Category: MAM

MUMBAI: From sunrise to sunset, with the many occasions taking place in between, the latest Young Asians survey by global market research firm Synovate shows the lives of Asia‘s youth revolve around their mobile phones. Personal ownership of mobiles has increased from 60 per cent in 2008 to 64 per cent in 2010 among this young population surveyed.

However, television continues to be the key medium for connecting with the youth in India – at 47 per cent, young Indians are the top group (compared to the regional average of 28 per cent) who cannot live without TV. Similarly, 58 per cent of the young Indians polled said they like spending time watching TV – once again the highest across Asia (regional average being 34 per cent).
 
 
This fifth Synovate Young Asians study provides an in-depth look at the lifestyles, habits, product ownership and media consumption of youth across Asia. Respondents ranged from eight to 24 years old across 11 markets in Asia, covering China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. A total sample of 12,302 youth was surveyed by face to face interviews and online method during Q2 of 2010.

Comments Synovate executive director – media research Steve Garton, “We are excited about the trends we‘re seeing in Young Asians. In conjunction with our research sponsors – Friendster, Microsoft Advertising and Yahoo! – we are uncovering the driving forces that influence Asia‘s youth.”

Compared to the rest of Asia, young Indians are the top for mobile phone ownership. Personal ownership of mobile phones among young Indians surveyed has increased from 28 per cent in 2008 to 37 per cent in 2010 while the Asia regional average is 18 per cent only.
 
 
The survey also showed that young Indians are displaying fatigue with TV adverts -55 per cent of young Indians 15-24 years would pay a higher subscription on their Pay TV to avoid the adverts (the highest in Asia). However, interestingly, they do a complete volte face when it comes to mobile phone advertising as 37 per cent won‘t mind receiving ads on their mobiles/ responding to adverts, as long as they are incentivised. This trait is the highest in the region after Vietnam (44 per cent), and the regional average is 29 per cent.

Garton said, “This shows the opportunities here and now for mobile marketing. Youth in Asia are looking to receive the latest information to wow their peers, so reaching them through mobile is the most immediate way to gain their attention.

“This year, we see that the mobile phone is simply inseparable from its owner. More youth across a number of Asia markets now own a mobile compared to 2008. With one in five (18 per cent) young Asians planning to use their mobile even more often, these findings show the great potential of this medium.”

Among Young Asians, young Indians emerge as the biggest sports buffs across Asia – at least 72 per cent of the youth polled rank sports as an integral part of their lives, displaying the highest incidence across Asia (against the regional average of 52 per cent).

India‘s youth continue to have their fixation with cricket as, understandably, cricket sensations Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have emerged as the top two favourite sports stars of young Indians. Sania Mirza who brought India onto the world stage due to her prowess in tennis, is placed at the third spot.

Trustworthy sources of information

78 per cent of young Indians rely on family and friends when seeking information. Though, Television emerges as the second most trusted source of information for at least 74 per cent of the young Indians surveyed (again the highest incidence observed across Asia). Interestingly, 67 per cent of the youth surveyed in India trust recommendations from TV programmes and, while in-store, 65 per cent of young Indians believe shelf information and product displays.

Says Synovate India MD Mick Gordon, “The Young Asians survey shows that young Indians like to make informed decisions, so while the primary dependence is on family and friends, the secondary sources are also important for trustworthy decisions like TV, in-store displays, etc.

Beyond communication, it‘s entertainment

Listening to music, playing games and taking photos are just some of the activities that youth turn to their mobile phone to offer. Among Asian youth who own a mobile phone, about half of those surveyed perform the above activities on their mobile. One in five (21per cent) also uses this device to record video.
 
 
In India, the most popular mobile phone activities over the past seven days were listening to music (59 per cent), SMS (58 per cent), taking pictures (51 per cent) and playing games (46 per cent).

Gordon comments, “The spontaneity and active lifestyles of youth means that mobiles are always helping them to live life to the fullest.”

