MAM
Zee sports new look in changing media landscape
MUMBAI: India’s biggest television media company, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel), is turning “cool”, in a major rebranding exercise that aims to reflect the progressive outlook of its channels.
The need for change has come after a gap of six years, a period in which the television landscape has changed dramatically and the reach has exploded.
Zeel has coined the tagline ‘Umeed Se Saje Zindagi‘’ for all its channels (barring the sports channels) and sported a new corporate brand identity.
Behind the new look is the company’s objective to take forward a progressive outlook.
Unveiling the new brand identity for flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Zee TV, Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka said he believes that the time is right to “infuse renewed freshness into the brand and reflect an identity that truly articulates our spirit.”
The essence is captured in the new tagline. “The new positioning is about a celebration and vindication of a woman’s emerging beliefs and a reflection of her changing hopes, dreams and optimism,” said Goenka.
The new logo is designed by the in-hose team at Zeel, based on the creative inputs from its agency Draft FCB-Ulka.
The aqua blue colour new logo features a stylish font. Zeel said that the new age design with its upward flourish signifies the upward movement of desires and wishes.
The abstract form of the ‘Z’ and vibrancy of aqua blue bring in modernity and freshness to the brand.
“The unshackling of the ‘Z’ from the box symbolises today’s woman’s zest for life and confidence to go out in the world beyond her home. The overall design has a progressive feel and reflects the idea of looking into the future with hope and depicts a more dynamic and spirited outlook. The rainbow of hope is a very important element of the new packaging. It is colourful, ethereal and symbolically emphasizes the promise of ‘Umeed Se Saje Zindagi’… celebrating hope and life,” said Goenka.
Draft FCB-Ulka has also developed the new corporate brand TVC. Produced by Equinox, the TVC captures “the sky” in “our canvas”. This was brought through by the protagonist in the TVC—the girl-child—and her desire to succeed. It’s a metaphor for the woman, echoing the emerging paradigms with fresh beliefs and a zest for life.
The film is directed by ad film-maker Ram Madhvani while the music is composed by Rajat Dholakia.
The new logo, packaging and positioning was unveiled in the event ‘Umeed ka Naya Chehra’ on 19 June at 9 pm.
Zeel is also kicking off a 360 degree advertising campaign to promote the new brand identity.
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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.
