Globally, companies are earning huge revenues by licensing out their brands, but in india the trend is just about beginning to shape up.

Be it licensing for merchandise or bringing international reality TV shows to india, there is still a lot to happen on the domestic circuit. will the future unfold just as beautifully as predicted by marketers? 4Ps B&M’s Pawan Chabra presents his findings...

In 2003, ITC placed a huge order of 4.5 crore comics with Diamond Comics for Sunfeast’s brand launch campaign. The comics were to be distributed free as part of the Sunfeast promotional campaign among kids. It was then that Gulshan Rai spotted a golden opportunity. The Managing Director of Diamond Comics realised that his paper heroes had it in them to ring-in mammoth additional revenues through brand licensing. Rai recalls, “We realised then that there can be a brand licensing program that can be exercised. Our comics have been used by many companies for promotional purposes since then...” An obvious refrain would be that popular characters from the company’s stable – Chacha Choudhary, Pinki and Billu – are way less popular than Walt Disney’s characters or even American super heros like Superman and Batman and therefore would command less goodwill. But Rai believes differently. He argues, “Foreign characters are only popular in metros, but we have a pan-India reach and even people living in remote areas have been reading our comics for years.”

Diamond Comics is also planning a TV Channel named Diamond TV in the next 8-9 months, which will make its popular comic characters all the more familiar with the target audience. Though Rai declined to comment on his revenue targets, but he seemed certain that, “Diamond TV’s launch will phenomenally increase the brand equity of its comic characters...” Besides the TV venture, the company also has plans to launch stationary items, chewing gums, et al, in the coming months, in a bid to extend its brand licensing and merchandising programme. At a time when power brands seem to be singing their way to the banks, the news for regional brands is also not too bad. Marketers believe that even brands with recognition in Tier-II and Tier-III towns will come to assume equal importance as those of the big players, as brand licensing is fast acquiring the shape and form of a mind-boggling $190 billion-worth global phenomenon! It’s the new obsession of the new-age marketers across the world. And the potential for India is tremendous, given the small inroads that have been made so far.

For the uninitiated, brand licensing is worth more than $71.25 billion in countries like US and Canada; Western Europe is catching up with annual earnings of $26 billion from brand licensing. But where exactly does India stand in this fight to make the most by allowing others to exploit your brand? First, the bad news – India, with an annual global licensing market share of just 1% is still a laggard. The good part – despite that, India Inc. has sensed the huge opportunity lying ahead, both for marketers as well as brand licensing experts, who are salivating at prospects of multi-fold growth in this industry in the coming years.

In fact, Gaurav Marya, President, License India (one of the largest Indian companies that has a structured and focused approach toward licensing), estimates the current size of this industry to be around Rs.500 crore with the potential of a strong 40-50% CAGR over the next couple of years. “The biggest advantage that India has is the huge number of world-class manufacturers available in the country,” adds Marya. But what does it take to make a brand licensing program successful in a vast and diverse country like India?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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BEND IT IN BHARAT

India’s 700 million villages, housing almost 70% of the nation’s consuming population, have had marketers salivating after them for almost half a decade. But the real boom is coming only now, with rural demand for durable and non-durable products far outpacing consumerism in saturated urban markets. Villagers now account for the majority of consumer spending in the country, more than $100 billion a year. And if you thought that this spending is limited to essentials and necessities, here’s the eye opener. Rural India buys 46% of all soft drinks sold, 49% of motorcycles and 59% of cigarettes. FMCG conglomerates like HUL and CavinKare get more than 30% and 50% respectively of their revenues from rural India. It is not that overnight rural India has become prosperous and consumerism is booming. The devil is in the detail. A decade ago, India had only 400 microfinance institutions covering merely 200,000 customers between them. Today, more than a thousand microfinance institutions crisscross India’s rural lanes and serve over 17 million people. Easy finance availability has added fuel to the fire created by the flush of media created awareness that has seeped into ‘Bharat’ over the last decade. So while till a few years ago, a video on wheels, branded vans and a song and dance show were enough to push your brands amidst rural folks, an overexposure to TV has killed that appeal today. Product customisation no longer means just reducing the bottle to the sachet; and promotions do not merely mean painting the village sarpanch’s house to entice others to buy your paint. The time is ripe for more focused and relevant messaging and well-thought-out specific strategies to woo these simpletons. Some brands have already cracked the new mantras to succeed in rural India. For those who are still bemused, here’s your chance to learn and earn.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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After a long silence, Yahoo! has gonged the rebranding bell. But will this be enough to save the online giant?

