Rs 40 THE

March 16-31, 2008 The fortnightly from agencyfaqs! www.thebrandreporter.com 26

PROFILE Rajiv Jaitly Dainik Bhaskar will be Jaitly’s playing field now. 40

VIRGIN MOBILE Red Salute The brand starts off its mobile campaign in style. 22

TELEVISION

TELEVISION ACT OF Lip-sync Service New channels with dubbed content? What’s up?

STOCK IMAGE WEBSITES Picture Perfect? 24 GOD AMRITA TV Treasure Hunt 34 Mythologicals - and costume dramas - BULLDOG MEDIA have roared back into contention. Why? Content King 34 3030 ADVERTISING Pride in India 36

  

The fortnightly from agencyfaqs! This fortnight... Volume III, Issue 16

Just when most people thought mythologicals and costume dramas as a genre on televi- EDITOR & PUBLISHER sion had been consigned to the bin, NDTV Imagine, a brand new channel launched in Sreekant Khandekar 2008, went back a few thousand years to kick off its entry with Ramayan. The move worked like a dream for the channel. Ramayan has become its most popular EXECUTIVE EDITOR M Venkatesh programme and somewhere down the line, the broadcaster will probably send out a silent prayer for this inspired move. CREATIVE CONSULTANTS

Rs 40 PealiDezine THE Other channels like STAR, ZEE and Sony too are on track with a mix of period serials, mythological re-runs and costume dramas sharing air-space with LAYOUT

March 16-31, 2008 The fortnightly from agencyfaqs! www.thebrandreporter.com regular family dramas and current affairs. Even news channels picked up a few Vinay Dominic 26 cues in the process. MARKETING This fortnight’s cover story is about how and why channels are using this genre PROFILE Prasanna Singh Rajiv Jaitly Dainik Bhaskar will be Jaitly’s playing field now. to garner eyeballs and advertising. 40 What are the reasons for these blasts from the past captivating the viewer? Are LOGISTICS broadcasters making amends for not bringing such stories to an entire generation Rajesh Kanwal VIRGIN MOBILE Red Salute The brand starts off its mobile campaign in style. (the last mass retelling of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata came nearly 20 ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES 22 years ago)? Is it because this ‘modern’ generation is more conservative and wants Ashish Chauhan TELEVISION to relate to what is on offer? Noida: (0120) 4077800, TELEVISION ACT OF Lip-sync Service 4077819, 4077816 New channels with dubbed content? What’s up? In the larger scheme of things, the mythological serial on television could be a

STOCK IMAGE WEBSITES Gaurav Prabhu Picture Perfect? 24 GOD AMRITA TV subset of the medium itself. As George Gerbner, a Hungarian-American scholar Treasure Hunt 34 Mumbai: (022) 40429702-5 Mythologicals - and costume dramas - BULLDOG MEDIA have roared back into contention. Why? Content King 34 and communications specialist, said in a paper 14 years ago, people think of tele- 30 ADVERTISING Pride in India 36 [email protected] vision as programmes, but television is more than that; television is a mythology - highly organically connected, repeated every day so that the themes that run through Marketing Office all programming and news have the effect of cultivating conceptions of reality. Gerbner was B-3, First floor, Sector-4, talking about the programmes on American television. Noida-201301. Tel: (0120) 4077800. But the Indian viewer prefers her mythology from further in the past. Mumbai 39, A to Z (Industrial) Premises Co-op Soc Ltd, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013. Tel: (022) 40429701-5.

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The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 5 BEVERAGES  
     Moser Baer> Less than a year ago, Moser Baer triggered a dramatic cut in DVD/VCD prices. After a short spell of price ilk, and largest range of cuts, home entertainment majors have decided to change not aer- flavoured milk their pricing tack. Tighter margins and high acquisition rights Mated options under the for titles are now driving home entertainment players to drinks, seems to be Amul brand, revisit the old strategy of higher prices. minting money. which includes The domestic Amul Cool, Kool Volvo hopes to Automobiles> Volvo in India faces dairy sector is slat- Koko and Cool sell about 500 a unique situation. The weekend before ed to cross Rs Cafe, while last, Volvo Car opened its first show- 500,000 crore in Mother Dairy has cars by the end of room, in Delhi, to showcase two revenues by 2011 Chillz on the shelf the year. models - the sports utility vehicle XC90 and the FMCG in the category. and the S80 sedan - about six months after launching its cars in majors are all Nestle also intro- the country. In India, the problem is compounded as few cus- geared to enter the duced Milkmaid tomers think Volvo when it comes to cars because they were milk-based beverages Funshakes last year. introduced a decade after Volvo entered the commercial vehi- segment. Big daddies of Amul also has a whey cles business. Volvo hopes to set up at least six more the industry - Coca- based drink in the cate- dealerships by end-2008 Cola and PepsiCo have The largest gory while Mother already announced plans chunk of the Dairy has its sweet and Pharma>The Piramal Group has announced the launch of to enter the milk-based salted lassi. According to its new corporate identity. The group’s flagship company, Rs 500-crore Nicholas Piramal India, a pharmaceutical major, marks its

MARKETING beverages segment, Mother Dairy, the whey while Reliance Retail, based drink has seen a 20th year of operations this year. An analysis carried out market is within the group over the past two years has revealed an has already launched growth of 40 per cent taken up by affinity with three values that it has now adopted: knowl- Dairy Pure, its milk over the last few years. the ready-to- edge, action and care. The chosen logo is the Gyan Mudra, brand and may also Internationally too, an aesthetic hand posture practised in yoga, meditation and expand into niche cate- drink milk-based drinks seem dance over the past 3,000 years. The three fingers in the gories. flavoured milk to have found favour logo symbolise the mind, the body and the intellect, mirroring The largest chunk of among consumers. Pepsi the group’s core values. the present Rs 500 crore category. launched chocolate milk market is taken up by the under the SoBe brand ready-to-drink flavoured and Pepsi’s joint venture The company has GM> Enthused by the sales of Chevrolet Spark and UVA, General milk category. The main with Starbucks rolled invested more Motors India is planning to come out players in this segment out Frapuccino, a refrig- than $ 300 mil- with more offerings in the small-car are Gujarat Co-opera- erated milk coffee lion in the segment. Commercial production of tive Milk Marketing  beverage. Coca-Cola, on Talegaon facility. mini cars at the second plant in Talegaon, Maharashtra is Federation (GCMMF) the other hand, part- likely to begin in August. GM sold 5,563 cars in February, and Mother Dairy, along nered Nestle USA’s 2008. with Hershey, Nestle beverages division to India and Amrit Food. develop Choglit, a skim Of the above, milk-based chocolate- Animation> Leander Paes will now play model and inspiration to sports and content-based animation pro- GCMMF has the flavoured drink. grammes. Leander Sport will be co-producing animated content for TV, DVDs and Mobisodes in association with QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT Maya Entertainment. It would make sense if Lifestyle> India is uncorking the wine bottle, literally. And computers had a different if the UK-based International Wines and Spirits Records software that helped women, (IWSR) statistics are anything to go by, wine consumption ... or a credit card that helped here is poised to grow three-fold by 2011. According to reports, the Indian wine market is estimated at 1.2 million women keep track of cases (one case has 12 bottles of 750 ml each), with import- household purchases. I ed wines accounting for a mere 2 lakh cases. The per capita consumption of wine in India is only 9 ml, compared with 400 haven’t seen any Indian brand ml in China. By 2011, Asia will account for 4.8 per cent of the that has changed the world’s wine consumption. stereotype in a big way. PARTHA SINHA, CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER, SOUTH & SOUTHEAST ASIA, PUBLICIS, ON This order gives a Dunlop> The tyre manufacturer is no longer a sick compa- 'SHIFTING GENDER LINES ADDING TO MARKETER'S BURDEN' IN THE ECONOMIC TIMES. boost to Dunlop’s ny. According to the AAIFR (Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction), Dunlop’s net worth had turned plans to stabilise positive. This was announced after the AAIFR dismissed an MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS

 its position. appeal filed by the SEBI and the BSE. A compilation of some major account and people movements in the last fortnight PEOPLE Telecom> The Department of Telecom (DoT) is unlikely to  ask operators to stop the Blackberry service to its sub- > The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has appointed Amitabh Khosla scribers. Security issues were quoted by the Government as Country Director for India to oversee all its initiatives. Khosla joins IATA from when it asked the DoT to look into Blackberry service the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), where he served as executive director providers. The brands offering the service at present are since its formation. Prior to FIA, Khosla was with the Confederation of Indian Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications and BPL Mobile. Industry (CII).

6 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 Bihar Uttar Pradesh Jharkhand Delhi MakeMake thatthat 32,68132,681 cupscups ofof tea!tea!

“DB Corp Limited proposes, subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, to make an initial public offer of its equity shares and has filed a draft red herring prospectus ("DRHP") with the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI"). The DRHP is available on the website of the SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in as well as on the websites of the book running lead managers at www.enam.com, www.citibank.co.in and www.kotak.com. Investors should note that an investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk and for details relating to the same, please refer to the section titled 'Risk Factors' of the DRHP." The Guinness Book of World Records Certificate being received by Shri Rameshchandra Agarwal, Chairman : DB Corp. Ltd. DAINIK BHASKAR and Dr. Umashashi Sharma : Mayor, Indore with Mr. Aneil Mahajan : State Head, Dainik Bhaskar CREATES THE WORLD RECORD FOR THE LARGEST TEA PARTY.

24th February was a special day for Dainik Bhaskar and the people of Indore who sipped their way into the Guinn ess Book of World Records, establishing a world record for the Largest Tea Partywith 32,681 people . Breaking the earlier record set by Japan's Nishio City, that stood at 14,718 people. Kudos to the people of Indore. P9 INTEGRATED   
  
