Manoj Jacob, Creative Director at Orchard Advertising on the Air Deccan account, has moved to Contract, Chennai, as Creative Director, after a three-year stint. With an experience of 10 years, he began his career with Disha in 1996. Then he joined O&M, from where he moved to McCann Erickson. His next stop was SSC&B Lintas, which was followed by a stint with Euro RSCG.
Pradeep Bali has joined as Head – Corporate Sales, at Radio Indigo Bangalore. This follows his six-month stint with the India Today Group as Regional Manager (South), handling Sales, Marketing, Events and Sponsorship for Reader’s Digest. He has previously been with The Times of India in Bangalore for three years, prior to which he has worked with the Indian Express and Spice Telecom.
Prathap R Nath, DNA’s General Manager-South, has been elevated as VP-North recently. Nath will assume his new role from the first week of October. He joined DNA in July 2005 and was primarily looking after markets like Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. He began his career with The Times of India, Hyderabad, wherein he was in the Response department. After that he moved to Modi Xerox Group and spent around 6-7 years in Sales & Marketing. Nath had a second innings with TOI Bangalore, putting close to seven years before moving to DNA.
Reader’s Digest, one of the fastest growing and second largest English magazines, has appointed Eric D’souza as General Manager & IMPACT Head, West. He is a media veteran with 26 years’ experience in the media space and has worked with Stardust and Dainik Bhaskar. Reader’s Digest has also appointed Rakesh Dewan as Regional Manager – North. He has an experience of over 16 years and has worked with EDIT and Hindustan Times.
Sangeeta Pendurkar, Chief Marketing Officer, HSBC India, is moving to Dubai to take over her new assignment as CMO of HSBC in the Middle East. In this new role, she will be responsible for marketing for the Middle East and Africa region. Pendurkar joined HSBC India in November 2003 and has been responsible for product development and brand building for the bank. Prior to HSBC, she headed marketing businesses at Hindustan Lever for brands such as Fair & Lovely, Ponds, Lakme and Vaseline.
Indians have one more reason to say ‘cheers’ this festive season with the launch of the unusually named Shark Tooth vodka. Launched by Diageo, which has well-known brands like Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys and Vat 69 in its kitty, Shark Tooth marks the premium drinks company’s foray into the prestige Vodka segment in India.
Active International, a global leader in corporate trade, has formed a joint venture with AerenR Enterprises to foray into India. The JV company, Active International India, will bring the innovative and globally proven business model of corporate trade to the Indian marketplace.
In order to make science popular, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Geographic Channel are jointly presenting ‘Science Safari’, which will premiere on NGC on September 26 at 9:00 pm. The special film will be also telecast on Doordarshan.
Mediascope Publicitas, an international media representation house, has joined hands with Edipresse to represent the Asian Tatler magazines, which comprise Hong Kong Tatler, Beijing Tatler, Korea Tatler, Singapore Tatler, Shanghai Tatler, Philippines Tatler, Malaysia Tatler, Thailand Tatler and Indonesia Tatler.
Silk-n-Shine, a post-wash hair conditioner from Marico, is unveiling a new campaign targeting the modern-day young working woman from September end. With Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador, the campaign will be carried out extensively on TV along with some presence in print.
Tata Teleservices Ltd has chalked out an aggressive growth path to increase its retail presence across India. The company will invest Rs 80-100 crore to increase the number of its outlets from 2,700 to 3,500. The telecom service provider has also entered the Limca Book of Records for inaugurating 100 True Value Shoppes in a single day.
The Boys in Blue might have put up a disappointing show at the ongoing Malaysia Tri-Series, but Pepsi is out to lift their spirits with its ‘Blue Billion’ campaign. The initiative seeks to bind Pepsi with cricket fans across India and acknowledge the role that each fan plays in wishing the Indian team well.
Ogilvy & Mather on Friday announced that Piyush Pandey, Chairman and National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather India, has been nominated on the Ogilvy Worldwide Board.
A Narasimhan, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Lanco Group, has been elected as President of the Advertising Club, Hyderabad for 2006-07. Narasimhan has been a member of the Ad Club and has served as Vice-President (thrice), as well as member of the organising committee of ADSCAN ’98.
Ten Sports has been able to maintain its lead among sports channels, outperforming all other sports channels in terms of viewership, as per the TAM viewership data for the period July 29, 2006 to August 19, 2006.
Zee Telugu has plans to spread some stardust to spruce up its festive offering. The channel has lined up several interesting programmes besides blockbusters such as ‘Adirindayya Chandram’, ‘Maha Nandi’ and ‘Pathala Bhairavudu’ as part of its Dussehra offering.
The first day of the India Brand Summit 2006 culminated with DAKS Awards for Brand Excellence. Sameer Nair, CEO, STAR Entertainment, India was the Chairman of the IBS 2006. The Campaign of the Year was won by Lowe’s ‘Daag Achhe Hain’ campaign for Surf Excel, while the Agency of the Year was MindShare.
The second half of the first day of the two-day India Brand Summit being held in Mumbai concentrated on the changes in media space and the emergence of new ways of connecting to the consumer.
The two-day India Brand Summit kicked off in Mumbai on September 22, 2006 and Day One saw participation from the who’s who of the industry. The morning session delved on evolving marketing strategies and the growing Brand India.