Outlook Money, which recently completed 10 years, has come up with a print campaign to mark the occasion. The four-ad campaign has been created by Arms Crestra, an advertising entity run by former Hakuhodo Percept hands Debashis Bose and Sangeeta Sen.
aMap has thrown up good numbers for ‘Bigg Boss’ Season 2 on Colors. The show kept Colors on the No. 1 slot in that time band across channels according to aMap data. ‘Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi’, which concluded recently, had played a very crucial role in taking Colors to the No. 3 slot amongst Hindi GECs. The big question is whether ‘Bigg Boss’ would keep this high for Colors.
This new Carat Insight report, done by Carat Worldwide, mainly in the context of apossible recession looming over the US economy, explores the impact of economic downtowns on marketers and how companies are accordingly adapting their advertising. The highlights of the report include: the impact of a recession on consumer and media spending; how a recession typically impacts marketers; Carat’s ad spending projections through 2008; and marketing guidelines for navigating through a recession.
UTV Interactive, the gaming arm of UTV Software Communications Ltd, has entered into an agreement to acquire 80 per cent stake in True Games Interactive, a US-based online game publishing start-up. With this acquisition, UTV is now present across all platforms of gaming.
In a bid to ramp up its creative team in Mumbai, PerceptH has appointed Anand Halady and Umesh Bhagwat as Creative Directors. Both would be reporting to Dilip Marathe, Creative Head, PerceptH Mumbai.
The Zee Group has appointed Shaswati Saradar as Vice-President to head its marketing operations in Europe. Saradar moves from Maruti Udyog Ltd where she was Senior Manager, Media. Saradar had a six-and-a-half-year stint at Maruti.
Mahesh Chauhan has been elevated as Group CEO, Rediffusion, with immediate effect. Chauhan is taking over the reins from Arun Nanda (who would, however, continue to be involved in the capacity of Chairman) and would be looking after the group companies of Rediffusion that include TME, Wunderman, Showdiff, Rediffusion PR, OAP-Touchpoint and Rediffusion DYR.
O&M has made some key promotions in its Planning division in Delhi and Bangalore. Rajesh Kumar has been made President, Planning for Delhi, while Arvind Srivastava has been elevated to Vice-President, Planning. In Bangalore, Ramesh Kumar will now head the agency’s Planning division as Vice-President, Planning.
In a media first, the MMRDA has selected Big Street as the OOH advertising company for Mumbai’s first-ever ‘skywalk’. The deal is for a period of 10 years, and sources inform that the OOH agency has coughed up Rs 79 crore to secure this deal.
The recent price hike in air fares might have dampened air travel a bit, but airports continue to see busy traffic. With OOH players concentrating more and more on airport advertising and with at least seven big airport projects underway across the country, this media vehicle can well play an important part in getting an upwardly mobile audience.
Madison is set to launch a second agency by the last quarter of 2008. Christened Platinum Media, the new agency would be headed by Basabdatta Chaudhury and headquartered in Delhi. Chaudhury is currently CEO of Madison Media Plus. The development has been confirmed by Sam Balsara.