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Tag: Amarjit Batra

  • GoaFest 2025: Brands swipe right on GenZ – Spotify, Nivea and Saregama decode the next big consumer wave

    GoaFest 2025: Brands swipe right on GenZ – Spotify, Nivea and Saregama decode the next big consumer wave

    MUMBAI: At Goafest 2025, the panel titled ‘Swipe Right for Relevance: Building Brands Gen Z Cares About’ brought together three brand leaders and one big question: How do brands win over a generation raised on infinite scrolls, sceptical of polished campaigns, and loyal only to authenticity?

    Moderated by journalist and producer Anuradha SenGupta, the panel featured Spotify India MD Amarjit Singh Batra, Nivea India MD Geetika Mehta, and Saregama India MD Vikram Mehra. Together, they delivered a candid crash course in decoding India’s most attention-deficit yet value-driven demographic.

    Batra opened by stating the obvious: Gen Z isn’t just part of Spotify’s strategy—they are the strategy. Over 50 per cent of Spotify’s listeners in India are under 25. “They’re not just listeners, they’re the creators, the curators, the interns, and our future employees,” he said. Spotify’s recent early career postings attracted 3,000 applicants in a few hours—a sign of cultural stickiness few brands can claim.

    Mehta called Gen Z “discerning, not distracted,” adding, “If you give them something of value, they’ll stay longer than six seconds. If you don’t, they’ll scroll faster than your media spend”. For Nivea, that has meant rethinking everything from product development to influencer selection. She admitted, “We never imagined handing the brand to 500 micro-influencers. It’s scary. But it works. We’ve learned to let go.”

    Mehra brought the data to the drama. “Eighty percent of Saregama’s digital engagement comes from Gen Z,” he revealed. But he didn’t stop there. At Saregama, anyone over 30 is officially banned from making music selection decisions. “Every song I pick flops,” he joked. “So we gave the reins to people who are the audience.”

    The panel underscored several hard truths: celebrities don’t sell to Gen Z anymore; authenticity beats aspiration; brand values must go beyond the packaging; and content must be real, not rehearsed. “We don’t just test ads,” said Mehta. “We test brand values—and Gen Z fact-checks.”

    Social listening emerged as a key tool. Batra said, “What Gen Z memes or shares tells us more than any focus group. But attention is expensive—you have to earn it.” Mehra warned against boardroom-led branding, urging top management to “let go” and hand creative control to younger teams.

    As the session closed, panellists shared their Gen Z frustrations. Mehra struggled with their work-life boundaries (“They don’t answer calls after 7 pm”). Mehra cited their need for constant senior engagement. Mehra found it tough to keep up with their multitasking and content standards. “You really have to wow them—just being good isn’t good enough.”

    Gen Z may be the toughest audience yet—but they’re also the most rewarding. And as Goafest day one showed, brands that don’t speak their language may soon be left un-sampled and unused.

    (Pictured above: From left to right – Amarjit Singh Batra, Anuradha SenGupta, Geetika Mehta & Vikram Mehra.)
     

  • Spotify unveils campaign for first Diwali in India

    Spotify unveils campaign for first Diwali in India

    MUMBAI: With Diwali just around the corner, Spotify has come up with a blast of creative, fun, and engaging initiatives, including some interesting TVCs featuring Anil Kapoor and Ishan Khattar, and using some of the favourite festive music tunes of its users.

    Spotify has launched 12 new playlists in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu, which has music suitable for parties and prayers, both. In addition, the fun banter from Spotify’s ‘Sunte Ja’ campaign continues with protagonists Anil Kapoor and Ishan Khattar joining the brand's Diwali celebration.

    Based on the insight of how music is deeply rooted in India’s social fabric is celebrating the fervour of seasonal festivities, the campaign this time brings to life the celebration of Diwali with music. The campaign features three films that will be aired on TV, along with amplification across priority digital platforms.

    "Diwali is all about chores, family time, get together with friends, and new beginnings. We wanted our playlists and campaign to be as fresh and fun as what this festive season brings. It's also a huge festival for our diaspora audiences and our playlists have been created keeping those users in mind as well. This is perhaps one of the most important cultural moments for our users and we want to ensure we are a part of all that they celebrate," said Spotify India managing director Amarjit Batra.

