Hi All,

Hope this note finds everyone in the best of health and spirits including your loved and dear ones.

At NetworkPlay, its once again a helluvva quarter and the spirits just seem to be climbing upwards with every passing day, that happens simply because of the belief, trust and team work that happens in this small, vibrant and young organisation where everyone is trying their best to work around what is getting a complicated market, which holds all the promise but still fighting a battle of identity. However there have been some very interesting statistics overall in the economy that just keeps the faith, the airline industry is now seeing robust growth and the forecast for that industry seems promising over the next year. It was also a pleasant surprise to see some of the airlines having predictable break even this financial year, which only indicates higher corporate and leisure travel, which is a clear indication that India weathered the global storm well during the downturn and this year we will be growing at 7% and that has impacted the stock markets well with a bull run even though global stock markets continue to plummet.

What does this do to us in the business? It impacts the sentiments of advertisers well and I am sure the market is going to grow at a faster clip in 2010. We are positioned well to address a lot of business objectives that clients are seeking to achieve and I am confident that our sales teams will deliver with all the wide range of audience that is available in our federation.

So OND quarter was a great one for NP where we grew by 10% over the previous, we hired some seasoned professionals including Harmeet Singh Arora to drive the network business and did some strategic changes in the structure to better facilitate the needs of the market separating LinkedIn business, which is now being driven by Sunil Punjabi, my Co – Founder.

It is astonishing for me to imagine that we had on an average 7 deals a week, with 81 brands tasting NP’s offerings, 32 of them being new brands with 5 of them being first timers to the internet, which to me is the most important aspect keeping in mind we being a brand ad-network. We did a couple of innovations too and one that too the icing on the cake was the one on MMT where American Tourister was all over the home page as skin integration and HSBC’s skin integration on FE. Though this wasn’t a network wide innovation unlike the previous one we did with Siemens, these two had their own significance simply because of the brand’s requisite audience being made available to them in the most enriching environment.

DTH & Mobile at NetworkPlay is going to be a big contributor in 2010 – 11 and to that effect we have added Big TV in our offerings alongside Airtel Digital where this quarter we saw how Yahoo’s “YOU” campaign exploited the new virgin audience, which was made available through Airtel Digital on their EPG screens, what a effort it was on conceptualization to delivery from Mindshare Interaction. On the mobile front we have a huge announcement coming soon, which is a game changer and we already have inked that partnership, this partnership will change the face of the mobile wap offerings in India in a truly network environment, watch out for that one coming your way soon.

Holiday IQ, Overdrive, Carazoo, ESPN STAR, ADG Group, Fun Cinemas were a few more additions on the pub side on our federation. We have been careful with our choice of selection on publishers simply because of the kind of value it delivers to our entire business model; of the 6 we have added 3 are exclusive with us, and that continues to be our endeavour.

So with this, I end my note and once again thank all our advertisers, publishers and agency partners, who worked closely with us to add value to the entire ecosystem.

Here is wishing you and your family a fantastic new year filled with a lot of happiness, peace and success.

Best
Ram

Hmmmm so I am back again with some great news! We have strengthened our DTH offering in the marketplace by signing Reliance BIG TV where as partners we will be monetizing their inventory. With Airtel DTH and BIG TV we now reach to more than 4 Million+ unduplicated subscribers across India.

BIG TV is the 3rd largest DTH operator in the country with base of 2.2 Million subscriber , spread across 6500 towns (60% from metro’s and Mini Metro’s & 40% from Smaller Towns). 46% of them are men and 54% women with uniform spread across SEC A,B,C and R1 , R2.

The platform offers some great advertising option for brands to reach their core Target Group. It includes static banner space on 6 interactive channels like iAstro, iCooking, inews, istock, igames and iCricket.

Video banners on DTH are in demand and this platform doesn’t let you down on that front, it offers 30 movie channels including one dedicated preview channel to let brands run TVC’s in between movie shows with the option to even sponsor a movie. Another innovative ad option is Auston Band , that can be showcased on movies and preview channels in form of static images covering the lower 1/3 of the screen. A must see, unavoidable, impactful ad unit.

