Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication (SIMC) is organizing FOOTPRINTS ’09, a series of Media seminars encompassing the various aspects of the media relating to Advertising, Audio Visual, Journalism and Public Relations.

This 10 year old event will be conducted in 23 Indian cities and at 2 international cities.

The seminar is a day-long event that will comprise of interaction between students and the pioneers of the media. The youth is our primary target audience.

The theme for FOOTPRINTS ’09 this year is:
1. THE GREEN BATTLE
2. MEDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The title sponsors for the Event are EDUCATION TIMES and RELIANCE BIG TV, which will ensure wide spread coverage of the event by the largest media house in the country and also by other news conglomerates. MTV will cover our event.

All the participants will get a participation certificate from the Symbiosis International University, which will upgrade your C.V. There also will be a SNAP help desk to clear all your Snap doubts.

The event will be held in Mumbai on:
Date: 15th November, 2009
Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Venue: Rangsharda Auditorium (Bandra West)

Our confirmed guest speakers are:
Mr. Arijit SenGupta, President, Oglivy PR Worldwide
Mr. Ashish Bhushan, General Manager, Brand Activation, TOI
Dr. Chandra Krishnamurthy, Acting Vice Chancellor, Mumbai University
Mr. Goldin Quadros, World Wide Fund for Nature
Mr. Joel Pannikot, Co-Founder & CEO, Athena India
Mr. Mark Robinson, Model/Choreographer
Mr. Neeil, RJ, Red FM
Mr. N. Chandramouli, CEO, Blue Lotus Communications
Mr. Prahlad Kakkar, CEO, Genesis
Mr. Pritish Nandy, Founder, PNC
Mr. Rahul Alvares, Author/Herpatologist
Dr. Rashneh Pardiwala, Founder, Centre for Environment Research and Education
Mr. Roshan Abbas, Founder, Encompass
Mr. Saurabh Shukla, Director/Actor/Writer
Mr. Shashank Verma, CEO, Clean Star Trust
Mr. Suman Shrivastava, CEO, Euro RSCG
Dr. Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury, Director, Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication
Mr. Vineet Malhotra, Anchor, Neo Sports
Mr. Viraf Pocha, Founder, Landmark Events

The seminar will also have two live performances: (a) Singer Raghav Sachar (b) Theatre Group Utopia

For details log on to www.simcevents.com or Contact Siddharth – 9820857522 and Sneha – 9820242945.

The Advertising Agencies Association of India has formed its new committee for the year 2009-10. The association has elected Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT as President and Nagesh Alai, Executive Director of Interface Communications as Vice-President. The elections were held on 13th November, 2009. Madhukar Kamath, the former President will serve as an ex-officio member of the newly formed committee.

Neville Gomes, MD, Multimedia Aquarius is the new Honorary Secretary whereas Ashish Bhasin from Carat Media Services will be the Honorary Treasurer. Other additions in the executive committee are:

M G Parameswaran — DRAFTFCB+Ulka Advertising Pvt Ltd
Nakul Chopra – Publicis Communications Pvt Ltd
Prasoon Joshi — McCann-Erickson Ltd
Sam Balsara — Madison Communications Pvt Ltd
Srinivasan K Swamy – R K SWAMY BBDO Pvt Ltd
Surajit Nag — Advertising & Sales Promotion Company
Tapas Gupta — BEI Confluence Communication Ltd
Umesh Shrikhande – Contract Advertising (India) Pvt Ltd
Vikram Sakhuja — Group M Media India Pvt Ltd
Vinod Nair — Network Advertising Pvt Ltd.

The Advertising Agencies Association of India promotes the interests of the advertising agencies while ensuring trust and benefits to consumers. AAAI also hosts various award functions, workshops and seminars and has also introduced scholarships to encourage the interests of young individuals. The association aims remains to establish a forum where representatives of advertisers, advertising agencies, media owners and Government can meet on mutual ground and examine problems of mutual concern.

What makes a noble media student? His dedication (or the lack of it) towards lectures? His unsurpassed ambition of scoring high and topping exams? His unwavering dedication towards finishing that long project on time, even though he started working one day before submissions?

Or is it the chai he has in the morning before college that gives him the power to excel at all of these?

Only the strong of heart can go on to win Mumbai’s biggest BMM festival. For with great chai, comes great creativity!

Cutting Chai is one of the first BMM fests post Diwali vacation and the competition is strong!

You may also visit their facebook group here and a cool website on the festival here.

C ya there!

And here’s the Cutting Chai montage from last year incase you weren’t there to see it live!

What makes a noble media student? His dedication (or the lack of it) towards lectures? His unsurpassed ambition of scoring high and topping exams? His unwavering dedication towards finishing that long project on time, even though he started working one day before submissions?
Or is it the chai he has in the morning before college that gives him the power to excel at all of these?

Only the strong of heart can go on to win Mumbai’s biggest BMM festival.

For with great chai, comes great creativity.

She invented the ‘size-zero’ concept and set one of the hottest trends in India. Now, she is ready to endorse Sony’s newly launched half-inch thin notebook VAIO X. On her association the actress mentioned that the brand goes well with her looks – ‘thin and lightweight’, and personifies her personality in a way.

She also added, “The whole size zero thing in India has more to do with people being slim and lightweight. And I am slim and lightweight. And so is this laptop. I think this new laptop is very chic and sexy and people also often associate me with these qualities.”

As the Brand Ambassador Kareena will be part of a campaign which would include TV commercials and print advertising.

The company officials also mentioned that Kareena is a perfect choice considering her fan following, and her sleek and high end preferences for her lifestyle.

Advertisers can do anything to attract eyeballs for their brand, and the latest strategy which is a hit amongst the crowd seems to be the flash mob strategy. The strategy refers to hiring a few people, who would assemble at crowded places and perform an unusual act. Last weekend Allen Solly got 100 live models to stand still at Noida’s Great India Place mall and flaunt their latest range of casual clothing.

The strategy was part of the brands ‘I Hate Ugly’ campaign designed by TBWA Group. Vinod Vijaykumar, general manager (south and west) of Tequila, part of TBWA Group said, “It was (a) great idea for visual merchandising. All these smartly dressed models just froze in the middle of whatever they were doing at the mall. Whether it was drinking coffee, applying make-up, talking on the phone or walking. So shoppers were a little startled at first, but figured things out when they saw the Allen Solly tags.”

The officials believed that the medium gave them great exposure and allowed them to showcase 100 different garment pieces at the same time, which would have been impossible otherwise. Experts also believe that the efficiency of the medium also depends on the actors as well as element of surprise which holds on to people at crowded places.

In the past, Colors (Big Boss), Shoppers Stop, 7Up (brand promotion) and Channel [V] (Channel Makeover, Kurkure (brand promotion) have also cashed on the concept.

Brands are exploring social media and trying to connect to millions of users out there. Be it Facebook, Orkut, blogging or the latest twitter, brands are leaving no stone unturned to make an impact. Twitter, through its concept of tweeted brands can measure the performance of each of these brands and rank them accordingly. the brand are ranked on the basis of mention over the past 24 hours.

50 Most Famous brands on twitter

Topping the list is twitter itself with 124,471 tweets, followed by You Tube, Facebook and Google, all of which are internet and tech related products.

The list highlights brand from various sectors, thus proving that social media remains one of the prime focus of brands all over the world.