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Rate '‘It takes 30 years of hard work to be an overnight success’ - Raman Roy - Founding Member - Indian Angel Network'

Cleartrip Launches Cleartrip For Business - Diversification In Tough Times?

Cleartrip.com has launched a new website their corporate travel customers in Cleartripforbusiness.com which is sort of a travel planner cum booking engine which is targetted to help corporates cut costs.
It allows corporates to book their domestic and International air tickets, hotels and Rail tickets and gives discounts of 5% on hotel bookings and 10% on all airline bookings. It also offers corporates to have deposit accounts which are updated/ deducted when a booking on the account is made.

The best feature of the product is the ability for corporates to monitor their employees travel schedule via an online calendar complete with times and dates. It also supports the iCalendar standard which is supported by Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and many others. Currently the site is in private beta and only limited to a few corporates

Cleartrip bullish on revenue’s from this product
"We are expecting a 25% of business from the CleartripforBusiness product. We have 20 corporate houses already using the product and we will be focusing on SMEs amongst Tier I &II markets who will find this tool most beneficial'', said Stuart Crighton, Cleartrip's Founder and CEO.

Diversification and value beyond booking a need of the hour?

As everyone knows these are tough times in travel. And this product comes as a much needed diversification for cleartrip. Business travel and travel management of employees is one of the most non automated things in even some large enterprises. Infact they have their travel agents and much of this happens via phone calls in most SMB’s and even in some big companies.

This product to me is a move into the corporate travel management space. Almost like a software as a service offering for travel booking and management in corporates. Obviously this isn’t a paid product and revenue model is still on bookings of travel but maybe just maybe if the product features are scaled up and there is enough traction for the product from the corporate end then this could end up being a software as a service model for Cleartrip and if they haven’t yet thought about it then Im think they should.

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

WATBlog Update There are 4 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

Here are the WATBlog email updates for watblogna@gmail.com

WATBlog Wednesday On Video.. Check it Out!
WATBlog Wednesday Rocked! Check Out Pictures! Video to Follow Soon..
Google Lively To Die In December - R.I.P To The Worst Google Product
Airtel Plays Big Bad Operator - Blocks Mytoday’s Service
More Recent Articles
Search WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India

There are 4 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

WATBlog Wednesday On Video.. Check it Out!

Well besides for the pictures we have video footage for you as well of the event and of people who spoke about WATBlog Wednesday and about the Digital Advertising Industry as the Mixer was around Media, Marketing and Advertising.

Check out the video below:

One can also watch the video on facebook.

Do let us know what you think about WATBlog Wednesday and what are the other themes you would like a mixer to be held on!

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WATBlog Wednesday Rocked! Check Out Pictures! Video to Follow Soon..

The first WATBlog Wednesday had an amazing turn out of 100+ people (exactly the number we had budgeted for :)) and there were people there till the wee hours of today morning. There was a singing session as well in the middle. A Big Thank You to those who attended and for those who missed out..

Check out the pictures below:

The Adchakra Gang

The NetworkPlay Gang

Ex and Current WATBloggers

Rajeev from Burrp and Satish from Active Media Tech

The Tyroo and Quasar Gang

Dinker from Jivox and Sudhir Syal from Economic Times

Unny from Maxus Global and Me i.e. Rajiv Dingra from WATBlog.com

For More pictures Check out our album on Facebook.

We shot a video of the event as well and spoke to some advertising and marketing guys on the slowdown and how to combat it. As I blog this the video is uploading on Youtube so expect it soon!

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Google Lively To Die In December - R.I.P To The Worst Google Product

Google Lively the 3D avatar and chat room based product launched in early july by Google was a bad omen from the time it was born. Born in an era of secondlife where users were used to a virtual world habitat that are high on detail and even higher on user experience this half baked virtual world cum social networking play by google couldnt stand a chance. And Google has accepted this fact and plans to shut down lively by end of this year.

