MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • Globosport's Brand Advisory Business is slated to beIndia's first ever talent procurement and content management company for brands

    Globosport to get global glitter with Platinum Rye stake

    By A Correspondent

     

    Globosport, the integrated brands solutions agency, announced on July 25 that Platinum Rye Entertainment from the US has picked up a 50 per cent stake in their Brands Advisory Business. Mr Aditya Hitkari will take the reigns as CEO of the new Globosport – Platinum Rye joint venture, with Ms Kavita Bhupathi Chadda continuing as CEO of the Globosport Group.

     

    With this Globosport’s Brand Advisory Business is being billed as India’s first ever talent procurement and content management company for brands. It is said to leverage the best opportunities (talent, endorsers, influencers, properties) for brands across sports, entertainment and new media, giving them the best possible innovations from viral video content, AFPs to in-film product placements, marketing tie-ups to celebrity endorsements.

     

    Kavita Bhupathi Chadda
    Aditya Hitkari
    Mahesh Bhupathi
    Ryan Schinman

    In conversation with MxMIndia, Ms Kavita Bhupathi Chadda, CEO, Globosport Group spoke about the idea behind the joint venture: “We have been in the business of servicing brands for their requirement of talents and content for a while now. The idea was to provide our clients with a bigger and wider market, wherein it will have access to not only Indian talents, but also international talents. In addition to this, international brands will also be able to have access to Indian talents and contents.”

     

    Speaking on the same line with MxMIndia, Mr Aditya Hitkari, CEO, Globosport Brand Advisory Business explained: “We are a talent agnostic company, as we are more focused on the talent procurements for brands. Currently we are managing close to about 45 to 50 brands across segments in India. We are India’s exclusive talent procurement agency, and Platinum Rye Entertainment has been doing the same globally. Since we are now connected to the world’s largest talent procurement agency, we can now procure talent from across the world. For example, we are currently procuring a Hollywood star for an Indian brand and also placing Indian products in Hollywood movies. We are also working out creative and marketing solutions for them once the film launches in India.”

     

    Globosport which currently has offices in Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai now aims to set up an office in Kolkata. “We have our presence in many big cities and now our next target would be to set up shop in Kolkata. We will continue to grow as the number of brands we service also grows. We are seeing a lot of interest coming out of the Kolkata market as well, so we would soon see a dedicated team in Kolkata as well in the near future,” added Ms Chadda.

     

    In a prepared statement, Mr Mahesh Bhupathi, Managing Director, Globosport said: “We have transitioned from a seller of talent to a buyer in the last few years. We represent brands and we couldn’t ask for a bigger or better partner than Platinum Rye. Their global offices, teams and processes will add a lot of value to our clients here, who are constantly looking for innovative ideas involving both Indian and global talent.”

     

    Globosport works with brands to help maximize the reach of their communication from celebrity utilization to in-film tie up’s to branded content on TV to other media platforms. Apart from advising brands on sport and entertainment solutions Globosport also runs three significant businesses in the entertainment space – Digital Content, TV production and Films.

     

    Ryan Schinman, Founder and CEO of Platinum Rye Entertainment said: “India is a fast developing market for celebrity endorsements. We are looking forward to using Globosport’s local expertise to serve our global clients in addition to helping the Indian business accelerate using our growing global network.”

     

    Founded in 1998, Platinum Rye now represents dozens of Fortune 500 companies, either directly or through their marketing communications agencies. PlatinumRyeis an entertainment marketing consultancy specializing in the procurement of celebrity talent and the licensing of music and other copyrighted properties for use in advertising, public relations efforts, special events and promotional campaigns.

     

    Some of the key brands Globosport has worked with are Olay (Kajol & Madhuri Dixit), Ariel (Yuvraj Singh & Dr. Kiran Bedi), Parle (Aamir Khan & MS Dhoni), Pantene (BipashaBasu & Sonakshi Sinha), ITC Vivel (Hrithik Roshan & Kareena Kapoor), Appy Fizz (Saif Ali Khan), to name a few.

     

    The association with PRE will now help Globosport advise international Brands on Indian Celebrity Endorsers and Indian Brands on International Celebrity Endorsers.

