“M5 Entertainment plans to involve more women in storytelling process”

M5 Entertainment, a celebrity and brand collaboration agency, is exploring new grounds in the realm of films and OTT. Spearheaded by Sonya V Kapoor and Amrita Mendonza, M5 Entertainment, claims to have seen tremendous growth over the past few years and has effectively carved out a niche for itself in the entertainment industry. Starting off as a talent management company, it quickly expanded to include 360-degree celebrity and brand fit services, which have been instrumental in identifying and building the right connection between celebrities and brands.

M5 Entertainment has extended its reach all over the North with mainstream Bollywood actors such as Kareena Kapoor, Kartik Aryan, Shraddha Kapoor, Jaqueline Fernandes, Disha Patani, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Bajpayee and southern superstars such as Samantha Prabhu, Pooja Hegde, and Rakul Preet Singh in addition to Parambrata Chatterjee from Bengal. Successful brand collaborations also include Sonam Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddique, Mira Rajput Kapoor, Karishma Kapoor that headline a very formidable list of influencers that encompass micro, nano, macro and mega influencers.

M5 Entertainment now turns its attention to developing its own content. In conversation with Adgully, Sonya V Kapoor, Founder M5 Entertainment, and Amrita Mendonza, Director, M5 Entertainment, speak about the agency’s foray in the films and OTT space, balancing the best interests of the talent and the brand, digital collaborations, and more.

M5 Entertainment has extended its stronghold to films and OTT. How will this charting out to a new territory pan out?

Charting new territories into Films and OTT was the natural next stepping stone because we realised that this is the era of content and we want to be an integral part of this story to drive good content forward. We have set up a complete Film vertical within M5 Entertainment with the aim of getting hold of good scripts and book adaptations and at the end of the day to have something meaningful to say. We have already started onboarding bright and upcoming writers, who form the backbone of any content. We have also joined hands to collaborate and co-produce films in the OTT space.

What sets M5 apart in a market that already has a number of players operating in it?

With the volume of content that consumers have an appetite for, there is definitely space for everyone. M5 recognises gaps in various content genres and we are going to capitalise on these gaps. The aim is to bring fresh perspectives in Indian content, which resonate with global audiences as well. The need for content is at an all-time high, and there will definitely be an audience when the world converges the way we are witnessing today. To pinpoint that need and to execute content according to the gap we are filling is what will set M5 apart.

It is such a fine line to ensure that both sides get the best out of any collaboration. How does M5 balance the best interests of the talent and the brand that you work with?

We figure out the key strengths of the brand in terms of marketing messages and fit it with the talent that resonates with the key ethos and message of the brand – we call it a Fabfit. We recently got Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani for our brand, Onefit Plus. The ethos of the brand is to keep yourself at home and create a social environment like a gym in your own respective homes by using their Innovative app-based equipment. As we all know, Sidharth Malhotra is a keen fitness enthusiast and loves to work out at home, plus with his feel-good personality, we found a fit in him and we paired him with Kiara Advani, because she brings a certain freshness to this space. And it just helped that they were paired together in the movie ‘Shershah’, which was releasing in theatres at the same time as the launch of the brand. So, it was like a coup and we are extremely happy with the results.

Digital collaborations have seen a boom in the last 2-3 years, what does the future look like for innovating these collaborations?

Digital collaborations have very much seeped into every brand’s communication approach. The future is dynamic and the need to innovate at every level will keep everyone on their toes. We now cannot separate celebrity collaborations without Digital integrations. Each and every collaboration has the potential to be unique as there are no set rules here. If anything, it’s the best time to push boundaries and create new rules.

What role does creativity and innovation play in the core values of M5?

No one can survive in this industry if you are not creative or innovative. Many times in pitch meetings we have to think spontaneously and weave a concept that may just work at that very minute. It is challenging, but it also can surprise you with amazing results. Today, brands are spoilt for choice, so if we want to work with them, we need to be at the forefront of these concepts. Our key core value at M5 is definitely cost-effectiveness and transparency and trustworthy relations with the talent, brand and the final campaign.

You are expanding your expertise into creating content, what’s the plan behind that? What can you tell us about the content that you are aiming to create?

We are rooting to create and bring strong women characters to the screen, and stories around these elements will be M5’s core content drivers. The idea is to explore stories closer to home and stem from the ideology that exists in our immediate atmosphere and yet can be understood or paralleled universally in urban set-ups and get more women involved in the overall process of storytelling.

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