Tag: India

India – Advertising agency TBWA\ India has recently launched ‘Weapon’, a new data practice that aims to solve key growth problems and challenges faced by CEOs. 

‘Weapon’ is a mix of creativity and data that seeks to solve the growth, profitability, and efficiency challenges of today’s organization in an increasingly complex and ever-changing business landscape.

Following this endeavor, the agency has also appointed Vishwajit Vyas, former senior manager of software company Automation Anywhere, to be its new head of data practice, effective immediately. 

Vyas brings with him his broad experience at high-growth startups. He specializes in data analytics, leading large teams for clients across technology, banking, financial services, and healthcare, as well as retail, and consumer packaged goods. Vyas has also led the development of new products and services that met the analytic needs of Fortune 500 companies and has been on founder teams developing strategic initiatives for long-term business growth.

Aside from working previously at Automation Anywhere, Vyas has also spent five years working at India’s decision sciences firm Mu Sigma across many roles spanning delivery, product, and strategy, as well as the founder’s office.

In his new role, Vyas will be responsible for developing and delivering TBWA\ India’s data strategy, while working closely with the global collective, leveraging TBWA’s unique capabilities to implement intelligence, which will continue to shape its clients’ thinking and execution across the marketing and advertising value chain.

Commenting on his appointment, Vyas said that he is excited to join TBWA and help fuel the level of innovation and strategic thinking the agency can offer the brands, finding opportunities to unlock growth using the power of data.

“The CEO is faced with a multitude of factors that are affecting brand performance and growth. The ever-changing customer needs and behaviors across channels have necessitated the use of data in creative and meaningful ways. At the same time, the need for a nuanced understanding of the customer and the market is ever-present,” Vyas said.

He added, “‘Weapon’ is an opportunity to become a trusted partner of the CEO, helping them articulate the problem, define it with data, design a solution, and finally execute it efficiently at a tactical level.”

Meanwhile, TBWA\ India’s CEO Govind Pandey shared that TBWA is on a continuous journey to find new avenues through which they can deliver disruptive growth, and ‘Weapon’ is their way to be strategic partners to the clients throughout the value chain.

“Our deep consumer focus, cultural creative design – now combined with our expertise in data-led insights and execution – is critical in framing and answering the key growth questions that every CEO has,” said Pandey.

Mumbai, India – Digital agency Yellophant Digital has won the integrated digital mandate for Mezaya, the authentic Turkish and Lebanese Baklava brand in Mumbai, India.

Mezaya deems to be the first among the few food brands in the country that provide freshly baked handcrafted traditional Mediterranean Baklavas that comes from the traditional recipes. It offers vegetarian desserts and uses ingredients directly sourced from the Mediterranean region.

The partnership will see Yellophant Digital managing and amplifying Mezaya’s 360-degree digital marketing duties, including creative strategy, SEO, and media spends, as well as website maintenance, and social media marketing across digital platforms, among others.

Shazia Ahmed Sheikh and Raies Sheikh, the co-founders of Mezaya, shared that after scouting across various agencies, they have now found the right ROI-driven agency that understands Mezaya’s long-term vision and can justify the spending meticulously.

“Baklavas are something that is new to the audience and we are thrilled to collaborate with Preksha and her team. Yellophant Digital has been brilliant in terms of providing solutions to brand challenges. Mezaya is really excited about this collaboration with Yellophant Digital and looks forward to seeing the brand’s overall performance and increasing ROI in the forthcoming days,“ the co-founders said.

Meanwhile, Yellophant Digital’s Co-Founder Preksha Seth commented that they are delighted to have Mezaya on board and they look forward to strategizing and managing the brand’s digital marketing duties and introducing this Mediterranean delight to the Indian audience on a creative platter.

“Our extensive experience of collaborating with F&B establishments comes in handy at this point. Being an ROI-driven agency, we plan to execute ideas that yield significant results in a brief time,” said Seth.

In April this year, Yellophant Digital has also nabbed the digital marketing mandate of ExpertMFD, India’s collaborative initiative to create financial entrepreneurs for the mutual fund industry. The agency was tasked to bolster the brand’s digital presence.

