MxMIndia

Category: ADVERTISING

  • In his new role as National Corporate Sales Head, all non-station market sales teams including Mumbai, South,Delhiand government will report to him with immediate effect while he will continue reporting to the CEO, Harrish M Bhatia

    94.3 MY FM elevates Rahul Namjoshi as National Corporate Sales Head

    By A Correspondent

     

    94.3 MY FM has elevated Rahul Namjoshi as National Corporate Sales Head. Mr Namjoshi, who has been associated with MY FM since 2007 as the Regional Head for Gujarat, moved to take the role of Business Head for North, East and South zones last financial year where he has played a critical role in transforming the Delhi region within a short span of time.

     

    In his new role as National Corporate Sales Head, all non-station market sales teams including Mumbai, South,Delhiand government will report to him with immediate effect while he will continue reporting to the CEO, Harrish M Bhatia.

     

    Commenting on the development Mr Bhatia said: “MY FM has created a culture that acknowledges exceptional performers. We are pleased to promote Rahul as the National Corporate Sales Head for 94.3 MY FM. We are sure that with his knowledge of Radio and the brand, Rahul will take MY FM to newer heights, making a positive contribution to the top line of the company.”

     

    Continuing with the restructuring exercise, Harold Paul and Ambika Singh have been elevated to the Station Head level at MY FM’s key station – Ahmedabad. They will look after Corporate Sales and Retail Sales respectively.

     

    Before joining 94.3 MY FM, Mr Namjoshi was leading Reliance Industries Ltd – Textile division as Deputy General Manager.

     

  • Invites readers to vote for their favourite travel experiences and win luxury holiday stays

    Conde Nast Traveller India announces Readers’ Travel Awards 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    Conde Nast Traveller is inviting its readers to vote for their most memorable and treasured travel experiences by participating in the annual Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards 2012, recognized internationally as a benchmark for excellence in the travel and tourism industry.

     

    Readers can vote for their favourite holiday destinations and travel experiences by filling in the Readers’ Travel Awards questionnaire available in the Conde Nast Traveller June-July 2012 issue or by logging onto www.cntraveller.in. The award winning destinations, hotels, airlines amongst other categories will be announced at an awards ceremony later in the year.

     

    Since their introduction in India last year, Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards have been recognized as the most prestigious travel awards in India.

     

    Divia Thani Daswani, Editor, Conde Nast Traveller India said: “We were overwhelmed by the response the awards received in their first edition in India. The Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards are widely acknowledged as the most prestigious awards in the travel industry, because they are voted for by our discerning readers, who understand, appreciate and ultimately consume luxury travel products and services. We look forward to an even greater response this year, given the increased circulation and reach of the magazine, and the growing appetite for luxury travel.”

     

    Conde Nast Traveller India readers have the opportunity to vote across 22 categories for their favourite destinations, hotels, airlines, spas, airports and more.

     

    Talking about the success of Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards in India, Shri Subodh Kant Sahay, Honourable Minister of Tourism, Government of India said: “Now is the time to properly market India’s tourist destinations and achieve our vision to double the number of tourists to India. Conde Nast Traveller has contributed extensively to the Indian tourism industry since its arrival in India and we believe that the magazine will offer a significant boost to our initiatives thanks to its circulation and credentials – which are tremendous, no doubt.”

     

  • Ms Sharma will be the face of all brand campaigns related to the TVS Scooty brand

    Anushka Sharma to endorse TVS Scooty

    By A Correspondent

     

    TVS Motor Company announced that it has signed on actor Anushka Sharma as the brand ambassador for its TVS Scooty range. Ms Sharma will be the face of all brand campaigns related to the TVS Scooty brand.

     

    TVS Scooty has been one of the most exciting two-wheeler brands for young women. This association with Anushka Sharma only strengthens the brands commitment to its youth target audience and reinforces its positioning.

