MAM
Public ‘maange more’ of Pepsi ads at World Cup: Cross-Tab survey
NEW DELHI: The Pepsi brand/ad has emerged as the most
likable brand with 30 per cent respondents of a survey rooting for it during the India-Zimbabwe cricket match on 19 February, while Ravi Shastri, Tony Greig and Sanjay Manjrekar (in that order) were found to be the top three commentators with the
maximum number of respondents watching the do or die
cricket match on MAX (69 per cent).
Interestingly, amongst the cricket-related programmes on various channels ESPN-Star’s after-match analysis Follow Through was the second most-watched programme (21 per cent), after MAX’s Extraaa Innings (44.2 per cent). Similar shows on DD and also ESPN-Star’s pre-match show Taking Guard had low viewership of below 10 per cent and 13.4 per cent, respectively,
according to an online research on World Cup advertising carried out by the Bangalore-based Cross-Tab.
Cross-Tab, which carried out the survey for the India-Zimbabwe match amongst 551 respondents spread over eight cities, claims the rationale behind the survey was to gauge things like recall value of an ad, how they fare vis-?-vis competition, the likeability
factor of an ad or a brand and the reasons for it and whether the brand advertised get associated with the event, that is cricket.
“To give advertisers/media planners some effective tool by which they’ll know the effectiveness of advertising on the World Cup,” is how Cross-Tab explains the reason for carrying out the survey. The partner portals for the survey included criclive.com,
cricnext.com, and megamaal.com.
But if MAX is thinking it has been able to woo women who are housewives as viewers, they have something to think about. A gender break-up of the viewer profile for the said survey showed that only 12 per cent constituted housewives, while the majority (39 per cent) of viewership was made up of students.
While 19.9 per cent of people fell under the executive (middle level) category, 11.4 per cent would be categorised as executive (junior level). More importantly, 90 per cent of the viewership, as per the survey, constituted males.
The Mandiras, Mariahs and the Sandhyas, holding forth on ways to do surfing, cricket culinary and reporting on the sight and sounds of Africa, seem to have brought in male viewers by the hordes, apart from the hard core cricket enthusiast.
Is that why a fairly large percentage of people polled switched to ESPN to watch the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogle and Navjot Singh Sidhu analyse the match, bored with Charu Sharma’s (placed at No. 13 in the Top Commentators List) repetitive `your thought on the issue’ line and inadequacy to analyse the finer points of cricket?
Maximum viewership also came for the India-Zimbabwe match between 6-9 pm where an hourly breakup shows that eyeballs ranged between 84 and 96 per cent.
Pepsi leads the way for likeablity of an ad/brand (30 per cent), followed by the likes of Coke’s Chota Coke ad (21.1 per cent), reliance India Mobile (9.4 per cent), Pepsi Blue (5.4 per cent) and Bajaj Pulsar (4.9 per cent).
Official sponsors’ ads like that of Hero Honda and LG do not fare well on the likeability barometer. Hero Honda Ambition ad clocked just 0.4 per cent, while LG’s CDMA mobile phone campaign also had the backing of just 0.4 per cent respondents.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
