MARKETING (JAN 12 - JAN 19)

Acer New year offer on note books

January 14, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Acer India announced a special New Year offer to their notebook customers with the launch of a unique “Cash Back” programme. Customers buying the Acer Aspire 5570ANWXMi and the Acer Aspire 3682NWXCi Notebook models, will receive Rs 2,007 in cash along with a host of assured gifts, ranging from Acer branded T-shirts, jackets, backpacks, USB thumb drives, MP3 Players, Tata SKY Satellite connections and free Reliance USB modem worth Rs 4,500.

Pune likely to get IT SEZs soon

January 15, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

The special economic zone (SEZ) mania, currently raging across the country, is likely to see 10 such zones for IT/ITeS in Pune alone receiving approvals through 556 acres which would open up for potential development.Which in turn means that over the next three-four years the city could add over two crore sq feet of office space. The state expects to sign memorandum of understandings worth Rs 33,000 crore in 2007-08, doing in one year what it did in 18 months. The state has the highest number of approved SEZs at 72 and the state could touch the 100-mark. IT and ITeS companies have committed to about 5 lakh sq ft in SEZs and about 6.4 lakh sq ft within Software Technology Projects of India (STPI) in 2007. IT and ITeS sectors accounted for 90% of the total space absorption in Pune.

Amul to launch pro-biotic ice-cream ranges

January 16, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Amul, the over Rs 3,700-crore brand of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd , is all set to give a boost to its growing ice cream business with the forthcoming launch of two ranges of pro-biotic ice creams, Amul Prolife and Amul Sugarfree, this week, marking entry into the pro-biotic segment for the first time. It is hoped to build the pro-biotic range into a  Rs 100- crore brand within the next two-three years. While Amul had earlier tested this market segment through the launch of an isabgol-enriched ice cream, this will be the company’s first full-fledged attempt at capturing a good share of the pro-biotic enriched foods market in India. Both the brands will be available in 125 ml (Rs 15), 500 ml and 1.25 litre (Rs 120) packs in five flavours, vanilla with chocolate sauce, strawberry, chocolate, shahi anjir and fresh litchi.

Aviva Life, Indusland tie up

January 16, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Aviva Life Insurance and IndusInd Bank have tied up as bancassurance partners. The life insurer now has 30 bank partnerships and has increased its presence to 497 locations. IndusInd Bank will sell Aviva products like LifeLong, SaveGuard, SaveGuard Junior, EasyLife Plus and Pensions Plus to bank customers in the first phase. The partnership will be on a referral type business model.

ITC plans more Choupal Fresh stores

January 17, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

ITC, which has launched its retail and wholesale vending of vegetables and fruits, has prepared a plan to expand its Choupal Fresh stores across the country. The company would open 140 stores in 54 towns in the next three-four years. Currently, the company runs three stores in Chandigarh, Pune and Hyderabad with 11 different places feeding the stores. The fourth store would come up in Kolkata. The company also has plans to expand `Choupal Sagars’, its rural retailing business.

Wipro’s Retail Learning Centre

January17, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Wipro’s Retail Learning Centre in Bangalore is a key enabler in strengthening Wipro’s Oracle Retail competencies globally. Wipro Technologies also announced the setting up of its retail Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Portugal. Wipro will additionally set up three development centres for Oracle Retail of which one will be located in Portugal to address the European market. Another centre will be in Brazil to address the Latin American market and also support the US as a near shore centre. The third centre in
India is to address all APAC markets and also as an offshore delivery hub.

MARKETING (DEC 29, 2006 - JAN 5, 2007)

Moneycontrol.com plans paid service on personal finance

The Business Line, 02 Jan 2007
Financial portal Moneycontrol.com plans to roll out a paid version of the service called Ask MC launched by it in September. Ask MC is a service where experts will answer queries related to a range of issues including investment, insurance, taxation, credit cards and property. The aim was to provide information that addressed the peculiarities of each query/situation. It is a highly individualised service. And because of this, there is not much chance for experts to sell their services/products and would thus ensure that the advice remained unbiased and did not turn into a selling exercise. Moneycontrol has a panel of 40 experts to address these queries. They include income-tax practitioner Subhash Lakhotia, investment consultants Sandeep Shanbhag and Ganesh Shanbhag, loan advisor Harsh Roongta, taxation expert Ameet Patel and financial planner Amar Pandit. Moneycontrol would moderate the proceedings. 

