ITV

Tag: Dinesh Jain

  • Curry Nation bags Jaihind’s ad brief with full sleeves rolled and strategy stitched

    Curry Nation bags Jaihind’s ad brief with full sleeves rolled and strategy stitched

    MUMBAI: Curry Nation has just tailored itself into the thick of things with Jaihind, one of Pune’s oldest and most trusted menswear retail chains. On 3 April 2025, the indie ad agency known for transforming commodity brands into cultural powerhouses clinched the integrated communications mandate for Jaihind. And this wasn’t your average pitch win—it came hot on the heels of the agency’s signature ‘UNLIMIT’ workshop, a no-holds-barred brand therapy session that helped reposition Jaihind from a ‘men’s only store’ to a more expansive ‘men’s mall’.

    Translation? It’s not just a store—it’s the destination for anyone identifying anywhere on the boy-to-man fashion spectrum.

    Curry Nation will now suit up to handle Jaihind’s entire branding wardrobe—from social media and campaign design to community building and multichannel storytelling. Data tracking, long-term relationship nurturing, and brand personality polishing are all part of the job description.

    “The process followed by Curry Nation of understanding our business inside out is something commendable… the conclusions made us see the whole being and not just parts,” said Jaihind CMD Dinesh Jain in a note that reads part testimonial, part poetic mic drop.

    Jaihind CMD Dinesh Jain; Curry Nation founder Nagessh Pannaswami

    Curry Nation founder Nagessh Pannaswami added, “The UNLIMIT workshop is one of our tools… to provide a platform for uninhibited breakthrough ideation on the business, the brand and the product.”

    Jaihind has been on a style evolution of its own—from housing just fabrics and a few readymades to now boasting eight multi-brand stores across Pune, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Nashik. With Curry Nation’s strategic flair and Jaihind’s legacy swag, this isn’t just a rebrand. It’s a retail renaissance dressed to impress.

  • Nissan to double marketing spend for the year

    Nissan to double marketing spend for the year

    MUMBAI: With the slowdown taking place in the auto sector many companies are looking at ways to cut costs including marketing. However, since Nissan is a new entrant in the market its marketing spend will more than double this year while promotional spend on a per car basis will rise by 30 per cent.

    Hover Automotive India is Nissan‘s sales and marketing partner in India. The company‘s CEO Dinesh Jain said that 60 per cent of its spend goes towards above the line activities.

    “Out of that 55 per cent goes towards television,” he said. The slowdown, he concedes, has posed challenges which mean increasing operational efficiencies and making sure that the marketing rupee travels further.
     
    The company has tied up with National Geographic Channel for the show ‘X-treme Trail‘ which is currently airing every Sunday at 9 pm. The company‘s SUV is featured in the show. Jain adds that it did not want to be associated with a run off the mill show. “We wanted a show that would showcase our product‘s capabilities. While the show was National Geographic Channel‘s idea the extreme part of it was co-created. We made sure that our vehicles were available. We also gave management time and also bore some part of the production cost.

    “Brand Nissan is known for its product Innovations around the world. Nissan X-trail with the new 2.0L M9R fuel-efficient diesel engine combined with the most capable ALL MODE 4X4-i system makes it a unique vehicle in its class. In the X-treme Trail program, the Nissan X-trail has surpassed the expectations of all 19 amateur drivers and the two final winners who successfully drove it to one of the most difficult terrains in the world, the Siachen Glacier which also reconfirms the claims that the car is perfectly designed for city as well has off-road driving.”

  • ‘We will be the No. 1 distribution company this fiscal’ : Zee Turner chief executive officer Dinesh Jain

    ‘We will be the No. 1 distribution company this fiscal’ : Zee Turner chief executive officer Dinesh Jain

    Zee Turner Ltd, the joint venture distribution company between Zee and Turner, is eyeing a revenue of Rs 10 billion this fiscal on the back of a faster growth from DTH while pay-TV income from cable TV stays strong.

     

    In the earlier fiscal, Zee Turner had clocked Rs 7.5 billion after adding Ten Sports into the bouquet.

     

    Regionalisation will be a big growth driver for Zee Turner. With Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada turning around, the contribution from the southern region is also set to improve.

     

    Adding channels in the bouquet, which has a strong mix of general entertainment, movies and kids content, would form a part of Zee Turner‘s growth strategy. The plan is to have 50 channels within two years.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Sibabrata Das, Zee Turner Ltd. chief executive officer Dinesh Jain talks about the company‘s bouquet strength across 16 genres, the efforts to fill in the gaps and the next wave of pay-TV revenue growth in a digital environment.

     

    Excerpts:

     
     
    Zee Turner has set an ambitious revenue target of Rs 10 billion this fiscal. Has this growth momentum since the last fiscal been led by the addition of Ten Sports?

    Yes, Ten Sports has contributed but our organic growth has also been significant. I can‘t, though, comment on what our target is. But we expect to get a little under 20 per cent growth from cable TV while revenue from DTH will be at a faster pace. We, after all, have the widest bouquet with 35 channels.

     
     
    But isn’t the weight of the bouquet a weakness in today’s environment where cable TV networks have no bandwidth and charge hefty carriage fees?

