MAM

How Too Yumm hit a six with the IPL

Published

6 years ago

January 29, 2020

MUMBAI: Bang for the buck. That’s what brand and marketing managers look for whenever they put their money behind an event. And one such property that has been gaining marketers’ interest over the years is the Indian Premier League (IPL).

One of the largest marketing platforms in the country, the league has witnessed some stellar cricket and legends make their mark in the game. While this happened on the field, players also made a mark off the field. No. Not the cricketers, we’re talking about brands. With creativity and innovation, brands have made a mark and left a legacy year on year with some outstanding advertising. But there exists a myth. The general perception is that while the IPL is a great marketing platform, only brands with deep pockets can partner or associate with it. But we have seen brands like Byju's, PayTM, Vivo, Asian Paints, Dream 11 take pole advertising and sponsorship positions over the past few years both on-ground and broadcast. We also came across a few brands that have found creative ways to bring alive their brand’s proposition and partner with the IPL. One such brand is Too Yumm and its association with the IPL as the ‘Fall of Wickets’ partner on broadcast.

Too Yumm – an FMCG brand from the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group stable – came on board as a Features Partner ‘Fall of Wickets Partner’ on live television.

It was launched three years ago as a low-calorie option under group company GuiltFree Industries for those who love snacking but abstain from doing so for health reasons. Chairman Sanjiv Goenka at that time had said the group would be investing around Rs 10,000 crore over the next five-six years to get the brand to a Rs 6,500 crore turnover.

It made its debut in the highly competitive Rs 28,000 crore plus national snacking market where heavyweights such as Pepsico’s Lay’s and Kurkure, DFM Foods, Bikanervala, ITC’s Bingo, Pratap Snacks’ Yellow Diamond, Parle, Haldirams, and Balaji dominate. Adding to that is the plethora of small-scale branded and unbranded unorganised regional and local players that also find custom.

Too Yumm’s differentiated brand promise was – and is – that its snacks are baked and not fried and have 40 per cent less fat than the existing fried snacks brands.

For year one, GuiltFree spent on traditional media apart from expanding its distribution. But in year two it decided to diversify its budget and put some of it on IPL and its feature.

Too Yumm creatively married its brand proposition of ‘Fried Snacks Out, Too Yumm In’ in moments where there was a fall of a wicket in the match. The branding came alive during these moments on TV and was visually appealing as well. Every time a player got out, his lonely trudge back to the pavilion would be boxed in the horizontal and vertical L and Aston bands with Too Yumm branding and taglines “Fried snacks out, Too Yumm in” and “Fried Snacks Ko Karo Life se Out”. The brand also used innovative hashtags to capture these moments on social media. The more the wickets that fell, the greater the exposure the brand got. Additionally, Too Yumm also resorted to spot buys during the IPL to the extent its budget allowed.

“Too Yumm being a guilt-free snacking brand, it can be munched on while being engrossed in a nail-biting match and the fall of wicket feature, which is sticky, helped us to give a strong reminder about the brand to the viewers,” says Too Yumm chief marketing officer Anupam Bokey. “With the campaign #OneGoneNextOn, we wanted to create a brand proposition that snacking with Too Yumm is good. Generally, any match would give us an opportunity of at least 10-12 wickets falling and during which we tried to do moment marketing.”

The group had also signed on Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador. Kohli – a fitness fanatic – had discontinued his association with PepsiCo – a year before signing up with Too Yumm – as he did not want to promote colas anymore.

“The Indian captain is somebody who walks the talk. So there’s a lot of credibility when he says something and consumers and fans are more likely to accept it,” says Bokey.

He adds, “The combination of celebrity sportsman as an endorser and association with the IPL uplifted the brand to get recognition. The objective of being associated with the IPL in the first year was to create brand awareness along with the launch of a new product Multigrain Chips. In the following edition, we supported the campaign #SayNoToFriedSnacks that was launched at Kumbh Mela a month earlier, where Too Yumm became the very first brand to get a Guinness Book of World Record at Kumbh.”

The launch of Multigrain Chips was done through a one-minute ad spot during the strategic time out in the match between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab on 20 May 2018. It showed Kohli doing the unthinkable – munching on chips – but it was revealed that he was actually munching the healthy ‘Multigrain Chips’ of Too Yumm.

