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Tag: Andre Nair

  • Industry bids farewell to Andre Nair

    MUMBAI: It was a farewell to remember for Andre Nair – outgoing chief of Group M in India. The heavyweights of the industry were there to wish him luck on the eve of his departure to Singapore where he will be taking charge of Mediaedge:cia Asia Pacific as its chairman and CEO.

    They all turned up….

     
     

    Peter Mukerjea & Harish Thawani Star India big daddy Peter Mukerjea and wife Indrani, SET India bossman Kunal Dasgupta, MTV head honcho Alex Kuruvilla, NDTV Media’s Raj Nayak, Chitralekha’s Bharat Kapadia, JWT India’s Mike Khanna, O&M’s Ranjan and Jimmy Kapur and Piyush Pandey, HLL group media manager (Central Asia) B Venkataramanan, Mediaturf’s V Ramani,

    Mike Khanna & Nair saying their goodbyes Nimbus’ Harish Thawani, Zee TV’s new CEO Pradeep Guha, Discovery’s Deepak Shourie, IMRB’s Hemant Mehta, TAM’s LV Krishnan, Lodestar Media AsiaPac head Shashi Sinha, columnist Shobhaa De, HSBC marketing boss Sangeeta Pendurkar and Media Direction head Sandeep Tarkas, as also Sony’s Albert Almeida and Rohit Gupta.
     
     
    And yes Nair’s team were there in full strength: CEO Ashutosh Srivastava, Vikram Sakhuja, CVL Srinivas, M Suku, LS Krishnan… the list goes on.

    Andre Nair, Ashutosh Srivastava and Vikram Sakhuja with the cops
    The highlight of the evening was, of course, Nair’s quick silver dancing on the floor. He even got Mike Khanna to do a jig with him, apart from getting close with his wife Aubrey. The pony tailed Mensa member actually donned an MTV Bakra cap for a large part of the evening. The cap came courtesy his being made a ‘bakra’ by Sakhuja and Srivastava, when he was accosted by two police men who came up to The Rampart Row in Mumbai’s plush Colaba area, with one mission – stop the evening and arrest Nair.

     
     

    “Three Cheers!!!” Nair along with Ashutosh Srivastava
    The fun went on for more than 20 minutes and the cops, Sakhuja and Srivastava were seen frantically trying to reach people on their phones, while Nair sweat it out in the middle surrounded by two cops, one with a ‘lathi’ in his hand.

     

     

    Nair with wife Aubrey
    They called off the action and had a good laugh as Aubrey looked concerned and told the team to call of the gag. Nair took it pretty sportingly and donned the cap.

    The party rocked as it went on till the wee hours of the morning. Nair for one, is not going to forget his India innings any time soon.

  • ‘A few media agencies in the fray are in this desperate volume building at any cost game’ : Andre Nair – Mediaedge:cia Asia Pacific chairman and CEO

    ‘A few media agencies in the fray are in this desperate volume building at any cost game’ : Andre Nair – Mediaedge:cia Asia Pacific chairman and CEO

    For Andre Nair, chairman and CEO of Mediaedge:cia Asia Pacific, it is time to pack his bags. After three more than successful years at the helm of GroupM in India, Nair’s last working day in India will be 14 January, after which he heads out to Singapore, where he will be based. This is not to say that Nair is severing all links to India. He continues to retain overall responsibility for GroupM in India, as too Mediaedge:CIA India – which resides within GroupM but operates independently.

    As a parting shot to the media frat as it were, Nair offers indiantelevision.com a glimpse of his three years as head of the country’s most powerful by far media independent and his take on the media business.

    In this, the first of a two-part interview, get a load of Nairspeak on what’s good, bad, and ugly about the media business in India, both on the client side and as regards rival agencies.

    You’re all set to head out to a new challenge. Looking back over the last three years, what have been the highs of heading WPP’s media agencies in India?
    The first high for me personally was coming to India. To live and work here was an exciting prospect. Second was launching the group company and the individual operating companies of MindShare & Maximize (now Maxus) within three months of getting the remit to do it.

    The third high, which stretches into the fourth, was that within the first three months of official launch we won nine new business pitches. Carrying that forward into end-2002 we had 53 business wins and no losses as far as existing clients moving out. Over the last three years we’ve won over 190 new pieces of business.

    On the manpower front we had two great hires in Vikram Sakhuja (Mindshare Fulcrum) and M Sukumurthy (Broadmind). And CVL Srinivasan in end 2003. Also, empowering our senior managers. Having P&L responsibility to manage their own units was a big thing for them.

    There are some common threads that run through all this: new business, growth of individuals, hiring of great talent, launching of new business units and companies. We launched Mediaedge:cia in May.

    Finally, being recognized over the course of three years for the work we’ve done which is reflected in the number of external and internal regional and Indian media awards we’ve won. The highlights of which were winning the annual Asia Pacific Media Magazine “Office of the year” in 2002 and EMVIES “Media Agency of the year” 2003.

