From the desk of Strategic Resources For any query, discussion or feedback, please contact Pavan Chandra, Head of Strategic Resources at pchandra@zenithoptimediaindia.com, +91-124-4195100. Office Address: 10th Floor, Vatika Tower, Block-B, Sector 54 Gurgaon -122002, Haryana, India.

Volume: XV

June, 2008

In these hyper charged times where news comes in as fast as it becomes outdated, we need a source that can keep track of what matters to us. At ZenithOptimedia we have created Wavelength to apprise all of us of the happenings in three areas i.e. 1. Trends in Digital, Retail, OOH, Consumers and the International Advertising 2. Media & Advertising Research 3. Environment

Also included here are innovations and news that ZenithOptimedia is making across its network globally, under three sections 1. ZO Zone 2. Fast Forward 3. Touchpoints.

Simply click on any of the sections on our snazzy control panel and you will have the latest updates at your fingertips. Wavelength will reach you in the first week of every month so that you have information that leads to insights.

Drop in a mail at pchandra@zenithoptimediaindia.com with your suggestions and comments.

 

Emerging Trends: Digital

 

 

1. Interactive online videos emerge as a new medium for advertisers to “talk” to the audience – June 25

With brands in India having experimented with display ads, search ads and social networks, marketers now resort to online videos for brand communication. According to JuxtConsult, an online research solutions consultancy, 36% of the 35 million active internet users share online videos. The audience represents an opportunity for brands to not only use audiovisual ads on the internet, but also make them more interactive. The growing interest in the medium is evidenced by the entry of online video ad agencies in India. The challenge for these agencies is to give marketers another reason to increase their spending on the internet, touting video ads as TV commercials, which actually let the viewers interact with the brand on the spot. Sunil R Nair, director of Nautanki.tv which runs video ads online through its network of original productions, predicts that in the next two years if the Indian online ad industry reaches Rs 1,000 crore, videos would account for approximately 30% of the industry. Unlike television, online video advertising is extremely focused and guaranteed. An advertiser is only billed for an ad seen by a viewer as opposed to being billed for the ‘perceived reach’ of a given TV channel. Furthermore, user location and demographic data are leveraged to provide advertisers an opportunity to target ads better. As internet advertising increases in value, advertisers are looking for diverse ways to cut the clutter of banners and search listings, and ‘talk’ to the audience. Video advertising presents that opportunity to them, and as video content grows, it will be a right platform to do so.

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

 

2. Commercials on mobile score over other media for advertising – June 19

The drop in the average revenue per user has compelled telecom and related industries to look for newer avenues for growth. As a result the latest on the block is advertising on the mobile. The mobile ad networks so formed are similar to the ones on the internet. They comprise a publisher, an advertiser, agency and a technology platform provider. Companies such as Mobile2Win, Mauj and mKhoj having created the content for mobile platform are digressing towards setting up their own mobile networks. Not only this, internet has also joined the league. Some of the leading players on the internet, such as Yahoo!, Google, Nokia, AdMob and AOL, are working towards getting the internet model on to the mobile platform. It is also observed that with the amount of ad volumes this medium can generate, it is emerging as a huge opportunity, and holds immense potential if the industry looks into means beyond the SMS. The innovation holds the interest of the advertisers for the simple reason that the reach of the medium is vast and accurate. Moreover, it constantly stays with the consumer.  The medium also scores over other media because of its ability to provide targeted advertisement.

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

 

 

3. International websites in Indian online space to go local – May 21

Ever since the launch of the Indian versions of Microsoft and Yahoo!, foreign players in the Indian online space have been compelled to go “local”. The reason behind this is that local content is essential in key markets where the internet is booming, and with 35 million active internet users, it is difficult to ignore a market like India. Consequently, a large number of internet users ensure more eyeballs for advertisers and hence Indian sites make sense from a local advertising perspective, by providing a distinct experience tailored to the domestic market. There are technical benefits as well of having the content developed within the country on local infrastructure, such as servers. According to Krish Sheshadri, senior director, programming and product marketing, AOL India, apart from creating an identity, a local web address helps in creating a local brand, this also helps the consumers in getting a better experience online because the pages load faster. Marketers feel that focusing on content relevant to the market is the strategy that proves to be conducive to international websites. The next level of localization would be offering regional language versions of these websites.

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

 

 

Emerging Trends: Retail

 

 

4. The ‘Global Sourcing: Shifting Strategies’ report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers states that, India is expected to be the top sourcing hub in retail and consumer sector globally in the coming years. Cost, quality and the environment would play an increasingly important role as companies seek to achieve competitive advantage from the global sourcing programmes – June 16

 

Source: The Financial Express

 

 
 

5. Retailers adopt new techniques such as tracking shopper behaviour to improve sales -June 07

With the expansion in the retail domain, domestic retailers are now resorting to newer techniques to track shopper behaviour. Big retailers are experimenting with a host of new methods - IT solutions, RFID (a wireless barcode that identifies unique items using radio waves), factory visits for customers, monitoring surveillance system footage, point-of-sales system and appointing trained researchers for front line sales positions - to study consumer behaviour. Such data is used to improve the store layout, merchandise range and service quality, all of which ultimately translate into improved sales. Some of the retail chains who have joined the bandwagon include Future Group, Reliance Retail, Landmark, Shoppers Stop and Koutons Retail among others.  

 

Source: The Economic Times

 

 

 

Emerging Trends: OOH

 

 

6. E-kiosks, as the new OOH tool – May 28

India Transact services, a provider of electronic/ online services to consumers in the B2C space, has introduced the Wincor Nixdorf high end multimedia kiosks in India and positioned these as “India’s first multi-convenience e-kiosks”. Wincor Nixdorf is a global leader in producing kiosks and automated teller machines (ATMs). Not only do these provide a single touch point for various utility services, they also provide a good advertising opportunity. The advertising opportunities are in the form of the large 37 inch LCD screens (placed on top of the user interfaces), which play audiovisual content. The network of e-kiosks can also be used as a lead generation network, particularly in the case of financial institutions and banks. These kiosks offer multiple services ranging from travel bookings, mobile top-ups/ recharge of any service provider, bill payments (electricity, telephone) of a majority of billers/ service providers, cinema ticketing and mobile downloads.

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

 
 

7. Ad-cabs emerge as a means of “on-the-move” advertising – May 20

Indian taxi companies, such as EasyCabs, Meru, Gold Cabs and Mega Cabs, are offering ad spaces to advertisers ready to invest in this mobile medium. Advertisers can place their communication on the four doors and on translites at the top of the car, which glow at night. Inside the cabs, advertising can be carried on the headrests. LCDs for the same are also in the pipeline. With other OOH media being static, these ad-cabs ensure high visibility.

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

 
 

8. ‘adrickshaws’, a concept designed specifically for small towns and rural areas, are a perfect rural advertising medium. They are similar to normal rickshaws, the difference being that instead of a seat, they have an ad space. The vehicles are meant to provide advertising opportunity and interactivity with the target audience. The ‘adrickshaws’ offer a complete package of sight, sounds, interactivity and taste. – May 19

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

 

Emerging Trends: Others

 

 

9. FMCG companies’ transition from branding to consumer engagement is marked by foray into online marketing – June 09

The websites of most FMCG brands have now incorporated games, Facebook applications and entertaining videos, to keep the consumer engaged. The focus has shifted beyond product push to relationship building and looking at the entire spectrum of consumer needs that align with their brand proposition. However, the companies spend approximately Rs 40-50 lakh on an online campaign (including promotion) and Rs 15-20 lakh on a website or viral campaign. A small slice, considering they spend nearly 10 times that amount on mass media. The shift in focus can be attributed to a transitional change from branding to consumer engagement.

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

 
 

10. User Generated Content (UGC) looks promising for the future of media –May 28

According to the 2008 PromaxBDA India conference’s session on 'User Generated Content - The new media', user generated content (UGC) is the future of media. The session laid emphasis on the importance of reaching out to consumers. The growing popularity of blogs can be attributed to this. The conference also laid stress on the need of existing media houses to adapt to this new means of communication called UGC.

Source: Indiantelevision

 

 

Emerging Trends: International

 

 

11. Olympics 2008 is on a trend setting spree by coming up with a strategy to hold a "green" edition of the Olympic Games. It is deemed that staging the "Green Olympics" is not only an action in Beijing's favour, but it can also push forward the sustainable development of other cities in China and thus bring a positive change to the world – June 24

 

Source: Beijing 2008

 

 
 

12. Euro 2008 held promise for sponsors – June 09

The sponsors of Euro 2008 roped in newer ways to grab the eyeballs of media-saturated consumers. As a result, Euro 2008 sponsors embraced more innovative strategies than ever to get their messages across. For many, that included an internet presence – either through standalone websites or in conjunction with UEFA's (Union of European Football Association) heavily trafficked homepage – to offer extra services and promotions to soccer-crazy fans. Other companies took a more "analogue" approach, providing live experiences at the games or offline promotions to fans across Europe. The sponsors looked forward to genuine interaction with the audience.

 

Source: Spiegel Online International

 

 
 

13. Brand-subsidized content to drive the US ad funded mobile entertainment market – May 30

According to a study by the Mobile Entertainment Forum, a global trade organization the US ad-funded mobile entertainment market is expected to grow to $336 million by 2013, with brand-subsidized content accounting for majority of the revenues, followed by up selling premium content. Mobile TV and video would be the major contributor in ad-funded revenues within next five years, followed by music and gaming.

 

Source: MediaPost

 

HOME

Media & Advertising Research Watch

 

14. According to the study, "India: The Entertainment & Media Hub," by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), the turnover of the television industry will grow by 22% to Rs 519 billion by 2011-2012, from Rs 191 billion in 2008. – May 28

 

Source: Indiantelevision

 

 

 

AdEx Findings

 

 

15. Air Conditioner advertising in print went up by 11% during January-April 2008, compared to the same period in 2007. However, Air Conditioner advertising on TV saw a growth of 49% during January-April 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.

Source: Exchange4media, Indiantelevision

 

 
 

16. While beverage ads in print dipped by 16%, a growth of 40% in TV advertising of the same was witnessed during 2007 compared to 2006.

Source: Exchange4media, Indiantelevision

 

 

17. Print advertising of the education sector rose by 14% during January-May 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. A 48% rise in TV advertising of the education sector was witnessed for the same period.

Source: Exchange4media, Indiantelevision

 

 
 

18. The hair care category witnessed a growth of 4% in print advertising during Q1 2008 compared to Q1 2007.

Source: Exchange4media

 

 
 

19. Print advertising of ice creams saw a rise of 58% during January-April 2008 compared to the same period in 2005, whereas the advertising on TV for ice creams category went up by 15% for the same period.

