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Brand-time-performance wins the day as Warc unveil ‘Pace Principles’
MUMBAI: Speed met substance on day two of Goafest 2025 as Warc unveiled findings from the ‘Pace Principles’ report—a pioneering marketing effectiveness study rooted in Asian data. Amid the sun, strategy, and scribbles at Taj Cidade de Goa, two marketing heavyweights cut through the jargon to drive home a single truth: performance and branding aren’t rivals, they’re running mates.
Sujeet Kulkarni – Global Advisory Consultant, Lions Advisory opened the session by underscoring that Warc’s insights are backed by the creative might of the Lions ecosystem. He dismissed the longstanding divide between brand-building and performance marketing. “Measuring brand and performance separately is a false premise”, he said. Instead, he urged marketers to view it through the lens of ‘brand-time-performance’, emphasising the role of time in cementing long-term success.
According to Kulkarni, the sweet spot lies in marketing across six-and-a-half channels—a curious yet data-driven benchmark for campaign momentum. He stressed that marketers must “use time as an ally” to stay committed to sustained brand narratives.
Warc India editor Biprorshee Das brought regional nuance into focus. He argued that speed has been wrongly cast as the enemy of brand investment. Citing Asian campaigns, he showed that a 50:50 split between conversion-focused and brand-building strategies yields the highest effectiveness. Das cautioned against treating long-term branding as a siloed initiative. Instead, he championed the “multiply effect”—a marketing phenomenon where cross-channel, time-sensitive integration drives better returns.
The session didn’t shy away from bigger truths either. “Culture is not just about geography—it’s about the values we share”, Kulkarni concluded, suggesting that culturally relevant brands don’t just survive—they scale.
The findings mark a turning point for marketers in Asia, urging a rethink on how success is measured—not just by short-term spikes, but by long-haul gains. With campaign tracking recommended beyond active periods, the call for better measurement frameworks grew louder through the day.
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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.
