AD Agencies
Dentsu International merges The Story Lab with C’Lab in India
NEW DELHI: Dentsu International has announced the merger of its celebrity, influencer, and sports marketing division C’Lab with its global branded content division The Story Lab (TSL) in India. Deepak Kumar, erstwhile director C’Lab, will now lead the business in India as country head TSL.
The unification of these two agencies is aimed at simplifying clients’ needs in the content space and leverage TSL’s footprint and IPs across the globe. The merged entity will operate under the TSL brand and further strengthen its foundation in the country.
For the record, TSL is a global content specialist that inspires and delivers innovative content solutions. These solutions, in-turn, help in creating connect with audiences and thus, deliver value to clients and partners. Some of its popular IPs are Game of Clones, Ninja Warrior, No Sleep No FOMO, and a host of other exclusive IPs and branded content properties. C'Lab, meanwhile, specialises in creating tactical content in the space of sports and entertainment. In its last three years of operations in India, C’Lab has created some very effective campaigns with celebrities and influencers.
With the merger of these two entities, TSL will work with brands to innovate the art of storytelling. It will also introduce global learnings into the local market, infused with local understanding. The merged capability will help enhance the current offering and provide access to global IPs with local flavor.
Kumar said, “‘Content is king’ is an old adage but the relevance continues. Its significance, in fact, has increased manifold during the lockdown and further fueled with the advent of newer platforms. It’s an exciting and challenging time to be in this business wherein harnessing a brand’s interest and relevance to the consumer will be the key guiding force for us.”
dentsu COO India – media brands Haresh Nayak added, “As we enter an era of simplification, this move will only help clients achieve single-window content solutions. TSL will redefine content across multi-platforms and multi-devices, offering brands immersive experiences. Our global and local experiences will only help brands to get the best of both worlds.”
AD Agencies
Fevicol releases its last ad campaign by the late Piyush Pandey
The adhesive brand’s last campaign by the late advertising legend Piyush Pandey turns an everyday Indian obsession into a quietly powerful metaphor
MUMBAI: Fevicol has never needed much of a plot. A sticky bond, a wry observation, a truth that every Indian instantly recognises — that has always been enough. “Kursi Pe Nazar,” the brand’s latest television commercial, is no different. And yet it carries a weight that no previous Fevicol film has had to bear: it is the last one its creator, the advertising legend Piyush Pandey, will ever make.
The film, released on Tuesday by Pidilite Industries, fixes its gaze on the kursi — the chair — and what it means in Indian life. Not just as a piece of furniture, but as a currency of ambition, a vessel of authority, and a source of quiet social drama that plays out in every home, office and institution across the country. Who sits in the chair, who waits for it, and who eyes it hungrily from across the room: the film transforms this sharply observed cultural truth into a narrative that is, in the best Fevicol tradition, funny, warm and instantly familiar.
The campaign was Pandey’s idea. He discussed it in detail with the team before his death, but did not live to see it shot. Prasoon Pandey, director at Corcoise Films who helmed the commercial, said the team needed five months to find its footing before they felt ready to shoot. “This was the toughest film ever for all of us,” he said. “It was Piyush’s idea, magical as always.”
The emotional weight of that responsibility was not lost on the team at Ogilvy India, which created the campaign. Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, group chief creative officers at Ogilvy India, described the process as “a pilgrimage of sorts, on the path that Piyush created not just for Ogilvy, but for our entire profession.”
Sudhanshu Vats, managing director of Pidilite Industries, said the film was rooted in a distinctly Indian insight. “The ‘kursi’ symbolises aspiration, transition, and ambition,” he said. “Piyush Pandey had an extraordinary ability to elevate such everyday observations into iconic storytelling for Fevicol. This film carries that legacy forward.”
That legacy is considerable. Over several decades, Pandey’s partnership with Fevicol produced some of the most beloved advertising in Indian history, building the brand into something rare: a household name that people actively enjoy watching sell to them.
“Kursi Pe Nazar” does not try to be a tribute. It simply tries to be a great Fevicol film. By most measures, it succeeds — which is, in the end, the most fitting send-off of all.
