Category: MAM

MUMBAI: US media research ciompany Nielsen has reported a revenue of $1.2 billion for the first quarter of this fiscal, up seven per cent from the earlier year.

Reported operating income for the three months ended June 30 2010 was $182 million compared to operating income of $172 million a year ago.
 
The 2010 results included $19 million of charges relating to restructuring costs. The 2009 results had taken into account $4 million as charges on account of restructuring costs.

Reported revenues for the six months ended 30 June, 2010 were $2.4 billion, an increase of eight per cent over the previous year.
 
Reported operating income for the six months ended June 30 2010 was $314 million compared to operating income of $284 million for the same period last year. The 2010 results included $22 million of charges relating to restructuring costs.
 
As of June 30, 2010, total debt was $8,440 million, and cash balances were $369 million. Capital expenditure stood at $146 million for the six months ended June 30 2010 compared to $132 million ayear ago.

MUMBAI: The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) today elected Interface Communication executive director Nagesh Alai as its new president, ending a month-old high drama from the day Dentsu India chairman Sandeep Goyal announced that he would contest the elections to break the monopoly of the big boys.

In a tightly fought contest, Alai won the post beating Goyal by two votes.

Alai replaces JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris whose one-year term in the office gets over on 31 July. 
 
Meanwhile, Lintas Media Group chairman and CEO Lynn de Souza has been elected as vice president.
 
“This is for the first time that the AAAI has had an election and because of this the entire industry came together to bring up many contentious issues. These include issues such as bringing more agencies outside Mumbai into the fold, adding smaller agencies and building respect for the awards. With this election behind us, we will now be addressing these and many other issues,” said de Souza. 
 
The other members of the committee are Carat Media Services India chairperson Ashish Bhasin, Publicis Communications South Asia CEO Nakul Chopra, Madison Communications chairperson and MD Sam Balsara, RK Swamy/BBDO MD and CEO Srinivasan K Swamy, Advertising & Sales Promotion Company CEO Surajit Nag, Innocean Worldwide executive director Vivek Srivastava, Contract Advertising CEO Umesh Shrikhande, Fifth Estate Communications MD Ganesh Baliga, Crayons Advertising MD Kunal Lalani, Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kamal Basu, Dentsu Marcom‘s Tanya Goyal, Multimedia Aquarius MD Neville Gomes and Pranav Premnarayan of Prem Associates.

Harris, meanwhile, will be member of the committee as immediate past president.
 

MUMBAI: Rediffusion – Y&R has been assigned the creative duties for Balaji Telefilms‘ upcoming motion picture projects. The business will be handled out of the agency‘s Mumbai office.
 
Said Rediffusion – Y&R, Mumbai EVP Nisha Singhania, “We are excited to be associated with Balaji Telefilms‘ motion pictures business and their team. Promoting movies is very exciting and challenging and we look forward to a successful partnership with the brand.”
 
The films produced by the motion pictures business at Balaji Telefilms include the cult movie LSD: Love, Sex aur Dhokha and the just released Once Upon A Time in Mumbai.
 

MUMBAI: Balika Vadhu, Colors‘ flagship property, demonstrated that it has not lost steam as it took a five-year leap to create excitement and pace up the storyline.

The revelation of the grown up Anandi (the show‘s lead character) on the channel on Thursday fetched a peak TVR of 6.92, making it the top-rated show for the week.  
 

Old and New Anandi

The  adulthood of Anandi helped Colors cross the 300 GRP (gross rating points) mark after a 18-week hiatus.

While the show averaged 5.4 TVR amid high drama during the week, up from the 4.4 TVR, Colors pocketed 312 GRPs, according to Tam data for the week ended 24 July. This is 21 GRPs up from the previous week‘s tally.

Apart from Balika Vadhu, the channel‘s other fiction properties – Uttaran (6 TVR), Laagi Tujhse Lagan and Naa Aana Is Des Laado (4 TVR each) – also found place in the top 10 list. 
 
Additionally, the grand finale of its kids dance reality show, Chak Dhoom Dhoom, fetched 4.03 TVR over a three and a half hour episode helping the channel to raise its bar.

Meanwhile, leader of the flock Star Plus shed 33 GRPs to close the week with 323 GRPs. The launch episode of its music reality show – Chhote Ustaad – clocked a TVR of 2 on 24 July.
 
Zee TV also lost 25 GRPs during the week and remained at the third spot with 227 GRPs.

Sony Entertainment Television (Set) added 27 GRPs during the week and was at the fourth spot with 162 GRPs. Sony is expected to take a big leap next week, gaining from the telecast of Bollywood‘s biggest grosser, 3 Idiots, which premiered on the channel on 25 July.

MUMBAI: Following a multi-agency pitch that was called in December last year, Publicis Ambience has won the creative duties for Reserve Bank of India‘s media awareness campaign on Indian banknotes. 
 
As part of its new mandate, Publicis Ambience will craft a national campaign that will educate everyone in India about the various security features present in an Indian banknote.

When contacted, Publicis Ambience chairman Aniruddha Banerjee denied an earlier media report staing the size of the account to be Rs 500 million. “The figure of Rs 500 million is wrong but I cannot reveal the exact account size on grounds of confidentiality,” he said. 
 
This multilingual and multimedia campaign is being conducted by RBI‘s Department of Currency Management. 
 
