2010 Revisited: Recap of the year's biggest happenings!
As the new year knocks on our door, Adgully thought of looking at the year 2010. With an insightful retrospection Adgully tries to recall the big ticket ventures and announcements and some trends across media.
The Idiot Box '10:
The 21 inches saw a lot glamour and glitz this year following some all time big celebrities hosting various shows. But the change in this male-dominated anchor space came in when Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra was announced to be the host for Khatron ke Khiladi 3 on Colors. Moreover the fit and good-looking anchor got the channel a 26% jump in ratings over the earlier season's TVR of 4.4%.
Following on close heels Sony Entertainment Channel (SET) made a big ticket announcement by launching Kaun Banega Crorepati -fourth season with Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan as its host. The show was a success for the channel and also got SET a deemed number three position for sometime in terms of Gross Rating Points (GRP) and Channel Share (CS).
However, two other reality formats running at the same time on two other channels had to face monitoring by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. On November 17th the government issued orders to Colors and Imagine to telecast Bigg Boss 4 and Rakhi ka Insaaf anytime between the 11pm and 5 am slot. The decisions were a result of a close monitoring of the channel, following which the I&B ministry thought it indulged in adult content. While Imagine announced that the timings for Rakhi ka Insaaf will be 11pm, Colors challenged the orders in the Bombay High Court. Post which the channel continued to telecast Bigg Boss 4 at 9 pm as the court stayed the order.
While the top players in the GEC space were battling it out to attract viewers by telecasting the same format of reality with variations in themes, the number 5 GEC was busy reporting growth by telecasting humour for the entire family. SAB, the channel which calls itself "India's only family comedy entertainment channel', reported almost a 500% growth in its viewership. The channel was also one of the first GECs in India to come out with a silent comedy format through its shows Gutur Gu and Malegaon ka Chintu.
Moreover first time on Indian television an entrepreneur was awarded a sum of Rs.5 crores for his/her skills and entrepreneurial qualities. In August this year, Bloomberg UTV, India's business news channel announced the launch of their new show THE PITCH with Boman Irani as its host. The show intended to identify potential entrepreneurs who have a commendable business idea.
One sport nation?:
Early this year in May the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Sahara India retained the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team for Rs.30.34 million per match till December 2013. India known for its cricket passion had another big announcement lined up when the Indian Cricket Team star Mahendra Singh Dhoni signed a two year deal worth Rs 200 crore with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes.
Post this, when CWG 2010 was being held in India, with the initial news of scams a lot of advertisers remained skeptical and stayed away from this International sports event. However, the Indian contingent performed extremely well, following which the sports marketing and talent management industry saw new non-cricket stars emerging. Moreover a lot of industrial names were seen partaking promoting various forms of games. In September, India's leading media and entertainment conglomerate Percept India and Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited , a steel and energy company, announced a joint venture to promote and popularize "Boxing' in the country. The venture showcased the first ever home grown Indoor Boxing Bouts called "Fight Night ' Lagaan Cup'.
Recently, Nimbus Sport entered into an agreement with the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) to conceptualize, stage and market an annual hockey league called "World Series Hockey" (the League), with the first edition scheduled to be launched in late 2011.
The biggest of all events was when Poultry giant Venky's became the first Indian company to own an English Premier League club when it took over Blackburn Rovers for USD 36.8 million. While closer home, Vijay Mallya stepped down as Director and Chairman of Mohun Bagan and reportedly passed on the baton to his son Sidhartha Mallya.
The Big Idea!:
The year 2010 was also the year of big ideas that ticked and about bigger trends enabling better efficiency. The big idea of the year was when Robinhood Pandey and Cheddi Singh made their presence felt in movie theatres across the country. An out and out masala movie, Dabangg became the second highest grossing film of all time within just two weeks of its release.
While Chulbul Pandey was being termed as "Bollywood's answer to Rajnikant", the small screen came alive with the very hummable tune of "We are the Blackberry Boys". The TVC came out with an ad jingle with simple lyrics and the unforgettable expressions by the actors in the ad. While the advertising industry was busy creating new magic out of old Bollywood tracks, this Vodafone ad for Blackberry stood apart from its contemporaries.
Talking about mobile phones, the medium of mobile phone and internet saw an important introduction. For the Telecom operators it was the big entry of 3G, the operators are looking at banking big on this service and experts say that 3G will also have a positive impact on the mobile advertising space. While for the web the important announcement was when IMRB international launched the brand new internet metric called WAM (Web Audience Measurement). The new metrics will look at providing more credibility to measuring the very dynamic medium of web.
