MAM
PubNation: Agencies should look beyond just numbers for clients
NEW DELHI: While the local language market has always been a force to contend with in the Indian publishing industry – be it radio, print, TV, or digital – agency partners are not being active enough in providing the deserved monetisation support to them, said a panel discussing the state of local language market on day one of PubNation (print & digital), organised by Indiantelevision.com in partnership with Quintype and Gamezop, opined.
Moderated by Wavemaker India chief growth officer & south head Kishankumar Shyamalan, the session was attended by Punjab Kesari Group of Newspapers director Abhijay Chopra, Vikatan group MD B Srinivasan (Srini), Lokmat Media Ltd editorial director Rishi Darda, Mathrubhumi director – digital business Mayura Shreyams Kumar, and Eenadu general manager – marketing Sushil Kumar Tyagi.
The panel unanimously agreed that local content and publications have always been strong players in India, and this conversation about their relevance and sudden emergence comes up every time a new medium comes into the spotlight.
Chopra, who is a fourth-generation leader from Punjab Kesari Group, highlighted that they have existed in the market since 1948 and the audience was always there for the papers.
He said, “This point of local languages emerging comes from an advertising standpoint. What happened in the initial days was that we mostly had foreign advertisers and they advertised what they understood. So, English became their preferred language.”
Srini, in the same vein, noted that India has always been a land of multitude of diversity and it is reflected in the comparative ad spends on television channels – but the same cannot be said for print. “Regional channels are far more successful than the English ones on TV. Sadly, that never reflected on to print publications,” he said.
Kumar stated, “We have been active in the regional market since forever. And there is a sense of trust within the readers as well as the advertisers when it comes to our content. So, I won’t say we are an emerging force. Yes, for digital, I can say that our presence is now being amplified but it is certainly not ‘emerging’, so to say.”
However, they are still not getting the commercial traction they deserve because the agency and client partners are not making enough efforts to reach out or discover their content capabilities.
To drive this point home, Chopra shared a personal experience: “I started this digital property called Yum; it’s all about food, recipes and other related stuff. So when it started gaining good traction, with the intent of monetising it, I mailed a presentation to an agency representative, who never got back to me. In fact, a few weeks down the line, the same advertiser that I was trying to get onboard got in touch with me via our Facebook channel.”
He added that the clients (advertisers) do not have enough teams. And for most agency managers, the sole focus remains on completing the work and not actually doing research for good content.
Srini, supporting this thought, added, “I often wonder if there is any other metric beyond the numbers or ComScore that makes any impact on the planners. The discussion always starts with CTRs, CPLs, CPMs etc. Is there any willingness to look at our storytelling capabilities and the ability to provide the brands with a platform to engage better with their consumers?”
However, he also agreed that the publishers themselves will have to take the responsibility to promote their content and increase visibility.
Tyagi highlighted that consumers are going to get back to credible sources to get their news and advertisers are also willing to associate themselves with credible publications. “The agencies should be coming to us asking what are your editorial policies, how are you dealing with the news, what are the cultural aspects, etc.”
Darda and Kumar also noted that advertisers and agencies should look beyond just numbers and take into consideration the impact and the trust metrics for any digital channel.
Brands
Tata Consumer Products highlights workplace bias with no repeat campaign
Women often repeat ideas to be heard; Tata campaign spotlights bias
MUMBAI: In many offices, a familiar moment unfolds. A woman shares an idea in a meeting. The room nods politely, then moves on. A few minutes later, someone else repeats the same thought and suddenly it lands.
This International Women’s Day, Tata Consumer Products is drawing attention to that quiet but persistent workplace dynamic through TheNoRepeatCampaign, an initiative that highlights how often women must repeat themselves before their ideas are acknowledged.
Conceptualised by Schbang, the campaign centres on a mockumentary-style film featuring a corporate employee known simply as “Doobara”, which literally means “again”. The character symbolises the many women across workplaces who find themselves restating their ideas during meetings, brainstorms and presentations before they receive recognition.
The campaign is grounded in research that reflects a broader workplace pattern. According to McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace 2024 report, 39 percent of women say they are interrupted or spoken over in professional settings. Research by Perceptyx in 2022 adds to that picture, with 19 percent of women reporting frequent interruptions and 42 percent saying it happens at least sometimes.
Tata Consumer Products head of corporate communications and investor relations Nidhi Verma, said the campaign aims to bring a commonly experienced but rarely discussed bias into the open.
“Workplaces thrive when every voice is heard the first time it speaks. With #TheNoRepeatCampaign, we wanted to shine a light on a bias that many women experience but rarely gets called out openly. By encouraging teams to listen more consciously and acknowledge ideas fairly, we hope to create environments where contributions are valued for their merit, not the number of times they need to be repeated,” she said.
The film cleverly mirrors the very behaviour it critiques. Through deliberate repetition in the storytelling, viewers experience the subtle frustration of having a point overlooked until someone else echoes it back to the room.
The initiative also ties into Tata Consumer Products’ internal SpeakUp culture, which encourages employees to share ideas and feedback openly while emphasising the shared responsibility of listening and acknowledging contributions.
Schbang president of solutions Jitto George, said the insight behind the campaign came from everyday workplace observations.
“The insight was simple but powerful. Many women have experienced moments where their ideas gain traction only after someone else repeats them. We wanted the storytelling to reflect that reality in a way that feels relatable, slightly uncomfortable and difficult to ignore. The mockumentary format helped capture that everyday dynamic while prompting viewers to rethink how conversations unfold in their own workplaces,” he said.
Aligned with International Women’s Day 2026’s theme, “Give To Gain”, the campaign underlines a simple message. When organisations give attention, acknowledgement and visibility to women’s voices, the entire workplace benefits.
After all, when good ideas are heard the first time, they do not need a second attempt.
