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Tag: SUGAR

  • Zepto ties the knot with Britannia for a shaadi that wasn’t real

    Zepto ties the knot with Britannia for a shaadi that wasn’t real

    MUMBAI: Who says you need a bride and groom to have a big fat Indian wedding? Zepto just proved otherwise with its Great Indian Fake Shaadi, a no-nuptials bash that turned Chattarpur’s Ira Luxe into the wildest wedding that never was. In partnership with Britannia, the event saw 300 plus guests, top creators and brand partners show up for a night where nothing was real, but everything was reel.

    Britannia, the title sponsor, quite literally led the baraat kicking off the evening with the Britannia Pure Magic Baraat and a flash mob to Bingo!’s viral Tedhe Medhe Bhojpuri anthem. The result? A spectacle that felt like a cross between a shaadi, a music video, and a meme come to life.

    Shaadi.com joined the fun with a digital roast by founder Anupam Mittal, taking a hilariously self-aware dig at India’s dating scene, while Manforce Epic Condoms added some cheeky sparkle with a vibrating bed installation that had guests blushing and grinning in equal measure.

    The celebration was co-powered by a who’s who of brands Nivea, Haldiram’s, Bingo Tedhe Medhe, Manforce Epic Condoms, Shaadi.com, Close-Up, ITC Fabelle, and Minimalist making it less of a wedding and more of a brand baaraat. Rebound – Detox Shot, Hershey’s, Sugar, and Wildstone joined in as supporting partners, ensuring the party stayed powered through the night.

    The creative chaos was choreographed by Meragi, a real wedding planning startup that turned Zepto’s tongue-in-cheek concept into a content goldmine. With sangeet performances, spoof rituals, and brand-led installations, the venue became a playground for creators with over 100 influencers flooding social feeds in real time.

    “The fake shaadi trend isn’t just a meme anymore, it’s a cultural moment,” said Zepto chief brand officer Chandan Mendiratta. “We wanted to kick off the wedding season by owning that moment and turning it into something bigger. The fake shaadi reflects how Gen Z celebrates with irony, energy and endless content.”

    For Britannia general manager for marketing Siddharth Gupta the evening was a perfect fit for their indulgent new range. “The Great Indian Fake Shaadi was such a fun and unexpected way to start the wedding season. It was full of laughter, energy, and indulgence, much like Britannia Pure Magic. Guests experienced our new choco creations that turn every bite into an irresistible delight.”

    At the end of the night, there were no pheras, no tears, and definitely no bidaai but there was plenty of laughter, content and chaos. Zepto’s Fake Shaadi wasn’t just a stunt; it was a sly mirror to how India’s wedding season has gone from ceremonial to cinematic. Because who needs “I do” when you’ve got “I post”?
     

  • Mankind Pharma urges Indians to consume less whites through campaign

    Mankind Pharma urges Indians to consume less whites through campaign

    Mumbai:  Mankind Pharma, the No 1 pharmaceutical company in the antihypertensive segment in India, as per MAT April 24 volume sale (Source: Iqvia has launched a nationwide campaign on the occasion of World Hypertension Day called Limit White India. This initiative aims to raise awareness about the dangers of excessive salt and sugar consumption which with other factors like a sedentary lifestyle and obesity can be a major risk factor for hypertension.

    Studies have shown that 1 in 4 adults in India suffers from hypertension which is about 11.4 per cent of the country’s population, are living with diabetes. Diabetes and hypertension are often referred together as partners in crime due to their closely linked impact on global health. It is common knowledge that these conditions not only coexist but exacerbate each other, creating a compounded risk of severe health issues such as cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and kidney failure.  The Limit White India campaign focuses on educating Indians to limit their intake of whites like salt and sugar. The campaign emphasises the need for gradual lifestyle changes to improve cardiovascular health. To drive a three-year awareness program, Mankind Pharma aims to partner with healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the management of hypertension and diabetics across the country.  

    “Hypertension is a silent killer, and Mankind Pharma is committed to tackling it head-on through the ‘Limit White India’ campaign.” says Mankind Pharma Ltd chief marketing officer Dr Sanjay Koul “Excessive salt and sugar are significant contributors to uncontrolled blood pressure levels and blood sugar levels. Studies have shown Indians on average consume five times the WHO recommended quantity of sugar annually. By raising awareness and promoting lifestyle modifications, we aim to empower people to make informed choices for their well-being.”

