India’s one-stop destination for the best thrillers that digital entertainment has seen this year, Voot Select is all set to reveal their latest Original – Crackdown. Home to critically acclaimed shows like Asur, Raikar Case,

The Gone Game, Voot Select will now have ace Bollywood Director Apoorva Lakhia making his directorial web debut with this action-packed espionage thriller. Crackdown boasts of a fantastic ensemble cast including Saqib Saleem, Iqbal Khan, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Waluscha De Sousa, Rajesh Tailang, and Ankur Bhatia amongst others. The 8 part series goes LIVE on Voot Select on 23rd September 2020.

A slick, high-octane thriller, Crackdown, revolves around a covert operations wing that tries to crack through multiple smaller decoys, to uncover a larger conspiracy that threatens national security. In the process, they find an able ally in a girl whose identity remains a mystery. As seen in the trailer, B-town was buzzing with excitement as the first look of the show that was announced by none other than Superstar and the ‘Shehenshah’ of Bollywood, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. Brimming with high octane action sequences, powerful visuals, and a spectacular cast, Crackdown boasts of the grandeur and scale that Apoorva Lakhia’s directorial web debut one would expect will offer.

On the launch of the sixth original Ferzad Palia, Head – Voot Select, Youth, Music, and English Entertainment, Viacom18 said, “Voot Select has in a very short span of time, become synonymous with great quality Originals & curated content. Now we are all set and extremely excited to launch our sixth Original – Crackdown. Apoorva is known to make the most stylish and slick thrillers and has created magic with what he has done in the show Crackdown. It’s an edge of the seat thriller with lots of action which is sure to be nothing short of a big Bollywood blockbuster experience brought to the OTT world.”

Commenting on the release of his digital directorial debut, Apoorva Lakhia said, "I have always loved making action thrillers. It gives me an adrenaline rush just being a part of those sequences and locations. Needless to say, when I read the script written by Chintan Gandhi & Suresh Nair, I was extremely excited. The storyline is great, its action-packed, with great locations and a stellar cast and it is going to stream on one of the biggest digital platforms in the country, Voot Select. What more can one need? Although this is my directorial debut for an OTT platform, the treatment of Crackdown is exactly like a Bollywood blockbuster and I am sure the audience is going to love it as much as we enjoyed making it.”

Gunshots, chase sequences, blasts, and the constant hand combat, Crackdown is packed with all the right elements that should put it on the top of your binge-watch list.

“Voot Select’s action-packed espionage thriller, Crackdown – Streaming from 23rd September 2020”

The coronavirus pandemic seemed to have upended the IPL’s branding applecart, but as it gears up for its 13th edition that is being held in the UAE, a sold-out slate of the tournament and franchises sponsorships tell a story of a remarkable rebound.

In the middle of one of the deepest recessions the world has ever witnessed, this would rank as quite an achievement. Something that even the BCCI President himself praised. In a quote tweet response to BCCI’s announcement of a new Official Partner being signed for the IPL, Sourav Ganguly congratulated them with the words “Well done bcci and team ..in spite of tuff (sic) markets ..”

The announcement was about CRED (a members only club that rewards individuals for timely credit card payments and provides access to premium experiences) coming on board as ‘Official Partner’ of the IPL. It happens to be CRED’s first major foray into cricket sponsorship. “We are delighted to have closed the deals for two official partners with the IPL, defying the apprehension that had set in after the initial weeks of the lockdown and the pandemic. Everyone had predicted that sponsorship volumes will fall, but contrary to those expectations, it’s actually gone up.”, says Bhairav Shanth, co-founder and Managing Director of ITW, the consulting firm which was involved in facilitating the deal.

Back in the beginning of 2020, things were looking gung-ho for the league and its franchises when Marriott Bonvoy signed a three-season deal as Loyalty Partner for the defending champions Mumbai Indians in February. Then the pandemic hit, and things came to a standstill. But, away from the spotlight, agencies have been working fine-tuning the focus and pitch of the country’s pre-eminent marketing platform for the new normal. “The paradigms of Return on Investment or Return on Opportunity based investments in sports properties is becoming a relic of the past in this fast-changing environment.” explains Paroksh Chawla, the CEO of ITW Catalyst, the agency behind the Marriott deal. The young agency, set up less than a year ago, has gone on to clock deals with six out of the eight IPL franchises, on the strength of what Chawla calls “a consulting-based approach” in figuring out the right fit and solution for a brand through evaluating their Return On Objective(s). “Every single brand we have worked with in this short period of time has been given a customised sponsorship solution b                                                                                                            ased on their objective”, adds Chawla.

