Tag: India

Bengaluru, India – Local homegrown e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has launched its first digital campaign to showcase the versatility of its customer rewards program Flipkart SuperCoins.

The campaign simplifies the concept of SuperCoins rewards and highlights its use across partner platforms – Myntra and Cleartrip, and many more brands across various categories like Hotstar, SonyLIV, ZEE5, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, among others.

In addition, the campaign showcases the myriad benefits SuperCoins provide and shares information on how to avail them, not only on Flipkart but on fashion e-commerce Myntra and online travel company Cleartrip as well.

Commenting on the campaign launch, Arief Mohamad, vice president for loyalty at Flipkart, said, “At Flipkart, it is our utmost priority to serve our customers with unparalleled value. We aim to enhance every consumer’s shopping experience and make it more rewarding.” 

He added, “Through this campaign, we aim to reinforce the plethora of benefits shoppers can avail of using SuperCoins, not just on Flipkart but across the umbrella of Flipkart partner platforms and brands, thereby enabling a wide pool to shop and avail rewards, significantly enriching their shopping experience. We are delighted to partner with Jatin Sarna in conveying this message to our 400 million customers across the country.”

Mumbai, India – Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency under WPP’s GroupM, has been appointed as the integrated media agency of record by online restaurant company Rebel Foods in India. 

Rebel Foods is home to brands such as Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story Pizza, Lunch Box, and Wendy’s, amongst others. It currently operates over 45 own and partner brands, ranging from startups to global majors, to cater to consumers’ different food missions.

As part of the partnership, Essence‘s scope of work includes strategy, analytics, media planning, and media activation for the internet restaurant company’s brand marketing activities. Its first few activities for Rebel Foods include campaigns for Faasos and Sweet Truth, along with integrated communications plans for Behrouz Biryani and the company’s food court on an app experience, EatSure, in key markets.

Ankush Grover, Rebel Foods’ co-founder and CEO for India, shared that keeping their vision in mind, it is inevitable for their brands to have a communication strategy that focuses on customer-first offerings, while complementing their brand promise. 

“Over the years, our communication has been authentic, relatable, creative, innovative, and at the same time, has reflected the brand’s core value. We believe Essence is an ideal partner to help us in our journey with an insight-led analytical approach, while bringing a unique style of creativity and innovation. We are looking forward to collaborating with Essence on some exciting campaigns and strategies,” said Grover.

Meanwhile, Sonali Malaviya, Essence’s managing director for India, said that with their data-driven approach to strategy, analytics and media, focused on delivering value to brands and consumers through innovation, they see opportunities to help Rebel Foods drive greater synergies and efficiencies across its brands while defining bespoke growth paths for each brand.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Rebel Foods on its exciting growth journey and become its ally in achieving its growth goals,” added Malaviya.

Mumbai, India – BBH India, an advertising agency under Publicis Groupe, has promoted Radhika Burman, former vice president of strategy at BBH India, to be its new VP, head of Delhi.

As part of her new role, Burman will be responsible for current clients, people, and new business performance in Delhi, along with driving strategic thinking across clients.

With over 12 years of experience, Burman brings a sharp understanding of consumers, culture, and new media. In the past year, Burman has been an essential part of the BBH Delhi team, spearheading the strategic thinking on existing clients like Beam Suntory and Nestle, along with successful new business wins like Hitachi and Godrej ProClean, amongst others.

Commenting on his appointment, Burman said, “I am excited to take on this new role at BBH Delhi. With growth as the key focus for this office, I hope to energise the teams towards building truly integrated solutions for our clients and leveraging our areas of expertise in strategy, data and creative thinking to deliver experiences and brand narratives that are differentiated and help solve real business challenges.”

Meanwhile, Dheeraj Sinha, Leo Burnett’s CEO for South Asia and BBH India’s chairman, noted that at BBH India, they want to empower their people to grow from within. 

“In Radhika, we have found someone who is not only a fantastic strategy professional but someone [who] is also passionate about building value-creating client relationships, fostering talent and creating culturally relevant work. I am excited to see her shine,” said Sinha.

In July 2022, BBH India appointed George Sebastian, former senior creative director at DDB Mudra, as its newest executive creative director. He will report to BBH India’s chief creative officer & CEO Russell Barrett and lead a talented team of copy, art and design professionals.

India – Global consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive has appointed Prabha Narasimhan, former executive director at Hindustan Unilever (HUL), to be its new managing director and CEO for India.

Colgate-Palmolive India announced Narasimhan’s appointment in March 2022, and she has been special projects vice president for Colgate’s Asia Pacific Division.

In her previous role at HUL, Narasimhan led the Home Care category and served as a member of the HUL Leadership Team. She has nearly 25 years of rich and varied experience in customer development, consumer marketing, and innovation across geographies and multiple categories, including home care, foods, personal care, and skin care. 