    As part of the campaign, Mankind Pharma will engage cardiologists, endocrinologists, diabetologists, general practitioners, and the public through educational initiatives. These include conducting journal clubs, distributing Cardiac Cognizance newsletters, radio awareness programs with doctors, and blood pressure screening camps nationwide. 

  • Koparo raises Rs 6 crore from 4P Capital Partners and Shark Tank India

    Koparo raises Rs 6 crore from 4P Capital Partners and Shark Tank India

    Mumbai: Digital-first, sustainable and plant-based home care brand Koparo has raised a funding of Rs 5.2 crore from 4P Capital Partners apart from Rs 70 lakh from Shark Tank India. Boat co-founder Aman Gupta and Sugar co-founder Vineeta Singh have come onboard as investors in the company.

    The brand, which has raised the money at the valuation at Rs 70 crore, is planning to invest the funds in brand building and distribution.

    Koparo’s USP is naturally powered and child-safe, pet-friendly cleaning products that appeal to a growing base of conscious consumers in India. As the millennial families adopt healthier lifestyles, Koparo’s affordable premiums were well received by the Shark Tank India judges.

    Launched in 2021, Koparo closed last fiscal at Rs 5 crore and is planning to clock Rs. 12 crore this fiscal and grow to Rs 50 cr in the next 2 years.

    Koparo founder Simran Khara said, “Securing a Shark Tank deal from Aman Gupta, Vineeta Singh who have built formidable consumer brands is very satisfying. I’m excited to have 4P Capital Partners on-board as their backers have experience of building large consumer brands. In the next 2 years, we are targeting to reach 10 lakh Indian consumers and our focus is on expanding distribution both online and offline.”  

    4P Capital Partners CIO and partner Aditya Arora said, “We are impressed with the solid business that Simran has built in a short span of time. Her focus on positive economics stands out for us. We strongly believe that sustainable and plant-based home cleaners are the need of the hour and are happy to back Koparo on its journey.”

    The brand offers ‘good for you’ and ‘good for the planet’, plant-based home care products like floor cleaners, laundry detergent, fabric conditioners, dishwash liquid, handwash, cleaning accessories and fresheners & fragrances and going ahead with plans to launch more products that serve cleaning needs of modern Indian homes.

    Prior to this, Koparo has raised Rs 5.7 crore in a pre-seed round in Nov ’21 and Rs 12 crore pre-series A round in Feb ’23, respectively, led by Saama Capital. Other investors who backed the brand in these rounds include MVP, Fluid Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners and Titan Capital.

  • Apple TV+ greenlights ‘Sugar’ with Colin Farrell

    Apple TV+ greenlights ‘Sugar’ with Colin Farrell

    MUMBAI: Following a highly competitive situation, Apple TV+ has announced a series Sugar to feature Colin Farrell. It is a new genre-bending series hailing from creator and executive producer Mark Protosevich ‘Thor’, with the actor of ‘The Batman’ to be the executive producer and star in the lead role.

    Hailing from Apple Studios, the new series is set to be directed by Academy Award nominee Fernando Meirelles ‘City of God’ who will also serve as executive producer, and executive produced by Academy and Emmy Award nominee Simon Kinberg ‘X-Men’, Audrey Chon ‘Invasion’ and Scott Greenberg ‘The Guilty’. Chip Vucelich will also be executive producer.

    Sugar marks the second collaboration for Kinberg’s Genre Films and Apple TV+, and will stream alongside the series ‘Invasion’, which recently received a second season renewal. The series is a science-fiction drama series co-created, written and executive produced by Kinberg and David Weil.

  • Sugar Cosmetics doesn’t spend moolah on influencer marketing. : Vineeta Singh

    Sugar Cosmetics doesn’t spend moolah on influencer marketing. : Vineeta Singh

    The 15th edition of Goafest has seen interesting conversations on day one. Sugar Cosmetics co-founder and chief executive officer Vineeta Singh was part of the biggest advertising festival where she spoke about the journey of Sugar Cosmetics, its marketing channels and talked about the popular show The Shark Tank.

