Tag: Neena Dasgupta

  • Ad:tech Honours recognises trailblazers in marketing technology

    Ad:tech Honours recognises trailblazers in marketing technology

    MUMBAI: The marketing industry is undergoing a major transformation, driven by rapid technological advancements. Recognising this evolution, ad:tech New Delhi introduced the inaugural ad:tech Honours, an awards initiative celebrating innovation and excellence in marketing technology.

    The prestigious event, held on 6 March at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi, in partnership with the International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter, brought together key industry figures to honour those shaping the future of tech-driven marketing.

    For over 14 years, ad:tech New Delhi has been a key forum for digital transformation discussions. With the launch of ad:tech Honours, it now acknowledges pioneers revolutionising brand engagement, customer experience, and business growth through cutting-edge technology. This collaboration with the IAA India Chapter adds further credibility, ensuring the awards set an industry benchmark for recognising technological excellence in marketing.

    Ad:tech India country managing director Jaswant Singh, “Technology is no longer just a tool it is the driving force behind modern marketing. These awards recognise the visionaries shaping the future of our industry,” he stated, expressing hope that the ad:tech Honours would inspire further innovation and higher industry standards in the years ahead.

    The Salt Inc. CEO & founder and IAA Mancom Member, Neena Dasgupta, “We have always celebrated campaigns, creativity, and talent, but now it’s time to honour the platforms and technologies that make it all possible.”

    IAA India Chapter president Abhishek Karnani, “We are proud to partner with ad:tech for these awards, recognising innovation in advertising and marketing. Congratulations to the winners, and heartfelt thanks to our supporters, jury, and the dedicated ad:tech team.”

  • IAA-ad:tech unite for ‘Honours Awards’ to celebrate tech in marketing

    IAA-ad:tech unite for ‘Honours Awards’ to celebrate tech in marketing

    MUMBAI: In a world obsessed with instant gratification, where a fleeting moment can spark a billion impressions, the advertising and marketing industry stands as the unsung hero.

    Here, creativity marries cutting-edge technology, and platforms morph into virtual canvases for brand storytelling. In this exhilarating age of innovation, the Indian chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) and ad:tech are set to unveil an initiative that promises to rewrite the rules of recognition.

    The inaugural Honours Awards will shine a spotlight on the trailblazers—those who dare to challenge the norm, harness technology, and craft campaigns that inspire and innovate. It’s not just an awards show; it’s a celebration of the visionaries redefining the way we see the world through the lens of advertising.

    This groundbreaking partnership between IAA and ad:tech marks a historic moment for the industry, one that honours not just the work but the relentless pursuit of excellence that shapes it.

    As the anticipation builds, so does the promise of a night to remember—where every accolade is a testament to the artistry and ingenuity of modern advertising.

    Scheduled to take place during ad:tech 2025 on 6 March at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi, the awards aim to celebrate the innovators driving digital transformation.

    What sets this partnership apart?

    It seamlessly merges IAA’s industry excellence with ad:tech’s focus on the future of technology and marketing solutions.

    But why do we need awards for tech in advertising? As The Salt Inc Consulting CEO & founder and IAA Mancom member, Neena Dasgupta puts it, “Through the Honour Awards in partnership with ad:tech, IAA wants to push the boundaries across digital which continues to evolve as a medium. The jury for the awards will consist of 15 digital evangelists who are looking forward to judging some path-breaking work.”

    The Honours Awards will highlight achievements across several forward-thinking categories, including:

    ●    Marketing Automation/Marketing Cloud
    ●    Data, Analytics & Intelligence
    ●    Content and Social Media
    ●    Conversational Marketing
    ●    Retail Media/eCommerce
    ●    Influencer Marketing
    ●    Customer Experience
    ●    AI Interventions in Marketing
    ●    Performance Marketing

    Have you worked on a groundbreaking campaign in one of these areas? If so, the nomination deadline is 4 February 2025. Submit your entry here.

    Why now?

    Comexposium India MD, Jaswant Singh emphasised the timeliness of this initiative: “For over 14 years, ad:tech India has been a leading platform showcasing the transformative power of technology in advertising and marketing. Partnering with the IAA India Chapter for this inaugural edition, we look forward to celebrating the innovators driving the future of marketing forward.”

    The communication landscape is rapidly changing, with technologies like generative AI leading the charge. “Technology is a game-changer for the communications space,” said IAA – India Chapter president Abhishek Karnani. He added that these awards would honour “the best work in the space” and encourage more innovation.

