Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul><li><keyword id="3391368" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mullenlowe-lintas" source="Orion">MullenLowe Lintas</keyword> Group forays into content and entertainment business. </li><li>The agency group has also appointed Media and Entertainment maven <keyword id="7873744" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="yogesh-manwani" source="Orion">Yogesh Manwani</keyword> as President to lead the business. </li></ul>MullenLowe Lintas Group has unveiled a specialized content business unit under the <keyword id="12502112" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lintas-CEX" source="Orion">Lintas C:EX</keyword> (Lintas Creative Executions) brand. The unit called Lintas C:EX Entertainment will create Content &amp; IP that entertains and engages. It has ambitions to develop, create, produce and distribute distinct forms of curated and original content cutting across genres, languages and formats. Not only will the unit create original content for various streaming platforms, it will also work with brand partners to create and distribute ‘content for &amp; by brands’. Lintas C:EX Entertainment will also help brands identify and participate in relevant content-led marketing opportunities. India has witnessed tectonic shifts in the areas of digital adoption. The pandemic has had a somewhat permanent impact on the way content and entertainment is consumed. The Media and Entertainment industry in India is expected to grow to USD 55 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of about 10%. Additionally, Indians are becoming data guzzlers, with data consumption growing from just 700 mb a month to over 11 GB - with content and entertainment getting the largest share of the pie. To lead the Entertainment business unit at Lintas C:EX, Yogesh Manwani, a seasoned M&amp;E specialist has been appointed as President. Manwani comes with a rich and diversified experience of over 2 decades across different facets of the Media &amp; Entertainment business having worked in organizations such as Star, ZEE5, and most recently, Applause Entertainment as Head Revenue &amp; Marketing. He was involved in multiple premium drama series like Scam 1992, Criminal Justice, Hostages, Undekhi, Avrodh, Mind The Malhotras, Bhaukaal, Chakravyuh and Call My Agent to name a few. Speaking about the formation of the new business building block and the leadership announcement, <keyword id="2965478" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="virat-tandon" source="Orion">Virat Tandon</keyword> – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group said: “We are seeing a huge surge of digital content, platforms, creators as well as viewers and this space is only going to grow in the coming years. Lintas is uniquely poised at the intersection of powerful ideas that shape pop culture, master creative storytelling, extraordinary video production ability and ambitious brands and clients. Lintas C:EX Entertainment is the logical next step for us to unlock the huge potential that lies ahead of us. In the past, we’ve had a few tactical brushes with this space. The memorable ones were when Alyque was involved with producing the pilot for “Karamchand” and then later when we conceptualised the show “Smart Shrimati” for brand Wheel. This time, Lintas C:EX Entertainment is a deliberate and a strategic foray into original and branded content space. There couldn’t be a better person than Yogesh Manwani to lead this venture. He comes with a deep experience in the original content business. He is a big believer in our vision for Lintas C:EX Entertainment and I am sure he will make it a success.” Speaking about the unveiling of Lintas C:EX Entertainment, Amer Jaleel – Group CCO &amp; Chairman, MullenLowe Lintas Group said: “We are breaking the shackles of the ad agency descriptor that we had imposed on ourselves. There has been such an abundance of talent that has sprung from Lintas and gone on into the world of entertainment, I have no clue why we did not give it the shot it deserved up until now! With Yogesh at the helm of this completely separate and independent initiative, we are opportunising the era of original content and content for brands, that’s landed smack in our lives! Yogesh will spearhead, shape and structure Lintas C:EX Entertainment into possibly an equal or bigger rival to our brand and marcomm business. He has both the relationships and the experience in building channels, platforms, intellectual properties which will now propel the Lintas group into a full-blown media and entertainment powerhouse.” In his previous roles, Manwani has managed responsibilities across various content genres - Hindi News, Regional News, Regional Entertainment, Hindi Entertainment &amp; English Entertainment – across mediums such as TV and digital. He has handled varied challenges like business launches and turn arounds, brand strategy, customer acquisition &amp; retention, market development and affiliate marketing. In his role as President at Lintas C:EX Entertainment, Yogesh will work with Naveen Gaur, who is responsible for the new and specialised lines of business at MullenLowe Lintas Group. Reacting to his appointment, Yogesh Manwani said: “MullenLowe Lintas Group enjoys a strong reputation of building and successfully transforming many popular and strong brands across various categories thanks to its ability of understanding, forecasting and leveraging consumer behaviour. Backed by strong, fearless and visionary leadership, the Group is on a critical self-transformational journey. Entering the Content business is an integral and important part of this journey and with acceleration of the creator economy it could not have been better timed. The long term vision that Group’s leadership has for this independent and specialised business under the Lintas C:EX brand is what excites me to lead this mandate. I look forward to bringing my experience and learnings to the table that could help in building this content company as the magic glue that binds content creators with brand owners &amp; platform partners.” A UCLA Anderson alumnus, Manwani has shouldered responsibilities of multiple aspects of the Media &amp; Entertainment business like Business Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Content Strategy, Content Marketing, Development, Acquisition, Licensing &amp; Monetisation. Manwani’s appointment is with immediate effect and will operate from the Mumbai HQ of MullenLowe Lintas Group.

