Exclusive | Aiming for constant innovations: Hungama's Neeraj Roy

The mobile and digital mediums have witnessed a steady growth in the country over a period of time. Encashing on the same, ITC’s leading personal care brand, Vivel Face Wash along with Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and world renowned Indian musician Shankar Mahadevan has launched India’s first truly digital talent hunt - “MOBisur”. This unique and innovative mobile & internet based talent hunt promises to give every Indian an opportunity to storm the world with their singing talent.

 

Adgully caught up with Neeraj Roy- MD and CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd as he talks about the new property and the future innovations in store at Hungama Digital Services.

 

Shedding light on how the unique concept of MOBIsur was executed, he said, “MOBIsur was the brainchild of a colleague Anuj Bajpai. A year back, we were working with Shankar Mahadevan on some project and he thought we should take this up. What followed was a series of enlightening conversations and brainstorming. After the idea, we went into the developing stage. MOBIsur was conceptualized in seven months.”

 

Divulging further details, he said, “ MOBIsur is an earnest and unique offering. I don’t believe anywhere in the world has there been a voice driven talent hunt that has been initiated of the magnitude and scale we are talking about. A web-based interface will also be launched. There is an incremental value attached to the whole platform. Mobisur is an attempt to try and do something different, which the consumers will enjoy .”

 

Commenting on the kind of responses that are anticipated for the initiative, he said, “I have consciously not set a specific number to achieve. My push to the team was to get the product right. We will know in a month’s time where we will swing. However, considering the digital eco system, I reckon there would be great responses.”

 

The media mix that has been employed for the promotion of MOBIsur is television, radio, digital and social media.

 

Talking about some of the further developments at the helm at Hungama Digital Services, Neeraj said, “We are constantly working on interesting projects. Currently, we are piloting a property called Bus Stop in co-ordination with Intel. It is truly a revolutionary platform. Bus Stop falls in the ambit of the PC domain. It is currently in test market in four cities. Bus Stop is basically what can be termed as signature browsing and it would create a whole new browsing experience for users. We have tied up with 120 content partners to engage, build and take the whole concept to an altogether different level.”

 

Hungama operates in a variety of verticles such as music, movies, lifestyle, sports and education, to name a few. It also recently launched the I-English platform on Airtel DTH services, thus catering to the educational category.

 

Expressing his views on the acquisition of majority stake by JWT in Hungama he said, “We entered into a partnership with WPP and JWT Asia and India , because we felt that  it was time to look at a strategic partner for our digital agency. Therefore, we set that as a separate entity. We are in the early days, but we are extremely excited about the possibilities of the venture. “

 

Neeraj is extremely optimistic about the growth of the digital medium ; although he expresses concern over the lack of advertising spend on the medium.

 

Neeraj is also an active speaker at various international forums advising on the global mobile and digital entertainment economy. His advice to young entrepreneurs eager to explore the digital medium remains, “This is an exciting time to examine your creativity. There are so many business models that are possible. The digital medium opens up newer avenues. Dream and if you have an idea, trust it and execute it. Today, there are many people and many places where you can take your ideas.”