MAM
Dabur India entrusts Rajiv Dubey with expanded role as VP
Mumbai: Dabur India has entrusted Rajiv Dubey with an expanded role as vice president, where he will now lead brand activations and experiential marketing initiatives.
Alongside his continued leadership in media strategy and execution, Dubey will focus on creating immersive brand experiences that enhance Dabur’s connection with its customers.
He manages media spending across a wide range of platforms, including TV, digital, print, radio, outdoor, and both consumer and trade activations, ensuring optimal ROI and growth for the company’s diverse brand portfolio.
With over three decades at Dabur, Dubey has developed expertise across various roles, with core competencies in media planning and buying, digital transformation, mar-tech, and emerging media practices.
Since joining Dabur in 1994 as a media manager, Dubey played a key role in establishing Adbur, the company’s in-house agency, and in fostering partnerships with prominent broadcasters such as All India Radio, Doordarshan, Zee, and Star Network, as well as major newspapers like Times of India.
MAM
Kerala election ads surged in 2026, with print nearly tripling and TV up 52 per cent
Political parties spent bigger and smarter this cycle, concentrating their firepower in the final weeks before polling day
KERALA: Kerala’s politicians discovered something in 2026 that seasoned marketers have known for years: timing is everything, and when in doubt, spend more. Political advertising during the Kerala Assembly Elections 2026 surged sharply across traditional media compared to the 2021 cycle, with print and television leading the charge, according to the latest analysis by TAM AdEx.
Print was the standout performer, expanding nearly 2.7 times compared to 2021, a striking jump that underlines its continued grip on targeted political communication in a state with some of India’s highest newspaper readership. Television was not far behind, with ad insertions rising 52 per cent, reflecting the enduring appeal of mass-reach platforms for shaping voter sentiment at scale. Radio held steady, mirroring television trends and reinforcing its role as a reliable supporting medium.
The pattern of spending was as revealing as the volumes. More than 85 per cent of all political ad insertions were recorded in the weeks immediately before polling, a concentration that points to a deliberate, last-mile strategy. Ad volumes peaked during weeks four and five in both the 2021 and 2026 cycles, suggesting that parties have settled on a consistent playbook of high-frequency messaging in the home stretch.
The contrast between media types was equally instructive. Print advertising maintained a relatively even spread across the campaign period, serving as a vehicle for sustained, detailed communication. Television and radio, by contrast, displayed sharp spikes in the closing weeks, deployed as blunt instruments for high-impact bursts at the precise moment voters are making up their minds.
What the 2026 cycle signals most clearly is a shift toward more structured, data-driven media planning. The increase in overall volumes, combined with sharper peaks in campaign intensity, suggests that political advertisers are beginning to think less like propagandists and more like performance marketers, balancing broad reach with targeted engagement and watching the returns closely.
Kerala’s election advertising has, in short, grown up. The question for the next cycle is whether digital finally gate-crashes a party that print and television have so far kept firmly to themselves.
