MUMBAI: Leading fitness brand Reebok takes a giant leap forward with the announcement of renowned Bollywood actor and fitness enthusiast, Varun Dhawan, as their new brand ambassador in India. The brand recently brought in Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador, and now with Varun Dhawan joining the Reebok family, the brand continues to be on the front foot.
Varun, who diligently follows a disciplinary fitness regime regardless of his tight schedule, personifies the brand ethos and will ignite a spark of energy amongst the youth. With his enviable physique, Varun is known for his fitness goals and hence, is a perfect representation for Reebok.
In collaboration with Varun, Reebok also launches its biggest campaign on Sole Fury, a dynamic new silhouette that is equal parts sport and style. The campaign featuring Varun Dhawan, disrupts conventionality and celebrates those who dare to #SplitFrom the ordinary. It ventures beyond the expected into a world where unorthodox is the norm, highlighting a uniquely Reebok attitude towards style and distinctive Reebok performance innovation. The Sole Fury campaign captures the essence of Reebok’s iconic vintage styles and projects them into a contemporary space, creating a true intersection of daring performance tech and legendary styles.
Thrilled about his collaboration with Reebok, Varun Dhawan said, “It feels truly amazing to associate with a brand like Reebok, which feels so much like me. My affinity towards Reebok is inspired by our shared beliefs in fitness and performance, that enables one to challenge the conventional and value individuality over conformity. I look forward to kick-start a super fun journey with the brand that will open new avenues in fitness space for today’s generation.”
Commenting on the association, Mr. Sunil Gupta, Brand Director, Reebok India said, “We are thrilled to have Varun as the new brand ambassador for Reebok. Being a fitness enthusiast, Varun complements the brand brilliantly. He echoes Reebok's enthusiasm and dedication to fitness, and we are confident that together we will continue to revolutionise the fitness industry."
Reebok is enthused about the collaboration with Varun Dhawan and the exciting initiatives that are in the pipeline.
MUMBAI: Oreo, the biscuit brand by Mondelēz International, a leading global snacking powerhouse, has rolled out its latest innovation “Oreo Stereo” Music Box in India. This limited-edition gift pack contains crunchy cookies and a music system which comes along with fun Oreo tunes. Ushering in the festive season with a musical twist, this latest innovation by Oreo is the perfect gifting option for your loved ones and will be available only for two days exclusively on Amazon India on 15 and 16 July 2019, during Amazon Prime Day.
Commenting on this unique launch, Mondelez India associate director – marketing (biscuits) Sudhanshu Nagpal said, “Mondelez India has been synonymous to festivities in the country for over 70 years and Oreo is known for its persona of creating fun-filled moments and bringing people together. In tune with the spirit of festivities, adding a new beat to the voice of Oreo, we are thrilled to unwrap the joy of music this festive season with the launch of Oreo Stereo, a limited-edition gift pack that comes with a one of a kind music system and Oreo cookies.”
The Oreo Stereo adapts a playful tech that plays music when you place an Oreo cookie on it. Place your Oreo cookie on the mini recorder turntable and enjoy a different melody with every bite you take. What’s more, one can also record a special message to make their friends and family feel special!
The limited-edition gift pack will contain seven Oreo packs of 120 gms each, with flavours ranging from 2 packs of Oreo Original Creme, 2 packs of Oreo Choco Creme, 2 packs Oreo Strawberry Creme and 1 pack of Oreo Golden Vanilla Creme. Priced at INR 599, the Oreo Stereo gift box can be bought online only during Amazon Prime Day.
MUMBAI: Popular Bollywood celebrity turned serial entrepreneur, Sunny Leone launched her very own innerwear brand “Infamous by Starstruck” exclusively on the first day of India Licensing Expo 2019 (the third edition of the country’s largest brand licencing platform). Bradford License India has been appointed as the brand’s official licencing agent.
Post her successful foray into the cosmetic industry, Leone now enters a $262 billion global licensing and merchandising industry by launching this brand in the innerwear category. With its third edition, India Licensing Expo is set out to connect global brands, retailers and manufacturers for two days of relationship building , deal making and trend spotting.
Leone’s brand was also felicitated with ‘The Most Engaging Brand on Social Media’ award at Labels Award powered by Marie Claire.
Speaking on her launch, Leone said “I’m really excited to launch Infamous by Starstruck at ILE 2019 which has offered us a platform to promote the brand in retail fraternity & find right licencing partner with huge retail muscle to take the brand forward in the global landscape. Infamous is for all kinds of women from all around the world.”
