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  • The great Indian Diwali on English GECs and movie channels

    The great Indian Diwali on English GECs and movie channels

    As families and friends come together to celebrate Diwali and spend personal time with loved ones at home, English movie and general entertainment channels (GEC) have put together some of the best line ups to reign in the festive period. While the genre stands fragmented, channels nonetheless are trying to woo audiences with either movie or show premieres or telecasting title’s that have repeat value.

     

    Zee Studio which underwent a refresh recently will telecast its special Diwali movie, How To Train Your Dragon at 12 pm and 9 pm. Its festival property ‘Studio Dynamite’ will include blockbusters such as Mission Impossible, Transformers, Avengers etc. Apart from this, movies like Lincoln, Shrek Forever After and Shutter Island will complete its programming lineup.

     

    Starting 23 October 9 am onwards, Movies Now viewers are in for a programming lineup which covers different genres. To tickle the funny bone are the hilarious trio of a sabertooth tiger, a sloth and a wooly mammoth from Ice Age. This will be followed by The Karate Kid, Kung Fu Panda, The Matrix, Olympus Has Fallen and X Men Origins: Wolverine. The finale will see good forces combine in an all out war with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.

     

    HBO and its two premium channels; HBO Hits and HBO Defined too are vying for a share of the viewership pie this festive season. HBO will telecast Pacific Rim on 23 October at 1:57 pm, Step Up on 24 October at 6:54 pm, Red2 on 27 October at 9 pm, followed by World War Z on 28 October at 9pm. While HBO Hits will serve Riddick, Ghost Team One and Season one of The Knick on its platter, HBO Defined will have season one of Grace, Silicon Valley and True Detective.

     

    Another major player Star Movies has also put in place a festive lineup. Robert Downey Jr fans can watch Tony Stark’s world being torn apart by the formidable terrorist called The Mandarin on 23 October at 9 pm. This will be followed by Men In Black at 11 pm.  The other movies include Unstoppable, Speed, Fast Five, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Men in Black 3, King Kong and Resident Evil: Retribution.

    Sony Pix from the MSM stable along with its English GEC AXN started their Diwali celebrations with the simulcast of the legendary crime fighting cyborg Robocop on 19 October at 1 pm and 9 pm. AXN has also brought in two new shows especially for the festive season. While NCIS runs from Monday to Thursday at 10 pm, Supernatural airs every Saturday at 10 pm.

    So what brings English movies and GECs come up with special programming for Diwali? Says Maxus managing partner north and east region Navin Khemka, “Currently as some of these channels are able to draw an average yield, they try building a lot of hype and aura around these shows through various campaigns to maximise the yield in an extremely fragmented space. The festive season thus is about increasing the average yield where survival is vital.”

    English GEC Romedy Now through the theme of celebrating the joy of family and togetherness has launched its property ‘Diwali Sparklers,’ starting 4 October, 8pm onwards. The lineup for the slot includes Family Stone, The Notebook, Guess Who, Madagascar, Monster-in-Law and 27 Dresses among others.

    Comedy Central too has announced the launch of four new shows that will be premiered from 27 October from Monday to Friday. These are Billy on The Street 9 (at 8 pm) Psych (seasons one to four at 9 pm), Penn and Teller: Fool Us (at 10 pm) and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon at 11 pm. These four will be premiered from 27 October 2014 from Monday to Friday.  

    Star World Premiere HD has New Girl season four, Community season five, Revenge season four, Modern Family season six, Bones season 10, Home Land season four among others. Star World will broadcast House season five, The Simpsons season 17, Masterchef Australia season six, Big Bang Theory season five etc. Meanwhile FX has lined up The X Files season nine, Californication season seven, Sons of Anarchy season six and Alias season one among others.

    According to Madison Media COO Karthik Lakshminarayan, since festive period sees a surge in advertising and these movie channels and GEC’s too are vying for a share of the pie, they come up with the special programming lineup. “The special programming for the festive season helps channels spike their advertising revenue on an average by 10-12 per cent,” he concludes.

  • Madison Media Group creates “Wills Rock the Ramp” 360 degree selfie booth

    Madison Media Group creates “Wills Rock the Ramp” 360 degree selfie booth

    MUMBAI: Marrying social and on ground engagement, Wills Lifestyle and Madison Media devised the concept of “Wills Rock the Ramp” a 360 degree Vine booth – a twist to the traditional twirl people do to show off what they’re wearing! Instead of doing the twirl yourself, the cameras and modern technology does the twirling and the same could be shared on social networks.

