After FMCG, auto, real estate and telecom, now it’s the time for consumer durable players in the country to enter the slugfest! Summer in India looks a lot different this year, at least when it is about the so called ‘short’ commercial breaks, which always hit your road just when you’ve got too engrossed with your daily soap or cricket match on the idiot box. Strangely, the colas are nowhere to be seen – at least relatively. Instead, there are a number of celebrities posing with refrigerators or demonstrating the features of air conditioners, TVs too. Yes, there’s a war brewing north, south, east and west of centre, and it’s worse than last year. The reason is quite obvious. Encouraged by the reviving economic conditions in the country, manufacturers of consumer durables in India have enormously increased their marketing budgets to makes sure that no stone is left unturned to woo the consumers. The size of their budgets is spectacular, if not numbing. For example LG India, the subsidiary of the Korean consumer durable major, has earmarked a total of Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.700 crore for Marketing and Rs.300 crore on R&D) for this year alone. The company confirms its strategy of placing the Indian market on its priority list. The rejoinder is not so dissimilar in the case of Whirlpool, which has geared up for massive below-the-line (BTL) activities and is currently hosting various events (like in-store demonstrations, point of sale materials, trade and consumer promotions et al). In terms of marketing though, the figure is nowhere close to LG’s behemoth power. As per Whirlpool, it has plans to shell out around Rs.60-70 crore during this year with the focus of trebling the sales volume of its ACs. Even Hitachi India, a major in the air conditioner segment, has raised its marketing spends by nearly 35% as compared to last year and is aggressively escalating its presence in Tier II and Tier III towns through a 25% to 30% expansion in its distributors network. But the question is, what’s so different this year that was not there the previous year? Why is there a more than significant jump in various marketing expenditures of players? As per latest reports, the Indian AC and refrigerator markets are expected to surge to 3.2 million units and 6.2 million units respectively by the end of 2010. Considering the buying patterns witnessed in India, a major chunk of the sales would take place in summers, that is, during the April-June quarter. This makes it imperative for the durable players to ramp up their production levels in both the product categories and set higher growth targets for this quarter. Moon Bum Shin, MD, LG India, says to 4Ps B&M, “For ACs, we have a current production capacity of 1.3 million, which we intend to scale it up to 1.5 million with an investment of Rs.80 crore.” He further adds that his company is now targeting to generate a revenue of Rs.3,000 crore from the refrigerator category this 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.
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After going through high spirits (literally) at the Goafest this year, almost everyone belonging to the ad-frat is back on their feet since the rumours of favourable voting have been doing the rounds. As per the Abby rules, jury members are required to abstain from voting for any of their own agencies work. However, it is rumoured that Mudra, Leo Burnett, Taproot India and O&M have flouted this rule due to which the managing committee of Goafest (AAAI & Ad Club Bombay) is considering rescinding Abby awards won by these four agencies. “These developments have put the authenticity and pragmatism of the awards into jeopardy,” says an industry source. Although, Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT and Chairman, Goafest has assured that investigations are on (“While it is true that the committee, in conjunction with Ernst & Young, is investigating cases of judges voting for their own agencies’ work, no decision has yet been taken on the action related to the issue,” he said), yet the credibility of the Goafest awards, considered equivalent to the much coveted Cannes ceremony in the national context, is certainly going to be questioned. Swati SharmaFor 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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aly ShariffMD, Premier Inn IndiaAs I love to travel to new places, my favourite destinations in India are Kerala & Darjeeling. Internationally, it would definitely be Cape Town in South Africa. However, with my family, I always love visiting Maldives. It’s my favourite family holiday spot as we have a great time whenever we are there. When it comes to business travel, it definitely has to be Mumbai, as it is a happening, vibrant and candid city. I have a passion for photography, so whenever I am travelling, I just cannot do without my five cameras and my favourite pair of binoculars. 