Mumbai: Growing up, there are hobbies one is passionate about but only to find them fall sideways as adults. And learning music happens to be one of the most common of them. With its latest campaign, featuring Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan, WhiteHat Jr aims to dispel the notion that age is a hurdle to learn something new as it launches ‘Live Online 1:1 Music classes’ for adults too.
The actor is seen in a two ad series realising his unfulfilled dream of learning the guitar. The first film sees the actor getting inspired by a young kid playing the guitar like a pro, while the second film shows Hrithik becoming the protagonist, as he plays the guitar in the office, impressing his colleagues. The film concludes with the actor urging his colleagues to not give up on their dreams of learning music because ‘Music Seekhne Ki Koi Umar Nahi Hoti’.
The campaign series has been conceptualised by WhiteHat Jr’s brand team, produced by Dora Digs, and directed by Bollywood director Robby Grewal. The music and the guitar piece was composed by leading music director Sneha Khanwalkar.
WhiteHat Jr VP & head of brand marketing Akshay Sengupta said, “We hope that with this campaign, everyone realises that it’s never too late to chase your passion. What one needs is the zeal to #PickItUp. This series is a motivation for those individuals who have, at some point in their lives, wished to learn a musical instrument but were never able to. Our Music for Adults course makes this dream achievable thanks to our unique 1:1 online learning experience with skilled teachers.”
MUMBAI: The advancement in technology has brought about various revolutionary changes in the educational sector in recent years. Post the rise of ed-tech start-ups, students in India are enjoying personalised learning experiences, and as a result, the popularity of these companies among kids and grown-ups alike has risen dramatically.
From appointing film superstars as their brand ambassadors to offering virtual learning experiences to users, ed-tech brands in India are pulling out the stops to become the top name in the education industry. Several ed-tech companies in India have already emerged as big names, and they are now gradually extending their reach to foreign countries as well.
The rise and rise of Byju's
With a user base of over 65 million and a bunch of A-listers promoting it, Byju's is undoubtedly the most popular ed-tech platform in the country. Launched in 2011 by Byju Raveendran, Byju's, in the course of years has emerged as the most trustworthy ed-tech platform for students in India.
Over the years, Byju's has acquired several other players in the ed-tech space, like coding platform WhiteHat Jr, TutorVista, offline test prep Aakash Educational Services, Osmo, etc. Valued at $11 billion, the Byju Raveendran-led start-up is now eager to make its presence felt in the international market.
Byju's is already a known name in the US ever since its acquisition of Osmo, an American learning start-up that is popular among kids aged between five and 12. During the Disrupt 2020 conference, co-founder & CEO Byju Raveendran had claimed that the company has plans to launch a digital learning app aimed at kids in several English-speaking markets. He also added that WhiteHat Jr will introduce math subjects to students in Australia and New Zealand. The company is also angling to expand its operations to countries like Singapore and Germany.
On the marketing side, Byju's is a brand known for its close association with the Indian Premier League (IPL). Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the IPL, has roped in 18 sponsors for this year's tournament, and Byju's has once again made the cut. As the reach of IPL is unparalleled in India, the ed-tech giant will likely continue its association with cricket in the coming years too. Moreover, the popularity of IPL is not just confined to India, and it will help Byju's to familiarise its brand among foreign viewers too.
upGrad: Offering courses to Indian learners from foreign universities
Headquartered in Mumbai, upGrad is one of the largest homegrown online learning companies. It was recently reported that the start-up is planning to increase its line-up of global universities threefold in 2021.
Touted to be India's largest higher education firm, upGrad has already expanded its worldwide network of top universities by partnering with the University of Essex (Online), Duke Corporate Education, and Michigan State University. This move will help Indian students to pursue higher education from top-rated foreign universities, the company had said.
"2020 has been the year when we grew over 100 per cent in terms of both, national and international university partnerships. We introduced global MBAs and made them one of the highest revenue-making verticals. Now with the recent tie-ups, we have grown three times our program portfolio to cross 100+ programs. The figures are set to double in 2021," said upGrad co-founder Phalgun Kompalli told Bloomberg Quint.
Last year, upGrad inked a deal with Star India to run its latest ad campaign during IPL matches. On the back of its association with the league, the e-learning platform aims to expand its global reach with an advertising blitz this year as well.
Mindler aiming sky high
Mindler cannot be considered purely as an online teaching company; rather, it’s a career counselling firm that provides career development guidance services for students. Three years into the business, Mindler has succeeded in establishing operations in five foreign countries.
