The television commercial opens on a group of mango vendors. It is the fag end of the mango season and the three vendors prepare to try their hand at a new trade. One becomes a dentist, another takes a shot at palmistry and the third wants to prove his mettle as a mechanic. Bad decision. They just don&rsquo;t seem to get their act right. As they loll under a tree thinking what next, a boy sitting on the tree springs a surprise.

Anytime, anywhere mango

Business Standard

Brands, we all (at least all of us in marketing and advertising) like to believe, are like people. They have personalities, values, they behave in a certain way, have ambitions and relationships.

Being human

With the fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) season right round the corner, at least two of the participating teams have started taking guard. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings have kicked off their marketing campaigns with gusto. KKR&rsquo;s marketing blitz, dubbed &lsquo;New Dawn. New Knights&rsquo;, started with the introduction of a new logo in Mumbai recently. The logo, created by Lambie-Nairn, a global branding agency and part of WPP Group, stays with the traditional team colours of purple and gold. KKR is ensuring that the logo stares at you from every touch point, from the screen to merchandising.

IPL: Ready for another onslaught

The US-based World Kitchen, which entered the Indian market in 1998 with dinnerware (glass) brand Corelle, besides Corningware (glass ceramic), Pyrex (glass bakeware) and Visions (cookware), is looking to expand its base in the country aggressively. To this end, the Illinois-based houseware company has launched a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, World Kitchen (India), and has tied up with TTK Prestige, maker of pressure cookers and kitchen appliances, as a dedicated partner for the southern markets for brands other than Corelle.

World Kitchen (India): The sizzling world of kitchen

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The top 10 business bestsellers

    This company was known as a start up factory in 2001. At that point in time it had thrown up more than 50 start ups and 88 CXOs, many of whom set up Indian operations for giants like Lucent, HP and Philips. Name it.

The Strategist Quiz (#242)

    Based on a report published by UN for the year 2011, Qatar is ranked No.1, Luxembourg is No.5 and USA is ranked No.

Answers to last week's quiz (#241)

As our by cameraman gets ready to shoot, the team gathers around a chair with the very ornate twin lion heads. That is where the 70-year-old Adi Godrej will take his place for the group photo. But when he walks in, he avoids the chair and proceeds to stand with the young team who complete the frame. The third generation head of the 115-year-old business group, Adi Godrej, does not want to draw a line between him and a team that, he admits, has taught him to listen better.

On a new trajectory

Fifty- six year-old Mukta Joshi, a resident of Dadar in Central Mumbai, says she enjoys shopping in the refurbished Sahakari Bhandar co-operative store, now managed by Reliance Retail.

Sahakari Bhandar gets facelift

In an attempt to stay ahead in innovative marketing strategies, Titan Industries, that has wristwatch brands like Raga and Fasttrack, is exploring opportunities for associating itself more closely

Titan eyes closer links with Tanishq

The high-level committee set up by the board of Britannia Industries, to iron out the Tiger brand right issue, has not made any headway yet. This committee on intellectual property rights was set up

No headway in Tiger brand issue

Fiat has just taken the covers off the Alfa Spider and by the looks of it, this one promises to be yet another classic Alfa convertible (remember the Giulietta?). 


Drop head gorgeous

I am avoiding a midsize car because of traffic/parking problems in Mumbai. I am confused whether I should go for a petrol or a diesel car. Also, I am a tall guy, so the Zen or Alto wont work for

Hatch match

I follow your column in Business Standard with interest. I have a query. Our company is seeking to buy ten cars for our senior managers, with an on-road price

Fleet-footed

...Croma! Fiat's star at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show is ready to go on sale in Italy this June. The Croma has been designed by Giugiaro and will hopefully gain some marketshare for the firm with

All roads lead to...

I am returning to India after a long break, hence am not up to scratch on the newer models. I am looking for a reliable and easy-to-maintain car (for a family of four) that I will also use to drive

Optra NRI edition?

Sugar stocks have had a sweet run in the last three months on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) due to the soaring sugar prices, which reached multi-year highs in December. 


Sweet note

I live in Bangalore and commute around 35 km each day. Given the really bad traffic I go through, I am thinking of buying a good city commuter car with an automatic gearbox to ease the stress of

Bangalored!

I never thought there would be so many cars in one segment. I am referring to the C-segment where there are cars such as the Hyundai Accent, Ford Ikon, Tata Indigo, Maruti Esteem, Honda City and so

C-poilt!

The rollback became an integral part of Budgeting around the turn of the century. In hindsight, rollbacks were politically inevitable, given coalition governments and the secrecy of budgeting. Soon

The rollback mechanism

N Casimir Raj has replaced P D Thomas as director of the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur. Raj has over 30 years of experience in marketing. 


New director, dean at XLRI

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