Simran Sabherwal profiles the men and women who market media brands and come up with differentiators to remain on top in an extremely competitive environment.
Switch on the television and hundreds of channels are available at the flick of a remote. At a newspaper vendor’s stand, rows of mastheads are neatly arranged in stacks. How does a consumer then decide which media brand to consume in the age of fragmentation and infinite choices? Is content the real selling point, or is it positioning? Making sense of this are the media marketers who operate in this dynamic environment, where every programming time slot has to deliver the desired rating and where sales figures of every newspaper are closely monitored. How to bring about differentiation – that is the biggest challenge for these marketers, who connect with consumers day in and day out.
In this issue, we profile media marketers, whose strategies could easily rival those of any top FMCG brand marketer. We ask them about the challenges facing media marketing today, and how they see marketing for a television channel, newspaper or radio channel evolve in an era when the consumer has access to content 24x7 across multiple platforms.
Rahul Kansal
Executive President, Bennett, Coleman & Company
Rahul Kansal is responsible for the financial health and marketing of The Times of India (TOI), the Mirror city newspapers and various regional language publications of Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd. During his tenure, TOI emerged as the world’s largest circulated English newspaper across genres and formats, and today spans over 30 editions in the country. Kansal has also led the company’s successful forays into Hindi, Bengali and Marathi language domains. To him goes the credit for developing and executing several high profile brand initiatives such as India Poised, Lead India, Teach India, Aman Ki Asha and I Lead India.
Kansal, an advertising and marketing professional for close to 34 years, worked with JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, DDBMudra and Leo Burnett before joining The Times Group 10 years ago. On his current role, Kansal says, “I feel a great control over my levers, rather than the advisory and recommendatory role in advertising, here the buck stops with you. My team now has the same set of values and we like to work with top-end people.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
The biggest challenge is to keep readers engaged; even if time spent comes down, it should be high quality time. So the design, the way we write our stories and how the product is constructed is critical. You also need to take engagement with the brand outside the newspaper into responses and activity of all kinds. With readers getting local, customization is the key. We need to create traction with local readers cost effectively, but at the same time our marketing is also getting centralized. The Internet has created a lot of empowerment and democratization, and the reader does not look at experts as the only voice of authority. Newspapers must move from just editors preaching to more of a conversation with the reader being treated as an equal. More reader opinions also bring a lot ofuser-generated content into the newspaper.
THE CORE TEAM
Priya Gupta, Senior VP and Managing Editor,
The Times of India Metro Supplements, BCCL Priya Gupta looks after marketing and editorial functions of the Times of India metro supplements nationally. Of her 21 years as a marketing professional, she has spent over 11 years with brand Times of India and conceptualized and creatively executed high profile brand initiatives like Lead India, Teach India and Aman Ki Asha.
Sandeep Singh Arora, VP Brand, Times of India & Mirror
Sandeep Singh Arora is responsible for management of BCCL’s publication brands including marketing, reader engagement and various aspects of brand health, innovation and growth.
Kaustuv Chatterjee, VP, Brand-Languages, BCCL
Kaustuv Chatterjee is a new addition to the team and is responsible for managing existing language brands, ie., NavBharat Times, Maharashtra Times, Ei Samay, ET (Hindi & Gujarati) and expansion into languages through existing/new brands.
Suneet Johar, Associate Vice President, The Times of India
Suneet Johar played a pivotal role in the launch of over 15 TOI editions, three Mirror editions as well as Metro Now in Delhi. He is responsible for editorial coordination for all TOI and Mirror editions nationally.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
In all our marketing campaigns - Lead India, Teach India, Aman Ki Asha, Times Scholars Programme, The Power of Ideas, Dilli Meri Hai - we look to take up issues that are important to our readers.
lead India:
The Lead India campaign run by TOI was an initiative to find a young, new, bold leader for India. It won the Grand Prix in the Direct Awards category at the Cannes Promo and Direct Lions awards in 2008.
Dilli Meri hai:
A women’s safety campaign which Navbharat Times ran along with Radio Mirchi. The campaign provided a platform to women to raise their issues and share their experiences in Delhi-NCR.
GAYATRI YADAV,
Executive VP, Marketing & Communications, Star India Private Limited
Gayatri Yadav heads the marketing and communication for all of Star India’s channels, leveraging her marketing expertise to grow a strong portfolio of leading brands and in her own words, “entertain and inspire a billion imaginations”. She joined Procter & Gamble straight out of IIM-Calcutta, where the first brand she handled was Whisper. Looking back, Yadav says P&G was the best first job for a young marketer, a ‘second MBA’ where she learnt all her marketing principles. Four years down the line, Yadav was the second recruit at General Mills (Pillsbury), responsible for launching a brand and business from scratch, taking an unknown American food brand into the most tradition-bound Indian category, atta, driving conversion and building an iconic brand. Her success saw her grow from a brand manager to Marketing Head in just a year’s time. After 14 years at General Mills, she joined Star. On the difference in marketing for a TV channel and an FMCG, she says, “The biggest shift I have found in comparison to marketing packaged goods is the sheer impact of media in shaping not just behaviour, but mindsets and culture.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“Marketing in TV media is perhaps the most challenging role… Two factors make a media marketer’s world more challenging than others - One, that the product changes every day, every minute, making it the most dynamic industry in the world. Two, this is an industry where differentiation is not enough, you have to disrupt,” says Yadav.
THE CORE TEAM
Nikhil Madhok, Senior VP Marketing & Programming Strategy, Star Plus
Nikhil Madhok’s job entails providing a strategic direction to the brand, identifying the right kind of programming, designing the programming schedule and playout, and building the Star Plus brand through innovative and effective marketing & communication. He was responsible for conceptualizing and executing the marketing campaign for Satyamev Jayate. Currently, he is mounting a huge campaign for Mahabharat, which will have multiple disruptions across media.
