ITV

Tag: marketer

  • Gurjot Shah Singh moves on from Dentsu after 8 years

    Gurjot Shah Singh moves on from Dentsu after 8 years

    MUMBAI: Isobar India’s Gurjot Shah Singh has stepped down from his role as executive vice president- media after an eight-year stint at the network. The development was confirmed by Dentsu to IndianTelevision.com.

    Singh’s next move is not yet known. Having joined the agency in 2014 as account director at iProspect, Singh served a stint of nearly six years at Dentsu Webchutney where he took on the role of executive vice president & national media head. He was elevated to his current role at Isobar India in January this year.

    A multi-dimensional digital marketer, Singh has been instrumental in the success of Dentsu Webchutney having built the media practice ground up at the digital marketing agency in the last few years. He has been a part of over 30 national and international award-winning campaigns in his career of 12 years, having worked on 200 plus brands, including Ather Energy, Honda bikes, Uber, Max life insurance, IndusInd Bank, Whirlpool, Canon, Flipkart, Under Armour, British council, Air India, Sony Pictures, to name a few.

    Recently, the network has witnessed a spate of high profile exits, even the Dentsu Creative Group India centralised its digital media services across all its agencies and capabilities under the Isobar India group.

  • In memoriam: Anil ‘Billy’ Kapoor

    In memoriam: Anil ‘Billy’ Kapoor

    MUMBAI: Billy Kapoor. A feisty manager. An advertising legend. A man who brought management to what was an entrepreneur driven ad agency at that time.

    My memory of him was a man who loved his suits, but was more than open to taking off his jacket, rolling up his sleeves and getting his hands dirty to do any job. Not that he had to do it often: he had built a fabulous team of young managers – all MBA types – at a time when advertising agencies did not really look at recruiting them in the numbers he did – in the late eighties-early nineties.

    And he deeply believed that advertising was not just about great copy or breathtaking visuals – you had to bring marketing thinking to your client’s brands and products. Wear a marketer’s hat all the time was his constant urging to his team. Find strategic or other solutions to move product off the shelves and generate sales. Once you do that, the brand and marketing manager will see in you a partner, not an agency chasing billing. You will build that trust, where he knows his interest is your interest. And the partnership can only grow and grow from there.

    Another memory of him is that he could get gruff and tough when he wanted to. At BusinessWorld magazine in the nineties, I was in charge of the advertising and marketing section, and I was assigned to write a story on Ulka Advertising, which was reportedly looking shaky – and was on the verge of closure – but Billy had showed signs of turning around. I met him in the Nirmal building office (if I remember correctly) – and he spoke  to me about the agency, his teams, and how it functioned. He then called in his musketeers – Shashi Sinha, MG Parameswaran, Niteen Bagwat, Nagesh Alai, and Arvind Wable – into the boardroom and introduced me to them. For the next 15 minutes they spoke to me, while Billy watched them narrate what had lured them into his orbit, and the agency’s philosophy.

    Billy brooked no nonsense from any one including clients and even me. When I slipped up in some of my information about the agency, he got visibly upset and growled. I squirmed, almost visualising what if this bulky man were to thump me one. But he immediately smiled and told me: “You should get your facts right.”

    The article was published and I called him to have his feedback. He pointed out to a couple of errors – which I was not responsible for, it was probably the desk. But later on I learned that he had proudly shared the feature on Ulka with his colleagues.

    From then we would be in regular touch. I would call him up frequently. And he would too. I remember once when he barked at me in relation to a feature on advertising agencies I had written. He called me and told me: “There are many who want to write on advertising and marketing. I want you to be the best. I will not tolerate any mediocrity in your work.”

    Remember, Billy  was only an advertising executive on whom I had done a feature. Like Mike Khanna and Ravi Gupta, he took a special interest in seeing me develop into a better professional, he often scolded and chided me when he thought I was going wrong.

    I lost touch with him at the turn of the century as I moved on to being an entrepreneur and setting up the Indiantelevision.com group. However, I did stay in touch with Shashi and Ambi. And I happened to interact with actor Ram Kapoor when he had been hired to host The Indian Telly Awards. He told me Billy is his dad, and he was not keeping well. I called him once and spoke to him. Billy was happy with my progress, congratulating me. He once again told me not to stoop to or accept mediocrity. That’s the only way to succeed, he told me. We did not talk about his cancer. But he was fighting it well, Ram told me.

