Category: Press Release

The new store showcases the latest winter 2013 collection from Bata

MUMBAI: Bata today opened its largest store in India at Viviana Mall, Thane-W. The store was inaugurated by Bollywood sensation, Alia Bhatt, Mr. Jack Clemons, CEO, Bata Shoe Organization and Mr. Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Group Managing Director, Bata India were also present during the ceremony which was followed by the grand launch of the upcoming Autumn Winter Collection. Spread across 20,000 sq.ft, the store offers an extensive range of more than 2,500 styles of footwear and accessories like handbags, sunglasses, clutches, scarves.

Alia Bhatt along with other models unveiled the autumn winter collection with an exclusive ramp walk. Over 100 guests attended the fashion show which showcased this season’s latest looks and must-have pieces from Bata.

Speaking at the opening, Alia Bhatt, said, “I have always admired Bata as a brand and I am delighted to be associated with the launch of its largest store in the country. I have been a Bata customer since childhood and it has always stood by its promise of excellent quality at great value. The new store looks very appealing and I love the new youthful collection that Bata is offering for the upcoming season.”

Mr. Jack Clemons, CEO, Bata Shoe Organization, said: “We’re really excited about growing our presence with the opening of our biggest store in the country. Our new store really showcases an extensive range of Bata footwear and accessories. I am confident that with our new collection we will offer something truly special to our every customer shopping at the store.”

Speaking at the opening, Mr. Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Group Managing Director, Bata India commented: “We are thrilled to open our biggest store in Viviana mall, Thane. Mumbai is an important market and also an exciting city for us to grow our business. Our objective is to make shoe shopping a more pleasurable affair for our consumers making high volume of merchandise available under one roof. Bata India is expanding its retail chain, opening atleast 100 stores every year in the same global format and are more than 4000 square feet average. These stores have enough space to present consumers with the largest variety of footwear designs and styles, with the best in class service.”

“Today’s evolved consumer has multiple footwear needs for specific purposes, like dress, sports, outdoor, comfort, party, sports casual etc. Our shoe line now is updated and improvised and is better segmented to adapt to the changing needs of the consumers. This segmentation is also reflected in the new large stores we are opening where we can display each segment much better for the ease of identification and shopping by the consumer.”

These new format stores offer a huge variety of shoes for men, women and children. Bata offers stylish and chic shoes for the women in charge, both while are in the office, or go out.
Bata has continued to focus on improvements in shoe designs through constant research and development. The footwear collection has been vastly improved during the years with the Company launching trendy and fashionable designs which has been well received by the modern day young customer. These new designs have resulted in earning Bata new customers as well as renewing the support among its loyal customer base. New products launched by the Company have resulted in serving many more customers.

Customers can now choose from the exquisite line of footwear ranging from ballerinas to wedges, flats to heels and glitter to sequins in stimulating colors and a fresh sense of opulence. For men, the new collection offers the best men’s boot styles, colorful loafers and youthful sneakers which are a sure way to add a bright spot to an everyday look.

The autumn winter collection also showcases a wide selection of bright pop colored accessories like bags, belts, and scarves etc. that will surely inject indulgence and add a dressier edge.With such a wide variety, new designs and great prices, Bata continues to be the customer’s Most Preferred Footwear Brand.

Bata, the largest retailer in the footwear industry, has been constantly expanding its retail presence in India and is planning to open 100 stores this year. In the last 5 years Bata India has opened over 350 new stores and completely renovated over 200 existing stores. Bata has over 1,250 stores in India and is continuing to increase its presence in Tier II & III markets across the country.

July 27, 2013
Actimedia PR Launches Its Events Division: BUZZIN EVENTS

MUMBAI, July 02, 2013: ActiMedia Private Limited India’s foremost lifestyle PR agency, today announced the launch of its events division: BUZZIN EVENTS.

Buzzin Events focuses on providing clients end-to-end solutions in the lifestyle and corporate space.

CEO & Co-founder, Imran Qureshi, has over 10 years of experience in the events and entertainment space. An MBA, Imran has worked extensively in UK, USA and many other international locations, bringing a comprehensive understanding of not just implementing and executing but strategising and conceptualising events.

“Our mission is to provide cost effective events with high quality and creative standards. Our aim is to focus on the needs of the client, while maintaining high level of accountability and consistent service.” Says, Imran.

