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Tag: Brand Partnerships

  • Show must go on for brand partnership maven as Sujith Kumar joins BookMyShow

    Show must go on for brand partnership maven as Sujith Kumar joins BookMyShow

    MUMBAI:  In a move that has more twists than a Hindi cinema blockbuster, Sujith Kumar has swapped his role as head of brand partnerships at Swiggy SteppinOut for a senior manager position at BookMyShow, India’s entertainment ticketing titan. The career hop, announced this month, sees the marketing maestro taking his knack for turning consumers into brand evangelists to fresh pastures.

    Kumar’s track record reads like a greatest hits album of Indian entertainment marketing. At Swiggy SteppinOut, he orchestrated partnerships spanning food, music, comedy and lifestyle events, including the launch of “Supper Clubs of India”—intimate dining experiences showcasing regional cuisines that had Mumbai’s foodies queuing round the block.

    His previous stint at Paytm Insider proved particularly lucrative, where he built the brand partnerships team from scratch. The portfolio included managing Arijit Singh’s five-city tour and pioneering Van Heusen’s first metaverse concert—a digital-age spectacle that had traditionalists scratching their heads and millennials reaching for their wallets.

    The marketing maverick’s earlier adventures include a two-and-a-half-year spell at Sony Music Entertainment, where his mission statement “turn music fans into brand fans” became the stuff of industry legend. He juggled over 80 active brand strategies across south India, orchestrating collaborations with musical heavyweights including Badshah and Anirudh Ravichander.

    At ESPN, Kumar cut his teeth managing marketing for ESPNcricinfo during cricket’s golden television era, overseeing campaigns for the 2015 World Cup and IPL. His creation of CricIQ, billed as India’s largest cricket quiz platform, proved that sports and smartphones could be a winning combination long before fantasy leagues became the rage.

    Now at BookMyShow Live, Kumar faces the challenge of making brands feel rather than merely seen when “the lights dim and the fans roar.” Given his penchant for turning spectators into spenders, India’s entertainment industry may have found its most valuable player yet.

    The motorcycle enthusiast, who founded BrosonWheelsOfficial and treats riding as his “refresh button,” appears ready to take the brand partnerships game into top gear. For an industry where attention spans are shorter than TikTok videos, that could be music to corporate ears.

  • Mrityunjay Kumar’s Mashrise to monetise Railyatri and Intrcity Smartbus platforms across digital and physical touchpoints

    Mrityunjay Kumar’s Mashrise to monetise Railyatri and Intrcity Smartbus platforms across digital and physical touchpoints

    MUMBAI: Railyatri and Intrcity Smartbus, under Stelling Technologies, have onboarded digital marketing agency Mashrise as their official monetisation partner. The deal will see Mashrise spearhead integrated revenue strategies across the brands’ extensive digital and offline ecosystems, tapping into the fast-evolving intercity mobility segment.

    With this mandate, Mashrise will design and execute brand campaigns across mobile apps, in-app integrations, branded content, and transit media on Railyatri and Intrcity buses. Offline activations will include smart screens, on-ground events, and experiential zones inside premium buses operating across major Indian corridors.

    “We are excited to partner with Intrcity & Railyatri, who have modernised the Indian travel experience. With this mandate, our goal is to create innovative, high-impact monetisation solutions that not only unlock new revenue channels but also enhance the commuter experience for millions of users”, said Mashrise co-founder Mrityunjay Kumar.

    Railyatri and Intrcity have emerged as leading players in long-distance mobility, with Intrcity Smartbus offering features like onboard washrooms, AI-led fleet tracking, and real-time customer support. The partnership aims to blend these technology-led services with tailored brand experiences.

    “We take pride in deeply integrating with brands and providing them solutions that are both digital and on-ground. Our partnership with Mashrise, given their strong foothold in the media and advertising world, will elevate the brand solutions we offer”, said Railyatri & IntrCity founding member Dinesh Rathi.

    With Railyatri servicing millions of train travellers and Intrcity operating on key interstate routes, this tie-up is poised to generate high-ROI brand integrations, giving advertisers access to a highly engaged and mobile-first audience.

    The partnership signals Railyatri’s next growth leap as it sharpens its commercial focus and enhances its position as a key media asset in India’s travel-tech sector.

  • Manuj Arora appointed director, ads at Myntra

    Manuj Arora appointed director, ads at Myntra

    MUMBAI: Manuj Arora has taken on the role of director at Myntra. He moves into this position after nearly seven years with the online fashion retailer, where he previously held the titles of deputy director from April 2020 and associate director for three years starting in April 2022. During his time as associate director, his responsibilities included leading the gift card and strategic alliances businesses, as well as overseeing approximately 50 per cent of Myntra’s advertising business across various product categories.

    Prior to joining Myntra, Arora served as a manager at Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) for two years. His experience also includes a role as associate group head at Reliance Broadcast Network, where he focused on business development through advertising sales and integrated marketing solutions. Earlier in his career, he held positions at Zee Media Corp Ltd (DNA) as an assistant manager in sales and at Colgate Palmolive in customer development.

    In his new role as director at Myntra, Arora will be responsible for Myntra ads, brand partnerships, strategic alliances, and gift cards.

