Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) hosted a one day roundtable meet in Mumbai on October 10 2015, attended by the leading agencies. Past decade having seen a huge surge in the rural Makreting spends by companies, has also translated into an enormous on-ground scale of operations for agencies. The agenda was to re-visit the opportunites & challenges which this new market dynamics has bought along. Delebrating on these lines, the fore-most need felt was to create standardisation and skill development of the resources. Sanjay Kaul, President RMAI annouced formation of two task forces to prioritize this agenda. SAP (Standard Accepted Procedures) task force will prepare a concrete framework for legal & ethical compliance standards as well as HSE processes that can be followed by member agencies. Mr Rahul Saigal, President; Geometry Global would lead this task force. Saigal said that “The Rural marketing industry is not as small and unorganized as it used to be few years ago. There is a need for agencies to comply with certain practices that serve the interests of clients, vendors and employees. In order to institutionalize these practices, RMAI will develop and run an accreditation program and invite agencies to voluntarily participate in this certification process so that we can follow better practices across the industry.” Commenting on this development, Mr George Angelo, Executive Director Dabur & Secretary RMAI stated that “The definition of deemed employment makes it imperative for companies to ensure statutory compliances wherever resources are deployed on ground through service providers.There are still areas which makes it difficult for companies to validate adherence to compliance. This initative of RMAI is the first step in that direction.” Another taskforce would persue the skill development and government engagement agenda, this taskforce will be led Mr Sanjay Panigrahi , VP ( EAST) , RMAI. Commenting on the mandate he said “There is a need to engage with the Govt. towards framing right policies , making rural engagement attractive & beneficial for all stakeholders. Resource development is another area where RMAI will like to work closely with the Govt.” RMAI is a leading industry body representing corportes & agencies in the rural marketing space. Some of the agency members are Anugrah Madison Advertising Pvt Ltd, DDB Mudra, Event Crafter, Geometry Global, Group M Dialogue Factory, Impact Communications, Insight Outreach Pvt Ltd, J Walter Thompson, MART, RC&M Grey, Rural Relations, R W Promotions, SOI Live, Vision Force, Viscomm 360, Vritti Solutions Ltd.
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IDBI Federal Life Insurance has announced its partnership with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to strengthen state’s cricket endeavors. Sourav Ganguly at the helm of affairs as the youngest ever president and taking charge of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), has already created a roadmap to reinvigorate the state’s cricket dynamics. And with this association, the Vision 2020 project will establish to hone meritorious talent and develop them into high-class players to play for the national side. Speaking on this association, Sourav Ganguly, President - the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) said, “Bengal cricket in the last couple of years has been making steady efforts to build a supply line of national team players. The most significant of these projects is the ‘Vision 2020’ which has in its fold eminent cricketers like VVS Laxman, Muttiah Muralitharan, TA Sekhar to change the face of Bengal cricket. We are glad that IDBI Federal Life Insurance understands the importance of such initiatives. Like us, they too believe, the assurance and support it needs to hone upcoming cricketers. I would like to thank IDBI Federal Life Insurance for coming forward and partnering with us to continue making this a grand success.” On this occasion, Vighnesh Shahane, CEO of IDBI Federal Life Insurance said, “Sports has always been a force for good. IDBI Federal Life Insurance’s vision is to inspire positive change that helps people shape a better future and live their best lives. Bengal cricket is going through dynamic changes and the different projects that the association has undertaken just add to the vibrant spirit of the game. We are happy to be a part of the CAB’s ambitious journey- it promises to bring about positive changes for the game of cricket at the national as well as international levels. I am confident that this association will be a stepping stone for the stars of tomorrow. We are truly excited about this collaboration and would like to thank the CAB for selecting us as their partners in this journey.” IDBI Federal Life Insurance will sponsor all age group teams from the CAB for various domestic cricket tournaments, including Ranji matches.
