McDonald’s

What is McDonalds: Is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving millions of customers daily.

NYSE Ticker: MCD

Subsidiaries: McD held a minority interest in Pret A Manger until 2008, was a major investor in the Chipotle Mexican Grill until 2006 and owned the restaurant chain Boston Market until 2007.

McDonald’s History

McDonalds began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Although the present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc in 1955.

McDonald’s Trivia

1) The McDonalds brothers started the “Speedee Service System” in 1948 which established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant.

2) Speedee was the mascot of McDonalds before Ronald McDonalds

3) Ronald McDonald is modelled to be the Chief Happiness Officer of McD… His creation is beleived to revolve around Willard Scott.

4) Ronald McDonald is the second most recognizable character in the world, only after Santa Claus.

5) The word McJob – is considered a derogatory term and used to describe a low-skill, low pay job.

6) The Economist newspaper uses the “Big Mac Index”: the comparison of a Big Mac’s cost in various world currencies can be used to informally judge these currencies’ purchasing power parity.

7) Thomas Friedman once said that no country with a McDonald’s had gone to war with another and called it ‘The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention’. However, this theory is not strictly true. Exceptions are the 1989 United States invasion of Panama, NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, the 2006 Lebanon War, and the 2008 South Ossetia war.

Famous Ad Campaign:

The ‘I’m loving it’ campaign is called ‘ich liebe es’ in Germany , c’est tout ce que j’aime in French, me encanta in Spanish. This can be noted on the Coke cups provided at their outlets.

McDonald’s is one of the most recognized Brands in the world

Internationally acclaimed sand artist Shri Sudarsan Pattnaik was recently appointed as Brand Ambassador of NALCO.

Update about Mahaquizzer 2011

Mahaquizzer 2011 was held in 14 Indian cities with non-competitive entries from the USA, UK & Germany. 

The All India Winner is Dr. Arul Mani from Bangalore with a score of 86. Following him closely is Anustup Dutta from Bangalore at 84 and Swaminathan from Chennai at 81.

Dr. Arul Mani will be presented with the Wing Co. GR Mulky Trophy for Quizzing Excellence 2011 at the KQA’s 28th Anniversary Quizzing Festival (June 24-26 2011) in Bangalore.

In the Ladies Category Mrs. Jayashree Mohanka from Kolkata topped with a score of 76 followed by Mrs. Saranya Jayakumar from Chennai scoring 69. Debashree Mitra from Bangalore scored 63 to complete the Top 3 Ladies line-up.

In the College Category, Srikant Parameswaran from IIMC powered his way into the All India Top 5 (a first for a college student in the 7 year history of Mahaquizzer) apart from being crowned All India College Winner . He scored 78 & brings Coimbatore into the Top 5 too! Following him is Siddharth Bannerjee from Delhi at 54 and Varun Rajiv from NLSIU Bangalore at 49.

In the school category, we saw a larger turnout than previous editions. Julian D’Costa from Goa won the All India School category with an impressive 36 and defended his last year’s title. Anunay Kulshrestha from Delhi came second with a score of 28 and Nikhil Gorge from Trivandrum came third with a score of 24.

In the International Entries (Non-Competitive), Pat Gibson from the UK scored 95.

Congratulations to all Winners.

The Top 100 scores are up at the following link:
http://kqaquizzes.org/2011/06/10/mahaquizzer-2011-top-100-and-international-results/

Mumbai has the highest Top 20 scores followed by Bangalore.

The City Wise Winners in the Open/Ladies/School/College Categories are up at the following link:
http://kqaquizzes.org/2011/06/10/mahaquizzer-2011-city-wise-winners/

The Mahaquizzer 2011 Qns  are available at http://kqaquizzes.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/Mahaquizzer-2011-Questions.pdf

The Mahaquizzer 2011 Ans  are available at http://kqaquizzes.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/Mahaquizzer-2011-Answers-Adjudicated.pdf

The Mahaquizzer 2011 research team of Urmila Lakshmanan, Rahul Kottalgi, Vivek Karthikeyan, Rajagopal & myself would love to hear feedback on the quiz (you can email us atMahaquizzerfeedback@gmail.com or Mitesh.Agarwal@gmail.com).

