ITV

Category: Marketing

  • Mastercard clinches naming rights to McLaren Formula 1 team from 2026

    Mastercard clinches naming rights to McLaren Formula 1 team from 2026

    AMSTERDAM: Mastercard has signed a landmark naming-rights deal with McLaren Racing, under which the team will compete from 2026 as the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 team. The partnership is valued by industry observers at more than $100 million over several years, putting it among the top tier of F1 sponsorship agreements.

    The announcement was made in Amsterdam by Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s chief marketing and communications officer and founding president of its healthcare business, alongside McLaren chief executive Zak Brown and drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

    Rajamannar said the tie-up rested on shared values of innovation, performance and fan engagement. “McLaren is the number one team, and this partnership allows us to connect fans to the sport in ways never seen before,” he said.

    As part of the deal, Mastercard unveiled Team Priceless, a global fan programme aimed at bringing supporters closer to the action through behind-the-scenes access, immersive digital activations and exclusive experiences with the drivers.

    The timing is strategic. Formula 1’s popularity has surged since Liberty Media acquired the sport in 2017 for $8 billion. Global TV audiences now exceed 500 million per year, with more than 45 per cent of viewers under 35 — a demographic highly prized by brands. Social media engagement grew 23 per cent year-on-year in 2024, making F1 the fastest-growing sports property online.

    McLaren, meanwhile, has staged a revival, finishing fourth in the constructors’ championship last season and securing eight podiums. New technical regulations in 2026, including hybrid power units with 50 per cent electrical output, are expected to level the playing field — an opportunity McLaren intends to seize with fresh investment.

    For Mastercard, the move reinforces a sponsorship strategy that already spans the UEFA Champions League, the Rugby World Cup and the Australian Open. Sports partnerships account for a significant portion of its global marketing spend, estimated at over $1.7 billion annually. By attaching its name directly to an F1 team, the company is betting that the sport’s glamour and youthful audience will deliver long-term brand dividends.

  • Festive fever goes long haul as India’s holiday season stretches nine weeks

    Festive fever goes long haul as India’s holiday season stretches nine weeks

    MUMBAI: Turns out Diwali isn’t the full stop anymore, it’s just the comma. Appsflyer’s India Festive Report 2025, based on a hefty 20.5 million installs and over 576 million dollars in ad spend, reveals that the country’s high-stakes festive season has stretched from a week-long Diwali blitz into a nine-week marathon of consumer intent.

    The numbers tell the story. Gaming apps saw post-Diwali install growth of 29 per cent, while Food and Drink apps climbed 16 per cent as celebratory cravings lingered. Travel on Android skyrocketed with a 40 per cent jump in remarketing spend, showing that the festive bug bit long after the firecrackers faded. Meanwhile, Ios Shopping apps logged a 20 per cent rise in session volumes post-Diwali, fuelled by extended discounts and gift redemptions.

    But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Fraud rates ballooned: Food and Drink apps on Ios hit 60 per cent, a 176 per cent increase while Android Entertainment fraud climbed 74 per cent, exposing how loosened controls around gifting windows can make campaigns vulnerable.

    Appsflyer GM for INSEA and ANZ Sanjay Trisal put it bluntly: “India’s festive season is no longer a one-week race to Diwali. It’s a sustained momentum period. To win, brands must pace budgets, double down on post-Diwali remarketing, and adapt strategies by platform.”

    The report also flagged missed opportunities: gaming led install growth but saw little remarketing activity, limiting retention and monetisation. Shopping apps fared better, with the top ten increasing Share of Paying Users by 32 per cent year-on-year, powered by smoother checkouts and brand trust.

    Meta’s Rishad Chindamada added that mobile is where the action is: “Full-funnel marketing, AI-driven optimisation, and channels like reels and business messaging can take brands from awareness to loyalty in this extended season.”

    For marketers, the playbook is clear:

    ●   Reallocate remarketing to the post-Diwali window, when intent is high but competition thins.

