ITV

Category: People

  • Deepak Gupta joins Bombay Shaving Company as chief business officer (offline) & head of operations

    Deepak Gupta joins Bombay Shaving Company as chief business officer (offline) & head of operations

    MUMBAI: Men’s skincare brand Bombay Shaving Company has further taken a leap to strengthen its brand presence across offline by on-boarding Deepak Gupta as its chief business officer (offline) and head of operations. Bombay Shaving Company has a presence in 8 cities across the country with over 3,000 stores. Deepak Gupta will lead the entire offline P&L comprising retail and institutional sales. Additionally, he will also lead supply chain and operations. Deepak’s understanding of the dynamic market environment and consumer behaviour will further support Bombay Shaving Company, an internet first brand on path to achieve Rs 100 crore revenue mark.

    Prior to this, Gupta was leading the regional business for Colgate-Palmolive where he gathered experience of working with the world’s most penetrated brand with 3.5+ billion daily active users. He also spent more than two years In China and witnessed the tremendous mushrooming of brands by heading sales operations and strategy for entire Mainland China which launched online and quickly scaled offline.

    Regarding the development, Deepak Gupta said, “Bombay Shaving Company is an inspiring brand which is both under-penetrated and under-served. There is a huge potential to innovate and build a new-age brand like ours in offline stores which are digitally targeted and leading to a tectonic shift from mass distribution /mass-media lead business models. I’m extremely excited to be part of this grooming revolution.”

    Bombay Shaving Company CEO & founder Shantanu Deshpande said, "We're thrilled to have someone of Deepak's calibre join Bombay Shaving Company to forefront the entire off-screen P&L. Being an internet first brand, its essential for us to rapidly develop an omnichannel approach to retail. With more than a decade experience, Deepak brings in distribution aspiration and a process ethos. We look forward to working with a leader like him to build and grow our brand together.”

    Bombay Shaving Company is bullish and will focus on offline expansion with its current footprint of 3,000 stores to 10,000 stores in the coming months. Bombay Shaving Company currently has more than 2.5 lakh customers and aims to become an Rs 100 crore brand in the next 12-15 months. The company has also designated Kartik Aaryan as their brand ambassador to endorse shave and facial grooming range.

    In December 2019, Bombay Shaving Company had raised Rs 45 crore in Series B led by Sixth Sense Venture Partners. Existing investor Colgate Palmolive Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of CPG giant Colgate-Palmolive had also participated in the round.

  • Bipin R Pandit’s 15th edition of Khumaar enthralls Mumbai audience

    Bipin R Pandit’s 15th edition of Khumaar enthralls Mumbai audience

    MUMBAI: Bipin R Pandit’s  musical extravaganza Khumaar that happened on Friday 14 February 2020 was a packed house show attended by 800 plus audience at the St Andrew’s Auditorium, Bandra, Mumbai.

    The valentine special show was dedicated to romantic songs.

    Bipin R Pandit says “It was a huge challenge that I picked up to hold my show on Valentine's Day when people prefer to have their private parties further it was a working day and not to forget the crowded area of Bandra at 6.30 pm. The fact that despite all these obvious challenges my show became a super hit is my God’s blessings to me.”

    Now a national brand in the true sense of the word Khumaar had artists from Indore, Bhopal, Pune Ahmedabad and of course Mumbai. All of them gave great accounts of themselves and performed to the best of their ability.

    Present amongst the very elite audience were industry luminaries such as Ramesh Narayan, Raj Nayak, Shashi Sinha, Kaushik Roy, Kalpana Rao, Partha Sinha, Bobby Pawar, Ajay Kakar, Rana Barua, Satyabrata, Debabrata Mukherjee, Ajay Chandwani, Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Megha Tata, Punitha Aurmugam, Pradeep Dwivedi, Dheeraj Sinha, Sanjeev Kotnala, Naval Ahuja just to name a few.

    Bipin R Pandit said that the most encouraging feedback he received from most of the people present was Khumaar is competing with itself and each year the show is better than the previous year. He further added that he received confirmation from a sponsor at the Mumbai show to conduct the next show at Kolhapur.”

  • LaLiga launches first-ever campaign with Rohit Sharma as ambassador in India

    LaLiga launches first-ever campaign with Rohit Sharma as ambassador in India

    MUMBAI: LaLiga, one of the most popular football leagues in the world, has launched an on-air campaign to promote the Spanish league in India with its brand ambassador, Rohit Sharma, vice-captain of India cricket in T20 and ODI format. The campaign has been launched to take the brand and the sport to a wider audience base in the country.

