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Joy of Giving: Tendulkar, Premji, Sachin Pilot to join forces

PTI — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:32:00 GMT

Bangalore: Sachin Tendulkar, Azim Premji, K. V. Kamath, Sachin Pilot, Nandita Das and Rahul Bose all have pledged their support to the Joy of Giving Week, to be celebrated all over India from 27 September to 3 October.

They, along with several others from different walks of life, have not only promised to endorse the Week but also agreed to make specific contributions of time, skills, money and resources.

Conceptualised by GiveIndia, the initiative aims to get people from all walks of life together to engage in acts of giving—money, time, skills or simple acts of kindness—its Director Venkat Krishnan told a press conference, which was also attended by cricketer Rahul Dravid and former badminton ace Prakash Padukone.

Dravid would deliver a talk (for which tickets would be sold) to business leaders offering his thoughts on the pursuit of excellence, during the Week. “All proceeds from this talk will be donated to Dream A Dream, the NGO that I am supporting”, the former India captain said.

Padukone, the former All England Badminton Champion, said Tata Academy, which he runs, would provide free orientation to badminton to 200-300 underprivileged children during the week.

“India needs a movement like this,” Padukone said. “I call upon companies, government, schools, colleges, celebrities and the general public to join in the Joy of Giving Week in whatever way they would like to”.

Krishnan said GiveIndia is a ‘philanthropy exchange´ that connects individual donors to more than 200 NGOs that have undergone rigorous due deligence.

He said volunteer groups in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, besides Ahmedabad, have planned various initiatives in these cities. The week would include various events nationally.

Personalities such as Surya, Madhavan and Shriya Saran in Tamil Nadu, Venkatesh, Nagarjuna and P. Gopichand in Hyderabad, Geet Sethi and Mallika Sarabhai in Ahmedabad will endorse the week.

The Joy of Giving Week aims to have two crore Indians engage in “acts of giving”, Krishnan said.

The Week would be held annually in the week of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary.

Charting a Course | Organization, by design

Deepak Malkani and Jayesh Pandey — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:17:00 GMT

Do we have the right number of people and is our structure cost-effective?”, “Are we properly organized and aligned to execute our strategy across geographic borders?”, “Do we have the right balance of global scale and local responsiveness?”

Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint

These are some of the questions more and more senior executives in Indian organizations are asking themselves as businesses try to balance the need to manage with the need to build for tomorrow. The global recession and slowing international demand has led some companies to undertake significant restructuring, while others are capitalizing on the opportunities for acquisitions and new alliances. In both these contexts, organization design has become more important than ever.

The definition of organization design, unfortunately for most, is limited to the “boxes” and “lines” called organization charts. Rarely are such charts reflective of the way work really gets done or how decisions are made. An organization’s design evolves in fits and starts, often shaped more by politics than by policies.

Although most executives know when their organization designs are not working well, few possess a practical and simple framework for making improvements.

An organization design should be viewed as the glue that binds business strategy with technology and business processes (see Building blocks). And crucially, the design must factor in the desired culture and leadership capabilities. Viewed together, these levers provide a more holistic, actionable definition of organization design.

Many Indian organizations have grown to become multinational corporations over the last decade. Yet, being a truly global organization isn’t easy. In the past, the prescription for going global was relatively straightforward: Grow from a solid foundation in one’s home country and replicate well-established rules and processes across a larger geographic area, adapt to local conditions but resolve conflicts in favour of the home-office culture and reduce complexity by maintaining a relatively homogeneous leadership team.

More recently, however, the playing field has changed. Competition in many industries is now truly global—with leading players emerging from all corners of hitherto developing countries. Consider information technology, or IT, service providers and automotive challengers from India, electronics giants from Korea and state-led natural resource behemoths from China, all of which make for a far more complex business landscape. An effective global operating model, the means by which executives coordinate a corporate centre with geographic units as they pursue international growth, is critical to successful growth in today’s world. Sounds easy, yet companies from developed and developing economies alike find it challenging to create the right combination of global coordination and local responsiveness.

A leading Indian telecommunications giant identified a few unique principles that underpin its global success. The first is an emphasis on harmonization over standardization. Harmonization consists of a framework of simple rules about which processes, technologies and metrics should be local, regional or global. Harmonization does not necessarily mean that standards are based on home country practices. It is entirely possible that the best processes, technologies or metrics may emerge from the company’s foreign operations.

The second principle is distributed leadership. There is no real headquarters; high-profile leaders collaborate from different places around the globe. The top 50 executives in the business are distributed across 12 international cities. And less than one-third of them are from the home country. The dispersed nature of the top team, however, doesn’t slow the company. The team can get together at 10 minutes notice on the phone wherever it is to make decisions.

An emerging view today is that hierarchical structures of reporting relationships offer only a partial view as to how an organization functions. Organizations are complex networks defined by a web of interconnecting relationships that affect reporting, influence, information flow and collaboration among people at all levels. Applying network theory techniques, one can map the informal structure and see how decisions actually get taken, how they are sometimes blocked, how improved collaboration can emerge, and how sometimes, very key “connecting” roles can be played by people lower down in the hierarchical structure.

It is pertinent to note that many a time, senior leaders use restructuring as a cure for all maladies, often to pursue personal agendas. This should be cautioned against. While organization design can be used as a potent tool for unlocking value, the objectives for any organization design exercise should be clearly spelt out. Structural changes are time-consuming and often disruptive to organizational activities, and new structures often create new organizational problems that are as troublesome as the ones they try to solve. Organizations also run the risk of losing a great deal of tacit knowledge in the process.

Hence an objective assessment of the need for organizational design interventions is of the utmost importance. In the final reckoning, a holistic look at organization design is one of the most potent tools to translate your visions and strategies into reality.

Deepak Malkani is a partner with Accenture India and leads the talent and organization performance practice. Jayesh Pandey leads the organization effectiveness practice in Accenture India. Both are based in the firm’s Mumbai office.

—feedback@livemint.com

Telly tale

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:44:00 GMT

Campaign, in association with TAM Media Research Pvt Ltd, looks at key television and radio audience trends. We present the television viewership and radio audience share data for June.

The Trends (Graphics)

Graphics by Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint

Green lens | It’s time to ask radical questions

Andrew S. Winston — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:43:00 GMT

Heretical ideas have swept industries many times. If someone in the advertising, television, or music businesses had asked 15 years ago, “What if people stop watching commercials?” or “What if everyone thinks music should be free?” they would’ve gotten strange looks. Then TiVo and Napster asked those questions. Of course, the latter one failed to consider some serious legal issues, but it did lay the groundwork for other (legal) business models, like iTunes. For their part, digital video recorders have forced innovation as advertisers try to replace the traditional 60-second spot with sponsored shows and product placements.

Innovate: Andrew S. Winston.

The failure to ask big, heretical questions can sink a business or industry—the music industry is still suffering from this mistake, and sales have been down nearly every year since Napster appeared. A failure of imagination can even tank the global economy. Arguably, one major contributor to the financial meltdown was the inability of nearly everyone in that sector to ask one question: what would happen if housing prices actually dropped instead of rising every year? Most of the ratings agencies’ financial models did not allow for a negative number in the “growth” cell. The few that did ask themselves tougher questions and largely moved out of mortgage-backed securities, such as Goldman Sachs, came through the crisis in better shape than competitors.

Even though serious economic downturns change industries and markets in profound ways, those shifts may pale in comparison to what the green wave will do to business as usual. Resource constraints and megaregulation on carbon, for example, will change how we work, play, travel, eat, and live. The time for small measures to solve environmental challenges is quickly passing.

What will these pressures mean for your industry and business?

Predicting the future is difficult enough, but it’s even harder when dealing with environmental challenges. Jim Butcher, the former head of Morgan Stanley’s global environmental office and a scenario-planning consultant, says that we all make one serious error: “Most people think linearly, assuming next year will be a minor variation from this year. But environmental issues are often nonlinear and not gradual.” How do you prepare for a tipping point change that can come upon you suddenly?

I suggest asking more radical questions. What would happen to your business—and to all the companies or consumers in your value chain—if oil were $500 (about Rs24,200) per barrel? It sounds absurd, but the price of oil rose from below $20 to $145 in four years, so why not $50 to $500? Or how about asking this: what if there’s no water? How would you, or your major suppliers, handle a shortage?

The megaforces—like the prospect of very expensive oil—can prompt some interesting questions. But the green lens has more value than just helping you respond to green wave pressures. It can be a powerful tool for innovation in its own right. Asking provocative questions with a green tint can unleash new ways of thinking. When times are tight and you’re feeling strapped for cash, you may need heretical ideas that help you find completely new, and much cheaper, ways of operating today.

So, what’s your heresy?

Let me share a few examples of some big picture heresies and show how some companies are grappling with tough questions.

Can a plane fly with no jet fuel? The aviation industry is starting to ask itself this surprising question. In fact, I first heard the germ of the idea for “heretical” innovation at Boeing, a company I’ve advised on green strategy. In one meeting with the company’s environmental executives, a few of them joked about starting a “Project Heresy” to house disruptive initiatives. Although they were kidding, I thought it was a brilliant way to help people think differently.