Articles like these which measured what people spoke on the Lively launch give an indication of the widespread disappointment with the Google Lively. Also check this one by Duncan Riley (a regular blogger on techcrunch) where he reports that Lively failed to impress.

All in all Lively was a half baked product which did not appeal to the early adoptors of the online virtual world scene who were already hooked on to secondlife and probably expected something bigger and better from google.

Infact at a recent meetup one of the virtual world evangelists termed google lively as the biggest piece of crap he had seen google dish out! Well well all we can say is long live google and R.I.P lively probably the worst google product ever! Or wait is the worst yet to come from google?

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Airtel Plays Big Bad Operator - Blocks Mytoday’s Service

Well it had to happen sooner or later given that telecom operators are known to play big daddy with services they dont like.

In this case Rajesh Jain has come out in the open about a issue with Airtel wherein Airtel has blocked Mytoday’s sms services on the grounds of the National Do-Not-Call (NDNC) rules.

So basically Airtel is asking Rajesh to go through 3.7 lakhs subscribers of Mytoday and remove the ones who are registered with the NDNC or.. Take a written approval by all those people saying that they would like to opt in to mytoday’s alerts.

According to Rajesh’s blog post the number of do not disturb users is about 10% of the 3.7 million users which is around 3 lakh! Now any normal person will tell you doing either of the above options isn’t a possibility for Mytoday.

So in essence the issue is at a deadlock as the only other option that Mytoday has is to go to TRAI and ask them to butt in and solve the issue. Unfortunately for Mytoday TRAI has stated that this is an operator and service provider issue in short sort the matter among yourself. Rajesh has also made a presentation on the difference between NDNC and Optin.

All in all this isn’t only a bad sign for MYtoday its a sign of the things to come for VAS players in the future. It well and truly seems that the big boys of the telecom world are here to play hard ball the hard way when it comes to revenue. After all an ad revenue on Mytoday wont be shared with telecom operators and suppose telecom operators start a similar service tomorrow by tying up with a news channel or content providers its highly likely that they would block services that are competition. This could be for anything ranging from local search on mobile thats been launched recently to even video on mobile.

After all the operator does get the fact that VAS will be a big revenue driver for the telecom space tomorrow and it makes sense for them to have an upper hand on the content providers to keep their interest intact.

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

WATBlog Update "Zoomtra Launches Blogging Platform for Travellers - A Review" from "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

Here are the WATBlog email updates for watblogna@gmail.com

"Zoomtra Launches Blogging Platform for Travellers - A Review" from "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

Zoomtra Launches Blogging Platform for Travellers - A Review

Zoomtra.com the travel meta search engine by SITG has launched a blogging platform for travel bloggers. This ofcourse is an attempt to go beyond search and drive traction through user generated content.

What is great about this initiative?

The great aspect from a business standpoint is content. And that also related content. Content especially blogs have been known to get better search traction and also build stickiness. That is the very reason that cleartrip has a very popular and active blog.

What is lame about this initiative?

What is really really lame is the fact that its not an open platform. Not everyone can blog about their travel. They seem to have taken an editorial approach. Well one might say that it helps keep the junk/spam out I still disagree. The reason is that even in a moderated platform the least they could have done is allowed users to submit a travel blog online rather than asking them to email on an email address! How ancient a method is that? A post submission form would be much more appreciated.

Conclusion: All in all a good initiave but half heartedly executed to have a real impact.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

WATBlog Update There are 3 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

Here are the WATBlog email updates for watblogna@gmail.com

First WATBlog Wednesday Today! Check Out Who’s Attending..
Zee News Goes Mobile - Ties Up With One97
TimesNow Launches 3 Shows On Nautanki.Tv
More Recent Articles
Search WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India

There are 3 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

First WATBlog Wednesday Today! Check Out Who’s Attending..

It wasn’t even a week ago that we announced our first WATBlog Wednesday on WATBlog and the response has been overwhelming! We have had more than 130 registrations and people still seem to be calling us asking if they can get a few friends along

Honestly we are thrilled at seeing this support from you all and hope that it shall continue in future events as well.