Yogesh Manwani, Senior VP, Marketing, Star Entertainment Media
Yogesh Manwani currently heads the marketing for Star’s regional channels, Star Pravah and Network Marketing. Prior to joining Star, he served as VP-Marketing, Reliance BIG Broadcasting. He has also worked at MCCS-Star News, STAR Ananda, STAR Majha as VP, Marketing & Distribution.
Sumanta Bose, Senior VP, Marketing & Communications, Star Jalsha and Head, Jalsha Movies
Pallavi Tibrewal, VP, Marketing, Star English Cluster
Nipa Asharam, VP, Marketing, Channel V
Pratik Seal, Head of Marketing, Life OK
Gaurav Chaturvedi, AVP, Marketing, Star India
TOP CAMPAIGNS
Satyamev Jayate:
Star India CEO Uday Shankar’s brief was to “change the grammar of story-telling” and actor Aamir Khan defined it as a “journey that would change lives”. The challenge was to create a marketing campaign that would do justice to the show. It was special because we avoided a formulaic approach and created a campaign based on intrigue, yet every film from a campaign of over a dozen films prepared the viewer for the show without saying anything about it while creating anticipation and avoiding clichés. The digital campaign was ground-breaking. Satyamev Jayate became the most talked about show in the world in May 2012, being the only show to have trended every single episode on Twitter.
ROLAND LANDERS
Head, Brand Zee
Roland Landers is the Head, Brand Zee, responsible for building the brand equity amongst internal and external stakeholders. He has been instrumental in establishing the ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The World is My Family’ brand positioning for Zee, to differentiate itself from other media brands. He also managed the brand initiatives for Zee’s 20 years milestone. Landers brings over 20 years of experience in Sales & Media Marketing, Sport Business and Brand Management. On communication for the corporate entity, Zee, he says, “Zee is a pioneer and innovator in this space. We were the first to go international, launch regional channels and expand across GECs. We try and bring out these attributes of the brand in our communication to our share-holders, stake-holders and peers in the industry.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“As the business and environment changes, we will focus on content. We aspire to be a top global media company by 2020. Our brand positioning will be further percolated in all our communication. We are also working on a brand film which showcases our positioning,” says Landers.
Prasenjit Basu, VP, Head, Marketing, Ten Sports
Prasenjit Basu has been with Ten Sports since April 2012, and he heads Marketing at the sports channel. Basu began his career at Kodak India and has since worked in DLF Universal, Burson-Marsteller, Genesis PR, LG Electronics, Reliance Digital Retail and Videocon Industries.
AKASH CHAWLA
ZEEL, Executive VP, Marketing Head, National Channels
Akash Chawla heads the brand, research and communication teams for Hindi general entertainment channel, Zee TV, Hindi movie cluster, Zee Anmol and &Pictures. His job is to develop and execute the company’s business strategies. Chawla has over 12 years of experience in marketing and communications and has designed innumerable data-driven strategies to help Zee TV and Zee Cinema establish, maintain and maximize viewers’ trust in their brands. He has spearheaded many marketing campaigns including the rebranding of Zee TV with ‘Umeed Se Saje Zindagi’ as the mission statement in June 2011. He has also led the channel’s aggressive move into Digital, Social and New Media channels for shows like ‘Dance India Dance’ and ‘Punarvivaah’, as also the recent digital campaign for the TV premiere of Agneepath. Prior to Zee, Akash worked with TAM Media Research as Marketing Manager.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“My portfolio cuts across various segments, audiences and geographies and all the brands play the volume game. So, bringing in the volumes and catering to the ever-changing taste of the consumer is the biggest challenge. In addition, the marketer has to be technology-driven. With so much data available on the consumer, understanding data analytics and application of this data is important. The most critical aspect for the marketer is to develop listening skills,” says Chawla.
Rusa Banerjee, Zee Bangla Cinema
Shravanty Roy, Zee Bangla
V R Hema, Zee Marathi
Charmie Kanabar, Zee Talkies
Aditya Bansal, Zee Jagran & Zee Salaam
Sharlton Menezes, Zee Studio, Zee Café
TOP CAMPAIGNS
The Network18 Group (TV18 and Viacom18) does not have a consolidated marketing head. Each vertical/channel has a separate marketing head. Here are the prominent marketers at Network18.
RAJESH IYER
Head, Marketing, Colors
Rajesh Iyer handles the entire marketing initiative for Colors. He started his career in advertising at Ambience and O&M, where he handled Park Avenue and the food brands of HUL respectively. Post his advertising stints, Iyer joined Star TV where he spent four years in various roles such as Product Manager, Online New Media and Senior Manager, Content and Marketing. In 2008, he joined Viacom18 and was part of the launch team for the new GEC, Colors.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Meeting viewer expectations in terms of content. Content marketing requires a continuous process of innovation. The challenge lies in keeping pace with the constantly evolving content delivery platforms and content consumption patterns of viewers across these platforms.
