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Tag: Viviana Mall

  • Retail industry hiccups and bounce back strategies for Q3

    Retail industry hiccups and bounce back strategies for Q3

    NEW DELHI: India’s retail industry has been badly hit due to Covid2019. The last three months have resulted in no revenue for a majority of fashion brands. From manufacturing supply chains to shut down of stores, the pandemic has shaken up the fashion industry.

    Though Unlock 1.0 announced the re-opening of malls there are no footfalls in shops. Retail brands across the segment have seen new changes in the last few days, owing to the pandemic. 

    Indiantelevision.com had a virtual conference with top leaders on the future of shopping. The panel members were Viviana Mall chief executive officer Manoj K Agarwal, Liva assistant vice president & digital head Rishi Sharma and Spykar Lifestyle chief executive officer Sanjay Vakharia. The session was moderated by Indiantelevision.com senior reporter Dolly Mahayan.

    Vakharia shared, “Our business has been quite impacted because it’s not part of essentials, there is a sea change which we have seen be it in terms of marketing, communication and we are adapting to the new changes, and keeping close tabs on consumers, and trying new mediums to reach out to people.”

    Speaking about the opening of malls, and how its rebuilding confidence among people, Agarwal said, “Unlock1.0 doesn’t have the opening of malls in Mumbai, but everyone will follow SOPs by Shopping Centre Association of India to be implemented by all malls which have been opened, and a detailed SOP has been made which will be strictly implemented."

    “We need to create an environment of comfort and no fear in the customer's mind to visit malls and shop. All malls have come up with videos that gives all necessary information on how they can move around in malls,” he added.

    Sharma also agreed with the other panellists and explained, "In India, the mall is a destination. We have not made a buying pattern. Retail in India is pretty new, brands are young. They are ready to adapt and change themselves. People use e-commerce to create their wish list and when they want to buy a product they will rush to a store. Covid2019 has taught consumers about adaptability and has moved digital.”

    Vakharia shared that the brand will follow its protocol to ensure the safety of consumers, “We are quarantining the garment for 24 hours before letting a customer try it. We are ensuring social distancing and regulating traffic. Consumers are also following all the protocols. There are many checkpoints in the mall for consumers' safety.”

    He also added, “Though online is the need of the hour but pleasure of shopping can’t be felt online. We will see a change where consumers will buy essential stuff online, but for other kind of products people would prefer location shopping.”

    Talking about what kind of changes the brand has seen in the pandemic crisis, Rishi shared, “Sustainability and eco-friendly will be the next big thing in the fashion world. We need to add a layer of care and technology to our fabric and give added protection to consumers.”

    Agarwal said that initially there may be 30 per cent footfall in some malls. "Internal dwell time has been reduced by customers. People are coming for focused shopping. Tier 2 cities are faring better than metros and tier 1 cities on the mall front.  In Q3, I think we are expecting to do good business because the fear of the virus will subside.”

    Vakharia said, “The situation is unprecedented and it looks grim but we are hoping that Q3 will bring little hope as a lot of festivals are around the corner. We are not wanting to get on the end of season sales because the supply chain is distributed, it’s difficult to get new merchandise. We will get interesting products by Diwali.”

    The panelists also shared that in the festive season, they would prefer to advertise more on the digital medium.

    "Brands will be investing heavily on social media platforms to gauge consumers as far as advertising is concerned. We are not sure how print media will work. We will not cut anything on our marketing spends, it’s only the medium and channel which will see a difference. I don’t think so we can afford anything on the marketing and communication budget to be slashed,” Agarwal explained.

    Rishi echoed a similar perspective, “ATL and BTL will take a hit, digital will become big and there will be a lot of new interventions in the space. A very small part of advertising budget may go higher, we could see social-commerce to be the next big thing in India.”

  • Viviana Mall turns Seven!

    Viviana Mall turns Seven!

    Viviana Mall, a well-known ‘destination mall’, to celebrate its seven years of providing a recreation space to the public has organised a week-long activities and events on the social media.

    The celebration commenced from June 22, with daily activities to beat the lockdown blues right from room decoration and cake baking workshops to make up sessions by the renowned makeup artists from Colorbar.

    There are various competitions also lined up, the winners in these events will win prizes and offers from Viviana Mall. Keeping in mind the 7years of completion, the mall will be uploading a post on its Instagram that appeals to their customers to comment and share ‘7 things they love at Viviana Mall’. Based on the same, customers commenting 1st, 7th, 77th, 777th and 7777th on the post will be announced as the winners of this competition.

