MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • Agarwal has joined the Group as Managing Editor of Bihar and Jharkhand

    YC Agarwal joins Dainik Bhaskar as Managing Editor

    By a correspondent

     

    Dainik Bhaskar has announced the induction of YC Agarwal as part of the core editorial team of the Bihar and Jharkhand editions. Agarwal has joined the Group as Managing Editor of Bihar and Jharkhand. His appointment reflects the Group’s constant endeavors to enhance the editorial content and bring in more freshness and a new appeal in the publication. This appointment will further strengthen the leadership team of Dainik Bhaskar in Jharkhand, particularly of the recently launched Patna edition.

     

    Agarwal brings with him 42 years of extensive experience in the Indian media industry. Prior to joining Dainik Bhaskar, Agarwal was overall in-charge of Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd in leadership roles for states of Bihar, Jharkhand & UP.

     

    R Swaminathan, Regional Chief Corporate Officer of Bihar & Jharkhand said, “We are delighted to have Mr. Agarwal in our team. His appointment brings a certain sense of reassurance with it, as our core operations in Bihar & Jharkhand are now in his able and immensely experienced hands.  Also, his encyclopedic knowledge on our industry has always been revered and is highly sought-after by media houses and industry bodies alike. We now stand to benefit not only from his proven editorial expertise, but also from his valuable counsel on building the ‘Brand Dainik Bhaskar’ in Bihar & Jharkhand.”

     

  • Facebook has crossed 100 million users in India with more than 84 million of the users being connected through mobile

    FB races to the 100mn user mark

    By a correspondent

     

    Popular social networking website Facebook has crossed 100 million users in India, it has announced. Furthermore, more than 84 million of the users are connected through the mobile, it has stated.

     

    Talking about this milestone and its significance for India, Kevin D’Souza, Head of Growth & Mobile Partnerships, Facebook India, said: “The internet not only connects us to our friends, families and communities, it is also the foundation of a global knowledge economy. Today, we have more than 100 million people who access Facebook actively in India each month. We’ve only just begun. Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share, and to make the world more open and connected.”

     

    Adding further, D’Souza said: “We recently announced internet.org, a global partnership with the goal of connecting the next 5 billion people around the world, to make the same access and opportunity available to everyone. It is with this in mind that we look towards like-minded partners who want to innovate, and share the same vision as us, to understand better how internet access can be increased to reach millions more people across India.”

     

  • Rathi will report into Debraj Tripathy, MD, MediaCom India and will oversee P&G and rest of the West businesses

    Rathi Gangappa joins MediaCom as Head West

    By a correspondent

     

    MediaCom has appointed Rathi Gangappa as Head West. She will report into Debraj Tripathy, MD, MediaCom India and will oversee P&G and rest of the West businesses that include the VW group, HRI, Vespa and others.

     

    Prior to joining Mediacom Rathi was at Vodafone as the Head of Media and was subsequently in charge of developing Vodafone’s Mobile Marketing product. She has been instrumental in building Vodafone’s leading media identity and driving their strategic media solutions. Rathi started her career in Lintas Media after which she moved to Maximize (now Maxus) when GroupM India was formed. In a career spanning over 18 years Rathi has worked with clients like Unilever, Hutch/ Vodafone, Tata Motors, Britannia and Walt Disney.

     

    Speaking on Rathi’s appointment, Debraj Tripathy, MD, MediaCom India said, “I am delighted to welcome Rathi to the MediaCom family. I am confident her varied experience across organisations, both agencies and advertisers, and across categories will help us deliver greater value to our clients.”

     

  • Ranbir will endorse Lenovo's range of smartphones and will feature in various television and online commercials for the brand in India

    After endorsing Tabs, Ranbir extends Lenovo association to smartphones

    By a correspondent

     

    Lenovo has announced its association with Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor as the brand ambassador for smartphones in India. As part of this association, Ranbir will endorse Lenovo’s range of smartphones and will feature in various television and online commercials for the brand in India. In Lenovo’s earlier association with Ranbir, he was endorsing both PCs and Tablets and will continue endorsing Tablets in this partnership too.

     

    Sudhin Mathur, Director-Smartphones, Lenovo India said, “Ranbir Kapoor is a multi-talented and popular actor, who is admired across the nation. We are delighted to be associated with him, as he is an extremely versatile, endearing and stylish performer just like our range of Lenovo smartphones. We believe that this partnership will expand our reach into the consumer space and enhance the preference for Lenovo smartphones in India.”