    The awards will be judged by an esteemed panel of industry leaders and experts from various sectors, ensuring that only the most innovative and impactful solutions are recognised.

    Are you curious to see what campaigns stand out? Imagine the conversations and trends this recognition could spark in the coming years.

    Mark your calendar.

    ad:tech 2025 will run on 5-6 March at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi, with the awards ceremony on the final day. For more details about the event, click here.

    The Honours Awards promise to bridge the gap between technological innovation and its recognition in advertising and marketing. Whether you’re an industry veteran or a digital evangelist, this event offers a front-row seat to the future of marketing.

  • The Salt Inc acquires Simplus Information Services

    The Salt Inc acquires Simplus Information Services

    Mumbai: The Salt Inc, a technology-powered content agency, has announced that it has acquired the services business of Mumbai-based Simplus Information Services Pvt Ltd, a content services provider with deep expertise in pure native content. The consolidated business will offer a wider range of content services to existing and new clients, allowing The Salt Inc. to cater to a broader spectrum of conversation needs for brands across multiple sectors.

    Founded by Rajas Kelkar, a financial journalist with two decades of experience, Simplus Information Services Pvt Ltd has built a strong reputation in the BFSI sector since its inception in 2013. Over the past 10 years, Simplus has served more than 70 organisations, including renowned names like Axis Bank, Aditya Birla’s Sun Life Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and Geojit.

    This strategic alliance will help brands integrate real-time consumer insights with The Salt Inc’s psychometric Ai product and Simplus’s content intelligence in the financial domain. The combined entity now becomes the only entity that combines science and art and provides relevant experiences to consumers ranging from brand love to brand promise.

    The Salt Inc’s CEO and founder Neena Dasgupta added, “This expansion marks a significant milestone for us, we are thrilled to welcome Rajas and the Simplus team to be a part of The Salt Inc. family. Together we aim to set new standards in delivering powerful communication solutions that spark meaningful conversations.”

    Simplus’ founder and publisher Rajas Kelkar, will be leading the entire editorial agenda for The Salt Inc, as editor of The Salt Inc bringing his extensive knowledge and leadership to the team. Commenting on the collaboration, Kelkar said, “The team at Salt Inc. brings formidable skills to the table that would raise the bar of conversations for our combined clients. I look forward to the exciting work ahead.”

    The Salt Inc is confident that this move will reinforce its commitment to delivering personalised, insightful content solutions across consumer touchpoints including native digital formats, ad films, web series, and more. The combined expertise, powered by technology, will certainly redefine what’s possible in financial content and set new benchmarks in the industry.

  • A pinch of salt, a world of difference: Introducing The Salt Inc

    A pinch of salt, a world of difference: Introducing The Salt Inc

    Mumbai: Marking a groundbreaking moment in the dynamic space of content and design, The Salt Inc officially launches, poised to deliver strategically tailored content that sparks meaningful conversations between consumers and brands.

    Breaking away from the traditional agency model, The Salt Inc. is a visionary enterprise with capabilities across content formats, ranging from digital to OTT content. Built on pillars of cutting-edge technology, in-house production capabilities, and an unparalleled understanding of brand dynamics, The Salt Inc. is designed to spark conversations and engagement solutions across all consumer touchpoints. Exclusive partnerships with the British media behemoth The Economist in India puts the organization in a unique space where it can help its partner brands engage with influential C-suites globally.

    Helmed by industry veterans

    Founded by industry veterans with tremendous credibility and equity in advertising, media marketing, and video production, The Salt Inc. redefines the scope of a traditional agency. Each founding member brings with them a wealth of experience, award wins, and extremely varied and unique skill sets, continuously pushing the boundaries of creativity and capability.

    CEO and founder Neena Dasgupta brings nearly 25 years of expertise in digital media and advertising with remarkable corporations like BBC, ABNI (from the Dow Jones stable) et cetera. She later founded Zirca Digital Solutions, an independent global digital solutions company managing marquee clients in both Indian and international markets. She has also graced Impact’s 50 Most Influential list for three consecutive years.  

    Co-founder Sarthak Dasgupta is a distinguished writer, director, producer and masterful storyteller who is an alumnus of the prestigious Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the recipient of the Mahindra Sundance Global Filmmaker Award. Sarthak has consistently delivered culturally diverse, impactful stories across feature films, web series, documentaries, and television.