    The 55-second campaign film features one of the batting greats of the modern era and LaLiga’s face in India, Rohit Sharma. He takes viewers through what LaLiga truly stands for: discipline, pride, precision and passion and talks about how “It’s not Football, it’s LaLiga.”

    Conceptualised and produced by India On Track, the video ends with details about the broadcast destination for LaLiga in India – Facebook Watch. The campaign will have a 360 degree rollout across various platforms. 

    LaLiga India’s managing director, Jose Antonio Cachaza, said: “We have managed to carve a space for ourselves in the hearts of millions of football fans in India. We have also learned about the passion this country has for premium international sporting content and we have launched this campaign to take LaLiga closer to millions more. We have the perfect combination, with great content, an icon like Rohit Sharma as our ambassador and a strong broadcast partner like Facebook.”

    LaLiga India’s brand ambassador Rohit Sharma, said, “As an athlete, I know that sports is not only about technique but also, passion, adrenaline, temperament, strategy and character. I believe football tests all of these attributes in an individual and whether you are playing or watching the sport, you tend to feel it running inside you.”

    “I am extremely excited by this campaign as it helped me connect with LaLiga fans not only as a sportsperson but also as one of them. I believe that LaLiga drives you to play the sport and there can be no better testimony to a legendary league than this,” added Sharma, who is exclusively managed by IMG Reliance’s talent management vertical.

    The launch of a video campaign is expected to increase knowledge among sports and football enthusiasts across the nation about the top-tier league and its work in the country.

    LaLiga has undertaken several projects to understand the audience and the market better and to take the league closer to fans in the region. Through initiatives like bringing a LaLiga club, Girona FC to India, landmark broadcast partnership with Facebook to present all matches at no cost to fans, the launch of LaLiga Football Schools to impact the sport at a grassroots level.

    It has also associated with Indian brands like BKT and Dream11 along with bringing onboard the first-ever non-football brand ambassador, Rohit Sharma, LaLiga has grown its fan base significantly in the country. 

  • InsuranceDekho appoints insurance stalwart Deepak Sood as a Non – Executive Director

    InsuranceDekho appoints insurance stalwart Deepak Sood as a Non – Executive Director

    MUMBAI: InsuranceDekho announces appointment of Mr. Deepak Sood as a Non-Executive Director in the board of directors of the Company. With Deepak’s vast experience in the insurance space, he adds to InsuranceDekho’s ability to grow at a much faster pace. At InsuranceDekho, Deepak will be involved in the corporate governance, business planning and strategic expansion.

    Deepak brings with him over three decades of rich experience in the insurance industry. Having previously worked as CEO of Avantha Ergo and Future Generali India Insurance, he has also served in leadership roles at Bajaj Allianz, Zurich Financial Services and United India Insurance. He’s an alumnus of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. Presently, Deepak independently advises new players in the Insurance space alongwith M&A and market entry advisory.

    Ankit Agarwal, CEO and Co-founder, InsuranceDekho said, “I am thrilled to welcome Deepak aboard. His guidance and experience will enable us provide higher satisfaction to our customers and deliver better value to our stakeholders.”

    InsuranceDekho has 10,000+ partners with customers spanning across 350+ cities. It has clocked an annualized run-rate of 8 lakhs policies while it aims to continually grow in the times to come. InsuranceDekho plans to break-even in the next quarter, and is on its way to become India’s largest advisory-led insurance marketplace.

  • Advertising icon and philanthropist Ashok Kurien turns 70

    Advertising icon and philanthropist Ashok Kurien turns 70

    MUMBAI: “Life is a circus and I’ve been the clown,” is what Ambience boss and advertising icon (one of the pioneers  of private satellite TV in India as a founders of Zee TV and, now a committed social philanthropist) Ashok Kurien is known to say. And it was this belief of his that inspired the theme for his seventieth birthday party, planned and executed by Trinity Entertainment & Strategic Consultant.

    “The Circus of Life” celebrations marked the beginning of a new year in the life of Kurien, was one of the most enthralling evenings of the decade, it was uniquely planned and executed as an ode to his creativity. From an OTT pop up card announcing the Circus of Life theme to the OTT red-carpeted giant circus tent straight out of a kid’s fantasy, circus rings, aerialists, stilt walkers, jugglers, unicyclists, clowns, multiple photo-opts, a giant lion and a giant Ashok Kurien clown-like sculpture of his face, it was astounding but oh so colourful. Everywhere one looked on Friday evening, performance artistes and acrobats were putting on a spectacle never seen before.

