It’s confirmed. Reliance Broadcast CEO Tarun Katial is taking on the additional role of head of Essel Vision. He will oversee the television and digital production activity, it is learnt. According to a Television Post report, he will also oversee Jaipur Studios, an independent studio set up by the Zee Group.
Katial will continue in his current role at RBNL, which runs the Big FM radio network and Big Ganga and Big Magic television channels amongst others.
An MBA in marketing, he spent his early years in advertising with agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, Enterprise Nexus and Ogilvy & Mather. He then joined the Star Network as Executive Vice President – Content and Communications before moving to Sony Entertainment Television as Business Head.In early 2006, Katial joined Reliance ADAG to launch 92.7 BIG FM and then the group’s television foray. Plus Big Live and Big Productions.
Entering the ninth year of continued brand engagement during IPL, Idea Cellular has partnered with Kings XI Punjab. The company kickstarted the second year of the team sponsorship with the Kings XI Punjab team at its home ground in Indore. VirenderSehwag, EionMorgon and Martin Guptill along with Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular unveiled the official jersey of the team.Idea Cellular is associated as the Principal sponsor with Kings XI Punjab for this season.
Speaking about the association, Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said, “Brand Idea has always been committed towards promoting sports and sporting events in the country. Continuing with this legacy, this year too, brand Idea is happy to be associated with the promising Punjab Kings XI team. Our association with the Team will result in Idea customers get a host of benefits, and opportunities to engage with their cricketing heroes. Over 3 Crore Idea subscribers in Punjab and MP will directly benefit from this association and the nearly 20 Crore subscribers nationally will get to be part of the T-20 action.â€
Vodafone has unveild a new 360-degree campaign will create awareness about Vodafone SuperNet 4G network through OOH, digital, and on-ground activations.
The key consideration for the campaign was to ensure relevant use of cases that build connect to the network with the TG through insight-based stories linked to “Internet-heavy†use cases.
In the film, an old couple Bala Krishnan and Asha Krishnan, both in their late 60s finally decide to embark on their overdue second honeymoon that they could never go on in the last 35 years perhaps being busy with their work and life commitments and bringing up their children/grandchildren. The TVCs show different stages of their trip and how the network keeps them going backed by the Data Strong Network.
Siyaram’s has launched its ad campaign titled ‘The New Face of Linen’ which introduces a variety of designs, textures, weaves in linen fabrics highlighting checks, stripes, prints and colours. The new campaign has been created by MakaniCreatives and directed by KarthikRamnathkar.
Said Ramesh Poddar, Chairman & Managing Director, Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd: “Nowadays, natural fabrics are the biggest fashion trends and linen has been a front runner in popularity in the international market. With the new multi-channel marketing campaign, Siyaram’s aims to inspire young people to explore, be creative and enjoy fashion every day.â€
Commenting on the campaign, Sameer Makani, Director, Makani Creatives, said: “The series of four commercials showcase the designs, textures, weaves and colours in a spectacular fashion. This is the first time that Siyaram’s has released a category specific campaign.â€
Added KarthikRamnathkar, Director, MakaniCreatives: “After actually experiencing the look and feel of the fabrics, we decided to treat the different films according to the character of clothes. The production design was kept clean to let the fabrics do the talking. I believe that the editor, Yusuf Khan, did complete justice to the fabric and gave the commercials a cool, modern and stylish look.â€
Omnicom Media Group, the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc, has named Torie Henderson as CEO of Omnicom Media Group South East Asia and India. Henderson, who moves into the new role from her position as President, Global Account Management, Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific, replaces Jasmin Sohrabji, who has been appointed to a global leadership role within Omnicom Media Group. Sohrabji had taken charge as CEO of OMG SE Asia and India in May 2013.
Commenting on the appointment, Cheuk Chiang, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, Asia Pacific, said: “Our success as a network is clearly determined by the strength of our people and leadership. In Torie we have a great leader, whose experience in client, talent and market development will assure that we continue the momentum that Jasmin and her team have built in our fastest growing region.†Thanking Sohrabji, Chiang said: “As we welcome Torie in her new role, we are thankful to Jas for her great work and we wish her all the very best as she takes the world stage,†Chiang added.Henderson will be based in Singapore, reporting directly to Chiang.
Torie Henderson
During her 11-year tenure with Omnicom Media Group, Henderson has held a number of leadership roles, including heading OMD International in Hong Kong and serving as the CEO of Omnicom Media Group Singapore. An advocate for service excellence, innovation and ground-breaking media partnerships, Henderson helped grow the breadth of Omnicom Media Group’s client roster while also expanding the depth of its existing relationships with leading regional and global marketers. A strong believer in the value of training and mentoring as a critical component of organizational effectiveness, she has served as the Chairperson for Campaign Asia Pacific’s MediaWorks programme for four consecutive years.
