The event saw participation from industry leaders representing top brands across BFSI, F&B, CPG, Fashion, E-commerce, Auto and more. It was an excellent opportunity for attendees to discuss how they could leverage deterministic data and unleash the power of audience insights backed by innovative ad solutions to drive their brand’s success in 2023 and beyond.

Praveen Sharma, COO of Commerce Services, Paytm, opened the event. He said, “We are delighted to host the inaugural edition of Amplify 2023 – our flagship event that brings together some of the brightest minds in the industry to discuss how best to leverage the fintech platform for driving growth. We are committed to helping businesses unlock the power of audience insights through advertising solutions that help our clients achieve their desired objectives.”

The day saw participation from CMOS of brands like Godrej Consumer Products Limited, Emami, Truecaller, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Sugar Cosmetics, Jyothy labs, HDFC Ergo to name a few, along with Agency Partners from Dentsu, Wavemaker and Interactive Avenues. They shared insights on leveraging data and innovation to make informed decisions on media investments to achieve maximum ROI while keeping user experience at the core. In addition, there were panel discussions on ‘The Role of Deterministic Data in Marketing Campaigns and How Digital Coupons Help Online Businesses to Scale? These sessions provided attendees with valuable insights on leveraging insights to drive effective campaigns across the Paytm ecosystem. The conversation also zoomed into how programmatic campaigns through demand-side platforms (DSP) can be powered using audience insights from Paytm, as the current available solutions are either not very accurate or limited by the reach of e-commerce and their walled gardens.

The Panelists included Shuchi Singhal, AVP- Marketing, Emami; Subha Sreenivasan Iyer, Vice President/Head Media & Digital Marketing, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd; Ketan Bharati, VP- Global Marketing Operations, Truecaller; Vinod Thadani, CEO, iProspect & CDO, Dentsu Media Group, Suchit Sikaria, CBO, SUGAR Cosmetics, Dhruv Dewan, COO & Co-Founder, Thrive Now and Saumil Parekh, VP- Marketing, PharmEasy.

Shreyas Srinivasan, CPO- Consumer Products, Paytm and CEO- Paytm Insider, delivered the keynote address. “With increasing consumer expectations towards personalisation, it has become essential for brands to understand consumer behavior better so that campaigns can be tailored accordingly. “ Aditya Swaminathan, AVP - Strategy, Partnerships & Marketing, Paytm Ads, touched upon the platforms’ capabilities and success stories, while Ashwin Srinivasan, VP - Product, Paytm Ads, talked about the up -and- coming product features.

Nabendu Bhattacharyya, the founder of OOH agency Milestone Brandcom, officially announced the launch of his new company called IDEACAFE.AGENCY. The company aims to revolutionize the future of brand communication with its idea-centric approach.

With more than 25 years of experience in leadership positions with leading agencies like O&M,Dentsu, Emirates Neon, and Mudra, Nabendu a seasoned and respected industry professional has worked with national and multinational brands such as Airtel, L'oreal, Apple, Toyota ,Axis Bank, DBS Bank, Zee TV, Tata DOCOMO, McDonald's, Tanishq, and Viacom18 and more. Credited to have introduced some of the most disruptive and innovative inclusions in OOH over the past two decades Nabendu is also an agent for change and IDEACAFE.AGENCY is based on these very solid foundations.

IDEACAFE.AGENCY promises to be a new age independent company that redefines the "brewing" of ideas. The company will offer a range of services, including creative, data and technology led media solutions, covering digital media, out-of-home, activation, rural, and a whole gamut of idea-centric solutions for brands across the spectrum. This is a novel idea and possibly the first-ever out-of-home creative agency in the world. IDEACAFE.AGENCY’ s aspirations are much bigger than being just another out of home agency and revolve around doing OOH the right way that is idea driven and data led.

Joining Nabendu on this exciting journey are two co-founders, Hanoz Patel and Abhishek Kabra, both specialists in the space who were part of the Milestone Brandcom journey. IDEACAFE.AGENCY will assist in creating ideas that change what people do, think, and feel, making brands distinctive and helping them grow.

According to Nabendu, "I am super thrilled to announce the setting up of this new age independent company. IDEACAFE.AGENCY will concentrate on building ideas and content across all spectrums of the brand communication space. I have always believed in creating disruptive, clutter-breaking ideas and bringing them alive to make a difference in a brands growth trajectory and will continue spearheading the same ahead."

With offices already set up in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, IDEACAFE.AGENCY is all set to bring on board industry specialists, experts from diverse backgrounds, and new talent to create disruptive and innovative ideas. Nabendu is already in talks with industry leaders known to have been instrumental in reimagining OOH, marketers par excellence, and hiring the right talent to scale and take IDEACAFE.AGENCY to new heights.

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."

Madhur Bhandarkar, Indian film director, script writer and producer, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (enba) jury panel. In 2016, Bhandarkar was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, by the Government of India.

Bhandarkar is a famous name in the film industry. His drama film Chandni Bar (2001) won him the National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues. He was also honoured with the National Film Awards for the Best Feature Film and Best Director for Page 3 (2005) and Traffic Signal (2007) respectively. Also, the drama film Fashion (2008) garnered him several accolades including National Film Award, Filmfare Awards nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay.

He was conferred PL Deshpande Award (Zenith Asia Award) for significantly shaping the film making culture in his unique works. He is known as the 'the Film Maker of the First Decade of the 21st Century'. In November 2010, the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) announced to preserve all the films of Madhur Bhandarkar. With this, Chandni Bar, Page-3, Corporate, Traffic Signal, Fashion and Jail found space in Government's Archival data for Indian films.

The exchange4media Group 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. This year, enba is in its 15th edition. The grand jury this time will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

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.