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22`100September 16-30, 2013 Volume 2, Issue 9
Notwithstanding the controversy and the criticism, the show has its admirers and they keep coming back.
What makes Bigg Boss still tick after six seasons?
NNNNN ttttt iithhhhhhhhhhh tt ddddddiii ttthhhhhhh ttt dddddddddddddd ttthhhhhhhhh iiiiiittttttttiiiiii iiiii
How he became an entrepreneur.
8
Kasturi & Sons’ CEO on The Hindu’s Tamil daily.
The quiz show that is a hit in many languages.
18 30 36
Language of MoneyKBC REGIONAL
Arun AnantINTERVIEW
Sameer NairDEFINING MOMENTS
PLUSAIRTEL
Power of the Rupee 10
STAR PLUS
New Mahabharata 27
LIFE OK
Festive Offer 27
COLORS/ASIAN PAINTS
Home Sweet Home 29
EDITORIAL
5afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
Volume 2, Issue 9This fortnight...
EDITOR Sreekant Khandekar
PUBLISHER Prasanna Singh
SENIOR LAYOUT ARTISTVinay Dominic
PRODUCTION EXECUTIVEAndrias Kisku
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIESRahul Puri, (0120) 4077833, 4077866
Noida
Arunima Bhattacharya, (022) 40429702-5 Mumbai
MARKETING OFFICEB-3, First Floor, Sector-4, Noida-201301.
Tel: (0120) 4077800.
MUMBAI501-502, Makani Center, 5th Floor,
Off Linking Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai - 400050
Tel: +91-22-40429 709 - 712
BENGALURUS-1, New Bridge Corporate Centre, 777 D, 100 ft Road, Indira Nagar,
Bengaluru - 560038, India
SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIESAkhilesh Singh, (0120) 4077837
Owned by Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd and Printed and published by
Prasanna Singh, at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex, Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar,
New Delhi-110 063.
Printed at Cirrus Graphics Private LimitedB-61, Sector 67,
Noida (U.P.), 201301
Why Indian ads feature so many non-Indian models.
POINTS OF VIEWAd CapsHow is the creative fraternity reacting to the 12-minute ad cap imposed on channels?
31The girl with the butter has a 3D version now.
A promotional video pokes fun at other brands.
37 P L U S
YOUTUBE COMEDY WEEK Laugh Riot 12
GODREJ AER Theme Song 12
MENSXP.COM Lifestyle Change 14
VIRAL NOW Sweet and Sour Story 16
LG Another Platform 16
OLX.IN Guide to Advertising 26
17 8
AMULA New Dimension
GOOGLE-NESTLEA Kitkat Break
Sreekant [email protected]
CONTENTS
I am embarrassed by just how many times I have watched the English film, Gladiator. Because I like Russell Crowe, I enjoy catching it on TV whenever I can. Watching
an action film can be curiously relaxing when you can anticipate each bit of violence and every drop of blood. Whenever I view an especially gory sequence with screaming Roman hordes in the Colosseum, I think to myself, ‘Ah, the reality show of their times’.
I may not be an ardent viewer of reality shows but, to my mind, the parallel between the then and the now is unmistakable. In those days, gladiatorial contests kept the citizens occupied and they presumably went back home with the satisfaction of having witnessed someone’s extreme – and generally terminal - physical agony. In the reality show, we are captivated by a character’s mental agony subsequent to his or her public humiliation.
As has been pointed out by psychologists, to describe their social rejection people use words associated with physical injury – for example, ‘hurt’ and ‘crushed’. It goes a step further. According to psychologist C. Nathan DeWall, ‘Experiencing rejection activates the same brain regions that become activated when people experience physical pain’.
The reality show format was tried in the US for the first time in the early 1970s.It vanished and reappeared 20 years later in part because a writers’ strike threw normal programming out of gear.
Big Brother is one of the earliest programmes in this genre. It began in The Netherlands and has since travelled to many countries across the world. It is in decline in many countries for two reasons. One, competition from other shows. Two, the rise of social networking: this allows people to peep into the lives of people they know, which is more rewarding than trying to empathise with a bunch of strangers in a house.
In India, however, Bigg Boss continues to grow from strength to strength. Credit for this must go to Colors for assiduously persisting – and experimenting - with it though it still has to make money, according to the channel. And then, of course, there is Salman Khan who has been anchoring Bigg Boss for some years now and of whom the audience can never get enough.
22`100September 16-30, 2013 Volume 2, Issue 9
Notwithstanding the controversy and the criticism, the show has its admirers and they keep coming back.
What makes Bigg Boss still tick after six seasons?
NNN tt ithithN t h t dit ddididi thththh tt ddd ththhhh iiitii iiittii i
SSSSSSEEEVVEEEENNNNNNTTTTTTTHHHHHHHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVEEEENNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNN
How he became an entrepreneur.
8
Kasturi & Sons’ CEO on The Hindu’s Tamil daily.
The quiz show that is a hit in many languages.
18 30 36
Language of MoneyKBC REGIONAL
Arun AnantINTERVIEW
Sameer NairDEFINING MOMENTS
PLUSAIRTEL
Power of the Rupee 10
STAR PLUS
New Mahabharata 27
LIFE OK
Festive Offer 27
COLORS/ASIAN PAINTS
Home Sweet Home 29
AD CAMPAIGNSForeign Touch
6
FEVER 104 FMHorror on AirThis is meant to scare those who like a good fright.
Advertising is all about persuasion. And persuasion, it is said, works best when the
message is delivered by people you can identify with, be it in terms of physical appearance, life stage or the situation they are shown to be in. It’s a wonder then how so many ads meant for Indian audiences refute the first of these conditions by featuring non-Indians.
Indians are seduced by white skin and this is one of those rare, SEC-agnostic facts. But there’s more to this trend than just this. Non-Indians appear in our ads for one of several reasons.
WHITE=PREMIUM
A common one is to make the statement: ‘We’re as good as our
international competition’. We see this most often in the case of Indian handset brands. The occasional exception does exist (Bikaji Papad), but it pales in comparison to the long list of handset brands that have resorted to this -- Micromax, Lava Mobile, Xolo, Karbonn Mobiles, Maxx Mobile and Zen Mobile. The writing on the wall is clear: ‘We’re as good as the Apples and Samsungs of the world’, these brands appear to be saying in unison.
As Shubhodip Pal, chief marketing officer, Micromax, told us earlier this year in the context of Micromax’s then new smartphone, Canvas, “My prospective users perceive Micromax as yet another ‘Chinese-trading company’. We want to transcend this image. The process has started already; our ad for Canvas has a very ‘premium’ feel to it.” And sure enough, the ad he was referring to featured white models. Other categories have also exploited this connection between ‘white’ and ‘premium’ -- in its recent spurt of print communication, Italian scooter brand Vespa also featured white models. And, guess what! Vespa is priced at a 40-45 per cent premium vis-à-vis the average scooter brand in India.
DESI AD, VIDESHI INGREDIENTS
Another reason to why the Indian ads feature non-Indian models
is to draw attention to the raw components of the product. Manosh Sengupta, brand-parent, nurturer and mentor, brand@itude, says, “In the case of food brands, showing
foreigners could serve the strategic purpose of establishing the fact that the ingredients used in that product have been sourced from various parts of the world.” For example, the use of blacks in Cadbury’s Bournville ad helps convey the message that the chocolate has been made by using the choicest cocoa beans from Ghana. Even the recent ad by Cadbury Celebrations shows people of different nationalities procuring the raw materials for the chocolate from places best known for them.
THE ‘IDEALISED SELF’
A third reason we see so many non-Indians in our TVCs is because international ads,
originally made for an overseas audience, are often aired in this part of the world. This happens in the case of global brands that have a strong Indian presence, most frequently cosmetics and beauty products (Maybelline Outdoor). Typically, the
audio is dubbed in Hindi or Indian-accented English while the visuals remain international. And somehow, this works.
Strange as it is, these international ads don’t look out of place on Indian media. This could be because the Indian eye is already quite familiar with foreign faces, because of our exposure to American serials on TV and Hollywood movies. As Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director, Ogilvy India, puts it, “I don’t think Indian viewers even stop to process it as different or deviant when they see foreigners in an ad.”
In the context of the beauty category, of course, international ads understandably work given the famed Indian fascination for extreme fairness. Chattopadhyay says, “In this
category in particular, international models have aspirational value. Given our obsession with fair skin, we can easily see an international model as an ‘idealised version’ of ourselves.”
However, he cautions that overdoing international imagery could be detrimental. “While we can identify with a dark-haired, dark-eyed European, you’ll never see a blonde-haired model in an ad. Brands have to walk a fine line, balancing their ‘aspirational quotient’ and ‘relatability quotient’,” he reasons.
ECONOMIC REASONS
Sometimes, an international ad makes it to Indian screens due to practical considerations.
For example, if a global cream brand (Vaseline body lotion) is making an ad that has to run across three Asian countries, featuring a Caucasian model seems like the most viable option. Here’s
why: “Indonesian audiences may not relate to an Indian model and people in Thailand may not relate to an Indonesian model. But all three countries can relate to a Caucasian face,” says Chattopadhyay. Making one ad with a face that has cross-country appeal and running it across a region is more cost-effective than making a separate ad for each country within that region. Now, why the Asian sub-continent is always at the
Foreign TouchAD CAMPAIGNS
6 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
Pal, Sengupta and Chattopadhyay (L tp R): global world
White models are begin-ning to figure prominently in Indian ads. Why is this happening? By Ashwini Gangal
>>
The Amul girl has leaped right out of her outdoor pedestal onto our TV screens for an ad film that introduces viewers to
a bunch of different ways of consuming Amul butter.
The moppet has appeared in Amul butter TVCs in the past but only as a sign off. Around a decade back, though, she did appear all through the brand’s TVCs but in a flat, two-dimensional, sketch-like form.
Now, Toonz Animation has given the Amul girl a three-dimensional form for the very first time. In the TVC she looks like a regular, well-rounded cartoon character and has been profiled from several angles. Moreover, the 60-second version of the 3D ad will be placed in cinemas during 3D movies; when viewed through special goggles.
“We have contemporised our butter girl. Nowadays everything is in 3D -- movies, games -- so why not the Amul girl?” Sodhi says about the change. In fact, today her popularity is being leveraged beyond billboards. The girl has started appearing on Amul’s otherwise boring milk packets. And besides reproducing the billboards as press ads in newspapers, Amul has also started airing them on TV as quick 10-second films! Here’s how: A scene of an actual road is integrated with a graphic billboard, which is a replication of Amul’s actual billboard. Given the nature of the content of these topical ads, these short films are aired on Hindi and English news channels.
However, the ad spends, Sodhi insists, are still “less than one per cent of the total sales turnover.” What has changed is Amul’s ‘media selection strategy’ such that the moppet is better exposed.
TV FOR FOOD, OUTDOOR FOR WIT
These 10-second ‘billboard films’ notwithstanding, Amul’s media strategy is
such that outdoor continues to be used for chronicling the nation’s socio-political events and TV is used to highlight the brand’s product
benefits. In the new TVC, for instance, the mascot introduces children to more ‘modern’ ways -- as Sodhi puts it -- of eating Amul butter, that is, with noodles, pasta or corn.
The nature of the two media channels - TV and outdoor - are in part the reason for such a strategy. TV lends itself to sensorial advertising. Ever since it made the leap from black and white to colour, Amul butter, like many other food brands, started using it as a medium to lure consumers with appetising sights and sounds. So, shots of food became dominant and the Amul girl
gradually began appearing more towards the end of the films. On the other hand, given the limited reading time available to commuters, outdoor is better suited for quick, witty copy.
Rahul daCunha of daCunha Communications, the agency behind the butter brand’s ads, says, “The role of the Amul girl is different on each platform. On the outdoor medium, she is a social observer; the strategy is to comment on India. But the strategy for TV is: sell more butter. So, in a sense, her role on TV is more hard working.”
daCunha goes on to tell us that over the past few years, Amul butter has found yet another
media platform in digital (particularly Facebook and Twitter) for its topical outdoor creatives. “We need to target the youth,” he says. In fact, the brand has upped its digital spends by 30-35 per cent over the past year.
