TBR July 1-15 2008€¦ · then shopping centres, hypermarkets, and supermarkets. In India, it happened ... online in India everyday. He also thinks video ads comprise between 15

3The Brand Reporter, July 1-15, 2 0 0 8

War is JustifiedThe article about Newspapers in

Bhopal (War of Words) was reallymind boggling. One is trying to dec-imate the other with differentstrategies for sustenance, which is abasic principle in any business. But Ithink what matters is the final out-put, not just in terms of storiespublished but also its layout anddesign.

Sanket JainMumbai

No Man Go The story about the mango wars

between Slice, Maaza and Frooti wasvery informative and a nice readalthough it did miss out the pointthat no matter what all three brandswant the consumer to think, nodrink can ever replace the Indianmango eating experience. Havingsaid that, I am a Maaza man and Ilove the fact that they are the only

mango drink company constantlyshifting their image while maintain-ing their core consumer base. KhuleAam Badmashi for sure.

BharatNew Delhi

What's the Objective? A quote in your article about

'FMCG brands evolving online' saidthat more and more companies havemoved beyond product push towardsrelationship-building, but the realquestion is how many consumers arethese brands looking to gain throughthese engaging internet experiences?

Online companies have alreadydiscovered that CPM is not an accu-rate measurement system. So in theend, is anyone really gaining fromthese, except maybe the ad agencies orthe game developers.

Prakash ChaudharyPanipat

The fortnightly from afaqs!Volume III, Issue 23

EDITOR Sreekant Khandekar

PUBLISHER Prasanna Singh

EXECUTIVE EDITOR M Venkatesh

CREATIVE CONSULTANTSPealiDezine

LAYOUTVinay Dominic

LOGISTICSRajesh Kanwal

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Noida: (0120) 4077834

4077837

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Mumbai: (022) 40429702-5

[email protected]

Marketing OfficeB-3, First floor, Sector-4,

Noida-201301. Tel: (0120) 4077800.

Mumbai39, A to Z (Industrial) Premises

Co-op Soc Ltd, Lower Parel,

Mumbai - 400013.

Tel: (022) 40429701-5.

Subscription EnquiriesSakshi Kohli

Tel: (0120) 4077837

[email protected]

Registered Office

Cover Photograph Gireesh. G.V.

This fortnight...

Readers can mail their feedback to [email protected]

LETTERS

As you read this fortnight’s cover story on Sujata Keshavan, a thought might hit you: that

this isn’t only about design. Airtel, Bank of Baroda, CEAT, Network18, plus four modern

airports – as you view Sujata’s recent body of work, it’s a reminder of the India business story

and how companies are being forced to change.

A range of reasons can compel companies to revisit what they stand for and represent. Those

reasons now fly fast and thick. New technologies can redefine a company’s activities

just as overseas competition might force introspection. A company diversification will

necessitate a self-examination and a shift in consumer demographics will have the

same outcome. Sometimes, it could be simply that the old, homely logo now looks

jaded in a forest of bright new colours.

In essence, the reasons could be internal or external. A company may want to re-

examine its appearance because it has changed in some fundamental way. Or it could

be that its environment – context, if you will - has altered.

Change can creep up without being noticed. An amusing example is CEAT

whose old logo had a rhino racing plus the legend ‘born tough’. In the redesign, the

message was dropped as irrelevant because Indian highways are no longer the pot-

holed horrors they once were.

Remarkably, lay Indians are getting more design-aware, without even realising it.

There is a slick brightness in almost everything around us: the shopping malls, the

products we hold, the cafés we visit, the restaurants we eat in, our homes and offices,

everything. Even hospitals look as posh as hotels. The international images that

media conveys – whether on TV or the internet – completes our inadvertent training

in design appreciation. No wonder corporates check their looks in the mirror far more often than

they used to.

Sreekant Khandekar

Bricks and Mortar Use your credit card, make a purchaseonline and save time, that's the trendbeing followed. I disagree withBadrinathan’s comment that real busi-ness can only be built through directonline distribution. I think, with theincreasing incidents of internet frauds,one would probably think twice aboutpurchasing anything online. So goingoffline, is a good way to maximise thereach and get back the lost faith.

V SonaliBengaluru

EDITORIAL

After taking over thegreeting card andgift market in

India, Archies, is nowplanning to move into theapparel industry with itsown brand of cult T-Shirts under the brand‘Ginger Lemon’.

The new line istargeted at the age groupof 16-25, featuringcaptions on topics like‘attitude’ and ‘drinking’.A fresh range for theupcoming Friendship’sDay - celebrated on thefirst Sunday of August,every year - is also goingto be launched.

The tees will be in themid-segment categorywith a price rangeof Rs 325 to Rs 399.

Currentlyavailable only in 75stores across India,the tees, accordingto VijayantChhabra, executivedirector, Archies,“will be available in500 stores across the nation.”

Chhabra says that the range willbe promoted through newspapersand radio. However, he does not ruleout the possibility of advertising on abigger scale through TV and othermedia, once the popularity of the

range increases.The company is predicting

a 10 per cent jump in itsturnover from the teesrange itself in the nexttwo years. “By 2010, weare looking at sales ofabout Rs 15 crore fromthe T-shirt range itself,”says Chhabra.

The company saw anannual turnover of Rs

118 crore in 2007-08, andit hopes to reach Rs 160

crore by 2010-11.Archies has also tied up

with US based company,GUND, to enter a newuntapped segment forluxury toys and accessories- targeted at new-bornbabies - later this year.

The company alsorecently entered a

licensing agree-ment with UK’sPaper Island tomarket anddistribute itsbrand, Fizzy Moon(cards and othergift items) in India.It also has tie-upswith other

international brands like ExpressionsGifts Co (UK), Russberrie (UK).

The company is also redesigningitself online to push sales and boostprofits. The new site enables users toshop for any Archies product availablein their stores. Besides this, thecompany will also introduce a homedelivery service soon.

4 The Brand Reporter, July 1-15, 2 0 0 8

RK Swamy BBDO> The advertising big-wig has launchedits fourth edition of the ‘RK Swamy BBDO Guide to MarketPlanning’, which underlines the issues that make up the Indiagrowth story, such as the nation’s purchasing power, thechallenges that the marketer needs to recognise inunderstanding the variable growth across different states.

“Nowhere in the world hasretail fallen into the consumers’lap like it has in India. Retail’sjourney everywhere else hashappened over 30-40 years.Things happened one-by-one.

Consumers got used to department stores,then shopping centres, hypermarkets, andsupermarkets. In India, it happenedalmost simultaneously”.B S NAGESH, MD, SHOPPERS STOP, TALKING ABOUT INDIA'S RETAIL JOURNEY IN BUSINESS STANDARD.

ARCHIES

By 2010, wewill aim forsales worthRs 15 crorefrom the teerange alone.

QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT

Honda, Maruti> Car makers in India are finally waking upto the serious threat of fuel price rise and are set to offer carstargeting not just fuel efficiency but cars that are easy tomaintain. Honda is launching India’s first hybrid car – the CivicHybrid (Rs 21.5 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi) and Maruti Suzuki,which offers dual fuel options in Wagon R and Omni brands,has now made dual fuel available in the Maruti 800 too.

It makes ananalysis of thecountry’s marketpotential.

The Group hopesto provide newsolutions tomember hotels.

Reebok> After having cricketstars Mahendra Singh Dhoni,Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir endorsing Reebok’ssports-wear/gear, the company has now roped in the latestT20 star Ishant Sharma . Ishant was present to launchReebok’s first exclusive sports store in India (in Safdarjang,Delhi), which will stock all types of cricket and other sportsequipment and gear.

Frito Lay> Taking a cue from international markets, snackfood giant Frito Lay, has decided to move towards a healthierimage by using rice bran oil in its range of products –effectively reducing saturated fats up to 40 per cent. Thecompany’s three pronged approach includes improving itscore brands such as Kurkure and launching new healthyoptions such as Quaker Oats. The company’s creativeagency, JWT, has come up with Kurkure's new ‘Teda Hai, ParMera Hai’ campaign, in line with launching two new flavoursof new wheat Cheetos, containing Vitamin A and vegetables.

MRPL> Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals is set tointroduce branded petrol and diesel in the OVaL retail outletsof Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and HiQ retail outlets ofMRPL. The branded petrol and diesel products will be namedas ‘HiQ Value’ and ‘OVal-XL’, respectively.

Arrow> The subsidiary of Arvind Brands will now bepromoted as a lifestyle name for the new-age customer. Thecompany has employed design consultancy firm JHP to re-invent the brand. Arrow, that currently limits itself to the malesegment would be extended to the women’s formal wearcategory as well, by 2009.

”

Tata Agrico> Tata BP Solar has entered an agreementwith Tata Agrico, a division of Tata Steel, to distribute itssolar products aimed at India's rural heartland. With prod-ucts such as solar lanterns and street-lights, the partnershipis going to base itself in Bihar.

Proto ’08> An event aimed at giving entrepreneurs a platformto express their vision and imagination, with a working prototypewill take place on July 18-19, 2008.

FMCG India Retail 2008> A premier conference for the FMCG industry to showcasechallenges and opportunities in building a retail industry in India on July 10-11, 2008.

Chhabra: optimistic

MARK

ETIN

G

Sponsored by

Toyota> ‘Rain Gain’, a 45-day-long monsoon campaign isbeing launched by Toyota Kirloskar Motor at 62 dealershipsacross the country. During the promotion, a free 20-pointvehicle check will be offered to the customer visiting Toyotadealerships for trouble-free driving in monsoon season, afterwhich they will also get an assured gift. Last year, Toyotaserviced around 52,000 vehicles during the campaign.“

EVENTS

HotelRez> The Indian hotel industry will be facingcompetition from the UK. London-based, HotelRez, which hasover 550 hotels under different brands, is planning to enterthe hotel industry in India and has already bought twoproperties under the Elegant brand in Chennai andBengaluru.

The initiative foc-uses on needs ofcustomers depr-ived of electricity.

MSN India has introduced anew platform forsponsored content on its

network, called Messenger TV. It letspeople watch the same video andother content while chatting withtheir friends.

The company has already signedon MTV, as an extension of itsinternational partnership, for itsromance-drama reality show inIndia, Splitsvilla.

There are two ways in whichusers can share the videos onMessenger TV. If a user is logged onto Windows Live Messenger andviews a video on the site, a linkbelow the video will allow him toshare it through chat. While chatting,users can also click on the MessengerTV link and view the videosimultaneously and chat about it.There is even a virtual remotecontrol, which users can pass to each

other to control which videos areplaying.

Maya Hari, head of consumermarketing at MSN India, says thatthe company is exploring manymore partnerships for MessengerTV. Hari says the results were “verypositive” and adds that the platformhas “a huge multiplier effect”.

MSN has also created a site,www.msnindia.com/splitsvilla, for

the show, which features video clips,a contest and a blog.

The content on the MTVSpiltsvilla site will be updatedconstantly while the show lasts.“Every week, for 13 weeks, we willadd a new angle to the contest (onthe site),” says Hari. Visitors canparticipate in the contest, postcomments on the blogs of theparticipants and vote for theirfavourites.

Some of the videos on the site willprovide exclusive behind the scenesfootage of the show.

MTV Splitsvilla was launched bythe TV channel last week. It is areality show in which 20 femalecontestants vie for the attention oftwo male contestants.

Anuj Poddar, senior vice-president, strategy and businessdevelopment, and head of digital atMTV India, says, “We at MTV

always create content that fits acrossplatforms, so be it on-air, online orthe mobile, we are everywhere. Ourendeavour is always to be in syncwith the ever changing Gen X, so wewill now be available to the MSNmembers through messenger TV atthe click of a button. I am glad MSNIndia chose MTV Splitsvilla tofurther connect with its targetaudiences.”

6

A licensing system for journalismis abhorrent as it is against thebasic tenets of press freedom.The onus of evolving a code ofconduct should be vested withthe Press Council of India andEditors should evolve their own

norms for their journalists.SEBASTIAN PAUL, MEDIA CRITIC AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, AT A ONE-DAY WORKSHOP ON 'REPORTING

OF COURT PROCEEDINGS BY MEDIA' HELD IN KOCHI RECENTLY, ON 'SHOULD THERE BE AN OMBUDSMAN OR A

STATUTORY CODE OF CONDUCT DRAWN UP FOR JOURNALISTS?'

Reliance is set toprovide Spielbergand his team withover 500 millionin equity.

The IHT logo willfeature promin-ently on the frontpage.

MSN-MTV


Aajkaal> The leading evening daily from theRajkot based Dhanraj Group has plans to comeout with four more editions in Gandhi Nagar,Mehasana, Surat and Baroda by 2010. The

eveninger is already being published from Rajkot, Jamnagar,Bhavnagar, Porbander, Ahmedabad, Bhuj. The Bhuj morningeralso goes to Mumbai.

Seventymm> One ofIndia's leading movierental company,Seventymm has wonthree major awards atthe recently held PC World Web Awards for the Best IndianWebsites 2008.The company won the ‘The Best Design’,‘Best Technology Usage’ and ‘The overall winner’ in themovie rental category.

HT Media> The Delhi-based media company has formed aventure with German media group Hubert Burda Media to setup a printing press in India in an attempt to tap what it calls‘growing media platforms’ here and in the rest of Asia. Burdawill outsource some of its global printing requirements to thejoint venture. The printing press will be located near thenational capital and the companies will also explore otherstrategic areas for growth.

