Brands
Kryptonic sound: JBL and Superman turn up the volume on fandom
MUMBAI: Who needs a cape when you’ve got Dolby Atmos? JBL is making super soundwaves this July, teaming up with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products India for a blockbuster collaboration celebrating the big-screen return of Superman James Gunn’s much-anticipated take on the Man of Steel, flying into theatres on July 11. The partnership launches a thumping 360-degree campaign, The Sound of Greatness, featuring JBL’s premium Live Series Headphones, True Wireless earbuds, and Soundbars all tuned to deliver audio worthy of Krypton.
Fans can step into Superman-themed Experience Zones across 2,000 retail outlets in India, where JBL’s soundbars powered by Dolby Atmos and MultiBeam tech elevate the trailer into a front-row seat for a cinematic sonic boom. These immersive setups are more than product demos, they’re audio adventures.
But the retail show isn’t just ear candy, it’s interactive. A customer engagement programme allows fans to earn points and win both premium JBL products and exclusive Superman merchandise. Meanwhile, a unified visual identity across offline and online channels ensures co-branded point-of-sale displays, merchandise, and campaign creatives reinforce the “Superman-meets-sound” buzz at every touchpoint.
The sonic superheroics spill onto social media with #TheSoundOfGreatness, inviting users to share why their favourite JBL product packs a punch. Whether it’s the bass, design, or overall vibe, select fans will win movie tickets to catch Superman in theatres surround sound included.
“JBL is synonymous with powerful audio that inspires through sound,” said Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products Group vice president for APAC Vikram Sharma. “We’re thrilled for fans to experience this high-octane crossover of two legendary brands.”
Harman India vice president of lifestyle Vikram Kher added, “Both JBL and Superman have decades-long legacies in creating joy, emotion, and cultural impact. This isn’t just marketing, it’s a movement in entertainment.”
The collaboration doesn’t just boost product visibility, it fuses pop culture, tech, and retail into one seamless super-experience. As DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures bring Superman back into orbit, JBL is proving that in the battle for greatness, sound is a superpower all its own.
So this July, whether you’re watching Clark Kent take flight or just vibing to your playlist JBL’s got your back (and your ears).
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
