and a constant practitioner of what is today began his career with Tara Sinha Associates
called soft skills. “He always stood by his jour- in 1989 as a copywriter. Thereafter, he moved
nalists, peppering them with ideas - even his to Everest Integrated Communications, Delhi,

5$-(6+$0/$
criticisms were couched in praise,” he says. where he worked on brands such as Viva,
Maltova and LML Vespa.
Sachidananda Murthy, resident editor,

C
Malayala Manorama and The Week, remem- A four-year stint at Lowe (then Lintas) fol- hristmas eve turned bitter when Percept
bers Mathew as a phenomenon that walked lowed in 1993, where he handled brands such as Rural’s business head, Rajesh Amla was
the hard path in Malayalam journalism and Maruti, Xerox Casablanca and Steel Authority of killed in an accident on the Delhi-
left glorious footprints. He says that Mathew India. His next move was to TBWA India, where Chandigarh highway on December 22 while on
retained his green thumb. “Everything he he stayed for two years, before moving back to his way for a family vacation.
sowed in journalism struck root and yielded Lowe for two more years
fruit,” he adds. With over 24 years of experience, Amla was
Narasimhan also worked with Contract and responsible for driving rural marketing initia-
During his tenure with the group, Mathew Grey as creative director and regional creative tives and tapping the growing market of smaller
nurtured magazines like Manorama Weekly, director, respectively. In June 2006, he moved to villages, towns and cities at Percept OOH. He
Balarama and Vanitha. In 1956, he revived Saatchi & Saatchi for his first stint at the agency. had successfully launched leading brands, set
Manorama Weekly to make it one of the best He then headed to Vyas Gianetti Creative for a up new and profitable businesse and created
selling magazines in India. short spell, before returning to Saatchi & Saatchi new concepts and strategies. He is particularly
as executive creative director in 2008. remembered for providing unique rural solu-
Varghese Chandy, senior general manager, mar- tions for political parties - Congress during the
keting operations, Malayala Manorama fondly Narasimhan was a big favourite among his stu- 1998 elections and the BJP in 1999.
remembers him as a boss who had a unique style dents. The tributes poured in, from all over.
of functioning. “He was a person who believed KV Sridhar, who worked with Narasimhan for A grieving Sanjay Pareek, president, Percept
in giving you not only responsibility but also the three years in Lowe Lintas, Delhi on LG and OOH, says that he was just about to call Amla
full freedom to execute it the way you wanted Parker accounts, says, “He was a good human on a ‘big lead’ when, to his shock, he got the
to. In fact, he never shied away from giving big being first. A fun-loving guy, committed and news. “I was dialing his number and received
responsibilities to the juniors as well. He used to hardworking at the same time. LG was a very a call from his mobile, informing me that he
put in so much confidence in his subordinates demanding business to be on and Nandu would had passed away. It was a shock. Rajesh was
that one felt the pressure to execute the task spend days in office and never shy away from an important teammate and one of the well-
perfectly.” responsibilities. He was also a great leader who known faces in the rural communication field,”
cheerfully led by example.” Pareek says.
Murthy recalls Mathew as a much admired
leader among newspaper owners as he never Pops remembers that while working on Parker, Pareek also mentions how positive Amla was
looked at other papers as rivals. “He was all for Narasimhan came to his place and how they and the confidence that he had. “I was talking
competition, which spurred action, improved stumbled on a discovery. “Balki and I were busy to him just some time back about next year’s
skills and whetted the desire for excellence. He through the day. He came home to discuss the budget exercise. After sharing his short-term
wanted all newspapers to thrive so that there Parker campaign. It was while we were drinking vision for the rural vertical, he added: ‘We will
would be multiplicity of views. This he called and having fun that we stumbled upon a great over achieve this year’s budget and, at least, dou-
democracy in journalism.” „ insight - when you give someone a pen and ble it the next year,” remembers Pareek. „

98 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 '($/60 $,32V

By SHRIJA AGRAWAL DEALS M&A IPOS

REGIONAL MEDIA IS WHERE THE ACTION IS: Consolidations, the growth of DTH
growth and PE deals in regional media marked industry trends in 2010.

the South), which explains the dream run that

regional media has had over the past two years.
This is also evident going by a few listed language
media companies – for example, Sun TV’s April-
December 2010-11 revenues grew by more than
42 per cent and Jagran’s April-December 2010-11
revenues grew by 15 per cent year on year.

In one of the biggest deals, PE firm Blackstone

infused $50 million (`225 crore) into Jagran Media
Network, which holds a 55 per cent stake in the
listed entity Jagran Prakashan - owner of Dainik
Jagran. Also, in March 2010, Jupiter Entertainment
Ventures acquired a 26 per cent stake in Kannada
Prabha for $14.46 million (`65 crore) from Express
Publications (Madurai).

PRIVATE ACTION
Private equity action in media either stagnated or
saw a contraction. There were nine deals worth
$131.9 (`594 crore) million in 2010 compared to
eight deals worth $249.42 million in 2009. And in

$PRQJWKHSULYDWHHTXLW\
TIFFIN BOX

GHDOVWKDWKDSSHQHGLQWKH
SUHGRPLQDQWWKHPHWKDWHPHUJHG
t is time to recap some of the most as consumption increases and media penetration ZDVIDLWKLQWKHODQJXDJH
I significant events in the Indian media
industry, which experienced an eventful
2010 after a period of lull.
leads to further consumerism.

Going by the macro trends observed, there is an

PHGLD
increasing penetration of TV and print in tier II 2008, there were 14 deals amounting to $521 mil-
Two key trends that marked the year for the cities, along with more radio towns to be licensed. lion. Though the capital markets improved from
industry were consolidation and a rise in invest- Only 30 per cent of TV sets are sold in metro and 2009, there was not much private equity action for
ments and deals in the regional media space. tier I cities, 70 per cent of DTH connections are this year as a lot of PE firms preferred to stay on
While private equity fund-raising activity was from non-metro towns. the sidelines owing to high valuations.
marginally down in 2010 (compared to 2009), it
did witness a lot of top private equity funds betting Marketers are realising that metros are saturating Among the PE deals that happened, the pre-
on this vibrant space. Here are some key trends in terms of product and service penetration and dominant theme that emerged was faith in the
that defined 2010 and may well be an indicator are rushing to tier II and III towns and semi-urban language media. Apart from the Blackstone-Jagran
to the deal-making environment in Indian media areas where rising urbanisation is boosting con- deal, SAIF Partners, another mid-market private
through the next year. sumer spends on branded products and services. equity firm, put $11.46 million(`51.6 crore) into
The second India (tier II and III towns and semi- Associated Broadcasting - a fast growing media
AWAY FROM THE CENTRES urban areas) always had purchasing power and company headquartered in Andhra Pradesh which
If the theme of 2009 was Indian media’s impres- they continued to spend even during the down- owns properties like TV9 Karnataka (Kannada
sive escape from the global downturn, 2010 saw turn that impacted urban India more than the news), TV9 Gujarat (Gujarati news), Indiavision
continued growth, mostly from regional media. other India (because of job loss fears). (Malayalam news), Kolkata TV (Bengali news)
and TV1 (a niche channel in Telugu devoted to
India is one of the largest media markets in the These consumers are best reached by langu- spirituality, entertainment and news).
world. Sample these statistics: Over 500 channels, media (print in the North and West and TV in
135 million TV homes, 600 million viewers, 410 In another transaction, Mauritius-based private
million newspaper readers and about 3.9 billion equity fund SIDOFI Communication Investment
movie tickets sold. Even so the Indian media story
is largely an underpenetrated market.
0DUNHWHUVDUHUHDOLVLQJWKDWPHWURVDUH acquired nearly 10 per cent stake in Kerala-based
broadcaster Asianet Communications (backed by
VDWXUDWLQJLQWHUPVRISURGXFWDQG leading broadcaster Star TV India). A significant
The long term drivers of the Indian media growth
story remain intact with media consumption on VHUYLFHSHQHWUDWLRQDQGDUH step up in the valuation for this deal indicates the
unwavering faith of the PE funds in the phenome-
the rise due to changing lifestyles and income.
It is also becoming clearer that the next phase of
UXVKLQJWRWLHU,,DQG,,,WRZQVDQG nal growth of the southern cable television market.
What makes the case stronger for the language
growth will emanate from rural or regional media VHPLXUEDQDUHDV media is the fact that those who invested in the

1 0 0 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

'($/60 $,32V
DEALS M&A IPOs
GETTING TOGETHER
As the bulls came back in 2010 so did the appetite for mergers and acquisitions. Some major M&A deals:

MONTH TARGET BUYER M&A TYPE DEAL VALUE ($ MN) SECTOR

January Taj Television Zee Entertainment Enterprises Outbound 44.14 Broadcasting
February TexTech International Jouve Inbound 5.41 Publishing
March Kannada Prabha Jupiter Entertainment Venture Domestic 14.46 Publishing
April 9X Zee Entertainment Enterprises Domestic 14.40 Broadcasting
April Silver Editions Integra Software Services Outbound 4.00 Publishing
April UFO Moviez India Ltd. (3D Broadcast Rights) Scrabble Entertainment Domestic 0.56 Broadcasting
May Broadcast Initiatives Housing Development & Infrastructure Domestic 2.30 Broadcasting
May Glyph International Cenveo Inbound - Publishing
May IBH Books and Magazines Distributors ACK Media Domestic - Publishing
May Mid-Day Infomedia Jagran Prakashan Domestic 44.57 Publishing
May NDTV Studios New Delhi Television Domestic - Broadcasting
July Digicable Network India Reliance Communications Domestic - Cable and Satellite
July Turmeric Vision Astro All Asia Networks Domestic - Broadcasting
August GETIT Infoservices Astro All Asia Networks Domestic 21.85 Publishing
August NDTV Lifestyle Holding Astro All Asia Networks Inbound 40.00 Broadcasting
September Instamedia Times Internet Domestic 4.00 Publishing
September Turmeric Vision Mogae Group Domestic - Broadcasting
October Dancewithshadows Mindworks Global Media Services Domestic - Publishing
October Ver se Innovation NA Domestic 2.25 Publishing
November Carwale.com Axel Springer and India Today Inbound - Publishing
Source: VCCEdge - a financial research platform of VCCircle

mainstream burnt their fingers. In the second One of the most active players on the M&A side scribers between January and September 2010.
round of capital infusion, New Silk Route, a PE was Astro All Asia Networks buying GETIT While profitability is some distance away, the stock
firm founded by blue chip investors Rajat Gupta Infoservices for $21.85 million (`98 crore), NDTV market has already rewarded Dish TV by doubling
and Parag Saxena, invested $12 million(`54 mil- Lifestyle Holding for $40 million(`180 crore) and its stock price in the past six months. Industry
lion) in INX Media. This was to recapitalise INX Turmeric Vision, the television company owned participants are confident of adding another 10-12
Media. Four PE investors, who committed $170 by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and his wife million subscribers in 2011. The question now is:
million three years back, are now the major share- Alyona Kapoor. will cable companies take cognizance of this or go
holders after the original promoters Peter and slow on their customer acquisition while DTH
Indrani Mukerjea made a sudden exit from the As part of consolidating its present genres Zee creams the market?
company in 2009. Entertainment (it had already acquired eight
regional channels from Zee News and two A GOOD RUN
Other deals include Elephant Capital, a PE firm from its subsidiary ETC Networks in 2009), The BSE benchmark index - Sensex - gained 3044
backed by Dabur group’s Gaurav Burman, acquir- bought into Taj Television (promoters of Ten points to end the year at 20509, moving up 17.4 per
ing a minority stake in children’s book company Sports) by increasing its stake to 95 per cent from cent on the back of a resilient domestic economy,
ACK Media - that publishes popular titles such as 50 per cent. Zee also bought distressed India’s demographic dividend, strong consumer
Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle and Karadi Tales - for Hindi GEC 9X (of INX Media) making the demand, less reliance on exports, benign oil prices
£3.2 million (`22 crore). most of the opportunity. The deal not only gave and strong global liquidity.
it Hindi content, which it can capitalise by put-
CONSOLIDATE, CONSOLIDATE ting it on its international network, but also led Though few in number, media companies also
The M&A activity in the media space saw an to tax savings because of the accumulated losses had a decent run at the capital markets. The Hindi
upward surge from nine deals worth $178.35 mil- on 9X’s books. language publication arm of the Hindustan Times
lion in 2009 to 19 deals amounting $197.94 million Group, Hindustan Media Ventures (HMVL)
(`890.7 crore) in 2010. This was largely buoyed THE DTH LEAP made a reasonable debut on the stock exchange
by the fact that a host of foreign media players are The direct-to-home industry was on a roll in 2010 listing at a premium of around 3 per cent.
looking at strengthening their position in Indian with the calendar year full of sporting events and
media or picking up distressed plays. Moreover, DTH operators spending more than $130 million Eros International Media, the Indian movie dis-
there are a few Indian media companies undergo- in advertising and promotions. tribution arm of AIM (Alternative Investment
ing domestic consolidation or restructuring. Market)-listed Eros International, made a block-
What is even more heartening is that 70 per buster debut on local stock exchange (listing
cent of the net additions on the DTH platform at 22 per cent premium on the issue price of
7KH'7+LQGXVWU\ZDVRQDUROOZLWKWKH came from outside the top 100 towns of India.
The latent demand for a better TV-viewing
`175). Hyderabad-based animation firm, DQ
Entertainment, received a robust response from
FDOHQGDU\HDUIXOORIVSRUWLQJHYHQWVDQG experience is percolating to the sales of these investors. The issue was subscribed 86.33 times on
DTH operators. the last day of issue. „
RSHUDWRUVVSHQGLQJPRUHWKDQ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLOOLRQ`FURUH India’s largest DTH operator, Dish TV, is all set
to cross the 10 million (gross) subscriber base by
The author is Assistant Editor at VCCircle, a Delhi-
based news provider for the investment ecosystem. The
LQDGYHUWLVLQJDQGSURPRWLRQV the next quarter. It added over 1.8 million sub- author can be reached at [email protected]

1 0 2 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

,17(51$7,21$/',*,7$/75(1'6

By KAPIL OHRI DIGITALTRENDS

We try to decode and understand a few digital tools, trends or technologies that generated a
lot of buzz last year, globally. The reverberations were felt in India too.

Motorola, Acer, HTC, LG and Dell. through Android Marketplace or an app store. For
instance, a movie ticket booking site can develop
Another reason - apart from the fact that it an application to enable Android users to book
was open source - that contributed to Android’s movie tickets through it.
popularity and hype was the availability of free
applications (apps) on its application store called Uʘ‡>««Ê>`ÛiÀ̈Ș}\ÊÊMarketers can explore the
Android Market. Interestingly, a few mobile opportunity of inserting ads inside mobile phone
brands like Samsung and Olive aggressively adver- applications that are compatible with Android
tised their tablet personal computers - Galaxy and OS. For instance, mobile ad networks owned by
Olive pad respectively (powered by Android) - on Google (AdMob) and Singapore-based BuzzCity
the plank of these applications. serve ads on Android applications. AdMob offers
expandable and click-to-call banner ad options.

