Leo Burnett’s specialist design cell, which was set up six months ago, already has some big names in its kitty, including Coca-Cola, Heinz and Reliance. The cell, which operates under the Leo Burnett name, has strengthened the agency’s presence in the design and branding space. The design team comprises five designers led by Sachin Bavkar.  more...

Ravi Krishnan, former Managing Director at IMG South Asia, has joined the Indian Premier League (IPL) Jaipur franchise, owned by Emerging Media, as Vice Chairman. Krishnan has over a decade’s experience in sports marketing in India and Asia.  more...

The Hindi news space is slated to get a new addition with the proposed launch of a 24x7 Hindi news channel, KBC News, by Chandigarh-based production house Kohinoor Broadcasting Corporation. The channel is expected to go on air by May-June, 2008. Vickram Bahl, Editor-in-Chief of Delhi-based production house ITMN, has been roped in as consultant for the new channel.  more...

Turner Asia Pacific Ventures has got Government approval to invest Rs 85.01 crore in India over a two-year period. Kid Media India, a subsidiary of Dubai-based Spacetoon Media, has also received Government clearance to invest Rs 78 crore in India for its proposed kids cartoon channel.  more...

Amrita TV, which will be completing three years of operations in April 2008, has lined up a host of innovative and differentiated programmes as a build-up to its third anniversary celebrations.  more...

OMD India, which has just completed a year of operations, has won the media duties of financial player Motilal Oswal Group. No pitch process preceded the development. The incumbent on the business was MediaCom. The ad spends of the business is pegged upwards of Rs 10 crore.  more...

The latest TVC of Perfetti Van Melle’s Mentos takes the Darwinian theory of evolution of Man and gives it a minty twist. The animated format of the TVC gives it an interesting look. While O&M is the creative agency, the TVC is the brainchild of ECD Abhijit Avasthi and Creative Director Jignesh Maniar.  more...

‘Futures trading’ and ‘commodities exchange’ are terms that usually interest traders and not ad agencies. But this changed when MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd) decided to assign its creative duties to Lowe a year back. The commercial, which is already on air, simplifies ‘commodities exchange’ as a category and increases brand saliency for brand MCX.  more...

Our online marketing will, one hopes, some day graduate from the waste of over-dependence on massive overkill (and boredom for readers) to the economies of targeted messaging. We need to re-learn the truths of direct marketing as they are applicable to the Internet. Let us not have to re-invent the wheel.  more...

So you thought nothing could better the saas-bahu soaps and their ‘kitchen politics’? Wait till you see these 20-inch tall stars with spectacular black and white tails and huge round eyes. Animal P***t is premiering ‘Lemur Street’, a 20-part series on the lemurs of Madagascar, on February 18 at 9 pm. And this is no ordinary animal documentary.  more...

The mention of Alaska conjures up images of pristine mountains, unlimited wilderness and grizzly bears having a free run of the Kodiak Islands. Discovery Channel is premiering an eight-part series called ‘Into Alaska’ to explore this wild land. The weekly show, which goes on air from February 19, would be presented by Emmy Award winner Jeff Corwin.  more...

The Yahoo-Microsoft takeover drama has just become more interesting with media mogul Rupert Murdoch reportedly entering the fray to fend off the $31 per share Microsoft bid. Reports further suggest that the News Corporation Chairman is in talks about the possibility of merging his MySpace social networking site with Yahoo!  more...

Maruti Suzuki has rolled out its millionth Alto car in just seven years and five months of its launch. According to an internal Maruti report, Alto has been India’s largest selling car, every month, for the past 37 months.  more...

Ameer Ismail, President, LINOpinion, Advent & Lintertainment, holds that in the world of high clutter, high competition and technological parity, it is the idea, and the level of engagement and loyalty, that differentiates. Customised solutions rather than standard transactions will mark a key turning point. Measurement and accountability will be the buzzwords of tomorrow, he argues.  more...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Want to talk about massive display share? Forget Yahoo and Microsoft -- it's Yahoo and News Corp. that could shake up that world.  more...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Coming soon to Group M: Account teams led by search specialists?  more...