Tag: Google

Mahesh Narayanan joins Tonic Media’s advisory board

Mumbai: Digital agency Tonic Media has appointed of Mahesh Narayanan to its advisory board. Formerly with Google India as Mobile country head, Narayanan is credited with taking mobile advertising in India to the next level and also seen as one of the pioneers in the digital media space.

Commenting on the new appointment, Tonic Media CEO Chetan Asher said, “Tonic has been growing at an incredible momentum and it is time we took it to the next level with a vision of dominating the digital space. We are honored to have someone of Mahesh’s stature bringing his invaluable experience. Together, we can add value to our clients’ businesses with new brand-building strategies.”

Narayanan comes with over 15 years of experience across businesses in the mobile, adtech and consumer internet spaces. Speaking on this development, he stated, “Tonic Media has been successful in establishing themselves as a digital powerhouse with a great roster of clients across various industries. I look forward to sharing my technology and digital advertising experience with the Tonic team to help them become market-leaders.”

Narayanan has held various senior leadership positions across global technology media companies such as Google, AdMob and Sociomantic. He spent seven years at Google India as the founding member of Google India’s direct sales operations in 2005 and helped lay the architecture for the growth of Google in India. He joined AdMob as the Country Manager for India in 2009 and moved back to Google after the acquisition of AdMob.

He was named the Mobile Marketing Person of the Year at the Indira Marketing Excellence awards in 2011 and has also been featured in the Digital Power 100 list as one of the icons of India’s Digital ecosystem in 2012 by Impact – a leading advertising, media and marketing publication.

December 17, 2014
GOSF: Bringing out the shopping bug

MUMBAI: The e-commerce sector is booming and how. The very purple patch, every now and then, gets a boost with OTT sale bonanzas.

The addictive online shopping portals lured customers through Big Billion Sale or Diwali Dhamaka Week throughout this year, but the icing on the cake has been the Google promoted Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF).

The 72 hour shopping festival was expected to bring out the crazy shopaholic within us all, and if stats are to be believed then it has succeeded in many ways. For instance, in December LimeRoad, witnessed explosive growth that sent its implied revenue run rate shooting up to Rs 450 crore on the first day of GOSF 2014 – this despite the platform being only focused on women.

Quick deliveries, cash on delivery, and big deals have made it hard for even non-shoppers to resist the temptation to shop online.

The portals too are glad to have made the most of it.

“Successful in creating a delightful shopping frenzy, Google Online Shopping Festival this year has witnessed a great response from the consumers. Three days of this shopping carnival is not less than some annual festival that customers await around this time of the year. On the first day itself, we have observed an extraordinary leap with our revenue rising four times compared to our sales on any regular day. There has been a rise in revenue from mobile at least by six times as compared to the last GOSF. Even the traffic from GOSF on the website has significantly risen by eight times as compared to the last year. This tremendous excitement shown by our customers has made us open doors to some of the best offers from exclusive brands like River Island, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge and more. All in all, we are geared to double the excitement and make this festival bigger, better and brighter like never before,” said Jabong.com founder and MD Praveen Sinha.

Added, LimeRoad founder and CEO Suchi Mukherjee, “Whilst the growth in sales is interesting and a reflection of our non-linear growth curve throughout the rest of this year, we are super delighted both at the scale and at the trajectory of our organic traffic.”

Speaking about the response on GOSF 2014, CouponDunia.in CEO and founder Sameer Parwani said, “So far we have seen a very good response to GOSF. Our traffic increased 4X as compared to the daily traction on the website. There was a massive spike as soon as GOSF started during midnight however the traffic peaked the highest on the first day of GOSF during lunch hours.”

However, he believes that GOSF 2014 was comparatively lukewarm if 2013 edition is taken into account. One of the reasons for this is the kind and number of deals merchants provided compared to GOSF last year or even for that matter deals during Diwali, a few months back. “GOSF 2014 deals were both, less in number and not providing as deep discounts as we’d expected. Also some of the bigger players, have already exhausted their best offers due to their own festivals like Flipkart’s Big Billion Day, Amazon’s Appiness day and Snapdeal’s ongoing 9am to 9pm shopping fest. Most of them have offered almost 40-50 per cent discounts on regular days or their special days, so they do not have anything bigger than that to offer at the moment.”

He also added, “As a result of frequent online shopping festivals, these festivals are no longer a novelty factor for the consumer. They have higher expectations and expect the best from everyone and are not impressed easily now it is the e-tailer’s turn to come up with better and bigger deals every festival to meet these demands and expectations.”

