MAM
Red Digital orchestrates Miranda TweetMob’s second innings
MUMBAI: Digital agency Red Digital created the second TweetMob on 24 February for Mirinda.
With the hot Indian summer approaching, PepsiCo has launched a new campaign for its orange soft drink Mirinda. The campaign orbits around the theme ‘Pagalpanti Bhi Zaroori Hai‘ and is based on the thought that drinking Mirinda is an intense and inescapable experience that leaves one breathless.
The TweetMob started at 3 pm on 24 February with a question asking people what they thought was crazy enough around them to be called ‘PagalPanti‘. The TweetMob lasted till midnight during which time Red Digital created and managed conversation around the hashtag ‘PagalPanti‘. Through the TweetMob, Red Digital helped connect Twitterati and Facebook users who tweeted about the topic with various Mirinda branded hash tags creating a plethora of endorsements for the brand.
Red Digital chief operating officer Yashraj Vakil said, “We think of TweetMob as a Flash Mob on Twitter where our intention is to take over Twitter and engage Twitterati for a certain duration while plugging-in the brand connect. After the successful execution of the first TweetMob on 14 February it was a challenge for us to out-do ourselves with the benchmarks we set for Mirinda and more importantly prove to ourselves that it was not a one-off success by repeating it in a grander manner. It was great to taste success again and take over Twitter.”
The activity saw 3,700 tweets in the span of 9 hours for MirindaIndia. Every 50 tweets with ‘PagalPanti‘ helped the brand reach 7,990 people generating close to 0.6 million views. The agency informed in an official communiqué that the brand reach this time was five times of what the first TweetMob generated.
Red Digital founder and managing director Harsh Jain said, “The independence of ideating with a bold and social brand like Mirinda has given us the opportunity to explore and innovate. We are thankful as well as determined to create and execute many more path breaking ideas through our association with Mirinda.”
PepsiCo India executive vice president – marketing, beverages (flavours) Ruchira Jaitly said, “As marketers we continuously seek ways to engage with the consumers via innovative means. Mirinda‘s TweetMobs is a unique innovation on the digital space that utilizes the strengths of the medium effectively to communicate with our consumers on our latest initiative. The idea is fun and youthful and helped to create awareness of our new flavor campaign in a never-before fashion.”
MAM
Axel Springer to acquire Telegraph Media Group in £575 million deal
Deal sidelines rival bid from Daily Mail owner DMGT
BERLIN: German media conglomerate Axel Springer has agreed to acquire the UK-based Telegraph Media Group in a deal valued at about £575 million, marking one of the most significant cross-border investments in the British news industry in recent years.
The agreement involves an all-cash purchase of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, bringing months of uncertainty over the ownership of the historic newspaper titles to an end. The move also sidelines a rival proposal from Daily Mail and General Trust, the parent company of the Daily Mail.
Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner said the acquisition reflects the company’s long-standing interest in the publication and its legacy in British journalism. Owning The Telegraph, he said, is both a privilege and a responsibility.
Döpfner noted that Axel Springer had attempted to buy the newspaper more than two decades ago but failed at the time. The new agreement, he added, finally fulfils that ambition.
The Berlin-based media group plans to launch an investment programme aimed at strengthening the Telegraph’s operations and expanding its business footprint. As part of the strategy, the company intends to grow the publication’s presence in the United States and broaden its international reach.
Telegraph Media Group was put up for sale in 2023 after its former owners, the Barclay brothers, ran into mounting debt obligations. Several takeover efforts have since collapsed before reaching completion.
In 2025, a bid from Daily Mail and General Trust had been agreed but later faced regulatory scrutiny.
UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy said the government has initiated a review of the proposed ownership change, citing concerns that the deal could affect the diversity of viewpoints in Britain’s media landscape.
She added that the Competition and Markets Authority will examine potential competition implications, while communications regulator Ofcom will assess broader public-interest considerations related to the transaction.
