Deceptively Simple

Look and Feel

2009-08-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

I’m told that, the head honcho of a newspaper house – which has re-launched their flagship paper with a brand-new design - has gone on record to say that, “it (the new design) is as best as it can get”. I have no intention of taking him on that point - not b'coz he is known to take serious umbrage at even mildly critical comments in inconsequential bolgs such as this one, but because I - for one - genuinely like the new design ( tho’ I have heard mischievous critics quip, “it is “DNA four years too late”). But for me what’s more interesting to debate – is that eternal question of form (design) vs. content.

Surely look matters. Especially on first appearance. And, beauty is certainly not necessarily only skin deep when it comes to a ‘thought product’ like a newspaper. Great content can be made to look even more attractive by intelligent packaging and ease of navigation is sure to please even an old school die-hard reader.

I believe research indicates that, in a digital age – a newspaper even in its printed form must have a digital look and feel – especially if it wishes to attract new (and obviously) younger readers. And, Garcia is a master of 'digital' design. So far, so good. But, how does an older paper go about re-inventing itself for a younger audience.

The challenge to my mind is not about ‘turning off’ older readers by replacing a layout which they had gotten used to over the years with a new snazzy layout that can appear to be too much of a discontinuous change. The fears on this score – I think – are grossly overstated. But, for a ‘digital design’ to really work – one has to also re-engineer and completely over-haul the content – almost to the point of changing its DNA (no pun intended). It is here many publications fall-flat – because the risks of alienating the traditional readers are too high. And without doing much to the content, changes in design remain largely ‘cosmetic’.

New publications have a clear advantage here. They have the luxury, as it were, to marry content with design – to have a total offering that also reflects the personality of the paper. And, if the 2 (content and design can match up to each other – you do have a winning proposition. In the near past, MINT did this masterfully and DNA too was very successful in its attempt to differentiate with existing products. The Telegraph and Asian Age had done it in their own times. More recently, Forbes India has worked hard at doing the same in the Business Magazines genre and, in it's own modest way, OPEN can be another good example (tho’ I am yet unsure about its chances of commercial success).

MINT went a step further. It was planned truly as a multi-media offering for the future and its design and content delivery seamlessly transitioned across platforms – print, web, phone and even video-steaming.

But, only too often – do we have a new offering in the market – which looks smart but fail to deliver on its content.

The job is decidedly tougher for an existing newspaper – especially the larger and more established ones. Here, I liked the ToI formula – which follows, I suspect, the more classical (and, perhaps, conservative) route. Both for ToI and ET – they first went about incrementally and imperceptibly changing the content (which – detractors popularly called “dumbing down”) and then tinkered with the design. So, when DNA and HT were launched in Mumbai – ToI’s response was not to the drawing board and a new designer – but, instead, they invested heavily on content to make it – arguably – the best newspaper in the country. The same was, I believe, the brief of The Hindu to Garcia when he came to work on it a few years ago. But, then there are also wagging tongues – who say that these are also the 2 terribly designed newspapers in the country.

Even the staid Deccan Herald and the New Indian Express (down South) have also tried a change of wardrobe – but I’m not sure what it has done to their circulation and readership numbers.

Change with continuity seems to be the name of the game. It is surprising how many publications tend to clone their print format even in the digital (web) rendition. There must be some logic to that as well.

News as Utility

2009-04-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

Somewhat simplistically put the problem of newspapers in western countries (especially the US) has been that, fearing mass migration of readers to the web – they have actually accelerated the process without being able to monetise the readership of the net editions.

Finally American Print Media Industry are coming to terms with the fact that, their old model of high dependence on advertising doesn’t work and, therefore, they are now desperately seeking ways to charge for content – turning to Television and other media for inspiration. But, none of it seems to work for newspapers and magazines.

The paradox – however - is that, it isn’t as if the market is not growing. But, the revenue is going in different directions.

Just a few days back, the National Press Club in Washington held a symposium to debate the issue with top industry leaders (like Tom Curley of AP, Jon Klein of CNN, Alberto Ibarguen of Knight Foundation, Vivian Schiller of NPR). All of them – doyens of the industry – were unanimous on the fact that, the old Business model of newspapers is obsolete. But they were not clear about the answers and felt they have to experiment a lot before a new business model emerges. (To read full report click here).

Paradigm Shift or Psychological Shift

The problem they thought was a psychological shift of readers from being “consumers” of news to becoming “users” of news – who interact with the information across media platforms. There may be a way to charge for news – if it becomes “utility” – just as a light and a cable bill. But, all this is fuzzy thinking at the moment.

One thing was clear though’ – costs have to be kept under a tight leash and media must learn effectively the tools of target advertising. But, the forum ended on an optimistic note. The panelists felt that, the next couple of years will be tough but once they get thru’ the valley – there would be enormous growth ahead. Wishful thinking some may say.

Apocalypse Postponed (for now)

In India ( and Asia) we might see things very differently. With internet penetration – despite the exponential growth – still lagging miles behind newspaper readership, that is poised to increase further with an exploding rising middle-class and rising literacy rates – the apocalypse would seem someway off.

But increasing print circulation could lead us to the same cost trap that devoured the big papers in the US. However, the bigger problem – to my mind – could be that, while in the West readers actually migrated from print to web – in India the per-capita “consumption” of news (even as an utility) could actually fall. This is already apparent in the falling readership amongst the youth. Much of this fall could actually be for good and irretrievable even in the long run, as they might be lost permanently to TV and other media such as cell-phones (and not necessarily the ‘web editions’ of newspapers and magazines).

Flight or Migration, Consumers or Users

Following the international trend, most Indian newspapers and magazines have launched their e-paper or e-magazine editions in addition to the internet editions. And, almost all of it is free content as on date. That was inevitable and unavoidable – I agree. But, do we have a clear fix on how many unique readers it has added in the domestic market. My guess is that most of the traffic is generated from overseas readers – and the migration from print to web would still be quite nominal and is likely to remain so for a long time to come. Those youth who turn to the web for news – get it from Yahoo, Google and other services and not as much from electronic editions of newspapers.

Thus, the challenge – unlike in the West, where it is to monetise readership – would be how to get readers back or increase the “consumer” ( or “user” – any which way you like to put it) base to grow the market.

So going forward, the Western model – even if they were to find one – may not work for India.

I am not sure if these issues are finding attention, as we begin to rejoice on the fall of newsprint prices and the imminent return of the good times.

Back to Business (Class) Again ??

2009-04-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

It’s party time in Goa.

The country’s Ad and Media fraternity have flocked there – braving the scorching April heat – for the GoaFest, which is finally showing signs of living up to its promise of becoming the Indian Cannes since the 2 reigning ‘Gods’ of Indian Advertising smoked their peace cigars some 2 years ago.

But while the Ad Guys have at least the Creative achievements to celebrate even in a depressing business year, what are the media folks cheering over ?

Print being our area of interest – talked to a friend in the industry. According to him, even though ‘bad news’ keeps coming from the western world (especially the US), in India – perhaps - the worst is over. After a year of ‘blood-bath’ one is beginning to see rays of revival.

So, this being also the time of presenting the AOPs (Annual Operating Plans), there is a new cautious optimism in the meeting rooms. This is probably based on 2 premises. The first, of course, is the collapse of newsprint prices. Second – tho’ some may be reluctant to admit it – with the ‘right-sizing’ exercise carried out by many the cost structures seem to be in better shape. And, with all this if the economy does pick-up by coming Diwali as many are predicting – one could well be back on track this year.

“Time to buy newspaper stocks ol’ chap !! ” – he said tapping my shoulder before rushing off to catch his flight to Goa. Then turned round for a bit to add with a smile – “hope the company restores the travel policy and I am allowed to travel Business Class, once again”.

But, it left me wondering if the Indian Print-Media industry has indeed cracked the code - which has been eluding the chaps in Obama-land or are we simply lulling ourselves into believing that surgery was the cure and we will be back to good health once the nourishing juices of ad-revenue begin to kick-in again.

The question is if we have missed a lesson or 2 in this crisis. I intend to turn to a few of those thoughts in the coming posts.

Do readers even care about editors' dirty underwears hung out in public?

2009-01-31T22:39:00.000-08:00

A celebrity editor’s newly created blog-site carries a post in his inimitable signature style – “When it comes to lingerie, do men even notice?” (Click here to read)

So far I have religiously stayed clear of discussing editorial questions, assiduously sticking to issues on the management of publications. But, the 2 perhaps are not so unrelated after all – especially when we say that media brands are ultimately made or unmade by their content.

Recently a salacious spat has come out into the open (click here to read) – following the enigma wrapped departure of a marquee editor and another journalistic icon’s guest column getting axed from the same paper (also read by clicking here).

In my mind, I have no doubt whatsoever that, the ordinary lay readers don’t give a fig for such dirty laundry hanging in public. For the few who do notice - usually people from the industry – it simply makes gossip around the coffee machine on editorial floors or at the Press Club. But, sometimes – without realizing – it can be the first symptoms of a deeper malaise – which, in the humble opinion of this blog-keeper should be a matter of concern for the ‘management’ – as, if left unattended, it can affect the ‘brand’ in the longer term.

Debates accha hai

Debates are healthy in any form. When a publication gives space for differing points of view – I believe it does raise the credibility of the paper as a whole, which readers come to appreciate over time and that builds loyalty.

Respected publications do this in the normal course – routinely publishing – columns by writers of differing ideological leanings or viewpoints. Television channels do it all the time in their news-hour and talk shows. Even The Times of India has made a virtue of this with its ‘Point and Counter-point’ (or is it the “Times View” and “Other View” – or something to that effect), which has become a regular feature. Its Sunday edit page often carries diametrically opposing opinions on the same issue.

(not-so) Cozy Bed-fellows

But – when the feud of egos (or “principles” – any which way you chose to look at it) spill over from the edit pages into the blogosphere or find their way into other publications and that too either making the management cozy bed-fellows or objects of pot-shots, it’s something else and calls for serious analysis.

It is here that the church begins to yield its sacred ground to the plebeian state – and once the territorial boundaries are blurred it is difficult to redraw the LoC even by a UN decree. And, when the borders change – so does the character of the “Brand”. This is something good marketers (which, the modern day newspaper honchos rightfully claim to be) can ignore only at their own peril – because just like the Consumer, a Reader too is not a fool at the end of the day.

Can a (mini) Satyam happen in the Indian Media Industry ?

2009-01-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Stumbled upon a great blog on the Management of Print Media in the US. Called : Reflections of a Newsosaur billed at “Musings of a veteran media executive, who fears our news-gathering companies are stumbling to extinction”. It’s author Alan. D. Mutter introduces himself as “perhaps the only CEO in Silicon Valley who knows how to set type one letter at a time”.

If one reads about the blood-bath that’s happening in the newspaper industry of the US – life still looks like a party back home in India. Probably – like our banking system – our newspaper industry has also remainded partially insulated to international trends. (This probably explains the unfading smugness of some of our newspaper honchos. A journo friend told me - how she was subjected to an elevator speech by her CEO - on the poor quality of newspaper managers in the West. And how well we've done in comparison. I saw the same CEO with his 'kitchen cabinet' dining on a celebratory mood at The Westview in the ITC Maurya last week!!) But for how long is the question.

