SUNDER AARON , BUSINESS HEAD, SONY PIX, INDIA
 
The Viewership might not be at par with gecs in india but that does not mean that english movie channels in india are niche!

How challenging has been the journey for Sony PIX so far?
PIX commenced operations in 2006 as a library channel for the Sony titles. Being the only Indian English movie channel we feel proud on the kind of support we received along the way that has helped us establish ourselves as one of the leading Hollywood movie channels in the country today. We have also added original content like Gateway and Chicks on Flicks, which is the only Hollywood movie review show in India. Even sports properties like the FA Cup and boxing are now being added to the content. In fact, the two highest rated movies of 2009 – Slumdog Millionaire & Ong Bak 2 – were telecasted on PIX.

Is there really a scope for niche genre like yours in India?
We don’t consider our genre as niche. The viewership might not be at par with GECs in the country, but that does not mean that as an English movie channel in India we are niche. With the rise in number of viewers conversant with English there is a growth in the number of viewers demanding English movies. Another factor that enables us to reach out to more viewers is subtitles since it enables them to understand dialogues better than before.

What about your target audience?
Our target audience is from the age group of 18 to 35 years with an inclination for the male viewers. This TG largely lies in the metros which as per industry norm is the skew for our genre. The reach for PIX is at 18%, which at par with HBO and Star Movies across all six metros.

How do you view the competition in the Indian ‘English movie channel’ market?
We compete with HBO and Star Movies on a weekly basis in six metros and it is a very competitive space at the moment. Though big titles, popular cast and directors are key for our competition, we also believe in a good story being the quintessential ingredient for the movies on PIX. We, like our competition, too offer popular titles but it is our emphasis on story telling that sets us apart and enable us to beat our competition on a frequent basis. For instance, our film Gandhi was rated higher than the Indian TV Premiere of Dark Knight on HBO in January 2010.

So what all titles do you plan to acquire this year?
Our current acquisitions includes the Academy Winner Hurt Locker, the American smash hit comedy Hot Tub Time Machine, Spin and Extract to name a few. We are currently in the process of acquiring more movies for the current year.

What kind of promotional activities does Sony PIX undertake to ensure that it remains unique?
We believe in selective, innovative, effective and consistent marketing for all our films. It is important for us to establish an association with places frequented by our TG which is why we have branding deals with restaurants, cafes, multiplexes, book stores, et al. Every title is handled uniquely to create a buzz in the market. Promotional activities such as the Slumdog Bus ride, Outlander Paintball Battle, Closer Film Screening and relationship counselor session, Young Hollywood club events and the most recent PIX Moonwalker’s Night to promote ‘This Is It’ are some examples of promotional events in the recent past. Our aim is to establish direct touch points and engage with our viewers through any promotional activity we plan around our films.


For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
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Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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JYOTSNA VIRIYALA, VICE PRESIDENT, STAR MOVIES
 
We can not afford to be a laidback channel, so we creat a lot of buzz which instills freshness into the channel

How has been the journey of Star Movies in India?
Star movies is the no. 1 channel in the country. Journey of the channel has been good in India especially when the CBS mandate was in a rush. Even today it’s going great with a 40% market share in terms of viewership.

Who is your target audience?
In demographic terms our audience primarily resides in 8 metros. We are not specifically active towards any particular gender, but yes, we primarily look at viewers in the age group of 15 to 34. We look at SEC A & B. All our content is decided on basis of these demograpics.

How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
To be a premium English movie channel, the strength of my product offering lies in how well I cater to what the viewers want to see. Today I have ‘Die Hard’ franchisee, HBO has ‘Mission Impossible’ franchisee and Warner Brothers has ‘Lord of the rings’ franchisee, but all these are block buster Hollywood movies. So it is extremely difficult for a title driven category to have something which is differentiated on basis of personality. And it does not make sense also. More so for the fact that we are operating in a genre, which is niche. So what we do is stay relevant and contemporary to create a lot of buzz. We can not afford to be a laidback channel, so we keep on doing lot of action, which shows that the channel has a lot of buzz, be it on online touch points or on TV itself.

