The ANDYs Pushes For Greater Diversity Of Work in Second Year of Regional Competitions

The International ANDY Awards, the first advertising award show of the season has announced the shortlist for their six regional competitions. In an effort to break barriers that exist around cultural context, Juries representative of the creative excellence in the area came together to select the best ideas entered into the competition.

“Our hope is that more people have their work represented in the Show. We wanted to eliminate barriers that exist that may deter some agencies to submit work – whether that be cost to compete or missed cultural context,” said Gina Grillo, President & CEO of The International ANDY Awards.

The APAC Competition shortlist represents the best ideas across nine countries with independent agencies leading. Ideas from ADK Holdings lead the Greater China shortlist while Impact BBDO lead in the SWANA Competition.

The full shortlist can be viewed HERE. Those who placed will be shortlisted for the main, global competition should they choose to move their work forward into the Global competition. All entrants who participated in regionals can choose to move their work forward to the Global competition. There is no requirement to participate in regionals in order to submit to the Global competition. Each region will now compete for title of ‘Best of’ including Africa, APAC, Greater China, Europe, SWANA, and Latin America to be announced with the full winners list in April 2023.

Chumbak & Four Other D2C brands Become a Part of G.O.A.T Brand Labs

G.O.A.T Brand Labs is all set to grow Chumbak to an INR 500 crore brand in the next three years. Plans to announce the names of the other four brands, one at a time, in the coming days.

G.O.A.T Brand Labs announces the acquisition of 5 D2C brands, including that of Iconic Home & Lifestyle Brand - Chumbak. With these acquisitions, the size of G.O.A.T Brand Labs' portfolio reaches 20.

Chumbak is a brand with unique Indian aesthetics with a wide base of loyal consumers. The brand has strong sales on both online and offline channels. G.O.A.T Brand Labs plans to grow Chumbak to INR 500 Cr by 2025, leveraging its deep capabilities in brand building, digital marketing, online and offline growth and expansion into international markets.

Last year G.O.A.T Brand Labs acquired multiple well-known D2C brands including The Label Life, India’s top celebrity-styled brand, and trueBrowns, a premium ethnic wear brand; both of which have grown ~10x since their partnership with G.O.A.T. Brand Labs. The addition of these 5 brands further strengthens its portfolio of fast growing Fashion & Lifestyle Brands. Having raised a round of USD 50 mn a few months back and backed by marquee investors - Tiger Global, Flipkart, Mayfield, Winter Capital, Nordstar, and Better Capital, G.O.A.T Brand Labs will continue to invest in these brands to make them leaders in their respective categories.

Speaking on Chumbak’s acquisition, Rishi Vasudev, CEO & Co-founder, G.O.A.T Brand Labs, said, “We are excited to have Chumbak joining us this year. Chumbak, since its founding days, has been an Indian homegrown D2C brand that appeals to a global audience. Our vision is to make Indian D2C brands world famous and we have built multiple capabilities for that. This partnership is the perfect recipe to grow the brand exponentially by expanding its global reach, both online and offline, through a tech and data-driven approach.”

Vivek Prabhakar & Shubhra Chadda, Co-founders, Chumbak, added, “We are thrilled to welcome G.O.A.T to the Chumbak family. We believe G.O.A.T Brand Labs is the ideal partner for the next phase of Chumbak’s growth globally. GOAT's expertise in building online brands combined with Chumbak's great design & product strength will help accelerate our growth as a powerful and global brand in the Home and Gifting space.”

Rishi Vasudev and Rameswar Misra founded G.O.A.T Brand Labs in May 2021. G.O.A.T works collaboratively with the brand founders and empowers them with the right resources to help scale their brands. It empowers the brands with strong operational capabilities and supports growth by providing data-driven insights, supply chain expertise, financial planning, and deep expertise in brand building, digital marketing, product development, etc. G.O.A.T has emerged as the leading aggregator in the fashion and lifestyle space and is currently in advanced talks with 8-10 other D2C brands.

Some of the brands in G.O.A.T Brand Labs’ portfolio include – The Label Life, TrueBrowns, Pepe InnerFashion, Abhishti, Neemli Naturals, NutriGlow, Voylla, Pet Crux, etc.

Shikhar Samman on Bharat24, is a successful initiative that recognizes and encourages individuals who are making extraordinary contribution towards the Vision of New India.

After successful editions of Gujarat Shikhar Samman in Ahmedabad and Chhattisgarh Shikhar Samman in Raipur, Bharat24 organized Shikhar Samman Uttar Pradesh to felicitate individuals who continue to bring accolades to the state through their initiatives and actions.

Both Deputy Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Brajesh Pathak and Shri Keshav Prasad Maurya participated in the ceremony as Guests of Honour to celebrate the achievements of individuals from different sectors and felicitate them with the coveted trophy of Shikhar Samman. Both the Deputy Chief Ministers also spoke at leisure on host of topics, from current developmental work done by the government to hosting Global Investment Summit, law and order, and other beneficiary schemes of the UP government launched for the citizens of the state.

