With the country in the grip of patriotic fervour this Republic Day, kids’ channels are out to celebrate the day with some ‘new age’ toon heroes. Nick will air non-stop adventures of Ninja Hattori from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm on January 26, while Cartoon Network will premier the animated movie ‘Ben 10, Secret of Omnitrix’ at 11.00 am.
Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative has won Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages' $150 million media account, following a review, the marketer said. Initiative beat out the incumbent, WPP Group's Mediaedge:cia, and Interpublic siblings Martin Agency and Mullen.
Teenage, or the angst-ridden age, is a difficult age, especially for girls. In order to address the concerns of teenage girls, Whisper, women’s personal hygiene brand, recently launched Beinggirl.in, an online interactive community for teen girls. The initiative was given a 360-degree touch through an All Girls party, which was organised by Zapak.com and Whisper’s Beinggirl.in on January 25, 2008.
My FM has unveiled its online portal, complete with podcasts of its radio shows. The website also includes some social media networking features, including a blog, and also allows listeners to send their song requests.
‘Gateway’, a reality TV show on filmmaking that will go on air on PIX soon, has tied up with Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International for shooting this 12-episode series in the campus of Whistling Woods.
Delhi Management Association and All India Management Association jointly sought to understand and reveal ‘The Changing Face of Marketing’. The day-long summit was held in Delhi on January 25, 2008.
A study titled ‘The Rising CCO’ identifies a strong correlation between a company’s corporate communications organisation and the company’s ranking on Fortune magazine’s ‘World’s Most Admired Companies’ list. Corporate communications officers (CCOs) in world’s most admired companies have longer tenures, fewer rivals and report to the CEO.
Neo Sports Plus, the all sports channel from Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd, has announced an agreement with PGA Tour for broadcasting the US leg of the PGA Tour in the Indian Sub-continent for 2008 and 2009. The live telecast of the PGA Tour on Neo Sports Plus commenced on January 24, 2008 with the Buick Invitational.
Sandeep Madan has been appointed as Executive Vice-President, Rediffusion DYR. Madan, who will be heading the Delhi operations, replaces Ramesh Srivats, who had recently put in his papers as Executive VP and Managing Partner at Rediffusion DYR Delhi.
O&M has bagged the creative account of the Indian Premier League (IPL) following a multi-agency pitch. It is learnt that the other agencies in the fray were JWT and Leo Burnett. The account size is estimated to be upwards of Rs 25 crore. As is known, the media mandate of the business was recently awarded to GroupM.
Microsoft India has appointed Maya Hari as Head of Consumer Marketing. This appointment is part of Microsoft India’s continued focus on new initiatives for consumers in India. Hari will report to Jaspreet Bindra, India Country Manager, Online Services, Microsoft India.
In a bid to reposition itself, MetLife has launched a new ad campaign, which primarily uses television media. The new brand communication, designed by McCann Erickson, strives to Indianise MetLife’s brand positioning as a life insurance player that offers ‘Peace of mind guaranteed’ as the key proposition to its customers.
Jump Games, the game development division of Reliance ADA Group, has entered into a strategic partnership with premiere English football club Manchester United. Officials cite this to be a multi-million dollar deal, claiming the valuation to be higher than the recently announced IPL bid amounts.
The much awaited Padma Awards for 2008 have been announced. Three well-known media personalities figure in this year’s Padma Shri awardees’ list – Rajdeep Sardesai (GBN), Vinod Dua and Barkha Dutt (both NDTV).
India TV and its CEO, Chintamani Rao, have decided to part ways. When contacted, India TV Chairman, Rajat Sharma, thanked Rao for his contribution. On his part, Rao, an advertising veteran of more than three decades before he joined India TV, said that he had fond associations of his two years with Sharma and the news television genre.