    And the lows? Keeping aside businesses that you failed to win.
    Losing some good people, some pitches and some clients. And of course, leaving India.

    When you came here, one of your primary responsibilities was to manage the smooth integration of HTA Media, O&M Media and Contract Media into GroupM. The common assumption is that if you hadn’t been there, there would have been a turf fight among senior executives. Could that be termed as one of your key successes? As in managing the transition in such a smooth and seamless fashion?
    To be fair to everybody, that wasn’t just me. It was a number of us working together. It was a real team effort with the senior managers of the company. And yes, a testimony to the success of that effort was that 99 per cent of the staff stayed with us and 100 per cent of our clients stayed on.

    So what is your take on the media scene in India today? What’s the biggest problem that the industry is confronting?
    Looking at the downside, it’s this continual erosion of remuneration. A lot of silliness goes on today, both with clients and other agencies in the business.

    Two, as an industry we’ve never really got to grips with training our people. I still fear for the brain drain of media folk to other industries. And even if they are in the same industry, leaving India, so the rest of Asia gets the benefit of our talent.

    When you say the continual erosion of remuneration, doesn’t that boil down to the big issue among all the media agencies, which is margins?
    Not margins, remuneration, which is what ultimately affects profitability. It’s not a question of margins of 20 Vs 10 Vs 5 Vs 1.

    Some clients seem not to realize that there is a cost of doing business. And cost of business, particularly in our industry, in a large way goes to staffing quality people.

    Some of them are single mindedly working to cut the remuneration down so that it is not a question anymore of margins; it’s a question of trying to break even or preventing going into loss.
    “Some clients seem not to realize that there is a cost of doing business. And cost of business, particularly in our industry, in a large way goes to staffing quality people“

    If everybody is aware that the problem is eroding remuneration as you term it, why isn’t the industry collectively working together to raise the bar?
    Exactly, but that’s not happening. We would be the first to support any moves in this direction.

    But one criticism that Group M in particular seems to constantly have thrown in its face is that they were the leaders and they started the whole two-and-half per cent game.
    We DID NOT start the two-and-half per cent game nor are we a ‘discount shop’.

    The creative agencies started this game prior to the coming of age of media agencies, by getting the AAAI to prescribe the breakup of media as 2.5 per cent out of 15 per cent, and since they never invested in building their media product, the market saw no reason to disturb this remuneration structure. We have been fighting this from the day we started, and there are clients who are now seeing the greater value we bring and beginning to remunerate differently.

    We do not go out and charge the two-and-half per cent every which way. What we do is we say to clients, ‘If you want this scope of work it’s X per cent, if you want more then it’s plus X per cent.’ So remuneration is scaled up or down according to the scope of work.

    We work with clients in a range of commission levels. But today more than half our business, close to 60 per cent in fact, is fee remuneration and fees are based on scope of work with incentive upsides based on performance evaluations. Ultimately fees are the fairest system of all because a client gets what they pay for.

    If there is that kind of clarity in terms of what you bill, then it’s a take or leave, so what’s the problem?
    The point is that ultimately, because we’re market leaders, everybody shoots at us. But there are a number of our competitors who are the worst offenders of this. I know of agencies that have gone down below 1 per cent. I don’t know how they run their business, but that’s not my call anyway.

    The problem is that apart from us, Carat and Madison, there are no other independent media agencies in India. All the rest are full service agencies with branded (and subsidised) media departments calling themselves media agencies. And these agencies, in order to compete with the media agencies, give away media free, or try and value them at 2% and less in pitches – as they are anyway working on creative at 5-7.5% and have no investment worth talking about, in their media product. Obviously many clients see through this, but there’s always the temptation to use these benchmarks to negotiate remuneration with the real media agencies. And what complicates the scenario further is that the few other media agencies in the fray are in this desperate volume building game at any cost, and are accepting business at 2.5% and less, and not too bothered about profitability at this point in time.

    You talk of eroding remuneration but all the big agencies, whether yours, Madison, Rediffusion DY&R and the like have had a stellar year, clocking 15+ per cent profit growth. Which takes me back to my previous point – if there is clarity in terms of what you bill, where’s the problem? And your top and bottom lines also reflect that.
    Yes we did grow although I don’t know where you get your numbers from. But that’s not the issue. Just because we grew doesn’t mean that we start giving away cut price remuneration. Aren’t we allowed to charge appropriate compensation and make a reasonable profit like all other businesses? You don’t hear anyone questioning the profit margins of Reliance.

    We should be remunerated appropriately for each of the clients we work for. We don’t want to get into a situation of where profitable clients subsidise other clients – that’s just not fair or healthy.

