Author: Kashmeera Sambamurthy

Basketball will take time to develop fan base in India: Sonny Vaccaro, sports marketing expert

"AI informs me that basketball is not in the top 4 sports in India. Even a groundswell effort to install basketball backboards with hoops at local playgrounds would begin to help establish the sport in neighborhoods," stated Sonny Vaccaro to Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta.

In this week’s Bookstrapping, Storyboard18 presents an exclusive conversation with the legendary sports marketing genius Sonny Vaccaro – the man who convinced Nike to sign Michael Jordan.

VerSe Innovation’s Managing Partner and Group CFO Sandip Basu steps down

Sandip Basu, a qualified chartered accountant and cost accountant, began his career at Bharti Airtel as chief financial officer. Then, he joined Bpl Mobile Communication Limited as chief executive officer and group CFO. He led Xcel Telecom as CEO, and then worked at Loop Mobile India as CEO.

His departure comes amidst a delay in FY24’s audit.

Global Ads Spotlight: A Handshake and a deal – how Mercado Libre reinvented Black Friday marketing in Brazil

Mercado Libre partnered with the second best television network, Globo TV, and took the help of its programming to extend its reach to 70 million people and spread the word of ‘Handshake Hunt’ and the deals one can benefit from. (Snippets from the campaign)

Mercado Libre’s experiment with “Handshake Hunt” demonstrated how technology and cultural observation can combine to deliver fresh engagement. Read more in today’s Global Ads Spotlight column.

Global Ads Spotlight: How Coca-Cola’s ‘Recycle Me’ campaign turned crushed Cans into a call for sustainability

Developed by WPP Open X and led by Ogilvy New York, the campaign aims to educate the consumers about taking a fruitful step towards recycling the used Coke cans, thus supporting the company’s ‘World without waste’ strategy. (Image Source: Snippets from the campaign)

“Recycle Me” serves as a timely reminder that even the smallest actions — such as recycling a single can—can contribute meaningfully to global efforts against pollution. Read more in today’s Global Ads Spotlight.

Zomato’s CEO Rakesh Ranjan to step down; Deepinder Goyal to take over ops

Rakesh Ranjan began his career as manager at Evalueserve, and then joined Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, and was then appointed by PwC as consultant. He also worked at Boston Consulting Group where he was elevated to project leader.

Ranjan will remain with the company in a different capacity, though Zomato’s founder and Chief Executive, Deepinder Goyal, is expected to assume his responsibilities in the interim.

iD Fresh Food names Shobhit Malhotra as CEO – International Business

Shobhit Malhotra began his career as a management trainee at Unilever, and was elevated to brand manager. Then, he moved to Colgate-Palmolive as regional sales manager, and held various positions in different capacities.

Shobhit Malhotra was previously at Colgate-Palmolive where he led as vice president and general manager and managed all the GCC countries.

MiQ elevates Varun Mohan to Chief Commercial Officer

Under his leadership, the MiQ India team has built a reputation for high-performance campaigns, data-driven innovation, and category-defining client success stories across sectors, stated the company in a statement.

In his expanded role, Varun Mohan will spearhead MiQ India’s commercial vision through three key areas: accelerating revenue growth, forging strategic industry partnerships, and building a future-ready programmatic team.

Prime Video names Divij Sharma as the Head of Customer Engagement

In his previous role, Divij Sharma led marketing and insights for Amazon Alexa in India. He spearheaded innovative features and partnerships, expanding Alexa's presence across diverse device ecosystems.

Previously, Divij Sharma led Amazon as senior manager, Alexa marketing and business intelligence.