We, NetworkPlay - the latest entrant to the ad network business in India, today stands as the pioneer and a leader as the only multi generic brand ad network of the country. The only group with true understanding of the domain and one that is responsible for its (Internet Brand Advertising) growth in the country.

Breaking the popular myth that we only specialise in the travel segment our latest offering stands tall in the NEWS AND BUSINESS vertical. Access to over 100Mn impressions and receiving over 10MN UU per month we have sites like Zeenews, DomainB, Financial express, VCCircle, Merinews to name a few in our kitty. Given the heavy traffic and expanse of the site usage, we offer enterprising and engaging solutions which can be vetted by our demonstration of innovations on “Siemens “.

Siemens shared their aim to launch a brand campaign in India targeting the 30+ audience under the business decision maker group, our sales strategy team mapped the relevant sites that fit the TG and we went ahead with some never before done creative execution resulting in some high impact branding. Getting Siemens, a traditionally offline client to go ahead with bold, skin integrations on a niche site by itself has proven that engaging solutions on a network buy is far more of value than buying it on general interest offerings.

Unlike other ad networks, we research the right audience for you, map them and then recommend the most strategic position, creative and engagement solutions for your communication, which can be a larger than life roll over on zee news or a thumb size banner on VC Circle. Our aim will always be to optimise the given domain to expound your communication goal.

With that inspiration we now have widened our offering in the news and business category with publishers like Businessworld.in, Telegraphindia.com, Anandabazaar.com, Anandautsav.com which adds up to an additional 2.5M UUs not only ensure we are now more visible than any other news offering in the country where we could do consistent innovations and branding engagements for brand in that genre.

Look out for more path breaking innovations in the category with NetworkPlay.

According to Nike company lore, one of the most famous and easily recognized slogans in advertising history was coined at a 1988 meeting of Nike’s ad agency Wieden and Kennedy and a group of Nike employees. Dan Weiden, speaking admiringly of Nike’s can-do attitude, reportedly said, “You Nike guys, you just do it.” The rest, as they say, is
(Advertising) history.

It took on a new religion of brand consciousness and broke advertising sound barriers with its indelible Swoosh, “Just Do it” slogan and deified sports figures.

Brand management is one ofNike’s many strengths. Consumers are willing to pay more for brands that they judge to be superior in quality, style and reliability. A strong brand allows its owner to expand market share, command higher prices and generate more revenue than its competitors. With its “JustDo It” campaign and strong product,
Nike’s marketing tactics in the ‘80s, and in particular its campaign against Reebok, gambled on the idea that the public would accept sneakers as fashion statements. Nike later cashed in on thejogging/fitness craze of the mid 1980s, during which its “Just Do It” campaign expanded to attract the female and teenage consumer, in addition to the stalwart 18 – 40-year-old male consumer. The ads rarely focused on the product itself, but
on the person wearing the product.

The “Just Do It” campaign seemed to capture the corporate philosophy of grit, determination and passion, but also infused it with something hitherto unknown in Nike ads—humor. Nike had always been known for its “detached, determined,
unsentimental” attitude. “In a word, [Nike is] cool.”

Linking the Campaign to Consumer Needs

The “Just Do It” campaign was also effective in reassuring consumers that the brand they picked, Nike, was a quality brand. If Michael Jordan can play an entire NBA season in pair of Nikes, certainly the average weekend warrior can trust the shoes’ durability.
Celebrity endorsements also appealed to the consumers’ sense of belonging and
“hipness,” as Nike became a self-fulfilling image prophecy: if you want to be hip, Wear Nike; if you are hip, you are probably wearing Nike.

A couple of quarters back, a small number of times, upon having asked something to one of my then team members, the response I got was “…such and such thing did not happen because ‘x’ did not give me the input or ‘y’ did not revert on time…”

Bullshit, I say. In an open forum here, else words would have been stronger. If it is your job OR your life is affected OR you are going to get questioned for it OR even if it is an indirect responsibility and means a better image for the company or better revenues, go find a way to get it done from ‘x’ or ‘y’. Do not shirk responsibility. Because the monkey is still on your back.

