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Tag: B2C

  • “Whilter.ai is planning a global expansion targeting the US and European markets:” Pankaj K Arora

    “Whilter.ai is planning a global expansion targeting the US and European markets:” Pankaj K Arora

    Mumbai: In a world where digital interactions have become the norm, brands are increasingly challenged to create meaningful, personalised connections with their audiences. The age of one-size-fits-all marketing is fading, giving rise to a new era where every engagement feels unique and tailored. This shift is driven by advancements in technology, and one of the leaders in this transformation journey is Whilter.ai.
    Founded in 2023 by Pankaj K Arora and Prashant Yadav, Whilter.ai is revolutionizing the way brands communicate through the power of Generative AI, offering a cutting-edge solution that creates hyper-personalized videos at scale, setting a new standard in digital storytelling.

    Indiantelevision.com caught up with Whilter.ai co-founder Pankaj K Arora to delve deeper into their business model, offerings, future plans and more…

    Edited Excerpts:

    On the inspiration behind starting Whilter.ai, and on envisioning it transforming B2C communication

    The inspiration to start Whilter.ai came from recognizing a significant gap in how businesses communicate with their consumers. Traditional marketing methods often felt impersonal and failed to engage the audience effectively. We envisioned Whilter.ai as a transformative tool that leverages the power of Generative AI to create personalised, interactive video content. This not only enhances engagement but also builds a stronger emotional connection between brands and their consumers, ultimately transforming B2C communication into a more dynamic and personalized experience.

    On the major challenges that you faced while developing Whilter.ai, and how you overcame them

    Entering a new market with an innovative concept like Whilter.AI required us to be agile and adaptive. We faced challenges in educating the market, establishing the value of personalized videos, and overcoming initial skepticism from potential clients. However, by showcasing tangible results on customer engagement and conversion rates, we were able to build credibility, gradually expanding our client base.

    Secondly, balancing the creative aspects of video production with the technical demands of automation and personalisation was a delicate task. We fostered close collaboration between our creative and technical teams. This synergy ensured that our AI-generated content maintained a high standard of creativity and relevance, meeting the aesthetic and emotional expectations of end consumers.

    On Whilter.ai’s use of generative AI setting it apart from traditional video marketing solutions

    Whilter.ai stands out from traditional video marketing solutions through its innovative use of Generative AI. Unlike conventional methods that rely on pre-recorded or manually edited content, our platform generates personalised videos at scale, tailored to each viewer’s preferences and behaviours. This level of customization ensures that the content resonates more deeply with the audience, leading to higher engagement and better overall performance. Generative AI allows for real-time adjustments and creativity that static video solutions simply can’t match.
    On smart video technology works and the role of GenAI in it; and the user-friendliness of your platform
    Prashant: Our smart video technology at Whilter.ai harnesses the power of generative AI (GenAI) to create hyper-personalized videos at scale. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

    We begin by gathering and analyzing  data which is crucial in understanding the unique characteristics and needs of each customer. GenAI comes into play by generating personalized content based on the analyzed data. Our platform, then dynamically assembles the video components, ensuring that each video is unique and specifically tailored to the individual recipient. Once the videos are created, they can be distributed through various channels, such as email, social media, or websites. We continuously monitor performance and use AI-driven insights to optimise future video campaigns.

    User-friendliness: Currently, our platform is accessible only to direct customer teams. We are actively collecting direct market feedback to improve our product. In the near future, we plan to launch a DIY version that will allow any creator or D2C brand to use the platform. One particular use case we’re focusing on is festive greetings. A DIY, user-friendly platform to send festive greetings on your brand’s behalf is a frequently requested feature from our customers. We’re excited to make this a reality soon.

    On the measurable results that your clients have seen in terms of engagement, conversions, and brand recall

    Clients using Whilter.ai have reported significant improvements in various key metrics. Engagement rates have increased substantially due to the personalised nature of the videos, leading to longer view times and higher interaction levels. Conversion rates have also seen a notable boost, as personalized content tends to drive more effective calls-to-action. Additionally, brand recall has improved, with audiences remembering and resonating with the customized messages far better than traditional, generic advertisements.

    On your scalable pricing model making personalised video creation accessible to businesses of all sizes

    Our scalable pricing model is designed to democratise access to high-quality, personalised video creation. By offering flexible pricing tiers, we cater to businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. This ensures that even smaller businesses can leverage the power of personalised video marketing without the burden of prohibitive costs. Our model allows clients to scale their usage and investment based on their specific needs and growth, making it a practical and cost-effective solution for any marketing budget.