    But what no one had expected was the wave of nostalgia that collectively swept over the evening. In retelling his life in the form of songs and dance, Kurien gave his friends an unexpected reliving of their own lives with music that touched the soul. From jazz standards to an Elvis impersonator; Choir songs, risqué rugby ditties; and a straight retro set which included numbers that ranged from ‘Bing Crosby to Boney M to Bruno Mars, and from Engelbert to Enrique’, most of the baby boomers (now senior citizens) were raving on the dance floor, with all elements seamlessly integrated into a story showcasing key milestones in Ashok’s life.

    The planning of the event started way back in September 2019 which gave the team at Trinity Entertainment & Strategic Consultants enough time to understand and break down each aspect of his life and do justice to it. Ashok’s first statement to the team was “Can you fly me out of a cannon” and that’s when it was sure that this celebration would be something that the city will always remember with Ashok being the key orchestrator!

    “I got to script my life story (and all my fantasies),” said Kurien the next day, adding “I hope it gave all of us the chance to relive our childhoods and become kids again”. Creating a magical experience for the guests, each one had a smile on their face. Attended by those closest to him, the guests were left mesmerised by the sheer scale and attention to detail.

    Close to his heart, the event also had another side to it that was so full of love that it made everyone's heart melt. Ashok and his wife Rachel Wawn are so deeply committed to corporate social responsibility and empowering the disfranchised, that they paid for an extra day and kept the entire set up intact so that they could host 350 underprivileged and challenged children for a circus show over lunch the next afternoon. Talk about making a wish on a birthday! Pictures from the lunch are a brief peek into Wawn and Kurien dancing joyously with the children, demonstrating that however OTT and grand one makes one's celebrations, the joy can be multiplied exponentially if we include the less fortunate. Will others who host such celebrations take a leaf out of Kurien’s progressive and thoughtful example? Could this be a (welcome) trend henceforth? We all definitely hope so. “If it even inspires a few others to do the same, think of what a thing it could be,” the delighted Ashok said.

    It’s safe to say, Ashok Kurien really has raised the bar. And big props to Trinity Entertainment for pulling off what seemed like one of their most magnificent projects ever.

    Ashok Kurien, a legendary stalwart of the advertising space in India is also the co-founder of Zee Entertainment Television and many other major ventures. Accredited with the iconic ‘Taste The Thunder‘ campaign for Thums Up, he is a man who has contributed immensely to the creative world. Words cannot do justice to his achievements and accomplishments and his reputation and passion for his work precede his name at all times.

  • WATConsult appoints Mahesh Nazare as Director – HR and L&D

    WATConsult appoints Mahesh Nazare as Director – HR and L&D

    MUMBAI: WATConsult, the globally awarded hybrid digital agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has appointed Mahesh Nazare as its new Director – HR, Learning and Development (L&D).

    In his new role, Nazare will oversee the HR vertical at WATConsult with a strong focus on L&D. He will also mentor the team to build and ensure a robust and great organisational culture within the agency.     

    Armed with more than 18 years of experience across the Indian and Asian diaspora, Mahesh specialises in leadership and management development, creative thinking, communication and effective team building.

    A certified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, Nazare has built strong customer and delegate relationships with all his clients ranging from major multi-national companies to local SMEs. He has closely worked and trained mid-to-senior management teams across different industries and verticals.

    Speaking on his appointment, Heeru Dingra, CEO, WATConsult said, "Our people are single-handedly the most critical assets and the key differentiator of the company. Their growth and wellbeing are of paramount importance to us, making human resources a vital strategic partner. We are glad to welcome Mahesh to our leadership team. He brings a unique combination of deep L&D experience along with well-honed strategic and business capabilities. I am certain that he will be the right custodian of our company culture and will develop robust strategies to ensure a healthy and engaging workplace.”

    Talking about his new role, Nazare said, “I am elated about my new journey with WATConsult. My role is to introduce an agile and an innovative design approach to support the organisation in people development and engagement. Employee efficiency and personal growth is imperative. I am looking forward to interacting with the young and enthusiastic WATizens and create a knowledge sharing platform for them.”

  • The art of advertising – Things you can learn from ‘Bull’ TV series

    The art of advertising – Things you can learn from ‘Bull’ TV series

    Pictures have always been worth a 1000 words. Thus in an era where words are limited to the number of characters, content limitations and complexity in translation; advertising has become a powerful tool in establishing connect with the consumer. The ultimate goal of advertising is either promotion or awareness; what sounds like a simple task is a difficult challenge many brands face today – creating stickiness for the brand is not easy. Advertising doesn't lay in mere collaborations of words to create content but it lies in simple & bold creativity that is visually rhetoric and can make people think and relate to the brands/products.