The responsibility of projecting a positive image about the company to the outside world is in the hands of the Sales Team and at no point can one blame someone else in the company if your client thinks adversely about the company. It is your blame, accept it. And change yourself.

If all you can do is find excuses, you are losing pride towards work and you had better find that pride or find some other work.

On this, even Seth Godin says, “If you’re not proud of where you work, go work somewhere else. You don’t get the benefit of the brand when it’s hot without accepting the blame of the brand when it’s wrong.” How true!

How many examples we have seen in life when this line holds true and with yesterday’s announcement of Micheal Schumacher coming back from wilderness after 3yrs to the Ferrarri fold only reinstates the fact that though Ferrarri have just started showing signs of revival at the Hungoraring and with Massa getting pelted with a 1Kg spring that will keep him out of the current season, Ferrarri dint think of any other younger prodigy or their current test drivers but went back to the old war horse and I am super delighted to see the master back and cant wait to see him in the cockpit at Valencia.

Rock on Micheal and Rock on Ferrarri.

It will be fantastic to see him and the Flying Finn in the same team, go Schumi go Kimi:-)

“Put ad on Web. Count clicks. Revise.” Is it this simple?

However, most savvy online marketers and Web publishers have known for some time that it’s not nearly so simple to measure the effectiveness of online display ads, and developments in Web analytics and rich media are driving innovation in the space with the goal of providing more exact ways to examine how ads affect online consumers.

The notion that, ‘If someone doesn’t click on an ad, the campaign has failed’ is totally illogical from a display advertising perspective. Clicks are in serious decline — something like three in a thousand — and I refuse to accept that the other 997 people who saw the ad are worthless.
What consumers do as a result of [seeing an ad could be] click, search, or go into a shop and buy. They may go the client’s site, or they may buy it on Ebay.

When one runs rich media — where one can mouse over an ad and watch a video or fill out a form — it’s like a mini Web site delivered to the right user. It’s not uncommon to have an interaction rate of 10% vs. a click-through rate of .10%. It’s not like I can just get a click-through rate of point-two and everything will be OK — it’s about making an impact for my business, and if I can design the display media in the right way and measure the time that I have people engaged one-on-one, that’s a very powerful way to measure display media.
There are a lot of companies out there still focusing on click-through rate, but it depends upon the objectives of the campaign,

Further complicating the value of click-through rate is that it does nothing to explain what goes on once consumers reach a marketer’s Web site. An accidental click is weighted the same as one that leads all the way to a sale. And, the profile of a regular clicker may not be the target audience for all display advertisers.
The truth is
“Heavy clickers are not representative of the general public.”
The type of people who do the clicking may not be the most valuable people — there may be a lot of clicks, but there may not be purchasing
There’s also the chance that a consumer could reach the Web site through a search either immediately upon seeing the ad or further down the road when they are ready to make a purchase, the display ad contributes to a sale without ever being clicked by that buyer.

I was taken aback when I received an email which said must watch with a link from our board chief, Sarbvir Singh from Capital 18, taken aback because he normally hasnt sent anything over the weekends and any deviation to that only states that this is really important but knowing its a video I thought I dont need to bother till I get to office on Monday. I came to office this morning, did a few presentations, got on our weekly call and then clicked this link.

It has been the most pulsating interviews I have ever watched in recent times and what a story it was of a man by name Jack Ma, someone who calls himself a blind man riding a blind tiger to what is currently known as Alibaba.

He started of with 2K USD in his pocket (I had nothing - LOL) got a great team in place and set out on his dream. He was a high school english teacher and was rejected at Harvard 10 times for a business course.

What a video this is, its a must watch for everyone who is an entrepreneur and with Shireen and the backdrop music, it only adds to the immense passion about being an entrepreneur.