Big? Bigger?
Though no official data
is available on the mar-
ket size of Android OS
in India, it is estimated
that less than 1 per cent

ANDROID
of total smartphones
available in India are
powered by Android.
ndroid is About 3,300 Android

A Google’s open-
source mobile
Operating
powered mobile devices
are sold daily. That fig-
ure is expected to go up to 10,000 this year as more Alternatively, marketers can opt for text or graphic
System (OS), which is marketers launch Android-based devices. ads served on Android-based applications available
available for free. The lat- on, or affiliated to, BuzzCity’s mobile ad network.
est version (2.3) is called According to industry estimates, more than 3 lakh Android apps are sold primarily on the basis of cost
Gingerbread, while the Android enabled mobile devices are activated daily per click or cost per thousand ad impressions. „
next version (3.0) will be globally. In the US, Android has already gained a

MOBILE WEB
named Honeycomb. So significant market share in the mobile OS market.
what’s the buzz? According to comScore, more than 19 per cent of
the smartphones sold in the US, in August 2010,
The popularity were powered by Android. The rest of the break- obile web refers to access of internet-
Android gained attention in 2010 as various new
and existing mobile handset marketers opted to
launch smartphones on the Android OS platform
up - 37.6 per cent of the smartphones were based
on the Blackberry OS, 24.2 per cent on Apple iOS
while Microsoft Window’s Mobile had a 10.8 per
M connected content such as websites,
applications, videos and games through
mobile devices like GPRS-enabled
at different and affordable prices. cent share in the same month. On the apps front, mobile handset or tablet computer.
Google recently declared that more than 1 lakh
Samsung, for instance, unveiled its Android-based downloadable applications are now available on The rise of mobile web
phone, Galaxy S, for `28,000 while Micromax the Android platform. Year 2010 witnessed a remarkable growth in the
launched an Android-based smartphone (named number of mobile web users. According to one
‘A60’) at a much lower, sub-`7000 range. Is it worth the hype? industry estimate, the number of active mobile web
The Android user base in India could reach or users – those who access the internet on mobile
By the end of 2010, more than 30 Android cross the 4 million mark by the end of 2011, if it devices at least once a week – in India, increased
OS-based mobile phone models - 3G-enabled grows by three times the speed it has up to now. from 8 million (2009) to about 20 million in 2010.
with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth facilities - were Last year, it grew at 1 lakh units per month. But It is expected that the number of mobile web users
available in India, marketed by various players even so, it has a lot of catching up to do. Symbian, will cross the 35 million mark in 2011.
like Micromax, Spice, Videocon, Samsung, the leader, is miles ahead. It is estimated that it will
be the OS on over 35 million units next year. Though many mobile users do not access the
web through Opera Mini browser, the statistics
/HVVWKDQSHUFHQWRIWRWDOVPDUWSKRQHV However, there is another perspective to it. It is
expected that an Android user - a person who
revealed by the browser company indicate that
mobile web usage is exploding. According to
LQ,QGLDDUHSRZHUHGE\$QGURLG7KH can afford a mobile phone of an average price of Opera’s ‘State of the Mobile Web’ report, the
`12,000, is highly networked and connected and number of mobile web pages viewed per user (in a
$QGURLGXVHUEDVHFRXOGUHDFKRUFURVVWKH appreciates technology. Such a prospect would month) increased from 339 in December 2009 to
PLOOLRQPDUNE\WKHHQGRILILWV be more attractive from a marketer’s viewpoint
compared to a low-cost (less than `5,000) mobile
433 in November 2010 in India.

XVHUEDVHZKLFKZDVJURZLQJDWODNK handset user. In India, Facebook was the second most visited
destination on the mobile web in November 2010
XQLWVSHUPRQWKLQăJRHVXSE\ The marketing opportunity (it was at No 3 in 2009). Google occupied the top
ODNKXQLWVSHUPRQWKLQ UÊ À>˜`i`Ê>««ˆV>̈œ˜Ã\ÊCompanies can create
branded mobile applications and distribute them
slot, as it has for the past two years. Other busy
sites with Indians on the mobile were Orkut.com,

104 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

,17(51$7,21$/',*,7$/75(1'6
DIGITAL TRENDS $5281'7+(:25/'
helped the mobile web market grow. page. Clicking on the ad gave the users two options
- click2web which took them to CCD’s Facebook
The availability of free applications (apps) - like in- page and click2route which directed users to the
built Facebook and Twitter apps combined with nearest CCD. The company claims that it received
affordable internet data plans and GPRS-enabled a 7 per cent click-through rate within 24 hours
of the launch of the campaign. About 3,702 ad
impressions were served on the first day and about
263 users clicked to see the ad, of which 73 looked
,WLVHVWLPDWHGWKDWXQOLNH3&HQDEOHG at the map to go to the nearest CCD. About 30
landed on its Facebook Page. „
ZHEXVDJHZKLFKLVSUHGRPLQDQWO\
UHVWULFWHGWR6(&$RU%W\SHXVHUVLQ FOURSQUARE.COM
XUEDQRUVHPLXUEDQWRZQVLQ,QGLD 4SQ
oursquare.com caught the attention of
PRELOHLQWHUQHWFRQVXPSWLRQZLOOVSUHDG
DFURVVWKHFRXQWU\ F users when it was covered extensively
by many prominent digital media blogs
like Mashable.com and Readwriteweb.
com. Also, its popularity among early adopters or
mobile phone - could have been the trigger that set digital addicts who made it a regular part of their
off such frequent usage of the mobile web in India. Facebook and Twitter updates, aroused the curios-
Facebook.com tied up with various mobile opera- ity of various netizens and marketers in India.
tors like Airtel and Videocon and made available its
mobile version called 0.Facebook.com for free. It Foursquare is a location-based social media tool,
conveys that users are not charged for internet data game, application or service, which enables users
consumed, when they access and used Facebook to broadcast their physical or geographical loca-
via 0.Facebook.com. tion and earn virtual points. The user can add tips,
comments, photos and key in additional informa-
The marketing opportunity tion regarding the venue, whenever he publishes
The significant growth and increased usage of his location update via Foursquare.
mobile web will help marketers reach a large num-
ber of digital media users, directly, in non-metros Members can access the Foursquare service and
Youtube.com, Getjar.com, Zedge.net (a content and tier II and III towns, apart from top metro update their location by visiting the website or
website that offers ringtones, themes, wallpa- cities. It is estimated that unlike PC-enabled web through mobile devices. The user can download
pers and games), Yahoo.com, Wikipedia.com and usage - which is predominantly restricted to SEC
Songs.pk. A or B type users in urban or semi-urban towns
in India - mobile internet consumption is spread
The rise of mobile web usage in 2010 was primar- across the country. And this is what they can do:
ily led by the launch of unlimited and innovative
internet data plans by mobile service providers and UÊ À>˜`i`Ê>««ˆV>̈œ˜ÃÊ>˜`Ê}>“iÃ\ÊMarketers
the availability of low-cost GPRS-enabled phones, can create branded applications and games and
believe industry experts. make it available to users through mobile applica- (a phone-specific feature) the Foursquare mobile
tions stores owned by operators (like Aircel and application from its website.
In 2010, most of the mobile operators like Aircel, Airtel), mobile handset marketers (Blackberry,
Apple or Nokia) and on Android apps stores. The application will use the GPS facility of the
phone to update the user’s location. The inter-
Bajaj Allianz recently launched a mobile app for net firm also offers the facility to update location
7KHH[SORVLRQLQPRELOHZHEXVDJHLQ tax planning. It is a calculator that enables users through text-SMS.
ZDVSULPDULO\OHGE\WKHODXQFKRI to compute their tax liability. The app is compat-
ible with almost all mobile handsets like Nokia, Users can also integrate their Foursquare account
LQQRYDWLYHLQWHUQHWGDWDSODQVE\PRELOH Samsung and Blackberry, including Android-
supported handsets. NDTV had launched an
with their Facebook and Twitter accounts. This
will enable them to publish the Foursquare
VHUYLFHSURYLGHUVDQGWKHDYDLODELOLW\RI Android application in 2010. The app features location updates on Facebook and Twitter as well.
ORZFRVW*356HQDEOHGSKRQHVEHOLHYH news stories and stream videos live from the TV
channel studios. Here is some commonly-used 4SQ terminology:
LQGXVWU\H[SHUWV UÊœV>̈œ˜‡L>Ãi`Ê>`ÛiÀ̈Ș}Ê­
®\ÊAs users
…iVŽ‡˜\Ê When a user updates his location on
started using the mobile web and experimenting Foursquare, it is called Check-In.
Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Docomo and Uninor with location-based internet tools or sites like
unveiled unlimited internet consumption data Foursquare.com on the move, marketers leveraged >`}i\Ê Badges are virtual rewards that a user
plans for less than `100 per month. Many of them it to track their location and serve ads or promo-
even launched low-cost daily internet plans. For tional offer at a particular spot.
instance, Aircel introduced and extensively pro-
moted Pocket Internet packages like 20 MB of Café Coffee Day (CCD), for instance, tied up with )RXUVTXDUHFRPFDXJKWWKH
free internet usage for a day at `5. Similarly, Tata Nokia to execute a two-month long location-based
Docomo started offering 10 MB of free internet advertising campaign in 2010 to target consumers DWWHQWLRQRIXVHUVZKHQLWZDVFRYHUHG
usage for `5 a day. based on their location and drive them to the near-
est CCD outlet.
H[WHQVLYHO\E\PDQ\SURPLQHQW
The launch of affordable (less than ` 7,000) GLJLWDOPHGLDEORJVLQFOXGLQJ0DVKDEOH
GPRS-enabled phones, especially by com- Nokia users with models like the N97 and above
panies like Micromax, Spice and Intex also were served CCD ads on the weather or events DQG5HDGZULWHZHE

106 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

,17(51$7,21$/',*,7$/75(1'6
DIGITAL TRENDS $5281'7+(:25/'
TABLETS
earns based on the number of check-ins. runs 4SQ-based contests across its Mumbai and
Hyderabad stores. It rewards repeat visitors (espe-
>ޜÀ\ÊA mayor is the user with the most number cially ‘Mayors’) to its locations with gift vouchers.
of check-ins at a specific place within the past 60
days. Only one check-in per day at one place gets Shoppers Stop launched itself on 4SQ, though it
counted for Mayorship. is not doing much activity around the location-
based social media site. However, it has created
The 4SQ adoption an interesting Facebook-Foursquare application
Launched in 2007, the social media site crossed called Mayors@ShoppersStop (Apps.facebook.
five million users in 2010, globally. In India, its com/mayorsatshoppersstop/mayors.php), which
adoption is still slow and the users’ base is esti- helps a Facebook user to locate Shopper Stop
mated to be less than a lakh. stores and its 4SQ Mayors in various parts of India.

Prominent brands like Jimmy Choo, Red Bull, Is it worth the hype?
McDonald’s, Starbucks, Wall Street Journal, The availability of a huge numbers of afford-
GQ magazine and History Channel have started able smartphones and the launch of 3G mobile
using it globally. According to a mashable.com telephony system in 2011 could fuel the adoption
report, Foursquare.com helped Jimmy Choo and of Foursquare in India.
McDonald’s boost sales.
Foursquare will become even more popular as it
Jimmy Choo employed Foursquare.com for a adds new features. For example, users are now
real-time treasure hunt around London to pro- allowed to add photos and comments related to
mote its trainer shoes. A pair of Jimmy Choo a venue they visit. The Foursquare platform also
trainers checked in (virtually) at various locations allow developers to build third-party mobile appli-
and the news was notified to followers of Jimmy cations.
Choo through Foursquare updates. tablet computer is a touch-screen-

Consumers who actually visited the place - before

the trainers left and checked in at other places
The marketing opportunity
->iÃ\ÊSince Foursquare is related to direct check-
ins or physical visits to locations it is suitable for
A interface-based, lightweight and
internet-enabled mobile device which
can be used to access websites, maps,
(virtually) - got a free pair of shoes. In just three service-oriented outlets like coffee shops, restau- office documents and presentations, games, instant
weeks, over 4,000 trainers were given out. Daily rants or bars and movie theatres, which get repeat messenger chats, e-mails, photos and videos. They
in-store sales went up by 33 per cent at zero adver- visitors more often than an outlet for consumer can also listen to music and read digitised versions
tising cost. durables or an automobile showroom. of books and magazines.

On April 16, 2010, McDonald’s offered free gift Companies can create their brand profile on Additionally, a tablet computer also offers the
cards worth $5 and $10 to 4SQ users who checked Foursquare, present special offers like discounts functionality of calling and sending MMSes and
in at its outlets in the US. In the Mobile Social and reward consumers with gifts and thus get SMSes. A tablet computer is typically smaller than
Conference, held in the US in 2010, Rick Wion repeat visitors and build brand loyalty. a netbook but bigger than a smartphone.
(head of social media, McDonald’s) announced
that McDonald’s was able to increase traffic to its Ûi˜ÌÃ\Ê Foursquare can be used to promote The rise of the tablet
stores by 33 per cent on that day. Globally, the category came into the limelight when
Interestingly, a few local brands experimented Apple launched its tablet computer named iPad in
with Foursquare in India. The New Delhi-based
restaurant Yum Yum Tree created its presence
&RPSDQLHVFDQFUHDWHWKHLUEUDQGSURILOH 2010. iPad is still not available in India officially.

on Foursquare and invited visitors to come to the RQ)RXUVTXDUHSUHVHQWVSHFLDORIIHUVOLNH Various players launched tablets last year. Dell
restaurant and get a free round of draught beer. introduced a tablet computer Streak; Samsung
Mumbai-based restaurant Blue Frog also offers GLVFRXQWVDQGUHZDUGFRQVXPHUVZLWKJLIWV unveiled Galaxy Tab, HP launched Slate 500,
discounts to 4SQ users. DQGWKXVJHWUHSHDWYLVLWRUVDQGEXLOG while Olive Telecom introduced Olive Pad.
Most of them are priced at `23,000 and above.
Malls like Inorbit are active on Foursquare. Inorbit EUDQGOR\DOW\
Apart from the prominent brands, other play-
ers like Notion Ink, a Bangalore-based company
events and confer- announced the launch of an Android-based tablet
ences as well. When - Adam. Another company, HT Impex, launched
a 4SQ user enters and the Zen Pad at an affordable price of `13,999.
updates his location Players like LG and Motorola also plan to roll-out
- which will be the their devices in 2011.
venue in the case of
an event - his 4SQ, Bigger than a Tablet
Facebook and Twitter Though various players - especially Samsung,
friends get to know Dell and Olive Communications – marketed their
about the event. tablet computers extensively through digital and
mainline advertising, the market size of tablet

œ˜ÃՓiÀÊÀiÃi>ÀV…: computers is still minuscule in India. It is esti-
Brands can review mated that about 75,000 tablet computers were
the 4SQ data to find sold in 2010. Most of these were Apple, sourced by
out the type of users consumers primarily from the grey market.
who check-in to the
particular outlet, time It is anticipated that the tablet market in India
of their visit and pur- will cross the 2 lakh unit mark in 2011. Growth
chase pattern. „ will be primarily driven by the affordability

108 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

,17(51$7,21$/',*,7$/75(1'6
DIGITAL TRENDS $5281'7+(:25/'
factor as brands are expected to launch their basic
models below `15,000. Experts believe that tablets AUGMENTED REALITY to download the QR Code reader application.
The user too can download it from websites like
will not become a primary source of internet AND QUICK RESPONSE CODE Reader.Kawya.com. Smartphones come with pre-
consumption this year since they are used just for installed QR Code reader application.
viewing content.
Scalability
The marketing opportunity AR technology seems to be more scalable in the
UÊ ,ˆV…Ê Vœ˜Ìi˜ÌÊ iÝ«iÀˆi˜Vi\Ê The bigger, high- longer run as compared to QR Code. Why?
resolution screens of tablet computers help
marketers and content owners create a more An advertiser who wants to disseminate additional
enriching experience with content on the mobile information with a print ad can replicate the same
devices, compared to smartphones. Content own- experience of accessing information through a QR
ers can build sites specially designed for touch Code by printing the URL or short SMS code
screens or tablet computers. in the ad, instead of embedding the QR Code. If
the QR Code is embedded, the user will have to
UÊ
`ÛiÀ̈Ș}\Ê Marketers who used to focus download an application and click on the code to
mainly on banner and search advertisements retrieve information.
on mobile devices, because of the limitation of
screen-size and resolution, can now leverage the The early adopters
rich content experience of tablet computers to Last year, brands like PepsiCo 7UP, HUL
experiment with other mobile advertising for- Annapurna, Ford Figo, Tata Manza, Fiat Punto,
mats like games, in-game advertising, in-app and Access afaqs! using this QR Code Nike and Mid-Day tested these technologies on
video advertising, which were not tested much on their print ads and packaged material.
mobile devices before. ugmented reality (AR) involves the

