AD Agencies
JBL appoints Makani Creatives as its ad agency
MUMBAI: JBL, one of the leading American audio electronics company currently owned by Harman International, has roped in Makani Creatives as its advertising agency. This development comes close after the decision on deployment of major funds to step up marketing activities and ramp up technology.
JBL has already launched a strong campaign with celebrities Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra in order to target the youth and engage the users by launching a music video called ‘Just Be Loud’ created by Kookie Gulati from SOBO films.
Makani Creatives will now roll out campaigns in sync with the brand thought process – ‘Just Be Loud’. The agency has a repertoire of youth, fashion and retail brands which makes it the natural choice to partner with JBL.
JBL director Sahil Sani said, “JBL has been a key force in developing independent divisions for audio equipment for consumer home market and professional equipment for studio, installed sounds, tour sound, portable sound (production and DJ) and cinema markets. Over the last few years, we have managed to make our presence felt in most sound and audio sectors.”
“Our key focus now, is to increase the reach and awareness, and build on our strength as a preferred choice for end-consumers. In order to meet this objective, we are thrilled to partner with Makani Creatives as our brand agency. With them on board, we are now gearing up for the new brand identity – ‘Just Be Loud’ and innovative marketing campaigns in the near future. We chose Makani Creatives for their clear understanding of our brand, proven record for delivering some of the most successful ad campaigns and focus on delivering business results,” he further added.
Makani Creatives MD Sameer Makani said, ‘‘JBL is a young and dynamic brand which has revolutionised the audio category, that being of head phones, headsets and bluetooth speakers. We were very charged by this proposition and that lead to a fine campaign we presented to JBL. In fact, they were quite impressed and that’s how we bagged their luxury division, Harman Kardon as well. The first set of work for JBL will be out shortly and I am sure that this will be one of the first steps of a successful journey together, we intend to take with this brand.”
AD Agencies
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.
