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  • #Throwback2020: The year’s most controversial ads

    #Throwback2020: The year’s most controversial ads

    NEW DELHI: Advertising informs. It generates awareness, entertains; less often than not – if one goes by harsh cynics – leads to a buy decision, and with even lesser frequency flies into controversy. Sometimes the storm that follows proves beneficial for the brand, especially if it is a cult product. At other times, it proves highly detrimental. 2020 was no different. The year had its fair share of brands and labels which got into the crosshairs of some activist group or other, inviting consumers' ire and even unmentionable expletives. Even though what they communicated was well-meaning, and should be considered by most to be within the norms of decency. Most of these ads will end up finding a mention in marketing case history books, detailing what transpired.

    Here's our collection of some of the brands, TVCs and ads that ran into controversy.

    1.  Tanishq – Baby Shower

    The jewellery brand from Titan released a TVC on the theme of Ekatvam (Oneness) featuring a Hindu girl married in a Muslim family which is celebrating her baby shower. This ritual is customarily not a part of the Muslim culture but the ad film showcased a liberal family that was more concerned about their daughter-in-law’s happiness. The film ran into a major wrangle, as a lot OF people opposed the premise and claimed that their cultural sentiments had been hurt. They asked why advertising industry always goes for these tropes and why a Muslim girl was not featured in a Hindu environment. Allegations of promoting ‘love jihad’ were also thrown around. The backlash pushed the brand on the backfoot and it pulled the plug on the ad. However, the move was not acceptable to certain sections, who criticised Tanishq for not taking a stand. For the record, the film got a clean chit from every industry body and reviewers.

    2.      Tanishq – Ekatvam

    Not happy with getting a social media caning from certain pressure groups, Tanishq’s marketing mavens decided to take a shot at being liberal in its outlook and released a TVC promoting its Ekatvam range. The film featured four artistes – Neena Gupta, Nimrat Kaur, Sayani Gupta and Alaya F – talking about the festivities. During the film, one of the actors’ spoke about not bursting firecrackers and celebrating a peaceful Diwali. While the idea was to prevent  pollution, several people took it in a different light and rebuked the brand to not tell others how to celebrate the festival of lights. The brand was stalked by trolls for the second time in a month. Again, Tanishq was forced to withdraw the ad.

    On both occasions, trollers pointed that the ad had hurt Hindu sentiments.

    3.      Kent RO

    This year, several brands tried to cash In on  the pandemic by communicating how they could help in the fight against pathogens, especially the Coronavirus. While some brands came out with effective ads, some made exaggerated claims even as others tried to be extra cautious in their communication.  One such company which took such a tack was the maker of water purification system Kent RO. In an advertisement, Kent cautioned against letting the househelp knead flour in case “her hands might be infected,” which served as the plug for the company’s product. Featuring Hema Malini and her daughter Esha Deol as celebrity endorsers, the TVC got thrashed black and blue on social media. Some even complained to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Their reasoning: the TVC was  insensitive towards the domestic helps who were already facing discrimination from housing societies across the country. The film was pulled off Kent’s social media handles and the brand issued an apology and promised to investigate its advertising procedures and deploy corrective measures.

    4.      Amul – Exit the Dragon

    During June this year, tensions between India and China were at its peak. Starting with the tiff in Galwan valley, where PLA soldiers were pushed back while trying to enter Indian territory, to boycotting Chinese brands and products with a call for Atmanirbhar Bharat, the dairy brand Amul, famed for its on point topicals, came up with a creative titled ‘Exit the Dragon’. The creative showcased the iconic Amul Girl telling the dragon to exit – an oblique reference to Chinese products. The powerful creative clearly communicated the message in regards to boycott of goods manufactured in China. Shortly after the cartoon was posted, the Twitter account of Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation (which owns Amul) was blocked. Twitterati accused the social networking platform of having a bias against India and #Amul became a top trend. The account was restored soon after.

    5.      WhiteHat Jr

    The ed-tech brand certainly caught the pulse of the nation when it was acquired by Byju’s for a staggering $300 million. Post that, the brand went on a new audience acquisition spree on the back of a huge marketing campaign. However, as many as seven WhiteHat Jr ads fielded complaints for being misleading. Out of these, complaints regarding five ads were upheld by ASCI, which directed them to be pulled down. It used messages such as “TedX Speaker at the age of seven,” among other inflated, unverified claims.