The frequency and regularity of Mutter’s posts gives puts me to shame (notwithstanding – like me, he too holds another job and writes this blog as an incorrigible moonlighter who hasn’t been able to get over his love-affair with the industry). But, obviously there’s lot more happening in the playing fields of Uncle Sam’s country than in India which gives him more grist for the mill.

In his recent posts, Mutter writes about many such developments – which he says makes newspapers look like the auto-industry in Denver, with its routine lay-offs and across the board cost cuts. It seems that, Gannet has asked its employees on a week’s compulsory “leave without pay” in March this year (Click here to read). The alternative to this “shared pain”, he reckons would have been the loss of 600 jobs. He talks about the major restructuring that’s going to happen in SF Chronicle – where the newsroom is being cut-down to a bare-bone structure – with the skeletal staffers producing a “modest ration of local stories” with generic content filling the pages. (Read SFO Chronicle Story)

Lee's Pulitzer Prize

Among these, one story – in particular - caught my attention. It is the plight of Lee Enterprises. In 2005, Lee acquired the Pulitzer group, which made it the fourth largest newspaper publisher in the US in terms of dailies (with 58 titles) and seventh largest in terms of aggregate daily circulation (of over 1.5 million). The group encompasses over 300 weekly newspapers, shoppers and specialty publications with over 10,000 employees.

The stock of Lee Enterprises was then worth about $1.5 billion and the company borrowed almost an identical amount of money to fund the acquisition. Today, Lee’s stockes are trading at the below $ 1 mark at 30 cents a piece and its valuation is worth only $13.5 million. Its auditors have issued a ‘going concern’ warning – which means there is “substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.” Lee Enterprises unlikely to have the cash required to make a $142.5 million debt payment due this quarter. (Read: What's next for Lee)

Lee is not alone. It is but one of several publishers who are, more or less, in the same wobbly boat - loaded up on debt to fund acquisitions in the expectation that it could repay the loans though ever-rising sales and profits. “The deep, secular decline in the newspaper industry – exacerbated by the worst economic downturn in several generations – has dashed those hopes” writes Mutt.

“Shareholders, lenders, readers, employees, former employees and soon-to-be-former employees are paying the price for acquisitions between 2005 and 2007, taking advantage of the then-juicy profitability of newspapers and the once-easy access to abundant, relatively cheap debt – which they cannot handle today because industry sales have dropped by 25% since then and profits have dried up despite desperate efforts to throttle expenses.

“Had the newspaper industry continued to thrive in the last three years in the way it had for the decades since World War II, the executives who engineered these transactions would look like heroes today. But that’s not how things worked out. The first major newspaper bankruptcy already has occurred. Less than a year after it was taken private by Sam Zell, the Tribune Co. filed for protection from creditors owed a staggering $12 billion. Stock in the company, whose shares were worth $8.2 billion when Zell bought it 366 days ago, is worth nothing today.Beyond Lee and Tribune, publishers struggling with too much debt include Journal Register Co., GateHouse Media, McClatchy, MediaNews Group, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Morris, New York Times Co. and Philadelphia Media Holdings. The details in each case may be different. But the story is the same. (Click here to read)

That brings me to the question of how Indian Print Media Houses will fare in this crisis. In the absence of published data one doesn’t have a clear idea about the level of gearing in Indian newspaper companies – with the exception of a few such as HT Media, Deccan Chronicle – which are publicly listed. But, I do not wish to go into detailed Financial Analysis here. My worry lies elsewhere.

The Satyam Effect

Post Satyam – the auditors will now be doubly cautious in certifying Debtors and Receivables. As indeed, they would be in valuing investments – such as in Subsidiaries or companies in which they have taken stakes in ( call it Private Treatise, Ads for Equity or what you will). They should be equally strict about “capitalisation” of losses from new ventures or investments. While – the BCCLs of the world will be sitting on huge reserves to absorb any such shocks I am not so sure about some other companies which had aggressively geared up to fund new investments and production capacity ( in terms of new Presses etc).

In my lay financial judgement – I would think the more vulnerable of the lot are those companies – who put themselves under the pressure of byouyant quarterly results for the consumption of dala Stret to keep their stock prices afloat.

As one of the astute readers of Mutt ( a retired editor of a 3rd generation newspaper and not a Finacial Analyst) points out – in the absence of “large debt, newspapers still are more profitable than several other classes of industry.” But the, “powerful Wall Street law of the jungle” is more at work in publicly-traded companies … which require constant, aggressive growth to meet the expectations of the short-term bottom line”.

"The Hindu" rate of growth

2009-01-03T03:16:00.000-08:00

I don’t travel to Chennai often. Otherwise there is one person I’d have loved to meet. That’s N Murali of The Hindu. Somehow I have a feeling, at a time when most publishers are reeling under the advertising slowdown, he must be chuckling at the plight of his competitors (and, for that matter, even of some his esteemed contemporaries across the country).

In some of the earlier posts we have tried to examine, how some publishers (new and old) in their quest for super-normal growth have erred on certain fundamentals when the good-times rolled. It is equally important, therefore, to analyze what others did right – even if it’s by the benefit of hindsight.

When competitors came knocking at their door – The Hindu remained steadfast in their strategy refusing to drop cover price or get into a mad race for higher circulation to stay ahead of the new entrants. By all accounts, they didn’t give into advertisement rate-cutting tactics either. Many called this old world arrogance, others attributed it to an overly conservative attitude – both unsuited to today’s age of nimble footed competition. Some rushed to prematurely write an elegy for it – predicting the same fate as what “The Statesman” had met with in Calcutta by refusing to react to new competition.

In the Mint Article referred to in the previous post (read post)– Bagga predicts 3 broad trends in these times of media recession: 1) increase in cover-price, decrease in pagination and curb on circulation; 2) ‘right-sizing’ of operations and 3) consolidation across businesses. By default or otherwise, The Hindu wouldn’t need to do any of the 3. It didn’t drop cover price, increase pagination or pumped up circulation. It was always a tightly run ship with a ‘conservative’ cost structure. So there is little fat to trim in the system. Finally, it has always run its businesses on a ‘consolidated’ model.

Sometime back, another article in MINT had quoted – Farokh Balsara, Head of the Media and Entertainment practice at Ernst and Young saying: “Six months back, it was growth for growth’s sake for publications. Now the focus is on profitable growth as we see companies compelled to take hard decisions due to the liquidity crunch.” (click here to read the piece)

I don’t think The Hindu would have any such problem as they were never afflicted by the malady of chasing “growth for growth’s sake” unlike many others – be it because of pragmatism or innate conservatism – call it what you want. To my mind, the only weak product in their stable, as on date, would be the Frontline (does it still exist ?). Even that – even if they are holding onto for some sentimental reasons – is unlikely to be bleeding heavily. HBL should - by now – also be able to largely fend for itself. And, The Hindu - the main paper - never went over-board on the circulation of their multi-city editions in Bangalore, Hyderabad etc.

And, being the undisputed market-leader they would continue to garner maximum share of advertisement even when the chips are down (literally !!) and not being wholly dependent on ad-revenues - they would be able to tide over the down-turn better than the others.

So, there may be some merit in following “The Hindu” rate of growth, after all.

(Of course, being a distant observer and not close to the scene of action, I could be widely off the mark. For that – I would look up to my friends in the “South of Vindhyas” for validation of the facts. I am sure there are enough detractors of The Hindu – or “Hindu baiters” if I may call them – to blow large holes into my analysis. So it’s E & OE – comments and corrections most welcome)

Of Peaches and Potatoes

2008-12-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

MINT’s - perhaps - the only paper (business or mainstream), which has been consistently covering the print-media and issues related to it. In my earlier posts, I have referred to some of the articles it has published. This Saturday (December 27th) edition carries a piece by Ashish Bagga (CEO, Living Media) – as a part of its series on ‘2009 Trends Predictions’ (click here to read article).

It is sort of a ‘laundry list’ of several possible fall-outs – some obvious (lower pagination, falling ad revenue, lower ad-edit ratio, ‘right-sizing’ of manpower etc) but others not so apparent and hence more interesting.

First, Bagga talks of consolidation across businesses that were so far working in silos to exploit synergies. He rightly points out that both systems have their merits but under revenue pressure there is a greater urge to unify structures.

Focus vs.Scale

Obviously the reference is primarily to the Media Marketing teams and the Circulation Sales force. This is a classic conundrum I have seen in many organizations. While having a common sales organization is probably simpler (and most companies have it anyway), the real dilemma arises when it comes to ad marketing. This is more so – when you have separate “Business Heads” for different publications or ‘divisions’ within the group or ‘house’, as some prefer to call themselves. The debate always centers round “focus” vs. scale or synergy – and, tends to heat up when ‘accountability’ for ‘bottom-line’ rests with the so-called Business Head – and the responsibility for ‘ad-revenues’ is with someone else, who usually reports directly to the CEO. Under such a system – the Business Head feels naturally dis-empowered and accusations of the smaller / niche publications or divisions being ‘short-sold’ begin to fly. In reality, however – it’s often the other way around. When the smaller or weaker publications are sold on the back of the flagship brand – it is usually at the expense of the bigger or mother brand / edition which end up subsidizing its smaller (or younger) siblings. In a game of accounting “allocations” - the revenue apportionment goes in favour of the brands or editions, which are being supported (especially – say, if it’s a new Brand or a new city Edition which has just been launched).

Tonnage vs Grammage

Parallels are often drawn with the FMCG industry – where the same Sales system is used to market brands and products across divisions or profit-centres. While the comparison may hold somewhat true – as far as Circulation Sales is concerned it could be fallacious to extend it beyond that to ad-marketing. Even in FMCG – the debate has raged on for years. The comparison is not just between the proverbial ‘apples and oranges’, but as a legendary Marketing ‘Guru’ of Hindustan Lever had once put it very pithily – it’s very often between “peaches and potatoes” – tonnage vs. grammage ( read niche publications). This would apply particularly to new fledgling brands, which have to be nurtured with care. But then, as Bagga says – in the current market scenario very few companies would have the luxury of launching new publications or editions. And, for that matter nurture the un-profitable ones.

It would be interesting, however, to see if the same logic of consolidation and exploiting synergies would now get extended even to other areas of operation such as the newsrooms and news-gathering.

(in the next post I intend discussing some of the other very relevant issues raised in the article)

Say cheese !!

2008-12-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

I generally tread clear of the Capital’s lecture and talk-show circuit. But, yesterday I accidentally gate-crashed into one. The occasion was the launch of the Business Standard India 2009 – a collection of essays on contemporary economic issues facing the country.

In a gathering of very distinguished economists and policy makers, as a part of the panel chaired Montek Singh Ahluwalia and T N Ninan as moderator - Bimal Jalan, the former RBI Governor, was at his provocative best. He was reveling in baiting the media, who he accused of over-selling the India Inc Rising story. He argued that, it wasn’t that the Indian economy that was running too fast but the Indian Stock Market that was being driven recklessly. When the real economic growth was at 13% - fuelled by tax arbitrage, the stock market was giving returns of 80% - but no one questioned the disconnect. We can excuse a Sarah Palin – who had never seen India on the map – wanting to invest in India because she saw India all over the media but we should have known better, he joked. He also had a dig at the “entrepreneur” (no prizes for guessing) known to run a half-marathon every morning, who had raised Rs 20,000 crores from the market even before he finished his morning jog. When you run that fast there is always a risk of tripping and a correction was just waiting to happen. He chided the media for, having created euphoria earlier, now going to the other extreme predicting a dismal doomsday scenario.