That kind of thinking is also evident when one looks at the other big brands who have boarded the IPL marketing train. The edutech unicorn Unacademy signed on as an “Official Partner’ for three seasons till 2022. Explaining their rationale behind associating with the league Sonal Mishra, the Director, Marketing at Unacademy, highlighted the role of synergy and brand fit. “Unacademy has been reinventing education and learning in India through disruptive and innovative offerings, and we were keen on associating with IPL which effectively reinvented how the game of cricket is marketed and consumed. Our growth and impact trajectory perfectly align with the league and we want to ensure our message of democratising education reaches all learners in India through (this) association”, she said. There is also Mobile Premier League (MPL), a mobile gaming platform, who have embraced cricket because of the access it provides to their specific target audience. They were the shirt sponsors of the Irish cricket team during the ODI series against England and at the IPL will be seen as principal sponsors of the Kolkata Knight Riders. As Abhishek Madhavan, the SVP - Growth and Marketing at MPL puts it, “we look forward to the upcoming cricket season.”

So, are brands bullish about the IPL again? “It isn’t difficult to convince brands because if you offer great value, there will always be takers regardless of the external environment”, says Shanth by way of explanation. “The IPL still remains a sought-after marketing platform but you need to tailor the solution well. We have seen that in our own experience in working with more than 16 partners across franchises for this season as well as the media buying space where we sold out the inventory,” he adds. May be that’s why the IPL retains its sheen as a marketing platform - this subtle shift in how brands are utilising it, moving from a one size fits all approach to seeking bespoke solutions.

The newly elected Executive Council of the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) met on September 21, 2020. Mr. Sunil Kataria, Chief Executive Officer, India and SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, was elected Chairman of the ISA.

Sunil has led the Society over the past four years to newer heights drawing support from his colleagues in the Executive Council, the ISA members and all fraternity entities.

On his election for the fifth consecutive term as the Chairman of the ISA, Sunil said, “In our journey towards creating greater value proposition for the ISA in the industry, the focus will be to make this unique body future ready for the new normal that is emerging around us and to provide value added support to our members. With the digital advertising having ascended as second only to TV and growing even further, our endeavour this year would be take forward our efforts in the area of digital measurement .The ISA has plans ahead to work with BARC to create a Multimedia Measurement that can be implemented very soon. We heartily thank all fraternity organizations for their strong partnering and this will surely help us accomplish new milestones. I also acknowledge the continuing support by our members in all our endeavours.”

He further added, “In particular reference to the Covid-19 pandemic, I am glad to acknowledge the cooperation of all our members, industry associates, vendors and ISA Secretariat team in staying safe adhering to directives by health authorities and governments. ”

ISA is the only national body as a strong voice to advertisers over the last 68 years. It has advertiser members from across industries who approximately contribute to over two-thirds of the annual national non-governmental ad spends. ISA, which is a founder member of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and one of the founders of ASCI, continues to partner with other industry bodies that connect to the advertisers. The ISA played a significant role in formation of BARC and is closely partnering with it towards advertisers getting robust and credible data.

The Executive Council members of the ISA thanked Sunil for his substantial contribution to the ISA as Chairman over past four years and expressed pleasure to elect him again for 2020-21.

Other members of the Executive Council are:

Mr. Atul Agrawal, Senior Vice President – Corporate Brand and Marketing,Tata Services Limited

Mr. Abraham Mathew Alapatt, President & Group Head-Marketing, Service Quality
Financial Services & Innovation, Thomas Cook (India) Limited

Mr. Narendra Ambwani, Director, Agro Tech Foods Limited

Mr. Ravi A. Desai, Director, Mass & Brand Mktg International, Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd.

Mrs. Paulomi Dhawan, Independent Director, Whistling Woods International Ltd.

Mr. Girish Kalyanaraman, Senior Director Brand Operations, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and
Health Care Limited

Mr. Chandru Kalro, Managing Director, TTK Prestige Limited

Mr. Sandeep Kaul, Divisional Chief Executive - India Tobacco Division, ITC Limited

Mr. Bharat V. Patel, Independent Director, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd.

Mr. Ramakrishnan Ramamurthi, Adviser J. K. Enterprises

Mr. Amit Tiwari, Vice President – Marketing, Havells India Ltd.

