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Tag: marketing

  • Mzaalo launches AVOD platform

    Mzaalo launches AVOD platform

    New Delhi: Mzaalo, a blockchain-based video streaming application today announced the launch of its AVOD platform. The gamified video ecosystem is designed to reward consumers for viewing content on the platform. Mzaalo's system is secured by blockchain, trusted infrastructure for content and brands to own engagement and commerce for their users.

    The AVOD platform offers consumers 50,000+ hours of premium content from over 25 content partners. The content library features a mix of Bollywood and regional movies, original series, music videos, linear television programing and more that will be available in Hindi and nine other Indian regional languages. 

    The wide-ranging content catalogue will attract users who can enjoy an immersive experience in which they can earn for watching content, interacting with the community, inviting friends as well as sharing, liking, and commenting on social media platforms. The process of watching content and being incentivized in the form of blockchain-based rewards adds to Mzaalo's credibility in building engagement, loyalty and driving growth. 

    The earned reward coins are stored in the users' digital wallets and can be spent on premium experiences, physical merchandise, partner products and services, digital goods, games, and charitable giving. Mzaalo plans to on-board established brand partners spanning across range of categories such as health & fitness, fashion, accessories, electronics, travel, wellness, and much more.

    Mzalo COO Vikram Tanna said, "Technology is increasingly becoming the centre of every human interaction. Also, brands today are adopting to innovate and engage with users by creating bespoke, experiences without disrupting the entertainment journey. Mzaalo’s consumer-centric ecosystem is the first to reward consumers for their time and attention. Moreover, our engagement algorithm is designed for advertisers to build valuable user–brand experiences based on data transparency and privacy.”

    Mzaalo has conducted consumer research across the country to understand user sentiments towards sharing personal data on various platforms and the process of selecting winners and rewarding customers. Understanding the requirement of user privacy and data protection, Mzaalo created an ecosystem that addresses consumers' needs by providing a rewarding entertainment experience in a trusted environment.  

    Mzaalo shall adopt a secured Decentralized Ledger Technology (DLT) to establish a trusted entertainment ecosystem where participants derive value from their contribution to the network. Additionally, users will be empowered to take control of their digital identity and shall be gratified for valuable behavior such as providing engagement on the platform through recommendations and for bringing peers onto it.

  • Chrome DM week 42: Youth genre emerges as top gainer

    Chrome DM week 42: Youth genre emerges as top gainer

    NEW DELHI: Youth genre is the top gainer for week 42, 2020 of Chrome Data Analytics and Media data, with a strong growth of 4.01 per cent.

    In this genre, MTV has gained the highest OTS with 89.6 in the HSM excl < 1 market. OTS is the actual census-based percentage connectivity of a channel spread across 81 million homes, as reported by Chrome DM, across analogue cable, digital cable, and DTH.

    This week, Hindi movies genre has emerged as a close second on top gainers list with a growth of 0.94 per cent in the six metros market. In this category, B4U Kadak has gained the highest OTS with 93.8 per cent.

    Read more coverage on ChromeDM

    Among other genres, sports, kids, Hindi GEC, English GEC and religious have grown negligibly by 0.94, 0.69, 0.25, 0.20 and 0.19 per cent respectively.

  • Bharti Airtel revenues jump 22 per cent in Q2

    Bharti Airtel revenues jump 22 per cent in Q2

    NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel announced its highest ever consolidated quarterly revenue, reporting a 22 per cent jump driven by higher tariffs and a rise in data usage from a Covid2019-fuelled shift to remote working. 

    India revenues for the quarter ended 30 September was at Rs 18,747 crore year on year while mobile revenues grew by 26 per cent. As a result, average revenue per user for the quarter rose to Rs 162, from Rs 128 last year. 

    Consolidated net loss for the quarter came in at Rs 763 crore, compared with a loss of Rs 23,045 crore a year earlier.

    The company has continued to garner a strong share of the 4G net adds in the market. 4G data customers increased by 48.1 per cent to 152.7 million compared to the previous year while traffic increased to 77.3 PB/day vs 48.9 PB/day in the corresponding quarter last year. Consolidated mobile data traffic was at 7,403 PBs in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 58.8 per cent. 

    As for engagement parameters, average data usage per data subscriber stood at 16.0 GBs/month; while voice usage was at 1,005 mins per user per month.