     

    The stylish range of smartphones comprise, industry-leading devices suiting every need of the user right from the best camera experience to extra long battery life. Bundled with powerful multi-core processors, access to the latest apps through Android™, and peerless display technology, Lenovo smartphones are poised to enhance a user’s experience.

     

    Lenovo will soon launch a series of TV and online commercials featuring Ranbir Kapoor.

     

  • The platform will provide advertisers massive reach while allowing them to selectively target and bid for specific clusters of audience

    Vserv.mobi unveils data augmented mobile platform, RTB

    By a correspondent

     

    With an aim to empower advertisers and developers, Vserv.mobi announced the launch of its data augmented mobile Real Time Bidding (RTB) platform. With this, Vserv.mobi bridges a value gap across emerging markets as it enables RTB for its customers on both the demand and supply side of its exchange. The platform will provide advertisers massive reach while allowing them to selectively target and bid for specific clusters of audience. Additionally, developers in emerging markets gain access to global RTB demand, which maximizes their mobile advertising revenues by auctioning each ad request to the highest bidder. Combining the RTB platform with the strength of its flagship products – AppWrapper and AudiencePro, gives Vserv a strategic advantage and creates an opportunity for the ecosystem to maximize mobile advertising in emerging markets.

     

    Commenting on this strategic launch, Dippak Khurana, CEO and Co-Founder, Vserv.mobi said, “With the introduction of audience data powered Real Time Bidding, we are further strengthening our product offering for high growth emerging markets. The RTB platform combined with our flagship products – AudiencePro and AppWrapper, give us a strategic advantage to maximize the mobile advertising opportunity for the entire ecosystem. As advertisers look to target the next billion consumers, our RTB enabled exchange will help them leverage the power of programmatic buying, while eliminating the learning curve and risk that comes with it. Additionally, developers can tap into real-time demand across the globe, which maximizes their eCPM. Along with our key partners like Smaato, Nexage, MoPub, PocketMath among others, we are well positioned to lead the programmatic wave across emerging markets.”

     

    Key capabilities of the RTB platform include:

    • Advertisersgain access to high volumes of rich media inventory through real-time, programmatic buying even with minimal to no understanding of the RTB platform
    • Advertisers can target desired audience groups and bid only for those specific audience segments
    • Access to over 150,000 apps and mobile sites including premium full screen ad inventory to target specific genres and serve ads based on location
    • The Vserv bidder connects with its audience targeting platform – AudiencePro and leverages Big Data capabilities of its exchange for Supply Forecasting, Price Landscape and ROI optimization models
    • Developers focused on creating world class apps and leveraging Vserv’s monetization tools like AppWrapper and SDKs across operating systems can now maximize monetization for their inventory through auctioning each ad request to multiple demand partners from around the globe, including Vserv’s direct advertisers
    • Supports OpenRTB 2.1 industry standard for seamless integration into both DSPs and SSPs. The platform also supports MRAID compliant Rich Media ads, VAST enabled video ads and iAB ad specs with category mapping
    • Key Demand and Supply partners already live on the exchange include MoPub, Smaato, Nexage, PocketMath, Lifestreet, Go2mobi amongst others

     

     

  • If you live in an area that going to polls today and if you haven't voted already, please do so now. Puhleez!

    A request from MxMIndia: Please Vote!

     

    It’s Voting Day in New Delhi NCR and several other constituencies. 91 of them! The third and exceedingly vital phase of voting happens today (April 10).

     

    It’s a holiday in most offices in places where there’s polling. In fact it’s mandatory to be shut, except of course in those set-ups where it’s vital for staff to come in (like newsmedia offices, for instance). But even there, employees need to be given adequate time to be able to go out and vote.

     

    By the time you read this, a good time of the voting day would’ve elapsed. So if you haven’t gone out and voted, please do so now. Puhleez!

     

    Do whatever, but vote you must. We keep cribbing about how the country is going to the dogs. Inefficiencies, corruption, awful law and order,,,   Participating in the polling process is a good way to show the finger to a leader you don’t trust and help elect someone you think can make a difference to your life as well as that of the rest of the country.

     

    Enough gyaan. Please do go out and cast your vote. Also, if you meet someone who is feeling too lazy to do that, persuade him or her.

     

    MxMIndia is live today since we are headquartered in Mumbai where polling is on April 24. We realise we should’ve been shut given that we would prefer our readers in the voting regions go out and vote than read us.