Things don’t end up here, we are working on some more interesting and engaging ad options. Shall keep you all informed, till then keep watching this space

I have very little words to express my delight on what you guys along with your teams have been doing over the last several years.

Inspiration is a word, which is too small to express having seen you both over the years. Its unbelievable a feeling and I feel super proud to have known you guys as partners.

The feeling of winning comes from within but the feeling of accomplishment can only be felt when you actually accomplish it and not many people have the legacy that you guys have carried in the Indian marketplace on the Internet.

I get goose bumps as if I have actually won the award - LOL, such the sense of belonging.

Super stuff guys on being the No1 Agency Of The Year in the Digital Space for 2nd year in a row - astonishing stuff!!!

Keep up and be the way you guys have been - guiding light

Wishing you the best for a hatrick, on behalf of NP, we again congratulate WC on being the agency of the year!!!

Cheers!

Digital TV, the DTH service from Airtel, today announced India’s first skin integration innovation on its EPG screen in partnership with Yahoo. Yahoo takes forward its latest brand campaign “YOU” in this first of its kind partnership where an online portal will use DTH as a medium to promote itself.

The ‘Electronic Programming Guide’ screen on Airtel digital TV is now completely integrated with Yahoo India’s homepage. Customers will find a message ‘Fill your home page with all the things that make YOU’ when they log onto to the EPG screen. A prompting ‘Red Button’ will take them to a dedicated landing page that elaborates the offerings on Yahoo India’s new home page. The ‘YOU’ campaign enables users to customized the home page as per their liking and empowers them with the choice to integrate social applications such as Facebook with their Yahoo homepage.

I love it because this whole idea was conceived by NetworkPlay, right from design elements to execution and I must thank Mindshare for buying into the idea and flawlessly helping us execute it.

Amps/Sandeep - Super Stuff!!!

We were having a discussion with Ram today and an interesting point came up, which I knew I had to blog about. Hunger!

So what is hunger? It is a feeling in your stomach, which gives you an instruction to find some food and eat it for it to be sated. Hunger doesn’t wait for anyone. It doesn’t wait for a person to find food first and then decide to make an appearance. It is not a slave that asks, “Master, have you found food? May I come in?” Instead it is the Lord and Master that says, “I’m here. Now do what it takes to slake me”.

Hunger is seen in many situations. When one has to catch a flight and is late, one will do anything to reach on time. That is hunger. When someone in the family is unwell, one will do anything to ensure that the person gets treated quickly. That is also hunger.

Likewise, whenever reaching an objective is planned, more often than not, the objective is not met because there isn’t enough hunger or no hunger at all.

So networkplayers, when we aim to achieve our targets, and we miss them is it only because of market conditions or is it also because of insufficient hunger? Food for thought. Pun Intended.

Second - lack of options available for differentiation
One of the key factor that needs to be analyzed for the competition in the space is the availability competitive advantage positions available in the industry . As the strategy gurus in the past have suggested the advantage can come from three areas:-

Supply – Create a supply chain which in itself is a source of competitive advantage. Thus when I look at NP, observing the pattern I would say we are in the process of having the inventory which is highly receptive in the market with the advertisers .

The other two advantages being economies of scale and customer captivity. As far as economies of scale are concerned in the business that we are in, we are very much there but still need to go the distance in terms of value proposition that can be delivered thru our set of supply chain. Also the EOS , does not depend on the absolute size of the dominant firm / firms but on the difference between it and its rival and if we look at ad network market place we are already turning out to be the leaders in this space, it needs to be seen whether we are able to hold on to the position. More importantly at this junction it is more important to be on the right path rather than getting worried about the position are the scope of innovation is not much. It is this or that, or a mix of two.

