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Tag: social media

  • What the media & govt ecosystem is doing on potrayal of women in advertising

    What the media & govt ecosystem is doing on potrayal of women in advertising

    NEW DELHI: The Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) rejected six of the fourteen complaints relating to wrongful depiction of women in advertisements during 2012 and 2013.

     

    Advertisements were taken off or voluntarily withdrawn by the channels in five cases after the Asci raised the issue of indecent representation about women, Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said.

     

    Two cases are still pending with Asci for appropriate action and the inter-ministerial committee demanded an apology from four channels which had carried the advertisement of a deodorant.

     

    The advertisements mostly about deodorants were aired on just over thirty channels. Other advertisements were about mobiles, creams for women, razor blades, innerwear and lingerie, a condom brand, and a carbonated drink.

     

    Meanwhile, the government has already announced that the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 is to be amended to include the audio visual media and material in electronic form.

     

    Sources in the women & child development ministry told indiantelevision.com that the aim would also be to strengthen the penal provisions.

     

    The sources clarified that the move had nothing to do with recent rape case and its coverage on the electronic and social media, and had been approved by the Union Cabinet much earlier for being moved in parliament as an amendment to the Act.

     

    At present, the Act has provision for prohibition of advertisements containing indecent representation of Women, and prohibition of publication or sending by post of books, pamphlets, etc; containing indecent representation of women. But this will not apply to any book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing, painting, photograph, representation or figure where it is justified as being for the public good.

     

    Meanwhile, home ministry sources said there was no proposal to amend the Indian Penal Code to keep a check on the vulgarity/objectionable content in programmes and advertisements telecom on various Doordarshan channels.

     

    I&B ministry sources denied that any representation had been made by it to the two ministries to amend the existing laws or to formulate a new code for the content telecast on DD or other TV channels. The sources added that DD strictly adhered to the Programme and Advertising Codes and so no programme containing vulgarity or objectionable content was telecast by the pubcaster.

     

    Parliament had been told recently that more than ninety per cent of the advertisers comply with the orders of the Asci.

     

    I&B Minister Manish Tewari informed parliament that in 2012-13, a total of 2,954 complaints were received against 784 advertisements. A total of 640 of these complaints had been upheld and the advertisers had been asked to withdraw or modify the advertisements.

     

    Asci has informed the ministry that it has set up a new initiative wherein advertisements which are extremely inappropriate, indecent, vulgar and against public interest are suspended pending investigation.

     

    In cases where it appears prima facie that an advertisement is in serious breach of the Asci code and its continued transmission on any medium causes or has the effect of causing public harm, then Asci would, pending investigation, forthwith direct the advertiser/the advertising agency/the media buying agency and the media concerned to suspend the advertisement.

     

    Asci also informed that they will write to the concerned ministries to take appropriate action against advertisers who do not comply with the Asci orders.

  • Renowned Pakistani comic-duo Irfan Malik and Ali Hassan to act in Indian series on Doordarshan

    Renowned Pakistani comic-duo Irfan Malik and Ali Hassan to act in Indian series on Doordarshan

    NEW DELHI: Exulting over the revamping of the prime time programming of Doordarshan’s national channel which had resulted in rich harvest, DD director general Tripurari Sharan said a major reason for this had been the aggressive marketing that was being done.

     

    He said that cross-channel promotion within the network and social media were the new trends apart from print and banner advertisements.

     

    He was speaking on the sidelines of a press meet to announce the participation of two renowned Pakistani stand-up comedians Irfan Malik and Ali Hassan as actors in the series ‘Yeh Zindagi Hai Gulshan’ directed by well-known filmmaker Suhail Ilyasi and co-produced by him and Mushtaq Bala, an award-winning filmmaker. The series also stars veterans like Pankaj Dheer, Raza Murad, and Zarina Wahab.

     

    However, he admitted that there were some inhibitions within Doordarshan about cross-channel promotion in private channels as some of them were rival channels. He also added that cost benefit analysis was also necessary to decide the most relevant channel for advertising DD programmes.

     

    He said that a major change had also been made by introducing programmes that appealed to all age groups including the young, with programmes like ‘Yeh hai India meri Jaan’ and ‘Yeh Zindagi hai gulshan’ which had social messages as well. He said even a programme like ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’ starring Rajit Kapur which had been made about two decades earlier had shown high ratings during prime time.

     

    Doordarshan had also experimented with simulcast with other private channels with programmes like ‘Satyamev Jayate’, ‘Coke Studio’, and the on-going ‘Saraswati Chandra’.

