Everybody loves a good chase sequence.

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Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
August 16-31, 2018                                                                      Volume 7, Issue 5 ` 100

                                                                                                                  Advt
             Everybody
               loves a
             good chase
              sequence.
                   The Bihar Readership Report 2018 by Hansa Research Group
              ranked Dainik Bhaskar second in Bihar. And with a fast shrinking margin
               against the top, it’s only a matter of time before we raise another toast.

                                                  Dainik Bhaskar Group
    Source: The Bihar Readership Report July 2018, Hansa Research Group, 1Lac+ Towns.
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
DAINIK BHASKAR
    took just 6
 months to become
   No. 2 in Bihar.
                    Guess where we’re headed next?

                               Hansa Research Readership Report
                          Hindustan                                                 9.98 Lac readers
                          Dainik Bhaskar                                            9.11 Lac readers

The Bihar Readership Report 2018 by Hansa Research Group
ranked us second in Bihar. And with a fast shrinking margin against
the top, it’s only a matter of time before we raise another toast.                         Dainik Bhaskar Group

Source: The Bihar Readership Report July 2018, Hansa Research Group, 1Lac+ Towns.
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
August 16-31, 2018                                            Volume 7, Issue 5 ` 100

                                                           24
20
                                                           NOMARKS
                                                           New Look, New Plan
                                                           Nomarks reinvents itself as
                                                           a modern Ayurvedic brand.

                                                                                  22

                                                           INTERVIEW
                                                           Rajesh Ramakrishnan
                                                           Perfetti India’s new MD is
                                                           a ‘right-brain’ man.

  RAHUL JAUHARI                                NAVONIL                           12
  JOINT PRESIDENT                            CHATTERJEE
  REDIFFUSION                                     JOINT
                                              PRESIDENT
                                            REDIFFUSION

     ON ITS
                                                           VISTARA
                                                           Premium Offerings
                                                           When social media
                                                           influencers pitch in to help.

   OWN STEAM
An interview with Rahul Jauhari and Navonil Chatterjee,
                                                           PIZZA HUT
                                                           Taking a Hit
                                                           MOST VIEWED ADS
                                                           On the Campaign Trail
                                                                                     18

                                                                                     28
                                                           MOVEMENTS
 the recently elevated joint presidents of the suddenly,   Who’s Where?              30
           and finally, independent Rediffusion
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
EDITORIAL
                                                 This fortnight...                                                                                                                                                     Volume 7, Issue 5

                                                          T
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                EDITOR
                                                                                                                     his interview with Rediffusion’s newly appointed joint presidents Rahul                              Sreekant Khandekar
                                                                                                                     Jauhari and Navonil Chatterjee is special for many reasons. The chain of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              PUBLISHER
                August 16-31, 2018                                            Volume 7, Issue 5 ` 100          events that culminated in their elevation is noteworthy. For starters, the original                        Sreekant Khandekar

                20
                                                                           24                                  promoters of Rediffusion Diwan Arun Nanda and Ajit Balakrishnan bought back                                EXECUTIVE EDITOR
                                                                                                               the 40 per cent shares held in their company by Y&R and Dentsu, making it an                                 Ashwini Gangal
                                                                           NOMARKS
                                                                           New Look, New Plan                  independent outfit once again. That it happened just days ahead of Independence                            ASSOCIATE EDITOR
                                                                           Nomarks reinvents itself as
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Sunit Roy
                                                                                                               Day is a coincidence, of course. Earlier this year, Sir Martin Sorrell, who tried hard
                                                                           a modern Ayurvedic brand.

                                                                                                  22
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE
IN TER VIE W                                                                                                   to increase his stake in the agency over the years, stepped down as CEO of WPP.                               Andrias Kisku
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES
                                                                           INTERVIEW
                                                                           Rajesh Ramakrishnan

                                                                                                                   Then, the president of the agency Dhunji Wadia moved out, making room for
                                                                           Perfetti India’s new MD is

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Shubham Garg
                                                                           a ‘right-brain’ man.

                  RAHUL JAUHARI                                NAVONIL                           12
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            81301 66777 (M)
                                                                                                               Rahul and Navonil to step up and take on the additional mandate of running the
                  JOINT PRESIDENT                            CHATTERJEE
                  REDIFFUSION                                     JOINT
                                                              PRESIDENT
                                                            REDIFFUSION
                                                                                                               business. All eyes are on this creative-planning duo; in fact, sceptics are already                        Apoorv Kulshrestha
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           9873824700 (M)
                     ON ITS
                                                                           VISTARA

                                                                                                               taking about the absence of a business head. When I asked Rahul to react to this,
                                                                           Premium Offerings
                                                                           When social media
                                                                           influencers pitch in to help.                                                                                                                        Noida
                   OWN STEAM
                                                                           PIZZA HUT

                                                                                                               he recalled a conversation with Balki from many years back, which, when distilled
                                                                           Taking a Hit              11
                                                                           MOST VIEWED ADS
                                                                           On the Campaign Trail 12
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Nikhil Jhunjhunwala
                An interview with Rahul Jauhari and Navonil Chatterjee,    MOVEMENTS
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          9833371393 (M)
                 the recently elevated joint presidents of the suddenly,
                           and finally, independent Rediffusion
                                                                           Who’s Where?              29

                                                                                                               down to its core lesson is something to the tune of – the one whose ass is on the line                         Mumbai
                                                                                                               is the leader, regardless of the discipline he or she belongs to. Touché.                                   mktg@afaqs.com
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          MARKETING OFFICE
                                                                                                                   Rahul and Navonil patiently addressed similar questions, gleaned mostly from                      B 3, Ground Floor, Sector 4,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Noida -201301 Uttar Pradesh
                                                                                                               feedback I gathered from their peers in the industry before meeting them.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               MUMBAI
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     302, Makani Center, 3rd Floor,
                                                                                                                   I spent an hour with the men in the eye of the storm… and walked away feeling                     Off Linking Road, Bandra (W),
                                                                                                               calm. They’re affable, relatable and easy to talk to. They share a hard-to-miss                             Mumbai - 400050
                                                                                                               professional camaraderie – the kind that lets one complete, and rudely interrupt,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES
                                                                                                               the other’s sentences with a smile. My favourite part? They seem to have a sense of                     subscriptions@afaqs.com
                                                                                                               humour about everything that’s going on around them, the kind that’ll serve them
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Owned by Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd and
                                                                                                               well in the days ahead, as they do their best to make good on Arun Nanda’s brief                         Printed and published by
                                                                                                               to them:                                                                                                   Sreekant Khandekar,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar,
                                                                                                                  “Unfurl the flag again!”                                                                                New Delhi-110 063.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Printed at Artz and Printz
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         208 DSIDC Sheds,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Okhla Industrial Area,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Phase 1, New Delhi - 110020

                                                                                                                                                                               Ashwini Gangal
                                                                                                                                                                       ashwini.gangal@afaqs.com

               CONTENTS
                                                                                                           8
                                                                                                                                                                                                        26
                                                                                                                                                                                                        BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT
                                                                                                                                                                                                        A New Dimension
                                                                                                                                                                                                        How an F1 track became an ad
                                                                                                                                                                                                        film studio for car brands.