     

     

  • Completely stupid work this is. While I appreciate Raymond’s attempt to expand their market share by positioning the brand for all occasions, the ad is totally dull and trite

    Debrief: Raymond’s boring celebration

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    The Raymond shop wants the suits to celebrate everyday. Even if they are stuck on potholes or the share prices have crashed or the babus are sitting on their business proposals or their wives have walked out on them. (Okay, all that is my nasty two-bits!). Nothing wrong with the concept per se, so then it’s all left to the execution.

     

    The TVC lives the life of a suit through the week, from Monday to Sunday. It shows how, by wearing the Raymond suit on different occasions, the man makes his life rock. Whether it’s work, partying, chicks… and of course, spending time with parents. The Raymond man is a complete man, you see, and until he obediently touches the feet of the elderly, his week is incomplete.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf5R_fIyZb0[/youtube]

    Completely stupid work this is. While I appreciate Raymond’s attempt to expand their market share by positioning the brand for all occasions, the ad is totally dull and trite. Same old suits, same old corporate meetings, same old moving and shaking… this looks like a commercial from the sixties. And the thakela jingle only manages to pull things down even further.

     

    A complete wash-out in my books. However, I shall add a rider: I am not a suit, so perhaps I don’t understand these pin-stripes. It’s quite possible they like such floozy stuff. In any case, with the general dumbing down that’s happening with Young India, perhaps such work is the order of the day. And I feel very saddened to state this.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 1. Tired and jaded.

     

  • Story telling in advertising has been a worldwide trend. Though today its noticeable that the advertisers are moving from a virtual world to the real feedbacks from consumers

    Storytelling through the years

    By Shubhangi Mehta

     

    The trend of storytelling in an ad began with actors in the campaign sharing a fictional story that connected with the masses and now taking it a step ahead, advertisers are trying to connect directly with the masses and asking them to tell their original stories in the campaign.

     

    Storytelling commercials capture the emotional side of an audience.

    How beautiful or charming your story is depends on the imagination of the creator. How beautifully and effortlessly it’s told, depends on the media plan.

    Some stories need more time, some don’t. While one understands that media comes at a price, one often forgets that the  poorly told story, even if it fits the budget perfectly, is money down the drain as it won’t reap half the rewards as a beautifully told story will.

     

    KV Sridhar

    As KV Sridhar, NCD, Leo Burnett India, explains, stories are a “means of communicating to the world in an interesting manner and advertisements are no different. The only challenge is to tell a story in 30-60 seconds. Products have become brands and household names because of use of this concept in our commercials. The concept provides a benefit for the brand as it establishes an emotional connect with the consumers, it’s not just a sales message, but about narrating a story. In other words, we can regard a story as a sugar coated medicine. Initially, story telling in commercials was a one way process -brands created a virtual story to connect with the masses – but today it has become a two-way communication. And due to the popularity of social media – Facebook, Twitter – it’s become easier to interact with the consumer. Brands no more control the story, consumers do.”

     

    Sumanto Chattopadhyay, ECD, Ogilvy & Mather, cites an example: “Pond’s created a very successful series of TV commercial a few years ago. It was a love triangle starring Priyanka Chopra, Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia. These episodic films spun a classic love story with all the trademark melodrama of a top-rated TV serial.”

     

    Sumanto Chattopadhyay

    The only downside of episodic commercials is the high budget required to make and air multiple TV spots. But if made with skill and backed by deep pockets, they can be a worthwhile investment. The international trend in contemporary popular culture is marked by a penchant for realism combined with a desire for the limelight.

     

    From reality shows that hunt for talent to advertising that is crowd-sourced, it is all about letting people step into the light to tell their own stories in their own voice. Andy Warhol was prescient when, decades ago, he said: “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” Today, that is the mantra of many – offering the people the chance to have their names, faces and stories in the spotlight – which is also a shrewd strategy for brand success. The resulting authenticity has an inherent appeal to the modern mindset.

