MAM
The Kyoorius Awards to become 100% Carbon Neutral
MUMBAI: Kyoorius, a not-for-profit initiative by Transasia Fine Papers, and D&AD headline a number of sustainable initiatives aimed at supporting the creative community in India.
In keeping with the Kyoorius ethos, the Kyoorius Advertising Awards are unlike any other awards in India, not only because of the rigorous judging standards, but also because entry fees are fed back into the industry. Kyoorius has galvanized the creative community in India since 2006, developing resources that can benefit creatives at all levels in their careers. Funds are used in developing the annual education programme, Kyoorius FYIdays, an initiative aimed at educating and stimulating creative professionals and students – India’s future creative superstars.
But it doesn’t stop there. In another first, Kyoorius Awards is pledged to be a 100% Carbon Neutral event, making it the first awards programme to do so in India, if not the world. 5000 trees have already been planted, with more on the way. And participants can contribute INR 500 towards planting 5 trees, thereby making their entry Carbon Neutral as well.
The audit measured carbon footprint of the event by identifying all sources of event-related greenhouse gas emissions. Major emission sources included travel to the host city, local road transportation, energy consumed by the event venue and energy used through stays at local hotels or homes. Smaller emission sources include transportation of goods the event needs, event organizer travel during planning and preparation, energy consumed by the event office, paper use and waste generation.
Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO commented, “We are in the process of conducting an carbon emission audit of Designyatra and our other events and by August 2014 we will ensure that all Kyoorius Events and Awards will be carbon-neutral – a first in India and amongst the very few globally”
The Kyoorius Awards have been conceptualized in close partnership with D&AD, from defining the format and scope of the Advertising Awards, to the selection of judges and jury process. A mix of the top international, regional, and Indian creative minds have been selected to ensure that work is compared against industry best practices, while keeping the Indian context in mind.
The aim is to create a truly neutral and ethical platform that recognises the best of the advertising industry solely on the basis of merit. Unlike any other advertising awards, all jury members gather in India to review, discuss and elect the best of the best over an intensive three-day session. All voting is private, never by a show of hands.
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.
