MAM
Finally, style and comfort rolled into one: take your pick from Bata’s new 9 to 9 collection
MUMBAI: Bata has come a long way since its inception. From being the ‘most comfortable’ footwear brand, it's now giving people the best of both worlds in terms of style and comfort. In line with the same philosophy, Bata has now launched its recent campaign for the new 9 to 9 collection which has a complete package, offering both style and comfort.
“Bata’s new ‘9 to 9’ campaign is aimed at India’s young, working women who don't want to compromise on looking chic and stylish yet are practical enough to look at the comfort factor when they buy shoes. In our consumer research, we heard how non-stop comfort from morning to evening was important for them. Our new 9 to 9 collection consisting of Bata Comfit, Naturalizer, Hush Puppies and Bata contemporary styles offers non-stop comfort from 9 am to 9 pm. For all those early morning meetings to post-work dinner dates with friends, Bata’s new collection makes sure no woman has to compromise on style or comfort now,” said Anand Narang, Vice President – Marketing, Bata India, on the launch of the new campaign.
Vineet Mahajan, Head of Art, Contract India, added, “When we started working on Bata, we created the platform of ‘Surprisingly Bata’. The idea was to communicate Bata’s range of stylish merchandise that people were unaware of. This time, Bata wanted to launch a range of comfortable shoes. Now ‘comfort’ is a quality that is already associated with Bata. So, the challenge was to communicate comfort as a benefit within the ‘Surprisingly Bata’ platform. Kriti Sanon, the face of Bata’s women range wanted to solve her friend’s problem and surprised her with the new 9 to 9 collection.The idea of the film was to let people discover the delight of wearing something that’s comfortable and surprisingly stylish too.”
The campaign idea was to take the surprise thought further in this year's TVC where Kriti shows that style and comfort can surprisingly co-exist in the new range of Bata 9 to 9 collection. The campaign touchpoints include digital, website, social, influencers, retail, print, outdoor and Bata’s CRM channels.
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.
