MxMIndia

Author: mxm_india

  • Tibrewal is set to join as Business Head, South & West and Ramakrishnan has joined as the Head of Marketing

    Pankaj Tibrewal and Rajesh Ramakrishnan join HT

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mr Pankaj Tibrewal is set to take over from Mr Salil Sadanandan as Business Head, South & West, HT Media Group. Mr Sadanandan joined HT Media in May 2008, and led from the front. Today the Mumbai edition, in a highly competitive market, is a strong and clear No 2 in readership as well as in advertising volumes.

     

    Rajiv Verma, Group CEO, HT Media Group, said: “It’s never easy to let go of such passionate leaders but it’s only fair that a leader who has contributed so much to our enterprise must be enabled with this opportunity.”

     

    Mr Tibrewal comes to HT Media from the Future Group where he was the COO and Business Head for Pantaloons. At Pantaloons, Mr Tibrewal established global best practices in retail and implemented a new customer-first strategy, and, under his leadership, Pantaloons achieved an annual growth of 30-35%. Prior to the Future Group, Mr Tibrewal worked with McKinsey and Company in their Chicago office. Previous to this, he was an entrepreneur.

     

    Mr Tibrewal holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at the Northwestern University and an MS in manufacturing systems from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr Tibrewal’s wife, Pallavi, also an MBA from Kellogg, works for Disney, heading heir accessories & footwear licensing.

     

    Mr Tibrewal will be reporting to the Rajiv Verma in his new endeavour.

     

    Mr Rajesh Ramakrishnan has also joined Hindustan Times as the Head of Marketing. Mr Ramakrishnan will initially be responsible for the marketing of the Hindustan Times brand in the North and the East.

     

    Mr Ramakrishnan is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and XLRI Jamshedpur, and has over 17 years of experience in Sales and Marketing across companies like Reckitt Benckiser, Marico and Pepsico. He has worked on a diverse set of brands including Cherry Blossom, Kurkure and Quaker. His last assignment was Head, Global Marketing with Apollo Tyres.

     

    Commenting on his joining, Shantanu Bhanja, VP Marketing, HT Media, said: “Mr Ramakrishnan combines a strong sense of result-orientation with an ability to bring the best out of people. He will bring exceptional Marketing depth to our biggest Brand and key markets”

     

    Apart from being a marketeer, Mr Ramakrishnan is also a passionate photographer whose work has been exhibited, as also published in several magazines and newspapers. He also conceptualized and shot two calendars over the last two years, with prominent celebrities, in support of NGOs.

     

    Mr Ramakrishnan’s wife Nirupama Subramanian is a Corporate Trainer and also the author of the best selling novel Keep the Change.

     

    Mr Ramakrishnan will report to Shantanu Bhanja, and consequent to this, Diptakirti Chaudhuri, Marketing Head, HT Delhi.

     

     

  • Saregama ties up with UTV Bindass to revive mainstream popular music

    Saregama, UTV Bindass tie up for music talent show

    By A Correspondent

     

    Saregama India has announced the launch of a new platform for popular mainstream artists to reach iconic heights in the music world called ‘Saregama’s Icons Nxt’ with UTV Bindass.

     

    Saregama will create original music and will promote it on UTV Bindass. The initiative has yielded five exciting young talents and their performances will be showcased on UTV Bindass in a variety of contemporary genres. The artists that are being featured are of the likes of Samar and Sanam, Phoenyx, Nasha, Paapi 4 and The Dhol Factory.

     

    Apurva Nagpal, MD, Saregama India said, “There has been a huge vacuum in the pop genre in India for many years. This is an endeavour to resurrect the genre.”

     

    Adarsh Gupta, Business Head-Music, Saregama India said, “Saregama Icons Nxt with UTV Bindass is a platform to launch a wave of new artists year-on-year for reviving mainstream popular music. We believe that going forth this will be the leading platform for creating music icons of the next generation. We have tied up with several partners to promote this flagship property across platforms.”

