The Hindu Business Line : `Media brands must connect emotionally with the audience'

Mumbai March 28 In a world of new technologies, short attention spans and multiple forms of media, one way to build a media brand is to connect emotionally with the audience.

"Building brands is about creating friendship," said Ms Monica Tata, Vice-President for Advertising and Marketing - South Asia at Turner International. "You want to create a platform where somebody would want to hang out with a friend, in this case the brand," she added.

Ms Tata, who was speaking at the Ficci Frames session on building media brands on Wednesday, cited the example of Cartoon Network as a brand that children want to hang out with, whether that is on television, over the Internet or at events or theme parks.

That is a strategy the radio industry has taken to heart. Mr Steve Ahern, who runs the Radio Branch at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in New South Wales, emphasised the ability of radio to build a one-to-one relationship with the listener and thereby become, in effect, his friend.

Speaking at the plenary session on radio that followed the session on media brands, Mr Ahern, using examples from Australia's experience with radio, said the basic relationship with individual listeners was a key asset that will contribute to the spread of radio in India.

Mr Santosh Desai, CEO of Future Brands, cautioned media companies against letting the consumer dictate and having the media to respond.

"You build a media brand when you see the world in a distinctive way," he said. "The key is not the delivery platform or the changing consumer but the point of view."

The Star TV's President of Advertising and Marketing, Mr Paritosh Joshi, felt the industry would go from having branded programmes such as Kaun Banega Crorepati or Karamchand to having branded channels and eventually branded networks.

"With digital distribution, consumers make choice when they select a bouquet, which cannot be done at the level of a programme," he said. "TV marketers will begin to shift spends from shows to channels and eventually to networks," he added.

A lone voice argued against branding. Film director Shekhar Kapur said being branded was the death of artistic creativity because it makes the artist dependent on what he has done and not what he is going to do.

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