Radio remains a great medium & is unlikely to go through fragmentation: Shashi Sinha
exchange4media’s Golden Mikes Radio and Audio Conference 2024 started with a journey down memory lane as IPG Mediabrands CEO Shashi Sinha recalled his association with legendary radio presenter Ameen Sayani. In the special address during the e4m Golden Mikes conference, Sinha also spoke about how the medium would continue to be relevant in the times to come, underlining some precautions for the ad men.
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Shashi Sinha had worked with Ameen Sayani as a producer on Binaca Geetmala when the former was working at FCB Ulka. Their six-year-long association began when the popular radio show of India had just started airing on All India Radio’s Vividh Bharati. (Prior to that, the show was aired on Radio Ceylon for 36 years as the Indian government did not allow film songs to be played on Vividh Bharati.)
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Sayani, who passed away this February at 91, Sinha recalls, would often tell his team that radio was the only medium that didn’t take away a person's imagination. “By the time, the show was allowed to be aired via AIR, we were also deliberating to take it to TV. Sayani had two objections to this - he didn't want the mystique of his voice to be lost or lose the audience’s trust,” said Sinha. Explaining the second objection, Sinha said that since Cibaca was the sponsor Sayani thought this would make his endorsement of the brand a lie as he did not have good teeth! Sinha said the lessons he picked up during his Geetmala journey were relevant even today. Stringing together those lessons could give one the essence of his topic for the day - harnessing the power of radio and audio to amplify brand management, he noted. “Those were simpler times when the programme was not interspersed with brand placements, like today. People had larger attention spans and waited to tune into the show at its scheduled time. Today, audio and radio are something people tune into while performing other activities like driving, cooking or exercising,” said Shashi Sinha. One major hurdle, often discussed in the boardrooms, he said, was the absence of metrics to measure the efficiency of radio as a means of brand engagement. “TRAI’s latest policy talks about these metrics, which I see as a step in the right direction,” said Sinha. He stressed that Radio remains a great medium, which is unlikely to go through fragmentation. Talking about brand integration in content, Sinha said that he knows that several listeners find it annoying. In fact, he had got this feedback from another legend, Dr Verghese Kurien of Amul. “He used to be very mindful of the content he sponsored. He used to look at all the ads that disrupted his content with great disdain. People like him understand that ads are necessary to fund the content, but at the same time they advocated maintaining a balance that would not end up annoying the consumers.” Sinha further stated that brands like Amul believe in creating long-lasting and impactful IPs, which is something that today's media planners can learn from. Sinha concluded his talk stating “the more we go back to the pristine, pure form of the medium, the more efficient our work would be, and will bring in more money”. For more updates, be socially connected with us on
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Tags : Dr Verghese Kurien Shashi Sinha Amul Geetmala Ameen Sayani E4M Golden Mikes Radio Audio Conference Awards 2024