    Homes business segment witnessed a revenue growth of 7.3 per cent YoY. The company added over 129,000 customers during the quarter to reach a total base of 2.58 million. It re-calibrated its offering and launched Xstream bundled with content and unlimited internet to accelerate penetration. The company signed on many more LCO partnerships in non-wired cities, extending the model to 48 cities. The company also focused on fast-track network expansion by rolling out fibre home passes and upgrading existing copper network during the quarter.  

    Airtel Business clocked a growth rate of 7.5 per cent YoY, driven by data demand across global business and enterprise and government business. To further leverage growth from “Work from Home”, Airtel BlueJeans, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and Airtel IQ were launched to meet the specific needs of B2B customers.

    Airtel MD & CEO India & South Asia Gopal Vittal said, “Despite being a seasonally weak quarter, we delivered a strong performance with revenue growing at 22 per cent YoY. In the mobile segment, we added over 14 million 4G customers and grew revenues by 26 per cent. Our data consumption grew by 58 per cent YoY which reflects strong  engagement of customers on our network. Other lines of business also continued with steady  growth momentum, with Airtel Business growing 7.5 per cent YoY.”

    Digital TV witnessed a growth of 1.9 per cent YoY on an underlying basis, on the back of strong customer additions of 549,000 during the quarter. Airtel continued to expand its channel portfolio and is also working with educational institutions to broadcast classes to students to ensure education is not disrupted.

    In the digital services segment, Airtel now has 160 million digitally engaged users. On Wynk, it’s now #1 in terms of MAUs (59.3 million in Q2’21) with an addition of 9 million during the quarter; Thanks platform has 81.6 million MAUs in Q2, with an addition of 8 million and Airtel Xstream is at 33.7 million MAUs, addition of 8 million users during the  quarter. 

     Consolidated EBITDA witnessed an increase of 32.6 per cent YoY to Rs 11,848 crore in Q2’21. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin from 42.3 per cent in Q2’20 to 46.0per cent in Q2’21. Incremental EBITDA margins across businesses remained healthy, with mobile services EBITDA improving from 36.3 per cent in Q2’20 to 42.6 per cent in Q2’21. 

  • CEAT appoints HUL’s Priya Nair as additional director

    CEAT appoints HUL’s Priya Nair as additional director

    KOLKATA: Tyre manufacturer CEAT has appointed Hindustan Unilever Limited’s Priya Nair as additional director in the capacity of independent director. Her appointment is effective from 27 October, for a tenure of five years.

    Nair is vice president – beauty and personal care at Unilever South Asia, where she's responsible for the business across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Her duties include business delivery on top line and bottom line by creating and delivering a strategic plan for the business. She has also served as executive director of the home care segment at HUL.

    She has led sustainability initiatives for HUL with a focus on the WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) programme for the company. Reaching over 140 million people under the Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative, it educates consumers to adopt three clean habits of washing hands with soap, drinking clean purified water and using a clean toilet.

    One of the most influential women marketeers in India, Nair was invited by Niti Aayog to participate in the Champions of Change programme.

  • Sweet success: How Apis is achieving its B2C goals through IPL

    Sweet success: How Apis is achieving its B2C goals through IPL

    NEW DELHI: If a brand wants to reiterate its positioning or share new positioning; introduce a new product/service or range; induce high brand recall or saliency, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the perfect platform for it. The cricket extravaganza attracts undivided attention from millions of fans across the country, on both television and mobile screens.

    Homegrown brand Apis, a name to reckon with in organised honey trade in the country, took a cue from the above insight and decided to introduce itself to the pan-India audiences via IPL. The brand has partnered with Rajasthan Royals as an associate sponsor and is the leading headgear partner for the team.

    Until 2015, Apis was mostly into B2B exports of honey and domestic private labels, but then it decided to foray into the B2C space as well. The nearly century-old brand – specializing in honey, tea, cookies, pickles, jam, dates, preserves – raked in Rs 102 crore in revenue for the fiscal year 2018-19. 

    Apis was keen on making its debut with IPL due to its mass viewership but had been unable to do so before because of the tournament’s timing.

    “IPL has always been scheduled in the April-May period, which is not a key advertising season for brands like us. This year it coincides with our critical advertising period and we feel it is the right time for us to associate with the tournament,” said Apis CEO Pankaj Mishra.

