The second session of Day 2 at the CII Marketing Summit ’06 focused on movies and TV as modes of advertising, on in-film branding, advertising synchronization and the implications of short attention spans for marketers and content creators. Shereen Bhan, Delhi Bureau Chief at CNBC TV 18 set the stage rather promisingly: With people constantly tuning out of channels, will advertising be outsourced to professional content creators? In case of branded content, how much of the content will have to bend to fit the brand, and how much will the brand have to fit the content? Will video on demand kill the commercial?
In response, Anand Kripalu, Managing Director, Cadbury India ran some clips of old movies, to put an to the myth that product placement in movies is new, and three advertisements to emphasise that some of the best advertisements are like stories, created by professional content creators. He said that there are 10,000 brands on TV, and your brand is competing for a consumer whose attention span and patience is fast decreasing. The consumer wants content that is engaging, and if it isn’t, he will zap you. Viewership on the top 5 channels in India has decreased considerably and viewers are tuning out. He ended with three questions to take the discussion forward: How do you measure the effectiveness of a product placement in a film? What is the right amount to spend on a product placement? How do you find the right balance between positively impacting the consumer, and turning him off?
Speaking next, Kunal Dasgupta, CEO Sony Entertainment Television said that Advertising is an economic necessity for channels since 80-85% of revenue comes from Ad spends. In the US, this figure is at around 30%, and the rest is subscription. In India, in order to battle channel surfing, channels are synchronising advertisements so that the viewer cannot switch to another program just because there is a commercial break. Companies need to be innovative, and he gave the example of SET’s tie up with Airtel for selecting contestants for Indian Idol by allowing viewers to record their voice for selection for the reality show. Talking about future trends, he said that advertising will have to be more creative. Movie scripts will be created with advertising in them. He gave the example of a movie script they received, about an Indian woman working her way up to Formula 1, starting from an automobile repair shop, and how almost every scene had product placement – from her toothbrush, to cars and engineering products.
He also said that spread of mobiles and the popularity of animation and gaming is changing advertising. As they become more popular, they will become more endorsable. He said that one should expect lots of changes from SET in the next two months.
After the presentation, speaking briefly to reporters as he moved swiftly towards the exit, he mentioned that acquisitions are being considered, but there’s a lot happening that he cannot yet talk about. Money is not a concern when (for example) a Rs.5000 crore company is looking at buying a Rs. 100 crore company. When I asked him about possible IPTV and VOD launches from SET Indiao, he responded with “Only in the US”.
I notice now that quite a few of the issues that Shereen Bhan and Anand Kripalu had raised remained unexplored. Rather disappointing session, with nothing new being talked about, unlike on Day One.
Update: SET is planning lots of innovations for the Cricket World Cup next year, and one could even get see animated versions of popular pubilc figures from the Indian film and entertainment industry doing commentary. Dasgupta said that it’s a lot cheaper and convenient to get rights for an animation characters, than to actually have them come to the sets. Additionally, animated characters can be made to do quirky things like stretch out their arm a long distance, and pull things out of thin air, which kids will love.
More from CII Marketing Summit ’06:
– OnMobile Eyes Mobile Advertising Space
– HCL’s Ajai Chowdhry Discusses Consumption Trends
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