Watch the video by copy pasting this url

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/video/newsvideo.php?autono=407218

He had 10 keys lessons that I am penning down, and trying to relate to whatever we are doing at NetworkPlay.

Jack’s Lesson 1.

“I said, “Bill Gates has said that Internet will change the world”

Sure he did and offcourse it is changing the world and I am sure everyone who is in this business wont agree less to that statement of his.

Jack’s Lesson 2.

“We survived because we dint have money, technology or a plan”

All of this is against the Harvard’s business thinking and today he teaches at Harvard as a guest/visitng lecturer, I am sure the guys who rejected his admission might be killing themselves.

Honestly when we began we had no money, no technology (we still dont have one) and not many believe this but we dint even have a plan. When I was walking from Yahoo, my immediate boss asked me, whether all is well on our plans and I said except for a domain name I have nothing that is actually real to even remotely believe that we were embarking on a dream, yes a dream, which all of us shared in as a common vision and that is what NP is all about today. This team I once asked jokingly on what they would do to ensure this is successful and though over a drink spontaneously said we will die to ensure that the dream is achieved. Today every employee also feels strongly about the organisation because there is no differentiation on who is the founder and who owns what simply because these bunch of people are the ones who are contributing to making this dream a reality.

Going back, our plan which got approved by our investors had us making no revenue till JUne of this year but we just got up one day in the fag end of the month of October 08 and said we are not hanging around and floating but will make things happen. And boy what a dream run it has been.

We survived because we had nothing with us except the belief of our dream.

Jack’s Lesson 3.

“Lots of internet companies have died not because they dint have the money but because they had too much of it.”

What this essentially means is if businesses can be built by money then you dont need entrepreneurs.

True, we are raising money but the truth of life is we have been so accustomed to be being frugal that everything we do is questioned a million times because the blue run we are having now might not be the case tomorrow and we have to be prepared to face the difficult path that might come your way because without making mistakes you cant be real, so we keep pinching ourselves everyday and keep saying that there will be times when we will go through a rough patch and so always have a Plan B.

Jack Lesson 4.

“The main cause of the global financial crisis is that because people had forgotten about their customers”

What a line this is, I and my team keep talking about this every day and at NP, the only focus is the customer and how our offerings will add to his/her business objectives. There are gaps and we know there are gaps but we are committed to working on this sole mission of creating value for your customers and I promise we are committed in increasing the bar every day.

My success after getting onto leadership roles and offcourse as a front line sales guy has always been focussed on customers. I remember once, Prakash Gurbaxani told a collegue of mine way back in 99, “if your customer asks you to jump, ask him how high”. That is how much one needs to be focussed on the customer because customers are the ones who ensure you business succeeds. You might have a grt product but with no customers you are doomed.

Jack says, “money is like gasoline, when you have enough of it then run”. Man, we have been doing just that and not too worried about things around us, sure you could keep saying if I had money I could do this, if I had money I can do that but we as a company are so focussed on our endeavor that we know we can add immense value to customer with offerings and raising money though important to get to your dream faster is not the only way to go about doing business. Infact I was telling my core team in one of our mgmt meetings that its too bad we arent attracting the best of funds right now but does that damage what we have created? Not at all, its just that the process of getting there gets delayed but our dreams are bigger than anything else and not even money can buy it. We will get there but might get a little longer, not to say we aint raising now

Jack’s Lesson 5.

“When tough days come think of your first day’s dream”

Absolutely, tough days are bound to come but the dream is bigger than anything thats tough and my team rocks I am so proud of my team that I just cant stop because this is the dream you want to follow and not the feeling of today when it is tough. Always learn from your mistakes and be judicious when you are in tight situations. My only word to my team is, plz do new mistakes and dont repeat the old ones again else it does not prove that you have learnt from your older mistakes

Jack’s Lesson 6.

