MAM
Tata Tea partners with Narain Karthikeyan & F1 team
MUMBAI: Tata Global Beverages‘ (TGB) Tata Tea has partnered with Indian Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan and the HRT Formula 1 team for the 2012 Singapore and Indian Grands Prix scheduled from 21-23 September and 26-28 October, respectively.
With the association, Tata Tea will be promoted extensively. Its logos will appear on the HRT Formula 1 team car and the helmet worn by Karthikeyan. TGB‘s association with Karthikeyan and consequently, Formula 1, will also give it a platform to connect with a large global viewership.
TGB VP-marketing Vikram Grover said, “Narain reflects the Indian youth‘s latent talent awakening to global sports which Tata Tea has been supporting since the launch of its Jaago-Re campaign, for e.g. The Tata Tea Jaago Re Inter Milan Soccer Stars program which is in its fifth season currently. Also, Formula 1‘s inherent teamwork, technology, innovation and fitness-centric nature synergises well with TGB‘s focus of being a global, health-enhancing, ‘good for you‘ beverages Company.”
HRT Formula 1 team principal Luis Pérez-Sala added, “For two seasons now Tata and Tata Motors have offered important and loyal support for HRT Formula 1 team and it is great news that TGB has joined not only Narain‘s image but also that of the team for two very important Grands Prix such as Singapore and India. This incorporation is further proof of the good relationship we have with the Tata Group, which not only establishes itself but continues to grow at the same time as the team in such a competitive world as is Formula 1.”
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
