MAM
Warner Bros partners Bournville to promote ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Mumbai: Warner Bros has partnered with Cadbury Bournville, the dark chocolate brand from Cadbury, for the release of its soon-to-be released Hollywood movie ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ (TDKR).
Cadbury Bournville will pull out all stops for the cinema release through an integrated marketing campaign. According to the company, the association will delight the Indian youth who await the release of the movie on 20 July, and for whom the love for the ‘Dark‘ will come together with this union.
The Cadbury Bournville – TDKR integration comes to life with special brand packaging, in-store branding, on-ground activities, and television and cinema campaigns. The campaign has been designed and created to ensure engagement across all touch points to reach out to fans of the movie franchise as well as Bournville loyalists.
Additionally, there is a Bournville‘s digital campaign especially created for the TDKR association. The digital campaign has been brought to life with an online contest that aims to add to the wave of anticipation and excitement with the legion of movie buffs and dark chocolate fans.
Cadbury India director – snacking and strategy Chandramouli Venkatesan said, “As the fans await the movie of the year to be released in India, we plan to take the ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ release to greater heights and even greater excitement among Bournville consumers. The movie characterises strong feeling of emotions among youth, something that Bournville lovers are known for. The Bournville brand fit with the Dark Knight franchise cannot be any better than this. It‘s like the Dark Knight really has a “Dark” companion in India.”
The Dark Knight has taken centre stage on Cadbury Bournville‘s Facebook page, with contests and gave 100 “lucky” fans prizes.
The digital campaign also features a 30-second commercial viewed on Cadbury Bournville‘s official YouTube channel. The video is interactive in nature as daily trivia around the Batman franchise will be posted on it with prizes for winners. Those with the right answers will win passes to the pre-screenings of TDKR which will be organised in cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.
Promoting Cadbury Bournville-TDKR association, a 30-second TVC will be rolled out in the second week of July. It will be aired on television channels and cinema theaters.
The TDKR packs of Bournville will run an online contest for customers where one lucky winner will stand a chance to win a free trip for two to Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia. The contest will be available on all packs of Bournville – Rich Cocoa, Hazelnut, Almond, Raisin and Nut.
The association will be promoted in-stores through heavy trade activations in traditional and modern trade throughout the month of July. The campaign will continue to be driven through direct marketing and promotional activity.
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