"It’s no more about saturating in India before going global…if your product is good then why not," said Minder founder Prateek Bhargava, as quoted by Mint.
Aspiring Minds' successful overseas run
Another ed-tech company that has planted its flag in the overseas market is Aspiring Minds, headquartered in Bengaluru. The start-up has already ventured into countries like the United States and China.
Aspiring Minds co-founder Varun Aggarwal shared that they are planning to foray into other countries because they have a quality product that can be showcased globally.
"If you have a globally competitive product and a company with ambition, then it is wiser to go overseas. We believe what we were doing in India can be replicated anywhere in the world. We are now in China, the US, The Philippines and parts of Africa. When you talk about global – for an Indian company like us it means two key markets, China and the US. Other markets are small in comparison," he added.
Interestingly, Aspiring Minds' international operations account for 25-30 per cent of its overall revenue.
NEW DELHI: Advertising informs. It generates awareness, entertains; less often than not – if one goes by harsh cynics – leads to a buy decision, and with even lesser frequency flies into controversy. Sometimes the storm that follows proves beneficial for the brand, especially if it is a cult product. At other times, it proves highly detrimental. 2020 was no different. The year had its fair share of brands and labels which got into the crosshairs of some activist group or other, inviting consumers' ire and even unmentionable expletives. Even though what they communicated was well-meaning, and should be considered by most to be within the norms of decency. Most of these ads will end up finding a mention in marketing case history books, detailing what transpired.
Here's our collection of some of the brands, TVCs and ads that ran into controversy.
1. Tanishq – Baby Shower
The jewellery brand from Titan released a TVC on the theme of Ekatvam (Oneness) featuring a Hindu girl married in a Muslim family which is celebrating her baby shower. This ritual is customarily not a part of the Muslim culture but the ad film showcased a liberal family that was more concerned about their daughter-in-law’s happiness. The film ran into a major wrangle, as a lot OF people opposed the premise and claimed that their cultural sentiments had been hurt. They asked why advertising industry always goes for these tropes and why a Muslim girl was not featured in a Hindu environment. Allegations of promoting ‘love jihad’ were also thrown around. The backlash pushed the brand on the backfoot and it pulled the plug on the ad. However, the move was not acceptable to certain sections, who criticised Tanishq for not taking a stand. For the record, the film got a clean chit from every industry body and reviewers.
Tanishq has officially withdrawn their ad after being trolled viciously. Here's why this is a very sad state of affairs, and context from other such ads that were trolled (and some, withdrawn) https://t.co/Nb0cSiTPHXpic.twitter.com/sn3IMBqdmC
Not happy with getting a social media caning from certain pressure groups, Tanishq’s marketing mavens decided to take a shot at being liberal in its outlook and released a TVC promoting its Ekatvam range. The film featured four artistes – Neena Gupta, Nimrat Kaur, Sayani Gupta and Alaya F – talking about the festivities. During the film, one of the actors’ spoke about not bursting firecrackers and celebrating a peaceful Diwali. While the idea was to prevent pollution, several people took it in a different light and rebuked the brand to not tell others how to celebrate the festival of lights. The brand was stalked by trolls for the second time in a month. Again, Tanishq was forced to withdraw the ad.
On both occasions, trollers pointed that the ad had hurt Hindu sentiments.
3. Kent RO
This year, several brands tried to cash In on the pandemic by communicating how they could help in the fight against pathogens, especially the Coronavirus. While some brands came out with effective ads, some made exaggerated claims even as others tried to be extra cautious in their communication. One such company which took such a tack was the maker of water purification system Kent RO. In an advertisement, Kent cautioned against letting the househelp knead flour in case “her hands might be infected,” which served as the plug for the company’s product. Featuring Hema Malini and her daughter Esha Deol as celebrity endorsers, the TVC got thrashed black and blue on social media. Some even complained to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Their reasoning: the TVC was insensitive towards the domestic helps who were already facing discrimination from housing societies across the country. The film was pulled off Kent’s social media handles and the brand issued an apology and promised to investigate its advertising procedures and deploy corrective measures.
4. Amul – Exit the Dragon
During June this year, tensions between India and China were at its peak. Starting with the tiff in Galwan valley, where PLA soldiers were pushed back while trying to enter Indian territory, to boycotting Chinese brands and products with a call for Atmanirbhar Bharat, the dairy brand Amul, famed for its on point topicals, came up with a creative titled ‘Exit the Dragon’. The creative showcased the iconic Amul Girl telling the dragon to exit – an oblique reference to Chinese products. The powerful creative clearly communicated the message in regards to boycott of goods manufactured in China. Shortly after the cartoon was posted, the Twitter account of Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation (which owns Amul) was blocked. Twitterati accused the social networking platform of having a bias against India and #Amul became a top trend. The account was restored soon after.
