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  • It’s ‘Agility’ for festival of Media Asia Pacific

    It’s ‘Agility’ for festival of Media Asia Pacific

    MUMBAI: The Festival of Media Asia Pacific (FOMAP), the largest gathering of media leaders in Asia Pacific, is back for its third year.

    “The theme of this year’s event is ‘Agility’, and will see influential speakers sharing unique regional perspectives on how businesses can be more ‘agile’ in adapting to the ever-changing media landscape,” said, Founder of Festival of Media and Chairman of C Squared Charlie Crowe. “Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about some of the most topical issues affecting the industry today, whilst getting the chance to network with a broad range of media companies from across Asia.”

    Topics being discussed at the 2014 event include the future of Native Advertising in Asia, virtual media trading, social media in the newly-opened up Myanmar, unlocking the potential of Indian consumers and understanding Bitcoin, among others.
    The Festival will attract over 700 delegates from across 22 countries in Asia, who will be coming together to hear from some of the media industry’s most agile and forward-thinking leaders.

    Charlie Crowe added, “A stellar line-up of exciting industry speakers, excellent awards programs, and thought-provoking content, all within the larger Asian media context, means that FOMAP 2014 is set to be the most exciting yet.”

    Some of the speakers for the event include:

        Linda Yueh, Chief Business Correspondent, BBC World News
        Rita Nguyen, Co-Founder and CEO, SQUAR
        Vipul Chawla, VP and CMO, Yum! Asia
        Mark Laudi, Former CNBC presenter
        Daryl Lee, Global CEO, UM
        Leo Liang, Senior Director of National Business Development, Youku Tudou
        Steve Mosko, President, Sony Pictures Television
        Scott Lamb, VP of International, Buzzfeed
        Lakshmi Pratury, Host and Curator, The INK Conference
        Rose Tsou, Senior Vice President, APAC, Yahoo!
        Peter Vessenes, Founder and CEO, CoinLab, Chairman Bitcoin Foundation
        Manmeet Vohra, Marketing Director, Tata Starbucks
        Jerry Wind, Professor, Wharton Future of Advertising Program

     The festival will take place from 16-18 March at the Capella Singapore.

  • Srinivasan Swamy re-elected as IAA president

    Srinivasan Swamy re-elected as IAA president

    MUMBAI: R K Swamy BBDO chairman and managing director Srinivasan Swamy has been re-elected as president of India chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA). The announcement was made at the annual general meeting held on 25 September in Mumbai.

    Apart from this, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD and CEO Neeraj Roy has been elected as vice president. Jaya Advertising chairman Jaideep Gandhi and HBO India MD Monica Tata have also been re-elected as treasurer and secretary respectively for the year 2013-14.

    “IAA India was on an over-drive in 2012-13 under the leadership of Srinivasan Swamy” said IAA VP & area director Asia Pacific Pradeep Guha.

    “I am happy I was at the helm at IAA when many new initiatives were planned and unfolded. I had a great team who executed much of these programmes with élan. As we move forward, our aim at IAA India is to be seen by IAA Global as the most vibrant of all IAA chapters worldwide. I am sure that recognition is not far,” said Swamy.

    Swamy was co-opted onto the global IAA board in May this year as VP- development, Asia Pacific, as an acknowledgement of the initiatives that were undertaken in the first six months of his presidentship in India.

    The other members of the new managing committee are: Pradeep Guha, Pheroza Bilimoria, Kaushik Roy, Sam Balsara, Raj Nayak, Ramesh Narayan, M G Parameswaran, M V Shreyams Kumar, Kunal Lalani, Avinash Pandey, Arunabh Dassharma, Neville Taraporewalla, Partho Das Gupta, Rajesh Kejriwal and Abhishek Karnani, Manish Advani, Janak Sarda, Vishakha Singh, C V L Srinivas and Atit Mehta.