     

    Commenting on the development, Mr H S Goindi, President Marketing, TVS Motor Company said: “Anushka Sharma was an immediate choice for the TVS Scooty brand. She is well known for being spunky with her distinctive style and is an icon for young girls inIndia. She is seen by young women as one who is living her goals along with being vivacious, independent and successful. We are confident that this association will further enhance the popular TVS Scooty Brand. ”

     

    For Ms Sharma, the association with TVS Scooty dates back to 2005: “It’s almost like ‘homecoming’ for me. As a young woman, I know how important independence and mobility is to me. TVS Scooty has always understood young women ofIndiaand it feels great that I now have an opportunity to be a part of the rich legacy of a brand such as TVS Scooty. It is a breakthrough attitude and style statement that is relevant to today’s young women.”

     

    TVS Scooty has a history of other successful associations with celebrities.

     

  • MEC India, a leading media agency, (www.mecglobal.com), announced the appointment of Ritesh Singh as their new digital leader

    MEC India appoints Ritesh Singh as head of Digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    MEC India, a leading media agency, has announced the appointment of Ritesh Singh as their new digital leader. Prior to this, Mr Singh was with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) as the Business Head - India, SMG Digital.

     

    Mr Singh joins as National Director, MEC Interaction and will report to T Gangadhar, Managing Director India and Tushar Vyas, Managing Partner, GroupM Interactions -South Asia.

     

    Speaking about the appointment, Tushar Vyas said: “Ritesh comes to MEC with unrivalled pedigree in managing the digital marketing services business and has the right blend of diversified media experience. We are delighted to have Ritesh lead MEC’s digital agenda and help deliver integrated communications planning for our brands.”

     

    Mr Singh has over 13 years of experience handling activation and digital. In his previous role, he led the conception and deployment of digital strategy. His experience spans an array of clients – Samsung, Aircel, Western Union, General Motors, SAB Miller, Himalaya – to name a few.

     

    Mr Singh shared: “I am excited to join MEC and thrilled to have an opportunity to work for some of the best brands in the country. In these exciting times for digital media, I look forward to work with MEC’s talented digital team to create new benchmarks.”

     

    Praval Singh – Co-founder, Media Redefined said: “Ritesh is a seasoned digital media planner. Not just for media buying but his insights on various online-offline engagement and innovative campaigns have been valuable while we worked together for some of the leading brands in the country. I am quite hopeful that Ritesh on board with his rich experience and attitude of achieving excellence would help MEC soar new heights.”

     

    MEC Interaction topped the digital category at Goafest 2012 with the much acclaimed Reliance Ego-Search campaign. This campaign is also one of MEC’s entries to Cannes this year.

     

  • Happy's Design Cell shall focus on offering services in the space of identity creation / Branding / Packaging and some amount of retail / environment design

    Happy launches Design Cell

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bangalore based boutique agency Happy just announced the launch of its Design Cell. This comes post the announcement of their Mumbai operations in January earlier this year.

     

    “We have been offering design services to many from the day we started. We’ve also been fortunate to win a few awards for our work in Design. We took our time to build a body of work and crystallize on a strategic design process that is our own. The design cell shall work as an independent unit with its own business targets and talent pool. We see a huge opportunity in this space and are confident we can inject new energy and excitement in this space” said Kartik Iyer, CEO, Happy.

     

    Happy’s Design Cell shall focus on offering services in the space of identity creation / Branding / Packaging and some amount of retail / environment design. It will be led by Shilpa Colluru in Bangalore and Pallavi Nayak in Mumbai. While business development will driven from these two offices, the objective is to serve clients from across the country with the creative delivery happening out ofBangalore.

     

    “Having a specialized design cell only seemed like a natural progression for us as it allows us to do a lot more for our clients. It also makes more sense for companies and brands that have been newly formed and are preparing for a launch,” said Praveen Das, CCO, Happy.