    The brand also used the images of global leaders such as Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Steve Jobs and others to convey a message that joining WhiteHatJr will turn kids into tech geniuses like them.  

    6.      ISL Mohun Bagan

    The ad, meant to create hype for the ISL 2020-21 season among Bengali football enthusiasts, wreaked havoc instead. Mohun Bagan loyalists objected to a scene where a team jersey is dipped into a washing machine along with an ATK jersey. The narration of the ad also mentioned a "six-year-old emotion" that fans found offensive, since Mohun Bagan, which debuted in ISL this season with the brand name ATK Mohun Bagan FC, has a long and glorious history of 131 years.

    They were also perturbed with the idea of the team wearing three stars on the left sleeve of their jersey under the ISL logo, with the words 'Champions 2019-20' written under them. The Mohun Bagan fanbase perceived the mishandling of the branding and advertising of their team as an attempt to undermine their club's legacy and heritage. They expressed their disagreement with these branding efforts online. Soon enough, team management stepped in and took measures to cool down the situation.

    7.      Indore Law School ad

    A print advert by the Indore Institute of Law drew a comparison between two fictional characters – Harvey Specter from American TV series Suits, and Akshay Kumar from Jolly LLB 2. It bore the caption that an aspiring lawyer could be either – “Choice is yours.”

    The picture started doing the rounds on social media platforms and netizens were quick to slam the college’s perceived elitist stance behind the ad. Others accused the institute of denigrating the “dignity of Indian lawyers.” Several people questioned whether the college had obtained permission from the original creators before running the campaign. A fair few wondered why the institute chose fictional characters instead of its own alumni or famous practitioners of law in the real world.

    The ad-makers were brutally trolled for their creative sense and the ad was roundly panned as problematic and in poor taste.

    Facing flak, the law college later issued an apology saying, “We assure everyone that it was absolutely not our intention to offend anyone or defame any section of the legal profession.” 

    Please find our clarification regarding our advertisement published on 15/10/2020. We would like to make clear the…

    Posted by Indore Institute of Law on Thursday, 15 October 2020

    8.      MobiKwik takes a dig at Paytm

    The fintech firm took a dig at arch rival Paytm by calling it “Chinese.” It further said that while 220 Chinese apps have been banned, many consumers are still using them on the downlow. MobiKwik urged users to go Indian and questioned them if they were still using Paytm, a Chinese app, for paying their bills.

    Describing itself as a ‘truly Indian Payments’ app, the ad called on users to use Mobikwik for all their payment needs.

    9.      Honey War

    After the Centre for Science and Environment  (CSE) sparked a controversy in the FMCG space by reporting that several leading honey brands had not been able to clear purity tests, a brand war started. The ones that passed the litmus are now talking about their purity, while those that flunked are questioning the report. Post honeygate, several brands released ads sharing their perspective on the situation. The ad war was obvious as no brand would want to let its market share degrade based on one report. Industry experts believe that a massive PR and advertising war will be waged in this category as brands would go to any extent to retain their customers.

  • boAt appoints Damandeep Singh Soni as VP – growth

    boAt appoints Damandeep Singh Soni as VP – growth

    New Delhi: Lifestyle consumer electronics brand boAt has appointed Damandeep Singh Soni as new VP – growth. He will be responsible to drive the company’s function to make it the largest D2C company in India. He announced the development on his LinkedIn.

    Prior to this, Soni was working as a senior advisor – marketing and growth at multiple startups like Whitehat Jr, Limeroad, Editorji, Snapchat and others to help their business grow, develop marketing strategies, and drive monetization strategies and revenue growth.

    With over 20 years of experience, Soni has had an illustrious career. He was the India head for Line, a chat app, between 2014 and 2016. Later, he joined Mobikwik as a CMO and growth head for a period of two years. Soni also had a brief stint with Milkbasket as VP – marketing. He also started a few ventures of his own. Some of the other brands that he worked at includes Infosys, Wecash, and Nokia.

    boAt is one of the first digitally native brands to record a revenue of Rs 500 crore in FY19-20. It was started in 2016 with a target audience of youth interested in fashionable consumer electronics. The product range has expanded to include an extensive catalog of headphones, earphones, wearable, speakers, travel chargers, and premium cables.