Buzzin Events comprises a team of marketing and concept managers, production team and in-line production experts to bring forth the best in corporate events, lifestyle, entertainment and MICE activities.

Buzzin Events expertise extends to product and services launches, fashion and lifestyle events, store launches, conferences and allied activities.

Established in 1998, Actimedia is India’s foremost lifestyle PR agency with dedicated practices in beauty, fashion, sports lifestyle and hospitality. Headquartered in Mumbai, Actimedia has offices in New Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and a partner office in Chennai.

With the addition of Buzzin Events, Actimedia closes it loop in being a company with a 360 solutions appoach, provinding events, social media and online reputation management, media monitoring and PR, under one roof.

July 26, 2013
Tune in to Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM and you may win a FLAT!

New Delhi, July 25, 2013: Radio Mirchi – 98.3 FM, Delhi’s most popular radio station, is once again set to rock your life! This time it brings to you an opportunity to win a FLAT by Investors Clinic through Mirchi’s on-air contest ‘FLAT 983’. Radio Mirchi’s yet another innovative initiative offering larger than life opportunity amazes its listeners with an outstanding gift by just participating in this contest.

Radio Mirchi Kick started the contest on 21st July 2013. To participate in the contest, all one has to do is, tune-in to Radio Mirchi, answer a simple question and SMS your answer to 58888. Radio Mirchi’s RJs will shortlist 10 semi finalists. These contestants will then proceed to level 2 of the competition where one lucky winner will be selected. The winner will not only get a chance to walk away with keys to a brand new Flat but would also get an opportunity to meet India’s youth icon and one of the most popular cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who will felicitate the winner on 23rd August 2013 in a gala celebration.

Commenting on the initiative Vivek Modi, Vice-President and Cluster Head for North region says “Radio Mirchi has always been known for its ground-breaking concepts while also providing great value to listeners. Taking a cue from the ever increasing property rates and in an effort to convey the message that we are always by their side, we introduced a new contest with a never before heard gratification – a lifetime opportunity to win a FLAT by Investors Clinic. We would like to thank our listeners for showing active participation in this contest!”
So Delhi, get your game face on! As Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM is all set to welcome you to your new house!

July 26, 2013
Groupon App now available on Android

New Delhi- 25thJuly 2013; After tasting enormous success amongst the iOS users, Groupon India, a leading player in the daily deals segment today launched the app on Android platform as well. The Android App will be available on Google Play for download and will allow users to browse through hundreds of deals from an array of selections ranging from local, travel to shopping and offer suggestions on best things to do, see, eat, and buy. By a mere touch or press of a button, Android users will now be able to use their smartphones as a “Groupon wallet”.

The feature-rich app is devised not only to deepen engagement with regular Groupon users, but also to reach out to a larger audience through the fastest growing platform.

On the launch of the Android App, Ankur Warikoo, CEO, Groupon India said, ” The desire of the Indian youth today to stay connected and have instant access to internet is driving a dramatic growth for the smartphones market in India. After successfully launching the Groupon App for iOS users, we wanted to broaden our base by reaching out to a large number of Android users with this initiative. Our objective is to offer our customers the convenience of accessing our deals across various categories on the go and further creating an unparalleled experience in the deals segment across the country.”

With the Groupon Android App app, you can:
– Buy and redeem deals directly from your phone
– Keep track of all your purchased Groupons by location and expiration date
– Save ink, and avoid paper cuts by never printing another Groupon
– Plan a relaxing retreat or a last minute break with Groupon Getaways
– Use Groupon Goods to discover products made of reliably bonded molecules
– Share Groupons with friends, family, and tech-savvy cats via Twitter

July 26, 2013
Debutant cross-cultural film and television awards SAIFTA launches brand campaign

Mumbai, July 2013: Film and Television are mediums of communication which bring people together, connecting them with an invisible but tangible force; understanding this connection is the South Africa India Film and Television Awards (SAIFTA). Organized by Celebrity Locker along with Toursim KZN, SAIFTA is a maiden venture bonding the cultures of the two countries, India and South Africa. Ushering in a spirit of brotherhood between the Indian and South African entertainment industry; SAIFTA aims to reward outstanding performers, while promoting and enhancing the exchange of the diverse cultural elements. Representing the coming together of these two distinct cultures, SAIFTA is launching its new brand identity, giving the world a taste of the impending awards event at Durban on the 6th of September 2013.

