Marketing review

Spice Telecom banks on Priyanka Chopra to push sales
Spice Telecom, Punjab's premier cellular operator has roped in Priyanka Chopra as its new brand ambassador. Spice has unveiled Priyanka's Limited Edition Team Pack, on the pre-paid platform, which offers subscribers the most economical way to go mobile as a team, and enjoy unlimited and exciting features by forming a team consisting of two to six members.

For a period of three months, Priyanka's Limited Edition Pack offers features like free night calling within the team and SMS at only 5 paise to any Spice mobile for three months and Spice-to-Spice SMS at 5 paisa for three months (till 31st May '05) against the normal SMS rate of Re1 per SMS. Calls within the group would be charged at a nominal rate of Rs0.50 per minute against normal charge of Re1 per minute

Spice has also named a new ring tone called 'Priyanka's ring'.

The administration fee on this pack is charged to the team leader on every recharge and none to the other team members. As long as the leader's card is valid, each member enjoys full validity.

Moreover, all subscribers are also eligible to participate in the 'Priyanka's Favorite Destination' contest, with the opportunity to win a free holiday. Participants have to dial 707 and answer a simple question on Priyanka. The winners of the contest, open till May 31, 2005, will be offered an all expense paid exclusive holiday to "Priyanka's favourite destination".

Airtel offers virtual pets on mobiles
Airtel has launched a new fun feature called 'virtual pets' on mobile that allows the user to play and feed the virtual animal.

The service has a health check meter keeping track of the fitness of the pet. The virtual pet comes at a cost ranging between of Rs50 and Rs99 and is available to those with GPRS (General Packet for Radio Service)-enabled handset.

The company feels the game will appeal Airtel customers who are pet lovers but do not have the time for a pet or they might well be living in houses too small to keep a pet.

DoCoMo in Japan had a similar service under the brand name Tamagotchi while Finnish mobile content companies, marketed Small Planet and Lumo Media, have been peddling a virtual pet named `Kiepo' that live in a cellular phone.

Idea Cellular launches recharge scheme for buddies
Idea Cellular has launched the Buddy Recharge scheme for its pre-paid customers. According to the scheme Chitchat users can recharge their friends and family numbers from their own account.

An Idea customer can select his group of friends and family users, within the same operating circle and create a buddy list. The Buddy Recharge is then ready to use, starting from Rs55 to Rs300 without any additional service charge.

The company says Buddy Recharge can be done anytime, anywhere, even in the absence of a bank or a retailer to top-up or physical cash vouchers, or even while roaming. When the amount is transferred to a Buddy, the receiver, she / he does not have to pay service tax. An Idea customer has to register by sending an SMS to 147 and get a PIN.

Piaggio may enter India with Hero Motors tie-up
Italian two-wheeler giant Piaggio is said to be looking to enter the Indian two-wheeler market through a tie-up with Hero Motors. The two companies are said to be in discussions over the tie-up since they have certain operational synergies.

Last year Hero Motors has entered into a tie-up with two-wheeler maker Aprilia to introduce the latter's products in the Indian market. The tie-up was called-off after Aprilia was taken over by Piaggio.

Narain Karthikeyan is brand ambassador of Amara Raja
Team Jordan's Narain Karthikeyan will sport the logo of Indian battery manufacturer, Amara Raja Batteries (ARBL) on his racing suit for the next six months.

Amara Raja Batteries has entered into an agreement with the Formula 1 driver and Team Jordan making Karthikeyan its ambassador. ARBL's logo will be on the F1 driver's racing suit in all the F1 races for the next six months. The agreement also makes ARBL an associate sponsor of Team Jordan and an official sponsor of Karthikeyan.

Indian online ad market zooms to Rs 100 cr
A study by the Internet & Online Association (IOA), a non-profit trade body to encourage online usage in India has found that the online advertising market is set to cross the Rs100-crore mark shortly and is projected to touch Rs280 crore in two years.

The association says that companies, which were a bit skeptical earlier are gradually seeing the value of advertising online. The association has set itself a target to achieving 100 million Indians online by 2007. At that size India will be one of the top three internet markets in the world.

The association has mandated a research study on three sectors — online advertising, e-commerce, and mobile content and communications, to IMRB (Indian Market Research Bureau) which will empower marketers, media planner, buyers and businesses with the right data tools, to help them make educated decisions and increasingly cater to connected Indians, whether online or mobile.

Paes launches tennis apparel
Tennis player Leander Paes has launched his own tennis apparel called Dellta LEEG in association with retail organisation Dellta Sports.

Dellta LEEG includes tennis shirts, shorts and t-shirts for men and tennis skirts, tops and shorts for women. It also includes tracksuits and caps.

Dellta LEEG has been supplied to six Ranji Trophy teams over the past six months.

LG to cash in on Indo-Pak series
LG Electronics India is hoping to collect revenue of Rs1,200 crore with its new promotional campaign for the Indo-Pak series.

The company has set aside a budget of of Rs60 crore for the campaign starring Sourav Ganguly and Inzamam-ul Haq.

The consumer offer called Khelega Kya would be on from March 8 to April 20.

The company is planning to raise the prices of ACs, refrigerators by about four to six per cent on its range of air-conditioners and refrigerators as steel prices have risen in recent months, putting pressure on the margins.

Hero Honda launches executive bike Super Splendour
Hero Honda Motors has launched the 125cc-motorcycle, Super Splendour, priced at an average of Rs42,500 nationwide.

The bike is positioned as a fuel saver with a new engine, which provides 5km more per litre of petrol compared to the existing Splendour, plus increased power.

The company hopes to sell more units of the new bike over the earlier Splendour.

IA terminates super saver scheme
Indian Airlines (IA) plans to close its extremely popular `bumper super saver' scheme on March 31 or even earlier. The scheme was launched on February 16 for economy class and on February 23 for executive class.

IA offered passengers travel on 16 sectors within one year for just Rs65,000 in economy class and for Rs1 lakh in executive class.

VLCC contest features in Sony serial
VLCC Health Care's `Look of the Year' pageant will feature in Sony Entertainment TV's popular show, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin.

The contest will run on `Jassi' during the 10-12 episodes starting March 7 and the final show will serve as a platform for the much-awaited transformation of `Jassi'.

VLCC will also run other promotions including a nationwide contest that will offer the winner a total transformation and a visit to the sets of Jassi. It has also introduced a month-long transformation package across its 80 centres.

ITC Foods launches Sunfeast Pasta Treat
ITC Foods division has launched instant snack Sunfeast Pasta Treat. The instant snack, which the company claims is India's first instant pasta with sauce maker inside, marks the division's foray into the ready-to-cook instant snacks category.

The snack will be available in four flavours: masala, tomato & cheese, sour cream onion and cheese, priced at Rs 12 for the masala flavour and Rs15 for the rest

— Compiled by Mohini Bhatnagar