Category: Digital

Mumbai: Interactive Avenues, a leading full-service digital agency and the digital arm of IPG Mediabrands India, has launched “IPL 2023: Unveiling the Roar”, an exhaustive social media listening report with unique insights into the digital conversation landscape surrounding the IPL 2023 season. The report, based on extensive data gathered from online platforms, analyzes the social media buzz generated by IPL 2023.

Interactive Avenues COO Shantanu Sirohi said “We are thrilled to present the findings of our report ‘IPL 2023: Unveiling the Roar.’ The social media buzz surrounding the tournament was truly remarkable, with player controversies and emerging talent capturing the hearts and attention of fans. This report offers valuable insights into the power of social media in shaping the narrative of IPL 2023, highlighting the immense popularity of players like Virat Kohli and the impact of strategic partnerships. It is a testament to the ever-growing influence of digital platforms in the world of sports and entertainment.”

IPL 2023 witnessed a host of unforgettable on-field performances, funny moments, and heated controversies that translated into massive social media buzz.

“The ‘IPL 2023: Unveiling the Roar’ report leveraged powerful social media listening tools to gather and analyze extensive data from platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and popular cricket forums. We used advanced analytics to study the social media landscape surrounding IPL 2023, including player controversies, performances, public sentiments, and the impact of emerging talent. This comprehensive report offers valuable insights into the social media dynamics of IPL 2023, providing a deeper understanding of the trends, player influence, and brand engagement within the tournament,” added Sirohi.

Here are some key findings and highlights from the report:

Player Popularity:

•     Virat Kohli emerged as the most popular player, with seven million social media mentions across IPL 2023. Despite Royal Challengers Bangalore’s defeat by Gujarat Titans in the final league game, Kohli outperformed MS Dhoni on social media, who garnered six million mentions.
•     Kohli generated more brand-related chatter than the next nine players combined, showcasing his significant influence and engagement on social platforms.

Liked and Disliked Moments:

•     Rinku Singh’s historic match-winning knock against Gujarat Titans received the highest number of social media likes.
•     Kohli’s controversial argument with Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq generated the most mentions (270K) and engagement (four million).
•     Rohit Sharma’s dismissal due to poor performance against Royal Challengers Bangalore drove engagement to the tune of two million, making it another highly talked-about moment.

Emerging Players in the Spotlight:

•     Rinku Singh topped the charts among emerging players with 940K mentions, followed by Yashashvi Jaiswal (250K mentions) and Tilak Verma (190K mentions).

Social Media Buzz and Team Mentions:

•     The tournament and franchises sparked a whopping 42 million mentions on social media.
•     Chennai Super Kings topped the roster with 7.6 million mentions, emerging as the most talked-about team.

Impact of Partnerships and CSR Initiatives:

•     IPL-based partnerships played a significant role in driving brand perception on social media.
•     Gaming was the leading category with 120K mentions, followed by Media with 70K mentions.
•     Puma’s ‘Go Green’ campaign in collaboration with Royal Challengers Bangalore garnered 67.2K mentions and drove engagement of more than 1 million.

Mumbai: Protean eGov Technologies (formerly NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure), a technology leader in creating digital public infrastructure solutions at population scale, has announced yet another building block for the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) with the launch of its Recon & Settlement Product (RSP) in partnership with the NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd.’s (NBBL) NOCS platform as a Settlement Agency (SA).

This collaboration between Protean and NBBL brings together their technological expertise to ensure secure, transparent and seamless fund settlements on the ONDC platform. ONDC and Protean had ideated and conceptualized the RSP along with a few select banks and have successfully tested this first-of-its-kind de-centralized settlement framework between two participants on an open network without the need of any manual intervention or supervision. Network Participants on ONDC are entities who are responsible for enabling Buyer or Seller experiences for their end customers.

The network participants who have been early adopters of Protean’s RSP include Addble, Bizom, Eksecond, Esamuday, GrowthFalcons, Jakkur Technoparks Private Limited, Kotak Bank App, MyStore, ndhgo, nStore, placeorder.com (Rapidor), Bech.app and OrderDe.com (SignCatch), Spice Money, Snapbizz, Uengage, Vanghee besides many more NPs who are in early stages of integration.

Protean’s RSP is built to handle transaction volumes at population scale. This incorporates a number of features including an automated rule-driven transaction reconciliation processing system to cater to the dynamic terms of the ONDC order contract and an integrated support for tax calculations. It further provides a 360 degree view admin panel and dashboard for buyer and seller network participants to have complete visibility of their settlement payouts & receivables for transactions originating or terminating on the open network. It also offers exception handling capability and control reports for both Banks and NPs to have operational control and governance.

ONDC CEO & MD T. Koshy said, “This marks another significant milestone for ONDC with the launch of Protean’s Recon & Settlement Product on NBBL’s NOCS platform. It will empower participants to focus on their core business activities, confident in the knowledge that their payment settlements are streamlined, accurate, and hassle-free. By embracing this advanced solution, our participants can enhance operational efficiency and ultimately strengthen their trust in the ONDC network, propelling digital commerce to new heights of success.”

