MAM
Razorfish launches Co-Lab to co-create products
MUMBAI: Razorfish, Publicis Groupe’s digital and technology agency, has launched Razorfish Co-Lab, a new property that will co-create products with media and platform partners on behalf of its clients.
The co-created products will intersect media, creative and technology aspects and will include operations, branded utility, platform ad experiences and campaign innovation.
Razorfish’s Margaret Czeisler has been appointed to oversee and drive partnership opportunities for Co-Lab and will report to Jeff Lanctot, the agency’s chief media officer.
Razorfish global CEO Bob Lord said, “We’ve long worked closely with our clients on next-generation storytelling through APIs, product manufacturing and evolutionary innovation. After experiencing such exponential growth in these areas, we realized we needed to formalize a transferable, scalable process that could span the varying nature of these opportunities, and this required the soup-to-nuts dedication of an entire practice as well as focused partnerships with key technology platform providers.”
Razorfish has prior experience in co-developing products for clients when it facilitated collaboration between a major airline and the Windows 8 platform. Additional partners include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Foursquare, among others.
Microsoft Advertising Yarn general manager Stephen Kim said, “We were thrilled to bring on Razorfish so early and work together in a co-ideation process to imagine what might be possible for in-app advertising on Windows 8. The concepts and thinking that Razorfish demonstrated is just the beginning of what is possible when we combine creativity and technology on Windows 8.”
LinkedIn global head of agency relationships Jon Williams said, “We’re thrilled to be a beta partner for Co-Lab. We are working together to help key clients understand how to really leverage the power of the LinkedIn professional graph. It makes sense for us to partner where we can scale innovative ideas across a broad portfolio of clients. Razorfish can provide access to creative expertise and a definitive process.”
“Given the tight alignment between media, creative and technology at Razorfish, we‘re an agency that is uniquely qualified to co-develop new products with our partners,” said Lord. “As the lines between these functions continue to converge, we’re thrilled to offer a concentrated team who can expedite and lead this process. While we will of course continue to buy standard ad offerings from our partners, we think Co-Lab provides a chance to create products that really stand out for our client‘s customers.”
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
