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Tag: Rediff.com

  • Zee Entertainment appoints Vikram Lad as business head of Hamara Parivar

    Zee Entertainment appoints Vikram Lad as business head of Hamara Parivar

    Mumbai: Zee Entertainment has announced the appointment of Vikram Lad as the new business head of its channel, Hamara Parivar. In this strategic role, Lad will lead various initiatives, including business development efforts aimed at enhancing the channel’s performance.

    Lad’s responsibilities will encompass shaping the content strategy, engaging with audience feedback, and managing the channel’s profit and loss (P&L). Additionally, he will focus on strategic marketing and building partnerships to drive growth.

    Bringing a rich background in the media industry, Vikram Lad co-founded Kintree, a social application designed for family tree building, where he served as COO. In this position, he was instrumental in developing the company’s strategic vision and overseeing operations, including managing investor relations and expanding the app’s reach across the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the MENA region.

    Before his tenure at Kintree, Lad held significant positions in various media organizations. He was Chief of Business Development at Chingari, a short video platform, in 2019. Earlier, he served as the Business Head for Zee Entertainment in Thailand from 2017 to 2019. His extensive career also includes roles at prominent brands such as Star Sports, Hotstar, Rediff.com, DNA, RBNL and Bharti Airtel.

  • Nitin Sethi joins Adani Group as chief digital officer for consumer business

    Nitin Sethi joins Adani Group as chief digital officer for consumer business

    New Delhi: Airliner Indigo's chief digital officer Nitin Sethi has moved on from the organisation and joined Adani Group as chief digital officer – consumer business.

    "I am looking forward to enabling digital transformation, customer-centric design thinking, customer empathy, technology roadmap, and unified thinking of the group’s consumer businesses. It is an exciting start of being an Intrapreneur at what I see as one of the world’s largest start-up environments", he announced on LinkedIn.

    Sethi carries more than two decades of experience in digital transformation and product design and was previously leading digital transformation for Indigo Airlines at Gurugram. Before working with Indigo, Sethi worked with Quikr as VP and group head experience and product design for around three years. He has also worked with CommonFloor.com as head of product design and experience and with Appigizer as an investor and mentor.

    Specialising in leading multi-functional teams and establishing best user experience practices and processes, Sethi has previously had stints at Info Edge India (Naukri.com Group), India Art Village, Babyoye.com, Dainik Bhaskar Group, Prism Education, Mega Softwares, rediff.com, Times Internet, and Bharti Airtel.

  • Onspon.com appoints Aditi Sharma as VP

    Onspon.com appoints Aditi Sharma as VP

    MUMBAI: Aditi Sharma has appointed in Onspon.com, the only market place for evet sponsorship as Vice Presedent, North India Division.

    Aditi comes with 9+ years of diverse industry experience. A graduate in Capital Markets & Trading, she started her career in Banking and then moved onto creating a strong foot hold in flooring solutions, media and event industries. In these industries, she has amassed a repertoire of skills in the domains of strategic planning, sales & marketing, technology augmentation and business expansion.

    Alongside these, she has also built a strong foundation in training & customer service, network and business expansion.

    Over the last decade, Aditi has worked in multiple capacities. Prior to Onspon.com she was the Business Head at Snowmasters Special Effects Pvt Ltd and also worked with brands like Rediff.com, ABEC Ltd, Nora Floorings, Stonemaan Royale, HDFC Bank.

    Her passion lies in travelling, networking and painting owing to the armed forces background that she hails from.

  • Onspon.com appoints Aditi Sharma as VP

    Onspon.com appoints Aditi Sharma as VP

    MUMBAI: Aditi Sharma has appointed in Onspon.com, the only market place for evet sponsorship as Vice Presedent, North India Division.

    Aditi comes with 9+ years of diverse industry experience. A graduate in Capital Markets & Trading, she started her career in Banking and then moved onto creating a strong foot hold in flooring solutions, media and event industries. In these industries, she has amassed a repertoire of skills in the domains of strategic planning, sales & marketing, technology augmentation and business expansion.

    Alongside these, she has also built a strong foundation in training & customer service, network and business expansion.

    Over the last decade, Aditi has worked in multiple capacities. Prior to Onspon.com she was the Business Head at Snowmasters Special Effects Pvt Ltd and also worked with brands like Rediff.com, ABEC Ltd, Nora Floorings, Stonemaan Royale, HDFC Bank.

    Her passion lies in travelling, networking and painting owing to the armed forces background that she hails from.

