ITV

Tag: yatra.com

  • Bhawna Agarwal takes the reins as managing director of HPE India

    Bhawna Agarwal takes the reins as managing director of HPE India

    MUMBAI: Bhawna Agarwal has stepped up as the senior vice-president & managing director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) India, marking a new era for the technology giant in one of its most critical markets. With over 25 years of experience in digital strategy, e-commerce, and leadership, Agarwal is set to lead HPE India’s charge into the future.

    The leadership baton has been passed from industry veteran Som Satsangi, who spent 27 years building HPE’s formidable presence in India. Expressing gratitude for the strong foundation laid by Satsangi, Agarwal highlighted her excitement about the opportunities ahead, promising to drive innovation and growth with her “committed and agile team.”

    Having joined HPE in 2019, Agarwal’s journey with the company has been a blend of high-impact initiatives and strategic growth. Her track record includes transforming digital platforms and scaling businesses.

    Agarwal’s digital prowess extends beyond HPE, with leadership roles at NDTV Gadgets360, where she led the platform to become India’s top digital tech destination, and stints with Yatra.com, Seventymm, and Times Internet. She is also a board advisor, mentor, and active player in India’s start-up ecosystem.

    Thanking Antonio Neri and Heiko Meyer for their trust, Agarwal reaffirmed her commitment to delivering exceptional value to customers and partners. As she takes charge, all eyes are on HPE India’s next chapter—one that promises growth, transformation, and a dash of digital magic.

  • Zee Studios’ ‘12th Fail’ sparks a #Restart movement with leading brands

    Zee Studios’ ‘12th Fail’ sparks a #Restart movement with leading brands

    Mumbai: The movie 12th Fail explores the journey of Manoj Kumar Sharma and despite all odds, how he restarted his journey towards success. The banter was appreciated by the media, critics and brands alike.

    Zee Studios’ latest film 12th Fail has been creating a buzz everywhere through its raw emotions with a story that connects to the hearts alongside a striking performance by Vikrant Massey. The story revolves around IPS aspirant Manoj Kumar Sharma played by Vikrant Massey. Despite all the challenges, with hope and courage, he always chose to restart.

    The story weaved a seamless connection with the audience as it portrayed the real struggle of a UPSC aspirant and the idea of never giving up. This became the very reason for the movie to receive humongous support from the brands.

    Leveraging the central theme of the film i.e. never giving up, Zee Studios kicked off a unique brand banter on X with the hashtag #Restart. Brands across the nation resonated well with it, and the audience as well shared their ‘Restart’ journey.

    Popular and significant brands like Zepto, Lenskart, Yatra.com, Ixigo, Xiaomi India, Nerolac Paints India, Sugar Cosmetics, Ajio, Magicpin, CoinSwitch, Eloelo, Meesho, Snapdeal, iQOO India & Mivi participated and integrated their products and services in this fun banter.

    Here’s how brands participated and shared their #restart journey:

     

     

    The movie 12th Fail is an inspiration, not just for UPSC aspirants but for everyone to lead their way to success, rise back stronger after failures, and fly high!

    This activity was a major part of the movie campaign that gained a lot of attention and created ripples of conversations. The movie 12th Fail is produced by Zee Studios and marketed by White Rivers Media, an integrated, independent digital marketing agency.

  • Weekend Unwind with: BBH ECD Priya Gurnani

    Weekend Unwind with: BBH ECD Priya Gurnani

    Mumbai: With another weekend upon us, it is time to unwind with the latest Q&A edition of Indiantelevision.com’s Weekend Unwind — a series of informal chats that peek into the minds of corporate executives through a fun lens in an attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better.

    In this week’s session, BBH India’s recently elevated executive creative director Priya Gurnani poured out her thoughts.

    With over 15 years of experience, Gurnani specialises in building creative communication that is at the intersection of brands, culture, and consumer behavior. In the past, she has worked with Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, McCann Worldwide, and Contract Advertising.

    In her advertising career, Gurnani has created culture-defining work for brands like Stayfree, Yatra.com, Heineken, Kingfisher Ultra, Amstel, and Zee5. Most recently, she conceptualised and wrote the lyrics to a rap song for Zing’s “Apni Vibe Apni Tribe” campaign. In 2009, she was amongst the winners of the Cannes Young Lions.

