Following a multi-agency pitch, Tata Indicom has announced Contract Advertising as its agency to handle its creative duties. The account size is estimated to be well above the Rs 80-crore mark. The incumbent agency, DraftFCB Ulka, will continue to be on board handling special projects for the group.
Ajay Gupta has joined Tyroo as Regional Head-South. Gupta has moved from exchange4media Group where he was Sales Manager, Bangalore. Prior to that, he was with the sales team of The Economic Times. He is an MBA from Bangalore University. He has more than seven years of experience in advertising and marketing. Meanwhile, Krishna Chaitanya has also joined Tyroo as Business Analyst. He was previously with JP Morgan India, Mumbai, for three years. He is an MBA from IIM, Lucknow, and a B.Tech from IIT, Chennai.
Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi has joined Colgate-Palmolive as Senior Manager-Media. Prior to this appointment, she was working as Deputy GM, Madison, heading the Marico business for five years. She has also worked in Carat on the Cadbury business for a year. Prior to that, Gandhi was with Starcom for two and a half years and with Enterprise Nexus for a year.
Usri Sen has moved from Rediffusion DYR Kolkata to join IPAN Chennai as Senior Management Associate. She will be taking charge on June 16. At IPAN, Sen would be handling clients like Murugappa Group, Chola MS and Servion Global Solutions. At Rediffusion DYR and Perfect Relations, Sen had handled clients like Oxford Bookstore, Himalaya Opticals, JK Tyres, women’s apparel brand W, Revlon, Amway, Emami, Globsyn (IT), finance and real estate firm Sharchi, and Haldirams Prabhuji, among others. She has done her Post Graduation in Public Relations and has been in the industry for over four years.
KK Swamy has been appointed Managing Director and Vice-President of Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd. Swamy was earlier with Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd as Deputy Managing Director. He has also held various offices in industry associations, notably as Chairman of CII Karnataka and Chairman of India Finance Forum, and was recently recognised as one of the top professional managers in India.
Shivesh Kundan has joined Perfect Relations as Associate Director. Kundan’s last assignment was with Timesjobs.com as Zonal Manager. He began his career with MelCole Public Relations and spent the next decade with Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd. He has also worked with The Times of India Group in the Response department, handling Ad Sales. He has also worked with The Indian Express.
Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd stole the show at the Promax|BDA India 2008 awards ceremony, walking away with 11 metals, of which four were Golds. Neo Sports was followed by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), followed by National Geographic Channel (NGC). The ceremony saw a total of 32 metals presented to the winners.
The second day of the Promax|BDA India 2008 saw Lynn de Souza, Chairman and CEO, Lintas Media Group explain if advertisements are intrusive or welcoming. Chris Turner Director, Brand Strategy and NDTV Imagine’s Avijit Mitra spoke on ‘Redefining Entertainment Packaging’.
Television as a medium has evolved, and so have the expectations of clients who want better promos that yield results. Day two of the Promax|BDA India 2008 conference at Mumbai saw insightful tips from international experts, who unveiled the secrets, the rules, and the intricacies of the business of communication on television.
Telcos may have begun their WiMAX rollouts, but the results are yet to show.
Multilingual portal Webdunia has introduced its classified advertisement service in nine local languages. Apart from being totally free, the portal lets the user post a classified ad in a language of his choice, in his city, instantaneously.
The Hindu Metro Plus Lifestyle Show, touted as one of South India’s largest shopping extravaganzas, is back. The first leg of the five-day show would unfold at the Chennai Trade Centre on June 5 and culminate on June 9. Besides Chennai, this year, the Lifestyle Show would be also organised in Madurai, Coimbatore, Vijayawada and Vizagapatam.
Kannada entertainment channel Suvarna is set to present Kannada television’s first ever-mythological serial – ‘Shivaleelamrutha’. The epic will feature legendary stories of Lord Shiva. ‘Shivaleelamrutha’ will premiere on June 9 and would be aired at 9-9.30 pm on weekdays.
TRAI has released a consultation paper on growth of value added services and regulatory issues. The consultation paper also raises the issue of whether content providers or aggregators, called Value Added Service Providers, should be brought under the licensing regime.
Sir Anthony O’Reilly, Chief Executive of the international media and communications group Independent News & Media PLC (INM), will be honoured with the Media Person of the Year award at the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
My FM, part of Synergy Media Entertainment Ltd, has brought in Shailja Naqvi as National Programming Head. In her new role, Naqvi would be involved in strategic content planning along giving creative insights on programming. She moves from Dhamaal 24, where she was National Programming Head.
Crayons Kolkata has been assigned the creative and media duties for the Jute Manufacturing Development Council (JMDC) and National Council for Jute Diversification (NCJD) following a multi-agency pitch. In addition to the creative and media duties, Crayons will handle the outdoor and exhibition mandate as well.
KR Kim, the newly-appointed Vice-Chairman and CEO of Videocon Industries, is bullish about the company’s growth. In exclusive conversation with exchange4media, Kim shares his plans for Videocon that includes focus on R&D, product development and a strategic rebranding exercise as also international foray.
In continuation of the aggressive growth strategy planned for its business in India, Turner has announced the promotions of some of its key team members – Siddharth Jain, Monica Tata and Rohit Suri.
BBDO India, an Omnicom company, has announced the appointment of Sangeet Pillai as Planning Director. Pillai joins BBDO India from BBDO New York, where he had held the position of SVP/Senior Account Planner for the past three and a half years. At BBDO India, Pillai would lead the global planning for emerging markets for P&G’s Gillette brand while managing the planning for other projects in Mumbai.