MAM
From chocolates to toothpaste: Wavemaker’s Chintan Thakker switches lanes
MUMBAI: Chintan Thakker has traded sweet treats for dental care. The senior business director at Wavemaker India, who spent the past four years crafting campaigns for Mondelez’s snacking empire, is now leading the agency’s integrated marketing communications for Colgate.
The move caps a 14-year career that began in social media analysis and meandered through entrepreneurship before landing Thakker in his current role. His time with Mondelez proved particularly fruitful: the campaigns he orchestrated earned India its first Cannes Titanium Lion and racked up over 300 national and international awards in just two and a half years.
Thakker joined Wavemaker in May 2021 as director of innovation and integrated marketing communications, building a seven-person team and driving technology and content partnerships for Mondelez India. He was promoted to senior business director this month./
His earlier ventures were less gilded. In 2015, Thakker co-founded twentythree, a boutique digital agency that worked with Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC. He also launched Odd Giraffe Lifestyle, a women’s brand that folded after seven months in 2017—a failure he credits with sharpening his strategic instincts.
Before striking out on his own, Thakker climbed the ranks at digital agencies Gozoop and EveryMedia Tech, managing social media for brands including Hyundai, PepsiCo and Bollywood studios. He started his career in 2011 as a video editor and reporter at Fuzion Productions.
The Colgate account marks fresh territory for Thakker, who has spent recent years immersed in the language of indulgence. Now he must master the vocabulary of oral hygiene.
MAM
Barista partners Ginny Weds Sunny 2 with mango campaign
Cafe chain blends cinema buzz with summer menu and 20 per cent offer.
MUMBAI: Love may brew slowly, but marketing clearly doesn’t especially when coffee meets cinema and mangoes steal the spotlight. Barista Coffee Company has partnered with the upcoming hindi film Ginny Weds Sunny 2 as its official beverage partner, in a move aimed at tapping into youth culture through entertainment-led engagement. The collaboration is not just a logo placement exercise. Instead, Barista is translating the film’s high-energy vibe into its cafés with a themed summer menu titled “Main Hoon Mango”, accompanied by a limited-period 20 per cent discount on combo offerings across outlets.
Actors Medha Shankr and Avinash Tiwary feature in the campaign, seen engaging with the mango-themed menu inside Barista cafés, a visual cue designed to blur the lines between reel and real-life consumption moments.
The strategy reflects a broader shift in how consumer brands are leveraging hindi film industry not just for visibility, but for immersive, on-ground engagement. By embedding the film’s narrative into its product experience, Barista is aiming to drive footfall, especially among younger audiences who increasingly seek experiential touchpoints over traditional advertising.
Barista Coffee Company CEO Rajat Agrawal described the partnership as both a branding and growth play, focused on expanding reach beyond the existing customer base and aligning with evolving consumer preferences.
The emphasis on a seasonal, flavour-led hook mango, one of India’s most culturally resonant ingredients adds a timely layer to the campaign, aligning with summer consumption trends while riding on the film’s promotional momentum.
For Barista, the move is part of a larger positioning shift. Rather than operating purely as a coffee retail chain, the brand is increasingly framing itself as a lifestyle destination, one that intersects with entertainment, conversation and shared experiences. By integrating cinema into its physical spaces, Barista is effectively turning cafés into micro-extensions of the film’s universe, where consumers do not just watch a story unfold but participate in it sip by sip.
The 20 per cent offer further nudges trial, lowering the barrier for consumers to engage with the themed menu while amplifying recall through a tangible incentive.
Brand-film collaborations are hardly new, but their execution is evolving. Where earlier partnerships relied on co-branded ads or product placements, the current playbook leans towards immersive storytelling and retail integration.
In that sense, Barista’s “Main Hoon Mango” push is less about promotion and more about participation inviting consumers to experience a slice of the film within a familiar, everyday setting. As the film industry continues to act as a cultural amplifier, such partnerships underline a growing truth, in today’s attention economy, it is not enough to be seen brands must be experienced.
And if that experience comes with a mango twist and a cinematic backdrop, all the better.