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London-based technology startup called Fanmode has partnered with Mumbai City FC for the upcoming Indian Super League. The partnership will see Mumbai City FC fans be provided with an exclusive app through which they can not only follow their team with live score updates, social feed but also spur them by cheering for them in real time. “Fanmode is really excited to pioneering its fan involvement service in India with Mumbai City FC for ISL 2015. The founders of Fanmode greatly believe in the Indian Sports Market and hence Mumbai City FC being one of the most progressive sports entities in India seemed like the obvious choice to partner with” said, Piyush Choudhary, General Manager, India, Fanmode. Indranil Das Blah, CEO Mumbai City FC commented, “Building and maintaining a fanbase is extremely important for us and we believe that Fanmode will help us a great deal in doing that. Very excited to have partnered with Fanmode and have an app exclusively for our fans.” Through the Mumbai City FC Vibecast app (fans will be able to ‘high-five’ each other, Wave their team flag, and cheer their team on (among many other actions) from wherever they are during a match. The cheers would be appearing on their official Website and Facebook page in real time. The idea behind this is to try and bring the fans closer to both their teams and each other. The 2nd edition of the Hero Indian Super League started on 3rd October in Chennai. Mumbai City FC will play their first home match against Chennaiyin FC on 16th October at the fortress, DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, Mumbai.
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If you have a penchant for travel, if you crave to explore different cultures, if you are a food connoisseur and if you love making friends and meeting new people from across the globe – Worldfest 2015 is where you need to be! This December (18th, 19th, 20th), Ferriswheel Entertainment brings Worldfest 2015 exclusively to Mumbai. More than 20 countries namely Ghana, Gabon, Madagascar, Romania, Sweden, South Africa, Jordan, Senegal, Taiwan and Norway among others will participate in this annual festival. These countries will showcase a concoction of country specific performances in the dance, culture and music categories along with artefacts from various corners of the globe. They will also showcase country specific cuisines cooked by the locals. Elaborating about this festival Shubhra Bhardwaj, Founder and Creative Director, Ferriswheel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. said, “Everyone is leading a hectic life these days which is why people are opening up to travel. With over 20 countries performing and more than 72 hours of complete entertainment, Worldfest 2015 is going to be bigger and better this year. We are expecting an average footfall of more than 50,000 people at this one-of-its-kind international travel and tourism festival in India.” Worldfest 2015 promises to be an international performing arts, travel & tourism festival that attempts to bring the world together in one place. The festival attempts to provide a complete experiential zone teeming with art and culture, food, handicrafts along with an opportunity for first hand interactions with natives from various participating countries. Worldfest 2015 is a celebration of life, color and music from different cultures and aims at promoting India as tourist friendly and safe destination. Worldfest 2015 hopes to create global citizens by uniting the youth of today as one people, enriched by individual differences and united by the common thread of humanity.
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Adlabs Imagica, a project of Adlabs Entertainment Limited (AEL) is geared up to ensure its visitors are drenched in the festivities of Navrtra celebrations this year. Adlabs Imagica has decided to curate a unique experience this Navratri with live music, delicious Navratri vrat (fasting) delicacies from all over India and loads of fun. Popular duo Preeti-Pinky will be performing on October 10. Shibani Kashyap, who sang the cult favourite Sajna aa bhi ja, will perform on October 16 & 17. Both the performances will be from 7pm to 10.30pm. Imagica Captial – the buffet restaurant, will be serving Navratri vrat delicacies from all over India during the evenings from October 10 to 21. This will be in addition to the regular menu at the restaurant. Where – Adlabs Imagica, Khopoli How – Book tickets on their website http://www.adlabsimagica.com/
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The Zee Jaipur Literature Festival, yesterday announced that 165 world-class Indian and international authors set to contribute to its 2016 event. Taking place from 21 to 25 January 2016 at the historic Diggi Palace Hotel, the ninth edition of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival sees some of the leading authors of our times coming together in a global celebration of literature. Headline names set to appear at the festival this year include the Margaret Atwood, poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist, even as her new novel, ‘The Heart Goes Last’ is appreciated by her many fans around the world; Ruskin Bond, Steve McCurry, controversial Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and Britain’s national treasure Stephen Fry. French Economist and global voice on wealth and income inequality Thomas Piketty, Bosnian American fiction writer