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Tag: Onam

  • News18 Kerala announces special line-up of programs for Onam

    News18 Kerala announces special line-up of programs for Onam

    Mumbai:  Onam – the colourful festival of Kerala’s culture and tradition – is round the corner. The 10-day festivity includes Sadhya, Thiruvathira Kali, Pookalam, Ona-thallu, Pulikali, Onavillu, and welcome songs for King Mahabali. Highlighting Onam’s sublime activities such as Pookalam, aromatic Onasadya, spectacular Snake-boat Race, and the enticing Kaikottikali Dance, News18 Kerala brings to its viewers a special line-up of Onam programmes guaranteeing a complete cultural extravaganza.

    The programs lined up for this beautiful festival by News18 Kerala will include folk rituals, music and dance performances, interviews and chat shows with celebrities such as P Jayachandran, Bhavana, and eminent politicians VD Satheeshan, P Prasad, and a lot more. There will also be a special segment on boat races, traditional attires, and unique dishes of Onam, along with a special film release on the festival.

    Some of the prominent programs to look for are: Onam with aattam, a special program on a folk ritual called Aattakkalasham that connects Onam and Pulikali, and is observed around Thrissur and Palakkad districts; Onam songs and chat with singers of Trivandrum; Interview with actress Bhavana; Onam with actress Surabhi Lakshmi; Minister Veena George with Aranmula Kudumbasree; Special program on Nehru trophy boat race; Celebrity chef Suresh Pillai with film stars; Onam Capsules – 10 Payasam 10 Days; Special coverage on Onam celebrations of Onattukara; Onam film release

  • ManoramaOnline’s campaign celebrates the homecoming of every Malayali’s superhero

    ManoramaOnline’s campaign celebrates the homecoming of every Malayali’s superhero

    Mumbai: Onam celebrates the homecoming of every Malayali’s superhero, the benevolent king Mahabali. When it comes to good times, Malayalis consider the times of the legendary Mahabali to be the gold standard. Malayalis relive those times of prosperity, equality and abundance by celebrating Ona with fervour. It’s the time when family budgets have extra provisions, homes are refreshed and long pending shopping wish lists are fulfilled. Thus, Onam truly is the beginning of the great Indian shopping season.

    The South Swag

    Onam was always the biggest shopping season in Kerala. But this year, the South Indian festival is all set to be one of the biggest shopping seasons in the country as well.

    South as a region was always seen as smaller or less flamboyant, with a far less appetite than north. Bigger cities, big business houses, big celebrations are all usually attributed to North India. But that position is observed to be shifting now. It was the evolution of the startup economy that began this change, with cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram riding the tech wave.

    Now, South India holds lead positions when it comes to new economy parameters like internet penetration, data usage etc. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Kerala comes a close second in terms of internet density in the country with 87 subscribers per 100 population.

    In recent months this emergence has been amplified by the awakening of another south Indian giant – the movie industry. Back-to-back hits like “Bahubali”, “KGF”, “RRR” and “Vikram” are breaking collection records and are even becoming huge grossers in Hindi speaking states. This emergence of the South is a perfect prelude to the most awaited festival in Kerala, Onam.

    An indicator of this trend could be found in the fact that Kerala’s favourite Malayalam news portal Manoramaonline bagged gold at the WAN IFRA South Asian Digital Media Awards for the best news website for the third year in a row. The Onam Campaign from Manoramaonline – ‘Kerala’s Biggest Superstar coming soon’ proudly points out this trend to the fraternity, thereby inviting it to become a part of this big festive season by ensuring that its brand is present on Manoramaonline.

  • CARS24 makes this Onam special with vibrant film ‘Onam Bumper’

    CARS24 makes this Onam special with vibrant film ‘Onam Bumper’

    Mumbai: Adding to the joy of Onam, a homegrown e-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles CARS24, has rolled out a new digital film, to celebrate the festival. The vibrant campaign film revolves around the iconic trend of lottery that has been ongoing in Kerala for decades.

    Denoting the spirit of fortune, success, and happiness among family members and loved ones, the Malayalam film, with English subtitles, showcases the local elements of Kerala during festive celebrations. 