    In my 23+ years of storytelling journey, I have come to a conclusion that the only way any brand would be able to establish a connection of any scale with the consumer is when they have stories which provoke emotions. Using a fusion of words and graphics without a story would only state the messaging without any meaningful impact. Advertising is art if mastered and has the potential to create valuable stories. Perhaps one can always refer to an advertising manual for better results but that’s not enough. It’s about looking differently at things that are routine. It’s about bringing alive the creativity from the mundane.

    Very recently I came across a TV series called Bull starring Michael Weatherlywhich largely highlights the results of combining human psychology, human intuition and high-tech data to learn and understand the thinking mechanism of jurors, attorneys, witnesses, and the accused to make them tick. This made me think that advertising can become a seamless tool if the method/techniques used in the show could be implemented in the current advertising environment. Listing down 3 rules that I think could do marvels if implemented right way in the Indian advertising industry.

    Rule #1: Your Consumer is Your Enemy

    It will sound awful but there is a science behind following this rule. Ever considered convincing your enemy to buy your product, the answer most-likely is never. So when you look at the toughest consumer as your target to crack, you need to create a pitch that is tempting enough even for your enemy. If a brand manages to convince the enemy to buy the product, that definitely speaks oodles about the idea’s strength. The secret lies beneath a 1000 failed approaches and 1 successful messaging.

    Rule #2: People Love Things That Are Relatable :

    Quite a few people complain about the media being too cautious and them showing similar content repeatedly. There is a very good reason for this. Bolder content increases the risk which could provide increased rewards or no rewards at all.  People who watch this show should be able to find quite a lot of faces as well as plenty of stories that feel familiar to them. Using a similar approach in advertising; creating advertisement which makes people comfortable making them recall a similar scenario would establish an immediate connect with the brand ensuring higher recall.

    Rule #3: Using Tech to Create Roadmap

    Bull is largely based on a premise where people can predict people with remarkable accuracy by using a combination of data, tech and a few other technologies. This results in a pinpoint roadmap of what will work and what will not work. Considering an approach like this will make brands understand consumers’ POV in a more refined manner which will later help them in creating products that will work with a large set of consumers.

    The communication would have become quite simple if there was Dr Bull in every agency. Dr.Bull would have helped the agencies in creating that out of the obvious idea that would penetrate the minds of the consumer establishing an instant connection. Although the Art of Advertising doesn’t come with the manual, these rules can always make the approach towards consumers better and the overall communication seamless.

    (The author is, co-founder and managing director, Makani Creatives. The views expressed are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • iLove Music Channel appoints Gunjan Nagpal as National Sales Head

    iLove Music Channel appoints Gunjan Nagpal as National Sales Head

    MUMBAI: PEN Studios TV Broadcast arm, has appointed Gunjan Nagpal as Sales Head for its Music Channels Cluster iLove and MTunes+. iLove is already on air and MTunes+ will be launched shortly this year.

    Gunjan is armed with a MBA in International Business & Marketing – First Division and a specialisation in Digital Media and Marketing Strategies from University of Illinois, Chicago. He brings to PEN his extensive experience across Citibank N.A., Big FM(RBNL), Times Television Network, Sony Pictures and Zee5.

    PEN Studios has Eight TV Broadcast Channel licenses, Two of which are on-air viz. B-Flix and iLove. Six more channels are being prepped to launch in 2020 including MTunes+.

    PEN group is the fastest growing Entertainment Powerhouse. Pioneering Movies Acquisition & Syndication since 80’s to Doordarshan & all major broadcasters viz. Zee, Star, Sony, Viacom…PEN forayed in to Movie production in 2010 with Kahaani, Kahaani 2, Shivaay, Accidental Prime Minister etc. Currently PEN has commissioned the production of the largest woman-centric movie till date: starring Alia Bhatt & directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Simultaneously, PEN is producing ‘Attack’ starring John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez & Rakul Preet Singh. It’s theatrical distribution wing has over 25 releases since May 2018 including Badla and Zero from Red Chillies | Dream Girl, Judgemental Hai Kya, Jabariya Jodi & 1 more untitled movie from Balaji | Marjaavaan, …., …. from T-Series| Jawaani Jaaneman. In pipeline are Love Aaj Kal & Angrezi Medium from Reliance Jio Studios | Coolie No. 1 remake from David Dhawan starring Varun Dhawan and Sara Ali Khan.

    It’s VFX company Famulus furnished the entire effects for Mission Mangal. 

  • Publicis Groupe appoints Deepak Pant as head of data science

    Publicis Groupe appoints Deepak Pant as head of data science

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe India announced today the appointment of Deepak Pant as head, data science practice. In this role, Deepak will be in-charge of enhancing capabilities on measurement, research, advanced analytics, digital analytics, data strategy including data integrity and automation, and also developmental work on Publicis people cloud.

