ITV

Tag: marketing

  • Dailyhunt forges content partnership with Chennai Super Kings

    Dailyhunt forges content partnership with Chennai Super Kings

    NEW DELHI: Dailyhunt, a local language content discovery platform for Bharat, today announced CSK Originals – an exclusive and exciting content partnership with IPL favorites’ Chennai Super Kings. This partnership manifests as an exclusive hub on the Dailyhunt platform, giving users access to original CSK content packed with team photos, vignettes and videos. CSK Originals went live on Dailyhunt on 19 September 2020 and will continue to entertain through a six-month duration until 30 March 2021.

    Dailyhunt co-founder Umang Bedi said, “Sweet first victories deserve their attention and due. With spirits soaring high after their first game, we can’t think of a better way to salute Chennai Super Kings’ passion and never-say-die attitude – than bringing the best of cricket to the best in content.  This first-in-an-IPL opportunity is sure to be a fan favourite keeping users absolutely up to date and entertained.”

    Read more news on Dailyhunt

    Earlier this month, Dailyhunt also launched its made-in-India, short-video app. Josh, rich and diverse representation of India’s youth and the content that drives them, will allow short-video consumers and creators across Bharat to enjoy this collaboration too. The app (has) also launched a CSK contest on 28th September 2020 to keep the user josh running high and wide. Winners of this contest stand the chance to win authentic CSK merchandise worth INR 1 lakh.

    CSK CEO KS Viswanathan said, “This exciting partnership with Dailyhunt will enable exclusive CSK content reach far and wide. Being a franchise that values its fan base, we want our supporters to be up to date about the team.”

  • GoDaddy launches second phase Bijness Bhai campaign in India

    GoDaddy launches second phase Bijness Bhai campaign in India

    NEW DELHI: GoDaddy Inc, a company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, has launched the second phase of its marketing campaign for India – Bijness Bhai. This campaign continues the focus on encouraging small businesses in India to build a complete, integrated online business, and creates awareness about how GoDaddy’s online products and services can help them unlock success.

    GoDaddy’s current brand ambassador in India and one of the world’s most renowned cricketers, MS Dhoni, returns as the mentor Bijness Bhai, with twice the groove and charm. He will be seen encouraging small business owners, entrepreneurs and individuals across the country to take full advantage of owning a domain name by using it to create a website and getting a professional email, while maintaining a diverse social media presence to help achieve business success online. 

    In line with the company’s commitment to offer support in local languages, the marketing campaign will be available in seven Indian languages, including Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, to help spread the message to Indian small business owners and entrepreneurs across multiple geographies in the country.

    “As an aspiring entrepreneur myself, I understand the importance of being online to be able to sustain and grow amidst challenging and uncertain times, like we are experiencing right now. I’m super excited to be working with GoDaddy again as Bijness Bhai and help encourage more entrepreneurs, from across the country, to build a complete online solution for their businesses,” said MS Dhoni.

    Conceptualized by Tilt Brand Solutions, the campaign features two quirky television commercials (TVCs) with Dhoni as “Bijness Bhai”, a role model for entrepreneurs, makers and independent doers, who advises them to further advance their online journeys and grow their business by using GoDaddy’s online products and services. Through a fun, engaging narrative, the commercials bring alive GoDaddy’s proposition of being the ideal partner of the new India’s driven and advanced entrepreneurial and small business ecosystem.

    "We are extremely excited to again partner with MS Dhoni. Known for his 'cool' approach to complex and high-pressure situations, Mahi has been the perfect 'Bijness Bhai', guiding our customers on how to make their online businesses grow. By working with Dhoni, we wish to continue guiding and inspiring Indian entrepreneurs to follow their dreams and transform their business ideas into reality online,” said GoDaddy India MD and VP Nikhil Arora.

    “As businesses around the world are experiencing unprecedented impacts of COVID-19, we at GoDaddy stand committed to extend our support by helping them thrive online. Through this campaign and our association with Dhoni, we want to educate Indian entrepreneurs and small business owners about the benefits of going online especially during this current crisis, while demonstrating the power of our integrated suite of online products and services to help them create and grow their businesses online," Arora added.

    Currently. the two TVCs have been released on GoDaddy’s official online and social channels, and will be live across various channels including TV and other digital platforms, in the coming few days.

  • ITC urges consumers to munch on Bingo! during Dream11 IPL

    ITC urges consumers to munch on Bingo! during Dream11 IPL

    DELHI: Snacking enhances everyday moments and cricket fans love to munch on something while they are watching their favourite sport. Bingo! is the preferred snacking choice of millions of Indians, elevating their experience while they are glued to their screens from the comfort of their homes.