  • BBC World News Horizons returns to explore ‘Carmageddon’

    BBC World News Horizons returns to explore ‘Carmageddon’

    Mumbai: In the third series of Horizons, Adam Shaw travels to Detroit to meet Ford Motors executive chairman Bill Ford Jr to discuss his vision for mass mobility and the revolution that is needed to prevent global gridlock or what some are calling, ‘Carmageddon’.

    As the world’s population increases and the number of people living in cities rises, it will become more difficult to move around our urban areas.

    Bill Ford Jr said: “We see global gridlock as an issue of human rights, not just one tied to business and economics. If I think of our mission at Ford, we started off making cars and then we became a car and truck company, but really we’re a mobility company. And if we think of ourselves as that, and I do, then that opens up lots of possibilities. If we do nothing today, that mobility will be severely compromised in the future.”

    The programme then heads to Volvo in Sweden where they are developing driverless vehicles. Using radars, lasers and high-specification computers, the idea is to integrate a suite of technologies that can detect pedestrians, and allow cars to cruise at speed in convoys.

    In Shanghai, reporter James Chau looks at how China’s largest metropolis moves millions of people around the growing mega-city and how authorities are trying to get people out of their cars. James also takes a trip on the Shanghai Metro to see how one of China’s most efficient and extensive public transport networks runs.

    James also visits the Hongqiao Transportation Hub, one of the first transport hubs in the world to integrate air, high speed rail, metro and road under one roof, all within a ten minute walk of each another. Known as one of the world’s largest interchanges, Hongqiao deals with more than a million passengers a day. With numbers expected to grow rapidly, James explores the operations of the hub and how it is dealing with the rising numbers.

    The Horizons series, sponsored by DuPont, airs weekly on Saturdays at 7.00am and 2.00pm, Sundays at 8.00pm. The sponsorship arrangement was facilitated by BBC Advertising, which sells advertising and sponsorship solutions on behalf of BBC World News and bbc.com.

  • 18th ICFF gets over 100 films made by child directors for next edition

    18th ICFF gets over 100 films made by child directors for next edition

    NEW DELHI: A total of more than 845 entries have been received from over 70 countries for the 18th International Children’s Film Festival, India (ICFF), popularly known as ‘The Golden Elephant’, to be held in Hyderabad in November.

    The Festival, which is traditionally held every second year alternating with the Mumbai International Film Festival for short films, will also have films from twenty countries like Austria, Chile, Cuba, Lebanon, and Ghana that were not represented in the last edition in 2011. The Festival will as usual be held from 14 to 20 November.

    Chairman of the Children’s Film Society India Amole Gupte said, “We have received an overwhelming response this year and we aim to make the festival bigger and better than ever before. The number of entries for the section ‘Little Directors’ which will feature films made by children is over 100.”

    CFSI CEO and festival director Shravan Kumar added that there were many ‘firsts’ in this festival. “Some of the ICFF films have been sourced from Cannes Film Market, allowing us to pick a selection of the latest children’s films, awaiting their World/Asian Premiers. ICFF has received 26 films from south America, a region barely represented in the earlier editions. We have also received 255 animation films from around the world.”

    The Lalitha Kala Thoranam – built in 1986 for the International Film Festival of India – will be the venue for the inaugural and closing ceremony this year and the films will be screened at Prasad IMAX Multiplex and seven other theatres.

    This was decided in the first organising committee meeting held in Hyderabad recently attended among others by Andhra Pradesh chief secretary Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Bimal Julka, I&B Joint Secretary (Films) Raghuvendra Singh, and Dr. Shravan Kumar.

     The festival will present four competitive sections. The best film would bag the Golden Elephant trophy and Rs two lakh in cash and and the second best feature will bag the Golden Elephant Plaque with Rs one lakh in cash.

    The Festival will also focus on “Children with Special Needs” through its Open Forum, where filmmakers will interact with activists, educators and parents. Films representing children with special needs will also be screened.  