“There is no dearth of money, there is a dearth of people who can dream and die for those dreams”

Because when you lose you have a million reasons for not having money to do this and that etc etc but to win you dont need money, you need a dream and a bunch of guys who will follow that dream.

I think I asked Viren before we launched, “what is it that you can do for me” and he said, “I will die for you because your dream is our dream”. I dont have words to define the feeling I had in me then but thats how close knit this team is.

Jack’s Lesson 7.

“Its time to think about the domestic market and not outside”

I mean, this is so much like us, the blue ocean strategy working well for us and we said though we will build our adserver product that will be world class to have customers outside but we will focus on the local market because the local market is so very different with it’s dynamics and how performance marketing is just one aspect of the business and how the brand business in India fuel the growth. I have said this in the past and continue to say it again, if the Indian Internet Advertising is to become a 1000 crores then it has to come from the traditional advertisers doing branding on the internet and not otherwise.

Jack’s Lesson 8.

“Never ever compete on prices, compete on services and innovation”

I have little words to describe how it feels when I relate this whole philosophy to the DNA of our company. We believe that value and business objectives of a customer need not necessarily be met through pricing alone and that we will need to constantly offer better audience through superior web products with innovations that will drive the brand to it’s logical destiny.

Jack’s Lesson 9.

“Learn from the other company’s mistakes and continue following your dream”

At NP, we do just that, most companies that raised money in 07 was based on this huge internet spends that had been predominantly powered by performance advertisers and I am seeing the tightness in their growth strategy, not many have a clear vision as to how they will double their revenues and are playing the time game as if this is a time machine that will change in due course. While are are clearly chartering in a manner that will only show the potential of growth in the space we are in.

Jack’s Lesson 10.

“If you want to make business with the big boys, make yourself either good or strong”

Absolutely, we at NP are seeing growth QoQ only because we are making ourselves stronger by the day and everytime we get stronger we only attract the big companies to do business with us, what does it say? It says exactly whar Jack’s lesson 10 is.

Super stuff on CNBC TV 18 in the lesson of excellence.

And yes, thanks Sarbvir - you just know the pulse of mine to keep sending the right stuff at the right time

I have been thinking over the last couple of weeks on how market reacts, shapes and changes as per various product offerings and subsequent offtake from shelves and most of the time it is the market entry as a strategy that would have worked for that particular brand or product or service that would have actually changed the scenario.

Couple of recent market entry has been an eye opener of sorts and though I dont have factual figures to point out the cause an effects and thereof its success or failure metrics, I however know for a fact that some of the strategy deployed is with a clear focus on what the service is going to actually represent.

One such activity is something that not many will forget in recent times in the telecom category. New licences were issued over the last couple of quarters and that too in a crowded market in the telecom segment. We had established players and to compete with them were new companies launching or existing local players going national and the first one to hit the road was Aircel.

As a market entry they adopted a very critical and dangerous path, however in the long run that positioning is the only one that seems to be right. They focussed their entire costs on marketing and rented the entire infrastructure, which meant that their advertising campaign remained top of mind. Today most people know that Aircel is completely focussed on data as a service and all the service is largely focussed on youth, which even today seems to be the right target for the VAS category and with Blackberry they are focussing largely on the corporate executive. Positioning is bang on or so they believe it is but the truth of life continues to be that voice is a depleting revenue generator for most operators and so every service provider is now focussed largely on the VAS bit but with Aircel their entry strategy has been with VAS and Data.

The second one also in the same category, 3G as a service is currently being rolled out only by BSNL and they again are very clear on their offerings by featuring Deepika and Bindra where very clearly video and data through Blackberry.

I dont have a grip on BSNL in terms of numbers but they seem to still be the largest operator in the country, which I am sure will be challenged in the forum with declarations from private operators clearly stating they are number one

What am I trying to drive in here?

There are 3ways to enter the market in terms of strategy and they are as under:

1) First in Strategy

Entering the market before all others.

