Tag: India

Mumbai, India – Vishal Nicholas, the current head of planning and strategy at dentsuMB, formerly dentsu India, is now also taking the role of head of strategy at dentsu Impact, where he will be managing the planning and strategy for South, Mumbai and Delhi branches for both the agencies.

Nicholas has had stints at Lowe Lintas and McCann where he worked on Flipkart, Tata Tea’s JaagoRe platform, Myntra, TVS Motors, to name a few.

“Ever since I joined dentsu, I’ve always been excited about the Eastern approach to building brands with simplicity and second-order thinking at its core. With dentsuMB, the combination of the East and West make it even more compelling. And with Dentsu Impact’s fantastic roster of clients, I look forward to achieving greater business outcomes for them,” he said, regarding his appointment

He will continue to report to Sidharth Rao, CEO at dentsuMB Group.

“As we continue to strengthen and reshape our creative offering in the Indian market, we needed a planning leader who has experience with both traditional and new-age businesses; and Vishal was the obvious choice to steer the strategy product for both dentsuMB and Dentsu Impact,” Rao said.

Dentsu Impact and dentsuMB are part of the dentsuMB Group in India that also houses the agencies dentsu Webchutney, dentsu One and Taproot Dentsu.

Mumbai, India – Wondrlab, the platform-first marketing technology start-up in India, has announced that it has raised US$7m in a round of pre-series funding.

The startup will be utilizing its newly acquired funds towards driving inorganic growth, with a sharp focus on tech, digital, and programmatic advertising, as well as building world-class martech platforms. 

Saurabh Varma, Wondrlab’s founder and chief executive officer, shared that they want to thank the investors for their faith and belief in the agency, and they believe that their differentiated strategy of being platform-first is a great value proposition for the clients. 

“We will continue to invest in building deep capabilities across digital business transformation, content, data, and marketing tech platforms. The next six months will be key to building on our incredible momentum,” said Varma.

The round was led by venture fund firm Pi Ventures LLP, private investment company Tanas Capital, digital transformation partner Prodapt Holdings, and several independent investors including Priyamvada Balaji of Lucas Indian Service and Gopal Srinivasan of TVS Capital. 

Narayanan Venkitraman, the investment advisor of Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office (NSFO), commented “We are excited about the vision of the team led by Saurabh Varma to create India’s first network. Their strategy of being platform first differentiates them. It is refreshing to see a world-class team coming together on the back of a shared ambition.”

Amit Sharma, Tanas Capital’s managing director and head of corporate finance and investments, said that the proposition is truly unique, and they are excited about being a part of this journey. 

“Wondrlab’s focus on digital communication and DBT; always being platform-first and building world-class martech products will create incredible value for clients and eventually investors.”

India – Due to the uncertainty and fears brought about by the pandemic, there has been a decline in people’s mental health, and with this, Indian insurance firm Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has launched a new campaign to emphasize the need for helping friends, family, and colleagues struggling with anxiety. 

In partnership with WATConsult, the digital marketing arm of hybrid digital agency Isobar, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance’s ‘Unloop the Loop’ campaign highlights the psychological phenomenon of constantly being stuck in a negative thought loop. The 4-film campaign aims to create empathy for the ones undergoing such loops every other minute of their lives. Each loop video is centered around a different pain point – relationship, work, and general wellbeing, and the notable pace of copy clubbed with looping visuals seeks to nudge the audience to act upon the call to action.

The campaign leads audiences to a downloadable kit with a step-by-step guide to initiate the mental health conversation, simplifying the process of reaching out.

Tapan Singhel, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance’s CEO and managing director, said that people have been anxious and uncertain because of this virus which has affected millions across the world, and as a brand, they needed to step in and say that they do care and so do the people around.

“I’m sure that this mental healthcare kit will act as a guide and make people open up, but most importantly restore hope to emerge stronger from this and every crisis we face in the future,” said Singhel.

Meanwhile, Heeru Dingra, the CEO at Isobar India, said, “All of us have been stuck in the loop of negative thoughts at some point in our life. But the intensity varies for each one of us. It is imperative to welcome these life-saving mental health conversations and act as a safe space for each other.”

Sahil Shah, WATConsult’s managing partner, commented, “I believe that empathy is an understated value. It can bridge the gaps between the listener and the worrier. Just this one simple act has the most powerful effect on the one who has been struggling to unloop the loop themselves. And I believe we have taken one big step forward through this campaign.”