    Capturing the joy this lottery festival brings, in the brand film, an old ambassador car travels across the city distributing pamphlets of the Onam Bumper offer as the announcer encourages people to upgrade their lifestyle and choose and purchase their dream car with just a click on CARS24.

    The film features TV star Riyas Narmakala, Kozhikode Radio Mirchi – RJ Kensha Zohra and CARS24 employee Shahid Salman, and is being promoted on CARS24’s social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

    Reflecting upon the rich culture and heritage of Kerala and celebrating the visit of King Mahabali, the film takes the viewer on a visual treat that showcases Puliyattam folk dance where a human-tiger dances to the tune of drums and children collect flower petals for the festival ceremonies and the car travelling by ferry along the backwaters of Kerala.

  • Brands pin hopes on Onam sales to tide over COVID gloom

    Brands pin hopes on Onam sales to tide over COVID gloom

    Mumbai: Kerala’s biggest festival of the year- Onam is finally here, flagging off the start of the festive season for the rest of the country. After some lacklustre years marred by natural calamities and floods, and followed by the pandemic in 2020, there is a lot of hope riding on the ten-day harvest festival this year. For businesses and brands across the state, Onam is poised to mark the revival of the shopping season.

    “Not just last year, but the last three years have also been a washout,” says Malayala Manorama VP – marketing & advertising sales, Varghese Chandy. “The Kerala floods impacted sentiments for 2018-19 and COVID-19 impacted sentiments for 2020. Even 2021 has been impacted by the pandemic but I must say that it’s turning positive. The reason being, there is a lot of pent-up demand and COVID-19 restrictions have been eased.”

    Kerala government has eased the lockdown protocols for the duration of the festival, providing a much-needed shot in the arm to retailers and businesses in the state. Effective till 23 August, all markets and shops across the state can remain open six days a week from 7 a.m to 9 p.m.

    “I am seeing that shops are full of customers and people are going out to buy things they could not buy for a long time. Onam is the season for shopping and it is the first large festival to kick off the festive season. This will incentivise consumers to buy what they want,” says Chandy. “The white goods, brown goods, and e-commerce categories are active. Since the CBSE, ICSE and Kerala State Board results have been announced, the education category is also very active.”

    On the movies front, Malayalam films have taken a backseat because theatres are still not open. However, lots of movies are moving to OTT platforms and finding a new audience.

    According to Mathrubhumi Group head- media solutions (TRD), Naveen Sreenivasan, there was a lot of uncertainty in July, but advertising picked up as markets opened up for the festive season, and it now looks poised for a “safe but healthy Onam”. “We are experiencing a build-up of advertising, and advertising from local brands and retailers are also picking up. Industries such as FMCG, consumer durables, retail, e-commerce, and automobiles are bouncing back which is a positive sentiment for the season,” he concurs.

    On the presence of digital brands on TV sustaining through Onam, Sreenivasan says that the brands and advertisers are well aware of the significance the festival holds as a marker of the beginning of the festive season in the country. Hence, they will make sure to capitalise on this opportunity to reach out to their TG at every level. “Companies prefer this time of the year for launches and sales drives to attract consumers at large; and TV news, with high reach especially in Kerala, is always impactful. Digital brands have certainly increased their advertising share for this season as well,” he adds.

    The opening up of retail will give businesses a chance at recovery after the bludgeoning dealt by the pandemic, also serving as an impetus for consumers to make purchases ahead of festivities. This uptick in consumer sentiment is also reflected in the numbers put out by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) in its latest Retail Business Survey. The survey indicated that retail businesses in South India have shown a sharp comeback in July 2021 with sales at 82 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels (July 2019), as against 50 per cent sales in June 2021. It further expects a significant recovery in sales in the upcoming festival season, provided restrictions on modern retail are relaxed across the country.

    Brands too have taken note of the cautiously celebratory mood in the state this year and have gone all out, launching new campaigns and festive deals across the board.

