ITV

Category: Brands

  • Wattpad partners Times Bridge to grow presence in India

    Wattpad partners Times Bridge to grow presence in India

    MUMBAI: Wattpad, the global multi-platform entertainment company for original stories, and Times Bridge, the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group, have announced a new partnership and strategic investment to grow Wattpad’s presence in India and reach new users.

    The partnership will give Wattpad a strategic advantage in expanding its Indian operations. Working with Times Bridge, Wattpad will grow its local community of readers and writers, establish new strategic partnerships and create opportunities for Wattpad Studios to work with local partners to turn Wattpad stories into books, TV shows, films, and digital projects.

    Wattpad CEO and co-founder Allen Lau said, “We’re thrilled to work with Times Bridge expand our footprint in the region and create more opportunities for India’s rich literary community to tell their stories, reaching new audiences in India and around the world.”

    Times Bridge CEO Rishi Jaitly said, “Times Bridge’s mission is to bring the world’s best ideas to India and share India’s best insights with the world. Wattpad is a bold, proven idea that has changed how audiences around the world create and experience stories. Our investment will advance Wattpad’s mission, and original storytelling, across the Indian subcontinent, unlocking the creativity of many millions along the way. We are delighted to be working with a partner who sees growing creativity, diversity and value across the Indian market.”

    The deal follows Wattpad’s recent announcement that Devashish Sharma has joined the company Wattpad’s first country manager for India.

    Wattpad country manager for India Devashish Sharma said, “Millions of Indian readers and writers have already found a home Wattpad. Times Bridge and The Times Group have an unmatched media and entertainment portfolio, and connections with some of India’s most respected authors and cultural figures. We’re excited to work together to create new opportunities for Indian storytellers.”

  • Don’t think celeb-featured TV ads get customers to buy products: OnePlus’ Vikas Agarwal

    Don’t think celeb-featured TV ads get customers to buy products: OnePlus’ Vikas Agarwal

    MUMBAI: India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market, a key battleground for a number of brands. As per a Counterpoint report, the premium smartphone market in the country saw a growth of 8 per cent in 2018 and leading the roost was a relatively younger brand OnePlus, holding 30 per cent of the market share.

    Launched in December 2014 in India, OnePlus has been a mass favourite since day one. It has managed to leave behind its two key competitors, Samsung and Apple with a clear margin in just four years of its entry into the Indian market. Despite minimal advertising, it has managed to get all the eyeballs in its direction. Indiantelevision.com recently interacted with the brand's general manager for India, Vikas Agarwal to seek the recipe behind this delight of success and the way ahead.

    Attributing this feat to the user-focussed approach the brand uses, Agarwal shared, “If we talk about premium segment smartphones in India, there were not many good options for users [before OnePlus launched]. It had been an under-served market. In fact, there were only two brands holding the market, Apple and Samsung. Other brands were not really focussing on this segment because they found it too difficult to penetrate. It is not easy to give products that the consumers would find good in all aspects and that is where OnePlus has done really well.”

    He continued, “Our product doesn’t stand for one or two features. We offer an overall experience; be it design or build quality, or software, OnePlus is really good and that becomes our key differentiating factor.”

    Agarwal also noted that India had always been the focus market for the brand. On being asked if there was a deliberate attempt to keep the pricing lower than its competitors in the country, he replied, “Pricing is not very relevant to us. We were sure from the beginning that we wanted to create a premium brand and offer the best possible products in that range. As I said, we are a user-focussed brand and we would never have wanted to take advantage of the user. So, we have been very honest and transparent depending on the product. We never have had a differential pricing strategy or product strategy for our phones in the Indian market. The same product is launched everywhere almost around the same date and almost at the same price.”

    On being prodded about its marketing strategy and the budgets Agarwal shared that OnePlus doesn’t spend a lot on marketing and all the activities are looked after by an in-house team. Apart from that, its e-commerce partner looks after most of the digital campaigns. Its massive presence on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter also helps.

