Author: Rabindra

Rahul Mathew, Avinash Pandey, Malvika Mehra, Sudha Natarajan and Tista Sen appointed as Jury Chairs for Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show

09th May 2024; Mumbai, India: Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer of DDB Mudra Group, Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP Network, Malvika Mehra, Sudha Natarajan, Director Response in Times of India Group and Tista Sen join as jury chairs for Brand Activation and Promotion category, Broadcaster category, Young Maverick Abby category, Publisher category and Green Abby category respectively, at The Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show.

Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer of DDB Mudra Group has been appointed Jury Chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Brand Activation and Promotion category.

Under Rahul’s leadership, the DDB Mudra Group became the first Indian agency to be crowned APAC agency of the year at Spikes Asia. The work from the agency has won 4 Grand Prix at Spikes Asia in the last 3 years.

In 2019, DDB Mudra became the first agency in the world to win the D&AD Impact Prize Fund. According to the 2021 Campaign Brief Asia ranking, DDB Mudra Group was ranked #3 in India. The WARC 2021 ranking of DDB Mudra was that of the #1 Effective Agency in India as well as Asia.

Rahul has had the privilege to judge in numerous shows across the world, he was also the Jury President for Press & Outdoor at D&AD ‘22.

Rahul believes that creativity isn’t a department, it’s an attitude.

Avinash Pandey, CEO, of ABP Network has been appointed Jury Chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Broadcaster category.

ABP Network is India’s leading television and digital network with 4 TV channels running 24×7 on cable and satellite, serving in 8 languages on Digital, touching a total audience of over 265 million.

Avinash has over 28 years of experience in Media, news, Advertising, and Digital.

Avinash is also the President of News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA), President of International Advertising Association (India Chapter), and serving Director of Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA).

He is the Founding Director of ABP Studios, which has produced award-winning films and TV series.

Avinash is a Delhi University Graduate and Post Graduate in History and an AMP from Harvard Business School.

Avinash has received numerous awards including CEO of the Year Award twice from ENBA.

Malvika Mehra has been appointed Jury Chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Young Maverick Abby category.

In a career spanning 3 decades, Malvika has donned many hats across advertising and marketing. Leading the brand mandate as Chief Creative Officer at Grey and Dentsu, successfully partnering clients and building famous brands like Bingo! at Ogilvy, and running her independent venture, Tomorrow Creative Lab, Malvika has moved on to being an independent consultant and brand partner to CEOs & founders.

Currently, Creative Head, Marketing, Dinshaw’s Dairy Foods, Malvika was formerly Chief Creative Officer, of Good Brands at the Good Glamm Group.

Malvika has been invited 3 times as juror by the prestigious Cannes Lions across the print, film, and design categories. She has been part of other eminent global juries for advertising and design including Clio, Spikes Asia, Dubai Lynx, and Kyoorius apart from Abby awards. Along the way, her work has picked up more than 100 awards at shows like Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, Adfest Asia Pacific, Spikes Asia, Kyoorius, The Abbys, and The Effies.

Some of Malvika’s famous brand campaigns have been the launch of ITC Foods’ Bingo!, and her insightful work across Titan, Hutch, Vodafone, State Bank of India, Gillette, Reliance Telecom, Dell, Fiat, Honda, Duracell and the Indian Army.

The impact of her work and leadership has earned her a place among India’s ‘50 Most Influential People in Media, Marketing and Advertising’ (Economic Times – Brand Equity Agency Reckoner 2019), and the ‘Top 20 Creative Directors in India’ (ET, Brand Equity Agency Reckoner) twice in the past.

Sudha Natarajan, Director Response in Times of India Group has been appointed Jury Chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Publisher category.

Sudha has had 25 years of learning experience, with 13 of them being in leadership positions, in marketing, advertising, and media organizations.

Sudha has been Director looking after a diversified revenue portfolio, including the Digital offerings for Bennett, Coleman & Co., the largest and most diversified media company in India, Sudha has served as the CEO of a large international agency network, Lintas Initiative Media (2nd largest, in India).

Sudha was voted as ‘Woman Icon’ of the Marketing & Advertising Industry, she was ranked the 14th most influential Marketing & Advertising person by the Economic Times.

Sudha has served on various juries like the Festival of Media, Asia, and Cannes.

Sudha is also a board member of several Group Companies.

Tista Sen has been appointed Jury Chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Green Abby category.

Tista Sen started her career with Whitelight Production, India’s leading ad film production company. After assisting on over 60 commercials she joined Lowe Lintas as a writer and worked on brands like Johnson & Johnson, Cadbury’s, and Unilever.