 ZEE> After rolling out Zee Talkies for Marathi audiences, Zee Entertainment and Enterprises is planning to launch a Bengali ercept Holdings’ Filmmakers will have movie channel. Marathi and Bengali – not considering the south- film marketing ample time to associate ern languages - are two of the largest markets in India. Parm, P9, has and select the brand after entered into a strategic the film shoot, while According to the Cellular Operators’ Association partnership with both the filmmaker and Telecom service Mobile> providers are of India (COAI), GSM telecom service providers added 5.9 MirriAd, a global the brand owner will million new subscribers in February, taking their total cus- embedded advertising have better control over making hay. tomer base up to 184.7 million. In January, they had added specialist, in order to the final output. 6.2 million new users. digitally embed brands Mark Popkiewicz, within Bollywood CEO, MirriAd, says, Shah: instant brand The Subhash Chandra-promoted Indian Cricket movies and television “This partnership is sig- Cricket> MEDIA placements League (ICL) matched the prize money of Indian Premier broadcast content. nificant because brand League (IPL), for its next tournament that started this fort- Apart from owners can now target night. ICL will pay a prize money of just over Rs 12.3 crore Bollywood films, such Filmmakers audiences through pop- for ‘Edelweiss 20s Challenge’, matching the Rs 12 crore content will include film ular Bollywood content offered by IPL. trailers produced for cin- will have using MirriAd’s embed- ema, television and ample time to ded advertising online media, wherein platform.” Malls will soon Dentsu> Mogae, the Indian joint venture partner of Dentsu, is entering the emerging new media opportunity, pop- specifically selected and select the In the past, MirriAd have radios blar- ularly called the ‘‘mall or retail radio’’ business. Mogae will relevant brands will be has worked on the Jason brand after ing promotions partner with MCM (Music Content Management) of the US in a digitally integrated, after Bourne series of movies and ads. 50:50 joint venture for the purpose. production is complete. the shoot. and partnered with Thus far, brands had Endemol on shows such to integrate themselves as Big Brother and Deal or AirCheck moni- Radio> After the recent launches in Ahmedabad and Surat, during production – a No Deal, wherein pack tors Radio Mirchi, Air Check India has started its monitoring services for Lucknow tedious procedure – and  shots and logos of vari- as well. Next in line are Nagpur, Kanpur and Pune. The service Radio City and S did not know how the ous brands were digitally helps broadcasters track competition and target their own mar- placement would look integrated in the reality FM in Lucknow. keting activities. AirCheck India, a subsidiary of US-based RCS , until after production format. provides audio identification services of commercials and songs played on air. AirCheck India monitors stations around the was over. The MirriAd-P9 clock, every day and provides "same day" verification. According to Navin partnership will also Shah, chief executive look at integrating officer, P9 Integrated, brands in music videos With TAM Television> There’s a new Ratings plan in the offing. the deal will enable Popkiewicz: a signif- and online video con- around, how Broadcasters and advertisers in India have got together to instant brand placements icant partnership tent. effective will this create an industry-led body to determine television ratings in the last stages of post “The embedded for 75 million cable and satellite homes in the country. production, thereby saving time and advertising industry in India is worth be? Dominant ratings service provider, TAM, seems to have com- allowing marketers to see and Rs 400 crore, and this is likely to petition at last. approve or redo the placement shot touch Rs 1,200 crore by 2010,” says as required. Shah. Digital> UFO Moviez has installed digital cinema technology in 1,000 cinemas across the country. The company is also ven- QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT turing into Hollywood films with its first release Rambo IV If we do the math backwards opening in 98 theatres. and divide the monies paid by India’s first film Finance> Vistaar Religare Film Fund, a joint venture between advertising time, Sony should fund will make Religare Enterprises and Vistaar Entertainment Ventures is be selling a 10-second slot at being hailed as India’s first venture capital film fund. An applica- film financing tion has been filed for SEBI’s approval. The closed-end Fund $7,500, which is twice that of easier. with a lock-in period of five years will invest in film projects in

FOTOCORP an India ODI series. India as well as overseas markets. DIVYA RADHAKRISHNAN, VICE PRESIDENT, THE MEDIA EDGE, IN INDIA TODAY, ON WHETHER IPL WILL MAKE MONEY FOR THE CHANNEL. Xpert Media>Xpert Media Technology launches mensXpert.com, India’s first free online magazine for men. As a response to the slew of lifestyle content available online for MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS

 Indian women, mensXpert.com has been founded to cater to A compilation of some major account and people movements in the last fortnight the interests and needs of modern, professional men between PEOPLE the ages of 20 and 36, which in spite of being the largest base  of internet users in India, remains largely neglected according > Radio Mirchi: Kaushik Ghosh has been appointed national head, business devel- to the company. opment and corporate strategy. Kavita Bagga will take over as national marketing head. Riya Mukherjee is now national head, CSR and brand integration. Subscribers have Telecom> Consumer durables major Videocon Industries has > Amar K Deb, former head, Channel V, is planning to launch a entertainment been given the firmed up its telecom plans and is making an initial investment focussed website. He is in talks with various media players and content creators. of Rs 6,000 crore for rolling out GSM services across 23 circles freedom to opt in India. The company has completed all technical formalities ACCOUNT MOVEMENT for handsets from and is awaiting spectrum allocation. But the company hasn't the market. engaged any handset manufacturer nor does it plan to manufac- > JWT has acquired the media duties for Commonwealth Games 2010 for a ture handsets. reported annual spend of Rs 300 crore.

10 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

INFOEDGE       
 GOAFEST 2008 > It’s that time of the year again, when ad folk look forward to sun, sand and frolic. With GoaFest aukri.com on the success of coun- 2008 around the corner (April 3 to 5), its organisers, the became more try-level programmes in Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Ad Club of Nfamous for its China, Hong Kong, Bombay, recently called for a pitch for the creative task of its Hari Sadu ad than for its India, New Zealand and upcoming campaign. Competing in the pitch were JWT, Euro job listings. And the Singapore. RSCG and Contract. Contract was finally selected. The new effect is still on after “The success is defi- campaign, was created by Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat three years. At the nitely indicated by the (both vice-presidents and executive creative directors at recently held Asia Pacific huge recall for ‘Hari Contract). The theme of the campaign for Goafest 2008 is Effie Awards 2008, held in Sadu’ and its association ‘Advertising Comes to Goa’. The idea comes from the many Singapore, the campaign with Naukri.com. The quirks and insights associated with the industry, and the sto- won the Bronze Award in brazenness of the idea ries are told in a simple and witty manner set under the the consumer services cat- Three years and the starkness of the Goan sky. A total of six films, six press ads, posters, egory. It has been  execution helped in mak- e-mailers and web ban- recognised as one of the ago, the ing the idea stand out. We ners form the main campaign, in addition to most effective campaigns, are glad to be recognised Hari Sadu interactive initiatives. developed and executed ad became in the league of the most by agencies across the effective campaigns in region. The Hari Sadu an icon in the APAC region,” said Reebok> The company has launched a new campaign campaign is the most the category Sumeet Singh, national called ‘Your Move’. Created by McCann-Erickson, the three awarded (six in all) cam- head, marketing and cor- print ads include each of its brand ambassadors in India – paign in the series of ads of job porate communications, M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Bipasha Basu. Each body copy created by Draft FCB portals. Info Edge (India). denotes the personality and traits of the brand ambassadors.

ADVERTISING Ulka for Naukri.com. Sanjay Sharma, cre- For Dhoni the copy reads – ‘Play without Fear – Your Move’; The World Effie ative director, Draft for Basu it reads – ‘Break Stereotypes – Your Move’ while Festival is held every year FCB Ulka said, “At a the copy for Singh reads – ‘Every Over Six Opportunities – Your Move’. and honours the brightest minds in national level, for the past three creative, design and marketing. The years, we have been consistently  An effort to save Save the Tiger campaign> This campaign involved the festival concluded with the winning EFFIES for the Naukri.com announcement of the 2008 Global campaign. And this year having got the tiger in India masses in the true sense. People gathered in large numbers, Effie Award winners and the Asia international attention for it is truly a across the country to support NDTV and Sanctuary Asia by NDTV. Magazine’s mass campaign - SAVE THE TIGER. The cam- Pacific Effie Awards – held for the great high for both the agency and paign, started a fortnight back to stop the alarming decline in first time outside New York since the the client. The credit for the success the number of tigers in India received over 4,80,000 signa- Effies began in 1968. of the campaign goes to the client for tures, SMS and online petitions from major cities across the The Asia having put country. Pacific Effies immense have been trust and Shah Rukh Khan’s IPL Kolkata team has launched its introduced faith on the IPL> team’s official song and playing shirts. building team.” The colours of the team are black and gold, symbolising the goddess Kali – revered by Bengalis – and the mark of victo- QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT ry, respectively. The team’s mascot is a Royal Bengal Tiger called ‘Hoog Lee’. A Knight Rider album is scheduled to be A huge cliché, in advertising, is cut which will include singers such as Usha Uthup and Bappi the ‘lab coat syndrome’. The Lahiri. An advertising campaign has also been released to advertising industry would come promote the team which will be led by Sourav Ganguly and crashing down if there were no have John Buchanan as its coach. lab coats. They are the scientific crusaders of brand value and Getting ready to Haier>The company recently locked on Grey Worldwide as credibility. Almost every brand face the summer. its creative partner and has unleashed its first advertising of toothpaste, face cream and campaign of the summer. The campaign talks about Haier’s energy efficient 2008 range of air conditioners and refrigera- personal care products has kept tors. Haier’s advertising will concentrate on its products and the lab coat alive. JOSY PAUL, CHAIRMAN AND NATIONAL CREATIVE there are no plans at present to bring on board a brand DIRECTOR, BBDO INDIA IN MINT. ambassador. MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS

 OOH INNOVATION A compilation of some major account and people movements in the last fortnight Calcium Sandoz>At the busy Sion- Chembur intersection in Mumbai (the ACCOUNT MOVEMENT Priyadarshini junction), one of the pillars > Rediffusion|DYR won the creative duties of Titan Xylys from Bates holding up an overhead flyover is actual- Enterprise. The portfolio of Xylys is worth Rs 6 crore. ly a giant 29 feet bone. On the bone is inscribed, ‘Calcium Sandoz. Strong > Pushpinder Singh’s Saints and Warriors, has won the creative duties for Bones.’ This ambient idea was concep- Pantaloons, the flagship retail fashion brand from the house of Pantaloon Retail tualised and executed by Saatchi & India. The size of the business is estimated to be around Rs 15 crore. Saatchi. The client brief was simple: The incumbent agency was Percept/H though they have been retained to work get into people’s conversations. on a part of the departmental store campaigns. There is no change on the media front.

14 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

New TVCS

BAJAJ PULSAR TATA SALT LITE A group of bike riders showcase breathtaking stunts on their The ghost of stress follows a man throughout the day - from Bajaj Pulsar bikes. driving to office and even at home. His wife finds a solution to his agony by using Tata Salt Lite in his food. Agency: O&M Creative Director: Abhijit Avasthi Agency: Leo Burnett Production House: Velocity Films, South Africa Creative Director: Sukumar Menon Copywriter: Manoj Shetty and Ranjeesh Ramakrishnan Production House: Apostrophe Films Director: Lourens Van Rensburg Director: Kaushik Sarkar Client Servicing: Julian Thadathil Copywriter: Sukumar Menon

BOURNVITA BBC WORLD SERVICE TRUST Exam stress can be controlled by drinking Bournvita even at A player in a kabaddi match repeats the word ‘condom’ against night - is what the mother has to say in the TVC to her son his opponents. The entire crowd is bewilderd. But ultimately the when she wakes him up to study. player gets the message across.

Agency: O&M Agency: BBC World Service Trust ADVERTISING Creative Director: Manoj Shetty Creative Director: Radharani Mitra Production House: Working Eyes Production House: BlackMagic Copywriter: Manoj Shetty Copywriter: Radharani Mitra Client Servicing: Kunal Jeswani Director: Arjun Gourisaria

ON AIR RADIO NEWS

A compilationMOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS of some major account and people movements in the last fortnight

 A radio spot for Ford Fusion, takes a dig at Fabia, Skoda’s new hatchback. Two voices challenge each other about their cars and PEOPLE one voice says ‘‘You want a real challenge? I bet you won’t buy > Nandu Narasimhan has joined Vyas Gianetti Creative (VGC) as national creative the Fabia after you’ve test driven a Ford Fusion.’’ When asked director. Narasimhan started his career as a copywriter with Tara Sinha why, and the second voice replies, ‘‘In comparison to the three Associates in 1989. After a year, he moved to Everest Integrated Communications Delhi. In 1993, he joined Lowe (then Lintas). Four years later, he joined TBWA. He cylinder engine of a Fabia Classic, Ford Fusion has an advanced returned to Lowe for his second stint at the agency for two years. After that, he four cylinder TDCi engine, and other impressive features.’’ The first voice asks joined Contract, and then Grey Worldwide as regional creative director. In June what he would get if he still went ahead and bought a Fabia. The second voice 2006, he moved to Saatchi & Saatchi. says he would have to be happy with just a fuel voucher worth Rs 2,500. Most Debated ADS AMUL MACHO REDIFFMAIL  The ad of Amul Macho doesn’t have any connection with  Unrealistic, Emotive, Driving registrations may be...Some the ad world or creativity it shows that wrong taste people people might get emotional by looking at the issue of eve teas- working in a wrong field. Roopesh ing and get hooked to rediffmail, however, mostly, people will  It is the most Ghatiya Ad i have ever seen. Is this we call just forget it because its too unrealistic. Sachin ad oh my god plzzzzzzz creativity toh ghass charne gayi hai  There is no realty aspect in it. The agency has taken the aisa hi lag raha hai. Alkananda Panigrahi client for a nice ride down the lane. Ahmed  MAybe if i was watching Tarzan i would've taken these sex-  The script is not realistic. Who will wait in the same spot to ual overtones in the right spirit and humor....but an ad on be beaten ? Besides gathering of people will also take time. national networks !! totally tasteless, makes you squirm in Till then in real life situation eveteasers are not going to wait. your seats...pls dont tread towards animal pornography! Kakoli Sarmah Ruchi  This is really hard to digest....!!! -Megha