     

    Storytelling is the means by which our culture has been passed down

    Storytelling is the means by which our culture has been passed down from one generation to the next. Sometimes, through stories expressed verbally by our elders; at other times through pictures drawn on cave walls and later through sophisticated dance drama. So it is hardly surprising that we took like ducks to water to story telling in movies, TV serials and TV commercials.

     

    Rahul Matthew, ECD, McCann Erickson said: “Storytelling, to get a point or ideology across, is not a creation of advertising. Stories have been used forever to sell ideologies, morals, and wisdom to people. Panchtantra or Mahabharata are all illustrations of the same. The only difference is that in advertising we use it to sell brands. It’s probably because story-telling makes anything less preachy and we’re always ready to hear a good story. A story also makes things more relate-able since it borrows from life; the same life that our brands and products have to be a part of. This so-called real story-telling has always been there. What’s called testimonials is just that. We used to use models to give the impression of a real-life consumer sharing his/her experiences with the product. And today instead of models we are recruiting real consumers to tell us what they feel or think.”

     

    Mr Matthew further states that it’s more a reflection of a change in consumer behaviour than a change in advertising: “We are reaching out to reviews from unknown people through blogs/social media to make our choices, and at the same time proactively sharing our views for others to consume. And advertising has always merely reflected consumer behaviour.”

     

    Minakshi Achan, co-founder, Salt Brand Solutions feels that storytelling has kept us riveted for centuries as it is part of popular culture and has shaped and defined us for the longest time through religion, entertainment, history and music. “Brands have simply adopted the art and used it to tell stories and shed light about their products and services. There is no better way to connect with your consumers and the greatest of brands know the profound impact it has on people. Brands are the greatest story tellers and if you count religion itself as a brand, we know the power of story telling, and the continued effect on us. The big change has not been in the concept of storytelling, but in the way we communicate because of the platforms available to us. In the yester world, there were no platforms for two-way communication or rather it was difficult to do so. Today’s world is open and the exchange and engagement with a consumer is far easier. Far greater possibilities exist thanks to social media – whether it is the internet or mobile,” she added.

     

    Co-creation is the new way

    Consumers have stories to tell and today brands can listen to them and have their contribution to impact their brands. This apart, the stories are more real, straight from the horse’s mouth, which lend great credibility to brands. Since the engagement models have changed, I think there is far more meaningful conversations possible today, feels Ms Achan.

     

    All in all, we can say that stories surely are for everyone and quite naturally work across categories and consumer types. The length of time, the canvas of the medium may change but the premise is the same, and the objective for brands is just to impact the brand and consumers with this format. Whether it s a 3-hour movie or a 30 second commercial, the principles of storytelling remains.

     

     

  • Kartik Iyer and Praveen Das of five-year-old Bengaluru-based agency Happy Creative Services insist on not compromising on results

    Happy route to success

     

    By Tuhina Anand

     

    When they are not playing successful admen, Kartik Iyer and Praveen Das, are dutiful husbands and loving fathers. Five years back, the duo joined hands to launch Happy Creative Services and there’s been no looking back since. Interestingly, the duo had never partnered before and their first work together was at Happy. What makes Happy an interesting story is that these men were no celebrities before they started their venture unlike many on the entrepreneurial road who have reached at the helm of an agency and then decide to go on their own. So pretty much a risk that Iyer and Das took but a risk definitely worth taken.

     

    L to R: Praveen Das, Kartik Iyer

    Happy was first noticed for its work on Lee which came to them when they set shop. Since then they have gone on to do many notable work. Their association with the e-commerce behemoth Flipkart has won them both awards and accolades. In fact, Flipkart works have catapulted Happy if one may say in a ‘Happy state’ as these works have been noticed by many. Besides, the works have helped Flipkart in debunking many myths related to online shopping and the biggest achievement being that it helped in creating the brand Flipkart. If people know of Flipkart today the credit to a large extent also goes to Happy for helping in creating the brand.

     

    Mr Iyer in fact pointed that with changing economies and new age companies being launched, there has emerged a need for new age agencies. He said, “The world is changing at a rapid pace.  While there are old school companies that are married to their agencies and the creative team might come and go or the quality may differ but it would not impact their relationships as they are pretty much set in stone. But in an era when new businesses are being born not from HUL and Tata, there also is a need for new age people and new age thinking.”