    Users simply had to step into the booth and the revolving camera shoots a 4-6 second video, showing a 360 view of what they’re wearing to the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week. These videos are shared on the Wills Lifestyle Vine page and Wills Lifestyle Facebook and Twitter pages.

     The Technology for the “Wills Rock the Ramp” 360 degree Vine Booth was developed and implemented by Tagglabs.
    Mr. Atul Chand, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Lifestyle Retailing, said“Wills Lifestyle has always been at the forefront of innovation and driven the business of fashion in India with style. Being at the helm of creativity and novelty, we have integrated modern technology with fashion yet again this season, thereby creating 360 degree brand conversations. In this edition, Wills Lifestyle takes another leap with many firsts on the Indian fashion runway by introducing a 360-degree selfie booth.”

    Basabdatta Chowdhuri, CEO Platinum Media, says “Our Endeavour is to provide the best solutions to our clients irrespective of the platform. We want our brands to leverage new platforms and create high level engagements for consumers.”

    Amit Duggal, Director (Digital) Madison, says “The idea was conceptualized keeping in mind that it should be easy to use and instantly sharable. We wanted to capture the moments which were happening during the event and share it with the world and lead to higher engagement for the brand.”

    Madison Media has won several awards in the Digital and Mobile domain with the latest one being The Festival of Media Global Award and Asia Pacific Award for Parachute Advansed Ayurvedic Hair Oil for convincing consumers to become the brand’s sales force leveraging the power of Mobile.   The agency also won a Yahoo Big Idea Chair for its campaign on Airtel, Har ek Friend Zarori Hai.  At the Emvies Awards held last month, Madison Media also won a Gold for Best Innovation in Digital (Video) for Cadbury Bournville–Tape a Tweet.

     

    Madison Media Group is India’s foremost media agency handling media planning and buying for blue chip clients including Airtel, Godrej, Cadbury/Kraft, ITC, Marico, McDonald’s, Raymond, Piramal Healthcare, TVS, Levis, SpiceJet, Domino’s, BhartiAxa, Max Life Insurance, Asian Paints, Pidilite, Tata Salt, Acer, Lafarge Cement, Crompton Greaves, Times Television Network, Indian Oil, Enamor Lingerie, Gowardhan Dairy, Café Coffee Day and many others.  The gross billing of Madison Media is about Rs. 3000 crores.

  • Sony Max’s ‘No Talkies Returns’ a box-office hit with media agencies

    Sony Max’s ‘No Talkies Returns’ a box-office hit with media agencies

    MUMBAI: ‘No talkies Returns’- the national level dumb charades competition between media agencies organized by Sony Max, the premium Hindi movies channel concluded on an entertaining note on Friday, 19th September with Mumbai’s Red Fuse team taking away the trophy.

     

    With engaging regional rounds held across the cities of Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, the grand finale in Mumbai received a thumping response from media agencies and saw them battle it out to win the much coveted title of ‘No Talkies Returns’2014. Participants put their acting skills to the test as they competed against each other in a series of exciting rounds.  Teams that qualified for the finale round included MEC from Bangalore; Maxus and Lintas from Delhi; and OMD and Red Fuse from Mumbai.

     

    With a quest to find the ‘filmi deewana’ amongst media agencies, the channel carried out this interactive and entertaining initiative for the second year. With registrations having begun from 19th August onwards and lasting for 10 days, the channel received an overwhelming response from media agencies, with more than 150 teams registering this year as compared to a 100 teams in year one. Media agencies that signed up for the event included Maxus, MEC, Mindshare, Motivator, Madison, Zenith Optimedia & OMD to name a few.

     

    Commenting on the success of the event, Vaishali Sharma, VP Marketing, MAX commented, “We are immensely glad with the success of our initiative which had media agencies display their ‘filmy deewanapan’ side.  Seeing how well received this competition was, encourages us to bring it back year on year. We as a channel hope to keep the Bollywood spirit high by inspiring people through our unique endeavors.”

  • Max hunts for film buffs in media agencies

    Max hunts for film buffs in media agencies

    MUMBAI: Media agencies are busy scratching their heads as they prepare themselves for not some planning for a client, but to take up the challenge thrown by Sony Max’s ‘No Talkies.’

     

    This ‘Guess the Movie’ challenge will see media agencies, buyers and planners competing, while also showcasing their acting prowess.

