MAM
ECO India extends deadline for TV spot contest
MUMBAI: Earth Communications Office -India Association has once again this year launched a nationwide contest for a 25 second or less commercial on the theme of Vehicular Pollution.
The deadline for receiving the ready commercial has been extended until Monday 28 February.
The winner of the contest will get an opportunity to take his/her entry to the prestigious Cannes Lions Advertising Festival and get his/her work shown on national and regional TV channels with a credit by-line.
The contest is open to individuals – could be a creative director, a filmmaker, an activist, a student or just about anyone who has an idea and can turn it into reality.
An eminent panel comprising prominent filmmakers, advertising & media personalities will judge the entries. Earth Communications Office -India Association (ECO India) is a registered non profit association formed to harness the power and reach of the massmedia to promote environmental awareness.
It aims to draw committed citizens from the media and entertainment industry to produce and broadcast public service announcements that provoke and convince. Last year it had conducted a similar contest on the theme of ‘Conserve Water’.
Earth Communications Office -India Association (ECO India) has till date produced and broadcast seven TV and 4 radio spots. It has also recently released one PSA in cinema theatres across the country.
The board members include: Peter Mukerjea, Amit Khanna, G. Krishnan, R. Basu and Bhuvan Lall from the broadcast industry, Yash Chopra and Manmohan Shetty from the film world, Sam Balsara, Ranjan Kapur, Rajiv Agarwal and RajeshPant from the advertising fraternity.
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
