Group B7- Marketing Orion -Source-Business line

1.     Shemaroo does a Houdini – again

Fate has been doubly cruel to Shemaroo. First, the digital revolution happened. The wholesale shift to digital audio and video at the consumer end sent the VHS cassette into the dustbin and nearly took Shemaroo’s business with it. But Shemaroo managed to recoup and become a major player in the VCD and DVD entertainment segment – till the online revolution hit India. With piracy and the fast changing digital world eating into the home video market, Shemaroo faced its second life-threatening crisis – how to innovate and re-define itself.

Shemaroo is busy transforming itself to tackle the post-digital age, from becoming a content aggregator and distributing content to television and other platforms, to producing movies. As per industry estimates, there are still about 35-50 million DVD and VCD players in Indian homes. Hiren Gada, Executive Director Shemaroo, admits the physical business of CDs and DVDs has seen a decline in the last two years.

Industry players say that the decline of home video market was caused more by internal factors than external factors. Players such as Moser Baer who entered with lower prices to the level at which pirated CDs and DVDs were available.

Reinvention: The first seeds of transition were sown as far back as 1993-94, where Shemaroo redefined their positioning. They realized that company cannot be a video cassette company. Today Shemaroo focuses on aggregating, owning and distributing film content across media. Shemaroo was among the first Indian players to become an official content partner on YouTube. It runs nearly 32 channels such as Shemaroo Movies, Shemaroo Ent and Filmi Gaane with both old and new movies.  The key business as one of the largest suppliers of movie content to television channels, a B2B activity, generates a big chunk from the re-issue market. Shemaroo has rights for an eclectic mix of nearly 2,500 movies.

Now in its 50th year, Shemaroo which has been producing Hindi, regional and animation movies, also did an interesting experiment by launching its 3D animation movie Super K exclusively on Yahoo! Movieplex. In the next 18-36 months, the physical delivery formats will give way to digital formats. Also, the advent of 4G is likely to boost the demand for rich media application from consumers. As Internet penetration is growing the company is expecting more premium content moving to paid platforms or hybrid models which would mean offering some content free for the consumer to sample while asking to pay to watch the entire movie.

2.     PepsiCo launches new ad for IPL 6

13^th March 2013

PepsiCo, which bagged the title sponsorship of the IPL for the next five years, has released a new commercial for the sixth edition. Ad agency Ogilvy and Mather Mumbai has created a campaign that shows ordinary people, including cricketing fans, getting washed in the myriad colours of the IPL. The agency decided to pitch Pepsi IPL 2013 as an event from which.’Koi nahin bachega’. The creative idea from the film came from the fact that in April and May, it is impossible to escape the IPL excitement.

Abhijit Avasthi, National Creative Director, Ogilvy India, said that India is cricket crazy nation and they wanted to capitalise on this excitement.The film showcases the breadth of India taking part in the festivities, donning their favourite colour, having a great time.

3.     Now, shake a leg for a sixer in IPL

12^th March 2013

Advertising agency JWT's pre-IPL advertising campaign for SET Max introduced signature dance moves urging viewers to celebrate all the sixes and the fours in the match. The new season is set to start on April 3. The campaign focuses on the entertainment part of the series rather than the cricket match. It has Bollywood director and choreographer Farah Khan sharing specific dance moves for viewers each time a player hits a four or six in the series. The campaign is based on the insight that since cricket is more than just a game in India, viewers ought to shed their inhibitions and celebrate their team's winning moves. The catchphrase is ‘Sirf Dekhneka Nahi’ 

SET Max is also promoting the campaign on social media, with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube used to promote the dance moves. Currently, there are three films that have been released, while another three are in the pipeline.

4.     Apollo Global plans to sell 11% stake in Dish TV

New Delhi, Mar 13:

US private equity firm Apollo Global Management is planning to sell its 11 per cent stake in direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service provider Dish TV, which is currently worth a little more than Rs 700 crore.

Apollo Global Management LLC has began the process for the sale of its 11 per cent stake in Dish TV and those shares could be sold through open market transaction, investment bankers handling the deal said.

The said shares were acquired in 2009 for $100 million.

The shares of Dish TV were trading at Rs 66.15 valuing the company at Rs 7,042 crore.

On November 23, 2009 Dish TV Ltd had reached an agreement to issue 1,17,035 Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), at a price of $854.5 per GDR aggregating $100 million to Apollo Management.

Post this issue, Apollo owned 11 per cent of the expanded capital of Dish TV.

5.     HUL plans pacts with BIMARU States to build franchise for Lifebuoy

12^th March 2013

HUL is looking forward to forging MoUs with the Governments of the BIMARU States (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) to build a franchise for its largest selling soap – Lifebuoy.

They have completed a pilot for our behaviour change programme towards hand washing in Madhya Pradesh after signing an MoU with the State Government. Since they want to achieve scale, partnerships with the State Government will help them in getting accessibility to villages and sharing costs. They want to sign more MoUs with these States and link it to our business objectives,”

Lifebuoy has witnessed sales growth in excess of 10 per cent in the rural markets in the past three years. A new 3-minute film by Lowe Lintas has also been created to inspire viewers to pledge support for Lifebuoy’s hand washing programs on the ground.

The FMCG major said that growth in the saturated bar soaps category comes from rural markets. “Bar soaps are growing faster in the rural markets while the hand wash category is empowering urban sales,” said Singh. Instead of taking too many brands into rural India, HUL has chosen its leading brand to generate majority sales in these markets. “We do not want to confuse the rural consumer with too many brands. For the van and outreach programmes we have focussed on Lifebuoy as it is positioned on family hygiene,” he said.

In the urban markets, HUL claims its Lifebuoy hand wash has been growing faster on the back of new value propositions. “For Lifebuoy hand wash we are claiming to kill germs in 10 seconds and this has helped us in growing disproportionately compared to our competitors. Today, Lifebuoy hand wash is the second largest brand in the category,” said Singh. It continues to be the market leader in the bar soaps segment with an 18 per cent volume share while in hand wash it comes second after Reckitt’s Benckiser’s Dettol.

“We do not want to confuse the rural consumer with too many brands. For the van and outreach programmes we have focussed on Lifebuoy as it is positioned on family hygiene,” Samir Singh, Lifebuoy’s Global Vice-President, said.