The brand campaign, created by Mumbai based design firm Two, is a contemporary twist on the traditional Indian and South African motifs joining together on a vibrant canvas. There is a play of juxtaposing motifs from the two cultures such as the tabla in harmony with the bongo drums and a vibrant colour palette and design culture that are intrinsic to both countries. These motifs are wonderfully offset amidst a vibrant and opulent design against the black and gold elegance of the logo. Complimenting the opulent design language are distinctively crisp fonts communicating in a welcoming tone; A Window to South Africa, Where Cultures Meet, Where Films and Television Meet along with Where Music and Entertainment Meet. The campaign is based on intertwined themes of film and television, music and culture, fashion and glamour;

embodying the true spirit of SAIFTA which is a cultural curry consisting of two distinct cultural melting pots.

Commenting on the new logo, Mr. Kedhar Gawde, Creative Director, Official Spokesperson of SAIFTA and Director of Celebrity Locker said,” The spirit of SAIFTA is the union of the Indian and South African cultures, in order to showcase and celebrate this fact we decided to create a novel identity for ourselves. Our new brand identity is an apt representation of the two culturally rich countries against the vibrant tapestry of South Africa. We are very excited about the campaign and cannot wait to share it with the world.”
According to Arti Agarwal and Siddharth Khandelwal, Co-Founders, Two

Design, “The design language is a result of the merging of traditional South African and Indian motifs that represent entertainment themes but with a contemporary twist. Themes such as film + television / music + culture / fashion + glamour from two culturally rich countries against the vibrant tapestry of South Africa.”

July 26, 2013
Zee Studio brings Pirates of the Caribbean ‘On Stranger Tides’ on 28 July

MUMBAI: Zee Studio brings Pirates of the Caribbean ‘On Stranger Tides’ starring the biggest stars in Hollywood-Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz , Geoffrey Rush and Sam Claflin to assure viewers the most exciting Sunday! Audience’s favorite character Jack Sparrow (Depp) is back and crosses paths with a woman from his past (Cruz),and he’s not sure if it’s love – or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn’t know who to fear more Blackbeard or the woman from his past.

Get ready for the 4th of The Pirates Of The Caribbean Franchise and 12th highest worldwide box office collection of all time to blow your mind away on this Sunday the 28th of July at 1pm & 9pm only on Zee Studio.

July 26, 2013
Unveiling of the Unreal Academy

New Delhi, 25th July, 2013: The Unreal Academy, an institution that inculcates the power of imagination in children, youngsters and senior citizens through numerous creative and innovative ways, was formally inaugurated on Wednesday, 24th July. A completely novel concept in itself, this Academy believes that Imagination is the key to innovation. Their vision is to create a space where creativity is nurtured and allowed to breed into a lifelong quality.

The event witnessed several speakers who share the conviction and the idea the Academy is based on as well as parents and children eager to delve into this world of creativity and progress.
Guneet Pandya, Founder Director – The Unreal Academy shared her philosophy for the Academy. She said, “Years ago I committed the mistake of stumbling upon the word ‘Imagination’. But as all mistakes lead to something new, my mistake gave birth to The Unreal Academy: An institution that gives birth to imagination every second. The Unreal Academy inculcates the power of imagination in children, youngsters and senior children through various creative and innovative BURPS (Brilliant Unreal Rare Programmes). Through its various courses, the Academy endeavours to bring out the imaginative potential of the mind.”

Viral Pandya, Director and CCO of The Unreal Academy, then held an informal interactive session with the media on the importance of creativity, imagination and the role the Academy aspires to play in bringing out one’s imagination. Viral has decades of experience in advertising and a host of awards to his name from global platforms like One Show Design, Gold at Cannes Lions, The New York Festivals, Graphis Advertising, etc .

Reena Mishra, the first guest speaker for the evening, elaborated on the importance of the philosophy that forms the cornerstone of the Academy by sharing her own experiences as a mother. She explained why she shared the enthusiasm of the Academy and how the importance of such an institution is palpable to anyone who has tried raising a child in this ever-changing world. Reena Mishra has had a decade-long stint in Media & Public Relations after which she joined Tasveer as Director of Operations to support & further the dreams of her husband as an Advertising Photographer.