Digital advertising also witnessed an important event this year and it being that Yahoo! India announced its first Yahoo! Big Idea Chair Awards. The awards which was earlier a part of Effies, starting this year will be a completely different award ceremony. The announcement came as an encouraging gesture for the digital advertising fraternity.
The other big idea of the year was when print reasserted its ability to put across an innovation and work as a great medium of advertising. Hindustan Times in June this year carried headlines which were changed to handwritten font, a concept created to match the USP of VW Phaeton, that of handcrafted luxury. Moreover, the same newspaper on 26th of November this year spread the message- "Let's do something that words cannot' on a supplement and also carried a tea light candle which was packed in to a big blue envelope with the newspaper.
However the most remembered of all print innovations of this year and probably the most unique of all was when a talking newspaper reached houses across the country. Volkswagen partnered with the Times of India and The Hindu for a nationwide communication on the launch of its new car Vento. The communication used the audio chip which was inserted to an additional supplement and when exposed to light it would play the promo for Vento. Calling it the "talking newspaper" the concept was worked on by DDB Mudra and the media duties was handled by Mediacom.
New avatars:
This year has seen a lot of brand revamps among the top players. Logos and brand identities have been altered to complement our vibrant growing nation. Agencies like Mudra, turning 30 this year, an impressive milestone in this domain have felt the need to change their look and identity. Madhukar Kamath, group chief executive officer and managing director, Mudra Group said, "The dancer's hands have been freed from the confines of the roundel; this is based on research that shows how a stroke is the starting point of anything new - it shows that you're free to invent, to be bold and aggressive. This brush stroke will now onwards serve as the red background on which the dancer's hands are placed," commenting on the logo change.
In the mobile sector, Airtel and Loop Mobile have undergone complete brand revamps and repositioning of the product. Loop mobile with its new brand change now sports the colour purple along with the new brand thought "Going for Great'. The whole project was extensively marketed. Airtel decided this year that it must have a better connect with the youth and rebranded itself in a youthful manner with a more stylish logo. Much talked about on social networking sites, Airtel won hearts across the nation with their campaign "endless goodbyes'.
Commenting on the brand change, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti airtel said, "Fifteen years ago Bharti airtel started its journey in India with a promise of delivering world class and affordable services. Today, as we expand on the global stage, this new brand identity gives us the opportunity to present a single, powerful and unified face to our customers, stakeholders and partners around the world. It reinforces our promise to deliver innovative services and a superior brand experience to our 200 million customers across Asia and Africa."
Star Plus also, on completing ten glorious years this year changed their logo in a significant way. The new logo is a ruby star which beckons viewers to enter the crystal world of Star Plus, making it come alive in their lives. Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India Pvt. Ltd. said, "It gives me great pleasure to announce the brand refresh for our flagship channel Star Plus. This is the first time in the history of television brands in India that a refresh has happened in such depth of detail, permeating to the core of its business. The overarching defining value of the refreshed Star Plus is Nayi soch †Fresh Perspectives, which will now reflect in everything Star Plus will do, from the point of creating content, to creating brand solutions for advertisers, to adding value to our distributors, stakeholders, employees, and reflecting in the way it lives its life & builds its business," on the change.
Discovery Travel & Living was replaced with a hipper, trendier and cooler avatar called TLC this year. The entire channel was rebranded to provide reinvigorate entertainment by offering a diverse range of high quality programmes from Discovery's vast gamut of content. "The launch of TLC reiterates our commitment towards our affiliates and advertisers by providing them with a valued platform to reach to their target audiences," said Rahul Johri, senior vice president & general manager, India, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacifi
MTV, the much loved youth icon also went through a rebranding process this year, with their new philosophy of connecting with the ever changing youth of the country beneath an underlying theme of Stay Raw. This change was required to complement the "in your face' attitude of today's generation and provide content to the same target audience but with a different approach to life.
It wasn't only media companies that felt like they needed a new avatar to be relevant in this year but even high quality scotch whiskey like VAT 69 and insurance companies like HDFC Life. Vat 69 was presented in a brand new bottle this year, carefully and specially designed. HDFC Standard Life on its tenth anniversary this year has changed the company brand's philosophy to HDFC Life after many successful years in the Indian life insurance industry. "Sar Utha ke Jiyo' takes a generation leap and it rebrands itself as "HDFC Life' in an attempt to feel younger and attract younger customers.
