NEW DELHI: Zapak today claimed that over 3,50,000 gamers had so far registered and were playing Howzat in the Gillette Mach 3 India Gaming Championship, despite the craze for football thanks to FIFA 2010.

Right from its start, Gillette Mach 3 India Gaming Championship has managed to attract the eye balls of all cricket lovers in the country. Cricket is not merely a sport but a religion in India, enjoyed and consumed by us in all formats, be it live or even the internet in a form of game. It was claimed that around 3,66,366 persons had registered in just two weeks.

Howzat allows users to play and chat with their friends at the same time. This gripping game of skill allows the user to level up their character and customize their teams as well. One can access this game on http://igc10.zapak.com/mmog_games.php.

The 2009 version had 1.16 million participants. Gillette Mach 3 India Gaming Championship 2010 has expanded to 34 cities from the previous 8.

The Gillette Mach3 India Gaming Championship 2010 is based on the idea ?Be a winner, Change your World?. The lucky winners are entitled to receive prizes worth Rs. 15 million. To participate log on to www.igc10.com
 

MUMBAI: Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for some superb action, stunts and thrills this June as MAX, India?s No 1 Hindi Movie and Special Events channel brings to its viewers, ?Action Anna? ? a festival that will showcase the most popular South Indian action films dubbed in Hindi starting June 14 for 2 weeks at 8pm.

The ?Action Anna? festival will showcase action movies which enjoy great mass appeal with titles like Meri Jung: One Man Army, Don No. 1, Tezaab ? The Terror, International Khiladi ? The Iron Man, Dushmani ? The Target, Indra ? The Tiger, etc dubbed in Hindi. South Indian action films have proved to be quite popular amongst the viewers in the past and will continue to give the viewers MAXimum entertainment with its superb line-up.

To make viewing more interesting MAX has developed an animated character known as ?Action Anna?- representing a quintessential South Indian action hero!! The character will be innovatively used in ?Extraaa Shots? during the movies with his typical voiceovers and mannerisms.
 

MUMBAI: CNBC AWAAZ, India‘s No. 1 business channel, will honour ?India?s Most Preferred Brands? at the sixth edition of ?Consumer Awards 2010? to be held at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai on June 28, 2010. The theme of this year?s awards is aptly titled ?Made for India, Made by India and Made in India?, celebrating not only the popularity of India?s winning brands but also honoring the people who have dedicated themselves to make these brands admirable in the minds of the consumer.

CNBC AWAAZ, in association with India?s leading research organisation The Nielsen Company conducted a comprehensive research to arrive at a list of ?India?s Most Preferred Brands? perceived by the end consumer for each of the sub-categories covered in the study. The key objectives of the research were to arrive at a list of the ?Most Preferred Brands? as perceived by the end consumer for each of the sub-categories covered in the study and also identify the drivers that influence the selection of a particular brand in each sub-category.

The research was conducted amongst 4000 respondents across 20 major cities and markets within the age-group of 18 ? 45 years, both males and females belonging to SEC A, B & C households. A Random Sampling technique combined with an interview methodology (face-to-face interviews & questionnaire format) was adopted to conduct this research. Selected after such an exhaustive survey, the winners of these awards are thus the true and most credible reflection of the Indian consumers? today.

CNBC AWAAZ ?Consumer Awards 2010? will felicitate winning brands from the following categories: Financial Services, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Retail, Telecom and Automobile. This year, the channel has decided to introduce new categories of awards focusing on individuals behind the success of brands- ?Brand Marketer of the Year?, ?Media Agency of the Year? and ?Creative Agency of the Year?. These awards seek to acknowledge the stellar efforts of the teams behind these winning brands that have made a mark in the worlds most dynamic and sought after markets ? India.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Sanjay Pugalia, Editor-in-Chief, CNBC AWAAZ, said, ?India has evolved as world‘s most dynamic market with respect to the emerging trends in consumer behaviour and the advertising and marketing landscape. It is amazing to see the phenomenal growth in the number of brand categories and trends in the last six years. Consumer Awards thus have transcended from being just an event into a concrete initiative saluting the Indian brands and the people behind them that millions of Indians have chosen to buy, to try, to experience and to own.?

To add to the excitement, CNBC AWAAZ also announced a quiz competition which will test the viewer?s knowledge about brands. The contest winners stand an exclusive chance to win Apple Macbooks, Plasma TVs, iPods and more.

