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Category: MAM

  • Weekend Unwind with: Thought Blurb Communications managing director & chief creative officer Vinod Kunj

    Weekend Unwind with: Thought Blurb Communications managing director & chief creative officer Vinod Kunj

    Mumbai : With yet another weekend upon us, it’s once again time to unwind with our special series ‘Weekend Unwind’. Where we take a peek into the mind of a corporate head through a fun lens in an attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better.

    In this week’s edition, we have Thought Blurb Communications managing director & chief creative officer Vinod Kunj sharing with us his musings on the daily rigmarole that life and work has to offer. Having worked with a clutch of big names in adland like Saatchi & Saatchi, Enterprise Nexus (now Bates), FCB Ulka, Lowe Lintas and Rediffusion DY&R in a span of thirteen years, Kunj was ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge. His last stint as an employee was in the Mumbai office of Capital Advertising, a Delhi-based ad firm, heading its creative department.

    Kunj then teamed up with his life partner, Razia, even as the couple leveraged their individual strengths- his in advertising, and hers in design- to launch their own advertising agency, Thought Blurb Communications – “a one-stop shop for advertising, designing, strategy planning and activation services” in the year 2007.

    So without further ado here goes…

    Your mantra for life

    ‘You are what your deep driving desire is.’ From the Upanishads.

    A book you are currently reading / plan to read

    ‘Daily Rituals’ by Mason Currey on the routine that more than 160 creative people followed throughout their lives.

    Your fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic

    Yoga for 30 minutes every day.

    Your comfort food

    Fish curry and rice. (like more than 30 million Malayalee brethren)

    When the chips are down a quote/ philosophy that keeps you going

    ‘This too shall pass.’

    Your guilty pleasure

    A Single Malt with a dash of Perrier and a cube of ice.

    When was the last time you tried something new?

    I am in advertising, if I do not try something new everyday, I would be extinct!

    A life lesson you learnt the hard way

    That you lose a battle at the precise point you stopped trying.

    What gets you excited about life?

    People! Every single person I meet. Each one is such a mystery and it’s so much fun trying to figure them out knowing fully well that I won’t.

    What’s on top of your bucket list?

    Launch an app. I have been planning to for a long time now!

    One thing you would most like to change about the world

    Do we still need organised religion to bring us closer to God!

    An activity that keeps you motivated/ charged during tough times

    A nice long drive into the countryside, preferably the hills.

    What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?

    A good piece of creativity by one of my colleagues or a peer. A nature trail also has the same effect on me.

    Your go-to stress buster

    Classical Indian music or a Kishore Kumar song.

    If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

    Leap before you look!

  • Kohler India awards its digital media duties to Interactive Avenues

    Kohler India awards its digital media duties to Interactive Avenues

    Mumbai: Kohler India, a leading global lifestyle brand in the kitchen and bath space, has appointed Interactive Avenues—a Reprise Network company—as its digital agency following a multi-agency pitch. The account will be managed by the agency’s Gurugram office, with a strong emphasis on expanding digital footprints throughout India.

    Kohler has achieved luxury brand status among consumers by curating beautiful homes through its design and technology-led kitchen and bath products. With a strong presence in several cities around the world, the brand’s market presence appears to be expanding.

    With their digital expertise, Interactive Avenues is tasked with assisting the brand’s endeavour to inspire people to create artistic homes with their unique and aesthetic product offerings.

    Talking about the association, Kohler Kitchen & Bath India Parveen Gupta director – marketing said, “Kohler has already established itself as the most admired and recommended international brand when it comes to Bathroom products. We want to leverage Digital in the most constructive way and thereby make Kohler the brand of choice for consumers aspiring for luxury houses. Interactive Avenues’ robust understanding of the market and digital ecosystem made the mark for us.”