Boeing has run biofuel test flights with multiple airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, Japan Airlines, Air New Zealand, and Continental. The planes flew with fuels derived from various mixtures of coconut oil, the jatropha and camelina plants, and even algae. Boeing has also flown a small plane on fuel cells that the company imagines can eventually power the auxiliary equipment on jumbo jets. All these tests are a first step toward building aircraft that can fly without fossil fuels.

Nobody can predict perfectly what the costs of biofuels will be at scale, but early tests show that the yields and energy density from fuels like algae may significantly improve on jet fuel. And when fuel costs can run to more than 40 per cent of your operating expense—as it did for airlines in mid-2008—isn’t it worth exploring some new options?

Can we send no waste to the landfill? For the employees of Subaru’s facility in Lafayette, Indiana, the date May 4, 2004 holds special significance—it was the last day that anyone from the plant sent garbage to the dump. Subaru and a few other companies have reduced landfill waste not just a lot, but to zero. The automaker’s program of employee engagement, incentives, and new systems for sorting everything is extensive, but the cost savings easily pay for all the effort. In the process, the company has slashed toxic emissions and carbon dioxide per vehicle by 55 percent and 20 percent, respectively. These benefits, and the millions of dollars Subaru saved, stemmed directly from a focus on getting lean and from asking a seemingly wacky question.

What if cars were a service, not a product? Even with the extremely dire economic situation for automakers, it’s a time of incredible innovation. For the auto industry, innovation is not just good business; it’s do-or-die. All the car companies are pushing hard on new technologies, from hybrids to electrics to fuel cells. But the real heretical innovations may change the nature of car ownership entirely. Car-sharing services like Zipcar, which allow you to buy hours of car time, are still relatively small at 200,000 members, but the big rental companies are getting into the game now as well.

A different challenge to the car business comes from a highly touted start-up run by tech executive and entrepreneur Shai Agassi. Israel and Denmark have agreed to let his company, Better Place, build charging stations all over the country. Agassi’s company will sell electric vehicles built by Renault-Nissan, but will maintain ownership of one core technology in the car, the battery. Drivers will pull into a station and switch out the old battery for a newly charged one. Since drivers will be renting the battery, they will effectively pay for the power and miles driven, not the battery itself.

What would happen to your business—and the firms or consumers in your value chain —if oil were $500 per barrel?

These business models are new, but are shaking up one of the world’s largest and most far-reaching industries by asking new questions. As The New York Times reported in a February 2009 profile, “Agassi appears to be tapping into the anything-is-possible spirit of the times... ‘I start with the question, how do you run a country without oil?’” Apparently, Agassi is full of heretical questions.

Green marketing expert Jacquie Ottman suggests that you “ask the big question: what would it take to meet our consumers’ needs with zero impact...or in a way that actually restores the environment?” And if you don’t ask the deeper question about what your customers really need, says Bruce Klafter from Applied Materials, then “you run the risk of simply trying to build a better mousetrap rather than understanding whether your customers still need one at all.” Heretical questions like these are changing industries. Which side of the transformation do you want to be on?

To be sure, innovation can cost your existing lines of business some revenue. I spoke to Xerox’s Ursula Burns about the company’s new ink technology, which may replace current machines. Burns posed the important question, “Will this new product cannibalize our machines?”

Her quick answer was instructive: “Maybe, but someone else doing it is much worse.” In short: You’re much better off creating a disruption than being on the other side of it.

The problem of undermining your own successful products is the classic “innovator’s dilemma,” and Burns suggests embracing it. Green pressures will force this dilemma on anyone whose product or service uses more energy or resources than it could (that is, everyone).

It may be obvious, but if you want to ask heretical questions, you need some heretics. In his book Tribes, marketing guru Seth Godin talks extensively about how heretics are the new leaders in organizations (a big change, I’d say, from the days where the “organization man” was valued above all). As Godin says, “Suddenly, heretics, troublemakers, and change agents aren’t merely thorns in our side—they are the keys to our success.”

So cultivate the radical thinkers and give them some structure. Attacking your own brands requires nerves of steel. It also requires focus and an organization tuned to find these opportunities and act on them.

—feedback@livemint.com

Ellen Hou | A focus on quality to guard the brand here

Vijaya Rathore — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:42:00 GMT

Tianjin-based Chinese business conglomerate Tianshi Group (also known as Tiens Group) operates in 190 countries and has business interests in areas as diverse as biotech, education, retail, tourism, finance, international trade and e-business. The direct selling company, whose mainstay is traditional Chinese health products, has been selling nutritional supplements and healthcare equipment such as calcium and zinc supplements, massagers and diagnostic instruments used for acupressure therapy in India since 2002, and is now eyeing the beauty products market here.

Ellen Hou

It recently launched a range of cosmetics under the Time Passage brand name, which includes products such as a skincare serum named EGF (Epidermal Group Factor). This puts it in direct competition with other direct selling cosmetics brands such as Sweden-based Oriflame, US-based Amway and Avon, marketed by India’s largest consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Unfazed by the competition, Tianshi hopes to introduce its Indian customers to its home care and personal care products as well in the near future.

The company is also undeterred by recent reports questioning the quality of Chinese products and claims the combination of Chinese traditional medicine and modern biotechnology in its products, backed by international manufacturing standards, gives it a unique advantage. “We will provide only high-quality products to India to safeguard our brand,” says Ellen Hou, senior marketing manager, Tianshi South Asia.

In an interview, Hou talks about the company’s India plans. Edited excerpts:

What are your expansion plans for India? Are you planning to enter any new segments?

There are 34 products available in the India market, which are mainly food supplements and healthcare instruments. With the improvement in living standards, there is a high demand for personal care, home care and cosmetics.

The launching of EGF (cosmetics range) is only the beginning. In the near future, we will introduce more cosmetics and home care products, personal care products that are suitable to the Indian market.

What kind of investments have you made so far in India? What do you have lined up for the future?

So far, the company has set up nine offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ranchi and Guwahati.

In future, we plan to invest in manufacturing equipment to ensure the quality and supply of the products (Hou did not share the financials).

The market in India is very competitive. What will your strategy be to gain market share in the home and personal care space?

We will only introduce unique and good-quality products to the India market, just like the newly launched EGF. And we have our own distributors. They are the salespersons and consumers as well. So we are confident that we will get our market share in India.

We don’t take any company as our competitor because India is a huge market and the demand is very high. Each company will get its share in the market. We only compete with ourselves to become better and better.

How do you plan to position and establish your brands here, given the apprehension among Indian consumers about the quality of Chinese products?

Tianshi Group has its own research and development centres in Beijing and Tianjin in China. The company has the most advanced manufacturing equipment imported from Germany, France and Japan to ensure high technology and quality of products. Tianshi Group has got the ISO 9001:2000 certificate for quality control, GMP (good manufacturing practice) certificate for drugs and healthcare products, HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) certificate for food safety control. We will provide only high-quality products to India to safeguard our brand.

Do you think policies and laws here are favourable for a company such as yours to do business?

The policies in India are equal to (the same for) all companies which are doing business in the country. We have to study the policies and laws very well, so that we abide by all the rules and regulations of the country.

Considering the strategic importance, the company takes India as (one of) the top 10 countries in the global market.

What are the challenges and opportunities in the market here?

Despite the global economic recession, the bilateral trade between India and China is doing exceedingly well, achieving an all-impressive figure of $50 billion (around Rs2.42 trillion) last year, which is ahead of the Indo-US figure of $40 billion. The Indian beauty (products) market is doing extremely well, registering four times the growth of the global beauty market. Due to the increase in disposable income of the Indian middle class, the market has reached a whopping $6 billion and is contributing immensely to the growth of the global beauty market of $270 billion.

Talking about challenges, as a foreign company we have to study the Indian investment environment, laws, culture and market very well to make sure we are on the right track.

Do you plan to start company-owned manufacturing operations?

Currently, we have a few local manufacturers in India. Till date, 12 products (food supplements) such as Gymnema, Ganoderma and OPC Plus have been manufactured in India. In future, the company will invest in manufacturing equipment to ensure the quality and quantity of the products.

Where does India figure in your global scheme of things?

Considering the strategic importance, the company takes India as (one of) the top 10 countries in the global market. From this year onwards, Tianshi Group will provide all resources and support to India as a good example for the global market.

vijaya.r@livemint.com

Sundar Raman | What IPL 2 taught the men in charge

Priyanka Mehra — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:42:00 GMT

Sundar Raman, chief executive officer, Indian Premier League, or IPL, the 20-over cricket tournament, still wears a look of disbelief on his face as he recounts how IPL season 2 managed to turn out bigger, brighter and a whole lot richer than the inaugural season in 2008, given that the billion-dollar tournament was on the verge of being scrapped just three weeks before the scheduled start date of 18 April. They had less than three weeks to put it all together again, he says—in South Africa.

Sundar Raman, chief executive officer, Indian Premier League

Just to recap, the last-minute changes included a Rs137 crore sponsorship loss as Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, or R-Adag, walked out on the deal after what it viewed as a breach of contract by IPL broadcaster Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, or MSMPL. This soured relations between IPL and MSMPL and a two-week legal battle ensued, during which the Rs4,048 crore broadcast rights bought by the broadcaster along with World Sport Group, or WSG, a sports consultancy, in 2008 were revised and MSMPL was stripped of them. Following an out-of-court settlement, the rights were restored to the broadcaster at a value 80% more than that of theprevious year.

