Cellular Wars
The launch of Reliance and Tata Indicom cellular services raised the cellular brand battles to the level of epic wars. With government-owned BSNL putting up a bold fight. And MTNL offering a monthly rental of just rupees 149/- for its land-line!
Sure, cell users benefited, but there were glitches too. (Like a man, dead for thirty-four years receiving a bill !) And price being the USP, the advertising expectedly, refused to be subtle. (It could not “afford” to ?) Not in the running for the awards for sure.

Big Spender
First, the Ministries used every occasion / pretext to build up the branding of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Next, came the ‘Indian shining’ campaign. And finally the ‘Pay Income Tax’ campaign made the GOI as a mega spender. Helping some not-so-large agencies to keep their heads above the sinking line.
No awards waiting for this category too!

Fin-Win !
As a nation of savers turned into a nation of investors the mutual funds category received a boost-mainly in the metros. A slew of new schemes were launched, preceded by the mega, re-launch of ‘New’ UTI (with a ‘welcome to UTI country’ !). With the Sensex crossing the 6,000 mark, this category is surely on the growth curve.

Fayde Ka Sauda
Home loans were yours for the asking. Every major bank was in the fray. Prospects were inundated with calls, offering all sorts of “concessions”. And hi-decibel advertising complemented the thrust.
Parallely, the media saw Real Estate exposure in a big way. Not surprising, with the huge textile mills land now open for commercial development !
Functional advertising coupled with freebies seems to be the norm for these categories.

Channel-Chat
The launch of a few new channels and some ‘big’ new shows was another category that showed a spurt in advertising activity. Surprisingly, the advertising reflected very little innovation or creativity.
Basic, informative communication was the norm in this category.

Promo Binge
Sales targets it seems were of primary concern. All major brands, across categories indulged in sales promotion efforts to entice a reluctant consumer. Perhaps the ‘commoditization’ of brands did not help.
With the Indian economy surging, can we hope to see another game plan ?

Changing Guard
A few major changes. A. G. Krishnamurthy, Chairman Mudra retired to be replaced by a former Mudra hand, Madhukar Kamat. Ranjan Kapur, after playing a stellar role in building O & M walked into the sunset, setting his successors a not-to-easy task to out do him. Surely, he will be missed!

Hello 2004
Welcome to a year of new ideas & big hopes. A year of elections, where we can expect vision statements and the future being redrawn by government. Naturally, the advertising and media business has a lot to look forward too. For example, normalisation of relations with Pakistan could translate into opportunities. Which agency will be the first to tie/open an office in Karachi?

For answers watch this column.

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