Advertising & Marketing  
 
At Ogilvy & Mather India, Mr. John Goodman, CEO, India and South Asia, is set to assume office in January, when Mr Ranjan Kapur retires as Executive Chairman after heading the office for ten years. Mr Piyush Pandey, currently Group President and Creative Partner, will take over Mr Kapur’s position while also retaining creative position, and Mr  S.N. Rane will continue as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, completing the “ three legged stool” structure that Mr Kapur put together. Source: The Hindu Business Line, Nov 25.
 
The ‘Global Local Conflict’ in the words of Ms Jane Gorard, Director of Marketing, BBC World, UK, is all about brands having had to move up a gear to keep pace, predict trends and give it their best shot at staying ahead in the game. “ The abundance of communication channels- from television, radio and print to all-pervasive Internet – gives all marketers, whether national or global, a headache. Can we take a global brand and make it relevant to the local audiences without diluting the core values of the brand?” questioned Ms Gorard, on day three of the Ad-Asia 2003 event. She pointed out that in Asia, India is the biggest -and most demanding – market for BBC World. “In fact, the Indian market is where the BBC World has the biggest operations outside of Europe,” she added. ‘global local’ conflict implies fragmentation of niche audiences, because if people distrust global brands and multinationals, they may shy away from established names and switch allegiance to companies with greater local relevance, she pointed out. Source: The Hindu Business Line, Nov. 14   
 
 
T.V. Media 
 
Rajesh Devraj, executive creative director, Sony Entertainment Television, has put in his papers. Devraj, who joined SET in January this year, told a website recently that he had been working on a feature film script prior to joining SET and intends going back to the project. Devraj has also worked with CHannel [V], MTV and JWT. Among Devraj’s pet projects at SET is serial Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, which has tried to break the stranglehold of family dramas on C&S households. Besides Jassi, Devraj also initiated a few projects that he believes are path-breaking in their own right. Source: Agencyfaqs.com, Nov.27, 2003
 
Turner International, part of Time Warner group, is likely to bring a new channel into the Indian market soon. Currently, the group is represented by CNN and Cartoon Network in the country. It could even be a comeback for a movie channel. The toss is between Turner Classic Movies ( TCM) and TNT ( a mix of movie and entertainment channel) , it is being speculated. Internationally, Turner has CNN, TNT, TCM, Cartoon Network, TBS and  few sports channels. Popular movie channel HBO, which was earlier a part of Turner bouquet, switched over to Sony’s ‘ One Alliance’ platform from January. A couple of years ago, its English classic movie channel (TNT and then TCB) was pulled out from the Indian market. No movie channel, in any of the bouquets, has been able to fill up that gap. Source: Financial Express, Nov. 24
 
STAR India will replace its Adventure One channel in its distribution bouquet. History Channel, which is owned by US-based A&E Television Networks, will be launched in India on November 30. National Geographic Channel had obtained rights for History Channel for the Asian region. The company has given the distribution rights in India to STAR group. STAR will have to pay a minimum guarantee fee. STAR will also handle the ad sales of History Channel in India. History Channel will be available 8 am to 12 midnight. Adventure One channel will be shown only from midnight to 8am. “Adventure One will be accommodated by History Channel in India. It will continue to beam in the Asian region. We are planning to get the channel back only in conditional access system (CAS) scenario,” said a source. Source: Financial Express, Nov. 24
 
 
Print Media
 
In a significant development, Sakal, the leading Marathi broadsheet in Pune, has acquired Maharashtra Herald, the oldest English newspaper in the city. The move comes as part of Sakal’s strategy to diversify into other languages, notably English, which it has been looking at for a while.The acquisition is set to give a new lease of life to the Herald, which has been stagnating at around 10,000 copies in terms of circulation. With seven centres in Maharashtra including Pune, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Nasik, Aurangabad, Solapur and Nagpur, Sakal is a close competitor to Lokmat, as far as the rest of Maharashtra region goes, that is, the area minus Mumbai, where Indian Express’ Loksatta, is a clear leader. Source: Agencyfaqs.com, Nov.22, 2003
 
  
 
Radio Media 
 
The Amit Mitra-headed Radio Broadcast Policy Committee has submitted its much-awaited report to the government with recommendations that include a 51 per cent equity floor for the largest Indian shareholder apart from a sealing of 26 per cent on FDI. The committee has proposed the appointment of an interim regulator till the Convergence Commission is set up. The powers accruing to the regulator include requiring discovery and production of documents, dismissing a redressal complaint for default or deciding it ex parte, granting interim relief, issuing commission for the examination of witnesses and suggesting changes in the license regime to the government. Source: Economic Times, Nov.17, 2003
 
