Allied Media Network Pvt. Ltd. is a company that offers true 3600media solutions to clients across conventional as well as traditional media. It has a dedicated multi-city intranet network which helps the centralized planning and buying process with the capability to ‘execute & activate’ at a localized level, it also provide a unique media service delivery platform through its micro-marketing infrastructure. This ensures reduced national and regional response time apart from increased speed and efficiency for clients.

Allied Media is the media planning, evaluation and buying arm of Percept Limited. Some of Allied Media’s esteemed clientele includes brands like Future Group, BSNL, Panasonic, Canon, DLF and Sahara, to name a few.

With experience of more than 23 years in the media industry, Shripad Kulkarni has managed every aspect of the advertising media. He has worked with Contract, Clarion and O&M, where he has handled and helped build a wide spectrum of brands like Pillsbury Atta, Vicks, Hamam, Fevicol, Philips, Zandu Balm, Moov, Sahara Group, Johnny Walker and Kalnirnay, to name a few. Kulkarni has conducted over 200 workshops in Media Planning, Media Buying as well as Ad Sales and teaches regularly to management students at MICA and other institutes. He has also advised many a media in Strategy, Content and Ad Sales. At present Kulkarni is on board as CEO at Allied Media Pvt. Ltd.

In conversation with Adgully, Kulkarni shared insights on their future expansion plan and M3 model.
Kulkarni, begins the conversation by sharing his view on World cup and the trends he has experienced today, “World Cup was the reason why the industry grew last year. World cup came during the period which was not very high spending period. The emphasis given to it skewed Industry Spends in favour of TV. Last year we saw growth in TV share which was at the expense of print, which was one trend. The second trend that we saw was that the most advertisers wanted to have a stable media relationship, and we had less of pitches other than those who had specific reason. the third trend was the allround groundswell for digital media which is now poised for a significant spend in the next 18months. Lastly talent situation continues to be challenging.”

“We bucked the Industry trend by growing with 40 percent and we concentrated on business that we have acquired earlier years and categories in which we are doing well. We also concentrated on durables, government business, and real estates. We built our team and at present we have 100 members in our team. For taking us to the next level we have exclusive partnership with‘Point logic’, for their World Class) M3(model Suite. This will unfold in the next 6 to 12 months.” Explained Kulkarni, about strategies they are working on.
On elaborating about their relationship with Point logic, he said, “Point logic has a special analytic and research based Model called M3 model. M3 stands for Message, Media and Market. On Message – we focuses on the drivers for the category. Media means all 3600 degree communication channels including the word of mouth. The Simulation part of the M3 Suite gives us ROI – possible impact on the market share. M3 model software is a kind of decision support system which helps to understand, what combination of message and communication channel is expected to deliver the best market share.”

For Allied Media, Delhi is the fastest growing market with growth of 50 percent and, at present Bombay and Delhi are similar in business volume..

At present Allied Media is already there in client based market as Chennai, Bangalore, Luck now and Pune. On asking about the future expansion plans, Kulkarni said, “We would want to expand in two –three more metros depending on the business potential. As a group we are always open for any non-organic growth. With our Point logic alignment we now have the best tools, and now we are ready to compete with best of the best.”

The biggest advantage that the company has is that they are the right maturity level on the agency life cycle. The media AOR business is stuck in a time warp, but now we are in the position to redefine the various structures of our business model. Allied Media believes that, with this orientation and re-structuring of the business perspectives that has been planned will give them an edge that would be seen soon in the market.

On digital media front, Kulkarni said, “Digital media is a very big industry and we have specialist Company as Percept, and we are moving ahead with it by having digital planners in every major group of ours so, that digital planning would be intrinsic to the whole planning process.”

For the plans ahead, he continued, “Like last year we will concentrate on specific segments, specific markets and with our new thrust on tools we will target the challenger brands. We would show to the leading brands that how we can create success for the challenger brands. That is our game plan not only for this year but for next 18 months. We already have huge strength in 360 degree area of the groups which we would leverage like never before.”

