IBLOG SPACE

Yahoo! announced its annual “Top 5 Fastest Growing Businesses in Search Marketing” and “Top 10 Most Popular Search Keywords,” which could be key indicators for enterprises’ online search marketing investments. In the first half of 2010, an integrated analysis was conducted on Yahoo! Search marketing data from five Asian nations (Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and India). The results showed that the most popular search keyword all across Asia in the period was “travel”. This could signify a booming Asian economy and tourism market in the first half of the year. The second most popular search keyword in Taiwan, Singapore and India for the first six months of 2010 was “gaming”, attributed to the growing “stay-at-home” economy. Employment opportunities were also sought during the economic recovery. “Job hunting” ranked No.7 on Yahoo!Kimo’s* (Taiwan) top 10 search keyword list while “part-time job” ranked No.1 in South Korea. In Hong Kong, the fir

The sixth edition of the Indian Magazine Congress, organised by The Association of Indian Magazines, is scheduled for September 6 and 7, 2010. It will be held at the ITC Grand Central, Mumbai. The theme of this year's event is ‘Magazines: What's the next big thing?’ The sessions will discuss topics like editorial challenges, tapping into the power of social networks, the future of international magazine brands, new reading habits, new distribution challenges and what advertisers want from magazine brands. The keynote address will be given by Aroon Purie, chairman FIPP, chairman and editor-in-chief, India Today Group, and Nicholas Brett, editor-in-chief and deputy managing director, BBC Worldwide Magazines. The confirmed speakers at the time we went to print were  Akila Urankar (Business Standard), Anant Nath (Delhi Press), Anurag Batra (exchange4media), Ashish Bagga (India Today Group), Ashish Goel (ACK Media), Chris Llewellyn (FIPP), Indrajit

Landmarc Leisure Corporation has announced its foray into the wellness and wellness-related segment and appointed Paulomi Dhawan to spearhead this venture. The company plans to launch a chain of high end spalons across India with the first one opening in Powai, Mumbai, in August 2010 called 'Svastii'. Prior to joining Landmarc Leisure, Dhawan was involved with her own venture, First Row, which is in the fashion and lifestyle space. In the past, she has worked as the head of media and corporate communications with Raymond. She has also spent nearly three decades in strategic marketing, brand and communication management as well as portfolio management of media investments in advertising agencies like Everest and Rediffusion. According to Dhawan, it's the right time for a foray into the fast-growing wellness segment in India. She said, "According to the FICCI – E &Y Wellness report – the wellness industry has the potential to sustain a

Rediffusion Y&R's Delhi office has conceptualised a set of new TVCs for the Airtel Champions League, to be held in South Africa. For the T20 tournament, starting on the 10th of September, Airtel's new campaign is a call to action to identify the most ardent fan for the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Bengaluru's Royal Challengers. Interested fans need to upload the wackiest videos in order win an all-expense paid trip to South Africa. Each of the commercials depict everyday situations in the life of an ardent cricket fan, as they express their support for their favourite India team participating in the Champions League. So while in one spot, a pub is transformed into a cricket fan's expression ground, in the other, a barber gets carried away while cutting a client's hair and snips it to read, 'the wall' (the nickname for Bangalore' s - Rahul Dravid). The TVCs have been directed by Siddharth Sikand and produced by the tea

The guiding thought for the launch communication of 24-hour shopping channel Star CJ Alive was built around what the research team heard in their pre-campaign interviews. Paritosh Joshi, chief executive officer of Star CJ Network, said, “In fact during the same research when people were asked whether they shopped from a homeshopping channel, the most oft-quoted response was ‘Paagal hai kya?’ Thus out of this ‘Paagal Hai Kya’ response was born the ‘Paagal’ character – the madman with the crazy hairstyle.” While in one TVC, the “madman” surprises a man who is going shopping in the rains with his family by laughing at him and saying that it’s crazy to do so, in the other, he pokes fun of another man who is going shopping with his family but is stuck in a traffic jam. The character, according to Joshi, satisfied the two-pronged strategic and tactical objectives of the brief: “Not only does he convince the consumer to re-look at traditional outdoor shopping, but also

The International ANDY Awards (organised by the Advertising Club of New York) has thrown open the creation of its call for entries campaign to the ad fraternity. According to the brief they've set out on the website, "The Strategic Direction in one simple sentence: The toughest jury in the world wants to see your work." The call for entries communication will be judged on the basis of the number of entries submitted to the 2011 ANDY Awards show, or the PR generated by the whole effort globally, the level of involvement in the contest and the quality of the final call for entries. The entries for the 'Call for Entries' will be judged by Ty Montague (former president and CCO, JWT North America), Michael Lebowitz (founder & CEO, Big Spaceship), and Evan Fry (CCO, Victor & Spoils). The creator of the winning entry will get a seat on the 2011 ANDY jury, and get to spend a week with a group of industry luminaries judging the year