     

    The event which will culminate in Mumbai on 19 September, seeks to find the filmy deewanas across three big markets – Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

     

    Speaking about the differentiator this year, Sony Max VP marketing Vaishali Sharma says that the channel has stepped up the challenges and has made the competition more competitive. With the intention of creating a buzz for inviting registrations, the channel had pulled out all stops to amplify noise around the event.

     

    Online registrations for the event took place on its microsite notalkies.sonymax.tv, on 19 August with total of three deewanas forming one team. Registrations were open for 10 days with more than 150 teams registering this year.

     

    “We received an overwhelming response for our initiative last year and believe in going above and beyond movies to captivate our audiences,” opines Sharma.

     

    It received entries from media agencies such as Maxus, MEC, Mindshare, Motivator, Madison, Zenith Optimedia, OMD amongst others participating.

     

    This edition, all the participating teams will be slotted into different groups and they will have to compete against each other over a few exciting rounds of the games. The city round of the activity has already taken place in Bengaluru on 3 September followed by Delhi on 5 September. It will take place in Mumbai on 12 September. The finale will be based on the theme Bollywood.

     

    Maxux, Mumbai general manager Mangesh Korgaonkar believes that the initiative is in sync with the channel’s positioning. “It is great to see the channel bring back the competition as we thoroughly enjoyed the last season and are looking forward to our participation this year.”

     

    Agreeing with Kargaonkar, Mindshare principle partner Jignesh Ghelani says, “It is a kind initiative by Max as it is specially crafted for engaging with media agencies. It is a lot of fun as it provides us with an opportunity to let our hair down and celebrate our love for Bollywood.”

     

    In order to boost the agencies response for participation, the channel undertook a range of prebuzz promotions. These were: setting up popcorn stalls in media agencies and also distributing banarasi paans to generate sufficient buzz around its B2B marketing initiative.

     

    Last year the finale was hosted by the witty and charismatic VJ, actor and presenter Gaurav Kapoor. This year, the channel is yet to finalise the host for the event.

     

    Although Sharma refused to divulge any details on the prize money, last year it had honoured with Rs 25,000 cash voucher. “All I can say is that it is a generous voucher which will enable the winning team to make good purchases at an electronic store,” laughs Sharma.

  • 9X Jalwa’s treat to media agencies

    9X Jalwa’s treat to media agencies

    MUMBAI: Media agencies usually help clients target consumers for their campaign and are usually never on the receiving end. Trying to bring such an interaction to media agency offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru is 9X Jalwa while promoting its new look.

    On 10 June, the channel had donned a new avatar with the tagline ‘Forever Young’, targeting viewers across all age groups who enjoy music that is enduring. The tagline also reflects the Bollywood playlist and music construct on the channel that is perpetual and never grows old.

    According to 9X Media VP marketing Kapil Sharma, consumers have been enjoying the new look on television and so it was high time to target the trade media to create the same amount of buzz. “It is the trade media that get their clients to spend high budgets on our channel. After attracting the consumer media the immediate next step we thought was to target the trade media and highlight this fact across the agencies.”

    Rather than treading the traditional route, it chose to go with fun creative activities in developed by Pure Media. It has created a unique game titled ‘Pic Charades’, which is a fun amalgamation of Pictionary and Dumb Charades using emoticons from instant messaging apps.

    The participating teams will compete with each other to guess the Bollywood songs using these emoticons. The songs featured in these games are from the 9X Jalwa playlist. The team with maximum points wins merchandises.

    Sharma says that through the activation the channel wanted to convey the message that songs remain forever young. “Primarily the songs that we play on Jalwa currently are from the 90s and 2000s. If you like a particular song, no matter how many times you listen to it, it still remains fresh.”

    As emoticons have become a part of everyone’s daily life, the channel thought it right to tap into it. “A lot of times you receive forwards on your personal messenger where you have to guess the name of a song or a movie by using emoticons. We thought this is something that people enjoy and have fun playing it. So why not draw an inspiration and create our campaign revolving around this entire thought,” he highlights.

    Apart from the activities, branding exercises will be done even in Chennai. Different cut outs, standees, posters and tent cards have been put across agencies. Mailers, ads and advertorials are being simultaneously released across trade websites and magazines.

    The engagement goes online as well. If a person misses the chance to participate when the contest is happening in the cafeteria, a tent card is left on the desk of the employee and he/she can email those answers.

