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You’ll take this kind of a stock for yourself, and then perhaps larger issues, like the world at large!!

So I got afflicted too. And rather than look backward (more of an analysis and research task), I choose to look ahead. Crystal ball gazing on where the digital space in India is going, in 2012.

The good part about this effort is that you can only prove me wrong, after 12 months, by which time, if I have gone horribly wrong, you’ll not remember, and if I have struck gold with my predictions, I will ensure that you don’t forget that ‘I told you so’! So it is a win-win for me, and hence, here goes.. my 10 predictions for the digital space in India, in 2012:

1. E-commerce or more specifically, online retail of goods, will continue to show fabulous growth: the hockey stick curve has started, perhaps 12 months back. This will continue on a sharp, upward trajectory, right through 2012. The growth is on account of various factors:

Internet user base growth
Better bandwidths
Mobile penetration
More focused online stores doing awesome job of merchandising, logistics, etc.
COD and other easy payment options
But besides all of these, I believe that there is one very significant factor here. I believe that a new consumer generation has come into the marketplace at this time, and they are shopping online. And they are digital natives. And not digital migrants. Like the folks who shopped before.

Those who are 20-21 now, on their first jobs, earning their first salaries, and having disposable incomes, these guys never wrote letters, only emailed. They used computers at schools and shared homework with their friends on email. For them, texting and tweeting are like air and water. They were just there. They did not migrate into these from some other planet of letters or faxes! So for this new consumer generation, shopping online’s also as natural a step.

It is my belief that the coming of this new generation has been the biggest contributor in this significant upward swing in online retail. And that being the case, this will only continue to grow, in 2012.

Because Flipkart and Infibeam and few others, are investing so well into logistics and other fundamentals, they will continue to establish themselves as leaders here. But the space is very very young still. These are no permanent leadership positions. You could see challenges, especially in specific categories, emerge in 2012. Perhaps a different brand for lifestyle products, another for household items, something else for motherhood, and a different one for kids maybe.. watch the space. It is about to change!

Amazon should be entering India for sure, in 2012. And even while they are building their own team, and deny rumors of acquisition plans, they WILL acquire. But it may not be Flipkart. Flipkart on the other hand, will use the large sums of money it has raised to make 1-2 niche acquisitions of its own. And most certainly, amongst the rest of the pack, some consolidation will happen. Perhaps driven by the common VC investor!

India’s retail majors will NOT acquire yet. They will continue to be in huge debt burden, and FDI will only reduce their debt, but the economy will not allow them to venture into online retail via acquisition routes, especially at a time, when VCs have driven up the valuation of online retail, and they will not sell cheap. At least not so soon!

2. The Group Buying / Daily Deals space will crack: Yes, while e-commerce / online retail will be hot, some of the ventures which have pretended to be e-retail, but were actually deals’ sites only, will have challenges to face. I have been a verbal critic of the group buying model. I have been a believer that group buying is good for certain categories only, and for certain times (like for liquidating perishable / excess inventory), but the direction that the industry took, and the way everything was being sold at deep discounts, was a dangerous trend. And not sustainable, in any case. And the valuations that these sites have commanded have been a function of numbers, that are unsustainable too. So we will see the model crack. We will see some Deals Snap, and some Groups On fire.

3. Media Buy Spends for digital will increase: Well, the marketers have been talking the talk for a while now. Check out one marketing conference after another, and all they want to talk about is, how digital is becoming big and exciting. And yet, on the ground, the talk has not been walked. Enough. And we still see fat cheques written out to television, and loose change dropping the digital way. Multiple things are happening that will make for big shifts here.

First of all, a lot of marketing is getting integrated now. So while the bulk money may be spent on traditional media, because a contest or some call to action is integrated into digital, there is digital spend too (perhaps an application on Facebook, say). Then again, due to the slow economy, larger mainline budgets may be hard to come by. And yet, the brand has to reach the consumer, and at a lower outlay, digital may be the way for a brand to do so. And the marketer can finally walk his talk then, no matter if it was forced to him, due to his budget constraints.

One way or the other, digital agencies will see increased billings as a consequence.

4. Marketing will get more integrated: We are already seeing a lot of this. Like a TVC having a call to action that goes to a Facebook link. Or when bloggers are invited to brand events, along with press, and there is amplification of the communication sought to happen on social media spaces too. Some of these are already here. 2012 will see a lot more of these happening, and in fact, integrated marketing will become commonplace.

