MAM
Cannes Lions: 31 Indian entries shortlisted in Press category
MUMBAI: 31 entries from India have made it to the final shortlist in the Cannes Lions 2012 for the Press Category.
DDB Mudra Group has got maximum with 10 shortlisted entries, followed by Leo Burnett (eight entries), Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai (six), BBDO India (four), Publicis Communications (two) and BBH India Mumbai (one).
DDB Mudra Group Mumbai has two shortlisted entries for Geebees Beverages’ Coffee Gold for Great Fire of London and New York Blackout campaign in Non-Alcoholic Drinks sub-category, and three for Armenian Internet Shutdown, New York Blackout and Great Fire of London campaign for the same client in Art Direction sub-category. It also has two entries for Volkswagen’s VW Touareg for Tree and Deer campaign in Cars sub-category, while three entries are for Stedfast’s Shredders for Roswell, JFK, Elvis campaigns in Business Equipment and Services category.
Leo Burnett has eight shortlisted entries for Bajaj Electricals’ exhaust fans in three sub-categories – Photography, Art Direction, Home Appliances and Furnishings for its Fish, Socks, Eggs and Cigarette campaign.
O&M Mumbai has three shortlisted entries for Perfetti Van Melle India’s Mentos Sour Marbels for Nails, Barbed Wire and Electric Shock campaign in Sweet Foods and Snacks sub-category and three for Mattel Toys’ Hotwheels for Drawers, Sofas and Refrigerator campaign Entertainment and Leisure sub-category.
BBDO India Mumbai has two shortlisted entries for White Collar Hippies’ Corporate Campaign for AK-47 and Nuclear Reactor campaign in the Travel, Transport and Tourism sub-category and two for DHL’s Express for Box Triangle and Box Cuboid campaign in Business Equipment and Services sub-category.
Publicis Communications has two shortlisted entries for Bookstalk Audiobooks’ Audiobooks for William Shakespeare and Arthur Conan Doyle campaign in the Retail Stores sub-category.
BBH India Mumbai has one shortlisted entry for Hindustan Unilever’s Vaseline Petroleum Jelly for Vaseline Bat campaign in Cosmetics and Beauty sub-category.
AD Agencies
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.
