Balasubramanium V quits as Global CEO of Meritus
After being with the WPP Group for 14 years, Balasubramanium V, Global CEO of Meritus, has put in his papers.
Date-wise News
International: Forecast for '08 Is OK, but Only Online Shines
ZenithOptimedia's 6.7% Global Growth Prediction Inflated by Presidential Election, Olympics, Soccer
Overview of advertising on magazines in Jan-Sept 2007: AdEx study
Advertising on magazines rose by 55 per cent in Jan-Sept 2007, as compared to Jan-Sept 2006. Women and current affairs magazines had the maximum genre advertising shares, while fashion and lifestyle was the fastest growing genre in Jan-Sept 2007, as compared to last three years. Most advertising was done on monthly magazines, while an advertising ratio of 70:30 was seen among English and regional magazines.
Indian Franchising and Retailing Summit: ‘Trust in the brand is the most important factor’
The burgeoning franchise and retail industry in India was brought under the scanner at the Indian Franchising and Retailing Summit. Organised jointly by the Franchising Association of India and Franchise Plus, the two-day Summit looked in detail the various issues regarding the industry, new emerging formats and branding, among other topics.
Grey Worldwide’s Shikhar Mohan youngest jury member at New York Festivals
Shikhar Mohan, Creative Group Head at Grey Worldwide India, has been appointed as a jury member of New York Festivals (NYF), and is the youngest of the jury.
eBay India launches its first ever TV campaign; says online shopping is cool
eBay India has unveiled its first ever TV advertising campaign comprising three 20-second TVCs which communicate that online shopping is not only exciting and cool but also a smarter way to shop.
Social networking in India: Ad spends remain low, but future looks promising
Social networking has been gaining tremendous popularity in India with social networking site Orkut even being declared the Pepsi-MTV youth icon for 2007. However, despite growing number of users, advertising spends on social networking sites in India remain low. But experts see this scenario changing in time.
Zoomtra.com uses Google Gadget Ads feature to reduce customer acquisition costs
Zoomtra.com is the first Google advertiser in India to use the new Google Gadget Ads feature, which are customised ‘mini-sites’ that run as ads on AdSense publisher websites. These ads, deemed to be interactive and engaging, provide value to advertisers, while simultaneously getting visitors to stick around their mini-sites.
INX Media too attempts transparency with online ad selling
INX Media has undertaken an innovative ad selling mode by creating special online packages and printing its rate card on its website, Inxnetwork.in. The core idea is to induce transparency, but at the same time, INX officials inform that this also allows the channel to encourage entry level advertisers. The initiative looks like an evolved version of what STAR India attempted in 2005.
Vijay TV continues to ride the Rajnikanth wave with the actor’s birthday
To celebrate the birthday of actor Rajnikanth, which falls on December 12, Vijay TV has lined up a lot of activities, and will air a special show ‘Mannadhi Mannan’ from December 3-13, Monday to Thursday, at 10 pm.
All India PR Conference returns to Chennai after 14 years
Chennai chapter of Public Relations Society of India will play host to the 29th All India Public Relations Conference. To be held on December 13-15, the Conference will see the participation of over 250 PR practitioners from all over the country. The core focus would be on ‘Public Relations and Infrastructure Development in India’.
Kerala gets its first private FM radio station with Radio Mango going on air
Last week, Kerala woke up to its first private FM radio station with Radio Mango launching in Kozhikode. This was the only station to begin its operations in the previous week across the country.
Adobe and Yahoo! unveil new advertising service for PDF publishers
Adobe Systems Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. have announced the launch of their new advertising service for Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) publishers. The beta programme is an opt-in service that enables online commercial publishers to drive new revenue by including timely, contextual ads next to Adobe PDF-based content.
International: Dell picks WPP for $4.5 billion marketing account
WPP has triumphed over IPG in the seven-month holding-company shootout for Dell's highly sought-after, 3-year, $4.5 billion account and will be tasked to build a new agency staffed by 1,000-plus to serve the computer-maker's global marketing needs.
HT Media makes key senior appointments
Hindustan Times Media Ltd has recently made two key appointments. Vivek Khanna has joined as Head-Business Excellence, while MS Venkatraman has joined as Chief Financial Officer-HTML. Both will report to CEO Rajiv Verma.
Daniela Krautsack, Managing Director, Magic Moments,
"At the moment, we are seeing a dramatic technological change. We are also now inviting consumers to interact more with the banners and hoardings through infrared and Bluetooth applications; touch screens and LED screens. That is surely a great move towards creating a personal relationship with the consumer. In future, outdoor creatives have to be extremely creative for breaking the clutter. There will be diverse forms of billboards, and advertisers can practically advertise everywhere."