    And now when I read about Billy passing on after staring cancer in the face, battling it well, I can only applaud a life lived to the fullest.

  • What BARC’s temporary cessation of news channel ratings means for all

    What BARC’s temporary cessation of news channel ratings means for all

    MUMBAI: With all the hullabaloo around the news TV space and allegations of rigging flying thick and fast, the viewership monitor BARC has decided to take a breather as far publishing of  weekly ratings of the purveyors of news is concerned. This temporay cessation  could impact the overall industry – especially advertisers and those involved in the news business. More so because advertisers and agencies will not have access to the de facto ratings cuurrency that allows them to price the air time and TV spots they buy from the news channels.  

    The committee has shared its point of view on why it has taken such a step. Excerpts:-

    Why has BARC India taken the step of not reporting news channels? 

    In the light of the recent developments, the BARC board has proposed that its technical  committee (Tech Comm) review and augment the current standards of measuring  and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their statistical robustness and to  and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes.  This exercise would cover all Hindi, regional, English news and business news channels  with immediate effect.  

    Therefore, starting with the ‘News Genre,’ BARC will cease publishing the weekly  individual ratings for news channels during the exercise. This exercise is expected to  take around eight to 12 weeks including validation and testing under the supervision of  BARCs TechComm. The monitoring service will continue to release weekly audience estimates for the  news genre by state and language. 

    Which genres will be affected by this change?  

    The decision will initially impact all Hindi, regional, English news and business news  broadcasters. BARC will continue to provide estimates for the overall news genre  every week by state and language.  

    For how long will the data not be available for news channels?  

    The BARC TechCom  will revisit the rule sets of niche genres to improve their  statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating  the panel homes. Starting with the news genre, BARC would stop declaring the individual  channel ratings for news channels while this reworking of the rule sets is being done.  This exercise would take around eight to 12 weeks including validation and testing under the  TechComm’s supervision. BARC will keep its stakeholders updated as it  augments these processes.  

    Which data and analysis will not be possible or will not be available because of the withholding of ratings? 

    The withholding of ratings will, inter -alia, will lead to non – availability of the following  viewership variables for impacted channels: 
    • Impressions  
    • Daily reach  
    • Average Time Spent (ATS)  
    • Cumulative reach  
    • Rating % 

    Since these variables will not be available, analysis such as viewer movement and  behavioural track analysis will not be possible.  

    However, the above details will be available at a genre level.  

    Will BARC be collecting and processing data for impacted channels during  this period? Will the individual channel data be released post this period?  
    BARC will continue to collect and process data for the impacted channels. BARC’s TechComm  will advise a protocol for release of individual channel data,  post its work on niche channels.  

    Will playout data be collected during this period for the impacted  channels? 

    Yes, playout data will be collected for the impacted channels during this period. 

    Will Spot Trek service be impacted due to this withholding of ratings?  

    BARC will continue to confirm spot – related data to its Spot Trek subscribers.  There will be no impact on the Spot Trek service.  

    Are the numbers released by BARC inclusive of the impacted news  channels?  

    The data for news channels will still be included in the audience estimates for  aggregate such as total TV. It is only the audience estimates for the individual  channels that will be masked. 

    What data will be reported for the impacted news channels?  

    BARC will continue to release audience estimates for the overall news genre every  week by state and language. However, channel–wise data will not be released.  

    I am not a news channel. Why has my data been withheld?  

    Individual news channels audience estimates will not be reported. The genre  classification is determined by “Policy for Genre Classification of TV Channels” as last  updated in September 2019 and as updated on the BARC website. This classification is  updated on a quarterly basis.  

    As per the BARC policy on genre classification, a TV channel is classified as a news  channel, when more than 60 per cent of the TV Channel content for a given week averaged  across a calendar quarter from 6:00 Hrs. – 26:00 Hrs. consists of news and news- related  content. 

    Are genres other than news genres also going to be impacted?  

    The BARC TechComm will review and augment the current  standards of measuring and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their  statistical robustness and to and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of  infiltrating the panel homes.