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Category: Brands

  • Everest Spices ropes in celebrity Chef Ranveer Brar as a brand ambassador

    Everest Spices ropes in celebrity Chef Ranveer Brar as a brand ambassador

    Mumbai: Everest Spices on Tuesday announced the appointment of chef Ranveer Brar as its brand ambassador. It is the brand’s reassuring move that brings forward the story of goodness, purity of ingredients, legacy, taste and how it has withstood the test of times in its commitment towards delivering quality always.

    Ranveer Brar super-efficiently juggles between being a chef, TV presenter, judge, teacher and an actor, and thanks to his popular food-shows, he enjoys massive stardom on television and a tremendous fan following on social media as well. 

    Lucknow-born Indian celebrity chef has set up several restaurants in India and abroad, including the Flyp at MTV chain of restaurants pan India, and curated the menu of many more like cruise kitchens aboard Royal Caribbean.

    Today, the chef-turned-actor’s brand value has increased by 20-25 per cent since his acting debut with Amazon series Modern Love and he is regarded as one of the most adorable and sought after chef personalities which has swelled his number of ardent followers by the day. Each and every new video of his is eagerly awaited for their release on YouTube and watched by a truly diverse audience, cutting across all age groups which talks volumes about his fan following.

    He has also been part of a year-long digital association with Milkmaid alongside other noteworthy brand endorsements that includes Kellogg’s, Philips, Hershey’s, Home Centre Stores, Victorinox, Asahi Kasei, IIHM, Swiggy and Govardhan.

    Talking about the collaboration, chef Brar said, “Spices have always been my favourite area of study and experimentation and I believe this association will be a great opportunity for me to delve deeper into not just the brand’s spice laterals, but also make further inroads into understanding the food-loving audience’s ever evolving choices and lifestyles.”

    For all these years, Everest  has grown exponentially garnering  the largest market share in this segment and have now even reached out to the Indian diaspora internationally. With their core principle of using the best quality ingredients, following the best manufacturing process and hygiene protocols, a strong R&D for perfecting unique blends have helped Everest to gain the trust and respect of not only Indian but global consumers. Hence this collaboration with chef Brar is expected to reach out to a new audience in the younger age group with ever-changing taste preferences who admires him and closely follows his endeavours. 

    Everest Foods chairman and managing director Sanjeev Shah added, “We are delighted to stitch an association with none less than Chef Ranveer Brar because we believed that it would be a perfect brand fit as he understands food and taste and most importantly we share the same value systems of not compromising with quality.”

  • Bajaj announces the launch of new Brooklyn Black range via Instagram, YouTube

    Bajaj announces the launch of new Brooklyn Black range via Instagram, YouTube

    Mumbai: Bajaj Pulsar prepared to add two new bikes to their roster – the P250 Brooklyn Black and N160 Brooklyn Black. The challenge – to create enough anticipation around the launch of the all-black range of bikes. 

    To captivate bike enthusiasts for the upcoming launch, the Ogilvy Content Force & Bajaj Pulsar emulated an eclipse across their Instagram page. For an entire week, Pulsar’s Instagram feed showcased a moon with phases of an actual eclipse. Amidst the shadow, a silhouette of a bike emerged, enticing viewers about a likely launch, soon to be revealed.  

    With each passing day the eclipse phased closer to completion, unveiling a clearer glimpse of the upcoming mystery bike. For the next two days, the audiences were kept eagerly waiting for the moon to be entirely eclipsed. Finally, after a week-long wait, the viewers were treated to the all-new N160  Brooklyn Black on 22 June and then the P250  Brooklyn Black on 24 June.  

    Continuing with the eclipse theme on YouTube, the brand also overshadowed other biking videos on the platform. On the launch day, YouTube mid-roll ads were placed to create an eclipse effect over the reviews and videos of other competitor bikes, with a provocation that an Eclipse has taken over the streets and their video. The CTA button would lead them onto the website that revealed the bike details and invited inquiries. 

    This activity spiked the engagement amongst the pulsarmaniacs – a fitting welcome for the Bajaj Pulsar P250 and N160 Eclipse. 

