Week at a glance: Bigg Boss 12; Sony MAX’s AI foray; New WPP CEO

The three pillars of Bigg Boss’ success
‘Bigg Boss’ is returning to Colors for its 12th season, and this time – in keeping with the theme of ‘Iss bar aar ahi hai interesting jodi’ – the reality show will feature assorted couple jodis battling it out to survive 100 days under the constant glare of multiple cameras and host Salman Khan’s lively supervision. ‘Bigg Boss 12’ will premiere on Sunday, September 16, 2018, at 9.00 pm, while subsequent episodes will air every Monday to Friday at 10.30 pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 9.00 pm. 

Sony MAX forays into the world of Artificial Intelligence with Filmykaant
As Sony MAX forays into the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Filmykaant, in an email interaction with Adgully, Vaishali Sharma, Head - Marketing & Communications, Sony MAX Movies Cluster & Sony SAB, decodes the objective, technology and plans involving the Filmykaant chatbot. 

ZEE declares MRP of all its channels; basic bouquet for HSM starts at Rs 45
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has become the first major broadcaster in the country to announce MRP of all its channels under the new regime as per Regulation dated March 3, 2017. ZEEL uploaded details of a-la-carte MRP of its channels on the website on Friday, August 31, 2018. Besides declaring a-la-carte prices, ZEEL has also announced MRP of various bouquets, which comprises its leading channels. 

BrandZ report is a connector between all GroupM agencies: CVL Srinivas
The BrandZ Most Valuable Indian Brands analysis released by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown highlights the growing value of brands in India. Trust is an important key driver of brand value, with its impact on corporate performance. 

Eicher has seen 40% growth in the last four months: SS Gill
Eicher Trucks & Buses has embarked on a new 360-degree brand initiative that goes beyond business. In keeping with the brand promise of ‘Partnering Prosperity’ and developing a strong connect with the next generation fleet owners and stakeholders, Eicher Trucks & Buses has conceptualised #EicherNayiSoch. 

WPP announces Mark Read as Chief Executive Officer
WPP plc this week announced the appointment of Mark Read as Chief Executive Officer and his appointment to the Board of WPP as an Executive Director with immediate effect. Read had the chops to vie for the position and was keen to take on the role as well. Initially, Sir Martin Sorrel had intended both Mark Read and Andrew Scott to succeed him but with his premature exit plans changed. Mark Read had an excellent run as Global CEO of Wunderman and a was groomed by Sorrel in his early years. 

As WPP's performance staggers new CEO Mark Read maps plan for the future
WPP revenue impact by currency headwinds and has dropped by 2.1% (€ 7.493 billion) compared to last year according to their 2018 Interim Results. New CEO Mark Read said that he is focused on winning and retaining business and cleaning up structural inefficiencies. The report points out that compared to Q1 2017 like to like revenue is up by 1.6% and Q2 is up by 2.4% excluding the impact of acquisitions and currency. The company’s estimated new business billings of 3.2 billion were won in the first half of the year, returning to a strong performance. 

Taranjeet Singh puts in his papers as Country Director, Twitter India
Taranjeet Singh, Country Director, Twitter India, has decided to move on from the social media company. He announced his decision on Twitter on September 4, 2018. He further informed that Balaji Krish, Global Head of Revenue Strategy and Operations, would be the interim country head. 

Raj Kurup & Prahlad Kakkar join hands to launch Dining Table for SMEs & FOBs
Creativeland Asia Founder and Creative Chairman Sajan Raj Kurup and Prahlad Kakkar (Chief Mentor) have launched ‘Dining Table’, India’s first marketing, communications and business consultancy for family-owned and small to medium-sized business owners. 