Haryana, India – India-based gaming content consulting and content distribution company ATechnos has recently launched its gaming as a service (GAAS) platform which aims to distribute gaming content for common users, and give brands an opportunity to gamify their brand campaigns.

The GAAS platform is called ‘GoGames.Run’ and offers a plethora of games for users of all ages, including augmented and virtual reality games with more realistic and intense action. To date, GoGames.Run has over 500 games across categories including action, arcade, casual, board, sports, mystery etc. In addition to this, many new games are added every month.

Apurv Modi, managing director and co-founder at ATechnos believes that cloud gaming is the future and is enabling a radical transformation in the media industry. He also added that they feel very proud that they are able to bring the next level of audience engagement on platforms that have seen massive growth amidst the pandemic.

“With the addition of instant gratifications, the integration can add tremendous value to any platform, whether they want to engage and retain the existing users or add new users. The integration also enables platforms to innovate and bring in revenue from advertisers. We are sure that GoGames.Run gaming platform will have a deep impact on audience consumption patterns,” Modi said.

In addition, ATechnos is also adding the following programs:

  • GoGames.Run Publisher Program can be integrated with the publisher portal in under 5 minutes time and can help publishers to increase user engagement on their portal with gamification.
  • GoGames.Run Developer Program allows any developer to develop their own games and launch on the GoGames.Run network and generate revenue.
  • GoGames.Run Gamification Program enables brands, OTTs, media companies, portals, and telecoms to quickly run various exciting campaigns around gaming which can result in increased user engagement and loyalty. Using ATechnos’ gamification programs, brands can generate huge shout in the market and increase their presence by manifold.

Rahul Jain, vice president for gaming at ATechnos, commented, “With GoGames.Run now available for all platforms including apps, websites, social media platforms and OTT, the window of opportunity for game developers also opens up. We understand the importance of direct-to-consumer access and being able to have a quick turnaround time for revenue generation. GoGames partnerships are truly a win-win-win situation for the platform, the developer, and us.”

India – Dentsu International’s digital-first end-to-end media agency iProspect in India has recently won the digital mandate for commercial banking company AU Small Finance Bank.

AU Small Finance Bank is an Indian scheduled commercial bank that offers banking services such as personal banking, online banking, internet banking, and business and corporate banking, as well as insurance, and loans, among others.

Through the partnership, iProspect will be responsible for handling the overall digital duties for AU Bank including performance and branding campaigns. The agency will also utilize its proprietary tools and solutions to help the brand achieve its digital marketing objectives through innovative digital campaigns.

Commenting on the new partnership, iProspect India’s CEO Rubeena Singh said that they are delighted that their in-depth domain experience of the BFSI sector won them the digital mandate. 

“We are excited to partner with AU Bank and work towards driving business growth and achieving their brand KPIs. We look forward to delivering our best services to the brand through the intersection of brand, tech, media, and communication,” added Singh.

Meanwhile, Uttam Tibrewal, the executive director of AU Small Finance Bank, shared that over the last few years there has undoubtedly been a fast-track shift towards digital adoption among customers. 

“As a tech-led Bank focused on offering customer-centric solutions, we are continuously working to optimize our customer engagement through digital media. The partnership with iProspect India is an important step in that direction which will strengthen our data-driven approach to digital marketing and media planning,” said Tibrewal.

In April this year, iProspect in the United States has also been selected as the global paid media partner of online employment platform LinkedIn. The partnership will see the agency managing the platform’s digital media strategy and buying across all of its business units.

New Delhi, India – As India grapples with the virus, now having a record-high rate of daily cases in the world, Google has come to give support to its news ecosystem, with the launch of Google News Showcase.  

First launched in 2020, Google News Showcase helps participating publishers share their expertise and editorial voice through an enhanced storytelling experience. In addition, the experience lets readers dive deeper into more complex stories. It helps them stay informed on the issues and events that local, national, and global newsrooms highlight through their Google News Showcase panels.

Google News Showcase incentivizes and supports news publishers to curate high quality content on Google’s News and Discover platforms, connecting readers with the news they need.