So if there is an iconic TVC campaign, and you have run out your television media budgets, you could create a set of sequele, to continue to ride the popularity, on YouTube maybe. Or where more and more flash mobs are seen (God help us.. !) just to create content that a brand may expect (“hope”?) to viral thereafter. Live tweeting of your on-ground event, a story that begins on Twitter and takes wings on mainline media, etc. are all examples of media merging. So from media spaces like television, print, digital, social, mobile, to Above-the-line, Below-the-line, etc. all combining, are realities that we will see more in 2012.

As Nikesh Arora of Google said, there is no online or offline, now there in just the one line!!

5. Brand Pages on Facebook will have to fight clutter: A Facebook page for my business, then one for my housing society, and then one for my Walking Group, and one also for my pet dog, and oh, one for my bonsai plant, etc. etc. Just because these are so easy to make, there will be tons of brand pages on Facebook. Everyone and their uncle will have one. And names will be misleading. Confusing. And brands that got excited by a Facebook presence, will now realize that the presence is only a starting point, and means nothing by itself.

Creativity will be at a huge premium, and brand pages that stand out for creativity, a unique approach, will emerge victorious.

6. Google+ will get an honorable mention in history: After Orkut, Wave, Buzz, Google+ was yet another effort by Google, to get into Social Networking. Perhaps Google’s best effort till date. Got a lot of initial buzz, many diehard Google fans swore by it, were happy to see competition to a dominating giant. But after a few months, we are already seeing a larger registered user base for G+ (curiosity got people to register) but very little traction in terms of usage. Yes, some of the geeks are there, and love their own private network. There are also some interesting features, like Hangouts, for example.

But it is no challenge to Facebook. Not now, and unlikely to get there. And because people only have so much time in a day, their ‘social media hours’ will most likely go to Facebook and LinkedIn, and not shift to G+ anytime soon. And that’s the reality, like it or not.

So while the fizz has already gone down, 2012 will see Google+ take its rightful place in history, as another commendable effort in the space, by Google. But an effort that was at best, a good also-ran!

7. Social Media embarrassments will happen: Inspired by Anand Mahindra and Ratan Tata, CEOs and other top management are getting tempted by Twitter. Except that they don’t always spend so much time to ‘get’ the medium. And they could make costly mistakes! Likewise there would be others in the organization, who could make some boo-boos. There are organizations who like to keep their social media efforts lean and mean in costs. “An intern could take care of this”, they figure. And they hand over their brand worth thousands of crores to that intern. And yes, they’d save a few thousand bucks each month. Except the intern could also mess up one day. Or for that matter, the social media agency could make a mistake too.

We have not heard so far, terribly embarrassing situations, but I suspect one will happen, in 2012. And the sooner we have it, the better, so that it draws everyone’s attention, and everyone gets a little more careful from that point onwards! Nothing like an incident to make people acknowledge the risk! Oh, and by the way, I hope that the embarrassment is not with any of OUR clients.. lol. I don’t mind learning this with someone ELSE’s experience, rather than mine!!

8. Online Reputation Management will be part of a brand’s budgets: People will cuss brands on social media. Why? Because brands are there, and because social media is there! And cribbing and cussing is so easy to do. Then there will be some mean competitors who think it is easy to use fake accounts and malign a competitor’s brand. OR a disgruntled employee wanting to run down his ex-company. Only because he reckons that he can do it, and get away with it.

So all this was already happening, and so how will 2012 be different? Well, for one, more people will discover how easy it is to malign brands. Secondly, as the base of users increases, and more people use the web and take decisions based on the inputs got from these media, the impact of such negativisms about a brand, will be larger.

For few brands it could be loss of market share. For others it could mean a loss of market cap! And for yet others, it could mean the filing of legal suits and / or a large PR budget to clean up the mess.

The later in the reputation loss that repair is initiated, the more difficult and more expensive it gets. Which is where Online Reputation Management (ORM) comes in. While ORM will also NOT prevent from bad news showing up for a brand, ORM will detect, and enable a fix faster, before more damage has happened.

With that consideration, I’d expect more and more companies to make ORM a nORM in their business!

9. A killer case study will happen, on Social Media, in India: While India has got some brands with very large Facebook fan bases, and there have been some moderate YouTube views, we have not yet seen a thunderous success, like an Old Spice or a Blendtech or something of that level. I think we have come close now. The year 2012 should see a few large Social Media successes in India as well. It will give a well deserved respect for Social Media, amongst marketers.

