Networkplay has built so much equity in the market that whatever we get now is a matter of RIGHT and not what is LEFT over.

We have closed the AMJ quarter with a bang - having done a whopping 79% growth over the previous quarter. Oh man, what a quarter!

Thank you, advertisers
Thank you, publishers
Thank you, competition
Thank you, team

Hurray! Looking forward to the next quarter and looking forward to raise the bar even higher.

How often have we heard of people talking about usual day-to-day terms losing their meaning to IT terms?

Windows is no longer a structure on a wall but Bill Gates’ claim to fame. Mouse is not a rodent anymore but a hardware device and so on and so forth.

However, today’s title is the reverse. A Drag and Drop is usually considered to be an action of how to move a file from one folder to another. Not for this blog, though.

This title refers to the way campaigns these days are behaving. We hear from the planners that campaigns are planned for many months and after having worked on the same for such a long time, keeping media sellers like us on edge, some campaigns don’t even see the light of day.

They DRAG endlessly and are finally DROPPED.

I hope now that it is official that there is no recession and even the slowdown is over, DRAG and DROP will remain an IT term and we will see more planned campaigns getting executed and more revenues being generated.

This is a 10 letter word but carries a million importances. Motivation is very necessary to get good result. Motivation requires a delicate balance of communication, structure and incentives.

It will be interesting to know what, the best way to get motivated is and that is none other than failure and bouncing back. Failure is the learning tool. More you fail to do a work and then you do it again and again you become a perfectionist for that work. So, failure makes you perfectionist.

So now I want to share my experience as I started working for the first time in this organisation and make mistakes .Every mistake motivated me to do the work perfectly the next time. Now it’s just the beginning and to go a long way. Learn many more things ahead.

Ok this is going to be a long one I am assuming, however I wanted to clear the air through our blog (ohh I am so happy to see our blog statistics, its been pretty high, so people are reading :-)) on some of the legitimate questions that are being posed by competitors in the market, with clients, in trade, in forums, in personal blogs etc.

Sure competition has the right to defend itself and its pretty nice to see that the ones who are talking about this issue are the ones who are feeling the heat simply because ad dollars are flowing freely into our organisation than to theirs. And so its natural for them to defend themselves in the situation that they are in simply because board meetings have now become very volatile with a lot many questions being posed to them by their investors on the revenue nos they are doing and surely, why not? Investors have all the right to protect their investments and see the company grow after 2yrs of their investment into these adnetworks.

Simply put, for us it only shows that we have taken the right route, enabled brands to reach their desired objectives in a fashion, which has not happened in the internet business in India in the past.

For people who are reading this post, I and my team had set out on a mission when people said there is no room left in the country for another ad-network to be around and we had to find a way out to ensure we conquer the market the way it should be and set out on doing things differently, what it has caused is an effect that is envious, jealous and scare to competition. I have been pretty open about my thoughts on these issues even in the past and I actually care less for human emotions for a wrong reason, people who have worked with me know how I bond and how I revolt when the reason is wrong so I dont need to justify that bit however what is important is to let a few people know how differentiation in business actually yields better and we as an organisation just innovated in a few methodologies, which were given as constant and said to have been thumb rules in the business of ad networks.

So again, when we began, we team had this thought in mind stating if we go the exclusive route and say we are not blind then wont we be categorised as site representation? Sure, we agree to the common thought but how do you change course and start showing phenomenal traction? The only way out was to ensure we remain vertical in nature and not be blind. We made a modest beginning and realised that the potential for not being blind, being vertical had huge benefits than to go the same route, which was crowded where every one was fighting for that dollar with the same client and the only discussion on the table was, how much will you give this deal at? We as a team were fed up of this bit, we had done enough of this in the past and were pioneers in this bit of the business, which was just getting fragile by the day.

People who think they have seen it all and done it all should have the basic respect of someone’s credentials and my team has actually been there before any of these so called current pioneers in the space and had turned the market upside down on performance ever since 2005 and people reading this blog will acknowledge and know for a fact that we have done that really big time with various companies we were involved in, in the internet space but the time had come to innovate, we had innovated then and we have innovated now and the result has been the same. In one word - “success”.

So enough of controlling the horse to get started, lets ride the horse now.

