Latest news with #Ariel
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Is the Indian CMO the next CEO-in-waiting?
The Indian CMO's calendar looks vastly different from what it used to be. He toggles between dashboards tracking customer data, chairs a meeting with team and ad agency on a brand film, debates strategic thrust inn the storyline and connection to Gen-Z aspirations, and prepares for a meeting with the CEO on expansion plans to aspirational districts. Today's CMO is a juggler of analytics, creativity, and strategy, trying to create business value with a diversity of talent. The CMO's evolution here mirrors a broader global trend, but not without some local flavours. No longer confined to the creative corridor or digital traffic lanes, the CMOs are emerging as enterprise leaders and are expected to speak the language of data science while preserving the soul of storytelling. With an accelerating digital adoption and ever0changing consumer preferences, India Inc has put immense pressure on marketing heads to balance data fluency, emotional intelligence, and boardroom mandates. What has been the traditional practice? Brand campaigns driven largely by instinct and experience, with ROI assessed via top-line sales or media impressions. But today's CMOs can't afford to rely solely on gut feel. When customers are scattered across all channels including WhatsApp, YouTube, e-commerce platforms, and brick-and-mortar stores, marketing must be measurable, adaptable, and emotionally resonant, all at once. Such complexities need not be chaos. The key to succeed is not in becoming master of everything but in integrating data, creativity, and strategic insights in a cohesive manner. These aren't parallel tracks, but interlocking gears. Tata Neu's marketing transformation is a case in point. They didn't treat user data, branding, and business goals in silos; they created what is called 'decision pods', which are cross-functional groups with data scientists, content strategists, and product managers collaborating in real time. By mapping transaction-level insights to brand affinity and campaign recall, they improved campaign ROI and user retention. Data and creativity played tango perfectly. Indian CMOs lament the issue of incomplete or unstructured data whether it is about markets or government-published macro-economic factors. However, the vast digital footprint of the consumer, including languages, regions, and platforms, creates fertile ground for micro segmentation. Smart CMOs are using regional insights to tailor storytelling at scale. A single campaign might have 27 versions, each speaking to a cultural microclimate, all guided by a central data engine. Anyway, data alone doesn't create marketing magic. The storytelling instinct remains a core differentiator. Campaigns like Ariel's 'Share the Load' or Tanishq's wedding stories didn't go viral because of optimised funnels, but because they touched a chord. Even these emotional narratives are now backed by testing such as A/B iterations, clickstream heat maps, and post-campaign sentiment mining. The fusion is complete: data doesn't dilute creative; it sharpens it. The third and mostly underleveraged dimension is strategy, which seems to be the Achilles heel for the average Indian CMO. Many are still firefighting metrics or content deliverables, not shaping enterprise direction. Companies like HDFC Bank have shown what's possible. Its CMO sits on the executive committee, using consumer behaviour insights to influence how products are designed and bundled. Clearly, marketing must become a growth engine. To achieve this, CMOs are rethinking their structures. Leading brands are dismantling the old divisions between creative and analytics. Integrated war rooms, squad models, and agile loops are replacing rigid reporting lines. Technology is aiding the shift, with platforms like MoEngage or CleverTap facilitating real-time feedback loops between user behaviour and campaign triggers. The CMO's challenge isn't just complexity, but scale: A huge marketplace, diverse consumer base, and fragmented media ecosystem. The ideal marketer today isn't just a polymath, but a connector, someone who can align a TikTok influencer campaign in Coimbatore with a data-led performance push in Delhi and a CX redesign in Bangalore. Talent is a constraint. India's marketing education hasn't kept pace with the demand for hybrid skills. Institutes are now scrambling to produce 'T-shaped' marketers – deep in one area, broad across others. Companies like Infosys and Zomato are investing in internal academies where creatives learn SQL basics and analysts attend storytelling workshops. Technology, especially AI, will play a larger role in this transformation. At companies like Swiggy , machine learning predicts hyperlocal demand spikes and serves creative dynamically, adjusting tone and offer in real time. The shift is not just internal; external partnerships too are changing. CMOs are no longer just clients to agencies; they are co-creators. Many are building in-house studios with agency-like agility, merging business acumen with creative instinct within the same company. The days of waiting three weeks for a campaign concept are long over. Today's marketer needs the reflexes of a trader and the imagination of a poet. But this transformation is not without risk. Some CMOs fall into the perfectionism trap, trying to master each domain themselves. The wiser ones build teams with clear specialisations and focus their own energy on integration and alignment. They define decision rights clearly, ensure everyone sees the same dashboards, and nurture a culture where both performance and imagination are celebrated. The Indian CMOs aren't just running campaigns; they're rehearsing for the corner office. With a finger on the consumer's pulse, a grip on data levers, and a voice in strategic direction, today's CMO is increasingly seen as a growth leader. The skills once considered 'marketing' – storytelling, trendspotting, insight mining – are now boardroom gold. CMOs who decode markets, align teams, and steer brand purpose into profit engines are the logical contenders for CEO roles. When growth depends on understanding humans, not just numbers; the path from marketer to top boss is inevitable. Or as one CEO quipped, 'CMO used to mean Chief Makeover Officer. Now, it's Chief Meteor of Outcomes – crashing into silos and reshaping the whole business.' Ready or not, the CEO chair is warming up.