Listening to Dr Jalan’s, I wondered if the media itself had fallen prey to the tales of its own creation. Over the last few days – everyone I have met from the print industry – be it from editorial or marketing - have been complaining how bad things are. And till the other day, media houses – new and old – were going about their business like there was no tomorrow.

This adventurism was not just restricted to starting new editions or jacking up circulation. There was actually serious money being put on the block in the form of investments in Fixed Assets (expensive high-speed printing presses) most of it funded by borrowings (except perhaps ToI who have always been known to sit on a mountain of cash reserves).

Add to that, the increase in pagination, internecine circulation wars (my ‘pet peeve’ of deep discounted - gift subscription offers), rampant under-cutting of ad-rates, over-the-top salaries of the new ‘whiz-kids’ on the block, across the board salary hikes and increased over-heads – you have the perfect story of cost-structure and business model going awry. And, if all this was being done with an eye on increasing company valuations for potential PE investors – someone got the math wrong – just as Dr Jalan said last evening.

The crash of the ad markets have really turned the screws on (even with softening of news-print prices), especially for the newbies and also some of the oldies who had taken a quick shot of viagra to feel young. By one account two of the new entrants in the Mumbai market were losing anything between Rs 50 to 100 crores per annum (depending on whose estimate you chose to believe). Despite drop in pagination and cutting down on print-order, thru’ non renewal of subscriptions etc they would find it difficult to sustain such high levels of “investments” (read ‘losses’) without big-time value-destruction, if the mother ship itself is under pressure. While those in it for the long-haul would definitely weather the storm – it’s those who were in the short term “valuation” game who would face the real heat.

So what’s the way forward? On the flight back from Delhi, I was reading in the TIME magazine how the Italian government has thrown a bail-out package for the cheese industry in the country. The government is buying 200,000 wheels of Parmigiano – Reggiano Grana Padano to be donated to charity. Possibly Mr Ahluwalia can take a leaf out of that book and devise a similar scheme for the Indian newspaper industry. It might make perfect economic sense – giving away free newspapers with free ads – to boost consumer demand. But, there’s just one glitch – thanks to the freebie offers very few people in India pay for newspapers anyway!!

Post-Script: Hopefully, after this crisis the Indian newspaper companies would find renewed merit in the age-old wisdom of having a more 'balanced' adverisement to circultion revenues ratio, which had historically helped them cushion the effects of cyclical downturns in advertisement. Till then, of course, the big consulting firms (Mckinsey, E & Y, PwC, Accenture etc) would make their pile doing 'cost-restructuring' exercises for the industry. Some I'm told are already on the job.

Flight of fancy !!

2008-12-12T00:38:00.000-08:00

This morning on the flight from Calcutta – I was almost startled out of my seat, even before I had a chance to put my seat belt on, to see an announcement in The Telegraph. In a box item on the front page they informed readers that “to partially off-set” rising cost of news prints they were constrained to increase the cover-price by 50 paise (they went on to assure how TT is committed to delivering the best value to its readers etc, etc. On picking the ToI from the next seat – I found they had a similar notification ( but more simply worded – without any of TT’s almost apologetic note). One remembers that, such announcements were common in the 70s and 80s. But, in today’s day and age – when publishers have been tripping over each other in a game of “invitation pricing”, discounted subscription and freebies ( the latest I read was Nike shoe free with an annual subscription of a Delhi tabloid - read the Romantic Realist's piece by clicking here) – who could have imagined even a few months back that this was even possible.

Considering that a very high proportion of the circulation for most papers in metro towns are already locked up in one or two year subscriptions and ‘jodi’ offers, I am not sure how much this would yield in terms of additional revenues in the short-term. But, that such a move was undertaken (obviously, in unison by all the major players) considering that newsprint prices have actually come down from the peaks that it had reached a couple of quarters back, is indicative of the revenue pressures the industry must be experiencing at the moment. Paginations had already been cut-down over the last few weeks. In Calcutta I found The Telegraph had brought there Metro supplement inside the main-paper. The other day – someone traveling to Chandigarh told me that he was surprised to see the city edition of the paper down to only 12 pages. According to a totally unconfirmed (and, probably unreliable too ) source – the ‘old lady’ had posted a cash-loss for the first time in a zillion years last month. While this can well be malicious gossip – it is indicative of how ‘desperate’ the situation must be.

I am sure that the industry will tide out of this crisis – as the economy recovers (at least the industry ‘old timers’ – unlike the brave new ‘cow-boys’ –who invaded the industry lately – know newspapers were always a ‘cyclical’ business and they have seen many a down-turn in the past). But, for me there can be some silver lining in all this. First, it’ll put to test certain hypothesis on which many players have been punting in recent years: 1)Readers perceive greater value in higher pagination; 2)Selling it cheap means higher circulation and readership (put in simple marketing lingo – what’s the ‘price-elasticity’ of the product). And, most importantly – this should, hopefully, separate the men from the boys.

Well, I guess – like everything else – only time will tell. And, to know the outcome, you and I will have to keep reading newspapers!!

Cholesterol levels and Readership Surveys

2008-12-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

I have really missed the bus on this one. I had meant to write on the IRS 2008 (Round 2) soon after it was released – but got caught up in my travels. Meanwhile, the ‘Romantic Realist’ and many others have literally beaten me to the post (Read RR’s Blog Post "I am No 1. No, I am No 1" in the MINT by clicking here). I had written much of my thoughts on Readership Surveys in India in 2 of my earlier Blogs Is it only about Eye-balls? and When adults act as kids. At a broader level, my views remain largely the same as I have also noted in my comments on RR’s piece (Read Comments at the bottom of RR's Blog by Clicking here).

Co-incidentally just the day before its release (on the 4th of Nov), I was chatting up a friend who has been on the Technical Committee of the IRS (MRUC) for many years. He made several very pertinent and interesting points. Here is a gist of our discussions.

Since the MRUC started as an initiative of Advertisers and Media Agencies (Brahm Vasudeva and Roda Mehta were the prime movers) – the IRS was conceived primarily as a Media Planning Tool. Therefore, the emphasis was not so much on the absolute “results” but more on the quality of the “research” – and, therefore, the underlying data, which would provide users insights for their media planning.

However, publishers has come to see it more like marks scored in a school or college examination – therefore, go to extra-ordinary lengths to ensure better “results” – especially after the NRS went into hibernation and IRS became the primary currency for print-media.

It’s common knowledge in the industry that, most organizations have their own “experts” ( read ‘fixers’) – who claim to be ‘specialists’ or past-masters at obtaining better results for their respective publications. Apart from using – old tricks of the trade such as distributing free copies around the time when the field work is conducted (this was developed to the level of a fine art with the level of sophistication that was applied to specially target areas where the survey was known to be happening - with information gathered thru’ moles in the data collection agencies), over time this was carried to a higher level with more blatant tampering of data. Industry insiders tell tales of instances – when field researchers have been apprehended ‘selling’ survey forms or caught in fisticuffs with goons engaged by publishers trying to obtain . While that could well be malicious gossip, it is widely believed that large media houses have a substantial ‘budget’ allocated for ‘managing’ – Readership Results – just as they were known to do for ABC numbers. (Click here to read Pramath Sinha’s piece published sometime ago in the MINT)

However, MRUC officials and the Research Agencies will vouch for the overall validity of the data. They claim to have built in a system of checks and balances that easily throw up aberrations during the process of data validation. In every survey – there are cases where a ‘back-check’ has been ordered or the data for certain publications have been withheld for publication – until the verification was carried out.

But in their over anxiety to obtain higher numbers, publishers often lose sight of more important underlying data. Moreover, in the process they also end up undermining the credibility of the survey – forcing Media planners and buyers to resort to developing their own customized metrics – which, with very small sample sizes, have their own set of limitations, claims of “proprietary” methodology notwithstanding.

It’s another typical case of shooting the messenger. So, what’s the way forward? The industry is already clamouring for the revival of their abandoned child the NRS. But, is there any reason to believe that- the NRS would produce results that are dramatically different from the IRS. Past experience doesn’t say so. It’s like me going to a different ‘Path Lab’ each time to check my Lipid Profile. It still doesn’t solve my problem of high Cholesterol and elevated hepato-bilary markers.

More later…..

Pleading Guilty & The Conflict within

2008-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I am guilty of being remiss - not that I think I have been missed much. Actually - there is so much to write, with a maddening travel schedule - I simply couldn't find the time ( and, I didn't want to do injustice to the subjects - which I think are important and much of it based on first-hand conversations with very knowledgeable persons from the industry).

But, I intend making up for that soon. Meanwhile, I would commend to you the following article published in the edit-page of today's The Telegraph:

The Conflict Within - Reform Alone will restore the media's meaningful role : By R. Goplakrishnan

(check out the link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081201/jsp/opinion/story_10183628.jsp)

Gopal, as most of us know is a Director of Tata Sons. But also, as many may not know, he is a Director on the Board of ABP Pvt Ltd - the publishers of The Telegraph ( which the paper should have mentioned - in the interest of "full-disclosure", as MINT does in such cases). But, coming from him - the opinion is of great import, I think.

Read on....

The Tribulations of a Regional Giant

2008-11-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

While passing thru Chandigarh last week (the thumbnail on the side is the official logo of the city-state, for those of you who have been wondering), I saw the imposing landmark of The Tribune at the junction of Sector 29 on Purv Marg and wondered if it would meet the same fate as that of once the pride of Chowrighee square in Calcutta – The Statesman House. In essence, I was thinking – what’s the future of regional newspapers with the large national players spreading their tentacles across the country.

I asked this question of a senior functionary of the paper – over coffee in the lawns of his lovely red-bricked bungalow, taking in a bit of the delectable early November sun with the first hint of winter. At first, he scoffed mildly with a smile (without any arrogance, I must add ) – “HT and ToI have declared that they are going to kill us or wipe us out several times over in the last few years, but we have managed to survive”. He then went on to admit rather candidly, that - while circulation and readership have remained largely unaffected and so has local advertisement – ‘National Ad’ Revenues have suffered. Typically, HT & ToI offer Chandigarh as an “add-on” in their national “package” at almost next to nil rates. This make media planners and advertisers re-think on the need to spend additionally on a local paper given the relative size of the market and the incremental reach it would provide. But, still they haven’t managed to cut-off the life-blood of the paper. Besides – The Tribune’s circulation revenues (which is largely at full cover price – unlike HT & ToI which sell practically all their copies on deep-discounted schemes) are healthy – which is also generally true of other regional biggies like The Telegraph and The Hindu.

So what should be the strategy going forward ? The Tribune has chosen one of creeping regional expansion – pushing the circulation boundaries beyond their traditional strongholds of Chandigarh, Punjab and HP. Now they have started crawling into parts of Uttaranchal, neighbouring patches of Rajasthan and spreading across Haryana – short of the NCR (Gurgaon and its catchment areas). Coupled with region specific customization of content – this has boosted circulation and geographic reach – which, apart from providing greater value to national clients, make them a more attractive proposition for Regional Brand players from Punjab and Haryana.

While this may hold the decline in the short and medium term – would it work in the long run. The answer to my mind, would be in fierce or ferocious localization of content – increasing interactivity and deliver across media platforms (Web, Mobile etc..) This would improve and thereby increase reader loyalty and customer stickiness.