Source: Exchange4media, Indiantelevision

 

 

20. Summer Cool categories advertising in print dipped by 25% during January-April 2008 compared to January-April 2007. But the sector saw a growth of 27% in TV advertising for the same period.          

Source: Exchange4media, Indiantelevision

 

HOME

Environment Watch: Advertising & Media

TV

 

 

21. Entertainment takes over information when it comes to TV commercials – June 10

The television advertising has undergone a sea change. Instead of selling products or its features, the ads now sell attitude, aspirations and emotions. The transition is from information to entertainment. Marketers feel that there are always other media to cover up for the product information and features. Print media does the intellectual job, and TV can supplement the brand campaign with the ‘recall' job.

 

Source: Agencyfaqs

 

Radio

22. Radio channels use mobile and online technology platforms to ensure wider reach- May 19 - June 15

The current trends witnessed in the radio industry point towards increased usage of mobile and online platforms as dissemination mediums to generate a larger audience base. In 2007, Big FM was the first radio channel to launch pod cast services, while Radio City was the first to provide a mobile interactivity platform. Another trend being witnessed in the industry is usage of radio by digital service providers to improve their existing services portfolio such the tie-up between Idea cellular, a wireless telephony company in India, and Geodesic’s Mundu Radio, an innovative mobile internet radio service, to launch Idea Radio. However, availability of technology infrastructure, costs, and lack of skilled manpower, remain the key issues in the implementation of the new technology.

 

Source: India Radio Bulletin

 

 
 

23. Content integration and creativity drive radio advertising - May 19 - June 15

Segregation of consumers in today’s world makes it difficult for mediums such as television, to reach the masses. Radio is a mode which is known to build personal relationships, but is generally referred to as a secondary medium. The key to an effective brand communication is creativity and content integration, which helps in “appointment listening” and audience engagement.

 

Source: India Radio Bulletin

 

Others

 

24. Indian Premier League showcased a 360 degree all pervasive advertising strategy – May 16-May 31

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) catching up with the pulse of the nation, it sure struck the right cord with the marketers. Besides the novelty and the freshness that was evident from the advertising and marketing approach, what surfaced was the amazingly low marketing cost, and phenomenal media coverage that the event had garnered. Leaving no stone unturned for advertising seemed to be an all-pervasive branding strategy of the league, IPL made sure that it was the buzz word everywhere. Its advertising paraphernalia included everything from the internet to the mobile. It used SMS and “caller-back-ring-tones” (CBRTs) to promote the series. In a pre-launch initiative, a campaign powered by SMS 2.0 service was launched. The SMS 2.0 service from Affle, a UK-based mobile media company, is a text messaging application for GPRS based mobile phones. The service differed from a default SMS application as it showed a banner ad at the bottom of the screen while composing or reading a message and displays a full screen during the process of sending the message. In addition to the mobile initiative, the league tied up with content providers such as Indiatimes.com and Cricinfo.com to showcase its cricket-related content such as ring tones, wallpapers and match scores. In another phase of its mobile advertising initiatives and SMS service by the name of SMSGupshup.com was launched. This was a free group messaging service available on the mobile and the internet and allowed users to send free messages. 

 

Source: The Brand Reporter
 

HOME

Touch Points

 

Touchpoints is a unique tool for ZenithOptimedia clients that provide clear actionable metrics for all contact points used in marketing products and services.

 

For a detailed presentation on Touchpoints contact Mr. Pavan Chandra at pchandra@zenithoptimediaindia.com or call at +91-9899-3767-68
 

 

HOME

ZO Zone

  

IPL and its effect on GEC

 

IPL ratings (CS 15+ Male)

 

 

Change In Channel Share During IPL & Pre IPL

 

 

Source: TAM

Period: (Pre IPL) 3rd Mar 2008 – 17th April 2008
(During IPL) 18th Apr 2008 – 1st Jun 2008
Market: All India
TG: CS 15 + M/F
 

Effect of IPL on 2 major GEC Channels Across Various Target Audiences

       

Source: TAM

Period: (Pre IPL) 3rd Mar 2008 – 17th April 2008
(During IPL) 18th Apr 2008 – 1st Jun 2008
Market: All India
TG: CS 15 + M/F

 

Advertising Spend Analysis for Mutual Funds Category for the Year 2006 & 2007

Mutual Funds Category – Monthly Media Expenditure

 

Source: IMRB & AC Nielson
 (Reported Figures)

 

Mutual Funds Category – Brandwise spends

Source: IMRB & AC Nielson
 (Reported Figures)
 

Medium Breakup

 

 

Source: IMRB & AC Nielson
 (Reported Figures)

 

Genre Breakup

Source: IMRB & AC Nielson
 (Reported Figures)

HOME

Fast Forward

   

How to Find Your Social Media Fit: 6 Tips to Optimize Your Strategy
 

SUMMARY
 

Users of Web 2.0 channels, especially social media sites, are tempting targets for subscription marketers. But you need to select channels that best fit your brand and develop a strategy keyed to those online communities.

We asked a subscription marketer who has tackled that challenge to share some insights on social media marketing. Strategies include:

·          Setting goals and expectations

·          Finding sites to target

·          Creating a monetization metric

 

Internet marketers for subscription-based firms need to go where their prospects are. That means finding the Web 2.0 and social media sites that fit best with your products. You can't sail without the right boat.

“For every brand, there are all sorts of areas that come under the term social media that they can take  learnings from, or take that kind of thinking and apply it to their own business,” says Ashley Friedlein, CEO, E-consultancy.com. “But that doesn’t mean you must have a Facebook page, because there is no one-size-fits-all approach.”

Friedlein and his team have been exploring which social media channels offer the best fit for pushing subscriptions to their UK-based ecommerce and digital marketing education and training site. A big effort was an eight-week test that targeted channels, such as YouTube, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Twitter and industry blogs.

Friedlein measured direct traffic, SEO impact, and revenues generated by the channels. From this data, he and his team saw big benefits from SEO and search-generated traffic, but less of an impact on direct sales.

We asked Friedlein to share advice for executing a Web 2.0 campaign, especially some of the nuances of social media marketing. Here are six tips:

 

Tip #1. Target SEO benefits in addition to direct traffic boost

 

Don’t target social media sites only for a potential boost in direct traffic and sales. Participating in social media sites offers the benefit of establishing highly relevant links to your site that can boost your position in search engine results for key terms.

 

In their own test, Friedlein and his team found the biggest boost came from incremental increases in search-generated traffic – after they increased the number of links between their site and popular online communities.

During the six weeks of live traffic during the test, they recorded:

·          18,000 direct visits from social media sites

·          72,000 additional search-generated visits (typical traffic was 7,000 visits a day from  Google before the test)

 

Tip#2. Use keywords to find relevant sites

 

You must understand where your customers and prospects are spending time online before choosing which Web 2.0 channels to target. Friedlein calls this process identifying your “network.”

 

“We visualize what we look like in the context of the Internet, with various hubs and spokes leading to where we sit.”

 

In some cases, target sites are obvious – a top industry blog or popular social bookmarking sites, such as StumbleUpon. But finding the less obvious but still relevant corners of the Web 2.0 world requires a search for social media activity around some of your most important products and services. For instance:

 

·          Searching around key terms related to best-selling products to find social media sites discussing similar topics

·          Searching for sites that ranked highly for general terms related to their products and services, such as “digital marketing strategy”

·          Examining traffic figures and historical trends for worthwhile sites that they could share content with or create dialog.
 

Tip #3. Choose sites for traffic volume or influence

Friedlein’s team discovered during their test that some sites offered relatively high levels of traffic but low influence and reputation within their industry. Other sites had lower levels of traffic but were highly influential.

Rather than choosing one type over the other, they targeted sites for traffic volume as well as influence – relevance within their industry and as a referring link for SEO benefit.

Higher traffic but lower influence sites included:

·          Wikipedia

·          Yahoo Answers

·          YouTube

Higher influence but lower traffic sites included:

·          BBC Internet Blog

·          LinkedIn Answers

·          Bazaarvoice (vendor) blog
 

Tip #4. Identify appropriate ways to participate

Providing relevant, useful content is a given no matter which social media site you choose. But each Web 2.0 channel can require a different approach, depending on the community.

You can use those variations to your advantage by adopting a range of tactics with different levels of difficulty. For example, Friedlein and his team made the most of their resources by adopting the following tactics based on their difficulty.

Participation tactics with a lower degree of difficulty:

·          Commenting on blogs

·          Answering questions in forums and Q&A sites

·          Posting press releases or content links to social-news sites

Participation tactics with a higher degree of difficulty:

·          Writing articles for blogs/online communities

·          Social media PR outreach (submitting products for review, landing interviews with bloggers, etc.)

·          Creating channels on video sites, Twitter

Tip #5. Develop an organized engagement strategy

Many companies jump in to social media marketing with “no rigor and no direction,” Friedlein says. Problems include haphazard participation in online communities or creating a Web 2.0 channel and then letting it languish with little valuable content.

Marketers must plan, instead, to manage a social media campaign with the same organization and accountability they use for other marketing outreach.

To assist with their efforts, Friedlein’s team created a simple spreadsheet that helped them plan, prioritize and track Web 2.0 engagement. The spreadsheet’s columns recorded:

·          Target site

·          Site description

·          Tactic to achieve link

·          Comments

·          Total score (analysis of site’s value based on editorial relevance, search rankings, traffic figures, etc.)

Social media sites were prioritized for the team’s contact efforts. The spreadsheet allowed them to filter sites according to engagement tactics. For example, they could sort the list by sites that only required them to comment on a blog.

Tip #6. Create a monetization metric to track impact

The ongoing question about social media: What’s the return on investment? To find the ROI, Friedlein and his team developed a two-step methodology for measuring it.

First, they broke out the two primary ways they make money -- advertising and ecommerce subscriptions, training, reports, etc.).

For advertising revenues, they estimated:

·          Average ₤20 ($39.80) per thousand page views, two ads per page, three page views per visit

·          Average advertising value per visit = 20 pence (39.8 cents)
 

For ecommerce revenues, they estimated:

·          0.25% conversion rate

·          Average order value = ₤200 ($398)

·          Average ecommerce value per visit = 50 pence (99.5 cents)
 

Next, they combined those two revenue streams, estimating the average total value per visit at 62 pence ($1.23).

Using that estimate as their monetization metric, the team calculated the value of visitor traffic generated by their campaign:

·          18,000 social media referred visits times 62 p = ₤11,160 ($22,208)

·          72,000 additional search referred visits times 62 p = ₤44,640 ($88,934)

After they dug deeper into their campaign numbers, the team discovered two important caveats:

Caveat #1. An average estimate isn’t the most precise predictor of buying behavior from social media-generated traffic.