Financial Chronicle> The International Herald Tribune(IHT) has announced its expanision in India. It will launch abranded world business section. This section will be carried inDeccan Chronicle’s new business paper - the FinancialChronicle. This paper was launched by the Deccan Chronicle Group inMumbai on June 20. This section will contain a daily four-pageversion of its world business with Reuters section. This sectionwill cover news about companies, business deals and financialmarkets from around the world.

MEDI

A

DreamWorks SKG> International movie studio,DreamWorks SKG, is in talks with India's Reliance ADAG fora movie venture which will give studio head, StevenSpielberg, financial freedom to finance his DreamWorksteam's departure from Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures.Reliance is set to provide Spielberg and his team with over$500 million in equity and, in return, Reliance will get a majorstake in the new company.

Ourendeavour is

always to be in sync

with the everchanging Gen X.

Sponsored by

EMI Music India> EarthSync, a world music label, hasrecently struck an exclusive distribution deal with the musicgiant, EMI. The Chennai-based EarthSync, is an audio-visualproduction house that nurtures folk, native and tribal musicfrom Asia and makes the music available to a globalaudience by mixing the traditional sound with a morecontemporary feel. The first release of these two companiestogether will be the Laya Project, a documentary and doublealbum for which the company heads, Sonya Mazumdar andYotam Agam, travelled for two years through the tsunami-affected regions of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives,Myanmar and India.

The Brand Reporter, July 1-15, 2 0 0 8

INX Media> The media company has plans to launch itsthree channels - 9X, the general entertainment channel;9XM, the music channel; and NewsX, the English newschannel, in Gulf countries and has appointed Dubai-basedmedia company Media Solutions to head their way into theGulf Cooperation Council and other middle-eastern countries.

The out of home advertisingcompany, Accurate Network,has introduced a new innova-

tive OOH medium, AccuRideAdBikes. These are innovative pad-dle bikes, mounted with light boxesat the back, which can be ridden allover city/town streets, pedestrianpaths, service roads, parks andamusement sites, malls, multiplexesand airports.

TheAccuRideAdBikes are fit-ted with 4ft x6ft double sidedlight boxes thatcan carry adver-tising messages.Besides thebox, the shadeof the advertis-ing bike as wellas front andrear of the lightbox can be cov-ered withadvertising stickers. Riders, who arerecruited for their enthusiasm andability to interact with the targetedaudience, can also be dressed in cor-porate outfits to strengthen thebrand visibility.

According to MukeshM Jani, proprietor,Accurate Network,“This innovative eyecatching ‘street’ advertis-ing medium attractsattention wherever itgoes. The advantages arethat they can be run onclients’ desirable routes,and each bike isequipped with a soundsystem. So corporate messages,sound tracks or radio commercialscan be played in public, a lightingsystem aids advertising campaigns tobe run at night. It is closer to thepoint of sale and thus generates max-imum impact and extensive brandexposure and is low cost per thou-sand impressions. It’s also great for

the distribution of product sam-

ples and promotional leaflets.”AccuRide Bikes are also anecofriendly mobile medium.

Currently, AccuRide AdBikes arein action in Mumbai’s business and ITparks, malls and the airport, in Pune’smalls, IT parks and city roads, and inAhmedabad’s malls and city roads.From the first week of July, they willalso be launched in Bangalore, Delhi

and Hyderabad.Advertisersusing AccuRideAdBikes includeVodafone, TheEconomist,Inorbit Mall,Taxsmile andGoyel GangaDevelopments.The companynow works withad agencies pro-viding thesebikes to theirclients, goingforward, will

engage the advertisers as well.The advertising cost on these

bikes depends on the location andrange between Rs 25,000 per weekper bike on locations like roads and

parks to Rs 6,50,000 permonth per bike forMumbai Airport, whichis much more due to theairport advertising rightsinvolved.

The bikes are imported from Europeby Accurate Network,which is the exclusivedistributor for AdBikesin India. Jani says 25 bikes will be added

soon. This concept is booming in Europe and has seen good successat important cities across the world such as London, Paris, NewYork, Barcelona, Dublin andBudapest.

More bikes will be added by thefirst week of July and Jani is readyingto take on more clients who want tosee their brands ‘ride’ to the top.


> Everest Brand Solutions has won the creative business for Mount ShivalikBreweries. Mount Shivalik Breweries is one of the leading beer makers in thecountry. Everest will build the group’s Thunderbolt, Golden Peacock andPunjab 6000 brands. The size of the account is around Rs 5-7 crore.

The media mix comprises television, print, outdoor and radio. This is thefirst time that Mount Shivalik will have a TV commercial.

> Cellular phone operator Tata Indicom, which had called for a pitch some time ago,has selected two agencies to handle its creative duties, Contract and DraftFCB Ulka. Tata Indicom had called for a creative pitch in which the incumbent agency, Draft FCB

Ulka, also took part, along with other contenders such as GreyWorldwide, Fortune Communications, Contract, McCann Erickson,Saatchi & Saatchi, Euro RSCG and Saints & Warriors.

OOH

MOTOROLA Distracted by his inner self continuously, Abhishek puts every-thing behind him and shakes it out to music on his mobile,inside the men’s room.Agency: O&M Creative Director: Abhijit AvasthiCopywriter: Abhijit Avasthi & Avinash Baliga Production House: Corcoise FilmsDirector: Prashant Issar (Sippy)

BRITANNIAA busy day on a railway platform. The ticket collector is in a sur-prisingly good mood and keeps on dancing - because he enjoysGoodDay biscuits. The crowd around him enjoys his antics thor-oughly.Agency: McCann EricksonCreative Director: Prasoon JoshiCopywriter: Carl SavioProduction: Black Magic Productions

New AD campaign of the fortnightNew TVC

ACCOUNT MOVEMENT

A lot of cash-rich companies inhigh growth sectors aremindlessly spending money inadvertising. This is detrimental forthe sector in the long run as thecompulsion to sweat to grow great

brands will diminish.SAUGATA GUPTA, CEO, CONSUMER PRODUCTS, MARICO INDUSTRIES


ADVE

RTIS

ING WPP Atticus

Awards are openexclusively to pro-fessionals workingin WPP companies.

OOH> Warburg Pincus, aglobal private equity firm, willinvest Rs 276 crore in LaqshyaMedia, the out of home (OOH) media advertising company.Laqshya has plans to develop media assets of internationalstandards and focus on major cities and developing sectors.Recently, Right Angle Media, a part of Laqshya, was appoint-ed to build and operate more than 1,000 air conditioned busshelters in Dubai.

JWT> Mythili Chandrashekar, senior VP and executive plan-ning director, JWT, has won the prestigious Patricia MannAward for Women. Chandrashekar has more than 20 years ofexperience in advertising and marketing communications. Competitors for the award needed to substantiate theirachievements and indicate their potential to contribute furtherto the industry alongwith a 1,000 word essay on why and whatkind of developmental investment the candidates require andhow it would benefit them.

Sponsored by

JWT> Dheeraj Sinha, vice-president, strategic planning,Bates 141 India and Jitender Dabas, vice-president anddirector, strategic planning, JWT Delhi, have won the WPPAtticus Awards.

While Sinha has won the award in the Market Researchand Insights category for his paper, ‘The Changing Mindsetof a Billion Minds’, Dabas has won it in the Branding andIdentity category for his paper, ‘Why the Consumer ShouldNot Be King in India’.

Street adver-tising has

taken a newmeaning with

AccuRidebikes.

The screen may be smallerbut the impact is far larger.

Nokia Media Network

Brands in India have done wellin adopting the internet fortheir branding and marketing

activities. Another avenue openingup for brand communication isonline video.

Who’s watching?Citing ABI Research, digital researchfirm, eMarketer predicts that adspending on online video in Asia willbe $202 million in 2008 and willgrow to $3.3 billion in 2012 - andwill score over ad spends in Europeand US.

According to research agencyJuxtConsult, 36 per cent of the 35 mil-lion active internet users in India sharevideos online. The growing interest inthis medium is also evidenced by theentry of online video ad agencies inIndia. These include Jivox andVdopia, which have operations in theUS and in India. Home-grown onesinclude Monsoon Ads andNautanki.tv.

The challenge for these agenciesis to give marketers another reason toincrease their spending on the inter-net, touting video ads as TVCs whichlet the viewers interact with thebrand on the spot.

“The online video industry is afraction of online ad spends in India.But volumes are growing. Manysmall advertisers - the ones whonever went online - suddenly feelthat their TVCs can run (on theinternet) and give them brandingopportunities that TV cannot givebecause of the costs,” says Sunil RNair, director, Nautanki.tv.

An internal survey conducted bythe company suggests that about 6.7lakh unique visitors watch a video onthe Nautanki.tv network per day.

Naren Nachiappan, managingdirector, Jivox India, believes that 15million content videos are watchedonline in India everyday. He alsothinks video ads comprise between 15and 35 per cent of the online adindustry, which he pegs at Rs 400crore.

Is it online TVCs?Harsh Nagpal, director, MonsoonAds, says, “Unlike TV, an onlineadvertiser is billed for an ad seen, asopposed to being billed for the ‘per-ceived reach’ of a TV channel.”

Saurabh Bhatia, managing director,Vdopia, says, “Video ads create brandrecall. It’s the same difference thatTV advertising has with classifieds.”

Elaborating on some of the inno-vations in video ads, Nachiappanexplains how ‘bugs’ may be insertedin video ads - animations superim-posed on the screen and productplacements – where the user can clickon a particular portion of the videofor more information.

Microsoft rolled out contextualvideo advertising earlier this year.The company has also launchedDesktop TV, which plays TV adsonline. Rajnish, India head ofMicrosoft Digital AdvertisingSolutions, says, “It has allowed us toreach out to a large set of advertisersand sample the medium as an effec-tive option.” Microsoft also offersvideo ads on its MSN Video site and

has launched Messenger TV, wherevideos can be viewed while chatting.

While portals such as Yahoo!India and Rediff have not warmedup to video ads as much, portals ofmedia companies have been show-ing the way. NDTV, CNN-IBN,Zoom TV and Network18 have alladopted video ads in associationwith some of the video-ad agencies.This could possibly be becausemedia companies own a lot of videocontent, which horizontal portalsdon’t. Advertisers such as HDFC,Idea, DLF and Jeevansathi.com usethese portals.

Does it work?Online videos are measured in

terms of CTR (click through rate),the parameter used for display adver-tising. Therefore, if the video isdelivered 100 times and one personclicks on it, the CTR is one per cent.Nachiappan says that the averageresponse for an in-stream video ad inIndia is between 0.7 to two per cent.That of an in-banner video ad(where the video plays within a ban-ner) is between 0.1 and 0.5 per centwhile for an in-text video ad (wherea text link opens up a video), it isbetween one and three per cent.

The average for banner ads interms of CTR is between 0.5 and 1.5per cent, so video ads are not farbehind. Nair says, “Media agenciesare stuck on cost per click campaigns,forgetting that the branding providedby an online video ad is far greaterthat a text ad or a banner ad.”Nautanki.tv is in the process oflaunching parameters to measure theeffectiveness of online video ads.

Bhatia agrees, “CTR is just one ofthe parameters and is a function ofcreative and other factors. Withvideo, it means that you have gener-ated user interest and engagement.”As internet advertising increases,advertisers will look for diverse waysto cut the clutter of banners andsearch listings. Video advertising willpresent that opportunity, and asvideo content grows, it will be theright platform to do so. �

[email protected]


Online video advertising holds a lot of potential forbrands that are trying to talk to online audiences in aninteractive way. By Tarana Khan

ONLINE MARKETING

The challenge forthese agencies is to

give marketersanother reason toincrease spends

online.

Measuring Up

CATCHING UP(Online video advertising spending in Asia, Europe and the US, 2008 & 2012)

Source: ABI Research, eMarketer

Asia

Europe

202

200

US260

2,460

2,100

20122008

3,300

(in $ million)

THE OPTIONS(Common types of video ads)

An ad that plays before theactual video content

An ad that plays at the endof the actual video content

An ad that provides textualinformation in the form of abanner at the bottom andcovers 10 per cent of thescreen while the video isplaying

An ad that plays in the mid-dle of the video - just as itdoes on television

Pre-roll

Post-roll

Overlay

In-stream

Sab bikau hai, aa raha hai ek nish-paksh nazaria.’ For twomonths, Amar Ujala, the Hindi

daily, intrigued Lucknow’s residentswith such messages that changedevery five days. The secret was outon June 24, when it launched itsLucknow edition, the 18th editionoverall, and the 11th edition inUttar Pradesh (UP). The launchcampaign said: Har cheez ka mol hai,sachchaai anmol hai.

According to Sunil Mutreja,president, marketing, Amar Ujala,the launch day saw a print order of2.12 lakh copies with 97,000 copiesbeing distributed in the city itself.The rest are for Raebareli,Lakhimpur Kheri, Gonda, Sitapur,Barabanki, Bahraich, Faizabad andSultanpur.

Amar Ujala is fighting it out withthe current leader, Dainik Jagran -the latter has a circulation of200,789 copies as per ABC figuresfor July-December, 2007. “AmarUjala has a confirmed subscriptionof over 2.1 lakh copies for theLucknow edition,” claims Mutreja.