    ●   Time strategies by platform Android for long-tail gains, Ios for sharp, front-loaded pushes.

    ●   Retain beyond Day 7 with reactivation flows between Days 10–14.

    ●   Harden fraud protection during peak gifting surges.

    In short, the festive season is now less of a sprint, more of a Test match and those who play the long game stand to win big.

  • Mondelez elevates Nikhil Nicholas to global brand director of Cadbury Dairy Milk

    Mondelez elevates Nikhil Nicholas to global brand director of Cadbury Dairy Milk

    ZURICH: Mondelez International has promoted Nikhil Nicholas to global brand director of Cadbury Dairy Milk, placing him in charge of one of the confectionery giant’s most prized assets. He will be based in Zurich.

    Nicholas, who has spent more than 16 years at Mondelez, was most recently global marketing manager for Cadbury. His career has taken him across Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur and Zurich, spanning sales, innovation and category leadership. He has been closely associated with Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk and chocolate innovation in Asia-Pacific, as well as leading marketing for South East Asia.

    Starting out in customer development and sales roles in India, he steadily climbed through the ranks, moving into brand management in 2013. By 2019, he was senior marketing manager for equity and innovation in South East Asia, before taking on the region’s chocolate marketing lead. In 2023, he shifted to Zurich to handle global duties.

    The promotion cements his role as the custodian of a brand that has defined affordable indulgence for generations and remains central to Mondelez’s global chocolate portfolio.

  • Diageo appoints Aanandita Datta as vp marketing and category head

    Diageo appoints Aanandita Datta as vp marketing and category head

    MUMBAI: Diageo India has named Aanandita Datta as its new vice president, marketing and category head. She moves from Pizza Hut, where she was chief marketing officer for India and the subcontinent, and before that spent nearly a decade at Unilever.

    A marketing veteran with 19 years of experience, Datta has worked across categories from oral care and foods to beverages. She launched and scaled brands such as Sensodyne and Lipton, built new categories like green tea and sensitive oral care, and led Horlicks’ major relaunch in 2010. At Pizza Hut, she drove campaigns to court young consumers and make the brand part of “young India’s daily life”.

    Datta described herself as a “storyteller with a curious mind”, saying her purpose lay in “exploring the unknown and inspiring others to do the same”. She has previously managed portfolios worth over €1.3bn, partnered with the UN and Indian government on sustainability projects, and steered both disruptive innovation and mature-brand growth.

    At Diageo, she takes charge of marketing strategy and category development in one of India’s most competitive consumer markets.

  • Nike takes a walk with Yu-Gi-Oh! for Joey Wheeler-inspired Air Max 95

    Nike takes a walk with Yu-Gi-Oh! for Joey Wheeler-inspired Air Max 95

    MUMBAI: Konami Cross Media NY and Nike have cut a deal that pulls one of anime’s most beloved universes straight into sneaker culture. The new Nike Air Max 95 QS YGO, inspired by Kazuki Takahashi’s Yu-Gi-Oh!, lands this September alongside a capsule of apparel. At its heart: Joey Wheeler—Yugi’s brash, loyal sidekick—recast as a global athlete.

    The tie-up is more than a simple branding exercise. It comes with a full-blown campaign fronted by the original English and Japanese voice actors from the anime series, blurring the line between nostalgia and contemporary fashion. For fans who grew up duelling with trading cards or glued to Toonami, the sneaker is both a collector’s item and a wearable badge of fandom.

    Konami Cross Media senior vice-president of licensing and marketing Jennifer Coleman said Nike’s handling of the project had been “extraordinary”. She credited the brand with bringing “passion, care and attention to detail” and praised its “unique vision of Yu-Gi-Oh! characters and fans as athletes”, a framing she said would “redefine how audiences connect with their favourite characters, especially Joey Wheeler.”