Due to slowdown period, 2012 could be the tough year than the last year for many industries, but according to Kulkarni, “These economic issues like recession are global in nature. We are strong fundamentally, so if we focus right and the companies which would innovate in this period with right mix of investment and focuses on relevant opportunities will do well for some time to come. We would be amongst one of those companies for sure. Clients spend will be at similar level, some categories will be affected but as seen in the last few years, certain sunrise categories, would cover the loss. Because as a market we are still vibrant growing market.”

The core expertise of Allied Media is that they like to challenge and redefine themselves. We understand advertisers need, and quickly adapt and change ourselves to deliver. Besides this, due to our Group Pedigree we offer true holistic 3600 in real time and real terms.
My word of advice for young Media professionals, “In life you often need unimaginable level of resilience and patience in many a situation.” Concluded, Kulkarni. | By Ranjana Gupta [ranjana(at)adgully.com]

Shripad Kulkarni, chief executive officer, Allied Media shares his thoughts on the year gone by

How was the year 2011 for Allied Media, and how is the new year looking?

For us, 2011, like our last five years, have been very good and we had a healthy 35% growth. However if you see the market trend, especially the last six weeks, one can see the global recession impact is visible and there is little cautiousness being exercised by marketers. We are pretty much comfortable this year till April 2012, as the budgets have already been frozen, and are confident that we will easily be above market trends in the coming year as well. However, it does look like that the global situation will unfold in quite a negative way this year in India and that will impact agencies.

How can this impact be nullified?

I don’t think media agencies per se can do much to change the scenario because marketing budgets are driven by market situations and sentiments of the advertisers, and we can do precious little for it. But I think what we can do is, we can look at innovative solutions for our clients. We can look at innovative solutions, far greater ROI and very often the answer is in IMC solutions, which I would say, not all Indian media agencies are well equipped to handle.

Measurement has been a major issue among marketers across mediums. What is your take on that, especially OOH?

I think every advertiser has metric for RoI measurement of sorts. While some are primitive, some are fairly sophisticated. In the OOH space, hopefully in the next couple of years we will see some sort of measurement tools in place from industry bodies like MRUC who are developing tools. Anybody who wants ROI in digital, there are various tools already available. However, there is an issue in terms of the ATL vs BTL spend ratios and the split within ATL and BTL. That is where we are taking steps along with Point Logic with the M3 model, which primarily focuses on these.

What were the key growth drivers for Allied Media in 2011, and what do you think will be the drivers going forward?

In 2011, the growth driver for us was the organic growth from all our existing businesses and the new businesses that we got in the last two to three years. The key growth drivers for us in 2012 will be use of world class research tools for ROI, across IMC campaigns.

Balakrishna has so far served within the capacity of vice-president. As chief operating officer, Balakrishna will take charge of the entire operations of the Rs 1,000 crore franchise that Allied Media currently manages.

Allied Media, the media planning, evaluation and buying arm of Percept Limited, has elevated P M Balakrishna from the post of vice-president to that of chief operating officer of the company.

Balakrishna has been with Allied Media since its inception in April 2007. It was at the same time that Shripad Kulkarni, the company's chief executive officer, came on board.

A couple of years after he joined the company, Balakrishna was promoted to the post of vice-president. Now, as chief operating officer, he will take charge of the entireoperations of the current Rs 1,000 crore franchise that Allied Media currently manages.

On his elevation, Balakrishna conveys in an official communique, "I am excited with the challenging opportunity to drive the company to newer heights. We have established a strong presence in India in a short span of time, and with our association with Point Logic, we are now ready to take on the best in the industry."

On Balakrishna's elevation, Shripad Kulkarni, chief executive officer, Allied Media, says, "Balakrishna has been the key resource of Allied Media since its inception and has played a pivotal role in the super success story of the company. As we grow at breakneck speed, we strongly believe in nurturing and growing in-house talent. We believe in building leaders from within."

