MAM

Advertisers should continually reinvent

Published

14 years ago

November 4, 2011

NEW DELHI: In a world of so many choices, it is important for advertisers and corporates to continually reinvent ideas to reach out to the new generation, and also use social media through the Internet for this purpose.

This was the general consensus at the 27th AdAsia held in India after a period of eight years and attended by over 1200 delegates from India and 25 countries.

On the concluding day, Pepsico chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi cautioned those in the advertising and marketing business that the uncertainties in the corporate world could only be overcome if one could adapt suitably to face the future.

She said that the corporate world today faced a crisis of leadership, of governance, and of expectations.

The corporate leaders therefore have to lead for ‘today and tomorrow at the same time‘ – that is, keep an eye on the horizon even as one planned for the present. Similarly, one has to be ambitious, attract and tap the right talent and make sure that it stayed with you, and the leaders have to be ‘super visible‘ – they should be available to all their employees and not sit in ivory towers and give orders.

She said creativity and adaptability are the answers to uncertainty, and referred to working in an atmosphere of connective autonomy.

Referring to her own brand, she said that the way to sell globally is to innovate and so while Lays is a popular Pepsico brand, it is marketed in different countries with local flavours.

Nooyi was addressing the concluding session of AdAsia 2011.

Talking about the theme – “Uncertainty: The New Certainty” – Mudra Group MD and Group CEO and AdAsia 2011 chairman Madhukar kamath said that it underlines the dynamic world that is currently at an inflection point witnessing a realignment of global economic leadership. Post the global meltdown, Asia leads the world on the path of recovery, thus attracting attention from the world over.

Earlier, Saatchi and Saatchi creative chairman Robert Senior said there have to be certain change in strategy to be in the advertising and marketing business in ‘the age of now‘. Thus, attention had to be substituted by participation, inform by inspire, interpretation with interaction, return on investment with return on involvement, and pumping markets with creating movements.

Speaking on the pursuit of Big Ideas in the Age of Now, he said the consumer today lives in a VUCA world: he is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. The advertiser has to change that attitude to being vibrant, unreal, crazy and astounding.

Noting that ideas can be the prism of hope, he said the real skill lay in seeing the point in an idea and then nurturing it with speed, agility, and news desk mentality.

He said at the outset that he is particularly impressed by the optimism among the advertising fraternity in India, as compared to Europe. The advertisers know what their consumers expected from them.

In another session where he interacted with lyricist and McCann Worldgroup India‘s chairman and CEO Prasoon Joshi, Coca Cola Company EVP and chief marketing and commercial officer Joseph Tripodi said large companies tend to be very conservative and often do not take risks. In his company, he has encouraged a policy where one would put 70 per cent of his money where he know it would pay, 20 per cent to innovate off that 70 per cent, and 10 per cent just innovate with new ideas. Thus, it would not matter too much if that 10 per cent failed.

There is also need to take some risk and take some challenges, part of which is trying to create popular culture.

He said it is important to understand the brand and create love for it. Coca Cola did this with the help of inspirational and operational marketers.

He said the aim was to create both love and value for the brand as well as the product. Consumers demanded value for their time and attention and wanted entertainment, and portability. For all this, evolution was mandatory.

For his brand, he said the focus was on storytelling and there has been a link with the liquid being sold.

Furthermore, he said in reply to a question that value for him meant shared dividends and this was the reason for Coca Cola to endorse causes. He gave several examples of how this had been done by showing short film clips. There is need to market certain global values as commonalities are growing all over the world with ‘Internet being the great democratiser‘ which made everything ‘glocal‘. People like to connect with each other and therefore Coke has also used the social media for this purpose since it is a natural human behaviour to share.

But it was necessary to earn the trust of the local people. One cannot let the hype get ahead of the reality and therefore the nature of Corporate Social Responsibility has changed with the non-governmental organisations not just wanting cheques. They want commitment and not mere promises, and wanted that the corporate house should be transparent. Therefore one has to work to earn the trust of the consumer and the NGO.

Answering a question, he said that flavour extensions in Coke were only aimed at catering to local populations.

In a session on how to navigate through in the face of media fragmentation, Citi Head of Global Marketing (Consumer) Bob O‘Leary said new technologies demand new choices and new behaviours and it is important to rise to the occasion.

OMD Worldwide CMD Mainardo de Nardis said it is necessary to capture the imagination of the people through the right beliefs.

Maxus Worldwide CEO Kelly Clark said that it is important to keep creative talent motivated and challenged, and excited about their work. People can be brought in from various fields but have to be kept in the company by appreciating the impact of their work.

The importance of reinventing oneself was driven home again in a discussion on building brands in a trust deficit world. All the speakers stressed the need to be able convince the people about brands.

Moderating the session, author Deepa Prahlad said technology is changing everything and affecting the metaphors of brand marketing. Therefore advertisers and brands have to change.

Engine and WCRS President Robin Wight was clear that brands were created to avoid too much of brain work by the consumer who should be able to recognise what he wanted by seeing a brand. The decline in trust is because the consumer often did not want to use brain power. The Internet and social interactions could help to rebuild that trust, he said. Peer-to-peer marketing through social networking is a great tool, he said.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance CEO Sandeep Ghosh said people expect proof rather than promises, and showed two commercials of his company to prove this point. But leadership also matter, he added.

Ford India president and managing director Michael Boneham said one has to re-invent brands to separate oneself from competitors. For example, he said his cars have added features like a Bluetooth to become different. He also believed in consumers talking to consumers and therefore his company has avoided brand ambassadors.

GroupM CEO South Asia Vikram Sakhuja said a major problem is that with too many choices, one live in an attention deficit world. Therefore, psychological equity is as important as brand equity. Digital tools could help engage the consumer and build trust. There is need to evolve with the consumer, and brands should never talk down to consumers.

Related Topics:advertisers Indra Nooyi Mudra Group

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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

2 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

2 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

2 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.