Brands
Havas India teams up with Banijay Asia to bring entertainment firepower to advertising
MUMBAI: Advertising is eating entertainment—or is it the other way round? Havas India has struck a strategic partnership with Banijay Asia, the regional arm of Europe’s largest studio, to fuse the art of selling with the craft of showmaking. The alliance marks a bet that brands can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines of culture; they must wade into the thick of it.
Banijay Entertainment, the Paris-headquartered titan behind global juggernauts like Survivor, Big Brother and Temptation Island, has built its Asian operation into a content factory. In India alone, Banijay Asia has churned out The Kapil Sharma Show, Bigg Boss, Nach Baliye, The Night Manager and The Voice—hits that have shaped prime-time viewing and water-cooler chatter.
Under the new arrangement, Havas India will plug into Banijay Asia’s storytelling muscle to create what it calls “entertainment-led brand storytelling”. Translation: adverts that don’t feel like adverts. The partnership stretches beyond India to cover Havas clients across South-East Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan.
“Advertising today is no longer confined to conventional mediums; it thrives at the intersection of entertainment, content and culture,” said Havas India, South-East Asia and North Asia group chief executive Rana Barua. The goal, he added, is to help brands “drive cultural and business impact” by thinking bigger and bolder.
Banijay Asia founder & group chief executive Deepak Dhar argued that India and the wider Asia-Pacific region are “ready for a more immersive, content-first approach to brand building”. With Havas’s network reach and Banijay’s format expertise, the two aim to make brands “part of everyday conversations”.
The tie-up reflects a broader trend: the blurring of boundaries between advertising and entertainment. Banijay Entertainment has already launched a specialist division, Banijay Branded Entertainment, to capitalise on brands’ hunger for original content. This partnership takes that ambition eastward, where audiences are younger, mobile-savvy and increasingly allergic to traditional ad formats.
Havas India, which operates 24 agencies and divisions across media, creative and health verticals, has been on a tear. The network has won multiple clients and industry gongs over the past three years, including being named a Great Place to Work three times running. With over 2,500 staff across Mumbai, Gurugram, Bengaluru and four other cities, it is positioning itself as one of India’s nimblest advertising shops.
Banijay Asia, meanwhile, continues to expand its slate. The studio has Indian adaptations of Monk, House and Suits in the pipeline, alongside non-scripted fare like Rise and Fall and Temptation Island. Its parent company, Banijay Entertainment, operates over 130 production companies across 21 territories and delivered more than 17,000 hours of content in 2024. Revenues hit €3.35bn last year, with EBITDA of €528m.
Whether brands can truly become entertainment—or merely crash the party—remains to be seen. But with this partnership, Havas and Banijay are betting that the future of advertising looks less like a 30-second spot and more like a binge-worthy series.
Brands
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to step down after 18 years in role
Board begins CEO search as Narayen prepares to move to chair role
SAN JOSE: After nearly two decades at the helm, Adobe’s long-serving chief executive Shantanu Narayen is preparing to pass the baton.
The company announced that Narayen will transition from his role as chief executive officer once a successor is appointed, ending an 18-year run that reshaped Adobe from a boxed software seller into a global cloud and AI powerhouse. He will remain chair of the board following the leadership transition.
Adobe’s board has formed a special committee to oversee the succession process, led by lead independent director Frank Calderoni. The committee will evaluate both internal and external candidates.
“Shantanu’s leadership has been instrumental in Adobe’s transformation and in positioning the company for the AI-driven era,” Calderoni said in a statement. “As we begin the next phase of succession planning, our focus is on identifying the right leader for the company’s next chapter while ensuring a smooth transition.”
In a note to employees, Narayen described the moment not as a farewell but as a pause for reflection after a long journey with the company.
“I love Adobe and the privilege of leading it has been the greatest honour of my career,” he wrote, adding that he will continue to work closely with the board over the coming months to ensure a seamless leadership change.
Tributes from the technology industry quickly followed the announcement. Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella congratulated Narayen on what he described as a “legendary run” at Adobe.
“Congrats Shantanu, on a legendary run at Adobe! You’ve built one of the most important software companies in the world, and expanded what’s possible for creators, entrepreneurs, and brands everywhere,” Nadella wrote on LinkedIn.
“What has always stood out to me is the empathy you’ve brought to the creative process and the example you’ve set as a leader. Grateful for your friendship, mentorship, and for all you’ve done for Adobe and for our industry.”
Narayen’s career at Adobe spans nearly three decades. He joined the company in 1998 as vice president and rose steadily through the ranks before becoming chief executive officer in December 2007.
During that time, he orchestrated one of the most significant reinventions in the software industry. In 2013, Adobe made the bold decision to abandon traditional boxed software sales and move its flagship creative tools such as Photoshop to a subscription-based Creative Cloud model. The shift initially rattled investors but ultimately transformed Adobe into a predictable recurring revenue business and a case study in digital reinvention.
Narayen also pushed Adobe beyond creative tools into the world of marketing technology and data-driven customer experience, spearheading acquisitions such as Omniture and Marketo. Those moves helped build Adobe’s digital experience division and broaden its reach far beyond designers and photographers.
The numbers tell the story of that transformation. When Narayen took over in 2007, Adobe generated roughly $3 billion in annual revenue. Today the company reports more than $25 billion. Over the same period, its workforce expanded from around 3,000 employees to more than 30,000.
In recent years, Narayen has steered Adobe into the generative AI era with the launch of Adobe Firefly, aiming to keep the company ahead in a rapidly evolving creative technology landscape.
Born in Hyderabad in 1963, Narayen studied electronics and communication engineering at Osmania University before moving to the United States for a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University. He later earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most steady and effective leaders, Narayen has earned multiple honours during his career, including India’s Padma Shri in 2019.
For Adobe, the upcoming leadership change marks the end of a defining chapter. For Narayen, however, the story is far from finished. As he told employees, the company’s next era of creativity, powered by AI and new digital workflows, is only just beginning.
