MAM
Day 1 at Goafest 2018 sees Baba Ramdev make major announcements
GOA: They say the advertising sector is for hardcore creative people and by working round the clock all year, one needs an escape from it now and then. Goafest is one such adverting event that brings together all the creative minds in the industry to celebrate, sit back and enjoy three days in the beaches of Baga!
The 13th edition of Goafest hosted by The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) in association with The Advertising Club commenced yesterday.
Captains of the industry MK Anand, Vikram Tanna, Nakul Chopra, Vikram Sakhuja, Ashish Bhasin, Ajay Kakkar and Jaideep Gandhi lit the ceremonial light.
Pepperfry CMO and head of new business Kashyap Vadapalli began the session by speaking about the brand’s own growth story. The company wanted to promote Indian artisans and craftsmen and build honesty and transparency in the company. Today, Pepperfry has streamlined its business, and taken supply, mixed with technology, to the Indian consuming class. “We worked towards standardising the entire category. Since we were very close to manufacturers, it helped us bring value to the Indian consumer,” said Vadapalli.
He mentioned that Pepperfry has launched 10 house brands that contribute to 50 per cent of their business, 27 studios across 15 cities in the country and is planning to launch 12 more. The key learning from Kashyap’s session was to constantly evolve and listen to the consumers and their needs.
Next up, was a man who came swathed in a saffron loincloth, a.k.a Baba Ramdev – the mind behind India’s largest swadeshi (domestic) FMCG brand Patanjali. After starting classic style with a gayatri mantra, he dived deep, full Hindi, into how everything, from knowledge, emotions, actions, expertise, experience, skills, innovation, research, resource, and even waste converts to wealth.
Even though he had humble beginnings from an agriculture background, he was never scared to dream of a prosperous country, even for the poor, and the biggest financial powerhouse. “I only had one question: What can I do about this country? From farming to retailing, I haven’t studied anything, but the world is enough to teach me lessons. When you come face to face with reality, it teaches you lessons no conventional course can teach,” said Ramdev.
An avid rebellion of MNCs that he is, Ramdev mentioned that he made Patanjali a Rs 500 crore brand without any major investment in advertising as opposed to MNCs who believe in creating a fairy tale picture while selling every product. He said, “We don’t believe in having glamourous ads as we want our products to speak for themselves and only highlight the product’s benefits or ingredients.” He also announced that with the growing profit rate of Patanjali, the company will double its turnover in 2019.
Peppered with laughter, yoga, life lessons, jokes and harsh doses of reality, he shared the essence of his being: Jo karo, usko pura karo, 100 per cent daalo apna. Usko beech me mat choro, which translates to – Whatever you do, do it whole-heartedly. Give your 100 per cent and don’t leave anything mid-way. He also stressed that companies should not focus on cost cutting as it leads to delivering poor quality products which will result in a great fall for the company sooner or later. Companies also need to have an open mind about implementing newer technologies into their systems since the world is going digital and technological advancement is the need of the hour today.
While he encouraged everyone to take risks, he also said, “Whatever you do, do it without ego. Give it all. There is nothing called destiny.” Without any inhibitions, he also added that while some people depended on hard work, some relied on destiny and some believed in cheating. “I believe in universal justice. If you cheat, you might grow for 10 years tops. What will you do after that? Same is the rule for destiny. Work on your work; not on Gods.”
During his session, Ramdev also publicly announced that Patanjali will venture into selling liquid milk and other dairy products by next year. He also confidently declared that the company will also launch kids-wear, activewear, accessories and fashion clothing for men and women by 2021. He concluded his session by publicly announcing that Patanjali will also launch its own mineral water very soon and the company has already started work in that area.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