    A Master-Class Workshop on how to market Indian Children’s films internationally will be organised in collaboration with Cine-Kid, Amsterdam, the world’s most popular children’s film market.

    The festival will also be bringing the best of Czech children’s cinema in the Country Focus section, including animations created by world renowned Czech animators, in collaboration with Zlin Film Festival – the oldest children’s film festival in the world.  

    Kumar added, “We are sourcing international award winning films featured in the 20 most prestigious International children’s film festivals including Dutch nomination for the Academy Awards and other recent children’s films that have won or featured in Berlinale, Toronto, Cannes, etc.”

  • Weber Shandwick elevates Mabel Phoon to EVP international client services

    Weber Shandwick elevates Mabel Phoon to EVP international client services

    NEW DELHI: Weber Shandwick, the public relation firm today elevated Mabel Phoon to the position of executive vice president, international client services, Asia.

    As part of her new role, Phoon will relocate to India with immediate effect and also becomes a part of the Indian leadership team. She will report jointly to vice chairman Asia Pacific Baxter Jolly and Weber Shandwick India managing director Atul Ahluwalia.

    In India, she will divide her time between New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru offices focusing on supporting key client programmes. She will also take a lead role in managing relationships within the global Weber Shandwick network and also join Weber Shandwick’s newly formed India management board.

    Phoon joined the agency in Singapore in 1997. There she rose to lead the local technology practice before being appointed regional practice head, advancing to executive vice president in 2008.She then moved to New York in 2010 as a client leader for one of the firm’s top global clients.

    “We are thrilled to have Mabel return to the region,” said Jolly. “Her move to Weber Shandwick India reflects the huge importance we attach to developing our operations and capabilities in India. We will be investing heavily in new talent and services in India in the coming months and Mabel will be very involved in helping us bring these plans to fruition. Her experience with major campaigns in Asia and with driving key global client relationships from New York will be major assets to our India leadership team.”

  • TRAI Open House: Aggregators given another week to respond

    TRAI Open House: Aggregators given another week to respond

    NEW DELHI: Television aggregators were today given a period of one week to give any recommendations they may have on the regulations relating to them issued earlier by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

    At an Open House that was well-attended, TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar said any stakeholder wanting to give views in writing may do so within a week.

    Around 200 persons representing all stakeholders were present at the meeting, and put forth their views. While a majority said there was need for regulations, many felt that TRAI needed to fine-tune the regulations. MediaPro CEO Arun Kapoor, Dish TV’s Jawahar Goel, legal representatives of Airtel, Reliance, IndiaCast, apart from cable operators such as Vicki Choudhary, Roop Sharma, Money Oberoi were present at the open house.

    Khullar had TRAI Advisers N Parameswaran and Wasim Ahmed and other senior officials also present in the house.

    According to TRAI spokespersons, the discussions were frank and free and a final view would be taken after written representations are received.

    An aggregator attendee at the open house said that it was apparent from Khullar’s body language that he was not too happy with the state of affairs in the aggregation business today.

    Says he: “Khullar made three or four very important observations. The first is that aggregated bouquets of channels owned by rival bouquets creates a monopoly situation which is not a healthy one and needs to be addressed. Second: he recognised that the networks like Star, Zee, Sun, Network18 own channels across several corporate entities as licence holders and this needs to be considered. Third: smaller broadcasters and networks could face problems in distribution across the vast Indian cable TV landscape and this also should be borne in mind. Finally, he acknowledged that aggregation can help keep prices in check on account of bulk discounting”

    Adds another attendee: “Change is something that Khullar wants to bring in. We expect some change; the clout that aggregators enjoy is not something that the regulator wants to see continuing. He clearly wants aggregators to be brought under control. We are reading the writing on the wall, and we are readying for the change. How we manage this change is something we have to deal with.”

