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Tag: Gautam Talwar

  • OTT has democratised storytelling and consumption: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar at Goafest’22

    OTT has democratised storytelling and consumption: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar at Goafest’22

    Mumbai: The OTT ecosystem in India has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, with new players coming into the fray every day and novel, edgy content being churned out. The way we look at online streaming is also changing with it emerging as an exciting prospect for an increasing number of marketers and advertisers keen to promote their brands and ads on these upcoming platforms.

    The day two of Goafest saw actors Vikrant Massey and Ali Fazal along with MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar taking centre stage to talk about the topic ‘OTT Superpower – Freedom and Nuances of Creativity.’ The panelists spoke about how OTT has changed consumer behaviour in regards to content and democratised content, in the session moderated by anchor and creative director Atika Farooqui.

    “While still a nascent industry in India, OTT has given a platform for creators and writers to explore their skills, and the exposure to international content made them pull their socks up,” said Vikrant Massey, adding that in the last two years of pandemic the platform presented a tremendous opportunity to explore newer avenues.

    Ali Fazal said that with the amount of diverse OTT content available today on the varied players, the competition is spiking, with each show at the risk of being just one button away from rejection. “The relatable and realistic content on these streaming platforms showed that writers are the real stars today. With films still trying to get out of formula-based structure, that’s where OTT gets a little freedom. By pushing the bar and breaking the rhythm. Tell stories as fearlessly as we can within the framework,” said Fazal.

    Upon being asked if there is a sense of competition among the two media, Fazal stated, “Cinema must not die. Film watching is community watching. Every person in the industry comes with the dream to be a part of movies and this dream always remains. Idea of OTT is just to be able to tell more stories, follow newer narratives.”

    On whether OTT can cater to family audiences like cinema and TV, Gautam Talwar said, “OTT content is for personal watching. 95 per cent of people watch on their personal phones. Only the elite or urban audiences perhaps will have access to chromecast and connected television sets supporting the platforms, adding that these are not necessarily the target audience of players such as MX always. Family viewing is far away for OTT or may never happen as there are less percentage of people who would want to sit with family and watch the online streaming content.”

    He further summed it up by saying, “India or Bharat is a time rich and money poor country and that is what we consider while targeting.”

    “Freedom cannot be absolute and like in other mediums, with Freedom comes responsibility,” the panelists agreed. “What OTT has managed to do is democratise storytelling. It’s a genre of storytelling that’s not been available to audiences ever.”

    The panelists also weighed in upon the changed prototype of the ‘likeable hero/heroine’ brought on by the OTTs. “Every content is essentially an extension of the world and times we are living in,” said Fazal. “We want people who are relatable and accessible on screen, characters whom viewers can relate with- not a demi-god to worship or characters in black and white.”

    On the concern that less than 10 per cent of the viewers on the Online streaming sites have subscribed for consumption, Talwar admitted it’s going to be a tough battle towards monetising the content, as Indians inherently don’t believe in paying for content.  That’s also the reason why piracy remains a big issue in the country.

    “The reach to mass India is one of the greatest advantages for OTT players like MX player,” said Talvar. “There is no appointment viewing, and most viewers on OTT watch as per individual convenience. The OTT ecosystem is a melting pot of all the three platforms of films, advertising and television with both short and long form content,” he added.

  • All set to create franchises for multiple seasons in 2022: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    All set to create franchises for multiple seasons in 2022: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    Mumbai: MX Player has had a strong start to 2022 with two of its shows “Campus Diaries” and “Bhaukaal 2” crossing 100 million views metric in a short period of time. The platform is all set to release its third MX Original for the year “Raktanchal 2” and expects the show to perform equally well, with a third season already under production.

    “2021 was a fantastic year for us as we got many back-to-back hits,” says MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar. “The next big thing for the OTT is to create franchises for multiple seasons and we’re going to create some serious franchises this year.”

