MAM
Samrat Bedi takes over as Gozoop India CEO
Mumbai: Gozoop Group has announced the appointment of Samrat Bedi as chief executive officer of Gozoop Group in India. He will be based in Mumbai and will report to the board of Gozoop Group.
In this role, Bedi will spearhead Gozoop’s business operations and leadership team in India. “He will be responsible for carrying forward Gozoop’s legacy of helping brands achieve scale and success via a holistic communication approach,” said the marketing company in a statement on Tuesday.
“In Samrat we have a rare blend of a leader who has a strong growth orientation and a spirited people-first approach. Samrat is a leader who we believe will drive Gozoop India’s vision,” said Gozoop Group chairman and co-founder Rohan Bhansali. “I am confident that his experience and leadership in nurturing brands, teams and creative minds will take Gozoop forward on its glorious journey.”
Bedi previously led Ogilvy’s 82.5 Communications as president and brings to Gozoop over two decades of rich experience and industry understanding.
“Gozoop is known to have redefined the agency model for a connected world, where digital and traditional advertising work seamlessly under one roof,” said Gozoop Group global CEO and co-founder Ahmed Aftab Naqvi. “Samrat’s unique skill sets and experience will not just consolidate that position but keep redefining it as we build Gozoop into a creative powerhouse.”
Bedi has successfully launched and grown brands like Bisleri, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund, Piaggio Vehicles – Vespa & Aprilia, Indian Premier League (IPL), Indian Super League (ISL), Cadbury Bournville, Cadbury Silk, PayPal, Mattel (Barbie and Fisher-Price), Taj Hotels, Tata Sky, Cipla, World Gold Council, among others. He has also received several awards for conceptualizing and executing integrated campaigns.
“I am elated to take ahead the legacy that Ahmed and Rohan have built over the years. Their deep understanding about brands and businesses in a modern age has helped build Gozoop be the independent and homegrown integrated agency it is today,” commented Samrat Bedi. “I look forward to working with a group of passionate leaders at Gozoop to build brands of the future and create work that will be outstanding.”
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.
