Mumbai: At the recently concluded Rx Club Awards held in New York, Sorento Healthcare Communications, India?s leading advertising agency in the healthcare space won a Gold for its campaign ?Eternal Bonds? for Abbott Healthcare making it the only agency from India to win a Gold this year at this distinguished award festival.

Talking about this achievement, Dinesh Ghosalkar, Creative Director ? Sorento Healthcare Communications who was also a member of the Grand Jury at this year?s Globals Awards said, ?Sorento truly believes that healthcare communication today needs a shot of uncommonness. It needs an unhealthcare-ish approach, in crafting communication for its brands. The grammar for the category and the visual language need to be relevant, yes, but as refreshing as a hot shower. And that?s the only way to take the bar higher and higher. And once you understand that, live and breathe it, great ideas happen, Awards follow, Brands work, clients get delighted and everything clicks.?

Within just 8 years, Sorento has made a mark at Cannes, Clios, Globals, Rx Club, not to mention the Indian award shows like Abby and Big Bang. At this ?house of uncommons? inhabited by over 80 people, building brands with away-from-the-ordinary solutions has become a regular affair. Its second Gold this year, the agency also bagged a Gold at the Big Bang Awards, Bengaluru, for its idea ?Pressure Cooker? which was done for the brand Seacod, an ?uncommon? feat for a healthcare communication agency from India.

MUMBAI: After enthralling audiences and marketers alike for five seasons, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited?s BIG MAGIC ? the No.1 regional general entertainment channel from the Hindi speaking heartland of Central India is all set to launch BIG Memsaab Season 6. Amplifying the reach of the show through partners from varied sectors, BIG MAGIC continues its endeavour of presenting housewives in Central India ? with focus on Uttar Pradesh this season ? with a unique platform allowing them to showcase their skills and talents by bringing their personalities to the limelight. Auditions are currently on across 8 cities in Uttar Pradesh, the city finalists from which will battle it out to win the title of BIG Memsaab. The show airs every Monday to Sunday at 2.30pm with repeats at 6.30pm on BIG MAGIC.

Auditions for the selection of BIG Memsaab?s finalists are currently in progress and are being conducted across 8 cities in Uttar Pradesh which include Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Aligarh and Faizabad. The show is being led by popular television actress Parul Chauhan and Reliance Broadcast Network Limited?s Network Culinary Head and renowned Chef Rakesh Sethi, along with Bhojpuri actor Priyesh Sinha. In its sixth season, and with popularity at its peak, BIG Memsaab Season 6 has witnessed engagement from multiple partners which include title sponsor Parle-G., powered by sponsor Colgate, associate sponsors Hari Darshan Agarbatti and Catch Salt and Spices, food sponsor Radikal, kitchen partner Philips, and vertical partner Velociteazy.

Speaking about the associations, a channel spokesperson said, ?For BIG Memsaab Season 6, we have designed an intensive marketing campaign owing to which the show will be heavily promoted through not only print initiatives, but also through OOH, on-ground activations and digital strategies. By utilizing RBNL?s multiple media platforms for the promotional strategies, marketers will be able to reach out to a larger audience which will allow them to garner further visibility for their respective brands.?

BIG Memsaab follows a rigorous selection format as it aims to showcase the hidden talents, skills and personalities of housewives from Central India. The show airs every Monday to Sunday at 2.30pm with repeats at 6.30pm only on BIG MAGIC.

MUMBAI: Winning a Gold medal for the iPad App, Silver medal for the Best Social Media Strategy and Bronze medal for the Best News Website in Asia NEW DELHI: NDTV bagged three prestigious medals at the Asian Digital Media Awards held in Kuala Lampur recently. India?s leading broadcaster won Gold for its iPad App, Silver medal for the Best Social Media Strategy and Bronze medal for the Best News Website in Asia ( www.ndtv.com).

Held by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the Asian Digital Media Awards celebrate the work of news designers, journalists and infographics experts from all across the continent.

Elated with the win, Vikram Chandra, Group CEO, NDTV said, ?Creation of world class apps across genres - News, Sports, Food etc and platforms - iOS, Android, Windows - is an increasingly important part of NDTV?s overall strategy. The recognition by the most important digital awards in Asia helps us feel that we are on the right track.?

More than 50 media companies from 16 countries across Asia and the Middle East participated in this competition.

MUMBAI: Amrita TV?s Saranapadham is a quest for spiritual salvation to Sabarimala, along a sacred path never traversed before, covering the history of the temple from the first installation of the presiding deity, traveling through centuries in time with the Pandalam royal family, Manikantan, Vavar and delving into the legends and lore, faiths and beliefs, rites and rituals related to the most famous Sastha temple in the world.

Complementing the religious fervor of the faithful during the Mandalalm pilgrimage period, Saranapadham beads together historical details, practical information, Ayyappa devotional songs, Sastha temple travelogues into a rosary of facts which will be telecast every weekday at 5 pm in the evening till Makravilakku on January 13th on Amrita TV.

The episodes go back to the mythological belief that the Sastha prathishta was done by none other than Parasurama in Mathangamala, as one of the five ?panchashastha? temples erected by the sage 5000 years ago, making it one of the earliest constructed temples in the country; narrates the exploits of the dacoit Udayanan and his horde of desperados who destroyed the shrine and shattered the idol, the Pandalam dynasty who adopted it as their guardian deity, the era of Manikantan or Ayyappa who unified the Vaishnavities and Shaivities, his inseparable companion Bavar who crossed the ocean in an Urus from Arabia, Veluthachen, instrumental in enrolling Manikantan in Kalari to master martial arts and the defeat of Udayanan by Manikantan and his friends, the punaprathista of the idol and so on.

