Biz Buzz

For long, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) felt it was not important to have a stronglobbyist in the Indian Capital, a trend almost every other corporate house followed. Sowhen its media head Irfan Khan retired and picked up an assignment with Coca Cola, rumourswere rife as to who would pick up the plum Rs 5 lakhs a month (plus perks) assignment. Thefirst offer was made by HLL to Business India's Nazneen Karmali but she rejected it. Andnow, global placement giants Egon Zehnder -- which helped PepsiCo India find a successor(Cadbury's Rajiv Bakshi) for outgoing CEO Priya Mohan Sinha -- has found the man for HLL.And it's none other than the portly Subhabrata Bhattacharya, the political editor of AsianAge. Bhattacharya, formerly editor of Sunday and political editor of Tribuneand media head, Planning Commission, pipped Ajay Kumar of Tata Sons for the post. Sowhat is the buzz at Lever House in Mumbai? That it is important to keep a person with bothstrong political and media connections, something Bhattarcharya enjoys considerably.

Fights between Pepsi and Coke are the norm across the globe. But in India, it alwaysassumes a different hue. Consider the latest one involving the two cola giants. Rememberthe latest Thums Up campaign featuring Salman Khan wherein the actor drives through adusty Rajasthan town for his preferred drink? Many felt the campaign from the stables ofLeo Burnett India was a classy one and reflected the right kind of macho message Thums Upwants to portray. But now, BBDO has sent Coca Cola India and Leo Burnett India a legal notice saying the campaign was a complete frame-by-frame lift of its last year's campaign for Pepsi which was released in Australia and across South America. And worse, Leo Burnett India's creative head -- who recently left to join McCann Erickson -- has already admitted that she and her team were asked by Coca Cola India to copy theBBDO campaign frame-by-frame. Are Indian agencies running out of innovative and creativeideas? Now whether Coke pulls off the campaign from the channels is another issuealtogether.

Is Subroto "Sahara" Roy contemplating a partner for his ailing airline?Perhaps yes. Otherwise why is it that the Sahara top brass has been in seriousnegotiations with Crown Mart, the UK-based airline company. Now whether it will be astrategic partnership (on the lines of Jet-Emirates) is not immediately known. But CrownMart, which has submitted a detailed proposal for domestic operations to the Ministry ofCivil Aviation, is keen for a buyout of a running airline and then start its operations bythe end of September. Crown Mart is currently scouting for an advertising agency forpromotions, which will start in a month's time. And if everything goes right, it could besweet revenge for Crown Mart India head U.K. Bose, who was once hustled out of SaharaAirlines by the Roys.

Ask anyone about style and cricket and he will surely remember the former Indianskipper Mansur Ali Khan "Tiger" Pataudi. And his flamboyant style, classy shotsand storybook romance with actress Sharmila Tagore. After he was out of cricket, Pataudiedited a Calcutta-based sports magazine and did modelling assignments for sometime. Butnow, "Tiger" is interested in chronicling his life story on television and isworking with a Delhi-based software house for the same. Last heard, Star Plus was fairlyclose in the race (against Sony Entertainment and Zee) for acquiring rights for theserial. But who will play the lead? The first choice was Saif Ali Khan but"Tiger" apparently rejected the proposal.

After his father, the legendary Sir Rai Bahadur Oberoi, made headlines with hislegendary acquisitions of some of the classiest hotels across the globe, it is now theturn of his younger son, P.R.S "Bikki" Oberoi to further spread the familybusiness. And the latest is in none other than the land of the wild, South Africa, whereEast India Hotels will set up a classy five-star super deluxe hotel close to one of thegame reserves. Operations -- according to "Bikki" who recently returned fromJohannesburg -- will start this fall. Who says Wipro, Tata and Infosys are the only Indianbrands recognized globally

Are changes finally happening in Zee? Well, it seems the first round of changes havealready started taking place. New CEO Sandip Goyal has slashed one fourth of the staff inDelhi and Mumbai and told those handling the news channel that they need to pick up moreexclusive reports and increase interaction with both the bureaucracy and ministers."Zee should not be seen as an anti-government channel. Hard hitting stories must bebacked by facts," was his subtle message. Is NDTV slipping? It appears so, especially during the Prime Minister's recent visit to Malaysia where the NDTV crewfailed to get a glimpse of Octavio Quattorochi whereas rival Aaj Tak not only had the controversial former Indian head ofItalian giant Snam Progetti on camera for full two minutes but a few answers from him as well. How many camera crews Aaj Tak sent outto track down the elusive "Monkey Man"? Ten, to be precise.