Demand for set-top boxes on the rise

The Business Line, 02 Jan 2007
With the New Year, people across the three metros of New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai have finally woken up to the reality of the Conditional Access System (CAS). Resisting huge discounts and aggressive marketing from DTH operators, viewers had so far been waiting and watching. But now, consumers are dashing off their requests for set-top boxes (STB). The demand has shot up drastically says, Mr A. Mohan, Executive V-P, Essel Corporate. The cable division of Essel, Wire and Wireless India Ltd (WWIL, formerly Siti Cable), has deployed an additional 10,000 STBs overnight, taking their numbers in the market to 35,000 in about a weeks’ time, and is expecting demands do grow. 

YES Bank extends service hours

The Business Line, 05 Jan 2007
YES Bank will now offer banking services from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. six days a week (Monday to Saturday) at its Andheri (west) branch in Mumbai. It said that based on customer feedback, the service proposition would be extended to other branches across the country having similar lifestyle and financial requirements in future.

MS sops to original software users

The Business Line, 05 Jan 2007

Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd has initiated a campaign with the aim of making genuine software easily accessible to consumers. IT industry players such as Dell, HCL, HP, Lenovo, Sahara, Wipro, and Zenith would offer special packages to consumers for using genuine software.

Net4 offers international calls at Re 1/m

The Business Line, 05 Jan 2007
Net4India Ltd has launched a “One World” plan under which it would offer calls to over 40 countries at Re 1 per minute. Through its calling card, Net4 would facilitate voice calls from a PC to a phone or a mobile, globally. The company’s prepaid calling cards such as One World, Homeland, Gulf Gold and Unlimited are available in the denomination of Rs 100, Rs 250, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. 

MARKETING (DEC 9 - DEC 15)

Ashok Leyland ad campaign puts customer in focus

Businessline, 14 Oct 2006 

Ashok Leyland will launch a corporate TV campaign next month to convey the customer-oriented side of its business. The truck and bus manufacturing company has launched the campaign in print - the theme central to it is the passionate engineer of Ashok Leyland, a quirky professional whose interest in his work borders on the obsessive. The print campaign has two product ads that talk about the company’s products and achievements and three ads that celebrate its engineers passion - one, for instance, says, “Only an Ashok Leyland engineer will calculate the RPM of the ball when a `doosra’ is bowled.” 

Tata Indicom prepaid offer

Businessline, 14 Oct 2006 

Tata teleservices announced the launch of a new pre-paid mobile phone named Tata Rhythm with FM radio. It is priced at Rs.2,199 and comes with additional benefits of free incoming calls for two years and 2,000 minutes of free calls to any Tata phone. The new mobile’s aim is cornering a significant chunk of the youth by making affordable the connectivity-entertainment combination. 

Luxor forays into retail segment

Businessline, 15 Oct 2006 

Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd, the flagship entity of the Luxor Group is launching outlets branded Luxor Signature. They recently opened their first outlet in Delhi NCR and plan to open 100 outlets across several formats by 2011 with an investment of around Rs 90 crores. The company is in the process of launching a kid’s educational and learning stationery brand. 

100 songs on Nokia phone

Businessline, 15 Oct 2006 

Nokia has partnered with the Indian Music Industry (IMI) for placing 100 songs of over 10 Indian music legends in the latest Nokia N-series (Nokia N91, N73 & N70) music edition mobiles. The legends include Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, A R Rahman, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, SD Burman, RD Burman, Mohd Rafi, Geeta Dutt and others. The songs can be unlocked by using a code available on the scratch card that will come along with the mobile at no extra cost.

MARKETING (DEC 1 - DEC 7)

Levi’s iPod jeans in India

Business Line, December 7 

Levi’s has launched its iPod compatible jeans in Bangalore, India. The Levi’s Redwire Jeans merges the iPod plug and play technology into the denim apparel. Developers at the Levi’s headquarters in San Francisco in association with Apple have been designed the jeans, are set to be compatible with most iPod models. Each pair of jeans comes with a Tech Pack that carries 6 docking cradles, an earphone set with retractable wires and a tiny device acting as an interface between the iPod and the jeans. Available for both men and women, the Redwire Jeans is priced at Rs 9000.     

