MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • Anand will lead product conceptualization, design and development across the B2C segment of the company

    Anand Chandrasekaran joins Bharti Airtel as Chief Product Officer

    By a correspondent

     

    Bharti Airtel announced the appointment of Anand Chandrasekaran as its Chief Product Officer for its India operations. Anand will lead product conceptualization, design and development across the B2C segment of the company and will report into Srini Gopalan, Director – Consumer Business. He will be responsible for driving best in class user interfaces, content partnerships and product experiences across all current and future offerings across the internet ecosystem.

     

    Announcing the appointment, Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia) said, “We are delighted to have Anand on board as we sharpen our focus on innovation. I am confident that his rich experience and in-depth understanding of technology and the internet ecosystem will contribute to our endeavor of building an organization of the future.”

     

    Anand joins Airtel from Yahoo where he was Sr. Director of Global Search Products and a member of the search leadership team. Previous to this role, he was Sr. Director & Head of Product for Mobile, which was the fastest growing part of the Search & Commerce Business Unit for Yahoo.

     

    Anand is a proven entrepreneur with experience of leading product development, growth and revenue in mobile, consumer internet, search, maps, local and big data across numerous Fortune 500 companies. Prior to Yahoo, Anand was Director of Product Management at Openwave. Anand also co-founded and helped build Aeroprise Inc. before joining Openwave.

     

  • The ICC World T20 final between India and Sri Lanka on starsports.com attracted a record 19.3 lakh unique individuals watching the video

    Starsports.com shatters online cricket viewing record

    By a correspondent

     

    The video streaming initiative of ICC World T20 2014 on starsports.com has garnered unprecedented traction on the digital domain. The ICC World T20 final between India and Sri Lanka on starsports.com attracted a record 19.3 lakh unique individuals watching video on the destination, delivering an unprecedented 37.6 lakh visits. While public figures are not available, the previous record for a single game is believed to have been achieved on IPL last year, with around 14.8 lakh visitors watching video on April 23last year, when Chris Gayle scored 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The final also beat the audience for the retirement Test match of Sachin Tendulkar, 10.3 lakh visitors, which marked the previous high point for starsports.com.

     

    Overall, starsports.com attracted more than 80.9 lakh users during the fortnight long tournament delivering more than 2.24 crore visits. The consumer engagement on starsports.com is continuing to grow dramatically. A total of 101 million live minutes of video were consumed by users during the last 4 matches played by India in the tournament, with an average of more than 30 mins per live view.

     

    Ajit Mohan, EVP and Head, New Media, Star India, said, “This is proof that the fans are ready to embrace a completely new destination conceptualized around video. We are emerging as the best way to follow cricket. The success of ICC World T20 really positions us well for Pepsi IPL 2014, which is debuting on starsports.com this year, and where we have the opportunity to really deliver a whole new experience for IPL fans. Our aspiration is to break the 20 lakh mark for a single game.”

     

    starsports.com offered live matches of ICC World Twenty20 as an ad-free subscription service on its advanced sports video player. In addition,starsports.com also offered a free, 5-minute delayed service.

     

  • The two would be creating dual, interactive content for both viewers and followers to be a part of t he conversation

    Times Now, Twitter partner for Election 2014

    By a correspondent

     

    Times Now and Twitter have announced their partnership for the 2014 General Elections being held across the country. The two would be creating dual, interactive content for both viewers and followers to be a part of t he conversation.

     

    For the general elections, Times Now and Twitter will introduce several innovative properties which give a real time, updated picture of public opinion. Times Now will leverage its substantial presence on Twitter to provide the audience with exclusive content created specifically for the platform. This will be in the form of infographics and videos, giving the followers a ringside view of election results with updates throughout the counting day.

     

    There will also be a live sentiment analysis of twitter feeds – and participation of viewers in the debate by inviting them to tweet video questions using the Vive app. This will be done by using the hashtag #IHaveAQuestion. This will enable viewers get an unprecedented opportunity to be a part of the political debate and add their voice to it.