    Nike, never shy of myth-making, pitched the collaboration as part of its broader belief that sport is a limitless canvas. Dave Vericker, the company’s senior director of neighbourhood merchandise, said: “We didn’t invent this lore: it was born organically from the community. Through our partnership with Konami, we wanted to show love to longtime fans and inspire the next generation by bringing a beloved, mythical story to life through design.”

    The collection is built around two centrepieces: a global release of the “Joey” colourway and apparel on 12 September via Nike’s Snkrs app and select partners, and a Japan-exclusive “Jonouchi” version—named for the character’s original manga identity—dropping on the same day in local stores.

    The timing is apt. Yu-Gi-Oh! has spent more than 25 years as a fixture in global pop culture, with over 1,000 anime episodes, countless manga volumes and one of the world’s most enduring trading card games. For Nike, the collaboration is both a courtship of older millennial collectors and a way to seed loyalty among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, for whom anime has become as much a cultural touchstone as sport.

    Nike’s mission statement has long been: “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” This partnership stretches that definition further—suggesting that even duelists, strategists and manga heroes can lace up and join the ranks.

  • Slurrp Farm stirs up joy with ‘Real Food Really Easy’ mealtime reset

    Slurrp Farm stirs up joy with ‘Real Food Really Easy’ mealtime reset

    MUMBAI: Because let’s face it kids don’t care if the pancake looks like a Michelin star creation. They just want it fluffy, tasty, and on their plate fast. Slurrp Farm, India’s leading millet-based kids’ food brand, has cooked up a new campaign titled “Real Food. Really Easy.”, and it’s flipping the script on mealtime expectations. At the heart of the campaign lies a refreshing truth: children chase joy, not picture-perfect plating. The hero film captures lived-in moments wobbly pancakes, flour-dusted kitchens, families laughing together all underscoring the message that wholesome food made from clean ingredients, with minimal prep, is what actually matters.

    “An empty plate is every mother’s dream,” said Slurrp Farm co-founder Meghana Narayan, adding that Slurrp Farm was built so that “yummy, junk-free food becomes an easy choice every day.” Fellow co-founder Shauravi Malik echoed that ethos, stressing the brand’s focus on real ingredients, quick prep, and meals kids reach for again and again.

    Wholsum Foods chief marketing officer Ankit Kapoor (parent of Slurrp Farm and Mille), summed it up with a smile: “Food that’s eaten, not picture-perfect.”

    The campaign, conceptualised in-house at Wholsum Foods by creative director Vaani Arora, directed by Angshuman Ghosh and produced by Paper Planes, will roll out across digital and social platforms. Always-on storytelling will showcase kid-approved, quick-to-fix meals that balance nutrition with flavour.

    Since its launch, Slurrp Farm has become a pioneer in making millets mainstream, offering products that make parents’ lives easier while keeping children happily fed. With this reset, it’s positioning itself not just as a food brand, but as an honest voice in India’s crowded packaged food industry, one that dares to say mealtime joy beats Instagram perfection every time.

    After all, in a world of spotless plating and polished reels, Slurrp Farm is proudly serving up the beauty of an empty plate and a full heart.

  • Triooh makes a big splash with 150-site debut campaign across India

    Triooh makes a big splash with 150-site debut campaign across India

    MUMBAI: When it comes to making a first impression, Triooh went straight for the skyline. The new-age out-of-home (OOH) advertising agency has burst onto the scene with a 16-day mega campaign across 150 plus high-impact sites, executed for a leading global messenger app. The campaign spanned some of India’s busiest hubs Delhi NCR, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh Tri-City, and Jaipur ensuring pan-India buzz and visibility. By rolling out the campaign simultaneously across these cities, Triooh made sure the brand didn’t just show up but showed up everywhere.

    True to its promise of blending creativity with technology, Triooh powered the rollout with a live campaign dashboard integrated into its in-house monitoring app. This gave the client real-time access to daily site images and audience analytics across all 150 plus locations making performance tracking as transparent as the billboards themselves.

