Category: MAM

MUMBAI: Divya Bhaskar, one of the leading daily newspapers from Gujarat, has assigned its creative duties to Ignite Mudra, the Mudra Group‘s brand building agency for entrepreneurs. 
 
Says Dainik Bhaskar general manager – marketing Dharmendra Mishra, “Ignite Mudra has a very strong equity, having created numerous successful brands. Of course, as a plus, it is also based in Gujarat. We are confident that the association with Ignite Mudra will take Divya Bhaskar to greater heights.”
 
As part of its new mandate, Ignite Mudra will create a 360 degree marketing campaign for Divya Bhaskar that will include television, print, radio, events and various below-the-line activities. Multiplexes will be utilised as a major touch point zone to create direct contact with consumers. 
 
Says Ignite Mudra head Chandan Nath, “Divya Bhaskar has managed to attain a strong presence in Gujarat in a very short span. The Group redefined the market by offering a unique, relevant and contemporary product. We look forward to working closely with the Bhaskar Team to strengthen the brand further amongst Gujarati readers.”

Launched by the Mudra Group in July 2009, Ignite Mudra, is a specialist agency that caters specifically to the brand building needs of entrepreneurs. Some of the clients that it handled include Vimal, Rasna and Dhara.

MUMBAI: Following a multi-agency pitch, Dabur has roped in Bates 141 and Law & Kenneth to handle the creative duties of Oxybleach (for women) and Saka Men‘s Bleach respectively.
 
The media duties are handled by Adbur, the company‘s in-house media agency.
 
A 360 degree initiative has been planned for both the accounts that include TV, out-of-home (OOH), print, internet and various below -the- line (BTL) activities. The campaigns will be launched in January.
 
Oxybleach and Saka are part of the Fem portfolio which Dabur acquired recently.
 

MUMBAI: Big TV, the Anil Ambani-owned direct-to-home (DTH) company, has entered into a marketing alliance with Fox Star Studios for promoting James Cameron’s magnum opus Avatar in India.

As part of the deal, Big TV will run a month-long 360 degree marketing campaign and will launch a 30-second English television commercial (TVC) featuring the cast of the film. The TVC is expected to go on air across 12 English channels including Times Now, AXN, Star World, Star Movies, and HBO from 15 December.
 
The DTH operator will also showcase interviews with Cameron and the stars of Avatar. The footage will also include behind-the scenes of the movie.

Reliance Big TV senior VP Umesh Rao said, “This partnership brings in enriched content to our subscribers and delivers larger than life experience through multiple grounds promotions planned across key cities.” 
 
Fox Star Studios and Big TV are also creating special promotional zones across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Ahemdabad and Jaipur at key multiplexes. Apart from this, tie-ups with Baskin Robbins and Big Cinemas have been finalised to create exclusive zones.

The tie-up is part of Big TV’s content strategy to introduce niche and unique content on its DTH platform, the company said in a release.

Avatar is releasing in theatres across the country in 2D, 3D and IMAX versions on 18 December. Fox Star Studios is releasing the movie worldwide.
 

MUMBAI: Casual romps in the sack with busty bimbettes can be costly. That we all know. But Tiger Woods is learning this first hand, following the bad press he has got on account of his on the golf circuit reported sexcapades.

Not only has the ace golfer taken a decision to go on a sabbatical, he looks to be in danger of losing some fat sponsorship deals he has with big advertisers.
 
One of them, Accenture, has already announced that it will discontinue it‘s annual sponsorship agreement worth $7 million with Woods. Will others follow?

For the past six years, Accenture and Tiger Woods have had a very successful sponsorship arrangement and his achievements on the golf course have been a powerful metaphor for business success in Accenture‘s advertising.
 
However, given the circumstances of the last two weeks, after careful consideration and analysis, the company says that it has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising.
Accenture said that it wishes only the best for Tiger Woods and his family.
 
Accenture says that it will continue to leverage its “high performance business” strategy and “high performance delivered” positioning in the marketplace. The company will immediately transition to a new advertising campaign, with a major effort scheduled to launch later in 2010.
 

MUMBAI: Ignitee Digital Solutions has roped in Shankar B as national business director.

In his new capacity, Shankar will report to chief executive officer Atul Hegde and will be based in Mumbai.
 
As part of his new mandate, Shankar will not only be responsible for growing businesses across India but will also be looking after the international markets, especially in Dubai.

His Career with Radio started with Hello FM as VP – Sales and Marketing for close to 2 years wherein he was mainly involved in launching 7 stations all over Tamil Nadu.

Said Shankar, “Its unique business model makes it different from other companies in the digital media space. At Ignitee, I will be responsible for growing business across key markets like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Secunderabad and Dubai.”
 
Shankar has 16 years of experience in the field of media sales that includes eight years in television. He began his career in 1993 with Getit Yellow Pages and launched the Hyderabad Telephone directory.