     

    This will be boosted by access to exclusive real-time data from twitter which will be presented to both TV viewers and social media followers in interesting formats – adding an entirely new perspective to the election coverage.

     

    The entire election coverage will use the hashtag #WhoWillFormGovt which will bring together opinion makers and influencers as well as common people on the platform.

     

    Avinash Kaul

    Avinash Kaul, CEO, ET Now, Times Now & Zoom said, “Times Now is one of the few TV channels in India which keeps social media at the heart of content and brand marketing. Content on social media platforms is fully integrated with our TV content and that has worked wonders for us. With this exclusive partnership with Twitter we would like to create a truly unique content proposition for our viewers as the country awaits the results of the largest elections the world has ever seen.”

     

    Commenting on the innovation, Rishi Jaitly, India Market Director, Twitter, said, “Twitter is the world’s leading mobile, real-time information network where users follow, share and experience content that is live, public and conversational. Only on Twitter can people connect with and express their sentiments on issues that will be debated and decisive during this election season. We are happy to see Times Now innovating on Twitter by using our platform extensively to share breaking news, tell inclusive, crowd-sourced stories and offer an interactive, exclusive second-screen content experience.”

     

  • Mr Johri will continue to spearhead the operations and overall growth strategy of DNAP's portfolio in the South Asian region

    Rahul Johri now with expanded role in Discovery APAC

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rahul Johri

    Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (DNAP) has promoted Rahul Johri to the role of Executive Vice President and General Manager, South Asia and Head of Revenue, Pan-Regional Ad Sales and Southeast Asia.

     

    Johri continues to spearhead the operations and overall growth strategy of DNAP’s portfolio in the South Asian region, as well as leading and managing the advertising sales and solutions deals for the Asia-Pacific pan-regional business with a focus on expanding distribution and growing local ad sales for Southeast Asia.

     

    Arjan Hoekstra, President & Managing Director, DNAP, said, “During his time at Discovery, Rahul has built a very successful Indian business for us, and recently expanded his role to include revenue leadership for the Southeast Asia business and pan-regional sales efforts. This promotion recognises his continuing leadership and contributions to Discovery.”

     

    Johri joined Discovery in June 2001 in the ad sales division, based in New Delhi. Since then, he has been promoted through the organization to his previous role of Senior Vice President and General Manager of South Asia and Head of Revenue, Pan Regional Ad Sales and Southeast Asia, where he spearheaded the operations and overall growth strategy of DNAP’s portfolio in those markets.  He was also responsible for revenue generation, portfolio expansion, affiliate partnerships, viewership, content creation and talent management. He pioneered Discovery’s localization drive in India and launched multiple language feeds across different brands.  Most recently, Johri oversaw the successful launch of Discovery Kids in India.

     

  • Former petroleum minister and senior BJP leader Ram Naik, veteran editor and political analyst Kumar Ketkar, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha and Shiv Sena spokesperson Prem Shukla participated in the discussion that was moderated by Anand Rathi, Chairman, Anand Rathi Securities.

    IAA discussion on whether opinion polls and media reports influence voters?

    By A Correspondent

     

    The International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter conducted a panel discussion on the topic ‘Do Opinion Polls and Media Reports Influence Voters?’  last Thursday (April 10) at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai.

     

    Former petroleum minister and senior BJP leader Ram Naik, veteran editor and political analyst Kumar Ketkar, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha and Shiv Sena spokesperson Prem Shukla participated in the discussion that was moderated by Anand Rathi, Chairman, Anand Rathi Securities.

     

    Prem Shukla started the discussion by saying, “Media has ably helped in foreseeing the future in this democratic country and now it is in the position to tear any political parties’ manifesto into pieces unlike earlier times where they would just comment and move on.” He further added that the media does help people in forming an opinion about any party but the party gets accepted only after it proves its capabilities. Media, being the Fourth Estate, has a very important role to play in a democracy and especially at these times when the Lok Sabha Elections are being held, Mr Shukla said.