    Co-founder and chief operating officer Parth Arora is a veteran producer with 25 years of experience working and successfully delivering award-winning projects in the film and OTT space with several platforms including Netflix. Parth has also worked for powerhouse film studios including Dharma Productions, Fox Star Studios, and White Feather Films, among others.

    Experienced professionals including co-founder and business head Rahul Surve, chief product officer (CPO) Tarun Abhichandani, chief creative officer (CCO) Mihir Chitre, strategy lead Rohan Desai, and marketing lead Sagar Grover call The Salt Inc. home.

    Tarun, in his role as CPO, spearheads the product strategy, user experience, and technological innovation. Mihir, as CCO, leads with his creative vision, blending artistry with strategic insight to deliver compelling storytelling. Rahul brings strategic acumen and a deep understanding of market dynamics, guiding business growth and partnerships. 

    Building conversations, not just content

    The Salt Inc’s approach goes beyond creating content; they build conversations. Every piece of content is crafted to engage the audience, spark interactions, and create lasting impressions. In a world where brands are constantly vying for consumer attention, The Salt Inc. ensures your brand stands out by fostering genuine, emotional, and cognitive connections.

    Innovative technology at the core

    At The Salt Inc, their proprietary technology is not just a tool but perhaps their most powerful differentiator. Their AI technology enables robust consumer insights, allowing them to personalize content, ensuring it resonates deeply with the target audience. This technology also enables them to optimise content delivery beyond the conventional targeting methods, for all formats, from quick 30-second clips to in-depth three-hour features, catering to the diverse needs of modern brands.

    Speaking about the launch, The Salt Inc CEO & founder Neena Dasgupta said, “At The Salt Inc., we harness the power of compelling narratives to drive conversations, transform brands and captivate audiences across the digital landscape.”

    “With our cinematic expertise, we bring stories to life, ensuring that every brand message resonates deeply and leaves a lasting impact,” added co-founder Sarthak Dasgupta reiterating the superior storytelling capabilities at The Salt Inc.”

    Speaking about production proficiency, The Salt Inc COO Parth Arora shared, “Our state-of-the-art production collaborations guarantee top-tier quality, enabling brands to deliver visually stunning and highly engaging content.”

  • Neena Dasgupta, CEO & Director, Zirca Digital Solutions Wins the Tech Trailblazer Award

    Neena Dasgupta, CEO & Director, Zirca Digital Solutions Wins the Tech Trailblazer Award

    MUMBAI: Neena Dasgupta, CEO & Director, Zirca Digital solutions has been honoured  with the ‘Female Tech Trailblazer’ of the year at the Tech Trailblazer Awards 2020. She has won the award for the second year in a row.

    She is the first woman from India to win this prestigious award, chosen from 10 brilliantly performing early-stage companies enterprise technology companies across three categories.

    Sharing her thoughts on the award, Neena Dasgupta (CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions) said, “I am thrilled to not only be the first Indian female but also win the award for the second consecutive year. I am proud to represent Zirca and women in the IT field on a global prestigious platform, the Tech Traiblazers. At the core of winning any award if hard work, dedication and complete focus on the goal which is being achieved. None of which will ever be possible without the team who burns the mid-night oil alongside me.”

    The Tech Trailblazers Awards is the first independent awards program dedicated to enterprise information technology start-ups. Every year since 2012, it has identified the most innovative entrants and concepts in enterprise technology: start-ups focusing in areas such as artificial intelligence, big data, networking, storage and virtualisation – recognise technological, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial excellence.

  • Zirca launches integrated native ad mgmt platform ContentdB

    MUMBAI: Zirca Digital Solutions has announced the launch of Asia’s first native advertising management platform, ContentdB. The platform is designed to help manage content campaigns across multiple discovery, social, search networks and publishers.

    ContentdB’s genesis has been fuelled with Zirca’s strong belief that efficiency is an essential element when making a strong value proposition. ContentdB is essentially a dashboard interface, which brings all campaign reports in one place to ascertain how the users respond to the same information differently, thus, allowing brand marketers to optimize and make their investment give better results. It gives marketers access to a one-stop destination to understand the performance of all their native advertising content.

    “Most marketers are fairly successful at putting out engaging content; the fact that they are not able to optimize across the different platforms reduces the value they can get from their campaigns. ContentdB provides them with a single window platform from which they can monitor their campaigns on a comprehensive dashboard. Marketers can, thus, get a unified view of multiple campaigns and platforms that will help them make an informed decision about the efficiency of their campaigns, thus saving them time, effort and money while managing their campaigns,” says Zirca CEO and director Neena Dasgupta.