Google News Showcase will rollout across 30 news publishers including The Hindu Group, HT Digital Streams Ltd, Indian Express Group, ABP LIVE, India TV, NDTV, Zee News, Amar Ujala, Deccan Herald, Punjab Kesari, The Telegraph India, IANS (Indo Asian News Service) and ANI.

In addition, English and Hindi news from the aforementioned publishers will show on the dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover.

Google hopes in the near future to add more Indic languages to their News Showcase, as well as additional languages globally.

The launch is part of a global initiative by Google to support publishers that report on local or community news. To date, Google has signed in 700 news publications in more than a dozen countries, including Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the U.K. Australia, Czechia, Italy and Argentina.

In a joint statement, Brad Bender, VP for product management at Google News and Sanjay Gupta, vice president at Google India, stated that this initiative will help people find quality journalism, contribute to the sustainability of news organizations, and expand their programs under the Google News Initiative — enabling newsrooms to engage their readers in new and compelling ways through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

In addition to the News Showcase rollout, Google is also training 50,000 journalists and journalism students in the country for its News Lab initiative, where they will focus on digital tools to aid verification and combat misinformation online, as well as expanding their programs to connect Indian journalists and fact-checkers.

They will be also introducing several new programs to help small and mid-sized publications achieve financial sustainability – all part of the GNI Digital Growth Program, which has already trained executives at 100 Indian news organizations since launching last year. The new programs include: 

  • New business training workshops, delivered virtually, to help news organizations address the needs of their audiences, grow their readership and deepen reader engagement. These workshops will be available for free to Indian publishers, alongside Google’s existing workshops to support business success for news organizations. 
  • The GNI Advertising Lab, which includes training sessions and implementation support to help more than 800 small-sized Indian news organizations grow their digital ad revenue. 
  • The GNI Transformation Lab, a more comprehensive program for 20 local small and mid-sized Indian news organizations to help them succeed online.

Google has ramped up its news support in India back in 2018 when they first launched the GNI India Training Network, in partnership with BoomLive, DataLeads and Internews. The program has trained over 25,000 Indian journalists in-person or via virtual live workshops in 10 languages, touching 1,000+ news organizations and 700+ universities.

“The Indian news industry and its journalists have embraced technology to engage with readers and make data-driven decisions to improve their business and reporting efforts. We believe it’s important that digital platforms contribute to a sustainable, independent and diverse news ecosystem, working with journalists, news outlets and news associations. We’re proud to be strengthening our commitment at this critical time,” Google said in a press statement.

Mumbai, India – Social Beat, an independent digital agency in India, has announced the launch of ‘Decoding the Digital Jungle’, a book that dives deep into the world of digital marketing, and presents a comprehensive guide on how brands can leverage it to drive business results. 

‘Decoding the Digital Jungle’ is the brainchild of three established digital marketers – Vikas Chawla, David Appasamy, and Nandita Raman – who have carefully crafted and curated this practical guide filled with actionable information and case studies.

Raman is the agency’s AVP of SEO & content marketing, while Appasamy is the agency’s head of brand & strategy. Chawla, meanwhile, co-founded the Social Beat. The agency was established in 2012 and was positioned to be a digital growth partner for hyperscaling startups and top brands in India, such as teleconsult mFine, loan company Rupeek, mobile payments, and commerce Paytm, and merchant platform Pinelabs. 

Raman said the book is aimed at any brand marketer that wants answers to the hard-hitting questions of “Why should people buy my product?” “Why do I need to engage with consumers?” or “Why should consumers choose me over my competitors?”

The book has 21 chapters, with the meat of the book separated into two main parts: Owned Media and Paid Media. For Owned Media, the book discusses how to improve one’s findability through SEO and content, how to make user experience a key to success, as well as leveraging storytelling on videos and crafting a social media strategy. 

For Paid Media, on the other hand, the book touches on how to choose the right platforms and also presents a discussion on the relatively new type of marketing on the internet – influencer marketing. 

Social Beat said that the book is more than just a guide but also aims to underscore the importance of how interconnected our lives are with the digital world, and how businesses simply cannot succeed any longer without navigating through this digital data-driven jungle. 

