MAM
Barilla partners with chef Ranveer Brar to explore the pasta universe in India
MUMBAI: Choosing Chef Ranveer Brar to be Barilla’s partner in India was not by chance for the No.1 pasta brand in the world and a world leader of ready-to-use sauces. Being recognised worldwide as a symbol of quality and tradition with credibility, among the Italians and all pasta lovers, it was clear to Barilla indisputably that Chef Ranveer mirrors the same principles in India. With his sheer talent and charisma, Chef Ranveer is sure to bridge the food gap between India and Italy, two countries with an amazing food culture.
Chef Ranveer’s association with Barilla comes with a view to strengthen the pasta culture in India and share precious tips for cooking up perfect pasta meals. He aims to co-promote the notion: Italian gastronomy, the power of emotional moments, happiness and celebration around the table, which is the core belief of Barilla, a family now in its fourth generation and one that stands for supreme quality and innovation standards since 1877.
The videos of the campaign, which will run on YouTube and Facebook are inspired by the typical dilemmas faced by consumers when they cook pasta; right from the basics of pasta cooking to pasta as a healthy meal for families. The aim is to share educative and gastronomic content, to enable consumers to experience new culinary adventures.
Speaking on his exciting partnership with Barilla as its first Indian brand ambassador, Chef Ranveer Brar said, “Italian food has always been extremely close to my heart, right from the time when I trained under Antonio Carluccio, to open the Italian restaurant ‘Il Camino’ in Goa. Barilla has always been the gold standard when it comes to Italian ingredients. I’m extremely happy to work with Barilla in making the goodness of pasta reach every Indian household.”
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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.