PEPSI 7UP  How is the idea of ‘where there is a will there is a way’  TVC is not able to make its impact on the consumer at the connected to people drinking more pepsi? please somebody end of the day. Bheja Fry 7 up Try is not attractive at all. explain. Kakoli Novel Sharma.  A waste of stars in the advt just by putting stars in the  This is typical of a north guy thinking up a clever line with- advt it won't work with such a poor script. An opportunity out understanding its multilingual spin offs. Gnandasso wasted Guys wake up. Pankaj Desai  The ad does not match up to the earlier ads where Fido  Ad agencies, and corporates have this misconception that dido is the hero. This one is weak , bad execution and a story the public will start liking the TVC and drink more Pepsi if they that is very run of the mill. There is nothing '7 Up' abt it. Ria bring in the hot and famous celebs..if they think that..as a  Lousy ad, bad execution, nothing interesting about it, for common consumer...let m say tht this wil remain a dream this ad bbdo india is not required, any local agency can do only. Divya Chadha better than this. Newfiledit

Comments are from ‘second opinion’ of agencyfaqs! Only the TVCs which got the maximum comments last fortnight are featured here.

18 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 Bihar Uttar Pradesh Jharkhand Delhi   Will The New Proposals Help Radio Channels? News on private FM stations could become a reality, FDI limits are about to be raised. What does the industry feel?


 


 
 




 CEO, Radio City and President, AROI COO, Radio Indigo VP, Finance & Commercial, BIG 92.7 FM General Manager, Lodestar Universal

IT'S COMMENDABLE THE TRAI RECOMMEN- THE MOVE (INCREASING THE RADIO INDUSTRY THAT TRAI HAS TAKEN DATIONS HAVE SOME FDI FROM 20 TO 26 PER HAS BEEN AT A DISAD- THE VIEWS OF BOTH THE CHEERFUL NEWS FOR CENT) IS A STEP IN THE VANTAGE COMPARED LARGE AND SMALL PLAY- THE RADIO INDUSTRY. RIGHT DIRECTION AND TO, SAY TV. WITH ERS AND IS SERIOUSLY WITH A 26 PER CENT HAS BEEN LONG PEND- INCREASED FDI, THERE THINKING OF DEREGU- STAKE IN THE ORGAN- ING. RADIO IS AN WILL BE SOME DIVER- LATING THIS INDUSTRY. ISATION, INVESTORS INDUSTRY THAT TAKES SIFICATION. The increase in FDI to 26 per will have greater say in the a long time to break even and Currently, all the players have a administration and policy making, single offering by way of churning cent is something that’s posi- which will certainly be an incen- this will help fuel growth. out music at all the channels. tive for the industry and will tive for investors to put their As per the licence condi- Increased investments will see increased investment. money into radio. tions, FDI is presently encourage more players to come Moreover, this brings unifor- Increased investment, apart from restricted. Consequently, into play and the market will pumping money in the industry mature. Partnerships will bring in mity to the industry. will also bring new and better there is control over opera- new technology and niche con- Extending permission for technology. Strategic partner- tions. In addition, as per the tent will develop. Interactive airing news and current ships will mark international licence conditions there can content too will emerge, the lis- affairs on private FM chan- practices and bring in profession- be only resident Indians as tener will be the king and al change to the industry as a advertising too will increase. nels is expected to increase whole. directors on the board of the Moreover, when we have part- the base of radio listeners in Moreover, in this era of news company and all the key exec- nerships happening for TV and the country as it will result in overload, it is really unpractical utive officers too have to be print media, why keep out such offering varied content. This to shut out private FM broadcast- resident Indians. This ensures beneficial associations out of ers from running news and reach of the radio industry? will also increase the overall current affairs. Well, it's any- that the foreign media does Allowing news and current affairs growth in revenue and prof- body's guess how irresponsible not control operations. on radio along with entertain- itability of the radio industry. can radio industry be with numer- Across the world, radio is ment will go a long way in But the issue relating to ous national and foreign media used effectively as a means for community building and overcom- (be it in print, electronic or inter- ing regional barriers. Our culture royalty and licence fee net) already feeding viewers with news and current affairs or heritage is surely not going to (payable to the music indus- a wide range of visuals. It's the information flow. It is only in be diluted, if diversified content try) at four per cent of gross right time to free the radio indus- India that the same has not is allowed by private FM broad- revenue has not been try from flimsy regulations and been allowed. Radio being a casters. bring in positive changes to pro- addressed by TRAI. A reduc- mote growth in the industry. live, 24x7 medium, can play tion would have helped radio an effective role for news dis- broadcasters phenomenally. semination.

20 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 

 
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DUBBED CONTENT Lip-Sync Service After the surge in news category and reality shows, it is time for entire channels to experiment with dubbed content programming. By Chumki Sen

ith the launch of UTV's content from around the world in a films. Bachchan was a voice-over artist World Movies and Sahara's language they understand. It offers for the movie Penguins - A Love Story WFirangi channels the concept more variety. The earlier notion that which had a worldwide release, while of dubbed content seems to have dubbed content was down-market is Khan dubbed a cartoon film, Hum taken many channels’ fancy. NDTV also fast disappearing. Around 40 per Hain Bemisaal, along with his son. Lumiere announced plans to bring in cent of Indian audiences watch According to Rahul Bhatia, associ- movies from around the world. dubbed content. Thus the market ate vice president, business operations But dubbed content is not a new translates to about 53 million people, - North, for UTV Software phenomenon on television in India. the average number of people who Communication, “Because of DTH, Almost 10 years ago, both Discovery watch dubbed content in a month. the parallel language choice also has to and National Geographic launched Isn’t sub-titling as good as dubbing? be supplied. So many programmes are Hindi versions of most of their docu- Sneha Rajani, business head, SET being dubbed in Hindi. Now, with a mentaries to increase viewership. MAX would put her money on little extra cost, the producers can get it Much before this aspect came into dubbed content. According to her, dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and slap it on television, Hollywood films were making the rounds with the actors talking away in Hindi, Tamil and other Indian languages. The likes of Jurassic Park and Titanic did good business in India with their Hindi versions. UTV dubbed children’s programmes for its Hungama Channel and, later, Adapted content (above) is popular though dubbed content (top) has found its market Disney cartoons (Mickey and Donald) did the same. “Dubbed is better than subtitling the same tape.” Moreover, says Bhatia, Bhatia (above) Channels across categories have because the latter is distracting. The investment in dubbing content is not experimented with dubbed content. viewer has to multi-task if the film or very high. One doesn’t need to put up and Rajani: Set MAX - Hollywood Hungama, content is sub-titled.” And what about the infrastructure. It can always be ZEE Cinema - Namaste Hollywood, adapted stories? Why are they not outsourced from some studio once he dubbed content Sony SAB – Funny Videos are only a popular? Programmes such as Zabaan gets the business. But apart from UTV few of them. Now, the players are get- Sambhal Ke and Haan Mantriji, were, there are very few corporate players in India is ting braver. And the launch of after all, adaptations of original who regularly dub content. exclusive channels means something English formats such as Mind Your UTV has done 1,400 hours of dub- getting busier. big is happening. So what makes Language and Yes Prime Minister. bing in 2007. It will be increasing that dubbed content a big deal now? Another more famous and successful to almost 1,800 hours in 2008. But as Says Manasi Sapre, GM, acquisi- adaptation was Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin an industry there is not much revenue tions, Bindass: “Dubbed content was from Yo Soy Betty La Fea or Ugly Betty. increase in the business. The content always popular, although its exposure Rajani feels that adaptation in terms of number of hours of time was limited. Children’s channels pio- depends on the content. “There is no has grown but not rates. A 30-minute neered the popularity of dubbed set rule that adaptations will work. For episode cost about Rs 1 lakh some content and theatrical releases of example, we have seen that highly years back but now it has come down major Hollywood movies helped it action-oriented (with special effects) to Rs 14,000-15,000. Though techni- further. Countries like France, content is not easy to adapt and the cal improvements have also taken Germany, China, Japan have a thriv- cost is also a factor. Betty La Fea was place, the time taken for dubbing has ing dubbing industry where they much easier to adapt. But a Yes Minister gone down from one week for a serial prefer to watch Hollywood content would definitely not work as a dubbed to probably two days sometimes. dubbed in their language. It’s not that content because the stiff British All channels in the fray claim that they don't understand English - but humour would be lost in translation.” the dubbed content market will grow they enjoy it in their language. Indians This business is high profile also, but how much of the locally-pro- are following the same path.” since actors such as Shah Rukh Khan duced programmes’ share will be Dubbed content also gives audi- and Amitabh Bachchan have lent their affected remains to be seen. ences access to some of the best voices to some dubbed content in [email protected]

22 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 



  




   



  







  

  



 

 






 



 


 

 

 


 

    





 



     



  

 
 


 
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 STOCK IMAGE WEBSITES Picture Perfect? Finding the right face for a campaign or the right image for a message is less daunting now, thanks to the spurt in websites that provide stock images for this purpose. By Surina Sayal

