As promised a couple of days ago, we now have a cool addition @BMMBox…drum rolls please…presenting the BMMBox Cafe! This section will allow you to discuss, share, express, download (your personal favourite) as well as upload (which may be our favourite) content related to BMM. Café will also serve as your platform for all BMM-related queries and you will also get to know what other BMMites are upto! So start discussing and shout out! And hey, don’t forget to have a good time at the Café.

Click here to register.

BMMBox Café and Cafe

The search engine giant, Google, turns eleven this September. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin way back in September, 1998. Google celebrated its 11th anniversary with one of its lovable Google’s doodle. Google released a special misspelt version of its logo – apparently to mark 11 years since the company was founded.

The exact birth date of Google is not known. Though it had been registered on September 15, the search engine does not have a fixed day. Last year it had celebrated its birthday on September 2. Apparently, Google celebrates its birthday in September, but takes a call on the day every year.

Google dominates the search engine market in various parts of the world. In the past 11 years, it has revolutionized the online world with products like Google search engine, Gmail, Google maps, You Tube, Google Analytics and Chrome…

Yahoo! Will launch its global branding campaign in United Kingdom and India on October 5. The campaign aims at simplifying and enhancing the Web experience for people throughout the world. The campaign will be launched on 28th September in United States and later worldwide.

Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz said, “Today the Web and your world are inseparable.” She further added, “Hundreds of millions of people use Yahoo! to get the information they need, connect with friends and family, and be entertained. We are about creating online experiences people find meaningful, relevant, and fun.”

“Our vision is to be at the centre of people’s online lives–to be at the place where their world meets the larger world,” said Elisa Steele, Yahoo! executive vice president and chief marketing officer, speaking at the IAB MIXX Conference and Expo in New York City.

Yahoo! wishes to celebrate its connection with people and communicate its core product and its various enhancements through the campaign.

Lintas Group has launched Karishma Initiative, a new media service entity in order to globally align their businesses across various countries. This is Lintas third initiative after LMG and Aaren Initiative. Karishma Initiative will be headed by N P Sathyamurthy, who is also LMG’s COO.

KI has been operational since September 1, 2009 and has begun with a client size of more than Rs 500 crore. It is already serving brands like Samsonite, Revlon, Austrian Airways, Qatar Airways, Computer Associates, Sharp Electronics, Four Seasons and Geodesic and Bombay Dyeing.

Speaking about their latest business, Lintas Media Group’s Chairman and CEO, Lynn de Souza, who would also be overall in charge of KI, said, “The thought process behind launching another media service agency brand, in addition to Lintas Media Group, was very clear to us. We have a large and strong base of home grown blue chip businesses. We now need to expand our offering to clients who work with a global template. Though not key to the character of KI, this does help avoid conflict that global businesses may have with our legacy accounts”.

The international brand Gucci has signed a new franchisee agreement with Ashok Wadhwa’s Luxury Goods Retail for its operations in Indian market. Earlier, Murjani Group, owned by Vijay Murjani had the franchisee rights for the for the foreign luxury brand. The joint venture is still in process and will have a 51:49 ownership stake, as Indian rules allow only 51% foreign investment in single-brand retail.

The reason behind the change seems to be the shift in the focus of Murjani from luxury to premium brands, which are doing well in the Indian market.

Luxury Goods Retail is owned by Reena Wadhwa (wife of Ashok Wadhwa) and she will be taking care of Gucci’s franchisee rights as well as three operational stores in Delhi and Mumbai bought from the Murjani Group.

“Gucci will control the majority stake in the JV and it will drive the day-to-day business in India,” said Ms Wadhwa, adding that this was her firm’s first partnership with any international brand and that the company is not looking at tie ups with other international brands at the moment.

Viren Razdan has been appointed as the new executive director of Orchard Advertising. Razdan will be reporting to Thomas Xavier, national creative director and chairman at Orchard.

Razdan started his career with JWT. After that he worked with Cheil Communications where he became the senior vice president. He also worked with Red FM and later joined Bangalore-based multi-functional design centre Idiom, where he was president.

Air Deccan, CavinKare, Fiat and Wipro have been some of the clients Orchard Advertising has worked for.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during its 80th annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai announced the decision to restore IMG as the promoting agency for the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament. The agency was associated with IPL since the first season, but things changed after dispute over their fee for the second season held at South Africa.

The agency had presented a bill of Rs 33 crore to BCCI, which was not accepted by the board as it seemed objectionable to some BCCI officials. The Board’s demand to lower the fee was not accepted by IMG, which later decided to terminate the contract at a meeting of its working committee on 13 August, with BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan conveying the message in writing to the agency.

However, with seven out of eight IPL teams favoring IMG along with support from agriculture minister and former board president Sharad Pawar, league boss Lalit Modi and broadcast partner Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, BCCI had to reopen talks with IMG.

While IMG will be paid Rs33 crore for its work on the second season of IPL in South Africa early this year, the new agreement states that IMG will have to settle for a fixed sum of Rs27 crore as annual fee for the next eight years of the contract, said Shashank Manohar, president, BCCI.

According to the Nielsen Online AdRelevance June-August 2009 report from The Nielsen Company, Indian matrimonial websites rank number 1 in terms of online advertising. Followed by matrimonial sites are travel booking and education sector who are actively involved in online advertising.

The study further revealed that from a total of 3778 online display ad campaigns released in India between June-August 2009, 497 were by personal or matrimonial websites, amounting to 13 per cent of the total number of online campaigns.Consim and People Interactive are among the top two advertisers, in terms of campaigns.Consim accounts for eight per cent of the total number of campaigns during June-August 2009 and People Interactive accounts for four per cent, both mostly advertising for their matrimonial/personals business. Info Edge remains the third largest player accounting for approx 3 percent primarily advertising for its employment business.

The travel sector is dominated by MakeMytrip which contributes approx 23 per cent to the total online advertising in the sector. Education, the third most advertised sector in the online space, is led by Amity University (14 per cent).

Karthik Nagarajan, The Nielsen Company associate director – online division concluded, “Display advertising is expected to substantially expand in India, as internet penetration accelerates and given the substantially lower costs involved in advertising online. It is an industry that has seen rapid growth in the past couple of years and has the potential to give traditional forms of advertising a run for their money. Keeping tabs on ad spending and campaigns in this space, it is definitely going to help marketers plan their strategies accordingly.”