Category Archives: Brand News

Latest from brands all across the world

Brand News, Marketing

Marico foray into new vegetable cleaning segment with launch of ‘Veggie Clean’

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Marico , leading consumer companies, has announced its foray into the vegetable and fruit hygiene category with the launch of Veggie Clean, made with a unique mix of 100% safe ingredients. With an aim to aid and strengthen the country’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, Marico is expanding its play in the health and hygiene segment. Addressing an industry gap and with innovation at the core, this newest introduction offers a unique mix of ingredients that remove all the germs, bacteria, chemicals, waxes and soil present on the surface of fruits and vegetables without leaving any residue, aftertaste or smell.

Increasingly, both personal and domestic hygiene is becoming priority top priority for consumers. While hand, body, home and kitchen hygiene is in practice and consumption habits are also evolving in tandem with the current situation, ensuring complete sanitation of our fresh produce is still limited to only rinsing them with water. To bridge this gap with an innovative solution, Marico has launched a first-of-its-kind fruit and vegetable cleaner.

Veggie Clean will be available across modern and ecommerce channels in two SKUs – 200 ml and 400 ml for INR 149 and INR 289 respectively. The solution does not contain any harmful preservative, is soap-free, chlorine-free and alcohol-free. It can be used to clean all kinds of vegetables and fruits except mushrooms. Veggie Clean is made from ingredients that are derived from natural sources. Simple to use, one is only required to soak and hand rub the fresh produce in a solution made of one capful of Veggie Clean and 2 litres of water followed by rinsing the soaked produce in running water 2-3 times for about 30 seconds.

Also Read: Marico and EMAMI forays into Hand Sanitizer segment

Speaking on the launch, Koshy George, Chief marketing officer, Marico said, “We at Marico believe in innovation that makes a real difference and as a responsible organization, we continue to develop disruptive solutions that help address emerging consumer needs. We are witnessing a definite shift in consumer habit and consumption patterns are increasingly being centred on personal and domestic hygiene. Keeping this in mind, we have launched Veggie Clean made with 100% safe ingredients, an industry first innovation which will help consumers sanitize their fruits and vegetables by removing impurities that may be present on the surface. With this launch, we hope to fill an existing gap in the hygiene segment.”

With an increased focus on health and hygiene products, Marico has been innovating and intensifying its presence in the category. The company entered the hand hygiene segment with the launch of Mediker Hand Sanitizer in India and hand sanitizer and hand wash in Bangladesh. It aims to continue exploring newer avenues in the health, hygiene and foods sector in other geographies.

Brand News, Marketing

Snapdeal partners with Gamezop to add games for users

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E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal has partnered with mobile gaming startup Gamezop to add gaming options for users visiting the site and increase engagement. Gamezop’s top gaming titles like Savage Revenge, Tower Twist, Battle Fish, Rafting Adventure and Sticky Goo are now available for users on Snapdeal.

Users will be able to play these games instantly on Snapdeal’s website and app without the need to install them as standalone apps. Additionally, each game will have a predefined target for users. Upon achieving these targets, discount codes will be unlocked that can be redeemed against purchases on Snapdeal.

Earlier, Snapdeal had launched games like Stack up, Jackpot Machine, Find The Queen, Guess The Price, Spin the Wheel, and Shuffle and Win on the platform. Some of these games unlock coupon codes for discounts on the app.

Snapdeal said that it is expanding its online gaming feature to help drive higher engagement with shoppers who are visiting its website. The company did not comment not whether use engagement had dropped on its platform since the Indian government has disallowed e-commerce firms from selling non-essential products.

The Gurugram-based e-commerce firm had around 70 million users visit on its website and app every month prior to the nationwide lockdown on March 23rd.

Earlier the union home ministry gave permission to e-commerce platform to sell non-essential goods from 20 April, but later flip-flopped on the decision and revoked it. This has put many e-commerce firms in distress as many firms had begun gearing up to list non-essential products on their platforms after the initial permission was given.

Also Read: Snapdeal enters OTT market by partnering with Hungama Play

During the ongoing lockdown Snapdeal claims to have witnessed a 24X increase in items on customers’ wishlist, with users waiting to buy apparel, personal grooming products, fitness accessories and household items like pressure cookers, kitchen tools, LED bulbs, bedsheets, and towels.

According to industry estimates, e-commerce sales have been down by almost 90% in India after the lockdown was introduced in late March. A large part of e-commerce companies’ gross merchandise value (GMV) includes smartphones, consumer electronics, apparel and large appliances, which are currently not allowed to be sold online as per government lockdown norms.

Brand News, Marketing

Google makes its Meet app ‘free’ to compete with Zoom

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On Thursday, Google Inc announced that is had made its Meet app free for all users, with up to 100 people being able to connect simultaneously, as the US-based technology behemoth seeks to capitalise on the surging popularity of video conferencing apps. Earlier, the premium video conferencing app was available only for paid enterprise users of the GSuite.

This is the first time that a product designed for enterprise use is being extended to individual users, Smita Hashim, Director, Product Management, Google Cloud told ET. The Covid-19 pandemic has made video conferencing tools such as Zoom hugely popular, with people using it for office meetings as well as for social chats.

