AD Agencies
Goafest 2025 returns to Goa with a bang
MUMBAI: South Asia’s biggest creative extravaganza, Goafest, is heading back to its spiritual home in Goa for its eighteenth edition. Organised by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and The Advertising Club (TAC), Goafest 2025 will take place from 21 to 23 May at the Taj Cidade de Goa Heritage and Horizon Goa. This year, the festival welcomes Amazon MX Player as its title sponsor.
A fresh twist awaits attendees with the debut of the ‘Goafest Village’—a dynamic, multi-venue experience packed with immersive engagements under one roof. Themed ‘Ignite _____’, the festival is set to spark game-changing discussions on creativity, brand evolution and consumer engagement.
Celebrated as the mecca of advertising, media and marketing, Goafest promises three action-packed days of learning, networking and inspiration. The Abby Awards Powered by One Show will once again take centre stage, honouring South Asia’s most outstanding creative minds.
GroupM South Asia CEO & AAAI president Prasanth Kumar said, “Goafest is a beacon of creativity and connection. Returning to Goa feels like coming home. ‘Ignite _____’ is more than a theme—it’s a call to action for bold ideas, groundbreaking conversations and visionary thinking. The Goafest Village concept will elevate networking, collaboration and the overall festival experience.”
TA president and group CEO of Havas India, south east and north Asia Rana Barua added: “Goafest is where ideas meet impact. This year, we aim to push creative boundaries further with ‘Ignite _____’. The AbbyY Awards Powered by One Show continue to be the gold standard of creative excellence, and this year’s edition will be nothing short of inspiring.”
Goafest 2025 organising committee chairman Jaideep Gandhi promised an even bigger spectacle, saying, “With new initiatives like Goafest Village, we are redefining engagement, learning and industry collaboration. Our mission is to propel India’s creative and marketing ecosystem onto the global stage.”
Havas Media Network India CEO and co-chair of the organising committee Mohit Joshi, added, “Tech, data and agility are rewriting advertising. At Goafest 2025, we’ll ignite powerful conversations that challenge norms and fuel ideas with real-world impact.”
“Goafest has always been a platform where the brightest minds in advertising, media, and marketing converge to exchange ideas and push creative boundaries. Bringing the festival back to Goa this year is about rekindling the energy and spirit that makes Goafest truly special. With a larger-than-ever scale, immersive experiences, and an inspiring lineup of industry leaders, Goafest 2025 will be a space where innovation meets opportunity. We are excited to welcome the entire industry to Goa for three days of learning, networking, and, most importantly, celebrating creativity. We also look forward to honoring the best minds in the industry with the Abby Awards Powered by One Show,” added Adani group corporate branding Ajay Kakar.
Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani, highlighted the synergy between the festival and the brand’s mission: “As a platform redefining entertainment and advertising, we’re thrilled to partner with Goafest 2025. The theme ‘Ignite _____’ aligns perfectly with our vision of pushing creative and content boundaries.”
Drawing over 2,000 industry professionals annually, Goafest 2025 is set to be bigger, bolder and more immersive than ever. Expect a melting pot of creativity, commerce and culture—all under the Goan sun.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