    The brand has crafted a new campaign which captures the association of Bingo! with match time in a fun and quirky way while reminding the consumers to grab a pack of their favourite snack as the match ‘starts’.

    Known for its distinct, clutter-breaking, youth-centric, witty communication, the new campaign ‘Match Start, Bingo! Start’ takes the consumers on an enthralling journey of a cricket fan who would drop whatever they are doing, the moment they hear a match ‘start’ to be glued to their screens while munching on Bingo!. Be it a romantic proposal, a youthful flirting moment, a friendly shoulder lent to clean the fan at home or a dentist ready to work on his patient’s teeth, everything takes a back seat when the match ‘starts’.  With the start of every match, munching on their favourite Bingo! snack has to start.

    Commenting on the campaign, ITC Foods spokesperson said, "Cricket in India is an extravaganza that brings individuals together from all walks of life to enjoy and experience an exciting game. At Bingo! our focus is to keep the fun and quirk alive in the lives of consumers. We hope that fans and consumers would enjoy the line-up of enlivening and fun-filled communication Bingo! has in store for the upcoming cricketing season. This year, fans will experience cricket differently, where their homes will turn into a virtual stadium while they enjoy every moment of the match on their screens. We, at Bingo! wanted to remind them of the lip-smacking experience they can enjoy within the safe confines of their homes, without losing out on their spirits, snacks or fun.”

    The campaign will be broadcast across television and digital media.

  • Why Zee Bangla’s Samrat Ghosh is looking forward to Durga Puja

    Why Zee Bangla’s Samrat Ghosh is looking forward to Durga Puja

    MUMBAI: Zee Bangla and Zee Bangla Cinema cluster business head Samrat Ghosh is really looking forward to the next couple of months, like almost everyone in the industry. A large part of 2020 has been a bit of a washout for the channels that he runs, at least in terms of the topline. But with west Bengal gearing up for Durga Puja, he is hoping to get his charges back on track.

    “The sentiment is quite upbeat as viewership is definitely soaring and brand spends are beginning to pick up,” says he with an encouraging smile. “I am hopeful that during the festive season advertisers will start spending to encourage consumption. Apart from the usual categories which advertise, we will see lot of automobile, consumer durable brands also opening their wallets. The local retail brands are also reviving and have started advertising.”

    For west Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Bihar and Jharkhand, Durga Puja is the time for denizens to do pooja in their homes, go on a spending spree buying new clothes, visit the pandals that pop up all over east India with kith and kin. Additionally it is also a time for gifting near and dear ones.

    Held over 10 days, it marks the victory of goddess Durga over the shape shifting asura, Mahishasura. Observers opine that Durga Puja has become a consumerist social carnival with brands going all out advertising as well as sponsoring local community events and pandals, as well spending big on television. A 2013 Assocham report estimated the Durga Puja festival pumps in close Rs 25,000 crore into the economy of the various states in which it is celebrated.

    Read more news on Zee Bangla

    Ghosh discloses that Bengali TV generate close to Rs 1,200 crore in ad spends annually; a large chunk of that comes during Durga Puja, especially for general entertainment channels (GECs).

    “If the advertiser wants to reach out to a consumer who is based out in Bengal, the local vernacular channels turn out to be much more effective in terms of reach,” he explains. “Hence, the GECs turn out to be reach builders in any of the media campaigns for the clients.”

    Thanks to the lockdown, the reach of GEC channels has further increased with male audiences also starting to spend more time in front of the television. Ghosh and team studied home bound viewers tastes and introduced content that kept them even more engaged with TV.

    “In the absence of original shows we came up with innovative content like comedy shows, and celebrity programs. We conducted various surveys to understand consumer sentiment and how their lives changed during pandemic. Later, we captured all those real-life stories and capsulated them in a show called Lockdown Diaries."

    However, with productions being allowed a couple of months ago, a fresh stream of content was churned out by production teams, who continue working in full swing with strict Covid2019 protocols in place, rolling out series that are keeping viewers glued to their TV sets.

    Pre-pandemic, he reveals, viewership was growing five to seven per cent in the state, whereas adex was swelling by 10-12 per cent. "I think it is a very healthy growth keeping in mind that many Bengali channels have been in existence for more than a decade," he states.

    Since the festivities are held with great pomp even in the neighbouring states of Bihar and Odisha, advertisers have been expressing keen their interest in reaching out to viewers in those markets too, he says.

    “What we have seen from the viewership perspective is that the spillover of Hindi in the states is not as high as it is Maharashtra,” adds Ghosh. Bengalis, according to him, love watching shows in their language and about their culture.