    The brand has planned a strong foray into the B2C space by leveraging IPL to create an impact on the minds of consumers, and thereby improve brand recall. “The goal of the collaboration is to strengthen brand value and recall by engaging with a vast consumer base. The brand logo on the team's helmet is aligned with the overall brand narrative of ‘Immunity Building’ being a necessity,” explained Mishra.

    He went on to say that during the pandemic health has taken centre stage in everyone’s lives. As a result, people are rediscovering honey as an effective natural therapy, capable of reducing acute inflammation and boosting immunity.

    The association of the honey brand with health benefits will be amplified with a 360-degree campaign and marketing mediums covering television, print as well as digital and social media platforms, he added.

    To this end, the brand is holding contests on its socials and creating content to engage with the audience. It has also signed on for digital promotions across cricket affinity platforms like Hot Star, Cricbuzz and Gaana.com.

    Simultaneously, Apis is working to release a TVC that will push the brand messaging. “The brand will spend 60-70 per cent of the marketing budget on digital media, followed by the other mediums of communication,” Mishra summed up.

    He was of the view that the brand’s tie-in with the IPL will also generate a massive reach and exposure not only at home but in the UAE market also.

    In the three years since its entry into the B2C segment, Apis has performed fairly well in terms of revenue, with the south Indian market being the strongest in terms of performance. Hence, the partnership with Rajasthan Royals was in aid of making a strong impact across various regions.

    On the back of strong consumer response, the company added four new categories to its product portfolio – Apis Fruit blast, Jams, Apis Pickles, Apis Preserves, and recently, Apis soya chunks during the last two years. It has plans to introduce more products in the coming years. 

    Delineating the overall objective, Mishra said: “The brand has plans to clock Rs 200 crores this fiscal. In spite of being the lean season, the first half of the fiscal has delivered good numbers and we expect a stronger operational performance. Now, as we are entering the higher consumption cycle for our product categories, we are planning new launches, thus adding on to the top line.”

    Apis’ association with the IPL is a smart move but the brand has to be very focused towards measuring the RoI. “Our aim is to gain an increase in brand awareness, increased engagement, brand loyalty and trust, which will thus get converted to sales. We will measure success on the basis of our increase in followers, engagement rate, reach, and impressions on social media. These marketing activities would help us in the sales of our products,” Mishra stated. 

    As per media reports, the honey market in India was worth Rs 15,579 million in 2018, registering a CAGR of 10.9 per cent during 2012-2018. The market is further projected to reach a value of Rs 28,057 million by 2024, at a CAGR of 10.2 per cent during 2019-2024. 

    An Apeda report stated that honey exports from India grew 19 per cent year-on-year in 2018-19 to 61,333 tons, valued at Rs 732.16 crore. In 2019-2020, the country exported 59,536.75 tons of natural honey to the world for the worth of Rs 633.82 crores.

  • Colgate Palmolive net profit for Q2 20 grew by 12.7%

    Colgate Palmolive net profit for Q2 20 grew by 12.7%

    New Delhi: Colgate-Palmolive (India) has reported net sales of Rs. 1,277.6 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, an increase of 5.3 per cent over the same quarter of the previous year.

    Domestic net sales for the quarter reported 7.1 per cent growth. Reported net profit after tax for the quarter was Rs. 274.2 crore as against the net profit of Rs. 244.1 crore for the same quarter of the previous year. Excluding the one-time impact of tax rate change in the previous year, the net profit growth is 32 per cent.

    H1 2020-21: Net sales for the half year ended September 30, 2020 was recorded at Rs. 2,311.3 crore, an increase of one per cent over the same period of the previous year. Reported net profit for the same period was Rs. 472.4 crore, an increase of 14 per cent over the preceding period.

    Dividend: The board declared a first interim dividend for the financial year 2020-21 of Rs. 18 per share of Re 1 each (face value). The dividend pay out to the shareholders will be Rs. 489.6 crore and will be paid on and from 17 November 17 2020 to those shareholders whose names are on the Register of Members of the Company as on 22 November 2020.

    Colgate Palmolive MD Ram Raghavan says, “We are very pleased with our performance as we continue to see momentum strengthening across the portfolio with domestic revenue growing at 7.1 per cent this quarter. Our resilience and disciplined approach to managing all revenue and cost drivers, despite all the uncertainties and challenges around us drove improvements in key financial metrics with gross margins and EBITDA at 67.9 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.

