AD Agencies
MSLGROUP announces two senior hires
MUMBAI: MSLGROUP, Publicis Groupe’s strategic communications and engagement consultancy, has appointed two industry veterans to its fold – Amit Misra comes on board as executive vice president & director – public affairs in Delhi and Rekha Rao, as general manager in Mumbai of 20:20 MSL.
Amit Misra will be the overall market leader for MSLGROUP for the Delhi market & the practice leader for the public affairs practice across India for MSLGROUP. In addition, he will also strategically collaborate with 20:20 MSL in Delhi for business development, PA, key client relationships and talent development.
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In her role, Rekha Rao will report to Ian Sequeira, senior VP at 20:20 MSL and her key responsibilities will include operational performance, growth, profitability, talent management and client engagement.
On the appointments, MSLGROUP CEO Jaideep Shergill said: “We warmly welcome Amit and Rekha to our family and eagerly look forward to their contribution in helping us grow in both reputation and expertise. Each of them comes with capabilities necessary to provide the more value-adding, strategic and content centric offerings that our clients increasingly are looking for in India. MSLGROUP is a people centric agency. We invest in our talent by giving them exceptional opportunities to work on exciting client engagements, attend world class trainings and pursue an international career. We see that this is appreciated: never before have had so many of the industry’s top talent wanted to join MSLGROUP, where Misra and Rao are very notable examples. By appointing Amit Misra and Rekha Rao in their new roles, we are strengthening MSLGROUP’s core functions, which will further add impetus to our continuing growth story.”
AD Agencies
The smell that told Mumbaikars which station was next
Tata AIA turns Mumbai’s Parle-G memory into a sharp, city-wise outdoor play
MUMBAI: When a biscuit factory became Mumbai’s unofficial station announcement. Long before smartphone maps and automated announcements, commuters on Mumbai’s Western line relied on their noses. As trains rolled into Vile Parle, compartments filled with the warm, sweet smell of baking biscuits from the Parle-G factory. It was a cue to gather bags, wake dozing children and shuffle towards the door.
Now that memory has been pressed into service by Tata AIA Life Insurance as part of its 25-year anniversary outdoor campaign — a city-by-city salute to the lived moments that shape urban life.
One hoarding, mounted close to the old factory site, reads: “We have been protecting Mumbaikars since Vile Parle smelled of freshly made biscuits.” Spare. Local. Loaded.
The broader campaign, rolled out across major metros, leans hard into contextual storytelling. In Kolkata, it nods to trams. In Pune, to Magarpatta’s transformation. In Bengaluru, to a time before IT parks. In Chennai, to OMR before it led to tech corridors. Each line anchors the brand’s longevity to a shared civic memory.
The Mumbai execution is the most evocative. For decades, the Parle-G factory was more than a production unit. It was a sensory landmark. Residents nearby set their clocks by the factory horn. Office-goers marked their commute by the waft of glucose and flour. When the plant shut, the city lost more than jobs. It lost a rhythm.
By placing the hoarding beside the former factory, the insurer collapses distance between copy and context. The site does half the storytelling. The rest comes from commuters who remember opening steel tiffins packed with Parle-G, or jolting awake as the train slowed.
It is a neat piece of brand positioning. Rather than trumpet balance sheets or policy counts, Tata AIA borrows emotional equity from the city itself. Twenty-five years becomes less a milestone and more a presence — steady, local, embedded.
Outdoor advertising is often a blunt instrument. This one is anything but. It whispers. It remembers. And in doing so, it sells trust without sounding like it is selling at all.
The scent may have faded. The memory has not.