The daily bears a cover price ofRs 3.50, at par with Dainik Jagran.Hindustan (with a cover price of Rs3.00/3.50) from the HT MediaGroup is a strong competitor too. Asper ABC (July-December, 2007),Hindustan's Lucknow edition has acirculation of 3.1 lakh copies. Thefigure includes 1.03lakh copies printed atVaranasi and 47,017copies printed atKanpur. Other com-petitors Aj (priced at Rs2) and Rashtriya Sahara(priced at Rs 3.00/3.50)which as per ABC(July-December, 2007)have a circulation of62,135 and 54,652copies, respectively.

In Lucknow, Amar Ujala has aneight-page daily supplement, MyCity. Four-page, weekly supple-ments are also part of the package.These are Travel Guide (coveringnational and international destina-tions) on Monday, Fast Track (onautomobiles) on Tuesday, Careers &

Education on Wedn-esday, Health & Fitnesson Thursday, Rupayan (awomen's magazine) onFriday, My City Plus(that'll cover the lighterside of the city like par-ties and functions) onSaturday and SundayAnand (which will coverliterature and Bolly-

wood) and Money Guru (on finance,mutual funds and property) onSunday.

According to Mutreja, the com-pany hired Serum Communicationsto do a survey of 4.9 lakh house-holds to find about the perceptionof the brand and the gaps in thecompetitors’ products. “People

relate Amar Ujala with credibilityand unbiased opinions. As for thegaps left by our competitors, we’vetried to fill them with supple-ments,” he says. The Lucknowlaunch also saw a new design. Themasthead has a red base with whitein reverse. The outdoor campaignswere conceptualised and executedby BEI Confluence.

Amar Ujala has hired 450 men foran on-going personal contact pro-gramme (PCP). It consists of asubscription drive, which includes apromotional line-up of Super Sixerand Double Sixer schemes. Whilethe Super Sixer is a six-month sub-scription scheme, the latter is for ayear - with incentives for both. �[email protected]


The success of the launch episode of 10 KaDum on Sony Entertainment Television(SET) hasn’t really left media watchers

‘dum’bfounded. Such was the scale of marketingand promotion, it was certain that it would rake inhigh rankings. The show brings a ray of hope forSET, which was dethroned from its No 3 positionby new entrants NDTV Imagine and 9X.

According to TAM Media Research, the launchepisode of this Salman Khan-hosted game showgarnered a TVR of 3.35 (C&S 4+, HSM), a rare featfor SET India. But before the victory bells could berung, in the subsequent episode, the TVR camedown to 2.7. In Week 24, the highest TVR for theshow was 2.39. However, the channel has adequatereason to cheer. Its share in the overall GEC pie hasincreased to 9 per cent in Week 23, from 8 per centin Week 22, leaving 9X and NDTV Imagine behindand regaining the number three position. It hasmaintained this position in Week 24.

Jyoti Bansal, executive director, West and South,for the media agency, MPG, believes that the view-ership of 10 Ka Dum is a function of the marketingblitz. The hype around actor Khan’s debut on TV

drew many curious viewers to the show. “Typically,any new format with a film star in it will get highsampling,” she states. Danish Khan, assistant vice-president, marketing, SET India, attributes theviewership to word-of-mouth and Salman’s senseof humour. On Fridays and Saturdays, the view-

ership of CID and Comedy Circus, which follow 10Ka Dum, has increased, thanks to the Khan’s show.

Says Sandeep Lakhina, MD, India, West andSouth, Starcom, “Unlike Shah Rukh, whoseappeal is more up-market, Salman has massappeal,” he states. The channel is also planning afew celebrity episodes, with cricketers Yuvraj Singhand Harbhajan Singh.

Media planners are of the opinion that if 10 KaDum can manage a steady TVR of 2, it will meangood news for SET. “If the channel plays it right, itcan regain its lost glory,” Bansal thinks. For now, itseems like Salman has added some ‘muscle’ toSony’s programming. �

[email protected]

The New Nawab?

Salman Khan with his mass appeal has managed to regain the No 3 positionfor Sony Entertainment Television for now. By Sapna Nair

AMAR UJALA

Mutreja: making asplash

0 1 2 3 4 5

14 June ’08

13 June ’08

8 June ’08

7 June ’08

6 June ’08

Junoon-Kuchh KarDikhane Ka

Chak De Bachche

Kya Aap PaanchviPass Se Tez Hain

The Great IndianLaughter

Challenge IV

Rock N Roll Family

10 Ka Dum

How They Stack Up(10 Ka Dum versus other reality shows)

NDTV Imagine

9X

Star Plus

Star One

Zee TV

SonyEntertainment TV

Source: TAM Peoplemeter SystemMarket: Hindi Speaking Market

TG: CS 4+ Share in Period: June 6, 7, 8, 13 & 14 '08

Ten Steps to Success

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142008


Was IPL the Best Thing toHappen to Indian TV?

The telecast of the IPL cricket matches shook GECs. Was it good for Indian television? By Sapna Nair.

I WOULDN’T SAY THEIPL WAS THE BESTTHING TO HAVEHAPPENED TO INDIANTV. BUT IT WASCERTAINLY A DEFININGMOMENT.

It was an innovative

concept. They turned cricket

into an interesting format. As

a GEC, there were

apprehensions because it was

being played on prime time

and that was bound to eat

into the GEC pie. Then,

questions like ‘How much of

prime time viewing would be

affected?’cropped up.

We did get affected a wee

bit initially. But later, we were

able to figure out that not all

matches raked in high

viewership. After a few

matches, as people were able

to ascertain the interesting

matches, housewives gained

control of the remote.

GECs, in my view, will be

better equipped to fight it out

next season.

NEW AND INNOVATIVEFORMATS HAVE ALWAYSREDEFINED TVVIEWERSHIP IN INDIA,BE IT QUIZ SHOWS LIKEKAUN BANEGACROREPATI, REALITYshows like Indian Idol or

cricket-with-entertainment

like IPL.

It is interesting to note that

most of these are existing

platforms - music, quiz, and

cricket - packaged and

presented in a much more

entertaining way.

There is also a movement

towards more marketing

rigour before bringing these

shows to the audience. This

includes market research and

advertising propositions.

There is also a higher level

of audience engagement that

these shows have been able to

drive. This trend will,

hopefully, drive broadcasters

and channels to try out

formats which work for

advertisers and audiences.

IT MOST CERTAINLYWAS. AND IN MOREWAYS THAT PEOPLECARE TO THINK. IPLWAS JUST WAITINGTO HAPPEN. IT GAVE VIEWERS everything soaps should begiving. Plus, it gave cricket. Itbroke the false barrier ofpatriotism and gave viewers areason to like the sport for itself.To think that IPL is a marketingsuccess because it mixedBollywood and cricket is sheerover-simplification.

It was real-life dramaunfolding on how players, whohad barely met each other until afew weeks before the start of thetournament, were performing asif they had forever been a team.

It had heroes who fell,underdogs who became heroes,shame-faced icons, glamorousfans and cheerleaders, ex-starsfighting to redeem themselves,doubts, suspense and a nailbiting finale. What more do youexpect from entertainment?

It laughed at TV cynics byproving that even in the era ofhyper-fragmentation, goodentertainment can get double-digit ratings, something mostpeople seem to have forgotten.

BRIGHT LIGHTS,LARGE CROWDS, UPSAND DOWNS THATWOULD HAVE DONE ASOAP PROUD,CELEBRITY PRESENCEAND HIGH WATTAGE prime time viewing!

The IPL has come and goneand left a void in its wake. Thereis no doubt that IPL was thesingle most disruptive influenceof TV viewership patterns inrecent times. It sank at least onebig budget quiz show, createdhavoc with the viewership of atleast one brand new GEC and hadproducers of established showsscurrying for gimmicks to hold onto the housewives.

As the lights dimmed instadiums across the country atthe end of the first season,number crunchers struggled tocompute gains and losses of theirvarious investments in thetournament.

Whichever way you look at it,the IPL has shown that viewerloyalty cannot be taken forgranted. Broadcasters will haveto programme that in and aroundthe next league season. Dare Isay it, reality is stranger thanfiction.

Business Head, Zee TV CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group Head of Brand and Media, Bharti Airtel Chief Creative Officer, Miditech

FOTO

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He looks like the boy next door. But thedapper host of Kya Aap Paanchvi FailChampu Hain? is transformed into Ruk

Ruk Khan the moment he is on the sets of thespoof show. Meet Sunil Grover, the person whocan flawlessly impersonate celebrities.

Grover comes from a town called Mandi

Dabwali (located on the borders of Punjab,Haryana and Rajasthan). After completing hisschooling in Chandigarh, Grover did hisMasters in Theatre (Drama) from PunjabUniversity, but his ultimate calling was Mumbai.

After a brief stint as a correspondent withZEE News in Delhi, he landed in Mumbai. Hestayed at a friend’s place and managed to landhimself with some voice-over assignments for adfilms and some radio spots for brands includingHeinz. Presently, he is also the voice behind‘Sud’: a character that deadpans jokes on RadioMirchi in a radio byte called Hassi Ke Phuwarre.

A master at mimicking famous voices, Groverfinally allowed the actor inside him to surface in a couple of ad films, including one forCadbury’s (Pappu: the college ‘proposal’ ad withAmitabh Bachchan) and another for TataIndicom. He even managed small roles in somefeature films including Family, Insaan and TheLegend of Bhagat Singh.

When SaharaOne Media & Entertainment waslaunching its Hindi movie channel, Grover audi-tioned. “They were looking for a person to fit thecharacter of Lallan, one of the channel’s mascots.The next thing I knew, I was on!” he says.

Lallan was a one man show: a single manessaying multiple characters. One of these char-acters was in fact, called Ruk Ruk Khan: a spoofon Shah Rukh Khan(SRK). Then, when KaunBanega Crorepati 3 happened with the SRK as thehost, Filmy couldn’t resist the concept of KaunBanega Champu: the channel’s own version of theshow – pot seat and all.

Filmy and Grover found their next spoofing

opportunity when STAR Plus launched Kya AapPanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? The spoof, called KyaAap Panchvi Fail Champu Hain? For both theshows, the only homework he did was watch fewtapes of the originals to study SRK’s manner-isms. The scripting was done by the Filmycreative team.

“See, I never joined theatre with the intentionof doing a Ruk Ruk Khan,” he reflects. “I neverhad big dreams, but I did have a lust for fame andmoney. But, if I can make viewers laugh then itsatisfies me,” he shrugs.

Has he met SRK in real life? “Yes, I have methim. I’m his fan like many others,” says Grover.“He saw me, and acknowledged me. That’s all Ican say about our meeting.” He finishes with aterse, “Let’s leave it at that.”

Isn’t there a danger of being typecast as a SRKlookalike? “Everyone is typecast into somebracket or the other. What I want to do is toenlarge my typecast category bracket,” he says.

It gives Grover quite a high to be recognisedin public places, and some even approach himfor his autograph. So does he sign Ruk RukKhan? “No… Sunil Grover!” he smiles. �

[email protected]

Who’s That

He copies the mannerisms andvoices of famous artistes.

> Anurag Gupta, president, Ogilvy Action India, has movedout of the agency. He has been with Ogilvy for the last six years.He joined Ogilvy as head of Mumbai for Ogilvy Outreach for twoyears and was promoted as head of planning for OgilvyActivation, after which he was the head of Ogilvy Action (minusOgilvy Landscapes). His next destination was not known till thetime the magazine went to press.

Gupta started his career 12 years ago with Grey and latermoved on to other agencies such as Lowe, Unilever and DraftWorldwide Kenya.

> Starcom recently announced the appointment ofAshwini Kamat as head of theBengaluru office. Ashwini was previouslyresponsible for training and new busi-ness development for Starcom,nationally.

Ashwini moves into the role vacated bySindhuja Rai, general manager, who isleaving Starcom.

Ashwini Kamat joined Starcom in 2002and has handled clients like VVF, Heinz, Western Union, HDFC,Fiat in the past in the Starcom Mumbai office. She moved toBengaluru in 2007.

> Amee Sanghvi has joined INX Media as VP and cre-ative head for INX Studio. INX Studio is responsible forin-house promos, logos and designs for all three INX mediabrands – 9X, 9XM, and INX News. Prior to joining INXMedia, Sanghvi was creative director at DDB Mudra.Sanghvi has 13 years of experience in the advertising indus-try, with stints at Mudra Mumbai, Draft-FCB Ulka, O&M,Rediffusion DY&R and Leo Burnett.

> dishtv has appointed VinayAgarwal as its CEO. Prior to join-ing Dish TV, Agarwal wasassociated with Grindwell Norton, aSaint-Gobain Group company, as thepresident-abrasives.

> D Charles has put in his papersat Hello FM as head marketing. Hewill be joining Akshya Homes, one of the leading builders inChennai, as deputy general manager, marketing.

> Vivek Maholtra has joined UTV News as vice presi-dent, marketing. He moves from STAR News where he washead -marketing services. Prior to STAR News, Malhotrahad spent about three years with the Network18 group.

> Pankaj Arora has come back to Triton Communicationsafter a year. He will head the agency as executive director, basedin Mumbai. Arora was earlier senior vice-president at PublicisAmbience.

Arora has 17 years’ experience in advertising. He started hiscareer at Percept H and Contract and later moved to Lowe,where he was in charge of Pepsodent. In 1997, Arora joinedGrey Mumbai to head the health care division there. He alsoworked on Akai, then the largest brand with Grey. After abouta year at the Mumbai office, Arora moved to head Grey’sColombo office. He was there for four years before he movedto the Delhi office to handle brands such as SmithKlineBeecham, Hindustan Times and Revlon.

