MUMBAI: Leading cricketers including Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Stafanie Taylor have united during the ICC World Twenty20 2010 to show their support for cricket?s global efforts to combat HIV.

A series of community activities have taken place during the tournament as part of the Think Wise partnership, between the ICC, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative, which aims to raise awareness of HIV and reduce stigma and discrimination.

Kumar Sangakkara visited a school in Barbados to deliver an HIV prevention session, the India and South Africa teams both hosted community groups and carried out cricket training sessions and Stafanie Taylor and Stacy-Ann King went to a teenage pregnancy project in St Kitts.

A Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS public service announcement campaign, featuring Taylor alongside other leading Caribbean celebrities, has also been played on the big screen at matches and by CBMP broadcasters across the region.

Tickets have been donated to local community groups who run HIV prevention programmes, umpires are wearing Think Wise logos on their shirts and players in the semi-finals and final will wear red ribbons as a show of support for people living with HIV.

Sangakkara spoke engagingly to a group of children and young people on Wednesday about education, life skills and the importance of talking about important issues to friends and family to help improve decision making.

?I think that Think Wise is very important given the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in cricket-playing countries. I can already see this partnership is working around the ICC?s signature tournaments, such as the ICC World Twenty20 and the Cricket World Cup,? said Sangakkara.

?Hopefully more players and umpires will join in with this project in the future so we can continue to spread the word,? he said.

Sangakkara believes his support as a Think Wise champion alongside other leading cricketers is important in engaging young people to think about HIV, encourage them to seek further information on the disease and protect themselves.

?As a cricketer you have to realise you are going to be an icon to lots of aspiring young players and you have to be an example and also go to places not just to tell young people what to do but also to talk to them about life, share ideas and awareness.

?I think young people need to be aware of the disease and they should be encouraged to talk to others without shame. Young people need to have people to talk to about life and that will help them make the correct choices and understand the responsibilities of living a healthy lifestyle,? said Sangakkara.

Graeme Smith, who is also a Think Wise champion, spoke to children in Barbados from several secondary schools that are enrolled in the Caribbean Healthy Lifestyle Project. This project is designed to teach adolescents about the benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle through sport. It also seeks to instill the value of maintaining a healthy lifestyle among Caribbean youth, while promoting peer leadership skills and social responsibility.

?As a Think Wise champion, I believe that it is very important to use my profile to encourage young people to protect themselves from HIV,? said Smith.

?By having the chance to meet young people from the region, I have been able to understand the important work that organisations such as UNAIDS and UNICEF, working with local agencies, do in providing young people with education on HIV in the Caribbean.

?Like back home in South Africa, where HIV remains a huge issue for my country, I am aware of the impact the disease has had on the Caribbean. I therefore think it is important that cricketers encourage young people to get the facts about HIV and protect themselves.?

West Indies women?s stars Stafanie Taylor and Stacy-Ann King visited Project Viola in St Kitts which aims to provide services and support to teen mothers in school while contributing to breaking the cycle of poverty, violence and abuse common to teen mothers and their children in the long-term. The project provides a number of support services to participants, including HIV prevention.

?It was a great experience to visit the project in St Kitts and see the important work that is done to help young people within the Caribbean develop life skills and protect themselves against HIV,? said Taylor.

?I believe that it is very important that more continues to be done to help young people within the region. Hopefully by being involved in the Think Wise campaign, particularly in the Caribbean, I can encourage young people to get the facts, get tested and protect themselves from HIV.

For more information on Think Wise please go to www.thinkwisecricket.com.

Public service announcements featuring leading players are available for download. Broadcast rushes and rights-free photographs are also available on request. Please contact chris.hurst@icc-cricket.com for more details.

MUMBAI: Brides of Allah, a film by Natalie Assouline chronicles the lives of women who are serving time in prison for involvement in terrorist attacks in Israel.

The documentary uncovers the motivations behind the actions of these women; share their daily lives, their religious ideologies, their pain when they talk about their husbands who abandoned them and how they taken charge within the prison structures. The documentary takes you to the world where a woman who has shamed her family has but one-way of redeeming herself.

Get to know about the discrimination and despair in the world these women come from and much more only on Brides of Allah on Saturday, May 8, 3:00 pm and Sunday, May 9 at 1:00 pm only on NDTV 24x7.

MUMBAI: Text 100, a leading global PR consultancy, has announced the promotion of Sunayna Malik to the role of Managing Director for India. While Sunayna will continue to serve as Managing Consultant of Text 100 Delhi, she will take over the additional mantle of leading and managing Text 100 India operations effective May 16, 2010. She will report into Rowan Benecke, Text 100 Regional Director for APAC.

?In her five years as Managing Consultant of Text 100 Delhi, Sunayna has grown and strengthened the Delhi business with a dynamic team of consultants who together have added several exciting consumer and technology brands to the agency?s portfolio,? said Rowan Benecke, Text 100 Regional Director for Asia Pacific. ?Since we began our operations here in 1996, Text 100 India has made dramatic progress and has cemented its position as one of the most respected PR consultancies in the country. We are confident of achieving new levels of excellence, performance and scale under Sunayna?s leadership.?

Sunayna is an industry veteran with over two decades of corporate communications and agency experience. Prior to joining Text 100, she led the corporate communications function at HCL Technologies, a leading global IT services company. In her capacity as Managing Director for Text 100 India, Sunayna will be responsible for the overall leadership, strategy and direction of the business in India.

?This is a huge responsibility?, said Sunayna Malik. ?During my corporate communications days, I was clear in my mind that if were to ever switch sides and join a PR Consultancy it had to be Text 100. I recognize the challenges that come with this new title, but am confident of discharging my duties with the support of my colleagues, who are some of the brightest minds in the industry.?

To continue its focus on client and account management in India, Text 100 has created a new India Leadership Team structure. These appointments and promotions include:

Nibha Bhandari Vyas ? promoted to Deputy Managing Consultant for Text 100 Delhi to oversee the consulting teams and key accounts on a daily basis. She will continue to report into Sunayna.
Suchita Ullal - appointed Managing Consultant Text 100 Bangalore and Chennai, following her appointment earlier this year and successfully leading key client and account teams.
Text 100 Mumbai will continue to be co-managed by Ashish Arora and Ketan Jain.
Amit Chaudhery, current Managing Director of Text 100 India, will leave the agency to pursue new opportunities. ?We truly appreciate Amit?s contributions in India during the past year in strengthening several key client relationships and supporting the business through a very challenging time. He has led the operations professionally and dedicatedly, and we wish him success in his new endeavors?, said Rowan.
 

MUMBAI: Lay‘s, world‘s No. 1 and India‘s favourite potato chips brand from the stable of Frito-Lay India, is all set to provide some new lip smacking tastes to its consumers. The four shortlisted flavours from a whopping 1.3 million ideas came from four consumers, each of whom gets Rs 5 lakh for their dillogically crisp ideas. Cheesy Mexicana, Tangy Twist, Mastana Mango and Hip Hop Honey & Chilly are the coveted four flavour ideas from a three-month long Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour (GUYDF) campaign.

The four flavours will be piloted in the market across India for the next two months with the theme bachega sirf tastiest (survival of the tastiest). The flavour that elicits the maximum consumer votes will not only continue to stay in the market as the mega winner, but its ideator would be awarded a grand prize of Rs 50 lakh and 1% of sales revenue.

Copy Writer, Mansi Jain (freelancer with BBC World Service Foundation) bagged the prize from Delhi for her innovative Cheesy Mexicana, while Dr. Shipra Samanta‘s Tangy Twist from Ujjain made a smooth entry. Mumbai‘s tech whizkid Sagar Devruhkar came up with Mastana Mango flavor while banker Shouvik Mukherjee of Kolkata thought of Hip Hop Honey & Chilly. The four winners were selected by an elite panel of judges. The selection of four best flavour was based on flavour practicality, best slogan entry and flavour that fits well with Lay‘s brand.
"The overwhelming response to the unique Give Us Your Delicious Flavor campaign has enthused us. It not only is a reaffirmation of consumers‘ growing faith in Frito-Lay but also an endorsement of the popularity of Lay‘s potato chips. It is this faith that has driven us to constantly innovate ahead of the curve. Using this historic consumer engagement program we wish to take in to account our consumers‘ tastes to create new products. I congratulate the four shortlisted candidates and urge consumers to taste and vote and make their favourite flavour stay" said Ms Deepika Warrier, Director Marketing, PepsiCo India (Frito-Lay India division).

All four flavours are exceptionally dillicious. I am excited to know which blockbuster flavour finally gets the maximum consumer attention," said Saif Ali Khan, popular Bollywood actor & Lay‘s brand ambassador at the launch.

Commenting on the launch occasion, Dr T.S.R Murali, Director, R&D Food and Beverages, Pepsico India said: "Judging four out of 1.3 million entries is a colossal task but it doesn‘t remain so when 1.3 million entries turn out to be as surprising. It is now for the consumers to decide what they like the most out of the four selected ones."

The launch of the four flavours will be supported by a 360 degree communication campaign tagged as "bachega sirf tastiest" on TV, radio , print, digital, outdoor and cinema. Every hour a consumer gets a chance to win an iPOD. The lucky voter will be selected randomly through a digitized process of selection and disbursement. The consumers can submit their votes through sms on 9880298802, on website www.yourlaysflavour.com, email: entry@laysflavour.com or call at 1800 209 8802.