    Talwar reveals that MX Originals including “Ek Thi Begum,” “Indori Ishq,” “Matsya Kaand,” “Raktanchal” and “Aashram” all have crossed the 100 million views mark and most are in development for multiple seasons. “Aashram” and “Raktanchal” are in development for a third season.

    “The exciting part was how quickly its new shows ‘Campus Diaries’ and ‘Matsya Kaand’ crossed the 100 million mark,” says Talwar. “The time it took for these shows to reach 100 million views was uncomprehendingly fast. ‘Campus Diaries’ achieved those numbers in less than three weeks while ‘Matsya Kaand’ got there in less than four.”

    The platform has found success in the regional OTT piece that several video-on-demand platforms have found difficult to crack. Two of its regional shows “Queen” in Tamil and “Samantar” in Marathi have also achieved 100 million views.

    “‘Queen’ and ‘Samantar’ have crossed those milestones but by attracting audiences in multiple languages, say in Marathi plus Hindi or Tamil plus Hindi. We’re doubling down on these two languages – Tamil and Marathi – since we’ve seen some success and you’ll see a couple of good Marathi shows coming out this year,” says Talwar. The platform has also dubbed “Matsya Kaand” in Punjabi.

    On using the 100 million views metric to evaluate its shows, Talwar says, “In the case of YouTube if the videos garner four million views, then people call it a big hit. But, our shows are much longer so we don’t count 30 seconds of watch time as a view. If YouTube is the biggest video platform available to consumers, then we’re probably the second to have that kind of reach and distribution. Of course, a big advantage for us is distribution and low barrier for entry but if you don’t put out the right piece of content then it won’t work well.”

    According to Talwar, the consumers have also given a thumbs up to the content on the platform. “Nobody will give me the go-ahead to make a second season for a show if season one has not worked well. The fact that we’ve commissioned multiple new seasons of most of our shows (Samantar, Ek Thi Begum, Matsya Kaand, Campus Diaries, Bhaukaal, Raktanchal, Aashram) means that the consumer is coming back to watch it,” he adds.

    Like most OTT platforms MX Player is increasing its content investments for 2022 and is filling the production pipeline of shows until 2024. “There’s no doubt in our mind that the consumer chases good shows and the increasing competition means that we’re definitely doubling down on our investments,” he sums up.

  • MX original ‘EK Thi Begum 2’ crosses 300 million streams

    MX original ‘EK Thi Begum 2’ crosses 300 million streams

    Mumbai: MX Player original series “Ek Thi Begum 2” has crossed 300 million streams over five days, said the OTT platform in a statement. The Anuja Sathe starrer has received an 8.8 rating on IMDb and ranks amongst the platform’s biggest hits like “Aashram,” “Bhaukal,” and “Raktanchal.”

    Directed by Sachin Darekar and Vishal Modhave, “Ek Thi Begum 2” is laced with a host of talented actors including Shahab Ali, Ajay Gehi, Hitesh Bhojraj, Chinmay Mandlekar, Vijay Nikam, Resham Shrivardhankar, Rajendra Shisatkar, Nazar Khan, Sauraseni Maitra, Lokesh Gupte, Mir Sarwar, Purnanada Wandekar and Rohan Gujar in pivotal roles.

    “I am overwhelmed by the response Ek Thi Begum 2 has received,” said the lead actress Anuja Sathe. “This series goes to show that it isn’t star power but gripping narratives and content that pulls in audiences.”

    The show was available for streaming in Hindi and Marathi dubs and is a rare sequel that has received as much acclaim as its predecessor.

    “We are delighted to see a regional, bilingual show like Ek Thi Begum turn into one of the most-watched series on MX Player,” said MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar. “We always strive to deliver interesting elements from different realms and Ek Thi Begum 2 has given us a chance to recreate that era’s fascination in today’s world and we are glad that the audience is appreciating it.”

  • MX Player wins big at 2020 Asian Academy Creative Awards

    MX Player wins big at 2020 Asian Academy Creative Awards

    MUMBAI: Streaming platform MX Player has won big at the 2020 Asian Academy Creative Awards. Its original web series Queen, starring Ramya Krishnan, bagged the best original program by OTT, while Times of Music brought home the trophy for best music/dance program.