     

    “Design is more than just making things look pretty. There is science behind effective design.India is at a stage where her people have begun to develop a strong aesthetic sense and appreciation for design. We believe that this will play a strong ancillary role in shaping the way Indian businesses look at branding and design as a key to drive growth,” added Mr Iyer.

     

    Happy’s work in design has been well noticed and appreciated in the past. The Lee Never wasted Bag went on to win many awards including a Cannes nomination. The Skinny jeans packaging they created for Lee also won a D&Ad nomination. Happy was also behind the new logo of online fashion retailer Myntra.com. The agency also created the logo and worked on the store experience of fashion retailer, Basics Life.

     

    Happy’s inner wear packaging design for fashion brand Basics 029 has also been appreciated and featured on most leading design websites in the world. Happy also recently won 2 bronzes in design at Goafest 2012 – one for direct mail and the other for environmental graphics.

     

  • Premiering as a free-to-air channel on Sky, UMP Stars is a specialty entertainment channel dedicated exclusively to Bollywood

    UTV Stars enters UK as UMP Stars

    By A Correspondent

     

    Following a successful launch in India and the Middle East, UTV STARS now enters the UK market as UMP STARS. Premiering as a free-to-air channel on Sky, UMP STARS is a specialty entertainment channel dedicated exclusively to Bollywood.

     

    Commenting on the expansion in UK, MK Anand, Managing Director- Media Networks, Disney UTV said: “We are pleased to launch UMP STARS in the UK which will complement the presence of our flagship Hindi Movies channel UMP Movies in the region. UK has a large South Asian diaspora and Bollywood fanbase. With the launch on UMP STARS, the TV viewers will now be able to enjoy rich and vibrant Bollywood content. We are proud to extend our media sales association with Sky Media and look forward to another grand entry into the region after the successful launch of UMP Movies in December 2011.”

     

    Advertising representation for the channel in the UK will be handled by Sky Media. Richard Hawking – Operations Director commented: “We’re thrilled to be adding another UMP channel to our portfolio. Following the success of UMP Movies, UMP Stars strengthens and broadens our Asian offering to advertisers while delivering fantastic Bollywood content to Sky’s customers.”

     

    Kamlesh Patel, CEO, TVMedia3.com who exclusively distributes Disney UTV Channels in UK and Europe and sealed the deal between Sky and Disney UTV said: “TVMedia3 is delighted to bring UMP Stars to mainstream UK audiences on the huge success of UMP Movies earlier this year. TVMedia3 looks forward to building and delivering this unique content with the team at Disney UTV to audiences across the world”.

     

    The Broadcasting arm of Disney UTV made inroads into the UK market with the launch of UMP Movies on 12th December 2011. With the launch of UMP STARS, the company further strengthens its foothold in the region.

     

  • Mr Guillois will report to Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India

    Digitas India appoints Tim Guillois Sr VP, social media

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digitas recently announced the appointment of Tim Guillois as the senior vice president for social media in India. Mr Guillois will report to Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India. Mr Guillois joined Digitas in February 2012 from France where he was working for Blogbang, a social media agency. He brings over 13 years of experience in building brands using social media.

     

    Speaking on his appointment, Mr Guillois said: “I am honoured and excited to be a part of the Digitas India team. The Digital space in India is unique, and we are looking forward to developing services and  models which are unique to India and at the same time bring-in the best of Digitas’ best practices.”

     

    Kanika Mathur of Digitas said: “Digitas has seen tremendous growth in India over the last few years. As the Digital space evolves in India, it gives us immense pleasure to have Tim on board leading Social media. I am confident that Tim’s experience and passion for social media will strengthen our business and lead it to new heights.”

     

    Digitas in India is positioned as an integrated digital agency which brings the best solutions including strategic insights, analytics, creative, user experience, technology and production, Digital media planning and buying, Social media, E-commerce solutions and CRM.

