ITV

Category: MAM

  • Mythik names Preeti Vyas president to steer content and partnerships

    Mythik names Preeti Vyas president to steer content and partnerships

    MUMBAI: Mythik, the tech-first entertainment upstart styling itself as the “Disney from the East”, has hired Preeti Vyas as president of content strategy, partnerships and consumer products.

    Vyas, who previously served as president and chief executive of Amar Chitra Katha, brings three decades of experience across publishing, retail and entertainment. At Amar Chitra Katha, she engineered the heritage brand’s revival, taking it from nostalgia act to profitable modern player while driving readership tenfold to over 6 million globally.

    Her career has spanned founding Fun OK Please publishing, the company behind children’s favourites like Toto the Auto, to senior stints at Future Group, Sony Music, Toys R Us and Crossword. She also piloted transmedia adaptations of franchises such as Tinkle and built licensing deals that expanded their reach.

    At Mythik, she will spearhead efforts to package mythology, history and folktales from the East for a global audience, tapping into new-age distribution and consumer products.

    Mythik, founder and chief executive, Jason Kothari called Vyas “a rare combination of strategic acumen and creative vision” and said her track record of transforming heritage brands would be key to realising the company’s global ambitions.

    Vyas herself described the role as “an opportunity to present stories from our ancient past at a scale never attempted before”.

    Alongside her corporate career, she sits on industry bodies including the Media & Entertainment Skills Council and the Advertising Standards Council of India, giving her a perch at the intersection of policy, talent and content. 

  • Deep shades of Glitz as Asian Paints, Deepika reimagine luxe walls

    Deep shades of Glitz as Asian Paints, Deepika reimagine luxe walls

    MUMBAI: Walls are talking and they’re doing it in style. Asian Paints has unveiled a bold new chapter for its luxury brand Royale Glitz, taking it beyond high-end wall finishes to the realm of full-blown décor inspiration. At the centre of this glossy makeover is none other than Deepika Padukone, making her much-awaited return as brand ambassador, lending her effortless grace to a campaign that paints luxury in fresh colours.

    Royale Glitz now positions itself not as the finishing touch but as the starting point of design stories. With curated textures, statement wallpapers, and a “Glitz Up Your Décor” guidebook packed with QR-linked demos, the campaign shows how a single wall can spark the reinvention of entire living spaces. “It’s about creating emotionally charged spaces that reflect who you are,” said Asian Paints MD & CEO Amit Syngle. “A single wall can bring alive the entire space.”

    Padukone embodies this shift, gliding through a home where walls are canvases of memory, mood, and meaning. With a super-smooth Crème Finish, Teflon Surface Protector, and an 8-year warranty, Royale Glitz mixes artistry with performance, offering homeowners both beauty and durability. Mccann Worldgroup India CEO & CCO Prasoon Joshi  described the film as “an artistic journey every frame as elegant and fluid as the product itself.” For Asian Paints, the message is clear: walls are no longer silent backdrops, they’re storytellers of personal expression.

  • Rural India, local disruptors, small packs drive FMCG growth: Worldpanel

    Rural India, local disruptors, small packs drive FMCG growth: Worldpanel

    MUMBAI: Once a luxury, now a lifestyle. Premiumisation in India is no longer the preserve of posh metros and plush wallets, it’s trickling down to rural towns, reshaping FMCG, and even spilling over into housing, cars and gadgets.

    That’s the big takeaway from Worldpanel India’s latest report, which reveals that premium brands now account for 15 per cent of FMCG volumes across everyday categories like detergents, soaps, toothpaste, tea, biscuits and skincare. And while the trend slowed briefly in 2024, the long-term trajectory is clear: India wants more “premium” and it wants it on its own terms.

    Once seen as laggards in this space, rural households are now powering premium growth. Their share of super-premium volumes has jumped from 30 per cent in 2021 to 42 per cent in 2025, and affordable premium products now see over half their demand from villages.

    It isn’t just multinational giants raking it in. Homegrown disruptors like Burhani liquid dishwash in Madhya Pradesh, AVT gold cup tea in Tamil Nadu, and Meera shikakai shampoo in Karnataka and Odisha are winning hearts by marrying premium positioning with natural, health-focused credentials.

    Bite-sized formats like Sensodyne (75g), Nabati wafers (30g), and Tresemme sachets (6ml) are driving trials without denting the “premium” aura. Even super-premium players like Dove, Malkist and Taj Mahal tea are cashing in with affordable packs.

    It’s not just soaps and snacks. Luxury housing sales (Rs 3 crore plus homes) surged 80 per cent in 2024, premium smartphones grew 8 per cent YoY in Q2 2025, and luxury car sales crossed 50,000 units for the first time. Clearly, India’s “premium” shift is rewriting aspiration itself.

    “Premiumisation in India is no longer restricted to metros or high-income households,” said Worldpanel by Numerator, managing director – South Asia, K. Ramakrishnan. “Rural consumers are becoming aspirational, disruptors are redefining premium, and affluent households are reprioritising spends. For brands, this is both a challenge and a golden opportunity.”

