Category: Brands

Quikr acquires beauty services start-up Salosa

MUMBAI : Quikr has acquired Salosa, an on demand in-home beauty services provider, which has been a partner to QuikrServices. This strategic acquisition is a part of Quikr’s plan to invest Rs.250 crore in its home services vertical, QuikrServices.

Founded by Ex- P&G professionals, Piyush Dhanuka and Anurag Nair, Salosa was launched in September 2015, serving customers in Gurgaon and parts of Delhi. Salosa began first as a marketplace for freelance beauticians and stylists before shifting to a full stack model with an in-house team.

Talking about this acquisition, QuikrServices head PD Sundar said, “Beauty services market is close to $5 billion in India and is growing which is evident from the increasing number of requests we see from Tier-I and Tier-II cities on our platform. On-demand beauty services is an important sub-category and Salosa will help bring very real benefits to our consumers who get easier access to reliable beauty experts.”

“Quikr is amongst the top consumer internet leaders in India today along with being a major player in the services space. We share a similar vision with Quikr and look forward to combining our experience in the beauty domain with Quikr’s scale and strategy to become the best beauty services brand across the country,” said Salosa co founder Anurag Nair.

QuikrServices has been aggressively going deeper in the home services space to provide consumers a richer experience with reliable professionals. Due to the strength of the Quikr brand, the platform has been witnessing a consistent increase in average spend from its consumers over the last 6 months and is seeing a repeat rate of over 60%. QuikrServices has 250,000 service providers offering over 80 types of services for consumers and is being used by 1,00,000 customers every day.

May 10, 2016
Quikr acquires beauty services start-up Salosa

MUMBAI : Quikr has acquired Salosa, an on demand in-home beauty services provider, which has been a partner to QuikrServices. This strategic acquisition is a part of Quikr’s plan to invest Rs.250 crore in its home services vertical, QuikrServices.

Founded by Ex- P&G professionals, Piyush Dhanuka and Anurag Nair, Salosa was launched in September 2015, serving customers in Gurgaon and parts of Delhi. Salosa began first as a marketplace for freelance beauticians and stylists before shifting to a full stack model with an in-house team.

Talking about this acquisition, QuikrServices head PD Sundar said, “Beauty services market is close to $5 billion in India and is growing which is evident from the increasing number of requests we see from Tier-I and Tier-II cities on our platform. On-demand beauty services is an important sub-category and Salosa will help bring very real benefits to our consumers who get easier access to reliable beauty experts.”

“Quikr is amongst the top consumer internet leaders in India today along with being a major player in the services space. We share a similar vision with Quikr and look forward to combining our experience in the beauty domain with Quikr’s scale and strategy to become the best beauty services brand across the country,” said Salosa co founder Anurag Nair.

QuikrServices has been aggressively going deeper in the home services space to provide consumers a richer experience with reliable professionals. Due to the strength of the Quikr brand, the platform has been witnessing a consistent increase in average spend from its consumers over the last 6 months and is seeing a repeat rate of over 60%. QuikrServices has 250,000 service providers offering over 80 types of services for consumers and is being used by 1,00,000 customers every day.

May 10, 2016
Lycos appoints Ramesh Reddy as group CFO

MUMBAI: Lycos has announced the appointment of Y.Ramesh Reddy as the group chief financial officer and executive director (finance) for the entire group. Reddy will report to the chairman and CEO Suresh Reddy and will oversee corporate finance, financial strategy, investor relations and reporting for the company. He will work closely with regional and global financial teams to raise the bar further on strengthening the financial foundation and fiscal discipline of the company.

Lycos is working on a meaningful and widespread reorganization of the group. These changes, the company says, are designed to simplify the way it interacts with customers, partners, investors and the world at large.

“Ramesh has witnessed the trajectory of the company as a director on the board for the last eight years. We are thrilled to see him take up an executive role with Lycos. His acute business acumen and solid experience in finance will be a big plus to the company” said Suresh Reddy.

