MAM
Air Deccan shoots longest TVC of a common man’s first flight
BANGALORE: Air Deccan in its quest to demystify air travel in the country by offering lowest airfares and connecting unconnected cities, has now filmed the story of a common Indian who embarks on the very first flight of his life.
Air Deccan’s vision is to ’empower every Indian to fly’ and keeping this in mind, Air Deccan had launched RK Laxman’s ‘Common Man’ as its brand ambassador some time ago.
The film called The Old man and the Sky is meant to mirror the emotions of millions of Indians who can now fly at Re 1 (plus airport taxes Rs 221). The film is meant to touch the common man and leaves a lasting impression on everyone who views it.
The main character in the film has been played by National Film award winner Murali, reputed in the South Indian Film Industry.
With a length of 150 seconds, it is the longest TV commercial ever to be telecast in the history of Indian advertising, claims Air Deccan. The film has been directed by Manoj Pillai of Thinkpot, Bangalore and has been created by the Orchard Advertising.
The ad film will be telecast from 7 – 10 July on various channels like MTV (6.30 pm), Star News (7.40 pm), Sab TV (7.40 pm), Max (8.15 pm), National Geographic (8.30 pm), Star One (10.40 pm), AXN (11.05 pm) and on leading channels between the 17 and 30 July.
Trailers on the Internet, posters, eDMs, SMS and MMS campaigns and a contest are part of the effort.
Contest forms can be downloaded from www.indiatimes.com, which is the Internet partner for the contest and they are also available at all Air Deccan counters at the airports. The contest prize is 250 return tickets on any Air Deccan sector for fathers.
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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.