At about the same time, Raman and the IPL management team hit the barrier of security. The government wanted the entire tournament rescheduled, saying it couldn’t provide adequate security at the match venues at a time when additional forces were needed for the general election, being held in the same period.

The jam-packed cricket calendar did not allow any other window for the tournament—and the IPL management decided to look beyond India.

Two months later, Raman shares with Campaign the lessons from season 2 and says he is leaving no stone unturned for the Champions League slated for 8-23 October. Edited excerpts from the interview:

What was your experience with IPL 2?

When IPL 1 ended, we thought there was ample time to prepare for the next season but with the last-minute changes, we were left with less than three weeks to put it all together. Looking back at season 2, we were able to achieve what we did in such a short time because it was a coordinated effort from all parties involved in the IPL, from the sponsors to the broadcaster and the IPL franchises.

It was a choice between taking IPL to another country or not having it at all this year, and I think the move to South Africa also made us realize the wide reach of the tournament. It is truly a global brand with a fan following that extends beyond (national) boundaries. When I spoke to Mint first on IPL, I said we plan to make it a global brand, and with this sudden move to South Africa, it happened faster than we had planned—we have realized the additional revenue generation streams from international markets. Also, the fact that we pulled it off successfully in South Africa makes IPL command bigger respect.

Will the franchises be compensated for the loss in revenues from ticket sales which would have been higher in India, as well as on-ground marketing activities, some of which had already begun, such as television reality shows?

We are not finished with the tournament reconciliations as yet, but we will live (up to) our part of the promise and compensate franchises where it’s due because it did hamper some activation plans for franchises at the ground level. But our sponsors and franchises were very supportive because they are in it with us for the long run and it’s not just a one-off association. We have assured them and (are) in discussions to sort out any pending issues relating to the shift.

Have the issues with the MSMPL deal been resolved with the new contract?

There were some complications regarding the contract that was triggered by R-Adag walking out on the deal, but it’s all behind us now. The thing is, the argument continues on this model because we (IPL) sell on-ground sponsorship rights and Sony (MSMPL was earlier known as Sony Entertainment Television) sells on-air.

That is why for the Champions League, we have sold the on-ground and on-air rights to ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd for one amount. Our position has always been that integration of these sponsorship platforms works better and the returns are larger. Advertisers are also becoming smart enough to realize that they can best leverage their brand when it is present across all platforms, rather than just one, the way Vodafone has done on IPL.

Do you think the new Rs8,200 crore deal is justified?

The new deal is for nine years as opposed to Sony’s earlier five-year contract, and one should realize the amount is taking into account the escalation year-on-year. We did do some significant work that looked at factors such as advertising growth to GDP, escalation in advertising rates, plus the advent of pay TV and the overall growth in the TV market, to arrive at this pricing strategy.

Just look at the revenues IPL has generated for Sony from this one season...the Rs450-500 crore (estimated revenues for MSMPL) would be equivalent to the overall advertising money generated from sports at one time.

What are the learnings from IPL that you will put to use in the upcoming Champions League and IPL season 3?

The level of preparedness and logistics is something we learnt from putting the IPL together in such a short time. This season also added belief in the product as a definitive vehicle.

Champions League commercial rights have been sold to ESPN for nearly $1 bn; there is no confusion between on-air and on-ground rights

On the strategic break between 10 overs that we used for the first time this season, the feedback we got suggested the breaks didn’t work out as planned, at least initially—before the teams got used to how to make use of this time.

We are looking at how this break should be structured, maybe we will have two different sets of shorter breaks rather than one seven-and-a-half-minute break.

One of the most important learnings is the importance of integrated planning. For Champions League, we sold all the commercial rights to ESPN for nearly $1 billion (around Rs4,840 crore); the only revenue left to generate for us through this tournament is through ticket sales. There is no confusion between on-air and on-ground rights and it is the best way to get results for markeeters, broadcasters and us.

IPL did not get any new sponsors after the 35% increase in rates for on-ground sponsors. Are you planning to lower these rates for season 3?

We are okay with the advertisers we have, and if new advertisers don’t agree to the given rates, it doesn’t mean we will lower it. We are currently in discussion with some brands for on-ground sponsorship for the next season. It is too early to discuss names or other details on what has been planned for the next season as we are still in the process of wrapping up IPL 2.

priyanka.m@livemint.com

Top of the Mind Ad Survey | Idea’s fitness plan walks up the charts

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:45:00 GMT

The top three positions in the Mint-Synovate-TVAdIndx survey in June all go to ads from cellphone operators. Idea’s ‘Walk while you talk’ commercial has been rated as the best on-air advertisement, followed by Airtel and Reliance Mobile at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, by the survey, which gathers the voices of 750 randomly chosen common consumers across the metros of New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

By this time we all know that Indians love to talk, and definitely on the cellphone—given the burgeoning user base—and it is this simple aspect that Idea has turned into a health advisory. Coming after last year’s campaign on rural education and empowering the ordinary citizen through the cellphone, this commercial has been lapped up by audiences, scoring 80 on the ad reach index. The ad boasts 95% brand recall among respondents, while brand awareness stands at 84%.

The Airtel ad featuring actor Shreyas Talpade takes up the socially responsible theme, scoring 74 on the ad reach index. However, our expert Santosh Desai isn’t too happy with Airtel’s attempt to make a connect with “a proposition of national significance”.

Also See Top Television Ads in June (Graphics)

Reliance Mobile at No. 3 and Virgin Mobile at No. 12 take a different route, talking about the specific features of their respective cellphone services, scoring 71 and 45 on the ad reach index, respectively.

Also Read The full Mint-Synovate-TVAdIndx survey report

Suprisingly, Idea is nowhere on the top 15 ad diagnostics list and Reliance and Airtel just manage to be among the top 15 ads. Compaq laptops tops the ad diagnostics list with a score of 98, getting 100% on the enjoyment index.

Our fondness for talking is also highlighted by the Centre fresh Ice commercial, at No. 11. It shows people jabbering at the most inappropriate places.

As Sonia Bhatnagar, vice-president and senior creative director, JWT India, says, “The marvellous different localized accents, the casting, the music treatment, the performances… It’s so true of us Indians.”

Idea

Lowe Worldwide

A news anchor asks Abhishek Bachchan, playing a doctor, whether technology has made people unfit. He advises people to walk while they talk on mobile phones. The idea catches on and soon, people start losing weight. With people getting fitter, Bachchan loses all his patients. Tag line: Walk when you talk.

Reliance Mobile

Tribal DDB

Actor Hrithik Roshan reminisces about old friends and teachers and decides to call them immediately from his Reliance mobile. His friends are overjoyed on hearing from him. He also calls up an old lights man in the studio, who is overwhelmed to hear Roshan thank him. Tag line: Don’t just think. Go for it.

Dish TV

Lowe Worldwide

Shah Rukh Khan answers a little girl’s questions about the night sky and the stars as he talks about Dish TV. As she searches for her star, he tells her to wish on the farthest one. Tag line: Wish karo. Dish karo (wish more with Dish).

Hero Honda

JWT

A woman SMSes “goodnight” to her boyfriend. He drives his Hero Honda bike to her house to reply. As soon as he reaches home again, he gets another SMS from her, and rides back. Tag line: Hero Honda gives so much mileage that nothing comes between love. Fill it, shut it, forget it. Dhak dhak go.

Hamdard Rooh Afza

Triton Communications

A woman is making ‘lassi’ for her husband. Actor Juhi Chawla adds Rooh Afza to it. Pleased with the taste, he starts massaging his wife’s feet in appreciation. The tag line: Rooh Afza ‘milao kuch naya banao’ (mix Rooh Afza and create something new).

Lay’s

JWT

A boy meets cricketer M.S. Dhoni in a lift and begs him to say “Hi” to him in front of his friends. Dhoni thinks it’s illogical, but Masala Masti inspires a change of heart. When the lift stops, Dhoni says “Hi” to the boy, who dismisses him, trying to impress his friends. Tag line: Be a little “Dillogical”.

Chlor-mint

McCann Erickson

Actors Salman and Sohail Khan pester an air hostess: Why do people like Chlor-mint? She pushes them off the plane. Salman has a parachute, imitative Sohail doesn’t. Tag line: ‘Bina tayyari ke dobara mat poochhna’ (Be prepared before asking again).

Airtel

Rediffusion Y&R

Shreyas Talpade, playing a newly elected MP, is about to debut in Parliament. His father calls him, telling him to make the voice of the masses heard. Talpade is reassured that he is not alone in his journey. Tag line: ‘Atoot bandhan, atoot network’ (Unbreakable ties, unbreakable network).

Bajaj XCD

Ogilvy and Mather

A man finds a genie and wishes for a house. The genie grants him a mansion; he prefers a small house. On wishing for a wife, the genie gets him a ‘modern’ woman; he prefers a traditional one. He asks for a bike; by now, the genie is convinced he would prefer an ordinary one to a Bajaj XCD. And he does.

Hamdard Rooh Afza

Triton Communications

A quarrelling couple makes up after drinking Rooh Afza. Lost in each other, the man reverses the car and it ends up hanging off a cliff. Tag line: ‘Rooh Afza ne lemon ko chhua, toh aise hua’ (when Rooh Afza’s mixed with lemon, this is what happens).