Also, the customer captivity will also come into the picture once we get into the second full year of operations and see how the market responds to propositions thrown by us to them. Watch for the space ..as I will be the one commenting on it in future as well.

Third – Adaptation of Rivals

One of the biggest challenge for NP is that the lack of barriers are allowing the competition to enter the market place which they had never tried before. Thus, the competition is closing the doors of abnormal profits that was seen earlier. Though we have the first mover advantage, we have seen earlier that eventually the market dynamics eventually decides what the player will do in the market. Thus, we have been able to change the market dynamics, it will be interesting to see whether the competition adapts to it or we change our strategy.

The above two factors will be instrumental in deciding whether the marketplace will grow organically or inorganically !!!!

Very strange headline this could be but these are situations we encounter day in and day out in our personal lives, professional lives and social lives.

How many times have we gauged people with their character, their achievements, their behavior, their social status and their adaptability to change?

All of us do that everyday including myself and the kind of forgiving society we live in, we tend to just forgive most of times without realising the situation that gets created and the future thereof.

Including Tiger Woods -the legend’s fall on his face due to his sexual escapades is now being seen as a false hood to character he represents for the brands he endorses but if you look at it he too has a lot of positives that brands still wanna associate and thanks to our wild imagination we already have the Viagra getting associated to him.

Now his wife is his guiding light, she does not want to break their marriage, fair point but is it worth the effort?

There are examples of change too including that of David Beckham where his wife Posh had to undergo a lot of turbulance in their personal life but she held on to see the man change, so there are always positives to watch out for too.

Lets take our preofessional lives, its the same even there, day in and day out we put in all the efforts to ensure we do all the right things the right way and ensure we deliver as per high standards we set for ourselves but it doesnt shape the way we want it to but there are critical aspects we should be learning before we move forward and thats why I would conclude below….

1st time is an accident, 2nd time is a coincidence but if the same is repeated the 3rd time then it surely is a habit, now decode the headline

