Category: Brands

Mumbai: Bollywood actor, Akshay Kumar engaged in a live interactive session with Myntra’s customers, his fans, through M Live on 26 January, as a part of the launch of his apparel brand force IX, on Myntra. The live session was undertaken by Kumar to introduce his brand under one umbrella and was simulcasted across Myntra’s, Kumar’s and Force IX’s Instagram handles, apart from Myntra Studio.

The session attracted seven lakh viewers making it one of the biggest live launches for a fashion brand in the country. Kumar’s latest venture, Force IX’s collection consists of smartly designed durable, economical and functional fashion staples inspired by the popular actor’s iconic no fuss  yet dapper sense of style.

The M Live saw the actor turned entrepreneur talk about his connection with force IX and his deep involvement with the brand, while going over his favourite t-shirts from the launch, which sported a raw neck detail, while maintaining both a rugged and minimal look. The session also showcased force IX essentials and athleisure wear while also discussing the subtle yet prominent print details, oversized fits, earthy tones and superior fabric quality.

During the session, Kumar explained how force IX was not just a clothing brand for him, elucidating that he was deeply involved in the end-to-end brand and product ideation process, paying keen attention to the quality, detailing and envisioning each product on himself, before adding it to the brand’s collection. He also went on to reveal the reason behind his habit of pulling up his track pants on one leg, a thing from his days in martial arts that helped him deliver good kicks. The session came to a close with the top 3 spenders from the live audience being rewarded with a special goodie bag of force IX merchandise, signed by Kumar himself.

Mumbai: ITC Sunfeast Baked creations, a Bengaluru based gourmet bakery and desserts brand, has created a special collection of sweet treats for Valentine’s Day. The beautiful red, pink and white theme of the collection adds a special touch to these delicious desserts, making it a great way to express love on this special day. Centered around strawberries & chocolate, these aphrodisiac ingredients will surely excite your palette.

Consumers can choose from a range of desserts as gifts:

Valentine’s Day special heart cake:  Express your love with our special entremets, layers of white chocolate and cream cheese cremeaux, chunky Strawberry compote and chocolate madeleine sponge. Fall in love with every bite. This cake is curated especially for Valentine’s Day.

Fruity ruby truffles: The cakey, fruity ganache loaded truffles are enrobed in ruby chocolate which make for a perfect bite for sharing with your significant other. Comes as a box of six.

Strawberry tres leches: Dig into this creamy moist Swiss roll centered with strawberry compote, soaked in a delectable sweet milk base.

French sable cookie sandwich: French style chocolate filled sable biscuits, with soft cocoa caramel centres and hazelnut milk, enrobed in Ruby chocolate. Share this with your partner and celebrate your love.

Dulce de leche choux bun: Impress your loved one with this Valentine-inspired ruby chocolate-coated choux pastry bun, filled with caramelised cream and a molten caramelised centre.

Cupcake duo: Made for each other – duo of dark chocolate and red velvet cupcake, with a delectable caramel centre, frosted with chocolate mousse and strawberry ganache.

Mumbai: Cadbury 5 Star has launched a campaign to assist singles in navigating love-sick zones and dodging gushing couples. As part of this year’s “#DoNothing” proposition, the brand has introduced a mush detector web app that detects high mush zones, thus helping free birds ‘do nothing in peace.’

The web app tracks areas where romantic gifts like chocolates are being purchased in large numbers, as well as hotspots like restaurants, cinemas and public places that are likely to be swarming with couples and combines all the data to create a real-time map of mush in any given location. Users can also use the AR mode to point their phone cameras at any location to see if there are mushy areas to avoid. The color-coded map allows users from across the country to see where V-Day celebrations are likely to be in full swing and identify quiet areas where they can do nothing in peace, far away from all the chaos.

Mondelez India vice president Nitin Saini said, “Speaking directly to the nation’s youth, Cadbury 5 Star with the perfect balance of quirk and wit has consistently conveyed relatable stories. Creating yet another engaging narrative for gen Z, our latest edition of Valentine’s Day campaign stands for all those who do not celebrate Valentine’s Day and will help them steer clear of any mush, anywhere. With a resounding response to last year’s Valentine’s Day campaign, we are confident that this year’s efforts will resonate equally well with our consumers.”