December 12, 2014
‘GroupM Circuit Colombo 2014’ to pave the way for the newest phase in media

MUMBAI: Global digital expert and leading media innovator GroupM on Tuesday announced ‘GroupM Circuit Colombo 2014,’ which will take place in Colombo on 4 December, featuring an impressive line-up of speakers and a comprehensive programme.

GroupM Circuit will be a platform to discuss the future of digital marketing featuring speakers from digital powerhouses Google, Facebook, Xaxis and GroupM. The event will be held at Park Street Mews and will be attended by heads of organisations and heads of marketing of top corporates.

GroupM chief operating officer Sabry Haniz affirmed: “The potential of digital is yet to be fully realised. GroupM will be connecting the digital circuit in Sri Lanka and pave the way for the newest phase in media. We are looking forward to opening minds, inspiring new methods of connecting with audiences, and taking the industry to a whole new playing field.”

Emphasising the group’s commitment to innovation, GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas commented: “Digital media is gaining popularity all across Asia and it is becoming imperative for brands to go digital. GroupM has been at the forefront of shaping the digital media landscape globally and here in Asia. Through this initiative we hope to answer some of the questions marketers have about digital and share some best in class case studies from around the world.”

The opening keynote on the ‘Impact of Digital in Today’s World’ will be delivered by Google India director for ecommerce and online classifieds Nitin Bawankule. A panel discussion on Multi Screen Planning and its relevance to Sri Lanka will follow.

Xaxis India director Atique Kazi will speak on ‘Programmatic that works – The Basics, The Opportunities and The Pitfalls!’ Kazi will shed light on the basics of the subject while explaining how to leverage programmatic advertising, demystify programmatic, dispel misconceptions, and provide pointers to making programmatic work.
A panel discussion on ‘Comparing ROI of Digital Media to Traditional Media’ will follow. Despite digital media being a buzzword within the industry for a number of years, only a handful of brands have tapped its inherent potential; too often, it is a last minute add-on to a media plan. This discussion will plumb the depths of this topic, comparing the ROI between traditional media and its digital counterparts.

GroupM India Social Practice Head Karthik Nagarajan will address the topic: ‘Can Social have a Strategy?’ While going viral is the marketer’s dream, the internet is a graveyard of many such initiatives. This session will analyse the success of some of the most socially-active brands globally and delve into their strategies through case studies.
His session will be followed by a panel discussion on ‘The Value of an Online Influencer’. Trends in data suggest that the modern consumer is increasingly wary of an advertiser’s promise, relying more on external recommendations, which are perceived to be unbiased. The discussion will explore the value of an online influencer to a brand, and how best to leverage a positive review, and manage negative sentiments.

Facebook Global Marketing Solutions Agency Head Vidyadhar Kale will discuss ‘From Mobile Marketing to Marketing in a Mobile World’. He will explore mobility and how it will be the driving force for Facebook, and digital media overall. The address will include data on Sri Lankans and mobile trends.

The panel discussion ‘What’s Next in Digital?’ will evaluate the receptiveness of the relatively conservative Sri Lankan audience and will explore both, a forecast for digital media in Sri Lanka, as well as how communications teams can best exploit these trends. This will be followed by the keynote panel discussion moderated by GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas on ‘Marketing in the Digital Age,’ as he speaks to leading marketers across brands in Sri Lanka on their experienced with digital media and advertising.

The GroupM Circuit Colombo will also feature an interactive ‘Experiential Zone’ by Crossworks Digital Experiential Lab showcasing state of the art technology for participants to experience first hand. The inspiring collection will include a Holobox display unit, a Directional speaker, Marker based AR on brochures and magazines, a Digital Sampling Tray, an Oculus rift, a Virtual Wardrobe, a Recipe Vending machine, and a Magic screen.

December 2, 2014
Online shopper base in India to reach 100 million by 2016

MUMBAI: Convenience and variety is what today’s shoppers look for. And the platform giving them these both is e-commerce.

As per Google in its annual online shopping growth trends report, consumer confidence to shop online will only continue to rise and India will have 100 million online shoppers by 2016.

The report compiled by combining an extensive research conducted by Forrester Consulting and Google search trends revealed that India’s e-tailing market is at an inflection point and will see rapid growth to become a $15 billion market by 2016.