The team had assumed an average 50 p (99.5 cents) of ecommerce revenue from each social media-generated visit. But during the test period, they generated only ₤2,400 ($4,776) in sales from those visitors – not the ₤9,000 ($17,910) expected.

Friedlein attributes the gap to some social media engagement tactics (e.g., YouTube, Yahoo Answers) that drove less-qualified traffic to the site than other marketing outreach.

Caveat #2. There’s no way to directly attribute SEO improvements and incremental traffic to social media efforts.

So many variables can affect a site’s search engine rankings that it’s impossible to say for sure that additional links boosted the incremental traffic. But Friedlein is confident the technique benefited his site’s rankings and traffic.

“Broadly speaking, if you optimize for search, make your brand and services appear in relevant places, and get people to talk about them and link to them, that’s not a bad thing.”

HOME

This tracker has been compiled from external sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the company.
Links provided will take you to the full articles appended at the end of the file.

© 2008 Zenith Optimedia.

HOME

Full Articles

 

1. Online ads start talking

Agencyfaqs

June 25, 2008

 

Brands in India have done well in adopting the Internet for their branding and marketing activities. So far, they have experimented with display ads, search ads and even social networks. Now, marketers have another avenue opening up for their brand communication – online video.

 

Who’s watching?

In the US alone, Internet research company comScore reports that 10 billion videos were viewed online by 141 million people in December 2007. Citing ABI Research, eMarketer predicts that ad spending on online video in Asia will be $202 million in 2008 and will grow to $3.3 billion in 2012, scoring over the ad spends in Europe and the US.

 

According to JuxtConsult, 36 per cent of the 35 million active Internet users in India share videos online. This audience represents an opportunity for brands to not only use audiovisual ads on the Internet, but also make them interactive. The growing interest in this medium is evidenced by the entry of online video ad agencies in India. One of them is Jivox, a US based online video ad agency, which recently received $10.7 million in funding.

 

Similarly, Vdopia, an online video ad network, has operations in India and the US. Home grown agencies in the category include Monsoon Ads and Nautanki.tv. The challenge for these agencies is to give marketers another reason to increase their spending on the Internet, touting video ads as TV commercials, which actually let the viewers interact with the brand on the spot.

 

“The online video industry currently is a small fraction of the online ad spends in India, but the volumes are growing in leaps and bounds. What’s interesting is the fact that a lot of small advertisers – the ones who never went online for their requirements – suddenly feel that their TVCs can run (on the Internet) and give them branding opportunities that TV cannot because of the costs,” says Sunil R Nair, director of Nautanki.tv, which runs video ads online through its network of original productions.

 

Nair predicts that in the next two years if the Indian online ad industry reaches Rs 1,000 crore, videos would account for about 30 per cent. An internal survey conducted by the company suggests that around 670,000 unique visitors watch a video on the network per day.

 

The broadband penetration in India is 3.5 million (referring to Internet speeds of more than 256 Kbps) and this could be a factor in pushing the consumption of online video. YouTube, which recently launched an India site due to the growing usage in the country, is another indicator of the changing habits of users as Internet connections get faster. Naren Nachiappan, managing director of Jivox India, believes that about 15 million videos are watched online in India every day. He also expects video ads to comprise 15-35 per cent of the online ad industry, which is pegged at around Rs 400 crore.

 

Is it an online TVC?

Video advertising on the Internet is not simply playing the TVC online. It comes with a range of response mechanisms, which allows customers to interact with their brands. Harsh Nagpal, director of Monsoon Ads, says, “Unlike television, online video advertising is extremely focused and guaranteed. An advertiser is only billed for an ad seen by a viewer as opposed to being billed for the ‘perceived reach’ of a given TV channel. Furthermore, we leverage user location and demographic data to provide advertisers an opportunity to target ads better. For example, advertisers should be able to say ‘Target this ad only at women between the ages of 25 and 35 in the Mumbai region’.”

 

Online video is also different from search advertising, which is the fastest growing segment in Internet advertising. Saurabh Bhatia, managing director, Vdopia, says, “What distinguishes video advertising from search advertising, which is the major chunk of Internet spending in India, is that search finds who is needy and video ads create that need and desire. Video ads create brand recall... It’s the same difference as between TV advertising and classifieds.”

 

Some of the common formats of video ads on the Internet are pre-roll and post-roll ads, video overlays and in stream ads. Pre-roll ads play in the form of a short video before the actual video being watched plays, and post-roll ads refer to ads that follow at the end of the main video. Overlay ads work by providing textual information in the form of a banner at the bottom of the screen when the ad is playing. These can be clicked on for more information or turned off if desired. In-stream ads play between the video, similar to how we see ads in TV shows.

 

Elaborating on some of the innovations in video ads, Nachiappan says, “Video advertising itself, and particularly the capability to deliver video ads via existing ad units on a web page (such as banners) and within video streams, is a recent innovation. Other innovations that are particularly relevant in India include the capability to automatically and quickly detect connection speeds, and then serve up the most appropriate ad to that user, based on the ad’s bandwidth needs and the user’s Internet connection.” He explains how ‘bugs’ may be inserted in video ads –animations superimposed on the screen and product placements – where the user can click on a particular portion of the video for more information.

 

Microsoft rolled out contextual video advertising earlier this year, which is similar to product placements. The company was also the first to launch a simpler form of video advertising in India, Desktop TV, which plays TV ads online. Speaking about the platform, Rajnish, India head of Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, says, “The response has been encouraging as it has allowed us to reach out to a large set of advertisers and sample the medium with them as an effective option.” Apart from Desktop TV, Microsoft also offers video ads on its MSN Video site and has recently launched Messenger TV, where videos can be viewed while chatting. It recently tied up with MTV to use Messenger TV to promote its new series.

 

While regular portals such as Yahoo! India and Rediff have not warmed up too much to video ads, the portals of media companies have been showing the way. NDTV, CNN-IBN, Zoom TV and Network18 have all adopted video ads in association with some of these agencies.

 

A range of advertisers such as HDFC, Idea, DLF and Jeevansaathi.com are doing video advertising on these portals.

 

Does it work?

It may be a little early to say whether online video ads are actually delivering results. More so because video ads are seen as a brand building medium as compared to display and search ads, which are more performance driven. Nagpal says, “We have the capabilities to send users to online surveys, direct brand sites and micro sites to obtain a direct response during the ad. Advertisers are guaranteed that the response rate will be higher than on television because every ad played is actually viewed by a user.”

 

Online videos are usually measured in terms of CTR (click through rate), the parameter used for display advertising. Therefore, if the video is delivered 100 times and one person clicks on it, the CTR is 1 per cent. According to Nachiappan, the average response for an in-stream video ad is between 0.7 per cent and 2 per cent, that for an in-banner video ad (where the video plays within a banner) is between 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, and that for an in-text video ad (where a text link opens up a video) is between 1 per cent and 3 per cent.

 

The industry average for banner ads in terms of CTR is between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent, so video ads are not far behind. However, CTR may not be a suitable measure at all. Nair says, “Online video ads are normally in the range of 10-30 seconds and the engagement is far greater since the audience knows that the ad is followed by content that is of his choice.

 

Unfortunately, media agencies are stuck on CPC (cost per click) campaigns, forgetting that the branding that an online video ad provides is far greater than a text or banner ad.” Nautanki.tv recently launched a rating system for video content and is in the process of launching parameters to measure the effectiveness of online video ads. Bhatia agrees, “CTR is just one of the parameters and it is a function of creative and many other factors. It does not mean leads. With video, it means you have generated user interest and engagement.”

 

As Internet advertising increases in value (it is expected to be worth Rs 1,000 crore by 2010, advertisers will look for diverse ways in which to cut the clutter of banners and search listings and ‘talk’ to the audience. Video advertising will present that opportunity to them, and as video content (both original and user generated) grows, it will be the right platform to do so.

 

 

 

2. Commercials on mobiles are a new rage

Agencyfaqs

June 19, 2008

 

The latest tussle for grabbing maximum eyeballs for advertisement will be fought on the mobile platform. The drop in the average revenue per user is forcing telecom and related industries to find new avenues for growth. The value-added services industry is still fragmented and advertisement within it still remains a small revenue stream. Serious steps, however, are being taken to increase this. One of these is the formation of mobile advertisement networks.

 

Mobile ad networks are just like ad networks on the internet. They comprise a publisher, an advertiser, agency and a technology platform provider. Consider the case of Mumbai-based mKhoj, a mobile ad network provider, which last week served its advertisement number one billion. On a monthly basis, the company serves 225 million ads on the mobile platform, has 300 partners and has worked with 42-50 brands. All the numbers have been achieved only in the last six months or so.

 

"These are certainly early days for a mobile ad network in India. Still, people do realize that because of the volumes this medium can generate, it is a huge opportunity," says Naveen Tewari, CEO, mKhoj. mKhoj has developed its own technology platform that, in real time, detects the type of handset that the user has, the type of service provider, the operating system the phone uses, location of the user and what is the user surfing. Based on this the company shows relevant ad to the user.

 

Tewari notes that the opportunity is huge. Firms such as Mobile2Win, Mauj, and others having worked for brands and created content for the mobile platform are coming up with their own mobile ad networks. The number of Indians using their mobiles to logon to the internet has increased from 16 million in 2006 to 38 million in 2007 (both GSM and CDMA).

 

For instance, Mobile2win has started talks with potential partners for the network and is entering into tie-ups with publishers and advertisers. "We have worked with over 100 brands. By creating a mobile ad network we would be just moving up the value-chain. Currently we are concentrating on building a technology platform," said Rajiv Hiranandani, country head, Mobile2Win.

 

Some of the leading players on the internet are working towards getting the internet model on to the mobile platform. Some of the names that are targeting the mobile ad network space are Yahoo, Google, Nokia, AdMob, AOL and others. Of these, Yahoo has already announced the same for India as well.

 

Ritesh Nair, CEO, Interactive Avenues, says: "Over the last two years mobile advertisement has certainly increased. But providers should move beyond WAP and mobile internet-based advertisement. If the industry looks at other means as well like SMS, it is a huge opportunity."

 

The other reason why the advertisers are excited about this medium is the accuracy and reach of this medium. The medium has the ability to provide targeted advertisement, which is not possible in any other platform. Another advantage the medium offers is that is remains constantly with the consumer.

 

 

 

3. Global websites go local in India

Agencyfaqs

May 21, 2008

 

‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ goes the adage, and it would seem that most international Internet companies in India think so, too. Going local has been the strategy of foreign players in the Indian online space ever since global giants such as Microsoft and Yahoo! launched Indian versions of their websites.

