MAM
Supermoon once again! Public demand gets Russell Peters back to India
MUMBAI: It seems the mother ship India cannot get enough of its dear ol' boy 'Russell' and nor can he stay too away for too long from screaming 'desi' fans here. Comedy superstar Russell Peters is coming back to perform in India this October as part of a return leg of his smash hit 'Deported World Tour'.
The occasion is unprecedented in many ways as Peters was in India just in June 2019, raking in the LOLs at sellout shows in the first edition of Zee Live’s Supermoon. The three events, in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai set such attendance records, the forces have rejoined to make an encore happen, but in three wholly different cities.
Recently announced as one of the '50 Best Comics of All Time' by Rolling Stone, the Emmy®, Gemini® and Peabody® award winning Indo-Canadian superstar will perhaps by on the last leg of his 'Deported World Tour'. In this phase II of Supermoon, he will perform in Pune on 1st October 2019, Ahmedabad on 4th October 2019 and in Hyderabad on 6th October 2019.
Sharing his excitement for making 2019 a double whammy for India, Peters said, "Our India leg earlier this year was 'sold out' but I could sense from the sheer response that a lot more people could lap it up once more. I've always loved performing in India – the audiences here have some crazy enthusiasm and energy – and this time they'd be from cities I haven't performed in."
The 'Deported World Tour' started in February 2018 in Perth, Australia and has been seen by over 300,000 fans in 40 cities across 20 countries. Listed on Forbes as one of the top ten Highest Earning Comics in the U.S. since 2009, Peters has spent the last 29 years building a career to become one of the biggest comics in the world. Thanks to YouTube and his global following, Peters has sold-out arenas from Madison Square Garden to the Sydney Opera House. Peters has also performed for the troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and on the USS Eisenhower and the HMCS Winnipeg, and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Lopez Tonight, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and on HBO, CNN, MTV, BBC, Showtime and Comedy Central. Peters 2010 memoir, Call Me Russell was a Globe and Mail number one bestseller in Canada.
Swaroop Banerjee, COO, Zee Live, said: “Supermoon is our flagship IP for Comic and Music talents. The idea was to promote 'larger than life' acts in these genres. The first edition of the 'Deported World Tour' gave us 4 soldout arena shows in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai with millions engaging with us on our social universe. Russell has a pulse globally that connects with everyone, closer home, let me tell you, the energy of close to 20,000 audiences was absolutely phenomenal coupled with the brands that engaged with us simply made the decision easier.
We approached Russell for a second edition in 3 new markets and he obliged. Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad will experience the Supermoon ft. Russell Peters Deported World tour early October and as an organization it gives us immense joy when our audiences engage in this manner. Under brand Supermoon we will continue to deliver our promise of truly larger than life acts in the coming season. I am grateful to Russell and Clayton for making this work, we have found true partners in Oranjuice Entertainment who closely work with us for our international formats.”
VG Jairam, Co-Founder. Fountainhead Mktg & Oranjuice Entertainment, said, “Oranjuice Entertainment is proud to partner with Zee Live to bring the best of international live entertainment talent for Indian markets. We are extremely pleased to see the positive response the first edition of Supermoon received, and all of us here are immensely excited for its phase II! Our collective effort is to deliver best of international and local live entertainment across markets in India thus creating a touring ecosystem and create value for the consumer and brand partners”
It's not every year that this 'Supermoon' comes twice! If you love observational comedy and have the appetite to laugh for a couple hours straight, don't miss Russell Peters in your city, book your tickets on Paytm Insider: https://insider.in/russell-peters-deported-world-india-tour/article
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