    Interactive Avenues sr. vice president (North & East) Abbhishek Chadha added, “Kohler is not just leading, it is leading with a vision. A vision to not just capture consumers but make them experience luxury via its aesthetic products and exceptional services for their homes.  Being a household name comes with its own set of expectations and we fully aim to meet those with our custom-made and client-first approach. Our understanding and experience as a full-service digital agency in crafting digital solutions along with our dedicated set of professionals will drive this partnership to great heights.”

  • How have major FMCGs fared in Q1 amid macro economic challenges?

    How have major FMCGs fared in Q1 amid macro economic challenges?

    Mumbai: The country’s FMCG industry demonstrated resilience during the first quarter of the current fiscal, as indicated by the revenue reports of leading FMCG players, even as the sector continued to witness macro-economic challenges and inflationary winds. However, in the quarterly updates for the period, major players such as HUL, Marico, and Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) demonstrated the effects of muted consumer demand, leading to successive price hikes as well as an impact on volumes.

    Homegrown FMCG major Dabur India reported a flat consolidated net profit of Rs 440 crore year-on-year in the quarter ended 30 June 2022. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 437 crore in the year-ago period. Growth in revenue was aided by robust 180 per cent YoY growth in its retails business and a strong double digit growth in its food and other businesses.

    Dabur India Q1 Results: Consolidated profit rises 50 per cent QoQ as revenue grows 12 per cent

    “Dabur continued to demonstrate agility and resilience to deliver steady revenue growth despite consumer sentiments dwindling in the face of significant and increasing inflationary headwinds,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

    Food business revenue increased by 69 per cent, while other and retail business revenues increased by 37 and 15 per cent, respectively.

    Growth in its mainstay consumer care business, however, remained flat both on a year-over-year and sequential basis. The business continues to contribute the lion’s share of revenue, accounting for 75.7 per cent of total revenue. The company’s revenue share, however, has declined from 83 per cent last year as well as in the previous quarter.

    The food business improved its revenue share to 21.6 per cent from 15.4 per cent last year and 14.3 per cent during the previous quarter. 

    Demand in the FMCG industry remained soft in the June quarter, with current trends indicating that consumers ”titrated consumption” in some non-essential categories and either “downgraded among brands or switched to smaller packs” in the essential categories, as unprecedented inflation continued to impact the share of their income available for spending on consumer staples.

    Here’s how some of the other leading FMCGs fared in the quarter ended June:

    Godrej Consumer Q1 Results: Consolidated net profit fell 16.56 per cent while revenue increased by eight per cent.

    FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) reported a 16.56 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 345.12 crore for the first quarter ended 30 June 2022, on account of commodity inflation and upfront marketing investments.

    The revenue from the sale of products of the Godrej group’s FMCG arm was up 8.08 per cent at Rs 3,094.31 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 2,862.83 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

    In the domestic market, GCPL witnessed a mixed performance in its personal care and home care categories.

    Hindustan Unilever Q1 Results: Net profit increased by 11 per cent to Rs 2,289 crore.

    FMCG major Hindustan Unilever reported a 11 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 2,289 crore for the quarter ending 30 June 2022, as against Rs 2,061 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s total income rose 20 per cent to Rs 14,409 crore in Q1FY23 as against Rs 11,982 crore in Q1FY22.

    HUL’S home care segment delivered 30 per cent growth, driven by strong performance in fabric wash and household care, with both categories growing in the high double-digits in the first quarter of this fiscal.

    ITC Q1 Results: Net profit increased by 34 per cent in the first quarter, exceeding expectations.

    Diversified conglomerate ITC Limited on Monday reported a year-on-year consolidated net profit of  Rs 4,389.76 crore, up 33.97 per cent for the April-June quarter (Q1FY23). It reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,276.48 crore in the year-ago period.

    Total revenue from operations of the FMCG major increased by 39 per cent to Rs 19,831.27 crore from Rs 14,240.76 crore during the corresponding period a year ago.

    Among segments, FMCG revenue stood at Rs 4,451 crore as compared to Rs 3,725 crore, up 19.5 per cent YoY. The revenue from hotels came in at Rs 554 crore, compared with Rs 128 crore, up 332.8 per cent YoY. The revenue from the paper segment came in at Rs 2,267 crore against Rs 1,583 crore, up 43.2 per cent YoY.