     

  • IndiaCast has inked deals with Mio TV by SingTel in Singapore and e-Vision by Etisalat in the Middle East

    IndiaCast expands News18 footprint in Asia

    By a correspondent

     

    IndiaCast has announced the expansion of its premier news offering, News18 India in Asia by making it available to audiences in Singapore and the Middle East. News18 India is the international version of CNN IBN, one of India’s leading English news channels and the 24-hour channel features content that focuses on the latest political, business, entertainment, sports and lifestyle news from India.

     

    Expanding the international footprint of the service, IndiaCast has inked deals with Mio TV by SingTel in Singapore and e-Vision by Etisalat in the Middle East. In addition to News18 India, IndiaCast has also recently launched 5 ETV branded regional language channel services – ETV Marathi, ETV Bangla, ETV Telugu, ETV Gujarati and ETV Urdu on e-Vision’s platform, eLife TV.

     

    Gaurav Gandhi, Group COO – IndiaCast, said, “With our entertainment brands now widely distributed across the world entertaining millions, we are now focusing on expanding the footprint of our news service. News 18 India is a customized product for the overseas markets with a fine balance between political news / current affairs and business /financial news. After its successful launches earlier in the UK and Australia, the channel has now launched in Singapore and in the Middle East. We, at IndiaCast, have consistently catered to the preferences of the Indian diaspora and look forward to keeping them ‘entertained’ and ‘informed’ through content that connects them to home.”

     

    In addition to News 18 India, IndiaCast distributes the flagship channels Colors, its sibling Rishtey, MTV India and six ETV branded services in overseas markets. The global footprint of IndiaCast distributed channels is close to 90 countries.

     

  • Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies, Chicago, USA enters into a joint venture with the Bridge School of Management

    Nortwestern Univ inks jv with HT’s Bridge School

    (L-R Daniel I. Linzer, Provost, Northwestern University, Rajiv Verma, CEO, HT Media Ltd. and Director, Bridge School of Management, Rajesh Puri, CEO, Bridge School of Management, Thomas F. Gibbons, Dean, Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies)

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies has entered into a joint venture with the Bridge School of Management, a part of HT Media (publishers of Hindustan Times, Hindustan and Mint), to deliver online and in-person professional certificate programmes in India, with the first being on Predictive Business Analytics.

     

    The Agreement memorializing the venture was signed on March 20, 2014, in Evanston, Illinois, by Northwestern University Provost Daniel Linzer and HT Media CEO and Bridge School Director Rajiv Verma, notes a communiqué.

     

    “We are proud to join the Bridge School of Management in offering exceptional professional education in India via a cutting-edge delivery model,” said Northwestern University Provost Daniel Linzer. “The Bridge School has demonstrated a deep understanding of the needs of industry and employees and is creating highly effective links between industry and academia.”

     

    Talking about this collaboration, Mr Verma said: “We at Bridge School are elated about this new collaboration with the world’s foremost university. The need of the hour is for Indian management schoolsto adopt the best practices of world-class management institutions and this collaboration bears testimony toour efforts in this direction. We hope that this joint venture between Northwestern University and the Bridge School of Management will help in building strong human capital in India.”

     

    ors late last year as part of a larger strategy to equip working professionals in India with key business skills and practical knowledge. The Bridge School has a deep understanding of the needs of industry and employees, creating highly effective links between industry and academia.

     

    The joint initiative, championed by Dean Thomas F. Gibbons, Dean of Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies, and Rajesh Puri, CEO of the Bridge School, will soon launch other hybrid professional certificate programmes to meet the needs of industry in India, starting with Delhi NCR.

     

  • Even as the quality of discourse has dropped dramatically, Shailesh Kapoor finds five who make sense

    Top 5 Voices Of Sanity in Political Debates

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The General Elections are finally here. Even as the nation goes to polls, the quality of political debate has hit an all-time low. From Rahul Gandhi’s imbecile answers to vitriolic personal attacks by stray politicians (including one who said he will chop Narendra Modi to pieces) to using the Indian Army to polarise votes, I thought I had seen it all. And then yesterday, Mulayam Singh Yadav decided to make light of gangrape by calling it as a “mistake” young boys could make.

     

    Expecting a bit of courtesy, intelligence and maturity in political discourse is perhaps asking for too much. Even Narendra Modi’s language comes across as uncouth at times; language that’s certainly not befitting a potential Prime Minister. But if one’s benchmark is a Prime Minister who hardly communicated for 10 years, one should not be too demanding.

