"Before we launch a magazine in the UK, we spend many millions of pounds in research, building up contacts with clients, the design, the editorial philosophy and branding. When you license a brand and adapt it to the Indian market, the risk factor is greatly reduced. So in a way, it gives the market a headstart, and it's then what the brand licensee or the owner chooses to do with the brand in the country."

exchange4media Staff Nov 2, 2007 12:00 AM

Indian creativity is a beacon of light for us. Right now India is the highest award winning country for us. Ideas require leap and good strategic foundation. India is now exporting creative product, leadership and influencing our global platform.

exchange4media Staff Oct 26, 2007 12:00 AM

“I don’t want a balance. I want more talk, less music. It’s as simple as that. And why should I have fewer ads that anyone else? This is business. It’s got nothing to do with being different. The more the ads, the merrier!”

exchange4media Staff Oct 25, 2007 12:00 AM

"Whatever agglomeration had to happen has already happened. Whatever could be the impact and the consequences of that has already taken place in the market place. I don't think Omnicom is going to buy WPP. The most that can happen now is maybe say IPG can take its media agencies together. So, I don't see any development that can happen now that would make any material change in the way business would be transacted in future. There are four key players in India now and I think that is one too many – the rule of three will apply."

exchange4media Staff Oct 19, 2007 12:00 AM

The Government's job is to be a facilitator and not a regulator. Up till now, the Government should have ensured a level playing field as far as rating is concerned. There is no regulatory body to oversee the whole affair. There is no regulatory body like TRAI, which could ensure that the policies are being implemented by the broadcasters. The day-to-day monitoring should be done at this level. What is the use of a content regulator when there is no broadcasting regulator? Someone has to take a holistic view of the whole affair.

exchange4media Staff Oct 12, 2007 12:00 AM

I do not think we have competition. We are not competition driven, we are journalistically driven while being viewer-centric. We live and operate in a highly competitive environment, we keep cognizance of what is happening around us and we continue to do what we are supposed to do. We continue to develop content that is close to our viewers. Our mantra is creating engaging interactive content that is of relevance to the viewers.

exchange4media Staff Oct 8, 2007 12:00 AM

“The entire offering is fashion-oriented and can be termed radical at times. The single line to sum it up is ‘Spykar: 18 till I die’. Spykar aims to sustain itself as a premium fashion wear brand, providing total casual dressing for the individual’s complete fashion needs.”

exchange4media Staff Oct 8, 2007 12:00 AM

We want to ensure that we are well-distributed and our brand resonates exactly the way we want it to, so our first areas of focus would be distribution and brand-building exercises. When a show takes off, you start analysing your programming strategies better. If that is taking time, you should let it take time in the beginning, and not fiddle around because your viewers should get used to your brands, and you must give them that much time. After four to five months, you will start seeing us working on FPC and programming like crazy again. By that time, we would know better what our viewers want. Until then, we have done our homework, and we know the results will come.

exchange4media Staff Oct 5, 2007 12:00 AM

"I think the obituary for mass advertising will be due soon because agencies find it so convenient to work with mass media, while clients are seeking below-the-line and above-the-line business solutions for their businesses and their corporates. An agency's future depends on this understanding, and defining its processes as a part of its growth. We surely do print ads and outdoors, but we need to explore other mediums of communication. Mass advertising will always have a future, but I am suspicious about the brightness of that future."

exchange4media Staff Sep 28, 2007 12:00 AM

"There are Indian titles that have the potential to become global brands. I was at the Filmfare Awards in February 2007. I always knew that Filmfare was a good brand, but I never quite realised how big it was...That evening, I was thinking 'Gosh, we should have had a global vision for Filmfare.' The vision is clear - where there are Indian audiences for Bollywood films, Filmfare should be there, and if not, then we would be doing something wrong."

exchange4media Staff Sep 21, 2007 12:00 AM

"Cricket is expensive in India but the English Premier League is very expensive too. The thing about sports is that it is unscripted. A win today doesn't mean a win tomorrow. But the unique thing about sports is the passion behind it. People want to watch it now and live. India's performance in the World Cup was very bad and the impact was huge, it was a national shock. That being said, look how shortlived it was -- India is back to being hero from zero!"

exchange4media Staff Sep 14, 2007 12:00 AM

I think the future is really in digital PR. There will be a stage when all information will have become digital. You can take the example of the US. The media model is changing; today everything is being migrated onto the Internet. I think there are enormous opportunities for public relations through this. The question is how to tell the story today, when a picture says a thousand words whereas a video says a million words.

exchange4media Staff Sep 13, 2007 12:00 AM

"One big thing is that we have come to a comfort level with our own language and our own culture, and now we are doing it with pride. There was a lot of restrain in the early '80s, when people were following the West and sometimes people even thought that being too Indian was being downmarket. Today, people are doing it with pride. Indian advertising has its own look and feel. The other change is that from the mid-90s, advertisers have become a lot more open to fresher and newer advertising ideas, than pure information-based ideas that were the norm in the '80s."

exchange4media Staff Sep 7, 2007 12:00 AM

"One of the reasons why I have joined an ROI agency is because that's inbuilt in the philosophy of the agency. The ROI comes first and the creativity sometimes helps in delivering that ROI. Doing something brilliantly creative which does not promise any return is of no use."

exchange4media Staff Aug 31, 2007 12:00 AM

As the mobile subscriber base increasingly shifts from the metros to towns and villages, there will be an increasing opportunity to service this market with localised content. I wouldn’t say that localisation will be crucial for success, but definitely more of the future opportunities for generating revenue from content will be through localisation.

exchange4media Staff Aug 28, 2007 12:00 AM

"Five years ago, there was no search advertising and now it is beginning to take the lion's share. We are on the verge of launching adver-gaming and in-content advertising and that is what we are trying to launch in Zapak, where we are pioneering this concept. Now with Big Adda, we want to pioneer the concept of in-video advertising. Those are the new value propositions that we need to educate the advertising fraternity about."

exchange4media Staff Aug 24, 2007 12:00 AM

“A subscription-based revenue model is clearly a sustainable and phenomenal revenue model. Firstly, it does not have seasonality. Secondly, it’s a cash-and-carry model, where the consumer pays upfront in advance. And finally, you are able to deliver a proposition which is very sharp… We don’t have an advertising model at all. That’s clearly our USP.”

exchange4media Staff Aug 21, 2007 12:00 AM

"We have a proper in-depth research that we keep doing on this to keep music fresh. Other channels call themselves 'Adult hit contemporary channels', while we call ourselves an 'AC' channel, which is an Adult Contemporary channel. What we mean by that is that we keep playing music that can connect with the first generation and it necessarily need not be the latest hits. You will realise over time that we don't play so many hit songs. We do not chase hits like a new breaking song or something like that, which again is a big differentiator, and you will see our songs cutting across generations."

exchange4media Staff Aug 21, 2007 12:00 AM

The Bollywood industry in terms of the younger generation is doing a lot of films, and the Bollywood market internationally is growing. However, it's still primarily the NRI market. I don't think there has been a Bollywood film that has attracted non-NRIs… Indian producers and directors have been talking about this for a long time now… All they need is good stories that appeal to the international audience, and it's just a matter of time when Indian filmmakers will have them.

exchange4media Staff Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM

Domino’s brand is built around the emotional benefit of “satisfies your craving for tasty food at the time of need”. The main focus is on owning the taste platform as a means to satisfy the craving for good food through innovative and indulgent pizzas, and the 30 minutes delivery promise is a credible reason for the “at the time of need positioning”.

exchange4media Staff Aug 16, 2007 12:00 AM