Help Tsunami Victims

All of you must have heard about the devastation that the earthquake and Tsunami have together caused in the South East Asia. I am donating 25% of the proceedings of the sales of the comprehensive directory of Advertising Agencies in India that I have compiled over a period of 3 months of research. The direcotry is available for a small reasonable fee, just $99.00

The Indian Advertising Agencies Directory is in XLS Format with different spreadsheets for different cities. The fields include - company name, contact person, address, phone, fax, email and website. There are over 700 Advertising Agencies of India included in the database, which can be immediately emailed to anyone interested.

I would like to emphasise once again that 25% of every sale will be donated to Non-government organisations working for the rehabilitation of the Tsunami victims. Interested people may buy online through PAYPAL, now!

Update on Directories

Hi people,

I know that I am running behind schedule but it's better late than never :-)

After the Directory of Advertising Agencies in India, I am currently compiling the following directories, which will be available for sale by end of January 2005.

• Directory of PR Agencies in India
• Directory of Publications in India
• Directory of Media buying Agencies in India
• Directory of Direct Marketing Agencies in India
• Directory of Marketing Research Firms in India
• Directory of Event Management Companies in India

In case any of you is interested in getting any of the above directories in a hurry, please contact me for more details by leaving a comment. I will intensify work on that particular directory and get it compiled earlier than the others. Any one interested?

NDTV's Business Channel to be named 'Profit'

'Profit' is to be the name the Prannoy Roy promoted New Delhi Television Ltd. The details for Profit are "almost" finalised. Profit is proposed to be a 24-hour business channel and is expected to start beaming into Indian homes from 10 January 2005. The company is toying with the idea of including the NDTV brand name with the name Profit for the channel. The overall head of the channel would be Vikram Chandra who currently doubles up as CEO NDTV Convergence, besides being the senior editor of NDTV. Other editorial people who would form the core team would include the present NDTV business editor Shivnath Thukral, Ashu Dutt and Manvi. The channel has come up with a swanky new studio in its Delhi office and has also hired several professionals. A point of note is that NDTV is not looking at overtly leveraging the existing infrastructure and manpower of the two existing channels NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India for the new business channel. A decision seems likely that the proposed business channel would be a pay channel. "On the programming part, NDTV will have everything that such existing channels have and more," an industry source familiar with the developments says. The programmes will also have an international component, including live feeds from the US and the Europe. Apart from hardcore news bulletins and business related affairs, the channel would also have lifestyle programmes aimed at appealing to the audience which would include anyone and everyone over 18. There would be a significant but short element of news all the time on the channel. Looking at the feel and look of the present NDTV channel, the aim of the business channel would be to have a world class product run but the cost of production operations will be kept tight under control. NDTV has already secured permission from the government for uplink of the channel from India. The permission came through on 14 December. The NDTV board had approved launch of a separate business news channel in May. The company had made an application to the information and broadcasting ministry for uplinking permission for the same in September. The fight for the business news channel has begun, it seems. The Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen Ltd (TV-18) is pressing ahead to meet a new deadline for launching a Hindi business news channel by next month, while Zee Business, was launched on 30 November.

Deccan Herald Advertising Seminar 2004 takes a look at 'Branding' in today's context

Catalyst, the 19th Deccan Herald Advertising Seminar 2004, featured stalwarts from the worlds of advertising and marketing redefining brands and brand building. The seminar saw advertising and marketing honchos speaking on various topics related to the power of branding. The speakers included Titan Industries COO - Watches Bijou Kurien, Lowe-India national creative director Balakrishnan R (Balki), Macann Erickson Delhi president Santosh Desai and Bajaj Auto Ltd VP business development and marketing Ramchandra R L. Kurien in his keynote speech spoke of the various persons in an organization involved in brand building. Speaking on the topic "Building a Titan", Kurien recounted how brand Titan was built from 1987 onwards when 80 per cent of Indians owned mechanical watches against a almost 65 per cent of persons around the western world who owned quartz watches at that time. Balki spoke on the "Cutting edge Indian work" in advertising. Balki felt that localized communication of an international brand was the next step in advertising. Balki said advertising could take advantage of the differences in the regions instead of focusing an ad towards the entire country. Desai dealt with "Connecting Brands with life". He said brands were repositories of symbolic meaning. Desai said spoke about how brands today make a statement about the users. Speaking on the power of brands, he narrated how brands have been making us believing in ourselves, in other people, in today and in tomorrow. Ramchandra R L spoke on "My brand building experience". He spoke of the strategies evolved by a losing market leader in a two wheeler market when it entered a new segment - motorcycles- which now constitute 80 per cent of the two wheeler market in India and the efforts involved in their Pulsar brand capturing 55 per cent of the market share in its category. Trent Ltd GM Himanshu Chakrawarti spoke on "Building a brand". He spoke on the efforts involved in building a distinguished brands and creating an awareness of this chain of stores owned by the Tatas.