    He shared, “The core of our marketing strategy is word-of-mouth, irrespective of what we do on TV or on digital. We do not invest much in our marketing budgets. As we are a digital brand, we do not really spend in the open market offline or on any other omnichannel. We, in fact, do not do a lot of digital advertising as well. The ads are not really in focus for us. Thereby, we spend lesser than the rest of the industry. A large part of marketing happens on the Amazon platform that is a part of the channel. There, we help in contributing on to the ATL channels. And then there is social media, which is not a very expensive platform. The focus remains on emerging social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn or Quora.”

    Elaborating more on the marketing strategies Agarwal commented, “For us, the marketing strategies are also a function of timing. So, when there is a launch we go a little heavy on marketing because then we have to maximise brand visibility. When there are seasonal sales like Diwali, Amazon does its own promotion as it is our sole e-commerce partner. Other than that it is just the community that we have earned with our products, which adds to the territory.”

    He continued, “We are not big on TV because we don’t really think a customer requires a product because some celebrity is endorsing it. We did the Amitabh Bachchan campaign because we wanted to educate users that OnePlus is really the best at its mark in the country. The second and the third campaigns were done around the product launches when it was necessary to create national awareness about the new models.”

    Agarwal concluded the discussion by sharing that 2019 is a big year because it is starting as number one in the market. He reckons that user expectations with the product have also increased. Agarwal said, “This year, we will be launching our first new product in the last 5 years, our smart TV. Second, we will be setting our biggest R&D centre globally in India. From a sales perspective, we will continue to strengthen our offline channels.”

    He also shared that the brand will be investing in opening up new retail stores in the metro cities and increasing the count of its exclusive service centres. On the product front, OnePlus is looking towards contributing to the 5G boom that he sees as the future of telecom.

  • Colgate unveils New Colgate Total

    Colgate unveils New Colgate Total

    MUMBAI: Colgate has re-launched its multi-benefit toothpaste Colgate Total with a new proprietary DZA formula that provides superior protection not just to the teeth, but to the whole mouth. The New Colgate Total helps fight germs on teeth, tongue, cheeks, and gums for up to 12 hours, thereby offering a complete oral care protection. 

    To spread awareness for the new relaunched product, the overall campaign theme is that of an 'Upgrade' since consumers today upgrade every aspect of their life when there is a better solution available, however when it comes to oral health they are still thinking only of teeth. The new Colgate Total, therefore, encourages one to 'Upgrade to Whole Mouth Health'.

    Taking from the campaign theme of oral care 'Upgrade to Whole Mouth Health’, the brand is set to launch a fun addition in the form of a parody with the objective of making oral care related conversations more enjoyable and engaging conversation for the consumers. For this, Colgate has got on board some of the most relevant yet fun opinion leaders like The Singing Dentist – a UK-based dentist named Milad Shadrooh known for making parodies of popular songs to make dentistry fun, celebrity trainer Yasmin Karachiwala, actor and stand-up comic Manish Paul, and actress Pranita Subhash.

    As a part of this campaign, The Singing Dentist has for the first time attempted a famous Bollywood number in his quintessential, witty parody style to underline the need for ‘whole mouth health’, which Colgate Total guarantees.

  • Toilet, floor cleaner brands piggyback on the Swacch Bharat Mission

    Toilet, floor cleaner brands piggyback on the Swacch Bharat Mission

    MUMBAI: Ever since the government launched its ‘Swacch Bharat Mission’, brands have left no stone unturned to make hay while the sun shines.

    As per a recent TAM Adex report, the toilet and floor cleaners’ brands have made an incredible spike of 244 per cent in their ad volumes on TV from 2014 to 2018.

     

    Commenting on the trend, TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli says, “This increase in TAM Adex is a direct reflection of the toilet and floor cleaning brands' smart piggybacking on Swachh Bharat campaign. Incidentally, it has also been used significantly by disinfectant liquid soap brands.”

    However, he cautions such brands to tread carefully with their campaigns, “Brands wait eagerly for such initiatives which will give them a wave to ride on. However, if a brand uses such waves too blatantly, it can also backfire on them as it can seem pushy thereby reducing the buying propensity, the important mix of brand trust and brand desire, of the brand.”