Sukesh Kumar Nayak CCO Ogilvy India added, “Valentine’s Day has become an annual event for Cadbury 5 Star to leverage and land its “#DoNothing” counterculture attitude. This year we have conceived and built a zany, dynamic web app, the five star mush detector, which helps people detect and avoid mush around them with a real time map using various data points like nearby florists, gift shops, movie theatres, restaurants, etc. What makes it even more irreverent, is that the data is also triangulated with chocolate sales to deduce mush. The more lovey dovey an area, the redder it appears on the map. The app also assists users find mush free spots, where they can escape to ‘Do nothing’. To make it further engaging, friendly folks can help us in populating the real time map during Valentine’s week, by reporting mushy places to avoid. It was a super fun experience creating this unimaginably, sophisticated piece of work to take ahead 5 Star’s message for Valentine’s Day ‘escape the mush and do Nothing in peace.’”

Mumbai: Maaza, Coca-Cola India’s homegrown mango drink and the fastest growing juice brand in India and Southwest Asia, has unveiled its new “Aam Wali Dildaari, Bina Naam Wali Dildaari” campaign. The latest campaign features actor Amitabh Bachchan and actress Pooja Hegde along with south Indian actor Nagarjuna, recently on board as the new face of the brand.

With this new campaign, Maaza extends its spirit of benevolence and encourages anonymous acts of kindness to spread joy and happiness. The campaign further highlights the fulfilling mango experience that brings out one’s selfless personality.

Announcing the launch of the new campaign, Coca Cola India director marketing Ajay Konale said, “Maaza is a heritage Indian brand since 1976 and has been India’s most loved mango drink for decades. The brand has become synonymous with the unparalleled taste of real mangoes and has witnessed phenomenal growth. Through our latest campaign “Aam Wali Dildaari, Bina Naam Wali Dildaari,” we aim to spread the message of true happiness and joy through selfless generosity that seeks no reward or recognition. We are also humbled to have Bachchan, Hegde and Nagarjuna onboard with us to bring alive this philosophy of selfless generosity.”

Hegde said, “I am proud to be associated with Maaza for over a year now. The brand’s philosophy of true generosity and acts of kindness is something I personally relate to. The brand brings nostalgia and takes me back to my childhood days of enjoying fresh mangoes and sharing joyous moments with my loved ones.” 

This campaign has been conceptualised by Ogilvy India as a part of OpenX from WPP. Commenting on the creative insight behind the campaign, Ogilvy India CCO Sukesh Nayak shared, “This campaign brings out the beauty of anonymous generosity. The idea came from the insight on how even though culturally we are a land of generous people; we also love talking about it. But true generosity and happiness come through selfless giving which is far sweeter. And that’s what we should inculcate in our lives too. What better than having our brand ambassadors like Bachchan and Nagarjuna along with Pooja Hegde to spread this message.”

Mumbai: Milind Soman, a fitness icon, has been appointed as the ambassador for the Hiranandani Group’s Half Marathon, which will be held in Thane on 12 February. The 9th Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon is Thane’s only major marathon, which is returning after two years of hiatus due to covid-19.

As the event is gearing up to see 15,000 runners, Milind Soman, with his focus on health and fitness, is a natural fit to be the brand ambassador and flag off the ninth edition of the Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon (HTHM) at Hiranandani Estate in Thane.

To build more awareness around sustainability, the Hiranandani Group started the “#RhymeForEarth” initiative and has been organising cyclothons and plogging drives. The developer takes this initiative a step further with the Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon. 

House of Hiranandani VP, marketing strategy Prashin Jhobalia said, “It is an honour to be able to organise Thane’s biggest half marathon. This is our ninth edition of the marathon. Each year has been special with a rise in registration numbers. We began with 8,000 registrations in 2013 and this year we aspire for 15,000 registrations.  We owe immense gratitude to our residents and Thane City for their contagious spirit of running every year. This marathon is the perfect representation of bringing communities together for a common goal amidst the best living infrastructure in Hiranandani Estate.

This marathon gets even more special as we ‘Run for Earth’ to create a better world. We are also delighted to have fitness icon Milind Soman as the brand ambassador of this year’s marathon.  I am confident his presence will encourage everyone and will also help us achieve our sustainable goals. 

Soman commented, “I’m excited to announce that I will now be a part of Thane’s biggest half marathon by Hiranandani Group. I truly appreciate the brand’s endeavour to provide the best living experiences by maintaining an equilibrium in nature. The infrastructure created by the brand encourages the community to stay fit and run. This year’s theme pledges to make an effort towards a sustainable future. I am glad to contribute to this aim because it is also our common goal to motivate others to run for the environment and for themselves.”

“#RhymeForEarth” is part of a larger initiative by the House of Hiranandani to promote the need for a sustainable lifestyle and encourage everyone to make a difference in their daily lives to contribute to a greener tomorrow. The ninth edition of the Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon is based on “#RunForEarth,” part of a larger initiative, and is intended to correspond with the company’s mission, which prioritises sustainability and the well-being of nature and its inhabitants.