     

    However, Sanjay Jha, was very disappointed with the Indian electronic media and said: “I want to say that the media has failed India as every day people feel that they are heading towards darkness after watching all the 9 pm news shows. This is because of the fact that nobody talks about the development in the country. Of course, there’s corruption, inequality but you can’t overlook the growth and the change in the country.”

     

    Said Ram Naik: “There are different types of media and various information being hammered on the voters. Media can only provide information but it can’t direct thoughts. Earlier it used to happen through newspapers, but now it doesn’t.”

     

    According to Kumar Ketkar, the role of media is “to inform, entertain, educate, lead and to mislead”. “While entertaining, they create issues which are absolutely not relevant. What Raj Thackeray says about Uddhav Thackeray has no national relevance in the Lok Sabha elections.” However, Mr Ketkar asserted that the media cannot be ignored. “Even if they are misleading, they should be allowed to mislead in the democracy and you should challenge them.”

     

    Raising a question mark on opinion polls, Mr Jha said: “I had raised a question when the sting operations were carried on these agencies who conduct opinion polls. Why don’t channels take responsibility? I think they should as at the end, a commoner trusts a channel.”

     

    Earlier, Srinivasan Swamy, President IAA India Chapter & Vice President, Development Asia Pacific region of IAA welcomed the panellists and the moderator and explained how events like these are keeping in line with the IAA’s objective of discussing and deliberating on issues currently being debated by the industry and the public at large.

     

    According to Dr Bhaskar Das, Group CEO, Zee Media Corp Limited and Chair of the event: “A panel discussion can only serve its objectives if you invite the right people and we took care to get an excellent mix of voices.”

     

  • The Indian Sports League aims to ignite a revolution and enable Indian football to thrive and perform at the highest level on the international stage

    Sachin, Saurav, Salman other biggies to star in football league

    By A Correspondent

     

    IMG Reliance and Star India promoted Indian Super League, under the aegis of All India Football Federation, reached a crucial junction on its path to rediscover Indian football, as it awarded eight League Partners across the country ahead of the proposed September-November 2014 inaugural season.

     

    Termed as an unrivalled footballing event, the Indian Super League being planned under the Football Sports Development Pvt Ltd., aims to ignite a revolution in the sport and ultimately enable Indian football to thrive and perform at the highest level on the international stage.

     

    Indian Super League’s proposal for ‘League Partners’ received an overwhelming response from the Business, Sports and Bollywood community, to own a team from the nine proposed cities in the contention. Four of the final eight cities – Delhi, Kochi, Guwahati and Bangalore – will find itself in the mainstream football map of the country, which is traditionally being dominated by Kolkata, Goa, Pune and Mumbai, through the high-profile professional Indian Super League.

     

    The winning bids comprise a good mix of corporates and celebrities including Sun Group for Bengaluru; Sameer Manchanda led Den Network for Delhi; Venugopal Dhoot (Videocon), Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V. Dempo for Goa; John Abraham & Shillong Lajong for Guwahati; Sachin Tendulkar & PVP Ventures for Kochi; Sourav Ganguly, Harshavardhan Neotia, Atletico Madrid, Sanjeev Goenka, Utsav Parekh for Kolkata, Bollywood’s Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh for Mumbai and Salman Khan together with Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan of the Wadhawan Group for Pune.

     

  • Blippar has powered over 200 campaigns globally and is essentially a mobile app using image recognition tech that turns physical imagery, print or products into instantaneous, interactive digital experiences.

    Blippar recreates Bhootnath Returns magic on cellphones

    By A Correspondent

     

    The weekend has been abuzz with film ‘Bhootnath Returns’ for more reason than one. While it stars megastar Amitabh Bachchan and has the topical theme of the elections, it has also been powered by Blippar, the leading visual discovery platform, to offer a interactive campaign where consumers can download Blippar on their mobile and blip any ‘Bhootnath Returns’ movie image to get a magical connect with Bhootnath. They can click their photo with different images of Bhootnath and share on Twitter and FB to win exciting goodies.