Aleksandar Hemon, Israeli author and peace activist David Grossman, and India's most celebrated psychoanalyst and author Sudhir Kakar take centre-stage alongside some of India’s leading writers, including prominent Hindi poet and author Uday Prakash, Sahitya Akademi Awardees in the world of Assamese literature Rita Chowdhury and Dhrubajyoti Bora as well as prominent Gujarati poet and scholar Sitanshu Yashaschandra, among others. The 2016 Festival embraces and explores globally vital issues such as migration, privacy and navigating change, bringing together a range of expertise and perspectives on stage throughout the five days. Homi Bhabha from the Mahindra Humanities Centre will curate a strand of sessions around the theme of privacy in the contemporary world. Contributors include British author and columnist Ben Macintyre. Frontline reporters discuss conflict and its effect on the modern world with American reporter Dexter Filkins, English foreign correspondent Christina Lamb and CNN’s national security analyst Peter Bergen. Science communicator, children’s author, journalist and novelist Lucy Hawking speaks of her extraordinary journey in transmitting the awe, wonder, and understanding of our universe to young readers. As ever, the festival aims towards celebrating the rich diversity of languages in South Asia. Leading Indian writers include Mridula Sinha, Alka Saraogi, Ashok Vajpeyi, Yatindra Mishra, Prabhat Ranjan, Harish Trivedi and Mridul Kirti in Hindi, Anita Agnihotri in Bangla, Vivek Shanbhag in Kannada, Ila Arab Mehta in Gujarati, Madhav Hada in Rajasthani, Makarand Sathe in Marathi, Sahil Maqbool in Kashmiri, and many others including the Santhali publisher Ruby Hembrom. The languages given voice in the programme so far include Assamese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Pahadi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Santhali, Tamil and Urdu with more to be announced soon. After two successful seasons, Jaipur BookMark continues to be an important business and networking opportunity for everybody working in the books and publishing industry. The two day Jaipur BookMark conference will be held alongside the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival at the Narain Niwas Palace Hotel on 21 and 22 January 2016. From self-publishing to e-books, digital content to distribution, this business to business platform will host both international and Indian publishing communities, providing them with a public forum to meet, talk business deals, listen to speakers from across the world and perhaps even sign contracts. Jaipur BookMark in 2016 brings an important new focus on translations and rights. Namita Gokhale, writer, publisher and co-Director of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is propelled by ideas and the excitement of real-time conversations. We bring together the finest minds from across the world and explore our changing times through sessions on economics, politics and the sciences. Yet we remain rooted in local culture and language, and our literary perspective is always from the grassroots upwards. The spreading Banyan tree of the Jaipur Literature Festival has found root and sustenance in its recent Southbank London and Boulder Colorado editions. The spirit of our festival, which is spontaneous and democratic, continues to inspire readers and writers alike as it creates a crucial space for books, ideas and dialogue.” William Dalrymple, writer and co-Director of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, said, "Each year at Jaipur we try to produce a programme more remarkable than the year before, but this year has to be our most astonishing line up ever. Among the international authors appearing this year we present writers of genius as diverse as economist Thomas Picketty and humourist and polymath Stephen Fry. We import some of the world's most admired novelists, including Margaret Atwood, Colm Toibin and David Grossman, as well as arguably the world's greatest living travel writer, Colin Thubron. We deeply delve into three areas of world literature we have so far failed to explore- notably the novelists and poets of the Balkans, the Caribbean and Central America- while returning to examine eternal classics such as the work of Shakespeare, Proust and Andaal. We will explore a vast range of subjects from Neanderthals to Hedge Fund Managers; the bleak depths of depression to the heights of the Silk Road; universal myths of the Deluge to the literature of the Sandanistas; Jamaican rap and mediaeval mystic poetry; the agonies of Gaza and the pleasures of the Kama Sutra. It's going to be an incredible few days and I can't wait for January so that we can get started!" Sanjoy K. Roy, Director of Teamwork Arts who produce the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival has established itself as one of the greatest literary gatherings in the world. The core values of it remain the same, to create a platform that celebrates freedom of expression and ideas bringing together the very best writers from across the world to one of the most magical and atmospheric historic sites in a celebration of literature open and equal to all. This year Teamwork Arts has extended the festival into two overseas locations, the Southbank in London and Boulder in Colorado USA to give people overseas just a taste of what they can experience in Jaipur, and we know already that some will now travel to join us for what promises to be one of the best years ever.”
