INS meet moots committee for ad-media dialogue

These included close links among the three constituents of the communication industry. Suggesting the setting up of a “Joint Consultative Committee” to initiate a dialogue on the problems of the industry, he said “The Rs 5,000 crore industry is disorganised to face future challenges.

Within three years, the communication industry will be worth Rs 10,000 crore – much higher than the automobile industry.”

The one-day seminar on `Advertising – New Media Direction’ organised by the INS received good response. The seminar concluded with certain concrete suggestions to face the future challenges of the industry. While the participants of the meet were a virtual `who-is-who’ of the three wings of communication industry, a galaxy of speakers debated on a number of burning issues facing the industry.

In his welcome address, Vivek Goenka, President, INS, and CMD of the Indian Express group of Newspapers, said “the seminar is the first in a series of seminars organised by the INS to help the communication industry towards a healthy growth. It will open a new chapter in the history of INS.” He added that the INS has played an important role for the growth of the industry ever since its inception in 1939. “INS has always championed the cause of freedom of expression,” he added.

Making his keynote address at the seminar on `Changes in the media over the last 25 years’, Siddhartha `Shunu’ Sen, former vice-president of the Hindustan Lever Ltd, said “any brand or product could not be sold without newspaper and magazine advertising.” He said that the competition between newspaper industry and television started with the TV highlights of 1984 Olympics – making innovative media decision important. “The whole landscape is changing. Today we have reached a situation where there are clear alternatives to media buyers,” Sen said.

On the future trends in print media advertising, he said it was the classified ads which provide much of the revenue to newspapers. “In the USA, advertising started with classified advertisements, not with Procter & Gamble. Individual advertisers are going to be a major growth area for revenue for newspapers and magazines,” he added. The second growth area in the future is local and regional advertisements .

The second session of the seminar threw up a four-pronged formulae to improve the mutual relationship among the media, advertisering agents and advertisers. During the panel discussion on `Expectations of the Advertiser, Agency and Media from each other’, Mike Khanna, CEO of HTA, said advertising agencies are on the threshold of major changes which will have a major impact on the business. The three elements of the industry should not only have expectations from each other, but mutual obligations also. “The advertising sector did not undergo any major changes in the last 100 years.

Media in the future will undergo fundamental changes along with technological changes,” Khanna said.

Karl Mehta, MD of theBlitz group, said newspapers are not merely space sellers but providers of socially serviceable information. “We are marketing an entire environment with professional integrity. Print media is not a mere medium of communication, it is a symbol of the freedom of expression. During the emergency, we never thought of the advertising support. One cannot evaluate the cost of media,” he said.

During the second session on `Media Marketing, The Emerging Scenario’, Ravi Kant, senior executive director of LML, said it is time that the industry got back to its basics. Since the need of each advertiser is different it is necessary to have a market segmentation. “In a competitive world, you cannot have a closed shop attitude. You need to be competitive to survive in the world of competition – not only among themselves, but with other media also,” he said.

Lynn De Souza, president, Initiative Media, said print media has learnt a bit from competition from television. There is lack of sufficient audience measurement and analytical tools to make smart media decisions. The role of media experts is rising and soon they will capture 20 % of market share.

Gautam Rakshit, managing director, Advertising Avenues, said there is a constant dichotomy between advertisers and media about the rate structure.

While advertisers want optimal advertising rate, the media always want maximum rate. The solution lies in reaching a workable balance between the two.

Addressing a session on `Strategic Alliances – An Option?’, Pradip Guha, executive director, Bennett Coleman & Co, said the media is witnessing a process of close integration of companies in information technology and entertainment, television companies and print media.

Vijay Crishna, managing director of Godrej GE, emphasised the need for forming joint ventures citing the global examples like Visa which is an alliance of 21,000 members. Sam Balsara, managing director of Madison Advertising, spoke on the positive aspects of forming joint venture partnership with foreign advertising agencies, but cautioned about the consequences also. Bharat Kapadia, CEO of Chitralekha, said media buying is a combination of craft, science and art. “Technology has changed the complexity of media,” he said.

Roger C B Pereira, chairman of Burson Marsteller Roger Pereira Communication, was the moderator for all the three sessions of the day.