    Fashion e-tailer Myntra announced the launch of its first mega-brand campaign in Kerala, featuring its new brand ambassador, South superstar Dulquer Salmaan, ahead of Onam. The brand hopes that Dulquer’s presence in the campaign will strengthen Myntra’s men’s wear category and help in building brand salience with consumers across the state and beyond. It is implementing a 360-degree approach, leveraging TV, digital and social platforms to deliver the campaign ad film in Kerala.

    Short video app, Moj too has launched an Onam celebration campaign with prominent Malayalam actor and celebrity Anu Sithara called #MojOnaghosham to turn the spotlight on celebrating Onam virtually. The ten-day-long campaign is being hosted by the actor and will see participation from popular Moj creators who will be seen celebrating the festival in all its regional fervour. Since a community celebration is not feasible amidst the COVID-19 restrictions, #MojOnaghosham has been designed to reciprocate the madness around the physical celebration of the festival in Kerala, by taking cues from the community-driven celebrations.

    Moj senior director – content strategy, Shashank Shekhar said, “The #MojOnaghosham campaign has received great engagement so far and we are sure it will add more joy to the grand celebrations that our creators are planning. The campaign was designed on the premise of the traditional Onam celebrations with people participating in competitions organised by the local communities. Our attempt is to replicate the experience virtually and the challenges are modelled on cultural nuances that connect our community to the essence of the festival.”

    With the uptick in the consumer sentiment in the state, gold and diamond retail chain headquartered in Kerala’s Kozhikode, Malabar Gold & Diamonds, also kicked off the latest edition of its ‘Brides of India’ campaign featuring its celebrity brand ambassadors, Anil Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor last week. The campaign will be played on TV and OTT platforms with plans to occupy print media space too later.

    Ahead of Kerala’s biggest festival, Snapdeal announced its brand campaign ‘Brand Waali Quality, Bazaar Waali Deal’ in the southern markets, including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, which are a significant customer base for the e-tailer. The campaign that targets savvy, value-conscious buyers of fashion, accessories, homeware, and more, will be LIVE across all social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and OTT entertainment networks like Hotstar and MX Player.

    Taking a unique approach in the Malayalam speaking market, Snapdeal will run the campaign with Youtube Creator Promotions and Facebook Branded Content Ads only and has partnered with 30+ creators/influencers like Kalidas Jayaram, Ahaana Krishna, and Shamees Kitchen to create 100+ content pieces that will reach out to relevant audiences in Kerala & other southern states during this festive times.

    Adding flavor to the Onam celebrations, DTH brand DishTV has also announced a slew of attractive offers to delight its new and existing customers as it joins the Onam celebrations in Kerala. Regional TV channels, not wanting to miss out on the Onam frenzy, have announced world television premieres of the latest Malayalam films.

    Home appliances brand, Haier India also announced exciting offers on its products across categories this Onam season.

    In times that have been challenging in many ways for the world at large, the festive season holds a promise of hope for both brands as well as consumers.

  • Manorama Online revels in the spirit of Onam

    Manorama Online revels in the spirit of Onam

    Mumbai: It’s reassuring to note that, after a year and a half since the outbreak, humanity has found indigenous ways to circumvent the pandemic and digital has been the confidant in the new normal. Cut to Kerala, the best time of the year is around the corner, Onam.

    This year, Onam for Malayalis across the world will be powered by meaningful digital connections. Be it choosing Onakkodi for the loved ones via video shopping, the joy of laying an ‘athapookalam’ (floral carpet) with childhood friends via an e-pookalam offering, enjoying Kathakali with family through a Livestream, preparing a sumptuous Onasadya together through recipe podcasts or through ordering in via food delivery platforms, indulging in Onakalikal through gaming platforms, watching the latest blockbuster in many of the OTT platforms, paying for an Onam Club donation via the payment platforms, Onam comes alive online in more ways than one.

    manoramaonline.com catering to 36 million Malayalis, spread across 200 + geographies will be enabling Malayalis across the world to celebrate Onam online through nostalgic reportage, immersive online properties like designing digital pookalam, digital onakalikal (games), and multisensory experiences.