     

    In the midst of this class-less and even dangerous pitch, some politicians stand out as being the odd ones. Here’s my pick of five politicians who have brought some sanity to the degenerating political debate:

     

    5. Abhishek Manu Singhvi: It is difficult to pick a Congress talking head who makes sense these days, but Singhvi comes across as the most articulate and well-mannered of the lot. He is no political heavyweight himself, unlike some others on this list. But he communicates well, even in the midst of what are turning out to be by far the roughest elections for his party.

     

    4. Rajnath Singh: Even as Modi plays to the gallery via the lowbrow route, BJP chief Rajnath Singh has maintained dignity and composure throughout this campaign. He is evidently the back-end man here, keeping the pieces together, while leaving the talking to others. But when he speaks, he makes an impression alright, especially with his clarity of thought. Is there a chance he may be the compromise choice for the top position if NDA falls short by a small margin and other parties give support under the condition that Modi should not be the PM? Let’s wait for May 16.

     

    3. Derek O’Brien: The quizmaster turned Trinamool Congress leader has the unenviable task of defending the indefensible at times. His party chief Mamata Banerjee suffers from occasional bouts of the foot-in-mouth disease, but O’Brien is now well experienced in handling the mess. He has gift of the gab, and can even be cheekily entertaining at times. I have a feeling we will hear a lot more of him after May 16, as TMC may end up playing a crucial role at the Centre.

     

    2. Jay Panda: I find the BJD leader by far the most affable face in Indian politics today. He is always soft-spoken and dignified, and never short of deep knowledge and a clear view on the subject matter. Read his Wiki page to know what a model Member of Parliament could be!

     

    1. Smriti Irani: Throw the ‘actors can’t become serious politicians’ argument out of the window right away. Smriti Irani means business. Having struggled her way up the ranks in BJP, she has now got the exposure and the confidence that will catapult her in to top league soon. Irani is super entertaining too. Her sarcasm can be scathing at times, yet never unreasonably personal. In the true sense, she combines the qualities of a good politician and a good actor. Watch her recent Aap Ki Adalat episode with Rajat Sharma or her chat with Barkha Dutt earlier this week and you are sure to root for her. She is all set to stretch Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. More power to Smriti Irani and her commitment to a political career.

     

  • The final categories announced include that of Branded Content and Entertainment, Creative Effectiveness, Innovation, Mobile & PR

    Colvyn Harris, Aditya Swamy & Radhika Shapoorjee in final Cannes jury list

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the final names of jury members that will make up the 17 juries coming together in Cannes, France, for this year’s Festival and Awards. The final categories announced include that of Branded Content and Entertainment, Creative Effectiveness, Innovation, Mobile & PR.

     

    “This completes a line-up of highly esteemed, creative individuals who collectively are going to judge the world’s greatest work and ultimately set new, global benchmarks,” said Terry Savage, Chairman of Lions Festivals.

     

    “We look forward to working with them all and seeing what they rank as the ground-breaking, innovative entries from this year’s submissions.”

     

    In the Branded Content & Entertainment Lions jury, Doug Scott, President & Founder, Ogilvy Entertainment, Global is the Jury President and features Aditya Swamy, Executive Vice President & Business Head, MTV, from India. For the Creative Effectiveness Lions Jury, David Sable, Global Chief Executive Officer, Y&R, Global is the Jury President and features Colvyn Harris, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, JWT from India.

     

    For the Innovation Lions Jury, Tom Bedecarré, Chairman, AKQA and President, WPP Ventures, AKQA, Global has been appointed Jury President while for the Mobile Lions Jury, Jaime Robinson, Executive Creative Director, Pereira & O’Dell, USA has been appointed Jury President. Vineet Gupta, Managing Director, 22Feet Tribal Worldwide, India is also on the jury of Mobile Lions.

     

    In the PR Lions Jury, Renee Wilson, President, North America, MSLGroup, USA has been appointed Jury President and includes jury member Radhika Shapoorjee, President South Asia Corporate, Ipan Hill & Knowlton Strategies from India.

     

  • The win happens close on the heels of the agency winning the Tata Docomo and Paytm accounts

    Contract wins Amira Pure Foods account

    By A Correspondent

     

    Close on the heels on winning the creative mandate for Tata Docomo and Paytm, Contract will now handle the creative responsibilities for Amira Pure Foods Private Limited.

