Category: MAM

MUMBAI: citizen dentsu, Dentsu India‘s specialised division for social communications, has bagged the creative and media duties for the Government of Delhi‘s campaign against child exploitation, ‘Time for Change‘. 
 
The campaign is a joint venture between the Department of Women and Child Development, Labour Department and the Government of NCT of Delhi.
 
As part of this association, citizen dentsu has conceived and developed a 360 degree multimedia social welfare campaign to create awareness about children‘s rights in general and against child labour in particular. 
 
Dentsu India chairman Sandeep Goyal said, “Targeted at employers and the public at large, ‘Time for Change‘ strives to generate mass empathy, inspiring citizens to become a change agent and curb child exploitation. Given citizen dentsu‘s expertise in the realm of social communication, we are delighted to work closely with the Government of Delhi towards making Delhi, a city free of child labour.”

MUMBAI: After posting a major downfall last season, the second round of IRS 2009 suggests that total readership in India is again on an upswing.

While the Times of India leads the English dailies herd with a total readership of 13.53 million in round 2 (3.34 million in 2008 R2), Dainik Jagran reigns the rooster with 54.79 million of the total readership among Hindi dailies.
 
Apart from ToI, the other English dailies that have registered growth are Deccan Chronicle with a total readership of 2.91 million in R2 (2.82 million in 2008 R2) and DNA with 1.53 million of the total readership pie as against 1.34 million in 2008 R2.

The other English dailies that have made it to the top ten list are The Hindu, The Telegraph, The Economic Times, The New Indian Express, Mid-Day and Mumbai Mirror. 
 
Amongst the Hindi dailies, Hindustan and Navbharat Times dailies have also revealed growth in total readership. While Hindustan‘s total readership has risen to 27.94 million in R2 (26.63 million 2008 R2), Navbharat Times has shown its total readership grow to 5.37 million in R2 (5.18 million in 2008 R2). The other publications that are part of the top ten list are Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, Rajasthan Patrika, Punjab Kesari, Aj, Prabhat Khabar, Nava Bharat (Mah/Chh).
 
Amongst the Bengali dailies, Ananda Bazar Patrika tops the chart with a total readership of 15.34 million in 2009 R2 (1.539 million in 2008 R2). This is followed by Bartaman (7.99 million in 2009 R2) and Sangbad Pratidin (3.96 million in 2009 R2).

While Lokmat (23.24 million in 2009 R2) is the top daily in the Marathi category, Eenadu is the top Telugu daily (14.66 million in 2009 R2).

MUMBAI: Media Research Users Council (MRUC) general manager Sabina Solomon has resigned. 
 
“Yes, I have put in my papers. I feel I have outgrown MRUC. The time has come for me to move on,” says Solomon.
 
Solomon will be with MRUC till the end of January, 2010.

So where is she headed? “I am taking things slowly. I haven’t yet started evaluating other options,” Solomon says.
 
MRUC and National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) are merging to come out with a common readership survey. While MRUC publishes the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), NRSC used to come out with the National Readership Survey (NRS).

MUMBAI: Mauj Mobile has joined forces with mobile advertising and multimedia solutions provider Mobixell to deliver services in mobile advertising.

The partnership will offer a commercial and technological package for managing operators‘ advertising inventories for global and local brands in India. This will include creative work, campaign planning and execution, media management, inventory management, ad serving and ad delivery via various digital and mobile channels.
 
Mauj Mobile CEO Manoj Dawane said, “The mobile advertising opportunities are huge in the Indian market which now has 420 million mobile subscribers. We are looking to capitalise on this with a cutting edge solution that will ensure we can manage the advertising inventory of operators as effectively as possible.”

Mobixell and Mauj Mobile will work together on a number of immediate opportunities to deliver interactive above the line, below the line and through the line integrated campaigns. 
 
“Mobile advertising is an area in which operators and brands work together to achieve effective advertising and higher RoI (Return on investment), which is precisely what this partnership will deliver,” added Mobixell AVP mobile advertising Eran Hertzmann.

MUMBAI: India-based ad network Ozone Media Solutions has launched ‘Eva‘, an ad channel platform that aims to reach out to Indian women online.

Says Ozone Media founder and CEO Kiran Gopinath, “One-fourth of the net surfers comprise urban women which makes a very powerful and untapped segment for any marketer. With about 80 per cent of the purchase decisions made by women, we hope that marketers can capitalise on the advantage of ‘Eva‘ and maximise their reach to garner a high return on their online marketing spends.” 
 
Covering three channels, ‘Eva‘ will help brands reach audiences in contextually relevant environments. 
 
Ozone Media has aggregated women centric inventory and segmented it into Eva – Fashion, Eva – Home and Eva – Health, collating sites which focus on fashion, style and accessories; family, cooking, parenting and children; health, hygiene, nutrition and exercise respectively. The channel includes sites like IndusLadies, IndiaParenting, SanjeevKapoor.com and Evesindia.com.
 