    The 14-day-long Pitru Paksh Shradh – a period when one pays obeisance to one’s dead relatives and ancestors – ended on 17 September with Mahalaya Amavasya. Unlike earlier years, when the gap between Mahalaya Amavasya and Maha Sasthi (the start of Durga puja) is hardly six days, this year the gap is about a month with the latter falling on 22 October. Bengalis are therefore really looking to celebrate Durga Puja, explains Ghosh. And the long gap has given brands a lot of time to prepare for the festival season, which could well be a good omen for him and the rest of the Bengali broadcasters.

  • Linc Pen spent Rs 44 crores in advertising & promotion in last 5 years

    Linc Pen spent Rs 44 crores in advertising & promotion in last 5 years

    Linc Pen, a leading stationery player in India, in its twenty-fifth annual general meeting disclosed that the brand had spent nearly Rs 44 crores in advertising and promotions in the last five years.

    Linc Pen MD & CEO Deepak Jalan stated that the company achieved the best ever result in FY20 despite the loss of sales in the last few weeks.  “Revenue grew by 9 per cent to close at almost Rs. 400 crore. EBIDTA margin was in double-digit at 10.3 per cent. PAT of Rs. 19.25 crore registered a healthy jump of 273.8 per cent over a lower base of Rs.5.15 Crore in the previous year. The board recommended a dividend of Rs. 1.50 per share, same as last year, in view of unprecedented challenges ahead in FY21.”

    However, Jalan stated that going by the current scenario, the brand may witness at least 70-80 per cent of FY20 sales by the end of FY21.

    “Turnover at Rs. 27.52 crore, was about one further of normal levels. For the first time ever, we registered a negative PAT of Rs  3.99 crore. Company’s April and May sales were washed out because of the nationwide lockdown. Our factories were closed for 28 days, and thereafter, gradual resumption started once the lockdown was lifted in a phased manner,” adds Jalan.

    Jalan further mentioned that the company saw sales come back to more than 50 per cent levels of what it reported in the same month last fiscal (June 2019).

    He also cited that the writing instruments industry has been severely affected by the Covid2019 as it has resulted in the closure of educational institutions and commercial establishments operating with lower physical attendance, which has clearly impacted the demand for writing instruments. The situation is similar all over the globe, with trade disruptions and lockdowns in several countries.

    Linc Pens has an aggressive plan to enhance the organizations retail footprints from 65000 retail touchpoints to about half a million, helping the brand to embark upon a multi-year growth journey.

    The stationery brand in past has launched several campaigns and even did ad films with Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

    The stationery products market garnered revenue of 109.5 billion dollars in the year 2019 globally and has been foreseen to yield USD 154.1 billion by the year 2027 at a CAGR of 4.6 per cent over the forecast period. 

  • How Samsung helped Flipkart find its missing ‘F’

    How Samsung helped Flipkart find its missing ‘F’

    Last week, Flipkart, a leading online etailer, started tweeting on its official twitter handle without using the alphabet ‘F’. Some of the words in its tweets were like ‘rom’, ‘itness’, ‘irst’, ‘inds’, and others.

    Ideally, these words are not part of the English language but if we prefix the alphabet ‘F’ they made proper sense such as ‘from’, ‘fitness’, ‘first’, ‘find’ and others.

    After the brand did its first tweet, several users pointed the error and asked ‘Where is the F’.

     

     

    The etailer immediately responded with another tweet with missing ‘F’ and added a hashtag #WheresTheF .

     

     

    Read more news on Flipkart

    It continued with a series of tweets for a few days with the missing word ‘F’ and engaged with the audiences asking them to find the alphabet ‘F’ for the brand while urging them to shop from the etailer across various categories of products present on the platform.

     

     

    On Sep 22, Samsung came to rescue Flipkart and suggested that it might know where the alphabet ‘F’ is. It tweeted a link in the ongoing twitter thread that took the audiences to the Flipkart store.

     

     

    Samsung had taken the front page of the Flipkart store to promote its Samsung Galaxy F41 that will be unveiled on 8 October. The page further shared a few details on the new phone and urged people to explore it when it is unveiled.

    Read more news on Samsung

    The idea behind the activation was very clear as Samsung wanted to bring the focused audiences of Flipkart to its page to create buzz and excited about its new phone. The activation became even more exciting as several brands also jumped in to participate in the ongoing trend. This included the likes of Vedantu, Axis Bank, PhonePe, Myntra, Swiggy.

