SOLD

COLORS
USP
It’s different
Most consumer segments,according to seasoned marketers,have three categories of players — the market leader,two runners-up and the also-rans. It is difficult to shake this order once it has been established. The Hindi general entertainment genre,comprising the biggest segment on television in terms of viewership and advertising revenues,was no exception to this rule. Till a year and a half ago,that is. Star Plus,the flagship channel of Rupert Murdoch’s Star India network,established itself as a winner and ruled the space for nine straight years even as the two runners-up,Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Television,kept fighting for the number two slot. New entrants such as NDTV Imagine and 9X,both launched by men credited with Star’s success in India,failed to lure viewers and settled quietly at the bottom of the heap. And then came in Colors. Being a late entrant in an overcrowded segment was not the only odd thing about the channel. It had been launched by an odd pair of partners — Network 18,which had no prior exposure to the general entertainment business and Viacom,the US-based media conglomerate whose broadcast ventures in India —channels such as MTV,Nickelodeon and VH-1 — couldn’t be described as impressive. All this,however,did not deter Colors’ march into the most hotly contested space on Indian television. In its debut week in July 2008,Colors opened with 81 GRPs or gross rating points (the currency used to reflect viewership garnered by a channel over a period of time; in this case,a week). Star Plus that week had 315 GRPs,followed by Zee TV’s 216 and Sony Entertainment’s 99. This script completely changed in the next six months. The channel climbed the popularity charts beating not only the runners-up but also the market leader Star Plus,week after week,through most of 2009. In the first week of 2010,the new order stood like this: Colors—336 GRPs,Star Plus—298,Zee TV—284 and Sony Entertainment—180. Rajesh Kamat,the CEO of the channel,says not doing what others did is the only secret to his channel’s success.

AAMIR KHAN
USP
My way
He is one of the most talented and popular film stars of our times but that’s not what brings Aamir Khan on our list of bestsellers. Khan has made a niche for himself in the cut-throat world of Bollywood,by challenging every accepted norm. He has thrived in the business by doing things his “way”,by setting his own standards of success and getting everyone around to accept them. He,for instance,is known for not accepting any industry awards. He refused to have his wax statue being put up at Madame Tussauds in London because he said it was not important to him. He is one of the rare actors who do only a film a year. He began producing films in 2001 and most of his films have not only won immense critical acclaim but have been big successes at the box office. Khan says he doesn’t do different things; he does them differently. And that is what makes brand Aamir Khan stand out in the cluttered and noisy world it comes from.

ZOOZOOS
USP
Out of the box
Advertising spends are the first casualty in tough business cycles. The year gone by was one of the toughest. Companies across sectors slashed their advertising budgets and put their marketing and advertising plans on hold. The move dealt a serious blow to an industry whose sole source of sustenance is the money companies spend on their brand talk. The year was one the industry would like to forget in haste,except for one occurrence — the birth of the Zoozoos. Conceived by Mumbai-based agency Ogilvy & Mather for telecom services provider Vodafone,these characters won the hearts and minds of millions of viewers the moment they hit TV screens. Vodafone entered the crowded Indian telecom market by buying out Hutch,a brand that had endeared itself to its customers through a long-running popular campaign featuring a pug. Vodafone wanted to flush out Hutch’s residual brand recall by launching a much more powerful and winning characters,the Zoozoos. With their scrawny looks and clumsy ways,the Zoozoos struck an immediate chord with Indian viewers as reflected in various consumer surveys done across the industry. In a rare show of solidarity,the advertising industry also came forward to applaud the idea. “I don’t think any other campaign redeemed our collective talent more than this one in a year of scepticism,and I doubt there will be another campaign that will steal as much thunder,” says Prathap Suthan,the national creative director of Chiel Communications,a rival ad agency.

TWITTER
USP
Keep it short
Even if you are one of those who find the depth and the pace of the digital world a bit intimidating,or farcical,you would have surely heard of Twitter,the micro-blogging website launched in the US in 2006 and made popular in India in 2009 by none other than the Union minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor. A global veteran entering Indian politics,Tharoor chose Twitter to engage with the smart set of digitally active Indian voters. He,however,ended up playing a publicity manager for the website when his public pronouncements on the issue of austerity and his stay at a five-star hotel in New Delhi pulled him into one controversy after another. While his micro-blogs put him in a tough spot,Twitter,without having to spend a penny on its publicity,became a household name in India. Twitter became popular in the US through celebrities wanting to connect directly with their fans. It shot into popularity when actor Ashton Kutcher and news channel CNN entered a contest to see who managed to build a base of one million fans faster. In India,some of the popular Twitter celebrities include Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan,Priyanka Chopra,Karan Johar and Mallika Sherawat and media personalities such as Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt,among others.

THE NANO
USP
Cheap and best
Ashok Vichare,an ordinary citizen of Mumbai,became a global celebrity in July last year when he was handed over the keys of the first-ever Tata Nano. The event was broadcast across the world and so were Vichare’s sound bytes on how he felt on becoming the first owner of the world’s smallest and cheapest car. The Nano’s unveiling ceremony in January 2008 generated immense interest in the media across the world. Beginning with its stupendous rate of economic growth to the potential of its one billion-plus consumer market,India has been in the global limelight for sometime. But the kind of attention the Nano brought home has been unprecedented,specially for an indigenous brand. While the acquisition of premium British brands Jaguar and Land Rover had catapulted Tata Motors into the top global league,the Nano helped it establish its credentials as a top-end engineering and manufacturing company. Again,like most of the entities in our list,nothing about the Nano is regular. It’s the world’s smallest and cheapest car.
The size and the price,however,have no bearing on its efficiency or safety. Various tests have proven its efficiency and safety levels are on a par with the best in the world. The car is also a dream-come-true for low-income Indian households. While initially global auto enthusiasts were waiting to see if the car would ever see the light of the day,they are now waiting for its launch in their own country. And the Tata group is more than keen to oblige them. The company has said it will soon launch the Nano in the US and various European markets.