  • WPP hires Mariel Maciá as senior director of strategic design for Open unit

    WPP hires Mariel Maciá as senior director of strategic design for Open unit

    MUMBAI: WPP has appointed Mariel Maciá as senior director of strategic design within its WPP Open team, strengthening the agency group’s push to blend human creativity with artificial intelligence in marketing and brand experience.

    Maciá joins after more than five years at McKinsey & Company, where she served as senior service design manager in Berlin. Before that, she held design leadership roles at Die Krieger des Lichts and the innogy Innovation Hub, and earlier worked in film acquisition, production and festival programming across Europe and Latin America.

    Trained in audiovisual narrative in Buenos Aires, Maciá has built a career spanning media, design and digital transformation. At WPP, she will focus on reimagining how design thinking and emerging technologies can unlock new opportunities in advertising, media and customer experience.

    “The journey ahead is incredibly exciting,” she said, adding that she looks forward to collaborating with “the brilliant minds across WPP.”

  • Adfactors PR appoints Shilpa Desai to drive digital and innovation in BFSI and capital markets

    Adfactors PR appoints Shilpa Desai to drive digital and innovation in BFSI and capital markets

    MUMBAI: Adfactors PR has named Shilpa Desai as senior vice-president – digital and innovation for its BFSI and capital markets practices, a move that signals the firm’s intent to hardwire digital transformation into its core financial services offering. Working with the founders and senior leadership, Desai will design and execute initiatives that expand digital capabilities, integrate analytics, and build innovation-led systems to deliver sharper impact for clients and future-proof the organisation.

    With over 20 years of experience, Desai is no stranger to India’s financial sector. She began her career at ICICI Bank before moving to Standard Chartered, where she built the digital marketing practice for India and South Asia. At IDFC Bank, she was part of the founding team, launching the bank in 2015 and later setting up its digital business and marketing analytics functions. She went on to lead brand and marketing at Fullerton India and, most recently, served as executive vice-president and head of marketing at HDFC Ergo.

    In parallel, Desai has also run her own consultancy, Digital by Design, advising institutions on digital-first marketing and transformation. An engineer with an MBA, she is currently pursuing a PhD in management at IIT Bombay, adding academic rigour to her industry experience.

    Her appointment comes as Adfactors PR doubles down on its BFSI and capital markets verticals, a cornerstone of its business. The firm said Desai’s remit will be to strengthen its ability to offer integrated, data-rich, innovation-driven communications solutions at a time when fintech disruption, digital adoption and AI-led marketing are rewriting the rules of engagement.

    Industry watchers say the hire reflects both client expectations and competitive pressure. As BFSI players accelerate digital adoption, PR firms are under pressure to match pace with insight-driven, technology-enabled campaigns that deliver measurable outcomes.

    Adfactors PR, already the largest PR consultancy in India, is betting that Desai’s blend of operational depth, digital vision and sectoral expertise will give it an edge in a market where communications is increasingly inseparable from data and technology.

  • Lubrizol names Abhishek Shrivastava as IMEA managing director

    Lubrizol names Abhishek Shrivastava as IMEA managing director

    MUMBAI: Lubrizol has appointed Abhishek Shrivastava as managing director for India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA), underlining the strategic weight of the region in its global growth plans.

    Shrivastava, who has been with the company for nearly two decades, was previously vice-president of innovation and decision science. In that role he drove the development of growth platforms, sustainable product pipelines and digital capabilities. His new remit spans everything from customer engagement to regional manufacturing and supply-chain expansion, with an emphasis on a local-for-local model.

    Lubrizol president and chief executive Rebecca Liebert said Shrivastava’s “blend of industry knowledge, technical depth and ability to match innovation with customer needs” made him the right choice to spearhead the next phase.

    Shrivastava said India, the Middle East and Africa were “dynamic regions full of opportunity and home to exceptional talent”, adding that Lubrizol would double down on localised innovation and partnerships to stay competitive.

     

  • Paisabazaar opens doors to credit with first retail store in Gurugram

    Paisabazaar opens doors to credit with first retail store in Gurugram

    MUMBAI: Credit just got a shopfront makeover. Paisabazaar, India’s largest credit marketplace and free credit score platform, has stepped off the screen and onto the street with the launch of its first-ever retail store in Gurugram. This brick-and-mortar debut marks the fintech’s bold push to blend face-to-face financial advice with its tech-driven backbone.

    Over the next few weeks, the lender will expand with two more stores in Delhi and Noida before rolling out an ambitious 100 outlets across Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and other metros. These hubs won’t just sell loans but will serve as financial pitstops for every kind of borrower from first-time credit seekers to small business owners offering guidance on personal loans, home loans, business loans and credit cards. For those less comfortable navigating apps, Paisabazaar’s physical presence promises hand-holding, personalised solutions and a friendlier gateway into the world of credit.