     

    Ilyasi described the participation of the two comedians in the series as a new beginning in Indo-Pak relations, and said this was the first time the two were coming as actors in any series. Until now, they have only been taking part in reality shows.

    Hassan said that the Indian series ‘Yeh Zindagi hai Gulshan’ was very popular in Pakistan, and also said that Doordarshan was seen by a large number of people in his country.

     

    He revealed that he and Malik had been working independently as stand-up comedians in Pakistan, and it was only when they were invited to India in ‘Laughter Challenge’ that they teamed up as a duo. He said that they owed this new avatar to India as it had proved very successful.

     

    He said artistes spread friendship. Asked about their role in the series, he said he enacts the role of the hero’s father while Malik playes the role of his wife’s sister.

     

    Malik said in answer to a question that it was wrong to say that Indian artistes were not allowed to take part in Pakistan television channels. He said that singers like Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi had taken part in reality shows on channels like ‘Hum’ and ‘Ary’. However, people in India did not know this as India does not allow Pakistani channels to be beamed here.

     

    The series, aired on Doordarshan every Saturday and Sunday at 8.30 pm, is a love story of a progressive Muslim girl. The serial is a first of its kind Muslim social television serial.

     

    The concept of the serial ‘Yeh Zindagi Hai Gulshan’ is based on ‘Shariah’ which has given equal rights to women to pursue their development. The serial has a powerful story to promote education among girls and self awareness of their rights.

  • IG to sponsor an episode of AXN’s ‘The Apprentice Asia’

    IG to sponsor an episode of AXN’s ‘The Apprentice Asia’

    MUMBAI: Financial company IG will tap in to AXN‘s local show ‘The Apprentice Asia‘ which kicks off on 24 May at 9 pm in India. IG‘s episode airs on 21 June.

    IG is a global financial derivatives company. The company adds that the sponsorship provides an opportunity to increase brand awareness in the Asia Pacific region, through association with a quality production and large target audience, as well as leverage the communication benefits of the progressive integration of TV, digital and social media.

    IG Asia Paci?c head Tamas Szabo said, “We are very pleased to be a regional sponsor of ‘The Apprentice Asia‘. Serious investors and professional traders across Asia are keen to take advantage of global financial markets. And they want to trade with someone they can trust. IG is a world leader in financial derivatives trading.

    “Part of IG Group, a FTSE 250 company, we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional customer service alongside innovative trading technology. Partnering with a quality production like The Apprentice Asia, through Asia‘s No.1 general entertainment channel AXN, provides us with an excellent opportunity to showcase our service and product across the region.”

    During IG‘s episode, the contestants must demonstrate to the show‘s host AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes and his advisors that they possess the business acumen to manage and make sound decisions under pressure.

    Szabo added, “The attributes and qualities of a good trader are exactly those needed to become Tony‘s Apprentice. Without giving the game away, we know everyone will enjoy our exciting and unique episode”.

  • 41.5% spend around 1-5% of their marketing budget on social media: E&Y

    41.5% spend around 1-5% of their marketing budget on social media: E&Y

    MUMBAI: 41.5 per cent spend around 1 per cent to 5 per cent of their marketing budget on social media, as per the Ernst & Young‘s new report titled ‘Social Media Marketing – India Trends Study 2013‘. Most social media budgets are below Rs 10 million.

    The findings of the report are based on a survey of 48 social media-savvy organisations in India as well as secondary research. The key questions that the study attempts to answer include what is the business objective for using social media, what are the commonly used strategies and measures, the average social media budget and its future prospects.

    Community building and highlighting company news are the top reasons for social media use by organisations in India. They are also increasingly using social media to generate leads, provide customer service, conduct research, get customer feedback, understand customer behavior and do competitive benchmarking, according to the report.

    The report further states, Facebook is the most popular social media platform in India with more than 62 million users, and is the favorite playground for social media savvy organisations to banter in everyday conversations and engage in promotions and contests for its fans. Additionally, almost half of the organisations surveyed are already using emerging platforms such as Pinterest, Google Plus, and Foursquare.

    “Social media is fast emerging as a means of partnership between organisations and their customers, leading to continuous engagement and deeper loyalty. Many Indian organisations are already using social media in an advanced manner, even though there are ample growth opportunities. The future is looking bright with increase in scale and sophistication; however, social media savvy organisations need to analyse their maturity level and explore new opportunities. They can move beyond marketing and see which other departments can benefit from using social media. Clarity of purpose and engaging universally accepted approaches in calculating ROI from social media marketing will help organisations make bigger investments in this area,” Ernst & Young advisory director and leader – customer practice Dinesh Mishra opines.