On an informative plane, Saranapadham captures the amazing experiences of staunch Ayyappa believers, Guruswamys who have completed a century of pilgrimages to Sabarimala, near death accounts where faith alone saved the lives of devotees, narrow escapes from tigers on the prowl in the dense undergrowth, early films on Swami Ayyappa and accounts of the risks undertaken by the crew who braved thorns and stones to shoot the film on location decades ago; entertains with songs from the Ayyappa devotional albums of MG Sreekumar, Sharreth, Madhu Balakrishnan ; gives practical informationon the traditional trek routes to the shrine via Erumeli, Vandiperiyar and Chalakayam, the geographical remoteness of the temple nestling in the middle of 18 mountains surrounded by dense forest, the stopovers enroute to the sanctum, the importance of the sacred Pampa, spiritual discipline required for the vritham, Lord Ayyappa as a symbol of secularism and religious amity etc.

Body and mind cleansed by 41 days of severe austerities, while the black clad Guruswamys trek up the steep inclines of Sabarimala toward spiritual realization, Saranapadham acts as a metaphorical journey inwards, to an affirmation of one?s own belief in the Eternal.

MUMBAI: MEC recently orchestrated a Twitter-based engagement to bring alive Citibank?s ?Dil V/s Bill? no-extra-cost EMI campaign.

Citibank became the first advertiser in India to use skyvertising, in conjunction with social media to boost its festive campaign season.Differently shaped Helium clouds were released into the sky at two prominent malls in Delhi and Mumbai in exchange for tweets from customers during the Diwali weekend.

The twitter fuelled activity coined as "Tweet a cloud, Dil Se" was aimed at gauging peoples? sentiment on how they would like to splurge during the festive season. MEC took on the Twitter platform to trigger a high decibel consumer interaction for "Tweet a cloud, Dil Se". To ensure engagement and participation, ?skyvertising? was used, which meant differently shaped clouds made of helium was released into the sky.

The clouds were powered by consumer tweets using the hashtag #Dilvsbill. Mall goers were instantly drawn to tweet with the hashtag #dilvsbill, for more clouds. Heart-shaped clouds were the most requested, lingering in the air for several hours. Radio, facebook and live streaming on the net were used as means to amplify the event to a larger set of audience The campaign was aimed at promoting Citibank?s EMI offering on credit cards, which was an effective proposition for consumers who struggled between the choices of purchasing to their heart?s desire vis-?-vis their affordability.

"Tweet a cloud, Dil Se" campaign was acknowledged as a sterling success given that #dilvsbill hashtag was trending on Twitter for over 53 hours continuously. The campaign posts on Citibank India?s Facebook page reaching out to more than 4.1 million users.With this campaign, EMI sales on Citibank India credit cards for the festive season this year more than doubled that of last year?s festive period.

MEC India MD T Gangadhar said, "We are very proud of this integrated innovation. Not only did this bring to life to consumers? tweets outside Twitter, it also served as an interesting way to measure shopping sentiment leading up to Diwali."

Citibank India CMO Sanjeev Kapur said, "Citibank offered EMIs at no extra cost at over 500 merchant outlets, enabling customers to make big-ticket purchases during the festive season. We adopted new-age mediums like Skyvertsing, Twitter and Facebook to create excitement amongst the upwardly mobile and socially networked consumers. This campaign was conceptualized & crafted taking into account the straddling of consumer journeys across online and offline spaces".

Mumbai: AppsDaily Solutions Private Limited, market leaders in the retail space for mobile applications recently underwent an exercise of ?brand refresh? to infuse a dose of fresh energy into its products and brand. The firm was earlier known as Onward Mobility Solutions Private Limited.

"Our business approach has always been to constantly revitalize our offerings to meet the existing demands and anticipate the future needs and cater to the same through innovative products and be a category creator. It is only natural that our brand personifies that change, vibrancy and evolution", says CEO AppsDaily Arun Menon. "At AppsDaily we?ve grown leaps and bounds in terms of understanding, creating market and categories and converting this into results with a presence across 60 cities pan India. Our endeavor is to have more than 1,50,000 retail outlets to reach out to a larger customer base".

AppsDaily is a category creator and has been engaged in providing end to end solutions to its customers through constant innovations borne out of the distinctive and precise knowledge of the markets and its target groups. The need was to create a strong brand that seamlessly connects with the common man, builds high brand recall for the organization by demystifying technology & break down the barrier its creates in the minds of the consumer.

"The new brand, ?AppsDaily? has strong category affinity & relevance, using the colour red which has a clear leadership appeal. We have notonly launched a new brand but also used this opportunity to completely update the product portfolio. We have introduced complete new premium, international packaging & used this aperture for repositioning of the business"said Mr. Peshwa Acharya, Chief Marketing Officer AppsDaily Solutions Private Limited.

Products from AppsDaily include Daily Cop, Daily Copy, Daily Protect , Daily Secret, Daily C2 and Daily Record that help people back up their contacts on a secure cloud server, lock data such as messages, pictures and folders on their phones from public viewing, track stolen mobile phones and block unwanted callers according to user?s