Marketers can connect and target tablet computer

users, who are early adopters and, probably, high-
A addition of virtual elements to the real
environment. Virtual elements could
include computer-generated images,
PepsiCo used AR for a two-month-long campaign,
You Click, I (Allu Arjun) Dance, for its 7UP brand
in Andhra Pradesh. Allu Arjun is the Tamil actor,
end consumers or influencers, with ads. video clips or textual information pulled from known for his dancing skills. Arjun is also 7Up’s
the internet while the real environment includes brand ambassador in the South.
UÊ À>˜`i`Ê>««ˆV>̈œ˜Ã\ÊAdvertisers and content elements such as a printed picture, object, or a
owners can build applications which can be used building or landscape. Mid Day started publishing QR Codes in the
by tablet computer owners. Koh, a Thai restaurant newspaper to provide access to rich media content
at Mumbai’s InterContinental, developed an app To retrieve additional or virtual material, the user like videos on mobile phones. Ford Figo shared its
– iKoh - for iPad users. The app allows users to will need an information reader such as a web TV commercial, Punto distributed its mobile bro-
browse the restaurant’s menu for food and bever- camera connected to an internet-enabled com- chure, Annapurna offered users a downloadable
ages and view pictures of dishes. Interestingly, the puter or the camera of a GPRS-enabled mobile mobile application (which provides tips related to
restaurant has started using iPad as ‘interactive phone which can identify the real object and then salt usage) while Nike disseminated information
menu cards’, powered by the iKoh app. pull out virtual information contextually related to related to athletes through QR Codes published
the real object. in their print ads. These QR Code campaigns were
NDTV also created an app for iPad users. The managed by the Bengaluru-based mobile solutions
app will offer news and live videos from various Quick Response (QR) Code is a matrix barcode company, TeliBrahma. „
NDTV channels. „ (or two-dimensional code) which consists of black
modules arranged in a square pattern on white
background. QR Codes are usually printed on Based on interviews with Mahesh Narayan,
newspapers, magazines and outdoor hoardings. AdMob; Prasanth Mohanachandran, AgencyDigi;
,WLVDQWLFLSDWHGWKDWWKHWDEOHWPDUNHW Guneet Singh, ex-cofounder Dealsandyou.com;
LQ,QGLDZLOOFURVVWKHODNKXQLWVLQ To access the content stored in a QR Code, the
user must have an internet-enabled mobile phone
Rajiv Hiranandani, Mobile2Win; Anuj Kumar,
Affle; Kushal Sanghvi, StratosHear Technologies;
*URZWKZLOOEHSULPDULO\GULYHQ camera and a QR Code reader application to open Nimesh Shah, Windchimes Communications;
the QR Code reader application and take a picture Gaurav Mishra, MSL Group; Hrish Dhempe
E\WKHDIIRUGDELOLW\IDFWRUDVEUDQGVDUH of the code. Once clicked, the application will Thota; Flaunge.com; Nimish Dubey, Freelance
H[SHFWHGWRODXQFKWKHLUEDVLFPRGHOV serve the information or content on mobile phone.
It is normally the advertiser who provides the link
Journalist, Manoj Kandasamy, GroupM Interaction
and Lalit Bhise, Mobisy.
PLANS 11
’
3/$16)257+(<($5

NEWS BUREAU

We asked some of the best people in the business of advertising, digital, marketing, out of
home, print and television to talk about their plans for the next year and take a look into the
tomorrow. Here’s what they have to say.

$'9(57,6,1*
And these are the things that worry me: The digital promise: I see social media taking off
Bulls and Bears: The emphasis on financial in both brand strategy and public relations. Mobile
growth, shareholder value and the quarter-to- and virals are at an inflexion point as well. I expect
quarter reporting culture is pushing brand building more zing in digital campaigns now that the indus-
into a corner. Clients are holding back investments try is attracting new talent.
meant for brand-building to pump up financials.
Media innovations that rock: I expect media
Forgetting the old: The excitement of using agencies to push the envelope in intrusive place-
social media and 360-degree advertising has ments and innovative offerings. This trend has
FOTOCORP

resulted in traditional media being ignored. to be watched carefully since - at times - editorial
We shouldn’t let ourselves go astray by forget- freedom and integrity can get further commercial-
ting our purpose of focusing on the medium ised and compromised.
.965,'+$5 that actually builds the brand and delivers on
1$7,21$/&5($7,9(',5(&725/(2%851(77,1',$ efficiency. Coming Convergence: We have been waiting
for technology to lead convergence with print, TV
This is what excite me about the coming year: Absconding talent: The talent that has been so and Internet getting synergistic stimuli on brands.
GDP growth: The robustly growing GDP gives carefully nurtured is running away to start on its It will be entertainment marketing which lead the
us reason to hope that clients will shell out more own. What happened to Pepsi and JWT can hap- way with content, channel, and last-mile access all
dough that will enable us to do big campaigns. pen to any brand. „ getting together for that multiplier effect.

Digital might just be real: Tumbling prices of ------------------------------- And the things that can be scary in 2011
laptops, integration of the internet into TV and ECD-extinction: With so many ECDs hav-
mobile phones and products such as media players ing found independent pastures, there will be
(which can store movies, TV programmes, Wi-Fi pressure on the rest to do the creative thing
in one box) will bring in a new revolution. rather than churn out predictable hardworking
advertising. This could be looked at positively
Old sectors becoming new: With the arrival of since younger people will emerge to lead the
players like Bharti, Reliance, Birla and Walmart, creative.
the retail sector will become more organised.
Agency pressure: Having missed the digital bus
The real India: The saturation of urban markets and specialist marketing needs, there will be fur-
has given way to huge opportunity in the form ther pressure on the agency in retaining its role of
of rural India. Marketers will use everything they a brand custodian. The agencies that have invested
have to successfully converse with this India. in these areas will reap the rewards. The final nail
FMCG firms have made inroads - DTH and $-$<&+$1':$1, in the coffin could be loss of respect if so many
',5(&7253(5&(37+2/',1*6
mobile phones are in the process of doing so. glaring gaps remain.
Regional advertising will come to the fore, replac-
ing national advertising. It will be interesting to see Things that will be exciting in 2011 are: The new paradigm: Emerging specialists will
companies communicating with so many Indias. Effective and creative: Market pressures may redefine the agency’s role. These are the idea pro-
have resulted in mediocre creativity in the guise viders, platform providers and brand strategists. If
Talent pools: Never before has advertising seen of advertising effectiveness. But I see a gradual an agency does not have enough of these, it will
an influx of such genuinely interested and talented realisation creeping up in clients that hard work- bite the dust.
youth. People are leaving engineering, banking, ing effective advertising is too boring to make an
consultancy and other sectors to work at ad agen- impact. We are witnessing some attempts by a few Client pressures: There will be enormous pres-
cies to create something. brands to try the innovative stuff. This has been sure on agencies and media providers to unite in
                 made possible by the work done by new creative
agencies.
the face of habitual delays in client payments. It
will call for the bodies to act in unison rather than
5HJLRQDODGYHUWLVLQJZLOOFRPHWRWKH in bits and parts.
Boutique agencies: Creative boutiques are put-
IRUHUHSODFLQJQDWLRQDODGYHUWLVLQJ ting pressure on established agencies. Clients Medium-sized matters: Large agencies with
,WZLOOEHLQWHUHVWLQJWRVHHFRPSDQLHV come to the boutiques expecting them to break
fresh ground. Last year’s award shows saw these
scale and smaller agencies with low overheads will
marginalise the medium-sized agency. Only the
FRPPXQLFDWLQJZLWKVRPDQ\,QGLDV boutiques doing well or, often, better than the big nimble-footed will do well and if a medium sized
agencies although they have far fewer clients and agency has that culture it could flourish. „
DWWKHVDPHWLPH a work culture that is just two years old. I expect
                 more good stuff from them. -------------------------------

110 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS $'9(57,6,1*
UÊ ˜Ê Óä£äÊ ÜiÊ `ˆ`˜½ÌÊ ÜˆÌ˜iÃÃÊ >˜ÞÊ Lˆ}Ê «>}ˆ>ÀˆÃ“°Ê UÊÊÊ
}i˜VÞʘiÌܜÀŽÃÊ܈ÊVœ˜Ìˆ˜ÕiÊ̜ʫÕÌÊ«ÀiÃÃÕÀiÊ
That’s a shame. We must do justice to the on their Indian operations by quoting some
fame we were gaining. I am looking for a few version of the India Growth story.
big ones in 2011 - something that can belong
to the big league. Something like the ‘Wake UÊ
`ÛiÀ̈Ș}Ê܈Ê˜œÜÊ«Ài“ˆiÀiʜ˜Ê9œÕÌÕLi°
up Thailand’ coffee campaign adapted for an
Indian tea brand. UÊ
ˆi˜ÌÃÊ ÜˆÊ `ˆÃÌ>˜ViÊ Ì…i“ÃiÛiÃÊ “œÀiÊ >˜`Ê
more from the commission or fee negotiations
UÊ ˜Ê >Ê ÀiViÃȜ˜]Ê “i`ˆ>Ê Ã«i˜`Ê }œiÃÊ `œÜ˜°Ê /…>ÌÊ with their agencies and instead leave these
FOTOCORP

has made the industry strategically weak. I am uncomfortable discussions to negotiation spe-
hoping that 2011 brings back big media spend cialists.
with a bang. So that we as an industry can
3$57+$6,1+$ boast of cutting-edge strategies like repeating UÊ
ˆi˜ÌÃÊ܈Ê…>ÛiʘœÊV…œˆViÊLÕÌÊ̜ʫ>ÞʓœÀiÊ̜Ê
0$1$*,1*3$571(5%%+,1',$ mediocre commercials ad nauseam till people media owners. And will seek to make up for
are forced to remember it or pushing saliency this on agency remuneration.
to the level of fear psychosis.
About a decade ago we did a workshop where
we handed out a tube of multipurpose balm to a UÊ Ê>“]ʜvÊVœÕÀÃi]ʏœœŽˆ˜}ÊvœÀÜ>À`Ê̜ʓœÀiʼ`ˆ}-                 
bunch of agency people and asked them to cre- itisation’ of agencies. I am hoping that by the
ate ads without a brief. The teams came up with end of 2011 all delivery boys in the agency will &OLHQWVZLOOGLVWDQFHWKHPVHOYHVPRUH
different, clever ideas but there was one common
theme. Every idea had something to do with sex.
have Twitter accounts. I am hoping all senior
people will fill up the screens of their compa-
DQGPRUHIURPWKHFRPPLVVLRQRUIHH
ny-provided iPhones and iPads with free game QHJRWLDWLRQVZLWKWKHLUDJHQFLHVDQG
Some were sexual innuendos; others had oblique downloads from the app store and not play
references to private parts and so on. We realised brick breakers on their Blackberry any more. I LQVWHDGOHDYHWKHVHXQFRPIRUWDEOH
that if there is one thing that comes naturally to
this industry it’s cheap sex talk. What I am really
am looking forward to a digital leap in 2011. GLVFXVVLRQVWRQHJRWLDWLRQVSHFLDOLVWV
excited about in 2011 is that there’s a chance of UÊ Ê>“ʏœœŽˆ˜}ÊvœÀÜ>À`Ê̜Ê>Ü>À`ÃÊÀi}>ˆ˜ˆ˜}Ê̅iˆÀÊ                 
cheap sex talk getting legitimised. original glory. Awards got entangled in the web
of fairness, democracy and audit. I am hoping
Rakhi Sawant and Big Boss have already paved that, in 2011, awards become large hearted UÊ œÀiÊ ˆÌ̏iÊ Ž˜œÜ˜Ê “>ÀŽiÌiÀÃÊ ÜˆÊ }iÌÊ ÛˆÃˆLˆ-
the way for that on prime time television. I again – the people in power should get their ity and talked about through their advertising
think the Advertising Standards Council of friends to vote for their own work. That’s not campaigns.
India (ASCI) should take up this issue with the only simple but does justice to the tradition of
I&B ministry. It will spare a lot of agencies the awards. We have started seeing early signs of UÊ
`ÛiÀ̈Ș}Ê >ÃÊ >Ê «ÀœviÃȜ˜Ê >˜`Ê ˆ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ ÜˆÊ
trauma of trying to come up with an idea. It that and that is why, in 2011, I am looking for- continue to face competition on the cool quo-
will make every piece of advertising popular (I ward to the return of the ‘tradition’ of awards. tient.
am told that Sawant’s gutter-level sexual banter
generates high TRPs) and grant advertising the With so many things to look forward to, there’s UÊ /…iʏˆ˜iÊLiÌÜii˜Ê̅iÊ>`ÛiÀ̈Ș}ʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ>˜`Ê
right to claim cultural authority. nothing that I am worried or scared about in 2011. the feature film industry in India will blur even
We are all going to be good. We are all marching more.
The benefits are manifold, the purpose is obvious towards a great self-congratulatory year - Hope
and the fitment is fantastic - though ASCI may 2011. „ UÊ ÕV…Ê ÌœÊ Ì…iÊ ÀiˆivÊ œvÊ Ãœ“iÊ Vˆi˜ÌÃ]Ê >}i˜VˆiÃÊ
need to change its name to ASSCI (Advertising
Sub-standard Council of India). But that’s a small ------------------------------- will finally begin to understand the difference
between a consumer and a shopper.
price to pay for the big benefit that will accrue to
the industry. UÊ
}i˜VˆiÃÊ ÜˆÊ Vœ˜Ìˆ˜ÕiÊ ÌœÊ }œÊ ̅œÕ}…Ê vœÕÀÊ
rounds in a new business pitch and be happy
The other broad themes I’m looking forward to in just to be served tea, biscuits and a warm hand-
2011: shake for their efforts.