 

The trend continues with newer players such as AOL, Reuters and Google planting their Indian flags. While AOL India launched an Indian site in 2007, YouTube recently announced a website with an Indian domain name (youtube.co.in). In the platform which is the World Wide Web, there are no boundaries. So, what is it that makes Internet publishers create region and country specific websites? After all, there are many Indians who go directly to YouTube.com or Yahoo.com.

 

Krishna Prasad, executive producer, MSN India, suggests, “An international site does not necessarily have all the information that a consumer in a local country would want – for example, local news. In India’s case, India specific news is certainly more useful than US centric news. You can extend this logic to all the other verticals that we manage and run.”

 

MSN’s website in India is in.msn.com. Most industry professionals agree that local content is essential in key markets where the Internet is booming. No doubt, it’s hard to ignore a market like India, which has 35 million active Internet users.

 

SN Bhaduri, country manager, Consumer Media, Thomson Reuters India, says, “There cannot be a one site fits all strategy as far as content is concerned. If you go to each of the Reuters sites globally, whether the US, the UK, Japan or China, you will see that there is a subtle variation in the content and how it is presented.” The news organization launched a website for Indian readers, reuters.co.in, in September 2007.

 

A large number of Internet users also means more eyeballs for advertisers and hence, an Indian site may make sense from a local advertising perspective as well. Gopal Krishna, head of audience at Yahoo! India, says, “By localizing content and feel, we are able to provide a distinct experience tailored to the local market. This indeed provides flexibility to get different experiences, if you so choose. For instance, as an NRI in India, you can continue to experience cultures and news from the UK, India or the US. This kind of mix is definitely a big lure for advertisers as well, as it provides better and more flexibility to them, too.”

 

A local web address such as Reuters.co.in or AOL.in also creates a sense of identity as the domain is unique to India. There are technical benefits as well, of having the content developed within the country on local infrastructure, such as servers. According to Krish Sheshadri, senior director, programming and product marketing, AOL India, “Apart from creating an identity, a local web address helps in creating a local brand.

 

It also helps the consumers in getting a better experience online because the pages load faster. Our content and advertising deals are specific to the country.” For a user generated site such as YouTube, it makes all the more sense to have a local version. Sakina Arsiwala, international manager, YouTube, explains, “When a user uploads a video to the YouTube India site, they have the ability to ensure that their videos are tagged as originating from India. Upon searching for content on the site, relevant Indian content will be bubbled up over content from other locations. In addition to this, videos created by Indian

users will be featured on the homepage of YouTube in India.”

 

So, whether it is to attract local audiences or advertisers, focusing on content relevant to the market is a strategy that finds favor with international websites. The next level of localization, of course, is speaking in local languages and most of these websites have already started offering regional language versions. MSN India is available in five versions, besides English, Yahoo! is offered in nine regional languages and newcomer AOL launched with two regional versions. However, as the online population in India is largely urban, investments in local language portals will take a couple of years to gain traction.

 

 
 

4. India to continue as top retail sourcing hub: PwC

Financial Express

June 16, 2008

 

China and India are expected to continue as the top sourcing hubs in retail and consumer sector globally in the coming years, even as concerns over rising cost, quality and environmental issues may impact their advantage, a latest PwC report says.

 

According to report ‘Global Sourcing: Shifting Strategies’ released by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), cost, quality and the environment would play an increasingly important role as Companies seek to achieve new heights of performance and competitive advantage from the global sourcing programmes.

 

“Our feeling is that China will continue to be the leader in terms of sourcing activities for many years to come, however, concern over rising costs, carbon footprint and other issues may cause Companies to step up purchases in other countries over time,” the PwC report stated.

 

China is the number one destination for global sourcing activities with 83 per cent of Companies interviewed for the survey naming it as the top sourcing nation, while India follows at the second place with 58 per cent. “Global sourcing is experiencing robust growth with increased globalization. While cost is still the key driver of global sourcing activities, mature Companies are shifting focus to gain greater efficiency in competitive market, with focus on better quality products and collaborative supplier relationships,” PwC India retail and consumer leader N V Sivakumar said.

 

For success, Companies need to adapt their organization structure and processes to manage the supply chain risks, minimize impact on environment, as well as measure and maximize cost savings, Sivakumar added.

 

 

 

5. Retailers adopt new techniques to improve sales

The Economic Times

June 7, 2008

 

Anonymous shoppers are becoming passé. As domestic retailers expand, they are adopting newer techniques to unravel the mysteries behind people's buying patterns. As a result, investment on tracking consumer behavior is at an all-time high for almost all the top-line chains, including Future Group, Reliance Retail, Landmark, Raymond, Shoppers Stop and Koutons Retail.

 

Big retailers are experimenting with a host of newer methods - IT solutions, RFID, factory visits for customers, monitoring surveillance system footage, point-of-sales system and appointing trained researchers for front line sales positions - to tap consumer behavior. Such data is used to improve the store layout, merchandise range and service quality, all of which ultimately translate into improved sales.

 

Mystery shoppers mainly generate information on service-related issues. But as retailers grow in scale, that alone is not enough. Hence, the need is now felt to initiate a direct touch with consumers through newer methods," says Landmark COO Himanshu Chakrawarti. In Landmark's case, such research has already paid off. Based on consumer feedback, the chain has introduced personal technology products like MP3 and MP4 players, which are doing very well.

 

Adds Raymond president (retail & FMCG) Aniruddha Deshmukh: "Besides mystery shopping, we use footage from surveillance cameras, which is a very useful indicator for observing customer behavior. We also get useful feedback from our specialized premium circle programme. There's also a point-of-sales system, which captures transactions and billing, and shows us the patterns of purchases by customers."

 

The chains have undertaken a lot of innovations. "Shoppers Stop, for instance, does a preview of new collections to loyal customers to see their reactions. Similarly, Kirtilals, a jewellery player, flies down a group of customers to its factory units in Coimbatore for a day. Pantaloons does a lot of focus groups, as does Shoppers Stop. A direct interface with key customers elicits information and helps gauge their preferences," Retailers Association of India CEO Gibson Vedamani told ET.

 

While global biggies like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco have adopted radio frequency identification RFID), the likes of Future Group and Reliance Retail are in the early stages of RFID adoption. "RFID has high implementation cost. But several Indian retailers have tested such RFID solutions and this will now pick up," said Dharmesh Lamba, country manager, Checkpoint Systems, an US-based retail technology solutions provider.

 

Till lately, there have been instances when senior management officials of retail stores used to frequent shop floor to get a first-hand view of consumer feedback. But with expansion now becoming the mantra across the sector, the chains are adopting newer solutions on the lines of their Western counterparts.

 

 

 

6. E-kiosks: the new OOH tool

Agencyfaqs

May 28, 2008

 

India Transact Services has introduced the Wincor Nixdorf high end multimedia kiosks in India and positioned these as “India’s first multi-convenience e-kiosks”. Wincor Nixdorf is a global leader in producing kiosks and automated teller machines (ATMs).

 

The multimedia kiosks not only serve as a single touch point for many utility services, they also offer a great advertising opportunity. The advertising opportunities are in the form of the large 37 inch LCD screens (placed on top of the user interfaces), which play audiovisual content. Each 10 second spot played on these screens can cost an advertiser Rs 25-30. The campaigns could run from a month to a year. The e-kiosks are placed in areas such as petrol pumps and BPO offices.

 

The user interfaces (touch screens), too, offer opportunities for a marketer to power a consumer service electronically. For example, Yatra fuels the airline ticketing application. This could cost the advertiser Rs 2,000 per kiosk. The network of e-kiosks can also be used as a lead generation network, particularly in the case of financial institutions and banks. The customer assistance personnel who man the e-kiosks can be engaged as sales promoters.

 

“The product is dynamic and interactive at the same time. We have our digital signage software, where we can schedule content as preferred by advertisers; the same content can be broadcast at multiple locations at different times. We provide flexibility and scalability to advertisers,” says Tandon.

 

But how effective is advertising on e-kiosks? Tandon says that while there is no syndicated data available that measures the effectiveness of kiosk advertising in India, advertising on kiosks is an accepted medium in mature markets such as North America. For now, of the 100 e-kiosks, 70 are operational at select HPCL petrol pumps in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. The remaining 30 will be set up by the end of May. India Transact has installed e-kiosks at the BPO, Accenture, as well.

 

The advertisers on India Transact’s e-kiosks include Yatra.com, Airtel, Rediff.com, Club Mahindra, UTV, Reliance Money and IndusInd Bank.

 

Is India ready for e-kiosks? Tandon says, “India is at a nascent stage for kiosk deployments; however, there has been an appreciable growth of 40 per cent in this segment over the last year. You will find marketers who have used a kiosk as a touch point for their consumers, some such examples are Vodafone and Reliance Money. There is always skepticism when a new concept is introduced, but our endeavor is to ensure loyalty among consumers as a result of their experience on the e-kiosk. It will take us a learning curve of five years as an ‘industry’ to achieve a level of ‘using kiosks as a way of life’.”

 

While other firms have also launched e-kiosks, they offer only single services. India Transact’s multipurpose kiosks offer multiple services ranging from travel bookings, mobile top-ups/ recharge of any service provider, bill payments (electricity, telephone) of a majority of billers/ service providers, cinema ticketing and mobile downloads. The India Transact e-kiosk uses a web based/ online system. The user interface screen is a touch screen and the user pages are simple and to the point, designed totally for customer convenience. There are multiple payment options for the services. There are customer assistance personnel, who educate consumers on the services available. The kiosks also have a telephone which connects to the customer care centre in case a consumer requires information.

 

Amit Tandon, business head, India Transact, says, “India Transact Services was incorporated in 2007 to deliver online/ digital services through various software and hardware platforms. We have so far invested Rs 10 crore in the business and have a projected outlay of another Rs 40 crores in the next two years.”

 

 

 

7. Taxi advertising: It’s an ad-cab world

Agencyfaqs

May 20, 2008

 

The yellow taxis of New York have some tough competition in terms of advertising. Indian taxi companies, such as EasyCabs, Meru, Gold Cabs and Mega Cabs, are offering ad spaces galore to advertisers ready to invest in this mobile medium. EasyCabs of Carzonrent India has recently started providing advertising space on its fleet of cars across the country. The company provides advertising spaces both inside and outside the car, depending on the client’s requirements. It has 50 cabs in Chandigarh, 550 in Delhi, 350 in Hyderabad and 400 in Bangalore. It will soon commence operations in Chennai and Mumbai as well.