  • Ajit Balakrishnan on IAA’s next webinar

    Ajit Balakrishnan on IAA’s next webinar

    MUMBAI: International Association of Advertisers (India Chapter) has announced its next webinar on ‘World goes Digital’ on 23 May at 3.00 pm.

    Rediff.com founder and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan will be the speaker at this webinar being held on Google Hangout.

    IAA India Chapter president Srinivasan K Swamy said, “IAA’s first webinar with Rajan Anandan in April was an impressive success. We had nearly 200 people participating and more than 1000 people seeing it on our YouTube channel later. And, I am confident that this second webinar will have at least twice the number. IAA is providing a small service for young professionals and others to learn more about the digital medium.”

    Free Press Journal director Abhishek Karnani and Mahindra Special Services Group head – marketing and public relations Manish Advani are co-chairing the IAA webinar series.

    “This series of ‘World Goes Digital’ webinars is aimed at equipping professionals across age groups with what’s happening in the digital domain. Ajit can distill all the digital trends and nuances and bring it down to specifics,” said Karnani.

    “Marketers need to evolve based on time, place and circumstance. Youth is a catalyst of change. IAA would like to inspire the youth to explore the opportunities digital media presents through digital gurus like Ajit Balakrishnan,” said Advani.

    Over the last few months, the IAA (India Chapter) has conducted a series of activities – the IAA Leadership Awards, a unique gender sensitisation seminar and the IAA Olive Crown Awards. Every month, the IAA also conducts “IAA Debates” in different cities, on topical issues concerning the industry.

  • Rediff.com introduces new redesigned website

    Rediff.com introduces new redesigned website

    MUMBAI: Rediff.com has launched the new version of its website featuring a new and enhanced homepage sporting a tiled interface.

    The new Rediff homepage brings alive an assortment of content and services using the contemporary grid layout that is visually rich. Each unit of the grid features the latest information photographs and videos, giving it a more interactive and image-friendly appearance.

    Featuring thirty headlines, the new homepage offers a wide range of relevant news items from across sections like news and politics, business, movies, get ahead, cricket and sports.

    Additionally, its e-commerce platform gets a boost with a large footprint on the homepage to capitalise on the growing usage of e-commerce platforms throughout India.

    The new design is based on user feedback and provides a seamless experience on personal computers and laptops as well as touchscreen handheld devices like tablets and smartphones.

    Rediff.com chairman and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan said, “The Indian internet user base is quickly moving to consuming our services on various types of mobile devices, whether at home or on the go. As a result, this transition required us to take a fresh and innovative view of how our users are likely to interact with our portal. Our new tiled interface is a step towards making it easy for a rapidly growing segment of users who access our website from tablet like touchscreen devices.”

    “We have also redesigned the site in terms of providing users with the content and imagery they desire on our home page, while adding more e-commerce options, which have been in higher demand from this growing population. We believe, the steps we‘ve taken will enhance the overall user experience and over time, contribute to a growing Rediff user base and more widespread adoption of the Rediff brand,” Balakrishnan added.

  • Rediff.com launches improved news app

    Rediff.com launches improved news app

    MUMBAI: Online provider of news, information, communication, entertainment and shopping services Rediff.com India Limited has modified and upgraded its Rediff News App service. Users will now be able to access news from over 30,000 Indian and International sources for free by downloading the news app.

    As part of the enhancements, the app also aggregates news from top news sources such as Reuters, The New York Times, Washington Post, The Times of India, The Economic Times, and The Hindu.

    In order to make sure that the app can be used by maximum mobile users, Rediff has released multiple versions of the app for mobile devices ranging from those using the latest versions of iOS, BlackBerry, Windows 8, and Android, to feature phones using the classical Java and Symbian operating systems. Each version is designed to provide the best user experience on the respective operating system and provides aggregated news content from multiple sources.

    The app has a tiled interface design that displays the latest news with images and a short description across popular categories such as top news, world, business, sports, cricket, and entertainment. A user can tap on an image to get a summary of the news and a further tap takes him/her to the full article on the original news source.

    The app also provides an offline access to previously downloaded news content even when the user is not connected to the internet, providing each user with a unique and differentiated news search and viewing experience.

    Rediff.com chairman and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan said, “The Indian mobile internet user base is expected to grow exponentially on the back of initiatives by the Government of India and leading Indian telecom service providers. Our launch of the Rediff News app that can work on almost all mobile phones provides users with better access to worldwide news and enhances search functionality. This is part of our continued strategy of enhancing our offerings to improve the Rediff user experience and positions Rediff to take advantage of future growth opportunities.”

