MAM
Vaishnavi forges ties with Financial Dynamics
MUMBAI: Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, a communication consultancy, has announced its foray into the global market, forging a strategic alliance with Financial Dynamics, (FD) London.
In a statement issued by the consultancy, this alliance will involve the two entities collaborating in areas of communications consulting, investor relations and public affairs.
Vaishnavi is eyeing the emerging opportunity in the rising demand for communications consultancy among Indian companies to access the capital markets of Europe and North America and also build their brands in these markets.
The company will also be rolling out a plan to expand its domestic national network with offices in over ten emerging media markets and opening offices in SAARC countries including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in this fiscal, states the media release.
With the alliance with Financial Dynamics, Vaishnavi will now be present across all the major financial capitals and business geographies of the world from the Americas and Europe to Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Australia, offering integrated communications solutions to its vast range of clients.
The company will also expand its portfolio of services in the areas of investor relations and financial communications through the adoption of the best practices and domain expertise of Financial Dynamics.
Commenting on the development Vaishnavi Corporate communication chairperson and managing director Nira Radia, said, “With companies looking beyond the shores of India and tapping global funds in line with their business plans as also increasingly engaging in M&A activity, this alliance would give all our stakeholders enhanced value. FD is a prestigious communications consultancy brand and their practices and approach to the spectrum of communications complement ours.”
Financial Dynamics CEO Worldwide Charles Watson said, “FD’s international network has expanded rapidly during the last few years and we now have a presence in key business centres throughout Europe, the US and the Middle East. An ever-increasing proportion of our work for clients involves us acting across more than one geographic territory. India represents a massive opportunity for FD. We’ve seen the potential having worked closely with an increasing number of Indian companies in Europe and North America during the last few years as their business strategies become more global. This partnership is key to us becoming the pre-eminent adviser to businesses from this important part of the world.”
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.
