MAM
Leo Burnett, JWT, O&M did it at Cannes
MUMBAI: “Can they do it at Cannes?” Well, this recurrently asked question is not relevant anymore! They have done it. Three Indian agencies – JWT, Leo Burnett and O&M have each added a Lion to their kitty at the 52nd International Advertising Festival that is being held in Cannes, France.
JWT won the first Silver at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2005 in the Press category for its campaign ‘Give’ for the Indian Red Cross in the Fundraising and Appeals segment. JWT India has also bagged the highest number of nominations for an Indian agency this year with a total of seven nominations.
O&M, on the other hand won a Silver Lion in the Entertainment & Leisure category for their ‘Birds’ outdoor ad for A:Door Art Center. Leo Burnett won a Bronze Lion in the outdoor category in the Savoury Foods segment for its ad titled ‘3 Hours’ for Heinz India Ketchup.
JWT’s ‘Give’ ad has been created by the JWT Chennai team comprising Joono Simon, Charles Victor, Madhavan Palanisamy and Ratish Subramaniam.
JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris said, “We are absolutely delighted and happy that JWT India got seven nominations and a Silver Lion. It signals our commitment to deliver work that is truly world class. Importantly this has come at a good time for JWT since the entire company is oriented towards changing our own standards and doing creative work, which meets global benchmarks. I must add that the most important reason for us still is being effective in the marketplace for the brands we work on. If we take a brand or a clients business to market leadership we have met our intent. If it goes on to win an award, then that’s the icing on the cake.”
“My obsession for the last few months has been to drive the change to being more creatively focused. And this is just the beginning,” Harris added.
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.
