Brands
Tops ropes in Kareena Kapoor Khan as brand ambassador
Mumbai: FMCG brand Tops has roped in Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan as its new ambassador. Tops has also launched a new and exotic range of pickles and sauces based on its survey in tier 1 and 2 markets.
With the new product launch, the brand has taken the total tally of its pickle variants to 51. Its upcoming marketing campaign will flaunt the punchline ‘Ab Poore 51 Flavours Mein’ on various visual mediums. This new campaign is conceptualised by Leo Burnett and it features Kareena promoting the brand.
Tops vice-chairman Nitin Seth said that the association with Kareena has come at a time when the brand is on the cusp of launching a new range of pickles and sauces. “Kareena Kapoor is a personification of exuberance and resoluteness, virtues that resonate well with the values exhibited by Tops for its range of pickles and sauces,” he added.
Through this campaign, the brand aims to further strengthen its connection with the consumers across markets by roping in a celebrity brand ambassador. To reiterate the brand’s commitment, Kareena has been brought on board as the face of the brand in India, said the statement.
Speaking on this partnership with Tops, the Bollywood actor said that she’s really happy to be associated with Tops as “it is one of her favourite brands.”
A recent survey carried out by the research team of Tops surmised that people have aspirational desires and want ‘variety’ and ‘convenience’ in their options, coupled with ‘taste’ and ‘trust’ as the prime factors, before zeroing on a particular purchase decision. Taking a cue from this, the company decided to leverage its strengths and bring out products that meet the demand of the consumers. With pickles and sauces being the main growth drivers in the product portfolio at Tops, the company decided to launch a ‘new and exotic range’ under both these product categories.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
