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Tag: Amazon India

  • Vineet Nair rejoins Amazon India as head of media

    Vineet Nair rejoins Amazon India as head of media

    Mumbai: Amazon on Monday announced the appointment of Vineet Nair as head of media. Prior to this, he was associated with The Purple Family at Mindshare GroupM for nearly two years. He brings with him an experience of 15 years in handling traditional and digital media, brand development, media planning, buying, and strategy.

    This is Nair’s second stint at Amazon. He was a senior media manager at Amazon India for nearly two years before joining Mindshare.

    Nair shared this latest career update via a LinkedIn post. He wrote: “Excited to share that I have joined Amazon India as Media Head. It’s been a week now and everyone has been so welcoming. As I return to this organization, I am looking forward to continue working with an amazing set of people and #workhardhavefunmakehistory again!

    This news is also bittersweet as it meant leaving the Purple Family at Mindshare GroupM . Of my 15 years of experience, the majority of them have been spent at Mindshare where I have learnt and grown as a professional every single day with new challenges. Expressing his thanks to his ex co-workers, he added, “It’s what has led me to this point in my career, I am thankful for this organization and its people. Thank you Amin Lakhani, Harsh Deep Chhabra, for guiding and entrusting me with roles that challenged me and made me the leader that I am today. I am also grateful to all my team members who did outstanding work and had fun while doing it. I wish everyone the best, always!”

    Embed Link: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vineetnair30_workhardhavefunmakehistory-amazon-mindshare-activity-6961949491025387520-0aFr?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

    He is an accomplished integrated media executive with over fifteen years of experience in the FMCG and e-commerce industries. He boasts a commendable track record as a thought leader, driving scalable growth for businesses through metrics-driven solutions, strong business acumen, adaptive strategic thinking, and deep market understanding.

  • Amazon partners with Blink Digital for India’s first immersive game

    Amazon partners with Blink Digital for India’s first immersive game

    Mumbai: Blink Digital on Saturday has collaborated with Amazon India for Prime Day to launch its one-of-a-kind interactive game within a pre-roll drive for its audience. The campaign will roll out on YouTube, which aims to allow users to hover within a 360-degree-video during the ad with the theme “Smartphone Hunt.”

    Blink Digital conceptualised the pre-roll advertising campaign for Amazon’s Safari-themed Prime day this season.

    The brand wanted to engage with its audience to evoke them to spot Amazon specials smartphones and share them on Twitter using #AmazonSpecialsonPrimeDay, which will encourage users to engage on the brand’s Twitter handle.  Additionally, this preroll will help the brand increase its engagement on ads as the interactive game will encourage the audience to watch the complete video and interact with the brand on social media to stand a chance to win Amazon Vouchers.

    This campaign is seamlessly going to bridge the gap between paid and organic media on social media platforms to raise awareness of Amazon Prime Day smartphone offers. The pre-roll is live and will be played till the 24th of July. 

    Talking about the collaboration Blink Digital co-founder and COO Rikki Agarwal said, “To candidly capture the user’s attention and create top-of-the-mind brand awareness, it was crucial for the creative team to help amazon engage with their audience with a campaign that encourages them to participate in their contest, in a meaningful way. This campaign format will put an interesting spin, which will engage more audiences and help us deliver our clients’ business goals with dissimilar experiences.”

  • Manish Menghani elevated as director of content licensing at Prime Video & Amazon Studios

    Manish Menghani elevated as director of content licensing at Prime Video & Amazon Studios

    Mumbai: Amazon India has elevated Manish Menghani as director of content licensing for Prime Video and Amazon Studios. 

    Menghani has been associated with the e-commerce giant since it launched Prime Video in India.  

    He previously held the position of head of acquisition – India content at the company.

    Prior to Amazon, Menghani has worked with media organisations such as Reliance Broadcast Network as head of programming and Hungama as AVP and head of content. 

  • Amazon appoints Vivek Srivastava as head of partnerships Prime Video Channels, India

    Amazon appoints Vivek Srivastava as head of partnerships Prime Video Channels, India

    Mumbai: Amazon has appointed Vivek Srivastava as head of partnerships for Prime Video Channels, India. Amazon had launched Prime Video Channels in India in September 2021.

    In his previous role, Srivastava was with Times Network as president strategy and operations, digital and broadcast.

    He has two decades of experience with most of it in the broadcast sector across business planning, programming strategy, content acquisition and syndication, distribution strategy and planning, international business, audience behaviour and research, digital marketing and integrated communication.

    Srivastava was previously associated with Viacom18 as head of digital and commercial for their flagship GEC Colors. He has also had a stint with TAM Media Research.

  • Amazon miniTV announces content partnership with Pocket Aces

    Amazon miniTV announces content partnership with Pocket Aces

    Mumbai: Amazon’s free video entertainment service miniTV has announced a partnership with digital entertainment company Pocket Aces. As part of this partnership, Pocket Aces will bring its repertoire of web series to miniTV starting with “Adulting” season three that will premiere exclusively on the platform on 12 November.