 

An advertiser can put up his communication on the four doors and on translites at the top of the car, which glow at night. Inside the cabs, advertising can be carried on the headrests. In two-three months, it plans to introduce LCDs as well inside its cabs. Permissions from the State Transport Authority and no objection certificates from the traffic police in each location have to be obtained to put up ad cabs. Ashok Vashist, chief operating officer, EasyCabs, says, “If you look at the history of radio taxis globally, it shows that the business was not viable till advertising became part of the revenue model.” He adds that EasyCabs has recently extended its fleet extensively, and this is one reason why they have started offering advertising. Their clients include Vodafone, Vishal Megamart, Emaar MGF and HPCL.

 

Vashist shares that the rate of advertising in one city for a minimum of four-five months will cost the advertiser around Rs 7,000-10,000. Lesser time frames will not be viable for the advertiser. “Other OOH media are static, while this is moving. It goes to airports and railway stations, ensuring high visibility,” he adds.

 

While EasyCabs has no fixed ratio of advertising from local and national advertisers, Vashist feels that numbers are critical. “An advertiser should take the entire fleet in a city for six months, rather than spread it thinly over 10-20 cars across the country.”

 

Another player, Meru Cabs, launched by V-Link Taxis on March 30, 2007, offered advertising right from the beginning. Meru offers the four doors and branding on the seat covers and back pockets. Meru’s clients include BPCL Speed, Radio City, Bharti Axa Life Insurance, Sahara Filmy, Reliance Consumer Finance and P&G’s Pantene.

 

Meru claims to have been approached by a few international brands, too. On the effectiveness and reach of taxi advertising, Neeraj Gupta, managing director, V-Link Taxis, says, “The more the number of cabs, the higher the visibility. According to World Advertising Research data for 2006, in London, cab advertisements produced around 50 impressions per mile. This comes to 7,500 impressions per cab per day. For the cabs in Mumbai, there are around 500 impressions per kilometer.

 

That comes to one lakh impressions per day per cab and approximately 90 lakh impressions per quarter.” Meru keeps a track of the total kilometers run by the vehicles on a daily basis, as well as the number of trips per day. This database is combined at the end of the month and shared with the client as an ad effectiveness report. This gives the client a complete idea of the exposure his ad must have received through the month. Gupta adds, “Advertising on our cabs is like advertising on a mobile hoarding running across the city which gives good mass visibility.” Other locations that see a lot of taxi advertising are London, New York, Singapore, Thailand and Dubai.

 

 

8. Rickshaws: No longer just a transport option

Agencyfaqs

May 19, 2008

 

The out of home industry in India is picking up speed. Innovations and new technologies are driving the industry today. The new addition in the list of innovations are ‘adrickshaws’, launched by specialist agency Rajat Advertising in Chattisgarh.

 

Rickshaws conjure up the picture of zooming three wheelers with no shock absorbers, blaring Hindi film music, adorned with garish stickers, colorful mirrors and pictures of Bollywood heroines. Adrickshaws are nowhere close to these, cannot be used for transportation and are mainly for outdoor advertising.

 

Rajat Gupta, owner and promoter, Rajat Advertising, came up with the concept of adrickshaws designed specifically for small towns and rural areas. Adrickshaws are similar to normal rickshaws, the difference being that instead of a seat, they have an ad space. Each adrickshaw has a 6 feet x 6 feet backlit double sided display for ads.

 

On why these were introduced in Chattisgarh, Gupta says, “I am originally from Chattisgarh, but lived and worked in Mumbai for some time. Initially, I took the concept to Navi Mumbai Corp., but I faced a lot of politics and regionalism, and was not given a chance. Tired and frustrated, I decided to launch the concept in my home town, Raipur. My determination to implement my concept brought me back here.”

 

Gupta has set up the project with an initial investment of Rs 5 lakh. Ten adrickshaws have been launched in Raipur, Bhilai and Durg. The number will be increased to 30 to cover all of Chattisgarh, including the rural areas.

 

Adrickshaws began their journey with Reliance Mobile Smart GSM in Raipur, and went on to cover all of Chattisgarh. Other local clients include Vishal Megamart, Apna Bazaar and Kishore Mall. “While local players will form a big part of the client base, it doesn’t stop national players from reaching out and tapping small towns and rural areas,” says Gupta.

 

The campaigns can run for between 15 days and two months. The cost of advertising is Rs 500 per day per adrickshaw. It takes about an hour to stretch a flex on an adrickshaw. The rickshaw rider can also wear the brand message or uniform, and be trained to give out information.

 

“Such vehicles will provide advertising and interactivity with the target audience. The adrickshaws offer a complete package of sight, sound, interactivity and taste. Let me tell you how each of these elements come into play,” says Gupta. “Sight in the form of the backlit ad, which provides an excellent view to both a mobile and standing audience. Sound in the form of recorded audio delivered on DVD/MP3 format, which provides clarity.”

 

Interactivity is the third element. All rickshaw riders are promoters in the client’s uniforms and interact with the target group. Gupta adds, “The eligibility standard for rickshaw riders is that they must have passed Class 10, and have some knowledge of English as well as the local language. They are trained to be well informed about the product or service being advertised. They distribute flyers and brochures, and can fill up short response forms or contest forms.”

 

Gupta adds, “The fourth element is taste or experience. For example, a telecom company can install a GPRS/ GSM modem inside the rickshaw, which sends free ring tones/ SMS offers to anyone within a range of three metres of the rickshaw. Sampling of products can be done for an FMCG company.” After covering Chattisgarh, Gupta plans to introduce the adrickshaws in the Vidarbha region. “Our effort is to provide advertisers a combination of OOH and BTL (below-the-line), a perfect rural advertising medium.”

 

The adrickshaws were launched on April 19. Gupta claims that the response has been fantastic. “While people are used to seeing rickshaws making announcements, they never expect to see a backlit display, clear sound, well dressed and presentable rickshaw riders distributing flyers. Everyone who has seen the images or adrickshaws in person has appreciated it,” he says. The agency also plans to launch e-rickshaws or electric rickshaws in October. These come with battery fitted motors, which, once charged, can cover distances of about 80km. This will help in covering more ground. Gupta has more than a decade of experience with agencies such as TDI India (airport advertising), MOMS, Madison Retail Paradigm, Hansa Outsell (the OOH division of RK Swamy) and Network Media Solutions.

 

 

9. FMCGs step up the pace on online marketing

Agencyfaqs

June 09, 2008

 

FMCG brands have always been accused of being slow in adopting the online medium. However, the online presence of FMCG brands is no longer confined to brochure like web pages. Most of these brands are actively engaging their consumers by creating interactive online campaigns using micro sites, games and social media sites.

 

Evolving online

The websites of most FMCG brands now lead consumers to games, Facebook applications and entertaining videos, which is keeping digital agencies quite busy.

 

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) is reportedly one of the biggest FMCG companies to spend on Internet marketing. It has a website for most of its popular brands and some of these sites are quite engaging. The best known example, of course, is Sunsilk Gang of Girls, which has become a case study for Indian marketers on how to use the online medium. HUL’s latest campaign online was for the Lux Provocateur limited edition soap, for which the company created a fantasy themed site and a Facebook application. BC Web Wise created the Sunsilk Gang of Girls site for HUL.

 

The agency has created online campaigns for other FMCG companies, too, such as Lifebuoy, Sunfeast, Kelloggs, Horlicks and Pepsi. Chaya Brian Carvalho, managing director and chief executive officer of BC Web Wise, says, “These companies are definitely moving towards consumer engagement and long term strategies. The focus is on relationship building and looking at the entire spectrum of consumer needs that align with their brand proposition. They have gone so much beyond product push.”

 

PepsiCo is another brand which has a dynamic online strategy. The latest campaign by the beverage brand is about a non-existent place called Youngistaan. The Internet is the only medium which could give real shape to the concept. So, BC Web Wise created a virtual Youngistaan for Pepsi, complete with a movie theatre, a pizza joint and a canteen.

 

Another brand of PepsiCo, 7-Up, has an animated site on the soft drink’s latest campaign, Bheja Fry. As animated nuisances bother the character on the site, a bottle of 7-Up makes them all disappear, aptly demonstrating the campaign’s message. People visiting the site have been invited to upload videos, audios, pictures and SMS messages of their own Bheja Fry situations.

 

Webchutney is the agency behind the 7-Up site and it is also creating campaigns for brands such as Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Happydent and Orbit. Commenting on the changing attitudes of FMCG companies, Siddharth Rao, co-founder and CEO of Webchutney, says, “The focus on user generated content (UGC) has increased, and in fact, brands insist on creating a platform to encourage their consumers to contribute to the brand story per se. A more aware breed of brands and agencies are willing to experiment with the medium through social media and entertaining and engaging content. Marketing online is shifting towards creating conversations which range from UGC to feedback.”

 

The agency has also developed viral campaigns for these companies, another medium which has caught the fancy of the category. Brands such as Sunsilk, Happydent and Bingo have experimented with virals or animated videos which are usually humorous.

 

Social experiments

Social media is still a new realm for Indian advertisers, though brands such as Lux, 5 Star and Bournvita are experimenting with the medium through Facebook applications.

 

Some brands have taken the next step in interactivity. Cadbury’s site for 5 Star, www.lostin5star.com, has a section where people can create a Missing video of their friends and send it to them as a prank. Something similar has been developed on Perfetti’s site for Center Shock, where a fake news bulletin can be created using a friend’s name. ITC created a virtual campus on its site for chips brand Bingo, and has plans to evolve it into a Second Life type of world.

 

Though HUL, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Perfetti Van Melle and ITC are the usual suspects with big budgets, there are other FMCG companies, which were not seen as Net friendly in India, but are now pulling up their socks. So, now we have companies such as Godrej, Marico, CavinKare, Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive, which have joined the bandwagon for their brands, which include Cinthol, Saffola, Spinz, Whisper and Colgate Max Fresh.

 

“We are moving fast – from ‘How can you take this TVC forward online’ to ‘What are the interesting things I can do online in the next three years?’. FMCG clients are increasingly looking at online as an effective marketing tool, and it makes sense as their target audience is all here, especially the youth,” says Subhomoy Sengupta, creative director, Interactive Avenues. The independent digital agency has developed an interactive site for Godrej’s personal care brand, Cinthol, where people can play games on the freshness theme. The agency also works with John Players, Colgate and Coca-Cola for their online campaigns.

 

Despite the positivity, many still believe that with their spending power and brand muscle, FMCG brands could still do better in exploiting the online medium.

 

CVS Sharma, senior vice-president and director, Arc Worldwide, says, “There are some who still believe in ending a TV ad with a log on to www.abcd.com and participate in ‘khelo’ and ‘jeeto’, which serves no purpose. The 3,000 entries that happen do not merit the ad space wasted.

 

Neither are they using their TV spot effectively, nor are they maximizing their online presence. Our advice to FMCG marketers is to treat online as no different from the TV medium. No one is going to buy a 50 paisa candy by logging on to a website. Maximize campaign visibility using interesting creative hooks at various digital media touch points. If you have a target of 5,000,000 views for a TV ad, similarly, see how many views your banner ad/ micro site can generate.”