Mumbai, India – SUV automotive brand Jeep in India has launched its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative called the ‘Mission One Earth’ where it encourages local communities and their customers to do their adventures and travel endeavors more responsibly for the best of the environment.

‘Mission One Earth’ kicks with the first project where Jeep India has invited customers and the local community of the Ladakh region, home to the Himalayan mountain range, to collect 1500 kilograms of plastic waste from the roads leading to the mountain range, which is home to the highest motorable roads in the world.

Said initiative was integrated with Jeep India’s annual customer drive experience, ‘Legendary Jeep Trails’, where Jeep customers drove in twenty Jeep SUVs from Shimla to Srinagar via Leh for over 2000 kms for this plastic reduction drive. 

Over three hundred people from the local Ladakh community participated in this initiative.

“For eight decades, Jeep has brought people together through driving adventures. ‘Mission One Earth’ gives a special purpose to this adventure, which Jeep customers can enjoy responsibly,” said Roland Bouchara, CEO and managing director, Stellantis India

In addition to the plastic waste cleanup, Jeep India has also placed specially designed and digitally enabled ‘reverse vending machines’ in high-footfall tourist locations along the high altitude passes in the Himalayas. The collected plastic waste will be recycled into Jeep merchandise. 

Tourists who feed the reverse vending machines with plastic waste will receive a coupon which can be redeemed for environment-friendly Jeep merchandise that will be sent to the individuals directly by Jeep India. The reverse vending machines will continue to remain at these tourist locations and will be monitored and maintained by Jeep India for a year.

“Mission One Earth is another step towards achieving a larger goal of empowering our customers to enjoy JeepLife responsibly with our motto ‘Responsible Adventure’. We will be giving scale to Mission One Earth over the coming months by sharing our objectives with Jeep network partners and Jeep customers across the country,” said Nipun J Mahajan, head of Jeep India.

Meanwhile, Rahul Pansare, head of marketing and PR at Jeep India, commented, “Legendary Jeep Trails, our annual customer drive experience property, was an ideal platform for us to introduce Mission One Earth to our participating customers. Jeep Trails has grown to be hugely popular in the Jeep Community with over 15,000 members already signed up on the Jeeplife platform.” 

He added, “We wanted to spread the message of Responsible Adventure via ‘Mission One Earth’ and we have achieved considerable success in underlining our intent. The next step is to take ‘Mission One Earth’ to the rest of India.”

Jeep India plans to spread the message of ‘Responsible Adventure’ to every part of the country through its Dealer network and 50,000-plus customer base. Therefore, in the coming months, every Jeep dealership in India will have an element of Mission One Earth that will help spread the message.

Mumbai, India – As part of its quest to remain a leading imaging solutions company in the local market, Fujifilm India has appointed digital marketing agency Social Panga to handle its social media duties, which will amplify the corporate philosophy and the industry presence of Fujifilm India.

Said mandate, which was won through a multi-agency pitch process, covers duties of conveying the core ideology of Fujifilm India, in ways that not only catalyze the brand’s awareness but also establish its presence in various verticals that the brand operates in.

For Tribhuwan Joshi, lead brand communication for PR and CSR at Fujifilm India, they intend to kick-start their digital and social media campaigns alongside Social Panga via inventive strategies that the agency has in store for them, as well as intending to position Fujifilm India as the imaging solutions leader that wants to create a safer, stronger and better future.

“At Fujifilm, our aim remains to tackle societal challenges through our cutting-edge technology in healthcare, materials and imaging business. We want people to know Fujifilm is a brand that believes in innovation to improve lives and we will #NeverStop innovating for a healthier and sustainable world,” Joshi stated.

Furthermore, Social Panga’s Gurugram office shall tend to the requisite by aiding Fujifilm India with substantial and engaging content, along with paving the way for groundbreaking digital and social media campaigns that blend well with its target consumers.

“Our collaboration with Fujifilm India shall make way for strategically-devised campaigns that shall bring the Fujifilm thought to the fore and place the vast reach of Fujifilm’s innovations on the radar of the Indian consumer. Social Panga strives to make a difference and with Fujifilm India onboard, we are all set to accomplish the same – creatively as well as tactfully,” said Himanshu Arora, founder at Social Panga.

The awarding of the social mandate comes at a time where Fujifilm applies its manifesto of ‘Value from Innovation’ at every step and uses its leading edge, proprietary technologies to provide top-quality products and services that help enhance the quality of life of people worldwide.

