MAM
Titan to spend Rs 90 mn on New World Watch launch in India
MUMBAI: Titan Industries has launched its international watch collection symbolically titled “The New World Watch” with a fashion show by ace designer Prasad Bidappa at The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. The Mumbai event-cum-press conference was simulcast via satellite to Delhi and Bangalore.
Titan Industries Watch division COO Bijou Kurien has confirmed that the company will spend Rs 85-90 million on a multimedia advertising campaign during the next quarter. The AOR (agency of record) for Titan is Rediffusion DYR’s media independent outfit The Media Edge.
“This is the largest-ever quarterly spend in Titan’s 16-year old history and the entire campaign will involve 15 TV commercial films – including the teaser campaign that started on 8 September 2003 and will continue till December 2003,” Kurien says even as O&M India group president and national creative director Piyush Pandey and The Media Edge director Divya Radhakrishnan watches the proceedings.
The new Titan World watch will have 60 designs and will be priced in the Rs 2,600 to Rs 6,000 bracket. The collections will be in steel with leather straps, all steel as well as gold.
Titan forayed into the international markets in 1991-92. Kurien mentioned that the brand Titan is now available in 29 countries across 2,500 outlets in South Asia, the Pacific, Middle East and Europe. In India, Titan has 160 exclusive outlets in which 150 franchisee outlets are included (plus 60 more for Tanishq jewellery products).
Kurien envisaged that the watch division of Titan would grow by 20 per cent (in value terms) in this financial year. “The turnover of the company is Rs 8 billion and exports are around Rs 550 million,” he added. The proportion of watch contribution to jewellery contribution in the turnover is 55:45.
The total size of the Indian horological market is 31 million pieces valued at Rs 18 million in the last financial year. The organised players sell 12 million pieces and Titan a volume share of 20 per cent overall and 50 per cent in the organised market stakes.
“We are rapidly growing in the international markets and we are gearing up for forays into Latin America, Japan and Korea. The advertising budget for global markets inclusive of franchisee-distributor spends is in the region of $4 million,” adds Kurien.
It looks as if the “Made in India” brand is striving hard to become a truly global brand.
Brands
Hemlata Sharma joins ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer
Former Zee Media distribution head to steer growth, partnerships and strategy
MUMBAI:Â Hemlata Sharma has joined ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer, bringing with her more than three decades of experience across television, telecom and media distribution.
Sharma most recently served as head distribution, research & CRM at Zee Media Corporation Limited, where she worked closely with editorial and senior management while overseeing distribution, consumer research and customer relationships for 14 news channels including Zee News, WION, Zee Hindustan and Zee Business, along with ten regional state channels.
In that role, she led nationwide distribution across platforms such as DTH, Hits, IPTV, cable networks and DD Free Dish. She also drove consumer research and strategic insights on a pan India scale, analysing content performance, anchor impact, programme slots and audience behaviour to guide editorial decisions and programming strategy.
Her portfolio also included managing one of the largest alliances with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and overseeing the global distribution monitoring of Wion across North America, Mena, Europe, Africa, APAC and Australia.
Earlier, Sharma briefly served as head sales and distribution at Triplecom Media Pvt Ltd, an engagement driven OTT platform bringing together content, gaming, music and advertising for the entertainment distribution ecosystem.
Her earlier career includes a senior vice president stint at Ten Sports Network, where she played a key role in relaunching the sports broadcaster as an independent bouquet comprising Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action and Ten Golf following the Zee takeover. During this period, she moved from vp west to head strategy for cable and dth and later national head retail distribution, helping build the network’s retail distribution vertical across India and launching dedicated golf and football channels.
Before that, Sharma spent over six years at Bharti Airtel as general manager operations for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. She initially led marketing and corporate communications before moving into sales leadership, where voice sales grew by 86 per cent and revenues by 96 per cent. She later headed business operations, expanding annual business volumes to Rs 100 crore while significantly reducing operational costs.
Sharma began her long association with the media distribution ecosystem at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited as regional head sales and distribution for central India. During that period, she played a role in the early rollout of pay television channels including Zee Cinema, HBO, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, while also contributing to the launch of Siti Cable in key central Indian cities.
With her new role at ONEOTT Broadband, Sharma is expected to focus on strengthening business strategy, expanding partnerships and driving growth across the company’s broadband and digital distribution ecosystem.
