Author: Kashmeera Sambamurthy

ASCI signs MoU with the online gaming federations to protect consumers against offshore betting ads

Since the kickoff of the MoU in January 2025, ASCI has flagged 413 ads of offshore betting to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and processed 12 advertisements for potential violation of ASCI’s RMG guidelines. (Image Source: Media)

The MoU between ASCI and the online gaming industry federations establishes a framework to address these challenges through a special monitoring cell that will focus on screening and reporting offshore betting and gambling advertisements to the concerned ministries.

Blue Star re-designates VS Ashok as EVP, Customer Experience and ESG

VS Ashok joined the company as a trainee engineer in 1992 in Bangalore Office. He is B Tech in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum. He has also done post graduate diploma in marketing management.

Blue Star had also announced the appointment of Arun Rajan as group chief human resources officer with effect from February 17, 2025.

Bajaj Consumer Care portfolio strengthens with the acquisition of Vishal Personal Care

With the acquisition of Vishal Personal Care Pvt Ltd, Bajaj Consumer Care(BCCL) will be leveraging Vishal’s extensive distribution network to deepen their penetration in South India.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bajaj Consumer Care will acquire a 100 percent stake in the company in a two-phase transaction, starting with an initial 49 percent stake, followed by the remaining 51 percent in the second tranche.

OMD India wins the integrated mandate of Piramal Consumer Healthcare

Following a multi-round pitch, the agency has been selected to handle the mandate of scaling the brand through sharp, creative and forward-leaning communication efforts.

OMD India will spearhead the strategic marketing and media efforts for Piramal Pharma’s portfolio of OTC brands, including Lacto Calamine, Little’s, Tetmosol, Polycrol, and Women’s intimate health range like i-pill and i-activ, and will be managed out of the agency’s Mumbai office.

After ‘Campa’ and ‘SIL’, Reliance Consumer Products acquires 1980s shampoo brand ‘Velvette’

For Reliance Consumer Products, the acquisition of Velvette is the latest in a series of acquisitions involving "heritage" Indian brands. In 2022, the company bought the 'Campa' brand from Pure Drinks, before following it up with the acquisition of Mumbai-based SIL Foods for an undisclosed sum. The approach to these acquisitions has been studied and strategic. (Image source: Online media)

The acquisition sees RCPL take ownership of the Velvette brand from Chennai-based CNE, an old-time FMCG name that famously owned and sold shampoos in tiny sachets under the ‘Velvette’ brand back in the 1980s.

Acclaimed global creative leader Ari Weiss passes away at 46

Ari Weiss began his career at Cliff Freeman & Partners as a copywriter. Then he moved to BBDO New York as a creative director and then Wieden & Kennedy as a senior writer. Then, he joined Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as a creative director, and then moved to 180LA in a similar position.

Ari Weiss founded independent ad agency Quality Experience last year, and also held the position of a creative chairman.

Bookstrapping: Of Sita, Rama, Dharma and Love

What if ‘Dharma’, was not just duty, but an alignment with the higher forces of love, that make the preservation of our world possible? Author Dena Merriam talks about this, in her book 'The Untold Story of Sita: An Empowering Tale for our Time'. (Image Source: Amazon)

In this week’s Bookstrapping, our reviewer Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta lists down five books which touch upon the unique love stories alive within the Ramayana and the bond that Rama and Sita shared.