Product ownership

63 per cent of the Indian youth households surveyed have DVD players, displaying the fixation with watching movies at home while the penetration of desktop computers was 42 per cent. Interestingly, digital camera ownership was significant at 24 per cent in the households of young Indians.

Browsing the internet a big draw among Young Indians

The top internet activity young Indians indulge in is searching for information using search engines – at least 62 per cent of the youth in India indicated this, which is the third highest group after Vietnam (75 per cent) and Korea (72 per cent) – Malaysia too was at 62 per cent.

Email was found to be the second most engaged internet activity among the Indian youth at 53 per cent. 42 per cent of the Indian youth polled listen to music online, found to be the third most popular activity.

Further, according to Young Asians 2010, more than one-third (37per cent) of Indian youth surveyed have made a download, while one in four (26 per cent) has played a game online in the past seven days.

MUMBAI: Ignitee Digital Solutions has bagged the social media campaign activities of Kaya Skin Clinic.

The campaign will involve a number of exciting applications that will help increase the level of consumer engagements and enhance Kaya Skin Clinic’s visibility in the social media space.
 
Said Kaya Skin Clinic Marketing Head Suvodeep Das, “We are happy to have Ignitee on board as our social media partner. Kaya has been an active player in the social media space and has successfully leveraged it to reach out to a large section of our target audience. I am confident that our association with Ignitee will help us further expand the scope of our activities in social media and help us engage with our customers better.”
 
Ignitee Digital Solutions Pvt Ltd COO Shankar commented, “Since our inception, we have always worked on campaigns that have added value to customers. It is this history that has helped us in gaining the trust of reputed names from the industry. We are certain that with the talent and minds back at Ignitee, we will see these wins increasing even furthermore.”

MUMBAI: The fifth season finale of Sony‘s flagship property Indian Idol has raised its bar to grab a fuller audience set than its fourth season.

According to Tam data for the week ended 21 August, the grand finale of the freshly-concluded and FremantleMedia India -produced Indian Idol-5 (Sunday 8 pm) has rated a TVR of 4 over 3.5 hours, quite above the fourth that had pocketed a mere TVR of 2.3.

The latest grand finale contributed 28.8 GRPs to the total channel grade, helping it earn an extra 12 point to end the week with a grade mark of 204. Also, along with its repeats, the contribution was 36 GRPs. 
 
Pertinent to note here is that while the first season grand finale had generated tremendous eyeballs (14.3 TVR) in 2005, the show had gradually lost audience interest in the second palpably owing to its format-familiarity. The second season finale generated 4.5 TVR while the third season finale did perform better with 5.08 TVR.

Additionally, the reality show‘s latest season average TVR (2.04 TVR) has also fared better than the previous (1.9 TVR). It has, however, remained lower in the performance rate when compared to the first three. The average TVR for season two was 3.3 and that of the third was 3.4 TVR.

Talking about the grand finale, Sony business head Ajit Thakur said, “The finale was a good ending to a very good season. The talent on the show was quality and the show by itself created a lot of buzz. Also, the last week build-up to the finale helped generate greater eyeballs.”
 
 
Adds FremantleMedia India MD SK Raj Barua, “Being our first production in India, we are happy with the ratings of Indian Idol 5. The show has done well because of its talent section and its performance will surely help us drive our other properties.”

Meanwhile, CID continues to remain the top fiction property for Sony, adding 65 GRPs to the channel grade. As far as the other shows are concerned, the second season of Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (Monday-Thursday 9.30 pm and Friday 9 pm) opened with 2.8 TVR on Monday. The show averaged 2.3 TVR in the launch week.

Comedy Circus Ke Superstar (Sat 9 pm from this week) is at 2.8 TVR (2.7 TVR); the weekday half-hour strip (Mon-Thu 10.30 pm) averaged 0.8 (0.9) TVR while the weekend 1 hour biweekly episodes (Fri-Sat 11 pm) averaged 0.8 TVR (0.7).

About the overall Hindi GEC pie, both Star Plus (369 GRPs) and Colors (316 GRPs) have registered growth maintaining their number one and two positions respectively. Star Plus has seen a 29 GRP growth over last week. The day parts that grew are weekend original events (15 GRPs) and weekday primetime (13 GRPs). 
 
