Marketing review

Nokia launches new model
Nokia launched a stylish entry-level handset, Nokia 2626 available in three colors. These include wild strawberry, denim blue and metallic bronze.

According to the company, the Nokia 2626 not only helps the consumers make a style statement with its trendy design, but also provides them an enriched mobile music experience with FM Radio along with an integrated handsfree speaker.

The Nokia 2626 has upto 65,000 colors to give consumers the right balance of technology and design at an affordable price point.

According to the company FM Radio is clearly becoming one of the more popular features on mobile handsets in India. In 2006 alone, Nokia says that it delivered more than 130 million devices with integrated FM radio globally.

It says it is committed to offer music on the go to all consumer segments and has the widest range of radio enabled handsets.

PepsiCo launches Pepsi Gold to commemorate World Cup 2007
As the World Cup fever starts PepsiCo has launched a flamboyant new gold colored cola to commemorate ICC World Cup 2007.

The company says Pepsi Gold is a premium cola that combines the taste of Pepsi with a lemon topnote. The resplendent gold hues of this new cola from Pepsi symbolize every Indian cricket fan's desire to bring home the gold colored World Cup Trophy.

According to the company, "Pepsi Gold is our tribute to the gold colored World Cup trophy and to the spirit of winning and going for Gold. It is also our tribute to the never-say-die spirit of the Indian cricket fan."

The launch of Pepsi Gold and the Blue Billion campaign are initiatives that take forward Pepsi's endeavor to empower the cricket fan. If the Blue Billion campaign gave the cricket fan a powerful voice through the "Ooh Aah India" chant, Pepsi Gold is symbolic of the magic that is possible when every Indian cricket fan joins the drive to bring the World Cup home.

Pepsi consumers and cricket fans will wish the Indian team good luck by giving them a grand farewell today, ahead of their departure for the West Indies. Cricket fans and winners, including Pepsi brand ambassadors – Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka, singers – Sukhwinder, Adnan Sami and Shankar will cheer and wish the Indian cricket team the very best in their own special way.

The company has also launched a slew of marketing initiatives to back the Gold launch, ranging from lenticular POS that showcases the Pepsi Gold bottle morphing into the World Cup trophy, to miniature replicas of the World Cup trophy, which will be given away on purchase of the Pepsi Gold 600ml PET pack.

A new commercial, created by ad agency JWT, will also be on air from March 7. The TVC depicts cricket fans across the country bringing together a message for the Indian cricket team.

Also lined up are multi-packs consisting of 4 Pepsi Gold Bottles, available at all large format grocery stores. The multi-pack offer comes with an even more attractive consumer promotion that lets consumers win attractive Pepsi Blue Billion gear.

Pepsi Gold is targeted at cricket fans which will be available in two exclusive packs - a gold colored 600ml PET bottle priced at Rs 25 and another trendy, 250ml carry pack priced at Rs 15.

Coca Cola launches new exciting summer campaign for 2007
Coca-Cola has launched a new exciting brand campaign for soft drink brand-Sprite. The new campaign brings to life the tagline of the brand-- 'Sprite Bhujaye Pyaas. Baaki All Bakwaas. Clear Hai?!'

However, what makes the new campaign different is the renewed focus on the thirst-quenching, no nonsense, and unpretentious attitude of the brand. As part of the same strategy, the plan is to build a stronger connect with the "Youth", who prefer Sprite because of its unmatched refreshingly, honest thirst quenching ability.

To drive the entire consumer campaign, the company is rolling out a 360 degrees integrated marketing program consisting of mass media advertising on all leading TV channels and on the ground initiatives including road shows and contests. The company also plans to leverage new "Digital Platforms" like the Internet through a specially-created interactive online "Sprite-itude" zone that offers ample creative and gaming opportunities to the youth.

The integrated marketing initiative will simultaneously be launched across all key markets in the coming week.

The new advertising campaign that will be aired on all leading TV channels during the summer of 2007, continues with brand Sprite's single point agenda of provoking the youth to think clearly. Busting any pretense of holding a high ground, it exaggerates the act of quenching thirst to an unbelievable, unrealistic level and punctures the pretentious build-up.

The focus of the new brand campaign is on the "thirst quenching" without loosing Sprite's typical tongue-in-cheek wit and humor.

Hutch starts billing in local languages
Hutch has started sending bills to customers in nine languages. Subscribers can view their bills in Tamil, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu, Bangla, Kannada, Gujarati and Malayalam along with English. Subscribers have to dial Hutch Care Helpline 111 followed by language choice for billing activation. Payment for the bills can also made through credit cards.

Nirula's to invest Rs 100 crore in new stores
Delhi-based fast food restaurant chain Nirula's has started on a Rs 100-crore pan-India expansion plan under the new ownership of the Malaysian equity firm Navis Capital Partners and promoter Samir Kuckreja. The restaurant will open about 150 outlets in the coming three years with an investment of Rs100 crore.

The restaurant will have a presence in Mumbai by the first quarter of 2008 and in the near future, the restaurant will open 35 outlets in North and Central India and thereby move to States such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Qualcomm, Tata Tele launch handset with single chip
Qualcomm, which makes telecom chips, and CDMA operator Tata Teleservices have launched the Motofone F3c, which runs on a QSC 6010 chip. The handset is priced at Rs1,699 and offers free incoming calls for the first six months.

Typically, phones are made of four chips - baseband modem, radio transceiver, power management and multimedia engine. With the QSC single chip, the mobile is more stable, has more features packed in, offers longer standby time and is smaller (9 mm), according to Qualcomm India.

The company is targeting this phone at rural markets, young people and traders. It will also appeal to non-English speakers with the voice prompt feature (for changing menu options) available in six local languages.

Tata Indicom has exclusive rights to sell this phone. However, Qualcomm believes local makers could be encouraged to manufacture low-cost cellphones based on the chipset. This chipset is currently used by 28 OEMs and we can expect to see more such low-cost phones in the market this year.

While Motofone F3c is a black and white handset, the single chip solution can be used to roll out camera-phones, colour phones and handsets with FM radio, too.

The company hopes to sell three million models in the next six months.

Forbes Gokak to extend Savile Row brand to women's and kids wear
The Savile Row brand owned by Forbes Gokak will soon have women's and kids wear segments this year.

The company said Savile Row brand promises "Luxury clothing at affordable prices," is all set to enhance its footing in India.

Forbes Gokak entered into a licencee agreement with Savile Row, London, in 2005 and has established six company owned and 20 shop-in-shop stores across the country.

Till now the Savile Row brand is available in hotels but will soon be available in malls and high street stores in the next two years. The company has already signed an agreement with Pyramid Retail.

Apart from women and kids wear, the company also plans to bring in golf wear and watchline among the accessories range by this spring-summer.

Trussardi, one among the three brands under Forbes Gokak, is also expected to be out with its ready-to-wear by end 2008.

Godrej Agrovet to increase rural focus
Godrej Group's retailing division Godrej Agrovet is stepping up focus on its `Aadhar Krishi Gurukuls', which imparts structured courses in agri-practices and agri-marketing to rural youth.

The company has set up such rural marts (Aadhar retail outlets and gurukuls) with an objective to help rural consumers by improving their productivity, helping them get higher returns, and offering crop advisory services, soil and water testing services.

These marts will also help the rural consumers in the buyback of output, crop finance, supply of agri-inputs and animal feeds, transfer of information (weather, price, and demand supply) and door delivery of products, among other things.

The Godrej Aadhar brand has introduced 32 service-cum-retail stores to provide a host of services to farmers. It is looking to develop these outlets into one-stop solutions for the rural populace. Godrej Agrovet targets to generate revenues in the range of Rs5,000-Rs7,000 crore from its 1,000 Aadhar outlets over the next five years.

CNBC Awaaz introduces new talent show
CNBC Awaaz is launching a talent show called Khud Par Karo Yakeen to spot women with a flair for news presentation.

In house research done by the sponsor of the show Procter & Gamble revealed that news on TV is one of the most aspirational careers for women.

Hence the show will attempt to unearth talent from these places and make access to the media field easier. The show, in association with P&G's brand Pantene, will train the winner in all aspects of news presentation, including grooming, for six months and have her do a show with the Pantene brand ambassador Sushmita Sen.

The grand prize will be the offer of a job with the TV18 group of companies.

The process of selecting the winner will be filmed in six episodes, starting with 150 contestants drawn from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Lucknow and Chandigarh. It will capture the participants' evolution from amateur contender to well-prepared competitor. A jury comprising a senior print journalist, veteran CNBC news professional and other experts will test knowledge, skill, confidence, flair and talent.

Star power works for Chinni's pickles
CavinKare said sales of its Chinni's brand of pickles have grown by 50 per cent due to celebrity endorsement and TV commercials featuring film stars.

The company said Chinni's brand of pickles had outperformed Ruchi (another brand from the company) in the pickles segment, after being endorsed by film actor and director Revathi who produced and directed the new commercials.

Launched in 2003, Chinni's Pickles are available in five variants and sold in four formats — sachets, standby pouches, bulk packs and 300g bottles. The company is also planning to come out with more variants soon.

The Chinni's brand is sold in the South and some markets in the west.

Star Vijay to focus on the extended prime time
Tamil television channel, Star Vijay, is increasing focusing on creating content and formats for the extended prime time segment (after 9 p.m.) and is diverting most of its resources towards developing show-based programmes. Vijay TV, owned by Star India, is currently developing two reality shows; a few game shows are in the pipeline.

For starters, Star-Vijay will air `Super Singer Junior' from February 24 positioned at 8 p.m. and will to compete with staple television soaps for viewership. The channel's shows like Jodi No. 1 and Super Singer were also aired at 8 p.m. and were hugely popular.

Later this year, the channel will bring out the second edition of Super Singr, the first edition of which spotted singing talent and gave candidates an opportunity to work with music directors in the Tamil film industry.