Category: Marketing

GOA: In a scenario where the top 20 Indian broadcasters suffer a combined loss of $39 million, a possible way out is to reduce ad inventory to rationalise rates.

“TV broadcasters need to unify and consolidate to reduce ad inventory from the current average of 23 minutes per hour to help rationalise ad rates,” said UTV Software Communications CEO Ronnie Screwvala, while speaking at the fifth edition of Goafest 2010.
 
Elaborating further, Screwvala noted that an increasing number of channels, segmentation and fragmentation are pushing ad rates southward.

Star India CEO Uday Shankar also echoed the thought that broadcasters are hurting and the time had come to address several issues. “Though television ad revenues had gone up by 16 per cent in 2009 and some of the broadcasters such as the Zee group did report profits, the top 20 broadcasters incurred losses to the extent of around $39 million in the year,” he said.
 
The main causes are high cost of content (up by 40 per cent year-on-year in the case of GECs), personnel (up by 40-45 per cent) and carriage fees (up by 43 per cent).

Though the mobile and the television industry started around the same time, the former is now a $25 billion industry with around 500 million connections and 400 million users as opposed to the television sector which had a reach of about 520 million and revenues of just $2320 million, rued Shankar.

Both Screwvala and Shankar urged for a suitable measurement matrix that would go beyond households to other aspects such as innovation.

The panel discussion on “Time to grow the advertising pie” was moderated by Lintas Media Group chairman and CEO Lyn deSouza. 
 
Lodestar Universal CEO Sashi Sinha noted that CPT (cost per thousand) was one matrix that could be used across all media platforms. He also noted that there was scope for entry of more television channels, print magazines and multi-niche players in India.

The Times of India Group executive president (response) Bhaskar Das said that the print sector needed to innovate further to drive in ad revenues which stayed almost flat last year.
 

MUMBAI: Emami has roped in Virender Sehwag, Amit Mishra and Dinesh Karthik to endorse its Zandu Balm brand.
 
Under the contract signed, the three cricketers will play brand ambassadors for the product for two years. 
 
The company has roped in Genesis as its creative agency. A TVC, directed by ad man Prahlad Kakkar, will launched in June.
 

MUMBAI: ZAPP Media & Entertainment (ZME) has partnered with UK-based Grand Central Entertainment (GC) to launch an independent branded content division that will create branded shows for Indian audiences.

Under the agreement, GC, which has brand-funded programmes in the UK and Europe such as The Big Idea for Vodafone, Connect The World for Skype and GT Academy for Nissan, will provide its expertise to ZME to help offer fully developed content for marketers and advertisers. 
 
Says ZAPP Media & Entertainment co-founder Pradeep Prabhu, “We will use GC‘s expertise to create content that is engaging and entertaining for consumers and effective for marketers and advertisers. With GC, we will also move the industry beyond audience measurement and focus more effort on audience engagement. It is strategic marketing v/s tactical marketing. I am confident that our experience in the western markets will give branded content a different dimension in the Indian television industry.”

ZME is in talks with various broadcasters for developing branded content and initially plans to tap audiences through niche channels and the general entertainment route.
 
“The choice of content depends absolutely on what the brand‘s requirement is and its target audience. So depending on the requirement we will be developing the requisite formats and approaching the necessary broadcasters,” explains Prabhu.

The company is also working with various corporates to launch branded content shows on other interactive media platforms.

Says Grand Central Entertainment co-founder Rabin Mukerjea, “The old adage of ‘content is king‘ has never been more true or more important. In an increasingly fragmented, ad skipping, ‘surf-the-internet-whilst-watching-tv‘ universe of TV viewers. The advertisers that benefit most will be those that harness the power of content to engage this newly empowered public. 
 
“There is no media market as vibrant and entrepreneurial as India‘s is right now and through our partnership with ZAPP, we aim to work with forward-thinking brands, broadcasters, agencies and producers to create properties that represent the perfect storm of viewer entertainment, strategic engagement and media value,” Mukerjea adds.
 

MUMBAI: Kirtilal Kalidas Jewellers has awarded its creative and media duties to Chennai-based Fifth Estate Communications.
 
The account size is pegged at Rs 50 million.
 
While Grey Bangalore was the incumbent agency for the retail stores creative duties, Mindshare Chennai was handling the store‘s media duties.
 
Fifth Estate managing director Ganesh Baliga says, “We will be using multiple mediums to promote the brand. In addition to getting into television, we would be looking into getting into print in particular lifestyle magazines and direct to home marketing.”

MUMBAI: Reliance Media World‘s radio arm Big 92.7 FM has roped in Saurabh Doshi as regional head- west zone.

In his new capacity, Doshi will be responsible for the western markets of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra (except Mumbai) and will report to national business head Soumen Ghosh Choudhury.
 
This is Doshi‘s second stint with the company, the earlier one being from 2006-2008. He was part of the integral team that launched the Big FM stations across the country. 
 
