ITV

Tag: honcho

  • Leo Burnett’s creative head honcho ‘Bakrafied’

    Leo Burnett’s creative head honcho ‘Bakrafied’

    MUMBAI: “If ever you all come to Spain, keep one thing in mind – Don’t come alone or you’ve had it.” This can pass off as a welcome statement when you read it. But it was meant to sound more like a ‘beware’ threat when Leo Burnett Worldwide chief creative officer Miguel Angel Furones said it to the Leo Burnett team when he left after his visit to India earlier this month.

    Reason: Leo Burnett’s team had the cheek to pull a fast one on their creative head honcho. And that too with the help of the ‘baap’ of all pranksters – Cyrus Broacha on MTV Bakra.

    The deal: Leo Burnett wanted to make Furones’ visit to India a memorable one! Well, no harm done as long as Furones took the ‘bakra’ in good spirit (which he did and thankfully so for the people at Leo Burnett!!).

    “We wanted to do something special for him to remember us and his visit to India. At first all cliched things came to our mind, like to put up a show of a kalaripayattu (martial arts of South India) or take him to watch an old Amitabh Bachchan movie or take him to an Indian wedding. But nothing that we thought of seemed to be exciting enough,” said Leo Burnett national creative director K V Sridhar (fondly known as “papa”).

    “MTV and their pranks came to our mind and we decided to give a go at it,” he added.

    So what did they do? The Leo Burnett team was at a workshop conducted by Furones at a hotel in Mumbai. After the workshop got over, MTV arranged for an elephant that was kept at the gate of the hotel. There were a dozen women in saris waiting to welcome Furones. They asked him to break the auspicious coconut before he took a ride on the elephant. After cracking the coconut, the clueless Furones went on his joy ride with a few Leo Burnett team members trailing him.

    The stage was set for the grand entry of the ever-so-strict Inspector Broacha!! Broacha enters the scene and calls a stop to the royal safari. Broacha to Furones: “Do you know that you need a license to ride a elephant in India. Do you have a license?” And what’s more… Broacha also tells Furones that it was a crime to ride a female elephant in India! A bit preposterous but hilarious nonetheless.

    While Furones doesn’t have a clue of what to do next, the juniors (a part of the ploy) who were a following him tried to bribe Broacha. Needless to mention Broacha is furious with the suggestion. Meanwhile Furones is asked to get down from the poor female elephant (Ha! Ha!) and is asked to do 10 push ups. Pulling it too far?? But guess what… he obliged. Broacha then takes him in a police car some distance and then leaves him to take an autorikshaw back to the hotel where he was honorably bestowed with the ‘Bakra’ cap.

    “I think Miguel was scared for the first five minutes or so, but then maybe he had an inkling that we were up to something. Although he did not show it,” said Sridhar.
    All in good spirits! – Miguel Angel Furones with Leo Burnett India head Arvind Sharma and Cyrus Broacha

    “He was very sporting about the whole thing and he is a very fun loving guy. Being a creative person, we expected him to take this in good spirit. To be on the safer side, we played this prank on him on the last day of his visit,” chuckles Sridhar. “I would have lost my job if he had got furious with the whole thing,” Sridhar does not forget to add.

    The ‘Leo Burnett Bakra’ episode aired today on MTV and will have a repeat episode on Sunday 29 February at 8:00 pm.

    While Furones may have taken the ‘Bakra’ episode sportingly, not so the legal fraternity, who are furious with MTV for different reasons all together.

    The Rajasthan High Court ordered legal proceedings against MTV yesterday for telecasting a song that portrays the court of law in a “defamatory way”. The public interest litigation (PIL) was moved by a Dinesh Yadav after MTV telecast a song, Jo sharab na piye usey saza dee jaye (Those who do not drink liquor should be punished) which projected the court of law in an “indecent, ridiculous and defamatory way,” the United News of India has reported.

    The song showed two advocates along with the judge consuming alcohol and a woman cop dancing inside the court. The bench found the court’s picturisation highly improper and objectionable and hence issued directives against the music channel.