    Moreover, the pictures of people participating and people winning prizes will be shared on the 9X Jalwa Facebook page. At present, 9X Jalwa has 126,259 likes on Facebook at the time of penning this article. However its Twitter page needs a push with just 1,280 followers.

    Sharma goes on to say that out of the total budget, 60-70 per cent is spent on the consumer related promotions and 30-40 per cent is spent for trade communications.

  • Nat Geo kick starts the second season of ‘Covershot’

    Nat Geo kick starts the second season of ‘Covershot’

    MUMBAI: The only reality TV show on photography is back! Nat Geo’s ‘Covershot’ franchise returns with its second season in a brand new avatar to unlock ‘Mission North-East’. And to get the season off to a grand start, National Geographic Channel has organized a photo exhibition of the masterpieces clicked by last year’s contestants.

    Targeting leading agencies, such as Group M, Madison, ZO, Starcom, Lodestar and Mediacom, across Delhi and Mumbai, from 27th January to 4th February for the photo exhibition, Nat Geo aims to create a buzz and conversation-starters around the very coveted, aspirational field of photography and their hugely successful ‘Covershot’ property in its latest season. While the exhibition in itself is a treat for the layman and photography enthusiasts alike, what comes across most poignantly yet again is the fact that the show served as a brilliant platform for amateurs to showcase their talent. And in addition to the more obvious attractions, at a time when National Geographic Channel is primed to launch one of its biggest properties for the year, the photo exhibition stands out as a pertinent, yet engaging go-between to reach out to multiple stakeholders, including their key partners.

    Commenting on the importance of engagement through varied approaches, Ms. Debarpita Banerjee, VP, Marketing, National Geographic and FOX International Channels, said, “When the show itself is such a visual treat, the best way to announce the launch would but naturally be through its visuals. A walk down the exhibition aisle would demonstrate the length and breadth of talent showcased on Covershot.”

    10 exciting episodes, 10 illustrious contestants, 1 cut-throat competition – ‘Nat Geo Covershot: Mission North-East’ will take you on the exquisite north-eastern trail this season, with host Shibani Dandekar and judges Rajiv Laxman and Lana Šlezi? – launching early April.

     

  • Now Dish TV opts to dish out channel reach data

    Now Dish TV opts to dish out channel reach data

    MUMBAI: It is taking transparency and openness to a totally different level. First it prised open the bundled channels that IndiaCast was offering and it started selling them to subscribers a la carte. Now, India’s oldest DTH operator, Dish TV,with a subscriber base of nearly 12 million says that it is planning to open up crucial subscriber information to media agencies and advertisers. 

     

    The DTH provider says it is looking at providing reach data of various channels on its platform every month to advertisers and media buyers from February 2014 onwards to enhance their understanding of how viewers are watching it. The data which is scheduled to be released in February will be for the month of January. 

     

    “We have been approached by media planners and advertisers often to share our data to enable them to get a better handle on the performance of various channels and since this data is universe data and not based on a small sample, it could prove to be a very valuable addition to the existing published data for eg from TAM and or other rating agencies,” says Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish.

     

    The data given out will be as percentages. “We would provide the reach of each channel as a percentage of the total platform reach. So if a particular channel is in all packs it would reach 100 per cent of the platform, however if it is only in the top tier pack or is an a la carte then the reach would obviously be a fraction of the platform reach,” adds Venkateish. This means that if channel X is available in two packs whose subscriber base put together is 3 million that means its reach will be 25 per cent.

     

    Media planners have welcomed Dish TV’s openness with open arms. Madison Media COO Karthik Lakshminarayanan says: “It is a welcome move for advertisers. The data will be more robust and it will also help us in planning and taking better decisions. We will be aware of the strong markets of Dish TV and if our client wants then they can advertise on its landing pages.” He also added that it could also help Dish TV to rake in more revenue.

     

    On the other hand ZenithOptimedia CEO Satyajit Sen has a slightly different point of view. Although he does agree that the move is a good one, he feels it won’t help Dish TV get more revenue neither will it help in targeting better for advertisers. “Several times, channels oscillate due to uneven distribution and this transparency will help us understand the fluctuations better,” he says.

     

    In November last year, the daddy of the DTH community had introduced a special scheme called ‘on request channels’ through which people could subscribe to channels only if they wanted to, and remove unnecessary ones. This had started a round of fisticuffs between it and IndiaCast, which was renewing its channel deal with the platform. Both IndiaCast and Dish TV knocked on the doors of the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).The latter was ordered by the tribunal not to charge carriage fees and even call the scheme a la carte, while the former was told to discontinue the ads that were being carried on TV and in print, which were potentially inciting subscribers to go to other platforms.  From 1 January, 22 IndiaCast channels are available on a la carte on Dish TV and another 11 will follow from 1 April.