 
Web Media
 
A helpful Web site named www.whatbrandareyou.com is out there in the cyberspace and offers companies to save all the money: "Why sell the company jet to pick up a moniker that suits your brand?" it asks. The site offers "absolutely free of charge" the naming service. You don't pay, but "simply enter your name, choose your values and your goals." Then? "Your new name will be automatically displayed." The site is run by "The Design Conspiracy" - an advertising company. A recent report on the BBC News talks of the modus operandi of the Conspiracy team. They came up with about 150 names one afternoon, "just literally trying to think of the most stupid company names." For this, they "used an online Latin dictionary, and just added an `i' or and `a' to the end," even if the names were not pronounceable. To add to its popularity (or notoriety), the site was picked as `site of the day' by Financial Times, Yahoo, Media Guardian and The Daily Mirror. Source: The Hindu Business Line, Nov. 23, 2003
 
 
Events & Public Relations
 
“Already 30% of our revenues in India come from non-advertising business, and it’s growing quickly”, Ogilvy & Mather CEO, India and South Asia, Mr. John Goodman, said. “And there are opportunities to do more- perhaps in production or other areas- for overseas clients”. The areas that hold the most important opportunity are Director Marketing, Public Relations – both of which are underdeveloped- and rural communication, he said. Most recently, O&M had to resign the Onida and Electrolux accounts, because of a WPP alignment with LG worldwide. “At present, 80% of our business comes from local clients, and only 20.5 from international alliances,” About 15% of WPP’s revenues comes from Asia. Source: The Hindu Business Line, Nov 25.
 
At the MTR Indian Telly Awards in Mumbai recently, the Star India CEO, Mr Peter Mukerjea, was adjudged CEO of the year, while Balaji Telefilms and UTV shared the award for TV Production House of the year. Star Plus was named Entertainment Channel of the year, and Aaj Tak was adjudged News Channel of the year, while MTV was the Music Channel of the year and Zee Cinema was named Hindi Movie Channel of the year. Star Plus’s Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand  was awarded TV Programme of the year. Reality Bites- The Petrol pump Scam won NDTV and Star News the best current affairs programme of the year, while Story board fetched CNBC-TV18 the best business programme of the year award. Source: The Hindu Business Line, Nov 25.
 
 
Films & Cinema

Karan Johar has scored a hat-trick. His Kal Ho Naa Ho (even though he carries the producer's tag on it) is slated to be a hit. The film works - albeit mildly, on almost all the parameters - be it direction, characterization, performances, music and production. Not to mention art direction, locales and the over all look of the film.That the film belongs to Advani and not Johar Jr. is clear from the fact that the film is more funny than sad.The tenor and tone of the film rests on the dialogues and screenplay, the former penned by Niranjan Iyengar and the latter the brain-child of Karan Johar. More than once reminiscent of Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai - in terms of its candid, urbane humour, KHNH's fresh, cheeky attitude comes from its lead characters. Source : Hindustan Times, Nov.28, 2003
 
 
Miscellaneous
 
Time Warner confirmed the sale of its Warner Music division for about $2.6 billion to an investor group led by the Seagram heir Edgar Bronfman Jr. and the investement firm Thomas H. Lee, ending an 18-month corporate garage sale to pay down debts. The sale is a pivotal point in Time Warner recovery from the disappointing aftermath of its merger with Mareica Online in 2001. with the proceeds from the sale, which is expected to close on 2-months, the company will have whittled its nearly $30 billion debt down by about $ 10 billion. With that, Time Warner, already the largest media company in the world, can stop scrounging the miscellaneous parts of it far-flung holdings to sell and begin looking for opportunities to grow again.
Source: The Times of India, Nov.26
 
The need for a more active role also extends to consumer interactions with the media: new technologies have expanded consumer choice, and given consumer multiple access points to content. Consumers are also ready for on-demand TV, and want to co-create content and the option of blocking out ads or junk mail. So media owners will have to create more engaging and interactive media to grab and keep customers, who are increasingly fragmented and have shorter attention spans, said Chris Charron of Forrester research, USA. Media owners will have to offer multi-channel experiences, sharpen their focus – with specialized content and delivery channels – and tap more into commerce and service revenues (such as merchandise or e-mail alerts) much like Manchestor United is now doing, he added. Source: The Hindu Business Line, Nov. 20   
 
 
Compiled by:    Saurabh Marya (B.A. Mass Comm’, Level I, Semester I)
Assisted by:     Kumar Gandharva Mishra (B.A. Mass Comm’, Level I, Semester I)

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