    “The internet at one point was all about platforms and there was very little focus on content that made the right kind of impact. The industry is now far more evolved and understands the value of impactful content and how it contributes to a brand’s perception online,” adds Zirca MD Karan Kumar Gupta.

    “Technology, thus, plays a very important role in such an industry. While most technologies are focused on delivery of content, ContentdB is uniquely poised to focus on right amplification and optimization to bring campaign efficiency, so that the marketer can evaluate how effective the brand’s content is, in building brand awareness. The platform evaluates how well the content resonates with the brand’s end consumer from one publisher to another, setting a new trend.”

  • Zirca Digital Solutions eyes expansion in SE & North Asia

    Zirca Digital Solutions eyes expansion in SE & North Asia

    MUMBAI: Aidem’s digital brand solutions arm Zirca Digital Solutions is planning to expand in the Southeast Asia and North Asia regions.

     

    The agency has set shop in Singapore in order to cater to their clientele in the region and has appointed Sukesh Singh as consultant – sales and business development. Singh will be based out of Singapore.

     

    With an aim to create a strong international presence, plans are also afoot to set shop in the Middle East and in Europe during the company’s next expansion phase.

     

    Additionally, in order to further strengthen their services to clients, a major tech acquisition is on the cards for Zirca Digital Solutions.

     

    Having worked with companies like Microsoft Advertising to The Economist, Outbrain amongst others in the digital media space, Zirca will be leveraging its experience to bring its services to clients across the globe.

     

    Singh, who has experience in sales, business development and partner management during his previous stints at Phunware Inc. and BBC Worldwide, will provide considerable advantage to Zirca’s extensive partner and client base in the Southeast Asia and North Asia regions. He will be actively involved in building local teams for these markets. Some key personnel from the India team will also be given the opportunity to international exposure.

     

    “The business environment certainly won’t be identical to that in India. However, the fact that Southeast Asia and North Asia are more developed markets, works in our favour. Establishing our business here will be less of a challenge as compared to what it would be for a similar company looking to expand into India. Our expertise in digital media sales and operations brought from the years of experience in the Indian market combined with the localised knowledge that Sukesh brings in will enable us to systemize the expansion process and provide a suite of services that are specific to this region,” said Zirca Digital Solutions CEO and director Neena Dasgupta.

     

    “Geographic expansion is a clear & powerful way to drive growth. Our clients need a global service and a global perspective. Asia is diverse. A ‘one size fits all’ approach to asset monetisation does not work – we recognise this and hence plan to have offices setup across locations in order to be more in sync with these market differences. We are looking to build a strong team focused solely on our international expansion,” added Zirca Digital Solutions managing director Karan Kumar Gupta.

     

    The company recently updated its brand identity. The new brand identity and logo convey the energy and the vigour with which they aim to address the new markets and new opportunities.

  • eBay India inks ad sales deal with Zirca Digital Solution

    eBay India inks ad sales deal with Zirca Digital Solution

    MUMBAI: E-Commerce venture eBay India has partnered with Zirca Digital Solutions to connect Indian brands with its advertising platform. With a global consumer base of 155 million across 206 countries and 3.5 million active users, eBay India reaches over 5000 Indian cities.

     

    eBay India head of marketing Shivani Suri Dhanda said, “We are extremely confident that the collaboration with Zirca will support us in monetizing our advertising and brand solutions platform better. They are specialists in the digital advertising business and have sound understanding of the ever-changing digital media landscape of India. Through Zirca, we look forward to providing innovative brand solutions and building a stronger advertiser footprint nationally.”

     

    Zirca Digital Solutions director Neena Dasgupta added, “eBay India’s journey from being a dedicated client on our existing advertising platforms to being an associated partner reinforces our standing as a specialist in the Digital Media Sales business. We value this association with eBay India and look forward to contributing towards achieving better monetization goals.”

     

    “eBay India is a new addition to the digital media platforms that we represent. Advertisers have responded with enthusiasm and are already working with us on campaigns to include custom content and branded solutions that aim to harness the potential of ebay.in as an advertising platform to tap into their vast and fast growing shopper base . We look forward to delivering creative solutions for brands on ebay.in,” said  Zirca Digital Solutions director Vikas Khanchandani.