H & R Johnson to diversify

Business Line, December 7  

Ceramics and tile manufacturer H & R Johnson (India) Ltd will invest Rs 50 crore to diversify its Marbonite brand in the vitrified wall category. Now, it is about to launch a new vitrified wall brand, the Marbonite Wonderwall. This was done after the market research predicted that there is a great need for Italian marble substitutes. 

Zen Estilo comes with Rs3.2 – 4 lakh price tag

The Economic Times, December 6 

Zen is back in a brand new avatar. Maruti Udyog launched the next- generation Zen as the Zen Estilo. Priced right in the middle of the B segment, the Estilo is now roomier and taller than the earlier Zen. It comes in four variants. The base Lx variant is priced at Rs 3.19 lakh and the top- end Zen Estilo Vxi ABS is priced at about Rs 4.02 lakh. The new Zen will also give competition to Hyundai’s Santro which starts at Rs. 2.7 lakh. 

Air Travel launches heli-tourism in Kerala

The Economic Times, December 5 

Latest marketing news in Kerala tourism, the Kerala based Air Travel Enterprises has tied up with King Rotors and Air charter to launch helitourism in the state. Several products that offered packages covering the hills, beaches and backwaters have been designed for upmarket tourists.   

Warming Up: Coke may launch hot drink Far Coast

The Economic Times, December 5

The Cola major is planning to enter the freshly brewed hot beverage market in India through bars which will serve tea, coffee and cocoa products. It introduced a similar concept in Singapore recently and sees a good opportunity for the product across
Asia. Coca- Cola India is also learnt to be working on a fresh plan on how to give a bigger push to Georgia brand. Already it has launched Far Coast in Canada, Sweden and more recently Singapore. The next destination is Norway.  

BPL plans Rs 60-cr ad campaign to push colour TV sales

The Economics Times, December 5

BPL Ltd, which is about to complete a prolonged financial restructuring exercise, has budgeted Rs 60 crore for advertising and marketing expenses to support its colour television business in 2007. This is expected to help the domestic major match the marketing blitz of chaebols such as LG and Samsung, which dominate the CTV market now. BPL, one among the first domestic brands to unleash big buck lifestyle campaigns, is slated to come out with new customer friendly, easy-to-use CTV models and back it up with new commercials.   

MARKETING (NOV 27 - DEC 1)

NDTV partners Karan Johar

Nov. 30 2006, Business Line

NDTV has announced its partnership with film maker Karan Johar’s production company, Dharma Productions, for the launch of its entertainment channel. Dharma Productions will produce shows for NDTV’s entertainment channel. The channel will have the first right of refusal on any programmes that Dharma produces for television. Johar will be on the board of NDTV’s entertainment company, and his company Dharma Productions will hold an equity stake in it. Johar will also be an ambassador for the NDTV entertainment brand. The entertainment channel is being launched as part of NDTV’s expansion beyond the news.

Hilton Hotels, DLF join hands

Nov. 30 2006, Business Line

Hilton Hotels Corporation has announced that it would create a joint venture company here with DLF Ltd (DLF) to develop and own 75 hotels and service apartments over the next seven years. The initial stage of the joint venture will see 20 hotels coming up across the country including
Chandigarh, Chennai and Kolkata. In a statement the company has said that a large number of these hotels are expected to be Hilton Garden Inns, which is a business hotel brand. DLF will hold a 74 per cent stake in the joint venture company with Hilton holding a minority stake. Over the next five-to-seven years Hilton plans to invest $143 million in the JV Company, before consideration of debt.

Tata Indicom’s `One Nation’ plan

Nov. 29 2006, Business Line

Tata Indicom, has launched a tariff plan that offers all domestic calls (local and STD) at Re 1 a minute and all domestic calls to Tata Indicom phones at Re 1 for three minutes. This `One Nation’ tariff is for its post-paid Walky customers, and comes at a monthly rental of Rs 180, free calling value of Rs 50 included. The earlier local and STD tariff was Rs 2.40 a minute.