Colors too has increased by 33 GRPs wherein the increase came in from weekend original (20 GRPs), week day primetime (6 GRPs), week day afternoon (3 GRPs) and weekend original events (8 GRPs).

However, both Colors and Star Plus have lost their numbers on movies misplacing 12 GRPs and 19 GRPs each.

Zee TV too, in its third spot, has upgraded its GRP mark from 231 points in the previous week to 245 points this week. The win for the channel is principally led by weekday prime (10 GRPs), weekday afternoon (3 GRPs), weekend original programming (3 GRPs) and, of course movies (14 GRPs), riding on the back of Love Aaj Kal (Sun 8 pm) that delivered 1.3 TVR.

Meanwhile, the channel genres which have grown this week are – Hindi GEC 1439 GRPs (1356 GRPs), Sports 83GRPs (66 GRPs), Marathi GEC 171GRPs (154 GRPs) and Hindi movies 469 GRPs (458 GRPS). The genre which has dropped is youth with 111 GRPs (113 GRPs).
 

MUMBAI: One-fifth of South African consumers have shopped online in the past six months, according to a recent survey conducted by global market research company Synovate. The most popular choices for online purchasing are movies and music downloads, cited by 44 per cent of respondents as a regularly purchased item.

Synovate surveyed 500 Internet users in the metropolitan areas of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.
 
 
Said Synovate Information Technology and Telecommunications sector head Alicia Gaddin, “With the advent of cheaper and faster Internet access in South Africa, Synovate investigated attitudes and perceptions around banking and shopping online as these activities have become easier for our consumers. However, having Internet access does not necessarily mean that customers will shop online. Convenience, variety and saving money are big push factors when it comes to online shopping.”

Of the fifth that do shop online, the main advantages of doing so were mostly around convenience – 43 per cent stated that it was more convenient than offline shopping and 33 per cent stated that they shop online because it is “always open”. Further benefits of online shopping include not having to endure a busy shopping environment or having to deal with salespeople (mentioned by 25 per cent and 22 per cent of respondents respectively). Another plus is that one can browse many items at once (18 per cent) and that it‘s easy to compare prices and items (16 per cent).
 
 
Aside from movie and music downloads, the top online purchases were books, travel, CDs and DVDs and mobile content. “Movie and music downloads, as well as mobile content and games are easy to buy online and also provide instant gratification compared to some of the other online purchases,” commented Gaddin. “Buying books, CDs and DVDs and even groceries all come with a waiting period while the goods are delivered.”

The good news for South Africa is that the majority (68%) of these purchases are made on local sites. World Wide Worx recently released a study revealing that the online shopping amount in rand value in 2010 comes to R2-billion and that there is evidence that consumers are becoming more familiar and comfortable with the process and are therefore spending more online.
 
 
“This is good news for South African retailers and does not necessarily mean that money is being taken away from the traditional (offline) business,” states Gaddin. “It offers an extra channel for distribution, one which is growing rapidly. The challenge for retailers now is to build upon their offering so as to increase the amount of local spend further.”
The overall experience of shopping online was rated as “good” or “excellent” by 85 per cent of respondents. This was broken down into convenience, security (shopping and goods), the amount and variety of goods online, as well as the quality of customer services and of course the ever-important cost factor.

Mallrats?
Of those who indicated that they do not shop online, 40 per cent stated that the reason for this is they enjoy going to shopping centers. Related to the experience of offline shopping, 24 per cent state that they like to browse in other shops and 23 per cent say they like to be able to touch or try on the items that they buy.

“In South Africa, going to shopping centers is still seen as leisure activity, or a day out,” commented Gaddin. “This is because of the fact that there are many brands and outlets that are being introduced to our market. For example, a high-end outlet such as Mango being introduced to the relatively ‘sophisticated‘ shopping market in Sandton. On the flipside there are some areas in South Africa where shopping malls are a brand new phenomenon – take Maponya Mall in Soweto for instance. For most South Africans the experience of shopping in a mall is still very exciting and offers variety that we did not see before.”