Ramesh brings more than 25 years of experience to the company, including an extensive background working with public companies, corporate finance, operations management, financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and investor relation. He was the group CFO of Cambridge Energy Resources (CER) and was also the group CFO of Cambridge Technology Enterprise. Prior to joining CTE, he was with Virinchi where he played a key role as the head of the product development and chief functional architect.

May 9, 2016
Lycos appoints Ramesh Reddy as group CFO

MUMBAI: Lycos has announced the appointment of Y.Ramesh Reddy as the group chief financial officer and executive director (finance) for the entire group. Reddy will report to the chairman and CEO Suresh Reddy and will oversee corporate finance, financial strategy, investor relations and reporting for the company. He will work closely with regional and global financial teams to raise the bar further on strengthening the financial foundation and fiscal discipline of the company.

Lycos is working on a meaningful and widespread reorganization of the group. These changes, the company says, are designed to simplify the way it interacts with customers, partners, investors and the world at large.

“Ramesh has witnessed the trajectory of the company as a director on the board for the last eight years. We are thrilled to see him take up an executive role with Lycos. His acute business acumen and solid experience in finance will be a big plus to the company” said Suresh Reddy.

Ramesh brings more than 25 years of experience to the company, including an extensive background working with public companies, corporate finance, operations management, financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and investor relation. He was the group CFO of Cambridge Energy Resources (CER) and was also the group CFO of Cambridge Technology Enterprise. Prior to joining CTE, he was with Virinchi where he played a key role as the head of the product development and chief functional architect.

May 9, 2016
Disney India’s Captain America rings in 70 brands; raises Rs 150 crore

MUMBAI: You know you are doing something right when you beat your own record and that is exactly what Disney India has done for their chef d’oeuvre — Captain America: Civil War, which is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The studio has gone ahead and signed media and merchandising deals with 70 brands, one upping their previous record of 50 brand associations each for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

“For the India market, we have a record number of 70 brands collaborating for Captain America: Civil War, which is a testament to its growing popularity. This is by far the highest for any Hollywood or Bollywood movie,” asserted Disney India, consumer products VP and head Abhishek Maheshwari.

Disney India’s consumer product business has associated with a wide variety of brands in categories such as apparel, toys, FMCG, ecommerce, accessories, finance and more. To make the most of these partnerships, the brands too are leaving no stone unturned in promoting the film.

When asked why brand association with a movie like Captain America is a good opportunity for an eCommerce brand, Amazon.in category management VP Samir Kumar replied, “In the past, we have experienced the excitement from fans who flock to the Amazon.in marketplace and love to shop for their favourite movie merchandise as the movie readies for release. Disney movies has ardent fans, so we look forwards to making their shopping experience delightful this time too.”

As per a source close to the development, around Rs 150 crore have been raised through these associations, with Rs 35-40 crore coming from ATL and BTL promotions (across five brands, Lifebuoy, Axe, Nearbuy, Dell and Audi) and Rs 100-110 crore through retail sales value.

Disney India claims that it is the growing popularity of superhero based Hollywood blockbusters in the country that is attracting brands to pump in huge amount of ATL & BTL spends. The Jungle Book’shumongous success in the Indian box office has also solidified the brands’ faith in the popularity of international movies.

“Over the years, the Hindi audience for Marvel’s movies has grown rapidly and we are doing a lot of promotions for Marvel fans also,” shared Disney India studios VP Amrita Pandey, adding that to make the movie more relatable to the Indian audience Varun Dhawan was the voice actor for Captain America in the movie.

“We build our franchises through our content across Films, Television and Digital. We have a long term vision for our franchises and in the case of Marvel, we have our movie slate chalked out for the next five years, which our partners value,” Maheshwari added.

Some of these innovative associations include, Jack & Jones’ apparel range inspired by ‘Civil War’, ICICI Bank’s co-branded Civil War Expression debit cards, Funskool’s latest range of action figures, playsets, board games and role-play items of Marvel Super Heroes.

