ITV

Category: Brands

  • Flipkart partners Viacom18 for licensing global brands

    Flipkart partners Viacom18 for licensing global brands

    MUMBAI: In a first of its kind partnership, e-commerce company Flipkart has inked a deal with Viacom18 for licensing three major international brands in India. 

    In a bid to offer Indian consumers authentic and branded merchandise, the Flipkart – Viacom18 collaboration will see the licensing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob Squarepants and Peanuts for sellers in India.

    According to Flipkart, this partnership provides a superior analytics system and tight control to help international brand kick-start their operations in India. Global brands are constantly looking to partner with the most competent manufacturers across categories, and Flipkart aims to become the licensing platform that connects these brands to the most deserving sellers in India.

    Additionally, the company has expertise across more than 70 product verticals, which will allow it to offer these brands in a more innovative approach towards merchandising and sales.

    With this, sellers will have the opportunity to create a better experience for buyers, by assuring them quality of authentic products and differentiating themselves from the clutter on the marketplace.

    Flipkart vice president and head – seller ecosystem Manish Maheshwari said, “Through this online licensing concept, we want to simply this process by connecting brands with the top performing sellers on our platform, giving the brands the power to keep a track on the product sales as well as the quality.”

    “It gives us great pride to introduce a concept like this for the first time in India where a global player can connect with Flipkart and have the product licensed across any number of sellers they want,” he added.

    Flipkart is also looking to expand and extend its existing ecosystem by adding licensors on one side and high-quality sellers that are eligible to be licensees on the other side.

  • PVR opens nine-screen multiplex in Bengaluru

    PVR opens nine-screen multiplex in Bengaluru

    MUMBAI: Multiplex chain PVR has launched a nine-screen property in VR Mall, Whitefiled in Bengaluru.

    With this launch, the company’s total screens tally across the country has touched 491.

    PVR’s new nine-screen multiplex is enabled with state of the art interiors and offers 3D technology with 7.1 channel surround sound. It also has a separate IMAX audi and four unique Gold Class audis.

    PVR is the largest multiplex in Bengaluru with 57 screens across seven properties.

    The chain now has a presence at 109 locations across 44 cities in 15 states and 1 Union Territory.

  • Farhan Akhtar to endorse Amway’s Nutrilite

    Farhan Akhtar to endorse Amway’s Nutrilite

    MUMBAI: Amway India has signed Farhan Akhtar as the brand ambassador to promote the Nutrilite range of the products.

     

    Amway India CEO Anshu Budhraja said, “Studies in India indicate that nine out of 10 Indians consume less than adequate protein daily. The fact is that majority of people are not consuming the World Health Organisation’s minimum recommendation of five servings (400 grams) per day of fruits and vegetables thus missing out on important nutritional benefits. This indeed is a matter of concern. We needed a strong and credible face who could help people understand the role of supplementation in addition to balanced diet and exercise as part of leading a healthy lifestyle. Farhan Akhtar was an obvious choice.”

     

    “We are confident that Farhan’s association will provide a further fillip to the Nutrilite brand in the country. We plan to launch a high decibel 360 degree campaign in early 2016 to leverage the association of Farhan Akhtar with Nutrilite,” added Budhraja.

     

    Amway India chief marketing officer Sundip Shah added, “Besides being talented and versatile, Farhan is physically fit with a stature and youth appeal that resonates well with Nutrilite’s world class image offering the best of nature and the best of science for optimal health. Consumer response to the association of Farhan with Nutrilite has also been very positive.”

     

    Akhtar, said, “Nutrilite is an iconic and innovative brand which has pioneered and led the supplements category for the past 80 years across the world. I am delighted to be their brand ambassador in the country. I strongly believe that it is important to take care of one’s daily nutritional needs for a healthy and long life. People should understand the virtues of being fit, healthy and eating right.”

  • Cut The Crap’s radio ad reveals cosmetic industry’s dirty secrets

    Cut The Crap’s radio ad reveals cosmetic industry’s dirty secrets

    MUMBAI: Cut The Crap (CTC) has executed an extensive radio campaign for Iba Halal Care titled ‘Beauty Products Ke Dirty Secrets’.

     

    “The creative strategy is to drive home the negatives through products in which they matter the most. For example the presence of animal ingredients is most repugnant in case of lipsticks where the industry uses pig fat while Iba does not,” Cut The Crap founder and creative head Jagdish Acharya shared on the new radio campaign.

     

    The campaign comprises four spots and consumer engagement through RJ interactions. Each spot reveals a secret of a popular cosmetic product or category and ends with the brand message ‘Koi secret nahin.’