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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big blockbuster drug brands that once promised billions for big pharma are fast entering the generics zone. The victims are many and their brand pipelines are dry!What’s it with patents in the pharmaceutical industry? You spend billions in dollars and months in time, manage to come up with a ‘protected’ branded formula that has the potential of earning you a few billion bucks, and then much before you have derived complete pleasure out of your R&D efforts, other competitors who have been eyeing your revenue basket for years together, start relishing the fruits of your risks and sweat drops. Unfair, as many say; fair enough feels the US Federal Drug Agency (USFDA). Today, the biggest of names in the world of pharma have their back to the wall when it comes to the future of some of their best-selling patented drug brands, with a hard-fought battle against generic drug makers ahead of them. And life has already become difficult. Take Pfizer for example – during the past ten years, the acquisitions of Warner-Lambert (in 2000 for $90 billion) and Pharmacia (in 2002 for $60 billion) proved to be glorious moments (the first deal gave Pfizer a control over the world’s no.1 selling $11.4 billion-a-year drug Lipitor, while the latter helped it pocket its now third-bestseller Celebrex, which earns $2.5 billion-a-year); but CEO Jeffrey Kindler, the very same deals are now giving nightmares of a dry drug pipeline. While its patent right over its largest revenue earning brand Lipitor patent will expire a year later, its third-largest selling drug Celebrex will go generic in 2013; combine these two, and you are talking about an erosion of $11.74 billion in the drugmaker’s annual revenues per year (as per research by Evaluate Pharmacy, the loss of revenues, post-patent expiry for a formulation, is estimated at 85%). Market reports suggest how by 2014, generic drug companies would be staging a grand stampede on 14 of Pfizer patents, representing 70% of its sales revenues; there is clear and present danger for Pfizer. Kindler is running a hard to win race against time, and for the near future, there seems to be no new blockbuster brand that can heal Pfizer’s wounds, not even its most recent $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth. Viagra, which is the drugmaker’s $2 billion-a-year earning brand is also going off-patent in 2012. In the very first week of its launch in April 1998, Viagra had received 4.3 million prescriptions by medical practitioners. By the end of 1998, more than 200,000 doctors had written 7 million prescriptions and the brand was being marketed across 40 countries. Very few drug brands in history had attained such widespread use so quickly. Come 2012, and Viagra’s dream run will end, with generic brand makers launching cheaper versions of the formula. “Pfizer has a number of downward revenue revisions. You have to believe board members are scratching their heads,” says David S. Moskowitz, Analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. In short – a $50 billion-a-year Pfizer to about a $15 billion-a-year skeleton; and that appears a possibility! The case is the same with many other patented drug brands, as Luis Hector, Analyst, Credit Suisse says, “The current scenario reflects an acknowledgment that insufficient drugs have moved onto the market.” AstraZeneca’s rights over two billion dollar drugs are set to die out fast. It will lose patent rights over both the $4.5 billion-a-year earning Crestor and the $4.9 billion-a-year Seroquel brand by 2012. Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa, which garners $4.9 billion in annual revenues, will expire by 2011. The list of patent expiries of products is long, with names like Advair (owned by GSK, with annual sales of $7.8 billion), Plavix (Sanofi-Aventis & Bristol-Myers Squibb, $4.9 billion), Singulair (Merck, $4.1 billion), Cozaar (Merck, $3.3 billion), Levaquin (J&J, $1.8 billion), Zometa (Novartis $2.1 billion) and many more – all brands over which exclusive marketing rights would have been lost by 2013! 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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 viewsJournalist Mahua Chatterjee fires the first salvo. She believes that despite all the blah-blah and ra-ra in the media, women like her were still an aberration, an exception. “However, our tribe is on the ascent and definitely a quantum leap from our mother’s generation. Advertising’s essential agenda is engaging, convincing and catering to its target group, which for most part, is still steeped in tradition. So, you get what you get. Sure, there are exceptions – like the insurance ad where the granny cosies up with her husband and later, gets blackmailed repeatedly by her chaalu grandson – which is wonderful, but alas, nowhere enough. We could do with a lot more courageous, adventurous, risk-free and exciting advertising that reflects today’s woman with both drama and chutzpah. Can the ad guys do it?”
Film-maker Aparna Sen – whose latest movie The Japanese Wife released to rave reviews – while talking to us, conveys her huge disappointment. While she salutes the crafting and slickness (of advertisements), she is convinced that most of these efforts are blatantly one-dimensional. “North Indian, fair, urban, advertising seems to be fixated on this stereotype! How and why is there practically no sign of the southern, eastern or north-eastern woman? Don’t they exist? If at all they feature, it’s either in caricature form or tokenism! Such a pity.” Kolkata-based media personality Rita Bhimani disagrees and reckons that change indeed is in the air. “Sure, there will always be stereotyping, catering and pandering to connect with the masses, but within categories – cosmetics, healthcare, bikes and automobiles – there has been a lot of quirky, funny and interesting ads portraying today’s woman with large quotients of fun, energy and enterprise.”