So far, Balakrishna has played a key role in building a formidable team to service all the group clients of Percept, including the North and South regions. He has been instrumental in forging business relationships with a varied mix of clients such as Panasonic, Toyota, Canon, Hirco, Nahar Group, and the Sahara Group, amongst others.

He has also been highly instrumental in growing the capitalised billing of the company to 10,000 million INR, this fiscal.

Balakrishna has 20 years of experience in the media industry. He has a strong sales and marketing background, and has worked with media houses such as The Times of India (Bennett, Coleman & Co), and the Zee Network.

To offer Pointlogic services to Indian advertisers and marketers using consumer insights & expertise. Percept Media, the media planning, buying and evaluation arm of Percept Limited, entered into a strategic alliance with Pointlogic, a world renowned player providing integrated marketing communications and marketing ROI solutions. Through this alliance Percept will customize and localize the world class suite of offerings from Pointlogic and apply them to Indian advertisers and marketers using consumer insights & expertise. As media channels evolve it has become increasingly difficult to compare the performance of each media channel. Percept & Pointlogic will offer consulting, modeling and easy-to-use customizable software solutions for communication planning, ROI modeling, targeting and segmentation to Indian companies. Percept will apply Pointlogic methods and tools leading to services to gain a competitive advantage in the media and communications domain. It’s the first true consumer centric and holistic approach adopted by an Indian agency assessing all the different ways consumers interact with brands leading to an integrated management of marketing communication. Pointlogic specializes in business analytics for the marketing industry. Its mission is to help clients increase their influence on customers. Pointlogic has a true global perspective with clients’ covering a total of 60 international markets. As the Indian market is seeing lot of global players entering the Indian market and keeping in mind India’s current economic growth, Pointlogic plans to make India as one of their operational servicing hub for their global clients.

The state of the art tools of Pointlogic entails easy to use software solutions like Compose, Chorus, M3, Modelling etc which will measure all communication campaigns including ATL, BTL, Social Media, Word of Mouth and other vehicles of communications optimally. The tools will help as a guide for advertisers of different sectors to effectively bifurcate their communication spends in various vehicles as per media efficacy. The flexible & the lucid application of the software provides cutting edge research & advanced mathematical modeling to enable clients to make smart decisions in different industries. This seamless usage of application is currently used by various sectors in over 60 international markets. These tools will be a boon for the Indian market considering the sector diversity. Percept with 62 offices spread across India and Middle East and capitalized billings of INR 26 billion (FY’11) works with over 600 Brands across a wide spectrum of categories at any given point of time. Combined with almost three decades of in-depth knowledge of Indian advertisers and brands, this partnership with Pointlogic will translate into applying fresh analytical thinking to their clients’ communication needs and further bridging the gap between brands offerings and consumers needs. The software will be tailor-made to the Indian sensibilities of the business by applying powerful mathematical modeling techniques and tools to generate a deeper insight into clients’ choices and offer concrete, software-based solutions. The objectives and strategies of the client’s communication campaign will be carefully considered before the application of various tools. Percept Media will processes these diverse variables and translate these insights into creating communication plans that influence the stimulators for the brand in a positive manner for the identified target audience. wide range of applications will be offered to the Indian advertisers and brands. These tools will not only provide a greater insight into the performance of past messaging, but also focus on how insights can be gained to optimize and forecast the effect of future campaigns. The tools utilized will aid to garner:

• Insight into the ROI of media spends
• Determine the media budget and the allocation among communication channels
• Optimal design of promotion policy
• Optimal anticipation of competitors actions
• Insights into effects of other marketing decisions (price & distribution)
• Insights into effects of factors that cannot be influenced (weather, holidays etc)

