ITV

Tag: services

  • Mitul Shah leapfrogs from Apple to Google

    Mitul Shah leapfrogs from Apple to Google

    MUMBAI: Apple’s loss is Google’s gain. The former’s head of consumer sales Mitul Shah has hopped onto Google as managing director – Google devices & services, India. He is leading Pixel’s sales and expansion in the country.

    Shah had worked at Apple for a good nine years, rising up the ranks as  head – assisted sales to head -consumer sales when he decided to move on from the innovative megacorp.

    Prior to that, Shah had also spent five years at Accenture, based in Gurgaon, working in sectors such as consumer goods and life sciences. He also had a stint with Infosys Technologies focusing on the areas of retail, CPG and logistics.

    Says Shah: “It’s an honor to be part of a company that’s at the forefront of innovation, and I’m particularly thrilled to be working on a product that has the potential to put the magic and power of AI in the pockets of millions of people across my beloved country. Pixel is not just another device. It’s an absolute privilege to be part of this story, to bring the best of Google to Indian consumers and build a more connected and empowered society. “

  • TLC HD WORLD presents ‘Hotel Hell’

    TLC HD WORLD presents ‘Hotel Hell’

    MUMBAI: Lifestyle channel TLC HD World is all geared up to present a new series Hotel Hell every Monday at 10 pm. The series features Gordon Ramsay travelling across America in search of horrid hotels and work towards turning them around.

     

    Viewers will see Ramsay sleep on stained mattresses, take cold showers in musty bathrooms and confront hotel ghosts. The series will see him fixing these horrible hotels, awful inns and bed and breakfasts and revamped into beautiful, clean and lively places to stay, to meet a traveller’s expectations.

     

    Ramsay in his own inimitable style will go head-to-head with the owners and staff, raising tension to the maximum capacity. He will take his hospitality reviews to a new benchmark and showcase unexpected results. Gordon will help the hotels to survive in the cut-throat hospitality industry, turning these struggling establishments upside down, from the bar staff to the bedrooms, the receptionists to the room service.

     

    Each episode of the series will showcase Ramsay addressing the problems of upkeep and services to ensure that each guest’s expectations are met. He will endure the hotels at their worst to provide the guests a wonderful experience. While some owners will happily work with Ramsay to improve their hotels, others will retaliate and face the consequences.

  • Shoppers Stop recognised as Most Respected Company in the Retail Sector By Business World

    Shoppers Stop recognised as Most Respected Company in the Retail Sector By Business World

    MUMBAI: Shoppers Stop has been recognised as the ‘Most Respected Company in the Retail Sector’ by Business World’s Survey of ‘India’s Most Respected Companies’. Shoppers Stop, India’s premier lifestyle and fashion destination, is one among 20 Indian companies to be honored by Business World as ‘Most Respected Companies’ from among various sectors.
    Shoppers Stop has received this prestigious title for the second time in a row by Business World’s ‘Most Respected Companies’ survey.


    Business World’s ‘Most Respected Companies’ award is recognized as one of the most coveted awards in the country. Companies are measured not only on the basis of their balance sheets but also on the basis of innovativeness, depth and quality of top management, financial performances and returns and moreover, on qualities like ethics and transparency, quality of products and services, people practices/talent management and global competitiveness.

  • Eureka Mobile Advertising introduces mobile phone utility services

    Eureka Mobile Advertising introduces mobile phone utility services

    MUMBAI: Eureka Mobile Advertising has launched a mobile phone utility that monetises the idle screen to deliver relevant content to target subscribers.

    Eureka is currently available on the android platform, and will soon be made available on BlackBerry and Symbian as well as across other telecom operators.

    By utilising the idle screen space of the mobile phone, Eureka provides an opportunity for brands to engage with their customers.

    Built on the back of proprietary technology, Eureka works with both telecom operators and brands. For subscribers that opt to download and continue using Eureka, the service offers a one-time cash reward for early subscribers, along with continued cool deals, and relevant content. Headquartered in the UK, Eureka has offices in London and Mumbai.

    Meanwhile for brands, the opportunity lies in better utilisation of their advertising spend, more transparency and greater assurance.

    Eureka Mobile Advertising founder and CEO Rahul S Jayawant said, “With the kind of power that the mobile phone wields, it has become the single most important tool for marketers all over the world. With our pilot launch completed in India over the last one month, we have seen overwhelming enthusiasm for our service. Going forward, we will expand our services to more geographies and telecom operators as well as mobile operators. Over the next 12 months, we aim to be present in multiple markets across the world. We see immense potential in this technology, and are excited about the opportunities that it presents.”

    According to Berg Insight, a global telecom research firm, the global market for mobile ads is likely to grow at about 37 per cent every year to $ 22 billion in 2016, from the $ 3.4 billion in 2010. This is likely to increase the share of mobile marketing in overall advertising from 3.8 per cent to 15.2 per cent.

  • Tata Elxsi introduces consulting services for M&E industry

    Tata Elxsi introduces consulting services for M&E industry

    MUMBAI: Global technology and engineering services provider Tata Elxsi has announced the launch of Strategy & Technology Consulting services (S&TC) for the Media & Entertainment industry.

    The bouquet of consulting services is directed towards Multi System Operators (MSOs), Broadcasters and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) facing challenges related to growth, expansion and technology in both mature and emerging markets, including US, Europe, Latin America and India.

    Tata Elxsi offers its experience in devising and improving customer-centric strategies to increase reach, engagement and monetisation, technology-led strategies to help clients identify, evaluate and deploy cutting-edge B2C technologies and operational aspects to help improve service delivery and quality.