In the team
Sidharth Saini, Vice President-Marketing, CNN-IBN & IBN7
Suranjana Ghosh, Head-Marketing, CNBC TV18
Shilpi Singh, VP-Marketing Focus, CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz
Deepak Khanolkar, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, IBN Lokmat
Sumeli Chatterjee, Head-Marketing, Media & Insights, MTV
Sonali Bhattacharya, Director, Marketing, Kids Cluster (Nickelodeon, Sonic & Nick Jr)
Sabrina D’souza, Marketing Head, Comedy Central/VH1
Batjuban Nongvet, Director, Marketing-Regional Channels, Viacom18 Media
Sangeetha Aiyer, Vice President and Head, Marketing, A+E Networks/TV18
TOP CAMPAIGNS
Giving audiences a peek into the Bigg Boss House through the Bigg Boss Tour, increasing the size of Mid-Day newspaper to promote the wrestling show Ring Ka King, connecting audiences in India and Pakistan through a simulcast radio show to promote Surkshetra. Betting big on ‘24’, had a theatrical release of the trailer for the Anil Kapoor starrer. The Bigg Boss’ voice asked audiences to stand up for the National Anthem before the start of the movie in over 400 cinema theatres across 22 cities.
GAURAV SETH
Senior VP, Head-Marketing & Communication, Sony Entertainment Television
Gaurav Seth spearheads the marketing team of the Hindi GEC, and looks to build and sustain SET’s brand, appeal and reach. Prior to his stint at SET, Seth was with MAX, the Hindi movies and special events channel, which he joined in December 2008. He led successful IPL campaigns like ‘Ek Desh, Ek Junoon’ in 2009, ‘Saare Jahan se Accha’ in 2010, ‘Bharat Bandh’ campaign for DLF IPL in 2011, ‘Aisa Mauka Aur Kahan Milega in 2012 and the latest campaign ‘Sirf Dekhne Ka Nahi’ starring Farah Khan
with the IPL song ‘Jumping Japang’. In a career of about 15 years, Seth has been associated with building and monetizing brands including the path breaking ICL, Zee Sports, Altavista’s operations in India and ESPN Star Sports to name a few.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
The key challenge is breaking away from the clutter and ensuring that your storylines appeal to families.
VAISHALI SHARMA
Vice President, Marketing, Sony Max
Vaishali Sharma heads the Marketing for the Hindi movies and special events channel, Sony Max. She has 20 years of experience, across various business verticals, including brand and television channel launches, category creation, building brands in new media and adapting global strategies to bolster local brands. She moved to the Sony family from Times Now, where was VP, Marketing. Her insights into region-specific markets were critical in building business strategies that served as blueprints for success. Her previous assignments were with BBC Global News and Walt Disney Television.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“At Sony Max, whether in terms of consumer insights, market understanding, creativity, innovations or strengthening the brand, the mantra is to always push and create new limits,” says Sharma. “The challenge is to position the movie carefully and provide a hook which draws people to see the movie again and again.”
In the team
Neville Bastawalla, VP-Marketing, Sony Pix
Harjeet Singh Chhabra, Sr Vice President Marketing, SAB
Himmat Butalia, Marketing Director, AXN Networks
Murtuza Madraswala, Head-Marketing, Sony Six
TOP CAMPAIGNS
KBC campaign ‘Gyan Hi Aap Ko Aap Ka Haq Dilata Hai’ – “The spot about the girl child brought us a lot of critical acclaim and showcased the strength and power of communication and KBC’s role in determining social influences,” says Seth, also mentioning the IPL campaigns, specially the last campaign which had the entire audience dancing.
Innovations for Aashiqui 2 Premier and ‘Jahan Dekho Wahan Dewana’. “The new campaign for Deewana Banaa De was based on the consumer insight that there is a little bit of filminess and diwangi in all of us. With the help of this, we built up our brand connect,” says Sharma.
WHAT CAUGHT OUR EYE! Couples in the Aashiqui pose (with the man’s overcoat over their heads) on the seaside promenades of Mumbai. The campaign sure had everyone talking!
SHANTANU BHANJA
Business Head & VP-Marketing, HT Media Limited
Shantanu Bhanja heads marketing for the Hindustan Times brand. He set up and also leads the Brand Partnerships & Solutions business for HT Media’s overall portfolio. Prior to joining HT Media in 2007, Bhanja worked at Reckitt Benckiser (RB) for over 15 years, a major part of which was spent at its Global Headquarters in the UK. At RB, Bhanja worked in Sales, Marketing, and Business Planning roles across South Asia before becoming Global Brand Marketing Manager, Dettol and Lysol, where he was responsible for Global Brand Strategy, Innovation, Consumer Insights and entry into new segments and new markets. In his last assignment, he was Marketing Director of the overall business in Portugal.
THE CORE TEAM
Rajesh Ramakrishnan, Head-Marketing, Hindustan Times
Vandana Krishnia, Head-Marketing, Hindustan Times, Delhi
Ranjani Krishnaswami, Head-Marketing, Hindustan Times, Mumbai
Neeraj Chaturvedi, Head, Brand Solutions, Hindustan Times
TOP CAMPAIGNS
You Read, They Learn (YRTL)
Launched in April 2012 to help educate underprivileged children, YRTL has readers contribute a part of the cover price to the effort. More than 10,000 children benefited from it last year. The initiative has won several honours, including the ‘Best in Show’ award (among over 500 entries from about 30 countries) at the prestigious International News Media Association (INMA) Awards in New York earlier
this year. This in addition to an Effie Bronze, a Bronze Lion at Cannes and a mention in the Limca Book of Records.
Your Gurgaon, Your Voice
A special product for Gurgaon, with the tagline ‘Your Gurgaon, Your Voice’, focuses on stories that affect readers’ lives. “Our Gurgaon-focused approach, in which we will take up news stories and issues that matter to the residents of Gurgaon, will benefit both readers and advertisers,” says Bhanja.