By trying to play the game by the rules set by the competition and cloning them – it would end up becoming poor second cousins of ToI and HT – diluting its original character and also – in the process – losing its traditional constituents. In trying to work counter national predators and incursions by the web - many regional newspapers in the US have ended up going even more local with good effect. I was quite encouraged to hear from an young journalist in Shimla – how a voluntary initiative by some of them in starting a very local news web-site called “My HP” is beginning to gather momentum.

For marketers seeking to increase penetration – the ‘carpet bombing’ strategy of big newspapers won’t work beyond a point. When it would come to targeting the last consumer standing – a strong regional player would do a far better job.

In some ways – the coming few months could actually prove to be an opportunity for the likes of The Tribune. With newsprint prices skyrocketing and advertising revenues slowing down, the biggies might be forced to cut-down cheap unproductive circulation in less profitable markets. That’s when a strong regional brand can strike back with vengeance.

But that would mean a serious re-engineering of content, which may not be easy given The Tribune’s old guard editorial and conservative Board of Trustees at the helm of affairs.

So, I can only wish my friend luck !!

You are what you read or Ananda Bazar ki bollo?

2008-10-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

One of the very interesting presentations at the just concluded WAN Conference in Amsterdam was from William Powers, the Media Columnist for the National Magazine in the US and the author of the essay on the enduring power of the newspaper titled Hamlet’s Blackberry.

He argues that the paper is an ‘island of peace’ in the age of ‘digital chaos’. Among other things, he argues, the paper “frees up the brain to think”. (Click here to read the gist of his presentation)

“Paper’s great strength is that it allows the mind to ‘settle down’ into that peaceful deep-dive state in which we do our best thinking. This state is much harder to achieve when we’re reading in the digital medium, where there is endless information, and so many possible tasks to undertake at any moment. On the internet, there is no beginning and no end.

Newspapers would do well to exploit these qualitative strengths over Digital Media.

Instead, “much of the media coverage of digital technology reads like product marketing. New digital devices are released, and journalists cover them the way they cover new movies. There’s a cheerleading to the whole exercise, an air of hype”, he said.

To me a newspaper is like a “sparring friend”. You enjoy talking to him, arguing or even fighting at times. And, that is not just a source of intellectual stimulation – but provides its reader a sense of identity. So, you have a paper like the Ananda Bazar Patrika in Bengal – its readers seldom agree with its viewpoint – whether on politics or sports (and, often take the nastiest jibes at it). Yet, they can’t do without or ignore it either – which led to their classic campaign “Ananda Bazar ki bollo ?” (what did ABP have to say)

Much as I would like to believe that's not who I am, I can’t but agree with the tag line of the new HT Café in Mumbai…..”You are what you read”!!

Newspaper Chart-lets and Multi-media Factoids

2008-10-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

Later next week (October 16th-17th), the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) Readership Conference in Amsterdam (click here for details) will discuss the future of newspaper readership. Editors and newspaper executives from across the world will present and debate case-studies on strategies for growing newspaper and print audiences across platforms – print and on-line

.

WAN runs the “Shaping the Future of Newspapers (SFN)” project, which aims at helping newspapers with strategies to survive and thrive in a changing media environment. Appropriately, the theme of the Conference is “Newspapers can Increase Readership in Tough Times”.

One of the session titles that caught my attention was:

The New Newsroom: Broadcast, Print and Web – Newspapers, which are best at exploiting multi-media and competing effectively in the multi-media battle for audience and revenues;

Co-incidentally, only the other day I was watching the recorded web-cast of the Adobe CS (Creative Suite)-4 launch – where Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen talks of precisely this seamless 2 way migration from print to web, mobile etc which is going to characterize the media universe in the days to come. CS-4 tries to integrate the creative process across all media platforms. (To check full video click here)

Another topical issue that would be discussed at the conference is how newspapers are working for attracting and retaining young readers of newspapers in a digital world – sometimes using Social Networking.

I have often wondered if in our frenzy of chasing circulation and eyeballs – we are forgetting the issue of newspaper readership. Thus while – ABC figures are showing a huge spurt in circulation across languages and regions – the growth in readership is nothing to write home about.

Therefore, it was interesting to read Raju Narisetti’s latest blog post (click here to read) on how his paper is using devices like “Charticles” to grab the typically short attention span of the “Internet generation that lives in the multimedia”. Though’ it might appear to be ‘not-so-subtle’ plug for the MINT (“I mean stuff like this that regular readers of Mint are used to seeing on a regular basis”) – but, we can excuse the ‘Romantic Realist’ for this minor self-indulgence - as this is probably what the future of newspapers “might and ought to be”.

I had touched upon this – in an earlier blog (2000 Monkeys or a 1 ton Gorilla click here) , which didn’t attract any comment. Considering the huge readership this blog commands (!!), I am not sure if the lack of response can be construed to mean – that, such issues are still not on the radar screen of Indian newspapers.

Interpreting The Economist Ads

2008-10-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

The tangential new campaign of The Economist – “Interpret the World “ - plastered on bill-boards across the city leaves me flummoxed. I don’t know what it’s doing for you. I simply don’t get it. I think the ads defy “interpretation”. May be I am not the typical Economist reader and, hence, missing the point.. That’s why, despite “e-mailer-a-day” reminders, I haven’t renewed my subscription.

In the past – Ogilvy has done some legendary campaigns (mostly outdoors and also TV) for the magazine especially in the Far East (Singapore and Hong Kong), which won them a large number of lions at Cannes (probably, the highest for any print publication ever).

The vintage Economist series and the ‘GOD’ campaign of Singapore (click here to check and also on this for some more pics) are two classic examples of great 360degree advertising from Ogilvy.

While I can understand the need to be original and different – why re-invent the wheel ? Doubt if 'GOD' too will be able to "interpret" the present 'over the top' campaign.

Here are some of my all-time favourites from the archives– tell me what do you think of them ?

Father & Son

Sperm Donor

Even the Economist reading wife' has the same problem...

(t)errorism

Taking Decisions

the Management Trainee

Forehead

A matter of perspective

Cutting Edge

Obstacle Race

Question and Answer

With that I too rest my case..

2000 Monkeys or a1 ton Gorilla.

2008-09-27T02:50:00.000-07:00

In a just published article in BusinessWeek (click here to read) , Jon Fine ( who also keeps a media blog : FineOnMedia read here ) prophesies the imminent demise of the big-city papers. He still gives a chance to the “national” papers like the New York Times – even if for just a while longer.

It’s probably the latest of a million elegies ( it’s difficult to keep track – with one being written practically every hour ) for a medium that will go down in the history of the universe as the longest occupant of a death bed – giving even the ol’ man Bhishma a run for his record. But, I found his analysis quite interesting – tho’ it is primarily from an US market stand-point.

First, he thinks the main cause of their un-doing would be the dis-aggregation of the local advertisements ( especially Classifieds ) at the low end to “Ultra-cheap” on-line options such as “Craigslist click here ” or at the high-end to the free-monthly glossies.

Second, the content needs ( and consequently - “editorial energies” ) to Blogs or other independent “on-line endeavours” such as “MinnPost” ( which defines its mission “to provide high quality journalism to news-intense people of Minnesota click here to read).

And, for those publications who are still deluding themselves with the hope of garnering revenues from the “sub-classified local segment (such a pizzerias and dry-cleaners) – he quotes the CEO of a Local Media Research firm, who compares local advertisements to “2,000 – two pound monkeys” ( as opposed to a 1 ton Gorilla – therefore making it a very “unorganized and dirty business”).

I am not sure how far the comparison would exactly hold true for a market like India. In any case there aren’t too many “big-city papers” of any significant size left – with the exception of a few ( non – Hindi ) vernaculars and just a couple of English dailies ( The Telegraph and The Hindu - tho’ they may not like to be called Regional or Local) and the same logic may not quite apply to either of these 2 categories.

By the same token, India doesn't have "national papers" like the New York Times, USA Today or WSJ ( tho' MINT is trying to be a bit of the last ). What we have - I would submit - are a bunch of 'multi-local' papers. Even the giant banyan-tree of a ToI - to my mind - is an "umbrella mother brand" under which it houses several localised editions (much like what a Brooke Bond- Lipton or Tatas do in having separate blends of tea for different states under the same brand name). So is the case in the vernacular space with a Bhaskar, Jagran and Hindustan or The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle and the New Indian Express in the south. In doing so, all of them try to straddle both ends of the market - wooing the national advertisers at one level and mopping up the local business and classifieds at another.

While this dual pronged strategy may work to hedge the risks for Indian newspapers - at least for sometime to come, I think the real game-changer could be the content back-lash, which Fine talks about. In dumbing themselves down to cater to all consituencies newspapers may be losing their plot to the more interactive media options available today thanks to the net. I am, therefore, a little tempted to quote from the 2 comments posted on the article, which lends support to his thesis.

“…… Big city newspapers have already been replaced by blogs, video postings and discussion forums ~ at least for the news addict demographic. Why read what some edited hack piece says about a political speech when I can review the entire thing online and evaluate it for myself? And why would I want to read it on a piece of dead tree, if I can instead debate it with others who are interested, and follow the links to every piece of pertinent information we can find ?”

“…a former daily reporter I used to pick up the local papers when I traveled around the US -- now I just get the Times, the Journal and the FT when I can find it -- most dailies are trying to be all things and hit lowest common denominator…….”

What do you think ??

When Adults act as Kids !!

2008-09-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

Sen ( read comment here ) has drawn my attention to this “straight on the bull’s eye” article of Pramath ( Raj Sinha ) published in this Wednesday’s ( September 23rd ) issue of MINT, which I seem to have missed in the flurry of writing blogs. I agree with practically everything Pramath has said in his piece “Time to grow up ..” ( click here to read the full piece) – and some of it we too have already touched upon in a few of our earlier posts (e.g. Is it only about Eye-balls click here to read ).

Though’ very direct, Pramath – being his urbane and sophisticate self – has still pulled a few punches. He says advertisers – “subsidize” publications. While this may be true in rest of the world – in India it has gone a few steps further. From a situation of 80:20 mix of Advertising to Circulation – thanks to deep discounts, jodis and gift subscription schemes most newspapers have gone to “negative” realization on Circulation (net of Trade Commissions). In the process – publications have become subservient (I am tempted to use a stronger term) to advertisers and Media Buying Agencies.

Vanita Kohli writes in her book “The Indian Media Business” (Page 39, 2nd Edition ): “……It is routine for advertisers to pull out entire campaigns if there is even a mildly objective reportage on them”. Those of us who have worked in publications know the extent to which this practiced and how publishers (with a few rare exceptions – that too selectively applied) tamely give in to such pressure plays.

I had written about my newspaper vendor not bothering to collect his bills for months - because now he earns much more from trade commissions and schemes. The other day, a friend from the circulation department of a leading newspaper group was telling me, how they no longer see the “dips” in sales during holiday seasons as before. This is because there is a “negative incentive” for the reader to ‘stop’ the copies – while the family is on holiday, as with the price they pay for the paper being next to nothing they would lose out much more from “Raddi” realization.

It was an interesting realization for me (a fact which one always knew but never thought of it) that, one cannot compute the actual “all India” circulation of practically any newspaper group from the published ABC figures, because at any point in time – some edition or other of theirs will be out of ABC.

