MAM
Mudra’s Tribal DDB India dons a new logo
MUMBAI: Tribal DDB India, a specialist communications unit of the Mudra Group, has a new logo – the Kite.
In an endeavour to leverage the power of the interactive media, the agency had earlier thrown open a challenge to designers to create a new logo by hosting a request on their website, www.tribalddbindia.com. Vaibhav Wategaonkar, a contestant from Mumbai, was adjudged the winner of the contest and will receive a 20GB IPod.
The contest received a total of 8,000 entries from 35 different countries. The task was to capture India in 49 squares in 3 colours. Six thousand entries alone were received from India; the judges Matt Freeman (Chief Executive Officer – Tribal DDB worldwide), CVS Sharma (country head and GM- Tribal DDB India) and Karl Gomes (group head creative – Tribal DDB India) selected 10 finalists.
Mudra MD & CEO Madhukar Kamath said, “A kite flying in a deep bright sky metaphorically represents eternity, height of intellectual thinking, perseverance and search for new endeavors. Tribal DDB India embodies these aspirations and like the kite, it is a source of inspiration and has a unique ability to see beyond the world of illusionary forms. The saffron color for the kite behind the bright yellow sky combined with the green below signifies courage, prosperity and success.”
Total Branding Solutions CEO R Lakshminarayanan said, “Tribal DDB India sought to design its logo to reflect India’s culture and heritage. All locations in the Tribal DDB worldwide have logos that are under the network’s umbrella and still manage to capture the uniqueness of the local cultures.”
Added Sharma, “We at Tribal DDB believe creativity dwells amongst us all. To take this thought forward a logo design contest was held on 2 March 2005. The contest received an overwhelming response of over 8,000 participants from 35 different countries.”
Digital
OpenAI drops Sora AI video tool, ends planned $1 billion Disney deal
Pivot to coding and AGI leaves media giant rethinking AI tie-up plans
CALIFORNIA: In a move that has sent ripples through both Hollywood and Silicon Valley, OpenAI has pulled the plug on its much-hyped AI video tool Sora, abruptly ending what was shaping up to be a landmark partnership with The Walt Disney Company.
According to media reports, the decision came with little warning. Teams from both sides had been working on a Sora-linked project when the shutdown was communicated, catching even those close to the collaboration off guard.
The fallout is significant. The move effectively scraps a proposed $1 billion, three-year agreement that would have seen Disney invest in OpenAI while opening up access to its vast library of characters for AI-generated short-form video content. The deal, however, had not been finalised and no funds had changed hands.
Sora, unveiled in early 2024, had dazzled the industry with its ability to generate cinematic-quality video from simple text prompts, triggering a wave of competing launches from AI players across the United States and China. Its sudden exit marks a sharp turn in OpenAI’s strategy.
The company is now redirecting its focus towards more commercially scalable areas such as coding tools, enterprise solutions and the long-term pursuit of artificial general intelligence. Internally, resources required to run the video model are understood to have weighed on other priorities, accelerating the decision.
Leadership roles are also evolving to match the shift. Sam Altman continues to steer the broader vision, while Fidji Simo’s remit has been realigned towards deploying AGI capabilities as part of a wider push to consolidate offerings into a unified platform.
For Disney, the setback is more strategic than financial. The company is said to be evaluating alternative ways to collaborate with OpenAI, even as it recalibrates its approach to generative AI in storytelling.
For the wider industry, the episode is a reminder that in the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence, even the most dazzling innovations can have a surprisingly short shelf life.