You know you are from Delhi when …

1. You drink on all weekdays and try not drinking on Tuesday.
2. Treating a friend means - Daaru Shaaru te kabbab shabaab.
3. Even in the most posh colonies, you hear, “Aaloo lelo !!!, Bhindi le
lo !!!! Pyaaz le lo !!!!, Tamatar le lo……”
4. And you hear women asking the vegetable vendor “Bhaiyaa dhaniya hari
mirchi nahi diya!” [Even with Half a kilo Carrot - Dhania & Hari Mirch is
expected free ] 5. A place to meet is Mocha, (CCD), Barista, Hookah.
6. You use the word “setting” or “jugaad” at-least once a day.
7. You have not visited either of - Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Lotus Temple .
It is only for tourists, so Delhiites say.
8. You ride on the cycle rickshaw in NOIDA (more populary known as NEODA)
- haggle over the price, but still pity rickshaw walla’s condition and give
him what he asked.
9. You glare at people who call Gol Guppas as Pani Puri!
10. You always ask the vendor “Bhaiya yeh Gol-Guppe Aate ki hai ya Sooji
ke?”
11. Schooling is best is Delhi not because of CBSE, but because you’ve
had school cancelled thrice due to cold in winters & summer vacations
preponed due to sudden increase heat in Summers and at least two Rainy Day
off during Monsoon.
12. You have been to a wedding at a Mehrauli farmhouse at least once.
13. You understand all important words in Punjabi & punjabi “helping
verbs” like teri maa di, teri bahen di… oye madar @#$% … oye bahen @#$$.
Almost every Delhiite understands Punjabi to an extent. PUNJABI unites
everyone.
14. You call the waiter in the restaurant “boss” or “Pappey” & tack on
“yaar” “bhai” to almost every sentence.
15. You know that Pappay Da Dhaba or Kake Da Hotel has better butter
chicken than Taj.. You’ve at least tried it once! And you see a BMW, a
Porsche OR a Mercedes parked outside it!
16. You describe practically every other person on the planet as “Vella”
17. You see middle-aged Aunties wearing Gucci shades and holding LV bags
having Gol-Gappas in GK or Bhelpuri in South Ex along with Diet Coke !
18. You call every stranger ‘Bhaiyya’.
19. You refer to East Delhi as ‘Jamuna Paar’.
20. You refer to AIIMS as Medical.
21. Pretty girls as Bamb (Punjabi for Bomb).
22. Aashiq mizaz boys as Majnu di Aulad !
23. You dont buy tickets for a music concert or cricket match, but try to
use political contacts… of the deputy secretary of the chief secretary of
the Minister of State for Khadi.
24. You overtake everyone from the wrong side and stare into his/her eyes
while doing so.
25. You have at least two cars and a motorbike at home.
26. And you have fought at least once every month with neighbors over
parking…
27. You park your Car and take a Auto-rickshaw to Lajpat Nagar / Rajouri/
Kamla Nagar/ Karol Bagh. But CP, you don’t get parking space easily, yet you
go always in your own vehicle.
28. And then you say apni Kanvense (conveyance) howe na ta badi
Kanvinyance (convenience) hondi hai ji !!!!!
29. You’ve hit 120 kmph at Nelson Mandela Marg and waited for midnight to
do it.
30. You have bribed a traffic cop (Mama) at least once, every month.
31. You know that a farmhouse has nothing to do with cattle or farming.
It is luxurious hangout for whole night.
32. You use “contacts” (jugaad) for everything, from getting movie
tickets to restaurant bookings to play-school admissions.
33. You have had Anda parantha outside Vikram hotel and Bun Omlette at
Dhaula Kuan, Kulfi at Karol Bagh, Gol Gappe at India Gate, Dosa at Madras
Hotel, Chana/Kulcha at Scindia House and Chaat at UPSC.
34. Metro rail is your Pride but you travel in your Car.
35. You call people from north east ‘chinkis’.
36. You think EVERY South Indian comes from ‘ Madras ‘ and is Madrasi.
37. You feel indicating which way you are going to turn your vehicle is
an information security leak.
38. You are a good driver coz you are correct in your guess of what the
driver in the front vehicle will do.
39. The only time you went to the Chidiya Ghar (Zoo) was on a school
picnic.
40. You expect around 10 FM STATIONS in every city! Woho.!
41. DESPITE all the good and bad……..You still Love Delhi …
42. You keep singing ….. Dilli hai Dil Walon ki….. Oye Balle Balle

Cheers…

There’s no doubt that engagement is one of the hottest subjects in marketing communications right now.

“Here is the most current working definition of engagement ;-

“Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context.”

Engagement is a highly subjective and variable indicator of the propensity of a brand message to resonate and connect with a prospect and ultimately drive some kind of meaningful action.

The goal of engagement is to break through the clutter and match key messages to key prospects.

Why is it so hard to define and measure?

Diverse goals: No two marketers have the same specific objectives and thus will define and evaluate engagement differently. A workable definition of engagement must anticipate a myriad of perspectives and notions of success.

Getting beyond exposure: Many current efforts to demystify engagement focus on exposure alone.

The TV legacy: Current attempts to decode engagement are hampered by a TV-centric mindset, which is dominated by demographic assessment. Engagement must not only take into account the quality of the visitor, but also the quality of the visit.

The question of proof: When it comes to measuring engagement, too much focus on accountability can be overwhelming and even distracting. The pressure to quantify conversions in the form of sales or transactions should not overshadow less concrete elements of engagement. Moving a prospect emotionally, moving them to a shift in attitude, or moving them to an interim action (i.e., an intention to purchase or request for more information) must all be weighed when evaluating performance.

The rules of engagement

Clearly, the complexities of defining, let alone measuring, engagement are daunting. A single metric for engagement can’t address all the variables and marketing objectives involved. What is needed is a set of standard reporting options that can be measured based on the advertiser’s goals and that can apply across a wide range of objectives, industries and media.

