Coca-Cola India launches summer cola ads blitzkrieg
The onset of the summer has meant a plethora of ad campaigns from Coca Cola India for all its cold drinks which include Maaza, Fanta, Limca, Sprite and Thumps Up and of course the indomitable Coca Cola.

Maaza: For the 30th anniversary of the mango drink Maaza, Coca Cola India has launched a new brand campaign with the theme, "Yaari Dosti Taaza Maaza" featuring actor Satish Shah. The campaign includes the launch of a new TV commercial featuring the actor across all leading TV channels, starting 22, April 2006. The ad starts with a melancholy Satish Shah reminiscing over how he misses chasing truant children who have now stopped stealing mangoes from his orchard, ever since Maaza arrived.

He finds the perfect solution to his problems in Maaza itself — he starts selling Maaza, instead of mangoes and the children and the crowds come back to his orchard once again.

Fanta: For orange drink Fanta the company has launched an advertising campaign with brand ambassador Rani Mukherjee in the central role. According to the company the Fanta commercial is a mix of the real and the animated world with Fanta that excites the protagonist to energise normal moments with a fun ka Chataaka. Technologically speaking, the commercial is the first of its kind to be released in India.

Thums Up: While Fanta breaks the norm with its novel animation format, Akshay Kumar and his new look in the Thums Up commercial also present a technically brilliant piece of film. Shot using helicopters for a birds eye view of Akshay on a lighthouse, the visual shots portray Akshay daring to do the impossible in his effort to quench his thirst with Thums Up.

Other campaigns this summer from Coca Cola include the refreshing Thande ka Tadka with Aishwarya Rai for the Coca Cola commercial while the new campaign for lime drink Limca features Riya Sen.

The irreverent Sprite drink is endorsed by Sania Mirza.

This summer 'keep it cool' with Wrangler's new collection
Wrangler, the fashion denim brand has launched spring summer collection called "Heatwave," a collection of washed down jeans, vibrant tanks, cutoff shirts, body vests and lightweight cargoes for men and women, which will guarantee to bring temperatures to a boil this summer.

The theme is complemented with campaign shots of John Abraham.

The men's trouser denim collection is available in fabrics like pigment-padded crosshatch, broken twill, streaky indigo and the stretch denim contribute to the fashion factor while black denim resurrects itself as the new blue after the sun goes down.

The trouser denim line for women showcases jeans, capris, skirts and hot pants with details like cobbler stitching, appliqué in reverse broken twill, logo prints and lace. Special printed labels in denim, enameled buttons and rivets have been generously used in this collection. The trouser collection is available in the Rs1195- to Rs1595 range.

Wrangler has also gone all out to give various options in tops to choose from. The men's collection showcases shirts which come in classic western cut in space-dyed checks and stripes, cargo inspired dyed shirts in solid poplin and linen, floral printed shirts in stretch fabrics, sleeveless denim shirts, embroidered denim shirts and slim fit denim shirts. There's a variety in T-shirts as well: classic polos in bold stripes with edge trim details for the layered look, chest prints with studs, rivets and appliqués and muscle tees to show things off this summer.

For women Wrangler has sexed up the knits line into classic polos, western-cuts tees, summery boat necks, bling-embellished crews, and naughty spaghettis which will ensure the ladies look hip, hop and stylish this summer. The tops are available in the Rs345- to Rs1,095.

The non-denim collection includes lightweight clothing. For men the non-denim collection includes multi-pocket cargos and full length fashioned from poplin, peached tussore, herringbone and slubby canvas for men.

The non-denim line for women has combat pants, cuffed capris, roll-up wader pants and mini skirts in summery fabrics like poplin, tussore and peached twills. This collection is priced in the Rs.1095- to Rs.1695 range.

Tanishq announces the 'Pre Booking' offer for the auspicious Akshay Tritiya
Tanishq, India's biggest jewellery brand has announced the Akshay Tritiya Pre Booking offer. The offer entitles customers in the West, East and North Indian states to a 10 per cent discount on making charges on all jewellery. Tanishq has also announced a discount of 5 per cent on all diamond jewellery. The offer allows customers to hedge the rising prices of gold by pre-booking jewellery in advance and purchasing it on Akshaya Tritiya at the prevailing gold rate or the booking rate, whichever is lower.

Tanishq jewellery for 'Akshay Tritiya' consists of designs where tradition marries modernity so that it, appeals to a women who wish to buy precious Indian jewellery that suits their evolving tastes. The brand's offering for Akshay Tritiya symbolises prosperity and good fortune in keeping with the auspiciousness of the occasion. Tanishq's pure 22k range of jewellery spans all the occasions of a woman's life — everyday, casual evenings, family functions, wedding and festivals.

The company says, "At Tanishq, we have always strived to be a part of every celebration in the life of the Indian Woman by providing her the perfect range of precious jewellery that fulfils her needs This Akshay Tritiya, women will not only own exquisite Tanishq jewellery that suit her tastes and preferences, but also pre book prosperity in advance. Through this offer we will be a part of ushering prosperity into every Tanishq woman's home and being a part of her prosperity that will not diminish."