    Marico Q1 Results: Marico reports a decline in Q1 volume in the domestic market.

    FMCG major Marico reported a volume decline in its India business.

    ”In the given context, India’s business volumes declined in the mid-single digits. The performance was particularly dragged by a sharp drop in Saffola Oils. Excluding Saffola Oils, the India business posted marginal volume growth. Parachute Coconut Oil recorded a minor volume decline,” said Marico in its quarterly update for Q1 FY23.

    However, premium discretionary categories fared relatively better in the April-June quarter because of a lower base and lower consumption dip in the upper-income consumer segment.

    Adani Wilmar Q1 Results: Due to strong revenue growth, Q1 net profit is up 10 per cent to Rs 194 crore.

    Meanwhile, edible oil major Adani Wilmar (AWL) recorded strong growth in volume and revenues in Q1 of FY2023, on the back of strong performance by its FMCG and food businesses.

    Adani Wilmar registered a 10.18 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 193.59 crore in the quarter ending 30 June 2022 (Q1FY23), compared to the profit of Rs 175.70 crore witnessed in the same period last year.

    Food and FMCG revenue for the company stood at Rs 860 crore in the quarter under review, registering a growth of 66 per cent YoY. Edible oil business revenue was up 23 per cent YoY to Rs 11,519 crore, and industry essentials revenue increased 67 per cent YoY to Rs 2,353 crore, led by castor oil exports and oleo business.

  • Promax India Conference and Awards 2022: Focuses on engaging content, creativity, marketing ideas and others

    Promax India Conference and Awards 2022: Focuses on engaging content, creativity, marketing ideas and others

    Mumbai: Promax India is back with its 20th edition of Promax India Conference and Awards 2022 to be held in Mumbai on the 10-11 August, 2022 with workshops, sessions, one-to-one engagement with the speakers and honouring the best at the most awaited Promax India Awards 2022.

    Amazon Prime Video India head Aparna Purohit is the Awards Chair for this year.

    For Promax India, this year marks a milestone as it completes 20 remarkable years of honouring the best brands for their creativity, innovation, and storytelling. The coveted Promax India Awards introduced new additions this year. Some of the new categories include Best Static Image, Best Voice-Over Performance, and Best Social Media Content.

    Additionally, brands will also compete for The Creative Brand of the Year category.

    Some of the best minds in the industry will be hosting workshops titled, “The New Promo 10 Commandments” with the popular Rob Middleton, mentor-holding little promotions and marketing hands all across Asia for almost three decades now.

    Dynamite Design’s Sheetal Sudhir pitches in with principles and theory of motion and how you can use that to give a brand deeper values and dimension; digital mantras by RT Digital deputy creative & innovations director Ivor Crotty brings to us stories that build bridges; at the heart of building digital audiences is the power of the story, and the mantras of storytelling are at the centre of our endeavour. His mantra: what do you need to do to give your story the power to push through and to bring your audience with you on the journey?

    The essential masterclass session for all broadcast marketing professionals—whether new to writing briefs or looking for time-saving tips and hacks—is being presented by The Brief Doctor: Tim Hughes. His session explains how to maximise creative output by focussing on audience needs and business goals by setting a simple and effective creative strategy and managing through stakeholders.

    Some of the sessions to look out for are by well-known speakers – Trailer Voice Artists Agency owner Brent Hagel, Lee Hunt LLC founder Lee Hunt, Comedy Central voiceover artist Rahul Mulani, FX Network EVP marketing and on-air Stephanie Gibbons.

    Over the coming weeks, the speakers’ highlights will be shared based on their exchange of viewpoints and ideas.

