MAM
Hutch launches regional content services in Karnataka
BANGALORE: With a view to increasing their subscriber base in the circle, Hutch a cellular service provider in India today announced the launch of content on the Voice Response platform in regional languages for subscribers in Karnataka.
Access and content on the Voice Response platform earlier available in English and Hindi will now be available in 3 more languages -Kannada, Telugu and Tamil besides English and Hindi. The regional content will include Caller Tunes, Ringtones, Jokes in regional languages and other offerings are to be launched shortly.
Hutch Essar South India operations director-south Samuel Selvakumar said, “This service is in line with the Hutch philosophy of facilitating communication in a manner that is convenient and enhances user experience.”
Bangalore and the Karnataka circle has seen some of the largest growth in percentage terms in mobile growth for Hutch. Karnataka and more specifically Bangalore has a multiplicity of languages with all the five languages offered here being popular with the respective segment. In AP, the service will be offered in three languages – Telugu, Hindi and until now the only other state where a regional language service was being offered along with Hindi and English is Gujarat. In the offing are Marathi for Maharashtra and Bengali for West Bengal revealed Selvakumar while speaking with indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of a press conference.
Around 650 music tracks from Tamil, Telugu and Kannada in addition to 1500 Bollywood and international tunes can now be played over the ringing tone when people call instead of the ‘tring tring’ they hear while they wait for an answer. To activate call tones, Hutch users can send ACT CT as an SMS to 123 or call 123 and say ‘Caller Tunes’ to select their favorite tune. A monthly fee of Rs. 30 is charged for downloading 3 tunes. For every subsequent song download, the charges will be Rs. 10.
Hutch customers can also download popular songs from Tamil, Telugu and Kannada cinema, and hear their favorite song whenever the phone rings.
To download ring tones Hutch users can dial 123 on their mobile phones, say ‘Ringtones’ and follow the simple instructions to download. Depending on the capability of the handset Singtone, Polytone or a Monotone can be downloaded at a charges of Rs 6/- per min. Singtone downloads are charged at Rs.20 per download, Polytones and Monotones are charged at Rs 10 and Rs 7 per download. Hutch subscribers having GPRS phones can also download these exclusive ringtones from www.hutchworld.co.in.
Over the past twelve months Hutch has seen customer subscriber base grow to 656,000 subscribers from around 400,000 last year. Hutch is present across over 213 towns in Karnataka. Nationally, Hutch has a subscriber base of over 8.4 million under the Hutch and Orange brand names.
Selvakumar said that their new campaign would probably include promotions for the VRS service. The new campaign would follow after completion of this campaign. O&M handles the creative and the media business for Hutch and their campaigns have won Hutch accolades such as the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year’. Hutch and has established itself as one of the few great brands created in the country in the last decade. ‘Most Respected Telecom Company’ and the ‘Best Mobile Service in the country’ are some of the other awards in the Hutch kitty.
Brands
GUEST COLUMN: Beyond layoffs, India emerges as creative-tech hub
Shift in hiring and AI-led workflows is reshaping global media and marketing
MUMBAI:The global narrative around layoffs in media and technology may suggest contraction, but a deeper transformation is reshaping how creative and tech capabilities are built and deployed. For Sanjil Zaveri, general manager – India at Brandtech+, this shift is less about decline and more about redistribution, one that is positioning India at the centre of a new global operating model. In this piece, Zaveri explores how integrated workflows, AI-powered production, and evolving talent demands are redefining the creative-tech ecosystem, why India is emerging as a strategic hub for global content and innovation, and what this means for the future of media, marketing, and talent.
The global headlines around layoffs in technology and media continue to dominate industry conversations. From platform restructuring to reduced marketing spends, the narrative suggests a slowdown across the creative and digital ecosystem.
But beneath these headlines, a different shift is underway, one that is quietly redefining how creative and technology work is delivered globally.
Hiring is not disappearing; it is being redistributed. And India is increasingly at the centre of this transition.