—feedback@livemint.com

On the spot | Just some more patriotic pap

Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:12:00 GMT

Finally a real Indian family

Fortune Cooking Oil

Ogilvy and Mather

After having seen many airbrushed depictions of the “great Indian family”, we finally get to see an Indian family with all its rough edges intact. The ad recreates the chaotic, crowded and cacophonous gatherings that family get-togethers can be with unerring accuracy. Not everything is warm and fuzzy and not everyone is smiling beatifically. The moustachioed auntie with her “I hate these family gatherings” mutterings is a new representation in advertising. The ringing silence that ascends when the eating begins is spot on. Overall, a good space for a food ingredient brand; the challenge is going to be taking the idea forward.

Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands

Simple, precise, minus any fuss

Maruti Service

Capital Advertising

An ad that sets out to do something very specific and manages to do so very precisely. A simple, clean thought expressed without fuss. Children do best with their mothers and cars with the service provided by their makers. A rare instance of cleverness deployed with intelligence. A message that clicks into place with reassuring correctness.

Trying strategic advertising

Cadbury Dairy Milk

Ogilvy and Mather

have some reservations about the execution, but here we have a brand that is at least setting out to use advertising strategically. Building categories is never easy and the thought of using the first of every month as a trigger for chocolates is an interesting, if ambitious one. Perhaps there was a need to go a little deeper and understand what chocolate could become a symbol of, but this is a start. The execution is entertaining, but hardly new. The use of the retro motif has now reached its sell-by date and begun to reek of an absence of ideas. Can we not imagine middle class people without reducing them to characters in a 1970s film?

TURKEY OF THE MONTH

Too clever for its own good

Bajaj Pulsar

Ogilvy and Mather

The options. We have the oh-so-pointless Honda Jazz campaign that takes car advertising where no man, woman or beast has taken it before, the Brothers Khan moronfest brought us by the once redoubtable Chlor-mint, the laughable John Abraham Garnier ad that prattles on about performance while trying to hawk a male fairness cream and, of course, the me-too Idea effort by Airtel.

The crown goes to Bajaj Pulsar for an utterly self-indulgent ad pieced together by seeing too many films. One could argue that there are worse commercials, and indeed there are, but here is one that is too clever for its own good.

Wish I had made this ad... | So true of us Indians

Sonia Bhatnagar — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:52:00 GMT

Centre fresh

Ogilvy and Mather

Okay, it was a really close tie between the “pass the baby” ad for the Maruti service

Sonia Bhatnagar. Vice-president and senior creative director, JWT India

station , the “fastest indian” ad for Bajaj Pulsar and “C’mon India, baatein kum, kaam zyada (talk less, work more)” for Centre fresh. And the winner is… the ad for Centre fresh! Simply because it’s the ad I want to see again and again, grinning like a jackass each time, at different things. The marvellous different localized accents, the casting, the music treatment, the performances… It’s hugely rewarding on every viewing. Most ticklingly, it’s so true of us Indians. We truly are a nation that loves to jabber, no matter how unsuitable the occasion might be. My favourite snippet in the film is the surgeon one. I can almost see the poor patient lying all cut up in bed while the docs listen most attentively to the surgeon’s latest acquisition by the riverside. And my least favourite is the cricketers, and that’s the only one I would have done differently because it’s kind of expected. Unlike the others. I also like the slant they’ve given to their ‘zabaan ko de lagaam’ (mind your tongue ) thought. Made it bigger, in fact, by keeping it socially relevant. But that seems to be the hot new trend these days. Don’t mind it one bit.

Changing mindsets | HR needs the line manager

Deepak Malkani and Anant Bijoy Bhagwati — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:51:00 GMT

Research indicates that an involved employee can be up to 20% more productive than a disengaged one. Most employees are highly motivated when their organizations give them an opportunity to express, raise and resolve their concerns and challenges, invest in developing their capabilities and provide clear growth opportunities for them.

Deepak Malkani (left) and Anant Bijoy Bhagwati

Traditionally, the human resource (HR) function has been viewed as the generator of employee engagement and retention initiatives, and many organizations have invested in enhancing their HR technologies, practices and processes. Some have been successful, but many have failed to achieve the desired improvements. The reason for their failure is surprisingly simple—engaging, developing and retaining employees cannot be the sole responsibility of the HR function. For an organization to build an engaged, productive and efficient workforce, line managers must shoulder responsibility too.

Many organizations often overlook the critical factor that enhances employee engagement: how well HR policies and programmes are implemented by line managers and whether those managers invest in employee motivation and development. Any HR process will fail to see the envisioned success if the line managers fail to support them. For example, performance management and succession planning are two processes that require strong and substantial line management support to implement effectively.

For line managers to foster productivity and develop future leaders, they must inculcate a “people-developer mindset” in their day-to-day interactions with colleagues. This is easier said than done, and often involves a significant cultural shift. The challenge is further compounded by significant differences in what motivates different generations in the workforce—typical organizations have Generation X line managers at middle to senior levels, and the younger Net generation at entry level. A starting point to trigger the cultural shift is to reflect on the following questions.

When was the last time you had a non-work related discussion with your direct reports? While most line managers would believe they have had such interactions with their reports, these interactions are seldom structured or action-oriented. Knowing and understanding your colleagues as individuals and not employees embeds greater trust and openness in working relationships.

Does your relationship with your colleagues create energy or sap it? To be successful, it is vital that communication barriers are knocked down for a good relationship between a line manager and his/her colleagues. A two-way dialogue enables a line manager to understand the underlying issues that demotivate his or her reports and create an environment that nurtures respect and transparency.

When was the last time you had a dialogue with your colleague in which you shared development feedback? It is essential for employees to hone their functional skills to perform their roles effectively. A rigorous performance feedback discussion using a detailed skills dictionary helps both manager and employee identify development areas for improving functional skills.

Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint

The HR function clearly has a key role to play in enabling and sustaining the cultural transformation of an organization that leads to these types of behaviour.

However, our research across multiple organizations shows that as much as 75% of a typical HR function’s time is consumed by transactional activities, and a mere 25% is spent on more value-adding and strategic activities such as nurturing a people-developer mindset.

One of India’s largest building material manufacturers has undertaken this journey to transform its HR function and boost performance. The journey involved three interdependent components:

Creating a shared services centre and standardized processes:

This organization created more time for HR staff to focus on strategic activities by moving transactional activities such as payroll, benefits administration, grievance handling, recruitment logistics and training administration to a shared service centre where they could be processed in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. Standardized processes and technology provide high-quality, uninterrupted HR service to the entire organization.

Building skills within HR to coach line managers:

Similar to many of its manufacturing industry peers, this building-material organization needed a substantial boost to its functional HR capabilities. It set up an HR academy with training modules that enabled HR professionals to coach line managers in building a people mindset. This was not an easy task, as one of the first things to be done was to build empathy among HR personnel towards business issues. This was done via modules designed to help HR personnel understand key business imperatives and identify opportunity areas for HR to provide better support to line managers. However, this helped break the ice and get HR the much needed respect from line—a prerequisite for it to coach line managers.

Embarking on an organization-wide people-developer revolution:

The building material manufacturer used the additional HR capacity and capability it created to coach line managers on how to lead, develop and respect their colleagues, and improve their “people sensitivity”. A set of actions—ranging from moving transactional tasks to a central processing unit to using IT more effectively—freed up a lot of HR time and allowed it to focus on the people-developer revolution. Locations where manager- supervisor relationships and engagement levels were poor were selected to pilot the new approach. Small groups of line managers and their staff were assigned concrete people developer and productivity enhancement targets. They were taken through a step- wise relationship building programme, starting with knowing your colleagues, moving on to developing their skills and helping plan their careers. These groups showed considerable improvement and their internal performance ratings moved up significantly within a short period.

In summary, we have seen many organizations chase the holy grail of productivity improvements. They are spending a great deal of time and money commissioning tonnes of analysis on time-motion and benchmarking, with varying results. However, it is critical to recognize the fact that an engaged employee is surely a more productive one. The keys to his engagement and motivation lie in the hands of his line manager. The day HR takes on the mantle of coaching the line manager in energizing his relationship with his reportee, organizations can unlock the true potential of organizational talent—for in this relationship lies the key to enhancing workforce productivity beyond one’s wildest imagination.

This is the fourth in a five-part series on innovative talent management.

The series looks at various facets in the human performance process that need to be worked upon by companies to turn the economic crisis into an opportunity.

Deepak Malkani (left) is a partner with Accenture India and leads the talent and organization performance practice. Anant Bijoy Bhagwati heads the human resource transformation offering group in the talent and organization performance practice in Accenture India. Both are based in the firm’s Mumbai office.

—feedback@livemint.com

Opportunity calls | It’s the world on your cellphone

Archana Rai — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:49:00 GMT

Irfan Shafi Parray lives in Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, a region with hardly any shopping malls. So Parray uses his mobile phone to order his favourite things, with the help of a slew of payment options that he has downloaded on to his phone. “I use the ‘Mall on your Mobile’ from Ngpay—a phone mall service—to buy books from Landmark, chocolates from Brunettes, perfumes and saris,” says the civil engineer, who also uses mChek, a mobile payments and security application, to authorize credit card transactions and tops up mobile currency at OxiCash.