               INTERVIEW
                                                                                                                                                      6                                          10                            ERRATA
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Sapangeet Rajwant’s (head,
               Tarun Katial                                                                                                                                                                                       marketing & digital, Colors,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Viacom18) name was mis-
               ZEE5’s CEO believes                                                                                                                                                                                spelt in the contents page of
               that it is important to give                                                                                                                                                                      afaqsReporter’s CMO Special
               Indians a platform that has                                                                                                                                                                             (July 16-31, 2018).
               inherent advantages like                                                                           DAILYHUNT                                     INTERVIEW
               the convenience of viewing                                                                         Busting a Bias                                Arun Prakash                                         The error is regretted.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Editor
               a variety of content in a                                                                          The portal busts beliefs that                 VuClip’s president on the
               language of their choice.                                                                          English is more credible.                     brand’s ambitious plans.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8      5
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
DIGITAL
DAILYHUNT

Busting a Bias
In its latest ad film,                                                                                                                    like this exists. Getting back to the
                                                                                                                                          campaign, it did remind us of the days
Dailyhunt, a platform                                                                                                                     when we used to value an imported
for news in regional                                                                                                                      US or UK-made product more than
                                                                                                                                          Indian counterparts.
languages, busts the                                                                                                                         In the film, real achievers are
belief that English is                                                                                                                    coupled with impersonators. Both,
                                                                                                                                          the real and the fake speak on
more credible than                                                                                                                        stage, conveying the real person’s
vernacular language.                                                                                                                      achievements. While the real speaks
                                                                                                                                          in a native, vernacular tongue, the fake
By Abid Hussain Barlaskar                                                                                                                 speaks in English. Later, when asked, a

S
      ixteen hundred dialects, 30                                                                                                         significant part of the audience sitting
      widely spoken tongues and                                                                                                           off-stage, declared that they found
      22 official languages, that’s                                                                                                       the impersonators (English speakers)
where the digital market seems to                                                                                                         more convincing and credible.
be heading. A new ad campaign                 rooted in multiple realisations of biases                                                      Moreover, with ads, Dailyhunt and
‘#HarBhashaEqual’, by mobile-                 within society around or against local                                                      Inshorts, apart from turning out to be
based news aggregator Dailyhunt,              languages; the bias versus English.                                                         major platforms for content and news
tries to put more muscle behind the           “We’ve all had personal examples.                                                           consumption, might actually turn out
increasing shift towards vernacular           Many within our team, who are more                                                          to be a new segment of advertisers
content.                                      comfortable with the local language,                                                        themselves.”
    Even the print medium seems to            felt biased against as people have not
be riding the vernacular wave. While          taken them up with the same sense of                                                              CHALLENGES FOR AN
global trends suggest a decline in the        credibility, authority or achievement                                                         AGGREGATOR PLATFORM
circulation of newspapers in countries        because of their language,” Bedi states.                                                        “The challenge is not unique to
such as USA, UK and Australia, India              “The campaign aims at highlighting                                                      Dailyhunt and is two-fold — first, the
has seen a steady rise. According to the      our inbuilt bias for English and                                                            number of devices that are coming
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC-            against vernacular languages; it seeks                                                      into the market. There are about 350-
India), circulation increased from 3.91
crore copies to 6.28 crore between
                                              the support of India to seek linguistic
                                              equality within the country. I think
                                                                                                 “We are making                           400 million smartphones, which is
                                                                                                                                          growing by 30 per cent every year
2006 and 2016. Major growth was               that is really the essence behind the              a massive pivot                          and the internet in India is largely
clocked by vernacular mediums like            ‘Har Bhasha’ campaign.”                                                                     a mobile base. In a country of 1.2
Hindi, Telugu and Kannada among
                                                                                                  towards video                           billion, there are only 400 million
others.                                               BREAK DOWN OF                            content, redesigning                       smartphones. The smartphone
    Internet giants like Amazon and            DAILYHUNT’S READER BASE                                                                    growth has to happen even faster.
Google are doing their fair share too.           “In terms of Dailyhunt’s reader              the entire application                      The macro ecosystem challenge of
Amazon is busy teaching its virtual           base, we have over 100 million active           and heading towards                         adding more smartphones has to be
assistant, Alexa, Hindi and regional          readers. Of that, 60 million use the                                                        dealt with.
languages such as Tamil, Telugu,              app while the rest use our website.               a Dailyhunt 2.0.”                             Secondly, while the ecosystem
Kannada, Malayalam, and Punjabi.
Similarly, Google is also training
                                              English readers constitute less than 10
                                              per cent of our base.
                                                                                                  UMANG BEDI                              grows, we have to have more locally
                                                                                                                                          relevant content. People are interested
its Google Assistant to understand               Our reader base is in line with the                                                      in their local content, in their local
commands in vernacular languages.             linguistic distribution of the Indian              ROLE OF ADVERTISING                      languages.”
    A Google-KPMG report from                 population (1.2 billion people); 32 per       “We don’t do too much advertising.
2017 heavily stresses on a forecast           cent read Hindi which is spoken by            40 to 50 per cent of users come                          WHAT’S NEXT?
that the Indian-language internet-            530 million people. It’s followed by          organically, which means they come                “We are making a massive pivot
users are set to grow to a whopping           a cluster of South Indian languages           through instances like referrals from         towards video content, redesigning
534 million by 2021 at a growth rate          spoken by 250 million Indians. Next           friends and family or they come               the entire application and heading
                                                                                            through links on articles which people        towards a Dailyhunt 2.0. It fulfils our
    The campaign seeks the support of India to                                              might have shared.                            mission to be the largest Indic platform
    seek linguistic equality within the country.                                                It is easy to acquire users; it is very
                                                                                            hard to keep them on the platform.
                                                                                                                                          which is empowering the next billion
                                                                                                                                          Indians to socialise, discover and
of 18 per cent CAGR (compound                 are Marathi and Gujarati, spoken by           Our last ad, a TVC — Indians ka               consume content that is not only
annual growth rate). The report               150 million, followed by Bengali and          news ka daily dose (2017), was more           informational but also entertaining. It
further suggests that as a future trend,      Oriya, spoken by 100 million and              of an experiment. We haven’t really           has to span across multiple genres like
internet platforms will move towards          the rest includes languages such as           done any TV, outdoor, radio or                astrology, Bollywood, cricket, divinity,
content aggregation.                          Nepali, Bhojpuri and Urdu.                    print campaigns since. We are a tech          and lifestyle. Half of the content
   afaqs! Reporter spoke to Umang                 Our language portfolio already            platform; our focus is on AI and              consumption on Dailyhunt is news
Bedi, president, Dailyhunt (former            covers 1.1 billion of the total population.   machine learning which plays its role         and the rest is entertainment, lifestyle
MD, Facebook India and South                  We don’t see any new inclusion as of          in user retention.                            and sports. We are taking all of it and
Asia) to find out more about the              now. The average time spent, per daily            ‘#HarBhashaEqual’ is not about            adding video in the same flavours.
company and its latest campaign -             active user, is 25-30 minutes, more           driving traffic to Dailyhunt, it’s about      Video is pervasive and helps in crossing
‘#HarBhashaEqual’.                            than double the time spent on any             driving the right sense of awareness          barriers like language and literacy.” n
   In Bedi’s words, the campaign was          other platforms in our genre.”                within the ecosystem that an issue                           abid.barlaskar@afaqs.com