    More than half of the social media-savvy organisations in India, who participated in the survey, post two to three updates on their Facebook pages a day. A quarter of the organisations surveyed said that they post one update per day on their Facebook pages. About one-third said that they post more than three tweets a day on Twitter, while 28.9 per cent said they tweet two to three times a day. On the speed of response – one-fourth of the surveyed organisations respond to fan queries on Facebook within an average of 30 minutes of the query being posted, which indicates a robust monitoring and response structure in place. On Twitter, 28 per cent respond to their fans and followers within 30 minutes. However, 14 per cent of the organisations still take 13-24 hours to respond.

    With social media becoming a key component of the marketing strategy for companies, the need to appease online fans comes as a natural extension. 64.6 per cent of the surveyed organisations said they have organised exclusive deals for online fans and 20.8 per cent said they are likely to organise such deals in the future. 83 per cent of the surveyed said that they have used social media advertisements majorly to promote a contest/campaign or for brand awareness and 88.6 per cent said they find social media advertisements beneficial in achieving their objectives.

    Almost all of social media efforts in India are managed by in-house teams: 76.7 per cent of the surveyed expressed that social media is handled by their marketing department with the rest being managed by a cross-functional team or by the public relations and communications team. Other than using it for marketing activities, 34.6 per cent said they use social media for thought leadership while 26.9 per cent use it to promote corporate social responsibility. A majority (70.2 per cent) said they have an in-house social media expert in middle management.

    Knowing how the social media governance situation looks like within an organisation comes with many benefits such as recognising strategic opportunities, enhancing competitive advantage, conducting efficient recruitment, cost reduction, generating revenue, creating valued relationships and controlling strategic, operational, reputational and legal risks.

    “Social media-savvy organisations are very optimistic about the role of social media in their organisations. Organisations have realised that social media generates great insights and helps engaging with customers on a continuous basis, and in some cases also generates sales and leads. Social media has helped organisations to create their own communities of fans, customers and prospects. The huge growth and demand of internet connected devices in India is only going to further strengthen the influence and power of social media in customer engagement, and organisations may well look at meeting their strategic goals and business needs through this channel in future,” Mishra concluded.

  • CogMat walks away with The Resort social media biz

    CogMat walks away with The Resort social media biz

    MUMBAI: Four star luxury getaway The Resort located at Aksa beach in Mumbai has roped in digital marketing agency CogMat to handle its social media duties. It already works with Four Points by Sheraton in Navi Mumbai, a sister concern of The Resort.

    The agency will be responsible for coming up with a new content strategy for the resort. It will work towards increasing the current fan base and enhancing the brands‘ interaction with it through targeted media spends.

    The Resort general manager Anuj Prakash said, “We have been fairly impressed with the way they have created social media presence for Four Points by Sheraton. Having seen their work, we met them to understand what they could do with our brand. We liked the ideas that were presented and their understanding of how a luxury resort like ours needs to be promoted on social networks. We look forward to working with CogMat on this initiative.”

    CogMat co-founder Mitchelle Carvalho said, “For the longest time now, The Resort has been a landmark in Mumbai where luxury hospitality and weekend getaways are concerned and CogMat is thrilled to have them aboard as a client. We intend to manifest the loyalty and goodwill on social media that The Resort so thoroughly enjoys among its guests. We also intend to reach out to the new-age weekend getaway seekers and create recall value for The Resort.”

  • Kirstine Stewart to oversee Twitter in Canada

    Kirstine Stewart to oversee Twitter in Canada

    MUMBAI: CBC senior executive Kirstine Stewart is leaving. She will oversee social media Twitter‘s operations in Canada.

    She said, “I‘ve had some of the happiest moments in my life at the CBC, and I‘ve been honoured to represent such an important name to Canadians.

    “I‘m proud of what we‘ve done together these past seven years. I will miss the CBC family dearly, but I know that even when one leaves the CBC, the CBC never really leaves you. It‘s in my DNA, and I‘m all the better for it.”

  • OLX.in says ‘Every Mother Counts’ to mark Mothers’ Day

    OLX.in says ‘Every Mother Counts’ to mark Mothers’ Day

    NEW DELHI: As Mothers‘ Day approaches, online trading site OLX.in has initiated a social campaign called “Every Mother Counts” across the key markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

    Designed by Value 360 Communications the campaign aims to bring smiles on the faces of thousands of impoverished mothers in India.

