‘Non Quitters are Winners’

This morning I received an interesting mail on leadership. It was a picture story. The images talks of different important personalities of our times who have been and some of who are still leaders in their own respective fields. They have turned leaders after having failed or rejected but realized that it’s ok if you fail but never quit because you have failed.

There are in all 19 images. Here take a look at few of these examples and who these leaders are.

‘Aces at Cannes’

Last evening as I walked into Joss, the banquet hall at Kala Ghoda I was pleasantly surprised to be welcomed by huge dark bouncers dressed in black and sporting lot of gold jewellery and dark glasses. As I entered the room it had the feel and look of a Casino with Black Jack and Poker tables. I also found few people trying their hand at Black Jack. Oh no no it wasn’t an Ocean’s 13 set. It was the annual event by Leo Burnett –‘Aces at Cannes’ 2007.
Leo Burenett hosts this event every year wherein it screens the Cannes prediction reel of 50 television commercials from all over the world. The creative have been selected by Leo Burnett’s Creative Exchange. They have been selected from the best TV work developed during the year, irrespective of which agency produced it. The exchange believes the selected commercials have the potential to pick up an award at the Cannes festival this year. These commercials are in no relation with the actual shortlists at the festival.The Cannes predictions reel has been in practice at Leo Burnett since 1986. The concept was first started by Donald Gunn, former director of creative resources worldwide, Leo Burnett, for Leo Burnett employees. The reel has slowly gained stature over years to become a popular assessment medium for creativity in television, world over
Some of the commercials that found favour with me yesterday were Coca Cola ‘Happiness Factory’ created by Wieden +Kennedy, Amsterdam; XBox 360 ‘Cops and Robbers’ created by McCann Erickson, Dove ‘Evolution’ created by O&M, Toronto; Vaseline ‘Sea of Skin’ by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York and Women Insurance ‘Taking a piss’ created by Black River FC, Johannesburg, South Africa; Mountain Dew ‘Master’ created by BBDO, New York; San Francisco. I also definitely liked the Happy Dent Teeth Whitening Gum, McCann Erickson, Mumbai. Happy Dent commercial was the only Indian entry in the list of 50 commercials that were picked by Leo Burnett’s Creative Exchange.
The Happy Dent Commercial is a lavish commercial set in the days of the Royal Raj and has been shot by Ram Madhvani of Equinox.
The 54th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is just a week away and India has entered 931 pieces of work across nine categories.
In the past six years, India has won only two gold lions in the film category. But this year, with our largest number of entries, including 77 in the film category, there seems to be lot hope of a good show.
There is one commercial from China-Motorola Razr: ‘Cut Through’ by O&M-China and few from Thailand as well.
As a test of creative judgement, all those who were invited were also asked to pick their 20 best commercials. We will know how precise we are in our predictions only when the final results are announced on June 23 at Cannes.

Check out the Happy Dent Commercial here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v9EetEQrMU&mode=related&search=

Attention!! All Food Lovers

Tickle your taste buds, search for food mates, explore and enhance your culinary expertise all on one simple platform

Talking about Internet killing TV and online video community gaining ground, well it’s true.
Here is some good news for all the food lovers. Another online video community on food has been recently launched. It’s called www.ifood.tv for food levers to get a culinary experience like never before.
How often do you miss Sanjeev Kapoor’s Cookery show on Zee TV. Most often I am sure. There are also cookery shows now on English news channels such as NDTV Profit and CNN-IBN not to forget the shows on regional channels. Now with ifood.tv right on your desktop this problem is solved.
Undoubtedly, Food is the one thing which we all strive for and work hard for it at all times. Irrespective of geography, ethnicity, or race FOOD, is one language we all understand and like to converse in. On a daily basis we end up talking food and also share interesting recipes or new cooking techniques we have discovered along the way. At times we just end up talking about new restaurants in the neighborhood or just simply know about some food festivals around the corner. iFood.TV, launched by Future Today Inc., a new media company focused at building online video communities is precisely trying to address these issues. With a mission to ‘Serve food lovers simply’ this web 2.0 site is a one stop platform for food related information, entertainment and social networking. Whether you are a professional chef or a simple food enthusiast you can share and enhance your culinary skills through videos, blogs and forums; network and find “taste buddies”; discover new exciting restaurants and food products, read reviews and know about interesting food shows & events.

