"Our target group is the malayalis and tamils from India who are settled in Dubai. They yearn for something from their homeland and thus have an instant emotional connection with our radio channel. And this is by no means a small number. There are more than one million malayalis and tamils in Dubai and nearly 2.5 million in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), making them the single largest expatriate community in this part of the world."

exchange4media Staff Aug 28, 2010 12:00 AM

I hate to be a part of the rat race because even if you win it, you will still be a rat. We want to grow ourselves into an organisation that will proudly be having made more brands and will be linked up with successful stories. That will be the biggest achievement for us. Also, in the next five years, we also want to establish An-yahh!! as the world’s first art brand and set up the chain of retail stores across India, starting with North India.

exchange4media Staff Aug 27, 2010 12:00 AM

Amarjit Batra joined the OLX team in Dec 2008 to take over the responsibility of building and growing the India business for the agency. As the Country Manager for OLX India, Amarjit contributes to the Global Business Development initiatives for OLX. Prior to OLX, Amarjit was at eBay India. <br> <p align=justify>OLX is the next generation of free online classifieds. The company was co-founded in March 2006 by Internet entrepreneurs Fabrice Grinda and Alec Oxenford. The company is based in New York and Buenos Aires and operates two leading online classifieds networks hosted at www.olx.com and www.mundoanuncio.com.

exchange4media Staff Aug 24, 2010 12:00 AM

The most significant change that has taken place is growing importance of technology. Mobile revolution has further been revolutionised with convergence of technology and itself has become a medium of advertising. New media tools, production equipment and machinery, new age thinking, youth with great aspirations and gumption, countless TV channels, etc. That things have changed would be putting it mildly; the most appropriate word would be ‘revolutionised’.

exchange4media Staff Aug 20, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>“The industry has evolved over the last four years. When we started, we believed we were the first ones. Within six months we saw 25 players in the market. And that was not surprising because people predictably thought it was easy business. It was a good time for investments as well, compared to today’s market. Then came the recession and that separated the men from the boys.”

exchange4media Staff Aug 18, 2010 12:00 AM

We don’t want to be a 15-year old channel and we want to be a 35-minus channel and that is coming across very clearly. We have ‘Indian Idol’ and ‘Boogie Woogie’ in the middle of the day, so we have more youngsters tuning in. We don’t exclude anybody. We will not do an ‘Emotional Atyachaar’, which mothers will not watch. In a single TV country, what a fantastic proposition to have a family coming to, but with a younger skew in terms of the kind of the structure of our shows, the way we market our shows, which differ.

exchange4media Staff Aug 13, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>Our marketing strategy is all about understanding Indian consumer needs and offering them the best value for their money. We will expand our product lines based on this in the future. We also periodically launch exciting campaigns to connect with our consumers… The consumers also interact with our brand through some innovative and exciting tools like the Mary Kay Kissologist and the Mary Kay Virtual Makeover on our website… So, a good mix of below the line initiatives and word of mouth is what we focus on. This is further enhanced with some advertising and PR.

exchange4media Staff Aug 9, 2010 12:00 AM

Social Media can be used for a number of things such as brand promotion, online branding, etc. It is a great tool for online reputation management… Why it is more relevant now is that for a public company, there is a direct relation between their success and what is being said about their brand on the street. One of the major roadblocks in the Indian context is that many still treat digital marketing as a technology function. This is more so in Social Media… Building a community to strengthen a relationship is all about getting to know your customer. SMM and SEO are vehicles to reach your target audience, but unless you know your customer and where they are, these tools will not work.

exchange4media Staff Aug 9, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>I firmly believe that the era of segmented and targeted newspaper is going to come to the Indian markets soon. As of today, newspapers run on a ‘one shoe fits all’ strategy… In the next 5-10 years, we are getting into an era of segmented newspapers. Look at England… We have the Times and The Guardian right at the top of the SEC, but the numbers are very small. The bottom of the pyramid is The Sun, the tabloid with a ‘nude’ on page three. It’s a labourer’s newspaper, but it is the largest circulated newspaper in England. Then there is the Daily Mail, which is the middle class newspaper in England. Above that you have The Telegraph. The SECs are very clearly demarcated. I suspect this is what is going to happen in this country, too, whereby, each newspaper will cater to a selected audience.

exchange4media Staff Aug 6, 2010 12:00 AM

The industry has surely grown and you see a maturity in the way PR professionals work as well as the way clients look at them. Earlier, PR was understood primarily by international clients, but today, Indian companies are coming round. On the agency side, too, India as a market is attracting a lot of international PR agencies, and today, we have some big names already operating in the country. Some key services like public affairs are gaining ground and there is increasing popularity of social media as a powerful tool in the PR programme.