STEVEN PHILIP WARNER, post his interactions with industry experts, does a reality check…

“It was not something that we realised when we suddenly woke up in the morning. The Yahoo! team had been at it for over 9 months now and it was a pure collaborative effort, led by our CEO Carol Bartz,” began Nitin Mathur, Director - Marketing, Yahoo! India. So what is he really referring to here? Yahoo’s latest “It’s Y!ou” rebranding campaign that was rolled out on October 5, 2009, in India after its launch in US a week prior to that. So while many online Yahoo fans are pleased with the repainting of the Yahoo! brand with some new and fresh third-party applications, the question that remains to be answered is – will this $100 million-worth global plan help save this brand which many critics now even call debilitated and anemic? One such individual is Richard L. Ptak, a noted Silicon Valley-based analyst, who opines, “I can’t think of any successful re-branding efforts to date when it comes to online services. Die-hard Yahoo! aficionados may go to the site and spend time trying to figure out the benefits. But simply revising the graphics and an unfocussed message is not going to drive people to its site. Marketing is definitely important to gain attention but you need to be able to demonstrate a clear differentiation from the competition. Yahoo! looks the same as any of their competitors on the web. When you go to their site, it’s still the same old Yahoo!” Well, we certainly do not agree with Ptak here, for Yahoo! has brought in more than just a simple change in graphics. “It is more like understanding the rebranding efforts with the change in content and innovation in other offerings as the real backdrop,” states Mathur.

Then there are others who agree that Yahoo! is doing much more than simply being a navel-gazing narcissist! One Jagdeep Kapoor, a noted brand analyst, positively propounds a three-advantage theory, “First, is that it would rejuvenate the Yahoo! brand and make it more vibrant. Secondly, the ‘Y!ou’ part is significant, which attempts to connect with the consumers old and new on an individual level. Thirdly, the media spend and visibility will also bring Yahoo! will bring into the consideration set for potential consumers...” Considered that an optimistic Kapoor talks about the increased visibility for Yahoo!, but how often do you see a Gmail or Google search advertisement on print? Or for that matter, even Microsoft, which is sitting on about $49 billion of cash reserves, bothers least about highlighting its ‘newly’ launched Bing search engine brand, in newspapers or magazines, globally! But as media gurus around the world shunned the need for online giants to advertise on print media, Yahoo! sprung a surprise. It was Yahoo! and its new found vigour for re-branding that were splashed across front pages of six leading national dailies in India on October 5, 2009. And this is actually some indication from the online service giant that it is waking-up to the call of the wild online world. As far as India is concerned, this is all set to become the latest 360-degree re-branding effort by the giant, spanning vehicles like print, social media, TV, radio, cellular services and online (which of course will remain the main vehicle during the months to come, as the ads are planned to hit your temples till the end of 2010)! “We’ve had the Yoodle campaign in Mumbai, which generated a lot of interest amongst youngsters, and this campaign will continue for the next 16-18 months, till the end of 2010,” adds Mathur. Yahoo! is also looking at many below-the-line campaigns, the next one of which will be centred around the cyber-cafes. It is interesting that despite being a global player, Yahoo! is showing a special interest in the Indian market. Talking about the same, Ptak avers, “Given the attention to India-specific images in the generic intro video, I would expect that Yahoo! would have ads targeted on and highlighting India-specific interests, concerns and events. Yahoo! will regionalise & make it easier to get more local content and make the information offered more local.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Unfolding the dark side of Jail

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He’s explored and exposed the underbelly of the media, corporate and fashion worlds; Now Madhur Bhandarkar is all set to reveal the truth behind bars. By Pallavi Srivastava

Madhur Bhandarkar is known for bringing reality live on silver screen. In a similar endeavor for his movie Jail, the director has actually sourced the prisoners’ clothes, mugs and a lot of other goodies shown in the movie from the Pune Jail.

