Month: December 2022

Hindustan Unilever enters Health & Wellbeing category with investment in OZiva and Wellbeing Nutrition

HUL will acquire 51% equity stake through a combination of primary infusion and secondary buyouts. The balance 49% will be acquired at the end of 36 months based on pre-agreed valuation criteria. The current OZiva team led by Ms. Aarti Gill and Mr. Mihir Gadani will continue to operate all functions of the business. HUL will have representation on the Board and will provide necessary capabilities and support to scale up. (Representational image via Unsplash)

Health and wellbeing is a fast growing category in the country. Plant-based products are gaining more and more popularity as people are becoming more aware and health conscious. HUL has just forayed into this category with strategic investments in Zywie Ventures Private Limited (OZiva) and Nutritionalab Private Limited (Wellbeing Nutrition).

Myntra ropes in Sunder Balasubramanian from Coupang as CMO

Sunder Balasubramanian, chief marketing officer, Myntra, says, "Social commerce started from what GenZ look for in terms of the kind of influencers that they trust and find authenticity in. What we've seen is the adoption of social commerce strongly over the last few months and quarters itself, over 20 percent of our users interact with our social commerce property. We have done more than 10,000 live shopping sessions. And over time as we build the property, we've seen a 3X increase in traffic for each of the live sessions."

In July this year, Achint Setia, who had served as head of marketing at Myntra, joined Zalora Group (Singapore) as chief revenue and marketing officer.

ONDC and impact on Marketers: E-commerce sector in India is about to be revolutionised

On the back of this extensive Network, the brand aims to cater to several pin codes across 20+ states in India in the coming months. (Representational image via Unsplash)

ONDC is an autonomous open network ecosystem that will act as a catalyst that connects buyers and sellers across categories, giving the access to e-commerce facilities.

Machine-made biryani is here! How startup food brands are adding robotics to menus

In the next few years, these kinds of machines would possibly be seen in households as well. For instance, Up, stylised as Up⤴, a consumer hardware startup founded by Mahek Mody and Mohit Sharma, has piloted a machine that can help prepare food with minimal fuss and in double-quick time. The device, called delishUp and comes with an app, and it can chop, stir and generally prepare food faster.(Representative image via Unsplash)

Restaurants, cloud kitchens and corporate offices are increasingly relying on machines to prepare food so that it’s faster, cheaper and removes human dependency, among other benefits. A few Indian startups like Mukunda Foods, Xook and On2Cook are trying to build the so-called food-as-a-service (FaaS) business by adding robotics to the kitchen menu. These machines guarantee to prepare food faster with consistency without or minimal human labour.

Tata Group’s Air India Transformation Plan: Brand makeover and advertising activities speed up

Air India's transformation plan is titled “Vihaan.AI”, which in Sanskrit signifies the dawn of a new era, with identified objectives for Air India over the next 5 years. (Representational image via Unsplash)

Air India is working with various ad agencies as Tata Group starts the process of consolidating its entire airline business under Air India.

Digital Marketing Mavericks: Zoo Media’s big bet on hyper-specialisation

In 2020, Pratik Gupta and Suveer Bajaj (pictured) launched Zoo Media with a hyper-focused strategy. In just two years, the network has come a long way. Along with FoxyMoron, Zoo Media became the umbrella entity for 10 other owned, acquired, or partnered agency brands.

Zoo Media, one of India’s hot young, independent advertising networks, is building a horizontally and vertically integrated company. In an interview with Storyboard18, one of the founders of the network, Pratik Gupta, spoke on this and more.

Google Year In Search 2022: IPL, Brahmastra and KGF 2, Droupadi Murmu, Rishi Sunak, NFT, Metaverse among top searches in India

India dominated sports trends worldwide, securing all top 5 slots in the global trending matches list. Football saw similar excitement, with searches for the ongoing FIFA World Cup peaking this year and making it to the trending searches of the year, along with the Indian Super League.

Women’s sports moments also found a place in the top search trends.

The great Indian wedding season: Uber taps into the reality behind wedding reels

Uber has partnered with two couples whose wedding plans are always the talk of the town - Jasmin Bhasin & Aly Goni and Krishna Mukherjee & Chirag Batliwalla. Starring in their respective films, these reality-packed reels show the couples adding booking an Uber Rentals to their to-do list, so that “shaadi ke chakkar mein city ke jitney chakkar lagein” they don’t have to worry about driving or parking. It is pertinent to note here that both films have been received with a lot of delight and positivity from fans of the two couples, who love the real chemistry between the couples on reel.

Uber’s latest campaign is a topical take that uses the Indian wedding season to make a pitch, encouraging soon-to-wed couples to take a Rental Health Day together

Rana Daggubati slams Indigo: How impactful are celebrities’ negative reviews of brands?

Actor Rana Daggubati recently took to Twitter to post about his sour experience with Indigo airlines. The actor reportedly had a tough time at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad after the airline misplaced his luggage. He said it was ‘India’s worst airline experience'. (Image source: via Twitter - @Thyview)

Decoding the impact of criticism from a much-loved celebrity versus a common man’s review, on a brand’s reputation.