“Five years back,” says daCunha, “we used to do one hoarding a week. Today, we create one new topical ad daily.” Of these, some are for the outdoor space, some appear only on Twitter, some appear in print, and some are released only in a specific area, say South Mumbai or South India.
MASCOT MAKEOVER
Created by Sylvester daCunha in 1966 to rival Polson’s butter girl, the Amul girl was first
used in outdoor ads that were put up on a few lampposts in Mumbai. Public reaction to the innovation was immediate and positive. People found her cute enough for the brand to make billboards her permanent home. Thus, at a time when there was no TV, Amul butter decided to embrace outdoor.
So, did the butter girl need this leap into 3D? “Sure. Bringing a mascot alive allows her to develop a different relationship with the younger audiences,” Kiran Khalap, founder of Chlorophyll says.
On billboards, the Amul girl is witty and spunky but in this ad film, she is almost a goody two-shoes. Could this disconnect in the mascot’s personality traits confuse the consumer? “One ad cannot confuse anybody; a relatively longer running campaign may,” Khalap asserts.
A New DimensionAMUL
The Amul butter girl wears a new 3D look in the brand’s latest TVC. A look at their media strategy. By Ashwini Gangal
Sodhi and daCunha: mass mascot
8 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
The Amul girl was first used in outdoor ads on lampposts in Mumbai.
In a bid to promote data usage, Bharti Airtel has kick-started a campaign ‘`1 Entertainment Store’, which is an extension of its earlier campaign
launched a few months ago. Both campaigns highlight the brand’s economic data package offerings and indicate the increasing penetration of smartphones in the country.
The latest campaign consists of four films conceptualised by Taproot India. The situations in the films promote Airtel’s ‘`1, friendship free’ proposition in accessing smartphone features such as e-mail, Facebook, songs and videos. In other words, the consumers can use any of the mentioned services at `1 per day. The intention is to encourage first time internet users. The features are compatible with more than 5,500 mobile handsets including feature phones, with 35,000 videos on offer.
The ‘Music’ film shows a young man playing antakshari with a mute girl, who downloads songs on the mobile when it’s her turn. In the ‘Video’ film, two girls pitted against each other for a karate competition become friendly over a Hanuman Chalisa video.
Interestingly, the e-mail and Facebook TVCs allude to the mass penetration of smartphones and data usage. While a lift man asks a hip young man if he could connect with him on Facebook, the ‘E-mail’ film shows a formally dressed woman unable to access the e-mail on her mobile phone because it is drenched. She is surprised when a middle class homemaker sitting nearby offers her phone, which has the facility. The TVCs have been produced by Equinox Films.
In its summer campaign, which was launched in April (and went on till June), Airtel had introduced its `1 proposition for video viewing, perhaps with the intention to encourage video viewing on mobiles.
The current campaign will be
supported by outdoor and digital media as well.In June, Airtel and its competitor Vodafone had
cut down the 2G data plans in certain circles. The campaigns could have been released to woo the customers to use the brand’s data plan.
According to a study carried out by Nielsen last year, there are 27 million smartphone users in the urban areas of the country. The study also reveals that smartphones are extensively used for social networking (22 million users) and online searches (24 million). Also, about 16 million users download videos.
Another study conducted by Strategy Analytics, this year, states how India has become the third largest smartphone market in terms of volume.
SMART MOVE?
Menaka Menon, head, strategic planning, Draftfcb Ulka
Bengaluru, feels the `1 offering seems too good to be true, given how the rupee has been falling through the floor recently.
On a serious note, Menon says, “The Airtel campaign does a good job of democratising smartphone features and services and makes them available to everyone across the board. Given that there are smartphones aplenty at entry level price points, an offering of this kind was but required.” However, Menon doubts whether brand Airtel stands out well in the campaign.
Ravinder Siwach, executive creative director, McCann Erickson, isn’t too thrilled with the campaign, as he liked the earlier campaign better.
“The current campaign is trying too hard to bring in ‘emotion’ in to otherwise tactical offering,” he says. Siwach found the Hanuman Chalisa ad film genuine and spontaneous.
AIRTEL <<
...Foreign Touch
With the increasing penetration of smartphones, Airtel’s latest campaign emphasises on economical data usage. By Rashmi Menon
Power of a Rupee
Menon and Siwach: priced promo
The campaigns highlight Airtel’s data package offerings in the country.
1 0 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
receiving end of ads featuring people that don’t resemble its citizens is another issue for another day.
SCRIPT FIRST
Speaking of practical considerations, sometimes, the script demands the
use of a foreigner. The popular ‘Survive Mumbai’ ad by American Tourister, for example, was specifically designed to target foreigners touring Mumbai. Featuring a white gentleman braving Mumbai’s crowded local trains was logical. Sometimes the script demands the use of a non-Indian face despite being targeted at Indians. For instance, in the case of Park Avenue’s recent ad for its deodorant range, the creative team was determined to cast a foreigner. Why so? “We needed a ‘hipster’ kind of guy for this film to work. An Indian guy just wouldn’t have cut it. The humour needed a slightly weird casting,” says Ashish Khazanchi, former creative head at Publicis Ambience, the agency that created this ad. As an aside,
he adds that one of the reasons we see many white males in our ads is because there’s a dearth of good male models in India, especially the kind that can be cast in ads for the fashion and grooming category. “Good male models aren’t as easily available as good female models. Besides, when it comes to fashion, our archetypes are driven by the West, so using a firang doesn’t hurt most brands,” Khazanchi says.
FIRANG=SUPERSTAR
Featuring firangs in our ads serves many strategic purposes. While experts don’t
question marketers’ decisions to do so, they do ask them to tread with caution. Anuraag Khandelwal, ECD and creative head, Soho Square, says, “We, as a country, have not evolved; ‘gori chamdi’ is aspirational. And through our ads we are selling a dream. But you can’t use this as a strategy for any category. There has to be some believability.” We asked Khandelwal the question raised at the start of this piece: Isn’t it easier to persuade potential buyers by featuring someone who resembles them? “Well,” he answers, “if an Indian is persuading you, then that Indian better be a celebrity. A lay firang and an Indian celebrity have a similar effect on Indian viewers.” ‘Fair’ point, eh?
Following its first Comedy Week in the US, YouTube has now announced the second edition of the same, in India. Mentioning
the variety in consumption patterns, YouTube India officials are confident that comedy entertains all and will be a hit in the country.
The comedy week, between September 5 and 12, will facilitate new channel launches on the digital platform. Tying up with about 100 partners to get content of 400 hours, YouTube plans to launch 35 channels dedicated to comedy. The partners include Indian content producers and production houses.
All India Bakchod, Yo Yo Bharti Singh (featuring comedian Bharti), The Viral Fever (featuring the Qtiyapa team) and NH7 are some of the channels scheduled for launch during the week. The original content will be produced by O4 Digital Media, for 10 different channels on YouTube (www.youtube.com/comedyweek). The content is owned by the production house, which will get a percentage share from the advertisements gathered by the videos.
Comedy content will also be available on other channels, contributed and maintained by Rajshri, Eros, T-series, Shemaroo, Disney, Star, Colors, SabTV, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Telguone, MTV and Yash Raj films.
Television content from serials such as Comedy Circus, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Khichdi, Sarabhai versus Sarabhai, Comedy Nights with Kapil and The Great Indian Laughter Challenge will also be curated, along with Bollywood humorous content.
It will also feature comedians like Cyrus Broacha, Vir Das, Bharti, Krushna, VIP, Saurabh Pant and Sugandha Raja Sagoo, and Indian regional language comedy content in Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati and Kannada.
Gautam Anand, director, content partnerships,
YouTube APAC, says, “Here in India, comedy shows contribute to over 30 per cent of total watch hours within the TV shows category, and in the past year, comedy show viewership has shown one of the fastest growths in viewership. Bringing Comedy Week to India allows us to give India’s audiences more of the content they love and discover new content that they can only enjoy on YouTube.”
In a conversation with afaqs!Reporter, Anand adds that there will be more such theme-based festivals in the future. In the US version, out of the total 150 partners, 100 saw an increase of about 40
per cent in their subscription base.Sandeep Menon, director, marketing, Google
India mentions that two television commercials will be released. Apart from that, digital will be used to communicate with the existing viewers.
He explains, “One thing that is peculiar to the Indian market is that while 1.2 billion people log in to YouTube now, we know that there is potential for bringing much more than that. So, communication has to go beyond the reach of internet.”
Sanjiv Sharma, founder and executive chairman of O4 Digital Media, says, “On 10 channels, we will put up 10-15 fresh videos every day. The Cyrus Broacha channel alone will be launched with three-four shows and more will be launched as we go by.” The production company aims to establish a strong presence online with original content. The exclusive content will include shows of leading stand up comedy stars.
Laugh RiotYOUTUBE COMEDY WEEK
YouTube has launched 35 channels dedicated to comedy after tying up with about 100 partners to get content of 400 hours. News Bureau
What started out as a Twitter hashtag is now a song based on a social
message. #DontSmokeBecause is a Twitter crowd-sourced music video done for brand Godrej Aer. The lyrics of the song are compiled with 2,704 tweets posted by people across India and filmed with the support of 330 people.
Godrej Aer recently launched
its variant called the Musk After Smoke, which eliminates the stale smell of smoke that lingers in a room after smoking. The campaign aimed at engaging with the youth through a social message.
The campaign is rather ironical as the product is an after-smoke air freshener and the video urges people to give up smoking. Conceptualised by Creativeland
Asia, #DontSmokeBecause was launched as a hashtag on the Twitter profile of @Godrejaer and asked people to write in their reasons to avoid or quit smoking. Launched
in July on Twitter, the comments started pouring in. Soon after this, the video was filmed with the
Theme SongGODREJ AER
The campaign aims to engage with the youth. By Satrajit Sen
>>
1 2 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
MensXP.com, the online men’s lifestyle portal owned by Times Internet, has redesigned its look and launched a host
of new features that can be incorporated in the day-to-day lives of Indian men. Started three years ago as India’s first online men’s lifestyle destination, the portal claims to now carry new lifestyle content that focuses on matters Indian men deem useful, entertaining and relevant.
The new website, the company claims, helps men be better men. Users come to the site with varying interests - some want to lose weight, some want to know how to get their partners to stop nagging, some dream of starting their own company, while others who simply want to get the latest style trends.
To cater to these information needs of the people, the new MensXP tries to address over 40 communities with relevant content on the site right now. Some of the popular content categories include entrepreneurship, break-ups, body building, weight loss, and style trends. Users can simply follow any of these communities and get related content updates every day.
Besides, with the new design, the portal has also increased its focus on visuals with large high resolution images that dominate the design.
Speaking to afaqs! about the objective behind the redesign, Angad Bhatia, founder and business head, MensXP.com, says, “For the longest time we have benchmarked ourselves against the best designed websites like USAToday, Airbnb and
AskMen, and we have derived our inspiration from various sources. This time we wanted to be different. We wanted to build something truly unique.”
So is there a change in the content strategy too?
“The major change here is that our content will now be as much optimised for social media, as it is for the search engines. Another important part of our content strategy is to make all our articles
very immersive. Large high resolution images and serving only relevant content are some of the aspects that formulate our content strategy,” he adds.
The new MensXP is also built for native content advertising and this is a fundamental leap the portal has made at a product level. Two of the
most important aspects for advertisers, beyond reach and engagement, are the environment (positioning) and the emotion of the ad. “We only wanted to build high impact advertising opportunities and took a lot of inspiration from high quality premium print magazines,” he informs.
In November, 2012, Times Internet acquired MensXP following which, the MensXP team joined Times Internet, and Angad Bhatia, founder of the company, started to serve as the business head of the unit. Speaking about the brand’s mobile strategy, Bhatia mentions that the new website presents content with a consistent feel across all platforms. Currently, over 30 per cent of the website’s overall traffic comes from mobile devices, he adds. According to comScore, the site, till March, 2013, has been garnering about four to five million page views a month.
Lifestyle ChangeMENSXP.COM
With the new design, the portal has increased its focus on visuals and has introduced new advertising units keeping the contextual advertiser in mind. By Satrajit Sen
Bhatia: new experience
support of people including young college students, senior citizens, working professionals and singers, amongst others.