Masscom expert Tiyasha Ray begs to differ. “Most of the stuff that pans out is totally regressive and out-of-sync with the here and now! I guess it has to do with ‘Adville’ not mustering up the required guts and ability to effect a breakthrough and content to bogey along a familiar comfort zone as also women themselves being quite content to be seen in that light. Generations of conditioning have programmed them to think in a certain way. Today, they believe that perhaps, this is the way we need to be perceived and what’s all this feminist hoo-haa about?” 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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He loved films, and that drove him to the ad world. Today, Anand Menon, MD, Footcandles Film, has no regrets, but just a dream of a Cannes GoldWhat inspired you to enter a production outfit after IIM? The production house was started by my brother, Manav Menon in Chennai in 1993. I joined him immediately after I passed out of IIM in 1996, as management jobs never really attracted me because of my love for films. Here also we operate in a different manner. While Manav is a director, I am more involved with the operational aspects. It’s tough to believe, but for quite some time, our company was a single director production house and we continued working from Chennai itself. Despite being in the industry for long, why has Footcandles Film experienced slower growth rate as compared to others?Yes, we have been growing at a very slow rate. It’s only in 2001 that we shifted our base to Mumbai and started expanding our operations in terms of infrastructure. But, this has been a conscious effort from our side as we are quite selective when it comes to our work. Even today, we are just a team of 20 people (including directors) and we work closely on each and every film. What has been your most satisfying work till date?I tend to look at it differently. I believe every single work that we do is equally important. But to name a few – the initial work that we did for Aquafina in 1999, Vodafone (class room commercial), Airtel (Vidya Balan & R. Madhavan commercial), Bingo films and last year’s IPL commercial have been our most sought after works till date. So, is it just the quality of your work that helps Footcandles Film differentiate itself from others in the business?People primarily come to us for ‘quality work’. We are a company, which has a proper representation of clients’ schedules. Thus, we not only deliver on time, but our processes are also fairly monetised. This ultimately benefits the clients in more ways than one. But then, it’s not only the client-side that distinguishes us from others, our team also plays a pivotal role in the process. We share a unique bond with everyone and that in a way makes our work a lot easier, too. Do you have any regrets about your professional life?Although we don’t have any grey areas, but despite a fair amount of good work done in the past, we still have not been able to win much of international acclaim. So, my biggest goal in life is to win a Cannes Gold soon and register ourselves as a global name. Any specific agenda for Footcandles Film for the coming three years?I believe the Indian market is poised for a dramatic change over the next few years as more European directors are finding their way into the country (one can thank recession for the same). Thus, we have already started representing many foreign directors as it also helps us to get some international presence. We already have a high reputation for good work in India, so now we want our businesses to flow into bigger markets across the globe. 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 journey for Vikram Kalra & Shashank Chaturvedi, founders of Goodmorning Films, has been KafkasqueHistory: (Shashanka Chaturvedi) I started with Channel V as a production assistant and then joined Ambience in their film department. Subsequently, I started assisting Kunal Kapoor at Adfilm-valas.
(Vikram Kalra) I entered college with plans to do an MBA after graduation.
Inspiration: (Shashanka Chaturvedi) It really started as an hobby. While I was working with Kunal Kapoor, in my spare time, I used to borrow his temperamental and Hi-8 camera and started making films using scripts, which my creative friend wanted to test.
(Vikram Kalra) After working for various agencies and ad films for many years, I finally branched out independently and started writing scripts for MTV. Soon, I wrote, produced and directed two documentaries for the channel. (One on the Kumbh Mela and the other one on the Pushkar Mela.)
Turning point: After making films for Lifebuoy, Director’s Special, LG washing machines and Hutch together, we finally cobbled up together in 2004 and started Good Morning Films with a bootstrap investment of just Rs.25,000 and Hutch as our first account.
Highlights: We believe the most important work for us till date has been the Vodafone series with Irfan Khan, the Sushma Reddy commercial for Limca and the ‘Muft ki advice’ commercial for Reliance Mobile.
