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Bennett, Coleman & Co. to launch strategic investment business, Brand Capital

Brand Capital will provide funding to growth oriented enterprises for their long term advertising needs

The Times Group, which has strong media platforms with national presence, is set to launch Brand Capital, an innovative offering to provide funding to growth oriented enterprises for their long term advertising needs.

The business vision is to establish Brand Capital as the engine for building brands in India, while the mission is to establish business growth potential through the 'branding prism'.

Bennett, Coleman & Co. to launch strategic investment business, Brand Capital
Brand Capital is based on the rationale that for an entrepreneur to match the existing players' share of the market, it is imperative to match their share of voice in advertisement media. The group believes that advertising is the key to building a brand, which helps expand consumer base, command premiums and ramp up the top line.

The group is also of the firm belief that dearth of access to premium advertising space is one of the primary roadblocks facing entrepreneurs. Given this, the goal of Brand Capital is to offer itself as an entrepreneur's first point of leverage.

Another premise that Brand Capital is based on is that an entrepreneur needs to create value, above all else, to stand out in the midst of a cluttered marketplace. Moreover, since access to technology and capital has made it possible to replicate products at a functional level, Brand Capital aims to help entrepreneurs leverage the intangible aspects of their products, namely, the brand.
This push, it is believed, would take a nascent brand far by leveraging the brand in the consumer's mind space.

Explaining the launch of this new brand, Ravi Dhariwal, chief executive officer, BCCL, says, "Our business of funding advertisers for their media solutions has grown significantly and several business houses have successfully leveraged this innovation from the Times Group, through advertising, to accelerate the growth of their brands and corresponding enterprise value."

He continues to explain that as the business evolves and continues to grow at a rapid pace, it becomes necessary to align the brand name with the core business of providing advertising capital to enterprising India. "This will set us apart from the many namesakes that have made private treaties generic," Dhariwal asserts.

The growth of advertisement revenue will continue to be the focus of Times Group and Brand Capital will bring in new and emerging product and service businesses to the world of brands, especially in the print medium.

It was conveyed in a press statement that the group, however, continues to believe in self regulation and will go on maintaining the highest standard of editorial independence.

"The stringent Chinese walls ensure that none of the group's advertising clients, including investee companies, have any influence on the editorial content of our publications," clarifies Dhariwal, in the wake of some "prevailing misperception in certain quarters of the media."

The Times Group has been disclosing the names of its investee companies on the website for a while now and has also disclosed its equity stake in investee companies in related articles during the DRHP period. The group claims that it will continue to enforce this inviolable code and focus on delivering unparalleled value to readers and advertisers.

For the record, the 172 year old Times Group provides its clients with a 360 degree
spectrum of media assets in print, television, radio, Internet and events. The group owns and manages brands across media, such as The Times of India, Times Now, Crest, city centric Mirrors, The Economic Times, ET Now, Maharashtra Times, Navbharat Times, Vijay Karnataka, Radio Mirchi, Times Music, Times OOH and its Internet properties, mainly Indiatimes.com.
Brand Capital provides the advertising power of these media vehicles to its clients.

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