hough exact figures are not Indian clients preferred going to glob- Reliance, ICICI, Kodak, Yahoo, available, estimates put the size al stock agencies like Getty or Corbis Godrej, Bajaj and Canon have used Tof the business between Rs 10 because nobody in India could deliver our images for their campaigns. crore and Rs 40 crore. Worldwide, images of that standard.” Everybody wants an Indian face. stock photography is a $2 billion (Rs Earlier, people were using foreigners 8,000 crore) business. Observers put Who wants it? because there was a scarcity of good- the growth of the Indian business at a ll kinds of businesses require quality Indian images.” attractive 50 per cent per annum. Aimages for their advertising cam- paigns, print ads, hoardings, Zooming ahead How it works? brochures, catalogues, packaging, hough there is growing demand, tock images are pre-shot photos, posters, websites, POP material, Tthe industry is going through Sillustrations or film footage creat- newsletters and tent cards. A majori- some teething problems. It is disor- ed by professionals and offered for ty of business for the stock agencies ganised, there is a high incidence of licensing, at a cost. comes through creative professionals piracy and plagiarism and not many Photographers submit their work in the field of advertising and media. local players have the capability to under various categories for various Deepak Malhotra, CEO, SAARC, invest in upgrading technology and target segments to stock image agen- Photolibrary (launched in May 2006) creating quality imagery. cies for representations and get says that anyone who needs an image Moreover, photographers have not rewarded through contractual terms. is the target audience. He says, “Stock benefited much yet. But things seem Stock agencies generate revenues by imagery is being accepted and today a to be changing. Pawan Tikku, CEO, licensing the images to buyers as creative person or a corporate client STS Images, says, “Many profession- either Royalty Free (RF) or Rights al Indian photographers have started Managed (RM) images. RM images shooting for stock images, as they are ‘rented’ for a specific purpose at a realise the long-term benefits of The growth in specific price, whereas RF images are doing serious stock work.” purchased outright and can be used Maheshwari of ImagesBazaar adds the number of with certain restrictions. that stock photography is opening up The business in India is proving so several unexplored avenues for Indian newspapers and attractive that there are at least eight photographers. “They just need to players entrenched. International shoot good-quality images and we can magazines stock-image provider Jupiter Images take care of the rest. We share 50 per (part of the $137 million - 2006 fig- cent with our contributing photogra- in India have ures - JupiterMedia Corp) announced can log onto the website, search what phers on every image that gets sold on an April launch. It joins players like they are looking for, find the right ImagesBazaar.” ensured a regular ImagesBazaar, Visage Images, STS image and purchase and download Stock-image websites are also pro- Images (which tied up with foreign exactly what they want; rather than moting themselves by way of revenue stream agencies like Corbis and Retna), choose a picture, find a photographer advertising on relevant websites, TV Photolibrary, India Pictures, Dinodia and then try to get him to get the same shows and publications, through e- for stock images. and Shutterstock, among others. expressions. Why would anyone want mailers, brochures, CDs and Commenting on the launch of to reinvent the wheel?” calendars; and by sponsoring events Jupiter Images in India, Ramji “Given the number of magazines and contests. For example, Ravindran, sales director - South Asia and newspapers available in India, the ImagesBazaar sponsored the advertis- & Dubai, Jupiter Images simply says, potential for editorial imagery is yet ing and marketing show, All About “We feel that it’s the right time to another emerging trend,” points out Ads, on NDTV Profit for an entire enter this market with our boutique Viinod Nair, president - South Asia, year. Photolibrary is currently run- of products.” He thinks that with Visage Media Services. ning a contest where customers can Jupiter’s stock of more than 7-10 mil- Malhotra adds that the demand for win an iPod Touch on purchase of a lion images online, it would be unique images is often bogged down specific number of photos. Word of unusual to not tap an images-depend- by budget constraints and tight dead- mouth is a powerful tool. ent market like India. lines which don’t allow advertising To check piracy, most agencies Sandeep Maheshwari, founder and agencies to indulge in expensive, have legal experts and research teams CEO, ImagesBazaar (launched in long-drawn-out photo shoots. that take action against copyright February 2006), says, “Stock photog- Maheshwari points out to one big infringement. But new developments raphy can be divided into foreign trend - the shift from using foreign like availability of low-priced, royalty- editorial and commercial stock, images to buying more of Indian free stock images will help curb that Indian editorial stock and Indian images. He says, “Leading brands like danger to a large extent. commercial stock. Till recently, Sony, Airtel, Ranbaxy, Microsoft, [email protected]

24 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 


  
  

 


  

   


 
 



 
 
 
  

 

  



 
  

 
 



 
 
  

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   MUTUAL FUND PROFILE I RAJIV JAITLY I DAINIK BHASKAR Leveraging Opportunities  
  The advertisers need to catch their breath, says react to the same phenomenon,” he says. Malaysia, according to him, was a SEBI. TBR News Bureau mature market. It moved straight from terrestrial television to DTH - it did utual fund investments are not have the free-to-air service in Msubject to market risks, read between. “The biggest difference that I the offer document carefully before saw, between India and Malaysia was investing.” Ever since 2005, the dis- that, in India people weren’t convinced claimer, as per the Securities and as to why they should shell out such a Exchange Board of India (SEBI) huge monthly fee for something that rules has been a must for every the cable operators provide much mutual fund product advertisement. cheaper.” But the garbled message that is rat- He came back to India and joined tled off on television or radio has the Pepsi to head the fountain Pepsi busi- SEBI seeing red. ness. Fountain Pepsi is predominantly Advertisers generally do this to consumed ‘On Premise’. From his per- save on the spot time and focus more spective, the challenge was that water on the product. However, from was always suspect (Fountain Pepsi is April 1, 2008, all audio-video ads for concentrate mixed with water). For mutual fund products would neces- instance, in Chennai, he recollects, the quality of water was bad. “So people did not subscribe to the idea of drink- ing fountain Pepsi and we had to SEBI feels the arrange for clean water.” His focus was on large key accounts new rule is a such as Pizza Hut, KFC, PVR cinemas and other restaurants, hotels and challenge to amusement parks, which are the key consumption destinations. “One does- creatives. FOTOCORP n’t need to really sell brand Pepsi but it he man who started off by was to ensure serviceability, quality of selling credit cards in his first “There is a drink and right mixture of concentrate sarily have to carry the disclaimer for Tjob abroad and then moved on and that the water wasn’t tampered at least five seconds. The message to setting up offices and customer huge stigma with,” he explains. Post Pepsi, Jaitly would have to be read out in a clear care centers, is now president, ad sales spent a fruitless year at Data Access, and well-enunciated manner. in a media company. Rajiv Jaitly came in this which was launching a portal called While the regulator feels the back to India after selling cards for NOW - Network of the World. But order is an investor-friendly move, Citicorp. Back home, he joined country after that went bust, he switched to mutual fund companies think other- Xerox in 1986. telecom. wise. All mutual funds levy an entry “I have joined companies at a time about He joined Bharti Airtel in 2002 and load on investors, which includes when they were either taking off or at had his longest stint there of about six marketing costs. Generally, a mutual the peak,” he says. Xerox was looking Hindi.” years. “Amongst all my stints, I can rate fund product ad is between 20-25 at distribution in a huge way. “I lever- telecom as the best one,” he confesses. seconds, and the disclaimer-formali- aged that opportunity,” he says. It was the first time he had worked ty is got rid off within two to three Moving out of Xerox, he joined STAR in 1990 as with an Indian company. At Bharti Airtel, he moved seconds. The SEBI move will leave sales head for north and east. STAR TV, at that time, from pure sales and marketing to general management less time for the asset management comprised a small group of people headed by Li Ka- and then driving 100 per cent growth year on year. companies (AMCs) to pass on the Shing. It was just setting up offices and customer care When the desire to do something challenging message to the investor, or increase centers. In a few months it got sold to Murdoch and gripped him, he looked out for opportunities. Prior to the spot time, which may put a load Jaitly was part of the transition. Recalling how ignorant joining Bhaskar, he weighed the media industry, which on its marketing expenditure. people were about the company’s existence, Jaitly rec- had changed a great deal since his days at STAR. “The AMCs cannot levy an entry load ollects their reactions. “My daughter was refused first thing that came to my mind was that Dainik of more than two per cent of the admission in a school because the school authorities Bhaskar was focusing on the real India outside the met- proposed investment. While an did not understand where I worked,” he recalls. ros - the Hindi-speaking heartland,” he reveals. entry load is to cover initial process- He rates his stint at STAR TV as being high on the He hopes to take the business to the next level. ing charges and brokerages, AMCs challenge quotient. Since STAR was an English chan- “There is a huge stigma in this country about anything also cover their marketing costs nel at that time, selling was difficult. So they got that is Hindi. This is especially true for the marketers through this. But with the new rule, involved in creating packages for buyers and advertis- who do not seem to be looking at such areas.” AMCs might feel compelled to ers. After two-and-a-half years at STAR he moved to a “Overcoming this mindset is priority ,” he adds. charge a higher entry load, to cover company called MEASAT Broadcast Network System, Jaitly, whose wife and two daughters live in Delhi, their marketing costs. which was into DTH (direct-to-home) and had a jokes that he is a “weekend husband”, since he is based SEBI feels that it should be a Malaysian brand called Astro. But Astro’s India launch in Mumbai. A travel buff, he escapes out of the metros challenge to creative people to pass did not happen and he moved to Malaysia in 1993. at least once a year. on the message effectively within a “It was interesting to see how different markets [email protected] shorter period. Are they up to it? [email protected]

26 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 !

 
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FOTOCORP “We wanted to reach every C&S home.” SHAILJA KEJRIWAL EVP, CONTENT, NDTV IMAGINE

TELEVISION Though satellite TV had more contemporary con- tent there were film-makers like Dheeraj Kumar and Sanjay Khan who made their presence felt. While Khan is remembered for Tipu Sultan, Kumar RACE OF THE got himself into the Limca Book of Records - till his model faded into oblivion after he switched from Doordarshan to satellite TV - for having pro- duced the maximum number of mythological programmes. There seemed to be no place for the mythological on satellite TV. GODS Approximately 20 years after Ramayan and Mahabharat took their bow, and at a time when there are over 250 channels in India, a new channel did the unthinkable. In January this year, NDTV Imagine launched itself with, guess what – Ramayan. And that too from the Sagar Arts stable. Satellite television hasn’t killed off the mythological and costume Anand Sagar, the director of the new Ramayan dramas. They are back with a bang on television channels. and son of Ramanand, cannot understand the bewilderment. “Why not?” he asks, adding, By Dhaleta Surender Kumar “Ramayana needs to be retold and remade every decade. It’s been twenty years, and there’s a gener- ndian television seems to be witnessing a THANK GOD, IT WORKS ation that's grown up without watching the epic.” revival of the grand epics and period dramas riginally credited to Valmiki and Vyasa respec- Chandraprakash Dwivedi, of Chanakya fame, as channels unleash one show after another Otively, there have been many versions of both feels that mythologies never did disappear from and wait for the blessings to shower. the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The most TV screens. “Earlier there was a perception that ITake NDTV Imagine. The channel can thank popular form of Ramayana is the Ramcharitmanas mythologies and historicals are downmarket and Ramayan for its fortunes. That serial - though its by Goswami Tulsidas who wrote it in 1577. As fit for Doordarshan. With the realisation that they effect is nowhere the street-emptying success of its entertainment evolved, the two epics came up on have some repeat value, channels have gone back predecessor on Doordarshan during the 1980s - stage, on celluloid and finally on television. to such programmes,” he explains. seems to be single-handedly driving the channel. During the 1980s, film producer Ramanand According to him, everything is fair in the war of According to TAM data, Ramayan accounts for a Sagar of Sagar Arts decided to reinterpret the TVRs. Starting with a TVR of below 1 (CS4+, 26 per cent share among NDTV Imagine’s 15 top Ramayana on television. Some years later, another HSM, as per TAM data), Ramayan on NDTV programmes. Then there are Sai Baba and Jai Ma film maker B R Chopra, chose to redefine Imagine reached a peak of 3.19, within a month tak- Durga on STAR Plus, Raavan, Jai Ganesh and the Mahabharata. Both serials were crowd pullers. ing the channel to the number three position behind old Ramayan on ZEE TV. Coming to period or fan- They would bring the country to a standstill for an STAR Plus and ZEE TV in week 10. tasy, costume or period dramas, STAR Plus has hour every Sunday. Those were the days when That made the competition sit up and the Prithviraj Chauhan, ZEE has Aladin and Naagin, 9X India was a single-channel country. Encouraged by floodgates of mythology, costume drama, fantasy has Chanakya and Alif Laila while NDTV Imagine the success of Ramayan, Sagar went on to produce and historical/period programmes for the viewers has Dharam Veer and Raajkumar Aaryyan. Some of over 15 mythological serials including Shri Krishna opened up. In February, STAR called a press con- these are re-runs while others are brand new and Luv Kush (both in 1989). His last venture was ference to announce Mahabharata to be produced remakes. STAR Plus’ Sai Baba, three years ago. by Bobby Bedi and to be directed by Dwivedi. What is it about such serials that has made The 1990s brought in channels like STAR, While that will take at least six months, the net- both brand new channels as well as old, estab- Sony and ZEE. As these channels fought to get a work always had a channel for its reruns - STAR lished ones plump for them? Does the foothold, the mythological or costume dramas Utsav. Hence, Katha was announced, where Sagar mythological work? were given the go-by but not entirely forgotten. Arts’ earlier productions Ramayan, Shri Krishna and

30 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008
 FOTOCORP “This generation is conservative.” SAMIR PATIL CEO, ACK MEDIA Just Imagine!

