ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • Citykart dials up the drama with a Hindi cinema summer fashion blockbuster

    Citykart dials up the drama with a Hindi cinema summer fashion blockbuster

    MUMBAI: Citykart has just dropped a summer campaign that’s got more drama than a daily soap and more flair than a 90s hero’s wardrobe. Aptly titled ‘Rang Aur Riwaaz,’ the campaign transforms its 137 stores into mini Hindi cinema sets, blending nostalgia, humour, and masala with big, bold value deals. And yes, there’s a Hindi cinema playlist too. If your retail therapy lacked entertainment, Citykart just changed the script.

    On 24 March 2025, the brand launched its summer collection with an OOH blitz that screams ‘filmy fever’. Auto-hoods, billboards, in-store branding, and social media channels have all been swept into this cinematic storm. At the centre of it all? Irresistible offers like ‘BillBuster: Get Duffle Bag/Dry Iron/Water Jug Combo/Dinner Set @249’ and cashback on every purchase.

    The star of the show isn’t just the clothes—it’s the campaign’s attitude. With cheeky lines like “Ja Simran Ja, Kar le shopping Citykart se”, the ads tap into Hindi cinema’s most iconic one-liners. Think retail meets reel life. The campaign, created by Citykart and executed by cloud-based agency Fatleg, aims to fuse cultural familiarity with design that pops louder than a Holi colour cannon.

    “We are excited to launch this campaign, which ensures that every member of a family can embrace vibrant and budget-friendly fashion. Moreover, Citykart is dedicated to making fashion more accessible and a trendsetter for Gen Zs. This collection caters to the bold, expressive, and trend-conscious spirit of today’s youth. From street-style influences to Hindi cinema-inspired elements, we’re ensuring that Gen Z can step into summer with outfits that are Instagram-worthy and affordable,” said Citykart director Sudhanshu Agarwal.

    Fatleg’s founder Anoop K Nair chimed in with equal enthusiasm, “We at Fatleg, had a great time working with Citykart on their summer campaign! Instead of using a traditional product shoot, we took a fresh approach by incorporating Hindi cinema inspired dialogues and popular memes, a format that instantly connects with the target audience. We were thrilled to bring Citykart’s vision to life. The real fun was seeing how well it resonated with the audience, making the campaign more engaging, relatable, and shareable within the industry.”

    To keep the filmi vibe rolling, Citykart is pumping a specially curated playlist through stores, giving every shopper a chance to feel like the main character. Add top influencers and local celebs into the mix, and you’ve got a campaign that’s as shareable as it is shoppable.

    Citykart isn’t just selling shirts and sarees. It’s selling nostalgia, drama, and the pure joy of shouting Yeh dil maange more while snagging a dinner set for under 300 bucks. Budget fashion just got a Hindi cinema reboot, and it’s playing near you.

  • Henna Pande returns to FCB Kinnect as EVP – north, ready for a new chapter

    Henna Pande returns to FCB Kinnect as EVP – north, ready for a new chapter

    MUMBAI: FCB Kinnect has welcomed back Henna Pande as executive vice president – north. Following a well-deserved sabbatical in 2024 to focus on personal well-being, she is set to steer the agency’s Delhi operations towards further expansion and innovation.

    With over 15 years in the industry, Pande played a pivotal role in strengthening Kinnect’s presence in the north. During her six-year tenure, culminating as vice president (North), she expanded the Delhi team from 15 to over 100 professionals and worked with global clients such as Amazon, Nokia, Bausch + Lomb, vivo, and Vistara.

    “Rejoining FCB Kinnect feels like returning home,” Pande shared. “Having built the Delhi operations from the ground up, I look forward to this next phase. Working with Rohan Mehta and Chandni Shah has always been an exciting, high-impact experience. Now, with Neville and Priyanka driving an idea-first culture, we have a distinct advantage in turning bold creative thinking into measurable success. The ambition and vision at Kinnect are unparalleled, and I am eager to set new benchmarks and make a meaningful impact.”

    FCB Kinnect & FCB/SIX India CEO Mehta described Pande as a driving force in the industry, with a keen understanding of business and a strong ability to blend innovation with operational excellence.

    COO Shah added, “Pande has been instrumental in shaping our presence in the north. She understands what makes Kinnect unique – a culture built on creativity, agility, and seamless collaboration. With her back in Delhi, we are poised for even greater success.”

