Category: Quantum Brief

Ex-Nazara CEO Manish Agarwal’s Web3 gaming firm raises $20M funding; acquires IndiGG

IndiGG raised $6 million in seed funding from investors such as Sequoia India, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Animoca Brands in January 2022. Agarwal, who was at Nazara Technologies at the time, had also participated in the funding round as an angel investor. (Image source: Moneycontrol)

The fundraise was led by Accel, with participation from investors such as Prosus Ventures, Courtside Ventures, and Nexus Venture Partners. It values the company at Rs 1,200 crore on a fully diluted basis.

Explained: What is ‘de-influencing’ and how does it work?

Reports and opinions from the larger community of marketers suggest that brands do value authentic trends like de-influencing which could unearth meaningful consumer insights. (Representative image by Jingxi Lau via Unsplash)

US TikTok’s latest brand-related trend is called de-influencing. But what is it? And why do experts think de-influencing is, in some ways, influencing.

HUL’s sale of Annapurna and Captain Cook indicates the challenges of commodity branding in India

What are these commodity categories? In simple terms, these are categories where the consumer is not willing to pay a hefty price premium. To operate in these markets, you need to manage your margins very well and take quick calls when commodity prices move up or down. (Representative image by Brett Jordan via Unsplash)

If commodity brands are to be housed in a large corporate entity with other bigger businesses, there is a need to ensure that the division managing commodity branding is run differently.

Lost in subscription, gained in ads: How Viacom18 keeps revenue streams flowing

Breaking down the numbers, the Aditya Birla Group's bid of Rs 500 crore annually contrasts with Tata Sons' payment of Rs 670 crore for the IPL seasons in 2022 and 2023. (Representative image by Aadil via Unsplash)

Viacom18’s free streaming service for Tata IPL aims to capture a potential audience of 550 million and win over advertisers with the promise of greater value for their investment.

The Kartik Aaryan brand needs serious disruption for it to remain relevant

The Kartik Aaryan brand needs serious disruption for it to remain relevant. Thinking at the level of creative storytelling and making him a part of a cinematic universe rather than creating universes for him is, perhaps, a clever starting point. (Image source - still from Doritos commercial featuring Kartik Aaryan)

A good place to start might be to look at films that make Kartik Aaryan a part of their cinematic universe rather than building the universe of the film around a star.

Wavemaker India introduces a new unit to provide solutions for D2C brands

Wavemaker’s modular approach will also allow brands to only pick specific solutions that they wish to optimise for. Additionally, Wavemaker will also launch a separate program that will work with D2C start-ups to help scale demand and operations. (Representative Image: Jonathan Kemper via Unsplash)

As a part of the mandate, Wavemaker will consult and implement its end-to-end solution toolkit for brands to simplify strategy and deployment for the many moving parts of a D2C channel.

WPP and BigCommerce ink partnership to offer brands omnichannel solutions

The Man Company's Jatin Luthra, brand marketing head stated, "By teaming up with Megalodon, we are confident that we can take our creative strategies to the next level and continue to provide our customers with exceptional experiences." (Image via Unsplash)

As BigCommerce’s inaugural data partner, WPP will receive priority access to alpha and beta products as well as platform integrations including Amazon, Meta, Google and TikTok.

IEC has improved advertising standards for companies: Divya Gokulnath, co-founder, Byju’s

“We wanted to learn from our mistakes and I am happy to share that right from advertising standards to the way in which we communicate our offerings to students to the way in which we service them, on all these parameters, we have improved as a collective body.” - Divya Gokulnath, co-founder, Byju's (Representative Image via LinkedIn)

Divya Gokulnath’s comments on the IEC improving advertising standards come at a time when her company, Byju’s, has come under fire for alleged mis-selling of courses from parents and students.

Tata Motors signs an MOU with Uber for EVs, strengthens market position in the fleet segment

Tata Motors is leading the e-mobility wave in India with over 50,000 Tata EVs rolled out from the plant to date in the personal and fleet segment. Furthermore, Uber has committed to 100 percent of rides taking place in zero-emission vehicles, on public transit, or with micro-mobility by 2040.

Tata Motors will deliver 25,000 EVs to induct into Uber India’s Premium Category service, further strengthening its place in the fleet segment.