MAM
Lifesize anoints Gagan Verma as regional director
NEW DELHI: Gagan Verma has been appointed as regional director for India and SAARC region for Lifesize, a division of Logitech and supplier in the field of HD video communication.
Heading Lifesize operations for the region, Verma will be closely working with, Lifesize international VP Andreas Wienold.
Wienold said, “We are pleased to make this announcement welcoming Gagan on board Lifesize. India is a critical market, one that’s poised to see rapid growth with increasing technology adoption amongst consumers and enterprises. We are confident Gagan will provide the strategic leadership direction for the company in India and SAARC region.”
Verma comes on board with over 15 years of industry experience and has in the past held leadership positions in leading telecom peripheral companies in India including TANDBERG (acquired by Cisco), Cisco, Codian, Avaya Global Connect and GTL. His new role will require him to drive business growth, extend partnerships, increase channel expansion and accelerate the company’s foothold across India and SAARC region.
“From inception, Lifesize has had a vision to change the way people communicate and do business. Through persistent innovation Lifesize fulfills that dream every day. My goal is to make visual communication a part of everyday business collaboration. I’m looking forward to continuously driving growth and innovation within both the company and the video communications industry, bringing quality visual communication to anyone, anywhere,” said Verma.
Prior to joining Lifesize, Verma was associated with Polycom India for more than three years leading the government and public sector business and was also heading its enterprise business for the northern region.
MAM
Early Summers, Early Campaigns: 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.