> Genesis is strengthening its Mumbai office. After appointingSudarshan Banerjee vice president andgeneral manager, it has appointedShouvik Gupta executive creativedirector.

Gupta moves from Grey Worldwide.He started his career with PerceptMumbai in 1994. After a stint atGenesis Kolkata, he moved to JWT andthen to Bates David Enterprise (nowBates 141). Another stint at Grey

Kolkata was followed by a shift to Grey’s Dhaka office andfinally to its Mumbai office as creative director.

> Optima Marketing Solutions, Chennai has recentlyappointed Murali Krishnan as vice president and RaviKrishnan as associate vice president.

Murali Krishnan moves from TBWA-Anthem, where he hadbeen working for the past four years.

Prior to joining Optima, Ravi Krishnan was heading a cre-ative shop which catered to regional and retail brands. Hebegan his career with Speer and Trikaya Grey (Delhi) and hasserviced various divisions.

MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS A compilation of some major account and people movements in the last fortnight

MEDIA

ADVERTISING/PEOPLE

STAR ONE

The monsoon is here and radio stations inMumbai are celebrating the seasonthrough various promotions-cum-public-

service-initiatives. RED FM, the station knownfor its Bajaate Raho! attitude, has rolled out anextensive plan to help Mumbaikars deal with themonsoons. Listeners can ‘Vote for boat’ on RedFM if their area is drowning in the downpour.The area with the highest number of votes standsto win an inflatable RED FM boat. The boat willbe handed over to the civic authority of the area,along with lifejackets and monsoon-survival kits,for rescue operations during the monsoon.

RED FM plans to put up the boat at majormalls and do a show of RED FM Khopcha withRJs Neeil and Nyssha, from the boat. A specialevent will also be organised, wherelisteners will get a chance to test-ridethe boat with the RED FM RJs. At thepeak of the monsoon, the boat will behanded over to the Corporator or theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) official of thearea with the maximum votes.

Days of heavy rain will see volun-teers with huge, RED FM-brandedumbrellas at major malls, multiplexesand railway stations, to help usher peo-ple to buses, rickshaws and trains. Numerous REDFM Qualis cars will also be available outside railway

stations, colleges, corporate parks, mallsand other rain-affected areas. These willhelp Mumbaikars cope with the short-fall of cabs and rickshaws and anyexcessive flooding in low-lying areas.

Anuj Singh, station head, RED FM(Mumbai), says, “Bajaao for a Cause,RED FM’s Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) arm, stands fornot only raising issues, but also driv-ing action.”

Other radio stations are also not holding back.On June 11, Fever 104 FM launched the

Mumbai Monsoon Help Line that promised toease Mumbaikars’ - woes by addressing problemslike water logging, power cuts, delays, trafficsnarls, accidents, diseases, that the monsoonbrings.

With this in mind, Fever RJs will run a‘Monsoon Update’ everyday on every show,where they will provide the latest information ontraffic jams, accidents, diversions, suitable routes,amount of rainfall, flooding or water logging situations, high tides, flight and train delays,power cuts, emergency numbers to call and pre-cautions to take. Fever RJs are also askingMumbaikars to call on 40684104, Fever’s IVRSnumber, and record their rain-related grievances.These would be forwarded to local authoritiessuch as the BMC, the Traffic Police and powercompanies.

BIG 92.7 FM has tied up with the weathermonitoring department called Limtex to get live,updated weather reports from 22 different locations in and around Mumbai.

Besides all these public service initiatives,radio stations are also mixing pleasure with busi-ness. BIG FM organised a Monsoon Rain Dancewith RJs and a show, ‘Monsoon Musical Eveningwith the BIG KaanSens of Bollywood’, whichmarked eight hours of non-stop Bollywoodmusic played live at the Oberoi Mall in Mumbai.Everyday, a celebrity Mumbaikar will be a gueston the show with RJ Archana Jani of BIG Chai.The conversations will have the overall ‘umbrel-la’ of the rainy season, such as monsoonexperiences, favourite weekend getaways orfavourite monsoon songs. �

[email protected]


STAR One, which epitomisedreality shows with the likes ofThe Great Indian Laughter

Challenge and Nach Baliye, claims thatwith its latest offering, it has given anew dimension to dance realityshows. On the lines of Nach Baliye,its latest addition is Zara NachkeDikha, which will have men compet-ing with women, albeit all TV stars.Nach Baliye, which premiered onSTAR One, now airs on STAR Plus.In its next season, it is likely to fea-ture non-celebrities.

There will be 16 contestants onZara Nachke…, eight in each team,and two judges to make the final deci-sions. The show will be airedbi-weekly, for 12 weeks, starting inJuly.

According to the channel execu-tives, the show will bring out a wholenew aspect of gender war, where con-

testing teams will strategise, conspire,mock and take digs at each other in abid to emerge victorious. The showwill be judged by actors Malaika AroraKhan and Chunky Pandey.

In a surprising move, STAR Onehas decided to do away with SMS vot-ing, which, reportedly, brings in bigmoolah for broadcasters. However,Ravi Menon, EVP and GM, STAR

One, disagrees, adding that it is a myththat channels earn substantial revenuefrom SMS voting. “The format of thisshow is such that we cannot have theviewers decide who will win, as thebest dancing team will win,” he adds.However, the channel will host funcontests to facilitate interactionbetween participants and viewers

A research has been commis-

sioned by the channel to identify theideal time-slot for the show to air,owing to competing shows on otherchannels. STAR One will launch theshow’s promotional campaign acrossmass media – television, radio, printand outdoor.

“There will be a strong brand-activation leg to establish interfacewith the celebrities and the viewers.That’s the most important aspect inpopularising the show,” says PremKamath, vice-president, marketing,STAR India. This will be carried outin 12 cities, which includes metrosand large towns. There will be tie-ups with brands such as the onesSTAR implemented for Kya AapPaanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?.

The next season of Zara NachkeDikha will feature non-celebrity par-ticipants, Menon said. �

[email protected]

Men are from Mars and women from Venus. STAR One will pit the two againsteach other in its new reality dance show. By Sapna Nair

RED FM

Gender War

Singh: sailing withthe tide

Menon: no SMS voting this time

Singin’ in the Rain

The signboard that says‘Mahabharata’ on the beamabove a flight of stairs in a

Noida building is a fair introductionof what is to follow.

Descending the stairs to thebasement of producer Bobby Bedi’s‘Mahabharata’ office, one literallywalks into the epic. The entireexpanse of the wall making up thefirst long corner of this setup ispainted with scenes from the epic.

Painted in shades of brown andother earthy hues, characters andepisodes have come alive.

The first room has a thatch roof.The multiple glass panels of thelarge art studio-cum-design work-shop are etched with scenes fromVed Vyasa’s epic. The costumedesign room is a colourfully chaoticspace of sketches and mannequinsdraped with concepts.

“For a project to succeed cre-atively, it is important to live andbreathe it. The graphics and paint-ings are made by the artists workingon the project and meant to inspirecreative thinking,” says Bobby Bedi,producer who runs KaleidoscopeEntertainment and the man incharge of this project. The scenes onthe wall are painted by Partha

Kabiraj, a resident creative artistThis is possibly the first time an

exclusive office has been set up forthe production of a TV serial.Explaining the move, Bedi says thatthe Mahabharata project is animportant one for NDTV Imagine -it has feature films, animation,comics, museum design and mer-chandise, besides the serial.

The space allows for an environ-ment within which all energies can

be focused on the task at hand. Theoffice handles all design and man-agement activities. The basementhouses Bedi’s cabin, the productionroom, an art studio and the costumeroom. The second floor is a postproduction and VFX/Animationfacility that houses edit, sound,music, dubbing, mastering andeffects. The serial is being shot inHastinapur Forest, near Meerut. �

[email protected]


9X has finally announced the launch date –July 7 – of its much awaited show, KahaaniHamaaray Mahaabharat Ki (KHMK), pro-

duced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms. 9X hasrolled out a marketing campaign encompassingprint, TV, radio and cinema for the serial.

The creative campaign for the mythologicalepic, has been done by INX Network’s in-housecreative units, INX Studio and INX On-AirPromotions.

Anthony Pettifer, group director, brand andcommunications, INX Network, explains themarketing strategy adopted to promote the epicserial, “The idea is to extend our reach to all possi-ble touch points. Through our creative campaign,we have lighted a fire which we hope will spreadlike wildfire to inform people about Mahabharat.”

He says that with increasing competition amongGECs, creating the right kind of curiosity and buzzis a must for a new show. “For us, the expression isbrutally simple and clearly communicates to theaudience that we bring to them their favourite stars,portraying legendary characters,” he says.KHMK’s marketing campaign has been dividedinto three phases. The first phase began with therevelation of the logo. In the second phase, the pro-

mos of the show were aired on 9X. Thethird phase involves introducing thecharacters of the show through variousmedia such as hoardings and bill-boards.

“One of the USPs of our show isthat the big names of TV such asChetan Hansraj, Akashdeep Saigal,Anita Hassanandani, Rakshanda Khan,Makrand Deshpande and KiranKarmarkarare are playing the lead roles.The sheer star power is going to pull inthe audience for us,” says Pettifer.

Will these well recognised faces from popularsoaps be accepted as the larger than life mytholog-ical characters they play in the serial? Mediaplanners offer mixed responses to both the ques-tion and the fate of the serial. Chandradeep Mitra,president, Mudra Max, says, “The popular faceswill initially attract people, as they’ll be eager to seehow the heroes and heroines of the ‘saas-bahu’ seri-als don the look of iconic characters.”

As far as KHMK’s fortunes are concerned,Mitra adds, “Being a Balaji show, there is a fairamount of excitement and buzz in the market.This is a first for the production house, something

entirely different from the family soapsthat it is known for.”

Anupriya Acharya, president, TME,is not impressed with the galaxy of stars,Ekta Kapoor has lined up. She says,“The TV medium, unlike films, is notdependent on stars. With epic dramas,it’s the story that pulls in the viewers.”

However, Pettifer is confident thatMahabharat will do well because it hasstrong content, powerful characters andhigh production values. He feels thatINX’s extensive promotional strategy

will ensure enough eyeballs for the show. “Morethan 600 outdoor hoardings and billboards havebeen put up to catch the viewers’ eye across thecountry. The show is also being advertised on 20radio stations and around 4,000 ad spots have beenbooked,” he reveals.

Cinema halls in 17 major cities are airingpromo clips of KHMK during the movie intervals.“KHMK has been shot on high definition televi-sion and we wanted to ensure that that viewerssampled the real grandeur, power and scale of theshow on the big screen,” Pettifer says. �

[email protected]

Another Viewpoint

Return ofThe Epic.

Pettifer: bettingon star power

9X

9X plans to conquer the battlefieldwith Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaab-harat Ki. By Sangeeta Tanwar

MAHABHARATA

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s t n A g n i h c r a M

Brunton Road is a quiet street that branch-es off Bengaluru’s busy MG Road, into aleafy neighbourhood. It houses India’sbest-known brand makeover outfit.

There is nothing flashy about the entrancewhich has a small, rectangular plaque that bearsthe simple legend, Ray+Keshavan. The understat-ed style is highlighted further when you walk intothe 152-year-old building that is Sujata Keshavan’soffice. One wall adorns hand-painted cinemaposters from the 1960s, a logo ‘tree’ rests next toher desk and fans rotate lazily from the highbeamed sloping roof over an enormous table from'British times' as Keshavan settles down for a chat.

“I love old buildings. I like restoring them andmaking them functional,” smiles Keshavan, man-aging director and executive creative director,Ray+Keshavan (R+K). On a different level, shedoes the same to brands. The difference is that thebrands come to her. Whenever infotech, dotcoms,FMCGs, financial services, infrastructure ormedia brands find themselves agonising over theirbrands’ identity, many of them head for R+K. In2006, WPP acquired a majority stake in R+K.Today, the Bengaluru-based firm is part of theWPP’s Brand Union, a design conglomerate with500 people in 21 offices across the world.

There are quite a few brands that R+K hashelped. In 2008 alone, the list included CEAT,Shoppers Stop, the four international airports inBengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.Others like Network18, Canara Bank, Infosys,AirTel and Bru too needed R+K’s intervention.Even this sample is a list that any designer would

give his right arm for. What is it about R+K thatmakes it so special?

R+K became special from the day it was set upback in 1989 in Delhi, with a couple of interestingfirsts to its credit. It was the first graphic designconsultancy in India and Keshavan was the firstIndian woman to obtain a post-graduate degree ingraphic design from Yale University. It was therethat she worked on brand identity and wanted to dothe same when she got back. But there was no placeto work at. The only option was to start a venture.

Ram Ray, who used to run the San Franciscooffice of JWT, had come back to India as head ofHindustan Thompson Associates (HTA). “Heknew the difference between design and advertis-ing,” says Keshavan. Both got together, but whenR+K was set up, hardly anybody knew what brandidentity meant or its importance to a business.“They would go to an ad agency, which used to be

a one-stop shop for ideas,” says Keshavan. The advertising industry was developed but not

design. Earlier, design work was about ‘you likethis logo, take it’. There was no scientific process.“An agency would give a choice of logos, mostlytweaked from here and there, and you picked,” shesays. R+K, on the other hand, works hard on thebrand makeover. From logos to market research totalking to consumers and employees, Keshavanand her band of 30 people (the firm doesn’t haveoffices outside Bengaluru) guide the clientthrough the entire branding process.