     

    As part of the consumer engagement program, RJs invited listeners to call in and talk about the negative side effects of any cosmetic product that they may have suffered from. These ‘negative endorsements’ created the perfect atmosphere for Iba to drive home the no-negative characteristic of halal cosmetics.

     

    Ecotrail Personal Care CEO and managing partner Mauli Teli says, “Being the pioneers of Halal Cosmetics in India, we needed to educate the consumers about its scientific superiority over all other cosmetics. Revealing the secrets of cosmetic industry is a truthfully engaging way of doing so as Iba has no secrets. Consumer response has been very positive and we have seen increased footfalls at Iba store and switches from popular and premium cosmetics to Iba as a direct result of this campaign. We intend to rollout the campaign in a big way very soon.”

     

    The ‘Dirty Secrets’ campaign was first tested in Baroda in October – November 2015 and based on the response, it was extended to other cities.

  • Lookup partners with Twitter

    Lookup partners with Twitter

    MUMBAI: Lookup, a free service that connects local businesses with consumers, has launched @lookuplite based on Twitter’s platform for live, public conversations.

     

    Users can tweet their requests starting from booking appointments, ordering food till enquiring about products to @lookuplite and Lookup will monitor it and send solutions within minutes. Up until now, Lookup was launched on Android, iPhone and SMS. Through this collaboration, Lookup is now just a tweet away.

     

    “Our idea is to make Lookup ubiquitous. Being one of the most popular social media in the world, Twitter is a real-time communications platform for us that can’t be skipped for our on-demand local commerce service,” said Lookup co-founder and CEO Deepak Ravindran.

     

    The technical integration will include a Twitter account @lookuplite to answer people’s queries. Whenever users tweet their request, they will get a reply through a mention on Twitter. If one wants to ask something in private, they can send a Direct Message to @lookuplite.

     

    “We are always looking to provide better accessibility for our users and to help them be more productive with Twitter. With Lookup on board, millions of Indians in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Pune can now order home delivery, make reservations, book appointments, get information on store deals, and much more done, one Tweet at a time,” added Twitter business development head for India and South Asia Ravi Bhaskaran.

  • IndiaMart clocks 60% traction on mobile

    IndiaMart clocks 60% traction on mobile

    MUMBAI: Online marketplace IndiaMart has said that 60 per cent of its visitor traffic is coming from its mobile app and mobile website. In line with the company’s mobile first strategy, IndiaMart launched the mobile app in March, 2013 and have registered 25 lakh downloads till date.

     

    Apart from the top eight cities, IndiaMart’s mobile app has witnessed significant traffic from cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Indore and Surat. India is a mobile-first internet country for a large portion of the population. Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities along with other parts of rural India have been witnessing phenomenal growth in smartphone usage, helped in a major part by improvement in internet penetration and affordability.

     

    IndiaMart director Dinesh Gulati said, “The user base on IndiaMart’s marketplace comprises of over two crore buyers. B2B buying is following the B2C buying trend where mobile is becoming the dominant medium for accessing internet. As per the recent IAMAI report, year on year growth in Mobile Internet users has been 65 per cent in urban areas and 99 per cent in rural areas. Interestingly, now 90 per cent of users who access internet through mobile consider it as the primary device for accessing Internet. While the mobile internet brings a lot of opportunities to the SMB community, we will be present wherever our customers are, both online as well as on the app.”

     

    The average time spent on the app is measured to be seven – eight minutes per user everyday. Android followed by iOS and Windows have seen maximum number of mobile app usage.

  • PVR expands into South India with second multiplex in Chennai

    PVR expands into South India with second multiplex in Chennai

    MUMBAI: PVR Cinemas has expanded its presence in South India by launching its second multiple property in Chennai.

     

    The five-screen multiplex is at The Grand Mall, Velachery in Chennai. The company’s first multiple in Chennai is at the Ampa Mall.

     

    With this, PVR now has a a screen count of 482 screens at 108 properties pan India across 44 cities. In southern India, PVR now has 110 screens in 17 properties.

     

    The newly launched property in the region is spread over an area of 50,000 sq ft with a capacity of 1275 seats.

     

    PVR Cinema CEO Gautam Dutta said, “We have received an overwhelming response from the audience here and we ore even more enthusiastic to launch our second multiplex in Chennai. South is on essential market and we have made constant endeavours to reach out to the movie lovers in the city. We have left no stones unturned to bring them an experience filled with convenience, comfort and the best cinematic experience.”

     

    The opening of this multiplex has been designed understanding the market and every other aspect of cinema viewing in Chennai. The artwork in the foyer is a collage of iconic conversations from movies that defined trends in Kollywood; it is a tribute to Tamil cinema.