Mukul Deoras, CP India’s chairman and president of APAC division, commented, “I am delighted to welcome Prabha as the leader of the CP India business. Prabha has a successful track record of strong performance across categories, and I am confident that she and the team will build on our strengths to grow the business and reimagine a healthier future for the communities we serve.”

India – Contract Advertising, a Wunderman Thompson group company, has won the mandate for Haldiram’s, an Indian multinational sweets, savouries and retail/restaurant company headquartered in Delhi.

The mandate will include brand strategy and creatives for the domestic market, the export market, as well as in retail/QSRs. The account will be handled out of Contract Mumbai’s office.

Haldiram’s has manufacturing plants in a wide variety of locations in such as UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Bihar, J&K, Guwahati in India.

Pankaj Agarwal, managing director at Haldiram’s, said, “Haldiram’s has always been trusted for their quality offerings. As a key player in the snack, sweets, and restaurant sector, we are known to generate excitement amongst the consumers. We, as a brand, are constantly innovating and trying to raise our high-quality standards.” 

He added, “To make consumers aware of our wide brand portfolio, we needed an advertising agency that understands our constant rise and the consumer’s changing mindsets. And that is why we are excited to partner with Contract Advertising to build effective marketing communications and reach new heights.”

Meanwhile, Divya Batra, marketing head at Haldiram’s, commented, “Over the years, Haldiram’s has expanded its range from traditional namkeens to western snacks, frozen snacks, ready to eat, ready to cook, chocolates, and many more food categories. To communicate the same to our consumers, we needed an agency passionate about reaching and engaging with consumers impactfully.”

Ayan Chakraborty, EVP and general manager at Contract Mumbai, said, “Haldiram’s is an iconic brand, and it is a household name in India. We are proud of being the agency that has been given the responsibility to craft the narrative for this brand in India and abroad. “

Lastly, Rahul Ghosh, SVP and executive creative director at Contract Mumbai, commented, “At Contract, we have a bit of history with Made In India powerhouses. Haldiram’s is one such global success story. Getting to work on the narrative of this iconic brand is the kind of challenge that is a part of our DNA.”

India – dentsu in India has appointed Bhasker Jaiswal, former APAC lead at Publicis Media, to be its new chief operations officer of media.

In his new role, Jaiswal will be leading integration, transformation, and operational excellence agendas while driving innovations and excellence for dentsu clients and businesses through its three media agencies, namely Carat, iProspect, and dentsu X. He will be reporting to Divya Karani, CEO of media at dentsu South Asia. 

Moreover, Jaiswal will also be working closely with Karani to deliver business transformation, set up and standardise operations and systems, govern product leadership, and enable sustainable revenue growth.

With over 24 years of experience in the media and advertising industry across APAC, Jaiswal specialises in building solutions for advertisers and media companies across monetisation, research, and media investments. His key strength sits in understanding the eco-system of consumers, advertisers, and media owners, as well as the decision-making heuristic. Jaiswal is also passionate about disrupting the current thinking and has developed industry-leading proprietary products which bring efficiency and effectiveness across geographies and clients.

Speaking on his appointment, Jaiswal said, “I am excited to be joining dentsu and being back in India, a big and complex market growing dynamically. I look forward to adding value by improving dentsu processes to impact client outputs as well as improving the lives of our biggest assets – our people.”  

Meanwhile, Karani commented that Jaiswal joining the team here in India is another great step on their journey to become the go-to network of choice for brands in India. 

“His impressive track record, savvy business judgment, operational excellence, and an innate understanding of people and their motivations make him ideal to lead our transformation and integration,” she said.

Gurugram, India – Titus Upputuru, former national creative director at Taproot Dentsu, has launched his own advertising and film agency called ‘The Titus Upputuru Company’, which will be creating content for brands and audiences across platforms.

As part of the launch, the company has released a set of short, intriguing films that establish the identity. Each film begins with the initials ‘TU’ and goes on to form a different face, that has correlation to the drama occurring in the video and audio.

Speaking on the occasion, he said “I have been in this industry for 25 years now. I thought a Silver Jubilee was the perfect time for me to launch this company. I thank God for every milestone, for every moment during this incredible journey. I am ever so grateful. It’s time now to look ahead and I am so excited about this brand new journey. In my career, I have always been interested in the craft of writing, art direction, design, and photography. 

He added, “Over the last decade or so, I have also had the opportunity to direct ad films and short films for brands. I wanted to combine these skill sets and offer the last mile in execution too, because execution is what the audience ultimately sees. We all know that video sits right on top of the marketing tools that marketers are using today across the world. So, along with brand strategy and static creative solutions across mediums and platforms, we will offer our expertise in Video too”.

