Has today’s advertising kept pace with scores of Indian women emerging from the shadows to seek their rightful place in society? 4Ps B&M presents various viewsResurgent India! India shining! Woman power unleashed! Superwomen in the corridors of power! Evolved, educated, accomplished, articulate and confident, this new woman is a blazing reality in today’s India! After decades of prejudice inflicted by tradition and a male-dominated society, women – at least a significant minority – seem to be coming into their own. And magazines, publications, special supplements, debates, discussions and seminars, they all seem to be fixated on energetically championing the female cause now! But has Indian advertising – which has made huge waves globally in all major platforms, forums and meets – for its turn been able to sensitively, fairly and realistically track, reflect, mirror or portray this seismic change? Has Indian advertising been able to capture the nuances of this fascinating creature successfully straddling several universes with all the complexity, confidence and contradictions at her disposal? Or is the re-enforcing of stereotypes with corny and predictable makeovers simply cosmetic tokenism? It is interesting to note what Michele Kristula-Green (the revered Asia-Pacific President of Leo Burnett) articulated at a recent presentation that she made on this subject, where she accused advertisers of constantly portraying women “in the man’s version of what they should be.” The ad biz guys, a recent study says, seem to be way-off on at least five crucial parameters – money, sexuality, humour, emotion and authenticity. The study also revealed that unlike the West, women in the Asian society are not comfortable with blatant portrayals of sex, because for them it is a part of their intrinsic femininity – and not something to be exhibited in a titillating, man-baiting way. Finally – and this is critical – the study says that in Asian societies, girls are taught to view emotions as a strength not a weakness; and hence their responses to messages and communication are far different from what is shown in today’s well-packaged yet logically worthless advertisements! We asked a few evolved, intelligent women and their reactions were both interesting. And startling! 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
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Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
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Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine
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They have seen many seasons, and have done better with every passing one, anticipating for the best to come someday...From bringing in ‘Hamara Bajaj’ to life to adding opulence in the Happydent White film to creating the human chain for Himani Fast Relief, Equinox Film has done it all. Having been in existence for about 25 years, and after leaving their mark throughout these decades, they are still modest in adding that their best is yet to come, despite critics calling them a wholesale outfit.
Like their ad films, the journey of Equinox Film is also quite interesting. It all started in 1983, when Sumantra Ghosal got into a production outfit belonging to one of his friends. Soon, Sumantra became a partner only to see his friend moving out to pursue other interests. But little did Sumantra know that history would repeat itself in form of Ram Madhvani, who joined Equinox Film as a trainee. And as the fate would have it, Madhvani soon accepted his offer to become a partner in the firm. Since then, the duo along with Manoj Shroff, (now the Producer of Equinox Film) is leading this production house from the front and producing one great ad film after another. “There is no other production house that I can think of that has been in the business for so long and has constantly reinvented itself,” exclaims Madhvani.
So how have things changed over time? Madhvani answers chuckling, “A good script and a good idea were what counted then and it’s the same even today. Not just the basics, but work ethics too are more or less the same.” Believable? We didn’t need to go far on that count. Shroff does not agree with him as he states, “Things have changed. With time a director matures, a production house gets more experience and the level of work they do goes up. That’s what has happened to us as well.”
The testimonials of their recent great doings (or undoings) are the popular ad films of Hippo Chips and LMN. They have generated quite a buzz in the industry in a very short span of time. But Shroff feels that their most challenging work was the film for Himani Fast Relief. It was really tough to manage as many as 130-180 people on the sets. These people were required for one particular ad scene and after managing that raucous bunch, Shroff believes that he is not afraid of doing anything else.
Nevertheless, both Shroff and Madhvani are confident that in the future the production house will be known for its quality and not just as a wholesale outfit! 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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two decades in the industry, over 300 films to his credit, yet, he feels as nervous every time he directs. Meet Prasoon Pandey, Founding Director, Corcoise FilmsMedia pundits claim that his moment of glory is the Ericsson cell phone ‘one black coffee’ commercial way back in 1996 (also the first Indian commercial to win at Cannes). But ask Prasoon Pandey, Founding Director, Corcoise films of his biggest achievement and the reply will surprise you. “In year 2001, the ad club had declared a best of the millennium commercial by selecting a total of 10 commercials from their previous year winners. And surprisingly, out of the 10 short-listed commercials, around 8 commercials were my films and the final commercial that won the title was also mine (the Feviquick-fishing rod commercial!).” And since then, Prasoon swears that every single day, everything’s been flowing the same way for him.