MullenLowe Lintas Group forays into content and entertainment business under the Lintas C:EX brand

The MullenLowe Lintas Group launches Lintas Live

<ul><li>MullenLowe Lintas Group has today announced the launch of its digital-first creative <keyword id="86164" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="PR">PR</keyword> agency Lintas Live in India. </li><li>In an industry-first move, by a PR agency, Lintas Live has appointed <keyword id="10055924" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sarvesh-raikar">Sarvesh Raikar</keyword> as its Creative Head.</li><li>We talk to <keyword id="3345614" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ameer-Ismail">Ameer Ismail</keyword>, (current) President GolinOpinion and <keyword id="2965478" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Virat-Tandon">Virat Tandon</keyword>, Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group about what this transformation really means and why it was necessary.</li></ul>With an aim of transforming GolinOpinion into a digital-first, creative PR agency, <keyword id="9880212" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-mullenlowe-lintas-group">the MullenLowe Lintas Group</keyword> has rebranded GolinOpinion as Lintas Live. Owing to the fact that consumers are spending more and more time online and the Digital medium has become a critical medium in a brand’s journey of brand-building, this newly launched PR and Communication agency’s framework will now be powered by data-led insights and LIVE storytelling across digital and conventional platforms. To also do justice to its promise of transforming into a PR agency that is led by creative thought, in an industry-first move, MullenLowe Lintas Group has also announced the appointment of Sarvesh Raikar as its Creative Head. The agency that was founded in 1990 has over the years had a rich roster of clients that include Seiko, Etihad Airways, Tata Starbucks, Sony Pictures Networks and Porsche. This transformation move comes at a time when how brands communicate and consumers behave is evolving on an everyday-basis. The aim of the agency is to catch the pulse of every trending and topical conversation happening online, and using creativity to make brands a part of the trends. To understand what this rebranding would entail and how things will change while also remaining the same, we caught up with Ameer Ismail, (current) President GolinOpinion and Virat Tandon, Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group. They shed some light on how the rebranding and restructuring will transform not just the way they work as an agency but also will help them come up with relevant communication to help brands in their brand-building journey. Excerpts: Q) How did the idea of this transition to Lintas Live come into being and why was it necessary? VT: We had started this conversation even before Covid. Firstly, we wanted to create a digital-first PR offering and secondly, we have a global play in PR as MullenLowe in the US, Europe and Singapore and we wanted to bring that model into the country. We have been working on this transition for the last 4 months now and we are happy to share that we’re going to launch a digital-first and also a creative-first PR offering. It’s a bold move, but it is something that the market needs right now. What also makes it special is that the last 6 months we have been seeing a lot more digital adoption by marketers and therefore it was the perfect time for us to launch this. AI: I have seen the world of PR change quite significantly. If you look at the reality of news today, consumption and sharing of information is all in real-time and that’s the genesis of our thinking that we needed to re-organize and reorient ourselves in this new reality. Q) What exactly does a digital-first and creative first agency mean? VT: There was a time when opinions were made on news media itself. That time has really changed now. Today people in the networked platforms with opinions, who are leading conversations, really matter for corporates and brands. Therefore, a lot of opinions are being created and shared online. The other part is, there is so much data available online that can really inform your PR strategy. That is something we are keen to tap into. The other bit is as a creative agency, our PR offering is a standalone company but as a DNA, we bring to the category a creative might which we feel is becoming increasingly relevant even in the PR space and we wanted to leverage that and bring a big creative punch into our work and campaigns. Sarvesh Raikar, a very senior creative head at Lowe Lintas who is already running a big team that does the global creative work on Lifebuoy and various other mandates, will be coming on board in addition to that role, as the creative head for the new company. AI: Our new name Lintas Live reflects that in today’s environment. Today, everything about brands, be it an individual or a corporate brand, or a brand that you as a consumer go out looking for, needs live conversations. Today, the landscape has changed drastically. People are no longer exclusively dependent on a certain channel for news. They consume news through social platforms and portals and so many other repositories of information that this kind of intervention from an agency is the most important criteria in this new world that we’re living in. That reality got fuelled increasingly more after the pandemic hit us. We have seen information and data that suggests it’s going to continue for sometime and we are not going to lose our dependency on this kind of information that we need to consumer. And information leads to choice and in that mix, the relevance and abundance of data and how you use it to carve out insights is extremely critical. From a PR and storytelling point of view, it can give you a rich base of information that will help you carve out your PR strategy for clients and that will be a visible differentiator as we move forward. And if you look at it from a future play, it’s the predictive capabilities of AI and machine learning that will give you a chance to see conversations and trends and then decide how to place your brand conversations there. Q) The restructuring will also mean the way you work will see a transformation. How are you driving this change within the organization? VT: We’ve seen this coming and there is a fair bit of distance we have already travelled in the way we work today. The team has already been working on some campaigns following this line of thought and that gave us a lot of confidence. We were in a very good place to concretize this offering. The only new piece we are bringing in now is a creative lead and a little later, a digital lead. We have some capability in data and digital but we will strengthen that further. AI: Our day-to-day working will change. We are restructuring some part of the group into what we call live communities that will help in adding value to what we are currently doing. This will be different from a PR agency structure and offering but the core of what we do will remain the same. We’re still committed to impactful storytelling for clients and brand-building for them through earned media and whatever else that we do. We anyway have a very strong social media team and ecosystem that is part of our PR offering which we launched a number of years ago. Within that there are creative people and content colleagues. All we intend to do is to power this much further to reflect the kind of promise and offering that we have planned. Q) You speak about forming live communities within the agency. Can you tell us more? AI: Our transformation also means we are reorganizing our team members into live communities. We will have 3 communities who we are calling Trendspotters, Creative Architects and Newjackers. Trendspotters are a team of people who extremely enthusiastic about the digital universe. They will scan this universe for relevant news and conversations, track what is trending and capture relevant topics in client reports. These days, if there is a trending conversation, it gets picked up by news media and gets cascaded on to TV too. We are looking for opportunities like these through our trendspotting team that can be relevant for our clients. Once they capture that news or information, they pass it on to the second group, the creative architects who will understand where the opportunities lie and start churning out content relevant to that particular trend or insight that can in turn be flipped back to the client for approval and that can go out as information in interesting formats. And this second community is the one that will be powered by Sarvesh and some additional people who will get new kind of competencies to deliver that promise. The last community is that of the newsjackers. This is the team that will take this content developed by creative architects to journalists or bloggers or any other mediums that is best suited to get conversations going on the brand. These three communities will interplay to really enrich and bring alive our vision. Q) Going ahead, as this transformed PR agency, what will the key focus areas of Lintas Live be? AI: We have had a long and successful journey. The business was launched by the agency in the 90’s. We have had a long tenure where we’ve worked with clients across every imaginable sector. We enjoy fantastic relationships with them even today. If you look at the future play of what we intent to do, it’s bucketed under corporate brands and brand PR. Those are the 2 areas of focus which will continue to be important to us as we grow our business. VT: Delivery-wise, we’re looking at the traditional PR which is media training and relations etc but also further strengthening our influencer practice, social media as well as our content business. We have added the ‘live’ in our name because we are living in a digital, always-on, connected ecosystem which therefore leads to opportunities for brands and corporates every minute. We want to be there with our finger on the pulse and be able to act on those opportunities to help our clients. Watch the video here: <div type="Video" msid="78511805" hostid="261" title="The MullenLowe Lintas Group launches Lintas Live" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=78511805"></div>

