Category: MAM

MUMBAI: Star Plus‘ gamble to sprinkle weekend content with original shows as a counter to movie telecast on rival general entertainment channels seems to be paying off.

The first feedback for the newly tailored 7-10.30 pm weekend band is positive.

As per Tam data for the week ended 29 January, the 7 pm show Love You Zindagi opened with a 2.1 TVR. It had a time spent of 17.1 minutes. Meanwhile, Pyar Mein Twist managed a 1.4 TVR and an average time spent of 10.1 minutes.

The star attraction for the channel was Wife Bina Life, which opened with a whopping TVR of 3.6. Produced by BBC Worldwide, the show portrays the life of average middle class men taking up the challenge of becoming homemakers, while the women of the house go on a holiday.

The show had a cumulative reach of 16.5 million, while the average time spent was 19.9 minutes.
 
Starting 29 January, Star Plus has launched three new shows along with one special one-hour maha episode for weekends. The three shows include two fiction based shows – Love You Zindagi (7-8 pm) and Pyar Mein Twist (10-10.30 pm); one reality show Wife Bina Life (9-10 pm); and a maha episode of fiction show during 8-9 pm.
 
On the whole, Star Plus saw a 22 GRP (gross rating points) decline in the week over the prior seven-day period. Its weekday primetime declined by three GRP points and weekend movies by 18 GRPs.
 
Meanwhile, weekend primetime original programming added 31 GRPs to Star Plus‘ kitty along with other parts on weekdays and weekends (6 and 4 GRPs respectively).

The channel held its first position with 338 GRPs (from 360 GRPs in last week).

Meanwhile, Colors, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Television maintained their respective positions without any major gain or loss.

A look at other channels – Colors with 239 GRPs (243 GRPs previous week); Zee TV with 226 GRPs (235 GRPs); Set with 178 GRPs (173 GRPs); Sab with 138 GRPs (137 GRPs); Imagine TV with 80 GRPs (86 GRPs); Star One with 36 GRPs (41 GRPs); and Sahara One with 30 GRPs (30 GRPs), according to Tam data.
 

MUMBAI: Consumer electronics company Sony India has roped in Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador, hoping to cash in on the cricket World Cup fever.

Sony will splurge Rs 1 billion towards marketing, targeting the World Cup that kicks off on 19 February.

The company, which has lost out to Korean companies like Samsung and LG in the Indian market, is promoting the full HD Bravia range that includes 20 models of DHTV, HD LED and HD LCD TV.

Sony has set itself a target of 40 per cent market share during the cricket World Cup season.
 
Sony India MD Masaru Tamagawa said, “Sony has chosen cricket to promote High Definition as it is the most popular sport in India and makes for a perfect platform to bring HD closer to our consumers. With our wide range of Full HD Bravia TVs, consumer can enjoy a very captivating World Cup viewing experience, right in the comfort of their home. We have chosen Mr. Dhoni as the face of Sony Full HD TV as we feel he will create the perfect synergy with our target audience during this exciting cricket season. We are leaders in HD. Dhoni is the leader and captain of the Indian cricket team. The Sony Dhoni combine is a strong fit.”

During the World Cup, Sony expects 600,000 flat panel TV units to be sold.

“We are targeting sales of 250,000 units. This is the first time that the World Cup will be shown in HD. We expect HD TV sales to double for the industry,” said Tamagawa.
 
Dhoni will be promoting Sony’s ‘The Incredible Game in Sony High Definition’ campaign during the World Cup. This campaign will include more than 3000 TVC spots across 19 channels including ESPN Star Sports where Sony is a sponsor of the World Cup broadcast, print campaign across 36 top media and an outdoor campaign with more than 100 billboards across the country.

Apart from web promotions, a shop-front will also be an integral part of Sony’s communication campaign. As a special consumer connect initiative, Sony has announced a lucky draw promotion – 100 families who buy a Sony Bravia will get a chance to meet Dhoni.

The TVCs see Dhoni batting and taking a catch. One can clearly see the sweat dripping off his face as well as moisture on the field. The aim is to convey the fact that HD brings in greater clarity to the cricket viewing experience.

