MxMIndia

Tag: Wondrlab

  • Saurabh Varma’s Wondrlab conceptualised and executed the campaign for the  ‘Sabse Saste 6 Din’ campaign

    Wondrlab rolls Big Bazaar’s R-Day campaign

    By  Our Staff

    Retail giant Big Bazaar unveiled its ‘Sabse Saste 6 Din’ campaign with an ad series titled ‘Bachat paane ki vaccine’, conceptualised and executed by Wondrlab.

     

    Speaking about the campaign, Pawan Sarda, Group CMO, Digital, Marketing & e-commerce – Future Group said: “#O2O Online to offline is a big initiative we have taken at #BigBazaar. It cannot get bigger than this during our most iconic Sale, Sabse Saste 6 Din #SS6D. Book your shopping online (shop.bigbazaar.com) and redeem it in-store with bigger discounts. The last year has been tougher than ever for most people especially households with people facing salary cuts, with some losing jobs and businesses facing a hit by the lockdown. Something nobody was prepared for. Big Bazaar has gone an extra mile and is offering more savings if you pre-pay for the shopping.”

     

    Added Amit Akali, Co-Founder and CCO, Wondrlab: “We are excited at having the opportunity to work on India’s biggest retail sale. Big Bazaar is one of India’s most iconic brands and ‘Sabse Saste Din’ is also a brand by itself. Consumers look forward to the sale each year, and more so in 2021, after the year they’ve had. It was important to cut through the clutter and do justice to a big annual property. More importantly, we wanted to be honest and call out the year that the consumer’s gone through, giving the sale as a solution. For instance, one lady speaks about how being locked in at home doesn’t stop kids from growing up, while you see her shopping for kids’ clothes. These are all real conversations that consumers are having and would relate to. The challenge of course was to have the conversation and land the sale in just 15 seconds. We’re pleased with the freshness and simplicity of the campaign, that brings marries the positive sentiment of the sale with that of the vaccine, seamlessly.”

     

     

  • Shetty will be Lead Integration Director – West, Experience Platform

    Sandesh Shetty joins Wondrlab

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sandesh Shetty

    Wondrlab has appointed Sandesh Shetty as Lead Integration Director – West, Experience Platform. He will report to Vandana Verma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Experience Platform at Wondrlab. In his new mandate, Shetty will infuse new-age thinking with conventional mediums of experiential marketing, helping clients in India’s western regions win in these spaces.

     

     

    Vandana Verma

    Said Verma: “Our recent acquisition of What’s Your Problem and our new operations in NCR are testimony to our growth and momentum. Bringing in experienced talent like Sandesh to support this unprecedented pace is the natural next step. His ability to understand offline experiential touchpoints and leveraging technology helps nudge products off the shelf for clients. Sandesh has the unique ability to merge the best of traditional cross-category thinking with contemporary platform-first experiential solutions. With his appointment, clients can leverage his stellar experience and expect a deep commitment toward solving their business problems.”

     

    Shetty’s last stint was as Senior Vice President – Experiential at Arc Worldwide, and before that atsenior roles in agencies such as DDB Mudra, Ogilvy, and Kidstuff Promos.

     

     

  • Saurabh Varma’s Wondrlab buys Amit Akali’s What’s Your Problem

    Meet the New Acquirer

     

    By A  Correspondent

     

    When we interviewed industry leader Saurabh Varma post his unveiling of his new advertising and marketing services company Wondrlab, he told us that he is going to be up to something big soon and that we can expect some big announcements.

     

    We didn’t know what to expect, though in the next few weeks there did come missives of people and account acquisition. Elsewhere in the world, there was a controversy around the Tanishq Ekatvam advertisement and that was pulled down without much of a fuss by the Tata company. The ad in question was created by What’s Your Problem (WYP), which was set up by Amit Akali with brother Praful. WYP has a 60-member team, an office in premium Bandra Kurla Complex area and is one of the buzziest agencies in Indian adland.

     

    So, well, What’s Your Problem is now a fully owned part of the WondrLab network.

