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SLIM Brand Excellence in October

The SLIM Brand Excellence award ceremony will be held in October. Initiator SLIM, the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, is on the lookout for highflying brands and

outstanding brand custodians, to give them the recognition and reward they deserve, in the presence of the country’s marketing elite at a this awards ceremony. SLIM Brand Excellence 2010 Project Chairman Upul Adikari, said “This is the time that strategic and creative geniuses should wear their best thinking caps, marketeers should be on their toes, ready to seize every opportunity that presents itself, and the time to make strong investments in their greatest intangible asset-brand value.

This will ensure that they take a greater share in the fight for the slice of the pie that is set to keep increasing.” Entries opened on July 8 and will close on August 7. The participant’s briefing is on July 14 at Cinnammon Lakeside. A value addition introduced for the first time is a workshop for participants to explain the awards process and provide them with the knowledge and guidance needed to complete a “winning application”. This will be held on August 22 at the Galadari Hotel. Another value addition is the SLIM BE publication, also launched for the first time this year.

The SLIM Brand Excellence Awards is the flagship event of SLIM, and is being held for the ninth consecutive year this year. Over the past eight years, many of the brands and brand custodians honoured by SLIM BE have fast gained recognition in the international marketing arena. This year’s awards will stretch the finish line even further.

President Rohan Somawansa said, “The marketing profession is becoming more challenging and rewarding than ever before considering the rapid changing global and local contexts and also the driving wheel in today’s business arena. “SLIM brand Excellence Awards” is a celebration of Brands which have excelled at national level, and rewards the outstanding efforts of outstanding marketeers. Through this event, SLIM endeavours not only to encourage best practices in branding, but also to raise local brands to global standards, to enhance the image of marketing in the country and that of SLIM in the region.”

Roche Projects installs first Self Starter System

Roche Projects (Pvt) Limited an associate Company of Rotax (Pvt) Limited and constituent of the Roche Group of Companies marketed and installed the first medium voltage solid state Soft Starter, in Sri Lanka to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). This pioneer application was designed and successfully installed at the CPC refinery in Sapugaskande late last year. This landmark turnkey installation project was carried out by Rotax Limited in collaboration with their principals from Solcon Industries Ltd., a reputed company in Israel specializing in the designing and manufacture of such sophisticated starter devices and systems for various applications such as marine, off shore and gas, naval, industrial, chillers and compressors, etc.

Supply authorities around the world are becoming alarmed at the energy which is being wasted and the current power demand due to direct on line, star-delta and auto transformer starters. Computers, electronic instrumentation and communications are suffering as a result of such starting methods which cause voltage dips in the supply line as the motor draws excessively high current during starting.

Lightly dimming, computer crashing and maximum demand penalties are all caused by inappropriate starting methods.

Electronic Soft Starters are a device for controlling the acceleration and/or the deceleration of AC motors. Soft Starters deliver the exact amount of power required by the motor for a smooth ramp up (start), run (full rpm) and ramp down (stop). This action provides a smooth, step-less acceleration and deceleration, not only providing energy management but also extending motor life.

‘Waka Waka’, biggest You Tube hit ever

The World Cup theme song, Waka Waka: This Time For Africa, sung by international singing and dancing sensation Shakira - was developed by Ogilvy and

Mather Executive Creative Director Antonio Navas in collaboration with the singer.

“It has been a pleasure to collaborate with a creative mind like Antonio’s, he truly understands the world’s cultures and with just an image or a word is capable to capture a universal truth. While conceptualizing the Waka Waka video we understood each other perfectly, he is a great person because he immerses himself completely in the project, and has a great sensibility. I will always be grateful for his help on this project,” said Shakira.

With a record-setting 80 million views since the video first launched in advance of the World Cup, Waka Waka is on track to become the most viewed video of all time. In addition to the video, Navas and his partner, Ricardo Leme Lopes also designed the T-Shirt, logos and merchandising for the Official FIFA World Cup song.

“The idea behind the video was to take the viewer on a trip around the world, ending in Africa,” said Navas. “I had worked with Shakira and her team in the past and was flattered to be called to develop the conceptual approach to this amazing song and bring its message to life.” In his work at Ogilvy, Navas has collaborated with esteemed photographers such Annie Liebowitz, Richard Avedon, and Elliott Erwitt on campaigns for such clients as American Express, Coca Cola, Puerto Rico and others.

Navas spent a weekend in LA shooting the video in multiple languages with DNA Films director Marcus Raboy. At a rate of four million hits a day it could soon be the most watched video in the history of YouTube, and has become the anthem of the summer.

The video, which features Lionel Messi of Argentina, Dani Alves of Brazil and Gerard Piqu of Spain, as well as Shakira, and members of South African band “Freshly Ground,” has become one of the most viewed YouTube films ever - and rivals Michael Jackson’s “We Are The World” in terms of grassroots attention. Instructional videos were also posted teaching people how to dance the Waka Waka move.

MDIS sets up second overseas education campus

Singapore’s oldest, not-for-profit professional institute for lifelong learning, Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) has inked a landmark deal with Education@Iskandar Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to purchase a 30-acre plot of freehold land in EduCity @ Iskandar, Malaysia to set up its second overseas campus.

It is the first Singapore private tertiary education institute to make its foray in EduCity @ Iskandar, Malaysia, following the warming bilateral ties between Singapore and Malaysia.

The new MDIS campus at EduCity @ Iskandar, which will be five times bigger than that of the MDIS Campus in Singapore, will be funded internally by MDIS, MDIS’ first overseas campus is at Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan in Central Asia which was built in 2008 at the cost of US$20 million.

The new campus – called MDIS Campus (Malaysia) – will be operated under a Malaysia-incorporated (Pte) Ltd. Company which will be a 100 percent owned subsidiary of MDIS International (Pte) Ltd.

MDIS Campus (Malaysia) will accommodate 10,000 students when all its three phases are fully completed in 2023. Construction work on the MDIS Campus in EduCity@ Iskandar is expected to start at the end of next year.

MDIS hopes to enroll 2,000 students when the first phase of the campus is completed by 2013. The number of students will increase to 5,000 when the second phase is completed by 2018.

There will be 10,000 students when the third phase of the campus is completed by 2023.

MDIS Campus (Malaysia) will be positioned as University College initially offering courses in, Business Management; Mass Communications; Information Technology and Digital Media; Travel and Tourism.

It will continue to engage its existing university partners to offer accredited courses at this new campus.

People’s Leasing wins award

People’s Leasing Company was awarded the International Diamond Quality Summit award in recognition for its commitment to quality, leadership, technology and innovation in June. People’s Leasing CEO D P Kumarage was among the outstanding business personalities from 62 countries gathered at the Frankfurt Intercontinental Convention Hall.

He received the award from Business Initiative Directions (BID) President and CEO Josef E Prieto. The International Diamond Quality Summit (DQS) award acknowledges strong commitment to quality and excellence.

Last year, People’s Leasing won a platinum award while in 2008, it won a gold award.