    An overjoyed MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar said, “We are thrilled to be recognised on a global platform like the Asian Academy Creative Awards. Our aim has always been to deliver the best entertainment experiences to audiences, and I’d like to thank the teams of both these projects, who have helped us achieve this honour.”

    MX Player is a diverse platform that integrates all forms of entertainment on one platform including video playback, streaming video, music and gaming. It currently operates on an ad supported model and hosts a wide library of over 2,00,000 hours of premium content across 10 languages, including a critically acclaimed slate of MX Original/ Exclusives, movies, web series, TV shows, news and audio music.

    The Asian Academy Creative Awards honour excellence in craft and technical discipline across multiple platforms including television, digital, mobile, streaming and any other emerging technologies.

  • Aashram was viewed by users from 2500+ cities: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    Aashram was viewed by users from 2500+ cities: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    KOLKATA: How do you spend time when a virus has taken away all the usual options of outside home entertainment? The answer lies in screens. For most of the country, the television sets and the six-inch screens have served as source of entertainment since the onset of the pandemic. But at the beginning of the lockdown, there was a dearth of fresh television content as well. As a result, over-the-top (OTT) platforms in the country emerged as the alternative for a new wave of users along with the existing consumers.

    Times Internet’s “bold bet” MX Player is one of them. It has witnessed a huge surge in user base during this period. As MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar says “it has been quite crazy”. While the platform has kept content flow usual with launch of around ten shows during this period, the user engagement has gone beyond expectation in all metrics, as Talwar shares without divulging the exact numbers. Thanks to a host of new releases, the consumers shifting from the linear mode of content consumption to watching on-demand content have exploded even after unlock.

    According to Talwar, the platform has broken all the records after the launch of Aashram which was in production for more than two years. He claims the show has recorded 250 million + streams within 15-18 days of its launch. With this show, the platform has witnessed the number of screens growing exponentially as well as a dramatic upsurge in watch time. Some northern markets like Delhi NCR have responded very well to the show.

    As per the data shared by him, Aashram was viewed by users from 2500+ cities ranging from metropolitan to rural cities. While it was liked by users across all the cities, however the affinity in tier I (Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad etc) and tier II (Agra. Ludhiana, Meerut, Chandigarh, Ranchi etc) was higher than the metropolitan cities, precisely 1.2 times more higher. Although he did not share exact number, he added that there are more than enough viewers that are binge watching Aashram. 

    “It was conceptualised two years ago by the MX content team and we were sure that this is a fascinating world and must be explored. So, we got Habib Faisal on board to write the story and the bible first and then Kuldeep Ruhil to write the screenplay and dialogues for the show. Thereafter, we took it to Prakash Jha who along with his team also added a whole lot to the writing process along with the MX team and that's how the show got conceptualised. The genre was chosen because data suggests that crime dramas are something that our core audience loves and consumes in quantity and hence it was a no brainer.” Talwar comments.

    MX Player did not leave any stone unturned to promote the marquee content. While all the major OTT platforms halted outdoor campaigns during the lockdown, Aashram romanced with billboards. The platform went for a 360 degree campaign and the media mix included radio along with TV and digital.

    Aashram is helping in overall engagement as well. The cohort of users who are coming to the platform to watch this particular show are sampling other content from the similar genre leading to a higher retention rate. However, it is not unique to this particular show only.

    “Once a new user comes on the platform, they discover the content slate and then they cherry pick. All metrics of engagement have gone up because of this trend. They come for one show and sample other shows and the fact that they stay on is a testament to good content being on the platform,” Talwar opines.

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    Hence, it is apprehensible why the parent company is not shying away from investing more in the platform. In the annual report of Times Internet, vice chairman Satyan Gajwani said: “Two years ago, we made our largest acquisition, and it was a bold bet: that we could build a video streaming platform atop a local video player, developing and licensing compelling content to build a new user habit on an existing app. I’m extremely pleased with our results… In less than 18 months, MX Player now engages over 200 million monthly users, making MX Player the largest premium video destination in India.”