Viacom18 expands channel offerings in Kannada regional market
Viacom18 has announced plans to launch a new Kannada movie channel, called Colors Kannada Cinema. The pay channel will be priced at Re 1 following the latest tariff order. After their Hindi GEC, it is Colors Kannada that has about 8-10% of their viewer share and comprises their second largest audience base. According to the Broadcast India 2018 survey report, 95% of homes in the South have a TV. The report states that the number of TV-owning individuals in the 5 south states: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala is 259 million, up 8% from 2016. 

Digital access to fuel M&E growth to 13.1% over next five years: KPMG report
The media and entertainment industry is now on the road to recovery after facing headwinds due to fallout of major regulatory interventions such as demonetisation, GST and RERA, resulting in lower consumption and ad spend during FY18. According to KPMG’s report, titled ‘Media Ecosystems: The Walls Fall Down’, strong and consistent economic growth, fuelled by a rise in consumption and growth in digitisation provided support, has enabled the Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry to grow at 11 per cent over FY17 to reach Rs 1,436 billion in FY18. 

WPP subsidiary Wunderman acquires e-commerce consulting agency, 2Sales
WPP announces that its wholly-owned global digital agency, Wunderman, has acquired 2Sales International S.A., an e-commerce consulting agency. 

Netflix and Hathway join hands; rope in 8 lakh subscribers
International OTT player, Netflix has signed a deal with cable TV and Internet service provider, Hathway Cable and Datacom to expand their user base to the cable TV player's 8 lakh subscribers. The partnership will enable consumers to avail of Netflix's video streaming services on set-top-boxes offered by Hathway. The cost of the subscription will be added to their monthly cable bill. Additionally, Hathway is offering remotes with a dedicated Netflix button so that users can switch between cable and OTT seamlessly. Hathway will also integrate high speed fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) plans with their cable TV services in unlimited monthly plans. 

Brands show some love after SC declares verdict on 377
September 6, 2018 was a momentous day for the LGBTQ community as the much awaited Supreme Court verdict declared that parts of Section 377 that criminalises consensual homosexual intercourse between adults has been struck down. The five judge bench that gave the verdict was comprised of Chief Justice Dipak Mishra, Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice RF Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar, and Justice Indu Malhotra. The decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous. Of course, the LGBTQ community was overjoyed once the verdict came in but the outpouring of support and enthusiastic well-wishers who took to social media and spread the message was also startling. 

BARC Wk 35: Zee Anmol holds on to No. 1 spot; Star bouquet does well
BARC ratings for Week 35 (August 25-31) [HSM (U+R): NCCS All : 2+ Individuals] saw FTA channels gain further grounds once again among the top 10 Hindi GECs in Rural+Urban. Zee Anmol remained at the top, but it were the channels from the Star India bouquet that did well. Sony SAB’s show ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma’ once again entered the top 5 shows list this week. Sony Entertainment Television was back among the top 10 Hindi GECs. 

The W Suite | For the longest time, decision takers were men: Tanvi Shukla
Diversity in the workforce has become a necessity today, and more so in the leadership positions. It can’t be denied that women bring a high level of creativity and empathy while solving problems and handling crises. Women leaders bring to the table a different level of dexterity. 

Ad Land’s Young Guns: Gazal Jain, FCB Ulka
Her love for innovation and spontaneity has never let Gazal Jain, Copy Supervisor, FCBUlka, be satisfied with a conventional job. Everything about the creative world fascinates Jain, letting her take the liberty to take anything and everything in thoughts, experiences, and relationships and converting that into something meaningful. 

Motivational stories help grow My FM’s RJ Kartik’s FB followers to 1 mn
From being an ardent radio follower to a passionate Radio Jockey, RJ Kartik has come a long way. With a rich experience of 8 years and the credit of hosting almost 2,400 Live shows, he started his career as an intern in 2009 and in 2012 he came on board as a full time RJ at My FM. He is not only limited to Radio broadcast, but has also achieved a great response on social media due to his regular updates of innovative social experiments and other influential videos which eventually go viral and are so noticeable that they even grab the Chief Minister’s attention.