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Tag: Advait Gupt

  • Kulfi Collective expands board with Divya Karani as chairperson

    Kulfi Collective expands board with Divya Karani as chairperson

    Mumbai: Kulfi Collective, a creative network in India that functions at the intersection of content, community and culture, has announced the appointment of Divya Karani as chairperson and executive director of its Board. Divya’s three-decade journey has shaped her into a pivotal figure in steering some of the largest advertising and media groups across India, South Asia, the UK and the Asia Pacific. Most recently, Divya was the CEO of Dentsu Media, South Asia, where she led the agency for over 12 years to become one of the dominant media agency networks in the region.

    Kulfi Collective, through its three divisions, Supari Studios, Post Office & Keeda Media, has partnered with the world’s leading brands and platforms such as Spotify, Red Bull, Netflix, Lego, Flipkart and Zomato to deliver content, experiences & IPs that shape culture. The addition of Divya to the board brings strategic insights into the fusion of creativity, technology, and data that is at the core of Kulfi’s unique approach of bringing brands closer to consumers and culture through content, community and commerce.

    Divya expressed her excitement about contributing to Kulfi’s vision, “I am honoured to join Kulfi Collective at such a transformative time. Together, we aim to redefine the creative network model, with an emphasis on agility, authenticity and purpose that resonates with a connected generation.”

    “Divya joining the board will help us build the right governance frameworks as we scale globally. Further, her deep expertise will help us build upstream capabilities to bring brands closer to communities and subcultures in music, sports, gaming, entertainment and lifestyle,” said Kulfi Collective co-founder & CEO Advait Gupt.

    Earlier this year, Kulfi was the first Indian member to join the prestigious Society of Digital Agencies, a network of the world’s most innovative and celebrated digital agencies. Divya’s appointment, coupled with Kulfi’s roster of award-winning work, further cements the collective’s position as a leading creative network in the country and select global markets in the coming years.

  • Kulfi Collective joins the exclusive global network The Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA)

    Kulfi Collective joins the exclusive global network The Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA)

    Mumbai: Kulfi Collective, the award-winning content network based in Mumbai, has joined the prestigious Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA). SoDA is an exclusive global network, home to renowned agency founders, creative innovators and technology disruptors who help the world’s leading brands imagine and create the future of digital experiences.

    SoDA serves as a dynamic community, fostering connections, collaboration and learning among creative visionaries and agencies who are shaping the forefront of digital innovation. Its members include some of the most innovative and celebrated agencies, product design studios, creative production companies and digital experience consultancies in the world such as Media Monks, Stink Studios, Buck, Jam3, Dept and more. SoDA represents a uniquely vibrant, diverse and collaborative community. Agencies are accepted after a rigorous selection process – endorsed by the SoDA community and admitted to the organisation by a unanimous vote from SoDA’s Board of Directors. Kulfi Collective is the first and only Indian company to secure membership in this exclusive global network so far.

    This membership offers Kulfi Collective unparalleled opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing and amplifies its capacity to craft cutting-edge digital experiences and access talent globally to create more value for its roster of clients. “We’re thrilled to be part of this incredible community that is committed to driving innovation and reshaping the digital landscape globally,” said Kulfi Collective co-founder Advait Gupt. “As the only Indian member of SoDA, we are excited to represent creative voices from this region and immerse ourselves in collaborative learning with the finest minds in this space. “

    “SoDA is a global community for founders and leadership teams at some of the world’s most progressive digital design, technology, and product studios. Kulfi Collective has an incredibly sharp, talented, genuine, and ambitious leadership team and they’re most definitely a leader in

    the Indian market. We’re thrilled to welcome the team into our community” adds SoDA executive director Tom Beck.

    This marks a monumental moment in Kulfi Collective’s journey as they continue to work towards operating at the forefront of innovation, creativity and technology. 

  • Manoti Jain to be only Indian woman at Cannes Lions 2019 ‘See It Be It’ programme

    Manoti Jain to be only Indian woman at Cannes Lions 2019 ‘See It Be It’ programme

    MUMBAI: Supari Studios chief operating officer Manoti Jain , is the only Indian to be selected for the Cannes Lions 2019 ‘See It Be It’ programme.  15 women from across the globe were chosen for the programme this year, all of whom will benefit from a curated learning experience at the Cannes Lions festival.

    Jain and the 14 other women were selected from over 760 global applicants across the globe. The programme supports the next generation of female creative directors and takes an active role in shaping the industry to become more representative of the world we live in.

    At the age of 22, Jain, along with co-founders Advait and Akshat Gupt set up Supari Studios in late 2012, after sensing a gap in the country’s digital media landscape. Since then she has helped the company grow into one of the leading content studios in India, winning international awards and building a global audience for brands such as Red Bull, Estee Lauder, Google and Twitter. She strives to create content at the intersection of film, design and technology that is empowering and relevant to audiences.