Sabu Paul, Creative Director at Out of the Box, elucidated the inspiration behind the Academy and why he feels innovation is core to any progress that mankind has made and will continue to make in the future. He has close to 17 years of experience in advertising at agencies such as Mudra, Contract, Ogilvy One and TBWA. He is ranked as the no.1 copywriter in India, along with Viral Pandya.

After the speeches, Guneet Pandya held another interactive session on the courses available at The Unreal Academy. She explained that the specially constructed courses at the Academy are borne by deep and innovative research and development. Each course is directed towards instilling a process that delves into the imaginative mind and brings forth creativity. Courses are designed in keeping with the four target age groups of the Academy.
This one-of-a-kind Academy seeks to question, motivate, inspire and set their students thinking in a direction that is beyond the obvious or the conventional.

July 26, 2013
IBF, AAAI, ISA and TAM reach consensus on TV audience measurement

MUMBAI: Advertisers, agencies and broadcasters have worked closely and diligently over the last couple of weeks with TAM and are pleased to jointly announce their agreement.

In layman terms, the media and public will now get to know television viewership in thousands, colloquially referred to as TVT. TVT captures and reflects growth in TV audiences in the country in absolute numbers. TVT will be the sole rating available in the public domain.
For internal evaluation including planning and buying, %TVR weekly and all other data will be available to advertisers and advertising agencies as in the past. Broadcasters will also have access to this information, should they so desire.

In addition an option of TVT as a four-week rolling average will be provided every week. The rolling average is statistically more stable data on viewership, especially for smaller audiences in niche channels, regional languages, English language programs and news.

The three constituents have also agreed that TAM will make all future audience measurement changes based on inputs from the joint-industry BARC Technical Committee.

Commenting on the changes IBF President Man Jit Singh said, “We are delighted to have reached this agreement. We believe it is important for the industry, and from the perspective of our social responsibility, we must reflect both the growing television audience and the data in a more stable and useful manner. We want to thank AAAI and ISA in collaborating and working out a solution acceptable to all constituents”.

“As three concerned constituents who believe in working together, we have decided to refer all future currency related changes to the BARC technical committee. I am glad we will now have an effective guide and monitor for ratings in the country”, said Hemant Bakshi, Chairman of Media Committee and Managing Committee of the Indian Society of Advertisers.

“Getting weekly TVR% is important for media planners and buyers to effectively plan and buy ad-spots and do mid-plan course corrections and post-facto analysis. We are glad that we have been able to agree that the agencies and advertisers will have access to this data as in the past. From tomorrow, we look forward to being able to focus back on our clients’ businesses and effective planning and buying for their brands”, said Arvind Sharma, President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India.

The Indian Society of Advertisers represents advertisers. The Advertising Agencies Association of India represents advertising agencies and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation represents television broadcasters. The three sector representatives have jointly agreed to take this forward.
ISA

The Indian Society of Advertisers, ISA, has been the peak national body for advertisers for 60 years and represents the interests of organisations involved in Indian advertising, marketing and media industry. It aims to protect consumers by ensuring advertising and marketing communications are conducted responsibly.
AAAI

The Advertising Agencies Association of India, AAAI, is the official national organisation of advertising agencies. It has a very large number of small, medium and large-sized agencies as its members, who together account for almost 80% of the advertising business in the country. It is recognised as the apex spokesperson for the advertising sector.
IBF

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation, IBF, represents television broadcasters. It promotes and safeguards the interests of television broadcasters in an unbiased, non-partisan and relentless manner. It represents more than 85% of the total television broadcast viewership and revenues and in this responsible position, engages in meaningful dialogue toward consensus on contentious issues involving different stakeholders and providing incisive direction.

July 26, 2013
Focus’s new campaign for brand ‘New Holland’ consolidates its position as a technology leader

Mumbai: New Holland Fiat (India), part of the CNH Global group (one of the world’s leading Agricultural and Construction Equipment Manufacturing Company), has entrusted Focus Circle with a responsibility of deriving a new positioning the brand with a 360 degree campaign. Focus has been the brand custodian for New Holland for the past two years for the Indian market, and with the growing mechanization needs of agricultural industry which are directly depending on latest technology, they realised that it was the right time for the brand to directly communicate with their target audience using the TVC and digital space as primary platforms.

