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MullenLowe Lintas Group wins big at 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards 2021
Mumbai: MullenLowe Lintas Group picked up two golds and an honourable mention for its work on Lifebuoy and Wheel, respectively in a virtual event held by 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards on 13 September. It is the only agency from India to win at 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards this year.
Out of the five shortlists made by MullenLowe Lintas Group, Lifebuoy – ‘H is for Handwashing’ won a gold each in the Healthcare Strategy and Global Strategy categories, and its campaign for Active Wheel – ‘Ghar Se Career’ got an honourable mention in the Product/Service Creation category.
4A’s Jay Chiat Awards recognises and celebrates brilliant strategic thinking in marketing, media, and advertising. It awards campaigns that have at their core a great strategy, a powerful creative idea, and a clear link between the two.
“4A’s Jay Chiat finds global acclaim and is possibly the toughest strategy award to win. It is a privilege for MullenLowe Lintas Group, India to have won it six times, something very few agencies in the world can boast of,” said MullenLowe Lintas Group- group CEO Virat Tandon. “The twin gold wins for Lifebuoy this year is a great endorsement for the purpose-led work we believe in driving for our brands. A big thank you to our clients at Unilever for wholeheartedly partnering us in our vision for the brand. Kudos also to our colleagues at MullenLowe Singapore, MullenLowe Salt and Weber Shandwick for supporting the ‘H is for Handwashing’ campaign. An honourable mention for another of our strong purpose-led work, the ‘Ghar se career’ project for Wheel is also very encouraging and spurs us to do better.”
“At Lintas, we have always been a passionate practitioner of purpose-led brand-building. While one campaign is of a global scale and the other focuses on the local insights, both have an element of purpose at their core, that has resulted in success for the brands in the marketplace as well as with the audience,” said Lowe Lintas CCOs Sagar Kapoor and Prateek Bhardwaj in a joint statement. “Both these brands are super active in their ‘brand do’ and shall continue to do so regardless of awards and rewards.”
It is notable that Lifebuoy’s ‘H is for Handwashing’ also grabbed two bronze Lions earlier this year at Cannes Lions 2021.
In the past, MullenLowe Lintas Group has made its mark at the coveted award show for its strategically strong work on Kissan, HUL’s Kan Khajura Tesan, Havells, and Idea Cellular.
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Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