As MullenLowe Lintas Group rebrands GolinOpinion to Lintas Live, Ameer Ismail and Virat Tandon tell us everything that will change, and everything that won’t

<ul><li>Through this framework, MullenLowe Lintas Group aims to provide a strategic reference for brands in a dynamic business environment. </li><li>The ‘<keyword id="9880211" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Restart-and-Restrat">Restart and Restrat</keyword>’ framework is available for not just its clients, but anyone in the <keyword id="2750224" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="marketing-community">marketing community</keyword> to navigate through these rough times.</li></ul> <keyword id="9880212" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-mullenlowe-lintas-group">The MullenLowe Lintas Group</keyword> has launched Restart and Restrat – a framework created to help marketers explore the various recovery paths available to them during the ongoing crisis. The still developing phenomenon of the Covid-19 global pandemic is a scenario where nothing feels the same anymore and everything is in a state of flux. The framework lays significant emphasis on how brands can effectively deal with specific impact on various industries. It could be a business impact due to changed human behaviour or implications of isolating at home, or an impact on the <keyword id="139079" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Consumer-behaviour">consumer behaviour</keyword> due to a decline in economic activity. Given the slowdown, consumers’ spending and their current lifestyles and behaviors are witnessing a readjustment. Further, an erosion of confidence and concerns about health have led to a sudden change in consumer psychology and behavior which has a direct impact on a variety of industries. They are clearly drawing a line between discretionary and non-discretionary spends by conscious purchase decisions. This unsettled scenario has prompted MullenLowe Lintas Group to team up with other experts across the world and research previous similar world events and their impact on attitudes and behaviours. The final product is “Restart and Restrat” – A Strategic Framework for Brands in Challenging Times. Through targeted solutions and focused actionable strategies in the immediate and long term, the framework will help brands navigate and overcome previously unforeseen challenges. Commenting on the launch of the framework, <keyword id="2965478" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Virat-Tandon">Virat Tandon</keyword>, Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group, said “We are all witnessing the seismic impact of the current crisis on business, but even more significant is the way in which human lives are being affected. We humans are a resilient lot and have a great quality to adapt to changes. This is what we are witnessing even during the current crisis. “Restart and Restrat” is our attempt as consumer experts to identify and predict the shifts in consumer attitudes and behaviours in general and specifically towards key categories. What makes this framework most useful is that these learnings are totally actionable for our client partners through a purpose-built suite of tools that we are deploying through our consulting arm, LinConsult.” Talking about the idea behind Restart and Restrat, <keyword id="6426811" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="S-Subramanyeswar">S. Subramanyeswar</keyword>, Group Chief Strategy Officer, MullenLowe Lintas Group, said “The true test for any brand is not when it is in cruise mode - a vibrant and growing economy, conducive competitive conditions and buoyant consumer demand. It is when the entire ecosystem comes to a grinding halt, the business environment becomes uncertain and the very tenets on which a brand is built are no longer valid in a drastically changed scenario. Our ‘Restart and Restrat’ strategic framework not only reveals the gravity of the current situation but also explores a promising recession beating growth strategy that outmaneuvers uncertainty which all clients are confronted with, including specific brand messaging approaches and brand positioning for recovery in different phases in a digitized consumer republic.” Through this framework, MullenLowe Lintas Group aims to provide a strategic reference for brands in a dynamic business environment. The ‘Restart and Restrat’ framework is available for not just its clients, but anyone in the marketing community to navigate through these rough times.