A look at who all are heading to WATBlog Wednesday Today!

* Satish A, SEM/SEO/SMO, Adchakra

* Nimish Adani, Founder, Workosaur.com

* Arpit Agarwal, Co-Founder, Headstart Network Foundation

* Karan Anand, Planning and Buying, Interactive Avenues

* Natasha Anand, Manager, Starcom Media

* Riya Anand, Associate Creative Director, Contests2win.com

* Amitabh Arora, Asst Manager, UTV

* Atisha Arora, Business Manager, Group M

* Samyak Arya, co-founder, PollenBrains Advertography Pvt Ltd

* Kamal Awatramani, New Media, Ad Sales, naukri.com

* Tushar Bangera, Management Trainee, Media2Win

* Resham Bathija, Business Manager, Maxus - Interaction

* Gautam Bhatia, Director, Giirayachts

* Ekalavya Bhattacharya, Product Head, Contests2win.com

* saugat bhattacharya, director, TryAngles

* Ravi Chettiar, SEM Specialist, AdChakra

* kalpana chetty, copywriter, Quasar Media Pvt Ltd

* Amit Chhabra, Manager - Strategic Partnerships, Tyroo

* Smriti Chhabra, Account Supervisor, TBWA

* Piyush Chhaperwal, Regional Manager - Alootechie, Alootechie

* Parul Choudhary, Asst. Manager - Ad sales, Info Edge India Ltd.

* Dany Coutinho, Sr. Account Manager, Communicate2

* Rinella D’Silva, Business Manager, GroupM Media

* Beverly Dsouza D’souza, Asst. Manager, Pinstorm Technologies Pvt LTD

* Percy Da, Sr. Manager Business Development, Aditya infotech

* Sudipto Das, Group Head, Group M

* Suresh Deivanayagam, SEM Manager, Adchakra Networks

* Nachiket Deole, Group Head, Lintas Media Group

* swati Desai, manager, Interactive Avenues

* Mrigank Dhaniwala, Sub Editor, AnimationXpress.com

* Ankur Dholi, Asst. Manager - Ad sales, Info Edge India Ltd.

* Nixon Dias, Creative Writer, Contests2win.com

* Merril Diniz, Content Editor - Lifestyle, Web18

* Ruth Dolla, Assistant Brand Manager, Kingfisher Force India

* Amit Doshi, MD, Webodrome Arise Technologies

* Maulik Doshi, Key Account Manager, Geodesic Limited

* Ryan Dsouza, Content Manager, CampusJunkie.com

* Lynette Fernandes, Business Manager, GroupM

* Abhishek Gaurav, Media Manager, DGM India

* Vivek Girotra, Business Executive, Mindshare

* Ruchika Goel, Group Account Manager, DGM India

* bhavana gowda, CSE, Tyroo Media Pvt Ltd.

* karan gulshan, Associate - Investment Banking, SBI Capital Markets

* Vaibhav Gupta, Digital - Sales, Zoom Entertainment Network Ltd.

* Mehul Gupte, Product Manager, Mobile2Win

* Sonali Hadkar, Manager Ad Operations, Group M

* aashish idnani, Business Development, Adchakra Networks

* Asit Jain, Manager, UTV New Media

* Hemanshu Jain, Campaign Management, Media2win PVT LTD

* Priyanka Jain, Producer, production house

* Praveen Joshi, Account Manager - Contextual Advertising, Communicate 2

* Varun Joshua Joshua, Associate Creative Director, Contests2win

* Megha khandelwal, Media planner and buyer, komli media

* hardik khanna, Product Manager, People Interactive Pvt. Ltd.