Neil Nitin Mukesh has lended his voice for a song in the movie: The actor recorded the song Saiyan ve (Rock version) at the Krishna Studio in Mumbai. Neil flaunted his vocal talents for five hours at the recording. The song is used as a promotional song for the movie. And yes, this is the second playback song from Neil. He had earlier sung a song for his film Aa Dekhen Zara.

On Neil’s request, director Madhur Bhandarkar decided to shoot the entire movie in a chronological order. Neil says that as a person he couldn’t identify with the four walls of the jail. So, for him to play the role better, it was important to live the character. Shooting the movie chronologically helped him in doing so. Hence, Neil was able to portray Parag Dixit (his character) more realistically.

During the shoot of the movie Neil Nitin Mukesh and Manoj Bajpai were staying in a resort in Karjat (extended suburb of Mumbai). Neil and Manoj were the only guests at the resort, along with some of the staff. And guess what? Both felt that the resort was haunted! So to keep the ghosts out of sight the two actors covered the huge windowpanes in their rooms with newspapers. Oops! Are ghosts scared of newspapers? Or are they scared of journalists?

Much has already being talked about the nude scene that Neil has done for Jail. But Neil doesn’t feel that the issue has been blown out of proportion. He says, “Since its the first time in Indian cinematic history that an actor is shedding all the clothes... this much media attention is natural. However, the only reason that the scene is there in the movie is because it was necessary to portray the reality.” And yes, the actor did feel shy stripping for a billion people...

Pallavi Srivastava

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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OF MEAN STUNTS & MAST MUSIC!

MTV’s whopping growth in terms of ratings has further kindled marketer interest in the channel. The Gross Rating Points (GRPs) of MTV have grown by 150% in the year 2009 vs. 2008 . And over the last three years, the growth of the channel has been over 100%. Insiders in MTV claim that this unprecedented growth in the channel’s performance is largely driven by it’s ‘long format reality content’ that became the focal point of MTV honchos after the channel revamp in 2007. It was the Roadies’ huge success that made MTV realise that the big buck really lie here. As a part of the revamp exercise, the share of non music content was increased in the channel’s programming mix, visible in the slew of reality shows launched on the channel over the last three years. Sources in MTV agree that it was a much debated decision at that time but the gamble has eventually paid off and well as the increased ratings suggest.

Couple that with ratings that are not just highest among the music and youth category but also more than the the ratings of many big reality shows on GECs and you have a winner. Here’s a telling example: The season average of Roadies 6 was 3.11, higher than even star studded reality shows on GECs like Big Boss 2 (2.23, Colors), Sach Ka Saamna (2.92, Star) and Rakhi Ka Swayamvar (2.8, NDTV Imagine). Even the average ratings for Splitsvilla season two (1.5) are higher than many of these shows listed above (see table).

“Even with much small distribution network compared to GECs, we are already bigger than them in the 15-24 years SEC AB (MTV’s core target audience),” explains Patil. Sample this: In April 2009, MTV’s GRP average was 81 – higher than channels like Sahara One (45 GRPs) and SAB TV (49 GRPs). In week 17, MTV GRPs were 88, at par with Star Network’s alternate GEC Star One! And all this with just 4-5 hours of fresh programming (long format shows) as compared to 20-25 hours of weekly programming on GECs.

Moreover, the channel is stickier among its core audience than most GECs. With a reach of 41% (lower than GECs and second rung GECs) the time spent on MTV (64 minutes) is higher than channels like NDTV Imagine, Sony, Star One, et al (see graph). Says Rajesh Kamat, CEO, Colors: “Shows like Roadies and Splitsvilla get MTV appointment viewing from the youth audience. That is why advertisers with youth focus spend on the channel the way they spend on GECs.” For the record, Colors and MTV both come from the same Viacom stable.

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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