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Tag: D2C

  • Zeel’s Ashish Sehgal’s positive ad outlook for Q1’23

    Zeel’s Ashish Sehgal’s positive ad outlook for Q1’23

    Mumbai: Ouch! Speak to any senior advertising or media agency official or even a broadcast sales executive, and they all seem to be yelping in pain, courtesy the evaporation of premium ad spends by innovative and new age digital startups. Forced by investors to tidy up their operations and balance-sheets, the latter have been focusing on consolidation, rather than going berserk spending big on giddying growth through advertising and marketing.

    However, this is not causing broadcast major Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) chief growth officer of ad sales Ashish Sehgal to have any sleepless nights. A sales veteran, he’s witnessed the ups and downs that the media industry goes through periodically – needless to say, he’s seen it all.

    Sehgal believes that the silver lining of the advertising drought is that the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) category has to an extent, come to the rescue and is cushioning some of the blows. He estimates that TV ad spends during the festive season, which is on currently, will show a growth of seven to eight per cent.

    Those used to the heady growth figures of 10-20 per cent may consider this too low, but one has to remember that this growth is coming in at a time of economic upheaval, crashing of global currencies, high fuel costs and rising inflation.

    “The way things have been while it was good, the festive season could have been better. The absence of new clients has made a difference. E-commerce has also reduced spending a bit. While inventory has been going jam-packed, the premium money has not come in the festive season. This has been made up for by the FMCGs to an extent, and TV will see an ad revenue growth during the festive season. This is a good sign as this category will continue to spend even beyond the festive season.”

    He also notes that the TV industry has gone in for a rate hike across the board, which was long overdue. TV viewership was affected in June and August. But post August, the number of eyeballs glued to TV has grown, which is why the FMCG category is spending a lot more.

    Sehgal highlights that general entertainment channels (GECs) are starting to get the reach that they were delivering earlier. Categories like beauty will count on the festive season heavily with the top five advertisers on TV coming in from FMCGs. He feels that the latter’s contribution to overall TV adex could rise by five per cent this festive season compared to the previous year.

    The scenario for 2023

    Sehgal believes that the situation can only improve going forward in Q1 ’23 with spends going up for television advertising and overall ad expenditure. “Every category may come back,” he reiterates.

    He says there are enough signals emanating from the market. Amongst them, the expected spurt in marketing spends by the automobile sector will fire more in the coming months.  “Demand was high during the festive season but supply was low due to the earlier supply issues. So they did not advertise much,” he declares. “They will spend some money in November and December to sell the remaining inventory. That may be a small burst. But now that production capacity has gone up, they will have new launches in Q1’23. That is when they will spend it.”

    “Also, for some new age categories, D2C companies like ed-tech could have digested their heady growth by then. Of course, the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) category – say companies like Policybazaar – will be strong in Q1’23, so some of the premium money that was missing in the festive season could come in then,” Sehgal asserts.

    Then, the funding tap for startups could once again open and start flowing by January 2023.

    “This year they have been trying to balance out their bottom line. How long will they continue to do that? They will have to look at growth as well. Hopefully, they will start triggering spends in Q1 ’23,” he says.

    According to him, with FMCG input costs going down, companies will be forced to pass on the benefits to customers through price cuts and promotions. “So they will have to advertise more to promote that,” he says. “A lot will hinge on FMCGs implementing price cuts and promotions. Right now, that has not happened, maybe due to a fear of raw material inflation returning.”

    But he says the FMCG companies would benefit immensely if they slash prices. “Consumer sentiment will bounce back. More consumption will happen. Things look good for Q1’23 as long as no adverse issues come from Europe and America.”

    Sehgal discloses that while travel and tourism ad spends have risen now, most of those are going into print and social media. “TV, too, will get some state tourism ad spend money whether it is on news media, GECs or on regional channels,” he says.

    He feels that while ad spend on OTT platforms is growing, it is seen as an add-on to TV – especially in entertainment. “Whenever there is a TV campaign, the same person likes to also advertise on OTT. OTT helps them add on to their TV reach. It is not an either-or situation,” he explains.