    “We work with clients in a range of commission levels. But today close to 60 per cent of our business is fee remuneration and fees are based on scope of work with incentive upsides based on performance evaluations“

    One offshoot of the size that is Group M today is the number of oftentimes big daddy clients that you service. Now take cricket on TV for instance, how do you manage competing demands from similar category clients having similar requirements for what is a finite inventory availability?
    Their requirements will be quite different. The fact of the matter is that we purchase 70 per cent of all cricket inventory out there. That is a function of the requirements of some of the clients we have. Ultimately, if there is that one thing that two clients want, it is the initiative and the speed of the individual teams that will decide.

    But that is the end of the process. The beginning is that we will get the inventory because we have such large requirements. We get it at a price that is better.

    Is it always better?
    Guaranteed. We wouldn’t purchase it otherwise.

    Staying with the cricket example, and I believe this can be extended to other genres as well. Would not the very size of your cricket requirement make it an inverse monopoly kind of situation? Wherein you cannot walk away from it even if you do not agree on the price?
    Ultimately we have to advise our clients what is an appropriate price to purchase or not purchase. Yes, we leverage our size. But should it come to an instance where the price is not reasonable for us, that is what we advise the clients. Ultimately it is their decision but based upon our advice.

    Coming back to the original question (of managing clients wanting the same thing), in all the instances that we’ve gone through, it has never happened that two clients both have exactly the same requirement. And if you’re looking at cricket, it is also because of the sheer amount of inventory that has increased substantially from 2002 to 2004 moving into 2005.

    There’s enough inventory out there for agencies to purchase.

    Looking at trends in the business, one common strategy among all media companies today is the increasing importance given to BTL activities – direct mail, market research, public relations, promotional events, Internet Marketing. What has been the growth in BTL as opposed to the traditional prints and TV buys?
    Well, I would not call them below the line activities; I would call them non conventional or non traditional media, which encompasses a whole host of other things outside of what you’ve mentioned as well.

    Ok, nonconventional media. If one were to look at growth, how does it stack up today? Globally as well as in India?
    I can’t give you any real numbers. One, because the sheer variety of what goes under nonconventional is so broad that it’s not actually captured by most measurement systems for a start.

    Some of them are very fast growing. Event management for instance. Internet, outside of India is growing at a much faster pace. But I think if you look at where Japan is today in its media mix, it can give some indication of the potential nonconventional media holds. 30 per cent of advertising money spent in Japan goes into things other than TV, print, radio, outdoors and Internet.

    And now of course there is wireless. Does wireless have the potential to overtake all the others do you think?
    Potentially yes. Though I believe it is used much more effectively globally than it is in India. One reason could be that people here are just too TV oriented, too conventional media focused. Secondly I think that many people just don’t understand the technology and therefore the potential that goes with using this kind of media. Thirdly, some people could be looking at numbers and saying there aren’t enough mobiles to compete with television.
  • Production houses feel the CAS crunch

    Production houses feel the CAS crunch

    Makers of software for the television industry will be among those to be hit by reduced budgets and a demand for more quality programming once CAS sets in. Indiantelevision.com talks to production houses across the country to gauge the mood in the fraternity.

    Caught in the crossfire between the cable industry and the broadcasters‘ fraternity over the conditional access issue is that curious tribe that provides nearly all the software needed to glue the viewers to the telly – the production houses. With less than 50 days between now and the proposed implementation of CAS, apprehension, confusion and chaos among the software makers is escalating. One sentiment overrules all others – that of being the losers in the game, at least in the short term, as budgets stand poised for a nosedive.


    Star India COO Sameer Nair

    Star India COO Sameer Nair recently told indiantelevision.com that “The TRP game will go out of the window post-CAS. If viewership goes down on account of chaos and confusion all around, then we will obviously stop and consider our decision to spend so much money on a particular show. Why should I buy an expensive movie if nobody is going to see it?”

    Needless to say, production houses are going to need to feel the heat of slashed budgets and tighter controls from broadcasters. WPP Marketing Communications CEO South Asia Andre Nair was equally vocal when speaking to indiantelevision.com recently when he said, “I think that production houses are in general overpaid.”

    Production houses are thus wary of the impending doom which will invariably have an adverse effect on their business. “CAS will give the channel another means of putting pressure on production houses. Now to stand out in CAS, you will need to be specifically chosen by the viewer. So, obviously it is only the best – in terms of quality and production that will be chosen, so one cannot compromise on standards already set,” says InHouse Productions CEO Uday Sinhwala.


    Aditya Singh: That it is finally happening is hitting us now.

    But for Sinhwala and others, CAS means big trouble more than anything else in the short term. “CAS is a black hole. There is no clarity whatsoever. Who is going to control it? How is it going to be implemented? Who is investing in the set top boxes? Is it going to be a centralised technique? These are some of the many questions which are yet to be answered,” laments Sinhwala.