“Consumer behavior has transformed fundamentally with widespread internet access and penetration even in remote areas. So, we decided to write this book to enable CXOs, marketers, brand managers, and students to understand its power and demystify this vast digital jungle,” said Appasamy.

At its core, ‘Decoding the Digital Jungle’ presents a guide on how to best approach each of the digital marketing funnel. In the book, ‘Upper Funnel’ would be dealing with brand building and being able to get the right message across your consumers on who you really are and what you have to offer. 

Meanwhile, ‘Middle Funnel’ would refer to the implementation proper of digital marketing strategies, and on how brands can earn audiences’ trust with the proper channels and direction. 

Last but not the least, with ‘Lower Funnel’, the book aims to enlighten brands on how they can go further the extra mile and obtain loyalty from existing consumers. Under it are discussions on intent-based marketing and the rise of online marketplaces and streaming platforms. 

Chawla said, “The book explores in-depth, the nuances of brand storytelling, exploring new digital and social platforms, leveraging a brand’s online assets to boost digital presence, and proven customer acquisition tactics to reach out to wider audiences. We wanted to help users successfully navigate through this never-ending digital Savannah.” 

The book is priced at Rs. 499 and can be bought on Amazon. 

Mumbai, India – Plumbing and piping manufacturer Astral in India has awarded the digital marketing mandate of its expanded portfolios, namely Astral Pipes, Astral Foundation, and Astral Adhesives, to advertising agency Chimp&z Inc.

Astral is a manufacturer and provider of Chlorinated PolyVinyl Chloride (CPVC) piping, plumbing, and drainage systems in India. It offers piping technologies, quality products, and services to residentials and industrial customers in the country.

As per the mandate, Chimp&z Inc will be responsible for the social media management, SEO, paid media, and website maintenance of Astral’s brands. The agency will also be emphasizing the unique touch-points and employing innovative digital tools of the three Astral entities.

Commenting on the new partnership, Kairav Engineer, the vice president of business development at Astral, said that they look forward to enhancing the brand’s digital presence through the partnership.

“Astral enjoys a great deal of trust and sizable equity in the Indian market. Always a step ahead with innovative products and smart solutions, Astral brands have been trailblazers in their respective industries. Our aim now is to amplify our digital communication with social media strategizing, video marketing, influencer marketing, and all the other upgraded digital tools,” said Engineer.

Meanwhile, Chimp&z Inc’s Vice President of Growth and Operations Ashish Duggal shared, “We are thrilled to be associating with a group of brands that strive to set benchmarks with all their initiatives – the Astral Ltd. Chimp&z Inc’s integrated approach on the digital front clubbed with the brand’s efforts to serve consumers to the best of their abilities can be the inception of a strong alliance that delivers some remarkable work overtime.”

The accounts will be managed by the agency’s Mumbai office.

In April this year, Chimp&z Inc has also nabbed cookware manufacturer Vinod Cookware‘s digital communications duties and was tasked to lead the brand’s social media strategy, creatives, and digital PR, as well as performance marketing.

Mumbai, India – Creative agency VMLY&R Commerce Encompass in India has recently produced a virtual fundraising campaign called ‘I Breathe For India Campaign: Covid Crisis Relief’.

Currently, India is grappling for the lives of its citizens as it recently tallied a record-breaking number of daily positive cases of COVID-19, where in just four months, it added 10 million cases. Currently, the healthcare supply in the country is running way below its need, with Indians dying in their own homes, ambulances, and parking lots, in dire need of a hospital bed or oxygen.

As a way to help the country battle the COVID-19 crisis, Indian actress Lara Dutta and sports scientist Shayamal Vallabhjee led this initiative together with US-based non-profit organization The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and online donation platform Give India.

The virtual fundraising event has already kicked off last 9 May 2020, bringing together various famous Indian personalities, namely actor Amitabh Bachchan, religious leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and film director Karan Johar, as well as professional cricketer Rishabh Pant, and actress Samantha Prabhu, among others. 