    For the industry’s sake and his too, here’s hoping Sehgal’s forecast does come true!

  • Pescafresh launches ‘Fresh Matlab Live’ campaign for Pescalive

    Pescafresh launches ‘Fresh Matlab Live’ campaign for Pescalive

    Mumbai: D2C seafood and meat brand Pescafresh has rolled out a new campaign “Fresh Matlab Live.” The new campaign focuses on promoting the world’s first live digital market in the seafood and meats category – Pescalive.

    The campaign is live in Mumbai and Pune and will target more than 50,000 households with door tag branding and 7,000 no-parking boards across the two cities.

    The focus is to create visibility, attract people’s attention, and acquire potential customers through an attractive offer. In the first phase of the activity, Goregaon (East and West), Thane, Andheri (East and West) and Powai will be covered.

    In Pune, the target areas are Baner, Magarpatta, and Koregaon Park. An online BTL brand activation is also being done at the society gates in these areas.

    Pescafresh has fully equipped fulfilment centres across Mumbai and Pune, and the BTL logistics plan has been designed keeping in mind the same.

    Speaking on the campaign, Pescafresh founder Sangram Sawant said, “We wanted to penetrate into customers’ homes with the right messaging, but without being too intrusive, which is why we chose this medium. The main objective of this campaign is to put the spotlight on the Pescalive platform and communicate the brand message to the customers. The idea is not only to be seen by the target audience but to create a top-of-mind brand recall.”

    Till now, we have had more than 75 live sessions on Pescalive, which streams on our app daily. We are committed to bringing transparency to all our buyers and ensuring that what they see on our digital platforms is exactly what they receive, quality-wise. Using technology in the right way to focus on customer delight will be our key to success. It is like having a shop in your living room,” he added.

    All Pescafresh products are packaged in vacuum bags and sent in temperature-controlled boxes to the customers. Recently, the brand has added the ‘chicken deli’ meats range to its product line.

    On Pescalive, the brand has started influencer editions, live cooking sessions with renowned chefs, interactions with food bloggers, and more. Customers get to see the right tips for buying seafood, hacks to cook, and other information on Pescafresh products.

  • Eros Now announces partnership with Fetch TV; expands in Australia

    Eros Now announces partnership with Fetch TV; expands in Australia

    Mumbai: South Asian OTT platform Eros Now owned by Eros Media World (a global entertainment company) on has announced that Eros Now has expanded its presence in Australia through a partnership with the leading Australian content aggregation platform Fetch TV. Fetch viewers will now have access to Eros Now’s rich content library across multiple languages & genres. 

    The collaboration is in line with Eros Now’s strategy to focus on growing direct-to-consumer relationships while strengthening and expanding key distribution partnerships.  This new distribution partnership with Fetch TV provides over 6,30,000 active Fetch subscribers with access to Eros Now’s rich content of over 12,000 Indian movies, originals, music, short-form content, and more across several languages and genres.

    Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein said, “Streaming platforms are gaining popularity worldwide and have emerged as a key driver for multilingual content across a wider audience segment. Fetch TV has been a leading aggregator of streaming services and other entertainment content in the Australian market for over 10 years. This collaboration will certainly help us enhance our horizons in terms of international audience and their preferences, and further strengthen our offering.”

    India enjoys a strong connection with Australia generated through its shared colonial history, growing Indian diaspora in the region, Bollywood, cricket, and tourism. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics data, with over two per cent increase, Indians comprise the third largest population base in Australia. Additionally, Australia is among the most popular destinations for Indian students. With a good mix of young, old, and native South Asian population base, demand for Indian content has surged across the continent.

    Commenting on the collaboration, Fetch TV chief content and commercial officer Sam Hall said, “We are witnessing a huge demand for streaming services amongst our customers and have observed a shift in demand for multilingual content from traditional linear channels to streaming. We are thrilled to collaborate with a South Asian streaming leader like Eros Now to offer existing and future Fetch subscribers’ access to popular and high-quality South Asian content.”

