Category: Media

Tom Standage in his book Writing on the Wall traces the rise of social media. He rejects the idea of a new media and old media.. There was really old media up to 1833 followed by ‘old media.’ which began with Benjamin Day harnessing the power of old steam printing press. Finally new media began in 1993 with the public use of the web.According to him, really old media was similar in the way it functioned to the new media. Old media is an anamoly.

According to him, Martin Luther King was media pioneer. After Gutenberg had made mass printing possible, through his invention of the printing press, Luther made full use of the written communication to combat against the Pope of his time and his officials.

Another innovation came from the Arabs to Europe — the concept of coffee houses in the 17th century. They soon became the places of debate, often among strangers.

There are parallels between the past and present use of communication.Thomas Paine’s Common Sense for which 1000 copies were printed initially later saw a print run of 6000. It is like going viral.

It completes its golden jubilee in 2013. It captures Marathi literary activities. It is a link between the old and new authors. The idea was initiated by a group of literary figures such as Jayvant Dalvi, Ramesh Mantri, S N Navre, Madhu Mangesh Karnik, Umakant Thomare, Pandharinath Rege, Purshottam Dhakras who met under the auspices of Keshav Kothavle’s Majestic Prakashan. The group was later named as granthpremi group. It suggested a magazine dedicated to literature and named as Lalit. The first issue was published in January, 1964. The death of Keshav Kothavle was a setback to Lalit, but his son Ashok did overcome this obstacle. Thanthapal was a popular feature in the magazine.Lalit is the book trade journal in the sense.There are in-house journals of several publishing houses, but their aims are limited. Lalit has wider goals. Lalit chronicles all the new launches in the book trade.It represents the Marathi publishing industry. The audience of such publication is limited to the publishers, librarians, book sellers and bibliophiles. One such magazine The Bookseller in London is being published since 1858. The Publishers’ Weekly is being published from New York since 1872. Lalit promotes book reading culture. Lalit earns ad revenues from the advertisements of books. Lalit publishes special issues devoted to various themes.

David Godwin (66) is a celebrated literary agent who has represented every Indian winner of the Booker Prize, except Salmam Rushdie.

Basically an agent performs the role of an editor. He makes suggestions to improve the work and make it better.The manuscript undergoes changes. It is sent to people. Maybe, it is too long and has to be made compact.An agent stays with the book.

An agent has to get a publisher for the book. He has to discuss the financial deal. He strikes deals in different countries.All possible revenue streams are to be tapped.He makes film deals.

He plays an active role in actual publishing process — production, coverage, time of the launch, the pricing etc.

A writer is not charged by the agent for the services he renders. He takes a portion of the money he has made for the writer — he is paid by the publisher. He takes 15 per cent and the rest goes to the writer.If he does not sell a book, he does not get any money.

He is in search of a good story but also something distinctive — a distinctive voice.

There are three types of scheduling patterns.

Continuity Here the media weights are spread evenly and continuously across the years. This is the preferred pattern of scheduling for most FNCG brands which do not show much seasonality. These are shopped throughout the year. It is sensible to put the message across throughout. This pattern is conducive for media deals. We can negotiate preferred positions. We can negotiate better rates. Brands with budget constraints find this option of limited use. There could be below threshold visibility.

Flighting Here we advertise in bursts, with gaps in-between, when no activity happens. There is concentration when bursts happen. It is good for brands with budget constraints. Flighting allows these brands to compete effectively. It suits us more if the competitor uses continuous scheduling.

We can scream at chosen time. Flighting enables better handling of a multi-media campaign. We can chose a primary medium to complement the campaign. The minus point of flighting is that as in the burst period we compress all advertising activity, the frequency is built up at the cost of reach. In case the time lag between two bursts is long, the ad may be forgotten. Competition can take advantage of the gap.

Pulsing Pulsing combines the best of both the worlds — continuity and flighting, and minimizes the drawbacks of both the worlds. Here the base is made up of a continuous evenly spaced activity, together with heavier weights in the key-time periods. It is better for round-the-year sale brands which have enhanced sale in some months. Consumer durables  by and large fall in this category. There is a surge in their sales in the festive season. Generally, a low-priced medium is used to provide continuity, and a high-priced medium is used for flighting.

Average frequency gives the average number of times people / households in our target audience are exposed to a media vehicle.

Average frequency = Total Number of Exposures / Total Audience Reach

If 1500 people in the target audience tune in to FM radio programme 3 times during a week and 1500 people 6 times, the calculation would be :-

Total Number of Exposures = ( 1500 x 3 ) + ( 1500 x 6 )

=  13500

Total Audience                        =  1500 + 1500

=3000

Average Frequency           = 13500/300

=  4.5

In this example, we reach 3000 people 4 1/2 times on average. It does not necessarily mean each one has 4.5 exposures. It is just an average.

