Pankaj Bhola has been appointed Manager-Events, PR & Communications by the Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science & Research, a leading multi-specialty hospital and research center. Prior to this, he was with JK Tyre, looking after advertising and communications.
Padmaja Krishnan has taken over as Director, Marketing, Planning & Research, at CSC India. Prior to joining CSC, Ms. Krishnan was Director-Marketing & Business Development at Xansa. Founded in 1959, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) is a leading global IT services company headquartered in El Segundo, California. CSC reported revenues of $14.3billion for the 12 months ended July 1, 2005.
Anjali Rao has joined CNN as Anchor/Correspondent based at the network’s Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Hong Kong. Rao is to co-anchor the primetime evening news programme ‘World News Asia’ alongside Andrew Stevens. She joins CNN following a decade with broadcasters in Australia, Asia and Europe, her most recent assignment being as presenter at Sky News channel in London.
Atul Phadnis, VP, TAM India, has put in his papers and is with the organisation as a consultant. He is launching a strategic media studies group called Media e2e aimed at understanding return on investment (RoI) in the media business, strategic media planning, media management and broadcast management.
Mamta Dhingra has quit IPAN to join STAR (India) as a Communication Consultant. Her new role entails looking after channel publicity of Star Plus, Star Gold and Star Utsav for the Northern and Eastern regions. Dhingra had worked with Mileage, a specialized agency in hospitality, as a PR Consultant for a year before moving to IPAN.
Subramanian Iyer has quit ETC as National Sales Head to join Situations Advertising & Marketing Services Pvt. Ltd. as Group Head – Client Servicing with effect from December 15, 2005.
Non-traditional apparel manufacturers like Disney and toy manufacturers Mattel are gung-ho about the apparel market. Last month, Disney launched a range of apparel and fashion accessories to be manufactured and marketed by Indus Clothing Ltd that will launch 20 Disney stores in 2006-07 in India. Mattel is also hoping its Barbie apparel will be a significant revenue driver for the brand.
PHILIPS Electronics plans to emerge a top-three player in the CTV segment next year and increase its market share to over 10 per cent. Currently Philips was the fifth largest player in the CTV segment with a market share of 7.5 per cent; LG Electronics is leading with 25 - 30 per cent.
Radio never had it so good. The medium is no longer about boring Hindi ad jingles, weather reports and uninspired announcements. Radio is evolving by recognising the importance of smart and effective marketing and innovative programming. And what better way than associating itself with Bollywood?
After a successful run at the box office, India's very original animation movie, 'Hanuman', is now all set to be screened at rural parts of the country. Godrej Aadhaar, which is an initiative of Godrej Agrovet Ltd, will be screening the animation movie at Aadhaar villages near Pune and Anand in association with AMO Communications.
Sahara Computers and Electronics Ltd, the South Africa based global technology major in the IT hardware space, has introduced the Windows XP Tablet PC in India priced at Rs 66,999.
Motorola on Thursday launched its first handset manufactured in India, C115, targeting the mass-market. The handset is priced at Rs 1,700. The mobile phone manufacturer had announced its plans for a ‘Made in India’ phone in August this year.
Hong Kong has found a rather unique vehicle to promote its tourism – Balaji Telefilm's popular serial 'Kavyanjali'. The Hong Kong Tourism Board recently hosted a shoot for the serial, which showcased its attractions like Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park, Avenue of Stars, Murray House, and Symphony of Lights.
Madison Communication's film promotions and entertainment unit – MATES – has launched its newest division, which will deal with celebrity brand management. This 20-day old unit has already signed on Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar and will exclusively manage his advertising career and monitor his commercial appearances.
When industry experts commented that the Hindi general entertainment (GEC) genre was de-growing in 2005, they weren’t joking. The fact is vindicated by the AdEx India Genre level trends 2005, which compares viewership and revenues for various genres. Where Hindi GEC has dropped in terms of revenues, most other genres like regional, Hindi movie and news channels have increased.
Mudra South is ending the year with a surfeit of good news. The agency has bagged nominations for Times Asia Pacific Advertising Awards as well as the New York Festivals, both of which will be held in early 2006. The shortlisted campaigns are Nutrine Kokanaka (Coconut), Blossoms (House of Used Books) and Monster (Get out!).
Television Eighteen India Ltd on Thursday announced the creation of a new company, Network 18, as well as splitting its stocks in the ratio of 1:2. The new entity will include the newly launched English news channel ‘CNN IBN’, which will soon approach the capital market for a public issue.
Sandesh, which was the worst hit following the entry of Divya Bhaskar in Gujarat, slipping from the No 2 position to No 3, is now gearing to strike back with its relaunch on January 1, 2006. It has taken the new positioning of ‘Suprabhat Gujarat’.
<p align=justify>“I don’t think there will be any change in the low agency commission structure. The low agency commission system was started by multinationals; Indian agencies or Indian advertisers didn’t start it. The low commission as well as fee system came with multinational agencies and their clients to make more money.”
<p align=justify>“The localised option and the option of measuring your ROI is a key factor working in favour of OOH. It gives the option of qualitative localised communication, whereby you can go into individual pockets of suburbs to design your communication. Outdoor is a very lively media and, hence, picture works better because there is no other way to make the consumer look at your display.”