Sai Baba are shown. The TVRs for on-air serials, he success of NDTV Imagine’s Ramayan can also be credited to the meanwhile, keep rising even for costume dramas. marketing effort the channel put in. According to Manoj Vidwans, execu- Naagin - Vaadon ki Agni Pariksha on ZEE TV, on Ttive vice president, research marketing & communication, NDTV February 8, marked its highest TVR of 5.12. Two Imagine, the channel besides buying spots in cricket matches (Test and One days later, Prithviraj Chauhan on STAR Plus had a Day series in Australia) reached out to about 8,000 temples across the coun- rating of 4.86. Both these serials have an average rat- try where it branded satsangs, and played music composed by Ravindra Jain ing of 4. Anything above 2 in the general for Ramayan, distributed about five lakh Ramayan branded agarbatti and entertainment (GEC) space is considered camphor packets. to be good. Similarly, Jai Ma Durga Annual pocket calendars too were distributed and about 50,000 book- and Sai Baba, both on STAR Plus lets of Geet Ramayan – which had the dohas from Ramayana, Ram have an average TVR of 2 and 4 Aarti, Ram Chalisa and Hanuman Chalisa – were distributed to devo- respectively. Aladin – Jaanbaaz ek Jalwe tees for free. It had calendar pull-outs in Dainik Jagran too. Anek, on ZEE TV too has had a consis- ‘‘We also went to schools and wrote letters to the principals, elu- tent TVR of above 2. However, not all cidating the need of Ramayana. Posters of Ramayan were put on the serials in this genre are doing too well. notice-boards. The idea was to reinforce the need for Ramayan for Raavan on ZEE TV has a rating of above 1, adults, kids and the whole family,’’ says Vidwans. FOTOCORP while Jai Hanuman on Sony has simply lost The channel is also planning to come up with educa- “The idea was it with ratings just above zero. So, who’s tional games and puzzle books for children to find out watching all these serials and what is in the how well they know the Ramayana. Similar games to reinforce the pipeline? would be evolved around Dharam Veer, which need for according to Vidwans is a tale of friend- GRIPPING TALES ship and adventure, set in the Ramayan.” esides Ramayan, NDTV Imagine, thirteenth century. MANOJ VIDWANS Bhas two costume dramas, Dharam EVP, RESEARCH Veer and Raajkumar Aaryyan, both of MARKETING AND which aren’t doing well. There are various COMMUNICATIONS reasons why channels (even news) come up with such serials despite the costs involved NDTV IMAGINE (mythologies and historicals need a lot of SUSHIL KUMAR research work, detailing, costume and set design- such great timing. “But, it is not true,” of people. “On the ing. The production costs can be thrice that of she admits. Mythologies, according to her, other hand, even on general family dramas). were the lowest common denominator in GECs, people were get- ZEE News used the Ram Setu controversy to the channel’s scheme of things. “We wanted ting into storylines around kidnapping, scheming come up with programmes like Mil Gaye Ram, to reach every C&S home with something and extra-marital affairs. Ramayan was a reaction which tried to trace the path Hanuman and Rama familiar yet not boringly familiar. They would not against it,” says Kejriwal. took and find traces of the demon king Ravana in come to NDTV Imagine to see yet another soap. Television goes to all SECs now and is not a pre- Sri Lanka. IBN7 had programmes like Swarg Ki Every SEC, male, female, child, old or young is serve of the upper middle class as it once was. Seedhi (which traced the Pandavas’ path to heaven) familiar with Ramayana, but we were not sure Channels are looking to revive the old tales to reach and Yahan Aana Mana Hai (a documentary on the how familiar they were with the details. this wider audience. B R Films too is in talks with village Malana in Himachal, supposed to be the Fortunately for us, nobody had done it for long,” channels, and according to Sanjay Bhutiani, CEO, oldest democracy in the world). she says. there will be at least one mythological serial from Was it some such reason that gave NDTV Also, as a team, they felt that there were a lot of his stable on each of the top channels. He says that Imagine the ‘brilliant’ idea? Shailja Kejriwal, execu- negative vibes around, whether it was news chan- many channels had approached them to remake tive vice president, content, NDTV Imagine, would nels or newspapers, which are all about rape, Mahabharat, but he refused. have been “happy to claim such brilliance”, with murder, death and destruction, and loot and beating “Mahabharat is a part of the Guinness Book of

The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008 31 THE


World Records with a TRP of 99. It can be thing that parents would be happy to sit done in a better way, but as content, it still with their children to watch.” sells on home video all over the world,” he Mahuya Chaturvedi, general manager, says. B R Films plans to come up with a Lodestar Universal, seconds that belief. two-part six-hour movie on Mahabharata “Ramayan has managed a coup having by the end of 2010. It will also go into pro- pulled in the higher SEC as well. The other duction with a period fiction film - Mitti religion-based programming is distinctly (set in the backdrop of 1857) in early 2009. restricted to older group viewers, while costume dramas are skewed towards the THEIR’S NOT TO REASON… younger lot,” she says. hutiani reveals that the production According to her, while mythologicals Bhouse has ideas ranging from the con- are performing well, at the end of the day, cept of Hinduism and the origin of life, and it’s the individual programme that draws something on popular gods and icons and crowds, not the genre. While the soaps and people who have been a part of the Indian mythologies have a similar SEC profile, it is culture. But how much is too much? skewed to lower SECs compared to reality Answers Bhutiani, “It’s shows, which have a higher not a monopolistic econo- SEC skew. “Interestingly,” my. There is competition she adds, “mythological car- within genres. Look at toons have a higher upper GECs. There are many SEC pull with children and similar programmes with- teens in the same genre but every programme has its THE FINAL CHOICE space. Why not mytholo- hen it comes to adver- gies?” Good question. Is Wtising, it’s mostly a the Indian audience get- GRP game. Chaturvedi feels ting so much Western that advertisers while doing a exposure that it wants to spot buy plan, look at any- identify itself with its cul- thing that helps them build ture? impact in GRPs. But when Dwivedi disagrees. they are looking at associa- “Western influence is tions or building properties going to dominate our life and imageries many would even more in the future. I not go with the mythological will compare this situa- FOTOCORP serials because it may not go tion with the wedding with the image they want to ceremonies in Indian “Every programme “Everything’s fair in create – like high-end cars, or families where we want to cosmetics. “For instance, L’ ride on a horse, wear saffas, has its space.” the war for TVRs” Oreal associated with Nach put mehendi and once the SANJAY BHUTIANI CHANDRAPRAKASH DWIVEDI Baliye, and Amul with Star celebrations are over, we Voice of India. You can have wear three-piece suits. CEO, B R FILMS DIRECTOR brand integration like Culture is now like a wall ‘Utterly butterly delicious hanging,” he says. break’. You can do a 360 But Samir Patil, co-founder & CEO, ACK author of the Ramayana Series. Its trailers are being degree integration. That cannot be done with Media, that acquired the popular publication shown in PVR Juhu and Malad in Mumbai just mythologicals. It is much more sensitive,” she says. Amar Chitra Katha, a couple of months ago from before Jodha-Akbar and Black & White. A nation- According to her, close to 85 per cent of the India Book House, offers a different take. “I feel wide exposure is in the pipeline later this month. advertisers are common in a month in the mass that the new generation is more conservative than Historicals are the other big draw. Abhimanyu channels opting for mythological programmes vs the older generation. They may have outwardly Singh, managing director and CEO, Contiloe non-mythologicals - more so, over a longer period embraced a lot of modern things, but when it Pictures, believes that historicals in India has been of time. Whether such serials can keep up the comes to many things that are driven by traditions an unexplored genre, and whenever they’ve been TVRs, they have managed to give a new mix of pro- like marriage and the sort of life you lead, they are made into films they’ve invariably been a hit, gramming to the audience. Take Dharam Veer, set in tradition bound. You can progress economically whether it was Mughal-e-Azam, Razia Sultan, medieval India. According to Kejriwal, the story but at the same time become more conservative.” Shaheed Bhagat Singh or now, Jodha-Akbar. The could have been told in today’s setting. Dharam and Mythologies like Ramayana and Mahabharata Indian audience has lapped up Hollywood histori- Veer are regular boys, riding horses instead of riding have survived for over 3,000 years in different cals too like the Ben Hur, Ten Commandments, Gone bikes. Only the treatment is different. forms – in books, or come down as narration, or with the Wind and The Passion of Christ. One can’t resist ending this story with a rather drama, or serials, or movies. There is an appeal Singh is planning to come up with merchandis- dramatic question: can mythologicals bust the that transcends generations. Patil’s main interest is ing and games around Rama. He plans to have toys saas-bahu grip on audiences? Kejriwal doesn't to tap the children’s market and mythology is a of Ravana with 10 heads that speak in different believe so. “The first thing I’d like to say is that significant part of it. In comic books, besides epics voices. But ask him how the games would be cen- saas-bahu is a misused word. I would call them and historicals, books about visionaries like tred around Rama, he says, “the irony is that family dramas, and in India family dramas do not Buddha and Nehru do well. “There is a resurgent Ravana would have to lose eventually. We are go out of fashion,” she declares. The TVRs too interest in Indian stories and a lot of investment in exploring how to do it.” Animated mythologicals support her theory. That’s one myth busted. content creation. We are looking at four things – have done fairly well. Krishna - The Series on Adding to Karl Marx’s quote, if religion is the gaming, internet, TV and print,” he reveals. Cartoon Network, as per TAM data, has ratings opium of the people, the channels have got their around 0.5, considered good for a niche channel. formula right. Look at reality. Temples like THE COMING FLOOD The basic difference in the audience of 22 years Tirupathi, Vaishno Devi, Sabarimalai and Shirdi f all that was not enough, there’s another ago and today is the section, which owned TV sets are some of the richest in the world. So it seems IRamayana coming – an animation co-produced by – the SEC A and A+. Today TV is more mass. So, only fitting that spiritual serials too may turn out Contiloe Pictures and Pixion – Mahayoddha Rama: would the SEC A and A+ still be interested in to be potential money-spinners. Warrior Prince, scripted by Ashok Banker, renowned Ramayan? Kejriwal believes that “Ramayan is some- [email protected]

32 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

 
AMRITA TV Treasure Hunt The Great India Race is a show that has the potential to grab more viewers - and some contestants. By Sapna Nair mrita TV is all set to launch a big-scale reality for participants who have a good rapport with each show, called ‘Great India Race’. The concept other; spontaneity of reactions, the ability to get out Aseems to be a rip-off from the popular series, of crises and good communication skills. ‘The Amazing Race’, the format of which is owned by “We will gauge their attitude towards life, CBS. However, the channel’s officials refute that endurance levels, team-work, as these are the traits allegation, stating that ‘Great India Race’ is not a real- that will matter in this game, which will have no Responses range from ity show, but an actuality show. It is scheduled to go retakes and rehearsals,” informs Sajan. The channel on air in April or May this year. has received video clips from non-Malayalam speak- a Tamil-Philippine On the show, 12 pairs will compete against each ing audiences as well. From a Tamil-Philippine other, as they travel from one location to another, in couple in the US to a Punjabi couple, the show has couple in the US to a bid to reach the final destination first. Their jour- received responses from across geographies. ney will be aided by clues and the teams would use The participants of ‘Great India Race’ will travel a Punjabi couple. various modes of transport, from buses to bullock from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, accompanied by the carts. channel’s camera persons. At certain locations, the The pairs could be spouses, friends, siblings or celebrities in that state will add the glamour quotient tasks and the programme design as well. relatives, but they will need to exhibit strong team- to the show. Each team will be provided a fixed sum This is also Amrita TV’s effort to attract more spirit. Out of the 12 teams, six will be from within of money for completing each leg of the journey, and viewership. The channel plans to have English sub- Kerala, five from other parts of India and one team the participants will have to manage their journey titles for the show, so as to appeal to a larger from outside the country. “We are presently in the expenses within that amount. There will be elimina- audience. “Targeting non-Malayalee viewers is defi- auditions phase. The preliminary selection is based tions at every leg if a pair fails to complete the tasks. nitely on our agenda,” reveals Sajan. Besides, the on the video clips sent to us by interested candi- The channel makes it apparent that the show is its channel is also in talks to tie up with ITDC (Indian dates,” says Bindu Sajan, the producer of the show. brainchild and any resemblance to any similar show Tourism Development Corporation), as the show The channel will screen the videotapes and invite is coincidental. Sajan is quick to deny the show’s will capture the socio-cultural diversity of the coun- selected participants for the auditions in Kochi, similarity to ‘The Amazing Race’. “The most impor- try. The show will be promoted through leading where they have tied up with an adventure club. tant difference is that we are focusing on India. newspapers, television channels and magazines such The video clips are expected to showcase the par- India, itself, is like a big continent,” she says. The dif- as Outlook Traveller. ticipants’ adventurous streak. The channel is looking ference, she explains, is exercised in the nature of the [email protected]

