India might have been a damp squib at Cannes Lions, but the New York Festivals International Design, Print & Outdoor Advertising Awards, in its 48th year, brings good news for India. McCann Erickson, which won ‘The Grand’, Leo Burnett, Mudra and 1 pointsize have India’s cup of joy overflowing.
No one has or ever would accuse Jeff Goodby of being partisan. The creative chief and co-chairman of Goodby Silverstein & Partners is perhaps the only ad professional in recent memory to have had two stints as head of jury at Cannes - once in 2002, heading the print and television jury, and returning to head the judging process for the recently launched Titanium Lions, this year. On neither occasion did Goodby Silverstein & Partners fare particularly well.
Indians have become fervent consumers of branded snack foods or `Namkeens'. In the fiscal year gone by, the market for branded packaged `Namkeens' has grown by 34 per cent according to ACNielsen's list of fastest growing categories and brands revealed at its annual client conference - Consumer 360 - held in Mumbai.
Reliance Infocomm’s film promotion platform, RIM Showtime, has tied up with Madhavan starrer Priyasakhi. Among the promotions for the movie, which will hit the screens on July 22, will be a pre-release SMS contest for couples, where by 50 couples will get to win a dinner with ‘Maddy’ as he is popularly known.
RED FM has created a differentiated morning space for itself. The new show, Morning No 1, will run between 7 am and 11 am and will feature popular songs to pep up the early hours. And adding spunk to it will be RJ Simran. But who is this Simran?
Raj Video Vision, the number one player in the VCD market in the South, has now gone online. The idea behind initiating a website is to set up a web mall so that people the world over can have access to Kollywood (as the Tamil film industry is known) VCDs, DVDs and music with just the click of a mouse.
Brand research shows that Kotak has an unaided TOM recall with 1/5th of its targeted audience. Shashi Arora, Senior VP, Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank, says the bank will stay with its proposition of “Think Investments. Think Kotak” to achieve a TOM recall for at least 50 per cent of customers who have an investment mindset.
Pepsi Foods has gone the Latino way to promote its Lay’s potato chips. Called ‘Do the Tango’, the new TV campaign has a youthful look, vibrant colours, and Tango movements to carry forward the appeal of the popular Spanish Tomato Tango flavour in the storyline.
PVR Cinemas, the multiplex brand, will make its presence felt at Chennai soon. A seven-screen multiplex from PVR is to come up at Ampa Centre One, a ‘fully integrated mall’, which is expected to become fully operational by September 2006.
Introduced in 2003 “for a special journey called life”, the Chevrolet brand has garnered good recognition for GM in India. The auto major has ambitious plans to boost its market share from the current 2.5 per cent to 10 per cent in four to five years, riding on the Chevrolet brand.
The Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Infocomm Ltd (RIC) plans to venture into digital film distribution. The company would bank on the strength of Adlabs Films Ltd, which it had acquired in the last week of June.
The Rs 75,000-crore Tata group today announced its foray into the media and entertainment sector through a strategic tie-up between group company Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) and the Paris-based Thomson group. The joint venture would explore new opportunities in managing and delivering content for third parties, including broadcasters and content providers.
Mass channels are television’s titans, but on weekends, the titan kneels. While every other genre either grows or maintains shares on weekends, general entertainment channels (GEC) take a beating. What goes wrong for GEC during weekends and what do investments of channels like STAR Plus signify?
Petroleum major Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has consolidated its media duties with Mediedge:cia. The business is pegged at Rs 40 crore. The pitch process had been going on for almost a month. The other agencies in the fray included Initiative Media, Lodestar and Starcom. Madison Media was also invited for the pitch but the agency didn’t participate.
There is more action coming from Optimum Media Solution (OMS). The agency has added the media duties of Kisna Diamond Jewellery to its kitty. The business is expected to be in the region of Rs 8 crore to Rs 10 crore.
TVS Motors is in the process of reviewing agencies again. Even as the side of the business presently is in the creative domain, the pitch invites agencies only for the forthcoming product from the TVS stable.