During the offer period customers will have wide-ranging options in traditional and contemporary designs in pure 22k gold and studded jewellery that reflect the essence of prosperity, hope and good fortune that the day stands for.

Ishanya and CCPS tie-up to improve craftsmanship in interiors and exteriors
Ishanya, India's first International Design Centre and Speciality Mall, is entering into an exclusive and unique agreement with the Confederation of Construction Products and Services, (CCPS), to create not just training facilities for all connected with the interiors and exteriors, but will establish standards that mean quality assurance and excellence for workmanship in the industry.

A jointly promoted and managed Training and Development Centre -- the Ishanya-CCPS Training and Development Centre -- located at Ishanya, in Pune is being set up to help bring about the improvements.

"The Ishanya-CCPS certification for craftsmen should be virtually a quality assurance that will greatly benefit all home and office owners. The Ishanya CCPS partnership will bring trained and certified craftsmen into the field. We will train engineers supervisory staff and consumers /laymen on the correct selection, usage and application of various products and materials. We will also maintain a database of trained craftsmen for the use of Ishanya customers," said Tushar Mehta, general manager, marketing, Ishanya.

Spencer Plaza comes to Aurangabad
RPG Retail has launched its 6th Spencer's Hyper in India, in Aurangabad at the grand 60,000-feet Spencer Plaza. Spread across 25,000sq ft, Spencer's Hyper offers shopping at the best possible prices. Spencer's Hyper has also announced fantastic introductory offers. Apart from Aurangabad, Spencer Hypers are located in Ghaziabad (2), Mumbai, Vizag, and Hyderabad.

Announcing the launch, Sumantra Banerjee, sector head RPG Retail said, "We are very happy and proud to bring to consumers in Aurangabad, the first Hypermarket from Spencer's. Now people can get world-class experience of shopping convenience with the largest choice and best value." The newly opened Spencer Plaza not only houses the flagship brand of Spencer's Hyper, but also other branded stores. The other stores there are Senorita (artificial jewellery), Salt-N-Spice (food court), Telebrands, My Dollar Store (imported products), Khadim's (footwear), Glimmer (crockery), Archie's Gallery, Rang (saree boutique), Chandni (cosmetics), Music World, Chermas (apparel), Samsung, Medicine Shoppe (pharmacy) and Just In Vogue (personal accessories and fine jewellery). In addition, the Plaza also boasts of a bakery and a gifts-and-novelties counter.

Spencer's Hyper also offers consumers amenities. Some key features of the store are twelve cash tills, stretching across 25,000 square feet, a 4,000 square feet area housing fresh fruits and vegetables, an unconditional replacement guarantee across all products, price guarantee for offering the lowest prices and a dedicated customer help line.

Aamir Khan adds "Tadka" to Coca-Cola's summer campaign
Coca-Cola's Thande Ka Tadka Campaign this summer includes Aamir Khan in a new tourist avatar.

Khan makes a clever and funny appearance as a tourist who not only underlines the message of "How food tastes best when had with Coca-Cola", but also reinforces the entire concept of Thanda being synonymous with a bottle of Coca-Cola. The new brand campaign hits all leading TV channels on 26th April 2006.

The new Coca-Cola commercial features Aamir mistaken for a `tourist' entering a restaurant and being shown with a special overpriced menu by a cunning manager. But Aamir asks to be served with "Thanda food". The puzzled restaurant manager later on discovers that what he meant was - Thanda (Coca-Cola) and food. The denouement is what will leave the audience pleasantly surprised.

Jet Airways honoured with awards
Jet Airways has been honoured with two Awards at the concluding celebration Dinner of SATTE 2006 (South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange) on April 23, 2006 at the Maurya Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi.

The SATTE 2006 Awards presented by Samsung to Jet Airways were for being the 'Indian Domestic Airline with Spectacular Growth' and 'India's Most Popular Domestic Airline.' Ms. Nandini Verma, vice president, corporate affairs and P.R received these Awards on behalf of the Airline.

The awards were the result of a first ever opinion poll among the most productive players in the business of travel and tourism. Respondents were asked to exercise pure professional logic which were collated together on a grading system, with marks being accorded to every shade of opinion.

Sixt India ties up with makemytrip.com
Sixt India (a Sona group company), a leading car rental and lease service provider has announced a partnership with makemytrip.com.

According to the agreement, Sixt along with MakeMyTrip will provide facilities for all airport transfers in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai starting with Delhi in April 2006. Sixt will provide services both in domestic as well as international terminals, averaging about 20-car deployments per day. The deployment, with the increasing traffic, is expected to go upto 50 by the end of the year.

Sixt, Germany's market leader in the car rental business and a leading vendor neutral and non-bank providers of full-service leasing with estimated total revenue of 2,4 billion Euros in 2005, signed a master franchise agreement with Sona Mobility Services New Delhi.

Sunjay J Kapur, CEO Sixt India said, "Our association with the makemytrip.com will help us extend our service to the inbound and outbound travelers. Airlines today are looking at offering these additional benefits to the customers. We hope the demand for such services will increase as airlines start offering such inbuilt conveniences in their fare structure."

Sixt, India began operations on January 7, 2006. Sixt was the official ground transportation partner for the Auto Expo, Defence Expo and the Wills India Fashion week.