And yes, in this aspect, I would hope that it is one of our client campaigns, which makes the cut ‘from good to great’

10. We should see some M&A in the agency space: We have many agencies in digital and social media spaces, that are either boutique or small enough, and not part of any big agency group. Between all of these smaller and independent agencies, they manage a large part of the digital and social media businesses. And ad and PR agencies, much bigger than these independent agencies, often do not get a share of that business.

As explained in an earlier prediction, the spends on digital wil increase, and there will be more number of integrated campaigns, too, where the mainline agency and the respective digital agency would probably work together.

It would be time where the larger agencies start thinking of ‘owning’ this piece, and not just renting it. And while ‘build’ is always an option for them, some will look at a ‘buy’. Here is where before end of 2012, we will see some M&A activity amongst the agencies.

We may also see some smaller agencies consolidating in parallel, which wil add steam to the M&A movement in the industry.

So those are my ten predictions. What do you think?

Agree with few, disagree with others? You have any other predictions? Share them as comments. Love to do the discussion.

Meanwhile, here’s wishing everyone in the digital industry, and then everyone else also, a Very Happy and Prosperous 2012. | By Sanjay Mehta, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Social Wavelength

About the writer:
Sanjay Mehta has been an early internet entrepreneur with 11 plus years of experience at hands on level, in building and running a successful internet based venture (www.homeindia.com). Most recently Sanjay has served as the COO of Compare InfoBase Ltd. Previously he has also served as a director in an electrical and industrial electronics manufacturing and marketing business. With more than 20 years of experience in various leadership positions, Sanjay brings to the table a keen understanding of how businesses operate. He combines considerable prowess in the field of Social Media, Ecommerce, SEO, SEM and Web 2.0 with expertise in strategy, planning, business development, operations, sales and marketing

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not reflect in any way of Adgully.

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Deloitte states that their process of building their predictions involve tow steps. First, a strong networking process with Deloitte member firm professionals who work in the TMT space. They provide the initial insights and ideas to draft a list of possible annual Predictions. Second, Deloitte member firm clients are interviewed and asked for feedback, further sharpening the insights that Predictions can provide.
The 2011 report discusses the “convergence” in the TMT sector that has going on for years.Deloitte sees a 2011 where consumers and enterprises will be dealing with diversity in hardware computing platforms, in software operating systems and in wireless network access.

The technology predictions for this year say that more than 25 percent of all tablet computers will be bought by enterprises, and that figure is likely to rise in 2012 and beyond. Although some commentators view tablets as underpowered media-consumption toys suitable only for consumers, more than ten million of the devices will likely be purchased by enterprises in 2011. Consumer demand for tablets is forecast to remain strong; however, enterprise demand is likely to grow even faster, from a lower base. By some estimates, 70-80 percent of Fortune 500 companies will support at least one tablet variant for some portion of their workforce. App development will need to be monitored closely. Cost per app can range from $5,000-$500,000 (depending on complexity), so not all enterprises will be able to develop an app for every type of tablet; nor will they be able to fund a large number of custom apps for employees. Although some firms are proposing the deployment of web apps that run through a browser and therefore work on any tablet, the likely reality in 2011 is that only native apps will provide the full tablet experience and be capable of interacting with the devices’ built-in cameras, radios, calendars and push capabilities.

While mandating use of eGov is mostly about improving productivity of existing technology assets, administrations should not overlook technology’s capability to improve a country’s attractiveness to foreign investors and also key talent. Governments should also consider whether social networks could provide one channel for communicating with citizens. Leaders in emerging markets should consider treating eGov and e-commerce infrastructure projects as prerequisites for economic growth, on par with roads and ports/border security. This may provide their countries with real opportunities to accelerate the pace at which they close the gap with developed economies.

The media predictions for this year look at a diverse array of topics including television, gaming, the music industry, and social media. But the flow of ad dollars is a common thread that crosses many sectors. In television mountains of newsprint and terabytes of online chatter will likely continue to focus on TV shows, pushing and cajoling people into what to watch. And the best search algorithm in the world is not going to change that behavior.

Advertising firms and their clients will likely need to expand their use of social media to protect their image and reputation in a world increasingly influenced by personal opinions and grassroots communications.Throughout 2011, it seems likely that the forecast for the social network sector will continue to be promising, but unclear.

The games industry appears to be following in the footsteps of the enterprise software market. The peripheral market seems to be shifting from single-purpose accessories (musical instruments, etc.) to multi-purpose peripherals that provide image recognition and motion capture. Peripheral manufacturers and game developers alike may need to adapt to this market shift.

