ITV

Tag: Lonely Planet

  • MiQ appoints Addy Cutts as commercial director for southeast Asia

    MiQ appoints Addy Cutts as commercial director for southeast Asia

    MUMBAI: Programmatic advertising company MiQ has named Addy Cutts as its commercial director for Southeast Asia. In this newly created role, Cutts will lead the firm’s regional commercial operations and drive market expansion.

    Cutts joins MiQ with over two decades of experience in technology and digital advertising across the UK and Singapore. He previously served as regional director for JAPAC at Oracle Advertising, where he managed revenue growth and market strategy across Southeast Asia, India, ANZ, Thailand, and Japan.

    His career includes executive positions at Visual DNA and Lonely Planet, as well as involvement with First Party Capital. He has also served on the board of IAB Southeast Asia and India.

    “I’m thrilled to join MiQ, who are certainly not your average programmatic media partner,” said Cutts. “What really sets them apart is their tangible commitment to fostering a culture of transparency, trust, and collaboration.”

    MiQ APAC CEO Jason Scott said: “Addy’s appointment reflects our commitment to attracting the best minds in the industry. His understanding of the media landscape and ability to navigate emerging technology trends will be paramount to delivering exceptional value to our clients.”

  • EPIC TV INTRODUCES ‘HIT THE ROAD’- A TRAVEL SERIES WITH A TWIST

    EPIC TV INTRODUCES ‘HIT THE ROAD’- A TRAVEL SERIES WITH A TWIST

    MUMBAI: This November, EPIC channel has planned an unusual treat for its viewers with a new show; ‘Hit The Road, India’; and will air from 7th November, 2018 every Wednesday at 10 pm only on EPIC Channel.

    Hit The Road, India is a 4-part series and follows two friends who participate in an audacious 12 day rickshaw rally across India; from Mumbai to Chennai. Hit The Road, India escapade has been recognized by the prestigious travel outlet Lonely Planet as one of the top-10 greatest adventures. Hit The Road entertains through a string of events packed with escapades, music, lifestyle, and all the adrenaline innate in travel.

    American Ric Gazarian and Canadian Keith King, captivated by the sub-culture of rallies that take place around the world, sign up for the Rickshaw Challenge in India. The challenge takes them on a 1900-kilometer journey as they ride the three-wheeler so ubiquitous in India across hills, beaches, valleys, dirt tracks, and countless incredible surprises during this incredible journey. The short-series is another distinct feather in the brimming cap of EPIC travel shows including Wilderness Days, Road Less Travelled, Indipedia, Ekaant, Sanrachna, and Kahi Suni that showcase India in ways never before attempted.

    Speaking on the launch of the new show, Akul Tripathi, Head of Programming said “Providing differentiated content that surprises and engages audiences is at the heart of EPIC programming. Stories of, and from India fascinate us, and the audiences have consistently echoed our sentiment. Hit The Road, India is a worthy addition to our eclectic collection of India-centric content and we are sure that it will be well received.”

    Focused on producing and providing a platform for content driven shows is at the core of EPIC’s identity, and the channel continues to redefine Indian infotainment introducing programming in line with this brand ethos.

  • WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    MUMBAI: In August 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) aka The Times of India group bought out the remaining 50 per cent of World Wide Media (WWM) from BBC Worldwide, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of arguably India’s largest media company.

    WWM had started off as a joint venture between the two firms to publish speciality niche magazines. Titles such such as Femina and Filmfare and licensed titles like Lonely Planet, Top Gear, Grazia, Hello! and Good Homes came under its umbrella. Most of them these have grown courtesy a loyal reader base and are adding substantial revenues to WWM’s topline.

    Deepak Lamba – who was earlier the president of Bennett Coleman – was roped in to spearhead it in January 2015 and fine tune its strategy. The idea: take it beyond traditional print publishing. And Lamba’s focus has been to transform it into a complete lifestyle and entertainment outfit. A special internal projects team has been created, which works on providing holistic branding and marketing solutions to clients, including content for the TV and digital space. Amongst the brands it is looking to extend onto digital and TV include: Top Gear, Good Homes, Lonely Planet, Hello, and Femina.

    “Digital is seen as the medium of the future but television is already here. Therefore, we are looking at that how our brands can be put across television platforms,” says WWM CEO Deepak Lamba. “We have signed a deal with Maruti Suzuki for the travel show where five celebrities from different walks of life and their biggest fan will take a fanatistic journey in the auto maker’s vehicles from India to Bangkok on the Asian expressway. The seven part series is slated to launch in November. Hello has an upcoming luxury show on ET Now and Romedy Now which is slated to go live two months from now. Good Homes will talk about how you can beautify your home on a finite budget. We also want to do the GEC version of our Filmfare talk show which is in the pipeline.”