      

    RC (as he is known by colleagues) today believes that the move to take the channels a la carte has worked out exactly as he had foreseen it would. 

     

    Says he quite ecstatically: “Our recent initiative to empower consumers to avail channels according to their demand profile has been eye opening. The results so far have been fully consistent with our expectations and reinforce our beliefs that through the mechanism of forced bundling by aggregators a whole lot of channels with barely any pull are forced down the throats of platforms as well as consumers. Where true consumer choice is exercised you will find that the data is very revealing! In a way, despite valiant noises, the emperor isn’t wearing too many clothes!!!”

     

    So what do broadcasters have to say about Dish TV’s openness?  ZMCL CEO Alok Agrawal says that the move will benefit niche channels the most since TAM data provided about them isn’t always sufficient. However, Asianet business head Anup Chandrashekaran feels that one has to be cautious about any data dished out. “Dish TV also has ownership issues and so it is important to know how unbiased the data is. However, it is still a fraction of a majority and decisions can’t be taken on this data. It can be a good feedback though,” he says.

     

    Dish TV is a subsidiary company of the Essel group that runs the Zee Network, hence Chandrashekaran’s concern. 

  • Acer India to commence low key campaign for Iconia W4

    Acer India to commence low key campaign for Iconia W4

    BENGALURU: Acer India will commence a below the line (BTL) campaign along with print campaign for its new Iconia W4 tablet that was launched on 19 December in Bengaluru. Madison handles the media buying for Acer India.

    “By the end of this weekend, our BTL campaign with some print will commence. We are looking at the possibility of our brand ambassador in India – Hrithik Roshan featuring in some of our communications,” said Acer India chief marketing officer Rajendran.

     “Over the next three months we will be spending about $250,000 on the W4 campaign in India,” he further added.

    Featuring IPS and zero air gap technologies that provide a sharp display with enhanced clarity and brightness, the Iconia W4 is also equipped with Windows 8.1 and the 4th Generation Intel Atom Quad Core processor that offers faster tablet performance as well as battery life up to 10 hours for web browsing and up to eight hours for video playback.

    “Modern consumers want an all-pervasive computing experience, one that is high on speed and performance as well, taking care of their mobile demands. Addressing the consumer desire for portable computing, Acer has launched a host of computing devices in flexible form factors including convertibles, all-in-ones, and tablet PCs. As a part of our focused efforts to offer industry-changing experience and newer form factors, we bring to you our latest tablet, the Iconia W4. The ultimate on-the-go entertainment hub, the Iconia W4 will appeal to a cross section of users from busy professionals to ultra-mobile youngsters”, asserted Acer India Managing Director Harish Kohli.

    Targeted at active and professional users, the ICONIA W4 seamlessly weaves portable computing and entertainment. The company has set a modest target of 3000 units during the quarter. Company sources reveal that a 3G SIM version of the Iconia W4 is likely to be released sometime in February 2014.

  • Madison Media Group wins HomeShop18 Media AOR

    Madison Media Group wins HomeShop18 Media AOR

    MUMBAI:  Madison Media Group has been appointed as the media AOR (Agency on Record) for Homeshop18, a shopping channel from the Network 18 group. The account will be handled by Platinum Media in Delhi. The account was previously handled by Mindshare and the estimated media spend is in the range of Rs 30 crore.

    Commenting on the win, Platinum Media CEO Basabdatta said, “We are delighted with this new win and are confident that we can add strategic value in building the HomeShop18 brand in the country.”

    On the development, HomeShop18 chief marketing officer Vikrant Khanna said, “Homeshop18 is proud to be associated with Madison, which is the leading media planning agency in the country. I am confident they will be a strong partner in our journey to become India’s leading virtual commerce player. Having worked with Madison in the past I know that Madison is best equipped to help us  reach our intended audience in the most economical and integrated way.”

    Madison Media has been on an account winning spree, having recently won a host of new businesses including Raymond Apparel, Piramal Healthcare, Epic Channel, McCain Foods, Ruchi Soya, Max India’s corporate account, Café Coffee Day, Radikal Rice and Crompton Greaves.

    The gross billing of Madison Media is about Rs. 3000 crores.