MAM

Indian marketing pundits dwell over changed paradigm

Published

19 years ago

February 20, 2007

NEW DELHI: Business modules and branding experts need some serious stock taking if business has to be conducted in the changed environment of today, when consumer democracy via the Internet and blogs, along with a huge range of choices, has radically changed the paradigm within which business is still being conducted.

This was one of the key points at the first ever Indian Marketing Summit that opened here today. Along with that, Indian media needs to take stock also of how much knowledge is being created in this field in India.

The session started with Dr S Neelamegham saying that Indian media is already getting into its own model and not aping the west. He pointed out that in the products market, out of all the brands available, the top 20 belong to Indian companies and along with some brands that belong to the Indian MNCs, the major share of the brands market in India is of local origin.

But he pointed out that India and China are both “growing younger” compared to the US or Europe, and their attitudes are changing and marketers need to understand that. “Studying the young purchasers’ attitudes, and also regional and regional variations is a must,” Dr Neelamegham said.

He gave the example of Coca Cola being able to make a real dent into the Indian market, especially rural market, from the moment it went desi: “Thanda matlab Coca Cola”. He said rural markets are not a problem, so long as the companies understand the needs of the intelligent rural buyer, just as Pepsi went to villages the moment they reduced the price by decreasing the size and changing the shape of the bottle, he argued.

Dr Neelamegham, however, pointed to one bane of the media here: the companies have done a lot of heir own research and changed and adapted their strategies, but do not share their experiences to be made into research papers that can become case studies.

Dr Sharad Sarin from XLRI, didn’t quite agree with Dr Neelamegham, pointing out that while Indian media is rich in context, it is poor in concept, and that there was nothing unique being offered by the country in terms of original research that could be quoted globally.

Dr Sarin said that US influence is ubiquitous and that it is and will remain the foremost global knowledge powerhouse, and the rest of the world will be a borrower.

On a more positive note, Dr Sarin said: “Indian companies have a tremendous capacity of managing their own affairs successfully, something that a 100 Bill Gates perhaps would not be able to do, given the mind-boggling diversity in the country and the corruption. But then, lets bring out what they have done and how they have done this.” Sarin concluded by calling for developing an inventory bank of all of Indian intellectual property.

In the post-lunch session, on “Brand contact points multiplying geometrically: are brands keeping pace, Santosh Desai, till recently McCann Erickson India’s president and now slated to join as marketing head of Pantaloons, talked about whether with the tremendous proliferation of contact points, should we try and address all of them?

Desai basically held that the proliferation of contact points of touch points (newspaper ads of yore, TV, Internet, mobile phones, and so forth) has not changed the basics. “They have merely increased the bandwidth of possibilities. But that has not changed anything fundamental.

He criticised the approach of brand managers for treating customers as an entity distinct from the brand, and treating the brand as real estate that belonged to the companies.

“Brand and life have got separated. Brand managers hate conversation, in fact, they hate people. They are scared to talk, which is why they use surveyors as an intermediary between themselves and the people.”

But those practices would have to change, he averred, especially in the age of Internet and blogs, which have given tremendous democracy, real democracy, not the notional political democracy of voting once in five years, Desai said.

There has been the paradigm shift because of two developments: the emergence of the trained customer and the plethora of new public platforms of conversation. “With that, the difference of the two worlds, brands and people, have been eradicated. This is the age of democracy of desire, the world of transient pleasures. There is the new democratic relationship, with a community of shared interests aligned around axis of interests of individuals.”

In this changed environ, Desai said brands have to promote conversation, even with the rabidly critical segments, and stop fearing criticism. Brands have become organic parts of society, and “They have to listen visibly,” he suggested.

Dr Amitabha Chattopaddhyay L’Oreal Chaired Professor of Marketing Innovation and Creativity, from INSEAD, France, talked about the problem of minimising costs and yet, finding out indexes for expenditure-benefit ratio.

What marketers are doing is counting the CPM, or cost (of a particular promotional activity) per million persons. “But this assumes that all contacts are equal,” He critiqued and said talked of the ‘fragmented manner of functioning of brands’.

Not only has the contact landscape changed, but the people have also changed. This is the new customer, with whom the old rule-of-thumb does not works as a strategy.

Those marketing exercises survive that are informative, attractive and credible, Chattopaddhyay stated.

“What drives the market is the consumer’s brand perception driven by marketing activities. Certain brands own certain contacts,” he held, adding that today, the customer has t be asked how he would like to be reached.

Chattopaddhyay spoke of the formula of Brand Experience Point, which gives the ‘share of voice’. Stating that there is a high correlation between this Brand Experience Share, BES and market share.

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Brands

Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

2 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

2 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

MAM

Washington Post CEO exits abruptly after newsroom cuts spark backlash

Leadership change follows layoffs, protests and a bruising battle over trust.

Published

2 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When the presses are rolling but patience runs out, even the editor’s chair isn’t safe. The Washington Post announced on Saturday that its chief executive and publisher Will Lewis is stepping down with immediate effect, bringing a sudden end to a turbulent two-year tenure marked by financial strain, newsroom unrest and public backlash.

Lewis’s exit comes just days after the Bezos-owned newspaper announced sweeping job cuts that triggered protests outside its Washington headquarters and a wave of anger from readers and staff. While newspapers across the US are grappling with shrinking revenues and digital disruption, Lewis’s leadership had increasingly come under fire for how those pressures were handled.

The Post confirmed that Jeff D’Onofrio, a former Tumblr CEO who joined the organisation last year as chief financial officer, has taken over as CEO and publisher, effective immediately. In an email to staff, later shared by reporters on social media, Lewis said it was “the right time for me to step aside.”

The leadership change follows the announcement of large-scale redundancies earlier this week. While the Post did not officially confirm numbers, The New York Times reported that around 300 of the paper’s roughly 800 journalists were laid off. Entire teams were dismantled, including the Post’s Middle East bureau and its Kyiv-based correspondent covering the war in Ukraine.

Sports, graphics and local reporting were sharply reduced, and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended. On Thursday, hundreds of journalists and supporters gathered outside the Post’s downtown office in protest, calling the cuts a blow to public-interest journalism.

Former executive editor Marty Baron described the moment as “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations.”

Lewis defended his record in his farewell note, saying “difficult decisions” were taken to secure the paper’s long-term future and protect its ability to publish “high-quality nonpartisan news”. But his tenure coincided with growing scrutiny of editorial independence at the Post.

Owner Jeff Bezos faced criticism for reining in the paper’s traditionally liberal editorial page and blocking an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 US election. The move was widely seen as breaking the long-standing firewall between ownership and editorial decision-making.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, around 250,000 digital subscribers cancelled their subscriptions after the paper declined to endorse Harris. The Post reportedly lost about $100 million in 2024 as advertising and subscription revenues slid.

While the wider newspaper industry continues to battle declining print advertising and the pull of social media, some national titles have stabilised. Rivals such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have managed to build sustainable digital businesses, a turnaround that has so far eluded the Post despite its billionaire backing.

As Jeff D’Onofrio steps into the role, the challenge is stark, restore confidence inside the newsroom, win back readers who walked away, and prove that one of America’s most storied newspapers can still find its footing in a brutally competitive media landscape.