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IMPACT FEATURE | |||||||||||
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Sam
Balsara acquires 51% stake in MediaCom India By Noor Fathima Warsia It was in the impact issue dated March 10, 2008 where we had said that while everyone has been speculating on MediaCom or WPP buying out Madison World, it is also possible that Sam Balsara would acquire a stake in MediaCom India. We were the first ones, and the only ones, to have said this, and just about everyone, including senior industry professionals, said that this was the most far-fetched and near impossible of all speculations that they had heard. The far-fetched and near impossible has happened. Creating
history The decision would’ve meant more loss than gain to WPP, and perhaps even Madison, had the second, and probably the more important development, not taken place. Balsara’s company made another announcement on the very day the P&G statement was issued. The company statement said, “Sam Balsara, principal shareholder of Madison World Companies, has acquired a majority interest in MediaCom India Pvt Ltd. Sam Balsara will be Chairman of the company, and Divya Gururaj will continue in her role as Managing Director of MediaCom India. The company will report to Mr Balsara GroupM will not be involved in managing the company.” GroupM
has taken the decision well. Vikram Sakhuja, COO, GroupM Asia, said,
“The MediaCom brand in India will exist in the form of this
JV, and we support this decision of WPP.” (Full report in impact) more… |
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IMPACT CHAT | |||||||||||
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The television industry has an uncanny way of creating niches within niches and super specialists. The Israel-borne Baby TV, which is dedicated to tiny tots had a few raised eye-brows when the idea was first floated, but the channel showed enough numbers, and a performance steady enough for the channel to be bought over by News Corp’s Fox later last year. Now, in its bid to expand further presence in India, in television categories that Fox has not been present in, Fox is brining in a slew of new channels including Baby TV. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch surely is eyeing a lot more from the Indian market than what he already controls. The quick launch of Baby TV would be followed by a bunch of other channels from the same house making a foray here. In a candid chat, with impact’s Anushree Bhattacharyya, Liran Talit, Co-founder and Managing Director, Baby TV and Nikhil Mirchandani, Managing Director, The National Geographic Channel speak more on the channels, and its future plans in India. Excerpts: On the thought behind Baby TV… Liran Talit: We were at my sister’s place and she had a two year old baby who persisted on watching the only single baby video they had, over and over again. That incident triggered the thought of looking at a service for parents that would not require them to go out and buy a new DVD every time for this very young audience. We launched the first channel basis this thought in 2003 in Israel. It grew to become a huge success controlling 16 percent of penetration rate of the broadcasting market there. We then went to Europe in October 2005, and Baby TV really created a success story in a very short time. When we launched the channel, we had kept a hotline for a year where parents could call and talk about what they want to view, and also what they want their babies to view. That helped us a lot in understanding the customer needs, and we have been able to successfully cater to that. On the USP… Talit: It’s a 24-hour channel without any commercials. All the programs are created by a team of experts to make sure that everything shown is safe for the babies. And the most important thing is that in a way, parents use this channel to interact with their children because parents never leave their babies alone, they have tendency to stay with them and watch the same thing, so the channel served as another medium of interaction between babies and parents.
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IN FOCUS | |||||||||||
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Strawberry Frog has been picked up as the ad agency for the launch of Mahindra in the US. Scott Goodson, Founder & CEO, Strawberry Frog, intents to combine creativity and strategic thinking to position Mahindra as a leader in innovative automotive marketing and advertising world. Excited about the project, Goodson shares his impressions of Indian creations and his future plans with Jyotsna Sharma. GoaFest & Cannes – similarities and differences: Events such as GoaFest and Cannes are great venues for people to come together -- who want to learn and exchange ideas, listen to speeches delivered by some of the leaders from marketing and advertising world, get interesting perspectives and an opportunity to meet people that you haven’t met before. GoaFest in comparison is not as big perhaps, but I think the concept is quite similar. GoaFest of course, is young – only three years old, but it has the potential to be seen as being ‘the destination’ Asia and Asia Pacific for debates, innovations, new technological thinking – all those things that world needs and wants. I think this could become the single most important media-marketing event in Asia Pacific in near future. Impressions of the Indian advertising industry: India is a trillion dollar economy based on manufacturing
culture and it is about to explode. Its going to grow into a two
trillion dollar country based on an evolution from manufacturing
society to a ‘brand building culture’ and a ‘value-add
culture’. But for that the critical mind-shift is required.
All the engineers that are running companies in India are going
to have to go back to the universities and study subjects like
the psychology and sociology, so that they are able to build brands
that are made up of intangible values. And I believe, once that
happens India is going to grow rapidly. I’m highly impressed
with the way people are thinking here in India, of course the
language skills are good, there is an excellent creative talent
pool, level of technological understanding is quite high, the
desire to see India become a world leader is strong and the opportunity
is sure there awaiting. All this points to -- India would be an
exciting place to watch for the next few years. (Full report in impact) more… |
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articles by industry leaders from the Third Anniversary Issue
of impact, click here |
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