United Biscuits wants to give a bigger thrust to its McVitie&rsquo;s brand in India, and recently roped in actors Bipasha Basu and Shriya Saran to promote the range. The company is doing what competitor Parle Products had done in the past: banking on regional celebrities to push the brand in key markets. Early this year, Parle Products had engaged Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan and Bengali actor Rituparna Sengupta to connect with consumers at a local level.

United Biscuits: Regional bite

Business Standard

With the government imposing a ban on direct, indirect and surrogate advertising of tobacco and alcohol products in India, such brands have found innovative ways to build visibility. The latest being Pernod Ricard&rsquo;s blended whisky brand Seagram&rsquo;s Imperial Blue which has launched a 90-minute film named after the brand&rsquo;s tagline &lsquo;Men Will Be Men&rsquo;. Marketing experts say this is a logical extension for Imperial Blue which has earlier used music CDs as a way to promote the brand. In the past, alcohol brands have also used product extensions like events, water, soda, fruit juice, apparels and even airlines to increase recall.

Pernod Ricard: The big screen way

ESSENCE OF GOOD MANAGEMENT
Author: K R Kim
Publisher: Biztantra
Price: Rs 549
ISBN: 9789350040089.
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.
ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP - 2011 OFFICIAL GUIDE
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ISBN: 9786077636229.
OPEN SOURCE LEADER
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Publisher: Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 499
ISBN: 9780670083268.
MANAGERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
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Publisher: Random House India
Price: Rs 299
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GEEK NATION
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Publisher: Hachette
Price: Rs 499
ISBN: 9781444734096.
CONNECT THE DOTS
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Publisher: Eklavya Education Foundation
Price: Rs 150
ISBN:

The top 10 business bestsellers

The race for leadership in the digital advertising space is getting fiercer. While Yahoo is still the leader in the display space, Google has stepped on the gas.

Ad war in cyberspace

Coca-Cola is making a big song and dance about its bid to strike a chord with teenage customers. The cola giant&rsquo;s announcement on Friday to bring in Coke Studio, a music television series promoted by it, is a part of that initiative.

Coke Studio: Will the music work?

The law education segment presents a big opportunity as the country is short of approximately 2.5 lakh lawyers. There are over 32 million cases pending in various courts of India.

KIT: Law education in India

Hero Honda Motors has taken the next big step in building a new brand identity and developing its new brand communication. Close on the heels of bringing on board global brand and innovation specialist Wolff Olins to work on its new brand identity, the company has roped in a creative partner Law &amp; Kenneth (L&amp;K) to give shape to the communication for launching and establishing the new brand. Law &amp; Kenneth is India&rsquo;s largest independent brand communications firm, and is rated amongst the fastest growing companies in marketing communications.

Law & Kenneth to shape Hero Honda's new brand communication 

    This brand gets its name from Turkish meaning black stone. Recently it launched a limited edition version of its products inspired by Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupathi. Name the brand and the series.

The Strategist Quiz (#200)

Any dish that takes more than a minute to assemble would not find its way into this kitchen. While connoisseurs of fine dining will crinkle their noses at the thought, this is one of the factors that gives the world&rsquo;s largest selling fast food chain its size. McDonald&rsquo;s replicates the same efficiency, which does not detract from the taste, in its Indian market as well. How it laid the groundwork years before it launched its first India store in 1996 has been chronicled in detail.

The spice route

The London Book Fair last year was held under the shadow of the volcanic ash. This time it was gripped by existential fears about the future of the printed book and of the fair&rsquo;s venue, Earls Court exhibition centre, which faces demolition and development. The dire forecasts of the death of the printed book and the physical book shop were dismissed by some experts who tried to calm the fears sparked by two &lsquo;e&rsquo; words &mdash; &lsquo;e-publishing&rsquo; and &lsquo;e-retailing&rsquo;. The developing e-environment in publishing has excited the device and platform developers and the digital natives. This in turn made the publishers talk of new &ldquo;challenges and opportunities&rdquo;.

The future of books

Unlike any other major bike brand in India, there's a certain something that the Royal Enfield carries with it. Some refer to it as the the aura of Royal Enfield. Some, the Royal Enfield mania. While others refer to it as the Royal Enfield culture.

Enfield's royal ride

Seen these lines at gift shops? &ldquo;Lovely to look at, nice to hold. But if you drop it, consider it sold.&rdquo; With the arrival of Peoplemeter, it became possible, and then the norm, to publish television ratings on a very high level of granularity. From minutes, through half minutes, all the way down to single second intervals began to get reported.

The great 'break ratings' conundrum

Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Pharma majors are eyeing a bigger slice of the retail food supplements market that was largely dominated by companies who sold their products directly.

Nutraceuticals: Riding the healthy living wave

Ramesh Tainwala, who recently bought 48.5 per cent in lifestyle retailer Planet Retail, plans to give a new lease of life to the UK-based department store chain Debenhams in India. Planet Retail holds the master franchise for Debenhams here.

Debenhams set to wear a new look

Best business moment?
Signing global agreements with Vodafone and Telefonica in London and Madrid
Favourite TV show?
I don&rsquo;t watch TV!! Does the Pakistan-India match count?
Books on your bedside? 
Fountainhead &mdash; Ayn Rand
Midnight&rsquo;s Children &mdash; Salman Rushdie
Our Kind of Traitor &mdash; John Le Carr&eacute;
What&rsquo;s your cologne?
Comme Des Garcons
You get your suits from?
Barneys, New York
What&rsquo;s your shaving mantra?
Geo F

My Life My Style: Arvind Rao, OnMobile Systems

Despite a growing exports market, Chikankari continues to languish, finds Gargi Gupta.

What ails Lucknow chikan?

Unsung and unseen, a venerable, home-grown musical tradition has died out on us. The all-night Hindustani classical music concert, once an essential part of the winter cultural season, is now all but gone.

Evening raga

Trekking is something I got interested in about a decade ago. Not many people are aware of it but there are some fantastic hiking and trekking trails in and around Bangalore. There are several one or two-day treks about 100 km off Bangalore.

In no man's land

Why are wines so expensive in India?&rdquo; is a frequent moan.

Taxes and other grouse

He is still known as the &uuml;ber-cool &ldquo;Colonial Cousin&rdquo;. But almost a decade later, Leslie Lewis awaits another musical turn as he launches the Indian edition of Coke Studio. Starting in Brazil in 2007, Coke Studio has come to India after a hugely popular four-season run in Pakistan.

Fusion fete

An Apple a day keeps old age away, at least in the new world.

A for Apple

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

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