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Tag: Anuradha Aggarwal

  • Anuradha Aggarwal joins Amazon as CMO and director of user growth

    Anuradha Aggarwal joins Amazon as CMO and director of user growth

    Mumbai: Anuradha Agarwal has joined Amazon as CMO and director of user growth, according to her LinkedIn profile update. She was previously associated with Disney Star India as cluster head of kids, infotainment and English channels.

    In a career spanning almost two decades, Aggarwal has experience across FMCG, telecom and broadcast sectors in India and South Asia. Prior to joining Star TV Network, she was associated with Marico as chief marketing officer. She has also had stints at Mondelez International, Vodafone India (Vodafone Idea), and Unilever.

    She is an alumnus of Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and PGDBM in marketing management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

  • Disney Channel’s ‘Imagine That’ opens to a successful launch week

    Disney Channel’s ‘Imagine That’ opens to a successful launch week

    MUMBAI: Imagine That, the brand new property of Disney Channel, launched on 6 September at 9.30 am. The show focuses on tapping into the kid’s natural desire to explore and create through DIY. Centered around the theme of upcycling, host  and kids’ favourite Rob encourage them to express themselves and repurpose the simplest things into extraordinary art. The show performed exceedingly well in its launch week. It was the #2 highest series launch since 2018 in the category with a viewership of 592 TVTs in its launch episode. Source: BMW Software, Market- India Urban, TG- 2-14 ABC, All Day, 0700-2300, Wk 33-36’ 20.

    Imagine That has Cello Colour Up as the presenter for its upcoming show Imagine That which will be powered by Byju’s The Learning App. There was an extensive digital campaign that was undertaken by the channel; which focused on building awareness for the show in the month leading up to the launch. Post launch the focus shifted to engaging people contextually within the DIY category. All initiatives across platforms were a roaring success. The overall impressions are currently at 95 million+ and the total views have crossed the 30 million mark.   Social media influencers were activated – bringing in mommy blogger communities; kid influencers, the Art Community and their followers in addition to popular influencers. A social media challenge called Imagine That Challenge is performing phenomenally well and engaging fans across. And all these initiatives were supported by ancillary Content support that make the interactions and conversations across the social handles.

    Star and Disney India  Infotainment and Kids head Anuradha Aggarwal said, “With Imagine That, we wanted to create a platform where kids could express themselves and push the boundaries of their imagination through the ever popular DIY format.  The message of upcycling brought alive through a fun and innovative approach, struck a chord with kids and parents. We are excited that kids and art lovers across the country are engaging with the show on our channel and digital platforms. ”

  • Can you Imagine That on Disney Channel India?

    Can you Imagine That on Disney Channel India?

    KOLKATA: Kids in India have been cooped in their homes all day due to the restrictions put in place on account of the pandemic. As per BARC data, they have been watching a lot of Disney Channel India as it has seen a viewership surge of 40 per cent. In a bid to give the kids something new to nibble on, it is all set to launch its most anticipated property Imagine That on 6 September.

    “We want Imagine That to inspire kids to express themselves while upcycling products through do it yourself (DIY). We believe recycling or repurposing through DIY can help you create a product in a simplistic way. With partners like Byju’s, Cello ColourUp, and Savlon, I think this property will stay in kids’ and audiences’ minds for a long time,” said Disney India and Star India infotainment & kids head Anuradha Aggarwal in a press briefing.

    The show’s teaser shows host creator and illustrator Rob teaching kids how they can make interesting objects from easily available materials in their homes: birds from paper, a rickshaw, an elephant and a dinosaur from a cardboard carton, and robots from tin cans. For those who don’t remember, Rob is Harun Robert who used to host the famous award-winning M.A.DDIY kids series on Pogo from 2005 till 2010. Rob also is the creator behind the YouTube channel Mad Stuff with Rob, under the Sony Music umbrella.

    With Imagine That’s launch, Disney Channel India expects to garner eyeballs from both kids and parents and is sanguine that its viewership growth will hold even as the country is opening up.

    Aggarwal disclosed that given the large percentage of single TV households, co-viewing has always been a reason for the increase in the channel’s viewership. For the new show, the channel is targeting a larger band of age groups – younger kids who can watch it with parents, older ones who can experiment with the DIY themselves.

    “All over the world, we use a lot of live TV or characters and stories that come with them. While DIY format works well, the format needed a real person. We have Rob with us for the show who is a legend at DIY,” she added further.  

