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Tag: Yogesh Manwani

  • 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.”

  • Applause Entertainment partners with Wattpad to promote ‘Avrodh’

    Applause Entertainment partners with Wattpad to promote ‘Avrodh’

    MUMBAI: In a novel move to connect with Gen Z and millennial audiences, Applause Entertainment has partnered with Wattpad, the global entertainment company and a storytelling platform, to promote the recently released war thriller, Avrodh.

    The campaign saw Applause Entertainment connect with Wattpad’s massive, engaged community of Gen Z and millennial readers and writers, inviting them to share their stories and poems that explore the Independence Day themes of my patriotism or meri deshbhakti. Inspired by Applause Entertainment’s hit series Avrodh, the campaign caters to Gen Z and Millenials who are keen to rediscover and reimagine patriotism with a renewed outlook.

    Through August, the campaign will select the most unique tales submitted by the Wattpad community, to be used in other promotional channels for Avrodh. Stories will be turned into compelling graphics for social media to reach a wider audience both on and off of Wattpad. Applause Entertainment shared their favourite stories and poetry to promote the show to their target audience on social media on 15  August 2020, each of which received exciting cash prizes.

    The campaign has already generated significant results for Applause Entertainment, with thousands of entries that have generated tens of thousands of reading minutes in less than a week since launch on Wattpad. Cross-platform promotion to Wattpad’s massive audience of Gen Z readers continued over the Independence Day weekend.

    Applause Entertainment head of marketing and revenue Yogesh Manwani said, “With the increased online activity in India, it is very difficult for a brand to have a genuine interaction with its target audience at scale, especially if it's a younger demographic. Wattpad stood out in that aspect as it allowed for a direct connection to millions of Indian Gen Z & Millennial users who love to create and engage with stories around our show’s messaging. We are amazed by the overwhelming response by our target audience and look forward to sustain the momentum on social channels.”

    Wattpad India country head Devashish Sharma said, “Wattpad offers something truly unique for brands through its massive global community that spends billions of minutes each month deeply engaged in reading, writing, and sharing world-changing stories. Our work with Applause Entertainment went beyond the ordinary fan engagement. We are creating authentic content, curated from the show’s target audience, to promote the show among Gen Z and millennials. The campaign does not just tap into audience excitement, it makes the target audience genuine collaborators. That’s the power of storytelling and Wattpad.”

    Wattpad is one of the world’s leading destinations for diverse Gen Z and Millennial creators to share their voice. Each month, more than four million writers of all ages share stories on Wattpad, inspiring and engaging with Wattpad’s global community of more than 80 million people.

  • Applause Entertainment appoints Yogesh Manwani as head of marketing & revenue

    Applause Entertainment appoints Yogesh Manwani as head of marketing & revenue

    MUMBAI: Applause Entertainment today announced the appointment of Yogesh Manwani as head–marketing and revenue. Taking over the reins from Ashok A Cherian, Manwani will be driving the integrated brand and revenue mandate.

    Manwani comes with over two decades of expansive experience in content marketing, brand strategy and business management and has held leadership positions at reputed media organisations like Star India, ZEE5 and others. A UCLA Anderson Alumnus, Manwani shouldered responsibilities entailed devising and executing multiple aspects of the Go-to-Market strategy – to grow market share for new and challenger brands.

    “Applause Entertainment is definitely the most uniquely positioned content studio in the country today, one that is blazing a new trail in the premium content space. Under the able leadership of Sameer Nair, Applause has created path breaking premium content across genres & languages. I am looking forward to contribute towards the growth and success of Applause Entertainment,” said Manwani.

    Promoted by Aditya Birla Group chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla and headed by Sameer Nair, Applause Entertainment is the leading content studio in the country committed to investing and co-investing in the creation of content across shows, movies, unscripted and short-form. Since its inception in 2017, Applause has created 19 marquee shows that include the likes of Hasmukh, Criminal Justice, Hostages, Bhaukaal, Mind the Malhotras, The Office and many more.

    “These are difficult times, but we are confident that innovation in content creation and distribution will be a key outcome of this crisis. At a crucial juncture like this, I am delighted to have Yogesh come onboard to lead the marketing and revenue mantle. His repertoire of work is exemplary and exhaustive, and I am confident that he will add immense value to Applause’s journey ahead. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ashok for his invaluable contribution to brand Applause; he has been a very critical part of our success so far and I wish him all the best for his future endeavours,” signed off Nair.

  • Ad Suite designed to help advertisers meet business objectives: ZEE5’s Yogesh Manwani

    Ad Suite designed to help advertisers meet business objectives: ZEE5’s Yogesh Manwani

    MUMBAI: While digital advertising spend in India has been traditionally mostly concentrated with Google and Facebook, OTT platforms with their massive user base have also started attracting brands lately. ZEE5, with a huge library of catch-up content from its parent network, has been focusing not only on curating the library but also its Ad Suite offering to enable advertisers to effectively meet their business objectives.

