Brands
DDB Mudra and WARC hunt for India’s sharpest young strategists
MUMBAI: Creativity may sell, but strategy decides what to sell—and how. On 26 November, DDB Mudra Group and Warc will host Portfolio Evening: Strategy Edition in Mumbai, the first platform of its kind aimed at unearthing brand strategy talent in India. Open to those with five years’ experience or less, it’s a rare chance for junior strategists to present their work to 20 of the country’s most influential agency leaders.
The format is straightforward: participants get 20 minutes to pitch their thinking to two jurors, who respond with direct feedback. No panels, no platitudes—just work and critique. The winner walks away with exclusive access to Warc’s Creative Impact Unpacked from Cannes, a compendium of case studies from the industry’s most celebrated campaigns.
To enter, applicants must submit two pieces of work by 15 November—either from their existing portfolios or in response to briefs provided by the organisers. The jury will be looking for clear problem definition, sharp consumer insights and strategic recommendations that hold water.
The evening also marks the India launch of Warc’s Future of Strategy 2025 report, which maps how planning is adapting to artificial intelligence and fragmented media. It’s a timely addition: as algorithms increasingly dictate what people see, the role of the human strategist—someone who can spot patterns, frame problems and shape narratives—becomes either more valuable or more obsolete, depending on whom you ask.
The jury includes Dheeraj Sinha, group chief executive for India and South Asia at FCB; Menaka Menon, president and managing partner for growth and strategy at DDB Mudra Group; S Subramanyeswar, group chief executive for India and chief strategy officer for Asia-Pacific at MullenLowe Lintas Group; and Prem Narayan, chief strategy officer at Ogilvy India, among others. Between them, they’ve shaped campaigns for some of India’s biggest brands.
For an industry that often celebrates execution over thinking, Portfolio Evening is a statement: strategy matters. Now it has a stage.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