     

    Said Arnav Ghosh, Regional Director with Blippar, which is scheduled to launch in India soon: “This is a first-of-its-kind innovation in Bollywood and creates a paradigm shift in way content engagement will be done specifically in the entertainment category.”

     

    Blippar has powered over 750 campaigns globally and is essentially a mobile app using image recognition tech that turns physical imagery, print or products into instantaneous, interactive digital experiences. Since Blippar has the capacity to trigger anything a phone can do, users can ‘blipp’ an image to unlock hidden content – such as videos, coupons, recipes and sweepstakes – or actively engage with a brand by playing a game, posing with celebrities, or virtually trying on products.

     

  • Reasons being attributed to in social media are baseless, says Ritu Dhawan India TV MD & CEO

    India TV confirms QW Naqvi’s exit

    QW Naqvi

    By A Correspondent

     

    In an official statement issued late on Monday, India TV has confirmed that Q W Naqvi has resigned as Editorial Director.

     

     

    Ritu Dhawan
    Rajat Sharma

    Ritu Dhawan, India TV MD & CEO confirmed the development. “We have accepted his resignation and asked Naqvi to serve his notice period,” she said, adding: “We are surprised at the reasons being attributed to it in the social media. Such reasons are baseless, and we condemn the effort being made to use it for political gains.”

     

    India TV Chairman Rajat Sharma added: “There is a continuous attempt by some people to defame electronic media which has been officially condemned by broadcasters. We in the news media have covered several elections in the past and will cover many more, we cannot allow our industry to become a tool in the hands of interested parties during elections.”

     

    Mr Naqvi, a seasoned campaigner in news television, had joined India TV in October 2013. While we are not sure of where he’s moving next, there are rumours that he may be in discussions with a political party to contest the elections.

     

  • Cricket fans will be able to watch Pepsi IPL 2014 anytime, anywhere on gocricket's multiple digital platforms

    Gocricket to capitalize on IPL frenzy with website launch

    By a correspondent

     

    Times Internet unveiled its cricket portal www.gocricket.com, a cricket news destination with original, editorial content, deeply integrated video features, and a rich, cross-platform experience.

     

    Cricket fans will be able to watch Pepsi Indian Premier League 2014 anytime, anywhere on gocricket’s multiple digital platforms. Gocricket launches live on web, iPhone, Android, iPad, and WAP, readily enabled for featured phones and low bandwidth users as well. The website will also feature a video scorecard, with real time video clips integrated into the scorecard.

     

    “We are also proud to announce that one of India’s most successful captains, Sourav Ganguly, will exclusively share his critical insights into the game on our platform.” said the website’s Business Head, Ruchir Khanna. “Gocricket will be the most comprehensive web and mobile cricket destination, offering a multimedia experience.”

     

    Along with rich photos and videos, gocricket will also feature writing from around the world, connecting cricket fans with experts and writers. It will distinguish with cricket records and trivia, making it simple and easy for the fans.

     

  • The campaign shows Spice connecting a small school girl of Lucknow with The London Ballet School

    Spice aims at turning dreams into reality

    By a correspondent

     

    After its first outing, Spice Smartphones has unveiled the second campaign of its Milaye Sapnon Se series that goes on to re-establish the power of smartphone technology.

     

    This time Spice connects a small school girl of Lucknow with The London Ballet School. The story is of a young girl, fascinated with a ballerina toy. Watching the ballerina swirling around, something sparks within her, a dream to be able to dance like the ballerina. Using her brother’s Spice smartphone, she goes on to connect with this dream and starts learning various ballet steps that leads to a final grand performance.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Azazul Haque and Mahesh Gharat, Group Creative Directors, Ogilvy India said: “We needed a story that’s charming, real, fascinating, fresh and most importantly something that can connect with the dreams of small town youth of this nation. And today’s small town youth wants to experiment, explore and try out new things. Unlike before, they are now exposed to literally an entire world of possibilities because of smartphone technology. They are exposed to new dreams. And Spice Smartphones is there to connect them with that dream world.”

