Publicis Groupe appointments: Srikant Sastri named VivaKi Country Chair;
VivaKi, the strategic unit created by Publicis Groupe to leverage
Date-wise News
Varsha Sharma
Out-of-Home Media India has appointed Varsha Sharma as General Manager - Sales, North. Sharma has a successful stint in ad sales and marketing spanning 11 years, having worked with some of India’s biggest companies like Star India (Star Movies, Star World and Star Gold). Nominated for the ‘News Corp’s Global Excellence Award’ for two consecutive years in 2003 and 2004, she has a commendable sales record track. Sharma is a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management.
Gururaja Rao
Big FM has appointed Gururaja Rao as its Vice President - Legal and Company Secretary. Rao will be spearheading his new role in Big FM Mumbai and will be looking after the entire functioning of the legal portfolio. His role would include Legal Documentation, Compliance and Regulatory issues, Litigation Management and Corporate Governance. Prior to this appointment, Rao was with People Group as AVP - Legal and Company Secretary. He has 15 years of experience across the industries of media, pharmaceuticals, hospitality and insurance. With a post-graduation diploma in Intellectual Property Rights and a Masters in Law from the University of Mumbai, Rao has served industry leaders like Thomas Cook, UTV, McDonald’s and Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals. He is also an Associate Member of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
Filmbooth 2008 opens in Delhi today
A unique three-day festival of short films, Filmbooth 2008, is getting underway in Delhi on December 19. The festival is being organised by Forum for Films. Planned on the lines of LA Shortfests, The Manhattan Shorts, NY Shorts, the event aims at bringing together short films from across the country.
Pay Neo Sports Rs 3 cr for signal as an interim arrangement, TDSAT tells Sun Direct
TDSAT has directed Sun Direct to make an advance interest free deposit of Rs 3 crore to Neo Sports and sign the RIO published by Neo Sports. Once Sun signs the RIO, the sports broadcaster will have to start supply of signals to the DTH service provider within two days as per regulations.
After Mission YUMPI in 2008, it’s Mission Digital in 2009 for Mid-Day
Steadfastly sticking to engaging YUMPIs throughout 2008 has paid off for Mid-Day as it chalks out an aggressive growth plan for the year ahead. On the priority list in 2009 are concentrating mainly on cementing brand positioning and strengthening Mid-Day’s presence in the digital media. Mid-Day is also looking at a growth of 10 per cent in topline over the previous year despite the slowdown.
The Meltdown: With cut in ad spends, research to play key role in identifying right media mix
If there is one sector that is expected to benefit in the current economic slowdown, it is research. With advertisers tightening their purse strings and demanding every paisa’s worth, it has become imperative to choose the right media platform for maximum impact. And research can help the advertisers and agencies in this in a big way. exchange4media speaks to some industry leaders to gauge the growth of research in such trying times.
Mumbai siege coverage: NBA unveils guidelines for terror reporting on channels
The National Broadcasting Association (NBA) on December 18 announced the much awaited new guidelines for the electronic media to be followed in times of crisis like the situation that arose during the Mumbai terror attacks. As per the new guidelines, there would be a complete ban on live TV reporting of terrorist attacks.
It’s a new vision this New Year for Rediffusion Y&R
Rediffusion Y&R is all set to roll out its new agenda this weekend, which includes a new vision, direction and expectation for 2009. Mahesh Chauhan, Group CEO, Rediffusion Y&R, talks exclusively to exchange4media about this common agenda across all the operating companies. He also said that Rediffusion was growing at 40 per cent as a group.
After a successful 2008, DTH industry all gung ho about 2009
The direct-to-home (DTH) space witnessed a lot of action in 2008 with the launch of Big TV and Digital Airtel, and Sun Direct going pan-India. Videocon’s DTH launch plans have been delayed for now. The year also saw the introduction of personal video recorders. Given the positive growth of 2008, DTH players are looking forward to even better times ahead in 2009 for the direct-to-home industry.
<b>Pratap Bose</b>, COO, Mudra Group
For the industry, I would say that all of us in the advertising, marketing and communication business, we need to be aware that there is a meltdown. But I don’t think we need to be too worried about it. I personally believe that things would look up around Diwali. Having said that, you need to be aware of the economic conditions around you and cut your cloth according to the suit you want to wear. The agencies that are able to move on smartly around it would do better than the traditional agencies.