Illustration: Raajan / Mint

At the other end of the country, in Bangalore, Vikram Rai, a media entrepreneur, uses his cellphone to post feeds on his Twitter account and chat on Facebook using a mobile Internet application—Fring—that links mobile users to online social networking sites. “I check the weather and also use maps to navigate when I travel,” says Rai.

Ngpay is the mobile commerce service from start-up JiGrahak Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd, while mChek is from mobile payments and security company mChek India Payment Systems Pvt. Ltd. OxiCash, from Oxigen Services (India) Pvt. Ltd, is based on a cash-less service called OxiCash Wallet that any mobile phone user can register for by paying Re1. Subsequent payments (called OxiCash) from Rs50 onwards can be used to pay for all the services available at an Oxigen outlet.

Both Parray and Rai are part of a growing breed of Indian consumers who are using mobile phones to do more than just talk.

“Music and entertainment, mobile gaming, informational services, mobile TV and mobile banking and payments are my top five picks for what people would like to have on their phone,” says Sanjay Swamy, chief executive officer, mChek India Payment Systems.

In a June study by consumer electronics magazine Living Digital on mobile phone usage by Indian consumers, SMS, or short messaging service, emerged as the most popular application. However, at least half the respondents also used their mobile phones to listen to music, take pictures, surf the Internet and play games, while about one-fifth used location-based services and accessed social networking sites, or used mobile phones to make payments, search for information, try new software or read e-books and store files.

It is a trend that has been growing steadily for almost a year. In a 2008 study on the mobile value-added services (VAS) market, consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers had estimated that the VAS market in India would garner revenues of $2 billion (around Rs9,680 crore) by 2008-09, with SMS accounting for 44% of this and ring-back tones and other personalized applications accounting for one-fifth. By 2015, the VAS market is expected to generate revenues of Rs20,000 crore.

“At present, VAS contributes about 10% of overall revenues but it has the potential to grow substantially as new ways emerge to monetize such services,” says Rajat Mukarji, chief corporate affairs officer of mobile phone operator Idea Cellular Ltd. In Maharashtra, Idea has introduced TV on mobile phones, offering subscribers live broadcasts of events at select pilgrimage centres.

Typically, telecom companies have been the route through which new services reach the consumer. “The last-mile connectivity by which applications reach the consumer comes from the operator,” says Arvind Rao, chief executive officer and founder, OnMobile Global Ltd. OnMobile Global, whose portfolio primarily consists of personalized services, is the country’s only listed mobile value-added services company.

Mobile entertainment companies such as Hungama Mobile, a division of Virtual Marketing India Pvt. Ltd, also work with a slew of mobile phone service providers such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Essar Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to deliver content to consumers, besides having tie-ups with television channels and music companies for downloads.

A mobile future: Sanjay Swamy, CEO, mChek India Payment Systems. Hemant Mishra / Mint

As of now, the revenue sharing model for VAS is skewed in favour of cellphone operators. They take 60-80% of the revenues earned by mobile VAS firms in return for hosting their products, much higher than the 20-30% share operators earn in markets such as Japan and South Korea. “But now, with nearly 15% of mobile users in the country accessing the Internet on their phones, there is an opening in this walled garden,” says Anuj Kumar, executive director, South Asia, Affle India Pvt. Ltd, a mobile VAS company that offers a platform for mobile advertising called SMS 2.0.

To be sure, change is afoot. Hungama is exploring new avenues of bringing content to consumers, such as embedding movies on the mobile by working with handset manufacturers. “We are also looking at a movie store front, where consumers can directly download movies on to their handsets, as well as on-demand services such as live download of TV shows,” says Neeraj Roy, managing director and chief executive officer, Hungama.

Two primary factors are driving this trend. First, as mobile devices come with increased memory—for instance, the Nokia N97 released in May comes with 32GB of primary storage—there is more space to embed games, movies, music and utility applications on the handset itself. “Even a year ago, a developer had to work within a limit of, say, half an MB (1,024MB makes one GB) for a mobile application. Now that limitation does not exist,” says Ankur Srivastava, chief executive, MobiMonster 2.0, a New Delhi-based start-up that has built a series of mobile applications, including a language translator, flight scheduling services information provider and SMS timer.

Second, as Internet connectivity on the mobile increases with India moving closer to a 3G (third generation mobile services) environment, the ability to stream content directly on to the handset will see a spurt in new offerings, though experts say consumers will have to wait for some time for full-service television on the mobile.

“Mobile TV is very dependent on 3G networks being deployed. So, while it sounds exciting, it probably is several years away,” cautions mChek’s Swamy.

Device manufacturers are responding to this shift by reaching out directly to consumers with retail options of their own. In May, Nokia India Pvt. Ltd unveiled the Ovi Store, an online Internet store where users can download applications such as NDTV Active, India Today widget and CNBC widget to access news, Smart Yoga and FitCal on fitness modules, besides applications for sports news and mobile games from Krishcricket.com, and specific widgets for weather update alerts, searches and flight schedule information.

Last-mile connectivity: Arvind Rao, CEO, OnMobile Global.

Other device manufacturers, such as Apple Inc. with its App Store and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB with its PlayNow Arena services, also offer a range of applications that users can selectively download for use on their handsets directly.

“We have been on the App Store since July 2008 and users from 105 countries have downloaded our application till now,” says Apoorva Ruparel, co-founder and vice-president, marketing, AirMe Inc., a start-up which has developed a mobile application that allows users to instantly upload their pictures on social networking sites such as Flickr.com, Facebook.com, Photobucket.com, Picasa.google.com and Twitter.com.

It is traffic such as this that device manufacturers hope will help break the stranglehold of telecom companies on the VAS market. “The Ovi store has transformed the go-to-market strategy,” says Kenny Mathers, head of developer relations, Forum Nokia, Apac. Forum Nokia is a platform launched by Nokia to support developers who work on mobile technology and applications. For example, VAS developers such as MobiMonster build applications for Nokia devices that are then hosted on Ovi Store.

Industry watchers, however, reckon that it will take time for this shift to actually take place. “From a carrier perspective, with a teledensity of 37% and 450 million users today, the focus for the next two-three years will be greater customer acquisition as we inch up to 750 million mobile subscribers,” says Roy of Hungama, who adds that the Indian mobile market will grow on two parallel tracks, with one segment focusing on VAS directly reaching consumers, while telecom companies focus on new connections. “We must remember that in parts of India, a customer is delighted that he can just talk.”

To straddle these two worlds, content providers such as Hungama will offer subscription-based services that will be billed through the operator where, for instance, consumers can download unlimited music for a monthly fee of Rs149.

Alongside innovative pricing, mobile advertising is also expected to provide a fillip to the growth of the VAS market. “In 2008, the mobile advertising segment was valued at Rs50 crore, and in 2009, it is expected to reach Rs60-70 crore,” says Vinod Thadani, regional mobile director, GroupM Interaction, India and South Asia. Clearly, just talk is out—the mobile handset will now entertain, inform and define your leisure time as well.

Digital directory | Online consumer trends for June

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:18:00 GMT

When it is about World Wide Web, Google is the king in popularity ratings this June.

Also See Digital Directory (Graphics)

Graphics by Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint

Talent hunt | Many to pick from, few to pick

Deepak Malkani — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:00:00 GMT

It is often said that India is faced with a “talent paradox”. While jobs are growing at a faster rate than the population, unemployment is also growing. The dual problem of unemployment and talent scarcity presents governments and employers with a human resource paradox: tackling a talent shortage in the midst of plenty.

Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint

Much has been written about India’s demographic dividend—a rise in the rate of economic growth due to a rising share of working-age people in the population. India has one of the youngest populations in the world. The working-age population grew from around 593 million in 2001 to 671 million in 2006, increasing by an average of 15 million a year.

Yet, while demographics indicate a healthy supply of working-age people in India, there exists a significant skill deficit. This talent shortage stems from employability practices that are often focused on simply conferring qualifications on individuals while the ability to perform a job or contribute in the workplace is seldom taught. The quality of education has also been a challenge with understaffed schools and high student-teacher ratios, especially in rural areas.

While the downturn has put the brakes on the rapidly growing demand for talent in India, there are still a number of emerging industries that continue to spur demand for new skills. The Indian insurance industry, for example, will need almost four million sales professionals (agents and company sales force) over the next three-five years. And organized healthcare and retail are sectors simmering for a take-off.

In this context, the ability to identify the right sources of talent and acquire that talent cost-effectively can be a source of tremendous competitive advantage for businesses. Recent research and our experiences with Indian companies point to many innovative strategies.

A forward-looking strategy is to develop talent in those Indian states that will supply a significant portion of the national workforce in the future. According to research conducted by Accenture India to analyse the talent- supply landscape of India, only four states—Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, states with the least developed infrastructure and economies—will supply the largest proportion of the additional workforce by 2026, at least 60% of the projected 175 million. This has tremendous relevance, not only for governments and policymakers, but also for businesses that can source from these lower-cost talent pools by investing in advanced educational and training infrastructures in these states.

Some organizations are undertaking programmes to train the workforce themselves. For example, a leading metals conglomerate determined that it would need significant captive power capacities to support its exponential growth aspirations, but would face a severe shortage of qualified electrical engineers. It is investing in state-of-the-art power training institutes in the vicinity of its assets to develop high-quality engineering talent, custom- trained and oriented to its needs. Such examples now abound in India.