Commenting on this strategic alliance, Shripad Kulkarni, CEO, Percept Media quoted, “We are extremely happy to partner with Pointlogic for this unique venture. Pointlogic is globally recognized as a pioneer in analytics and creating specialized software tools and applications that are easy to use, customize and apply to domestic markets. This alliance will translate into a great boon for the Indian corporations and brands who will not only be able to review the effectiveness of their past campaigns but also efficiently optimize their future communications. The beauty of the application is that it covers the entire spectrum of integrated marketing communications. We are extremely confident that we will be able to add tremendous value to our clients’ communication process and herald a new chapter in brand messaging.” eter Kloprogge, Founder & CEO, Pointlogic said “India provides a huge opportunity for brands and as such also for agencies and consultancy firms helping clients introduce and optimize the brand value. On the other hand, it would be naïve to think that practices from around the world would be immediately applicable in India where we’re dealing with a fast growing market, complex demographic profiles, huge differences per region, etc. We have no doubt that Percept Media is the right partner as they add an enormous amount of local knowledge & expertise and the ability to operate full-service within the Percept Group. We are extremely happy with this partnership and truly believe the combination will prove pivotal in moving the marketing industry in to the next level.”

The fatigue, the format and the fall in ratings of Indian Premier League (IPL-4) have not deterred Multi-Screen Media (MSM), the broadcaster, to claim selling 10-second advertisement spot for Rs 15 lakh for the last four matches. But media buyers say MSM is actually willing to sell these spots at the same rate — Rs 5-5.5 lakh per 10-second spot — of group matches. “Most of the inventory kept aside for last-minute deals is on the verge of being finalised. The ad spots for the last leg of IPL will be sold at Rs 15 lakh,” said Rohit Gupta, president-network sales of MSM, which owns SET Max. The rates will be applicable to the two qualifiers for the final in Mumbai and Chennai on May 24 and 27, the eliminator on May 25 in Mumbai and the final on May 28 in Chennai. SET Max is estimated to earn Rs 900 crore from ad sales alone during this IPL season. The latest TRP figures issued by TAM Sports, a unit of TAM Media Research, for the first 59 matches in IPL-4 show that ratings have hit a new low of 3.84 against IPL-3’s 6.36, IPL-2’s 4.66 and the The first season’s 5.39.

“With lack of advertiser interest due to dip in viewership, these spots are not being able to command premium this year, unlike previous seasons where the rates had shot The fatigue, the format and the fall in ratings of Indian Premier League (IPL-4) have not deterred Multi-Screen Media (MSM), the broadcaster, to claim selling 10-second advertisement spot for Rs 15 lakh for the last four matches. But media buyers say MSM is actually willing to sell these spots at the same rate — Rs 5-5.5 lakh per 10-second spot — of group matches. “Most of the inventory kept aside for last-minute deals is on the verge of being finalised. The ad spots for the last leg of IPL will be sold at Rs 15 lakh,” said Rohit Gupta, president-network sales of MSM, which owns SET Max. The rates will be applicable to the two qualifiers for the final in Mumbai and Chennai on May 24 and 27, the eliminator on May 25 in Mumbai and the final on May 28 in Chennai.

SET Max is estimated to earn Rs 900 crore from ad sales alone during this IPL season. The latest TRP figures issued by TAM Sports, a unit of TAM Media Research, for the first 59 matches in IPL-4 show that ratings have hit a new low of 3.84 against IPL-3’s 6.36, IPL-2’s 4.66 and the up by 150-200 per cent. Brands will be unwilling to cough up Rs 15 lakh for 10 seconds and MSM may have to settle for less to use up any last-minute inventory,” said a senior media buying official from Group M, India’s largest media buying firm, one of whose clients is Hindustan Unilever.

Last year, MSM pre-sold its inventory at Rs 4 lakh for 10 seconds and in the final the spot rates jumped to Rs 12 lakh. “MSM had pre-sold 80-85 per cent of its inventory at Rs 5-5.5 lakh per 10-second spot and was planning to hike rates to Rs 10-12 lakh for finals. The rate is more than double of the group matches. The broadcaster may be forced to sell inventory at a discounted rate or it may remain unsold this season,” said a senior media buyer. MSM’s Gupta said the number of people watching IPL-4 was high. “One hundred and forty-three million people watched IPL last year.