“Social Panga aims to position Fujifilm India in the social media marketing arena as a trailblazer in developing technologies that improve people’s way of life. The agency’s expertise shall pave the way for an integrated marketing approach based on nouveau ideas, crisp storytelling, and other attributes that shall fulfill the mentioned aspects,” the agency said in a press statement.

Singapore – The expenditure across India and Southeast Asian e-commerce app users for Q2 2021 has tallied at US$106.7m where US$60.6m coming from India and US$46.1m in Southeast Asia, the latest insights from mobile advertising platform MAAS of Affle and mobile app store marketing intelligence company Sensor Tower show.

Southeast Asia’s e-commerce expenditures are based on data from Indonesia (US$18.8m), Malaysia (US$11.9m), Thailand (US$8m), and Vietnam (US$7.3m).

The study noted that e-commerce apps registered peak in-app activities, with the consistent upward growth resulting in an 18% Y/Y increase in average daily active users (DAU) for India and 20% Y/Y increase in Vietnam and Indonesia, for Q2 2021. India’s shopping app installs surged in July 2021, surpassing 80 million that month, up more than 15 million M/M. 

In terms of which product categories were popular on e-commerce shopping, they were groceries, grooming/beauty products, apparels, electronics, school and household items, furniture among others. 

Shopping behavior also indicated an increased preference for mobile-based transactions, with retention for first-time app users and after a week of using the top shopping apps in India reached their highest average since 2020 in Q2 2021. Longer-term retention for the top shopping apps in India peaked in Q3 2020, and while retention decreased in the following quarters, it still showed positive growth Y/Y. 

Meanwhile, retention for top shopping apps in SEA has trended slightly downwards since the start of 2020 during the turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Retention for e-commerce apps after a week of usage decreased by 1.4 percentage points Y/Y in Q2 2021, and a month of app usage retention fell by 0.4 percentage points Y/Y.

According to Viraj Sinh, co-founder and managing partner international at MAAS, India and Southeast Asia are projected to be one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world, by 2025, as its unique demographic and fast-changing consumer behavior trends creates a paradigm shift towards e-commerce in the region, which is certain and it continues to happen at a rapid pace

“New verticals, niche players continue to spring up across the region that further drive the adoption and penetration of e-commerce, which is still relatively low. The measurement of success has evolved and the approach to user growth has changed. Having the right partner to help one through this journey has become paramount and a crucial first checkpoint and often the difference between success and failure,” Sinh stated.

Meanwhile, the average time spent in top shopping apps increased during the pandemic, peaking in Q4 2020. While it decreased from this peak in the first half of 2021 in both India and SEA, it remained above Q1 2020 levels. 

The increase in time spent was largely driven by more sessions per day, perhaps due to people having more time stuck at home during the pandemic. The average session duration for top apps in India and SEA hovered around 2 minutes for the past six quarters.

Bengaluru, India – Global virtual events platform Hubilo has announced the conclusion of its US$125m series B seed funding, putting the company’s total funding to US$153m to date in 18 months. Said funding will be used to develop new business functions, advance innovation of its platform, strengthen its product, engineering, and design teams in India, and go-to-market teams in the US, UK, EMEA, and APAC.

The new funding was led by Alkeon Capital and additionally, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Balderton Capital.

Hubilo, which is based in India, was founded in 2015 to build event tech that increased attendee engagement at in-person events. Currently, the company works with some of the globe’s largest brands such as Blackboard, Walmart, United Nations, Roche Pharma, Maersk Shipping, with several others.

For Vaibhav Jain, CEO and founder at Hubilo, the power to engage with massive audiences unlocks the potential for more diverse, geographically dispersed communities to come together for business and consumer events, remote workforces to stay engaged, and organizations to rethink the way they hire and train. 

“The potential ahead of us with this investment is massive. But what we’ve learned over the last 6 years is that an intuitive platform is just table stakes. Our commitment to event organizers is that we will always provide a dedicated event team to ensure flawless execution of every event. This is why so many event organizers make Hubilo their platform of choice,” Jain stated.

Hubilo also plans to set up new sales offices in key regions to expand its operations and reach a greater volume of customers. In addition, Hubilo will also increase the overall employees’ count by 150% to support its rapid growth plans and to respond to the increased customer demand for virtual and hybrid events.

Despite the Asia-Pacific region accounting for 25% of Hubilo’s business, the company still plans to further grow in the APAC region, especially in India. The recent additions to Hubilo’s India clientele are Publicis Sapient (TLG India Pvt Ltd), Nivea, Reliance Jio, Schneider Electric, and George P Johnson.