    Its latest campaign – ‘Nothing will stop a Malayali from celebrating Onam’ turns the spotlight on the unstoppable Malayali spirit to celebrate Onam in all its fervor yet responsibly. The Local Network, agency of record for manoramaonline.com has conceived and executed this campaign.

    “The pandemic has certainly impacted the way we live, work & play, but in Kerala, it has not lowered the spirit of Onam, thanks to festivities taking a virtual turn,” said Manorama Online, general manager, marketing, Boby Paul.

    “Onam is a festival we cannot afford to miss, a once a year celebratory band in a Malayali’s life, come what may,” said The Local Network, creative director, Nitin Menon. “Cautious optimism is the need of the hour.”

    Kerala, armed with one of the highest internet penetration rates in the country, ranks high in online news consumption and online shopping. This year, Onam is expected to mark the revival of the shopping season in adherence to the protocols by leveraging the seamlessness of digital experiences.

  • Mathrubhumi’s Naveen Sreenivasan aims to build new revenue streams, expand client base

    Mathrubhumi’s Naveen Sreenivasan aims to build new revenue streams, expand client base

    NEW DELHI: As the industry steps into the crucial revival phase post several months of Covid2019-induced downturn, Naveen Sreenivasan has taken charge as the new head of Mathrubhumi Group’s media solutions team for the group’s TV channels — Mathrubhumi News and Kappa TV, its radio brand Club FM, as well as all of its digital business. 

    Sreenivasan is visibly excited about his new role and is positive that the market will only grow in the coming months. He said, “The business environment in Kerala started bouncing back quite quickly post an initial couple of months of the pandemic and advertising picked up during Onam. Now, with the national festive season starting, we see the momentum carrying on. Interest in advertising is definitely alive and we have been seeing active advertising from a wide range of verticals including automobile, NBFCs, FMCGs, jewellery, and education. We have also witnessed substantial activity from local businesses especially in Club FM, which clearly indicates that the local markets are alive.”

    He noted that while the market conditions are on an upward trajectory, challenges still persist. “This is an opportunity for us to dig deep, double down on our efforts smartly, build new revenue streams and expand our client base. My experience of working with the print business will definitely hold me in good stead in leveraging synergies between our media verticals.”

    The festive season has opened up the gates of opportunities across sectors in the state, as a result of which the group is slowly getting back to its pre-Covid advertising rates, he added.

    Speaking about his strategy and initial plans, Sreenivasan said that he is looking forward to leveraging synergies amongst the group’s assets and the team’s deep understanding of the Kerala market to deliver value for various clients.

    He added, “On digital, where the market is evolving the fastest, we are looking at very aggressive growth by building on our strengths and tapping into new revenue streams. We already have a news ecosystem which delivers 100 million page views and 10 million monthly unique visitors and a social media ecosystem with five million followers. Among our other digital products, we have industry-specific offerings – like FindHome, our real estate portal.”

  • Beauty & Lifestyle Virtual Roundtable: It is the best time for Indian customers

    Beauty & Lifestyle Virtual Roundtable: It is the best time for Indian customers

    NEW DELHI: While the onset of the great Indian festive season with Onam might not have been the exact point of revival for the beauty and lifestyle industry, as many of the players were expecting it to be, it surely has set the ball rolling into a more positive direction, concluded the eminent panelists on Indiantelevision.com’s Beauty and Lifestyle Virtual Roundtable, hosted and moderated by our founder CEO & editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. 

    Present on the panel were VLCC Health Care Ltd chief business officer Ameet Kkatyal, Baggit head of marketing Atul Rohan Garg, Lotus Herbals Pvt Ltd head of innovation, development, and brand strategy Ispita Chatterjee, Myntra head of marketing Harish Narayanan, Max Fashion India SVP marketing Jiten Mahendra, Future Group India CMO-FBB Prachi Mohapatra, and mCaffeine director and co-founder Vikas Lachhwani. 

    Mohapatra noted that though the numbers are not completely black or white, meaning the spending was neither great nor completely muted. “It wasn’t a complete washout for us. In fact, 2018-19 were bigger washouts than this year, because of the floods. In 2020, I was looking at a far more muted response, sentiment-wise as well as number-wise, but the response has surprised us. We hadn’t set our numbers at a very optimistic level but the growth has been far more than what we had expected.”

