MxMIndia

Tag: Mates

  • Instrumental in building the Branded Content and Content Marketing advertising vertical

    At Mates: Enter: Kumar Siddharath, Exit: Sooraj Bhalla

    By Our Staff

     

    Kumar Siddharath
    Kumar Siddharath

    Madison Media has just announced that the agency has appointed Kumar Siddharath to lead its entertainment unit, Mates. Mates will be integrated within Madison Media and will focus on brand solutions including in-film associations, celebrity associations, and other ancillary services related to entertainment, content and branding. Siddharath will report to Vikram Sakhuja. Former Founder & CEO of Mates, Sooraj Bhalla has decided to pursue other interests.

     

    Bhalla was responsible for steering the company towards gaining industry leadership position and post his 17-year journey with the organisation, he sets to complete his term on December 3, 2021.

     

    Having started his career as an assistant director to Rajkumar Santoshi, Bhall worked on blockbuster projects like Andaz Apna, Damini, Ghatak and Barsaat. Further, he was Executive Producer of Hindi feature film – Shararat starring Abhishek Bachchan, Amrish Puri etc. After procuring prolific experience in content production and direction, his first independent venture – TeamWorks -was bought out by Balsara to create Mates.

     

    Sooraj Bhalla
    Sooraj Bhalla

    Said Bhalla: “So far, my focus has been to work towards driving impact for clients and touch an emotive chord with consumers with the power of content and communication. In this next chapter of my professional life, I am looking forward to taking these years of rewarding experience with Mates and continue delivering value through the various channels of communication in the content space,”

     

    With over 14 years of experience, Siddharath has worked with companies like Endemol, UTV, Viacom 18, Reliance Broadcast Network, Optimystix Entertainment, and other productions houses where he has produced big shows including Roadies and created AFPs for brands like  HUL, Hero, Idea and Woodland amongst other brands.

     

    Said Sakhuja: “I am excited to have Siddharath join our team and provide our clients’ brands content solutions and further strengthen our Madison Media offering, all under one roof.”

     

    Added Siddharath on joining Mates, “I am excited to join Madison and look forward to creating a lot of interesting brand solutions that help our premium roster of clients create magic and meet their business goals.”

     

  • In the dizzying world of celebrity management, Mates CEO Darshana Bhalla laments the lack of data and research

    Jaldi 5 with Darshana Bhalla: Talent management needs recognition

    By A Correspondent

     

    Maintaining stardom for new-age celebrities is no longer confined to getting roles and films. The growth of advertising and alternative means have expanded the horizon from endorsements to appearances to event participation and many more. The emergence of media agencies, such as Mates, specialized in handling the 360-degree portfolio of celebrities, has added a corporate angle to this business. Darshana Bhalla, CEO, Mates, talks to MxM India about her agency and the industry.

     

    01. Is India an evolved market for your agency?

    India is not a very evolved market. The strategies are substitutable. However, if the agency and talent focus on developing strategies of building revenues for their talent, vis-a-vis transacting them, I think this can grow into a much bigger place.

     

    02. How has Mates been growing?

    Mates was established about eight years ago when Madison and Teamwork came together. Today we are seeing higher growth than industry numbers year-on-year.

     

    03. What makes your agency tick?

    We have better understanding of our clients, including advertisers and celebrities only because of the pedigree we come from. We are an advertising agency first, and everything else later. So it is in our DNA to understand the clients-need before we actually provide solutions to them. We provide solutions, and do not push our commercials.

     

    Five years down the line, we see ourselves being able to provide much larger value to our clients, which includes advertisers as well as our talent. We will be hopefully be able to create methodologies and research formats that will also aid the industry.

     

    04. Working with stars and celebrities: Is it as glamorous as it sounds?

    The glamour quotient with any individual who is working in this industry will last for a month. Post that it is not about glamour, it is always about value and service. As we talk, each one is representing a very vulnerable brand in the country – celebrities. Effort and thinking that goes behind each of them, overtakes the glamour preference that you have when you are entering the industry.

     

    05. What are your concerns about this industry?

    Mates is a mid-sized agency. Finding and managing talent is always a concern. I always feel that mould people into this. But I am hoping, with time to come we will have domain experts in this industry.

     

    Other than this, whether it is celebrity or film business, there are hardly any research methodologies and data or papers available to analyze the decision taken in this area. It’s time the advertising industry starts recognising that this is an important part of advertising. If you look at the top 100 brands, my assumption is that top 25-30 brands at any given point in time will have celebrities. If that’s the kind of momentum that this entire format of advertising to get brand ambassadors, then there should be recognition for it in industry forums. Currently, there is no recognition for it. There are no mentions or analysis related to this industry.