    Spotify has also designed a surprise in-app experience for users on the Diwali weekend.

  • Spotify announces its first national tv campaign in India

    Spotify announces its first national tv campaign in India

    MUMBAI: Following all the fun banter around its launch campaign, ‘There’s A Playlist For That’, Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, is now live with its first TV-led marketing campaign in the country. This campaign is the first TV, and first multilingual campaign for the brand in India, and targets users across the country. Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Ishaan Khattar have been roped in to feature as key protagonists in the ad films and stills; the campaign also includes the use of other channels, including digital and OOH.

    This campaign stems from the insight of how music has become a vital part of India’s daily social fabric, where users use music as a strong medium of emotional connect and resonance to navigate through their life. Right from coping with tough situations, and celebrating happy ones, to managing the common conflict between personal ambition and social norms, some kind of dichotomy fuels individual lives. Through it all, Spotify provides an uninterrupted experience, based on the vast music library and the option to play tracks anytime, anywhere.

    ‘‘Our insights highlight how music is an integral part of our users’ social and solitude experiences. Since our launch in India, we’ve engaged with our listeners based on how they experience music. The new campaign reinforces how seamlessly Spotify fits into their lives through availability of 50 million tracks, including the latest and most popular, access to 3 billion plus editorially, algorithmic and user-curated playlists, seamless integration across apps and hardware, and the ability to listen to music, regardless of what they’re doing – working out, cooking, or multi-tasking on their phone’’, said Amarjit Batra, Managing Director – India, Spotify.

    The campaign features four TVCs in Hindi, Telugu, and Marathi, and are being aired on popular GEC, movies and English cluster channels, in addition to a few regional channels. There are also creative activations across online and social media platforms, to amplify the digital conversations, including interactive digital engagements that feature Anil Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, and other artists and influencers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

    Rajdeepak Das, Managing Director India & Chief Creative Officer South Asia, Leo Burnett said, “The youth in India often deals with the pressures of judgement, individuality, social norms, and more; in this chaos, music acts as a companion. In this campaign, Anil Kapoor makes a cool dad, who even in his 60s, is as young and energetic as a 20 year old. Ishaan as the son, is India’s new generation – full of energy and optimism. We had a riot of fun creating this campaign with both the brand and creative teams and Shakun Batra, the director. You can see the energy, and feel the vibe in the ads. We are very proud of this campaign, and are sure it is going to do great for the brand”.

  • OLX and Flipkart ink unique marketing tie-up

    OLX and Flipkart ink unique marketing tie-up

    MUMBAI: With more and more people accessing the internet through smartphones and tablets, the internet user base has grown to be around 243 million.  

     

    This has led to an exciting and booming e-commerce sector in the country. Last week, Flipkart announced that it had raised fresh capital of $1 billion; soon afterwards Amazon too announced that it will invest another $2 billion in India.

     

    And keeping the momentum going, OLX.in and Flipkart have tied-up for a unique marketing campaign that will leverage each other’s strengths to offer combined benefits of their platforms to the fast growing internet user base.

     

    OLX is marketplace for used goods, and Flipkart is a destination for online shopping, making this alliance between the two online brands an unprecedented one. The joint initiative by the two e-commerce leaders has been launched to further increase the awareness levels and accelerate the adoption of their online platforms for buying and selling. The campaign will run for one month, and will include several verticals within the electronics categories.

     

    OLX CEO Amarjit Batra said, “The idea for this tie-up was conceived keeping in mind the strong and independent position of OLX and Flipkart in their respective space. The rationale for the number one online classifieds platform and the leading e-commerce platform coming together for a marketing campaign is a seamless one. This tie-up will enhance consumer experience on OLX and Flipkart by giving users a more holistic online shopping experience in which they can sell their used goods on OLX before buying new products on Flipkart.”

     

    Flipkart sr VP marketing Ravi Vora added, “At Flipkart, our constant endeavor has been to make online shopping convenient and attractive to the masses in the country. With this partnership with OLX, we will be able to provide an end-to-end solution to customers especially in the electronics categories where selling old products is an integral part of the buying process.”

