MAM

Missing brands must restart marketing to catch rising demand across categories

Published

6 years ago

May 22, 2020

NEW DELHI: After a lull of more than two months, businesses in India are slowly getting back on track as lockdown restrictions ease. There is a positive sentiment among most brands and agencies that things will only get better from here on and there seems to be a plethora of opportunities waiting.

According to FCB India group chairman and CEO Rohit Ohri and Havas Group India CEO Rana Barua, a lot of their clients have started getting positive responses from consumers in areas that fall under the green zone.

Barua had told us in an earlier interview that one of its major clients, Hyundai, recorded 500 bookings in just two days of opening up of a limited number of showrooms. Ohri said that brands functioning in the essentials category, like food and hygiene, are getting a splendid rise in demand.

Recently, Siyaram’s, one of the most prominent players in the Indian textile industry, said that the retailers in the green zones have started recording two-thirds of normal daily sales number already, indicating a positive sentiment amongst consumers. McDonald’s, too, had talked to Indiantelevision.com about an impending pent-up demand across industries.

With a further change in lockdown rules, the industry is taking cognisance of several other possible trends. Barua now added, “I think (do not have data to back this) a lot of urgent categories would have opened up as many consumers would require change/service/repair of electronics, white goods, mobile accessories, home/kitchen accessories and appliances, etc. I say this because, with a, close to, 60-day lockdown and everyone at home using all the mentioned above more than ever, I am quite sure that this will be the need of the hour.”

Madison Media chief analytics officer Nagaraj Krishnamurthy shared Bain & Company’s survey results that show demand for staples, household hygiene, food ordering-in, toys and even beauty products are improving in green zones.

He said, “I do not foresee any issues concerning the demand for essentials. There is a lot of talk about revenge shopping of consumer discretionary items. My personal feeling is revenge shopping at best will provide a blip in the first week after easing is announced. On a medium-term basis, there will be demand contraction for luxury and discretionary products.”

Dentsu One president Harjot Singh Narang elaborated that while essentials will surely be growing in sales; the fate of products and services like the purchase of automobiles and personal transport, new food experiences, travel and tourism will depend largely on consumer sentiment depending on how fast a vaccine is found and distributed, amongst other factors.

He said, “There can be two broad scenarios on this. As we come out of it the sentiment could be of “fear and worry” which would lead to safety behaviour, putting off any non-essential expenditure, more investments in insurance products etc., or the sentiment could be that of “we dodged a bullet” leading to more of the YOLO (you only live once) behaviour of spending and enjoyment of experiences to celebrate the survival and resilience that led us out.”

Whatever the case may be from the demand-side, advertisers suggest that it is high time that brands, which were missing from the public glare for the past two months or so, restart their advertising activities.

Wunderman Thompson South Asia chairman and group CEO Tarun Rai shared, “The crisis took everyone by surprise. It is unprecedented and without any playbook. Some brands, sensibly, have been present through this crisis – whether in terms of communication or by actually doing positive things to help mitigate the crisis. The brands that have missed out should start getting visible now.”

Krishnamurthy added, “Marketing and more specifically advertising is an investment. The golden rule to maximise return is to invest when costs are low. Marketers who did not invest in previous phases of lockdown missed a great opportunity to build brand love on a very cost-effective basis. I would urge all brands, especially those in FMCG business, where the top-of-the-funnel activation is critical to invest more. You rarely see an increase in media consumption that is accompanied by lower media cost.”

About what should be the approach of brands to restart marketing, Rai said, “They still have to be empathetic and recognise that the crisis is not over. But after two months they can open up their marketing budgets as there are definite signs of consumers getting back to spending in many parts of the country. This could be a very important phase as there has to be a lot of pent-up demand. Marketers don’t want to miss out on it.”

Barua highlighted that authenticity should be a key factor in brand communication today. “Brands and businesses have a huge and potentially vital role to play. But they must do so with authenticity because it is the right thing to do, not for themselves, not even just for their customers, but for society as a whole. In line with this, getting back to relevance and creating a compelling, engaging story to fit back into the consumer’s life is integral. Be meaningful for the consumer so that they clearly understand the void and reach out to buy the brand.”

Narang further elaborated on a suitable strategy for brands to make a comeback in the marketing world through a two-pronged approach: first from the marketing impact on business perspective and second from the brand’s relationship with its consumers’ perspective.

From an impact on the business perspective, he shared, “Teams would need to track sentiments very closely and pivot quickly to the changed needs of their consumers given these abnormal times. Responses could be different for different individual businesses and categories – from a changed product design perspective, a pricing/ SKU need matching perspective or even a new approach to distribution channel dynamics etc,., or a combination of such elements.”

He insisted that brands go “deeply human” to address the situation from the relationship with consumers perspective. “Adapt as a brand to the new paradigm exactly like human relationships adapt and grow in uncertain times. This is the time that separates the wheat from the chaff for people at large and consumer segments in particular and relationships and brands that do not have a deep enough link will be left behind or even forgotten. Just see the personal relationships that will survive and even grow for your consumer segment and evolve your brand to be in sync with those patterns. At the very base level – out of sight and out of mind would be a big factor for people in what relationships survive and which ones fall behind as unimportant – the same will play out with brands.”

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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 month 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 month 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 month 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.