MAM
WATConsult partners with MindPeers to ensure mental well-being of employees
MUMBAI: Focusing on the mental well-being of employees is the need of the hour. Considering this as its highest priority, WATConsult has partnered with MindPeers a holistic science-based mental health tech platform. The brand is known to extend qualitative, affordable and measurable mental wellness services to organisations. Utilising these services, the agency aims to provide personalised solutions, mindful consultancy, and support to its team.
Along with imposing some unforeseen challenges, the current Covid2019 outbreak has indeed accelerated mental health crisis across the globe. As India witnesses a considerable surge in such cases every month, there seems to be a dire need for organisations to take up the cause at priority. Uncertainty, lack of facts, unawareness and stigma are the few causes that lead to a consistent increase in stress amongst employees. Unfortunately, mental ill-health is speculated to be the ‘next wave’ of the pandemic. Therefore, WATConsult not only aims to initiate this tie-up for a specific time but also, intends to let its employees use these services till the end of this year.
Speaking on the association, WATConsult CEO Heeru Dingra said, “This global pandemic has created a three-fold crisis – health, economic and psychological, leaving people around the world anxious and fearful. Thus, to function at the best of their capacity, it is quite necessary to keep up the spirit, both mentally and physically. Though people need to be assured about their jobs and a healthy living environment, they also essentially require a way to adopt a positive mindset amidst this chaos. This association is a step toward that direction.”
MindPeers.co founder Kanika Agarwal added, “We believe that workplaces making mental wellness of their employees a priority is the ‘new normal’ and is here to stay forever. MindPeers is a recently launched platform providing qualitative, affordable, and measurable mental wellbeing services including therapies for consumers and organizations. In the last two months, our business has grown by about 146 per cent with a lot of corporates and organisations reaching out to us for our tech-based Employee Assistance Program. Our partnership with WATConsult is quite refreshing and a unique one. As a mental well-being service provider, we certainly need more such organisations like WATConsult who are progressive and are not shying away from accepting the new normal in the literal sense. There is no better way to support your employees than accepting their overall wellness and becoming a part to improve it every day.”
Since the start of the lockdown, the agency has been conducting regular motivational talks in tandem with other informative sessions every week. Every Wednesday is dedicated to mindfulness wherein doctors or experts from the industry share ideas, experiences and conduct workshops around mental well-being. To name a few, they have hosted sessions by Dr Aditi Govitrikar, a well-known wellness expert and counselor, who addressed the employees on keeping a positive perception during the current crisis. Aarti Asrani, a consciousness coach, a bestselling author, psychotherapist and a TED speaker, guided WATizens to lead a healthier and a happier life naturally; and Anaida Parvaneh, an Indian performer, director, producer, playback singer turned chef and healer, conducted a meditation session for all.
This partnership with MindPeers enables the agency to further allow its employees to seek professional help by booking one-on-one sessions with specialists. These sessions will be conducted twice a week and will adhere to the privacy protocols set between the counselor and the employee.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
