Mumbai: CNBC TV 18 and CNBC Awaaz have announced changes to their revenue leadership teams. Sonia Kapoor takes charge at CNBC TV18 as National Revenue Head and Sterling Ferreira as National Revenue Head at CNBC Awaaz.

Kapoor was earlier managing west & south regions as SVP & Regional Head for CNBC-TV18 & CNBC Awaaz. Ferreira was earlier in charge of national sales at CNN-IBN. Last week, CNN-IBN announced Vishal Bhatnagar as its National Revenue Head. Bhatnagar was earlier SVP & Regional Head north & east, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz.

This move is a part of the leadership re-alignment under way at Network18 News Media, the client facing ad sales unit. Network18 News Media spearheads revenue optimisation at CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN IBN, IBN7, IBN Lokmat and History TV18.

Advertisement sales for the ETV regional news network, subject to regulatory approvals for the acquisition, will also form part of this stable.

Anil Uniyal, CEO, CNBC-TV18 & CNBC Awaaz, said "Sonia has been instrumental in establishing CNBC-TV18 as a benchmark in the monetisation of news brands and her perspective in charting the next phase of its growth will be critical. Sterling comes in with stellar experience across a variety of news brands, which will be crucial as we go on to unlock the tremendous potential of CNBC Awaaz."

Speaking on her elevation, Sonia Kapoor said, "It?s been a momentous journey so far and my experience with CNBC-TV18 has been intense, enriching and very satisfying. I look forward to bringing it to bear as we thrust forward and further strengthen the brand."

Sterling Ferreira said, "CNBC Awaaz is at a very interesting juncture in its success story. CNBC Awaaz is well aligned to deliver audiences and value to clients as growth, consumption and thus spends move beyond the metro markets. I hope to work with the CNBC Awaaz editorial and marketing teams in ensuring that we build further on the unique position the brand has achieved already."

Kapoor has over a decade of experience in ad sales including stints at the Indian Express Group and TV Today Network. She joined the Network18 Group in 2002. Ferreira has over two decades experience spanning a variety of media including the Indian Express Group, Business Standard, ABP, Tata, Red FM. He joined the Network18 Group in 2005.

MUMBAI: Observing that India has done well to catch up with the rebranding revolution, director of DunningPennyJones, a UK based branding agency, Lisa Dunning pointed out that today the country has come a long way in the exercise.

"In India the brand revolution hit later than it did at some other places, but the country has done well to catch up. Today, you have the likes of Tata, who not only shine as Indian brands, but are collaborating with brands like Starbucks and buying brands like Jaguar," she said.

Addressing a session at the PromanxBDA 2012, Dunning said that television channels are no longer mere vehicles of broadcast communication. They have evolved into brands in their own respect and command their share of loyalty from their audiences.

Shedding light on the tenets of channel rebranding, Dunning said that this is the case with every brand life cycle; television channels may also undertake a rebranding exercise from time to time.

So, why are brands so important? It is because there is no dearth of choice for the viewers with growing competition. Dunning said that even within the genres, choice of viewing is abundant. Also, having a brand serves the most basic purpose - differentiating oneself from their peers and making an indelible impact on the viewers mind and stay in their psyche.

Starting with the most basic question as to ‘Why a channel should rebrand?‘ Dunning said the answer is simple. "In this day and age where there is plethora of channels, rebranding can be done simply to change for survival and to evolve with your audience," she explained.

Rebranding as conveys to the audience that one is in tune with their changing ways and that one is evolving.

Other reasons why channels rebrand include ensuring modernity, conveying a change in content, getting the brand closer to the content on the channel, positioning a new brand, reinforcing existing market and shifting audience appeal.

"Equally important is to know why channels should not go for rebranding. While some channels feel they have enough business and do not need a rebranding exercise, others feel they are far ahead of competition and can take it easy," said Dunning.

Other reasons may include an already established brand identity or that the brands do not want to make major changes. Lastly the channel might be too busy promoting itself to undertake a rebranding exercise.

However, Dunning said that these reasons might not bear fruits if the effort doesn‘t hold water. Also important is to remember that branding is about brand esteem while promotion is all about eyeballs.

Next obvious question, according to her, was about the length and the cost of the rebranding exercise.

According to Dunning, a rebranding exercise should ideally take place over a period of four months. This gives enough time to plan and execute exercise, maintaining a sense of urgency at the same time. This also gives the team a drive to be on top of their duties. The cost also needs to be in the moderate range for obvious reasons.

A channel must also know when to call for a pitch and when to go in-house. When a channel has the expenses to spare, calling in the professionals is a good idea, she said. An ideal pitch will have no more than three to five agencies. "On the other hand if you have the time and the adequate in house resources but are on a tight budget, avoid calling for a pitch," she explained.

In case a brand decides to hire an agency, there is some data that the agency needs to be given for better understanding. This includes market research, brand values, vision and positioning, audience profile and a competitive SWOT analysis.

During the process of rebranding, it is imperative to have the basic questions answered in clear bold writing. It sets the tone for the exercise and provides crisp guidelines about what is to be done.

"There are some important thing to ask about your brand like who are you? Who needs you? Why should they care? How will they find you? How do you get them to stay? Answering these questions is the basis for a rebranding effort," she said.

Once these questions are answered, all a channel needs to do it get on it. Start with investigating the scenario, the trends in the market and basic research. Set objectives once you have clarified them work on the design, create touch points and work on brand management.

The last aspect of rebranding is to evaluate the campaign. "According to me, a campaign should be evaluated on five parameters - positioning, technical efficiency, aesthetic value, financial efficiency and tactical grounds," she concluded.