MullenLowe Lintas Group's Restart and Restrat to help marketers explore various recovery paths during the ongoing crisis

<ul><li>Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2022-23 in Parliament on Tuesday.</li><li>This year's budget is indexed towards startups, MSMEs, infrastructure projects, rural revival, digital payment apps, telecom growth and affordable housing.</li><li>We reached out to digital, media and creative agencies to understand how the increased focus on digitalisation, sustainability, blockchain and push to MSME can impact the ad and marketing industry.</li></ul>Be it the introduction of a Digital University to make education accessible across the country or the proposed launch of a Digital currency by the Reserve Bank of India to the government’s focus on promoting digital payments and fintech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made it is clear that digital is the way forward. The Union Budget 2022-23 aims to boost the country's digital infrastructure and enable a cashless economy. The government also announced that it will set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) promotion task force to give a push to the animation and gaming industry. To facilitate the roll-out of 5G mobile services in India, FM Sitharaman said that Spectrum auctions will be conducted in 2022. This, in turn, will give impetus to Voice, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality and pave the way for the Metaverse. The Digital Rupee using blockchain will help Indians accept virtual currency and accelerate cryptocurrency exchange in India. Overall, the budget also shows a promise for Electric Vehicle brands, digital payment apps, MSMEs, gaming industry and start-ups. We reached out to digital, media and creative agencies to understand how the increased focus on digitalisation, sustainability and blockchain can impact the advertising and marketing industry. Here’s what they said: Anupriya Acharya, South Asia CEO, Publicis Groupe: The Budget is positive, growth-oriented and with reforms in the right direction. The advent of 5G is sure to transform communications – for our industry it will help creation of better AV, voice and AR/VR experiences. It will also fuel digital payments, streaming entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, tele-medicine etc which in turn will aid more Unicorns! It is also heartening to note that a special Task Force is being set up for AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic) as this will help us build the much needed capacity both for domestic as well as global markets. And then there have been no changes in income-tax slabs for people, which many consumer segments were worried about. This in turn boosts consumer sentiment. From e-passports, to battery swapping for electric vehicles, setting up of optic fiber in the remotest of villages, setting up of a digital university and skilling through an e-portal, the big push is for technology, digital infrastructure and empowerment. Narayan Devanathan, Chief Client Officer, dentsu India: Having gone through the 38-page document of the Finance Minister’s budget speech, I decided to do a search for a couple of words that I thought kept repeating throughout her speech. The words “will be” occurred 110 times in the entire speech. When I narrowed my search to the single word “will,” the number rose to 362. To me, those two words sum up the essence of what this year’s budget is and is not. What it is, is a future-focused budget, aiming at the distant vision of India@100, with a 25-year Amrit Kaal lead-up. What it is not, and what I felt was sorely needed this year of all years, is a present-focused budget. A punishing 2021 for the aam aadmi with more-than-usual expenditure on health and sustenance meant the general populace was looking for immediate relief that would place more cash in their household budgets. That did not happen. Nor was there any extraordinary investment in relieving the healthcare expenditure burden. For all the importance of farmers in upcoming poll-bound states, there was neither major sop nor stimulus given to back the importance of agriculture as a spine if not engine of the economy. Even the MSME sectors were only handed a slightly longer lease of life with the extension of the ECLGS, but there was no real move to stimulate consumption by placing more cash at consumers’ disposal, for example, extending LTA claims to restaurants (and not just accommodation). There is perhaps plenty for the industry to cheer about since it can afford to think about the future and a slightly longer term than just the here and now of survival. The stock market did cheer up even before the FM’s speech, but that only served to underscore the dichotomy between the real health of the population and the Minority of Haves. When the general population probably can’t afford to wait for the benefits of trickle-down economics to reach them in yet another trying year, the dreams and wheels of a consumer-driven economy might move slower than the industry might like, despite the many future-facing and progressive policies announced. Virat Tandon, Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group: The union budget can be termed as consistent with the government's vision to reach the 5 trillion GDP mark by 2025-26. Hence, the strong focus on capex to boost infrastructure that connects and streamlines middle India and provides the engines of entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country. It also shows India's commitment to bring a digital first economy with the 5G rollout planned for next financial year, clarity on India's policy for cryptocurrency, data centres, EVs and our very own digital Rupee. Start-up culture will continue to flourish with the right policy framework. These investments and policies will generate jobs and go a long way in inclusive and sustainable growth for Bharat. Anurag Bansal, COO &amp; CFO, DDB Mudra Group: This Union Budget looks neutral, with no major changes in taxation. The launch of digital Rupee based on blockchain technology is a big move to bring in official cryptocurrency in India. New e-passports with