MAM
Former Network18 CEO Avinash Kaul announces new book, shares teaser
The man who ran India’s largest news network turns 53 and decides it is time to tell his story
MUMBAI: Avinash Kaul has climbed a great many mountains in his 28 years in Indian media. Now, on the eve of his 53rd birthday, he is writing about all of them.
The former chief executive of Network18 Broadcast announced this week that a book is in the works, teasing the project on LinkedIn with a characteristically understated flourish: “A book is coming. My story. And yours, in every page.”
It is a story worth telling. Kaul spent 16 years in the chief executive’s chair, a tenure that saw him oversee the largest news network in India: 20 channels, 16 languages, and an annual reach of over 700 million viewers. Managing that scale, with its relentless demands of revenue, ratings, and editorial credibility, required equal parts strategic nerve and operational muscle.
His fingerprints are across the architecture of Indian broadcasting. At the Media Research Users Council, he served as a board member overseeing the Indian Readership Survey, the industry’s key print advertising metric. At the Broadcast Audience Research Council, he sat on the Extended Technical Committee, helping shape the television ratings system that governs how the entire industry measures itself. At The Advertising Club, he was a management committee member, embedded in the conversations that set the commercial agenda for Indian media.
What made Kaul effective, by most accounts, was not simply his command of revenue and market strategy, though that was formidable. It was his insistence on treating digital not as a threat to be managed but as a complement to be harnessed, integrating platforms and audience analytics into Network18’s content strategy at a time when many broadcasters were still hoping the internet might go away.
The book, whose title is yet to be revealed, arrives at a moment when Indian media is navigating one of the most turbulent periods in its history: fragmenting audiences, the relentless rise of connected television, and the slow but irreversible migration of advertising budgets toward digital. A memoir from someone who sat at the centre of those forces for the better part of three decades could hardly be better timed.
“Honestly. Gratefully. For every person who was part of this journey,” Kaul wrote, in the kind of language that suggests this will be less a chest-thumping executive memoir and more a considered reckoning with what it takes to lead through change. Whether the book delivers on that promise remains to be seen. But if his career is any indication, Kaul rarely does anything without a plan.
MAM
Barista partners Ginny Weds Sunny 2 with mango campaign
Cafe chain blends cinema buzz with summer menu and 20 per cent offer.
MUMBAI: Love may brew slowly, but marketing clearly doesn’t especially when coffee meets cinema and mangoes steal the spotlight. Barista Coffee Company has partnered with the upcoming hindi film Ginny Weds Sunny 2 as its official beverage partner, in a move aimed at tapping into youth culture through entertainment-led engagement. The collaboration is not just a logo placement exercise. Instead, Barista is translating the film’s high-energy vibe into its cafés with a themed summer menu titled “Main Hoon Mango”, accompanied by a limited-period 20 per cent discount on combo offerings across outlets.
Actors Medha Shankr and Avinash Tiwary feature in the campaign, seen engaging with the mango-themed menu inside Barista cafés, a visual cue designed to blur the lines between reel and real-life consumption moments.
The strategy reflects a broader shift in how consumer brands are leveraging hindi film industry not just for visibility, but for immersive, on-ground engagement. By embedding the film’s narrative into its product experience, Barista is aiming to drive footfall, especially among younger audiences who increasingly seek experiential touchpoints over traditional advertising.
Barista Coffee Company CEO Rajat Agrawal described the partnership as both a branding and growth play, focused on expanding reach beyond the existing customer base and aligning with evolving consumer preferences.
The emphasis on a seasonal, flavour-led hook mango, one of India’s most culturally resonant ingredients adds a timely layer to the campaign, aligning with summer consumption trends while riding on the film’s promotional momentum.
For Barista, the move is part of a larger positioning shift. Rather than operating purely as a coffee retail chain, the brand is increasingly framing itself as a lifestyle destination, one that intersects with entertainment, conversation and shared experiences. By integrating cinema into its physical spaces, Barista is effectively turning cafés into micro-extensions of the film’s universe, where consumers do not just watch a story unfold but participate in it sip by sip.
The 20 per cent offer further nudges trial, lowering the barrier for consumers to engage with the themed menu while amplifying recall through a tangible incentive.
Brand-film collaborations are hardly new, but their execution is evolving. Where earlier partnerships relied on co-branded ads or product placements, the current playbook leans towards immersive storytelling and retail integration.
In that sense, Barista’s “Main Hoon Mango” push is less about promotion and more about participation inviting consumers to experience a slice of the film within a familiar, everyday setting. As the film industry continues to act as a cultural amplifier, such partnerships underline a growing truth, in today’s attention economy, it is not enough to be seen brands must be experienced.
And if that experience comes with a mango twist and a cinematic backdrop, all the better.