Also Read Optimizing operations | It’s time to turn flab into muscle

Some companies are now looking for talent beyond the traditionally accepted workforce demographics and experimenting with new types of diversity in the workforce, including gender, age and employment models. Gender diversity, sorely lacking in Indian companies, particularly at senior levels, is finding greater advocacy. The “second career” model, an interesting internship programme initiated by one of India’s largest business groups, targets qualified women in their 30s who have taken a break in their careers, typically for marriage and raising children, but who find themselves at a stage where a second shot at a professional career is an attractive value proposition. Providing this segment of the workforce, which has flexible work-life balance issues, with job opportunities can contribute to a high level of commitment, engagement and retention.

Another workforce segment that presents untapped potential is senior citizens who very often are physically fit to continue careers, but lack the skills relevant to new sectors. A unique initiative by a leading national retailer deployed senior citizens rather than young college graduates as cashiers in stores. This organization found the senior workforce to be far more cost-effective, more loyal and demonstrating a higher quality work ethic, factors that eventually contributed positively to its output. In fact, the world’s largest home improvement speciality retailer, Home Depot Inc., specializes in recruiting senior citizens or people older than 50 years who are experienced plumbers, electricians or general contractors.

Many traditional organizations have found they need to change their old models of recruitment, which looked primarily at sourcing talent from competitors in the same industry. As the engineering industry loses talent to the information technology, or IT, sector and consumer goods and pharmaceuticals lose trained sales force to emerging sectors such as insurance and telecommunications, these organizations find that they too must adjust their model for sourcing talent.

Talent, in fact, operates in a borderless world. An interesting example comes from the insurance industry, where private insurers are battling to recruit the best insurance sales agents and officers who will help them gain share in this rapidly growing market. One private insurer has devised many innovative approaches— from creating a “talent map” of potential supply pools across industries and cities to targeting sources such as online networking sites and existing social networks, for example, kitty parties— which have the critical competency level for success as an insurance salesperson: the “ability to connect and influence”.

Infusing new talent in an organization is about more than just “recruitment”. It needs an understanding of mindsets and motivations of different workforce segments. It is about developing a talent strategy that increases productivity and enhances engagement and retention. As organizations emerge from the downturn, the competition for talent will only get more fierce. This is an opportune time for organizations to get a deep insight into India’s talent demographics and fundamentally rethink their talent sourcing strategies. This could make the crucial difference between average performers and winners.

This is the third in a five-part series on innovative talent management. The series looks at various facets in the human performance process that need to be worked upon by companies to turn the economic crisis into an opportunity.

Deepak Malkani is a partner with Accenture India and leads the talent and organization performance practice. He is based in the company’s Mumbai office.

—feedback @livemint.com

Channel war | Making sense of business news

Rahul Sharma — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:55:00 GMT

The battle for one of the smallest territories on the Indian television landscape seems to have taken a serious turn. The launch of ET Now, the English business news channel by Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, or BCCL, the largest media company in the country, is causing more than a stir in a genre that has had a minuscule share in the total television viewership, as well as the advertising pie. English business news channels currently account for 0.2% of the total viewership and have a 2% share in the total television advertising revenue.

Serious contender: We think there is an opportunity here, says Chintamani Rao, chief executive officer, Times Global Broadcasting Corp. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint

ET Now entered a space that was already a bit crowded with three players—CNBC TV18, NDTV Profit and UTVi. CNBC TV18 belongs to Television Eighteen India Ltd, or TV18, one of the most aggressive news broadcast companies in the country, while NDTV Profit is run by New Delhi Television Ltd, one of the oldest television news operators. Launched in 2008, UTVi, promoted by Ronnie Screwvala, managing director and founder CEO, UTV Software Communications Ltd, was the last entrant into the space before ET Now made its debut on 22 June. Besides these, there are two Hindi business news channels—Zee Business, owned by Essel Group-promoted Zee News Ltd, and CNBC Awaaz, run by TV18.

Six business news channels in a country where a very small percentage of the population reads financial dailies or dabbles in financial markets is, indeed, surprising. According to Invest India Economic Foundation Pvt. Ltd, a Gurgaon-based independent financial policy think tank, only 0.75% of the country’s total population trades in stocks of any kind. According to the latest Indian Readership Survey, readership of business publications in the country is only 0.85% of the total readership of all dailies.

In the US, the world’s largest economy, there are three 24-hour business news channels—CNBC (which has a content partnership with TV18 in India), owned and managed by NBC Universal Inc., the broadcasting arm of General Electric Co.; Fox Business Network, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.; and Bloomberg TV, owned by Bloomberg Lp.

Hidden opportunity

“Yes, business channels have a small share. But we think there is an opportunity here,” says Chintamani Rao, chief executive officer, Times Global Broadcasting Corp. Ltd, the BCCL arm that oversees its television business. “There is only one channel that is having the major share. And there lies the opportunity.” (BCCL, the publisher of the largest read English daily in the country, The Times of India, and the business daily, The Economic Times, competes with HT Media Ltd, which publishes Hindustan Times and Mint.)

To be sure, the English business news space on television has been led by CNBC TV18 for around a decade. Launched in 1999, the channel had a monopoly in the space till NDTV Profit was launched in 2005. Even after the entry of a rival, the channel has enjoyed at least a 60% share in English business news viewership. According to television audience measurement and rating agency TAM Media Research Pvt. Ltd, the channel had a viewership share of 69% for May. The channel declined to comment for this story.

NDTV Profit, despite a strong parentage in NDTV, one of the earliest and successful news operators in the country, has not been able to dent CNBC TV18’s position. In May, the channel’s viewership share was 27%, while UTVi was a distant third at 4%.

Screwvala had argued in the same vein as Rao while launching UTVi a year ago. In a space where the market leader accounts for at least 50% share, there is definitely a need for a serious contender, he had said. So far, though, UTVi’s story has not been too inspiring.

ET Now’s confidence stems partly from the leadership position and brand strength of The Economic Times. The business daily, according to the first round of the Indian Readership Survey 2009, had an average issue readership, or AIR, of 783,000. Mint, which was launched in 2007, is at No. 2, with an AIR of 175,000, followed by others such as Business Standard, The Financial Express and The Hindu Business Line.

Rao says ET Now will leverage the strength of The Economic Times to compete with CNBC TV18. The news channel and the newspaper are already said to be operating at an integrated level, sharing their staff and other resources (CNBC-TV18 has a content partnership with Mint).

More of the same

Despite a strong partner in The Economic Times, most media experts say the channel will have to churn out differentiated content to take away viewership from other channels. Even its rivals will have to do the same to make sure their viewers don’t jump fences. “More choice is better for the viewer. But each network will have to find its own differentiator. If all four do more of the same, they will be crowding out the space,” says Shivnath Thukral, managing editor, NDTV Profit.

The entry of new channels has expanded the market. In 2004, when there were only two business news channels—CNBC TV18 and Zee Business—the genre accounted for only 0.1% of the total television viewership. This expanded to 0.5% by 2008. Lynn de Souza, chairman and group CEO of media agency Lintas Media Group, points to the entry of Colors in the general entertainment channel, or GEC, category that not only ate into the share of competitors but also helped expand the overall pie.

According to viewership data analysed by Mumbai-based audience measurement firm Audience Measurement Analytics Ltd, ET Now was running neck and neck with UTVi in the first two weeks after its launch. The two channels had a 14.3% share each in the total business channel viewership pie, while NDTV Profit had 28.6%. By the third week, that is the week ended 9 July, the viewership share of ET Now had declined marginally to 12.5%. What is interesting to note is that in the week preceding ET Now’s launch, CNBC TV18 had a 50% share, which dropped to 42.8% in the subsequent two weeks. In the week ended 9 July, CNBC TV18 regained its 50% share. Data suggests that the impact is being felt more by NDTV Profit and UTVi.

“If the new channel is able to tap into the latent needs of the viewer, offer something additional, something different than other channels, then the overall pie grows. It all depends on how the channel is packaged and marketed,” says de Souza. Punitha Arumugam, group head of communications company Madison Media Inc., an arm of Mumbai-based marketing communications group Madison Communications Pvt. Ltd, agrees with de Souza. “This is likely to be the case, unless the market gets overly cluttered. But I am not sure whether this would translate into a bigger advertising pie,” she says.

Money matters

The total advertisement spending on business news channels, according to Madison Media’s estimates, is about Rs150-175 crore. The bulk of this goes to CNBC TV18. This is what ET Now seems to be eyeing. “There is one dominant market leader and no one has challenged it effectively,” says Rao.

The television news business has been quite challenging for most operators so far. The situation got compounded recently because of the slowdown in the economy. In the year ended March, TV18 reported a net loss of Rs177.82 crore compared with a net profit of Rs6.02 crore a year before. NDTV Ltd recorded a net profit of Rs119.83 crore compared with a net loss of Rs185.65 crore, but this was mainly on account of a stake sale in one of its subsidiaries for Rs642.54 crore that helped in countering the loss of Rs520.02 crore.

Due to intense competition and limited viewership in comparison with other bigger genres such as general entertainment, films or sports, news channels are not able to command high advertising rates. A 10-second ad spot on a GEC could cost anywhere between Rs20,000 and Rs60,000 compared with English news channels that command between Rs3,000 and Rs3,200 for the same duration.

