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In Through The Out Door...
Zee, and Subhash Chandra may find themselves in the eye of a storm over the alleged link with broker Ketan Parekh, and the channels' ratings may be dipping, but the company, and the man seem to have the uncanny knack of being able to attract high-profile execs. The latest, in a long-line of high-profile hires is Sandeep Goyal, the soon-to-be-ex president of Rediffusion-DY&R. As the new Group Broadcasting CEO, Goyal, 38, will oversee the operations of all 15 channels of the Zee Network, when he takes over in June, 2001. Goyal isn't a media veteran, but he has 15 years of advertising experience across several top-notch agencies: HTA, Trikaya Grey, Mudra, and Rediffusion. In his three-year tenure as president, he managed to up Rediffusion's billings to Rs 550 crore from Rs 250 crore. Network-executives believe that Goyal has been brought in to spice up content and arrest the general popularity slide. Says Goyal: ''After 15 years in advertising, I need to enlarge my skill-set. Broadcasting has commonalties with advertising, but it is still a different field.'' Will the move work for Zee and Goyal? Well, Chandra does have a track-record of hiring stars who curiously fade once inside the Zee orbit. Former Bennet Coleman executive Vijay Jindal hasn't quite been able to repeat his magic at Zee. India Today and Outlook veteran Deepak Shourie's stint as CEO of Zee's publishing business was short-lived. And Goyal's predecessor, former ESPN honcho R.K. Singh, who will now become the head of corporate services, saw the flagship channel lose out to Star in the popularity hustings during his term as head of content. Do watch this space... The Big Ide(a)ology
The only thing common between Aurobindo and advertising is the first letter (and several other letters). But Ram Sehgal, veteran adman and the newly-anointed president of Rediffusion-DY&R, claims it was his childhood experiences at the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, that shaped his thinking-in his pre-advertising life, his 14-year stint with Contract, and the recent six-month interlude with Everest. Now, Sehgal plans to bring all that and more to his new assignment with the Rs 550 crore agency. ''Essentially, nothing will change, except the scale, as I am moving within the same group. But the scale itself should be exciting,'' says Sehgal, 61. He would, admittedly, also like working on the Colgate account, particularly as he has handled competing Lever brands at Contract. Would that leave time for his preferred pastime of writing, especially since he has to match the pace of growth set by his predecessor Sandeep Goyal? Perhaps, if he writes on weekends or works nights... Super-soccer
He plans to dribble past his PSU competitors in India by drawing on his experiences of the actual game. After all, Patrick Libihoul, the 44-year-old CEO of SHV Energy, which sells the SuperGas brand of LPG in the country, almost became a professional footballer in his native Belgium. ''I was good, but not good enough. So, I choose the university,'' says Libihoul, who now spends his weekends teaching school children the nuances of soccer. His father, Joseph, was a football pro turned coach, and Libihoul himself represented the Belgian national school team. Later, as an EXPAT manager in Tokyo and Hong Kong, he formed Red Devils, a club of European EXPATs that played friendly soccer matches. In India, he plans to tap segments like auto-LPG, and zero in on the household market to make his company's fortunes. Well, he might find that scoring with LPG isn't that easy... -Compiled by Paroma
Roy Chowdhury |
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