Author: Kashmeera Sambamurthy

Weekly Shorts: Building a robust men’s grooming brand with influencer marketing

Selecting the right influencers is only 50 percent of the campaign; the next 50 percent is to strategise the campaign well.(Representative Image: Hyeonyoung Yang via Unsplash)

What’s buzzing in influencer marketing and the creator ecosystem? What’s the next big thing coming down the line? Catch the big trends and hot topics in our weekly shorts.

Explained: How AI and precision marketing has transformed election campaigns in India

It’s quite a predicament, says one ad agency head who wished not to be named. “On the one hand, you want to talk about the work because it is an election-related campaign, on the other hand, it would be tricky if you do,” he said. (Representative Image: Phil Scroggs via Unsplash)

Real-time surveys and integration of booth-level data to target individual voters to firing hundreds of posts in multiple languages simultaneously, election campaigns have changed with the advent of tech and AI.

Elon Musk says he has found new Twitter CEO

The billionaire's first two weeks as the new Twitter owner in October were marked by rapid change. He quickly fired Twitter's previous CEO Parag Agrawal and other senior leaders and then laid off half its staff in November.

“Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!,” Musk said in a tweet.

Nivea appoints Sunil Gadgil as marketing director, India, Ashish Joshi as sales director

From 2017 to 2020, Sunil Gadgil led Beiersdorf’s business in Ukraine, and since November 2020, has served as the director of the biggest Nivea category – Body and All-Purpose Cream. Meanwhile, Ashish Joshi who joins the company as sales director comes with an overall experience of 16 years. He also started his Nivea India journey in 2016 (From left to right: Sunil Gadgil and Ashish Joshi)

Sunil Gadgil has over 12 years of experience with Beiersdorf in various global and local roles.

Puma India appoints Karthik Balagopalan as managing director

Karthik Balagopalan will start in his new role on August 1, 2023. Abhishek Ganguly will remain at Puma until the end of August to ensure a smooth transition.

Karthik Balagopalan replaces Abhishek Ganguly, who worked for Puma’s Indian business for 17 years and has been the managing director of Puma India since 2014.

Big Surge: TATA IPL 2023 on JioCinema gets record-breaking 1300 cr+ video views in first 5 weeks

JioCinema breached the peak concurrency records of TATA IPL twice in a span of five days. On April 12, they clocked a 2.23 crore peak during the Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals match. Five days later, during the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings fixture, JioCinema broke the record again with a concurrency of 2.4 crore. (Image source: Twitter - @IPL)

A record-shattering for TATA IPL 2023 on streamer JioCinema continues as the platform clocks over 1300 crore video views in the first five weeks of the league.

Remembering Pratap Bose: Face of India’s OOH advertising, entrepreneur and mentor to many

With over two decades of experience working with top agencies such as Ogilvy India and DDB Mudra Group, Pratap Bose was known for his expertise in building the outdoor advertising business in India.

Advertising veteran Pratap Bose passed away on Thursday after battling a major illness. He is survived by his wife and two children. Industry executives at Storyboard18 expressed disbelief at the untimely demise of the ad veteran and remembered him as an ever-smiling calm individual who not only dreamt big but also helped many to achieve their true potential.

Disney+ Hotstar loses 4.6 million subscribers in second consecutive quarterly drop

Disney+ Hotstar accounted for about 33.5 percent of the total paid subscriber base of Disney+ which stood at 157.8 million for the quarter, down 2 percent from 161.8 million subscribers in the previous quarter. Disney+ Hotstar is currently available in India and certain Southeast Asia markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, although a majority of the subscribers are from India. (Representative Image: Mika Baumeister via Unsplash)

Disney+ Hotstar’s subscriber decline for the quarter is its biggest one until now. It comes amid a loss of marquee content from the streaming service.

After Bournvita, influencer ‘Foodpharmer’ goes after Kissan and Maggi ketchup

Recently, Revant Himatsingka caused a stir with his video on Mondelez India-owned malt drink brand Bournvita, highlighting its high sugar content and the misleading positioning as a health drink. The video went viral, and he received a legal notice from the company, leading him to take it down. However, it resonated with millions of netizens who called out the brand.

Revant Himatsingka, known publicly as Foodpharmer, calls out Hindustan Unilever (HUL)-owned ketchup brand Kissan Tomato Ketchup and Nestle India-owned Maggi tomato ketchup for their high sugar content.

Advertising veteran Pratap Bose is no more

With over two decades of experience working with top agencies such as Ogilvy India and DDB Mudra Group, Pratap Bose was known for his expertise in building the outdoor advertising business in India.

Pratap Bose co-founded The Social Street, a marketing communication agency, in 2015.