embedded chips would definitely ease overseas travel. Managing the Fiscal deficit while pushing for growth and investments is a great balancing act taken on by the government. It will give a boost to capital investments and infrastructure development. Kartik Sharma - Group Chief Executive Officer – India, Omnicom Media Group: With an impetus on holistic growth, developing infrastructure and job creation across sectors, the 2022 union budget shows promise with a focus on the big picture. Reviving economic growth in the post-pandemic environment has been a focus for this government and this progressive, digital-first, and development-oriented budget reflects that. Not only does it provide a boost to the MSME, agriculture and healthcare verticals, but also signals that investing in infrastructure today will connect India better tomorrow. With an increased focus on digitization, some of the standouts for me were that the budget recognized the current gaps and opportunities within the education sector, and is advancing towards uplifting India with the creation of a digital ecosystem - one that is focused on upskilling and creating more employment; aligned with the dynamic needs of today. It also aims to further strengthen communications in the rural sector and build upon the overall financialization of India. Furthermore, while the rollout of a 5G ecosystem will improve the quality of services, the launch of digital money, supported by blockchain, signals an increasing focus on transparency. With consistency in strategic direction and focus on propelling the MSME and start-up ecosystem, this is a welcoming budget for new-age businesses and a hopeful one that will ultimately lead to a boost in the A&amp;M industry as well. We're at the cusp of the next stage of India's digital revolution and although certain factors like data privacy still remain an area to be delved deeper into, as infrastructure and banking penetrate further into rural India, we’re looking hopeful and strong to transform into a forward-leaning digital economy of tomorrow.” Deepak Mittal, CEO and Co-Founder, TO THE NEW: The government's unprecedented commitment to technology innovation and adoption in this union budget is highly encouraging. Breakthrough developments and futuristic technology such as the introduction of digital currency, the rollout of 5G within FY22-23, and e-passports using embedded chips are exciting for the country's future. Among the measures announced, the budget highlights special incentives to startups and the launch of a progressive, new portal encouraging a digital ecosystem for skilling and upskilling. These initiatives will serve as a successful catalyst for the country's economic growth. Atul Shrivastava, Group CEO &amp; Executive Director at Laqshya Media Group: The union Budget underlined the government’s focus on long-term growth. As India’s economic growth is estimated to be 9.2% in the upcoming financial year so it would be good for all the industry and with overall growth, we are sure advertising &amp; media will also show remarkable growth which was low due to the pandemic in the last couple of years. As announced the National Highways to be expanded by 25,000 km under PM Gati Shakti mission. Highways are adding a new dimension to the growth of the OOH Industry as advertising on the Highways is emerging as very strong choice for brand building for many categories. Prasad Shejale, Founder and CEO, Logicserve Digital: The FM has announced a very progressive budget with an intention to widen India's horizons and outlook in the next five years, leveraging emerging technologies. The Government has addressed some urgent priorities underpinning the digital sector, including the launch of digital currency, API-based skill credentials, digital learning channels, digitization of manual processes, etc. On the digital connectivity front, the 5G spectrum auctions will finally make the dream of a tech-savvy India a reality, further boosting the country's digital infrastructure. Additionally, the launch of a design-led manufacturing scheme for the 5G ecosystem as part of the PLI scheme will ensure affordable broadband and mobile communication even in far-flung areas. The availability of high-speed internet connectivity in urban as well as rural areas will encourage marketers to experiment with blockchain, AR, VR. On the skilling front, initiatives like establishing a digital university will provide an opportunity for youth to learn new skills from the comfort of their homes. The creation of a new task force to build domestic capacity in the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector is commendable. The overall budget is future tech-enabled and balanced. Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Global CEO &amp; Co-founder, GOZOOP Group: While there will always be hope for more and better, the continued push towards digital, fintech and the boost for start-up ecosystem with the extension of tax benefits till March 2023 along with capping the surcharge at 15% irrespective of the amount of long term capital gains, will fuel the fire of entrepreneurship in our nation. Varun Duggirala, Entrepreneur, Co-founder of The Glitch, Author, Content Creator and a Podcaster: The twin announcements of the digital rupee and the taxation on ‘virtual digital assets’ is clearly a focused drive from the government to regulate the crypto space. What needs to be seen is how this plays out because regulating a decentralized space is a paradox in itself. Another point that stood out for me was the national mental health program. More than anything else it signifies the normalizing of mental health as a legitimate area of focus for us as a nation. Shrenik Gandhi, CEO and Co-founder, White Rivers Media: In my opinion, it is a fairly balanced budget. There is sufficient emphasis being laid on up-skilling, and making right investments in tech which is the need of the hour. The previous budget was more inclined towards setting up a strong foundation in the digital space, and this one is essentially focused on making further advancements. Besides, Digital Rupee being introduced is indeed, a great news across sectors