AD Agencies
Ad Club Bangalore makes a big bang with the Big Bang Awards 2024
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club Bangalore hosted the grand finale of its flagship event, the Big Bang Awards 2024, at Sunburn Union, Koramangala, honoring the finest in creativity, media, and digital marketing. The winners of the awards were:
* Creative Digital Agency of the Year: Mindshare India
* Design Agency of the Year: Freeflow Ideas
* Healthcare Agency of the Year: Artiligence Pvt Ltd
* Media Agency of the Year: Wavemaker India
* Client of the Year: Mondelez India Pvt Ltd
“Our digitally enabled judging process ensures complete transparency and allows us to invite experts nationwide to evaluate entries for innovation, creativity, and impact. We are deeply grateful to our exceptional jurors for their expertise and support, “said Big Bang Awards Committee chairperson Malavika R. Harita.
“This year, the Big Bang Awards attracted 600 entries from 58 agencies, representing 162 clients across 17 cities and seven states. The overwhelming response reflects the resilience, talent, and innovation of our dynamic industry. A heartfelt thanks to our partners and sponsors for making this event a grand success, ” The Advertising Club Bangalore President Laeeq Ali added.
The Advertising Club Bangalore unveiled its new brand identity, embracing a bold direction for the future. Mirash Chandran, winner of the “LogoJam” challenge, was honored on stage with a cash prize of Rs 50,000.
The evening kicked off with the inaugural Bang On Music Fest, where individuals and agencies showcased their creative talents through vibrant performances, adding an electrifying energy to the celebrations.
The event was supported by an extensive list of partners, including: Times Network, Snapchat, ABP News, Mobavenue (gold partners), Radio City (radio partner), Signpost India (outdoor partner), Kingfisher Ultra, Salud, Roulette, Maverick & Farmer, Fireball, L’angoor (beverage partners) and Tata Soulfull, Smoor, Plaeto, Artinci, Maverick & Farmer, MudCraft (gift partners).
AD Agencies
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.
