Brand Parle G dominates the volume-dominated biscuit market. Even in today’s times when multinationals are beefing up their operations and trying to change the dynamics of the market, Parle G’s numero uno position is unchallenged. Its competitors have roped in superstars like King Khan and Sachin Tendulkar, but Parle G has only gone from strength to strength.

One of the most credible journalists in the television news space, Rajdeep Sardesai is the brain behind CNN-IBN, the six-month-old contender in the English news channel space that has already created a lot of buzz. A national and international award winner and the recipient of the ‘News Anchor of the Year’ award for the past three years running, Sardesai is the editor-in-chief and one of the promoters of the channel.

Though the Finnish Nokia dwarfs the domestic mobile mart with close to 80 percent of the market share, competitors like Sony Ericsson aren’t throwing up their hands in distress. The premium player, with less than five percent of the domestic market pie, for instance, has launched some new models to tempt the large entry-level market. General manager Sudhin Mathur details Sony Ericsson’s plans.

Nobody could have imagined that leather crafting that started as a leisure pursuit almost 18 years back by a Professor of International Affairs in Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, would one day become one of the few Indian brands that have become internationally famous. Hidesign has not only found its foothold in major global retail houses like HideHouse of Fraser, John Lewis, Magasin Du Nord, Selfridges but also boasts of 33 exclusive outlets around the world, which grossed an annual turnover of Rs 83 crore in sales in 2005.

What is common among media powerhouses like Star group, Times group, Jagran group and international outdoor specialists such as JC Decaux, Posterscope, Kinetic, Portland, Clear Channel etc? The answer lies in their recent bullishness about the Rs 870-crore domestic out-of-home (OOH) advertising market.

The World Cup Soccer frenzy has caught the attention of all and sundry. While the official sponsors are hogging the headlines with their big promotional deals and offers, their rivals in the same domains are doing their bit of ‘ambush marketing’. Adidas, Budweiser, Avaya, Coca-Cola, Continental, Deutsche Telekom, Emirates Airlines, Yahoo, Fuji Film, Gillette, Hyundai, MasterCard International, McDonald’s, Philips and Toshiba are the official partners for the mega event.

Ever since the British initiated us to tea-drinking habit, the beverage has been a favourite with almost every one of us. Ek cutting chai is what we want every morning. However, a very low per capita consumption, just 0.83 kg per annum, does not speak well of our fondness for the drink. Second only to water in terms of share of throat, tea is definitely more than a beverage to many of us.

It’s high time that media planners come out of their traditional cocoons of spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations and follow what Jack Klues advocated—get beyond planning and be tomorrow’s communication architects