    Aditya Singh of Contiloe Films is equally vocal. “There have been talks about CAS but the fact that it is finally happening is hitting us now. Every action has a reaction. In my view, since everything is so sudden the aftereffects are bound to be drastic. As a production house, we will be following the wait-and-watch procedure as we did not have much time to mull over it and chalk out a strategy. Although the implementation is early and should have been thought over thoroughly, nevertheless it is a step in the right direction. The cable operators had been holding both the channels and the viewers to ransom for quite some time now.”


    Ektaa Kapoor

    Meanwhile Ektaa Kapoor, creative head of the production house which has most of its soaps scaling high on the TRP-Balaji Telefilms, also opines that though CAS is drastic step it opens a lot of possibilities. According to her, CAS should be first tried and tested in one city, then gradually moved on to more cities, and so on. There should be a scheme implemented wherein no subscriber pays more than Rs 150 a month.

    Kapoor also add that the production houses are unlikely to suffer as the channels will pay if they want quality stuff and therefore decent quota of advertisers. The production houses otherwise might just opt for Sahara or Doordarshan.


    Producer Vipul A Shah

    Shobhna Desai Productions Story & Creative head Vipul Amrutlal Shah says, “Everybody has been kept in the dark as far as CAS is concerned. It is going to have an adverse effect on the channels and consequently on production houses as well. The government should reconsider its decision to implement CAS in all four metros at one go, instead it could be done in a phased manner city by city. CAS will kill ad revenues which comes from these four metros and this will damage the backbone of the industry. It is not a happy situation to work in. Lots of peoples‘ hopes and careers‘ are at stake here.”

    Although Shah does not admit it, sources say that one of his serials Lakeerein which was supposed to have gone on air by now, has been kept on hold by Star Plus, as the channel is waiting to see how CAS unfolds.


    UTV COO, TV content, Manish Popat

    With most of the production houses having no other option but to wait and watch, UTV COO, TV content, Manish Popat presents an alternative viewpoint “We are watching the developments and are talking to our customers and our affiliates too. Everyone is aware of the short term challenges that CAS could throw up if it is not rolled out in a pragmatic manner. But, the fact remains that everyone is in favour of CAS and its implementation. Depending on how the the CAS roll out unfolds, I think everyone knows the mid and long term gains of the post CAS era. There might be some short term pain or cost for this long term gains.”

    Commenting on the effect that CAS could have on the production values and quality of the serials/soaps, Popat says that, “Broadcasters in a post CAS era will be more and more conscious that only great programming will get customers to ask and pay for their bouquet. There will lead to a pronounced need for “tentpole” programming – where there will be more of a pursuit for those two or five programmes that will set the channel apart; or where consumers are willing to pay for that “particular” channel. There will be only a greater demand for better programming post CAS.”


    BAG Films‘ CMD Anurradha Prasad

    Agrees BAG Films‘ CMD Anurradha Prasad. “CAS is certainly good for the industry, but in the short term it would have telling effects on private producers whose margins are likely to get squeezed by at least 15 per cent straight-away. Though no formal communication has yet come from broadcasters like Star, for which we do programming, informally it has been conveyed to us that post-CAS the commissioning rates would fall.”

    “At present, we do programming for Star, Sahara Manoranjan and Doordarshan (Rozana, a news and current affairs programming under the sponsored slot on DD2) and talks are on with Sony as also Zee for some possible programming. I think it would be slightly unfair to penalise the private producers — and that too immediately — just because a certain section of the industry feels that CAS is not being sought to be implemented in the right way,” she adds.


    Director Girish Mallik

    Contrary, to this viewpoint, serial director Girish Mallik , currently doing Sahara‘s Mission Fateh says, “With the channels made to face the heat after they become pay, the first reaction will be tightening the producer‘s allowance. Naturally, a producer will, instead of reducing his income, cut corners in the production. You will have more and more of average daily soaps being churned out. As of the actors‘ pay cut, the newer and inexperienced lot is bound to feel the pinch. The big actors might just switch to cinema”.

    Will CAS result in channels toning down their fees to various production houses? Will soaps be forced to stick to home ground rather than foreign locales? Will characters on television be forced to wear less expensive outfits rather than the seemingly expensive designer wear and consequently be forced tone down the loud make-up adorned by them? One can only wait and watch.

  • “The remarks of WPP Media executives on the IRS must be disregarded!” : MRUC technical committee member Amit Ray on the Indian Readership Survey 2002

    Amit Ray ko gussa kyon aata hai (what makes him angry)? In his capacity as a member of the Media Research User’s Council (MRUC) technical committee, Ray made a presentation on the topline findings of IRS 2002 on 29 April 2003 and the survey results were made public on the same day. But then, some people from the ad, media industry went ahead and debunked IRS findings.

    The comments of one such critic, WPP marketing communications South Asia CEO Andre Nair’s comments (read interview on www.indiantelevision.com) on the recently released Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2002 have stirred a hornet’s nest – at least amongst IRS loyalists whose tribe seems to be growing and outnumbering the NRS loyalists.

