Month: December 2023

Pitch imperfect? Social media posts for pitches evoke mixed responses from ad agencies

The results are based on responses from 45 companies, with an estimated annual global ad spend of $60 billion. Seven percent of respondents are spending more than $50m annually on their in-house agencies, the same percentage spend $25-50m, 33 percent spend $5-$25m, 13 percent budget $1m-$5m and 27 percent spend less than $1m. (Representative Image: Tim Mossholder via Unsplash)

Some agencies see this as a tactical play by marketers to warn their existing agencies. Some see these as fishing for free ideas, and feel such posts are mostly unproductive.

Throwback: What’s Onida’s ‘Devil Man’ up to nowadays?

David Whitbread was the model coordinator at Avenues, who, as Kukde puts it, had a ‘cute face’. Whitbread had a thick moustache, and it was quite a task when Avenues asked him to shave it off. Whitbread’s line in his first ad was, “Why do you want to envy a product when you can buy it?” It took Whitbread four to five hours to deliver it. (Stills from an ad)

When Onida was launched in the market, it was known as the ‘poor man’s Sony’. But, with the introduction of the Devil Man in 1984, it immediately struck a chord among the audience and went on to truly define and represent how envious the product Onida was, which was truly the owner’s pride.

Spotify launches advertising marketplace Spotify Audience Network

The streamer said in this beta launch, it will continue to innovate and iterate based on feedback from both users and artists. (Representative Image: Alexander Shatov via Unsplash)

The audio-first advertising marketplace will bring scaled, audience-based podcast buying to brands in India, and presents an opportunity for podcast publishers and creators in the markets to monetize their content.

Leadership battle in Zee-Sony merger: Will it be Goenka or Singh, given governance & regulatory concerns

In August this year, days after the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) approved the Zee-Sony merger, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) issued an order preventing Goenka and his father Subhash Chandra from assuming any significant management roles in Zee companies or the newly-merged entity. (From left to right: Punit Goenka (Image source: News18 Hindi) and NP Singh)

The fight for the top job in the merged entity puts a question mark on not just the merger details, but also the corporate governance of a listed company.