    On Whilter.ai’s plans for global expansion, and how do you see the company evolving in the next few years

    Whilter.ai is planning a global expansion targeting the US and European markets. Our goal is to establish a strong international presence by offering affordable, scalable, and hyper-personalised video communication services. We are currently enhancing our platform to support multiple languages and transitioning towards a self-serve model, making it easier for brands and producers to leverage our technology.

  • Rahul Mishra promoted as head of Shemaroo’s Web 3.0 initiatives

    Rahul Mishra promoted as head of Shemaroo’s Web 3.0 initiatives

    Mumbai: Rahul Mishra, formerly the head of marketing of Shemaroo Entertainment, has been promoted to head the company’s Web 3.0 initiatives. In the third wave of the internet, which is more transparent and employs technologies like blockchain, AI, and IOT to offer a more engaging user experience for the business, he will be working on identifying & building various opportunities.

    Rahul joined Shemaroo in 2018 and has been instrumental in carving an identity for its various consumer facing businesses. He played a pivotal role in the transformation of Shemaroo from a B2B to a B2C new-age digital company, and its new imagery roll out with the company’s foray into OTT and broadcast.

    On the elevation, Shemaroo Entertainment CEO Hiren Gada commented, “We are delighted to elevate Rahul Mishra to his new role. His long and steady contribution has helped the company scale great heights. Rahul’s promotion is aptly timed as we plan to accelerate our brand’s growth using Web 3.0 technologies.”

    Newly appointed Shemaroo Entertainment’s Web 3.0 initiatives head Rahul Mishra added, “I am grateful and thrilled to take up this new role. It’s an honour to be a part of the brand that has been entertaining India for 60 years and to work with the best minds in the industry. The future is exciting and bright with the arrival of newer technologies, and I look forward to navigating Shemaroo’s journey into the next stage of the evolution of the internet.”

  • Tute Consult partners with health & glow to lead its communications mandate

    Tute Consult partners with health & glow to lead its communications mandate

    Mumbai: Health & glow, a homegrown beauty and personal care destination has appointed Tute Consult, an integrated communications firm as its communication partner for driving a two-fold communications strategy for B2C and B2B stakeholders.

    Tute Consult will be responsible to build the brand’s awareness and consideration amongst the consumers and strengthen its media presence through strategic communications and planning, said the statement.

    The agency aims to create awareness of the brand’s online presence and highlight its revolutionised approach, which offers an innovative, convenient, and quality omnichannel shopping experience from across the country, it added.

    “With the industry expecting an upswing and entry of new brands and product innovations, we are looking forward to redefining personalisation and further enhancing the overall experience for our customers,” stated health & glow managing director and CEO K Venkataramani. “We aim to take the retail experience to another level and make online shopping even more convenient through our innovative omnichannel offerings as we enter the 25th year with a forward-thinking approach.”  

    “We believe that the team at Tute Consult, through their vast experience in the sector, has the expertise to drive our vision through a strategic communication roadmap and support us in strengthening our relationship and position in the industry and amongst our stakeholders. We are excited and look forward to great innings,” he further said.

    The personal care products company has been continually evolving in the beauty and personal care space and is all set to further expanding its in-house brand portfolio along with its own flagship products, said the brand.

    “With the changing consumer behaviour, we believe we are at the cusp of the self-care revolution both in the health and beauty industry. Personal care industry is one of the booming industries today with an always-on innovation mode,” said Tute Consult founder Komal Lath. “Communication, therefore, has to be in an always-on innovation mode too. Our expertise in the beauty, FMCG and D2C sector over the years has refined our thought process and our approach to communication output all of which we have planned to utilise for the brand.”

  • Lustral Water launches AI & IoT-based smart water purifier

    Lustral Water launches AI & IoT-based smart water purifier

    MUMBAI: Homegrown B2C model-based company, Lustral Water has launched what it claims is ‘the world’s first’ Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Internet of Things (IoT) enabled water purifier with inbuilt sensors.

    The Water Purifiers remove toxins and harmful bacteria but retain the necessary minerals and vitamins, the company said. In addition, these purifiers are ingrained with new-age technology that keeps a tab on consumer’s water intake, pH level, TDS level, turbidity, mineral content, water temperature etc through smartphones. 

    Lustral Water CEO and founder Aditya Patnaik said, “Even today over 50% of India’s population doesn’t have access to clean drinking water. They are dependent on boiled water or simply consuming undrinkable water. We firmly believe that with cutting-edge and futuristic technology transforming even the unthinkable things into a distinct possibility, access to clean drinking water shouldn’t be a far-fetched idea.”

    He further added, “Lustral Purifiers are cost-effective with great health benefits as we offer WHO recommended standards of water. We don’t offer filtered water; we offer a healthier version of clean drinking water infused with necessary minerals and vitamins. Our purifiers are equipped to provide valid water in domestic houses. On top of that, everything is absolutely automatic and requires little to no human interference. If the water quality goes down, the purifier is equipped to alert an expert technician immediately so that consumers won’t have to worry about these things.”

