ITV

Tag: new business

  • Zomato’s Mohit Gupta bids adieu

    Zomato’s Mohit Gupta bids adieu

    Mumbai: In a sundry of exits at Zomato, Mohit Gupta has put in his papers as co-founder.  He had been with the food delivery company for about four and a half years.

    Gupta’s departure marks the third high-profile departure from Zomato. Earlier this week, the food delivery major’s head of new businesses and former food delivery chief Rahul Ganjoo, had put in his papers. Also, Siddharth Jhawar, who held the position of vice president of global growth and head of the Intercity Legends service at Zomato, called it a day.

    Gupta joined Zomato in 2018 as the head of food delivery. He was subsequently elevated to co-founder in 2021 to oversee new businesses when Ganjoo was made the CEO of food delivery. Before joining the food delivery major, Gupta was the chief operating officer of travel portal Makemytrip. He has also worked at PepsiCo during his career.

    Kamayani Sadhwani, a director at Zomato-owned quick commerce company Blinkit, has taken over from Jhawar as the head of the Intercity Legends service. Prior to taking on the role at Blinkit earlier this year, Sadhwani has also worked at Coca-Cola India, Bain, Accenture, and McKinsey.

  • The era of internet belongs to Mayaverse: Subhash Chandra

    The era of internet belongs to Mayaverse: Subhash Chandra

    Mumbai: Essel group chairman Subhash Chandra opened up about the latest corporate developments in an interview with Zee Business’s managing editor Anil Singhvi on Wednesday. He spoke about the Mayaverse, Zee Group’s digital ambitions, Zeel-Sony merger, Yes Bank Dish TV issue and other matters.

    When asked about new trends such as metaverse, crypto and NFTs, Chandra said, “I call it Mayaverse, as the era of internet belongs to Mayaverse.” During the conversation, Chandra hinted that the group will be coming up with something new very soon – this time on the technology front. 

    He said, “we never started any business for money, we always tried to do something new by means of business.”

    He also revealed Zee group’s plans to add one billion users in the next three years. Zee Media’s digital platforms have 300 million active users and the group will focus on monetising digital content going forward.

    Channel’s performance 

    Talking about Zee Media’s performance, Chandra noted that 58 per cent of the viewers watching Zee Media’s international channel WION is a foreign audience. 

    He also stated that WION has more followers on YouTube than the BBC and plans to add another 500 million viewers in the next five years.

    Speaking about the corporate developments at Essel Group, Chandra said that it has reduced 92 per cent of debt at the promoter level and the rest of the debt will be cleared within one to two months. He also admitted that venturing into the infra business was a ‘mistake’. 

    The conflict between Dish TV-Yes Bank

    On the boardroom conflict between Dish TV and Yes Bank, he commented that the previous management at Yes Bank ‘did fraud with us’ and that many people in the media lack the right information regarding the matter between Yes Bank and Dish TV. Coming to the ongoing merger between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and Sony Pictures Networks India, he said the merger is moving in the right direction and after regulatory approvals, the merger will be completed.

    The media mogul is hopeful for a bounce-back with more ‘strength’ and ‘power’ and observed that the environment is quite positive in the country under PM Modi’s leadership. “We are continuously working on many fronts,” he said.

  • Somany Ceramics launches marketing campaign with Ind vs NZ series

    Somany Ceramics launches marketing campaign with Ind vs NZ series

    Mumbai: Somany Ceramics Ltd has started its marketing campaign by collaborating for on-ground advertising for T20 and test series between India and New Zealand starting from 17 November till 7 December.

    As a part of the association, the brand will have its presence during all the matches of the T20 series on 17, 19, and 21 November respectively and two matches of test series from 25-29 November and 3-7 December.

    The brand Somany will be displayed at perimeter boards, sight screens, and upper-tier while the airing of three T20 matches and two test matches, said the company in a statement.

    “Cricket has the power of connecting people across all varied sets and our on-ground advertising will help the brand reach a larger section of the audience,” said Somany Ceramics brand custodian Minal Somany. “These initiatives will help in establishing us as a leader and will further cement the brand in the hearts and minds of our consumers.”

