The Times of India Group and Nimbus Communications have signed a deal, according to which Times Group will own a small stake in Nimbus as well as Neo Sports (its associate company). In return, Times Group will advertise regarding the sports and broadcasting business through their media vehicles which reaches extensively to premium Indian audiences.

Akash Khurana, V-C, Nimbus, said, “This alliance provides an opportunity for drawing on strengths and synergies between the organizations. Our businesses are at inflection points and this deal will help us strengthen and accelerate growth in market shares and revenues of our businesses.”

Ravi Dhariwal, Chief executive officer, Times Group spoke further on the deal, “We can contribute strongly to Nimbus’ and Neo Sports’ growth through our leadership position and our strong reach across media platforms in multiple markets. Their leadership position in sports rights, production and sports broadcasting is well known and we hope to enhance the momentum of their growth story.”

Through the deal, Nimbus Communications plans to utilize Times media vehicles to promote events, like the upcoming Asia Tour Golf, US PGA Tour Golf and Seria A Football.

Schedule

April 08, 2010 Thursday 11:00 AM – 01:00 PM Press Laws and Ethics

April 09, 2010 Friday 11:00 AM – 01:00 PM Broadcast Journalism

April 10, 2010 Saturday 11:00 AM – 01:00 PM Niche Journalism – II

April 12, 2010 Monday 11:00 AM – 01:00 PM Internet and Issues in the Global Media

April 13, 2010 Tuesday 11:00 AM – 01:00 PM News Media Management

April 15, 2010 Thursday 11:00 AM – 01:00 PM Contemporary Issues

Adidas India has appointed Ogilvy India to work on its new campaign for 2010. The account was won by Ogilvy after a multi-agency pitching process. Prior to this, TBWA\India was working with the brand.

Other agencies who pitched included TBWA\India, along with Ogilvy India and Contract Advertising.

Adidas wants to create a campaign around the upcoming ICC World Cup 2010 and has already briefed Ogilvy about it. According to industry sources, Ogilvy has already started its work on the campaign.

Carat India remains to be the media partner and Iris continues to be the retail marketing partner for Adidas India.

Bharti Airtel, one of Asia’s leading providers of telecommunications services has decided to step into digital media business. The company would distribute content to a range of users like producers and media companies. The officials made it clear that they would not generate content, but act like a third part association and make it available for potential users.

The prospective target group would include animation and gaming firms, news channels, cinemas and banking institutions.

Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, said, “There is a clear demand for secure digital distribution capability across multiple platforms. Airtel Digital Media Business will help establish India as an innovation hub for global content and format delivery.”

The company will concentrate on content gathering and distribution services to television channels, along with complete content management services such as playout, archival, collocation and storage. An integrated delivery and aggregation platform would also be a part of the deal where the content can be repackaged for all formats.

“The company’s digital media business is integrated with our global network of submarine cable systems, international points of presence and our content delivery network services,” concluded Rajan Swaroop, executive director of Enterprise Services.

Domino’s Pizza, the US based food giant has rolled out statistics as well as the company’s future expectations from Indian markets. India currently features in the top 10 markets for the pizza store and has proved to be the fastest growing market in 2009-10 with a total of 65 new stores opened in India.

India is expected to be among the top five earning markets in the next three years for the pizza giant.

J Patrick Doyle, CEO, Domino’s Pizza President said, “The Indian market is the fastest growing market for Domino’s. Today, we are launching the 300th store in the country. It is the 9,000th store worldwide. As of now, India is among the top 10 earners for Domino’s. In the next three years, we expect India to be among the top five earners.”

The company anticipates revenue of Rs 420 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 32 crore for the yr 2009-10. Dominos strategy in the Indian market has been to penetrate in Tier-II and -III cities.

Ajay Kaul, CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks, “Currently, 20-25 per cent of our revenue comes from Tier-II and -III cities. In the next five years, we expect this number to increase substantially as we will be opening many more stores across the country.”

Jubilant FoodWorks, a Jubilant Group company, holds the master franchisee rights for the Domino’s Pizza, for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.