The video was launched on YouTube on August 25. Till now, the video has received more than 50,000 views and is being promoted on Twitter and Facebook. According to the agency, the project took two months, from conceptualisation to execution.
The brief received from the brand team at Godrej Aer was to engage with the youth on digital and pass on the social message. The idea was to get people to write the lyrics themselves.
Anu Joseph, executive creative director, Creativeland Asia, says, “In the early days of Twitter, we had created a successful Twitter-based campaign to track inventory for Hippo. Since then, we have continued to push ourselves to use social media properties for client partners to create value-based differentiation. #DontSmokeBecause is a step-
towards using the 140-character platform inventively.”
Parle Agro’s Hippo had used Twitter as an alternative inventory-tracking tool. It urged followers to tweet whenever they found empty
shelves in their neighbourhoods. This was conceptualised by Creativeland Asia.
In 2012, Godrej launched its campaign for Aer, a range of home and car fragrances with Bombay Times, where the front page in The Times of India led the reader through a slug stating ‘Fresh news and fresh aer in Bombay Times today. Check it out’. The front page of the supplement carried the ad with the fragrance of the product. The campaign was designed by Godrej, along with its creative and media buying partners.
<<
...Theme Song
1 4 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
Joseph: no smoking
Let’s make news better
Your favourite newspaper, Hindustan Times, has
just hit the refresh button. This refresh isn’t just
cosmetic. It goes beyond look-and-feel. The new
Hindustan Times will be a reflection of our relent-
less commitment to inform, analyse and explain. It
will tirelessly work to make your life better; it will
partner you to ring in change.
We have brought in several interesting tweaks to
the newspaper. Specifically, with this Refresh, we
have more pages in our mainbook, new advertis-
ing opportunities on our Page One Plus, many
more windows for innovation, and interesting
engagement opportunities for the advertiser
through our AR platform.
21.83 lakh readers in Delhi-NCR
33% more readers in NCR than the nearest competitor
2.21 lakh more SEC A readers in Delhi-NCR than the nearest competitor
15.37 lakh readers in Delhi-NCR start their day with nothing but Hindustan Times
DELHI’S NO. 1 NEWSPAPER 12 TIMES IN A ROW.
Can the No. 1 get any better?
Well, it just did.
SOURCE: IRS Q4-2012; AIR, DELHI, DELHI-NCR
Though Cadbury Dairy Milk positioned itself as an alternative to sweets with
its ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye’ line of communication, Cadbury Bournville, the dark chocolate brand from the company, has taken a stand against excessive sweetness.
As an extension of the brand’s Not So Sweet TV campaign that was released recently, the brand has carried out an on-ground activation in a Mumbai mall and the video of the activation has gone viral on YouTube.
Done by Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai in a city mall, the activation featured a staged love proposal; a young guy proposes his love to a young lady, only to get thrashed by her for being too sweet with his words! Staged by theatre actors, the act absolutely stumped onlookers.
Even when watched online, the video doesn’t look like an ad as it uses a subtle reference to the brand. The activation features a train with the message ‘Bournville - Not So Sweet’ written on it, but the action in the background attracts all the attention making the train appear as a mere disturbance rather than an advertising message.
The idea to transform it into an online video was based on the understanding that on the digital medium, people love to see a video that showcases the misery of others. And, this worked well for the brand. Posted on YouTube from a random user account, in less than four days, the video reached three million views on YouTube. So far, till the report was filed, the video had crossed five million views. The brand expects the video to do upwards of 10 million views.
LOVE-LY PROMOTION?
So what was it that prompted the brand to develop this communication? Abhijit Avasthi, national
creative director, Ogilvy & Mather, states that this is an attempt to communicate the message that
having a dark chocolate is cool and it is not overtly sweet. “The taste of a dark chocolate is different and we were looking for an effective way to tell people this, especially those who still think Bournville happens to be just another sweet chocolate,” Avasthi adds.
The challenge was to do something in the online space that would perfectly showcase what ‘Not So Sweet’ is all about. The other challenge was the same as every other challenge in the online space. “We had to generate ‘buzz’, tap social
media and go ‘viral’ as nobody can predict what will become an online hit. Creating a hit on the internet is like creating Sholay - you can’t process knowledge and trends in order to create success. It just happens. Having said that, the Bournville viral does have some science and creativity by design, executed, of course, to near precision,” says Avasthi.
The key to the conversation surrounding this video is its suspicious nature and the realism that makes it debatable. To enhance the realism, the agency used a single camera that captured the entire thing in a single take.
VIRAL LOVE?
If you wanted a Cadbury Bournville back in 2009, you couldn’t just buy it, you had to ‘earn it’. It was this
thought that the TV campaign used to drive the first big launch for the brand in India. It was around 2011-12 that the brand started exploring the digital platform.
Starting in 2013, Cadbury Bournville has set digital as its lead medium for advertisement. Touted as Cadbury’s answer to the emerging market of luxury chocolates, the company unveiled Bournville in the Indian market in 2009.
(Viral Now is a section about videos that are catching people’s fancy on social media).
VIRAL NOW
Cadbury Bournville has carried out an on-ground activation, the video of which has gone viral on YouTube. By Satrajit Sen
Avasthi: not so sweet
1 6 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
At the mall
Electronics goods maker LG has used the social medium of Vine videos as an online campaign for the launch
of the LG Optimus G Pro in India. The phone was launched in India in July and marks the company’s entry into the high-end smartphone segment in the country.
Conceptualised by SkyHub, the digital creative and technology firm, the campaign was launched with a series of Vine videos made around the features of the G Pro smartphone, incorporating animations, social issues and traditional
Indian art forms. The campaign, with the hashtag #ImaginationBegins, gained massive traction on Twitter and other social networks during its launch.
According to the company, the campaign aimed to create buzz around the launch of the G Pro and align with the core marketing theme of #ImaginationBegins. The campaign ran during July and August.
Amit Gujral, head, marketing, LG Mobile, says, “We knew we had to leapfrog the competition to reach our consumers in innovative and enjoyable ways in order to deliver an exciting and talked about campaign that resonated with our consumers. So the messaging around the G Pro was augmented using Vines, a unique medium never used before by marketers in India.”
Gujral adds that the online medium is
Another Platform
LG
The campaign aims to create buzz around the launch of G Pro with a series of Vine videos. By Satrajit Sen
“The messaging around the G Pro was augmented
using Vines.”AMIT GUJRAL
>>
A Sweet and Sour Story
On September 4, the world woke up to the news that the next version of Android mobile operating system (OS)
from Google will indeed be called KitKat. It’s an outcome of a partnership between Google and Nestle, where both companies inform that no money has changed hands.
To celebrate the announcement, Android KitKat made a promotional video poking fun at the dramatic debuts of gadgets from other smartphone makers, especially those done by Apple. Google is expected to release the new OS in October and the video - complete with
inspirational music and close-up ‘product’ shots - promises that KitKat will be the ‘future of confectionery’.
The video pokes fun at Apple’s well-known product introduction videos and many believe that the voiceover sounds a lot like something Apple’s
design chief Jonathan Ive would say. Instead of Ive guiding viewers through the ins and outs of new hardware, we find ‘chief breaks officer’ Chris Catlin extolling the virtues and design principles that go into producing confectionery.
Catlin’s voiceover, where he says that “Every corner, every edge,
every finger of every bar has been carefully considered and crafted to create a beautifully immersive and multi-sensory experience,” reminds us of how Apple’s Ive used to articulate his words.
The part where Catlin talks about KitKat being available in ‘2 megabites’ and ‘4 megabites’ will make this minute-long
video worth it. Uploaded on September 3 in the official channel of Android KitKat, the video has so far received 2,116,074 views.
The alliance between Google and Nestle was announced on September 3, but talks to name the newest Android version “KitKat” had been brewing since last November. Rumours doing the rounds state that KitKat happens to be Android’s engineering head Hiroshi Lockheimer’s favourite chocolate.
(Viral Now is a section about videos that are catching people’s fancy on social media).
Android’s KitKat BreakVIRAL NOW
Android KitKat made a promotional video poking fun at the dramatic debuts of gadgets from other smartphone makers. By Satrajit Sen
I have had numerous lucky coincidences - at fundamental crossroads - that chose the path ahead for me. I always wanted to get into
advertising and creative but couldn’t get a break. Instead, I went in for Hotel Management from IHM-Chennai and almost joined The Leela in Mumbai. A moment of youthful impatience - I didn’t wait for the delayed interviewer - and it was
not to be. A small stint of entrepreneurship with few friends in the food business followed, after
which I got an opportunity to join Yellow Pages. This I guess was my first big defining
moment. Had I joined Leela then, my life would have been very different today.
Yellow Pages got me into media. From there I moved to Goldwire Advertising in Chennai. I had gone there to get into client servicing but shortly after my joining, the core creative team left. I inherited the Film and TV department. This was another big moment. I always thought I was a creative person, but it had taken me some time to finally gain entry into the club!
UNPREDICTABILITY FACTOR
My career has mostly been about unplanned opportunities and
obstacles. My boss at Goldwire, Aubrey Sequiera, was a creative genius and really big on the audio-visual medium. He taught me everything and gave me a free hand. At Goldwire, MRF was our key client and I did many commercials and corporate videos for them, as well as acquired and edited shows for DD like Street Hawk and Glo Friends. What helped me in the early years was that I was highly impressionable - luckily, some great minds made lasting impressions on me. I remember Anil Kapoor (CEO of UDI Yellow Pages who later left to join Ulka) saying in a company town hall meeting - “Communicate clearly, be polite and you will get
away with anything”. And when I was negotiating a pay-rise with him, Aubrey told me, “Just focus on your work, the money is not important, it’s not going anywhere, it will follow”. These two mantras of sorts cleared my head.
I left Goldwire in 1993 to become an independent ad-film-maker when a friend in Star HK suggested a brand new opportunity. I applied for the job of promo producer, Star Sports but got a call instead from Tony Watts of Star Movies.
‘STAR’RY EYED
Star TV was the big defining moment of my career. I joined Star when satellite TV was just
being born in India. It was out of my comfort zone, moved from Chennai and in a new industry similar to the pioneering wild-west days, but it was fun. The ‘mantras’ stood me in good stead. I am a creative collaborator. I work with people, I ideate with them, enable them to implement those ideas and help them with execution.
BUILDING MODE
In 2007, I left Star to start NDTV Imagine. Prannoy Roy and KVL Narayan Rao were great
business partners but Imagine’s journey was a struggle. We soldiered on, made the sale to Turner, then got integrated into the Turner system after which I left. It was time.
Since then I have chosen to become a genuine entrepreneur. At first, it was scary. But, happy circumstance dictated the way forward. I have partnered with few ex-colleagues and some new friends, and we are collaborating on some opportunities - One Entertainment Network (video content for online & mobile), Pride Rock Entertainment (Films) and Pride Rock Television (TV). And over time the mantra has slightly evolved - communicate clearly, be polite, be persuasive, sweat the detail and seize the moment! And yes, the money does follow.
As told to Prachi Srivastava
Creative Collaborator SAMEER NAIR, ENTREPRENEUR
!
JOBSWITCH .in
an initiative
2 2 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
One evening, while enjoying my dose of TV and coffee, what caught my attention was the costume of a creative personality who was a celebrity
participant on a reality show. I was struck by a thought: ‘Who could be watching this?’ The show was Bigg Boss, which is, today, in its seventh year.
Despite the controversies and moral arguments, why do viewers and advertisers keep flocking back for every season of Bigg Boss. One possible answer is that Bigg Boss is our neighbour’s story, one that we are dying to know about.
When Endemol India introduced the idea, many were sceptical if it would appeal to the ‘conservative’ Indian audience. Others advocated the potential of the format. Sony Entertainment Television took up the challenge and presented it in 2006, the era of saas-bahu sagas on TV, with Arshad Warsi as host. There was no looking back.
Deepak Dhar, managing director and CEO of Endemol India recalls that there was fatigue on Indian television, with singing and dancing reality shows. “We thought it was the right time to come up with a format like Big Brother. Indians were as voyeuristic as people of any other country!”