  • MobiKwik elevates Chandan Joshi as co-founder & CEO of payments business

    MobiKwik elevates Chandan Joshi as co-founder & CEO of payments business

    NEW DELHI: Fintech platform MobiKwik has promoted Chandan Joshi as the company’s co-founder and CEO, payments business.

    Joshi has been part of the MobiKwik leadership team for the last 2.5 years as senior vice president, payments, managing all the payment businesses of the company. This is the first time the company has bestowed the co-founder title on anyone outside the original founding team.

    Chandan is now the third co-Founder of MobiKwik in addition to Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku. With this appointment, the fintech platform has kick started its IPO 2022 campaign.  

    Read more news on MobiKwik

    As CEO payments business, Chandan he will take on complete ownership of the company’s flagship payments business which drives 75 per cent of the revenues. While he was already driving the business (sales, marketing, product, engineering) in his existing role, all functions in the Payments BU will now report into him.

    Joshi said, “My journey with MobiKwik so far has been very fulfilling – I joined in the aftermath of Demonetization and my first assignment was organizing the retail payments business, then to run eCommerce payments and finally to grow all of the Payments business. The team and culture at MobiKwik have been a good fit for me. I share a good rapport with Upasana and Bipin and share their vision of delivering on the Digital Credit Card opportunity. I am confident that together we will be able to profitably grow MobiKwik and take the company public.”

    Singh says, “It has been fantastic seeing Chandan build the Payments Business for the past 2 years with amazing zeal and conviction. 

    Chandan has demonstrated all the right traits that we look for in a business leader – he leads from the front, is invested in his teams, is tenacious in driving business results and in closing large strategic deals. He has been a strong growth driver for MobiKwik and we want him to partner with us as a co-founder in the overall build-out of the company.”

    Chandan’s professional journey so far has prepared him well for his role at MobiKwik. Chandan returned to India in 2015 and founded Paketts, an innovative last mile logistics service company. He successfully exited the business after Paketts was acquired by Nuvo Logistics (Peppertap) in 2017. Prior to being an entrepreneur, Chandan was a financial trader in global financial markets with Credit Suisse in London & Hong Kong. Chandan did his Engineering from IIT Delhi and his MBA from London Business School.

    MobiKwik has reported strong financial results: net revenue growth of 133 per cent year over year to Rs 379 crores and cash EBITDA loss reduction of 91 per cent year over year to Rs 8.5 crores. In the report, the brand has spoken passionately about fulfilling a Billion Indian Dreams by making an everlasting impact on Bharat with our digital payment and fintech products. Having delivered three straight years of greater than 100 per cent revenue growth amid stiff competition, MobiKwik claims to have demonstrated strong execution and financial discipline.

     

  • MobiKwik partners with EPIC for Diwali Dhamaka offer

    MobiKwik partners with EPIC for Diwali Dhamaka offer

    MUMBAI: Festivals are the perfect time to indulge as well as make investments. To add to the many options available this festive season, MobiKwik, India’s leading financial services platform has partnered with EPIC On, a leading premium video-on-demand platform by EPIC channel – India Ka Apna Infotainment, for an exclusive ‘Diwali Dhamaka’ offer. All subscriptions made for EPIC On through MobiKwik will get you 30% Supercash. This limited offer is currently available and valid on Quarterly, Half-yearly, and Annual subscription plans.  

    According to a PWC report, over the past decade, the video on demand (VoD) market has evolved across the world, including India. Advancements in technology and telecom infrastructure have made ‘anything-anytime-anywhere’ a definite and scalable reality for content consumption. With the launch of over-the-top (OTT) services, VoD has been at the forefront of disruption in the media industry. Moreover, this disruption has transformed the value drivers in the entire chain of production, aggregation, and distribution, with consumer reach and satisfaction becoming the holy grail.

    A homegrown company, founded in 2009, MobiKwik is focused on becoming the payment platform of choice for the customer of infotainment and OTT platforms. It strives to bring the best possible solutions to its consumer family and the association with EPIC On is just another example of how.