BULLDOG MEDIA ing? “The true magic of the viewer does not the show is picking girls feel the programme has from all walks of life been ‘commercialised’. who go through a life- In ‘Kya Aap…’ there    awakening process and will be 16 product inte- come out shining,” grations. For instance, a recent addition to the list of That happened when they were explains Sharma. bank sponsor will give new-age content providers is invited, in January last year, by Mark Sharma believes that away the prize money Bulldog Media and Burnett to the presentation of ‘Are for a format to be a hit, to the contestant and A Sharma: a case of Entertainment, launched in You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?’. the concept should be simple adaptation the classroom will use a September 2006 by Akash Sharma The serial aired as the best pre- simple and adaptable. computer brand for and Ramit Bharti Mittal (from the miere on any US network in nine Bulldog also wants brand integra- laptops, on the lines of KBC. promoter family of Bharti years and the best premiere on Fox tion to be done in such a way that [email protected] Enterprises.) in 15 years. With so many produc- The company claims to have tion houses and broadcasters expertise in acquiring and localising bidding for the licence, how did a global content for the Indian mar- startup manage to swing the deal? ket. Before founding Bulldog “Burnett took a chance. I think Media, Sharma was a project con- they knew that we had the knowl- sultant for The World Bank. “We edge and the drive,” says Sharma. saw an opportunity to provide dif- Bulldog went on to develop the con- ferentiated programming with a cept between February and October universal appeal and break into new 2007 and began negotiations with genres of programming within the STAR India. It is now engaged in a non-fiction arena,” he says. licensing and merchandising push They had strong relationships for in partnership with STAR India. with some of the world’s top TV The company has struck an broadcasters and producers - CBS alliance with CBS Paramount to Paramount International, NBC bring America’s Next Top Model. Universal, Reveille, Mark Burnett Sharma refuses to talk about it, Productions and Warner Bros. though he concedes that Bulldog It took Bulldog seven months to has been ‘after’ CBS for 16 months. acquire its first format for India. What makes ‘Top Model’ so interest-

34 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

  ’s ho Tha W t by ad filmmaker started his career at the age of 20, when he was Ashok Mundkur 23 spotted by Mundkur of Insight Films . years ago. After that there was no turning back. Since Mundkur offered then, he has been quite busy, sometimes doing as Balwani a role in the many as 6-8 campaigns a year. But between 1994 Amul Chocolates ad. and 2007, he cut down considerably on ad He accepted and fea- assignments. “I saw a long hiatus and was doing tured in ‘A gift for just about a campaign a year. This was because I someone you love’ had my hands in too many businesses and also campaign, where he because I was at an age for which there weren’t played a young execu- many roles. I had moved out of the young man tive who says ‘I’m too image and at the same time was too young to be old for fast cars, but portrayed as a father or grandfather,” he says. too young to be the “Now I’m back with the salt and pepper look, ” boss.’ The boss cuts in he smiles. and says, ‘But I think He credits the Tata Tea Gold ad with Equinox you’re just right for Films as his comeback film. In his more recent  Amul Chocolates.’ campaigns, he has played the roles of a father, FOTOCORP Later that year he also grandfather, head of the family or an authorita- featured in a print tive boss amongst others. But he doesn’t mind The man who played tough guy has made a comeback campaign for Appy. the roles. “I’m not the kind of guy who’ll go out to television commercials . By Surina Sayal Over the years, and dye my hair, I want to look and play my age. Balwani has featured In fact for the Hero Honda ad, they even had to emember the tough brigadier from the in ads for over 95 brands including Vimal grey my hair a little more since I wasn’t looking old Tata Tea Gold ad who posts a cadet in Suitings, Dunlop Tyres, MRF Tyres, Cox & old enough to be a 20-something’s father,” he RLadakh because he thinks he is eyeing his Kings, and more recently MotoFlip, Skoda says. Balwani claims to have been offered roles wife? The ‘tough’ guy is actually a soft-spoken Octavia, Mahindra Renault Logan, Sunsilk by Shekhar Kapur, Pallavi Joshi, Subhash Ghai gentleman off camera. And his name is Manoj Gang of Girls, Fortune Cooking Oil, Hero and Yash Chopra, but doesn’t feel acting in films Balwani. Honda and Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste to is his cup of tea. After a 13-year period of relative inactivity, name a few. Balwani, who is married, has a ten year old Balwani recently appeared in ads for 7UP ‘Bheja But modelling is not all he does; Balwani also son and a five-and-half-year-old daughter. He’s a Fry’ where he plays an irritable man in the train, runs a couple of businesses alongside. He is cur- voracious reader and also spends time in inter- who is reading a paper. But the young male lead rently a consultant to companies for their net-related research. He is a self-confessed ‘Yoga turns his paper around so that he can read the international business strategies. Soon after freak’, and enjoys playing cricket and table tennis sports page. Balwani, 43, began his modelling graduation and after a textile engineering course, with his son. career at the age of 20 when he was “discovered” Balwani joined his father’s business and jump- [email protected]

ADVERTISING becoming a nicer place to stay.” GMR has launched a six-TVC campaign. Besides the one that shows a young boy who comes into his  house and starts celebrating on not getting his visa for further studies atriotism has been a leitmotif company ad showed how an abroad, even as his parents are pray- for Indian advertising, ever executive, after travelling ing hard that he gets it, the other five Psince the famous Hamara Bajaj around the world due to his TVCs focus on the aspects that India ad in 1989, which gave rise to ‘buland work, has returned home to is well known for. bharat ki buland tasveer’. India since this is ‘where the These are sport (in this TVC, a Bajaj brought back the theme world wants to be’. Another recently, with ‘naye bharat ki nayi TV commercial for Amul >> tasveer’. But it is not alone in doing so Cheese shows a man not want- - pride in India and all things Indian ing to leave the country in the first is being used in a string of ads to mar- place. ket brands as diverse as cheese and An ad for GMR Group, the infra- infrastructure development. structure developers, shows a boy A recent Aditya Birla rejoicing at not getting an interna- tional visa, much to the surprise and consternation of his parents. Another bike ad shows a boy tear- ing up and throwing away his travel papers, saying, "US mein kya hai, jo India mein nahin”. On his company’s choice of the patriotism plank, Ram Mankekar, AVP - corporate communications, GMR Group, says, “We wanted to avoid the clichéd path of showing our power plants, roads and upcoming airports in our com- mercials. So, we adopted the strategy of talking about India

36 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008





Q. So, what is more fun - writing or advertis- MURZBAN F SHROFF ing? A. Compared to writing, advertising is like a paid holiday. But let me clarify, I am referring to the creative process. If you take into account the bag- gage advertising comes with – long unresolved meetings, changing client briefs, unreasonable deadlines – then writing is a whole lot more fun.

Q. How has advertising changed from your days in Ulka? A. I think my contribution to advertising has been two-fold. One, I have always excavated the idea from the brand, which was something the client could sense and why most of my work sold. Two: As a creative head, I took pride in nurturing my juniors. In terms of the creative product, advertising has become more generic, more humorous, more eth- nic, more earthy and more unanimous in its appeal. In terms of business objectives, it has “Writing become more short term, and hence, sometimes more cautious. I suspect the greatest ideas – and these could be below the line or simple business solutions – are often not the most visible, or there is great fun” are no budgets to make them visible. I think advertising is fast moving to the other side of the desk, where communication Author-cum-part time adman, Shroff dhobis, victoriawalas, actually helps to redefine the client’s busi- maalishwalas and taxi- ness. The whole concept of creativity is started his career in 1986 with Ulka, walas to middle class “Compared undergoing a sea change: It’s all about went on to O&M, McCann-Erickson employees, senior citi- responsible partnering, being an integral zens and jet-setting to writing, part of the business process. Given this (then Tara Sinha McCann-Erickson), socialites in Mumbai. It new equation, it is important, no, critical, Trikaya Grey and MAA Bozell. He is about their dreams, the creative that ideas command the premium and their frustrations, their respect they deserve. talks about writing, creative standards realisations and their process in in advertising and his next novel. redemption. Q. So, do you like what you see? Who, advertising is according to you, is a mind full of ideas By Rachit Vats. Q. So, what can read- out there? ers expect from this like a paid A. I would like to see creative use more of Q. When did you step away from advertising collection? the talent it is capable of. The fault – this and what inspired you to take up writing? A. Breathless in Bombay holiday.” underutilisation – lies with the client, who A. The truth is that I wanted to write since I was is peopled with colour- presupposes a fundamental knowledge of seven years old, and I did end up editing my school ful characters – dhobis creative. Undoubtedly, the ones who have and college journals. Lack of money, a compelling threatened by washing machines, maalishwalas made a difference and can continue to do so are fondness for books, music, and the need to live in threatened with extinction, a schizophrenic Piyush Pandey, Prasoon Joshi, Agnello Dias, jeans, smoke on the job – thank God for advertis- painter intent on protecting his hedonistic Sonal Dabral, Preeti Vyas Giannetti and Josy Paul. ing. But once I had built enough brands and lifestyle, an old Parsi doctor who believes that I am sure there are many others I’ve missed. But bought enough books and music – I felt I just had HIV/AIDS would never have entered India had nevertheless it’s pleasing to see creative people at to do what I really wanted to do. the British not left, a victoriawala committed to sav- the helm of agencies. ing his horse, and a prostitute’s child from a life of [email protected] Q. How easy was it really for you to move away damnation. to a full time career in writing? A. I do not write full time. I still do commercial Q. Having been asso- projects to support my literary work. After I decid- ciated with ed to quit holding a mainstream job (which was advertising do you some time at the end of 1997), I ran a one-man wish to explore creative consultancy called Certain Initiative. I was advertising in any of handling creative, servicing and production in your future writings? most cases, with an account planning focus. A. You will find my As my clients grew, they started pushing me to advertising experience start my own full service agency. I knew I couldn’t reflected in two stories do that. That was when I asked myself: What did I in Breathless in Bombay. really want to do? I realised what I wanted to do The first is Haraami, the was to write and to make a difference with writing. other is Love in the Time of AIDS, where I have Q. You seem to have created a profile of the drawn on my song writ- average Mumbaikar in Breathless in Bombay. ing experience. The What does the novel talk about? next collection will A. It is a collection of 14 stories. The work takes a have a story based deep interior look at characters spanning various specifically on the life sections of society – from migrant workers such as of an advertising man.