Virtual, Virtuous

I S THE Internet killing the TV star? Not quite may be but the great TV commercial has already found another place to run. Microsoft Network India’s Desk Top TV can do what regular TV can do. And it’s one more innovation that is helping to breathe life in the form of ad revenues into the medium. MSN has over 150 advertisers who are buying spots on its desktop TV to run their ad commercials
In fact, Internet TV can run your commercial just the way you want it. Remember Pepsi’s the three part webisode last year that featured Shahrukh Khan on Yahoo! for an entire week preceding the TV commercial. This was for the first time in India that an Internet commercial was produced simultaneously with the television commercial.
What I hear from the grapevine is that Tata Indicom’s recent viral film (pmsproblems.com) is likely to be adapted for television commercials. Earlier it was internet that was adapting from TV and now it seems like a reversal trend is likely to be set in.
The Internet offers a more defined user and technology helps to accurately track the user’s interaction with the brand much better than TV watching monitoring products Online advertising is fast offering options to advertisers that come closer to realising their dreams—to reach out to the potential customer at the lowest cost. While technology boosts the process partly, the understanding of the positioning and creative potential of the medium is fine-tuning its usage. However, Gregory Coleman, Executive Vice President, Global Sales says: “ Answer to a video ad on the Internet is not a 30 seconds or 60 seconds commercial. The video ads on the net need to be short and crisp so that it attracts the surfers attention instantly.”
Look at Google for instance. Not so long back, search advertising—those annoying ads that popped up while you were trying to find data for your research project—was most disruptive. But now Google's search advertising product, AdWords, is a performance-based model where clients pay per click. Ads pop up at relevant moments. So when you search for say, cheap tickets to Mumbai ads of budget air lines and travel agents come along the side bar.
Then there’s advergaming almost synonymous with Contest2Win that creates games around brands and their messages. You play and win or lose. But the advertiser always win as you absorb his brand message as you game.
As the role of the Internet evolves in the life of users—from a mailing medium initially to a search and interactive medium— it evolves as an advertising channel too. So for instance, as consumers use it increasingly to get information before making purchase decisions, the advertiser is understanding the need to fine-tune his brand message.
For advertisers, the internet has evolved from a fancy add-on to an essential part of the media mix. Innovation—both in the creative content as well as placement—has become the order of the day. Graphically richer ads, dynamic and extendable banners, better copy and catch phrases as well as strategic positioning are here and improving every day. These innovations have brought online advertising back from the edge

Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival

For all you film lovers and especially ‘World Cinema’. Here is a piece of some good news for you’ll. There is this company called Osian’s-Connoisseurs of Art (Many of you must have heard about this Art Auction company) and Osian’s started something called The Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema. The festival which is in its 9th year now has always been held only in Delhi. But guess what this year for the first time Osian’s is offering the city of Mumbai a sample of some of the important films to be shown at the film festival..yippieeeeeeeeeeeeee…………………
The inaugural premier will be at NCPA tomorrow June 8. Beyond this, visitors will be in for a gala treat with unique exhibitions, conferences, debates and a musical extravaganza.
Six of the 120 films to be shown at the 9th OCFF will be open to public viewing (free entry on first come first seated basis) at the Tata and Little Theatres including one show for the student fraternity of Maharashtra. The entire NCPA complex will showcase the best from the Osian’s Art and Film Archive Collection, turning the entire space itself into an exhibition.

Films to be shown at the inaugural Mumbai Premiere

1. SYNDROME AND A CENTURY
THAILAND 2006
Director APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL
This film is about Syndromes and healings, about sentimental dentistry and alcoholic prostheses. It’s about matter and mind, about machines and men. It begins as a comedy and ends as a Sci-fi. It’s all of those things and yet something more.

2. SANSHO THE BAILIFF
SANSHO DAYU
JAPAN 1964
Director KENJI MIZOGUCHI
Sanshô is one of Mizoguchi's films taking place in feudal Japan and explores the basic ideas of freedom, poverty and woman's place in society.