Ozone Media intends to build on the existing cluster of publishers under this channel and increase the reach to 8 million by the end of June 2010.

MUMBAI: ITC Limited Foods Division has launched a new television communication for its hot chilly variant, Red Chilli Bijli.

Directed by Ayappa, the film has been was produced by Footcandles.
 
The Red Chilli Bijli communication is set in an apartment balcony where a young guy is seen pacifying his irate girlfriend who has been waiting for him to turn up for their balcony date. 
 
As the story progresses, the guy tries various tactics to calm her down by gestures and compliments. Finally when he gets her to smile, he takes the opportunity to ask her to blow him a kiss.
 
After a momentary show of reluctance, she finally blows one towards him, which he happily tucks into his shirt pocket. The film reaches its climax when the bewildered expression on the girl‘s face reveals that the guy‘s shirt is actually on fire. The girl looks down at the packet of chips in her hand which she has been munching on and the flavour Bingo Red Chilli Bijli is revealed.

MUMBAI: The Steel Authority of India (Sail) will be the presenting partner for the Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010, to be hosted by India in March 2010. 
 
The hockey event will now be referred to as the Hero Honda FIH World Cup, presented by Sail.
 
An agreement was signed by International Hockey Federation (FIH) chief Leandro Negre and Sail director (Personnel) G. Ojha in the presence of Union Minister for Steel Virbhadra Singh and Union Minister of State Sai Prathap in Delhi.
 

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK pubcaster the BBC, has appointed ZenithOptimedia as its sole global media agency to deliver media buying and planning for the UK and international markets.
 
ZenithOptimedia will deliver media campaigns around BBC Worldwide’s key brands such as Top Gear, BBC America, BBC Knowledge, Planet Earth and Doctor Who.

The appointment of ZenithOptimedia as the sole global agency is part of BBC Worldwide’s ongoing strategy to reduce its volume of suppliers and develop high-quality marketing campaigns to drive significant growth outside the UK.
 
BBC Worldwide global director of marketing Helen Kellie says, “We are delighted to appoint ZenithOptimedia as our new global agency.

“Through this partnership we aim to focus on building greater awareness, presence and revenues for the BBC and our unique portfolio of brands around the world.”
 
ZenithOptimedia International business development director Nico Guiridlian said, “We are really looking forward to working with BBC Worldwide to build effective marketing campaigns around the world.”

MUMBAI: Pan Asian action broadcaster AXN has announced AXN Big Breaks, in association with travel search engine Wego.
 
AXN Big Breaks allows AXN viewers to enjoy exclusive travel deals to the destinations featured in shows that air on the channel. These deals are sourced by Wego from the hundreds of travel providers integrated into their search engine.

AXN Asia VP Yan-Jong Wong says, “With AXN Big Breaks, we have extended the entertainment experience beyond the television screen and made it possible for them to follow in the footsteps of their favourite characters. At the same time, it allows advertisers to engage AXN viewers online in an environment that is themed with both travel and entertainment”.
 
“We love to filter the breadth of the internet and deliver instant relevance to travel shoppers. With AXN Big Breaks, viewers who are inspired by a program can see great deals to that show’s destinations in a single click,” says Wego COO Gary Lipkowitz.

AXN Big Breaks will initially focus on one programme at a time. The programme environment will be updated every two to three months, allowing for different themes and destinations to be featured. The first edition will focus on AXN’s brand new Original Production Cyril: Simply Magic.
 
This is a three-part TV special starring cutting-edge magician Cyril, who will be making his international TV debut for the first time out of Japan. Spanning across Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei, Cyril will not only share the marvels of his magic, but continue to captivate unsuspecting passers-by with his incredible illusions and disarmingly fun personality, while making a positive impact on the people he comes in contact with.

The broadcaster is hoping that fans of Cyril: Simply Magic will be inspired to retrace his magical journey across Asia, especially with the easy convenience of sourcing great travel deals at their fingertips with AXN Big Breaks.

AXN Big Breaks can be viewed at www.wego.com/axn.

MUMBAI: Bates 141 has roped in Shubhabrata Sarkar as chief operating officer for its Indonesian business.

Prior to this, Sarkar was with JWT Indonesia as general manager. 
 
In his new capacity, Sarkar will handle clientssuch as HSBC, Ford, Unilever, Shell, Mazda, Nokia, Hero Honda and Extra Joss.
 
Said Bates 141 Asia Pacific CEO Digby Richards, “Sarkar is the ideal candidate for this important role. He is highly experienced, not only owing to his years spent at top agencies, but also because he has held numerous leadership positions in creative, strategic planning, activation and management. With his diverse background, he is the best candidate to lead our agency to deliver integrated solutions that help our clients succeed.”
 
At JWT, Sarkar was in charge of operations. He also headed the account servicing and strategic planning division for the agency.