     

     

    Interestingly, each of these brands utilized the occasion to talk about their offerings and interact with their audiences. For instance, Vedantu, an online learning platform donned the hat of a teacher; Swiggy, an online food ordering brand, related it with the food. The network brands such as PhonePe and Myntra also participated in the banter communicating their own positioning.

     

     

  • Meet the Mentors, our leaders of global Bharat on TV9 Bharatvarsh

    Meet the Mentors, our leaders of global Bharat on TV9 Bharatvarsh

    At a time when India has been hit hardest among emerging economies, our entrepreneurs have stood strong in the face of economic headwinds.

    With the economy facing its toughest challenge in a century, TV9 Network in association with technology major SAP India brings to its viewers the leaders of home-grown businesses who continue to be the harbingers of hope in these times of gloom and doom.

    Leaders of Global Bharat series is an initiative to turn the spotlight on business mentors of home-grown firms. Airing every Sunday at 11:30m am on India’s leading news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh, the series will showcase success and Dare-to-Dream journey of over 150 entrepreneurs who have the potential to galvanise and inspire the youth and budding entrepreneurs of this country.

    Explaining the rationale behind the series, TV9 Studio COO Raktim Das said: “There’s never been a more apt time to look at robust leadership lessons that have steered businesses through these extraordinary times. The Covid-19 induced New Normal has sharpened the focus on business leaders who continue to inspire us, mentor us. The series is also an attempt to showcase that an Atmanirbhar Bharat is in the realms of possibilities. I thank SAP India for making this possible.” 

    Commenting on SAP India’s association with the campaign,  SAP India Subcontinent CCO and Head of Marketing Krishnan Chatterjee said: “Recently, SAP India launched Global Bharat program to provide MSME access to global marketplace, digital skilling their workforce and transform business processes. We are happy to partner with TV9 Network to highlight these stories of grit and determination for emerging and existing entrepreneurs, share our narrative of Hope, Resilience, Innovation and most importantly inspiration to digitally transform their businesses.”

    Their leadership will not only revolutionise the Start Up India Movement but also provide a shot in the arm to those willing to take the Leap of Faith. It’s time to make Vocal for Local the new business mantra.

    This is a multi-media approach to acknowledge the stellar role entrepreneurs play in our collective consciousness and bring to light the challenges they face on the way. From engaging webinars to inspirational tales, the initiative will move seamlessly between linear TV and digital.

  • Aashram was viewed by users from 2500+ cities: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    Aashram was viewed by users from 2500+ cities: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    KOLKATA: How do you spend time when a virus has taken away all the usual options of outside home entertainment? The answer lies in screens. For most of the country, the television sets and the six-inch screens have served as source of entertainment since the onset of the pandemic. But at the beginning of the lockdown, there was a dearth of fresh television content as well. As a result, over-the-top (OTT) platforms in the country emerged as the alternative for a new wave of users along with the existing consumers.

    Times Internet’s “bold bet” MX Player is one of them. It has witnessed a huge surge in user base during this period. As MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar says “it has been quite crazy”. While the platform has kept content flow usual with launch of around ten shows during this period, the user engagement has gone beyond expectation in all metrics, as Talwar shares without divulging the exact numbers. Thanks to a host of new releases, the consumers shifting from the linear mode of content consumption to watching on-demand content have exploded even after unlock.

    According to Talwar, the platform has broken all the records after the launch of Aashram which was in production for more than two years. He claims the show has recorded 250 million + streams within 15-18 days of its launch. With this show, the platform has witnessed the number of screens growing exponentially as well as a dramatic upsurge in watch time. Some northern markets like Delhi NCR have responded very well to the show.

    As per the data shared by him, Aashram was viewed by users from 2500+ cities ranging from metropolitan to rural cities. While it was liked by users across all the cities, however the affinity in tier I (Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad etc) and tier II (Agra. Ludhiana, Meerut, Chandigarh, Ranchi etc) was higher than the metropolitan cities, precisely 1.2 times more higher. Although he did not share exact number, he added that there are more than enough viewers that are binge watching Aashram. 

    “It was conceptualised two years ago by the MX content team and we were sure that this is a fascinating world and must be explored. So, we got Habib Faisal on board to write the story and the bible first and then Kuldeep Ruhil to write the screenplay and dialogues for the show. Thereafter, we took it to Prakash Jha who along with his team also added a whole lot to the writing process along with the MX team and that's how the show got conceptualised. The genre was chosen because data suggests that crime dramas are something that our core audience loves and consumes in quantity and hence it was a no brainer.” Talwar comments.

