Sports brand PUMA India has roped in Havas Media Group India as the Media AOR.

As part of the mandate, Havas Media Group India will be overseeing the entire offline and online media service suit including Digital, TV, Print, Radio, OOH and Cinema mediums for PUMA. The account will be managed by the agency’s Bengaluru team, helmed by Saurabh Jain, President – South, Havas Media India.

As Managing Director, Havas Media India, Uday Mohan will support the team devise the strategy and ensure seamless operations.

The German-headquartered sports brand seeks to further solidify its prominence across media platforms via strategic media engagements. Under this partnership, Havas Media has been tasked with identifying, designing, and executing these engagements.

Just recently, the media agency had extended its offline media services (Print and OOH) to PUMA for its campaign announcing Anushka Sharma as the brand ambassador.

Commenting on the occasion, Shreya Sachdev, Head of Marketing at PUMA India, says, “PUMA holds a leading position in sports and lifestyle segment in the country with state-of-the-art product innovations and influence on youth culture. As a brand, we keep a sharp focus on staying relevant and resonating with our audience across markets and platforms. With Havas Media Group India, we look forward to effectively connect with our consumers at scale.”

Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group India, says, “PUMA as a brand is known for its strong voice and vibrant spirit. Havas Media Group India has been on an upward trajectory consistently; last year was a landmark year for us as we were recognized as a dominant agency by RECMA and secured second place among all media agencies in the country. For us, winning the mandate of a brand like PUMA has set the tone for the remaining year and we can’t wait to offer our expertise to the global sports brand. At Havas Media, we focus on designing and delivering impactful media solutions and hence, resonate with PUMA’s efforts to leverage relevant consumer touch points, services and messages that hold immense credibility for its audience. We are excited to make a Meaningful Difference for Brand PUMA and look forward to a fruitful partnership.”

Bluesky, the Twitter alternative backed by Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, has now rolled out to Android users.

The app, which promises a future of decentralized social networking and choose-your-own algorithms, initially launched to iOS users in late February and remains in a closed beta.

It currently operates its own social network, Bluesky Social, which is accessible via a web browser or an app for iOS and Android. The service is currently in an invite-only beta, though the company has specified plans to open it up to the general public at a later date. The service is described as being "Twitter-like."

Jay Graber currently serves as the company's CEO, while co-founder Jack Dorsey sits on its board of directors.

What’s this app all about? Bluesky will serve as a reference client for developers to learn how to build on atproto, as well as a landing place for users to see how a decentralized social app can be pleasant to use, customizable, performant, and safe. The end goal is to provide choice to users, freedom to developers, and control to creators. The AT Protocol is a fresh start for social because it creates a composable ecosystem where the convenience and scale of centralized services can be combined with the openness and resilience of decentralized protocols.

The focus right now is on finishing atproto and surfacing its novel features in the app.

Here’s what you can expect to see in the next few months:

Domain names as usernames & account portability

Composable moderation & reputation systems

Algorithmic choice & custom feeds

Sign up for the Bluesky private beta

How did your relationship with the TDC first began. When did you start engaging with it as an organization?

I first became aware of TDC through their 2005 collaboration with SoTA on the TypeCon conference in NYC—Alphabet City. There’s a wonderful element in the type community where it’s incredibly collaborative, and these overlaps emerge fostering resonance and dialogue. From then on, TDC’s salons became part of the circuit of NYC-based design meet-ups that were constantly happening. In 2017 I was asked to judge the 20TDC competition, then to Chair the 24TDC competition, and from there to help restructure it, leading to my position as TDC’s Managing Director today.

You were appointed the TDC’s first-ever managing director. What does this position entail, and why did you accept the challenge?

I was brought on to guide TDC’s brand and future vision; to manage marketing and partnerships; and to oversee TDC’s typography and type design competitions, the Ascenders awards, and the Type Drives Culture conferences. There’s been a lot of restructuring, both with my position and with TDC becoming a part of the One Club for Creativity—so this is something we’ve been navigating together with the One Club management, staff, TDC’s longtime director Carol Wahler, and TDC’s Advisory Board. In the past year, TDC has pivoted toward being a lot more inclusive, international, and wide-reaching. And that’s a wonderful change to be a part of and get to lead.

What is your perspective on the current status of the industry, and the space allocated for women?