    In a bid to be seen as a socially responsible business outfit, OLX.in wants to encourage its users to donate goods enabling underprivileged kids of India to celebrate Mother‘s Day with their mothers.

    The campaign has been integrated using marketing communication tools like radio, live media, print, social media and public relations to create awareness on the inception of the social campaign. OLX.in has also partnered with coffee shop chain Cafe Coffee Day and Future Group‘s retail chain Big Bazaar to set in motion the gift collection process.

    A separate URL called “Every Mother Counts” has been created to activate the campaign online. People can either register themselves on the page to donate products or express interest to donate by sending a simple text on the number which is specific for the city.

    Apart from this, people can insert donation leaflets in drop boxes which are placed across CCD and Big Bazaar outlets in the four cities. OLX representatives would be collecting these gifts from the patrons preferred location/ home in order to make this process more simple for the people. Once the gifts are collected, the final culmination of the activity i.e. the distribution of the gifts to the mothers will be conducted from 6 May to 12 May.

    OLX CEO Amarjit Batra said, “Being a leader in the online classifieds space, OLX.in acts as an influencer and provokes every individual to share a human aspect. We want every kid to believe that his / her mom is a ‘super mom‘ and let mothers experience the joy of being a mom by gifting them products which they would cherish forever. We further plan to come up with some more unique initiatives to strengthen the mother – kid relation in the lower strata of society.”

  • Fashionandyou.com launched its first commercial on Social Media

    MUMBAI: Lifestyle and fashion e-tailer fashionandyou.com launched its first advertising campaign on social media, featuring Nargis Fakhri who is also a brand ambassador of the website.

    The video is centered around the new age couple Nargis Fakhri (a shopaholic) and her husband Suspi Singh (rightly named after his suspicious character).

    “Daisy (Nargis Fakhri) is hooked on to fashionandyou.com for bringing in a humungous variety of fashion and lifestyle products online. With over 15 new sales every day, 700+ brands and that too at up to 80 per cent off, her closet sees new entries almost every day. Suspi Singh on the other hand doubts the reason for increase in the number items in her wardrobe, and concludes that she is probably having an affair; with all the new additions being lavished upon her, by her secret lover.”

    The goal of the ad campaign is to highlight the offerings given by the website.

    Fashionandyou.com CEO Aasheesh Mediratta said, “The digital medium today has reached a point wherein we can measure the response and the feedback from our customers through social media. We are extremely psyched about having a growing network of over two million fans on social media; therefore we took a different route for channelling our ad campaign through a unique medium rather opting for traditional media.”

    Fakhri said, “People today are extremely style conscious and often switch between several roles, from work to social events to family all in a span of a few hours… and we do it with élan. We‘ve evolved into a race that is brand and quality conscious while also expecting the best service and value for money. I believe I represent this consumer: I am style conscious, I choose to make a statement in the way I carry myself and I appreciate the best shopping experience. FashionAndYou is at the pinnacle of catering to this consumer. I‘m glad to be a part of a vision I believe in.”

  • Indian marketers most optimistic about brands performance in 2013: Ipsos Survey

    MUMBAI: Indian marketers are most optimistic about the expected outlook of their brands in 2013, with 85 per cent confident that their band will perform better than 2012, according to Ipsos Asia Pacific Marketers Outlook 2013 Survey.

    More than four out of ten (43 per cent) Indian marketers said their company has performed better than expected in 2012, in terms of sales across India; over three in ten (33 per cent) say it was same as previous year and about 24 percent believe it was worse than excepted.

    Ipsos in India head of marketing communications Biswarup Banerjee said, “Understanding target audience and working on a shared strategy were top performing capabilities in 2012 but are less prioritized in 2013; while measuring campaign effectiveness and creative marketing solutions are the top priorities this year for Indian Marketers. This suggests that marketers are setting higher standards and becoming more result-driven in 2013.”

    Improving overall marketing effectiveness/ enhance ROI measurements (68 per cent), building greater brand loyalty (61 per cent), develop more integrated marketing strategy (60 per cent), and to further develop the potential of digital media platforms (57 per cent) such as social networking sites, blogs, mobile, etc. are the key challenges of Indian marketers in 2013.

    They expect better quality insights and creative thinking from their agency partners. Indian marketers think that social media; CRM and PR will take up a higher role in marketing communication plan.

    Marketers are highly optimistic about their brand outlook in 2013, but are more conservative towards their respective industry outlook. Retail industry marketers are less optimistic about the outlook of their brands.