    In 2019, ZEE5 launched tools like INFONOMIX, Ampli5, Ad Vault, PLAY5 under its AD Suite which clearly indicated the platform’s aggressiveness to increase ad revenue. ZEE5 India head AVOD, SEO, news and stories Yogesh Manwani spoke on the relevance of Ad Suite and the increasing interest and investment of brands on OTT platforms in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com.

    “Our attempt is to enable brand or advertising partners to leverage the platform to reach their consumers, get their brand message out and meet their brand and business objectives. At the consumer level, we are investing and we always say that it is the power of content and technology that will help us deliver superior,” Manwani said.

    “At a consumer level we are using hyper-personalisation and using AI and ML. We are also deploying the same thing for advertisers. The idea is to leverage the best of content and technology to give our advertisers the ability to meet their goals and objectives. We designed this Ad Suite, which has a whole host of products that any advertiser, depending on their brand objectives, can choose,” he added.

    Advertisers can pick banners, videos, live streaming and a host of other options. FMCG, consumer durables, mobile handsets and telecom partners are their largest clients. Regional brands are also showing interest along with national brands.

    HSM is a large market but Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka are growing markets while Bengal is emerging as a strong one as well.

    “We have one of the strongest AVOD content portfolios. We have content across 12 languages. We have strong characters people love and connect with and strong shows. We don’t have any plans to change that but we constantly look at how we allow consumers to discover and enjoy from old content as well,” he commented on the AVOD content strategy.

    “The marketing approach to AVOD content, considering the distinction of duration, frequency and nature of content, is different. It is more from a curator’s perspective other than a creator’s. The tools we use may be similar in terms of whether you are doing performance marketing, social media marketing or digital marketing but the way you approach the product is creator vs curator,” he added.

    The marketing mix also depends on the stage of the show. The platform also leverages the power of multimedia to create awareness for original offerings and to get consumers on the platform.

    “Digital is a big medium because it allows targeting consumers with the help of Consumer Life Cycle Management Techniques. It is a multimedia mix but it completely depends upon the main goals and objectives that we want to achieve,” he added.

    While many reports have predicted that the Indian OTT ecosystem will be skewed towards advertising revenue, there is no unified measurement system. Manwani said that a unified currency always works for all stakeholders and for it to work all stakeholders have to come on-board. But he mentioned that until that happens, they will work closely with their advertiser partners to ensure there is full transparency.

  • ZEE5 appoints Yogesh Manwani as head, news & stories

    ZEE5 appoints Yogesh Manwani as head, news & stories

    MUMBAI: ZEE5, India’s fastest growing OTT platform has appointedMr. YogeshManwani as Head, News & Stories.

    Commenting on the new appointment,Taranjeet Singh,Chief Revenue Officer and Business Head, New Projects, ZEE5 Indiasaid, “News is a dynamic space which is constantly changing and evolving.Yogesh’s experience across various genres will help us strengthen our bond with the viewers along with keeping the brand interesting and relevant. His strong background will go a long way in making ZEE5, the most trusted brand for news.” 

    Speaking about his role, YogeshManwani, Head, News & Stories, ZEE5Indiasaid, “With its stand out originals slate and the unparalleled depth of its library content across genres, formats and languages, ZEE5 has successfully established itself as the fastest growing OTT brand in the category. I am excited about carrying this momentum forward to build a robust News & Stories service on the platform that will provide consumers with a high-quality experience. I am happy to join the Zee family and be a part of the ZEE5 team that is shaping the future of this category.”

    Yogesh Manwani is a seasoned professionalwith 15 years of experience in the media and entertainment space.Prior to joining ZEE5,he was Business Head at Star Utsav.A UCLA Anderson alumnus, he has successfully shouldered and delivered the responsibility for business growth, market share leadership, revenue and profitability. Yogesh has worked on various genres such as Hindi News,Regional News, Regional languages, English Entertainmentand Hindi Entertainment.

    With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, 35+ theatre plays and 80+ LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 truly presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation and worldwide. 
     

  • Khyati Shah appointed AVP marketing, programming at Star TV

    Khyati Shah appointed AVP marketing, programming at Star TV

    MUMBAI: Star TV Network has appointed Khyati Shah as associate vice president for marketing and programming. According to reports, she will be responsible for Star Utsav, the network’s free to air (FTA) channel and will be reporting to Star TV network SVP business head Yogesh Manwani.

    Prior to joining Star, Shah initiated her career with Beehive communications Pvt Ltd, in 2004, as an account executive. She was there with the company for over a year and later joined Triton communications as an account manager. After two years of her stint with Triton, she then made her move at Ogilvy and Mather, in 2007, as the group account manager.

