MAM
Scarecrow celebrates 2nd anniv with launch of design division
MUMBAI: Celebrating its second anniversary in style, Scarecrow Communications Ltd. announced the launch of a design division by the name Scarecrow Designs.
The new division will provide exclusive design solutions to various clients and will be headed by Kapil Tammal as design director.
Scarecrow Designs also endeavours to produce pure graphic design content on its own. The in house designers and talent from design schools would be roped in to create merchandise (t-shirts, bags, accessories etc), which will be showcased at the Scarecrow Art Gallery and on www.scarecrowdesigns.net
Due to the retail boom, mall culture and entry of many international lifestyle brands in India, design has become extremely imperative.
Many national/international brands, more often, avoid spending on full-fledged ATL campaigns due to media costs. But what they can‘t avoid spending on is to create a look, feel and imagery of the brand where design is sacrosanct.
The idea behind the new identity of Scarecrow Designs is based on the phenomenon crop circles, which have been the biggest design mysteries in the world.
Scarecrow Designs design director Kapil Tammal said, “Scarecrow Designs is not a conventional design house. Design for communication is what my team will focus on. Certain brands need to be looked from a design perspective, so along with the routine advertising ideas, the team will wear a designer‘s hat and think of ‘designs‘ as and when needed. I wanted to form this kind of a team since long, and today it‘s finally happening!”
Scarecrow founder director Raghu Bhat said, “This is a systematic attempt to broaden our communication offerings. It is also a recognition of the great design talent in Scarecrow. “
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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.