Reach: Clearly, engagement must be wide-reaching and scalable to truly influence a brand in a positive way.

Frequency: Frequency is a balancing act in the advertising world. Too little and engagement cannot be achieved. Too much and consumers may react negatively to the advertiser’s message.

Cost: Buying out all of the advertising inventory on the big three portals would be a guaranteed way to engage consumers. But in the real world, marketers seeking engagement must find the optimal balance between cost efficiency and impact.

Interactivity: Interactivity generally means the ability to initiate some kind of sequence within an ad or communication (such as a click or mouseover). Any form of voluntary or permission-based involvement implies an element of engagement. If a prospect has acknowledged the brand message in some way and has expressed interest through interaction, engagement is beginning to occur.

Duration: Duration is the unifying component of engagement. Time spent interacting with an advertisement increases the chances of an advertising messaging being absorbed and acted upon, in turn increasing the time spent on the advertiser’s website and the probability that the message was appreciated (consumed) and ultimately acted upon (conversion).

Capturing engagement
Currently, online is the only marketing medium capable of tracking all these metrics. Online advertising networks, in particular, can provide advertisers with a diverse and dynamic platform for measuring, testing, tracking and ultimately optimizing advertising toward consumer engagement.
Advanced online technologies offer a combination of sophisticated measurement capabilities, multiple ways to drive consumer involvement, and the flexibility to deliver alternative outcomes.
In terms of reach and cost, the online medium delivers a vast audience at a lower per-user cost. It enables marketers to reach consumers in the numbers required to create measurable shifts in brand engagement and the cost efficiency to make it practical for virtually all marketers. No other advertising channel has the ability to efficiently reach the right consumers (based on specific targeting criteria) without sacrificing broad reach.
Online technology also enables marketers to quantify optimal frequency at which engagement can occur for your brand. Advertisers can easily identify the frequency at which other parameters, such as duration, page utilization and site visits, reached their peak. Similarly, interactivity can be measured in real time. Clicks, mouseovers, video plays, game plays– any action taken by a consumer can be easily tracked and optimized online.

Summary
Engagement means different things to different people, but there are certain common threads that weave into any marketer’s definition– and it is digital media that can provide the most useful analysis.

5 Steps for the Start Ups to Grow

1) Idea:

Idea is a word that comes in our lives frequently, whether it is a bunch of friends planning an outing when one says, “I have an idea”, sometimes it is ridiculed and sometimes it is appreciated. Lot many times during my childhood, all my ideas were ridiculed but the sense of voluntarily contributing in a conversation was the key to be remembered within your bunch of friends, they either remember you to have been a fool or remember you to have been a genius, in my case it has always been the former.

However that never deterred me from contributing whether I was with a bunch of friends or playing for any cricket team I have been part of where usually I had something to contribute in strategic discussion or whether it was at work.

What this did to me was made me think always on how to create a differentiated contribution when in a discussion irrespective of whether it was serious in nature or whether it was just casual. It grew over time to become a habit, which today has definitely yielded good results in any endeavor I have undertaken.

Alok Mittal my boss when I was at Jobsahead once told me, you come out with 100 rotten ideas but 1 of them sticks so keep coming out with ideas, it costs nothing.

So never ever think that an idea is not worth its penny, anything could stick so keep thinking all the time on various ideas that keep popping into your mind all the time, just ensure you write them down because you may tend to forget, a habit I can now vouch for because I have forgotten several of my ideas over the years, I am sure many of them were rotten but it would have been fun if I had penned them down then. Anyway, now I doJ

So the first thing for a startup is to come out with that idea, which you think will stick, believe in that idea and ensure you have the ability to execute on the same, that’s the key.