PRADEEP DWIVEDI
Chief Corporate Sales & Marketing Officer, Dainik Bhaskar Group
Pradeep Dwivedi’s primary responsibility in the Dainik Bhaskar Group is leading pan India corporate sales and marketing groups, and driving growth and business transformation. He also looks after the business revenues, trade marketing and managing client relationships, establishing the brand in the national market. Dwivedi has close to two decades of experience in leading Sales and Marketing, service delivery, risk operations and Business Development in various organizations such as Tata Teleservices, American Express Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, GE Capital and Eicher Motors Ltd. Dwivedi is an MBA from Punjab University and has also done an Executive Programme on Management Development from the University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
SANJEEV KOTNALA
VP, Brand and Marketing, Dainik Bhaskar Group
Sanjeev Kotnala’s role focuses on Brand Management & Marketing in Corporate (non- Bhaskar footprint) markets including all metro regions. He joined the Dainik Bhaskar Group in 2004, and worked on many launch campaigns including DNA, Punjab and My FM. Kotnala joined Mudra in 1987 and was part of the MMTPMudra Management Training Programme. He also worked with advertising agencies JWT (then HTA) and Lintas. Kotnala has a management diploma from IIM-Ahmedabad.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“Each market has a different culture subset and the aspirations of people are different. Our successful brands like Divya Bhaskar and Divya Marathi always perform under the shadow of the mother brand Dainik Bhaskar. To clearly establish these brands is a challenge in itself,” says Kotnala.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
Zid Karo Duniya Badlo: The Zid campaign with MS Dhoni depicted the brand ethos of raising the bar, setting a target and achieving it. The second Zid campaign’s tagline was ‘Power of Na’, saying no to the things that are not in our value system.
Mosaic: A compilation of the best Print ads has become a reference book for agencies and marketers
BASANT RATHORE
VP-Strategy, Business Development & Brand, Jagran Prakashan Limited
Basant Rathore has been with Jagran Prakashan Limited since 2004, and leads Media Strategy, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Communications and Brand Management for JPL. Prior to joining Jagran, Rathore was the Head of Team Hyundai at Madison Media. He also had a stint at Mindshare, where he looked at Strategic Planning for Pepsi and Frito-Lays. Rathore has also worked on brands Samsung, Dabur and McDonald’s while working at Mudra Communications as Business Director.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
BHARATH GANAPATHI
GM-Corporate, The Hindu Group
Bharath Ganapathi has been at the forefront of ushering in a more aggressive marketing approach at The Hindu, after a change of guard at the newspaper, earlier described as ‘conservative’. He has 18 years of experience, starting his career in advertising sales at the Hindu, then working at Euro RSCG and Outlook before returning to the Hindu where he now heads the Marketing team for The Hindu Group of Publications. While the paper has held its own despite increased competition in its home turf, Chennai, Ganapathi has his work cut out as The Hindu is set to launch a Tamil paper in the very competitive regional space. “We have always banked on the quality of journalism that we deliver. Our research and the gap that people perceive in a newspaper gives us confidence that a good quality Tamil paper still has place,” says Ganapathi.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“As your brand is known for ethics, high quality journalism, unbiased coverage of news, when you communicate, the biggest challenge is to be careful so that your message is not misconstrued and seen to be controversial,” says Ganapathi.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
Stay Ahead of Times: The Hindu’s ‘Stay Ahead of Times’ initiative won a lot of international acclaim. The theme was cracked in a couple of days, then shot and the campaign rolled out in less than a month.
UnDumb India: This was a 360-degree campaign and three TVCs that were part of it said ‘Knowledge is not dumb’ and ‘Page 3 news doesn’t get much’.
Did you know?
The Hindu recently forayed into the Mumbai market with its specially designed school edition
VARGHESE CHANDY
Chief General Manager, Marketing & Ad Sales, Malayala Manorama
Varghese Chandy is an old hand at Malayala Manorama, having been with the company for 30 years, 15 of which have been with the Marketing team. He is responsible for daily displays, The Week, Manorama Weekly, The Man, Smart Life, Watch Time, Manorama Online, Marketing Research, Publications Management, Operations and Junction K. He is credited as the force behind Junction K, the 360-degree integrated media solutions platform of the Malayala Manorama group. He started his career as a commercial officer trainee at Usha Sales in Chennai and looking back, says it gave him an exposure to
systems and procedures besides being a training ground for handling pressure. In a lighter vein, Chandy adds, he even learnt the “correct way to staple and file papers”. Chandy won the prestigious Media Marketer of the Year award at ‘Emvies’ 2003 and is a member of the Technical Committee of The Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI). He has also served as the Chairman, Working Group of the National Readership Survey.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Junction K: “We help the client achieve their objectives of reaching their audience by integrating all media platforms - Print, Radio, TV, Online, Events, OOH, etc.,” says Chandy. He has also been instrumental in coining the slogan “Nobody delivers Kerala better”.
ARVIND KALIA
Vice President, Marketing, Patrika Group
Arvind Kalia joined the Patrika Group in 2005 as National Head, Marketing. He started his career as an Executive Assistant to the Managing Director of Rajasthan Communication Ltd. He then joined RA Poddar Institute of Management, University of Rajasthan as a faculty member for Marketing & Advertising and also taught briefly at University of Calgary, Canada. He also advised companies as a consultant during his teaching stint.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Designing the marketing strategy on the principles of augmentation and segmentation; providing micro-segments in terms of split editions across states.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Jaipur Shopping Festival: It was launched last year by the Patrika Group from Navratra to Dhanteras, and it increased the turnover of local entrepreneurs by about Rs 500 crore.