    The panel is now looking at the response as a better prelude for the months to come, expecting that the industry will start picking up from the second week of September and will continue to do so throughout the festive season. They all looked very positive about the fact that they are well prepared for it. 

    Lachhwani shared that luckily they were on the right side of the business during the pandemic and did not face as much loss as compared to other contemporaries. He added, “We spent these 4-5 months to think ahead and spend a lot of time on R&D. We are not itching to come out stronger than ever with new launches.”

    Narayanan agrees with Lachhwani. He said that Myntra team too has spent a great deal of time on research and development and also launched interesting innovations via properties like Myntra Studio where they are trying to catch the customers. Going ahead, his focus will be to keep strengthening the company’s goodwill with not just the consumers but also brand partners and is looking at constant innovation to support that. 

    Mahendra elaborated that this time has helped them greatly in identifying their loyal consumers and create segmentations accordingly. “About 80-90 per cent of our revenues are coming from our loyalty base and we are doing a lot of work on segmentation.” 

    He added that the focus is on finding out which alternate channels that got relevant during these months will stay relevant post-Covid2019 and is working towards building their strengths on them. “Be it WhatsApp, vernacular content, or video calls, we are looking at all the possible channels that will help us. There is a lot of pent-up demand, I am sure and we will have to build our brand behaviour around customer surroundings.”

    Chatterjee noted that being a resilient brand, they innovated a lot during the pandemic. “The first challenge that we faced was that our UG is very aspirational and with the whole sentiment being very negative, it was important for us to reach out to them. So, we invested a lot in influencer activities, especially micro and nano influencers. We also resorted to cold calling, which worked really well for us.”

    She added that their tech and innovations team is working really hard to introduce concepts of AI, VR, etc. to make the space more inclusive and positive towards catering to the post-pandemic fears of the people. 

    Kkatyal insisted that the industry collectively should be working towards educating the consumers and make them believe that it is safe to go out and shop. “Consumer is scared to step out and needs a lot of hand-holding. We have to prove to them that our outlets are as safe as their homes. We have to break the ice.”

    He suggested that it is imperative that the industry collectively runs positive campaigns and inspire customers. 

    Further, Wanvari raised an interesting question pertaining to the rise of many new local and small-scale brands during the lockdown and if the established players are seeing them as a threat. 

    To this, Kkatyal replied that out of a hundred brands that rose during the pandemic, only 10 per cent would have made a mark and only one per cent of them would stay. So, he is not threatened by the competition.

    He also hinted that the industry might see a lot of brands evaporating or shrinking, or even looking for consolidations in the post-pandemic era and that can be a big opportunity for some of the established companies. 

    Narayanan noted that it is the best time for Indian consumers as more competition will translate into more innovation. 

    The panel looked quite hopeful about the future but maintained the coming two-three years are going to be the true litmus test for them. However, they are well-prepared to surf the tough tide. 

  • DishTV strengthens its presence in Kerala Market

    DishTV strengthens its presence in Kerala Market

    KOLKATA: Dish TV India Limited, India’s leading DTH Company is set to add cheer to the festive season with a slew of attractive offers and packages as it joins the Onam celebrations in Kerala. Keeping in line with its commitment to provide best in class entertainment choices to its new and existing customer, DishTV has introduced new channels, packs, and acquisition offers along with exciting recharge offers at attractive prices to its customers.      

    Catering to the need of customers, the new packages offered by DishTV have been devised keeping in mind the diverse choice of content across various segments. As part of the offer, two new special packs have been launched, basis the language preferred by the customers. The new recharge packs include Joy Malayalam Tamil HD; comprising all popular Malayalam channels with Popular Tamil channels and also include three discovery channels; Animal Planet HD, Discovery HD and TLC HD and Premiere Jumbo HD; comprising all Malayalam with popular English movies, news, sports, infotainment channels.     