    In 2015, Sugar Cosmetics was launched as a digital-first brand, which catered to the needs of Indian women. However, the brand has grown exponentially in the last seven years. Mentioning its growth in the market during day one of the Goafest event, Singh said, “We launched Sugar in 2015 and right now almost 60 per cent of consumers from more than 30,000 offline stores continue to discover us online.”

    The sugar cosmetics brand has witnessed a transition since it started its business in the market. “We saw a transition happen and we knew this would amplify. Now, more than 90 per cent of women consumers are doing digital shopping,” she added. 

    In the initial days, the brand experienced many challenges but being digital-first helped them to establish itself as a strong D2C cosmetics brand. “It seemed so difficult to disrupt the Loreals, P&Gs and Unilevers of the world. But in the last few years, digital has allowed us to compete.”

    On unpaid influencer marketing

    Sugar Cosmetics has a whopping 2.1 million followers on Instagram, and 60,000 subscribers on Youtube. The brand doesn’t spend a single penny on influencer marketing. 

    “Consumers have become so smart now and they can easily figure out the fake and paid influencer marketing tactics hence it’s not useful to spend on influencer marketing,” she said. 

    “We don’t spend on influencer marketing at all, still it is one of the strongest marketing tools for us. We have more than one-thousand influencers associated with us but they are all with us without any fee. They’re the real users of our customers. They promote our brand and in return, we feature them on our platform,” she explained. 

    The brand is too young for performance marketing 

    Sugar cosmetics has experimented with performance marketing but the approach didn’t work well for the brand. Sharing the reason behind it, Singh said, “I do feel that just spending as a young brand on performance marketing is not great for brand building.” 

    Explaining it further, she added, “At the end of the day, you know, the relationship that you have with the consumer, which you get through performance marketing is very transactional.” 

    She added that the brands are built on deep emotional relationships. So, you need to go beyond the transaction, which is why we feel that the best investment is to woo consumers with a great product, communication, design and packaging. 

    On being asked, how do they manage to hit that sweet spot between being a premium or affordable product? She reveals that the cosmetic brand does a lot of benchmarking. She added, “Our whole idea is that world-class quality at an affordable price will always be like 40-50 per cent more premium than the largest brands.”

    “Despite the price range, we always ensure that when the consumer gets the product in her hand, she feels like she’s getting more than what she paid,” she added.

    “At the same time, we invest heavily in the packaging and the entire brand experience is more about a nicely packaged product. Customers are usually ready to pay a slight premium for the room,” she asserted. 

    On growth in the regional market

    While the Indian middle class is a little hesitant when it comes to spending on cosmetic products, Vineeta revealed that the emerging selfie culture has helped them to get a lot of customers from the regional market. 

    She revealed, “The highest part of our business comes from the Northeastern part of the country, especially West Bengal.”

    “In the west, we have a huge consumer base in Punjab and the south, our major business comes from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha,” she added. 

    She shared, “Looking at the demand in the regional market, we try to create a lot of content in the regional languages as well. The whole northern and central belt gets covered with Hindi. So, we don’t have to create specific content for them but we specifically create a lot of Bengali, Tamil and Telugu content and it works great for us.”

    About Shark Tank

    After being a part of Shark Tank, Vineeta’s popularity has overpowered the popularity of Sugar Cosmetics. “But it’s my dream to make Sugar cosmetics more famous,” she noted.

  • #Retrace2021: Influencer-led purchases played a big role in driving growth: SUGAR CEO Vineeta Singh

    #Retrace2021: Influencer-led purchases played a big role in driving growth: SUGAR CEO Vineeta Singh

    An established name in the Indian beauty & personal care market, SUGAR Cosmetics was among the early movers into the D2C (direct-to-consumer) space as a digital-first cosmetic brand. Nurtured by Vineeta Singh, an IIT & IIM graduate who co-founded the beauty startup in the year 2015 along with her husband, the brand today boasts over two million app downloads on iOS and Android and 1.8 million-plus Instagram followers. Not only this, it has established retail touchpoints in over 35,000 outlets across 130+ cities and has raised $21 million in series C funding in early 2021.