  • ASCI appoints Partha Rakshit as the new chairman

    ASCI appoints Partha Rakshit as the new chairman

    MUMBAI: Partha Rakshit Associates’ proprietor Partha Rakshit was unanimously elected as the chairman at the board meeting of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
    ASCI’s biggest task in the coming year is to more vigorously disseminate ASCI’s guidelines through training programs believes Partha Rakshit

    The incoming chairman, Partha Rakshit said, “The last couple of years have seen a sea change in ASCI’s approach to self regulating advertising content. Earlier, we acted primarily on complaint received by the public. In May 2012, ASCI setup NAMS, a system of monitoring all new TV and print ads released across India, where trained professionals screened each ad to assess whether it meets ASCI’s code on honest and ethical advertising. This pro-active step has enlarged ASCI’s role as a self regulatory body manifold. I believe ASCI’s biggest task in the coming year is to more vigorously disseminate ASCI’s guidelines through training programs to the advertisers and ad agencies who create the ads and to media who release them, so that the proportion of new ads that meet ASCI’s standards is high at the stage of release itself. ASCI will also liaise more closely with regulators to ensure that ads which do not comply with CCC’s upheld complaint decision are acted upon as per the law of the land”.

    The outgoing chairman of the association, Arvind Sharma said, “Last year has been a very eventful year for ASCI. The NAMS Initiative which has seen a fivefold increase in the Ads complained against (from 177 to 788) has won ASCI the prestigious EASA Silver Award for Best Practices. The CCC now meets every week and approx complaints against 200 Advertisements are deliberated upon every month. Set up of the Online Complaints and Monitoring Services (OCMS) in the new look ASCI website also has started getting complaints against ads coming in from consumers in large numbers. ASCI has also introduced Suspension Pending Investigation where an Advertiser is asked to suspend an Ad immediately pending investigation when that Ad appears to be in serious breach of the Code.’

    Agro Tech Foods director Narendra Ambwani was elected as the vice-chairman; and Mediabrands CEO Shashidhar Sinha was appointed the Honorary Treasurer.
    The other members of the new Board of Governors are: Hemant Bakshi (Hindustan Unilever), Shantanu Khosla (Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care), Jayant Singh (Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Healthcare) from the advertisers, Rajan Anandan (Google India), Sunil Lulla (Times Television Network), Benoy Roychowdhury (HT Media), I. Venkat (Eenadu) from the media industry and the likes of Subhash Kamath (BBH Comms India), Arvind Sharma (Leo Burnett), Srinivasan Swamy (R.K. Swamy BBDO). Allied Professions: Dilip Cherian (Perfect Relations), S.K. Palekar (S.P. Jain Institute of Management), Abanti Sankaranarayanan (CIABC) from the advertising agencies.

    During the year 2012-13, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) met 24 times and considered 3007 complaints against 788 advertisements. Of these, complaints against 642 ads were upheld, while 144 were not upheld and 2 were considered non-issues. In 590 cases, the complaint upheld ads have been voluntarily withdrawn or modified as per the CCC’s decisions resulting in over 91% compliance rate.

  • Balaji Films returns to DD as Jeetendra appreciates its marketing and growth

    Balaji Films returns to DD as Jeetendra appreciates its marketing and growth

    NEW DELHI: Television entrepreneur Ekta Kapoor, who commenced her career with Itihaas on Doordarshan, is back on the national broadcaster with a family-oriented love story.

    Pavitra Bandhan – Do dilon ka will be telecast from Mondays to Fridays commencing from 9 September at 8:30 pm.

    Balaji Films chairman and renowned actor Jeetendra recalled at a press meet here how the pubcaster had given him support when he and his daughter Ekta first launched their programmes. He said that DD was a king at one time as it was the only one in the race, but it has gradually re-emerged as a major player with this new marketing policies and increasing revenues. ‘The king is content, and not stars, and DD banks on content’, he said.

