GECs
A lowdown on the Mtv Youth Marketing Forum
The MTV Youth Marketing Forum promised a lot. For the first time, the naughty music channel decided to shift it away from its sinful commercial capital of India, Mumbai venue of two years, and hold it in India’s neta-babu capital, Delhi. And apparently the response was relatively lukewarm. Nevertheless, the panel of speakers was of international caliber with bigwig marketing heads from multinational companies jawing away about how you should market to kids.
First off the blocks was the cool customer Ron Coughlin, the vice-president of Pepsi Cola International, who spoke about how Pepsi stays young generation after generation (I am sure a lot many more people would have popped by for a listen, had he spoken about the secret of “us people” – not silly bottles – staying young. Nevertheless, since he is not a plastic surgeon nor a sage with miraculous rejuvenation powers, he spoke about what he knows best: that is peddling coloured acidised sugared water.)
Swatch vice-president worldwide Julian Gould pontificated like the Pope next on successful marketing strategies that work across international boundaries. Timely advice but was anyone in the audience still awake? Yaaawwwwn!!!! Hasn’t anyone read forecasting guru John Naisbitt who has predicted that large countries are likely to fission into smaller units, each with its own wants and needs. That nothing works equally well everywhere on a global stage; you have to go local or more precisely global. Better luck next time Monsieur Gould.
Malcom Hanlon, regional media director (Nokia), Zenith offered tips on how sagging brands can create excitement and catch the young consumers’ fancy. We sure do know Nokia’s success strategy: make cosmetic changes to make the their cell phones look real jazzy and lure the young who get bedazzled by the lure of the colour. MTV says that Hanlon actually spoke about Nokia’s tack “of encouraging youth to discover new technologies is the only one of the ways that Nokia is connecting with people.” Full-scale hype man! Take it easy folks!
Sony Computer Entertainment president Chris Deering followed with his thesis (and a major plug for his firm) on the extraordinary success of the Playstation. Let’s cut through the flubber: isn’ t the Playstation’s success due to Sony’s creation of mind-numbing, addictive, mind-capturing, and mind-draining games that hypnotically urge the kids – with their creepy sound and noises – to keep coming back and trying their hand at becoming victors in at least some imaginary world, if not the real one?) The youth can definitely do without the Playstation in their home…(“Hey Son! Cut it Out with that noisy video game!!! Can’t you see I have tonnes of office work left to be done” – how often have we heard that one from a worn out, overworked Dad .)
Asiacontent.com vice-president Paul Myers (hey are you not the same bloke from Asia Business News Online) spoke about how the Net can be used to capture the minds of kids. Surely there is no magic fix-it formula as it does not take too much – toss up some decent porn, some wacky noisy games or vulgar jokes on the Net and boy you have the kids chuckling like Beavis and Butthead. Jeez, why can’t people keep life simple, why do they have to complicate even marketing. Probably that’s the only way they will earn their hefty pay packets.
The Youth Marketing Forum 2000 gave the senior chaps at MTV and The Times of India to flaunt their stuff and inflate their egos. Namely, MTV chief Alex Kuruvilla, Times of India chief Arun Arora and finally MTV marketing director Vikram Raizada. Click on the following links if you want to go insane reading the rants of marketing to the youth. Have fun. Goodbye!!!! .
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