MUMBAI: Keeping with the spirit of celebrating every major festival and event, COLORS the channel known for its unique offering in both fiction and nonfiction genres, will be airing a special programme called ‘Maa Tujhe Pranaam‘ to celebrate World Mothers‘ Day, in tribute to the hand that rocks the cradle. This show is yet another step in the channel‘s endeavor to help viewers rejoice a special day. Clinic Plus presents ?Maa Tujhe Pranaam‘ will air this Sunday 9 May at 8 PM only on COLORS.

?Maa Tujhe Pranaam‘ will see members from the COLORS family gathering on this special day to celebrate the spirit of motherhood through lots of eventful performances and various emotional song and dance sequences. Nani, Gunwanti, Divya Thakur, Damini, Rani Maa, Sunanda will be seen greeted and loved by their adorable kids Veer, Vansh, Ichcha, Yashwardhan and Amoli.

In one of the acts we will see Jagya plan a special surprise for Dadisa while Bhairon and Basant will share some emotional moments with her. We will also see the daughter of the family Sugana singing Mai ni Mai to her mother and thanking her for the love she has showered on the kids. We will also see Sumitra singing to Jagya and Anandi and expressing her love for her them. Apart from this we will see some spectacular performances by our very own Anandi, Raghav and Sia, Shiv and Gangaa, and a special retro dance performance by Surbhi, Vimlesh, Poonam, Shyam, Ronnie and Amoli.

Join us on this special occasion to celebrate the presence of the biggest driving force in our lives and bring in a little cheer by tuning to ?Maa Tujhe Pranaam‘ on Mothers‘ Day this Sunday 9 May, 2010 at 8 PM only on COLORS.
 

MUMBAI: Micromax Informatics Ltd. is one of the leading Indian Telecom Companies with a futuristic vision. Currently present in more than 40,000 stores across the country, the brand Micromax mobile has created a niche for itself in the telecommunication & handset industry, reaching the number 4 position today, in a span of 2 years.

?Housefull? a blockbuster film produced by Sajid Nadiadwala under the banner Nadiadwala Grandsons Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., having produced some of the biggest, box-office releases such as Hey Baby, Judwaa, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Kambakth Ishq etc.

Sajid Nadiadwala, known for his larger than life, Mega Star led, mass appeal films has produced his next ? Housefull which is a star studded laugh riot targeted at the youth & one of the biggest films to hit the box-office this summer. The ensemble cast has A grade stars such as Akshay, Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal, Ritesh Deshmukh & Jiah Khan. Directed by Sajid Khan.

Micromax Mobile launched their new handset, the X235 recently & as an innovative marketing initiative, created a tie-up with the film ?Housefull?.

Talk about Innovation - The phone has a unique Universal Remote feature which enables you to control your house gadgets with a flick of your wrist. With an Infrared Transceiver on the phone which can control your AC, DVD player and TV in addition to other features like Camera, Music player, Video player, FM Radio and Dual SIM, this is a unique product.

A slick co-branded Promo, running across TV channels currently, communicates the brand message in a witty & stylized manner. The creative synergises brand & film with the key thought - To find a good wife is sheer luck...but anyone can have a good Mobile and control gadgets - with the new Micromax X235!

Mr Pratik Seal, Head-Marketing for Micromax India, says ?This film was a perfect fit to promote our newly-launched product, the X-235. It allowed us to target our core TG, the youth, through a unique entertainment platform, creating noise & thus breaking the clutter. Such innovations enable us to reaffirm the celebrity association

Mr Sajid Nadiadwala, MD of Nadiadwala Grandsons Entertainment says ?We at Nadiadwala Grandson have been successful in our commitment to connecting with our audiences through our films. That‘s why the best of corporates too have benefited by associating their brands with our movies. We are happy that the Micromax-Housefull tie-up has been noticed in a big way. It was indeed a great creative connect and as Housefull continues to create history at the box-office, the Micromax campaign will also be spoken, seen and talked-about, in the same breath?

Developed & executed by Blue Bang Media & Entertainment Pvt.Ltd., a specialist branded entertainment & movie marketing company with a focus on brand activations, media planning & buying, film marketing, content syndication & alliances. Blue Bang has a strong network of key clients across the entertainment & corporate sector and has notched up several successful projects, having executed brand alliances & media buying with Studios/Producers such as TIPS, Eros, Moser Baer, Reliance Big Pictures, Yash Raj & others.

Sharda Ratnam, VP Branded Content & Business Development, says ?The co-branded alliance between Micromax & Housefull synergises the core brand promise of ?Control 3 things? in a very humorous context by linking it to Akshay?s situation in the film. The tieup provided the brand a wider reach & connect for their consumers by aligning with a high-impact film.?