All this would not have happened hadn’t it beenfor an incident at an ad agency where Keshavanhad taken up a job. She had made a greeting cardfor a client. But client servicing wanted her tocome up with a few options so that the clientwould feel that some work had been done. Theyoung Keshavan insisted that her design was goodand they should go with it. Her colleagues thencame up with a solution. “Make a few bad ones sothat the client picks this,” they advised. To her con-sternation, the client picked one of the “horribleones”. End of her stint in advertising.

Today, R+K is more than a design firm. Itintroduced the principles of brand development inIndia and looks at brand positioning, the targetaudience, the brand’s relevance, function andform, cost and appropriate technology that candrive a makeover. R+K continued in Delhi till1994 when Ray retired and Keshavan decided toshift to Bengaluru. It was the time of liberalisation.“We helped companies fight – or gear up to meet -competition,” says Keshavan proudly.


IssueAirtel wanted to revamp itsbrand architecture and inte-grate IndiaOne, Touchtel,Bharti Broadband and Airtel - under one name.ObjectiveSeamlessly integrate and make it smart, contempo-rary and relevant to a young audience.ApproachThe new logo reflected Airtel’s leadership position inthe category. R+K developed the brand architecturefrom corporate to product and service levels. Laiddown guidelines for image, layout style and colour.

Design

Advocate

GIRE

ESH.

G.V

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By M Venkatesh

MNC or charitable hospital, the low-profileR+K’s solutions seem to have worked for a widevariety of clients. Keshavan narrates one exampleof how a hospital helped its mainly illiteratepatients find their way about easily.

“At Chettinad Hospitals, a charitable hospital inTamil Nadu, the key issue was navigation. Thepatient comes in and gets a card with a colour anda big number on it. He goes to a building or areathat has the same number as the one on the card.There, another person gives him a colour and apicture of where he has to go. Patients can easilyuse the combination of numbers, colours and pic-tures to find their way around,” she explains.

Just as a charitable hospital communicates whatit stands for, so does an airport. Security, safety andefficiency are the key message platforms. Also,navigating is a major factor - but on a larger scalecompared to a hospital, for instance. And airportbranding, visually, starts at the car park.

“How do you structure people movement sothat they are not kept waiting for too long?” sheasks. Just one visit through BengaluruInternational Airport and it is clear what shemeans. “There is an aesthetic component wheredesign plays a key part. But what is different aboutR+K is that we offer a range of services thatnobody else does,” she adds.

Her clients agree too. “One of her key strengthsis an ability to draw a fine line of balance betweencreativity and the basics of design or geometry,”says Arnab Banerjee, vice president, marketing &

sales, CEAT. “It is her ability to bring western aes-thetics and sensibilities into design that isadmirable. A creative person, who is full of greatideas, Sujata also pays attention to details anddeadlines,” says Ravi Prasad, executive director,Himalaya Global Holdings. R+K designed thenew packaging and the logo for the Himalaya’sherbal brands when it ventured abroad.

Competitors too are generous in their praise. “Ihave a lot of respect for anyone who has made theprofession of design a success story. So I admireSujata for her perseverance and approach. Lastyear, we met at Kuala Lumpur, where she hadcome for a pitch presentation and despite the factthat we were competing, we shared a great rapport- incidentally, Elephant won the pitch. I am notparticularly clued in to the work process at R+K,but there seems to be a lot of work coming out andthat itself is a great achievement for a design com-pany,” says Ashwini Deshpande, founder directorand principal designer, Elephant Strategy +Design, a Pune-based design house.

Keshavan’s determination to excel seems asundiminished as it was when she started out. Howdid her interest in design begin? “I didn’t knowwhat to do when I finished school. I was the typi-cal Tam-Brahm girl - the expectation was I woulddo Maths or Science, and I was good at both. Mymother was a painter and father, a good architect.A mechanical engineer, he was good at buildingfurniture, loudspeakers and designed a lot ofthings in the house,” she says by way of explana-tion. Her father had heard of NID (NationalInstitute of Design) and she applied there.

Travelling alone, Keshavan changed three trainsen route from Bengaluru to Ahmedabad. She hadthought of taking up product design or architec-ture first. But on arriving there, she chanced upongraphic design. To use a cliché, there was no look-ing back then. Next stop was Yale University and ateacher who was ‘my guru’.

“Paul Rand was a brilliant design guy - like PaulSamuelson in Economics. And I wanted to learnfrom him,” she says. Rand, a major influence inher life, was a legend – Steve Jobs called him the“greatest graphic designer”. He was the man who

designed the IBM, UPS and ABC logos andworked with Jobs on the NextComputer corporateidentity and Apple’s Think Different campaign.Keshavan, as much as anyone else, single-handed-ly convinced Indian businesses that design was aneffective tool that could bring them success.

In a long, easy and, often incisive, chat,Keshavan talks design, strategy and what makesR+K the force that it is. Excerpts:

On design as a discipline…Design is a layer between art and science. It is veryrigorous and market-oriented.

Is brand makeover = design = logos?We don’t do just a logo. We do a whole pro-gramme. Normally our brand makeover projectstake between six and 12 months.

We first identify what the issue is and the situa-tion the brand is in. Why is the brand thinking ofa change? Next, we start to explore the back-ground. And we discover there is a business reason– either the brand is stagnating or the brand hasbecome irrelevant to younger audiences (as waswith Canara Bank). Or a brand wants to go abroad(Himalaya wanted to go to 14 countries but it did-n’t have the acceptability - though the product wasgood, the look and feel were not).

And the next step…For an existing brand, once we understand the sit-uation it is in, we do a brand audit. We study theindustry and understand it. Unless you under-stand you can’t prescribe a solution. Facilitatingwith logos is not the answer. Sometimes, a brandmakeover may not even need a change of logo.

We map the audit by talking to a whole range ofpeople - customers and employees are inter-viewed. This can take up to four months or so. Wespeak to analysts and the media too.

Once that is done, we arrive at the currentbrand perception. Sometimes, the client’s percep-tion of the brand and the actual perception is notnecessarily the same. We then sit with the topmanagement to find out where they want to take


IssueThe old visual identity,somehow portrayed CEATas an old, lumbering, blue-collared company.ObjectiveGet new, younger consumers.ApproachThe letter, E, represents energy typified by the sec-tor and the brand’s new positioning. Blue embodieshonesty, truth, sturdiness; orange for vibrancy andoptimism. The Born Tough message was dropped - itdidn’t fit anymore as highways are smoother now.

IssueMove from a departmentstore concept to a morepremium house of brands.The profile of the customer too had changed drasti-cally and it was necessary to change the way thebrand is perceived.ObjectiveCut down the age of the brand; make it more con-temporary, smart and stylish; upscale look-and-feel.ApproachGo in for a new logo, a new base line, new uniformfor its staff, an anthem and a whole new philosophy.

IssueAppeal to a younger gener-ation with different needsand expectations. ObjectiveTo become a modern, energetic, efficient bankembodying the strong values of the public sector.ApproachA new brand positioning was articulated and an iden-tity created to supplement the modernisationinitiatives in technology, HR and service delivery. Thelinks in the logo symbolise the abiding relationshipbetween the bank and its customer.

Visual delight: a sample portfolio of the logosRay+Keshavan has designed.

Bengaluru (top) and Mumbai airports: creating amemorable face


it. Is it a five-year or a 10-year goal? We try and find out what the brand’s com-

pelling truth is and what distinguishes it fromcompeting brands. Just making them look nice isnot the idea. But design invariably is an issue. Sodoes a brand actually need a change in the logo?You will be surprised at the number of large com-panies that haven’t identified these things.

That’s how you solve a brand’s problems?We identify problems but are not equipped tosolve them. We study other brands to see wherethey stand on various parameters and work withthe client to find out what he has to do to walk thetalk. Sometimes, human resources issues come up.Employees could be unhappy - unless employeesare happy, the brand will suffer.

Any amount of advertising or fabulous logoswon’t help then. If the service in a bank is poor, itloses customers.

Is everything played back to clients?Oh, yes. People are always interested in knowingwhat others think of them.

What do you look at?We look at core issues like: ‘Will you diversify?What are the areas you won’t get into? Shouldthere be a master brand? Should there be sub-brands? Should the product brand take the nameof the sub-brand?’

On how clients perceive logos… Logos are close to a brand-owner’s heart.Choosing, or modifying, a logo is an importantdecision. And they participate. N R NarayanaMurthy, for instance, was totally involved whenthe Infosys logo was being made. But most clientsin India want proof that the logo works. That is whyso much market research is used. The brand man-ager has to show figures to the management. Hecan’t say, ‘I had a strong instinct,’ and get a clearance.In the West, they are more daring.

Communicating the makeover…It is the turn of the ad agency to take over andwork on the messaging. But there are certainparameters we identify. Take Airtel’s communica-tion after the branding. We defined the image area,colours, text area and the typeface. The agencychose the message and the image. Sometimes,there need not be any advertising.

The airports’ branding wasn’t advertised.Arvind Mills didn’t advertise its brand refresh-ment exercise. Advertising is vital for a productbrand. Bru and Airtel did so heavily. Canara Bankhad to because it had 2,800 branches and wantedthe younger audience to come.

The consumer is queen…We track consumers through different lenses.

My financial services customer is a consumer ofshampoos and also coffee or a customer of a hos-

pital or is a traveller. We often bring cross industryexpertise to the client so that they can adopt someof the best practices of another industry.

On the WPP acquisition…It allows me to give good solutions in areas thatmay be new to India. For example, in financialservices, I could use experts who worked onCredit Suisse. You can always learn from someonewho has worked in developed markets. It is reas-suring to clients. Moreover, we can access globalcase studies and other information.

On R+K’s strengths and what to considerwhile designing …We articulated the concept of intelligent design orstrategic design. Design is not about pretty pic-tures. Good design should be well done andeffective. And colour is an important input.

You will find a lot of blue in the banking indus-try. So should a brand that is going in for amakeover follow the industry pattern or break thecategory to get salience for itself? Can you takepink and be accepted in the financial services cate-gory? Our designing is market-oriented - and italmost always guarantees market success.

Even ad agencies advise and work onbrands…They do, but it is campaign-led. It ends with thecampaign. Our approach is more robust and spe-cialised. We work like consultants.

On the state of Indian design…Once, a foreign journalist asked me: ‘Name 10great products designed in India.’ I thought butcouldn’t come up with any that wasn’t fromancient India. The Sari is a great design object, butwhat is there in modern times? There are cleveradaptations but nothing original or great.

The Indica? It was styled in Italy. I even thoughtof services (laughs) like dabbawalas. Software isnot a product. There are the soapstone boxes ofAgra and other craft but what we fail to do is givethem modern design. You will find a beautifulsamovar vase but you can’t ‘use’ it.

Schooled talent is not available in India. So peo-ple have to be trained on the job and that is aproblem. In India, no investment has been madebarring the odd NID or a Shristi (in Bengaluru).

Contrast this with China. The Chinese govern-ment knows that to go up the value chain, designis a vital input. It set up schools and got facultyfrom abroad and sent out hundreds of boys andgirls to America and Europe to learn design andcome back. Once, in Italy, I met a bunch ofChinese students who were learning luxury branddesigning. The Chinese are thinking long-term. �

Additional inputs: Surina Sayal and Neha Kalra

IssueAirports also emphasise onleisure, entertainment, shoppingand convenience outlets. Theyare profit-making brands.ObjectiveReflect the ethos of Bengaluru as a city.ApproachThe airport should reflect the warm, civilised andcaring quality that Bengaluru has been known for. Ithas the largest tree cover and a unique serial flow-ering plan, ablaze with seasonal flowers. The logorepresents the lakes and climate of the city.

IssueIt has businesses straddlingentertainment, news, TV, mobilecontent and event management.ObjectiveTo create and build salience for this ‘wide and deepmedia brand that existed to enable, enlighten andenrich’.ApproachThe new branding unifies all current and future enti-ties of the erstwhile TV18 Group. The newred-and-white logo reflects a ‘unique window to achanging world’ and the ambitions of Network18.

“Making nice-looking logos isnot the idea. Butdesign invariably

is an issue.”

GIRE

ESH.

G.V

.

If taking the decision to walk tothe altar or not is difficult, so isthe search to find a life partner.Last year Jeevansathi.com por-

trayed the father of a prospectivebride chasing every boy he saw tosee if he could be his future son- in-law. The baseline for that TVC was‘We match better’. The focus of thatcommercial was to get more andmore people on the matrimonialwebsite.

A year later, the website has comeup with a new commercial trying to address a major concern of thepeople who are members of matri-monial sites - privacy. According toSumeet Singh, national head, mar-keting, InfoEdge India, “We foundout that most people were appre-hensive, while looking forbrides/grooms, about safety, trust

and privacy. So the brief we gave tothe agency was basedon that insight.”

However, whenasked why wouldpeople be so secretivein the Indian sce-nario, where friendsand relatives partci-pate with muchenthusiasm in thematchmaking pro-cess, Singh says, “Youmight like tellingpeople that you arelooking for agroom/bride but not the number oftimes you have been rejected orhave rejected people.”