 

Arc Worldwide, the integrated marketing arm of Leo Burnett, recently won the account for the Indian version of P&G’s community site for its brand Whisper, Beinggirl.com. Besides P&G, the agency also works with Heinz, Tata Salt and Perfetti.

 

Again, while the spending by FMCG companies online may appear large in volume, their budgets are still only up to 5 per cent of the total ad spend, according to industry sources. These companies spend about Rs 40-50 lakh on an online campaign (including promotion) and Rs 15-20 lakh on a website or viral. A small slice, considering they spend about 10 times that amount on mass media.

 

Some major companies don’t even have their online strategy in place. Dabur, which has brands such as Dabur Honey, Vatika, Real and Hajmola, only has a basic corporate website. When contacted, a Dabur spokesperson said the company had no immediate plans for their brands on the Internet. Other brands which are still in the fancy website era are Nestle (Maggi, KitKat, Nescafe), Britannia, Emami and Parle Agro.

 

The reason is probably a lack of faith in online media, according to Krishna Kumar, CEO of interactive agency Media2win. “There is a lack of authenticated data about the online media. Traditional media has enough third party authenticated data and hence, the belief is obviously higher,” he says.

 

Kumar also feels that Internet advertising does not work as well for regional companies, “In India, there are many regional FMCG brands that do exceedingly well in their respective regions. Here, TV plays a dominant role. The Internet does well when you need to cover the entire country, and region level targeting is not yet accurate.”

 

Media2win recently developed a game for Garnier’s sunscreen. Aimed at women, the online game is called Miss in the City and players are required to go around a virtual town without getting sun burnt. The agency has also created campaigns for Domino’s Pizza and Colgate Max Fresh.

 

One thing is certain – most FMCG companies have changed their goals in online marketing from branding to consumer engagement. As Sengupta puts it, “The strategy was Test matches, now things are headed in the Twenty20 direction!”

 

 

 

10. Indian broadcasters need to embrace user generated content

Indiantelevision

May 28, 2008

 

User generated content (UGC) is the future of media, said Mouthshut.com CEO Faisal Farooqui while speaking at the Promax/BDA India conference in the session on 'User Generated Content - The new media'. Farooqui emphasized that the need of the hour is to reach out to the consumers. User generated content like play a profound source of information in daily life.

 

“With blogs becoming popular day by day, the virtual wall of editor between the publisher and the reader has vanished. There is much more transparency for the readers and are free to express themselves,” said Farooqui. Farooqui urged the need of existing media houses to adapt to this new means of communication called UGC.

 

Referring to Google’s acquisition of YouTube Farooqui said, “It is important for all the media houses to secure a supply chain of content for them. The existing players will have to assimilate new mediums to avoid their competition from taking them over.” Farooqui said that the Indian broadcasters should learn a lesson that 75,000 videos with an average duration of six minutes each are being downloaded daily on YouTube. This shows that there is more content on YouTube than what any of the big media houses have.

 

Citing the example of CNN iReporter, Farooqui said: “CNN cut short its man power and spent Rs 7 billion to launch iReporter, an initiative wherein the viewers can post videos and blog on the CNN.”

 

 

 

11. UN official lauds Beijing's 'Green Olympics' strategy

Beijing 2008

 

Beijing's strategy to hold a "green" edition of the Olympic Games sets a good example for the many countries around the world, the United Nations' top climate change official said on Wednesday.

 

While attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told Xinhua News Agency that Beijing's efforts to make the 2008 Olympic Games environmentally-friendly will also have a positive influence outside of China. He said that if China can successfully implement an urban sustainable development strategy, then many countries could follow her lead.

 

He deemed that staging the "Green Olympics" is not only an action in Beijing's favor, but it can also push forward the sustainable development of other cities in China and thus bring a new, positive change to the world.

 

The 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference opened on December 3 and will end on December 14, with representatives of over 180 countries and observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations as well as the media. According to the agenda, the two-week period includes sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted at the third Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997.

 

 

 

12. Sponsors Bet Big on Euro Soccer Series

Spiegel Online International

June 09, 2008

 

Advertisers including Coke and McDonalds are spending major-league dollars on multimedia campaigns at the UEFA Championship games. As the players take to the field during Euro 2008, a larger and perhaps even more cutthroat competition also will be sweeping the tournament. The prize? The attention and spending power of the more than 1 billion fans worldwide expected to tune into the three week sporting event.  That's the goal for the sponsors of UEFA European Soccer Championship; among them some of the worlds top companies -- McDonald's, Coca Cola, and Adidas.

 

With the opportunity to reach so many customers, they're using a host of sophisticated techniques to raise  awareness and increase revenue for their brands. The complexity of sports event sponsorship coincides with the changing interests of fans. Long gone are the days when a company could plaster a stadium with banners and sit back while consumers flocked to its products. Now, media-saturated customers barely register such "one-dimensional" product placements, forcing sponsors to seek new, more interactive ways to grab their attention.

 

At the same time, the stakes are higher than ever because buying into event sponsorship has gotten a lot more expensive. Analysts figure sponsors paid up to $29 million each for rights to Euro 2008 -- about 40 percent more than eight years ago -- and will likely spend twice that via ancillary events and exposure. That makes executives keen to ensure return on their investment.

 

As a result, Euro 2008 sponsors are embracing more innovative strategies than ever to get their messages across. For many, that includes an Internet presence -- either through standalone Web sites or in conjunction with UEFA's heavily trafficked homepage -- to offer extra services and promotions to soccer-crazy fans. Other companies are taking a more "analog" approach, providing live experiences at the games or offline promotions to fans across Europe.

 

No matter the strategy, creating a dialogue with consumers has become the name of the game. "Sponsors are looking for genuine interaction with audiences," says Andy Sutherden, managing director for sports marketing and sponsorship at London media consultant Hill & Knowlton "Brands are desperately trying to create their perspective for fans during Euro 2008."

 

At the same time, analysts say, sponsors must be careful not to act too aggressively. Brand overexposure can be harmful if fans react negatively to commercialization of sporting events. That was a major criticism of the 1996 summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, and it has forced companies to walk a finer line between boosting brand awareness and turning people off.

 

The extra revenue and brand awareness to be gained from Euro 2008 sponsorship far outweigh these risks, though. Paul Meulendijk, head of sponsorship at MasterCard Europe, says the company's link with the previous European championship in Portugal four years ago resulted in triple-digit growth in card activation there after the tournament. While he won't predict the impact of this summer’s event, Meulendijk expects Euro 2008 to lift MasterCard's European business. "Sponsorship is a critical component for us. It drives both profitability and recognition of the brand," he says.

 

McDonald's is also looking for a boost from Euro 2008. The fast food chain has launched an online fantasy soccer league on the UEFA homepage to attract the highly lucrative 18-to-24 age bracket. The virtual game already has 20 percent more participants than it had during the last tournament, says Johan Jervoe, McDonald's corporate vice-president for global marketing, and is expected to create more interaction between fans and the company. "If you are not part of the media habit of young people, you won't be there in the future," Jervoe says.

 

Other companies are following suit. Coca Cola has launched an online soccer trading-card game in conjunction with Italy's Panini that allows fans to collect and swap information about their favorite players. Castrol sponsors a digital performance index for the Euro 2008 teams that gives supporters online access to up-to-date stats and profiles of the tournament's stars. Using Online and Offline Techniques Not that high tech is the only weapon in a sponsor's arsenal. Canon is combining its online presence with more traditional techniques, such as providing photo booths for fans throughout host cities and assistance for professional photographers covering the tournament. "There's a trend towards interaction through the Internet, but there's still room for people to associate with brands offline," says James Leipnik, Canon's chief of communications and corporate relations for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

 

Despite their multi-pronged tactics, sponsors find it difficult to quantify the economic impact of supporting events like Euro 2008. Iain Ellwood, head of consulting at Interbrand in London, says it's almost impossible to correlate specific sponsorship deals with extra revenue because the events represent only one element in a company's overall marketing strategy. "The key is to leverage [the deals] into extra brand recognition," he says.

 

To do that, interacting with fans will be sponsors' top priority. While the soccer teams may grab the headlines over the next three weeks, the economic competition off the field will play a huge role in the financial success of Euro 2008.

 

 

 

13. Ad-Funded Mobile Entertainment Market To Grow

MediaPost

May 30, 2008

 

The U.S. market for ad-funded mobile entertainment will grow to $336 million by 2013, expanding the overall mobile media market by 4.6%, according to a new forecast. The study by the Mobile Entertainment Forum, a global trade organization, predicts that brand-subsidized content will account for the majority of revenue at almost $263 million, while the balance will come from up selling premium content. Mobile video and TV are expected to represent 41.4% of ad-funded revenues within five years, followed by music at 34.5% and gaming at 24.1%.

 

14. M&E sector to touch Rs 1000 billion by 2011-12:

Assocham

May 28, 2008

 

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has projected that media and entertainment sector is expected to cross a turnover of Rs 1000 billion by 2011-12 from present level of about Rs 440 billion.

 

The study, "India: The Entertainment & ," was brought out by the Assocham and jointly released by film celebrity Shah Rukh Khan, Assocham president Venugopal N Dhoot and its secretary general DS Rawat. The turnover of the television industry, according to the study, will grow by 22 per cent to Rs 519 billion by 2011-12 from the current size of Rs 191 billion. Subscription revenue is projected to be the key growth driver for the television industry as pay TV homes will increase from 71 million to over 100 million in the next four years.

 

The Chamber has suggested that in order to make India a hub for entertainment and media, it is urgently required that this sector be brought into concurrent list from state list and also holds a view that the government should enact Optic Disc Law in a manner that can encourage exponential growth for film and entertainment industry.

 

Khan and Dhoot have jointly demanded that VAT and be removed on entertainment sector. The study has also pointed out that that it has become necessary to bring in entertainment industry under the concurrent list so that it can also be governed, monitored by central rules as also enjoy certain tax concessions as announced by the central government from time to time. Currently, the entire entertainment and film industry falls under the jurisdiction of state governments. As a result, it has not been able to enjoy the already conferred dejure industry status on entertainment and film industry. Retaining the industry in the state list, certain matters concerning the central government cannot be taken up with the Union ministry, besides the tax concessions.

 

The Chamber has also pointed out that in the Act of 2007, service tax has been made applicable in case of , leasing, letting immovable properties which include theaters, exhibition halls and multiple use building with the result that the central excise departments has issued notices for recovery of service tax from entertainment industry.