    Fetch combines free-to-air TV channels, catch-up, premium linear channels, streaming apps, and movies all in one place. It offers an intuitive user experience (UX) and universal voice search to make it easy for users to find and view content. First time users of Eros Now will have access to a one month free trial on Fetch, allowing them to enjoy Eros Now’s premium content such as “Ram Leela,” “Go Goa Gone,” “Padmavaat,” “Manmarziyan,” “Tanu Weds Manu Returns,” “Raanjhana” and more.

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  • Revex Media to expand into Canada and UAE in 2022-23

    Revex Media to expand into Canada and UAE in 2022-23

    Mumbai: Gurgaon-based agency Revex Media has announced its aim to double its client base by the end of the financial year 2022-23. The agency’s fiscal year objective is to expand into new markets in Canada and the UAE.  It has already roped in five new brands in the first quarter of this month and grew its workforce by 20 per cent.

    Revex Media offers business growth services for scaling brands’ top-line revenue via a digital-first marketing strategy. With its strategic and result-oriented approach, the agency aspires to enable at least 300 per cent growth within the next two quarters for 20+ brands working with them currently.

    Revex Media currently has a client base of 30 brands, and with the 100 per cent expansion plan in focus, the client base will grow to 60 by the end of the fiscal year. The marketing firm intends to focus primarily on the D2C space (selling consumer goods) where it hopes to increase its D2C-specific clientele by 50 per cent. Revex Media’s goal in the education space is to increase its clientele by 30 per cent and 20 per cent in different sectors – real estate, SAAS, and travel.

    Revex Media CEO & founder Utkarsh Arora affirmed, “At Revex Media, We are working hard to establish a strong foundational model for our clients to make them grow faster in the digital-first ecosystem. One of our primary focuses this year is to increase our firm’s talent density to improve our strategic and operational effectiveness to meet the audacious goals we have set for our clients. We have been recording an overwhelming response and our strategy for the ongoing fiscal is carved based on the same. Our maximum traction comes from the D2C space which over the period has become one of the expertise and we aim at expanding it further. Our team has been working diligently to establish a strong client base. It will not only help us grow as a brand, but it will also improve our operational effectiveness. As we expand, it becomes even imperative on our part to provide our clients with the opportunity to magnify their marketing and increase their revenue. Also, we will keenly work to strengthen our existing and new clients’ relationships.”

  • Dasvi and Matsyakand actor Shrikant Verma roped in for Netflix show CA Topper Tribhuvan Mishra

    Dasvi and Matsyakand actor Shrikant Verma roped in for Netflix show CA Topper Tribhuvan Mishra

    Mumbai: Gurgaon-based agency Revex Media has announced its aim to double its client base by the end of the financial year 2022-23. The agency’s fiscal year objective is to expand into new markets in Canada and the UAE.  It has already roped in five new brands in the first quarter of this month and grew its workforce by 20 per cent.

    Revex Media offers business growth services for scaling brands’ top-line revenue via a digital-first marketing strategy. With its strategic and result-oriented approach, the agency aspires to enable at least 300 per cent growth within the next two quarters for 20+ brands working with them currently.

    Revex Media currently has a client base of 30 brands, and with the 100 per cent expansion plan in focus, the client base will grow to 60 by the end of the fiscal year. The marketing firm intends to focus primarily on the D2C space (selling consumer goods) where it hopes to increase its D2C-specific clientele by 50 per cent. Revex Media’s goal in the education space is to increase its clientele by 30 per cent and 20 per cent in different sectors – real estate, SAAS, and travel.

    Revex Media CEO & founder Utkarsh Arora affirmed, “At Revex Media, We are working hard to establish a strong foundational model for our clients to make them grow faster in the digital-first ecosystem. One of our primary focuses this year is to increase our firm’s talent density to improve our strategic and operational effectiveness to meet the audacious goals we have set for our clients. We have been recording an overwhelming response and our strategy for the ongoing fiscal is carved based on the same. Our maximum traction comes from the D2C space which over the period has become one of the expertise and we aim at expanding it further. Our team has been working diligently to establish a strong client base. It will not only help us grow as a brand, but it will also improve our operational effectiveness. As we expand, it becomes even imperative on our part to provide our clients with the opportunity to magnify their marketing and increase their revenue. Also, we will keenly work to strengthen our existing and new clients’ relationships.”

