MAM
Scarecrow wins creative duties of Kenneth Cole, Steve Madden and Quiksilver
MUMBAI: Scarecrow Communications has been appointed as the creative agency to handle three of the fashion world’s most renowned brands – Kenneth Cole, Steve Madden and Quiksilver – as they foray to scorch up the Indian fashion scene.
The accounts were awarded to Scarecrow without any pitch process. All three brands have entered India through a joint venture with Reliance Brands, a source from Reliance brands confirmed.
Scarecrow Communications founder director Manish Bhatt is thrilled to add some glam quotient to the agency’s clientele. “What makes this triple acquisition really exciting is the fact that while all three brands are iconic, each has a unique tone of voice. They all have done some really brave, clutter-breaking work, globally. It’s indeed a privilege to work on brands with such great legacy.”
Steve Madden and Kenneth Cole marketing head Kavita Khiara added “Increasingly fashion consumers expect from the brands that they adorn the same tonality that is the signature to its clothing and accessories ; bringing in a freshness and yet carrying forward the soul of the brand is a communication challenge that we see the team at Scarecrow well adept at handling.”
Scarecrow Communication senior creative director Sarvesh Raikar said, “Fashion advertising has really evolved, globally. We have seen apparel catalogues sold as music albums! Not just ATL and digital, but even retail and promo-led communication offers huge scope for innovations today. Our young, tech-savvy and highly talented team makes us believe these brands are right up our alley!”
The agency has won numerous awards and recognitions in a short span. The latest being named as the Agency of the Year at Mirchi Kaan Awards, that was held on 17 April, 2014, where many of the country’s big agencies were also contenders.
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.
