Category: Brands

Hair care sector joins top 5 sectors advertising on TV in Q2’2019: TAM AdEx

MUMBAI: Personal Care/Personal Hygiene products became the top sector to advertise on Indian television in the second quarter of 2019, recording a growth of 23 per cent in ad volumes, a latest TAM AdEx data reveals. It ranked second in the first quarter, commanding 18 per cent of the ad volumes, which grew to 21 per cent in the second quarter.

Food & Beverages, despite recording a growth of 5 per cent in ad volumes, slipped a spot to rank second in the second quarter of 2019. It also recorded one per cent loss in ad volumes in the quarter.

Hair care joined the list of top performers on number 5, with a 17 per cent increase in the ad volumes as compared to q1’2019. It had a six per cent share of the ad volumes.

The top three categories to advertise on television during quarter 2 of 2019, from the personal care sector were toilet soaps (34 per cent), toothpastes (15 per cent), and perfumes (10 per cent).
In food & beverages, the top three performing categories, based on ad volumes on TV, were milk beverages (12 per cent), chocolates (9 per cent), and aerated soft drinks (7 per cent).

October 25, 2019
E-com, Media, and Retail saw hike in ad volumes across media during Ganesh Chaturthi: TAM AdEx

MUMBAI: A total of 450+ categories, 6400+ advertisers, and 8500+ brands advertised across mediums (TV, print, and radio) during the festive period of Ganesh Chaturthi (22 August to 12 September), as revealed by a latest TAM AdEx data report.

As compared to the last year, the top category of Food and Beverages saw an increase of 9 per cent in ad volumes. Following it were Personal Care/Personal Hygiene and Services, which recorded a dip of 17 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

Retail saw an increase of 40 per cent in ad volumes, across media, laundry 38 per cent and household products 14 per cent, the data revealed.

The top category to advertise across media, Toilet Soaps recorded a dip of 16 per cent across media, as compared to the last year. E-commerce, social media, entertainment category gained 81 per cent in ad volumes, Retail Outlets-Jewellers 57 per cent, and Washing Powders/Liquids 45 per cent.

The top advertisers included Hindustan Unilever. Reckitt Benckiser, and Godrej, on the top three sports. Leading brands, in terms of ad volumes were Lizol, Trivago, and Vivo S1.

October 22, 2019
Bobble AI partners with Xiaomi to develop ‘Mint Keyboard’ for Android smartphones

MUMBAI: Bobble AI, a Gurgaon-based tech company today announced that it has partnered with Xiaomi, India’s number one smartphone and smart TV brand to develop ‘Mint Keyboard’ for Android smartphones. Bobble AI is empowering the Next Billion by making their communication personalised, expressive, and smarter with its cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence around input methods. Taking a leap in terms of technology and innovation, Bobble AI has developed an Indian language keyboard called ‘Mint Keyboard’ which will be pre-loaded across Xiaomi devices in India and Indonesia. The new feature will be a part of Xiaomi’s latest MIUI 11 Operating System.

Mint keyboard is a ‘Made in India’ application which is specially designed keeping Indian users in mind, with their need for local languages and personalisation to enrich conversations. The AI engine is continuously learning user typing habits in real time to suggest absolutely personalised responses whether it is in a regional language, slang, shortcuts, or emoji preferences. With the availability of 25+ Indic languages on the Mint Keyboard, users can type in their preferred language. Not only this, but the users can also go to the extent of applying personalized themes on their keyboards using images from their gallery and using different fonts while typing.

Additionally, it has features like Swipe typing, speech-to-text, real-time emoji suggestions, different themes every week, cloud-sync and clipboard. With a rich database of stickers and GIFs to express every emotion or mood, users can share stickers directly from the keyboard to make conversations even more expressive and fun.

The keyboard is also available for non MIUI devices and can be downloaded from the Google Play store.

On IME and partnering with Xiaomi, Bobble AI CEO and founder Ankit Prasad said, “The Input Method Editor (IME) software industry, considering only keyboard and voice inputs, is growing at a CAGR of 17.2% and is expected to reach 40 Billion USD by 2025. Our main focus is to partner with leading smartphone players to co-create solutions for the Next Billion. Partnership with Xiaomi is a huge validation of our capabilities and shift in need of new-age technologies and business opportunities.”