Earlier this week, Facebook also launched its Messenger Rooms app, where 50 people can participate in a call at the same time. Since video conferencing is an essential service, Google decided to extend its Meet offering to individual users for free on the lines of its other services such as Gmail or Maps, the Mountain View, California-based Hashim said in the exclusive interview.

“We’ve already seen how Google Meet has been helping a lot of businesses and schools. We kept seeing the need for a very secure as well as easy-to-use, high-quality service for individual users as well. These apps are being used in ways which are unprecedented right now…” she said.

Since January, Google has seen Meet’s daily usage grow by 30x and has been adding roughly 3 million new users every day, with Meet’s daily participants surpassing 100 million as of last week. All advanced features of Google Meet, which were previously available to enterprise customers, will be made available to G Suite customers as well.

The features include recording, streaming, in-person meetings and enhanced safety controls. Google also accelerated the development of some features that enable users to see more people during a conversation.

The San Francisco-headquartered search giant said video conferencing was seeing increased use across family, friends, hobby groups, parents and physicians.

“There’s so many ways in which people need video conferencing right now, even for business use it could be for tele-health, it could be retail, it could be again education. We really felt like there was a need for very secure, as well as reliable and high-quality product,” Hashim added.

Google Meet would be different from other popular apps because it would be highly secure and easy to use since there are already billions of Google accounts. Users will soon be able to access Meet by clicking its icon from the Google Chrome browser, she said.

The company is also confident its network infrastructure will scale up quickly to meet new demand, at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has led to more people working remotely across the globe.

Google’s customers are talking about retaining work-from-home practices as they go forward, since it is working well for them, she said.

“We hear stories all the time from customers telling us how they’ve been productive, from schools on how they’ve been able to continue online teaching. I really do feel that the some of the changes here will hopefully stay as a society and also leave us a better place to live in,” Hashim said.

However, Meet will cut free calls after an hour starting in October, compared with no time limit on Messenger and Skype and a 40-minute restriction on consumer Zoom accounts. Free Meet calls also will be limited to no more than a single host and 100 participants – the same as Zoom’s free version but above the 50 on Messenger and Skype.

Brand News, Marketing

Shemaroo Entertainment launch its flagship Hindi Entertainment Channel – Shemaroo TV

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Living up to the 57-year-old legacy of entertaining audiences across categories, genres, and now beyond geographies, India’s leading content powerhouse Shemaroo Entertainment is launching a new Hindi GEC – Shemaroo TV. A Free to Air channel, Shemaroo TV targets the Hindi Speaking Markets of India with the tag line ‘Badalte Aaj Ke Liye.’ Shemaroo TV aims to connect, interact, and reach out to families who are continuously looking to adapt to new changes. The channel will come up with a perfect mix of originals and iconic shows, which will be consumed for the first time by a broad set of Free To Air audiences. Launching on 01st May 2020, the channel will be available to audiences on all major DTH operators and cable networks.

In these trying times, when audiences have limited options to holistic family entertainment, Shemaroo TV aims to bridge the gap by offering comprehensive content of iconic shows such as Devon Ke Dev…Mahadev, Dil Se Di Dua Saubhagyawati Bhava, Great Indian Laughter Challenge, and many more. By offering popular shows in the launch phase, Shemaroo TV will be a perfect destination for the audience looking for family entertainment with a contemporary feel. Shemaroo TV aims to entertain both rural as well as urban audiences. Once the restrictions on shoots are lifted, the channel will have several original shows targeting both sets of viewers. Shemaroo TV will offer content on various genres such as comedy, drama, mythology, thriller, crime, and animated content that will resonate with audiences across all age groups.

Shemaroo Entertainment has been evolving with changing times and entertaining its audience through different avenues. The launch of Shemaroo TV will be one additional step to extend reach and relevance of the brand across the subcontinent. With a vast content library, Shemaroo Entertainment aims at entering the broadcast space and entertaining a large set of Hindi speaking audiences with its thoughtfully curated content. The media and entertainment conglomerate recently launched its Marathi movie channel – ‘Shemaroo MarathiBana’ that already entered the 100 GRP club in a short time.

Commenting on the launch of Shemaroo TV, Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment , said, “We, at Shemaroo Entertainment, are constantly evolving and upscaling with the changing times. The content of Shemaroo is spread across different verticals through which we maintain a healthy relationship with viewers and advertisers equally. While we manage large digital platforms, entering into the broadcasting space will help us with reach and enable us to build a stronger affinity with the audiences. With the launch of our flagship channel, Shemaroo TV, we are excited to strengthen our presence in the industry and deliver our promise of entertaining the Indian audiences.”

Adding to the statement, Sandeep Gupta, COO – Broadcast Business, Shemaroo Entertainment, said, “If we see the current TV space and particularly the Free To Air space, there is large consumption of content but with less variety of shows and genres. Shemaroo TV will be enhancing the entertainment needs of the Indian audiences by its vast offerings of iconic shows, alongwith original shows across various genres. We have worked extensively to understand the needs of our consumers and have sharpened our insights based on what will appeal to them. Shemaroo TV will have an extensive reach and we aim to become one of the most popular destinations in the Free To Air General entertainment space.”