The predictions for telecommunication say that providing Wi-Fi services to customers, retailers must understand and stay abreast of regulatory changes and shifting public sensitivities about online tracking practices. This can help them strike the right balance between maximizing data performance and respecting customer privacy.

The global market for deploying LTE networks is expected to be roughly $10 billion by 2014, and many times higher than that in subsequent years. 6Most commentators agree that mobile providers will eventually invest heavily in 4G, however, a slower than expected roll-out could disappoint some industry observers. Markets where 3G deployment took longer than expected saw significant erosion in equipment prices and margins; in some markets, late-built 3G networks even produced negative gross margins for the equipment vendors.The businesses selling services or applications that piggy-back on the network may have to adapt their strategies to a data world where most customers still connect through some flavor of 3G. This could mean deferring launches or finding alternate solutions until the faster networks are ready.

In conclusion the main focus of the TMT Report was on the fact that in order to see significant growth in the economy industries in the respective sectors need to diversify. | By Vanessa Azavedo [vanessa(at)adgully.com]

As the new year knocks on our door, Adgully thought of looking at the year 2010. With an insightful retrospection Adgully tries to recall the big ticket ventures and announcements and some trends across media.

The Idiot Box ’10:

The 21 inches saw a lot glamour and glitz this year following some all time big celebrities hosting various shows. But the change in this male-dominated anchor space came in when Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra was announced to be the host for Khatron ke Khiladi 3 on Colors. Moreover the fit and good-looking anchor got the channel a 26% jump in ratings over the earlier season’s TVR of 4.4%.

Following on close heels Sony Entertainment Channel (SET) made a big ticket announcement by launching Kaun Banega Crorepati -fourth season with Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan as its host. The show was a success for the channel and also got SET a deemed number three position for sometime in terms of Gross Rating Points (GRP) and Channel Share (CS).

However, two other reality formats running at the same time on two other channels had to face monitoring by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. On November 17th the government issued orders to Colors and Imagine to telecast Bigg Boss 4 and Rakhi ka Insaaf anytime between the 11pm and 5 am slot. The decisions were a result of a close monitoring of the channel, following which the I&B ministry thought it indulged in adult content. While Imagine announced that the timings for Rakhi ka Insaaf will be 11pm, Colors challenged the orders in the Bombay High Court. Post which the channel continued to telecast Bigg Boss 4 at 9 pm as the court stayed the order.

While the top players in the GEC space were battling it out to attract viewers by telecasting the same format of reality with variations in themes, the number 5 GEC was busy reporting growth by telecasting humour for the entire family. SAB, the channel which calls itself ‘India’s only family comedy entertainment channel’, reported almost a 500% growth in its viewership. The channel was also one of the first GECs in India to come out with a silent comedy format through its shows Gutur Gu and Malegaon ka Chintu.
On the other hand a youth channel platform like MTV saw a nostalgic launch of Bakra and Roadies 8. Bakra’s launch got the funny VJ Cyrus Broacha back on the channel pulling off pranks on commoners, while Roadies 8 launch got the devil of the small screen Raghu Ram back. Bakra has already gone on air on the channel whereas Roadies 8 will be telecast in the new year after being heavily promoted for over four months now.

The other important happening was when DD increased its GRP and CS to 65 and 4.8% placing itself seventh across all GECs. This happened following the coverage of Commonwealth Games 2010 (CWG 2010) and some great wins for Indian contingent. The country watched the games with great enthusiasm though given the initial few jitters of the games being surrounded by scams.
Moreover first time on Indian television an entrepreneur was awarded a sum of Rs.5 crores for his/her skills and entrepreneurial qualities. In August this year, Bloomberg UTV, India’s business news channel announced the launch of their new show THE PITCH with Boman Irani as its host. The show intended to identify potential entrepreneurs who have a commendable business idea.

One sport nation?:

Early this year in May the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Sahara India retained the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team for Rs.30.34 million per match till December 2013. India known for its cricket passion had another big announcement lined up when the Indian Cricket Team star Mahendra Singh Dhoni signed a two year deal worth Rs 200 crore with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes.

Post this, when CWG 2010 was being held in India, with the initial news of scams a lot of advertisers remained skeptical and stayed away from this International sports event. However, the Indian contingent performed extremely well, following which the sports marketing and talent management industry saw new non-cricket stars emerging. Moreover a lot of industrial names were seen partaking promoting various forms of games. In September, India’s leading media and entertainment conglomerate Percept India and Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited , a steel and energy company, announced a joint venture to promote and popularize ‘Boxing’ in the country. The venture showcased the first ever home grown Indoor Boxing Bouts called ‘Fight Night – Lagaan Cup’.