CPI(M) opposes Bharti, Wal-Mart tie-up

Nov. 29 2006, Business Line

Calling it a back door entry by FDI in retail in the country, the CPI (M) has opposed the Bharti-Wal-Mart deal. FDI is not possible in retail under the existing policy on foreign investment in
India. “The Wal-Mart’s franchisee agreement with Bharti Enterprises is an attempt to circumvent existing policy regulations to get a foothold in the Indian market,” said the party in a press release.  

Shah Rukh’s endorsements on the rise

Nov. 28 2006, Business Line

Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who’s in the news for taking over from Amitabh Bachchan as the new host of TV game show Kaun Banega Crorepati 3 (KBC), has endorsed products as diverse as automobiles, biscuits, garments, computers, watches and talcum powder, not to mention social causes such as the Pulse Polio and AIDS control programmes. AdEx India, in its Celebrity Track analysis, says the actor’s basket of endorsements expanded to 21 products in 2005 from 13 in 2004, a 62 per cent jump. In the first quarter of 2006, he has endorsed 16 brands, 76 per cent of the 2005 figure.  

MARKETING (OCT 7 - OCT 13)

Cottons to launch e-biz siteOctober 6, THE HINDU BUSINESS LINECottons, the branded textile wear from Century Textiles is planning to launch a one-stop online shop for its products. At present, it is marketing on the Internet through Ebay.com and Rediff.com. Soon it will come out with its own site, www.cottonsbycenturyonline.com for the e-business. “Cottons” is also branching out into multi-brand retail outlets (MBOs).In the next 3-4 months, it will be launching two new brands –  a denim and a women’s wear brand based on ethnic and western designs. Cottons, is specially a men’s brand, but 33% of our customers were women.   Pulse opens 2 eateries in MumbaiOctober 8, THE HINDU BUSINESS LINEPulse Foods India Private Ltd., has opened two ‘Pulse’ eateries in Mumbai. The ‘Pulse’ restaurant at Prabhadevi is located at Veer Savarkar Marg & the second is at Nirmal Lifestyle Mall in Melinda. This chain of quick service restaurants serving Indian food has 15 outlets in major cities.  Features-rich softphone tool from Globe7October 8, THE HINDU BUSINESS LINEGlobe 7, a part of Northgate Technologies Ltd. has launched its enhanced version of Globe 7 softphone, with SMS & video streaming features. The Near future plans of Globe 7 into Linux & Mac.Globe 7 is drawing more users by its advantage of using the Voice Over Internet Platforms and ability of making cheaper calls.Globe 7 softphone, developed by Northgate Technologies Ltd., is marketed by Axill Europe Ltd., another part of Northgate.  BSNL launches prepaid serviceOctober 9, THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE BSNL launched its fixed line prepaid service (FLPP), at Kottyam. It is provided to PCOs only in its first phase. FLPP will enable a subscriber to make calls from a prepaid account linked to his telephone number.  TATA Retail venture hopeful of Rs 8000 cr. turnover by 2008October 10, THE HINDU BUSINESS LINEInfinite Retail Ltd. is going to invest Rs 400 cr. to open 30 stores by March 2008 and double outlets by end of 2009. For sourcing and technical support it may form an alliance with Woolworths Ltd. of

Australia. Homme Global entering IndiaOctober 10, THE HINDU BUSINESS LINEWith its premium brands, Homme Global a French footwear brand is making a foray into the Indian market. East Face Pvt. Ltd. has acquired license to market Homme and Maco-footwear in men’s category and has made an initial investment of about 10 crores. It is expecting a sale of 30,000 pairs in next 1 year and hopes to export 25,000 pairs in next fiscal year. Global Infocom to set up 600 ‘property showrooms’October 11, THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE

New Delhi based Global Infocom Ltd. (GIL) is planning to set up 600 ‘property showrooms’ in 598 districts across the country for realty retailing. These showrooms will be networked with each other to facilitate sale and purchase of real estate. The property will be listed on website and can be purchased at any partner showroom.