MUMBAI: Started just three years ago by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, boAt is a consumer audio brand that has attracted scores of the millennial populace to its range of products including headphones, earphones, stereos, and premium rugged cables, amongst others. In a very short span of time, the brand has created quite a buzz in the growing audio market with its affordable premium quality products.
Another factor that has led to the appreciable performance of the brand is its marketing. boAt relies heavily on its digital presence on platforms like Instagram and YouTube to communicate with its community of ‘boAtheads’. The brand introduces a fresh face with a fresh campaign every four months and boasts of 12 brand ambassadors including cricketing sensations Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Bollywood stars, Kartik Aaryan Kiara Advani, Jacqueline Fernandez, and singer Neha Kakkar, amongst others.
And the reason behind such efficient marketing campaigns is a team of young marketers with an average age of 23. They don’t come with any prior experience in the marketing world and have been functioning with their keen understanding of the behaviours, likes, and dislikes of people around them.
boAt marketing pirate Saurabh Goswami tells Indiantelevision.com, “It’s not that we come from a lot of experience in the audio industry or even marketing but we know what our target audience wants and what they need in a product. We know how the youth today talk. We have never thought that there is some strategy or a particular formula to it. We don’t have dedicated projects per se but we spend depending on sales.”
He adds, “Aman (Gupta) has a very different approach to marketing and branding. Our budgets are very tactical. It’s all about the need of the hour. Aman says if the product is selling, it means we are doing something good and we are getting money to spend on marketing. But if there are no sales and we are spending on marketing, we are just loading off like other giants. We don’t have that sort of life. We have frugality. So, we actually pay a lot of attention to where we are spending.”
boAt quartermaster Aman Sadana adds that the team doesn’t have a yearly or monthly planner and goes with the flow of the market dynamics. “It’s really picking up trends that are happening.”
Elaborating on how trends are converted into content, boAt marketing mate Bhuvan Singh Rana shares, “Different content works for distinct platforms. Instagram is more meme-centric while YouTube is more ad-centric. We usually leverage on topicality. We even do brand shoots on topical content. Our brand ambassadors also play a key role (in driving traffic).”
On being asked what parameters they keep in mind while picking platforms or trends, Sadana reveals that it is a hit-and-trial approach. However, he added that engagement is the one metric boAt really cares about and has its content strategy centered on that.
He adds, “The metric for this is based on the fact that we, as a brand, look not just at reach but engagement as well. I don’t want people to just see my content and scroll past it. I want them to actually open it, read it, probably comment, and interact with the brand.”
The team reckons that there is stiff competition these days in the audio space and a subsequent clutter of brands trying to attract the consumers on the social media space. They, therefore, have worked hard to personify the brand and give it a distinct identity. They are also quite alert about the dynamic shifts in the audience interest and platforms they are on.
Sadana says, “Phones are a very important part of our lives. With Jio in the picture, content consumption is increasing drastically. The audience keeps shifting from one platform to another. So, as a brand, we always have to adapt and be where the millennial is and give them good content to consume. That’s the key to survive.”
Apart from digital, the brand is doing integrations with movies, music videos, and web channels like TVF and Filter Copy. It is also planning to work on its own YouTube videos like unboxing.
Sadana quips, “In India, there are three things that sell: movies, cricket, and music. These are the key pillars around which marketing revolves. We, too, are backing these three because we know people will interact with it. We have done collaborations with movies, one will be releasing in a few months. We are investing heavily in cricket and music videos.”
The brand has seen exponential growth in these years. As shared by Sadana, boAt had started with around 20 SKUs on Amazon, which now stands at 120-122 SKUs. The product portfolio is expanding and so is the team.
MUMBAI: Restaurant search and discovery service provider Zomato has acquired Feeding India, a not-for-profit organisation that serves food to the underprivileged in the country. The latter will remain a non-profit entity while Zomato will fund the entire salaries of the team and some core initiatives, including the development of ‘Feedi.ng’ app.
Zomato will also revamp the Feeding India website, and in the spirit of transparency, will be publishing quarterly financials. It is aiming to get the first Feeding Global – Financial Transparency Report, out by October 2019.
As shared by Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal in a blog post the firms have been working together for the past six months and were closely associated during the Odisha floods as well. “Within these 6 months of working together, we’ve been able to unlock the massive potential that comes with our reach and scale. In December of 2018, Feeding India distributed 78,300 monthly meals to the underprivileged. That figure has now skyrocketed to over 1.1 million meals a month.”
