Mumbai:

The seminar (workshop) was inaugurated by Subhash Chandra, chairman, Zee TV. Addressing a huge gathering of media and marketing fraternity, Chandra said: “In the last 10 years, I am addressing such a formal gathering for the first time. What really works is keeping your eyes and ears open. What you learn from every moment assists you through your life.”

Chandra also said he had anticipated the exponential growth of electronic media industry a decade back, and his projections that it would be a Rs 10,000-crore industry have proven to be more than true. “This year the industry, in all probability, would grow to Rs 15,000 crore. And in the next five years, it would grow at the rate of 35 to 40 per cent.”

When asked about the impact of conditional access system (CAS), he said: “We as an industry should have come together and done it, instead of the government doing it. We would probably start at the zero level once again. Viewers would tell us what they like and what they don’t. I am sure it would be a win-win situation for both the industry and the subscribers.”

Chandra’s inaugural address was followed by the three sessions: The first was ‘Are the clients getting the best returns on investment (RoI)?’ The panel for this session comprised Sam Balsara, CEO, Madison Communications; Ishan Raina, CEO, Euro RSCG Communications; Paulomi Dhawan, VP, Raymonds; Kevin Eyers, Alta Vista; Elkana Ezikiel, VP, Johnson & Johnson; Rohinton Maloo, CEO, Cutting Edge Media.

The panel pondered on the issues that have somewhat reduced the RoI on media spend. The discussion was triggered of by the moderator for the session, Anurag Batra, CEO, exchange4media.com.

Balsara agreed that RoI has sharply dropped. “It is not the fault of one segment. What should concern all of us sitting in this room is how to enhance the growth of media industry, which to some extent depends on RoI the clients get. Media owners should be the ones really worried as a drop in media spend would hit them the most. “Most of the clients are confused as to how to get optimum value out of the budget.

Dhawan, who has been on the both sides of fence, said: “Advertising is working. The sheer cost of advertising makes it important to plan well. Clients need to be involved in all the processes. Besides, there is a definite need to fight clutter.” She raised a question as to what the media fraternity is doing to understand the clients better.

One of the panellists in the first session, Maloo, stressed on the need for transparency: “Clients are getting better returns from creative side. Return on investment might not be reflective of that as there are several other parameters involved. We [media sellers] should be more accountable. Transparency is perhaps the most needed ingredient of media business today.”

Ezikiel was of the view that agencies should own up their responsibility for the brand. “The clients invest money, and the agencies should be ready to share financial risk. The clients and the media agencies both should look at long term perspective. Media innovations that break the clutter are very critical.”

Eyers was also of the opinion that there should be a better partnership between the media and the client. “We need to ask the clients what do they exactly want. It is very crucial for developing partnerships.”

The topic of the second session was ‘Are we delivering a great media solution?’ And the panellists for the same were Andre Nair, CEO, WPP Media; Meenakshi Madhvani, CEO, Carat; Apurva Purohit, president, Zee TV; Ashok Bhasin, marketing director, Whirlpool; Ashish Bhasin, president, Initiative Media; L V Krishnan, CEO, TAM.

The discussion centred around the need to provide enhanced media solutions, how the expectations from media industry are changing and the need for closer media owner, media buyer and advertiser association. The second session was moderated by Amit Agnihotri, editor and COO, www.exchange4media.com.

The concluding session of the evening was ‘Marrying message and content: Is it a dangerous trend?’ The focus here was on the blurring line between editorials, advertorials and advertising. The panellists for the session included Samir Nair, COO, Star India; Sunil Lulla, executive VP, Sony TV; Sanjay Bhutiani of Leo Entertainment; Rohinton Maloo, CEO, CEM.

Nawal Ahuja, head of sales and marketing, exchnage4media.com, moderated the last session of the evening. Paranjoy Thakurata was the master of ceremonies on the evening. His grip on the subject and knack for triggering off a discussion kept the viewer-panel interaction to the optimum through the evening.