Mediaedge:cia (MEC) has appointed Hariharan Vishwanath as National Trading Director for MEC India. Prior to this,
‘Sach Ka Saamna’ indicates the Star India leadership’s willingness to experiment and innovate their primetime programming, writes Pradyuman Maheshwari. But not before Star Plus and the other GECs ‘faced the truth’ when Colors launched last year and broke the rules.
In order to commemorate the completion of 25 years, Percept Ltd organised the ‘Percept Business Conclave’ in Mumbai on July 18, 2009. The Conclave brought together several advertising and media industry honchos on a common platform and saw them debate on topics such as ‘Has Brand building taken a back seat?’, ‘Catch me if you can’, and ‘Is content King or is packaging God?’. <br> <a href=http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/news/fullstory.asp?section_id=1&news_id=35349&tag=31006&pict=0 target= _blank><b>Catching the elusive customer’s attention </b></a> <br> <a href=http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/news/fullstory.asp?section_id=1&news_id=35350&tag=31007&pict=0 target= _blank><b>‘Neither is content King nor packaging God, it’s all about the consumer’</b> </a>
The concluding session of the ‘Percept Business Conclave’, held in Mumbai on July 18, 2009, focused on entertainment and was titled ‘Is content King or is packaging God?’ Panelists at this session included Andrey Purushottam, Harish Dayani, MK Anand, Neeraj Roy, and Rajesh Sawhney. The session was moderated by Paritosh Joshi.
The second session at the Percept Business Conclave was curiously titled ‘Catch me if you can’. On the panel were the likes of Dr Bhaskar Das (BCCL), Amit Madhan (ICICI Lombard), LV Krishnan (TAM Media), Prashant Panday (Entertaintment Network India), Sandip Tarkas (Future Group), and Tarun Katial (Big FM). Shivnath Thukral (NDTV Profit) moderated the session.
Education sector advertising in print saw a growth of 9 per cent during January-May ’09, compared to the same period in 2008. Educational institutions garnered 71 per cent share of the overall education sector print ad pie during this period. Planman Consultant India Pvt Ltd was the top advertiser of education sector in print during January-May ’09.
PDM India, the experiential marketing division of Percept Ltd, has been empanelled by Rajasthan Tourism to handle their entire promotional needs. PDM bagged the tourism account following a multi-agency pitch involving 11 agencies. The account size is worth Rs 2 crore. PDM will be handling the account for a period of two years.
Radio One has registered a top line growth of 8 per cent in the Q1 ended June 30, 2009, over the corresponding quarter in the last fiscal, while its expenses were 2 per cent lower in Q1. The company has also shown an exponential growth in operating profit before license fee.
Filmmaker Prakash Jha, maker of intense political celluloid dramas like ‘Gangaajal’ and ‘Apaharan’, has launched a TV channel, christened Maurya TV, in Bihar to give the state a voice of its own. The infotainment channel would be devoted and restricted to Bihar.
Madhusudan Anand, Executive Editor, Navbharat Times, the Hindi daily from Times Group, has put in his papers. Confirming the news, Anand informed exchange4media, “Yes, it is true that I have resigned. My resignation was accepted on Friday (July 17, 2009).”
“We send planners to understand print and television, but how many have sent planners to understand digital technology?” asked R Gowthaman, while reviewing the digital medium at Media Review 2009 in Mumbai.
In a presentation filled with information and occasional comparisons with international benchmarks, Pratap Bose spoke on the lack of creative expertise in the OOH medium, and also on ‘Return on Objectives’ when it came to sponsorships.
Speaking at the Media Review 2009, Nandini Dias, took the audience not only through the rearview mirror, but also on what was seen on the windshield for the television and radio mediums.
Jasmin Sohrabji brought the print medium under the scanner at the Media Review 2009, when she stated, “The fact that ad revenues are reducing from the medium is due to overall advertisers’ budget cuts, but the faith in the medium continues”.
Speaking at the Media Review 2009, Punitha Arumugam highlighted how clients, media owners and media agencies were constantly committing the seven deadly sins – anger, pride, greed, sloth, gluttony, envy, and lust.
It is learnt from sources close to the development that the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd (IFFCO) is on the lookout for a creative partner. A multi-agency pitch has reportedly been called and the presentations have taken place on July 13, 2009. The results are expected to be announced shortly.