  • Meta serves up AI sauce for better creator and influencer marketing

    Meta serves up AI sauce for better creator and influencer marketing

    MUMBAI: Meta has dropped digital innovations, unveiling AI-powered creator marketing solutions that promise to turn brand partnerships into growth rockets.

    Meta director and head of ads business in India Arun Srinivas couldn’t contain his excitement: “The world’s largest community of Instagram creators is right here in India, and it’s no surprise that we’re seeing strong momentum around brands partnering with them to drive sales and ROAS. Meta’s creator marketing solutions such as partnership ads and Instagram creator marketplace can help brands easily discover, connect, and drive performance with creators to get the most out of the partnerships. The new tools we’re launching today harness the power of AI to make creator discovery even more seamless for brands, in turn boosting growth potential for both brands and creators.”

    Case in point: Snitch, a  fashion brand, saw a awesome 53 per cent increase in return on ad spend by leveraging Reels and creator content., according to its chief business officer Aniket Singh.

    The new toolkit is a creator’s dream and a marketer’s secret weapon:
    * AI-powered creator content recommendations that predict partnership magic within the partnership ads hub in ads manager
    * Keyword search in Instagram’s creator marketplace letting brands hunt for the perfect content creators. Previously, brands needed to leverage a variety of filters to find their ideal creator set. Granular filters spanning everything from “Bollywood dance steps” to “gadget unboxing.”

    To help businesses better discover and evaluate creator fit, Meta has also added a variety of features to Instagram’s creator marketplace
    * Playable creator reels
    * Direct email contacts for seamless collaboration
    * Badges showing creators’ partnership experience
    * Active Partnership Ads: Meta will now show a creator’s current partnership ads on their creator profile. 
    * Marketing API expansions for partnership ads

    Advertisers can also now use existing Instagram posts for partnerships ads in both placement asset customisation and Advantage+ Creative when creating ads via API.  In addition, partnership ads can now be used for click-to-message destinations.

    Meta’s data suggests partnership ads outperform traditional creatives by a whopping 96 per cent confidence interval – proving that human creativity, turbocharged by AI, is the new marketing holy grail.

    With India leading global Reels production and hosting the largest Instagram creator community, brands are in for a wild ride.

    Bottoms up to the creator economy!

  • toothsi names Vishwanath Shetty as VP of brand partnerships

    toothsi names Vishwanath Shetty as VP of brand partnerships

    Mumbai: toothsi, a D2C start-up recognised for its smile makeover products and services has named Vishwanath Shetty as its new vice-president of brand partnerships. 

    With more than 15 years of experience in IP/branded content sales across media, advertising and martech, Shetty will lead the newly-formed partnership development team. The team was created to optimise the information flow and develop new initiatives with partners across the marketing and advertising ecosystem.

    “At toothsi, we are proud of the long-term value exchange we have developed with our partners. Nurturing these partnerships and integrating new ones is a significant concept of our mission in a fast-evolving technology, said toothsi co-founder and CEO Dr Arpi Mehta. “Shetty’s strong cross-functional expertise and dynamic leadership style will guide our new partnership development team to even higher levels of excellence in serving our clients.”

    Before joining toothsi, Shetty was associated with Pocket Aces as vice president, head of sales and brand solutions, where he was instrumental in building and growing its business and advertising partnerships team. He has also served at The Walt Disney Company as regional head – brand content (W&S), where he was instrumental in strategising high-profit revenue model for youth cluster in media networks by creating marquee intellectual properties such as “Girl in the City” season 1-3 and “The Trip” season 1-2.

    “I am thrilled to join the toothsi team at this pertinent juncture in their development and to collaborate with a brilliant set of people across the company,” said Vishwanath Shetty. “Our efforts to build partnerships will strengthen our position, allowing us to integrate strategic objectives that create mutual value for brand marketing strategies that involve our partners.”

  • Skillbox brings in Roydon Bangera as division head-West & head of brand partnerships

    Skillbox brings in Roydon Bangera as division head-West & head of brand partnerships

    Mumbai: Art community and ticketing platform Skillbox has brought Roydon Bangera on board as division head – West and head of brand partnerships.

    In his role at Skillbox, Bangera will be bringing his over 13 years of experience in the entertainment industry to grow the platform’s revenue in the west region. Additionally, at a national level, his role will focus on branded experiences, branded partnerships and scaling the platform’s ticketing footprint beyond music into comedy, sports and theatre, said the statement.

    “SkillBox is constantly evolving its product line and offerings. Roydon will help drive the next phase of growth and expansion for the company, further streamlining and strengthening the core areas of the business, as SkillBox continues on building a holistic platform for artists, going forward,” stated Skillbox CEO and co-founder Anmol Kukreja.

    Bangera is a seasoned music industry executive with experience in live music, P&L management for creative industries, A&R, marketing and business development. Prior to SkillBox, he has been associated with companies like Sony Music India, Madness JAMS, Indigo Live to name a few. He has also long been associated with the indie music industry as an independent artist manager, promoter and entrepreneur.

    “I am truly excited about this new journey with Skillbox and I look forward to making Skillbox an end-to-end solution for brands when it comes to live entertainment, not only music but all forms of art & entertainment,” said Roydon Bangera on his new assignment.