During the event, the stars have recited poetry, sung songs, and delivered heartfelt messages, as part of a specially curated showcase, which was streamed live across Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

The donation drive will be running until 20 May, and funds collected from the campaign will go towards essential life-saving medical supplies, humanitarian aid for families under the poverty line that has been affected by the crisis, and manpower support for setting up vaccination and isolation centers to strengthen the nation’s efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Commenting on the virtual fundraising event, Vallabhjee said that the campaign was more than a fundraiser as it represented the collective consciousness of many people whose only desire was to help India and its citizens in its hour of need, and in many ways, it helped redefine what is possible as the world moves towards the new normal. 

“Thanks to the unwavering dedication of the Encompass team and its partners, we more than doubled our initial goal of $1 million and now, as a result, have extended our deadline to allow us to shatter the proverbial glass ceiling. Both Lara and I, and the teams from TIE Global and Give India are eternally grateful to the entire unit that made this possible,” said Vallabhjee.

Meanwhile, Dutta commented, “The success of the #IBreatheForIndia fundraiser would not have been possible without the individual efforts behind the scenes. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to each and everyone for selflessly giving your time and talents. God Bless and keep you all and your families safe until we are able to overcome this crisis together.”

Mumbai, India – Wondrlab, the platform-first marketing technology start-up in India, has appointed Jateen Kore, former head of digital marketing at banking firm IDFC First Bank, to be its new digital head. 

Kore brings with him over 20 years of experience in managing digital businesses across several industries including banking, financial services, and insurance, as well as telecom. He has been an entrepreneur of a B2B start-up and has previously held business roles at telco Vodafone, online marketplace Apnaloan.com, and life insurance providers ICICI Prudential Life and Tata AIG Life. 

In his new role, Kore will be setting up the digital practice and bringing forth the company’s platform-first approach to help brands win on digital. He will be based in Mumbai, India, and will report directly to Rakesh Hinduja, the co-founder and managing partner for content platform at Wondrlab.

Commenting on his appointment, Kore said that the opportunity to work with a dynamic start-up like Wondrlab is a great chance to augment his experience and contribute to the success of brands across categories.

“I completely believe in its platform-first strategy and I can contribute significantly to furthering their approach thanks to my digital-first experience. I look forward to an exciting and fruitful inning here,” added Kore.

Meanwhile, Hinduja shared that Wondrlab’s vision is to strengthen the digital ecosystem for brands, and they focus on building expertise that creates real value for them to support today’s dynamic marketing demand. 

“Jateen’s experience straddles the entire digital funnel and his key focus area is to apply a platform-first approach for our brands to win across social, performance marketing, influencer marketing, e-commerce, and martech best practices. His diverse skill-set and deep understanding of top digital-first brands like Vodafone and IDFC First Bank will help us deliver tangible creative solutions to our client partners,” said Hinduja.

Mumbai, India – Tata Capital, the financial arm of the Tata Group, has released a new corporate film based on its new brand promise ‘Count on Us’, done in collaboration with integrated creative agency Infectious Advertising.

Tata Capital’s former brand tagline ‘We only do what’s right for you’ was changed for the first time since the company was established in 2007. The firm offers consumer loans, wealth management, and commercial finance, as well infrastructure finance, among others.

The film portrays a story about the dreams and hopes of the people of India and how Tata Capital is well suited to help them achieve their dreams. According to the firm, its financial solutions are designed to meet India’s diverse customer needs which are articulated in the film.

“Tata Capital as a brand and organization has transformed over the years while retaining the core value of trust. Our corporate digital film reverberates our brand’s promise ‘Count On Us’ and how we as an organization serve our customers fulfill their needs and aspirations with our diverse, innovative, and customized financial solutions,” said Hector Anklesaria, the associate vice president of marketing at Tata Capital.

Meanwhile, Ramanuj Shastry, the co-founder and director at Infectious Advertising, commented, “Tata Capital Corporate film – whose purpose was to bring to life their promise that India can ‘Count On Us’ – is a large canvas film with many logistical challenges. Upcoming director Tim Gollar has done a stellar job of telling a complex story simply.”