    After spending two years with her previous organisation, she joined Grey Worldwide, in 2009, as an account director. Her portfolio also includes a stint with International Flavors and Fragrances, as fine fragrance and beauty care marketing manager, India. She was also the GM brand and marketing at Dainik Bhaskar Group for about four years.

  • Star ropes in stars to raise funds for Uttarakhand rehabilitation

    Star ropes in stars to raise funds for Uttarakhand rehabilitation

    MUMBAI: When Star India CEO Uday Shankar watched hundreds of innocent tourists and locals being swept away and buildings being flattened by the rising waters of the Mandakani river in June this year, he was at first horrified by the magnitude of the tragedy and then moved to action. He vowed to himself, that he would put in his best to help in the rebuilding efforts in the affected areas. He made a call to the two Bhatts of Bollywood- Mahesh and Mukesh and sought their support in putting together a fund-raising initiative which would involve the film and television fraternity.
    This is an opportunity for the entire Hindi film industry to stand by people who have showered them with unconditional love, says Star’s Uday Shankar
    He also connected with Wizcraft’s Sabbas Joseph, asking him to pitch in this with his mite. And he deputed Star India senior VP marketing Yogesh Manwani to go down to Uttarakhand to study and assess the situation and gauge the funds required to rehabilitate the afflicted areas with major NGOs working there.
    Come 15 August 2013, and Uday’s initiative will see the light of day at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI)’s spanking new stadium in Central Mumbai. On stage will be the biggest names from Bollywood, the Bachchan family – it’s quite likely that the Bachchan bahu Aishwarya will get on stage after a long hiatus, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, AR Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, Ayushmann Khurana, Akshay Kumar, Pritam, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Ajay Devgn, Kajol and Prasoon Joshi, among many others.
    The event titled Saath Hain Hum Uttarakhand will be telecast live on a clutch of channels of the Star India network – Life OK, Star Plus, Star Jalsa, Star World, Star Utsav, Star Movies, Star Gold, Star Pravah, Movies OK, Channel V and Star Plus.
    So what’s so great about doing another multi-starrer event with film and TV performers? Have we not seen many of them and felt like going ho-hum? The difference this time is that this one has very noble intentions. Every paisa that Star India earns courtesy ad revenues and sponsorship during the telecast will be donated to NGOs working in the Uttarakhand. The telecast is slated to run for seven hours from 12 noon to 7pm. Estimates are that Star is likely to give away Rs 20-30 crore which it will rake in courtesy the telecast.
    The biggest names from Bollywood have been roped in for the event titled Saath Hain Hum Uttarakhand
    Amitabh will lend his mesmerising voice to recite couplets from Prasoon’s magical poetry that’ll be set to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music. The enthralling musical act will weave Prasoon’s event anthem – Mera Desh- into an enchanting song performance by acclaimed classical singer Shankar Mahadevan and a spellbinding poetic rendition by Amitabh. At the time of writing, several other stars like Rani Mukerji and Karan Johar were also approached.
    Says Star India CEO Uday Shankar, “Mera Desh is an invocation by India’s most revered artists with a simple and clear message to fellow citizens — to look at tragedy squarely in the eye and overcome it by joining hands. Star India is humbled to receive support from Hindi cinema’s biggest icons.”
    “The noble initiative is an opportunity for the entire Hindi film industry to stand by the very people who have showered us with unconditional love and have made us who we are,” says Bachchan. “We have come together to ease the pain of fellow men who suffered the agonising pain that this unprecedented calamity brought with itself.”
    All the anchors and stars will be urging audiences at home to open their wallets and donate funds for Uttarakhand
    This apart, anchors will be rotated every hour. Among some of the names from the TV industry which are being talked about include: Deepika Singh (Sandhya), Anas Rashid (Sooraj), Karan Mehra (Naitik), Mahadev fame Mohit Raina and Pooja Bose. “The show will be loaded with entertainment,” says a source close to the production. Wizcraft has had the experience of raising funds through greenathons and long-format events. But they have left the fund-raising to Star which is setting up payment gateways online. All the anchors and stars will be urging audiences at home to open their wallets and donate funds for Uttarakhand.”
    The main choreographer for the event is Sanjay Shetty who has become the darling of most live event organisers in recent times. The creative inputs will come courtesy Star India senior vice president programming Anil Jha. Wizcraft TV head Namit Sharma is the creative head and Asim Sen has been roped in as the TV director, Anurag Dingra will be the director of photography, while sets are being done by designer Varshai Desai. Wizcraft sound firm Performance Audio has been signed on for the sound while Atul Sonpal is responsible for the lights design with the help of lights from SFX and Ulhas will look after lights. Tech gear, cameras are being supplied by Real Impact.
    Technical and production crew disclosed that they were either working free of cost or at concessional rates for the event. “We are doing it for a cause,” says one of them. “Star has been reaching out to all who have been working with it on shows in the past to come in at really discounted rates.”
    Star India has emerged as one of the front runners on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) front amongst media firms ever since Shankar took over as CEO four years ago. This initiative should take the network even further still.