    The persistent entrepreneur was third-time lucky after her first two start-ups did not take off. However, the second startup, Fab Bag, a subscription business that offered women an assortment of beauty products every month for a small fee- gave her enough data and insights to kickstart her third one. Singh realized that the makeup brands that were available—foreign or local—didn’t cater to Indian skin tones or the Indian way of life, and poured her academic learning and freshly-learned consumer insights into SUGAR. Unlike most digital-first brands, SUGAR was early to develop an omnichannel presence. The gamble paid off and today the seven-year-old startup has hit an annual run rate of Rs 500 crore as of November 2021, having closed FY21 at approximately Rs 130 crore revenue.

    The massive push to the digital economy that the pandemic offered also proved to be a boon and gave the brand a huge opportunity to connect directly with its consumers.  The multi-faceted serial entrepreneur who describes herself as “CEO @ SUGAR Cosmetics. Mom. Running, cycling, swimming person – in that order” believes that “women make the best all-rounders.”

    IndianTelevision’s Anupama Sajeet, caught up with Vineeta Singh- CEO & cofounder of SUGAR Cosmetics– for an exclusive chat on the key innovations the Beauty brand brought into its portfolio in the past year and its expansion plans in 2022. She also shares her thoughts on trends witnessed by the beauty industry last year while also delving upon the learnings that she carries into the new year.

    Edited excerpts:

    On key changes/innovations brought in 2021 by the brand

    Despite the difficulties that all brands faced during the second wave of the pandemic in 2021, SUGAR Cosmetics launched 30+ new products. Keeping the market scenarios in mind, we also extended our skincare category with the launch of a coffee and citrus-based skincare range. SUGAR Cosmetics also built conversational & educative content using strong videos and infographics, exploring experiential retail marketing tactics and deploying stronger content even on the brand-owned app.

    As we continued to grow stronger on building powerful content, we also ensured that we strengthened our content distribution channels from digital and OOH to TV. Our SUGAR x Taapsee campaign TV Commercial aired on prime TV channels in eight languages witnessed over 50 Million views.

    On the brand’s association with the non-fiction show ‘Shark Tank India’ on Sony

    I am very grateful to have been invited to ‘Shark Tank’ as one of the Sharks. As this wasn’t a kind of brand collaboration, my acceptance of this offer by ‘Shark Tank India’ was purely a personal interest to nurture the entrepreneurship boom in the country. It’s a sheer pleasure being a part of this iconic show that has helped create several multi-million-dollar companies across geographies, over the years, along with a unique viewing experience to the audience not only educating them but entertaining them at the same time.

    On leveraging influencer marketing to connect with consumers

    For SUGAR, influencer marketing has played a big part in creating online and offline popularity for the brand. Not only in the sense of getting our engagement levels high, but also the direct response from consumers through the sales conversions has seen a spike when we have engaged in influencer marketing strategies. In the near future, we plan to take our association to the next level, by creating an exclusive community of these mini brand ambassadors and rolling out an exclusive program for them.

    On expanding the brand’s current consumer demographic

    As a brand, we continue to stay laser-focused and loyal to the 18-to-25-year-old target group. However, with retail rapidly blitz-scaling to become a significant part of our business over the last three years, the brand has also attracted a slightly older target group of 25-to-34-year-olds. What’s common though in both audience sets is that they’re digital-savvy, more peer and influencer-led than celebrity-led and know what a good lipstick looks like. We are definitely foraying into Tier 2 – 3 cities and are already available in more than 500+ cities through just our retail channels.

    On major trends witnessed in the Beauty & Cosmetic industry in 2021 

    We are seeing a dominance of peer/influencer-review led purchases over celebrity-promoted ones. Traditional retail, of course, continues to dominate the lion’s share of colour cosmetics and beauty sales in India but with the democratisation of data and access to low-cost internet, there’s a massive Tier 2/Tier 3 city audience that’s waiting to consume beauty brands like never before. In terms of new product trends, apart from transfer-proof lipsticks and mask-proof makeup, hybrid products are a new rage. Such products have gained a surge in sales for SUGAR through our illuminating moisturizers, lip primers, lip balms, hydrating primers, and more.

    On key trends that might dominate the industry in 2022

    2022 will see further integration of tech in beauty. I definitely see a lot more experimentation happening on these lines as consumers and brands explore the blurred boundaries between the digital and real world. Also as the growing GenZs community joins in as early adopters of makeup – I see a lot of influence of their buying behavior skewed on brands that focus on sustainability, and who explore themes around realistic beauty and inclusivity. Adoption of an omnichannel approach and focus on conversational commerce will also gain popularity among a lot of brands.