    Bijoor Consults Inc founder and brand guru Harish Bijoor notes, “Swacch Bharat has actually upped the sensitivity to toilets, hygiene, toilet cleaning and more. If you look at the government sector buying more products in this segment as well, you will see a blip!”

    Brand-nomics managing director Viren Razdan believes that the huge multi-level activation campaign of Swacch Bharat Mission has got the new-age Indian and his civic sense and national pride a never-before significance. He says, “It has also sparked off the renewed idea of hygiene which has been used fairly well by these categories. So, while in the past these brands did make their presence felt – it’s just that the new environment has created a fairly receptive mindset and brands are muscling their way  for this new-found attention.”

    He continues, “While earlier brands created their own space to a narrow focussed TG – suddenly the idea has been magnified in scale and width reaching a social issue, the category would obviously respond to the heat.”

    Not just that, toilet soaps, toothpaste, shampoos, and washing powder/liquids also saw a huge spike in their ad volumes on TV, all of them increasing by more than 100 per cent. In fact, the report also showed that in the top 10 sectors to advertise on TV, personal healthcare improved its position by two spots; it was ranked sixth in 2014 and fourth in 2018.

  • Fabindia launches Fabfamily – a unique loyalty program

    Fabindia launches Fabfamily – a unique loyalty program

    MUMBAI: Fabindia has announced the roll out its first-ever loyalty program, Fabfamily. A five-tier program, this presents a membership based program with unique experiences for the company’s expanding customer base.

    Launched simultaneously across online and brick and mortar stores, the loyalty program allows aggregation and redemption of points across all Fabindia stores. Besides giving customers the opportunity to earn and accumulate points against their shopping spends, feedback and referrals, the Fabfamily loyalty program extends to offer curated experiences, such as a vacation in an inspired environment, a fabulous meal at a handpicked restaurant, an adventurous trail in the outdoors, or a discovery trip into a unique artisanal cluster.

    Talking about this initiative, Fabindia managing director Viney Singh stated, “Fabfamily is unlike any loyalty program in the retail space. Our customers can not only make their future purchases attractive by redeeming points, but can also choose from a host of special, curated experiences which we will bring in conjunction with our select partners.” He further added, “We want to make our relationship with our customers more delightful. We are confident that the Fabfamily program will strengthen our connect and engagement with our customers across the country and provide real value.”

    Fabindia has also launched a new website for customers to enrol and engage with the program. Depending on the tier customers are enrolled in, they can earn between 1 per cent and 7 per cent reward points for every Rs 100 spent.

  • Flipkart to bring best of fashion to trend-conscious shoppers

    Flipkart to bring best of fashion to trend-conscious shoppers

    Mumbai: Flipkart has come together with Vogue to help fashion-conscious shoppers up their game through 10,000+ looks curated by experts. Vogue India’s handpicked choices will help customers access the trendiest looks according to the industry. Customers will be able to take advantage of Vogue India’s expertise on Flipkart starting 5 March.

    Indians have displayed an increasing propensity for shopping for fashion and lifestyle products online, with Flipkart Fashion having grown over 50 per cent since launching six years ago. Customers across the country are increasingly becoming fashion conscious and trend-aware, from metros to tier 4 cities. Their tie-up with Vogue India will allow consumers to add depth and more nuanced angles to their choices through personalised, curated looks. This initiative will help bridge the gap between the masses and the best of the fashion industry, ensuring that fashion is no longer just the domain of a select group of people.

    Flipkart group head for fashion Rishi Vasudev said, “Customers are not just looking for price and quality when they shop for fashion online. They want access to the latest styles that they may see in magazines or on TV, but they may not know how to go about this. Through our association with Vogue India, our customers will be able to benefit from this fashion behemoth’s expertise and discover new, exciting products based on their personal style. Everyone knows that Vogue is the most recognised name in fashion internationally. By partnering with them, we hope to democratise high-street fashion in the country and make it more accessible to millions of Indians.”

