MAM
Hanmer uses an extensive research to grab LG Care PR account
NEW DELHI: PR consultancy Hanmer & Partners Communications Private Limited has recently bagged the account of LG Care. The public relations account was allotted to Hanmer following a pitching process, which included credential presentation followed by one on strategic inputs.
Hanmer managing director Sunil Gautam attributed the win to a detailed research and analytical approach in shaping the branding and communication strategy, and action of plan for the client.
On the win, Gautam, said, “The time lapse between the credential presentation and the final pitch was very short. Once we got information on the expectations of the client vis-?-vis the PR Objectives and servicing requirements, we formed national think tank.”
The core team, headed by Gautam, also included director – strategy Shekhar Ghosh, vice-president Jaideep Shergill, core servicing team from Chennai and four senior consultants, all of whom had previous agency experience of servicing an FMCG account, formulated an all-India communication plan.
Considering paucity of time between the credential and final presentation, the team shared the workload for the secondary research plan. The key areas covered during the industry and environmental scanning included business strategy and performance analysis, perception audit, consumer-related initiatives such as trends, behaviour and spending pattern, and media relations among others.
On the research, Gautam said, “The research output was not only exhaustive and informative it also helped mould the communication plan. The strategy was again broken down into key components that would synergize with the overall strategy. The secondary was also done specific to each product category in which the client intended to enter the Indian market with.”
The strategic communication objectives were classified into corporate and brand communication objectives so as to enable the company to capitalize on the LG brand awareness that already existed in the mind of the consumer while trying to extend the brand image into each category that the company intended to enter into as it was planning to adopt an umbrella branding strategy.
The secondary research also indicated key reputation indicators in terms of certain aspects, traits of the company that could be communicated easily and would be considered the pillars on which the company’s business philosophy, says Gautam.
Apart from communication plan and an activity framework, the Hanmer team also drafted a plan based on the company’s umbrella branding strategy as to how the messaging and key reputation indicators will integrate itself into the overall communication objectives and business objectives of the company.
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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.