    The purifiers are equipped to send requests to the nearest service engineer as soon as the water quality goes down, said the company. The brand believes that consumers should have access to validated data to know what is happening inside the purifier and consume water only after inspecting the quality. 

    Lustral Water has registered a 22 per cent month-on-month growth in traffic since its inception in Bengaluru. The brand is now planning to launch its state-of-the-art water purifiers in new tier II markets such as Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Bhubaneswar.

  • IndiaMart clocks 60% traction on mobile

    IndiaMart clocks 60% traction on mobile

    MUMBAI: Online marketplace IndiaMart has said that 60 per cent of its visitor traffic is coming from its mobile app and mobile website. In line with the company’s mobile first strategy, IndiaMart launched the mobile app in March, 2013 and have registered 25 lakh downloads till date.

     

    Apart from the top eight cities, IndiaMart’s mobile app has witnessed significant traffic from cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Indore and Surat. India is a mobile-first internet country for a large portion of the population. Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities along with other parts of rural India have been witnessing phenomenal growth in smartphone usage, helped in a major part by improvement in internet penetration and affordability.

     

    IndiaMart director Dinesh Gulati said, “The user base on IndiaMart’s marketplace comprises of over two crore buyers. B2B buying is following the B2C buying trend where mobile is becoming the dominant medium for accessing internet. As per the recent IAMAI report, year on year growth in Mobile Internet users has been 65 per cent in urban areas and 99 per cent in rural areas. Interestingly, now 90 per cent of users who access internet through mobile consider it as the primary device for accessing Internet. While the mobile internet brings a lot of opportunities to the SMB community, we will be present wherever our customers are, both online as well as on the app.”

     

    The average time spent on the app is measured to be seven – eight minutes per user everyday. Android followed by iOS and Windows have seen maximum number of mobile app usage.

  • Balaji Telefilms receives board nod to raise Rs 250 crore

    Balaji Telefilms receives board nod to raise Rs 250 crore

    MUMBAI: With a target set to make digital B2C (business to consumer) under the ALT Digital umbrella as its core business in five years’ time, the Ekta Kapoor helmed Balaji Telefilms Ltd is arming itself with a war chest of funds to enter the market with guns blazing.

     

    The company, which was looking at raising Rs 250 crore to ramp up its digital business, has nowreceived board approval for the same. 

    The funds will be raised by way of QIP, GDR, ADR, FCCB, other securities linked to equity, preference shares or any instrument or securities representing convertible securities. 

    This is subject to approval of the company’s shareholders and other necessary approvals. 

    Additionally, the board has also approved to increase the authorised share capital of the company from Rs 20 crore to Rs 26 crore, subject to approval of shareholders.

  • IPL8: Internet services & B2C grab eyeballs; Vodafone tops brands chart

    IPL8: Internet services & B2C grab eyeballs; Vodafone tops brands chart

    MUMBAI: A total of 52 brands from 28 categories have garnished the commercial breaks between overs and fall of wickets so far in the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) season 8. 

    Amongst all the categories, Internet services and B2C categories topped the chart with 29 per cent share of ad volume. It must be noted that e-commerce ventures like Amazon, PayTm also fell under the same category. Amazon upgraded itself as a presenting sponsor of the flagship franchisee cricket tournament.

    On second spot stood cellular phone services with a share of 11 per cent of ad volume, whereas cellular phones – smart phones category with a 10 per cent share of ad volume was on the third spot. Two wheelers and aerated drinks were ranked fourth and fifth with shares of eight and six per cent respectively.

    The pole position in brands chart was acquired by Vodafone cellular phone service (8.4 per cent share) closely followed by Amazon.in (8.03 per cent share). DTH player Tata Sky, which recently launched a multi film series ad campaign called ‘Daily Dillagi’ exclusively for the IPL, ranked third in the list of brands with top ad share. Paytm and Snapedeal.com followed at fourth and fifth spot respectively.

    • Parameters

    1. Source : TAM Media Research

    2. Channel: SONY MAX || SONY SIX || SONY AATH || SONY KIX

    3. Period: 8 April – 18 April, 2015

    4. Match: Match 01 – Match 14

    Commercial Advertising: A period of time when commercial ads are shown during live telecast of the match at events like over change, fall of wicket etc.  

    • Highlights:

    • A total of 57 brands were present during Commercial Breaks of IPL 8 matches on Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony Aath and Sony Kix.
    • Twenty-nine per cent share of ad volumes during IPL 8 matches was from ‘Internet Service – B2C & Online Shopping’ category under which brands Amazon and paytm topped.

