The Mobile Marketing Association has announced the names of the finalists of the Mobile Marketing Awards 2007. Reliance Communication and Mindshare Interaction are the Indian finalists that will be competing against each other in the ‘Best use of Mobile Marketing, Direct Response’ category.
Essar Telecom Retail is eyeing a turnover of Rs 4,000 crore over the next three years, according to a top executive of the company.
The second part on print advertising in the first half of 2007 gives some interesting insights. While radio channel advertising in print grew 104 per cent, TV channel saw a 1 per cent dip. Media and Advertising genre recorded maximum advertising growth of 56 per cent during January-September 2007 over the corresponding period of 2006
FM footprint continues to spread in the country. Three new radio stations were launched over the week in Coimbatore, Mysore and Ranchi. While Hello FM announced its presence in Coimbatore, Radio Mantra began operations in Ranchi. Big FM also announced the official launch of its station in Mysore in the week gone by.
Zee News has roped in former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-Ul-Haq to host ‘Junoon 2007’, a special coverage of the Indo-Pak cricket series that commences today, November 5. ‘Junoon 2007’ will give some in-depth coverage of the series through various segments across its programming genre.
Quasar Media, the flagship brand of Smile Interactive Technology Group, has been aggressively ramping up their Western operations over last couple of months. With an established strong footing in the Northern market, the move is directed towards gunning for new business opportunities and expanding geographically.
Close on the heels of the Power and the Glory survey, which studied the Global Indian, JWT Brand Chakras’ latest study focusses on the payoffs that mothers want from their children and vice-versa. The insight mining exercise was done at eight centers – Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Thrissur – and covered SEC A, B mothers with children aged between 8 years and 16 years.
OOH Media India Pvt Ltd has recently entered into strategic pacts with retail chains such as Shoppers’ Stop, HomeStop, Arcelia and Trent Ltd, Westside, Star India Bazaar and popular bookstore chain Oxford across India. With these tie-ups OOH Media has added a total of 585 screens to its existing robust network of 4,000 screens.
Neo Sports had quite a figure to talk about when it announced its sponsor line-up that worked up to a Rs 250 crore-revenue figure. However, there is a change in the situation now with DD planning to market its own feed. With this, sponsors such as Pidilite, S Kumar’s, LG, HDFC Standard Life and Nokia wouldn’t be present on Neo Sports. Aditya Birla Group and Raymond’s have come on board.
Hansa Research, the agency which undertakes the fieldwork for the Indian Readership Survey, has reported to the MRUC that some publications were trying to influence results in some markets. As a result, the fieldwork is being redone, and the IRS would be delayed. Hansa divulged that the problem market is Rajasthan. The MRUC is in the process to create a ‘Code of Conduct’ to avoid such situations in future.
INX Media’s general entertainment channel 9X, has planned quite a marketing blitzkrieg across markets and mediums. The objective of the three-phased communication process, according to INX Media’s Group Director, Brand and Communications, Anthony Pettifer, was to be seen in the same league as Star Plus, Zee TV and other Hindi GECs when 9X launches.
Some of the topline findings of the Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) suggest that when the numbers of the three cities – Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi – are compared, Delhi has the highest number of listeners in the 25-34 age group and is the most fragmented radio market. RAM also shows that the 20-24 year age group is the lowest TG on radio and that more males tune in to the radio than females.
Data from TAM Media Research’s Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) has reported different times for high proportion listenership across markets. While Bangalore has reported high listenership in the early morning; in Mumbai, the most preferred time to listen to the radio is the morning time band. Delhi prefers to tune in to the radio during the evening.
The curtains came down on CASBAA 07 with a panel discussion on the ‘The Indian Broadcast explosion’. The number crunching by the panellists gave a sufficient indication to the Asian broadcast industry representatives of the exciting broadcast market in India. The verdict quite easily was that it is India that holds out the right promise for foreign broadcasters, and not China, which still lacks consistent media policies and transparency.
Peter Mukerjea, Chief Strategy Officer, INX Media, says that GEC will be the thrust area for INX. Considering that it is also the most competitive segment, he says “we will have to be better and not just different”. He also emphasised that women are the key drivers to viewership in India, and any content, to be successful, has to fit the parameters of family values.
It was the turn of Paul Aiello, CEO, STAR Group, for a dialogue with Damian Grammaticas, BBC’s South Asia Correspondent, on Day 2 of CASBAA 07. He revealed that in the next six months, the network would launch niche channels in India targeted at the regional markets and the smaller towns.
The PR industry in India is still quite nascent, as compared to its peers in the US and Europe. But with the explosion in media outlets and the rapid growth of the media industry, PR is increasingly seen by our clients as an important strategic tool. Clients in India are also increasingly expanding globally and require PR agencies to have an understanding of the global media landscape.