  • Ajay Verma joins Draftfcb Ulka as chief growth officer

    MUMBAI: Ajay Verma has returned to Draftfcb Ulka as the chief growth officer. He will head the business development efforts of Draftfcb Ulka and will work closely with the business heads of the various divisions.

    Verma, who has 16 years of experience, started his career in the erstwhile Ulka Advertising way back in 1993 as a young management trainee. He was part of the agency‘s 23 year long running internship training program, Star One.

    Apart from Ulka Advertising (Draft FCB Ulka), Verma has also worked with Rediffusion and Percept H on brands including Colgate, HSBC, Cadbury, Tata Motors, Rediff.com, Franklin Templeton, Tata Sky, Amul, Godrej and HPCL.

    He has also led the new business efforts at two of his previous positions. Verma also has an entrepreneurial streak in him, having worked as the founding CEO of eBus, India‘s first digital television advertising delivery system.

    Draftfcb Ulka executive director and CEO MG Parameswaran said, “We are delighted to have Ajay Verma back. He was one of our brightest Star One recruits. He brings with him a great amount of energy and excitement that is vitally needed to drive the growth ambitions of the Group. Ajay will work across various verticals helping us leverage our great strengths as well as open new opportunities for the various offerings of the agency. We have been often called a very quiet, shy agency. The addition of Ajay to the senior management team is a step in correcting this impression.”

    Verma said, “I loved the thrill of working in a fast evolving Internet Technology industry, but I was missing the fun and excitement of working in a large agency network. It‘s a special feeling to be entrusted this critical role at Draftfcb Ulka – a company where I not only started my career, but also a place for which I have always had a great amount of respect and regard.”

    Draftfcb Ulka Advertising is a member of the Draftfcb Ulka Group, India‘s third largest marketing communication group with over 200 clients, 850 professionals working across eight offices in seven cities, covering a diverse spectrum of services including advertising, media, digital, direct, analytics, brand consulting, and activation/brand experience.

  • Harshad Hardikar back at OgilvyOne for second innings

    MUMBAI: Harshad Hardikar has returned to Ogilvy. He rejoins as senior vice president, ecommerce and CRM practice, OgilvyOne India. Hardikar‘s previous stint was at rediff.com where he spent a year handling Rediffshopping.

    Before joining rediff.com, Hardikar was with OgilvyOne for four years as Mumbai head. He has over 15 years experience in CRM/loyalty that he garnered during his work years with Select Direct, iContract, ICICI Bank and OgilvyOne. He was responsible for the launch of India‘s first coalition loyalty programme called iMint (now Payback).

    Hardikar said, “I am glad to be back at OgilvyOne. We are witnessing unprecedented growth for Ecommerce and ECRM in India. Our clients are actively looking for solutions to sell online as a cost efficient revenue stream. My mandate at OgilvyOne is to lead this practice nationally and manage our clients Ecommerce/CRM needs end to end.”

    OgilvyOne India president Kunal Jeswani said, “The best service we can do for our clients is to bring in talent that can make a difference to their business. Harshad represents just that, the best available talent in CRM and Ecommerce. He understands the intricacies of digital relationship marketing and can use it to demonstrate a real impact on our clients businesses.”

  • Rediff.com acquires minority stake in Tachyon Technologies

    Rediff.com acquires minority stake in Tachyon Technologies

    MUMBAI: Rediff.com India Ltd. has acquired a minority stake in Tachyon Technologies, a Bangalore-based software company for an undisclosed sum.

    This is part of Rediff’s strategy to invest in start-up companies with innovative technologies.

    Says Rediff.com chief executive officer and founder Ajit Balakrishnan, “we aspire to encourage promising start-ups to develop innovative world class products that support our business. As a part of such efforts, we are delighted to have an opportunity to invest in a promising start-up company, such as Tachyon Technologies.”

    Adds Rediff.com chief technology officer Venki Nishtala added “The predictive text input technology developed by Tachyon is based on sophisticated machine learning techniques and is an improvement on simple phonetic maps and specialized language keyboards, thus enabling millions of Indians to benefit from the internet.”

    Tachyon Technologies has built a product named Quillpad, which enables users to type in English alphabets to input words in other languages (in the respective scripts) with ease on the basis of phonetics, allowing them to communicate in their language of choice. Rediff.com has adopted this technology in its Rediffmail email and Rediff Bol messenger service.

    Commenting on the Rediff’s investment in Tachyon, Tachyon Technologies CEO Ram Prakash has this to say:”Rediff.com’s investment in Tachyon Technologies should provide us with the capital we need to enhance our development infrastructure. Hopefully, this will help us to realise our ultimate goal of developing great products.”