Making the most of media

As India’s leading advertising representatives for over 150 international publications that include prestigious titles from USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, RMA (Ronny Mis­try Associates) Media has been gaining in popularity and win­ning confidence in the international market. In their silver jubilee year which ended on June 22, 2007, "We have worked closely with India Brand Equity Foundation, Confederation of Indian Industry, and the Government of India — Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Tourism, to project and market India as the destination for business and pleasure (tourism),” states managing director Faredoon Kuka, responding to our e-mail queries.

Faredoon Kuka: media insight and contacts

"Presently we are working to bring out special India reports in the second half of this year within Budget Travel, The Daily Telegraph — UK and also International Herald Tribune and these reports are being timed with the government and the Indian delegation going to UK and US to celebrate the 60 years of India’s independence,” notes Kuka, adding, "Last year we got very many titles to represent and Channel NewsAsia, Media Corp News is the new TV channel we got to represent and market through our 10 offices. Bloomberg TV is another achievement for us to sell and market in India.”

Actively promoting and selling advertising options like print, conferences, television, etc on behalf of global media owners as their sole representatives for the last 25 years, Kuka further remarks, "Online advertising is becoming a big thing for the future and we have clients like Infosys Technologies, Wipro Limited, Tata Consultancy Services, Indian School of Business also advertising on websites of BusinessWeek, International Herald Tribune, Global Finance, etc.”

More rewarding than any of their sales figures are the letters of appreciation and congratulatory messages they received from their partners on the occasion of their silver jubilee. As noted Nicholas Edgley, international sales director, The Telegraph Group, "They have produced excellent country reports for our titles and more recently (June 2006) secured an excellent survey on India producing well over £ 100,000 of new revenue for The Daily Telegraph and this is likely to be repeated again later on in the year…Currently I believe RMA to be the best in India…”

Claude Chaouloff, travel category manager of Europe, Asia and Africa, for Budget Travel wrote, "The potential from India is substantial and the knowledge, insight and contacts that Kuka possesses are impressive and key ingredients to the continued success of our franchise.”

"Our combined efforts resulted in a series of special sections in Business­Week which highlighted the growing software and outsourcing business in India and helped to draw attention to the global business community. Business­Week has also sponsored a number of major industry events in India and the RMA team have provided on the ground support for our initiatives…” acknowledged Michael Toedman, international managing director.

Representing Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) for almost 20 years in the India market, and more recently in the Middle East market, its executive vice president, marketing division, Leslie Fong wrote on the occasion of RMA’s silver jubilee, "RMA Media has grown SPH’s print business in these markets with a year-on-year average increase of 30 percent since our partnership in the 1990s. We look forward to scaling greater heights with them in the near future.”

To carry forth the flag of his father-in-law Ronny Mistry, the visionary founder of RMA, Kuka elaborates on the values cherished by their firm: "being passionate in our job, innovative, creative, serving publishers, clients, agencies with honesty and integrity, optimizing clients’ investments.”