    Commenting on the occasion, Ms. Rima Kirtikar, Chief Marketing Officer, Viviana Mall said, “Since the day of the inauguration, we have come a long way and we continue to be young with not only turning seven, but also with our activities that we conducted at the mall and now the same has moved on the digital platforms. As we approach closer to reopening of economic activities, including malls, we have already prepared ourselves to with several precautionary measures to provide a safer shopping experience. We can comfortably say that all of our stakeholders right from shoppers, retailers, support staff and the mall is taking #EkNayaKadam by stepping into mall’s eight year and in this post-Covid world.”

    Taking a new step in organising parties, Viviana Mall has organized a virtual party for their loyalty club customers on the Anniversary Day, June 27. For everyone, on the celebration day, there will be a live band performance on mall’s social media pages.

    “Our customers and retail partners are the pillar of support and part of the Viviana Mall’s success story. As we take #EkNayaKadam, we are confident that our stakeholders will continue to be part of the journey for the years to come. The same is also reflected in one of the recent surveys that we had commissioned wherein 56% of our visitors would come to Viviana Mall within a month of reopening. Additionally, if given an option, over 60% would prefer booking their visit. We can glad to share that all safety arrangements are in place and we are ready to reopen the mall within 24 hours of notice to welcome our customers,” said Mr. Manoj K. Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer, Viviana Mall.

  • Viviana Mall beats lockdown by entertaining people daily

    Viviana Mall beats lockdown by entertaining people daily

    MUMBAI: With the entire nation is in a state of lockdown, there is no denial of the fact that all leisure and entertainment activities have come to a full stop. In order to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, all the malls, restaurants and other social gathering places have been shut.

    People have switched over to their smartphones and internet for their dose of entertainment. Another fact that has emerged is that due to the lack of any new content, people are faced with boredom. In order to fight this boredom, Viviana Mall has taken an effort to keep people entertained and engaged with exciting activities through social media.

    Keeping in mind the need of the hour, Viviana Mall has come up with a solution in order to entertain their patrons by conducting various activities on their official social media page.

    Daily, there are activities for people to look forward to. These are either in the form of entertainment or edutainment. The events include live music shows, online fitness sessions, sharing of health tips, quick-to-do recipes, art & craft video, etc. These events and activities are presented and accessible for the viewers by simply logging on to the Instagram page of the Mall. This helps in people remaining entertained so that they can #CelebrateEverydayAtHome.

    There you go with a brief on the exciting and entertaining activities being planned by the team Viviana Mall for the week –

    Monday- Art & Craft:

    Virtual art and craft classes for kids are held every week for them to bring out their creativity and imagination. Through Viviana Mall’s social media page, there are posts on easy art and craft videos to encourage the young artists. People can simply login to Viviana Mall’s Facebook or Instagram page and check out the videos and learn simple tricks and techniques. Few days ago, on27  April , artist Parthvi Kadam shared a few tricks that make painting easier and fun. This was not just limited to kids, but anyone who wanted to try out their hands at painting. Prior to that, Amit Parekh had taught how one can reuse paper and make paper flowers through simple techniques. A competition was also held wherein the kids were asked to share their best artwork.

    Tuesday- Tuesday Treats:

    ‘Tuesday Treats’ at Viviana Mall is a paradise for food-lovers. Food-lovers can avail great discounts and enjoy their delicious meal at great price. Since, the government has announced nationwide lockdown, Viviana Mall has given a spin to ‘Tuesday Treats’. The mall has been posting food recipes that do not require many ingredients or is hosting a live session with chefs. On April 28, a video on how to prepare banana pancakes was shared with people on Viviana Mall’s Instagram and Facebook handle. Chef Ananda Bhowmik detailed out the recipe to the netizens. Earlier in April, a soup recipe was shared by him and a contest was held wherein the audience were asked to submit pictures or videos of the breakfast dish they cooked during the lockdown along with the recipe. The idea behind ‘Tuesday Treats’ is to encourage people to explore their culinary skills. Everyone should utilise the lockdown to learn new skills. Beginners who want to try out their hands at cooking can make full use of this opportunity. Under ‘Tuesday Treats’, Viviana Mall will be posting healthy food recipes every Tuesday, for people to follow easily. The recipe video will be posted on Viviana Mall’s official Instagram and Facebook handle so that you do not miss the recipe and can watch it anytime you like.