Protean eGov Technologies MD & CEO Suresh Sethi said, “We are thrilled to collaborate with NBBL and continue to build trust in the ONDC network through products which truly make a difference to the network participants. The introduction of a powerful, decentralized, fully automated Recon and Settlement Product from Protean will ensure elimination of hours of manual effort and reconciliation errors in the payment settlement process in the network. It will ensure seamless funds movement and predictability given the dynamic nature of ONDC contracts. We remain committed to our promise of building population-scale interventions that continue to delight & enhance the ease of doing business.”

NBBL CEO Noopur Chaturvedi  said, “We aim to redefine trust in payments and settlements on the Open Network for Digital Commerce. By leveraging our technological expertise and ONDC’s decentralized settlement framework, we are empowering network participants with secure and transparent transactions. We are delighted to collaborate with Protean to further develop the NOCS platform. This partnership marks a significant step towards building a future where trust is embedded in every digital interaction.”

Protean, a pioneering technology company committed to building digital public infrastructure, continues to launch innovative products and interventions on ONDC since the network’s inception.

Mumbai: Online reputation management is a way to improve how your customers see your brand. It can help you increase customer trust, build industry authority, and even generate more sales.

For a user, the brand must display or provide correct solutions for their queries. If the questions are not resolved, a user may not trust the brand for their requirement, thus making the user provide negative comments on the brand, which is then marked by the internet algorithms. This takes a heavy toll on the brand’s reputation as it slips down from the search results giving a window for the competitors to rise higher.

Rannkly is an AI-driven platform that handles online reputation by monitoring, analyzing, and responding to reviews and social media by creating and scheduling interactive posts only on one single dashboard. Rannkly’s Whatsapp QR CODE feature is an interface that reduces the manual efforts of both organisation and the customer by allowing them to easily access a WhatsApp chatbot for assistance with various tasks. By simply scanning the QR code one can be directed to the WhatsApp chatbot where they can see the menu, place orders, make reservations, provide feedback and reviews, post on social media or do anything according to business needs.

With this user-friendly feature, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction and streamline their operations. Another brand new feature of Rannkly includes Competitor Analysis which helps businesses identify their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses based on reviews and ratings, providing you with valuable insights into their business. With the help of this, businesses can keep track of their competitors’ ratings and review trends and identify the areas to make improvements.

Indiantelevision.com caught up with Rannkly CEO Vishnu Sharma to tell us more on how ORM, its functions, its impact on businesses and more…

Edited excerpts

On Rannkly’s AI-driven platform helping businesses handle their online reputation management effectively

Managing a business can be a demanding task, with various responsibilities such as marketing, meetings, and client interactions. It becomes challenging for businesses, especially small ones, to effectively monitor their own operations and attend to their clients’ needs simultaneously. Negativity on the internet can quickly spread and adversely impact the business’s reputation and motivation.

To address these challenges, Rannkly offers a solution. Rannkly is an AI tool designed to assist businesses in maintaining their online reputation and managing their social media platforms. By leveraging Rannkly’s capabilities, businesses can proactively monitor and engage with their online presence, ensuring customer satisfaction and safeguarding their brand image. With Rannkly, businesses can efficiently manage their online reputation while focusing on their core operations and fostering positive relationships with their clients.

With advanced features like Review Analysis, Smart Reply, social media automation, campaign management, report generation, messaging management and a survey tool, Rannkly has quickly become a one-stop solution for businesses to manage their online reputation. Additionally, users can create, schedule, and post social media content across multiple channels, providing a convenient and efficient way to manage their online presence.

Rannkly’s innovative platform streamlines communication, enhances online presence, and provides better customer support. This makes it an essential tool for businesses looking to build and maintain a positive online image.

On Rannkly’s mission aligning with the needs of businesses in managing online reputation and driving customer happiness

The importance of online reputation: In today’s digital age, online reputation is more important than ever before. Customers are increasingly turning to online reviews and ratings to make decisions about where to shop, eat, and stay. A positive online reputation can help businesses attract new customers and retain existing customers.

The need for data-driven insights: Businesses need data-driven insights to understand how their customers are feeling about their products and services. Rannkly’s Review Analysis feature provides businesses with insights into their reviews, such as customer sentiment, top keywords, and staff performance. This information can help businesses to identify areas where they are performing well and areas where they need to improve.

Collaboration and Team Management: Rannkly facilitates collaboration among team members by allowing them to assign tasks, track progress, and communicate within the platform. This promotes teamwork and ensures efficient management of online reputation across the organization.

The importance of customer happiness: Customer happiness is essential for business success. Happy customers are more likely to do business with a company again, and they are also more likely to recommend the company to their friends and family. Rannkly’s My Reviews feature helps businesses to track customer happiness by providing them with a single view of all their reviews and business questions.

