VIP Industries has been at it for quite some time. To appeal to the youth &mdash; and therefore increase frequency of purchase &mdash; the Mumbai-headquartered company has been working overtime to position its brands as fashion accessories rather than utilitarian products. In line with this strategy, VIP &mdash; which claims to be Asia&rsquo;s largest and the world&rsquo;s second-largest luggage company &mdash; has launched a new television commercial (TVC) for its sub-brand Skybags with Hindi movie star and its new brand ambassador John Abraham as the protagonist.

Out of the box

Business Standard

BBC has produced a documentary on them; Prince Charles invited them to his wedding with Camilla Parker Bowles in London in 2005; some of them have been invited to give guest lectures at top business schools of India.

Tourism Queensland: Team spirit

The appetite for acquisition in Indian advertising and media space is becoming stronger by the day, the most recent one being Omnicom&rsquo;s Ketchum acquiring a majority stake in homespun Sampark.

Agencies come shopping

Kraft Foods is betting on the summer season to push sales of its powdered beverage brand Tang, distributed under the Cadbury umbrella. A television commercial (TVC) will bring to the fore the brand&rsquo;s new tagline, &lsquo;Aaja Rang De&rsquo;. Created by Bates India the TVC opens against the backdrop of a park with a bunch of kids sitting around, seemingly disinteresting in the goings on.

Kraft Foods: Cheer leader

Chinni Krishnan Ranganathan is best known for selling shampoo in 50-paise sachets in the seventies &mdash; almost a decade before multinational competitors such as Unilever and Procter &amp; Gamble woke up to the huge potential in India&rsquo;s bottom of the pyramid market.

Sachet king moves to shed regional tag

Caf&eacute; Coffee Day&rsquo;s (CCD) appetite for expansion is growing by the day.

CCD's new cafe economics

ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP - 2011 OFFICIAL GUIDE
Publisher: Living Media India
Price: Rs 200
ISBN: 9786077636229.
FREEFALL
Author: Joseph Stiglitz
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs 399
ISBN: 9780141045122.
THE MAN WHO SOLD AMERICA
Authors: Jeffrey L Cruikshank and Arthur W Schultz
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Price: Rs 995
ISBN: 9781591393085.
SURVIVING THE STORM
Author: Dhiraj Nayyar
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 499
ISBN: 9780670085255.
THE HABIT OF WINNING
Author: Prakash Iyer
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 299
ISBN: 9780143068280.
ESSENCE OF GOOD MANAGEMENT
Author: K R Kim
Publisher: Biztantra
Price: Rs 549
ISBN: 9789350040089.
OPEN SOURCE LEADER
Author: Sangeeth Varghese
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 499
ISBN: 9780670083268.
MANAGERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Author: T V Rao
Publisher: Random House India
Price: Rs 299
ISBN: 9788184001372.
GEEK NATION
Author: Angela Saini
Publisher: Hachette
Price: Rs 499
ISBN:

The top 10 business bestsellers

Although the ICC Cricket World Cup has come to an end, the celebrations have not. The action off the field is still going on and will continue to do so for some time. The Municipal Corporation of Mumbai recently announced that they are going to create a museum of the World Cup. For a country, whose happiness and despair vacillate with their cricket team&rsquo;s performance, it is not surprising to see that the celebrations over their much awaited World Cup victory are far from over.

Advertiser's biggest carnival

Men&rsquo;s footwear market in India is estimated to be Rs 13,000 crore in 2011. It is 50 per cent of the total footwear market. The category is growing at about 9 per cent a year.

KIT: Men's premium footwear market in India

    Morgan Stanley bailed out this company in 1993 when its IPO for Rs 13 crore was undersubscribed. Name it.

The Strategist Quiz (#199)

    This breath mint brand, established in Europe in 1927, is in many ways responsible for the birth of a $9 billion online company. Name both of them.

Answers to last week's quiz (#198)

The Indian information technology software and services industry is truly the lighthouse of modern India &mdash; an industry that has made every Indian proud and made the world take notice of India.

How TCS became 'truly global'

It&rsquo;s not often that the Supreme Court steps in to resolve advertising wars. But the country&rsquo;s apex court did so a fortnight ago when it rejected GlaxoSmithKline Consumer&rsquo;s plea to stay the Delhi High Court division bench&rsquo;s order that suspended its single judge&rsquo;s decision to restrain Heinz from airing or publishing ads that disparaged it.

Revelling in combat

Premium textile and apparel major Raymond has just debuted in the textile economy segment. The launch of &lsquo;Makers&rsquo;, priced at a range of Rs 250-390 per metre, is the culmination of a process that started in March last year &mdash; a process which was initiated keeping in mind the Rs 6,000 crore organised textile market poised to grow at 20 per cent in semi-urban India.

Raymond targets small town India

Lintas Media Group - the media arm of ad agency Lowe Lintas - has launched a new division. Called Limelight, the division will provide solutions in the space of broadcast, digital, print and out-of-home. The division will be headed by Kacon Sethi, former chief executive officer of production house K Sera Sera. Sethi, a media and advertising veteran, who has done time with agencies such as JWT and Grey and also worked with media owners such as Sony Entertainment Television in her 22-year career, was managing partner at MediaSys Solutions prior to taking up her current position.

Lintas Media group launches new division

The foods major has moved to higher price points even though a similar strategy flopped last year. Will it be second time lucky?.

Nestle: Once bitten, but not shy

Idea Cellular has gone off the beaten track in its 3G growth strategy. While peers like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications launched their services in metros before going to smaller towns, Idea is doing exactly the opposite.

Idea takes 3G bets on rural market

Rediffusion - Y&amp;R has strengthened its creative team by roping in Parag Shahane as Creative Head &ndash; Art. Shahane has worked on brands such as Union Bank, MTDC, Pepsi, Sunsilk, amongst others. He has previously worked with Mudra Communications, Lowe, FCB Ulka, Percept and Forefront. He also had an international stint with JWT Colombo for three years. Neville Medhora, Vice President, Rediffusion - Y&amp;R said, &ldquo;Parag brings a lot of energy and passion in to our Mumbai team. His cross-category experience will surely add a lot of value to our clients&rsquo; brands. I am confident that Parag will continue to carve out some great work and add value to our clients.&rdquo; Shahane said the scope of work that most of Rediff&rsquo;s brands have to offer is remarkable as it has built some great iconic brands .

New Creative Head - Art for Rediffusion-Y&R

Three days in a month, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar opens the doors of his house to anybody who has a problem.

Patna Durbar

Mushaal Mullick of Islamabad is married to JKLF leader Yasin Malik of Srinagar. She talks to Nayanima Basu about her life and work in support of Kashmiri artisans.

Pakistani for Kashmir

The American town of Virginia Beach is the base for the commandos who killed Osama bin Laden. William Selway pays a visit.

Home of the SEALs

- Find Specials News, Features, Analysis and more at Business Standard. Full coverage of Goafest 2014

Page 969 - Supplements