    Wednesday- International Dance Day:

    As the name suggests, this campaign has been curated for Women, to celebrate their spirit, uniqueness and talent. The campaign hosts various fun activities for ladies, from makeup sessions, to fitness, to cooking, among various others. Prior to the lockdown, the mall provides a platform for all the women who have talent hidden in them so that they can get a chance to showcase it. Now, Viviana Mall has only changed the platform from being inside the mall to online. The concept remains the same. On Instagram, Viviana Mall is hosting live sessions for you not to miss out on entertainment and fun. Last week Suraj Gupta hosted an energetic Zumba session for ladies to keep them all charged up during this lockdown phase. On the occasion of International Dance Day, the mall  to hosted a live dance session on their Instagram handle to encourage people to put on their dancing shoes and start grooving.

    Thursday:

    Viviana Mall has been sharing ideas where they suggest to the audience how one can unwind themselves after a hectic day by applying a refreshing ubtan facemask. One can also start reading books or tune in to music to fight boredom. Another great idea is to try your hands at calligraphy, which is relaxing and the end result is truly worth all your time and effort. For beginners who want to learn calligraphy, they can always start with tutorial videos available online.

    Friday – Good Ol’ Fridays:

    An initiative by the International Advertising Association – India Chapter in association with Viviana Mall and Rotary Club District 3141 has been organizing Good Ol’ Fridays to encourage youth to spend quality time with their grandparents by doing various activities and creating memories to be cherished for a lifetime. The purpose of the initiative was to rekindle the bond between Grandparents and Grandchildren and help them spend more time making beautiful memories that will last a lifetime. Good Ol’ Fridays is an initiative to bridge the generational gap between grandparents and grandchildren and create happy moments by spending quality time with each other. The initiative encourages them to spend quality time with each other through thoughtful activities every Friday. ‘Celebrate Everyday’ as a part of Viviana Mall’s motto, it has taken a step in curating activities, and programs which revolves around children and their Grandparents.

    Saturday- V4 Live Music session:

    One of Viviana Mall’s intellectual properties is V4 Music. Every Saturday, the mall organizes a live music event at its premises. Owing to the lockdown, this event has moved based from the premises of the mall to their Instagram handle. In the recent past, artists such as Arjun Kanungo, Indian Idol 11 finalists Azmat Hussain, Rohit Raut, Jannabi Das, Kaivalya Kejkar and Sunny, Bombay Raja, Danish, MCAltaf (of Gully Boy fame) and many more have performed at the live. People are looking for newer forms of entertainment and content. Understanding the need for people to get entertained through live performances, Viviana Mall has brought the performances online through their Instagram page. Now, one can get their weekend dose of live music on finger-tips. During the last few weeks, Shrey Jadhav, Bryan Rodrigues and Vernon Noronha had performed a live Instagram session wherein they took requests from the viewers. Lately on the Saturday, (2 May) evening, the mall hosted a live session with Rushi Brahmbhatt.

    Sunday – Live Fitness Session:

    Staying indoors has cut us off from our regular exercise regimen. We want all of you to remain fit and not to lower your stamina and immunity to fight the dreaded disease. Hence, the initiative to bring fitness sessions to your home via Instagram.Every Sunday, Dr Sudarshan Singh has been hosting live fitness sessions for Viviana Mall’s Instagram followers. He shares tips and tricks to remain fit while remaining indoors. Past weekend, Viviana Mall hosted its live session with fitness trainer Unnati Shah who took over Viviana Mall Instagram’s handle and taught the audience some easy home exercises and sharing some fitness tips with the audience that they can perform. This Instagram session was held on Sunday, 3 May at 07:00PM.

  • Viviana Mall live streams music performance

    Viviana Mall live streams music performance

    MUMBAI: Unable to attend a band or a concert this Saturday? Not an issue. Viviana Mall has brought live music performance to your smartphone.

    On Saturday, Viviana Mall live-streamed music performance on Instagram. The music activity was part of the ‘V4Music’ banner that it organises every Saturday at the mall’s premises.

    This weekend, popular singer Vernon Noronha performed live on Viviana Mall’s Instagram account. Maintaining all safety precautions, Noronha streamed from his residence and even accepted requests made by the viewers.