  • GUEST ARTICLE: Everything marketers need to know about optimising mobile OEM user acquisition campaigns

    GUEST ARTICLE: Everything marketers need to know about optimising mobile OEM user acquisition campaigns

    Mumbai: Mobile original equipment manufacturer (OEM) inventory is rapidly increasing, with a year-over-year growth of 3.8 per cent, and with shipments expected to reach 1.43 billion by the end of 2022. Within this space, brands such as Vivo, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo (which includes Realme and OnePlus) occupied 52 per cent of the global smartphone market share as of Q1 2022.

    The user inventory generated by these mobile OEMs provides a tremendous competitive advantage for budget holders, as it continues to scale for as long as smartphones dominate the telecommunications industry. In parallel, these giant companies have been developing new and better proprietary platforms and systems that support specific targeting and ongoing optimisation of their intrinsic user traffic.

    As a result, mobile OEMs are becoming one (if not the most) successful channels for mobile marketers to add to their marketing mix plans to achieve scalable and targeted user acquisition.

    Marketers should not miss the diversity and effectiveness of ad campaign optimisation capabilities provided by mobile OEMs.

    When mobile advertisers don’t see the right results for their campaigns, their first instinct is to pause the ad channels that are not meeting their expectations. However, as new inventory sources (such as mobile OEMs) provide a very granular range of optimisation options towards specific targets, learning and taking advantage of such features is crucial for the campaign’s success.

    From this perspective, to get better outcomes and higher engagements, mobile marketers should consider three layers of optimisation for their user acquisition (UA) advertising (ad) campaigns:

    1. Advertisement placement optimisation: Not all placements will drive the same level of quality. Advertisers need to look at which ad placements are driving quality users compared to others, and increase the bid for those placements so they can leverage more traffic. In addition, there are advertising placements that drive volumes but not quality, and those can be optimised by calculating the return on ad spend (ROAS) for a particular ad placement so they can decrease the bid and still get a positive ROAS result and retain volumes.

    2. Creative optimisation: When mobile advertisers are buying media, they need to prevent “advertising fatigue” and ensure that their users aren’t seeing the same ad multiple times, as it leads to them eventually not interacting with it. Therefore, an advertiser should always have three creatives running for A/B testing and constantly come up with new concepts. Hence, the engagement of the ad remains constant as users get to see something new each time the ad is displayed. The higher the engagement of the ad, the better the conversion rate and effective cost per install (ECPI) for the advertiser.

    3. Targeting optimisation: Some app stores also offer appographic targeting that helps app advertisers promote their apps to new users based on their unique app interests. It allows the advertiser to target over 200 appographic segments based on app interests and leverages audience insights beyond category and ownership, and all of this is user privacy compliant.

    Understanding how advertisers can optimise their advertising spend based on upcoming special promotions

    Timing, timing, timing!

    Advertisers looking to place their ads on mobile OEMs during the special promotions season need to start by planning way ahead. For example, if there is a shopping app that wants to run a campaign for promotional offers in a specific time period, they need to work closely and plan with their partner agency in order to leverage the right mobile OEM inventory mix.

    When the shopping app is featured within alternative app stores on any of these promotional days, then not only does the conversion rate go up, but overall conversion volumes also become higher, and this is when an optimisation strategy is key to achieving maximum success.

    Furthermore, if the shopping app has also been promoted through offline media and other networks such as TV and third-party ad networks, the effective cost per acquisition per user becomes much lower.

    Key takeaways for mobile marketers to consider for UA campaign optimisation

    Optimising efforts for app marketing can be challenging, but mobile marketers can certainly tackle such situations by focusing on a few things:

    First of all, they need to look at pricing based on quality. They should never remove an entire mobile OEM ecosystem because of quality. They need to be careful that app discoverability decreases if they pause the campaigns on a specific smartphone OEM. Therefore, they can always choose to negotiate price deals based on quality.

    Secondly, they should measure mobile OEM performance. Every mobile OEM has different levels of offering placements and inventories to get apps launched in their respective app stores since each is at a different maturity level in its offerings. Analysing which mobile OEM works best is the key to placing and winning bids for advertising user acquisition campaigns.