6    afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
DIGITAL
TARUN KATIAL

Candid Talk
afaqs! Reporter spoke to the chief executive officer
of ZEE5 about the content, strategy and
challenges of his VOD platform. By Suraj Ramnath

W
            hile Zee Entertainment             of opportunities and possibilities.”
            Enterprises announced,                In the past one year, OTT
            through a press release in         platforms like Amazon Prime came
May, that Tarun Katial (43) had been           up with shows such as Inside Edge,
roped in as chief executive officer for        Netflix with Sacred Games and now
it’s over the top (OTT) platform —             ZEE5 with Karenjit Kaur and people
Zee5, Katial has been involved in the          seem to like these Indian pieces of
planning and making of originals for           original content. afaqs! Reporter
the platform right from the end of             asked him if that’s the way ahead
2016, while the merger of Big FM               for a future where people will judge
was on-going.                                  a platform’s performance based on
    Katial was founder, chief operating        which one consistently gives them
officer and chief executive officer of         good, original content. He says, “I
Big FM from February 2006 up to                think the depth of the network,
May 2018. Prior to that, he worked             whether it is original with a great tech
with BTVI as a board member                    product with good data analytics and
for three years. Katial also worked            good recommendations, those would
with Sony Pictures Entertainment               be the key for any OTT platform.”
as business head and executive vice               Talking about the focus on regional
president, Sony Entertainment                  content, Katial says, “Language
Television. His impressive resume              content is one of our pillars. All
also includes work with Star TV,               data shows us that the new ‘Internet
Ogilvy & Mather and Enterprise                 Indian’ is coming into languages and       Pune... everywhere.”                      family. What else? “We are planning
Nexus Lowe                                     Indians are colloquially, very proud          Speaking about the challenges          to come up with a series of digital-
    Recently, ZEE5 launched a                  of their culture and languages. So,        for OTT and ZEE5, Katial says, “I         first movies. We will be rolling out
Marathi web-series called Liftman              that’s the point. We try and embody        think the major challenges will be to     a list of about 10 movies in the next
and prior to that the platform                 these cultures in the stories and in       work with great creators and build        one week; titles done by big Indian
launched a biopic — Karenjit Kaur:             their languages on our platform.           great stories. It will be important       directors which will be available only
The Untold Story of Sunny Leone.               Whether it is Tamil, Telegu, Bengali,      to continue innovating product and        on Zee5,” he says.
Very recently, the platform has                Marathi or Kannada, we are going to        tech. It will be important to use data        In the recent past, there has
also launched a Bengali original —             be focusing on all the big markets         to understand audiences. Those are        been a lot of conversation regarding
AranyaDeb, a story of Kolkata as               which have large cultures and sub-         our key tasks.”                           people raising issues about regulating
a city, in reality, and imagination            cultures.”                                    When asked what kind of content        digital content post the launch of
through the lives of two friends.                 While Netflix had already launched      subscribers of ZEE5 prefer to watch,      Sacred Games. Is it important for the
    According to a source, the OTT             ‘Mostly Sunny’ in the year 2016, we        he responds, “Films are a big hit along   government to do so? Katial responds,
platform is going to launch close to           asked Katial if he was apprehensive        with original series. We premiered        “I think self-regulation is the best
                                                                                          Padman, Veere di Wedding, Shaadi          way of regulating content. OTT is
    The OTT platform is going to launch close to                                          Me Zaroor Aana, and Parmanu and           a very personal medium and I don’t
                                                                                          they all worked wonderfully for us.       think, at this point in time, there is
         90 originals in the next one year.                                               Parmanu was a shared title between        any need to regulate the content.
90 originals in the next one year.             while making Karenjit Kaur and what        us and Netflix. Most of them are          The government has been very good
   While Katial refuses to confirm             kind of response it received.              exclusive, but this one was shared.”      about regulating content on TV and
or deny those numbers, he did speak                He says, “No, we were not at all          Currently, OTT is not a platform       it is self-regulation that works there
to us about the platform focusing              apprehensive. This was about a series      for the masses. But will the masses       as well. So, I don’t see a reason why it
on launching originals not only in             in its true form. I think Karenjit Kaur    pay for DTH and OTT? Katial says,         would be any other way.”
Hindi but in regional languages too            was a landmark show in India. I think      “Masses will make their own choices.          Now that Katial’s LinkedIn profile
and about the various challenges that          it was a first big biopic in a series      Indians have also grown in their per      shows that his involvement with Big
lay ahead.                                     format. It was also a show that had        capita income substantially and Urban     FM ended in May, we asked him
   Talking about his goal for ZEE5,            its own share of curiosity attached        India has the capacity to pay for it.     about the challenges he saw in radio
Katial says, “It’s very important that         to it because everyone knows Sunny         Channels have film premiers on TV;        and how different they are from
we give Indians a great platform               Leone the outcome, but no one knows        nevertheless, people go to theatres       OTT. “I think the challenges always
that has inherent advantages like the          Karenjit Kaur the person. Hence, the       and watch them. The proposition has       remain the same - how do you create
convenience of viewing a variety of            show was named Karenjit Kaur and           to be strong. If the content is strong,   excitement with consumers; how do
content in a language of their choice.         not Sunny Leone. We got an immense         people will pay for it.”                  you create new use cases and new
All of these are the attributes that we        response. We have seen all the ratings,       ZEE5 is soon coming up with            needs for consumers; how do you
bring to the table. Original content in        critics’ reviews and platform up-take,     a music-based reality web-series -        grow the pie; and how do you make
various languages, network content             all that has been unprecedented.           Lockdown - which is produced by           sure the content is marketed well.
at their own time and their own                Across markets, people have viewed         rapper Badshah. Apart from that, the      These are just some classic challenges
convenience shoulder content that is           the show right from Tamil Nadu to          platform is going to launch Akoori,       in a business,” he signs off. n
unseen on TV. So, it is a platform full        Chandigarh and from Guwahati to            a web-series based on a quirky Parsi                     suraj.ramnath@afaqs.com

8     afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
Everybody loves a good chase sequence.
INTERVIEW
 ARUN PRAKASH