Zoya, the diamond jewellery boutique from Tanishq, has launched a new collection by Raghavendra Rathore called 'Gold of Narlai'. The campaign has been created by Lowe Lintas. A note from the agency said, "Since Zoya has taken art forms as a visual representation in its campaigns, this time the execution has been a combination of charcoal paintings and painted flowers/plants." About the collection itself, the second by the designer for the boutique, the note says, "Zoya accompanies Raghavendra Rathore as he journeys to Narlai, a quaint hamlet in the foothills of the Aravallis. Inspired by an age old conviction in the spirituality of nature and the mysticism of the three hundred temples and mosques in and around Narlai, Raghavendra Rathore evokes centuries of goodwill and eternalises them as The Gold of Narlai.” Credits Agency: Lowe Lintas National Creative Director  : Arun Iyer Branch Creative Director : Rajesh Ramaswamy and Abh

WPP has reported a 36 per cent growth in profit before tax to US$353.8 million for the first half of 2010. Billings are up 8.5 per cent to US$29,483 billion of which US$3,382 billion is attributed to net new business billings of almost double last year's volume. Revenue increased 3.5 per cent to US$6,439 billion. North America and the UK return a 5.8 and 2.8 per cent growth in revenue respectively whereas Western Continental Europe is still suffering with a 0.2 per cent decline. Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Turkey showed strong growth but France, Spain and Portugal remain tough. Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe posted a 0.7 per cent growth in revenue. Revenues were up 3 per cent in Q2 compared to -2 per cent in Q1, driven by particularly strong growth in Southeast Asia. Africa was up 3 per cent largely due to ad spend surrounding the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Like-for-like revenue is up 2.5

Hungama Digital Media has launched the redesigned website for the 19th edition of the Commonwealth Games (XIX CWG 2010). The website http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/ is website that contains all the information for the forthcoming world event. Hungama will be designing and executing a digital campaign for the event and manage their digital presence through social networking sites. The Commonwealth Games 2010 will witness participation from 71 countries across the world. Through the new website. the participating nations and spectators have got a single interaction point. The website has been redesigned with effective navigation points so that visitors can find what they are looking for as easily as possible. Commenting on the revamp, an official spokesperson of Hungama Digital Media said, “We are delighted to partner with the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 which is a very prestigious event for India. Considering the large number of countries participating in t

Madison Media has brought in Rajat Girdhar to head its Digital business. Girdhar has close to eight years of experience in the digital space and has worked with MakemyTrip.com among other digital. Commeting on Girdhar's appointment, Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director, Madison World, said, “Digital has now become the focus area for most advertisers. Many agencies have set up independent digital agencies, but we at Madison blieve that this expertise should reside within Madison media planners and buyers, given the importance of this medium in the coming years. Madison Media now has over 20 Digital practice experts”. Madison Media has clients in the digital space that include A irtel, Cadbury, McDonald’s, Levis, Britannia, Tata Tea, Bharti AXA, Spice Jet and Spice Mobile amongst others. Punitha Arumugam, chief executive officer, Madison Media Group, added, “I am delighted to have Rajat as part of our team and I am sure he will add a lot of val

Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD), the delivery brand of Pizza Hut, has unveiled its new ad campaign, highlighting a new "Hot Dot" heat-sensitive sticker on the box. In case the sticker doesn't read "hot", the company promises to give the pizza to the consumer for free. The TVC, created by JWT, depicts a scenario where a teenager orders a Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD) pizza. The doorbell rings and he opens the door to find a smiling PHD delivery boy shuffling the pizza box from one hand to the other. The teenager is unable to understand why he's doing this. The delivery boy quickly hands over the box to the him, and the teenager ends up shuffling the box as well due to the hot pizza within. Speaking about the campaign, Dhruv Kaul, business head, Pizza Hut Delivery, said, “We have, keeping in line with our young and digitally-savvy customers, decided to premiere the ad online on our Facebook page before taking it to a wider audience through televis

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the apex self-regulatory body of the Indian advertising industry, will introduce a new set of advertising guidelines for the educational sector. The new advertising content guidelines will apply to ads of all educational institutions, coaching classes and educational programmes. The draft of the guidelines has been put up for review, feedback and suggestions on ASCI’s official website - www.ascionline.org . The Council has called its members, educationists, institutions and the general public to send in their suggestions and feedback on the proposed guidelines by Monday, September 6, 2010 to The Secretary General of ASCI on email ids asci@vsnl.com and alan@ascionline.org. A release by ASCI says, "The new set of guidelines takes note of the fact that a significant amount of advertising activity is currently happening in the education sector, reflecting the vast variety of educational programs being offe