     

    “In any market one is willing to try anything that is new but the key is that you should be good to succeed. Initially when we launched, I think we were like a new packet of juice in the market, every client wanted to meet us especially after the Lee campaign but the challenge is to take new businesses and delivering quality work which is superior and consistent.”

     

    The Bengaluru-based agency has recently expanded its footprint to Mumbai. However, the decision to be in Mumbai has to purely do with the fact that it helps them in servicing their clients better who are based in the city. The base camp very much remains Bengaluru. In fact, their inspiration to set shop and be successful in the laidback city of Bengaluru which is known more for its IT than its creative prowess comes from the city’s other success story- Nirvana Films. Nirvana has done several successful big brands films even though they are based in Bengaluru  so pretty much a good example to follow for Happy.

     

    When Messrs Iyer and Das who were both at Ogilvy decided to start on their own, they pretty much didn’t have a plan in place but oodles of energy and enthusiasm. They chatted and discussed for almost 30 days and from there emerged Happy. Mr Iyer said, “That’s the secret of our story that we didn’t have any plan. But yes as we talked, we became clear how we will be different, what will be our offering, what will be special about us and that’s how a broad framework emerged. Even today we are totally open to learn and adapt. I think the uninformed choice is much better which we followed when we started.”

     

    Mr Das, the quieter of the duo however added, “It’s definitely not been an easy run but both of us are ambitious as well as driven to make Happy happening. If we were to start all over again today and knowing what all we had to do in the process, I don’t know if we could do it.”

     

    The agency takes pride in the fact that almost 80 percent of their clients have come back to them for more work in future. As any business, there have been hits and few misses but the key has been to move away as quickly as possible once realizing that it’s a bad deal they have got into.

     

    On the Happy edge, Mr Iyer pointed, “We try and work on big ideas. We are good at building brands and that’s our forte.”

     

    Mr Das too added, “There is no bigger joy than creating a brand from scratch. We can always do campaigns for existing brands but to create something new is where we excel and that is our difference. We bring enthusiasm and new energy to brands we work on.”

     

    The agency has 35 people on board and that’s been a conscious decision on their part to not grow mindlessly but be small and be involved personally with their clients brands. Focus being to deliver work that is result-oriented after all that is what matters – creativity that is geared towards achieving results for the brand.

     

    As for the duo and their equation with each other, as Mr Iyer puts, “There are no arguments or fights, that’s not a culture we endorse in our agency. We listen to each other but there are no ego clashes. If there were any, we wouldn’t be Happy people!”

     

  • The agency is the brain child of Ajay Gupta and Raghu S

    Circuit9 lights up in Bengaluru

    By A Correspondent

     

    Circuit9, an integrated marketing communications agency, has just been launched in Bangalore. The agency is the brain child of Ajay Gupta and Raghu S. Mr Gupta’s last assignment was with Group M’s Quasar Media while Mr Raghu has worked both on the client as well as agency side before taking a plunge as an entrepreneur.

     

    Interestingly, the name Circuit9 comes from the basic thought that it takes a live wire to get the bulb glowing, and carrying the same analogy the agency sees itself as the live wire that connects across all advertising disciplines that helps in increasing a brand’s recognition in the market.

     

    As Mr Gupta pointed that the agency works on three principles that include big ideas, perfect execution and most importantly delivering results.

     

    The agency has its head office in Bengaluru.

     

  • Continuing with the internationally adapted concept of 'Dirt is good', Lowe lintas has devised another campaign for Surf Excel

    Lowe Lintas unveils new Surf Excel campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Detergent powder brand, Surf Excel, has historically stayed away from making laundry problems and solutions the hero of its communication. This started in 2005, when Surf Excel launched the unique concept of “dirt is good” in India with the iconic puddle war ad. And every year since, Surf Excel has come up with commercials propagating this brand philosophy – whether it is to make a little sister smile, or stop a raging fight between adults, or being a bigger person and forgiving friends. Surf Excel repeatedly demonstrates to mothers that children experience and learn about life through dirt.

