The New Influencer
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September 16-30, 2014 Volume 3, Issue 8 `100 14 SOCIAL MEDIA 7+(1(: ,1)/8(1&(5 DEFINING MOMENTS How to influence people and help brands! Amitava Sinha Rediff’s people’s person That is the kind of person brand marketers looks back on his career. are looking for online. 20 FACEBOOK Bandwidth Targeting Advertising based on network strength. 6 KAMASUTRA Art of Making Love The new campaign dances its way to new positions. NESCAFE Cafe Stutter 12 DBS BANK A New Love Story 16 LIFE OK 26 Dare to Dance 30 TATA GOLDPLUS The Grand Push 38 (',725,$/ This fortnight... Volume 3, Issue 8 come from the old school of journalism. Here, editorial and sales have nothing to do with each other on a day-to-day basis. Obviously, the editorial direction is EDITOR I Sreekant Khandekar September 16-30, 2014 Volume 3, Issue 8 100 determined by the larger business imperative but trade-offs between sales and edit ` 14 PUBLISHER SOCIAL MEDIA are taboo: we won’t do an article on a brand simply because it advertises with us; Prasanna Singh conversely, we won’t stop writing about a company because it doesn’t spend on our site. 7+(1(: DEPUTY EDITOR ,1)/8(1&(5 DEFINING MOMENTS Ashwini Gangal How to influence people and help brands! Amitava Sinha Many find this old fashioned. They can’t understand why the reporters shouldn’t Rediff’s people’s person That is the kind of person brand marketers looks back on his career. are looking for online. 20 write what is good for business. Don’t they want salaries, increments? Then why not SENIOR LAYOUT ARTIST Vinay Dominic do what the advertiser wants? PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE FACEBOOK Bandwidth Targeting Andrias Kisku Advertising based on There are good reasons why editorial and sales are kept apart in media companies. network strength. 6 At an ethical level, readers have a right to know what is objective reporting and what ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES has been paid for (and is, effectively, advertising masquerading as editorial). At a Naveen Arora (0120) 4077803, 4077866 KAMASUTRA Art of Making Love business level, a media brand gets its life-force from its credibility and that must be Noida The new campaign dances its way to new positions. NESCAFE protected. Cafe Stutter 12 Pradeep Hegde DBS BANK A New Love Story 16 (022) 40429702-5 LIFE OK 26 Dare to Dance 30 What has all this got to do with the new influencers, the subject of this cover story? Mumbai TATA GOLDPLUS The Grand Push 38 The social media explosion has thrown many individuals as experts on the digital [email protected] centre-stage. Each of them has a following because they know the subject they are MARKETING OFFICE writing about. Besides, they have credibility – their followers believe that what they are B-3, First Floor, Sector-4, saying is being said in all honesty. Noida-201301. Tel: (0120) 4077800. Now, brands want to influence the influencers. Just as they use celebrities to say nice things about their MUMBAI brands, they’d like these digital opinion makers to discuss their products. Do these influencers admit to their 501-502, Makani Center, 5th Floor, Off Linking Road, Bandra (W), followers that they are being paid – in kind or cash – to discuss products or services? Generally not. Mumbai - 400050 Tel: +91-22-40429 709 - 712 How would you react if you learnt that the movie or product reviewer you’ve revered has actually been paid SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES every now and then to say the good stuff? Not very well, I imagine. Akhilesh Singh (0120) 4077837 These are early days and there are no accepted standards of ethics. In any case, since these individuals are [email protected] scattered and independent, getting a code of sorts in place will be hard. It is in the interest of both influencers Owned by Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd and and brands to arrive at some norms of transparent behaviour with digizens. Or else, sooner or later, I can Printed and published by promise that there will be backlash against both – the ones who buy influence as well as those who allow Prasanna Singh, at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex, themselves to be bought. Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi-110 063. Printed at Cirrus Graphics Private Limited B-61, Sector 67, Noida (U.P.), 201301 Sreekant Khandekar Cover Illustration [email protected] Vinay Dominic CONTENTS 36 42 PLUS FREECHARGE AFAQS! EVENTS Value for Money 10 TV.NXT IAMAI The TV business and where it is headed. A Good Times Ahead 16 round-up. MSN New Face in India 18 INTERVIEW 8 34 Sunil Kataria TO THE NEW Godrej’s COO talks about 24 premium-ness and health. Round Table STAR WORLD PREMIERE POINTS OF VIEW 32 Anniversary Edition 34 Football COKE BIGG BOSS With the ISL round the No Formalities At All Next Season Cometh SONY corner, will advertisers bite Coke positions itself as a Advertisers are ready for 38 the football bait? social drink. Season 8 of Bigg Boss. Home Stories afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2014 5 $'9(57,6,1* KAMASUTRA The Art of Making Love In its latest TVC, KamaSutra Condoms attempts to play up different sex positions through a sensual dance sequence. By Ashwini Gangal fter a communication hiatus of four years, KamaSutra, the condom brand Afrom JK Ansell - a 50:50 JV between the Raymond Group and Ansell International, an Australian company - has launched a national campaign. At the heart of this campaign is a minute-long ad film that features a dancing couple. Through their steamy choreography they bring out different sex positions, à la Kamasutra, ancient Indian erotica. The film ends with a super that reads: ‘The art of making love’. The TG comprises men between 18 and 35 years, from SEC A, B and C. The focus, of course, is on the younger lot or the “new entrants into the category” as the brand team puts it. strategic design and innovation consultancy, the We asked Ranju Kumar Mohan, director and film is “a well-choreographed dance.” That the business head of JK Ansell, about the brand’s dance is layered with sex positions is not clear to him at all. “It’s not a bad ad, but it has nothing that I will “Consumers recall... nothing stands out. In fact, the film may readily associate not even tell me it’s a condom ad,” he says, but KamaSutra, is quick to add, nevertheless, “It’s certainly one 60 Seconds’ will be displayed along with a QR of the better condom ads today. It has more class the brand with code, which, when scanned, will take people to than Durex’s Do The Rex film with Ranveer Kamasutra, the the brand’s website and eventually, the ad film. Singh and Manforce’s ads with Sunny Leone. This one’s definitely about quality over sleaze.” text.” TITILLATED? The ad, Roy opines, is more sensual than RANJU KUMAR he first reaction of Krishna Padhye, sexual, and the dance, he feels, is “very Western MOHAN Tmanaging partner, creative, Utopeia, a brand Salsa-isqué,” something quite far from the marketing consultancy, was: Is this a condom ad Kamasutra heritage of India. “This ad,” he or a deodorant ad? “Today, communication for reasons, “probably caters to the more intelligent, absence from mainstream media and the timing mature part of the audience.” of this marketing effort. “For the past four years, The steamy choreography Vinay Kanchan, independent brand consultant we were focused on regional campaigns, press and creative thinking trainer, says, “If there’s and digital ads,” he says, “The brand was doing attempts to bring out any brand that has shaken this otherwise silent well; the product extensions were doing well... category, it is KamaSutra,” referring to the but then we realised that we were losing a bit of different sex positions, as brand’s famous launch film (1991), featuring the core mother brand. That’s when we decided depicted in Kamasutra. Pooja Bedi and Marc Robinson. The tagline to launch a campaign around it.” then was ‘For the pleasure of making love’, a Mohan adds that his market research revealed most deodorant brands falls within this kind of stance that made people think of the product in a that consumers readily associate KamaSutra, territory. So, that was a bit confusing for me,” context other than that of safety and protection. the brand with Kamasutra, the ancient text. he says, adding about the execution, “The film About the current ad, he says, “Given the “That’s when we thought of linking the two and has high production value and is aesthetically word ‘Kamasutra’, it would have been better to launching a campaign around sex positions,” he shot.” have an Indian dance instead of a Western one; explains. The brand, he infers, is there’s a bit of a disconnect there.” Besides the 60 seconder, clearly trying to appeal to the Even so, Kanchan points out, “In most 10 second edits will be aired youth. Padhye, adds, though, condom ads, the actual ritual of love making is as well. Besides YouTube “More than anything else, understated. But this ad puts the ritual right the and social media, the digital they seem to have focused centre of things.” leg of the effort includes a on shooting it artistically He cautions, “Just this ad is not enough. It QR code campaign across and making it look crisp. could easily pass of as a film for Jaquar bathroom malls, retail outlets, outdoor Something’s missing - fittings! So the ad is just the starting point.