MAM
Telecom, content cos need to ally for product differentiation
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club Bombay’s Value Creation seminar on marketing entertainment and their growing inter-dependence last weekend threw up a possibility that telecom, entertainment and content development companies will forge alliances to provide product differentiation and increase penetration in an increasingly competitive scenario.
Bharti Enterprises director, marketing and corporate communications, Hemant Sachdev, while speaking on “Marketing can have more than fun with entertainment – it can help sell more”, said the real challenge in the future would not be about leveraging the abundant technology but about packaging content and entertainment to cater to the needs of discerning consumers. He added that content tie-ups need not be exclusive arrangements and would entail payment towards intellectual property rights. He urged telecom operators, entertainment companies and content developers to work out a revenue sharing arrangement for a win-win situation.
Sachdev claimed that the need of the hour in the telecom sector was a 360 degrees experience as against the classical product delivery; redefining the value proposition and going beyond the core product. He added that entertainment would play a vital role in offering a 360 degrees experience and creating value for the consumer. However, the creation of this value must be sustainable on a long-term basis He cited the examples of Walt Disney and McDonald’s that used the complete family entertainment experience proposition to increase sales.
“Potentially, the Indian consumer has not been exposed to the entire gamut of entertainment opportunities. Effective usage could increase the ARPU (average revenue per user) substantially,” said Sachdev. He stated that wireless data (SMS, SMS-based data, helplines, m-banking, value-added features such as fun messages, cricket updates, astrology, infotainment, entertainment, stock updates, music downloads, ring-tones and logos) would eventually outstrip the traditional voice-based services. He pointed out that smaller countries like the Philippines had shown a tremendous growth of pace in value-added mobile phone services such as anonymous SMS; encrypted SMS; Lotto and sweepstakes; crazy ring-tones (animal sounds); personalized logos and word logos; Wassup happenings around the locality; dream analysis, astrology, predictions, compatibility and others.
In the case of Airtel, over 60 million SMS messages are sent every day and 50 per cent of the subscriber base uses SMS; the traffic grows by 15 per cent every month; an average of 25 SMS messages per month per subscribers and five per cent of the service revenues are contributed by SMS, claimed Sachdev. The entertainment and financial services account for 75 per cent of all SMS based service traffic. The top ones amongst the others include ring tones (16 per cent) and logos.
Airtel has used entertainment-based promotions to make an impact on its targeted audiences. This strategy involved the use of contests involving movie tickets and film stars such as Shah Rukh Khan. “Shah Rukh Khan was a living example of our promise “Magic hain mumkin” as he had climbed the peaks of popularity from literally the ground level,” added Sachdev.
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Brands
Charlotte Wolf Tarfa named Coca-Cola VP people & culture – India & Southwest Asia
Takes charge of people strategy across India and Southwest Asia
MUMBAI: Charlotte Wolf Tarfa has been appointed vice president, people and culture for India and Southwest Asia at The Coca-Cola Company, stepping into a role that sits at the heart of the beverage giant’s growth playbook for the region.
In her new position, Tarfa will lead the people strategy across India and Southwest Asia, aligning talent, culture and leadership development with the company’s long term ambitions. Her mandate also includes building diverse, skills based leadership pipelines to support the business as it scales.
Announcing the move, she said she was proud to take on the role and partner with teams across what she described as a dynamic region.
Tarfa brings more than a decade of global human resources and talent development experience to the post. She has spent over four years with Coca-Cola, most recently serving as vice president, global talent strategy and succession, where she worked closely with senior leadership to shape talent plans across more than 200 markets.
Before that, she held senior talent and development roles within the company’s global functions, supporting thousands of employees worldwide. Earlier in her career, she spent six years at InterContinental Hotels Group, where she led corporate learning, leadership development and HR business partnering for global teams.
With experience spanning talent strategy, organisational transformation and leadership development, Tarfa now takes on one of Coca-Cola’s most dynamic markets, where people and culture are expected to be as central to growth as the brand’s iconic red label.