    While most of the major OTT players in India are now going for the subscription-based model, MX Player is the one which has not taken its content behind paywall yet. Thanks to the scale of users, the platform is attracting major brands.

    Talwar says the appetite for good content has gone up as users are getting more aquatinted with premium content. “The pressure is now to deliver more,” he states. “All the data mining that we do basis how the shows are doing, the pressure is going to get even more accurate. The more you know, the pressure is to make sure to deliver to your particular audience. My audience may be slightly different from other OTT platform because we are a mass-market channel. Our core audience lies in tier II-tier III towns. Therefore, we are trying to understand what they like because they are also experiencing digital for the first time,” he adds.

    Thanks to feedback on metrics like completion rate, watching pattern of users, the platform is fine-tuning its content strategy. It has also noticed that the sweet spot of an episode’s length ranges between 20-40 minutes.

    Recently, MX Player also forayed into short form video with the launch of the new platform. But it is also experimenting with long-form content as well. “There is a show that we are looking at in terms of interactivity. Right now, we are at writing stages of it. We have to see how to build that level of functionality once we kind of get to that,” Talwar states.

  • Good stories are language-agnostic: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    Good stories are language-agnostic: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    MUMBAI: Move over English, it's time for regional languages now. It's 2020 and streaming services are looking at regional being the trend for the coming era. Most OTT platforms have now tested the waters and have enough data to back up their claims as well.

    MX Player’s Queen recently hogged the attention of streamers and the content ecosystem. The Tamil-English web-series’ has been recognised across different languages as it has been dubbed in Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

    MX Player has a “clear regional strategy” where regional is not regional anymore. “We see the uptake of good stories is being language-agnostic,” MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar told Indiantelevision.com during a short candid conversation.

    Talwar terms it as the biggest web-series till date in Tamil Nadu market and adds that the series has benefitted the platform very well. User numbers have gone up as well and Queen was watched across age groups.

    A big show is coming up on the platform in Marathi starring Swapnil Joshi, Satish Rajwade along with two other big shows in the pipeline. There are two shows in Bhojpuri which Talwar believes will get extraordinary viewership if dubbed in other languages. The platform is also looking at a show in Gujarati, one in Telugu, a Punjabi show and a Tamil-Kannada bilingual show.

    Being in the market for nearly one year, there's a whole host of data has come its way on originals, current partnerships with networks, as well as partnerships with other web series creator, like TVF, Pocket Aces and Dice. The platform has been analysing the data to understand which shows work, who is the new audience and what have they been watching. According, MX Player is fine-tuning the content strategy in 2020. 

    Having said that, the focus will still be on the Hindi heartland. These will be small-town stories that can connect with tier II and III audiences. The platform will also have a couple of shows for the top eight metros and a cluster of 29 towns. It also aims to maintain a healthy mix between universal shows and shows targeted at specific audience clusters.

    “We did a very successful non-fiction show Love Ok Please collaborating with Too Yumm. Going forward, we are looking at key integration for brands. You will be seeing another big non-fiction show coming up called Times and Music, which is going to have a very serious brand integration as well,” he adds.

    Notably, MX Player is going to be experimenting with interactivity of content. An upcoming show will involve audience interaction with the story itself. Plans are afoot to make it a norm across shows. 

  • MX Player’s Gautam Talwar on content plans and digital measurement currency

    MX Player’s Gautam Talwar on content plans and digital measurement currency

    MUMBAI: The latest OTT entrant Times Internet-owned MX Player recently entered the space with five original series on the back of an ad-supported business model. To keep consumers engaged, it aims to launch five to six shows each quarter. While the platform is already working closely with advertisers, it will also venture into branded content soon.