    Starring Aisha Ahmed and Yashaswini Dayama, “Adulting” is a coming-of-age story about two young women trying to handle the responsibilities of being independent adults in the past paced, urban bustle of Mumbai.

    Some of the other shows that will exclusively release on miniTV as part of this collaboration over the coming months are “Please Find Attached” – season three (starring Barkha Singh and Ayush Mehra) and ‘Crushed” – season one (starring “Noor” fame Rudraksh Jaiswal and Aadhya Anand who debuted in the film “A Yellow Bird”). 

    “We are proud to partner with Pocket Aces to bring quality entertainment to our hundreds and millions of customers in India for free!” said the head of Amazon Advertising Harsh Goyal. “Starting with the third season of the popular show ‘Adulting’, this is an alliance that will play an instrumental role in further bolstering our exclusive content offering.”

    “Pocket Aces’ mission is to entertain audiences wherever they are spending time, and hence the association with Amazon miniTV as one of the launch partners really resonates with us,” said Pocket Aces co-founder and chief executive officer Aditi Shrivastava. “In a country such as India, being able to offer high-quality content for free to audiences ensures huge reach and accessibility. We’re very excited about our slate starting with proven IPs such as ‘Adulting’ and ‘Please Find Attached’, and then building brand news properties such as ‘Crushed’ and others. With the way it is shaping up, we are sure that miniTV can become one of the most loved content apps in India, and we’re excited to be a part of that growth.”

  • Amazon India expands language support ahead of festive season

    Amazon India expands language support ahead of festive season

    Mumbai: Ahead of the festive season, Amazon India on Monday announced that customers can now access the shopping portal in Marathi and Bengali in addition to the six previously available languages – Hindi, English, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.

    In the coming weeks, Amazon will expand its regional language offering further with the launch of the voice shopping experience in Hindi. These launches break the language barrier and make e-commerce more accessible and convenient for millions of customers across India, said the brand in a statement.

    In 2021, more than five million customers shopped on Amazon in the Indian language and customers using voice shopping in English grew two times YoY, it added.

    Amazon customers can select their preferred language across Android and iOS apps, mobile and desktop sites.  Once selected, the language preference will be recorded and remembered for future visits.

    The upcoming launch of the voice shopping experience in Hindi follows the launch of voice shopping in English in 2020. With this customers will be able to use their voice in Hindi to search for products or check their order status after updating their Amazon app. The voice offering will be available only for Android devices, said the statement.

    “Every month, tens of millions of customers visit Amazon India in regional languages and 90 per cent of the customers are from tier-2 and below cities. Our aim with regional language shopping experience is to make e-commerce accessible, relevant, and convenient for customers,” said Amazon India director of customer experience and marketing Kishore Thota.

  • Amazon to hire 8,000 direct workforce in India this year

    Amazon to hire 8,000 direct workforce in India this year

    Mumbai: Amazon has announced its plans to hire more than 8,000 direct workforce across 35 cities in India this year, across corporate, technology, customer service and operations roles. 

    The global e-commerce giant has embarked on a hiring spree recently and this latest announcement comes on the back of its plans to hire 55,000 people worldwide, announced earlier.

    “We have more than 8,000 direct job openings across 35 cities in the country, including cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Pune, Surat. These job opportunities are spread across corporate, technology, customer service, and operations roles,” Amazon HR leader – corporate, APAC, and MENA Deepti Varma told PTI.

    Varma added that the company is also hiring for machine learning applied sciences and roles in support functions like HR, finance, legal, among others.

    She said the e-tailer aims for 20 lakh job openings, both direct and indirect, by 2025, and has already created 10 lakh direct and indirect jobs in India. “Even during the pandemic, Amazon gave jobs to three lakh people, both direct and indirect, and made the entire hiring process virtual,” she stated.

    Meanwhile, as Amazon is growing in India and has plans to hire in big numbers, the company plans to showcase itself as an exciting place to work through its first-ever Career Day in India on 16 September.

    This virtual and interactive event will bring together Amazon leadership and employees to share what makes the company an exciting workplace, what it is like to work here and how the company is steadfast in its commitment to help India unleash its true potential in the 21st century, Varma said.

    Besides, she said, the multiple global and India-focused sessions in the event, 140 Amazon recruiters will conduct 2,000 free, one-on-one career coaching sessions with job seekers across the country.

    The recruiters will offer advice on how to approach the job search process effectively, resume-building skills, and interview tips that will help candidates in their search for the right jobs, she said.

    Currently, Amazon employs over one lakh professionals across diverse areas like engineering, applied sciences, business management, supply chain, operations, finance, HR to analytics, content creation and acquisition, marketing, real estate, corporate security, video, music and many more, Varma said.

    India is the second-largest technology hub for Amazon with Indian talent innovating for not just India, but also globally, noted Varma, while adding, “We are just getting started, and we are seeking passionate builders out there to join us in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to digitally transform India.

    “This Career Day, we look forward to sharing our long-term commitment to tapping into India’s potential in the 21st century, and career opportunities to empower and enable this legacy,” said Amazon India, global senior vice president and country head, Amit Agarwal in a statement.  

  • Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    KOLKATA: The announcement had been made in February this year: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would vacate his post, handing over the reins to the company’s top cloud executive Andy Jassy. Bezos would transition to chairman of Amazon’s executive board. No date was revealed at that time. Now we know when he will follow through on that announcement. Speaking at the company shareholders’ annual general  meeting (AGM),  Bezos revealed that 5 July will be his last official working day as CEO, and Bassy’s first day as head honcho of Amazon.  

    Under Bezos leadership has transformed from being a bookseller to ecommerce pioneer to cloud computing pioneer to entertainment trail blazer.

    “I’m very excited to move into the [executive] chair role, where I’ll focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives,” Bezos stated at the AGM. “We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” he added further.

    Jassy is currently heading Amazon Web Services, who will be replaced by Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky after he takes over his new position. Considerably, the cloud segment is now the company’s most profitable segment.

    Bezos shared his confidence in Jassy saying: “He has the highest of high standards and I guarantee that Andy will never let the universe make us typical. He has the energy needed to keep alive in us what has made us special.”

    While Bezos will still be involved in major corporate decisions, he will focus more on other ventures like Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin and The Washington Post.

  • Amazon India launches free video streaming service – miniTV

    Amazon India launches free video streaming service – miniTV

    New Delhi: In a global first for Amazon, one of the country’s largest online store, Amazon.in on Saturday announced the launch of a free, ad-supported video streaming service, miniTV which is available within the Amazon shopping app.

    miniTV has professionally created and curated content across web series, comedy shows, tech news, food, beauty, fashion, and more, the company announced on its blog on Saturday.

    The list includes leading studios such as – TVF, Pocket Aces, and leading comedians – Ashish Chanchlani, Amit Bhadana, Round2Hell, Harsh Beniwal, Shruti Arjun Anand, Elvish Yadav, Prajakta Koli, Swagger Sharma, Aakash Gupta, and Nishant Tanwar. Viewers will be informed on the latest products and trends by tech expert Trakin Tech, fashion and beauty experts such as Sejal Kumar, Malvika Sitlani, Jovita George, Prerna Chhabra and ShivShakti. Food lovers can enjoy content from Kabita’s Kitchen, Cook with Nisha, and Gobble. In the coming months, miniTV plans to add many newer and exclusive videos.

    With this launch, Amazon has two video entertainment offerings – miniTV and Prime Video. miniTV is completely free and does not require a separate app. Prime Video requires a Prime subscription and offers a collection of award-winning Amazon Originals, latest movies, and TV shows, in English and 9 Indian languages. Viewers can access Prime Video on the app or stream it on their smart TVs.

    With the launch of miniTV, Amazon.in has stepped up its reach as a shopping app that offers customers a one-stop center to shop from millions of products, make payments and watch free entertainment videos.

    miniTV is available on Amazon’s shopping app for Android phones. It will also be extended to iOS app and mobile web over the coming months.

  • Big Bazaar’s ‘Asli Dukaan’ locks horns with Amazon’s ‘Apni Dukaan’

    Big Bazaar’s ‘Asli Dukaan’ locks horns with Amazon’s ‘Apni Dukaan’

    MUMBAI: Big Bazaar has crossed swords with Amazon India by taking a dig at the e-commerce giant’s flagship campaign India ki Apni Dukaan (India’s own shop). The Future Group-owned chain of hypermarkets on Thursday released full front page ads in major newspapers across cities calling itself India’s Asli Dukaan (real/ original store). The ad promises to make deliveries of grocery to customers’ doorsteps in under two hours.

    Apart from the Asli Dukaan moniker, it has played on the word ‘Amazing’ by using terms such as “amazing” service, deals, and products at “amazing” prices. The harping on the word “amazing” is hard to miss! The south India editions of leading print publications had a largely English tagline with only Asli in Hindi, and dukaan changed to ‘store’.

    Amazon has been running an advertising campaign since 2016 with the tagline ‘India ki Apni Dukaan’(India’s own shop), and it is no coincidence that the superstore chain led by Kishore Biyani is now marketing itself as ‘India ki Asli Dukaan’.

    The brick-and-mortar superstore chain Big Bazaar has been entangled in a fierce legal battle with Jeff Bezos’ Amazon for its deal with Reliance Retail. RIL had announced in August last year that it was buying out the retail and wholesale business of Future Group, but Amazon — with a minority stake in an unlisted Future Group company — subsequently dragged the Mumbai-headquartered retailer to court, alleging that the proposed deal violated contractual agreements. The case is currently sub-judice.

    Meanwhile, the debt-laden Future Group is looking at ways to put its assets to better use. Big Bazaar has launched a marketing blitzkrieg taking a dig at the US e-tailer and is ramping up its two-hour home delivery across India to get more customer orders amid the pandemic that has largely confined people to their homes restricting outdoor movement. The company has tied up with hyperlocal delivery companies with employees at their stores doubling up as delivery executives, to drive its Store2Door program and double its online business in the span of a month.