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Tag: Deepak Lamba

  • Deepak Lamba joins Fashion Entrepreneur Fund as CEO

    Deepak Lamba joins Fashion Entrepreneur Fund as CEO

    Mumbai: The Fashion Entrepreneur Fund (FEF) appoints media veteran Deepak Lamba as chief executive officer, positioning him to spearhead its vision of fostering cutting-edge innovation within the fashion sector. With over 20 years in media, lifestyle, and entertainment, Lamba brings extensive experience launching high-impact initiatives for prominent companies, ensuring his role at FEF will be transformative for the fund and its fashion entrepreneur partners.

    In his new position, Lamba aims to advance FEF’s unique venture studio model, which integrates strategic mentorship with capital funding to accelerate growth for budding fashion and lifestyle brands. “I believe that powerful, meaningful experiences can shape industries and inspire individuals,” Lamba stated. “Joining FEF is an opportunity to build platforms that offer unparalleled value, in both business and personal growth.”

    With FEF valued at Rs 540 crore, Lamba will direct strategic partnerships, including a collaboration with Dharmatic to launch an annual web series, enhancing FEF’s reach within the fashion industry. The fund’s investor pool includes influential figures like Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar, Ravi Jaipuria, Naveen Jindal, and Vinod Dugar, highlighting FEF’s robust network and support in achieving unicorn status by 2028.

    FEF’s chairman Vagish Pathak and founder Sanjay Nigam shared, “With Deepak at the helm of the Fashion Entrepreneur Fund, we are poised to ignite innovation and drive sustainable growth in the industry, empowering visionary entrepreneurs to turn their dreams into reality.”

    Lamba previously led Times Strategic Solutions Ltd. and World Wide Media and held significant leadership roles at Bloomberg UTV and Viacom18, showcasing his proven record of strategic growth. His appointment marks a pivotal step in FEF’s ambition to nurture India’s next generation of disruptive fashion brands.

  • BetterPlace appoints Deepak Lamba as enterprise sales head for India

    BetterPlace appoints Deepak Lamba as enterprise sales head for India

    Mumbai: In a bid to accelerate their growth in the Indian market,  BetterPlace, Asia’s largest frontline workforce management SaaS platform, has appointed Deepak Lamba as enterprise sales head for India. With over 15 years of experience across companies like Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle, Adobe etc, Deepak has been instrumental in managing and building robust lead generation and sales teams.

    Prior to joining BetterPlace, Deepak has played a pivotal role in building companies like Wingify and Hubilo as their head of sales for UK & Europe and VP of global sales respectively. In these roles, Deepak has driven sales and lead generation teams which helped the company expand their top and bottom lines.

    Welcoming Deepak onboard, BetterPlace co-founder & group CEO Pravin Agarwala said, “India continues to be a high growth driver for our SaaS business because of the high volume of workers and high level of digital adoption. With India experiencing rapid growth, enterprises across industries want to quickly adapt and increase their margins by optimizing their processes. This provides an immense opportunity for us, and Deepak’s expertise in driving sales across different markets will help us tap into this potential and consolidate our position in the market further. I am excited to have him on board as an integral part of our journey.”

    Deepak is also the co-founder of Revenue Circuit, India’s first B2B sales community. At BetterPlace, he would lead the entire Sales team in India and align India’s sales efforts with the global teams.

    Excited to join the BetterPlace team, BetterPlace enterprise sales head for India Deepak Lamba said, “Workforce management continues to be the highest cost center for enterprises but there are very limited technology companies that are solving these pain points and helping enterprises optimize. BetterPlace, with its full-stack horizontal SaaS platform, has been at the forefront of solving some of the toughest frontline workforce management challenges. I am excited to be part of this journey and help BetterPlace widen its market share and consolidate its position in the Indian market further to help enterprises in India thrive.”

    BetterPlace recently launched their GenAI-optimised unified tech-stack goBetter which provides seven product modules under one platform. goBetter aims to reduce costs by 50 per cent and increase efficiency by 100 per cent for enterprises.