This year we have already crossed 146.5 million people.” He insisted that the broadcast of IPL matches offered a more effective reach for advertisers. When IPL-4 kicked off in April, the broadcaster riding the World Cup wave hiked spot rates by 20-25 per cent, cashing in on the feel-good factor surrounding cricket. The spot rate went up 25-30 per cent to as high as Rs 6.25 - 6.75 lakh when the tournament began, depending on the teams, match timings and the day of the week. Each IPL match allows 45 minutes of ad air time. "With back-to-back tournaments, there could have been a possible overdose of cricket. Also, with more matches played this year due to 10 teams and swap of players in various franchises could have diluted some of the loyalty built up over previous seasons. But viewer ship could pick up as the series progresses," said Shripad Kulkarni, CEO, Allied Media, the media planning and buying arm of Percept Group.

Outdoor advertising is finally coming out of the shadow of television campaigns and getting its own place under the sun. Brand Wagon picks up seven recent outdoor campaigns to see whether they have been able to create a buzz In recent times, outdoor has been the main medium for launch, positioning and repositioning of several products and services OUT-OF-HOME, or OOH, advertising in India has certainly come a long way. From being just a larger version of print ads, the medium is now getting the exclusivity and the attention that it deserves.There are ads and innovations being especially created for the outdoor medium and technology is playing a major role in its overhaul. OOH spends have also been on the rise with the average compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) being about 14%."The OOH industry has never seen a steady graph and has had its ups and downs. If one was to graph its movement in the last four years, then 2007 had been an excellent year with a growth of nearly 30% over the previous year," says Sanjay Shah, CEO, Blue Sky Brandcomm Asia. While the OOH sector grew by about 10% in 2008 over 2007, 2009 did not show any growth due to the recession. "I feel 2010 has clocked an approximate growth of 10% over 2009 to close at about Rs 1,550 crore. 2011 looks promising and it should close with a growth rate of 1215%,"he says.

One of the biggest reasons behind the attention that outdoor is attracting now is the increased confidence of clients in the medium. Says Rajneesh Bahl, Business Head ­ Outdoor, Percept Out of Home, "There have been a lot of changes in the medium, towards good. Clients' confidence has certainly risen as outdoor is now playing the role of the primary media, it is localized and impactful." In the last couple of years, OOH advertising has been able to come out of the shadow of television and print campaigns and get its own place under the sun. Agrees Shah, "More and more advertisers and marketers have started believing in and using the medium. Agencies, having realized the potential of the medium, have been instrumental in convincing them, which has resulted in higher budgets. This has resulted in outdoor advertising growing in stature in India over the last two decades, and outdoor, in many cases, has been the main medium for launch, positioning and repositioning of products and services." According to Shah, the telecom industry is the top user of the medium with an approximate 40% share even as other categories too have started increasing their  spends on the medium. Another reason for this growth is the entry of new professional players, feels Bahl. "New professional players such as JC Decaux, have really helped. They have got international designs into the country and have raised the standards of outdoor advertising." Separate creatives and technology are also huge catalysts in boosting the growth of this medium. "The advent of new media has helped a lot. OOH media started digital media stream which has been successful.

“The hoardings are no longer simple and plain. They are using new technology to bring in innovation,” says Bahl.

Bahl feels that lack of research is one of the biggest handicaps that the medium faces. He says, " Lack of research limits the scope of the medium."

Shah agrees. "The biggest challenge the medium faces is accountability, measurability and ROI.It is extremely important for gut feelings to be replaced by science and mathematics.However,more and more specialised agencies are being formed, thus changing the total outlook towards the medium and making it more professional and answerable." While accountability is largely there, measurement and ROI are still at a distance. There have been a few attempts to bring in measurability and, in turn, ROI, but unfortunately these are yet to come through, say industry watchers. Quite a few agencies have their own ways of measurement and planning but so far syndicated attempts have not come fully through, points out Shah.