  • Binance ropes in Khaby Lame as brand ambassador

    Binance ropes in Khaby Lame as brand ambassador

    Mumbai: Binance has partnered with the Italian Senegalese creator Khaby Lame, who grew to fame through his viral TikTok videos, to join as a global brand ambassador. As the blockchain ecosystem behind the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance will partner with Khaby to increase web3 awareness and adoption.   

    Khaby became a sensation for his spin on “life hack” videos, navigating overly complicated scenarios without saying a word while doing the famous “Khaby move.” He’ll use his signature style to tackle some of the misperceptions around Web3 in this multi-year partnership. Lame will also partner on exclusive NFT collections with Binance, further enhancing the experience for his fans.  

    “I consider my followers as my family, and I am always looking for new challenges and interesting content to share with them,” said Khaby Lame.  

    He added, “I’ve been curious about Web3 for some time, and jumped at the chance to partner with a leader like Binance because it aligns perfectly with what I usually do: make complex stuff easy and fun for everyone!”

    “Khaby has become a cultural icon and one of the most entertaining creators globally. We love his charm and sense of humour, and think it will bring relevance and relatability as we scale Web3 adoption,” said Binance Global vice president of marketing James Rothwell. “With so much nuance around Web3 and misinformation in the world, it was a perfect match to have Khaby on board to help debunk some of the myths around this space.”  

    Lame is currently the most-followed creator on TikTok, with more than 142 million followers on the platform, and 78 million followers on Instagram.

  • GoDaddy launches new campaign aimed at giving ‘visibility’ to SMEs

    GoDaddy launches new campaign aimed at giving ‘visibility’ to SMEs

    Mumbai: GoDaddy, the company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, today launched a new India marketing campaign focusing on the benefits of creating an online presence to make business ‘visible’ around the globe, irrespective of the size and the location. The campaign strives to inspire and empower more women entrepreneurs to go online and make opportunities more inclusive.

    In the new campaign, the female protagonist is seen exploring a busy, vibrant market street in Jaipur. Disappointed with the negligible state of the small businesses, she steps forward to educate owners towards growing their business by creating a website. Otherwise ‘invisible’ to millions while being offline only, the campaign TVC focuses on the need of taking businesses online, highlighting how GoDaddy is a one-stop solution and a leading provider of online tools and solutions for small businesses. The campaign TVC further reiterates GoDaddy’s mission to give our customers the tools, insights and the people to transform their ideas and personal initiative into success.

    The vibrant, light-hearted, and quirky ad has been shot in a Tier-3 town local market set up, resonating with small & medium businesses. Developed and conceptualised by Mumbai-based creative agency Tilt Brand Solutions, the campaign has been rolled out in seven local Indian languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu, and will be showcased across media platforms such as TV, FOS, display, OLV, social & PR.

    Speaking on the India marketing campaign, GoDaddy India VP & MD Nikhil Arora said, “At GoDaddy, we aim to bring small, micro, and medium businesses across India, online. With rapid digitization, we encourage business owners to think about new avenues to be seen by consumers as they build a website and create an online presence for their business. The campaign is our way of raising awareness with  India’s SMBs and MSMEs to make the most out of having an online presence. We want to encourage women entrepreneurs to take the plunge with entrepreneurship and make an impact in their local area and around the world. At GoDaddy we aim to uplift the spirits of entrepreneurship and help them to create, grow and manage their businesses with the help of our online tools and services.”

  • Bajaj Electricals on boards Ravindra Singh Negi and Rajesh Naik; aims for aggressive growth

    Bajaj Electricals on boards Ravindra Singh Negi and Rajesh Naik; aims for aggressive growth

    Mumbai:

    Negi will join Bajaj Electricals in July 2022 from Havells India, where he was president of the electrical consumer durables segment. Prior to that, he spent nearly two decades in Bharti Airtel in various roles, with his final role being CEO of the Delhi and NCR telecom circle.  

    Additionally, the company has also announced the formation of a unified lighting business segment by combining its consumer lighting business and its professional lighting business, which will be led by Rajesh Naik. He joined Bajaj Electricals in December 2019 and in this period has led a turnaround of the illumination business taking it to the leadership position in the industry. Naik has over two decades of experience in the sector.  