The type industry is in the process of expansion. It’s still very limited in terms of practitioners—and nascent compared to parallel industries such as design. There’s a lot of room for greater diversity on all fronts, with a special need for involvement from cultures, communities, and languages that haven’t had significant representation within digital type design.

TDC is actively doing its part to make meaningful contributions along all those lines. We’re conscientiously recruiting more diverse voices into the rooms where decision-making takes place (such as the TDC Advisory Board and competition juries). We’ve expanded our scholarship offerings, which currently consist of annual scholarships for women (Beatrice Warde), for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (Adé Hogue), and our newest scholarship/grant for North American Native / First Nation individuals (Ezhishin). We’ve also pivoted to frontlighting minority scripts, as well as visual lexicon and semiotic preferences from less-shown regions, for our recent and upcoming Type Drives Culture conferences.

And, circling the answer back to your original focus, we’ve been working on a series of exhibitions in partnership with You Creative Media which highlight today’s women type practitioners—the first of which just opened at Poster House in NYC, and is called Advertising Type: Women in Digital Design.

What are the benefits of winning a TDC medal?

The TDC Medal is our highest honor, and is a lifetime achievement award for extraordinary contributions to the world of typography and type design. Only 34 people have earned that honor over the course of the organization’s 76 years in existence, so it’s really hailed as a pinnacle of involvement and proven track record of accomplishments at the highest levels. Most recently, design critic and writer Jan Middendorp was named as the TDC Medal recipient, who will be awarded this May at ATypI: Paris.

What is the next wave of type and font industries?

The field is rapidly growing and expanding, with more practitioners entering the ring every day. There are more typefaces being released constantly, with more people are aware of the significance and importance of a quality font. That blossoming is creating a lot more variability, from subtle shifts as foundries redefine the classics, to a lot more higher-quality display options, leading to type serving a louder and more vibrant role within design.

The space is also expanding in regards to the offerings available for different scripts, something which has been under-developed in the digital realm. And this is a space that I’m looking to for the next wave of innovation and large industry shifts, as new ways of thinking reverberate back to influence western/Latin typography.

How has been the response to the recently launched TDC69 competition?

The response has been incredible—the competition this year has received more attention, in more regions, than any in TDC’s history. And it was wonderful to collaborate with designer and lettering artist Ryu Mieno, the first time TDC commissioned a non-western designer to lead the look and feel of the campaign. The announcement topped our social media records and the competition had entrants from a record-breaking 77 countries sending in their work. We’re now in the judging phase, and working on the book that’ll showcase all the winners together—past versions of which you can buy via TDC’s Instagram.

The TDC is all about supporting the type community and building new bridges. What are your thoughts on this?

That’s absolutely the goal—and I feel very privileged to be in a position where I can help this come to fruition. This past year, we’ve globalized and expanded our Advisory Board (the first time the club is guided by practitioners outside of New York), expanded our outreach and dialogue with different regions, introduced global price parity with half of the world receiving over 60% off our competitions, and brought on stage practitioners that haven’t been platformed within the type community in the past as part of our Type Drives Culture conference series. It feels incredibly rewarding to be part of all the changes and momentum taking place.

Did you have formal training, or did you learn on your own?

Both—I had formal training in classic art methodologies, critical art theory, and emergent media. It both translates, and doesn’t, to what I ended up doing after.

One of the things I resonated with in terms of the type design community when I entered was that very few of the practitioners at the time had formal training, as formal training in typography was far and few in between. So there was an entrepreneurial autodidact attitude in the industry, a nerdiness and a brazenness which made for a rich combination. And as this field still relatively new, there’s a lot of room to make an active contribution, making it a really rewarding realm to be in.

On a personal note, what have been the highlights of your career so far? Your key learnings?

I think those are two very different questions—a key learning has been just how much is still unknown, unrecorded, and under-explored in our industries. How much we’re all constantly, actively, shaping the world to come. Which perhaps leads to an answer to the first part of your question. I tend to be more forward-looking than backward-looking, so the career highlights I’m happiest about are those just on the horizon; it’s about everything that’s coming next.

Three New Genius 100 Awards Unveiled for 2023, Genius 100 Product of the Year Award, Genius 100 Idea of the Year Award, Genius 100 Limitless Award

New York Festivals Advertising Awards and The Genius 100 Foundation partnership, now in its 3rd year, announced the expansion of the Genius 100 Awards.