On specific features in which Rannkly offer to assist businesses in monitoring, analysing, and responding to reviews and social media interactions

With Rannkly, businesses can connect and manage multiple rating platforms like Google, Zomato, and Trip Advisor which will help them to monitor and analyze customer ratings and reviews from a single, easy-to-use dashboard.

Rannklly’s My Reviews section allows businesses to view all their reviews and business questions from different platforms in a single interface. The AI-analyzed view highlights the main point of each review with the category, making it easy for businesses to identify areas where they are performing well or where they need to improve.

The Review Analysis feature provides businesses with even more insights into their reviews. Businesses can use this feature to identify their top performing areas, track staff performance, and see how customer sentiment is changing over time. The Review Analysis feature also identifies the top keywords used by customers, which can help businesses to improve their marketing and product development efforts.

With Rannkly, businesses can also generate staff reports and review reports.

Businesses can connect their different social media handles like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to Rannkly and can easily post content, monitor interactions, track performance metrics, and engage with their audience at the same time across multiple channels, all from one platform. Businesses can track metrics like page post engagements, users engagements, page post total likes, etc.

On Rannkly’s QR code solution enabling businesses to gather customer data effectively and engage with their customers

Rannkly offers businesses a QR code that customers can scan to be redirected to a WhatsApp chat. This allows businesses to streamline their communication with customers through the use of chatbot and save time. Customers can access a variety of resources through the chat, such as a restaurant’s menu, a link to rate and review the business, a feedback form, and other information like discounts. The chatbot also provides prompt replies to customer inquiries, which enhances overall satisfaction.

On sharing some examples of the programming languages and technologies that Rannkly specialises in for the development of their platform

Python: Rannkly uses Python for its backend development. Python is a powerful and versatile language that is well-suited for backend development. It is also a popular language for machine learning and artificial intelligence, which are used by Rannkly to power its platform.

Backend development: Rannkly’s backend development team is responsible for the infrastructure that powers the platform. This includes the servers, databases, and other systems that allow Rannkly to operate. The backend team is also responsible for developing the APIs that allow other applications to interact with Rannkly.

Language : Node Js

Frontend development: Rannkly’s frontend development team is responsible for the user interface that users interact with. This includes the website, mobile apps, and other interfaces that users use to access Rannkly. The frontend team is also responsible for developing the user experience, which includes the design, layout, and functionality of the interfaces.
Language use : Vue Js and React Js

Android development: Rannkly has a team of Android developers who are responsible for developing the Android app. The Android app allows users to access Rannkly’s platform on their Android devices. The Android team works closely with the frontend development team to ensure that the app provides a seamless user experience.
Language used : Kotlin, XML, Java

iOS development: Rannkly has a team of iOS developers who are responsible for developing the iOS app. The iOS app allows users to access Rannkly’s platform on their Apple devices. The iOS team works closely with the frontend development team to ensure that the app provides a seamless user experience.
Language Used : Swift

On plans for future development and any upcoming features or enhancements to the platform

Expanding the customer base: Rannkly plans to expand its customer base by targeting businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. The company plans to do this by increasing its marketing efforts and by partnering with third-party companies that offer similar products and services.

Developing new features: Rannkly plans to develop new features that will make its platform even more user-friendly and effective. The company is currently working on a number of new features including advanced commenting, advanced messaging management, rannkly mobile application, etc.

Improving customer support: Rannkly plans to improve its customer support by providing 24/7 support via phone, email, and live chat. The company also plans to create a knowledge base that will provide customers with answers to frequently asked questions.

Expanding into new markets: Rannkly plans to expand into new markets, such as the United States and Europe. The company plans to do this by partnering with local companies and by developing localized versions of its platform.

Rannkly is confident that these plans will help it to achieve its goal of becoming the leading provider of reputation management and social media management software.

Mumbai: Ad fraud refers to any fraudulent or deceptive activity that aims to manipulate or exploit online advertising systems for financial gain. It involves various techniques designed to deceive advertisers, publishers, or ad networks, ultimately leading to the misallocation of advertising budgets and undermining the integrity of the digital advertising ecosystem.

There are several types of ad fraud, including Click Fraud, Impression Fraud, Conversion Fraud, Domain spoofing and Bot traffic.

Ad fraud poses significant challenges to advertisers, publishers, and the overall digital advertising industry. It can result in financial losses, reduced trust in advertising metrics, and a diminished user experience. To combat ad fraud, industry stakeholders employ various preventive measures, such as fraud detection algorithms, traffic verification tools, ad verification services, and partnerships with trusted advertising networks.

It’s important for advertisers and publishers to stay updated on the latest ad fraud trends and employ robust ad fraud prevention strategies to minimize the impact of fraudulent activities and ensure a transparent and effective advertising ecosystem.

