MAM
First Indian outdoor advertising meet in June
MUMBAI: The great outdoors just got more exciting. Outdoor Today, which claims to be India’s only magazine on outdoor advertising, has announced the launch of an annual convention for the outdoor advertising community in the country.
The two-day event, Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC 2005) on 10 and 11 June 2005 in Mumbai will bring together experts from the industry in India and abroad.
The aim is to address issues of relevance. The event will end in an awards ceremony.
Outdoor Today publisher Vasant Jante says, “Outdoor Advertising is no longer just a ‘brush and paint’ medium. In fact, the medium has seen resurgence the world over and is also being touted as the last broadcast medium.
“When we launched Outdoor Today in 2002, the objective was to provide a forum for the Outdoor industry that is growing at a healthy 10 per cent. OAC 2005 is the next logical step in that direction.”
OAC 2005 will comprise a series of interactive seminars addressed by thought leaders from India and abroad.
The delegates would comprise all interest groups in the industry including media planning and buying agencies, advertising agencies, outdoor specialists, outdoor concessionaires, regulatory authorities, research agencies etc.
The speakers will address the entire range of issues that are of relevance to the industry, including research, regulation, innovation, technology, creativity etc.
The two-day event would culminate in an awards ceremony to recognise exceptional creative executions on the outdoor medium – another first for the industry.
The event is being supported by the recently constituted Indian Outdoor Advertising Agencies’ Association (IOAAA), an association of all specialist agencies in the country.
Outdoor Today states that specialist agencies currently account for over 60 per cent of the outdoor spends in the country and have been largely instrumental in bringing a semblance of order to a medium considered disorganised for long
Brands
Oracle layoffs affect up to 30,000 employees globally
Job cuts span US, India and more, staff cite abrupt emails, uncertainty.
MUMBAI: April began with an inbox shock and for thousands, it ended with an exit. Oracle has carried out a sweeping round of layoffs, impacting an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 employees across its global operations, even as the company continues to report strong business performance. The job cuts were communicated via emails sent early on April 1, affecting staff across multiple regions including the United States, India, Canada and parts of Latin America. The reduction spans a wide range of roles and functions, though the company has not disclosed specific criteria behind the decisions.
In the days following the layoffs, employees have taken to platforms such as LinkedIn to share their experiences, many describing the process as abrupt and unsettling. Several posts pointed to a lack of prior indication, with notifications arriving suddenly in early-morning messages.
A recurring concern has been the impact on long-tenured staff. Users reported that employees with decades of experience were among those let go, raising broader questions about job security even for seasoned professionals within large technology firms.
The layoffs have also sparked anxiety about the wider direction of the sector. As companies continue to invest heavily in automation and artificial intelligence, workforce recalibration is becoming more common often accompanied by uncertainty around future roles and skills.
For many affected employees, the immediate challenge lies in navigating career transitions in an increasingly competitive job market, with posts reflecting concerns about stability and next steps.
The development comes against a backdrop of strong financial performance at Oracle, which recently reported a 22 percent year-on-year increase in revenue, alongside continued growth in its cloud infrastructure business. The company has also been committing significant capital towards artificial intelligence and data centre expansion.
The contrast between growth and job cuts has added to the unease, underscoring a broader shift in how large technology firms balance expansion with efficiency sometimes at the cost of the very workforce that helped build that growth.