3. WWW: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
MOROCCO-FRANCE 2006
Director FAOUZI BENSAIDI
Set in Casablanca, city of contrast, a modern and archaic city. Kamel (played by the director himself), is a hired killer, who receives his orders by internet. He usually calls Souad, his friend to make love after his hits and, each time, Kenza answers the phone. Kenza, is a traffic enforcer and directs the traffic in the mornings around the city’s largest traffic island. Kamel soon finds himself falling in love with her voice.

4. DRIVING TO ZIGZIGLAND
USA 2006
Director NICOLE BALLIVIAN
A chronicle of a day in the life of a Palestinian cab driver in Los Angeles, DRIVING TO ZIGZIGLAND, portrays the social struggle of the Arab immigrant in post-9/11 America. A film audition typecasts Bashar to play an Al Qaeda terrorist role. The utilities are due and Bashar has twenty-four hours to make the money. For the remaining hours left until tomorrow, an unceasing flow of passengers ride in Bashar's taxi and give the Arab cabbie the run-around on issues that deal with suicide bombers, George Bush, Cat Stevens, the war in Iraq, music, and world geography. Bashar's quest to make the money is won until he realizes he has to choose between the Department of Homeland Security and his family. Shot in Los Angeles and Palestine, based on true stories

5. HEROES
BAYANI
PHILIPINESS 1992
Director RAYMOND RED
Bayani/patriot, a film about Philippine hero-revolutionary.


6. OUR TIME
KAAL
INDIA 2007
Director BAPPADITYA BANDOPADHYAY

Could not find anything on this film…Sorry . But have something on the director Bappaditya Bandopadhyay is the recipient of the Most Promising Director Award for the year 2003, by the BFJA (Bengal Film Journalists Association). His most acclaimed film is ‘Devaki’ – the film makes an introspective journey into the lives of two women coming from strikingly different background (rural and urban) and proves the point that irrespective of the social condition, literacy level or the economic status, women in our society are still treated as commodities. Played by Perizad Zorabian and Suman Ranganathan. Devaki has won the best feature film award at the Ashville Film Fest in North Carolina, USA (October 27 - 30, 2005)
Itinerary of Main Events

Film Screenings

Little Theatre
11.00am - 12.35am Driving to Zigzigland (School Show)
2.00 - 3.40pm Bayani
5.00 - 6.40pm WWW: What a Wonderful World

Tata Theatre
11.00am - 1.00pm Sansho Dayu
2.00 - 4.00pm Kaal
5.00 - 6.45pm Syndromes and a Century

Exhibitions
10.00am-7.00pm 1857: The Mutinous-Rebellion at The Piramal Gallery

10.30am-7.00pm Japanese Posters of World Cinema at The Jehangir Nicholson Museum Gallery

10.45am-7.00pm The Osian’s Archive Collection at The Tata & Jamshed Bhabha Theatre’s Foyer

IBM2 (Infrastructure Building for Minds & Markets) International Conference
11.00am - 1.00pm Session 1: Why Film Festivals?
2.00 - 4.00pm Session 2: Why Film Festivals?
Speakers include Philip Cheah, Sudhir Mishra, Mani Kaul, Pritish Nandy, Gurpal Singh, Anurag Kashyap, Kaushik Bhaumik, Aruna Vasudev and Neville Tuli
Gala Finale at The JBT
8.00 - 9.30pm Felicitation Ceremony & Manganiyar Orchestra (Passes are required)

Do You Suffer from PMS?

