ITV

Category: MAM

  • Landmark plans Rs 2 billion expansion in India

    Landmark plans Rs 2 billion expansion in India

    BANGALORE: The Landmark group’s Lifestyle International (Lifestyle) plans to invest around Rs 2 billion over the next two years in India across a number of its store formats.

    By March 2011, the group plans to up the number of Lifestyle stores from 25 to about 30, add another 15 Max stores to bring the tally of that format to 50. So far it has invested around Rs 3 billion across more than 90 stores.

    The Landmark group companies in India include Max, Spar Supermarkets & Hypermarkets and Gloria Jean’s Coffee among others.

    The group spends around Rs 500 million towards brand promotion and marketing. “Our spends will go up correspondingly,” revealed Lifestyle Managing Director Kabir Lamba during an interaction with www.indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of the ‘Beat Diabetes’ walk – a CSR initiative that the group had organised in Bangalore along with ING Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, Britannia Nutirchoice, Himalayan (Water), Fitness One and Apollo Hospitals.
     

  • Standard Bank severes 13-year sponsorship ties with Cricket South Africa

    Standard Bank severes 13-year sponsorship ties with Cricket South Africa

    MUMBAI: Standard Bank will end its 13-year sponsorship relationship with Cricket South Africa (CSA), Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

    The contracts expire in May 2011.

    Standard Bank’s sponsorship deal with CSA included the domestic Pro20 Series, sole sponsorship of the national South Africa One-Day International and Pro20 teams and all International Pro20s matches played in South Africa.

    The bank said, “Changing business priorities at Standard Bank led to the decision to end its sports sponsorship contracts as part of the effort to improve business efficiencies across the group. Our marketing and communication efforts support and contribute to Standard Bank’s business strategy

    “While our sponsorships of soccer and cricket have been extremely valuable in building our brand and engaging with fans, we have had to reassess the costs of these sponsorships and the benefits for Standard Bank in the light of changed business needs. This was a difficult decision as we have made significant investments in both soccer and cricket.” 

    CSA CEO Gerald Majola expressed gratitude to Standard Bank for its loyal support of cricket over the past 13 years. “The bank‘s significant investment in the game leaves cricket in a very healthy state,” he said.
     

  • MSM eyes Rs 9 bn of ad revenue from IPL 4.0

    MSM eyes Rs 9 bn of ad revenue from IPL 4.0

    MUMBAI: Controversies, lawsuits! None of that has made an impact on the willingness of advertisers to cough out the big bucks for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    Sources say Multi Screen Media (MSM) is eyeing an ad revenue of Rs 9 billion, down from Rs 10 billion, as the extra teams will not be added in the fourth edition of the IPL. This will be 20 per cent up from the previous season of IPL.

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that MSM was looking at Rs 10 billion ad revenue from IPL 4, despite the ICC cricket World Cup preceding it.

    Says Multi ScreenMedia (MSM) president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta, “We are eyeing a 20 per cent revenue growth this year. Clients have shown firm belief in the value of this property. Many companies have returned. Vodafone and Videocon are back as co-presenting sponsors. The associate sponsors are Samsung Mobile, LG, Hyundai, Tata Photon, Pepsi. New sponsors joining us this year are Cadbury‘s and Havells. Earlier Havells used to take spots. To accomodate the new sponsors we have decided to include one more sponsor.” 

    Gupta, however, refused to spell out the exact revenue MSM was targeting.

    MSM has roped in nine advertisers for the event and is looking at 11 sponsors in total, one more than last year.

    MSM is also talking to companies including Godrej, HUL and Airtel to come on board as sponsors. The sponsor rate is Rs 500,000. The co-presenting sponsors will shell out Rs 550 million each while the rate for associate sponsors is around Rs 400 million.

    Spot buys start at Rs 550,000. “When we close out 80 per cent of inventory, then we will start hiking the spot rates. Extraa Innings will have around six sponsors and will give us Rs 360 million. We sell at Rs. 100,000 per 10 seconds here. By January, we would have sold out everything,” says Gupta.

  • Adclub shortlists 81 entries for Effies 2010

    Adclub shortlists 81 entries for Effies 2010

    MUMBAI: Advertising Club of Bombay has shortlisted 81 entries for Effies 2010, out of the 276 entries it had received.