BIKRAM DUGGAL
Director, Marketing, Media Networks, Disney UTV
Bikram Duggal spearheads the marketing for a bouquet of nine channels across three genres at Disney UTV - Bindass & UTV Stars (Youth), UTV Movies, UTV Action, UTV World Movies (Movies) and Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior and Hungama TV (Kids). His role involves building key television and company franchises for Disney UTV Media Networks, with Disney UTV looking at increasing its marketing budget by 30% to further build on its brands. In his career spanning 15 years, Duggal has worked at JWT and Lowe, dealing with multiple categories which gave him grounding in brand-building. He then moved to HUL, working on brand Vim, before the entrepreneurial bug bit him to start his own venture. Two years later, he joined Turner International as the Director Marketing, South Asia. He joined Disney UTV three years ago.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
The excitement and challenge emanate from prioritizing multiple portfolios and giving time to individual teams and brands. It requires me to switch on immediately and constantly from one discussion to another which can be exhausting yet rather thrilling.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Jet Set Go campaign on Disney channel: An aircraft branded with Disney characters and full of families was sent to Hong Kong Disneyland. Around 8.5 million entries were received for a place on the aircraft and the channel is getting ready for the third campaign.
RAJEEV NAMBIAR
CEO, Sovereign Media Marketing (Malar Publications)
Rajeev Nambiar is CEO of Sovereign Media Marketing, the marketing division of Malar Publications, which markets the group’s various media brands in TV, Radio, newspaper (metro markets) and Digital. In addition, he also heads the Radio and Television verticals. Nambiar’s career in media began with the Times of India in 1989 before he moved to Jain TV for a brief stint. His next tenure was at Raj Television Network for a whole decade, where he chartered the network’s bouquet of channels through cutting-edge strategic programming, sales and marketing initiatives. He quit the channel to join Malar Publications as COO of Radio before working on other brands in the group.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“Our campaigns focus on inclusive growth, with focus on increasing listeners, viewers and readers for our brands and this growth has to be content-driven. We also have to focus on integrated marketing solutions for advertisers, and be prepared to address the changing consumer landscape by adopting the right conversion theory and strategy,” says Nambiar.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Petralthaan Pillaiya: “Kamal Hassan and I are co-founders of this initiative,” says Nambiar. “We sensitize audiences on issues related to HIV and support medical insurance for over 2,000 kids year-on-year. This initiative is now a Trust and Hello FM comes in as the Radio partner.”
SANDEEP MENON
Country Marketing Director, India, Google
Sandeep Menon is responsible for all of Google’s marketing initiatives in India. His earlier assignment at Google was Director of Small Business Marketing, Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where he was responsible for Google’s marketing programmes targeted at small and medium businesses across EMEA. Menon helped small businesses navigate the digital space and showed them how Internet can transform a business. He also led the global launch of the Get Your Business Online initiative that helped over a million businesses develop an online presence. Prior to joining Google, he worked at SAP as Product Management Lead, Mobile Business Solutions. Menon earned his MBA degree with distinction from Insead Business School and his BE in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India.
RISHI DARDA
Joint Managing Director & Director, Strategy, Marketing and Editorial, Lokmat Media
Rishi Darda is a hands on leader who follows the day-to-day operations of the company along with the business expansion strategies of the Print Media division of the Lokmat Group. He is responsible for ideation and creation of editorial content, supervision of editorial policies and product development. In addition to the editorial function, he supervises the performance of the company in terms of business plans. Lokmat Media’s philosophy has been based on innovation and connecting to people, as envisaged by founder Jawaharlal Darda in 1973: “Jithe ST, Tithe Lokmat (Let Lokmat reach every corner where ST buses reach)” and this philosophy still holds good with the Gen Next Darda. Rishi Darda has a master’s degree in Business Administration in General Management from Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
In the Team
Mandir Tendolkar, Vice President Branding & Communication
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“We look at enriching the lives of everyone we are associated with,” says Darda. “I believe Lokmat is a superbrand in itself, and we want to create subsets and a lot more superbrands around it.”
TOP CAMPAIGNS
The Maharashtrian of the Year Award is a completely editorial-driven initiative of the Lokmat Group. “It’s a very respectable and credible award with an eminent jury and we take pride in finding people who have never been in the limelight. It’s easier to find people who have always been seen on TV,” says Darda.
A J CHRISTOPHER
National Head, Sales & Marketing, Eenadu Group
A J Christopher has been handling the National Sales & Marketing Portfolio at Eenadu Group for the last five years. Besides this, his current assignment also entails business development, channel management, corporate communication and strategic planning. He joined Eenadu in August 1996 and has since garnered experience handling Print, Television, Digital, Events & Activations. Before entering the media domain, Christopher worked with Singer and First Flight Couriers. Going ahead, Christopher says the Eenadu Group will up its marketing spends, and initiatives will be more engagement-driven.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
To connect with the reader, communicate with advertisers and broaden engagement and relevance in the media space.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Vasundara Kutumbam: A women’s forum, which is an extension of Eenadu’s daily women’s page - ‘Vasundara’ - has been a trend-setter since its launch in the 80’s. The initiative to empower women with knowledge and information to handle challenges, helped take the product closer to readers and today the forum is present across Andhra Pradesh. There is a Vasundara Kutumbam initiative happening practically every day in the State. This mega marketing initiative has strengthened the brand, as well as created a constant interactive platform to communicate with readers.
NEERAJ SANAN
Chief Marketing Officer & Head, Distribution, MCCS
Neeraj Sanan is head of Marketing and Distribution for three national broadcast channels under the Media Content & Communication Services (MCCS) - ABP News, ABP Ananda and ABP Majha. He also heads MCCS’ Digital arm and its central creative cell. Sanan has over 18 years of marketing experience across product categories including FMCG (skin care, hair care, and confectionery), semi-durables (paints) and services (broadcast, mobile). Prior to joining MCCS, he was the CMO at Web18, the mobile and Internet arm of Network18. He has also worked with leading brands such as Dabur and Wrigley’s.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“The TRAI’s proposal to limit advertising to 10+2 minutes per hour does not augur well for everyone, including Marketing. News marketing is a mash of tie-ups, batters and internal promos, which one has to understand properly before setting rules,” says Sanan.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
Rebranding from Star News to ABP News: “The Indian television news industry has arguably not seen an initiative like our rebranding campaign, when our channels were rebranded from Star News to ABP News. They saw an increase in market-share post the rebranding. This is something I and my entire team will be proud of,” says Sanan.
