Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of chipmaker Intel, has appointed Sudheer Kuppam as MD for India, Japan, Australia and South-East Asia. Kuppam will be based in Bangalore and will be responsible for leading Intel Capital's investment strategies and expansion plans in India. He will report to Arvind Sodhani, President, Intel Capital.
STAR has appointed Jason Siu as General Manager of STAR Taiwan. He will come on board from May 1, 2007. Siu will be reporting to STAR CEO, Paul Aiello, and will lead STAR’s broadcasting operations in Taiwan. Siu has been General Manager, Chinese Programming, STAR, in charge of the development of STAR Taiwan’s television programming since March last year. Siu has more than 15 years of experience in the movie and television industry.
Subhrangshu Neogi has joined Religare as AVP/Head Brand Communication and PR. He will manage all aspects of brand management, communications and PR. Neogi has more than a decade of brand and marketing experience across categories such as FMCG, telecom and media, having been associated with companies like Dabur, Reebok, Data Access (now ISP), and The Times of India.
Radhika Shapoorjee has joined IPAN as Vice-President for Strategic Planning and Corporate Initiatives. She has moved from Genesis Burson-Marsteller, where she was part of the executive committee as Chief Quality Officer. Shapoorjee had worked with FCB Ulka before switching to public relations. She has also dabbled in film-making for a short while.
Ajay Nambiar, Head of Content team at Yahoo! India, has put in his papers six months after joining the organization. His next destination is not yet known. Aparna Pujar, earlier the Business Director in the media division at Yahoo! India, would be replacing Nambiar. The Head of Entertainment, Niyati Sen Gupta, has also quit.
While there are obvious caveats with any measure of Internet audience—the FIM number includes properties besides MySpace, and Yahoo has some social-networking sites—the numbers show where the prevailing traffic winds are blowing. They are going in the direction of properties that allow users to connect with other users and create their own content. For advertisers and media buyers, the next step should be to simply follow the eyeballs and soon a proportionate number of ad dollars will flow toward MySpace and its competitors.
The 57-year-old Dabur Amla hair oil has given itself a face-lift with Rani Mukherjee now gracing its new-look bottles.
Motown's top-gear run may slow down by 50% in the new financial year and the first signs are already visible in March. According to top auto financiers, the new fiscal should see car sales slowing down to 12-15% from the current trot of well over 20% as the interest increase and price mark-ups pinch auto demand.
Modi Revlon plans to take on Garnier, the mass hair colour market leader, with the launch of its mass brand, Color N Care. While this would be Revlon's first India-specific brand, it would also mark a detour from Revlon's premium positioning.
Arrow International Pvt. Ltd has signed legendary athlete PT Usha to promote Okaya brand of batteries for a period of three years. Arrow International is the promoter and manufacturer of Okaya Japanese Technology batteries in India.
Mythical India, a special edition published by the German Edition of the legendary worldwide National Geographic magazine, was launched recently at the International Tourism Fair 2007 that was held in Berlin recently. India was the official partner country for the fair this year.
Thums Up will storm its fans in Andhra Pradesh with the new ‘Taste The Thunder’ campaign with Telugu actor Mahesh Babu a part of the integrated marketing communication plan.
SaharaOne has announced a new reality show, ‘Biggest Loser Jeetega’. The show, which premieres in May 2007, will showcase the lives of 16 obese contestants and their journey to fitness. Actor Suniel Shetty will be the host.
OOH agency AD’s World has acquired an ISO certification, which comes as a part of the realignment within the company.
Public Relations Organisation International has entered into a partnership with Strategic Public Relations with offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Big 92.7 FM, Kolkata, offers its listeners a chance to perform live on air and win a chance to audition for the Indian Idol contest.
Media E2E has unveiled ZipAzap.com, a WAP TV programme guide. Viewers can keep track of their favourite programmes on the various TV channels available in the country.
Saraswat fills the position that was left vacant after Anant Pal Singh left the agency to join Dentsu Marcom. Incidentally, in January this year, Everest had made an announcement of Shruti Jain joining as the branch head, which did not materialise.
Gujarat Samachar and Lokmat have respectively topped the Gujarati and Marathi language papers this time round in the IRS, as both these language dailies have seen an overall drop in readership. exchange4media takes a look at some readership ratios in these two languages.
"The way the younger generation wants to interact with brands has changed. It has become increasingly a two-way process. Consumers no longer just believe everything that is said. They want a better understanding; consumers are becoming proactive. India is a prime example. The youth often ask questions such as how will it change my life?... Today, even marketers and advertisers realise that there is less finance to spend. Every dollar spent needs to be justified."