Lodestar Universal has started 2010 on a good note bagging three new businesses. These include Population Service International of India (PSI), Omron Healthcare and Verisign. The PSI business was bagged following a multi-agency pitch and the yearly spend is estimated at Rs 10 crore.
Adding fun and playfulness to the festival of Holi, Coca-Cola India is all set to launch an integrated communication programme for brand Fanta. The 360-degree initiative is supported by both above and below the line initiatives under the aegis of ‘Holi Hai! Toh Dikhao Apne Asli Rang’. O&M is the creative agency behind the campaign.
Mumbai-based creative and integrated brand communication agency Six Inches has taken creative offshoring to another level by bagging some large projects from East Africa and the Middle East. These include Kenyan IT company Craft Silicon and Klear, a packed water company in the Mid-East.
Kavita Bagga has joined SAB Miller as Head of National Key Account. She is responsible for SAB Miller’s forays in large format outlets, which are both image builders and volume drivers for the company. These include large format stores, hotels, and clubs, among others.
Allied Media, the media planning, evaluation and buying arm of Percept Ltd, has announced the appointment of Amol Mohandas as General Manager. He will be reporting to PM Balakrishna, Vice President, Allied Media, and will be responsible for all aspects of the Future Group media business. Prior to joining Allied Media, Mohandas was Proprietor at Weave Through Communications, an outfit into on-ground and digital activations. He has extensive expertise in the arena of media planning and buying. During his 10 years in the industry, Mohandas has also been associated with companies like MediaCom (Middle East), Starcom and Mindshare, which entailed handling clients across a vast spectrum of industries such as automobiles, consumer durables, retail, banking, FMCG, etc.
It’s Budget time again, and this year’s Union Budget presentation will be more keenly watched by a nation gradually emerging out of the slowdown pangs. exchange4media will be bringing a series of Budget related reports, including coverage plans by various media, industry expectations, key issues, etc. In the first of this series, we have business daily Mint and business news channels CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz sharing their Budget coverage plans.
Vdopia, a leading online and mobile video monetisation player, has announced the appointment of Debadutta Upadhyaya as Vice President, India. She would be reporting to Saurabh Bhatia, Chief Business Officer and Co-founder, Vdopia. Prior to joining Vdopia, Upadhyaya was Head of Sales Strategy at Yahoo! India. She spent almost six years with Yahoo! India and grew from her role as an Account Manager in 2004 to National Sales Head in 2008. Prior to Yahoo!, she was with Times Group for nearly eight years. She is a gold medalist in Literature, Journalism and Mass Communication.
Brought to India by Lodestar UM, the Magna Inflation Update captures media pricing trends in over 45 countries spanning the globe. The study reveals that media pricing will continue to impact advertising adversely in 2010 and ahead, especially in the emerging economies.
Adding to its offerings in the Indian media, advertising & marketing space, the exchange4media Group is all set to launch a Hindi news portal, samachar4media. The Group is targeting mid-February 2010 to launch the portal. samachar4media intends to fill the gap in the Indian media and advertising space of a serious Hindi language news website that brings all developments in the media and advertising space. The launch also marks the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Group’s flagship portal exchange4media.com.
The second phase of the IPL3 campaign is ready for launch on February 11, 2010. While there was no official confirmation on the revenue targets for Season 3, as per industry estimates MAX is eyeing over Rs 650 crore in ad revenues from this season. exchange4media finds out more on the IPL initiatives from Sneha Rajani, EVP and Business Head, MAX.
Mass media isn’t cost effective, but there are certain films for which you want to use outdoor more, but otherwise, it doesn’t pay off. Radio and online does well. We also have on-air spots on channels that have a similar target group. Most of the movie channels are not promoting their websites too much, but we are revamping our website and making it more interactive. The new website will be launched in the first week of February.