Clear, the packaged drinking water company, has roped in Hrithik Roshan as their brand ambassador.

"Clear is already a well-established national brand, but I am confident that the association with Hrithik Roshan will boost our aspirations to emerge as a pre-eminent brand," said Nayan Shah, Founder and CEO of CLEAR PREMIUM WATER.

Commenting on the association, the actor said, "I am excited to join CLEAR, one of the country's most preferred and premium water brands, in its journey to encourage people to drink safe and mineral-rich water. Together, we will promote a healthy lifestyle with CLEAR's premium products while working towards greater concerns like sustainability and environmental conservation."

Parimatch Sports has announced that Dinesh Karthik will be its brand ambassador. The wicketkeeper-batter, who plays for the Bangalore`s team in the IPL, will collaborate with Parimatch Sports to create an exclusive line of apparel for the Indian market, to be tentatively launched during the competition.

Commenting on being appointed brand ambassador, Karthik said, “I’m thrilled to be associated with Parimatch Sports, which I am confident will soon be sharing space with the known names in sports attire. Because it’s an upcoming and youthful brand, it’s the perfect fit for me, for I feel I still have a lot to offer the game and to my team-mates. I can’t wait to be in the dugout again for The Premier League, and to show others that age is only a number.”

The Parimatch Sports is a sportswear brand dedicated to all sports enthusiasts passionate about top–quality athletic clothes. Those who strive to take their sports experience to the next level and express their champion identity through clothes Parimatch Sports brand that represents unparalleled style, exceptional comfort, and strong winning spirit.

PUMA entered the Indian market in 2006, much later than competitors like Nike and Adidas did. However, within a decade, the sportswear brand captured the market, giving rivals a run for their money. 

In the digital era, when brands are pulling out all stops to stay relevant, PUMA is also trying out different marketing tactics to cater to the shifting needs of the new-age consumers, especially those hailing from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. In an exclusive chat with e4m, Abhishek Ganguly, Managing Director, PUMA India, and South East Asia spoke about staying ahead in the time of digital disruption.

The edited excerpts from the interview 

How has Puma been keeping its business relevant?

There is not one answer to this. There are various ways to keep up with the relevancy. First and foremost is the marketing funnel, one needs to appeal to the consumers in a language that they find relevant, and the time of putting the product in front of the consumer to buy has gone. One needs to have a story and a narrative around the brand. We have not come up with a campaign that is just copy-pasted because we are a global brand, as connecting with the Indian audience always requires the language that they understand. 

To be relatable, the channels also play a very important role whether you walk into our stores or it is online. Digital is not just a convenience medium today it's quite so that one needs to create the right experience for the consumer. 

How is PUMA connecting with the GenZs?

Every generation comes with different expectations or behaviour, their approach is very different. The young audience wants to express and be a part of a community, brands that are able to provide a platform where consumers can come in and exchange an expression and connect and build community, and in that process and delivering a message works well with the younger audience.

This audience is are also looking for a purpose around social causes our environment resonates a lot with young audiences. Convenience is also one of the factors today The E-Commerce mechanism as well as the payment mechanism has made life so much easier and young audiences today are starting with convenience. So Genz consumers seek relatability, being a part of the community, are inclined towards purpose-driven brands, and expect convenience.

With Anushka Sharma and now Harmanpreet Kaur as brand ambassadors, what is the messaging that PUMA wants to convey?

We are very focused on having the right kind of opinion leaders, especially women opinion leaders associated with us like a partnership with Mary Kom. Off late we’ve signed up more as a brand which is becoming larger we are trying to stay relevant with the various consumer segment. We want to provide a platform for women to come and express especially in India, for example, in our campaign Proper Lady well women came and expressed themselves breaking gender stereotypes. For years cricket has been called a gentleman's game and now it is changing, we are trying to enable this change to become faster. 

How did PUMA navigate the post-covid era in terms of business?

Before Covid, we have been in India for as long as 13 years. In the last three years including Covid time, we have doubled the sales seen during pre-covid times. We have always had a digital strategy not just during Covid times but for the last 5-7 years. 

How are you leveraging the tier 2 and 3 markets?

We are opening more stores and we will continue to do that for accessibility. e-commerce is obviously helping us to penetrate the market. In the last 3 years, we have grown about 4% point of our share from the non-tier 1 markets. We have almost 490 stores and a lot of them are in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

How much is the online and offline business in these figures - segregation in percentage?

56% of the business comes from physical stores, whereas 44% comes from various digital platforms.

Who has been more impactful for PUMA --  micro or macro influencers?

The truth lies in between as both are very important; it also depends upon your business scale. A very solid influencer strategy other than the selection and execution and the kind of content that goes out is to check credibility. Credibility should be really standing what your brand stands for. 

What's the marketing strategy lined up for the year?

Our choice of channel will be digital and given the kind of demographic profile of our market, it is very important for us to be there. We are going to every channel which is relevant right from search platforms to OTT platforms even news platforms, and sports platforms.

Check out more by clicking here to watch what Ganguly said about Indian audiences and sports.

