MAM
Red FM 93.5 gets jiggy with their sales pitch
MUMBAI: Talk about high impact and in your face sales pitch! This time round, it was none other than Red FM 93.5 that decided to promote its show Morning No 1 hosted by former Win 94.3 RJ Malishka in an absolutely titillating and entertaining fashion to media agencies and key clients.
Red FM on a three day promotional spree visited media agencies and clients in Mumbai along with the Amitabh Bachchan look alike accompanied by a junior artiste playing Aishwarya, surprising them with the song of the season Kajarare Kajarare… from the flick Bunty Aur Bubli and spontaneously bursting into a dance act.
The thought behind the promotion was the play on the numero uno factor – The number one song of the season can be heard on the number one morning show on radio FM hosted by the number one radio jock in Mumbai.
Post taking the media professionals by surprise, they were gifted a Red FM branded ‘Gamcha’ and a photograph of them jiving in the act.
Commenting on this unique promotional activity, Red FM CEO Abraham Thomas says, “We are the challenger brand so expect the unexpected from us. In a category wherein the rest of the programming and content is by and large the same, we have got the number one radio jock in Mumbai on the number one morning show in Mumbai. The response to Malishka from listeners and advertisers is absolutely mind blowing. Our activity received tremendous response. In fact, we have received calls from few other agencies as to why we skipped them. I guess the act was such a big success because it was refreshing, lively and and totally unexpected.”
Says Initiative Media Reena Uttam Singh, “I just loved it. We were completely surprised as we had expected a routine meeting, but this was just mind blowing! We love the new attitude of the station.”
Agrees Mindshare’s Guru Rao, “I think it was a very innovative presentation. I am sure everyone not only noticed but also enjoyed it as well.”
The activity was to ensure buzz around Red 93.5 and the promotion of Morning No 1. Agencies and clients visited were Group M, Madison,
Zee TV, Rediffusion DYR , Lodestar, Initiative Media , Starcom
Sahara One TV.
Abraham parting words were: “Watch this space for our next salvo.”
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