  • MullenLowe Lintas forays into content & entertainment business under Lintas C:EX brand

    MullenLowe Lintas forays into content & entertainment business under Lintas C:EX brand

    Mumbai: MullenLowe Lintas Group has unveiled a specialised content business unit under the Lintas C:EX (Lintas Creative Executions) brand. The unit called Lintas C:EX Entertainment will create content & IP that entertains and engages, said the statement.

    To lead the entertainment business unit at Lintas C:EX, seasoned media and entertainment (M&E) specialist Yogesh Manwani has been appointed as president. Manwani comes with a rich and diversified experience of over two decades across different facets of the M&E business having worked in organisations such as Star, Zee5, and most recently, Applause Entertainment as head revenue and marketing. He was involved in multiple premium drama series like “Scam 1992,” “Criminal Justice,” “Hostages,” “Undekhi,” “Avrodh,” “Mind The Malhotras,” “Bhaukaal,” “Chakravyuh,” and “Call My Agent” to name a few. 

    Manwani’s appointment is with immediate effect and will operate from the Mumbai HQ of MullenLowe Lintas Group. In his role as president at Lintas C:EX Entertainment, Manwani will work with Naveen Gaur, who is responsible for the new and specialised lines of business at MullenLowe Lintas Group.

    In his previous roles, Manwani has managed responsibilities across various content genres – Hindi News, regional news, regional entertainment, Hindi entertainment and English entertainment – across mediums such as TV and digital. A UCLA Anderson alumnus, he has handled varied challenges like business launches and turnarounds, brand strategy, customer acquisition & retention, market development and affiliate marketing. 

    Speaking about the formation of the new business building block and the leadership announcement, MullenLowe Lintas Group – group CEO Virat Tandon said, “We are seeing a huge surge of digital content, platforms, creators as well as viewers and this space is only going to grow in the coming years. Lintas is uniquely poised at the intersection of powerful ideas that shape pop culture, master creative storytelling, extraordinary video production ability and ambitious brands and clients. Lintas C:EX Entertainment is the logical next step for us to unlock the huge potential that lies ahead of us.”

    “In the past, we have had a few tactical brushes with this space. The memorable ones were when Alyque was involved with producing the pilot for “Karamchand” and then later when we conceptualised the show ‘Smart Shrimati’ for brand Wheel. This time, Lintas C:EX Entertainment is a deliberate and a strategic foray into original and branded content space. There couldn’t be a better person than Yogesh Manwani to lead this venture. He comes with a deep experience in the original content business. He is a big believer in our vision for Lintas C:EX Entertainment and I am sure he will make it a success,” he added.

    The Lintas C:EX Entertainment unit has ambitions to develop, create, produce and distribute distinct forms of curated and original content cutting across genres, languages and formats, said the agency in a statement. 

    Not only will the unit create original content for various streaming platforms, it will also work with brand partners to create and distribute ‘content for & by brands.’ The unit will also help brands identify and participate in relevant content led marketing opportunities, it added.

    “We are breaking the shackles of the ad agency descriptor that we had imposed on ourselves,” stated MullenLowe Lintas Group – group CCO and chairman Amer Jaleel. “There has been such an abundance of talent that has sprung from Lintas and gone on into the world of entertainment, I have no clue why we did not give it the shot it deserved up until now! With Yogesh at the helm of this completely separate and independent initiative, we are opportunising the era of original content and content for brands, that’s landed smack in our lives! Yogesh will spearhead, shape and structure Lintas C:EX Entertainment into possibly an equal or bigger rival to our brand and marcomm business. 

    “He has both the relationships and the experience in building channels, platforms, intellectual properties which will now propel the Lintas group into a full-blown media and entertainment powerhouse,” Jaleel added.

    Reacting to his appointment, Yogesh Manwani said, “Backed by strong, fearless and visionary leadership, the group is on a critical self-transformational journey. Entering the Content business is an integral and important part of this journey and with the acceleration of the creator economy it could not have been better timed. The long term vision that Group’s leadership has for this independent and specialised business under the Lintas C:EX brand is what excites me to lead this mandate. I look forward to bringing my experience and learnings to the table that could help in building this content company as the magic glue that binds content creators with brand owners & platform partners.”