     

    Keith Alphonso, Business Head – UTV Bindass, said, “There is nothing new about the innate connection between music and youth. The youth has consistently defined the next wave of music. To create the next generation of music icons we are pleased to partner with Saregama Icons Nxt to promote the country’s finest and most talented young musicians. Through this partnership we look forward to further strengthen our connect with music and thereby with our audiences too.”

     

    David MacDonald, Head of YouTube Partner Operations, Asia Pacific said, “We’re very excited to see a leading industry label like Saregama stepping forward to give budding singers and artists a platform to showcase their work and earn the praise they deserve. India is home to many talented singers and YouTube is a democratic platform that provides a unique opportunity to every individual to express themselves and pursue their passion online. Over the years we’ve seen many artists use YouTube to showcase their work, connect with their fans and become a overnight success. We’re confident that initiatives like these will go a long way in recognising and celebrating the independent artists in the country.”

     

    Talent house, a global talent networking portal that addresses artists across creative initiatives is also supporting the endeavour, having agreed to front the search for this property for the next five seasons. Arun Mehra, CEO, Talenthouse India said, “Talenthouse is the world’s largest collaborative platform undertaking crowd sourcing creative invite’s for globally renowned industry names like U2, Metallica, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, etc. We, at Talenthouse India are excited and looking forward to provide opportunities for creative artists to showcase their talent in India. Saregama India will be the perfect collaborative partner for the same”.

     

    Flipkart, one of the largest Indian online shopping stores, has come on board to promote and retail the artist albums with heavy online support across platforms. They have initiated a pre booking feature for sale of CDs online.

     

    Nokia has partnered Saregama India to launch the music of these talented artistes on Nokia Music Unlimited service – Nokia’s revolutionary digital music service for its devices. Mr Viral Oza, Marketing Director, Nokia India, said, “India certainly needs more platforms like Saregama’s Icons Nxt, given the enormous musical talent out there waiting to be explored. We are sure that our partnership with Saregama India will contribute towards promoting independent music in the country.”

     

    The other brands associated with the property are Planet M which will promote and sell the music albums of the artist; and Big Cinemas the leading multiplex chain for promoting the property across their multiplexes.

  • Ajay Garkal, Principal Associate of PR Grid, received the 'Most Effective Media Communication' award at the Global Awards for Brand Excellence during the recently concluded World Brand Congress 2011 in Mumbai.

    PR Grid wins global ‘effective communication’ award

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ajay Garkal, Principal Associate of PR Grid received the ‘Most Effective Media Communication’ award at the Global Awards for Brand Excellence, known for their global recognition and celebration of leading marketers, who have shown innovative leadership in their fields, during the recently concluded World Brand Congress 2011 in Mumbai.

     

    The World Brand Congress, which was held at Taj Land’s End in November, is the single largest rendezvous of the best brains behind some of the world’s most successful and sought after brands. The focus of the two-day Congress in Mumbai was to discuss and influence the issues for innovation and change. The event was attended by over 1000 CMOs, brand custodians, marketing heads and other top echelons of brand experts across the world.

     

    Commenting on the achievement, Mr Garkal said, “Our endeavour is to consistently communicate in a credible and concise manner with the media and as a firm we are proud of the sound communication channels and understanding that we have been able to create and sustain between our clients and the media that covers their respective segments and industries.”

     

    The speakers for this year included Rohit Deshpande, Professor of Marketing, Harvard Business School; Shane Gibson, author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing; Sandipan Ghosh, Global Head, Marketing, Tiffany Foods Limited; Magnus Aspegren, Director-Singapore Studio, BMW Group (Designworks USA); Chris Aubrey, VP Global Retail Marketing Sport Performance, Adidas AG; Prodipta Sen, Executive Director, Alpha G:Corp; and. Jonathan Kopp, Global Digital Director and Partner, Ketchum; among others.

     

    The World Brand Congress 2011 was supported and sponsored by Godfrey Phillips, Mahindra Rise, ESSAR, Reliance, Alpha G:Corp, Century Ply, HP, Nokia, LG, Servo, TATA Housing, LIC, Canon, Aircel, IBM, Max New York Life, Intel and Ericsson among others.

