In the financial services category, trustworthiness is the price of entry. Expertise, knowledge and service are key augmented attributes people seek.

exchange4media Staff Oct 10, 2011 12:00 AM

The IRS is a good product, but it is stuck in a time warp. It has to change and improve. It has to be more forward looking. Where just about everything around us is changing, the only two major changes that I have seen in the IRS in the recent years are that it has gone quarterly and the introduction of CAPI... All said and done, I do believe it is important to show the publishing industry of India in good light, though all may not agree with me. It is not a dying industry, and projecting it as such, is not good for India, for our economy, for those who want to invest here or make careers in it. It is a very large professional, diversifying and growing industry, which has some of the most talented people in the business.

exchange4media Staff Oct 7, 2011 12:00 AM

It (creativity) is as important as imagination is for a painter. Radio has been rightly described as a theatre of the mind, and like the painter starts off with an empty campus, we RJs use words, sounds, etc., to paint a scene, evoke a scenario. All of the three – knowledge, humour, intelligence – are important. I would also add emotional intelligence…

exchange4media Staff Oct 4, 2011 12:00 AM

The Indian market will survive because literacy in the country is growing rapidly. See, how regional newspapers are growing. Regional is the future for newspapers. English newspapers are concentrating on urban areas, but regional newspapers have explored new markets. Now, our English newspaper expansion has to begin in smaller towns, where the readers of English have been growing. Income is growing in small towns and subsequently buying power, and that is why newspapers will keep growing in the country.

exchange4media Staff Oct 4, 2011 12:00 AM

I would be happy to put money where my mouth is and fund an association to a certain extent that has teeth. I am happy to put a foot forward and say I don’t mind creating a new industry platform even with five agency heads that has teeth. Even if five significant agency players come together and say we are not going to poach, we are going to live with a certain standard of fee and not undercut, I am happy to do it. There is a need to have a fresh platform and a fresh look at this and I think the need will become an imperative as we get bigger.

exchange4media Staff Oct 3, 2011 12:00 AM

First of all, in media we need to decode the word – ‘marketing’. Unfortunately, in media industry marketing is still known as hoardings and just promotions. We need to understand that the most core job of marketing is understanding consumers better and developing an insight. And then ensure that those insights are used when you develop your brand… A large part of marketing should be to work along with the editorial to understand the consumer better. Once that part is done, then there are many ways to meet the consumers’ needs.

exchange4media Staff Sep 30, 2011 12:00 AM

Our mindset is to offer quality output in the area of communication, advertising and marketing. Whether that means involving other Ad Clubs, working with agencies in other cities or doing things independently, it does not matter. There is no power play at Ad Club – it is a job that needs to be done.

exchange4media Staff Sep 23, 2011 12:00 AM

(For a good television property) a great idea/ concept is key. For a reality show, I would either adapt a successful international format or create something entirely new. For a fiction series, personally speaking, I would now go for a ‘male’ dominated show. Something new and different! Followed by a fantastic set-up, great team who can deliver the concept as envisaged, and channel support – to give it the sort of push it needs on marketing and promotions. Then you cross your fingers and hope for the best!

exchange4media Staff Sep 22, 2011 12:00 AM

It is crucial for any technology product to be acknowledged as a brand that is relevant to the consumers

exchange4media Staff Sep 21, 2011 12:00 AM

Television is established now. E-commerce is where we are seeing lots of activities in terms of overall Internet penetration. By 2015, India is going to have close to 295 million Internet connections. So it is logical that you keep investing in the brand and product of e-commerce. Anyone who has seen the product on TV, the Internet works for him as a catalogue. Anyone coming to the Internet, who wants to have a feel of the product, can go on to the TV channel. So you are right that we are pushing e-commerce more...

exchange4media Staff Sep 9, 2011 12:00 AM

In an age of increasing media fragmentation and on-demand viewership, Global offers offbeat media solutions to reach an audience. By its exclusive nature, these solutions cannot be turned off or turned out… no matter where the consumers run, there it is, forcing the target audience to co-exist with the medium… The adoption of digital technology is driving growth of the outdoor segment. Another key reason behind rapid growth of outdoor advertising is the low cost of this medium compared with the more expensive advertising mediums.