Like I said we had this thought that kept coming, are we a site representation company or are we a network? We realised that if we had to ignite the brand market then the only way is:

1) To ensure we lock premium inventory to begin with, which meant we needed exclusive alliances, which then triggered a storm in the market with competition, they wanted to do the same simply because the yields we were generating were like 100x to what they were generating with their partners, they believed that internet is only performance and brands dont feature in the scheme of things, so they aggregated inventory, initiated practices like trading (buying like an agency) when there wasnt a contract in place and did a lot of unhealthy practices, which were short term.

2) They believed that their technology will yield he requisite results but without a smart sales person a technology can never deliver right yields. People arbidly take deals in the market at whatever price the customer wants a deal at, so what happened? Big multinationals started buying CPCs, which only cost the publisher badly, they could do it because of the supply demand gap that exists in the market but to turn the table upside down is not easy. You cant go back to a client and say now start paying me 3x CPC because of xyz reasons, simply does not happen.

3) Technology is a super important parameter but if your engine is mundane and cant deliver intelligently then you atleast have to ensure your sales people know what the technology can deliver, thats not the case in the current scheme of things.

I have been part of several deployments and launches on the product side and was very fortunate to have handled large businesses in my career spanning over 14yrs with over 8yrs in the internet space and quickly adapted to understanding what the product can deliver and struck deals only when viable but that hasnt been the case with many so called stalwarts in the business.

4) So when we struck exclusive alliances, people have a word or two to say about our entire model, fair, you have your perspective but what your so called technology engines havent been able to deliver we with human intelligence have and its been pretty simple a methodology, we segmented categories, got a few power brands to be exclusive and arrived. I promise through this post that we will change the way business is being done and we will ensure we go on locking premium inventory going forward exclusively and get all the ad dollars move towards the direction it has to. While everyone can call us whatever they feel like, we will have these same people to come back and acknowledge us because we know we are right, we know we are headed in the right direction on increasing yield, we know that the ad dollars flow to the direction where there is value and we know that when we launch our platform people are going to be stunt.

5) 8 months and this month we will be no.1 in revenues beating every competitior in the marketplace.

This traction was critical to change mindsets and our next set of growth is going to come from the rocket science (thats the project name) we will build over time. So what all does this product deliver?

It will deliver more appropriate data, clear reporting for right decision making and post campaign analysis that a Vizi Sense, Vizu, or a Comscore or a Factor TG can deliver, and yes on the “FLY” in built in an adserver. It will get necessary adserver audit from a world body as approval, it will deliver rich media and a lot more that people have not experienced in the past.

We do things in style and in the process attract a lot of attention and therefore critical comments, we care a damn. Soon we will announce our first round and after the announcement, 4quarters we will have this jewel delivered for market to then react.

So people can call us whatever they want but they can ride the short term wave like always and extract whatever publicity they can out of these cheap tricks they continue to do, while apart from laughing our way to the bank in the short term we will also deliver what people in the advertising and trade fraternity have longed for, right solutions without too much of wagging on what it is, thus by catering to the long term growth in our product endeavour.

I have said this before, “patience and perseverence is a deadly combination but thats what it takes to be a grand master”.

Also wanted to point out a few adnetworks who either in the past or currently do a lot of so called site representation and they all are my pals except for one of those companies who is fighting a battle and I wonder how they will ever realise that cheap tricks dont last long.

Komli had Ebay, Admagnet has People Group and Cleartrip, Integrid represents a couple of sites, so whats the fuss all about? Unfortunately Tyroo has nothing currently but I am sure they are trading (media buying) well to stake claim to over a billion PV access.

For all of these so called pundits who call us a representation company, one small advice, dont self claim to be a pundit, do something in life to prove your capability first.

And thanks to my pal Nikhil - you instigated me to write this one, you achieved your motto, right? But honestly, I have never ever taken anyone head on but I love my business and I have all the right to protect it and so this post is for people who still think we are an site representation company, maybe to you we are but WE ARE “INDIA’S NO.1 VERTICAL MULTI GENRE BRAND AD-NETWORK”.

Actually this quarter we are India’s No.1 Ad-Network in revenues so its your take my friends as to what you want to term us, we arrived with a bang and when our product launch happens we will blow you away, period!!!

I was struck by the dissimilarities in the way we choose our leaders and the modus operandi of any other tournament or competition. And it causes a little bit of consternation.

It was reported that in most constituencies, the winners have won with votes that fall in the range of as low as 19% to 23%. And percentages be damned, it really means that the person who has won the first round has won the tournament.