Titus has written and directed numerous ad films and short films including the acclaimed HarperCollins India’s haunting murder mystery ‘Parcel’ and the 2022 DadaSaheb Phalke Award winning ‘Nip in the Bud’ short film for Times Internet.

“We are excited to tell stories using different mediums. The idea is to keep human at the heart of it and manifest empathy. People still choose brands that have a certain quality about them, that profess a certain human belief; brands that move people, that respect them. As a Creative led company, we will wish to partner such brands, while obsessing about craft,” Titus added.

Mumbai, India – Global luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has announced its entry into the Indian market through a strategic deal with Reliance Brands Limited (RBL), the subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures of Reliance Industries.

With this long-term franchise agreement, RBL will be Balenciaga’s sole India partner to launch the brand in the country and this partnership will be RBL’s second with the parent group Kering, that houses Balenciaga.

Darshan Mehta, managing director of Reliance Brands Limited, said, “Few brands have actually embraced the opportunity for creative reinterpretation and reinvention quite like Balenciaga. Their avant-garde and ingenious creations, bold use of the logo, and a consequent cult in the fashion industry has already created a strong footing throughout the world.”

He added, “It’s the most opportune time to introduce the brand to the country as the Indian luxury customer has matured and using fashion as a form of creative expression of their individuality.”

Reliance Brands had recently inked a long-term distribution agreement with Italian luxury brand Valentino to bring it to India.

As of this writing, Reliance Brands currently houses luxury brands like Armani Exchange, Bally, Hamleys, Michael Kors, Muji, among others.

Mumbai, India – As India celebrates 75 years of Independence this year, Spice Money, the country’s rural fintech, has launched the ‘RedBlue Revolution’, a brand agnostic initiative that aims to create a distinct identity for rural banking outlets. The outlets are being branded in the colours of red and blue which have traditionally been a choice of the banking and financial services industry as the colour red represents growth and energy whereas blue represents trust and safety. 

Through its extensive on-ground presence, Spice Money has witnessed the problem of rural citizens not being able to identify a banking outlet in their local areas, since they never had a distinct identity, be it in terms of colour or nomenclature. A lot of these outlets are also selling other multiple products, hence, it becomes difficult to identify or spot the specific store in a crowded spot, leading to poor visibility, and hence low footfalls, thereby limiting the access of rural citizens. 

The ‘RedBlue Revolution’ aims to register these outlets as ‘Smart Banking Points’ in the minds of rural citizens and ensure that rural customers are able to spot a rural banking outlet in their respective regions in a hassle-free manner. It urges every rural banking outlet in India that provides banking and digital services, irrespective of the brand across the country to paint the exterior of their shops in red and blue, making it easy for customers to identify ‘Smart Banking Points’ and establish a clear and unique identity as a local banking point and get more footfall and business leading to increased interest in rural financial services led businesses.

Additionally, the initiative will act as a catalyst in furthering the reach of rural banking outlets and will help in bridging the rural-urban divide by bringing the unserved population to the financial fold thereby driving financial inclusion for the last mile.

Sanjeev Kumar, co-founder and CEO at Spice Money, said that while rural India has showcased massive growth for digital financial services in recent years, they have barely scratched the surface, and one of the biggest challenges that rural banking outlets across the country face is the lack of identity and awareness of the financial services they offer amongst the customers in their respective regions. 

“Spice Money has pledged to address this issue on the historic occasion of completing 75 years of India’s Independence with the launch of ‘RedBlue Revolution’ that will create a distinct identity for the category itself and build awareness for Smart Banking Points and further the reach of rural banking outlets across the country,” added Kumar.

Mumbai, India – Global cosmetic retail giant Sephora has appointed Mumbai-based creative agency Yellow to be its creative agency partner in India.

As part of the remit, Yellow will be responsible for Sephora India’s online and offline communications, including social media, celebrity campaigns, and e-commerce. 

Moreover, the partnership will help Sephora bring the global experience to Indian consumers across all touchpoints. The chief prerequisite for the brand’s new agency will be to navigate the burgeoning Indian market while keeping intact its core values and global identity.

Sephora is a luxury beauty retailer that offers a well-curated selection of makeup, skincare, and fragrance brands. Its India business is helmed by Arvind Lifestyle Brands in India. 

Shrey Doshi, Yellow’s creative director and founder, shared that Sephora is the go-to source for all things beauty and skincare across the world and they are looking forward to working with such an illustrious brand and growing it across India. 

“Over the years, we’ve worked extensively with D2C beauty and skincare brands, and are excited about merging our local know-how with the global expertise that Sephora brings to the table,” said Doshi.