IT CAME…
N P Singh, chief operating officer, MSM, recollects, “The original format was very
edgy and something that could not have worked
here. So we toned it down. The intrigue about how people actually behave if they are in a confined space and how their inter-relationships evolve over a period of time was a unique thing at that time and the viewers loved it.”
But there were problems. A show like Bigg Boss requires huge amounts of investment in terms of production, marketing and promotions.
After losing money, Sony decided to do away with it. Bigg Boss then landed up with Colors.
…AND IT STAYED
Despite the initial losses, Colors did not give up. Admits Raj Nayak, CEO, “Despite losing
money on the show, we bring it back season-
after-season. We recover 70-80 per cent of our investment.” One of the reasons to continue with a loss-making property is that Bigg Boss generates buzz - not always for the right reasons - months before launch. Public discussions start with stories about the contestants, controversy about the choice of housemates, the language they use, the way they portray themselves and what they wear.
The Boss himself does not hold back when it comes to analyzing its popularity. Salman Khan, the celeb host, who is in his fourth season tells afaqs!Reporter, “The ratings of the episodes in which I appear are higher. But having said that, it’s the housemates who have to entertain audiences so that they stick on to the show for five days and come back for my episodes. Hence the mix of celebrities entering the house is critical.”
BIG BUZZ
Considered to be the most expensive property on TV, the spend goes into the set, contestants,
technological equipment, the celebrity host and marketing. According to sources, the production costs per season is around `130 crore. Advertising revenue is not commensurate though.
At present, the presenting sponsor for Bigg Boss coughs up `22-25 crore, while the powered by sponsor (a first for Bigg Boss last season) comes in paying 25 per cent less money than the presenting sponsor. Each associate sponsor pays
SEVENTH HEAVENNotwithstanding the controversy and criticism, the show has its admirers who keep coming
back. What makes Bigg Boss tick even after six seasons? By Prachi Srivastava
A FAVOURITE(The top five spenders on Bigg Boss)
Category FCT Consumed
Telecom 21
Personal Care 16
Consumer Durables 10
Four Wheelers 7
Mobile Handset 7
Average percentage of FCTconsumed, 2008-12
2 3afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
`12-15 crore. Spot rates range from `2.7-3.1 lakh per 10 seconds in episodes that feature Salman Khan, while other episodes command `1.7-2 lakh per 10 seconds.
“There is a guarantee that Bigg Boss will create buzz for the channel and also get us a certain amount of revenue. It is the longest running reality show that is the talk of town for over three months,” Nayak adds justifying the high ad rates.
Industry experts agree with him. Says Pawan Jailkhani, chief revenue officer, 9X Media, “We should not see it as a standalone property in terms of profit and revenue generation only but also look at overall investment from the clients that such properties attract for the channel. Such shows have high-recall value and build a loyal audience base for the channel.”
BACKROOM ACTION
Unlike in other reality shows, the construction of the sets of Bigg Boss (either in Karjat or
Lonavala near Mumbai) starts six months before the show goes on-air. Post launch, 300-350 people work for about 100 days. The six seasons generated content for 559 days and saw 98 contestants. The winners took `5.5 crore (`1 crore each in the first five seasons and `50 lakh in the sixth).
Sam Balsara, chairman and MD, Madison World, who had visited the Bigg Boss house last season, told afaqs!Reporter. “Until I went I had no idea of how elaborate and complex the sets have to be to shoot something as simple as two people in an altercation without them being aware of it.”
The show has evolved in terms of anchors and contestants, bringing in not just newsmakers, but achievers from different walks of life. It aims at packaging colourful and interesting personalities who entertain audiences and create curiosity.
Says Jai Lala, principal partner, Mindshare, “It gives higher ratings and brings in newer audiences who don’t watch Hindi GECs. It is promoted heavily and the chances of sampling increase, which can lead to higher viewership and saliency of a brand associated. You might not find numbers but such shows tops in the brand recall list.”
Lala also observes that it is a challenge for the content team to make people stick to the show. “The team cannot make it a complete family viewing, because people who are watching it are watching it because it’s edgy. Also, it should not get so controversial that children cannot watch it.”
While the key contributors lie in the age group of 15-34, it is seen that more women watch Bigg Boss than men. In fact, except for Season 3 where the men had a 51:49 per cent edge, the ratio has been in favour of women. Last season, 55 per cent of the watchers were women.
BRAND ASSOCIATION
Over the years, Bigg Boss has attracted many brands across categories. While Vodafone
has stayed on as the title sponsor for the past four seasons, L’Oreal has been on board for the same period as associate sponsor. “This is one show where an advertiser who has tasted blood doesn’t let go. Almost 80 per cent of the show’s sponsor base has come back year-on-year,” says Simran Hoon, national sales head of Colors.
“The household setting of the show offers seamless brand integration, which helps advertisers to communicate the message effectively. Since people love discussing the characters in the show, it triggers appointment viewership,” adds Dhirendra Singh, associate vice president, BPN.
“Till the time we don’t get the right price we don’t sell the title,” Hoon adds. From 2008-2012, on an average, 66 per cent of the overall FCT (free commercial time) on Bigg Boss has been consumed by sponsors while the rest has been sold to spot buyers. Hoon points out that there is a certain league of advertisers who spend on TV only if Bigg Boss is there. “Dixcy, Rotomac and Liberty Shoes are few brands that hardly spend on Hindi general entertainment channels but they are on for Bigg Boss,” she says.
Vidyadhar Kale, general manager, Maxus, Mumbai who handles the Vodafone and L’Oreal
STATS THAT TELL THE STORY(The scorecard for all the seasons of Bigg Boss)
Season Days run
No. of Contestants Host Winner Prize
(Rs lakh)
1 86 15 Arshad Warsi Rahul Roy 100
2 98 15 Shilpa Shetty Ashutosh Kaushik 100
3 84 15 Amitabh Bachchan Vindu Dara Singh 100
4 96 16 Salman Khan Shweta Tiwari 100
5 98 18 Sanjay Dutt & Salman Khan Juhi Parmar 100
6 97 19 Salman Khan Urvashi Dholakia 50
7 104 14 Salman Khan TBA TBA
S
Clockwise from left: Simran Hoon, Raj Nayak, Rajesh Iyer and Vivek Srivastav of Colors
FOTO
CORP
Host, Bigg BossSALMAN KHAN
It’s the housemates who have to entertain audiences so that they stick on to the show for five days and come back.
Bigg Boss is the Indian adaptation of Big Brother, a franchise created by John de Mol and his Dutch-based TV production firm Endemol in 1997. It
is about a bunch of people living together, doing household chores and cut off from the outside world. The only entertainment left to them is fight, indulge in backbiting or play out lovey-dovey scenes.
Guests have to follow rules, failing which they face eviction. These include talking only in Hindi, no violence, no tampering with the electronic or any other equipment in the house. They cannot sleep during the day, discuss the nomination process and leave the house unless Bigg Boss, the ultimate authority of the house, permits them to. The ‘guests’ are given various tasks by the ultimate authority of the house (Bigg Boss). To win, contestants have to survive periodic evictions and the last person standing wins the game.
MAN OF THE HOUSE
BRAND MAGNET(Cumulative spend* of the Top 5 advertisers)
Vodafone
L'Oreal
Hindustan Unilever
LG
General Motors*Season 2-Season 6
accounts says, “Bigg Boss allows the viewers access into the lives of celebrities and gives them vicarious pleasure. If planned in advance, the property can be used for promotions or other business drivers.”
BIG SHOW, BIG NAMES, BIG SPENDS
When it started on Colors, the channel had to spend heavily to communicate the fact that
the property had moved from Sony. Recollects Rajesh Iyer, marketing head, Colors, “We upped the scale quotient. The first season was hosted by Shilpa Shetty, who had won Big Brother UK. In the second season, to make it mass we got Amitabh Bachchan to host it. Everyone knows he has that wisdom, experience, stature to say something that will be taken seriously.” Colors spends `8-12 crore on marketing every season.
Subsequently the channel settled on Salman Khan, who has been on ever since the fourth season. In season 4, the campaign revolved around the theme - ‘doston ka dost, dushmanon ka dushman’. Then came the “double vaat” concept when Sanjay Dutt shared hosting space with Salman and promised a wallopping (vaat) to its contestants. Last season, the channel played with the elements inside the show - like the fish or the parrot. This year the campaign revolves around ‘heaven and hell’.
REVELLING IN CONTROVERSY
What you get in Bigg Boss is drama, romance, fight, lights, camera and action, without a
director shouting his orders at you. It is up to the contestants, who decide what they do and how they behave. Nearly 70 cameras bring forth the weird emotional outbursts of the participants.
You have heard about ‘that’ fight between Rakhi Sawant and Kashmira Shah or Kamal R Khan’s bottle attack? Well, the credit goes to Bigg Boss. Other interesting bites include the Rahul Mahajan-Monica Bedi-Payal Rohatgi triangle or the Sambhavna Seth-Raja Chaudhary affair. Sara Khan and beau Ali Merchant got married here.
Debraj Tripathy, managing director, MediaCom believes that it is the controversies that make it click. “It has succeeded. Having said that, every format has a lifecycle and after a while viewers will ask for something else.”
Bigg Boss has come as a career-reviver for contestants like Bedi (seen in Star Plus’ Saraswatichandra), Mahajan (Imagine’s ‘Rahul
Dulhaniya Le Jayega’ and ‘Nach Baliye’).
NEW IDEAS
It was from season 4 that Colors started focusing on digital. The advent of social media, online
streaming sites and the widespread use of smartphones, threw up enough scope for a format like Bigg Boss to be consumed online.
The Facebook community of Bigg Boss has over 1.5 million fans and its page gets 100 million views every season. Mobile apps allow people to get a live view of the house and listen to what contestants say 24x7. The website has 50 million pageviews and there were 15 million views on YouTube. “Bigg Boss has the ability to spark conversations. We just have to channelise this in the right way. In absolute numbers, we witness 50-60 per cent increase in active users year on year but more important is the quality of conversations,” explains Vivek Srivastav, digital head, Colors.
The point in Bigg Boss’ favour is that it is a conversation starter and a conversation sustainer - with admirers and detractors. There will be as many opinions for as against. As long as that doesn’t die down, it will continue to talk its way into many more episodes.
2 4 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
Flipkart has launched yet another campaign featuring its ‘child-adult’ characters.
Titled ‘India Wants to Know’ and conceptualised by Bengaluru-based Happy Creative Services,
the commercials feature a child protagonist who bears a marked resemblance to Arnab Goswami, editor in chief and news anchor of Times Now, whose panel discussions on prime time have become famous
peppered with his familiar line, ‘The nation wants to know’.
The set of four films, which have been produced by Early Man Film, attempts to convince internet users about the convenience of online shopping and address their fears regarding defects post delivery, price and variety. The bespectacled anchor pointedly asks panelists why they shop online. After much rambling, he abruptly cuts a panelist’s view by saying he thinks Flipkart is the new way to shop.
Ravi Vora, senior vice-president, marketing, Flipkart, says that the creatives do not resemble a channel
or a personality. It draws inspiration from the discussion format which one notices in almost all news channels. “We wouldn’t mimic or copy something. That’s not the Flipkart way,” he asserts.
Kartik Iyer, CEO, Happy Creative Services, says the team is excited as it’s the first time a reflection of media content has been attempted in advertising in the country. Flipkart has 10 million registered users and over one million visitors each day. And, more than 80 per cent of online shoppers have either registered or visited Flipkart.
In the typical Flipkart way, the latest campaign shows child-adults imitating the panel discussion conducted by news channels, especially by a particular anchor. By Rashmi Menon
Mock DebatesFLIPKART
In India, the format has been adapted in Kannada (ETV Kannada, ended June, 2013) and Bangla (ETV Bangla, ended September, 2013) so far. ‘‘The South is one of our major revenue drivers in last two or three years.
Coming up soon are Tamil and Telugu versions. There will also be a Marathi version soon,’’ Dhar adds. Kannada seems to have done the trick opening the gates to other states.
Bigg Boss Kannada launched at 4.7 TVR (according to TAM data - C&S, 4+, Karnataka - provided by the chan-nel) and added approximately 90 GRPs to the channel’s ratings, taking it from No 7 to No 2 (330 GRPs in Week 22) in the regional GEC list. By the end of the show, it had garnered 279 GRPs.
