Mirchi Goes International, A Reflection!

On 1st February 2012, when Rani Mukherjee pressed the red launch button in Abu Dhabi, little did she know that it marked Radio Mirchi’s first international foray! ENIL’s (Entertainment Network India Limited) FM radio brand, Radio Mirchi has been launched in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in association with Abu Dhabi Media Limited (ADML), which operates Arabic and English language radio channels. With the addition of Radio Mirchi to its bouquet, ADML’s target segment now also includes 24-35 year-old affluent, youthful Asians from the South Asian subcontinent. Radio Mirchi will be available across UAE on 97.3FM in Abu Dhabi, 88.8FM in Dubai and the Northern Emirates and 95.6FM in Al Ain. The language of the station will be Hindi and English.

Mirchi’s UAE debut could not have happened at a more opportune time. Advertising spends on radio are growing, as per the data available from Pan Arab Research Center, in UAE, the share of radio was  4 per cent of the total advertising market in the first half of 2011 (Jan – Jun), up from 2 per cent in 2010 (Jan – Jun 2010). However the rates that Mirchi will be able to command will be co-related to advertising spends on other South Asian media (TV/radio/print/internet) available to advertisers in UAE. But being a part of a larger media group (ADML) Mirchi should be able to overcome the competition from other South Asian radio stations.

Data on the financial contours of the association is not available in the public domain, however as told by Mr Prashant Panday to one trade portal it’s a brand licensing agreement with ADML. Mirchi will provide guidance on revenue generation, programming and non-music content. My guess is Mirchi’s investment in this venture is towards personnel, programming and infrastructure usage of ADML. Advertising dollars would be shared between ADML and ENIL, what ratio…? Only Mr Prashant Panday can tell. Especially about “guidance on revenue generation”, in my opinion it is Mirchi’s ability to bring business best practices as its end of the deal. India is a bigger market than UAE in terms of advertising spends, has an established audience measurement system and even though one rants about all the FM stations sounding the same, I strongly feel, there is still an honest effort to innovate on part of Indian FM stations. What are these innovations, you’ll have to listen to find out! If a station has cut its teeth in India, UAE is no rocket science!

Though it’s not the first time an Indian radio station has forayed into overseas markets. Sometime back BigFM joined hands with Asian FM, USA and Mediacorp, Singapore to syndicate its content. However in the present case, the entire programming line-up is driven by Mirchi on dedicated 24 hours channels, divided into 5 part day of 0600 Hrs – 1100 Hrs (breakfast), 1100 Hrs – 1400 Hrs (mid-day), 1400 Hrs – 1700 Hrs (Filmy), 1700 PM – 2100 Hrs (drivetime), 2100 Hrs – Midnight (retro) and Midnight – 0600 Hrs (back2back music). I also assume that Mirchi will have access to exclusive content due to its Bollywood connect and now the ability to promote movies produced back home in UAE. A win-win for ADML, ENIL and Bollywood Movie Producers!

With a population of approximately 9 million, UAE’s demographics are led by around 2 mn Indians, 1.75 mn Pakistanis, 0.6 mn Filipinos and 0.5 mn Bangladeshis. Among the 2 mn Indians, people from the Indian state of Kerala alone are over a million and are amply entertained by 08 Malayalam Language radio channels (more Malayalam language stations from Indian media houses are in the pipeline!). Mirchi will compete not only with hinglish radio stations like Citi 101.6 FM, Radio4FM, Suno 102.4 FM (Internet Radio Station, no terrestrial presence), HUM 106.2 FM, and RadioSpice 105.4FM but will also compete with Indian Pay TV channels that are seeing an increase in the number of their viewers. However it will be safe to discount the competition from Indian Pay TV channels since UAE has a big car culture and the majority of radio listening happens during commute or long drive times between Emirates. Flipping the argument, in fact Mirchi may give some competition to South Asian Pay channels by splitting the regional advertising pie.