In addition, as a tribute to the men and women behind popular and successful brands, CNBC AWAAZ has created an exclusive property divided into four special episodes. The first episode will be a curtain raiser as an onset to Consumer Awards 2010. The second episode will discuss with CMOs, advertising agencies and media planners about their brands and their strategies to connect with their consumers. The third episode will feature the winners of Consumer Awards 2009 as guests and the final episode will bring to light the winners of Consumer Awards 2010.

MUMBAI: UTV Action has always been synonymous to high octane action, adventure, drama and thrill. Continuing the endeavor to bring in best of action to its audience, the channel would be associating with almost all the Hollywood action titles that releases in India. UTV Action?s motto is to make its audience in India experience the ?extreme? in them through various adrenaline-pumping activities.

Now viewers can look forward for the globally released content only with UTV Action, dishing out a series of pumped - up action titles starting with The Karate Kid and A-Team in the month of June 2010, followed by Knight & Day in July 2010 in India.

Along with the release of Karate Kid, UTV Action will run an exclusive UTV Action- Karate Kid contest on www.utvaction.in wherein the winner will be privileged with a membership package by Gold Gym?s. For all the kids there will be exclusive co-branded labels and timetables at the cinemas across PVR?s in India to bring in action and thrill to their new academic year.

UTV Action has aggressive plans to become the one-stop hub for any Hollywood action content customized for the Indian audience.

Sameer Ganapathy, UTV Action, Channel Head- ?This initiative is a part of UTV Action?s endeavor to take the best of Action movies releasing in India to its viewers. In the past, UTV Action has done a similar tie up with- Sony Pictures?- ?Legion? and Warner Brothers? ?Clash of the Titans?. Such initiatives help us reaching closer to our goal of establishing the channel as the ultimate destination of action. We hope that our patrons appreciate and enjoy viewing these wonderful action cinemas at their nearest theaters.?

MUMBAI: The ACSAC appointed in February, 2010 to formulate an awareness and communication strategy for the UIDAI presented its report ?AADHAAR ? Communicating to a Billion? to Mr. Nadan Nilekani, Chairman UIDAI and Mr. Ram Sevak Sharma, D.G., UIDAI.

Mr. Nilekani, Chairman, thanked the committee for the comprehensive report, stressing the point that this is the beginning of the journey and a lot of work will need to be done in the future to effectively communicate AADHAAR - ?AADHAAR is truly revolutionary as it confers mobility to the holder?. He also reiterated the UIDAI?s guarantee of enabling universal recognition of identification.

Mr. RS Sharma, Director General, commended the committee for delivering their report within the 90 days deadline and talked about the need to ensure that there are no misleading promises or rumours are not spread at a local level. ?For the weaker sections of society, the value of identity is very strong and a means to prove one?s identity will be an invaluable service.?

Mr. Nirmal Sinha, Deputy Director General, spoke about the need for the communication to be very visual in nature. ?Our communication has to be visual and simple, to help cut across the literate and illetrate sections of the society.?

Mr. Kiran Khalap, the chairman of the ACSAC, spoke about the need to route communications through the right channels and not relying too heavily on conventional media, especially in a county like India with a rich oral tradition. He added that interpersonal communication and the ?Word of Mouth? are strong means of communicating information. ACSAC member Mr. DK Bose said that Satellite television has brought huge behavioural changes and there has been a shift in how people receive and process information.
 

MUMBAI: Clea Public Relations (Clea PR), India?s leading PR agency, has bagged the PR mandate for IMN News, the soon to be launched English news channel which is currently known as News X. The mandate for Clea PR includes designing the channel?s new communication strategy, conceptualising communication and viewer engagement initiatives and handling corporate communications.

Speaking on the announcement, Mr Jehangir S. Pocha, Co-promoter, IMN News said, ?The impending launch IMN News makes it imperative for us to pursue an effective communication strategy. We chose Clea because they have the right mix of people, passion and enthusiasm to drive our strategy.?

Mr Vinod G. Nair, Managing Director, Clea PR, said, ?We are very excited to work with IMN News. The news channel space is by far the most dynamic and competitive genre in the broadcast media space, requiring relentless thinking, 24/7 innovation and out-of-the-box ideation. Such challenges are rare, and we at Clea PR are raring to change the rules and set new standards.?

IMN News is the new brand identity that the premier English news channel NewsX will soon assume. The new look of the channel will be unveiled soon, and be accompanied with a similarly redesigned website, IPTV service and mobile TV.