    Since Ray doesn’t want the controversy to rear its ugly head once again as it had in the past; and had attained nothing apart from hurting the industry. Ray spoke to indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Kotian to forward his case rebutting the points raised by Nair. Ray’s reason for this was simple: he felt that the comments of the head of India’s largest media independent were unwarranted, uncalled for and unnecessary. Excerpts:
     
       
    Why did you feel the need to clarify?
    First of all, I must clarify that I’m speaking in my personal capacity – as a professional who has made a huge effort voluntarily. Many professionals including myself, decided to contribute time, energy, inputs and effort due to genuine concern rather than any other consideration. You can check the books of MRUC and you will find that not a single penny has been paid to any of us.

    Others who are not involved in such a humungous process cannot be insensitive. After all, people involved with MRUC and IRS hold respectable positions in top advertising agencies, marketing companies, publishing houses and broadcasting companies in the country.
     
     
    What do you have to say about Nair’s statements on IRS and MRUC?
    I want to start off by saying that WPP Media (and other critics) doesn’t subscribe to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS). People there don’t understand the functioning of the MRUC council; and therefore all their remarks on the IRS should be disregarded.

    I must say that “bungling” is a harsh and wrong word – coming from the head of the largest media independent in the country. Let me put things in the right perspective.

    In the handout that we had given to the media and assembled audiences at the Indian Readership Survey 2002 (IRS) presentation, it was wrongly mentioned that Hindustan Times (instead of Hindustan) was the ninth largest daily (urban + rural) above The Times of India (TOI) which was tenth placed. In the course of my presentation, I clearly pointed out the error which was nothing but a clerical error. A clerical error cannot be described as “bungling” – calling it so is childish and immature!

    The Times of India group, the largest English daily in the country carried a report about the same issue. Why should the TOI group give so much importance to the IRS if it wasn’t up to the mark? Most people believe that the No.1’s are always correct – why is WPP Media not accepting the same in this case too?

    It is pertinent to mention that the MRUC council sent an official letter the same night, to the Hindustan Times group and others who attended the function, clarifying the issue. People who are not privy to the functioning of the MRUC should check with The Hindustan Times group whether it has received the letter. Additionally it was personally clarified to many of the attendees, including The Hindustan Times’ top level representatives, immediately after the conference was over.

    Also, I fail to understand why the so-called “inability to answer or evade certain questions at the results presentation” should be referred to as “bungling” – Leo Burnett’s Arvind Sharma came on to the stage and clearly stated that the MRUC team was ready to take on any questions. It is a different matter altogether that no one asked any questions. Perhaps, our presentations were so clear and lucid that people didn’t have any questions.
     
     
    Is WPP Media’s decision to avoid subscribing to the IRS logical?
    Since it doesn’t subscribe to the IRS, WPP Media executives are not well equipped to make any remarks or criticise the IRS.

    As far as the WPP group is concerned, two of its agencies Hindustan Thompson Associates and Contract were the only two agencies that never subscribed to the IRS and they are the only two agencies along with Ulka who raised their voice for NRS while the whole world chose IRS.

    But WPP’s Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) used to subscribe to IRS till 2001. But, the agency stopped subscribing the moment the consolidation of all the WPP owned media agencies happened. Now, it is WPP Media that decides everything for the subsidiary media units.

    I must add that even today there are planners and buyers in WPP Media who swear by the IRS. It is relevant to mention that V Balasubramanium, who, at present, is in a senior position in WPP Media’s ATG group, used to be actively involved (when he was in O&M – an agency with complete media neutrality) with the IRS. He surrendered his responsibilities after the formation of WPP Media and the consolidation thereafter.
     
     
    Do WPP Media clients subscribe to IRS?
    In reality, there may be more WPP clients who use IRS than those who don’t.
    Anyone who relies on authentic and valuable research information for scientific market/media planning patronises the IRS. Any association with an advertising agency or media agency is incidental. And WPP clients are no exception!! All the IRS subscribers, through their professionals derive immense insights to guide their marketing/media decision areas. Else, why would they year-on-year continuously subscribe to IRS products?

    According to WPP’s comment, HLL’s usage of IRS is ‘an irony’.
    HLL surely uses IRS and it is an open secret. They even take active part in the study. In fact, Sunder Rajan did serve on the technical committee.

    I am really confused … is HLL, WPP group’s single largest client, using IRS only to help WPP executives to deliver juicy one liners to media?
     
     
    What role has the MRUC played in streamlining Media Research and making things better for media professionals like you?
    Earlier (1983 to early 1990s), media research used to be conducted in India in a haphazard way. Actually, I must add that it used to happen whenever the market research agency decided to conduct research. No one could force them to conduct research.