Recently, Nimbus Sport entered into an agreement with the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) to conceptualize, stage and market an annual hockey league called “World Series Hockey” (the League), with the first edition scheduled to be launched in late 2011.

The biggest of all events was when Poultry giant Venky’s became the first Indian company to own an English Premier League club when it took over Blackburn Rovers for USD 36.8 million. While closer home, Vijay Mallya stepped down as Director and Chairman of Mohun Bagan and reportedly passed on the baton to his son Sidhartha Mallya.

The Big Idea!:

The year 2010 was also the year of big ideas that ticked and about bigger trends enabling better efficiency. The big idea of the year was when Robinhood Pandey and Cheddi Singh made their presence felt in movie theatres across the country. An out and out masala movie, Dabangg became the second highest grossing film of all time within just two weeks of its release.

While Chulbul Pandey was being termed as “Bollywood’s answer to Rajnikant”, the small screen came alive with the very hummable tune of “We are the Blackberry Boys”. The TVC came out with an ad jingle with simple lyrics and the unforgettable expressions by the actors in the ad. While the advertising industry was busy creating new magic out of old Bollywood tracks, this Vodafone ad for Blackberry stood apart from its contemporaries.

Talking about mobile phones, the medium of mobile phone and internet saw an important introduction. For the Telecom operators it was the big entry of 3G, the operators are looking at banking big on this service and experts say that 3G will also have a positive impact on the mobile advertising space. While for the web the important announcement was when IMRB international launched the brand new internet metric called WAM (Web Audience Measurement). The new metrics will look at providing more credibility to measuring the very dynamic medium of web.

Digital advertising also witnessed an important event this year and it being that Yahoo! India announced its first Yahoo! Big Idea Chair Awards. The awards which was earlier a part of Effies, starting this year will be a completely different award ceremony. The announcement came as an encouraging gesture for the digital advertising fraternity.

The other big idea of the year was when print reasserted its ability to put across an innovation and work as a great medium of advertising. Hindustan Times in June this year carried headlines which were changed to handwritten font, a concept created to match the USP of VW Phaeton, that of handcrafted luxury. Moreover, the same newspaper on 26th of November this year spread the message- ‘Let’s do something that words cannot’ on a supplement and also carried a tea light candle which was packed in to a big blue envelope with the newspaper.

However the most remembered of all print innovations of this year and probably the most unique of all was when a talking newspaper reached houses across the country. Volkswagen partnered with the Times of India and The Hindu for a nationwide communication on the launch of its new car Vento. The communication used the audio chip which was inserted to an additional supplement and when exposed to light it would play the promo for Vento. Calling it the “talking newspaper” the concept was worked on by DDB Mudra and the media duties was handled by Mediacom.

New avatars:

This year has seen a lot of brand revamps among the top players. Logos and brand identities have been altered to complement our vibrant growing nation. Agencies like Mudra, turning 30 this year, an impressive milestone in this domain have felt the need to change their look and identity. Madhukar Kamath, group chief executive officer and managing director, Mudra Group said, “The dancer’s hands have been freed from the confines of the roundel; this is based on research that shows how a stroke is the starting point of anything new – it shows that you’re free to invent, to be bold and aggressive. This brush stroke will now onwards serve as the red background on which the dancer’s hands are placed,” commenting on the logo change.

In the mobile sector, Airtel and Loop Mobile have undergone complete brand revamps and repositioning of the product. Loop mobile with its new brand change now sports the colour purple along with the new brand thought ‘Going for Great’. The whole project was extensively marketed. Airtel decided this year that it must have a better connect with the youth and rebranded itself in a youthful manner with a more stylish logo. Much talked about on social networking sites, Airtel won hearts across the nation with their campaign ‘endless goodbyes’.

Commenting on the brand change, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti airtel said, “Fifteen years ago Bharti airtel started its journey in India with a promise of delivering world class and affordable services. Today, as we expand on the global stage, this new brand identity gives us the opportunity to present a single, powerful and unified face to our customers, stakeholders and partners around the world. It reinforces our promise to deliver innovative services and a superior brand experience to our 200 million customers across Asia and Africa.”