exchange4media Staff Sep 8, 2011 12:00 AM

I think measurement in any business is really important. In fact, as ensuring targeted audiences and driving customised marketing campaigns starts becoming increasingly important, digital will emerge as a hugely powerful medium. However, a critical aspect that brand owners must realise is that in addition to measuring the immediate outcome, they need to evaluate the efficacy of digital media in the long term as well. This is because the true power of the medium is that it allows for long term brand conversations that eventually create brand engagement with the end consumer.

exchange4media Staff Sep 5, 2011 12:00 AM

The entire media structure in our country is built up in such a manner that we don’t have subscription revenue and then there is high carriage fee that has to be paid. With the coming of digitisation and the Government’s new policies and plans, hopefully those things will start to change… We also need to focus on the entire TRP measurement system. Everyone knows that our sample size needs to go up. Advertisers will benefit from data that is completely trustworthy. I think certain amount of structural change has to be come to the broadcast industry. Steps are underway.

exchange4media Staff Sep 2, 2011 12:00 AM

An RJ’s job is not about non-stop talking, but about non-stop thinking. You have to have presence of mind and adapt as per the given situation and at the same time establish your own identity. It’s critical to understand your listeners and to gauge their interest and then of course sustain it through an audio medium.

exchange4media Staff Aug 29, 2011 12:00 AM

We have a four-part strategy for MSN India. Firstly, we are going to grow our content both vertically and horizontally. Secondly, we are looking to engage with rich media content increasingly. Thirdly, there is going to be a seamless conversion between MSN on the web and MSN on the browse… Our next phase will focus on going local and hyperlocal. We will be focusing on it when Bing comes in India, which is expected soon… We just launched a new portal, MSN She. We are looking to launch two or three more interesting projects by the end of this calendar year. They will be in the domain of astrology and other similar domains.

exchange4media Staff Aug 26, 2011 12:00 AM

Understanding technology and implementing it in the right way is of utmost important for any agency. We are sure when we enter the Indian market, with the right tools, right knowledge, right expertise and experience, we will do immensely well in the performance marketing arena.

exchange4media Staff Aug 19, 2011 12:00 AM

Mobile advertising in India is still nascent. It stands at about Rs 100 crore. But at the same time it is a growing market, with dramatic growth rates, doubling year over year. The reasons behind the mobile market growth in India are external to the advertising environment. The mobile advertising market has evolved from a stage of mobile Internet being used for email access, to being used for social, to now being used for accessing various kinds of content – from news to sports to games.

exchange4media Staff Aug 16, 2011 12:00 AM

50 years was a great landmark – but an emotional landmark more than a real one. The truth is, the agency has been constantly evolving over the years, and will continue to evolve. But having said that, the 50th year was a great occasion to restate in a new and ‘ownable’ way what we have always believed in – we build BrandWealth. Or put another way, we make brands famous – and clients rich. You will see a whole range of events and initiatives taking this forward through the year.

exchange4media Staff Aug 12, 2011 12:00 AM

Since India is an important market for us and it has huge potential for growth, we have increased the marketing budgets to over 50 per cent from last year. We have developed new marketing and advertising strategies to increase our presence in the market and are positive about the response to the same... Print medium works best for our brands as it has maximum reach amongst our target audience. We plan to allocate 65 per cent of our marketing budget to the same.

exchange4media Staff Aug 12, 2011 12:00 AM

In the areas of factual entertainment, there hasn’t been any success here yet and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because potentially it doesn’t make a lot of noise. One of the reasons that some of the shows like ‘Idol’ or… ‘Millionaire’ have been successful is because they are big. It’s that second tier of international formats that have worked well in the western countries that have not yet picked up for the Indian market.

exchange4media Staff Aug 9, 2011 12:00 AM