Krafton India is strengthening its focus on South India with campaigns in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu languages, delivering tailor-made experiences that speak directly to the heart of every gamer.
Notes a communique: “The new campaigns pay homage to the cinematic moments and pop culture icons that define this beautiful region, bringing smiles and nods of recognition to our gamers,” adding: “Prominent regional content creators are also contributing by producing BGMI-related reels in their unique styles, beautifully integrating the brand into their content. This multi-channel approach not only amplifies BGMI’s presence but also fosters a vibrant, engaged community both online and offline.”
EssenceMediacom, the GroupM media agency, has elevated Averill Sequeria to Chief Strategy Officer in India.
Said Navin Khemka, CEO – EssenceMediacom South Asia: “Averill’s appointment as Chief Strategy Officer at EssenceMediacom India embarks on a new phase of creative strategies and growth, highlighting our commitment to excellence in media strategy. She is a proven leader and change agent with an impressive track record of strategic innovation. With her vast experience, we are confident she will drive significant progress and accelerate our ongoing success.”
Sequeira will be based out of the Bengauru office and report into Navin Khemka.
MediaMint, a global AI-powered revenue and media operations services provider backed by Everstone Capital and Recognize, announced the appointment of Rajeev Butani as Chief Executive Officer. Butani replaces current CEO and co-founder Aditya Vuchi, who will continue to support MediaMint as a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
“As we continue to accelerate innovation and revenue realization for businesses worldwide, we are excited to have Rajeev serve as CEO to guide us through the next phase of MediaMint’s expansion,” said Vuchi, who served as MediaMint’s CEO for the past 14 years. “Rajeev has served as Executive Chairman of the company and understands our business and culture and we look forward to his collaboration with MediaMint leadership, employees, and customers to build on our past successes.”
“Rajeev is the right person to help drive adoption of MediaMint’s next generation services and going forward to help us identify acquisitions that will complement MediaMint’s vision of an AI-powered platform of services,” said Avnish Mehra, Vice Chairman, Private Equity at Everstone Capital, and David Wasserman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Recognize. “We are delighted to have Aditya’s full support in this transition and look forward to Rajeev’s stewardship as we expand MediaMint’s global business.”
Kantar released the 12th edition of its annual Brand Footprint India report. The report ranks the Most Chosen (in-home and out-of-home) FMCG Brands based on Consumer Reach Points (CRPs). CRP considers the actual purchase made by consumers and the frequency at which these purchases are made in a calendar year.
Key findings: In-Home segment:
With a CRP score of 7980 million, Parle holds the top spot for a record 12th year in a row, followed by Britannia, Amul, Clinic Plus and Tata Consumer Products.
Consumer Reach Points (CRP’s) continue to grow, however is slightly lower than last year. Overall, CRP’s have increased almost 33% in the last five years.
All sectors have seen a CRP growth slow down, except dairy:
Brands chosen more often have greater probability of growing in CRP:
Haldiram’s and Balaji are the only two brands in the 2024 top 25 in-home brand list to grow by more than 30% in CRPs in 2023.
Sunfeast leads the way in biggest penetration gains in 2023 at 6.4. The following brands make it to the top 10 list:
Seven brands in the top 25 in-home rankings show more than 20% penetration increase in the last decade. Britannia leads the way, followed by Surf Excel, Sunfeast, Haldiram’s, Patanjali, Brooke Bond and Vim.
Key findings: Out of Home segment:
Britannia leads the way in the 2nd edition of OOH brand rankings with 628Mn CRP’s. It is followed by Haldiram’s, Cadbury, Balaji and Parle. The top 5 rankings are all snacking brands and remain the same as 2023.
The five Most Chosen OOH beverage brands in India are Thums Up, Frooti, Amul, Maaza, & Bisleri.
Speaking about this year’s report and rankings, K. Ramakrishnan, Managing Director- South Asia, Worldpanel Division at Kantar said: “Consumer choice is very reliable strength test for a brand across market conditions and Brand Footprint has been a widely acclaimed ranking system to measure this for over a decade now. As we see over the years, consumers are making increasing trips for purchase and that adds their options and in-turn, their choice. This is reflected in the constant increase in CRP’s. We also introduced an out of home rankings last year as OOH consumption is on the rise and has different choice triggers.”
Sony Sports Network will air live the India tour of Sri Lanka. The series, starting Saturday, July 27, will be broadcast live on the Sony Sports Network from 7pm onwards. This will be on Sony Sports Ten 1, Sony Sports Ten 5 (English), Sony Sports Ten 3 (Hindi) & Sony Sports Ten 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels.