Xiaomi India chief operations officer Muralikrishnan B said, “We have always provided the highest quality and customised solutions to our Mi fans in India and therefore for the first time anywhere in the world, we are launching Mint Keyboard. India provides one of the most diverse cultures with several thousands of languages and dialects being spoken. Mint Keyboard, supporting 25+ Indic languages and with the ability to transliterate across all of them is just the first step in Xiaomi truly developing services for India. ”

Bobble AI is backed by some of the most celebrated names in the Indian startup ecosystem. Apart from SAIF Partners and Xiaomi Inc. others include co-founders of Flipkart, founder of MakeMyTrip, Co-founder of SlideShare, Founders of 1mg, Co-creator of Cassandra, and 15 other individual investors.

Following the B2B2C model, Bobble has partnered with the homegrown operating system Indus and many more in the past.

October 21, 2019
OnePlusTV partners with Reliance Digital for launch

Mumbai: Reliance Digital, India’s No. 1 electronics retailer has partneredwith OnePlus for the exclusivelaunch of OnePlus TV line-upacross its retail outlets.

Both the OnePlus TV 55 Q1 and OnePlus TV 55 Q1 Prowere unveiled today at the Reliance Digital Store in Prabhadevi. The event was presided over by Brian Bade, CEO, Reliance Digital, KaushalNevrekar, EVP &CMO Reliance Digital and Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, along with Bollywood actress, Tara Sutaria.

On the grand occasion of the launch, Brian Badesaid “In keeping with our track record of launching the latest technology first, we are proud to welcome OnePlus TV to the Reliance Digital family. We will continue to be the bridge between the Indian consumer and the latest technology brands from all over the world.”

Addressing the gathering at the OnePlus TV announcement, Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, said, “We’ve been working with Reliance Digital since November last year and are extremely happy with the remarkable response we received for our products across India. Reliance Digital has a successful nationwide presence with OnePlus devices being sold across 350+ Reliance Digital stores. The launch of the OnePlus TVs will further strengthen our fruitful partnership, and provide a valuable offline platform for customers across India to physically experience the innovations of the OnePlus TV while seeking to purchasing it,”

Tara Sutaria, a technology enthusiast was excited for the launch. She said, “Reliance Digital is my favourite technology store, and I’m glad that just like me, all of India will get an opportunity to experience this new generation TV.”

The recently launched OnePlus TV comes in two variants, OnePlus TV 55 Q1 and OnePlus TV 55Q1 Pro with a 4K QLED experience in both variants. Both smart TVs run on the latest version of Android TV. OnePlus TV 55 Q1 Pro has a 55-inch QLED display and Dolby Vision support, powered by eight speakers that deliver a 50W output. Both smart TV variants feature Dolby Atmos support and a custom Gamma Colour Magic processor. It also has voice control giving customers a comprehensive smart TV experience. In addition, OnePlus TV is supported by the all-new innovative OnePlus Connect app offering smarter interaction and seamless connectivity experience through a fusion of connected devices.

Moreover, Reliance Digital will also have a bouquet of exclusive offers for customers,like cashback of up to Rs.7000 on HDFC cards, no cost EMI options, extended warranty and multibank cashback on OnePlus TVs.

Both the versions will be available in Reliance Digital and Jio Stores across 100+ Indian cities.

October 21, 2019
Faber Castell’s ‘Change the Canvas’ gets 200% more responses than last year

MUMBAI: While the digital era has disrupted many traditional businesses, stationery, and art & craft facilities are going to grow, Faber Castell India marketing India director Nisha Sara Jose told Indiantelevision.com about the second successful season of its online ‘Change the Canvas’ activity.

“Our products will continue to grow because there has been a discovery for analogue writing. It is a counter-trend, which is becoming very important and popular within the younger audience. They are going back to activities like writing and drawing to balance their (digital-dominated) lives. Also, Faber Castell as a brand is all about creativity, thoughts, and passion. So, we already are positioned on the top to tackle the digital era,” Jose quipped

Jose shared that the online creative competition, which encouraged the people to ‘change’ their choice of canvas and instead pick any ordinary object, scene, place, or setting, and look at it from a different perspective, received an impressive response of 200 per cent more from the past year.

