ITV

Tag: Titan

  • Dentsu acquires digital agency Webchutney from Network18

    Dentsu acquires digital agency Webchutney from Network18

    MUMBAI: It‘s cashing out on its investment. Media conglomerate Network18 today announced that it was finally divesting its equity holding in digital marketing agency Webchutney to Japanese ad giant, Dentsu. The latter had been circling Webchutney, ogling it as an acquisition for nearly a year. Founded in 1999, Webchutney will reportedly be Dentsu‘s first local acquisition in the digital agency space.

    Network18 had acquired a majority stake in Webchutney through its venture capital arm Capital18 in November 2007 and it says it has managed to get a 300 per cent return on its investment through the current transaction.

    Webchutney, a leading interactive marketing and technology services agency, reported a net profit of Rs 6.35 crore in the financial year 2011-2012 on revenues of Rs 21.55 crore, according to media reports. It boasts a healthy clientele including Airtel, Microsoft, Unilever, Marico, Titan, MasterCard, Barclay‘s, Procter & Gamble among many others, and ranks among the top digital agencies in India.

    Its full suite of digital offerings includes online advertising, web designing and development, search engine marketing and social media consulting. Its award winning teams are spread across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and consists of over 200 professionals.

    Network18‘s 80 per cent Webchutney stake is bifurcated between Capital18 Mauritius which holds 49.42 per cent and Capital18 Fincap which has a 20.64 per cent.

    Commenting on the transaction, Network18 MD Raghav Bahl says: “The divestiture of Webchutney, is a reflection of our commitment to profitably monetise our investment portfolio for the benefit of our shareholders and to also facilitate the growth of these businesses to the next level. We would like to convey our best wishes to the Webchutney team as they embark on the next phase of their journey.”

    Webchutney co-founder and CEO Sidharth Rao says: “I am personally grateful to Sarbvir Singh who has been my mentor for the past five years and his team at Capital18 for ensuring that we shared a wonderful journey together. In Dentsu and Rohit Ohri, we have found a partner who is willing to invest in and cultivate our passion to provide path breaking digital creative services to our clients.”

     

    Dentsu India group executive chairman Rohit Ohri along with Webchutney co-founders Sidharth Rao (L) and Sudesh Samaria (R)

     

    Dentsu India group executive chairman Rohit Ohri opined that he is delighted to have India‘s No 1 digital agency as a part of the Dentsu India group. He explains: “We’re now going to be able to put world-class digital solutions in the centre of our offering to our clients.”

    Now that could be music to anyone‘s ears.

  • Titan joins hands with Marvel to launch Iron Man 3 Watches

    BENGALURU: Zoop, the children’s brand of watches from Titan Industries Limited, has joined hands with Marvel Comics Group. With this collaboration Zoop will launch Iron Man 3 collection that is inspired by the popular character in the Marvel Studio feature.

    Speaking about the association, Titan & Retail, VP, Ajoy Chawla said, “To connect with kids it’s important to be a part of their world. Zoop’s proposition ‘Be Cool’, its many exciting collections and this latest association with Marvel is an attempt to be true to this philosophy. This unique association with global brands like Marvel will present to our little consumers a range of exciting products that are inspired by their favourite Superheroes.”

    “Iron Man, one of Marvel‘s most iconic characters resonates with families and the kids’ audiences alike. This year, to bring the theatrical experience alive, we have launched an exciting range of products inspired by Iron Man and giving the India fans an amazing opportunity to own products that features their favourite Super Hero”, said Disney UTV, Consumer Products and Retail, MD, Roshini Bakshi.

    Zoop looks to take advantage of the new Iron Man release and hopes this would attract the kids to grab this opportunity of owning this new range. The collection priced at Rs 895 comprises of eight special edition watches for young boys and girls, in bold colours of red, blue & yellow.

  • AdNear raises Rs 350 mn from Sequoia and Canaan Partners

    MUMBAI: Location-based mobile advertising platform AdNear raised Rs 350 million ($6.3 million) from Sequoia Capital and Canaan Partners in the first round of early-stage venture funding. The company leverages real-time geo-location, combined with consumer behaviour, to target relevant users.

