MAM
IAA India president Megha Tata set for second term
Mumbai: The India chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has unanimously re-elected Discovery Communications India-South Asia MD Megha Tata as president of the body. Tata, therefore, will be returned for the second term, announced IAA at its AGM held here on Friday.
“It is an honour and a privilege to be leading the India chapter of IAA for the second term,” said Tata. “Along with the wonderful Mancom I hope to continue to strengthen the India chapter and help build a strong ecosystem for the common good of the industry.”
“In spite of a challenging year, we did many successful events, and am sure the coming year will be even bigger and better,” she added.
Eros International Media group CEO & executive director Pradeep Dwivedi was elected as vice president and the other office-bearers include Lodestar UM CEO Nandini as honorary secretary and The Free Press Journal director Abhishek Karnani as honorary treasurer.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd MD and CEO Punit Goenka will continue to guide the new team as immediate past president, said the association in a statement.
The members of the managing committee elected include Another Idea founder Jaideep Gandhi; The Indian Express Pvt Ltd executive director Anant Goenka; ABP Network CEO Avinash Pandey; Deshdoot Media Group managing director Janak Sarda, and GroupM CEO-South Asia Prasanth Kumar.
The co-opted members are Havas Group India CEO Rana Barua; Dentsu Aegis Network CEO-APAC and chairman India Ashish Bhasin; Marketing Amar Ujala Publications president Rajiv Kental; Indira Television Ltd director Rani Reddy, and RK Swamy Hansa and IAA Presidents’ Council chairman and IAA Global immediate past chairman & world president Hansa Srinivasan K Swamy.
The members invited to the managing committee will be shortly announced.
MAM
How beverage brands are rethinking marketing strategies for weather-led demand
SLMG Beverages Private Limited joint managing director Paritosh Ladhani.
MUMBAI: As Sun climbs up the hemisphere, summer has clearly arrived in India. On 7th March 2026 Delhi registered a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius which is the highest reading logged for the first week of March in the last 50 years. Climate Change has been prolonging summers by causing earlier spring warming, delayed autumn cooling, and more frequent, intense heatwaves that persist for much longer periods.
In an endeavor to stay ahead of the curve, Beverage Brands are shifting from fixed seasonal marketing tactics to weather responsive strategies backed by data-driven insights, flexible campaigns, and diversified portfolios to capitalize on unruly temperature spike. In 2025, India’s beverage market experienced a massive, heat-triggered surge with carbonated drinks and ice cream volumes spiking 20–25 per cent in the March quarter itself on the back of hottest February in 125 years.
Clearly campaign timelines are being advanced to reap the seasonal shift in line with the jumping mercury. In the Indian context where Cricket is nothing short of religion, big ticket tournaments like T20 World Cup, Indian Premier League, ICC Champions Trophy provide plethora of opportunities to calibrate marketing campaign designs and associated business strategies to associate refreshment with community viewing both outdoor and indoors. A new trend that has taken the world by storm is that of booking the theatres for bonhomie viewing. It has also opened avenues for joint marketing initiatives by the Multiplex and Beverage Brands.
Price disrupting small potions and value packs tend to drive significantly higher volumes owing to volumetric flexibility and affordability to the consumers. Ramping up of cold supply chains for transit and at point of sales (POS) are strategic business imperatives that again define success of beverage brands.
In the era of AI and Big Data it is easy to track and calibrate messaging based on daily or weekly weather changes. Geo-targeted digital advertisement campaigns are also being run during heatwaves to make the business and marketing imperative very contextual. These pre-emptive strategies fueled by real time data and technology immensely help beverage brands to adjust supplies to the areas that are likely to generate more demand.
Novelty brings premium to the FMCG Sector and Beverage Brands are no exception. Newer SKUs build up excitement in consumers besides imparting the scope of frequent revitalization of brand marketing campaigns. Ensuring continuum of supply chain across material suppliers, logistics providers, distributors/wholesalers, and retailers become a strategic business strategy imperative for beverage brands during peak season.
Carbonated drinks among other beverages including packaged mineral water sell like hotcakes in summers, a period where holiday season gives big impetus to sales volumes. Tying up with air carriers railways, amusement parks, malls, convention centers for inclusion in the onboard beverage deck also holds a big window of opportunity for brands.
Limited period diversification into special summer categories entailing juices and functional beverages to capture the broader hydration market is also a business cum marketing imperative that beverage brands eye on. This also brings to fore the responsible side of the brand placing the compass on wellness of consumers.
Seasons are cyclic, hence summers are inevitable. Further, due to anthropogenic climate change, summers surely have been staging prolonged appearance that keep bringing beverage brands on to their drawing boards frequently for strategizing business and marketing campaigns that are agile, refreshment-focused, visually dominant in retail, affordable, and optimally promoted through seasonal campaigns in above and below the line media.