We would like to thank all the city coordinators, proctors & various quizzing associations who helped us organize the quiz. Thanks to Chris Jones of IQA who organized it in the UK.

MahaQuizzer 2011, the seventh edition of the National Solo Quiz Championship by the KQA will be held in 14 cities across India (and in the UK & US)  on Sunday 29th May 2011.

As usual, the quiz will require takers to answer 150 questions in 90 minutes.

Participants are requested to be at the venue latest by 9:30AM to ensure an on-time start! Anyone arriving after 10AM IST is strictly not allowed to participate (whatever be the reason!).

Prizes in each city for best School, College, Lady and Open entrant. The School Category is defined as per the Karnataka Quiz Association as students upto Standard X. Standard XI, XII are counted as College.

Please use the link ( http://goo.gl/jew5w ) to register for Mahaquizzer 2011. If you have already registered via email, you do not need to fill out the form.

Also find attached the poster for the quiz which we request be used for any local publicity by quizzing groups. The current venue list & list of local contacts is also attached for your information.

Rgds
Mitesh

FCUK

What is FCUK: fcuk is a British retailer of clothing and accessories in many parts of the world, founded in 1972.

LSE: FCCN

Brand Name: Usually written in small letters (fcuk), the company has insisted the brand stands for French Connection United Kingdom and is not a mis-spelt Anglo Saxon word.

FCUK History

In 1969, Marks Stephens launches Mark Stephens London Ltd. and opens his first store in 1972. The company launches the French Connection label in the United States through joint venture with Best of all Clothing

FCUK Trivia

1) Stephen Marks, a hairdresser’s son left school at 16 and went on to win the junior’s title at Wimbledon at 18.

2) Stephen Marks was one of the original financial backers of Hard Rock Cafe, a stake he sold later.

3) The origin of the brand NAME is believed to have been inspired by a fax from the French Conenction Hong Kong Office to London Office which said: FCHK to FCUK.

4) The brand has survived on controversies and the very ‘mis-spelt’ word thus launching T-shirts crying out – f cuk Christmas, f cuk on the beach, fun comes usually kneeling, hot as f cuk and many more

5) French Connection launched trademark infringement lawsuits on First Consultants UK Ltd (a computer company) and a political youth organisation Conservative Future as they adopted the abbreviation cfuk.

6) In 2006, they launched the Fashion vs Style advertising which replaced all previous advertising. The first advertisement in the campaign was directed by Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie, and featured girls in the roles of Fashion and Style fighting.

Fashion enthusiast? Do you know the brand Katie price launched? Louis Vuitton is another famous Fashion brand, just like FCUK

Date: May 28, 2011

Teams of 2

Registration Fee: Rs 500/- per team

Venue: Domlur Club, Bangalore

Quizmasters: Team Nexus- Venky and Vivek

For more details: Call: 080-23614888

Nike

Nike is a sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. They are most famous for their running shoes.

NYSE Ticker: NKE

Brand Name: The company takes its name from Nike – the Greek Goddess of Victory

Subsidiaries : Cole Haan, Umbro, Hurley, Converse

Nike History

Was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman and officially became Nike in 1978. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger

Nike Trivia

1) The ‘Swoosh’ logo and the ‘Just Do It’ taglines are recognized trademarks of the company

2) The Swoosh was designed by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State University for which she was paid $35 (she was later given stock in 1983)

3) One of their 1970s ad claimed their growth was largely due to ‘Word-of-Foot’ advertising.

4) Dan Weiden of Weiden and Kennedy came up with the ‘Just Do It’ tagline. Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to “Let’s do it”, the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed.

5) Their first professional athlete endorser was Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase, and the company’s first track endorser was distance running legend Steve Prefontaine.

6) The brand was the focus of criticism for its use of the Beatles song “Revolution” in a 1987 commercial, against the wishes of Apple Records, the Beatles’ recording company. They discontinued airing ads featuring “Revolution” in March 1988. Yoko Ono later gave permission to use John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” in another advertisement.

