MAM

India’s Olympic feat puts spotlight on ‘moment marketing’ violations by brands

Published

4 years ago

August 11, 2021

MUMBAI: India recorded its finest performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics catapulting several talented sportspersons on the world-stage. As the country revelled in their stunning achievements, the brands also did not lag behind, and made the most of the moment, launching a series of social media posts to leverage the marketing opportunity.

A host of brands bolstered their image online with quirky, fun topical posts around the medallists’ feat, which is commonly referred to as ‘moment marketing’ in advertising parlance.

All was well, until the ace shuttler and bronze-medallist PV Sindhu and her agency Baseline Ventures announced that they are now mulling legal options to take these brands to court, “for using her name and image for their marketing purposes without proper authorisation”. According to media reports, the agency is planning to take as many as 20 brands to court for flouting the rules, and it could be seeking damages of Rs 5 crore from each of the brands.

So where does one draw the line? When does a ‘harmless’ social media post cross the ethical line, to be construed as “infringing upon and unfairly exploiting the brand value of a celebrity” to gain visibility and traction for a brand?

“This shows that the moment marketing is coming of age in India,” said Pulp Strategy founder and MD, Ambika Sharma. “This has happened previously with radio and traditional media, where you cannot mimic the voice of a celeb for your brand jingle. The sanctity of Intellectual property (IP)/ copyright needs to be understood. If they are not your brand ambassadors, then do not use their image.”

According to Clevertize CEO and founder Sagar Nidavani the legal notice was a much-needed wake-up call for the brands and the agencies. “This would not have been an issue if the purpose was only to wish the winners at the Olympics. The issue was that in the name of brand connect we forgot the boundaries. Direct or Indirect usage of image or name of the player suggesting that the personality is endorsing the brand can be considered as crossing the line,” concurs Nidavani.

‘Moment marketing’ can be a tricky territory for brands to explore, and needs to be tackled with the right set of regulations to keep a check on a brand’s intent. However, the flip side to this is that without moment marketing, brands and agencies will miss out on a lot of topical posts which provide quality engagement to the brands and make for quality consumption for the audiences as well, highlighted Monk Entertainment VP, Talent Management, Aayush Tiwari.

Amul is often cited as a successful example, and has also been lauded for its creative take on the ongoing events, which have often gone viral on social media too.

“When Amul does such campaigns, it does it with panache, but without using any direct images. It goes beyond advertising to deliver a message of greater good,” said Tiger Advertising, partner Pantul Kothari, “however, what most other brands do is use sports winners to weave their brand message, and make it more ‘brand centric’ than just celebrating their victory.”

Following Sindhu’s move, several agencies have come out in support of the athlete, and underscored the need to take a stand. “We have to understand that wrongful use of imagery is not morally, ethically and legally right and the same should be avoided under any circumstances,” shared White Rivers Media co-founder and CEO Shrenik Gandhi.

According to agency experts, brands and agencies need to find new, creative ways to bypass the dilemma of using names and images of celebrities during occasions. Some have even used silhouettes or creatively integrated their products to have a relevant connection with the topical moment/occasion.

“Brands could even add a layer of compliance for their social media updates by involving their legal team and creating a set of guardrails that the brand and their agencies could follow. It’s all about being smart with your communication and making sure all legal compliances are met when it comes to topical updates,” said Chimp&Z Inc chief creative consultant Shreyans Khanna.

According to Admitad Affiliate, country manager India, Neha Kulwal brands can take the initiative of providing a better opportunity by rewarding/ sponsoring the athletes till next Olympics.

There is no doubt that moment marketing is a legitimate tool for growth hacking, but only if it does not cross the unethical line. And, with the social media boom underway, it is definitely here to stay. The problem, of course, arises when a brand makes content designed to create a false impression of the celebrity or influencer being their ambassador, without having any commercial deal with them.

“This places great responsibility on the creative agencies or content teams to not only be updated with every single trend, but also apply their minds to creating such content tastefully and ethically. As a creative agency, we need to advise our clients in terms of what’s acceptable and what’s not,” said Songfest India co-founder and CEO Gaurav Dagaonkar.

However, the latest incident could definitely make the brands take a re-look at their social media strategies. According to Grapes Digital COO and Strategy head, Shradha Agarwal, the biggest learning is that brands will not prefer taking any celebrity’s name directly, and perhaps be more careful while creating topical moments when a brand personality is associated with it.

Industry experts highlight that this has also turned the spotlight to the sports celebrities, and more brands will look at alternate sports and sports stars for signing up endorsements. With the Commonwealth games due in Birmingham, 2022 this is a big opportunity for the brands to look beyond the obvious and explore more avenues for partnerships.

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MAM

Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement

Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted

Published

3 days ago

February 4, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Nielsen is taking a fresh stab at one of television’s oldest blind spots: how many people are actually watching the same screen. The audience-measurement giant on February 4 unveiled a co-viewing pilot that uses wearable devices to better capture shared viewing, starting with America’s biggest broadcast stage.

The trial begins with Super Bowl LX on NBC on February 8, 2026, before extending to other high-profile live sports and entertainment events in the first half of the year. The goal is simple but commercially potent: count viewers more accurately, especially during live spectacles that pull families and friends to one screen.

The new approach leans on Nielsen’s proprietary wearable meters, wrist-worn devices that resemble smartwatches. These passively capture audio signatures from TV content, logging exposure to shows, films and live events without requiring viewers to sign in or self-report. In theory, fewer clicks, fewer lapses, better data.

Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s ceo, cast the move as part of a broader measurement push. He said the company’s task is to keep pushing accuracy as clients invest heavily in live programming that draws mass audiences. The co-viewing pilot, he added, builds on upgrades such as Big Data + Panel measurement, out-of-home expansion, live-streaming metrics and wearable-based tracking.

Co-viewing is not new territory for Nielsen, which has long tried to estimate how many people sit before a single set. What is new is the heavier integration of wearables and passive detection to reduce reliance on active inputs from panel homes.

For now, the pilot comes with caveats. Co-viewing estimates from the trial will not be folded into Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings, which remain the industry’s trading currency. Instead, pilot findings will be shared with clients a few weeks after final Big Data + Panel ratings are delivered. Clients may disclose those findings publicly.

More impact data will follow later this year. Full integration into Nielsen’s marketing-intelligence suite is slated as a longer-term play, with a target of bringing co-viewing into currency measurement for the 2026–2027 season. This is only phase one, with further co-viewing enhancements planned beyond 2026 and additional timelines to be announced.

The push fits a wider pattern. Nielsen has in recent years expanded big-data integration, adopted first-party data for live-streaming measurement and broadened out-of-home tracking. It also positions itself as the reference point for streaming metrics through products such as The Gauge and the Nielsen Streaming Top 10.

In a market where billions of ad dollars hinge on decimal points, counting who is in the room matters. If Nielsen can pin down shared viewing, the humble sofa could become prime measurement real estate. The race to count every eyeball just found a new wrist to watch.

Brands

Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

Published

1 week 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

1 week 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.