Says Big 92.7 FM business head Soumen Ghosh Choudhury, “The West market is extremely exciting and challenging and Doshi‘s people management and business analytical skills will work excellently for the stations. I am confident that under his leadership, we will continue to offer excellent entertainment and comprehensive solutions that meet requirements of both listeners and clients, while taking the stations to newer heights.” 
 
Prior to this, Doshi was Reliance BIG TV DGM. Apart from this, Doshi has also been associated with companies such as Bank of America, Dun and Bradstreet.

MUMBAI: Bates 141 has appointed Sagar Mahableshwarkar as national creative director for the India and Bangladesh region.

Currently Rediffusion Y & R chief creative officer, Mahabaleshwarkar is serving his notice period.
 
At Bates 141, he will partner chairman and regional creative director Sonal Dabral and CEO Sandeep Pathak in furthering the creative agenda.

“It’s like coming back home. I have worked with Sonal before and happy to be in that place again. In both Dabral and Pathak, I found shared passion and vision to create great work and I am confident that it will be a successful partnership. Bates 141 has a good portfolio of clients, on which we can up the creative ante immediately,”says Mahableshwarkar.
 
Bates 141 chairman and regional creative director Dabral said, “Bates 141 is going through a renaissance right now. We are putting great work at the centre of everything we do. Mahabaleshwarkar’s passion and his hunger for great ideas will be critical in helping realise this vision.”
 
Mahableshwarkar started his career with Ogilvy and was with the agency for 16 years. He has worked on brands including Airtel, Tata Nano, Colgate, LG, Sleepwell, Taj, Kingfisher and SugarFree.

MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) has won the creative duties of IndusInd bank for this fiscal, replacing incumbent agency RK Swamy BBDO.

The Bank plans to spend close to Rs 400 million on advertising and other visibility initiatives in FY‘11.
 
Since the new management took charge 2 years ago, significant changes in the branding and image of the Bank has taken place. Now that growth is apace, the Bank intends to undertake a major change in its image so as to emerge as a young, energetic and responsive bank.

“The Bank has focused on its brand building program since last year. This financial year, the branding initiatives will gather momentum and we wanted some fresh thinking on the brand. I‘m extremely pleased to announce our association with Ogilvy & Mather and I‘m sure they will help us take our brand to newer heights,” says IndusInd Bank MD & CEO Romesh Sobti.
 
JWT, Rediffusion, Saatchi & Saatchi and Mudra are the other agencies that pitched for the account.

Says O&M India chairman Piyush Pandey, “We are really excited about working with IndusInd Bank and are all geared up to reposition the brand and do some path-breaking work. It will surely be a challenging task but we are all excited about the new mandate of transforming the Bank‘s image into young, dynamic and responsive brand.” 
 
The Bank has lined up a slew of branding activities in the coming year. Currently on air is the bank‘s advertising campaign. Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the three ad series talks about three service propositions of online payment, mobile alerts and ready2use savings account kit.

MUMBAI: Dhanlaxmi Bank has awarded its media duties to Mindshare. This is the first time the Bank has brought on board an agency to handle its media duties.

The account size is pegged at Rs 350 million.

Mindshare will be responsible for media planning, buying and media strategy across different mediums.
 
“We will launch a Kerala specific campaign in the next five days. Only conventional media that includes TV, radio and some cinema will be used for the Kerala campaign. Additionally, we will launch a nationwide campaign in June. This will include a 360 degree plan,” says Dhanlaxmi Bank marketing and communications head Sheran Mehra.
 
Mindshare won‘t be responsible for outdoor and activation. “The outdoor and activation side of the promotion will be allocated on a project basis,” adds Mehra.

Dhanlaxmi Bank had gone for a corporate makeover early this year. It shed its navy blue look and donned a purple look. Also, as part of the makeover, the Bank changed its spelling from Dhanalakshmi to Dhanlaxmi. It also appointed O&M as its advertising partner.
 
The Bank has opened 66 branches all over India in the financial year 2009-10.

MUMBAI: The shortlisted entries for the Creative Abby Awards at Goafest 2010 stand at 571.
 
The entries include works from 73 advertising agencies along with direct marketing, design, digital and film companies. 
 
Mudra Group has bagged the maximum nominations with its 95 entries shortlisted for the Creative Abbys followed by Ogilvy and Mather (80) and Publicis Communications (72). 
 
While JWT India has bagged 28 nominations, Leo Burnett, Rediffusion Y&R, TapRoot India and Creativeland Asia have pocketed 25, 24, 23 and 21 nominations respectively.

MUMBAI: OMD India has won the media duties of Cotton World and Hindustan Pencils which has popular brands including Apsara and Nataraj in its portfolio.
 
The account size of both the businesses put together is worth Rs 180 million, confirmed an OMD India official.
 
The agency handles accounts including Multi Screen Media, Parryware Roca and Danone.