Integral Ad Science (IAS) is a global leader in digital media quality. IAS makes every impression count, ensuring that ads are viewable by real people, in safe and suitable environments, activating contextual targeting, and driving supply path optimization. Our mission is to be the global benchmark for trust and transparency in digital media quality for the world’s leading brands, publishers, and platforms. We do this through data-driven technologies with actionable real-time signals and insight. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in New York, IAS works with thousands of top advertisers and premium publishers worldwide.

Saurabh is the country manager of India at Integral Ad Science. In his current role, he has built a strong partnership with clients, agencies, and publishers by helping them solve their pressing business challenges with the use of cutting-edge IAS technology solutions. He’s leading IAS’s India expansion efforts as part of a larger global initiative taking place within IAS.

Indiantelevision.com in an email interaction spoke to the Integral Ad Science country manager of India Saurabh Khattar on building strong partnerships with clients, agencies, and publishers by helping them solve their pressing business challenges with the use of cutting-edge IAS technology solutions.

Edited Excerpts:

On Total Media Quality works for video, audio, and text

Total Media Quality (TMQ) was introduced by IAS as the next-generation measurement for advertisers to confidently scale their media buys. On one hand, where industry-standard Metadata Analysis focuses on the title, description and keyword tags, IAS’s Multimedia Technology Analysis takes into account the images, audio, and text on the screen by analysing thousands of signals per video. Our brand safety and suitability solution allows you to maximise media investment, gain peace of mind, and drive efficiencies.

Brand safety & suitability play a vital part in advertisers growing their brand with confidence. With the help of TMQ, ads only run next to GARM-safe and suitable content, scored by IAS through a video-level, three-tiered machine learning system. The IAS Multimedia technology captures over 3,000 visual cues per video (assuming an average 12-minute video length) by combining signals such as image, audio and/or text. Industry-leading advanced machine learning technology and data science expertise ensure precision and accuracy with global protection across over 40 languages.

Advertisers can use TMQ verification across social media platforms, Connected TV (CTV), Audio, and the open web. When it comes to CTV, content consumption has increased tremendously as consumers are spending much time streaming content. As the amount of content continues to grow across streaming platforms, marketers need sophisticated tech to keep pace. Through TMQ, advertisers worldwide will be provided with industry-leading brand safety and suitability measurement across online video platforms.

 Since IAS’s updated reporting is aligned with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) Brand Safety and Suitability framework, this will enable granular campaign reporting for maximum impact and is another step towards building trust and transparency with advertisers.

On the benefits of frame-by-frame analysis for video inventory

Video-level, frame-by-frame analysis powered by a combination of image, audio and/or text signals has proven to be three times more accurate at identifying high-risk content and unlocking new insights for advertisers.

Multimedia recognition and classification takes a holistic view of brand safety by analysing the sports & events classification, celebrity recognition, brands & logos recognition, object detection & tracking, and place identification. It uses image, audio and/or text across thousands of visual cues per video, so brands can rest assured they are running on safe content and avoiding a PR crisis.
Powered by cutting-edge, machine learning technology, it ensures the most accurate brand suitability classification.
Some of the benefits of using frame-by-frame analysis for video inventory are:

Delivers 7x accuracy identifying ‘Arms and Ammunition’ content

Delivers 8x improvement identifying high-risk ‘Death, Injury & Military Conflict’ content

Delivers 10x accuracy in identifying high-risk ‘Obscenity and Profanity’ content

In addition to brand safety & suitability, advertisers can also validate their campaign performance through viewability & invalid traffic measurement. This helps advertisers optimise their campaigns, on-the-go, based on what’s driving engagement with viewability, time-in-view and more.

On providing insights into some of the other innovative solutions or developments that IAS has introduced recently to help advertisers optimise their digital campaigns and boost revenue

Innovation has been the keen theme for IAS. is a key factor for IAS to be recognised as the leader in digital media quality. Recently, this innovation has seen us introduce offerings to emerging mediums such as audio i.e. podcast, gaming, and CTV. We have partnered with the likes of Spotify, and Pandora in music; with leading streaming platforms such as Netflix; Anzu and Gadsme for in-game advertising; with Twitter and LinkedIn in the social media industry.

Below is a quick overview of these partnerships:

Social Media Partnership — Twitter and IAS announced the launch of third-party brand safety and suitability measurement on Twitter in the US. With Tweet-level analysis, advertisers can better understand the content that appears adjacent to their ads on Twitter’s feed.

CTV Partnership — Netflix selected IAS as one of their partners to provide transparency into advertising performance on the upcoming Netflix ad-supported plan. IAS will be among the first to measure viewability and IVT post-bid measurement to provide brands and agencies with consistent measurement across media buys to better understand and optimise engagement. IAS’s Netflix verification will be available in the first quarter of 2023.

Audio Partnership — IAS partnered with Spotify to establish a third-party brand safety solution for podcast advertisers. The firms intend to create the industry’s first third-party brand safety and suitability reporting tool to bring more transparency and confidence to podcast advertising.