38 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008


VIRGIN MOBILE Red Salute A print campaign, two TVCs and outdoor are only a small beginning for Virgin Mobile in India. It has bigger plans. By Chumki Sen irgin Mobile is here... and shouting about it. The front Vpage of The Times of India car- ried the print ad of the newest entrant into the mobile industry in India on March 10. The ad leapt out at the reader, with its sensational claim, ‘Get Paid for Incoming’. What’s more? The headlines of all the news stories on the front page of the TOI were in red. This is only one part of the campaign Virgin has planned for India after its announcement of the joint venture with Tata TeleServices. The same innovation was also carried ‘Papa’, it is in Dainik Jagran and Sandesh. later revealed, is none Other initiatives include two tele- other than the boy’s vision commercials targeting the friend. based on four brand values – a fun youth. The first one narrates the Both commercials element, being direct, being a con- story of a teenage girl telling her par- end with the tagline, sumer champion and being flexible – ents that she doesn’t like boys. This ‘Think Hatke.’ those values are reflected through leads to her parents worrying over Rajeev Raja, execu- these ads.” how to get her to like boys. Her tive creative director, Given the fact that mobile ads are father extolls the virtues of going out Bates David India, says that these aired in hordes on television, what is with boys, and sanctions a trip to Goa first campaigns for Virgin Mobile set all,” he laughs. the differentiation factor in these with her boyfriend. out to unearth a unique insight of Prasad Narasimhan, chief two? Raja says, “The entire character In the second film, a boy gets Indian youth and convert that into a marketing officer, Virgin Mobiles, of the Virgin Mobile brand is drawn caught by a policeman for not heed- creative expression that best connects talks of the brief that was discussed from the maverick persona of its ing a stop light. When the boy calls with them. with the agency. “We wanted to por- founder, Sir Richard Branson. his ‘Papa’ to bail him out, the police- Raja shares his experiences on the tray regular situations – sometimes Therefore, it will constantly push the man is told by the furious ‘Papa’ that conceptualisation process. He says, problem, sometimes opportunity – envelope in terms of its irreverence he wants his son thrown into jail and “Even before ideating, we studied the and how to use that in the linear and cheekiness. This will carve out a slapped soundly. The policeman’s youth of India very closely and world – this was asked to be propagat- unique identity for Virgin Mobile.” heart melts and he lets the young- realised that unlike their ed in the communication,” he says. The team which worked on the ster go. The Western counterparts, who When asked if Virgin Mobile used ads include Rajeev Raja, executive were more prone to rebellion the same concept in the international creative director, Rohit Malkani, cre- and public protest, Indian market as well, Narasimhan says, ative director, and Rajesh Krishnan youth found smart ways “Basically, Virgin is focused on its of Soda Films, Darshan Choudari, around life’s sanctions. customer segments in each country, creative director, and Kruti Sheth, art Once we hit upon this and that is different in different director. insight, it was just a matter places. On the whole, the company is [email protected] of brainstorming. Thousands of ideas were tossed around, after which we honed in on the cur- rent ones.” The concept reflects the edginess and street smartness of the youth of today. Raja jokes about the way Bates India bagged the account. He made the pres- entation literally in his boxer shorts. This was after he had mentioned to the client that working on Virgin Mobile would be the greatest fun one could have with one’s pants on. “The client, a British gent named Jamie, said that if we worked on Virgin Mobile, it was- n’t mandatory to wear pants at

40 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

  LG Brand Apart... LG is in search of a brand ambassador who can cut across categories. By Surina Sayal onsumer durables major LG Electronics ered last year and India has decided not to renew its two year also because it is Ccontract with brand ambassador Abhishek not confident that Bachchan, which ended on February 29. he would give their LG had announced Bachchan as its brand brand adequate mileage. taken around that time, once there is more clarity ambassador in 2006, when it was launching the V Ramachandran, director, sales and marketing, on the issue.” Speaking about Bachchan. he says advertising campaign for its Intello range of home LG Electronics India, dismisses the rumours and that they are open to working with him in future. appliances. At that time, the company wanted to says that the decision to ‘not renew the contract’ was So, what happens to LG’s communication till the move away from the brand’s taken because of two core new brand direction is decided upon? “For the next association with the ‘family’ issues. “One was that we took few months, our communication will revolve and ‘health’ platforms and thus A new brand him (Bachchan) on specifically around products and not feature any brand ambas- used Bachchan to create a fresh ambassador is for home appliances, but now sadors,” says Ramachandran. The brand has already young appeal. Incidentally, this we want our communication begun advertising its mobile phones, the LG Viewty was the first time that LG likely to be and brand ambassador to cut and the LG Shine, and its Pearl Black LCD TV Electronics India had signed on across categories. The fact range. a filmstar as a brand ambassa- announced in remains that Abhishek endors- There has also been speculation that LG may dor for its household es the Motorola brand of now want to rope in a cricketer as a brand ambassa- appliances, thus lending a dif- July or August mobile phones, so this would dor, like its competitor Samsung, which used Rahul ferential appeal to the category. mean a conflict of brands. Dravid. Is this true? “All I can say is that at the Bachchan, who was then “an eligible bachelor”, Thus, he cannot endorse our entire portfolio,” says moment, there is no discussion of any nature for fit the company brief well, as the man who makes Ramachandran. brand ambassadorship,” he says. his better half feel special. LG had used non-celebri- Explaining the second reason, Ramachandran But if LG is seeking a brand ambassador who can ty faces as Bachchan’s wife in an attempt to make says, “The LG brand is in the process of reinventing endorse all its product categories (mobile phones, every female viewer relate to the script. itself and there are going to be new brand initiatives consumer electronics and computer products), but Some media reports say that LG has decided and communication. The new brand direction will is not endorsing any competing brand, it will have against renewing Bachchan’s contract because it be announced only in July or August and the call to seek far and wide. isn’t too happy with the box office duds he deliv- regarding a new brand ambassador will also be [email protected]

COCA-COLA
    
  Coke’s ‘Jashn Mana Le’ campaign positions the drink in context of life’s everyday celebrations. TBR News Bureau

rom ‘Jo chaho ho jaye’ and ‘Life to showcase how Coke can provide a ho to aisi’, to the popular reason for everyday celebration. F‘Thanda matlab Coca-Cola’ and Ashish Chakravarty, creative chief, ‘Thande ka tadka’; and from ‘Piyo sar Delhi, McCann Erickson, shares utha ke’ to the latest ‘Jashn mana le’, that the ad started out as a tactical Coca-Cola has come a long way in idea and wasn’t meant to be a positioning itself in the hands of the replacement for ‘Thanda matlab…’ Indian consumer. He says, “Worldwide, Coke and Coca-Cola’s new campaign, food go hand-in-hand. We wanted ‘Jashn mana le’ shows a group of to promote this concept and also youngsters making their way to a connect with the youth. The insight small food street after a late night, to was that youngsters, after a party go find everything shut. They spot to small eating joints .” ‘Jashn Mana Hrithik Roshan (who they cannot Le’, literally translated, would mean recognise) uncorking a bottle of ‘Go on, celebrate’. Coke. Instantly the entire street The Sufi background music was comes alive with food stalls. As they penned by Chakravarty himself. The finish their drinks, the lights dim off TVC running on all major channels and the background score slows is being complemented by out-of- down. home advertising, consisting of The campaign conceptualized by special shoots done by ace photogra- McCann Erickson and directed by pher Dabboo Ratnani, featuring Sabal Singh Shekhawat of Big Roshan. Picture Company has been designed [email protected]

42 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

  WOMEN’S DAY On her Day International Women’s Day saw brands unleash a melange of events and offerings to reiterate their commit- ment to women consumers. By Surina Sayal

nternational Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8 inspired by them. gave corporates, brands and media companies The Oxford Ithe chance to launch activities through innova- Bookstore in Mumbai tive ideas, special discounts, parties, and interactive presented a gift voucher events. Here’s a look at a handful of these. to each woman that came to the store. By way of a Rediff.com and NGO Bhumi came together to Kingfisher Airlines featured an all-women crew lucky draw, one woman also won a discounted copy organize a candlelight vigil on the eve of Women’s on IWD, including flying crew of her favourite author’s book Day. ‘Light a light to bring about a change’ was the on select flights across its here. In Bangalore, Polynation, message to address the issue of growing violence nationwide network. As the the food-court chain part of against women in the city. Hundreds of Mumbai-Bangalore flight was Brands from the Citymax Group, celebrated Mumbaikars turned up at the Gateway of India to cleared for push-back, the cap- social networking IWD through interactive pledge their support to make Mumbai a safer city tain’s welcome address on the games, exciting gifts and for women. The initiative was supported by the flight was greeted with sponta- sites to airlines sumptuous food at its outlet in Sheriff of Mumbai, Indu Shahani, actor Rahul Bose neous applause from all guests Oasis Mall. Two hundred and leading NGOs. on board. The captain conclud- participated. women were invited from In media, Mid-Day invited Bollywood actress ed her address by announcing various women-oriented clubs Kajol as guest editor on March 8, while both Radio the commencement of the cel- across Bangalore. Lakmé pro- Mirchi 98.3 FM and BIG 92.7 FM gave women lis- ebrations. vided free makeovers. Onlookers enjoyed the beats teners a much-needed breaks from their routine Social networking website, Fropper.com tied up of live performances by Vietnamese and Thai household chores, by making their husbands do the with women’s site Indiwo.com to constitute the dancers, as well as music by an Indian and Western chores on that day. ‘Women’s Bravery Award’. Fropper.com encour- band. The day ended with one woman being Wipro launched the ‘WoW’ initiative by honor- aged women to come out of their shells and share crowned as the ‘Polynation Woman of the Year’. ing its women workforce with the title of ‘Green incidents where they proved their strength - men- On the social front, at a special function on the Ambassadors’, besides felicitating women achievers. tal, emotional or physical. The most inspiring occasion of IWD, the State Bank of India adopted Eco Bags specially made for women employees entries will be recognized and rewarded – apart 1,000 girl children across Maharashtra and Goa were given away on the occasion. from attractive prizes for the three best entries, under its Community Services Banking This might have been a one-day blast for there are 10 consolation prizes to be won. Male Programme. Its programme meets the financial women, but for brands working on targeting members can also send in entries about women in needs of meritorious students, whose parents are women consumers it is all in a day’s work. their lives who they look up to and how they are not in a position to meet their education expenses. [email protected]

their destinations – both of them are sons. There’s something about slug says, ‘The Taste of India’. << 
 getting used to the heat as one is off Indian home-cooked food. Even With the youth accepting and to New Delhi and the other to children coming back from the US cherishing India for what it is and the Hyderabad), culture (a Spanish dance wait for home-cooked food.” booming Indian economy, it seems Pride in India teacher is shown in a room full of According to him, with so many that advertisers are setting a new people learning bhangra), language (a multinationals coming in, Amul is trend - a foolproof patriotic commu- Japanese couple is teaching their son French mother and son are being one of the last Indian companies left nication tone. how to bowl), food (a German fami- tutored to speak in Hindi). that has stayed ‘Indian’; just like its [email protected] ly is shown at the dinner table, All the televison commercials end sweating away, eyes watering, trying with the punch line, ‘Getting ready to bite into a plateful of green chill- for India? GMR. Getting India ready.’ ies), weather (two Turkish The ad for Amul Cheese shows a businessmen are shown wearing for- man waiting in the lounge to board mal attire in a sauna, discussing his international flight. He remi- nisces about the happy moments spent with friends and family. Most of these memories revolve around food, and vari- eties of Amul Cheese have a significant role to play here. As a flight attendant tells him to board the flight, he decides not to go. Rahul daCunha, director, daCunha Associates, (that has cre- ated the legendary Amul ads), explains the reasoning behind this ad. “Even though the West is tempting talent away, many are now returning home for varied rea-