    · Notes:

    1. Only Live matches excluding Pre-Mid-Post Match analysis

    2. Report based on Pure Advertising duration i.e. it excludes Program Promotion ads, Franchisee ad, Cricket Board (BCCI) and Official Broadcaster (Max)

  • Sky’s the limit for ITV

    Sky’s the limit for ITV

    MUMBAI: It was in July last year that ITV Media acquired News X, giving it a toehold in the English news space. Apart from News X, the ITV Network comprises one Hindi news channel – India News, and five regional channels.

    For a while now, ITV has been busy strengthening the popularity and reach of News X and India News in a bid to get to the top of the news channels’ pile.

    As far as News X goes, it was only post the acquisition that its distribution improved. Today, all six metros and over one million markets can view the channel on both cable and DTH platforms. This apart, News X can also be availed on mobile TV platforms such as ZengaTV and NexGtv.

    Programming-wise, the channel is witnessing significant changes with the focus increasingly shifting from debates and entertainment to hard news. To top it, the network is expanding its presence through both B2B and B2C platforms.

    Both News X and India News have been on a hiring spree since earlier this year, roping in renowned journalists from competing channels to lead them.

    News X recently consolidated its team by getting on board the likes of Rahul Shivshankar, Diptosh Majumdar and Raktim Das in key positions.

    Whereas, Deepak Chaurasia, known for his election-based shows such as Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri and Kaun Banega Pradhanmantri on ABP News (formerly Star News) and Aaj Tak, was brought in as editor of India News earlier this year.

    The idea behind hiring such journalists with years of experience behind them is that they come with dedicated viewers, who would watch a channel just to see their favourite anchor on the screen. Elaborates ITV Network CEO RK Arora: “In Hindi news channels, no journalist has such a high viewership as Deepak Chaurasia. This would lead to ardent followers coming and viewing our channel.”

    According to TAM data provided by the network, News X shows highs and lows in terms of viewership patterns between week 18 and week 36 while India News seems to have considerably gained mileage with week 36 docking in 29570 GVTs as compared to 9902 GVTs in week 31.

    All said, both news channels have a long way to go before they can surpass benchmark creators like CNN-IBN, NDTV 24 x 7, Aaj Tak and ABP News among others.

    Historically speaking, INX News (News X) was started by Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani, who subsequently sold it to IndiMedia following an unsuccessful attempt at running it. After which, it once again exchanged hands with ITV Media, owner of India News. The company is promoted by Kartikeya Sharma.

    History or no history, the network seems bullish about sprucing up its two news channels. Just as well they may succeed some day…

  • BC Web Wise launches Oojle

    MUMBAI: Mumbai-based digital agency BC Web Wise has launched its first ever mobile game for iOS, Oojle.

    Oojle is a maths puzzle application that helps one hone his arithmetic and much more. A free version of the game has been launched on the iTunes store and the initial response has been positive, the agency said.

    BC Web Wise founder and MD Chaya B Aiyer said, “Oojle is endearing and addictive – essentials for a successful game. We‘re also very excited because it is our foray into B2C and mobile gaming. For a decade, we (BC Web Wise) have made a mark in flash animation and design for clients. Oojle is the first step in expanding our repertoire to create games that people can‘t help but fall in love with.”

    The beta version of Oojle is available on Oojle.org.

  • Valuemart Retail ropes in Tendulkar as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Bangalore-based B2C and Retail Solutions firm Valuemart Retail (India) has signed a three-year deal with Sachin Tendulkar to be its brand ambassador.

    This is Tendulkar’s first brand endorsement this year. He was last signed by BMW in October 2012.

    In the time where his colleagues like Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli are getting a number of endorsements, will Tendulkar’s brand value lessen?

    According to Kwan COO Indranil Das Blah, Tendulkar has reached a stage where no one else has yet. “Sachin is in an interesting phase of his life. People are talking about him — whether he is playing or not, retiring or not. He will always continue to attract people. Even after retirement, he will continue to get endorsements because that will be the only place on screen where he would be seen. As far as one is getting him at a good cost, I can’t think of any reason why the brands should stop signing him.”

    Tendulkar will promote a range of commemorative products conceptualised by Valuemart Retail, involving the use of his images, photos and logo.

    Valuemart Retail founder director C K Vasudevan said, “We are extremely honoured to have Sachin as our brand ambassador for the new initiative planned by the company. Sachin is a global sports icon and personifies the highest standards of excellence and integrity. We believe that we share the same values as Sachin and commit ourselves to deliver the same standards of quality and excellence in our new product initiative.”

    Tendulkar said, “I met with Vasudevan and his team sometime back and was impressed by the new initiatives that they are working on. I am happy to be a part of Valuemart’s plans and wish him and his team all success”.