Category: MAM

MUMBAI: As Cartoon Network gears up to launch the new series of its flagship property Ben 10 on 10 October, the channel will showcase a day-long roadblock of Cadbury India’s Gems from 9 am in the morning till 7 pm.

The new series will be launched at 10 am and will be run the entire day as part of the Ben 10 marathon to create brand recall value.
 
In an attempt to promote the show aggressively, CN walked into a cross promotional partnership with Cadbury India and McD as sponsors on board. With Cadbury, the channel conducted contests with a code on the back of Gems. 20 winners will be identified who will be given a chance to meet Ben 10 on 10 October.

Says Turner International India VP and deputy GM – entertainment networks, South Asia Monica Tata, “With Cadbury there is a good premium attached. Cadbury has a large distribution network and strength and Ben 10 is a big property. So Cadbury gave us good mileage in promoting the series.”
 
As far as McD is concerned, the channel has inked a supplementary tie-up for the show with the fast food outlet brand wherein there is a Ben 10 promotional activity doing rounds in every McD store.
 
The channel will also launch a Ben 10 watch called the Ultimatrix which has its base made of Cadbury gems as part of the promotional initiative.

MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe has signed an agreement to acquire majority stake in the communication agency and the technology communications leader, 20:20 Media, and in the social media consulting firm, 2020Social.

Subject to the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the acquired entities will become part of MS&LGroup, Publicis Groupe‘s flagship PR and events network.
 
Founded in 1989, 20:20 Media is a public relations that employs more than 140 staff across its offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

2020Social, meanwhile, was founded in 2009 and focuses on strategy and advisory services for C-suite executives, marketers and PR directors, and provides technology development, campaign management and evaluation.
 
 
20:20 Media and 2020Social will each operate independently alongside MS&LGroup‘s existing multi-discipline communications agency in India, Hanmer MS&L.

The three agency operations will be united under the common MS&LGroup India brand. The operations of each agency remain independent as distinct business units, but will be directed by a common India business strategy and management Board. This board will be chaired by MS&LGroup asia president Glenn Osaki, and other. Members will include Sunil Gautam and Jaideep Shergill representing Hanmer MS&L, Sunil Agarwal and Chetan Mahajan representing 20:20 Media and 2020Social, as well as other representatives from MS&LGroup.
 
Said MS&LGroup CEO Olivier Fleurot, “These two acquisitions give us unrivalled strength in terms of scale, specialist expertise and talent. MS&LGroup is in the best position to provide emerging global Indian brands and leading multinationals investing in India with a full range of services that are truly best-in-class.”

MUMBAI: In a bid to promote its autumn-winter men’s collection in Andhra Pradesh, Provogue has launched a new advertising campaign in the region. The company has also roped in Mahesh Babu as the new brand ambassador for the state. 
 
On being appointed as the brand endorser for AP, the Tollywood superstar said, “It is a brand that has redefined fashion in India It has always led the market with its innovative designs. It’s a brand with which the youth identifies and associates.”
 
Provogue’s autumn-winter men’s collection is for the young edgy individual, metro sexual and the fashion conscious executive.

MUMBAI: Union Bank of India has appointed Lintas Media Group as its media agency following a multi-agency pitch. 
 
The size of the account is pegged at approximately Rs 500 million, a source at Union Bank told Indiantelevision.com.
 
The other agencies that contested for the account include Mudra Max, TME, Media Direction and incumbent agency Motivator.

MUMBAI: Communications agency Rediffusion Y&R has unveiled the launch campaign of the news channel ‘Mahuaa Khobor‘ in Kolkata.

The campaign had been divided into two phases – the pre launch phase, a teaser campaign, had outdoor hoardings and giant cut outs of words ‘Ki Khobor?‘, a popular Bengali greeting as much as it literally translates into ‘What‘s the news?‘ at prime traffic crossings to generate curiosity.
 
The consumer insight of the campaign is ‘the Bengali never ceases to surprise you‘, that is, the Bengali has an opinion on everything and always seeks information on subjects that have nothing to do with what he does in life or his place in society. The role of ‘Mahuaa Khobor‘ for this target audience is therefore that of a facilitator of enlightened expression that enables them to justice to the aforesaid Bengali trait. ‘News from the world over is now on every lip‘ was the product underpinning that connected the consumer propensity to the launch of the news channel.
 
Word play and puns obviously had a big role in the campaign and this was brought alive particularly well in the very realistic radio renditions with the ambient sound and local twangs complete.
 
The enthusiastic bunch at Rediffusion Y&R executed a three day shoot, nine ads in 11 newspapers and over 100 artwork campaign in Press, Outdoor and Radio in just under ten days.

MUMBAI: 74.5 million viewers have tuned in to the Airtel Champions League (excluding the final) compared to 54 million last year. The average TVR was 1.36, as against 1.05 last year.
 