GEORGE SEBASTIAN
Senior General Manager, Marketing, Mathrubhumi
George Sebastian is in charge of Mathrubhumi’s print titles, Digital and Club FM in the national metro markets. Sebastian has over three decades of experience cutting across Print, Television and Radio. While his first step in the media business was at the office of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited, he also gained knowledge of the domain at India Today, Gujarat Samachar and Business Standard. The nitty-gritty of working in a television channel was picked up during his stints at Hinduja Media Group, Plus Channel and MTV. As Chief Operating Officer at Club FM, he led the foray of the company into FM Radio, by launching four FM radio stations. Sebastian also serves as VP and member of Governing Council of the Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) and is a Member, Technical Committee of the Media Research Users Council (MRUC).
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Ensuring that content continues to be relevant to the youth segment and creating compelling content. The falling Rupee and high wage bill revisions could hit the industry, and lead to reduced ad spends. Communication is also a challenge when we present marketing opportunities offered in Tier-II & Tier-III markets in Kerala to advertisers and try to educate them about the market beyond IRS.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Horlicks Mathrubhumi Ramzaan Recipe Contest: Mathrubhumi tied up with an FMCG brand, GlaxoSmithKline, that was keen to ‘connect’ with consumers in the Malabar region. The initiative was carried out across all Mathrubhuni platforms - FM radio, local newspaper editions, Mathrubhumi online. “As the campaign was rolled out during the holy month of Ramzaan, we held Iftaar parties,” says Sebastian.
RAJIV BAKSHI
VP Marketing, South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific
Rajiv Bakshi started his career at Mudra Advertising and joined Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (DNAP), India in 2004. He was part of the TLC’s launch team and also contributed to the launch of the subsequent channels from the network. He was instrumental in the company’s localization drive for all the channels. With over 15 years of experience in marketing and communication, Bakshi has executed multiple campaigns, launches and rebranding exercises. Looking ahead, Bakshi believes that integration of all mediums is the future of marketing for TV channels. He adds, “Engagement will substantially increase and there will be more focus and investment into brands versus programming.” He looks after the entire Discovery portfolio of eight networks – Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Kids, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, Discovery HD World and Discovery Tamil.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“It is a complex marketing job as the portfolio is varied and you manage brands which operate in different TG, categories, lifestyle groups and even niche and super premium audiences. You have to think differently on any given day for all programmes across time bands. The big marketing complex job is that you have to have very clear brand positioning wherein you support each other and do not cannibalize as most carry the prefix Discovery,” says Bakshi.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
Jab Tak Hai Jaan & Discovery Channel integration: Actor Anushka Sharma’s character Akira was an employee of Discovery Channel, in fact part of the movie was shot at Discovery’s London office. Bakshi says, “The freedom and the openness to participate in scripting, designing and conceptualization was very encouraging for us to partner with Yashraj Films. We are very cautious about where we use our brand. We have to be highly convinced that the brand will be well placed, well positioned and there will be full protection for the brand.”
Yeh Mera India on Animal Planet: The biggest campaign for the channel, which seeks to give a voice to wildlife and nature concerns in India, saw the launch of Yeh Mera India animal anthem composed by music directors Salim-Sulaiman. The anthem saw close to two lakh downloads on ringtones across India.
ANAND CHAKRAVARTHY
EVP, Marketing, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd
Anand Chakravarthy joined Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) in 2006, and has played a key role as part of the core team that grew the company from a radio company to an integrated media conglomerate. He has experience of over 15 years in the advertising industry, and prior to joining RBNL, worked with Lowe Lintas. ‘Surf to Surf Excel’ and ICICI Bank’s ‘Hum Hai Na’ are some of the popular campaigns he worked for.
In the Team
Harikrishnan Pillai, Head of Marketing, BIG RTL Thrill
Nimisha Kumar, Head of Marketing, BIG CBS Prime
Ritu Sareen, Head of Marketing, BIG CBS Love
Anshuman Singh, Head of Marketing, BIG Magic
Sudham Ravinutala, National Marketing Head, BIG FM
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Customizing marketing plans for different regions and tracking consumer trends is an inherent challenge.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
BIG Green Ganesha: In this early initiative, our audience was asked to donate old newspapers and we then created ‘BIG green Ganeshas’ with them, delivering an eco-friendly message to society. The audiences participated right from the donation stage to attending the daily aartis and finally the immersion.
VIVEK MALHOTRA
VP, Marketing, Strategy Planning & Research, TV Today Network
Vivek Malhotra is responsible for brand development and communication strategy for the media brands under TV Today. He is also in charge of the research and special projects divisions. In his earlier stints, Malhotra worked with Big FM as Head of Marketing and with Bloomberg UTV as Sr VP, Marketing, PR and Research, where he played an integral role in setting up the entire marketing system and repositioning the product to new brand values, along with additional responsibilities of distribution planning and coordination. Malhotra also had stints at Star News Network and TV18.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“We are raising good revenue on branded events and we have a few strong tentpoles lined up for the year alongside core brand campaigns for products attaining leadership positions,” says Malhotra. “Cross-linked campaigns are proving to be very impactful and we’ve just started moving towards that frontier.”