“While Hubilo started as an events technology platform, its solutions go beyond special occasions. It has successfully supported 10,000 events with more than two million attendees across more than 100 countries. As the new era of events unfolds among the uncertainty, one thing remains steady: Hubilo’s innovation and commitment to foster human connection through the re-imagination of events,” the company said in a press statement.

Mumbai, India – ePayLater, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) payments platform for retailers in India, has appointed media agency Madison, to handle its creative and media duties.

ePayLater offers interest-free financial credit. It focuses on small business owners and trader segments, as well as FMCG retailers, helping them to expand their businesses. The partnership will see full-service advertising unit Madison BMB managing ePayLater’s creative assignment, while media unit Madison Media Sigma will lead the entire media mandate including TV, print, radio, and OOH, as well as digital, and cinema. 

Akshat Saxena, the co-founder of ePayLater, commented, “It’s an exciting phase of growth for ePayLater and with Madison as our partner, we are confident about effectively reaching out to millions of retailers in the country who stand to benefit from this solution.”

Meanwhile, Vanita Keswani, Madison Media Sigma’s CEO, said that they are truly excited to be partnering with ePayLater, expanding its reach and strengthening it as a game-changer Fintech brand in today’s fast-paced digitized environment.

Raj Nair, the CEO and chief creative officer of Madison BMB, shared that fintech space in India is constantly innovating and developing, and while there are many players, the leadership team at ePayLater are very upbeat about their prospects by virtue of what they bring to the table to smaller retailers and helping them spread their wings and fueling their growth story. 

“Their partnerships with B2B majors like Metro Cash & Carry, Walmart, BigBasket, and large FMCG brands help hugely towards this end. We are looking forward to helping ePayLater succeed across the country,” said Nair.

Just recently, Madison BMB has also been appointed by fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), Gardenia Cosmotrade LLP, to manage its creative duties for its men’s grooming brand, Gatsby, in India.

India – To celebrate this year’s ‘National Coming Out Day’, which is commemorated every 11th October for the awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community, MTV Beats, India’s music-only channel, has partnered with digital agency RepIndia to release a video that seeks to bolster the movement towards acceptance, inclusivity, and uniqueness.

The ongoing conversation and support have achieved the acceptance for the LGBTQIA+ community by leaps and bounds, but just like any fight against discrimination in society, there is always so much more one can do in order to truly give the minority the respect and belonging they deserve.

The video boasts a highly artistic hand with engaging graphics that are representative of the rainbow symbol of the community. Within the video is a poem that uses metaphors to convey that we are all different in our own ways, but that it isn’t something that should cause a divide among us.

“Some like lines, others like curves,” one of the lines said.

The agency shared that the video is built on the insight that love is natural and comes from within.

“Yet, we judge those who choose to live differently than us. Simply because we aren’t able to comprehend it. ‘Coming Out’ takes a lot of courage and we must never dissuade a person for whom they choose to love,” RepIndia said in a press statement. 

MTV Beats as a brand has been a strong ally of the community. Last year, it released ‘Love Duet’, India’s first ‘Love’ album by the LGBTQIA+ community, which aimed to normalize the conversations on love which go beyond the stereotypes of gender.

The video has been released across the brand’s social media including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Mumbai, India – Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), Gardenia Cosmotrade LLP, has appointed Madison BMB, the creative arm of Madison World, to manage the creative duties for its men’s grooming brand, Gatsby, in India.

Through the partnership, the Gatsby brand will now be reinforcing and expanding its presence in India through its creatives and constantly evolving product range for young Indian males.

Puneet Motiani, Gardenia Cosmotrade LLP’s designated partner, shared consumers are increasingly aware of the products available across segments like hair, face, and body, and while they have always been a trusted brand, they have noticed a host of new brands enter this space in recent times. 

“We’re a global brand backed by deep knowledge of both the category and the consumer. Hence, we needed an able creative partner like Madison BMB who can help us position our existing range of products to create a clear preference in the minds of the audience,” said Motiani.

Meanwhile, Raj Nair, the CEO and chief creative officer of Madison BMB, said that the task is for them to develop a brand world that not only communicates the benefits of the range of products but also builds a relatable and endearing attitude that the audience can easily connect with, particularly in the digital space. 

“It’s a task that’s as exciting as it is challenging, and we look forward to creating memorable and effective communication for Gatsby,” said Nair.