You must have seen his whacky vignettes and promos on MTV. And now you can watch his creativity oozing out on the internet. Well wondering who I am talking about? It’s none other than Cyrus Oshidar, group creative head at Media2Win who has created his first ‘viral’ film for Tata Indicom called www.pmsproblems.com. Trust only Cyrus to come up with a name like that. Do you suffer from PMS. All of us do ya.. Any one who does not is a lucky and definitely does not own a mobile phone. I am sure you guys are confused what I am talking …PMS and Mobile Phone. Oh yes PMS refers to Poor Mobile Syndrome. Most of us who are married to our mobile phones suffer PMS at some given point or the other.
Some of the common symptoms are High Decibel Mobile Disease- Talking loudly so that the person on the other end can hear your clearly, Frequent Repetition Complex-- sometime you might be having a very interesting conversation with someone and suddelnly blip….the network snaps …that can be reallyyyyyyyyyyy irritating, Mobile Induced Anger Disorder, Running from one place to other or being in a weird posture all just to get a better signal so that you can talk on your mobile phone uninterrupted. Bottomline is switch to Tata Indicom. It’s this insight and everyday mobile problems that we all face led Media2win, an interacting media agency to create a unique destination for Tata Indicom.
The campaign is targeted towards creating a positive perception in the minds of telecom users about the superiority of Tata Indicom’s CDMA network.
Take a peek at the cool films at www.pmsproblems.com. The four films are shot by Oshidar and is fun.
The viral campaign is extremely creative and indicates one clear thing that creativity is not restricted only to television or print campaigns but is equally important for a digital campaign. From banners to Flash and plain text to audio-video, advertisers are pushing the envelope of creativity online. The Internet offers a broad creative canvas to advertisers. You can mix audio, video, text to engage users in highly interactive ways. Innovation in online medium has become the order of the day as clients are realising the potential of this medium.
As Krishna Kumar, CEO, Media2Win explains: “It’s a different thinking that goes into internet campaigns. It has to be edgy and humorous to engage the audience. It is technologically driver creativity.” “I am proud of this effort and it takes us into a new direction as far as online creativity is concerned,” says: Cyrus Oshidar, Creative Head – Media2win.
Another recent interesting and very creative online campaign was for Perfetti’s brand Mentos. O&M had conceptualized the online campaign which was called www.mentoshelpline.com. And Clinic All Clear’s Make Your Moves campaign.

Ocean’s is back again

I began my week by watching Steven Soderbergh's Ocean’s 13. Reminiscent of its old school roots, the film returns to its original, classic casino setting to entertain us with another sensational, dangerous heist. In the current sequel, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and the gang have only one reason to pull off their most ambitious and riskiest casino heist--to defend one of their own. But they need more than luck on their side to break the ruthless casino owner Willy Bank (AL Pacino)
Pacino aka Bank never imagines that the odds would be against him when he double-crosses Danny Ocean’s friend and mentor Reuben Tishkoff, putting the distraught Reuben in a critical condition. Bank miscalculates--badly. He may have taken down one of the original Ocean’s eleven, but he left the others standing and, worse for him, gave them a shared purpose: to take Bank down on the night of what should be his greatest triumph--the grand opening of his new casino, appropriately named ‘The Bank’.
While not as fresh as 'Ocean's 11', the latest sequel is slick and funny and fast enough to keep you happily entertained for a couple of hours (2 hours and few more minutes). Clooney and Pitt are good (irresistible as usual) in every scene they share. Their witty exchanges and funny dialogue are so engaging you can’t help but giggle like a little enchanted schoolgirl.
It is sad that Julia Roberts does not return in this sequel. So that leaves Barkin as the solo female star in the epicentre of the distinguished boys club in this film. Pacino is deliciously evil as always. The remainder of the cast is humorous as usual with the inclusion of Andy Garcia as Terry Benedict. Matt Damon is especially funny with a new comical disguise to support his increased responsibilities.
The fast paced, exciting, action packed plot is enhanced with the use of rousing, vivid colors. There isn’t a dull moment in the film as the men conspire to contrive an ingenious plan of action for this complex heist which they execute with perfection. All OCEAN’S fans will enjoy the film. I have quite liked it. It's worth a one time watch

