Taking an overview of print advertising in 2008, the number of advertisers and brands increased in print during the year. English dailies had the largest average ad size, followed by Kannada and Tamil newspapers. Hindi dailies recorded more advertising share during weekends compared to that for English dailies and all language newspapers together during 2008.
Completing a decade in any industry is a landmark in itself. PR Pundit, which is celebrating 10 years of its existence in January 2009, is looking ahead with fresh branding, starting with a new logo.
Post its Kolkata launch, Radio One has embarked on its first national brand campaign through a music video. A viral idea that allowed the Radio One music played by channels and even competing radio stations has culminated in a TVC that is breaking across media on January 5, 2009.
Creativeland Asia has started 2009 on a good note, bagging two new accounts – Medimix ayurvedic soap and Cuticura talcum powder from the Cholayil Group. Creativeland Asia would be handling the creative mandate for both the brands. Grey Worldwide is the incumbent agency. OMD continues to handle the media business.
With not much revenue available from advertisers, the chase for ratings and readership numbers will leapfrog in 2009, forecasts Pradyuman Maheshwari.
The Marathi general entertainment genre witnessed a lot of action during 2008, with the launch of Star Pravah and Saam TV generating further interest in the genre. Existing players like Zee Marathi, ETV Marathi, DD Sahyadri and Mi Marathi are now geared up for 2009 with new shows lined up and differentiated content to give that extra edge.
Apollo Hospital Enterprise, which has more than 43 hospitals in the group, has appointed Bates 141 Chennai to handle the creative duties for the Southern region. Media Direction, the media arm of RK Swamy handles the media business.
TAM Media Research has updated its universe and added more markets beginning 2009. Pune and Ahmedabad have been added to the six metros. There is a further state split allowing individual measurement of Chhattisgarh and Punjab. Assam and Bihar would be added in the mix and a first step to measure below Class 1 towns would be seen with Maharashtra (less than Class 1) added to the overall strata. This would increase the sample size to 8,000 from the current 6,900.
Leo Burnett’s National Creative Director, KV Sridhar (better known as Pops), is the only Indian jury member to be a part of the list of judges at the New York Festivals 2009. Pops will play an integral role in judging the Television & Cinema Advertising category.
The difference between our India operations and operations abroad is that in India it is largely led by exclusive stores, while internationally we do it through distributors who understand the local market. It is difficult to manage international stores sitting here in India. The Indian leather goods market is still hugely unorganised. There are a number of individual shops selling products made by individual craftsmen. There is regional competition, but no national competitors.