Marketing review

Nizam's shahi dastarkhan now served on board Jet Airways' Mumbai-Delhi
Jet Airways will serve its passengers flying on the Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai original Hyderabadi food as part of a 10-day Hyderabadi Food Festival that will last till December 20, 2005.

The special food festival is in keeping with Jet Airways' philosophy of offering culinary delights to enhance passenger experience by giving keen attention to the details of in-flight cuisine and service. Festivals of this nature are yet another unique offering from India 's premier airline.

The specially designed meals, conceptualised by Oberoi Flight Services are being served to passengers both in Club Premiere and Economy Class. The elaborate menu is available for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

Jet Airways operates a fleet of 40 classic and next generation Boeing 737-400/700/800/900 aircraft, 3 A340-300 E aircraft and 8 modern ATR72-500 Turboprop aircraft. With an average age of a little over 4.8 years, the airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleet in the world.

Gucci introduces the Bamboo Watch
Mumbai: Gucci has introduced the bamboo watch in India. Bamboo is a Gucci trademark material and adorns accessories since 1947 when the bamboo-handle handbag was launched.

Gucci has introduced a newly revisited version of this model in stainless steel. Sophisticated and inspired, this timepiece is a perfect blend of all Gucci aesthetic codes, including the bamboo shaped bracelet, the green-red-green stripes, the horsebit pattern adorning the dial and the logo.

Stylish and innovative, the bangle bracelet has a new adjustable fastening device to fit any size wrist.

For the ultimate refinement the new bamboo watch in stainless steel is also available with precious diamonds horizontally edging the top and the bottom of the case.

Yahoo! Introduces style gallery
Mumbai: Yahoo! India has launched a mobile `style gallery', introducing a signature series of photographs of model Malaika Arora clicked by well-known photographer Atul Kasbekar.

The signature series consists of photographs of Malaika shot in Phuket, and will be available on the Yahoo! India web site. A section of pictures from Kasbekar's personal gallery will also be made available shortly.

ING Vysya to sponsor hockey
ING Vysya Life, the insurance arm of the private sector ING Vysya Bank, has chosen to patronise hockey, instead of cricket.

The company has signed an agreement to sponsor the Bangalore team in the Premier Hockey League (PHL), played on a new set of rules allowing even foreign players' participation.

ING will sponsor the local team from next year when the second edition of PHL is held in Chandigarh. It has also offered an insurance cover of Rs5 lakh each to all the participating Indian players as part of the sponsorship agreement.

Maruti tops JD Power quality survey again
According to a study conducted by J D Power Asia Pacific 2005, Maruti Alto ranks highest in the "reclassified compact car segment," followed by two other Maruti models, the Zen and Wagon R, respectively. The compact car segment registered strong initial quality improvements from 2004, with the Maruti Wagon R seeing the largest improvement in the industry.

The Maruti Esteem ranks highest in the entry mid-size car segment for the third consecutive year. The Esteem is followed in the segment ranking by the Opel Corsa / Swing and Ford Ikon, respectively. All models in the mid-size car segment have improved since 2004, with the Honda City ranking the highest, followed by the Hyundai Accent and Maruti Baleno, respectively.

The study also finds that on an average, customers reported fewer problems with newly launched models such as the Maruti Swift and Hyundai Getz.

Air Deccan ties up with Café Coffee Day
Air Deccan has announced that Café Coffee Day will be the single point vendor to supply a range of food and beverages to the airline's passengers and the food and beverages supplied on board would be 25 per cent cheaper than those available at Café Coffee Day outlets.

`Comparative ads' should be curtailed: HC
The Madras High Court has said that in these days when MNCs market their products in the country, it was high time that the `comparative advertisement' (comparing one's product with that of the competitor) was curtailed. The high court said that such "curtailment / ban" was to be brought out by suitable amendment to the MRTP Act and the Code for Commercial Advertising on Doordarshan and other satellite television channels and other media.

The High Court recently disposed of applications filed by the two major beverage manufacturers — GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare and Heinz India — about publication of advertisements alleged to be disparaging in nature. The High Court said in case of commercial disparagement by a competitor, one must be cognizant of the interest of advertisers in promoting their products. At the same time, the interest of those who might be damaged by competitor's attacks on their products was also to be kept in mind.

Pantaloon inaugurates restaurant at Bangalore Central Hall
Pantaloon Retail India has opened a 10,000sq-ft restaurant at its Bangalore Central mall.

Pantaloon Retail's president for South, Vishnu Prasad, said that the 10,000sq-ft restaurant, Copper Chimney and lounge-cum-Italian restaurant, HiNT has been opened at its 1.2-lakh sq ft mall, Bangalore Central.

Bajaj Allianz Life launches 4 plans
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has launched four new products — three unit-linked and one health-oriented insurance plan.

The company is also considering the introduction of a capital guarantee product this fiscal.

Of the four products, Unit Gain Premier has an upfront allocation of 105 per cent of a single premium on day one and attains maturity after six years.

Unit Gain Super offers flexibility in terms of premium payment. After payment of at least two full years premia (including top-up premia), even if the premium due is not paid the policy will be kept in force by cancellation of units at the prevailing unit price. It has an allocation of up to 93 per cent.

The highlight of Family Gain is that it provides for investment in `ethical equity fund'. This means the investments will not be made in companies dealing in gambling, liquor and hospitality. It has a maximum maturity age of 70.

The six-in-one HealthCare plan has a flat premium for three years and includes life cover, hospital cash, surgical benefit, post-hospitalisation benefit, critical illness cover and accidental permanent disability (partial and total).

BSNL introduces `SMS power plan'
BSNL has introduced a new post-paid plan styled `SMS power plan' under which the mobile phone customers would get 2,000 free SMS within the BSNL network every month. Beyond this number, the customers would be charged 40 paise per SMS. To other mobile phones, the charge would be 40 paise per SMS. The incoming SMS and incoming call charges would be free.

BSNL said that for outgoing local calls, the charge would be Rs1.20 per minute to calls in BSNL network and Rs1.80 per minute to other networks. International SMS would cost Rs5.

The monthly charge would be Rs198 and activation charge would be Rs200. The refundable security deposit would be Rs1,000 for local calls, Rs2,000 for STD, and Rs3,000 for ISD facilities.

— Compiled by Mohini Bhatnagar