Bokey points out that the IPL generated very high engagement and active viewership in a very short period of time, as there were matches every day during the tournament between April and May. According to him, Too Yumm’s metro awareness has been growing – from 13 per cent pre-IPL 2018 to over 70 per cent with 2019 IPL.

The IPL association makes eminent sense for other reasons too: the brand fit.

The IPL is about super-fit cricketers and their teams battling it out on the green to gain supremacy in arguably the world’s most exciting sporting league. And Too Yumm is all about healthy safe snacks for all those who are fitness-minded and yet want to munch some baked items during the day. Since launch, its product range has expanded to cover quinoa puffs, veggie stix, foxnuts, multigrain chips, and Karare.

Bokey believes that no other platform gives as much reach as the IPL. “It gives a lot of leverage, especially with viewership numbers, generating a combined reach of over 800 million that includes Hotstar and other vernacular commentary channels,” he says.

He swears by the association, despite the fact that it comes at a stiff price tag. “Unlike other media, IPL is a very well measured and researched event, which gives the brand great confidence to invest in it,” he reveals. “The league helps the brand to get an accurate ROI, as well as higher recall compared to other genres.”

Of course the brand proposition, quality of idea and integration and the creative executions need to be exceptional to leverage the platform well.

He cites Hansa Research data, which shows that Too Yumm had the second-best ‘Recall Return on Investment (r-ROI) in the 2019 IPL.

No wonder the company parks around 15-20 per cent of its ad spend on sports, including the IPL. “Cricket – being a religion in India – creates appropriate traction for brands and we, being a smaller enterprise, have used it for the past two years and have been delighted with the relationship,” ends Bokey.

Related Topics:Asian Paints byju’s Dream 11 IPL Paytm Too Yumm!Vivo

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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

13 hours 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

13 hours 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.

MAM

Washington Post CEO exits abruptly after newsroom cuts spark backlash

Leadership change follows layoffs, protests and a bruising battle over trust.

Published

13 hours ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When the presses are rolling but patience runs out, even the editor’s chair isn’t safe. The Washington Post announced on Saturday that its chief executive and publisher Will Lewis is stepping down with immediate effect, bringing a sudden end to a turbulent two-year tenure marked by financial strain, newsroom unrest and public backlash.

Lewis’s exit comes just days after the Bezos-owned newspaper announced sweeping job cuts that triggered protests outside its Washington headquarters and a wave of anger from readers and staff. While newspapers across the US are grappling with shrinking revenues and digital disruption, Lewis’s leadership had increasingly come under fire for how those pressures were handled.

The Post confirmed that Jeff D’Onofrio, a former Tumblr CEO who joined the organisation last year as chief financial officer, has taken over as CEO and publisher, effective immediately. In an email to staff, later shared by reporters on social media, Lewis said it was “the right time for me to step aside.”

The leadership change follows the announcement of large-scale redundancies earlier this week. While the Post did not officially confirm numbers, The New York Times reported that around 300 of the paper’s roughly 800 journalists were laid off. Entire teams were dismantled, including the Post’s Middle East bureau and its Kyiv-based correspondent covering the war in Ukraine.

Sports, graphics and local reporting were sharply reduced, and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended. On Thursday, hundreds of journalists and supporters gathered outside the Post’s downtown office in protest, calling the cuts a blow to public-interest journalism.

Former executive editor Marty Baron described the moment as “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations.”

Lewis defended his record in his farewell note, saying “difficult decisions” were taken to secure the paper’s long-term future and protect its ability to publish “high-quality nonpartisan news”. But his tenure coincided with growing scrutiny of editorial independence at the Post.

Owner Jeff Bezos faced criticism for reining in the paper’s traditionally liberal editorial page and blocking an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 US election. The move was widely seen as breaking the long-standing firewall between ownership and editorial decision-making.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, around 250,000 digital subscribers cancelled their subscriptions after the paper declined to endorse Harris. The Post reportedly lost about $100 million in 2024 as advertising and subscription revenues slid.

While the wider newspaper industry continues to battle declining print advertising and the pull of social media, some national titles have stabilised. Rivals such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have managed to build sustainable digital businesses, a turnaround that has so far eluded the Post despite its billionaire backing.

As Jeff D’Onofrio steps into the role, the challenge is stark, restore confidence inside the newsroom, win back readers who walked away, and prove that one of America’s most storied newspapers can still find its footing in a brutally competitive media landscape.