Just imagine if World Cup Cricket or Football or any other multi-team tournament were decided up on like that. That the teams play against each other and whoever scores the maximum in the first game itself is the winner. No eliminations, no quarter finals, no semi finals, no finals. Just one match. Scary? Our country runs like that.

Another problem is that we are a democracy. People decide. So when we watch programs like Indian Idol, we realise how biased people really are. People choose ethnicity (read favourites) over talent. This causes angst when a reality show winner is chosen but its no skin off anyone’s nose when leaders in the country are chosen this way.

Couldn’t the elections be converted into a reality show where the contestants need to prove their worth in a series of competitions and the winners are decided by a mix of points won from the audience and from a panel of judges? I guess this is a very simplistic and laughable thought but do prove to me that the current system in vogue is better and I will shut up.

Thank God, leaders in the corporate world are not chosen like that.

In last one Month I would have met a few Clients & close to a dozen Agencies. The interaction with both the set of people has been very interesting. As much as Clients have been open in understanding our proposition, the Agencies have been fairly supportive of NetworkPlay.

My intent of writing this blog is to share an observation. I felt strange & hence wanted to write about it. In most of the meetings (if not all) a term that was often used - INNOVATIONS. What I understand of this term, it means Unique, something “not usual not regular”. Innovations catch all the attention because people have not seen something like this before.

But, what left me thinking was, is it all that simple to come up with that kind of an idea which can be called an innovation? Or is it that we tend use this term way too often? I only wish to know if the real meaning of the term “innovation” is either somewhere lost or misunderstood.

While I was working for a Radio Station earlier & am now with NetworkPlay.in I have observed that our clients are always seeking an innovative solution to reach out to their Audiences. The irony lies in the fact that the term INNOVATION is used very liberally. I am not sure, if it is all that easy to offer an Innovation every single time to every single client.

All innovations aren’t necessarily liked by people who eventually consume that information. An Advertiser positioning itself right in the middle of a leading newspaper & with very serious content all around, to me is annoying to say the least. Yes brilliant innovation & lots of INR spent, but then I am not sure if we wish to extend such kind of innovation which infringes a reader’s attention.

I propose to extend this Blog of mine into a Debate. I am hoping that I would have many who would agree & disagree with my perspective. Please do write your comments because I wish to know if what I think is right or not.

In the meanwhile let’s ask our clients to use the term INNOVATION little SPARINGLY.

Do we lower our pricing just for some of the publishers are doing so in the market? And whether or when will we ever stop getting price reduction requests from advertisers.
This was an issue I was pondering over the weekend.

The sales force and customers may always scream that you need to lower your price, which I am sure is a common phenomenon across the board.

I think, if we evaluate and understand from the advertiser as to what they are looking for from the spends, I am sure we can come up with values that best suites his / her requirement.

One reason why people don’t want to pay could be because you’re not delivering enough value for the money you’re charging.

Another reason for price reduction could be the fit. If the spill over for the product being promoted is bare minimum and is helping reach the advertisers target audience, I see no reason why the advertiser will not pay more.

We can never see an end to this request from the market as the buyer will always keep trying to check “how much lower will the seller go”?

I therefore agree with Ram’s earlier blog on “Pricing in the Indian Internet Market” wherein he has highlighted the importance of taking Inelastic Demand route is the ideal situation to be in.

Its a funny situation that all of us in this business are in, I am assuming though I know that assumption is the mother of all screw ups, I am penning this post because this is how our organisation is today and having been in the business for a while now as client/agency/publisher and now our own adnetwork business, I havent seen the change that would enable growth due to pricing factors in the market.

Performance business, the low hanging fruit, has seen how dependency on this line of business whether as publisher or as ad network is not the right way to go and classic example is Rediff whose results where there for everyone to see and I am sure it was the same with Yahoo or any other portal having a huge dependency on performance as a huge contributor to their topline revenues. We had seen this happening and hence moved out of this business, which we think we were pioneers in however that timely decision was only because of the following pricing issues, which are peculiar in nature to the indian internet market.

While performance gave huge impetus to growth for a lot of organisation when the going was good, it was clear that this was a short term situation and the bubble bust with many advertisers going down on their spends in a big way and the ones who have the money are not seeing publishers consume the entire budget so its a loss for the entire eco system. This has hit the adnetworks in a big way too, the ones who depended on the performance side by being blind and horizontal.