7) In 2004, an ad about LeBron James beating cartoon martial arts masters and slaying a Chinese dragon in martial arts offended Chinese authorities, who called the ad blasphemous and insulting to national dignity and to the dragon. The advertisement was later banned in China. In early 2007, the ad was reinstated in China for unknown reasons.

Nike is one of the most recognized brands in the world

Marlboro

Brand Owner: Philip Morris (Altria) (which later bought Kraft Foods too)

What is Marlboro: It is the largest selling brand of cigarettes in the world. Made by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the US, and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The brands is famous for its billboard advertisements and magazine ads.

Brand Name: The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London factory. Richmond, Virginia is now the location of their largest cigarette manufacturing plant.

Marlboro History

Philip Morris launched the brand in 1924 as a woman’s cigarette, based on the slogan “Mild As May”.

Marlboro Trivia

1) Was launched as a woman’s cigarette

2) Their earlier marketing campaign was so woman-centric that the filter had a printed red band around it to hide lipstick stains, calling it “Beauty Tips to Keep the Paper from Your Lips”

3) In the 1950s after a report linked lung cancer with smoking , Philip Morris repositioned the cigarette as a man’s brand.

4) The repositioning of Marlboro as a men’s cigarette was handled by advertiser Leo Burnett.

5) Leo Burnett conceived the Marlboro Man in 1954. The image involves a rugged cowboy or cowboys, in nature with only a cigarette.

6) William Thourlby is believed to have been the first Marlboro-Man

7) Three men who appeared in these advertisements – Wayne McLaren, David McLean and Dick Hammer – died of lung cancer, thus earning these cigarettes, specifically the Reds, the nickname “Cowboy killers”

A movie was created in 1991 called Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man

9) James Blake Miller an American Iraq War veteran, served in the United States Marine Corps and was dubbed “The Marlboro Marine“, after an iconic, close-up photograph of his dirt-smeared, battle-weary face, with a cigarette planted in his mouth, was published on the front page of more than 150 American newspapers in 2004

Marlboro is one of the most recognized brands in the world

Coca Cola

Founder: John Pemberton

Coca Cola History

Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coke was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

Coca Cola Trivia

1) Coke was created as a response to Prohibition in Atlanta in 1886

2) The first sales were at Jacob’s pharmacy in Atlanta

3) When launched it’s two key ingredients were cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name Coca Cola (the “K” in Kola was replaced with a “C” for marketing purposes)

4) The exact formula of Coke’s natural flavorings is a trade secret. The original copy of the formula is held in SunTrust Bank’s main vault in Atlanta. Its predecessor, the Trust Company, was the underwriter for the Coca Cola Company’s initial public offering in 1919.

5) On February 11, 2011 Ira Glass revealed on his PRI radio show, This American Life, that the secret formula to Coke had been uncovered in a 1979 newspaper. The formula found basically matched the formula found in Pemberton’s diary

6) The famous Coca Cola logo was created by John Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885.  The typeface used is known as Spencerian script,

7) The Shape of the Coke Bottle is believed to be inspired by the Hobble Skirt as shown below:

 Coca Cola is the most recognized brand in the world according to Interbrand

JustDial, India’s No.1 local search engine announced the signing of Amitabh Bachchan as their official brand ambassador for the next three years.

In his role as JustDial’s Brand Ambassador, Mr. Bachchan will be involved in various strategic communication initiatives as part of an extensive 360 degree brand campaign to be launched shortly. JustDial has built its brand around passion, simplicity and performance; values which are perfectly in sync with the image of Mr. Bachchan.

Company: Avis Rent A Car

Founded : Michigan, US in 1946

Founder: Warren Avis

What is Avis: Avis Rent a Car System, LLC is a car rental company headquartered in New Jersey, United States and operates the Avis brand in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Shaan

He has entertained us for a long time with his melodious voice and now singer Shaan is doing his bit for the society too. Shaan has been roped in as the brand ambassador for an anti-tobacco campaign launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The playback singer also unveiled a special track called ‘Life Se Panga Mat Le Yaar‘ which aims to inspire the youth to quit smoking. The song has been written by Rekha Nigam.