Said Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer – Distribution & International Business and Head – Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India: “The broadcast of India Tour of Sri Lanka solidifies Sony Sports Network’s position as a global multi-sports arena for audiences in India. These are exciting times for Indian cricket with the team’s recent T20 World Cup victory, the rise of new young players and the appointment of new head coach. India Tour of Sri Lanka comes at the perfect time for Indian fans who will be eager to watch the new-look team in action at prime time.”
Added Ashley De Silva, CEO, Sri Lanka Cricket: “We are delighted to welcome India for a limited-over series for the first time since 2021. It will be exciting to see how the team performs under the new head coach. The two teams have a fair share of history between themselves, and it will be exciting to see some top-quality matches during the series, which will be broadcast on Sony Sports Network.”
In 2014, our marketing professor in my first year MBA showed us a Dary Milk case study. And I was blown away. Brilliant idea.
Probably every marketing person has heard of this transformation idea brought along by Ogilvy in those times that changed the fortunes of the brand in India.
What’s that? Dairy Milk’s Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye.
Cadbury Dairy Milk had gone through a similar change a few years ago when a lady ran across a cricket match savouring the chocolate in her hand. That shifted the brand’s target out from children to all adults who have a childlike side to them (which is everyone, I believe).
So now the brand was falling short of its business- Children- done, adults- done. But the frequency of having chocolates was apparently low.
Cometh ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye’ from Pappu Pass Ho Gaya with Amitabh Bachchan to an assorted box for Rakshabandhan to Diwali.
The idea: position Diary Milk as a replacement for your Mithai.
And once TVs were flooded with ads, streets stamped with hard-to-miss hoardings, the idea caught on. I remember buying a Dairy Milk gift box for Raksha Bandhan. It became a lazy gift choice. Don’t break your head trying to find something useful, just thump a box as gift. Much like an earlier version of Sonpapdi.
And the marketing bards composed songs elevating the heroism of the idea.
Cut to June 2024.
A CNBC-TV 18 anchor, Shibani Gharat. posted this video on Twitter
I was running peacefully in rain this morning till I saw this hoarding!! Why??? Why? It is my petition to save 🙏🏽 #puranpoli pic.twitter.com/7bHE7WAjNs— Shibani Gharat (@ShibaniGharat) July 7, 2024
First, puranpoli is not the breakfast of Maharashtra. Second, it is not to be had with Nutella as supporting dish.
They wish to position it as a cheese spread or tomato ketchup. Put it on everything. It’s the same trick. To position Nutella as a regular sweet spread or as an ally. And how can you do it?
Cadbury Dairy Milk showed the way. In this case, the suggestion is to have a traditional Marathi special sweet dish that’s eaten with ghee or milk or both with chocolatey Nutella.
I am not being a disappointed food culture activist.
But before another professor shows this up as a case study and bards compose new songs on how Nutella penetrated India as a LinkedIn post, here’s something about Nutella all of us should know.
Nutella has 56gm of sugar in per 100gm of its serving.
Net weight of a Nutella is 825 gm. Do the math. Sugar is 462gm.
Which is 110 teaspoons of sugar
20-30% of Palm Oil to add fat
And it is positioned as a breakfast item. A sugar-heavy dish for breakfast item!
A chocolate spread that’s only positioned as a spread because some great category manager in India said: “Let’s continue to the spread global idea of pushing Nutella for breakfast with non-breakfast items.”
In October 2023, the read-label educator and influencer Food Pharmer educated what Nutella always stood for. By reading the label.
The read-label idea is now being spread by not only influencers but brands like The Whole Truth and Yogabar. Influencers care more about being true and honest to their followers. They are perfectly fine to reject the paid collab and promote anything they see as misguiding. Or marketing tactic.
Brands are being built and legacy brands are running in the wrong direction. In times like these, there will be roar and not cheers for being dishonest with positioning and marketing. You cannot distract the customer with distraction positioning. Social media is not controlled unlike TV where just because you advertised, nothing negative can be published. Per Statista, India has 350+ Million (close to United States population) monthly active users. Any such attempt by cool sounding concepts or agencies will be called out and will gain traction.
And we as marketers need to wake up. Do we stop selling then? No, but find another way to position or sell. There are many food guilty-pleasures. Or get your agency to be creative.
Aniruddh Naik usually attempts to follow First Principles in digital and brand marketing with experience in creating visibility and consideration for brands. Currently works with a global engine oil and lubricants company. His views here are personal.
HDFC Life’s latest campaign seeks to expand its brand presence and reach deeper into the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
Notes a communique: “As consumers continue to evolve, localised marketing strategies are crucial for driving stronger connections and affinity among audiences. The campaign has been tailored to capture cultural nuances and regional references that resonate locally. Aligning with the organisational strategy to extend its presence, the campaign aims to engage audiences in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets through regional language communication, fostering affinity in these markets.”
Amazon Prime Video and the NBA hav announced an 11-year media rights agreement, beginning with the 2025-26 NBA season. As part of the deal, Prime Video will present exclusive global coverage of 66 regular-season NBA games, including an opening week doubleheader, a new Black Friday NBA game, and all games from the Knockout Rounds of the Emirates NBA Cup, including the in-season tournament’s Semifinals and Finals. This partnership footprint includes India.
Prime Video also acquires rights to exclusive coverage of every game of the postseason SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament, first and second-round playoff games, and Conference Finals in six of the 11 years of the deal. Prime Video will distribute its package of games in the U.S. and internationally, with an expanded package of games in select territories, including Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland. This expanded package includes a minimum of 20 additional primetime regular season games each year, a Conference Finals series each year, and the NBA Finals in six of the 11 years.
“The digital opportunities with Amazon align perfectly with the global interest in the NBA,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “And Prime Video’s massive subscriber base will dramatically expand our ability to reach our fans in new and innovative ways,” adding: “We are proud to be the first exclusive streaming partner for the NBA, bringing Prime members across the globe one of the most exciting and most popular sports in the world. With 66 regular season games, the NBA Cup, the Play-In Tournament, more than 20 playoff games every year, and NBA League Pass, we’re giving basketball fans around the world more ways than ever to watch the action,” said Jay Marine, Global Head of Sports, Prime Video. “Over the past few years, we have worked hard to bring the very best of sports to Prime Video and to continue to innovate on the viewing experience. We’re thrilled to now add the NBA to our growing sports lineup, including the NFL, UEFA Champions League, NASCAR, NHL, WNBA, NWSL, Wimbledon, and more. We are grateful to partner with the NBA, and can’t wait to tip-off in 2025.”
Connekting Dots, a marketing and brand communication agency, has announced the addition of the foowing clients to its portfolio: Waikiki, Vario, Pompa, and Warehouse47.
Said Neha Khilnani, Founder and CEO of Connekting Dots: “We are thrilled to welcome Waikiki, Vario, Pompa, and Warehouse47 to our portfolio. This expansion underscores our commitment to driving brand excellence through innovative, integrated approaches. At Connekting Dots, we believe in crafting tailored strategies that authentically represent each brand, ensuring they achieve their goals and leave a lasting impact in their respective industries.”
Mahindra Logistics Limited, an integrated logistics solutions provider, launched its latest video commemorating the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas. The video encapsulates the ‘Kargil Vijay Run’ by Sufiya Sufi, paying homage to the valour and sacrifice of our armed forces. Featuring ultra-runner Sufiya Sufi’s journey across the challenging terrains of Leh up till the Kargil War Memorial reflects relentless spirit and determination.
Commenting on the ‘Kargil Vijay Run’ initiative, Mansi Nagri, Associate Vice President – Marketing, Communications & Sales Excellence, Mahindra Logistics Ltd., said: “Kargil Vijay Diwas signifies the valour and sacrifice of our armed forces. Our partnership with Sufiya Sufi for ‘Kargil Vijay Run’ captures her journey of endurance and perseverance. This association strengthens our commitment to support army veterans through career opportunities that ensure their successful transition into corporate life. This partnership is an effort towards inspiring every Indian with the spirit of determination mirroring the courage of our soldiers.”
Radio City has concluded its ‘Radio City Business Titans – Chapter 3’ event, commemorating 63 achievers, commitment to championing entrepreneurship and innovation across the country. The event, held from July 19 to 21 at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, was supported by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and was graced by the presence of Uday Samant, Minister of Industries. It brought together industry leaders, visionaries, and budding entrepreneurs under one roof to celebrate success stories and share insights into the future of business in India.
“We are thrilled with the overwhelming response to the Business Titans event,” said Ashit Kukian, CEO, Radio City, “It is heartening to witness the passion and dedication of our participants, who embody the spirit of innovation that propels India’s business landscape forward. The energy and enthusiasm displayed by the firms reaffirm our belief in the power of collaboration and idea-sharing. Radio City remains constantly passionate towards nurturing talent, building a culture of entrepreneurship, and providing a platform for future business leaders to thrive. We look forward to continuing our journey of inspiring and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
HSBC has unveiled a new campaign featuring superstar Priyanka Chopra Jonas to reinforce a sense of belonging among Indian expats.
Commenting on HSBC’s new campaign, Sandeep Batra, Head of Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC India, said: “Our campaign celebrates the unique journey of Indians moving to another country. Just as familiar flavours can create a sense of home anywhere in the world, HSBC’s unrivalled international proposition – including digital onboarding, overseas education, access to global wealth solutions and our “Beyond Banking” partners and network – are designed to ease the transition for those embarking on global opportunities. We understand that moving abroad is more than just a change of address—it’s a life-changing transition. This is why we’re committed to being more than just a bank; we’re a trusted partner in our customers’ global journeys.”