    “Launching with a high-impact campaign for a large messenger app marked a dream start for us,” said Triooh CEO & co-founder Anuj Bhandari. “We received a simple but powerful brief: deliver scale and consistency across multiple cities. With our tech-first, transparent approach, we were able to meet the objective and reinforce client trust through tools like customised live-reporting dashboards.”

    The campaign’s scale and execution underline Triooh’s ability to balance reach with efficiency, while raising the bar for accountability in India’s fiercely competitive OOH sector. For a debut, the agency didn’t just step into the limelight, it practically owned it.

  • LunchBox serves up Onam feast with a tongue-twisting festive challenge

    LunchBox serves up Onam feast with a tongue-twisting festive challenge

    MUMBAI: What’s harder, finishing a 20-dish feast or pronouncing “Erissery” without fumbling? This Onam, Lunchbox is spicing up celebrations by offering both: a Mini Onam Sadhya delivered nationwide and a quirky Pronunciation Challenge that could win you a trip to Kerala. Traditionally, the Onam Sadhya is a vegetarian banquet of over 20 dishes served on a banana leaf from the creamy Kaalan to the subtly spiced Avial. LunchBox is packaging this cultural spectacle into a homely yet festive offering that travels from Kerala kitchens to tables across India.

    For non-Malayalis, names like Thoran, Olan, and Erissery often trip the tongue, so LunchBox turned it into a nationwide game. Every Sadhya order comes with a sleeve featuring dish names and a QR code leading to an AI-generated video of King Mahabali himself teaching you the right way to say them. Diners are then invited to record a 15-second voice note and send it via Instagram DM for a chance to win.

    The prize menu is as generous as the feast:

    ●   Grand Prize: A couple’s all-expenses-paid trip to Kerala (flights, hotels, breakfasts).

    ●   2nd & 3rd Prize: Staycations for two couples in Kerala.

    ●   Holiday vouchers worth Rs 5,000 for two winners.

    ●   Rs 500 flight discounts for 16,000 customers on domestic routes.

    The travel rewards come through LunchBox’s exclusive tie-up with Easemytrip.

    Explaining the concept Rebel Food CMO Nishant Kedia said: “Onam is about joy, unity, and sharing. The Pronunciation Challenge goes beyond food, it builds connections, sparks laughter, and opens the festival to everyone.”

    For foodies in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad, the competition adds another festive layer to the banana-leaf banquet. And for those simply craving comfort food, LunchBox’s chefs have ensured the Sadhya still feels like a slice of Kerala, no matter the pin code.

    With flavour, fun, and even free holidays on the plate, Lunchbox has ensured that this Onam celebration is anything but ordinary.

  • Ad Club Bangalore snaps up Gen Z insights at Inspiration Room

    Ad Club Bangalore snaps up Gen Z insights at Inspiration Room

    MUMBAI: When it comes to decoding Gen Z, even advertising veterans know they can’t just swipe left on change. The Advertising Club Bangalore’s 15th Inspiration Room lit up last Wednesday with over 100 participants, all keen to grasp how the next generation is reshaping consumption and culture.

    The evening kicked off with Gauri Kumar, who dived straight into the world of Augmented Reality (AR). From Bitmojis to AR lenses, she showed how brands like Myntra and Swiggy are already harnessing Snapchat’s creative toolkit to create scroll-stopping campaigns. “The challenge for brands is no longer access to AR, it’s how creatively you use it,” she quipped, adding that Snapchat has democratised AR production. A live demo on building AR experiences gave attendees a tangible taste of the future of branded engagement.

    Next up Snap Inc. India head of growth Chirag Kohli unpacked how Gen Z, who already command 43 per cent of consumer spend (a figure tipped to hit 50 per cent in the next decade), are redefining commerce. For them, shopping is not just transactional, it’s “shopcialising”, where trends, visuals, and community matter more than price tags. Kohli revealed that 63 per cent of Snapchat users have made purchases on the platform, proving its dual role as both a connection hub and a commerce driver.

