After a 14-year stint with JWT, Unilever Business, Albert Almeida took up his first job in television as Sony Entertainment Television senior vice president marketing. In the two-year period, Almeida established himself as a strong marketeer and accomplished strategiser in the industry. He has been widely applauded for the impressive marketing and communications campaigns behind successful shows like 'Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin', 'Indian Idol', amongst others.
In 2005, he moved up to join Max, the movies and special events channel, as executive vice president & business head. In his new portfolio, Almeida is spearheading the channel's business strategy.
In a conversation with Indiantelevision.com's Bijoy A K, Almeida talks about how the journey had been for Max in 2005 and what could be expected from the channel in 2006.
Excerpts:
You were made business head in January 2005. Now it is almost a year. How has the experience been? |
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How would you analyse Max's journey in 2005. Milestones achieved? Lessons learnt? Secondly, having established the evening and primetime slots, we then identified the afternoon slot and built it via movie titles that would resonate with female audiences. An example is the Madhuri Dixit Film Festival we launched in the second half of 2005. We have now established this slot and have a festival taking place in every alternative month. Then we launched Sunday Houseful wherein we show contemporary blockbuster films between 9 am and 9 pm. This Sunday slot today delivers 1+ TVR over a 12-hour period on an average. Thus, Sunday Houseful has turned out to be a huge revenue opportunity also. You have to keep running faster if you want to stay in the same place. What worked yesterday may certainly not be relevant today. In the entertainment space, you are competing for a viewer's share of mind, and also fighting to retain him for a larger period of time. It is therefore very imperative that your content and marketing efforts are both very powerful and engaging. Max has built this capability and will continue to demonstrate this time and again. With too many channels across various genres and languages launching, dealing with the changing distribution environment has been a challenge. It is a significant barrier that channels have to address to grow. We have to play the game equally aggressively. |
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Compared to 2004, Max kept a low profile in 2005. Please offer your comments. |
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What's your gameplan to get the channel on top with a stress on both cricket and movies? How do you look at competition? While 2004 was clearly a year where Max challenged and woke up the leader, 2005 has seen a resurgent competitor (Zee Cinema). This has shown through in all their efforts. Having said this, the last quarter - October to December 2005 - has seen us changing the status quo once again. And with our plan for the next quarter, we see ourselves tilting the scales yet again. |
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According to you, what's the strength of Max as a movie channel? |
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Which are the new time bands you are coming up with for movies? Please offer the nature of the marketing campaigns? The Saal Ke Sabse Bade Blockbusters campaign, covering on air promos, radio, print and outdoors, kicked off in the last week of December. On ground activities are being held in towns and cities through van promotions. We have also initiated lots of activities to create buzz in multiplexes and cinemas. |
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Which are the other big titles Max has acquired this year? Bunty aur Babli, Salaam Namaste, Neal N Nikki, Mughal-e-Azam, Tango Charlie, Supari, Zeher, Charas, Rakhtand Socha Na Tha. |
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Throughout 2005, Zee Cinema has been banking on Amitabh Bachchan. Has Max zeroed in on any particular star to conduct a similar campaign? We have created various special properties based on interesting themes. The Madhuri Dixit Film Festival and then the 5 Baje 5 Superstar series are examples. I believe, if you are banking on a single star, sustaining the growth over a long period is doubtful. |
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What is your plan for Hollywood Hungama? Which are the properties you have acquired of late? |
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Did the movie acquisition costs go up this year? Please offer your comment? |
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The cricketing properties Max has lined up include the ICC Championship Trophy 2006 (to be played in India), and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007 (in the West Indies). What are your plans to promote and package these properties? |
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How will you be playing the Mobile platform for promotions as well as content delivery? Any plans to get into mobisodes or related stuff? No comments on mobisodes at this stage, but I would say Max has a lot of plans. |
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What goals have been set for the channel in terms of ad revenue? Revenue-wise, what’s Max’s contribution to the Sony kitty in the 2005 calendar year? All I can say is that we have grown significantly in absolute numbers and our share of revenue be it in the Hindi movie genre or as a percentage contribution to the network kitty have both shown a positive growth. |
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How much has Max spent on marketing in 2005? |
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Which countries are you targeting next for launching Max international and what is the timeline? What are the challenges involved in distributing Max abroad? |