     

    WYP may have been around for over five years, but has bagged accolades at Cannes Lions and Clio amongst others. Amit Akali, Founder – MD & CCO at WYP will now be a Co-founder at Wondrlab. Akali comes with nearly 25 years of experience. Before founding WYP, he was National Creative Director at Grey India and part of the Grey Global Creative Council.  Meanwhile, Wondrlab reports bagging 25 clients and will have over 100 employees by December 2020, according to a communique.

     

    Said Saurabh Varma, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Wondrlab: “I had the opportunity to watch WYP during a pitch and was incredibly impressed by their thinking, passion and ability to solve clients’ problems in a meaningful way. I decided to connect with Amit and over a few conversations realised that we had the same purpose and belief in the kind of work we wanted to do. We both believed in the power of creativity and the future which data and technology can serve us. We both felt that our future is in building our own platforms. It is truly amazing seeing WYPs journey and the incredible job Tejas Mehta, Ruchita Zambre and the entire team has done and the reputation they’ve built for it. I am proud that Amit joins us as a co-founder. I could not have asked for a better partner to help us shape and drive our creative firepower. WYP is our first acquisition and we will continue to curate, partner, launch and acquire as we move forward.”

     

    Said Akali:  “What we’ve achieved at WYP has been phenomenal. Today, we are a 60-member team at our new BKC office in Mumbai. The momentum in the last year has been even greater, with us being probably the only agency that’s grown manifold in the lockdown. We’ve been lucky to create some of the most talked-about work in the last few months, be it the iconic Johnnie Walker Travelling Billboard, Tanishq ‘Ekatvam’ or the IPL campaign for Dailyhunt. A big thanks to Praful who helped me start WYP with the other co-founders. To Tejas, who has played a key role in our growth and continues to do so. Along with every past and present employee who’s always looked at WYP as their own family and given it their all. We are thrilled to be a part of Wondrlab. I am excited about the new, even larger, playing field we’re getting. The integration is almost seamless as the vision is identical. In a digital-first era, platformisation and technology are the drivers of customised solutions for brands,” adding: “When I first spoke to Saurabh and the other co-founders Vandana and Rakesh, it was uncanny how we share the same goals, ambitions and ideals. Together we aim to be a technology and creative powerhouse.”

     

    Meanwhile, according to the grapevine, there are a few more acquisitions that Varma & Co and have planned though no more in the creative space. These are likely to be announced in the early first quarter of 2021. It’s surely ‘achche din’ for Varma & Co.

     

     

  • Both will report to Vandana Verma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Experience Platform at Wondrlab

    Wondrlab opens in NCR, brings in Ankit Grover & Biswajit Das from Arc Worldwide

    By A Correspondent

     

    Wondrlab, the Saurabh Varma-founded agency, has officially kicked off operations in North India with an office in NCR, which will also cater to the East. Teams comprising platform, strategy and creative experts are in place in both North and East, notes a communique.

     

    Vandana Verma
    Ankit Grover
    Biswajit Das

    The firm has made two senior appointments for the new office. It has brought in Ankit Grover as Lead Integration Director, and Biswajit Das as Lead Strategist, for the Experience Platform. Both will report to Vandana Verma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Experience Platform at Wondrlab.

     

     

    Saurabh Varma

    Said Verma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Experience Platform, Wondrlab: “Starting off our Delhi office means we now have excellence in the North and East. This move has come a little after Wondrlab’s launch and the momentum is unprecedented. Ankit and Biswajit are a great choice as leaders; both are new-age thinkers, excellent integration managers and tech enthusiasts with diverse cross-category brand experience. Our clients can expect hands-on leadership involvement in their business problems, great turnaround time and collaboration on the implementation of industry-first solutions at an enormous scale.”

     

    Grover has over 14 years of experience in experiential and integrated marketing and has joined from Arc Worldwide – Publicis Groupe’s experiential marketing arm – and has been part of agencies such as Wizcraft, RK Swamy BBDO and ESP Active.

     

    Das Biswajit has over 12 years of industry experience. His previous stint was also with Arc Worldwide. He has previously worked in companies such as Hansa Events, Network18 and ESP Active Marketing.