 Installed in Minds
 V
           iu, a video-on-demand (VoD) service provider                                                          Vuclip believes that substance should come first
           by PCCW Media and Vuclip has a presence                                                               in the sequence with amplification later on.
           in more than 22 countries. The platform
 recently launched its originals in the Tamil Nadu (TN)                                                          How are you promoting the Tamil content
 market with content that includes Tamil originals and                                                           right now?
 short films, Korean dramas, and curated content for the                                                             We made our launch announcements through
 enjoyment of millennials in Tamil Nadu. In India, the                                                           above the line (ATL). Our general philosophy is
 platform has already launched 20 originals and will be                                                          that we drive a lot of organic growth. So a lot
 launching 20 more by the end of the year. Viu plans to                                                          of word of mouth. To me, that is a good way to
 launch around 95 originals in the next twelve months.                                                           let your content do the talking, but that alone
     Suraj Ramnath interviewed Arun Prakash,                                                                     won’t be enough. We do focus more on BTL
 president and chief operating officer, Vuclip, to                                                               and digital and only after we establish a steady
 understand the way forward for the platform in India,                                                           stream of an on-going habit, then we would do
 the focus on regional content and the challenges.                                                               an immense amount of ATL.
 Excerpts:                                                                                                           We won’t rule out promoting our new
                                                                                                                 content through the Tamil Nadu Premier
 Viu plans to launch 100 originals in Tamil                                                                      League (TNPL). There is a lot of potential in
 in the next three years. How do you plan to                                                                     the TN market on what we can do in terms of
 target the Hindi-speaking audience?                                                                             associations and creating content and there are a
     This year, we will have been done with                                                                      lot of interesting dialogues happening right now.
 programming 95 originals across all our markets.                                                                We just have to be focused because it is very easy
 It is a path we started on 18 months ago, a path          deal and who else have you partnered with?            to want to take part in everything... but we have
 we’re scaling because of all the learnings/data              We tie up with anybody who has a great story       to be focused.
 we have gathered after making originals in these          to tell. When we decide to make content, we let
 markets. Originals will be an important element           the content decide the format. We don’t get into      What are you doing in terms original content
 in all target markets.                                    the content deciding it will be a mini-series or      for Hindi-speaking markets (HSM)?
     Our strategy is based on local content,               a movie. A lot of people make the mistake of             We are and have been doing content for
 leadership teams, experience and pricing. We              the format dictating content. For Telugu, we          HSM and we will continue. I think we make
 will not spend all our time making and marketing          have tied up with Annapurna Studios. In Tamil         very unique content for these markets, not do
 just one piece of content... then the consumer            Nadu, we are talking to new content creators          the same that you see on TV.
 will watch it and uninstall the app. Our ambition         who have done content for youth.
 is to create a habit.                                                                                           Challenges for Viu and the OTT segment
                                                           Compared to the competitors, Viu is not               in India?
 What makes you think that the TN market                   visible in terms of advertising. Is that a               To not get caught in the hype-cycle. There is
 has matured enough to consume all 100                     planned move and if so, why?                          a massive amount of hype, much more than or
 originals that Viu is making?                                 This is exactly as planned. We would not like     several times more than any other country we
     We look at quite a few parameters. One of the         to change this. There are a couple of things -        are seeing. So, our first challenge is to make sure
 parameters is internet adoption. The second is            one, for India as a market, consumer adoption         we do not get caught in this noise and stay true
 the maturity of the consumer audience and their           of OTT is still in its very early stages. The hype-   and focused on what we are here to create. The
 taste and preference of what they are looking for.        cycles are way too much and the investment            second is that the industry has too many players.
 If the consumer is already satisfied with what’s          levels are also too high, which reminds me of         It creates a difficulty for them when it comes
 happening on television, why do you have to do            dotcoms. This is a bubble which is waiting to         to making content. They are making super-
 something different and new? But our data from            implode. A lot of people are creating a lot of        expensive content and I think that’s a challenge.
 TN tells us the opposite. The youngsters may be           hype when the consumer is just getting started           My belief is that in the next 3-5 years, this
 doing a lot more of passive viewing of TV. So,            on the journey. We are here to develop that           industry is in for a massive consolidation. The
 there is a tremendous opportunity to provide              consumer journey and we will develop along            reason I say this is because OTT is not a one-,
 content for the youth and that content doesn’t            with them.                                            two- or even a five-year game. It is a 10 year
 exist. It doesn’t exist in the form of any digital            The second point is - in developing the           plus game and it is not a near-term profitable
 platform or any mainstream TV platform; so                consumer journey, we focus first on substance.        game. You cannot become profitable overnight
 there is a vacuum and a hunger.                           You first have to show your value to customers.       in this business and overnight here is not even
     For example, if most households are being             Why should they even download an app on an            3-5 years. Third, it is not an inexpensive game.
 dominated by Sun TV, the youth don’t get the              on-going basis? Why shouldn’t they un-install         You need a massive amount of investment each
 kind of content they deserve. So, the entire              it? The journey has to be fully developed where       year to succeed.
 equation is created on the basis of that which            you earn a place as a habit in the consumer’s            There will be only a handful of players and
 doesn’t satisfy a lot of young audiences who are          mind and heart. Once there... you amplify.            we know who that handful will be and those
 left behind in terms of serving their common                  I am a firm believer of not getting caught        who are going to be left behind. Those left will
 needs. This then creates a massive opportunity            in market hype. Many companies make empty             be the ones with deep commitment and pockets
 for platforms like ours.                                  noise which means they put style first before         and have the expertise to play the game. Viu is
                                                           they even create the substance. Some companies        one of those in the handful and that comes from
 Viu had tied up with the likes of BBC and                 do both together - I will create substance and in     buying strength from PCCW and Vuclip.n
 Balaji Motion Pictures. Is it still an on-going           parallel, make a lot of noise. But a company like                               suraj.ramnath@afaqs.com

10   afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
ADVERTISING
VISTARA

Premium Offerings
The airline brand
markets its ‘premium
economy’ offering in
a set of digital films
that feature two social
media influencers.
By Deepashree Banerjee

