Brands

Kyoorius Launches ‘The Shortlist’

Published

7 years ago

January 8, 2019

MUMBAI: Make informed investment decisions that maximise your award efforts. Let your work be audited in The Shortlist by a world-class jury before entering international award shows.

It’s no secret that the advertising, media and digital agency businesses are challenged with pressure on margins, forced by increased competition. In this environment, agency management is searching for areas in which costs can be cut without compromising on the quality of their output.

It’s this simple understanding of what the agency is going through that has provoked Kyoorius to launch ‘The Shortlist’, an initiative that helps agencies manage costs in the area of awards entries.

Rajesh Kejriwal, co-founder & CEO, Kyoorius, comments, “Our continuous dialogue with the marketing communications fraternity is the reason behind The Shortlist. Awards are expensive investments – the reasons for entering an award show are many. As the economic climate in which agencies operate gets tougher, wiser decisions have to be made to ensure better ROI. The Shortlist provides valuable feedback and validates what eventually can or should be entered into awards shows.”

Every entry to The Shortlist will be evaluated by a world-class jury comprising international and Indian judges, as has been the case with every Kyoorius award, such as the Kyoorius Creative Awards, the Kyoorius Design Awards, the Times of India Power of Print Awards, the STAR Re-Imagine Awards, etc.

“The Shortlist is the truth told by some of the best creative minds in the world,” says Josy Paul, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO India. “It’s not just about awards but a honest and objective assessment of where our ideas stand in the larger global scheme. Think of it as the qualification round for the creative world cup. Winning is the byproduct.”

“Kyoorius seems to have hit on a super pragmatic idea for today’s cash-strapped times for agencies,” comments Amer Jaleel, group chief creative officer and chairman, MullenLowe Lintas Group. “All of us rue the fact that there are too many awards these days but to take that insight and come up with a pre-awards idea, takes a special talent. To me this idea sounds as big as The Gunn Report which aggregated points for agencies post awards. This one is pre and it can be used as a predictive tool so agencies can focus on where to invest their increasingly hard-earned revenue.”

“I believe The Shortlist is a great idea that I wish existed a decade ago,” says Sidharth Rao, co-founder and CEO, Dentsu Webchutney. “All agencies will agree that there is huge wastage of time, resources and money when it comes to selection of entries to awards that we all aspire to win. A high quality jury will help the industry optimise its budgets, resources and expectations.”

“It is much needed insightful initiative by Kyoorius,” says Manish Bhatt, founder director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi. “In the 1990s, legends like Neil French and David Droga used to help award aspirants personally in Ogilvy and Publicis (respectively) to shortlist and curate award-worthy ideas from our international wish-list. New age agencies and young aspirants of today's era need such world-standard mentorship to shortlist their dhobi-list of potential entries especially in this financially challenged phase of our industry. What better than a dynamic platform like The Shortlist to take a step in this direction and help the industry meaningfully.”

“This is an idea that CCOs and CFOs will love,” says Bobby Pawar, chairman and chief creative officer of Havas Group India. “It’s so on the nose, so obviously brilliant that I wonder that no one (including me) thought of it before. In far too many cases the approach to entering awards was ‘spray and pray’. The Shortlist can effectively put a bullet to the head of the long-shot and ‘no shot’ entries. There is the added advantage of being able to tell teams who won’t quit whining, ‘If your work can’t make The Shortlist, it has a snowball’s chance in hell of making it anywhere.”

“The Shortlist will ensure nothing but quality and pure creativity,” says Santosh Padhi, co-founder and chief creative officer, Taproot Dentsu. “The Shortlist to me is like the Ranji Trophy format which ultimately helps the Indian team, it’s a good platform to focus country first, which we have always played on the backfoot. Another advantage is most of the time when we enter the work it’s finished and released so the bullet is already fired, in this case one can send semi-finished ideas too and if the feedback is well defined, well directed and if implemented accordingly this can make a great difference to the final product”.

The Shortlist has been set up in partnership with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, and with the support of The One Club For Creativity, organisers of the prestigious One Show and the ADC Awards.

"The Shortlist is a highly useful new resource that will greatly assist creative directors as they determine their awards show entries,” says Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club for Creativity. “The decision to enter a piece of work to an award show must be well thought-through, and The One Club has worked closely with Kyoorius to develop this platform to help agencies make that determination. The Shortlist utilises a robust evaluation process, designed specifically to provide an actionable audit. At the end of the process, creative directors will have greater confidence in then submitting their 'shortlisted' work to The One Show global awards."

Details on the call for entries, categories, submission guide and jury to be revealed soon at theshortlist.kyoorius.com

The evaluation of entries to The Shortlist will be announced in February 2019.

Since 2006, has been at the forefront of connecting the creative community in India through programmes that inform, inspire and stimulate. An initiative of Transasia Fine Papers, Kyoorius is a not-for-profit organisation that celebrates all aspects of creative communication and marketing. Through events, regular publications and other initiatives, Kyoorius is committed to galvanising creativity in India and inspiring future innovators.

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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.

Brands

BCCL profit jumps 53 per cent in FY25 as tax bill shrinks

Revenue rises 4.3 per cent to Rs 10,209.33 crore while deferred tax gain lifts bottom line sharply

Published

2 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

NEW DELHI: Bennett, Coleman and Company (BCCL) has posted a sparkling set of financial results for the year ended 31 March 2025, proving that there is still plenty of ink and gold left in the ledger.

Revenue from operations climbed a steady 4.3 per cent, reaching Rs 10,209.33 crore compared to Rs 9,786.44 crore the previous year. When you sprinkle in other income, which rose 8.9 per cent to Rs 949.36 crore, the total income for the media behemoth hit a healthy Rs 11,158.69 crore.

While the income grew at a modest pace, the bottom line tells a far more dramatic story. The real headline is the 53 per cent surge in annual profit. How did they pull off such a feat? While Profit Before Tax (PBT) saw a gentle nudge upward of 2.7 per cent to Rs 1,610.00 crore, it was a vanishing act by the taxman that really did the trick.

Total tax expenses plummeted by 32.4 per cent, dropping from Rs 468.76 crore down to Rs 316.97 crore. This was largely thanks to a swing in deferred tax, moving from an expense of Rs 156.02 crore in FY24 to a benefit of Rs 39.44 crore this year.

Total income rose from Rs 10,658.55 crore in FY24 to Rs 11,158.69 crore in FY25, marking a 4.7 per cent increase. Total expenses grew at a slower pace, up 3.0 per cent from Rs 9,306.06 crore to Rs 9,581.45 crore. Profit before tax inched up 2.7 per cent, moving from Rs 1,567.02 crore to Rs 1,610.00 crore. However, the standout figure was net profit, which jumped sharply by 53.0 per cent, climbing from Rs 1,042.03 crore in FY24 to Rs 1,594.73 crore in FY25.

Despite the rising costs of doing business across the globe, BCCL kept a tight grip on the purse strings. Total expenses rose by just 3.0 per cent to Rs 9,581.45 crore. By keeping costs lower than the rate of income growth, the company ensured that the final figure, a net profit of Rs 1,594.73 crore, was nothing short of a front-page sensation.

In a world of shifting digital tides, it seems the BCCL ship is not just steady, but sailing into significantly wealthier waters.