     

    The new commercial conceptualized by Lowe Lintas and Partners is set in the context that kids today are exposed to lots of violence and anger and grow up believing that this is the way of life. With this commercial, Surf Excel demonstrates the value of “baddappan” and how a situation can be turned around without any negative overtones by a child who thinks and behaves differently

     

    We see a team of young kids engrossed in their post-school cricket match, when a team of seniors enters the pitch and bullies these kids to abandon the ground in the middle of their session. While a heated brawl is underway between the bowler and the senior, a member of the younger team calmly walks up to the two of them and attempts resolving with reason. On being met with a violent response, the kid then takes adopts a unique path – he cheekily offers to make peace with the elders by offering them a muddy hug!

     

    Since most of us may have been in a similar scenario of bullying at some point in our lives, this ad leaves us with the good feeling that not always do we need to resort to violence. The ad in its own tongue-in-cheek way communicates the good of being the bigger person in a situation.

     

    CREDITS

    Creative: Arun Iyer, Ramkrishna Gopi Yadav, AP Zeth, Aarti Srinivasan, Sushant Joshi

    Business: Virat Tandon, Tarannum Romani, Suchana Sarkar, Haripriya Mishra

    Planning: Saji Abraham, Mani KB

    Films: Riddhi Mehta

    Production House: Footcandles Films

    Director: Vinil Math

     

  • Rohan Chandran jons Big FM as Station Head in BLR

    By A Correspondent

     

    Big FM has announced the appointment of Rohan Chandran as the station head for its Bangalore station. In his new role, Mr Chandran will report to Mr Ashwin Padmanabhan, Regional Head – North and South, Big FM and will primarily be responsible for the overall running of the Bangalore station along with revenue generation.

     

    Mr Padmanabhan said: “We are very excited to have Rohan on board who comes with a pedigree of success from his previous professional stints and has sharp insights on the consumers in Bangalore and South. We are confident that with Rohan at the helm, 92.7 Big FM will further cement its position as the leading media brand in Bangalore and Karnataka.”

     

    An engineer by education, Mr Chandran brings with him over nine years of experience. After his MBA from Management Development Institute in 2003, he joined Maruti Suzuki India, as the Territory Manager (Sales) for Kerala. In 2007, he moved to Reebok India where he was the Regional Manager-South for Sales and Retail operations.

     

    Mr Chandran said: “I am very positive about the opportunities which lie ahead of us. The team in Bangalore is young, dynamic and focused and we will together be able to further fortify the standing in the market. I look forward to working with 92.7 BIG FM in the next phase of my professional journey.”

     

     

  • Rajesh Mani comes on board as Executive Creative Director at Commonwealth Mumbai Hub

    Rajesh Mani joins Commonwealth as ECD

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rajesh Mani has come on board Commonwealth as Executive Creative Director at the Mumbai office. Mr Mani has moved to Commonwealth from Leo Burnett and has 12 years of experience in creating distinct and memorable work.

     

    He co-created, with Rajiv Rao, the hugely popular Blackberry Boys version 1 and also wrote the much loved song for Blackberry Boys. He has also done some acclaimed films like Hutch callertunes, Vodafone 60P/minute film and was also part of the core team that launched the Zoozoos. His other internationally acclaimed work was for the global launch of Lenovo X300 laptops with a film that was showcased during the Beijing Olympics titled ‘The Flying Sumos’.

     

    Mr Mani, or Mani as he likes to be called, said: “Leo Burnett was a leap of faith. At Ogilvy, I worked on one of the best brands in the country, Vodafone. Commonwealth offered an exciting prospect of working on one of the biggest car brands in the world at a global level and a rare opportunity to interact and imbibe from the best in the business – Prasoon Joshi, Jeff Goodby, Linus Karlsson and Washington Olivetto. On a global platform like Commonwealth, it is important to understand the finer points of cross-cultural communication challenges and pegging ideas on simple human truths that are geography agnostic.”

