Even as media specialists realised that fight for an advertising buck is getting intense, the creative professionals seemed to have gone into the 'human connect' shell. There was no dearth of 'feel good' or emotional campaigns, emphasising on the importance of smile or happiness in consumers' daily lives.

The broadcasters, on their part, admitted that in an increasingly fragmented market, more and more clients are looking at going beyond numbers and on working out media innovations that add value to the brand communication objectives.

Ad industry beams
Undoubtedly, the growth of news channels and supremacy of cricket stood out this year. According to industry estimates, the television industry rode on a 10 per cent growth - thanks to the advertising industry, which managed to touch Rs 82 billion this year. The TV industry, which accounts for 38-40 per cent (the analysts excluded the World Cup revenues garnered by Max and Doordarshan from this figure), grew by 12-14 per cent. Studies conducted by TAM media research predict that the party will continue in 2004 as well.

As per the estimates, Sony's Max and Doordarshan managed to garner advertising revenues worth Rs 2.5 billion and Rs 900 million respectively, from the World Cup cricket event, held in the first quarter of this year.

As for news channels, they too collectively managed to increase their advertising revenue by 25.3 per cent. The genre grew from Rs 2.6 billion in 2002 to Rs 3.3 billion in 2003. The Hindi movie genre, too, ended up with impressive figure of Rs 1.75 billion, managing a growth of 36 per cent.

The Hindi mass entertainment genre registered an eight per cent growth in advertising revenue to touch Rs 13.1 billion. Among those channels which remained almost stagnant in terms of advertising revenues, were English movie channels (Rs 1.1 billion, no change) and English entertainment (Rs 440 million, five per cent growth). While music channels grew by nine per cent to Rs 1.2 billion, the infotainment genre registered a growth of 13 per cent to touch Rs 450 million.

Star Plus v/s cricket
Even as the media planners spoke highly of Sony Entertainment Television's (SET) Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin and Zee's ploy of introducing relatively new movies on Thursday, Star continued to be the preferred choice for advertisers with its established soap operas.

More than its counterparts in the same genre, it is cricket, which is being termed as the main challenge to Star Plus. With cricket guaranteeing high involvement - and promising heavy dosage next year - the sport is expected to be a major gainer in 2004.

"There were some interesting developments in this (mass entertainment) genre but Star clearly remained the leader. In the last quarter, Zee and Sony have sort of challenged the leader with significant initiatives. Going forward, cricket will definitely prove to be an alternative to the mass channels considering the number of days (in comparison to 2003) in 2004 calendar year. This is simply because the kind of excitement and reach cricket manages to generate is unequalled. Plus there is lot of innovation one can do in cricket, provided you are ready to pay for it," says ad agency Carat India's CEO Sulina Menon.

Madison's general manager Basabdatta Chowdhuri offers, "More broadcasters are opening up to new ideas. There are certain clients who like to go beyond normal sponsorship or FCT (free commercial time). For instance, Samsung spends a lot on cricket and other genres as well. It is seen on mass channels also but it is not that heavy. For such clients, obviously there is need for 'out of box' thinking. So an extra effort is required to gain that extra revenue. That's exactly what Star Plus did, capitalising on the festive season (Star ran a contest with Samsung during 2100 hours shows)."

Even though planners appreciate Star's openness to provide different avenues, how the leader meets the emerging needs of advertisers is going to be a key factor.

"One rule which broadcasters follow simply is related to raking in money. Lots of don'ts get transformed into dos if it's resulting in revenues. For Star, the pressure is expected to build up as Zee and Sony are far more open to innovation than Star. You may have the best of programming and events but advertisers are interested in differentiating itself through innovation… this will be one key area, which Star will need to address this in 2004," says a professional from the media industry.

On the other hand, Basabdatta feels a channel like Star Plus can't go overboard in terms of experimentation.

"It (innovation) is happening but you can only do it to a certain extent. Viewership will always remain important and no one will take a chance to alienate the viewers. Star has a strong base and especially with Sony's new show Jassi, the leader obviously wouldn't like to take any chances. Star has done innovations in the past but it has also made sure there is always something for the viewers," says another source.

As far as Sony was concerned, it did manage to get some positive reviews for Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahi. "Jassi is really good from Sony's perspective, especially considering the audience base of Star Plus and Sony. When a show, for a channel like Sony, opens with an average rating higher than 3.5 and goes on to gradually touch five within two-and-a-half months, it is surely a decent performance. Also, Delhi has traditionally been a weaker market for Sony and the show has touched higher ratings, so there is more sampling and it gives the channel an increased overall base as well."

