Marketing review

Akshay Kumar features in the latest Thums Up campaign
Coca-Cola is launching a new 'Taste the Thunder' promotional campaign for its brand Thums Up.

The campaign has a new TV commercial, featuring matinee idol Akshay Kumar, the Thums UP brand ambassador, who will appear in a new look performing the extreme sport of Yamakasi, seen for the first time in India.

Ya makási meaning "strong body, strong spirit, strong person" is an extreme sport popularised by the French. (Yamakasi, in french simply means "High Energy")

Yamakasi is the art of displacement; it involves surmounting urban obstacles as efficiently as possible. The sport, gained further prominence, when it was showcased to a wider global audience in the latest Bond Movie "Casino Royale".

The ad campaign brings out the "Anything For Thunder" attitude of Indian men.

To complement the mass media initiative on Thums Up, the company is rolling out a range of on the ground actions including road shows and contests across all key markets.

The compelling visual drama portrays Akshay doing absolute breath taking stunts using the most contemporary sport of Yamakasi.

TV18 Network changes programming in tune with ICC Cricket World Cup 2007
TV18 Network, with its four news channels, CNN-IBN, IBN 7, CNBC-TV 18 and CNBC-Awaaz has planned a number of programmes for cricket fans in India to coincide with the upcoming cricket World Cup.

TV18 will celebrate the sprit of the game with its Cheer for India initiative coupled with regular analysis and updates beamed from the Caribbean by a host of known cricket personalities like Krish Srikkanth and Yashpal Sharma to name a few.

The event was launched on 5 March, and will cover the cities of Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Nagpur, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Hyderabad, Pune and other towns to end in Mumbai.

These floats will carry a cricket bat replicas on which fans including celebrity fans, will sign their wishes for Team India. At special Cheer for India caravans are parked at different venues, fans can share their opinions and send their best wishes, which will be aired live across the TV18 network channels during various time bands through the day.

Aamir Khan features in Coca Cola's new 'sabka thanda ek' campaign
Coca-Cola has launched an intensive integrated marketing communication program for the summer of 2007 which is based on the "Sabka Thanda Ek", theme. The campaign has been designed to build the Coca-Cola brand from its refreshment platform to a higher order of emotional benefit by establishing it as the universal choice which brings people together.

As part of the integrated communication plan, a range of initiatives including mass media and internet advertising are being rolled out. The new TV commercial features Hindi film star Aamir Khan, the Coca-Cola brand ambassador in an all new avatar.

Aamir appears as a no-nonsense attendant in in a train, connecting consumers with Coca-Cola. The campaign has been conceptualised by Prasoon Joshi, chairman and national creative director McCann Erickson.

To extend the reach and appeal of the new summer campaign, the company also plans to leverage the internet by building and promoting online communities. The strategy includes leveraging

According to Coca-Cola India, "The new campaign 'Sabka Thanda Ek' strengthens the universal appeal of the brand amongst consumers. It offers a higher order of emotional benefit of bringing people together. And who else to better communicate this message, but our brand ambassador Aamir Khan, in a never been seen appearance."

The new Coca-Cola commercial opens in a train compartment with Aamir shown as a no nonsense attendant. There is an underlying friction amongst the passengers as they settle down to share the same compartment space with others. The entering of a tunnel is enough reason for Aamir to find his filled Coke bottle empty. As he follows the "Burpy" trail to nail the
culprit a final act ends the search in a surprising climax.

Aamir's make up man "Jogendra G. Gupta" has given Aamir the never seen before attendant look.

The new brand campaign 'Sabka Thanda Ek' is all set to be launched on all leading TV channels. Besides mass media, the Coca-Cola's brand campaign for the summer will also be extended to the internet.

Tata Sky ropes in Hrithik Roshan for World Cup campaign
Tata Sky, the joint venture between Tata and Star India, has launched a special promotional offer across India.

Consumers, who buy a Tata Sky subscription by 15 April, 2007, will get a free three-month subscription on up to 4 televisions at their homes.

In addition, 50 subscribers with their families will get a chance to watch the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Final with superstar Hrithik Roshan, on 28th April, in Mumbai.

According to Tata Sky its Actve Sports enables viewers to choose the camera angle from which they wish to watch their favourite cricketers. Highlights are also available on-demand, at any time during the match.

Apart from this, Actve Sports offers viewers the option of listening to commentary in a language of their choice and the convenience of extracting player statistics and ball trajectory at the press of a button.

Since Tata Sky is a satellite television service, viewers will be able to watch all matches in DVD quality picture and CD quality sound, enhancing the experience of watching cricket at home.

ITC Foods bets on Sachin brand power for its health foods range
ITC Foods is banking on ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's star appeal for its `Sachin Fit Kit' range of health products. The company has launched a range of healthy biscuits, co-created by Tendulkar, branded the `Sachin's Fit Kit. The range consists of two products — multi-grain biscuits and vitamin and protein enriched biscuits.

Tendulkar is said to have shared his dietary regimen, which has helped him to remain fit for the last 17 years, with the product development team of Sunfeast.

While the vitamin and protein biscuits are reportedly enriched with the entire vitamin B family and additional proteins, the multi-grain biscuits are packed with "six nutri fibres" — barley, oats, ragi, jowar, corn and wheat.

ITC has created a few television commercials with the theme `Champions of tomorrow' for the new range of nutrition biscuits and hopes this new range will help Sunfeast gain a double-digit market share in the biscuits segment.
Currently, Sunfeast has an 8 per cent share in the Rs 6,000-crore biscuits market.

Benetton India introduces new collection
Benetton India, the Gurgaon-based Indian arm of Italian group Benetton, has launched its Spring / Summer 2007 collection at a fashion show here to showcase its brands — United Colors of Benetton and Sisley.

The company is not tying up with major retail majors for now but is expanding through its own vendors' network. Its Gurgaon-based factory produces more than one million pieces of garments annually, mainly for the Indian market.

Godrej to extend Nutrine brand to chocolates, gums
Godrej Beverages & Foods is planning to stretch the Nutrine brand into new categories like gums, lozenges, fruit bars and even chocolates later. Godrej is trying to differentiate its offerings in the confectionery segment and will position its products on different platforms.

The Nutrine lozenges are expected to have micronutrients with therapeutic benefits and would be positioned as tobacco cessation products in the market.

The company said its products have social benefit. Hence these products would have micronutrients that would wean people away from products like paan masalas and cigarettes.

The Nutrine lozenges would be primarily targeted at smokers and paan chewers.

The foods and beverages company is also entering a new category through its fruit bars and Nutrine fruit bars made from pure fruit pulp would be the first brand from an organised player. The Nutrine fruit bars would be pegged at Rs 5 for 25 gm. The company is also planning an entry into the gums category later.

Orchid Designs launches Tuscany brand
Modular kitchen manufacturer Orchid Designs that owns the Cookscape brand is diversifying its product portfolio.

The company has launched a new brand called Tuscany that will offer kitchen appliances, chimneys, built-in hobs, quartz and stainless steel sinks, built-in refrigerators, dish washers and other accessories relevant to modern day kitchens.

The company plans to set up two new manufacturing units at Mumbai and New Delhi to make hobs and chimneys to be sold under the Tuscany brand, besides making modular kitchens for Cookscape.