    Vogue India editor-in-chief Priya Tanna said, “Vogue has always been about bringing both aspirational and accessible fashion to the Indian consumer. With this new collaboration with Flipkart, we bring our readers a Vogue curated edit of the latest fashion trends and the pieces you should own.”

  • Geometry Encompass, HUL address sanitation at Kumbh Mela 2019

    Geometry Encompass, HUL address sanitation at Kumbh Mela 2019

    MUMBAI: To address the issue of sanitation, Geometry Encompass conceptualised and created four campaigns for Hindustan Unilever’s home and personal care brands, namely Active Wheel, Lifebuoy, and Vim at the ongoing Kumbh Mela.

    For Active Wheel, it surrounded its campaign around Kalpavas – a 30-day period of living in austerity and following a fixed schedule to transform the inner consciousness. Geometry Encompass recognised that it was a big challenge for the Kalpvasis to wear fresh clothes every day and thus conceptualised a unique ‘Wheel Wash-o-Cycle’ – a drum attached to a bicycle, which rotated on pedalling the cycle, recreating the function of a washing machine. Devotees simply had to fill the drum with water, add their clothes, sprinkle Active Wheel detergent powder, and pedal for 10-12 minutes, to enjoy fresh, clean clothes, free of cost.

    Two such Wheel Wash Stations were set up at the Kalpavasi tent city, each with more than 20 installations of ‘Wheel Wash-o-Cycle’, which use no electricity, save water, and can be easily used by anyone. Active Wheel also ensured an adequate supply of clean water and drainage systems in place. Through this, over 30,000 devotees were able to enjoy the comfort of fresh clothes during the Kumbh Mela. The brand has decided to donate the Wheel Wash-o-Cycles to nearby villages, post Kumbh, thereby continuing to make a difference in people’s lives. Active Wheel will also train the villagers to make the machine themselves, thus reducing the effort needed for manually washing clothes and empowering women to realise their ‘Fresh Soch’. By these efforts, Wheel hopes to help women realise their own dreams and entrepreneurial aspirations, and even earn revenue that they can help their families with.

    Geometry Encompass took the agenda of ensuring sanitation at the Kumbh Mela a step further when it worked with Lifebuoy and conceptualised two innovative campaigns to remind devotees to wash their hands after using the restroom as well as before eating their meals.

    In the first campaign, they developed an innovative ink after 3 months of rigorous research and testing. The ink was developed into a stamp which becomes an active reminder to wash hands. A visual red stamp was marked by over 150 Lifebuoy representatives who stamped 10,000 hands per day. As the devotees put their hands under a tap, the stamp lathered into soap and helped provide superior germ protection, ensuring a hygienic stay at the Kumbh. As a result, there were several attendees who approached promoters to have their hands re-stamped for later, and used a total of 3 lakh stamps to wash 6 lakh hands over the 30 days activity.

    Taking it one notch higher, Geometry Encompass and Lifebuoy distributed thalis, which were engraved with a message – ‘Kripaya pehle sabun se haath dhoyein’ (please wash your hands with soap first). The Lifebuoy branding was a part of the thalis which were distributed at meal centres, to be washed and reused, effectively delivering the message to millions of visitors. Lifebuoy also addressed the issue of washing one’s hands after visiting the washroom by stamping the hands of those using public restrooms with an ink that had a layer of soap on it. The ink dissolved on contact with water, ensuring their hands were washed thoroughly.

    Appreciating Lifebuoy’s efforts, ACMO Dr VK Mishra, nodal officer sanitation Kumbh Mela Prayagraj said, “We appreciate the role played by Lifebuoy as ‘Swasthya Sehbhagi’ (Hygiene Partner) in this grand event to spread the message of hygiene and sanitation. We are hopeful that these initiatives will help drive a behavioral change among the masses.”

    Geometry Encompass also highlighted the efficacy of Vim dishwashing soap by replacing mirrors in public restrooms with thalis washed with the brand. The plates were so clean and shiny that the reflective surfaces acted like mirrors.