Tista joined J Walter Thomson and for over 22 years she was involved with some of the largest brands in India and some of the most memorable and well-loved ad campaigns for Unilever, ITC, Godrej, GSK, Aditya Birla, Sony, SBI Mutual Funds

Tista has been ranked among the 20 most creative people in Asia and worked on campaigns that have won numerous metals at Cannes, Clio, Ad-Fest, One Show, D&AD, Clio, Spikes Asia including the Grand Prix and Gold for her work on Lost Daughters in 2022.

Over the years, Tista has been on the jury of several global advertising festivals including Cannes, D&AD, Clio, LIA, Gerety Awards, Spikes, and The New York Festival. In 2015 Tista had the pleasure of being the only Asian on the inaugural Glass Jury at Cannes that honours gender diversity in communication.

Tista is co-founder of The Collective, an agency-agnostic platform that is a voice for young women in the industry when it comes to discrimination and gender inequality. Passionate about story-telling and the power of the written word, Tista is the only Indian to be published in the Modern Love Column of the New York Times.

Tista recently founded Ladyfinger, an agency that talks to women specifically on issues they can relate to, and has worked with brands to adopt an insightful communication model.

Synology Showcased Comprehensive Data Management Solutions For the Media And Entertainment Industry At VFX and More 2024

Mumbai – 9th May 2024 – Synology, a prominent leader in offering extensive IT solutions spanning edge, core, and cloud environments, presented its complete lineup of data management and protection solutions designed for the Visual effect(VFX), media, and entertainment sector in India at the VFX and More Summit (VAM Summit) from May 2nd to 3rd, 2024, held at the NESCO Exhibition Centre in Goregaon.

Targeted at directors, VFX supervisors, cinematographers, and professionals in visual effects, Synology storage solutions envision a boundless realm for content creators, merging human creativity with technological innovation.

Russell Chen, Synology Country Manager for the SAARC region, said, “As the media and entertainment industries continue to flourish and evolve, the escalating demands for large-volume data management, secure storage, and comprehensive solutions enabling seamless sharing with external partners are becoming more pronounced. Additionally, there is a growing need for multi-site collaboration, with multiple Synology NAS systems being deployed to streamline the creative process between different branches or departments.” He added, “Over the past three years in India, Synology has witnessed a remarkable increase in revenue share from the media and entertainment sector, rising from 10% to an impressive 15%-20% of our regional revenue. This substantial growth underscores our success in meeting the evolving needs of the VFX, media, and entertainment industries.”

Synology, a trusted choice for esteemed media companies such as BBC Media Action in the UK and RUN Studio in the US, delivers precise, tailored, global-scale solutions to bolster the creative workflows within the media and entertainment industry. Moreover, the company has cultivated strong partnerships with its media and entertainment clients, including those in India.

In India, Synology collaborates with acclaimed photography professionals and the prestigious Pixel Village Academy in Pune. This academy harnesses Synology storage solutions for content creation, collaboration, and future-proofing data protection. Furthermore, it imparts essential knowledge to its photography students regarding the significance of data ownership and the necessity of asset backups. Conversely, an esteemed Bangalore-based animation studio that played a pivotal role in the beloved LEGO movie production uses Synology as its primary storage solution provider. Synology ensures the on-demand provision of reliable and scalable data to fuel the studio’s creative animation endeavors.

To serve these illustrious customers effectively, Synology offers tailor-made storage management solutions, addressing their unique requirements and empowering them to transcend data limitations, ultimately unleashing their boundless creativity.

Graph II. Synology demonstrates comprehensive data protection solutions – Active Backup Suite and Snapshot Replication – including prevention, data backup, and recovery processes.

• Comprehensive Media File Storage Ownership

In the flourishing media industry, there is an increasingly urgent demand for efficient large-volume data storage management. In response to this need, Synology presents petabyte-scale solutions that redefine storage. The solutions offer high density, exceptional scalability, and unmatched high availability, all accessible through an intuitive and license-free portal-DiskStation Manager. Comprehensive data integrity and protection capabilities, seamlessly integrated, ensure peace of mind for customers.

• Revolutionize Editing Efficiency and Facilitate Seamless Collaboration

Online editing plays a pivotal role in the fast-evolving media and entertainment business. Synology introduces a new era of editing efficiency with high-speed online editing and all-flash storage solutions. Supporting network capacities of 10GbE, 25GbE, and more, Synology empowers professionals in this dynamic industry with seamless, lightning-fast capabilities, propelling their workflows to new heights of productivity.

• Unlock Media File Sharing at Unprecedented Speeds

In an era where global collaboration is vital, companies, especially those in post-production and design studios, require seamless connectivity. Synology unveils the Presto File Server, offering an unparalleled leap in file transfer speeds. Leveraging Synology’s exclusive SITA technology, users can effortlessly share media files across borders, experiencing a remarkable 68-fold speed increase compared to traditional FTP and HTTP methods. This innovative solution revolutionizes cross-border collaboration, making it faster and more efficient.

