MAM

Cards on the table as adland laughs at itself with a very knowing deck

Published

2 months ago

December 18, 2025

MUMBAI: When the brief goes sideways and the pitch deck grows by 47 slides overnight, sometimes all you can do is laugh preferably with a deck of cards. Enter Cards Against Advertising, a new parody party game from Mumbai-based independent creative agency Motley that shuffles the chaos of adland into a sharp, self-aware pack of 150 cards.

Inspired by the irreverent format of Cards Against Humanity, the game leans into the clichés, contradictions and quiet toxicities of the advertising world, using humour not as a punchline but as a pressure valve. Developed under Motley Orgnls, the agency’s internal platform for crew-led ideas, the game draws directly from lived experiences across advertising, marketing and creative services.

Advertising may be one of the world’s most influential industries, but it is also one famously fuelled by long hours, high stakes and cultural burnout. Cards Against Advertising does not attempt to diagnose or fix these issues. Instead, it acknowledges them openly, collectively and with a wink. From last-minute presentation changes and endless alignment calls to pitch panic and jargon-heavy conversations that rarely make it into meeting minutes, the cards reflect moments most industry insiders recognise instantly.

“This is more than just a game; it’s an advertising-specific party experience,” said Motley founding partner and creative head Priyanka Surve. Designed by people who live the industry’s realities daily, the deck turns shared frustrations into satire rather than sermon.

The project also reflects Motley’s approach to creative ownership. Conceived through Motley Orgnls, the initiative allows team members to pitch independent ideas beyond client briefs. Selected projects receive production backing from the agency, with profits shared with the creators over time, a model that treats creativity as equity, not just output.

“In an industry powered by ideas, ownership should extend beyond billable work,” said Motley founding partner and business head Jason Menezes. “Creativity should build pride and participation, not just pay cheques.”

Written collaboratively by creatives, strategists, account managers and interns, the game is designed for groups both small and sprawling. Sessions typically run between 30 and 90 minutes and are intended for players aged 18 and above including current agency folk, former adlanders and even clients with a sufficiently self-aware sense of humour. Expansion packs focused on specific roles such as copywriters, designers and social media teams are already on the cards.

Arriving amid ongoing conversations around burnout, mental health and sustainable work cultures, Cards Against Advertising positions itself neither as a solution nor a critique. Instead, it offers something rarer in the industry: a shared laugh that feels a little too real and perhaps that’s precisely the point.

Related Topics:Jason Menezes Motley Priyanka Surve

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Brands

Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

Published

3 days ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.

Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.

“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.

The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.

Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.

The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.

MAM

Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships

Published

3 days ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

SINGAPORE: Anuvrat Rao has taken charge as APAC head of commerce and signals partnerships at Meta, steering monetisation deals across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from Singapore. The former Google executive, known for launching Google Assistant, PWAs, AMP and Firebase across Asia-Pacific, steps into the role after a high-growth stint as chief business officer at Locofy.ai.

At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.

Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.

Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.

Brands

Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion

Published

3 days ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

Bengaluru: Brnd.me, the global consumer brands company formerly known as Mensa Brands, has entered the European market following strong momentum across the Middle East, the United States and Canada.

The company has launched across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand into Italy, the Netherlands and Poland over the next year. The push is being led by its haircare and aromatherapy brands, Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure, marking Brnd.me’s first structured expansion into Europe.

The European beauty market represents a total addressable opportunity of over $4 billion across haircare and aromatherapy, supported by high digital adoption and demand for accessible, performance-led products.

Brnd.me’s hair care and aromatherapy business currently operates at an annual run rate of around $6 million, with Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure delivering roughly 10 per cent month-on-month growth, driven by expansion and rising repeat demand.

To support regional growth, the company has appointed a general manager based in Germany and is evaluating investments in warehousing and local team expansion.

Early traction has been strong. Within weeks of launch, Botanic Hearth’s rosemary hair oil ranked among the top five hair oils in Germany, signalling strong consumer pull in a competitive market.

Brnd.me founder and chief executive officer Ananth Narayanan, said Europe represents the next phase of the company’s international strategy. He added that the European business is expected to scale to a $10 million annual run rate by the end of 2026, with long-term ambitions to reach $60 million over the next six years.

The company’s Europe strategy centres on digital-first distribution, repeat demand and TikTok-led discovery, alongside direct-to-consumer expansion to strengthen brand equity and margins.

The move also aligns with growing EU–India trade engagement, supporting long-term sourcing and cross-border supply chains.