“We received more than 750-800 entries for the campaign digitally this year as compared to 400 entries, which are almost 200 per cent of what we received last year. Our digital presence for the campaign has multiplied exponentially with more than 10 million impressions as compared to 4 million last year,” said Jose.

Faber Castell is willing to double its business in India this year, and such response for the campaign indicates that they might be able to achieve the goal. The brand is also working on a multi-pronged strategy to further develop their business, mixing effective marketing and communication with product development.

Jose revealed that, for the Indian market, a lot of innovation is going on in the acrylic and watercolour segments, developing a range of options for hobby artists.

The marketing activities, like always, are focussed on the experiential side. Activities like ‘Art With Purpose’ will continue to connect with students across schools and universities. Apart from that a lot of digital activities are expected from the brand, which now has a strong community of mothers and artists online.

October 18, 2019
Tech Mahindra, InMobi collaborate for industry’s first video ad solution for mobile devices

MUMBAI: Tech Mahindra Ltd, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services and solutions, announced a collaboration with InMobi, one of the world's leading mobile-focused Marketing Clouds, to offer the industry’s first video advertising solution for mobile, for advertisers like telecom providers and media and entertainment companies. The solution will transform mobile video advertising by enabling them to develop and distribute innovative and engaging video advertisements on mobile.

The new solution is an addition to the capitalise component of Tech Mahindra’s VU platform (Video Unlimited) that caters to 4Cs of content: Create, Curate, Circulate, and Capitalize. Through this partnership, organisations will be able to take the video advertisements created at scale with Tech Mahindra and, through InMobi, distribute them to targeted audiences through leading global mobile applications.

Tech Mahindra president, communications, media & entertainment business Manish Vyas said, “As a part of our TechMNxt charter, Tech Mahindra is committed to leverage next generation technologies and solutions to disrupt and enable digital transformation, and to build and deliver cutting-edge technology solutions. Our partnership with InMobi helps us in delivering connected experience to our telecom and media customers through the first of its kind adtech platform.”

With industry-leading attribution, data analysis and programmatic expertise, InMobi is helping brands drive real connections through in-app environments and video. Through this partnership, Tech Mahindra customers will gain access to exclusive supply through InMobi Exchange, InMobi’s in-house programmatic mobile ad exchange, as well as additional supply sources through InMobi’s Demand-Side Platform, InMobi DSP. InMobi’s commitment to transparency and verifiable measurement through trusted third parties will be available by default to all Tech Mahindra customers working with InMobi.

InMobi Group co-founder and InMobi Marketing Cloud CEO Abhay Singhal said, “We are excited to help the world’s biggest media and entertainment companies find and reach the right audiences through mobile with Tech Mahindra. InMobi’s unique data insights, precise audience segments and expertise in both programmatic and in-app environments will prove to be immensely valuable for Tech Mahindra’s customers looking to drive real connections with their consumers through mobile video advertising. Our commitment to full transparency and leading partnerships with third-party measurement and verification companies will help Tech Mahindra’s clients have the trust and vision needed to make in-app advertising work well on their terms.”

As part of the TechMNxt charter, Tech Mahindra is focused on building an ecosystem that supports collaboration in the real sense. As a step in this direction, Tech Mahindra has collaborated with some of the finest businesses, working with academia, drawing from the millennial workforce and jointly creating cutting-edge technology solutions with partners.

October 17, 2019

Santoor Sandal & Turmeric was top brand to advertise on TV during Onam, Ganesh Chaturthi

MUMBAI: Personal car and personal hygiene sector saw a dip in ad volumes at the onset of festive season during Ganesh Chaturthi and Onam, as revealed by a latest TAM AdEx data. While the sector noted a dip of 12 per cent during Ganesh Chaturthi (3 September-23 September), the decline was 26 per cent during Onam (1 September to 13 September), as compared the last year.

However, it still remained the second top sector to advertise on television during the season. The first spot was claimed by Food & Beverages sector, that saw an 18 per cent rise during Ganesh Chaturthi but a dip of 8 per cent during Onam.

Other top categories included services, household products, auto, and laundry.