The highest TVR was for the first match between Mumbai Indians and Highveld Lions which had manged 2.45. The two semi finals got an average TVR of 1.28. Last year, the two semifinals got a rating of 1.05.
 
64 per cent of viewership was males this time around. SEC C, D and E contributed 54 per cent of viewership. While the performance has improved, this event has a long way to go before it can be considered a marquee event at least from the point of view of audience delivery.
 

MUMBAI: Ravi Kiran has put in his papers at Starcom, after serving the agency for 12 years.

Kiran, Starcom MediaVest Group CEO-South Asia and emerging market leader – specialist solutions. is currently serving his notice period.

“I will be with the company till December-end,” Kiran tells Indiantelevision.com.

Kiran was responsible for setting up several non-classical businesses and disciplines across 11 markets in Asia. 
 
Speaking on the development, SMG‘s president – global operations Andrew Swinand, “Ravi has been a part of our India operations for over 11 years. In his various roles within the organisation he has been instrumental in taking Starcom MediaVest Group India to the level of trust and respect it enjoys today.”
 
He added, “Ravi‘s vision and leadership have driven a period of tremendous growth for Starcom MediaVest Group in South Asia leading to a strong foundation for the future.” 
 
Starcom MediaVest Group is close to finalising a successor for the role of CEO-South Asia. The choice will be made from a shortlist of internal as well as external candidates. 

MUMBAI: Just like old wine, seems like the fondness for age old monk C.I.D. is growing by age and time.

This long running flagship property of Sony Entertainment Television has replaced Star Plus‘ Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai for the week ended 25 September so as to occupy the second spot in the top 10 list in HSM space.
 
According to Tam, the show attained a peak TVR of 5.17 (on Friday) for the week as against the peak TVR of 3.24 (on the Saturday episode) that it had captured during the previous week.

This is for the first time that the show has managed to garner such high ratings for at least a couple of years. For the past eight weeks, C.I.D averaged approximately 3.17 TVR.

Says Set marketing head Danish Khan, “This is the highest TVR that the show has fetched in the last couple of years. During the last few months, the viewership of the show has been constantly growing from a 3 TVR to 4 TVR and now above 5 TVR.”
 
According to Khan, the peak has come in due to a new promotional initiative and storytelling pattern of CID content. “The show has a twist in its storytelling wherein an underworld group tries to finish the entire C.I.D. team and how the team fights back. There was a huge marketing push through print and promos and this has helped fetch the results,” he says.

The Friday-Saturday episodes delivered TVRs of 5.17 and 4.28 respectively, adding 21.4 GRPs to the channel grade (184 GRPs, up from 174 GRPs). In the previous week, the show had added 14.1 GRPs to the channel.

Amongst the other shows on Sony, Baat Humari Pakki Hai (M-F 8.30 pm) averaged 0.9 TVR (0.7 TVR in previous week), the weekday half-hour strip of Aahat (Mon-Thu 11 pm) averaged 0.9 (0.8) TVR and Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo (Sat 9 pm) rated 2.5 TVR (2.8) in its fourth week.
 
Also, the reality show, Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega -2 (Mon-Thu 9.30 pm & Fri 9 pm) remained stable at an average 1.8 TVR (1.8).

Amongst the other leading shows on Hindi general entertainment channels, while Pratigya still remains the top show for the week (5.43 TVR), Yeh Rishta … has fallen to the fourth spot.

The other shows that have fallen in rank are Colors‘ Uttaran (4.3 TVR) and Balika Vadhu (4.36 TVR). The shows that were earlier occupying the fourth and fifth position respectively in the list now have fallen to the eighth (Balika Vadhu) and ninth (Uttaran) spots.

Overall, Star Plus (368 GRPs) has seen a 10 GRP decline over last week. The drop has come from weekday prime, weekday afternoon, weekend original and weekend movies.

Colors (273 GRPs), meanwhile, has increased by 17 GRPs over last week. Zee TV upped its GRPs to 237, from 227 a week ago.

MUMBAI: When Star Plus was working out its turnaround plan as early as 2000 after breaking away from Zee Telefilms, it was Rupert Murdoch who decided on the magic figure of ‘Rs 1 crore’ as prize money to attract mass audiences across the country to the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), hosted by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan.

Star Plus raised the prize money bar to Rs 20 million in the second and third editions. But it is now Sony TV which has upped the ante, announcing that the fourth version of the game-based reality show would give away a jackpot amount of Rs 50 million to the winner answering 13 questions.

Announcing the launch of the show on 11 October, Bachchan said, “Unlike previous seasons which had a total of 15 questions to be answered to reach Rs 10 million, the new version will throw just 12 questions to the hot seat occupant to reach Rs 10 million. And the one who will be able to win the 13th question will win the jackpot.”
 
