MAM
Vidya Balan and Welspun spin a ghostly yarn to show quality makes a difference
MUMBAI: When towels turn terrifying and bedsheets get a supernatural twist, you know Vidya Balan is up to something spooky but stylish. Welspun Living Limited (WLL), the global home textile giant, has roped in the National Award-winning actor for its new campaign Kyunki Farq Padta Hai, proving that when it comes to linen, quality really can be a matter of life and afterlife.
Conceptualised by Atom network, the campaign rolls out with two witty short films, one showcasing Welspun’s Quikdry Towels, the other its Purekot Bedsheets. Both films play with horror-comedy tropes, where ghostly nudges push clueless characters towards smarter choices. Think jump-scares, but with punchlines, as the campaign flips the familiar “kya farq padta hai” on its head to remind us, yes, it does matter.
Welspun Living MD & CEO Dipali Goenka summed it up: “Every homemaker knows that what we bring into our homes is about trust, care, and durability. Kyunki Farq Padta Hai is our way of showing how small differences in quality can transform everyday life.” Balan, meanwhile, brings her signature blend of gravitas and humour, saying: “There’s a difference between ordinary and better, random and reliable and that’s the story we’re telling with drama, comedy, and truth.”
Rolling out across TV, digital, print, outdoor and social platforms, the campaign is targeting millions of urban and semi-urban households. With cultural quirks, a dash of nostalgia, and Vidya’s star power, Welspun’s latest isn’t just another product push, it’s a playful reminder that in home linen, the right fabric doesn’t just cover you, it comforts you.
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.