“Captain America: Civil War is the most anticipated movie of this year, packed with Super Heroes, making it a visual delight for fans. With the immensely strong affinity for Marvel Super Heroes, toy lines across key categories such as collectibles, role-play and construction will be the main drivers to get the excitement going. We have launched a wide range of Hasbro products including figurines and role-play sets, Lego construction sets, as well as board games for kids and young adults”, Funskool sales and marketing SVP R Jeswant quipped on their association with Disney India.

Apart from this Lifebuoy has released 46 lakhs packs inspired by Captain America: Civil War & Iron Man movie art. Axe too is promoting their variants of Champion and Maverick with Captain America and Iron Man respectively, while Lanmart is carrying out a massive in store promotion for brand Captain America.

While Marvel fans eagerly await 6 May for the movie’s India release to enjoy their favourite superheroes or to flock the theaters for the stellar starcast — Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, and many more — brands ride high on the ‘Civil War’ wave.

May 5, 2016
Disney India’s Captain America rings in 70 brands; raises Rs 150 crore

MUMBAI: You know you are doing something right when you beat your own record and that is exactly what Disney India has done for their chef d’oeuvre — Captain America: Civil War, which is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The studio has gone ahead and signed media and merchandising deals with 70 brands, one upping their previous record of 50 brand associations each for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

“For the India market, we have a record number of 70 brands collaborating for Captain America: Civil War, which is a testament to its growing popularity. This is by far the highest for any Hollywood or Bollywood movie,” asserted Disney India, consumer products VP and head Abhishek Maheshwari.

Disney India’s consumer product business has associated with a wide variety of brands in categories such as apparel, toys, FMCG, ecommerce, accessories, finance and more. To make the most of these partnerships, the brands too are leaving no stone unturned in promoting the film.

When asked why brand association with a movie like Captain America is a good opportunity for an eCommerce brand, Amazon.in category management VP Samir Kumar replied, “In the past, we have experienced the excitement from fans who flock to the Amazon.in marketplace and love to shop for their favourite movie merchandise as the movie readies for release. Disney movies has ardent fans, so we look forwards to making their shopping experience delightful this time too.”

As per a source close to the development, around Rs 150 crore have been raised through these associations, with Rs 35-40 crore coming from ATL and BTL promotions (across five brands, Lifebuoy, Axe, Nearbuy, Dell and Audi) and Rs 100-110 crore through retail sales value.

Disney India claims that it is the growing popularity of superhero based Hollywood blockbusters in the country that is attracting brands to pump in huge amount of ATL & BTL spends. The Jungle Book’shumongous success in the Indian box office has also solidified the brands’ faith in the popularity of international movies.

“Over the years, the Hindi audience for Marvel’s movies has grown rapidly and we are doing a lot of promotions for Marvel fans also,” shared Disney India studios VP Amrita Pandey, adding that to make the movie more relatable to the Indian audience Varun Dhawan was the voice actor for Captain America in the movie.

“We build our franchises through our content across Films, Television and Digital. We have a long term vision for our franchises and in the case of Marvel, we have our movie slate chalked out for the next five years, which our partners value,” Maheshwari added.

Some of these innovative associations include, Jack & Jones’ apparel range inspired by ‘Civil War’, ICICI Bank’s co-branded Civil War Expression debit cards, Funskool’s latest range of action figures, playsets, board games and role-play items of Marvel Super Heroes.

“Captain America: Civil War is the most anticipated movie of this year, packed with Super Heroes, making it a visual delight for fans. With the immensely strong affinity for Marvel Super Heroes, toy lines across key categories such as collectibles, role-play and construction will be the main drivers to get the excitement going. We have launched a wide range of Hasbro products including figurines and role-play sets, Lego construction sets, as well as board games for kids and young adults”, Funskool sales and marketing SVP R Jeswant quipped on their association with Disney India.

Apart from this Lifebuoy has released 46 lakhs packs inspired by Captain America: Civil War & Iron Man movie art. Axe too is promoting their variants of Champion and Maverick with Captain America and Iron Man respectively, while Lanmart is carrying out a massive in store promotion for brand Captain America.