Though ad rates on business channels hover more or less around the same level as general news channels, the former are able to attract premium brands more easily, say media buyers. Along with corporate ads, business news channels have their own dedicated set of advertisers such as banks and financial institutions, insurance companies and brokerage firms.

ET Now, point out some media buyers, has an added advantage. The channel can tap into the extensive and robust advertiser base of The Economic Times. “It will be logical I guess at some point of time or other for them to bring (that) in. There are synergies and today this concept of integration is working,” says Anita Nayyar, CEO, Media Planning Group, India and South Asia, a media buying firm.

To be sure, a similar effort by The Times of India and Times Now, the news channel from BCCL, did not work too well.

A strong distribution network is another issue that ET Now will have to ensure before it attempts to shake the market leader’s position. “Distribution is difficult because a large portion of it is analog cable which is semi-disorganized. So you have to negotiate market by market, city by city and player by player. And obviously, the question of carriage fee that tends to eat up a lot of resources,” says Jehil Thakkar, head, media and entertainment practice, KPMG, a consultancy firm. Among the DTH operators, ET Now has been able to tie up with only Airtel DTH Service as of now.

Although most media experts see CNBC TV18 and ET Now as the two main contenders in the fight for eyeballs in the English business news space, smaller channels are not ready to give up the fight as yet. “Success in TV business is dependent on what you do onscreen. You may be backed by the biggest brand, but the battle has to be fought with content on the small screen,” says Govindraj Ethiraj, editor-in-chief, UTVi.

“It’s a long-term game. We don’t believe in reaction. We have a proper strategy to go by the viewers’ expectations and not by the competition,” adds Thukral.

rahul.s@livemint.com

Pond’s White Beauty campaign | Getting noticed by being on the spot

Priyanka Mehra — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:54:00 GMT

Company: Hindustan Unilever Ltd

Brand: Pond’s

Campaign: Pond’s White Beauty

Target audience: Women in the 18-30 age group

Agency: OgilvyAction, the outdoor advertising arm of Ogilvy and Mather India Pvt. Ltd

What they did: The Hindustan Unilever Ltd, or HUL, team wanted an outdoor campaign that could best convey Pond’s White Beauty’s brand proposition. The company already had a television commercial, or TVC, running that showed an artist painting a woman’s portrait. With each passing day as she used Pond’s, the artist corrected the blemishes in the portrait. After seven days, the woman’s face in the portrait was spotless.

The outdoor campaign had to complement the TVC, visibly reflect the cream’s action and show the audience the difference after seven days.

Therefore, in HUL’s brief to Ogilvy, the brand proposition was highlighted clearly. “The brief was to adapt the message to the medium by executing the outdoor creative innovatively to bring alive the proposition of ‘reduces dark spots and lightens skin in just seven days’,” says a company spokesperson.

With this objective, OgilvyAction came up with the idea of using eight kiosks placed on consecutive street lamp posts, with a picture of a woman’s face imprinted on the first seven. On the first, representing Day 1, the woman’s face would have blemishes and dark spots. The next kiosk, representing Day 2, would have fewer spots—and so on. On Day 7, she would be seen with no spots, visibly lighter skin and being proposed to.

The last kiosk would show the product, brand name and offering.

How they did it: After many brainstorming sessions, the agency decided to run a teaser campaign in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore. The campaign showed a big spot on a hoarding covering most of a model’s face. The copy read, Spots always get noticed. This was later revealed to showcase the model’s face with a glowing complexion.

In May, the kiosk initiative was activated in Mumbai’s high-traffic locations, such as the Juhu SNDT stretch, Fame Adlabs stretch on Link Road (Andheri), two stretches on Marine Drive, Worli’s Century Bazaar and Poonam Chambers. About 48 kiosks were used.

The campaign primarily used kiosks, supported by a couple of innovative billboards at bus shelters, centre medians and mall facades. “Kiosks are generally used as salience builders (enhancing parts of a larger campaign), but if the creative idea lends itself to storytelling, then kiosks can be used effectively. Hence, kiosks were chosen as an apt medium to convey the message,” said Nabendu Bhattacharyya, president, OgilvyAction, in an email.

The agency introduced lighting on the back of kiosks to achieve the right glow and cream impact. The campaign ran for approximately five weeks, till end-June.

The result: The agency says that since the campaign has just ended, the dipstick survey that measures approximately how many eyeballs the kiosks generated has not yet been gathered. However, Bhattacharyya claims that the feedback from HUL, the media and consumers spoken to, has been positive.

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What the experts say:“What happens usually is (that) brands use stills of their television commercials or duplicate their print ads as their outdoor campaign, and this is not always a good idea because every medium has a purpose, and unless this purpose is utilized appropriately, the whole idea behind the ad is lost,” says Harish Bijoor, chief executive officer, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc., a marketing consultancy firm.

“This is something which differentiates the Pond’s campaign because they have used the outdoor medium as a medium and the whole campaign plays out beautifully and effectively,” he adds.

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Harish Bahl | Getting bigger in a time of slowdown

Priyanka Mehra — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:54:00 GMT

Even as most businesses across the globe have been affected by the current financial crisis, Smile Interactive Technologies Group, or SITG, a company that runs multiple verticals in the digital space, is making the most of the market scenario to expand its operations. “Of course we have been impacted by recession… We’ve gotten bigger,” says Harish Bahl, founder and chief executive officer, SITG.

Harish Bahl. Ramesh Pathania / Mint

The $24 million (around Rs116 crore) company has grown approximately 50% year-on-year and is now in the process of adding a pharmaceutical vertical to its kitty of six companies, comprising Quasar Media Pvt. Ltd, a marketing agency in which WPP Digital (the digital investment arm of communications services conglomerate WPP Group Plc.) has a 75% stake, Tyroo Media Pvt. Ltd (a digital advertising network in which Yahoo Inc. picked up a stake in 2007), Zoomtra.com, a travel search engine, Zumtra, a travel technology company, Creons Advertising Pvt. Ltd, a retail solutions company, and StudioSmile, a digital business development company.

In an interview, Bahl talks about the current trends in the online space and SITG’s plans. Edited excerpts:

What key trends do you see in the digital space in India? How is it different from other countries?

There are 40-50 million Internet users in India, which makes us among the top five countries in terms of Internet population. Even the growth in the industry has been phenomenal, at 25-30% year-on-year, yet the penetration is still only about 4% in India. So there is still a lot of room to grow.

However, India’s poor digital infrastructure and low credit card penetration slows the growth rate for the industry. And unlike most other countries, we are not a do-it-yourself culture but have an assisted culture, where we like others to do things for us. So our use of the Internet is still primarily restricted to travel, matrimony and jobs. And things such as paying bills online, shopping and using the Internet to manage everyday activities are yet to catch up.

Hence, one of the biggest trends we see online right now is the localization of business models to suit Indian consumers. So what works for, say, a financial company in the US will probably be a lot simpler and basic in nature in India, so the end user does not get confused or, for that matter, suspicious.

One of the biggest trends we see online right now is the localization of business models to suit Indian consumers.

Also, there is a huge opportunity for international businesses to have an online presence in India, and since India is better off than most other countries economically, we are increasingly seeing companies using the online platform to test how well or poorly the country responds to the particular firm’s services or goods.

How has the economic slowdown affected the online space? How has SITG coped with it?

The digital platform has done relatively well for itself and has actually benefited from the slowdown due to the shift in advertising spending by marketers from traditional to digital platforms.

At SITG, our ventures have been driven by the belief that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg where digital entrepreneurship is concerned in India. The Internet is opening up to many new verticals and, especially now, with all eyes on India, the story has just begun for the industry. Of course we have been impacted by recession… We’ve gotten bigger. However, I would be lying if I said the slowdown has not impacted us because it has made us take a look at our operations internally, make certain changes to our business models, so that our businesses are more relevant to current times.

This is not the first time we are facing such market conditions. When SITG first started, we dealt with the dotcom bust in the early 2000s but as a start-up, we saw this as an opportunity and we focused on the groundwork, which included hiring talent and building proprietary tools. This time around, too, we and the many start-ups in this space will be doing the same, so users will see new ventures and new initiatives cropping up.

What are SITG’s plans for the near future? What are the new areas that you plan to get into?

We still believe that we have one business, which is the digital incubation business, because our primary focus is to promote entrepreneurship in the digital space. So we are looking at several diverse opportunities.

Given the current market condition, when the marketing budgets of nearly every company in the world are under pressure, we have begun focusing very strongly on digital production offshoring, which basically means we aim to become the global production hub for advertising in the digital space for international companies. We have already started work with some big companies in the telecom and travel sectors and one major media house (Bahl declined to name these companies). We are also in the process of pitching to five more clients. The work will be done from our digital marketing arm Quasar, where we have increased the headcount by nearly 40% already to deal with the increased workload.

Secondly, we are venturing into the healthcare segment, where we plan to offer healthcare services online in association with partners offline or on the ground. We have already made significant investments in this venture and are looking to tie up with venture capital firms for further funding. This project is likely to be launched in the next two months.

Apart from these plans, we are constantly investing in what we call incubation programmes and have put in as much as $10 million for some new businesses that are in the pipeline, which we can’t discuss just yet.

We are also looking at expanding our global footprint and have already begun to do so in Africa, where we are trying to set up a physical presence by tying up with local businesses.