    Commenting on the festive offers, Marketing, Dish TV and Watcho corporate head-marketing Sukhpreet Singh said, “We would like to thank the people of Kerala for their continuous support throughout the year and Onam is an opportune time for us to show our gratitude. We intend to make this festive season special for everyone by providing many exciting offers and packages for our DishTV customers. We recognize the ever-evolving aspirations of Keralites and are happy to offer services focused on delivering maximum choice and entertainment benefit to our customers. Kerala is an important market for Dish TV India and we are confident that Onam special offers and packages will bring new customers and growth in this market.”     

    In addition to this, the company has introduced offers based on the need for multi-lingual content consumption for new as well as existing subscribers and has strengthened its content portfolio in Kerala by adding channels like Zee Keralam HD, & Prive HD and many more south region channels. It also added Kite Victers, an educational channel for students, devoted to broadcasting high-quality education programs and infotainment content in Malayalam. To further encourage existing subscribers, special long term schemes have been announced, wherein subscribers can avail one month extra on payment of six months.    

    Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment

  • Brands need to motivate consumers to buy during Onam

    Brands need to motivate consumers to buy during Onam

    MUMBAI: As Kerala preps itself for Onam celebrations, brands are trying to recoup some of the profits that had been forsaken because of pandemic. 

    At indiantelevision.com's ‘The Comeback Of Kerala: Onam Returns’, the fifth session was about understanding overall brand sentiments.This panel was moderated by Kalyan Jewellers independent director Anil S Nair. The panellists included Lodestar UM, IPG Mediabrands executive vice president Laya Menon, Asianet News Network VP Unnikrishnan BK, Malayala Manorama VP marketing Varghese Chandy, Zee Entertainment enterprises limited south cluster head Siju Prabhakaran, Mathrubhumi Group national cluster head Sunil Nambiar and Blue Star Ltd VP sales and marketing cooling and purifications products division C Haridas.

    According to Nair, for the past three years, Onam in Kerala has been affected by floods and now Covid2019. It has impacted the consumer requirements and sentiments.

    C Haridas said, “Though there is an air of caution, people will start spending from Onam. People are positive and they are hoping that the spending spree will start. Onam is the first festival in the long list, it is a melting ground for all product categories. However, consumers will need the right kind of value and motivation then they will be happy to spend.”

    He further added that consumers are actually spending on the basis of a need. In Kerala there is a surge in the sale in water purifiers and air conditioners to maintain the humidity. As per him it is a brand's responsibility to create a need in the market.

    Nambiar shared that in the past six months, there has been a total change in the way in which people have accepted this as new normal. He also added that except for the first few months consumer sentiment is more positive now. However, he believes that the Onam market is going to be very dynamic, but there needs to be a right plan to pull the consumers. Media also has a major role to play in that.

    Elaborating more about the media's role in influencing consumer sentiment, Unnikrishnan highlighted that the month of April came as a blow, but post 15 August he believes the market will pick up and from being in a saving mode people will start to spend.

    Menon pointed out that the usual classifieds are still coming and the level of briefs have not come down. As per her, Kerala is still doing better than other states, giving it a reason to become more optimistic. She also thinks that marketers across categories are looking at spending and advertising rates will go up.

    Prabhakaran said that brands should look at how they are responding during this crucial time. According to him, over-reliance on Onam is not a very good sign, there needs to be another festival where consumers have the propensity to spend.

    Panellists are of the common opinion that Onam is just not Kerala’s interest, it is nations interest to make it successful. It is the right time to sell products but for that there needs to be proper advertisement and promotions.

    Also, they noted that brands should not wait till 15 August to see how the market is performing, but they should start advertising now. Offers need to be floated now in order to create a buzz. Brands should give irresistible offers during this Onam to attract more consumers.

  • Market sentiments, ad volumes to go up with Onam

    Market sentiments, ad volumes to go up with Onam

    NEW DELHI:  Indiantelevision.com’s marquee virtual conclave exploring the scope of growth in Kerala ad market during the upcoming festive season, starting Onam, “The Comeback of Kerala: Onam Returns” wrapped up Wednesday noon with an impressive lineup of speakers sharing their deep insights into the market. The show expressed great hopes and positivity towards markets across the country picking up post-Onam but with a certain air of caution in people’s minds. 

