MUMBAI: The Indian media landscape is undergoing a change. There are two disruptive changes. The first is that the key target group (below the age of 30) for advertisers have a propensity to avoid advertising through traditional means. The second is that the digital environment is upon us.

However, most media owners are still figuring out the impact of this in terms of consumer behaviour as well as how they can make their content travel across different platforms.

In order to help media owners adapt to changes and thus enable their brands to grow stronger, Lintas has launched a new unit Media Futures.

From left, Philip Kitcher, Bruce Dunlop, Subramanian, Raj Gupta, Mario Garcia and Prem Mehta

Lintas has formed an alliance with three global firms for Media Futures. They are Garcia Media, which deals with print design, the market research firm TNS and Bruce Dunlop and Associates (BDA) which specialises in designing the look and feel of television channels.
Thus design is another function that Media Futures will offer. Its first project has been in redesigning Hindu Business Line.

This consultancy and communications firm will offer a suite of services, which include identifying consumer's needs, content consultancy, offering market insight, reaerch, evaluating concepts and execution of strategies.

Speaking on this, Media Futures president Raj Gupta pointed to the two disruptive trends mentioned earlier. "If the key advertising demographic i.e. people below the age of 30 continue to avoid advertisements as media owners fail to engage them better then advertisers will shift their budgets elsewhere. We have identified three dimensions that media owners need to work on. The first is breadth. This means making content searchable across different platforms.The second is length which means increasing the lifespan of content and the third is depth which means repackaging content in the form of different products and services."

"The challenge for advertisers targeting the youth is that reaching them is 30 per cent higher than reaching the housewife. Media Futures will also offer training for sales people. Marketing needs to be more disciplined in the future and that is one area where we will help our clients."

"The number of television channels has grown from 137 in 2000 to over 300 last year. Print brands have grown from 38,398 to over 46,332 in the same time frame. There are likely to be over 700 radio stations by 2007. Mobile users are expected to cross 200 million by 2007 and the number of internet users is expected to reach 100 million. In any industry there is consolidation and the media industry is no exception. Only the strong brands will thrive. The rest if they do not shape up will whither,"adds Gupta.

BDA founder Bruce Dunlop says, "Great brands have a certain tone of voice. We do not believe imposing our ideas on clients. So we are not going to design your channel. We will work with you in designing your channel. Everything we do is a partnership with our clients. This strategy has worked well for us. The Indian media industry has certainly come of age. We ask questions and then offer solutions to clients. We produce creatives for ESPN Star Sports, NBC, National Geographic, HBO among other clients. In India we have worked with Sahara One, Filmy in designing the look and feel of that channel. We have also worked with Pogo, Aaj Tak and Channel7."

Garcia Media founder Mario Garcia succinctly elaborated on five challenges facing media owners today. "The first is rethink what you do and how you do it. A good example is Starbucks though it has nothing to do with media. Starbucks thought for a long time on how they could sell coffee in a different manner. They came up with wireless cafes. So you can check your email and drink coffee. Another novel concept was drinking coffee with a potential date. It is thus important for us to adapt to change by finding new ways of presentation."

"The second challenge is catering to today's generation. Today those below 30 are tech savvy and more hungry for information that their predecessors. They demand information much faster. What is interesting is that a study found that print is seen as both fun and work. That is because most of today's generation work on a computer."

"The third challenge is that the definition of news is changing. With news being received on the go through mobile or the net a newspaper is being seen as offering an understanding today of what I heard about yesterday. I think that gradually the front pages of newspapers will have analytical pieces and commentaries. The hard news will be on the second and third pages. Newspapers will have to find ways to cut into the busy time of today's generation and keep them coming back for more."

"The fourth challenge will rest in creating a fusion between the print and the internet. It is imperative that a newspaper not be perceived by users as only something one gets early in the morning. A newspaper must work in a multi platform environment. This is something that the Wall Street Journal has managed to do. They have managed to make themselves seen as a 24 hour product through the net. Blogs are becoming important online and this is a mechanism that newspapers should try to take advantage of. The last challenge is thinking about how one sells ads. Here we are already learning from the net."

"Online there are silent ads which appear near the navigation bar. Advertisers pay a premium for this. In one newspaper we did an ad at the bottom where normally there would only be white space. The fusion of ads and editorial is coming into its own though some editors have reservations,"said Garcia.

Besides the The Hindu Business Line it has also worked on Mid-Day, which will sport a new look from Monday. It will have more colour.