Jagran's Gupta: Spots new readers

In a novel experiment, the Dainik Jagran Group, which publishes Dainik Jagran, the country's largest selling (28 editions across 10 states) and most read Hindi newspaper (total readership is 21.2 million, according to the 2006 second round of Indian Readership Survey, is planning to launch a bi-lingual daily tabloid. To be called Inext, the tabloid will have content in Hindi and English both. While Hinglish-an interesting mix of Hindi and commonly-used English words-has become the preferred medium for both Hindi television channels and publications (like Jagran itself), the Inext experiment will be different in that the Roman script will be used for English words and Devanagari for Hindi. The tabloid is likely to hit the markets-initially only Lucknow and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh-on December 18.

Says Sanjay Gupta, CEO, Jagran Prakashan: "Inext will be an aspirational product for those who have just graduated to English from Hindi and there is a sizeable chunk of readers in this category in our target cities." The group claims to have done extensive research in the targetted markets-Lucknow and Kanpur have a minuscule English readership of around 3-3.5 lakh, whereas the readership of Jagran alone is over 12 lakh-in which it was found that consumers in the age group of 14 to 35 wanted a non-stuffy and light product that would have an aspirational (and hence the use of Roman script) tinge to it. "Inext will not be a mainstream newspaper focusing on politics or crime or the usual topics that Jagran covers. It will, instead, be a local product on the lines of global tabloids like The Sun," says Gupta, adding that "it will be a product with an attitude." But wouldn't the new daily eat into Jagran's readership? "Instead, we expect Inext to create a new universe of readers outside Jagran's because it will cover altogether different topics and issues."

As for the pricing of the tabloid, Gupta says: "We have not decided on the final price yet. But to ensure a larger circulation, we will keep it lower than Jagran." He refuses to divulge the investment the group is making in the new project. Jagran Prakashan, however, at the time of its IPO early this year, had said that it planned to launch a new Hindi newspaper brand targetted at a different readership segment than that of Jagran's and it had proposed to spend around Rs 43 crore out of the IPO proceeds on the new product. The group had also said that it would look at acquiring some publications within and outside the markets it is present in.

Meanwhile, the initial run of Inext is likely to be around 50,000 copies. The group plans to expand it in other markets, later. "We are hopeful of the success of Inext because it will be a product in sync with the times," says Gupta. Indeed, if the product clicks, it will mark the start of a new culture in Hindi publishing business.

-Archna Shukla

New Medium & Message
Now, display screens in malls may influence what you buy.

Madison's Sam Balsara

Retail media, a popular concept in the West among marketers and advertisers seeking to tap consumers on the move, is gradually taking shape in India. With the emergence of organised retail and an increasing number of consumers flocking to shopping malls, leading media and advertising agencies are keenly looking at the opportunity to engage them there. "Retail media has already proved its efficacy as an advertising medium in the us where Wal-Mart's in-store television is considered to have maximum viewership among all broadcasters," says Prasanth Mohanchandran, Vice President, Digital, Ogivly One.

Retail media is a curious mix of outdoor and audio-visual media. It is, in fact, in-store, on-screen advertising, which seeks to reach out to consumers when they are in the most receptive mode. "Retail media starts where conventional media like television, print and outdoor end. Conventional medium introduces a product to a consumer, whereas retail media can influence them to buy it at the time when they are making a purchase decision," says Sandip Tarkas, Media Head, Reliance ADA Group. The premise behind retail media is that it provides brands an opportunity to influence consumers when they are just about to pick up a product off the shelf. "Retail media provides a targeted access to real consumers. It is a direct touch point with consumers unlike the conventional media which is actually a message platform," says Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World.

Retailers, on their part, are not complaining because it provides them an additional source of revenue. Interestingly, ad rates for the medium are expected to be higher than the rates for the prevailing media. "Being a focused and clutter-free medium, its impact is likely to be much more and hence, we expect it to be costlier than other platforms," says Balsara. No wonder retailers like Shoppers' Stop and Pantaloon are in the process of putting up 4,000 to 7,000 screens in their stores across the country soon. Another enthusiast Ishan Raina, entrepreneur-in-residence, 3i, is thinking even ahead. He is planning to bring a new technology that could streamline the process of streaming content across multiple screens in multiple locations. He is, currently, in talks with a Chinese firm, Focus Media, a $68 million (Rs 306 crore) company that specialises in out-of-home life-style media solutions. Raina plans to launch "at least 20,000 screens in a year's time".

WPP and Madison have already set up dedicated divisions-Madison Retail Paradigm and Neo, respectively to study and create new solutions for the medium. These players see a Rs 800-1,000 crore opportunity in the emerging space. "In markets like China, out-of-home lifestyle medium is a big industry as is evident in the success of Focus Media. "We expect retail media to eke out a 5-6 per cent share in the total ad spends (Rs 14,000-15,000 crore in 2005) in a year," says Raina.

-Archna Shukla

Return of the Prodigals
BPOs are realigning brand names with parents'.

Citigroup's Nayar: Name game

Would a prospective client be more inclined to sign a contract with a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm called Infosys BPO than with one called Progeon? The answer is a no-brainer-an association with a pedigreed parent will provide the offspring an opportunity to leverage the former's brand equity; and it will also go a long way in attracting talent in an industry plagued with attrition rates of 70 per cent and over. The reason for separate identities early on could have something to do with the fledgling nature of the BPO business and its overdependence on low-value call centre operations. But as a clutch of BPOs reaches critical mass and realigns its portfolio to focus less on voice and more on data, an association with blue-blooded marques may just be the order of the day. And that's one big reason why Progeon is now Infosys BPO, Wipro Spectramind is now Wipro BPO and-in the latest rechristening-e-Serve International will be known as Citigroup Global Services. Meantime, in a rebranding of a slightly different kind, and in an attempt to position itself as an independent identity that does not lean on its parent for business, ICICI OneSource has changed its name to Firstsource.

"Infosys has a great brand name among clients and employees. So from a brand equity perspective, the name change has brought us immense value," says Infosys BPO's CEO Amitabh Chaudhary. The name change is also a show of ownership for Infosys, which now owns the BPO business entirely (except for employee stock options), after it bought out Citigroup's 23 per cent share in the company earlier this year. What's more, with a common brand name, companies like Infosys are able to offer a bouquet of it and it-enabled services to clients-some 53 per cent of Infosys bpo's clients are common to the parent. And e-Serve International is now called Citigroup Global Services to better reflect a closer association and identity with the parent organisation, says Rahul Singh, CEO and MD of Citigroup Global Services.

"The Citigroup brand name will help make the company an employer of choice in an industry in which employee turnover is very high," says Sanjay Nayar, CEO Citigroup India, and Chairman, Citigroup Global Services. Infosys BPO's Chaudhary agrees. "Employees are happier to be associated with the Infosys brand name than Progeon," he says. In fact, the company also did a subtle survey amongst its employees to understand their views on a name change. "Most of them echoed their preference for an Infosys-associated brand name," adds Chaudhary.

Even as several of these companies adopt their parents' names to garner more business and employees, ICICI OneSource has gone the other way by dissociating itself from the parent brand. Ananda Mukherji, CEO & MD, Firstsource, says "we were viewed as a captive and a part of the bank, which we never were." Firstsource has 61 clients, only two of them being ICICI companies-ICICI Bank and Prudential ICICI. Clearly, depending on the parent's business model, for some it's time to cut the apron strings, whilst for others the knot has only got stronger.

-Shivani Lath

Winning, the Cescau Way
The Unilever Group CEO has huge expectations from India.

In 2004, when Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever clocked growth of just 0.9 per cent, the management thought it was time to shake things up. A Group CEO, in the shape of Patrick Cescau, took charge, who would lead a single top executive team into which foods and home & personal care (HPC) would be integrated. As a part of this exercise, last April former HLL Chairman Manvinder Singh Banga was appointed President of Unilever's global foods portfolio (and Harish Manwani took over as President - Asia Africa, in addition to Chairman, HLL). The objective of the new structure was to hasten decision-making and ensure accountability.

As 2006 draws to a close, Cescau's efforts appear to be yielding fruit. For the first three quarters, growth has inched ahead to 3.9 per cent. Break up that figure region-wise and you will realise why the group CEO made a whistle-stop visit to HLL House last fortnight. As against year-to-date growth of just 1.4 per cent for Europe and 3.5 per cent for the Americas, Asia/Africa zoomed ahead at 8 per cent. Not just that, as Cescau pointed out in his interaction with Indian media: "The developing and emerging (D&E) markets-which will also include Latin America-make up 40 per cent of Unilever's turnover, which makes them bigger than Western Europe." HLL seems to be responding to Cescau's direct for more aggression-after four years of flat sales, HLL's top line is humming at a growth rate of a little over 12 per cent. But the challenges of growing market shares and making foods contribute much more than 14 per cent to total turnover will keep Manwani busy.

-Brian Carvalho