MAM

Genius Steals, an agency on the move

Published

8 years ago

April 13, 2018

Five years ago, Rosie Yakob, an advertising industry specialist, decided to pack her bags and set off on the road along with her husband Faris Yakob. The duo decided to find a new type of business, one that would allow them to travel all over the world consulting for brands, agencies and start-ups. A company without a permanent office base and thus Genius Steals was born, a consulting firm for agencies and brands across the globe.

They named the agency so because they believed that ideas were new combinations and the best way to innovate was to pick the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Although the company is registered in Tennessee in the US, their collaborators are all over the world. Being nomads allows them to go wherever clients need them to be and to be inspired by the world in between.

Genius Steals managing director Rosie Yakob calls herself an accidental entrepreneur. Right out of school, she worked for music moguls Jay Z and Steve Stoute at their entertainment branding company. Before founding Genius Steals with her husband Faris, Yakob was a teacher at Miami Ad School and a senior strategist at 360i, an award-winning digital marketing agency. She worked on brands such as Oreo, Bravo, Dentyne and NBC, from creative ideation through to activation. Her work has been awarded by Cannes, CLIO, Facebook and the Addy’s. But, eventually, the constant busyness of life in NYC became overbearing.

Indiantelevision.com sat down with Yakob to discuss her nomadic lifestyle and the industry’s most pressing concerns today.

How did you decide on living the nomadic lifestyle?

It was an accident because Faris and I were getting asked to speak publicly in Germany, Sydney and other places. So, we thought that instead of flying back to New York every time, we can just fly from one place to another. That way, we don’t have to unnecessarily pay for flights and we will do this only for six months and then we will pick up and we will live there. But once we started travelling, we realised that clients would give us a call anywhere and were fine brainstorming while we were at a beach in Bali or any other remote location. There are times when we have to be someplace in person but a lot of the work can be done via Skype and mail.

Will you eventually consider settling down at some place?

We have no plans of settling down. Right now, we are living our dream and we feel fortunate. If someone gave me a better opportunity, I would consider stopping. We work 20 hours a week and that flexibility isn’t often affordable during full time jobs.

Since you are always on the move, how do you ensure that clients keep coming in?

We got really lucky by working in New York and got exposed to so many clients and brands. But honestly, being nice is underrated. If you work in a cool place on a cool brand with a s*@t team, you are going to have a bad time. If you work on a s*@t campaign in a crazy company but with a cool team, you might still be saved. I believe the goodwill has afforded us the opportunity along with word of mouth. Our clients refer our work to other people and we’ve been fortunate to always have good clients who are willing to work with us knowing that our work culture is different.

You got lucky, but is the industry, in general, accepting? How set in their ways are agencies? Are they adapting to the new reality?

When I was at 360i, they always valued productivity over presence and that value has helped me. I have also worked in places that had stringent rules about time and physical presence in the office. I believe at the end of the day, what matters is the kind of work that you put out and not where you are doing it from. There is a slight barrier in the industry and that is because there is a generation gap where people put in a lot of time. The old generation wants to see people doing the same thing at their desk in office.

I think there are pockets of clients that are accepting and there are some who don’t. We have some clients who we have never met in person but we also have clients who have called us to set up a meeting and sent flight tickets. Some clients have reservations about our model, but it doesn’t bother us.

How many countries have you travelled so far for work?

A lot! I guess we have travelled to maybe 40 countries together so far in the last five years.

Which work would you consider to be your best work?

My life! It has been my best work. I left the ad world and that’s when I realised that you either work to live or live to work. Today, I work to live, to make money and pay bills but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like my work. I love my work but I like living my life on my terms a little more.

Speaking about the creative work, I think you are always going to have great clients and s*@# clients. And a great work may not necessarily depend on your creativity. Who decides whether the work was bad because of the agency or the client?

You have a strong opinion on gender pay in the industry. How do you think can we address the issue?

The creative industry used to be for weirdos who need not necessarily wear a suit. I thought the ad world would consider women as equals, however, I haven’t seen that as the actual case. When I talked to people in the industry, I realised that we do have a problem with women not getting equal pay. I was looking through the CCOs in India and there are very few female creative directors here, and it is not only the case in India but around the world.

Do you think femvertising is getting out of hand today? We see brands gender stereotype women to sell their products.

Absolutely, and maybe that’s happening because a lot of the decisions in this industry are made by men. Women have always been objectified and stereotyped and the people who do it or make those creative decisions are all men. And I don’t mean it in a malicious way but it’s just deeply rooted within their brain. What we need is more female creative directors and women in leadership positions to change the situation and create gender neutral ads.

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Brands

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

1 week 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

1 week 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

1 week 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.