UÊ Ê Ü>ÃÊ Ìœ`Ê Ì…>ÌÊ Ì…iÊ

"ÃÊ œvÊ “>˜ÞÊ >}i˜VˆiÃÊ UÊ
ÃÊ “œÀiÊ Ã«iVˆ>ˆÃÌÊ >}i˜VˆiÃÊ Vœ“iÊ ˆ˜]Ê Ì…iÊ Vˆ-
were actually made to work during the reces- ents end up dividing their marketing budget
sion. This is not only unfair but also cruel. amongst them and therefore there will be more
Now that we are back in the thick of a growth temptation for agencies to launch more divi-
economy I am looking forward to them being sions.
free of these mundane responsibilities and
UÊ
}i˜VˆiÃÊ܈Ê…>ÛiÊ̜ÊÜ>ŽÊ>Ê̅ˆ˜Êˆ˜iÊLiÌÜii˜Ê
come back to their original party-and-interview
routine. -26(3+*(25*( upping the digital embrace and awareness of
&+,()(;(&87,9(2)),&(5/2:(/,17$6,1',$
its staff while coming down heavily on active
                 trading of pokes and farm animals during office
hours.
:HUHDOLVHGWKDWLIWKHUHLVRQHWKLQJWKDW Here are some of my predictions for 2011:
FRPHVQDWXUDOO\WRWKLVLQGXVWU\LW¶VFKHDS UÊ ˆ}ˆÌ>Ê Vœ˜ÛiÀÃ>̈œ˜ÃÊ LiÌÜii˜Ê ̅iÊ Vˆi˜ÌÊ >˜`Ê
UÊ
˜`Ê >Ã̏Þ]Ê Ê Ì…ˆ˜ŽÊ Óä£äÊ Ü>ÃÊ «ÀœL-
ably one long thank-you prayer that 2009
VH[WDON:KDW,DPUHDOO\H[FLWHGDERXW his agency will still be short of putting the was over. So, most people exhibited
money where the mouth is. cautious optimism. 2011 however could well
LQLVWKDWWKHUH¶VDFKDQFHRIFKHDS be the year of unbridled positivity, courage
VH[WDONJHWWLQJOHJLWLPLVHG UÊ /…iÀiÊ ÜˆÊ LiÊ >Ê ˜iÜÊ “œ˜ˆŽiÀÊ vœÀÊ ÎÈäÊ `i}ÀiiÊ and creativity. „

                
invented this year.
-------------------------------

afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead 111

 3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS $'9(57,6,1*',*,7$/
mobile for a long time, but there hasn’t been a There is a lot of work that we have done this
significance push towards either the medium. year to touch media points and how consumers
Reach-wise, the web and mobile are very large, of different categories relate to different them.
but they are not advertising friendly. The deal By media touch points, I don’t mean television
will be to crack these media creatively and tech- as a touch point. Its what’s on television that is
nologically. The effort will be to try and make more important. And what grabs the attention of
this media more friendly to advertising, get my consumer. „
consumers to help in brand building and also
-------------------------------
SUSHIL KUMAR

to make it more relevant to more categories.

68'+$1$7$5$-$1
35(6,'(17 &22/,17$60(',$
',*,7$/
All’s well that end’s well. devices to fulfill brand-marketing needs.

Last year was a tough year but the industry grew But the thing that can be of a bit of concern will be
very well and is back in the reckoning. The level the rapid decline of the credibility of mainstream
of servicing has increased and we did work twice as media. TV and print - in the wake of BarkhaGate
hard. 2010 was a year of huge learning. When there >˜`Ê,>`ˆ>>ÌiÊ­˜œÌÊ̜ʓi˜Ìˆœ˜Êi`ˆ> i̮ʇʫÀi-
is lot of stress, quality needs to improve, as does sent a huge opportunity for online media to grab
the maturity that teams need to display. That has credibility and brownie points by displaying the
happened and the output has been very positive. transparency that has all but disappeared from tra-
ditional media. But I’m not seeing any action yet
"˜Ê̅iÊ«iœ«iÊvÀœ˜Ì]ʈÌÊÜ>ÃÊ>ÊÞi>ÀÊ܅iÀiÊÊÃ>ÜÊ>Ê in places like Rediff.com and other portals to move
lot of maturity coming in. The youngsters took to this bottom-up driven news and views world.
on more onus and accountability. The serious- 0$+(6+0857+<
ness with which they are looking at their career )281'(5 &(23,167250 There’s an opportunity going a-begging to become
and jobs went up. Clients have seen tremendous a radical, revolutionary news source for India.
growth even during the recession. So, all those I don’t see anything yet that can be our own
clients have responded by increasing their budg- In 2011 we want to help brands connect with their Huffington Post, our own WikiLeaks. I happened
ets. We won lots of new businesses last year and customers better by using relevant media. And a ÌœÊ Vœ“iÊ >VÀœÃÃÊ 

Ê ˜Õ“LiÀÃÊ Ì…>ÌÊ Ã>ÞÊ Ì…>ÌÊ Ì…iÊ
I see that momentum being kept alive for next lot of it is likely to happen digitally. 2010 was the digital ad market is `™™ÎÊ VÀœÀi°Ê ÕÌÊ ˆvÊ ÞœÕÊ ÃiiÊ
year too. year when digital stopped being a niche medium Google at `Èxä‡nääÊ VÀœÀiÊ >˜`Ê `œÊ ̅iÊ ÀiÃÌÊ œvÊ Ì…iÊ
in India - we crossed the 100-million-internet-
I see 2011 as a far better year in terms of growth
and, hopefully, slightly less stressful. While we
users mark.                 
have enjoyed all the hard work this year we want This year, brands will realise this and adjust :HUHDOO\EHOLHYHWKDWWKHHUDRIEHLQJ
to enjoy the 2011 a little more. Some of the growth their spends accordingly. In many cases, digital is
opportunities in 2011 will come from extremely already bigger than print or TV in India. I would MXVWDVSHFLDOLVWLVRYHU,W¶VWLPHIRUWKH
tailor-made solutions for brand issues and not just
media issues.
like Pinstorm clients to take the advantage of this
mega trend first, and work to build long-term
IXOO\LQWHJUDWHGPDUNHWLQJILUP,DP
relationships with their digitally savvy consumers. UHDOO\H[FLWHGDERXWWKHFOLHQWVZKRDUH
There are many more players coming in, in every
category. The challenge will be to continue to give We would like to add a lot of people in Pinstorm EHJLQQLQJWRVHHWKLV
solutions to brand and marketing issues. How
can a media agency work even more closely to
from across a wide range of disciplines and back-
grounds - design, above-the-line advertising,
                
have a direct or indirect impact on the net sales analytics, technology, UI and product management.
and profitability of brands? Understanding that We can definitely see a future where I can foresee math, you will get a sense that the digital business
Ài>̈œ˜Ã…ˆ«Ê >˜`Ê iÃÌ>LˆÃ…ˆ˜}Ê Ì…iÊ ,"Ê …>ÃÊ Lii˜Ê the company doing a broader range of integrated is actually more like around `£]ÎääÊVÀœÀiʜÀÊÜÊ̅ˆÃÊ
the challenge for the industry and for us. To make work for our clients, from social listening and buzz year and has a real possibility to grow out close to
ourselves more relevant to categories and brands is analytics to re-building their websites to on-going `£]nääÊVÀœÀiʘiÝÌÊÞi>À°
what we constantly work on. This will continue in Facebook engagement, online video creation, dis-
2011 as well. tribution and mobile application development - in The big boom areas will be social media manage-
addition to paid search, optimisation, display adver- ment (which is not a media spend but a marketing
There will be an emphasis on digital this year. tising and digital media planning. firm gain) and mobile marketing which will be
We have been mouthing words like web and done through media buying as well as app devel-
We really believe that the era of being just a spe- opment (also not a traditional media spend).
                 cialist is over. It is time for the fully integrated
marketing firm. Pinstorm is all geared up to face The revenue numbers in the business will need
7KHUHDUHPDQ\PRUHSOD\HUVFRPLQJ this. I am really excited about the clients who are to be detached from the usual media spends and
LQLQHYHU\FDWHJRU\+RZFDQDPHGLD beginning to see that a very viable alternative to
TV spends is to build the same brand ethos with a
VÀi>̈ÛiÊ viiÃÊ “iÌÀˆVÃ°Ê 9œÕÊ ÜˆÊ ˜ii`Ê ÌœÊ >``Ê ˜iÜÊ
categories like classified advertising, site devel-
DJHQF\ZRUNHYHQPRUHFORVHO\WRKDYHD larger number of prospects for less on places like opment, social media management, application
Facebook and Twitter. development and as such, the picture of digital
GLUHFWRULQGLUHFWLPSDFWRQWKHQHWVDOHV advertising will be very different from that of how
DQGSURILWDELOLW\RIEUDQGV" I’m excited about the growing role for social media
management and analytics, the growing role of
we have always seen traditional advertising. „

                 online video and the growing role of using mobile ------------------------------

112 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS ',*,7$/
˜ii`Ê œvÊ Ì…iÊ …œÕÀ®]Ê - Ê `ÕV>̈œ˜Ê ­ÌœÊ …i«Ê œÕÀÊ tough enough, we had to learn to say ‘No’ to those
student audiences get the best of tips and advices) who wanted to fund us even when they didn’t
>˜`Ê- Êœ˜iÞʭ̜ÊLÀˆ˜}Ê«iÀܘ>Êw˜>˜Viʈ˜vœÀ- understand our philosophy.
mation and tools to our audiences). Everything
For talent, we decided to do away with designa-
that we do primarily starts with meeting the needs
of our audiences. ̈œ˜ÃÊ>˜`ÊÃiÌʍœLÊÀœiðÊ*iœ«iÊ>ÌÊ
}i˜VÞˆ}ˆÊ܈Ê
have to understand, research, plan, design, draw,
In 2011, all the initiatives that we seeded last animate, write, code, produce, build, manage,
SUSHIL KUMAR

year will continue to be our focus areas. We will test, track, measure, optimise, influence, inspire
`ÀˆÛiÊ̅i“Ê̜Ê̅iʘiÝÌʏiÛi°Ê- ÊܜՏ`ÊÜ>˜ÌÊ and support ideas for a digital world. And each
to cater to all the needs of our evolving audi- individual had to bring in at least three of these
ence - information, education, entertainment qualities to the fore.
6$1-$<75(+$1 >˜`ÊVœ““Õ˜ˆV>̈œ˜°Ê- ]Ê ˆ˜}]Ê7ˆ˜`œÜÃʈÛiÊ
+($'061,1',$ >˜`Ê “>˜ÞÊ “œÀiÊ ÃÕV…Ê «Àœ`ÕVÌÃÊ vÀœ“Ê ˆVÀœÃœvÌÊ I feel that we should learn the art of saying ‘No’
are all going to play their part in catering to the by reading the book Don’t say Yes, When you want
needs of the audience and give them a won- to say ‘No’ and applying it in the best possible way.
>ÃÌÊ Þi>ÀÊ Ü>ÃÊ >Ê ÛiÀÞÊ }œœ`Ê Þi>ÀÊ vœÀÊ - Ê ˜`ˆ>°Ê derful, enriched and connected experiences. Saying no to funds and fund partners was per-
It witnessed tremendous growth focusing on ˜ÌÀœ`ÕV̈œ˜ÊœvÊÎ]ÊÜVˆ>ÞÊVœ˜˜iVÌi`Ê>Õ`ˆi˜V- haps one of the toughest jobs to do. And this was
verticals like news, entertainment, lifestyle and es, high mobile penetration will bring in much made possible by a team that learnt to smile in the
sports. good news in 2011. toughest of times, made clients smile and in turn
ensured that clients now keep us smiling.
/…iÊ ˜iÜÊ - Ê ˜`ˆ>Ê …œ“iÊ «>}iÊ Ü…ˆV…Ê Ü>ÃÊ /…iʈ˜ÌÀœ`ÕV̈œ˜ÊœvÊÎÊ܈ÊLiʓœÀiʜvÊ>˜Êœ««œÀ-
launched in July last year received accolades from Ì՘ˆÌÞÊ Ì…>˜Ê >Ê Vœ˜ViÀ˜°Ê 7iÊ >ÀiÊ Ài>`ÞÊ ÜˆÌ…Ê - Ê 2011 will perhaps be the year of partnerships for
across the industry and was liked by our audi- Videos and hope to see a lot of excitement in this
}i˜VÞˆ}ˆ°Ê-œVˆ>Ê“i`ˆ>ʈÃÊLiˆ˜}ÊÕÃi`ÊLÞÊLÀ>˜`ÃÊ
ences. The website provides one with a gateway to ë>Viʈ˜ÊÓ䣣°Ê- ʘ`ˆ>Êۈ`iœÃÊ}i˜iÀ>ÞÊV>ÀÀÞÊ>Ê not just to get fans but also to actually engage these
- ½Ãʈ˜ÌiÀ˜>Ê«Àœ«iÀ̈iÃÊ>˜`Ê>ÃœÊ̜Ê̅iÊVœ““Õ- lot of premium content and we hope that the new fans. We are gearing up for this by partnering with
nication dashboard to socialise via Windows Live, high-speed, always-connected Indian ecosystem one of the sharpest technology companies in Israel
Twitter and Facebook integration. It is one of the will bring in some great news for video publishers to change the way communities are being used. As
most modern-looking homepages with modern and the internet industry overall. „ mobile marketing is expected to come of age this
˜`ˆ>˜Ê Ãi˜ÃˆLˆˆÌˆiÃ°Ê - Ê >˜`Ê ˆÌÃÊ ÕÃiÀÃÊ ÜˆÊ Vœ˜- year we need to ensure that we - and our clients -
tinue to see such new initiatives and releases, not ------------------------------ are not left behind.
just in terms of content but also as a fully enriched
bouquet of services along with Bing and Windows ˜Ê ̅iÊ `ˆ}ˆÌ>Ê ""Ê Ã«>Vi]Ê ÜiÊ >ÀiÊ >Ài>`ÞÊ
Live in the coming year. Vœ““ˆÌÌi`Ê ÌœÊ ÜœÀŽˆ˜}Ê ÜˆÌ…Ê ˆiÃ̜˜iÊ À>˜`Ê

œ““Õ˜ˆV>̈œ˜Ã]Ê̅iÊv>ÃÌiÃÌÊ}ÀœÜˆ˜}Ê""Ê«>Þ-
There were a number of challenges. The con- er in the country.
tent landscape and the socially connected users
have become more dynamic and demanding. We In India, the mobile space will be the space to
always strive hard to meet the demands of our watch out for all the action in 2011. With the
users through content and services integration. To >՘V…ÊœvÊÎÊÃiÀۈViÃÊ>˜`Ê̅iÊiÝ«iVÌi`ʏ>՘V…ÊœvÊ
serve our audiences with the best possible way we 4G from Infotel, mobile internet access is bound
FOTOCORP

were focusing on a few things. We wanted to keep to witness a sea change. We are also keenly watch-
up with the breaking news and stories, to provide ˆ˜}Ê ÞŽÊœLˆiÊ>˜`Ê̅iÊÜ>ÞÊ̅iʓ>ÀŽiÌÊ>`œ«ÌÃʈÌÊ
editorially rich packages and features for deeper both for usage and for advertising. In fact, the Blyk
insights and service integration so that our users 35$6$17+02+$1$&+$1'5$1
&2)281'(5$*(1&<',*,
are always in touch with each other and can easily
share information with each other.
                