    It is also expanding the Filmfare Awards franchise in August 2016 to cover north Indian cinema with the Britannia Filmfare Awards Punjab.

    “It’s been 63 years now for the Filmfare Awards. The Hindi cinema awards are telecast on Sony Entertainment Television,” explains Lamba. “The South India awards are in their sixtieth year and are telecast on Star channels; the East Indian awards on Star Jalsa, even as the Marathi awards are on Colors Marathi. We are also launching three music awards with regional GECs in the South and with local partners in Punjab.”

    Short filmmakers will also be eligible to take a stab at winning the lovely black Filmfare statuette with the launch of an award for digital movies, discloses Lamba. “The short films have to be of 15 minutes and we will have a prominent jury just like we have for our main awards and the main gratification is that winners will receive the award on the same stage.”

    WWM is likely to reach out to other production houses to partner it on some of its brand extensions into video, especially those targeting broadcasters. For its digital initiatives, it has put together a full-fledged in-house team which is working closely with its editorial team to roll out its properties. On the anvil is a fun-filled 15 minute celebrity chat show with Filmfare editor in chief Jitesh Pillai as its host. The pilot is being shot with the official launch expected to happen in the next two to three months. Lamba says the move into digital has come because advertisers have been asking for it. “There was also an internal need as being a part of BCCL, scale does matter a lot. In the magazine space we are already the number one. Also if you listen to your consumers and advertisers you will not go wrong.”

    OTT and VOD players have come knocking on WWM’s doors and conversations are on with them too.

    A foray into fiction is planned under the Femina brand. “The show is about a fantastic girl who is a little plump. A Gujju girl whose boyfriend dumps her for a skinny girl,” points out Lamba. “The show will track what she decides to do with her life and how she comes out on top of the world. ”

    Will the strategy of stretching existing print titles to video work? Media observers believe it will.

    “Titles such as Top Gear, Filmfare, Good Homes have a pretty loyal following both from advertisers and consumers,” says a media expert. “The WWM team will have to do something really wrong or screw up to fail at this extension strategy. I am betting that they will do well.”

    And that is something Lamba is banking on too.

  • WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    MUMBAI: In August 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) aka The Times of India group bought out the remaining 50 per cent of World Wide Media (WWM) from BBC Worldwide, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of arguably India’s largest media company.

    WWM had started off as a joint venture between the two firms to publish speciality niche magazines. Titles such such as Femina and Filmfare and licensed titles like Lonely Planet, Top Gear, Grazia, Hello! and Good Homes came under its umbrella. Most of them these have grown courtesy a loyal reader base and are adding substantial revenues to WWM’s topline.

    Deepak Lamba – who was earlier the president of Bennett Coleman – was roped in to spearhead it in January 2015 and fine tune its strategy. The idea: take it beyond traditional print publishing. And Lamba’s focus has been to transform it into a complete lifestyle and entertainment outfit. A special internal projects team has been created, which works on providing holistic branding and marketing solutions to clients, including content for the TV and digital space. Amongst the brands it is looking to extend onto digital and TV include: Top Gear, Good Homes, Lonely Planet, Hello, and Femina.

    “Digital is seen as the medium of the future but television is already here. Therefore, we are looking at that how our brands can be put across television platforms,” says WWM CEO Deepak Lamba. “We have signed a deal with Maruti Suzuki for the travel show where five celebrities from different walks of life and their biggest fan will take a fanatistic journey in the auto maker’s vehicles from India to Bangkok on the Asian expressway. The seven part series is slated to launch in November. Hello has an upcoming luxury show on ET Now and Romedy Now which is slated to go live two months from now. Good Homes will talk about how you can beautify your home on a finite budget. We also want to do the GEC version of our Filmfare talk show which is in the pipeline.”

    It is also expanding the Filmfare Awards franchise in August 2016 to cover north Indian cinema with the Britannia Filmfare Awards Punjab.

    “It’s been 63 years now for the Filmfare Awards. The Hindi cinema awards are telecast on Sony Entertainment Television,” explains Lamba. “The South India awards are in their sixtieth year and are telecast on Star channels; the East Indian awards on Star Jalsa, even as the Marathi awards are on Colors Marathi. We are also launching three music awards with regional GECs in the South and with local partners in Punjab.”

    Short filmmakers will also be eligible to take a stab at winning the lovely black Filmfare statuette with the launch of an award for digital movies, discloses Lamba. “The short films have to be of 15 minutes and we will have a prominent jury just like we have for our main awards and the main gratification is that winners will receive the award on the same stage.”