  • TenderCuts rolls out father’s day campaign #madebydad

    TenderCuts rolls out father’s day campaign #madebydad

    Mumbai: Omnichannel meat and seafood D2C brand TenderCuts has rolled out a campaign for father’s day with cricketer Dinesh Karthik and chef Sanjay Thumma. The campaign was conceptualized in-house, and no agency was involved. It evokes a sense of nostalgia while cherishing the contributions of a father.

    As a part of the campaign, TenderCuts engaged with its customers on all social media platforms, encouraging them to share their unforgettable personal memories with their father. The best three videos will be awarded with a mini cricket bat autographed by Dinesh Karthik.

    The brand has released a video that revolves around Cricketer Dinesh Karthik sharing a short story about his experience on father’s day every year. He shares that every year on father’s day, his father would prepare mutton biryani for the family. This year, he plans to emulate his father by preparing a delicious mutton biryani himself. The video continues with Dinesh Karthik mentioning that he ordered fresh mutton from TenderCuts that is antibiotic free with the FSSAI and other safety certifications in place, which was also freshly cut only after the order is placed.

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OGrcsjFIeC0

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WnmSB8FuBto

    It continues with him reminiscing about how much he enjoyed his father’s mutton biryani and how his father wished the local markets were cleaner. The commercial ends with a scene of Dinesh Karthik enjoying a meal of biryani with his father.

    TenderCuts chief marketing officer Aruna Jathar said, “Fathers have always been characterized as sacrificing but are never acknowledged. This year, we wanted to showcase the caring aspect of a ‘father’ in his role to provide only the best for his family. This story comes alive with a real-life experience of our very own Dinesh Karthik. TenderCuts celebrates every father this Father’s Day through this story.”

  • SleepyCat launches a new campaign featuring comedian & actor Vir Das

    SleepyCat launches a new campaign featuring comedian & actor Vir Das

    The D2C brand SleepyCat has launched a new campaign for Ultima Mattress featuring stand-up comedian & actor, Vir Das.

    Designed with a revolutionary CoolTEC™ fabric and DeepTouch™ pressure Technology, the Ultima is India’s first mattress that keeps the user 4° cooler and provides 7-zone body support.

    The campaign is designed by Foodlooking Digital. In true Vir Das spirit, it highlights the superlative features of the product through a quirky representation of what comfort truly looks and feels like, with the Ultima mattress.

    The campaign kicks off with Vir Das sound asleep in a luxurious igloo and snuggling in the lap of comfort, alluding to the cooling element of the mattress. Suddenly, he is brought back to reality and finds himself sleeping in his bed, on a SleepyCat Ultima mattress.

    The simple yet visually stunning narrative brings out the cutting-edge technology of CoolTEC™ fabric of the Ultima Mattress, which is known to draw heat away from the body thereby keeping you up to 4° cooler.

    In the second film, Vir Das personifies the epitome of relaxation, on a massage bed in a luxury spa. Vir can be seen waking up with his alarm, only to find himself in his bed on the Ultima mattress. Each layer of the Ultima mattress is contoured according to the support required by different parts of the body using DeepTouch™ Pressure Technology. This helps the mattress provide accurate and responsive 7-zone support, akin to a calming massage that helps you get deeper, more restful sleep.

    As someone who is always on the go, touring the world and giving award winning performances, Vir Das truly understands the importance of sound sleep and unmatched comfort. Speaking about his association with the brand, he commented, “I have a love-hate relationship with sleep. I love it so much that I hate not having enough time for it.”