,IHHOWKDWZHVKRXOGOHDUQWKHDUWRI
This challenge and our commitment to the user The year 2011 will definitely mark a new chapter
were met by highly focused editorial practices, vœÀÊ
}i˜VÞˆ}ˆÊLœÌ…ʈ˜ÊÌiÀ“ÃʜvÊÃiÀۈViÃÊ>˜`ʜ«iÀ- VD\LQJµ1R¶ZKHQ\RXZDQWWRVD\µ1R¶
product enhancement and a great user experi-
i˜Vi°Ê- ʘ`ˆ>ÊÜ>ÃÊ>Ü>ÞÃʜ˜Ê̜«ÊœvÊVœ˜˜iV̈˜}Ê
>̈œ˜Ã°Ê"ÕÀÊ«Àˆ“>ÀÞÊvœVÕÃÊ܈ÊLiʜ˜ÊÃÌÀi˜}̅i˜ˆ˜}Ê
the existing market. Thus, we will work to attract
DQGDSSO\LQJLWLQWKHEHVWSRVVLEOHZD\
our audiences with the latest happenings in the more digital talent. 6D\LQJQRWRIXQGVDQGIXQGSDUWQHUVZDV
country. With our focus on youth we have one of
the best offerings in the entertainment, lifestyle The company is looking at expanding its wings SHUKDSVRQHRIWKHWRXJKHVWMREVWRGR
and sports coverage in the industry. We launched
- Ê9ÕÛ>ʈ˜Ê«>À̘iÀň«Ê܈̅Ê7iL՘ˆ>ÊV>ÌiÀ-
to Bengaluru in the coming year, as well as
in two major international markets probably in
                
ˆ˜}Ê̜ʜÕÀʈ˜`ˆÊëi>Žˆ˜}Ê>Õ`ˆi˜ViÃ]Ê- ÊÀii˜Ê Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, because of the growing
(as we feel sustainable and responsible living is the mobility market there. model could change positively the way we use the
mobile for brand messaging.
                 We believe that 2011, for India, is going to be the
year where mobile marketing will evolve more and As far as the worries are concerned, I feel that the
7KHLQWURGXFWLRQRI*ZLOOEHPRUHRIDQ will come of age. I feel that, as a consequence of biggest concern will be about those clients who
this, we will be strengthening our mobile efforts were bitten once by bad experiences in digital mar-
RSSRUWXQLW\WKDQDFRQFHUQ:HDUHUHDG\ considerably. keting. Winning them back would be our biggest
ZLWK0619LGHRVDQGKRSHWRVHHDORWRI challenge. Another concern would be about brands
>ÃÌÊ Þi>ÀÊ Liˆ˜}Ê Ì…iÊ wÀÃÌÊ Þi>ÀÊ œvÊ
}i˜VÞˆ}ˆ]Ê ÜiÊ continuing to re-use techniques, in the name of
H[FLWHPHQWLQWKLVVSDFHLQDVZH had our share of challenges. Primary among that innovation, and not particularly focusing on ideas
was attracting and retaining talent. The bigger which actually engage and move people. „
FDUU\DORWRISUHPLXPFRQWHQW
pects, both talent and clients. And if this was not -------------------------------
challenge was to learn to say No to some pros-
                  
afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead 113
60$57,'($

POKEN

The Virtual Hand Shake

Social media gadget Poken, provides networking and brand-building opportunities to users. By Kapil Ohri

A
t first glance, Poken looks like a pen
drive. In reality, it is a USB-enabled
social business card, developed by the
Switzerland-based company, Poken.com. It
allows users to exchange contact details and
empowers them to share their presence on vari-
ous social networking sites in few seconds.
To transfer the contact details stored in
Poken, the user needs to first plug the device
into the USB port of the computer, which is
connected with the internet. Once plugged,
the device automatically directs the user to
Poken.com, where they can create their virtual
business card and feed in information such as
name, designation and other contact details.
The user can also add his photograph and

SUSHIL KUMAR
Advertisers can print their
logos or stickers on Poken click directly on the social networking sites’ icons
and can also explore at the bottom of the business cards and land on
the desired profiles.
online branding possibility A Poken can save up to 64 social business
cards in one go. The contacts after being trans-
ferred to the desired location, empties the space
provide clickable links of his various social net- to save new business cards.
working profiles. More than 40 social media sites

SUSHIL KUMAR
can be linked with the social business card. To THE BRANDING OPPORTUNITY
exchange information or cards with people in the
real or offline world, users are required to bring
their Pokens about 0.5 inch close to each other
M arketers can employ Poken for brand
building purposes. Naidu Darapaneni,
founder and chief executive officer of Versant “Some of the global brands such as BMW,
and wait for couple of seconds until the devices Technologies, the Hyderabad-based company Adobe, Microsoft, SAP and IBM have used
exude a green light. The green light indicates that which is the exclusive reseller of Poken in India, Pokens in their events,” Darapaneni added.
the business cards of the two users have been explained, “Advertisers can print their logos BMW utilised branded Pokens in an event
successfully exchanged. or stickers on Pokens and can also explore the named Trend Forum, in Munich, Germany in
The information acquired could then be online branding possibility.” 2009. Poken recently launched an Apple iPhone
retrieved by plugging the device into the internet The online branding option includes branded application offering similar use.
enabled computer. Soon after it is plugged, the social business cards, skins and banner ads served Poken is priced at about `1,500. It will be
device pulls up a web page called poken.com/ on Poken.com dashboard. The company plans to interesting to watch whether the gadget takes off
dashboard, where details of shared business cards charge about `100 from advertiser to serve ban- in India, especially considering the fact that it will
are showed. In case the user wants to visit the ner ads on per user and monthly basis. He added be of no use if the other person does not own the
social networking profiles of the various business that companies use Poken during business events same device. „
associates he got the business cards of, he can and conferences organised or sponsored by them. [email protected]

114 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS ',*,7$/0$5.(7,1*
improving returns on the advertising rupee the third screen (the mobile phone) starting its
journey to become a media, and how fan inno-
I am excited about the high growth in brand adver- vation in technology and business models will
tising and yes, also about the fact that the long tail suit this immensely personal medium and that
is becoming important in display campaigns. I “œLˆiÊ ˜Õ“LiÀÊ «œÀÌ>LˆˆÌÞÊ ­ *®Ê ܈Ê w˜>ÞÊ
will also keep an eye on the aggregating properties become a reality. The only thing I am worried
and crafting specific products to suit the advertis- about is the possible slowdown in the rollout of
ers needs. Last - but not the least – the telecom ÎÊ ÃiÀۈViÃ°Ê /…ˆÃÊ V>˜Ê i>`Ê ÌœÊ Õ˜ViÀÌ>ˆ˜ÌˆiÃÊ ˆ˜Ê ̅iÊ
sector will be a segment on which everybody will telecom sector. „
keep an eye on.
The other things I will look out for will be -------------------------------
.,5$1*23,1$7+
)281'(5$1'&(22=21(0(',$

2011 promises to be a high-growth year for the

0$5.(7,1*
online industry both in terms of users as well as
advertisers. I feel that advertisers who are look- younger and their preferred media is digital.
ing to reach their online audience will need to
address the long tail by diversifying their media So far we have only used traditional media that
plans to reach the ever growing internet user we will, of course, continue to use. But this year
base in a very scientific manner. Solutions that we will also utilise social media, mobile marketing
address the long tail nature of the internet will >˜`ʓ>ŽiÊÕÃiʜvÊ̅iÊ>`Ûi˜ÌʜvÊÎÊ>œ˜}Ê܈̅Ê̅iÊ
flourish. younger audience, which is a good mix.
SUSHIL KUMAR

I have a strong intuition that mobile internet will As far as the auto-industry is concerned you might
start to become a reality soon, thanks to the high see higher inflation because of the growth rate.
Vœ˜ÃՓ«Ìˆœ˜Ê ̅>ÌÊ ÎÊ «Àœ“ˆÃiÃÊ ÌœÊ `iˆÛiÀÊ ˆ˜Ê ̅iÊ Interest rates are also expected to go up resulting
near future. This will include video consumption
6+$6+$1.6+5,9$67$9$ in expensive auto car loans.
and the advertiser interest that follows and threat- &+,()*(1(5$/0$1$*(50$5.(7,1*0$587,68=8.,
ens to catapult internet video - owing to the large Also, when economy heats up the commod-
installed base of users and the personal form factor ity prices are also expected to go up which will
of the mobile phone. In 2011, from the product point of view, we will result in increased raw material cost. Raw material
be entering the large-car segment for the first >VVœÕ˜ÌÃÊ vœÀÊ >“œÃÌÊ näÊ «iÀÊ Vi˜ÌÊ œvÊ Ì…iÊ VœÃÌÊ >˜`Ê
Last year, a surge in demand from the industry ̈“iÊ ˆ˜Ê œÕÀÊ …ˆÃ̜ÀÞ°Ê -ˆ˜ViÊ >ÀÕÌˆÊ ˆÃÊ «Àˆ“>ÀˆÞÊ >Ê therefore the pressure on margins will be high.
coupled with commoditisation of inventory led small-car maker we are very excited about how to
position the vehicle in a market, which is majorly The consumer is getting younger. Five years ago,
                 made up of small-car buyers. ̅iÊ >ÛiÀ>}iÊ >}iÊ œvÊ >Ê Vœ˜ÃՓiÀÊ Ü>ÃÊ În‡Î™Ê Þi>ÀÃ]Ê
,IHHOWKDWDGYHUWLVHUVZKRDUHORRNLQJWR Entering the large car market is going to be chal-
̜`>ÞʈÌʈÃÊÎӇÎÎÊÞi>ÀðÊ>ÀŽï˜}Ê̅iÊ«Àœ`ÕVÌÊ̜Ê>Ê
population that is getting younger should be excit-
UHDFKWKHLURQOLQHDXGLHQFHZLOOQHHGWR lenging for us. With the advent of new players in ˆ˜}Ê>ÃÊÜiÊ>ÃÊV…>i˜}ˆ˜}°Ê9œÕʅ>ÛiÊ̜ʎii«Ê>ÊÌÀ>VŽÊ
the small-car segment, the auto industry will be of their preferences. As the consumer gets younger
DGGUHVVWKHORQJWDLOE\GLYHUVLI\LQJWKHLU much more competitive. So our free run in the and the economy grows, the segmentation of cars
PHGLDSODQVWRUHDFKWKHHYHUJURZLQJ area would end and retaining the market share will
be a challenge.
will also increase. For instance you will see the
emergence of vehicles in categories like weekends,
LQWHUQHWXVHUEDVH city and touring. „
We will be doing a corporate campaign with the
                 baseline ‘Count on Us’. But we are also doing a -----------------------------
bigger campaign to promote the baseline ‘Way of
to a severe downward pressure on price points. It ˆvi½°ÊÌʈÃÊ>LœÕÌÊÌ>Žˆ˜}Ê̅iÊLÀ>˜`ʈ“>}iʜvÊ>ÀṎÊ
became imperative to improve the efficiencies in Suzuki to the next level which is about more
the system both within the company and the wider iÝVˆÌi“i˜Ì]Ê `ޘ>“ˆÃ“Ê >˜`Ê ÞœÕ̅vՏ˜iÃÃ°Ê œˆ˜}Ê
ecosystem in which we operate in order to survive. this would be a big challenge for us.

Innovative solutions (data driven innovations /…ˆÀ`ʈÃÊ̅iʓi`ˆ>ÊvÀœ˜Ì°Êi`ˆ>]ÊÀˆ}…ÌʘœÜ]ʈÃÊÛiÀÞÊ

not site breaking banner creatives) became a cluttered therefore we will be taking initiatives
necessity to increase the efficiency of utilising on the digital marketing side. We expect digital to
inventory. We coped with the challenges by become very big because consumers are getting
introducing intelligence in serving, improving
depth of publishers and properties and crafting
products for specific niche(s) and purposes.                 
6LQFH0DUXWLLVSULPDULO\DVPDOOFDU 7$581$525$
This year we are fully geared to face any kind (936$/(6 0$5.(7,1**2'5(-&21680(5352'8&76
of challenge. We want to tune in intelligence PDNHUZHDUHYHU\H[FLWHGDERXWKRZWR
in a fine manner and put it forward to serve.
SRVLWLRQWKHQHZYHKLFOHLQWKHPDUNHW Óä£äÊ Ü>ÃÊ >Ê ÀœLÕÃÌÊ Þi>ÀÊ vœÀÊ Ì…iÊ 
Ê ˆ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ
We are also planning to invest in developing
algorithms that will help scale our learning and
(QWHULQJWKHODUJHFDUPDUNHWLVJRLQJWR as a whole. Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL)
Ài«œÀÌi`Ê ÃÌÀœ˜}Ê ÀiÛi˜ÕiÊ >˜`Ê «ÀœwÌÊ }ÀœÜ̅°Ê "ÕÀÊ
findings to a newer level. And, finally, we will EHFKDOOHQJLQJIRUXV three core categories - toilet soap, hair colour and
want to use innovation in data-led solutions for
                 household insecticides - showed healthy growth

116 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS 0$5.(7,1*
combined with encouraging improvements in The industry will have to work towards creating
market share. higher confidence among employees and interme-
diaries to build them as brand ambassadors.
We are the second-largest soap player in the
country with three strong brands, Godrej No 1, The overall economic indicators are positive and
Cinthol and Fairglow. In hair colour, we have this promises healthy growth in 2011. The RBI
consistently been market leaders. recently announced that growth rates would be
ÃÕÃÌ>ˆ˜i`ʈ˜ÊÓä£ä‡££Ê>˜`Ê*Ê}ÀœÜ̅ʈÃÊiÝ«iVÌi`Ê

SUSHIL KUMAR
In this category, we have a range of offerings to be around 9 per cent. A larger amount of money
ˆ˜VÕ`ˆ˜}Ê œ`ÀiÊ *œÜ`iÀÊ >ˆÀÊ Þi]Ê œ`ÀiÊ would be available to financial services companies.
Expert Powder and Liquid Hair Colours, Renew Life insurance has also emerged as a preferred
>˜`Ê Õ«ÕÀ°Ê "ÕÀÊ …œÕÃi…œ`Ê ˆ˜ÃiV̈Vˆ`iÃÊ LÕȘiÃÃÊ financial instrument among younger people - an
$1,6+$027:$1, increasing number of people in their 20s are buy-
',5(&725$1'&020$;1(:<25./,)(,1685$1&(
                 ing life insurance. Increased customer focus on
long-term protection and savings will enhance
LVOLNHO\WREHDYHU\SRVLWLYH\HDU the customer value proposition in life insurance.
9i>ÀÊ Óä£äÊ …>ÃÊ Lii˜Ê >Ê `iw˜ˆ˜}Ê Þi>ÀÊ vœÀÊ Ì…iÊ ˆviÊ We expect this to translate into greater customer
IRUWKH)0&*LQGXVWU\,WLVDOVRJRLQJWR ˆ˜ÃÕÀ>˜Viʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀްʘÃÕÀ>˜ViÊÀi}Տ>̜ÀÊ,
ʅ>ÃÊ preference towards life insurance to meet their
EHD\HDURILQFUHDVHGPHGLDVSHQGLQJ brought about significant changes to life insurance long-term life stage needs. „
regulations in 2010 that will change the face of life
ZLWKEUDQGVEHFRPLQJFRPSHWLWLYHRQDOO insurance industry in India. -------------------------------
NLQGVRIPHGLD Regulatory changes in both ULIPs and variable
                 insurance products, have not only brought a major
change to product design but will also have a long-
term impact on the product mix, distribution mix,
with brands such as GoodKnight, HIT, Jet and product tenure and cost structures of life insurers.
Banish has been witnessing phenomenal growth. Changes in referral guidelines will bring about a
change in the distribution mix of life insurance
companies. The frequency of regulatory changes
SUSHIL KUMAR
Niche segments have been witnessing a significant
amount of play in the burgeoning Indian market.                 
Categories as nascent as the hand sanitiser market
have seen the entry of major players. 7KHFKDQJLQJFXVWRPHUDWWLWXGHV
WRZDUGVILQDQFLDOLQVWUXPHQWVDQGDORZ //2<'0$7+,$6
GCPL has been one of the early pioneers in the 35(6,'(17&25325$7(7$7$7(/(6(59,&(6
hand hygiene category with ‘Godrej Protekt’ Instant ULVNDSSHWLWHUHVXOWLQJLQWKHLUJUDYLWDWLQJ
Hand Sanitisers, Hand Washes and Wet Wipes.
WRZDUGVJXDUDQWHHGSURGXFWVZDV In the last two years, the entire concentration has
We continued our aggressive inorganic growth DQRWKHUFKDOOHQJH Lii˜Ê œ˜Ê Vœ˜Ãœˆ`>̈˜}Ê />Ì>Ê œVœ“œÊ >VÀœÃÃÊ Ì…iÊ
with two acquisitions in Latin America, one in VœÕ˜ÌÀÞ°Ê /œ`>Þ]Ê œVœ“œÊ œvviÀÃÊ >˜Ê >ÀÀ>ÞÊ œvÊ ÃiÀ-

vÀˆV>]ʜ˜iʈ˜Ê˜`œ˜iÈ>Ê>˜`ʜ˜iʈ˜Ê˜`ˆ>°Êi“>˜`Ê                  vices to its consumers.
vœÀÊ 
Ê «Àœ`ÕVÌÃÊ Vœ˜Ìˆ˜Õi`Ê ÌœÊ LiÊ ÃÌÀœ˜}Ê ˆ˜Ê
spite of high food inflation in the first half of last has been one of the primary challenges that the Another significant milestone of the year 2010
year - it is now showing signs of cooling. insurance industry faced in 2010. This required was securing the leadership position in the space
frequent changes in the product design as well of wireless mobile broadband. Last year, various
However, commodity prices have been steadily as a sharp focus on immediate reduction in cost services like Tata Photon Plus and Tata Photon
rising which is putting pressure on the margins of structure and created some uncertainty among the TV were launched under the Tata Photon brand.
all players. stakeholders. The year 2010 was very significant for the telecom
ˆ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ>ÃʈÌÊ܈̘iÃÃi`Ê̅iÊ>ÕV̈œ˜ÊœvÊÎÊëiVÌÀՓÊ
2011 is likely to be a very positive year for the The regulatory changes have also put significant ܈̅Ê̅iÊ/iiVœ“ʈ˜ˆÃÌÀÞÊw˜>ÞÊÌÕÀ˜ˆ˜}Ê̅iÊÎÊ

