MxMIndia

Tag: Marico

  • 3 leading TV channels, Star, Colors & Zee TV unite to support Saffolalife in a brand new TVC to celebrate “your heart’s birthday”. With this The Times of India will gifts readers in three cities a free copy as a birthday present for their heart, along with a surprise on the front page.

    Channels show heart for Saffolalife

    By Shubhangi Mehta

    This World Heart Day, Saffolalife, an initiative from Saffola, is bringing together the largest media houses to further the cause of preventive heart care in India.  For the first time in the history of Indian television, Saffola has united the favourite stars of competitors STAR Plus, Colors & Zee TV in a brand new TVC that urges everyone to find your heart’s age through the Saffolalife “Heart Age Finder” Tool and celebrate their heart’s birthday.

    In addition, with another pioneering initiative, Saffolalife and Times of India are gifting readers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore a free copy of The Times of India as a gift for their heart. This special gift has a delightful and novel way of actually experiencing a birthday celebration and watching print come wonderfully alive on one’s mobile phone.

    With the launch of the new TVC, Saffolalife is taking your heart’s birthday celebrations to the silver screen. Bringing together our favorite Pratigya & Krishna, Priyanka & Shaili Bhabhi, Anandi & Simar and many more, the TVC raises awareness about the fact that even though we celebrate the birthday of our favorite stars, we often forget the one who is the most important: one’s own heart. These stars from the rival channels Star Plus, Colors and Zee TV have united with Saffolalife on a common platform for a common concern: to highlight the importance of preventive heart care in a light and heart-warming manner.

    Commenting on the TVCs, Mr Abhinav Tripathi, Senior Creative Director, McCann Erickson Mumbai, said, “Everybody loves a surprise. So when it comes to your heart’s birthday, what better way to wish it? Which is why on World Heart Day we decided to gift it a Times Of India. Absolutely free, loaded with wonderful presents, compliments of TOI and Saffolalife.  From the first page on, every page will hold a special surprise, including an ad that literally comes to life in front of your eyes. And the rest of the gifts, well, why don’t we let your heart decide”

    Sushma Jhaveri, COO, Madison Media Infinity, said, “The key to any Impactful innovation is extending the creative idea seamlessly in media.  Saffolalife’s World Heart Day partnership with leading TV channels and The Times of India, succeed in doing this effortlessly by breaking through clutter to increase noticeability and enhancing Impact for the cause.”

    As India’s young population faces the highest risk of cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs), Saffolalife continues to work on its mission to bring down the incidence of CVDs across India. This World Heart Day, these two path-breaking initiatives by Saffolalife have united the media fraternity on the serious cause of heart health. With the aim to raise tremendous awareness on the importance of preventive heart care, Saffolalife is conveying a serious message in a manner that people will embrace and engage with.

  • Marico founder Harsh Mariwala’s son Rishabh Mariwala opts out of family business to start Soap Opera N More

    Marico son Rishabh takes the soapy way

    By Kala Vijayraghavan

     

    His start-up is dubbed Soap Opera N More – an apt name not just for the nature of the business but perhaps also for the succession drama that’s playing out at the Mariwala family-owned consumer company Marico. Mr Rishabh Mariwala, the 29-year-old son of Marico founder Mr Harsh Mariwala, has moved out of the family’s flagship operations to unleash his entrepreneurial skills.

     

    Rishabh, who spent three years developing business at Marico’s beauty salon services arm, Kaya Skin Clinic, will now sell premium handmade soaps. Two years ago, Rajvi, 30, Mr Mariwala’s elder daughter had also opted out of Marico, where she was a part of the brand-building team, to focus on sociological research.

     

    So what’s playing on the founder’s mind? Does he want to give the Gen Y members a shot at garnering experience in the world before cementing their positions in Marico; or is he clear that professionals will run the organisation, with family having no role to play in operations? As things stand, Mr Mariwala is the only family member with an executive presence on Marico’s board although the family owns around 63% of the company.

     

    There are no clear answers to those questions. But even if Mr Mariwala is entertaining the thought of passing on the baton to his son, he isn’t going to present it on a platter. “This is not a ‘lala’ company,” he declares. “Family members are not automatically entitled to succession. They have to prove their mettle by building a business.” Company watchers add that Mariwala is keen that Rishabh step out of his comfort zone and go through the tribulations of starting and then running a business.

     

    Rishabh’s path is a unique one. Here is a case of a potential successor who got into the business, then got out of it, with the distinct possibility of getting back again. The alumnus of Frank G Zarb School of Business, Hofstra University, New York, will start up Soap Opera N More with family funds, report to his father and sell the handmade soaps that are the brainchild of his mother, Ms Archana Mariwala.

     

    “There are no compulsions of any kind on us as far as our career paths are concerned. And this (start-up) is a great learning experience for me,” says the lad who comes from a family that has a lineage of trading (“Mariwala” translates into pepper trader). Harsh broke out by founding his own consumer-oriented venture.

     

    His son may well be keen to emulate him. “I am an entrepreneur and want Rishabh to have a similar experience in setting up an organisation from scratch. There are no pressures on family members to be part of Marico; eventually it will be their decision.

     

    Marico has always been a professionally-run organisation” says the chairman. A nomination and governance committee in Marico has put in place a drop-dead succession plan as part of a risk-mitigation strategy. As a board member puts it on condition of anonymity: “Blood has nothing to do with the way Marico is run; there is a strong culture of professionalism and it operates independent of who is the largest shareholder.”

     

    Perhaps the Marico founder wants to be sure of the fire in his son’s belly before he hands him a larger responsibility. Elsewhere in India Inc, second-generation scions have chosen routes to the family business. Rishad, son of Wipro chairman Mr Azim Premji, worked with GE Capital and consulting firm Bain & Co before joining the IT services major in 2006. Shravin, the 23-year-old son of Bharti’s Mr Sunil Mittal, worked as analyst with Wall Street banks in London and New York before joining up at one of Bharti’s subsidiaries.

     

    Says Ms Padmaja Alaganandan executive director, PricewaterhouseCoopers: “A very high proportion of geNext in family businesses have professional qualifications and experience of working with good organisations outside their own; this gives them a broader canvas of experience and a good anchor to position and drive change within their organisations.”

     

    In contrast, Mr Adi Godrej’s children Nisaba and Tanya, like Mr Rajiv Bajaj of Bajaj Auto, joined the business at the junior rungs and worked their way up while Mr Sasha Mirchandani, son of Mr Gulu Mirchandani of Onida, is treading a totally different path: he has opted to work with start-ups by founding Mumbai Angels, India’s first angel investment group.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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