MAM
Epson extends Asian football sponsorship
MUMBAI: Global imaging and innovation leader Epson has concluded a four-year extension to its sponsorship agreement with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The association enhances awareness of the Epson brand across Asia and globally while allowing Epson to get closer to its customers in the Asia region, the fastest growing football market in the world.
The new sponsorship deal runs through to the end of 2016 and covers competitions including the AFC Asian Cup, the 2012 Olympic Qualifiers, and the 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil Asian Qualifiers.
The sponsorship provides benefits to Epson that include stadium and on-screen advertising rights, and gives the company the opportunity to give something back to the football fans of Asia.
Epson General Manager of Global Communications Ian Cameron commented, “Epson is proud of its ongoing commitment to the development of Asian football. The region is vitally important for Epson, and our longstanding alliance with the AFC reflects this.We are committed to further strengthening our brand in Asia, and to supporting Asian football and football fans in the years ahead.”
Epson has been the main sponsor of AFC since 1997.
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.
