The Union Budget 2010-11, presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 26 is being seen as a balanced one with no major surprises. Ernst & Young’s Rakesh Jariwala cuts down to the basics and highlights the points in the Budget that impact the media and entertainment sector.
Navia Asia, the out-of-home specialist network, has announced the appointment of Aman Chaudhary as National Client Services Director on the Uninor business. He will be based in Delhi and report to Gourav Tandon, COO, Navia Asia. Chaudhary was till recently Deputy General Manager at Percept Out of Home.
Sachin Tendulkar’s double century in the second ODI and India’s remarkable victories in both the ODI matches against South Africa have raised the expectations of media planners and the broadcaster in gaining maximum eyeballs. exchange4media finds out more.
The two-day Global Business Media Forum, organised by Cross Border Media Inc, got underway in Delhi on February 25, 2010. The Forum provides an interactive platform to the Indian B2B community to get together with their international counterparts to exchange ideas and best practices from around the world. Day one saw discussions on topics such as ‘Advertising in Business Media’ and ‘Growth of digital media platform and new media opportunities’.
Smelling an opportunity in the brand naming space in India, Anantha Narayan has teamed up with PC Muralidharan to start one. Christened ‘Albert Dali’, the start-up, the duo claims, is India’s first end-to-end naming outfit targeted at anyone in the market for a trademarkable, domainable, positionable, communicable and sustainable brand name.
Karthik Lakshminarayan, Head of Business Planning & Strategy for Colors, has moved on from the organisation. Viacom18 also announced on February 25, 2010, the appointment of Gaurav Gandhi as Chief Commercial Officer - Viacom18 Group. In this newly created role, Gandhi would spearhead Viacom18's international business and would be reporting to Rajesh Kamat, Group COO, Viacom18 and CEO, Colors.
Most of the Budget wishlist of broadcasters and distributors revolve around reduction in entertainment taxes and custom duties. Some of the broadcasters have also urged the Government to see television as infrastructure of the entertainment industry.
The Indian print media industry is hoping for favourable Budget announcements from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today. In the first budget after the economic slowdown, the industry wants parity in Government and market ad rates. Print players have also urged the Government not to increase the rates of custom duty, excise duty, and anti-dumping duty. exchange4media finds out more on what’s there on the print industry’s Budget wishlist.
Emami Group has forayed into the food and beverage business with the launch of its edible oil brand, ‘Healthy and Tasty’. The Group has appointed JWT, O&M and On Ads for the creative duties of the brand. A TVC, directed by Prahlad Kakkar, is being unveiled. Emami has also roped in MS Dhoni and Preity Zinta for the brand communication.
The year 2009 was tough for us, especially for the Mumbai branch, as we handle many financial and retail clients out of here, which were the two sectors that were mostly affected... But at the same time, we fortunately had some good business wins, and as a result the McCann Worldgroup India did really well... our unconventional advertising streams generated a lot... As far the growth target is concerned, we are cautiously optimistic. So, we are trying to grow as much as possible. But we know that it cannot be the way it was two and a half years back, where things were looking beautiful and good. We have to be careful, solid and serve our clients well.