Star Plus also, on completing ten glorious years this year changed their logo in a significant way. The new logo is a ruby star which beckons viewers to enter the crystal world of Star Plus, making it come alive in their lives. Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India Pvt. Ltd. said, “It gives me great pleasure to announce the brand refresh for our flagship channel Star Plus. This is the first time in the history of television brands in India that a refresh has happened in such depth of detail, permeating to the core of its business. The overarching defining value of the refreshed Star Plus is Nayi soch — Fresh Perspectives, which will now reflect in everything Star Plus will do, from the point of creating content, to creating brand solutions for advertisers, to adding value to our distributors, stakeholders, employees, and reflecting in the way it lives its life & builds its business,” on the change.

Discovery Travel & Living was replaced with a hipper, trendier and cooler avatar called TLC this year. The entire channel was rebranded to provide reinvigorate entertainment by offering a diverse range of high quality programmes from Discovery’s vast gamut of content. “The launch of TLC reiterates our commitment towards our affiliates and advertisers by providing them with a valued platform to reach to their target audiences,” said Rahul Johri, senior vice president & general manager, India, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacifi

MTV, the much loved youth icon also went through a rebranding process this year, with their new philosophy of connecting with the ever changing youth of the country beneath an underlying theme of Stay Raw. This change was required to complement the ‘in your face’ attitude of today’s generation and provide content to the same target audience but with a different approach to life.

It wasn’t only media companies that felt like they needed a new avatar to be relevant in this year but even high quality scotch whiskey like VAT 69 and insurance companies like HDFC Life. Vat 69 was presented in a brand new bottle this year, carefully and specially designed. HDFC Standard Life on its tenth anniversary this year has changed the company brand’s philosophy to HDFC Life after many successful years in the Indian life insurance industry. ‘Sar Utha ke Jiyo’ takes a generation leap and it rebrands itself as ‘HDFC Life’ in an attempt to feel younger and attract younger customers.

Meow FM which was targeted specifically at women was now bought over in this year by TV Today network and has been converted to Oye 104.8 FM in this year. With its new tag line Sabse Filmi, it created a whirlwind as it was inaugurated by Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor.

Aroon Purie, Chairman and Managing Director of TV Today Network said, “Radio is the next big thing and has rapidly emerged as an important media vehicle. Everyone says that it is a crowded market, however every market is crowded. I am sure our radio station will be entertaining and engaging and will gain traction with the consumer in quick time.”

This year’s changing avatars have all focused on the youth segment of the nation. Increasingly being aware that a country where more than half the population is under 25, it is only obvious that the youth are the crucial elements to drive the nation to its bright future.

Launch pad:

2010 saw an amazing number of launches and introductions in the market. The print world was blessed with a number of momentous launches like Conde Naste, Fortune, Lonely Planet and the like. With the introduction of these international magazines in India it only goes on to prove that the nation is being noticed at a global level and is considered to be a powerful emerging market.

Commenting on the launch of Lonely Planet, Tarun Rai, CEO, Worldwide Media, said “The Lonely Planet Magazine is going to set a new benchmark for travel magazines in India. With experience in travel of over 35 years and access to 365 travel writers across the world, no other magazine can offer the kind of advice that Lonely Planet Magazine can. In its pages you will find new destinations to travel to, as well as new things to do in familiar destinations. Take a subscription to the Lonely Planet Magazine. It’s a small investment for a better holiday”.

After Vogue and GQ, Condé Nast is the third title to be launched in India. It was positioned as “the ultimate luxury travel and lifestyle magazine for the well-heeled, global Indian,” and was introduced as a bi-monthly.

US magazine Fortune by the Time Inc. that deals with news and current affairs had also hit the Indian stands this year. With these launches and other variations that happened this year in the print media, it only indicates that although multiple media formats are popular in this day and age; the print media is definitely here to stay, contrary to the naysayers. Everyone agrees that physically holding a newspaper or magazine is altogether a different and unchallenged experience. Further establishing this fact, Telegraph also launched its editions in Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam and Bihar earlier this year. Receiving tremendous success with these launches, Telegraph has tried to strengthen its eastern market.

Even the regional space has seen introductions in the market this year, with Pioneer Book Company’s latest launch, Maajhi Saheli. “A lot of analysts have already anticipated that we are going to be number 1 since day one. Besides this market has a lot of scope since there is no serious competition,” said Lalit Pahwa, Director, Pioneer Book Company

Following its new look and with a brand new logo and new tag line, ‘Stay Raw’, MTV also extended its presence in the Indian market by launching a magazine — MTV Noise Factory in a move to deliver beyond music and television.

Following print, 2010 also saw various television channels being introduced this year. Times Television Network has forayed into the English entertainment genre with the launch of English movie channel Movies Now. The channel will telecast in high definition (HD). Apart from this, with the partnership of BIG CBS, India has seen the launch of Big CBS Prime, a premium English general entertainment channel and has plans of two other channels Big CBS Spark and Big CBS Love in the new year.

