Brands
Pogo and Kellogg’s Chocos to join hands to launch branded mini-series
MUMBAI: Pogo and Kellogg’s Chocos have collaborated to deliver the first of its kind branded mini-series. Featuring India’s favourite superhero Chhota Bheem and Chocos mascot Coco, the four- episode series titled Coco aur Chhota Bheem ka Dhamaal will air every Sunday in October at 9:30 am only on Pogo.
In a highly competitive and cluttered TV advertising environment, this endeavor seamlessly integrates a brand into the storyline of the content. Within the kids’ genre, this is an unconventional route to engaging children with entertaining content that also subtly reinforces the brand’s attributes.
Kellogg’s marketing director, India and South Asia Harpreet Singh Tibb said: “At Kellogg’s we believe in providing wholesome nutrition and tasty breakfast options to nourish families so they can flourish and thrive. Kids in our view are fearless and there is no anxiety among them as they are growing up. We need to ensure that we provide kids the right environment so they can enjoy childhood and are prepared to take on the challenges thrown at them. Our brand Chocos believes in celebrating “uninhibited childhood” and we are always looking at creating experiences that enable the kids to have fun while growing up.”
He further adds: “The brand has been creating unique experiences such as the chocos cereal factory at Kidzania and the online gaming platform Chocoland to engage and educate kids. We have now signed up a unique partnership between the brand Chocos and Chhota Bheem wherein Coco, the brands mascot gets an opportunity to become part of Chhota Bheem’s gang. This unique association brings together two brands loved by kids: Chocos and Chhota Bheem. Both coming together under one platform will surely delight kids. When Mindshare proposed the idea of associating with a show like Chhota Bheem we knew this would help grab innumerable eyeballs among the target group.”
Mindshare has been the catalyst in conceptualising and executing this project. Mindshare west Anita Kotwani said: “This is the first of its kind initiative in the kid’s space. From a brand perspective what works is that it is not an innovation for the sake of innovation, but a strategic initiative intrinsic to what the brand stands for and that is what we did by partnering with POGO at the scripting stage itself instead of looking at tactical opportunities in the show. We are proud of the outcome and hope to be well received.”
Turner International India South Asia managing director Siddharth Jain said: “This partnership brings together two very much loved brands in India and showcases the kind of creative and innovative solutions Turner can offer in engaging our viewers in an entertaining and compelling manner.”
In the four episodes of Coco aur Chhota Bheem ka Dhamaal, Bheem and his friends will leave Dholakpur to explore the new world of Chocoland with Coco and undertake exciting adventures with their new friend. Coco aur Chhota Bheem ka Dhamaal will air on 05, 12, 19 and 26 October 2014 at 9:30 am on Pogo.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