  • SMG Convonix creates a digital campaign for OLX

    SMG Convonix creates a digital campaign for OLX

    MUMBAI: SMG Convonix, an integrated digital marketing solutions company and part of Starcom MediaVest Group, has come up with a unique integrated experiential digital media campaign for OLX “Phone ko banao SELLphone”.  OLX, in a marketing campaign across TV, radio, and outdoor, is promoting a new concept of ‘sell-phone,’ focusing on three core communication points click-upload-sell.

     

    The digital ad campaign by the digital agency trendily allows the users to sell off household things virtually by just experiencing this innovation on web though their mobile phones. This mobile sync web campaign goes live on Yahoo and MSN from 4 and 5 June, respectively.

     

    Women have always been an integral part of the brand communication at OLX. With ‘Phone ko banao Sell-Phone’ OLX celebrates the individuality and independence of the new-age Indian woman. The campaign displays OLX mobile App as a tool of empowerment for women, allowing them to earn money, and unclutter from the convenience of their homes.

     

    The technical capabilities of SMG Convonix and integrated digital marketing solutions drive synergies across various elements of the online ecosystem to architect solutions that sit right at the heart of their clients’ business imperatives.

     

    OLX India CEO Amarjit Batra said, “The current campaign “Phone ko banao SELLphone” stemmed from the insight that it is easier to use a classifieds platform from a mobile phone than a desktop PC. The campaign tries to highlight that online selling is fun and convenient”.

     

     “This innovation is an attempt to deliver the joy of selling through mobile, and displays the ease of the OLX mobile App. With this campaign we intend to give our users the best possible user experience,” he added.

     

    SMG Convonix CEO Vishal Sampat said, “With this mobile and web sync innovation we have tried to break the clutter in the digital ad space and bring out the realistic experience of making your phone a “SELLphone.  We wanted to take this several notches higher by creating a truly unparalleled interactive digital campaign by gamifying the website.”

     

     He added, “There is a lot of information this communication had to convey. It had to explain what digital ad campaign is, how it benefits consumers and how to access your phone to sell. We hope that this innovation will not just create awareness about the brand but also give an opportunity to experience the ease of use for the OLX mobile App.”

     

  • OLX.in says ‘Every Mother Counts’ to mark Mothers’ Day

    OLX.in says ‘Every Mother Counts’ to mark Mothers’ Day

    NEW DELHI: As Mothers‘ Day approaches, online trading site OLX.in has initiated a social campaign called “Every Mother Counts” across the key markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

    Designed by Value 360 Communications the campaign aims to bring smiles on the faces of thousands of impoverished mothers in India.

    In a bid to be seen as a socially responsible business outfit, OLX.in wants to encourage its users to donate goods enabling underprivileged kids of India to celebrate Mother‘s Day with their mothers.

    The campaign has been integrated using marketing communication tools like radio, live media, print, social media and public relations to create awareness on the inception of the social campaign. OLX.in has also partnered with coffee shop chain Cafe Coffee Day and Future Group‘s retail chain Big Bazaar to set in motion the gift collection process.

    A separate URL called “Every Mother Counts” has been created to activate the campaign online. People can either register themselves on the page to donate products or express interest to donate by sending a simple text on the number which is specific for the city.

    Apart from this, people can insert donation leaflets in drop boxes which are placed across CCD and Big Bazaar outlets in the four cities. OLX representatives would be collecting these gifts from the patrons preferred location/ home in order to make this process more simple for the people. Once the gifts are collected, the final culmination of the activity i.e. the distribution of the gifts to the mothers will be conducted from 6 May to 12 May.

    OLX CEO Amarjit Batra said, “Being a leader in the online classifieds space, OLX.in acts as an influencer and provokes every individual to share a human aspect. We want every kid to believe that his / her mom is a ‘super mom‘ and let mothers experience the joy of being a mom by gifting them products which they would cherish forever. We further plan to come up with some more unique initiatives to strengthen the mother – kid relation in the lower strata of society.”

  • OLX.in launches a new campaign to strengthen its ‘Bech De’ proposition

    NEW DELHI: OLX.in has launched a new TV campaign aimed at building and strengthening its ‘Bech De‘ proposition.