    We are pleased that we were able to increase shareholder value while we continue to drive innovation that meets the needs of our consumers. All categories saw positive growth this quarter with toothpaste continuing its accelerated performance, driven by strong brand fundamentals and household penetration. The quarter also saw some exciting innovation. We launched Colgate Visible White Instant, with its unique optical brighteners technology that starts whitening from the first brushing itself.

    The new Colgate Gentle line of toothbrushes offers an effective yet gentle clean. Launched across price points, it offers solutions to different consumer preferences. We also relaunched our flagship toothbrush, Colgate Zig Zag, with unique anti-bacterial bristle technology.

    Another first from our stable, was the launch of our Colgate Vedshakti mouth spray. A pocket sized solution that offers instant germ kill with a refreshing minty saunf flavour, that consumers love.

    Our sharp focus aimed at fulfilling demand and ensuring uninterrupted access ensured agile and innovative approaches, specifically in our supply chain and distribution efforts. As an organisation we continue to live our values and remain unwavering in our focus to improve the health and well-being of our consumers. We are thankful to our customers, business partners and employees for their continued support.”

  • HUL’s Profit for Q2 2020 grew by 8.7%

    HUL’s Profit for Q2 2020 grew by 8.7%

    HUL, the major FMCG major and a leading advertiser, has reported a profit of Rs 2,009 crore in the quarter ended September 2020, against the Rs 1848 crore in the same period last year recording a growth of 8.7 per cent.

    It was further reported that the overall sales grew by 16 per cent during the quarter. Underlying domestic quarter business sales also grew by three per cent during the quarter.

    The BSE filing further mentioned that the revenue from operations increased 16.1 percent to Rs 11,442 crore in Q2FY21 compared to Rs 9,852 crore in corresponding period last fiscal. EBIDTA for the quarter stood at Rs 2,869 crore against Rs 2,443 crore in same period last year. It grew by 17 per cent and margin improved by 30 bps.

    The profit after tax before exceptional items for the quarter stood at Rs 2,035 crore against Rs 1,832 crore in the same period last year. It grew by 11 per cent.

    The board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 14 per equity share of face value of Rs 1 each for the period ended September 2020.

    Read more news on HUL

    HUL CMD Sanjiv Mehta said, “In the context of a challenging economic environment, our growth has been competitive and profitable. We continue to demonstrate execution prowess, agility, adaptability, resilience and passion of our people. The company’s operations and service levels are now back to pre-Covid levels and they have accelerated the pace of digitizing the operations under the ‘re-imagine HUL’ agenda.”

    “The economic outlook has improved given the various initiatives taken by the government and Reserve Bank of India. In our sector, rural markets have been resilient but the demand in urban India, especially in metropolitan cities has been muted. We believe that the worst is behind us and we are cautiously optimistic on demand recovery,” he added.

    HUL shared that its household care segment delivered strong performance across all segments led by continued penetration gains. The brand has reduced the cost of fabric wash to pass on benefits of lower commodity costs to consumers. The category consumption of laundry has been adversely impacted due to confined living. “Continued focus on driving market development has enabled us to grow our liquids and fabric sensations segments strongly,” the filing further mentioned.

    The company’s skin cleansing segment grew in double digits on back of a very strong performance in ‘Lifebuoy’ and a good delivery in ‘Lux’.

    Its hand sanitizers and handwash segments continued to gain penetration and have delivered robust growths. Its oral care grew in double digits with accelerated momentum in ‘Close Up’, while hair care also grew in double digits. Its skin care brands ‘Glow & Lovely’ and ‘Glow and Handsome’ also continue to grow.

    Food, tea, coffee sustained the high growth momentum and grew in double digits. Its performance of nutrition business was competitive and disrupted supply lines were completely restored. However, ice creams, food solutions and vending machines continue to be impacted as the out-of-home consumption was affected.

    “Our strong savings funnel, judicious and calibrated pricing in tea, synergies in nutrition have enabled us to successfully manage headwinds of commodity inflation and adverse mix,” HUL said in a release.

    “We have significantly increased our investments behind our brands and our spends continue to be competitive,” it added.

    HUL commands a large portfolio of brands across categories and it is one of the largest advertisers of the country. 

  • Chrome dm week 41: Hindi News emerges as top gainer

    Chrome dm week 41: Hindi News emerges as top gainer

    NEW DELHI: Hindi News genre has become the top gainer in week 41, 2020 of Chrome Data Analytics and Media data, albeit with a marginal growth. The genre has grown by 0.30 per cent.