    Last but certainly not least, mobile marketers often tend to cannibalise when bidding for multiple inventories from their agency partners. They should choose one agency partner that acts as a single source of truth, specialises in mobile OEM inventory, and has close partnerships with those mobile OEMs. They need the know-how to deal with the individual platforms from launch to running user acquisition campaigns and optimisation.

    Adopting these success mantras can change the course of mobile marketers’ user acquisition goals ahead of this year’s festive season.

    The author of the article is AVOW co-founder Ashwin Shekhar.

  • Zivame appoints Monish Kaul as chief technology and product officer

    Zivame appoints Monish Kaul as chief technology and product officer

    Mumbai: Intimate wear brand, Zivame has announced the appointment of Monish Kaul as its chief technology and product officer (CTPO). Kaul has over a decade of experience in helping to build organisations that deliver innovative solutions by applying cutting-edge methodologies and managing, engineering and product teams in the digital economy. Prior to his appointment at Zivame, he served in leadership roles with Halodoc, Mfine, Myntra and Intel. His academic credentials include an executive program in Management from SC Johnson School of Business, Cornell University and a Computer Sciences major from Jaypee University of Information Technology.

    Speaking on the appointment, Zivame chief operating officer Lavanya Pachisia said, “At Zivame we strive to offer the best-in-class user experience for our consumers and Monish’s leadership will help further strengthen and elevate this. His technological expertise across data driven consumer products and growth platforms will play an essential role in strengthening our operations in readiness for the next phase of growth.”

    Monish Kaul added, “Over the years, Zivame has been enabling women across the country to shop uninhibitedly for intimate wear. Our aim will be to consolidate consumer needs in the category and enrich consumer experience with hyper-personalised & secure outcomes via our omni-channel shopping platforms. We aim to build platforms and products which further increase the customer love we take so much pride in.”

  • WebEngage raises $20 mn in Series B round led by Singularity Growth & SWC Global

    WebEngage raises $20 mn in Series B round led by Singularity Growth & SWC Global

    Mumbai: WebEngage announced a $20 million Series B round led by Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund and SWC Global, with participation from existing investors India Quotient, Blume Ventures, and IAN Fund recently.

    The round also saw participation from a few family offices, including the likes of Unmaj Corporation, NB Ventures, Shashwat Nakrani (cofounder of BharatPe), and Gopal Srinivasan (chairman, TVS Capital), amongst others.

    WebEngage has showcased unusual frugality and resilience in its 11-year journey filled with ups and downs, burning only six million dollars in capital to reach a $20 million annual revenue run rate, an enviable position to be in.

    Peers in SaaS spend about 3x to 5x more to get to the same scale. The company is working with over six hundred clients, including new-economy and internet-first businesses, as well as propelling the digital transformation journey for enterprise clients.

    The funds will be used to maintain WebEngage’s rapid growth—it is up 100 per cent year-on-year and has expanded operations to India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The company’s team strength has increased 2.5x since 2020 with strategic high-profile hires across the marketing, sales, product, engineering, and support functions. Recent customer wins like Adani Group in India and IKEA in Saudi Arabia have validated enterprise acceptance of the WebEngage offering.

    Speaking about this new milestone, WebEngage co-founder and CEO Avlesh Singh said, “We are absolutely delighted to have Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund and SWC Global as our new partners and are blessed to have existing partners double down on their confidence in us. The ride has just begun and we have the tickets to the front row seats for anyone who wants to join our journey of simplifying retention for the world.”

    Commenting on the engagement with WebEngage, Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund managing partner Apurva Patel said, “WebEngage’s comprehensive customer engagement platform truly empowers companies to listen to their customers better, to understand their behaviour deeply by smartly segmenting customers, and to act on that knowledge in a way that is personal. What fascinated us about Avlesh and his team is their ability to gain traction with not only digital businesses, but also with large traditional enterprises. We were also very impressed with customer feedback on the company’s superior customer service and support, and believe this to be their key competitive advantage. Singularity Growth is thrilled to be part of WebEngage’s growth journey in both India and overseas.”