T
         he last time we saw epicures
         Rocky Singh and Mayur
         Sharma in a brand film was
a few months back when they took
us on a tour inside Nestle’s factory.
Now, Vistara, a private airline and
joint venture between Tata Sons and
Singapore Airlines (SIA), has released
a bunch of digital films (we spotted
them on Twitter... and then we                 on these films. Interestingly, CEO of                                               films and tell what they think.
spotted the Twitter birds inside each          The Glitch, Pooja Jauhari, told us in                                                   Dubbing Rocky and Mayur as
film) in which the duo markets the             a 2016 chat about her clientele, “We                                                “fairly known faces”, Carlton D’Silva,
airline’s premium economy seats and            want to focus on getting an airline                                                 chief creative officer, Hungama
experience. The films are short, easy          brand on board.”                                                                    Digital Media, doesn’t, however, pin
to watch and light.                                About this Twitter-led campaign,                                                the performance of the campaign onto
    The objective of this digital              particularly the choice of Rocky and                                                their presence in it. He explains, “Had
campaign is to lure flyers to pick             Mayur as digital brand ambassadors,                                                 any other personality been featured,
Vistara’s premium economy seats                Saransh Agarwal, director, content                                                  the campaign would still work,” unless
when booking flight tickets. Better            strategy and business, The Glitch,                                                  of course the brand team chose to
elbow room, tastier coffee/food,               tells afaqs! Reporter, “They are a                                                  highlight the ‘chef aspect’ of the duo
shorter check-in queues, and extra             good fit for the brand and for the                                                  a bit more. About the media plan, he
baggage allowance, are some of the             creatives as well. I think, rather than                                             feels it makes sense to go digital when
perks the campaign talks about. But            just the ‘food critic’ angle, we needed                                             it comes to this category, because “the
what exactly is premium economy?               someone relatable, yet aspirational...         “With Vistara                        ROI is far greater this way — the
In the simplest terms, it’s a premium          someone funny enough to bring out           Premium Economy,                        brand’s core TG is online and can be
                                                                                                                                   targeted sharply, without any wastage
  The objective of the digital campaign is to lure                                            we were very                         of media monies... The films appear
 flyers to pick Vistara’s premium economy seats.                                             cognizant of the                      to target young, first-time travellers,
                                                                                                                                   skewed towards business travel.”
offering that, on the price spectrum,          the concept, yet one who has some             fact that people                          Nishi Kant, EVP and branch head,
sits cosily between economy and
business. Specifically, it costs about
                                               authority to be taken seriously by our
                                               audience. Also, the concept of the
                                                                                            would be happy to                      Dentsu Webchutney, likes the creative
                                                                                                                                   execution and overall treatment of the
twice as much as the economy fare              campaign needed a duo with the right       spend that extra bit as                  films. The campaign, according to
and half of the business fare.
    The target audience comprises
                                               kind of banter and chemistry between
                                               them...”
                                                                                            long as we’re able                     him, hits the bullseye on three fronts
                                                                                                                                   - choice of influencers, medium and
passengers who are dissatisfied with              The brand, he says, has a very             to highlight the                      creative tact, that is, humour. And
economy but find business class too
expensive, especially for short flights.
                                               “engaged bunch of followers”
                                               on Twitter, something that helped
                                                                                           plethora of benefits                    all through, the product stays at the
                                                                                                                                   centre of things. “Digital,” he reasons,
This passenger is the kind who is              matters when it came to the media           they get in return.”                    “is the first medium today’s customers
willing to pay a small premium for
a few frills, additional comfort and
                                               planning stage.
                                                  What makes the discount-driven,
                                                                                           SARANSH AGARWAL                         pick to express themselves, when it
                                                                                                                                   comes to brands and services... so this
personalised service.                          cashback-crazed, digital Indian                                                     is an intelligent platform to address
    During the launch of this                  — broadly deemed to be a stingy           the fact that people would be happy       the world on.”
premium economy programme,                     consumer/shopper — pay an extra           to spend that extra bit as long as            Rocky and Mayur are a personal
Rajeev Bansal (Taj SATS group chief            something for a little more comfort       we’re able to highlight the plethora of   favourite of Sidharth Gowda, strategy
culinary development chef) was on              on a flight? About ‘the psychology        benefits they get in return.”             head, content and brand solutions,
board a couple of flights (Mumbai to           of premium economy’ as it were,                                                     Zirca Digital Solutions, who says
Delhi and back), to interact with both         Agarwal adds, “To be fair, Indians are             SOARING HIGH?                    about the campaign, “I like how Vistara
business and premium economy class             not always stingy. We tend to go out         Does the campaign stand out amid       used them in more than just culinary
passengers and gauge their reaction to         of our way to make sure the money         the din of brand messages on Twitter?     videos. Using them as characters, as
the then newly-introduced menu.                we’re spending brings proportionate       Or does it add to the noise? afaqs!       opposed to as food critics, gives the
    The Glitch (digital agency recently        value to us. With Vistara Premium         Reporter asked three professionals in     ads a fresh dimension.” n
acquired by GroupM) has worked                 Economy, we were very cognizant of        the digital media space to watch the               deepashree.banerjee@afaqs.com

12    afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
INTERVIEW
 VINIL MATHEW

 Directing is Learning
 D
             irection is the only art form where you are                                                             effective and impactful work.
             dependent on everyone else to attain your
             vision,” says ad filmmaker Vinil Mathew.                                                                But don’t they all aspire to do that?
 Having helmed close to 300 ad films to date, he                                                                        Post digital, many want ‘cheap and fast work’.
 would know. Mathew (41) has a showreel panning                                                                      Campaigns don’t run that long anymore and
 segments and brands such as Nestle, Mondelez, HUL,                                                                  people are not investing in brand tonality - it’s
 Titan, Airtel, Vodafone, ToI and Vivo. Like the                                                                     all strategic, knee-jerk and reactive. Research
 new Cadbury TVC, his films are known to have an                                                                     guides decisions but it can’t be the only way.
 endearing quality with pitch-perfect emotions and subtle                                                            Ads have become a cost centre and not seen as
 humour underlined by storytelling that is unassuming.                                                               an investment. Sub-par, low creative is rampant.
     “It’s about a way that resonates with peoples’ lives,”                                                          You want to break through the noise but you end
 he says of his process. “I try to borrow from reality                                                               up adding to it.
 as much as I can. Bringing that in depends on your
 control of the craft,” he adds. The Cadbury film, in                                                                How do you stay true to your work and
 fact, was inspired by his sons. Mathew also feels that                                                              vision?
 as a Malayali boy raised in Delhi, his ‘pan-Indian                                                                      I like working with entrepreneurs, especially
 sensibilities’ help him understand nuances across Indian                                                            because of their emotional attachment to the
 sub-cultures. While Mathew loves scouting for fresh                                                                 brand. Sunil Mittal may have bounced some of
 talent, star endorsers are also known to bring their         afaqs!Reporter once did a story on how                 my films, but those instincts, gut-feel and passion
 A-game when working with him. His tryst with                 there were new-age ad guys cropping up                 spill over to our work. Flipkart’s Phone Pe was
 filmmaker Karan Johar on a Nescafe campaign led to           with specialisations - humour, performance,            exciting - we gave a good amount of time to
 the latter (and Anurag Kashyap) producing his first          visual. Does slotting still exist?                     it, but the client had such passion. Having said
 film in 2014 - the charming Hasee Toh Phasee; a                 Well, the human mind likes to slot. In fact,        that, brands like Nestle, HUL (Surf Excel), and
 critically and commercially acclaimed film.                  people never gave me performance films earlier,        Mondelez also have that same intent.
     When speaking of the digital explosion-led clutter,      but now, my ‘humour’ and ‘human emotions’
 he says, “Breaking through all that noise can be             work stand out, I suppose. So when I do non-           The audience - then and now - how have
 quite a challenge. The scariest trend is that there’s a      human story films, they aren’t always associated       responses changed?
 commodification of work.”                                    with me - like the Fosters campaign, Titan’s              Core extractive value hasn’t changed - portrayal
     We chat about that and more. Edited Excerpts             Aamir Khan light-stealing, Vivo cheerleader or         has. Emotions from 20 years ago would perhaps
                                                              Bournville cocoa bean.                                 be seen as loud and OTT and aesthetics have
 The backstory - You were planning to                                                                                changed, but people still like drama, humour
 become an economist?                                         Were the first films that brought you                  and sentimental stuff. The ‘rasas’ are the same -
    I came to intern with Bharat Bala                         attention ‘performance’ ones?                          treatment changes every 2-3 months now!
 productions in Mumbai - in an attempt to meet                   At Footcandles, we made these IBM-type films
 cinematographer Santosh Sivan. Post that, since              for Reliance that got noticed by the fraternity,       The 30-seconder and the 2.5-hour movie -
 I’d studied economics, I appeared for the Delhi              including Nestlé’s Chandru (Chandrasekar               how has advertising prepared you for the
 School of Economics entrance test and also for               Radhakrishnan) who was with Airtel then. That          latter?
 FTII - I got into the latter. I wanted to be a DOP,          led to the Vidya-Maddy campaign. I also did               Fundamentally, a director’s job is man-
 but that mandated physics/chemistry as subjects.             Hutch and Vodafone around the same time - I            management, 90 per cent of the time. Till the end
 I thought of editing too but that needs patience             was like this telecom specialist.                      of the film, it’s a constant battle while holding on
 (I was the youngest there). I didn’t want to direct                                                                 to your core idea. Ground-work teaches you the
 because 20 years ago, directors were perceived as            While agencies could have brand conflicts to           nuances - how much information to give, what
 strugglers who drunk themselves into oblivion;               deal with, directors can seamlessly flit across        to withhold, how much to brief actors, budgets,
 but ‘technicians could always get work.’ Only                competitors...                                         understanding people’s abilities, tantrums - it’s
 after getting into the direction course did I realise           One does need to understand positioning,            about keeping the boat steady.
 how much there was to learn.                                 but we are more kicked by the actual creative
                                                              idea. As professionals, we know a certain kind of      Casting is an integral part of the process...
 Your professional journey began in 2000 in                   secrecy needs to be maintained and clients have            Yes. In TOI’s Aman Ki Asha, we flew in 15
 Mumbai...                                                    repeatedly worked with us. It’s about being true       villagers (from 6 to 78 years) from a Srinagar
    There was an opening at Mahesh Mathai’s                   to each brand’s unique language and tonality. For      hamlet. They were flying for the first time, that
 Highlight Films - where I ended up assisting                 instance, Vodafone has a certain elegance and          too from the cold of Kashmir to the heat of
 Prasoon Pandey for two-and-a-half years.                     minimalism, Airtel has more romance - is more          Rajasthan and didn’t even want to be paid as they
 Eventually, I joined Nomad Films and the                     Indian, and Idea was a little earthy. Within a brand   were awed by the experience.
 Bombay struggle began. Jobs were not so frequent             too, there are different pitches - in Cadbury,
 and paid less. The first film I made on my own               there’s the mother brand, there’s Celebrations,        How is it being a creative entrepreneur?
 was for a mosquito coil brand called Knight                  Silk, in-home consumption and so on.                      I hate signing documents, looking at accounts,
 Queen. There was a long stint with Mudra’s                                                                          clearing godowns - all of that. One obviously
 Sukumar Menon - we did some 25 films for                     What’s your general wishlist for good agency/          wants mind-space exclusively for creative. I
 Reliance. There was also the SBI pickpocket ad               client partnerships?                                   resisted for very long but figured that I could do
 and many ‘visual ads’ (that’s what young guys did               Be it a CEO, a marketing head or a brand            my best work if I’m on my own. n
 then). After that was the Footcandles stint.                 manager, we need them to have that intent to do                                    shweta.mulki@afaqs.com

