Organizers of the Cannes Lions – the 53rd International Advertising Festival – have announced a total of 24,862 entries from 81 countries in this year’s competition. The number of Indian entries is 738, accounting for approximately Rs.2 crores in entry fees.
Saurabh Varma, VP, Cinema Marketing, PVR Ltd, says the brand stands for two things -- the facility that it provides, which anybody can match, and the service standard and experiential marketing. The difference in terms of service quality and the passion behind it is the key to PVR’s strategy.
Samsung India has announced the launch of its ‘Bordeaux’ series of LCD panels in the Indian market. Available in 26”, 32” and 40” screen sizes, the Bordeaux range is priced between Rs 34,990 and Rs 300,000.
TNS, a leading global market information company, will launch its ‘6thdimension’ online access panels in Malaysia and Thailand. The panels, which will be introduced in August and September this year, will cover the major cities in each country, where Internet usage is now at significant levels and growing fast.
Pidilite’s popular adhesive brand ‘Fevicol’ will now have competition from Huntsman, makers of the Araldite range of adhesives. The company has forayed into the wood glue category with the launch of ‘Araldite Karpentar’.
Crest Animation Studios Ltd (Crest), one of India’s leading animation studios, recently signed a deal with Marathon, a well-known French production house in the field of animation. The deal is for a 52-episode TV series targeted at children in the 6-11 age group, with a project size of $18 million.
Raj Express made its debut in Indore on May 28, 2006. According to an official communiqué, the paper touched a figure of 149,489 copies (as per the print order) on the day of the launch. With the launch of the Indore edition, the total paid copies of Indore edition rose to 275,360.
TV Today Network Ltd saw its net profit rise 69 per cent to reach Rs 27.77 crore during FY06 as against Rs 16.43 crore in the previous financial year. Net profit margin of the company moved from 11.82 per cent to 17.4 per cent in the same period.
Zee TV has announced a new show as part of its comedy bonanza with the launch of ‘Johnny Aala Re’. In this 30-minute stand-up comedy riot, popular comedian Johnny Lever mimics, spoofs and meets celebrities in his own inimitable style every week, Monday to Wednesday at 10.00 pm on Zee TV.
Digital Media Convergence Ltd, the recently formed digital arm of Zee Telefilms, is seeing some action with a new Content Head and Revenue Head coming place. While the revenue responsibility has been given to Satyabrata Das, Ramon Chibb will handle content.
In a move to strengthen its external communications strategy, CNN-IBN, the English news channel from Television Eighteen Group, has appointed PR Pundit to manage its public relations across India. PR Pundit is also the communications of another TV18 offering, Channel 7.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended steps for improving the effectiveness of National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), which was instrumental in dishing out the hugely successful .IN registration.
EMVIES 2006 will maintain the two-stage judging procedure that it has in place. However, the Bombay Ad Club has induced further focus on the need to quantify results of a media plan. Apurva Purohit, Chairperson, EMVIES, believes that while this is a small change, it is representative of the fundamental change in the media landscape today.
Rediffusion DYR Public Relations has recently formed a strategic planning division to create and implement specialised tools to achieve desired PR objectives for its clients.
O&M India continues to lead the pack at the Luerzer’s Archives, with the agency’s Mumbai office ranking No. 2 – by the number of campaigns published so far. The office has seven published campaigns till date in the bi-monthly Luerzer’s this year.