Dialogue
<p align=justify>We are still cautious from a regional perspective, but from the MEC perspective, both regionally and globally, we firmly believe in our proposition and our core positioning in the market place. It has not been a good 12-15 months, but I think we have come out of it stronger, we have got a good senior management in place across Asia and consistency is what people are looking for, so we are feeling positive about the whole thing.
<p align=justify>The framework of traditional media is based on interruption, like a commercial on TV. Social media is about amplification. It’s also an incredible form of listening. People are engaged in millions of conversation and they are leaving the records of the conversation. If you are marketing a product, the idea is not to insert yourself in the middle of a conversation. Correcting untrue information and disseminating knowledge of your product that is relevant to a conversation is where one can interrupt. It’s just interesting to watch what people have to say about your brand.
Most clients and talent tend to think we are a close-ended organisation. Hence, it does make us work doubly hard to convince our prospective clients and employees that we are a normal brand communications organisation with a worldview on the issues at hand and also their solutions. As a matter of fact, we are far more innovative in approaching solutions in a practical sense.
Indian creative is lacking in new blood... hopefully, the (creative) independents will have the same effect here as they’ve had everywhere else – that is, break some conventions and inject some fresh energy into the proceedings.
<p align=justify>I don’t know any holding company that honours India like Omnicom does. They call APAC, Asia, SE Asia, we call it India. Even my card mentions APIMA, which basically means Asia Pacific India Middle East Africa. Although that in itself might not mean a big deal, but I do believe that it’s the path that counts. Japan and China are investing in India in a big way, but you don’t see that unless you are looking at the region way differently. Our vision is not of the vision of the present, but of where we see things going in the future. It is estimated that by 2025, India will be the second largest economy and that to my understanding merits being paid attention to.
BTL reaches out to the (targeted) audiences that count. While in ATL, you count the (mass) audiences that you manage to reach. In this characteristic lies the intrinsic value that BTL brings to a marketeer. While BTL has certainly gained ground, brands are far from leveraging its true potential, especially of being able to use all consumer ‘living points’… The biggest learning is to keep believing in your point of view, your product, your clients and your people, and apply harder.
The radio industry needs to ask itself the question as to why the listenership has declined. My point is that if you want to increase listenership in radio, you will have to increase the number of FM stations in the city. In our country, we need to create supply, because when you create supply, you also create demand as we are a starved economy. Hence, when you launch 20 more channels in Mumbai, then you will see that the 70 lakh reach that we see in Mumbai will go up to 150 lakh, but if you have only six private operators, from 70 lakh it will come down to 60 lakh. Therefore, I am not surprised at the decline in listenership. The industry should not appear worried about the decline in listenership. The fact is that we have to get our priorities right.
<p align=justify>I don’t know any holding company that honours India like Omnicom does. They call APAC, Asia, SE Asia, we call it India. Even my card mentions APIMA, which basically means Asia Pacific India Middle East Africa. Although that in itself might not mean a big deal, but I do believe that it’s the path that counts. Japan and China are investing in India in a big way, but you don’t see that unless you are looking at the region way differently. Our vision is not of the vision of the present, but of where we see things going in the future. It is estimated that by 2025, India will be the second largest economy and that to my understanding merits being paid attention to.
<p align=justify>I don’t know any holding company that honours India like Omnicom does. They call APAC, Asia, SE Asia, we call it India. Even my card mentions APIMA, which basically means Asia Pacific India Middle East Africa. Although that in itself might not mean a big deal, but I do believe that it’s the path that counts. Japan and China are investing in India in a big way, but you don’t see that unless you are looking at the region way differently. Our vision is not of the vision of the present, but of where we see things going in the future. It is estimated that by 2025, India will be the second largest economy and that to my understanding merits being paid attention to.
<p align=justify>I don’t know any holding company that honours India like Omnicom does. They call APAC, Asia, SE Asia, we call it India. Even my card mentions APIMA, which basically means Asia Pacific India Middle East Africa. Although that in itself might not mean a big deal, but I do believe that it’s the path that counts. Japan and China are investing in India in a big way, but you don’t see that unless you are looking at the region way differently. Our vision is not of the vision of the present, but of where we see things going in the future. It is estimated that by 2025, India will be the second largest economy and that to my understanding merits being paid attention to.
The year 2009 was tough for us, especially for the Mumbai branch, as we handle many financial and retail clients out of here, which were the two sectors that were mostly affected... But at the same time, we fortunately had some good business wins, and as a result the McCann Worldgroup India did really well... our unconventional advertising streams generated a lot... As far the growth target is concerned, we are cautiously optimistic. So, we are trying to grow as much as possible. But we know that it cannot be the way it was two and a half years back, where things were looking beautiful and good. We have to be careful, solid and serve our clients well.
Performance should not be seen as just driving clicks or leads, but driving quality clicks and leads, even if performance is the only mix. Today, media planners ask for cost per click and drive it from wherever they can at the lowest possible rates, which is not the right solution. I think logical media planning, which drives qualitative performance, is very important and not mere high volume performance.
The paradigms have changed, more is no longer merrier. Less has become more. There’s a new set of rules; earlier, it was ‘leave your mark on it’, now the winner is ‘the one that leaves no mark’. It’s the death of the metrosexual and the birth of the ecosexual. Progressive organisations have been quick to decipher the signals and have proactively started reporting their environmental and social performance along with their economic performance. This triple bottom-line reporting is termed as sustainability reporting and this new emerging communication is called sustainability communication.
Mass media isn’t cost effective, but there are certain films for which you want to use outdoor more, but otherwise, it doesn’t pay off. Radio and online does well. We also have on-air spots on channels that have a similar target group. Most of the movie channels are not promoting their websites too much, but we are revamping our website and making it more interactive. The new website will be launched in the first week of February.
One of the great things of working in India is that the competition here is good. In my opinion, some of the magazines that are being published now would not be there in two years’ time. I love competition – ‘Condé Nast Traveller’ would be helped by the fact that ‘Lonely Planet’ travel magazine is coming out from the BBC. ‘Lonely Planet’ is a backpacker’s magazine, so it is not the same readership as ‘Condé Nast Traveller’. But all those 18-20 year-old backpackers who swear by ‘Lonely Planet’, once they don’t need to walk around permanently with the backpack and are able to afford hotel rooms with locks, then they can start reading Traveller.
Yes, we do get involved in pitches, but we are selective. However, we have never believed standing in the queue and pitching… We believe that we are consultants and need to be given that respect. People who don’t give us that respect, we don’t pitch for them. Hence, we are very selective. But again, there are certain categories where we would want to be a part of. So yes, as an agency, this is where we focus on pitches.
The respect that brand Zee commands in an average Indian family is huge and that respect no one can take away from us. We will not show any programme that will make anybody in the family uncomfortable as we are truly a family-oriented channel that values culture and we build on that strategy. We will always honour and respect the Indian value system. That is our strength and not limitation, and we will build our equity on that.
The main weak point in the Indian advertising industry today is that it continues to feel that somehow the western ways or methods are superior. Creative is developed on the lines of creative in the West and evaluated in the same manner. There is no reason to feel this way. After all, India has art and culture which is distinct and different from anything elsewhere. In fact, this is being borrowed and internalised by others and will soon be played back to us as the original way. Perhaps then we Indians will begin to pay more heed to it!
There is no doubt that the game has changed with this recession, all of a sudden all of my clients such as P&G, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Fiat, etc., have changed their conversation. I have to pursue growth and growth is in Asia and the growing markets. I think it’s not about power shifting for big companies, because they get only 15-20 per cent from the growing markets, which means 80 per cent still comes from the developed markets. But yes, Asia features in every single conversation now as never before.
Milestones are not set or based on numbers -- they only show you the direction. The reach also matters. It’s easy to aim 350 GRPs, but what does it really mean? It means nothing if you don’t know what kind of audiences you are looking at - the stickiness they generate and the kind of shows they watch on your channel. When we said we have to be one of the Top 3 players, we did not aim for 350 GRPs. We were the 11th player in the game. We clearly said that from No 3 we have to be No 2, from No 2 to No 1 and from No 1 to a consistent No 1. The next thing was to consolidate our position and widen the gap. But we never really targeted 350 GRPs.
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