The Hindu Business Line : Wherever you go, cricket follows

AT the evening's dinner at the Rambagh golf and polo club, the dress code was `sporty,' and some captains of the industry turned up in track pants and sneakers.

The star attraction — besides beauty queen Lara Dutta — was the giant screen that Star India put up for delegates to watch the India-Australia ODI in Bangalore.

Sitting in rapt attention in front of the screen was Sony Entertainment CEO, Kunal Dasgupta.

Surely enough, when Tendulkar got out, most people wandered away, but the diehard fans were disappointed when the screen went dark so everyone could watch the polo, instead.

"I'm going to pull my ads from the network," muttered a few corporate execs darkly.

The friendly polo match between two Star teams and the demo elephant polo were a bit of a letdown after the rowdy singing and dancing from the nights before.

hile several men lined up beside Dutta to have their pictures taken, one gracious older woman with silver hair and frail voice clearly commanded the most attention: the Rajmata.

Many delegates took off quite eagerly on Wednesday afternoon for sightseeing, shopping and golf at the Rambagh golf club.

Well, the biggest were also the best: Team JWT comprising Kamal Oberoi, Tarun Rai, Jagdeep Bakshi and Param Saikia (Publicis).

At the conference, enthusiasm was considerably dimmed, and several delegates complained of an overload of mostly mundane information. The lines at the stalls for freebies were long, and people took longer over their tea and lunch breaks, as well.

Speaker of the day for Wednesday: Scott Bedbury of Nike and Starbucks fame. Biggest disappointments: Birla and Ambani, who made a rather ho-hum case for Brand India.

A front-runner for worst speaker for Thursday is Lester Wunderman, father of Direct Marketing. His presentation lacked slides and visuals. Not a great way to start the day, and the frequent trips to the coffee vending machine were proof of that.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Apollo's low-cost treatment draws patients from West

Dial Airtel and hear Nehru, for a cause

GM seeks to build loyalty through events

Application of neuroscience to study ad response

`Brand's share of customer loyalty is important not its market share'

Next year acid test, says Star's Kohli

Buck up, time to turn global champions...

`For BBC India is biggest market outside Europe'

Wherever you go, cricket follows

Reliance WebWorld outlets to host MS game contest

Hasbro launches Primo Cotton trousers

Whirlpool microwave oven

New mosquito repellent