  • Filmfare Awards to simulcast on Facebook globally

    Filmfare Awards to simulcast on Facebook globally

    MUMBAI: Worldwide Media, India’s leading lifestyle and entertainment content company, has entered into a strategic partnership with Facebook for its iconic Filmfare Awards Franchise. The year-long partnership will provide exclusive non-linear digital simulcast partnership to the entire Filmfare awards franchise including Filmfare Hindi, Filmfare Marathi, Filmfare South, Filmfare Punjabi and Filmfare Glamour and Style Awards in 2020.

    Kickstarting the association with 65th Amazon Filmfare Awards, the awards show will simulcast on February 16 at 9.00pm on Filmfare’s official Facebook page, in addition to red carpet highlights, backstage footage, special moments and best of Filmfare archive content, that will be exclusively available digitally on Facebook and Instagram. 

    Ensuring enhanced reach and innovative content, 65-year old iconic Bollywood awards, will now harness the global reach of social media. Speaking about its partnership with Facebook, Worldwide Media CEO Deepak Lamba said, “Filmfare Awards has for a while now been clear market leader in audience reach and engagement driven by our TV coverage, leveraging our large digital and social platforms, and via extensive news reportage by the TOI group. We are also excited because we will leverage the various FB tools to drive like-minded communities of Bollywood buffs to discuss, debate and enjoy topics and content of similar interest levels. It will enable them to talk about the world of movies, favourite stars and artists all year around, centered around exciting content that the Filmfare team creates.” 

    “Social media is revolutionizing the way audiences discover, consume and share entertainment content. We have seen people form some of the most vibrant global communities around their favorite movies and stars on Facebook and Instagram. We are excited to partner with Filmfare to bring exclusive and engaging videos, photos and more for people on our platforms.” added Facebook India director and head of partnerships Manish Chopra.

    As part of #FilmfareOnFB this year, Filmfare has launched its official Facebook group “All Things Filmfare'', where fans from around the world can relive iconic moments of the Filmfare legacy and can discuss their favorite Filmfare moments. Fans can also join in on the #FilmfareOnFB buzz. This year, over 30 creators will also join in the pre-Filmfare anticipation, talking about their favorite Filmfare moments, of which five creators will get to be on the Filmfare Red Carpet and backstage, to create exclusive content for Facebook and Instagram.

  • WORLDWIDE MEDIA EXPANDS DIGITAL CONTENT PORTFOLIO WITH ‘INTERN DIARIES’

    WORLDWIDE MEDIA EXPANDS DIGITAL CONTENT PORTFOLIO WITH ‘INTERN DIARIES’

    MUMBAI: Worldwide Media, the leading entertainment and lifestyle provider, has announced the launch of ‘Intern Diaries’; a scripted reality web series by Grazia in association with Ponds BB+ cream. The new offering to be launched on 15th May will expand the group’s video content portfolio, thereby fortifying its digital first strategy. The concept of the web series set at the backdrop of leading global fashion media platform Grazia’s workplace; will seamlessly integrate elements of fashion and entertainment forming synergy with the younger audience.

    Speaking about the web series, CEO, Worldwide Media Mr. Deepak Lamba said, “Each of our brands caters to a certain industry segment and its respective audiences. By leveraging each brand’s expertise to create reality based long form content, we have extended our reach on other platforms like television and digital. With Intern Diaries we will amplify our long form content offering on the digital medium and reinforce our platform agnostic and digital first strategy.”

    Speaking about the concept, Grazia India, Editor in Chief, Mehernaaz Dhondy said, “Intern Diaries is WWM’s first foray into fictional video content with a reality setting. The viewers will get a sneak peek into the inner workings of a fashion magazine. Each year many young girls intern at Grazia. The web series has been inspired by many real-life instances that have taken place. Each episode is entertaining and shows a real sense of camaraderie among the two interns and the fashion community.”

    Intern Diaries is a unique series with a story that will revolve around two young girls interning with Grazia and aspiring to make a mark in the world of high fashion, style and Bollywood. The interns will be seen working their way towards delivering as per the magazine’s merit. The web series will take the audience through a journey of real situations, fashion emergencies and challenges from a millennial’s point-of-view. The engaging 8 episode web-series will feature on Youtube and social media platforms of Grazia and a dedicated micro-site – https://www.grazia.co.in/intern-diaries/

    The young artists Hira Ashar and Shivani Singh will be playing the lead roles in the series. Talented actress Sonakshi Sinha and celebrity designers such as Manish Malhotra, Anita Dongre, Masaba Gupta and Payal Singhal’s special appearances will add value to the fashion and glamour driven theme of the web series.