Dhoni said, “I am pleased to be associated with a futuristic brand like Sony. Cricket in HD will be the most incredible experience this season and through Sony, I would like to recommend this experience to our Indian audience. Sony, a cult brand has always offered excellent products and path-breaking technology to its consumers. It is now taking the HD phenomenon forward and I am proud to be a part of this initiative”.

Sony India has also associated itself with Airtel through a consumer promotion. It would offer free Airtel HD DTH connection on purchase of Bravia Full HD TVs. This offer will be valid from 1 February – 15 April 2011.

MUMBAI: Samsung India has launched various consumer offers on its flat panel televisions for the World Cup cricket season.

The offers that are being launched today and will be valid till 15 March 2011 include zero per cent finance and a free Dish TV set top box with every flat panel TV.
 
Says Samsung India MD R. Zutshi, “Our Full HD Flat Panel TV along with the Dish TV HD DTH offer coupled with our attractive zero interest finance offer is a great value proposition for our consumers and is designed to provide consumers with a true to life, HD viewing experience. The bouquet of HD channels being made available to consumers by Dish TV will provide them the rich experience of HD as never before. Based on our consumer offers, we are looking at a 100 per cent jump in our flat panel TV sales during the promotion period.”

As part of the promotional offers made available by the Company, any customer buying a Samsung Flat Panel TV needs to pay Rs 1999 at the time of purchase and balance amount needs to be paid by the customer in 17 equal, interest free installments with no processing fee being charged.
 
Samsung is also partnering with Dish TV to provide a HD DTH free along with 45 days Platinum pack subscription and HD pack with every Samsung television in the screen size 32″ and above. Consumers buying a Samsung 26″ or below flat panel TV will receive a Dish TV SD set top box along with 45 days subscription of platinum pack.

A customer buying any Samsung flat panel television during the promotion period will receive an activation voucher and a quick call to the Dish TV call center will have the engineer visit the customer‘s home for installation and activation of the connection at a nominal charge.
 
The Dish TV HD DTH offer and the finance offer are also available on the 3D TV range. In addition, the company is making available a 3D Blu ray player, a wireless LAN Adaptor for Internet and all share connectivity, three pairs of 3D glasses, three 3D titles and five BD titles along with an ultra slim wall mount free of cost with every purchase of a Samsung 3D LED TV.

MUMBAI: Grey India has won the creative duties of Honda Siel Cars India‘s hatchback Brio that is slated to launch later this year, a source close to the development has informed Indiantelevision.com. 
 
The mandate was awarded following a multi-agency pitch called in November.
 
Apparently, last week, the car company informed the agency about their selection. The agency declined to comment.
 
The car manufacturer‘s other brands such as Honda Jazz is handled by Meridian Communications, Delhi, while Dentsu Marcom takes care of the remaining brands.

MUMBAI: K&L Arms Communications has retained the creative and media businesses of camera company, Nikon.

Nikon India, a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation Tokyo, made the decision in the last week of January, after calling a multi-agency pitch in December.
 
K&L Arms Communications, a 50:50 JV between K&L Inc. and the Delhi-based Arms Communications formed in 2007, were handling the creative business of Nikon since 2009. The agency had outsourced the media business to Carat Media Service Delhi, but now K&L Arms will handle the media business as well.
 
According to the source, Nikon will be getting more aggressive in the T.V. space. 
 
With the official entry of Nikon in India, it appointed ADK Fortune as its creative, prior to which the duties were being handled by K&L, Singapore. Arms was looking after the communication for the brand in India on behalf of the Singapore-based agency.

MUMBAI: Amid fading hopes for a full economic recovery this year in most parts of the world, Indians have emerged as the most optimistic consumers globally.

The consumer confidence levels in India have risen by two points and reached 131 index points, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, which tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among online consumers. 
 
The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index provides a single indicator of consumer sentiment towards the current economic situation as well as intentions and expectations for the future. Levels above a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism.

According to Nielsen, however, there is an overall decline in Indian discretionary spends. But the highest decline is seen in Indians putting spare cash into new clothes, which has gone down eight per cent to 31 per cent compared to the last round of the survey.