‘‘Regional markets behave differently from the Hindi market and one has to keep regional sentiments in mind. The show helped us get new audiences onto our channels and widened the reach. Once it ended, we started to see a strong upward trend in our fiction shows,’’ says Ravish Kumar, executive vice president, Viacom18 and busi-ness head - Regional Channels, ETV Bangla, Kannada and Oriya. Both the regional versions ran for 100 days with 98 episodes and 1 day each for the opening and finale. The Kannada version was hosted by actor Kiccha Sudeep while Mithun Chakraborthy anchored the Bangla version.
REGIONAL SATRAPS!
MD and CEO, Endemol IndiaDEEPAK DHAR
We thought a format like this would work well. Indians were as voyeuristic as people of any other country!
FOTO
CORP
Is It Time To Relook
Your Logo?
REBRANDING IS NOT JUST A NEW LOGO. A CHANGE IN VISUAL IDENTITY IS THE MOST VISIBLE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CHANGE. BUT CORPORATE IDENTITY change is an inside-out process that relooks at aligning internal thoughts and action with that of the intended consumer of the brand.
The right time to look at change is when there is a gap between the brand perception and audience expectations and the gap starts adversely affect-ing consumption.
Rebranding is not about discarding everything to take up a new avataar. As a con-sumer of Yahoo! content, it is still all caps, purple and sits exactly at the same place where it always did. Ok.
As a graphic designer, this logo seems meticulously detailed. But I fail see the leap or the change and it feels like a lost opportunity. May be we will see the purpose unfolding over time.
YOU DO NOT CHANGE YOUR LOGO WITHOUT A GOOD REASON. CHANGING IT IS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATING THE FACT THAT THERE IS a serious change in the company - that there is a change in the way you do things or a change in your priorities perhaps. When you change your logo, it generates expectations, which an organisation then has to work and fulfil.
There are no rules about when to change your logo. It can exist for hundreds of years if the organisation keeps following the same practices. Many companies, which have existed for long, tend to change their logos if it was originally designed by a local printer or in an amateurish way. They feel the need to change when they go profes-sional or expand globally.
THERE IS, OF COURSE, NO IDEAL TIME FOR A BRAND TO RELOOK ITS LOGO OR BRANDING. I THINK WHAT HAPPENS WITH ESTABLISHED BRANDS is that the exposure and over-exposure of their logo brings in fatigue among consumers as well as the brand custodians and hence they implement those small tweaks and changes. In terms of Yahoo!, I would say that they were rather late in implementing the change, especially when they were dealing with the young online audience.
A brand needs to keep a tab on its consumers’ mindset regularly through surveys. This generation of internet-savvy consumers change their prefer-ences fast and a brand needs to address them. It depends on what generation of consumers the brand is addressing. A Tata Tea might change its logo in eight years, whereas a Mercedes might take longer time as it addresses a classy audience.
Brand Strategy Specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults
Founder Director and Principal Designer, Elephant Strategy + Design
Managing Director, Ray+Keshavan
Recently Yahoo! went in for a change in its logo. How does one gauge the right time to go in for a change? By Devesh Gupta and Satrajit Sen
GIRI
SH G
V
FOTO
CORP
THERE IS NO FIXED FORMULA TO DETERMINE WHEN A BRAND SHOULD RELOOK ITS LOGO. IT IS A PART OF THE EVOLUTION A business goes through. In our case, when we redesigned our logo in April, 2013, our intention was to shed our startup image. In our evolution as a business, we realised that at launch, the founders hadn’t bothered much about the logo as they were focused more on scaling up the business. Eventually the business grew and we became a popular brand among the youth. Hence to capture this in our branding, we adopted the colour red that symbolises youth. The inspiration came from the most commonly used symbol of the internet - @.
In terms of changing the long-standing logos, many busi-nesses prefer to do small tweaks because consumers tend to become comfortable with one design. For me, personally, it will take time to get accustomed to the new Yahoo! logo.
Chief Business Officer, Yebhi.com
2 5afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
Online classifieds site OLX.in has launched a digital advertising campaign on
YouTube where it showcases a host of 31-second videos that aim to make it easy for the user to post an ad on the platform.
The content of the campaign is exclusively created for broadcast on YouTube. Developed by ITSA Brand Innovations, the campaign has a set of 11 videos that demonstrate how to place an ad for a bike, books, cars, hair dryers, laptops and others on OLX.in. The creative follows a constant pattern with a witty beginning followed by the protagonist Mrs. Bech De
guiding viewers about the best practices at OLX.Mrs. Bech De is the company’s mascot in its online
campaigns and was first used in its Valentine’s Day campaign featuring three webisodes addressing distressed owners writing eulogies for things they have lived with but now seek to dispose or upgrade.
According to the company, unlike most of the other campaigns on YouTube, which are merely an extension of the TV campaigns, this multi-video campaign has been developed specifically keeping YouTube’s audience in mind. “The video
content delivers the brand message in the initial five seconds and creates a hook for customers to see the rest of the ad. The user will see ads specific to his categories of interest, which makes it even more relevant and engaging,” OLX states in an official communiqué.
The company further informs that through the topic-based YouTube campaign, targeted viewers will be made aware of various relevant categories of products, which could be sold or bought on OLX. This makes this campaign very effective and relevant for the viewer.
Speaking about the idea behind the campaign, Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India, states, “Our initial TV ads and messaging of ‘Sab Kuch Bikta Hai’ and ‘OLX pe bech de’ have immense brand recall and highlight a clear user preference for the brand despite the clutter in the online classifieds
space. Building up from here, we want to take our advertising a step further and supplement our advertising reach with other mass media channels. We are positive about the campaign as YouTube is now among the most popular media being consumed by our target audience.”
“Our challenge was how to communicate a message even before you skip the ad. So I am really delighted that we managed
to do just that and more. Each of these spots have a story, humour, twist and branding within five seconds. And if you don’t skip, then there is more humour and the whole ‘how to’ about OLX,” informs Emmanuel Upputuru, founder, ITSA . He further informs that Daniel Upputuru came up with this idea and Arnab Ray wrote these scripts. Ayan Das directed it and Aurnob Godinho from ITSA produced it.
OLX, in the past, has used digital campaigns quite extensively to promote its platform. Besides the Valentine’s Day campaign featuring Mrs. Bech De, the company, in May, had launched a campaign urging people to donate their personal belongings and items they don’t require to financially needy mothers.
In March, OLX parted ways with creative agency Saatchi. Following this, it appointed Lowe Lintas as its creative partner. However, ITSA continues to work on the brand as an innovation agency.The brand also promoted its platform on TV through a brand integration with Bollywood movie, Ghanchakkar.
Guide to AdvertisingOLX.IN
Developed by ITSA Brand Innovations, the campaign has a set of 11 videos that demonstrate how to place an ad on OLX.in. By Satrajit Sen
“We are positive about the
campaign as YouTube is now among the most popular media.”AMARJIT S BATRA
2 6 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
The campaign was exclusively created for broadcast on YouTube.
being touted as the most popular way to share information; platforms like Vine and Instagram look set to play an important role for Indian marketers.
Jay Chauhan, CEO, SkyHub, states that the brief for the agency was to create awareness amongst the TG about the innovative features of the G Pro. “LG aims to catch up with
the current market leaders in the mobile segment with innovative new phones and corresponding innovative campaigns around them. Besides the creatives, we also delivered social
media analytics and marketing insights to measure the performance of the G Pro campaign. Our metrics showed the Vines were delivering high engagement moments,”
Chauhan further states that the engagement generated though this campaign was the highest amongst any non-TVC video content put up online.
In August, LG Electronics appointed Havas Media Group to handle its media mandate, globally. The agency, which won the account after a multi-agency pitch process,
will be responsible for the company’s media.
In March, LG Electronics consolidated its entire creative business with GIIR Communications India, also known as LG Ad. The agency’s Delhi branch was mandated to handle the account. LG Ad was also mandated to handle all digital duties for LG Electronics. Earlier, the social media marketing duties were managed by Hungama Digital Media, while the SEO mandate was with NetBiz.
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Star India’s second rung Hindi general entertainment channel, Life OK, will soon be two years old and the channel has a robust
plan to sustain viewership and maintain numbers. It has planned to launch new shows coinciding with the festive season.
Bollywood actor Mallika Sherawat has been roped in to lure the audiences with her new show, ‘The Bachelorette India’, a spin-off from American competitive reality dating game show The Bachelor. The show was announced a while ago with promos already running on the channel but the date of the launch has been announced now. Starting October 7, The Bachelorette India will run for five weeks and aired five days a week (the days and time-slot are not finalised yet).
The show will feature 30 participants competing with each other to be the love of Sherawat’s life. The high investment show is being produced by SOL Productions. Interestingly, the earlier celebrity based show of the channel, Ramleela, was more expensive and had Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn as the narrator of the Dussehra-Diwali
special.Life OK claims The Bachelorette India is different
and will be presented in a royal way. The show is being shot in Udaipur and will run for 90 days.
The channel kickstarted the marketing on September 15. There will be three phases of promotional activities. In the first phase, the show will be promoted on 40 television channels outside the Star India bouquet of channels, including music, sports, news and kids channels. In the second phase, there will be promotions on the digital medium and outdoor activations. Outdoor sites will be employed in 90 cities across the country. The channel will also run branded buses in a few towns in North India. Digital will also be integrated with the bus activation. The feed will be
Star Plus launched Mahabharata on September 15 at the 8.30-9 pm slot during Mondays to Fridays. Star Network’s team had been
working on the show for the past three years and according to Nikhil Madhok, SVP, marketing, the channel has spent a sizeable amount on the production and marketing of the show. It is being produced by Swastik Productions.
In this version of the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna will narrate the entire epic starting from the stories of King Shantanu and Satyavati Although Mahabharata will not be simulcast on other network channels, a repeat telecast will begin on Star Jalsha and Star Pravaha from September 30.
Fortune Oil has been roped in as the title sponsor, while Ghadi Detergent is the powered by sponsor; there are 8-10 other sponsors for Mahabharata. For the first 15 days, every episode will of 22 minutes duration and from October 1, when the ad cap comes into force, each will be of 24 minutes.
About 50 per cent of Mahabharata has been shot on outdoor locations, pushing up the production cost. The channel claims that it has revised the ad rates for the show, the details of which it refused to divulge.
Madhok says that the channel believes that the story needs to be told, especially to the consumer below the age of 25 years who has not seen Chopra’s Mahabharata. He adds that the reason for the failure of the epic genre in the Indian context has been because of its inability to attract the youth. This time, the characters will become the characters for the youth, similar to what BR Chopra’s Mahabharata achieved on Doordarshan.
The channel will spend around 20 per cent of the production cost to market the show.
The teaser campaign for the show was launched around May to capture people’s imagination. Five- six promos were run across Star Network channels and 25 channels outside the network.
To cover maximum ground, Star Plus is reaching out in more than 100 cities including metros and non metros. It has created museums in Delhi and Mumbai, for four days across two weekends in malls, urging people to see the designs of costumes, weapons and other materials used for the show. Glasstrons, which are special 3D glasses, also take the visitors on a virtual tour of Hastinapur, Mathura, Vrindavan and other cities of importance in the epic.
Similar activities are also planned for smaller towns. To target youth, it is reaching out to them in colleges, where it has created virtual wardrobes where students can dress up as different characters
and share their pictures on social media. A temple activation is also being planned. The channel will also put up several innovative billboards across different cities using the characters of Arjun, Shakuni, Duryodhan and others.
A nationwide print innovation on the launch date was also done. On the digital front, the channel has launched an app that tells people about the show, allows them to dress their friends and
themselves like the characters of the show and read slokas from the epic.
On Facebook, separate pages for the characters were created, and several capsules on the making of the show have been put up on YouTube. The channel has no plans to launch the show on the YouTube platform. Madhok says that the content is premium and is an expensive proposition for the channel, so it would like that people to come on the television to watch it.
STAR India broadcasts more than 40 channels in seven languages reaching more than 600 million people every week across India.
STAR PLUS
The 128-episode series will be available only for premium viewing starting September 16. For the first 15 days, every episode will be of 22 minutes. By Devesh Gupta
A New Mahabharata
Madhok: epic tales
LIFE OK
Festive ShowThe channel will launch The Bachelorette India with Mallika Sherawat on October 7 with other offerings for the festive season. By Raushni Bhagia
2 7afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
>>
RELIANCE Reliance Communications launched a month long pan India campaign to promote the 3G data plans given at 2G rates. It is using several mediums such as bus shelters, billboards and others.
Agency: Kinetic Worldwide
New campaigns across television, print, out-of-home and digital media.
Got some great campaign that has been published recently? Upload it on afaqs! for the world to see.Visit: www.afaqs.com/advertising/creative_showcase
91.9 FRIENDS FMThe Kolkata based radio station launched an OOH to connect Friends FM with people individually as their ‘friend.’ The main TG was the youth. The campaign was executed in two phases ‘Teaser’ and ‘Reveal’. Innovations played a major role in the effectiveness and reach of the brand.
Agency: Milestone Brandcom
SHOPPERS STOP Departmental store Shoppers Stop launched a digital video campaign to promote its 51 per cent discount offer in clothing lines. The video urges ladies to find out better excuses to convince their husbands to let them shop.
Creative Agency: Contract Advertising, India
OOH DIGITAL
NIVEA MEN FRESH ACTIVE DEO The campaign shows Arjun Rampal highlighting the brand’s proposition - It starts with you – urging men to lead their life and exploit their potential to the fullest.
Agency: Interface CommunicationsProduction House: Future East Film
IDEA Promoting its new service ‘My Idea Showroom on Mobile’, the telecom brand has come out with Do the 121 campaign. People break into a jig to demonstrate how one can reach an Idea store anytime, anywhere by just dialling 121.
Agency: Lowe Lintas & Parnter
HT Hindustan Times rolled out a series of print ads in the Delhi NCR editions to promote its campaign Toll Free Gurgaon. The campaign aims at lending voice to the woes of daily commuters crossing the Gurgaon tollgate.
Creative Agency: Lowe Lintas and Partners
TOI Launching Youth Parliament, the fourth leg of its I Lead India campaign, TOI has rolled out a series of ads across its all editions inviting entries from students all over the country. The campaign aims to give 12 students a platform to debate economy, foreign affairs and politics with some of the finest parliamentarians of the country.
Creative Agency: Taproot India
VODAFONE The telecom operator has come up with a print campaign to promote its annual property ‘Drive into the Big League’. The campaign gives the medium sized companies with a turnover between Rs 100 crore – Rs 500 crore a chance to get their logo placed on the Vodafone McLaren car during the Formula 1 Grand Prix to be held in October.
Creative Agency: Ogilvy and Mather India
TELEVISION
MAX LIFE INSURANCE The campaign promotes the insurance brand’s newly launched plan ‘Max Life Forever Young Pension Plan’ and ‘Max Life Guaranteed Life Time Income Plan’.
Agency: Ogilvy & MatherCreative Team: Abhijit Avasthi, Vikash Chemjong, Basabjit Majumdar, Ranadeep Dasgupta and Rakesh Ranjan
2 8 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
After about 10 reality show formats, Colors, the Hindi GEC from Viacom18, has launched the Indian adaptation of The
House That Made Me, originally a UK based show. Christened Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai, the show will feature childhood stories of the celebrities and the houses where their stories began.
It is an advertiser funded programme (AFP) with only Asian Paints as the title sponsor. There will be no other sponsors for the show; however, the ad-slots during the show will be sold as usual. Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors, explains, “The show is a collaborated effort put forth by Colors, BBC Worldwide Productions India and Asian Paints, with all parties being equal stakeholders.” The format for the show is owned by BBC. The original show had been a hit series in the UK.
The channel has launched several branded content shows, including Bournvita Quiz Contest, Idea Rocks India (series of musical events), LG Mallika-e-Kitchen (a cooking show aimed at housewives) and The Tara Sharma Show (a mother’s blog diary TV show with Johnson & Johnson).
Nayak states that now, the channels are ready for this kind of content. “A decade ago, branded content was still a unique concept. But now, the niche has been recognised as an area of ‘growth of business’. At Colors, we partner with our clients on various projects and we don’t look at it as branded content,” he adds.
Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai will take viewers through an emotional journey with celebrities reminiscing about their childhood. Amit Syngle, president, decorative business unit, sales, marketing and technology, Asian Paints, explains, “We would like to inspire consumers to create their beautiful homes, and we see this property as creating a strong emotional connect with the home, and the joy that it brings in each one’s mind.”
Interestingly, the title of the show, Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai, has been the communication line for the brand. Syngle adds, “The line has been historically associated with Asian Paints and
emotional homes stories. The show therefore is an extension waiting to happen.”
It was launched on September 7 at 6.30 pm. The series is hosted by Vinay Pathak and produced by BBC Worldwide India.
Colors expects to build the weekend early primetime band with a new kind of content. Also, the channel is exploring opportunities of airing
the show on network channels such as History18 and IBN7. Although the current season has 10 episodes, the channel could look at another season if the response is favourable.
Celebrities form the main focus of the show not only for their instant appeal to the audience but also because many people are not aware of the struggle behind their success. The aim is to build engagement and involvement of the common man.
Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai will feature celebrities like Govinda, Irfan Pathan, Sakshi Tanwar, Shaan, Waheeda Rehman, Remo D’Souza and Ila Arun, among others.
Syngle says, “The concept of ‘our first homes’ emotionally connects to any audience since the feeling is universal. Irrespective of who we are today, we can never forget where we have come from.”
Asian Paints is running a contest online in conjunction with the show, which is also called Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai.
The contest invites people to tell the story of their home and how they have created that special place through colour, decor and memories.
The channel is promoting the show on its network channels, including regional, music, lifestyle and news channels. Nayak adds, “We are planning a focused digital promotional strategy to engage with viewers and consumers.”
Home Sweet HomeCOLORS/ASIAN PAINTS
The 10-part series will feature celebrities talking about their childhood memories and the house where they spent their childhood. News Bureau
Stills from the upcoming episodes of the show
The show will feature houses of celebrities where
their stories began.
Amidst the age-old debate on a foolproof formula for success on television, one
formula certainly seems to have worked for all channels. Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), the Indian adaptation of the original format, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, catapulted Star Plus’ popularity, boosted Sony’s viewership and has worked its magic in all its regional adaptations as well.
The latest Marathi version, Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati (KHMC) had a miraculous effect on the viewership of ETV Marathi, pulling the channel up from about 80 GRPs (before the launch of KHMC) to 140 GRPs in the current week.
Nikhil Rangnekar, joint CEO, Spatial Access, smirks, “I think it’s similar to what KBC did for Star 15 years ago.” The show is produced by Big Synergy across all markets. The format, which is owned by Sony Pictures globally, was acquired by Sony Entertainment Television (in India) for its Hindi adaptation. However, for the regional versions, the channels have to go through the Big Synergy, which is the official licenser.
The first season of KBC was launched in 2000 on Star Plus, a channel that was a mere struggler chasing Zee TV and Sony at that time. Anita Kaul Basu, director, Big Synergy, mentions, “When we launched KBC on Star Plus, there were two more shows, Kodeeshwaran on Sun TV and Chhapar Phaad Ke on Zee TV, which had similar formats of quiz and prize money. These were threatening to become mega shows and, hence, a counter for KBC.”
A quiz show on prime time in 2000 was somewhat of a risk for the channel, as was the choice of the host, Amitabh Bachchan, then an aging superstar with a dwindling career, expected to fade out with time. The rest, as they say, is history.
The second season of the show had to end abruptly when Bachchan fell severely ill and had to leave the show. The channel, however, brought out the third season with Shah Rukh Khan as its host in 2007, which did not become as much of a rage. Star Plus stopped airing any more seasons.
After a three-year hiatus, MSM’s Sony Entertainment Television re-launched the show in 2010. One of the channel’s spokespersons revealed to the media then that Sony took over the property only under the condition that Bachchan would host it. In the three seasons
launched in the past three years, KBC is going as strong as ever, through to its seventh season which was launched on September 6. KBC’s charm was extended to the regional genre in June, 2011 on Mahua Bangla (Bengali). Key Hobe Banglar Kotipoti was hosted by cricketer Saurav Ganguly. Almost at the same time, the Bhojpuri version (Key Bani Crorepati) was launched on Mahua with actor Shatrughna Sinha as its host.
Vijay TV (a STAR India channel) was the first one to take up the format in the southern region in Tamil Nadu, one of the largest viewership markets, in February, 2012. Tamil movie star Suriya was the host for the Tamil version. The second season of the show, Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi, ended in July, 2013. The channel plans to launch another season of the show.
In the Kannada market, the format was launched as Kannadada Kotyadhipati (on Asianet Suvarna with actor Puneeth Rajkumar as the host) in March, 2013, and the Malayalam version on Asianet in 2012, Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeswaran, hosted by Suresh Gopi, a popular Malayalam movie star.
BETTER LATE?
What took the regional channels 11 years to pick up a successful format?
Indranil Chakravarty, COO, Big Synergy, suggests the show is a very big property. “KBC needs a level of investment commitment by the broadcaster. We think that the growth in the regional market helped the broadcasters to make that investment commitment,” he adds.
A few planners also believe that the hiccups experienced by the Hindi version of the format between 2004 and 2010 could have made the other players cautious.
THE RIGHT HOST
While most experts agree that the format is strong and will
only move forward, a few opine that Bachchan’s charm has made a brand out of the format. Piyush Srivastava of Carat Media reveals that KBC is one of the best ways to make inroads into a state. For the recent Marathi version of the show, actor Sachin Khedekar was seen as a suitable choice as he enjoys substantial popularity amongst the Marathi as well as the non-Marathi audiences. Anuj Poddar, executive vice-president and business head, regional channels, Viacom 18, says, “The format is a winner, everyone knows. Getting the host right was
another crucial thing. Sachin has done a fantastic job and has a universal appeal.”
REGIONAL TWIST
Apart from the language and host, how are the regional versions adapted for local appeal?
Big Synergy highlights that the language versions take into account the regional ethos and culture. The positioning differs, too. While the Bengali version was described as Bengal’s Millionaire, the positioning had to be centred around the state and its culture. The profiles of contestants also differ, depending partly on the broadcaster and its viewership base. The regional channels, like the national player Sony (or earlier Star Plus), have commanded ad rates as high as thrice their normal ad rates for the respective versions of the property.
Interestingly, while all the other regional versions were almost equally successful, the Bhojpuri version showed disappointing results. The Marathi adaptation was launched when Hindi KBC was not on air. Could this have been prompted by a conscious decision to avoid cannibalisation, given the experience of the Bhojpuri version? Poddar, however, is confident about the impact of the property.
Language of MoneyKBC
The recent success of the Marathi version of the show on ETV Marathi is a testimony to the robustness of the format. By Raushni Bhagia and Prachi Srivastava
3 0 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
A quiz show on prime time in 2000 was somewhat of a risk for the channel, as was the choice of the host, Amitabh Bachchan.
Ad Cap: How Are The Ponytails
Dealing With It?
THE 10+2 AD CAP WILL START CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN MEDIA, CLIENT (BRANDS) AND CREATIVE TEAMS THAT HAVEN’T HAPPENED SINCE MEDIA AS A DISCIPLINE was detached from the creative. Currently all are on the frequency bandwagon and one of the first fallouts will be: Everyone will start making shorter ads because they are cheaper. Because of the idea of YouTube being another TV channel, we might have to make an ad, show few seconds of it on TV and then direct viewers to YouTube. Another thing that can be done is releasing a 60-seconder over two days rather than releasing 10-seconders over two months.
The message/campaign should be strong enough. If it’s creating a buzz in two days, why do you need more than that? It will not at all be challenging for the editors as we are well versed in making 5, 10 and 20-seconders.
FILM IS THE BEST MEDIUM TO ESTABLISH EMOTIONAL EQUITY OF A BRAND. TODAY, LUCKILY WE HAVE THE INTERNET, WHERE LENGTH IS NOT AN ISSUE. IT CAN BE used a bit more effectively in the case of long-duration commercials and help build an emotional impact. Take the case of the 60-seconder during cricket matches; people have no option but to watch it. But if you put the same ad on YouTube, they might not watch it if they don’t like it. So the pressure on creative teams is going to be much higher now.
If TV becomes too expensive to air longer ads, delivering the emotional side of the story will become a challenge. Then probably the internet will take the message ahead. TV will become like print - a medium to disseminate rational messages - and internet will become a medium where one can build on the emotional quotient.
THIS WILL IMPACT THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY AND ALL OF US ARE EQUALLY CONCERNED. AS AN ALTERNATIVE, AGENCIES AND clients are looking at mediums like cinema or the internet, and are trying to showcase their 45-and 60-seconder ads there. But cinemas have started showing commercials that are up to 20 minutes long; this leaves the viewers agitated. Somewhere, all this is bad news.
How do you communicate the same thing in a 60-as well as 20-seconder TVCs? It’s quite a task, from a creative person’s perspective.
Editing also will depend on who has more money today. The channels will benefit the most because now there will be an auction-like situation, where only the one with more money can advertise. Majority advertisers will suffer. In turn, agencies will suffer. And this will affect production houses as well.
Producer, Coconut Films
Director, Equinox Films
Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, Indian Subcontinent
Will the 12-minute ad cap result in a flurry of 10-second TVCs at the cost of 30-seconders and longer? By Prachi Srivastava
AS CREATIVE PEOPLE, WE ALWAYS WANT MORE TIME! MANY A TIMES, WE HAVE TO MAKE 20-SECOND VERSIONS OF WHAT WE SHOW IN 40-SEC. I do think that the 10+2 ad cap will impact the industry. It is challenging but we cannot sit back and crib about it. It is going to happen and we will have to deal with it, adapt it and get on with it. The important point to note here is that it will not impact production in any way. The amount of effort we put into making an ad will remain and the amount of money that is invested in the process will still be required.
National Creative Director, Law & Kenneth
3 1afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
3 2 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
The Mumbai leg of Dainik Bhaskar Unmetro, an afaqs! event, began with a quick introductory talk by Pradeep Dwivedi, chief corporate sales and
marketing officer, Dainik Bhaskar. The objective of his talk was to introduce the event title and touch upon some basic areas of discussion, for the benefit of the speakers who came up on stage after him.
He spoke about the increasing advertising and marketing spend in Unmetro India in the recent past. Some of the towns he mentioned in this regard are Indore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.
Given our current economic turbulence, the consumer sentiment across the nation, Dwivedi noted, tends to oscillate between ‘‘despondence and exuberance’’. The point of bringing up the economy was to highlight the fact that these changes tend to impact the metros much more than smaller towns. ‘‘Thus,’’ he reasoned, ‘‘Unmetro India is largely stable.’’
Offering some clarity on what ‘Unmetro’ means, he gave the audience a term to consider: ‘Middle Economy’. This, he said, is the large zone between urban and rural
India. This segment of the market, until recent times, was neglected in that it was either considered to be part of rural India or a ‘wannabe urban’ segment. Neither of these two perceptions is true. Fact is, Unmetro India is a separate market altogether; one that is growing, resilient and here to stay.
Sure, consumers from this area do tend to be ‘aspirational’ in their outlook, but no more than those
from mega-cities like Mumbai and Delhi, who in turn aspire for all that is ‘bigger and better’, in their own way.
This zone, that we have come to call Unmetro India, is a crucial one for brands and marketers because a lot of sustained demand for goods and services comes from this section of India.
Until recent times, instances of brands investing disproportionately in Unmetro India was just anecdotal evidence but over the years, as Dwivedi added, this has evolved from becoming not just a trend but a market reality. Marketers need to stop seeing Unmetro India as a scaled-down version of urban India. Rather, they ought to recognise these regions as markets in their own right.
In fact, based on unique consumer insights from these regions, marketers should design separate marketing campaigns for non-urban India. ‘‘We must see Unmetro India as a market in itself,’’ asserted Dwivedi.
With that, Dwivedi laid the foundation for other speakers and panellists. And, what followed was a day full of presentations, discussions and interactive Q&A sessions with the audience.
Small towns are not scaled-down versions of cities
Presented by:
Pradeep Dwivedi: similar aspirations
In the last few years, smaller cities and towns have seen unprecedented growth, which at times have been at par with the metro cities. Not surprisingly, even the brand marketers have noticed this phenomenon and have been focusing
on penetrating and tapping this new market. Dainik Bhaskar Unmetro’s panel discussion, ‘Taking the long view’, discussed how marketers are trying to break into this emerging market, which shows the same aspirations and wants as that of metro dwellers. The event was held in Mumbai on September 11.
Moderated by Vinod Mahanta, editor, Corporate Dossier, The Economic Times, the panel comprised Sandeep Pandey, principal partner, business planning, Mindshare, GroupM; Sagnik Ghosh, vice-president and head, marketing, Axis Bank; Sandip Tarkas, president (customer strategy) and CEO (Future Media & T24), Future Group; and Vidmay Naini, head, retention marketing, eBay.
Starting off the discussion, Tarkas said that whenever they set up a store, they try to figure out the catchment that will use the store and adapt accordingly. He added that while there is growth in metros, the future will come from ‘Bharat’ or non metro cities and towns, considering that a large chunk of the population still resides
Future of growth is ‘Bharat’Marketers are trying innovative methods to tap into the vast market of Unmetro customers, a
market, which is rapidly showing its spending power and catching up with the metros. By Rashmi Menon
Pradeep Dwivedi of Dainik Bhaskar delivered the opening remarks at the day-long Unmetro conference held in Mumbai. One of his key points was - Unmetro India is best regarded as a separate
market in itself and not as a scaled-down version of mega-cities. By Ashwini Gangal
From left: Vinod Mahanta, Vidmay Naini, Sandip Tarkas, Sagnik Ghosh, Sandeep Pandey
3 3afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
At the recently held event, Dainik Bhaskar Unmetro, Rahul Varma, executive director, Media CT and public affairs, Ipsos, spoke about the regions that
currently comprise Unmetro India and the characteristic features that define consumers from these regions.
He started out by saying that India is a very different, complex and layered market, as compared to the other three BRIC nations - Brazil, Russia and China.
Varma then went on to compare India and nations from Southeast Asia. India as a market, he said, is defined by the following realities: high domestic consumption, a growing service sector, high-tech/capital intensive industries and inclusive growth.
‘‘India,’’ Varma said, ‘‘is domestically led and domestically driven,’’ a fact that makes it more resilient to global crises and downturns.
When it comes to the inclination to spend, small town India, he shared, beats urban India. And interestingly, children from these markets play a key role in the pre-purchase decision making process, even in the case of so-called big ticket items such as cars. And ‘Made in India’ labels are no longer shunned.
Varma then shared some census data to illustrate how urbanisation has grown between 2001 and 2011: The number of towns in India during this period has risen from 1,362 to 3,894. And today, there are 46 cities that have a population of more than 10 lakh. Over a decade back, this figure was 19. Moreover, today there are 23 cities that have a population somewhere between 10-15 lakh.
Among today’s fast-growing towns that comprise Unmetro India are names like Surat, Patna, Ranchi,
Jodhpur, Rajkot, Allahabad, Nasik, Coimbatore, Aurangabad, Ludhiana, Agra and Vadodara, among others. Intriguingly, he named Pune and Jaipur as ‘‘tomorrow’s metros’’ with special emphasis on the latter.
Some of the indicators of growth include: influx of
people to these towns, population growth, infrastructure development, health and education systems, traffic management, rise in tourism, availability of electricity, sanitation, women’s literacy and number of private/government institutions.
Varma then went on to characterise the quintessential
Unmetro inhabitant. Collective traits that define residents of Unmetro India are: the desire to live life to the fullest, soak up new experiences, maximise life’s potential and seek out the unknown. Unmetro towns rank very high on the ‘fun, enjoyment and vitality’ indices.
Apparently, Unmetro-dwellers feel very good about their towns - much more than average urbanites! Towns that rank high on this parameter are Pune, Nagpur, Nasik, Rajkot and Amritsar. ‘‘These people have a high sense of pride about their cities but are not arrogant,’’ said Varma.
Moreover, he said, these people are more satisfied and far less frustrated than their urban counterparts. For them, unlike city-dwellers, it is not about the struggle; rather, it’s all about having fun.
‘‘Unmetro India is not seeking power. It is seeking enjoyment and recognition,’’ he said about the need of the Unmetro resident to showcase to others that he/she is special. ‘‘To target Unmetro India, we have to make
them feel sought after and respected,’’ he asserted.Varma concluded his presentation by urging marketers
in the audience to refrain from replicating their urban strategies in Unmetro markets. Instead, marketers should craft fresh, tailor-made brand strategies for these consumers, he insisted.
Pune and Jaipur are tomorrow’s metros
Rahul Varma: domestically driven
there. On the other hand, India is urbanising at a rapid pace and, therefore, there is a desire to segment.
However, unlike the traditional marketing classification that looks at different consumer segments depending on their socio economic backgrounds, the online adopts RFM (recency, frequency and monetary) classification, said Naini of eBay. "While affordability, awareness and aspiration were there, access wasn’t there. Now, with the ecosystem in place, the barriers between metro and non metro is fast disappearing," Naini revealed.
Even in terms of media spends, increasingly, brands are investing in regional channels and the print space to communicate to their consumers in the last two to three years, noted Pandey.
Speaking about online presence, Ghosh said that Axis Bank has an entire strategy for online adoption in non metros. "Recently, we have seen de-growth in the percentage of metro to our website. However, for us, physical presence is equally important as it generates trust and credibility. So, it is a mix. In the last one year, the percentage of growth has been going down in metros and going up in cities like Jaipur and Indore," Ghosh said.
With regard to value and price, which are distinctly different, Naini said that people in smaller towns and cities are willing to pay for something they want or have limited access to. "Given the right availability and access, they (consumers in Unmetros) are willing to pay the price," he added.
Non metro consumers score high on loyalty. Ghosh said that if these consumers
are served well, they are more loyal than an educated consumer in the metro. At a local level, Ghosh asserted, relationships and behaviour towards the customer counts a lot. Naini added that lack of choice, too, makes non metro consumers loyal, as long as the brand services them to their desire.
Referring to the metro and Unmetro classification, Mahanta asked whether marketers who joined the profession from elite institutions with little ground knowledge resorted to this classification. Tarkas added that while many marketers nowadays do a lot of research, nobody focuses on quantitative research. Blind planning based on data without any first-hand experience of the market may lead to failure; one could make calls that are not entirely true to ground realities, Tarkas warned.
Towards the end, the discussion moved to a few innovations carried out by the speakers in non metros, which have worked for their respective brands. Naini said that expanding the reach of logistics, integrating shipping solutions, making the website accessible to a range of mobile handsets and making payment easier, along with assurance of protection of transaction by eBay, worked
for the brand.In the case of Axis Bank, the business correspondent model helped it to create
connect with rural and semi rural consumers. Under this model, the bank partners with telecom brands and ensures that customers can walk into telecom shops, create an account and remit money. This facility was a hit with the non-metro customers.
Rahul Varma of Ipsos named towns that comprise Unmetro India and shared interesting psychographic information about residents of these places. By Ashwini Gangal
Children in non-metro markets play a key role in the pre-purchase decision, even in the case of so-called big
ticket items such as cars.
If served well, unmetro
consumers are more loyal than the metro
consumer.
3 4 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
Sandip Tarkas Audience participation was at its bestIpad contest winner - Avinash Oza of DDB Mudra being felicitated by Raja Mitra, D B Corp
Madan Pandey Peter Suresh Himanka Das
Vidmay Naini(L to R): Madan Pandey, Sandipan Ghosh, Himanka Das, Bedraj Tripathy
A tough one for the panel More queries
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It is a momentous occasion for The Hindu group as it announced its entry into the regional market with a Tamil daily. Apart
from its flagship English newspaper, its stable of publications includes the business newspaper, Business Line, plus a couple of English magazines. The fact that it has stuck to English suggests that the group’s ambitions have been national rather than regional.