    With creators becoming the new search engines and Snapchat pushing India-first features with a camera-first design, the session painted a vivid picture of how phygital is no longer a buzzword but a behaviour. “Attention is scarce, impressions are abundant,” Kohli warned, urging brands to deliver joy and community to cut through the noise.

    Closing the evening Ad Club Bangalore president Laeeq Ali announced that the Club itself is making its Snapchat debut. “This edition has set the bar high for what’s to come,” he said, noting how AR’s blend of code, 3D graphics, and storytelling is redefining advertising playbooks.

    For a series built on sparking inspiration, this edition proved why the Inspiration Room remains the place where marketers, creators, and technologists come together to catch the next big wave before it even trends.

  • The Rise of Online Astrology Consultations And How They’re Changing Lives

    The Rise of Online Astrology Consultations And How They’re Changing Lives

    Astrology has always been part of daily life in many cultures, and today, its online presence continues the traditional values with emerging technology. This shift helps to bring more clarity on relationships, career and personal growth. Astrology is a guide to know our destiny and the possible outcome of our actions. In this context, here is a simple guide to understand why this traditional culture is taking a modern shift.

    Why are Online Astrology Services Increasing?

    Digital astrology gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all business meetings and education were shifting to the online mode. Meanwhile, the most influential factors for the rise of online astrology have become its convenience, privacy and accessibility. After you register on such platforms, you can talk to an astrologer for free, anytime and anywhere, for the first time.

    What are the Main Services Available on Online Astrology Platforms?

    Online astrology platforms are expanding to offer more services apart from the simple daily horoscope creation, comparison, and checks. Each service has its own significance, and it ensures that every person gets targeted insights as per their life circumstances. Here are some of them:

    1. Convenient Online Consultations

    Online astrology services allow you to instantly connect with an astrologer via chat and calls. This communication strategy increases accessibility to professional advice at your convenience.

    2. Personalised Horoscope Reading

    You can access customised horoscope predictions just by providing your birth details like time, date and place to the astrologers. These readings allow you to get insights about your strengths, challenges you may face and life opportunities.

    3. Comprehensive Kundali Matching

    This calculator allows you to compare the Gunas of the bride and groom to highlight potential strengths and challenges in their relationship. The higher scores on the Kundali represent the strengths and weaknesses of their bond. However, those getting lower scores need not worry, as these astrologers also offer suggested remedies and solutions.

    4. Daily Panchang Information

    Panchang has Tithi, Yang, Nagstar, and Karan information. They also give insights about he time of sunset, sunrise, moonset, and moonrise. These aspects are used in determining auspicious moments for carrying out different events and rituals.

    5. Detailed Kundali Reading

    Kundali is used as the cosmic blueprint to indicate different aspects of life, including health, career, love, etc. All you have to do is provide information such as your name, date of birth, gender, place and time of birth to receive your kundali through online astrology services.

    6. 24/7 Expert Availability

    Online astrology services are always available to answer your queries. Many of them offer free talk to astrologers for kundali or horoscope reading. You can get in touch with these experts anytime, depending on your convenience. Since the conversation is discreet, you can discuss anything without worrying about the information getting leaked.

    How Technology is Shaping Astrology?

    Technology is enhancing online consultations with expert astrologers. You can connect with experts through the following methods:

    ●   Chat: You can instantly chat with astrologers to bring clarity about kundali reading, panchang information and many more.

    ●   Call: Calling allows you to express your needs clearly and describe in detail what you are looking for.

    Why You Should Prefer Online Consultation?

    Online astrology consultation brings privacy and convenience in one place. With platforms like Astrochat.com, you will get free talk to astrologers to discuss issues related to your relationships, marriage compatibility, career growth, health and many more. So, register and get comprehensive guidance about life!