MAM
HBO targets 25-30% ad revenue growth; inks unique deal with Maruti
MUMBAI: As the English entertainment channel scene gets more competitive, the challenge for the players is to innovate both on the programming and on the advertising side. HBO is looking to do just that.
The channel, which is targetting ad revenue growth of 25-30 per cent for this year, is doing a unique stunt with Maruti. This is for its original film Undefeated which airs on 6 September and deals with the life of a boxer.
Maruti’s logo, as the sole sponsor, will appear throughout the film’s duration. There will only be one ad break during the entire movie. Says HBO country manager South Asia Shruti Bajpai, “There will also be an opening and a closing spot. Maruti will use the initiative to promote its three brands – Baleno, Swift and Grand Vitara. This is the first time this kind of an initiative will be done by an English movie channel. It allows us to innovate by offering more than just spots. It gives Maruti a superior and exclusive environment.”
Bajpai adds that this is a one off deal and is an experiment just like dubbing was last year. HBO will also up the ante as far as original shows are concerned. Till the end of the year, it will introduce an original show almost every month. Earlier this month it had introduced the Western themed Deadwood. The fourth season of Sex And The City is currently airing.
Next month it will kick off Huff. Starring Hank Azaria and Blythe Danner, it deals with a psychiatrist and his family. In October, Carnivale returns for a second season. In December, the channel will air the critically acclaimed six and a half hour mini series Angels In America.
Bajpai says, “We have the raters and the differentiators Our original shows help us to take our content to another level in terms of quality. Not all our shows appeal to everyone. Sex And The City rated well with women but some men did not care for it. The same case will be with Angels In America where some viewers will enjoy its complexity and others will not. There are some viewers that only like our blockbusters. We will be airing The Matrix Revolutions next month. In the coming months we will be airing the second and third installments of The Lord Of The Rings.”
Angels In America offers a snapshot of life in New York in 1985. It is split up in two parts – Millennium Approaches and Perestroika. It deals with several themes – homosexuality, aids, alienation, political hypocrisy, fantasy and irreversible change. Al Pacino plays a lawyer who will initially not admit that he is not something as weak as a homosexual. Streep excels in five roles including a rabbi priest and a mother whose lawyer son played by Patrick Wilson comes out of the closet and admits that he is gay.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