Looking at the packed audiences of Bollywood based Award Shows (e.g. IIFA) that are hosted in Emirates and Bollywood movie releases in UAE (as per industry estimates, a third of overseas Bollywood revenues are from UAE), it suffices that there is a huge appetite for Bollywood in Emirates and with the arrival of Mirchi, Radio as a medium will grow.

What will also be interesting to note is the introduction of other Mirchi properties in UAE such as mobile applications, internet radio and events (e.g. Mirchi Music Awards, Mirchi Kaan Awards), and how they are customized for Emirates. I’ll also wait to see, whether other Indian Radio stations beat a path to UAE if Mirchi’s investment pays off and whether Mirchi sticks to only Indian contemporary hit radio (CHR) format in other overseas markets on its radar (China, Eastern Europe etc.) or will it be local programming spiced with Mirchi!

Last but not the least; I hope Mirchi succeeds in changing the perception of radio in UAE!

P:S. Saw this update in my Linkedin news feed on 15^th March 2012 J

DTH; Direct to Home or Don’t Try at Home?

The title of this post is inspired by the radio ad of DEN Digital Cable (a leading Multi System Operator in India). The advertisement goes like this:

Voice 1: O Bhai chhat par kya kar raha hai? (Hey bro, what are you doing on the terrace?)
Voice 2: Yaar aaj match hai, upar se yeh baarish, signal nahi aa raha hai (Dude, there is a match today, and this rain! there is no signal.)
Voice 1: Yeh DTH hai na? (Is this DTH?)
Voice 2: Haan (Yup)
Voice 1: Baarish mein DTH ka matlab, don't try at home, ghar le aa DEN digital cable, ye de behatreen digital quality, weatherproof signals aur bahut kuch, cable ke daam par, kya samjhe? (During the rains DTH means DON”T TRY AT HOME, bring home DEN digital cable, it gives better digital quality, weatherproof signals and lots more, that too at the price of cable, do you get it?)
Voice 2: Samajh Gaya (Ok)

Voice Over: Toh aaj hi call karein 1800 419 20 20 or call your cable operator now. DEN Digital Cable..aa dekehen zara. (Call today 1800 419 20 20 or your cable operator now. Come let’s see DEN digital cable)

*The words in italics are English translation of the radio ad for the international audience of this blog J
Source: afaqs.com

The campaign was also carried out in the Out-of-Home (OOH) media in Delhi, India.

Source: afaqs.com

Cricket and Bollywood are big in India and no doubt the above advertisements refer to the spur in sales of DTH during any major cricket tournament. It also refers to the DTH signal which is predominantly in the Ku-Band and is susceptible to absorption during rains thus affecting the seamless broadcast of the cricketing action from the field.

The ad also positions DEN digital cable as a viable option for DTH and hints that, it will be cheaper than DTH, as people still perceive cable to be cheaper than DTH.

The ad from the DEN digital cable can also be attributed to the Indian Government’s mandate to sunset analogue TV distribution in India by December 2014, and is indicative of the fierce competition that’ll fire up between DTH service providers and digital cable providers.

If you still wonder what is the digitization noise and hoopla all about, relax! Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), an organization which represents television broadcasters and promotes the interest of Indian Television Industry is all set to launch a campaign on the benefits of digitization and what it means for the viewers. So keep tuned in.

The television households in India are estimated at 147 million. The share of DTH is 44 million, analog cable is 84 million and digital cable stands at 6 million.

No doubt mandatory digital distribution of television signals is an opportunity for both DTH and Digital cable providers with over 100 million television households up for grabs.

Though I am yet to come across an ad from a DTH service provider pooh pooh..ing the digital cable providers, but are we set to witness an advertising onslaught bought upon the television viewers of this country by DTH and digital cable providers to secure a larger pie of over 100 million television households? 

I hope to see a lot of advertising action from both broadcasters and distributors of broadcast signals (DTH/MSOs) in the upcoming IPL season 5, which theoretically is a cricketing extravaganza but practically a playground for brand launches, brand reinforcement, once in a lifetime offers from the owners of these brands, …..time to tune in.