    The reorganisation and strengthening of the company’s leadership are on the back of the ongoing and significant transformation journey. Over the last three years, Bajaj Electricals has undertaken multiple initiatives including the acquisition of further stakes in Nirlep Appliances, Starlite Lighting and the planned scheme of arrangement for a split of the entity into two independent publicly listed companies (upon a demerger of its power infrastructure business). The planned split is likely to come into effect later this fiscal. Further, the company achieved a key strategic milestone of becoming net-debt-free as of 31 March 2022. Having achieved these milestones, Bajaj  Electricals is preparing for aggressive growth across its businesses in a focused manner.  

    Making these announcements, Bajaj Electricals executive director Anuj Poddar said, “Over the past three years, we have embarked upon a significant transformation journey at Bajaj Electricals with a clear agenda of driving growth and value creation for all stakeholders. During this period, we have consistently demonstrated our ability to deliver on the agenda with agile decisions and focused execution even amidst a tough environment. As we look forward to our next phase of this transformation, we are committed to even more aggressive growth and to driving operational excellence across our businesses. The reorganisation and strengthening of our leadership are designed to enable this. I am pleased to welcome aboard Ravindra, who comes with a stellar professional track record and strong leadership skills. I am confident that he will be able to drive the strong performance of our consumer products business. Further, in Rajesh, we already have a very strong leader who has successfully driven our lighting business to a leadership position. With his widened responsibility as head of the unified lighting business, I am sure that he will bring to fore his deep experience and a sharper focus on this overall business to re-assert Bajaj Electricals’ leadership in the Indian marketplace.”

    Newly appointed Bajaj Electricals COO of consumer products business Ravindra Singh Negi added, “Bajaj Electricals is an established leader in consumer appliances with deeply entrenched brand and distribution strengths. As an industry player, I have closely watched the changes over the recent past with several new initiatives that are strengthening its competitive position as well as transforming it into a best-in-class organisation. I am excited to be joining the organisation at this juncture and to build on this momentum of transforming a strong brand legacy into a future ready consumer centric and innovative organisation. I look forward to working with the team and leaders to deliver on superior growth & competitive performance.”

    Commenting on his new responsibility, Bajaj Electricals head of lighting business Rajesh Naik said “The last 2.5 years at Bajaj Electricals have been immensely challenging yet gratifying as we have successfully turned around our Illumination (professional lighting) business, driving its growth in an extremely tough market environment. We are now well poised in both the professional lighting business as well as in our consumer lighting business with several new product launches and innovations. I am confident that with this new unified Lighting Business segment we will be able to drive a much stronger go-to-market thrust, better synergies and cohesive operations. I look forward to working with our teams and channel partners to drive rapid growth for our business.”

  • Rhiti Group join hands with Stanvee India to help elevate their brand experience

    Rhiti Group join hands with Stanvee India to help elevate their brand experience

    Mumbai: Integrated marketing and brand experience company Rhiti Group has announced a partnership with Mumbai-based Stanvee, a premium convenience services provider, to help elevate their brand experience and public profile. Rhiti Group works to create and build the entire ecosystem for entertainment, media and sports.

    An agreement to this effect, which also involved Rhiti taking up equity stake in Stanvee India, was signed by Rhiti Group chairman and managing director (CMD) Arun Pandey and Stanvee Group chairman and managing director (CMD) Suraj Kumar Behera, recently.

    Both organisations promised a slew of developments in the months to come, which they believe will make Stanvee a household name in a very short time.

    Speaking on the partnership, Arun Pandey said, “Stanvee is an organisation positioned perfectly to succeed in the digital economy of today and more so in the future. Consumers of the post-pandemic world are today willing to pay a premium for convenience and Stanvee’s offerings we believe have caught the pulse of the new age consumer. With Rhiti’s strengths in marketing and brand elevation, we are extremely confident of the roaring success of this partnership and look forward to exciting times together.”