    MRUC council has regularised the process and ensured that the process is continuous. Then, NRS followed blindly simply because the industry response to IRS was overwhelming. MRUC continues to act as a neutral body catering to the needs of interested parties who value authentic, accurate, economical and “truly continuous” research products.
     
     
     “I would say that NRS is completely dictated by the research agencies. As far as MRUC is concerned, the research agency’s role is to provide the best of research and the scope of data is decided by the competent people of the MRUC committee”
     
     
    What role does the research agency play in the IRS study as far as MRUC is concerned? How is the approach different from that of the NRS?
    Everyone agrees that IRS methodology is far far far more superior because it gives utmost importance to the needs of the users. In the case of NRS, the needs of the research agencies used to be given more importance.

    I would say that NRS is completely dictated by the research agencies. As far as MRUC is concerned, the research agency’s role is to provide the best of research and the scope of the data is decided by the competent people of the MRUC committee. Here the technical team determines the methodology and the parameters of the study.

    Here the research agency is an important partner that is guided by the technical committee. MRUC controls every aspect of the research.

    During the last NRS study release presentation (I don’t remember when it was because it seems like a long long time away), it was announced that NRS technical committee met thrice during the course of the exercise. This is laughable because the MRUC technical committee meets so often – that three days would be the time period that the committee doesn’t meet!.

    After I finished my IRS 2002 presentation, I walked down and met one of the icons of the media research industry – Katy Merchant – who was sitting in the audience. She complimented me and said that the MRUC technical committee was doing some excellent work. Coming from someone who used to be the driver of NRS, this is a great compliment and self-explanatory.
     
     
    Is it true that you attended the NRS technical committee meeting once?
    Some time back, Dr. Ravi Moorthy and I were approached and asked to be a part of the NRS technical committee. Ravi declined but I agreed because I am open to providing my knowledge and expertise to any exercise that would help the industry. However, I realised that the objective of the meeting was merely to try and figure out a way of catching up with IRS. Since I was a part of the IRS committee in any case, I lost interest.
     
     
    How is the IRS software different from that of the NRS?
    The IRS software is indigenously made taking into account the feedback of the end user – the media planner. It is not foreign software heaped onto the Indian market. The advantage of such software is that alterations and corrections can be done at a local level to suit the planners needs. In that sense, this software is truly a flexible one and adaptable to customised Indian Market needs.
     
     
    “Respected groups like WPP, instead of criticising from outside, should come forward and pave the way for a single study that will go far beyond capturing just the readership and will become the ultimate business tool for all it’s users … be it publishers, agencies or advertisers”
     
     
    Is the IRS/NRS divide too rigid?
    At present, IRS has got 103 subscribers as compared to 40 of NRS (by Nair’s own admission). In the list are 35 ad agencies; 31 advertisers; 31 publication/publication group and six broadcasters.

    Publications which are the main beneficiaries of a readership study has to pay “inclusion” fee to be part of NRS. Otherwise either NRS would not include them in the research; or will include them while withholding the result. As far as IRS is concerned, we include all publications and channels in the field work and report them on merit and not on “payment”. There are instances when publications that don’t buy IRS (The Hindu group and Anand Bazar Patrika group) have been included in the research and the data is released. And I am sure they must be using the results of IRS as advised by their ad agencies.

    However, an honest answer to your question on the ‘divide’ is NO.

    Respected groups like WPP instead of criticising from outside should come forward and pave the way for a single study that will go far beyond capturing just the readership and will become the ultimate business tool for all it’s users … be it publishers, agencies or advertisers. I am an individual and I am sure there are many like us who would want readership research in India to be one and the best in the world.

     

     

  • ‘TV is a 2006 story with focus on branded entertainment. Who knows it might spin off into a side business?’ : Ashutosh Srivastava – Group M South Asia CEO

    ‘TV is a 2006 story with focus on branded entertainment. Who knows it might spin off into a side business?’ : Ashutosh Srivastava – Group M South Asia CEO

    Ashutosh Srivastava looks a man still getting used to the lonely at the top state he’s been in since he took over from Andre Nair in October 2004 as Group M South Asia CEO. What he misses is the client – agency interactions and various pitches he spearheaded as head of MindShare India.

     

    Since he stepped into his new role, Srivastava’s mandate was to bring the individual agencies – MindShare, Maxus and Mediaedge:cia to the forefront rather than the holding company – Group M – hogging the limelight. At times the names Group M and MindShare have been interchangeable. This Srivastava feels has been harmful for the business and hence has started taking corrective measures for the same.

     

    In a two part interview with Indiantelevision.com, he holds forth on the year gone by and what lies ahead. What he reveals is that one major focus area is going to be that of branded television programming.

     

    Read on for more….

    What has the year gone by been like and how has it been since you took over from Andre Nair in October 2004?

    Broadly if I look back since I have taken over as Group M South Asia CEO, it is difficult to see any minuses.

