MAM
Isobar Launches In-housing Solution
India: Isobar, a global digital agency, has launched an in-housing solution to help businesses remodel their marketing approach on their digital transformation journeys. Isobar’s In-housing solution, ‘Accelerate’ specifically enables clients to fast track their in-house capabilities, offering them a partnership that can quickly respond to business challenges and deliver custom solutions routed in a business’s insights and culture.
This in-housing solution will leverage Isobar’s strategic, technology and creative expertise to jump-start and accelerate client’s in-housing solutions. It will utilise the expertise of Isobar with the convenience of a specialist team deployed on site at a client’s office. The solution has been developed to provide clients with more control, transparency and visibility into their transformation journey, whilst connecting to the power of Isobar’s global network and creative, technology and innovation expertise.
This in-housing solution utilises Isobar’s capabilities across Marketing, Commerce, Products & Service Design and Consultancy offerings to meet a range of client in-housing needs. Isobar has demonstrated the delivery of in-housing projects across global markets, including global airline trade association IATA, in Switzerland and Gas & Oil company OK a.m.b.a., in Denmark.
The global solution will draw from existing resources across Isobar’s 6,500 strong network in Americas, EMEA and APAC, and includes Isobar’s global consultants and technologists.
This in-housing solution, ‘Accelerate’ offers four key services to help clients fast track their in-house capabilities –
Turnkey solutions to incubate and bootstrap in-house teams, drawing on Isobar’s award-winning experience, capabilities and credentials
Expert talent that can extend clients existing teams to help drive strategic initiatives within organisations
Consulting services on the processes, training and insights needed for clients to effectively in-house teams
Leveraging Isobar’s accelerators and products to enable businesses to increase velocity on clients in-housing their digital transformation journey
Sue McCusker, Global Chief Client Officer, Isobar, “With our in-housing solution, we offer the best of all worlds, with our teams providing leading, award-winning expertise in driving experience-led transformation powered by creativity, technology and data. The name ‘Accelerate’ reflects the integral role Isobar plays within a company during the marketing in-housing process and how it helps accelerate clients to better marketing efficiencies, transparency and control, to transform a businesses and brands.”
Prashant Mehta, Global Head of Delivery, Isobar, “This is an exciting development for us in delivering more strategic value for our clients, leveraging the fantastic talent and vertical experience we have across disciplines. We are truly proud of the impact that we have already created for our clients globally in their transformation journeys with our in-housing solutions and look forward to being a true partner for our clients.”
Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD, Isobar South Asia states,” At Isobar, we’ve done some great work that has not only been appreciated by clients has also been recognized in the industry. We have strategic conversations and sit at the table and bring more value and work closely with our clients as a partner and not just an agency. We are already working with clients in India to bring this to life. I’m positive with ‘Accelerate’; we will bring in the right momentum and expertise required towards clients who are looking at in-housing their digital transformation journey.”
Brands
73 million urban Indians overweight, just 4.99 per cent aware of GLP-1: Kantar report
South India leads in risk as treatment literacy struggles to keep pace
NATIONAL: Urban India is edging towards what researchers call a metabolic inflection point. Sedentary work, richer diets and stress-heavy lives are swelling the ranks of the overweight and diabetic, forcing a rethink of healthcare priorities.
Ahead of World Obesity Day, Kantar India released its GLP-1 Opportunity Index Report, mapping the scale of the crisis and probing awareness of GLP-1 therapies, a fast-rising class of drugs used globally to manage diabetes and cut weight.
The numbers are stark. Roughly 20 per cent, or 73 million, of urban Indians aged 15 and above are overweight or obese. An estimated 101 million Indians live with diabetes, while another 136 million hover at pre-diabetic risk. Urban prevalence stands at 14.2 per cent, far above rural India’s 8.3 per cent.
Yet treatment literacy lags. Although 85 per cent of overweight individuals say they are trying to lose weight, just 4.99 per cent of urban Indians are aware of GLP-1 therapies.
Where awareness exists, intent follows. Among diabetics who know of GLP-1 drugs, 49.2 per cent say they are likely to use them. Some 44.1 per cent favour weekly dosage formats, signalling appetite for convenience-led care.
The burden is not evenly spread. Gen X accounts for 40 per cent of the overweight base and 73 per cent of urban diabetes cases, making mid-life Indians the epicentre of the crisis. Affluent NCCS A households , 40 per cent of the urban population, represent 46 per cent of the overweight segment. Within this group, 36 per cent report having experienced diabetes in the past year.
Geography sharpens the divide. South India makes up 36 per cent of the overweight population and 43 per cent of urban diabetes cases. Kerala and Telangana lead in penetration, a pattern the report links to rapid urbanisation, sedentary jobs and lifestyle shifts.
Kantar director specialist businesses, South Asia Puneet Avasthi, called the obesity-diabetes spiral one of the decade’s most consequential healthcare turning points. The commercial opportunity for GLP-1 therapies, he said, is sizeable, but will hinge on education and speed.
Kantar associate vice president, specialist businesses, South Asia Soumajit Dey said the study quantifies the yawning gap between disease burden and treatment awareness, offering sharper cues for regional and demographic targeting.
The media prescription is equally pointed. Television, with 79 per cent reach among high-risk, mid-life audiences, should serve as the anchor medium, the report argues, backed by digital, print, radio and outdoor to push reach towards 95 per cent and sustain engagement.
As global fervour around next-generation metabolic drugs intensifies, India looks less like a late entrant and more like an under-informed giant. For pharma and healthcare brands, the window to define leadership in the GLP-1 race may be narrow and lucrative.