44 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

    



  Columbia Boots sailor is sailing on his oversized Beyond Aboots. The tag line reads ‘‘Wind falls at the foot of Columbia.’’ a Click he web has emerged as one of Tthe most quantifiable mediums, owing to the fact that the number of clicks on any site or banner is so easy to monitor. But marketers are realis- ing that clicks are merely a measure for response and do not necessarily Advertising Agency: Dentsu gauge engagement of the surfer with Art Director: Aflatus Dang the brand. Advertisers today are Copywriter: Monkey Q moving beyond counting clicks and Another potential flaw of the impressions and trying hard to Advertisers are existing metrics is the failure to take

  understand how other richer forms into account the continued power of of digital advertising influence the moving beyond offline media in driving online eventual product and service sale. behaviour. According to Rob Panasonic DVD Microsoft has started to test counting clicks Norman, CEO at GroupM he letters of the word 'crash' writ- 'Engagement Mapping', a tool that Interaction (the media-buying divi- Tten in an artistic fashion. The tag promises to assign value to all forms and impressions sion of WPP Group, New York) any line reads: ‘‘The sound of movies has of digital advertising preceding the engagement metric, regardless of never been so sophisticated.’’ last click to that advertiser's website. or search, seen multiple times on first, middle or last ad seen, is limit- The ‘last click’ ignores prior inter- multiple sites and across many chan- ed in value if it is restricted to the actions that the consumer has with a nels, influenced an eventual digital marketing ecosystem and marketer's message. Engagement purchase. Such a mechanism will ignores other marketing inputs. The Mapping tries to overcome this hur- also aid communication plans and move to highlight engagement dle as it conveys how each ad strategies which are geared to reach could translate to more creative exposure such as display, rich media consumers in a variety of ways. forms of internet ads.

scale of competition if

   they expect a larger Advertising Agency: Fischer share of the digital ad Art Director: Silvio Medeiros revenue. Copywriter: Thiago Carvalho In the Going by the exam- ples of some

    magazines like Sports Shadow Illustrated and Forbes Romanian he magazine industry in the US might which have somewhat Thave taken a quantum leap in the successful websites, it digital space but they are far from mak- seems that scale is an Association for ing it a profitable platform. This is important factor to garner business. million visitors to its site in December especially because the established digi- Also brands that span media, do much 2007, is one such example. In addition, Woman tal brands like Yahoo! MySpace and better than standalone websites. ESPN the software needs to be innovative and telephone with a man's hand as Huffington Post have already the mega brand, which attracted 19.1 engaging to attract readers. Athe receiver placed over a entrenched themselves and are the pre- woman's face. The second telephone ferred sites for readers, who want to shows a hand holding an actual subscribe to magazines online. Data receiver while the woman's face (on from online surveys are also not look- the handset) is shown with a black ing optimistic. According to Nielsen eye. The tag line reads ‘‘Pick up the Online, YouTube by itself draws some phone and save somebody.’’ 67.5 million unique visitors (sometimes lesser) in a month. Whereas, as per a survey by the Magazine Publishers of America, consumer magazine sites together attracted 67.5 million visitors in a month in the fourth quarter last year. The growth rate in terms of the corresponding quarter of the previous year is also fairly insignificant, standing at 8.1 per cent. The online proposition makes sense if publishers want to Advertising Agency: McCann leverage it for their core print proper- Erickson, Romania ties, recruit subscribers or provide a Art Director: Razvan Chifu little inventory for integrated ad buys. Copywriter: Catalin Dobre However, they have to face up to the

46 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

    

   Winning Sync alk about being in sync with suc- technology that lets users play songs Tcess! Leading auto car maker and dial phone numbers by merely Ford has registered robust sales for speaking into the car's audio system. its compact car Focus in the last Integrating the smart and trendy financial quarter. 'Sync' technology Focus has regis- with Focus tered a sales (which is essen- increase of 33 tially targeted at per cent in the young and January and an financially up- estimated 10 per coming) has cent in February resulted in a syn- this year, where- ergy of image. as the overall Both Ford and sales in the com- Microsoft have pact car industry showed a decline of allocated considerable sums towards three per cent as per data released by marketing initiatives. As per Nielsen Autodata. This success is being attrib- estimates while Ford spent $50.7 uted to a technology package from million on Focus ads in the past Microsoft called 'Sync' to boost sales quarter, Microsoft spent around $ 25 for Focus. 'Sync', is a voice-activated million.

  Suspiciously Green larity of vision is what is being bottom of each Eco Options Web page Cdemanded from many organisations runs tallies of green products sold and who have initiated environmental pro- energy saved to date. grammes. The consternation is that However, consumers are quick to their claims for environmental benefits understand that it is never such a are not backed by evidence. This issue straightforward connection. Savings is now being addressed by none other depend on product usage, an usage than the FTC. Consumers are wary that that has not been clearly defined. the eco-friendly claims of most prod- Also, marketers need to understand ucts and services are not completely that the claims cannot be lopsided and transparent. Also, more often than not, need to evolve with times. A Consumer these claims can hold good only if sup- Environmental Survey done in 2007 porting factors are explained. A case in reported that 85 per cent of con- point is that Home Depot claims that sumers are likely to penalise their Eco Options programme saves companies that don't act responsibly. energy and money. Calculators at the Compiled by Proyashi Barua

48 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008

 
 Apple MacBook The leading computer company has unveiled MacBook Air, claimed to be the world’s thinnest notebook. MacBook Air measures an unprecedented 0.16 inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76 inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks. MacBook Air has a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi- touch gesture support. MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache and includes standard features such as 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1. MacBook Air users can buy the companion MacBook Air SuperDrive for just Rs 5,500. The new MacBook Air is available through Apple authorised resellers and dealers for a retail price of Rs 96,100.

Himalaya Tommy Hilfiger The herbal products company The company has introduced a new line of sports and fashion watches. While Himalaya has launched Neem these variants incorporate innovation on the design front, they also retain Tommy Foaming Face Wash. This face Hilfiger's signature details, hence making them a contemporary yet classic choice wash, formulated with neem and for consumers. One of the highlights of this collection is a sleek three-hand model turmeric, helps in removing acne. watch with rivets highlighting the bangle curves. The bangle curves are also inte- It also has anti-bacterial proper- grated with ‘Karung Lizard’ leather enabling a fashion statement. The leather on ties that regulate oil secretion the bangle is available in colours of red, black and white. This watch is priced at and clean clogged pores. Already Rs 5,995. Another variant to look out for in this collection is a sporty watch with a big seller in several internation- contrast punch hole details on the steel/rubber straps. This watch is both trendy al markets, Himalaya’s Neem and functional as sub dials indicate day, date and time. Available in stainless steel, Foaming Face Wash will now be blue and black rubber straps, this watch is being priced at Rs 7,995. The new col- available in leading departmental lection is available at select World of Titan, Tommy Hilfiger Flagship Stores, stores. It is priced at Rs 150 for Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Zimson and other multi brand outlets. a 150 ml pack. Parrot VS Sassoon IDLDPL (India Digital Life Style Distributors) has introduced Parrot PMK 5800, the first Vidal Sassoon, an international Bluetooth car-kit, which needs no installation for both hands-free calling and musical brand for professional hairstyling entertainment. The built in FM transmitter enables it to stream tunes via A2DP from a has introduced a range of styling phone. Also, voice calls can be transmitted to the car's stereo deck for hands free com- appliances. The VS Sassoon fort. To receive an incoming call, all users need to do is hit on the preset FM station. The Ceramic Slim Straightener and system automatically mutes the music when a call is being responded to. The Parrot the VS Sassoon Power Clipper PMK5800 has an advanced signal processing technology, which improves audio quality. and Tramliner Set are some of Echo and noise cancellation, full duplex sound, and voice recognition are the most impor- the highlights of this range. The tant features of this product. Priced at Rs 5,990 Parrot PMK5800 is available exclusively Ceramic Slim Straightener at IDLDPL stores in the country. (VS2026) is equipped with 25 heat settings that are suitable for all hair types and textures. The accessories comprising a bar- Power Clipper and Tramliner Set ber's comb, scissors, lubricating (VS7439) is a standard size cut- oil, and storage pouch. The ting system employing electro Ceramic Slim Straightener is chemical blade technology. Both priced at Rs 2,400 and the cord and cordless operated, it Power Clipper and Tramliner comes with a complete set of Sets are priced at Rs 4,450.

50 The Brand Reporter, March 16-31, 2008


  JOBSWITCH

Organization Name: The Muthoot experience in sales & business marcom project management. Group development in media as He/She Email: Positions: AGM / Senior Manager – would be responsible for generating [email protected] Sales, AGM / Senior Manager - revenues for VJIVE products & ...... Marketing Services & Manager - services. Organization Name: Positive Training Email: [email protected] Communications Location: Delhi & Kochi ...... Positions: Senior Media Profile: AGM / Senior Manager – Organization Name: R2S Group Consultants / PR Managers Sales: The individual would have Positions: Manager Operations Location: New Delhi, Mumbai & complete charge of the sales Location: New Delhi Bangalore department. He/She would be for Profile: The incumbent would be Profile: The candidate should have the sales in the assigned region of required to check Quality execution good hands on experience on Media the company and manage marketing of the projects, organizing elements Relations, useful media contacts departments’ resources to fulfill involved in the projects, Sourcing with technology, healthcare, general business requirements. The and managing vendors & suppliers business, general and lifestyle applicant should have 10 - 12 years on regular basis and to Execute publications. The successful of experience from an organisation project cost effectively and within applicant should have 2 - 5 years of of repute. the time frame. The applicant prior experience in a PR agency or AGM / Senior Manager - Marketing should have 4 - 7 years of relevant media house while having excellent Services: The incumbent would experience in Operations and media relations and should be able have to Coordinate and control all Production in Events and to co-ordinate with clients aspects of Advertising and promotions with a minimum of 3 individually. Promotions to promote the years in leading a team. Email: [email protected], products and services. The Email:[email protected] [email protected] individual should have 10 - 12 years ...... of experience from an organisation Organization Name: ICG Organization Name: Pentagon of repute as would be required to (Integrated Communications Communications create marketing strategies in Group) Positions: Account Director (Client institutional markets, advertising, Positions: Associate Account Servicing) product positioning, customer Director Location: Bangalore service, management of marketing Location: New Delhi & Bangalore Profile: The individual would be services and sales management. Profile: The applicant must have in- required to handle key accounts Manager – Training: The applicant depth understanding of BTL independently, achieving agreed should be a business savvy communication, Experience in metrics on customer satisfaction, professional who is knowledgeable prospecting new business leads and topline and bottomline as well as in all aspects of training and hands-on involvement in project Lead and motivate a team. The development will be the driving management and Strong applicant must have 10 - 15 years force in identifying and developing management and supervisory skills experience and a minimum of 5 strategies and solutions that meets in leading a team of dedicated years in an advertising agency is current and future business needs, project managers. The applicant mandatory. strengthens team member must have minimum 8 - 10 years Email: [email protected] capabilities, and enhances the experience in client servicing and ...... effectiveness of managers and leaders. Prior experience of 8 -10 years of training experience from an organisation of repute would be ideal. Email: [email protected] ...... Organization Name: VJIVE Networks Positions: Sales Manager – Media To advertise, contact: Services %,!. ,)%-.
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,$  products/services while handling  ..    Initiates & activates ‘sales push’ $ #.)+ " +) %-(*&$ activities by working in tandem with the marketing & research team & To view other jobs in Marketing, generates market learning for the Media and Advertising, log on to: content & technical team. The ++'!&*%-(*&$ applicant should have 7+ years

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