    The EPIC On library comprises of high-definition (HD) content across genres – with select shows in Hindi, English, and Tamil – along with the short format content, and video books by renowned author like Devdutt Pattanaik. EPIC On users can also catch up on the latest episodes of their favorite shows like the EPIC India Quiz Challenge, Lost Recipes Season 2 and more on the app. The EPIC On app is available across multiple devices like App Store, Play Store, Fire TV Stick, Android TV, Apple TV, and Xiaomi’s MI TV

    The union between these two brands promises to bring to masses an eclectic mix of non-fiction content that aspires to help the younger generation imbibe the diversity of India. EPIC On’s partnership with MobiKwik is the best example of how homegrown organizations today are helping build each other up.

    Commenting on the association, MobiKwik  founder  & CEO Bipin Preet Singh said, “Our intention of partnering with a video-on-demand platform is to provide a large number of our users, access to premium on-demand content at attractive price points. We have observed the success of OTT platforms over the last few years and to invest in the segment was just a natural progression for our brand.  We understand the shift in customer choices and content consumption behavior. EPIC On was the best choice for us as the platform has curated some unique shows for its consumers. EPIC On boasts of diverse content across genres and makes the dissemination of interactive & engaging. Users instantly connect with the shows and enjoy watching them with their families. EPIC On is a truly enriching experience and this festive season, I am certain our customers will appreciate this offering on our platform.”

    Commenting on the partnership EPIC On AVP-product & strategy  Adita Jain said, “At EPIC On we constantly aspire to find innovative ways to engage with newer audiences. This Diwali, EPIC On’s association with MobiKwik will help us do just that. By partnering with such a leading platform, we are reaching out to make the MobiKwik consumer family a part of the EPIC on Family as well. The consumers can look forward to their holidays being full of cheer and entertainment with a host of fresh original content offerings coming their way."

  • Real Bharat’s Shopping Paradise ShopClues Announces ‘Maha Diwali Flea Mela’ with discounts upto 85%

    Real Bharat’s Shopping Paradise ShopClues Announces ‘Maha Diwali Flea Mela’ with discounts upto 85%

    New Delhi: ShopClues, India’s preferred online marketplace for real Bharat has announced the beginning of its mega festive sale with the ‘Maha Diwali Flea Mela' which will be on till October 20, 2019, with massive discounts on apparel, jewellery, electronic gadgets, home appliances and grooming appliances.

    The Meha Diwali Flea Mela has been designed to address large home needs, as well as items of personal interest for the budget-conscious customer. The ShopClues Maha Diwali Flea Mela also has focused sections that address smaller items like Decorative Lights (80% off) and Quirky Gifts like thematic stickers and diyas that every home could do with.

    Category

    Discount

    Grand Gadgets Gallery

    55-85% Off

    Home Décor Zone

    Starting Rs. 89

    Quirky Store

    Starting Rs.79

    ShopClues International Store

    Starting at Rs.99

    Mobile and Laptop Accessories

    Upto 80% off

    Refurbished Phones & Laptops

    Upto 60% off

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Additionally, customers can also watch out for the Bumper Budget Combos which have enticing assortments of products at prices starting Rs.99/-

    ShopClues will also be holding exciting flash sales every day. The platform has also tied up with Mobikwik and Airtel Payments Bank to create several interesting offers such as the Double Your Savings Offer, a 15% Cash Back offer, and a flat Rs.100 Cashback via Mobikwik for every 10th customer*.

    The brand expects that 85% of its sales will come from its strong-hold in Tier 3 and 4 markets.

  • MobiKwik to now offer instant loan in 90 secs

    MobiKwik to now offer instant loan in 90 secs

    MUMBAI: Indian digital financial services platform, MobiKwik has launched its breakthrough product, Boost, that offers instant loan approval and disbursal to MobiKwik users.

    This is the first-of-its-kind of credit disbursal product, wherein loans of up to Rs 60,000 are sanctioned as well as disbursed in a matter of 90 seconds.

    MobiKwik has partnered with a number of NBFCs to offer this service to its users. MobiKwik is the first wallet player to disburse loan amount in the user’s mobile wallet.

    Boost offers loans without any hassles of submission of paperwork or collaterals. The loan sanction decision will be taken in 30 seconds, on the basis of an innovative risk scoring model called ‘Mobiscore’, developed by MobiKwik.

    The real time underwriting has been possible only because of artificial intelligence and data analytics capabilities used in the entire loan journey.

