Ashok Bhasin felt "Today there is enough money lying with the clients in comparison to last three years. And this is true for most of the big clients. But the key question here is to drive productivity utilizing the money and resources - that's the challenge." The clients have developed newer ways of spending money. Citing an example from his company, Bhasin explained, "Recently Whirlpool did a series of promotions with Dainik Bhaskar where the compensation was linked to the sales results in that geography." With such examples at hand the bottom line still remains in the manner with which we connect and communicate our message to the end consumer. "Accountability from the Media is an important issue which will have to be addressed by the media," added Bhasin.

Reacting to the comment Rahul Kansal of The Times of India pointed out the clutter that exists in the Media especially in Print. In west, several Brands have used in-Film promotions to the maximum effect. "Take the example of 'Nike' being used in 'What women want', or 'Fedex' in 'Cast Away', we don't see such example being used in India. These are simple techniques of getting your message across, in an effective manner, to your target consumers," Citing an example from the recent launch of Pepsi Blue in Delhi, Kansal pointed out the arrangement between TOI and Pepsi where on that day, all the headlines in the page were turned Blue. "it was a very effective way of getting across the message of Pepsi blue to the intended readers," felt Kansal.

Aravind Nagarajan of Dr Morepen said that today agencies were not very responsive. "I haven't seen a media presentation where the emphasis is on 'effectiveness'-it only revolves around the question of 'How should the money be spent?".

The discussion also raised the question of 'How effective are the specialist Media agencies'? Responding to it, Ashok Bhasin said, "I have noticed a marked change in the behavior of Media agencies over the years. Many in the agency have become specialized and are in a better position to understand the nuances of Clients expectation."

"We need specialized Media agencies," said Hemant. "People handling the media business by and large know their job but the behavior of an agency is reflective of its leadership."

Citing an example of Media-agency relationship, Ashok Bhasin said, "We at Whirlpool go hand in hand with our media agency FCB. The representative from FCB are always present in all our strategic meetings and hence they exactly know what we expect from a particular business plan." Consenting with this approach Aravind Nagarajan said," Both sides need to see each other's perspective and work strategically. The agencies today are strong in planning strategies but fail to deliver when it comes to execution."

Nagarajan also directed the attention of the panelists on the fast changing consumer behavior. "Consumers today don't wait for the products. Most of the purchase decision are made at the point of sale therefore in today's world we the clients are fighting for the share of the wallet and not the share of the business," he added.

Concluding the discussion, the panelists agreed that in future, role of interactive media, especially one-on-one marketing would step up. Panelist agreed that Money, in future, would only come from the core consumers and they would be the focus of attention for all the clients. There was also an agreement on the increasing role of Direct Marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the times to come. Commenting on the expectations from the Media agencies, the panelist felt that the media was getting very numerical, in order to increase their effectiveness, they would have to understand the brand salience in a far better way. Summing up, Ashok Bhasin said, "Media will have to be innovative and accountable in order to understand us in a better and more effective way."

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