MAM
Swiggy smashes creative sixer this IPL season
MUMBAI: Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has launched six relatable and witty television commercials this IPL season to celebrate two of India’s biggest passions — cricket and food.
The multi-lingual campaign is conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, Bengaluru. Swiggy roped in seasoned cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle and former cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra to lend their voices to the TVCs.
The campaign highlights how Swiggy has changed consumers’ food-ordering habits with some of its unique differentiators such as ‘no minimum order’, ‘lightning fast delivery’ and ‘variety of restaurants’ to choose from. Considering the relevance of the campaign, apart from Hindi and English, the ads will be aired in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Bangla.
Swiggy VP marketing Srivats TS says, “The IPL-themed advertisements are fun and intriguing to watch as they explore relatable scenarios that have made Swiggy a household name today. Whether it’s a married couple or a full-fledged party watching the big matches, the idea is to showcase Swiggy’s role in changing the way India eats, by bringing out the brand benefits in a likeable and engaging manner while delivering a full entertainment experience to millions of people and fans.”
The TVCs have a simple storyline with minimal dialogues that cut straight to the chase. What makes them stand out is the execution including the comic expressions of the characters and the subtle yet smart interweaving of the spirit and sounds of the sport. It drives home the message that Swiggy is here to satisfy even the smallest of their consumer’s hunger pangs and food demands at lightning fast speeds. The TVCs are a right mix of consumer insight, targeting and product communication that is clutter-breaking and makes a mark. The films are directed by Abhinav Pratiman of Early Man Films.
“Cricketing jargon has always been part of the popular lingo in India. What we’ve tried to do with this campaign is to present the brand’s benefits in a fun, light-hearted, everyday context with cricket commentary delightfully punctuating the life situations,” mentions Lowe Lintas chairman and CCO Arun Iyer.
Besides the T20 in-game ad, the campaign will run on digital and across the brand’s social media platforms. Swiggy has also collaborated with Jordindian to create a couple of videos showcasing how cricket is best enjoyed with food ordered from the platform.
At the start of the T20 cricket season, Swiggy launched Match Day Mania, a 51-day long food festival that offers discounts across 13000+ restaurants in the cities Swiggy operates in. This integrated campaign, apart from television is being promoted across print, radio, digital platforms, as well as in restaurants.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