    Users can apply for loans ranging from Rs 5,000 up to Rs 60,000 through the MobiKwik app. MobiKwik users who avail loans via the app will have the option to transfer their loan amount to their bank account. The amount credited can be utilised by the app users across a range of use cases including urgent purchases, marriage expenses, travel plans, hotel bookings, medical emergency, as well as payments to offline and online merchants.

    To avail the loan facility, users have to select Boost on the MobiKwik App, activate Boost for instant loan, insert PAN and other KYC details to view loan offer and accept loan offer to get instant disbursal.

    MobiKwik co-founder and director Upasana Taku says, “Our objective is to provide easy access to credit to each and every Indian, irrespective of his location. This is first of its kind of product that will totally revolutionise the way India avails credit. Our path-breaking product will enable Indians, located anywhere in India, to avail instant loans, whenever they require, within 90 seconds, via the MobiKwik app. In the initial months of piloting the offering, we have already crossed a portfolio of 100 thousand loans. We will be rolling out new products in the lending portfolio so as to cater to diverse credit requirements of customers. We are confident that lending will be a game changer and will establish us as clear leaders in the digital financial services domain in the country.”

    The loan amount is payable in easy instalments of six and nine months. They can either payback from the MobiKwik app or can enable MobiKwik’s partner to auto-debit the monthly EMI from their bank account. MobiKwik users are required to update their KYC with PAN card and other KYC details to avail the loan benefit.

  • A year after demonetisation: E-payment services emerged winners

    A year after demonetisation: E-payment services emerged winners

    MUMBAI: 8 November 2016 was a day that took the world by storm. While the world was stunned with Donald Trump’s victory as the new US president, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi decided to give the country a shocker of its own- demonetisation.

    An ordinary Tuesday evening saw all news channels and radio stations halt their programmes to listen to Modi, assuming it as another Mann Ki Baat. Instead, what followed was the shocking revelation that all the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in the country will be invalid post midnight. As people scrambled to get rid of their notes and lined up for new ones, they were restricted to just Rs 10,000 a day and Rs 20,000 a week for the next 4 days (10-13 November).

    A severe cash shortage in the hands of the public forced them to seek alternative modes of payment. Companies too weren’t spared. By the second week of demonitisation, cigarette sales had dropped by 30-40 per cent and cash on delivery (COD) orders fell by 30 per cent for e-commerce companies. Dabur India corrected its advertising spends for November by almost 50 per cent and many prominent brands decided to hold the rolling out of new campaigns for a few months. The festive October-December quarter, this year, ended up draining out over Rs 2000 crore.

    Amidst this confusion and loss, if there was a clear winner, it was the class of startups offering online wallets and digital payments. Brands offering online payment ‘cashed’ out the most from the prime minister’s move. It was time for overlooked and unrecognised players like Paytm, Freecharge, Mobikwik, Swiggy, Zomato, Foodpanda and others to make optimum utilisation of the situation. These brands had found people’s Achilles heel and created campaigns, tweaking their communication, to show people that you don’t need to worry about less cash.

    public://F1_20.jpg

    With this, digital payments became India’s new currency and debit card transactions surged to over 1 billion in January this year from 817 million last year.

    public://1_5.jpg

    Foodpanda India co-founder and CEO Saurabh Kochhar says that there were positive implications of demonetisation on its platform. “Before demonetisation, on a regular day, our platform would receive close to 70,000 orders. While that shot up by 40-50 per cent, around 92 per cent of payments were made online after demonetisation. As our order value ranges between Rs 400-500, consumers did not mind paying online,” he reveals.

    As consumers were forced to get acquainted with digital payment modes, they got comfortable with the idea of paying for their orders online. Brands ensured their technology backend could support the surge in payments so that no glitches would leave people harassed or with bad experiences.

    One of the biggest beneficiaries of demonetisation was online wallet app Paytm. Within only 12 days after the move was announced, Paytm witnessed over Rs 7 million transactions worth Rs 120 crore a day and Rs 5,000 crore worth of transactions in the month of January 2017.

    Even though India was cutting down on spending, online travel grew between November 2016 and June 2017. Indians spent $246.6 million in overseas travel-related payments in November 2016, up 581 per cent as compared to $36.2 million spent in the same month in 2015. Arrivals from India to Australia since the demonetisation period (Nov 2016 – Aug 2017) grew at an average of 15 per cent.