Gaming Partnerships — IAS partnered with Anzu, an in-game advertising leader, to enable global brands and agencies to effectively monitor the quality of their in-game media investments in mobile gaming environments. Through this collaboration, IAS provides advertisers with Invalid Traffic (IVT) measurement and reports on Viewability through the IAS Signal platform.

IAS also entered a first-to-market partnership with Gadsme, a premium in-game advertising platform, which will enable IAS to verify Gadsme ad inventory globally and provide marketers with third-party viewability and invalid traffic measurement (IVT) through the IAS Signal platform.

On some unique challenges and opportunities that Indian advertisers face in this space

CTV consumers and ad spending continue to grow at breakneck speed. To understand just how big CTV is in India, we need not look further than the viewing numbers and advertising prices for the recently concluded IPL tournament.

 It is no secret that fraudsters always follow the money, and with the high CPM cost of CTV advertising, one can clearly see CTV ad fraud as a challenge for advertisers in this space. Simultaneously, because the CTV environment is fairly new, it has its own set of unique challenges and opportunities. A popular form of ad fraud on CTV is device spoofing (SIVT) which happens when non-CTV devices represent themselves as CTV devices. Another example is that of an ad running through a secondary device such as a gaming console or DTH/set-top box while the TV is turned off. Then there is the invalid Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) which has emerged as a big risk factor to OTT/CTV advertising”.

As viewership continues to rise, the industry will need to adapt to support and measure holistic, cross-screen advertising strategies.

ON IAS’s CTV and video solutions to address these challenges and help advertisers maximise their ROI

Realising how big ad fraud is on CTV, IAS is the first and only partner to work directly with the largest video publishers to validate that video ad are played to completion, free from invalid traffic. Our solution was designed specifically for connected television to protect our clients from invalid traffic but also false positives from unstandardized signals. Our close relationships with publishers allow us transparency into inventory so that we can properly identify signals, known and unknown.

Since the CTV environment is still fairly new to the advertising space, IAS expects higher levels of malicious fraudulent activity across less transparent and long-tail inventory.

Marketers want to know where their CTV ads are being served and if their ads are viewable. They are focused on increasing sales and hitting campaign KPIs, not wasting the budget. However, CTV environments cannot be measured for viewability using conventional tracking methods given the lack of javascript support. To help address this issue, IAS has enhanced our CTV Ad Verification with rendered and viewable impression metrics. By gaining insight into viewability metrics, advertisers will be able to optimise their creatives for CTV consumption. The goal is to extend the granularity and trusted measurement that IAS offers now for Web Video and Mobile App to CTV so that marketers know that their ads are fraud-free, viewable, and are playing on apps that they know and trust.

 IAS validates that impressions originate from sources (devices, apps, platforms) that deliver 100 per cent of the ad’s pixels on the screen consistently. As CTV continues to grow, measurement is more important than ever, and IAS ensures your media spend for the present and future of TV.

On IAS plan to staying at the forefront of technology and innovation in the advertising industry

At IAS, our mission is to make the internet a safe place for advertisers, and we help our customers make every ad impression count. Innovation is at the core of our business model and we ensure media budgets do not go to waste. Therefore, continuing to help businesses safeguard their brand reputation and maximise ad investments goes hand-in-hand with staying at the forefront of technology and innovation.

A testament to our commitment is our recent fraud finding, where the IAS Threat Lab collaborated with Google to take down a malicious app called Oko VPN, which was generating approximately 100 million fraudulent impressions per month at the time of its removal from the Google Play Store. The team estimates that $10 million in advertiser spend was wasted on this scheme.

Mumbai: Karma Primary Healthcare, an impact-first, technology-enabled healthcare startup, has raised Series A equity funding from a consortium of investors led by Innospark Ventures, 1Crowd, Innovative Directions, Aanshi LLP, Social Innovation Circle, Sunil Mishra and other prominent angel investors.  In addition to this, the organization has also raised support from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), funded in part by Global Affairs Canada, through GCC’s Transition to Scale program. 

Rural India is home to more than 700 million people and their vibrant culture, but it also faces substantial challenges in accessing reliable and affordable healthcare services. Karma Primary Healthcare sees this as a strategic healthcare opportunity to increase awareness, promote preventive healthcare, improve supply chain efficiencies, and improve curative service delivery. 

The company’s vision is to leverage digital technology as an enabler to interlink above mentioned opportunities. Over eight years, Karma has built a robust and comprehensive primary healthcare delivery solution that provides real-time online video consultations and delivers healthcare to users via its facility-based, paramedic-assisted clinics. These clinics deliver a comprehensive ecosystem of clinical treatment, quality medicines and diagnostics. The company also partners with other public health organizations for disease-specific programs like COVID, diabetes etc.  

Karma Primary Healthcare CEO & founder Jagdeep Gambhir said, “Access to quality healthcare should not be a privilege limited to urban areas. Digital innovations to bridge this healthcare divide presents a significant opportunity. Through the last 8 years, we at Karma have honed the necessary skills and operating model to deliver primary healthcare to rural India. We look to expand our clinic footprint to 80 clinics in seven states. We also look to create linkages with secondary and tertiary players to create a seamless patient experience. We are thankful to our incoming and existing investors that have shown faith in our business model, its impact and potential. 