exchange4media Staff Aug 3, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify> “We all took salary haircuts. The entire team rallied behind me. It was a collective chest that took the bullet. I am eternally grateful to them for that.”<br><br> <p align=justify> “We are a punctuation mark in many stellar corporate statements. That is such a blessing.”

exchange4media Staff Jul 30, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>I don’t subscribe to the fact that radio has lost its gravity. All the numbers contradict that statement, and radio is today one of the few industries to project a double digit growth. However, audience engagement is critical for the health of any media house. A lot of effort goes into developing contests and promotions to keep our listeners interested and involved in the product. Innovating with our shows, creating high-engagement contests, having the best talent – all of these are initiatives to create the most competitive radio product and that is precisely where our focus lies.

exchange4media Staff Jul 26, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>Technology has a much bigger role in the future of outdoor advertising. We have taken a lead in digital out of home industry. Though it expands the overall OOH market, it still remains to achieve critical mass. As a medium, there is a possibility of interacting with the TG in real time, which needs to be encashed. Once the basic issues with OOH (metrics, site evaluation tools, etc.) are taken care of, I guess we can move a notch up and seriously start using technology as an enhancer for the business. We look digital as future of outdoor. In 5-10 years, digital will be very big in India.

exchange4media Staff Jul 26, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>People are beginning to realise that branding is more of a science than art, and our products are focused to aid that branding is a science. Clients’ perspective to his business has changed and they want to get the brand blueprinting or the brand vision map ready before getting in the market. We are beginning to see a lot of traction. This method of ecosystem branding, where we are positioning ourselves like the hub and the PR, advertising agency, design firms as the spokes, is new to the industry and is gaining ground. Today, clients believe that one marketing manager cannot be the hub alone and would like to use Vertibrand as the extended hub, and I think as a model this is gaining a lot of currency.

exchange4media Staff Jul 23, 2010 12:00 AM

A photograph is not a commodity, photography is an art. Like any other form of art, there can’t be a price tag on the artist’s work. For ages, there have been artists who work for free and many others who take millions for their work. So, if you will look at www.imagesbazaar.com or www.shotindia.com, the two are not the same. Moreover, there is not even a single free resource for buying creative images with Indian faces. Even if someone sells the same for free, it’s illegal, as one needs to pay a person/ model in the picture and get an agreement signed by him/her for using his/her picture.

exchange4media Staff Jul 22, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>I think mobile, if you look at the distribution of availability and consumer usage, is all about being mass. It is not a new medium. It is an incredibly personal and highly relevant medium. It may be the number one medium, but as an advertising medium, it is still very much in its budding stage… In India, mobile phone penetration is very high, however, the number of smart phones is still very low. It is up to the industry to take note and say, sure there are smart phones, but the majority doesn’t use them, so what do we do about that?

exchange4media Staff Jul 16, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>The OOH business in India is quite fragmented and there is enough for all to partake. Also, the outdoor business is seeing newer categories increasing their spends and whoever presents the best go-to-market strategy wins the pitch. At the end of the day, it’s all about good planning and timely execution. Jagran Engage’s USP has always been on two levels – we cater to clients as media owners as well as a specialist agency with the wherewithals to provide great planning and timely execution.

exchange4media Staff Jul 15, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>Our approach to health insurance lies in our positioning -‘Let’s Uncomplicate’. It is our belief and our journey. Health insurance is not yet seen as the ideal vehicle to finance healthcare expenditure. We want to showcase Apollo Munich as a straight-forward, user-friendly and hassle-free health insurance company that will consistently tackle the general concerns faced by people when it comes to healthcare and health insurance.

exchange4media Staff Jul 14, 2010 12:00 AM

<p align=justify>It’s been a roller coaster ride and we don’t plan to get off! 2009 was quite challenging as many clients cut back on their marketing budgets. Despite the slowdown, we were able to acquire and grow many new key accounts in the FMCG and telecom verticals. We have been actively rolling out new campaigns in the last few months, with many more on the anvil. For us, 2010 looks really exciting. All our services are in demand and are growing.

exchange4media Staff Jul 9, 2010 12:00 AM

There are two ways at looking at the Indian market. One is competency development solutions, and the other is the delivery mechanism. We have made the delivery mechanism easier for the learner in the Indian market. There is a lot of hand holding as compared to same trainings in other geographies. But when it comes to competency development, it is truly up to international standards.

exchange4media Staff Jul 9, 2010 12:00 AM