Category: Marketing

MUMBAI: Sony India has retained Lintas Media Group as its media agency following a multi-agency pitch.

It may be recalled that in 2008, Lintas Media Group (LMG) had retained Sony India business following a pitch process at Asia level. 
 
The size of the account is pegged at over Rs 1 billion, according to industry sources.

The other agencies that had also contested for the account were Mindshare India and Madison Media. 
 
This summer, Sony India had again called for a pitch which saw participation by Mindshare, Madison along with Lintas Media Group.
 
To put things into perspective, LMG COO president Sudha Natrajan, “We had first won the account in India in mid-2006 and we are delighted to have continued our relationship with the brand. India being a key market, Sony India’s decision to continue with us comes as a huge recognition and reaffirmation of faith in the agency. The biggest revenue contributor of Sony India, which is Bravia Televisions, has become the largest selling brand in India today. Cybershot cameras have been a market leader now for years.”

Added Sony India marcom manager Divya Rao, “As part of the review, we evaluated many agencies and came to the conclusion that Lintas Media Group, the incumbent agency, had what it takes to best meet our requirements.”

The other accounts in the LMG kitty include the recently won Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded Urban Health Initiative along with ITC Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Bajaj Auto, MRF, Sony, UTI, Religare and Voltas.

NEW DELHI: Following MTV Networks’ recent commitment to the Asian Television Advertising Coalition (ATAC), Casbaa announced that Disney Channels Southeast Asia has also joined the alliance dedicated to the growth of the Asian subscription-TV advertising pie.

The alliance now comprises Discovery Networks Asia, Bloomberg Television, CNBC/ Universal Networks International, Disney Channels Southeast Asia, Fox One Stop Media, MTV Networks, Sony Pictures Television and Turner International. 
 
“It’s been more than half a year since we opened Disney Channel to local advertising in Singapore and the Philippines to very favorable results and promising performance. Joining ATAC to continue to grow our advertising business is the next logical step and we are pleased to be part of this alliance,” said Laura E. Wendt, VP and MD of Disney Channels Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Southeast Asia.
 
“The lengthening list of stakeholders reflects increasing industry recognition of the value of the ATAC campaign.” said Casbaa CEO Simon Twiston Davies. “Our networks, our platforms and our agency partners see great value in subscription-TV advertising, which is set to extend well in advance of the forecast 8.5 per cent GDP growth across the region over the next 12 months.”
 
In the meantime, ATAC partnered with advertising agency TBWA/Tequila to organise a workshop in Singapore on 5 July, bringing over 20 sales and creative directors together to develop strategies to further drive pay-TV advertising revenues.

MUMBAI: In a bid to expand in the Asia pacific market, Mumbai-based digital media company Komli Media has raised venture capital funding worth $6 million from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Helion was the lead investor in the current round. 
 
The primary focus area in the APac region will be Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia. 
 
Meanwhile, part of the funds raised will also be used in developing technology and improving the sales team.

BANGALORE: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Mahindra) has launched its Maxximo mini-truck in Karnataka and Kerala. 
 
As part of its marketing strategy, the company has launched a multimedia campaign with a major push on television. Radio jingles, newsprint ads and online campaigns have also been planned.
 
A TVC with live animation created by Saatchi & Saatchi will start airing on major regional channels in the two states while Maxximo promotional jingles will commence on Radio One 94.3 and Radio City 91.1 Lodestar is the media buying.
 
“This is by far the biggest launch by us since we launched the highly successful Xylo,” revealed a source. “We will be launching variants of the Maxximo,” he added.
 

MUMBAI: Creativeland Asia has been assigned the creative duties of the German luxury car manufacturer Audi for the India region following a multi-agency pitch.
 
As part of the mandate, the agency will handle the duties for Audi India, including the Audi A8 launch and the digital business for Audi. 
 
Creativeland Asia will devise a 360-degree campaign for the launch that will comprise television, web and social media and will also be responsible for managing the Audi brand across events, CRM, on-ground promotion and retail.
 

MUMBAI: As Edelweiss Capital expands operations into various consumer services, primarily retail broking and mutual fund, it has launched a fresh advertising campaign that articulates the consumer‘s need to act on their dreams and aspirations without fear.

The multimedia campaign positions Edelweiss, a diversified financial services group, as an enabler of aspirations. 
 
The campaign rolls out on Hindi and English business news and entertainment channels with support in print, cinema and internet. Each media platform will play a specific role.

Created by Ideas@Work, a boutique agency, the TVC has been directed by Prashant Godbole and produced by Films Group.

While TV will be used to gain empathy of consumer through articulation of his innate wants to do more for self and family, press will build on the TV campaign by providing specific products that can help the consumer realise his aspiration of investing smarter/better. The medium will be used to drive home the brand advantage.
 
Cinema will reinforce TV and print and use various innovations in key theatres. The online platform, meanwhile, will direct investors to the product that helps them realise better investing.
 
Edelweiss Capital, founded in 1995, offers a range of products and services spanning varied asset classes and diversified consumer segments. The product offerings are broadly divided into investment banking, brokerage services, asset management and financing.

The company soon plans to be in housing finance and life insurance.

MUMBAI: Allied Blenders & Distilleries (ABD), the third largest spirits company in India, has appointed TME to manage the media requirements of the company following a multi-agency pitch.
 
The size of the account is estimated to be in the region of Rs 15 crores and will be handled by the agency‘s Mumbai office.

Said Allied Blenders & Distilleries VP – marketing Ahmed Rahimtoola, “ABD has currently very ambitious growth plans including new launches in the pipe-line. We were looking for a partner to deliver our communication to the target audience in the most appropriate manner and TME‘s approach seemed to be in line with our thinking.”
 