Innospark Ventures operating partner Deepak Verma said, “We believe Karma is addressing a significant challenge: how to provide longitudinal care, with specialist MD consultations as and when required, to rural populations, without expecting patients to travel for hours to access quality care. Over time, as Karma’s footprint continues to grow, the company will provide better diagnostics and care, for more diseases, at more affordable prices, while substantially improving patient outcomes.”

1Crowd co-founder Anil Gudibande said, “Jagdeep is a phenomenal leader driving disruption through rural and semi-urban India in what is otherwise a very challenging space. We believe Karma has been one of the pioneers in redefining the primary healthcare space in rural and semi-urban India.Their impact-led phygital approach has made healthcare more accessible and equitable, helping touch millions of lives of those who previously lacked access to such services. With the ability to provide medical consultations, quality medicines through network pharmacies, preventive care and health education, Karma ensures a continuum of care for anyone walking through its doors. Karma, synonymous with quality primary healthcare in rural and semi-urban households, is fostering a profound impact on the community and India as a whole.”

Social Innovation Circle co-founder & partner Anshul Magotra said, “The impact generated by Karma in the delivery of healthcare in rural India is creating a ripple effect. Through their comprehensive healthcare approach, they have been able to provide medical consultations, preventive care, and health education to millions of individuals who previously lacked access to such services. This proactive approach helps in early detection and management of health issues and empowers communities to take charge of their well-being.”

Grand Challenges Canada portfolio manager Pulkit Agarwal said, “By focusing on providing primary healthcare services in rural areas, particularly for women and young children, the company is tackling important health disparities and ensuring that essential medical services are accessible to those who need them the most. This initiative aligns with Grand Challenges Canada’s investment principles, as we believe in the power of innovation to drive positive change and improve health outcomes of underserved populations.”

Aiming to solve a big and meaningful problem of rural healthcare, Karma Primary Healthcare’s success and scale-up can herald a new revolution in healthcare access in rural India.
 

Mumbai: Zivame is known to encourage women to find their right lingerie fit by transforming the discussion on ill-fitting lingerie with a captivating strategy, this time using innovative out-of-home (OOH) marketing.

Research indicates that a staggering 80 per cent of women in India are unaware of their right bra fit. Zivame’s #MeetYourRightFit campaign is designed to encourage women to discover their right fit by highlighting the struggles that come from wearing ill-fitting lingerie. The campaign vividly depicts the adverse effects and discomfort caused by poorly fitting bras and has powerful headlines like “Why endure betrayal, tolerate discomfort, and feel restricted?” prominently displayed on strategically positioned billboards.

This campaign seamlessly resonates with the fundamental essence of Zivame’s brand identity. It embraces the brand’s conviction that every woman should be enabled to wear intimate wear that fits flawlessly, without sacrificing comfort, all the while fostering body positivity.

Commenting on the initiative, Zivame head-brand marketing Khatija Lokhandwala said, “This initiative is aimed at educating women across India about the transformative power of wearing the perfect bra fit. At Zivame, we believe that every woman deserves to feel confident and comfortable in her own skin, and our campaign aligns with our commitment to promoting body confidence.”

Mumbai: Ikonz Studios, a generative Al company, has roped in actor Amitabh Bachchan as a strategic partner and is looking to raise over $10 million in a Series A round of funding, a top company official has said.

Ikonz has raised seed funding from marquee investors like Village Global, Woodstock Fund, and Polygon Studios. Village Global is an early stage venture capital fund backed by entrepreneurs like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), among others.

The company plans to deploy the funds raised in the Series A round to expand the team globally, aggregate entertainment IPs, and build AI tools for the entertainment industry.

Mumbai: In today’s digital where every day there is a new innovation or app to make Martech more interesting and a better ROI for brands.  

AnyMind Group founded in 2016, is an end-to-end commerce enablement technology company with the purpose to make it exciting for everyone to do business. The company provides two broad offerings to brands and businesses, publishers and influencers: Brand Commerce and Partner Growth. Brand Commerce provides businesses with the company’s platforms for manufacturing, e-commerce enablement, marketing and logistics, whilst Partner Growth provides web and mobile app publishers along with influencers and content creators with platforms for monetization and optimization. Partner Growth customers can also tap on the company’s Brand Commerce offering. To date, AnyMind Group has raised funding of US$91.7 million, from investors including (but not limited to) JAFCO Asia, Mirai Creation Fund, VGI and Japan Post Capital. AnyMind Group has over 1,300 staff across 19 offices in 13 markets,

Rubeena has two decades of diverse experience, Singh is an expert across digital, print and broadcast media. She possesses extensive leadership skills and has built many companies and strong teams under her leadership. Currently, Singh operates as the Country Manager for India & MENA region at AnyMind Group. Prior to joining AnyMind, she worked as the CEO at iProspect India where the business witnessed remarkable growth under her leadership. She started her journey with Star TV India and since then has been associated with some of the leading organizations in India. Singh’s drive for her work helped her in heading various senior positions in her 12 years stint at Network18.

