Kaushal Modi, Head licensing and Telephony for SET India began by outlining the TV channels strategy - of building a destination using a short code. TV, he said, leverages mobile VAS because it is interactive, instant and easy and allows them to connect one-to-one with the consumer. Post cards took 7 days to reach and were tedious to go through - mobile VAS has emerged as a solution. SET went interactive with Indian Idol and got over 100 million votes. A new show,‘Man Mein Hai Visshwas’, allowed people to send in their story,and if selected, an episode was created around it. They have an issue with the 5 digit code, since cost of promotions for IBRL, SMS etc separately will be very high. There is also a need to plug the leakages in the commercials. We’re now approaching an era of heightened levels of interactivity - on multiple platforms. Mobile TV will allow personalised interactivity. SET has been working on mobisodes,and exclusive content is important for success. They’re getting a few thousand downloads a day for ‘Big Boss’ and more than recovering costs. This will take off, he thinks.
Sanjive Sethi, Director Mobile for Times Internet Limited attempted to define critical information as the information that each user demands individually. Critical is dependent on the user and his profile, whether it is flight information, job search, a dictionary, city information or matrimonial profiles. Critical, he said, requires media to be a 360 degree approach. Nishana, a contest that Times Internet ran, got 3 crore SMS’. The India poised campaign has been a 360 degree approach with coverage across Times of India, Times Now, Radio Mirchi, Indiatimes, 8888 and Zoom.
Sujai Srivastava, Business Manager of Reliance Communications feels that VAS is more about value than money. He suggests the creation of pull portals, like those giving CA results. He mentioned the Cadbury’s portal for exam results, which we’d written about earlier, as well as other case studies. The results of the campaign are directly measurable - they can get to know exact demographics, the size of the customers wallet and enable follow up action.