    The virtual event kickstarted with a riveting address by Indiantelevision.com Group founder, CEO, and editor in chief Anil Wanvari following which BARC India CEO Sunil Lulla presented exclusive data on the market highlighting some of the key pre-Covid2019 and Covid2019 trends and an overview of the previous three Onams in the state. 

    He indicated that as Kerala has already started witnessing a growth in ad volumes, going 10 per cent up in the month of July’20 as compared to Jan’20, the trend will continue to be so if the production-supply chains keep picking up. However, for ad revenues to grow, it will take some more time, probably the market will reach pre-Covid2019 levels in 2021. 

    After Lulla’s insightful presentation, next in agenda was a panel discussion on “Unlock 3.0: The National Perspective–Are Brands And Consumers Ready ” moderated by TAM Media Research Pvt Ltd CEO LV Krishnan. Sitting on the panel were ITC Ltd head media and PR Jaikishin Chhaproo, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd head of media Subha Sreenivasan, Initiative CEO Vaishali Verma, Wavemaker India VP Kishan Kumar Shymalan and Zenith India CEO Jai Lala. 

    Chhaproo shared that despite Onam being just around the corner, there hasn’t been any noticeable spike in sales and the market is still dealing with logistical issues. Sreenivasan, however, showed positivity indicating that things will slowly pick up. 

    Lala opined, “The need of the hour is to work together ever before. We need to get information at the ground level. The engagement has to be very deep; TV and newspapers have been impacted which need to get back to their pace."

    The panel agreed that digital is set for double-digit growth this year while for other sectors it is going to be a slow trail in the coming months. 

    Kumar Shyamalan said, “The H2 impact will be far lesser, and the next three months will be extremely critical to see how many opportunities we have while working together.”

    The next panel discussed the retail and local perspective within the Kerala market as Unlock 3.0 begins. The session was moderated by Star Regional Business EVP ad sales Dev Shenoy and had Popular Motor World Pvt Ltd CEO Sujith Chandran, LG Electronics GM Sheebu David, Seematti CEO Beena Kannan, Maitri Advertising Works (P) Ltd director-operations Raju Menon, Mplan Media CEO and founder Parag Masteh, and Pittappillil Agencies MD Peter Paul Pittappillil. 

    Addressing the challenges faced by various industries in terms of consumer behaviour, the panel noted that the biggest issue is restricted mobility, to address which they are investing in digital solutions. Masteh shared that this has led to a boom in e-commerce, especially in apparel and consumer electronics. 

    Pittappillil shared that while the overall sentiment around Onam is positive, he is not expecting performance similar to previous years. Kannan said that they are expecting 20-30 per cent growth. According to Menon, real estate is also showing positive movement in the middle-level. 

    The final panel “Unlock 3.0: Understanding the Overall Brand Sentiments” delved into the greater local and national insights into the shifts expected to happen in the marketing and advertising markets in the coming few months. The panel was made interesting by some thought-provoking inputs shared by Blue Star Ltd VP–sales and marketing for cooling and purification products division C Haridas, Mathrubhumi Group national cluster head Sunil Nambiar, Lodestar UM IPG Mediabrands EVP Laya Menon, Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd VP Unnikrishnan BK, Malayala Manorama VP–marketing Varghese Chandy, and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd south cluster head Siju Prabhakaran, moderated by Kalyan Jewellers independent director and L&K Saatchi and Saatchi former CEO and managing partner Anil S Nair. 

    Haridas noted that though there is an air of caution, people will surely start spending from Onam but they will need the right kind of value and motivation.

    Speaking about sentiments felt in the rest of the country and Kerala cluster Prabhakaran said, “Kerala showed the way to the rest of the country in terms of how to handle this crisis. Brand Kerala is in a very strong position. It has always managed to be in the national limelight. TV was only the choice so viewership was on the rise, but it couldn’t be monetised. Kerala was first to start the production, but I think we have seen a lot of resilience shown by us.”

    You can catch up on the whole conclave here: