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Tag: Kotak Mahindra Group

  • Kotak banks on dentsu X for fresh media strategy across all platforms

    Kotak banks on dentsu X for fresh media strategy across all platforms

    MUMBAI: When Kotak Mahindra Group went shopping for a new media partner, Dentsu X India cashed in. After a tightly contested multi-agency pitch, the banking and financial services giant has handed over its integrated media mandate to Dentsu X, which will service the account from its Mumbai office.

    The win is no small deal Dentsu X will now drive the full-funnel media strategy for all of Kotak’s key businesses, including Kotak Mahindra Bank, Kotak Mutual Fund, Kotak Securities, and Kotak Life Insurance. The scope spans the big four channels television, print, radio, and digital branding ensuring the bank’s message cuts across audiences, platforms, and generations.

    Known for blending tech, culture, and data to reimagine customer experiences, Dentsu X promises to deliver “outcome-driven solutions” that accelerate Kotak’s marketing and business ambitions. With India’s banking sector doubling down on digital transformation, the collaboration aims to make finance not just accessible, but engaging for the country’s increasingly aspirational consumer base.

    Dentsu X India CEO Sujata Dwibedy, called the mandate a “strong testament” to the agency’s agility and integrated offering: “We are truly honoured to partner with a legacy brand like Kotak Mahindra Group. Our future-facing approach will help drive stronger visibility, engagement, and impact across platforms.”

    For Kotak, it’s more than just a media deal, it’s about banking on storytelling that resonates in an always-on, attention-fractured world.

  • Golden words, golden futures as KEF bets big on real stories of change

    Golden words, golden futures as KEF bets big on real stories of change

    MUMBAI: What do golden tickets and scholarships have in common? For hundreds of bright young minds, it’s the chance of a lifetime and Kotak Education Foundation (KEF) is spotlighting that connection with heart and purpose. Celebrating MSME Day 2025, KEF has rolled out a compelling campaign titled “Future Ka Golden Ticket” to raise awareness about its flagship Kotak Junior Scholarship.

    Featuring real-life beneficiaries, the integrated campaign draws from actual stories of Mumbai’s promising students whose lives have been transformed through KEF’s support. From bus shelters and cab panels to guerrilla tricycle activations in underserved areas, the visuals and the message go straight to the heart.

    But KEF isn’t just offering financial aid. It’s going the extra mile with what it calls “beyond scholarship” initiatives mentorship, academic assistance, and life-skills training designed to ensure holistic development. And the campaign, by putting real faces to these efforts, doubles down on trust and relatability.

    “We’ve seen how ambition alone isn’t enough. What changes lives is access and zidd,” said a KEF spokesperson, echoing the foundation’s “Inch Wide, Mile Deep” philosophy that underpins every intervention across Maharashtra and Gujarat.

    With three core verticals, school interventions, equitable scholarships, and vocational training, KEF’s initiatives have touched thousands. From building teacher capacity and improving English fluency in middle schools to supporting model schools at the district level, the impact is both broad and deep.

    In numbers, KEF’s scholarship portfolio includes:

    .  Kotak Junior Scholarship for students in Mumbai’s low-income schools pursuing Class 11 & 12.

    .   Kotak Kanya Scholarship (launched in 2021) for meritorious girls nationwide in higher education.

    . Project Unnati, which coaches unemployed youth in IT, spoken English, and life skills, guaranteeing placements to help them step into the workforce confidently.

    With this new campaign, KEF is looking not just to inspire, but to scale with an eye on systemic reform. The focus is shifting from school-level impact to district and state-level education transformation. The next frontier? Impact at Scale.

    As the CSR arm of Kotak Mahindra Group, Kotak Karma’s efforts through KEF are rooted in the belief that education is the greatest equaliser and in this campaign, every story told is another step toward levelling the playing field.

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  • Fixing social media marketing for brands

    Fixing social media marketing for brands

    MUMBAI: With social media becoming the buzzword for brands over the last one year, most chief marketing officers have now either created a presence for their brands on social media or are considering plunging into social platforms. However, the marketing community has still not been able to quantify the effectiveness of social media.

    The speakers at the 8th Marketing conclave 2012, organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), offered valuable insights to CMOs on social media. The panel consisted of LIC India executive director Usha Sangwan, Kotak Mahindra Group head marketing Karthi Marshan, Shoppers Stop customer care associate and vice president- marketing and loyalty Vinay Bhatia, head branding & marketing communication Alok Saraogi Ashok Leyland and Group M national director social and insights Karthik Nagarajan. The session was moderated by IBM India/South Asia chief marketing officer Virginia Sharma.

    Sharma said, “CMOs need to acquaint themselves with technology and social media as their roles change towards becoming a Chief Marketing Technologist. Marketers need to be authentic when communicating with customers via social media.”

    It was also opined that companies should use negative feedback on social media as an opportunity to convert negative commentators for the brand into advocates by responding to complaints effectively on an open platform.

    Bhatia said, “There should be one single team that is responsible for responding to the feedback of the customers. This team may take guidance from the various departments, but the communication to the consumer should be handled by this one team along with certain protocols according to the individual company’s policy.”

    The speakers were unanimous in agreeing that social media needs to be customer centric in its approach and all digital medium needs to reflect the same thought process. The medium today is a vital tool for a consumer focused brand to speak and engage its target audience. However for it to be effective CMOs need to realise that it is different from advertising. For a brand to build a social tribe of online advocates and influencers it needs to have individual conversations between its consumers and itself.

    Sangwan said, “Social media is a platform to connect with youth, understand them and present the USPs of your brand to add value to the target audience. We at LIC understand that today‘s generation believes in happy healthy fulfilling life as well as financial freedom, and our brand LIC stand for the same. Accordingly all our social campaigns have been based on this insight which has helped us to engage customers in a meaningful way.”

    Marshan offered, “Marketers should remember that when your customer comes online to your website, he has already chosen your brand. Most of the times he or she visits the site to get answers to specific questions. Instead of trying to sell your brand in this case, address this query upfront rather than have him/her search for it.”

    Another pertinent point that came through was that a brand needs to be sure of its identity and the social media campaign should be an extension of that identity. A brand need not reinvent itself solely for using the social media domain.

    Agreeing to this point of view, Saraogi opined, “One must also remember that the entire organisation needs to be mature enough to handle the consequences of using the social media. The maturity of the medium and the users should also be kept in mind while operating in the online space.”

    The panelists agreed that while being online is definitely the thing to do, each brand also needs to back its online performance by offline services and follow-ups. Only an integrated approach to social media marketing can bear the fruits it seems to promise.