  • The recently launched new Yahoo! Mail promises to deliver a faster, safer and easier online communications experience for users from across India

    Yahoo! mail available in 8 Indian languages

    By A Correspondent

     

    Yahoo! India has announced that the latest version of Yahoo! Mail can now be accessed in eight new regional languages: Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati.

     

    With a simultaneous rollout in 27 new markets including 22 new languages and 16 new countries, Yahoo! Mail is now available in 46 new languages and more than 70 markets worldwide.

     

     

  • Records a 5.24 TVR among all kids (CS 4-14 ABC) in HSM and 4.4 TVR among all kids (CS 4-14 ABC) in All India

    Disney Channel’s Doraemon Movie delivers the best ratings

    By A Correspondent

     

    The premiere of Doraemon – Nobita’s Dinosaur on Disney Channel has delivered the best viewership performance since 2005 for a kid’s show at 5.24 TVR among all kids (CS 4-14 ABC) in HSM, beating its own record rating of 4.3 TVR for Doraemon in Nobita’s Great Adventure in the South Seas which was telecast on June 5.

     

    The channel received an overwhelming response across all channels with 33% share of viewing in Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM) and 28% share of viewing in all India during the primary telecast of the movie.

     

    The premiere ranked #1 across the time slot in the kids genre with 66% share of viewing in HSM and 63% in All India among all kids (CS 4-14 ABC).

     

    The viewership in certain markets was particularly noteworthy with Punjab(1 Mn+) showcasing double digit TVR with 10.55. This was followed by Delhi at 8.71 TVR, UP at 8.11 TVR, among others.

     

    “It is wonderful to see kids and families enjoy Disney Channel’s rich menu of content. Doraemon has an engaging storyline and a familiar setting that every Indian kid can relate to. This success is testament to the unique way in which Disney engages with its kids and family audience at multiple levels,” said Natasha Malhotra, VP and GM, Walt Disney Television International India.

     

    Across the week, over 17.9 million individuals and 6.5 million kids tuned into movie from All India.

     

    In addition to its popularity with Disney Channel audience, Doraemon has also been ranked as the #1 character for kids across India by Ormax India in October 2011.

  • The new features are designed to bring the users a clutter-free, non-intimidating experience

    NDTVProfit.com in brand new avatar

    By A Correspondent

     

    NDTV Convergence has launched its financial and business portal NDTVProfit.com in a new avatar as a one-stop destination for live market data, research and expert insight and business news.

     

    The website is focused on the fast growing community of investors in the country, many of them first-timers, and provides financial tools, easy and intuitive access to detailed and relevant data, tips and know-how to help power personal wealth creation.

     

    The website has launched a brand new portfolio tool, which is convenient, easy-to-use and very secure, to track and plan not just an individual’s wealth, but also that of his entire family.

     

    Riding on its close, convergent relationship with NDTVProfit, the new website also brings the user the opportunity to interact one-on-one with experts and anchors, get stock recommendations and tips in real-time on the popular program “Buy or Sell”. The website also offers the users a chance to become a guru in his/her own community on the Profit board.

     

    Additionally, a new video pod makes it easy to access NDTVProfit’s programming in hundreds of easy-to-consume videos. The users can also view their favourite shows on the site.

     

    The new features are designed to bring the users a clutter-free, non-intimidating experience as they tracks markets live, gets experts’ views and immediate insight on market dynamics and a great viewing and reading experience.

     

    Geodesic has collaborated on the website with NDTV Convergence as the technical partner.

  • The lifestyle channel will honour veterans and achievers from the food industry.

    NDTV Good Times Food Awards on Dec 17

    By A Correspondent

     

    Premium lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times is presenting the second edition of the NDTV Good Times Food Awards, honouring veterans and achievers from the food industry, at a gala night at The Westin, Gurgaon on December 17.

     

    NDTV Good Times is India’s top-ranked English-language lifestyle television channel and the KAFF NDTV Good Times Food Awards are considered to be the definitive guide to the best in the industry. The awards are selected by an expert jury of renowned names such as Vinod Dua, Ritu Dalmia, Marut Sikka, Aditya Bal, Vicky Ratnani, and Rocky and Mayur. The awards will be hosted once again by the witty and charming Rocky and Mayur.

