Experts caution the industry: “Shed short-term benefits, & adorn a long-term vision”

‘How should media respond to clients’ needs in the current environment’ was the second topic of the day at the exchange4media Conclave on June 5, 2009 in New Delhi. The event was presented by Star News and powered by Hindustan Times. Yuva was the associate sponsor for the event.

The speakers for this discussion were Ravi Kiran, CEO, Starcom Media Vest Group-South Asia; C V L Srinivas, Director, Times Private Treaties; KC Jacob, Vice President, The Muthoot Group and Shruti Bajpai, Country Manager, HBO South Asia. The panel was moderated by Amit Agnihotri Co-Founder and Director of the exchange4media group. The session began with a hot discussion on how media should respond to clients’ need in current environment? The panel looked back at the past nine months and shared their vision for the next one year.

Bringing the perspective, the he said was “rooted in our culture”, Ravi Kiran observed, “We are very extreme people -- we are happy one day and sad the other. So, in recessionary times we contract our thinking and investment.” He added that terms like ROI, visibility and impact have become meaningless and metaphorical terms.”

HBO’s Bajpai shared a similar view on the subject. She said “The stock market falls and we wonder what happened; the next morning once the markets are up, we are all exuberant. We need to realise that the honeymoon period is over and we need to get back to the very basics.” She also stressed that the first lesson that these times teach us is that, it is not about the costs but about the value addition. Instead of looking at short-term benefits, the industry needs to develop a long term vision. Bajpai shared her experiences both as a media owner and a client.

CVL Srinivas added here, “At the macro-level, things are not in control because there are external issues like government policies. However, at a micro level we can set our own industry in order. And at this micro-level, we have always been in depression. We did not see any massive growth in the industry simply because there have been no disruptive innovations.”

While Srinivas stressed on innovation to drive the growth of the industry, bringing the advertiser’s perspective, K C Jacob explained, “The whole thing stems out from whether there is enough money in the market. The banks have money but they have become stricter because of which, we feel the money has dried up. Also, recession or no recession, my expectation as a client is to get return on the money spent. But I need to tighten my belt when I choose a media, and see if it really fits the bill. I expect the media to look at their clients differently and creatively.”

The discussion concluded with panellists emphasising on the fact that though times are difficult, but the situation is not all that bleak and seemed to be getting better. The panel seemed to agree that the measures being adopted toady should also be looked at when the going is tough.