November 16-30, 2019 Volume 8, Issue 10 `100 INTERVIEW 16 KARAN BEDI MX PLAYER 12 IMAGICA Be Amazed New ads pit rollercoasters against binge watching. 18 COFFY BITE New Coffee-Toffee TVC There’s finally an ad for the iconic toffee brand. 10 KNORR Subs riber o yf not or resale No Mom-Kid Routine The new Knorr ad features “WE TREAT EACH Karan Johar, instead. PIECE OF CONTENT INTERVIEW Rajesh Sethi 17 LIKE A PRODUCT” MOST-VIEWED ADS Best Creatives 20 MX Player recently raised $110 million. MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS An interview with CEO Karan Bedi. Who’s Where 22 EDITORIAL This fortnight... Volume 8, Issue 10 EDITOR Sreekant Khandekar hough relatively new in the larger scheme of entertainment, algorithm based PUBLISHER November 16-30, 2019 Volume 8, Issue 10 `100 T content consumption has been around long enough for ‘pro’ and ‘against’ Sreekant Khandekar INTERVIEW 16 KARAN BEDI camps to have developed. The latter, which I belong to, is based on a simple premise EXECUTIVE EDITOR MX PLAYER 12 – if recommendation engines keep pushing content of the kind we’ve already Ashwini Gangal IMAGICA Be Amazed PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE New ads pit rollercoasters watched, how will we ever discover new, contrarian types of content? Where’s the against binge watching. Andrias Kisku 18 serendipity and human folly in a world in which humans have less volition than a ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES platform? I’ve disabled YouTube’s auto-play option, in a bid to take back some of Shubham Garg COFFY BITE New Coffee-Toffee TVC the agency I feel a sense of having lost to it. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings told 81301 66777 (M) There’s finally an ad for the iconic toffee brand. Noida 10 interviewer Chris Anderson on the TED stage, “… in practice, you’re right, you Apoorv Kulshrestha can’t just rely on algorithms – it’s a mix of judgment and what we carry… there is 9873824700 (M) KNORR Noida Subs riber o y notf or resale no perfect tool…” No Mom-Kid Routine The new Knorr ad features “WE TREAT EACH Karan Johar, instead. Nikhil Jhunjhunwala PIECE OF CONTENT INTERVIEW Rajesh Sethi 17 9833371393 (M) MOST-VIEWED ADS LIKE A PRODUCT” Best Creatives 20 This is relevant in the context of the cover story this issue – an interview with Mumbai MX Player recently raised $110 million. MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS An interview with CEO Karan Bedi. Who’s Where 22 Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player – because, while he spoke about the ‘productisation’ Vijayalaxmi Yadav of content, highlighted his focus beyond tier I cities, and deconstructed what ‘premium’ 9930547767 (M) Mumbai means (it’s not just about whether the content is available for a price versus free, but [email protected] also about how much it costs to produce it!), the discussion got passionate around the MARKETING OFFICE subject of the big bad algo. B 3, Ground Floor, Sector 4, Noida-201301 Uttar Pradesh. Karan defended recommendation engines, insisting they kick in when a sliver of a MUMBAI trend in human behaviour is evident among a certain demographic, and then – and 302, Makani Center, 3rd Floor, Off Linking Road, Bandra (W), this is the main part – help the producers discover niche audiences for that content. Mumbai-400050. Conversely, algos help people find content they did not know exists… and are likely to enjoy. SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES [email protected] “Blowing up trends” caught by the engine, he insists, helps both consumers and Owned by Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd and Printed and Published by producers. On MX Player, it turns out, dubbed Turkish content works surprisingly Sreekant Khandekar, at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex, well in Punjab! A voracious reader of Turkish writers Orhan Pamuk and Elif Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar, Shafak, I cannot begin to surmise why that may be. New Delhi-110063. Printed at Artz and Printz 208 DSIDC Sheds, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi-110020. Ashwini Gangal [email protected] CONTENTS 19 11 FORD “We’re Taking Gossip Head-on” Rahul Gautam, VP, marketing, on why it was necessary to repeat the messaging. PROJECT STREEDHAN 4 8 Taking the Peppy Route to PSA The new ad for Project Streedhan #InvestInIron, a CSR initiative by the Dutch VEET 15 GOOGLE BALAJI WAFERS MNC DSM Nutritional Hairy Tales Ab Hindi Mein Bolo Eyeing a National Presence Products, is a healthcare Veet has finally entered the male The feature will help Google Here’s what Jay Sachdev, advisory at its core. grooming segment in India. reach more Indian users. manager, marketing, has to say. afaqs! Reporter, November 16-30, 2 0 1 9 3 MARKETING GOOGLE Ok, Google. Hindi Mein Bolo So, what is the latest campaign #GoogleAssistantHindiMein all about? By Ananya Pathak he three, 30-second films to. “It seems like a straightforward ‘Kuch