Mahua Lahiri has joined the ABP Group in Kolkata as Vice-President, HR, from January 2008. She has come in place of Biplob Bannerjee. Mahua has 15 years of experience, having worked in organisations like Dalmia Group, Apollo Tyres, and Shriram Group. Prior to joining ABP Group, she was heading the HR department at Sir Gangaram Hospital, Delhi.
Etihad Airways has appointed Neerja Bhatia as its new country manager for India. Bhatia joined Etihad Airways in November 2004 as Sales Manager for Western India, shortly after the Abu Dhabi-based airline launched its first flights to India – a daily service to Mumbai. She was appointed manager for Western and Southern India in December 2005 before becoming the airline's acting manager for India in mid-2007, helping oversee the launch of services to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
Devadeep Ghosh, Senior Executive, Public Relations, in the Emami Group, Kolkata, has quit. He is joining Airtel, Bihar & Jharkhand Circle, as Assistant Manager-Marketing (Internal Communications & PR). Prior to joining Emami in 2007, Ghosh was working as Senior Officer, Corporate Communications, Ispat Industries Ltd.
Sumeet Shinde has joined Buzzintown.com as Regional Manager (West) responsible for Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad. At Buzzintown.com, he will be reporting to Ajay Arora, Director-Sales & Marketing. Wortal Technologies has launched Buzzintown, an end-to-end events website that provides events listings, venue details, user-generated ratings and online ticket booking facilities. Prior to joining Buzzintown, he was heading the BTL division for Nimrod Media. With experience and expertise spanning over eleven years, Shinde has worked in places like Leading Brands of the World, Print House India, Croft Communication, Cigma Events and Blitzkrieg Events.
Tarun Tripathi, former Head of Marketing at Yash Raj Films (YRF), has joined MySpace.com as Director-Marketing and Content, for its India operations. The social networking site has launched its customised Indian version that is currently in Beta stage. Tripathi will report to Myspace.com Vice President-Asia, Sung Lee. Tripathi joined YRF in 2002 and has been responsible for film marketing tie-ups, the most significant being that of ‘Hum Tum’. Prior to joining YRF, he has worked with global advertising agency Grey Worldwide (Mauritius) and KPMG (Mauritius).
Arpito Gope has joined ‘Rolling Stone India’ magazine as General Manager. He is heading the sales and marketing, events and online for the Indian edition. Rolling Stone magazine is brought to India by Mumbai-based publisher ‘Man’s World’. It is backed by industrialist Anand Mahindra, and publisher and editor of luxury magazine ‘Verve’ Anuradha Mahindra. Gope has an overall experience of nine years in marketing. Prior to this, he was associated with Times Response as Manager for the Corporate Team looking into the marketing aspects. He has helped in the set up the Response Integrated Solutions team at Times Response.
Interactivity is something more than getting your target audience to fill in a form, whether to file a complaint, send a query, make a suggestion, or book an order. It includes all these, but they really belong to the old direct marketing routine. The blogosphere is the main highway of interactivity.
The IIM Lucknow is conducting a session on the entertainment and media industry at the Annual Business Conclave, ‘Manfest 2008’, on January 11. The moderator of the session will be Anurag Batra, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, exchange4media Group.
Disney Publishing Worldwide (India), a division of The Walt Disney Company (India), has entered a licensing agreement with Popular Prakashan to publish Disney Storybooks in Indian languages. Already eight titles have been launched in Hindi and Marathi, while a title would be launched in Malayalam in March this year.
Yankelovich Holdings Inc. has signed an agreement with WPP to merge with Henley Centre HeadlightVision. Henley Centre HeadlightVision is the consumer trends and futures research and consultancy business of WPP and a unit of Kantar, WPP’s information, insight and consultancy division.
The post-lunch sessions of the Indian Digital Summit 2008, being held in Delhi, focused on bridging the digital divide and reaping digital dividends. Experts spoke about the scope for growth of Internet advertising in India and growth of digital media in general.
The third edition of the two-day India Digital Summit kicked off in the Capital on January 10. The Summit, being held in partnership with Intel, is the annual flagship conference of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Issues of privacy and individuality were dealt with during the session, ‘Empowerment of the user and humanisation of the online world’.
Out of Home Media (India) Pvt. Ltd has tied up with The Mumbai Festival (TMF) 2008 as its exclusive out-of-home TV partner. From January 17-February 3, the festival comprises an array of musical, dance, cultural, sports and art events, including the Mumbai Marathon.
Lodestar Universal has announced the appointment of Alistair Martin as Media Controller. Martin comes in from Cadbury where he was Media Manager. At Lodestar, he will report to COO Nandini Dias, and will be responsible for accounts like Amul, LIC, Westside and Diageo.
BAG Films & Media Ltd has roped in Rajesh Jathar as Regional Head-West and South, for Corporate Advertising Sales. Jathar has joined the broadcasting arm of the company.
Balasubramanium V, who recently put in his papers as Global CEO of Meritus, the data analytics firm of WPP Group, is all set to join Reliance ADAG as Group Knowledge Management Head. The Knowledge Management initiative is to extract more consumer insights for efficient strategy through analytics.
The Dr Vijay Mallya-owned Force India F1 Formula team has announced its plans for the year ahead. Along with the new team hands, India’s first F1 team will also try and increase the presence of this sport in the country through its 360-degree marketing initiatives.
On the second day of the ninth Auto Expo 2008, Tata Motors unveiled its much-awaited peoples’ car – Tata Nano. The standard model of the car has been priced at Rs 1 lakh excluding transportation and VAT. The company also showcased two deluxe variants of the Nano, whose prices were not disclosed.
Music channel 9X M, though just a few months old, has been rising up on the ratings chart. 9X M officials are all set on the road ahead on counts like marketing, and have chalked out a differentiated sales strategy for the channel, which would see six advertisers co-owing the channel.
Whirlpool India has appointed Contract Advertising to handle their business categories that are being identified for the next phase of the company’s growth strategy. Whirlpool would be spending Rs 70 crore on advertising and promotion, with 40-45 per cent of this amount kept aside for ATL activities. Contract Advertising will work along with Draft FCB Ulka, with whom Whirlpool has had a long relationship.
"Mass media can't be replaced. It has its own strengths. New media gives a multiplier effect when used in tandem with mass media. Over the years media has evolved and new media helps to reach out to the target audience in a precise manner. Mass media will continue to drive the communication business. Perhaps the definition of mass media would change and, maybe ten years from now, the Internet would be an integral part of mass media."