MAM
Bombay Dyeing makes Times go monochrome for ‘Ebony and Ivory’ campaign
BANGALORE: ‘News Flash — Everything is turning Ebony and Ivory’ was the catch phrase across the bottom portion of all the ten editions across India in yesterday’s The Sunday Times.
The new campaign from Bombay Dyeing certainly managed to turn the first and last pages of The Times monochrome. The lower portion of The Sunday Times carried the above mentioned news flash ‘black’ rubber-stamp impression and directs readers to the last page, which carried a full page ad in black an white presenting the launch of Bombay Dyeing’s Ebony and Ivory collection.
Extremely graphic and extremely stylish is how the ad describes the collection, and that is exactly what the collection seems to be. TVC’s shot in black and white will be aired starting this Wednesday. Shades of Alfred Hitchcock’s Pyscho shot in black and white during the color era to draw attention, to make a statement?
The collection is a combination of bedsheets with matching bath-towels.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Suresh Makam of Panchajanya Textiles, a leading distributor of Bombay Dyeing in Bangalore, said, “The Ebony and Ivory is a new collection that we’ve come out with after carrying out thorough research on consumers’ tastes, especially the younger generation of women aged between 25 and 44. This predominantly black and white collection based on geometrical designs and floral collections is a coordination of bed sheets with towels. We’ve come out with a limited edition of nine designs now. The designs have been thoroughly surveyed, the consumers have picked up these designs.”
“Bombay Dyeing have done the in-shop branding and display – visual merchandising in the same black and white theme across 800 outlets in the country, company owned as well as franchisees counters have come up with the same concept,” added Makam.
Bombay Dyeing’s domestic business head Aloke Banerjee said, “All these days we have been doing catalogs for advertising our new designs, we have now started doing Fashion Forward advertising which will dictate fashion in the country. You will now see more and more of Bombay Dyeing unveiled slowly. All the models we’ve used for the new campaign are the winners of the Gladrags Mega Model Man Hunt. There’s more on the anvil, you wait and watch what Bombay Dyeing is going to do. TVC’s in black and white will be beamed to households starting this Wednesday.”
The campaign has been shot in black and white on the beaches of Mauritius at a rumored cost of Rs 25 million. This campaign is reportedly the most expensive campaign by Bombay Dyeing to date.
In addition to the black and white theme, a subtle touch, maybe a single leaf or a flower or a design having a touch of fluorescent shades in blue pink and green are a part of the new collection.
For this campaign, filmmaker Zakir Chinde with Maureen Wadia’s inputs have been taken for the print and TVCs.
Total factory sales from Bombay Dyeing’s bed sheet and towels division for the last fiscal were Rs 5.5 billion. This translates into Rs 6 billion in national sales at MRP and Rs 2.5 billion in exports, revealed Banerjee.
Queried about media reports that have put Bombay Dyeing ad-spends at between Rs 70-90 million, Banerjee refused to comment on or substantiate the numbers mentioned.
Initiative Media handles the media; while St. Luke’s does the creatives, and Mutual PR handles the public relations.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