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An experimental initiative was recently executed by Vodafone Delhi to reach out to its existing and prospective pre-paid base targeting the lower echelon of Delhi population by engaging in activities which rewards and acknowledges the support the customers have invested in the Brand. The name of the activity ‘Vodafone Bazaar’ brings in the element of a marketplace beyond just telecom services and products, and associated activities and provision of household goods help Vodafone establish a deeper connect with the audiences. These Bazaar’s also help Vodafone Delhi showcase their key offerings including the M-Pesa, *121# offers, Double Validity and Double Data, All in One offers, etc. Sure shot Prizes under the Vodafone Bazaar offerings also drew a lot of interest and participation by the locals. Vodafone Bazaar initiative by the telecommunications brand aims to go closer to the customer by touching upon key elements of customer experience process including, educating, enabling, encouraging, engaging, entertaining, and also rewarding the customer in the process. Locations: Najafgarh, Loni (Ghaziabad) and Nathupura & South City 1(Gurgaon) Mediums Used: Flyers, POPs, Transit media, Banners, Lucky draw Coupons, Implementation: Vodafone organized colourful, crowded bazaars in the midst of localities of Delhi-NCR targeting the low lying areas such as slums. They invite people to participate in lucky draw by taking a new Vodafone pre-paid connection or existing Vodafone customer buying a pre-paid recharge of as low as Rs 10 or Rs 5 at Vodafone Bazaar, and get a voucher which entitles them to a lucky draw. Daily winners are chosen and are rewarded in the form of groceries like atta, eggs, oil, sugar, rice etc. The Vodafone Bazaar was promoted locally through Van announcements, music, emcee and other activities relevant to the interests of local residents. It provided them the same excitement and value as they experience at the usual bazaars by catering to their day to day needs of dal, rice, oil etc. The key message that the initiative wants to put across is that Vodafone caters to the needs of people coming from all strata of society with its various offers easily available on 121. Vodafone also provided paper recharges of smaller value as 10 Rs which would very well address the need of people from lower strata of society to connect with their near and dear ones. Vodafone provides the best value to the customers through innovative products and services. Vodafone Bazaar is one initiative that offers a value proposition and rewards to both existing and prospective customers. The initiative ran for a total of 16 days engaging more than 1500 people and initiating 823 recharges with 274 taking new Vodafone connection.
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In a first-of-its-kind effort to spread the spirit of football across the length of the city, Mumbai City FC players will now ride with millions of Mumbaikars, with branded bogies along the Central, Western and Harbour railway lines. With display branding across multiple trains on all three crucial lifelines of the Mumbai railway network, fans will now get to see their home team players greet them at multiple stations throughout the 2nd edition of Hero Indian Super League. The football stars will adorn 36 panels on each line, and will reach over seven million fans daily. The train branding will feature players like Nicolas Anelka, Subrata Paul, Sunil Chhetri, Ashutosh Mehta and Keegan Pereira. Mumbai City FC’s message ‘Jahaan Dhadakte Hai 2 crore Dil’ is one that resonates with every Mumbaikar who is a Mumbai City FC fan, and feel a part of the larger journey as the team battle it out for the coveted ISL trophy. On this new initiative, Team owner, Mumbai City FC, Ranbir Kapoor said, “The local train is Mumbai's lifeline. It makes the city what it is. Our club logo, in fact, features a local train and signifies the role it plays in every Mumbaikar's life. The branding of these trains is our little way of paying tribute to the railways and connecting with the lifeline of the city.” The 2nd edition of the Hero Indian Super League started on 3rd October in Chennai. Mumbai City FC will play their 2nd match against Kerala Blasters FC in Kochi on 10th October, and their first home match on 16th October at the fortress, DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, Mumbai.
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