    Externally, the Data Science Practice provides data strategy and advanced analytics solutions in the area of market mix models, digital analytics and attribution analytics. It works extensively with Groupe clients not only in India but through its centre of excellence also provides services to marketers across the world. With more than 100 experts, it leverages Publicis Groupe’s expertise in marketing, media, digital, data and technology to craft solutions that enable marketers with smart business decisions and predictive models that maximise returns on investment.

    Deepak, a B-Tech graduate, and an MBA from Booth School of Business, Chicago, comes with over 24 years of rich experience in data science, advanced analytics, digital analytics, digital transformation and AI/ML across diverse sectors like FMCG, BFSI, manufacturing and logistics. He has worked in Chicago for about 18 years across diverse organisations including long stints with Neilson and 4i Consulting. His last stint was with Cognizant, where he worked as the director AI and analytics – Cognizant Digital Business.

    Publicis Groupe South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya says, “Data is what fuels our marketing transformation solutions across creative, media and tech. In the last six years, we have made significant progress in our Data Science Practice and today it competes with the best specialist shops. While it started as a centre of excellence providing advanced analytics solutions to our global clients, in the last three to four years we have seen increased appetite and hence huge uptake even in the local market. As margins of companies come under pressure the focus on ROI of marketing is only increasing. With 2000+ experts across digital and tech in the Groupe, our Data Science Practice has unmatched ability on multiple domain solutions.

     “It is both an honour and a huge responsibility to lead the Publics Groupe India’s Data Science Practise. The exciting possibilities that the scale and diversity of the Groupe and its clients present are unmatched. I look forward to making a difference here and bringing disruptive solutions that enable strong business results for clients and the Groupe alike”, says Pant.

  • JSW Steel signs Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant as brand ambassador

    JSW Steel signs Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: JSW Steel, India’s leading steel producer and the flagship company of the $14 billion JSW Group, has signed Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant as its brand ambassador to promote its steel products which include JSW Colouron+ color coated sheets & JSW Neosteel TMT bars, for a three-year period.

    India, currently the second largest steel producer in the world, has embarked on a journey to enhance its steel manufacturing capacity from 142 MTPA to 300 MTPA by 2030 through the Indian National Steel Policy. India’s per capita consumption of steel currently stands at 74 Kg and is estimated to increase exponentially to 160 Kg by 2030. Compared with the world current average of 212 kg per capita, the tremendous scope and potential for growth is evident. In the last one and a half decades, Indian steel manufacturers have invested large amounts of capital in setting up state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities to produce high-end steel products to meet the exacting demands of the end-user industry. The continued growth of the Indian economy is expected to further boost India’s core economy industries with significant growth expected across infrastructure in the construction, real estate, capital goods, automobile and energy sectors. JSW Steel aims to play a significant role in India’s growth story. In its efforts to lead the growth, JSW Steel has embarked on a series of capacity expansion projects to reach 45 MTPA by FY30.

    According to Parth Jindal of JSW Group, “JSW Group’s philosophy – ‘Better Everyday’ guides us to positively improve all the lives we touch. It enables us to  hold a unique and differentiated place in the minds of our customers. Our continued focus on making high quality products and ensuring that they are easily accessible to consumers across India lets us to participate in building a modern India. As a brand we believe that we are young, hungry, fearless and world class, the same traits we see in Rishabh Pant. We are thrilled to have Rishabh as our brand ambassador and have no doubt that this partnership will be beneficial and increase the recall for the JSW Neosteel and JSW Coloron+ brands.”  

    Commenting on his association with JSW Steel, Rishabh Pant said, “I am very happy to partner with JSW Steel. I sincerely believe that this is the beginning of a very long and exciting association.  It makes me proud to partner with a world class company like JSW Steel whose leadership journey, innovative products and future-ready capabilities I have always admired.”

    JSW Steel director (commercial marketing and corporate strategy) Jayant Acharya adds, “We welcome Rishabh Pant to JSW Steel as our partner in growth. We believe that our association with Rishabh will help create greater awareness for our products as well as differentiate the high quality product portfolio of JSW Steel. Our new marketing campaign with Rishabh Pant intends to further strengthen the recall of our branded steel products among our business customers as well as end use consumers.”

    JSW Steel is planning an integrated marketing campaign for JSW Colouron+ & JSW Neosteel featuring Rishabh Pant, expected to Go-live by mid-February 2020. The marketing campaign has been conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather and showcases product attributes whilst also featuring Rishabh Pant in an interesting and engaging way.