    MX Player did not leave any stone unturned to promote the marquee content. While all the major OTT platforms halted outdoor campaigns during the lockdown, Aashram romanced with billboards. The platform went for a 360 degree campaign and the media mix included radio along with TV and digital.

    Aashram is helping in overall engagement as well. The cohort of users who are coming to the platform to watch this particular show are sampling other content from the similar genre leading to a higher retention rate. However, it is not unique to this particular show only.

    “Once a new user comes on the platform, they discover the content slate and then they cherry pick. All metrics of engagement have gone up because of this trend. They come for one show and sample other shows and the fact that they stay on is a testament to good content being on the platform,” Talwar opines.

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    Hence, it is apprehensible why the parent company is not shying away from investing more in the platform. In the annual report of Times Internet, vice chairman Satyan Gajwani said: “Two years ago, we made our largest acquisition, and it was a bold bet: that we could build a video streaming platform atop a local video player, developing and licensing compelling content to build a new user habit on an existing app. I’m extremely pleased with our results… In less than 18 months, MX Player now engages over 200 million monthly users, making MX Player the largest premium video destination in India.”

    While most of the major OTT players in India are now going for the subscription-based model, MX Player is the one which has not taken its content behind paywall yet. Thanks to the scale of users, the platform is attracting major brands.

    Talwar says the appetite for good content has gone up as users are getting more aquatinted with premium content. “The pressure is now to deliver more,” he states. “All the data mining that we do basis how the shows are doing, the pressure is going to get even more accurate. The more you know, the pressure is to make sure to deliver to your particular audience. My audience may be slightly different from other OTT platform because we are a mass-market channel. Our core audience lies in tier II-tier III towns. Therefore, we are trying to understand what they like because they are also experiencing digital for the first time,” he adds.

    Thanks to feedback on metrics like completion rate, watching pattern of users, the platform is fine-tuning its content strategy. It has also noticed that the sweet spot of an episode’s length ranges between 20-40 minutes.

    Recently, MX Player also forayed into short form video with the launch of the new platform. But it is also experimenting with long-form content as well. “There is a show that we are looking at in terms of interactivity. Right now, we are at writing stages of it. We have to see how to build that level of functionality once we kind of get to that,” Talwar states.

  • Harley Davidson exits India

    Harley Davidson exits India

    Harley-Davidson will shut down manufacturing and sales operations in India as part of its restructuring exercise under ‘The Rewire’ programme, the US-based motorcycle maker announced on Thursday.

    Earlier, in August, the bike maker had indicated to restructure business in some its loss making international markets to reroute focus on the US market. The move is going to increase the restructuring costs to 169 million dollars.

    Covid2019 is the key reason behind this decision as the brand was witnessing poor sales and weaker demand. Media reports say that Harley-Davidson India sold less than 2,500 units in the last financial year, making it one of its worst-performing international markets. SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) figures mention that Harley-Davidson sold only 103 units of motorcycles in India in July 2020 and 176 units last month in the country. Indian market contributed to only 5 per cent of the brands overall sales.

    The bike maker will be laying off employees from its assembly unit in Haryana.

    Read more news on Harley Davidson

    Harley-Davidson joins the growing list of automotive brands, such as General Motors, Fiat, UM Motorcycles and others which have exited India in the past.

  • When Ikea got creative about sleep

    When Ikea got creative about sleep

    Ikea, a global furniture and home furnishing brand, is promoting its sleep range products with clever print and outdoor campaign and positions itself as sleep expert.

    Designed and conceptualised by Mother London, the ads focuses on the central theme of sleep and turn an energy drink, anti-ageing cream and vitamin pills into cool ads for the IKEA sleep range.

    First ad showcases a bedsheet flowing out from an open energy drink can. The messed up sheet signifies liquid drink in the can which carries the message that ‘Sleep boosts our energy’. Second ad showcases, an eye cream jar with a quilt folded into it. The jar carries the message that ‘sleep is the most natural anti-ageing remedy.’ And the third ad showcases a medicine bottle from which pillows are flowing out and it carries the message that ‘Sleep naturally supplements focus and energy.’

    These ads are part of a larger campaign ‘Tomorrow Starts Tonight’ that challenges sleep neglect by celebrating the truth that the more you sleep, the more you get out of life.

    Read more news on Ikea

    The new print campaign includes a trio of ads and was shot by photographer Amy Currell using large-scale models designed by Andy Knight.

    A few weeks ago Ikea also launched a campaign where it reshared the tale of a tortoise and hare to talk about what we can achieve if we get a good night sleep.

    Ikea is an iconic brand that is known for its products and its advertisng worldwide.