Tata Sky wants to net the value-conscious consumer willing to pay for it.

Money for value

Business Standard

More than twice the size of its nearest competitor, Nestl&eacute; is the world&rsquo;s biggest food company. With over 450 factories across 84 countries, the 144-year-old Swiss company runs one of the largest operations of its kind. It boasts of several billionaire brands &mdash; that sell more $1 billion a year &mdash; and claims to touch over a billion consumers a day.

'The brand should delight the consumer'

Radio Days, an award-winning 1987 film directed by Woody Allen, looks back on American family life during the golden age of radio. The narrator (Woody Allen himself) tells us how the radio influenced him in the days before TV. Each member of the narrator&rsquo;s family finds in radio shows an escape from reality through the gossip of celebrities, sports legends of the day, crooners, etc.

Radio days are back

It&rsquo;s time for the best and the brightest in the advertising and media agencies to converge on the beaches in Goa and hit the stage to collect gongs. And if they have time, they have the option to hear some of the best minds in the industry &ndash; both from here and abroad.

Goafest: And the show begins...

Its ad-jingle &ldquo;Tan tana tann&rdquo; has come true all the way. Sun Direct DTH has become the second largest direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV operator in the country.

Sun Direct mantra: Be regional, think national

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) proposes to change the labelling of its Kissan Amaze, a malted beverage for children, in response to a notice sent by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Charged with misbranding, HUL offers to change Amaze labeling

A recent news article reported that India was losing the voice-based BPO opportunity to other countries, including the Philippines, on account of the poor English language skills of Indians from tier-II and tier-III institutions. India may well lose more opportunity and then respect, too, on account of the poor &ldquo;business communication&rdquo; skills of our young and not-so-young managers.

Arvind Singhal: The crisis of communication

Tiger Woods appeared in a new Nike Inc commercial yesterday, the eve of his return to professional golf at the Masters Tournament.

Tiger Woods appears in new Nike ad ahead of Masters tournament

Debating on a Goa beach may seem to be a bit of an oddity, but the Goafest has always begun that way &mdash; on a serious note. The organisers have a simple explanation for this: Why not have some take-homes before the real fest kicks in? A starter before the main course, that is.

Ad guys put their heads together

As ad guys lazed on the sunny Cavelossim beach enjoying their drinks, or took to the skies in pursuit of some adventure, there were a few who chose to sit back and listen to the speakers narrate their brand experiences on the second day of the Goafest. Some fun there.

Goafest: Flying high with contagious ideas

The lovable egg-headed characters, who took the advertising industry by storm in 2009, swept the creative awards on the final night of Goafest.

Grand Prix for Zoozoo at Creative Abbys

Penguin is getting ready to launch digital content business in India. With 500 digital titles and counting, John Makinson, CEO of Penguin, is convinced that the publishing house will have a good run delivering books over mobile phones and e-readers.

Penguin India in digital mode

Richard Pinder, 45, stepped up to take sole leadership of Publicis Worldwide in May 2009 which, with 9,000 employees in over 80 markets, is the largest Publicis Groupe agency network. With major investment in acquisitions and start-ups, subsidiary Publicis Modem has become the world&rsquo;s third largest digital agency. Pinder, who was in India last week for the Goafest, speaks to Shahana Joshi.

'WPP is to us what Unilever is to P&G'

Engineering PhD candidates can now look forward to mentoring from faculty members of some top US engineering institutions.

US mentors for Indian faculty

Brown University, like some of its Ivy League peers, does not plan to set up a campus in India. Instead, it plans to strengthen its alliances with institutions and the industry here. Ruth J Simmons, President of Brown University, told Kirtika Suneja the reasons for these premier institutions&rsquo; unwillingness to set up campuses in India despite the opening up of the higher education space here.

'Joint ventures yes, but no campus in India'

While the good old Amby will go in for a facelift, Hindustan Motors has lined up a slew of Mitsubishi vehicle launches.

HM's new brand Ambassadors

Radcliffe Foundation, a New Delhi-based educational trust operating in the K-12 (kindergarten to 12) segment, is in talks with private equity players to raise funds and expand its operations in the K-12 segment.

Radcliffe to raise Rs 300 crore from PE players

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, is in advanced talks with the Ethiopian government for sending its students to IIM-B to undertake the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM).

Ethiopia in talks with IIM-B for doctoral programme tie-up

It&rsquo;s not only the mass brands that are adopting small-pack strategy to increase penetration; premium and niche brands like Kellogg&rsquo;s too are going the same way.

Kellogg's goes snacking

Dilip Chhabria was recently approached by a Hyderabad real estate developer who wanted India&rsquo;s best-known automobile designer to come up with home theatres for the Rs 15-crore villas he is building in the city. The brief was to design post-modern television and speakers &mdash; something that would fit in well with the deluxe surroundings. So pleased is Chhabria with the results that he has put together a team of 20 to look at opportunities in this area.

Designs on profit

A new pecking order in the world of professional services could emerge soon. Deloitte has come very close to the leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The difference between the two was just a hundred million dollars in 2009. In India, the turnover of the Big Four &mdash; PwC, Deloitte, Ernst &amp; Young and KPMG &mdash; is not known. The perception is that the fight for the top slot is between PwC and Ernst &amp; Young. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Chief Executive Officer James H Quigley fields queries from Bhupesh Bhandari on the road ahead.

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