Brands
Peps turns 20 and proves great sleep has always been a big idea
MUMBAI:Twenty years on, Peps Industries is still wide awake and so is its imagination. As the spring mattress brand marks two decades in business, it is also celebrating something rarer in the category: advertising that made India laugh, think and finally take sleep seriously.
Since 2005, Peps has steadily rewritten the rulebook on how mattresses are marketed, swapping stiff product claims for storytelling rooted in humour, emotion and everyday insight. At a time when sleep was rarely discussed beyond discounts and density, the brand chose to humanise rest, turning an overlooked household purchase into a conversation about wellbeing.
“Creativity lies at the heart of everything we do,” said Peps Industries managing director G Shankar Ramm. “For 20 years, our mission has been to educate and delight consumers and to show that a mattress isn’t just a product, but a vital part of wellbeing. Our campaigns have helped challenge conventions, shift mindsets and spark smiles along the way.”
One of Peps’ most talked-about recent ideas, Some Breakups Are Necessary, leaned into relationship humour to make a sharp point. Through a trilogy of witty, multilingual films, the campaign urged consumers to finally part ways with old, unsupportive mattresses, framing poor sleep as a bad relationship that had run its course. The message landed because it felt familiar, funny and uncomfortably true.
Earlier this year, the brand doubled down on accessible storytelling with Spring is King, a hyperlocal, humour-led campaign spanning seven short films. Set in everyday Indian households, the series demystified spring mattress technology using playful narratives, bringing concepts such as the Marvellous Middle Advantage and Zero Disturbance Technology to life without sounding technical or preachy.
Seasonal storytelling has also been central to Peps’ playbook. Festive campaigns around Diwali and regional moments such as Onam reinforced the idea that celebration is incomplete without good sleep. By tying comfort to cultural rituals, the brand ensured it stayed relevant beyond sale seasons, building emotional recall throughout the year.
Peps’ creative risk-taking is not new. Among its earlier highlights was BEDTalks, a digital series built around intentionally boring conversations designed to help viewers drift off. The idea stood out precisely because it did the opposite of what advertising usually aims to do, reflecting a brand confident enough to lean into its core promise of better sleep.
Across two decades, Peps has blended science with storytelling, humour with insight, and product innovation with cultural nuance. In doing so, it has elevated mattress advertising from a functional pitch to a human conversation about rest, health and everyday life.
As it enters its third decade, Peps shows no signs of hitting snooze. The brand remains focused on pushing creative boundaries, innovating with purpose and continuing to tell stories that make India sleep and smile, a little better.
Brands
Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board
Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.
Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.
“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.
The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.
Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.
The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.
Brands
Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion
Bengaluru: Brnd.me, the global consumer brands company formerly known as Mensa Brands, has entered the European market following strong momentum across the Middle East, the United States and Canada.
The company has launched across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand into Italy, the Netherlands and Poland over the next year. The push is being led by its haircare and aromatherapy brands, Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure, marking Brnd.me’s first structured expansion into Europe.
The European beauty market represents a total addressable opportunity of over $4 billion across haircare and aromatherapy, supported by high digital adoption and demand for accessible, performance-led products.
Brnd.me’s hair care and aromatherapy business currently operates at an annual run rate of around $6 million, with Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure delivering roughly 10 per cent month-on-month growth, driven by expansion and rising repeat demand.
To support regional growth, the company has appointed a general manager based in Germany and is evaluating investments in warehousing and local team expansion.
Early traction has been strong. Within weeks of launch, Botanic Hearth’s rosemary hair oil ranked among the top five hair oils in Germany, signalling strong consumer pull in a competitive market.
Brnd.me founder and chief executive officer Ananth Narayanan, said Europe represents the next phase of the company’s international strategy. He added that the European business is expected to scale to a $10 million annual run rate by the end of 2026, with long-term ambitions to reach $60 million over the next six years.
The company’s Europe strategy centres on digital-first distribution, repeat demand and TikTok-led discovery, alongside direct-to-consumer expansion to strengthen brand equity and margins.
The move also aligns with growing EU–India trade engagement, supporting long-term sourcing and cross-border supply chains.
Brands
TechnoSport taps quick commerce with launch on Slikk’s 60-minute platform
NATIONAL: TechnoSport has launched on Slikk, the ultra-fast fashion app offering 60-minute delivery, as the activewear brand accelerates its push into quick commerce to capture Gen Z and young millennial shoppers.
The debut brings more than 150 high-performance styles to Slikk’s platform, with an average selling price of Rs 450, expanding TechnoSport’s reach across over 80 pin codes.
The partnership follows strong momentum for TechnoSport across Q-commerce channels, where the brand has recorded around 60 per cent volume growth over the past six months. The company expects quick commerce to contribute nearly 20 per cent of its revenue in the coming years as hyperlocal delivery gains scale.
Slikk, which recently raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, has rapidly gained popularity among youth consumers seeking speed, trend relevance and impulse-led shopping experiences.
Activewear remains one of Slikk’s fastest-growing categories, driven by shoppers increasingly treating fitness-led fashion as an everyday essential. The platform has reported a 30-fold year-on-year increase in items sold, reflecting rising demand for performance wear that blends comfort with style.
TechnoSport chief executive officer Puspen Maity, said the collaboration would help the brand engage more closely with young consumers whose fashion choices are shaped by instant needs and lifestyle aspirations. He added that rapid delivery bridges the gap between intent and purchase, allowing shoppers to access activewear exactly when they want it.
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