Ashish Naik has joined Infectious Advertising as Executive Creative Director. He has spent a large part of his career with Ogilvy, Mumbai. He has also had stints at FCB ULKA, Everest, Contract and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Naik has created campaigns for brands like Cadbury, Perfetti Van Melle, Fevicol, Amul Macho, Gujarat Tourism, Hindustan Pencils, Fiat, Castrol, Franklin Templeton, Essar, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Times, among others.

Speaking on his appointment, Naik said: “I look forward to creating some spectacular work with Ramanuj, Nisha and the team. I believe I will be working with the best at Infectious.”

“Acquiring top talent is the simplest growth hack. We are fortunate to get a creative leader like Ashish in our team. Apart from being a super talent, Ashish is an affable and warm personality who shall surely create work that will be Infectious. We wish him every success at Infectious,” added Ramanuj Shastry, Nisha Singhania and Siddhartha Singh - Managing Partners of Infectious Advertising. 

PNG Jewellers has announced the signing of Madhuri Dixit as its brand ambassador for the next two years. Madhuri will represent the brand globally and across India. She was previously the brand ambassador for PNG Jewellers for a two-year period.

Madhuri will feature in PNG Jewellers' upcoming advertising campaigns, social media content, and other brand promotional activities, starting with the Gudhi Padwa campaign.

"We are delighted to have Madhuri Dixit as our brand ambassador, and we look forward to working with her over the next two years," said Saurabh Gadgil, Chairman and Managing Director of PNG Jewellers.” Our association with Madhuri goes back a long way. She and her family have been our customers for many years. She is still India’s sweetheart and a dancing diva beyond competition. Her values are aligned to ours as well. This association will help us to strengthen our brand's image and consolidate our position in the Indian and global jewellery market. Her presence in our ecosystem is an invaluable asset as we move into the next phase of growth. PNG Jewellers will be launching at least 5 more stores in the next financial year."

Madhuri Dixit said, "I am honoured to be associated with PNG Jewellers, a brand that is synonymous with craftsmanship, tradition, and elegance. I have always admired PNG Jewellers' stunning jewellery collections, and I am excited to be part of their journey once again. I look forward to representing the brand and connecting with PNG Jewellers' customers worldwide!"

Social Panga has won the integrated marketing mandate for Tata AIG.

The agency will be handling the creative communication for social media for the Tata AIG brand.

Riaan Rodrigues, Senior Vice President - Digital Business & Marketing, at Tata AIG said “As a company, we understand it’s important to have an insurance cover to mitigate one’s risks. We believe that creating a deep engagement with our customers over the digital platform is vital to ensure they understand the various insurance solutions that we offer. We want to strengthen our positioning while emphasizing on creative standards and have found a good fit with the Social Panga team. We are confident that our partnership will help us both create a positive, long-lasting brand image for us in the coming years.”

“There is so much scope to make Insurance as a category an interesting one & we are going to make an attempt towards the same. Super excited to work with Tata AIG to make the conversations around insurance a little more fun and impactful for people. While keeping ourselves aligned with Tata AIG's tone, Social Panga will work to make content in a more fun and palatable way.” said Himanshu Arora, Co-Founder, Social Panga.

Yatra Online Limited ("Yatra") has rolled out their latest campaign - 'Jab Yatra hai toh kaahe ka dar, #BindaasPlanKar' to offer stress-free travel to its customers. The campaign is focused on the cancellation protection feature available on Yatra.com which ensures a smooth yatra for travelers despite any pesky disruptions or unconfirmed plans. Cancellation protection is an insurance policy offered by ‘Liberty General Insurance Ltd’ for the customers of Yatra booking flight tickets on Yatra’s website, mobile site, and mobile app. This product facilitates customers to claim the reimbursement of flight ticket cost applied in the event of cancellation of the flight ticket.

To back this latest offering and drive adoption, this digital marketing campaign will include 3 digital video commercials (DVCs) featuring popular faces of the Delhi Capital – Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia, Alice Capsey and Tara Norris. All three DVCs focus on apprehensions that travelers have in booking their travel in advance and how the feature of cancellation protection addresses the concern.

Travel planning can be stressful, especially with the unpredictability of circumstances. Yatra Online Ltd aims to address this pain point by offering a solution that allows travellers to plan their trips without worrying about end-moment cancellations.

Commenting on the cancellation protection feature and the digital films, Dhruv Shringi, Whole-time Director and Chief Executive Officer, Yatra Online Limited said, “We understand that travellers want to explore the world, but unforeseen circumstances can lead to cancellations. With a cancellation protection feature and #bindassplankar, we aim to provide a safety net for our customers, ensuring that they can travel with confidence. The expression of our campaign is a portrayal of our continued dedication to offering a carefree experience to our consumers. Travellers have evolved preferences and we are excited to introduce a flexible, comfortable, and cost-effective feature for their travel planning.”

The #bindassplankar campaign can be a game-changer for the travel industry, providing customers with a unique and valuable feature that has the potential to set Yatra.com apart from its competitors. The cancellation protection feature is available on Yatra.com for all domestic flights. The #bindassplankar campaign intends to make travel planning stress-free and convenient for all Y