Defining her priorities in her new role, Henderson said, “Over the past several years, Omnicom Media Group agencies in South East Asia and India have delivered strong and consistent growth, as well as many of the industry’s most award winning campaigns – my priority will be on developing the tools and talent required to accelerate growth, drive innovation and inspire creativity.â€
Sohrabji joined Omnicom Media Group in 2007 with the mandate of setting up OMD’s India operations.  With more than two decades in the industry, Sohrabji has collected multiple accolades and distinctions, including recognition as “Agency Innovator 2009” (The Internationalist, UK), “Agency Head of the Year†(Media Magazine, Asia) and “Woman Achiever of the Year- Advertising” (GR8 Magazine, India). In September 2013, she also brought in PHD to India with Jyoti Bansal at the helm.
HRX, the active lifestyle and sportswear brand launched by actor Hrithik Roshan has launched a new film with the message ‘Keep Going’. The film was conceptualized by Famous Innovations and shot by Razneesh Ghai.
Said Raj Kamble, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Famous Innovations,:”Fitness is a fast emerging category in India and with many international players dominating the space, hence it was important to find a unique voice for HRX. Hrithik Roshan himself is a huge inspiration and along with him we have tried to include people at every stage of the fitness curve in the communication. The idea is to show that whether you’re just starting out or are an expert, we all go through the same struggles and the way to overcome them is by simply taking small steps forward.”
Added Gunjan Soni, Head, Jabong and CMO, Myntra: “This campaign brings Hrithik Roshan’s personal mantra and passion for fitness face-to-face with the challenges that our consumers deal with everyday in their journey towards an active lifestyle. Our attempt is to break down the unconquerable monolith called ‘fitness’ into real, achievable steps, and make this category more inclusive than it has generally been. This is important because India is more conscious about fitness today than it has ever been and while pro-athletes have many cheerleaders, someone needs to speak for the amateurs and beginners out there too.”
Madison World has announced it has taken a controlling stake in Bengaluru-based PR agency Integrated brand-comm Pvt Ltd.
Founded by Ramanujam Sridhar, brand-commis an 18-year-old communications consulting company with six offices across India and clients from across sectors like Education, FMCG, Technology and Healthcare.
Madison World operates in the Public Relations space through Madison PR, headed by Paresh Chaudhry and has a 80-member strong team across six offices.
Said Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World: “Brand-comm is a well-respected communications company in the South and Ramanujam Sridhar is a recognized name in the field. We believe both parties will gain significantly from the synergies of this partnership.”
Added Sridhar said, “Sam Balsara is a legend in the communications industry in India and it is a privilege to be a partner of Madison World. We see significant benefit to our clients and employees from this partnership.”
Said Lara Balsara Vajifdar, “We are always open to partnerships to grow and strengthen the reach of our various units in PR, Creative, Digital, Mobile and Retail, besides Media and Outdoor. We hope to close many more new relationships in the near future.â€
Burger King, the popular QSR renowned for its iconic Whopper, has assigned its upcoming creative project to Lowe Lintas, Mumbai. The agency will be handling the launch communication for its signature product ‘The Whopper’.The agency was selected for presenting a brand promise and communication plan that aligned well with Burger King’s roadmap for the Indian market.
On appointing Lowe Lintas, Kapil Grover, CMO, Burger King India said: “Creative agencies are like an extended marketing team. It’s important to have partners who understand the brand and share the same passion. Lowe Lintas has been one of the leading creative agencies in the country, with a good assortment of brands and a very talented bunch. We look forward to some very interesting work and building Burger King as an iconic brand in the Indian market.â€
Commenting on the win, Raj Gupta, CEO, Lowe Lintas said: “The new quarter has begun well for us where clients are equally excited to avail our expertise in servicing them. Burger King is a leading QSR name globally and it is no different in India, where it has managed to make a mark in the shortest time possible. We are happy that our ideas have been appreciated by the client and look forward to bringing about a profound change in the way they are consumed and loved by the customers. You can look forward to some interesting work soon.â€
Discovery Communications has announced its plan to roll out Discovery Jeet, a new entertainment channel across India, starting in late 2017. The new channel will be the flagship for the network’s ambitious investment into original local productions in India around a range of programme genres including “true crime investigations, small-town heroes and gritty survivalâ€.
Discovery is scaling up investment in over 200 hours of local content originals which will premiere on this new channel. Said Karan Bajaj, SVP and General Manager, South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia Pacific:
“We are excited to launch Discovery Jeet, which will bring a new style of entertainment, in a truly local, bespoke, ground-up offering. It borrows the best of Discovery’s ethos, seeded in fact and purpose-driven content, and leveraging global resources to mount it at a scale that delivers larger-than-life stories.â€
Arthur Bastings, President & MD, Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, further elaborated on the importance of this evolutionary step, leveraging new ways to extend the reach and relevance of Discovery across the subcontinent. “The expansion into general entertainment with JEET redefines how Discovery will connect and interact with new young audiences across the heartlands of India. JEET is fun, relatable, and exciting and brings to life the captivating, real stories of India’s own in a manner never seen before!â€
The line-up of shows planned included Swami Baba Ramdev: The Untold Story, a scripted biopic series tracing Baba Ramdev’s journey from a life of anonymity to what it is today. There is also Gangs of Mumbai,  a series on the colourful, larger-than-life characters from the Mumbai underworld.