  • Fashion veteran Sumit Dhingra steps into Bestseller India’s top shoes

    Fashion veteran Sumit Dhingra steps into Bestseller India’s top shoes

    MUMBAI: Bestseller India has tapped Sumit Dhingra as its new country director, poaching the fashion veteran from footwear phenomenon Crocs where he most recently headed operations across India, southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

    Dhingra brings over two decades of fashion and lifestyle industry expertise to the Danish clothing company, with a CV that reads like a who’s who of retail powerhouses. His appointment signals Bestseller’s determination to put its best foot forward in the burgeoning Indian market.

    Before making waves at Crocs, Dhingra cut his teeth at several fashion heavyweights, including a near-decade stint at Arvind Fashions Ltd where he served as senior vice president and chief executive for Arrow, Izod and Aéropostale. He previously held leadership positions at United Colors of Benetton India and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.

    Bestseller chief executive Anders Holch Povlsen highlighted India’s strategic importance to the company’s global ambitions and welcomed Sumit to the company. 

    Dhingra appears ready to hit the ground running, with plans to expand Bestseller’s market presence, jazz up the customer experience, and drive sustainable growth in what industry insiders describe as a “transformative phase” for the company’s Indian operations.

    With brands like Jack & Jones, Vero Moda, and Only in its portfolio, Bestseller will be banking on Dhingra’s proven track record of brand building and retail expansion to stitch up a larger share of India’s fashion market. Fashion watchers will be keen to see if he can work the same magic that made Crocs’ distinctive footwear impossible to dodge on Indian streets.

  • Aprajit Kathuria bags top e-commerce role at Atomberg

    Aprajit Kathuria bags top e-commerce role at Atomberg

    MUMBAI: After five years of helping consumers slip into something more comfortable at Solethreads, Aprajit Kathuria has stepped into a new role as head of ecommerce at Atomberg Technologies.

    The marketing maven brings more than a dozen years of sales and marketing nous to the table, including his recent five-year stint as co-founder and chief marketing officer at the casual footwear brand, where he built the direct-to-consumer business from scratch.

    “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as head of ecommerce at Atomberg Technologies,” Kathuria announced on his LinkedIn profile.

    At Solethreads, Kathuria wore many hats—handling D2C business, performance marketing and expanding into retail with exclusive brand outlets. Under his watch, the company transformed from a bootstrapped venture to one backed by leading consumer VCs.

    His CV boasts impressive stints at consumer goods heavyweights Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Marico, where he helped establish digital-first brands and scale up e-commerce operations. At HUL, he reportedly grew monthly sales on Amazon by over 10 times in just one year.

    The computer science graduate’s career kicked off at Cavinkare, where he doubled monthly turnover within three months and achieved 90 per cent sales growth in his region.

    His academic credentials include an MBA in marketing from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, where he participated in various marketing competitions and managed to squeeze in time for lawn tennis, singing and creative writing.

    With his knack for growing online sales and building brands from the ground up, Atomberg will be hoping Kathuria can generate some electric results in his new role.

  • Dream11’s star-studded campaign yields record concurrency on IPL 2025 Day one

    Dream11’s star-studded campaign yields record concurrency on IPL 2025 Day one

    MUMBAI: Dream11 has kicked off the IPL season with a bang, smashing records faster than a Hardik Pandya six. The fantasy cricket platform registered an admiration worthy 16.5m concurrent users during the tournament opener between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore—testament to a marketing campaign that began brewing in the boardroom nearly eight months ago.

    Dream11 chief marketing officer Vikrant Mudaliar orchestrated what industry insiders describe as a “logistical hat-trick” by corralling Bollywood heavyweights Ranbir Kapoor and Aamir Khan alongside cricketing royalty Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav for this season’s television commercial.

    The campaign’s central question—”Aap key team mein kaun?” (Who’s in your team?)—taps into the very essence of fantasy cricket while resonating with fans across the subcontinent. With Dream11 already boasting 240m users,  Mudaliar’s sights are firmly set on the next 100m cricket-mad Indians.

    “We needed a reach of 500-600 million,” he revealed to Storyboard18. “Only cricket and the IPL and Indian cinema combined can deliver that level of exposure.” The campaign, directed by Nitesh Tiwari of Dangal fame, required military-precision planning with multiple sets, parallel shoots and a complex scheduling ballet to accommodate the stars’ limited availability.