Requirements: (a) Willingness and ability to take risks (b) Technological competence (c) Strive to stay ahead (d) Heavy promotion (e) Create primary demand (f) Carefully evaluate strengths.

2) Early Entry Strategy

Entering the market in quick succession after the leader.

Requirements: (a) Superior marketing strategy (b) Ample resources (c) Strong commitment to challenge market leader.

3) Laggard Entry Strategy

Entering the market toward tail end of growth phase or during maturity phase.

Two modes of entry are feasible: (a) Imitator - Entering market with me-too product (b) Initiator - Entering market with unconventional marketing strategies.

Requirements: Imitator - (a) Market research ability (b) Production capability. Initiator - (a) Market research ability, (b) Ability to generate creative marketing strategies.

The examples I mentioned above are all very skewed to early entry and laggard entry as strategies.

Naukri.com seems te only example in the digital space I can think of as first in strategy.

The only other company in the digital space which has adopted the First In Strategy is your truly’s organisation:-)

There are multiple product and service offerings in this market, which you guys can map to the 3 entry strategy I have mentioned, which can stimulate your minds including international brands like Ipod, Google, LinkedIn, Iphone, Maggi, Cuppamania, Garnier Mens Face Cream and so many more, enjoy the thought process and have fun thinking about those wonderful examples.

Cheers

The theory of natural selection broadly postulates that some individuals will survive more successfully than others in the current environment. Why am I talking about evlutionary sciences? I am not!

What I am talking about is the process of natural selection acting itself out in NetworkPlay. I have, over the last 9 months, hired a lot of people in Sales and lost a few too. These few that we have lost were very obviously lower down in the survival skills and the ones that we are left with now are the threshed and sifted lot, who are right at the top of the natural selection process. No one is more capable of surviving in this environment than these people. Let me talk about them one by one.

1) Jignesh Desai - Western Head: Hard core Sales person, quick on the uptake, understands processes extremely well and a survivor. Goes through rough patches but always comes out smiling. Never say die attitude.

2) Meera Chopra - Northern Head: Super aggressive sales person with complete understanding of company onjectives and a single minded focus to take the company ahead. Self-starter and self-motivated individual.

3) Dilpreet Kaur Banerjee - Combination of feminine coyness and aggression. Singly reponsible for giving LinkedIn the shape that it is in, for Delhi. Joined NetworkPlay against all odds including a legal notice from her previous company.

4) Hitesh Trehan - Someone we wanted to hire earlier but could not. Made an attempt again and he is with us now. Smart and aggressive, quick on the uptake, strong selling skills.

5) Varun Nambiar - Cool and aggressive sales person, who came for the interview with three beers in his system (was drinking with his boss and didn’t know he would be called for the interview). Understands concepts completely and believes in networkplay’s raison d’etre

6) Isha Shah - Strong selling skills with good references from the market. Understands the concept and is willing to go the extra mile to ensure success. Extremely hard working and focussed.

7) Gaurav Prabhu - Newest entrant - always a smile on his face, he is itching to go out in the market and sell. Confident and self-willed.

What a team! I can’t take any credit for hiring any of them because the theory of natural selection ordained that they be with networkplay and networkplay with them. I am but a mute spectator who has betted on all the horses and all the horses are winners.

As a footer, I’d also like to add that of the people we have lost, I think Ruby Menezes was a good bet as well and I also am pretty confident that she will come back someday.

The day was Wednesday, 17th June 09 my interview scheduled @ 10 in the morning at networkplay.in, after a late night party with some beer’s did the job of engaging me in my sleep till late. However, somehow I managed to reach on time for the interview and was informed that Jignesh Desai’s vehicle is broken and he would be late. I took a breath of relief and was waiting at the reception, that’s when I saw a tall, stylish pony tail guy sporting a properly carved goatee approaching me, for a moment I thought he must be some creative/art guy in the organization. He conveyed the message that Jignesh who’s going to conduct my interview would be late. I replied, “O that’s alright, I shall wait”. With a smile on his face he moved back. In few minutes a tall guy entered the office and said, “Hi Gaurav” at that point I was playing bubble breaker on my phone, I looked at him making a surprised face and understood he’s the one. Asking me to wait, he came back in next 5 mins and the INTERVIEW started.