     

    Prasoon Joshi said: “Am really pleased that Rajesh Mani is a part of Commonwealth. He has tremendous experience and talent which will further strengthen the operation. I am positive that Rajesh will be instrumental in creating and delivering stellar quality work.”

     

    Commonwealth is a first-of-its-kind 50-50 joint venture, combining San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, an Omnicom Group company, and New York-based McCann Erickson Worldwide, an Interpublic Group company. In forming the joint venture, Commonwealth combines a wealth of creative talent, extensive global automotive experience and strategic business leadership that is unique in the industry.

     

     

  • dgMatix's proprietary technology is capable of tracking click frauds, measuring campaign performance on various parameters

    DGM India launches dgMatix ad network

    By A Correspondent

     

    DGM India announced the launch of its premium brand ad network – dgMatix, which will utilize DGM’s proprietary technology to deliver impactful and transparent campaigns. dgMatix’s proprietary technology is capable of tracking click frauds, measuring campaign performance on various parameters like creative-wise performance, publisher-wise performance, and so on.

     

    Anurag Gupta, MD, DGM India said: “dgMatix Ad Platform is significantly different from the other platforms available in the Indian market for the advertisers. It uses proprietary JavaScript injection technology to put an ad on the publisher’s website without interfering with the existing ad units or existing design of the website. Additionally, there are no costs for publishers for serving dgMatix ads. The ad units created by dgMatix are additional high impact units on the publisher’s website that is interoperable with multiple platforms like Flash, HTML5. Our technology optimizes the publisher’s inventory and provides maximum eCPM and eCPC”.

     

    dgMatix’s proprietary technology is hosted on the cloud to generate faster response time. The ad server resides on Amazon and the delivery system works from Amazon Cloud Front which allows to automatically route end users to the closest available location, thus ensuring the fastest delivery of ads without any drop outs.

     

    dgMatix is capable of delivering high impact, disruptive units on identified websites along with detailed reporting including IP addresses. dgMatix offers two kinds of solutions to Brand advertisers: Impact & Reach.

     

    dgMatix delivers the following Impact solutions on identified selected tier 1 and tier 2 websites:

    • Brand Box: A high impact slider unit that can play rich media ads to static images. The slider unit delivers phenomenally high CTRs.
    • Brand Bar: dgMatix uses intelligent technology to serve ads in the margin/free space on the left & right side of the website content.
    • Brand Bang: dgMatix offers the highest impact ad options for advertisers viz. site captures/take-overs and high impact flash/HTML5 ad units.

     

    dgMatix delivers the following Reach solutions:

    • dgMatix has a reach of over 30 million Internet users on a monthly basis
    • The exclusive pricing strategy includes charging advertisers on authenticated & verified deliveries as per client’s analytics reports
    • The Pricing models include Cost per visitor, Cost per click, Cost per thousand impressions etc. Detailed during and post-campaign reporting, including IP addresses etc.

     

    DGM India works with over 15,000 websites across India and has delivered measurable results to over 300 blue-chip Indian brands over the past 5 years on a pay-for-performance basis.

     

     

  • He will oversee the implementation of national marketing campaigns that will drive growth for the brand

    Calvin John joins CaratLane VP-Marketing

    By A Correspondent

     

    CaratLane.com, the online jewellery retailer has announced the appointment of Calvin John as Vice President – Marketing. Mr John will be responsible primarily for defining marketing strategy and positioning for CaratLane.com. He will oversee the implementation of national marketing campaigns that will drive growth for the brand.

     

    Mr John brings in international experience in consumer-driven sectors like food and beverage and lifestyle retail, having worked in the GCC, SAARC, ASEAN, and Indian markets, he has an in-depth understanding of what drives a customer to make that final purchase.

     

    Before joining CaratLane.com, Mr John worked with leading brands like Titan, UB Group, Hindustan Unilever and Bisleri.

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Mr John said: “I am very excited to join CaratLane.com as it brings clarity and information-driven empowerment to customers to help them make informed choices. This is crucial for a high-value industry like ours where customers, owing to lack of knowledge, are hesitant to go beyond their trusted family jeweller. The strategy going forward will be to increase the credibility and further establish the identity of CaratLane.com as India’s leading online jeweller.”

