AD Agencies
The Advertising Club’s annual digital review D:CODE to be presented by Google returns for the fourth edition
Mumbai: Following the phenomenal success of the first three editions of Annual Digital Review D:CODE, The Advertising Club now announces the 2024 edition of D:CODE, Presented by Google. Scheduled to take place on 28 November in Gurgaon at Google’s India HQ, the fourth edition of D:CODE will witness industry stalwarts debate and deliberate on the theme – ‘D:CODE THE NOW: How AI is Revolutionizing Creative, Media, and the User Landscape in India’.
The global marketing and advertising industry has continued to evolve in an accelerated manner since the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Harnessing the power of AI has become increasingly important for brands and agencies in the digital world. D:CODE 2024 will bring together 9 industry experts, including a surprise speaker who will discuss how AI is impacting the marketing and user landscape. D:CODE 2024 will witness participation from tech giants, marketing wizards, market research agencies and advertisers and brands.
The following 8 leaders in addition to a surprise speaker will get 10 minutes each to share insights, present their case, showcase their work and their industry inspirations at D:CODE 2024:
1 Varun Mayya, CEO and Founder at AEOS
2 Jaspreet Bindra, Founder at AI&Beyond and Tech Whisperer Ltd
3 Manish Gupta, Director at Google DeepMind India
4 Kavita Nair, Strategic Advisor at Skewb Analytics
5 Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director and Chief Client Officer at Kantar
6 Siddharth Srinivasan, Head of India at ElevenLabs
7 Shubhranshu Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, CVBU at Tata Motors
8 Azeez Gupta, Founder at Rocket Learning
Speaking on bringing D:CODE back for its fourth edition, The Advertising Club president Rana Barua said, “The Advertising Club’s D:CODE was launched as an engaging knowledge platform that aims to inspire and inform the industry. As per market reports, over three quarter of CMOs are already using generative AI and over the next 3 years the adoption is inevitable. Therefore, it is imperative for us to plan for an AI ready marketing eco-system which is what D:Code aims to address in this chapter. We have curated the best minds who will be driving this narrative along with The Advertising Club for an AI positive future.”
D:CODE chairperson Mansha Tandon said, “AI is driving innovation, increasing efficiency and helping brands and agencies to explore new ways of consumer engagement and communication. With AI as the central theme, D:CODE’s 2024 edition will turn the spotlight on how our industry is leveraging the power of AI, thus helping brands to shine and create clutter-breaking narratives. Collaboratively our 9 distinguished speakers will cover a wide spectrum of all things AI. We look forward to an evening filled with learning and knowledge sharing at D:CODE 2024.”
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.