Menon feels Jassi is doing so well because the situations portrayed in it are realistic. "It's a promising serial because the situations they deal with are very contemporary. A lot of people come across such situations in their working lives. Jassi's character in the serial is perhaps exaggerated - in terms of the clothes she wears, her hairstyle or glasses, which probably no one wears these days. But I guess, all this merge well with the character," says Menon.

For Zee, which introduced the concept of Sunday-Wednesday soap operas apart from new shows on Sunday mornings, the Thursday Premier show proved to be a success.

"Zee has definitely managed to do well with its Thursday Premier slot. But it hasn't been able to translate this into viewership on other days. Zee has managed eyeballs on Thursdays. Obviously, the content on other days is not strong enough and Star's hold during primetime is fairly strong. Same goes for Sony, for which the cricket World Cup was a huge success. But viewers went back to Star once the event was over," says a senior planner.

Cricket scores

World Cup coverage by Max witnessed the introduction of new concepts such as attracting people from target groups which are not traditional sports viewers, and expanding the time of telecast to much more than the just the period of the live telecast.

Apart from its popularity, its nature (or its wide terminology) and the fact that it is a television-oriented sport are being exploited to the core.

According to Rajat Jain, executive vice president and business head of Max, sports broadcasting has evolved in terms of the usage of the sporting event for advertising and it is not just limited to spot buys. The coverage includes elements like fillers, in-program highlights and branding, drop downs, replays etc, which are all branded.

The association with cricket is being leveraged to give an integrated marketing solution for a company. For example, Samsung took the World Cup as an opportunity to roll out a complete promotional plan which while it evolved around the match as a theme, also was essentially a promotion and hence was promoted across different media.

Other examples of synergy between the content and branding included the relation between Perfetti and ESPN Star Sports via animation.

O&M's executive director, north India, Vibha Desai says, "Cricket has helped the advertising industry as the viewership is guaranteed. Even the non-India matches result in high TRPs. And everybody has gone out to make the most of it. Whether the consumer is getting irritated and whether there's a case of overexposure needs to be checked. We shouldn't reach a stage where a ban is contemplated."

Branding overdose?
"I don't remember what various brands did during the World Cup. I am in the advertising business. So if it's tough for me what about the consumer. Just to ride the wave is not enough, you need to do something distinctive. Because it must leave a mark. I feel, though we have improved in using cricket as a theme, there is still more scope for brand identity, personalisation, brand impact etc," says Desai.

Menon feels, broadcasters seem to have realised the fact that the branding during the live content is about to concern the viewer.

"Over a period of time, the broadcasters are realizing the viewer's delight in cricket and how more and more properties tends to interfere with 'delight' and irritates the viewer. So today the willingness to work out live properties apart from those which already exist, is very low. And secondly, if there is an opportunity for the same, one has to pay a premium as well," says Menon.

New-look 'news'
The launch of various news channels from NDTV, Sahara, TV Today Network, DD and the re-launch of Star News has evoked a positive response from the advertisers.

"News as a genre is certainly looking up. It started with the launch of Aaj Tak but the emergence of NDTV, the re-launch of Star News and of late Zee News has taken the industry with a bit of a surprise for this genre to be doing so well," says Anita Nayyar, executive director - north, Starcom India.

The planners feel that news is no longer perceived to be serious viewing and channel like Aaj Tak deserves a lot of credit for popularity of this genre.

Says Basabdatta, "News is longer serious viewership, It has also become sort of entertainment. The packaging has changed and news is longer perceived to be only for meant for remaining updated with developments."

The genre has also witnessed one-off associations between advertisers and channels. There also seems to be consistency in the kind of categories getting associated with news channels.

"News channels have come of age. Brands and their association with channels is also a function of commitment that a brand on those channels. Other factors are consumer fit and how much money is involved. So it has to be a combination of these factors. News channels attract male-targeted products and services. There are suiting brands, banking services, insurance and telecom sectors, which are skewed towards males," says Menon.

Beyond free commercial time
Broadcasters feel that advertisers are looking at options other than buying FCT or sponsorships. And more importantly, branding a show alone doesn't result in media innovation.

