Nick is back with its Nick Fundoo Superstar initiative following its success last summer. While last year Mona ‘Jassi’ Singh shook a leg with the Fundoo kids, this year Mandira Bedi is set to groove with four Fundoo kids for the music video. Well-known Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan will make Bedi and the kids dance to her tunes.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Microsoft is pushing for regulation of the data that online companies collect for marketing purposes, leaving rivals angry and perplexed.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- TNS, one of the industry's top research providers, rejected an unsolicited $1.87 billion takeover bid this weekend from ad holding company WPP. The bid came only days after London-based TNS announced a proposed merger with German research company GfK, which would make it the world's second-largest information group by revenue, according to TNS.
Public Relations Consultants Association of India elected its new Managing Committee for 2008-09 at an annual general body meeting held in Delhi recently. Deepshikha Dharmaraj has been elected President, while Chetan Mahajan and Sharif Rangnekar have been elected Vice-President and Secretary, respectively, of the new body.
Sony India is further strengthening its position in India taking the high definition (HD) route. The consumer electronics giant has launched a host of HD-enabled products such as Cyber-Shot digital cameras, handycam camcorders and digital photo printers in the country, along with initiatives to develop HD content.
Entertainment, media and communications company Percept Ltd has raised a private equity investment of Rs 62 crore from Indivision India Partners (Indivision), Mauritius. Percept had earlier received investments from Passport Capital and Edelweiss.
The winners’ list of the prestigious One Show 2008 awards is finally out. Out of a total of 15 Indian entries in the final round, O&M is the only agency to have won a Pencil. The agency has won a Bronze for its work ‘Stomach’ for client GlaxoSmithKline under the Posters - Campaign category. Other agencies that were in the finals at this year’s One Show awards are Rediffusion DYR, Leo Burnett, JWT and Meridian Communication.
V Murugan has quit Raj TV as Vice-President, Sales and Marketing after more than a decade-long association. He was responsible for handling the marketing of Group’s television channels, including Raj Digital Plus and Telugu channel Vissa TV.
Zee Kannada can look back with satisfaction at the two years that it has been in existence. The channel from the Essel Group is all set to celebrate its second anniversary on May 11, and has shown good growth in this short span of two years.
Sudha Sadhanand has been appointed as Programming Head for NGC Network channels in India – National Geographic Channel and The History Channel. She moves from Roli Books, where she was Managing Editor.
Raj Narain, one of the two co-founders of Brand Portrait, has parted ways with the agency in order to start his own outfit, called Optima Marketing Solutions. Venu Gopal Nair is the other co-founder of Brand Portrait. Narain is the Managing Director of Optima Marketing Solutions.
The afternoon sessions of NDTV Convergence’s New Media Congress, which was held in the Capital on May 8, dwelt on ‘Mass Media Internet Companies’ and ‘Branding, Marketing & Advertising Strategies’. The focus was on New Media and how developments within the digital media were stimulating other industry sectors to change their business models.
NDTV Convergence held the first edition of its New Media Congress in the Capital on May 8. Besides bringing together some of the best minds in the Internet and mobile domain under one roof, the Summit also highlighted the opportunities, challenges and the road ahead for India in the digital world. exchange4media.com and Livemint.com are the media partners for the Summit.
Abheek Barman, Senior Editor at NDTV Profit, has put in his papers after a three-year stint. According to sources close to the development, he is joining the proposed ET (Economic Times) business channel from Times Global Broadcasting Co Ltd that runs the Times Now channel. The sources aver that Barman will head the channel as Consulting Editor.
CNN International is looking at more strategic growth in India in terms of drawing partnerships. Jonathan Davies, Executive Vice President, CNN International, and William Hsu, Vice-President, News Advertising Sales in Asia Pacific, CNN, were in India recently and share some of CNN’s plans with exchange4media.
Following the release of IRS 2008 Round 1 survey report, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh based Hindi daily NaiDunia has issued a legal notice to Media Research Users Council (MRUC) that conducts this survey, challenging the findings of the survey. MRUC is yet to revert on this notice.
Zee News has unveiled its new positioning with the focus on ‘bringing life to Hindi journalism on television’. From the earlier tagline of ‘Haqeeqat Jaisi Khabar Vaisi’, the channel has now progressed to a more contemplative mode with ‘Zara Sochiye’. The channels also sports a new look from May 8.
Arun Shaw has joined Comma Consulting as National Media Services Director. He will be based in Comma’s Delhi office and provide critical inputs in developing media strategies for all Comma clients. He was earlier with IPAN. Shaw has over 15 years’ experience in media services management during which he has worked with prestigious names like STAR TV, Microsoft, Rolls Royce, Cisco Systems, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Gulf Air, Delphi, Hyundai, Vertu, Reebok, ESPN, Monster, Citigroup and Turner India.
Citi India’s Global Consumer Group has announced the appointment of Sandeep Bhalla as Head of Credit Cards for Citibank India. A senior consumer financial services executive with a strong background in both consumer assets and retail businesses, Bhalla has been with the Citi Group for six years and has worked in the US in the Cards business, and in Asia across several consumer businesses. In his new role, Bhalla would be reporting to PS Jayakumar, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India.
Sachin Phansikar has joined Business Standard Mumbai as Vice President, Ad Sales. His last stint was with PepsiCo International, where he was General Manager, Market Development for the Northern region. At Business Standard, he would be based in Delhi for about six months from May 15 and then shift base to Mumbai. Phansikar has also worked with other organisations like Asian Paints, Zubair Electric and Siemens Ltd in various capacities. He has 16 years’ experience during which he has handled several significant international responsibilities with postings in Muscat, Fiji and Trinidad.