2010 has been a very successful year for most companies with the introductions of many crucial players in the market.

Do you want a partner?

This year has seen a lot of partnerships and mergers with international players to further cement the rapport India shares in the global market.

The latter half of the year saw a major partnership deal with Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, part of Reliance ADAG, and CBS Studios International, a division of CBS to provide three main channels creating excitement with professionals in the domain.

Then a while after that, Madison India announced this year a 50-50 joint venture with the UK based creative agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB), with the aim of providing creative services to advertisers.

Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, said, “For a long time now we have been exploring various options to beef up our creative offering. We want to be more than just being Madison Media, and one very key focus area is obviously creative service. We thought we needed an external partner with a strong presence that could match Madison Media’s reputation,” commenting upon this partnership.

This year also saw Publicis Group signing an agreement to acquire a majority stake in 20:20 MEDIA and in its social media consulting firm 2020Social. Micromax, a complete home bred brand have established itself by being second biggest brand in the country amongst a cluttered market segment.

2010 has been tremendously positive and bright for the marketers and media professionals. This year has seen a number of launches and mergers in the print and television sphere. Reality shows and new entertainment soaps have mushroomed extensively this year along with pioneering innovations in advertisement and media. 2011 will begin on a positive note and hopefully it will surpass the success of this year and bring in revolutionary content and experiences. Here’s wishing you all a very prosperous and a happy 2011. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com] & Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]

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Of the 3058 entries competing at this year’s awards, the jury awarded a total of 273 Spikes Asia trophies across the 11 different categories.

The Direct & Sales Promotion category was the strongest with a total of 48 winners, closely followed by Media with 45 and Digital with 39 awards. 29 trophies were given in the Design category, 26 in Outdoor and 25 in TV/Cinema. In the Craft category there were 20 awards presented for TV/Cinema Craft and 11 in the Print Craft category. 15 winners were awarded in Print, 8 in Integrated and 7 in the Radio category.

Colenso BBDO Auckland take home two Grand Prix, one in Media for their ‘Yellow Chocolate’ work for Yellow Pages and the other in Outdoor for the ad ‘Dog Fight’ for TVNZ.

Clemenger BBDO in Melbourne also won two Grand Prix winning one in Radio for the Mars Pet Care campaign ‘Car Ride’, ‘Fetch’ and ‘Mail Man’. Their other Grand Prix was in the TV/Cinema category for the spot ‘Slow Mo’ for Fosters Group.

Dentsu Tokyo won the Digital Grand Prix for their Uniqlo work ‘Lucky Switch’.

The Craft Grand Prix, which was awarded in the TV/Cinema section, went to Leo Burnett Sydney for ‘Monkey’ for WWF. Leo Burnett Sydney also won the Direct & Sales Promotion Grand Prix for Canon Australia’s ‘Photochains’.

There were no Grand Prix awarded in the Print, Integrated or Design categories.

DDB New Zealand, Auckland was honoured with the Agency of the Year. Runners up were Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne coming in second place and Colenso BBDO, Auckland in third.

The Media Agency of the Year trophy was awarded to Colenso BBDO, Auckland with MediaCom Communications India, Mumbai, taking second place and in third, BBDO India, Gurgaon.

DDB were presented with the Network of the Year trophy with Leo Burnett coming second followed by BBDO in third.

The prestigious 2010 Advertiser of the Year Award, presented to advertisers who have distinguished themselves for inspiring innovative marketing of their products, was presented to Uniqlo.

The winners of the two Young Spikes competitions were also revealed during the ceremony. Japan won Gold in the Media competition and the team from The Philippines won in Integrated.

The winning work can be viewed at www.spikes.asia/winners.

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I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills
Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched ’round and ’round ’til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin’ on

Years later, Indian viewers had more than 500 channels, but amid the frenetic swirl of programming notes and promotions for shows, viewers despaired of finding something they really wanted to watch. People hated the fact that laborious surfing of channels was required just to discover the right programme. Viewers’ drudgery ended in 2005. That year marked the launch of What’s On India, a TV guidance and electronic programme guide (EPG) company — which was recently hailed by Forbes India as one of the top 5 ‘Hottest Start-ups to Watch in 2010’. What’s On India provides the much needed solution for a personalised search of TV content.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Atul Phadnis, the founder and CEO of What’s On India, describes how the company secured an instant connect with viewers both on screen and off-screen on its website. In fact, the connect has also been established on the company’s WAP portal and even on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Indeed, the concept of television guidance has been readily accepted since there was a yawning need-gap between the right content and the right eyeballs.