    Providing such a wide choice is, in fact, our biggest strength. We have presence across 16 genres and have the maximum number of movie and regional language channels. In the Hindi general entertainment channel space, Zee TV is very powerful. And we have the strongest kids content in Cartoon Network and Pogo. We are a top-of-the-mind bouquet.

     

    Our plan, in fact, is to have 50 channels within the next two years. We may not release all the channels to all parts of the country. But they can be driver channels for the relevant market. We will increase the width and depth of our portfolio.
     

     
    But Zee Turner is still not the largest broadcasting distribution company in terms of revenue?

    Yes, our revenues are not in line with the strength of the bouquet. But we are the fastest growing company today. We will be the No. 1 distribution company this fiscal.
     

     
    Will the new wave of pay-TV revenue growth come from the regional markets?

    Regionalisation is a big thing for us. We have the largest bouquet of regional channels. We have, for instance, big drivers in Zee Marathi and Zee Bangla. News is also becoming regional and in local language. Zee has launched several regional news channels.

     

    We have set up task forces to cater to these regional portfolios. We are connecting the interiors for the regional packages and doing local trade marketing. We see big growth coming from our regional channels.
     

     
    Even in the South, which was a weak link, Zee Turner would be on a stronger wicket with the turnaround of Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada?

    The contribution from the South has increased as our Telugu (Zee Telugu) and Kannada (Zee Kannada) language channels started delivering. But we also had a strong base there due to our English content, led by HBO, Zee Studios and Zee Cafe. We have added WB, the English movie and entertainment channel, this year.

     

    We expect the pay-TV revenues from regional channels to look up, including the South. Zee Marathi, Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada will give us faster growth. We will also be taking our Zee News Uttar Pradesh and Zee Tamil (which will transition increasingly to a news channel) channels pay in the next 6-12 months. This will mean that all the 35 channels in our bouquet will be pay.

     

    Do you still miss the English news genre in the bouquet after CNBC TV18 moved out?

    We do not have channels in genres such as infotainment, travel, English general news and English business news. There are some regional languages where we are also absent. For completing our portfolio, we would be looking at filling such gaps.
     

     ‘Regionalisation is a big thing for us. We have the largest bouquet of regional channels. We have big drivers in Zee Marathi and Zee Bangla. Zee has also launched several regional news channels‘
     

     The government has recently come out with a Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) policy. How do you see this impacting Zee Turner?

    HITS offers another great opportunity for digitisation and addressability. We expect the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to come out with a pricing policy for HITS. As long as the delivery platforms and addressability are similar, the pricing policy should be same.

     
     
    Do you strongly feel that Trai needs to lift the freeze on pricing?

    The freeze in pricing has led to anomalies. Different channels in the same genre are priced differently because they were launched in different dates. The price freeze will not, thus, impact the channels equally.

     

    A case in point is Zee Sports. If Zee Sports is to acquire a cricketing property paying as much as Star Cricket does, it will be at a disadvantage because of the price freeze. Launched later, Star Cricket is priced higher.

     

    Trai, in fact, is looking at revisiting the price freeze issue. Today there is enough competition in the market for channels not to start profiteering from high prices.

     
     Is Zee Sports turning out to be a liability as it is devoid of cricket after failing to bag the BCCI rights?

    No, but then there is definitely an opportunity loss. However, it is overcome by the strength of the bouquet.

     
     
    How is Zee Turner gearing up for the digital environment?

    We are building capabilities for the digital environment – be it IPTV, DTH, cable TV or 3G devices. India will have all models successful because it is such a huge market. We have created vertical heads separately for digital, analogue cable and commercial business 18 months back to bring more focus into these business segments.
     

     
    Do broadcasters see faster growth coming from DTH?

    Cable TV currently accounts for 70 per cent of the broadcasters’ pay-TV revenues. We see the industry settling at an equal ratio between analogue cable and digital platforms within two years.  

     

    Broadcasting distribution companies have entered into joint ventures like Zee Turner, MSM Discovery and Star Den. Is there scope for further consolidation?

    There are still many splinter groups such as Sahara and UTV. At some stage, they may decide to align. We are looking at such opportunities and alliances.
     

     
    Cable networks have been consolidating over the last few years. How do you see this impact broadcasting companies?

    The market is getting matured and organised. Though we are seeing the emergence of bigger MSOs (multi system operators), this will mean that the business is getting more rationalised. Bigger cable companies will look at improving bandwidth. There will be huge upsides – much like the coming together of organised retail helping FMCG companies.
     

    , Zee Studios and Zee Cafe. We have added WB, the English movie and entertainment channel, this year.

     

    We expect the pay-TV revenues from regional channels to look up, including the South. Zee Marathi, Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada will give us faster growth. We will also be taking our Zee News Uttar Pradesh and Zee Tamil (which will transition increasingly to a news channel) channels pay in the next 6-12 months. This will mean that all the 35 channels in our bouquet will be pay.

     

    Do you still miss the English news genre in the bouquet after CNBC TV18 moved out?
    We do not have channels in genres such as infotainment, travel, English general news and English business news. There are some regional languages where we are also absent. For completing our portfolio, we would be looking at filling such gaps.