    Speaking on the successful conceptualisation and execution of these campaigns, Geometry Encompass CEO Sukrit Singh said, “These campaigns are testament to a fulfilling two decade long partnership with HUL. I am proud that this partnership beyond the realm of advertising, is focusing on behavioural change instead. We, at Geometry-Encompass, strive to create pivotal consumer experiences in all the work we do. The year has just begun and we have already rolled out two of the most talked about campaigns at the Kumbh, I can’t wait for everyone to see what else we have in store!”

    Geometry Encompass managing partner Shankar Shinde said, “Geometry Encompass collaborated with HUL to play a pivotal role in creating impactful, purpose driven campaigns during Kumbh 2019. Be it the Lifebuoy Hygiene Stamp – that washes away germs and preconceived notions about personal hygiene and handwashing, or the Wheel Wash-o-Cycle, that inculcates the philosophy of “Pehno Fresh and Socho Fresh”. Fresh thinking is optimising the mundane task of washing clothes, encouraging women to fulfil their dreams in the time saved. These campaigns, embedded with a strong purpose of helping consumers at large, have helped create a lasting impact for HUL at the Kumbh.”

    Geometry Encompass executive creative director Arpan Jain added, “Being committed to inspiring action through behaviour and experience-led ideas, we’re constantly trying to move away from the idea of ‘sheep dipping’ people in a brand, and instead, focusing on creating behavioural change. While we recognise that habits do not change by just spreading the word; we also need to provide the right reasoning and tools at the right moment! With our Wheel Wash-o-Cycle and Lifebuoy Stamp of Hygiene campaigns, we are doing just that, providing consumers the right reasons and tools to enable behavioural change.”

  • Digital is the backbone of Tata Motors’ IPL 2019 marketing mix

    Digital is the backbone of Tata Motors’ IPL 2019 marketing mix

    MUMBAI: It is the second year of association between Tata Motors and the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the former is pretty positive that the season is going to help it in boosting the recognisability of its new launch, ‘Harrier’. This premium flagship SUV from the Tata Motors’ portfolio was announced as the official partner of the game recently.

    Talking to Indiantelevision.com at the event, Tata Motors head – marketing, passenger vehicles business unit Vivek Srivatsa shared that it is extremely difficult to get a wider penetration into a diverse country like India, especially in the smaller towns but platforms like cricket play a great role in taking the brands to each household. He said, “What we found very endearing and attractive about IPL is how it has a national fervour as well as a regional flavour. Thanks to the broadcaster Star’s initiative, it has got transmission in all the four Southern languages, Marathi, and Bengali as well. I think it has allowed us to go very deep into and achieve a great level of relevant reach. It also creates good awareness and this it has helped the brand really well.”

    He added, “We have already got good momentum and with IPL we would like to take it even further. With Harrier, fortunately, the customer response has been extremely strong since its launch in December. With IPL, we want to only improve it.”

    Definitely, IPL has a strong viewership and it draws a lot of interest from each section of the society. Thereby, Tata Motors has a strong planning perspective as to how to leverage this platform in the best manner possible. For Srivatsa, digital is at the core of each marketing strategy, “For Harrier, we already have an extremely strong Instagram handle. It already has 25,000 organic followers. Thus, you will see a lot of Instagram activity happening this season.”

    He shared, “Digital will provide the backbone for every activity that we do. There is ‘Super Striker’ and then there is ‘Fan Catch’, the two strong properties already established by us in the last season, which we will continue to grow this time as well. With Super Striker, every match has a player who is awarded a very unique award scale model of the car. I see that the players get excited and they go on their own social media handles to celebrate. It has become good content for us. Also, there are almost 400-500 sixes that are hit during the IPL. Now, every time a sixer is hit, people start looking out for who will catch the ball and win the ‘Fan Catch’. For us, this means a brand recall of 600 times during a season.”

    Apart from this, Tata Motors is also planning to give the cricket fans an online virtual reality cricket game experience. “This will probably be in our showrooms and a few malls. I have already tested the game and it is fantastic. It feels like playing a real match,” said Srivatsa.

    He added that there will also be an online ‘choose your dream team’ kind of championship from last year. Since the IPL trophy tour will be covering two cities-Bengaluru and Delhi, it will also be promoted heavily on digital platforms.