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Mum plays 90s cartoon to four kids for a week and change leaves her floored
With the rise of tablets, smartphones and streaming services, it can feel tougher than ever to get on top of screen time. So one mum found a way to combat this issue Many parents are concerned their little ones are getting too much screen time. This is all the more worrying as the NHS warns that spending hours on devices can impact a child's attention span, communication, problem solving and social skills. So to try and approach the issue in a more old school way, a mum-of-four decided to make a simple change. For one week, she played 90s cartoons for her children instead of the brightly-coloured and loud videos kids have grown used to. And the differences were absolutely staggering. Ariel Shearer, the founder of Mom Taught Me, boasts 88,100 Instagram followers. She regularly shares parenting tips on the platform – and we reckon plenty of mums and dads will be following her lead following the experiment. Ariel said: "After a week of the kids watching only 90s TV shows, here's what I noticed... "I have four under six and here's what I've noticed in each of them. They're less overstimulated, no fast cuts or loud sound effects grabbing their attention every second. "They actually wander off to play rather than just sitting glued to the screen. There's less begging for 'one more episode' – it feels like the shows aren't designed to be addictive. "They engage more with each other while these shows are on. No more meltdowns when screen time ends." Ariel revealed she opted for nostalgic titles like Arthur, Rugrats, Little Bear, Bear in the Big Blue House, Dora the Explorer, Rolie Polie Olie and Blues Clues. Talk about a trip down memory lane! Following Ariel's post, many weighed in with their thoughts. One commenter said: "Both my kids grew up on many of these except Rugrats. We didn't like how bratty the kids acted. "There was a show made shortly after Bear in the Big Blue House called It's a Big Big World and pretty sure it's the same set and costume just turned the Bear into a sloth! My son loved it!" Meanwhile, another commented: "I can't stand having complete silence in my house, need to have something going on, nice to find the old cartoons they aren't as violent."
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'My four kids only watched 90s cartoons for a week – I couldn't believe huge impact'
Screen time is a huge factor in parenting with many mums and dads doing everything they can to avoid their little ones from being glued to their technology devices As a parent, it can be difficult to limit your child from using their phone or tablet. The NHS recently listed the amount of screen time kids should have based on their age, but we all know it's always easier said than done, right? Nowadays many parents could be judged for allowing their little ones to use their technology devices out in public, or even letting them sit in front of the telly for countless hours. Now one mum revealed how tuning into 90s cartoons for an entire week had a huge impact on her four children in many ways. Mum-of-four Ariel Shearer boasts 88,100 followers on Instagram where she shares her parenting content. She's also the founder of Mom Taught Me, a trusted source for expert advice, practical life hacks and more. In her latest post, she told fans how she completed a week where her kids only watched 90s TV shows – and the results? Well, they were promising according to Ariel. She said: "After a week of the kids watching only 90s TV shows, here's what I noticed... "I have 4 under six and here's what I've noticed in each of them. They're less overstimulated, no fast cuts or loud sound effects grabbing their attention every second. "They actually wander off to play rather than just sitting glued to the screen. There's less begging for 'one more episode' – it feels like the shows aren't designed to be addictive. "They engage more with each other while these shows are on. No more meltdowns when screen time ends." Ariel then listed the shows she let her children watch, including Little Bear and the Bear in the Big Blue House. She also tuned into Arthur, Rugrats, Franklin, The Magic School Bus, Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer, PB&J Otter and Rolie Polie Olie. Ariel's theory is also backed up in a study published by the National Institutes of Health. This found the immediate impact of different types of TV on young children. It also claimed just 9 minutes of viewing a fast-paced television cartoon had huge negative effects on four-year-olds' executive function. Since her Instagram video was shared, it racked up thousands of likes and comments. One said: "Both my kids grew up on many of these except Rugrats. We didn't like how bratty the kids acted. "There was a show made shortly after Bear in the Big Blue House called It's a Big Big World and pretty sure it's the same set and costume just turned the Bear into a sloth! My son loved it!"
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paulo Costa on return: 'I need to reconnect with my old style'
Paulo Costa joins before his return against Roman Kopylov to give insight into his long layoff, wanting to fight Chimaev, his loss against Strickland, defending Ariel online, and more.
Daily Tribune
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Tribune
Ariel Winter recalls harrowing experiences with Hollywood ‘male predators'
Bang Showbiz | Los Angeles Ariel Winter received 'inappropriate messages from older men' when she was a child. The 27-year-old star found fame through her role as Alex Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family and has revealed how she had to deal with the unwanted attention of 'male predators' from an early age. Speaking to Ariel said: 'I am familiar with male predators because I worked in Hollywood at a young age. I started at age four. I don't wanna say too much about it, but by the time I was on a laptop and cell phone, I was getting inappropriate messages from older men, and it caused trauma.' She added: 'The experiences I had in person and online as a child have affected me so deeply that I've had to go to therapy for it. The movie and TV industry is a dark place.' Ariel featured for the duration of Modern Family's 11-season run and admits that she found it difficult to come to terms with show ending in 2020. She said earlier this year: 'It was hard. 'We were like a real family. It was weird knowing it would just be over, and I wouldn't get to see everybody all the time anymore. It was like, wait, yeah, wait, we're not going to be together on Monday? So on the one hand, I didn't want it to end, but at the same time, I was ready to start something new as an adult.' Ariel was just 11 years of age when Modern Family began and she did not suspect that the programme would go on to become so popular. She said: 'I was 11 when it started. I don't think I had any idea of it was going to be successful or not. I was just like, 'Oh awesome, I got a job.