Ê ˆ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞ°Ê ÌÊ ˆÃÊ >ÃœÊ }œˆ˜}Ê ÌœÊ LiÊ >Ê Þi>ÀÊ œvÊ pressure on intermediary margins. We see this as ‘dream’ into ‘reality’. Additionally, the government
increased media spending with brands becoming a challenge to attract quality talent going forward. gave its nod for mobile number portability.
competitive on all forms of media especially in the To build a career agency model, it is important
rural markets, which will grow faster than urban that the intermediaries are adequately compen- 2011 will be another key year for the telecom
ones. sated to make life insurance as their primary or ˆ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ>ÃÊÛ>ÀˆœÕÃÊÎÊÃiÀۈViÃÊ܈ÊLiÊÀœi`ʜÕÌÊ
only career. by several operators and number portability will
With the recent acquisitions, we are also evaluating become a reality - it has started with Haryana.
the potential of products from Indonesia to India The changing customer attitudes towards financial 7iÊ܈ÊLiÊ̅iÊwÀÃÌʜ˜iÊ̜ʏ>՘V…Ê̅iÊÎÊÃiÀۈViÊ
and leveraging hair technology from Argentina for instruments - and a low-risk appetite resulting in ՘`iÀÊ̅iÊ/>Ì>ÊœVœ“œÊLÀ>˜`°Ê/…iÊvœVÕÃÊ܈ÊLiÊ
the Indian market. So the opportunities for cross their gravitating towards guaranteed products - on launching various innovative services that the
border sharing and synergies are tremendous. was another challenge. This required a complete customer can easily avail.
new effort to understand customer behaviour and
Consumer sentiment is strong indicating an design products and communication to this new We have an early start advantage, but the challenge lies
action-packed 2011. In terms of challenges, the customer reality. ˆ˜Êˆ˜VÀi>Ș}Ê̅iÊÕÃ>}iʜvÊÎÊÃiÀۈViðÊ
˜œÌ…iÀÊܜՏ`Ê
industry is attracting a lot of attention from inter- be retaining existing consumers, thanks to mobile
national players. Large companies have entered "˜iÊ œvÊ Ì…iÊ V…>i˜}iÃÊ ÜˆÊ LiÊ >ÌÌÀ>V̈˜}Ê >˜`Ê number portability. The game will change from
the market and forayed into various categories retaining quality talent. With significant regulatory acquisition to retaining and increasing use of ser-
through the inorganic route. „ changes and the change in business environment, vices. „
life insurance is not the most preferred career
------------------------------- option for both intermediaries and employees. -------------------------------

afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead 117

3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS
22+
to increase. Another factor is the lack of self-
Ài}Տ>̈œ˜Ê ˆ˜Ê ̅iÊ ""Ê ˆ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ i>`ˆ˜}Ê ÌœÊ Ì…iÊ
proliferation of media and the commoditisation
of this space. It will lower the value for all stake-
holders. „

-------------------------------
SUSHIL KUMAR

5$-8/.8/6+5(6+7+$ 681'(5+(05$-$1,
0$1$*,1*',5(&725.,1(7,&,1',$ 0$1$*,1*',5(&7257,0(622+

7ˆÌ…Ê ̅iÊ ""Ê ˆ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ «i}}i`Ê >ÌÊ ` 1,400 The economy is back on the growth path and
crore, there is a huge opportunity for growth *Ê}ÀœÜ̅ʈÃʏˆŽiÞÊ̜ÊiÝVii`Ên°xÊ«iÀÊVi˜Ì°Ê/…ˆÃÊ
(Government regulations permitting). This is good news for the industry recovering from a
field is practically virgin given that we have dismal 2009 and is likely to result in double-digit
˜œÊ Ü>ÞÊ ÌœÊ “i>ÃÕÀiÊ ivvˆV>VÞÊ œÀÊ ,"°Ê vÊ ÜiÊ >ÀiÊ ˆ˜VÀi>Ãiʈ˜Ê""Êëi˜`Ã°Ê 52%,1&$5587+(56
able to crack this, then we’ve got a good thing 0$1$*,1*',5(&7250(',$6&23(38%/,&,7$6
going. Increased investment in infrastructure, especially
the transit segment, is likely to lead to new oppor-
Strangely enough, another thing that excites me Ì՘ˆÌˆiÃÊvœÀÊ̅iÊ""ʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞ°Ê/…ˆÃ ܜՏ`ʏi>`ÊÌœÊ The outdoor industry has evolved from being a
is lack of transparency because you can actually creation of high quality media within the regula- last-minute, supplementary medium to a primary
`œÊ ÃœÊ “ÕV…Ê ˆ˜Ê ̅ˆÃÊ >Ài>°Ê i`ˆ>Ê œÜ˜iÀÃÊ Ãii“Ê tory framework. Another reason for excitement is communication form in the media communica-
quite fed up with the whole stigma of transpar- tion matrix. I feel that this trend will continue as
ency or the lack of it and their eagerness to do                  “œÀiÊ LÀ>˜`ÃÊ œœŽÊ >ÌÊ ÕȘ}Ê ""Ê ˆ˜Ê ̅iˆÀÊ Vœ“-
I think this is one area that you will find a lot ,QFUHDVHGLQYHVWPHQWLQLQIUDVWUXFWXUH
something about it is visible. Sooner than later, munication mix.

œvÊ iÝVˆÌi“i˜ÌÊ >LœÕÌÊ >˜`Ê >V̈œ˜°Ê "̅iÀÊ iÝVˆÌˆ˜}Ê HVSHFLDOO\WKHWUDQVLWVHJPHQWLVOLNHO\ Emerging and new media formats have taken the
factors lie on the digital front and specialisation outdoor industry from being a static medium to a
܈̅ˆ˜Ê""°Ê WROHDGWRQHZRSSRUWXQLWLHVIRUWKH22+ more interactive one that is closer to the end con-
7…>ÌÊÃV>ÀiÃʓiʈÃÊVˆi˜ÌÃÊLÕވ˜}Ê̅iˆÀʜܘÊ""Ê LQGXVWU\7KLVZLOOFUHDWHKLJKTXDOLW\
sumer. Traditional media formats are now being
extensively replaced by newer formats just as in
spaces. They do not buying regular media them- PHGLDZLWKLQWKHUHJXODWRU\IUDPHZRUN developed markets.
selves, do they? Then why do they want to buy
""¶Ê ÌÊ ˆÃÊ ÃV>ÀÞÊ LiV>ÕÃiÊ ˜œÊ œ˜iÊ Ài>ÞÊ ÌiÃÊ ÞœÕÊ                  The emergence of the secondary markets today
why they are doing it on their own. That raises forms an important part in the growth of the
more questions than answers. And this trend there is continued investment in airports in India. outdoor industry. With an ever-increasing num-
shows no signs of abating. iÜÊ>ˆÀ«œÀÌÃʏˆŽiÊ/Î]ʈ˜Ê iÜÊi…ˆ]ʜvviÀÊ>`ÛiÀ- ber of brands and marketers looking at rural and
tisers the chance to easily engage with their target Ãi“ˆ‡ÕÀL>˜Ê ˜`ˆ>Ê >ÃÊ ˆ“«œÀÌ>˜ÌÊ “>ÀŽiÌÃ]Ê ""Ê
Another troubling factor is the ‘who you know’ groups. advertising gives them increased options. The
syndrome. It is becoming more important than predicted buoyancy of the economy and the rising
‘what you have to offer’. Additionally, the fact
ÊLˆ}ʏi>«Êˆ˜Ê`ˆ}ˆÌ>Ê""ʈÃÊ>ÃœÊˆ““ˆ˜i˜ÌÊÜˆÌ…Ê spending power the secondary markets will sow
ˆÃÊ Ì…>ÌÊ ""Ê ˆÃÊ ˜œÌÊ >Ê «>ÀÌÊ œvÊ Ì…iÊ Ài}Տ>ÀÊ “i`ˆ>Ê new technology and investments in this segment. the seeds for an important growth phase of the
“ˆÝÊ œÀÊ «>˜Ê «ÀiÃi˜Ì>̈œ˜Ã°Ê "˜iÊ >Ü>ÞÃÊ …>ÃÊ ÌœÊ There is also a significant increase in custom- industry.
er-centric innovation opportunities in order to
                 stakeholders “>݈“ˆÃiÊ Û>ÕiÊ vÀœ“Ê ""Ê «Àœ«iÀ̈iÃÊ vœÀÊ >Ê Transit, digital and urban infrastructure will be the
– the consumers, advertisers, media LÕââܜÀ`Ãʜ˜Ê`iÛiœ«“i˜ÌʜvÊ""°Ê7ˆÌ…ʈ˜ÌiÀ-
:KDWVFDUHVPHLVFOLHQWVEX\LQJWKHLU and property owners. city spaces shrinking transit outdoor advertising
will take on a whole new meaning. The advertis-
RZQ22+VSDFHV7KH\GRQRWEX\UHJXODU However, the talk of another round of melt- ing options at airports are testimony to this. In the
PHGLDWKHPVHOYHVGRWKH\"7KHQZK\GR down, related to the problems in Europe (Spain, same vein, intra-city spaces are expanding, throw-
Portugal, Greece and Ireland) is scary. No one ing up a plethora of options to be developed in
WKH\ZDQWWREX\22+",WLVVFDU\EHFDXVH wants a repeat of the nightmare that was 2009. terms of street furniture and public infrastructure
«ÀœiVÌðÊˆ}ˆÌ>ÊœÕÌ`œœÀÊ̜œÊ܈Ê}ÀœÜ°ÊœÜiÛiÀ]Ê
QRRQHUHDOO\WHOOV\RXZK\ Recessionary pressures and unemployment rates this growth will be comparatively slower owing
                 in the US are likely to impact the world economy. to huge investments and longer gestation periods.
/…ˆÃÊVœÕ`Ê>`ÛiÀÃiÞʈ“«>VÌÊ>`Êëi˜`ðÊœÀiœÛiÀ]Ê
the new bubbles in India - real estate and stock 7…>ÌʈÃÊÃV>ÀÞʈÃÊ̅>ÌÊ̅iÊ""ʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊVœ˜Ìˆ˜ÕiÃÊ
vˆ}…ÌÊ vœÀÊ Ì…iÊ ""Ê Ã…>ÀiÊ ‡Ê µÕˆÌiÊ ˆŽiÊ À>`ˆœÊ >˜`Ê markets as well as high inflation and its conse- to see price wars that degrade the business and
Vˆ˜i“>°Ê ""Ê ˆÃÊ ˜œÌÊ >ÃÊ }>“œÀœÕÃÊ >ÃÊ /6°Ê /…iÊ quences on the economy - are alarming. ultimately end up selling a commodity as opposed
lack of good talent within the industry I think is to a media service or product.
also a worry. „ Inconsistencies in Government policies in the
""Ê Ã«>ViÊ >ÀiÊ ÌÀœÕLiܓiÊ >ÃÊ >ÃœÊ ̅iÊ ÀˆÃŽ‡ Clients that have large outdoor spends - more
------------------------------- profile of long-term projects, which are likely often than not - place a heavy emphasis on the

118 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS 22+35,17
choice of their agency, based on lowest costs. if they structure themselves and work towards                 
While this is an important deciding factor it should self-regulation in terms of installations, designs,
not be construed to be the only one. This leads pricing and policies. This is working well for the 7KHSOD\HUVLQWKH22+LQGXVWU\DUH
to a situation where it becomes a commodity sale
rather than remuneration for services that should
industry. Also, now that the brands have started
actually investing in upcountry, the potential of
ZDNLQJXSWRKXJHSRVVLELOLWLHVWKDWDZDLW
have been the matrix for choice in the first place. ""Ê Vœ“ˆ˜}Ê Õ«Ê ˆ˜Ê ̅iÊ …ˆ˜ÌiÀ>˜`Ê ÜˆÊ «ÀœÛˆ`iÊ WKHPLIWKH\VWUXFWXUHWKHPVHOYHVDQG
huge scope to everyone connected to the business.
Price wars to gain competitive advantages between ZRUNWRZDUGVVHOIUHJXODWLRQLQWHUPVRI
specialist agencies also lead to cannibalisation.
Until and unless an immediate overhaul and
>Ã̏Þ]Ê Û>ÀˆœÕÃÊ vœÀ“>ÌÃÊ ˆ˜Ê ""Ê >ÀiÊ >ÃœÊ }>ˆ˜ˆ˜}Ê
prominence, giving huge opportunities to inno-
LQVWDOODWLRQVGHVLJQVSULFLQJDQGSROLFLHV
remodelling of the business is done, we will be vate and get closer to the audience. For example,                 
looking at an even more unhealthy business envi- ÜˆÌ…Ê ÌÀ>˜ÃˆÌÊ «œˆ˜ÌÃÊ ˆŽiÊ >ˆÀ«œÀÌÃ]Ê ""Ê “i`ˆ>Ê ˆÃÊ
ronment. There obviously has to be a collective now able to offer more avenues to reach out to a are not responding to the changing scenario is
niche, more premium audience. Similarly, as rail- scary. I believe they need to show more empathy
                 Ü>ÞÊÃÌ>̈œ˜Ã]ÊLÕÃÊÌiÀ“ˆ˜>ÃÊ}iÌÊëÀÕVi`ÊÕ«]Ê""½ÃÊ towards our needs and involve media owners in
:KDWLVVFDU\LVWKDWWKH22+LQGXVWU\ potential can only grow. the decision-making process rather than making
ad hoc policies.
FRQWLQXHVWRVHHSULFHZDUVWKDWGHJUDGH "˜Ê̅iÊyˆ«ÊÈ`iʈÃÊ̅iÊv>VÌÊ̅>ÌÊ܈̅ʘiÜiÀʓi`ˆ>Ê
gaining importance, fragmentation in the industry Corruption in all facets of this business - and a
WKHEXVLQHVVDQGXOWLPDWHO\HQGXSVHOOLQJ ܈Ê ÀˆÃi°Ê
ÌÊ «ÀiÃi˜Ì]Ê Ì…iÀiÊ >ÀiÊ œÛiÀÊ {]xääÊ “i`ˆ>Ê lack of transparency - is fast becoming a hallmark
DFRPPRGLW\DVRSSRVHGWRDPHGLD œÜ˜iÀÃÊ>VÀœÃÃʘ`ˆ>°ÊœÀiœÛiÀ]Ê̅iʏ>VŽÊœvÊ>ʓiÌ-
ric for audience measurement will continue to be
that can spell doom. Blatant exploitation by clients
of the fact that this business has so many open
VHUYLFHRUSURGXFW >˜Ê ˆÃÃÕiÊ ˆ˜Ê Óä££Ê Ì…œÕ}…Ê ̅iÊ "

Ê …>ÃÊ ˆ˜ˆÌˆ>Ìi`Ê ends often equates larger players in the industry
̅iÊ ˜`ˆ>˜Ê "ÕÌ`œœÀÊ -ÕÀÛiÞÊ ˆ˜Ê >ÃÜVˆ>̈œ˜Ê ÜˆÌ…Ê with smallest ones and reduces all their efforts to
                 ,1
° naught. „

effort on the part of all stakeholders in the business Also, the fact that government and local bodies -------------------------------
to bring about this change. If this trend continues
it does not augur well for the future.