    Usually, Viviana Mall organises ‘V4Music’ live concerts at its premises. In the wake of precautionary measures we all have to ensure to keep ourselves healthy, Viviana Mall’s management decided to switch to online mode, ensuring people do not miss their weekend entertainment dose.

    On April 11 evening as well, another popular singer Bryan Rodrigues will perform live on the same social media account to help to beat people’s boredom during the lockdown days.

    “We wanted to ensure our customers do not miss out on the bouquet of entertaining events we organise for them. So, keeping in sync with the times, we decided to temporarily switch to online mode to keep our visitors enthralled,” said Rima Kirtikar, Chief Marketing Officer, Viviana Mall.

    The Instagram LIVE Music show is an unique initiative by Viviana Mall wherein the online performances are interactive and viewers can place a song request.

  • Viviana Mall joins hands with Thane Police to tackle sexual harassment against women

    Viviana Mall joins hands with Thane Police to tackle sexual harassment against women

    MUMBAI: Every year the buzz around International Women's Day rises and falls, and we as a society fleetingly advocate the same rights with every passing year. This time, Viviana Mall went above and beyond the humdrum marketing efforts and became an agent for social change by tackling head-on a menace that plagues womankind – Ever-rising sexual harassment.

    In an endeavor to celebrate the spirit of womanhood, Viviana Mall went a step ahead of the regular run-of-the-mill engagement and partnered with Thane Police to launch #MeraFarzHai. The movement aims to tackle the menace of sexual harassment and build a safer world for women.

    Started with the aim to make a difference and bring a change in the society, the movement will include participation from the society and the customers of the mall who come.

    The campaign collectively encourages everyone to make it their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of women and contribute towards stopping sexual harassment. Launched under the aegis of the “ExtraordiNaari” initiative by Viviana Mall, this campaign released a film in a unique way by organizing India’s first-ever blindfolded press conference. The members of the press were asked to blindfold themselves and a touching poem that aligned their minds to the plight of women and the horrors they go through on a daily basis was read out to them before unveiling the film. The impact that this activity had on the press was profound. The film was later showcased across all theatre screens in the Thane, Kalyan and Dombivali area in approximately 40 theatres and 150 screens. The film received great appreciation from the audience and amassed over a million views all across the social media platforms.

    Joint CP Suresh Kumar Mekhla, Thane City, and ACP Padmaja Chavan, Special Branch, Thane City, unveiled the #MeraFarzHai hashtag.

    In addition to that, John Lazarus Mascarenhas, a well-known Martial Arts and Self-Defense Instructor with over 30 years of experience conducted a workshop on gender sensitization and self-defense demonstration for women. Over 2000+ women were trained for self-defense at Viviana Mall.

    The next leg of the campaign was aimed at making the bystanders more efficient, adept, and responsible than ever before. In India, people experience crimes as victims and as witnesses and in both these cases, the intent to call for help is evident. However, when it comes to reaching out for help, there is a lag. According to a sample survey conducted by Viviana Mall, more than 85% of people did not recollect having more than two emergency numbers. Also, people procrastinate saving emergency helpline numbers. This observation led to the campaign’s objective; delivering an easy contact saving process for victims and eyewitnesses. 

    This was achieved with the help of micro tech that was enabled on the website of Viviana Mall. A unique URL was created. This URL contained a master contact card with a list of all numbers. All one needed to do was click on the URL and all emergency contacts would be saved on one’s phone in a fraction of a second – all thanks to technology. This gave people a chance for saving all the possible helpline numbers with a single click. This URL went viral with over 15000+ saves organically and counting. The scale of this campaign was augmented through a 360° advertising model, i.e. an online and an offline marketing strategy. What was circulated as a URL online was shared as a QR code offline on Digital Screens at the mall, encouraging people to be ever ready, no matter what the nature of the emergency. 

    #MeraFarzHai was also supported by the celebrities and models at the Bombay Times Fashion Week. Well known actor, Vivek Oberoi supported it and also

    was followed by models with their mouths taped shut. The fashion show depicted day-to-day scenarios where a woman is catcalled yet no one speaks up. The show ended with a poem that encouraged people to remove their metaphorical tape and speak up during times of such crimes and incidents. 

    After the fashion show, people came forward to sign a “pledge wall”, and thereby extend their support towards the initiative. 