Generally a single exposure may not work either in creating awareness or provoking someone to buy. The more the exposures, the better the impact. Besides, more exposures make us rise above the competitive noise. It is good to plan how many times we would like our audiences to see the message in a given medium. While introducing a new product, we need more frequency. When the ad size is small, we need more frequency. When the message is complex we need more frequency. Higher frequency helps us stand out in the clutter.

There is proliferation of media. ‘ Just once seen’ may not suffice for the message to sink in. The brand connect may not happen. That brings us to the concept of Effective  Frequency. It is the minimum number of times the target audience is required to be exposed to the message so as to have the desired effect. If the target audience should see our compaign 5 times, it means those who see it lesser number of times have not been reached effectively. Thus 5 is our effective frequency. We shall aim at 5 plus reach which is effective reach. Effective Reach is thus the reach at the effective level of frequency.

Ideally, the effective frequency was set at 3, but these days it has been arrived at through research. One such estimated effective frequency is obtained by using FCB power grid. Here there are ratings on three factors –marketing, message and media.These are put on FCB-grid — consisting of high-low involvement and emotional-rational product. That leads to effective frequency.

There can be a minimum frequency and maximum frequency to be effective. Lesser frequency makes the communication ineffective. Higher frequency may be a waste of resources. There can be ad fatigue also if there are too many repetitions. Effective frequency adds the dimension of repetition to the concept of reach and frequency. The balancing is difficult, especially when two or more ads are being employed and two or more media are being used. We have, therefore, to consider the message weight of the entire media plan.

The frequency of ad exposure of the target audience depends on the amount of reinforcement of the image required or the amount of reminding required to have sustaining patronage from the target customers. The greater the frequency, the greater the probability of the ad message making a deep or lasting impression.

Daughter of a painter father and a writer mother, Nandita Das is also an actor who has enacted various roles in meaningful cinema. After marriage she shifted to Mumbai. She also directed a movie. She does not consider acting to be the be all and end all of her career. She wants to make a difference in the society around her.

She wanted to bring the power of theatre and the magic of cinema together. She thought of a hybrid version of vehicle called CinePlay where a drama being stages is shot on video, and later screened in the cinema halls, malls, in-flight and on Internet.That gives the play a wide audience. It brings realism of the live theatre in the presentation.As it is still in the nascent stage, Nandita is waiting for the day when one cineplay will become successful so as to establish this as a new genre.

According to CI-KPMG Indian Media & Entertaiment Report, 2014, marketers in India are spending more on print than on TV. This was so in 2013 as well. This is likely to continue till 2018.

In 2013, the total advertising spend across all media was Rs 36,250 crore. The share of the print was Rs 16,260 crore. It was the highest. TV stood at Rs 13,590 crore.

In 2014, the projected spend was Rs 41,000 crore, of which Rs 17, 900 crore was the print’s share. The political advertising boosted print’s share. Besides, there was sports advertising on account of FIFA Football World Cup. Even vernacular print media attracted good ads.

Print overtook TV in 2010, and its lead widened in 2014.

Print has four to five times more advertisers than TV.Print is expected to grow at 17 per cent and TV at 15 per cent.

In future, advertising is likely to move to digital platforms. Both print and TV will lose out to digital platforms.

In 2018, the projected ad revenue is Rs 70000 crore of which print will account for Rs 28000 crore, while TV will account for Rs 25000 crore.

Geet Ramayana is a musical epic penned in Marathi by poet G.D. Madgulkar , which turns 60 in 2015. It was broadcast for the first time on AIR, Pune starting from April 1, 1955 which was a Ram Navmi day. It has been thus celebrating its diamond jubilee. The epic has been set to music by Sudhir Phadke. Geet Ramayana is the climax of the collective geniuses of Madgulkar and Phadke.

Geet Ramayana consists of 56 ( Marathi ) songs describing the events from the epic chronologically. Its broadcast on AIR continued between 1955 and 1956. Each week there was a new song. They were aired on Friday mornings and were repeated on Saturdays and Sundays.

Though based on the Valmiki Ramayan, the format is totally different. It showcases 32 characters. The lead character Rama gets 10 songs and Sita gets 8 songs Ravana has not been assigned any song.Valmiki the writer, gets one song. The narration is that of Lava and Kusha, the two sons of Rama.

It has been widely translated — in nine languages. There are five Hindi translations. It is available in Braille.

The ‘raga’ and ‘taal’ of the song are dictated by the time and narrative mood of that song. Each character gets a unique tone.

There is a Facebook page — https:// www.facebook.com/egeetRamayana. There is one Android mobile application too.

Many singers have contributed — Manik Varma, Lata Mangeshkar, Yogini Joglekar, Vasantrao Deshpande, Suresh Haldankar, Appasahab Inamdar, Gajanan Watve and Sudhir Phadke himself.