Brands

Amul, LIC matter to Indians most: Havas Global Top Meaningful Brands 2015 study

Published

10 years ago

November 17, 2015

Amul has emerged as India’s Most Meaningful Brand. In India, Indians have the highest attachment towards Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the iconic state-owned insurance group, are some of the findings of the India Study Findings of Havas’ Meaningful Brands 2015 study.

Havas Media India & South Asia CEO Anita Nayyar, CEO explained, “This is our largest India study to date in size and scope. Marketers will be encouraged to know that India once again stands out as the No.1 country, globally, where consumers have the closest relationship with brands. India is also the most ‘grateful’ country, rewarding meaningful brands, in business terms. We are seeing that in a developing economy like India, unlike the West and more developed economies, people are more trusting of brands. People here believe brands can play a meaningful role in their lives and that brands are working hard towards improving our quality of life and wellbeing. This creates tremendous opportunities for brands in India to communicate and connect with their customers, in our organic world – which is at the core of the Meaningful Brands Project.”

‘Food’ is one of the most meaningful sectors, attaining strong attachment and trust. Food brands are especially meaningful for making peoples’ daily lives better with their rational benefits of savings, convenience, health and better nutritional habits.

Local brands like Amul take the lead with multinational corporations like Cadbury who introduce local brands to resonate with consumer context and tastes, locally. The study says that 86 percent of people would care if LIC disappeared tomorrow as compared to globally where most people do not care if 74 percent of brands disappeared the next day.

In India, brands have a high level of meaningfulness and are seen as providers of personal and collective wellbeing; they are viewed as much more than functional products. Brands in India are also seen to be meeting consumers’ expectations more than in any other region.

75 percent of Indians believe brands should play a role in improving our quality of life and wellbeing; the Asia Pacific the average being 69 percent and the globally average 67 percent. More than half i.e. 67 percent of Indian’s feel that brands are working hard at improving our quality of life and wellbeing, very impressive, compared to an Asia Pacific average of 55 percent and Global average of 38 percent.

The top 10 Meaningful Brands in India are Amul, Cadbury, Google, Britannia, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), Microsoft, Intel, HP, Parle, and Samsung, as compared to the Global top 10 Meaning Brands that include Samsung, Google, Nestlé, Bimbo, Sony, Microsoft, Nivea, Visa, IKEA, Intel.

Havas Media Group India Managing Director Mohit Joshi summarised, “People in India are happy to have brands as partners and as enablers to help them improve their quality of life and wellbeing. While in the West there is a high commoditisation of brands, people in India, have ‘high expectations’ and ‘reward’ those brands that contribute to their wellbeing – this is the second time in a row that LIC has scored as the brand with the highest attachment. The study throws open exciting possibilities for marketers and brands to interact with their customers.”

Meaningful Brands is Havas’ metric of brand strength. It is a global study in its sixth year globally and in its third year in India, to show how our quality of life and wellbeing connects with brands at both a human and business level. On a global scale, the study covers 1,000 brands, 300,000 people, 34 countries across 12 industries. The research covers aspects of people’s lives that include the impact on their collective wellbeing, in personal wellbeing, and marketplace factors, which relate to product performance such as quality and price.

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Brands

Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

6 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

6 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

Brands

BCCL profit jumps 53 per cent in FY25 as tax bill shrinks

Revenue rises 4.3 per cent to Rs 10,209.33 crore while deferred tax gain lifts bottom line sharply

Published

6 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

NEW DELHI: Bennett, Coleman and Company (BCCL) has posted a sparkling set of financial results for the year ended 31 March 2025, proving that there is still plenty of ink and gold left in the ledger.

Revenue from operations climbed a steady 4.3 per cent, reaching Rs 10,209.33 crore compared to Rs 9,786.44 crore the previous year. When you sprinkle in other income, which rose 8.9 per cent to Rs 949.36 crore, the total income for the media behemoth hit a healthy Rs 11,158.69 crore.

While the income grew at a modest pace, the bottom line tells a far more dramatic story. The real headline is the 53 per cent surge in annual profit. How did they pull off such a feat? While Profit Before Tax (PBT) saw a gentle nudge upward of 2.7 per cent to Rs 1,610.00 crore, it was a vanishing act by the taxman that really did the trick.

Total tax expenses plummeted by 32.4 per cent, dropping from Rs 468.76 crore down to Rs 316.97 crore. This was largely thanks to a swing in deferred tax, moving from an expense of Rs 156.02 crore in FY24 to a benefit of Rs 39.44 crore this year.

Total income rose from Rs 10,658.55 crore in FY24 to Rs 11,158.69 crore in FY25, marking a 4.7 per cent increase. Total expenses grew at a slower pace, up 3.0 per cent from Rs 9,306.06 crore to Rs 9,581.45 crore. Profit before tax inched up 2.7 per cent, moving from Rs 1,567.02 crore to Rs 1,610.00 crore. However, the standout figure was net profit, which jumped sharply by 53.0 per cent, climbing from Rs 1,042.03 crore in FY24 to Rs 1,594.73 crore in FY25.

Despite the rising costs of doing business across the globe, BCCL kept a tight grip on the purse strings. Total expenses rose by just 3.0 per cent to Rs 9,581.45 crore. By keeping costs lower than the rate of income growth, the company ensured that the final figure, a net profit of Rs 1,594.73 crore, was nothing short of a front-page sensation.

In a world of shifting digital tides, it seems the BCCL ship is not just steady, but sailing into significantly wealthier waters.