MAM

THROWBACK: Shashi Sinha remembers his days with Verghese Kurien

Published

5 years ago

September 7, 2020

NEW DELHI: The father of White Revolution, Dr Verghese Kurien is a highly respected man in the business as well as the advertising world. Probably the only client who has given a free hand to all the agencies to follow their convictions and handle the business without worrying about making blunders, he has remained an inspiration to many.

One such person who has admittedly learnt a lot from the firebrand leader and visionary is the IPG Mediabrands CEO–India Shashi Sinha. In a fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, Sinha reminisced about the golden days he spent working for Kurien and his iconic brand Amul.

“It was the monsoon of 1986 when I had first met Dr Kurien. I was five-six months old at Ulka when he just showed up, with Vivek Matthai, at our agency’s reception to meet our boss Bal Mundkur. Our secretary did not know who he was and made him sit in the conference room while she looked around to find someone to meet the man. Luckily, I was the first person she saw,” he shared with a smile.

“Now, I had an idea who Dr Kurien was but I was still unaware of the scale of the business he was creating. I entered the room and he asked me where my boss was. I told him Bal Mukund was not around. It dawned on me how big a person was sitting in front of me when he invited our team to visit Anand. And I was at a loss of words suddenly, stuttering. Nevertheless, he put me at ease and asked why don’t I come over too,” he added.

Sinha was stunned and also amazed at the fact that a client of his stature himself visited the agency to meet the team.

After a week or so, a team from Ulka visited Anand, including Sinha, who was the junior most member of the cavalry.

“I went there with my bosses, who were all very experienced senior people, who started introducing themselves to Dr Kurien sharing their background and experiences. And he suddenly said, ‘That’s the problem in our country. You people come and join brands and make a blue soap if that doesn’t work you make a red soap, and if that too doesn’t work, you make a green soap…’ Then he talked to us for an hour, very passionately about the cooperative movement and Amul,” Sinha quipped.

Sinha himself was sitting in a corner at that time, smiling to himself thinking how lucky he was to be sitting in the farthest corner and not getting a chance to introduce himself.

“Young man, why are you laughing,” Dr Kurien asked Sinha, who replied, “Because whatever you are saying is so nice and at the same time it is humorous we are on the wrong foot.”

“If I may say so, that was the moment that Dr Kurien grew a liking to me,” Sinha proudly shared.

He further shared another incident, about the first pitch Ulka took to Dr Kurien for Amulya powder.

“He had called our team once and said that he doesn’t work on a project basis and works with long-time partnerships. Once I hire someone, they will be with me for life. But I will start with a small project. So, he gave us Amulya powder and asked us to come back a few days later with our ideas.”

His team went with five creatives after fifteen days and presented them to the team, including Dr Kurien.

“At the end, he asked us which one we recommended out of the five. Now, there was a painful silence in the room as everyone was so intimidated with a big man asking a question like that. So, I picked up a pack and he just walked out of the room. Everyone turned to me asking what I had done,” Shashi enthusiastically shared.

“That day, he gave us a message that he trusts us as professionals. He expected all of us to come to the meetings with a point of view and stand by our convictions. He will obviously ask questions, but he won’t question our decision. The second thing he said to us is that every mistake is allowed and it won’t impact our partnership or financial integrity. And he stood true to that. We made hundreds of blunders and he pardoned us a lot. As far as the Amulya packaging is concerned, it is still there.”

Sinha proudly shared that during his more than three-decade-long association with Dr Kurein he learnt a lot about life and work. “I am so happy that I crossed paths with a man like him at such a young age in my career. He taught me the value of strong focus and integrity. He taught me how important it is to have conviction and having the big picture. He always said that more than anything, it is important to be true to yourself.”

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Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

6 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

6 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

MAM

Washington Post CEO exits abruptly after newsroom cuts spark backlash

Leadership change follows layoffs, protests and a bruising battle over trust.

Published

6 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When the presses are rolling but patience runs out, even the editor’s chair isn’t safe. The Washington Post announced on Saturday that its chief executive and publisher Will Lewis is stepping down with immediate effect, bringing a sudden end to a turbulent two-year tenure marked by financial strain, newsroom unrest and public backlash.

Lewis’s exit comes just days after the Bezos-owned newspaper announced sweeping job cuts that triggered protests outside its Washington headquarters and a wave of anger from readers and staff. While newspapers across the US are grappling with shrinking revenues and digital disruption, Lewis’s leadership had increasingly come under fire for how those pressures were handled.

The Post confirmed that Jeff D’Onofrio, a former Tumblr CEO who joined the organisation last year as chief financial officer, has taken over as CEO and publisher, effective immediately. In an email to staff, later shared by reporters on social media, Lewis said it was “the right time for me to step aside.”

The leadership change follows the announcement of large-scale redundancies earlier this week. While the Post did not officially confirm numbers, The New York Times reported that around 300 of the paper’s roughly 800 journalists were laid off. Entire teams were dismantled, including the Post’s Middle East bureau and its Kyiv-based correspondent covering the war in Ukraine.

Sports, graphics and local reporting were sharply reduced, and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended. On Thursday, hundreds of journalists and supporters gathered outside the Post’s downtown office in protest, calling the cuts a blow to public-interest journalism.

Former executive editor Marty Baron described the moment as “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations.”

Lewis defended his record in his farewell note, saying “difficult decisions” were taken to secure the paper’s long-term future and protect its ability to publish “high-quality nonpartisan news”. But his tenure coincided with growing scrutiny of editorial independence at the Post.

Owner Jeff Bezos faced criticism for reining in the paper’s traditionally liberal editorial page and blocking an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 US election. The move was widely seen as breaking the long-standing firewall between ownership and editorial decision-making.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, around 250,000 digital subscribers cancelled their subscriptions after the paper declined to endorse Harris. The Post reportedly lost about $100 million in 2024 as advertising and subscription revenues slid.

While the wider newspaper industry continues to battle declining print advertising and the pull of social media, some national titles have stabilised. Rivals such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have managed to build sustainable digital businesses, a turnaround that has so far eluded the Post despite its billionaire backing.

As Jeff D’Onofrio steps into the role, the challenge is stark, restore confidence inside the newsroom, win back readers who walked away, and prove that one of America’s most storied newspapers can still find its footing in a brutally competitive media landscape.