     

    Confirming the appointment of Contract as the new agency, Karan A. Chanana, Amira Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, “We are extremely happy to announce the appointment of Contract as our new creative partner. Contract has a reputation of building memorable brands. We want Amira to become a leading and the most preferred food brand in India in the next 18 months. We felt that Contract understood our imperatives and sees an opportunity to create yet another memorable brand. We look forward to having a long, productive and professional association with Contract.”

     

    Contract’s Delhi office will handle the account that will require work across TV, Print, Radio and the digital media.

     

    Announcing the win, Rana Barua, CEO, Contract Advertising said, “It was an honour to get the business on the basis of our credentials and Amira’s faith in our team. Amira is a global leader in packaged rice and it is exciting for us to build the brand within a category that has a strong legacy of established brands.”

     

    “The fact that Amira has shown great faith in us as an agency puts a huge responsibility on our shoulders to create some exciting communication and lay the foundation of an exciting brand. The challenge for us is to not just create a new brand but also develop a unique creative language for Amira in the foods business,” said Ashish Chakravarty, National Creative Director, Contract India.

     

    While Amira, was considering other agencies as well, the business comes on the basis of the agency’s strong credentials. Contract has a legacy of long standing relationships – more than two decades of creating brands like Shoppers Stop and NIIT; and over 10 years of partnering brands like Dominos, Dabur, Cadbury and Asian Paints.

     

    Contract’s Delhi office has been buzzing with a great team and exciting work. On the back of the recent wins of Tata Docomo and Paytm, the team has been extremely confident in taking on newer challenges.

     

  • The e-commerce firms are investing heavily in the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for buying onair advertising space

    Amazon, Flipkart investing heavily on TV ads during IPL

    By Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    A clutch of e-commerce companies are investing heavily in the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the country’s most glamorous cricketing extravaganza, for buying onair advertising space.

     

    Companies, including Amazon India, Flipkart and Go Daddy, have invested heavily in IPL7, confirmed Rohit Gupta, president of Multi Screen Media, the official broadcaster of the tournament. Multi Screen Media will have nine presenting and associate sponsors for this season of IPL.

     

    “This is at par with previous seasons of IPL where we had eight to 10 sponsors,” Gupta said. The presenting sponsors include Vodafone and Karbonn Mobile and the associate sponsors are Amazon India, Havells, Perfetti, Marico and TVS.

     

    According to Gupta, while the presenting sponsors have paid anywhere between Rs 50 crore andRs 60 crore, and will get airtime of over 200 seconds per match, the associate sponsors have paid Rs 25-35 crore and will get over 100 seconds of advertising time per match.

     

    “We will be signing two more associate sponsors next week,” he added. The channel has already sold 60-70% of its on-air inventory at Rs 4.75-5 lakh for a 10-second spot.

     

    Amazon India, which launched its operation in India 10 months ago, will be launching its first Indian television commercial during IPL 7. The company’s print and online campaigns have been created by Taproot and the media mandate is being handled by IPG Group company Initiative Media.

     

    “Amazon.in is working across platforms for the IPL season. In line with our vision to be the most customer-centric company, we have spent the last 10 months building on our favoured, trusted and reliable global brand,” Amazon India’s spokesperson said, but declined to divulge the details of the TV commercial. “As our target customers around the country will be watching IPL, we hope to entice and delight them with our trusted online shopping experience.”

     

    Sharing the advertisement space with the e-commerce firms is first-time entrant and two-wheeler maker TVS.

     

    According to Gupta, the Supreme Court verdict helped iron out the initial hiccups in signing the deals. “There was a lot of skepticism and apprehension in the beginning whether the tournament will happen or not and therefore we faced a lot of challenges in closing the deals with advertisers. But once the Supreme Court verdict came in favour of the tournament within 7-10 days, we closed most of the deals,” he said.

     

    A senior media planner attributed the surge in advertiser interest to the IPL brand. “Good or bad, there is no other property on television which can give the kind of mileage that IPL can deliver. And the tournament has built so many brands over the last six years, especially mobile handset brands like Micromax, which has now become aglobal player,” the media planner, who did not wish to be named, said. Multi Screen Media is expecting a spike in viewership to over 200 million, according to Gupta.

     

    “Firstly, the number of matches has come down to 60. Secondly, this year, there are fewer afternoon matches, which tend to get low viewership. Finally, because of the player auction, there are no clear favourites. Anyone can win the tournament. We believe all these factors will culminate into high viewership this year.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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