14   afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
ADVERTISING
PIZZA HUT

Taking a Dig at Rivals
Pizza Hut releases a new campaign to combat the age-old rivalry with Domino’s. By Deepashree Banerjee

D
         o you think puppets were out
         of fashion? Take a moment!
         The good old hand-crafted
puppets are back... and how?
    The new TVC, released by Pizza
Hut — a division of US-based
Yum! Brands Inc. — takes a
humorous route and shows puppets
switching to the ‘all-new’ Pizza
Hut. Conceptualised by Ogilvy,
the campaign has been produced
by Corcoise Films and directed by
Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy.
    The TVC also features Abhay                                                                                                     “Abhay is known for
Deol, thus marking the comeback of
a celebrity-endorsed TV campaign by                                                                                                  his unconventional
the brand after a hiatus of eight years.
    So, what was the marketing
                                                                                                                                     style and a cool and
problem that the makers of the                                                                                                     confident personality,
ad wanted to solve with this new
campaign?
                                                                                                                                        something that
    This time around, the attempt                                                                                                  personifies the brand
appears to be deliberate and rather
evident. It seems quite clear that                                                                                                 and gels well with it.”
the blue puppet in the film is set to                                                                                                  PRASHANT GAUR
resemble rival Domino’s which has
a brand image in a similar colour.
It looks like a conscious decision on                                                                                              am wondering whom the advertising
the brand’s part, to keep the script                                                                                               is targeting?”
simple and less serious in tone, with                                                                                                  “Clearly, it is taking weak pot shots
the puppet concluding that the take                                                                                                at the dominant brand but it is too
on the rival was meant to be funny            TVCs; one on the recently launched            Several ingredients may be behind      clever by half. Puppets are as old as the
and not quite one that could trigger a        pan pizza range and the other on -        the utter dominance of Domino’s            hills, even if the QSR category may
controversial reaction.                       WOW! Everyday value,” he sums up.         Pizza over its rivals recently. The        not have used the tactic. Consumers
    To combat the age-old rivalry                Thoughts behind roping a non-          pizza chain continues to aggressively      tend to compare advertising across
with Domino’s, the company had to             mainstream actor like Abhay Deol?         remodel its restaurants using its          categories, unlike us,” he quips.
buckle-up by upgrading equipment,                “We wanted our TVCs for the new        “pizza theatre” concept, as Domino’s           There is nothing Sridhar feels that
improving restaurant technology and           campaign to have a protagonist that our   calls it, in order to lure patrons.        will move or shake the category or
boosting advertising. The brand has           audiences can resonate with. Abhay is         On the brand’s brief, Ajay Gahlaut,    make the competition worry in this
had several TVCs spanning the 22              known for his unconventional style        deputy CCO - Ogilvy India/CCO -            “me too” commercial with a celebrity
years that they have been in India.           and a cool and confident personality,     Ogilvy, North, tells afaqs! Reporter,      who is not a blockbuster.
    Prashant Gaur, chief brand officer,       something that personifies the brand      “We were asked to communicate the              Bikram Bindra, vice-president and
Pizza Hut India, informs, “We have            and gels well with it,” Gaur explains.    core message — It’s time to switch —       strategic planning head, Grey Group
                                                                                        in the most entertaining way possible.     Delhi, believes this campaign carries
The TVC marks the comeback of a celebrity-led                                           Being a pizza brand, we wanted the         a clear marketing agenda: get lapses
                                                                                        TVCs to be fun and that’s when the         back into the fold.
 campaign by Pizza Hut after a gap of 8 years.                                          idea of puppets came into play.”               Pizza Hut, historically known for
only dialled up our brand presence                When discussing how the brand             Gahlaut thinks this campaign           serving up the ‘better’ pizza, has
on television in the last 5 to 8 years.”      appears to be taking a jibe at a rival,   caters to all pizza lovers, irrespective   potentially been losing favour with
    Gaur thinks they’ve been quite            Gaur shrugs off any such probability      of demographics or psychographics.         a fickle audience that has been lured
agile in the manner in which they             and elaborates on the choice of using         Also, let’s not forget the offshore    away with consistent discounting
have engaged with their evolving              puppets as a creative device, “The        Pizza Hut advertisement starring           and an almost ‘forced’ loyalty by the
audience and that the brand’s                 TVCs use subtle humour where the          Donald and Ivana Trump that kicked         other big player in this category.
campaigns have kept pace with what            puppets are seen switching to the all-    off the success of the chain’s stuffed-        “The intent of the film is to subtly
appeals to today’s netizens.                  new Pizza Hut. Abhay Deol, known          crust pizza back in 1995.                  make us question that preference
    “With increasing digitalisation           for his unique comic style, brings out                                               and using an unusual creative device
and more and more consumers                   the best of the situation in the ads,      DEAL MAKER OR BREAKER?                    (like the puppet or even a non-
going online for their daily dose of          giving the campaign its very essence.”       Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO and              mainstream actor like Abhay Deol)
information, we have made digital                 When quizzed on the brand’s           founder of Brand-Comm raises               ensures a mental availability long
platforms an integral part of our             decision to ‘beep out’ some parts of      a potent question, “Whilst kids,           after the film is viewed and a break
media strategy. Talking about our             the puppet’s dialogue in the video,       teenagers and young adults are the         from the cookie-cutter approach of
latest campaign - It’s time to switch         Gaur gets candid, “Yes, we are leaving    prime movers who bring Pizza into          the category,” he shares. n
- we break it with a set of two               a lot to the imagination!”                the home for anyone to consume, I                   deepashree.banerjee@afaqs.com