    Worldwide Media group in a short span of time has launched various quality content properties, on digital and television, such as Famoulsy Filmfare, The Secret Ingredient, Nexa Journeys on Asian Highway1 and The GoodHomes show. The success of these properties bears testimony to the group’s strength of delivering shows that can sit across different platforms, propelling it into the direction of achieving its transformational goal.

  • Worldwide Media forays into lifestyle television space with the launch of The GoodHomes show

    Worldwide Media forays into lifestyle television space with the launch of The GoodHomes show

    MUMBAI: Worldwide Media announces the launch of its third television show ‘The GoodHomes Show’ conceptualised by its design and lifestyle magazine brand GoodHomes India.

    The show will bring to the viewers a premium home makeover experience. Presented by Hafele India Pvt Ltd and powered by Vector Projects, the makeover series will feature 10 episodes, each showcasing the dramatic transformation of a different area in each home with design solutions custom-planned by the editor of the magazine Ronitaa Italia-Dhanu and her style team. The show will be aired on TLC.

    Shedding light on the designing prowess of GoodHomes India magazine’s editor Ronitaa Italia-Dhanu and her style team, the show will display mood boards, décor hacks, décor styles, shopping guidelines, and much more. Ten individual personalities, each having unique requirements for their specific spaces at home, will feature in the show per episode. The show will also have renowned experts from the field of architecture and design, sharing their knowledge on design, space planning and style execution.

    Worldwide Media CEO Deepak Lamba said, “With the launch of The GoodHomes Show, this will be our third television venture and we look forward to replicate this innovation and firstmover advantage across our brands.”

  • Times’ WWM steps into TV prod with Jio as Filmfare wows Punjab & Femina digitises

    MUMBAI: WorldWide Media (WWM) CEO Deepak Lamba had last year announced his company’s intentions to foray into TV production with a slew of productions. His wish has become a reality with the launch of the company’s first-ever chat show Famously Filmfare premiering on Jio TV today (12 May) followed by telecasts on Colors Infinity from 14 May. 

    Jio has created a seamless digital life experience for the Indian audience and we believe this premiere will present an exciting on-the-go experience for the movie fans. This innovation will also allow film enthusiasts to engage with their favourite stars on a variety of digital platforms, a Jio spokesperson said.

    Also, with Lonely Planet and TopGear, WWM is launching its first one-of-a-kind travel and adventure series ‘Nexa Journeys on Asian Highway 1’ in association with Nexa which will be telecast on the Discovery network come 21 May 2017.

    Says Lamba:  “At WorldWide Media, our strategy is to be the leader in lifestyle and entertainment content. As a result, our focus is on increasing our presence in the video content and intellectual property (IP) space through long-format content, and with, Famously Filmfare, we are bringing our first such show on digital and television platforms. Soon after this, we will also be launching other versions in Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and Punjabi.”

    Filmfare.com generates around 25 million page views a month, and Lamba has opted to partner Jio TV for all language versions of its chat shows. He reveals that preference is being given to the media firms’  previous partners such as Star network for all its southern India chat shows.  

    To a question, Lamba said that through digital business they aim at trebling its profits (from 5% at present) in the next financial year. “Sixty to 70 per cent of our reach takes place through mobile devices as observed by comScore and Similarweb,” Lamba added.

    The Bengali and Marathi Filmfare awards found a home on Colors Bangla and Colors Marathi while the Punjabi version was telecast on Mh1 on 28 April. He is hoping to spike Filmfare’s page impressions to 50 million impressions by the end of next year.

    Amongst the other WWM properties he is also looking at extending the iconic brand Femina into video content space, which generates close to 37 million page views a month. Under this umbrella, around 60 events are held — annually. And, Lamba is hoping to add to that number in the coming year.