    Also sharing his views was Suraj Kumar Behera of Stanvee who said, “We are glad to have Rhiti as our partners in our journey to become the most trusted and valued brand in consumer convenience services. Stanvee has just the right mix of easy to access services for consumers across the value-chain, in a post-pandemic digital economy. With the proven credentials of Rhiti, we believe our messaging and brand experience will reach the next level in what we believe will be a mutually fulfilling partnership for years to come.”

  • Cisco elevates Joshua Mathew as head of India marketing

    Cisco elevates Joshua Mathew as head of India marketing

    Mumbai: Cisco has elevated Joshua Mathew as the head of India marketing. He has been associated with Cisco for more than four years.

    Over the years, he has been responsible for different positions at Cisco. He joined the company back in 2018 as a senior field marketing manager and was made the leader of APJC campaign marketing in April.

    Mathew has more than 20 years of experience. Over the years he has worked with companies like Microsoft, IBM India, TNT Express, Rediffusion DY&R, DIREM marketing etc.

    In his various positions with these companies, he has executed successful marketing campaigns with expertise in analysing, tracking, managing and supervising the marketing.

  • Chef Wolfgang Puck partners with Genius Brands to create a children’s brand

    Chef Wolfgang Puck partners with Genius Brands to create a children’s brand

    Mumbai: Chef, restaurateur, entrepreneur and philanthropist Wolfgang Puck announced a partnership with Genius Brands International to create an all-new children’s brand, Wolfgang Puck’s Secret Chef Academy, for the worldwide marketplace.

    Wolfgang Puck’s Secret Chef Academy will feature an animated adventure series (52 x 11 episodes) that stars Puck voicing his own character.

    Creatively collaborating with Puck, Genius Brands is also developing a global licensing, merchandising, promotions and retail programme that will feature themed subscription boxes containing lots of fun recipes from all different types of cuisine for kids to create; a line of branded merchandise for children in categories, including publishing, cooking tools, apparel, home goods, among others; a new private food label for kids; a dedicated YouTube channel featuring short-form content; a dedicated website and social media channels.

    Puck said, “Wolfgang Puck’s Secret Chef Academy is at its core a celebration of food and culture around the world, and an exploration of how we are all connected through our shared love of eating a delicious meal. I am extremely passionate and committed to teaching kids and parents about nutrition and the value of cooking meals with healthy ingredients. Equally important is helping reinforce their understanding of how food goes from farm to table and touching on issues near and dear to my heart such as the elimination of global hunger. Our goal is to deliver these increasingly important messages in an easy to understand and entertaining manner. I look forward to working with my friend Andy Heyward and the Genius Brands team to fulfill a lifelong dream of reaching kids through my life’s work.”

    Genius Brands chairman and CEO Andy Heyward said, “I have had the privilege of knowing Wolfgang for many years and have been fortunate enough to experience his culinary magic from the beginning. I have always wanted to collaborate with him on a children’s project. His level of skill, passion, creativity and commitment is truly unparalleled. Our goal for Wolfgang Puck’s Secret Chef Academy is to create an atmosphere of ‘James Bond meets Julia Child’ with a state of the art kitchen and supersonic gadgets, all while highlighting the importance of health, nutrition and sustainability through our storylines and characters’ journeys. We are creating a one-of-a-kind immersive experience through entertainment and merchandise for worldwide distribution.”

    Genius Brands chief brand officer Kerry Phelan commented, “Wolfgang Puck’s Secret Chef Academy is inspired by Wolfgang’s global brand recognition, and it is incredibly important to us that we create a brand that honours his vision of delivering an experience that celebrates cuisine around the globe and teaches kids to respect and be inspired by different cultures. We truly believe the next generation will fall in love with food, friendship and family and will learn that there is nothing better than a shared meal to bring people together!”

  • Dev Kakkad joins CloudTailor as head of consumer activation & brand partnership

    Dev Kakkad joins CloudTailor as head of consumer activation & brand partnership

    Mumbai: Direct-to-consumer (D2C) fashion brand, CloudTailor has appointed Dev Kakkad as head of consumer activation and brand partnership.