    The awards will be held in Mumbai on 7 November. This year Effie has introduced three new categories and various sub-categories for three of the existing ones. There were nine categories for which the entries were shortlisted. No nominations were shortlisted for the Mobile Advertising category. 

    Ogilvy & Mather, the winner of last year’s Agency of the Year award, leads the pack of shortlisted entries with 17 nominations followed by Lowe Lintas with 16 and Mudra Group with 14 entries. Last year’s runner-up agency JWT has got 10 of its entries shortlisted.

    “I am happy that Ogilvy has been nominated across categories and for various clients. It shows that Ogilvy is doing a creative work”, Ogilvy & Mather executive chairman and creative director South India Piyush Pandey told Indiantelevision.

    Some of the Ogilvy’s shortlisted entries are for Dove, Center fresh, Adidas, Cadbury, Fevicol, Pulsar, Tata Sky, Vodafone and Star Plus

    Lowe Lintas entries are for Clinic Plus, Fair and Lovely, Tata Tea, BAJAJ DISCOVER DTS-Si, Idea Cellular, ET NOW and Hindustan Times.

    The entries shortlisted for Mudra include Volkswagen, 3 Idiots and The Economic Times.

    Apart from these, the other agencies that have been shortlisted are BBDO India with six entries, DRAFTFCB Ulka Advertising with five, Bates 141 with four, Contract Advertising India and CreativelandAsia with 2 nominations each.

    McCann Erickson India, Rediffusion Y&R, Dentsu Communications, Publicis Ambience and Grey Worldwide (India) have got one shortlisted entry each.
     

  • Cannes Lions broadens den with ‘creative’ slogan

    Cannes Lions broadens den with ‘creative’ slogan

    MUMBAI: The Cannes Lions festival has announced that it will change its creative slogan from “The International Advertising Festival” to “The International Festival of Creativity”, which reflects the widening scope of the event.

    The move reflects the transformation of Cannes Lions over the last few years as the event now recognises creative excellence not just in advertising but in all forms of communications.

    Originally known as the International Advertising Film Festival with only TV and Cinema ads being judged, the Festival has changed in recent years to embrace communications in the broadest sense.

    The organisers of the events explained that this change comes as a response to industry feedback to make its tagline more relevant.

    “If you view the work and listen to the conversations taking place at Cannes Lions, you realise very quickly that the event has evolved way beyond pure advertising,” says Festival CEO Philip Thomas. “Apart from the welcome attendance of Design, Media, PR, Activation and other professionals from all forms of communications, the winning work at Cannes can no longer be described as being simply ‘Advertising‘. Many of the Grands Prix are now being awarded to experiences, technologies, social media, user-generated content, services, events – the options for marketers now are rich and diverse, and we need to embrace that change. It‘s important that Cannes Lions offers a global event that is relevant to the industry, and having listened to feedback from many industry leaders, we feel that now is the right time to truly reflect what the Festival has become.”

    Next year 13 categories that will be honoured are film, press, outdoor, cyber, media, direct, radio, promo & activation, design, PR, film craft, titanium & integrated and the recently launched creative effectiveness.

  • Airtel gets a new brand identity and logo

    Airtel gets a new brand identity and logo

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel, the global telecommunications company, has unveiled its new logo and look for its operations in 19 countries in Asia and Africa.

    The unveiling of the new identity marks the achievement of 200 million customers by the company.
     
    The new face of Airtel, designed by its creative agency JWT, is youthful, international, inclusive and dynamic and the red colour continues to represent the dynamism of the company.

    With the new curved addition, Airtel intends to gain instant recognition across diverse international markets. 
     
    Bharti  Airtel chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “Today, as we expand on the global stage, this new brand identity gives us the opportunity to present a single, powerful and unified face to our customers, stakeholders and partners around the world. It reinforces our promise to deliver innovative services and a superior brand experience to our 200 million customers across Asia and Africa.”

    AR Rahman has also made a refreshed version of the original Airtel tune.

    Airtel will launch its 3G services in India by the end of 2010.
     

  • Publicis Ambience chairman Aniruddha Banerjee bids adieu

    Publicis Ambience chairman Aniruddha Banerjee bids adieu

    MUMBAI: Aniruddha Banerjee, chairman of Publicis Groups’ advertising agency Publicis Ambience, has put in his papers.

    Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Banerjee said, “Yes I have resigned. I cannot share my future plans at this moment.”

    Publicis CEO South Asia Nakul Chopra will take up the additional responsibility of Publicis Ambience, and it is learnt that the company is not looking for a replacement as of now.

    Banerjee had joined the company in March 2007. He was elevated to the chairman post in January this year.

    Before joining Publicis Ambience, Banerjee was with Mudra. He has also worked with multiple companies like Contract, Leo Burnett, Clarion (Bates 141) and Everest Brand Solutions.
     

  • Scarecrow bags creative duties of BPCL

    Scarecrow bags creative duties of BPCL

    MUMBAI: Impressed by the agency‘s Shriram Transport Finance Company‘s truck driver campaign done in February, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has awarded its creative mandate to Scarecrow. 

    BPCL is one of the most important state-owned oil and gas companies in India. Said Scarecrow Communications co-founder and director Manish Bhatt, “The BPCL account will be handled by our Delhi branch. However, the size of the account cannot be determined at this time.”

    According to Bhatt, the first campaign is expected to start at the end of the year or by the beginning of 2011 and can include both below-the-line and above-the-line communication.

    Recently, Scarecrow was awarded the creative mandates for Religare Broking and Health Insurance businesses.

  • Bidaai gets grand farewell from viewers

    Bidaai gets grand farewell from viewers

    MUMBAI: The last episode of Star Plus’ popular fiction show – Sapna babul Ka … Bidaai has got a grand bidaai (farewell) from its viewers.

    The two-hour “maha episode” on 13 November notched up a TVR of 6.06, making it the second highest rated show of the week and adding 24 GRPs (gross rating points) to the channel.

    Produced by Rajan Shahi’s Directors Kut Productions and launched on 8 October 2007, the show achieved many milestones during its over three-year run. It remained among the top 10 shows of the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs), week after week.

    A story of two sisters, Sadhana and Ragini, the show shored up the ratings of Star Plus at the 9 pm slot. It replaced Meri Awaaz Ko Mil Gayi Roshni, which scored a 2.9 TVR in its closing week. With its launch rating of 4.6 TVR, Bidaai pepped up the slot for Star Plus.

    In December 2007, one of the protagonists, Ragini (Parul Chauhan), broke her marriage (her in-laws rejected her at the mandap because she was dark complexioned in comparison to her sister). The high drama resulted in upping the ratings to 5.4 TVR.

    In March 2008, Bidaai reached a new high when Sadhana (Sara Khan) and Alekh (Angad Hasija) got married on the show. The episode touched a 6 TVR.

    In October 2008, the show climbed higher with the Taj Mahotsav event. Attracting Hema Malini‘s participation along with her daughters, the episode rated 8.8 TVR, the highest rating for a show on Hindi GEC in over 500 days during that time.

    In January 2009, the ratings further jumped with Ragini Ranveer‘s wedding fetching a rating of 9.6 TVR.

    The show launched careers of Parul Chauhan, Kinshuk Mahajan, Sara Khan, Angad Hasija and Ashita Dhawan. Bidaai also marked a comeback for Alok Nath and Vibha Chibber.

     

  • Online ad industry to touch $50 bn this year: Don Epperson

    Online ad industry to touch $50 bn this year: Don Epperson

    MUMBAI: The chairman and Global CEO of Havas Digital, Don Epperson, has said that online advertising was one of the fastest growing mediums in India.

    According to him, the online advertising industry was estimated to touch $50 billion by the end of this year in the US alone while other markets too were poised for a similar growth.

    Epperson was in Hyderabad recently for the launch of Centre of Excellence (CoE) that would provide marketing and digital services for clients worldwide by his company that is a diversified advertising and online marketing solutions provider. The Centre, headed by Ravi Kabra, would employ about 20 people for now.

    The CEO was of the view that India has emerged as an important business destination for multinational corporations and many Indian companies are going global, requiring expertise to address this space.

    Referring to the growth of online advertising, Epperson said that the largest categories of advertisers were Internet players, real-estate firms and financial services companies. Online gaming and sports are two other major categories.

    Among the top six global advertising and marketing solutions provider, Havas Digital has clients such as Air France, Vodafone, Emirates, Peugeot, Cap Gemini and works with Google, Yahoo and MSN for online advertising-related business.

    The company plans to launch a mobile-based services arm in India soon.