The Readership Surveys make up another story altogether. NRS, which was actually a creation of the publishers themselves ( a joint initiative of INS and ABC) has been given almost a quiet burial (though’ I believe there are some murmurs of reviving it again – because IRS is becoming inconvenient for some ). We remember the shameful litigations that happened over it – after editors (of the same publications which had filed the ‘proxy’ law-suits) had written signed pieces upholding NRS as the “gold-standard” of the industry ( when their papers were trounced by competition in the IRS ). Then it was amazing to see a section in the INS going to embrace the IRS - over-ruling objections from some industry veterans ( IRS was seen as a rival survey – as it was the product of a reactionary move by advertisers and agencies against the NRS) - in what looked like a Indo-Pak peace mission to the Attari Border - only to denounce it later.

So, is the Advertiser getting fooled by the “smoke and mirrors” (to borrow Pramath’s term), which we hold before them. I am not sure. I think both advertisers and media buyers have become much more savvy to separate the chaff from the claims and have developed their own metrics ( however, approximate they might be) to get a sense of the real numbers. A case in point would be the very publication in which Pramath’s piece appeared. For all it’s tall claims of being the undisputed No 2 Financial paper in the country with a circulation of 120k and readership of 1.6 (higher than ET – read Samil’s Comment on the ‘I-Pod Effect’ click here) you have to only turn its pages to see the volume of ads it is managing to get after 18 months of its launch.

So it could well be that in trying to fool others, the publishers are being a bit “clever by half” and might end up fooling themselves. Something, I feel, the PE bankers who are waiting in queue to be part of the ‘big growth story’ of Indian Print media should take note of.

Let’s debate this further. For the moment I just wanted all of you to read this very positively provocative article.

The Great Innovation Revolution

2008-09-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Robiin Jeffrey’s seminal work – India’s Newspaper Revolution, tracing the journey of Indian newspapers over the decades - is a fascinating read.

American newspapers had from the very beginning seen advertisements as the life-blood of their publications. Doyens like Otis Chandler (owner of the LA Times) had declared, “The economics of American Newspaper publishing is based on…advertising…not circulation”. (Though it’s another story - how his newspaper was run nearly to the ground by the professional managers he had hired from Consumer Product giants like General Mills – forcing him to come-back from retirement and reassume the reins of the company to undo the damage wrought by the “break fast cereal” marketers – (Read the Blogkeeper’s Note at the bottom of the post)

Indian publishers, on the other hand, for a very long time had shunned advertisers with almost a sense of contempt. Advertisements were considered an encroachment not just into editorial space but also – by some – as a compromise of editorial independence and integrity. This was, of course, partly a carry over of the pre-independence nationalist and the post-independence socialist ethos of the country.

But, all this makes me wonder – if we are displaying the same prudishness in our resistance to accepting today’s trends of so-called “Innovations” in advertising.

So I asked a veteran of the industry for his views. Having worked for 3 media majors over 3 decades – he is one of those who has seen it all and done it all. On strict conditions of anonymity he agreed to write this “no ‘edit space’ barred” piece for ‘Deceptively Simple’, which could well be an addendum to the chapter on Indian Newspaper Advertising in Jeffrey's book - which stops at the end of the 90s.

While – being oath bound - I can’t provide any clues, there aren’t any prizes either for guessing his identity. Read on:

The Innovation "Bloomers" !!

Well, this mysterious article was to be on Innovation in Print Media. Is there a true innovation? Or are there other factors that are masquerading as Innovation? We shall examine it.

Applying the definition/meaning of innovation as an idea that is perceived by advertisers as new, I looked around for such examples. There were plenty available – from bubbles in the center of pages, beautifully ‘decorated’ by content to oil pipelines zigzagging through each page of the newspaper to colouring the content in yellow ( click here to read) – in ‘rich’ homage to a telecom service provider. Later generations will, no doubt, debate on whether the choice of the colour was an accurate description of the prevalent state of print journalism. But that’s another story.

But does a creative rendition of an idea necessarily mean the commercial message must intrude on the content? Can’t there be excellent renditions of creative ideas within the boundaries of advertisement space - as we had in the past?

Bubbles and Phallic Symbols

To understand this development we need to rewind. The availability of higher disposable income, rise in consumer base, opening up of lucrative markets tiers beyond the metros, as well as - fragmentation of media and multiplicity of media options has created an increase in demands for consumer brands. This lead a tendency to spend more on FMCG brands and a profusion of brands are clamouring to be seen and heard. As in a crowded marketplace, what does the marketer do - Shout as much as possible (read big budgets) ? But with multiple full-page ads in a single day’s paper, the full-page no longer created the desired impact. There were pressures on the media buyers who devised (or thought they had devised) a clever route. Just pirate into the content. Steamroll it but ensure its noticeable. So that’s how you see a car swirling within the page or mobile phones protruding like phallic symbols. Sure it’s noticed. Whether it will carry a positive connotation in the reader/consumers mind is really not the point, as the objective is to ensure the message is noticed.

And why don’t the newspaper refuse such blatant intrusions on the content? Obviously, it’s the revenue that comes with such demands. In a scenario where the sale price don’t even cover the delivery cost from the printing press to the readers’ home; such additional revenue is highly coveted. The irony being, the ad sales executives themselves keep coming up with devious strategies of destroying the editorial columns and presenting them to the advertisers. After all, they too have high targets to accomplish.

However, like all good things, which are overdone, such innovative tactics too soon lost its novelty value. Now, everyone could be innovative – protrude the end of your product into content and if that wasn’t satisfying enough, why not ‘buy’ your own cover page – create a full four cover pages or just restrict it to half its size. It was getting monotonous and the fear of a negative impression in the consumers mind was feared. So it was time to innovate once again – after all, isn’t ‘NEW’ the perennial favourite slogan of advertisers?

The Space Pirates

They did not have to look around much. A market savvy multi-media group came up with a perfect solution – why just ‘pirate’ into content – why not ‘create’ the content? And thus another innovation was created. The ‘promise’ was to get a cynical reader or consumer to see your message and intrusion was not a great way, it was being increasingly felt. Great, so what’s the delivery mechanism of this promise? Simple. Do away with those old-fashioned ‘advertorials’ (the problem with them being the addendum ‘advertisement’ being scribbled in one corner to separate it from news content), intrusions etc. Instead, present the ad message as content, without creating any visible distinction of separation from news. It was presented as news itself. After all, this innovation touted to ‘provide editorial coverage for your products, services and events, with true news value’. In case the advertiser was still dumb enough to comprehend what he’s reading, it goes on to state ‘ we mean real newspaper articles….., not advertisements’ (emphasis not mine). Wow, here was the real thing and like American journalists covering the Iraq war, the message read ‘ an editorially conceptualized brand message embedded in news/feature articles……’ (emphasis mine). The perfect solution was found.

15 minutes of fame

While both the advertiser and media owner were happy with the unexpected revenue source welling up, the casualty was the consumer. After all, if there were glowing references to a product by a leading newspaper, perhaps it merited purchase. It was a different matter that the product was not tested , before endorsement. Since the ‘purchased coverage’extended to individuals too, there remains a clamour to feature ‘my party’ – simply because I can buy its coverage. So readers were soon deluged by P3 personalities ‘born’ daily – 15 minutes of fame as Warhol put it.

So where do we go from here? As a logical next step allow the brand managers of a large spender to edit (or would take-over be a appropriate term?) the newspaper for a day. For a fat consideration, of course.

News as a Commodity

Perhaps it’s not so bad as it appears. With a highly cynical populace living in a world where information and entertainment are indistinguishable , maybe it’s difficult to believe anything. After all, who defines the meaning of news ? If news is a commodity, why can’t it be purchased like any other commodity?

At the end of the day, what matters is profits. If the news columns too can be made profitable as the ad columns, it’s a double whammy. After all, innovation is expected to add value, and if this is not value creation, what is?

Let a thousand innovations bloom !

Blog-keeper’s Note:

After the LA Times scandal ( where the newspaper had entered into a reveue sharing arrangement with one of its advertisers – Staples – for a ‘co-produced’ Sunday Magazine of the paper ) a commentator wrote –

“Newspapers are always dying, and someone is always killing them . radio was supposed to bury them. So was Television……..So was the Internet.

“But the latest murderer is the corporate bean-counter. He breaches the Chinese Wall between business and editorial….cares more about stock-prices than about the front-page lead…..”

So who will be the Otis Chandler of India ? Anyone willing to take a bet on that ?

Weekend with Vidya

2008-09-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

After spending years with staid Business Magazines (Businessworld, Outlook Business) Vijaya Saran has taken up a job that many of us would give an arm and a leg for :-) She gets to photo-shoot Vidya Balan in Bed and the likes of Katrina and Bips. Vijaya is the Associate Publisher of FHM India and here she shares her experience in the very very different world of Men's Lifestyle Magazines.

Thought that would be a nice change for the weekend - after chewing Mint for the better part of the week.

Addictive

What is it about being part of media that is so addictive? It can’t be phenomenal profits , as any media veteran will tell you. Its definitely not about stimulating work environment. With a few exceptions, most media companies today suffer the ‘lala’ syndrome, where years of ‘loyal’ service is preferred over competence.

And the less said about the revenue model the better. Where every sneeze in the economy spells pneumonia for advertising. Where it is not the product, which makes money, but rather the perceived product.

the aphrodisiac

Having said that - it is an aphrodisiac where you can take a person out of media but cannot take media out of the person.

Talking for myself – twelve years with business magazines – It let me get a ringside view of the tsunami called liberalization, which hit the moribund Indian economy in the nineties and early part of this decade.

More so, as the association was with strong home grown magazines like Businessworld and Outlook Business. The perspective was uniquely Indian and there was clear pride in our voices when we spoke about how we often had the lead over international magazines when it came to getting the best business stories or perspective.

And then came the glut of business media, both print , internet and television . With international affiliations coming in. The uniqueness was lost , and almost every product came out with more of the same.

Media is after all a product of the times. The socialist era meant the emergence of strong political and social media to reflect the people’s frustration with the lack of accountability and conscience in the four pillars of Indian democracy.

the awakening

Then came the ‘awakening’ – that we as individuals could do our bit to improve our lot. Business media boomed and how. Everyone had a right to make money , and make money they did!

And now we have the money. How do we spend it? In came lifestyle and special interest media. Which is where I chose to be. Being with FHM, one of the world’s leading men’s lifestyle magazines , has its own perks and drawbacks . The perks, of course, are that its fun to figure out whether SRK, Kareena, Katrina or Deepika will work best on the cover. Way more fun than gloomy stock market forecasts.

Then editorially there is a huge difference. The Chinese wall between edit and marketing which was fundamental to a credible business magazine is blurred in lifestyle media – reputed groups bringing out high-profile lifestyle magazines, work closely with advertisers to get their editorial and, horror of horrors , the editors are actively involved in marketing activities! Recently the editor of a prominent women’s lifestyle magazine sent out letters to subscribers exhorting them to buy a company's products- how would readers ever trust their editorial after that? Short term gains often rule.

the honey trap

At FHM we try to avoid these traps without losing the more flexible approach that lifestyle media allows.

Just like readers tastes have changed , so have advertisers. Today they know that they know that “serious” media is all very well, but if they want eyeballs its prudent to be seen in the so called “lad’s mags”

The next media wave hopefully should be emphasizing charity and social responsibility, which till now is restricted to a few publications that are not driven solely by commercial interests.