    The adverts, filmed over several days in party settings, in planes, showcase something rarely seen in Indian advertising: self-deprecation from genuine celebrities. “The ability to poke fun at oneself requires a certain maturity,” noted  Mudaliar. “Much of the humour came from the celebrities themselves.”

    Such starry productions don’t come cheap, with budgets reportedly running into  crores. However, Dream11 has optimised its marketing spend by stepping back from co-presenting sponsorship of IPL broadcasts, instead betting big on creative quality.

    The strategy appears to be paying dividends. While Amit Sharma, chief technology officer, and his team work feverishly behind the scenes to keep the platform running smoothly under unprecedented traffic on Day 1 of the IPL as Virat Kohli blasted RCB to a victory over reigning champions KKR, Dream11’s war room is celebrating a return on investment that even the shrewdest fantasy cricket player would envy.

    As  Vikrant might say: when you’ve got the Hitman, Pandya, Sky, Rishabh, Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor on your team sheet, century-making becomes considerably easier.

  • Infinix India challenges industry hype with its Questionthenoise campaign

    Infinix India challenges industry hype with its Questionthenoise campaign

    MUMBAI: Infinix India’s new campaign, Questionthenoise, championing substance over spectacle. With a satirical twist, the brand film takes a playful dig at excessive marketing tactics, spotlighting product innovation as the true measure of value.

    Piyush Khati, known for his role in Netflix’s class, the ad creatively depicts a scenario where Infinix’s marketing team is left scrambling with a minimal budget. The reason? The company poured its resources into refining the Note 50x 5G+ its latest smartphone designed to prioritise performance and user experience over glitzy promotion.

    The campaign underscores Infinix’s commitment to delivering real value through cutting-edge technology. The Note 50x 5G+ packs a punch with Android 15-based Xos 15, offering enhanced personalisation, fluid animations, and smarter AI capabilities. Powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate Soc, it promises lightning-fast performance. Additional features include ultra-fast charging, military-grade certification, and a sleek, stylish design.

    “With Questionthenoise, we want consumers to focus on what truly matters—the product,” said Infinix India CEO Anish Kapoor. “We believe that genuine innovation speaks for itself. The Note 50x 5G+ is designed to offer meaningful features at an accessible price, without the need for flashy promotions.” 

  • TVS Motor turbocharges its global team with Peyman Kargar at the helm

    TVS Motor turbocharges its global team with Peyman Kargar at the helm

    MUMBAI: Bengaluru has just thrown another spice into the global business curry with TVS Motor Company’s latest executive shuffle. The appointment of Peyman Kargar as head of international business isn’t just another corporate chess move—it’s akin to placing a turbocharger in an already speeding vehicle. Settling in Dubai, Kargar is expected to race through the global markets with the grit of a seasoned rally driver.

    With a swagger that could rival any high-flyer’s, Kargar steps into his new role with over three decades of vrooming across the automotive sectors of Europe, Asia, and the middle east. “Peyman’s prolific global leadership experience and expertise will add significant value to the company,” declared TVS Motor Company director & CEO K.N. Radhakrishnan.

    Having previously chaired the luxury skids as Infiniti global chairman & president, and having steered Nissan’s Datsun across 80 countries, Kargar isn’t new to the fast lanes. His stint with Infiniti turned heads not just for sleek designs but for robust sales, catapulting the brand’s volume by 20 per cent and cruising towards a billion-dollar profit mark. Before his grand tour with Nissan and Renault, Kargar had already been mapping the terrains of 50 countries, steering a whopping 4 billion euros in turnover. It’s safe to say, when it comes to the global auto-route, Kargar knows every shortcut and speed bump.

    Stationed in Dubai, the crossroad of continents, Kargar’s gearbox is well-equipped with a Mechanical Engineering degree and an MBA focusing on finance, strategy, and leadership. This isn’t just about managing auto parts; it’s about driving a corporate philosophy that shifts gears towards expansive horizons. “We are confident that under his leadership, we will further strengthen our market position and continue to set benchmarks. We wish him the very best and welcome him to the TVSM family,” Radhakrishnan revved up.

    For now, Kargar’s hands are firmly on the wheel, and it looks like he’s got the road map to success.