     

    This year the awards consist of two categories – the jury’s choice and the viewer’s choice award which is a single award category where the viewers will decide ‘The Best Foodie City’ through their votes. The city that gets the maximum votes gets crowned The Foodie City of India.

     

    Announcing the second NDTV Good Times Food Awards, Smeeta Chakrabarti, Chief Executive Officer, NDTV Lifestyle, said: “After the overwhelming response we received last year, we are really looking forward to present the second NDTV Good Times Food Awards. This year we’re pulling out all stops to make the awards bigger. With the introduction of the viewers’ choice award category, we hope to involve our loyal viewers in the process of choosing their favourite foodie city.”

     

    There, winners are chosen by on-ground, SMS and online voting on goodtimes.ndtv.com. For selection through on-ground voting, 10 cities have been short-listed, where 100 ballot boxes have been kept in popular restaurants for a period of 3-4 weeks from November 10 onwards.

     

    Votes from these ballot boxes are tabulated by Ernst & Young and, along with the SMS and online figures, will decide the winning city. One lucky person and the restaurant that gets the maximum number of votes from the winning city gets the chance to attend the gala night in Delhi.

     

    The jury has already shortlisted the top five restaurants on the basis of the research conducted by Ernst & Young. Final scoring will be reviewed one more time closer to the awards for a final seal of approval from the jury and winners will be announced on the night of the awards.

     

    All awards are based on achievements during the preceding 12 months.

  • Lifetime Achievement Award for Kiran Karnik; IT return electronic filing project wins the Pathbreaker of the Year award.

    TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran wins the Dataquest IT Person of the Year award 2011

    By A Correspondent

     

    Natarajan Chandrasekaran, CEO of India’s largest IT Services company, Tata Consultancy Services, has been conferred the Dataquest IT Person of the Year award for 2011-one of the most coveted honours in Indian IT.

     

    The award is given by IT magazine Dataquest every year to an individual for making extraordinary contribution to Indian IT. The jury led by Mr Pramod Bhasin of Genpact (and 2010 Dataquest IT person of the year) unanimously decided on Mr Chandrasekaran who is regarded as the face of next generation leadership in the Indian IT. In the context of most of the first generation leaders stepping down, there was apprehension about a leadership vacuum being created. The jury felt that Mr Chandrasekaran, through his able leadership has proved that any such fear is unfounded.

     

    A TCS insider, Mr Chandrasekaran also stands as a role model for millions of programmers and engineers as he started as a trainee in TCS and rose to become its top leader.

     

    “Chandra’s able leadership is a testimony to the fact that Indian IT companies have it in them to grow extraordinary leadership internally,” noted Pradeep Gupta, Chairman of CyberMedia, the publishers of Dataquest. “The success of Indian IT is not a one-time achievement of only a few individuals,” he added.

     

    Kiran Karnik was awarded for his Lifetime Contribution to Indian IT. Mr Karnik, who led NASSCOM as president for seven years also headed the government appointed board of Satyam that moved fast and in a transparent manner and was instrumental in establishing the credibility of India in the wake of the Satyam crisis. He is also associated with many educational institutions.

     

    The online IT return filing system of the Income Tax Department, Government of India was awarded the Dataquest Pathbreaker Award for 2011 making the lives of millions of taxpayers smoother, while reducing refund time drastically and enhancing overall efficiency. Between 2004 to 2011, there are five government projects/companies/persons who have won this coveted award.

     

    The 2010 Dataquest IT Person of the year Award had gone to Pramod Bhasin, Vice Chairman (then CEO) of BPO company Genpact. And as the winner of the last year Mr Bhasin headed the jury this year that included Pradeep Gupta, CMD of CyberMedia India (as Vice Chairman); Vijay Thadani, CEO, NIIT; Shankar Aggarwall, Addl Secretary, Department of IT; Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, MD, Dell India; Col H S Bedi, CEO, Tulip; Amrita Gangotra, CIO, Airtel; Professor Pankaj Jalote, Director, IIIT Delhi, and Shyam Malhotra, Director, CyberMedia India.