After a couple of regular questions on my background and work experience, he popped a question of why a Norton will advertise on makemytrip?? How will you fit this client on a travel portal?? I promptly replied, a campaign can be around the safety aspect of the product, like people often use credit cards to book their respective tickets and it is necessary to have an anti-virus/malware/spyware etc. for the same on your machine. Looking at me with a smile he said, NO, I was disappointed and I assumed that’s the end of the game at NP. I was expecting the right answer from him for the same and he replied that we can pitch to the client saying, that it’s a site where people transact, an e-commerce site should always be protected and this is how we can fit in Symantec on any travel portals. I replied, that’s the same thing I meant, to which he replied, “In sales one has to use the right words at the right time or else people might not understand what you meant”, I was impressed by the way it was conveyed to me by Jignesh. But for a moment thought I might not get shortlisted. The interview ended on a good note and I left the premises continuously thinking about my incorrect wording. But to my surprise I got a call from my consultant saying, “VP – Sales would like to meet you”. I was really excited and fixed up a meeting on Monday at the same venue. After a great weekend in Daman, I finally left for the interview Monday afternoon. That’s when I received a call from an unknown number introducing himself as the VP of NP, starting with an apology saying he’s moving for an urgent meeting in Starcom (which is very close to my place) and would meet me somewhere outside, we decided CCD next to Starcom office. I rushed home, polished my shoes and left for the meeting. I reached the venue 10 mins late; I was shocked to know that Mr. Sunil Punjabi was the same pony tail guy sporting a goatee who spoke to me on the 1st day. He smiled at me and initiated generic questions (though we paused for a while to order our coffees), later he clearly explained me what will I be getting into, he further stated, “Its not gonna be a cushy job, you have to hard sell” which was challenging and really encouraged me. I attentively observed one thing about Jignesh & Sunil while our meetings, that both of them were very passionate & determined about what they sell, how they sell and what are their expectations from me. I was stunned by the down to earth attitude of both the co-founders which is very rare in the industry.

These meetings once again took me back to my graduation days where I learnt that value, respect and have confidence in the product which you sell so as to earn respect in the industry & at your workplace. The 2nd being Jignesh’s line - sales is all about “using the right word at the right time” or else you loose the business. Enthusiasm, determination & dedication of both the superiors were enough to convince & motivate me to join this place without having any second thought in my mind.

And Here I am…..

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches.”

Winning is not a NUMBER

1 Passion - All truly successful people have a driving force within them that sets them apart from others. A desire, an energy that gives them the fuel to reach their true potential. This force is a part of ME 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It never subsides. My existence is sustained for the fulfillment of their goals.

2. Belief - “They can because they think they can”-Virgil. You will only make $100,000 this year if you first believe you can. If you do not believe you can you are telling yourself you want it, but it is truly not obtainable. The truth of life is that man’s limits are self imposed by what the mind is given to believe. If you expand your belief of your own abilities, you will also expand your true realm of accomplishment. A man of whom all are aware, lived his life with adversity, but he constantly believed he could achieve.

3 Strategy - A strategy is your game plan of life. The road map you will use to accomplish your goals, ambitions and desires. Just to believe you can earn $100,000 a year is not enough, you must design a strategy that gives your life direction and navigates you toward success. The key to strategy is to design a proper strategy to achieve your success without the detours of life, to find the shortest distance between two points.

4 Bonding Power - We have all known people that have exhibited the ability to get along with anyone and everyone. The ability to be a chameleon is truly the ability to connect with and bond with others. The ability to build rapport.

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”