He further wrote, “Similarly, the number of cities Feeding India is active in has risen from 65 to 82. The number of Hunger Heroes (volunteers at Feeding India) has grown from 8,500 to 21,500.”
Zomato has earlier been associated with several other organisations, for the cause of food safety, including Robin Hood Army and Akshaya Patra Foundation.
“We have now begun a new, and a more concrete chapter around serving the underserved by acquiring Feeding India. It is an important step for us, as both organisations share a common dream of ending hunger and food wastage — not just in India, but globally," he added.
MUMBAI: Penguin Random House India announced a new collaboration with Wattpad, the world’s largest social storytelling platform. In this partnership, authors of the publishing house will be featured on the storytelling platform, interacting with a global community of 70 million readers and writers.
Wattpad’s massive community of story-lovers will now have the opportunity to preview exclusive content from Penguin authors about their upcoming books. The publishing house will also bring their authors and editors for ‘Ask Me Anything’ (AMA) sessions on Wattpad, where they will interact and answer questions posed by Wattpad followers.
Commenting on the association, Penguin Random House India spokesperson said, “This is a symbiotic relationship where we join forces to inspire, inform and entertain. Wattpad is an excellent platform for our authors and editors to connect with a large and relevant audience base. We are looking forward to engaging with readers and writers; sharing exciting content and helping people discover new books.”
Wattpad India country manager Devashish Sharma said, “All over the world, writers have built a massive community of followers on Wattpad. We are working every day to create opportunities for Indian writers, so it’s amazing to see prestigious names like star fantasy fiction writer Krishna Udayasankar, bestselling authors Durjoy Datta and Sudeep Nagarkar and debut writer Roshan Ali joining the Wattpad community.”
Times Bridge senior VP operations Viral Jani added, “We are happy to see Wattpad welcoming writers from one of the world’s biggest publishing houses. By joining Wattpad, Penguin’s roster of literary trailblazers will be able to inspire and encourage published authors, budding writers and enthusiastic readers to interact and create a more vibrant literary community. Penguin’s enviable list of authors and content and Wattpad’s worldwide audience of literary enthusiasts makes for a perfect match. We are confident this will be a success and aim to bring more unique collaborations on the table for Wattpad this year.”
MUMBAI: Boost, one of GSK’s leading brands in Health Food Drinks category, has garnered interest and support from young sports enthusiasts with its new campaign, ‘Exams are On’. With this campaign, Boost created a platform to share tips and tricks with their brand ambassadors, Virat Kohli and Mahender Singh Dhoni. Within a span of 4 weeks, more than 25,000 ideas and wishes have poured in for the cricket stars.
The campaign ‘Exams are On’ came alive through interactive kiosks which were set up across 10 cities at schools, cricket academies and shopping malls. The young fans are also sharing their winning ideas with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni by giving a missed call on 99998-86611 and recording their voice messages.
Fans can follow the campaign on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram through the handle #ExamsAreOn.
Vikram Bahl, Executive Vice President Marketing, GSK Consumer Healthcare India said, “Our initiatives at Boost, have been focused at motivating young sports enthusiasts to play a bigger game so far. However, with this campaign, we are giving them a chance to motivate their cricket heroes, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. Young fans tend to speak to their television sets and share their thoughts while watching cricket match, trying to help their favourite team/players win. Boost wanted to give a voice to this emotion through the new platform.”
MUMBAI: Vector X, one of India’s leading sports brands, announced the on-boarding of Indian women’s football star Dalima Chhibber, as their brand ambassador. Vector X who already have Indian football legend Bhaichung Bhutia as the face of the brand, will now also be represented by the most sought after Indian womanfootballer of the current time. The contract with the star Indian left-back shall continue till April 2020.
Commenting on the association, Nikhil Mahajan, Director at Soccer International Private Ltd said, “It is a moment of pride for us. Dalima is one of the most exciting and sought after women’s footballer in the country. When we saw her playing, we knew that her dynamism and youthful energy would be a perfect fit for our brand and we wanted to make sure we can help her in growing further in whatever manner possible. She embodies the very essence of Vector X i.e. ‘The Winning Spirit’.”
Dalima burst into the Indian National Women’s team at the age 19.She has grown from a young and promising football talent to someone who has been a mainstay in the team since 2016. Known for her ability to convert long distance set-piece opportunities, the now 21 year old played a key role in India’s 5th SAFF Women’s Championship title. Owing to her performances in the recent past Dalima was also signed on by Hero Indian Women’s League team – Gokulam Kerala FC. As the Captain of the team, she helped them reach the semi-finals of the tournament notching up some of the best performances of the season.