The TVC shows a woman suf-fering from stomach ache as she isgetting back home in an autorick-

shaw. As she reach-es her destination,her spasmsincrease. Insideher house, she triescalling someoneon her mobile butdoesn’t get anyresponse. By thistime she is almostcrawling on thefloor in pain. A

flashback reveals thesource of the pain –

the information that her friend islooking for a groom for her daugh-ter – a fact that shouldn’t bedisclosed. Funnily, her stomachache stops completely the momentshe shares the information with her

maid. The commercial closes withthe maid wanting to call someone –to spread the word. The VO says –Baat phaile to apni marriage ki.Jeevansathi.com. Search rahey personal.

The TVC was created by Draft-FCBUlka, by creative directorSanjay Sharma, and his team.Explaining the concept, VasudhaMisra, group head, Draft-FCBUlka,says, “This was exaggerated in filmthrough (the device of stomachache) a basic insight that womencannot keep secrets. And the mes-sage it sends out is ‘make yourmarriage public not your search’.”She also adds that as the insight isvery common, it has an appealbeyond the target audience. �

[email protected]


A Private Affair

In a first among media brands, the Hindi dailyfrom the Bhaskar Group, Dainik Bhaskar hassigned on ace cricketer, Mahendra Singh

Dhoni as its brand ambassador. The daily will soonlaunch a campaign featuring him.

Talking about the appointment, SanjeevKotnala, AVP and national head communication,says, “We went through the normal deliberationson the concept and whether a celebrity associationwould give our brand the leverage required.”

Euro RSCG, Bhaskar’s agency, and the compa-ny shortlisted a few suitable names and afterconsideration, found a perfect match in Dhoni.“He is ambitious and confident and has demon-strated innovative thinking. Also, his excellencehas allowed a person from a small town to emergea champion,” points out Kotnala. According tohim, breaking barriers and myths, taking nothingfor granted is the guiding philosophy behindbrand Bhaskar.

Rajiv Jaitly, president, ad sales and marketing,adds, “Dhoni’s attitude towards the game is simi-lar to what we have towards publishing.” EuroRSCG has created a campaign which will be out inthe first week of July. Though Dhoni alreadyendorses a number of brands, Satbir Singh,

national creative direc-tor, Euro RSCG, insiststhat they’ve used him ina way that is completelydifferent from how theother brands have.

The popularity of Dhoni as a brand ambassadorcan be attributed to the fact that he appeals to massconsumers, as well as to premium consumers.Most of the brands in Dhoni’s endorsement kitty,like Big Bazaar, Parlé Milk Shakti, Sonata andBrylcreem are ‘mass’ brands. Both the agency andits client agree that Dhoni’s appeal is pan-India.

How will the association benefit both? Kotnalasays, “We expect that appointing Dhoni as ourbrand ambassador will allow significant brand-image enhancement and will reflect the attributesand attitude of the brand.” In an official release,Dhoni says, “I am proud to work with DainikBhaskar as I see many similarities in our successstories. I know about their success stories and hopethat my association will bring the brand the resultsthey are gunning for.”

Kotnala wasn’t willing to share the endorse-ment fees or the duration, but media reports pegthe cricketer’s endorsement fees at Rs 3.5-5 crore

a year, which is marginally higher than SachinTendulkar’s fees.

Regarding the possibility of other media brandsfollowing the brand-ambassador route, Kotnalabelieves that strong brands take decisions on thebasis of competitive pressure or because anotherbrand in their category is operating in a new way.“Our association with Dhoni is a well thought-out, strategic decision. Others will have their set ofconsiderations and their own evaluation processes.But we definitely have the first mover’s advan-tage.”

Dainik Bhaskar has seen rapid growth in the pastfew years. It recently launched DB STAR, a com-pact daily newspaper, in Bhopal and will soonlaunch Business Bhaskar’s first edition in the samecity. Both these titles are slated for launch acrossmajor urban centres soon. The Bhaskar footprintnow covers 43 Tier II cities in 10 states. �

[email protected]

Batting OnThe Bhaskar Group hopes that this partnership with thecricketer will be a match-winning one. By Surina Sayal

BHASKAR GROUP

Singh: providing match-making solutions

Kotnala (left) and Dhoni: opening a new partnership

JEEVANSATHI.COM

A humorous depiction of a very common situation solvesa bigger problem. By Chumki Sen


The Dabur brand, is striving to clear the con-fusion among consumers about fruitdrinks, fruit nectar and fruit juice.

‘Real main hai sadharan fruit drink se up to 8times more fruit juice’ – that’s the new tagline forthe campaign, which comprises TVC, print(Cosmopolitan, Prevention and Good Housekeeping)and outdoors (drop-downs, kiosks and lift-brand-ing at malls and branding of Volvo buses plyingbetween Mumbai and Pune). The campaign alsohas touch-points at modern trade centres (like BigBazaar and Reliance stores) where kids can playFlash games, like catching falling fruits in a basket.

According to K K Chutani, general manager,marketing, Dabur (Foods Division), the idea wasto educate the consumer regarding the differencebetween a fruit juice and a fruit drink, so that theconsumer can make an informed choice.

“We want to educate the consumer that whenthey are buying Real, they are buying a premiumproduct, which is the most nutritious among theplethora of options available currently,” he says.

According to him, the government of India hasclassified the fruit-beverage market into three cate-gories: fruit drink (fruit-pulp content less than 20per cent), fruit nectar (having fruit-pulp contentbetween 20 and 85 per cent) and fruit juice (withfruit-pulp content above 85 per cent). While prod-ucts like Frooti, Maaza, Minute Maid, Real Twist,

Slice and Twister fall in the fruit drink category, thenectar category has products like Real’s mango,litchi and guava flavours and Tropicana Twirl. Thefruit juice category has brands like Real Juice, RealActiv, Tropicana Premium.

Chutani adds that the consumer, in her ownright, has developed a categorisation to differenti-ate the products. “All products in Tetrapak areconsidered to be fruit juices and premium or hav-ing more pulp content or thicker. PET bottles areconsidered cheaper fruit drinks with less fruit con-tent and thinner in consistency. However, that’snot true. Even Frooti is available in a Tetrapak andcomes under the fruit drink category,” he says,adding, “Also, fruit juices do not contain class IIpreservatives, which are found in fruit drinks.Fruit juices offer roughly eight times more nutri-tion than fruit drinks.” To drive this point home,the campaign shows a Real fruit juice pack being

weighed against an ordinary fruit drink. “Our target group is children, but the campaign

is also targeted at mothers, with whom the pur-chasing decision lies. We are sure that the child caninfluence the mother to buy the product,” saysChutani. Therefore, the TVC has a schoolboygoing around, repeating the word ‘eight’, andstressing how his Real juice has eight times morefruit juice than an ordinary fruit drink. Real alsocame up with some very innovative outdoor cam-paigns across the country.

The TVC and the outdoor campaigns weredesigned by Lowe Lintas and the creative directoris Mohit Arora. The outdoor campaign inMumbai, Delhi/NCR and Kolkata was handled byLive Events; down south in Bengaluru, Hyderabadand Chennai, Jagran Solutions was in charge of theoutdoors. The work of branding the Volvo buseswent to Day & Night Publicity & Advertising. �

[email protected]

Really?DABUR

At Centrestage Mall, Noida: hitting home

With this campaign, Real acts tostand out among the crowd of fruitdrinks in the market. By Dhaleta Surender Kumar

“We are sure that the child can

influence the mother

to buy the product.”

K K CHUTANIDABUR

Cleverlydesigned, themessage cam-ouflages thelifts. One can’tmiss it.

AFrance-based video sharingsite, DailyMotion.com,recently launched its Indian

operations. Expecting competitionfrom the Indian version ofYouTube.com, a video sharing sitefrom Google, DailyMotion.com isunfolding its differentiation strategyto gain users in India.

The key to its strategy lies not onlyin its India specific content, but alsoin the way it is going to generate thelocal content. DailyMotion will ropein creative people such as filmmakers,film institute students and peoplefrom advertising agencies and pro-vide them with a platform to uploadtheir videos.

Raajh Singh, managing director,DailyMotion.com, India, says, “Ourfocus lies in our special programmecalled Motion Makers, which pro-vides a platform to creative people toshoot and upload their videos. We

will actively search for such people,analyse their work, interact withthem on a one to one basis, providethem tools for movie making andallow them to upload unlimitedcapacity videos.” Normal users canupload only 20 minutes of video.

To get people for its MotionMakers programme, DailyMotionhas tied up with Whistling WoodsInternational (WWI), a filmmakingtraining institute promoted bySubhash Ghai and his company,Mukta Arts. Students from WWI willbe allowed to upload the videos orfilms they shoot.

DailyMotion has also partneredwith Mid-Day.com, to allow its usersto shoot original stories and uploadthem on Mid-Day.com. Theuploaded videos will also be hostedon DailyMotion.com, on an officialchannel created for Mid-Day.

DailyMotion.com is also eyeing

media and entertainment companiesas providers of original content.Media companies can joinDailyMotion as official users and hosttheir video content on the site. Tobegin with, DailyMotion has tied upwith Eros, which will upload trailersand uncut videos of its latest movies.DailyMotion is also talking to othermedia players such as NDTV, Aaj Takand STAR Network to host theircontent on the site.

To create a stronger presence in theIndian market and execute its Indiaspecific strategy, DailyMotion.comhas appointed Hungama Mobile as itsstrategic partner. Explaining thedetails of the partnership, Neeraj Roy,managing director and CEO,Hungama Mobile, says, “Since

Hungama Mobile already has a tie-upwith 250 content owners, which offerdiversified forms of content such asmusic, devotional and spiritual, wewill help these companies to redistrib-ute their content throughDailyMotion. Hungama Mobile willrope in advertisers or provideDailyMotion access to various brandsto monetise its content. We will alsocreate a special DailyMotion applica-tion for mobile phones, which willenable users to upload videos fromtheir mobile phones."

DailyMotion will earn its revenuethrough various advertising optionssuch as banners and in-stream ads -pre-roll, post-roll, overlays and 3Dlogo insertion in videos. �

[email protected]


Since April this year, it has been offeringinvestment solutions to high net worth indi-viduals (HNI) in India and abroad under a

single global brand, ICICI Group Global PrivateClients (GPC).

GPC is the ICICI Group’s premium offeringwith an entry threshold of $1 million. The serviceis different from retail banking because it offerspersonalised service, a relationship manager, newadvanced products and customised investmentsolutions.

Opportunities to work with HNIs in the Indianmarket are growing fast. In terms of growth innumber of HNIs, India (at 20 per cent per annum)is second only to Singapore (21.8 per cent). Chinalags behind at 6.8 per cent per annum. Manyreports also peg the present number of HNIs inIndia at 100,000. ICICI claims to work currentlywith 2,500 HN families globally, of which 1,900are from India. The bank plans to add another1,000 such families to its roster this fiscal.

But does advertising on mass media work forsuch a product? Discussing the target audience forthis service, Sevantika Bhandari, head, marketing,GPC, says, “The target group is male, age 30+,

SEC A++, having upwards of $1 million netinvestments with ICICI Bank. He is ‘successful’,not ‘on the path to success’. He is a global citizenand is in a leadership position, be it in an organisa-tion or in his own business.”

The media plan targeting this top-end audiencehad to be charted meticulously. Jai Lala, generalmanager, MindShare Mumbai, which handles

ICICI Group’s media planning, says, “Keepingdemography and psychography in mind, we areusing niche TV channels like NDTV, CNBC,STAR Movies and The History Channel.”

Lala explains that it’s a mainly TV-driven cam-paign, with print being used sparingly – onlybusiness, sports and general news publications likeThe Economist, Golf Digest and Newsweek. TheEconomic Times is the only newspaper being used.

Lala affirms that a large number of IndianHNIs are non-English speaking. They will bereached through television channels which are alsoavailable in Hindi, such as Discovery Hindi andCNBC Awaaz. Publications won’t play a big rolehere.

Keeping in mind the target group, the TVC hasbeen given an upmarket feel and features ICICI’sbrand ambassador, Shah Rukh Khan. The TVC,which presents an introspective side of Khan,opens with him seated in his study, wonderingwhat exactly it is that drives him. His musingsevolve into a passionate monologue, which heconcludes by declaring that the human drive can-

>>

Wealth of KnowledgeWhy has ICICI GPC come up with a message on mass media for privatebanking? By Surina Sayal

ICICI

Here’s a site to challenge YouTube, that’ll rope in professionals as content providers. By Kapil Ohri

SharewareDAILYMOTION.COM

‘Empathy’ is the key word in

the ICICI campaign aimed at

high networth individuals.

Atypical south Bombay boy, hetook up a job, after his MBA atMumbai’s Sydenham College,

just because it was closer to home.This not-so-reasonable decisionturned out to be ‘one of the best’Ashish Bhasin ever made.

He was picked up by Lintas in 1988as a management trainee and was withthem for 20 years and 17 days. Bhasinputs it down to his attitude whichcompelled him not to wander beyondMetro cinema. “Since the office was atNariman Point, I didn’t need to travelmuch,” he says.

Bhasin started off by working forthe Unilever business. Later, he wouldbe given charge of the personal washportfolio which included Lifebuoy,Liril, Breeze and a few experimentalbrands such as Shield.

Bhasin also led teams to shoot adsfor Unilever International in Vietnam,Laos, Burma and Cambodia. In theteam were Prahlad Kakar and JohnnyPinto, a well-known film producer.