Disclaimer:  All company, brand and product names mentioned here are trademarks of their respective holders / individual parent companies.

What's the Offer..!

Taste Kahan Hai? (Where is the taste?), asked the ad of Everest Chat Masala. Well I don’t know where is the taste exactly hiding, but what I want to know is, WHERE IS THE OFFER? I am looking for the secret offer made to me in the ad of Rath Vanaspati (that I caught today on Colors), since then it is on my mind. I vaguely remember the last few seconds of the ad in which the voice over told me, "If I want to know the offer, I have to buy Rath Vanaspati!"

I wish I could have shared the ad with you, but could not find it on Youtube (searched with the string, Rath Vanaspati). Did not bother to search it on facebook, yeah, facebook is for more cool things in life and not vanaspati's. Vanaspati's are mumma’s stuff!

Assuming that a kilogram of vanaspati is not a big deal and the secret offer, in the calculative world of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) products would be no different than:

·         Buy one get one free – Two for the price of One

·         Buy a product and get another product free – Buy a Toothpaste and get a Toothbrush free

·         Buy a product and get X% extra free – 1200 grams for the price of 1000 grams

·         Buy X number of packs and get one free or save Rs. X/-

·         Gold/silver coin – Inside the pack (I’ve been waiting to get one…!)

·         So on and so forth….

Does Rath Vanaspati have something better to offer? Is that the reason they’ve bought media on television to drive the curiosity and don’t want to spill the beans? Will it make people beat the path to the nearest kirana store upon seeing this curiosity arousing ad? Will the offer be big enough to induce repeat sales even without the offer?

Well here is the offer, if your answers match with those of our judges; you’ll win a surprise gift. Okay, I won’t keep you guessing, “One lucky winner stands a chance to win a kilogram of Rath Vanaspati!”

Take a Break..!

Amitabh Bachchan’s, sometimes humorous, sometimes anecdotal small talk to the participants of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), was put to good use in the latest season of KBC. One of it was just before the commercial break when Amitabh appealed to the viewers, “Aap kahin jaiyega mat, hum bas abhi wapas aaten hain” (don’t go anywhere as KBC will be back soon).

From their humble beginnings in 1980’s, commercial breaks now have an identity of their own and are raison d’etre for over 600 television channels. Nestle India sponsored the first soap on Indian Television, paying for the telecast and production fee of Hum Log in return of 5 minutes of commercial time on Doordarshan, aka DD to advertise its brands, especially, Maggi Noodles. Until the arrival of 90s, people kinda enjoyed watching commercials and most of it registered in people’s mind (remember! Bombay Dyeing, Vicco, Charms, Nirma Detergent, Hajmola et al.), the credit goes to DD (the only one in the race) and of course to few brands (hence limited number of ads) in a given category, because of which certain brands established during the early years of television still enjoy an iconic status today.

Much of the TV programming landscape changed in the beginning of 90’s, when satellites began to beam private TV channels into India (STAR; FYI STAR is an acronym for Satellite Television Asian Region, MTV, Zee etc.). During the good old days of DD, no one ever imagined that segments of news could also be sponsored, but satellite channels turned most of the established wisdom over its head.

However, one thing that remained constant during all the advancements in consumer and broadcast technology was the commercial break. Sometimes big, sometimes small (1 minute/2 minutes/eternal breaks!), sometimes with an element of “intelligence” (marketers love to call it interactive ads viz. catch the number of times a particular ad is shown, SMS the secret code during the commercial break, etc. etc.), the only intelligent people over here being the advertisers and broadcasters, getting the metrics that  they want for measuring the effectiveness of their ads and making the viewer spend for each SMS (the all too famous tip “The more you SMS the greater are your chances to win”).