    In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar spoke about the content strategy, initial audience response and content consumption trend on the platform. Talwar also expressed his views on industry issues such as the need for unified measurement, the possibility of consolidation in the OTT space.

    Edited excerpts:

    You started the journey with 5 series. How many shows do you plan to have in your library towards the end of the year?

    I think the aim is to have at least 5-6 shows every quarter. That means we will be able to launch 1-2 shows every month. We reach out to a very wide cross section audience of India and the only way to cater to such diversity is being able to meet the diversity of content preference as well. So, we intend to have about 25-30 originals during the course of the year. 20-25, I would say to safely put it.

    How often do you plan to refresh your library?

    We will be launching a huge slate of originals and in terms of licencing and curating content we have already over 100,000 hours of content. That is constantly being refreshed in any case. On Sunday, we had the Radio Mirchi Music awards. So, whatever are the big things that we get, we refresh on a regular basis. But the refreshment will largely be driven with the kind of originals that we are trying to launch as well.

    In this one month, which shows have got high traction?

    That’s a very tough question to answer because with the diverse market and audiences, the shows have got different expectations. For all different shows we have different expectations, different benchmarks. Some would garner watch time, some would bring new audiences, some would deliver spike in participation. We have launched around 3 Hindi shows Hey Prabhu, Aafat and Im Mature. They have driven traffic in users and they have really exceeded our expectation and benchmark both. All three of the shows have done exceedingly well for us. The interesting part is that we got a huge spike in the female participation of the platform. That has gone up significantly since launch I think specifically because of Aafat.

    For regional shows, we have also got good traction. The interesting part is that Famously Filmfare in seven languages, Lots of Love is in Tamil and Telugu. So, what we have done is we activated a regional basis also.

    Can you share the significant content consumption trends on your platform?

    I won’t be able to give any specific number but from the trend point of view, three key points are interesting. I think one is the fact that we have got a huge amount of participation from non-metro audiences. Apart from the top 8 metros which have also brought significant contribution, the non-metros have shown us a very significant spike in viewership. That’s one key content consumption trend for us.

    The other interesting point is that a very large part of our audiences are actually newcomers in the age group of 18-35 as well. That’s the other interesting part.

    Most people who are coming in are actually completing shows. Even on Twitter or other social media, the largest question asked are when is season 2 of Hey Prabhu, Im Mature launching. These are the content consumption trends we are looking at.

    You have offline download capability also. Do audience stream more or prefer downloading?

    Downloads have been activated for originals only when we launched. It’s a new feature. It all comes down to saying that because of the interesting content we put up, both the numbers are looking good. The actual number of who want to stream and want to download has increased. We don’t have downloads for all. Some of the licenced content cannot be downloaded. Only a fraction of the library, specifically the originals, are available for download.

    How many advertisers do you currently have on board?

    MX Player has been with the advertising community for very long time. We maintained those relationships and they are coming on to the streaming platform as well. So it’s been a healthy growth I would say, in terms of getting the advertisers on board.

    We will be launching our first ever branded content. By the end of this month, we will be doing a show called Love Ok Please and that has been sponsored by a brand called Too Yumm.

    Can you throw more light on your content strategy?

    We formed a content strategy sometime ago. A lot of our shows are going to be catering to the heartland of audiences. We are going to be targeting the metro audiences. Because of the depth of distribution of MX Player, it is extremely critical that we kind of get shows for all kind of audiences, even all kinds of genres as well. We just started and we have to go a long way to ensure that. But the interesting part is that, from our perspective, I think one thing that we would like doing within this year is probably getting interactivity built into the content as well.

    What’s your take on the need for unified currency for digital measurement?

    We have been hearing about EKAM for a very long time. I think it's about time we get an independent medium to give authenticity that is required for advertisers to make sure that data being pulled out of all private OTT platforms has got a common currency. Once we get a common currency, we think advertisers will be at least clear about the value OTT players bring to the table, therefore, whatever the advertising rate that are being asked for has some amount of justification. I am sure over a period of time, as an industry we will come together for that level of third party measurement for all OTT players.

