MAM
David Mayo is bates Asia CEO
MUMBAI: David Mayo will take over as bates Asia CEO later this month. This was announced by the agency network‘s chairman in Asia Tim Isaac, who retires by the end of October.
Mayo‘s stint in Asia started in 1994 as he came from London to join bates in Hong Kong. He was then hired by Isaac to join Ogilvy & Mather in 1997 to run Guinness, among other regional business. He has been instrumental in founding creative boutique, RedCard and after 2005 went on to hold several key senior roles at Ogilvy, including Ogilvy & Mather Advertising president and later as of Ogilvy & Mather ASEAN president.
Isaac said, “David is one of Asia‘s most experienced and creative agency leaders with a very strong track record in building brands and driving creativity. He is a born entrepreneur and has put many of our clients‘ brands firmly ahead of their competitors. He is the right person to build on the good work and the platform that has been established and to take bates to the next level in its long history in Asia.”
Mayo‘s track record with clients in Asia such as Guinness, Nike, Gillette, The Economist, Motorola, Coke and Diageo will bring added impetus to Bates as the agency model changes in Asia. His brief will be to galvanize the agency leadership, develop the bates brand and establish a new network model.
When I originally came to Asia in 1994, it was to work at bates, said Mayo. “It has a very strong track record as a maverick and creative brand in Asia and it has a unique place in a region of the world where more and more clients are asking for the bespoke and the personal. We will take bates to the next level. I am returning to take this heritage and fashion a fresh new agency offer for ambitious brand owners across the region.”
Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific chairman Paul Health said, “David‘s verve, energy and drive will be the perfect tonic for bates. David has done a brilliant job at Ogilvy across the region for more than a decade. I will miss him personally but am delighted he remains part of the broader family.”
Bates‘ major clients in Asia include HSBC, Shanghai General Motors, Diageo, Philip Morris, Cheong Kong, Colgate, Castrol, P&G, Disney, Nokia, Singapore Government, Marico, Kraft and Yum Restaurants. They have 12 offices in Taiwan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Vietnam, KL, Singapore, Manila, Jakarta, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi.
Digital
Galleri5 launches India’s first AI cinema OS at India AI Summit
Collective Artists Network unveils end-to-end production platform powering Mahabharat series and Hanuman teaser.
MUMBAI: India’s cinema just got an AI operating system upgrade because why settle for tools when you can have a full production command centre? Collective Artists Network and Galleri5 today unveiled Galleri5 AI Studio at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, billing it as the country’s first cinema-native production technology platform. Launched on 20 February 2026, the system acts as an end-to-end orchestration layer for film and television, integrating generative AI, LoRA-driven character architecture, controlled shot pipelines, 3D/VFX tools, lip-sync, upscaling, quality control, and delivery, all tuned for theatrical and broadcast standards.
Unlike piecemeal AI tools, Galleri5 controls the entire stack from script and world-building to final master output. Filmmakers retain creative authorship, continuity, and IP security while slashing timelines from years to months.
The platform is already in live use at scale. Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh, an AI-powered series produced under Collective’s Historyverse banner, is airing on Star Plus and streaming on JioHotstar, ranking among the top-watched shows in its slot. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal (produced by Star Studios 18) dropped its teaser on IMAX screens, leveraging Galleri5’s infrastructure for the visuals.
Collective Artists Network founder and group CEO Vijay Subramaniam said, “For India to lead in the next era of storytelling, we have to think beyond tools and start building systems. This is about putting durable production infrastructure in place so creators can dream bigger, producers can execute faster, and our stories can travel further.”
Galleri5 partner at Collective and CEO Rahul Regulapati added, “Cinema requires precision, repeatability, and control. Off-the-shelf AI doesn’t solve that. Orchestration does. We built an operating system where technology bends to filmmaking, not the other way around.”
Under Historyverse, Collective Studios is developing a slate including Hanuman, Krishna, Shiva, and Shivaji blending advanced AI systems with traditional craft. The summit session featured directors from Hanuman, Krishna, and Shiva alongside Collective leaders, diving into real-world case studies: what delivers on screen, what glitches, and how production economics are shifting.
At a summit packed with global tech brass and policymakers, Galleri5 stakes a bold claim, cinema’s future belongs to integrated systems, not isolated gadgets and India is building one right now. Whether you’re a filmmaker eyeing faster workflows or just curious about AI remaking epics, this OS could be the script-flip the industry didn’t see coming.