    “With sectors from automotive to finance, healthcare to consumer products all demonstrating positive outlooks for 2013; we expect to see smarter spending and strategic deployment of always-limited-resources so that marketers can focus on communicating with their most profitable customers. Learning how to tailor content, channel, frequency and message to emotionally engage with key segments will be the difference between budgets well spent and money wasted,” added Banerjee.

    In the Asia Pacific half of marketers plan to increase their overall marketing budget including media spend and brand investment, reinforcing the positive sentiment in 2013. Seventy percent of Indian marketers and 59 percent Chinese marketers’ have plans to increase overall budget for marketing investments in 2013.

    For 2013, one-third of the marketers will be working on a budget between $1 million – $5 million. Consumer product companies are likely to have a much larger budget.

    Ipsos Asia Pacific Marketers Outlook 2013 study had three fundamental objectives – to gauge business performance for 2012; to understand the outlook for 2013 in terms of business performance and marketing investment; and to evaluate current trends in marketing actions and strategies.

    Ipsos interviewed 372 senior marketing professionals online in December 2012 – January 2013, out of which 30 percent respondents were from Mainland China and 19 per cent were from India. More than half the respondents in India come from consumer products, finance and healthcare industry.

    Digital marketing channels are not surprisingly given a higher role in 2013, especially social media which is considered more important than online ads, and mobile marketing. Social media still has large untapped potential to reach huge mobile consumers base, especially considering the increasingly high mobile/ smartphone penetration in India.

    “Marketers not only need to reinforce their presence in the social media space, but more importantly, to think about what they are going to use digital media for (e.g. customer engagement, brand building) and how to develop their unique positioning in this fast growing channel,” added Banerjee.

    While social media / viral (21 per cent) are cited as the most effective medium in the next three years, TV (21 per cent) is still regarded as an important medium in the future considering the large number of uneducated population in India who patronise TV. So television in India still continues to resist the rise of digital channels in a large way.

    Company websites (83 per cent), dedicated brand web page (80 per cent) and social networking sites (68 per cent) will be the most important digital media channels to be used by marketers’, therefore establishing unique positioning will become more important in order to differentiate from competitors.

  • Pepsi dominates social media conversations during IPL6

    MUMBAI: Pepsi‘s aggressive Rs 1.5 billion marketing pitch around the Indian Premier League (IPL) seems to be paying rich dividends. The food and beverage major is not only scoring over other IPL sponsors and advertisers on-ground and television but also on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

    According to MEC-GroupM IPL6 Social Media Update report, Pepsi leads the conversations with 93 per cent share primarily driven by #PepsiIPL on Twitter.

    In terms of chatter around TV commercials of sponsors, Pepsi‘s Ranbir Kapoor and Oh Yes Abhi ads dominate with 62 per cent share of conversations. Vodafone‘s Zoo zoos follow with 22 per cent while Godrej (Aamir Khan) and Samsung are distant third and fourth at 4.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.

    Powered by GroupM‘s Social Hub, the weekly update will present analysis of the social chatter around the IPL. The study covers the complete spectrum of social media – Twitter, Facebook, blogs and message boards.

    MEC India MD T Gangadhar said, “Multi-screen engagement is a reality today and social media chatter is a terrific indication of how invested we are in premier TV events like the IPL. This study throws up interesting insights with regard to teams, players and brands and can be enormously useful for advertisers seeking to ride the IPL wave.”

    When it comes to IPL franchises, Mumbai Indians dominate the conversations with a 22 per cent share of buzz, followed by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with 19 per cent. IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders has just 5 per cent share of the conversations on Twitter.

    When it comes to player buzz, CSK skipper MS Dhoni leads the popularity chart with 22 per cent share. Three out of the top five most discussed are foreign players Kieron Pollard (15 per cent), Chris Gayle (11 per cent) and Dale Steyn (9 per cent).

    At fourth position is Rajasthan Royals skipper Rahul Dravid with 10 per cent share followed by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar with a 7 per cent share.

    The report says that the IPL 6 got off to a tepid start on until the CSK Vs MI which just 43 per cent of IPL chatter that week (April 2 to April 7) happened on the day of the CSK-MI game.

    MEC national director – Social Media and Insights Karthik Nagarajan said, “In India, prime-time television is becoming prime time for social media as well – with sports, news and reality television driving maximum chatter during ‘air time‘. Nothing demonstrates this more than IPL6, where platforms like Twitter and FB are becoming conversation capital and virtual stadiums during the game. The opportunities for advertisers to join these conversations organically are priceless.”