    Do you foresee consolidation in the OTT space?

    I think there will be some sense of consolidation. It is an extremely difficult business, it’s not only about content but also product, streaming, technology and engineering. You need a lot of things to get an OTT platform going. I think all players are not necessarily good at all things. I think it’s very important to get all parts of the puzzle right and also it requires deep pockets to make sure that do you have the strength and the will to make sure you last in the content business.

  • MX Player’s content play for OTT platform launch

    MX Player’s content play for OTT platform launch

    MUMBAI: In the last two years, India’s media and entertainment industry has witnessed the emergence of several over-the-top (OTT) players. With an ambition to gain a foothold in the burgeoning OTT space, Times Internet  recently acquired a majority stake in Seoul-based MX Player. While the company is yet to reveal the exact launch timelines, the last quarter of this year is likely to mark the entry of another big-ticket aspirant. With a team of 150 employees, the platform is prepping up for its grand launch with at least five to six premium shows.

    Like many other OTT platforms, MX Player also intends to tap into the millennial audience, the age group of 18-35. Despite the mushrooming of digital platforms, young India is hungry for more content, making the play easier for new entrants.

    MX Player content head Gautam Talwar thinks the need for content has not been satiated by the current television offerings.

    “We are understanding their specific need states and making sure that the programming is aligned to satisfying those need states via our original programming and curated licensing strategy,” he said in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com.

    Talwar claims that the local video platform has approximately 65 million daily active users and 175 million monthly active users who are spread across the country. They want to cater to those consumers specifically with 50000 hours to 100000 hours of premium curated licensed content along with the originals.

    However, the content head says they want to mainly focus on originals. He is optimistic about showcasing 20-25 original shows for the year 2018 – 2019, slating five to six shows for the launch. The content will not be limited to fiction only.

    For offering premium content, the streamer is working with noted faces from both the film and television industry.

    “We have directors like Shashanka Ghosh( Veere Di Wedding), Shashant Shah (Chalo Dilli/ Dasvidaniya) Samar Sheikh (Girl in the city/ Bobby Jasoos), Siddharth.P.Malhotra (We are family/ Hichki), Gautham Menon (Ondraga Films) in the fiction space along with working with writers like Habib Faisal (Do Dooni Chaar/ Ishaqzaade) and Abbas Tyrewala (Maqbool and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na) to develop some key shows for us. We are also making sure that we leverage our internal group strength by having WWM (Filmfare/Femina) produce a show that has all the top regional celebrities on one of our key show. Similarly, we are working with the best of the non – fiction teams in the industry with new formats and thinking that we believe will appeal to this new generation of consumers,” he said.

    To enrich its library, they are looking at leveraging both their house production team and talent from within the industry. Apart from riding on the back of the Times Studio, they are also working with producers and production houses from outside the industry.

    Victor Tango, music director Shameer Tandon, Sunshine Productions are already working with the team and talks are on with a whole bunch of external producers who have put out good content across mediums. The platform will leave no stone unturned for providing customers with a seamless experience, with Talwar highlighting that MX player will be “investing more than industry averages on the product, tech as well as content”.

    To stand out in the crowded Indian OTT landscape, content differentiation and deep pockets for effective marketing of the product is essential. While customer acquisition will not be a challenge for MX Player, but to build a loyal fan base the content will have to be extremely compelling.

    “Our differentiation is at multiple levels. At a product level, we have acquired probably the best product in the market since it has been the top 10 apps on the play store for a very long period of time along with having a massive consumer base already. Along with that we believe our focus of Original premium content and curated licensed content would differentiate us and finally our business model which is AVOD would help with consumers who won’t have any barriers to sampling and consuming our content at will,” Talwar commented.

    Interestingly, the platform will focus on South Indian market with Tamil, Telugu content from the get go. They have a bunch of premium curated web series, which have been licensed as well as originals specific for the target audience. Moreover, the streamer has some big originals, due for a year end release, in its pipeline for the Indian market.

