Girish V Rao, VP-Sales and Marketing, LG Electronics India Ltd (LGEIL), has put in his papers. The development was confirmed by Rao himself. It is learnt that Rao is moving to a completely new terrain and will be joining the core sector, in all probability a steel company, as Chief Executive Officer. Rao will also shift his base from Delhi.
Starcom Mediavest Group has announced a leadership change in Starcom IP.
Vineet Singh Hukmani, COO, Cheil Communications, India and South West Asia, is slated to join Radio One, the FM subsidiary of the Mid-Day Group, in September 2007. He is currently serving his notice period in Cheil.
Gopinath Menon, Senior VP-Media, TBWA India, takes stock of the changing environment that has had an impact in the way advertising agencies function today, and how this has led to erosion in the respect that this profession once enjoyed. To change this decline, he suggests that agencies should charge for pitching for a new business and that should be a diktat -- anyone deviating from this should be warned and later blacklisted by all agencies and also by the media.
Govindraj Ethiraj of Business Standard has put in his papers. He is expected to move to UTV’s forthcoming business news channel. There is intense buzz that building on its ties with Walt Disney, the UTV Group is planning a JV to launch a business channel with ABC News, though there is no official confirmation.
TBWA\India has bagged the business of Afghan Wireless Communication Company following a multi-agency pitch. The agency will be responsible for integrated communications needs for the company. The communications budget is equivalent to approximately Rs 20 crore for campaigns that will run largely in Afghanistan.
Images Group has launched Images Experience, its BTL and experiential marketing division, which will include on-line promotions and contests in localised consumer catchments areas and groups by way of product experience through trials and sampling.
Endemol India, in association with the United Nations in India, will produce a celebrity studded reality show titled ‘Ustaad’ for television to promote the Millennium Development Goals. The concept has been developed by Endemol India to take forward the messages on some key socio-economic issues through an interactive and entertaining medium.
Gautam Mukerjea, who had quit Indian Express last month where he was Marketing Head of the Group’s English brands, has joined Geotel Technology Services Ltd as CEO. Mukerjea is also among the Board of Directors, and would be responsible of overall company operations.
Attention all budding filmmakers. PIX and Ashok Amritraj, Founder and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment, are on the lookout for a new director for a Hollywood film to be produced by Amritraj. For this, the two have launched ‘Gateway’, India’s first reality TV show on filmmaking.
Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd’s most prominent brand Dettol has brought the Global Hygiene Council to India. Dettol and Lizol, two of the company’s foremost brands in the antiseptic category, have supported a survey on hygiene done by the Global Hygiene Council in 10 countries, including India.
Times Internet Ltd has launched the new Indiatimes Mail with Web 2.0-powered technology and functionalities. The mail service intends to provide users with a one-stop destination to satisfy all their communication and collaboration needs on the Internet. Further, it also offers unlimited space and enables them to interact without ever having to log out.
NDTV has announced the appointment of Saurabh Malhotra as COO of its software and technology company, NDTV Labs Ltd. Malhotra would be heading new business areas. He will be reporting to Rahul Deshpande, CEO, NDTV Labs CEO as well as its Board of Directors.
Given the increasing demand for smart phones in the country, Motorola and Tata Teleservices have launched the Moto Q in India. Priced at Rs 19,999, the phone is based on a multimedia platform chipset, which runs on a Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.
Canon India has appointed PerceptH Mumbai as their creative agency. The company already has Dentsu Marcom on board, which has been handling the account for a long time.
IMRB International has won the ‘MR Agency of the Year’ at the recently concluded 17th Annual Market Research Society of India (MRSI) Research Conference. IMRB has bagged this award for the second successive time.
Members of the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones, have voted in sufficient numbers to approve Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion bid to buy their company and with it The Wall Street Journal.