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The hunt for Coal India's creative agency has begun
Public sector giant Coal India Limited (CIL) is scouting for a creative partner. The pitch is currently under way in Kolkata and still in its initial stages. Founded in November 1975, CIL is a holding company with seven wholly-owned coal producing subsidiary companies in the country, and one mine planning and consultancy company. The company's goals include identification of coal reserves, detailed exploration of the same, and then working on the design, implementation and optimising of operations for coal extraction in its mines. The producing companies include: Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), Sanctoria, West Bengal; Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Dhanbad, Jharkhand; Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), Ranchi, Jharkhand; South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), Bilaspur, Chattisgarh; Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), Nagpur, Maharashtra; Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh; and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), Sambalpur, Orissa. Coal India Africana Limitada, Mozambique is an overseas producing company and the consultancy company is Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL), Ranchi, Jharkhand. North Eastern Coalfields (NEC) is a small coal producing unit operating in Margherita, Assam under the direct operational control of CIL. Coal India's major consumers are the power and steel sectors, besides manufacturers of cement, fertilisers, brick kilns, and other small scale industries. |
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Global creative agency Imagination enters India
Global creative agency Imagination has announced the opening of its new offices in India. The India operations of Imagination would be the agency’s 16th office in the world. In the past, Imagination has produced some campaigns for India out of its international offices. The agency has identified Mumbai and Bangalore as the locations for its India offices. Imagination has roped in Uday Vijayan as Director, Imagination India. Vijayan began his career in account management and has worked with global agencies, including JWT, Bozell and George P Johnson. He is responsible for all aspects of the India operation s, from setting up a team to building client respect for the agency. To mark its entry into the Indian market, Imagination will be creating distinctive experiences at the ongoing AutoExpo 2012 in Delhi for brands such as Land Rover, Ford and Tata Motors. While the Tata Motors theme is ‘Inspired by People’, the Ford theme is around the four brand pillars of Quality, Green, Smart and Safety. The Ford pavilion will also have a performing magician to communicate ‘Blink of an Eye’ concept that covers the safety angle of Ford cars. Imagination had earlier designed the Tata Motors stall at the Auto Expo in 2010.
Besides this, Imagination also handles clients like the Oberoi Hotels and Andaz Hotels by Hyatt, where they are leading the design and styling of the new Andaz Hotel in New Delhi. Headquartered in London, Imagination was founded 40 years ago. The agency has its Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong, while its other offices in the region are in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne and Tokyo. The agency’s global clients list includes Jaguar, Aston Martin, Shell, Tata Motors, Ford, Canon, British Airways, and The Body Shop, to name a few.
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JW Marriott seeks creative partner
 Luxury five-star hotel chain JW Marriott is looking for an advertising agency in India. The pitch process, which began a couple of weeks ago, is underway in Mumbai currently. It is learnt that a few agencies have already made their presentations; the selection process is a part of the brand's preparation for a key ad campaign to be released early in 2012. Currently, four to five medium-sized ad agencies are handling the creative duties for JW Marriott. In the past, the account has been handled by IB&W Communication. JW Marriott belongs to the parent company, Marriott International. The chain is a well-known brand across the globe and has hotels at places such as Shanghai, Phuket, London, Dubai, Cairo, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, to name a few. In Mumbai, JW Marriott is located at Juhu, a busy suburban location. Recently, Marriott International was in the news for having launched a mobile application for iPhone and Android devices for the Indian market. The objective was to simplify travel for time-crunched travelers. The free app allows users to avail details of nearby hotels, book rooms, and check their upcoming reservations.
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TOI to launch in Kerala on February 1
 Bennett Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL), in collaboration with Kerala's No. 2 Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, will launch its flagship English daily The Times of India (TOI) in Kerala, on February 1. The daily was originally expected to make its entry in Kerala in mid-2011. The TOI will be launched simultaneously from nine locations where Mathrubhumi is already present, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alleppey, Kottayam, Kochi, Trichur, Palakkad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode. Apart from these nine cities, Mathrubhumi has a printing location in Kannur. As per the strategic tie-up between BCCL and Mathrubhumi, the two media entities will work in tandem across response, content and circulation departments. The TOI will use Mathrubhumi's distribution network that has 11,000 agents spread across Kerala. The TOI and Mathrubhumi are jointly running the launch campaign in Kerala, and the second phase of the campaign, which will talk about the combo offers being offered to the readers by the two media entities, will soon be introduced. The two entities have taken 60 hoardings across the state to promote the launch campaign. The TOI will bear the same cover price of Rs 4, as that of Mathrubhumi. However, the combo offer will allow readers to purchase the TOI and Mathrubhumi together for Rs 6, with the TOI's cover price reduced to Rs 2, while, Mathrubhumi will be available for Rs 4 for the combo subscribers. "This will maximise the reach for both dailies. The TOI is aiming to be No. 1 English daily in the state from the very first day," says M V Shreyas Kumar, director, Mathrubhumi. The TOI is targeting an initial print run of 1.5 lakh copies. According to Kumar, Mathrubhumi has a print order of 1.4 million copies in the state, and with the combo offer, the group is hopeful of seeing a sizeable increase in the print run of the Malayalam daily. The TOI will introduce its regular supplements in the state, and apart from that, the TOI and Mathrubhumi will jointly come out with two new weekly supplements titled Mathrubhumi Times Accent, and Mathrubhumi Education Times across three cities namely Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode. Though the content of these two supplements will be in English, the ads will be in both English and Malayalam. For the record, until October 1998, the TOI held around 400 shares (close to 20 per cent shares) in Mathrubhumi since late 1987. The former sold its stakes to the family of M P Veerendrakumar, managing director of Mathrubhumi, following a legal dispute.