    It is certain that the Times group will use all its might to promote the brand well, with OOH playing a key role in the media mix. With the launch of MX Player, not only will consumers have more content options, the industry too will be benefitted. On the other hand existing players, especially, international streaming giants Netflix and Amazon will see some potential competition.

  • Vishal Anam to Head BAV Insights

    MUMBAI: Rediffusion Y&R has brought on board Vishal Anam as head of its Brand Asset Valuator division (BAV). This is in keeping with the agency‘s intention of investing in strategic planning and strengthening the team for the same.

    Anam comes with over 10 years of consulting and quantitative research experience and joins a team of in-house experts.

    Prior to joining Rediffusion, he was at Nielsen where he helped various global FMCG clients design and evaluate strategies that deliver marketing success.

    Rediffusion chief strategy officer Gautam Talwar said, “We believe in making the insights gleaned from the BAV integral to our approach to brand strategy for all our clients. We are considerably expanding the scope of the study in India for 2013 and hence investing even more in the BAV this year. Keeping this in mind, we welcome on board Vishal Anam to help us take BAV to the next level in India.”

    Anam said, “The BAV is an amazing brand diagnostic tool. It takes the discussion forward from tracking the health of the brand to a level of knowing the space the brand should operate in. The tool is the first-of-its-kind in the Indian market, which can partner brands across categories and give shape to all future brand strategies. I am delighted by this opportunity to lead the BAV Insights division.”

    Rediffusion has plans to unveil BAV® 2013 this year, which will incorporate new data points, more brands, more categories, and a much larger sample size. A Young and Rubicam property globally, BAV is a research-based toolkit that examines how a brand is perceived by consumers across 48 different attributes like whether a brand is thought of as innovative, trustworthy, daring, unique, friendly or high quality.

  • Gautam Talwar to replace Arvind Mohan as chief strategy officer for Rediffusion – Y & R

    Gautam Talwar to replace Arvind Mohan as chief strategy officer for Rediffusion – Y & R

    MUMBAI: Rediffusion Y&R has promoted Gautam Talwar as its chief strategy officer He takes over as head of the strategic planning function from Arvind Mohan who has decided to move on.

    Talwar joined Rediffusion – Y&R in April 2010 as executive vice president–new business development and special projects. He brings to the table more than 14 years of experience in the advertising and entertainment space.
     
    Rediffusion – Y&R president D. Rajappa said, “Gautam has been instrumental in leading the new business mandate at Rediffusion – Y&R. He is a Thinker and a New Media proponent who is well versed in brand strategy across different markets, with cross category experience amongst varied consumer segments.”

    On his new assignment Talwar said, “Rediffusion – Y&R has always been respected for its commitment to building great brands. With this opportunity I hope to leverage my strategic strengths and build further on this legacy by creating meaningful communication that will deliver on brand objectives and create campaigns that will work for our clients and the agency.”

    Prior to joining Rediffusion, Talwar was the creative and business head for Kaleidoscope Entertainment where he set up the mobile content division, developed original concepts and content for television and the mobile space. He was also the executive producer on two full length feature films.

    Starting his career with Grey Worldwide, Talwar then moved to Lowe in account management and strategic planning.
     
     
    At Grey, he worked on cross category brands like Johnson & Johnson, Cadbury Schweppes, Tropicana, Diageo, Emirates Airlines, Akai TV, TataTetley, Elf Lubricants and The Bombay Store.

    He spent three years with Lowe & Partners – Middle East and North Africa (Dubai) as the regional account director on the Unilever business. At Lowe Dubai, he worked on Fair & Lovely, Lifebuoy, OMO, Rexona & Axe, Lux Progress, Signal and was the strategic planner for the juice brand in MENA – Almarai juices.
     
    In his five years at Lowe Mumbai, he was the strategic planner on the skin and hair franchise for Unilever, planning on brands such as Fair& Lovely and Clinic franchise. He was also the planning force behind the very successful Balbir Pasha campaign for Population Services International.