The research conducted by Forrester Consulting by interviewing 6859 respondents covering both online buyers and non-buyers in 50 cities/towns, found out that online shoppers base will grow three times by 2016, and over 50 million new buyers will come from tier I and II cities. The confidence to shop online was on the rise as 71 per cent non-buyers from tier I and II cities said they plan to shop online in next 12 months. The findings also revealed that women buyers in tier I cities were more engaged in online shopping, and outspend men by double. Women were also responsible for driving growth in categories like apparels, beauty & skincare, home furnishing, baby products and jewellery.

Over 60 per cent respondents also felt that buying online was directly correlated with social status. Mobile phones emerged as an important access device for online shoppers with one out of three online buyers transacting on their mobile phones in tier I and II cities. In tier III cities, one in two buyers said they use mobile phones to purchase products online. This was also reflected in Google search trends with mobile phones queries growing three times in last three years. Today, over 50 per cent of shopping queries were coming from mobile phones; this share was as low as 24 per cent just two years back.

Google India local and classified ecommerce industry director Nitin Bawankule said, “The consumer confidence to shop online has grown significantly in last year and a half, and our objective was to understand the factors that are driving this growth and arrive at indicators that will help propel the Industry forward. As the report indicates, behavior of Indian online buyer is fast mirroring buyers in more developed markets as more subjective product categories have started to see significant growth. The e-tailing Industry needs to act now to cater to this strong user growth trend. Improved customer experience across all touch points, easy to use mobile apps can create a strong pull for non-buyers to shop online in tier I and II cities. Women buyers are set to become the most significant contributor to the growth of online shopping and there is a huge opportunity waiting to be unlocked in this user segment.”

Amongst the challenges, 62 per cent buyers said they were not satisfied with their online shopping experience. 67 per cent buyers also highlighted that the current return process was too complicated and expensive. Trust was a major issue with non buyers, 55 per cent non buyers did not trust the quality of products sold online, 63 per cent said they were concerned about the safety of transacting online and 65 per cent said, they don’t feel comfortable sharing personally identifiable information online. 66 per cent of total respondents said that poor connectivity was also a major barrier for them to shop online.

November 21, 2014
Mobile trumps desktop as 55 lakh consumers visit the Grand Diwali Mela!

Mumbai: The Grand Diwali Mela organised by GroupM in association with Google, Amazon.in, LINE, Games2Win and Hungama.com was a runaway success, attracting over 55 lakh visitors. The first of its kind initiative by GroupM to take the offline concept of Diwali Mela to an online destination was a hit with users across India. The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ saw very high engagement with users, who spent time getting product samples @ Re.1, enjoying movies and videos, playing games and greeting each other via the LINE messenger. The number of visits on the virtual mela as well as time spent surpasses any offline brand activation initiative organised during the festival in India.

The ‘Grand Diwali received an overwhelming response with over 55 lakh visitors,the majority of which came from mobile phones with over 45% women visitors!. On October 24th, Diwali day, the mela received over 4.6 lakh visitors! In all mela visitors spent over 125,000 hours browsing various brand and entertainment stalls in the mela besides which many more hours were spent on partner sites – Amazon.in, Games2win and Hungama.com. Interestingly almost half the visitors discovered the mela through Search and LINE Messenger.

The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ emerged as the largest online sampling platform for brands. Over 150,000 samples were shipped across India, with 70% samples going to Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The samples ranged from skincare and household products relevant to both men & women. To celebrate the partnership LINE Messenger came out with a set of special edition stickers for the ‘Grand Diwali Mela’. More than 5 million ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ stickers were exchanged in during this festive season, as visitors wished friends and family via the LINE platform.

Popular Diwali games like Rummy and the Diwali Chakri kept people engaged and entertained with over 36 lakh game plays. Diwali Chakri which was a special game launched by Games2Win to celebrate Grand Diwali Mela – saw over 1M plays!

On the success of the Grand Diwali Mela, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “We are excited about the success of the first Grand Diwali Mela. We were able to create a great platform for consumers to come and sample products and interact with brands. It is also heartening to see the reach of the virtual mela was not restricted to the metros but filtered down to smaller towns where the digital penetration is growing exponentially. We also have seen a distinct spike in access via mobile phones, a clear indicator that India is opening up readily to mobile data and communication.”

November 10, 2014
Google and partners launch www.hindiweb.com, Javadekar hails initiative

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has said the widespread use of mobile phone and internet is proof of the adaptive style and skills of people to successfully ensure the perfect blending between technology use and the masses at large.

The Indian mindset with its ingrained adaptive skills ensured the prolific use of technology across different sectors, blending with the needs and requirements of people related to information use.