The Genius Inspiration Award, launched in 2021 to honor outstanding purpose-driven creative work that inspires action to create impact, has expanded into the Genius 100 Award category within the New York Festivals Advertising Awards.

For 2023, the Genius 100 Inspiration Award category will now include three additional new opportunities to honor purpose-driven work. Along with the Genius 100 Award, new awards include the Genius 100 Product of the Year Award, the Genius 100 Idea of the Year Award, and Genius 100 Limitless Award.

New Genius Awards for 2023

* Genius 100 Product of the Year Award will be awarded to the entity that has created work (advertising/marketing/print/film) that showcases the most unique, impactful, inspirational and genius product of the year.

* Genius 100 Idea of the Year Award will be awarded to the entity that has created, developed, and exhibited proof of concept of the most unique, impactful, inspirational and genius idea of the year. To showcase it, the entity must have produced creative (advertising/marketing/print/film) that demonstrates the idea for public consumption.

* The Genius 100 Limitless Award will be awarded to the entity that has created work (advertising/marketing/print/film) that brings awareness and outstanding positive impact for/on persons/communities with varying abilities and promotes unlimited inspiration.

This new category within the New York Festivals Advertising Awards will accept work from NGO's. Proceeds from the entry fees for all four of these awards will go to charitable partners of Genius 100 Foundation, Luv Michael and The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

"NYF is thrilled to continue our partnership with the Genius 100 Foundation. Working together with this visionary organization that cultivates a global collective of brilliant minds dedicated to the expansion of knowledge and innovative solutions is the perfect partner to collaborate with to honor exceptional creative work," said Scott Rose, President, New York Festivals Advertising Awards Competitions. "These unique, prestigious awards shine the spotlight on campaigns that inspire action and support the greater good."

The Genius Awards will be judged by a panel of Genius 100 Visionaries and Community members from an impressive cross-section of fields comprised of an extraordinary group of 100 globally recognized, accomplished, compassionate minds, including Genius 100 Visionaries Jose Miguel Sokoloff, Chief Creative Officer, MullenLowe Group UK and President, MullenLowe Group Creative Council, and Chris Bertish, world renown ocean preservation pioneer, activist, author, Guinness World record holder and Big Waves Surfing Maverick Champion.

"We are honored to have the opportunity to grow our partnership with New York Festivals Advertising Awards with the launch of three new Genius Awards, in addition to our original Genius Inspiration Award. These very special awards celebrate truly inspired work which has created outstanding, undeniable, and significant impact," said Hilarie Viener, CEO, Genius 100 Foundation US. "Now more than ever, we must recognize how much we can gain from embracing creativity to influence positive change."

For 2023, proceeds from entry fees into the Genius 100 Limitless Award will be donated to Luv Michael,(a NYC-based 501c3 non-profit dedicated to training, educating, and employing autistic adults and improving the lives of the autistic community beyond the lives of their parents). Proceeds from the entry fees for the Genius 100 Inspiration, Idea of the Year and Product of the Year Awards will be donated to the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.

Mega Star Salman Khan, who is popularly referred to as the bhai in film industry is one of the blockbuster personality in the Indian entertainment industry.

The industry veteran, who has been ruling millions of hearts for over three decades, now ready to take hot seat at the special episode of Aap Ki Adalat in Dubai.

Salman Khan, who last appeared on the show in 2014, will be engaging again in a conversation with India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma this weekend. In this candid session, packed with excitement and light-hearted moments, the actor will touch upon several topics including his recent releases, upcoming projects, and his personal life.

The interview is scheduled about a week after the release of actor Salman Khan's latest movie, "Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan," which premiered during Eid-ul-Fitr. Although, the family entertainer has globally grossed over Rs 120 crores till now.

During the interview, Salman said, “ I don’t approve of abusive language and nudity being shown in the OTT. It should be censored. I never allow vulgarity in my films. I want our films to be watched by the family together.” Talking about credit given to him for the sucees of Pathaan , Salman said, “ Entire credit for the success of Pathaan should go to Shahrukh. He worked very hard for this film and it his much deserved success.”

With an unparalleled legacy of over two decades, Rajat Sharma’s Aap Ki Adalat is the longest-running TV show. Since its launch in 1993, this headline-making program has featured over 1000 personalities, including politicians, movie stars, athletes, and gurus. Aap Ki Adalat is broadcasted on India TV every Saturday at 10 PM and repeated on Sunday at 10 AM and 10 PM.