PepsiCo India celebrates Diwali with children at CRY this time

PepsiCo, the Global Food and Beverage Company, committed to delivering experiences that are ‘fun for you’, ‘good for you’ and ‘better for you’, has launched a wide range of 19 exciting festive packs to celebrate the occasion of Diwali. The festive packs comprise of an assortment of popular soft drink brands – Pepsi, 7UP, Mirinda and Mountain Dew along with Tropicana juice and juice based drink Slice.

Ms. Punita Lal, Executive Director, Marketing, PepsiCo India says, “The festival time is the perfect occasion for gifting your near and dear ones with something special and our festive Diwali packs have been created specially to suit this purpose. To make this Diwali exciting and fun filled, the packaging is designed in such a way that one can make it into a “Kandeel” or use it as a stencil for creating attractive Rangoli patterns”.

“At PepsiCo, our aim is always to fulfill the needs of our consumers and connect with them through fun filled experiences. The launch of the assorted festive packs form a great way to celebrate the festival of lights with them”, she adds.

The festive packs are available in various shapes and sizes and come at attractive prices. The price range of these gift packs is between Rs 60 to Rs 360. While the two attractive ‘Kandeel’ gift packs are priced at Rs 130 and Rs 150, the rich festive gift packs costs Rs 80 and Rs 120.

In its endeavor to make this Diwali a very special one, PepsiCo India plans to celebrate the festival this year with CRY (Children Rights and You). This is an initiative by the company to share a smile with the children at CRY and make their Diwali an exciting one.

Under this initiative, PepsiCo India will be conducting an internal contest for the employees wherein they will have to sell PepsiCo gift packs to their family members, friends and associates. Rs. 2/- from every gift pack sold will be then contributed to CRY as a part of their Diwali celebration. Source : Infomailers

HP launches Retail Photo Solutions

Hewlett-Packard, today unveiled its strategy to revolutionize the digital photography market by announcing its entry into the retail photo printing market with the launch of HP Retail Photo Solutions. The company has also announced the much awaited launch of the world’s No.1 consumer online photo service – HP Snapfish customized specially for the Indian market.

Mr V. Krishnan, GM – Consumer Sales, Imaging & Printing Group (IPG), HP India Sales Pvt. Ltd. says, “This announcement brings HP closer to realizing our vision for creating an all-digital photography marketplace. We are very excited about the HP Revolution that will take digital photography to the next level. By establishing a footprint of 3000 Retail Photo outlets with HP Retail Photo Solutions by 2010 and photo delivery through Snapfish across India we hope to change the dynamics of the Photo printing market. We are positive that consumers will enjoy the new photo printing experience.”

Snapfish will offer consumers free online photo sharing, unlimited online photo storage and professionally developed digital camera prints for as low as Rs.2.95 only (4x6 size). Additionally, new customers will receive 20 free prints when they become a Snapfish member with no obligations.

The HP Retail Photo Solutions will offer end-to-end digital photography printing services with high quality HP photos that will last 5 times longer than traditional photos . Consumers can also enjoy printing photo based gifts with their favourite photos on key chains, mugs, T-shirts, mouse pads, photo greeting cards, posters, calendars and coasters at the HP Retail Photo Outlet or can place an order on the HP Snapfish website. The HP Retail Photo Solution will allow consumers to print on various substrates such as art paper, canvas and can also print instant photo albums.

HP will be working with retail partners to roll out HP Retail Photo Solutions in a wide variety of locations such as supermarkets, photo specialty stores, electronics stores, office product stores and traditional photo service stores. The brand identity of the HP Retail Solution will be a Multi-Colour Swirl with the punch line ‘Celebrate Life with HP Photos’.

Mr V Narayanan, Director –Retail Photo Solutions, IPG, Hewlett Packard APJ, says, “With the announcement of HP Retail Photo Solutions in India, we hope to provide a profitable business proposition for the retailers by driving down costs and offering their customers more choice, improved flexibility, better quality and price”.

The HP Retail Photo Solutions will comprise of the HP Photosmart Studio and HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab Printer. The HP Photosmart Studio is for high-volume printing of photos and creative projects such as posters, albums, calendars, and greeting cards in as little as an hour. The HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab is for high-speed 4 x 6-inch printing.

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $100.5 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2007.

VODAFONE

Vodafone, the world’s leading international mobile communications company, has fully arrived in India. Vodafone Essar announced today that the Vodafone brand will be launched in India from 21st September onwards.

The popular and endearing brand, Hutch, will be transitioned to Vodafone across India. This marks a significant chapter in the evolution of Vodafone as a dynamic and ever-growing brand. The brand change over the next few weeks will be unveiled nationally through a high profile campaign covering all important media.

Vodafone, the world’s leading mobile telecommunication company, completed the acquisition of Hutchison Essar in May 2007 and the company was formally renamed Vodafone Essar in July 2007.

Asim Ghosh, Managing Director, Vodafone Essar, said “We’ve had a great innings as Hutch in India and today marks a new beginning for us. Not as a departure from the fundamentals that created Hutch, but an acceleration into the future with Vodafone’s global expertise.”

Harit Nagpal, Marketing and New Business Director, Vodafone Essar, said, “This transition is probably the largest brand change ever undertaken in this country and arguably as big as any in the world. It is even larger than our own previous brand transitions as it touches over 35 million customers, across 400,000 shops and thousands of our own and our business associates’ employees.”

The Vodafone mission is to be the communications leader in an increasingly connected world – enriching customers’ lives, helping individuals, businesses and communities be more connected by delivering their total communication needs.

Vodafone’s logo is a true representation of that belief - The start of a new conversation, a trigger, a catalyst, a mark of true pioneering.

About Vodafone Essar Limited

Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc and commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular licence for Mumbai. Vodafone Essar now has operations in 16 circles covering 86% of India’s mobile customer base, with over 34.1 million customers*.

Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the ‘Most Respected Telecom Company’, the ‘Best Mobile Service in the country’ and the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year’.

Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile communications company. It now has operations in 25 countries across 5 continents and 40 partner networks with over 200 million customers worldwide. Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as its principal joint venture partner for the Indian market.

The Essar Group is one of India’s largest corporate houses with interests spanning the manufacturing and service sectors like Steel, Oil & Gas, Power, Telecom & BPO, Shipping & Logistics and Engineering & Constructions. The Group has an asset base of over Rs.200 billion (US$ 4.9 billion) and employs over 4000 people.

*Figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, August 31, 2007