  • Airtel collaborates with Zoom to launch unified communications solution for businesses

    Airtel collaborates with Zoom to launch unified communications solution for businesses

    MUMBAI: Telecommunications service provider, Bharti Airtel (Airtel), has teamed up with Zoom Video Communications, a modern enterprise video-first unified communications service, to launch India’s first high quality unified communications service offering, an integrated and secure platform for high definition (HD) audio, video, and web conferencing.

    Businesses can now leverage the next generation unified cloud service for an innovative one-stop-shop conferencing solution to foster effective collaboration amongst its employees and teams globally.

    Airtel and Zoom’s conference calling solution comes with unique features like, instant one click access, video conferencing, audio conferencing, content sharing, recording, virtual backgrounds, company branding, multi-layer security, and meeting participation of up to 1000 people on video from locations across the globe. The platform will also enable live video streaming of video webinars for up to 50,000 viewers.

    Airtel will enable enterprise customers to leverage exclusive benefits on Zoom, including built-in audio conferencing for free. With this, customers can access local dial-in numbers for over 55 countries enabling all its call participants to join the conference easily over audio for unlimited minutes.

    Airtel enterprise customers opting for this solution will get 24X7 customer care support. Airtel will also offer easy payment options – monthly billing on a pay as you go basis and special monthly packs. These convenient billing options also enable businesses to avoid making payments using credit cards for the service.

    Airtel has created unique plans to meet the unified conferencing needs of all businesses. The plans range from approximately Rs 10,000 for a year to Rs 24,000 per year offering unlimited conferencing on video, audio and web along with other benefits.

    Airtel business director and CEO Ajay Chitkara said, “At Airtel, our mission is to offer best-in-class enterprise connectivity solutions to businesses and enable them to become more agile. We are delighted to work with Zoom to offer a secure and seamless solution to serve the growing demand for high quality unified conferencing in India. The solution is designed to truly simplify the user experience and will bring immense value to customers. With Airtel’s reliable global connectivity and Zoom’s globally proven expertise in communications, customers can look forward to quality service experience.”

    Zoom founder and CEO Eric S Yuan added, “Our collaboration with Airtel brings together Zoom’s world-class unified communications platform with Airtel’s extensive network to provide our joint customers a seamless solution that meets all of their collaboration needs. This collaboration also extends Zoom’s reach into the Indian market to further grow our global footprint.”

  • Jaguar I-Pace is European car of the year

    Jaguar I-Pace is European car of the year

    MUMBAI: The all-electric Jaguar I-PACE has been voted ‘Car of the Year’ at the European Car of the Year Awards 2019. This is the first time a Jaguar has won the coveted prize.

    The European Car of the Year jury comprises 60 motoring journalists from 23 countries, and the award recognises technical innovation, design, performance, efficiency and value for money.

    Jaguar Land Rover chief executive officer Ralf Speth said: “For our first electric vehicle to also be the first Jaguar to win European Car of the Year gives us a huge sense of pride. I-PACE was designed and engineered in the UK from a clean sheet of paper. It is the most technologically advanced battery electric vehicle. It’s a true game-changer. Winning European Car of the Year is an honour and real recognition of what our world-class team has delivered.”

    Designed and developed in the UK, the Jaguar I-PACE has had profound sales success globally, with more than 8,000 customer deliveries to date – 75 per cent of them in Europe.

    Nothing else on the road looks or drives like the I-PACE. It is engineered to take full advantage of its electric powertrain and bespoke aluminium architecture, offering sports car performance and SUV practicality.

    Charging is made easy for customers using the Jaguar public charging service, accessed via a dedicated app or using an RFID key. With tailor-made charging packages and tariffs compiled into a simple monthly bill, it gives I-PACE customers access to more than 85,000 charging points throughout Europe. 

    The I-PACE has received 55 awards worldwide since it was revealed a year ago, including German, Norwegian and UK Car of the Year, BBC TopGear magazine EV of the Year, China Green Car of the Year, and Autobest’s ECOBEST Award.