and it will be exciting to finally watch it become a reality. It can prove to be a game-changer in India's future as transactions will become even more instantaneous. Speaking of the expected benefits, let’s not forget that this is India’s #Budget and not a Big Bazaar scheme announcement. So, the immediate benefit may not be seen right now but considering the long-term narrative, it is a fairly established budget. Sahil Chopra, Founder &amp; CEO- iCubesWire: While the general trend of the <keyword id="12134566" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="union-budget-2022" source="Orion">union budget 2022</keyword> has its emphasis on ease of doing business, I strongly believe, data and digital occupied the centerpiece of the budget. The plans to focus and promote the fintech and digital economy are a very strong positive move. New age technologies, keeping data and digital at heart of it will allow the tech enablers to transform multiple industries. For MSMEs, the government has plans to outlay Rs 2 trillion which is again a welcoming move that will help in enhancing startups as well as entrepreneurial opportunities for all. Besides, extension on tax exemption to startups and promotion of startups to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications and drones as a service is also encouraging. The ambitious optical fibre to the villages under PPP in 2022-23 shall get the next 100M in the Digital Universe soon. To sum up, it’s a positive budget for the digital sector which has always vouched for a strong digital infrastructure in the country." Chetan Asher, Founder and CEO, Tonic Worldwide: The budget clearly will help the country march towards digital adoption and transformation in many sectors. With 5G rollout on the cards we will see an acceleration across the board. The digital rupee will put India right up on the map of advanced digital economies. Clarity on Digital assets and crypto will give it new impetus. All of these initiatives will help us emerge as leaders in adoption and growth of blockchain technology Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy: The Budget is interesting as the Government has focused on all sectors. The financial support for the digital payments ecosystem is a welcome move and further reaffirms the Government of India's digital banking push. This push on digitization will make way for more inclusion in the ecosystem. The focus on 'Ease of doing business is a great step, as it will further promote entrepreneurship in the economy” . The 2022-23 budget finely balanced fiscal retreat with supporting economic recovery. The budget focused on a familiar strategy of driving capital expenditure to drive growth, to crowd in private investment through higher public spending. Although markets could be disappointed with a higher fiscal deficit of 6.4% of GDP for FY23 than expected, it is perhaps prudent to not undertake aggressive fiscal consolidation at this nascent stage of recovery. While elevated market borrowings are likely to pressurize bond yields, the inclusion of green bonds in the borrowing plan is an interesting innovation. In terms of specific policy announcements, the move towards self-reliance through protection for domestic manufacturers (change in custom and import duties) aligns with the long-term goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat. The government has extended the startup tax holiday and concessional tax for manufacturing startups by a year. While that was on the cards, it doesn’t address the core need of startups to be given a longer tax holiday of 5 years as required. One of the most encouraging aspects of the budget has been the announcement to set up an AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics) promotion task force to plan and build domestic capacity for serving domestic as well as global markets. Loss from the transfer of virtual digital assets cannot be set off against any other income. The creation of a unified logistics platform and the developments of 100 new cargo terminals in the next three years are significant steps in improving the supply chain ecosystem in the country. Infrastructure status given to Data Centers will provide a huge boost to the fast-evolving digital environment of the country. The fiscal outcome is broadly in line with our expectations with the government having continued its focus on infrastructure and rural demand. Himanshu Arya, Founder and CEO, Grapes: The Union Budget for the financial year 2022-23 has set the stage with an invigorated focus on ramping up the process of the digital revolution. The government’s focus on the digital ecosystem is a progressive move to render an inclusive landscape for job openings and entrepreneurial opportunities. The extension of tax incentives for startups for one more year will give a slight relief to the industry. I hope that the cash flow improves in the market. The Union Budget has various encouraging initiatives and is directed towards a more viable and flexible business ecosystem that completely aligns with the ideologies of Make in India. Siddharth Devnani, Co-Founder &amp; Director, SoCheers: Digital and digitization stood out as a strong overall trend in the Union Budget 2022. The budget put a great focus on long-term growth and given how intricately ‘digital’ was integrated into several measures, it can be seen as an integral part of that growth. Implementation of the Central Bank digital currency will definitively aid the growth of digital economy and finance in the country, opening doors for digital acceleration across sectors. The announcement about the new digital university and the renewed focus on digital learning, further presents an opportunity, especially to the fast-evolving Educational Technology sector. However, a definite plan on how this will pan out for all corners of India remains to be seen. Moreover, digital will also be leveraged in the set-up and operation of tele-mental health centres, providing the necessary focus and access to mental health services to the Indian masses. This comes as one of the most welcome move as it’ll contribute infinitely to the nation’s long-term growth.