     

    Speaking on Mr John’s appointment, Mithun Sacheti, Founder and CEO of CaratLane.com said: “Calvin’s varied experience across different sectors will benefit CaratLane.com both from a category and function perspective. His understanding of the Indian jewellery market, coupled with his experience in setting up the entire e-commerce channel for a leading national brand gives him an ‘intra-preneurial’ perspective which is very important for a business model like ours. We are confident that he will take CaratLane.com to newer heights.”

     

     

  • Till now City Bhaskar inGujaratwas available with Divya Bhaskar in Ahmedabad only

    Divya Bhaskar launches City Bhaskar in Surat & Vadodara

    By A Correspondent

     

    City Bhaskar, the broadsheet magazine from Dainik Bhaskar Group addressing the youth segment with news and activities within city has now entered Suratand Vadodara. It addresses the need of positive content presenting the ‘Good Life of the City’ with special focus on city happenings and leisure reading. It provides for the positive outlook and in a way proves to be motivational and aspirational product.

     

    Till now City Bhaskar in Gujarat was available with Divya Bhaskar in Ahmedabad only. The need for such a product in Surat and Vadodara has been felt for some time.

     

    Speaking on the City Bhaskar launch in Surat and Vadodara, Saras Sethi, State Head Gujarat said: “Surat and Vadodara, with their own unique population mix, professional outlook and inclination were considered ripe for a product like City Bhaskar. It takes into account the city highlights, cultural and social milieu, the youth segment needs and is crafted specially for the city.”

     

    Divya Bhaskar, the Gujarati Newspaper of Dainik Bhaskar Group with 11.44 lakh readers (IRS Q1 2012) is the only Gujarati newspaper with more than a million readers in a city.

     

     

  • Personally speaking, I am all ready for the future. I have decided to start a specialized scam ads shop. Which to me sounds like a really lucrative business

    Anil Thakraney: Page 3 versus Oprah

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Oprah Winfrey is a super talk show host. That is well known. We now also know that apna Aamirbhai is a huge fan of the lady, after he formatted his maiden TV show based on her work. All very fine and dandy. But we’ve just discovered another thing about Oprah that some hoity toity Indians are finding very hard to digest: Apparently, she thinks poorly of us Indians because we ‘still’ eat food with our hands. And the TV queen has made a video of her shock over our crazy dietary habits for the consumption of her local audiences inAmerica. And it’s mainly targeted at the Texan rangers, who must obviously be having a good gaff at our expense.

     

    I searched for the offending video on Youtube, and not surprisingly, they have been blocked for viewing in India. And that’s stupid, really. You can find the link through other websites. Oprah made this sensational comment when she sat down for a desi thali meal with a conservative Somani family from Mumbai. One can see in the video that the family is going out of its way to please the honourable guest.

     

    The result: All those Page 3 types who were falling over each other to get close to Oprah when she visited India in January this year, are busy spewing venom against her on TV talk shows. These are the same people who were excitedly tweeting their smiling thopdas in the company of the exalted lady. I have only two things to say to these angry beauties.

     

    One, Ms Winfrey is a television presenter and she will use footage that can get her American audiences transfixed. That’s her profession, that’s her job. Western audiences don’t want to see the high rises of Nariman Point, nor are they interested in videos of Parmeshwar Godrej’s glitzy party in Oprah’s honour. They want to see the poverty and squalor they usually associate withIndia, stuff they find quaint. The huge success of Slumdog Millionaire proves that. So don’t hold this video against the lady, she’s got TRPs to worry about.

     

    This incident should also remind you guys and gals to quit the gora (which ironically, Oprah is not even) fixation and get over the colonial hangover, it’s been over sixty years since we ousted them. Treat them like any other guest when they arrive, so that when they return to their own nations and report unflattering things, we simply ignore it and move on.

     

    Let’s be a little more confident about ourselves for god’s sake.

     

    * * *

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jTSB2ez-g[/youtube]

    PS: Do watch this video on the art of designing a logo. It talks about the evolution of the logo over the centuries and its huge relevance to marketing. And there are some super examples too.