Unplanned regulations, no uniform guidelines,

sudden bans or unexpected imposition of tax
35,17
continue to plague the industry resulting in
low investments on the part of media owners. filled year in all its glory and gore.
Adopting international practices and merely aping
what developed outdoor markets may have done, ˜Ê Óä£ä]Ê “œÃÌÊ “i`ˆ>Ê Ã̜VŽÃÊ v>Ài`Ê Üi°Ê  Ê
œÀ«Ê
without localising it, has led to a stonewalling of was a hot entry in the public domain. There have
certain projects. Large sums of money are invested >ÃœÊLii˜Ê>ÊviÜÊE
ÃÊ̅ˆÃÊÞi>ÀÊ>˜`]ʈ˜ÊÓ䣣]Ê̅iÀiÊ
and wasted. I see little or no change in this trend will be a few more. A sign of further consolidation
and if it continues then we are looking at an will continue to underline buoyancy in the news
extremely slow development in emerging media “i`ˆ>ÊLÕȘiÃðÊʈ˜Ê«Àˆ˜ÌÊÀi“>ˆ˜ÃÊ>Ê`iL>Ìi]ÊLÕÌÊ
formats. This also scares away potential interna- I frankly do not foresee any dramatic changes in
tional companies. „ position emerging in the near future.

------------------------------- Re-emphasising the fact that return on investment

*,5,6+$*$5:$/ is truly the lifeblood of a healthy business practice,
',5(&725'$,1,.%+$6.$5*5283 the industry experienced perhaps one of the best
AdEx seasons in recent memory. The year 2011
will further accentuate the positive curve that the
2010 has been a year of opportunities for news- industry has experienced. The language publica-
papers. A year when the reader took centrestage tions will gain more and this will be reflected in
and there was enough to keep us all glued to the both value as well as volume growths. Review of
media. Sample this: the CWG saga, the Adarsh and market- and budget-allocation priorities may tend
the 2G scams, the Bihar elections, India’s remark- to smoothen the medium utilisation curve.
>LiÊvi>ÌÃʈ˜Ê̅iÊëœÀ̈˜}Ê>Ài˜>]Ê"L>“>½ÃÊۈÈÌÊ>˜`Ê
FOTOCORP

the economic turnaround. Never was there a dull The past year also underlined the fact that geogra-
“œ“i˜Ì°Ê
˜`Ê Ài>`iÀÃÊ Ži«ÌÊ Ü>˜Ìˆ˜}Ê “œÀi°Ê œÀiÊ phy has ceased to matter in the marketers’ hunger
analysis, more views and more updates. Print was vœÀÊ Vœ˜ÃՓiÀÊ Ã«i˜`ˆ˜}°Ê >ÀŽiÌiÀÃÊ “œÛi`Ê Ì…iˆÀÊ
,1'5$-,76(1 present every step of the way, capturing an event- sights and focus to tier II and III towns. This fur-
&+,()(;(&87,9(2)),&(5/$46+<$0(',$ ther enhances the importance of language print.
                 Towns like Jaipur, Indore, Nagpur, Ludhiana,
Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada
The increase in the number of marketing man- 5HHPSKDVLVLQJWKHIDFWWKDWUHWXUQRQ and Cochin will see excitement.
>}iÀÃÊ ÕȘ}Ê ""Ê >ÃÊ Ì…iÊ “>ˆ˜Ê “i`ˆ>Ê >˜`Ê ˜œÌÊ >Ê
‘reminder’ media is an exciting indicator of things LQYHVWPHQWLVWUXO\WKHOLIHEORRGRID The share of Key Urban Towns (KUTs, the
to come. Also, the innovations that are taking place KHDOWK\EXVLQHVVSUDFWLFHWKHLQGXVWU\ ÃiVœ˜`Ê/ˆiÀʜvÊÓnÊÕÀL>˜Ê̜ܘÃ]Ê>ÊÀ՘}ÊLiœÜÊ̅iÊ
ˆ˜Ê̅iÊ""ʓi`ˆ>Ê>Àiʅ>««i˜ˆ˜}Ê>ÌÊ>Êv>ÀÊ}Ài>ÌiÀÊ six metros) and the rest of Urban India, in terms
pace compared to any other media. H[SHULHQFHGSHUKDSVRQHRIWKHEHVW$G([ œvÊ
` Ý]Ê “œÛi`Ê vÀœ“Ê ÈäÊ «iÀÊ Vi˜ÌÊ ÌœÊ ÇÎÊ «iÀÊ Vi˜ÌÊ

/…ˆÀ`Þ]Ê̅iÊ«>ÞiÀÃʈ˜Ê̅iÊ""ʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ>ÀiÊÜ>Ž- VHDVRQVLQUHFHQWPHPRU\ ­>ÀŽiÌÊ-…i…>ÀÃÊ‡Ê E9Ê,i«œÀÌÊÓä£ä®°Ê

ing up to the huge possibilities that await them                  As we sign off on a year of opportunities, I cannot

120 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS 35,17
help but move ahead in the knowledge that the vide consumers a unique experience and help the extensively. I think that’s what language dailies
year gone by was just a precursor to something titles strengthen the relationship with the younger across the country should aim for this year.
immensely significant - the New India has truly readers will be our key focus areas. We will con-
arrived. „ tinue to spearhead innovative content from print The biggest thing to happen at Sambad this year
onto virtual platforms and also begin to extend the ܈Ê LiÊ Ü…>ÌÊ Ê V>Ê ÞÊ œ`iÀ˜ˆÃ>̈œ˜Ê *>˜°Ê 7iÊ
------------------------------- already strong equity of Vogue, GQ and Conde will install an offset printing facility with advanced
Nast Traveller to new businesses. colour technology and it will be the first one in
"`ˆÃ…>°
The challenge today continues to be finding an
effective and efficient way of reaching the elusive A revamp of our printing centres will help us
but spending affluent Indian and growing the split the editions in a more efficient manner. We
market. The growth of high-end magazines is have four printing centres and are in the process
dependent on the overall growth of the luxury of expanding it to six to eight centres. The major
industry, which at the moment is not very large. obstacle that can come in the way of the growth of
We really need to continue to the do the right language publications is the rising cost of news-
things in order to make sure that the luxury prod- print and consumable supplies.
ucts industry continues to grow at a healthy rate.
At Conde Nast, we continue to focus on building Newsprint prices is sold at around `Îx]äääÊ «iÀÊ
a multimedia publishing business that helps reach metric ton and I hear that the prices will increase
221$'+$%+$5 the affluent in India. soon again. We are in a fix because of this. When
0$5.(7,1*',5(&725&21'(1$67,1',$ your readership is limited, how are you going to
Another matter of a concern for the niche maga- survive if the prices keep going through the roof?
zines is the lack of print run audit. We would like Language publications will be forced to reduce
Accessing innovative content through multiple to have a more transparent approach. We do print the number of pages and with that the ads and
mediums such as the smart phone, the iPad, run audit because we think it’s our small contribu- content will also fall. Things will get tough for the
PlayBook or other tablet devices is the key trend tion to the high-end magazine genre and because œV>Ê`>ˆˆiðÊ9œÕÊV>˜˜œÌÊ}ˆÛiÊ}œœ`ʘiÜÃÊVœÛiÀ>}iÊ
to watch out for in 2011. The good news for marketers are beginning to see value in it. „ because you cannot afford it. „
high-niche magazines is that while readership and
circulation numbers continue to show a healthy ------------------------------- -------------------------------
growth there is immense opportunity to let readers
access innovative content through multiple media
platforms and lead the digital trend.

7ˆÌ…ʈ˜VÀi>Ãi`ÊÓ>ÀÌÊ«…œ˜iÊ«i˜iÌÀ>̈œ˜]Ê·>VViÃÃÊ
and the imminent launch of the iPad and PlayBook
in India, digital creates an opportunity to build a

                
:HDUHEHJLQQLQJWRVHHDWUHQGRI
\RXQJHUUHDGHUVDFFHSWLQJFRQWHQW
WKURXJKPXOWLSOHPHGLDSODWIRUPV:KDW 021,&$1$<<$53$71$,. $0,76+8./$
-2,170$1$*,1*',5(&725($67(510(',$ &(2'(&&$1&+521,&/(
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FRQWHQWLQWKHZD\WKH\ZRXOGOLNHLW
According to me, the topic on every language The key developments in 2011 will be on the
                 publication’s lips, in 2011, will be expansion. This >`ÛiÀ̈Ș}ÊvÀœ˜Ì°Ê
ÊVœ“«>˜ˆiÃ]ÊvœÀÊiÝ>“«i]Ê
year, the focus will be on reaching out to the peo- will divert their advertising monies back to print
two-way interactive relationship with our readers. ple at the grassroots level. while electronic media’s share will be reduced.
For Conde Nast India, 2011 will be the year of
consolidating the magazines and creating innova- ˆÃÌÀˆV̇iÛiÊ i`ˆÌˆœ˜ÃÊ ÜˆÊ LiÊ Ì…iÊ Lˆ}}iÃÌÊ ÌÀi˜`Ê /…iÊ 
Ê ÃiV̜À½ÃÊ ˆ˜ÛiÃ̓i˜ÌÊ `iVˆÃˆœ˜ÃÊ >ÀiÊ
tive digital offerings. among the language print media. The rise of based on maximising reach and, so far, it has found
regional newspapers, triggered by the likes of TV to be more economical. However, there was
We are beginning to see a trend of younger read- Eenadu a few decades ago, will continue to grow always a belief that newspaper ads have a much
ers accepting content through multiple media and this time the focus will be on reaching the stronger impact. A newspaper ad generates much
platforms. What we want to do is try and provide rural population - which is still untapped - through more sales than when the same number of people
the content to these potential readers the way they a local connecting thread such as the block-, tehsil- >ÀiÊÀi>V…i`Ê̅ÀœÕ}…Ê>Ê/6Ê>`°ÊÞʅޫœÌ…iÈÃʈÃÊ̅>ÌÊ
would like it. The digital space is set to take off in or ward-specific editions.
a big way in India and that’s what our focus will                 
be this year. With the economic situation of the country getting
L>VŽÊœ˜ÊÌÀ>VŽÊ>˜`Ê̅iÊE ʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ}ÀœÜˆ˜}]Ê̅iÊ 7KHUHZDVDOZD\VDEHOLHIWKDWQHZVSDSHU
We will continue to drive readership and circula-
tion for Vogue, GQ and Conde Nast Traveler.
language publications too will grow. The language
dailies, in all likelihood, will reach a level from DGVKDYHDPXFKVWURQJHULPSDFW$
Today, our magazines enjoy a lion’s share of the where they will be able to tap a large section of the QHZVSDSHUDGJHQHUDWHVPXFKPRUHVDOHV
luxury advertising revenue and continue to grow readers based in the far-flung remote areas.
>ÌÊ>ʅi>Ì…ÞÊÓx‡ÎäÊ«iÀÊVi˜ÌÊi>V…ÊÞi>À°Ê WKDQZKHQWKHVDPHQXPEHURISHRSOH
Creating a host of innovative and interactive ipad,
At Sambad, we have eight editions but many of
̅i“Ê…>ÛiÊ돈ÌÊi`ˆÌˆœ˜Ã]Ê܅ˆV…Ê“>ŽiʈÌÊ£xʈ˜Ê̜Ì>°Ê DUHUHDFKHGWKURXJKD79DG
PlayBook and smart phone apps that would pro- /…iÞÊVœÛiÀÊ̅iÊÃi“ˆÊÕÀL>˜‡ÀÕÀ>Ê>Ài>ÃʜvÊ"`ˆÃ…>Ê                 
afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead 121
3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS 35,177(/(9,6,21
a newspaper ad is surrounded by editorial matter                  challenges in the times to come and find a suitable
and is not part of an advertising capsule.
7KHLQGXVWU\ZLOOEHFRPHPRUHµPLFUR¶ solution. The industry will become more ‘micro’
in 2011. Newspapers will have more sub-sections
Now this belief has become specific, quantifiable LQ1HZVSDSHUVZLOOKDYHPRUH or features. At Saakshi, we are going to put more
and measurable, by statistical techniques which focus on our ‘Constituency Specials’ that were
ˆ˜ŽÊ Ã>iÃÊ œvvÌ>ŽiÊ ÜˆÌ…Ê “i`ˆ>Ê >`ÛiÀ̈Ș}°Ê 
Ê VXEVHFWLRQVRUIHDWXUHV$W6DDNVKL recently started. Additionally, we are also planning
brands that have done such studies have invested
more in print advertising.
ZHDUHJRLQJWRSXWPRUHIRFXVRQRXU to add a couple of new editions by the end of 2011.