While Marvel fans eagerly await 6 May for the movie’s India release to enjoy their favourite superheroes or to flock the theaters for the stellar starcast — Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, and many more — brands ride high on the ‘Civil War’ wave.

May 5, 2016
Mercedes-Benz India plans to expand its retail footprint with pop-up stores to connect with the youth

MUMBAI: In a bid to attract more customers and create brand consumerism, Mercedes-Benz India is coming up with 7 retail pop-up stores. One of which has already been inaugurated in Lower Parel in Mumbai, there are 6 more stores which will be opened in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Goa.

For the year 2016, with the brand philosophy ‘Winning with Mercedes-Benz’, the company is reaching closer and making its presence felt to its esteemed and discerning customers. The idea is to win the heart and the mind of consumers based on these innovative initiatives to create more awareness, brand recall and connect with consumers on an interpersonal level. The locations of these pop up stores are selected strategically, based on consumer mapping and behavioural patterns.

These pop-up stores will be positioned in places like lounges, pubs, cafes and restaurants to reach out to a larger target audience, this way Mercedes-Benz will be able to reach to youngsters in metros and Tier I markets. These pop-up stores will see sections such as branding and audio-visuals which will enhance consumer interest towards brand Mercedes-Benz. The customers will be able to engross themselves through special Mercedes-Benz applications and merchandise available at these stores.

Roland Folger, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said, “The pop-up stores will increase our visibility in the market as we plan to tap the young generation through it. This is a novel way to create a brand connect with youngsters who are extremely enthusiastic about cars. We are opening pop-up stores in multiple places to understand the likeability and choices of today’s outgoing generation. This further helps us in expansion of such initiatives that will give a sense of exclusivity to our customers and build a positive affinity towards the brand.”

These innovations will help to compete in a market where traditional luxury norms become lesser relevant day-by-day. The year 2016 has a strong line-up of product launches from Mercedes-Benz including 12 new offerings and 10 new dealership inaugurations across markets. Mercedes-Benz aims at a sustained double digit growth in this year too.

May 5, 2016
Mercedes-Benz India plans to expand its retail footprint with pop-up stores to connect with the youth

MUMBAI: In a bid to attract more customers and create brand consumerism, Mercedes-Benz India is coming up with 7 retail pop-up stores. One of which has already been inaugurated in Lower Parel in Mumbai, there are 6 more stores which will be opened in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Goa.

For the year 2016, with the brand philosophy ‘Winning with Mercedes-Benz’, the company is reaching closer and making its presence felt to its esteemed and discerning customers. The idea is to win the heart and the mind of consumers based on these innovative initiatives to create more awareness, brand recall and connect with consumers on an interpersonal level. The locations of these pop up stores are selected strategically, based on consumer mapping and behavioural patterns.

These pop-up stores will be positioned in places like lounges, pubs, cafes and restaurants to reach out to a larger target audience, this way Mercedes-Benz will be able to reach to youngsters in metros and Tier I markets. These pop-up stores will see sections such as branding and audio-visuals which will enhance consumer interest towards brand Mercedes-Benz. The customers will be able to engross themselves through special Mercedes-Benz applications and merchandise available at these stores.

Roland Folger, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said, “The pop-up stores will increase our visibility in the market as we plan to tap the young generation through it. This is a novel way to create a brand connect with youngsters who are extremely enthusiastic about cars. We are opening pop-up stores in multiple places to understand the likeability and choices of today’s outgoing generation. This further helps us in expansion of such initiatives that will give a sense of exclusivity to our customers and build a positive affinity towards the brand.”

These innovations will help to compete in a market where traditional luxury norms become lesser relevant day-by-day. The year 2016 has a strong line-up of product launches from Mercedes-Benz including 12 new offerings and 10 new dealership inaugurations across markets. Mercedes-Benz aims at a sustained double digit growth in this year too.

May 5, 2016
MTR Foods unveils new brand identity

BENGALURU: MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd. announced the launch of its new brand identity with a new contemporary logo and packaging which will come into effect immediately, with the new packs hitting the market in May. MTR Foods is a subsidiary of the Norwegian conglomerate Orkla.