Prized possession: It’s definitely the television commercial we did for The Times of India. It was named A Day in the Life of Chennai - ‘Nakka Mukka’ campaign. It is quite special to us because it won two Golden Lions for us.
USP: We are a production house specialising in documentary film making.
Future Agenda: We are in the process of taking things to the next level; and working on a feature film too as Bollywood is our next big step.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Already known globally, Nirvana Films is amongst the fastest growing production houses in India. 4Ps B&M catches up with its founder, Prakash VarmaYou were into Malayalam feature films for over three years, and had also worked as a director. With such experience, when you started Nirvana Films in 2001, how difficult or easy was it for you to get your first client?
Having been in the industry and knowing the tricks of the trade, it was not that difficult to sneak in and seek work. But then, proving ourselves was certainly the most difficult task. I was really lucky to get the opportunity to prove myself. During those initial days, I took up everything that came my way and tried to put in everything that I could.
What is the most challenging work that you have done till date?
I am not trying to be diplomatic but every single work is challenging, simply for the fact that we cannot take anything for granted. So, every single project that we have worked on was challenging. A director always stays dependant on many people and the toughest job is to get all these people to think along the same lines to get the job done to perfection. That’s the most challenging part of any film because every person is different.
There has been no dearth of metals for you and Nirvana Films in this short period of time. After these achievements, do you still think that awards are a great motivating factor or do you believe that actions speak louder than words?
For me awards are something that definitely gives a lot of satisfaction. However, what matters the most is the success of the project and what people talk about it. Here, I am not talking about the ad guys alone. It includes people from different walks of life. When they say ‘good’, it brings in a feeling that is much better than any award.
Is your pitching process today any different from the day when you went out to a client for the very first time?
This is something that I have never thought about. I have never got in to the marketing strategies or any kind of pitching process. I have been lucky because from the beginning itself I have tried to do justice to whatever I have got. Maybe that has worked for me.
Who all are your biggest clients at present?
Vodafone, Bajaj, Incredible India... and lots and lots actually.
Do you have any regrets from your professional life?
Absolutely none. I am so so so glad.
What is your current career goal?
See, the most common answer at this stage of life is obviously that people want to get in to a bigger medium, the feature films. And my answer is no different. More so, for the fact that I have come from the same background and I have spent quiet some time in the industry. I would love to continue with ad films for the rest of my life, but I would also love to do couple of bigger films when I get an opportunity to do so. 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 yearsThat’s more of an urban story but rural India is where the company earns its bread and butter from. Do you see the rural boom continuing for the years to come?
During slowdown, the industry declined by 7%, which was unprecedented in this industry; but it is now back on a double-digit return. However, we outshone the industry in all these years. In fact, in a way, we were pulling the industry up during the slowdown phase. We increased our market share – this has happened because of many reasons and this is what we say is our ‘Multi Focal’ approach. In urban areas, it was premium and attitude bikes and products focused on women that kept the flag flying high. In rural parts of the country, we launched a campaign called Har Gaon Har Aangan, which was a big hit. We have even done various programs like the Mandi activity that we keep on doing on regular basis. We have built an infrastructure of almost 525 sales points. The contribution from the rural areas is close to 42% and in urban areas it’s 58%; this is the best in the industry; and the share is better in rural areas. It’s a typical case of being a huge company – but you still can’t afford to lose a segment of your market.
It is indeed ironic that when you entered the Indian market, Bajaj was the leader in scooters. Now, you are into scooters with Pleasure but Bajaj did decide to exit the segment. How much potential do you believe the segment?
When we decide to enter a segment or a market, we see that either there’s a huge market or there is no market. When we entered the market with bikes it was mostly filled with scooters, but today it’s just the opposite. But once we came with Pleasure, no one was looking at scooters. But now we are growing every year by double digit growth. From the marketing point of view, it’s not only fun but also comes with empowerment. The ‘why should boys have all the fun’ campaign comes with freedom for women to enjoy a ride. We had Priyanka Chopra shown as a fun loving girl and similarly our scooters are. We have ensured a very pleasant atmosphere for ladies – if any customer goes to the service station, a lady will be collecting the scooter, which makes them more comfortable and women friendly. 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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