How have you positioned yourself in the market? Do you any specific positioning strategy for DTH?
See, we are a movie channel. But in India English is consumed very less as compared to Hindi and other regional languages. That’s why we are still a niche player... So it’s all about the English movie channel service. Talking about our positioning on DTH, we don’t have anything like specific positioning to DTH. It’s just a platform. Be it analog, digital or DTH, channels do not need to have a different position for a platform.

What factors do you consider while selecting a movie title? How do you decide on the repeat rate?
Importance of a movie title generally depends on how big a movie is, or how much time and money we have spent to acquire it. Also there may be some titles where we know that the movie will do good or that it has a decent repeat shelf life. So such titles automatically move up in our priority list. To acquire these titles we choose a number of different platform and media vehicles. But yes, sampling happens, because English movie channels cut across several demographics due to specific genres like action, romance, drama, comedy and so on. Moreover, every airing has natural repeat rate and it entirely depends on the title. For example, a title like Wolverine, the repeat rate will be a lot different from some other title like Project A.

What are your future plans? Do you intend to diversify into serials?
Future plans! Yes, there are many plans in the pipeline. Though I do not have the liberty to disclose now, I can say that the channel will soon come up with something very exciting. About diversifying in serials, we don’t believe in it. Movies have made us no.1 and through this only we will continue to grow further.

 
IT WAS A BRAND BORN TO LEAD, RIGHT FROM ITS GENESIS IN PRE-INDEPENDENCE INDIA TO SUPPORT BOMBAY’S GROWING ENTERPRENEURIAL CLASS. OVER AN ENORMOUS LEGACY OF OVER 17 DECADES, THE TOI BRAND AURA ONLY GROWS IN MAGNITUDE AND MAGNIFICENCE. WHAT KEEPS IT GOING? THROUGH THIS BRAND HISTORY CASE STUDY, 4PS B&M UNRAVELS THE SECRETS BEHIND THE TOI BRAND’S UNWAVERING GLORY, WITH EXCLUSIVE INPUTS FROM VINEET JAIN AND OTHER TOP HONCHOS OF THE TOI GROUP

We have heard Infosys Chief Mentor Narayana Murthy talk about his company’s IT strategy, merits of outsourcing, role of ethics in the corporate world, philanthropy, venture capitalism – the list goes on. But his keynote address on this particular event was clearly different. For here, he talked about a future where people of India and Pakistan could freely move across borders and explore each other’s nations. The event was the Aman ki Asha Indo-Pakistan business summit organised by The Times of India (TOI) group and the Pakistan-based Jang Group on May 18, 2010 at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. It has been hailed as a business meet unparalleled in the history of the two countries, when you consider the number and stature of the delegates in attendance. It was track 2 diplomacy at its best, all the more significant considering how the wounds of 26/11 were still fresh in the minds of the Indian people. The Aman ki Asha campaign has already created waves with its unique message – that it should not be impossible to have India, Pakistan and love in the same sentence – and the associated initiatives. Pulling it off required a tremendous amount of resources, brand power and the willingness to go on the road less taken. To say that TOI has these in more than ample measure, would be stating the obvious, or even understating it in reality.

For the fact is that our cover headline summarises the reality of a media house that has defined the benchmarks of intellectual and committed journalism and reporting time and again; a media house that has beaten even us (and this is the hard part) time and again in the race for showcasing how world-class, data driven, statistically supported and irrefutably incisive a news analysis could be. They remain – undefeated, undisputed, and most importantly, understood by the huge masses – which is why they are now the world’s largest circulated English newspaper, the nonpareils of the global media industry.
 