Another major hurdle is the high cost of tenders. Says Bahl, "Tenders are being allotted at exorbitant cost to the end users.”

The cost of tenders has increased about 20 times and that has become a problem." The medium is continuously striving to improve, and overall, there have been enough examples in the recent past to document this improvement in terms of creatives, innovations and implementation. Brandwagon picks up some interesting outdoor campaigns launched in the last few months to see how they have fared. Read on.

Title:     'Intellisense'
Brand:  Panasonic 'Econavi' & 'Cube'
Client:   Panasonic India
OOH Agency:    Percept OOH

Campaign Brief: Build a high impact premium campaign for these products in the target markets. Deploy a wide range of large format media options to buildimpact & stature. Use LED based innovation to attract additional attention & get extra mileage. Deploy media at premium locations to maximize exposure to core target audience.

Percept OOH has partnered with Panasonic to create an innovative and high impact outdoor campaign for the newly launched AC brands 'Econavi' and 'Cube'. The campaign which covered over 70 cities, used a large range of outdoor media including use of innovative LED lights in to showcase the product attributes. The campaign was launched in the thrid week of February, and will continue till April 2011. Commenting on the objective of the campaign, Manish Sharma, Director Marketing, Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd, said, "at Panasonic, we are committed to design products which are apt for Indian conditions, while placing a premium on durability and afford-ability. We have launched two new products in the air-conditioning segment this year, specially targeted at the Indian consumer. The first in the high end premium category is the 'Econavi' and 'Cube' is our latest offering in the mid segment category. 'Econavi' comes with a revolutionary technology which detects presence in the room and adjusts cooling automatically - AC with 'Intellisense'." On giving the outdoor advertising madate to Percept OOH, Sharma said, "We have partnered Percept OOH for taking this  product across India via outdoor advertising to familiarise it with Indian consumers. The Outdoor campaign was specially chosen to cover the length and breadth across 70 cities in India. Our aim through this campaign is to make consumers understand the product attributes and actually go into our brand shops to experience it, and to convert them into buyers.'' Percept OOH was given the mandate of creating maximum visibility and high recall value for each brand with their specific target audience with a objective of converting them into buyers.

Rajneesh Bahl, Business Head, Outdoor, Percept OOH, said, "Panasonic has launched two new ranges of consumer air conditioners, 'Econavi' and 'Cube'.These two ranges straddle two ends of the Indian AC buying consumer and have different media strategies involved. Panasonic has trusted  Percept OOH to identify the perfect strategies for each of these ranges and deliver maximum visibility for each brand in their specific target audience across 70 cities involving 2.5 lac square feet of display spaceî. To grab maximum eyeballs, the company has invested in innovations using LED lights, highlighting the brand name and its new mascot. Apart from Delhi, the campaign has been executed in key cities like Gurgaon, Noida, Lucknow, Agra, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Haryana, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ranchi, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Indore, Raipur, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nasik, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Rajkot, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Cochin, Trivandrum, Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai etc.With mercury rising across northern India, Percept OOH strategy has given headstart to Panasonic brands by creating maximum visibility within the category. The heat is on for the competitors and for Panasonic its a cool way of reaching the consumers.

Revolutionizes the communications industry through the development of an innovative communication platform for Brands and Consumers .To better serve both Brands and consumers alike, Adchakra, the cross channel ad network of Percept Knorigin has launched its new innovative service ’Brand Video Short Code’ through which brands can have 3G Video short codes wherein consumers can make video calls to access information, engage or connect with the dealers.  This first-of-its-kind interactive ‘Brand Video Short Code’ can be used on any 3G enabled handset for access to a particular brand by just placing a video call.  Brands can use this service to create another channel of engagement with their customers and provide them engaging video content and can have a quick call to action in case customers wants to know more or purchase the product.  Speaking on the Launch of ‘Brand Video Short Code’, Daman Soni, VP Sales & Marketing, Percept Knorigin said, “Video calling is a killer application for Advertising and can provide pull as well as push based communication between brands and consumer.