R.P. Techvision India has reappointed Percept Out-of-Home, a division of Percept Limited, to execute an outdoor campaign for their computer brand, Chirag.The campaign was rolled out recently in Kolkata. This brief given by R.P. Techvision to Percept OOH was to locate landmark sites with larger than life effects in Kolkata. Commenting on the campaign, Sanjay Pareek, president, Percept Out-of-Home, said, “We are happy to be associated once again with the R.P. Techvision Group. The brief was to locate landmark sites with larger than life effects across Kolkata within specified budgets. Percept-OOH accomplished this objective successfully and created a strong impact on Chirag’s target audience. We have once again used innovation at all the landmark sites by placing the product cutouts and on pedestals to stand out from the surrounding ad clutter and enhance brand recall for Chirag.” Percept Out-of-Home had earlier bagged this account in 2009. During that tim

Mumbai The Advertising Club of Bombay will be organising EMVIES 2010, its media awards presentation, on Friday, August 27, 2010. Now in its tenth year, the awards will be given across 14 categories that include the grand EMVIE, People's Choice and the Best Media Agency of the year. The event, sponsored by Times Television Network, will be hosted at the Taj Lands End in Bandra.

The Dainik Bhaskar Group has recently entered Jharkhand with the launch of the Dainik Bhaskar Ranchi edition. This is the 12th state that is now covered by the group including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. The Ranchi edition is the 49th edition of the group. The group soon plans to expand further with the launch of Jamshedpur and Dhandbad editions in Jharkhand and launch of Bihar in early 2011. Dainik Bhaskar is priced at Rs 2 (Mon-Sat) and Rs 2.50 on Sundays. The Ranchi edition is a subscription-based model and is said to have a pre-booked, fully paid subscription of 1.35 lakh copies. Speaking on the launch, Manoj Agarwal, chief operating officer, Jharkhand, Dainik Bhaskar, said, "Jharkhand as a market is currently estimated at Rs 100 core plus advertising market. In our experience the collective readership and the advertising market has seen cata

A new advertising campaign for Frito Lay's Kurkure encourages people to spend time with their families. In the TVC, brand ambassador Juhi Chawla plays a spiritual guru who points out the follies of a groom's ways when he arrives minus any entourage for his wedding, because he didn't spend any time with his family. She asks him to share Kurkure with them, at which point instantly his family begins to appear one by one at the wedding. The baseline remains, "Tedha hai par mera hai [It's my kind of twisted]." The campaign has been created by JWT. A promo in the four-month long campaign will invite consumers to send their fun ideas on spending time with their family. “Indian culture is deeply rooted in family values. The Kurkure Spend Time with Family consumer campaign is an initiative to sensitize people on the importance of family togetherness and reward them for their ideas,” said Vidur Vyas, head of marketing, Pepsi Foods, at the unveiling

The Copyright Board on Wednesday approved a revenue sharing arrangement between radio broadcasters and music companies which will lead to significant savings in royalty costs for private FM radio players and provide a boost to the third phase of auction of radio stations. Under the new order of the board, radio broadcasters will now pay 2% of their “net advertising revenue” to “all music providers” as royalty. So far, FM radio stations pay a fixed rate which ranges fom Rs 300 to Rs 1,200 per needle hour (the actual time for which music is played). These royalty rates were applicable irrespective of the size of the town forcing radio stations to pay high rates even in smaller towns which generate lower revenues. According to industry estimates, the radio broacasters accrued more than Rs 100 crore as music royalty in 2009-10 and the new arrangement will help the industry save nearly Rs 75-80 crore per annum. Entertainment Network India’s (ENIL) CEO & executive director Prashant

Saying that Facebook has become an important platform for social networking would be a big understatement. With the number of users that join the social networking website every day, it was no surprise that most companies and brands have a fan page on Facebook. Having a fan page meant marketing new products through the social networking giant without having to make too much of an investment in marketing, while at the same time ensuring massive penetration through the fans of the page, as well as their friends. So what would be the next logical step for any brand or company? Shopping through Facebook of course! Facebook is now a major platform for “Social” Shopping. Considering the reach that brands can achieve through Facebook, the website seems like the best option for brands and consumers alike. Ladt year, PVR Cinemas had launched a Facebook app which allowed users to book tickets at PVR Cinemas through Facebook. Recently, BookMyShow launched a Facebook application called Ticket Bu

Google has acquired Like.com, a Visual Shopping Search Engine which has its presence in e-Commerce and fashion. Though the price of the deal is not yet disclosed, analysts believe it to be somewhere around $100 million. Like.com was founded by Munjal Shah in 2006 and has multiple startups under its belt which include shopping personalization engine Covet.com, a visual styling tool Couturious and a recently launched fashion Q&A site, What to Wear. Like.com is Google’s 24th buyout this year and it has come as a surprise to many. This recent acquisition by Google doesn’t seem to fit with the social-network strategy which the company has pursued for some time now. So, what value does this acquisition add to Google? Well, one factor which could have propelled Google for this purchase is its fascination with Visual search technology and Like.com possesses a real visual search technology that would surely add to Google’s advantage. Google has other experimental products like Goggles tha