    Media observers are convinced that Imagine That is a good idea. “Most parents have been logging on to YouTube and signing up for skill courses to help their kids self-learn at home,” said a media veteran. "With schools set to stay closed for some time at least now Imagine That should find a large audience on Sunday mornings. Also, it probably has given a lot of opportunities to integrate its brand partners which are in some way linked to learning and education into each episode.”

    Aggarwal stated citing an industry report that the kids’ genre has weathered the Covid2019 storm slightly better than the other genres in terms of advertising revenues. Reason: fresh episodes of animation shows continued to be produced from remote connected locations by India's animated producers even during the lockdown. Among these: Bapu,Guddu, The Hagemaru Show, Selfie with Bajrangi and Gadget Guru Ganesha, which it launched on 22 August.  

    Aggarwal  is happy that the unprecedented time has brought in a new paradigm as far as TV consumption is concerned. “There is no primetime anymore in TV. Viewing by both kids and parents has stretched the whole timeline as well as added to the non-primetime. So, it’s very hard to figure out the core-watching hours. What we are also seeing is morning-day part has seen a huge surge in viewership,” she says.

    Did someone say TV is dying?

  • Disney India kids channels bring 100 hours of original content

    Disney India kids channels bring 100 hours of original content

    MUMBAI: Disney Kids channels in India are bringing in freshly brewed content to entertain kids this summer. With an eclectic mix of Indian and global stories, the summer line-up promises 100 hours of fresh content introducing kids to new stories in addition to their existing favourites across all the channels, including Disney Channel and Hungama TV.

    In keeping with the current scenario, where kids are looking for a friend who engages and interacts with them in a manner that they understand, Disney Channel is launching a campaign – #Homebuddy with a thought that they can spend plenty of time with their favourite characters. And Hungama, in line with the channel philosophy, will encourage kids to have lots of fun with #Gharpemachao as they stay safe at home. The kids’ channels will entertain them with a range of series filled with adventure, comedy and take them for a fun-filled ride. 

    The network recently launched the adventures of Mira, Royal Detective which has been loved by kids and families across. The summer bonanza across Disney Channel and Hungama TV includes local and home-grown series like Bapu, a pure and positive story of a wise old leader from Bharat Nagar who is sure to win the hearts of kids and families along with an all-animal story of a lion and his joyful circus troupe friends in Guddu. The new offerings will also have a story of a soft toy – Gadget Guru Ganesha, who with his innovative gadgets will charm his way into the lives of young audiences across the country.

    The specially curated programming also brings to life – The Hagemaru Show which narrates the tale of the mischievous Hagemaru and his high spirited parents as they find ground breaking and hilarious methods to save money. Along with the new shows, kids can join in the escapades of Ankush and his best friend – Bajrangi in fresh episodes of Selfie with Bajrangi and also take a joyride with their favourite – Doreamon in a whole new season and a movie festival. 

    There will also be new episodes of Chacha Chaudhary and Miraculous “Summer is a fun-time for children and with the lockdown in place, they are especially looking to us to be their constant companion; someone who understands their entertainment needs and is there for them through the day. We have curated special campaigns for Disney Channel and Hungama in line with this thought and notwithstanding the unprecedented situation, bringing them a range of
    new and differentiated stories and memorable characters," said Star India kids English and infotainment head  Anuradha Aggarwal. 

  • Hungama TV’s festive offer at Re 1 per month

    Hungama TV’s festive offer at Re 1 per month

    MUMBAI: This festive season, Hungama TV will take fun, laughter and mischief up a notch with the Tyohaar ka Upahaar offer at only Re 1 per month with an aim to reach out to more kids.

    “Our endeavour has been to make our stories and characters easily accessible to every household in the country. Hungama TV has always been a favourite amongst kids and with this promotional Tyohaar Ka Upahaar offer, we hope to reach out to more kids and have them subscribe and celebrate this festive season with us. This also will allow our trade partners to provide enhanced offering to their consumers,” said Star India president – distribution Gurjeev Singh Kapoor.

    The channel launched an interesting campaign which highlights the significant role that animated characters play in the lives of kids today. Over the years, Shinchan has become one of the most popular characters and truly embodies the fun spirt of Hungama. Backed up by this insight, the campaign showcases a day in the life of a young and an avid Shinchan fan and centres around the everyday situations that make him miss his beloved companion. His friend then decides to step in and informs him that he can watch Shinchan on Hungama TV for only Re 1.