In today's business environment which demands a higher degree of mobility than ever before, Adchakra’s platform will offer users an unrivalled service of video conferencing and Brand solution that helps achieve higher levels of efficiency and productivity. We would be taking this offering to the market in the coming year and would be working on identifying multiple innovative applications of this technology.” The 3G subscriber base in India is expected to grow exponentially in coming years and apart from high speed internet access, video calling could be one of the key service offerings across industries.

BSNL has launched three value-added services - Video SMS, Live Share and Dial-a-Video for 2G and 3G mobile customers of the State-owned telecom major across the country.The services in entertainment as well utility domain are primarily targeted at youth and professional segment of the market. BSNL has collaborated with its technology partners Cervello for ‘Video SMS’ and ‘Live Share’, and PK Online for ‘Dial-a-Video’. Video SMS (3G) is a way for users to communicate through short videos (voice and picture) and instant communicating with the other person. Live Video Sharing (2G/3G) is an e next to mobile real time video sharing service. This enables customers of both 2G and 3G network to create and share their videos with family and friends instantly on SMS or on Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Dial-a-Video (3G) is for for 3G subscribers and offers music and movie videos, news, TV and cartoon.

BSNL is bringing these ‘state-of-the-art’ services in collaboration with its technology partner Percept Knorigin. SNL launched the much awaited ‘Dial-a-Video’ service in collaboration with Percept Knorigin at a gala inaugural function held in Chandigarh on Sunday, 10 April, 2011. Shri Sachin Pilot, Hon’ble Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology inaugurated three new Value Added Services “Dial-a-Video” for 3G mobile customers of BSNL at this launch function. peaking on the occasion S.S. Sirohi, Chief General Manager Telecom, Punjab Circle elaborated on the benefits of these services to the customers and their potential of generating huge revenues for BSNL. “These ‘first of its kind’ services in entertainment are targeted at youth and professional segments of the market.”

BSNL is bringing these ‘state-of-the-art’ services in collaboration with its technology partner Percept Knorigin. Sirohi expressed hope that with appropriate pricing, marketing and business development strategy BSNL may be able to generate revenues to the tune of Rs. 200-300 crores from these premium services in the next 2-3 years. In addition to this, such services not only enhance the BSNL brand image by adding the much needed zest and youthfulness to the brand but also go a long way in boosting adoption and uptake of 3G services.

Commenting on the launch of ‘51010’ Dial a Video service, Mr. Daman Soni, VP Global Sales and GTM, Percept Knorigin said, “Consumers are increasingly moving towards the concept that they can watch content on any device. Our new model of Video service offers the perfect synergy of rich and diverse content combined with a remarkable network from BSNL to deliver the best of entertainment options to our consumers without any hidden costs.”BSNL subscribers can make a video call to 51010 to watch Live TV and enjoy an exciting assortment of videos at Rs. 2/- per minute only.

What sets this service apart is its no-frills attached features. The user doesn’t have to download any application, access any portal, activate any special service and most importantly won’t be paying any data usage or download charges. All that is needed is a handset with video calling facility and a BSNL 3G connection.
After subscribers make a video call to 51010, they will be greeted by a menu which can be operated through the phone keypad. The user can then choose Live TV and watch popular channels like Aaj Tak, Star News or videos from different genres like music videos, comedy clips, sports, kids programs, devotional and health & fitness. Subscribers can also dial 5101000 and choose from the various subscription packs. Users can choose to pay Rs. 25 for 15 minutes of usage with a validity of 7 days or can go the long haul by paying Rs. 299 with unlimited usage for 30 days.