"Media innovations, need to be much more than mere branding. In fact, it can also be more than creative execution… it can also be creative media usage. Today, any client who can use various ways and means to break clutter, has better chances to stand out of the crowd," says Monica Tata, senior VP, Star Movies, Channel [V], NGC and Star World.

Broadcasters are also looking at innovative and effective sales solutions for their potential advertisers. For instance, Turner worked on Kwality Wall's Bano Toon Star With Scooby-Doo and Max promotion, conceptualised to launch four new ice cream flavours of Kwality Wall's, with Cartoon Network's famous Scooby-Doo as its brand ambassador.

Launched nationally in the first quarter of this year, the campaign was supported on-pack, in-store, on-air, on-line and on-ground and gave 12 Indian kids the chance to become a Toonstar by featuring alongside Scooby-Doo in an animation short.

The news channels have worked on various platform such as tickers, SMS and contests to provide new avenues for their clients. According to TV Today Network's chief executive officer and executive director G Krishnan, more and more advertisers and broadcasters are coming out of the conventional mode and resorting to more advertising innovations to catch the viewers' attention.

A channel like Star Movies feels there is enough clutter and purpose of adding value to client's objectives is getting lost. Accordingly, Star Movies has decided to cut down the number of sponsorships each slot can carry from 2004.

"My view on sponsorships is that there are too many of them! Over the years advertisers have started to believe that sponsorships are "value adds" rather than seeing them adding value. If one was to ask a viewer 'who is the sponsor of the show', my guess is they wouldn't know as there are too many of them on each show. This I think needs to change. Which is why from the next year we have a new sponsorship policy in place on Star Movies, wherein we are cutting down the number of sponsorships each slot can carry. By this, you will not only give a viewer a better movie viewing experience, you will bring huge amounts of value to the advertiser who is associated with the property," says Tata.

Wooing with emotions
For a change, the executions of commercials got simpler and there was a sudden focus on getting back to basics.

"I think this has really been a year of getting back to the basics. Simple stories that connect with the consumer. No fancy executions, no fancy propositions. An attempt to make people smile rather than guffaw," says Mudra Communications' executive creative director, Ullas Chopra.

The professionals agree that there is a focus on human connect. And Chopra says he isn't sure if this has been design.

"Yes, there is a focus on human connect. Feel good factor also. I am not so sure this is by design. I just think that you can't do the same thing for too long. The Perfetti ads and Bajaj Legend of last year were great at making people laugh. This has been a year of doing things a bit differently to stand out from the crowd. When everyone zigs, you zag. Just like fashion. I think this season smiles were in. Simple stories were in. Jingles made a comeback," says Chopra.

Desai attributed this trend to preference over rational promises, which brands have been doing for a long time.

"A plethora of brands are airing soft commercials, talking about life, happiness and contentment rather than talking about physical attributes. Brands, which have been around for decades, making rational promises over the years, seemed to be getting monotonous in their communications and consumers are not foolish. At the same time, it is important to make an emotional connect with the consumer. Moving away from information about product delivery to value-additions in terms of emotional connection," Desai says.

On work produced this year, Chopra says, "Coke dazzled as usual. Pepsi also got it's act in place with the new 'Safe nahin hai' ads. Execution was key to giving simple ideas great connect. I am talking of, 'Hoodibaba' and 'Windbiking'. And a new entrant in noticeability and brand building on TV was the cellular category. Great ad for Hutch and an equally great ad for AirTel."

Chopra adds, "I am not so sure if FMCG really managed to do some nice work. 'Bachaao' was a poor follow-up to the great Pepsodent show earlier. Close-up also somehow lost the freshness of Talk to me. Automotives were nothing to write home about again - except for the truly brilliant surd-kid ad for Maruti and to an extent Indica. Also related category HP Cruise ads were great."

On the much-talked about Hutch campaign, O&M creative consultant, Sudip Bandyopadhyay says, "The Hutch 'kid and dog' film stands out as a truly breakthrough piece of work. It communicates the benefit of a technology product in a simple, human and instantly relatable manner. It has done wonders for the Hutch brand and, in fact, raised the standard of even the competition's communication!"

On the advertising industry, Desai says, "Healthcare and insurance sectors have come up in a big way. The telecommunication sector has exploded considering the growth of this service."

2004 challenges: CAS, DTH
"Television as a medium itself is the big challenge the coming year. With DTH, with new genre channels, with CAS, there are extremely exciting times ahead! With challenges come opportunities and it is to be seen how the broadcasters and advertisers maximise these opportunities!" says Tata.

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