     

    Business growth, personal growth in getting into new things and challenges are by and large pluses. The minus is that this role is less client facing. This role is a lot more about internally managing business and talent and making sure that WPP’s growth strategy is in place. Making sure that we are able to spot all opportunities outside of traditional areas and grow them and invest in the right ones.

     

    Upsides are plenty: Transition was planned very well. We stepped into our new roles in October 2004 but we made the announcement in May.

     

    Figuring out what clients want from media agencies. Start scaling up entertainment, digital, research and insight, micro marketing, data analytic. The seeds were all sown in 2003, in 2004 we were nurturing them and we saw the results last year. At that stage the role was to make sure that the initial plan was seen through to its culmination. That was pretty much the challenge last year.

     

    The second was when we started in this country in the media business; there were so many conflicts between Ogilvy and JWT that we started with a two agency model from day one – MindShare and Maxus. So what got established was this overall WPP or Group M brand. It is very unusual because most of the countries where we have gone in, we have done so as a MindShare. Only in the last couple of years have the other agencies entered those countries and the scale is being leveraged. Here it was the other way round. One of the issues, which we saw and which we have begun to correct in 2005 is that Group M is not the brand that faces clients – it is MindShare or Maxus. We have put in concentrated efforts since last year to build our individual brands.

    What are the brand differentiators between the four agencies of Group M – MindShare, Maxus, Mediaedge:cia and Mediacom? How would a client decide, which agency he wants for his brand?

    As Group M, my real task in that situation would be to figure out what is the service need for this client. With MindShare it is pretty clear as the bulk of its revenues come from global clients. These are clients who basically look at an agency, which will manage their media with a lot of accountability. The agency is driven by clients such as Unilever and other FMCG majors, where their requirement is accountability. For them media is pretty much a science.

     

    Maxus has positioned itself as a smaller boutique that is tailored to individual client needs. And its clients are very diverse like a Britannia, Hero Honda or Hutch, which are all poles apart and have different requirements. Each of them are heavily into creativity, being able to grab opportunities fast, being able to move very fast in the market and shut out competition even if it means paying more than them in order to gain that upper hand. So at Maxus, it all boils down to being street smart, creative and agile. The agency is totally in synch with all its clients’ personalities. It has also has the huge buying clout of Group M so the clients are not really missing out on anything.

     

    If we had to look at Mediaedge:cia, it still has to evolve. Globally, if I look at Mediaedge:cia, it is not as dependent on global businesses like MindShare is. MindShare’s business model has been to go after clients and service them across. Whereas Mediaedge:cia still is dependent on local or regional clients. Its strength globally (which is what we are building here too) is great communication planning. However, the agency is weak on executing those communications in-house. But Mediaedge:cia does have an advantage of having Group M, which helps it in the execution. That’s one reason why I expect them to be lot more successful here and grow much faster than they would have in other markets. Because again globally that non-traditional area of strength is there in India and a couple of other markets, but not across the world. More in Asia, less in Europe and very little in US. Consumer insight is the core of Mediaedge:cia’s business.

     

    In India, it does have a huge client base and hopefully at some point in time, the merger of TME will come through so that will further increase the client base. That will make Mediaedge:cia another large player in the market and yet different from a MindShare or a Maxus.

     

    As far as Mediacom is concerned, we still have to understand the agency because by the time it integrates into Group M, it will be the end of the year. That’s not a challenge that we are going to be taking on this year. It will be more of a 2007 thing. While we have begun to work along with them and help them in what are the Group M strength areas, the real integration will only start next year.

     

    Like I said, the challenge has been that we do not want to keep Group M as the brand and in the public face. We want to scale that down and make it more like the holding company, which has two – three key functions. The financial structure remains within Group M, the investment and development of capabilities in all the growth areas of the future, Group M is the driver. Once those resources get developed, they move to the operating companies because the clients are sitting in the operating companies. Group M is more the incubator for developing all kind of new expertise and strengthening each of the four agencies.

     

    We have been trying to correct the balance since last year so as not to have Group M but the agencies under it in the public eye. The feedback we received from the industry is that Group M and MindShare names are interchangeable, which is harmful for the business, so we are taking corrective measures.

     

    In the WPP fold, Group M is really the star operations for the last couple of years be it in terms of client acquisitions or revenue growth.

    The nontraditional activities of Group M started delivering since 2005 in terms of quantifiable revenues. What is the kind of growth you have seen last year and what is your projected growth for Group M by the end of 2006?

    Yes it would be right to say that last year our specialist units starting contributing substantially in terms of revenues. There are a large number of advertisers today who have gone beyond television and print and hence there is a need for a service that can deliver beyond TV and print buying. The critical mass is there in the market and the tipping point came in 2005.