    “The retail store is a new business model for us, one that combines the comfort of a physical interaction and a technology-led seamless experience,” said Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal. “Our physical presence will help us both scale our business and deepen consumer trust.” The initiative aligns with the fintech’s larger goal of bridging the digital–physical divide and building a hybrid model that caters to millions of Indians who want the reassurance of a handshake alongside a loan approval. In a country where credit literacy still has miles to go, Paisabazaar’s retail foray may well prove to be credit where it’s due.

  • Delhi’s Loya Qissa welcomes Mexico’s Aruba bar takeover

    Delhi’s Loya Qissa welcomes Mexico’s Aruba bar takeover

    MUMBAI: When Delhi’s iconic Loya says “cheers” it does so with stories. Its much-loved bar takeover series, Qissa, is back. This time shaking things up with a spirited cross-continental collaboration.

    Flying in from Tijuana, Mexico, the celebrated Aruba day drink bar, ranked No. 22 in North America’s 50 best bars 2025, is stepping behind Loya’s counter. At the helm is Frida González, Aruba’s co-owner and one of the brightest forces in Baja California’s cocktail culture.

    González is known for crafting ingredient-forward drinks that are as vibrant as they are honest, championing a style that feels playful yet deeply rooted in Mexico’s northwest coast. Under her watch, the takeover promises a sun-drenched menu echoing Aruba’s signature ‘daytime conviviality’: fresh, bold, and layered with Baja narratives.

    Think zesty pours brimming with Mexican flavours, inventive techniques, and a dash of storytelling, all served against Loya’s backdrop of north Indian artistry and flavour. 

    After its showcase at Loya, Taj Palace, New Delhi,  this edition of Qissa won’t stop there. The collaboration will pack its shakers and journey to Mumbai’s The Taj Mahal Palace, and Bengaluru’s Taj West End carrying a dialogue of craft and culture across three cities.

  • Sportskeeda CTO Sankalp Sharma exits after 10 years at the helm

    Sportskeeda CTO Sankalp Sharma exits after 10 years at the helm

    MUMBAI: You can’t spell Sportskeeda without code. And for the last decade, Sankalp Sharma has been the man behind the machine, the chief technology officer who took a broken codebase, a skeletal team, and a laundry list of experiments, and turned it into a battle-hardened platform serving millions of sports fans worldwide. Now, after 10 years and 7 months, Sharma is moving on, leaving behind a tech legacy etched into the site’s DNA.

    Sharma’s tenure has been one of audacious scale. From six hot codebases and a dozen services, his lean team engineered a system that now handles a billion API calls a day with near-million concurrency. As CTO since December 2020 (after stints as VP of technology and tech lead), he not only scaled from “0 to 1, 1 to 10, and on to 100” but also reshaped how Sportskeeda approached experimentation, reliability, and growth.

    Reflecting on his philosophy, Sharma describes his approach as “going wide, going deep, and going around” spotting unnoticed patterns, rolling up his sleeves to refine systems, and navigating future goals through the fog of war. Along the way, he fostered a culture of curiosity, killed fluff projects early, and championed open-source contributions. His earlier career saw roles at Essencemediacom, Mindshare, VML, Foxymoron, TCS, and even a freelance stint helping startups and Fortune 500 companies alike.

    From one-click deployments to site reliability engineering, from streamlining legacy microservices to mentoring LGBTQIA+ professionals and startup founders, Sharma’s playbook has been as much about people as it was about platforms. As Sportskeeda now looks ahead to its next growth chapter, it does so with a tech foundation built on Sharma’s decade-long vision of harmony amid chaos.

     

  • Perform ace’s Connect X bags exclusive Indian sneaker festival

    Perform ace’s Connect X bags exclusive Indian sneaker festival

    MUMBAI:  Talk about making the right move. Perform ace’s connect X has just bagged the exclusive rights to the Indian sneaker festival (ISF): a coup that cements its place at the heart of India’s booming streetwear and sneaker scene.

    Billed as the country’s biggest celebration of sneakers, music and lifestyle, ISF has already become the holy ground for sneakerheads, collectors, and culture vultures. With connect X stepping in, the festival is gearing up to scale bigger heights, blending ‘phygital’ experiences to make sure India’s street style has a truly global strut.

    So, what makes ISF such a cultural heavyweight? Think more than just shoes. The festival brings together limited-edition drops, exclusive showcases from global and local brands, high-octane music acts, and interactive zones with sneaker-trading pits, graffiti walls, customisation booths, flea markets and more.

    This year, Grammy-winning rapper 21 Savage headlined the event: a watershed moment for India’s music-meets-streetwear scene. Past years have seen homegrown favourites like Seedhe Maut and Wazir tearing up the stage, proving ISF is as much about beats as it is about kicks.

    A spokesperson from Perform ace put it simply, “Sneakers and streetwear aren’t just products, they’re identity, creativity and culture. With ISF under the PerformAce banner, we’re creating a platform that lets India’s youth connect, collaborate and celebrate on a global scale.”