Off late, broadcasters have made the wait during the commercial breaks much easy, by showing a timer, indicating the time to return to the program (am yet to see this timer being sponsored, I hope watch brands read this post!). Contextualization has also set in; recently saw the ad of a broadband service provider on a movie channel just before the return to the movie with a download progress bar captioned as ‘now playing’.

No matter how much we rue them; commercial breaks keep the programming alive and are a major source of revenue to broadcasters. Especially for free to air channels (even in the case of pay channels, the ratio of revenues from advertising to subscription is approx. 80:20), that do not earn any subscription revenue, advertisements keep them going.

India’s advertising to GDP ratio of 0.35% (lower than US, UK and China), is approximately half of the global average of 0.75% thus indicating an increase in the advertising spend as the economy grows.

As the phrase from the evolutionary theory rightly puts it “survival of the fittest”, the ads or commercial breaks that are high on IQ (Innovation Quotient) will continue to register in our minds and won’t be rued by us, the rest will fall by the side. So….you tell me, break banta hai?

Chai Mein Dooba Biscuit………!

The title of this post when translated to English means, a biscuit drowned in tea! The translation is intended for the international audience of this blog J

Well there are many who muffle the crunch of their biscuit by dipping it into tea!

But many a time the biscuit would have gone down to the opaque abysmal bottom of tea cup/glass, may be because it was dipped for too long or because it could not take the heat. Let’s stay away from the blame game J but the truth of the matter is once the biscuit is lost in the depths of the tea cup, the tea takes the flavor of biscuit, depending upon whether the biscuit was sweet or salt.

Over time we align ourselves to specific brands of biscuits and have the mental partitions of what biscuits can be eaten crisp and dry, and what biscuits make for a good dip.

Every time my biscuit touches and settles as an amorphous mass into the bottom of my hot beverage tumbler, there are flurry of questions that cross my mind:

Is there a marketing opportunity to this simple truth?

Will someone buy a brand of biscuit whose advertising copy reads…..Yes and it is perfectly safe to dip it into your hot cuppa* or This lasts longer inside the cuppa compared to other brands of the same class* and followed by the oh so famous star* disclaimer that dotes all advertising copy from autos to magical potions developed by cosmetics industry.

*Only when dipped for up to a minute and the temperature of the beverage not exceeding70 degree Celsius.

There could be design innovation where the size of the biscuit is such that it’s compatible with the rim size of cups…for a seamless dip!

Dilemma of the brand owner….?

“May be it’s a great idea but what if consumer rights group are instigated by the competition to bring down the claim and hold public demonstrations showing the biscuit going down the cup, what if it is picked by the networks and becomes a breaking news! Will the consumer get the perception that biscuit is too hard and good for feeding the pets or they may just shrug it off as oh so uncouth?”

But before you rubbish all that is said above, it will be good to recall that there is actually a biscuit brand targeting the kids that tells them and their parents subtly about the right way to eat this particular biscuit…does it light a bulb…if not, here’s the youtube switch!

Even if the brand owner promotes dippability, is it an admission of a socially unacceptable behavior…? If at all!

Let’s have a show of hands, how many of us indulge in the luxury of dipping the biscuits in the presence of people whom we are meeting for the first time or especially instances where we would be at our best behavior….say a celebrity guest on a TV talk show dipping biscuit into tea…I have not come across such footage! If research singularly establishes that folks abstain from dipping biscuit into tea due to the fear of losing the biscuit to tea.., then it’s manna for the marketer and the modified advertising copy would read:

“For moments that don’t melt away”, an advertisement showing a happy family dipping biscuits into tea and smiling at each other!

Or

“For those moments of power”, an advertisement shows a group of executives in a meeting and the lead anchor dipping biscuit into tea!

The world of advertising is quite creative and one never knows when something trivial such as the act of dipping biscuit into tea becomes mainstream. Maybe we’ll soon have magic biscuits that taste different each time depending upon how you consume them, with tea, with coffee, with milk or just the way they are traditionally advertised – “crisp and crunchy!”

Ciao. It’s time for me to have a hot cuppa..........with some biscuits!