µ&RQVWLWXHQF\6SHFLDOV¶ The present political activity in Andhra Pradesh

As the practice for tracking the effectiveness of makes us feel that the circulation is bound to
advertising (in terms of inquiries, sales and retail                  increase this year and we are hopeful that the
œvvÌ>Ži®ÊëÀi>`Ã]Ê>ÊÈâi>LiÊ«œÀ̈œ˜ÊœvÊ
ÊLÕ`}- average net paid circulation (ABC) will definitely
ets will swing back to print advertising and have a but we still have not found much relief. ŜœÌÊÕ«ÊLÞÊiVi“LiÀ]ÊÓ䣣°Ê„
more balanced spread across multiple media.
The industry has to collectively take up these -------------------------------
iVV>˜Ê
…Àœ˜ˆViʈÃÊ̅iʏ>À}iÃÌÊVˆÀVՏ>Ìi`Ê ˜}ˆÃ…Ê
daily of South India and is, by far, the leader in

7(/(9,6,21
the three southern metros - Bangalore, Chennai,
Hyderabad - put together. We expect strong
growth in our advertising volume and revenue,
fuelled by first-time advertisers in a significant
way. investment to make consumer choices absolute.
ÞÊ V…œˆViÊ ˆÃÊ ˜œÌÊ `iÌiÀ“ˆ˜i`Ê LÞÊ Ü…>ÌÊ “ÞÊ ˜iˆ}…-
iVV>˜Ê
…Àœ˜ˆViÊ ÜˆÊ Vœ˜Ìˆ˜ÕiÊ ÌœÊ }ÀœÜÊ ÜˆÌ…Ê bour wants but what I want and wish to pay for.
increasing circulation and further consolidate the What’s bundled is a natural bonus. Consumer
leadership in the southern markets. The concerns choice determines what must be carried. Why do
that will bother or make a big difference to the I have to see all the channels of the public broad-
English newspaper industry in India will be the caster - is Big Brother still watching over me?
rising cost of newsprint, which will impact all the
newspapers, be it English, Hindi or local language ,i>Ê i>ÃÕÀi“i˜Ì\ Which service says pay me
newspapers across the country. „ first then I will tell you how you fare? Why are we
stuck in Baba Adam’s zamana? We all know that the
------------------------------- metro, urban, hyper metro, rural, emerging urban
681,//8//$ and conventional markets are all different. SEC A
0'$1'&(279%86,1(667,0(6*/2%$/%52$'&$67,1* speaks Tamil but we measure English viewership
therein. I’m glad the broadcasters are finally begin-
ning to measure their act. It’s time the current
Vœ˜œ“ˆVÊÀii`œ“\ÊConsumers wake up in 2011 measurement systems realise there is a customer
and realise that it was a dream all along. The price and there needs to be service. Let’s change, create
they have been paying for their daily dose of enter- the change and be the change.
tainment and information is not real. The true price
œvÊ̅iˆÀÊV>LiʜÀÊ/ÊLˆÊˆÃʓÕV…Ê…ˆ}…iÀ° iޜ˜`Ê/6\ There is value for everything we sup-
ply on a phone or a web service. It’s certainly more
Broadcasters realise that creating demand for con- ̅>˜Ê܅>ÌʈÃÊÅ>Ài`Ê̜`>Þ°Ê"˜iÊV>˜Ê>À}ÕiÊ>LœÕÌÊ̅iÊ
tent, not its supply, is the key to economic capital investment or content investment. Let there
freedom. Challenge the merciless diktat of com- be meaningful dialogue between suppliers on both
.535(''< modity pricing for cable as though it will make the sides to create a fair share since the beneficiary is
',5(&7250$5.(7,1*6$$.6+, prices of other goods and services go up. The push ̅iÊVœ˜ÃՓiÀ°Ê"ÀÊiÃi]ÊÜiÊ>Àiʎˆˆ˜}ʜvvʜ˜iʓœÀiÊ
and pull pressures become a resilient, growing, goose. Be it handheld, mouse-led or out of home -
iVœ˜œ“ˆVÊV…>ˆ˜ÊLiÌÜii˜ÊLÀœ>`V>ÃÌiÀÃ]Ê-"ÃÊ>˜`Ê measure, create value, make the consumer pay and
The print media industry is facing challenges that /ʜ«iÀ>̜ÀÃÊ>ÃÊÜiÊ>ÃÊ
"ð build a business like anywhere else.
are going to get tougher in 2011. I feel that the
major challenges or issues in front of the print It’s not so simple. But it’s time we changed the ˜ÛiÃ̈}>̈ÛiÊ œÕÀ˜>ˆÃ“\ News is not news
industry are as follows: clock, created value and enabled the TV industry alone. All facets of life and its spectrum need to
to grow. Freedom has a price and it is not so cheap. get covered. News is as much about stories as it is
UÊˆ}ˆÌ>Ê“i`ˆ>ÊV>˜˜ˆL>ˆÃˆ˜}Ê«Àˆ˜Ì°Ê/…œÕ}…Ê̅ˆÃʈÃÊ about the inquisitive nature that keeps a democ-
a slow process, it will definitely be a threat for the
…œˆViÊ ˆÃÊ
L܏ÕÌi\Ê ˆ}ˆÌˆÃ>̈œ˜Ê ˆÃÊ ˜œÌÊ ÕÃÌÊ >Ê racy ticking. Have we forgotten about it? Is the
print media in future. Already, some news agen- word. It has a defined date, geography and respon- minority interest not an absolute interest? It’s time
cies are entering print through the digital media. sibility. It is given the scale of freedom to usher in to bring back news to when it was awaited and
watched with passion and not ‘remotely’ flicked
UÊCover Price: The increasing cost of newsprint and                  away by sameness.
its availability is a cause for concern. Internationally,
manufacturing units are closing down or being :HDOONQRZWKDWWKHPHWURXUEDQ And these are the five things I would not like to
taken over. Unless we increase the cover price it
would be very difficult for the publications to sus-
K\SHUPHWURUXUDOHPHUJLQJXUEDQDQG happen: No change
tain the bottomline let alone make profits. FRQYHQWLRQDOPDUNHWVDUHDOOGLIIHUHQW No change
No change
UÊ Readership: It will continue to be a matter of 6(&$VSHDNV7DPLOEXWZHPHDVXUH No change
concern in 2011 as well. Readership figures don’t
match the increased circulation and this issue has
(QJOLVKYLHZHUVKLSWKHUHLQ No change „

been taken up with the authorities several times,                  -------------------------------

122 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

 3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS 7(/(9,6,21
                 ˆ˜Ê ̅iÊ ˜iÝÌÊ Þi>ÀÊ Ìœœ°Ê 9iÃ]Ê Ì…iÀiÊ ÜˆÊ LiÊ Vœ“«ï-
tion but we consider competition to be healthy
7KHUHLVDFRQVWDQWQHHGWRLQQRYDWH vœÀÊ}ÀœÜ̅°Ê-/
,ʜۈiÃ]ʓi>˜Ü…ˆi]Ê܈Ê>ˆ“Ê̜Ê
DQGFRPHXSZLWKH[FLWLQJFRQWHQWLQ maintain its leadership the next year too.

WKHZDNHRIFXWWKURDWFRPSHWLWLRQDQG However, from the macro-economic point of

view, a high level of instability in the global econ-
HYROYLQJWHFKQRORJLHV7KDWLVWKH omy and the rising inflation may have a negative
ELJJHVWFKDOOHQJH effect on the AdEx. This is something I am wor-
ried about in the coming year. „
                
-------------------------------
$-$<9,'<$6$*$5 viewers glued to the channel. There is a constant
&22681791(7:25.6 need to innovate and come up with exciting con-
tent in the wake of cutthroat competition and
evolving technology. „
The potential of the industry moving to a more
digitised pipe for delivery of content is something -------------------------------
that is an exciting prospect for me.

It will also unlock value for regional television.

That has already started happening and is an
exciting opportunity that I am looking forward

                
52+,7*837$
,DPZRUULHGDERXWWKHRYHUGRVHRI 35(6,'(171(7:25.6$/(6/,&(16,1* 7(/(3+21<060

FULFNHW,3/DQG:RUOG&XSIURP

2010 has certainly brought the smiles back to the
)HEUXDU\WLOO-XQHDQGWKHIXUWKHU television networks as it has been the best year the
IUDJPHQWDWLRQWKDWLVKDSSHQLQJLQDOO 6$85$%+<$*1,. industry has seen in the last decade.
6593 *0(1*/,6+&/867(567$5,1',$
PDUNHWVDFURVVWKHFRXQWU\ Ad sales growth rates are expected to be close to 20
«iÀÊVi˜ÌÊvœÀÊ̅iʈ˜`ÕÃÌÀÞ°Ê
ÌÊ-]ʈ̽ÃÊLii˜Ê>ÊLˆ}Ê
                 Þi>ÀÊ ÜˆÌ…Ê }ÀœÜÌ…Ê À>ÌiÃÊ œvÊ œÛiÀÊ ÈäÊ «iÀÊ Vi˜ÌÊ ÜˆÌ…-
The English entertainment genre has witnessed out IPL revenues. Big money from other media
̜°Ê i>˜Ü…ˆi]Ê Ì…iÊ œÛiÀ`œÃiÊ œvÊ VÀˆVŽiÌÊ ­*Ê >˜`Ê healthy growth last year and is certainly poised for like print, outdoor and below the line shifted to
World Cup 2011) from February till June 2011 further growth. The category has enlarged with television, as there is 100 per cent accountability
and the further fragmentation that is happening in new players entering the market. vœÀÊiÛiÀÞÊëœÌÊ>ˆÀi`Ê>˜`Ê/6Ê`iˆÛiÀÃÊ̅iÊLiÃÌÊ,"Ê
all markets across the country is something that I across all media.
am worried about because audiences will get frag- There is a huge, untapped potential in the English
mented even more. „ entertainment space amongst the elite group in The continuous growth in C&S households and
Indian society. There have been humungous ̅iÊ«œÃˆÌˆÛiÊÌÀi˜`Ãʈ˜Ê̅iÊ/ÊLÕȘiÃÃÊ܈ÊVœ˜-
------------------------------- changes in lifestyle. tinue to fuel aggressive growth in our business.
What was heartening to see was that overall trading
The potential is waiting to explode, both in terms levels - barring news - across all genres went up
of viewership and ad revenue. New luxury brands substantially in 2010.
are coming into this country and they want a plat-
form. We are here to tap these new players, while We are currently seeing an overall increase in the
adding value to our existing advertisers size of our market, with the Indian economy at
ˆÌÃÊ LiÃÌÊ >˜`Ê *Ê }ÀœÜˆ˜}Ê VœÃiÊ ÌœÊ ™Ê «iÀÊ Vi˜Ì°Ê
We are really looking forward to innovations in /…ˆÃÊ …>ÃÊ «Àœ“«Ìi`Ê >À}iÊ Ãi}“i˜ÌÃÊ ˆŽiÊ 
Ê
the coming year. We will be bringing in the block- to increase their marketing spends substantially.
SUSHIL KUMAR

buster AvatarÊ œ˜Ê -Ì>ÀÊ œÛˆiÃ°Ê 7iÊ >ÀiÊ «>˜˜ˆ˜}Ê Increased competition in the telecom industry
ܓi̅ˆ˜}ÊÛiÀÞÊLˆ}ÊvœÀÊ̅iÊ"ÃV>ÀðÊ7iÊʈ˜Ìi˜`ÊÌœÊ has spurred growth of overall spends and has
make our international events even larger. For our also opened up a huge new category for us in the
regular English shows, we are planning to launch mobile handset business.
5$-(6+.$0$7 ÎÈä‡`i}ÀiiÊV>“«>ˆ}˜Ã]Ê܅ˆV…Ê܈Êˆ˜VÕ`iÊ«Àœ“œ-
&(2&2/256$1'&229,$&20 tions by the international actors who feature in
these shows.                 
Excitement comes from the ability to visualise For Star World, there is an exciting line up of %LJPRQH\VKLIWVIURPRWKHUPHGLDOLNH
grand results and the will to make it happen. In shows for the next year. We shall be experiment- SULQWRXWGRRUDQGEHORZWKHOLQHVKLIWHG
the past couple of years we have tasted immense ing with some new formats too. After the huge
success as a channel. In 2011, our endeavour will ÃÕVViÃÃʜvÊ>ÃÌiÀ
…ivÊ
ÕÃÌÀ>ˆ>ʈ˜Ê˜`ˆ>]ÊÜiÊ܈Ê WRWHOHYLVLRQDVWKHUHLVSHUFHQW
be to create a powerhouse of strong brands. be showcasing.
DFFRXQWDELOLW\IRUHYHU\VSRWDLUHGDQG79
The media and broadcast industry is always evolv- The Bachelor and Bachelorette among a lineup of GHOLYHUVWKHEHVW52,DFURVVDOOPHGLD
ing and there’s something exciting at every corner. some other really popular titles. Star World will
The biggest challenge, however, will be to keep continue to entertain and consolidate its leadership                 

afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead 123

3/$16)257+(<($5
PLANS 7(/(9,6,21
"̅iÀÊV>Ìi}œÀˆiÃʏˆŽiÊVœ˜ÃՓiÀÊ`ÕÀ>LiÃÊ>˜`Ê>Õ̜- The former will compete - and even dominate -
mobiles no longer spend only at festival time, but with the latter, offering a viable choice to viewers
advertise across the year. and advertisers. The success of regional TV will be
led by high quality content in regional languages.
"˜iʓœÀiʈ˜ÌiÀiÃ̈˜}Êv>VÌʈÃÊ̅>ÌÊ`iëˆÌiÊ̅iʏ>À}iÊ It will also spur investment in content production,
number of channels within each genre there is infrastructure and create new avenues of growth.
room for growth for everyone. Regional TV and regional films go hand in hand.
And the success of one will fuel the success of the
Next year, despite two large sports properties other.
back-to-back - the World Cup and IPL - pull-
ing away over ` £]xääÊ VÀœÀiÊ vÀœ“Ê ̅iÊ “>ÀŽiÌ]Ê The content production and distribution industry
other genres will continue to grow at a healthy will get a boost and become a robust economy.
rate. <8%$5$-%+$77$&+$5<$ It’s a chain reaction - investments and returns
&(20$+8$$0(',$ will change the dynamics of a market. Essentially,
2010 has proved to be a great year, but the televi- the economies and the dynamics of regional con-
sion industry continues to be undervalued even tent (as we have seen in the four southern states)
though approximately 10 million new households In 2011, regional TV will stop being the poor will make their mark in the northern region as
are added each year in India. That translates into cousin of ‘National TV’. well. All of it may not happen in 2011 but one or
{xʓˆˆœ˜Ê˜iÜÊiÞiL>Ã°Ê9iÌ]Ê̅iÊVœÃÌÊ«iÀÊVœ˜Ì>VÌÊ two regions are ready for a shake up, after Bengal.
of television remains lower than other key media.                 
"vÊ Ì…iÊ £Î{Ê “ˆˆœ˜Ê /6Ê …œ“iÃ]Ê £äÎÊ “ˆˆœ˜Ê >ÀiÊ TV distribution is a deterrent to the growth of

E-Ê …œ“iÃ°Ê /…>ÌÊ “i>˜ÃÊ Ì…>ÌÊ /
Ê `>Ì>Ê Ài«Ài- 7KHFRQWHQWSURGXFWLRQDQGGLVWULEXWLRQ the broadcasting industry. Similarly, lack of infra-
Ãi˜ÌÃÊ œ˜ÞÊ Î™Ê “ˆˆœ˜Ê …œ“iÃ°Ê ,ÕÀ>Ê ˜`ˆ>Ê ˆÃÊ ˜œÌÊ
accounted for at all.
LQGXVWU\ZLOOJHWDERRVWDQGEHFRPHD structure slows down the growth of the regional
markets. Another critical aspect is the ‘valuation of
UREXVWHFRQRP\,W¶VDFKDLQUHDFWLRQ reach’ in the regional markets. Each of these mar-
This is representative of the huge opportunity cost kets must readjust to an equitable cost per reach
LQYHVWPHQWVDQGUHWXUQVZLOOFKDQJHWKH
that we bear and it needs to be addressed immedi- and create parity between TV and print. This will
G\QDPLFVRIDPDUNHW
ately so that television can get its fair due. „ unlock the true value of regional content. „

-------------------------------                  -------------------------------
-2%6:,7&+

JOBSWITCH
Organization Name: ENIL
Position: Sales Head Mumbai
Management, Planning and Creative
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126 afaqs! Reporter ¦ Special Issue : Looking Back, Looking Ahead

For the last three years in a row, STAR Majha is consistently
No. 1, ahead of all News channels including Hindi and English. 13%

With 13% Market Share among all news channels in the state, 11%
10%
we have repeatedly proved that our news strength is a great 9%
Source: TAM, CS 15+, YR 2010 , Maharashtra

asset to success. State of the fact, 11 million viewers watch us 7%

build opinions, expose truth & cover top news week after week. 4% 4%

We welcome all partners to unleash the power of their brands 2%

through the no.1 news channel in Maharashtra. 1% 1%