Ayur to enter alcohol-based drinks
New Delhi: The Rs 300-crore herbal beauty care and cosmetic major Ayur Herbal, is entering the alcohol-based drinks segment which it might retail under a different brand name. The group is also planning to invest in a vodka manufacturing facility.

The Ayur group plans to use its expertise in the herbal segment in the emerging white spirits market, which has been growing at about 35 per cent in India during the last three years.

The plant and the beverage business will be under another firm of the group.

Titan to enter the eyewear segment
Titan Industries is planning to extend the brand Titan to premium sunglasses with the introduction of Titan Shades. This is the first time that the brand is being extended outside the watch segment to sunglasses which will directly compete with Ray Ban.

The company is targeting the 25-45 year age bracket with the product-line priced between Rs2,500 and Rs5,900.

The company is already present in the sunglasses category with the youth brand Fastrack, targeted at the 15-25 year-old group, and priced in the Rs700- Rs2,000 range. However, while Fastrack has a funky positioning, entry into Titan sunglasses is more serious business.

Titan Shades will be pushed through multiple distribution channels like World Of Titan exclusive showrooms, multi-brand outlets and large department store chains like Shoppers' Stop and Lifestyle.

Titan seems buoyant about the sunglasses business with the category reporting robust growth, as Fastrack sales, for instance, is vaulting at nearly 100 per cent year-on-year.

Titan plans retail expansion
Titan Industries is increasing focus on its precision engineering business and is widening its retail footprint. The company plans to spend about Rs28 crore this year to expand its retail operations and another Rs10 crore in its precision engineering business. Titan expects its jewellery retail chain, Tanishq, to reach 100 stores by the end of this year, from 83 stores spread across 61 towns.
The jewellery segment constituted about 53 per cent of the company's sales in 2005-06.

The company also plans to widen its diamond jewellery range this year.

The precision engineering business caters to the automobile and aerospace industries in Europe and the US, which require high accuracy components and systems, and Titan is now also targeting the medical instrumentation space.

Walt Disney launches merchandise
Walt Disney India has launched a range of merchandise around its popular series Power Rangers, currently on air in the Toon Disney channel. The merchandise includes toys, books, clothes, rainwear and bed linen. The company has also launched the latest season of the series, Power Rangers SPD (Space Petrol Delta), along with which there would be an entire gamut of activities such as a new Power Rangers mobile game and a contest in association with GlaxoSmithKline's energy drink, Boost.

The contest would be promoted through a multimedia campaign. For the merchandise, the company has partnered with kids' merchandisers such as New Boy, for the action figures; Weekender for outerwear and costumes; and Frank Educational Aids, for the puzzles.

The merchandise would be available not only at leading lifestyle retail outlets, but also in small neighbourhood retail outlets.

Ma Foi launches `job centres' in Mumbai
Chennai-based placement and human resources services provider, Ma Foi Management Consultants, is now providing job opportunities. The consulting firm has opened up job centres in Mumbai that would offer job opportunities to candidates at convenient locations and in their immediate locality.

Ma Foi has launched seven job centres in Mumbai and will establish a total of 25 by the year-end. The model would be replicated in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Pune. Candidates with experience and background in call centre, financial services, retail, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) and business process outsourcing, can register at these job centres.

All the job centres would be connected through broadband, and (SMS) short messaging service and IVRS (interactive voice response system) facilities are provided at centres to increase efficiency. The company has put up its own centre, and is open to having business partners to run the centres, which would also do counselling. The candidates would not have to pay any registration fee and Ma Foi would charge only the companies.

Whirlpool uses 'life stage' marketing techniques
Whirlpool of India is using 'life stage' marketing to focus on target audiences. According to the company home appliances are not impulse products, and are not related to age, time, or season but it is at certain stages of life that people consider buying home appliances.

Marriage, relocation to another city, arrival of babies and buying own house or renovating it are some of the situations that make consumers buy home appliances. When women marry, and more so if they are working, there is a pressure to keep up a lifestyle that does not rock the boat getting the cooking done, clothes washed, ensuring a hot meal at dinner, minimising dependence on erratic domestic help and, in addition to all this, getting to work on time and being successful at the job is big motivation for people to consider buying home appliances.

According to Jain research based on NRS 2005 data has shown that even if 33 per cent of the 2.6 million unmarried women aged 20-24 years in the SEC A and B markets buy a refrigerator within their next birthday, it would account for 25 per cent of the 3.5-million unit refrigerator market. A refrigerator is one of the first few buys a family makes. Typically, marketers categorise consumers of fast moving consumer goods and consumer durables by social class, income, age and gender.

However, discovering 'life stage' triggers help to identify who among these is more likely to buy an appliance. Life stage marketing also makes for efficient use of marketing spends. It also implies greater use of direct marketing. Whirlpool has tied up with a matrimonial Web site as one of several home appliances providers to market its wares. To get brides and grooms buying, a honeymoon incentive has been thrown in.

Whirlpool commissioned detailed market research among 100 homemakers and their spouses across various SECs in the metros and Agra, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Jalandhar. The India arm is the first in the Whirlpool group of companies to undertake life stage marketing and probably the first among other companies in India as well.

David Beckham to be Motorola's brand ambassador
Motorola has signed up the hot football icon David Beckham as its brand ambassador for three years. The three-year collaboration with David Beckham will kick-off with major activities across Asia including advertising appearances and extensive retail promotions rolled out across the network of Motorola stores and distributors throughout the region. The deal also includes the ability to embed exclusive Beckham content – such as screen savers and video clips of the star in action – in Motorola handsets.

Beckham will commence his brand ambassador role with immediate effect and will be seen exclusively carrying Motorola products during the upcoming World Cup campaign.

Beckham will also be supporting important Motorola initiatives including the newly launched (MOTO) mobile phone created to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Beckham will signal his public support for this campaign, in addition to his ongoing UNICEF activities, to encourage his numerous fans to make a difference and help in the fight to combat the disease.

Jumpin to create ripples in Indian juice market
Jumpin, the fruit juice brand from the Godrej Beverages & Foods (GBFL) stable is revitalizing its brand profile with an innovative and fresh integrated marketing communication (IMC) plan to tap the rapidly growing juice market in India. It has launched a new advertising campaign that revolves around the Jumpin brand and emphasizes a strong association with the fun element of life. "Jumpin. Sip Sip mein BOING," is the tag line for the campaign based on a specially conceptualised sound property called 'BOING.'

The advertising campaign is supported by a new package design targeting children in the age group of 5-12 years. Jumpin will be available for the first time in PET bottle sizes of 500 ml and 1.5 litres all over India. The new range of Jumpin is priced at Rs. 10 for 200 ml Tetrapack, Rs. 20 for 500 ml, Rs. 35 for 1 litre and Rs.45 for 1.5 litre PET bottles.

The company is also bringing the Jumpin experience to children by creating a Jumpin Measure Your BOING contest in all the leading malls in the country as part of the ground promotion strategy. Sampling and distribution is another approach planned for visibility and branding among the target audience. Godrej Jumpin ready to drink Fruit Drink is available in convenient and hygienic 200ml tetra packs along with 500ml, 1000ml and 1500ml PET bottles.

Jumpin is currently available in Mango, Apple and Pineapple variants.