Event Coverage
Six principles vital for acceptance of branded content: Vanessa Clifford
NEW DELHI: It’s the business of consumer connect, realistically. Noting that there was a dearth of good branded content and the British media invested 350,000 pounds sterling towards that every year, Newsworks deputy chief executive Vanessa Clifford said the aim should be to provide value to the consumer.
Talking about opportunities for branded content at the session “All News is Good News” at ZEE Melt here, she listed six guiding principles for branded content.
She said that the first was clearly the audience interest. One needed to attract the right kind of audience for a particular brand that one planned to sell through a specific advertisement, she said.
There was need to plan the communication idea keeping the target audience and the platform – online or print – in mind. Secondly, the print medium was important as its expertise and heritage were built on reputation, she said.
Trust and transparency was the third on Vanessa’s list of principles. She demonstrated examples of how a reader and viewer’s trust had been won in different advertisement campaigns.
It was necessary for the advertiser and the media, she said, to set the right goals so that the objective of the campaign was fulfilled.
Collaboration between the advertiser and the medium was of prime significance so that the message was conveyed perfectly well, Vanessa felt.
Finally, Vanessa said, there was need to ‘create stories’ that kept the interest of the audience alive.
Earlier, speaking in the same session on “The Role of Print”, Vanessa said that her experience in the United Kingdom had shown that the impact of the print medium was higher in the long-term and national newspapers drove news brands.
She quoted Arthur Miller to say that a good newspaper was like a nation talking to itself.
The print medium delivers results better than any other medium, and campaigners using the print news delivered stronger effects on businesses. News brands command a higher level of attention and 60% of that was focused on newspapers as against 57% on television.
Referring to branding content, she said that there was greater engagement, trust and personal identification. She observed that advertisements worked on ‘sight and sound’ but often forgot the ‘touch’ aspect which actually drove brands, and this was achieved through the print medium.
Furthermore, she said that physical interaction in researches had shown that 66% of the consumers considered buying or subscribing to a product if they saw it in print. The return on investments (ROI) by advertisers through the print medium was three times better than any other medium. The print also commanded a higher level of attention.
Answering a question, she said credibility was higher in the print medium despite the influx of newer online media. Age of the consumer was not a consideration as far as the print medium was concerned, she noted.
Speaking on “Brands and Marketers” in the age of democratized story-telling, News Corp Senior Vice President-Strategy Raju Narisetti said user-generated content (UGC) used by advertisers had greater effect than a commercial where it was clear that it was being enacted.
“Everyone is creating content these days, and around 400 hours of content is produced on YouTube every minute,” he said. Democratized story-telling showed that anyone could tell a story through the mobile.
Raju referred to studies that had shown that 92% consumers were more likely to trust their peers than an advertisement. But, he said, the challenges before UGC was volume, accuracy, acceptance and acquisition.
There was need to align, identify, verify and license, and deploy before using technology for UGC, Raju concluded.
Event Coverage
Anime India announces Amazon MX Player as co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata 2026
MUMBAI: Riding high on the success of its blockbuster Mumbai debut, Anime India is accelerating its nationwide expansion with the announcement of Amazon MX Player as the co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata. The partnership marks a significant step forward in the festival’s mission to deliver large-scale, accessible, and fan-first anime experiences across the country.
Scheduled for 14 and 15 February 2026 at the iconic Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan, Anime India Kolkata will launch the first regional chapter of what is set to be a year-long, multi-city tour. As the curtain-raiser for the 2026 circuit, the Kolkata edition aims to fuse the energy of global Japanese pop culture with India’s fast-growing community of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans.
A household name in digital entertainment, Amazon MX Player brings unmatched reach and cultural relevance to the Anime India platform. With its expanding focus on anime and youth-driven content, Amazon MX Player’s involvement as co-presenting partner reinforces Anime India’s vision of making anime culture more inclusive breaking barriers of language, geography, and accessibility to connect with fans nationwide.
Anime India Kolkata 2026 will showcase cosplay competitions, interactive zones led by the Indian Gunpla Community, India-39 Vocaloid Community, The Japan Curry, and Adda-o-Otaku by The Otaku Guild. Fans can join tournaments across fighting games, Pokémon VGC, and more. Acclaimed Japanese director Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) will attend as guest of honour, appearing in panels and live sessions. Positioned as an immersive celebration of fan culture and industry collaboration, the Kolkata edition marks the beginning of Anime India’s nationwide expansion.
Sharing their perspective on the partnership, Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani expressed, “Anime in India has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural movement, driven by an increasingly engaged and passionate fanbase. At Amazon MX Player, our focus is on expanding access by bringing anime to audiences across the country for free and in multiple local languages. Our association with Anime India reflects our commitment to supporting the growth of anime in India and deepening connections with fans, while continuing to build Amazon MX Player as a trusted destination for free, high-quality entertainment.”
“Anime India Kolkata is a celebration of how anime has grown beyond entertainment into a powerful cultural and creative force. By bringing fans, creators, and industry leaders onto one shared platform, the festival is helping define the future of pop culture in India,” said Anime India co-founder and director Neha Mehta.
The debut edition of Anime India 2025 in Mumbai attracted over 29,000 fans, quickly cementing its status as a landmark celebration of anime and Japanese pop culture. Riding on this overwhelming response, the Kolkata chapter is projected to draw more than 40,000 visitors across two days, positioning it as one of the biggest anime conventions ever held in eastern India.
Anime India is focused on bringing together fans from across the country to create a truly pan-India celebration of anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and Japanese culture. With plans to expand into four key metropolitan hubs in 2026—east (Kolkata), north (Delhi), west (Mumbai), and south (Hyderabad)—the festival seeks to deliver globally benchmarked experiences while supporting and uplifting creators, artists, and fan communities throughout India.
