MAM
boAt teams up with Marvel for the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ movie
Mumbai: boAt, an audio and wearable brand, is excited to announce a dynamic partnership with Marvel Entertainment for the movie “Deadpool & Wolverine.” To mark this collaboration, boAt has launched the exclusive Deadpool Edition Airdopes Alpha, available exclusively on Flipkart and the boAt website. This launch coincides with boAt’s innovative marketing campaign, “Go Crazy.” This exciting campaign taps into the movie’s hype and perfectly resonates with Deadpool’s outrageous personality.
The campaign kicks off with a playful twist as boAt’s co-founder and CMO, Aman Gupta, discovers his car vandalized by his own marketing team, inspired by his directive to “Go Crazy for the campaign.” This humorous incident sets the stage for a series of videos that showcase the campaign’s fun and quirky elements.
The campaign features three entertaining videos starring prominent personalities: Indian actor and producer Tusshar Kapoor, Tajikistani playback singer, boxer, and social media influencer Abdu Rozik, and Indian actor and producer Mukesh Rishi, renowned as Bulla. Each brings their unique style to unveil the Airdopes Alpha edition. Emulating Deadpool’s irreverent spirit, these videos break the fourth wall, injecting humour and a hint of madness into the narrative.
In the first video, Mukesh Rishi (Bulla) unboxes the Airdopes Alpha Deadpool edition in his characteristic rhyming style. The second video showcases Abdu Rozik boxing in the ring, competing for the coveted Airdopes Alpha. In the third video, Tusshar Kapoor promotes the limited edition Airdopes Alpha in his iconic character style. Each portrayal captures the essence of the Deadpool series Airdopes Alpha, adding an element of excitement and frenzy.
The campaign extends offline with contextual posters strategically placed along select Metro Lines of the DMRC metro. These posters, infused with Deadpool’s distinctive quirkiness, aim to entertain commuters and build anticipation around the product launch. One standout poster humorously reads, “Listening to gossip isn’t cool, but these Airdopes are.”
boAt co-founder & CMO Aman Gupta expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership: “We are thrilled to collaborate with Marvel’s ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ movie. This perfectly aligns with our brand’s commitment to creativity and innovation. We look forward to delivering a blend of humour and superior audio quality to our customers through this exciting campaign and product.”
The Deadpool Edition Airdopes Alpha will be exclusively available on Flipkart and the boAt website at a special price of Rs 999. This limited-edition product promises to resonate strongly with Deadpool fans, offering them a unique and immersive audio experience.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