    Tata Elxsi‘s VP and Head-Broadcast Business Unit M Thangarajan said, “Our customers face different and constantly evolving priorities and challenges across geographies. For example, government driven digital switchover policies in countries such as Brazil, India and Mexico present great opportunities as well as challenges for operators, including the choice of adopting technology in a phased manner versus leapfrogging, and related aspects of deployment and operations. The expertise and insight we have developed in mature markets will help us provide the right solutions and strategies for such customers.”

    Tata Elxsi has over 15 years of specialised and global experience in working with leading MSOs, Broadcasters, OEMs, platform and software vendors, supporting their technology, product and services roadmaps.

  • Broadcasting is going through a period of change: BBC Trust chairman Lyons

    Broadcasting is going through a period of change: BBC Trust chairman Lyons

    MUMBAI: The media industries in general, and broadcasting in particular, are going through an extraordinary period of change where the EU regulatory framework has served audiences well. But this is a timely moment to ask whether it remains appropriate for the new world of digital convergence and on-demand services, into which everyone is moving at an extreme speed.

    This point was rasied by BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons at the EU conference in Strasbourg. He emphasized upon the fact that the BBC is more than simply a broadcaster.

    “It is expected to fulfil public purposes that go well beyond the provision of high quality television and radio programmes and online content,” Lyons said.

    “These public purposes are set out in some detail in the new BBC Charter, in effect its constitution, which was put in place 18 months ago. The public purposes range from sustaining citizenship and civil society, through promoting education and learning and stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, to representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, and bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK. The BBC is also tasked with delivering to audiences the benefits of emerging communications, technologies and services,” he added.

    Lyons explained that the BBC can only deliver these high public purposes if it remains independent.

    “The public purpose of ‘sustaining citizenship’, for example, implies the provision of high quality impartial coverage of news and current affairs. This is the essential fuel of an informed democracy; and impartiality in news provision cannot be sustained without full editorial independence. The independence of the BBC is guaranteed by the Charter and this includes independence from government. Of course government has a role, but that role is closely defined. It is to set the Charter (there is a new Charter every 10 years or so) and to set the formula that defines the licence fee for the Charter period,” elaborated Lyons.

    However, Lyons believes that oversight of the BBC is carried out not by government, or by Parliament, but by the BBC Trust and hence one of the key roles of the Trust would be to defend the independence of the BBC from undue pressure from any quarter.

    In terms of the things that the BBC Trust has been doing, he said that it had challenged the BBC executive to do much more to ensure that BBC responds appropriately to the needs of all audiences in the UK. “We have supported plans to move very significant amounts of production and control of airtime out of London. Our aim is that by the end of the Charter period in 2016 around 50 per cent of BBC production should take place outside London.”

    “We have also prompted the Executive to make significant changes in BBC journalism to ensure that our news gives a truer and more accurate picture of life throughout the UK, and fully reflects the fact that powers have been devolved from Westminster to new legislative bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Taken together, these changes are taking the BBC in a new direction – a direction set by its audiences, and mediated by the Trust as the representative of those audiences,” Lyon stated.

    He added that a similar journey had begun in regard to the relationship between the BBC and other organisations active in the UK media market. He also conceded that this relationship would never be a completely easy one.

    This is because there will always be areas of direct competition between what the BBC provides and what the market supplies. Convergence and market changes are bringing new areas of competition as both public and private providers seek to make the most of the opportunities created by the digital revolution.

    “On this general issue, our fundamental position as trustees, representing the interest of audiences, is this: audiences clearly like wide choice in their media diet and deserve to get the benefits of competition and innovation, so the BBC must not use its market power in a way that restricts audience choice; and we have the power to ensure this happens… the power to approve new BBC services used to lie with government. But under the new charter, it rests with us. This is a significant strengthening of the independence of the BBC.”

  • E&Y expands marketing & advertising risk services with media audit unit

    MUMBAI: Ernst & Young LLP, has expanded its marketing and advertising risk services (MARS) practice through the launch of its media performance auditing unit.

    An official statement issued by the company states that with the establishment of the unit, Ernst & Young will offer a holistic approach to managing risk in marketing and advertising initiatives by providing advertisers with an objective, independent review of media delivery performance, agency contracts and compliance, review of advertiser business processes and related controls all under one roof.

    According to Ernst & Young LLP, MARS practice global director Kenneth Fakler, Ernst & Young created this service after recognizing the need that advertisers have for an independent verification of their media spend and understanding that there are many risks involved, including compliance risk, operational and financial risk and strategic risk. While media performance audits are common in Europe, they have become increasingly prevalent in the United States.

    “Unlike the Super Bowl, where there is no question whether an advertiser’s ad ran because almost everyone is watching, the majority of advertising, whether broadcast, print, or online, doesn’t typically have that kind of universal exposure. Therefore, advertisers may not know if their ad ran, ran correctly, and if the advertiser received the value it paid for,” said Fakler.

    “Media and advertising spend can account for significant direct costs for a company. We already perform agency contract compliance and process and control reviews for our advertiser clients, so it was important that we also include one of the biggest areas of marketing spend and risk — media performance auditing — to our service offering. Now an advertiser can come to our firm to get a comprehensive media audit that can help determine operational effectiveness and mitigate the risks involved.”

    The MARS practice is made up of a network of professionals with experience in the marketing communications industry and related financial and operational processes, including: marketing and advertising finance, agency operations, creative production, media buying, promotions, project management, sponsorship, public relations, branded entertainment and talent. The practice has a global reach with a presence in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, adds the release.