International search portal Google today launched its Google SMS facility for mobile users in India. Through this beta offering, users can avail of the Google Search tool without the need of a computer or an internet enabled phone.
Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Entertainment is likely to launch its direct-to-home transmission service around December, according to a senior company executive today.
Cashing in on the fast growing DVD market, BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has decided to launch its DVDs in India. It is likely to rope in music company Saregama as its partner for the venture.
Radio One, the joint venture of BBC Worldwide and Mid-Day Multimedia, has launched ‘Deal Days’ for Wednesdays in its Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai stations. This is a part of the station’s programming to engage young urban shoppers with interesting exclusive deals.
Hewlett-Packard has announced its entry into the retail photo printing market with the launch of HP Retail Photo Solutions. The company has also launched the popular consumer online photo service HP Snapfish, customised specially for the Indian market.
McCann Healthcare Advertising has bagged the creative duties for the soon-to-be-launched ‘scientific skincare’ range of Mumbai-based USV Limited. The win follows a multi-agency pitch. The other two agencies in the fray were RK Swamy BBDO and Mudra.
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has appointed Vyas Giannetti Creative (VGC) to handle all the design work for their project. VGC will also be involved in designing mascots, collateral and merchandise for the ICL.
Travel portal Cleartrip is all geared for a strong communication, and plans to have a 360-degree approach. The commercial titled ‘No Hidden Costs’ for the brand has been created by Vivek Nayyar of Publicis India, and directed and produced by Sabal Shekhawat of Big Picture Company.
Mid-Day has altered its look in an attempt to become more reader friendly. The new Mid-Day is trimmer, colour coded with replete elements that makes it easier for readers to navigate through and carry around.
Day two of the Indian Magazine Congress 2007, underway in Mumbai, saw discussions on issues ranging from changing business models to the use of digitalised content where frequency of publication becomes irrelevant.
Financial Express has announced the re-launch of its supplement ‘Brandwagon’, which will be distributed with The Financial Express newspaper every Tuesday. Marketing plans includes ads on the Internet as well as direct marketing activities.
Day two at MipCom 2007 tried to bring all aspects of programming that would indicate the changes in what the viewers want. However, at the end of all discussions, network heads and content creators were unanimous in stating that people only remembered programmes and not the networks the programmes were on. Another point that came across was that India was not necessarily on all agendas.
The second day of the MipCom 2007 saw a meet-and-greet session with nominees and jury members of the Mobile and Internet TV Awards. Only one Indian entry has been nominated. The winners would be announced on October 10. Hungama Mobile’s Neeraj Roy is chairing the Jury.
The keynote addresses of the second day of MipCom 2007 brought two industries under the scanner – motion pictures and the broadcast industry – with Paula Wagner, CEO, United Artists, and Ben Silverman, Co-Chairman, NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Studio, stating that great content was single survival route, and global content was growth.
MipCom 2007 is seeing a lot of discussion on the marriage of content with communication, and that this would lead to the television of tomorrow. There is also word on the need to be equipped with the right tools in digital marketing and face the challenges in that domain so that the networks can reach the audiences of the future.
IAMAI, in its e-commerce survey conducted jointly with IMRB, has estimated that the consumer Internet market would reach an estimated Rs 9,210 crore by the end of FY 2007-08. At the end of FY 2006-07, the market size of this segment was estimated to be Rs 7,080 crore and the average rate of growth for the year 2007-08 was projected to be 30 per cent.
Outlook Group’s Maheshwar Peri has taken over as AIM’s new President, replacing India Today’s Ashish Bagga. CyberMedia’s Pradeep Gupta will be the new VP, while Devashish Sarkar from World Wide Media will be General Secretary. Delhi Press’ Paresh Nath will continue as Treasurer, while exchange4media Group’s Anurag Batra has been elected to the new post of Convenor-Events.
Lack of journalistic talent in magazine business emerged as a huge challenge during the discussions of the final session of day two of the Indian Magazine Congress (IMC) 2007, underway in Mumbai. The panelists were of the opinion that since the magazine business was more content driven, there was need to attract superior journalistic talent.
The later sessions of day two of Indian Magazine Congress (IMC) 2007, being held in Mumbai, focused on custom and collaborative publishing as well as opportunities in B2B publication.