    When contacted, an MTV spokesperson said the video was made by T-Series Super Cassettes Ltd and was on air on many other channels as well. Although MTV has not received any legal notice so far, the video in question has been pulled off air, he clarified.

    Even as a lot of liberties are being taken nowadays by the makers of music video remixes, it seems rather out of place to sue MTV for airing the video. Shouldn’t the axe have actually fallen on those responsible for making the video in the first place?

  • Maharashtra deputy CM Bhujbal quits over Zee attack

    Maharashtra deputy CM Bhujbal quits over Zee attack

    MUMBAI: The attack by alleged National Congress Party (NCP) workers on Zee TV’s offices in Mumbai has led to Maharashtra deputy chief minister and home minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s resignation.

    NCP head honcho Sharad Pawar announced at a press conference late 23 December evening that the party had accepted Bhujbal’s decision.
     
     
    Pawar said that Bhujbal has taken ‘moral responsibility’ for the attack and tendered his resignation. On being queried whether the party was overreacting on a simple matter, Pawar came out strongly saying it was a serious matter. “It is all about media freedom. There has been an attack on media. We don’t take matters such as these lightly,” he said.

    Pawar added that Bhujbal said he was not associated with the incident, nor did he condone it, but that he takes the onus for it. “Two journalists have been injured, lady staffers from Zee are in hospital,” Pawar said. “The whole country has been watching. Sloganeering was going on. What is there to investigate?”

    Pawar said he spoke to Zee TV CEO Subhash Chandra in the afternoon assuring him that he did not condone the attack and that action would be taken. He said he spoke to Bhujbal later.

    Pawar informed that he had been told, the attack today was a reaction by party workers to a recent spoof carried in Alpha Marathi’s show Ghadlay Bighadlay. The show was related to the Telgi stamp paper scam in which Bhujbal is accused of having a hand.

    “We did not ask him (Bhujbal) to resign,” Pawar said. “He offered to. The resignation today is related to today’s incident alone of an attack on Zee TV’s office.”

    Political analysts however aver that the party finally bowed down to pressure following accusations of his involvement in the multicrore Stamp scam.

    Pawar informed journalists that a party worker from the northern Mumbai district of Vile Parle had been identified and arrested by the police for his involvement in the attack. “We have sacked him from the party,” Pawar pointed out.

    Earlier in the day, a group of 50-60 NCP members had allegedly stormed into Zee TV’s office in Chintamani Plaza, Andheri, the heart of the television industry in India, and smashed computers, thrashed Zee TV employees.

  • Channel [V] wins ‘Rocket Award’ at Promax & BDA Asia Awards

    Channel [V] wins ‘Rocket Award’ at Promax & BDA Asia Awards

    MUMBAI: Channel [V] has been awarded the Gold Promax in the ‘Best interactive promo category’ for its promo with ‘Rai University’ and a Silver Promax in the ‘Best Contest Promo’ for the popular Coke [v] Popstars 2 at the The Promax Awards and BDA Asia Awards that were held in Singapore.

    Channel [V] producer Venkatesh Gaikwad was also awarded the ‘2003 Rocket Award’.
     
     
    The Rocket Award recognises a producer, marketer or designer with four or less years of experience in promotion, marketing or design who is already creating outstanding work. This award also recognises the most creative talent across Asia.

    Speaking on the occasion, Channel [V] head honcho Amar Deb said, “It’s a proud day for the creative talent in India. At Channel [V] you will find some of the most creative minds in the industry working together to create, innovate, out-of-the-box, irreverent content for their viewers along with excellent out of box promotions and contests for advertisers. These awards are a testament to our 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365-day, eternal commitment to do things differently and change the face of music television in India. All of us at Channel [V] are ecstatic, overjoyed, delighted, jubilant, over the moon and much more with this recognition from Promax.”

    Promax and BDA are the world’s foremost organisations working on behalf of those involved in the promotion, marketing, and design of electronic media. They represent more than 4,200 member companies and individuals in over 60 countries who work in television, radio and digital media. They include senior executives, producers and designers involved in the creation of advertising, graphics and marketing materials for their companies.