     

  • As part of the mandate, GreenThumb will be responsible for the development and implementation of an effective media strategy

    Modi Omega Pharma awards PR mandate to GreenThumb

    By A Correspondent

     

    Modi Omega Pharma India Pvt. Ltd. has appointed GreenThumb as its communications partner following a multi-agency pitch. As part of the mandate, GreenThumb will be responsible for the development and implementation of an effective media strategy to generate awareness across all metros and mini metros about the various brands in the company’s portfolio.

     

    Modi Omega Pharma is an OTC division of the Umesh Modi Group of Companies, which has over 17 companies in its portfolio and an annual turnover of Rs2,000 crore. Modi Omega Pharma was formed in 2010 as a 50:50 joint venture between Modi-Mundipharma and Omega Pharma Limited, a Belgium-based pharma OTC company with operations in over 35 countries.

     

    On the engagement with GreenThumb, Ms Himani Modi, Director, Modi Omega, said: “In the last few years, Modi Omega Pharma has endeavoured to bring internationally renowned OTC products to meet the changing needs of Indian consumers. Since 2010, we have launched an anti-snoring throat spray ‘Silence’, an anti-head lice lotion ‘Jungle Formula’ and anti-acne products under the brand ‘Bodysol’. We are in an expansion mode and recently launched a premium baby skin care brand ‘Galenco’. Therefore, it was imperative that proper measures should be taken to reach out to the target audience and create mass awareness about our products. We invited a multi-agency pitch and were keen to partner with a PR agency that would have a clear understanding of our requirements. We liked the fresh and innovative ideas that were presented by the GreenThumb team and decided to give the mandate to them.”

     

    Commenting on this partnership, GreenThumb’s CEO Arjun Banerjee said: “With only a handful of brands available in the anti-lice, anti-snoring and premium baby skin care segments, there is definitely a massive demand in the market for technologically advanced and high quality products in these categories. So, we are extremely happy to partner with Modi Omega for promoting their internationally renowned brands across India. The challenge would be to position Modi Omega’s brands as the most sought after in their respective categories and our PR Campaign over the next year will focus on addressing this issue.”

     

  • And that new flick called 'Shanghai' is the last time I shall go by the critics' verdict. Frankly, I couldn't sit through the film. It was boring, wannabe, pretentious and very laboured

    Anil Thakraney: Film critics cannot be trusted

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I was once having a conversation with Mrs Jaya Bachchan on film criticism. And she made a valid point, and this is also the reason I have steered clear of taking up film review assignments: It is important for columnists who review cinema to take part in a film appreciation course. So that even if they aren’t completely familiar with the job of making movies, at least their basics on script writing, editing, background score, art direction, production, etc, are in place. And they are able to dole out insightful observations to their readers. Very true. And since I haven’t done such a course, I am reluctant to review cinema. Don’t think I am qualified enough.

     

    And that new flick called ‘Shanghai’ is the last time I shall go by the critics’ verdict. Although wary of these guys, I did get carried away into believing this must be outstanding cinema. After all, almost every single desi reviewer was wildly gushing over it. Frankly, I couldn’t sit through the film. It was boring, wannabe, pretentious and very laboured. And even the story offered nothing new; every kid knows this nation is very corrupted. Self indulgent cinema at its worse, where the director gets carried away with his/her own sensibility, and forgets that movies are meant to engage and entertain the junta above all else. And no, in case you are wondering, I am not a fan of ‘Rowdy Rathore’ or ‘Dabanng’ sort of trashy cinema. In fact, I avoid Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar films like the swine flu. So this isn’t about my lack of ability to enjoy ‘refined’ cinema. I may not be an expert but I can tell fraudish work quite easily.

     

    So then what’s going on? What’s gone wrong with the critics? There have always been hushed allegations of sycophancy and corruption in this trade, but I will choose to discount that. Instead, I would urge editors and programming heads to do what Mrs Bachchan suggests. Enroll your film reviewers for a good, reputed film appreciation course. You will see the results immediately. And pretentious films like ‘Shanghai’ will end up with a completely different review.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: My time is now. Another wonderful ad from Nike. This one is set inside a barber shop, and it’s interactive too. What I like most about Nike’s advertising is the jehadi zeal with which they stick to the established brand personality. The Nike attitude is always a constant.

