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Story of the week

Volume 3 Issue 26 • 18 - 24 December 2006

Cover

INFOCUS

And the Impact Innovator of the Year 2006 is...

Gokul Krishnamurthy & Shamsad Shaikh

What is an Effie? We know that the Effies are awards given to ‘ideas that work’. From the Effie 2007 website, we gather a few things about the awards. It says: ‘The great ideas that achieve real results and the strategy that goes into creating them. It is the only program that recognizes the most significant achievement in marketing communications: effectiveness.’ But then, these days they test the creative at every stage of the judging process too.

We cannot even think of sticking to all those rules, and there were no entrants who paid us anything in any case. There were no entrants, for that matter. We’re attaching the 2006 tag to the title because it’s the end of the year, but intend to give away well-deserved accolades to any innovation that is out-of-this world – through out the year, as they come by. We’ve arrived at only one criterion - It has to be ‘innovation that stands out and is effective’. So our bold and ‘unanimous’ verdict for the Impact ‘EFFIE-equivalent’ of the year (if one could call it that), which we call the Impact Innovator (in this case, Impact Innovator of the Year 2006), is in favor of: BEAN BAG – 26407383.

99 per cent (most of it, he meant) of the ‘outdoor advertising’ or ‘ambient media advertising’ is on construction sites in the city of Mumbai, said Farooq Ansari, the man who runs the outfit Dolphin Beanbags. Ansari is also the brain behind the campaign. Those tin sheets that attempt to cover up the construction site bear these unmistakable numbers that are the trademarks of the innovator, but do not carry the brand name. Why? “I have thought about it lots of times. Initially, and even now, there are some fears also. We do it responsibly – we do not use this on clean walls or deface anything. Even in this case, if someone comes to us and tells us that there is a problem, we go and remove it. We like to be very honest and we also keep a very low profile when it comes to our company. When you create branding, it becomes a big step. We might do so at some stage, but I don’t think we have reached that stage yet,” is Ansari’s endearing response.

(Full story in Impact) more...

RADIOTALK

Red FM drives in Red Active

Gokul Krishnamurthy

When 380 women participated in the RED FM Drive 93.5, they were not just participating in a rally in aid of breast cancer awareness. Along with the drivers and navigators, and a host of celebrities, Red FM was also driving in Red Activ, a separate division for activation and BTL (below-the-line) promotions into the market.

Even as Limca Book of Records monitored the rally from Mumbai to Pune and back for the title of the Biggest Intercity All Women’s Car Rally in India, Red FM hopes to take the property to more cities, and also make the property an annual affair.

Gokul Krishnamurthy caught up with Abraham Thomas, COO, RED FM, a couple of days before the rally. Thomas speaks to Impact on Red Activ, station differentiation and more. Excerpts:

Tell us a little more about Red Active. What brought this about?

This is actually an ideas business more than a media business. On the strength of the idea, you are actually able to give value to the clients and you are able to monetise it. We believe we have the creative capabilities and resources and can actually come up with client-specific and brand-specific ideas; and we have the sales expertise to go and sell it to clients.

It’s actually an extension. A lot of brand managers and agencies told us that when they do an activity, they never know if it’s being done as per their brief, whether the actual brand values and brand experience are getting communicated. They admitted to increasingly looking at credible, single point sources who could act as activation agencies for them. So they said, ‘here’s my brand, here’s my brief, here’s the kind of activity I want to do. If a brand wants to do something in 10 cities, can one person take that brief and go and execute it, was the question.

Today, the answer is no. They have to work with some event agency or some activation person in Kolkata; and then he has to call up his Sales Manager or someone in Kolkata and tell him: “Boss, please go and check if this is happening the way it is supposed to happen”. There’s a lot of hassle in the process. So, there was a need in the market for this. Increasingly, clients believe they can create better impact through communicating a brand experience in real form and real time.

(Full report in Impact)

INTERVIEW

Turner Tunes into 2007

Tasneem Limbdiwala

From creating a M.A.D. world on POGO to creating Cartoon Network and POGO theme parks in the country, Turner has been on overdrive. Ian Diamond, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Turner Entertainment Networks Asia, is convinced that the Kids genre can only see more action in the years to come. In a chat with Tasneem Limbdiwala,
Diamond spoke of the milestones for the network in India, in the year gone by, and did some crystal ball gazing into the year ahead. Excerpts:

What have been the trends in Kids channel space through the year gone by?

The interesting thing is Cartoon Network and Pogo are number One and Two channels over the years in ratings and we are very pleased about that. But the important thing for us is to make sure that we are not just successful TV stations. We see ourselves as omnificent kids Super-brand. We believe in creating Lifestyle brands. What I mean with ‘Lifestyle’ is we want to make our property like Cartoon Network the largest network in the world; and Pogo the great place for kids content. We want these properties to be available to many different people, across platforms, times and demographics as we possibly can. So what we end up with is: we are thoroughly integrated into the lifestyle of our consumers in a relevant way. Thus I see Cartoon Network and Pogo as powerful Lifestyle brands.

(Full report in Impact)

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