    Pavitra Bandhan is a journey of two strangers Aashima and Girish, who are completely opposite to each other by nature but are destined to meet. But their priorities do not change when they meet and their main concerns remain their respective families.

    Deputy Director General Raj Shekhar Vyas, currently in charge of the primary channel DD I, said Ekta had commenced on DD Metro with Itihaas, but had now come on the primary channel. He claimed that the viewership of DD National was now the largest in the world with 1.25 crore viewers.

    He said that the channel had acquired world rights of Pavitra Bandhan and it had also been decided that 60 per cent of the revenue from commercials will come to Doordarshan, the balance going to Balaji Films.

    Vyas added that DD had now gone on a marketing binge and was also advertising in the print media and through hoardings. A sum of Rs 2 crore had gone to newspapers in recent months on advertising.

    V K Jain who is in charge of public relations in Doordarshan said that DD will soon launch cross-channel publicity, and already had over 2,000 hoarding sites in different parts of the country.

    Yash Tonk, who plays the male lead, said that he found working in films and television equally challenging. However, he admitted that he had a greater name in TV.

    Hritu Dudhani who plays the female lead said she had also acted as a police officer in an early serial on Doordarshan, and acted in Bandhini with Balaji Films.

    Others in the cast are Yamini Thakur, Shabnam Sayeed, Shailley Kaushik, Munni Jha, Shalini Arora, and Rajat Dahiya.

    Mallika Dutt who has written the story and screenplay denied that Balaji series appeared to go on and on and said this series will only last as long as the viewers want it.

  • BBC, Ficci strategic partners in Mumbai Saarc biz meet

    BBC, Ficci strategic partners in Mumbai Saarc biz meet

    NEW DELHI: BBC World, the BBC’s international 24-hour news and information channel will be the official media partner for the second SAARC Business Leaders Conclave, being hosted on 17 and 18 February in Mumbai, a company statement said today.

    The conclave organised by the SAARC Chamber of Commerce will see BBC World and Ficci as strategic partners, providing a platform for global debate, dialogue and discussion.

    Pranab Mukherjee, Minister for Foreign Affairs of India, will inaugurate the SAARC Business Leaders Conclave 2007.

    The two-day event will witness participation from eminent corporate, government and media personnel from across the sub-continent.

    Among those addressing the conclave are Dasho Ugen Tsechup Dorji, President, SCCI; Syed Yawar Ali, Chairman, Nestle, Pakistan;. Alan Winters, Director- Development Research Group, The World Bank and Najam Sethi, Daily Times, Pakistan.

    On February18, BBC World will organise a debate: “Is a South Asian economic union necessary for economic growth in South Asian nations?”

    The debate will be moderated by BBC World’s business correspondent, Karishma Vaswani with Vicki Treadell, Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy High Commission, Mumbai and Anand Giridharadas, South Asia Correspondent, International Herald Tribune, among others taking part in the panel discussions.

    Vaishali Sharma, head of marketing communication, BBC World, India, says, “As a leading international news channel, we are proud to associate with Ficci in this endeavour to encourage regional economic cooperation through the SAARC business leaders conclave, as a result providing value to our stakeholders.”

    Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, Ficci says, “SAARC Business Leaders Conclave is an attempt by the private sector of SAARC towards realising the aspirations of South Asia’s economic integration.

    “The Conclave emphasises deeper Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for creating a platform to address the common challenges that South Asia is facing. Ficci and SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) are delighted that BBC World is partnering with us in this unique enterprise of thought leadership.”

    The first SAARC Business Leaders Conclave (SBLC) in 2005 was held at a time of when SAARC countries stood at the threshold of a new decade of their existence.

    The conclave provided a unique platform to debate the gains made in regional cooperation during its first two decades and to underline that efforts must continue to free South Asia from poverty, hunger and other forms of deprivation which present a daunting challenge.

    The 2007 conclave will reinforce this process through its two-day session theme – Regional Cooperation: A Springboard for Growth and Job Creation.