Other barriers to online shopping:
A third of respondents indicated that security risks acted as a barrier to online shopping – 24 per cent stated that they were worried that their goods would not be delivered. 18 per cent believed that the process is too difficult and 19 per cent claimed that they simply do not have a credit card to do so. “This is a public knowledge issue,” says Gaddin. “For many online sites you can pay with a debit card or even do an electronic transfer and so this should not be perceived as a barrier.”

Alternative payment options: PayPal
With FNB introducing PayPal into the South African market, Synovate spoke to respondents about awareness and perceptions of the newly introduced service in South Africa. 22 per cent of those interviewed know what PayPal is and of those, only 29 per cent have used this for making an online payment. An even smaller proportion has used PayPal to receive money, having sold something online. The majority (63 per cent) of those who had knowledge of the service agree with the sentiment that it is a safer option compared to giving out card details online and 33 per cent believe that this will encourage further online spending in South Africa.

Putting your money where your mouse is
Respondents were asked to comment on online banking as an alternative to banking in a branch – 44 per cent of those interviewed indicated that they bank online. The majority (35 per cent) bank at least once a week and the most popular online banking activities include checking account balances (88 per cent), paying bills (73 per cent), transferring funds into other accounts (63 per cent) and managing debit orders (36 per cent).

28 per cent of those interviewed go so far as to say that they would actually change banks based on what the bank‘s online offering is like. “Online banking is becoming more important to consumers as they realise the benefits of this service,” states Gaddin. “Making sure it is an easy or intuitive process is vital for banks that regard it as a differentiating factor for their brand.”

Customers were asked to rate the experience of banking online against a number of factors. The convenience of online banking was rated highest at 92 per cent, followed by ease and user-friendliness of the service (82 per cent).

Of those who do not bank online, 44 per cent say that there is ‘no need‘ to bank online whereas 36 per cent site ‘security‘ as a reason not to. A quarter say that online banking is too difficult and 32 per cent agree that they would be encouraged to bank online if they received ‘training‘ on the service while 23 per cent stated that online banking might be an option for them if it involved ‘rewards and or bonuses‘. “The loyalty model is becoming a pull factor for a lot of businesses in financial services in their aim to attract new customers. This might easily and successfully be applied to the online business world too,” concludes Gaddin.

Cellphone banking is slightly more popular than Internet banking with 47 per cent of the full sample stating that they are users of cell phone banking. 42 per cent of those who do not use it say they would consider using it in the future.

MUMBAI: MTV Networks Africa will be organising the 2010 MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) in Lagos, Nigeria on 11 December.

Airtel has come as the title sponsor of the awards, following its purchase of Zain Africa’s business operations earlier this year. The sponsorship was announced by Airtel Africa CMO Andre Beyers and MTV Networks Africa SVP and MD Alex Okosi.

The 2010 MTV Africa Music Awards will feature performances from contemporary African and international music giants. Artists from around the continent will be awarded in 12 award categories including: best male, best female, best video, best group, artist of the year, best lusophone act, best anglophone act, best francophone act, song of the year, brand new act, best international act and MAMA Legend. 
 
MTV said that sponsorship of the MAMA will provide Airtel with unique brand exposure across multiple platforms including live event activations across the continent. A key component of the partnership will be the development of exclusive mobile and data content for the Airtel subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa including wallpapers and various downloads.

The campaign will also be fully activated in the digital space with a bespoke mobisite and a dynamic website. Multiple SMS voting and interactive mechanics will be integrated into the campaign, to provide Airtel customers with unique access to the MAMA initiative. 
 
Okosi said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Airtel to bring the Awards to Lagos for the first time and look forward to delivering the most exciting MAMA yet on 11 December.”

Beyers added, “Airtel is proud to be at the forefront in nurturing talent in Africa and connecting the passions of millions of youth across the continent through music. Our support for the MAMA awards is founded on our commitment to empower the youth through initiatives that will help Africa to identify and celebrate talent.”