The I-Pod Effect

2008-09-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

So yet another Consumer Goods stalwart takes his bow.....from Print. A recent communique announced, the present Publisher of MINT is stepping down (to take on “ a new non-media challenge” outside). Glowing tributes have been paid to him for "one of the most unique media brands (created) in recent memory" and taking MINT and its number of sub-brands (Lounge, Campaign, Livemint.com ) to where they are today. Kudos most well deserved .

Marketing Success or Editorial Excellence

But, the purpose of this post is not to debate the Marketing success of MINT. We shall leave that discussion for another day . I do genuinely believe that MINT would be an excellent case-study of a new print product launch.

Here I would like to take off from a point made by Saurjyesh and also questioned by Sudhir (Syal) – as to “when do product innovations actually begin to kick-in?”. Sudhir has cited the example of the re-launched New Indian Express down South.

Opinion may be divided on the Business Model, Media Marketing, Pricing and Circulation strategy of MINT – but even the worst critic and most biased would agree that, MINT is, arguably, the best editorial product in the country today. The ExEd (now ED) of a “sister” ( nay, I meant - rival !!) publication had told me, in a private conversation, soon after its launch that , MINT is "the ultimate editor’s paper”. And, it has only gotten better since then.

When it started – it clearly differentiated itself not just in format (“compact”) and design (one of Garcia’s finest) - but in setting new standards ( and ethics ) of reportage and practically every element of content.

Along the way, MINT has added many of the “Interactive” features – which Saurjyesh, Sen and all those - from the relatively more developed and mature media markets – who commented on my earlier post ( on the future of print ) have talked about. This includes the LiveMint Blogs (click here to read)– again a first of sorts for an Indian (mainline or financial) paper.

So when did these truly fantastic product features start positively impacting the results in Commercial terms ( and, mind you – I am not talking of ‘break-even’ here !!) ?

Does the Winner take it all ?

I am slightly out of date with the numbers. But, from the little that I know of the Financial Papers space – there are 3 players (BS, HBL and Mint ) who are vying for the No 2 slot with roughly comparable figures. A 4th – the Chronicle – is threatening to storm the bastion. A 5th ( DNA Money) is spreading itself at the bottom in an altogether different segment of the market. And, a biggie ( FT – Network 18) is waiting in the wings to make a splash at an opportune moment.

Among these – although no one can discount the editorial quality of either BS or HBL) , in my opinion, MINT stands out in terms of salience. As someone put it beautifully – MINT is like the I-POD after an era of WALKMANs and Juke-boxes.

Even in a market like Mumbai, where (if I may hazard a guess at the risk of offending friends in the Circulation Dept of HT) I suspect, MINT’s circulation would be roughly the same as that of BS and HBL ( the latter 2, certainly BS, could infact be much higher), I believe it has a relatively greater editorial impact amongst high-end, influential readers. I would even go a step further and argue (inviting greater flak in the process) that on sheer ‘reader connect’ within the same target group it would score even higher than the newer broad-sheet mainline dailies (including the one published from the same stable).

Anecdotal or anecdotage

Of course – these are not based on any empirical research but just my own sense from anecdotal evidence. Be that as it may – the questions I have are:

-how much consumer pull did it manage to create immediately on its launch ? putting it a little differently, would MINT have reached its present level of circulation ( 120k ??) naturally without forced trials thru deep discounted subscriptions or ‘jodi’ offers ?
- would "old fashioned distribution" have worked for a product like this ?
- when will the cash registers start ringing ? would the advertisers see 'value' in a premium product offering like this and be willing to shell out an extra dollar ?
- how far and how fast this would translate into organic growth of circulation;
- would it ever be able to revert to the "traditional" sales and distribution sysyetem moving away from "door-to-door sale call" (PCC) and the "annual subscrition" model?
- how much premium would the consumer be willing to pay on the ‘cover price’ of the product ?
- can the present level of circulation be sustained at ‘full cover price’ and without offers ?

( well, well, I know – Cover Price is immaterial in today’s context. Haven’t we done that topic to death already in this blog. But, I’m asking this purely as an Index of Consumer preference)

Perhaps, we can try and answer some of these over the next few days. Would look forward to hearing from you – both 'insiders' and those who watched the birth of a ‘star’ from a distance (or even some like me who have seen it from a ‘distance within’).

Full Disclosure (in keeping with the MINT protocol) – This post was not influenced by the 'E-i-C 'of Mint giving this humble blog a pride of place among his favourites. It was, however, certainly inspired by the farewell accolades for RB.

Jottings of an Ex Circulation, sorry RMD, guy

2008-09-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

I was in the first batch of the Times School of Management in 1990. When I joined it post doing 3 years of Hotel Management from PUSA it was a typical move of a confused young Bengali who was not smart enough to join Engineering or Medical so from my parents side it was do whatever so that you can earn a living.

On joining I realized that, there is this group called BCCL and in its helm is this three siblings – SJ, VJ and NJ - who are trying to rewrite the rules of the print media in the country. My interactions (mostly in a group) were more with the elder brother than with their late sister or the then young VJ. In that one year, I heard and saw the little steps that were being taken to shake the company out of its lethargy.

I was told about why the Sesquicentennial (I am deliberately not doing spell check here as to emphasise the point that even now I don’t know how it is spelled) events were critical in giving a larger than life image to a newspaper group and move it into a happening brand category.

I was told how and why NIE was started, to ensure that the kids of the Punjabi families started reading TOI from School so that 10 years down when they decided to demand their own newspaper they asked for TOI and HT which was ' Punjabi written in English'. It was also explained to us by Buro Lahiri (sadly no more) the reason behind the setting up of TSM. As per him SJ realised that the media planners plan their media 1/4 by data (can be manipulated so no one really trusts) and 3/4 by guts and what he reads. His reasoning was, as over the years the students from this Institute proliferate and join agencies and take marketing decision-making positions in Orgs they would have a natural bias towards the group thereby making the sales job easier.

If these are not examples of being far sighted I don’t know what are. Ask any Delhi guy who is more than 35 years old and he will talk about the night 'The Boss' sang in JLN stadium. Success of NIE forced the competition to start PACE (and they have done a great job) but BCCL is pushing NIE to the next level in making it a medium to reach School kids across the world and not limit it to Delhi. Thanks to face book I know lots of TSMites who are decision makers and decide on Advt spends across orgs.

When I passed out of TSM I decided to join RMD, circulation to non-BCCl folks, and not the more glamorous Response (Advertising Sales to the aforementioned) as it was spoken as the place where men get distinguished from boys. This was thanks to a speech from SK Mehta (MKD) where he exhorted us to take the tough route rather than the easy. I realized once I was in that I was conned but that is a different story. RMD in the city of Delhi used to be all about getting up at odd hours to go to street crossings where 200-300 hawkers used to come and buy all newspapers. In the afternoon it was going with the magazines on Feeder routes.

Now coming to the main point of this edition of my blog as a rejoinder to Robin and Sen about distribution in the print industry and some myth busting.

Myth 1: Hawker decides which copy a reader reads. I say Bull Shit; this myth was manufactured by the hawkers and given by air by moth balled circulation managers who thought this would increase their worth. Tell me when was the last time a hawker came and sold a newspaper to anyone of us. Most of us don’t even know the bugger as he comes when we are asleep.

Myth 2: We circulation guys know where each and every copy of ours goes and who is our reader. Bull bloody shit, PCC (again started by Times group through Bimal Chadha) showed very clearly that most of the old fogies in circulation had no clue about their readers and even with the name and address in hand could not ensure that the newspapers were delivered at the right address by the right hawker.

Myth 3: Schemes help in selling copies. Yes it does but only because the hawker rotates the copies. Just by giving Tupperware or Bed sheets one cant increase circulation on a permanent basis. That needs to be backed by product improvement, consumer interaction and communication and old-fashioned distribution.

The third myth is where I feel the FMCG types who came in to print have really added value and that is where again the Times group was way ahead of the competition. In spite of the jabs of the old times that these Joote aur biri bechne wale kya jaante hain newspaper sales ke baare mein, they were the ones who broke the mould and brought in new management styles which are the norm today.

Regards,

SN

(Blogkeeper's Note: SN now is the Country Manager of a leading International Wire-Agency in India. He keeps a blog : 'Random Musings' at www.saurjyesh.blogspot.com and can be reached at saurjyesh@gmail.com )--

Whither Print ?

2008-09-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

Having decided to start a blog on Print Media, I suffer from occasional bouts of self-doubt of a lover who can never be sure. In one of my earlier posts ( "Babu Boro Najja Korey"), I had put this question to you. This time around I decided to ask it of 2 LinkedIn Groups that I am a member of - Those in Media and Media Professionals and Managers. Here are some of the answers I received :

Richard Klicki wrote:

Print's imminent demise is more of a U.S. thing, where publishers here have been very slow to recognize ... or even ignored ... changing reader habits over the past 25+ years. I think European news orgs have recognized that and adapted their print products to meet those readers' needs; hence they are more viable and will survive in the Internet age.

Here in the U.S., you're going to see a dramatic shakeout as print eventually catches up to its counterparts in the rest of the world. What you won't see anymore is a one-size-fits-all newspaper that has been the norm for centuries. Big metro and regional newspapers will be more drastically different than the smaller, more local newspapers. But those who do not or cannot adapt quickly will die as the revenue stream continues to shift away from the general-interest newspaper.

Viraj Kalra wrote:

I think print is here to stay!

It might loose market share (as it already is) in most markets sooner than later but will it go completely extinct? I think not! It needs to evolve to become more niche and target focused and have online and mobile downloadable content but the physical paper will always have takers.

In India like a friend pointed out earlier - education coupled with bandwidth will keep print growing in times to come. At the same time in European countries like Italy, France and even UK (where education and bandwidth are not a concern) where I have most of my media clients - print is still mainstream and new media is an add-on feature.

Lastly, it is a habit thing... in the morning when on the pot ;) traveling alone in the underground, on that long flight; in the dentist's waiting room... print in its many avatars is your true friend!

Marion-Isabelle Muszynski wrote:

Dunno in India, but in Europe, print will never die. Even the youngest are attached to printed stuff. Print industry only need to adapt its strategy.

Aseem Malhotra wrote:

YES print has strong potential to grow but need to evolve a bit as far as content goes. Nowadays in busy lifestyle no body has time to read papers
With 30 to 50 odd page. Finding Once type/ choice of content from 30 -50
Odd pages is still time consuming. Now its time for News paper to be Repositioned like youth paper, students paper, Senior citizen specific paper, Bpo/KPO specific etc, to be specific Rather than mass/General choice Paper. Hope this will happen soon there will be papers, which will be TG specific rather than Masses.

Mike Jones wrote:

Print in India still may be or have growth potential. However, I don't believe in the US print will continue to grow. It lacks the ability of being interactive with the consumer, reader, user... With most communication mediums...users look more with engagement and being about to actually interact with its medium of choice. And because solid print cannot offer that...it will sure to slip in the future

Kapil Munjal wrote:

Every media type is expected to be strong in respective verticals. PRINT is going to grow in verticals such as Education and property. Classifieds are going to move out to an online free-free model; In India however, the literacy levels have to still catch up and coupled with broadband issues, Print in India is only going to grow rapidly over the next decade at least.

any further thoughts on this? keep writing in...

Sen hits back (with a kick in the 'butt' - literally !!)