Top 10 Sectors around Ganesh Chaturthi festival period in Y-2019* with their indexed growth compared to Y-2018*

Rank	Sectors	Index Growth/ Degrowth
1	Food & Beverages	118
2	Personal Care/Personal Hygiene	88
3	Services	89
4	Household Products	119
5	Hair Care	101
6	Personal Healthcare	108
7	Laundry	164
8	Auto	110
9	Building, Industrial & Land Materials/Equipment	95
10	Personal Accessories	107

Top 10 Sectors around Onam festival period in Y-2019* and their indexed growth compared to Y-2018*

Rank	Sectors	Index Growth/ Degrowth
1	Food & Beverages	92
2	Personal Care/Personal Hygiene	74
3	Services	89
4	Household Products	124
5	Hair Care	95
6	Personal Healthcare	88
7	Auto	81
8	Laundry	130
9	Building, Industrial & Land Materials/Equipment	128
10	Personal Accessories	114

In terms of categories, ruling the Indian TV sets during these two festivals, toilet soaps remained on top despite recording a dip of 11 per cent during Ganesh Chaturthi and 28 per cent during Onam. Next in the ranking were Toilet/Floor Cleaners with an increase of 12 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively. E-commerce and online shopping also recorded a slight increase in ad volumes during the season.


Top 10 Categories around Ganesh Chaturthi festival period in Y-2019* with their indexed growth compared to Y-2018*

Rank	Categories	Index Growth/ Degrowth
1	Toilet Soaps	89
2	Toilet/Floor Cleaners	112
3	Washing Powders/Liquids	148
4	Shampoos	103
5	Tooth Pastes	101
6	Milk Beverages	116
7	Auto-cars	84
8	Paints	90
9	Ecom-online Shopping	103
10	Chocolates	104


Top 10 Categories around Onam festival period in Y-2019* and their indexed growth compared to Y-2018*

Rank	Categories	Index Growth/ Degrowth
1	Toilet Soaps	72
2	Toilet/Floor Cleaners	131
3	Washing Powders/Liquids	128
4	Shampoos	89
5	Tooth Pastes	81
6	Paints	147
7	Milk Beverages	81
8	Ecom-Online Shopping	104
9	Cars	67
10	Ecom-Media/Entertainment/Social Media	121

The top brands to advertise on television, in terms of ad volumes, during these festivals were Santoor Sandal & Turmeric, Vanish Oxi Action, Lizol, Kalyan Jewellers, etc. The top advertisers included Hindustan Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, Godrej, and Cadburys etc.

Top 10 advertisers and brands in Y-2019*

Rank	Advertisers		Brands
	Ganesh Chaturthi	Onam	Ganesh Chaturthi	Onam
1	Hindustan Unilever	Hindustan Unilever	Santoor Sandal And Turmeric	Santoor Sandal And Turmeric
2	Reckitt Benckiser (India)	Reckitt Benckiser (India)	Vanish Oxi Action	Colgate Dental Cream
3	Godrej Consumer Products	Godrej Consumer Products	Lizol	Vanish Oxi Action
4	Brooke Bond Lipton India	Brooke Bond Lipton India	Trivago	Trivago
5	Cadburys India	Procter & Gamble	Colgate Dental Cream	Lizol
6	Colgate Palmolive India	Colgate Palmolive India	Horlicks	Kalyan Jewellers
7	Procter & Gamble	Cadburys India	Harpic 10/10	Harpic Bathroom Cleaner
8	ITC	Wipro	Harpic Bathroom Cleaner	Harpic 10/10
9	Wipro	ITC	Comfort Fabric Conditioner	Asian Paints Royale Health Shield
10	Smithkline Beecham	Procter & Gamble Home Products	Flipkart.Com	Olx.In

October 11, 2019

Gouris Goodies and Mandira Bedi come together for a nutritious partnership

October 2019: Gouris Goodies, an artisanal snack brand launched by Gouri Gupta, is geared up to scale to new heights with Mandira Bedi coming on board. The brand has been charming their customers with a handcrafted range of all natural and preservative-free products, including cereals, energy bars, happy ladoos and mini bites.

Gouri Gupta gets together with Mandira Bedi, a mother and fitness enthusiast, forging a bond over mutual appreciation for clean eating, nutritious food, and above all, family. This association endeavours to bring forth two mothers and their shared experiences of holding down the fort at home and at work.