At an event held at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Shaan said that he really felt closely attached to the cause of eradicating smoking habits and consumption of tobacco. He also expressed grief on losing his father to the evil that has engulfed the present society, and causes almost 1.6 million global deaths every year.

Sofia Vergara is the new brand ambassador of CoverGirl.

Sofia Vergara

The stunning 38-year-old actress shared the big news via Twitter and Facebook uploading some behind-the-scenes photos from her first shooting. The “Modern Family” star becomes part of an amazing group of beautiful women who represent the brand successfully such as Taylor Swift, Drew Barrymore, Halle Berry, Ellen DeGeneres, Queen Latifah, and Dania Ramirez.

Flavour: Auto Quiz

Where: www.carkhana.com/carq

When: Already live!! till 25th May 2011

What is CarKhana CarQ?

Inaugural series of dedicated quizzes to test your Automotive Quotient brought to you by Carkhana – India’s youngest and fastest growing community of automotive enthusiasts.

With more than 2000 members across social networking platforms, Carkhana today has carved a niche for itself in promoting the interests of automotive enthusiasts across India with its fun-filled interactive activities since its inception in January 2011. Car-Q is part of its series of activities wherein enthusiasts test their AQ and pamper themselves with some unique prizes

For more details, please connect with Carkhana @ Facebook www.facebook.com/carkhana or visit www.carkhana.com / dial in +91 9739863716

Ben Hillman

Black & Decker® Signs Ben Hillman as Brand Ambassador

Black & Decker®, the world’s largest producer of power tools and accessories has signed award winning TV designer and renovation expert Ben Hillman as its brand ambassador throughout 2011.

Ben will work with Black & Decker® across a series of projects including the launch of the new High Performance range of power tools. These new products are targeted at the confident DIYer that demands tougher tools for tougher jobs. The range of products offer power and high performance along with a number of other benefits that allow the user to successfully perform tasks that are traditionally considered jobs for a professional.

More on this story here

Karan Johar

Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar has been appointed brand ambassador of UK Tourism. Karan Johar will be face of 100 million campaign by UK Tourism to attract tourists from around the world.

Karan Johar will be part of VisitBritain’s global campaign “Britain You are Invited” that will aim to attract tourists in UK for the London Olympics. UK Tourism started the campaign by hiring Karan Johar to woo Indian tourists.

More on this story here

Hatsune Miku

Japanese car company Toyota has entered into a partnership with Hatsune Miku, a 3D holographic singer with a rising fan base in the US, to front its 2011 Corolla campaign for the Asian American market.

Toyota will sponsor the virtual singer’s first performance in the US, at the Nokia Theatre in LA as part of the Anime Expo 2011 as it rolls out a major marketing campaign including print, TV, digital and social media activity.

A recently released YouTube video of the holographic singer as part of the promotion, notched up in excess of half a million views in just three days.

For more details on the story, click here

You can also check Hatsune Miku’s video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI

Shriya Saran has now joined the likes of Bipasha Basu, by signing up as the brand ambassador of the McVitie’s.

Last year, she joined the likes of Shilpa Shetty, Katrina Kaif, and Sushmita Sen by becoming the brand ambassador of Pantene.

One can download Google Chrome and install the first batch of Angry Birds levels then (or just visit chrome.angrybirds.com, which works in most browsers), because Google and Rovio are giving their new browser-based version away free.

They’ve also added a few “Chrome-inspired” levels (these work in any browser, too). I can’t tell you what they look like, because you have to beat the first batch (“Poached Eggs”) to unlock them, and…well…okay, confession: I still haven’t beat “Poached Eggs” on my iPhone. No do-overs until I have the full complement of 189 of 189 gold stars, secured without the aid of the Mighty Eagle, mind you.

More details on this story here

Jessica Alba’s latest job is as brand ambassador for Swiss jewellery line Piaget . Getting paid to wear jewels – now that’s the mark of a true A-lister.