     

    In 2005, in terms of the overall numbers we grew 25 per cent as a company, which was built on the media business. As a share of revenue, all our specialist divisions accounted for almost 20 – 21 per cent of our topline. In 2006, we expect it to close at somewhere closer to 30 per cent and our overall business to continue to grow at about 25 per cent this year too. That’s because the market is expanding and we have acquired a whole lot of new clients who want all kinds of services and not just traditional TV and print buying. And on the back of those there is a huge growth coming because if we just went by market growth and inflation, then we will be stuck in the 10 – 13 per cent growth rut.

    From the specialist units, there are ATG and Broadmind. If you had to split these into the kind of activities that we can expect from them in 2006, what would they be?

    We are going to focus on two – three areas this year. The first is what we define as entertainment, sports and partnerships. These are both in the area of content as well as managing of sponsorships and a whole lot of 360 degree communication around it. That is under Suku’s domain (Broadmind). Analytics, which is what we call business science is under Balu (ATG). These are the two big stories.

     

    On the entertainment side, there are three growth areas. The first one being movies, which comprise both Bollywood (90 per cent) and Hollywood (10 per cent). A lot of work started here in co-marketing and co-promotions, scaled up quite a bit. Some of it has gone into integrating brand messages or product placements and there are a host of these that are lined up in the next 12 months.

     

    We have close to 50 – 60 movie projects in hand wherein we have in-film placements, joint marketing, brand promotions along with the movie and a lot of spin off business from that. We are not going to get into representing celebrities but we will represent brands. It is not going to be a huge business but we will at least 10 – 12 such deals in a year.

     

    We have commissioned IMRB to do a study for us called Celeb Zee, which tracks brand personalities of each of these celebrities. We have 300 clients across the country and there is always requirement for celebrities and we would use that study to match the brand’s and celebrities’ personalities. It is a growing business and is a spin-off of the foray into entertainment where the primary focus is to put brands and films together in various ways.

     

    On the television side, we are doing similar stuff. Last year it was not on a large scale as most channels were worried that if they go the whole hog it creates problems. So we will have about 10 projects in a year.

     

    It takes six months for concepts to actually get into production. We are working on all new original formats. We will also be exploring other platforms for our formats in the near future as and when the technology develops. The aim is to bring brands and entertainment together starting with television and moving on to other platforms.

     

    At this point there are about six clients of ours like HLL, Britannia, Glaxo Smith Klein (GSK), Hutch, Hero Honda, Motorola and Pepsi who are all very kicked about it and talks are on with them at various stages around branded entertainment.

     

    Before venturing out in the Hindi entertainment space, we have been experimenting with some of the concepts in the South market for the last couple of years. It started with GSK’s brand Horlicks, with a couple of shows. Hero Honda wanted to enter the south because TVS is a big brand in the south, so they created a big event – a talent hunt show on television – in search for a ‘hero’ with Sun TV. It was a huge learning experience for us.

     

    Television is a 2006 story with branded entertainment but as we learn the ropes we might get into pure commissioned programming as well because the capabilities are all there. I’m not ruling out that we won’t get into pure production at some point in time but the focus is branded entertainment. Who knows it might get spun off into a side business.

     

    The third area is brand activation. Again the question is whether a media agency should be getting into this or is it the domain of a creative agency? What I feel is that it doesn’t matter because at the end of the day, it’s just another way of touching the consumer. We are approaching it as developing some more communication channels.

     

    We have not scaled it beyond five – six clients because we want to get the model right.
  • MindShare lures media wiz M.Suku for BroadMind

    MindShare lures media wiz M.Suku for BroadMind

    MUMBAI: Mindshare South Asia chief Andre Nair is gradually unveiling his gameplan for the media powerhouse in India. His main task has been bringing in professionals to head the various ventures which he sees as being part of the MindShare network in India. First, ex-Star India marketing and former Coke marketing head Vikram Sakhuja hopped on as managing director of MindShare-Fulcrum.

     

    Now, Nair has lured M.Suku who used to buy media for Levers in the early nineties and then went on to work with ABCL and later Reliance Entertainment. His role according to industry sources is to head non-traditional media services under BroadMind. The job was his because of his wide-ranging exposure to media, and the entertainment business. Suku was not available for comment but sources indicate that he will be joining MindShare on 1 February.

     

    BroadMind, according to the MindShare website, offers specialist services in: sponsorship and sports marketing, event/personality marketing, advertiser-funded programme supply/barter and consultancy services. The projects MindShare has handled include: The Ford European Champions League Soccer BskyB Sports Sponsorship The Rugby World Cup, The Sony Playstation The Champions League Euro 2000, The Shell Ferrari Challenge, Kellogg’s Frosties Challenge 2000 Training Camp, Amateur Swimming Association Awards Scheme Age Group Championship, The Nestle Birthday Club on Cartoon Network Smarties on GMTV’s Diggit, and Generation Girls ITV’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch for Mattel.