  • Ashish Mahendru hangs up boots as Sarup Industries CFO

    Ashish Mahendru hangs up boots as Sarup Industries CFO

    MUMBAI: In what can only be described as the corporate equivalent of dropping a bombshell and swiftly leaving the room, Ashish Mahendru waved goodbye to his role as chief financial officer at Sarup Industries Ltd. on 20 March 2025. Just when you thought the balance sheets couldn’t get any drier, Mahendru’s surprise exit has shaken things up like a martini—stirred, not shaken.

    In a terse statement, Sarup Industries confirmed the resignation, stating, “Take note of the resignation given by Ashish Mahendru from the post of Chief Financial Officer And KMP of the company w.e.f 20.03.2025.” Straight to the point, eh?

    Mahendru, a chartered accountant by profession, cited personal reasons for his immediate departure, requesting the board to promptly submit necessary paperwork to the registrar of companies, Punjab & Chandigarh. One might wonder if corporate bureaucracy was finally too much for our number-crunching protagonist to handle. Who knew financial statements could inspire such drama?

    In his resignation letter, Mahendru graciously reflected on his stint, saying, “I have been fortunate to employ in M/s Sarup Industries limited. I have learnt a lot during my tenure in your organisation and I take this opportunity to thank the board of directors for their support and guidance during my tenure.”

    The board meeting to address Mahendru’s resignation lasted just 20 minutes, perhaps indicating the CFO’s decision left little room for debate or perhaps the directors had lunch reservations they couldn’t cancel. Whatever the case, Sarup Industries is now on the prowl for a new financial wizard to crunch numbers and, hopefully, stay a tad longer.

    Was it the spreadsheets? Was it the relentless pursuit of EBITDA targets? Or perhaps Mahendru realised life’s ledger has more thrilling entries yet to be explored. Only time—and possibly a tell-all memoir—will reveal the real reason behind this quick exit.

  • Sahara Star checks in new leadership to elevate luxury and innovation

    Sahara Star checks in new leadership to elevate luxury and innovation

    MUMBAI: Mumbai’s iconic luxury hotel, Sahara Star, has rolled out a suite of leadership appointments, reinforcing its commitment to guest excellence, operational efficiency, and culinary innovation. With a focus on elevating hospitality standards, these key promotions and new hires mark an exciting chapter in the hotel’s growth story.

    Santosh Singh steps up as hotel manager, bringing over 22 years of experience across hospitality, ITES, retail, and FMCG. Previously head of procurement for Sahara Star and Aamby Valley City, Singh has been instrumental in streamlining operations and driving cost efficiency. His strategic mindset and process-driven approach make him the perfect choice to lead the hotel’s next phase of excellence.

    Joining the ranks is Vikram Prakash Bhardwaj, appointed as head of revenue, strategy & growth. A specialist in AI-driven business intelligence and revenue management, Bhardwaj has nearly two decades of experience in driving profitability across hospitality verticals. His expertise spans rooms, F&B, banquets, memberships, and MICE, ensuring data-backed strategies for revenue optimisation.

    The culinary team gets a star addition with chef Ranjan Rajani taking on the role of corporate chef, Sahara Star & Aamby Valley City. With 23 years of experience across Oberoi, Marriott, and Hyatt, he has been at the forefront of menu innovation, kitchen excellence, and redefining fine dining experiences. Expect exciting new culinary creations under his leadership.

    Deepali Pinheiro, the newly appointed rooms division manager, moves up from her role as front office manager. Having worked with The Lalit, Western Hotel Abu Dhabi, and Almanar Hotels Dubai, she is set to redefine guest experiences by enhancing operational efficiency and front office service standards.

    “The strength of a great hotel lies in the passion and expertise of its people. Our new leadership team embodies this spirit, bringing valuable experience and fresh perspectives to Sahara Star. Their commitment to excellence will help us set new benchmarks in hospitality, ensuring exceptional guest experiences and operational success,” said Sahara Star general manager Salil Fadnis.

    In a dual role, Karishma Raghuvanshi takes over as head of training & recruitment at Sahara Star and business head of A-Star Academy, India’s only dedicated hotel school. With her strong background in talent acquisition and hospitality training, she is set to bridge the gap between industry talent and opportunity, shaping the future of hospitality education.