    “We have always believed that the best teams build the best products, and in the long run, it’s the best product that wins. This is our 4th investment in WebEngage and we will continue to back them as far as we can. WebEngage also demonstrates our belief that companies that win SaaS in India can go global and repeat their performance,” concluded India Quotient founding partner Anand Lunia.

  • Crossword bags digital marketing mandate for OM Book Shop & OM Books International

    Crossword bags digital marketing mandate for OM Book Shop & OM Books International

    Mumbai: Om Books International, Om Book Shop, announced on Wednesday the addition of New Delhi-based public relations firm Crossword Public Relations as a digital and social media marketing partner.

    OBI, which has its headquarters in Noida, has published best-selling works of popular and literary literature. Along with other genres, OBI has produced a number of books on the entertainment industry, producing photo essays and monographs on art and architecture. Most of OBI’s books have won national awards from the prestigious Federation of Indian Publishers and accolades for the design and content of their books. OBI has a stellar line-up of Gourmand World Cookbook Award winners. Om Book Shop has its outlets in several states like Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru.

    Crossword Public Relations is the fastest-growing, award-winning public relations and digital marketing company. With an unparalleled network spread in more than 300 cities in India and 10 countries around the world, We work in domains like technology, hospitality, start-up, healthcare, education, entertainment, and entertainment & fashion-lifestyle.

    Speaking on the appointment, Om Books International publisher Ajay Mago and Om Book Shop CEO Sanjay Mago commented, “We are thrilled to have Crossword PR as our digital and social media marketing mandate and believe that their skills and teamwork will help us reach new heights. Together, we strive to build targeted and effective marketing that will help the development of consumer-centric, appealing communications.”

    Crossword PR founder Rajnish Jain said, “We are overjoyed to be working with Om Books International and Om Book Shop. By being creative, inventive, and engaging, our team will collaborate to develop some excellent campaigns and tactics that will assist them in achieving their communication objectives.”

  • Bharti Land appoints Cherryn Dogra as the chief marketing officer

    Bharti Land appoints Cherryn Dogra as the chief marketing officer

    Mumbai: Cherryn Dogra joined Bharti Land on Wednesday as chief marketing officer. She will be leading the marketing function with Bharti Land for the upcoming commercial projects in NCR.

    She brings on board seventeen years of experience in identifying customer needs, customising product offerings (alcobev and real estate alike) and exponentially taking the customer lifetime value up for both multinational and indigenous organisations with innovative marketing strategies.

    She recently moved on from Emaar India, where she was heading the marketing function and was a part of the India leadership team. Prior to Emaar India, she was with DLF.

    Cherryn has been driving the marketing strategy for years. She has worked in the alcohol industry with UB, William Grant India, and Pernod. In her previous stints, she had worked in individual contributor roles as well as managed large teams, which gives her the dual advantage of having championed ownership and mentorship in both.

  • Byju’s ropes in Mrinall Dey as VP –Corporate Communications

    Byju’s ropes in Mrinall Dey as VP –Corporate Communications

    MUMBAI: Edtech major, Byju’s has onboarded Mrinall Dey as vice president-Corporate Communications. He announced the development on his LinkedIn page through a post.

    Dey will be responsible for developing a comprehensive corporate communications plan that will reinforce the company’s aims, aspirations, business objectives, and influence. He will report to Paroma Roy Chowdhury, chief communications officer in this newly created position, and work closely with Chowdhury in building the company’s media strategy and crisis communications. He will also serve as a strategic advisor to BYJU’S founders.

    Earlier, Dey served a stint at Weber Shandwick as senior vice president & head-media strategy.

    Previously, he held the position of AVP – Public Affairs & Communications at American Express Banking Corp, where he served a stint of over eight years. He has also been associated with companies such as Pepsico India and Bharti Airtel in the corporate communications space.

    An alumnus of IIM- Lucknow, Dey is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in driving internal and external marketing and corporate communications within a fast-paced environment. He has expertise in designing communications strategies, content management, and execution of public relations & CSR programmes.