The Hindu Business Line : Kiron ABC Chairman

Kiron, the mild-mannered, low-profile head of the Eenadu Group, was crowned Chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulation last week. Kiron is known to be a well-liked person who doesn’t need to shout to be heard. We wish him well.

Raj Nayak IAA President

Raj Nayak of NDTV Media has taken over as the President of the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA). Readers of this column would no doubt be aware of this but then, they are aware of most things beforehand. He has his hands full with the prestigious Light a Billion Lives public service campaign. Best of luck to him and his team.

All the Presidents

This would bring the election season to the end with Madhukar Kamath taking over as President of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and the venerable Indian Newspapers Society (INS) yet to announce its President. We will wait for the INS to announce its results officially. We do not want to be the bearer of dubious distinctions. Watch this space.

Religious fervour

Mumbai bid au revoir to its favourite elephant-headed God Ganesha in its customary boisterous way. Crackers were burst, bands played, people danced in the streets like those possessed and crowds headed to the various beaches to immerse idols of every shape and size. The “Lalbaugcha Raja” is a classic example of how urban cult brands can be created. This huge idol was just another large idol till a few years ago. Astute event management, including well-coordinated celebrity visits, duly made in the presence of the media has made this idol into such a huge brand that many marketers must have wrung their hands silently mouthing the words “I wish I could do something like this for my brand”. Queues had people standing for up to 12 hours on weekends for a glimpse of this particular idol. And all this a day after the Delhi bomb blasts, and Mumbai being named as the next possible target. The venue itself rivalled a mega South Indian film set with the accent definitely on size and scale. The collections in just ten days were equal to a fair-sized marketing company’s annual profit. Marketing religion is yet another huge opportunity. We wonder when Lalbaugcha Raja will call for a pitch from the top ten advertising agencies. We guarantee they will all be there, hat in hand.

National religious fervour

India’s national religion is also being marketed in right earnest. Yes, we are referring to cricket. The Essel group’s Indian Cricket League, in its second innings, has begun a high-decibel advertising campaign “Cricket Hai Meri Life”, and we are sure this is just the beginning. Cricket, we are told, will eat into every other media spend and the T20 matches scheduled for next month should have everyone glued to their TV sets and hopefully filling up stadia all over the country. Our resident Gods will also be endorsing everything under the sun. Dhoni will probably sell more products and brands than even the Master Blaster or the Big B did at their peak. Let us thank our stars we treat our cricketing Gods differently than we treat our revered pantheon of Gods. If not, one shivers at the thought of Ganguly and Dravid and Co being taken to the nearest beaches to be immersed.

Shame and scam

Our advertising deities never learn. Now the organisers of the Cannes advertising festival have withdrawn the award-winning Paris Amnesty Campaign submitted by TBWA Paris as a scam ad. What a shame! And yet, our GoaFest organisers dithered and shied away from calling a scam a scam. And the perpetrators (let’s not dignify them by calling them creators) still shamelessly give interviews talking about the rules of the particular festival and how these rules were paramount, not whether the campaign was made for a real client with a real brief and real payment. Balki should consider a new category in his True awards and call it the Unfair & Lovely award for the most glib scamster in the industry. The prize would be a year’s quota of Fair & Lovely cream to lighten his or her dark deeds. Just kidding, guys, but really, we have to stop scamming and start working.

Daughter’s marriage

NABARD’s advertisement for a long-term debt product still talks about saving for your “daughter’s marriage”. I wonder if our Government types would ever get out of the gender bias that they so piously talk against at every public forum. _ Victoria

Comments on this column may be mailed to Victoria at the brandline@thehindu.co.in

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