9AUGUST 2025GOVT AMENDS MINING LAW TO SECURE CRITICAL MINERALS SUPPLYPHILIPS INDIA SHIFTS TO 100% DIGITAL-FIRST MARKETING APPROACHThe Centre is poised to propose significant changes to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR) in Parliament this week, which will allow for state-funded purchases of mineral assets and commodities such as lithium, copper, cobalt, and rare earth elements. With the global supply of critical minerals dwindling and geological circumstances not improving, there is a strong need for state involvement to ensure long-term access to mineral ores amid a host of geopolitical risk factors.The acquisition of offshore assets and commodities will be funded through the National Mineral Exploration Philips India will be entirely transitioning to a digital-first model by 2025, and will not be committing any advertising spend on TV for its personal health segment. The transition will still include harnessing OOH activations and some ground activations that are aimed at creating stronger consumer engagement, Shukla explained to about the launch of the Philips Avent electric breast pump. "For us, TV spend is zero," Shukla said. "We did one campaign in 2024 and recognized TV is not working." Instead, the brand will prioritize attention-driven content, platform-specific targeting and work with an authentic creator."Trust (NMET), which currently has a corpus of more than Rs. 6,000 crore collected from holders of mining leases. The NMET will likely have its name changed to include "development", and the scope of the Fund will be expanded to include exploration and acquisition of overseas mineral assets and other related activities.The Bill also provides substantial domestic mining reforms, including allowing state-sanctioned disposal of low-grade ("low value") mineral dumps from captive mines, streamlining of newly discovered minerals to an existing lease, with limitations capped at 10% of the leased land area, and allowing one-time expansion to target hard reach minerals deep underground. Many of the above-noted reforms have the potential to limit waste on-site, off-site, and monetarily, given that more than half of mined minerals from some captive mines are unusable.The need for urgency is evidenced by China's continued global dominance of the rare earths supply chain, with China controlling more than 60% of total production, and just recently blocking exports to Indian electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers - this eviction cut production of electric two-wheeled vehicles in India in half.The amendments in this Bill support the National Critical Mineral Mission, started in 2025, designed to enhance domestic exploration, establish foreign supply, enable value chains, and support India's efforts to decarbonize and transition to clean energy Platform selections will be category-based - for example, YouTube for mother and childcare with in-depth, educational content, Instagram for beauty, and a combination of channels for male grooming. The brand focuses on authenticity and relatability working only with creators who produce authentic, relevant content. There will also be use of endorsers, so if relevant, there will be a celebrity element such as cricketer Virat Kohli as an endorser for the men's grooming range.OOH advertising is being valued again, especially with Gen Z customers. Pop-up activations and large format hoardings will also be used in OOH to support digital. On-ground activations - for example, walking around college units for brand One Blade and getting visibility into maternity hospitals - will continue with this brand, and be part of its digital plans.Philips is also dedicating resources to advanced analytics, such as synthetic control models, dark market testing and platform data, to measure the effectiveness of campaigns. "We're working through getting an instinct for data; it is a lot of analytical work we've initiated," said Shukla.The decision represents continued investment in precision targeting, consumer attention, value-for-money in media planning, at a time when the marketing landscape is rapidly changing and evolving.
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