Meow FM which was targeted specifically at women was now bought over in this year by TV Today network and has been converted to Oye 104.8 FM in this year. With its new tag line Sabse Filmi, it created a whirlwind as it was inaugurated by Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor.
Aroon Purie, Chairman and Managing Director of TV Today Network said, "Radio is the next big thing and has rapidly emerged as an important media vehicle. Everyone says that it is a crowded market, however every market is crowded. I am sure our radio station will be entertaining and engaging and will gain traction with the consumer in quick time."
This year's changing avatars have all focused on the youth segment of the nation. Increasingly being aware that a country where more than half the population is under 25, it is only obvious that the youth are the crucial elements to drive the nation to its bright future.
Launch pad:
2010 saw an amazing number of launches and introductions in the market. The print world was blessed with a number of momentous launches like Conde Naste, Fortune, Lonely Planet and the like. With the introduction of these international magazines in India it only goes on to prove that the nation is being noticed at a global level and is considered to be a powerful emerging market.
Commenting on the launch of Lonely Planet, Tarun Rai, CEO, Worldwide Media, said "The Lonely Planet Magazine is going to set a new benchmark for travel magazines in India. With experience in travel of over 35 years and access to 365 travel writers across the world, no other magazine can offer the kind of advice that Lonely Planet Magazine can. In its pages you will find new destinations to travel to, as well as new things to do in familiar destinations. Take a subscription to the Lonely Planet Magazine. It's a small investment for a better holiday".
After Vogue and GQ, Condé Nast is the third title to be launched in India. It was positioned as "the ultimate luxury travel and lifestyle magazine for the well-heeled, global Indian," and was introduced as a bi-monthly.
US magazine Fortune by the Time Inc. that deals with news and current affairs had also hit the Indian stands this year. With these launches and other variations that happened this year in the print media, it only indicates that although multiple media formats are popular in this day and age; the print media is definitely here to stay, contrary to the naysayers. Everyone agrees that physically holding a newspaper or magazine is altogether a different and unchallenged experience. Further establishing this fact, Telegraph also launched its editions in Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam and Bihar earlier this year. Receiving tremendous success with these launches, Telegraph has tried to strengthen its eastern market.
Even the regional space has seen introductions in the market this year, with Pioneer Book Company's latest launch, Maajhi Saheli. "A lot of analysts have already anticipated that we are going to be number 1 since day one. Besides this market has a lot of scope since there is no serious competition," said Lalit Pahwa, Director, Pioneer Book Company
Following its new look and with a brand new logo and new tag line, "Stay Raw', MTV also extended its presence in the Indian market by launching a magazine -- MTV Noise Factory in a move to deliver beyond music and television.
Following print, 2010 also saw various television channels being introduced this year. Times Television Network has forayed into the English entertainment genre with the launch of English movie channel Movies Now. The channel will telecast in high definition (HD). Apart from this, with the partnership of BIG CBS, India has seen the launch of Big CBS Prime, a premium English general entertainment channel and has plans of two other channels Big CBS Spark and Big CBS Love in the new year.
2010 has been a very successful year for most companies with the introductions of many crucial players in the market.
Do you want a partner?
This year has seen a lot of partnerships and mergers with international players to further cement the rapport India shares in the global market.
The latter half of the year saw a major partnership deal with Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, part of Reliance ADAG, and CBS Studios International, a division of CBS to provide three main channels creating excitement with professionals in the domain.
Then a while after that, Madison India announced this year a 50-50 joint venture with the UK based creative agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB), with the aim of providing creative services to advertisers.
Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, said, "For a long time now we have been exploring various options to beef up our creative offering. We want to be more than just being Madison Media, and one very key focus area is obviously creative service. We thought we needed an external partner with a strong presence that could match Madison Media's reputation," commenting upon this partnership.
This year also saw Publicis Group signing an agreement to acquire a majority stake in 20:20 MEDIA and in its social media consulting firm 2020Social. Micromax, a complete home bred brand have established itself by being second biggest brand in the country amongst a cluttered market segment.
2010 has been tremendously positive and bright for the marketers and media professionals. This year has seen a number of launches and mergers in the print and television sphere. Reality shows and new entertainment soaps have mushroomed extensively this year along with pioneering innovations in advertisement and media. 2011 will begin on a positive note and hopefully it will surpass the success of this year and bring in revolutionary content and experiences. Here's wishing you all a very prosperous and a happy 2011. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com] & Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]
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