    The company intends to utilise the funds raised towards expanding its operations in the Asia Pacific region. AdNear is also looking at expanding its team. Currently, the company services clients across the Asia Pacific region including Australia apart from India and Singapore. AdNear has offices in Singapore and Bangalore.

    AdNear was set up in 2009 by Anil Mathews and has offices in Singapore and Bengaluru. It was earlier called Imere Technologies. AdNear‘s ad platform is built on proprietary hybrid geo-location platform, which helps provide location awareness on mobile phones without GPS or operator assistance. Its clients include brands like Titan, Ford, Toyota, Pizza Hut, Samsung, Airtel and Nokia.

    By leveraging real-time geo-location and combining it with consumer behaviour, the platform allows brands to target relevant users within a geo-fence. This allows them to reach out to a larger audience making the communication more geographically relevant for the advertiser and the consumer. The ad platform is available on smart phones and feature phones.

    Canaan‘s current technology investments in India include Naaptol, BharatMatrimony and UnitedLex and Sequoia has invested in companies like Café Coffee Day, Idea Cellular, Just Dial, Manappuram Finance, Paras, Quick Heal, Micromax, Mu Sigma and Vasan Health Care.

  • Titan plans ad spends of Rs 70 mn over two months

    Titan plans ad spends of Rs 70 mn over two months

    BENGALURU: Indian watch major Titan Industries Limited plans to spend around Rs 70 million over the next two months on its watch brands towards mass media and ATL activities. These spends don‘t include ad spends on its Fastrack, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata watch brands and also exclude ad spends on its jewelry brand Tanishq.

    “These spends will be over the festival season with a slight spillover into the wedding season in November,” revealed Titan‘s Global Biz Limited Vice President Ajay Chawla to www.indiantelevision.com in Bengaluru.

    Chawla was at a press conference to announce the launch of a new Edge 2012 premium segment collection by Titan. “We‘ll be spending around Rs. 25 million on the Edge collection during this period-this will be mainly print and outdoor with a bit of online in the case,” added Chawla.

    Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna unveiled the ‘Edge” collection. Titan‘s TVC on the Raaga collection with brand ambassador Katrina kaif are already on air.

    Overall Titan spent around Rs 650 million last year towards marketing on all its other brands excluding the Fastrack, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata and Tanishq barnds. “Typically mass media spends would be around 55-60 percent of the overall spends, and we spent around 20-22 percent of this money during the festival season last year,” added Chawla further.

    Speaking on the launch of the ‘Edge‘ collection, Titan Chief Executive Officer – Watches and Accessories Division, H.G. Raghunath, said: “When we launched the Titan Edge back in 2002 , it was the first time ever that an Indian watch company pushed the boundaries to design and manufacture indigenously the slimmest watch , thereby gaining an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records . Ten years later , the new generation EDGE 2012, is lighter than ever before at 36 grams, by using a skeletal structure encased in Titanium- a new age material used in aircraft and spacecraft.”

    Creative duties for the Titan Edge are being handled by Ogilvy and mass media communications by GroupM‘s Maxus.

  • Titan’s Zoop launches ‘Madagascar 3’ collection

    MUMBAI: Zoop, the children‘s brand of watches from Titan, has launched the Madagascar 3 collection inspired by the characters in the new DreamWorks Animation SKG feature, ‘Madagascar 3: Europe‘s Most Wanted‘.

    The collection comprises 20 watches for young boys and girls, inspired by Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, the Penguins and the Monkeys.

    Titan senior manager marketing Somprabh Singh said, “The Madagascar movie franchise is very popular among children across all age groups. All the characters in â€?Madagascar 3: Europe‘s Most Wanted‘ are very lively, adventurous and lovable in nature. The collection from ZOOP personifies the adventurous and funny personas of these characters, giving kids a chance to carry their favorite character with them at all times.”

    The watches come in colors such as eclectic blue, red and pink, and are priced attractively between Rs 395 and Rs 695. The dials are inspired by various facets of the characters while the straps come in colors made of non-abrasive material.

    The deal was put together by DreamWorks Animation‘s licensing agent in India Dream Theatre. The previous collections launched by Titan Zoop in association with DreamWorks Animation include the Puss in Boots and Shrek collections.