TOP CAMPAIGN
Right to be Heard: It is a very special marketing initiative that gave India a platform to raise its voice against issues. It was based on a very solid insight and delivered undisputed results.
MADHUMITA CHATTOPADHYAY
Vice-President, Bengali Magazines, ABP Pvt Limited & Editor, Sananda
Madhumita Chattopadhyay has a dual role in Ananda Bazar Patrika Private Limited as the Business Head of all Bengali magazines and Editor of the women’s lifestyle magazine, Sananda. Chattopadhyay, who does not have a journalistic background, joined ABP as a brand manager. She subsequently took over as Business Head, Bengali Magazines and was then given the editorial responsibility for Sananda. She also played an instrumental role in the launch of Sananda TV. Chattopadhyay began her career as an engineer before shifting gear to market research, working in TNS Mode & IMRB International.
SUPRIYO SINHA
Vice President and Business Head, Bengali Dailies ABP Private Limited
Supriyo Sinha heads the Bengali dailies business in the ABP Group – looking after Ananda Bazar Patrika, the flagship brand of the group and Ebela, a tabloid paper. He has worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, specializing in leadership and organizational transformation topics, before joining ABP in 2012. Sinha has also worked at Hindustan Unilever and is a gold medallist from IIM, Calcutta.
In the team
Dhruba Mukherjee, Associate Vice President, Telegraph
Anita Mazumdar, National Advertising Director, Fortune India & Acting SBU Head, English Magazines
(Fortune India & Businessworld)
MUKESH SHARMA
Additional Director General, Doordarshan Kendra Mumbai
Mukesh Sharma is responsible for programme development, marketing, monitoring of budget and expenditures, communicating with the media at the national broadcaster and has been associated with the film and broadcasting industry for over three decades. After joining Prasar Bharati in 1992, he has handled various portfolios in All India Radio and Doordarshan and risen through the ranks to his current role as Additional Director General at Doordarshan Kendra, Mumbai. He also has experience in film and TV production and direction.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“Our key challenge is to reinvent ourselves to keep pace with the changing technology and identify niche spaces where we can establish our presence, especially in digital terrestrial, mobile television, etc. The difficult part is that we are in a quasi-government set-up with ageing human resources and legacy, which is widening the turnaround dynamics,” says Sharma.
TOP CAMPAIGNS
Jamunia: Socially relevant content produced on DD National, aimed at changing social behaviour and creating awareness about women’s rights, gender bias, education and cleanliness.
Prerna Puraskar: Special event which acknowledges the contribution of women in our daily lives. It has been a standout for Doordarshan. This content was supported by brands who have included it in their overall media campaign, giving it a much wider connotation and salience.
KRISHNA DESAI
Sr Director & Network Head, Kids, South Asia, Turner International India Pvt Ltd
Krishna Desai heads Turner’s kids’ networks in South Asia and is responsible for the onair and digital content and communication portfolios of Cartoon Network, POGO and Cartoon Network Pakistan. Desai also looks at integrated plans to promote content across platforms. He joined Turner in December 2003 and has since instituted various initiatives like market segmentation and prioritization, programme classification, new processes for programming grid development and so on. He has a background in media planning, buying and research at O&M, Mindshare and Madison.
DHAWAL KATKAR
Sr Director & Network Head, English Entertainment, S Asia, Turner International India Pvt Ltd
Dhawal Katkar was recently picked to head Turner India’s English vertical including channels such as HBO and WB, and manages integrated communications and the content portfolio of HBO and WB. He joined Turner in April 2011 and led marketing communications for Cartoon Network and POGO. He also spearheaded the School Contact Programmes undertaken by Turner’s kids’ network and the various digital campaigns for WB channel that build reach by driving online traffic to the channel via real time innovative contests. Before joining Turner, Katkar spent over a decade in the FMCG space with brands such as L’Oreal, Godrej, Heinz, etc.
SATYANARAYANA MURTHY
SVP & National Marketing head, Radio City 91.1 FM
Satyanarayana Murthy has over 20 years of experience in Sales, Product Management, Distribution Management & Marketing, gathered in companies such as L&T, ENIL (Radio Mirchi) and Adlabs. On Marketing for Radio, Murthy says it is critical to build marquee properties which create engagement with listeners. Therefore, Radio City has built its marketing properties around 3C’s: Cricket, Cinema & City. “The strength of the medium is still largely under-leveraged. There is still huge scope for innovation in Radio. With intense competition, every Radio network has reached a point in its lifecycle where there’s a constant effort to differentiate & innovate,” says Murthy.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
According to Murthy, the main challenge in designing a marketing activity is to build a differentiator in the listener’s mind. “At Radio City, it is our constant endeavour to build properties and alliances that ensure maximum engagement and build affinity with our listeners,” he says.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Radio City’s biggest marketing initiative is ‘Radio City Super Singer’, a singing talent hunt with more than 80,000 participants last year. “From our research, we can clearly claim that this kind of engagement is amongst the highest across any media vehicle in the country,” asserts Murthy.
G G JAYANTA
National Marketing head, Radio Mirchi
G G Jayanta joined the radio station in March, 2006 as Marketing Head, Bangalore. He also served as Station Director, Radio Mirchi, Hyderabad and Regional Market Head, South before being elevated to his current role. As per Jayanta, a radio marketer needs to understand specific cultural nuances as this is key in getting the positioning right for each show. On what will be the future of marketing for the radio industry, he says, “Integrating digital into the marketing mix – both from the content and listenership/audience perspective.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“With appointment viewing diminishing, it’s going to get tougher to get viewers to tune in to special properties that require significant production investments,” says Sharma.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Brand Mirchi’s on-air and off-air activities like the Kaan Awards, the Mirchi Music Awards and repositioning the flagship breakfast show in Bangalore in 2007 and then again in 2011. The show still remains Bangalore’s No.1 show.