The Indian adaptation of the international blockbuster “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” will run from Monday to Thursday at 9 pm on Sony. The other shows on Indian television that have had astronomical prize money as give aways were Sawal 10 Crore Ka on Zee and Dus Ka Dum on Sony, both giving away Rs 100 million as prize money.

Said MSM COO N.P.Singh, “With new features which make the journey to become crorepati even more exciting, KBC 2010 is going to provide whole some Entertainment with fun, knowledge and humour to the entire family. Big gets even bigger as the participants will get an opportunity to play for the jackpot worth Rs 5 crore. Sony Entertainment television has been on an upward curve in the last year with ratings from 80 to 180 GRPs. KBC is going to drive the next level of growth for the channel.”
 
Among the other new features and innovations which viewers will see in KBC are:

Fastest finger first contestants get to stay for a week

Expert help: An expert present in the studio each day to help the contestant in his march towards a crore by using the ‘Ask the Expert’ lifeline.

Double Dip: The participant can shoose to use Double Dip lifeline – this allows the contestant to give two answers, so if the first answer is incorrect, the contestant can pick one among the options left as his second answer.

Phone-a-friend: The viewers get to see the image of the friend when the contestant uses the lifeline.
 
Time Clock: The contestant will have to answer question one and two in 30 seconds and questions three to six within 45 seconds. There is no limit on time from question 7 onwards.

“The show will also have two special weeks on celebrity as contestants. The details will be divulged later,” Sony business head Ajit Thakur said.

KBC4 will be up against the celeb-driven reality show Big Boss on Colors and Akshay Kumar hosted Masterchef on Star Plus.

Sony is targeting advertising revenue of Rs 1 billion from the 36 episodes of the game show. Cadbury and Idea are the presenting sponsors of KBC 4.

Meanwhile, the sponsors that have come on board as associate partners are namely Axis Bank, LG, Tata Motors, Sony Bravia and Videocon.

MUMBAI: As the Priyanka Chopra-hosted Fear Factor – Khataron Ke Khiladi x3 is coming to an end, Colors is gearing up to launch its eagerly awaited reality show Bigg Boss – now in its fourth season.

The show, which will be hosted by Bollywood actor Salman Khan, will hit the television screens starting 3 October and will air Sunday to Saturday at 9 pm.
 
The channel has already roped in Vodafone as title sponsor for the second consecutive year, and eight associate sponsors for the fourth season. These include L’Oreal Garnier Men Deodorant, General Motors, Suzuki motorcycles Suzuki sling shot, Bharti Axa Life Insurance, LG Infinia TV, Sony Cybershot, Spice Mobiles and Dixcy Scott Innerwear.

To promote the show, the Viacom18 channel has chalked out a two-week marketing campaign to create high impact and scale across major media platform. The channel is following a 360-degree marketing approach to promote the show, across television, print, radio and outdoor to create and sustain the buzz this season. 
 
“We  have shot eight different promos of the show and one music video featuring Salman Khan. The theme of the whole campaign is weaved around Khan. The whole idea of the campaign is to fuel the curiosity and create buzz till the show goes on air and also sustain post launch interest,” Colors director- marketing Rajesh Iyer said.

On television, Colors has taken over 10,000 spots across genres like kids, movies, music and regional news, while on radio the channel has tied up with Big FM and other key FM stations. The channel will also run a contest, thereby involving the consumer directly with the show.

The channel also plans to run the promotional music video during the screening of Priyanka Chopra- Ranbir Kapoor starrer Anjaana Anjaani across 100 cinema halls in India.

The outdoor campaign includes two-week activity to cover over 40 cities across India. This includes New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Gwalior, Jaipur, Indore, Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat.

The channel will also do on-ground activations in select 15 cities. In Mumbai, they have tied up with BEST buses and mall activation in all Big Bazaar outlets.

For print, the channel has bought advertising space in almost all the leading publications across India to reach 100+ cities in key Tam markets on the launch day. 
 
Meanwhile, on the advertisers’ response, Colors national sales head Simran Hoon said, “Bigg Boss is getting bigger with every season. This season has created unprecedented buzz amongst our advertising partners. Once again, Vodafone returns as our presenting sponsor along with other partners like LG, General Motors and L’Oreal that were associated with the show last year.”

Hoon claims that the ad inventory is almost chockablock and that the channel has maintained premium rates. Eighty per cent of the inventory, Hoon said, is taken by the sponsors, while remaining 20 per cent is for spot buys, which also is full. She, however, refused to disclose the revenue the channel would make from the mega show.

Hoon said that this season also the channel will continue with its innovative in-programme product placement. “We will continue to create value for our advertisers in innovative ways. For an un-scripted show like Bigg Boss, brand integrations and product placements are big challenges, but they work in favour of the brand,” Hoon said.