Rs 40 THE February 1-15, 2009 The fortnightly from www.thebrandreporter.com 30 PROFILE Lloyd Mathias Looking forward to make Tata Indicom a ‘cool’ brand. THE SLOWDOWN 20 ONLINE’S OFFICE PROMOS BIG Play at Work Brands go all out to reach employees inside offices. CHANCE 28 The difficult advertising climate offers an opportunity in disguise to the online medium. Can it DEFINING MOMENTS capture the moment? Chintamani Rao Times Now chief recalls blissful years in adworld. AEGON RELIGARE The Truth about Pension 12 LAQSHYA MEDIA Aiming at Airports 18 KIDS’ CHANNELS Bringing Toons to Life 22 AMCL 26 Pitching for Cricket 40 EDITORIAL The fortnightly from afaqs! This fortnight... Volume IV, Issue 13 The more you can measure, the more you want to measure. True or False? EDITOR True, I would think. Sreekant Khandekar Forget online for a moment. Consider something entirely unrelated: salaries. It has long PUBLISHER been my belief that we use salaries as a measure of how well we do because no other consider- Prasanna Singh ation – not work environment, not job satisfaction, for example – can be measured as conveniently as salaries. Why? Because compensation has a currency, Rupees. How EXECUTIVE EDITOR would you measure happiness at work? M Venkatesh Since we can’t measure anything else quite so precisely at work, we examine com- Deputy Editor pensation to death, to such a point in fact that we lose all sense of proportion. It is Sanjay Gupta only when we move elsewhere – for a higher salary, naturally – that we finally appre- ciate the intangibles of the place we left. CREATIVE CONSULTANTS PealiDezine For this reason, in the early years of the online revolution I used to wonder whether measurability would be the death of online. I had seen it happen before with LAYOUT direct marketing (DM) in India. Measurability, which was touted as the greatest Vinay Dominic strength of DM, proved to be its bane. Clients who’d sign off crores on a TV cam- LOGISTICS paign as a matter of course, turned into maniacal bean counters when it came to DM Rajesh Kanwal and wanted to measure their return on investment down to the second decimal – only because they could. ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES There is a positive aspect to measurability as well, from the online publisher’s Hansika Koli point of view. Media agencies are paid to take the risk out of investment decisions. Noida: (0120) 4077834 That is why when it comes to newer media or brands, and there is inadequate data 4077837 to go on, clients make the investment call rather than the agency. The good thing Gaurav Prabhu about online, then, is that agencies feel comfortable recommending it to first-time Mumbai: (022) 40429702-5 [email protected] clients because they have the measures for everything in place. This fortnight’s cover report looks at how the slowdown is a great opportunity for online Marketing Office publishers to claim new converts. True, even online advertising’s growth has been hurt but it B-3, First floor, Sector-4, will continue to grow quickly all the same. Many of online’s old faithfuls such as financial serv- Noida-201301. ices are expected to cut back sharply but new categories will step in to more than make up the Tel: (0120) 4077800. difference. Mumbai 39, A to Z (Industrial) Premises Co-op Soc Ltd, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013. Sreekant Khandekar Tel: (022) 40429701-5. Subscription Enquiries Sakshi Kohli all the coffee chains can do to tap Tel: (0120) 4077837 LETTERS more consumers. Coffee shops are [email protected] undoubtedly the perfect zone for people to get together for profession- Registered Office Feedback al or personal meetings. Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd, 494, The POV on effective ways of Rahul Tyagi Mandakini Enclave, Alaknanda, measuring celebrity endorsements Bengaluru New Delhi 110 019. ©2004 provided good insights. However, Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd, all rights you may have overlooked a recently reserved throughout the world. launched study called CelebTrack, ERRATA Reproduction in any manner without which focusses on ensuring that In the article ‘The Battle for permission is prohibited. Printed and clients get their money’s worth when Bengaluru’ (The Brand Reporter, published by Sreekant Khandekar on they use celebrities to endorse their January 16–31, 2009), it was mistak- behalf of Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd at brands. Unfortunately, most brands enly reported that The Hindu 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex, continue to hire celebs on the basis of distributes its Chennai edition in the Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar, gut feel or ‘liking’. Business Perils city. The company has clarified that New Delhi-110 063. Arnab Purkayastha The cover story on Private Treaties The Hindu has an exclusive edition Printed at Paras Offset Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata was interesting. In