Another item on the spare cash list that has taken a big hit is the out of home entertainment, which has gone down by six percentage points to 23. Paying off debt/ credit cards/ loans (29 per cent) and retirement funds (24 per cent) has experienced a five point drop.
 
India ranks third globally in putting spare cash into retirement funds, behind China and Czech Republic (both 30 per cent).

In the fourth quarter of 2010, the percentage of Indians who invest in stock market related schemes has gone down by three per cent to 45 compared to the last leg of the survey. India ranks third globally for a country that puts spare cash into shares and stocks, behind Hong Kong (56 per cent) and China (51 per cent), says the report.

A four per cent drop is seen in the number of Indians who put their spare cash into new technology products and it has gone down to 38 per cent, says Nielsen. But still, Indians state spending on technology as their third preference when it comes to spare cash utilisation. On the global ranking, India ranks second in a population that plans to spend on new technology products, while China leads with 41 per cent votes.

Holidays/ vacations (35 per cent) and home improvements/ decorating (34 per cent), though, rank fourth and fifth respectively on the spare cash utilization list, having dropped by three per cent when compared to the survey in the previous quarter.

Says Nielsen Company managing director-consumer, India Justin Sargent, “The decline in spending is a cause of worry to some extent. Indians are weighing their options against a global backdrop of a recessionary mindset, so even though they are the most confident global consumers, Indians are still wary of going out and spending.”

Seven out of ten Indians (72 per cent) have changed their spending habits to save on household expenses, which is two percentage points higher than in the third quarter.

Also, more than half the Indians (51 per cent) surveyed now spend less on new clothes to cut down expenses; however, the percentage of Indians who plan to cut down buying new clothes has gone down by seven per cent compared to the previous quarter. 50 per cent Indians try to save on gas and electricity, compared to 56 per cent in the previous round who said they would cut down on gas and electricity to save on household expenses.

According to the report, 43 per cent of the Indians surveyed say they will cut down on out of home entertainment, 41 per cent on telephone expenses, 38 per cent on holidays/ short breaks and 35 per cent will delay upgrading technology, e.g. PC, mobiles, etc. to save on household expenses.

According to Nielson, there is a fair amount of correlation on items that Indians have decided to cut down spending on to save on household expenses and the items that show a decline in discretionary spends, like decline in spending on new clothes, out of home entertainment, new technology products, all have taken a hit.

As per the survey, the top five activities that Indians say they will continue to cut down expenses on even after economic conditions improve are – to try and save on gas and electricity (37 per cent), which has gone down by nine percent compared to the previous round of the survey; spend less on new clothes (22 per cent); cut down on telephone expenses (20 per cent), cut down on take-away meals (17 per cent); and look for better deals on home loans, insurance, credit cards, etc (16 per cent).

“Global economic conditions are acting as a deterrent to the spending habits of Indians. We saw a resurgence in spends in the previous two quarters but the last quarter of 2010 shows a decline in spending intentions. Under the current scenario, marketers will have to try harder to get the consumer to reflect the confidence that they show in their job prospects and state of personal finances in their spending habits,” said Sargent.

The survey, which polled over 29,000 Internet consumers in 52 countries in November 2010, says confidence levels fell in half of the countries surveyed as widespread concern for unemployment, job creation, rising food and utility costs eradicated any expectation of sustained economic recovery. The global consumer confidence index at the end of 2010 remained unchanged from the previous quarter at 90 and finished the year two index points below the start of the year.

However the percentage of Indians who think that the country is presently in recession has gone down by three per cent to 30 when compared to the last leg of the survey. Three out of ten Indians think that the country is in an economic recession.

Out of those who think that India is in a recession, 55 per cent believe that the country will be out of recession in the next 12 months, which again indicates an overall positive consumer outlook for the economy. Globally, India ranks first as a country that believes that they will be out of the economic recession in the next 12 months.

States Sargent, “India has topped the Consumer Confidence survey in all four quarters of 2010 and has also seen a steady rise in index points. This is a good sign for us as this means that the economy is fast moving out of the slowdown. But global economic conditions have made Indians wary about the future and they are exercising some restraint in their spending habits.”