The launch phase will see a marketing campaign by Shemaroo TV, which will focus on Television and Digital media. The channel also launched a brand campaign video that emphasizes the changing times and how families are aspiring and adapting to the new era, thus highlighting the tagline ‘Badalte Aaj Ke Liye.’

Audiences can tune-in to Shemaroo TV on their DTH and Cable networks starting on 01st May 2020. The channel will also be available on Shemaroo’s OTT platform ShemarooMe.

Brand News, Marketing

Mirum India to implement Salesforce Marketing Cloud solutions for Zomato & Pine Labs

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Digital solutions agency, Mirum India has announced that it will be responsible for implementing Salesforce Marketing Cloud solutions for Zomato and Pine Labs. Mirum India is a Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner, with over 8 years of association with Salesforce and 100+ Marketing Automation installations across the entire stack of Social Studio, Exact Target and now Datorama & DMP. Mirum’s marketing automation clientele include KFC, IDFC, Capital First, Franklin Templeton, Aakash and others.

Zomato is an restaurant aggregator and food delivery start up founded in 2008. Pine Labs is a Noida-based FinTech company, offering payment acceptance technology, stored value products, in-store consumer credit and other merchant solutions in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Hareesh Tibrewala, Joint CEO, Mirum India, said, “Zomato with presence in 24 countries and Pine Labs with 150,000+ merchant relationships, are the leading new age companies of India, and we are very proud of working with them. Mirum has been one of the early entrants in the Marketing Automation space in India and is now Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner with over 8 years of experience. With our domain expertise and talented team, we are confident of delivering a seamless marketing cloud solution for Zomato and Pine Labs.”

Brand News, Marketing

Airtel signs $1 billion infrastructure deal with Nokia

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India’s leading telecom provider, Bharti Airtel has announced a multi-year agreement with Nokia to deploy it’s SRAN solution across nine circles in India. The deal, which according to an industry source is pegged at close $1 billion, will help Airtel to enhance the network capacity of its networks, in particular 4G, and improve customer experience.

Nokia’s SRAN solution helps operators manage their 2G, 3G and 4G networks from one platform reducing network complexity, increasing cost efficiencies and future-proofing investment. The Finnish company will be the sole provider of SRAN in the nine circles in the country. The Nokia supplied networks with their low latency and faster speeds will provide Airtel the best possible platform for when 5G networks launch across the country.

India currently is the second-largest telecom market in the world and is expected to reach 920 million unique mobile customers by 2025, which will also include 88 million 5G connections according to the GSMA. The country is experiencing a massive increase in demand for data services with traffic increasing by 47% in 2019 alone, according to Nokia’s MBiT Index 2020.

Nokia’s SRAN solution will help Airtel to address this growing demand by adding network capacity and ensuring a superior quality of experience to its customers. The deal will also include Nokia’s RAN equipment, including its AirScale Radio Access, AirScale BaseBand and NetAct OSS solution, which will help Airtel to monitor and manage its network effectively.

As per joint statement both companies, “The rollout, which will also lay the foundation for providing 5G connectivity in the future, will see approximately 300,000 radio units deployed across several spectrum bands, including 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz and 2300 Mhz, and is expected to be completed by 2022.”

Brand News, Marketing

NIVEA partners with Zomato and Swiggy for home delivery of products

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NIVEA, the Skincare Brand, has partnered with Zomato and Swiggy in multiple cities of India to ensure safe home deliveries of essential hygiene products, directly to the consumers’ doorstep in 60-90 minutes. As a trusted skincare brand, NIVEA aims to cater to the daily hygiene needs of the consumers staying at home, by providing ease of availability and accessibility of their essential products during the nationwide lockdown.

This service which was started in Mumbai last week is already available for consumers in more than 30 cities across India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Kanpur. The brand aims to scale this up to more than 100 cities in the coming week. A first-of-its-kind collaboration between a food-service aggregator and a skincare brand, this initiative aims to give consumers uninterrupted access to everyday essential hygiene products without them having to step outside the safety of their homes.

To deliver the products safely, strict measures are being ensured at every step of the process. Clean hygienic conditions & safe social distancing is ensured while handling of the products. Delivery riders are required to follow strict personal hygiene practices by the apps like wearing masks, regular washing & sanitizing hands and temperature checks. The option of cashless transactions & contactless deliveries is also available for consumers.

Speaking on the initiative, Sailesh Viswanathan, sales director – NIVEA India said, “As a responsible skincare brand, this initiative reinforces our commitment to ensuring that our consumers have uninterrupted access to their daily hygiene essentials. In times of crisis, we stand together and work together to ensure safety of the consumers by delivering products safely & directly to their doorsteps.”

To avail this service, consumers need to open Zomato or Swiggy app on their phones and look for the ‘NIVEA Care Shop’ under the market or groceries section. The consumers can then place orders for their NIVEA essential hygiene products from the comfort of their homes and choose from multiple cashless transaction options to get a safe and contactless delivery to their doorsteps in 60-90 min.