The Tamil language daily market, advertising and circulation together, is estimated at `1,500 crore. The new Tamil daily from The Hindu will be launched with a print run of six lakh copies from four centres: Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli. The price will be in the range of `4-5 and it will compete with a bunch of established brands.
afaqs!Reporter spoke to Arun Anant, CEO, Kasturi & Sons on why the choice of a Tamil daily - and why now. Excerpts:
The Hindu group has always been identified as an English language group. Why a Tamil daily?I am not sure that we were always defined as such and if we were, I think it was by default. It was never a strategic decision to be an English language group. Now the regional languages are growing very well and, secondly, smaller towns are growing in terms of literacy, readership and consumption. The regional market is getting very attractive.
Why now when the economy has slowed down sharply?We had evaluated this proposition in the past but did not proceed for some reason or the other. There is a contrary point of view that the best time to make an investment is when the market is down. People will invest in a good market only when those are high capex projects. Here we are talking about a business we are already in. We only need the working capital. For the rest, we are using a lot of our existing resources. Barring the editorial team, which requires working capital, we are well equipped to do the rest. So, we think it is a good time to invest.
Are you going with the broadsheet format or something smaller?We will launch the daily in a broadsheet format. Internationally, people pick up a paper on the way to work, and read it while travelling but in India, it is dropped into your home. Therefore, that aspect of convenience (with a smaller size) is relevant but not dominant in its importance.
For some reason, broadsheets are seen as more
credible than tabloids. And the myth continues. It’s because of the genesis of the products which were tabloids vis-a-vis broadsheets. It made sense for us to launch a Tamil daily in a broadsheet format so that we don’t have to fight a perception battle.
Does this mean that you will consolidate in the South
before venturing out of the state?Yes, we are very strong in the South India and that needs to be leveraged. The brand name, distribution networks and reach out to the advertisers are stronger here. Our real estate and printing machines are more in this region, so it was easier to expand our markets in the South as against growing outside.
What are the marketing challenges for the new title?The first is to launch with a bang with such a large circulation. The second is to get the advertising revenue going soon. The third challenge is to render the Tamil product with a solid editorial differential from other newspapers, and yet carry forward The Hindu’s editorial values.
Several publications have launched news channels. Does The Hindu have any plans?Not at this point.
What is your digital strategy for the new daily?We are simultaneously launching the digital product. We believe that our digital product will be consumed internationally as there is a large Tamil diaspora across the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Europe, which has a high interest in Tamil culture. For us, it’s a geographical extension.
How is your e-paper business doing?It is not that our e-paper in English has a massive reach because a lot of news in English is available for free anywhere. Our e-paper business is minuscule.
Why did you back out from launching a full-fledged edition of The Hindu in Mumbai and introduce a student edition instead?We didn’t want to launch a full-fledged edition because we couldn’t see the opportunity in an already highly competitive market. We have launched a school product at a low price for a specific audience so that it helps in building the brand’s footprint without business risk.
What are the expansion plans for the group in the near future?We have increased our circulation in Bengaluru and Hyderabad significantly and the group will soon come up with plans for other publications too.
ARUN ANANT> CEO, KASTURI & SONS
“It is a good time to invest”
3 6 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
“It was never a strategic decision to
be an English language group.”
The new Tamil daily from The Hindu will be launched with a print run of six lakh copies. afaqs! Reporter spoke to Arun Anant, CEO, Kasturi & Sons about the choice of a Tamil daily now. By Devesh Gupta
With an idea to differentiate itself in New Delhi, HT Media-owned Fever FM has launched a 20-episode horror series
titled ‘Kya Woh Sach Tha’ at the 11 pm slot.The 15-minute ad free show is aired from
Monday to Friday and is inspired by several real life stories. Fever FM will telecast a new story for every episode. The show will revolve around a fictional character, Dr Nagar, a parapsychologist who narrates experiences from his daily life.
The launch episode was the story of a Mumbai-based boy, Anuj Joshi, who never believed in supernatural powers till he experienced an incident on the Mumbai-Pune highway. His car ran out of fuel in heavy rains on the lonely highway where he met an old man who offered him a lift to the nearest petrol station. Anuj later found out that the old man died four years ago and his spirit connected with Anuj to take forward a message to a loved one.
Speaking about the insight behind the show,
Harshad Jain, business head, radio and entertainment, HT Media, says that most of the radio channels play retro music or retro shows in the 11 pm band, so Fever aimed to differentiate and
provide its listeners with a reality-based content. Since horror is a large genre and captures listeners’ interest too, it decided to go with the horror show.
Kya Woh Sach Tha is produced in-house and the channel is simulcasting it across all the four stations. Fever FM plans to syndicate the content once the show is over. The radio station is in talks with several sponsors for the show.
Print and digital media are being used to promote the series. Along with ads in Hindustan
Times, the station has attempted to generate conversations on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/FM104Fever) and Twitter.
Jain adds that during the night slots, Fever FM’s listenership is in the range of 3.2-3.5 million. “At this time, every radio channel has its loyal listenership, which comes for a specific kind of content. The horror show will work because at this time, children are already asleep and mostly people above the age of 24 are listening. During nights, the theatre of the mind is open and people will be able to visualise what we deliver.”
This will be the second fiction show by the radio station, after Friends in a Metro launched in June. Fever has done many successful radio dramas like Ramayana, Gandhi, Bal Gopal and Bose, which were inspired by mythology and history. All India Radio has also hosted radio dramas such as Hawa Mahal, which was based on short stories and had a dramatic representation.
Horror on AirFEVER 104 FM
HT Media-owned Fever FM has launched a 20-episode horror series at the 11 pm time slot. By Devesh Gupta
live on YouTube.In the third phase, the channel
plans to target 37 cities through radio. Life OK will also launch three fiction properties. Starting this September, the channel has already started airing
a series based on passion and love, titled ‘Ek boond Ishq’. The show is aired between Monday to Friday at
8.30 pm. It will replace Savitri, which will be rescheduled.
The channel has also lined up a spin-off from its flagship property Mahadev, titled Katha Mahadev Putra Bal Ganesh Ki. The show aims to get kids on to the channel. The 16-episode series was launched on September 14 and is aired every Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm. Depending on the response, the channel could consider
extending its episodes. Ajit Thakur, general manager, Life OK, says, “We launched with a view that it will be very different and there will be no saas-bahu drama unless we are sending out any social message through the show. In non-fiction also we have never had a singing or dancing reality show and have maintained uniqueness in our programme offerings.”
The channel has grown in viewership in 2013. As per TAM data (HSM, C&S, 4+) shared by the channel, in January 2013, Life OK grossed around 110 GRPs that has increased to 150 GRPs now.
3 7afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
Thakur: all ok
“Fever aimed to differentiate and provide its listeners with reality-based
content. ” HARSHAD JAIN
...Festive Show<< The channel will
be launching kids shows.
Launch of The Bachelorette India
The advertising industry witnessed
a few prominent people movements last fortnight. To start with, the Advertising Club (Bombay) has elected its new committee for the year 2013-14. Pratap Bose, COO of DDB Mudra Group, has taken charge as president of the body. He replaces IPG Mediabrands CEO Shashi Sinha.
Ajay Kakar, chief marketing officer, financial services, Aditya Birla Group has been re-elected as vice-president. Meanwhile, Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors will don the hat of secretary, a post that was earlier occupied by Bose.
Going deeper into the individual agency level changes, IBD India appointed a head for its Bengaluru office. The division of Percept-Hakuhodo, has brought on board Alokananda Dasbasu to head its Bengaluru
operations. Dasbasu was handling branding and marketing responsibilities for GVK-Mumbai International Airport, earlier.
Meanwhile, a few months after winning the global creative mandate of Gillette, the Grey Group has appointed two people in the senior management level to handle the brand in the APAC region. While Sanjay Chaudhari has been roped in as vice-president and regional client service director to oversee Gillette’s regional client communication strategies, Shahvez Afridi will
don the role of regional planning director.
Chaudhari and Afridi will report to Fernando Beretta, executive vice-president (Procter & Gamble), Grey Group Asia Pacific.
Advertising agency Law & Kenneth has made two new appointments in the fortnight. Devraj Basu was roped in as
senior vice-president and general manager for the agency’s Kolkata operations, while Avinash Shenoy, erstwhile general manager, customer development, PepsiCo, has recently joined Law & Kenneth as senior vice-president for Mumbai operations.
Basu brings with him an experience of more than 20 years in advertising and marketing, across India and Singapore. Shenoy started his career with advertising in the late 1990s. He will report to Anil S Nair, CEO and managing partner, Law & Kenneth.
A round up of some major people movements in the last fortnight>> MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS<<
ADVERTISING
One of the biggest movements in
the sports broadcasting segment, Neo Sports’ Prasana Krishnan moved on to head Sony Six. So far, the channel was functioning under the direct supervision of N P Singh, COO, MSM. Krishnan brings in more than 17 years of experience in media and consulting sectors.
On the print end of the business, after working as a publisher for Elle India for nearly half a decade, Amrit Rai will now take over as business head of Big CBS Prime and Big CBS Love.
Rai has 23 years of experience in the media industry and has worked across print and television.
Star Pravah, the Marathi general entertainment channel from the STAR India stable, has taken aboard Jayesh Patil to head the programming function of the channel. Patil, until recently, was fiction head at Reliance Big Productions. Well known as a writer of TV serials, this is Patil’s first tryst in a broadcaster’s role. He was with State Bank of India for a decade, before pursuing his passion in media and entertainment in the 1990s. He is the man behind popular series on the small screen that include Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka (Sony-1998), KumKum (Star Plus- 2002), Bade Achhe Lagte Hain (Sony-2011), Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (Sony-2003), Laagi Tujhse Lagan (Colors-2009) and Woh (Zee TV-1998), amongst others.
Patil replaces Shrabani Deodhar, erstwhile creative director, STAR Pravah, who has moved on to take up another responsibility at the network. Patil’s first big responsibility is the upcoming reality show, Maharashtracha Dancing Superstar - Chhote Masters. He is quite positive about the performance of the show.
On the digital front, Maxus Digital has strengthened its leadership team with some
key hires as well as internal changes. Vishal Jacob, who was earlier digital lead in the West, is now promoted as head of digital strategy. Meanwhile, Punit Singh has joined Maxus as digital lead in North and will be based in Gurgaon. In a related development, Sairam Ranganathan, who was till recently the digital lead for Maxus Bengaluru, will take over Jacob’s role in Mumbai, while Venkatesh Kamath will be the new digital lead for Maxus Bengaluru.
On the other hand, Yahoo India’s Chandrabhanu Pattajoshi moves to PrecisionMatch (an audience data provider for display advertising in India, SEA and MEA) as business head. Earlier, Pattajoshi was national head for sales and strategy at Yahoo India.
With this appointment, Nitin Chowdhary, who was leading the business at PrecisionMatch, has moved into a corporate role at SVG Media (the parent company of PrecisionMatch) to further strengthen the display product and technology backbone of SVG Media businesses.
Meanwhile, Ashish Joshi has joined CA
Media Digital as VP, digital and business head, Fluence, the company’s online influencer network around celebrities and brands.
Joshi comes with more than a decade of experience in content acquisition and distribution
on various digital platforms in B2B and B2C environments.
In yet another news, MEC named Vishal Chinchankar as digital leader, India. With over 15 years of experience; earlier, he led WPP’s digital production business, Prodigi. Based in Mumbai, Chinchankar will report to T Gangadhar, managing director, MEC India and Tushar Vyas, head of GroupM Interaction, South Asia.
This is a major hire in a digital position at the company after Ritesh Singh put in his papers at the company in April.
3 8 afaqs! Reporter, September 16-30, 2 0 1 3
PRASANA KRISHNAN
PRATAP BOSE
AJAY KAKAR
SANJAY CHAUDHARI
AVINASH SHENOY
JAYESH PATIL
SAIRAM RANGANATHAN
Zomato appointed Alok Jain as chief marketing officer. Jain was earlier associated
with DealsAndYou.com. In his new role, his job is to transform the image of Info Edge (Naukri.com Group) backed online restaurant and events guide Zomato.com to a global brand.
Earlier, Jain was associated with Smile Group’s daily deal website DealsAndYou.com as CMO. Jain’s stint at Smile lasted for a short period of five months. He also has entrepreneurial experience, having founded and led the mobile apps firm, Unyqe, in 2011.
MARKETING
DIGITAL
MEDIA