Indiantelevision.com in an email chat with AnyMind group country manager India & MENA Rubeena Singh, speaks about her experience, the company’s achievements since its launch, the importance of tech in brand communication and much more………

Edited excerpts

On your journey after a very successful stint at iProspect, then moving to Josh and now Country Manager India & MENA at AnyMind Group

Having spent more than 20 years in the fields of publishing, agencies, and start-ups, I am currently enjoying being a part of a fast-growing technology company. Here, I have the opportunity to tackle brand-related problems, in a cutting-edge manner. The AnyMind platform, which aligns with the needs of brands, creators, and publishers, particularly captivates me. Moreover, I am thriving within the company’s culture, which fosters empowerment and grants the freedom to develop new products and services. The characteristics of openness, transparency, teamwork, and forging ahead boldly are a few company cultures that greatly contribute to my ability to perform my best.

On the journey of AnyMind Group and their achievements

AnyMind is the fastest-growing company in Asia. In 6 years, the company grew from zero to 200mn USD with 1500+ people across 13 markets. The company was launched in 2016 in the martech space providing digital marketing, influencer marketing, publisher monetisation, and creator monetisation solutions. Over the past three years, the company expanded its offerings into CommerceTech including e-commerce management, manufacturing, logistics, and customer engagement. This led AnyMind Group to rapidly expand across Asia. To date, the company has raised approximately US$100 million in funding and has acquired seven companies across the regions of Asia-Pacific.  This year in March, the company went public by listing itself on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth market.

On AdTech/Martech space being cluttered, USP and company differentiated from the others

AnyMind is a tech-driven product and services company that primarily operates in three key verticals – digital marketing, publisher engagement and commerce enablement. From my perspective, the biggest strength of the company is its ability to deliver integrated, data-driven marketing solutions that are underpinned by borderless technology, designed to help brands and businesses transcend borders. While there might be various specialised platforms providing individual solutions, AnyMind group has the unique ability to provide integrated and holistic products/services to solve customers’ needs.

On brands now in the Indian market realising the importance of tech in their brand communications

Tech has undoubtedly enhanced efficiency, whether through programmatic advertising, influencer marketing technology, or other customer engagement tools. It has significantly transformed India’s marketing landscape and is generating curiosity and empowering marketers to create engaging campaigns for brand communication and consumer engagement. However marketers see a lack of internal skills, and cite cross-organisation adoption as a hurdle to adoption.

On strategising and the different tools used as there is no one size fits all, different brands, different needs and varies from geographies and demographics

We believe that science is global, but the solution is local. Taking this from our own product development viewpoint, our global teams are building products across digital marketing, influencer marketing, marketplace management, conversational commerce, logistics, etc. At the same time, we are connected with our local clients to understand the unique requirements and build for them. Vice versa, If a bespoke solution can be applied to the entire market or globally across markets, we develop and implement the feature in the product stack. This ensures that our products are built for the world but also address the varied needs of clients across geographies.

On the way forward, and expansion plans of AnyMind Group in the next three years

For the next three years, we are looking at disproportionate growth and establishing a leading position for ourselves in the digital marketing and commerce sector by developing new solutions and products to further penetrate into existing Asian markets and looking at M&A to strengthen our capabilities in key countries and business units.

In the long term, we aim to expand our business outside of Asia and achieve sustainable organic growth and position through M&As.

Where do we see Rubeena in this whole scenario in the next three years

If my husband gets his wish, we’ll settle down in Goa, enjoying our days in a beach house. On the other hand, if I have my preference, I envision myself holding a regional leadership role at AnyMind.

Mumbai: Samsung, India’s electronics brand, has released a new campaign on Galaxy Watch with LTE that demonstrates the abilities of the smartwatch. Galaxy Watch with LTE connects with all android smartphones and allows consumers to stay connected even when their phone is away. It enables them to make calls, listen to music, stream content, effortlessly navigate, and stay connected through messaging.

Samsung, the leader in LTE smartwatch segment, offers a wide array of premium smartwatches with LTE such as Galaxy Watch5 Pro, Galaxy Watch5, Galaxy Watch4 Classic & Galaxy Watch4.

The campaign film takes viewers on an exhilarating journey, showcasing the exceptional features of Galaxy Watch with LTE and highlighting its ability to keep consumers connected, no matter where they go.