DTH provider, Reliance BIG TV today signed a corporate alliance with television manufacturer Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd. As per the alliance, Reliance will give away its high definition cum advanced digital video recorder (HD DVR) for free on purchase of a Samsung LED TV range product. Customers will also get two months of free silver pack subscription along with one HD channel without any installation or activation fee. This offer is available across India till 15 September, 2010. Reliance BIG TV DTH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, India’s largest integrated telecom service provider, and offers over 230 TV, cinema and audio channels. Source: Domain-b.com

Joining other broadcasters, Viacom 18 Media and Sun TV on Wednesday approached sectoral tribunal TDSAT, challenging TRAI’s tariff order to cap wholesale price of channels for DTH and IPTV service providers at 35 per cent of the rates they charge cable operators. Currently, the broadcasters charge DTH and IPTV player 50 per cent of what they charge cable operators. In two separate appeals filed before Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), Viacom 18 Media and Sun TV Network said that tariff suggested by the broadcast regulator was not commercially viable for them. The broadcasters submitted that while fixing the tariff, TRAI has acted in arbitrary and unreasonable manner and did not consider the suggestions of the stakeholders. Their appeals were clubbed with the petitions of four other leading broadcasters – ESPN Software India, MSM Discovery, Zee Turner and Star Den Media Services – which had approached TDSAT on August 23 challenging TRAI’s direction. Al

Airtel digital TV – the DTH service from Bharti Airtel – has been voted the favourite DTH service by customers in key metros in a nationwide customer satisfaction survey by MARS on India’s Favourite DTH Operator. Conducted across 8 cities, Airtel digital TV emerged on top in 4 of the 8 parameters of the survey, namely- Availability of other payment options, Innovative Services and more crucially Uninterrupted Services and Complaint Redressal. Coming in as the 5th operator, Airtel digital TV for the past 18 months has been leading monthly customer additions and today has 3.5 million customers. The fact was validated in the survey that showed it to be gaining ground in Hyderabad, Chennai as well as Delhi. With over 10,000 certified engineers and a world class call centre, Airtel digital TV has set the new benchmarks of first time installation and fault repair at 4 hours. Overall, Airtel digital TV was ranked as the 2nd Most Favorite DTH operator across India. The HT-MaRS survey intervi

Videocon d2h, a leading direct-to-home service provider, today said that it now offers the maximum number of channels and services in the country at around 266 channels and services overall. This includes the highest number of regional language channels like Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil, among others, a press release issued here stated. Videocon Group’’s Director, Saurabh Dhoot, said “we are currently having 266 channels and services on our platform which is the highest in the DTH industry…regional viewing preferences are very important for us and we ensure every effort to provide more content for customers from different regions with entertainment suiting their needs.” “We also have the highest number of sports channels across DTH platforms,” Dhoot added. Customers can now enjoy a wide range of channels in any language of their choice. Videocon d2h is providing 10 channels in Marathi, 19 channels in Tamil, 18 in Telugu, 14 in Malayalam, 13 in

The auction of 806 FM radio stations across 217 new towns in the third phase (FM-III) of private FM radio will be held on closed tendering process instead of the online “clock auction” methodology adopted by the telecom ministry in awarding the 3G and broadband spectrum recently. The ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) is said to have turned down the request from the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) which had recommended it to model the FM-III auctions on similar lines as done by the department of telecommunications in the 3G and broadband auctions recently. As reported by FE earlier, the CoS had urged the I&B ministry to adopt the e-auctions methodology for the FM-III auctions so as to impart fairness and transparency and also to maximise the government revenue. According to sources, the I&B ministry in its Cabinet note on the policy guidelines for FM-III has said the telecom model is fundamentally different and “can not” be adopted for FM licences. This com

94.3 Radio One, the station with Maximum Music Maximum Choice, this Wednesday will give its listeners a treat to their ears. The combination of witty-meets-sweet will come alive as MJ Hrishi.K gets chatty with the most versatile and talented singer-composer-anchor, Shaan. Listen to the singer talk about his life, upcoming albums and love for music on `Play Your Music Day’, along with MJ Hrishi.K, whom he shares a decade old friendship, only on India’s only music station 94.3 Radio One. Play Your Music Day, is a unique initiative by 94.3 Radio One which gives its listeners an opportunity to become MJs and play their own choice of music on the station’s airwaves. This revolutionary concept was amplified with the presence of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy performing their favourite 13 songs unplugged on the 1st `Play Your Music Day’, in July. This August, Shaan will take this novel concept of ‘Play Your Music Day’ to another level by performing his set of 13 songs exclusively on 94.3 Radio One