“The task here was to deliver qual-ity ads though the markets wereunderdeveloped. The work was muchdifferent because one couldn’t createads for these markets in India and justair them in the respective markets. Itwas necessary to go there and add alocal touch, with local idioms, localflavours, local language and models. Itwas a huge learning experience interms of market knowledge and workexperience,” he says.

Later, Prem Mehta, the chairmanand managing director, Lintas India,threw a challenge at him to turnaround the Chennai office, whichwasn’t doing too well. Within a year,billings doubled, new businesses werewon and the office was transformed.

After a two-and-a-half year stint inChennai, Mehta threw him anotherchallenge - head media at Lintas. It started off Bhasin’sfive-year-long association as the head of InitiativeMedia. “Initiative grew,” he says simply.

The agency businesses like ICICI Prudential andBritannia. But it is his brainchild, IMAG (IntegratedMarketing Action Group), that Bhasin is most proudof. “I chose to move to below-the-line and createdIMAG, which laid emphasis on integrated marketing.”LintasIMAG is the integrated marketing division atLintas which includes, under its umbrella, eight otherbusinesses - Linterland, Lintas Personal, AarenInitiative, LinOpinion, Lintertainment, Advent, LintasHealthcare and dCell.

In addition, last year, he was asked to take over asEVP Lowe Worldwide (after the IPG buyout) and Asiaregional director for Integrated Marketing. In between,in 2005, Bhasin also headed Lowe’s second agencySSC&B Lintas when the then head, Ajay Chandwani,

had left. Bhasin enjoyed himself thor-oughly in advertising. But what was itin particular that kept him going?“Launching new businesses and turn-ing around old businesses,” he says.

Bhasin’s mentor is Mehta. “I’veinteracted with him on many occa-sions and remember them fondly,” hesays. While he handled various busi-nesses within Lowe he always formeda close team with his colleagues. “Iwould have a name associated withthem - like Hum Paanch or the exec-

utive team. I think I learnt that bit from Prem,” he says. Mehta, according to him, was a fair manager. “He

gave one the freedom and was there when you neededhim,” he continues. Alyque Padamsee is another per-son whom he admires greatly. “He had this amazingability to come to the core of an issue very quickly,”recalls Bhasin. His former colleagues remember himfor his abilities. Pranesh Misra, global director, market-ing accountability, Lowe Worldwide, says: “Hisentrepreneurial style and willingness to take on newthings strike me the most.”

Why did he move out of Lintas? Bhasin explains, “Itwas because a new opportunity to handle new thingspresented itself with Aegis.” Getting Aegis to achieveits potential is what Bhasin has set out to do.Meanwhile, he continues to live in south Mumbai,with his wife, son (15) and daughter (8).

[email protected]

PROFILE I ASHISH BHASIN I CHAIRMAN I AEGIS MEDIA

The Performer

“I like tolaunch newbusinessesand turnold onesaround.”


It has,” says Nikhil Sharma mar-keting manager, Perfetti vanMelle (PVM) India, “a pleasing

mint liquid inside.” The advertisingfor it also doesn’t have PVM’sfavourite base line for Chlormint,‘Ab dobara mat poochna’. “It” is thenew variant, Chlormint Freshfills.

The TVC opens with a boy’s auntcalling out to him from the firstfloor to apply tika on his forehead.Instead of coming back up, the boy’sneck elongates and the job is done.

“We wanted to clearly communi-cate the distinctive feature of theliquid inside, in a manner that wouldimmediately catch the attention ofthe audience,” says Sharma. Thatwas also the brief given to theagency, McCann-Erickson (India).

The target audience, according toSharma, are the kids and the young,particularly male. “But, being a mildmint it will appeal to both genders.”

Currently being aired on all lead-ing national and regional channels, itwill be extended to a 360-degreecampaign in the second phase.Prianka Sihota, brand leader,McCann Erickson India, says,“Since confectionery is a low-involvement category, our endeav-our is to stay top of mind and keepthe brand active.”

Why did the agency choose toexaggerate? Sharma disagrees, “Idon't think the ad is exaggerated asdifferent treatments are given to dif-ferent ads to make the consumerlaugh at the end.” Prasoon Joshi andAshish Chakravarty handled the cre-ative. The film, produced byRamesh Deo Productions, wasdirected by Anand Iyer. �[email protected]

The new TVC uses ‘exaggerated’ humour. By Priyanka Chanana

CHLORMINT FRESHFILLS

FOTO

CORP


Its search for a few good men andwomen, who could make a differ-ence, also led the media giant to a

Grand Prix in the Direct Lions catego-ry for India. Agency JWT, whichworked out the entire creative forTimes of India’s (ToI) ‘Lead India’ ispleased with the way things have gone.

The campaign won three lions atthe Cannes. It struck gold in theDirect Lion and won the Grand Prix (aspecial award given to a Gold winner)in the same category and also pickedup a Lion in the Integrated andTitanium category. This is a new cate-gory in which it is extremely difficultto win an award.

RECOGNITION

Cannes aside, the campaign wonthree awards at the INMA

(International Newspaper MarketingAssociation) which included the Bestof the Show. It was the first time thatan Asian newspaper ever won thataward. Lead India did well at thisyear’s GoaFest too, picking up goldand the Grand Prix in the integratedadvertising category.

The Lead India campaign was bornon 15 August, 2007, the 60th anniver-sary of India’s independence. It tookup from where the India Poised cam-paign - released on 1 January, 2007 -left off. Lead India included print adsin the newspaper and a film that

showed AmitabhBachchan, recit-ing an ‘anthem’that talkedabout twoIndia’s: how

one Indialeads and

the

other follows. Agnello Dias, nationalcreative director, JWT, wrote the copyfor this film. The campaign was on airfor about two months.

Says Rahul Kansal, brand director,The ToI, “India Poised was made withthe view to make ToI a newspaper thatempowers readers to be in control.”Finally, it resulted in a reality show thatbeat all other reality shows. An India vsIndia ad started up a forum wherepeople could write what they feltabout their country. The response,according to all parties involved, was‘magnificent’. “We then worked veryclosely with our agency for the nextmove,” says Priya Gupta, assistant vice

president, ToI. The next stage was Lead India

when the team at ToI felt sure that itwould culminate in the form of a real-ity show. The campaign broke with -among other things - a full page printcampaign with Shah Rukh Khanexhorting Indians to ‘DO’ something.Another print ad that said "I am the 'I'in India" too was part of this campaign.

Celebrities joined in whole-heart-edly. Abhishek Bachchan, PriyankaChopra, Sachin Pilot, Javed Akhtar,Sunil Mittal, Gulzar and many morewere part of this. Most of these films,including the India Poised ad withBachchan senior were shot by ShoojitSircar of Rising Sun Films.

Another important ad film thatstands out and was part of the cam-

paign was theTree film.

It

shows a road blocked because of a fall-en tree. Traffic is stuck on both sides,but nobody makes any move to tryand remove the tree. Amidst all thecommotion and chaos, a schoolboygets off his bus and tries to push itaside. Soon, the others join in and theroad is cleared. Shot by MilindDhaimade of Equinox Films, the adhas a thought-provoking song, pennedby Gulzar, playing in the background.

THE SHOW

Towards the end of August, TOIinvited applications and asked

people what they would do if theywere the leaders of the country.

Auditions were conducted inDelhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad,Bangalore, Pune, Lucknow andAhmedabad. The 36,000 entriesreceived were short-listed to 64 (cho-sen by the ToI team). In the thirdround, in October-November, eightindividuals were selected to run forthe post of most eligible young leaderof India. ToI partnered with Star to airthe episodes of the show on STAROne, starting from the third stage.

“After India Poised, we learnt thatthe one huge gap in the system waseducated individuals being part of thepolitical system,” says Gupta.

Other forms of communicationwere used to the fullest. Apart fromprint (within its own territory ofnewspapers) and television, the cam-paign utilised radio, outdoor, mobilepromotions and on-ground activities.

KUDOS APLENTY

The creative team comprisedVistasp Hodiwala, Debu

Purkayastha, Arkdyati Basu andSimone Patrick. Kansal and Guptarepresented ToI. At Cannes, the cam-paign was hailed by all.

The president of the Direct Lionsjury, Marcio Salem, president andcreative director of the Brazilian adagency, Salem, said, “We were look-

ing for great ideas with beautifulexecution. But the Lead India

campaign was absolutely adifferent piece of work.”

He also added, “In adver-tising, there is above the

line and below theline, but this cam-paign is one whichgoes ‘beyond theline’.” �

Lead India wasthe reality show

to beat allreality shows.

<<

... KnowledgePride of Cannes not be understood, it has to be felt.He says, “I don’t know what drivesme. I can’t explain it, but I can feel it.When I walk under the lights, whenthe camera comes on, I can feel it.Every moment I live.” The ad endswith the message and tagline, ‘ICICIGroup Global Private Clients: Lifeon Your Terms’.

The campaign has been createdby DraftFCB Ulka. HareshMoorjani and RMV Simha haveworked on the creative side of thecampaign.

The print campaign, too, featuresKhan in his study, with each ad car-rying a different phrase, like ‘Thingshappen when you listen to your

inner voice’, ‘Leaders are led by theirinstincts’, ‘For men who dream withtheir eyes wide open’.

Haresh Moorjani, creative direc-tor, DraftFCB Ulka, says, “We weretalking to HNIs, and you cannottalk and sell things to such people.You have to create empathy. Youhave to be very up-market and notabrasive in either tone of voice ortreatment.”

Moorjani says that the ad depictsa quiet window in his own life,where he shares the creative satisfac-tion he derives from making movies.

The film is directed by VishalPunjabi of Red Chillies and the cin-ematography is by HemantChaturvedy. The film’s music wascomposed by Amar Mangrulkar.The sets were designed by IndraniPillai. Other media being used forthis campaign include the internetand direct marketing. �

[email protected]

“Our TG is a globalcitizen and is in a

leadership position.” SEVANTIKA BHANDARI

LEAD INDIA

JWT and the Times of India created history with India’s first ever Grand Prix atadvertising’s world championships. By Savia Jane Pinto

International mobile operator,Orange organised the world’s first

internet balloon race, last month.The race was part of a marketingcampaign to promote Orange’s‘Animal Tariffs’ for ‘Pay as You Go’customers.

Orange offers four tariff struc-tures based on different types ofconsumer behaviour. While Dolphinis for sociable types who want bun-dles of minutes and texts; Canary isfor consumers who prioritise voicebundles; Raccoon is for consumerswho view their phone as a tool ratherthan a toy; while the Orange Camelprice plan is the cheapest way to callabroad

The race used plan-based animal

shaped balloons to represent thepackages available. The week longrace was active between June 23 andJune 30. The race was open to all UKresidents aged 16 years and above.Participants had to simply registerthemselves on the website www.play-balloonacy.com and then fly theircamel, canary, dolphin or raccoonshaped balloon through the web.

The race course comprised ofpartner sites/blogs that had signed upto be part of it by adding a smallwidget type code to their sites. Therace drove browsers to these sites andresulted in increased traffic for them.

Contestants all began from thesame starting point, the Balloon racehome page. From there on, every

website visited counted as one inter-net mile. They could track andcontrol their balloons through user-friendly pop screens that tracked thejourney of their animal balloons.

Of the several balloons that werelaunched, the one that had the mostinternet miles at the close of theweek emerged the winner.

Excitement levels were kept buoy-ant with daily prizes, bonuses, boostsand other such theatrics, typical ofgames. The grand prize was a £16,500VIP trip to Ibiza, Spain, and the win-ner could take along seven friends.

The game was designed by Poke,London, one of the most acclaimeddigital marketing agencies inBritain. �

Nicotinell: 42 Alady, looking older than her 42

years is lighting a cigarette fromthe cake candles. Tagline: ‘Smokingcauses premature ageing. Lose thesmoke keep the fire this World NoTobacco Day, 31st May’.

Agency: Euro RSCG AustraliaCreative Director: Rowan DeanCopywriter: Ben ClareArt Director: Patrycja Lukjanow

Braun Apicture of a man, the hair from his

nose jutting out like a moustache.

Agency: BBDO, Germany Creative Director: ToygarBazarkayaCopywriter: Daniel Aykurt

Fly Throughthe Web

Brash cartoon characters seem tofind more favour with big

American brands than the more sub-dued characters. In recent months,Coca-Cola, White Castle and Subwayhave been using characters from thecrude Family Guy television series intheir marketing efforts.

Family Guy, South Park and TheSimpsons are some animated showswhich make tasteless jokes about sex, AIDS, religion and bodily func-

tions, with varying degrees of obnox-iousness. The crudeness of thesecharacters is appealing to teenagers,which in turn is appealing to themarketers.

Times they are a - changing.Edginess is acceptable and wornproudly on a t-shirt. Beginning June,the White Castle restaurant chainintroduced a campaign that featuredmembers of the animated cast of‘Family Guy’ like Stewie and Brian in

posters, cups and radio commercials.The Subway chain of sandwich

shops also used a character fromFamily Guy to promote their latestoffering - the Subway Feast. PeterGriffin - a working-class guy with aNew England accent was used bySubway’s TV commercials and instore signs. “Peter’s a good represen-tation of the people who areinterested in the Feast,” said TonyPace, chief marketing officer at themarketing arm of Subway in Milford,Connecticut, known as the SubwayFranchisee Advertising Fund Trust.