    “The content on Hungama TV has always reflected our core philosophy of creating experiences that energizes kids with fun and laughter and our stories and characters, including Shinchan, truly celebrate childhood as seen in the campaign. Keeping with the festive spirit, we will also be bringing in more exciting shows that promise adventure, comedy and a fun-filled ride for our young viewers,” said  Star India head – infotainment, English and kids Anuradha Aggarwal.

    The channel has lined up a strong content with fresh programming all the way till December 2019. This includes movie premieres, specially curated blocks, new seasons and episodes across local animation as well as international shows. Hungama TV will be showcasing best of Hungama shows in curated block ‘Dabaang Diwali’ followed by the premieres of two Pokémon movies – ‘Pokémon Arceus Aur Jeevan Ka
    Jewel’ and ’Pokemon Zoroark Mayajaal Ka Ustaad’. The channel will also celebrate Children’s Day with a programming special titled ‘The Chotay Ustaad’ and follow it up with movie festivals with ‘Shinchan’ films along with new episodes of ‘Selfie with Bajrangi’, ‘Shinchan’ and ‘Inspector Chingum’ – all in the coming festive season.

  • Star India ropes in Marico’s Anuradha Aggarwal to head English and kids genres

    Star India ropes in Marico’s Anuradha Aggarwal to head English and kids genres

    MUMBAI: As per media reports, former Marico CMO Anuradha Aggarwal will be joining Star India to head the English and kids channels for the broadcaster. It is going to be her first stint in the broadcast industry.

    Aggarwal, who had left Marico in October last year, comes with almost two decades of experience in marketing in the FMCG category. She has earlier worked with brands like Mondelez and Vodafone India. She had started her career with HUL and had spent initial 12 years of her professional life in the company. She was the category marketing manager for hair care when she had resigned from there.

    Aggarwal holds a PGDBM degree in Marketing Management from IIM Bangalore and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics Honours from Lady Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University.

  • Anuradha Aggarwal quits as Marico CMO

    Anuradha Aggarwal quits as Marico CMO

    MUMBAI: Marico CMO Anuradha Aggarwal has decided to move out of the company. While there is no replacement yet for Aggarwal, in the interim, managing director and CEO Saugata Gupta, will oversee marketing initiatives at Marico. 

    Before joining Marico, Aggarwal was the marketing director of biscuits category for Asia Pacific at Mondelez. 

    She joined Marico in 2015 and has an experience of over 20 years in the industry, Aggarwal has had stints with industry majors like HUL, Vodafone India and Mondelez International

    Aggarwal specialises in leading cross functional teams, brand activation, marketing operations, brand communication development and media planning.

  • Marico launches newest brand “True Roots” on Flipkart

    Marico launches newest brand “True Roots” on Flipkart

    MUMBAI: Marico Ltd has launched its newest brand ‘True Roots’, that delays hair greying from the roots. It has been launched on Flipkart as a digital-first brand. Radhika Apte launched the brand and spoke about the #FaceItSolveIt philosophy.
    True Roots Botanical Hair Tonic is dermatologically tested and is clinically proven to show no new greys in 90 days. It is formulated with Apigenin, an extract of chamomile flowers and powerful botanical actives that increase the melanin levels in the hair roots.
    Flipkart senior director Nishit Garg said, “Marico has a strong lineage when it comes to hair care. Launching True Roots, a new hair care brand from the house of Marico, exclusively on Flipkart, goes to show that e-commerce has become a habit for the real India. We’re sure this launch will be very well received by customers.”
    Marico CMO Anuradha Aggarwal said, “We are proud to introduce the newest brand from Marico – True Roots that delays hair greying from the roots. It is a breakthrough innovation from Marico R&D and has been clinically proven to show no new greys in 90 days. True Roots is now available on Flipkart.”

  • Livon’s digital play to connect with today’s consumers

    Livon’s digital play to connect with today’s consumers

    MUMBAI: Indian consumer goods company Marico has its consumers spread across the country and a majority of them come from the smaller section of society. The homegrown company has a wide portfolio of products including Set Wet Gel, Parachute coconut oil, Nihar oil, Saffola and Livon.

    It was at the recently concluded The Advertising Club’s maiden edition of D-CODE where Marico CMO Anuradha Aggarwal gave insights about how important digital is for brands in general and how it helped in shaping Marico’s communication. She listed out three key tips to crack the digital code. 