As a part of its growth strategy the company also announced the opening up of its new eCommerce site that will give consumers a clear access to the entire range of MTR’s 140 plus products.

MTR says that the rebranding reflects the company’s commitment to its dynamic key consumers, while personifying its transition to an innovative and relevant brand.

Emphasizing on the need for rebranding, MTR Foods CEO Sanjay Sharma said “Today’s consumers have evolved quite a bit – both in terms of their food preferences as well their consumption patterns. They prefer Indian food but perceive it to be cumbersome and time-consuming. Our brand is the flag bearer of innovative, easy-to-make, nutritious and authentic tasting products that take away the time dimension from cooking and make Indian food more accessible to consumers.”

“However, as a brand we needed to change to reflect who our key consumers are today. While the new brand identity better represents where the company is today, our detailed growth strategy will make MTR ready for the future. This is the new beginning for MTR Foods and we are confident that the changes we have undertaken and our new brand identity will make us a part of our consumers’ everyday lives,” Sharma explained.

Orkla Foods executive vice president and CEO Atle Vidar added, “Over the last three years, Orkla Foods has transformed into a leading Nordic branded consumer company that will play a more active role in partnering the growth of MTR Foods. We are very proud to be the owners of a brand like MTR and will continue to contribute to the growth of the brand with a seamless transition of best practises and consumer insights. The launch of the new brand identity reaffirms our symbiotic partnership and the path we are going to charter together.”

The brand also revealed a six-pronged growth strategy that it will execute for the next four years. This includes: A revamped communications strategy with increased emphasis on digital; Mega innovations that are category disruptive; increasing distribution by three times over the next four years; Investment of Rs 200 crore for scaling up manufacturing infrastructure; Exploring alternate channels of distribution; spending Rs 2 crore on sustainability and community building.

May 4, 2016
MTR Foods unveils new brand identity

BENGALURU: MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd. announced the launch of its new brand identity with a new contemporary logo and packaging which will come into effect immediately, with the new packs hitting the market in May. MTR Foods is a subsidiary of the Norwegian conglomerate Orkla.

As a part of its growth strategy the company also announced the opening up of its new eCommerce site that will give consumers a clear access to the entire range of MTR’s 140 plus products.

MTR says that the rebranding reflects the company’s commitment to its dynamic key consumers, while personifying its transition to an innovative and relevant brand.

Emphasizing on the need for rebranding, MTR Foods CEO Sanjay Sharma said “Today’s consumers have evolved quite a bit – both in terms of their food preferences as well their consumption patterns. They prefer Indian food but perceive it to be cumbersome and time-consuming. Our brand is the flag bearer of innovative, easy-to-make, nutritious and authentic tasting products that take away the time dimension from cooking and make Indian food more accessible to consumers.”

“However, as a brand we needed to change to reflect who our key consumers are today. While the new brand identity better represents where the company is today, our detailed growth strategy will make MTR ready for the future. This is the new beginning for MTR Foods and we are confident that the changes we have undertaken and our new brand identity will make us a part of our consumers’ everyday lives,” Sharma explained.

Orkla Foods executive vice president and CEO Atle Vidar added, “Over the last three years, Orkla Foods has transformed into a leading Nordic branded consumer company that will play a more active role in partnering the growth of MTR Foods. We are very proud to be the owners of a brand like MTR and will continue to contribute to the growth of the brand with a seamless transition of best practises and consumer insights. The launch of the new brand identity reaffirms our symbiotic partnership and the path we are going to charter together.”

The brand also revealed a six-pronged growth strategy that it will execute for the next four years. This includes: A revamped communications strategy with increased emphasis on digital; Mega innovations that are category disruptive; increasing distribution by three times over the next four years; Investment of Rs 200 crore for scaling up manufacturing infrastructure; Exploring alternate channels of distribution; spending Rs 2 crore on sustainability and community building.

May 4, 2016