Conceived in 2008 as the ultimate celebration of African contemporary music talent, the MTV Africa Music Awards provides a promotional platform for the African music industry.

The awards celebrate contemporary African and international genres loved by the youth and young adults across sub-Saharan Africa including Hip Hop, Hip Life, R&B, Afro Pop, Afro House, Kwaito, Boomba, Bongo Flava, Coupé Décalé, Dancehall, Soul and Rock.
 
The inaugural MAMA was held at the Velodrome, Abuja in 2008, while October 2009 saw the awards move to Nairobi, Kenya, with performances from 2Face (Nigeria), Amani (Kenya), AY (Tanzania), Blu3 (Uganda), Brickz (South Africa), Da LES (South Africa), D’Banj (Nigeria), Fally Ipupa (DRC), HHP (South Africa), Lizha James (Mozambique), MI (Nigeria), Mo’ Hits Allstars (Nigeria), Nameless (Kenya), Pype (Nigeria), Samini (Ghana), STL (Kenya), Lira (South Africa), Wahu (Kenya) and Zebra & Giraffe (South Africa), alongside international stars Wyclef Jean and Akon.

Past winners included 2-FACE (Nigeria), Nameless (Kenya), Samini (Ghana), Wahu (Kenya), HHP (South Africa), D’Banj (Nigeria) and Patricke-Stevie Moungondo (Congo Brazzaville).

MUMBAI: Mudra South (Kochi) has released a new campaign for Jos Alukkas, titled ‘Ponnil Teertha Bandham‘ (Relationships as Good as Gold) as the key message to mark its new identity.
South superstar Vijay has been roped in as the brand ambassador to unveil the brand‘s new avatar and help spread the message. 
 
Said Jos Alukkas MD John Alukka, “With our expansion plans in the anvil it had become necessary for us to carve a unique niche in the minds of our customers. Our decision to rope in Vijay as our brand ambassador was part of this plan. And Mudra was our clear choice when it came to deciding on a partner who would help us carry out the same.”
 
Added Mudra South ECD Joono Simon, “Whether selling jewelry or a mobile service, emotion helps brands find place first in your heart and then in your head. The attempt was to give this spot a feature film quality in terms of story line and treatment. We wanted to give Vijay fans the joy of watching Vijay in a full scale movie. Manoj Pillai from thinkpot productions deserves credit for the flawless execution.”

Jos Alukkas is one of the largest organised players in jewellery retailing in the South region. They currently have 19 large retail stores across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and the Middle East.

MUMBAI: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has signed Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif as its new brand ambassador.

The airlines said that it will work with Kaif on a series of initiatives to promote the airline across India and around the world, including addressing Indian communities in Etihad Airways’ key markets such as the UAE, the United States and the United Kingdom.
 
Etihad recently filmed an internet video with Kaif dancing in the airline’s first class lounge in Abu Dhabi, under the direction of Farah Khan. The video, which has been distributed online across YouTube and various social networking sites, will be used to promote the partnership between the actress and Etihad Airways throughout the campaign. 
 
“Since they first started flying, Etihad Airways has succeeded in becoming one of the biggest names in the airline industry. I have always loved flying with Etihad and I am extremely honoured to work closely with the airline,” Kaif said.
 
Etihad Airways chief commercial officer Peter Baumgartner said, “Our partnership with Katrina Kaif will help build Etihad’s brand name globally and further introduce our world-class products and services across India and to Indian communities around the world.”
 

NEW DELHI: A total of 44 advertisements were issued to audio-visual media as compared to 5,404 issued to the print media by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) in 2010-11 as on 12 August.
 
The DAVP now issues advertisements to 203 audio-visual media and 4648 print publications.
 
The number of advertisements issued to the electronic media during the last four years is: 94 in 2007-08, 184 in 2008-09, and 325 in 2009-10.
 
In comparison, the print media received 15,979 ads in 2007-08, 13,077 ads in 2008-09, and 13,829 ads in 2009-10.

The business of DAVP, which issues advertisements of various Ministries/Developments of the Central Government, has increased over 200 per cent in the last five years.