• Robust Backup and Archiving: Guarding Against Threats

Ransomware threats are of utmost concern, particularly within the data-centric media and entertainment industry, where data is a paramount asset. Synology’s security solutions, including Secure SignIn and Security Advisor, play a vital role in enabling customers to protect their invaluable data. Synology consolidated backup and instant recovery solutions running on Synology NAS safeguard digital assets through comprehensive file and block-level backups, near-instant data protection with snapshots, and optimized storage efficiency with Synology’s advanced deduplication technology.

In response to the surging demand for data storage and protection, Synology has recently introduced its flagship model – the High-density HD6500 in India. With the capacity to deliver up to 4.8 Petabytes of storage, this model serves as both a central repository for files and a backup solution for large enterprise organizations with extensive data needs. Particularly well-suited for data volume-intensive industries such as media, entertainment, and VFX, the HD6500 offers unparalleled storage capabilities.

Graph III. The 4U, 60-bay HD6500 streamlines petabyte-level storage with support for up to 960 TB per chassis and can be easily paired with up to 4 additional RX6022sas 60-bay expansion units for over 4 PB of storage in 20U.

Synology® at a glance

Staying at the forefront of data management, Synology innovates and adapts to ever-evolving technologies and continues bringing new possibilities to the table, including but not limited to solutions for data storage and backup, file collaboration, video management, and network infrastructure – all designed with one goal in mind – presenting a centralized platform to simplify IT administration while driving digital transformation for businesses worldwide.

PARKSONS CARTAMUNDI Presents ‘Asli Fan Khelta Hai’: A Digital Film Celebrating True Fan Love for the Game

08th May 2024, Mumbai: Parksons Cartamundi, a leading player in the evolving world of playing cards worldwide, today unveiled a new digital film for the launch of “The Official Mumbai Indians Playing Cards”. The exciting new film captures the essence of Mumbai’s passionate fan culture, showcasing how cricket transcends the boundaries of the stadium and brings people together.

Produced by Schbang Motion Pictures, the film explores the essence of what it means to be an “Asli Fan.” These are the passionate supporters who go beyond simply watching the game. They live and breathe their team spirit, actively participating in the experience. They’re the ones proudly sporting Mumbai Indians jerseys, and now, owning a deck of these specially designed playing cards becomes another way to showcase their devotion. Understanding this, Parksons Cartamundi has launched a captivating/fun digital film cleverly highlighting the shared spirit of competition that binds cricket and playing cards. Just like on the cricket pitch, where the best team emerges victorious, playing cards offer a fun and competitive experience that unites people.

The narrative follows a dedicated Mumbai Indians fan navigating the vibrant city, encountering fellow fans from all walks of life – from taxi drivers to fishermen, dabbawalas to gully cricket players. United by their love for the game and their team, they connect through the joy of playing cards, showcasing the diverse and relatable characters that make Mumbai’s fan culture so special. With the tagline “Asli Fan Khelta Hai!” (A True Fan Plays!), the campaign celebrates this passionate fan culture. The film beautifully captures how playing cards transcend boundaries, uniting fans in their shared love for the game.

Speaking about the latest film, Mr. Kapil Kejriwal, CEO & MD, of Parksons Cartamundi Private Limited, said, “At Parksons Cartamundi, we believe playing cards is not just a game to pass your time. Rather, it plays an essential role in adding emotions and unity to every game played. Similarly, the new range of Mumbai Indians playing cards helps the Asli Fans support and play the match along with their favorite team. Our new film perfectly captures this spirit, showcasing how the joy of playing cards transcends boundaries and unites fans in a shared love for the game. Through this digital film, we aim to inspire fans to embrace their passion for cricket and card playing!”

The film opens with a captivating montage of everyday Mumbai characters converging on an empty parking lot. As the camera pans across, we see glimpses of a pack of the Parksons Cartamundi X Mumbai Indians cards being shuffled, hinting at the playful competition to come. The narrative unfolds with the protagonist, a die-hard Mumbai Indians fan, showcasing his signature card moves and infectious enthusiasm. Further highlighting, various types of Mumbaikers showcasing celebration and support in their unique styles for their favorite cricket team.

Speaking on the film Rachaita Vyas, Head of Schbang Motion Pictures said, “We are delighted to announce our successful partnership with Parksons Cartamundi for the launch of an innovative project. Embracing the spirit of IPL, we have created a captivating experience that resonates with the Mumbai-ya vibe. This collaboration has been a rewarding journey, and we are thrilled to have contributed to something special for our target audience.”

Zeeshanali Ruby, Associate Vice President – Brand Solutions, Schbang shared his views, “The most effective approach to selling and generating awareness about an entertainment solution is by captivating and entertaining the audience with the promotional content itself. By immersing them in an engaging experience, we not only grab their attention but also leave a lasting impression that drives interest and enthusiasm for our offering.”