    A year on, are people still transacting online at the same pace or was it just the momentary fluster? Kochhar optimistically says, “As valid currency got into a normalised flow in the country, there was an increase in COD orders. However, we have seen more uptake in users paying online for their orders. It is more about the change in the mindset of the users and demonetisation pushed them in that direction for sure.”

    While demonetisation opened people’s eyes to digital avenues, adex was briefly hampered. Overall brand revenues fell and there was a clear dip in sale, but all of that is now in the past. The advertising and marketing industry revved up but was assured that India’s suspicious view towards digital had surely been changed.

     

  • Be MobiKwik, get on Cox bus to meet Harry & Sejal

    MUMBAI: MobiKwik and Cox & Kings have associated with Jab Harry met Sejal movie.

    Mobile wallet company MobiKwik has partnered with the upcoming Bollywood movie Jab Harry Met Sejal, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma. As part of the association, MobiKwik users can win free movie tickets, avail special cashbacks on film tickets and a lifetime opportunity to meet their favourite stars whenever they transact with the code ‘Harry’ or ‘Sejal’ till 3 August. Red Chillies Entertainment head of marketing Binda De said: “Jab Harry Met Sejal is a movie for all age groups. The idea behind the collaboration with MobiKwik is to offer our audience an easy-going cashless solution.” MobiKwik head – marketing Akash Gupta said: “India’s digital payments revolution is being led by the millennial and most of them are Anushka or Shah Rukh fans.”

    Khan aka Harry flagged off a GPS monitored bus specially designed for the promotion of the new film in Mumbai. The bus is actually a key to meet Harry, in person who are the lead protagonists in the film.

    Cox and Kings has introduced the unique contest wherein you get a chance to meet the lead couple by just clicking a picture of the bus when the bus visits your city. Cox & Kings has also introduced a romantic Europe package named after the film which covers the most beautiful and charming destinations such as Prague, Budapest and Amsterdam where the film is shot.

    In the next 4-5 days, the GPS monitored ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ buses will visit different cities in the country such as Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Raipur . Whenever you spot the bus in your city, you just need to click a picture of the bus and upload it on twitter with #JHMSonwheels. A few lucky winners can win Jab Harry Met Sejal and Cox & Kings merchandise and also get an opportunity to meet Harry and Sejal.

  • Mukta div partners Mobikwik, offers 15% cashback on tickets

    MUMBAI: Mukta A2 Cinema, the cinema exhibition arm of Mukta Arts Ltd. – one of India’s esteemed film banners, has announced its association with a digital wallet company, Mobikwik. The cinema chain recently expanded their presence and now has 48 screens in their network.

    Cinema patrons can avail a cash back offer of 15 per cent when they use the Mobikwik Wallet to make payments at any Mukta A2 cinema theater. Following the digital payments route, the cinema chain has associated with the digital wallet company to offer patrons multiple payment choices and various offers when they book tickets across the popular cinema chain.

    Mukta Arts MD Rahul Puri said, “We hope to offer our patrons an additional benefit when they visit our cinemas. Following the digital payments push implemented by the government, we are glad to create these associations and provide our patrons alternate methods for payments.”

    Mukta A2 Cinemas is operating in 14 cities making a pan-India presence to cater to the myriad needs of movie buffs across the country. The company also operates a property in the Middle East at Juffair Mall, Manama, Bahrain with six screens and a seating capacity of 960 people.

  • Goafest 2017: Change is possible when one takes risks, says Patanjali’s Balkrishna

    GOA: Who would have thought that in the advertising and marketing world of suited-booted  and/or casual linen chic people, a simple robe clad guy would turn out to be dude? Well, who would have wagered a few years back that Patanjali would be a starred speaker at India’s annual advertising, media and marketing convention and have a houseful of corporate execs hanging on to every word, some of which were spoken in chaste Hindi? Desh badal raha hai (or, the country is changing), after all, in ways that the countrymen and women are still grappling to come to terms with.

    “The nation is ours, the children are ours, life is ours. We must take care of it ourselves. Always remember, for the world, India is just a market place (but) for us it’s our home. Change is possible only when one is willing to take risks,” Patanjali Ayurveda CEO Acharya Balkrishna said with a straight face, but with a confidence that comes from the realisation that some of the top global FMCG companies were feeling the heat of Patanjali’s unrelenting advertising and marketing blitz.