For us it has been the opposite, we have executed a couple of brilliant innovative solutions as brand ad network and its unbelievable to see how the industry is now transforming itself, right from the bigger publishers to the adnetworks now focussing on getting to cater to brand side of the business, this indeed is a good sign because efforts will now be from across the all particpants in the business to see the brand side of business growing and thats of paramount importance.

Now the peculiar pricing situation we are in is something that we need to address quickly so that everyone is on a winning note.

The relationship between price and consumer purchases and perceptions is explained by two economic principles — the law of demand and price elasticity of demand. The law of demand states that consumers usually purchase more units at a low price than at a high price. The price elasticity of demand defines the sensitivity of buyers to price changes in terms of the quantities they will purchase.

Elastic Demand:

Elastic demand occurs if relatively small changes in price result in large changes in quantity demanded. Numerically, price elasticity is greater than 1. With elastic demand, total revenue goes up when prices are decreased and goes down when prices rise.

Inelastic Demand:

Inelastic demand takes place if price changes have little impact on quantity demanded. Price elasticity is less than 1. With inelastic demand, total revenue goes up when prices are raised and goes down when prices decline.

Unitary Demand:

Unitary demand exists if changes in price are exactly offset by changes in quantity demanded, so that total sales revenue remains constant. Price elasticity is 1

Now like I said before, none of the above three holds true in the Indian Internet Market on the advertising sales side of the business.

So I am creating a new phrase here - Binary Demand - LOL, to me Binary Demand is applicable for markets which are maturing and the status quo is when all aspects of pricing yields no results and continues to be in catch 22 situation. LOL

So when are we moving towards Inelastic Demand? I think as an industry that will be the best situation to be in and I guess we have been in the Binary Demand situation for a long time now.

Binary Demand - I cant stop myself from laughing, I think I should patent this one!!!!

Top question on minds of all sales people across the globe is how can I sell when my prices are not the lowest in the market? First and the foremost understanding should be “Low price” is not the main reason people buy! Price is one of the motivator to buy but not the primary . Imagine a situation were everything is same Vis -a -Vis your competitor, then price becomes the major factor but hardly ,we come across such situation. And very few people buy basis low price…

So if price is not the primary reason , then what is it???
It is RISK—not price nor value but risk is the biggest issue in the minds of customers while buying any product or service. Risk is the potential cost to the customer if they make a wrong decision It is also the psychological and business cost they will have to pay if your choice is not the best one. Lower the risk of the decision, more likely to buy your product/service even if your prices are high . Every time your prospect agrees to buy, they are accepting some risk. And each of those decisions you ask of them carries with it a different degree of risk.

Therefore key here for all sales person should be to lower the risk if not eliminate it and stop thinking about low prices.

Some thoughts on how can one reduce the risk are mentioned below

Build relationships with decision makers reduces risk. The greater the relationship, the lower the perceived risk. That’s why the salesman with the longer relationship almost always has the benefit of the doubt in a competitive situation. Then use , case studies, client list if possible testimonials etc. All this will say to the customer that someone else, have used the product or service. That means its less risk for your customer to buy it. And lastly visit customer and meet them in person , instead of sending details or information over mail or through some one.

Time belongs to those who are the low risk providers, not the low price 

If you are still talking about customer satisfaction then you are still living in the past. That buzz word is no longer applicable today. It might have been the “in” thing several decades ago but it is certainly not the buzz word nowadays. In fact, I don’t know if most businesses still use the term to operate their trade.

Well, anyway, so what do you think is the buzz word today?

These days, we should always think of more rather than what is just the average. In this day and age, we should always go one step further. Our customers, or clients if you like, should not just be satisfied. They must be delighted. Customer delight is what should drive our performance.

But what is the difference anyway?

Well, customer delight is all about anticipation. Anticipating the needs of your customers before they even arise is the principle behind customer delight. Please your customers by knowing what they will appreciate before they know it – this is the way to go

So how do you ‘delight’ customers in practice? If you have competition, you can win over new customers by accurately anticipating your competitor’s service capabilities and strategies, and then beating them to the punch. Anticipation.

Taking that extra step to ensure that your customer is not just satisfied but delighted as well, gives a totally new meaning to the word ‘customer service.’ It is that extra service, that extra step in anticipation of a need is what defines customer delight.

In this world where only the best survives, there is no room for complacency. Everyone must be a market leader. Remember that there is not a market leader in any business that can keep its position by being complacent. To be a leader, you must be a pioneer, a trailblazer to see what your customers will want in the future. Then by all means, plan a strategy to deliver it to them before anyone else in the market place.