MAM
FoxyMoron appoints Nakul Dutt as national strategy director
MUMBAI: FoxyMoron has appointed Nakul Dutt as the national strategy director. He will be overlooking the overall integrated brand, media and communication strategy and working towards scaling the growth of the agency. In this new role, Nakul will report to Zoo Media and FoxyMoron co-founder Pratik Gupta and will be working closely with teams across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.
Gupta said, “Our vision as a network, and especially with FoxyMoron has moved into a more strategic business focus for our brands, having someone like Nakul has made that transition very smooth. His experience ranges from being at the forefront of strategy at agencies to a human resources stint and also being a brand manager, this well-rounded approach helps him tie-in strategy for us across media, creative, content, and data for our clients. We’re excited to work alongside him as part of our growth journey".
Dutt said, “The conversation in our industry has changed from digital KPIs to actual business impact. The need of the hour is to integrate digital resources into actionable marketing to achieve a holistic and scalable business model that is measurable and impact-driven. FoxyMoron already has an ecosystem, which integrates data, tech, media & content centered around business goals. This combined with our people-centric approach is a birthplace for not only refreshing ideas but to achieve solutions that will set new benchmarks for our industry. I am looking forward to collaborating with the internal teams, client teams, and the entire ecosystem to drive this impact at large.”
Nakul joins the agency, with a decade of experience in marketing and communications having worked in both brands and agencies on digital as well as mainline campaigns. Nakul has worked on result oriented campaign strategies for brands like Nestle, Abbott, ELI Lilly, UNICEF, LAVA, HTC, Brookfield, HERO MotoCorp, Raymond, and several BFSI brands.
Prior to FoxyMoron, Nakul was a senior strategist at iProspect, Dentsu where he was responsible for new business acquisition, media & communication strategy for existing businesses. Nakul has also worked with Hakuhodo India and Lava International as an account director and brand manager respectively. At Lava, the well known mobile handset company, he was responsible for communication strategy for both, the product and brand.
Nakul holds an MBA in communication management from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication. He has been a part of FoxyMoron for over a year now where he has worked on strategy for accounts like SanDisk & WD, Sharkehan, Manyavar & Mohey, Ampere, Orient Bell Tiles, and Principal Mutual Funds to name a few.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