    On brand USP amid tough competition from rising players in the D2C cosmetics space

    The three main USPs of the brand – highly coveted colours, the right pigments that compliment all skin tones, and makeup made with formulations that last long, has helped the brand to build a cult following in a short span of time. Our products are just more value for the price tag we command – it will be hard to find products that are more pigmented, longer-lasting, and more suited to the Indian skin tone.

    SUGAR, as a brand has always been more creator-led, than celebrity-led in a cluttered market, where brands spend more time talking about discounts than the power or beauty and cosmetics. Ensuring all SUGAR Cosmetics products are manufactured in regions across the globe that excel in providing high quality for that specific product – has also been a major contributor to maintaining quality. With a clutter-breaking persona, signature low-poly packaging and chart-topping products –SUGAR will continue to keep providing more value and better quality than any other competitor in our price range. We will also continue to be a squarely millennial-focused brand.

    On looking ahead: Goals & plans for 2022

    We will further strengthen our core pillars – distribution, product, content, and community. We aim to be in over one lakh stores in 2022 and make SUGAR one of India’s top three brands in the overall colour cosmetics category with a company turnover of more than Rs 500 crores. We currently employ more than 2000 women and we also aim to raise that number to 3000 so that the brand is truly built by women for women.

    On the personal learnings that she will take into the new year

    Covid-19 has changed the way the world behaves. For SUGAR, we came out stronger with so much gratitude in our hearts. Firstly, towards our customers who continued to support endlessly, secondly towards our retail, warehouse, and HQ employees who were nothing less than frontline workers. Another learning has been that no matter what challenge is thrown at us, agility matters. We realised that growth is not about how fast you get to it, but how well you sustain it once you have arrived. And, lastly, we learnt to not stop making bold and brave decisions, like we always did!

  • SUGAR Cosmetics to fight female infanticide with Women’s Day 2020 campaign

    SUGAR Cosmetics to fight female infanticide with Women’s Day 2020 campaign

    MUMBAI : SUGAR Cosmetics, one of the fastest-growing premium makeup and beauty brands in India aims to raise awareness about female foeticide, this Women's Day. The Ministry of Finance estimates that, as of 2014, 63 million women in India have gone missing due to both differential female survival and sex selection. While the national child sex ratio in 1991 was 945 girls for every 1,000 boys aged 0 to 6, by 2011, it had fallen to 918. Over the coming decades, this trend will contribute to a deepening marriage squeeze that will make it increasingly difficult for young men to find wives. According to a study by demographer Christophe Guilmoto, by 2060, more than 10% of men will still be single by the time they turn 50 years old.

    To raise awareness about the alarming issue of female foeticide and infanticide in the country, SUGAR Cosmetics has launched its latest digital campaign #getthepicture #betterwithher. The campaign aims at inspiring consumers to emphasize on how important women are, and what their families would look like without them.  Furthermore, the brand urges us all to pledge and stand against female foeticide and infanticide through a simple act on their social media platforms between the 6th – 8 March 2020.

    This Women’s day, SUGAR asks women to show their support for the cause by uploading a family photo across social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter wherein they simply scribble out the women in the picture along with the message – ‘This Women's Day, make a difference by being the voice of those who didn't make it! Do your bit to stand up against female foeticide and infanticide in India. So spread the message and show your support by uploading your scribbled photographs, so the world can truly #GetThePicture.  #BetterWithHer #TrySUGAR #SUGARCosmetics’.

    The brand aims to engage with approximately 4500+ influencers to create maximum reach and engagement in this campaign. Alongside this, with the purchase of every SUGAR Minis Set this March, SUGAR Cosmetics will give a part of the proceedings towards fighting this societal evil.

    Speaking about the campaign, SUGAR Cosmetics CEO Vineeta Singh says, “SUGAR as a brand caters to strong, independent millennial women. We have always believed that everyone is equal. Both men and women deserve the same acceptance and access to a flourished life. With this campaign, we want to raise awareness in the community and encourage families to accept and love every girl child. Our idea with this campaign was to showcase what families would look like if the women didn’t exist. We want to inspire our community to fight against female feticide and embrace a girl child – because she is capable of great things!"