The film is releasing this Friday. Enjoy the flick……

India's News Makers

Raghav Bahl is straddling the entire spectrum of media and entertainment

Pimp My Ride and Your Stocks are two unlikely TV shows to be coming out of the same production house but last fortnight, when Raghav Bahl’s Television Eighteen (TV 18) group struck a 50:50 joint venture with Viacom, the stage was set to become big enough to accommodate both traders and rock n’ rollers. The JV with the US media conglomerate, however, will provide Bahl with multiple platforms across the entire spectrum of general entertainment (not just music and in fact not just restricted to television). The venture will be through Global Broadcast News (GBN), the group’s subsidiary that currently operates news channels CNN-IBN and IBN 7. Viacom 18 will straddle television, film and television across a range of brands. The partnership will also encompass Viacom’s existing TV channels in India, namely MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon. A Hindi general entertainment channel is also in the pipeline. Haresh Chawla, Group CEO, TV 18, says there is a fund-raising plan for the JV; GBN has already announced plans to raise up to $200 million.
For Bahl, Viacom 18 is his third big global partnership. In 1994 TV 18 slipped into an alliance with NBC Universal, as a result of which it today has under its banner two business news channels, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. And last year, through GBN, the group launched CNN-IBN, a mainstream news channel, in partnership with Time Warner Inc. In early 2006, it acquired Channel 7, a Hindi news channel, and rebranded it IBN 7. “The new venture is a homecoming of sorts for us. Before we focused our energies on news, we used to produce shows for channels including MTV in the early 90s. Today, the day has come when we re-ignite our entertainment genes with Viacom 18,” says the Managing Director of the TV 18 Group.
Bahl, for his part, has been pretty busy of late. Recently he tied up with Virgin Comics to publish graphic novels and co-produce movies. In fact, cinema is proving to be pretty close to his heart. The group’s motion pictures operation, Studio 18. The projects are in the pipeline and after the projects are completed, the motion pictures business will be moved into the venture with Viacom. The group’s holding firm, Network 18 Fincap Ltd, has also taken a 9 per cent stake in the Indian Film Company – sponsored by Bahl, the founder and promoter of TV18 Group -- worth $10 million. This company, which is in the process of being listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, will acquire rights of films and market it via theatres in domestic and overseas markets, besides using other routes like satellite TV and DVD rights. Apart from this, it will also finance films and enter into co-production tie-ups with directors. Beyond movies, Bahl has also spread himself thick in the digital space under Web 18, where he as acquired portals such as Crisil Marketwire, Poweryourtrade.com and Commoditiescontrol.com. According to company insiders, the group is also gearing to launch a financial daily, a business magazine, and foray into media process outsourcing.
Even as it stands today, The TV 18 Network appears to be in a league of its own, with more ammunition than even Rupert Murdoch’s Star network. It has two business channels, two news channels, two music channels (MTV and VH1), a kids’ channel (Nickelodeon), and a film channel that’s on its way. Star TV on the other hand has Star Plus, Star One (its second GE channel), Star Movies, Star World (English Entertainment), Channel V (Music), National Geography and History . What’s more, GBN in just two years commands a valuation of Rs 2000 crore (it got listed in February 2007). And flagship TV 18 itself has hit a market cap of $1 billion, a feat none of its peers appears likely to outdo in the near future.



A Hero Comes Along

UTV’s Screwvala is emerging the leading man of Bollywood

If Raghav Bahl is hogging the media and entertainment space, Ronnie Screwvala prefers to confine himself to entertainment – where he’s got a lot going, right from movies to gaming, and from animation to software production. And broadcasting is next on the anvil. Screwvala, Chairman & Managing Director, UTV Software, who in 2006 offloaded a 14.9 per cent stake in the company to Walt Disney, is now looking to unlock the value that’s bursting at the seams of his movie business. He’s formed UTV IOM Inc, a 100 per cent subsidiary that’s incorporated in Mauritius, which will be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM. The entire movie operations have been moved into this subsidiary. “A Nasdaq listing would have been time-consuming and listing at London made geographical sense,” says Screwvala, chairman and Managing director of UTV Software. UTV IOM Inc will be listed on AIM in 1-2 months and is expected to raised $70-75 by diluting 25 per cent of its equity. “This pegs implied valuation of the business at $225 million,” says a media analyst at an Indian brokerage firm.
In the last two years UTV has released 18 films, which would explain why almost two-thirds of UTV’s total revenues Rs 208 crore in March year end 2006, came from films-Rs 130 crore. For the year ended March 2007, the company raked in a turnover of Rs 72 crore from movies alone. The total revenues of the company during this year was Rs 174.3 crore crore According to a report by Prabhudas Liladhar, a Mumbai-based broking firm, UTV has films with a budget of Rs 466 crore lined up for the next two years. Lights, camera, action.

(The article has been published in the latest issue of Business Today)