    Viviana Mall chief marketing officer Rima Kirtikar said: "As a responsible corporate, we have always introduced programs and campaigns that are aligned to the benefit of society in general and in particular, our "ExtraordiNaari" program that has focused on women and their welfare. This year, we believed that the sensitive issue of harassment and abuse needed to be addressed and the pertinent point that came across all of us was that it is always viewed as someone else's problem and issue to be solved. The idea here was to involve society to be more conscious and to take the onus on to themselves to report any incident and get involved where it is necessary to become a deterrent to incidents. The campaign puts the onus of creating a safer world for women, on each one of us. This was just the beginning of this never-ending campaign, we are planning on conducting various gender-sensitization and self-defence seminars in schools and colleges soon. Through all the efforts, we believe that a more inclusive and participative community will go a long way to create a more secure and safe environment for all."

    White Rivers Media CEO and co-founder Shrenik Gandhi said: "It’s a great opportunity to be serving one of our oldest clients with a campaign that will not only last for long but will have a positive impact across various strata of society. Thanks to all the support from creative and PR agencies, this campaign could reach beyond what we had initially projected. #MeraFarzHai will soon be a commonly accepted term and create a lot of vigilance amongst people at large about not only women being abused but across various causes wherein they can catalyze a change as a bystander.”

    Thought Blurb CCO and managing partner Vinod Kunj said: “We’ve worked with Viviana Mall for the last six years, and helped them grow their flagship event ‘ExtraordiNaari’ into a powerful tool of social change over the years. Sexual Violence is one topic that is, unfortunately, always ‘current’. It’s always in the spotlight. However, the conversation has mainly revolved around the victim and the perpetrator.  At thought blurb, we’ve always pushed ourselves to look at problems from new angles and perspectives. In doing so, we realized that there was a third person in the story that has always been left out of these conversations – the bystander- people like you and me. From this insight, the ‘Mera Farz Hai’ campaign was born. It’s a unique take to the problem that puts the onus of creating a safer world for women, on each of us.”

    Thought Blurb executive creative director Renu Somani said: “We didn’t have to look far for inspiration for the ‘Mera Farz Hai’ film. These were situations that we’ve seen happen around us and may have faced them too. We wanted the film to reach the ‘bystander’. People who have witnessed harassment, and never spoken up. Through this film, we tried to make them aware of their role in preventing sexual violence, by highlighting the fact that our silence will only encourage the perpetrators. We did this by introducing the victim’s POV – an empty bus or office.  This drove home the point about how helpless or lost victims feel when we turn a blind eye to harassment.”

    What began as an initiative to tackle sexual harassment against women, quickly flared into a massive movement of women’s safety. Be it SMS, Emailers, Billboards at various places across the city, or Mall brandings, the campaign leveraged all possible media and consumer touchpoints to spread the word.

  • Viviana Mall’s recipe to keep physical retail stores alive in times of digital disruption

    Viviana Mall’s recipe to keep physical retail stores alive in times of digital disruption

    DELHI: Online shopping has been one of the buzzwords which have been shaping and reshaping the consumer trends across the globe. Indian market is also not untouched. The total number of online shoppers is estimated to grow 3.5 times from 50 million in 2015 to 175 million this year. Even the retail stores are working to create an online presence for themselves and e-tailers like Flipkart are investing in technologies that can give the consumers the physical look and feel experience online.

    All this leaves the physical retail stores in a compromised position. According to industry estimates during the 2019 online festive season, retailers witnessed a dip of 30 per cent in their footfall. And with digital fabric of the country getting stronger, this trend might continue. This requires physical retail stores and malls to amp up their game to stay relevant in times of digital disruption. 

    One of the prime examples of malls that are doing it right, is Viviana Mall in Thane. Started in 2013, Viviana is constantly evolving itself to match its pace with the disrupting industry. According to its CMO Rima Kirtikar it is important for a property like theirs to run an experience-driven business to keep consumers engaged. She insisted that more than discounts or free stuff like most online places offer, the customer of today is looking for memorable experiences. 

    Viviana mall has come up with a unique initiative to keep its consumers hooked. It has dedicated each day of the week to a particular concept and runs discount and experiential offers for those categories. It has ‘Tuesday Treats’ with offers going on food, and ‘Women Special Wednesdays’ where it has special offers for women customers. Recently, it added Good Ol’ Fridays to its list, to make senior citizens feel special. 