    She said that anybody who claims they know digital, is kidding themselves and you! “We as an industry haven’t been able to crack the digital code yet and are still trying to understand it and learn as we go about it as the digital ecosystem is changing every minute.”

    Marico is a small brand, as compared to the Amazon and Netflix of the world, which sells parachute oil, Nihar oil in the deep rural pockets of India. Aggarwal said that while everyone is busy watching Amazon or on Facebook, Marico is trying to sell products to15-year-old girls and 50-year-old women sitting in deep rural pockets of India.

    While the brand is relatively small and its core consumers aren’t digital rich, how do they connect with them on digital is a hefty challenge for Marico. We are in a digital world where brands are trying to seek attention from the consumers. They are on an endeavour to seek out the truth in this hyper-complex digital world.

    Every marketer around the globe swears by the AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action) model and has probably learnt it in the marketing school. AIDA is an advertising effect model that describes the effect of advertising media. The sales process should be sustainably optimised on the basis of this model. Aggarwal, however, believes that the traditional model of AIDA isn’t applicable anymore. The purchase journey doesn’t start with awareness about the product; it may start with a desire or interest.

    Her first key tip to crack the digital code is to seed your brand idea in the mind of the consumers. Korean pop inspired Marico to implement the same strategy for one of its brands-Livon in India. The brand didn’t have the money, scale and awareness and it was a strenuous task to get the word about the product on digital. “It’s a challenge for us to connect with the digital consumers when we don’t own the medium or are active on it,” she added. 

    The penetration in the serum category was static between 2006-2016 and there was no new entrant in the market. This was a huge opportunity for the brand to create awareness about its product. Her second tip is to be personal where brands need to do local targeting and create personalised ads. Can you imagine a consumer being excited about applying serum on their hair? The team didn’t know what this activation will generate.

    Taking a leap of faith, Marico conducted college activation for Livon across India to target the youth and young teenagers. They made 100 brand ambassadors across colleges in India and engaged real time in transforming their hair. The word of mouth helped Livon in marketing and shot up its sales in a month’s time. The third and most important of all is to just let go once you’ve executed the campaign and trust in your audience to come back to you.

    On a concluding note, Agarwal said that brands have to ditch the target audience and embrace the audience at large. Only then will they be able to tap a larger audience which will eventually lead to higher revenues and sales.

  • Nihar Naturals celebrates progressive, strong women

    Nihar Naturals celebrates progressive, strong women

    MUMBAI: Women today are free-spirited, courageous and strong, irrespective of their age and economic backgrounds. Nihar Naturals coconut hair oil, a market leader in eastern India, has unveiled its latest campaign, “Akai Aiksho” to highlight the power and strength of the modern woman. The brand caters to progressive Indian women and has always celebrated their innate strengths and successes through all its communication. 

    The campaign is a colloquial Bangla phrase which means “One is equal to hundred” and is aptly captured in the TVC through the spirit of modern Indian women who are independent, powerful and self-sufficient. Nihar Naturals has always championed a progressive and modern depiction of women and continues to do so through this new campaign conceptualised and created by BBH India. It features Nihar Naturals’ long-term brand ambassador, Vidya Balan and drives a strong message celebrating the essence of womanhood.

    The TVC depicts stories of three women demonstrating strength in their daily lives – the strength to achieve, to show compassion and nurture and the strength to protect. It celebrates women through a symbolic manifestation of Goddess Durga, who is hailed for her virtues beyond the realms of religion, social or economic divide. Nihar Naturals embodies this same spirit of Akai Aiksho.

    Marico chief marketing officer Anuradha Aggarwal says, “Over the years, Nihar Naturals through its campaigns has aimed to break all stereotypes against women and celebrated their courage and strength. Through this new campaign, the brand builds on this core belief to say that every woman is Akai Aiksho – She alone is enough to handle all the vicissitudes in life. Nihar Naturals a nourishing coconut hair oil enriched with the goodness of methi, promises strong hair for this strong woman of today.” 

    BBH creative director of art Shruti Das adds, “Women have always had the inner strength that makes them capable of doing anything. The idea is brought alive through small stories of strength displayed by women in their everyday lives and through the visual symbolism of these regular women juxtaposed as an avatar of Goddess Durga, the epitome of strength in a woman. Even the music is created using a contemporary rendition of a famous Durga chant, thus leaving the woman with a feeling of empowerment.”