Eating consciously and staying true to her exercise regimen, Mandira Bedi epitomises the values of Gouris Goodies. With Bedi on board, the brand intends to break barriers and scale new heights by showcasing the versatility of the product range in a space notorious for being particularly unhealthy.

All smiles about the association, Mandira Bedi shares, “The connect with Gouri was instant and a happy one. For me, eating well and being dedicated to my fitness regimen is of utmost importance. And when Gouris came along, it seemed like a great fit. Personally, I love to eat and don’t stop myself from indulging. I am, however, mindful about what I consume. So, the dark chocolate bars with a generous addition of nuts is 100% pure goodness. I am thrilled to be associated with Gouris Goodies and hope we can delight customers further.”

Gouris Goodies is handcrafted in small batches with mindfulness to become the anytime snack, be the go-to support kit for mothers everywhere and to aide in their endeavour to give their kids only the best in terms of nutrition. Moreover, for the mothers who are constantly taking care of their families, Gouris brings them their nourishment.

Gouri Gupta, the founder of Gouris Goodies, shares, “As we enter a new and exciting phase, collaborating with Mandira Bedi is the perfect next step forward. We are all about nutritious and mindful eating, and Mandira beautifully resonates with our food philosophy. This is a new journey, rather more unconventional for us to go this route. Just as we have been working on reducing food wastage and plastic usage, we have faith that new partnerships will help foster new opportunities.”

What started as a passion from home almost 15 years ago, for the joy of feeding her family and friends, has now shaped into a brand that we can relish anytime, anywhere. The Goodies can be your companion for every occasion, as your office snack, a friend for your kid, gift for all celebrations, the best post-workout partner or just a simple everyday dosage of nutrition. Make Gouris Goodies part of your festivities, by simply ordering online (on www.gourisgoodies.com).

Next time you think of clean eating and delicious meals, just follow Mandira Bedi and Gouri Gupta, and let them bring you some nutritious delights.

October 11, 2019
Retailers online should start bidding more aggressively a month before Diwali: Criteo

MUMBAI: Online retail sales in the weeks leading up to Diwali, last year, witnessed an uplift of 91 per cent, as revealed by a seasonal data analysis released by Criteo, the advertising platform for the open Internet. The data, based on consumers’ online browsing and buying behaviour during the peak season, revealed that the highest sales peak and website traffic were witnessed a month before Diwali.

As the major ecommerce players in India ride on the growing popularity of online shopping, festive season has become a period of great significance. Almost every ecommerce player in the ecosystem launches mega-sales during the festive season as consumers look to explore thousands of brands online and spend their disposable income. There is a brand war with high budget spending on advertisements as well as sales offers on consumer products and services.

According to Criteo’s findings, which are based on an aggregated analysis of 412 million retail shopping transactions made in India last year, it revealed that traffic and sales start to pick up in September and reach highs during October. Traffic reaches a peak increase of +101 per cent four weeks prior, and sales peak the week before Diwali.

Expressing his views on the Diwali season trends, Criteo executive managing director APAC Kenneth Pao said, “The shopping spree amongst Indians starts in the month of August with the Rakshabandhan festival and this buying trend continues and strengthens until Diwali in October/November and Indian buying trend changes tremendously. At Criteo, we identified many trends through the analysis of 412 million retail shopping transactions, on an aggregated basis. The festive season in the last few years has seen a trend of large number of shoppers shifting from traditional modes of shopping to online shopping. With a rapid increase in the number of smartphones and mobile data consumption, phones have become the first point of brand interaction with their users. With the rising adoption of m-commerce and huge discounts offered by ecommerce players, Diwali automatically becomes the season of shopping. We are witnessing huge uplift in sales, revenue and online traffic on ecommerce portals, many factors contribute to this trend, such as the ease of digital payment and the readiness of consumers to try the various payment methods. Huge budgets that are specially allocated by brands for advertisements during the Diwali sale period is yet another major factor. ”

According to data gathered by Criteo, retailers should bid more aggressively and consistently, and should start doing so at least 5-6 weeks before Diwali. High average order values could also be seen throughout this period. There is an increase of +42 per cent in conversions and +95 per cent in average order values, which led to a +177 per cent increase in revenue. 40 per cent of shoppers in October were either new or had not been seen in two months.

