Idea Cellular has recently appointed R.K Amar Babu as Chief Service Deliver Officer and a member of Idea's Executive Committee. Babu was associated with Intel as Director (Enterprise Sales), Asia Pacific Region, before this. He has over 17 years of multi-functional experience and has also worked with HCL Infosystems and Citibank.
Rahul Kakar has recently joined OOH company JC Decaux as Assistant Manager –Sales. He was previously associated with Selvel Media Services as Deputy Manager- Sales for around two and a half years. He started his career with Satnam Overseas, one of the largest exporters of Basmati rice from India. He was Area Sales Manager when he quit after a four-and-a-half-year tenure. Kakar has also worked in the hotel industry, having been associated with Hotel Piccadily in Chandigarh as Manager-Marketing for two years before joining Selvel.
Sanjay Banerjee, who was till recently with Zee Network as Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, has joined Reliance ADAG in Corporate Communications. He will be based in Delhi. Banerjee began his career in advertising and then went on to produce a video magazine called ‘India Live’ for NRIs. In 1992 he started his own advertising venture called Sanjay Associates. After four years, he moved to Star TV’s Marketing department for one and a half years. Prior to Zee, Banerjee was with CNBC-TV 18 for two years as Manager.
Sanjay Trehan has been recently appointed as CEO of NDTV Convergence. This is a separate company under the NDTV Networks Plc umbrella, and will house all the dotcom and mobile properties of the NDTV Group. Trehan mandate is to build on the existing strengths of NDTV.com. He was VP of Broadband & Web 2.0 at Indiatimes prior to taking up his new assignment. Trehan was also the Chief of Internet Business at Hindustan Times.
MPG has been appointed AoR for the Zee Turner business following a multi-agency pitch. The size of the business is estimated to be in the region of Rs 7-8 crore. Madison was the incumbent agency.
For brand marketers using search, a brand name may be their best asset. That's the finding of a recent Travelocity study, which challenged assumptions around the "portfolio approach" to paid search, a common practice in which marketers buy a wide variety of both brand terms and nonbranded terms -- like when an automaker buys its brand terms but also buys "SUV" or "convertible."
Consumer products major P&G India plans to launch its $1 billion-plus flagship skin care brand in India this year, sources close to the company said.
FedEx Express, the express transportation company, has secured its first in-film placement in an Indian movie. UTV Motion Pictures produced ‘Hattrick’ will feature FedEx playing a key role in the film.
The Internet and Mobile Connect forum discussed topics such as Internet business, mobile VAS and, more importantly, the critical role of venture capitalists.
Voyages Television has launched in India. The free-to-air channel offers a 360-degree approach to planning a holiday. The channel will concentrate on direct marketing to create relevant awareness.
Farid Kureshi, CEO, Times OOH, says Outdoor has been around for 60 years, but there are a lot of issues that need to be sorted out, like lack of research, professional people, and investment. It’s a mom and pop shop kind of business even today and extremely fragmented. Logically, things should improve when the industry comes out with better products as eventually one has to look at advertisers as consumers.
ESPN has lined up three shows that will be aired during the ICC World Cup. The channel is banking on the reputation and credibility of ex-cricketers to increase the viewership of the channel during the month-long tournament.
Global Internet advertising network provider MediosOne, part of the Ybrant family, has associated itself with Integrid Media, a Mumbai-based integrated media solutions provider. This business relationship will place Integrid Media as the exclusive representative of MediosOne in India.
‘All Sports Magazine’ plans to provide its readers with trends and analyses concerning all sports followed in India. Along with cricket, the magazine intends to features sports like football, golf, formula one, hockey and basketball, among others.
The150-second-long Air Deccan commercial by Orchard Advertising was launched like a Bollywood movie: people were invited to watch it on select niche channels at select times, by appointment. The objective was to make a commercial at a very low cost and then drive people to see it there -- the consumer funnel strategy.
The Board of Directors of SET India has announced the appointment of Man Jit Singh as Chairman, taking over from Michael Grindon, President of Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). Grindon, however, remains on the board.
The annual Advertising Review is back. This year, the Bombay Ad Club will conduct the review on March 16.
The Conditional Access System (CAS) implementation has not been one of the most pleasant experiences for broadcasters so far. Where pay channels have lost significant connectivity, the free-to-air channels have gained.
Given the strong brand equity of Hutch, initially Vodafone Essar will use the dual branding of Hutchison Essar and Vodafone, before moving completely to the Vodafone brand.
Rakesh Sharma has been appointed Business Head-North and Strategic Initiatives, while Venky Venkatesh has been brought in as Business Head-Circulation. Venkatesh will report to Benoy Roychowdhury, Business Head, Media Marketing. Amit Garg, who was Business Head-Hindi, has been made Business Head-Dot Com.
RMR Ramesh, COO, Dinakaran, explains the reasons behind the newspaper’s phenomenal growth, while being critical of the over the higher ad rates that English dailies command vis-a-vis vernacular papers.
NDTV Networks PLC has announced that Sameer Nair is joining NDTV Imagine Ltd as CEO and Director. Nair, whose stint with STAR India officially ends on March 31, 2007, would join NDTV Imagine soon after.