    His responsibilities will include identifying and defining the growth plan that will take the business to the next level and bring stakeholder groups together to identify and build impactful solutions, providing strategic marketing expertise and innovative expertise to successfully drive revenue and brand awareness for national and international venues.

    Dev comes with a wealth of experience of over 10 years with the calibre to handle end-to-end customer acquisition, brand partnership, CRM/loyalty programme management, B2C marketing campaigns, and a complete range of operational functions. He has previously worked with Zee Entertainment Enterprises as a sales & marketing lead.

    Speaking about his new position, Dev said, “I am immensely excited to join CloudTailor, and lead activation & brand partnership. As I step into this new role, my main objective will be to drive growth by exploring different avenues through omni channel initiatives. I believe my expertise in B2C marketing campaigns, brand partnership, and customer acquisition would benefit the brand and pave the way for future growth.”

    Adding to this, Cloudtailor co-founder Mahesh Patel said, “To continue the customer acquisition journey and to meet CloudTailor’s massive growth ambition, I’m pleased to welcome Dev Kakkad to the team to lead activation and brand partnership. Dev comes with vast experience in marketing and has deep knowledge of how to build a strong customer acquisition channel and understand the customer’s needs. On the journey to make CloudTailor a household brand for every woman for their personalised fashion and tailoring, I’m confident that Dev will be a great asset to CloudTailor and will take activation and brand partnership to the next level.”

  • Zomato to acquire Blinkit, board approves the deal for Rs 4,447 crore

    Zomato to acquire Blinkit, board approves the deal for Rs 4,447 crore

    Mumbai: The board of online food delivery firm Zomato has approved the purchase of quick commerce company Blinkit, which was earlier known as Grofers. This deal has been done for Rs 4,447.48 crore.

    In the information sent to the stock market, Zomato said that this deal will be done under the exchange of shares. The board of directors of the company in a meeting held on Friday approved the acquisition of 33,018 shares from the shareholders of Blinkit Commerce at a price of Rs 13.45 lakh per equity share.  

    After the acquisition by Zomato, the Blinkit team and CEO Albinder Dhindsa will continue to run the company as an independent entity and app.

    Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said, “We will explore ways in which Blinkit can benefit from Zomato’s large customer base (and vice versa in the long term). Post the deal closure, we are going to start experimenting with various ideas that we have and see which all bear fruit, including having the Blinkit tab on the Zomato app. As they say, experiment a lot and keep what works. This remains our guiding motto.”

    The quick commerce segment in India is estimated to grow to $5 billion over the next three years, which is a 16x jump from the current size of $0.3 billion. Thus, the deal can be a game changer for quick commerce space!  

    Let’s have a look at what, according to the industry experts, works in the favour after this deal and what works against!  

    What works in favour?

    Experts believe that the deal will lead to better utilisation of the delivery fleet for Zomato and also propel multiple orders per transit, which is a global norm for driving efficiency and bringing the delivery costs down. With this, the valuations of Zomato may inch up backed by this, as one can provide a separate valuation to this segment for now, given its strong growth prospects.

    It may also help Zomato to be better placed versus peers who are only into Q commerce, as they have a ready delivery fleet and will also help them compete with players like Swiggy who have made a very serious foray into this segment via Instamart.

    What works against?

    AOV (average order value) for this segment may be extremely low, which in turn will limit margins and capability to charge a higher delivery fee as delivery charge is linked to AOV.

    At the same time, AOV in this segment is low as this segment caters to buyers who would want products on an urgent basis; a customer may order 5-10 per cent of their monthly grocery requirements via this segment.

    India as a market is still predominantly driven by local Kiraana outlets (general grocery stores), within the vicinity, which would generally drive more than 90 per cent of grocery requirements.

    Moreover, industry experts think that Zomato will need to offer something very different in terms of user experience for Blinkit in order to compete with peers and scale up in this business segment. Further, this business model may not have a big potential in the smaller markets such as tier 2 and 3, as the demand for gourmet food is much lesser vs metros.

    Meanwhile, the closing of the transaction is expected to happen in early August. The transaction is subject to shareholders’ and stock exchange approval.