    WWM is likely to reach out to other production houses to partner it on some of its brand extensions into video, especially those targeting broadcasters. For its digital initiatives, it has put together a full-fledged in-house team which is working closely with its editorial team to roll out its properties. On the anvil is a fun-filled 15 minute celebrity chat show with Filmfare editor in chief Jitesh Pillai as its host. The pilot is being shot with the official launch expected to happen in the next two to three months. Lamba says the move into digital has come because advertisers have been asking for it. “There was also an internal need as being a part of BCCL, scale does matter a lot. In the magazine space we are already the number one. Also if you listen to your consumers and advertisers you will not go wrong.”

    OTT and VOD players have come knocking on WWM’s doors and conversations are on with them too.

    A foray into fiction is planned under the Femina brand. “The show is about a fantastic girl who is a little plump. A Gujju girl whose boyfriend dumps her for a skinny girl,” points out Lamba. “The show will track what she decides to do with her life and how she comes out on top of the world. ”

    Will the strategy of stretching existing print titles to video work? Media observers believe it will.

    “Titles such as Top Gear, Filmfare, Good Homes have a pretty loyal following both from advertisers and consumers,” says a media expert. “The WWM team will have to do something really wrong or screw up to fail at this extension strategy. I am betting that they will do well.”

    And that is something Lamba is banking on too.

  • Lonely Planet India launches its digital campaign ‘India Unexplored’

    Lonely Planet India launches its digital campaign ‘India Unexplored’

    MUMBAI: Lonely Planet India has launched ‘India Unexplored’, an exciting new digital campaign to find the best hidden spots and experiences throughout the country. Hosted on the Lonely Planet India website (www.lonelyplanet.in) and promoted on social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Instagram, ‘India Explored’ will see participants submit their discoveries of lesser known destinations across India. This is a 45 day digital campaign that launches on 4 October 2014 and will be live until 17 November 2014.

     

    This is an application-based campaign hosted on www.lonelyplanet.in. The URL is unexplored.lonelyplanet.in

     

     ‘India Unexplored’ is a pan-India digital campaign by Lonely Planet India where participants can submit their discoveries of lesser known destinations under the following special themes:  

     

     .   SEE: This special theme is all about sharing lesser known and unexplored beaches, hill stations, mountains and interesting places to visit in our country, including natural and man-made attractions.

     

     .   DO: In this special theme, the participants will share their adventure endeavours and experiences such as paragliding, skiing, rafting or trekking etc.

     

     .   EAT: Here participants will share places which are interesting to eat at.

     

     .   SHOP: This special theme is for the participants to share their experiences and memories at shops and markets from offbeat places in India.

                     

    To participate in the ‘India Unexplored’ campaign, one must submit a discovery about a destination in the country. This destination should be listed on Google Maps. Participants can submit details about the place, images and videos about the destination. The entries will then be moderated by Lonely Planet. Each of the entries that are eligible to be published on the website will be allocated points. On the basis of the number of points earned, the 3 mega winners will be decided. There will be a panel of 3 judges including travel experts to select the winners of India Unexplored campaign. The winners will be picked on the basis of ratings given by the judges who will judge the entries basis parameters such as nature and uniqueness of the location of discovery/ entry, quality of content in the description, image aptness and quality, frame and creativity in the image caption and video relevance and quality as well as visual content.

     

    Skyscanner, a leading global travel search site has come on board as the title sponsor for Lonely Planet’s India Unexplored campaign. There are also various prize sponsors including F&D Audio, Joy Resorts and Hotels, Linger Guesthouses, Outdoor Travel Gear, Polaris India, Pugdundee Safaris, Skybags and Wrangler.

     

    There are hosts of prizes to be won, participants can win prizes as per the following:

     

    .  45 early bird prizes for those first set of discoverers submitting approved discoveries. Winners will be announced on 13 October 2014.

     

    .  18 prizes for the  mini contests on Lonely Planet India’s social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram

     

    .  Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd winner of each of the special themes ( SEE, DO, EAT and SHOP).

     

    .  Prizes for the best image shared, best video shared and best trekking discovery.

     

    .  Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd all round mega winners. Winners for special themes and  the mega winners will be announced on 1 December 2014

     

  • Iffort bags Lonely Planet India digital media mandate

    MUMBAI: Travel guidebook publisher Lonely Planet has appointed New Delhi-based Iffort as its digital media agency partner in India.

    Iffort will handle the full digital spectrum for the publisher including rolling out strategic community engagement and search engine optimization programs to position the guidebooks among the target audience in India. Lonely Planet is launching a brand new series of travel guidebooks, designed especially for the Indian traveller on 12 September.

    Iffort director Sunny Jindal said, “We‘re excited to be associated with Lonely Planet India at a time when they are launching a range of travel guides targeted towards the Indian travellers. Iffort will handle the digital media strategy for Lonely Planet India including suggesting specific ideas for target audience engagement on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Over the coming months, we‘ll be using our domain-experience to build on Lonely Planet India‘s growing reputation an iconic travel brand and strengthen its community relationship.”