18   afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
INTERVIEW

   NAVONIL                                                                                                                                                             RAHUL
   CHATTERJEE                                                                                                                                                        JAUHARI
   JOINT PRESIDENT                                                                                                                                            JOINT PRESIDENT
   REDIFFUSION                                                                                                                                                    REDIFFUSION

ON ITS OWN STEA M
An interview with Rahul Jauhari and                                                           14 years, continues to keep his title of chief
                                                                                              creative officer.
                                                                                                                                               WPP) and Dentsu, making the group
                                                                                                                                               independent again, after enduring years
Navonil Chatterjee, the recently elevated                                                         The group’s other recently promoted          of friction with former WPP CEO Sir
                                                                                              joint president Navonil Chatterjee, who          Martin Sorrell who stepped down from his
joint presidents of the suddenly, and finally,                                                came on board three years back, also             role this April.
independent Rediffusion. By Ashwini Gangal                                                    continues to lead as chief strategy officer.
                                                                                              The creative-planning duo was given this
                                                                                                                                                   When news of Rediffusion’s autonomous
                                                                                                                                               status was out, Rahul wrote ‘Freediffusion’

I
                                                                                              additional mandate - joint presidency -          and Navonil wrote ‘Freedom at mid-day’
      know you’ve come to throw tough          creative officer of the agency, who famously   when Dhunji Wadia vacated this position          on their social media pages. A re-branding
      questions at us but listen, whatever     and flamboyantly swore to turn the agency      a few days back.                                 exercise in underway.
      you write in this interview, just        around by giving a Hollywood reference             Earlier this month Rediffusion’s                 Brands on the agency’s client list include
      don’t bring up George Clooney!”          (“By the end of the year Rediffusion will be   founders Diwan Arun Nanda and Ajit               Audi, Cipla, Colgate, Eveready, Godfrey
      says Rediffusion’s recently elevated     the George Clooney of Indian advertising”),    Balakrishnan (who launched the agency            Philips, GSK, Hindware, SBI, TVS
joint president Rahul Jauhari, harking         a headline that tickled our readers for        back in 1973 along with Mohammed                 Srichakra, Kotak Mahindra, Liebherr,
back to a 2013 interview I did with            months on end.                                 Khan) bought back the 40 per cent shares         Star Jalsha, Parle Products, Tata Motors,
Sam Ahmed, then vice-chairman and chief            Rahul, who has been with the group for     held in their company by Y&R (part of            and Tata Sons, among others.

20    afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
COVERSTORY

  The trend is to put                                                                                                           We’ve won pitches
 the guys who do the                                                                                                              that any agency
   work at the helm.                                                                                                           would’ve given their
 Who does the client                                                                                                               right arm for.
 want to interact with                                                                                                             The people at
    today? With the                                                                                                           Rediffusion have swag
  person who’s really                                                                                                          and ‘proper pride’ as
     doing the job.                                                                                                             Jane Austen put it.
             RAHUL JAUHARI                                                                                                              NAVONIL CHATTERJEE

    Never mind Clooney; this interview,                                                                                          donkey’s years. We recently picked up
I assure them, is about addressing all the                                                                                       two prestigious and current mandates
elephants in the room. So I start with the                                                                                       from them. They didn’t give the job to
fattest one.                                                                                                                     us because they like Arun Nanda’s face
                                                                                                                                 or because we are X number of years
Edited excerpts:                                                                                                                 old. It was a hard fought pitch battle.
                                                                                                                                    When a legacy brand wants to stay
Rediffusion is believed to be past                                                                                               relevant it goes to relevant people to
its best days – an agency that                                                                                                   solve the problem; it doesn’t go to
needs to ‘bring back lost glory’. It                                                                                             another legacy brand.
must be hard leading a firm that’s                                                                                                  Are we under pressure? No. You
always referred to as a ‘has been’.                                                                                              have a problem with our legacy –
Or is it not?                                                                                                                    handle it. Legacy is not a burden for
   Rahul: Media keeps referring                                                                                                  us. It’s like going to a good school
back to the loss of Airtel. That was a                                                                                           with a great alumni.
generation back. Life has moved on
since. The ghosts are buried in articles                                                                                         Rediffusion is now led by a
written many years back.                                                                                                         creative head and a planner.
   In India, if you see a man in a kurta                                                                                         There’s chatter about the absence
once, you’ll call him ‘kurtay wala                                                                                               of a suit to run the business, the
aadmi’, even after 20 years, even if he                                                                                          P&L side of things…
has moved from his kurta to a pajama                                                                                                Rahul: The trend is to put the
to a suit. Similarly, the sinking ship                                                                                           guys who do the work at the helm.
thing is a hangover. Is the question                                                                                             Who does the client want to interact
surprising? No, it is not. But do I find                                                                                         with today? With the person who’s
any truth in it? No.                                                                                                             really doing the job. Why else would
   Yes, there’s a tonne to do – become                                                                                           Leo Burnett do it? (Creative head
finally stronger, get a wider spectrum                                                                                           Rajdeepak Das and planning head
of clients. Rediffusion is a good car.                                                                                           Dheeraj Sinha were made managing
We’ll drive it faster, give it a new coat                                                                                        directors in April). He’s doing the
of paint, some shine.                        perceived make the promotion             Rediffusion in 2015) who worked at an      thinking (points to Navonil) and I’m
   If there’s one thing we’re guilty         bittersweet?                             agency with brands like Nike, Levi’s,      doing the work.
of it’s not flaunting our work. For             Rahul: We’ve been given a             Google, my view of Rediffusion was            Yes there was a time long back
example, we’ve done some great               mandate that neither of us was lusting   always ‘the fun place to be’. And          when creative hid in a corner,
work for Hero Moto Corp, but when            for.                                     look at the alumni Rediffusion has.        planning didn’t exist, and servicing
someone sees a great ad for Hero,               Navonil: Over the past three          I’ll throw a challenge to any other        did the planning and managed the
they don’t think of Rediffusion.             years we’ve won pitches that every       agency including JWT, Ogilvy, to           relationships. Today, servicing
   Similarly, lot of clients have given      agency in town would’ve given their      come halfway near Rediffusion on           is a relationship holder more than
us projects, CSR work… that’s not            right arm for. I’ll be honest, some of   that front.                                anything.
necessarily an account shift. But            the brands we won have gone away,                                                      As Balki once told me, whoever
brands are increasingly working like         but most are there. The people at        But isn’t that like resting on past        stands up and says ‘It’s my ass that
that. This is all well appreciated,          Rediffusion have swag and ‘proper        laurels? Do clients really care            needs to be taken’ is the leader. Don’t
applauded work, but poor guys                pride’ as Jane Austen puts it.           about an illustrious alumni list? In       ask him his caste, creed, sex, or where
out there don’t know who they’re                Can we do better? Can we do           fact, today legacy and heritage are        he’s from. So right now, it’s our asses
clapping for.                                more? Yes, definitely. Yes, we know      sometimes likened to baggage,              that we’re offering.
   Also, fundamentally, we (himself          some of the perceptions about us         not a plus point...                           Navonil: Creative people are
and Navonil) are shy; we don’t talk          in the outside world. But if you’re         Rahul: Good question. A client          some of the savviest when it comes to
about what we do. Maybe that’s an            confident about yourself, then           doesn’t come to me because of a great      finance and money.
ante that needs to be upped.                 perception be damned.                    person who worked here 20 years
                                                As an outsider (I spent 15 years      back. He comes for what I deliver.         WPP’s Rediffusion versus an
But does the way the agency is               at JWT Bangalore before joining             We’ve handled the Tata brand for        independent Rediffusion – how
                                                                                                                                               continued on page 23 >>
                                                                                                                              afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8   21
INTERVIEW
 RAJESH RAMAKRISHNAN

