MAM
Danka Baja Re Sets the Beat as SG Pipers Rally Behind One Team Spirit
MUMBAI:When the drums roll, egos take a back seat. SG Pipers has struck a confident new note with “Danka Baja Re”, its official campaign film for the season, using rhythm, movement and sharp visuals to cement a unified team identity ahead of the tournaments.
The music-driven film brings together players, coaches and support staff under a single creative banner, signalling a shift towards collective storytelling for the franchise. The campaign debuts with the women’s team, in line with the Women’s Tournament kicking off first, and will be followed by a dedicated version featuring the men’s squad.
Structured tightly around the song’s tempo and lyrics, the film blends individual player introductions, on-field hockey skills and bold group shots. Rather than spotlighting a few stars, the narrative ensures every player is visible, reinforcing the idea that SG Pipers’ strength lies in its depth and cohesion.
The campaign was shaped with active inputs from SG Pipers captain Navneet Kaur aligning with the broader vision of APL Apollo Tubes Ltd, chairman and managing director Sanjay Gupta to showcase players as individuals while keeping the team at the core.
Speaking about the film, Navneet Kaur said the process itself mirrored the team’s unity. Every player’s role, movement and skill shot was collectively planned, making the final output as enjoyable to create as it was to watch. She also underlined the importance of visibility for women’s hockey, calling it a necessary step towards sustained support for the sport.
Head coach Sofie Gierts described the film as a pleasant surprise, noting that it captured a diverse group of women living their sporting dreams with confidence and mutual support. According to her, the campaign’s strength lies in how clearly it reflects teamwork, both on and off the pitch.
Beyond the launch film, Danka Baja Re is part of a wider SG Pipers strategy to deepen fan engagement through authentic storytelling. The franchise plans to roll out individual player profiles that explore personal journeys, ambitions and lives beyond hockey, extending the narrative beyond match days.
Shot across training sessions and competitive moments, the film closes on a strong visual of unity and shared ambition. With Danka Baja Re, SG Pipers isn’t just making noise for the season, it’s setting the rhythm for how modern hockey teams connect with fans.
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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.
