MAM
Shaadi Smart Not Shaadi Spent as Citykart Plays the Budget Band
MUMBAI: Why should baraatis have all the fun? This wedding season, Citykart is bringing the dhol and discounts straight to the streets with its “Band Baja Budget” campaign, a festive fusion of joy and judicious spending designed for families juggling big dreams and tight wallets.
Setting the tone quite literally, bus shelters across UP and Bihar have been transformed into mini wedding mandaps complete with traditional trimmings and all the shaadi sparkle. It’s a head-turning twist that’s got passersby stopping for selfies and shoppers stepping into stores with the wedding vibe already in full swing.
At its heart, the campaign hits a real cultural chord. Weddings in India are grand but gruelling for the budget, especially for middle-income families. Citykart’s offers including 40 per cent off on sarees, guaranteed cashback on every purchase, and smart gifting combos like trolley bags, dinner sets, and dry irons strike the perfect balance between celebration and savings.
“We understand the emotional and financial weight weddings carry,” said Citykart founder, Sudhanshu Agarwal. “This campaign says you don’t have to sacrifice joy for affordability. At Citykart, both walk hand in hand or should we say, down the aisle?”
Inside stores, the mandap motif continues with festive window displays and curated clusters of wedding-ready essentials, giving shoppers a sense of occasion without the typical spending stress. Meanwhile, digital platforms are amplifying the message to ensure the campaign reaches hearts and homes across the region.
With a stronghold in tier 2 and 3 cities and a reputation for stylish, pocket-friendly fashion, Citykart has always championed value. Now, with Band Baja Budget, it’s turning that value into a veritable wedding vow promising that no celebration should come at the cost of compromise.
So whether you’re dressing for the sangeet or gifting for the big day, Citykart’s got your shaadi shopping covered mandap to mehendi, and every memory in between.
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.