Excerpts from the interview:

Adgully: What inspired you to start What’s On India?

Atul Phadnis: During my stint as a vice-president of an audience measurement company, TAM Media Research, I found that people spent a lot of time trying to find something worth watching. I instantly knew that a guide which could provide the schedules of current and upcoming TV shows would prove to be a solution. I believe that when new programmes are launched, there has to be a marriage between the right content and the right eyeballs, especially in the Indian market which is extremely fragmented and segmented. My belief led me to the electronic programming guide (EPG) business.

An overwhelming majority of viewers switch on their TVs without knowing what to watch, since they have to choose from over a hundred other channels. Consequently, many often spend hours flipping between them, making many little stops as they go back and forth on a remote-controlled journey. This endless journey inspired me, and What’s On India was launched in 2005 as the TV industry was debating Cable CAS, and as the DTH revolution was gathering pace.

AG: How have viewers responded to What’s On India channel?

AP: A recent study conducted by the company among early adopters of the What’s On India channel has found that more than half of the channel’s viewers go to the What’s On India channel every time they switch on their TV set. They do this to cut the time they would otherwise take to search-and-find TV shows through mindless surfing of channels!

AG: What accounts for What’s On India channel’s success?

AP: It’s the only Indian TV channel that tells you what to watch on TV. The key insight guiding the company’s plans is that 70% of the time, viewers switch on their TVs without knowing exactly what to watch. The TV industry is increasingly becoming aware of this ‘Unplanned Viewing’ phenomenon that has been exacerbated with the supernormal growth in channels and programmes over the past few years. Viewers were getting overwhelmed by thousands of viewing options in a single day. During these 70% of unplanned TV sessions, millions of viewers are in the search-and-find mode in a bid to find interesting programmes to watch.

This problem is tackled by What’s On India channel. Its USP is that it constantly presents viewers with information and recommendations of what TV programmes to watch and where to find them.

AG: What future course have you set for the What’s On India business?

AP: We are aggressively targeting smaller, scattered, and standalone cable operators, as a survey conducted by What’s On India indicates that local cable operators view What’s On India as ‘the channel of channels’. The channel is now looking at expanding its reach beyond metros by acquiring subscribers in tier-II and tier-III cities. Our first phase target is to reach 20 million homes. We are present on the web, on Facebook and Twitter, and even on the mobile phone with our WAP site. We plan to foray into the mobile telephony content-search business after the 3G technology kicks in.

AG: And what can the viewers expect?

AP: The channel is set to introduce new programming concepts and formats for viewers. One of the new shows will be in the form of a parental guide, where there will be enough content and means for parents to handle the relationship between the child and the TV. Currently, the majority of children are overexposed to TV, with parents being clueless about tracking and controlling their kids’ viewing habits.

The second format revolves around the pre-show content of shows to be launched by various channels. The idea is to inform, educate and create an interest in viewers’ minds about the upcoming big properties.

AG: Was it tough to get to where you are today?

AP: When we started, there were three major obstacles to negotiate, and they were to do with various market realities. The first obstacle was in terms of technology. In 2005-2006, technology had to be built from scratch in India because the market was unlike others and technology could not be simply borrowed. The second hurdle was building industry standards for broadcast networks as well as for operators in the EPG domain. Finally, choosing the right presentation for the channel was another obstacle. As for the offerings and the look, the company tested around eight or nine versions before launching the final one. Now that the channel has been launched, the biggest challenge is to ensure that the channel keeps evolving its offerings even as distribution continues to ramp up.

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The agency will perform all the media duties for both the brands.

According to the reports, the account size for ‘She Comfort’ is pegged at Rs 200 million and meanwhile, the ad spends for ‘V-Guard’ is in the region of Rs 300-400 million.

Mudra Max seems to be thrilled with the new deals and claims that their integrated communication capabilities are helping build brands on a larger platform.

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The new segment of FremantleMedia’s business promises to bring digital media and traditional production closer together for more ‘integrated multiplatform content production’.

Termed as a ‘U.K. center for excellence in digital media’, the division aims to enhance viewer engagement with the company’s brands producing original online content and maximizing commercial opportunities in the new-media space.

Other FremantleMedia digital success stories include the BAFTA-nominated website for The X Factor that has had more than 45 million page views, has shown over 14.5 million video clips with 8 million-plus visits.