     

     

  • The brand has also unveiled its Dream11 IPL 2020-focused integrated digital campaign

    Wondrlab wins Anand Rathi biz

    By A Correspondent

     

    Close on the heels of its launch, Wondrlab, the Saurabh Varma and team -setup platform-first communications startup – has announced the bagging of the Anand Rathi Financial Services account.

     

    In its new mandate, Wondrlab will help the Anand Rathi Group build awareness and with overall brand salience. To kickstart this partnership, Wondrlab has created an integrated digital campaign focusing on the Dream11 IPL 2020 which has been airing throughout the tournament.

     

    Commenting on the announcement, a spokesperson from the Anand Rathi Group said: “With over 25 years of experience in wealth creation, we have the expertise to customise plans for every customer, taking into account his or her needs. We wanted an agile team that could build this equity and weave in our brand’s values, but at the same time, create a campaign that would go viral with the ever-dynamic consumers. Wondrlab managed this balance perfectly. The campaign is well-crafted and delivers our key message in a new-age, quirky way. We are happy to have Wondrlab on board and look forward to more exciting work.”

     

    Added Rakesh Hinduja, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Content Platform, Wondrlab: “We are thrilled to have Anand Rathi Financial Services on board and look forward to a great inning together. We realised early on that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for investors because their mindsets vary with differences in personality and life stage. Drawing a parallel to different kinds of fans, was an organic connection, given the IPL fever. It was a great pleasure to use our platform-first philosophy to craft films made to suit OTT platforms. We look forward to playing many more matches together!”

     

     

  • The former Publicis Communications boss has now set up Wondrlab, a 'platform-first' martech firm. He speaks with MxMIndia on his plans, philosophy and promises to reveal more… soon

    MxM Live with Saurabh Varma, Wondrlab

     

    Saurabh Varma’s exit from the Publicis Groupe In December 2019 was much discussed. But what was never really debated was the great value and out-of-the-box thinking that he brought into Leo Burnett.

     

    After 329 days of moving out from Publicis Communications, Saurabh Varma set up Wondrlab with former colleagues Vandana Verma and Rakesh Hinduja. Wondrlab is being billed as India’s largest platform-first martech firm and will have three key verticals – Content, Experience and Digital business transformation.

     

    In a 25-odd-minute interview with MxMIndia founder and editor-in-chief Pradyuman Maheshwari, Saurabh Varma talks about the thinking behind Wondrlab and the concept of a “platform-first martech” firm. Of course he promises to reveal more in the days to come – four weeks to 18 months. Sigh.

     

    Watch. Enjoy. Like.

     

  • Joining him are Vandana Verma and Rakesh Hinduja

    Saurabh Varma sets up Wondrlab, billed as a platform-first martech firm

    By A Correspondent

     

    Advertising and brand communication specialists Saurabh Varma, Vandana Verma and Rakesh Hinduja have launched Wondrlab. Wondrlab is billed as a platform-first startup with three key verticals – Content, Experience and Digital business transformation.

     

    Speaking about the launch, Saurabh Varma, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Wondrlab, said: “There has never been a better time to disrupt the communication landscape. At Wondrlab all our teams are platform first. We will work with key platforms to create hybrid teams that help clients win on these platforms. We will also curate, partner and build martech platforms that can create meaningful experiences and become an advantage for our clients.”

     

    Speaking about the launch of the martech company, Vandana Verma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Experience Platform, Wondrlab said, “We have completely platformised brand experiences at Wondrlab. What brands will see are productised events, shopper marketing, retail and brand activations into tech platforms. Backed by data and automation, Wondrlab’s platforms unlock new levels of efficiency to drive new sources of growth for brands.”

     

    Added Rakesh Hinduja, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Content Platform, Wondrlab: “Brands now have an opportunity to make a personalised connection with their target audience, something that doesn’t happen with a one-size-fits-all approach towards platforms. Wondrlab’s key focus will be service and technology-based platforms combined with creative ideas based on data and human understanding.”