     

  • The move follows a relationship fostered by the group's MPG brand over the past nine years

    Havas picks majority stake in Mediaxis MPG

    By A Correspondent

     

    Havas Media, the world’s fastest growing media group has announced its majority stake in Zurich based media group, Mediaxis MPG. The move follows a relationship fostered by the group’s MPG brand over the past nine years and places Havas Media as one of the top ranking media operations in the Swiss market. Mediaxis MPG will remain as the group’s main operational brand.

     

    “The Swiss market is a key market for Havas Media and I am delighted that following a prosperous 9-year relationship, the management team have decided to further commit to the group and officially join our other 122 markets worldwide,” said Alfonso Rodes, CEO Havas Media.

     

    Mediaxis MPG, a leading qualitative media agency within the Swiss market, has a roster of clients including Reckitt Benckiser, Danone, Lindt, Barclays and Hermes who will continue to benefit from Havas Media’s respected tools, methodologies and thought leadership programmes. The founder, Peter Hofstetter will remain as Chairman, and member of the Executive Committee. The management of the company will remain on-board as key elements on the new long-term joint expansion plan.

     

    “We have all prospered as a result of our partnership and joining the Havas Media team is a natural step in further strengthening the group’s operations in the Swiss market. The existing management team have committed to driving this group forward and look forward to continuing to benefit from Havas Media’s tools and wider thought leadership activity such as its Meaningful Brands framework,” said Peter Hofstetter, Chairman of Mediaxis MPG.

     

    The majority stake is in effect from June 12.

     

  • Unveils a new line up of shows in the humour genre, strengthening its leadership with exciting new offerings

    Spark Punjabi launches new shows

    By A Correspondent

     

    Spark Punjabi, the international Punjabi channel which is a joint venture between Reliance Broadcast Network and CBS Studios International, is adding a new spark to its programming. True to its promise to deliver variety entertainment relevant to different target groups, beginning June 11, Spark Punjabi will feature special shows.

     

    Comedy seems to resonate very well with the viewers, even in the PHCHP region, and hence Spark Punjabi will be launching 2 new shows – Naadaniyaan, a situational comedy, and Bulbulay, a story of four lunatic characters, in the prime time slots.

     

    The new shows are being promoted through an aggressive multi media campaign, featuring TV, Radio, OOH, Print, Digital, Cable, Cinema across the PHCHP region to ensure that audiences quickly sample these new offerings.

     

    The channel launched these shows in sync with its recent campaign called ‘Choose Your Set-Top-Box Wisely’, designed to increase awareness and empower consumers with adequate information to make the right choice while choosing their set top boxes, while also enabling operators to build their brand equity.

     

  • The study was conducted among 6-14 year old kids, SEC ABC, in eight cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jalandhar and Chennai

    Bheem, Katrina Kaif and Sachin Tendulkar are kids’ favorites, says Ormax Media

    By A Correspondent

     

    As per the sixth edition of Ormax Media’s kids’ favourite character ranking study, Small Wonders, Bheem is the favourite television character among kids, followed by Doraemon at No. 2.

     

    The study also tracks the favourites of kids across nine other parameters. The table below lists the favourites across five parameters:

    Parameter No. 1 Favorite
    Favourite Film Star – Male Salman Khan
    Favourite Film Star – Female Katrina Kaif
    Favourite Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar
    Favourite Sportsperon (Non-cricket) Sania Mirza
    Favourite Hindi GEC Character Anandi (Balika Vadhu)

     

    The other three parameters measured by Small Wonders among kids are their Favourite Sports, Favourite Play Items and Favourite Places to Eat Outside.

     

    The study was conducted among 6-14 year old kids, SEC ABC, in eight cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jalandhar and Chennai.

     

    The study report gives details on all parameters across age, gender and markets.