The event was hosted by top leadership team of Bharat24 including Chief Business Officer and Strategic Advisor to the Board, Mr Manoj Jagyasi, Executive Editor and Senior Anchor Mimansa Malik, Anchor Surabhi Tiwari, UP Bureau Chief Awanish Vidyarthi and Journalist Mr Ahtesham Siddqui.

Welcoming the festival of Pongal in all its glory, Colors Tamil, Viacom18’s Tamil entertainment channel is all set to bring to screens a specially curated lineup of movies starting Saturday, 14th January 2023.

Commencing the festival on a hilarious note, the channel will telecast the World Television Premiere of Oru Yamanin Kadhal Kadhai, followed by the World Television Premieres of Trigger and Nitham Oru Vaanam with special partners Yasko Couple Combo pack - Dhotis' Set & Sarees, Lakshmi Ceramics India’s Number 1 Retailer, Vcare Trichology Hair Clinic; presented by Hamam and powered by Prithivi Women Innerwears. Tune into Colors Tamil starting from Saturday, 14th January 2023 to Tuesday, 17th January 2023 to get the show started with unlimited entertainment.

Kickstarting the movie marathon, the World Television Premiere of Oru Yamanin Kadhal Kadhai will bring in buckets of laughter on 14th January 2023, Saturday at 1:00pm. Featuring Actor Dulquer Salmaan, Actor Vishnu UnniKrishnan and Actor Soubin Shahir in the lead roles, the film traverses the life of Lallu, a daily wage painter and his gang of friends. Lallu (Dulquer Salmaan) is in search of a life partner and comes across a girl’s photo in the news. He immediately falls in love with her photo and decides to look for her. Tune into Colors Tamil on 14th January, Saturday at 1:00pm to witness if Lallu is able to find her.

Following this, the channel is also set to bring to screens for the first time, the World Television Premiere of Trigger on 15th January, Sunday at 2:30 pm and 5:30 pm, calling for a double blast. A smart-cop thriller, audiences will behold Actor Atharvaa as Prabhakaran, an undercover cop in a quest to stop the mastermind (Actor Rahul Dev) behind a child kidnapping racket. Tune into Colors Tamil, on 15th January, Sunday at 2:30 pm and 5:30 pm, to delve into the world of crime and corruption.

The cine week will also showcase Buffoon and Bhaskar the Rascal on 16th January 2023, Monday, at 2:30 pm and 5:00 pm respectively.

Concluding the harvest season on 17th January 2023, Tuesday, the channel will telecast The World Television Premiere of Nitham Oru Vaanam at 1:30 pm. Starring Actor Ashok Selvan, Actor Aparna Balamurali and Actor Ritu Varma in the leads, the movie explores hopes, romance and new beginnings. Revolving around the life of Arjun (Ashok Selvan), an introvert with OCD, the film witnesses his journey after he happens to read two stories based on true people and goes in search of their endings. Tune into Colors Tamil on 17th January 2023 at 1:30 pm to behold how a man finds happiness after a deep realization.

India to host its first BWF Super 750 tournament with a prize money of USD 8,50,000

Top international and national shuttlers to be seen in action

Warner Bros. Discovery today announced the acquisition of exclusive broadcast rights for the BWF Yonex Sunrise India Open. The country’s first ever Super 750 badminton tournament on the BWF World Tour will see some of the world’s top Shuttlers compete at New Delhi’s K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall from January 17th – 22nd – and viewers can catch all the LIVE action on Eurosport India.

The second highest level of competition on the tour, India’s national open, has been promoted from the Super 500 to a Super 750 event. The Indian contingent will be led by world no. 10 and Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Lakshya Sen in the men’s singles, while India’s most decorated badminton player and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, will lead the charge in the women’s singles. In the men’s double, the crack Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, will look to defend their title.

Mr. Ruchir Jain, Head of Distribution, Eurosport, South Asia, Warner Bros. Discovery said, “Eurosport continues to pride itself in bringing world class live sporting action to fans across India and we are thrilled to add the BWF Yonex Sunrise Indian Open to our 2023 offering. This year’s tournament has a cracking draw befitting of a Super 750 tournament that is sure to deepen the nation’s love for the sport - we look forward to all the action and excitement.”

Among the top international shuttlers, none other than Viktor Axlesen of Denmark and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, World No.1 Men’s & Women’s shuttlers respectively, will be on show in the national capital. Other prominent names include former men’s world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore and reigning women’s Olympic Champion Chen Yufei of China. The tournament will also feature top seeded pairs from the men’s, women’s & mixed doubles categories, from across the globe.

Eurosport India kicked off its 2023 programming with a bang, broadcasting the sub-continent’s first T20 league-Nepal T20 league and the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League T20. India’s newly promoted Super 750 BWF event will be Eurosport India’s third big property in January 2023.