The amount spent by DAVP in 2006-07 on advertisements was Rs 2.46 billion, which rose to Rs 4.72 billion in 2008-09 and was Rs 3.69 billion as on 9 December last year.

MUMBAI: Interactiveblends, the recently launched advertising agency, is eyeing to generate revenue worth Rs 2.5 million by March 2011.

The six-month-old agency currently has accounts in the real estate and mobile category and is looking at expanding to FMCG and retail soon. 
 
Says Interactiveblends creative director Pooja Kar, “Presently, a major chunk of our revenue comes from our real estate clients including Artha Property. Now as we pitch for more clients, we are looking at expanding our portfolio to retail and FMCG.” 
 
Interactiveblends, promoted by client services director Amit Gandhi and creative director Pooja Kar, has also worked with MGM group of companies and icube mobiles.
 
Talking about the agency specialisation, Kar informs, “We are into events, advertisement releases and production. And we also do in film branding for various clients.”

MUMBAI: The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is introducing a new set of advertising guidelines for the educational sector to curb the influence of misleading ads on parents and kids.

The new advertising content guidelines will apply to ads of all educational institutions, coaching classes and educational programmes.

The draft of the guidelines has been put up for review, feedback and suggestions on ASCI‘s official website, ascionline.org.

Educational institutes are emerging as one of the leading ad spenders in India and, in order to stand out, are boldly announcing that they ‘breed‘ the best students while some even go to the extent of guaranteeing fat salary packages post their degrees.

According to Tam AdEx, TV advertising of ‘education‘ sector is up 51 per cent during the six-month run through June compared to the year-ago period.

Within the category, educational institutions with 78 per cent share lead the advertising of ‘education‘ sector on TV, followed by computer education centre and coaching centre/competitive exams at second and third place with nine per cent and seven per cent share respectively.

Disturbed by the ‘bad‘ influence of these ads, the ASCI has called its members, educationists, institutions and the general public to send in their suggestions and feedback on the proposed guidelines by 6 September, 2010 to The Secretary General of ASCI.
 
 
Says IBS Pune director and ASCI chairman Prof Dhananjay Keskar, “ASCI recognises the role of educational institutions in building the country‘s intellectual capital and the value parents place in them for getting the right education for their children. Unlike other tangible products and services, the value of education and training programmes can only be judged by degrees and diplomas, which are advertised in a variety of ways. ASCI realises that a variety of these claims in advertisements need to be regulated through a set of guidelines tailor-made for the education sector.”
 
The proposed advertising guidelines for educational institutions prohibit institutions and programmes from claiming recognition, authorisation, accreditation, or affiliations without having proper evidence. The proposed guidelines also require that name and place of the affiliated institution which provides degrees and diplomas on behalf of the advertiser who may not be accredited by a mandatory authority, is also prominently displayed in the ad.

Under the proposed guidelines, educational institutions will not be able to promise jobs, admissions, job promotions and salary increase without substantiating such claims and also assuming full responsibility in the same advertisement.

Institutions will also be discouraged from claiming success in placements, student compensations, admission to renowned institutes, marks and rankings, and topper student testimonials unless every such claim is substantiated with evidence.
 
 
“Recently, ASCI has been receiving several intra-industry complaints against claims being made in ads of various educational institutions. Many students and parents too have complained to ASCI against claims made in advertisements by educational institutions,” adds Prof. Keskar.

After 6 September and based on the feedback received from the public and concerned stakeholders, the ASCI Committee will finalise the guidelines and put it up for ASCI board‘s approval. Once the board approves the final draft, the guidelines will become a part of the ASCI‘s Code for self regulation in advertising.

Notably, the subject of advertising in educational sector was discussed in the recently held ASCI‘s ‘Seminar on Marketing Responsibly‘. A panel of professionals and educationists had underlined the need for special guidelines for regulating advertising in the education sector in India along the lines of Self Regulatory Organisations (SRO) around the world such as in South Africa and Brazil.

In the recent past, ASCI had put out specific guidelines for advertisements in automobile and food & beverage sectors.