She loves shopping and has even earned herself the nickname "Gucci" (her close friends call her that) on account of her passion for fashion. It's the same at work for her: she loves to shop around and gets the best deal for her clients. Meet Jasmin Sohrabji, planning head of MediaCom India, the specialist media arm of Grey Worldwide India.

A post-graduate in economics, Sohrabji started her career in economic research in 1988, but moved shortly into media planning in 1989. She joined Trikaya Grey in 1990, after a brief stint at Contract. Since then, she has been a key person in creating media strategies for clients like Procter & Gamble, Marico, Wrigley's, Johnson & Johnson and SmithKline Beecham.

In early 1997, Sohrabji was sent to Grey Indonesia as media director. She then spent a year (1998) at Grey New York, planning media primarily on P&G and Glaxo SmithKline. She was also part of the New York team that developed MAXIS - MediaCom's proprietary media optimizing system. Sohrabji returned to India with valuable media insights having worked on a wide range of MNC accounts.

Since 1999, Sohrabji has been back in India as head of media planning (MediaCom) responsible for India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In addition, she is also the APAC media director on the P&G AAAI GBU, developing media planning guidelines for P&G in the APAC region. Her penchant for numbers, has recently enabled her to introduce a new dimension to TV planning in India --- TeleOsmosis, which helps balance the current imbalances in TV weights among light TV viewers.

Sohrabji spoke to indiantelevision.com's Ashwin Kotian about the highlights of the year 2002 and her take on the future of media in advertising. Excerpts -

As far as media planning/buying was concerned, what were the significant trends witnessed in 2002?
The most significant trend witnessed was that clients changed their viewpoint about AORs. They realised that they should focus on strategic planning rather than continuing their obsession with buying - the volumes and discount business.

In fact, I would extend the proposition to say that the client focus became more balanced with planning taking the lead over buying. It clearly looks as if the volume game is over. The future is about a balanced planning and buying orientation. Clients will eventually realise that accurate planning orientation and related assessment will lead to substantial savings rather than aggressive buying. The point remains that planning impacts buying in a big way.

The other significant thing which happened was that all AOR agencies managed to grab businesses - bigger clients too - despite the consolidation in the media industry. AOR agencies managed to eat into the shares of the bigger media agencies.

The third significant aspect was that media specialists are moving away from reach towards recall and retention.

Fourthly, media specialists have become media-neutral! MediaCom worldwide started its Real World Communication focus. The whole idea is to get close to the consumer and develop a central plan or insight. We develop the plan from that central point rather than having a pre-determined fixed idea.

The process is not just about TV or print but involves identifying the various consumer contact points such the Internet or outdoor or other innovations. We have no qualms about telling our clients that they should use DM (direct marketing) or PR (public relations) to attain the desired results. At MediaCom, we call this "channel (different from TV channels) planning".

What kind of tools and techniques do MediaCom's media specialists use?
Earlier, the planning process laid too much emphasis on tools -specially the raw data and the optimizers. Tools had their place in the existing scenario then because they were convenient, easier, quicker and gave insights into efficiencies of the media. But basically, it was just a manual process being replaced by the computer's wizardry. But, we are moving away from reach towards recall.

To me, however, currently, tools such as optimizers are a thing of the past and the entire industry is moving towards techniques. Remember, that techniques involve the use of academics. In 2002, MediaCom made a pioneering effort in terms of studying the impact of TV on light, medium and heavy viewers. Currently, TAM provides it to all its users but we were the pioneers to recognize the efficacy of this study.

The future is no longer about assigning media weights but about adding value. Its not just about 500 GRPs but how much more value these 500 GRPs could obtain for the advertiser. It is more about creating an impact. The shift has happened at a qualitative level.

At MediaCom, we used several tools. The following are the most important ones:
Amongst TV tools, we have TelAppeal and TeleOsmosis. TelAppeal helps identify programmes which have higher recall and offer value rather than TRPs.

TeleOsmosis analyses the habits of heavy, medium and light viewers of television. Our study shows that light viewers (which include you and me) who watch TV for less than 90 minutes a day constitute more than 35 per cent of the TV viewers. This segment was being totally ignored by media planners earlier due to their obsession with highest TRPs and pure statistics. For instance, we defined several time bands which the light viewers prefer and the niche channels they watch.

The other print media tools that we use are Imprint and MagAppeal. Imprint helps us to identify the different premium positions and pages in newspapers whereas MagAppeal gives us insights into those pages which are important in the case of magazines.

Having an international affiliation helps. Two of our tools TelAppeal and MagAppeal were basically developed internationally and we customized them to Indian requirements. It is better to have a mix of tools developed indigenously and internationally. Developing something from scratch is challenging but requires a lot of investment.

Tell us something about different innovations used by your team in 2002?
Our stance is that innovations are not about gimmicks. The nature of innovations is dictated by the planning insight. In fact, we start with the planning insight as our central idea and develop the innovations.
I shall illustrate this logic by giving you two examples which were featured in The Economic Times Brand Equity:

1) Vodka Chasers: Our client Arrow shirts is heavily advertising in the print medium and didn't have the budgets to spend heavily on TV. We made a presentation to the client that the target audience comprising of the upmarket male viewers were light viewers of TV.

These viewers watched CNBC, BBC, HBO, Star Movies and Star News in the late night slots. We developed this concept of Vodka Chasers wherein specially created 10-second TVCs (TV commercials) were shown immediately after liquor ads. For instance, after every Chivas Regal TVC, we would place our Arrow TVC which just said " There are many fine things in life but only one Arrow."

2) Blue Screens: Our study on the habits of light, medium and heavy viewers showed that light viewers watch a lot of TV in the post 11:30 pm slot. However, they are fickle minded and also surf the channels continuously.

We provided our clients with statistics which showed that the logic was not just based on a gut feeling. We targeted the regional/local cable channels which used to show a blank screen after the movie ended. We developed an interesting concept for Arvind Mills' Excalibur brand wherein the creative showed the following: "Will tomorrow be lucky? Wear Excalibur and you will never know what will happen." It is an interesting concept wherein an outdoor communication is used inside the house.

Do you feel that Doordarshan is being ignored by media planners and buyers?
Strategically speaking, DD has a lot of intrinsic value. However, we don't go by the ratings alone. The decision to choose a satellite channel or a terrestrial channel depends on several factors.

We also consult clients and their sales/marketing personnel. They have a clear cut idea about the places where they sell most. At MediaCom, we make it a point to send our planners and buyers out into the field and visit smaller towns and cities. We also send them into the interiors to get a better perspective. The media plan is made on the basis of these inputs.