naya seekhein’, brief, but I wish the execution would T‘Mausam ki jaankari’ and have delighted me. The narrative felt ‘Safalta ki taiyari’, released as part of a bit flat. The storytelling, especially the campaign, individually feature since it isn’t fiction, could have been a female rickshaw driver, an office- more heartwarming.” boy and retailer using the feature. Dave feels that product demo is Riding on social mobility stories, the apparent in the films and that to films are based on the ‘Aaj ke sawaalo make sure that the intended target mein hain kal ke jawaab’ ideology. audience sees the ad, the brand Google Assistant was unveiled should geo-target through Facebook, during Google’s developer and may be communicate to the Jio conference on May 18, 2016 and database in the country. supported Hindi and other Indian Shubho Sengupta, a digital languages, but the languages could be switched if the OS language was Alexa. Interestingly, the Assistant’s changed to the same. To change new feature was announced a day the language to Hindi, users needed after Amazon announced that its to activate Hindi language support virtual assistant Alexa, can now from the settings option. The latest converse in Hindi and Hinglish. feature decouples the language from Along with the new language the OS. changing feature, Google also Along with Hindi, the app will launched its Bolo app earlier this support eight other Indian languages year. Available for Android users, — Gujarati, Kannada, Urdu, the app is designed for native Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi speakers and helps kids and Telugu. Google believes that improve their English and Hindi the new feature will help it reach reading skills. more Indian users, particularly those who might be comfortable with using English as their device language, but like to hold conversations in local languages. As per a Google marketer (ex-Contract, JWT), finds it a simple and nice campaign. “Hindi Along with Hindi, and regional languages are driving the app will support the next 500 million on mobile, and nice to see Google showing eight other Indian leadership.” He says the story in the background makes the product demo languages — Gujarati, memorable. When asked him about Kannada, Urdu, the media mix to engage in to reach the intended target audience, he Bengali, Marathi, simply says, “Google owns Google.” Malayalam, Tamil, Shobhit Mathur, national creative director, Hakuhodo India, says, and Telugu. EXPERTS SPEAK that and additionally, you have ample “What I like about Google ads is that Sidharth Shukla, head, Ogilvy product window that reinforces the they are always simple, effective and One, and chief digital officer, Ogilvy same in the end.” Commenting on based on insights. And so are these spokesperson, the feature has been & Mather (North India), says that how he thinks the brand should ones. The candid situations and rolled out on all Android, Android the films do a highly effective job make sure that the intended target approach adds to the flavour of the Go and KaiOs devices. Reportedly, in communicating the content and audience sees the ad, he says, “I films, especially the shopkeeper one. the Assistant’s support is available their purpose. “I thought the Taj cannot comment on the entire media However, I found the office situation in over 30 languages across 80 Mahal film wasn’t as on point as the mix, but I would definitely consider a bit laborious. The characters are countries. other two but the other two were leveraging video platforms such as well chosen and the product demo Prior to the announcement, spot on in terms of showcasing the YouTube and Tik Tok, as we know is almost seamless, which is good millennials were Google Assistant’s levels of interaction as well as the it is a medium used extensively by considering the target audience. It core target. Past campaigns were depth of information you can get this TG , micro influencers would be would be interesting if the brand focused only on English language from the Google Assistant.” another area to explore.” decided to not go mass media, but assistance. Is the product demo clear? Says Rishabh Dave, creative director, did a hyperlocal or specific geo- Google Assistant sees competition Shukla, “It is very clear, the entire L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, opines that targeting mobile marketing these.” n from Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s content of the film is built around the ad communicates what it needs [email protected] 4 afaqs! Reporter, November 16-30, 2 0 1 9 BRANDS AND SPORTS MARKETING Hero Drives the Indian Football Scene Ahead; On Boards Premier League as Presenting Sponsor for Broadcast To understand more about this, afaqs! Reporter got in touch with Bharatendu Kabi, who leads the brand’s sports associations. B y e b a s h i s h h a k r a b o r t y ith the momentum promoters of football, supporting flocked to Hero dealerships to in the Indian sports the game across platforms.