Javadekar said this while launching the Indian Language Internet Alliance (ILIA), an initiative by Google and other Internet industry partners here today.

The Minister said the rise of internet was not a threat to traditional media platforms as all sectors of media had been growing rapidly and simultaneously along with the Internet. Javadekar extended the support of the government to the Alliance with key policy initiatives that would enable faster growth of Internet and mobile based services.

As the first initiative of the Alliance, the Minister launched the website www.hindiweb.com, which would be a platform for Hindi speaking internet users to discover Hindi content across websites, apps, videos and blogs. The new initiative would expedite good quality online-content generation in Indian languages and that it would provide an inclusive platform for non-English speaking users to break language-barriers and access online information easily, Javadekar added.

Indian Language Internet Alliance (ILIA), a consortium of 18 Internet industry partners along with Google, was committed to promote the growth of Indic-language content online which would enable 300 million Indian language speakers to become highly engaged in internet by 2017.

November 3, 2014
Government to issue advisory over usage of social media

NEW DELHI: The government is expected to issue an advisory/circular with respect to government usage of social media over the internet.

This was indicated by additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain in the Delhi High Court during the hearing of a public interest litigation by former Bharatiya Janata Party leader K N Govindacharya challenging the use of private American-based sites such as Yahoo and Gmail for sending out government information.

Jain said, “Service categorised as sale of time and space for advertisements over Internet was earlier in negative list but with effect from 1 October 2014, it has been put back on the positive list and is now a taxable service.”

He said that he would on the next date of hearing on 28 November make a categorical statement with respect to taxation issue raised in the petition.

Meanwhile, the Court has asked why the use of private email accounts like Yahoo and Gmail by government officials should not be stopped as it would lead to public/official records being taken outside the country which is a violation of the law.

Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul said, “Public records are going outside India. Are you (Centre) willing to say there is no difficulty in government documents going to US servers? You should stop usage of non-NIC email accounts by government officers.

“On the one hand we are complaining against National Security Agency (of US) snooping and on the other hand, we are allowing it (public records) to go out.”

The court, however, took on record the submission of additional solicitor general (ASG) Sanjay Jain that “immediate steps will be taken to ensure there is no violation of Public Records Act with a view that all electronic official communication is not taken out of India, insofar as email communication of public records is concerned”.

The ASG also submitted in court that a draft email policy of the government has been finalised for presentation before the Cabinet in two to three weeks, and it only needs approval of the minister concerned.

The submissions were made in response to the query regarding the status of the government’s email policy and what would be the interim measures that would be put in place to prevent official records from going outside India till all the government departments are provided accounts in servers run by National Informatics Centre.

The ASG also said that they have increased capacity of NIC servers to handle one million accounts from the earlier limit of five lakhs and would be further expanding the same.

The Court agreed with contention of advocate Virag Gupta, appearing for Govindacharya that the Public Records Act does apply in the present case. “You cannot have it (public records going outside India), its against the law,” the bench said to the ASG.

Govindacharya in his PIL has sought that the government be directed to use only NIC servers for sending official emails, instead of using the services of foreign sites like Google and Yahoo.

The petition has contended that government departments like Delhi Police and the Indian Railways are not entitled to create accounts on social networking sites.

It has also sought recovery of taxes from the websites on their income from operations in India.

The petition has also alleged that the sites have no mechanism for protection of children from online abuse, claiming that children below 18 years are entering into an agreement with the social networking sites to open accounts, which is against the Indian Majority Act, the Indian Contract Act and also the Information and Technology Act.

Facebook and Google had earlier submitted affidavits in the court detailing the protective measures available on their sites to ensure their product is not misused. They had said their statement of rights and other terms and conditions prohibit children below 13 years of age from registering an account and creating more than one personal account.

They had said they also have strict policies in place to delete any objectionable or misleading content they come across on their sites.

The petition has alleged that due to non-verification of users, more than eight crore of Facebook users across the world were found to be “fake”, which the website admitted before a US authority.

November 3, 2014
Govt. denies reports of imposition of penalty on Google

NEW DELHI: The Government today clarified that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has not imposed any penalty on Google Inc. for allegedly failing to provide information in a probe into its alleged unfair trade practices in India.

It said that media reports on the order of the Commission being stayed by the Delhi High Court are erroneous, since no such penalty (reported by the media as Rs one crore) had been imposed.

The Corporate Affairs Ministry said the Writ Petition No. 7084 of 2014 was filed by Google Inc. with respect to the case No. 06 of 2014 in which CCI has not imposed any penalty and therefore there is no question of stay of penalty.