    Says he: “We are seeking alternative revenue streams and looking for new media platforms to exploit the IPs that we have in a different way. There are different revenue streams which are traditional ad sales, event business, digital media, content syndication, TV and web shows and circulation revenue.”

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  • WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    MUMBAI: In August 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) aka The Times of India group bought out the remaining 50 per cent of World Wide Media (WWM) from BBC Worldwide, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of arguably India’s largest media company.

    WWM had started off as a joint venture between the two firms to publish speciality niche magazines. Titles such such as Femina and Filmfare and licensed titles like Lonely Planet, Top Gear, Grazia, Hello! and Good Homes came under its umbrella. Most of them these have grown courtesy a loyal reader base and are adding substantial revenues to WWM’s topline.

    Deepak Lamba – who was earlier the president of Bennett Coleman – was roped in to spearhead it in January 2015 and fine tune its strategy. The idea: take it beyond traditional print publishing. And Lamba’s focus has been to transform it into a complete lifestyle and entertainment outfit. A special internal projects team has been created, which works on providing holistic branding and marketing solutions to clients, including content for the TV and digital space. Amongst the brands it is looking to extend onto digital and TV include: Top Gear, Good Homes, Lonely Planet, Hello, and Femina.

    “Digital is seen as the medium of the future but television is already here. Therefore, we are looking at that how our brands can be put across television platforms,” says WWM CEO Deepak Lamba. “We have signed a deal with Maruti Suzuki for the travel show where five celebrities from different walks of life and their biggest fan will take a fanatistic journey in the auto maker’s vehicles from India to Bangkok on the Asian expressway. The seven part series is slated to launch in November. Hello has an upcoming luxury show on ET Now and Romedy Now which is slated to go live two months from now. Good Homes will talk about how you can beautify your home on a finite budget. We also want to do the GEC version of our Filmfare talk show which is in the pipeline.”

    It is also expanding the Filmfare Awards franchise in August 2016 to cover north Indian cinema with the Britannia Filmfare Awards Punjab.

    “It’s been 63 years now for the Filmfare Awards. The Hindi cinema awards are telecast on Sony Entertainment Television,” explains Lamba. “The South India awards are in their sixtieth year and are telecast on Star channels; the East Indian awards on Star Jalsa, even as the Marathi awards are on Colors Marathi. We are also launching three music awards with regional GECs in the South and with local partners in Punjab.”

    Short filmmakers will also be eligible to take a stab at winning the lovely black Filmfare statuette with the launch of an award for digital movies, discloses Lamba. “The short films have to be of 15 minutes and we will have a prominent jury just like we have for our main awards and the main gratification is that winners will receive the award on the same stage.”

    WWM is likely to reach out to other production houses to partner it on some of its brand extensions into video, especially those targeting broadcasters. For its digital initiatives, it has put together a full-fledged in-house team which is working closely with its editorial team to roll out its properties. On the anvil is a fun-filled 15 minute celebrity chat show with Filmfare editor in chief Jitesh Pillai as its host. The pilot is being shot with the official launch expected to happen in the next two to three months. Lamba says the move into digital has come because advertisers have been asking for it. “There was also an internal need as being a part of BCCL, scale does matter a lot. In the magazine space we are already the number one. Also if you listen to your consumers and advertisers you will not go wrong.”

    OTT and VOD players have come knocking on WWM’s doors and conversations are on with them too.

    A foray into fiction is planned under the Femina brand. “The show is about a fantastic girl who is a little plump. A Gujju girl whose boyfriend dumps her for a skinny girl,” points out Lamba. “The show will track what she decides to do with her life and how she comes out on top of the world. ”

    Will the strategy of stretching existing print titles to video work? Media observers believe it will.

    “Titles such as Top Gear, Filmfare, Good Homes have a pretty loyal following both from advertisers and consumers,” says a media expert. “The WWM team will have to do something really wrong or screw up to fail at this extension strategy. I am betting that they will do well.”

    And that is something Lamba is banking on too.

  • WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    WorldWide Media pushes into TV content creation

    MUMBAI: In August 2011, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) aka The Times of India group bought out the remaining 50 per cent of World Wide Media (WWM) from BBC Worldwide, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of arguably India’s largest media company.