    He added, “So I have to make the most of the seven-eight hours I get. And having not just a good, but a freaking awesome mattress is a non-negotiable thing for me. SleepyCat has these super innovative products that cater to specific user needs, and I love that they’re looking out for us. What fascinated me the most about Ultima Mattress is that it keeps your body 4° cooler. And you know that the line I am in needs one to have a cool and collected head. It also gives you ample support like we all want, in a mattress and life in general! If I could, I would carry it with me wherever I go.”

    Commenting on the new campaign, SleepyCat founder and CEO Kabir Siddiq said, “With our mission to provide unmatched comfort and sound sleep solutions, we are always integrating advanced technology that pushes the envelope with each product we launch. The Ultima is set to revolutionize the standard of sleep.”

    Explaining the idea behind roping in Vir Das, Siddiq said, “Coming together with a creative powerhouse like Vir Das has been an amazing journey. He is the ideal representation of the young Indian- dynamic, discerning and appreciates the value of true comfort and mental health. Through this campaign, people will get to see the ‘other side’ of Vir’s life- a “lie-down” instead of a “stand-up”, as he truly enjoys the experience of rest. For Vir, the Ultima Mattress checks all the boxes and we’re sure that this will be the case for the rest of the country as well.”

  • Honasa Consumer appoints Anuja Mishra as CMO

    Honasa Consumer appoints Anuja Mishra as CMO

    MUMBAI: Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. (HCPL), parent company of Mamaearth, and The Derma Co., a fast-growing House of Brands for personal care, appointed Anuja Mishra as chief marketing officer. In her new capacity, Mishra will oversee the marketing strategy for Honasa Consumer group brands – Mamaearth, The Derma Co., and Bblunt.

    Mishra will be taking the baton from Sambit Dash, who has been elevated to head Brand Factory Team where he will be responsible for crafting, launching, and building new brands business for Honasa. She will be based out of the Honasa Consumer head office in Gurgaon.

    Mishra brings over 17 years of experience across marketing and sales, having led brand management, innovation strategy and sales across three blue-chip FMCG organisations and some of the popular brands. As the CMO of Honasa Consumer, she will be responsible for accelerating the brand’s awareness and growth across the D2C ecosystem.
    Speaking on her role, Anuja Mishra said, “I am absolutely thrilled and honored to join Honasa Consumer in its exciting journey of becoming a powerful house of brands. Honasa has proven to be a trailblazer across the D2C landscape, and I have tremendous respect for the organization’s ability to innovate disruptively and meaningfully. I look forward to joining this talented team and contributing to the growth mission.”

    Commenting on the onboarding, Honasa Consumer co-founder and CEO Varun Alagh said, “Honasa has emerged as the fastest growing D2C brand and being a digital first brand, it is critical to constantly innovate and stay ahead of others in this excessively dynamic digital ecosystem. Anuja comes with extensive experience in managing millennial brands and she joins us at a time when the group has attained a great milestone with her expertise, she will elevate and support the strategy to the next one. We are excited to have a seasoned professional like her on board and look forward to growing the organisation with her.”

  • WATConsult bags ORM & digital listening mandate for Licious

    WATConsult bags ORM & digital listening mandate for Licious

    Mumbai: WATConsult, an Isobar company and hybrid digital agency from dentsu India, has won the ORM (Online Reputation Management) and digital listening mandate for D2C unicorn Licious. 

    The account was won following a competitive multi-agency pitch and will be serviced from the agency’s Mumbai office.

    “The meat and seafood sector, in India, is still largely in its nascent stage; however, it holds vast potential. Licious being the industry leader, has huge plans to capitalise on this opportunity,” said Isobar India group CEO Heeru Dingra. “The brand is looking at growing its offline business, its ready-to-eat product portfolio and is also keen on geographic expansion. With our strategic understanding of the digital audiences and expertise in scaling up brands, we really look forward to supporting Licious on their journey.” 

    As per the mandate, WATConsult will focus on the company’s philosophy of ‘delighting the world with an unmatched experience,’ thereby, the agency will monitor, listen, respond to queries and report to users online. Apart from the regular social media channels, the agency will also manage the app reviews, Google My Business reviews, blogs, news & public websites along with Crisis Management, which is also a significant part of the mandate.