Publicis Ambience will unveil the campaign on 15 August.

MUMBAI: Following a multi-agency pitch, Grey Chennai has bagged the creative duties of Vummidi Bangaru Jewelers (VBJ).
 
The other agencies that contested for the account include JWT. Radical Advertising was the incumbent agency.
 
Said VBJ managing partner Vummidi Jitendra, “We were looking for a communication partner who will create exceptional campaigns – just like our jewellery. Grey‘s work demonstrated exactly that. We are looking forward to some fresh and exciting ideas which will take VBJ to new heights.”
 
Added Grey VP and South head Vijay Jacob¸ “We are happy to be partnering this heritage brand and are looking forward to providing a fresh perspective to this category. This win strengthens our presence in Chennai, an important market for Grey.”
 

NEW DELHI: In the first directive after forming its own Self Regulatory Guidelines, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has said that the advertisement of Amul Macho undergarments running on member channels is indecent, vulgar and suggestive.
 
The IBF Board of Directors recently decided not to run the advertisement in the present form on member channels.
 
The IBF Secretariat has issued an advisory to all members in accordance with the decision of the IBF Board of Directors.
 
The body had recently announced that it had formed self regulatory guidelines for content for non-news channels and the Complaints Redressal Mechanism.
 

MUMBAI: US kids broadcaster Nickelodeon and Pleasure Beach Amusement Park, a UK tourist attraction, have announced a licensing partnership to develop the first Nickelodeon-branded attraction in the UK.

Nick‘s shows and characters will come to life with more than 14 attractions covering an area of six acres at Pleasure Beach. Construction on Nickelodeon Land will begin this year and the opening is scheduled for next year.
 
Nickelodeon Theme Parks and Attractions senior director Gerald Raines says, “Pleasure Beach is a first-class amusement park and popular destination for families in the UK. This is an ideal location for Nickelodeon and a great opportunity to expand our global presence. We look forward to offering the Pleasure Beach patrons experiences that are unique to Nickelodeon and based on fan favorites like SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer.”

Pleasure Beach MD Blackpool Amanda Thompson comments, “We are delighted to welcome Nickelodeon to Pleasure Beach. Both of our brands represent fantastic family fun and Nickelodeon Land will combine Pleasure Beach‘s reputation for amazing rides and attractions with Nickelodeon‘s favorite fun characters to produce a wonderful attraction, which will wow visitors to the park.”
 
Under the terms of the agreement, Nickelodeon will bring its characters, interactive shows, and signature green slime to Pleasure Beach. Nickelodeon Land also will feature new rides, attractions, retail shops, games and food service establishments themed with Nickelodeon‘s properties, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Fairly Odd Parents and Avatar: The Last Airbender. 
 
Nickelodeon Land at Pleasure Beach will be one of several Nick-branded attractions and parks around the world. In addition to Nickelodeon Universe in Minneapolis‘ Mall of America, Nick Central at Dreamworld Australia and Nickland at Movie Park Germany, there are Nickelodeon attractions at the Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida and Hollywood, California.

MUMBAI: Global market research firm Synovate has named Mamapudi Nkgadima as managing director for African Response.

Nkgadima will assume the role on 1 August 2010.

Nkgadima brings 20 years of market research experience to African Response including the management of her own seven year old company, MEDU Strategic Marketing and Research.
 
Said Synovate Africa CEO Jon Salters¸ “We are confident she will take African Response to even greater heights with her strategic leadership as well as her wealth of experience and technical knowledge in market research, marketing and entrepreneurship.”
 
Meanwhile, Beatrice Kubheka, the current MD, will take on the role of African Response chairperson and will retain a strong presence in the business, with particular focus on client relationships. She will also draw on her 35 years in market research to ensure that African Response continues to provide the best research experience and insight into the South African market.
 
“Beatrice made a massive contribution to the success of African Response during her tenure and we are thrilled that she will be staying with us until her retirement. She has become one of the most recognized, respected and well liked figures in the South African market research industry, and her ongoing involvement in African Response will continue to give the business a unique advantage,” said Salters.
 

MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network‘s OOH division, Big Street, has secured a five-year contract for the development of Delhi Metro Corporation (DMRC)’s high potential Line III.

The DMRC mandate to Reliance Broadcast includes OOH media inventory on Line III covering 21 stations spread over a 33.5 km stretch of high potential areas. This covers both west and central Delhi and touches over a million commuters every day.
 
Reliance Broadcast says with train frequencies every 3 to 4 minutes, averaging a person’s waiting time to 3 to 5 minutes at the station, it reaches an enormous captive audience.

The company will build special media inventory at strategic locations of the stations that will offer lucrative business options to brands across sectors including pharma, retail, FMCG, government and education.
 
Says Reliance Broadcast Network business head, OOH experimental marketing and digital, Rabe T Iyer: “Delhi, being one of our key focus markets, has seen some very strategic inventory acquisitions in the recent past. We are securing inventory which guarantee optimal returns while allowing us to innovate and bring in street furniture which is evolved and of international standards. Line III combined with Line II enable us to cover a significant portion of the customers‘ out of home requirements in the capital.”
 
The DMRC Line III mandate to Reliance follows its 22-year contract on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis for street furniture makeover with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Central Public Works Deparment roads close to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.