Author: Kashmeera Sambamurthy

India is the world’s top mobile games’ consumer and home to over 900 gaming companies: Game Changer 2023

Immersive ads rely solely on contextual targeting and not on individual data. This aligns well with evolving privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which emphasizes minimizing the collection and use of personal data for advertising purposes. (Representational image: Jezael Melgoza via Unsplash)

How social gaming, AR, VR, 5G and Web3 opportunities are transforming the gaming landscape in India.

Biz Moves: Hyphen Brands, Grapes, Art-E MediaTech, Digital Kong

yphen Brands won the mandate for Morton Foods. The agency will handle the design, communication and digital duties. The agency’s responsibilities would include recommending food initiatives along with renowned chefs and different activations around various kitchens and cuisines of India. (Representative Image: Ricardo Arce via Unsplash)

Keep up with all the key business wins and the account movements

Gaming in 2023: Brands, marketers must promote responsible gaming as part of communication

Celebrity endorsements in the gaming category have already picked up and going into FY24 we should see more celebrity faces for promotions of different kinds of games. Owing to the diversity within the country and the nature of entertainment consumption in India, we will also witness more regional celebrities being onboarded for the effective growth of the respective regions. (Representative Image: Matthew Ball via Unsplash)

From leveraging data to the confluence of key events in sport and festive season, here’s what gaming marketers are watching out for in 2023.

ShareChat’s Chief Commercial Officer quits, DDB Mudra Group bolsters leadership team; CXO Moves at Ather Energy, Reliance Retail and more

Mohit H Chablani started his career at Intelenet Global Services, and went on to work across Euclid Infotech Services, Aujas Networks, Media.net, ZEDO and Gameloft. (Representative Image: Ryoji Iwata via Unsplash)

Executive moves in the world of brands and agencies. Find out who’s moved up, in and out.

Bookstrapping: 10 must-read books released in 2022

We are specifically focussed on genres such as productivity, efficiency, psychology, science, biography and marketing. And of you missed the news about these books , we hope our column will serve as a reminder. (Representative Image: Amazon, The Morning Books Show)

Its time for that compelling compilation. Our year-end compilation of books is specifically focused on non-fiction and on genres such as productivity, efficiency, psychology, science, biography and marketing.

Weekly Shorts: How Indian micro and nano-influencers shined in 2022

Various metrics suggest that influencer marketing potential for raising brand awareness and producing an ROI is still untapped. Even though the various influencer categories are developing at a strong engagement rate, the number of influencer posts have mostly stayed the same in 2021 and 2022. (Image source: @meh_chali, @akshxtx_pagar, @yash_chokshi, @surbhirohra, @venurasuri)

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.

Emily in Paris to Mad Men: Shows that have powerful characters from media and adland

These celebrated TV shows reveal the nuances of these industries backed by powerful and engaging stories and characters. We suggest add these to your watchlist or re-watchlist now. If you have any recommendations for us, drop your suggestions on our social pages. (Stills from YouTube videos)

The relentless world of media, advertising, and PR has been showcased through remarkable storytelling and stellar actors in these shows. Go watch or re-watch now.

BYJU’s Divya Gokulnath on 2022: The year of lessons, resilience, and India’s reckoning

“We wanted to learn from our mistakes and I am happy to share that right from advertising standards to the way in which we communicate our offerings to students to the way in which we service them, on all these parameters, we have improved as a collective body.” - Divya Gokulnath, co-founder, Byju's (Representative Image via LinkedIn)

BYJU’s co-founder Divya Gokulnath shares, “I have always believed in facing headwinds head-on. It is simply not enough to sit back and wait for change to come.”

Indian gaming studios see big action in 2022; take bolder, ambitious bets

For the first half of FY24, Nazara reported a 42 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in profit after tax to Rs 45 crore as against Rs 31.7 crore profit in H1FY23. Revenue from operations grew by 13 percent to Rs 551.7 crore as against Rs 486.9 crore in H1FY23. (Representative Image via Unsplash)

Several gaming founders and industry executives that Moneycontrol spoke to, expect more gaming-focused funds being set up in the country and global funds to make sizeable investments in the sector in the coming years.

upGrad to increase marketing spends by 40 percent in 2023, plans return on TV as advertiser

upGrad, which works with an in house creative team, will focus on telling real-life success stories in advertisements and other communications. However, Ankit Khirwal says there will be no change in investments in social influencers as they’d continue to endorse the brand even in 2023. (Stills from the ads)

The edtech company’s new marketing plan for 2023 will be focussed on conversation around the mother brand.