The ed-tech brand certainly caught the pulse of the nation when it was acquired by Byju’s for a staggering $300 million. Post that, the brand went on a new audience acquisition spree on the back of a huge marketing campaign. However, as many as seven WhiteHat Jr ads fielded complaints for being misleading. Out of these, complaints regarding five ads were upheld by ASCI, which directed them to be pulled down. It used messages such as “TedX Speaker at the age of seven,” among other inflated, unverified claims.
The brand also used the images of global leaders such as Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Steve Jobs and others to convey a message that joining WhiteHatJr will turn kids into tech geniuses like them.
6. ISL Mohun Bagan
The ad, meant to create hype for the ISL 2020-21 season among Bengali football enthusiasts, wreaked havoc instead. Mohun Bagan loyalists objected to a scene where a team jersey is dipped into a washing machine along with an ATK jersey. The narration of the ad also mentioned a "six-year-old emotion" that fans found offensive, since Mohun Bagan, which debuted in ISL this season with the brand name ATK Mohun Bagan FC, has a long and glorious history of 131 years.
They were also perturbed with the idea of the team wearing three stars on the left sleeve of their jersey under the ISL logo, with the words 'Champions 2019-20' written under them. The Mohun Bagan fanbase perceived the mishandling of the branding and advertising of their team as an attempt to undermine their club's legacy and heritage. They expressed their disagreement with these branding efforts online. Soon enough, team management stepped in and took measures to cool down the situation.
A print advert by the Indore Institute of Law drew a comparison between two fictional characters – Harvey Specter from American TV series Suits, and Akshay Kumar from Jolly LLB 2. It bore the caption that an aspiring lawyer could be either – “Choice is yours.”
The picture started doing the rounds on social media platforms and netizens were quick to slam the college’s perceived elitist stance behind the ad. Others accused the institute of denigrating the “dignity of Indian lawyers.” Several people questioned whether the college had obtained permission from the original creators before running the campaign. A fair few wondered why the institute chose fictional characters instead of its own alumni or famous practitioners of law in the real world.
The ad-makers were brutally trolled for their creative sense and the ad was roundly panned as problematic and in poor taste.
Facing flak, the law college later issued an apology saying, “We assure everyone that it was absolutely not our intention to offend anyone or defame any section of the legal profession.”
Please find our clarification regarding our advertisement published on 15/10/2020. We would like to make clear the…
The fintech firm took a dig at arch rival Paytm by calling it “Chinese.” It further said that while 220 Chinese apps have been banned, many consumers are still using them on the downlow. MobiKwik urged users to go Indian and questioned them if they were still using Paytm, a Chinese app, for paying their bills.
Describing itself as a ‘truly Indian Payments’ app, the ad called on users to use Mobikwik for all their payment needs.
After the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) sparked a controversy in the FMCG space by reporting that several leading honey brands had not been able to clear purity tests, a brand war started. The ones that passed the litmus are now talking about their purity, while those that flunked are questioning the report. Post honeygate, several brands released ads sharing their perspective on the situation. The ad war was obvious as no brand would want to let its market share degrade based on one report. Industry experts believe that a massive PR and advertising war will be waged in this category as brands would go to any extent to retain their customers.
NEW DELHI: WhiteHat Jr has roped in Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan for its latest campaign, which urges students to book their free online coding class and sample the platform.
The brand has already put in place its media plan across markets and the campaign is visible on the television. However, it is not yet clear if Roshan has come onboard as a brand endorser or appearing only for the present campaign.
This is the second television campaign that WhiteHat Jr has initiated. The film showcases multiple investors and recruiters fighting to hire a young kid who has developed an app. The positioning of the brand is very clear – that it helps children learn more about technology from a very young age.
The move clearly states WhiteHat Jr’s intention to scale up in the market and cut across the audiences. For the record, WhiteHat Jr was bought out by Byju's in August this year for $300 million in an all-cash deal. Byju's acquired the platform with the objective to drive its ever-widening reach in the ed-tech space in the country.
Roshan is one of the leading Bollywood endorsers and has been associated with multiple brands in past. He commands a large and loyal fan following which will give an edge to the Byju’s owned brand. He has nearly 33 million followers on Instagram, 29.9 million on Twitter and 17 million on Facebook. Roshan is a fitness freak and a progressive actor who has good films in his kitty. He is a big influencer.