    “ORM forms a very integral part of the brand-building & reputation management piece. It also builds into the customer obsession promise that Licious upholds,” said Licious VP- brands and new ventures Simeran Bhasin. “We look forward to our partnership with WATConsult to elevate our customer service and the overall Licious experience.”

    WATConsult managing partner Sahil Shah added, “What excited me the most is the vision with which the team at Licious is building the brand and how they are obsessed with customer-centricity. For instance, think of a future where omnichannel ORM will become a reality using the power of data and technology to have a single view of the customer. Thus, driving better customer experience and delight.”

  • GUEST COLUMN: How D2C brands can level up their digital marketing game in 2022

    GUEST COLUMN: How D2C brands can level up their digital marketing game in 2022

    Mumbai: In today’s times, Direct-to-consumer is an extremely exciting space, primarily because there are so many interesting brands coming up in multiple industry verticals. Right from food to technology to health and many others, there are home-grown D2C brands making it big while raising investors’ money handsomely. And we are seeing some very interesting products and services rolled out for the end-users.

    Here are some focus areas on the top digital marketing activities that the D2C brands need to keep in mind when they want to market their products and services in 2022 –

    Advertising on Google, Facebook, and Instagram

    While this is something that most D2C brands are already doing to a very large extent, there is still a big gap in the way these campaigns are executed. Funnel wise break up of your ad campaigns on these platforms is going to be very crucial to be able to run profitable ad campaigns for your brand. In our experience of working with D2C startups, we have always advised having – remarketing campaigns right from the start, campaigns focused to maximise conversions, and using lookalikes as much as possible.

    Retention Marketing

    I primarily would like to talk about the usage of user engagement tools that help you retain. You want to focus on the lifetime value of your customers and while you do that the prime objective of your campaigns should be to use sophisticated tools like Webengage to bring the audience over and over again to your website and to have them purchase from you more than once in a year as per your product life-cycle.

    Conversion Rate Optimisation

    While D2C brands have spent quite some money in the acquisition game, the bleeding cost of sale has always been quite an important matter of discussion. In today’s time and age when the bottom line is super important from day zero, it becomes imperative that you focus on the conversion rate of the website as much as the number of conversions on your website. Reports which will help you understand where your users are dropping off and where you probably need to do a quick fix need to be generated regularly.

    Do not take an SEO any less seriously than earlier

    SEO is still one of the primary factors that will give you a long-term arbitrage on your cost per sale or cost of acquisition. This is primarily because when you are spending a lot of money in your acquisition campaigns using advertising models there is a very good chance that your organic growth will help you lower the overall cost for acquisition in your acquisition spree and help you remain sustainable in the long term. In our experience working with several D2C businesses, long-tail keywords with high intent and medium competition work best.

    Social Media Marketing

    Connecting with your customers is going to be much more important in 2022. With customers determining the persona of a brand depending on the kind of content they publish on their social media handles. If you want to be a cool brand you will have to have cool content on your social media channels for your customers to take interest and be connected to your brand in the long term. Start talking to your customers like a real person and not a suited-up brand.

    Similarly, the kind of influencers that your brand intends to associate with is going to matter a lot. The kind of content your influencers have been pushing is going to also affect the kind of personality you’re going to build for your brand in front of your customers. Personalisation, thought leadership, and focusing on building a strong brand image will separate you from the crowd.

    Being present omnichannel

    Being present omnichannel is going to be as important in 2022 as never before. This is primarily because of the kind of user behaviour that customers today have started from checking out a product online but probably going off-line and purchasing the product. You have to be in sight so that you are in the top of mind recall for your customers And hence being available at their favourite offline or local stores is going to impact your sales numbers more than ever.

    Creative Packaging

    Having great packaging for your products will be important. This is primarily because no matter how good or bad the eventual product is, the way it is packaged paints the first impression for the customer.

    (Deep Mehta is the co-founder of DigiChefs. The views expressed in this column are personal, and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)