ABD manufactures brands like Officer‘s Choice, Wodka Gorbatschow and Jolly Roger Rum.

TME Mumbai has been assigned the mandate of managing media requirements of Allied Blenders & Distilleries Pvt. Ltd. (ABD), the third largest spirits company in India , promoted by industry stalwart Mr. Kishore Chhabria. 
 
Said TME president Divya Radhakrishnan, “We look forward to delivering cutting-edge solutions to meet the needs of various brands in ABD‘s portfolio.”
 

MUMBAI: The two semi-finals of the recently concluded soccer World Cup on ESPN got an average TVR of 1.5, up marginally from the previous edition in 2006 which had fetched a rating of 1.4.

The match between Spain and Germany got a higher TVR of 1.8 due to the high profile nature of the contest.
 
Not surprisingly, the third place matches do not fare as well as they are relatively inconsequential. The free-flowing contest between Germany and Uruguay yielded a TVR of 0.8, higher than the rating of 0.6 in 2006.

The 63 games played till the final got an average TVR of 0.8, down from 0.96 in 2006. West Bengal, Assam and Kerala crossed a TVR of 3. 62 million World Cup viewers till the final.
 
The top ad categories this time were cellular phones, cellular phone service prroviders, two wheelers, DTH service providers and non aerated soft drink. The top advertisers were Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Nokia, Samsung and Hero Honda.
 
The top btrands advertised were Vodafone Cellular Phone Service, Nokia E72, Hero Honda Karizma ZMR, Airtel Cellular Phone Service and Spice Video Phones.
 

MUMBAI: It was a ten-week wait. And at the end of it, Zee TV has knocked out Colors to grab the second spot in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space that has seen less of a volatile ratings battle this year.

This is the third time in the year that Zee TV has stood just behind the market leader for a week, lifted by a dance reality show or a big-ticket movie or an events property. While the fiction content has stayed rock solid, it is these spikes that have helped the Zee Network‘s flagship channel to improve its ranking.

For the week ended 10 July, Zee TV has scored 265 GRPs, riding on a 37 GRP gain from the previous week, while Colors weakened marginally with a dip in weekend movie ratings.
 
 
Zee managed to surpass Colors (255 GRPs), which shed 14 GRPs during the week, while Star Plus (342 GRPs) still managed to enjoy the lead with a substantial gap even as it shed an additional 20 GRPs over the previous week.

For Zee TV, the win was primarily led by its fiction properties and weekend event. The channel pocketed 21 GRPs from Gold Awards, which clocked a TVR of 3.2 on 4 July.

“I am happy that we are number two again and all credit goes to the programming. Without any gimick or huge marketing push, all our shows are getting good response,” says Zeel COO national channels and Zee TV business head Nitin Vaidya.
 
 
As per Tam data, Pavitra Rishta at 9 pm continued to lead the charts with an average of 6.1 TVR (the only show averaging at over 6 TVR). The show‘s last week average was 5.2 TVR.

Additionally, Jhansi Ki Rani’s average too jumped from 3.7 TVR in the previous week to 4.5 during the week.

Meanwhile, all other dailies- Chhoti Bahu, Yahan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli, Agle Janam…, Karol Bagh and Do Saheliyan added 0.2 TVR from their previous week average ratings.

“Our focus is only on doing our core programming properly. I am confident that the new show, Mera Naam Karegi Roshan, and upcoming properties, will further grow the channel,” Vaidya adds.
 
 
Prior to this, Zee TV had reached number two spot in week 5 (week ended 30 January) and week 17 (week ended 24 April) on the back of Hindi movie All The Best and Dance India Dance 2 finale. However, as the spikes ended, Zee TV retreated from its new position the very next week.

Talking about Star Plus, the channel‘s newly launched 10 pm show Tere Liye saw a drop in average ratings by 0.4 TVR while Bidaai’s average fell from 5.3 TVR to 4.4 TVR. The one- hour special of Sasural Genda Phool clocked 3.7 TVR on 10 July.

Colors, on the other hand, did not see any major rise or fall in its weekday programming. The slump came from weekend movies that clocked just 17 GRPs as against 37 GRPs in the previous week. The New Talent Awards, aired on Colors, clocked a TVR of 1.8.

“The challenge for Zee TV will be to maintain the second position. It shouldn‘t let this opportunity lapse like it did on the earlier two occasions this year,” says a media analyst.
 

BANGALORE: Indian mobile handset player Wynn Telecom Ltd (Wynncom) plans to invest Rs 5 billion in India by 2012.

Attempting to grab an ambitious five per cent market share, the company has earmarked Rs one billion towards distribution and service network, product development and brand and advertisement this fiscal.
 
“Of the Rs one billion earmarked for this year, about Rs 500 million will be invested towards media and ad spends,” revealed Wynncom co-founder and managing director Arvind Vohra.

Vohra was speaking at the Karnataka launch of seven mobile handsets in Bangalore. “We will be launching another eight handsets over the next few months and every new product launch will be backed by a strong mass media push,” he added.
 
The company has already launched these products north of the Vindhyas, with first launch happening on 21 May. Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu are the brand ambassadors. The brand development activities include in-film product placement in Khan’s forthcoming film ‘Agent Vinod’.
 
A TVC campaign on regional channels like Sun’s Kannada offering Udaya, TV5, Suvarna, Zee Kannada and TV9 has been planned.

Dentsu handles the creative duties, while media buying is with Lintas’s Krishna Initiative.