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At the 3rd Annual Entertainment, Media and Marketing Forum, Bhaskar Das, Tarun Katial and Bharat Kapadia debated over the power of print and radio and the innovations that can be explored in them
That media such as print and radio can drive innovations in today’s day and age has been a topic of debate for quite a while now. At the 3rd Annual Entertainment, Media and Marketing Forum, Bhaskar Das, executive president, Times Group; Tarun Katial, COO, Adlabs Radio; and Bharat Kapadia, executive director, ‘Divya Bhaskar’, presented their views and experiences on print and radio innovations. Anish Trivedi, chairman and managing director, Banyan Tree, moderated the session.
Das started off by commenting on how entertainment has become the necessary ingredient in every business. “Locally, globally and even virtually, we’re living in an entertainment economy,” he said. And that, according to him, drives the Times Group’s content to resonate with the audience.
He cited the example of Page 3 of the ‘Bombay Times’, which has, over the years, transcended from having imposed content (content decided by the media house) to demand led content (content decided by the readers). Now, celebrities pay a price to be featured on that page. Das also spoke of instances when the Times Group enhanced its masthead and headlines, such as in the budget edition of ‘The Economic Times’.
Apart from that, the Times Group frequently has celebrity guest editors from all strata, be it sports or Bollywood, to create an emotional connect with the readers. One of its other popular innovations was the ‘Hum Tum’ cartoon strips in the ‘TOI’, to promote the movie of the same name. More recently, Times Now featured prominently in the movie, ‘Corporate’, and Das revealed that there will be similar innovations from the group in the future as well. Even properties such as the Zoom Halloween Party and the Lokhandwala Shopping Festival have been of great importance.
Katial of Adlabs Radio said that the Indian entertainment industry is on the verge of taking off and this would pave the way for new delivery platforms and technological breakthroughs. While emphasising that radio is a potential medium for innovations, Katial presented a few reasons why radio is a habit: Apart from being live and local, it is very personal and creates consumer focused content.
While Katial was optimistic about radio, Kapadia spoke of print and very sarcastically tagged the print medium as the ‘old housewife’ which does not excite too many today. He was of the opinion that not enough innovation has been carried out in print. But he conceded that there was a huge opportunity for print to be leveraged for marketing, as today, print publishers are offering 360 degree solutions that support innovation, from contests to outdoor. “But a lot more is to be done,” he said. If print was the ‘old housewife’, television is the ‘girlfriend’, according to Kapadia, as it is exciting, but presents a number of limitations.
During the session, points such as the print media losing credibility in its race to drive innovations were countered. Kapadia was of the opinion that though print enjoys high credibility, it is entirely at the publisher’s discretion and mercy. Das opposed this, saying that it was the readers’ decision and not the publisher’s.
Das supported his point, saying that credibility should not be claimed, the audience needed to deduce credibility. “While people keep underestimating the masses, the concept of the masses being a bunch of morons is a myth,” he concluded.
© 2006 agencyfaqs!