CavinKare gets aggressive

CavinKare has unveiled its aggressive marketing strategies to expand its customer base. The company is planning for road shows, television commercials and customer contact programmes. As a part of its plans, CavinKare has relaunched its fairness cream ‘Fairever’ and is also looking at generating trials by distributing samples through popular magazines across the country. CavinKare will unveil the television commercials of the relaunched Fairever in last week of December followed shortly by the road shows starting in the southern India. CavinKare's Fairever is the second leading fairness cream brand in the country. The product has a share of only eight per cent in the fairness cream market that is worth Rs 700 crore.

ICICI Bank and CNBC TV 18 announce Emerging India Awards

ICICI Bank and CNBC TV-18, have announced the launch of Emerging India Awards, an initiative to recognise the contribution of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to the growth of the Indian economy. Only those SMEs that launched operations before January 1, 2000, and have a net worth of a maximum of Rs . 50 crores are eligible for contesting for the awards. ICICI Bank and CNBC-TV18 have tied up with CRISIL, India's credit rating agency for designing and executing the evaluation process for the awards.

Deccan Chronicle's IPO a success

The initial public offer (IPO) of Deccan Chronicle Holdings, received a tremendous response from the market and was oversubscribed more than 7.7 times. SBI Mutual Fund, State Bank of India, Pru ICICI Mutual Fund, Reliance Mutual Fund, Sundaram Mutual Fund and Punjab National Bank are reported to be among the biggest bidders. The IPO is expected to yield between Rs 130 crore and Rs 155 crore for the company, as it comprised 8,013,100 equity shares, priced at Rs 162 to Rs 194 a share. Deccan Chronicle is an English daily and ranks among the market leaders in Andhra Pradesh. The capital raised is planned to be used for financing new printing facilities, and venturing into new territories and future strategic initiatives and acquisitions.

Directories of Indian Advertisng, PR, MR companies and more...

Hi people, After the Directory of India's Advertising Agencies, I am currently compiling the following directories, which will be available for sale by end of December 2004.

• Directory of Indian PR Agencies
• Directory of Indian Publications
• Directory of Indian Media buying Agencies
• Directory of Indian Direct Marketing Agencies
• Directory of Indian Marketing Research Firms
• Directory of Indian Event Management Companies

Anyone interested in getting any of the above directories in a hurry, can contact me for more details by leaving a comment. I will intensify work on that particular directory and get it compiled earlier than the others. Any one interested?

Print Media Policies to have a new face in India

The first meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) on print media policies is likely to take place during December 2004. The controversy over International Herald Tribune (IHT) getting published from India led to the government take the decision to form the GoM as the current government guidelines do not permit foreign newspapers to be printed from India. The GoM is also expected to lay down the definition of ‘news and current affairs publications’ and ‘specialty/technical journals’. At present, ‘news and current affairs’ publications are allowed up to 26% of foreign direct investment (FDI), while specialty/technical journals can go up to a maximum of 74% foreign investment and a clarity on the definition may clear the way for many publications awaiting foreign investment for their expansion plans.

TV Today gets 'Business Superbrand' Status

The Superbrands India organisation has conferred the Business Superbrand status on TV Today Network for redefining the way news is delivered to Indian audiences. Obtaining SuperBrand status puts the TV Today Network brand in the circle of an elite group that is seen to represent the best practices in brand management; It is the considered to be the Oscars of Branding. A Business Superbrand is defined as having established the finest reputation in its field. It offers customers significant emotional and/or tangible advantages, over its competitors, which (consciously or sub- consciously) customers want, recognise and are confident about investing in. Superbrands is the independent arbiter on branding. The organisation promotes the discipline of branding and pays tribute to exceptional brands. Superbrands programmes operate in over 41 countries. Superbrand status is awarded by an independent judging panel of experts. Business Superbrands Council includes chairman of the council Mr. Anmol Dar, Reliance CMD Mukesh D Ambani, former CEO of Procter & Gamble Gurcharan Das, ED of Tata Sons R Gopalakrishnan, deputy CEO of HSBC Naina Lal Kidwai, former chairman of Ernst & Young K N Memani, Bharti Enterprises CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal, CEO, president & MD of Infosys Technologies Nandan Nilekani, chairman of HDFC Deepak Parekh, chairman of Indian Oil Corporation MS Ramachandran and CMD of Oil & Natural Gas Commission Subir Raha. Each Brand Council member evaluated 854 brands and identified 138 brands that, in their opinion, were qualified to be granted the Superbrands status.

Directory of Indian Advertising Agencies

Hi people, I have painstakingly compiled a comprehensive directory of Indian Advertising Agencies and would happily share it with anyone who's interested for a small reasonable fee, just $99.00 The Indian Advertising Agencies Directory is in XLS Format with different spreadsheets for different cities. The fields include - company name, contact person, address, phone, fax, email and website. There are over 700 Advertising Agencies of India included in the database, which can be immediately emailed to anyone interested. Interested people may buy online, NOW!