MAM
The ad trinity attends Goafest 2016
MUMBAI: A couple of a months ago, ad guru Prasoon Joshi pleasantly surprised the advertising fraternity by announcing McCann Worldgroup India’s presence at the 11th edition of Goafest, after three consecutive years of no show from the agency at the Creative Abbys. The agency sent symbolic token entries to honour the festival in all the categories and their delegates participated and attended the fest in large numbers.
Naturally anticipation was high to see if the other heavy metals in the industry like Ogilvy and Mather, Lowe Lintas and Leo Burnett, who had long refrained from attending the Creative Abbys, would also follow suit and rejoin the biggest celebration of Indian advertising under Ad club president Raj Nayak’s leadership.
Though the other two agencies didn’t participate at the Creative Abbys this year either, Goafest 2016 lived up to the anticipation to a certain extent as the top honchos of Ogilvy and Mather and Lowe Lintas graced the conference individually.
The second day of Goafest 2016 leadership summit saw an auditorium full of creatives and media honchos at the edge of their seats listening to Mullen Lowe Lintas chairman R Balki having a tete a tete with film maker Karan Johar on the stage.
When the curious audience couldn’t help but ask him — “What will it take to get Lowe Lintas back to Goafest? — Balki’s quick response was “Better ask Arun Iyer this question” before he gave a knowing smile.
“It’s not about returning to Goafest. Just like Karan is happy just making Hindi cinema, as an advertising agency, we are happy making campaigns that touch people. We are currently positioned in a way that we can say we are not ‘judged’ to be creative. I don’t think we will be back only because it works for us. We are positioned in a way that we can call ourselves good without recognition, we are doing good work given the credentials that come from clients. So when something like this is handed to us by default, it will be foolish to sort of give it away.”
It didn’t stop at that. The trinity was finally complete later that day when the advertising fraternity came together to felicitate O&M India creative director and executive chairman Piyush Pandey on receiving the Padma Shri award.
“We haven’t changed our stand. But, this invitation that has been extended to me pertains to my felicitation by the organisers for getting the Padma Shri this year. I have accepted it and feel honoured to be part of an industry show such as Goafest,” Pandey informed when asked about his presence at Goafest 2016.
The industry witnessed something similar when Prasoon Joshi was felicitated last year at the Goafest 2015. Given the indications, the industry is hopeful that the next edition of the advertising festival will see a full participation from all the industry heavy weights.
Digital
Anthropic eyes $900bn valuation in new funding round ahead of IPO: Reports
Claude maker may surpass OpenAI as investor interest heats up sharply
SAN FRANCISCO: Anthropic is exploring a fresh funding round that could value the company at more than $900 billion, potentially making it the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup, according to Bloomberg reports.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that the Claude maker is in early-stage discussions with investors and is entertaining offers at more than double its current valuation. No deal has been finalised yet.
The interest marks a sharp jump from February this year, when Anthropic raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion. Since then, investor appetite appears to have intensified, with multiple pre-emptive offers on the table.
According to TechCrunch, the company has received proposals to raise around $50 billion at valuations ranging between $850 billion and $900 billion. A decision is expected to be taken at a board meeting in May.
If the deal goes through at the upper end of that range, Anthropic would overtake OpenAI, which was valued at $852 billion in March, to become the most valuable AI startup globally.
The potential fundraise also comes against the backdrop of a possible initial public offering, which could be launched as early as October, the Bloomberg report noted.
The company counts tech heavyweights such as Amazon and Google, part of Alphabet, among its key backers. Both firms have continued to deepen their ties with Anthropic through multi-billion-dollar, performance-linked investments.
Interestingly, earlier reports had suggested that Anthropic was cautious about raising funds at valuations of $800 billion or more. The latest developments, however, indicate that market enthusiasm for advanced AI models and infrastructure may be shifting those thresholds quickly.
As the race for AI dominance accelerates, Anthropic’s next move could set a new benchmark for startup valuations, and signal just how high investors are willing to bet on the future of artificial intelligence.
