Author: Kashmeera Sambamurthy

Dentsu promotes Anita Kotwani to CEO Media, South Asia; Divya Karani moves on

This announcement closely follows last week’s appointment of Harsha Razdan, Dentsu South Asia’s new CEO, as the business continues to strengthen its leadership team in the region. (From left to right: Anita Kotwani and Divya Karani)

Most recently, Anita Kotwani was CEO, Carat India, a position she has held since 2020. Divya Karani will be transitioning off the media business to pursue personal interests.

Exodus at Disney Star as several executives quit

Scaler had earlier said in a media interview, that it increased its workforce by over 150 percent to around 2000, as compared to the 800 employees it had in February 2022. (Representative Image: Tarik Haiga via Unsplash)

Top execs in the Star Sports team of the Disney Star network have exited. Highly placed sources informed Storyboard18 of this. The exits are likely due to the global restructuring that the network is going through to reduce costs that will eventually lead to layoffs.

Havas Creative India appoints Anirban Mozumdar as chief strategy officer

Anirban Mozumdar will lead the strategy function of Havas Creative India. He will work closely with Tarun Jha, Havas Creative India's chief executive officer and Anupama Ramaswamy, chief creative officer, Havas Worldwide India, as well as the leaders of the four creative agencies, Havas Worldwide India (Mumbai/Gurgaon/Bangalore), Havas CX India (Customer Experience), Conran Design Group Mumbai (Branding & Design) and Havas QED (Kolkata). He will also ensure an effective implementation of Havas Group’s Meaningful Brands framework for brand and business solutions.

Anirban Mozumdar is a seasoned brand strategist and consultant with over 25 years of experience in the advertising and branding industry. He began his career in the Leo Burnett network where he worked for over 10 years. In addition to his role in India, he was also a regional lead for P&G Laundry brands based in the Philippines

Nothing’s Carl Pei: India is an important market for Nothing

India is the largest smartphone market in the world. Speaking on his assessment of it, Nothing's founder and chief executive officer Carl Pei is quick to add that he is very bullish on India and its economy. He says, “This year, it is going to grow by six percent. Large parts of the world are going to fall into recession. India’s population is very young. So, they can contribute to building the country and the economy.”

Nothing’s founder and chief executive officer, Carl Pei discussed the challenges of coming up with two brands in a rapidly evolving market, what it takes to build them, and how important is India as a market for Nothing.

#ShareTheSpotlight: Ghazal Alagh puts the spotlight on three women entrepreneurs

“Young female founders who are building great businesses - Ahana Gautam of Open Secret, Ayushi Gudwani of FS Life (prev. Fable Street) and Disha Singh from Zouk. I think the work they are doing is phenomenal and their efforts towards building the business is exemplary. They deserve to be recognised and appreciated.” (Top to bottom: Ahana Gautam, chief executive officer and co-founder, Open Secret; Ayushi Gudwani, founder and CEO, FS Life; and Disha Singh, founder, Zouk)

A snapshot of business woman and “Mama Shark” Ghazal Alagh’s journey and the women she wants to share her light with.

Myntra’s CMO Sunder Balasubramanian: Gen Z is a cohort where we have to fight for attention before the share of wallet

Sunder Balasubramanian, chief marketing officer, Myntra, says, "Social commerce started from what GenZ look for in terms of the kind of influencers that they trust and find authenticity in. What we've seen is the adoption of social commerce strongly over the last few months and quarters itself, over 20 percent of our users interact with our social commerce property. We have done more than 10,000 live shopping sessions. And over time as we build the property, we've seen a 3X increase in traffic for each of the live sessions."

Sunder Balasubramanian, marketing head of Flipkart-owned Myntra, on branded fashion, scaling beauty category and why both celebrities and influencers matter.

RRR to Baahubali: South Indian cinema gets more and more popular in Jammu and Kashmir

The early 2000s were a period when television channels, especially Zee Cinema, began to air south Indian films, dubbed in Hindi. Actors like Chiranjeevi, Ramya Krishnan, Pawan Kalyan, and Venkatesh Daggubati are a few whose movies entertained the masses. (Image courtesy: Baahubali 2 - Moneycontrol, Kantara - News18, RRR - Moneycontrol, Sita Ramam - News18, KGF - News18)

Will the South Indian cinema smorgasbord with movies like Baahubali: The beginning outshine other language films in the coming years?

Weekly Shorts: How brands can use influencer marketing for Ramzan campaigns

The Ramadan festival significantly impacts consumers' buying decisions, making it an ideal time for brands to promote their products and services across all categories. (Representative Image: fajar herlambang 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.

Spikes Asia 2023: Leo Burnett India becomes agency of the year

Leo Burnett India won two Grand Prix at the festival. The wins were for P&G’s Whisper's 'The Missing Chapter' and Mondelez’s Oreo's '#BringBack2011' campaigns. Along with this, the agency also bagged one Glass, two Gold, three Silver and five Bronze Spikes. (Still from The Missing Chapter | Keep Girls In School ad)

Leo Burnett won two Grand Prix, for P&G’s Whisper and Mondelez’s Oreo campaigns. Along with one Glass, two Gold, three Silver and five Bronze Spikes.