* Anik kothari, Marketing Head, ATC

* Anand Krishnan, Account Director, Draftfcb+Ulka

* Punit Lodaya, Manager - Operations, Infomedia 18 (Alibaba.com)

* Nisha M, Mktg Manager, Komli

* Charlette Machado, Media Planner, Media2win

* Rajeev Mahatma, co-founder, PollenBrains Advertography Pvt Ltd

* Gaurav Mahimkar, Media Operations Executive, Adchakra Networks

* Hemanshu Makatia, Sr. Campaign Management Ex, People Interactive ( I) Pvt Ltd

* Subhash Marathe, Digital Strategist, Contests2win.com

* Hitesh Mehta, Head - User Experience & Design, People Group

* Nisha Menezes, Marketing Manager, Komli Media

* Haani Mirza, Creative Director, GroupM Media Pvt Ltd

* Dinyar Mistry, Regional manager - Ad sales, Info Edge India Ltd

* Darshan Mody, Executive- Business Development, Geodesic Limited

* ganesh moily, data management, interactive avenues

* Nitin Mukadam, CEO, Allied School of eMarketing

* tasneem mukadam, sales head, ZEN ( ZOOM)

* Deepak Nair, Management Trainee, DRAFT FCB+Ulka Interactive

* Supriya Nair, Manager, Digital Initiatives, Verve Magazine

* Clyde Nunes Nunes, Senior Creative Writer, Contests2win.com

* Harsha P, Asst manager, Tims Of India

* Vineet Pabreja, Founder, Talent Hill

* Deepali Panjabi, Manager, Pinstorm

* Bhavya Parekh, Founder, NRG Gaming

* Alefiya patharia, Asst. Manager - Business Development, IT Nation/ UTV

* Ian Pereira, Business Group Head, Mindshare

* Rochelle Pereira, Manager SMO, Phonethics Mobile Media

* Mahendra Phadke, Sales Manager, Goosefish Media Ventures

* Zafar Rais, Product Manager - Mobile, People Interactive

* Varun Raj, Promoter, Director, TryAngles India

* akshay rane, content editor, sportzinteractive

* Shyam Ravishankar, Associate Account Director, Interactive Avenues Marketing Solutions Pvt Ltd

* Juliana Rego, Digital Enthusiast, NA

* Stanley Rego, Manager - Client Consulting & Strategy, Interactive Avenues

* Johnson RK, Copywriter, Mudra Communications

* Ashwin Roy Choudhary, Mobile Expert, NetCORE Solutions

* aarti rupani, Client Servicing, Media2win

* Madan Sanglikar, Partner, Invention, Mindshare

* Sharan Saraf, Ad - Operations, Interactive Avenues

* Deepak Sasikumar, Group Head - Accounts & Strategy, BCwebwise

* Deepak Sasikumar Sasikumar, Group Head - Accounts & Strategy, BCwebwise

* Warrel Sequeira, Business Manager, GroupM - Digital

* abhishek shah, Regional Manager, Tyroo Media

* Bhavesh Shah, CSE, Tyroo Media Pvt. Ltd.

* Gaurav Shah, Partner, Dragonfly Market Research

* Nehal Shah, Manager Operations, Peacock Media Ltd.

* prattyush shahane, media planner, tribal ddb

* ishwar sharma, team leader - gaming, contests2win.com

* Money Sharma, Assistant Editor, AnimationXpress.com

* Nikitha Shetty, Account Manager - Contextual Advertising, Communicate2

* abhijee shinde, Manager Ad Operations, Interactive Avenues

* arun shiva, marketing, aravindh millls

* Bhakti Shukla Shukla, Search Specialist, Communicate2

* Raunaq Sikka, Associate Creative Director, Arc Worldwide

* Manmeet Singh, Manager- Marketing & Alliances, Travelguru.com

* Namrata Singh, CEO, Antfort People Technologies Pvt Ltd

* Resham Singh, Proprietor, Orion Adeas

* uma sivakumar, Head Online Media, Tribal DDB India

* Sujit Soman, Senior Manager, Interactive Avenues

* Gurudutt Sonsurkar, Art Director, Contests2win.com Pvt Ltd

* Sudhir Syal, Sr.Ass.Producer, Economic Times

* imranali syed, accounts manager, dgm India

* Deepak Tahiliani, Manager - Ad sales, Info Edge India Ltd.