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 Chhota Bheem eyes merchandise market
Green Gold Animation, the makers of Indian comic hero Chhota Bheem, is now weaving a strategy to monetise the popularity of the comic series. It involves opening up about 100 merchandise stores through franchises to sell T-shirts, photo frames, fashion accessories and stationery. It is also signing up a slew of licensing deals. “Three years after the show went on air, Chhota Bheem is now among the most popular programmes for kids,” said Rajiv Chilaka founder and Managing Director of Green Gold Animation. It now is the largest revenue earner for the company, he added. According to Chilaka, Chhota Bheem, a kid who helps the needy in the imaginary Dholakpur village, had over 34 million viewers last year. According to Chilaka, the company is in talks with manufacturers of toys, cycles and confectionaries, to name a few. It has already inked a deal with consumer appliances company Usha for ceiling fans with Bheem and friends, New Zeel for raincoats, Vividha for upholstery and two others for umbrellas and school bags. Green Gold, which is sourcing toys and other merchandise from China, will strengthen logistics and warehousing facilities to cater to increasing number of outlets. The company so far resisted raising funds from private equity players and venture capitalists. Green Gold delivered 121 episodes of Chhota Bheem and another 27 will be rolled out by March. The show will be on air for six years. To ride the success of Chhota Bheem, the company has firmed up plans to launch a theatrical in 2012 and production of this 90 minute feature film will begin this week. The animation company is also behind Mighty Raju, another comic serial that is currently on air.
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Wings Biotech scouts for creative partner
 Wings Biotech, the pharmaceutical company that has several products in the Over the Counter (OTC), life care and consumer care space, is on the lookout for a creative partner for its analgesic brand Diclowin Plus. Thought company officials could not be reached at the time of filing this report, industry sources close to the development have confirmed the news to exchange4media. Sources informed that the pitch was currently underway in Delhi and agencies had already made their presentations to the client. It is learnt that Wings now plans to aggressively promote itself in the market and intends to grab a greater mindshare of the consumer for its several brands. However, the creative mandate right now includes duties for Diclowin Plus only. It may be noted that till now, the company was working with freelancers. This is the first time it is hiring a mainline agency to take care of the creative duties. Size of the business is estimated to be in the vicinity of Rs 6-7 crore. Besides Diclowin Plus, the other brands in Wings’ portfolio include Cleenhands, Heelmate, cough syrups Kufma-Ex and Kufma-Dx, Liproz, Ora-Sore, Mefzone Spas, Wincold, and many more in the OTC space. Wings consumer care division comprises brands like Cleanomark disinfectant floor cleaner, toilet cleaner, glass and appliances cleaner, and Odogard Herbal bathroom freshener. Wings lifecare division also comprises several products. Wings Biotech came into existence as a start-up with seven successful products in 1989. Diclowin Plus was one of the first products launched by Wings and continues to be one of their largest selling products. Wings has become an important player in the therapeutic segment, especially pain killers. The company also plans to enter the consumer products arena.
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Phoenix Market City looks for a creative agency in Bengaluru
 After handing over the Mumbai business to Ignite Mudra, Phoenix Market City is now looking for a creative agency in Bengaluru. Several top agencies from the region have pitched for the business. The media mix will include radio, print, outdoor, and a lot of on-ground activities. The Phoenix Market City brand is jointly promoted by three key investors - The Phoenix Mills, HBS Realtors and Horizon Venture Capital Fund. Besides Mumbai and Bengaluru, the brand has launched malls in Pune, Chennai and Kolkata. The company usually divides the creative mandate for Phoenix Market City region wise. However, early last year, Webchutney was awarded the digital duties for the brand across the country. In Bengaluru, the development is located in the commercial area of Whitefield, and is spread over an area of about 2.81 million square feet. The Phoenix Mills develops malls, entertainment complexes, commercial spaces and hospitality units. The company is led by Atul Ruia, Managing Director. To intensify and expand its presence in the retail sector, it has invested in Entertainment World Developers and Big Apple, two firms that are equally focused on developing retail and hospitality propositions across Tier II and Tier III cities.
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Navbharat Times launches the NBT-NCR edition
 Navbharat Times (NBT), the Hindi daily from the Times Group stable, is launching its special NCR edition to further strengthen its numero uno position in Delhi-NCR. The paper hits the news stands from January 2, 2012. While the Delhi edition continues to be the No. 1 in the Delhi city with a gap of 7.5 lakh readers with the next competitor, the NBT-NCR edition is aimed to widen the gap further. The NCR edition will not only retain its special Delhi and national content, but also offer a complete dose on state level news of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. This special NBT-NCR edition will be circulated in all the five suburbs (Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Greater Noida and Noida). Readers in these areas will also receive the hyper local city pullouts in their respective regions along with this main issue. Regionalizing the main issue, the product offering is customized for its NCR readers. The sizable local advertising would be a separate stream. The NCR has been witnessing a huge growth in job opportunities, increased urban migration, increased housing projects and huge investments in the transport infrastructure. From the advertising point of view, tapping NCR readers has always been an interest area for all advertisers as they look out for mediums that have deeper engagement levels with their audiences. For the record, as per the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) Q3 2011 results, NBT remains the most read newspaper in Delhi-NCR with a readership of 19.7 lakh.
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