Nike is all out to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Manchester United's first European Cup Win in a big way. As part of the celebrations, the sports brand has announced the 'Extreme Manchester United Fan' contest in India during the launch of the Manchester United Away Jersey and the '3rd Jersey'. The campaign will be heavily promoted on ESPN.
Nokia N-Series has announced an online consumer initiative – the 'Nokia N96 24 Gig is Big! Challenge', inviting users across India to discover the enormous memory space of the new Nokia N96. In a bid to connect with its core audience, Nokia N-Series is also organising road shows in leading college campuses in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai to promote this initiative.
Within five days of its launch, the 'Help Bihar' campaign to reach out to the flood ravaged population in the state, received overwhelming response and support. The viral campaign was conceptualised and designed by Quasar media for Plan India's resource mobilisation campaign for the flood affected in Bihar.
CNN International has announced the launch of CNNMobile.com, a comprehensive mobile news site across 49 countries and territories in the Asia Pacific region. It rounds out CNN’s 360-degree mobile solution offering, integrating live streaming mobile TV, video on demand content, and SMS breaking news alert services.
PastaMania, a chain of Italian fast food restaurants from Singapore, is venturing into India. Essence Retail Ventures Pvt Ltd, the master franchisee of PastaMania in India, has tied up with Delhi-based Franchise India Holdings Ltd for this foray. PastaMania has huge expansion plans in India and is eyeing 50 stores in metros and mini-metros by 2012.
Ayur Herbal Group has appointed News Communications, the PR outfit of INCL Group, as its communications partner. Meanwhile, the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) has assigned its PR mandate to Imprimis Life PR.
Pogo is launching a new season of the ‘Skatoony’ quiz show on September 21. The show would be aired on Sundays at 11:00 am. In line with Pogo’s endeavour to diversify its bouquet of original productions, ‘Skatoony’ is a quiz show which showcases children competing with cartoon characters for real prizes.
Zee Marathi is all set to launch the second season of its comedy talent hunt show ‘Hasya Samrat’ from September 26. The show would be aired on Fridays and Saturdays from 9.30 pm to 11 pm. The title sponsor is Idea Cellular, while Dabur is the associate sponsor for the show.
Star Plus is bringing in a new show, ‘Jahan Pe Basera Ho’, to beef up its matinee band. ‘Jahan Pe Basera Ho’ premieres on September 22 and would be aired Monday to Friday at 12.30 pm.
OgilvyAction, a division of O&M, has appointed R Subramaniyam as National Head of Ogilvy Live. He will be based in Mumbai. Subramaniyam, popularly known as Subu, has over 15 years’ experience in advertising and integrated marketing, with focus on events and promotions.
The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has elected Mumbai Samachar’s Hormusji N Cama as President for 2008-09. Cama replaces Gujarat Samachar’s Bahubali Shah. Paresh Nath of Delhi Press is the Deputy President, a post which he held last year as well.
Madhukar Kamath, Managing Director & CEO, Mudra Communications, was unanimously elected Chairman of the Board of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) at a Board meeting held on September 18.
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Will we move from broadcasting to narrowcasting? Will mainstream media morph into consumer-generated media? Will we really be able to measure the impact of PR on company bottomlines? Will CEOs be rechristened as Chief Reputation Officers, thus giving PR professionals much to cheer about? The crystal ball is not working here! As long as free enterprise drives the economies of progressive nations, professional PR will continue to thrive and flourish.
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