Digital drive | The Net effect

Priyanka Mehra — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:45:00 GMT

In a slowing economy where marketeers are cutting back on ad spending and revenues of traditional media platforms such as television and print are suffering, emerging media such as the Internet and mobile phones, which are comparatively more economical, are gaining momentum, benefiting from residual marketing budgets.

According to the just-released Digital Media Outlook 2009, a report on the digital media industry that surveyed the top 445 advertisers in India, 2009-10 will see a 10% drop in spending on traditional media, while online spending will increase by 44%. The advertisers surveyed account for nearly two-thirds of the country’s at least Rs19,000 crore advertising industry as of 2008.

“Many consider 2009 to be the year when digital (media) finally gets the spotlight in the $4 billion (around Rs19,400 crore) Indian advertising and marketing space,” says Sidharth Rao, chief executive officer, Webchutney Studio Pvt. Ltd, the digital marketing agency that collated the report along with JuxtConsult, an online research consultancy. JuxtConsult was Webchutney’s knowledge partner for the report.

The study was conducted between December and March and detailed interviews were carried out with marketeers, typically middle-level executives, 13% of them being brand heads, 15%, marketing and communication heads, and 72%, marketing heads.

The report says that the Internet, with its estimated 47 million user base in India, is gradually being recognized as an efficient medium for advertising because of its ability to “engage” with audiences directly. Given its measurability, it is increasingly being recognized as a more accountable medium.

Still, there are big advertisers, such as consumer goods companies, that have so far remained sceptical about its usefulness, largely because of its limited reach. Internet’s low penetration level at 4.2% (compared with television and print media’s penetration levels at around 50% and 20%, respectively) has limited its scope as a primary medium of choice for many advertisers.

The Digital Media Outlook 2009 report says that even though the number of advertisers using the medium has increased in the past few years, the allocation of online expenditure was no more than 5.4% of overall budgets in 2008-09.

The report notes that the purpose and role of the Internet as a medium of marketing and communication can become more relevant and potent if one also realizes that the ultimate aim of any communication is not just to “reach the consumer”, but to stay on “top of mind”. The report says any medium which offers selective targeting of consumers, talks to them at the right time and in context, and also engages and interacts with them, must play a primary role, rather than a peripheral one, in any modern-day, integrated marketing and communication plan.

It notes that advertisers have begun to appreciate these factors and many advertising segments are likely to see a spike in online spending this year. Online spending by consumer goods companies, for instance, is expected to increase by at least 300% in 2009-10 from Rs16 crore in 2008-09, it says.

For edited excerpts from the report and advertisers’ views, click below:

Keeping the Digital Promise (PDF)

Also Read Digital Media Outlook 2009 (Full Report)

Graphics by Ahmed Raza Khan / Mint

priyanka.m@livemint.com

Learning to lead | Use the crisis as a crucible

Deepak Malkani and Jayesh Pandey — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Experience is not what happens to a person; it’s what he or she does with it that matters—Aldous Huxley.

Discussions about leadership in business are too often limited to the role of a charismatic CEO at the helm of the organization. However, in modern, complex, global organizations, leadership is more a capability than a position. And in difficult economic times, companies need people at all levels to exhibit leadership behaviour, not just the CEO.

Deepak Malkani (left) and Jayesh Pandey.

As Indian organizations scale up and globalize, their need increases for a pipeline of future leaders whose competencies are aligned with the strategic agenda of the business. Against this backdrop, leadership development can indeed be an instrument that unleashes the untapped potential energy of an organization.

It is no exaggeration to say that today’s economic crisis is a leadership training and testing ground, under the most stressful conditions. Leading a team and an organization through this environment requires learning new rules and practising new behaviour and skills. Every organization must step up and use the current economic situation to test and develop its next generation of leadership. At the same time, it must also make sure it is looking after its current leaders, communicating with them and supporting them.

Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint

Recent research by our colleague Robert J. Thomas on the fundamental question of how men and women learn to lead provides some interesting insights on the opportunity to nurture more leaders during difficult economic times. Thomas’ decade-long study, interviewing successful leaders across the corporate world, sports, performing arts, non-profits and government, shows that what matters most in leadership development is not just innate capabilities or a sterling resume, but what one makes of experience. That is, when asked to describe the events or relationships through which they learnt how to lead, none of the accomplished executives in Thomas’ study mentioned an MBA programme or a formal leadership development workshop. Instead, they talked about the traumatic and unplanned events that challenged their identity and place in the world and their understanding of how people work.

The research termed these experiences “crucibles” after the vessel used by alchemists in ancient folklore to convert base metal to gold. Challenging economic times, as well as stretch objectives such as aggressive global growth, constitute crucibles for many individuals to grow as leaders. As Thomas writes, “The ability to find meaning and strength in adversity distinguishes leaders from non-leaders.”

One of India’s leading private sector utilities invested in a crucibles-based programme to aid in the development and grooming of its second level of leaders, and prepare them for their next roles. The continuous doing-reflecting loop enabled participants to develop new behaviour and dramatically improve performance. A deeper understanding of how their style, teaming and decision-making processes shaped their daily work outcomes has created significant business value through targeted action learning projects.

Leveraging leadership crucibles to transform talent can be a powerful approach to sustainable leadership development. Master sportsmen and performers hone their skills with practice, and this model applies to the workplace as well. To help leaders transform their crucible experiences into lessons that will make them more effective, Thomas developed the “personal learning strategy”. This tool offers practical, step-by-step guidance, complete with self assessments and exercises, so that leaders can understand how they learn best and extract more insight from their daily work and life experiences.

Based upon Thomas’ research, as well as our experience with corporations, the graph (see Elements of a leadership development process) outlines critical themes that form the basis of a sustainable and effective leadership development process.

Also Read Optimizing operations | It’s time to turn flab into muscle

Investing in leadership development initiatives, especially during a downturn, is often relegated to the back burner. However, using a “crucibles” approach ensures a return on investment. A pay-for-itself, project-based process ensures tangible returns on investment and in a longer time frame, works as a powerful hedge against future downturns.

One of India’s leading chemical companies implemented an experiential learning leadership programme focused on how leadership teams can be more effective. After expanding with global acquisitions, this organization faced a liquidity crisis as the global economy weakened. Building a more collaborative leadership team, getting rid of its silo mentality and improving decision making became a critical challenge for survival. We crafted a team-learning project that included the design and implementation of a long-term incentive plan for the group as a team.

Long-held biases had to be discarded, inter-departmental trade-offs approached with a new lens, and new behaviour that encouraged negotiation and optimization had to be practised. The leadership team emerged from this crucible with a distinctly different perspective and understanding of its role in the organization.

While organizations can neither teach people to lead nor compel them to aspire for greatness, they can provide an environment where leadership can develop and thrive. Leadership development challenges can be met by leveraging organizational history and turning crisis into opportunity. Organizations striving for success can find unique ways of creating powerful crucibles to convert talent into leadership gold.

This is the second in a five-part series on innovative talent management. The series looks at various facets in the human performance process that need to be worked upon by companies to turn the economic crisis into an opportunity.

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Telly tale

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:20:00 GMT

Campaign, in association with TAM Media Research Pvt Ltd, looks at key television and radio audience trends. We present the television viewership and radio audience share data for May.

The Trend (Graphics)

Marketing objective | Staying ‘more top of mind’

Sidharth Rao — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:19:00 GMT

The Webchutney Digital Media Outlook 2009 report highlights around 40% growth this fiscal for the digital industry. With close to 50 million users, matching the reach of the English print media in India, it has a measly 5.4% share of ad spending. But I continue to believe that it is the most misunderstood and underutilized medium.

Eyeball game: Sidharth Rao, Webchutney.

We at the agency often encounter the view from clients that Internet doesn’t give the kind of reach that television does. Indeed, but reaching more consumers can’t be an end in itself. “Staying more top of mind” among current users is any day a superior marketing and media objective than reaching a large consumer base. And that’s where the Internet fits in beautifully. It becomes all the more attractive because it’s a space where your competitor still is not there.

Any brand is better off being the most top of mind among 20% of the category consumers than being the fourth or the fifth recalled brand among 80% of the category consumers.

The irony of advertising on the Internet today is that despite most products being in the “replacement or repeat purchase category”, the segments that do not have penetration levels of more than 30% among online Indians, and would still have around 50% ad impressions going waste, are spending heavily on the Internet. The examples include consumer durables and the financial sector, among others. And categories such as soaps, shampoos, soft drinks or even chocolates that have 70-80% or more penetration among online Indians, and would have very little wastage of ad impressions, are not even looking at it.

My friends at JuxtConsult cite the “marketing telescope” analogy to describe advertisers’ approach towards the Internet. Whether an object looks bigger/nearer or smaller/distant depends on which side of the telescope one is looking from. For advertisers, if they look from the “reach” side of the telescope, they will see only 4% of Indians, or 11% of all urban consumers, online and hence, limited reach. But if they see it from the “staying more top of mind” side of the telescope, they will realize this limited reach translates into much more effective use of their spending and hence, a better return on investments.

The report Digital Media Outlook 2009 brings insights into the current rationale behind ad spending allocations, perceptions and misperceptions about the use of the Internet as a medium, and where the Indian digital industry is headed in 2009-10.

Sidharth Rao is co-founder and CEO of Webchutney.

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