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Skyline Business School |
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Skyline Business School |
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Issue:21
Advertising &
Marketing
The
clout of WPP Media (a consortium of MindShare, Fulcrum and Maximize) is unmatched in the
media business, given that it
is almost three times the size of its nearest competitor. It buys media for most of the
clients of two of the largest agencies in the country — JWT and O&M. It’s
also the media buying agency for three of the largest media spenders — HLL, Pepsi and
Reliance Infocomm and almost a third of all the advertising money spent in the country
goes through the agency’s systems. But size isn’t what put it there, says CEO
Andre Nair, “I think a lot of the investment we’ve made in proprietary tools and
research has come to bear,” he says. Given the size differential between WPP and the
next agency, it seems unlikely that it’s in any danger of being overtaken in the
billings game. It’s likely to keep its edge when it comes to media buying as well.
Says Nair, “At the end of the day, being the largest does obviously help in terms of
buying rates.” But, agencies such as Madison and Carat are right up there when it
comes to media planning and there is no room for complacency at WPP Media if it intends to
continue to dominate the planning end of things. Source: The
Economic Times, Mar.10, 2004
Market research firm ACNielsen ORG-MARG has been forced to revamp its panels to increase the depth of its coverage. This follows certain key fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies articulating that the exercising data is not satisfactory. According to sources at Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), the consumer products major, in its interactions with ACNielsen ORG-MARG, had conveyed that there was a need to revamp the existing panels. HLL sources said the need for such a discussion was felt as in some of its categories where sales had increased. Source: The Financial Express. Mar.9, 2004
Television
Just when TV viewers are set to watch cricketing action between India and Pakistan on Ten Sports, rival ESPN-Star Sports is talking hockey. The broadcaster announced its hockey initiative at a press conference on Monday. In a 10-year agreement with the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), ESPN-Star Sports decided to beam the annual domestic hockey league live. Telecasting the league matches in a modified format is aimed at making hockey more popular and commercially viable, said ESPN software managing director RC Venkateish and IHF president KPS Gill. International cricket telecast has been ESPN-Star’s forte for many years, but in the recent months other private channels such as Ten Sports and SET Max have been able to acquire significant cricket properties. Mr Venkateish said: “It’s not the first time that we are doing things in sports other than cricket. Now we are completing the loop by telecasting hockey league live.” Source: The Financial Express. Mar.9, 2004
TV
channels have hiked rates sharply anticipating high viewer ship interest. DD News has increased rates from Rs 3,000
per 10 seconds to Rs 10,000 per 10 seconds for its election coverage-Jandesh 2004. STAR
News is asking associate sponsors to cough up Rs 1.01 crore for 8,340 seconds, Rs 75 lakh
for 5,160 seconds and Rs 60.58 lakh for 3,330 seconds for Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri, a
programme tailor-made to sew up the election largesse. NDTV has also come out with a new
package for its associate sponsors-Rs 1.3 crore for 15,060 seconds NDTV India and Rs 1.8
crore for NDTV 24x7. Aaj Tak’s election based programmes is commanding a premium of
150% for the main sponsor and 75% for the associate sponsor. Vijaylakshmi Chhabra, Prasar
Bharti’s director marketing said that DD’s Rate card is fixed and leaves no
scope for negotiations. DD has already roped in five presenting sponsors for the day-
Asian Paints, Dabur, Electrolux, Mahindra & Mahindra and Goodyear. Each of them has
bought 700 seconds/ Rs 7 lakh just for the day of counting. Possibility of other sponsors
has not been ruled out. According to CVL Srinivas, MD media buying house Maximise,
election packages are being floated by all major news channels, for prices ranging from Rs
30 lakh to Rs 1.3 crore. Source: The Economic Times, Mar.9,
2004
Print
The 60 crore Cyber Media is planning an initial public offering (IPO) some time in May. “We are seriously considering going public. At present we are studying the market. In a week or so, we will be ready to talk about the issue size and other details,” said Pradeep Gupta, chairman and MD of Cyber Media. The group has also been known to be scouting for a foreign equity partner as it is entitled to obtain foreign direct investment (FDI) of up to 74% by virtue of being a technical publication. It also filed an application with the information and broadcasting ministry seeking its consent to publish an Indian edition of the international business magazine, Business Week. It publishes nine IT print titles, including Data Quest and PC Quest and manages their websites. It also generates an IT portal Cyber India Online with a strategic investment from Intel Capital; and India’s oldest IT market research company IDC (India), an affiliate of IDC World Wide. Other outfits in Cyber Media stable are IT expositions company Cyber Expo, which organizes events such as IT.COM and NASSCOM-ICT; Cyber Multimedia, publishers and distributors of CD ROMs; and Cyber TV which produces IT programs for television. The group also runs a training school for young professionals, called The School of Convergence. Source: The Financial Express, Mar.9, 2004
After a 2003
characterised by a paucity of launches from major magazine publishers, 2004 has started
with the sledgehammer of two major debuts and the creation of a new market: men’s
weekly magazines. Sledgehammer in impact because of the massive marketing spend behind
each title (Emap is backing its Zoo Weekly magazine with £10 million and IPC Media is
supporting its Nuts with £8 million) but also because of the tone of the magazines. These
are titles that leave nothing to the imagination. The first newsstand issue of Nuts
features “Britain’s No 1 Babe”, Kelly Brook, cavorting on all fours while
Zoo opts for a semi-naked Christina Aguilera alongside the immortal line: “Sexy pics!
Dirrty talk.” Already the bunfight has started between the two rivals with IPC
claiming the moral high ground, arguing that its title is not a lads’ mag but a
“men’s mag” that appeals to 18- to 34-year-olds with the potential to
attract some readers from outside this age range. Emap is pitching for a similar audience,
18- to 30-year-olds, with an unrestrained diet of “100 pages of girls, football &
funny stuff”. Source: The Economic Times, Mar.9, 2004
Competition
seems to be heating up in the radio marketing segment, in 2004. This will mainly be on the back of two
factors: One, companies planning to strongly focus at the rural market in order to promote
their radios. And, secondly, through the frequency modular (FM) boom. As part of the
strategy, industry experts too feel that since radios are considered to be the rural
market’s window to the world, its the peak time for companies to implement new
strategies. To start with, Philips India Ltd which is a market leader in the segment, is
planning to increase its physical reach, and, double its distribution network for ‘Philips’
radios by penetrating further in the rural market, in the year 2004. As part of its
marketing strategy, the company will participate in local melas, local events, all India
radio jingles, and, wall paintings. Although this is part of Philips’ long-term
strategy to promote its radios in the rural market, the short-term marketing tactics is
also to cash in on the India-Pakistan Cricket Series, which will enable a huge rural
population to view and listen to the Cricket Series, Ms Richa Singh, assistance product
manager, said. According to Ms Singh: “With the new initiatives, Philips India hopes
to garner a double digit volume growth for radios, this year, as compared to the single
digit growth, during the previous corresponding period. At present, the overall volume
growth for radios is around 8 per cent.” Source: The
Financial Express, Mar.9, 2004
Miscellaneous
For
all these years, journalists have been watching the political quarters, but now there is a
role reversal. The “watchdogs”
will now be “watched”. Parties have deployed special sleuths-tech-savvy
individuals for this purpose. Equipped with latest software, communication systems and
web-access equipment they will sit before TV sets 24x7. Their brief: ‘Keep a tab on
the media.’ “We have deployed a 30-member group which would keep an account of
the various political bytes being aired by the television channels,” says a member of
BJP media management cell. The Congress also has a team in place for precisely the same
job and with an identical brief. Source: The Times of India,
Mar.9, 2004
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