If one wants to even begin comprehending the basis of the sheer power of brand TOI, legacy would be the most obvious place to begin. Admittedly, there is little in common between the copy of The Times of India you get every morning today and the bi-weekly Bombay Times & Journal of Commerce founded on November 3, 1838. When East India Company lost its monopoly, Bombay became the hub of business all of a sudden, mainly due to its strategic location; and this paper aimed at empowering the burgeoning business community with timely & accurate news. The group’s first editor Dr. J. E. Brennan wrote about how Britain was failing to recognise India’s potential for ‘philosophical investigation’ and ‘practical exertion’ in the first edition. In recognition of the leading role of the Bombay press, the paper was renamed ‘The Times of India’ in 1861.

Content was king then, and now for any media publication. Due to its immense relevance from the outset, TOI had the benefit of some of the most distinguished editorial talent at the helm, even during the British raj. There was Thomas Bennet himself, who took up the cause of the ryot, and Lovat Fraser, who strongly advocated better living conditions for cotton mill workers. His colleague Stanley Reed enforced the culture of retaining all news that came up till midnight for the paper next morning, from the earlier deadline of 5pm. He also predicted that the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand would trigger World War 1, a prediction made by only one other newspaper in the world – Vorwaerts. In 1948, the paper passed into the hands of the Sahu Jain group. Even after Independence, the paper boasted of exemplary editorial talent – like N. J. Nanporia with his deep understanding of foreign issues, Sham Lal with his analytical and incisive abilities and Girilal Jain with his strong tilt towards nationalism. Dileep Palgaonkar was the first to introduce ways to make the paper more interesting and readable, with suitable changes in hitherto stringent edit guidelines. And then came the most defining era within the Times group, where the philosophy was driven to make employees understand that there are no “famous” editors, but only “famous” design, editorial content, and marketing! It was an era that was literally redefined by TOI in educating media houses and contemporaries (TOI’s contemporaries post independence were many, but in the realm of English dailies, the leading ones were Hindustan Times, Statesman and Hindu; other next level leaders included Indian Express, Deccan Chronicle, Deccan Herald & Pioneer) that anybody could be promoted as an editor, as long as – and this was and is most important for the group – the editor was committed to championing supereminent excellence, to providing outstanding and medalist content, to believe that providing world-class news, analysis, presentation was at all times considered greater than the individual delivering it. A cursory look at any Sunday TOI edition – we consider TOI’s Sunday editions iconic, given their rambunctious and electrifying compendium of intellectual content – would be enough to prove how the TOI group has shown the world they have many such people, who day after day, night after night, are working like splendid paladins providing the reader with inductively fantastic and deductively reasoned analysis.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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After aggressive marketing & extended product portfolio, Haier has set out to attract eyeballs by having John Abraham as its brand ambassador. Haier is one of the few Chinese companies that have been able to create visibility in India largely due to innovative advertising and marketing strategies. John Abraham is said to personify Haier’s youthful image and exemplifies the same dynamism attached with the brand. When asked why he chose to be associated with the brand, John commented that “Haier is at a very good place when it comes to its product life cycle; it is always better to be associated with a growing brand which holds great relevance for me”. With this, John joins an elite list of endorsers like Ranbir Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan who too are endorsing firms in the consumer electronics segment. Haier’s planned marketing spend is about Rs 50 crore, of which about Rs 30 crore will be invested on above the line activities.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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Papa John’s has become the official pizza sponsor of National Football League (NFL) and the super bowl leaving behind big pizza companies like Pizza Hut and Domino’s. The deal is for a period of three years and is valued at millions of dollars making it one of the biggest sponsorship deals in Papa John’s history – the exact amount has not been revealed. As a part of the deal, the company will be able to use the NFL logos and trademarks in their marketing and advertising campaigns. Papa John’s Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Varga believes that this association will help them in further building their brand. Taking NFL’s route for marketing is nothing alien to Papa John’s as it has been the sponsor of teams like Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans to name a few and has had great success in the hometowns of these teams. So going by the success it has had at the state level, this deal is clearly an effort to repeat the success at the national level. Would they? Papa John’s sold more than 9,00,000 pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday this year, the highest ever recorded in the history of the brand. So anything is possible from hereon.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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