    OLX‘s new campaign communicates the core OLX message of ‘Bech De‘ in interesting ways using the previous campaign ‘Badi Badi Baatein‘s‘ married couple‘s playful teasing route.

    Conceptualised by creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, the ad is an extension of the underlying value propositions of the brand – ‘Sab Kuch Bikta Hai‘ and ‘Badi Badi Baatein‘.

    OLX.in CEO Amarjit Batra said, “Our new ads are a reflection of inputs and insights gained from listening to our users and Indian consumers and derived from real life situations among couples and the typical Indian household. These new ads convey a simple message through a humorous storyline. Whatever be your reasons to sell your pre loved or pre owned goods – whether you have liked something new or are hardly using it, the solution is to just ‘Sell it on OLX‘ (OLX PeBech De).”

    The product highlighted in this ad is an expensive cruiser bike that is no longer being used in a manner promised by a husband to his wife while purchasing it. The beauty of story unfolds with the wife exaggerating the promises made and thus making the husband realise his folly.

    A wife is shown serving morning tea to her husband who is dressed up in casual summer attire. She starts teasing her husband and pretends to shiver while saying, “Is saal Shimla mein kitni thand hai…nahin??” The husband is taken aback and tries to ensure if his wife is in good health. He reverts back, “Babush tum theek to hona? Hum Delhi mein hai, apne ghar.” The wife retorts and says, “Tum bhulgaye hum aaj hi to aaye hai Shimla” and clarifies by mentioning that they arrived on his Bike “Jo tumne do saal pehle kharidi thi, long rides jayenge etc etc.” The husband is annoyed and says, “To kya karun iss bike ko phenkdun?” The answer that follows from the wife is simple, “OLX pe bech de.” Instead of just talking, the protagonist is shown as acting upon the selling decision and transacting with an interested buyer by selling the bike in lieu of cash. This leaves the couple satisfied and ends the pitter-patter of words between them for good.

    While the entire world progresses, so do you. This is a simple insight that is the crux of the second TVC. What is a loved and treasured material possession today might lose its charm tomorrow due to the availability of a better substitute. Simmering tension between a couple unfolds into a situation that was nothing more than playful bickering over a TV that needed to be upgraded.

    The TVC opens to a cricket-loving husband watching the match on a LCD TV, comfortably seated on a couch in his living room. His wife Sweety returns home hands full of grocery and gives a disappointed look to her husband. She says “Kabeer, hume ab baat karni chahiye”; obviously not very happy to see the husband relaxing while she is doing the household chores. Kabeer, deeply engrossed in the match, reverts “Haan karte haina.” A serious discussion follows and the wife opens her heart out, “Mujhse aur bardaasht naheen hota.” Kabeer cajoles her,”Par Sweety tumne promise kiya tha ke tum ek bar toh koshish karogi.” Sweety confesses her new love and reveals, “Mera dil kisi aur pe aagaya hai.” Kabeer concludes, “Koi baat nahi Sweety, TV ko OLX pe bech de.” Even in this TVC the entire transaction is highlighted and the TV is sold to a person who collects it from their home and pays the couple cash for it.

    Batra added, “India is a one of the key markets for OLX and we are investing in growing this market. We strive towards delivering high quality marketing communications that builds an emotional connect with our users and positions us a thought leader in this space.”

    The TVC is integrated with Radio, OOH and social media to make it more substantial.

  • OLX.in unveils new campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi

    MUMBAI: Online classifieds site Olx.in has rolled out a new television campaign with a focus on its Real Estate vertical.

    Conceptualised by Saatchi & Saatchi, this creative lays emphasis on the significant usage of the Real Estate category on OLX.in for getting a house or rented apartment.

    It showcases the underlying value proposition – “A perfect match is available on OLX, be it a buyer looking for a dream home or a seller wanting maximum return and response from a particular type of buyer only”. It is implied through the tagline “Wahi Milega Jo Mann Mein Hai, Sirf OLX.in Pe”.

