ZenithOptimedia, part of the Publicis Group and the third largest media agency in the world, recently launched Newcast in India. Newcast is a specialist division of ZenithOptimedia, which develops and executes non-traditional media solutions. Suvi Dogra spoke to Navin Khemka, Senior Vice-President of ZenithOptimedia and head of Newcast, about the company’s strategy.
India is the first country where Newcast will start operations after its launch in 2007. Why so?
In India, new media innovations have already started, which is why the country was chosen as the first market outside of Europe and ahead of even China and the US. We will start operations in China shortly.
As media fragments and consumers rely less on television and print, everyone wants to get into the non-traditional space. Hence media agencies need to adapt to this changing consumption pattern. Limiting yourself only to television and print means you are history. One needs to evolve.
What kind of work will Newcast undertake in India?
Newcast is a specialist division of ZenithOptimedia, which develops and executes non-traditional media solutions. It’s not a below-the-line initiative. This division will provide services such as branded content, sponsorship, events, experiential marketing, etc. to clients.
Clients will now have access for the first time to neutrally planned activity in areas such as sponsorship, events and branded content, with the execution of the ideas conducted by specialist in-house teams, alongside the traditional media plan.It works best for providing solutions where the target audience is defined and niche. What is happening in the industry right now is that media is getting fragmented from a consumption point of view and there is a need to understand the needs of brands in that context.
What are the key reasons for this media fragmentation and what is the direct impact?
This fragmentation is happening primarily due to two reasons. One, there are a lot more media choices available now. Second, the way one is interacting with the media is also changing. It’s no longer a one way communication. Internet, social networking sites etc are good examples of this process.
Planners and buyers need to look beyond plain spot and space buying. One needs to interact much more with the media in terms of the way you engage with clients and brands and come up with solutions. Newcast will be media-neutral and would aim to provide clients with a holistic solution with return on investments being a key driver.
How has Newcast been structured?
For the first six months, we have decided to rope in the heads of our various business divisions and they have been given the additional responsibility of Newcast just to keep the continuation going. Going forward, we intend to hire specialists and not generalists who will help us build expertise.
To start with, Newcast will operate from Gurgaon but we hope to expand to Mumbai by the end of the year. Right now we are focusing on three projects which we have bagged within the first month.
Can you elaborate upon the touch point approach that Newcast will deploy?
Touchpoint is a unique tool for ZenithOptimedia clients that provide clear actionable metrics for all contact points used in marketing products and services. The Touchpoint ROI tracker so far amounts to 330 category surveys comprising over 3,30,000 consumer interviews across 35 countries and 130 product and service categories
What will be the revenue model for Newcast?
The time and effort invested behind a project is far more than a regular account. We want the division to charge separately on project fee basis and not as a percentage. One cannot make money otherwise since the volume of business is less but time spent is proportionately higher.
It is the global norm for us —be it in London, Russia or elsewhere. We get all agencies together to provide a strategically thought-out solution. The aim is to get the solution first and then deal with implementation.
