MAM
McDowell’s 50% of annual brand budget on ‘Freestyle Friendzy’
BANGALORE: McDowell’s Celebration is launching the ‘Freestyle Friendzy’ contest to find India’s best freestyle footballer.
Betting big on the event, McDowell’s has planned to spend almost half of its annual brand-building budget on the property, reveal company sources.
As part of the initiative, a media campaign under the tagline ‘Jiyo Freestyle Dil Se’ (live with a freestyle heart) across print, television, radio, internet including social and community websites, outdoor, digital signage has been designed with creatives by Mudra. The media buying agency is Mindshare.
A TVC for promoting the contest will be aired across major national and regional channels, say sources.
The brand has brought in six of the top global 30 professional footballers to India and aims to take them across 21 cities in the country to engage and interact with local freestylers in India.
The finale will be held on December 18, 2009 at Kolkata. 10-15 of the freestylers who garner the maximum online votes will take part in a two-day coaching camp conducted by the six international footballers for honing their skills. The final winner of the finale will receive a free ticket to one of the most sought after league matches in London along with other prizes.
“Freestyle Friendzy is a nationwide hunt that is encouraging amateur Indian freestylers to post their videos on www.freestylefriendzy.com to seek votes for their skills and help popularize the sport,” said United Spirits deputy president Ashok Capoor.
NDTV 24×7, indiatimes.com and Radio Mirchi are the television, online and radio partners for the event. DNA is the event manager.
MAM
Gurpreet Singh named President of DishTV Alumni Network
Former Dish TV executive to lead community building and collaboration.
MUMBAI: Back to the dish, but this time it’s about connections, not channels Gurpreet Singh is returning to familiar territory with a new mandate that swaps subscribers for relationships. Singh has been appointed President of the DishTV Alumni Network, a move aimed at strengthening ties among former employees and building a more engaged professional community around the Dish TV ecosystem. The initiative reflects a growing trend among large organisations to formalise alumni networks as platforms for collaboration, mentorship and business opportunities.
The appointment draws on Singh’s deep-rooted history with Dish TV, where he held multiple leadership roles over nearly a decade. As National Business Head between June 2019 and September 2020, he oversaw profit and loss as well as operations, managing revenues of Rs 6,000 crore and leading a team of around 1,250 employees across the country. His tenure included working alongside two regional business heads and 16 circle heads, underscoring the scale of operations he handled.
Prior to that, Singh served as Executive Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue from 2016 to 2019, and earlier as Senior Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue. He also briefly led international operations as Country Head for Sri Lanka, further expanding his exposure across markets.
His broader career spans leadership roles across telecom and consumer businesses, including a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Bharti Airtel’s Malawi operations, senior leadership roles at Reliance Communications, and earlier positions at Hindustan Sanitaryware and Kodak India, where he spent over a decade.
In his new role, Singh is expected to focus on reconnecting former employees, fostering collaboration, and building a structured alumni ecosystem that leverages shared experience and industry networks. As companies increasingly recognise the long-term value of their extended workforce, the DishTV Alumni Network appears set to turn nostalgia into a strategic asset, one connection at a time.