 “Confectionery is so in-your-
 face that it’s a benefit”
 A
          few weeks back, Italy-headquartered                                                                        The frequency of consumption is another
          Perfetti Van Melle India appointed Rajesh                                                              difference. I’ve worked on categories such as
          Ramakrishnan as its new MD. He has been                                                                shoe polish and fabric care. You polish your shoes
 with the company for four-and-a-half years, initially as                                                        maybe once a week — if you really decide to!
 the MD for Bangladesh, then as chief transformation                                                             Similarly, you may use shampoo or toilet cleaner
 officer (CTO), a role that brought him to India.                                                                once in a week or maybe once every three days.
     An engineer from BITS Pilani, with an MBA                                                                   But confectionery is different. If I eat a candy in
 from XLRI (Jamshedpur), Ramakrishnan started his                                                                the morning, I can still eat a candy two hours later.
 career as a management trainee with Reckitt Benckiser                                                           Due to the sheer frequency of consumption, the
 (then Reckitt and Colman). His early rounds as a sales                                                          number of transactions is huge.
 manager took him to North and South Karnataka                                                                       Also, confectionery is easily available to people,
 followed by stints in Orissa, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.                                                             it’s so in-your-face that it’s a benefit. You don’t
 Ramakrishnan worked on brands such as Cherry                                                                    have to tell too many people about it; everybody
 Blossom and Robin Blue; it was eight years of sales                                                             knows about it, which is a good starting point.
 and marketing with Reckitt. This was followed by two
 years with Marico, where he worked on non-Parachute                                                             What are your key points of sale?
 brands such as Shanti Amla and Hair & Care.                                                                         Most of our products, as Nielsen defines
     Then for another six years at Frito Lay (PepsiCo)                                                           it, are sold in paan outlets which make for
 he looked after Kurkure for a while and did a brief             “In FMCG, marketing                             a significant chunk of sales. Then there are
 stint in Bangkok in a regional role - with Quaker              drives the company... In                         grocers and general stores/kiranas. We are
 on insights and innovation. He then stepped out of                                                              available in modern trade too. E-commerce for
 FMCG for a bit with a year at Apollo Tyres looking             non-FMCG companies,                              confectionery helps to customise offerings to
 after global markets for the Apollo Brands and then it
 was on to Hindustan Times for two years.
                                                                marketing probably plays                         customers; that’s one of the directions we see it
                                                                                                                 moving towards in the future. We have a huge
     Ramakrishnan, who has been in the industry                  more of a support role                          footprint of distribution. There’s headroom to
 for over 24 years, is a photography and trekking
 enthusiast (he recently completed Everest Base Camp
                                                                and is not necessarily the                       grow, especially when it comes to some of the
                                                                                                                 higher price points like the `5 and `10 packs.
 and Kilimanjaro) - and things that ‘stimulate his right        prime driver of growth.”
 brain’, as he puts it. Edited Excerpts                                                                          For an impulse-driven category such as
                                                                 RAJESH RAMAKRISHNAN                             confectionery, can you explain the role of
 From MD of Perfetti Bangladesh to India                                                                         advertising?
 head of ‘transformation’, and now MD of                    growth. In non-FMCG companies, marketing                Advertising is mostly rooted in a product
 India ops... Tell us about these roles.                    probably plays more of a support role and is         insight; it starts there. It then has to link back to
    The confectionery markets in Bangladesh                 not necessarily the prime driver of growth. For      what the brand promises and have some cultural
 and India are similar on the product front, but            instance, at Apollo, manufacturing would play        angle as well. It’s a triangulation of these three
 Bangladesh is a much smaller market... and in              a far bigger role than marketing. In a media         things.
 terms of stage of evolution, is a few years behind         company (Hindustan Times), media marketing
 India. The intensity of competition here (India)           or sales is a bigger role in driving the agenda,     Let’s talk about the way DS Group’s Pulse
 is much higher.                                            whereas marketing is just about making sure that     candy took the confectionery segment by
    CTO was a newly-created role; the idea was              the right support is provided. But in FMCG, it’s     storm a few years ago. What do you do
 to optimise our business model which includes              marketing that drives the entire thinking for the    when you see this kind of phenomenon
 different facets such as the product portfolio,            company. That is the biggest difference.             created by a rival brand?
 the go-to market strategy, the operations and, of                                                                   Whoever picks it (rival brand doing well) up
 course, the people and capabilities. The job was           And within FMCG, how is confectionery                first — maybe the sales team or the operations
 to lead these multiple projects in a structured            marketing different from marketing across            team — brings it to everyone’s notice. We then
 manner. While being CTO was more about                     other kinds of sub-segments?                         look at it and say — ‘is that an area of interest
 managing all these projects, being MD is more                 The fixed price-points - like 50 paise, one       and opportunity for us?’
 about managing the whole business. It’s a bigger           rupee, two rupees... it’s slightly similar to            Once we decide to respond, it is important
 role. It’s like a mix of operations and strategy.          marketing snacks. In the confectionery category,     to understand what they offered to the market,
                                                            price elasticity becomes a challenge. When we        what element of the mix worked for them... if
 You’ve spent the bulk of your career in                    are at a price point of `1, we cannot shift to       we see a bigger opportunity, we look at how we
 FMCG but have also worked outside it.                      `1.20... we have to jump directly to `2. There are   can address it. We then leverage some of our
 From a marketing point of view, what’s the                 consumers who drop out because of the price.         strengths and take advantage of the opportunity.
 biggest difference?                                        In the confectionery category, products also get     I don’t think anything happens as a knee-jerk
    In FMCG, marketing drives the company.                  exchanged as currency (replacement for loose         reaction. It’s well planned out and executed. n
 Marketing drives strategy and strategy drives              change; an insight Paytm has milked in its ads).                                 abid.barlaskar@afaqs.com

22   afaqs! Reporter, August 16-31, 2 0 1 8
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