     

    The cinema also boasts of 2K Christie Digital projection, Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound, 3D enabled screens and state-of-the-art technology.

     

    PVR joint managing director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli added, “As we aim to excel in our domain by providing movie connoisseurs with a premier experience, we feel pleased to launch our second property in Chennai. We would like to thank the mall developer, PSR Associates for giving us the perfect location which is strategically positioned and stands as one of the most prominent hubs attracting huge footfalls. We are very hopeful to receive a similar positive response from the audience here for our second multiplex as well.”

  • MS Dhoni named brand ambassador for Grand Midwest Group

    MS Dhoni named brand ambassador for Grand Midwest Group

    NEW DELHI: Eminent cricketer and Test captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as the brand ambassador of Dubai based hotel chain The Grand Midwest Group.

     

    The contract with Dhoni is initially for three years, and this will be his first international endorsement.

     

    The Grand Midwest Group has been established by Emirati businessman Zafar Shah Khan. It comprises hotels and hotel apartments across Dubai, Ireland and UK.

     

    The company currently owns a cricket league in the United Arab Emirates by the name of MCL (Masters Champion League), which will commence in 2016.

  • BlaBlaCar extends service to Brazil

    BlaBlaCar extends service to Brazil

    MUMBAI: BlaBlaCar has expanded its service in Brazil. It is the company’s first market in South America following the launch in Mexico earlier this year. 

     

    With BlaBlaCar’s Brazilian team, based in Sao Paulo, Brazilians will have access to affordable, city-to-city, social travel options that optimize the capacity of the country’s 50 cars.

     

    The local team is currently working on marketing and communication to help build the service’s Brazilian community of drivers and passengers looking to share the costs of long-distance travel.

     

    BlaBlaCar COO and co-founder Nicolas Brusson said, “We’re thrilled to be launching BlaBlaCar in Brazil today and by the prospect of making city-to-city ridesharing second nature for Brazil’s 205 million inhabitants, many of whom are in need of affordable transport. BlaBlaCar is well-versed in launching and rapidly building communities in new markets, and we look forward to bringing this knowledge to Brazil with the help of a stellar local team.”

     

    BlaBlaCar founder and CEO Frederic Mazzella added, “Today’s launch in Brazil, our second country in Latin America after Mexico, brings us one step closer to our goal of bringing a cost-effective transport alternative to all those that need it worldwide. Ridesharing is seeing phenomenal adoption on a global scale and is not only fundamentally changing the way we use our cars but is also impacting the way we relate to one another.”

     

    “BlaBlaCar has a powerful track record of bringing ridesharing to new markets around the world, as well as pioneering features designed for improved safety, convenience and trust. We are excited to be offering Brazilians up and down the country the chance to make their long-distance journeys more enjoyable and cost-effective by sharing,” said BlaBlaCar Brazil country manager Ricardo Leite.

  • TOPSGRUP recognized as India’s Most Trusted Brand for 2015 in the Security Category

    TOPSGRUP recognized as India’s Most Trusted Brand for 2015 in the Security Category

    Mumbai – November 30, 2015: TOPSGRUP, India’s largest security group, received the unique recognition of being recognized as INDIA’S MOST TRUSTED BRAND for 2015 in the Security Category. The brand was selected amongst more than 2,000 short listed brands related to various categories based on a consumer survey conducted in India by Media Research Group (MRG), a company with close to 15 years’ experience in conducting exhaustive research of this nature.

     

    Being the 3rd such award for the company this year, the global security service provider has been recognized as INDIA’S NO. 1 BRAND IN THE SECURITY CATEGORY by the Indian Brand Leadership Awards in association with IBC Infomedia (International Brands Consultants). Furthermore, according to the BRAND TRUST REPORT INDIA, TOPSGRUP has significantly risen to 171th position from 800th position in 2014 across all segments and brands in India.

     

    Ramesh Iyer, Vice Chairman & CEO – India, TOPSGRUP said, “INDIA’S MOST TRUSTED BRAND Award is a true recognition of excellence and appreciation of our brand. As trust is the very basis of security solutions, all the three awards are a source of great pride to our firm. They reassure and show our dedication towards creating the most secure environment for our clients.”

     

    At the awards ceremony, organized by IBC Infomedia Corp, USA, TOPSGRUP proudly finds itself in the company of other leading and established brands like as Airtel, Samsung, Dabur, Air Asia, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Croma, Lodha and Aquaguard among others.

     

    The grand awards ceremony which felicitated and honoured more than 50 successful brands saw more than 200 delegates including CEOs, Managing Directors, Vice Presidents and Directors in attendance.