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Distribution
problems force Foster's off the shelves
Australian
brewer Foster's is having distribution problems as a result of which the
Foster's can hardly been seen on market shelves in most states across the
country. The brands seems to be available only in the major markets like
Maharashtra, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. Foster's
is at present brewed at a single brewery in Maharashtra, which is the root
of its problems. As a result of this, high levels of intra-state import
taxes create problems for the company. Foster's
says it set up a single brewery because it had to adhere to global standards,
which pushed up its investments New
company to market Himalaya's herbal lifestyle products
Himalaya
Drug Company has floated a new company, HerbalScience, to market and distribute
herbal lifestyle products. According
to the company, HerbalScience, an independent company that would outsource
its R&D needs to Himalaya. The first product to be marketed by the new
company would be PartySmart, the preventive, single-dose pill for alcohol-induced
hangover, a proprietary product of Himalaya, which it had test-marketed
through retail outlets three years ago. HerbalScience
would focus on promoting PartySmart in the domestic market and later abroad
on the peg of responsible drinking over the next two years. The print advertisements
of the product are expected to be out soon. HerbalScience
is the brainchild of Nabeel Manal, US-based grandson of Himalaya's founder.
TAM
Media PR division in pact with news monitoring agency
TAM Media
Research's PR and content analysis wing, Eikona PR Track, has entered into
a tie-up with Esha News Monitoring Service, which tracks some 90 channels
in India. According
to TAM Media Research, editorial content on television is increasingly being
used to shape and create perceptions. This needs timely and advanced TV
monitoring techniques coupled with world-acknowledged approach towards editorial
research and analysis. TAM,
which primarily measures TV viewership and ad spends, has also started observing
the "increasing need to monitor and analyse" PR and content. TAM's
spokesman said that while Eikona will use its own resources to monitor content
in newspapers, magazines, Internet and trade journals, its association with
Esha will help it track television. TAM's
press release states, "To provide a perspective of news channels alone,
if one just looks at the 25 news channels currently in India, a corporate
has to monitor 20,000 hours of news every month which calls for a dedicated
and a specialised service." Scorpio
launched in Malaysia
Mahindra
& Mahindra (M&M) has launched its sports utility vehicle, Scorpio
in Malaysia. USF-HICOM (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, a diversified conglomerate and
the largest automotive group in Malaysia, will market the vehicle. According
to the company, the Scorpio would initially be available at 24 major outlets
in Malaysia and would gradually be made available at 40 outlets. The
exported vehicle would be equipped with the 2-litre MPFI DOHC Renault engine
and a version based on the 2.6-litre diesel engine would be launched soon
with both 2WD and 4WD options. The
Scorpio is already being marketed in South Africa, Europe, the UAE, Qatar,
Kuwait, Uruguay and Oman. Sony
to host reality show Gurukul
After the success of reality show, 'Indian Idol', Sony Entertainment Television
(SET) is getting into reality TV with elan. The channel is planning to telecast
another reality show Fame Gurukul based on another Spanish reality
show called Operacion Triunfo for which SET has obtained the rights.
According
to the format of the show, 14 singers will be selected initially who will
then live together in a music academy. Mandira
Bedi and Manav Gohil will host the show while the chief of the academy is
Ila Arun. The jury members are Javed Akhtar, KK, Shankar Mahadevan. Hitachi
to have mobile showrooms for air-conditioners
The Indian
subsidiary of Japanese company Hitachi Home & Life Solutions India (HHLI)
is going mobile. In a first of its kind, the company has converted a light
commercial vehicle into a showroom that will move between different localities
of Pune displaying the entire Hitachi range of air-conditioners.
The showroom is cooled with Hitachi air-conditioners and showcases the Hitachi
range, including Quadricool, advertised as the world's most silent window
AC and Atom UV, world's smallest split AC. The
mobile showrooms will traverse through 12 cities covering over 5,000 km
and almost 1.5 lakh air-conditioner buyers. Hitachi
Home & Life Solutions India is amongst the largest AC manufacturers
in the Indian market. HLL
revamps brand communication of Lux
Hindustan
Lever's Lux beauty is getting a makeover. The company, which felt that Lux
beauty soap was getting increasingly lost in a crowd of beauty soaps, employed
Pune-based design consultants, Elephant Design, to change the entire look
and communication of the brand. Research
conducted by the consultant orgnisation revealed that consumers felt that
Lux offered similar benefits to other soaps in the market and in short had
no unique selling proposition. Over the next few months, the company will
implement a strategy to convert Lux from being one among many in a crowded
market to being a product picked up by consumers by the sheer power of the
brand name. The
Indian leg of `project Madonna' is expected to roll out the new-look communication
of Lux in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and South-East Asian over the next
few months, and customers walking into stores will notice a distinct change
in the way the brand looks on retail shelves. The
new packaging of the product will have bolder and brighter colours with
Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai, endorsing the brand. EuroNews
news service launched in India
EuroNews,
which figures among leading multilingual pan-European news channels, has
launched its service in the country through Dish TV, the Direct-to-Home
(DTH) satellite network belonging to Essel Group. Almost
two lakh subscribers of Dish TV can have 24-hour access to EuroNews in all
seven languages, on Dish TV Channel number 527. Currently, Dish TV offers
115 TV and 13 radio channels. Cobra
beer comes to Mumbai
Premium beer,
Cobra, has been formally introduced in the Mumbai market. The beer priced
at Rs50 and Rs30 for a 650ml and 330ml bottle respectively, the brand will
be launched nationally within the next three months. The
company is targeting a sales turnover of Rs 10-15 crore in the next two
years. It has appointed ad agency Lowe Lintas to handle the brand and will
launch a media campaign shortly. KBC
Second Coming begins soon
Quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), which revived the fortunes
of both Star Plus and show host Amitabh Bachchan, will soon have a second
coming. This timing the programme will be on weekends Friday to Sunday and
will have double the prize money than the Rs1 crore earlier. Airtel
and Nokia have come aboard as sponsors for the show, slated for launch on
August 6 and the channel is scouting for six more brands.
KBC 2 will be completed in 85 episodes starting from August through February
2006.
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