    Saatchi & Saatchi CCO Ramanuj Shastry said, “I love the insight that “You’ll find the perfect match on OLX” In today‘s world, sales promises are looked at with skepticism. What you see is what you don‘t get. Real estate is probably the most glaring example of that. And it‘s quite a delight to find exactly what you‘ve been promised. The ad dramatises this singular advantage of OLX in a humorous and entertaining manner”

    OLX India CEO AmarjitBatra stated, “Individuals are now using the internet to rent, sell or purchase property directly without involving middlemen. Taking this insight, we aim at creating awareness for OLX.in as the most significant marketplace for Real Estate oriented transactions. This ad convincingly urges users to try out Real Estate category on OLX.in to which ensures the most desired requirements of Real Estate dealings be it finding a dream home, a desired lodger or a perfect landlord.”

    Taking cue from this insight, the ad features a couple that enters a house with their kid. The man opens the gate and exclaims “Wahi Gate!” After taking a few steps within the house, the boy notices a swing in the garden area and utters “Wahi Jhoola!” This is followed by the appearance of an old Bengali couple standing at the railing of the balcony. Seeing the younger couple with their kid entering their home, they are ecstatic, “Wahi ek bachhe wala couple”. The younger couple thereafter notice striking similarities to what they have always desired in their home and what they see in this house. Upon introducing himself to the old couple by mentioning “Myself Arindam Chatterjee”, the old man seems delighted and expresses pleasure to his wife on getting a “Bengali” couple they were seeking as tenants. However, the man is still apprehensive and he asks the old man “Magar Kiraya?”, and the old man happily reverts, “Wahi Pachhis Hazaar” which is mutually agreeable to both the families. The ad concludes with a male voiceover saying “Wahi milega jo mann mein hai sirf OLX.in par”.

  • OLX releases its new TVC ‘Badi Badi Baatein’

    NEW DELHI: Riding on the success of the ‘Bech De’ proposition, OLX.in has released a new TV commercial with a blend of humour and ever green pati- patni nokjhonk.

    Revolving around the theme of ‘badi badi baatein’, this concept is based on the insight that mid-life crisis makes most men buy expensive toys like SLRs, guitars and super bikes to boost their faltering self-image. The wives are always conscious of this transition. They are tolerant yet aware of the waste of money as stuff is bought with much interest but never used. The underlying message that comes out through this communications is to show the similarity between OLX.in and this kind of big talk- they both come free of cost.

    The ad has been conceptualized by the well renowned creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

    The campaign has also been extended on radio with the same theme of ‘badi badi baatein’ being utilized to inform listeners to let go of the products after they have served their time on the shelf as adornments. The witty creatives on radio are very interesting interactions between various people and would be easily related to by most people.

    The new TV commercial is set among multiple married middle aged couples of India where a wife is taunting her husband for not living up to his tall claims of learning to play the guitar, lose weight, or use his expensive digital SLR camera. Not ready to accept defeat, the husband plays along by promising to keep his word.

    The intrinsic good humour that is typical of OLX ads continues through this ad as well. OLX‘s last two campaigns have received a phenomenal response in establishing the site’s identity and making it popular across India. The new creative is a step further to cement the idea of making every person use OLX.in as for selling their personal products which have been bought but not used much.

    OLX India country head Amarjit Batra explains the need to veer to a new idea with this commercial. He says, “We have retained the core value proposition of highlighting those personal goods that we have a tendency to hoard at home in spite of them not being used. The new communication subtly encourages the viewers to sell their products through our site while stressing on the no cost factor common to your ‘badi badi baatein’ and putting an ad on OLX.in.” He further adds, “I’m really excited with the jingle used in the creative. The O P Nayyar-esque sound of it will definitely get women humming it to their husbands.”

    Tapping on the Indian family backdrop with this ad again, Saatchi & Saatchi NCD Ramanuj Shastry said, “We deliberately wanted to continue with the typical Indian household setting this time by showing a wife bickering with her husband. We have found that such grounded characters are easily relatable and hence there was no need to get out of the domestic scenario. It is common to find couples engage in playful banter of this nature each trying to gain the upper hand. The idea is to in a subtle manner make OLX.in the first name that comes to your mind when you wish to sell something you do not need lying around the house.”