    WWM had started off as a joint venture between the two firms to publish speciality niche magazines. Titles such such as Femina and Filmfare and licensed titles like Lonely Planet, Top Gear, Grazia, Hello! and Good Homes came under its umbrella. Most of them these have grown courtesy a loyal reader base and are adding substantial revenues to WWM’s topline.

    Deepak Lamba – who was earlier the president of Bennett Coleman – was roped in to spearhead it in January 2015 and fine tune its strategy. The idea: take it beyond traditional print publishing. And Lamba’s focus has been to transform it into a complete lifestyle and entertainment outfit. A special internal projects team has been created, which works on providing holistic branding and marketing solutions to clients, including content for the TV and digital space. Amongst the brands it is looking to extend onto digital and TV include: Top Gear, Good Homes, Lonely Planet, Hello, and Femina.

    “Digital is seen as the medium of the future but television is already here. Therefore, we are looking at that how our brands can be put across television platforms,” says WWM CEO Deepak Lamba. “We have signed a deal with Maruti Suzuki for the travel show where five celebrities from different walks of life and their biggest fan will take a fanatistic journey in the auto maker’s vehicles from India to Bangkok on the Asian expressway. The seven part series is slated to launch in November. Hello has an upcoming luxury show on ET Now and Romedy Now which is slated to go live two months from now. Good Homes will talk about how you can beautify your home on a finite budget. We also want to do the GEC version of our Filmfare talk show which is in the pipeline.”

    It is also expanding the Filmfare Awards franchise in August 2016 to cover north Indian cinema with the Britannia Filmfare Awards Punjab.

    “It’s been 63 years now for the Filmfare Awards. The Hindi cinema awards are telecast on Sony Entertainment Television,” explains Lamba. “The South India awards are in their sixtieth year and are telecast on Star channels; the East Indian awards on Star Jalsa, even as the Marathi awards are on Colors Marathi. We are also launching three music awards with regional GECs in the South and with local partners in Punjab.”

    Short filmmakers will also be eligible to take a stab at winning the lovely black Filmfare statuette with the launch of an award for digital movies, discloses Lamba. “The short films have to be of 15 minutes and we will have a prominent jury just like we have for our main awards and the main gratification is that winners will receive the award on the same stage.”

    WWM is likely to reach out to other production houses to partner it on some of its brand extensions into video, especially those targeting broadcasters. For its digital initiatives, it has put together a full-fledged in-house team which is working closely with its editorial team to roll out its properties. On the anvil is a fun-filled 15 minute celebrity chat show with Filmfare editor in chief Jitesh Pillai as its host. The pilot is being shot with the official launch expected to happen in the next two to three months. Lamba says the move into digital has come because advertisers have been asking for it. “There was also an internal need as being a part of BCCL, scale does matter a lot. In the magazine space we are already the number one. Also if you listen to your consumers and advertisers you will not go wrong.”

    OTT and VOD players have come knocking on WWM’s doors and conversations are on with them too.

    A foray into fiction is planned under the Femina brand. “The show is about a fantastic girl who is a little plump. A Gujju girl whose boyfriend dumps her for a skinny girl,” points out Lamba. “The show will track what she decides to do with her life and how she comes out on top of the world. ”

    Will the strategy of stretching existing print titles to video work? Media observers believe it will.

    “Titles such as Top Gear, Filmfare, Good Homes have a pretty loyal following both from advertisers and consumers,” says a media expert. “The WWM team will have to do something really wrong or screw up to fail at this extension strategy. I am betting that they will do well.”

    And that is something Lamba is banking on too.

  • Omnichannel retailing is the way to go in India

    Omnichannel retailing is the way to go in India

    MUMBAI: It is a renowned fact that the economic scenario in India has significantly transformed over the past two decades largely due to the retail sector. The retail market is set to double in 2016-17 from Rs 23 crore in 2011-12. This growth will be spurred by mutual growth of both offline and online channels of retailing.

     

    “Omnichannel retailing is the way to go in India. All retailers have a big market, nevertheless organised retailers will have to find local relevance,” said Ministry of Commerce & Industries additional secretary J.K. Dadoo in the recently concluded trends in Retail Summit 2015 organised by ET Edge, an Economic Times initiative.