2) Team:

It’s very important to have the right team, a team, which not only believes in the idea but has the ability to execute on the same because the key thing for a successful team is to stick together in the hours of turmoil than just pleasure because there will be ups and there will be downs, one has to know how to combat both extremes of swings in a business atmosphere. It normally has connection to the sense of belonging for an organisation, which comes only when your leaders know how to lead from the front, which includes fun and frolic too

Ensure you pick the right people to do the job right. This is a line I would want you all to think!!! Normally you have the right people to do the right job but isn’t that what everyone does? You will get people to do the right job but it is very difficult to find the right people to do the job right, that’s the key, ensure you have people who could do the job right and don’t think about the costs involved if you know that this is the person to do the job right, we follow that principal at NetworkPlay very diligently.

3) Belief & Passion:

How many of us have not seen the movie Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander or The Pursuit of Happyness? I am sure majority of us have and I am sure all those Amir Khan fans and those who aren’t still love the last 10minute cycle race; thinking of it even now gives me goose bums. It’s that belief in that character, which made him win the race, what a race it was, so always believe in what you have set to achieve because the easiest is to give up on something you have begun, so remember that Archie Poster, which said never ever ever ever give up? Be like an Archie – Never ever ever ever ever ever give up

Passion is something that comes naturally to people who follow their dreams, vision and for something they really want to do, it is something that every individual possess just ensure you channelize it and make your dreams a reality. Passion should just not be of always winning, you should know how to take a deep breath to calm yourself down when you fail and have that belief help you to reengineer all that passion to work all over again.

Remember Chris Gardner in The Pursuit Of Happyness? He had his belief and passion in whatever he did whether it was to sell that medical equipment or when he was a broker, he believed in himself and ensure he put in all the passion he had to make it happen.

4) Thick Skinned Attitude & Be Frugal in Costs:

I was and still continue to be emotional on certain aspects in life something I am working towards bettering and I am sure over time I shall overcome it but the truth of life is, in India if you are an Internet Entrepreneur then plz ensure you get thick skinned because opinions, comments, sarcasm are part and parcel of being an entrepreneur in the internet space in India, I am sure you all know what the reasons are.

However what you must ensure is, nothing should bother you because you will then hit a roadblock, which will be difficult to overcome so just follow your path and be watchful, there will be a lot of thorns, which you will need to walk on to get hurt but don’t stop walking, remember Johny Walker? If need be, get a couple of it to help you continue walking

Saving costs is critical so don’t waste or squander money by having luxurious offices or spend money on some unwanted stuff where you think you can actually save to see tomorrow. Where ever you can be frugal with money, be frugal, till you know you can afford some luxuryJ Because there will be a day when you will see a lot of it if you build a successful business, so be patient and work towards that brighter tomorrow by being frugal today.

5) Product:

Ensure your business (if in the consumer space) is built upon a strong platform that will yield value to the entire ecosystem. So building a relevant product that will deliver that is also a very important parameter. I can only talk of our experience, though we have grown phenomenally well over the last several quarters, it has taken us 14mnths to build our first offering, which we are launching next week, I don’t want to talk about our product here but it takes time, patience and a lot of trial and error before dawning into the final output.

So if in the technology space then you must ensure you have a great product to deliver.

Finally apart from the above 5, I want to tell you something out of personal experience when it comes to finding money for your project to get funded. With due respect to the panelists in the podium I want to refer my experience on VCs:

a) VCs get over a 10 different business proposals everyday and I am sure there are many duplication in the same and there are some, which are bright, it is difficult for them to sometimes understand, which of those ideas would actually stick so be patient with them.

b) Also don’t think of starting a business to raise money because you will never be able to raise it then, I spent the first 7mnths of our existence trying to find those millions of dollars for our company and I realized that it is more easier to actually focus on the business and build a sustainable business than go after figuring out who will fund you.

c) If you build a successful business, it is just a matter of time before you will have a queue, isn’t it a good feeling for you to select whom you want to partner with than you queueing behind them? So focus and put all your energies on building a successful business.

In Capital 18 our seed investor I learnt this the hard way but I would like to thank Sarbvir for backing me and my team and also grilling into my head the points I mentioned above.