MAM
Helix’s ‘Waste Time’ brand message to woo youth
MUMBAI: 150-year-old watch company Timex has launched the latest advertising for its youth brand Helix.
JWT is the creative force behind this campaign. The communication aims as projecting Helix a brand that youth can own, both in attitude and style.
With the youth watch market growing at 15 per cent and limited brands that provide trendy and affordable merchandise, global watch manufacturer Timex decided to launch a sub-brand that specifically targeted the college going segment.
The campaign is built around the concept of time according to the young generation, which is the TG for the brand. It takes inspiration from the insight that ‘from school to college, a new sense of freedom begins to unfold, when the young begin to explore limitless time with limited money in their wallets.’
According to this insight, the youth today sees the present time, i.e. ‘now’ as the only time hang out and just be, make fabulous friends, do spontaneous things and be free spirited and uninhibited. The campaign, thus, tries to reflect the youth’s sentiment — ‘I want to spend time exploring and enjoying the present but I am expected to join the rat race to ensure my future is bright when I am already confident that it will be.’
Since the brand communication is aimed at college going youth, the theme of the campaign is also derived from the different aspects of college life like the summer holidays and the time collegians spent in the canteen having a good time.
The idea was to go against the tradition where everybody keeps advising the youth to ‘do something, this is your time, stop wasting it.’ Instead the camoaign says, “Go Ahead and Waste Time.’ It is a new way of telling the youth that this is the only time they have the luxury to explore their options and have a good time.
The campaign includes a one minute thematic film accompanied by two launch ads that celebrate the philosophy of ‘Waste Time’. Following these, the brand launched followed up ads spanning 20 seconds each that showed innovative ways of ‘wasting’ time. The videos and TVCs were supported by online presence through a Facbook page, print ads and cinema advertising at various theatres. The films have been produced by Flying Pigs Production.
JWT SVP and executive planning director said, “The campaign idea is truly provocative for a watch brand. In a fresh and disruptive way, it blends the truth about youth lives with the category. Young consumers have responded really favourably to the boldness of a liberating brand thought – Waste Time. This campaign sets the tone for Helix – a cool young brand with a distinct attitude and distinct designs.”
Timex India head marketing Vinit Kapahi explains, ‘With an active and growing youth watch market, we wanted to offer trendy and international range of watches at an affordable price point. Designed by internationally acclaimed and Milan based designer, Giorgio Galli, the collection is targeted to the global youth of today, men and women in the age group of 18-24 years. The campaign is clutter breaking, bold and attempts to resonate with the lives of young people in college. The core team at JWT including Account Management, Creative and Planning with their understanding and passion, along with us, believe in the power of – Waste Time, You Will Never Be Young Again’.
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.