2008-09-04T02:24:00.000-07:00

Bravo Robin,You are on the home stretch.Just a little more "footwork" and the "net" is all your's! Someone with your depth of insight should not have been "slow" to realise at all.In India, we've shown a historical tendency to "ape" & "adapt" westren trends / models, roughly with a 20/25 year lag. Applies to almost everything, apart from the way our country is run.Why is it that "many" big newspapers are given away free (a la Yellow Pages), abroad? The cover-prices charged by most deshi mastheads hardly cover anything, anyway! So why charge it at all? Sandip has indeed very aptly mentioned his vendor's POV.

This reminds me of a very similar incidence (oldies like me are very fond of anecdotes you see), albeit in a very different product category. Those were the days when ITC, India's tobacco major, got to know about the possible bans on tobacco advertising. And they were naturally groping all the wrong things, in the dark. Other smaller competitors smelled blood & went on a launching spree! Rothmans King Size was rapidly rolled out aimed directly at the India Kings & Classics. Even VST, technically a sister concern, threw all caution to the smokes & ventured into the premium brands arena with their deshi vesrions of King Sizes & Wills beaters.

As we all know, the underdogs get major support from the aam-aadmi.So, the Rothmans & the other wannabe Kings got ample shelf space, visibility & support from the pan-shops.This irked the giant even more. To add insult to this monopoly threatening injury, BATCO, ITC's parent, refused to let 555 or B&H to be manufactured in India. Unless of course ITC could "prove" that it had the "mettle" to fumigate local heroes out of retail shelves!

Thus begun the great store-merchandising industry in India (that was 1990/91). With pockets reaching all the way to its pulled up socks, a huge & capable field force and of course many extremely talented top managers, ITC went to battle. Retailers all over India were mapped & put on street-maps, manually. Each was alotted unique codes & relevant commercial data was tagged, against each individual outlet. The exercise took almost 90 days & about 800 of us worked 24X7 to compile the data, digitize them on to a spanking new oracle platform & create tailor made reporting & analysis modules.

On completion, it was almost a child's play to locate any cigarette selling outlet in any corner of the country, with almost current data about its shelf-space, compass-bearing, ownership, disputes, offtake & what not! Then some of the most brilliant managers, including legends like KNG, Chandu Mishra, (Late)K Ramnath & Mehmood Ahmed, churned out a list of the "most coveted" outlets across the top cities. These outlets (several 000s) HAD to be ITC's & ITC's only! By whatever means. Now starts the similarity with today's 3-letter wars in print media! Outlets were first reasoned with, then coaxed & cajoled and finally "bought out" against huge contracts. I still recall the record sum signed up by the outlet next to Bengal Club, just outside ITC's Kolkata HQ. The ministry of direct taxes will summon me in as a government witness to sugnificantly boost their revenue, if I mention any of the sums involved!

After about 3 months, I was doing a round of a particularly "sensitive" market in Kolkata (as I was heading Kolkata then). Sensitive, as many of our top honchos used to reside in the same neighbourhood (rings any bell now?). To my surprise, I found a very "expensive" Classic Branded outlet, not having a single stick of cigarette to sell! Naturally I was fuming & getting ready to blast the sales guys. Somehow, I mustered up some courage (these sensitive retailers could get lowly ITC staff like us sacked real fast, seriously) to "ask" the pan-wallah WHY he did not have any cigarette to sell! The answer was, as you may have guessed by now "why sell anything when you are already paying me xxxxxx every month? My income, earlier was merely 800-900"?

So, you see, it's quite pointless to "ask" whether the industry leaders (advertisers) or media honchos "know" about the ABCs & NRSs' real worth! Who cares a damn?

September 3, 2008 10:49 PM

Is it only about Eye-balls ?

2008-08-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

Taking off from where Sen and Robin started….

I think it was R Sundar who once told me, chatting over tea at the BCCL office in Government Place East in Calcutta, “circulation has to be built copy by copy - there are no short cuts”. Then there was AD who would never tire of recounting how it took The Telegraph a good 10 years to touch the circulation of the original 'Englishman' of Chowringhee Square, despite the self-destructive tendency of the latter. And, till date the ToI hasn't been able to win the 'catch up' game with TT, as indeed it hasn’t been able to dislodge the Deccan Chronicle in Hyderabad.

But in today's age of SMSs and with PE Investors breathing down one’s neck very few have the luxury of waiting for a decade to build a critical-mass circulation to be regarded as a serious “challenger”. So we have to pump hormones and steroids into a new born to make an Obelix out of it in no time.

The ToI, as always, were the original innovators with their 'invitation price'. The apocryphal story of how the idea struck SJ while passing the Alipore Zoo in a car with PG will go down in the annals of the history of newspapers in India. Then came the 'Jodi' offer which knocked the day-
lights of the competition, who were left with little option but to follow suit in great haste. In the process, as everyone knows, the vendors and the raddi-wallahs made hay while the publishers ( at least one of them) bled to near comatose.

This was also the time when the school newspapers ( the NIE and PACE ) came into play as, by some strange logic, they counted for ABC numbers. A school principal in Delhi once told me about the trouble they had in disposing the old papers – which the students inevitably never carried back home, tho’ it made handsome gratuity for the lower level staff.

Next was the era of deep discounted annual subscriptions and consumer promotions. Taking a leaf out of the magazines, which had long perfected the art of selling subscriptions on the back of gifts, newspapers – by then already infiltrated by the FMCG wiz-kids – began to entice their customers with offers of bed-sheets and tupper-ware. There was one major difference between the magazines and the newspapers – which everyone forgot or rather chose to ignore. In the case of magazines, it was far easier to chose your target audience by using DM (Direct Marketing) techniques. And, since the delivery was through courier or post – and not through the trade – it largely eliminated ‘loss-in-transit’.

The joke doing rounds in the newspaper circles then was – “we also sell newspapers”. I still remember walking into the Calcutta Book Fair in the winter of 2003 and saw a huge pavilion from which people were walking out with watches. Initially, I thought it was a Titan stall only to discover later it was actually of a newly launched national paper and the watches were being given as a free-bee for anyone who signed on for a year’s subscription.

Companies went freely in and out of the ABC as per their convenience. Finally ABC was forced to re-write its rules to come up with a new formula for calculating NPS (Net Paid Sales) to accommodate the big boys of the industry. Bhaskar Das was quoted in an interview saying, India would have moved to free news-papers long ago had it not been for the "raddi economics". Infact, today - if you take the "raddi-value" into account thereader is actually being paid to buy a paper.

I received a telling testimony from my newspaper vendor only the other day. He hadn't come to collect his bill for over 6 months. On asking him why - he frankly admitted, the amount he receives from the company by way of commission and trade schemes ( he didn't mention "raddi") is far more than what he gets from the "grahak" (customer). So it was small change and it no longer mattered to him, if he didn't collect his bills for a few months.

Apparently the model was telecom, where company valuations are based on the number of connections. But, no one seemed to be unduly bothered about the quality of their circulation – like a friend who had joined a telecom major, that was in a tearing hurry to ramp up its number of connections soon after launch, had joked - “we have a clear ABCD classification of our customers – Ayahas, Bai-s, Chauffeurs and Drivers”. No prizes for guessing which company we are talking about here.

In all this – people seemed to totally forget, what now seems like almost a defunct concept, Readership. Initially – people fought over NRS and IRS, choosing what was advantageous for them on that round of the survey. There were front page anchor pieces and lead articles on the edit page written to praise or debunk one over the other . Once, if you recall, NRS was taken to court and its results had to be withheld for months before a settlement was reached. Finally, NRS was put to sleep last year – no one’s certain if it will be resurrected ever again - and IRS, by default, became the limited currency of the industry, which you greet with enthusiasm if the numbers look good for or you trash if they look sick.

Old timers compared ABC & Readership to “clinical (physical) examination” and “blood-test”. A Doctor needed both to tell the health of patient.

Wonder how Media Planners, Buyers and Advertisers decide between publications these days ? Is it only on intuition or gut-feel ? It can’t be simply on how much commission or discount the publication is willing to part with as some cynics would have me believe. I am sure they have developed their own metrics for it.

Perhaps, a friend from the Media Buying Agencies will enlighten us.

But, finally I am left wondering – if Media is supposed to be a “mind-product” (as Goldie defined it) – then can it be only ‘eye-balls’ that matter ? One would assume – that to stimulate the mind you have to read it too. Did I hear someone say – “Reader Connect” ?

Sen & Robin on the Circulation Game

2008-08-25T01:57:00.000-07:00

Sen speak:

This is more for Robin, than anybody else!You have really managed to nail down the "circulation" guy Sir & rightfully so.

After spending half my life with very successful FMCG giants, it was a huge shock when I took over circulation for a leading print media house! At times I really felt like I was losing it.However, in spite of the corinthian conservative pillars who managed to bludgeon everyone looking outside the beaten path, things changed.Albeit for a limited period.Fortunately non-lifers like us (who had little to gain from getting "personally" close to the leviathans) managed to pave fresh new roads & fly-overs on record time, to make the elephant zoom ahead on.

The mammoth has, however, settled down again.Alas, the systems & approaches (to circulation) is not very different with other publishers either!The "institutional" sales manager (circulation) remains the blue-eyed resource, thanks to the "significant" contributions to copy growth.As to who "reads" them is beyond me. May be that's the reason I decided to step out of the vicious "circulating" circle.

Incidentally, last weekend, about "4- FOUR" copies of a prominent tabloid were thrown in, deftly through my car's rear window. As it was already dusk, I naturally asked why this exercise was still being done! The answer is given below, verbatim:"We have a target of throwing IN (thankfully not OUT) 3 thousand copies per head. Now the copies reach us at this mall only at 3PM. Most cars drive in with AC on till 6:30. So we start to throw around 6:30 & manage to cram in as many copies as possible, into each vehicle".Have you caught some, lately?

Robin speak:

Hi,There are issues on both sides of the LOC, let me start with the editorial side, the other side, as they always behave like mujahideens ready to blow themselves up for reasons we will never know.

Editorial:(1) Their greatest joy comes from peer feedback, which ( as quoted to me) is always like this..WOW that was a great story. You brought out some really interesting insights. BOY you've hit BULLS EYE. I thought that the design team should have done a better job with the layout. If other articles in the same issue were of this calibre, then this would have been a collector's issue. Which they normally agree to( though it is likely that they have not read any article in the magazine other than their own).

Note: Incidentally their peers never include their colleagues in that publication

Consumer (Reader) to them does not exist, it's only role in their mind is to ensure that when the NRS/IRS surveyors come. then they should report that I read the magazines/ newspaper religiously. And that is why there are a lot of so called great products out in the market, which are doing poor business.

Circulation Sales (2):Sales: Ask a sales guy, when did he last read an issue of the magazine he sells, and chances are that he will not know. As far as he is concerned the centre spread in the magazine every week/fortnight should be from PLAYBOY so that he gets very few unsolds from his agent. Hopefully this will help the ABC circulation figure to improve every 6 months.

Circulation sales is about three things (a) Supply Chain (b) Visibility at the retail counter (c) Availability in more places then your competition. But a typical circulation person has very little idea on how to manage these three issues.

Let me start with the first point (a) Supply Chain: All they are keen on is to make sure that the issue reaches their agents in time on Friday/ Saturday. After that it is on god's mercy ( most of the times).

(b) Visibility - Some magazines do a better job at this purely through spending loads of money in this area, but a typical circulation sales person, will not do much about it. Contrast this with an FMCG sales scenario, where there are strict norms on visibility and are measured pretty regularly

(c) New Outlets: Increasing distribution and reach, though talked about furiously is usually never done with even a basic level of commitmentTherefore one will always find circulation people hoping for more speacial issues and freebies in the magazine(booklets et al).