     

    The awards, now in the 19th year, were conferred at a glittering ceremony in the presence of industry leaders and leading CIOs. The awards night this year also included the PC Quest Best IT Implementaation awards, given by PC Quest, another CyberMedia publication.

     

    Dataquest also honoured top manufacturers, service providers and institutions based on their Dataquest Top 20 rankings for FY 2010-11 and their performance in various surveys conducted by the magazine throughout the year.

     

    Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) retained its top position as the No 1 IT company and No 1 IT exporter. It also bagged the newly instituted Top Engineering Services company award.

     

    The Dataquest Top Personal Systems company award went to Dell India for recording the highest combined revenue in sales of desktops and laptops.

     

    Hewlett Packard (HP) India won the Top Server Company award while the newly instituted Top Storage Company award went to EMC India. With dominant market share, HP also won the Top Imaging and Printing Company for 2010 making it a total of two awards.

     

    Cisco India won the Top Networking Company award for recording the highest sales in networking equipment during 2010-11. The IT training pioneer NIIT won the award for Top Training Company for yet another year.

     

    IBM India remained ahead of others and won the top IT Services Company (India Market) award. The pioneering BPO Company Genpact with revenues of over one billion dollars bagged the Top BPO company award. Ingram Micro India bagged the Top Distribution Company award for 2011. SAP India topped the software products sales to bag the Top Software Company award for 2011.

     

    Despite tough competition from new pure play smart phone makers and Indian companies, Nokia continued to lead the smart phone market and bagged the Top Smartphone Company award for 2011.

     

    HCL Infosystems won the Best Employer (IT) award based on its No 1 rank in DQ-CMR Best Employer Survey (IT) 2011. BPO firm, vCustomer won the Best Employer BPO award for the fifth time in a row.IITBombay won the Top T School award based on its No 1 rank in DQ-CMR Top T School Survey 2011. It was the winner last year too.

     

    The winners are selected by a jury of eminent individuals from IT industry, IT user organizations and academicians among others. Some of the past IT persons of the year include Infosys’ NR Narayana Murthy, HCL’s Shiv Nadar, Wipro’s Azim Premji, NIIT’s Rajendra S Pawar, Bharti’s Sunil B Mittal, Genpact’s Pramod Bhasin, Cognizant’s Lakshmi Narayanan and former IT Secretary N Vittal.

  • Holii, a partnership between Future Ventures and Hidesign has announced the appointment of Gilles Moutounet as its Chief Executive Officer. Holii offers a unique range of bags and accessories that combines a distinct Indian design aesthetic with the high production standards of Hidesign.

    Gilles Moutounet joins Future Group’s Holii as CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Holii, a partnership between Future Ventures and Hidesign has announced the appointment of Gilles Moutounet as its Chief Executive Officer. Holii offers a unique range of bags and accessories that combines a distinct Indian design aesthetic with the high production standards of Hidesign.

     

    Mr Moutounet brings with him more than 15 years of global leadership experience in Luxury retail and Consulting. A French national, Mr Moutounet has also held senior executive positions with LVMH Group, Aubade, Altios Consulting and Gitanjali group among others.

     

    Ashni Biyani, Director, Holii said, “We are delighted to have Gilles on board and are sure his know-how of brand development and luxury retailing will prove invaluable in delivering on our objective of celebrating the beauty of the Indian woman and bringing luxury into her everyday life.”

     

    Commenting on his new role, Mr Moutounet said, “Holii brings alive beauty, crafted in contemporary designs and an Indian outlook that you can wear anywhere in the world. The brand has tremendous potential in India and overseas as well. The brand has been growing rapidly since its inception and I am now happy to be part of it to take it to the next level.”

     

    The unique ideology of Holii – creating everyday luxury accessories with Indian emotions has been well received since its inception in 2009. Holii’s product offering includes handbags and wallets, laptop bags, iPad and cell phone cases, small accessories and handbag jewellery. It is this Indo-chic appeal which wins the brand its large fan following.

  • Real estate developer from Chennai, X S Real has appointed Aegis Media's Vizeum India as its media AOR.