    The oozing confidence found other outlets too. Without giving a second thought, Balkrishna took on a competitor. “ Patanjali set up a factory in Tejpur in Uttar Pradesh where Dabur too was setting up its factory. In 120 days, Patanjali built up the factory with same workers who were (earlier) working for Dabur,” said the Nepal-born Balkrishna, regarded as the No. 2 in the Patanjali group hierarchy, just next to its yoga guru founder-turned-entrepreneur Baba Ramdev.

    In the FMCG space, some of the Patanjali Ayurveda products that have eaten into the market share of established global and Indian companies include Dant Kanti (toothpaste), atta or flour noodles, multi-grain and plain flour for rotis or Indian bread and Kesh Kanti (hair oil), apart from other categories where Patanjali products are giving a tough competition to the likes of Dabur, ITC, P&G Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever India.

    “Patanjali Ayurved has turned out to be the most disruptive force in the Indian FMCG market…it witnessed a whopping annual growth of 146 per cent in fiscal year 2016 grossing a turnover of US$769 million, whereas its peers, including ITC, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, Colgate–Palmolive and Procter & Gamble struggled to get a growth much less than double digit,” an Assocham-TechSci research report has stated.

    So, what’s the secret of Patanjali in a country that had been dominated by established FMCG players, especially as its founder Ramdev’s antecedents have been questioned at various times?

    Pointing out that the Haridwar-based company doesn’t  follow any marketing strategy, depending more on “product quality” to attract consumers, Balkrishna played with a straight bat on the opening day of Goafest 2017 yesterday: “Treat your customers as your family members and everything (else) will fall into place. We want to change the impression that made-in-India products are not of good quality.”

    If some of these home grown homilies were not enough to rub it in to much-experienced global players, Balkrishna told the audience at Goafest that “duniya ke liye Hindustan ek bazaar ho sakta hai, humare liye Hindustan humara ghar hai” (for the world, India may be a bazaar, but, for us, it’s our home) and change was possible only when one was willing to take risks. Hmm! Hang on, there was more for those willing to listen and the numbers were astounding.

    “Toothpaste is meant to clean teeth, but nowadays ads say you can get a girlfriend using the right (tooth) paste,” Balkrishna said with his tongue firmly in cheek, adding, “humare liye humari maryada sabse badhkar hai, sales na ho toh bhi thik hai” (for us, self-respect and respect for our culture is paramount, and not sales of products).

    However, Balkrishna did not wander into controversial areas where ASCI, in the past, has hauled up Patanjali for misleading advertising or the court cases against it or filed by the company itself relating to product advertsing and claims.

    A fitting tribute to Patanjali’s efforts also came from a competitor. “’Patanjali has shown us marketing methods we never knew,” graciously admitted ITC’s divisional CEO – foods business Hemant Malik, while speaking at another time of the day.

    As a parting shot to urban India — many of whose representatives were at Goa — Patanjali’s Balkrsihna told the gathering that Indians “should eat according to the six seasons because our body changes in every season” as do its requirements. “The problem in India is that people in rural (areas) are healthy, but people in metros have nutritional deficiency,” Balkrishna  explained.

    Other speakers for the opening day included Mobikwik co-founder and director Upasana Taku and ITC’s Malik.

    According to Malik, “Communication is the not the only pillar for branding”  as there are brands such as Facebook, Amazon and Google that have changed the world. “It’s all about the product differentiation. We are the only carbon-positive company in the world,” Malik spoke about the shift from hierarchical collectivist culture to individualistic.

    After being hit by currency demonetisation, where everybody was struggling with liquidity crunches, the mobile payment companies were the one making profit, according to Mobikwik’s Taku, who added, “Humbling and the most fortunate event of 2016  is demonetisation. We have the fortune to have been able to transform India into digital. Mobikwik has 55 million users and 1.4 million retailers in India.”

    Taku highlighted some points. In last 10-20 years, telecom has changed in India in a big way. “Till now 14 per cent of cashless transaction has been done in India post-demonetisation, which will go grow to 30 per cent by the end of 2017 and it will grow 30- 40 per cent in two years. I truly believe it’s the era of mobile wallets, and won’t deny that demonetisation has sped up the journey,” she explained.   

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