MAM
Hungama TV’s first ‘Hungamathon’ ready to get, set, go
MUMBAI: Hungama TV’s first mini marathon for kids, Surf Excel Hungamathon, is ready to roll on 23 October in Mumbai.
Apart from Total Sports & Entertainment India Pvt Ltd, which will be managing the event, Hungama TV has also joined hands with the Maharashtra Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA) in Mumbai and Delhi State Athletic Association (DSAA) who will be conducting the event in Mumbai and Delhi respectively.
Surf Excel Hungamathon will take place in Mumbai at the Bandra Reclamation and in Delhi on 30 October at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Thousands of kids in both the cities have already registered for Hungamathon, says UTV senior vice president marketing and communications Siddharth Roy Kapur. The grand finale will have a carnival-like atmosphere, with non-stop hungama, wherein kids will also get the opportunity to meet and interact with some of the Hungama TV characters.
Some of the brands that are associated with Hungamathon are Kotak Life Insurance, Peppy, Priya, Dukes, Safal and Manickchand Oxyrich Mineral Water.
Says MAAA general secretary Adille Sumariwalla, “Maharashtra Amateur Athletic Association is committed to the development of athletics in the state and we will extend all the support of the cause of athletics promotions. Hungamathon will provide a platform for kids to showcase their sporting talent and spirit and experience the joy of running. We hereby invite every school to come forward and participate in this event.”
MAAA, Sumariwalla informs, will be looking after all the technical aspects of the Hungamathon, which comprises the rules and regulations of the run as also the water points, ambulance points and first-aid points at various intervals of the Hungamathon.
Total Sports & Entertainment India Pvt LTDmanaging director Navneet Sharma says, “This is a truly unique event where kids get to showcase their talent and their skills. Kids are the future and by touching their lives through this run we are trying to make them enjoy every aspect of their childhood. The Hungamathon provides the ideal platform for kids to maintain the competitive spirit and also to have fun.”
Sharma is of the belief that there is a lot of clutter in the kids’ space today where all the players are vying to grab kids’ attention. “We felt that this was one area, which was clutter free and there is a whole lot of activities that one can do here,” he said.
Hindustan Lever Limited’s marketing manager (laundry) Ashok Ganapathy adds, “It is imperative for today’s children to participate in outdoor activities as games and outdoor play are essential for their development. The myriad benefits of getting dirty in the outdoors just cannot be replaced. Surf Excel as a brand fully endorses their view and believes that dirt is good as it is central to provide valuable experiences especially for children. To reinforce our commitment to this concern, we have partnered with Hungamathon 2005.”
Hungama TV has unleashed a 360 degree marketing and promotions campaign for Hungamathon. School contact programmes in Mumbai and Delhi, outdoor, on-line and print campaigns have been rolled out for the same, says Kapur.
Speaking on the spread of Hungamathon to other cities in the near future, Kapur says, “We started out with two cities because we wanted to first gauge the response we were going to get for this new initiative. Going by the overwhelming initial response, we are certainly looking at taking Hungamathon to other cities next year.”
AD Agencies
The Advertising Club adds new categories to Creative Abby 2026
Awards expand global focus; entries open until 6 April
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club has unveiled a fresh set of categories for Creative Abby 2026, sharpening the awards’ global edge while keeping creativity firmly centre stage.
The updated entry form, reflecting all category refinements, is now live on the Club’s website. The awards continue their partnership with The One Club and The One Show. Entries close on April 6, 2026, and eligible work must have been released between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. Winners will be announced at Goafest 2026.
This year, the Abby Awards Governing Council went a step further, inviting some of India’s most awarded creative leaders and global jury veterans to help reimagine the categories and judging process. The result is a sharper, more future facing framework.
Two new categories have been introduced:
Social content and influencer marketing
Recognising the fast expanding universe of digital creators, collaborations and community building.
Creative commerce, use of data and B2B
Celebrating innovation across online and offline commerce, payment solutions, data driven channels, creative B2B and immersive brand experiences.
Both categories are designed to reward craft and quality of impact, rather than pure effectiveness metrics.
In a bid to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, seven sub categories within the Digital vertical have been removed after being deemed redundant.
Three social good verticals, Green Abby, Red Abby and Diversity Equality and Inclusivity, have now been merged into a single category titled Sustainability and Inclusion, bringing purpose driven work under one cohesive umbrella.
The Mobile category has been discontinued, reflecting the reality that mobile is no longer a niche medium but embedded across digital formats. The new Social Content and Influencer Marketing vertical is expected to absorb much of this work.
Acknowledging the role of marketers in driving creative excellence, a new honour titled Client of the Year has been introduced. It will be awarded to the client whose brands accumulate the highest number of points.
There is also a key change in how Creative Agency of the Year is calculated. Previously determined by points across eight traditional categories such as Print, Film, OOH, Integrated, Audio and Digital, the award will now consider performance across 18 creative categories, excluding Video Craft and Young Maverick Abby. The shift broadens the competitive canvas and reflects the industry’s expanding definition of creativity.
The Advertising Club president and McCann India CEO Dheeraj Sinha said Goafest has long stood for collaboration and creative excellence. He noted that in its 57th year, the Abby Awards continue to raise the bar and bring together the brightest minds in the business.
Abby Awards 2026 chairperson Ajay Kakar, added that the categories had been co created with leading creative luminaries for the first time. He expressed gratitude to The One Club and The One Show for supporting the judging process over the past five years and thanked agencies and clients for their consistent participation.
With new categories, sharper criteria and a broader lens on creativity, Creative Abby 2026 signals that in advertising, evolution is not optional. It is the brief.