Strong uplift in retail sales is seen on mobile web and app, three weeks before Diwali. The uplift in sales from app is the highest a month prior to Diwali. App and mobile consistently see the highest surges in the 3 weeks before Diwali. This may be due to consumers having less time to spend on their PCs/laptops during the festival period, which in turn causes them to use their smartphones to complete last-minute purchases. Up to +66 per cent uplift in retail sales from apps and +29 per cent increase in retail sales from mobile web in the weeks leading up to Diwali. This clearly shows that m-commerce is experiencing a huge rise in India. Consumers can easily explore thousands of products and brands at their own convenience, which saves time, money and energy.

Bookings to India start surging in September and remain high into the second week of October, reaching a peak increase of +48 per cent. ‘Travel to India’ also sees peaks in the month following Diwali. Criteo also analysed the trends from identifying 23 million flight bookings across desktop, smartphones and tablets from 32 travel advertisers in India.

October 9, 2019
Kokuyo Camlin Partners IADEA to present Camlin Art Teacher Excellence Awards 2019

MUMBAI: Kokuyo Camlin Ltd, the premier stationery brand, in partnership with Indian Art and Design Educators Associations (IADEA) presented ‘Camlin Art Teacher Excellence Awards’ The Indian Art and Design Educators Association (IADEA) at IADEA’s second annual conference in New Delhi. The theme of the two-day conference was Art Integrated Learning – a cross-disciplinary approach to learning art where art is seen as a facilitator for overall learning.

The theme was created specifically to bring together stakeholders from across the education and art ecosystem who are passionate about making art an important learning tool in school-based education to facilitate lateral thinking, process orientation, problem-solving, risk-taking and individual creativity thereby fostering key life-skills that are essential for survival in the modern world. The two-day conference included workshops and seminars and was attended by 150 teachers, art educators from 28 cities across India and 12 non-profits working in the art and education domains from across the country as well as a few keynote international speakers. Both global and national experts from the art and education world shared their views and experiential learning on Art Integrated Learning highlighting the need for equal partnerships in teaching and learning rather than a top-down didactical approach.

Announcing the workshop, IADEA founder Sara Vetteth said, “Art Integrated Learning is a highly acclaimed and holistic model of teaching-learning that integrates art with the mainstream school curriculum to helps educators and teachers create a better classroom environment and improve both teaching and learning standards. How does art relate to language, science and maths? We want to change the way art is perceived and introduce the idea of art as a facilitator for cross-disciplinary thought and learning. It is a great way to teach life skills, risk-taking, process-oriented and design thinking. I am delighted to see so many participants that are eagerly learning and sharing their own experiences. We hope some of our ideas manage to influence inclusive and integrated teaching-learning methods in the future.”

NCERT HOD of art education and aesthetics Pawan Sudhir applauded the valuable work done by IADEA in bringing together such a platform to facilitate and further Art Integrated Learning. Citing the National Curriculum Framework 2005 which recognized the valuable place art education has across the Board says the Ministry of Human Resource Development has also recognised the importance of the process of learning, more than the final product. If this concept is widely recognised and practised it will facilitate fresh perspectives in teaching and learning. Shilpa Gupta, an independent Mumbai based artist who is showcasing two installations currently at the Venice Biennale shared insights on the process of creating an artwork. The participants were also given cards with poems selected from the works of 100 jailed poets and asked to respond to them.

The event concluded with the much-awaited 2019 Camlin Art Teacher Excellence Awards that celebrated the inventiveness, creativity, and passion of art teachers. The award-winning projects are now online as resource material for all teachers to refer to and use.

Kokuyo Camlin CMO Saumitra Prasad expressed his pleasure while congratulating the winners of the first edition of Camlin Excellence Awards for Art Educators,” Camlin has not only been making high-quality art materials for the Indian school students but also promoting the correct way of art education through a number of initiatives including Camel Art Contest and Child Art workshops for educators and parents. IADEA also promotes similar ideas for art education in schools and that is the reason we are supporting the seminar and specifically the awards. Hope that the winners will motivate more educators to adopt healthy practices of art education and our schools will be able to match the global standards soon.

October 9, 2019