Showing posts with label Entertainment Franchise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entertainment Franchise. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Zapak to set up 300 gaming centres in India.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's gaming and entertainment arm, Zapak, expects to break-even this fiscal and plans to scale-up its gaming centres to 300 by June next, a top company official said.

"We are planning to set up 300 gaming cafes in across 50 cities in India. All the new cafes will be opened through the franchise route," Zapak's CFO Rohit Sharma told PTI.

Zapak, the country's largest online gaming portal, has 75 live cafes and has signed another 120 franchises last month, which would get operationalised in the next few months, Sharma said, without divulging investment details.

The gaming cafes would offer games of all genres like racing, shooting, cricket, counter strike, need for speed, crazy kart, flat out and many more.

"The gameplexes will have the latest technology and infrastructure besides providing world-class content for Indian gamers of all ages," Sharma said.

With the gaming industry growing at a pace of 30-40 per cent, Zapak is also likely to break-even this fiscal, he said.\

The company, which is also the largest distributor of gaming CDs, has 4,000 retail outlets. It also sells gaming merchandises like keyboards, consoles, headphones and other gaming accessories.

Recently, Zapak has launched two toys for Christmas--Zubber and Aquasand.

Zubber, a dough, can be used by kids to make various shapes. It comes in different colours and on mixing with a white-coloured activator, hardens into a rubber-like material.

Aquasand is a magic sand that never gets wet and can be used with accompanying moulds to create underwater sculptures using the squeezer bottles filled with Aquasand.

Within the next 2-3 years Zapak aims to expand its user base to 1.5 crore and create the biggest distribution network in the country.


source:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Sushmita Sens TEPL To Be India Franchisee For Miss Universe Pageant.

It’s a dream come true!”
The multi-talented diva-esque Sushmita Sen has always believed in wearing many hats and excelling in all that she undertakes. Be it winning the first Miss Universe crown for India, becoming a top-notch Bollywood actor, adopting a baby girl at the age of 24 or establishing a business house way ahead of most of her contemporaries, Sushmita has been a forerunner of sorts.

However, the Ex-Miss Universe’s heart was still pining to attain one particular thing: “I have always maintained that I am what I am because of Miss Universe, and I always wanted to take that association ahead in some way. Due to an array of reasons, it had remained a pipe dream till about 1 ½ months back, when Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organisation made a fateful call to me, asking if my company Tantra Entertainment Private Limited (TEPL) would like to become the India franchise owner for holding the preliminary to Miss Universe 2010, which also would entrust TEPL the responsibility of holding a national pageant to select Miss Universe India 2010? I have always believed that the universe conspires to give you what you really want, and that too all in good time. Well, I just had an exemplary revelation of the Universe’s way of working. What better an association could I have asked for?” smiles Sushmita, whose company has thus become the India franchise owner for holding the preliminary to Miss Universe 2010. Primarily into feature film production and distribution, TEPL has ventured into the pageant industry with this franchise and calling the national pageant.

Elaborating about this new business venture of hers, Sushmita says “We’ve launched a mother brand called ‘I AM’ – in keeping with my belief that every individual’s journey begins and blossoms forth from these two words, they’re what define you. This mother brand will work in several verticals, which will be disclosed in good time. However, to begin with, we’ve launched the vertical called ‘I AM She’, a refreshing new platform that will select the next Miss India Universe, who will represent India at the global Miss Universe® competition. ‘I AM She’ has found an able sponsor in the Alchemist group, a leading conglomerate in fields such as healthcare, real estate, F&B etc. We’ve also launched the CSR vertical called ‘I AM Foundation’ which will undertake several CSR initiatives, especially with the participation of the girls chosen as finalists for the Miss Universe India pageant. This year, we’ll be working closely with the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Bal Asha Trust, The Research Society and The ANI Foundation.”

Having bagged the franchise, Sushmita has set her sights firmly on having the best of Indian girls/women get a chance to represent the country on the prestigious platform. “I have been closely involved in the process of choosing the perfect girls, and by perfect I do not mean just physically perfect. We’re looking for girls who have a balanced body and mind, a strong set of values, confidence, and intelligence. More so, I want the participants to be highly people-oriented - they should be able to connect with all kinds of people in a genuine way. I’ve been very keen on inducing academically oriented and highly qualified girls in the pageant, because, I want to send out the message that participating in a beauty pageant does not demean your intelligence or stature – if at all, it helps you use your looks and personality for a larger good. Details regarding the pageant, which will be open for girls between 17-27 years of age, and will be held at the historical Jag Mandir in Udaipur on 27th February 2010, can be found on the website www.iam-she.com.”

Monday, December 7, 2009

Sachin Tendulkar ST all set to FRANCHISE Brand Sachin.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is the God of Cricket and with a billion Indian fans and many more around the world, the ‘god’ now wants to go the FRANCHISE route to spread the gospel. Want more energy from a chocolate bar? Buy Sachin Tendulkar’s. Want more glucose from that good ol’ biscuit? Try ‘god’s own brand’.

Want better running shoes that can make you perhaps even fly? Try Adidas’ God, err ST line. Want a better cover drive? Join one of his cricket nurseries that will spring up from Ahmedabad to Adelaide. Want a better orgasm? We don’t know if he can help, but what the heck, if KamaSutra can pay a premium, the Mumbai Bomber might just oblige.

India’s greatest sporting icon is making sure that before he hangs up his boots, Brand Tendulkar is a sustainable multi-million dollar cash cow. Says Venu Nair, president (South Asia), World Sport Group: “Sachin is planning a brand overhaul. We are working with him to chalk out a strategy to make sure that the sustainability curve of his brand doesn’t dip suddenly after he stops playing. We are betting on him for at least the next 10 years.”

Here’s the plan: A mnemonic (ST) has already been designed and can be seen on Tendulkar’s bat. This will slowly be extended to cricket academies, sporting goods, apparel, chocolates, health drinks, energy bars, coaching books and manuals among others. “We are planning four zonal ST branded cricket academies in the next 12 months with one each in Australia and England,” reveals Nair. “In the next five years, we expect the ST brand to be worth $75-100 million.” But wait, the stumps are not drawn yet.

Source:ET 6 Dec 2009, 1945 hrs IST, John Sarkar & Amit Sharma, ET Bureau