     

    Talking about investor interest in the retail sector, Dadoo added, “With the changing trends, we will see more interest by investors too. The Indian government is keen to allow FDI in B2B e-commerce.”

     

    During the Summit, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) senior partner and director Abheek Singhi opined, “Shopping is an occasion which needs to be cherished and is a combination of mobile, social and human connection. Today consumers are in control of the shopping experience.”

     

    Echoing his views Shopper’s Stop MD and VC Govind Shrikhande said, “The four D’s that count at present are demographics, disruption, digital and data analytics. Living in the generation of millennials, mobile and social commerce will shape the future of shopping.”

     

    Speaking about the success of the Summit, Times Conferences president Deepak Lamba said, “It’s a delight to see the interest and enthusiasm of so many professionals to learn about the growing retail trends in India.  Given the recent boom in the sector, e-commerce is capturing almost all retail sale, however, brick-and-mortar stores will never go out of fashion. Furthermore, digital wallets will help the country transform into a cashless economy.”

     

    The Summit witnessed presence of more than 120+ professionals from the retail, banking and marketing sectors. Key trends, business and government policies were discussed by government officials and retail and banking honchos.

     

    The Summit took place on 26 June 2015 at Hyatt Regency, Mumbai.

  • The Times of India Group Launches ‘Femina Believe’

    The Times of India Group Launches ‘Femina Believe’

    MUMBAI: Borrowing a leaf from the legacy of Femina  and its connect with the modern Indian women, The Times of India Group today launched ‘Femina Believe Learning Academy’, a first of its kind learning academy in India. Targeted towards women from all walks of life, the practical and contemporary courses being offered by this academy will be in subjects pertaining to self enhancement skills that matter to today’s modern Indian women in their professional and social life.

     

    Extending the group’s presence in the field of education and training, Femina Believe will be a part of the ‘Times Center for Learning’, which was launched last year.

     

    The academy aims at empowering women through the power of training and will conduct short intensive workshops in a variety of subjects ranging from personality enhancement to culinary skills.

     

    As a part of the brand launch campaign, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut will be the face of the brand.

     

    Speaking at the launch, Ms. Kangana Ranaut said, “I am delighted and honoured to be a part of Femina Believe. This empowering initiative will help women to transform and manage everyday pressures of life with the help of practical workshops and discover a brand new self.”

     

     

    Women can choose from an array of courses mentioned on the academy’s website. Definitive learning, practical curriculum and a high level of interaction will be the core focus of these courses and will be conducted by best in class professionals, who will combine their unrivalled experience in subjects with training skills par excellence.

     

    The courses offered by the academy are:

     

    Makeup and skin care: Participants will be empowered with techniques to overcome their self-consciousness and skillfully apply makeup for every occasion.

     

    Styling: Will help participants understand the nuances of styling to make the right choice of clothes & accessories every time.

     

    Dining etiquette: Participants will learn the characteristics of fine dining, correct use of cutlery, table manners etc.

     

    Communication skills and body language: This not being a language course, the participants will learn communication techniques that will help them nurture personal and professional relationships & equip them with skills to that will help them project the right personality.

     

    Culinary:  Participants can choose to learn to cook specific dishes or cuisines ranging from health food to word cuisines to desserts. Practical learning being the focus, participants will cook alongside our chefs and not just watch.

     

    Photography: Participants will get to learn the basics of using a DSLR camera. After acquiring theoretical knowledge in a classroom, they will also go outdoors to put this to practical use.

     

    Commenting on the launch of Femina Believe, Mr. Deepak Lamba, President, The Times Centre of Learning said, “We are very proud of this initiative. In today’s day and age, a woman is challenged at every walk of her life.  Multitasking through office and house a woman has to also take care of her family. Our courses will work to create a channel for women to support, connect and inspire each other.”

     

    These courses are priced between 2,500 to 10,000 INR and will aim at polishing the existing skills of 15-20 students per batch. Femina Believe workshops will be currently launched in the city of Mumbai and Delhi NCR and will expand into the other 6 metros by early next year.