Coca Cola, amongst the mostcareful marketers, had Stewie Griffinand Underdog fighting for a coke intheir TV commercial. The ad showsballoons of these cartoon charactersfloating over Manhattan, fighting fora coke balloon. The twist in the storycomes when Charlie Brown beatsthem both to it. �

Toon Behaviour


Virgin Media have found themselves in trou-ble with the Advertising Standards Authority

(ASA) after releasing an ad contained in an enve-lope with a mock bullet-hole sent to addresses inthe UK. Despite several complaints that the mailwas in poor taste given the rise in gun crime inthe UK, it was the fact that the envelopes weren’tmarked as containing marketing materials thatgot Virgin Media into hot water with the ASA.

ASA gave the judgement and clarified that themailings were unlikely to cause serious offence ordistress but concluded that the envelope should have clearly indicated that it con-tained marketing material to avoid confusion.

Virgin Media responded by saying, that it isglad the ASA did not think that the direct market-ing activity was likely to cause widespread offence.

Earlier this year, ASA received over 20 com-plaints from members of the public and rivalmedia firms claiming that Virgin Media’s ad cam-paign was misleading on 10 points. ��

Compiled by Shivani Mathur & Arjun Suri

Facebook is all set to launch itsnew platform, ‘Gifts with

Benefits’, which lets brand mar-keters create online gifts withreal-world value. Initially, a groupof Facebook users will be selectedto use the application and submittheir feedback, from where this pro-gram will spread virally, allowingusers to pass along 10 per cent to20 per cent discounts for selectproducts.

Brand Networks, Boston, is thecompany introducing the platformthat lets Facebook users sendcoupon codes and sample offers totheir friends after they realised thepotential of this market.

CEO, Brand Networks, Jamie

Tedford says his company estimatesthat there will be close to 200 mil-lion virtual gifts being given onFacebook this year.

Student Advantage, which runsthe America’s largest college dis-count programme, was one of thefirst to sign on as an advertiser andhopes to have at least 15 of itsretail members with them for theAugust launch, which coincides withthe back-to-school shopping monthin the US.

A spokesman for Student Advan-tage said that while marketing tothe college crowd, it wanted to useevery channel that is optimal toreach them and instead of having topay for a certain number of impres-sions, it is relying on the viralenvironment of Facebook to com-mercialise their success. �

A Bad Ad?

Online fashion sales are soaring inthe UK. More and more shop-

pers are turning to the onlinemedium to gain celebrity style fash-ion in the convenience of their ownhome.

Sites such as asos.com (As SeenOn Screen), are now gaining popu-larity. The internet shopping firmsaw an increase of 90 per cent, takingits turnover for 2007 to about £80million, largely because asos’s cus-tomers can buy complete outfitsstyled on the look of celebrities such

as Kate Moss, Jessica Alba or VictoriaBeckham at the click of a mouse.

A new entry into the world ofonline fashion, pretaportobello.com,has made the timeless designs of thefamous London Portobello Roadavailable to the global market.

Innovation is growing for thismedium on the retailers side too, assome designers are embedding videosand user-friendly functions such aszoom and rotate to help the customersee the weave and stitching of a fabricwithout ever having touched it. �

Style at Speed

Termed one of the year’s biggestintegrated campaigns, the HBO

Voyeur campaign got its due recogni-tion at the Cannes InternationalAdvertising Festival 2008.

Using voyeurism as a vehicle, theProject is a theatrical multimediaexperience and marketing campaignlaunched in 2007. The focus seems tobe on people living in eight fictionalapartments on the corner of BroomeStreet and Ludlow Street, New York.Content related to the characters isscattered across media - online in fic-tional web pages, in photo and videoclips on media sharing platforms suchas Flickr and YouTube, in blogs andsocial networks, on the HBO chan-nels, and through mobile content.The HBO Voyeur website carries thesame film accompanied by music.The sites slogan is a tantalising ‘See

what people do when they think noone is watching’.

Developed by BBDO, New York,the Project won the acclaim of theadvertising world – a Grand Prix inthe outdoor category, among otherawards. The outdoor jury at Cannesunanimously declared the ad out-standing.

The outdoor ad projected a smallfilm onto the side of a building inNew York’s Lower East Side. Theprojection was such that it seemed asthough the building was cut awayrevealing the ongoings of the build-ings occupants.

Outdoor jury president PrasoonJoshi from India, articulated hisappreciation of the ad saying - “Hereis this piece of work that competeswith life in such a beautiful mannerthat it almost creates life for you”. �

Social Gifts

How Big Can it Get?

Malayala Manorama & CNBC-TV18 present StoryRoad, the advertising & marketing fraternity’s favourite show, Storyboard LIVE in New Delhi. Watch Anuradha SenGupta get up close & personal with the marketing geniuses and admen in the capital city. Tune in to CNBC-TV18, for the special episode of Storyboard to get some glimpses of the joyride.

Storyboard,Live & Unpluggedin Delhi!

Associate SponsorsPresenting Sponsor Trade Partners

Wed. 6:30 pm only on CNBC-TV18

the

cell

The Brand Reporter, July 1-15, 2 0 0 842

Allied Blenders & Distillers One of the leading liquor compa-nies of Germany has launchedWodka Gorbatschow, a vodka

brand in India. Theproduct undergoes atriple-chill filtrationprocess during itspreparation, whichmakes it extremely

smooth and pure.Produced frompremium-processed

ingredients, itclaims to have anoutstanding soft,clean and mildaroma. The bottleis made of clearglass and itsdesign signifiesswirlingminarets ofMoscow. WodkaGorbatschow ispriced at Rs 570for a 750 mlbottle.

LLADRÓNaturofantastic is a new range ofporcelain products introduced byLLADRÓ India. These are hand-made products created bycombining marine and botanicforms. The collection includescandelabras, vases, lamps andtable accessories. The new range,made of white porcelain is avail-able in different versions. Each

piece uses different shades ofgrey, green and blue and is deco-rated with ceramic gold lustre,combining gloss and matt finish.The price range starts from Rs20,400 and goes up to Rs 89,900.The products are available at theLladro Boutique, The AmbienceMall, Gurgaon.

SonyThe latest offering from Sony is a new NWZ-A726 Video MP3Walkman. It is slim and offers great video resolution and brightness,along with high-quality sound. NWZ-A726 has a 2.4-inch QVGA (320 by240 pixels) LCD screen that displays videos at 30 frames per second.It has a square four-way navigation pad, flanked by two small Optionand Menu buttons. The bottom of the NWZ-A726 Video MP3Walkman, features a headphone output and a USB connection.It can store up to 925 songs in the MP3 format with a phe-nomenal battery life of up to 36 hours. It is being retailed in ablack metal casing across select Sony stores. The 4GB NWZ-A726 MP3 Walkman is priced at Rs 8,990.

WHITES of LondonThe UK- based bed linen manufacturer,WHITES of London, has introduced a new flo-ral range for the season. A 100 per centcotton bed linen - embroidered with floraldesigns that represents the French country romance, itcomes in a wide range of colours - blue, pink, mauve andyellow. The collection includes exquisitely designed fittedsheets, flat sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers, quiltedcoverlet sets and throws. Along with attention to detailand quality, the new range claims to lend a touch ofclass. The price range starts from Rs 75 and goes up toRs 10,950. It is available at Splendour (Mumbai), CitySquare Mall and DLF Mall in Delhi.

Diesel WatchesAn Italian casual wear brand, Diesel, has launched its Spring Summer 2008 Timepiece collection inIndia, for both men and women. The watches are available in a wide range ofcolours with combinations in metal, leather and crystal. The men's collec-tion is inspired from the Wild West. Watches have a stainless steeldial with black rubber strap, a detachable crown guard and a digitaldisplay divided into quadrants. They are anchored to a Gunmetalcoloured case by stainless steel side pieces. The dial is framed byretro glass, while the black leather strap ensures a strong grip.The price range for men's collection is between Rs 6,495 and Rs 12, 495. The women's collection includes - diamond braceletdesigns, stylish protective grills, mineral crystal dials, stainlesssteel cases, leather straps and a chain, which sets the date andtime with a single click. The ladies watches are in the range ofRs 5,495 to Rs 6,495. These watches are available at selectlifestyle stores and premium watch retailers.

Sponsored by

EbonyHome décor accessoriesprovider, Ebony Gautier, hasintroduced an exclusive rangeof vases and ceramic art ware.The products are moulded intovarious artistic silhouettes,shapes and designs which arecast in long lasting solidcolours. The art ware is pricedbetween Rs 300 and Rs 3,500and is available at EbonyGautier’s showroom in Noida.

Where else would you fi nd in-depth coverage of the state of the media, advertising and marketing industries? Our dynamic, eagle-eyed editorial team brings you news and razor sharp analyses fortnight after fortnight.

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JOBSWITCHOrganization Name: CMM India.Positions: Branch Manager, AccountDirector, Account Manager,Account Executives, CreativeDirector, Art Director, SrCopywriter, Visualizer, GraphicDesigner, Media ExecutiveLocation: MumbaiProfile: The prospective CMMitesshould have sound advertisingknowledge and an entrepreneurialattitude. The person should be anever-evolving, fun loving personwho puts 'team' before 'self'.Needless to say, we promise a greatwork culture. A minimum of 5 yearswith any medium/large agency in thecountry, should be a graduate atleast.Email: hr@cmmindia.com............................................................Organization Name: K-FactorPositions: Account DirectorLocation: DelhiProfile: The successful candidatewould be required to Cordially andEfficiently Cater to the clients andto provide the creative team withAccurate Inputs and Feedbackthereby facilitate good creativework. The applicant should have 4 -6 years of experience while havinggood interpersonal skills and a highenergy levelEmail: shivjeetk@gmail.com............................................................Organization Name: JagranSolutionsPositions: Associate Business Head– WestLocation: MumbaiProfile: The candidate should beable to gain access to Clients’ heartsand minds, develop ongoingrelationships with them whileEnabling them to Embrace us aspartners in their product marketing.The successful candidate shouldhave 7-8 years of relevantexperience in Business development/ Operations in Events andPromotions with a minimum of 4years in leading a team / SBU as hewould be required to demonstratehow he/she can translate research,experience and consumer insightsinto motivating and inspiringcreative ideas resulting in adistinctive and stimulating 360degree brand communication.Email: [email protected] ............................................................Organization Name: MediaturfPositions: Senior Client ServicingManager

Location: MumbaiProfile: The incumbent would berequired to understand clientrequirements and translate theminto accurate briefs for the Creativeteam while being able toconceptualise the right marketingstrategies and effectively presentthem to clients. The applicant mustbe a Graduate with minimum 6years of relevant experience inClient Servicing or Media,preferably from an Online AdAgency. The person should knowhow to manage campaignsefficiently and optimise them tomaximise returns for our clients.Email:[email protected] ............................................................Organization Name: ICG(Integrated CommunicationsGroup)Positions: Associate AccountDirectorLocation: New Delhi & BangaloreProfile: The applicant must have in-depth understanding of BTLcommunication, Experience inprospecting new business leads andhands-on involvement in projectmanagement and Strongmanagement and supervisory skillsin leading a team of dedicatedproject managers. The applicantmust have minimum 8 - 10 yearsexperience in client servicing andmarcom project management.Email:recruitindia@xtentiagroup.com............................................................Organization Name: XebecCommunications Pvt. Ltd.Positions: Manager - BusinessDevelopmentLocation: BangaloreProfile: The applicant should haveprior experience in businessdevelopment while being able todevelop brand strategy, makepresentations to the clients anddeliver the right business strategy tohim. The person should be able tounderstand the clients’ exactbusiness and marketing plans. Theapplicant must have 4 - 6 yearsexperience with a medium/largeagency with an MBA/PGDBMDegreeEmail: anurag@xebecindia.com............................................................Organization Name: ExplocityPrivate Limited.

Positions: Senior Manager - Sales &MarketingLocation: HyderabadProfile: The candidate should havethe ability to generate revenues forthe company through advertisementsales and should have the ability towork with a team to meet thisobjective. The applicant would berequired to have knowledge ofadvertising sales and should havegenerated business through them asthe individual would be required tohave 5 - 8 years of experience inadvertisement sales with printmedia.Email: [email protected] ............................................................Organization Name: Blue LotusCommunications Pvt. Ltd.Position: Sr. PR AssociatesLocation: MumbaiProfile: The candidate should haveexcellent written and spokencommunication skills. Usefulmedia contacts with technology,business and general publicationsare essential. Must be fully awareof processes and evaluationprocesses in the PR industry andcandidates who have had directexperience implementing processeswill be preferred. IdeallyGraduate/PG in PR or journalism;this, however, should not deterthose who think they fit the bill. .The individual should have 4yrs to6yrs of work experience in thesame class. Email: shefali@bluelotuspr.com............................................................Organization Name: TICIntegrated Marketing Services.Position: Client Servicing –AccountDirectorLocation: DelhiProfile: The candidate would beresponsible for handling the existingbusiness and develop new clients.The candidate should be able tounderstand the economics of thebusiness and should be able tohandle business as a cost centrehead. Should be able to lead andsteer the team towards theachievement of organizationalobjectives. Postgraduate/Graduate inAdvertising, or relevant degree /MBA in Marketing with 7-9 yearsof work experience in anadvertisement industry and eventmanagement.Email: [email protected]............................................................

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TBR July 1-15 2008€¦ · then shopping centres, hypermarkets, and supermarkets. In India, it happened ... online in India everyday. He also thinks video ads comprise between 15

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