Mr. Subhadip Dutta Choudhury, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer
Hawkins Cookers Limited

Mr. Anuj Poddar, Executive Director, Bajaj Electricals Limited

Mr. Ram Raghavan, Managing Director, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited

Mr Gauravjeet Singh, General Manager – Media Services (South Asia) Media, Hindustan Unilever Limited

Mr. Sanjeev Handa, Sr. V. P. Corporate Communications, Maruti Suzuki India Limited

Ever since Unlock guidelines have come to place and normal lives are beginning to shape up, city-traffic volume, too, is gradually reaching pre-lockdown levels. The result – huge traffic snarls and multiple law-violations. One such city which has been facing serious traffic issues and still going unnoticed is Mohali.

To counter this menace, MY FM and Punjab Traffic Police joined hands to spread awareness about the significance of following traffic rules and safety protocols in a week-long activity “Control Mohali Control”.

MY FM RJs Gagan & Jassi, with the support of city-traffic police, covered major bottleneck areas of Mohali as a part of this initiative. Sap Nagar Traffic SP, Mr. Kesar Singh Dhaliwal added “My FM RJs Gagan and Jassi did a tremendous job. Initiatives like these are very crucial. I believe that to make citizens, especially the youth, to understand the importance of traffic rules and respect them, a dedicated subject should be included in the school curriculum”.

‘Control Mohali Control’ culminated with both the RJs gifting safety hampers to all the traffic police officers who helped in the successful execution of the activity.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Rahul Namjoshi, COO, MY FM, says” ‘Control Mohali Control’ is yet another initiative to sensitize the people of Mohali; our RJs are followed by lakhs of people in the city, and with them taking up this issue, it immensely helps the local authorities. Activities like these and some of those executed in the recent past, like ‘Cyclegiri’ in Chandigarh, are done to bring attention to these local issues. As a pioneer radio network, it is our duty to give prime focus to the issues of the cities we represent”.

Public relations may appear like a contemporary business, but people having truely been strategically putting testimonies within the media for years. As long back in the late 1800s, well known bygone figures and happenings were endorsed through smaller scale weekly newspapers.

While many say public relations doesn’t work anymore, that’s without a doubt now not the case. Rather, the globe has modified, and PR doesn’t work quite love it accustomed. It’s not as straightforward as pitching reporters and obtaining short hits any longer. Like everything else, PR sector has evolved. From Twitter to facebook to Whatsapp, the style reporters square measure speaking has quickly changed. In fact, reporters aren't any longer looking forward to ancient press releases or spokespeople soundbites to urge data from businesses. They’re speedy taking matters into their own fingers and following concept leaders on social channels or business enterprise web sites to get the evaluations and thoughts they are searching out. Even as it may be difficult for PR professionals to use multiple systems to keep in contact with key reporters, it’s essential to do so for not most effective your patron’s achievement but yours as properly. Reporters will handiest hold to take matters into their personal palms and reach out to companies/manufacturers without delay. From how newshounds talk to leveraging their social channels to how PR will keep to adapt, it’s important that communication professionals familiarize themselves with how to stay beforehand of the curve in this digitally possessed world.

Whilst reporters are using social channels to their personal advantage, it’s critical that PR seasoned’s do the identical. From monitoring news web sites to social profiles, these channels can deliver a wealth of understanding allowing us to live in advance of the game. Having the ability to gauge what subjects, spokespeople or information can be of interest to journos, allows us to provide the right information to them. Through in reality bringing up something a reporter mentioned on their social media or an article they have got recently written, shows which you did your homework, and they’ll respect your studies down the road. Depending on the character of the reporter, you can best have one shot to get your factor across. The use of social media on your own gain can create new stories as well as open new traces of conversation.

Although PR pros used to strictly concentrate on building a storey about a brand and transmitting the message to a media source, today, they will literally be in charge of the brand's social pages and tell all of the storeys online, directly to an audience. The room for public relations has shifted drastically and it's all due to the proliferation of our everyday lives through social media.

The new era has transformed the public relations business and will continue to do so. Online networks have provided journalists with a number of new ways to engage with reporters and outlets to explore them. As a consequence, PR is no longer all about sharing a message with an audience. Instead, it's about holding a dialogue with fans. The modern revolution has made everybody motivated. Therefore, the reputational management position in public relations in this digital era is more important. Although it can be challenging to predict what the future of PR holds, a constant cross-over of public relations and the modern environment is likely to occur. Overall, PR still works, it just has to work differently, as social media offers you a rare chance to address real-time challenges and have real-time knowledge. As far as PR best practices are concerned, I would suggest that I would listen to all discussions going on online on all channels and reply with well-planned strategic communications. You ought to be the one who would not pursue problems in discussions.

Written by Puneet Kumar, Founder & Director, Sakshar Media Solutions & Consultant Pvt. Ltd.