MAM
Lintas’ Imag bags Allied Computer International account
MUMBAI: Allied Computer International (ACi), the notebook specialist from UK, has has appointed Lintas Integrated Marketing Action Group (Imag) as its communications and marketing partner in India. The account size is pegged between Rs 80 – 100 million according to the ACi chairman Hirji Patel.
According to Lintas Imag director Ashish Bhasin, ” ACi is a high quality, affordably priced laptop. The teak at hand is to build an Image for this brand and capture a large market share.”
Commenting further Bhasin adds, “I think it was integrated marketing solutions that enabled us to get this account. Also, the reason why Imag is scoring is due to the out ideation as well as implementation strength which we execute through our specialist divisions.”
Bhasin pointed out that he was particularly pleased that their integrated marketing initiative that they pioneered in India was being found useful by their clients. Debashis Das, president, Linterland spearheaded the task of ensuring a complete integrated marketing solution from Imag for ACi.
ACi seems to have big plans. According to Patel, their IPO is slated to take place in September 2006. Says Hirji, “The role of Imag will be to implement our full rounded marketing plan. We along with Imag will be looking at hitting the education market are going to unleash our 5K notebooks in the next couple of months. We will be focussing on bottomline marketing for the next four months; post which we will get into other mass media.
Patel also stated that ACi was planning to set up shop in Dubai within a month and within six months they will be entering the South and East African markets, Srilanka, and Australia as well.
ACi India marked their entry in India with a collaboration with four individuals in 1999. In 2002, they set up an independent unit and formed ACi Asia annulling the former entity.
ACi, with their entry instigated a price war with the launch of the 50K notebooks. The competitors in the space being Compaq, IBM and Toshiba. The were also the first to offer the AGP (Accelarated Graphics Port) technology in India.
According to Patel, ACi Asia in 2004 created history with the introduction of ACi 29999 – the 30k notebook. The notebook industry as a whole witnessed a 250 per cent growth last year.
Patel concludes, “Before we get into our IPO next September, our agenda for the next six months is to focus on the education market with self schemes to break the 20K price barrier.”
MAM
Collective Artists Network reshuffles talent leadership
Fiona D’Souza, Jinal Jhaveri and Arjun Banerjee take expanded roles in core division.
MUMBAI: Collective Artists Network just handed the talent baton to its homegrown stars because when your agents have been building careers this long, it’s time to let them run the show. Collective Artists Network has announced the next phase of leadership for its talent management business, elevating senior agents Fiona D’Souza, Jinal Jhaveri and Arjun Banerjee to expanded roles within the division. The move strengthens the company’s foundational talent arm while it continues to grow into content creation and production-led ventures.
Each of the three has played a significant part in shaping artist careers across films, digital platforms and brand partnerships. Together they now represent the next generation of leadership for Collective’s talent operations, with a continued focus on long-term career building, strong partnerships and adapting representation to a fast-changing media landscape.
Collective Artists Network founder and Group CEO Vijay Subramaniam remains actively involved in guiding artist strategy and key relationships. He said, “Talent management has been the foundation on which Collective was built, and that philosophy continues to guide how we grow the company. As we enter this next phase, it’s important that the people leading this business have both deep context and long-term convictions.”
Collective Artists Network partner and head of talent Janahavi Rawal added, “Collective’s talent business has always been built on trust, long-term thinking, and a deep understanding of where artists want to go next. Fiona, Jinal, and Arjun have each played an important role in shaping the careers of the artists we represent, and this phase is about empowering our senior agents further while building the right support systems around them.”
The leadership evolution reflects Collective’s belief in promoting from within and creating clear ownership across verticals. In a talent world where yesterday’s agent is tomorrow’s partner, Collective isn’t just reshuffling chairs, it’s handing the spotlight to the people who’ve been quietly directing the show all along.