My friends in circulation will call me a turn coat, but I strongly feel that if they did a better job at this, then most magazines will be able to charge more for their product and not give it away for pennies like in most cases in India, and thereby making the circulation sales a department as important as Ad Sales and not treated like a 'step child'.

Red, Yellow and Green - the ToI is seen

2008-08-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

I meant to keep this for later. But Goldie ( Amitava Guha - who has been a 'guru' to me and many a green-horn crossing over to the delightfully mad world of media ) wrote in to admonish me and advised that I move on to more serious issues ( not that he implied the 'LoI' was a non-serious issue).

So this morning when I saw the ToI in its jaundiced skin - a question, which has bothered me from the time I came into media marketing, hit me straight on the face : Do"Innovations" really work ?

The money that IDEA must have shelled out to make ToI change its colour (literally ) - must have been music to the collective ears of the ToI Response team. But, was it an 'idea' that would change the life of the brand or my mind to switch over to their service at the next opportunity or buy a second connection from them ?

Personally, I have always held that "innovations" are FRPs (financially ruinous proposition) for the advertiser and sheer rape of editorial. I have no doubt my friends and ex-colleagues in ad-Marketing would be willing to murder me for saying this and call me a "saala turn-coat". But, what to do, I have had the wrong upbringing under a publisher who proudly called himself the 'last of the Mohicans'.

But honestly - as a lay reader this morning's paper left me cold. And, now looking back at the end of a long day at work - I feel that neither the news of Sushil Kumar's Bronze nor the launch of IDEA in Mumbai made a strong impression on me. Personally, I think a clean half-page ad would have done a far better job both for the ad - and greater justice to the news. The yellow worked actually as an irritating distraction rather than an attention grabber that, I presume, it was intended to be. But then, we could be told that, there are good innovations and bad innovations that can ruin a great idea. In anycase, a half page on the cover wouldn't have made the cash register ring half as loud.

Was discussing this with a friend during the day. He said, why don't you look at it this way? They could have done much worse. Don't you remember they had relegated the news of Benazir (Bhutto)'s assaisination to page 3 for accommodating a full page ad on the front-cover? And, as a reader you should be thankful that, at least - this one had the words "ADVT" written in small print. "Shukr hai - they didn't run it as media-net or can you imagine what they would have done if they taken had an equity stake in the telco ?" Point taken, Boss !!

As you can see - coming from the other side of the great divide as I do, I haven't yet mastered the art of holding the tongue firmly in my cheek. But, I am trying very hard to be as provocative as I can get - hoping that, someone, somewhere will read this and be stirred to post an angry response.

However, what I might have done inadvertently, is to have touched upon two other sensitive issue - Media Net and Private Treatise, which even Goldie, I think, would approve as being worthy of serious considertaion. Let's keep that for august evening tho'.

Cheers !!

"Babu Boro Najja Korey" - says Print

2008-08-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Fellow Bongs will probably be able to relate to this better. In a culture that was dominated for years by endless rehashing of Tagore and Brecht, Banchram-er Bagan by Monoj Mitra came like a breath of fresh-air and caught the fancy of the Bengali theatre-goers in the ‘80s. Tapan Sinha later made it into an award winning film. The main protagonist was – Bancharam (played by Mitra himself in both the stage production and the film ) , a loyal farm retainer, who had been gifted a small patch of land for his subsistence by the old Zamindar in a momentary lapse of generosity. After the death of the patriarch, his son - the new Zamindar wanted to evict Bancharam from his gratuitous tenancy but was shy of using brute force in deference to the will of his late father. But, Bancharam – ever so genially assured him that it was just a matter of months before he died, when the land would automatically revert to the landlord since he had only living rights and no ownership over it.

So each year, the zamindar would return hoping to see Bancharam dead and gone – only to find him alive and thriving. And, Bancharam would tell him in all humility and a great deal of embarrassment - “Babu, boro najja korey “ ( My lord I feel deeply ashamed ) – I had given you my word that I would die within this year but I’m so thoroughly useless that I couldn’t keep even this simple promise. As years passed by, Bancha far from showing any signs of imminent departure found new reasons to keep him going for just a wee bit longer. First, it was to wait till his son grew up, then to get him married and after that a desire to see a grand-child…..

In many ways, I think this could well be the story of Print in India. How many times have soothsayers predicted the demise of print and experts have rushed to write its obituary. Each time Print has surprised its detractors not just by staying alive but actually scoring a come-back. The most recent was, perhaps, when Media experts had all but written off the growth in print-advertising following the heavy in-roads of Satellite TV, Print turned the table by garnering a higher share of the ad-pie and growing faster than TV over the last couple of years.

In an Annual Survey of Editors commissioned by the WORLD EDITORS FORUM and REUTERS - fifty six percent of editors surveyed believed the future would be free newspapers, And only 45 per cent thought journalism’s quality would improve. An annual survey of editors commissioned by the WORLD EDITORS FORUM and REUTERS ( Click here to read artcle in The Hoot )

But another article published not too long ago in Indian Knowledge at Wharton talks of why Print Still Makes Sense in India citing the example of a boom in Business Publications ( Read full article and comments at : Busines Publications are Booming in India )

So where' print really headed in India? Let's re-open the debate. It'd be great if we can get some friends from the Electronic Media to also join in....

Alain Ducasse or Aveek Sarkar

2008-08-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

The “LoC” imagery seems to have struck a chord with many readers of this newborn blog. Not surprisingly – perhaps, closer observation would reveal that most of the responses are from the “Azad” side of the LoC raising obvious questions about Human Rights and Freedom of Speech on the “occupier” territory. (You’ll get the “occupier” vs. “occupied” drift if you read my other blog on Kashmir: “Politically Incorrect”). But honestly, I am just being provocative here in the hope of eliciting some response from the “second floor” (or is it Gurgaon now?) types ?

Be that as it may, the issue raised was whether the LoC is going to remain a permanent reality. Are the differences really so irreconcilable? My friend Indrani – who has worked on both sides of the fence, as it were, feels the ‘twain shall never meet’ – whereas Rajeev (Dubey) a former young editorial colleague from BW has asked if we need the LoC at all? Kalyan (Kar) thinks, the LoC may not be such a bad thing after all – as it lends some dynamics that keeps the adrenaline flowing. Saurjyesh, our man from Reuters, talks of arrogance and lack of communication on both sides.

While teaching I use another analogy – which I am not sure will go down well with members on either side of the LoC. But, what the heck – we are not here to please anyone, are we? I like to compare Media with the Restaurant business. There was a time when the best restaurants were owned by the top chefs. They would hire a “Manager”, a steward or captain and a few waiters to run the place. You would not see a single advertisement of the restaurant anywhere in town, in any newspaper or magazine. Reputation was built simply by the word of mouth (quite literally so).

In the age of competition (where success is measured in “footfalls” or “eye-balls”) things are bound to change. Enter the promoters and professional marketers. They identify a “niche”, develop a “concept”, “create” a brand and then engage a Chef to run the kitchen. So far so good, an Imtiaz Quereshi needed a Nakul Anand to market the Dum Pukht and a Hemant Oberoi is happy to be a celebrity Chef and work for the Taj at a salary that would make many CEOs salivate (more than they do while eating the food he dishes out - tho' I am told that the remuneration top editors are commanding these days, with Stock Options et al, would make many a corporate honcho's eyes pop-out in disbelief). But, the problem arises only when the Marketing Manager starts dabbling with the recipes and tells the Chef how to cook or how much ‘dum’ the Biriyani should have.

Surely there are the Alain Ducasse’s of the world (or our own Rahul Akerkar of Indigo, Mumbai fame) – Michelline starred Chefs who run their own signature restaurants. But, how many 'owner-editor(s)' like Aveek Sarkar do we have in business? For the better part – you need an A D Singh to start an Olive ( btw – A D, I believe, is the son of Nippy Singh – ex ToI, India Today and now Express – one of the original “sabun-wallahs” who crossed over to Media ). But, I doubt if A D would ever take “punga” with his Executive Chef.

That brings me to the point made so articulately by my old schoolmate Eskay (journo turned Corporate Communicator): “The rules for success are surprisingly the same - a good product, well-targeted with the right marketing mix. Sure, there will always be aberrations and so the not-so-best product will, for a while, be the leader. But that happens in every marketplace as you'll know only so well”. My question is what makes a “good product” ? Is it what the Chef turns out of the kitchen or the packaging, presentation and ambience of a restaurant ? You’ll say, of course, both. I disagree slightly. The two together don’t make a product but a “total experience”. And, there rests my case – Media too ( Print included ) is not just a “product” it’s an “experience”. It’s another matter though, some try to convert it into a “product of expedience”.

Shall wait to hear your views...….

Deceptively Simple

2008-08-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

In 2002, after spending most of my life in the Consumer Goods industry, I moved to Media as senior executive in a leading newspaper group. Coming in from the cold, as it were, it was quite shocking to discover that there was 'next to nil' reference material available and all the knowledge came thru' 'jungle-lore' - the basis or authenticity of which - and more importantly their currency was often questionable.

And, as I spent more time in the industry the gap of information seemed to be most limiting when I witnessed innumerable new entrants joining the organizations I worked in with absolutely no idea of Media being thrown into the deep end of the pool.

This feeling was further reinforced when I was invited to take a course on the Business of Print Media at MICA ( which I have been doing for the past 3 years ) and I found there was no published study or reference material on the subject.

Probably the most appalling impact of this lack of media experience, I observed at very senior levels. Professionals drawn from other industries and a non-media background often approach media with a degree of arrogance and a rather simplistic notion that what work for Soaps, Soft-drinks, Washing Machines or Telecom can be blindly applied to media, often treating with a degree of contempt both the old wisdom and people within the organization in their eagerness for radical change. Before long they discover that - media is far more complex and has many more layers, variables and finer nuances that are not visible on the surface.

Therefore my favourite quip is: "Media is deceptively simple".

I do not suffer from any delusions of being an authority or expert on media by any stretch of imagination. But, I can admit to having been bitten by the media-bug – due to which even after quitting the scene almost a year back, I remain deeply interested in Media and a compulsive Media-watcher. And at the risk of sounding presumptuous - I might say that, my personal experience and now being away from Media (at least for the moment) probably gives me a better perspective and also the independence to take a more neutral and objective viewpoint.

And, why print ? because a) that's an area I can pretend to know something about; b) print still remains the largest constituency of Indian Media and c) despite, dooms-day phrophets ( more on that in my next post ), print is here to stay;

I know that a number of popular media blogs are already in circulation (and, I am a regular reader of some of them). But, most of those are on the content and journalistic side of media. I am not aware of any that focuses exclusively on the management and business issues. While the blog is not intended to be a primer on Print Media Management, I hope it would provide an interactive platform for media professionals from either side of the LoC ( "Editorial" and "Marketing" - to use an old industry parlance; at my first employers' it used to be referred to as the "North Block" and "South Block" and at the last it was "1st Floor" and "2nd Floor" ) to debate and discuss topics of mutual interest and relevance.

So do write in - not just with your comments but your views, raising issues, kicking off debates, stirring controversies, starting cross-fires and, above all providing answers, ideas and solutions to make this truly a forum for meaningful professional interaction.