    Dream Theatre CEO, founder Jiggy George said, “We are delighted to work with Titan, the leader for watches in India and look forward to a stunning range of watches that engage, entertain and connect with audiences”.

  • Virurl raises $1.2 mn in seed financing

    MUMBAI: Viral advertising platform Virurl announced the closing of a $1.2 million seed funding round and launch of its public beta.

    The financing was led by Tice Capital LLC, a Dallas investment company focusing on the technology and media categories, and Los Angeles Syndicate of Technology.

    The platform allows brands and media owners to instantly launch viral campaigns by incentivising Web users to share links with their friends.

    MSNBC.com’s founding director Merrill Brownwill be joining Virurl as its chairman. Brown is a New York-based consultant and advisor. He has helped launch numerous early stage ventures and is advisor to various companies in the advertising, marketing and digital media fields.

    Brown said, “Virurl users have already delivered more than 1.7 million clicks to media across the web while collecting over $20,000 in earnings for themselves. With our seed financing closed, we look forward to continuing our rapid growth while investing in tools to help give publishers, brands and entrepreneurs an opportunity to quickly syndicate their content on the Web.”

    Additionally, Virurl has also roped in diverdified media and entertainment company Indomitable Entertainment to help out in developing strategic partnerships and engaging customers and clients. As a result, the entertainment firm’s CEO Dominic Ianno will join the board while its digital media head Boyd Bishop will work closely with Virurl on its business development efforts.

    Virurl CEO and co-founder Francisco Diaz-Mitoma said, “We know that people are social, and that the Web is social, so it makes sense that ads should be social as well. The holy grail for brand advertisers is having a piece of their content go viral — it really is about peer-to-peer sharing and with Virurl, we‘ve created an online marketplace that makes that possible in under 60 seconds.”

    Indomitable Entertainment head of corporate development Mathew Guliner said, “We believe Virurl has a unique and effective vision for viral marketing that will significantly impact advertising and web analytics. In the past few years, we have seen how peer-to-peer sharing is vital for a brand‘s success in the marketplace, and as a result, we are firm believers that Virurl will ultimately alter the future of advertising both domestically and internationally.”

    Virurl was founded by Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, who also founded the social gaming company Titan Gaming (now Playsino), and web entrepreneur Tim Symington. It is an online marketplace that allows brands to create instant viral marketing and advertising campaigns on the web. The platform enables marketers to launch global viral campaigns by compensating Internet users to share videos, articles, music, promotional material and other media with their friends via digital formats such as email, or social networks.

    Virurl launched their alpha version in late 2011 and currently serves more than 40,000 registered users enabling brands to leverage web users to begin the online social sharing process.

  • Katrina Kaif is Titan Raga brand ambassador

    Katrina Kaif is Titan Raga brand ambassador

    BANGALORE: Indian watches brand Titan Industries Limited (Titan) has roped in Bollywood diva Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador for its exclusive women’s watch brand, Titan Raga.

    Said VP and global business head-Titan & Retail, Ajoy Chawla,” “Driven by continuous launch of new designs and collections, Raga has witnessed a 27% CAGR in the last 5 years and will be a Rs.400 crs brand this year! However, the potential in the women’s segment is still huge as watch penetration even amongst SEC A/B women is still very low. A brand ambassador will help to make the watch a desirable accessory amongst women.”

    As a brand ambassador of Titan Raga, the renowned actress will play a key role in shaping brand communication on television, print, outdoor and other media.

    Amongst the other Bollywood celebrities, Kaif joins Rani Mukherjee who was a brand ambassador for Titan Raga in 2006 and Aamir Khan who has been a brand ambassador since 2008 for the refurbished Titan brand identity.

  • Titan assigns its digital duties to 22feet

    Titan assigns its digital duties to 22feet

    MUMBAI: Titan has assigned its digital duties to 22feet, an independent digital solutions provider.

    The mandate was awarded following a multi-agency pitch. 
     
    22feet managing partner Vineet Gupta said that the agency will be setting up a dedicated hub that will work with Titan. This will be done to make sure that the brand has a strong web presence and the products get a smooth rollout across India and international markets.

    The hub will be led by 22feet business lead Ramraaj Raghunathan. This is aimed to give the brand flexibility and localise it to be relevant across all its international markets.