    Speaking about the concept of Good Ol’ Fridays, Kirtikar told Indiantelevision.com, “Grandparents or senior citizens are often a neglected category of shoppers. They usually visit malls either because their kids are going or their grandkids want to go. But we always felt that the clientele for this mall is from 0 to 99. Every strata of the society comes to the mall but we have not been doing something for the senior citizens. So, we thought of taking it up as a concept.”

    Kirtikar then happened to see a campaign video being run by AAAI and Rotary Club that was insisting the youngsters to spend a day with their grandparents. She got in touch with them and pitched for an activation at the mall level. This led to the launch of the experiential activity in January 2020. 

    “When we started this, we were a little apprehensive if the people would come or not but the response we got was overwhelming. Now we are doing it every week. We run special offers for senior citizens. The retailers at the mall like Starbucks and Chaayos have discounts for the senior citizens,” she elaborated. 

    On being asked what benefit such activities have for the retailers at the mall, Kirtikar said that offering complimentary or free services for a day leads to their discovery among people who are visiting their stores or the mall for the first time. This leads to increased footfall in the following days. 

    She also shared that one of the major reasons for the success of this on-ground activation has been the support from the retailers. Another reason, they don’t let the noise around the campaign fizzle. 

    “We have very little budget for marketing so we do minimalist campaigns. We invest greatly on digital, especially on Facebook where we run online competitions. Next we advertise in cinemas close to the mall. We put OOH hoardings, which we keep changing at regular intervals. Then we have great in-mall communication to guide the visitors about the special campaigns that we are running.”

    Kirtikar feels that retail stores are not going to die anytime soon. In fact, their presence will only boost as Indian consumers still want to have the look and feel experience. She urges that physical stores should be investing more in activation and experiential events to maintain their growth trajectory. 

  • Women’s Day Awareness Video to Be Screened at Cinema Halls

    Women’s Day Awareness Video to Be Screened at Cinema Halls

    MUMBAI: Viviana Mall in association with Thane polics has launched a new campaign to create awareness across society for women's safety, titled #MeraFarzHai. Under the campaign, an educative short film has been released, which will be shown to cinema goers before their movie. Releasing from 29 February, the campaign will run till 9 March.

    A special screening of the awareness video was done recently.

    “The only way to bring down these horrific incidents, is to rise up and act against sexual violence. This Women’s Day, we are launching an initiative to get the public more involved in prevention and reporting of harassment incidents and crime,” said Viviana Mall CEO Manoj K. Agarwal.

    As per National Crime Records Bureau’s latest statistics, the crime rate specific to cruelty against women has increased from an average of 57.9 in 2017 to 58.8 in 2018. Given the increasing crime rate against women, there is a need to be proactive in reporting such incidents.

    Viviana Mall CMO Rima Kirtikar explained the need to create awareness among citizens to come out and report incidents of crime against women with the police, as this will help in reducing unfortunate incidents.

    On March, 7, the eve of Women’s Day, the campaign will be launched in presence of Thane Commissioner of Police.

  • White Rivers Media wins Shorty Social Good Award for Viviana Mall’s ‘Stop Acid Sale’ Campaign

    White Rivers Media wins Shorty Social Good Award for Viviana Mall’s ‘Stop Acid Sale’ Campaign

    MUMBAI: White Rivers Media has won the esteemed Shorty Social Good Award for Viviana Mall’s ‘Stop Acid Sale’ Digital campaigns.

    The Shorty Social Good Awards honour digital media endeavours for a social cause, and the Stop Acid Sale campaign was one of only two campaigns to make it to the finals of Human Rights category, globally. Past winners of this award include DJ Khaled, Adele, J.K. Rowling, Jenna Marbles, Malala Yousafzai, Hannibal Buress, Casey Neistat, Tyler Oakley, and Taylor Swift.

    Viviana Mall ran this initiative to raise awareness and empathy for the survivors of acid attacks, on the occasion of Women’s Day. They partnered with their digital marketing agency, White Rivers Media to bring to light the unheard, untold stories of Indian women who had been subjected to the heinous experience of an acid attack, and to empower others by spreading the word on how they dealt with it. The objective didn’t just end at awareness, but also extended to restoring the survivors’ dignity and giving them the equal footing in society that they deserve.

