MAM
Aspiring Minds appoints Havas Media as AoR
MUMBAI: After awarding its creative mandate to abm Communication earlier this week, employability solutions company Aspiring Minds has decided to go with Havas Media as its media agency on record.
Industry estimates peg the size of the account at Rs 200 million.
Aspiring Minds co-founder and chief executive officer Himanshu Aggarwal said, “We believe Havas Media, with their media skills and cross sector knowledge, passion for people and understanding of our customer both student and corporate, will be the right partners to help achieve our objectives in the marketplace in the long term.”
“The best students today need direction even after their degree in choosing the industry suited to their success and the employer needs his fit. Aspiring Minds has positioned itself strongly in the recruitment space and in getting jobseekers a job on merit. They are very activity focused and research based; and so are we, we look forward to working on this account,” said Anita Nayyar, Chief Executive Officer, Havas Media Group, India and South Asia.
Havas Media managing director Mohit Joshi said, “Education and employment fit is the need of the hour for India. Our mix of media and digital expertise in reaching a younger audience across India will certainly bring in the momentum. The team is smart, young and open to ideas so it will be an interesting association.”
With a management team from MIT, the IITs and IIMs, Aspiring Minds has enabled leading brands to improve the quality of talent they hire via the flagship employability assessment product named AMCAT. Adapted to meet requirements across sectors, candidates can seek a desired job and get feedback of their areas of strength and weakness with an analysis on their core skills and necessary improvement areas.
Brands
Kingfisher signs three-year IPL partnership
Packaged water brand signs on as ‘good times partner’ for 2026–28 cycle
MUMBAI: Kingfisher Premium Packaged Drinking Water is betting big on cricket’s biggest stage, sealing a three-year partnership with the Board of Control for Cricket in India to sharpen fan engagement at the TATA Indian Premier League.
The brand, owned by United Breweries, will serve as the official “good times partner” for the men’s IPL from 2026 to 2028, extending a relationship that began with the Women’s Premier League. The move signals a broader push to embed itself deeper into live sport, with a focus on immersive, consumer-led experiences rather than conventional sponsorship visibility.
At the heart of the tie-up is a suite of fan-first activations spanning broadcast, stadiums and digital channels. These include the “Kingfisher Bird Cam”, offering a branded spider-cam perspective during live matches, and the “Good Times Zone”, an in-stadium entertainment hub during play-offs aimed at amplifying match-day buzz. The brand will also back IPL fan parks, elevate public screening experiences and run digital contests tied to key moments through the season.
Vikram Bahl, chief marketing officer, United Breweries, said cricket in India “is more than a sport, it is a shared cultural moment”, adding that the IPL brings that energy alive at scale. “For Kingfisher Premium Packaged Drinking Water, being present at the heart of these moments, in partnership with the BCCI, is a natural extension of what we stand for. Through this association, we aim to enrich how fans experience the game… making every match more immersive, social and memorable,” Bahl said.
Devajit Saikia, honorary secretary, BCCI, said the IPL “has always been at the forefront of redefining sports entertainment and fan engagement”. He added that the collaboration would fuse cricket fandom with “innovative fan experiences that extend beyond the stadium”, helping create memorable moments for audiences nationwide.
For United Breweries, part of the HEINEKEN group, the play is clear: move from passive branding to active participation in the fan journey—on screens, in stands and across social spaces. With millions tuning in and turning up each season, the IPL remains the country’s most potent marketing theatre. The question now is whether “good times” can translate into lasting brand recall in a market where visibility is easy, but engagement is hard-won.
