Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has announced management and organizational changes effective last Monday (April 1). The changes are designed to ensure the successful completion of the company’s three-year business plan, Nissan 180, which began in April 2002. The company is also preparing its organization for the swift launch of its next three-year business plan, highlights of which Nissan will unveil on April 26. “The coming fiscal year 2004 is a crucial year for Nissan,” said company President and CEO Carlos Ghosn. The realigned organization is a tool to aid the company in fulfilling the remaining commitment of Nissan 180 (one million additional sales) and to put in place a solid foundation for the upcoming deployment and implementation of the company’s next three-year plan. As part of the management changes, Ghosn takes over responsibility for North American operations.
Philips
You can now save your favorite video memories on DVD, with the new Philips DVDR75, which makes it a snap to record both digital and analogue video from any source, whether camcorder, TV or dish computer. It is a snap to copy your digital or analogue video onto DVD without loss of picture or sound quality without any deterioration in playback quality, no matter how long you store it. With the i.Link connection, the new DVD recorder ensures that digital camcorder recordings experience no loss of quality during the recording process, while those with analogue camcorders should not worry since the recorder also ensures that their video will receive professional studio quality video and pure sounding audio. It lets you choose your recording speed, giving you the option to record from one to six hours on a single DVD disk. You can also edit DVDs from the comfort of your seat and like a movie DVD you can organize your DVDs by scene for quick and easy playback. Philips, also a supplier of TV display solutions to the hotel industry and its distributor in Qatar, Almana & Partners have supplied next-generation wide-screen and plasma TV sets as part of an integrated TV system to one of Qatar’s newest five-star properties. More than 300 Philips 32HF996 plasma and 28HW6404 wide-screen TV sets will be placed at the luxurious beachfront Four Seasons Hotel. The agreement is the latest for Philips, which has installed thousands of is high-performance Institutional Television (iTV) televisions, valued at more than $2 million, in hotels in Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Egypt.
Unilever
OMO, a laundry detergent, announced the name of its second winner of one-kilo gold. He is Mubarak Al-Dosari from the Eastern Province. This was part of OMO’s ongoing promotional campaign entitled “Keep your eye on gold,” currently being held in the entire GCC region. It was a big time surprise to the winner who was overwhelmed with joy when he discovered the one kilo gold in his OMO pack. Marwan Kalkatawi, marketing manager, Home-Care division at Unilever Arabia, and Mazin Mohsin Al-Hassan, OMO brand manager for the GCC, confirmed that more one kilo gold bars and thousands of gold coins can still be won through purchase of OMO packs across the region.
Timna
Timna held a seminar in Riyadh to introduce Minimax products and solutions to safety experts from the Saudi Civil Defense, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company, SABIC, Saudi Arabian Airlines and other leading companies. Minimax GmbH Project Manager Axel Worner, said his company was 95 percent self-reliant in making components for its products. The supply of Minimax spare parts is guaranteed, in fact, there are companies in the Kingdom which have bought Minimax firefighting products 27 years ago, he added. “They are still receiving our service support, as Minimax guarantees supply of spares for at least 10 years,” he said. Timna promoter Saud Al-Amri and General Manager Vinod Krishnan received the guests and B.K. Nageswar made a corporate profile presentation. The Minimax product range including sprinkler, deluge, fine water spray and foam systems, and water mains and pumps, carbon dioxide HP and LP, clean agent and powder systems, portable fire extinguishers, mobile extinguishing units, fire suspension systems and firefighting pump stations integrated in containers.
Beiersdorf
At its annual Middle East Cosmed conference held in Kuala Lumpur recently, Beiersdorf AG, manufacturer of the Nivea range of products, presented Fortune Promoseven with a plaque to mark its 20-year relationship with the agency. Back in 1983 Beiersdorf appointed Fortune Promoseven to handle its marketing communications activities for the available product range, which over the past 20 years has witnessed tremendous growth and a strong increase in market share. Fortune Promoseven worked together with Beiersdorf to launch a number of new ranges in the Middle East, including Nivea Visage, Nivea Fair and the color cosmetics line, Nivea Beaute, as well as establishing the Beiersdorf Middle East office in 1999. The company attributes this success to their consumers who are convinced their brands offer good value for money. “We value the relationship we’ve had with Beiersdorf for the past two decades,” said Akram Miknas, chairman of the Promoseven Group.
MasterCard
MasterCard International has launched its UEFA EURO 2004 promotion, which gives MasterCard cardholders an opportunity to win trips for two to Portugal to experience the UEFA EURO 2004 football extravaganza in person and other prizes. The promotion, which began on March 15 and runs up to July 2, is open to all MasterCard cardholders within the Middle East & North Africa and Pakistan region. To enter the promotion MasterCard cardholders have to SMS their purchase amount to the listed number (053-285-963 in the Kingdom). Its newly established website gives cardholders an opportunity to learn more about the details of the promotion. The grand prize winners will receive two roundtrip airline tickets to Portugal, airport transfers, accommodation, match tickets, pre- and post-match hospitality as well as EURO 2004 souvenirs. In addition, second prize tier winners will win state-of-the-art 43-inch projection TVs. “The UEFA EURO 2004 final tournament is one of the biggest international sporting events of the year and MasterCard is proud to be an official sponsor and the exclusive payment card for the event,” said Thomas Edelmann, vice president, marketing, MasterCard MENA region.