This film captures the story of a young man who is intrigued by the ability of Galaxy Watch with LTE to function independently of a phone in a lively office setting. His curiosity leads to a series of scenarios where he tests the connectivity limit of the smartwatch. From teleporting across the office to receiving messages in a taxi and streaming a live match on a raft, he is awed by the unbelievable connectivity. While standing next to an elephant in a remote jungle, he livestreams music on his smartwatch. In a dark cave, the smartwatch surprises him with its navigation capabilities, and he receives a call even in an empty dessert

“LTE technology in smartwatch is a game changing technology that is aimed at offering limitless connectivity to consumers. Our latest campaign is a testament to Samsung’s commitment to LTE-first strategy in the android smartwatch segment. It is in line with our Galaxy openness philosophy that is aimed at opening possibilities and connecting without limits. It encapsulates the essence of our premium LTE smartwatches that empower consumers with the freedom to go anywhere without their phone and still stay effortlessly connected,” said Samsung India senior director, mobile business, Aditya Babbar.

“The campaign brief was to tell the world: no matter how far you go without your phone, Galaxy Watch with LTE keeps you connected. And we were willing to go the distance to tell that story— from rounds of fine-tuning the scripts to handpicking the director to travelling places. When one goes the extra mile, the result is work that travels, too,” said Cheil India CCO Vikash Chemjong.

“The script of the campaign film had an inherent musicality and imagination to it – I just chose to choreograph instead of simply narrating it. I wanted to retain the raw energy of the world including its unpredictable thrills. Basically, we – collectively – just danced around the idea and voila! we had a film,” said Going Rogue Films director Faraz Ali.

Unlike a Bluetooth smartwatch, smartwatches with LTE come with an in-built eSIM that directly provides connectivity to the cellular network. Hence, consumers can always stay connected regardless of their proximity to their phones. Galaxy Watch with LTE also gives freedom and convenience to the consumers to pursue an active lifestyle and engage in activities such as gyming, cycling, and swimming, all while their phone stays tucked away.

Mumbai: With another weekend upon us, it is time to unwind with the latest Q&A edition of Indiantelevision.com’s Weekend Unwind—a series of informal chats that peek into the minds of business executives through a fun lens in an attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better.

In this week’s session, we have Tonic Worldwide co-founder and COO Samir Asher.

Asher heads technology and innovation in the digital first integrated agency.

Having set up a team of 160+ people across India, Asher believes in a people-first entrepreneurial culture encouraging the development of talent across verticals. He has been consulting brands for their digital and business transformation initiative by enabling their D2C presence and leads search and organic discoverability for these brands along with their other tech initiatives. He has consulted over 200 brands across multiple countries at Tonic.

He has led multiple industry-first tech initiatives like neurosensory gaming, multi-screen interactive engagement, immersive experiences in the metaverse and generative AI.

So, without further ado, here it goes…

•     Your mantra for Life

Eat cake, stay awake, and laugh till your abs ache!

•     A Book you are currently reading / plan to read

Hooked: How To Build Habit-Forming Products – nir eyal

•     Your Fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic

Fitness and I go way back. I used to love my gym time; it was where I’d escape, just me and the weights. But when the pandemic hit, things changed. I started working out twice as much at home, getting creative with resistance bands on my terrace and sweating it out with High Intensity Interval Training. If anyone looked up, they’d think they were witnessing a one-person fitness flash mob!

•     Your comfort food

A warm bowl of Dal chawal or Tandoori Chicken, Salad

•     When the chips are down a quote/ philosophy that keeps you going

Treat them like a video game level. Jump, dodge, and power through, knowing that victory awaits at the end!

•     Your guilty pleasure

Well, if we’re spilling secrets here, let me confess: my guilty pleasure is a smooth single malt whisky on the rocks.

•     When was the last time you tried something new?

I attempted to breakdance like a pro. Let’s just say the only thing I successfully broke was my dignity!

•     A Life lesson you learnt the hard way

Geeky gadgets, social apps and tech wizardry may be exciting, but don’t forget to cherish real-life connections. The best algorithms are often found in the hearts of loved ones.

•     What gets you excited about life?

The thrill of conquering new challenges, whether it’s tackling a trail, digital innovation, mastering a new skill, or achieving personal goals. Pushing my limits ignites my excitement for life’s journey.

•     What’s on top of your bucket list?

Wing walking! Now, if only I could stumble upon a magical lamp to grant me that wish. Fingers crossed!

•     If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Don’t take life too seriously. Dance like no one’s watching (but be aware that someone might be recording it for making a viral meme)

•     One thing you would most like to change about the world

One thing I would most like to change about the world is the prevalence of internet bullying and the lack of people helping each other. It’s disheartening to see the harm caused by online cruelty and the missed opportunities for kindness and support

•     An activity that keeps you motivated / charged during tough times

I find motivation and energy through a powerful combination of exercise, music, and gaming. And when I crave a sense of peace, I embrace moments of solitude to recharge and reflect.

•     What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?

I take a moment to reflect on the positive aspects of my life and express gratitude for the little things that bring me happiness.

•     Your go-to stress buster

My go-to stress buster involves enjoying a cup of cinnamon coffee while listening to my favorite music. It’s a delightful combination that instantly uplifts my mood and helps me relax.