    Lonely Planet India general manager Sesh Seshadri added, “Our content development team is engaged in creating relevant content for the Indian traveller and we see the importance of community building among Indian travellers. The appointment of Iffort will help us achieve this goal and will build a strong connection with the users of our content across delivery platform, print and electronic.”

  • BBC Magazines to launch Lonely Planet title

    BBC Magazines to launch Lonely Planet title

    MUMBAI: BBC Magazines will launch Lonely Planet magazine later this year in the UK.

    The monthly title will integrate the BBC’s expertise in quality travel and cultural programming with Lonely Planet’s reputation as a global travel brand.

    The magazine will appeal to open-minded, inquisitive people who have a real sense of adventure and a desire to learn about, and connect with, the people and places they visit.

    Predominantly aimed at frequent travellers with the time and means to indulge their passion, Lonely Planet magazine will combine inspirational ideas for future trips -from short breaks in the UK to long-haul journeys – with outstanding journalism and photography.

    The title will feature travel and related themes, encouraging readers to seek out their own authentic adventures and to share their experiences. In November 2007, BBC Worldwide bought a 75 per cent stake in Lonely Planet, one of the world’s most successful travel information providers. Lonely Planet has over 360 writers and photographers and produces around 500 travel books on destinations around the world, downloadable digital guides, an award-winning website, wireless applications and television programmes.

    BBC Magazines’ Group editorial director Nick Brett said, “Editorially, the two brands are a perfect match for each other. Lonely Planet has long wanted a magazine in its portfolio, which we can now provide, and the BBC has an array of travel programmes and talent that we can bring to the party.”

    f Lonely Planet magazine publisher Dominic Murray said: “The Lonely Planet brand has real appeal for this audience and I believe this new title brings unrivalled trust and expertise, as well as humour and entertainment to the travel magazine category.”

    The title will be produced from BBC Worldwide’s west London office and will be edited by Peter Grunert, previously Deputy Editor, Top Gear Magazine.

    BBC Magazines will publish the title in the UK under licence from Lonely Planet, in which BBC Worldwide has a majority stake. BBC Magazines also plans to publish the title in other key territories in the future.

  • BBC Worldwide acquires travel information group Lonely Planet

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK pubcaster the BBC has acquired travel information group Lonely Planet in a deal that will build the Lonely Planet franchise around the world.

    The privately owned business is being sold by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, who founded the company in 1972, and John Singleton who became a shareholder in 1999.

    BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith said, “We are delighted to be announcing this acquisition today. Lonely Planet is a highly respected international brand and a global leader in the provision of travel information. This deal fits well with our strategy to create one of the world’s leading content businesses, to grow our portfolio of content brands online and to increase our operations in Australia and America.”

    Lonely Planet, which has operations in the UK, California and Australia, is led by the CEO Judy Slatyer and her management team, who will be staying with the business. Lonely Planet’s global headquarters will remain in Melbourne.

    Maureen and Tony Wheeler, joint founders, who will retain a 25 per cent shareholding in the company said, “Joining BBC Worldwide allows us to secure the long-term future of our company within a globally recognised media group. In our discussions with John and his team, we felt that BBC Worldwide would provide a platform true to our vision and values, while allowing us to take the business to the next level.”

    BBC Worldwide non-executive chairman Etienne de Villiers says, “Closing this prestigious deal is a great feather in the cap for BBC Worldwide, its management and the BBC overall. It is further evidence of BBC Worldwide’s ability to become a major international media player. It is testimony to BBC Worldwide’s reputation that the Wheelers believe we are the right partner to take the business forward, given the many organisations that have approached them over the years. We are all convinced that the association will strengthen Lonely Planet’s visibility and growth potential, particularly in the digital arena, as well as providing their users access to the wide range of BBC content which connects with their interests – from Michael Palin’s New Europe to Planet Earth.”

    Lonely Planet publishes around 500 titles including specialist activity guides, shoestring guides and phrasebooks. It publishes in various languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Spanish. The company also produces and develops factual programming for international broadcasters (Lonely Planet Television).

    Its flagship TV series, Lonely Planet Six Degrees, produced for Discovery is now in its third season, and screens in over 100 countries. Meanwhile, Lonely Planet’s website receives 4.3 million unique visitors a month and Lonely Planet’s travel video site, lonelyplanet.tv, is establishing a valuable online community of independent travellers, allowing travellers to upload and watch their own video as well as view videos created by Lonely Planet.

    Maureen and Tony Wheeler adds, “We will remain completely focused on the delivery of unique content to our travellers around the world. We are very optimistic about the prospects for the Lonely Planet brand under the BBC Worldwide umbrella.”