Interestingly, the move might also help the audiences to think about Byju’s in a brighter light as the ed-tech brand has been in the midst of controversies during the past months. It was embroiled in two lawsuits – one against angel investor Aniruddha Malpani, and another against software engineer Pradeep Poonia.
WhiteHat Jr filed a $1.9 million case against Malpani alleging that he was defaming the company to promote his own start-up. The court has also sought Malpani’s written response in the matter by 14 January 2021. In a series of social media posts, Malpani had accused the ed-tech platform of hiring people with no coding skills. WhiteHat Jr got a major relief last month as HC passed an interim order restricting Malpani from posting, publishing or sharing any content derogatory or deprecatory of WhiteHat Jr or its content or management. It also asked the accused to take down selected social media posts.
Malpani was earlier banned by LinkedIn for criticising WhiteHat Jr’s parent company Byju’s.
A week prior to that, the Delhi high court had also asked software engineer Pradeep Poonia to restrict his criticism of the quality of teachers at WhiteHat Jr on social media platforms and pull down specific content. In this $2.6 million lawsuit, WhiteHat Jr had alleged that Poonia was in violation of the Trade Marks Act of 199, The Copyright Act of 1957 and Code of Civil Procedure of 1908.
Poonia was also pulled up for sharing the name and numbers of lawyers who have filed the suit in the public domain, and hacking or accessing the internal communication platform Slack without authorisation and displaying communication between WhiteHat Jr’s employees on his YouTube channel. Poonia was also restrained from downloading any curriculum from WhiteHat Jr and circulating it to third parties.
Founded in 2018 by Karan Bajaj, WhiteHat Jr’s acquisition by Byju’s led to the fastest exit story in the Indian start-up ecosystem. At the time of signing the deal, WhiteHat Jr claimed it had achieved an annual revenue run rate of $150 million. It had over 5,000 teachers and was dedicating one instructor to each student. Byju's then decided to make significant investments into the start-up and help it expand beyond Indian shores.
The tides of fortunes turned in WhiteHat Jr’s favour with the Covid2019 pandemic, as students were unable to attend school and many parents enrolled their children in the platform's coding program to help them learn more about technology.
Post-acquisition, WhiteHat Jr has aggressively worked towards gaining new users. It launched an ATL campaign that ran through IPL 13, creating a buzz for the brand.
The campaign was supported with a strong digital and social media strategy. However, the brand had to face the ire of consumers on the digital front as it was continuously bombarding them with ads. On another occasion, it used the images of global leaders such as Sundar Pichai, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and others to attract users, by urging them to be the next bigwig in Silicon Valley. Some of its ads were also in question and in October this year, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) asked WhiteHat Jr to pull down several ads for making misleading claims.
The ed-tech platform that teaches coding to children has definitely created a strong dent in the Indian start-up ecosystem and made inroads in the country – but not without more than its fair share of legal and PR hassles on the way.
NEW DELHI: Controversy’s favourite child WhiteHat Jr got major relief in its defamation lawsuit case against the angel investor Aniruddha Malpani, who in a series of social media posts had accused the ed-tech platform of hiring people with no coding skills, as the Delhi high court asked the accused to take down selected social media posts. The HC has also passed an interim order restricting him from posting, publishing or sharing any content derogatory or deprecatory of WhiteHat Jr or its content or management.
The court has also sought Malpani’s written response in the matter by 14 January 2021.
WhiteHat Jr, an edtech platform that offers online coding classes to school-going students had filed a $1.9 million case against Malpani alleging that he was defaming the company to promote his own start-up.
Malpani was earlier banned by LinkedIn for criticising WhiteHat Jr’s parent company Byju’s.
Earlier in the week, the Delhi HC had also asked software engineer Pradeep Poonia to restrict his criticism of the quality of teachers at WhiteHat Jr on social media platforms and pull down specific content, in another defamation case filed by the ed-tech company. In this $2.6 million lawsuit, WhiteHat Jr had alleged that Poonia was in violation of the Trade Marks Act of 199, The Copyright Act of 1957 and Code of Civil Procedure of 1908.
Poonia was also pulled up for sharing the name and numbers of lawyers who have filed the suit in the public domain, and hacking or unauthorisedly accessing the internal communication platform Slack and displaying communication between WhiteHat Jr’s employees on his YouTube channel. Poonia was also restrained from downloading any curriculum from WhiteHat Jr and circulating it to third parties.