“I am over-whelmed by the fact that a brand like Vector X has shown faith in me and chose me as the evangelist for their brand. As a brand that has already been helping so many footballers, associations and clubs across the country. I strongly believetheir support is going to help me achieve new heights on the training pitch. I am really looking forward to my time with the Vector X family. More and more corporates should follow Vector X and come up to support Women’s football in the country, especially given we are the hosts of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup next year.” stressed Indian National Women’s team footballer, Dalima Chhibber.
Apart from sports likes basketball, swimming, racket sports and volleyball, Vector X is already a mainstay in the field of football sponsoring the kits for clubs like Hero I-League team-TRAU FC, Hero Indian Women’s League team – Bangalore United FC, football associations like the Punjab Football Association, Sikkim Football Association and Mumbai District Football Association.They also hold the kit sponsorship rights for Jammu and Kashmir State Championship and Bhaichung Bhutia Football School.
MUMBAI: Thomas Cook (India) Ltd announced the launch of ‘TeeCee’, a first-of-its-kind AI-powered chatbot, reiterating the company’s digital evolution strategy in its journey towards a seamless digital customer experience.
According to a report by Bain & Company and Google, India has the second-highest active internet user base globally at 390 million in 2018. The report also indicates that the share of online travel booking spends, having increased by 25 per cent in 2018, is anticipated to grow to 35 per cent in 2021.
Thomas Cook India’s growth reinforces this with over 27 per cent of its overall holidays being booked online.
The launch of Thomas Cook India’s chatbot ‘TeeCee’ is part of a strategic initiative to service today’s impatient, digital-native customers, with a seamless near-human experience, across digital devices. The multi-use case and context-aware TeeCee is equipped with superior NLP (Natural Language Processing) capabilities for better understanding of user intent and offering appropriate services.
TeeCee is built in association with Senseforth’s proprietary conversational AI platform for intelligent assistants that mimics human cognitive ability in understanding and actionising user intent.
Speaking on the launch, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd president and group head – information technology and ebusiness Amit Madhan said, "Thomas Cook India has always been at the forefront of cutting-edge digital innovation that focusses on seamless customer experience. I am hence truly excited with the launch of TeeCee – a first of its kind chatbot offering customers a near human experience. Our phased roll out in this digital evolution will enable end-to-end Forex transactions, which will be followed by Holiday and Visa service capabilities.”
He concluded with, “TeeCee is a key step in our transformational journey to serving Digital First customers better."
Senseforth.ai CEO Shridhar Marri said, “Today’s traveller expects a user-friendly, real-time, consistent and intuitive experience for their travel requirements and TeeCee is designed to address these needs. It is great working with Thomas Cook India, a leader in this space to create a virtual travel assistant that is poised to transform the way travel is serviced and fulfilled today.”
MUMBAI: Adding an element of fun to the humdrum of life, Coca-Cola India has introduced Fanta Juicy+, a new variant of its orange flavoured sparkling beverage. The new beverage contains real orange juice that will tingle taste buds with the Fanta fizz that consumers have loved for years. Bubbly and energetic actor Sara Ali Khan has been chosen as the brand ambassador to deepen it’s connect with the millennials.
Commenting on the launch of the new beverage, Shrenik Dasani, Vice President – Sparkling Category, Coca-Cola India said,“Fanta has always been known for its fruity taste, tingling bubbles and its ability to create moments of pure fun. With this new launch, we are adding the taste of real orange juice into the mix, for an even more fruity, even more fun experience for our consumers. But we are not stopping there! We are truly delighted to welcome Sara Ali Khan to the Fanta family. Her vivacious, wholesome and fun persona are sure to make Fanta moments fruitier and more awesome than ever before”.
Speaking on her association with the brand, Sara Ali Khan, said, “I am so excited to be associated with Fanta! I feel that Fanta resembles my spirit the most because it has this orang-y, juic-y, fun kind of vibe to it, and I believe that I have a similar vibe to myself! It’s about being fun, and I feel that Fanta and I are both fun!”
As an ambassador of Fanta, Sara will be associated with a range of consumer activations, digital and social media engagements and marketing programs for the brand.
Fanta Juicy+ contains orange juice sourced from local fruit farmers in India. With launch of this new variant, Coca-Cola India is broadening its portfolio by introducing sparkling beverages blended with fruit juice. As part of its ‘Fruit Circular Economy' initiative, the company is developing the juice category, adding fruit juice to the sparkling products and introducing newer products in the beverage space.