    Vizeum bags media duties of X S Real

    By A Correspondent

     

    Real estate developer from Chennai, X S Real has appointed Aegis Media’s Vizeum India as its media AOR. Vizeum India will handle X S Real’s media mandate to help them talk to their consumers in as captive a manner as possible.

     

    Having carved a niche for themselves with refreshing home ideas, the three brands of X S Real – xqsit, Vibe and Fairsquare – aim to meet unique requirements of home seekers. The flagship brand xqsit offers luxury thematic bungalow apartments while Vibe focuses on designing mid sized dwellings that are elegant yet vibrant. Fairsquare delivers compact little dreams for the first time home buyers.

     

    S Suresh, Chief Marketing Officer, X S Real said, “This is not one of the best times for our industry and we needed a partner who will understand our business and think on our behalf. With Vizeum, we found their thinking contemporary and their team passionate.”

     

    Commenting on the win, S Yesudas, Managing Director – Indian Subcontinent, Vizeum said, “We are thankful to the X S Real management for considering us worthy to partner them in realising their ambition.” This business, according to Mr Yesudas, will be handled out of Vizeum’s Chennai office.

  • Aidem Ventures has been appointed as the media representative for The Economist online business in India.

    Aidem Ventures to handle sales for The Economist online in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Inez Albert
    Suprio Guha Thakurta
    Neena Dasgupta

    Aidem Ventures has been appointed as the media representative for The Economist online business in India.
    Announcing the appointment, Inez Albert, Digital Sales Director – The Economist Group (Asia/Pacific) Ltd. said, “We look forward to strengthening our business presence in India by appointing Aidem Ventures as our representative in India. This partnership, enhanced with Aidem’s business acumen and expertise in the field, will ensure that our commitment of sharing world views and unbiased news reaches out to all stakeholders in the Indian market.”

     

    Speaking on the appointment, Suprio Guha Thakurta, Managing Director, India at The Economist Group said, “We have appointed a strategic sales partner in Aidem and going by their domain expertise (news and digital), we are certain that we can take our online business to new heights in India.”

     

    Neena Dasgupta, Head, Digital & International Business – Aidem Ventures, said, “We are very excited with this mandate to enhance the advertising potential of a credible, global and iconic media brand like The Economist in India. As India continues to integrate strongly with the world economy, an increasing number of Indian companies and brands are looking at expanding their footprint globally, and are seeking robust global media platforms to build their brands to ensure a sustained engagement with the consumers. Aidem, with its extensive experience and track record in the news and digital space, is best equipped to partner with The Economist Online to strengthen their presence in the Indian market.”

     

    It is estimated that the advertising expenditure by Indian entities (like Incredible India) and companies (private and public sector) in the international markets would be around US $ 100 million. With new emergent sectors like medical tourism, software companies, telecommunications, spiritual and wellness tourism, it is anticipated that there will be brisk growth in the years ahead.

     

    Inez Albert

    Neena Dasgupta

    Suprio Guha Thakurta

  • The new moneycontrol.com iPad app will provide enhanced real-time access to financial markets.

    Moneycontrol.com launches first app for iPad

    By A Correspondent

     

    Moneycontrol.com has announced the launch of its new app exclusively for iPad users. Already the no 1 financial app on iPhone and other smart phone platforms, the new moneycontrol.com iPad app will provide enhanced real-time access to financial markets.

     

    Users can get real time stock quotes, commodity prices, currency rates, Indian and global market indices as well as enjoy in-depth coverage and analysis of financial markets, economy, business and much more. Besides this, users can also access their portfolio and watchlist and watch live streaming of CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. Users can also access moneycontrol’s large investor community through moneycontrol’s message board service. The app also includes a whole host of other features like alerts, in-depth information and data on all listed companies, video-on-demand etc.

     

    Commenting on the offering, Joyson Thomas, COO, Web18 said, “As increasing number of users are now consuming content and services through tablets and smartphones, it made sense to tap into this fast growing segment of savvy users, and carve out a dominant position in this space. Launching the moneycontrol app for iPad is part of our endeavor to stay in tune with changing user preferences. Looking at the overwhelming response to the moneycontrol app across all other platforms and the feedback that iPad has received from the market, we are positive that the combination of both will take this product to a new level.”