    So, without further ado, here it goes…

    ·         Your mantra for life

    To have fun while pursuing my dreams. Because if you aren’t enjoying what you are doing, you are just wasting your precious time.

    ·         A book you are currently reading / plan to read

    I love to read new perspectives on humankind and human psychology. Currently reading “Homo Deus” by Yuval Noah Harari.

    ·         Your fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic

    Strong believer of “Yoga se hi hoga.” Post-covid I had a really tough time coming to a complete recovery. Yoga is what healed me and kept me going through the difficult health issues.

    ·         Your comfort food

    Anything that my mum cooks.

    ·         When the chips are down a quote/philosophy that keeps you going

    In an actors’ round table, Tom Hanks mentioned how he always reminds himself, “This too shall pass.” This phrase, he said, is particularly important when you are at the peak of success, as it helps keep you grounded. I keep these words close by in good times and bad.

    ·         Your guilty pleasure

    Watching mindless reality TV, especially “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

    ·         When was the last time you tried something new?

    Last week. I love experimenting with food. Bought these Chinese glass noodles to try.

    ·         A life lesson you learnt the hard way

    I am not that important in the bigger scheme of things, and the world doesn’t revolve around me.

    ·         What gets you excited about life?

    Travelling to different countries and experiencing new cultures and cuisines really fills my happiness cup.

    ·         What’s on top of your bucket list?

    Travel to New York and watch Broadway.

    ·         If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

    Why so serious? Live a little.

    ·         One thing you would most like to change about the world

    I propose “Free movement for all.” I want a world without borders, or passports, to be precise. A world where there are no immigrants and refugees, just people migrating at will like birds.

     ·         An activity that keeps you motivated / charged during tough times

    Painting has seen me through my highs and lows. I am no M. F. Hussain, but expressing my artistic self without judgement and freely is very liberating.

     ·         What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?

    It changes from time to time. Sometimes it’s cooking, sometimes taking a dance class, at times listening to Badshah’s songs, and sometimes just chit-chatting with a friend about a show we both watch.

    ·         Your go-to stress buster

    I can always bank on a good workout to bust that stress.

  • Yatra promotes travel in evergreen Bollywood style

    Yatra promotes travel in evergreen Bollywood style

    MUMBAI: Online travel portal Yatra has launched its new series of advertisement commercials featuring brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor.

    The new TVCs present two unique customer friendly features in an entertaining manner using evergreen Bollywood movie songs with tailored lyrics. The ads have been created with a light-hearted and humorous tonality, making them fun to watch. The hummable ads also feature a ‘karaoke’ style format for those who wish to sing along.

    Conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather, the ad films reflect an exquisite blend of the contemporary world with the vintage charm of Indian cinema. Keeping in mind Yatra’s endeavour to make travel hassle-free, seamless and value adding to travellers, the two films highlight its eCash loyalty program, and its unique feature of protecting customers from a drop in airfare post them making a booking. eCash now not only gets a traveller discounts on future bookings, but is also transferable to friends and family, as well as convertible into shopping vouchers from Yatra’s partners. The ads feature Kapoor grooving to Clinton Cerejo’s beats, who has reworked the evergreen and classic tunes in his own inimitable way. This not only captivates the audiences by getting them to smile and hum along, but also reinforces Yatra’s brand message of being ‘India ka travel planner’.

    Commenting on the new TVC series, Yatra COO (B2C) Sharat Dhall says, “We are focused on innovating in terms of customer features and benefits, and this set of ads highlight two such industry first features–eCash loyalty points and the airfare-drop protection. With these films we are looking to attract new users to our fold, while retaining the connection with our existing customer base. The ads capture the best of Bollywood – entertaining, yet with a key consumer message, and hopefully will strike a chord with the audience.”

    Sharing his experience of working on the TVCs, Kapoor mentions, “Yatra has always managed to surprise me with its innovative ideas of engaging with travellers. I am delighted to also get the opportunity to pay a tribute to the evergreen members of my family via these unforgettably classic songs that are a part of these ads. It is a matter of honour and pride as Yatra’s brand ambassador.”

    Ogilvy & Mather, Kolkata creative head Dhruv Mookerji remarks, “Bollywood has left a lasting impression on the cultural psyche of the nation. And with Ranbir Kapoor as the brand ambassador of Yatra, it seemed a perfect fit to merge the unique positioning of Yatra with the great musical legacy of the Kapoor khandan.”