The first phase involved creation of the TVC campaign, which focuses on the integration of technology in the life of a farmer. Sharing greater insights on the overall campaign and the concept of the TVC, Rahool Talukdhar, National Creative Director, Focus Circle said “Using TVC to communicate to niche audience was extremely stimulating. To understand a brand like New Holland which is one of the global leader in its space, the core strategy and messaging enables us to build up connection with audiences leading to sustainable engagement unlike a B2C segment. Besides, it’s great to work with a brand that can give you the freedom of applying integrated services as the efforts can be synchronised well. The core objective of the campaign is to communicate to the direct and indirect audience that New Holland being the pioneer in tractor technology, it should be the ONLY choice of every progressive farmer in the country.”

As a major global player in the agriculture equipment market, New Holland has been growing consistently in India. New Holland aims at customising and creating mass awareness through the digital platforms for effective impact & reach to the potential fraternity.

Highlighting her brief to the agency and the core objective Ms. Seema Singh, GM- Corporate Communication, , New Holland Fiat India said “Agricultural sector in India is going through a transitional phase from traditional farming to mechanized farming; which is the need of the time due to various reasons such as labour shortage, need for faster crop cycles and quality food grains as an output of farming. And to cater to this growing need of the segment, which needs a whole range of solutions that would ease agricultural operations. Observing the scope and the willingness of the farmers to explore newer technology, we wanted to offer our global expertise to add value to the Indian agricultural sector. Searching for effective media to communicate the same to the direct and indirect audiences was a challenge. We jointly worked out an impactful road map with Focus, to ensure that we are able to successfully achieve our business objective of creating strong brand image and further strengthening it.”

The focus is to stream line the core communication across all platforms and increase the scope of communication about the brand in the market to increase the awareness amongst direct and indirect audiences. With an objective to reach out to the farming and agricultural community across India the campaign was scheduled to running across PTC, Doordarshan, India TV, Aaj Tak and ETV with focus on agriculturally rich states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra. With the digital mandate in the pipeline the agency will aim at streamlining the core message through all communication & execution platforms for brand engagement.

July 25, 2013
Seagate unveils world’s fastest enterprise hard drive

MUMBAI: Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ:STX), a world leader in storage solutions, today announced it is shipping the world’s fastest hard drive- the Seagate® Enterprise Turbo™ SSHD. The industry’s first enterprise solid state hybrid drive (SSHD), the Enterprise Turbo SSHD combines the capacity of a hard drive with solid-state flash enabling high-speed performance for mission critical data.

Setting a new standard in mission critical performance, the Enterprise Turbo SSHD provides up to a 3X increase in random performance over existing 15K-RPM drives and is available with up to 600GB of capacity. By unifying the best of solid-state and magnetic technologies, Turbo improves tiered storage performance combining accelerated speed with hard disk drive (HDD) high-capacity.

“Typically the most demanding mission critical applications for 15K drives have improved performance by compromising on capacity and cost per GB,” said Rocky Pimentel, Seagate executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. “With the Enterprise Turbo SSHD, we deliver a no compromise drive that provides high-speed performance while enabling customers to leverage all of Turbo’s capacity. The result, a combination of performance and capacity that we believe represents a new paradigm shift for mission critical, enterprise storage- a real game changer in storage solutions now and for generations to come.”
IBM is using Seagate SSHD Technology

Over the past year, Seagate and IBM have been putting an enterprise SSHD prototype through its paces. After months of testing in Seagate and IBM labs, the first enterprise SSHD has been introduced as an option for the IBM Series x servers. For more information, click here.

Storage Performance Council benchmarks confirm Seagate SSHD technology as performance leader:
Based on preliminary performance testing using standard system benchmarking tools, a 10K-RPM version of enterprise SSHD boasts IOPS over 2X better than a standard 600GB 10K-RPM hard disk drive. The end result is much improved and more cost effective performance for servers running mission critical applications such as big data analytics, virtual desktop infrastructure, and database and transaction processing. For more on the preliminary Seagate enterprise SSHD performance benchmarking click here for Storage Performance Council benchmarks.

The Enterprise Turbo SSHD enables lower cost server and storage configurations, making it appealing for OEMs and system builders who demand the highest, scalable performance at an affordable cost. It also delivers up to 3X the current mission critical HDD random performance at an HDD-comparable price. An extremely efficient and economical storage solution, the drive provides significantly improved $/IOPS.

July 25, 2013