  • Star ropes in stars to raise funds for Uttarakhand rehabilitation

    Star ropes in stars to raise funds for Uttarakhand rehabilitation

    MUMBAI: When Star India CEO Uday Shankar watched hundreds of innocent tourists and locals being swept away and buildings being flattened by the rising waters of the Mandakani river in June this year, he was at first horrified by the magnitude of the tragedy and then moved to action. He vowed to himself, that he would put in his best to help in the rebuilding efforts in the affected areas. He made a call to the two Bhatts of Bollywood- Mahesh and Mukesh and sought their support in putting together a fund-raising initiative which would involve the film and television fraternity.

    He also connected with Wizcraft’s Sabbas Joseph, asking him to pitch in this with his mite. And he deputed Star India senior VP marketing Yogesh Manwani to go down to Uttarakhand to study and assess the situation and gauge the funds required to rehabilitate the afflicted areas with major NGOs working there.

    Come 15 August 2013, and Uday’s initiative will see the light of day at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI)’s spanking new stadium in Central Mumbai. On stage will be the biggest names from Bollywood, the Bachchan family – it’s quite likely that the Bachchan bahu Aishwarya will get on stage after a long hiatus, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, AR Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, Ayushmann Khurana, Akshay Kumar, Pritam, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Ajay Devgn, Kajol and Prasoon Joshi, among many others.

    The event titled Saath Hain Hum Uttarakhand will be telecast live on a clutch of channels of the Star India network – Star Plus, Life OK, Star Pravah, Channel V, Star Utsav, Star Plus HD and Life OK HD.

    So what’s so great about doing another multi-starrer event with film and TV performers? Have we not seen many of them and felt like going ho-hum? The difference this time is that this one has very noble intentions. Every paisa that Star India earns courtesy ad revenues and sponsorship during the telecast will be donated to NGOs working in the Uttarakhand. The telecast is slated to run for seven hours from 12 noon to 7pm. Estimates are that Star is likely to give away Rs 20-30 crore which it will rake in courtesy the telecast.

    The biggest names from Bollywood have been roped in for the event titled Saath Hain Hum Uttarakhand

    Amitabh will lend his mesmerising voice to recite couplets from Prasoon’s magical poetry that’ll be set to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music. The enthralling musical act will weave Prasoon’s event anthem – Mera Desh- into an enchanting song performance by acclaimed classical singer Shankar Mahadevan and a spellbinding poetic rendition by Amitabh. At the time of writing, several other stars like Rani Mukerji and Karan Johar were also approached.

    Says Star India CEO Uday Shankar, “Mera Desh is an invocation by India’s most revered artists with a simple and clear message to fellow citizens — to look at tragedy squarely in the eye and overcome it by joining hands. Star India is humbled to receive support from Hindi cinema’s biggest icons.”

    “The noble initiative is an opportunity for the entire Hindi film industry to stand by the very people who have showered us with unconditional love and have made us who we are,” says Bachchan. “We have come together to ease the pain of fellow men who suffered the agonising pain that this unprecedented calamity brought with itself.”

    All the anchors and stars will be urging audiences at home to open their wallets and donate funds for Uttarakhand

    This apart, anchors will be rotated every hour. Among some of the names from the TV industry which are being talked about include: Deepika Singh (Sandhya), Anas Rashid (Sooraj), Karan Mehra (Naitik), Mahadev fame Mohit Raina and Pooja Bose. “The show will be loaded with entertainment,” says a source close to the production. Wizcraft has had the experience of raising funds through greenathons and long-format events. But they have left the fund-raising to Star which is setting up payment gateways online. All the anchors and stars will be urging audiences at home to open their wallets and donate funds for Uttarakhand.”

    The main choreographer for the event is Sanjay Shetty who has become the darling of most live event organisers in recent times. The creative inputs will come courtesy Star India senior vice president programming Anil Jha. Wizcraft TV head Namit Sharma is the creative head and Asim Sen has been roped in as the TV director, Anurag Dingra will be the director of photography, while sets are being done by designer Varshai Desai. Wizcraft sound firm Performance Audio has been signed on for the sound while Atul Sonpal is responsible for the lights design with the help of lights from SFX and Ulhas will look after lights. Tech gear, cameras are being supplied by Real Impact.

    Technical and production crew disclosed that they were either working free of cost or at concessional rates for the event. “We are doing it for a cause,” says one of them. “Star has been reaching out to all who have been working with it on shows in the past to come in at really discounted rates.”

    Star India has emerged as one of the front runners on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) front amongst media firms ever since Shankar took over as CEO four years ago. This initiative should take the network even further still.