* Harish Talreja, Finance Manager, Komli Media Pvt. Ltd.

* Amber Tambewagh, Regional Sales Manager - West & South, People Interactive Pvt Ltd

* Asfaq Tapia, Corporate Communications, Pinstorm

* Jitin Thomas, Manager-Client Consulting, Interactive Avenues Marketing Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

* akshay valsangkar, Business Development, contests2win

* Anish Varghese, Associate Creative Director, Interactive Avenues

* Vedant Varma, Group Manager, DRAFTFCB ULKA INTERACTIVE

* akshata vedak, Manager Operation, Peacock Media Ltd

* Francis Vijayarangam, Director, Allied School of eMarketing

* satish vijaykumar, Mgr - Biz Dev, Activemedia Tech

* Paresh Waghela, Media Planner, Media2win

* sachin Wawdhane, Supervisor - Online Ad Serving, Tribal DDB

* Sahil Zafar, BD, Komli

Hope to see you there today!

We thanks our sponsors Jivox for helping us put the first WATBlog Wednesday together.

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Zee News Goes Mobile - Ties Up With One97

Its seems to be a trend for news channels to go digital in more ways than one through tie ups. So if Timesnow chose the online medium with a tie up with Nautanki Zee news has chosen to go mobile with a tie up with One97. Through this association mobile users across India can access News directly on their handsets.

This is essentially an sms and voice alert service with technology powered by One97 and content powered by Zee News. Though not launched as yet the release states that there are plans to launch services like Video News Streaming and Citizen Journalism in near future. Probably after 3G becomes a reality in India.

Currently the available news alerts are on genres like general news, sports, business and astrology to all the subscribers. In the future the updates on the breaking news and major happenings captured by Zee News would also be included.

The New media companies going mobile seems to be a continuing trend as recently Web18 went mobile via July systems which also meant that IBN7 and CNN IBN had mobile versions. Then there was also matrubhumi a regional newspaper that went mobile via mobme. Timenow had gone mobile sometime back with reliance communications as partner not sure if that alliance is still active though. NDTV another new channel had also partnered with July systems to launch NDTV active. Besides for these traditional news media companies Mytoday launched nayanaya.mobi which is a news aggregator which makes the websites of these news website mobile friendly as well.

On the whole it seems everyone is gearing up for the mobile revolution in India which is expected sooner given the 300 million plus mobile subscribers and the 8-10 million addition each month.

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TimesNow Launches 3 Shows On Nautanki.Tv

After Zoom Tv’s alliance with Nautanki another Times Group TV Channel has been bitten by the Nautanki bug. Times Now the business news channel by the Times Group has tied up with Online Video Network nautanki.tv to stream 3 shows across Nautanki’s claimed 6000+ blog video widget network. Its no surprise as now Nautanki is part of the Hungama group which means strong connections with bollywood and media.

The three shows that have gone online are The Newshour hosted by Arnab Goswami, No Full Stops, a wellness guide and The Foodie, a food cum travel show hosted by Kunal Vijayakar. TimesNow plans to make more shows online via the Nautanki Network in the future. As per the release out of the 6000 odd blogs in the nautanki network around 20% of Nautanki.tv’s publishers are bloggers who cover serious topics ranging from news, analysis, finance etc. This attempt by Timesnow is supposedly targetted at these bloggers.

One thing to note is that Nautanki is a blind network i.e. they do not disclose where are their widgets placed so its one thing saying that 20% of the bloggers cover such news and analysis its completely another when you judge the quality of the coverage.

On the whole this is TimesNow’s way of going online with videos with little or no added cost of hosting the video and monetizing the same. For Nautanki on the other hand the strategy has been to tie up with content players from the mainline media i.e. TV and then ask them only to promote their online presence to advertisers and get ad revenue as well.

I think TimesNow should consider youtube.com as a potential platform to stream its videos and also earn revenue. ZoomTv the other times group channel has been active on Youtube and even launched contest via the same. Also other video content players like Rajshri are bullish on youtube in a big way.

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