addition to the and printing facility in Bengaluru. C-176, Naraina Industrial Area, moral or ethical question of editorial The error is regretted. Phase I, New Delhi 110 028. As You Like It fairness and integrity, complex ques- Editor Exclusive distributors in India: I enjoyed reading the story on cof- tions related to the funding and long India Book House Pvt. Ltd. fee chains in the last issue. As a gestation period for returns on such a New Delhi: (011) 23313014/5, consumer, I believe the ambience of a fund, is what needs to be watched out Mumbai: (022) 24925651, coffee shop is something that will for. The way things stand it appears Kolkata: (033) 22498096, influence my decision to go there and that this new emerging business prac- Bangalore: (080) 22261305, sip a cup of coffee. Mostly, food and tice has high probability of being Chennai: (044) 28275217 beverage companies adapt their prod- dominated by some big players. ucts according to the flavour of the Mahesh Cover Illustration local market. This is something that New Delhi Readers can mail their feedback to Aparna, PealiDezine [email protected] The Brand Reporter, February 1-15, 2 0 0 9 5 IAMAI NEWSBULLETIN Mobile Marketing Sponsored by he internet was labelled new forces were working to make media ten years ago. Even available inventory that could work today, it is sometimes called across platforms – voice, SMS, WAP T Sify> Synchronica PLC, an international provider of mobile that. The same holds true for and video can be contextually email and synchronization solutions, announced an mobiles. With 300 million mobile targeted with simple interactive agreement with Sify Technologies. Sify will offer a hosted subscribers, how could the mobile tools. The biggest opportunity for an mobile email and synchronization service based on space, asked Shantanu Sirohi, advertiser is SMS and voice. Synchronica Mobile Gateway to enterprises and consumers cofounder and vice-president, Dhritiman Chakraborty, vice- throughout the Indian sub-continent. Interactive Avenues, be called new president, sales, ACL Wireless, said media? Sirohi was speaking at the that this “always there” medium has Madame> The fashion accessories market is showing Mobile Ad Conference, which was the capability to reach the consumers Madame will offer a wide prolific growth since high-end designers are taking due organised by the Internet and at a personal level and serve the right interest in the one-stop-shop factor for accessories like Mobile Association of India ad at the right time. He pointed out range of handbags, watches, sunglasses, jewellery and others. (IAMAI) at the ITC Grand Central, that Toyota Yaris was the first accessories at Madame, a brand of Delhi-based Jain Amar Clothing, will Mumbai, recently. successful product launch on mobile NYCT. offer a comprehensive range of accessories at stores named “Nobody needs a watch, a – it used a highly engaging mobisode NYCT. The company has plans to launch the brand initially in separate music player, an internet of the television series, Prison Break. cities like Jalandhar, Moradabad, Ludhiana and Patiala. browser or other things if they have The last session was a panel a mobile,” claimed Sirohi. discussion involving strategies to Titan to come up Titan> Wrist watch maker Titan Manish Vij, maximise advertising Industries plans to roll out 20 more MARKETING with more cofounder and chief revenue through franchise stores across India by the end of business officer, Smile innovative advertising franchise stores this financial year. The company currently Interactive, painted a There is a need that would engage across India. has 260 franchise stores across 130 towns bright picture for the for advertisers� consumers. all over the country. In addition, it is medium. The session was present overseas in several countries in the Middle-East, He said that the to look beyond moderated by Suman south-east Asia and the SAARC region. mobile industry was creating banner Srivastava, chief growing at 60 per cent executive officer, Euro Guardian> Healthcare retail chain Guardian Lifecare plans year on year, and ads and WAP RSCG who talked to spread its reach with the launch of 50 stores across the today, there are 15 sites. about the privacy country by March this year. Currently, the company has 20 million GPRS users in issues faced by stores in the pipeline. The company will be opening two stores the country. consumers. According in Bengaluru, 12 in Delhi, six in Noida and six in Gurgaon, Vij advised to him, if an advertiser among others, in the coming two months. Guardian expects its revenue to cross Rs 100 crore by March end. advertisers against was bombarding overspending or � consumers with Danone will Yakult Danone> Probiotic dairy underspending on mobile ads, an added make huge products maker Yakult Danone India will mobile commun-ication. “Five to six incentive with the ad, such as free pump in an additional Rs 100 crore over per cent of the marketing budget talk time, would help.