A structural shift in the creative-tech ecosystem
The media and marketing landscape is undergoing a fundamental reset. Brands today are moving away from fragmented agency models and siloed teams toward more integrated, agile structures.
Creative, technology, and media are no longer operating in isolation. Campaigns are now built through connected workflows, where ideation, production, and optimisation happen simultaneously.
This shift is forcing organisations to rethink where and how teams are built. Increasingly, the focus is on capability, speed, and scalability, rather than geography alone.
India’s emergence as a creative-tech hub
India’s role in this evolving ecosystem has expanded significantly.
Traditionally positioned as a backend execution market, India is now playing a far more central role in global campaign delivery. Teams based here contribute not just to production, but also to strategy, content development, and performance optimisation.
This is particularly relevant in a market where content velocity has increased dramatically. With the rise of digital platforms, OTT, and always-on marketing, brands require high volumes of creative assets without compromising on quality.
Industry insights from Ernst & Young point to India’s growing strength as a global content hub, while NASSCOM continues to highlight the scale and depth of the country’s digital talent pool. Together, these factors create a compelling case for India as a foundation for more efficient, integrated content ecosystems serving global markets.
A global company’s perspective on India
At Brandtech+, this shift is already shaping how we operate.
As a global organisation working across creative, marketing, and technology, our talent strategy is increasingly driven by capability rather than location. India has therefore become a key market for both scale and strategic talent.
In the first quarter of this year, we have significantly accelerated hiring in India across creative, technology, and operations roles, moving well ahead of plan and continuing to build strong momentum. We are actively hiring across multiple functions, with India playing a central role in delivering integrated creativetech solutions for global brands.
These signals reflect a broader change in how global companies view India, not as a delivery centre, but as a hub for connected creative, data, and technology capabilities.
“While much of the global narrative is centred on contraction, what we are seeing in India is a different kind of growth,” says Sanjil Zaveri. “As a global company, we are investing in talent that can work across creative, data, and technology, because that is where the future of marketing is headed.”
AI and the new content economy
Artificial intelligence is playing a critical role in enabling this transformation.
In today’s media environment, the demand for content has scaled exponentially. Brands are expected to create, adapt, and optimise creative assets across multiple platforms in real time. The scale of this demand would be difficult to sustain through traditional production models alone.
AI is helping make this possible.
Rather than replacing roles, AI is streamlining workflows, automating repetitive tasks, accelerating production timelines, and enabling faster experimentation. This allows creative and strategy teams to focus on higher-value outputs.
“AI removes the mundane and elevates the meaningful,” says Zaveri. “It allows teams to focus on ideas and storytelling, while technology drives efficiency.”
For media platforms and advertisers, this is redefining how campaigns are built, moving from linear production cycles to continuous, data-driven content creation.
What this means for media talent
For professionals across media, advertising, and digital, this shift is redefining skill requirements.
The traditional boundaries between creative, media planning, and technology are blurring. Content creators are expected to understand performance metrics. Media professionals are working more closely with data, platforms, and automation. Collaboration across disciplines is becoming a core skill.
This is creating demand for hybrid talent, professionals who can operate across disciplines and adapt to rapidly changing workflows.
India’s talent ecosystem is particularly well suited to this environment. With strong capabilities across content, design, engineering, and analytics, the market offers a unique combination of scale and versatility.
Importantly, global exposure is no longer tied to relocation. Professionals in India are increasingly working on international brands and campaigns, collaborating with teams across markets in real time.
Looking ahead: India at the centre of the reset
What we are witnessing today is not a temporary phase; it is a structural reset in the global creative-tech ecosystem.
Layoffs may continue to shape short-term narratives, but they do not capture where long-term growth is being built. That growth lies in new operating models, integrated workflows, and markets that can deliver both scale and innovation.
India is firmly at the centre of this transformation.
As global media and marketing organisations continue to evolve, India’s role will only become more critical, not as a support market, but as a strategic hub for content, creativity, and technology-led innovation.
The future of creative-tech will be defined by collaboration, speed, and adaptability. And increasingly, it will be shaped from India.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
