MAM
Turning the page on revenue as Sundar Kondur joins The Hindu Group
MUMBAI: From selling space to steering strategy, Sundar Kondur is back where the headlines began this time to write a new revenue chapter. Sundar Kondur has taken charge as chief revenue officer at The Hindu Group Publishing Pvt Ltd, marking a high-profile leadership move in India’s media and publishing landscape. The appointment brings back a familiar face to the Kasturi ecosystem, but with a much broader mandate shaped by nearly two decades of frontline media sales experience.
Kondur joins The Hindu Group after a long and decorated stint at Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. (The Times of India Group), where he spent over nine years across senior leadership roles spanning national, regional and experiential businesses. Most recently, he served as director for Times Experiences, alongside parallel responsibilities as director for South & East and SVP and regional head for South, overseeing advertising sales across print, digital, television, radio and outdoor assets.
During his tenure at the Times Group, Kondur was credited with consistently strong sales performance, earning Best Branch Awards for two consecutive years and the President’s Choice Award as National Sales Achiever in 2018 and 2019. He also played a key role in creating and monetising new intellectual properties for the group, while remaining an active voice in the industry as a management committee member of the Advertising Club, Bangalore, and a regular panelist at brand and marketing forums.
Notably, this is not Kondur’s first innings with The Hindu Group. Between 2015 and 2016, he served as vice president for advertising sales at Kasturi & Sons Ltd, where he headed national sales and was instrumental in driving the publication’s highest-ever revenue growth, helping move the business from loss to profit. His earlier career also includes senior leadership roles at Mid-Day and multiple brand-building and P&L assignments within the Times Group.
In his new role as chief revenue officer, Kondur is expected to focus on strengthening monetisation strategies across platforms, deepening advertiser partnerships and aligning commercial growth with the group’s evolving editorial and digital ambitions.
With Kondur’s return, The Hindu Group signals a sharper commercial push, one rooted in legacy, but powered by contemporary media economics.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