OLX Unveils 2.0 Transformation; Classified Business to take Centre Stage

INDIA, Gurugram, 9th May 2024 — OLX, India’s leading online classifieds platform, has announced its strategic move to focus on its classified business post its acquisition by Cartrade Tech (NSE: CARTRADE).

This strategic pivot reflects OLX’s commitment to offering over 35 million monthly active unique (MAU) users a seamless experience of buying and selling pre-owned goods, enhancing their lives every single day.

Beyond buying and selling, these transactions also help build meaningful connections and positive outcomes. The OLX platform provides consumers and businesses with access to the widest array of used goods in India, enabling them to buy their most preferred brands without any budgetary constraints, turning aspirations into reality.

OLX aims to redefine the online classified landscape with its multi-category platform for its users, thereby enhancing user experiences with quality products that foster trust within the community by continuously educating them about online safety.

Focus Categories

OLX continues to have a strong presence across various segments within the online classified landscape, with one of the largest dealer networks and listings spanning 12 broad categories. Going forward, OLX is expanding its focus to encompass a wider range of categories, including real estate, jobs, consumer durables, and smartphones, in addition to its existing pre-owned car and bike category. These five categories collectively contribute to more than 80% of OLX’s listings, of over 3 million each month. This strategic move aligns with OLX’s commitment to meet the evolving needs of consumers.

Furthermore, the recent acquisition of OLX by the CarTrade Group has significantly enhanced the company’s reach, with over 70 million unique consumers being served on a monthly basis across the group companies. This positions OLX as one of the largest consumer-facing businesses in India, further solidifying its market presence.

Key Industry Partnerships

OLX is actively forming partnerships with industry leaders across key categories to enhance its platform and deliver an unparalleled user experience. As the enabler, OLX aims to provide access to relevant business partners that include original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other service providers e.g. financial institutions, to its extensive user base of more than 35 million to expand market reach and offer its consumers a wide range of products and services.

OLX recently announced two such partnerships, one with Cars24 and the other with Royal Enfield. The partnership with Cars24 harnesses the synergies between the platforms, offering users an expanded array of options with enhanced features, including warranties on its used cars, an industry first for purchasing and selling pre-owned cars on a used-goods platform.

The collaboration with Royal Enfield introduces ‘Reown,’ their initiative for a company-operated pre-owned motorcycle business. This initiative facilitates seamless access to potential consumers to buy certified pre-owned Royal Enfield motorcycles directly through the OLX platform.

“We are excited about this strategic move and the unprecedented growth achieved through our integration with the CarTrade Group, further solidifying our commitment to serving consumers. It aligns with our vision to be at the forefront of the online classifieds space, offering users not only a reliable platform for automotive transactions but also a versatile marketplace for diverse needs. Our focus on real estate, bikes, jobs, consumer durables, and smartphones is set to solidify OLX’s leadership position and deliver great value to our users.”, said Amit Kumar, Managing Director & CEO OLX India

Aarika Innovations Launches Golden Eye, A Solar Plant Monitoring system for optimization

May 2024, Aarika Innovations, a trailblazer in the deep tech industry. Renowned for innovative solutions for enhancing workplace safety, Golden Eye today unveiled its latest advancement in solar plant monitoring systems. Golden Eye is designed to transform the management and optimization of solar energy assets using pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing technologies, promising enhanced efficiency and reliability in solar energy production.

Golden Eye increases uptime and leverages asset production effectively. Its robust design allows for the continuous operation of solar plants, significantly boosting overall efficiency. The system offers an intuitive interface for monitoring all aspects of a solar plant system, including main power sources and inverters, ensuring optimal performance.

Golden Eye enables proactive management by allowing users to take targeted actions based on observed trends and performance degradations. This approach helps maintain high-performance standards by addressing potential issues swiftly. Users receive near real-time production data, warnings, alarms, and other critical metrics, facilitating quick adjustments and improved management.

Golden Eye employs AI-based computer vision to capture real-time data from electricity meters without needing to interact with circuits. Additionally, it integrates edge computing to process data directly at the local control panel, minimizing latency and speeding up data handling by sending only summary data to the cloud.

Golden Eye is accessible via web and mobile app, offering comprehensive views and push notifications for critical alerts such as power failures. This ensures users are always informed and can respond immediately.

“Golden Eye is more than just a monitoring system. It is a comprehensive solution that empowers solar energy producers to maximize their output while minimizing costs and downtime,” stated Swayam Agrawal, Founder of Aarika Innovations. “With this innovative technology, we are setting new industry standards and helping pave the way towards a more sustainable and efficient future.”

Aarika Innovations is committed to enhancing workplace safety using new technologies. By combining cutting-edge hardware and software, the company creates tailor-made safety solutions that not only protect workers but also safeguard valuable assets in hazardous environments.