    Shrenik Gandhi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of White Rivers Media said, “Our one and only goal with the Stop Acid Sale initiative was to empower the survivors of acid attacks. My hope is that the chatter and visibility that comes from our initiative receiving a Shorty Social Good Award serves to better achieve that goal. Congratulations to Team Viviana Mall, Team White Rivers Media & everyone involved in the campaign on being recognised for doing good. It is our honour to be working with a brand that’s willing to do good over doing well.”

    Rima Pradhan, Senior Vice President (Marketing), Viviana Mall commented, “This campaign is now a landmark moment in our brand’s history. I want to thank all our partners who worked with us to make our Women’s Day campaign into a great initiative.”

    Every year, the Shorty Social Good Awards aim to raise global awareness around, and thereby encourage, the positive impact that brands, agencies, and non-profits can have on society.

  • Viviana Mall concludes #StopAcidSale campaign

    Viviana Mall concludes #StopAcidSale campaign

    MUMBAI: Digital marketing agency, White Rivers Media has recently wrapped up its digital amplification activity for Viviana Mall, called #StopAcidSale.

    The month-long campaign was a part of the third edition of mall’s property – Extraordinaari, which promotes women empowerment by recognising and honouring the trailblazers who are encouraging their fellow women to scale newer heights. The idea behind this activity was to establish thought leadership among its competitors along with creating awareness against the sale of acid and curb the same.

    To highlight the same, the mall hosted a fashion show with acid attack survivors and giving them a platform to share their story. 

    A two-pronged approach was devised to increase awareness about acid attacks, what causes them, and how to curb them and gather support for the admirable spirit of the acid attack survivors who walked the ramp. The entire activity was promoted massively on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

    Facebook Stories was used extensively to convey the message. On Instagram too, the Insta-story feature was used with boomerangs, rewind, handsfree and a host of other story formats to create maximum reach. The mall reached out to global body positive brands on Twitter to bring the initiative to light.

    On Twitter, the hashtag #TweetASalute was used, which saw participation from more than 300 Twitter influencers, including NGOs and celebrities. Viviana Mall reached out to multiple international malls and urged them to join the movement. This, too, was supported by influencers. The campaign also saw support from ace music producer Sulaiman Merchant and actress Preeti Jhangiani.

    This campaign sparked thousands of conversations on social media about vitriolage and why the government should stop acid attacks. People all across geographies started talking about this campaign.

    The entire concept was later taken a notch ahead, in association with Bombay Times Fashion Week, where the acid attack survivors walked the ramp at the Bombay edition of the Times Fashion Week.

    White Rivers Media CEO and co-founder Shrenik Gandhi says, “We have been associated with Viviana Mall for the past four years and with every campaign we strive to provide them better. With this activity we aimed to take a step forward with Extraordinaari and we are glad we got such a positive response and support from digital influencers.”

    Viviana Mall senior vice president for marketing Rima Pradhan adds, “There are 250 to 300 acid attacks reported in India every year, despite laws restricting the sale of acid or other deadly chemicals. Acid is still sold openly in some parts of India in spite of there being various substitutes for it. We wanted to curb the sales of acids in India and are grateful to White Rivers Media for their support in the same.” 

    The entire activity potentially reached out to more than 2million+ people on Facebook and Instagram and created impressions of more than 10 million on Twitter

  • Fastrack’s new ‘Never Have I Ever Shoplifted’ campaign

    Fastrack’s new ‘Never Have I Ever Shoplifted’ campaign

    MUMBAI: Fastrack had undertaken a new campaign called Never Have I Ever Shoplifted in Mumbai inviting its fans to try their luck at shoplifting from its Viviana mall and Gokhale Road stores. This ground extension of the brand’s ‘Never Have A Never Have I Ever’ campaign urges the youth to embrace the lighter side of life. The activity in Mumbai is a part of a national drive which saw the campaign successfully rolling out in over 10 stores across the nation in the past month.

    The activity held at Mumbai saw a total footfall of over 230 customers. The participants were given an exciting 20 seconds to shoplift tagged products, with lucky winners walking away with priced Fastrack watches. 

    The campaign first went live on television on 20 February 2016 with three cheeky ad films and was complimented by a microsite.

    The microsite allows users to choose from a variety of causes and share personalized GIFs, making for free expression and fun conversations using the hashtag #NeverHaveANeverHaveIEver.