    In this genre, ABP News has gained the highest OTS with 99.9 in the HSM excl < 1 market. OTS is the actual census-based percentage connectivity of a channel spread across 81 million homes, as reported by Chrome DM, across analogue cable, digital cable, and DTH.

    This week, Religious genre has emerged as a close second on top gainers list with a growth of 0.23 per cent in the six metros market. In this genre, Sanskar has gained the highest OTS with 98.2 per cent.

    Read more coverage on ChromeDM

    As per the data, no other genres including Infotainment, English Movies, Hindi Movies and others have grown during this period. 

  • Mathrubhumi Group elevates Naveen Sreenivasan to head media solutions TRD

    Mathrubhumi Group elevates Naveen Sreenivasan to head media solutions TRD

    Kochi: Mathrubhumi elevates Naveen Sreenivisan as head media solutions TRD. In his new role, Naveen will be responsible for the management of sales and marketing functions of Mathrubhumi News Television Channel, Kappa TV, Club FM, and Mathrubhumi Digital.

    Naveen Sreenivasan said, “I am really excited to take on this responsibility. While the situation is challenging, we have a great team which is geared up to face it head on. Further, as a media group, we have always deeply connected with the social fabric of Kerala and have enjoyed the trust of Malayalees, which will help us in being the partner of choice for brands; for marketing/media solutions in Kerala.”

    An IIM Lucknow alumnus with extensive experience across industries and domains, in his earlier appointment with the group, Naveen was heading as a cluster head sales for Mathrubhumi daily and is credited with generating new innovative ideas and sales driven activities for the company. He will report to Mathrubhumi Group MD M V Shreyams Kumar.

  • Bata India initiates #Kickout2020

    Bata India initiates #Kickout2020

    NEW DELHI: The year 2020 has put a dampener on everyone’s spirit with most people having been confined to their homes for the major part of the year. However, to beat the pandemic blues and spread positivity, footwear major Bata India has launched its first big campaign of the year – #KickOut2020. The campaign launch is also accompanied by the launch of new collection – ‘Ready Again’, which comprises of a wide variety of footwear to go with every outfit and occasion. Casuals, festive, fitness, dress, fashion, you name it, the ‘Ready Again’ collection has all the comfortable & stylish designs.

    The new campaign urges everyone to kick out 2020 with it all its negativity, take things in their stride, and get ready once again to rejoice in the good times with friends and family, but of course within the purview of reason and safety. Through the campaign, Bata India seeks to boost consumer morale and motivate them to take charge of their lives once again and kick out the mundane blues that captivated lives for long. The brand also urges one and all to follow and ensure all the precautionary measures prescribed by the government and maintain social distancing.

    The ‘Kick Out 2020’ TVC, conceptualized by Contract Advertising features Kriti Sanon as she comes back home after shopping at a Bata Store and advises her brother that it is time to kick out 2020. As the TVC progresses, Kriti proceeds to showcase the different shoes she had bought for different occasions, and her excitement at having bought new shoes for working out to be fit, visiting friends and celebrating with family after so long, is quite palpable. She then presents her brother with his ‘new year’ gift-a stylish pair of shoes for his next date. The TVC ends with Kriti urging everyone to kick out 2020 with Bata’s new ‘Ready Again’ collection.

    Bata India VP marketing Anand Narang said, “As the Covidstorm continues, people have been stuck at home and adapting to a life of isolation and monotony. As they cope with the mental, physical and emotional stress, at Bata we wanted to inspire them to embrace positivity and focus on the better things in life, to start rebuilding their lives and the economy back. It is now time to kick out all the negativity and by naming our latest collection ‘Ready Again’, we wanted to remind everyone that it is time now to take charge of their lives again and get ready to welcome togetherness, happiness & celebrations. Being from the creative and innovation industry, we didn’t want to sit back and let life pass by. It’s time for brands & marketing fraternity to be original, be agile, to inspire, and remind people to adapt to the new normal and move ahead. We hope that the uplifting tone of the #Kickout2020 campaign along with the message to be Ready Again strikes an emotional chord with consumers, showing the humane &authentic side of the Bata brand.”

    Contract India CCO Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar said, “How do you get rid of the most despised year ever? Simple, you just Kickout 2020 and get ready again. That’s the idea behind this campaign. A simple idea that provokes you, makes you think and motivates you. An annual yearend campaign thus turned into something rather unforgettable by Bata India.”