The case related to issue of confidentiality and an order was passed by the Court after hearing the Counsels of the parties.

Meanwhile, the Court last week restrained the CCI from disclosing any information, considered as confidential by Google Inc, during its probe into a complaint lodged by an entrepreneur who also runs a website.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru in his order also issued notice to CCI and sought its response within four weeks on the plea of Google Inc.

“In the meantime, it is clarified that any information if submitted to CCI as well as to the Director General by the petitioner Google Inc, which the petitioner considers to be confidential, shall not be disclosed to any party and shall be kept strictly confidential,” the court said, and fixed the plea for hearing on 9 March 2015.

Google said that it had challenged the jurisdiction of the CCI in its appeal relating to a complaint filed by entrepreneur Vishal Gupta before the panel.

“The CCI lacks the territorial jurisdiction” and therefore was wrong to order a probe against Google Inc, it said.

Google also said that its action to terminate AdWords account, meant to promote its Remote Tech Support services, of Vishal Gupta/Audney Inc has “no impact on competition in India” and it has “legitimately” been suspended.

October 21, 2014
Interbrand: Apple and Google continue to be the best global brands

MUMBAI: Continuing the trend, Apple and Google have claimed the top positions on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands ranking for the second year in a row followed by the well-known beverage brand Coca Cola, the business services company IBM and Microsoft, which recently acquired Nokia.

Valued at $118.9 billion, Apple (#1) increased its brand value by 21 per cent while Google (#2), which is valued at $107.43 billion, increased its brand value by 15 per cent.

“Apple and Google’s meteoric rise to more than $100 billion is truly a testament to the power of brand building,” said Interbrand global CEO Jez Frampton. “These leading brands have reached new pinnacles—in terms of both their growth and in the history of Best Global Brands—by creating experiences that are seamless, contextually relevant, and increasingly based around an overarching ecosystem of integrated products and services, both physical and digital.”

Also for the first time, Huawei (#94), the Chinese telecommunications and network equipment provider, makes Best Global Brands history as the first Chinese company to appear on Interbrand’s ranking with a brand value that exceeds $100 billion.

“The company is currently the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world—just behind Samsung and Apple. The Chinese brand is one of five new entrants to enter the Best Global Brands ranking this year—the others being DHL (#81), Land Rover (#91), FedEx (#92), and Hugo Boss (#97),” the press release said.
According to the report, the top risers in 2014 include Facebook (#29, +86%), Audi (#45, +27%), Amazon (#15, +25%), Volkswagen (#31, +23%), and Nissan (#56, +23%).

The world’s largest social network, Facebook continues to exceed expectations. Reported on its Q2 earnings call, income from its operations was a staggering $1.4 billion.

“Facebook’s acquisitions of messaging service WhatsApp for $19 billion and Oculus VR for $2 billion signal a new strategy unfolding. The company is building a vast product portfolio, brimming with competing services and apps,” the report stated.

Audi is another top-rising automotive brand in this year’s Best Global Brands report. It was a record-breaking year for the brand, having sold the greatest amount of cars in its history, and having achieved an operating profit of more than $6 billion.

The company also plans to invest more than $30 billion through 2018 in new products, technology, and production sites. Earlier this year, it also announced a partnership with Google, which will allow Audi drivers and passengers to use an Android-powered entertainment and information system that will run on the car’s hardware.

Another top riser, Amazon, ‘Earth’s most customer-centric company,’ with its commitment to responsiveness has become part of the brand’s mythos. It continues to grow its core business through services such as Amazon Prime, which, at one point, garnered more than a million subscribers in a single week, the report added.

While Volkswagen, one of this year’s top-rising Best Global Brands, is striving to become the world’s leading automaker by 2018, Nissan continues to drive up the Best Global Brands ranking with improved financial and brand performance.

On the other hand among the new entrants this year; DHL (#81) has opened a sea of opportunity for delivery and logistics companies whereas FedEx is also realigning its business to make the most of the booming e-commerce sector.

“As international online shopping continues to grow—and is poised to grow 200 percent in the next five years—brands like DHL and FedEx have made strides in bolstering their e-commerce capabilities,” the report reveals.

Among other findings, the research states, “This year, the collective brand value of the automotive brands appearing on the Best Global Brands ranking increased 14.6 percent. All 14 automotive brands collectively make up a combined brand value of $211.9 billion.”