His experience also includes working with print brands like the Indian Express Group and Hindi newspaper, Navbharat. 
 
He began his television career in 1998 with Raj TV where he spent five years. He then moved to Turner International India as director – advertising sales to handle Cartoon Network, Pogo, CNN, Zee MGM and Zee English.

MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony Entertainment Television) is eyeing an advertising revenue of Rs 7 billion from the third season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), an almost 50 per cent jump from the year-ago period.

The company has sold out the sponsorship slots, signalling a strong commercial response to the T20 format of the game.
 
“HUL, Godrej, and Tata Photon have recently come in as associate sponsors. This completes the 10 sponsorship slots, out of which two have come in as co-presenting sponsors. We have sold 80 per cent of our inventory,” MSM president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta tells Indiantelevision.com.

Gupta, however, declined to comment on how much revenue MSM is planning to mop up from the event that will be telecast on Max.
 
As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Videocon and Vodafone are co-presenting sponsors. The other associate sponsors are Pepsi, LG, Samsung and Hyundai.

A co-presenter will consume between 18-22 10 second spots per match while an associate sponsor will take away 12-16 spots.
 
Gupta adds that several companies have taken spot buys where the rate has crossed Rs 500,000. These include Coca Cola, TVS, Spice Mobile and GM.

For its Extraa Innings wraparound show, the broadcaster has roped in Samsung, Cadila, Whirlpool and Raymonds as sponsors.

MUMBAI: Madame has signed former VJ, singer and Bollywood actress Sophie Choudry as its brand ambassador.
 
Choudry will feature in the upcoming promotions and campaigns. She will also be involved in various philanthropic activities of the brand. 
 
Following the association, she will also launch her album- Sound of Sophie (SOS) in celebration of the tie-up.

Madame MD Bipan Jain says, “Sophie was an obvious choice to endorse because of her multi-faceted persona. We share the same philosophy and so boast of our wardrobe which can dress a woman five times a day.”
 
Madame is present in more than 45 cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ludhiana, Indore, Jaipur, Jallandar, Hyderabad, Surat and Silliguri.

MUMBAI: At the Media Agency of the Year 2009 awards held on 9 December in Singapore, OMD India MD Jasmin Sohrabji bagged the ‘Agency Head of The Year – National Category.‘ Ogilvy South Asia executive chairman and NCD Piyush Pandey was a finalist in this category.

The award for best creative agency of the year went to BBH India, Singapore and China. The judges were impressed by the business wins of the agency and also the number of breakthrough campaigns done by it in 2009.

Ogilvy Mumbai won the award for ‘Office of the Year- India & Sub-continent‘. Ogilvy Mumbai president Hephzibah Pathak was present to accept the award. Meanwhile, the
‘Office of the Year-India & Sub-continent‘ runner up went to Publicis Communications Mumbai.

Also, Ogilvy Mumbai Advertising VP Kapil Arora won the runners up for ‘Account/Business Development Person of the Year.‘ Additionally, Ogilvy Advertising, Mumbai SVPs Navin Talreja and Deepika Tiwari were finalists in the ‘Account/Business Development category.‘

MUMBAI: Leo Burnett has roped in Hemant Jain as executive creative director. He will be based out of Mumbai. This is Jain‘s second stint with the agency.
 
Jain comes to India from Wieden+Kennedy, London. Earlier, he was with Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam office.His earlier stints in India include O&M and Rediffussion Y&R.
 
Says Leo Burnett India national creative director K.V. Sridhar, “Hemant comes in at the right moment. His global perspective on creative output will strengthen and add visibility to the strategic initiatives we have chalked out for our clients, for the coming year.”
 
Jain is also a writer, director and illustrator and has won international awards including Cannes Gold and Clio to One Show, D&AD, Abby and AAAI.

MUMBAI: Fever FM Bangalore has tied up with Kannada movie Maleyali Jotheyali. The radio station is organising a mix of on-air and on-ground activities, to create listener delight and promote the film.

As part of the on-air activity, Fever 104 FM has planned an exclusive interview with Ganesh and Shilpa Ganesh, the producer of Maleyali Jotheyali on the day of the release and a chance for the Fever FM listeners to meet both of them at the FM station studios.

The radio station will also be giving away outfits worn by Ganesh in the movie through a special on-air contest, in which the listeners will be asked to complete a line from the movie.

Also, the on-ground initiative ‘Mall-alli Ganesh Jotheyali‘ has been conceptualized to give the city a chance to meet Ganesh. It was held in malls over two consecutive weekends where activities were conducted.

Says Fever FM Bangalore station head Anjali Paul, “We are proud to be associated with Maleyali Jotheyali. It is always our endeavour to create exciting opportunities for our listeners. We hope the movie gets great response from all over South India.”