Extraordinary general meetings of Radio France International (RFI), its Arabic subsidiary Monte Carlo Doualiya and l’Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France (AEF) have endorsed the merger of the radio station with the international news channel France 24, the AEF announced on Monday. In a statement, the AEF said that this “allows the creation of an official French broadcasting group of international dimensions”, after more than two years of conflict and a procedural battle conducted by the RFI unions against the merger. “With this merger a new page opens, the constitution of a major international audiovisual group that is powerful and competitive”, CEO Alain de Pouzilhac.

Ogilvy Malaysia, FlyFM and the Malaysian arm of global marketing and communication agency Grey Group kept the Malaysian flag flying at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, in France. Ogilvy Malaysia won a silver lion and Grey Group was shortlisted in the Outdoor category, while FlyFM won a bronze in the Radio category. Grey Group Malaysia was one of the 424 out of 4,490 entries that made it to the shortlist, from which 119 were selected as winners. The grand prize for this category was awarded to Droga5 New York, for the entry Decode Jay-Z with Bing. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a prestigious international annual advertising and communications awards celebrating creativity in the industry. Over 28,000 entries for categories such as film, print, outdoor, radio, interactive, PR, promotion and integrated advertising are showcased and judged each year. The 58th Cannes Lions ran from June 19-25 in Cannes, France this year. More information : http://www.canneslions.com

Local Malay daily Berita Harian has inked a partnership with JCDecaux Media (French Group largest outdoor advertising corporation in the world) to further promote the brand’s newly revamped lifestyle sections. The tie-up features a multi-pronged push encompassing on-screen and off-screen initiatives for the "Rona" and "Ratu" newspaper segments via TGV Cinemas. "Cinema admission has been growing on a yearly basis mainly among consumers between 15 and 29 years.  This target group fits the profile of Berita Harian’s campaign to attract this new group of readers," said Tham Yin May, sales & marketing manager, JCDecaux Media. A collaboration set to last 26 weeks, it involves on-screen advertising, hall branding at three branches namely TGV Sunway (Petaling Jaya), Bukit Tinggi (Klang), and Tebrau City (Johore Bahru) as well as on-ground product sampling. Each of the above theatre locations currently houses a re-branded hall bearing the Berita Harian name and point-of-sale collaterals such as poster boxes, aisle-seat branding, and life-size cut-out standees for added exposure. The new print columns are also distributed to movie-goers during the weekend, a move which has proven effective wherein readers have been spotted flipping through the material which in queue for their ticket purchase or entering the cinema halls. Also, before the film begins, viewers are exposed to a 30-second commercial highlighting various sections of the daily to pique interest and consumer engagement. The main objective of the push is to reach out to Malay youths in an effort to increase readership amongst the segment as the publication’s core target audience. Source : www.marketing-interactive.com

UBIFRANCE, the French agency for international business development, has launched the world’s first “trade commission application” for the iPhone . The application offers: 1.Market news - insightful market intelligence by region/industry that can be bookmarked or shared with friends via Facebook, twitter or email. 2. Business meetings at trade fairs – browse the UBIFRANCE events list in order to meet French companies. 3.Offices - a presentation of our offices around the world, and a list of contacts by sector. The application is available in several languages.