It has taken an off-the-cuff comment to further stoke the fires of the Marathi-North India tension in Maharashtra. And bearing the brunt of this latest fracas are hoardings and OOH displays featuring the Bachchan family. exchange4media takes stock of the situation and speaks with some leading OOH players on the unfortunate development.
R Subramanian, MD, Subhiksha, has been unanimously appointed the new Chairman of the Indian Retail Forum (IRF) for the year 2008. His name was nominated by Bijou Kurien, President & CEO, Reliance Lifestyle Holdings; Sanjiv Goenka, Vice Chairman, RPG Group; and BS Nagesh, MD, Shoppers Stop, according to an official communiqué.
Contract publisher Spenta Multimedia has acquired a majority stake in ‘Liquid’, a specialist magazine designed to fulfil the information needs of the F&B industry. ‘Liquid’ will now be published bi-monthly from October 2008 onwards. With the addition of ‘Liquid’, the number of publications in Spenta’s portfolio has gone up to 24.
Karishma Kapoor has been appointed the new brand ambassador of Delhi-based Surya Food and Agro Ltd, known for its Priyagold biscuits brand. This is the first time Priyagold has opted for celebrity endorsement since TV personality the late Priya Tendulkar endorsed the biscuit 10 years’ ago.
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has issued guidelines for provisioning of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services in India in pursuance of the Union Cabinet’s decision. IPTV services facilitate delivery of television content through the technologies used for computer network instead of traditional format and cabling.
With the cost of acquiring television rights of films becoming prohibitively expensive, several media houses are entering into film production. The latest such venture is that of Sun TV Network, one of India’s largest media and entertainment networks, which has announced its foray into film production through its new subsidiary, Sun Pictures.
Lowe Worldwide has announced the elevation of Ameer Ismail, Head of LINOpinion India to Executive Director. In his new role, Ismail will report to Steve Gatfield, CEO, Lowe Worldwide, and EVP, Interpublic Group, and will work closely with Lowe Worldwide for future strategic developments, both in India and in partnership with other IPG companies outside India.
In another first from the BBC in the India market, BBC World Service is kicking off a campaign for three of its radio programmes – ‘BBC Ek Mulaqat’, ‘Take One’ and ‘BBC EK Minute’ – later this week. The campaign would be seen in the Mumbai and Gwalior markets. The creative agency for this campaign is Ogilvy One, while the media agency is MediaCom.
KEI Wires is embarking on a multi-media brand campaign from today. Conceptualised by Innocean, the 360-degree campaign will span over a period of six months. The main objective of this campaign is to create a high degree of brand recall and association with proper brand positioning.
KEI Industries Ltd has assigned its media planning and buying duties to Alliance Advertising following a multi-agency pitch. KEI Industries is a player in the power cable segment and among the largest cable manufacturing companies in India. The size of the business is pegged at Rs 6 crore. Dentsu is the incumbent agency.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has issued notice to TRAI on a petition filed by ESPN, which is contesting the regulator’s directive to it to provide channels to DTH operators at a rate 50 per cent below cable rates. TDSAT has directed TRAI to file their reply within four weeks.
In a bid to connect with the ‘new age Indian’, Mail Today has recently come up with a new brand campaign. This is the first campaign since the launch of the compact, and focuses on the attitude, mindset and outlook towards various facets of life of its readers. Capital Advertising is the creative agency behind the campaign.
The engaging opening session at the 3rd IAMAI Conference on Digital Marketing in Bangalore on September 10 set the precedent for the following sessions during the course of the day that covered topics ranging from new media tools, online video advertising, to fighting web wariness, and the blended search revolution.
IAMAI held its 3rd Conference on Digital Marketing, ‘The impact of technology on business and life’ in Bangalore on September 9. The opening session on ‘Analog Vs. Digital: Where to spend marketing budgets now, and why?’ saw some interesting observations from the panellists on engaging with the TG in a digital world.
Unlike the Hindi general entertainment genre or the Hindi news genre, wherein the digital trends had leaders different from those of the overall cable and satellite homes, the sports channels have more or less similar viewing patterns in digital homes as seen in the overall domain. The only channels that see a marginal gain in the digital homes are Zee Sports and Neo Cricket.