This year’s top 14 automotive brands include: Toyota (#8, +20%), Mercedes-Benz (#10, +8%), BMW (#11, +7%), Honda (#20, +17%), Volkswagen (#31, +23%), Ford (#39, +18%), Hyundai (#40, +16%), Audi (#45, +27%), Nissan (#56, +23%), Porsche (#60, +11%), Kia (#74, +15%), Chevrolet (#82, +10%), Harley-Davidson (#87, +13%), and Land Rover (#91, new).

“The technology sector leads as the most valuable category overall. Legacy and one-time leading brands struggle to evolve at the pace of change,” the study adds.
Out of this year’s top 100 brands, 13 hail from the tech sector. The category as a whole grew 11.3 percent year-over-year, and collectively is worth $493.2 billion in brand value.

While Facebook (#29, +86%), Apple (#1, +21%), and Google (#2, +15%) represent this year’s fastest growing brands, a number of one-time leading brands experienced the steepest decline in brand value.

“Finnish communications and information technology provider Nokia (#98, -44%) experienced the largest decline in value among the top 100 brands, dropping from its #57 position in 2013 to #98 this year,” the survey discloses.

Against the backdrop of global economic recovery, financial services brands are also experiencing growth in brand value.

All 11 financial services brands appearing on this year’s Best Global Brands ranking increased in brand value: American Express (#23, +11%), HSBC (#33, +8%), J.P. Morgan (#35, +9%), Goldman Sachs (#47, +3%), Citi (#48, +10%), AXA (#53, +14%), Allianz (#55, +15%), Morgan Stanley (#63, +11%), Visa (#69, +10%), Santander (#75, +16%), and MasterCard (#88, +13%).

Started in 1974, Interbrand is a brand consultancy, with a network of 33 offices in 27 countries. It identifies the top 100 most valuable brands every year.

October 9, 2014
Lonely Planet India launches its digital campaign ‘India Unexplored’

MUMBAI: Lonely Planet India has launched ‘India Unexplored’, an exciting new digital campaign to find the best hidden spots and experiences throughout the country. Hosted on the Lonely Planet India website (www.lonelyplanet.in) and promoted on social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Instagram, ‘India Explored’ will see participants submit their discoveries of lesser known destinations across India. This is a 45 day digital campaign that launches on 4 October 2014 and will be live until 17 November 2014.

This is an application-based campaign hosted on www.lonelyplanet.in. The URL is unexplored.lonelyplanet.in

‘India Unexplored’ is a pan-India digital campaign by Lonely Planet India where participants can submit their discoveries of lesser known destinations under the following special themes:

.   SEE: This special theme is all about sharing lesser known and unexplored beaches, hill stations, mountains and interesting places to visit in our country, including natural and man-made attractions.

.   DO: In this special theme, the participants will share their adventure endeavours and experiences such as paragliding, skiing, rafting or trekking etc.

.   EAT: Here participants will share places which are interesting to eat at.

.   SHOP: This special theme is for the participants to share their experiences and memories at shops and markets from offbeat places in India.



To participate in the ‘India Unexplored’ campaign, one must submit a discovery about a destination in the country. This destination should be listed on Google Maps. Participants can submit details about the place, images and videos about the destination. The entries will then be moderated by Lonely Planet. Each of the entries that are eligible to be published on the website will be allocated points. On the basis of the number of points earned, the 3 mega winners will be decided. There will be a panel of 3 judges including travel experts to select the winners of India Unexplored campaign. The winners will be picked on the basis of ratings given by the judges who will judge the entries basis parameters such as nature and uniqueness of the location of discovery/ entry, quality of content in the description, image aptness and quality, frame and creativity in the image caption and video relevance and quality as well as visual content.

Skyscanner, a leading global travel search site has come on board as the title sponsor for Lonely Planet’s India Unexplored campaign. There are also various prize sponsors including F&D Audio, Joy Resorts and Hotels, Linger Guesthouses, Outdoor Travel Gear, Polaris India, Pugdundee Safaris, Skybags and Wrangler.

There are hosts of prizes to be won, participants can win prizes as per the following:

. 45 early bird prizes for those first set of discoverers submitting approved discoveries. Winners will be announced on 13 October 2014.

. 18 prizes for the mini contests on Lonely Planet India’s social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram

. Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd winner of each of the special themes ( SEE, DO, EAT and SHOP).

. Prizes for the best image shared, best video shared and best trekking discovery.

. Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd all round mega winners. Winners for special themes and the mega winners will be announced on 1 December 2014

October 9, 2014