What he has said sounds extremely outlandish. The largest Indian agency is HTA - now being renamed as JWT India, with JWT Worldwide taking a 60 per cent stake in it. And it has gone from strength to strength at a time when its parent had moved out of India. The second largest agency is Lintas, again owned by a foreign firm. The third largest, however, is an Indian agency, Mudra, which has just 10 per cent foreign ownership, with the rest being with the Reliance group. In recent times, it has slowed down, but not alarmingly, though the number four O&M has above 40 per cent foreign ownership and has been expanding at a mad clip.

Naqvi has to understand that ownershipis not the issue. Advertising is driven globally by clients, not by agencies in the strictest sense. Agencies follow their clients in new markets they enter as they hope to get business. Very few agencies have in the past forayed into India on their own initiative. Internationally, agency executives enjoy their nightcaps and partying a bit too much to want to have to slog in a market, which they find tough to understand.

Multinational advertisers have glocal (global and local) ad communications these days. And they have a tremendous comfort level in knowing that the agency which they are working with in nine markets also has a presence in India to service their needs effectively.

Sure they can set up joint ventures in minority partnerships or majority with Indian ad agencies. However, most Indian ad agencies are entrepreneurial and are hence individual owned, even today. And often the Indian promoter finds it difficult to keep pace with the investment and business activity of his/her foreign partner. MostIndian promoters, whose agencies have grown to a size, which is of interest to a foreign company, are normally worn out. Because the amount of personal involvement needed in creating advertising can be killing.

By not allowing them to sell out to their foreign partners, Naqvi will be doing a grave injustice to the advertising professional, who has slogged, grown his agency, and, maybe now, wants to make his pile.

As far as capturing the print and electronic media goes, it's not just ownership, which will tilt the scale. The advertising industry has enough regulation to prevent that from happening. Its rules disallow agencies from getting into the media business. Agencies may have done so in the past and may do so even now, but for the industry that is a no-no. Tighter rules can be put in place to prevent misuse.

Naqvi must realise advertising in India is a highly competitive business where foreign ownership may help an agency grow, but not to capture the media. After all, Indian media owners are nobabes in the woods. They can teach many a foreign ad agency a trick or two.

Also, the government has strict rules about not allowing foreign ownership in print media, though it has been able to do little about electronic media, like satellite television. As long as the scales tilted that way, there is no chance that ad agencies will capture the media business. Sure some agencies may use their ad big budget clout (which comes their way from clients) with a medium to get it to tout a certain editorial policy. But for that it does not have to foreign owned. Will Naqvi stop crying Wolf? And here is an earnest plea to ministers who handle the information and broadcasting portfolios: please don't make pronouncements and set policies about businesses of which you have no knowledge or don't understand. Please don't let your advisors misguide you. Spend some time learning the business, and you will help nurture it.

Although the advertising industry is talked of as a Rs 4,000-crore business, in reality it is onlyRs 600 crore because that's the money that comes the agency's way as commission.

Music video to promote condom sales

Can a music video sell condoms? At least that's what the folks at JK Ansell and Heartbeat are betting their money on. The new KamaSutra TV commercial shot by film maker Pankuj Parashar and featuring the vivacious Viveka Babajee in the throes of passion with Inder Sudan falls in the category of a music video commercial. With its catchy background music and sharp, snappy visuals, it is obviously aimed at the trendy people of India. But it may well click with not just the trendy but with most audiences, although it is not as steamy as the original KS Pooja Bedi and Marc Robinson commercial. The most stunning image is that of a dolphin leaping from behind the couple as they are in a clinch in the new film.

However, both Heartbeat and JK Ansell will have to bear in mind to air the commercial on TV channels late at night, much after the kids are asleep. Otherwise, they could have someconsumer organisation gunning for them.

STAR Plus to go desi

STAR Plus is going more desi. Apparently, the channel is airing close to 15 hours of Indian programming daily, both English and Hindi, and including repeats. At present, it's banking on four new series that have just gone on air: Tanha, Apraadhi, Ajeeb Dastan and Ek Mulaquat on various prime time slots. Will they do well? Apraadhi and Tanha seem promising, and should work well with better heeled audiences. Ajeeb Dastan, about the paranormal, may well ride the wave of the supernatural series genre that is currently the rage with every channel. Ek Mulaquat, however, may prove a dark horse, with small-town folks. Nevertheless, the management is not totally confident that the product will lure viewers. Hence, it is banking on movies such as Satya and Raja Hindustani which are slated to be aired this month to force viewers to sample the channel as it gets into overdrive inan Indian avatar. However, the Star Plus distribution team will have to work double hard to ensure that the channel gets carriage on cable networks now that it is a pay TV channel. Otherwise viewers may not be able to sample anything at all.

The writer can be reached at wanvari@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in or television@hotmail.com