The veteran director, who has now over 300 films to his credit, started Corcoise in 2001 along with Cyrus Pagdiwala, his co-worker at Highlight Films. Soon, he got the pharma major, Pfizer as his first client. Nevertheless, though his six years at Highlight grilled him enough to learn the nuances of the trade, he was never interested in the intricacies of numbers. He admits, “The numbers never interested me. Not even when I worked as a creative director at Lintas or Highlight Films.” But the one thing that really triggers him is his own space for creativity. And that was the only reason for which he started his own production outfit. This also allowed him to be very selective at his work, as he says, “My biggest fear is that if I take too much of work, then I will start repeating.”
Undoubtedly, for a man who has been a name to reckon with in the industry, it’s a Herculean task to determine his favourite work. But Prasoon does that job seamlessly and admits that the recent Fevicol- moochwali campaign has been creatively stimulating for him. But simultaneously, he also unraveled his biggest secret and revealed, “Even today, when I start making a film, I find myself as nervous as my first one.” Words of reality many would find hard to believe, but probably that’s the exaggerated mantra, which has made Prasoon deliver the best year after year. 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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ex-HUL and Gillette veteran, Anil Dua, currently Senior VP – Marketing and Sales, Hero Honda, takes a tactical look at various strategic manoeuvres over the past yearsThe company has been able to thrive amidst slowdown blues while the competitors were struggling. What kind of marketing changes you brought in the slowdown phase?
We have been passionate in our journey based on some great foundations. We got some amazing four stroke products that were great on mileage than the other two-wheelers in India in the 1980s. We marketed those products using the perfect marketing mix i.e. all the 4Ps. But times have changed, so upgrading products remains the most preferred agenda.
Simultaneously, the company has put together the rest of marketing mix beautifully i.e. price, distribution and positioning strategy. Since we differentiated on mileage, the product campaign ‘Fill it Shut it Forget it’ became legendary. It was well understood by the customers; one reason that after 25 years, we again used the ‘Fill it Shut it Forget it’ campaign, once again talked about mileage; and consumers do believe that we have given them the best. Mileage is one aspect of this whole journey that we believe must be carried forward. We have adjusted our acceleration level according to the times. If you look at the last 4-5 years; we introduced 8-9 products every year, which were refreshes or new products. Compare that to the initial 15 years, where the company launched 8-9 products in total.
The truth – is it your aggressive approach giving competition a tough time or is it the rising competition which keeps you on your toes?
It’s mainly because of the aggressive approach that we follow but the competition also makes us work hard always. For the last 5 years, innovations are taking place along with the rising complexity of the market which is happening. In terms of segmentation, we have segmented the consumer in a way that every segment has a product to meet the aspirations of the consumer. Our marketing campaigns have been successful since the last 3-4 years. Now we have 5 bikes in the premium category which we typically term as our Diamond strategy. The bikes, Hunk & CBZ, are 150 cc but we have targeted the audience differently.
From a marketing point of view, all the five bikes are different from each other as we have different groups and very sharp group segmentation. We are growing at a rate of 15% in the premium segment which is decent enough to gain market share in this segment.
But companies like Yamaha, Bajaj are much stronger in the premium segment. Do you take it as a challenge to gain the pole position in this segment of the market?
Our share in premium segment was once very small as we had negligible presence in the segment, but over the last four years, our share has more than doubled. We have backlogs on our books as we have been unable to fulfill the demands of the customers because of the limited production capacity. The latest addition, Karizma ZMR, has been an instant hit in the Indian market that has been beating our own expectations. We are trying hard to grow our capacity as we, as a company, do not believe in bookings. 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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