 

As the film industry is already burdened with various types of taxes and fee imposed by state governments and local self governments, the central government is persuaded to exempt the transactions between producers and distributors. As regards to (VAT), the Assocham has pointed out that for the film and entertainment industry, the VAT imposed is 12 per cent which is too high. The tax should be waived off as producers are put under heavy burdens. If waiving off of this VAT is not possible, its rate should be brought to 4 per cent.

 

The Chamber has also reiterated that infrastructure status should also be conferred on film and entertainment industry under Section 10 (G) 23 of Income- 1961. Dhoot said that amendment should be made in Cable TV Networks Regulation Act 1995 and state governments be authorized and empowered to grant licenses to the applicants. The enactment of Optic Disc Law as suggested by the Assocham would meaningfully combat video, cable and TV piracy. Such a law has produced encouraging results in the neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Hong Kong.

 

 
 

15a. Air conditioners advertising in print up 11 pc in January-April 2008

·         11% growth in advertising of Air Conditioners in Print during Jan-Apr '08 compared to Jan-Apr '07.

·         ‘LG Electronics India Ltd' was number one advertiser of Air Conditioners in Print during Jan - Apr '08.

·         ‘LG Air Conditioners' topped the list of Air Conditioner brands advertised in Print during Jan - Apr '08.

·         Maximum usage of 'Finance Scheme' and 'Multiple Promotion' for advertising of Air Conditioners in Print during Jan - Apr '08.

 

 

 

15b. Overview of advertising of Air Conditioners on TV in January-April 2008

·         Air Conditioner advertising saw a growth of 49 per cent on TV during January-April 2008 compared to January-April 2007.

·         'Godrej & Boyce Mfg Company Ltd' was number one advertiser of Air Conditioners on TV during January-April 2008.

·         'Godrej Eon Air Conditioners' topped the chart of top brands of Air Conditioners on TV during January-April 2908.

·         Regional Channels had 25 per cent share of overall Air Conditioners advertising share on TV during January-April 2008.

·         45 per cent rise in average number of Air Conditioner ads advertised per day on TV during January-April 2008 compared to January-April 2007.

 

 

 

16a. Beverage ads in print dipped by 16 pc in 2007

·         Print ad volumes of Beverage Industry have dipped by 16% during 2007 compared to 2006..

·         ‘Tea’ leads in Print advertising of Beverage Industry during 2007.

·         ‘Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd' topped the advertisers list of Beverage Industry in Print during 2007.

·         ‘Minute Maid Pulpy Orange' was number one brand among the new beverage launches in Print during 2007.

·          Beverage brands were advertised more in Non Metro Newspapers during 2007.

·          ‘Greendale Tez Tea' had used maximum innovative ad layout in Print 2007.

 

 

 

16b. Snapshot of advertising by Beverage Industry on TV during 2007

·         40 per cent growth in TV advertising of Beverage Industry during 2007 compared to previous year.

·         Aerated Soft Drinks' lead among all the segments of Beverage Industry on TV during 2007.

·         More than 50 per cent share of Beverages advertising on National channels during 2007.

·         'Coca Cola India Ltd' and 'Pepsi Co' were the top two advertisers of Beverage Industry on TV during 2007.

·         'Minute Maid Pulpy Orange' topped the chart of new beverage brands launched on TV during 2007.

·         'Aamir Khan' topped the Celebrity endorsement chart of Beverages on TV during 2007.

 

 

 

17a. Print advertising of education sector up 14 pc during Jan-May '08

·         14% rise in Print advertising of Education sector during Jan - May '08 compared to same period in 2007.

·         ‘Educational Institutions' garnered a high share of 67% in Print during Jan - May '08.

·          Tamil Nadu leads in advertising of Education sector in Print during Jan - May '08.

·         ‘Planman Consultant India Pvt Ltd' was the number one advertiser of Education sector in Print during Jan – May '08.

 

 

 

17b. Overview of Education sector on TV during January – May 2008

·         48 per cent rise in advertising of Education sector on TV during January - May 2008 compared to same period in year 2007.

·         'Educational Institutions' contributed for half of the overall advertising share of Education sector on TV during January - May 2008.

·         'Sadhna Academy for Media Studies' was the top advertiser under Education sector on TV during

·          January - May 2008.

·          High advertising share of Education sector on Regional Channels during January - May 2008.

 

 

 

18. Hair care ads in print jump 48 pc in first quarter of 2008

·         Hair Care category witnessed 48% growth in Print advertising during Q1'08 compared to Q1'07.

·          Hair Care brands advertised more in West zone Publications during Q1'08.

·         ‘Shampoos' lead among all the segments of Hair Care category in Print during Q1'08.

·         ‘Ban Labs Ltd' topped the advertisers list of Hair Care category in Print during Q1'08.

·         ‘Ratan Satritha Plus ' topped the chart of new launches under Hair Care category in Print during Q1'08.

 

 

 

19a. Ice creams advertising on print up by 58 pc in Jan-Apr 2008

·         58% rise in advertising of Ice Creams in Print during Jan-Apr '08 compared to Jan-Apr '05.

·         ‘Vadilal Enterprise Ltd' leads with 52% share of overall Ice Cream advertising in Print during Jan-Apr '08.

·         ‘Vadilal Ice Cream' was the number one brand in Print with advertising share of 47% during Jan-Apr '08.

·         High share of Ice Cream advertising in Non Metro Newspapers during Jan-Apr '08.

·         Maximum usage of 'Combination Promotion' for advertising of Ice Cream brands in Print during Jan-Apr '08.

 

 

  

19b. Snapshot of advertising by Ice Cream category in January-April 2008

·        Ice Creams advertising on TV up by 15 per cent during January- April 2008 compared to January-April 2007.

·        'Hindustan Unilever Ltd' rules in advertising of Ice Cream brands on TV during January-April 2008.

·         'Kwality Walls Almond Praline' and 'Kwality Walls Paddle Pop' were the top two Ice Creams brands of HUL on TV during January-April 2008.

·         45 per cent rise in average number of Ice Cream ads advertised per day on TV during January-April 2008 compared to January-April 2007.

 

 

 

20a. Summer cool categories in print advertising dip 25 pc during Jan-Apr ’08

·         Summer Cool categories advertising dipped by 25% during Jan-Apr '08 compared to Jan-Apr '07.

·         'Air Conditioners' accounted for 40% share of overall advertising of Summer Cool categories in Print during Jan-Apr'08.

·         ‘LG Electronics India Ltd' topped the Summer Cool advertisers chart in Print during Jan-Apr '08.

·         ‘Samsung Bio Sleep' and 'Onida SM 12 SLH Slim AC' were the top 2 new Summer

·          Cool brands advertised in Print during Jan-Apr '08.

·        Advertising of Summer Cool brands skewed towards Non Metro Newspapers during Jan-Apr '08.

·        ‘Contest Promotion' was preferred more for advertising of Summer Cool brands in Print during Jan-Apr '08.

 

 

 

20b. Overview of advertising by Summer Cool categories on TV in Jan-Apr '08

·         Summer Cool categories saw a growth of 27 per cent on TV during January - April 2008 compared to January - April 2007.

·         'Aerated Soft Drinks' lead among all the Summer Cool categories advertised on TV during January - April 2008.

·        'Coca Cola India Ltd' was the number one advertisers under Summer Cool categories advertised on TV during January - April 2008.

·         'Samsung Bio Sleep' was the top new Summer Cool brand on TV during January - April 2008.

·        'Pepsi Mycan' topped the chart of Summer Cool brands endorsed by the Celebrities on TV during January - April 2008.

 

 

21. Informative ads are passé

Business Standard

June 10, 2008

 

The television advertising has undergone a sea change. Instead of selling products or its features, the ads now sell attitude, aspirations and emotions. Consider the Indigo CS ad. There's office tyranny, pettiness and you only get to see the car at the tail end of the ad.

 

It doesn't bore you with the mileage bragging, power window or any other feature. Just a vindictive smile on the employee's face and only one line in the ad, ‘at the end of the day, it's the style which matters'. Pure entertainment and statement anchored on youth.

 

Or be it the Fastrack ad. A couple breaking apart, without speaking a single word through out the ad. Both of them make smirking faces at each other, returns each other gifts — Fastrack articles — and moves on. No product message, the ad just has one thing to sell ‘move on' attitude. Many such ads make to the list. You rarely get to see adds which will punch ‘sabse sasta', ‘sabse achcha' catch lines, or ads communicating ‘in new pack'. It's all passé`. ‘Move on', ‘Dar ke aage jeet hai' are ‘in'. TV ads have seen a lot of innovation in the past couple of years.

 

Advertisement on TV is no more informative, it's entertaining. What's the idea behind keeping features at a bay and infusing entertainment? Emmanuel Upputuru, national creative director of Publicis India, says, "true, the age of talking of features is out, most products are parity products."

 

Almost all the products come with more or less same features. It becomes difficult to establish a ‘very distinct' image of the product in the minds of the audience. Cult ads like Fastrack, Virgin Mobile and MotoYuva have a great recall value even if the features of the brands are not talked about. But does that serve the aim of advertising? Creative directors feel that there are always other media to cover up for the product information and features. Print media does the intellectual job, and TV can supplement the brand campaign with the ‘recall' job.

 

As Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, national creative director of Rediffusion India puts forth, "TV ads have time constraint, so product features can't be talked. It will complicate the ad. And a complex ad holds no recall value. Print ads allow the space to talk of features. Entertainment has better influence."

 

Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer of Mudra group says, "Entertainment is all emotions, be it humour, love and care. And TV is an emotional medium, being both voice and visual medium, and does justice to entertainment or emotions better than any other medium."

 

Radio and print media lack that scope. A 10-second ad can't be cluttered with product information, which will only complicate the message. Today, TV ads might not be as informative as they used to be five years back, but they have better recall value.

 

How cool is the recall value of such ads? Anil Kakar, executive creative director of Percept/H, says "it's a strategic change. A serious message does not evoke as much response as humor does. One run of humor ad equals ten runs of serious ads." The statement can be best realized if you compare Orbit's sugar-free, informative ad when it was launched in India a few years back with its present bizarre humor ad of ‘yellow yellow dirty fellow'.

 

 

 

22. FM in the digital age

India Radio Bulletin

May 19 - June 15

 

As listeners become more mobile, FM stations in India have kept up with the trends by using the mobile phone technology to bolster listeners’ ties to radio stations. And radio is the best medium to spread its reach to more people.

 

According to Sunil Kumar, managing director at Big River Radio (India), “with almost all cars, all music systems and a substantial number of cell phones coming in equipped  with an FM receiver, coupled with the availability of the medium free of cost, stations can achieve a reach no other medium can match.” For the industry to expand, FM players understand the need for the medium to keep up with technology. Rana Barua, national head – marketing and programming, Radio City, believes that a lot more experimentation needs to be made for the medium to grow.