Population First will hold the first edition of The South Asia Laadli Media & Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity 2015-16 will felicitate 37 media professionals who have exemplary sensitivity in reporting on gender issues. The awards will be presented by the Chief Guest of the event Dr Shashi Tharoor (though given the Republic exposes, we aren’t certain that he will make it) and hosted by the journalist-entrepreneur Barkha Dutt. The awards event will be held on May 12 in Mumbai.
Said Dr AL Sharada, Director of Population First: “From a mere 100 entries in 2007 to more than 1500 entries in 2015, Laadli Media Awards have come a long way in acknowledging the media’s contribution in women empowerment and gender issues. The increasing volume of discussion in public domain on gender issues is an indication that we are witnessing the beginnings of change Also the partnership with Colors is a refreshing start to the new edition and indeed helps us to sustain the impact and reach of the awards. Today, with the expansion of Laadli to other developing nations through the support of IAA, we look forward to stories pertaining to gender from five South Asian countries. We hope to continue this momentum, and create a long standing impact of changing the society riddled with patriarchal mindsetsâ€.
Added Ramesh Narayan, Vice President, IAA: “We are very happy to lend our support to this meaningful award. Our chapters and associates in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Nepal and Bangladesh are working on selecting one journalist in each country who has done wonderful work in the area of gender sensitivity and that person will be nominated to receive the special IAA Laadli South Asia Media Award.”
The South Asia Laadli Media & Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity 2015-16 for the category ‘Best Short Film’ will be presented to Radhika Puri for her short film ‘Water Wives’ which digs into the existing system of husbands marrying multiple times inorder to have wives double as labourers to fetch water. The award for ‘Books in the Novella’ category  will be awarded to Volga for her book Liberation of Sita published by Harper Collins.  ‘Parched’ and ‘Neel BatteySannatta’ will be presented awards in the films category.
The ‘Best Advertising Campaign’ award will be given to ‘Vicks’ for its portrayal of the third gender. The Laadli Media Award for ‘Game Changer’ will be presented to ‘NayiSoch’ by Star India.  The Lifetime Achievement award will be presented to KamlaBhasin, a leading women’s rights activist.
The jury for the Laadli Media awards including leading professionals like KV ‘Pops’ Sridhar, Sameera Khan, DeepaGahlot, Dilip D’Souza, Kumar Ketkar, Amrita Chowdhury, Amy Fernandes, Kalpana Sharma, Gurbir Singh, AyazMemon, Namita Roy Ghose, KiranKhalap, NamrataZakaria andNeeru Nanda.
GroupM has announced the appointment of Lindsay Pattison as Chief Transformation Officer (CTO). She will lead change initiatives across GroupM and its agencies, and with other WPP companies will create tailored and flexible models that serve clients better in the extremely competitive business environment. She will continue as CEO of GroupM agency Maxus and will perform both roles.
According to a communique, Pattison will lead a number of change programmes to support group and agency structures, talent and leadership development, culture and diversity, as well as WPP’s horizontality strategy. She remains a member of GroupM’s global executive committee, reporting to Kelly Clark, Global CEO of GroupM.
“Clients need us to think differently and work smarter,†said Clark. “Lindsay will help us deliver on those challenges. I’ve worked with her for many years. She’s a force, and holds the respect of clients and colleagues. She will make a huge impact with her smarts, energy and warmth.â€
Sir Martin Sorrell
Said WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell: “GroupM and its agencies are key to WPP’s horizontality strategy. Lindsay will play a crucial role in accelerating our delivery of new and innovative service structures for clients.â€
“When we look at the broader business context, the transformation we are experiencing is profound,†Pattison said, adding: “The WEF calls it the ‘fourth industrial revolution,’ a technological revolution and one that requires two key skills to succeed: collaboration and agility. New thinking is required across the board, and I’m delighted to take on this new transformation role.â€Â It may be recalled that Pattison was named Global CEO of Maxus in October 2014.
The BARC Week 20 numbers for various channels have been published. Week 20 = May 13 to 19. And this is how it looks for English news channels:
However, on the evening of March 18 when some of the English news channels regressively pulled out of BARC ratings. This was done at the behest of the News Broadcasters Association, the apex body of news channels which is recognised by the government.
Hence the ratings above are for seven days of Republic TV and a little less that six of some others.
It may be noted that for Week 21 of BARC ratings which is due out next Thursday, the numbers of the English news channels that have pulled out of BARC watermarking will not be available.
