Maruti Suzuki on Thursday appointed Mindshare India as its new media agency. The news was confirmed to exchange4medina by Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director - Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India.

The account was earlier handled by dentsu India. The account size is believed to be around Rs 1200 crore. The mandate will cover tradional, outdoor and digital media.

Reposting e4m story on her on LinkedIn profile, Mindshare APAC CEO Helen McRae said, "Super proud of a world class team and honoured by the trust Maruti has placed with us. Looking forward to a truly stellar partership!"

The auto major called for the pitch in November 2022 to explore options and evaluate new strategies and technology-powered solutions media agencies can bring to the brand’s next phase of growth and journey. GroupM, OMG and dentsu, it is believed, made it to the final round.

In June 2022, Maruti Suzuki India added Lintas C:EX, a Mullen Lowe Lintas Group agency, to its creative roster. The auto major is now working with Hakuhodo India, dentsu Impact, and Lintas C:EX for developing creative solutions and advertising campaigns.

Earlier, speaking about the pitch, Srivastava said the company made this move not only to add creative freshness to the brand but also to focus on advertising other aspects of the company’s business. “We have realised that two agencies may not be sufficient to manage the current vastness of our business,” he had said.

Meanwhile, in a statement, dentsu India said, "We are proud of our six-year media relationship with Maruti Suzuki. We have enjoyed working with the team and what we have co-created together. We will continue to drive our partnership with them across Creative and Customer Experience. We thank them for their partnership and wish them success with their new media agency."

Rajya Sabha MP Dr Sasmit Patra has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (enba) jury panel. Patra is the member of the Parliament of India representing Odisha in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house since June 28, 2019. He is currently the National Spokesperson and Media Coordinator of Biju Janata Dal.

Dr Patra has a rich experience of academia as well as public policy and governance. Apart from political work and social work, he comes with 17 years of work experience in academics, business research, industry and corporate sector, UNDP-Government of Odisha project.

He was the Dean of XAVIER-EMLYON Business School, the first Indo-French business school in India, a joint collaboration between Xavier University, Bhubaneswar and Emlyon Business School, France. An academic by profession, he has taught courses in the areas of organisational behaviour and human resource management. He also has experience of working in industry.

enba was formulated by the exchange4media group in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news. The awards honour industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, enba is in its 15th edition. The grand jury will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

Havas Media Group India (HMGI) has recently won the integrated media mandate of V-Guard Industries Limited, a consumer electrical and electronics company.

The mandate was won following a highly competitive multi-agency pitch and includes Digital, TV, Print, Radio, OOH, Cinema duties. The account will be handled by the agency’s Bengaluru team lead by Saurabh Jain, Managing Partner – South, Havas Media Group India alongside the able leadership of Uday Mohan, President and Chief Client Officer, Havas Media Group India.

Havas Media Group India and V-Guard will work closely to develop and implement an integrated media strategy that will effectively reach and engage with their target audience. The expertise of Havas Media Group India will be invaluable to V-Guard in their expansion plans as their brand and reach continues to grow, the agency said.

Nandagopal Nair, Vice President & Head – Brand & Communications, V-Guard Industries Limited, said, "As a brand, we have always believed in consumer centricity. Today, the consumer purchase journey has become even more complex with multiple lines zigzagging about to move consumers from discovery to the final purchase. We were looking for a media partner who will navigate this complexity, work closely with the brand, align the defined media objectives to business and help achieve the desired outcomes. In Havas we found a partner who demonstrated the right strategic intent backed by a coherent, well-defined approach to deliver to the objectives. Would also like to thank Deloitte (Spatial Access) who partnered with us in the agency selection process."

Commenting on the win, Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group India, said, "We are delighted to partner with V-Guard Industries, an established brand in the consumer electrical and electronics segment. Havas Media Group India is known for its innovative and data-driven approach to meaningful media solutions, and we are confident that our expertise will help V-Guard achieve their business objectives. We are looking forward to working together to develop a strong and effective media strategy that will drive their brand awareness and engagement."

Jayen Mehta, Managing Director of Amul, has joined the enba jury panel.

Earlier COO, he succeeded RS Sodhi as Managing Director in January.

Mehta joined Amul in 1991 and has served as the brand manager, group product manager and general manager of the company. He has also been the MD in-charge of Amul Dairy, Anand in 2018.

Mehta is a gold medalist from Sardar Patel University and is an alumnus of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujarat.

The enba jury this year will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat, and former Election Commissioner of India.

In the last editions, the enba jury was led by Sh. Harivansh Narayan Singh – Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr. Kiran Karnik – Former President – Nasscom, Dr. Nasim Zaidi - Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, S.Y. Quraishi – Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, N. Ram – Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Former Editor–in-chief The Hindu and Group Newspapers, Sanjay Gupta – Managing Director – Star India.

exchange4media formulated enba in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news, and to reward industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India.

Taco Bell, which has been leveraging influencer marketing, collaborated with youth icon and gaming enthusiast Rannvijay Singha in 2021 for the #CravingMeetsGaming experience through a virtual Game Session in the racing game Forza Horizon 4. In the same year, they also did #ISeeATaco campaign as well. 

Syed Zafar Islam former Rajya Sabha MP, and politician with the Bharatiya Janata Party has joined the enba Jury Panel.

He is the national spokesperson for the BJP and a former member of the upper house of parliament from the Uttar Pradesh constituency. He has previously been an investment banker and managing director at Deutsche Bank.

He was appointed as the non-official independent director of Air India 2017. Zafar Islam frequently writes opinion pieces on economic and political affairs in national publications like the Hindustan Times.

The enba jury this year will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat, and former Election Commissioner of India.

In the last editions, the ENBA jury was led by Sh. Harivansh Narayan Singh – Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr. Kiran Karnik – Former President – Nasscom, Dr. Nasim Zaidi - Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, S.Y. Quraishi – Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, N. Ram – Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Former Editor–in-chief The Hindu and Group Newspapers, Sanjay Gupta – Managing Director – Star India.

exchange4media formulated enba in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news, and to reward industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India.

India has bagged its first Oscars for 2023 for the Netflix documentary movie ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ at the 95th Academy Awards for 'Best Documentary Short Film'. Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga the director-producer team behind the film have dedicated the win to India. SS Rajamouli's period action blockbuster 'RRR' also clinched a win for Original Song "Naatu Naatu."

The 40-minute documentary is centred on the bond between animals and humans and tells the story of a Tamil couple named Bomman and Belli who bring up an orphaned elephant named Raghu. The film reflects upon the struggles of the couple who fight against all odds to raise the elephant into a healthy juvenile. The film is set in the Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu.

The Telugu hit song was competing with "Applause" from "Tell It Like a Woman", "Hold My Hand" from "Top Gun: Maverick", "Lift Me Up" from "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" and "This is a Life" from "Everything Everywhere all at Once."