MAM
Outbrain appoints Gulshan Verma to lead expansion in India
NEW DELHI: Gulshan Verma has been appointed as country manager of Outbrain India, an online content discovery platform.
In his new role he will be in charge of leading the company’s expansion in the Indian subcontinent especially in India where he will be responsible for leading the setup and growth of Outbrain.
Outbrain has seen tremendous user growth in South-east Asia and India in the last 18 months – from zero to over 800 million page views on a publisher network that has grown to over 150 strong in the same time period. Outbrain has also had success recruiting the top talent in the industry, doubling its employees over the course of the past 12 months.
Outbrain regional director SE Asia & India Anthony Hearne said, “Outbrain is the pioneer of content discovery, and we are fully committed to helping more people in India discover the most interesting, relevant and trusted content. South-east Asia and India are huge growth regions for Outbrain, so we are excited to bring Gulshan’s experience to bear to lead the charge in securing continued growth here in India.”
Verma brings to Outbrain over 15 years of experience in the digital media industry, having worked in Europe, North America and now Asia. His most recent role was with Komli Media as chief revenue officer. Prior to that, Gulshan was director of sales strategy for Yahoo! India, and before that, director of product marketing for Yahoo! search marketing in the United States.
Outbrain announced in March 2014 a multi-year strategic partnership agreement with Times Internet to bring the most interesting and personalised content recommendations possible to Times Internet readers.
AD Agencies
Fevicol releases its last ad campaign by the late Piyush Pandey
The adhesive brand’s last campaign by the late advertising legend Piyush Pandey turns an everyday Indian obsession into a quietly powerful metaphor
MUMBAI: Fevicol has never needed much of a plot. A sticky bond, a wry observation, a truth that every Indian instantly recognises — that has always been enough. “Kursi Pe Nazar,” the brand’s latest television commercial, is no different. And yet it carries a weight that no previous Fevicol film has had to bear: it is the last one its creator, the advertising legend Piyush Pandey, will ever make.
The film, released on Tuesday by Pidilite Industries, fixes its gaze on the kursi — the chair — and what it means in Indian life. Not just as a piece of furniture, but as a currency of ambition, a vessel of authority, and a source of quiet social drama that plays out in every home, office and institution across the country. Who sits in the chair, who waits for it, and who eyes it hungrily from across the room: the film transforms this sharply observed cultural truth into a narrative that is, in the best Fevicol tradition, funny, warm and instantly familiar.
The campaign was Pandey’s idea. He discussed it in detail with the team before his death, but did not live to see it shot. Prasoon Pandey, director at Corcoise Films who helmed the commercial, said the team needed five months to find its footing before they felt ready to shoot. “This was the toughest film ever for all of us,” he said. “It was Piyush’s idea, magical as always.”
The emotional weight of that responsibility was not lost on the team at Ogilvy India, which created the campaign. Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, group chief creative officers at Ogilvy India, described the process as “a pilgrimage of sorts, on the path that Piyush created not just for Ogilvy, but for our entire profession.”
Sudhanshu Vats, managing director of Pidilite Industries, said the film was rooted in a distinctly Indian insight. “The ‘kursi’ symbolises aspiration, transition, and ambition,” he said. “Piyush Pandey had an extraordinary ability to elevate such everyday observations into iconic storytelling for Fevicol. This film carries that legacy forward.”
That legacy is considerable. Over several decades, Pandey’s partnership with Fevicol produced some of the most beloved advertising in Indian history, building the brand into something rare: a household name that people actively enjoy watching sell to them.
“Kursi Pe Nazar” does not try to be a tribute. It simply tries to be a great Fevicol film. By most measures, it succeeds — which is, in the end, the most fitting send-off of all.