The advertising industry voices its enthusiasm about the government’s steps towards boosting digital ecosystem in Union Budget 2022-23

<ul><li>A recent study by Deloitte found that India ranks highest among 18 countries in terms of anxiety during the second wave of the pandemic.</li><li>We are constantly living with the fear that someone close to us or someone we know might succumb to the virus.</li><li>A lot of agencies have upgraded their policies to help their <keyword id="6357081" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="employees">employees</keyword> navigate through this tough period and to push them to take care of their <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword>.</li><li>From switching to 4 work days a week to hiring full-time, in-house counselors, here’s how they are helping their employees tackle burnout and take care of their mental health.</li></ul>Do you also feel your heart racing when you receive a call from a relative you haven’t spoken to in a while? Or when a friend, who usually texts, suddenly calls you now? You are not alone. We are all either grieving someone’s loss or feeling anxious that we might have to, soon. It is no secret that the second wave of COVID-19 has had a severe impact on our collective mental health. We are feeling dejected or overwhelmed with the huge spike in cases everyday. As of today, there are 2.33 crore active cases in India. And people who are clinically diagnosed with mental illness such as Obsessive-compulsive Disorder, depression, autism, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have found their struggles quadrupled. Many COVID survivors, who do have the privilege to find an ICU bed and pay for oxygen cylinders, are facing survivors' <a href="https://theswaddle.com/survivors-guilt-is-hitting-covid19-survivors-in-india-complicating-their-grieving/">guilt</a>. A recent survey by Deloitte titled Global Consumer Tracker’ found that India ranks highest among 18 countries in terms of anxiety during the second wave of the pandemic with 21% of consumers in India anxious, followed by Chile at 16%. The ad industry has also been impacted severely. This week, we lost a young star from the advertising world, Syed Mohammed Talha Nazim, to COVID. Social media is still flooded with pleas for oxygen and ICU beds. At such a time, it is becoming increasingly challenging to focus on work and continue leading normal lives inside our houses. Ergo, there is an urgent need for improved, empathetic and caring HR policies and counselling sessions at the workplace. It is critical to prioritise employees’ mental well-being rather than seeking updates on their daily tasks. Advertising agencies bear the additional responsibility of coming up with optimistic campaigns that drive change and raise awareness. Despite facing the blues of working in isolation and pressure to overperform in a dismal atmosphere, ad agencies are increasingly pushing their boundaries to come up with empathetic campaigns to help our country. Lately, thanks to #<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/detoxwork/">Detoxwork</a>, many agencies have been called out on LinkedIn for forcing their employees to be available 24*7 and meet deadlines. While it is extremely saddening to read those stories, it is no surprise that we continue to sustain our toxic culture. Over the years, the advertising industry has normalised inhuman working hours. In 2017, Tadashi Ishii, CEO, DAN Japan, had to resign after the suicide of an overworked junior employee. It did raise some questions back then but the topic was brushed under the carpet as always. This time, in India, we have lost two lives to advertising's work stress. They were<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-agencies/news/cheil-india-comes-under-criticism-for-allegedly-asking-employees-to-work-from-office/articleshow/82308605.cms"> forced to come to office</a> as India observed a national lockdown. Even those who are working from home -- are overworked, constantly in-between calls, they do not have the time for their families even if they sit right next to each other. However, there are a few agencies that are prioritising their employees’ wellbeing. We reached out to a few digital and creative agencies to find out what measures they have taken to help their employees look after their mental health and asked to share a few tips on what we need to do as an industry to make sure we don't forget our teams' mental health amidst a crisis, and here is what they said: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:" text="Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:">Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Virat Tondon lintas" msid="82574512" hostid="261"></div> Health and wellbeing of our people is the need of the hour and our priority. A COVID war-room with all the leadership across the agency and different offices, HR and Admin teams, has been created to keep a lookout for providing help – with a hospital bed or oxygen or any other assistance. Employees well-being and recovery is tracked by the HR team. Our Panel doctor is available for any assistance and has conducted sessions for employees giving guidelines on prevention and the first response to be taken. The Lintas Employees Welfare Trust released a Covid Care package in September 2020 that included financial assistance and counsellor support for employees who need to cope with stress or have mental illness issues. Our focus has been to let people take care of their health, their loved ones, without feeling the pressure of work deliveries. People spend a very large part of their lives with the organisation they work for. It Is their second home and it’s natural to have that level of compassion for them and do the most you can do. Their health and wellbeing directly impact not only the quality of their lives but also impacts the quality of their work and output. Everyone knows that in theory and should attempt to put it into practice. Leaders need to take the necessary steps and put this belief into action. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:" text="Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:">Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Aditya Kanthy" msid="82574492" hostid="261"></div> The first thing we have to do is normalise the conversation around mental health. And the pandemic may well be a tipping point, where people have realised the importance and seriousness of this challenge. Mental and emotional support is crucial in these times. We started on our journey before the pandemic in early 2019 by bringing on board India’s leading Employee Assistance Provider. In this program, licensed counsellors champion mental health recovery through awareness, education, and empowerment of our people. This was perhaps one of the industry’s first such initiatives. Not only us but DDB as a network globally has also done meaningful work on this subject. So, we have learnt a lot from their experiences as well. It guides our approach – which is to take as full a view as possible. We understand that while counselling helps, we have to do more to make a serious dent. In a situation where many of us have friends and family who are going through the worst phase of the pandemic, on-ground support resources for those who have contracted COVID-19 can alleviate a great deal of anxiety. This includes quick and verified access to medical help, comprehensive insurance, flexible leave policies, and better balance of work and life. On an industry level, at the cost of sounding repetitive, our first step is to acknowledge the problem and talk openly about it. When C-suite leaders champion the cause, it makes the conversation accessible, real, and addresses the stigma attached to mental health issues to a large degree. Peer support plays a huge support too. At the DDB Mudra Group, we make a visible effort to do so with our #justask meets, where anyone in the company can talk to me candidly and anonymously if they feel so, about any issue that’s affecting their work life. Secondly, we also have to be cognizant that a person’s quality of life beyond work, is directly linked to their mental health. So, let’s respect boundaries between work and home and acknowledge people’s lives outside the workplace. One way we do that at the Group is by valuing empathetic leadership and using that as a performance indicator. Each business leader is responsible for ‘people’ metrics just as much as Human Resources is. Everyone with a responsibility for other people is involved in this process. Finally, it also helps to bring clients into the conversation. They too are looking to work with partners who are dealing with this issue as progressively as possible and there is much to learn from them too. And that partnership is crucial to making progress on this subject. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:" text="Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:">Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Gautam Reghunath" msid="82574485" hostid="261"></div> As agencies, we attempt to maintain reputations as fun, dynamic places to work, but beneath the surface, it’s obvious that many of us are often grappling with various cultural and personnel issues including burnout, overwork and more. People need to know it is ok to be vulnerable and that having trouble with your mental wellbeing does not mean someone cannot do their job capably. It is in the interest of the workplace for every office to provide policies or through their actions show that it is okay for people to speak their truth. Our key aim over the last few years has been to normalise conversations around mental health and one of the first steps was to include it as a permanent official part of the agenda at all our executive committee and quarterly leadership meetings. It starts from the top and sets the tone for all decisions through the year. As our primary actionable measure, we’ve engaged with the Hank Nunn Institute (HNI) as our partner for mental health support services for around two years now. HNI’s trained professionals are available to all employees who can schedule their time anonymously, for free and without the office’s intervention, to discuss either personal or professional aspects of their life. Some weeks are packed, some are not, but what’s important for us is for everyone here to know that it’s okay to seek out someone to talk to if you feel the need to. The teams at Webchutney have also been experimenting with a few employee-sourced ideas on how we can be better to ourselves around areas of mental health &amp; work pressure. Along with planned down-times, we recently piloted our first ever winter break last December where the entire agency with the support of our clients shut shop for two whole weeks. It’s obvious that work-load management has a direct impact on how happy and satisfied we are at work. We’ve tried to turn timesheets, often loathed at agencies, into a tool to have open honest conversations around work timings and over-work. All team leaders who have colleagues clocking over 50+ hours a week have to mandatorily schedule discussions around reasons for this overtime with the CEO every fortnight. Outlier weeks are normal, but we’ve seen a drastic improvement in workload management purely because we’re all discussing this honestly &amp; frequently. Our industry is built around deadlines &amp; deliverables. It’s full of talented people who know what it’s like to find themselves at the intersection where moments of magic meet the point of serious stress. Our learnings with all these measures have been many and the focus on mental health resources aside, for creativity to really thrive, our need to adapt and change has never been more obvious. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:" text="Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:">Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Akshay gurnani" msid="82574545" hostid="261"></div> It's empathy that is the need of the hour - from our employers to our clients. It's important for us to listen, acknowledge &amp; act upon what an individual may be going through in these trying times. It's important to also understand how we as an organization can help our team members better. We have an in-house therapist who is accessible to aid our employees, free of cost for as many sessions as they would want. Whether it be automating processes that help in increasing the efficiency of work for all our teams to sending out automated monthly reports, we have been pushing our teams to not take up any work on weekends. Mental health is a priority thus 2 mental health leaves have been assigned to teams to avail anytime in the year. We have ramped up hiring to reduce workload and ease out hiring gaps across teams. We have aligned our clients with the situation at hand and aligned them on how we can create better synergies in these difficult times. Our leaders need to be able to ask the right questions to the clients to comprehend briefs better &amp; reduce the number of reworks. It's imperative to have honest conversations with clients and push back on timelines, owing to the fact that currently our teams are facing resource crunches due to either them or their families being affected by COVID19. We have sent out emails to our clients informing them to expect delays and this has been received quite positively. Digital Marketing is not a "life or death" industry. One less or a delayed post will not affect anything, this is something that clients need to realise and accept. Using the reach of the brand pages, we would like to talk about a message that's more important than selling a product under these times. It's important to come together as a community to urge people to register for vaccination, adopt double-masking, staying indoors, etc. This is the time to show more empathy towards agency partners as well. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:" text="Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:">Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="roopa badrinath" msid="82574562" hostid="261"></div> At Wunderman Thompson, we recognized the importance of mental health from the time WHO declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. As a company we have been communicating openly about the importance of mental health to ensure that the stigma attached with it is addressed with honesty. Mental Health has a deep impact on how we think, feel and act and impacts our relationships with our family members, friends and colleagues. It impacts our mood and our general behaviour. Behavioural changes is a natural reaction to the stress, fear and anxiety that people are feeling as a reaction to the threat posed by COVID-19. It is important to acknowledge that it is normal to feel that way and focus on ways to reduce the stress inducers. The pandemic has created a lot of anxiety around personal health, family health, children’s education and relevance of skills in a changed world to name a few. One of the critical things that we realized early on is the need for empathy and trust driven leadership style. Leaders were constantly reminded about empathy and kindness and were encouraged to have regular check-ins with their team members. Once the initial euphoria of WFH evaporated and the lines between home and work started getting blurred, we constantly and consistently reminded our people to set up a routine and stick to it; draw boundaries for themselves; take breaks in a normal work day just the way they would while in a physical space. We encouraged all our team leads to ensure that their team members took time off from work even if they were going nowhere. As is evident from all the global reports, women have borne the maximum brunt due to the pandemic. Their care giving, household and online schooling responsibilities multiplied manifold. Teams were sensitized to be mindful of this and have flexible options for setting up meetings. We launched an all-women Employee Resource Group (ERG) which will be run for the women and by the women of Wunderman Thompson. This group has taken upon itself to launch several initiatives in the next couple weeks to help women navigate the additional challenges thrown at them. As a company we recognized that sexual harassment can be a reality even in a virtual workplace and ran workshops on sensitizing employees about virtual sexual harassment; how to recognize and report the same. To ensure that employees seek help we are constantly reminding them about the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) where they can reach out to trained counsellors in the strictest of confidence to address their mental well-being issues. This service is available even to the family members of employees. We are confident that all the curated health and wellness programs like compassion meditation, mindfulness hacks – dealing with anxiety, building meaningful connections, staying positive, harnessing the power of sleep that were offered to employees last year will hold them in good stead to deal with the current situation. Currently all employees have access to a COVID stress management program which offers Meditation, Yoga, Breathing Exercises, self-care, Gratitude Session to name a few.

You Searched For "Virat Tandon" and got 6 results

MullenLowe Lintas Group forays into content and entertainment business under the Lintas C:EX brand

BI India Partner

The MullenLowe Lintas Group launches Lintas Live

Samarpita Banerjee

As MullenLowe Lintas Group rebrands GolinOpinion to Lintas Live, Ameer Ismail and Virat Tandon tell us everything that will change, and everything that won’t

Samarpita Banerjee

MullenLowe Lintas Group's Restart and Restrat to help marketers explore various recovery paths during the ongoing crisis

BI India Partner

The advertising industry voices its enthusiasm about the government’s steps towards boosting digital ecosystem in Union Budget 2022-23

BI India Partner

COVID strain and its impact on mental health: How ad agencies are helping employees cope with anxiety and burnout

Karuna Sharma

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides