Marketing review

Tata Tele launches customer care initiatives
Tata Teleservices recently launched two important customer-centric initiatives — opening of the first True Value Hub and flagging off of Service-on-Wheels.

The company plans to add more True Value Hubs in the Andhra Pradesh by opening 28 more by December this year.

The True Value Hub is part of a three-tier approach of Tata Indicom to expand retail presence in the country and serves as an integrated service centre with automated experience point where the customers get exposed to and experience the entire range of products and services. Service-on-Wheels involves a vehicle fully equipped with systems and personnel going to residential localities in the city offer instant services.

Richard Gere to endorse Visa Power
Hollywood star Richard Gere will endorse Visa Power in India. A new commercial starring the actor was recently launched and will be aired in all Asia-Pacific countries. The commercial is first being shown in India from June 9, in both English and Hindi on all major channels.

Shot in Jodhpur, the commercial showcases the beauty, scenery and the imagery of India. The central theme of the campaign is `birds' and is based on the giving spirit demonstrated through the ritual of letting birds go free to bring good luck to a loved one embarking on a journey a ritual that runs across different cultures in the Asia-Pacific region including India.

Air Deccan launches Re 1 fare
Air Deccan has started selling 1,000 tickets every month priced at Re 1. The tickets will be available for flights operated with the Airbus A-320 aircraft that the airline uses on long distance Delhi-Bangalore and Delhi-Chennai trunk routes.

The tickets go on sale at 6.30 am each day and are available at not only the airlines' web site, but also through other vendors. There are two-to-three seats per aircraft at this new low fare. The sale of ticket is on a first-cum-first serve basis.

The tickets are however available to passengers for Rs221 due to the 'passenger service fee' (PSF) levied by the government. Also the airline has no plans of withdrawing the other low levels of fares that are currently available in the market, including the Rs500 ticket.

BSNL launches tele-voting services
BSNL has begun offering value-added services such as tele-voting services to popular interactive television shows.

The most recent is the channel's tie up with Star Plus for KBC 2.

BSNL has upgraded its 'intelligent network platform' which can handle up to 12 lakh calls per hour and the capacity would be later increased to 18 lakh calls per hour. Each call from BSNL lines will cost Rs2.40, while the SMS rate or call rate for Airtel users would be Rs6.

BSNL registered six crore calls at Rs1.20 each during the recently concluded Indian Idol show on Sony. BSNL is hoping to achieve revenue of up to Rs50 crore from these services.

Parle forced to change packaging of its cream biscuits
Parle Products maker of Parle Biscuits has been forced to make changes in the packs of its pineapple and orange cream biscuits by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In February, the FDA had asked the company to withdraw the cream biscuits from the market as it charged that the company was misleading consumers. The FDA felt that the packaging of the biscuits contained pictures of pineapples and oranges giving the impression that the products contained fresh fruits and hence was misleading.

While stocks of these products have already been withdrawn in key cities of Maharashtra such as Pune, Nashik and Mumbai, the company has also made changes to the packaging recently to make sure its business remained unaffected.

New Blackberry model launched
Bharti Cellular and Research In Motion have together launched BlackBerry 7100g business phone, targeted at mobile professionals and small businesses.

The phone is a full-featured quad-band mobile phone that includes Bluetooth support and speakerphone with push-based wireless e-mail, SMS, Web browser and personal organiser, Bharti said in a statement.

The handheld has been priced at Rs19,000 as an introductory offer. Bharti had earlier launched three Blackberry models — 7730, 7230 and 6230.

Provogue plans more Studios
Provogue India is expanding its shirt retailing operations in India in a big way. The company intends to add 40 new small Provogue Studios and 21 mega stores to its current network of 40 stores spread across 19 cities. It has already signed agreements to put up its branded stores in Mumbai, Indore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Agra, Lucknow, Goa, Pune and Mangalore.

The company is also expanding its shirt manufacturing facility at Daman from 2,000 shirts a day to 3,000 shirts a day. Provogue will also unveil a design facility in the coming fortnight in Andheri, Mumbai. The company also intends to enter the womenswear, kidswear and innerwear segments.

So far, it has forayed into the African market by providing `total solutions' to textile companies there. The company provides machinery, testing facilities and manpower to African companies that draw incentives from their governments for entrepreneurial activity in the textile segment.

Sahara Computers launches desktop PCs at Rs 9,999
Sahara Computers and Electronics (SCEL), a joint venture between the South African IT major, Sahara Computers (Pty) Ltd, and Sahara India Pariwar, has launched a number of IT products in the Indian market including desktop PCs starting at Rs 9,999 excluding the cost of the monitor.

The SCEL Desktop PC is in the range of Rs 9,999-50,000. The basic model of desktop PC is a complete multimedia PC with AMD Sempron Processor 2400+, 128 MB Ram, 40GB HDD, 52X CDROM, Linux, mutimedia speakers, fax modem and a one-year onsite warranty.

Pepsodent — Shaktiman contest winners announced
Pepsodent ttothpaste and Shaktiman, the popular children's serial on Doordarshan have announced the 31 winners of the 'Pepsodent — Shaktiman contest'. The contest, launched nationally to promote good dental hygiene amongst children was open to children from the ages of 6 to 15. 31 lucky children got the opportunity to star in an episode of Shaktiman with their hero Mukesh Khanna who portrays the character.

Children wishing to participate in the Pepsodent-Shaktiman contest had to answer three simple questions at the end of every episode with one winner being chosen per episode. The contest saw close to 25,000 entries from children across the country. The winners and their guardians were bought to Mumbai where they had the opportunity to shoot with Shaktiman for a specially scripted episode.

— Compiled by Mohini Bhatnagar