     

    The campaign has been created by the team of Mahesh Gharat, Azazul Haque, Shahnawaz Qadeer and Sandip Gaikwad.

     

  • The love affair of Vodafone with IPL continues with the first two ads being released tomorrow

    It’s IPL time and the Zoozoos are back!

    By Deepali Gupta

     

    It’s IPL time folks… and the Zoozoos are back! The poofy-loveable white creatures, Zoozoos, return this Indian Premier League (IPL) season, participating in familiar TV shows, promoting personalised services that Vodafone India can offer.

     

    The first two advertisements that will be released on Wednesday will feature a Zoozoo coming back for performances in a competitive dance show until the three judges give him a Perfect 10. The message: Get the number you want. The second is a quiz show in which the contestant uses ‘Phone a friend’ but runs out of credit to avail an instant small recharge.

     

    The entire campaign that will run till the finale of the IPL cricket tournament on June 1, will promote a number of other such services which “address customer pain-points,” said Vodafone’s senior vice-president, brand communications, Ronita Mitra.

     

    In India’s intensely competitive telecom industry, ease of usage often termed as customer experience is the biggest differentiator, apart from cost, for users while choosing between two mobile phone operators at a time of increasing popularity for mobile number portability (MNP). Customer experience assumes even more importance as operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular target people who spend more, and not just focus on user additions.

     

    Harish Bijoor

    Brand consultant Harish Bijoor, who runs his own firm, however thinks the Zoozoo property is now jaded and it is time for it to be retired. “The point to remember is that the audience watching the IPL is a young audience. It is irreverent, wanting change. They (viewers) tend to tire when they see the same creative again.”

     

    Bijoor said if the first appearance of Zoozoo’s scored a nine on a scale of 10, in his assessment by last season that rating had already halved and is likely to fall further this time around. “There is definitely a blip (in brand value) after every IPL.”

     

    This marks the fifth season for the Zoozoos since their debut in 2009. The campaign that continues to account for nearly a quarter of the company’s annual brand spends also yields results.

     

    When the Zoozoo’s came, Vodafone had broken away from its runaway success campaign with the Pug (dog), which was initiated by its predecessor. It was the first conspicuous change in advertisement campaigns for Vodafone that made an entry into India after buying the existing operations of Hutchison Whampoa in a $11-billion deal.

     

    Then Vodafone embarked on replacing all Hutch branding with its logo, but kept all other communication in sync with Hutch’s activities.

     

    The Zoozoo’s were another runaway success for ad agency Ogilvy and Mather. In 2012, the agency had proposed to break away from the Zoozoo campaign in the IPL season and replaced it with Internet promos through a series of tele-matches. The Zoozoo’s have been used to communicate service-specific messages in the past and similar to their second season, this time around too they will be promoting products across segments like voice, internet, and customer service.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • TATA Goldplus is a jewellery retail chain launched by Titan Industries Ltd to meet the specific preferences in semi-urban and rural India

    DDB MudraMax Media bags Tata Goldplus Jewellery

    By A Correspondent

     

    DDB MudraMax  has won the media duties of  Goldplus, a Tata product, after a multi-agency pitch including Madison Communications, Maxus and incumbent agency  Disha Advertising.

     

    TATA Goldplus is a jewellery retail chain launched by Titan Industries Ltd to meet the specific preferences in semi-urban and rural India.  With 33 retail stores spread across four states, Goldplus is well-known for its pure gold jewellery and transparent business practices.

     

    Deepika Sabharwal Tewari, General Manager – Marketing, Jewelery division, Titan Company Limited said: We found the DDB MudraMax team to be very passionate and the strategic direction, ideas they shared were liked by us. We expect some superlative work on our brand.¿

     

    On winning the account, Sathyamurthy Namakkal, President, DDB MudraMax Media, said: “It is a prestigious win for us. We look forward to partnering with the Goldplus team and to grow with them as their business scales newer heights.”