    Through its ‘See It Be It’ initiative, launched in 2014, Cannes Lions has fully funded over 70 women to attend the festival, providing them with an exclusive learning opportunity and exposure to the global creative community.

    Speaking on the selection, Jain says, “I am extremely honoured and fortunate to share the See It Be It platform with this cohort of resilient and diverse creative minds, at what promises to be a unique week of learning. I hope to bring back lots of learnings and experiences from the programme to both my company and my country in the most effective way possible, by approaching content through a more sensitive, impactful and empowering lens. Attending the festival is an exciting prospect in itself, and I am all geared up to embrace what awaits me at Cannes this year.”

    Supari Studios' Advait Gupt says, “We are absolutely thrilled that Manoti has been selected for the See It Be It programme this year. She has been instrumental in our journey as a content studio from day one. We’re extremely proud that she has been given the opportunity to represent not only the Supari Studios family, but also the many talented, creative women from India at this global platform. We can’t wait for her return to inspire us with her learnings, experiences and stories.”

  • International studios driven by ethics, says Supari’s Advait Gupt

    International studios driven by ethics, says Supari’s Advait Gupt

    MUMBAI: The budding animation industry in India has a long way to go till it can compete with the likes of Disney and Dreamworks. The digital medium, however, gives even smaller content creators the chance to become global sensations. One such studio based in Mumbai that was thrilled to have been picked by one of the largest media companies to partner on a project was Supari Studios (Supari).

    Supari is a digital content studio that is focussed on generating engaging content on the web through live action and animated films. Supari founder Advait Gupt has worked with both national and international companies and while the latter may sound impressive, it is not without its challenges. “The one natural challenge we faced is time zones. When you are working with a client in the US, you take calls at 5 am; the time zone is a factor we can’t control.” He adds that international companies are driven by process and ethics that have enabled his team to create content within two weeks. “They have a certain style of work and the transparency of work is very high,” he says.

    Supari and Post Office, in association with Warner Bros Records, released the official lyric video for the song New Rules by Dua Lipa on digital that garnered 300 thousand views within 24 hours and over 2.1 million views in two months. New Rules has got most traction from Mexico, Spain and Brazil and has received over 2000 comments on the video.

    Gupt shares insights on how the association came to be. “Warner Brothers got in touch with us in the middle of last year. They had seen our animation work and were impressed with the quality. The association with Warner Brothers started with a work for an artist called Adam Lambert in June last year. It was an animated lyric video that got a lot of traction and was received positively by millions of people globally. Post that, they approached us to make a 2D animation lyric video for an artist called Dua Lippa who happens to be topping the chart in the UK and the US as well. Warner Brothers wanted us to make a similar kind of video out of her track,” he says. The project was completed in just two weeks. Eighty per cent of the work-from developing the concept to design, VFX and 2D animation-was done by Gupt’s in-house team.

    Both the type of animation and length are important in determining production factors. A typical one-minute 2D animation video costs Rs 3-5 lakh.

    Gupt has two more entities under him-Post Office and Vitamin Stree. Post Office is the animation studio while Vitamin Stree is a content channel from Supari focussed on cultural, political, artistic and ideological perspectives that are shaping the lives of women in contemporary India.

    Vitamin Stree has recently launched a campaign to raise funds for Nisha Gupta who is a para-athlete and is paralysed from her waist down. She plays for the women’s wheelchair basketball team that represents Maharashtra and Supari is raising funds for her and the whole team.

    Gupt feels that the animated short film Outsider, which they made in early 2017 on domestic violence in South Asians communities in the US, gave Supari tremendous recognition across the world. The film was shortlisted for nine film festivals globally. After seeing Supari’s work and recognition in the global market, Warner Brothers pitched them to work on their own projects.

    Supari has a big line up for 2018. Projects with Redbull, Viacom18 and Hotstar are in the pipeline. A food and talk show with Hotstar was recently completed and a travel show with Viacom18 is currently in progress. These projects are expected to go live from March to April. Doppelganger was a show done in association with Redbull that took content from India for the first time.

    Since its inception in 2012, Supari has had the opportunity to work with a diverse set of brands such as Absolut, Nike, Dolby, Google, Skype, Uber, Maybelline, Estee Lauder, Godrej, Asian Paints, Amul, Mahindra, YouTube, ITC, Maggi and L’Oréal.

    Gupt and his team are on cloud nine with all the praises being showered by global companies. “We are proud that a global music label like Warner Brothers saw value in finding a small, young and creative studio such as ours to deliver global quality content while meeting the standards,” he says. Some more discussions are to be held for future possible liaisons.

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