 

“The other trend is going to be newer modes of distribution for the medium, whether it is through your mobile phone or the Internet, which will fuel the penetration of FM in the country,” notes Barua at last year’s India Radio Forum. One year on, it seems that many stations are moving beyond mobile phones by going online.

 

The Internet gives radio stations the opportunity to reach a wider audience. By having a web presence, stations are able to give their advertisers a better mileage for their investments, says Kamal Mohandas, station head, Big FM Bangalore when she spoke to India Radio Bulletin about her station’s podcast launch late last year. As the first radio station to offer podcast back in October 2007, Big FM has been a believer in adapting to the technology.

 

Mohandas shares that one of the benefits of having an online presence is “it doesn’t restrict my station to being local,” as the podcast service gives a wider reach and exposure. Apart from Big FM, MY FM and Radio City are among some of the stations, which have leveraged the digital technology to bring themselves closer to their listeners. MY FM has been an avid user of the mobile technology in increasing the station’s accessibility to its listeners. Through its set up of a SMS short code service, it has managed to drive interactivity with its audience.

 

“Through this service, listeners are not just able to connect with the RJs, but they are also able to participate in improving our station, by sharing their opinions and suggestions with us,” says Harrish M. Bhatia, business head, MY FM. In January this year, MY FM launched its website at www.myfmindia.com. Bhatia says the unique features on the site have also helped the station to develop a closer relationship with the listeners.

 

“We have a feature called MY SPACE that lets our listeners’ blog about a topic or an issue they feel strongly about,” shares the CEO. Of course, the station’s podcasts of some of its programmes help to increase the station’s accessibility. Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City, claims her station is “constantly evaluating various technologies and platforms, which will be the enabler of convergence for a unified consumer experience in the years to come.”

 

When it launched its WAP portal last year, in association with Hungama Mobile, Radio City was the first station to use technology in creating a platform for interactivity in the mobile domain. Through the WAP portal, Radio City listeners are also able to directly connect with the station’s RJs, proving yet that by harnessing technology, the station was able to provide a seamless interactivity with the “Whatte Fun” brand, says Purohit.

 

The CEO adds that the harnessing of digital technology by FM stations is not without its own set of challenges. “As seen internationally, there is much more that can be done in the web domain by way of streaming content online. However, the quality of this experience depends on the broadband capabilities at the listeners’ end. Since such capabilities vary from place to place, it may limit the intended brand experience, which is undesirable,” she says.

 

Explaining the kinds of backend mechanisms required to enable stations in “going digital”, Gyanranjan Mohapatra, technical in-charge, Radio Choklate, says, “Mobiles commonly tune into a VHF signal, as does FM, which is alike to audio and vice versa. As it is audible to FM, the voice on the mobile can be transmitted on air.

 

That’s why it is one way to harness itself to the digital era. At Radio Choklate, Mohapatra reveals that any calls to and from mobile phones are connected to telephone hybrid equipment, and the digital signal (AES/EBU) is connected to a console for on air purposes. Through the Internet, stations are able to transmit such events as sports commentary, happenings around the Internet and also vice versa can be broadcast as per Radio Choklate requirements and programming needs, he adds. A station’s ability to harness the power of technology depends on the availability of infrastructures and readiness, costs and talent.

 

“The service providers in this field are not equipped locally,” says Mohapatra. “And for a ‘c’ station like Radio Choklate, the costs will be an enormous burden.” He adds, “There is also a lack of skilled manpower in the technical background with less experience in FM technology.” Apart from FM leveraging on the mobile technology, the digital world has also harnessed the potential of FM.

 

In February 2008, Cellular tied up with Geodesic’s Mundu Radio to launch IDEA Radio. Built on Geodesic’s award-winning Mundu Radio technology, the service enables the provider’s 20 million subscribers to seamlessly tune into a range of entertainment channels without the need to carry a separate device, or to be within the limited range of FM radio stations.

 

 “Mobile devices are the preferred mode of entertainment today, and the Idea Radio implementation is representative of Geodesic’s stated strategy to provide innovative, revenue-enhancing mobile solutions to service providers,” comments Kiran Kulkarni, managing director, Geodesic of the tie-up.

 

Through these station examples, it appears that Indian FM stations are on the right track when it comes to delivering high quality content through the most advanced digital means possible. The only question is whether or not the infrastructure is readily in place to allow for a high Internet interactivity to happen. MY FM’s Bhatia has no doubt that the user base of SMS and online will increase with time, given “the Internet penetration increasing and more growth of Internet users recorded in the tier two and three towns.” Gyanranjan Mohapatra

 

 

 

23. Creative FM

India Radio Bulletin

May 19 - June 15

 

Consumers live in a cluttered world. Whether they are at home, at work or on the road, they are always bombarded with a spectacle of media frenzy vying for their attention. And advertisers, aware of the all-consuming media around its target audience, find that they are always fighting for the consumers’ mind space through the multiple media platforms available: print, television, the Internet and radio, among others.

 

With television, there is a further segregation of audience, which aggravates this clutter further. The “fight with the remote” among households – with the women gunning for their Saas Bahu serials, the men for their sports and the kids for their cartoon fix – multiplies the hurdles that advertisers have to overcome to reach the masses.

 

Then there’s radio, a medium, which stands away from the above. As a mass medium, radio is free-to-air and more readily accessible than its visual counterpart. The FM medium has been claimed to be able to build personal relationships with its listeners. However, radio is also known to be a background medium, which means that it is often played as a secondary activity, either while traveling or working.

 

Traditionally, consumers tune into radio to catch their favorite radio programmes, or to get up to date with the latest news. It provides relaxation to the listeners, and hence, he is more receptive to communication in an engaging manner. Given the circumstances, when tapping into the radio medium, advertisers must understand its inherent nature to best maximize its potential in the minds of the target audience.

 

Hindustan Unilever Limited and Mindshare Fulcrum, a strong believer in the merits of the FM medium, have attempted to go a few steps ahead of the regular 30-second radio spots, which are run at a frequency of eight spots per day.

 

A few months ago, Mindshare Fulcrum designed the creative for Close-Up toothpaste. As a leading oral brand care from HUL, the brand targets the youth and the radio promo for this was created with this objective in mind. The brand already had a good recall value through its popular television commercial (TVC), Kya Aap Close Up Karte Hai, which adopted a retro image.

 

Extending on the TVC, we partnered with GO FM, Mumbai, which has now become Radio One, and did a creative content integration with the station’s morning programme, Good Morning Mumbai, hosted by popular RJs Jaggu and Tarana.

 

There were two aspects of the creative integration. Firstly, the Close Up jingle was integrated as the signature tune for the morning show. Secondly, the RJs followed up with an interactive contest with the listeners, wherein they were given unique situations, which they could improvise through singing a “limerick” of the Close Up jingle.

 

The integration was on air for one month. Due to the high creative quotient, the limerick contest garnered a good response from the listeners, as it provided them with a platform to show off their creativity.

 

Another initiative from Mindshare was done for the Pepsodent toothpaste. This brand, which is another HUL property, targets kids and mothers. The brand’s objective was to inculcate the habit of “night brushing” among kids. The brand had a strong TV creative based on the popular Aarti, a prayer to Lord Ganesha.

 

The underlying theme for the Pepsodent creative was three-fold: The brand is an oral health ally for mothers to care for their children’s dental concerns; mothers look upon other allies in society to help their children brush their teeth at night; and radio stations find their allies in school teachers, policemen and dabbawallahs (Tiffin carriers).

 

The above sections of society, thus, rallied with mothers by singing the Pepsodent jingle on air in their quest to get children to brush their teeth at night.

 

Radio stations initiated contests urging parents to sing the Pepsodent tune to their children, asking them to brush their teeth before bedtime. The children state their compliance by singing back to their parents. The uniqueness of the above communication is that the brand Pepsodent, was not mentioned anywhere but the creative execution with the tune struck home the brand message. The tune became so popular amongst its listeners that Radio One adapted it as the tune for their popular afternoon show.

 

From the above examples, it is clear that creativity and content integration lead to “appointment listening”. Advertisers should remember that radio listeners are attracted to the medium’s highly interactive features. Hence, when doing a radio creative, it is important that the campaign should have the objective of engaging the consumers. As a result, this will help to create a lasting and more effective brand communication.

 

 

 

24. Buzzing games

The Brand Reporter

May 16-31 2008

 

GroupM's digital agency, Maxus Interaction, is handling the mobile marketing initiatives for the Indian Premier League (IPL) series. According to Vinod Thadani, regional mobile director, India and South Asia, GroupM, “The client briefed us to create a non-intrusive and disruptive campaign and we are using SMS and caller ring-back tones to promote the series”

 

To begin with, a pre-launch SMS campaign was carried out from March 18 to April 16, to inform people about the tournament. The campaign was powered by the SMS 2.0 service from Affle, a UK-based mobile media company.

SMS 2.0 is a text messaging application for GPRS-based mobile phones. A user can download the application - currently, available on Airtel only - from his mobile operator's portal for free. It differs from a default SMS application as it shows a banner ad at the bottom of the screen while composing/reading a message and displays a full-screen ad during the process of sending the message.

 

Anuj Kumar, executive director, South Asia, Affle, says, “We tied up with content providers like Indiatimes.com and Cricinfo.com to showcase and sell their cricket-related content like ring tones, wallpapers, and match scores.”

Kumar adds, “All SMS 2.0 users, who are interested in cricket, were shown a banner advertorial at the bottom of the mobile screen when they composed a message. The advertorial consisted of ad and IPL-related content. When a user sent an SMS, a detailed description of the advertorial came up on the full screen. The user was allowed to click for options like ‘Read more', ‘Download ring tones' and ‘Check live score'.”

Affle served 16, 36,902 impressions (the number of times the ad is being shown) and 35,939 users downloaded the ring tone.

The revenue earned through this campaign was shared between Airtel, Affle and content providers.

Another phase of mobile advertising began on April 17 and will continue till the end of the series. In this phase, an SMS service, called SMSGupshup.com, from Webaroo Technologies is being used to engage people with the IPL series.

 

SMSGupShup.com is a free group messaging service available on mobile and the internet. It allows users to join any existing group or create their own and send free messages to all the group members. A community called DLF IPL has been created on SMSGupShup.com, which already has about 13,500 users. Members receive news alerts related to the IPL series on their mobile phones and interact with each other by sending text messages to the group members. SMSGupShup.com also has cricket- related pictures, which can be sent to others. The IPL series' theme song is being offered as a caller ring-back tone (CRBT), available as an optional service on the mobile portals of various operators such as Tata Indicom, Airtel, Vodafone and BPL Mobile.

 

HOME