SORBOJEET CHATTERJEE
Senior Vice-President, Marketing, DNA
Sorbojeet Chatterjee began his career in the media industry at the India Today Group, where he grew from a management trainee to Head of Marketing. He has over a decade of experience in building and strengthening media brands across platforms and has specialized in launching and re-staging popular brands including news channels, a sports channel, a radio station, a sports league and now a newspaper. He has headed the marketing function at NeoSports Broadcast Ltd, and now at DNA, he leads all marketing initiatives.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“Consumers change at a much faster pace than brands can cope. The trick is to adapt as quickly as possible to ensure that one’s brand continues to be relevant and integrate engagement in every aspect of marketing,” says Chatterjee.
Rohit Kumar,
Deputy Vice-President, Marketing, Zee News
Rohit Kumar will soon be completing a decade at Zee News, where he handles the marketing function. He joined the company as AVP, Marketing and his focus areas are marketing, research and digital marketing. The Marketing team at Zee News does not just look at the brand, but also provides research inputs. A popular marketing initiative undertaken by the channel was the ‘Aapka Vote Aapki Taqat’ drive, where an effort was made to reach out to people and apprise them of the importance of casting votes. This campaign will continue for the General Elections of 2014 too.
DEBARPITA BANERJEE
Vice President-Marketing & Communication, Fox International Channels
Debarpita Banerjee is responsible for all marketing and communication initiatives of the bouquet of channels under Fox International in India - National Geographic, Fox Traveller, Baby TV, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, Nat Geo Music and the HD bouquet - and strategizing to strengthen the existing brands in the Indian subcontinent. Banerjee has over 16 years of experience in communication and brand development, having spent 14 years across leading advertising agencies such as BBDO, Leo Burnett and JWT handling clients like Glaxosmithkline, Dabur, Coca Cola, SBI credit cards and ICI Paints (now Azko Nobel).
SHAILESH AMONKAR
Chief Marketing Officer, Sakal
Shailesh Amonkar helms the sales and marketing functions including brand strategy at Sakal Group. In his earlier stint with the Group, he was the Head of Sales. Amonkar’s first job was with The Times of India and he had also set up his own media firm. Amonkar says, “My career has provided me with holistic management exposure in selling audiences, and creating sustainable brands.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“Challenges and challenges galore lie in store. The market is already hinting that 2013 is going to be a tough year. What is the best approach? Innovation and ideation in content, marketing and operations management,” says Amonkar.
KRP REDDY
Director (Advertising & Marketing), Jagati Publications Limited
KRP Reddy has been associated with Jagati Publications, publishers of Sakshi Telugu Daily, since 2007. He leads all the marketing activities of the Group. In 1979, on completion of his MBA, KRP Reddy joined Monica Electronics Pvt.Ltd (Onida) as Regional Manager (South). He then moved to Eenadu (Ushodaya Publications Limited) to head the Retail Advertisement Team, and built the retail advertisements division from a few lakhs per annum to a couple of crores within two years. Post this, he worked at Telugu Publication, Udayam, as Advertisement Department Head.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“We’d like to position the product to suit both rural and urban readers by giving two different products simultaneously. We’d also like to concentrate on women readers with interactive edits,” says Reddy. “With bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, we have created three editorial desks, for Rayal Andhra, Telangana and Hyderabad City. Marketing strategies will undergo suitable changes.”
TOP CAMPAIGN
A couple of years back, we launched ‘Constituency’ pull-outs – four-page broadsheets focusing on area-specific (constituency) news and happenings, which were accepted well because of their local flavour.
KAPIL SHARMA
VP - Marketing, 9X Media Private Limited
Kapil Sharma has been handling the marketing portfolio for the five music channels of the 9X Media bouquet for the last three years. He says 9X’s marketing efforts are focused towards building consumer engagement through events and experiential programmes as well as digital initiatives. Sharma has over 15 years of experience across functions such as Marketing, Advertising and Business Consulting. He started his career at Andersen, where he was part of the Media & Entertainment practice of the audit and business advisory firm. He has also had stints with Star News, Big FM and Ambience Publicis before joining 9X Media in 2008.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
“With appointment viewing diminishing, it’s going to get tougher to get viewers to tune in to special properties that require significant production investments,” says Sharma.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Wall of Music: On World Music Day, 2012, 9XM set up a 30 feet long ‘Wall of Music’ enabled with augmented reality technology at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai and in The Great India Place, Noida. This digital wall enabled viewers to download for free their favourite Bollywood songs by scanning movie posters on the wall using their smartphones.
Tung Tucking Ting: 9X Media’s contagious song was created with the insight that good music gets transferred from one person to another. The audio format went viral even before the official video was uploaded. “It sure had us going Tung Tucking Ting!” says Sharma.
PRADEEP KHATRI
Chief Manager, Marketing, Independent News Service
Pradeep Khatri handles all the marketing and event functions at India TV. He began his career in 2002 in pharma sales. A couple of years down the line, he joined Times of India, where he first handled ad sales and then B2B activation for Economic Times Intelligence Group. In 2008, he shifted to TV Today, where he played a major role in establishing the activation function. His next move was to Zee News, before he went back for a second stint at TV Today. Though his stay there was brief, Khatri helped create tent-pole events like Aaj Tak Care Awards.
TOP CAMPAIGN
Mission Damini: The conceptualization, creation and execution of a very touching and meaningful pledge campaign, opposing the rising menace of crime against women and extending support to the cause. Taking it on-ground from scratch in all major cities of the country in a span of two days was special.
