MAM
Kinetic Blaze unveils Supermodels’ calendar
MUMBAI: Kinetic Motor Company’s Italiano Blaze picked up some top automotive awards for design and performance. And now to entrench the brand further, Kinetic has unveiled what it claims is the automotive industry’s first glamourous calendar- the Italiano Supermodel’s Calender.
Admittedly the theme is bold, but Kinetic’s managing director Sulajja Firodia Motwani reasons that the calendar clearly spells out the brand aspiration of her target consumer-Stylish, sexy and glamorous.
“Around the world, calendars that blend the sex appeal of an automobile and a supermodel are a regular feature, but this is a first for the Indian automotive industry.
Until now the scooter was considered either too old fashioned, family vehicle or effeminate. Our focus was to make the two wheeler a must-have for the young, urban male who is brand conscious and wants to look cool.”
The calendar designed and executed by Grey Worldwide was unveiled by Firodia- Motwani and Raj Guru.
The two wheeler claims to be India’s first powerful automatic with a 165cc, 4-valve engine. Kinetic Blaze is the first in a line of seven Italjet scooters launched under the Italiano series. The moto-scooter is prized at approximately Rs 50,000 ex-showroom. Last year, Kinetic had acquired the rights from Italjet to launch its two-wheeler range in India.
Commenting on whether the price positioning at Rs.55, 000 for a scooter was on the high side, Firodia Motwani says, “We are competing in this market with a Pulsar or a Bullet. The brand aspiration dictates the price and the two wheeler is positioned for a city rider. It has done well mainly in the metros. For a college going guy, the price point is just right when he knows that he can own a ‘cool’ bike.”
Kinetic Blaze may just be the beleagured company’s ‘shortcut to fame’.
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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.
