MAM
Cleartrip makes slew of executive appointments amid 2022 growth plans
Mumbai: Online travel company Cleartrip on Monday announced a series of senior appointments to spearhead the company’s aggressive growth plans and focus on the execution of strategic priorities for 2022. The appointments include the heads of strategy, hotels & accommodation, flights, corporate communications, and B2B.
The hiring encompasses redefining the organisational culture and strengthening values in line with the growth plans, the travel company said in a statement. “With these appointments, the company is gearing us for its next phase of growth across its business verticals and further plans to ramp up its employee strength by 60 per cent by the end of the year,” it added.
Gaurav Patwari has been named VP – air category. He will use his 16 years of rich experience in the travel and aviation industry to help further build Cleartrip’s air travel vertical. He will be responsible for meeting the air business’s P&L targets while also developing a multi-year strategy for the company’s evolution and expansion. Patwari was most recently associated with GoFirst.
Karthick Prabhu D, the newly appointed Cleartrip head of strategy, has been a part of the travel tech industry for over 17 years with various travel brands such as Treebo hotels, Sabre, IDS Next, to name a few. As a product management leader, he has helped launch products that solve customer pain points, boost revenue, introduced an industry-first product as a tablet-based property management system, and got one of the apps featured in the ‘Best In India’ category in the Apple Appstore and Google Play Store.
Flipkart veteran Manu Sasidharan who has taken over as senior director – hotels and accommodation was the business head of Myntra’s men’s fashion segment prior to joining Cleartrip. He has worked with companies such as General Motors India and Bajaj Auto. He intends to use his diverse expertise to structurally rebuild and relaunch the hotels and accommodation category, with a strong emphasis on greater customer experience.
Divya Kumar has been appointed as director of public relations. In her new role, she will focus on building and spearheading the development, advancement and execution of the company’s corporate communications strategy. She was previously leading the public relations and sustainability mandate at AirAsia India. Before joining the field of corporate communications, Kumar started her career at NDTV Hindu, in the news & events department. Throughout her career spanning over 11 years, she has worked closely with the senior leadership team as a strategic advisor providing in-depth expertise in change management, crisis response, maneuvering corporate and consumer crises.
A Cleartrip veteran with over 21 years of experience, Sukesh Shetty has been roped in to head the B2B and API business, with a focus to bring automation and growth in the online B2B travel experiences. In his previous stint, Shetty was the co-founder of Tripsforbusiness, a B2B focused travel tech platform involved in building a content-rich, metasearch and book travel product for B2B customers. His journey resumes with the purpose of contributing to the success of the B2B business at Cleartrip.
“Cleartrip is at a pivotal point in its growth trajectory, and we seek to excel in every area we operate in,” commented Cleartrip CEO Ayyappan Rajagopal. “Building the right leadership team across verticals is crucial as senior leaders serve as catalysts in exponentially accelerating our overall growth. The new leadership team and I have a clear vision to take the Cleartrip brand forward.”
MAM
Lessons from global media markets on building enduring content franchises
Rose Audio Visuals COO and CFO Mitesh Patel.
MUMBAI: The global media landscape has undergone a fundamental shift. Success today is no longer defined by a single hit show. It is defined by the ability to build intellectual property (IP) that travels, evolves, and compounds over time.
At Rose Audio Visuals, this shift is central to how we think about content pitching and creation. We are no longer in the business of just making shows. We are in the business of building IP ecosystems.
From Hits to Franchises
Globally, the most successful content is designed to extend beyond its first outing. It travels across: Seasons, Platforms (TV → OTT → Digital), Formats (series → spin-offs) Shows like Stranger Things and Money Heist are not just successful series they are multi-layered franchises with global recall, fan engagement, and long-term monetisation. The key learning is simple: If content cannot scale beyond one season or one platform, it remains a project not a franchise.
Local Stories, Global Impact
One of the most powerful global trends is the rise of culturally rooted storytelling. Platforms today reward local authenticity combined with universal emotion. Stories that are deeply regional are no longer limited by geography they are amplified by it. Consider the global impact of Squid Game or India’s own Sacred Games. The takeaway is clear: The more authentic the story, the greater its potential to travel if the emotion resonates universally.
Monetisation Begins After the First Window
A critical global learning is that the true value of content is not realised at launch, it is realised over time.
Strong franchises unlock multiple revenue streams: Licensing, International remakes, Brand integrations, Digital extensions , Events and immersive experiences
Global players like The Walt Disney Company have mastered this approach, turning content into long-term ecosystems that extend far beyond the screen.
The first window is just the beginning. The real value lies in what follows.
At Rose Audio Visuals, we increasingly evaluate projects not just on commissioning value, but on their long-term franchise potential.
The Rise of Creator-Led Franchises
An important global shift is the emergence of creator-led IP ecosystems.
Creators today are not just content producers they are building full-scale franchises across platforms, formats, and businesses.
A powerful example is MrBeast. What started as YouTube videos has evolved into: Multiple content formats, Global audience scale , Brand extensions and businesses, High-impact experiential content This is a fundamentally different model digital-first, audience-owned, and infinitely scalable.
This model is still in its early stages in Indian but it represents a massive opportunity.
The next wave of Indian content franchises may not come from traditional studios alone but from creators who think like media companies.
Balancing Data with Creative Instinct
Streaming platforms today are deeply data-driven. Data helps Identify emerging genres, Predict audience behaviour , Inform commissioning decisions However, global experience shows that data alone does not create hits. Data informs scale, but storytelling creates impact.
Talent is the Foundation of Franchises
Enduring franchises are rarely accidental they are built through long-term creative partnerships. Globally, there is a clear focus on nurturing Actors, Writter, Show runner and director. Franchises are not built on scripts alone they are built on creators. This is an area where we continue to invest deeply building long-term relationships with talent rather than project-based collaborations.
Multi-Platform Thinking from Day One
Content consumption today is inherently multi-platform. A successful show must be designed not just for its primary platform, but for: Short-form extensions, Social media amplification, Digital-first engagement. Every show today needs a second life beyond its original format.
India: A Market at an Inflection Point
India today stands at a unique moment in its content journey.
We are seeing significant opportunity in Regional markets (Telugu, Tamil, Marathi and others) Emerging formats such as micro-dramas, Scalable, franchise-driven fiction IP
India does not lack stories. What we have historically lacked is structured franchise thinking something that is now beginning to evolve.
The Way Forward
The biggest lesson from global markets is this: The future belongs to companies that do not chase hits, but systematically build franchises. Because while hits may deliver immediate success, franchises create long-term value, recall, and compounding growth.
At Rose Audio Visuals, this belief shapes how we develop, greenlight, and scale content across platforms.
For content companies today, the question is no longer “Will this show work?” It is: “Can this become a franchise?”
A Personal Note
Having worked across content, business, and strategy, one thing has become increasingly clear to me, the most valuable companies in our industry will not be those that create the most content, but those that create content that endures.
Building a franchise requires patience, conviction, and a long-term lens something that the industry is only now beginning to fully embrace.As we continue this journey at Rose Audio Visuals, our focus remains simple: to move from volume-driven creation to value-driven storytelling. Because in the end, stories may start conversations but franchises build legacies.
