MAM
BlackCab agency network’s artful campaign for Avartana’s culinary marvels
Mumbai: BlackCab, a leading force in content production and social media strategy, has successfully curated a groundbreaking campaign for the launch of Avartana, ITC Maratha’s latest culinary venture in Mumbai. Avartana represents an exclusive blend of traditional and progressive renditions of southern Indian cuisine, rooted in the gravitas of the unique tastes, aromas, and flavours of southern Indian spices.
The BlackCab team collaborated closely with ITC Maratha for the launch of Avartana, a renowned restaurant already established in other cities and now expanding its presence in Mumbai. Their partnership focused on two key areas: content production and social media strategy. The content production team carefully planned how they would create content for Avartana’s first appearance in Mumbai, considering the best way to approach the project and what they wanted to convey, ensuring a captivating launch.
BlackCab leveraged its network agency model using its specialised short-form content studio Secret Sauce Studios to produce the content for the Avartana launch. The project saw them capture an array of photos and videos together with architectural shots that emphasize the restaurant’s beauty. The project focused on bringing out and articulating the thought and inspiration behind Avartana’s five different multi-course menus. The BlackCab team spent time with the chefs to understand why the ingredients play such a vital role in the dining experience at Avartana. Following this, the team crafted a content strategy that would bring the space to life.
A workshop was conducted with the chefs and Secret Sauce Studios co-founder Alok Verma, to help learn the nuances behind the menu and bring out storytelling in the direction of the videos and each of the photographs clicked. The storytelling prowess of BlackCab continues to radiate, creating a unique experience by unfolding captivating narratives and stories across various platforms and leaving a lasting impression on the audience. This campaign for ITC Maratha represents BlackCab’s superior understanding of a discerning audience. BlackCab hopes to tap into the audience through the content and strategy created for Avartana.
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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.