Philippines followed India to the second spot with 120 index points and Norway came third with 119 index points. Globally, confidence levels fell in 25 out of 52 countries surveyed in Q4 2010 as hope for a global economic recovery evaporated at the end of last year.

Amongst the 52 countries that participated in the survey, 14 saw a consumer confidence index of 100 points or higher, nine of which hail from Asia Pacific This is an increase compared to 11 countries who hit the 100+ index mark one year ago.

Meanwhile, nine out of ten Indians (90 per cent) are optimistic about their job prospects in the next 12 months. This is a percentage point lower than in the last quarter, but India tops the list of countries who think that their job prospects are excellent or good in the next 12 months.

The percentage of Indians who think that their job prospects are “excellent” has gone up from 29 to 31 per cent compared to the previous quarter. Nearly six out of ten Indians (59 per cent) consider their job prospects “good”. Norway (83 per cent) and Singapore (79 per cent) are the next most optimistic nations on job prospects in the next 12-month period.

Not only job prospects, Indians are also optimistic about the state of their personal finances. More than eight out of ten Indians (84 per cent) are optimistic about their personal finances in the next twelve months, which is also the highest ranking globally.
 
 This has gone up by a percentage point compared to the third quarter of 2010. Eighteen per cent Indians consider their state of personal finances “excellent” and 66 per cent consider it “good”. Indonesia (81 per cent) and Norway (79 per cent) are the second and third most optimistic nations respectively in terms of the state of their personal finances.

Major Concerns for Indians

Over the next six months Indians are most concerned about increasing food prices, with 15 per cent Indians considering it their biggest concern.

India ranks fourth globally in its concern for increasing food prices. In fact concern levels around increasing food prices have remained the same for both the third and fourth quarter.

China tops in its concern over increasing food prices with 19 per cent of consumers in China voting it as the biggest concern over the next six months.

Following a similar trend as in the previous quarter, work/ life balance (12 per cent) and job security (10 per cent) are the second and third biggest concerns for Indians in the next six months, says the survey.

Other concerns for Indians are Children‘s education and/or welfare (8 per cent) and parent‘s welfare and happiness (8 per cent – 3rd highest globally). Children‘s education and/or welfare have moved up the concern list and concern over parent‘s welfare and happiness has increased by two percentage points. Concerns surrounding terrorism (7 per cent – 4th highest globally) has increased for Indians.

“Increasing food and fuel prices remain a big concern for Indians and has a significant bearing on their lifestyles as they try and balance rising costs by cutting down other living expenses,” explains Sargent.
 

MUMBAI: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sahara Pune Warriors has awarded its exclusive sponsorship mandate to Percept Sport.

A joint team of Sahara Corporate Communications led by Abhijit Sarkar and Percept Sport will spearhead this initiative of raising sponsorships and managing the sponsor deliverable management for the franchise.
 
Sahara Adventure Sports director Abhijit Sarkar said, “We have had a long standing relationship with Percept over the years and when this opportunity came up, this was logical. We are very clear that we would love to have sponsors and partners who we would work closely with towards giving them professional delivery of their requirements when they partner us in this exciting journey ahead.”
 
Percept Sports and Entertainment CEO Devraj Sanyal said, ‘‘With our long history in sports marketing and leadership in the sponsorship marketing space, combined with our relationship with the Sahara India Pariwar, we are extremely excited at the opportunity and would look at ensuring our partners work with the Sahara Pune Warriors for a long and mutually beneficial association”.
 
Sanyal said that they are looking at partners rather than sponsiors. “Franchises are built over a period of time thgat is a given. however to have partners who help build it further by leveraging their association over the long term is what we are looking at. Also those brands who are looking at tapping into what is the youngest city in india and use the platform of the warriors are who would be the perfect fit.”

In terms of marketing innovations being looked at, he sauid that while on air and jersey branding are strictly governed by the channel and IPL sponsor guidelines, the agency has thought of some customised innovations to suit categories and brands. “We are discussing these with the brands we are in conversation with,” Sanyal added.

The team has in its ranks the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthapa, Ashish Nehra, South African captain Graeme Smith, supported by cast of Angelo Mathews, Jesse Ryder and potential Australia captain Tim Paine.