Saas, Bahu Aur Social Network



Source: Buzzom

I would have imagine Facebook go buzzing when Mihir Virani came back alive in the then soap operas of 2000’s “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” or Ansh (Akashdeep Saighal) casting his evil plots. Social media then was not the most active content sharing medium. But time seems to have change!! Audience are actively logging into Youtube to catch-up with their loved operas or checking out the erotic best from Poonam Pandey. India has finally entered the bandwagon of the Social Network and with gossip mongers accounting for half of India’s billion populations, the stake are high on its success.

Indian prime time has been darling to Family Serials and 80% of the audience being women, gets the social circle goes vigorous. Congruently, research project that almost 55% of active Facebook users are women and the combined estimates highlights the increasing traffic of “Saas-Bahu” topic hitting Facebook alone. Further, if we compare the traffic source of the popular family drama and social network, we realize that both have almost similarly contribution from the non-metro cities (60 percent). Likewise, the north and west India accounts for the biggest crowd for both.

Trading on the stated figures, Indian television is now using the social media tools to indulge in cross-platform loyalty programs and enhance the brand equity quotient. ZoOm television has reached out to its fans through tools like Facebook and Youtube. ZoOm has almost 2 crore impressions every week and 2.5 lakh conversations and its Youtube channel has in influx of almost 500 million views. MTV has also been doing the same – MTV Roadies has seen 14 lakh fans on its Facebook page. Interestingly, Sony’s popular serial ‘Bade Acche Lagte Hain‘ has created a lot of buzz with its two thousand strong community on Facebook. Similarly other music, news and entertainment channels are joining the league.

Businesses are not only trying to capture the buzz of existing programs but they are making sure that they are generating exclusive buzz about new TV serials too. For e.g.: ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati‘, the reality game show that started from 15th August, got into the social act much before it hit the television advertisement.

Marketers are smart today. They realize and capitalize on the fact that the most popular time for use of social media is 6pm-10pm (the prime time for the family opera telecasts) and the maximum users come from the ‘less than 5 lakhs p.a.’ income category – the famous middleclass society of India, who are either effect by Sachin Tendulkar’s much awaited hundredth 100 or if Mohnish Behl and Kritika Kamra can finally express their love for each other in the most happening serial “Kuch To Log Kahenge” aired on Sony TV.

We obviously like the way television is dating social media but we would love to see it grow into a real life bonding. It’s great to see that businesses who till date considered TV as the biggest medium of broadcasting and promoting, are now paying attention to social media. So one might wonder whether Indian marketers are investing big time in social media, the answer is a firm YES!!

Trouble in Paradise – A story on the current CEO crisis haunting many tech giants!!

While running through the archives, I came across the article which stated that “the cost of CEO failure can cost an economy like U.S. as much as $13.8 billion" (I assume the figure would have gone further up). In addition to the monetary loss, an abrupt departure by senior executives can be a real headache for communicators because the rumour mill will often go into frenzy about the event. And rumours are usually worse than the truth. When Steve Jobs retired as Apple Inc. CEO in August 2011, he was one of 104 chief executive officer departures announced by U.S.-based companies in the month, according to the latest report on CEO turnover released Sept. 7 by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.     

Resignation has most often been the cited reason for CEO departures, followed by retirement and CEOs "stepping down".

The turn of events in 2011 saw a lot such succession at some very high-profile technology companies – IBM, Apple, HP and Yahoo to name a few. However, the top job change is more common than we might expect, with an average tenure of a Fortune 500 CEO is just 4.6 years.

Well for a few the change took for inevitable circumstances, Tim Cook for Apple; while for a few more that was a corporate relief – Yahoo or HP. IBM can nevertheless count itself lucky for having a school of enlighten people taking the helm and the recent departure of Sam could only offer the opportunity to Ginni Rometty to carry the legacy forward.

But why has there been a crisis off late to fetch the “Blue-eyed Top Boss” with nearly 80-85% of CEOs of S&P 500 companies have been ousted before retirement. Moreover there’s sufficient confirmation, companies and boards are generally unprepared for the abrupt departure.

HP kicked out CEO Leo Apotheker after barely a year in and replacing him with former eBay boss Meg Whitman. He becomes the third straight HP CEO shown the door. Yahoo! took the game ahead and fired their CEO over the phone by the Chairman of the Board. TechCrunch noted in June that Yahoo was quietly looking for a replacement for Bartz — something which Yahoo (obviously) denied and other press ate right up. Yahoo even talked about the post at their shareholders meeting and essentially called it “bullshit”. Funny!! Again, who would have ever thought that AOL purchasing TechCrunch wouldn’t go down as a completely smooth journey off into the sunset? Now, reports are out that CEO Heather Harde is quitting after disagreements with The Huffington Post, which is running the AOL content show these days.

A common belief is that corporate boards want a “BAGPIPPER” in the face of its CEO, to get things straight and churn profit instantly – a call very tough to implement. This has caused a critical disconnect between the CEO and the board, and ultimately caused separation. While I have never voted for an incompetent boss nor patronized their excuses of a troubled economy; I do buy that a captain can be as good as his team!! A true CEO create an environment where people tell them things and take feedback, however, insecurity causes many CEOs to reserve critical decision rights to themselves, thus losing out of top thoughts from top brains. This lack of trust reflects on the balance sheet and ultimately towards the CEO being shown the doors. And finally, a clash over remuneration and better opportunity instigates the departure.

Most companies are unprepared for a CEO exit. But what the statistics don’t show is the impact on each company’s stock. Yahoo, Berkshire and Hewlett-Packard obviously have suffered from the succession drag and things should worsen if the leak isn’t checked!!