Founded in 2018 by Karan Bajaj, WhiteHat Jr has been beset with wrangles since it was bought out by Byju's in August this year for $300 million in an all-cash deal. Byju's acquired the platform with a clear objective to drive its ever-widening reach in the ed-tech space in the country. The acquisition led to the fastest exit story at this size in the Indian start-up ecosystem. At the time of signing the deal, WhiteHat Jr claimed it had achieved an annual revenue run rate of $150 million. It had over 5,000 teachers and was dedicating one instructor to each student. Byju's then decided to make significant investments into the start-up and help it expand beyond Indian shores.
The tides of fortunes turned in WhiteHat Jr’s favour with the Covid2019 pandemic, as students were unable to attend school and many parents enrolled their children in the platform's coding program to help them learn more about technology.
Post-acquisition, WhiteHat Jr has aggressively worked towards gaining new users. It launched an ATL campaign that ran through IPL 13, creating a buzz for the brand. The film showcased multiple investors and recruiters fighting to hire a young kid who had developed an app. The positioning of the brand was very clear – that it helps children learn more about technology from a very young age.
The campaign was supported with a strong digital and social media strategy. However, the brand had to face the ire of consumers on the digital front as it was continuously bombarding them with ads. On another occasion, it used the images of global leaders such as Sundar Pichai, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and others to attract users, by urging them to be the next bigwig in Silicon Valley. Some of its ads were also in question and in October this year, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) asked WhiteHat Jr to pull down several ads for making misleading claims.
The ed-tech platform that teaches coding to children has definitely created a strong dent in the Indian start-up ecosystem and made inroads in the country – but not without more than its fair share of legal and PR hassles on the way.
NEW DELHI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India has released its data for top advertisers and brands for the period between 10 October to 16 October 2020.
The data reflects the top 10 advertisers and brands across genres on India television, 2+ Individuals, NCCS All demonstrating ads that were inserted the most in the 42 week of 2020.
Top Advertisers: –
Hindustan Unilever continued to be the biggest advertiser this week also with 257236 impressions.
It was followed by Reckitt Benckiser India which ranked second with 151804 ad generations.
ITC Ltd this time bagged the third rank with 56162 ad impressions. Godrej Consumer came in fourth with 429297 ad generations.
Amazon Online India and Cadbury India secured fifth and sixth place with 40599 and 35852 ad views.
Other top brands in the pecking order were as follows: Ponds India, Wipro, Colgate Palmolive India Ltd and Procter and Gamble.
Top Brands:
This week Amazon.in led the chart with 30390 ad impressions, followed by Dettol Antiseptic Liquid with 22372 ad views. Lizol secured the third position with 18091 ad insertions.
The fourth and fifth spots were acquired by Dettol Toilets Soaps and Surf Excel easy wash with 17313 and 16746 ad generations.
Myntra.com bagged the sixth spot with 14833 ad views.
Other top brands in the pecking order were as follows: Flipkart.com, Glow & Lovely, Whitehat Jr, and Lux Toilet Soap.
NEW DELHI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India has released its data for top advertisers and brands for the period between 10 October to 16 October 2020.
The data reflects the top 10 advertisers and brands across genres on India television, 2+ Individuals, NCCS All demonstrating ads that were inserted the most in week 41 of 2020.
Top Advertisers: –
Hindustan Unilever continued to be the biggest advertiser this week also with 273549 impressions. It was followed by Reckitt Benckiser India which ranked second with 156461 ad generations.
ITC Ltd this time bagged the third rank with 58389 ad impressions. In a first, Amazon Online India secured the fourth spot with 55443 ad impressions. Godrej Consumer Products and Cadbury India secured fifth and sixth place with 39623 and 38243 ad impressions respectively.
Other top brands in the pecking order were as follows: Flipkart.com, Procter and Gamble, Colgate Palmolive India Ltd and Wipro.
Top Brands:
This week Amazon.in leads the chart with 36794 ad impressions, followed by Flipkart.com at the second spot with 32969 ad views.
Last week’s top ranker Dettol Antiseptic Liquid slid down to the third position with 25456 ad insertions.
The fourth and fifth spots were acquired by Lizol and Dettol Toilets Soaps with 19381 and 18675 ad insertions respectively.
Surf Excel easy wash bagged the sixth spot with 16947 ad views.
Other top brands in the pecking order were as follows: Glow & Lovely, Whitehat Jr, Myntra.com, Lux Toilet Soap.