  • Yatra.com partners with You​Tube sensation Prajakta Koli

    Yatra.com partners with You​Tube sensation Prajakta Koli

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com​ has partnered with YouTube sensation Prajakta Koli. Koli aka Mostly Sane, who has over one lakh subscribers on her channel, will now create a special Yatra playlist called ‘Mostly Yatra’

    Known for adding humor to the most mundane things that we come across in our daily life, through this series, she will be seen imparting her Yatra gyaan which is her witty take on being a traveler and various experiences and encounters that one comes across while you are travelling. The playlist consist of videos that range from the types of people on a road trip to the Types of Indian Travellers. ‘Mostly Yatra’ is a fortnightly property with videos being released every alternate Thursdays on Prajakta’s handle.

    Commenting on the association, One Digital Entertainment co-founder and CEO Gurpreet Singh Bhasin said, “It’s great to be able to collaborate with India’s leading travel website, and for them to be interested in Prajakta Koli only reinforces our belief in the digital talent we nurture. Mostly Yatra is a great concept and Prajakta being youth favorite because of her relatable fresh and quirky content, we are sure to appeal to the masses. This is a great collaboration for all three brands we think – Yatra.com, One Digital Entertainment and Prajakta Koli.”

    Yatra.com CMO ​Vikrant Mudaliar said, “Yatra has always been exploring new and innovative digital ideas. With youth being the largest consumer of digital content and Prajakta, being such a popular youth icon, we decided to collaborate with her. The idea was to showcase a light hearted, tongue – in – cheek take on various travel situations and that’s exactly what has been executed very well by Prajakta and her team.”

  • Yatra.com partners with You​Tube sensation Prajakta Koli

    Yatra.com partners with You​Tube sensation Prajakta Koli

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com​ has partnered with YouTube sensation Prajakta Koli. Koli aka Mostly Sane, who has over one lakh subscribers on her channel, will now create a special Yatra playlist called ‘Mostly Yatra’

    Known for adding humor to the most mundane things that we come across in our daily life, through this series, she will be seen imparting her Yatra gyaan which is her witty take on being a traveler and various experiences and encounters that one comes across while you are travelling. The playlist consist of videos that range from the types of people on a road trip to the Types of Indian Travellers. ‘Mostly Yatra’ is a fortnightly property with videos being released every alternate Thursdays on Prajakta’s handle.

    Commenting on the association, One Digital Entertainment co-founder and CEO Gurpreet Singh Bhasin said, “It’s great to be able to collaborate with India’s leading travel website, and for them to be interested in Prajakta Koli only reinforces our belief in the digital talent we nurture. Mostly Yatra is a great concept and Prajakta being youth favorite because of her relatable fresh and quirky content, we are sure to appeal to the masses. This is a great collaboration for all three brands we think – Yatra.com, One Digital Entertainment and Prajakta Koli.”

    Yatra.com CMO ​Vikrant Mudaliar said, “Yatra has always been exploring new and innovative digital ideas. With youth being the largest consumer of digital content and Prajakta, being such a popular youth icon, we decided to collaborate with her. The idea was to showcase a light hearted, tongue – in – cheek take on various travel situations and that’s exactly what has been executed very well by Prajakta and her team.”

  • Yatra.com launches ‘light weight app’ Yatra Mini

    Yatra.com launches ‘light weight app’ Yatra Mini

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com has launched a new mobile application, Yatra Mini, targetting value seeking travellers featuring bus, train and budget hotel bookings. The key feature of the app is that it is extremely lightweight at only approx. 4.5 MB and is fast loading even in poor network areas.

    The app is built to cater even to lower end android phones and is supported by Android 4 & above. The other features include multi-lingual travel app in Hindi & English with more regional languages such as Tamil, Bangla, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu being added very soon to cater to the non-English audiences across the country.

    As per a recent report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India has 402 million Internet users as of December 2015, thereby overtaking the US in total Internet users. A lot of this growth has come from rural India which has witnessed a 99 percent surge in mobile internet users and now has over 80 million users. the most exciting news in this rural India growth story is the demography: 75 percent of Internet users from rural India are in the age group of 18-30 years and Yatra.com is looking to catch them early in their journey of online travel bookings with the Yatra Mini application.

    Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall said, “Yatra is very focused on the needs of the Indian traveller and in this case, we have identified a clear gap in the market with no one catering to a very large and rapidly growing segment of mobile users, who access the internet using their entry level smartphones, and are seeking an app that enables them to make their bookings speedily and does not occupy much memory space. By offering this app in regional languages, we are also tapping into the non-English traveller who is looking to shift to the convenience of online booking. We also researched the needs of this traveller and based on the findings, limited the product offerings to bus, train and budget hotel bookings so that the app is sharply focused on the needs of this segment.”

    While India is witnessing a massive rise in smartphone user base, connectivity continues to be a serious limitation for easy usage of internet services. Keeping that in mind Yatra.com claims to have designed the Yatra Mini to work well in poor network and use very little data. It comprises of easy to configure components and can be changed/modified without an app release thus further reducing the data usage.

    To make the app user friendly, Yatra Mini offers help to travellers to view their upcoming, completed and cancelled trips .All details of trips will be available like journey date, passenger details, bus operator details, boarding point details, cancellation policy, fare & payment details etc. The app provides flexible cancellation options for bus and train tickets. There are ooptions to resend e-tickets on email and SMS and options to contact the Yatra Helpdesk as well.

    Apart from all the above features, Yatra is launching the app with lucrative loyalty offers like option to use earned eCash on trains and bus bookings.

     For Train Bookings eCash redemption is 10 percent of booking value

     For Bus Bookings eCash redemption is 5 percent of booking value

    Also to enable users to share the app with their friends and motivate them to use the app, Yatra is offering ‘refer and earn’ options wherein users can refer their friends and earn 1000 eCash. The friend being referred will also earn 1500 eCash to use on their bookings.

  • Yatra.com launches ‘light weight app’ Yatra Mini

    Yatra.com launches ‘light weight app’ Yatra Mini

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com has launched a new mobile application, Yatra Mini, targetting value seeking travellers featuring bus, train and budget hotel bookings. The key feature of the app is that it is extremely lightweight at only approx. 4.5 MB and is fast loading even in poor network areas.

    The app is built to cater even to lower end android phones and is supported by Android 4 & above. The other features include multi-lingual travel app in Hindi & English with more regional languages such as Tamil, Bangla, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu being added very soon to cater to the non-English audiences across the country.

    As per a recent report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India has 402 million Internet users as of December 2015, thereby overtaking the US in total Internet users. A lot of this growth has come from rural India which has witnessed a 99 percent surge in mobile internet users and now has over 80 million users. the most exciting news in this rural India growth story is the demography: 75 percent of Internet users from rural India are in the age group of 18-30 years and Yatra.com is looking to catch them early in their journey of online travel bookings with the Yatra Mini application.

    Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall said, “Yatra is very focused on the needs of the Indian traveller and in this case, we have identified a clear gap in the market with no one catering to a very large and rapidly growing segment of mobile users, who access the internet using their entry level smartphones, and are seeking an app that enables them to make their bookings speedily and does not occupy much memory space. By offering this app in regional languages, we are also tapping into the non-English traveller who is looking to shift to the convenience of online booking. We also researched the needs of this traveller and based on the findings, limited the product offerings to bus, train and budget hotel bookings so that the app is sharply focused on the needs of this segment.”

    While India is witnessing a massive rise in smartphone user base, connectivity continues to be a serious limitation for easy usage of internet services. Keeping that in mind Yatra.com claims to have designed the Yatra Mini to work well in poor network and use very little data. It comprises of easy to configure components and can be changed/modified without an app release thus further reducing the data usage.

    To make the app user friendly, Yatra Mini offers help to travellers to view their upcoming, completed and cancelled trips .All details of trips will be available like journey date, passenger details, bus operator details, boarding point details, cancellation policy, fare & payment details etc. The app provides flexible cancellation options for bus and train tickets. There are ooptions to resend e-tickets on email and SMS and options to contact the Yatra Helpdesk as well.

    Apart from all the above features, Yatra is launching the app with lucrative loyalty offers like option to use earned eCash on trains and bus bookings.

     For Train Bookings eCash redemption is 10 percent of booking value

     For Bus Bookings eCash redemption is 5 percent of booking value

    Also to enable users to share the app with their friends and motivate them to use the app, Yatra is offering ‘refer and earn’ options wherein users can refer their friends and earn 1000 eCash. The friend being referred will also earn 1500 eCash to use on their bookings.

  • Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com strengthened their travel booking offering by launching a series of exciting new features. These innovative technological solutions cater to different touch points in their business and further ease the booking process. The features launched – a Facebook chat bot to enable booking tickets, a self serve platform to address customer queries, and a market place chat platform to enable travellers to chat in real time with the sellers – are leading edge technology features that are a first for the Indian travel Industry.

    Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall says, “It has been our constant endeavour to stay in touch with the pulse of the traveller and up-grade our products accordingly. Today we are excited to unveil the chat bot for Facebook Messenger, a first in the Industry and a convenient way for travelers to quickly see travel options and make bookings. Facebook has a wide user base, and this chat option will enable travellers to experience Yatra in a seamless fashion without moving out of Facebook. Also the self serve and market place chat tools help ease the booking process and improve the overall customer experience.”

    Today’s traveller, thanks to the internet, is very well informed and believes in thorough research before deciding on their travel. Facebook is the largest social network and a number of travellers also take advice from friends before making travel plans. In addition, Yatra has a vast reach of almost 1.5 lakh Facebook followers who are looking to make bookings and enquiring about best deals. To leverage this audience, Yatra has launched an intelligent chat bot which helps customers search and book flights directly from their FB messenger. Itis an intuitive platform which helps consumer search in natural language and can handle even complicated queries. Chat bots let users perform tasks within messenger apps that would otherwise be done in a separate app. The company can use these bots to target users on platforms they frequent rather than making them download the company’s app to book.

    Yatra had earlier launched a holidays marketplace, as it enabled a wide range of packages and the best prices as buyers and sellers could directly interact and complete the transaction with no intermediaries. The marketplace chat platform that has just been launched serves as a direct connect between the customer and the re-seller. It has been built with the ability to have text based chats or direct voice calls. Customers can also share attachments via the chat. Discreetness is given due importance with customer privacy being completed maintained.

    Yatra has also introduced a self serve platform that can answer customer queries as it works like an automated FAQ machine, where responses to generic queries are pre-fed. In addition, based on the kind of queries posted by customers, the base of responses can be enhanced making the tool all the more powerful and efficacious.

  • Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com strengthened their travel booking offering by launching a series of exciting new features. These innovative technological solutions cater to different touch points in their business and further ease the booking process. The features launched – a Facebook chat bot to enable booking tickets, a self serve platform to address customer queries, and a market place chat platform to enable travellers to chat in real time with the sellers – are leading edge technology features that are a first for the Indian travel Industry.

    Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall says, “It has been our constant endeavour to stay in touch with the pulse of the traveller and up-grade our products accordingly. Today we are excited to unveil the chat bot for Facebook Messenger, a first in the Industry and a convenient way for travelers to quickly see travel options and make bookings. Facebook has a wide user base, and this chat option will enable travellers to experience Yatra in a seamless fashion without moving out of Facebook. Also the self serve and market place chat tools help ease the booking process and improve the overall customer experience.”

    Today’s traveller, thanks to the internet, is very well informed and believes in thorough research before deciding on their travel. Facebook is the largest social network and a number of travellers also take advice from friends before making travel plans. In addition, Yatra has a vast reach of almost 1.5 lakh Facebook followers who are looking to make bookings and enquiring about best deals. To leverage this audience, Yatra has launched an intelligent chat bot which helps customers search and book flights directly from their FB messenger. Itis an intuitive platform which helps consumer search in natural language and can handle even complicated queries. Chat bots let users perform tasks within messenger apps that would otherwise be done in a separate app. The company can use these bots to target users on platforms they frequent rather than making them download the company’s app to book.

    Yatra had earlier launched a holidays marketplace, as it enabled a wide range of packages and the best prices as buyers and sellers could directly interact and complete the transaction with no intermediaries. The marketplace chat platform that has just been launched serves as a direct connect between the customer and the re-seller. It has been built with the ability to have text based chats or direct voice calls. Customers can also share attachments via the chat. Discreetness is given due importance with customer privacy being completed maintained.

    Yatra has also introduced a self serve platform that can answer customer queries as it works like an automated FAQ machine, where responses to generic queries are pre-fed. In addition, based on the kind of queries posted by customers, the base of responses can be enhanced making the tool all the more powerful and efficacious.