Digital content studio, Supari Studios, produced the latest campaign for Clinique’s Even Better range of products. Bringing on board four diverse influencers, Supriya Joshi, Lisa Mishra, Leeza Mangaldas and Teena Singh, they put together a series of fun and spunky films that offer viewers a glimpse into each influencer’s personality. In a candid chat about what beauty means to them, these influencers describe the role that Clinique’s Even Better products play in their lives, helping them in achieving their goals. The films use a very realistic tone and are accompanied by polished visuals and catchy music, aiming to fill its viewers with a sense of joy and independence, much like the products themselves.

Speaking about the campaign, Sameer Ghauri, Director of the film said, "Our goal was to keep the tone of the films honest and real, complemented by clean and elegant visuals that are crisply edited to music handpicked to pair with each lady’s distinct personality. The colour tone of each film was also meticulously chosen to complement the different skin tones of our influencers. The aim of the films was to celebrate the diversity of smart, independent Indian women and at the same time highlighting that the brand caters to over 50 types of different skin tones, and I feel our films managed to achieve that quite successfully."

Adding to this, Mitali Sharma, Executive Producer, Supari Studios said, “With this campaign, we wanted to focus on the tagline ‘Even Better’ by bringing out the strong personalities of each of the influencers and how they don't like to settle in life, just like the Even Better foundation. We tried to encapsulate a piece of their life into the films by throwing in some minimal props that gave a suggestion of their profession. We also highlighted how Clinique Even Better Foundation helps each influencer, by mentioning a specific benefit of the foundation that works for them.”

Link to campaign: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp4BQmhFHlb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

In an endeavour to contribute to the advancement of the environment, Sattviko, a packaged food company providing light snacks of Indian origin, launched a ‘Sattviko wrapper exchange initiative’ across India. The initiative will commence from the first week of January and will continue for a year.

The wrapper exchange campaign that Sattviko has initiated encourages consumers to avoid disposing of the wrappers of its products but instead, consumers can exchange 10 empty Sattviko wrappers for one free packet of Sattviko snacks. The quantity, size and the flavour of the packets have to be the same as the ones sent by the consumer, via post to Sattviko or to any of its registered retailers.

Speaking of the initiative, Prasoon Gupta, Co- Founder and Director, Sattviko said, “India produces around 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day. Most of this is single-use plastic that can take up to 100 years to decompose. Plastic causes major environmental damage and a small initiative such as this can make a huge difference. Sattviko intends to reach out to a maximum number of consumers through this campaign. We hope to inspire others to make a difference with such an initiative. This is in support of our fight against plastic pollution and we hope that we are able to bring a behavioural change in the society at large.”

Sattviko is also looking at proactively spearheading the debate on ‘How can cutting down on plastic in FMCG be functional’ with an aim to engage consumers and producers, and educating them to avoid the usage of plastic for a better environment.

Sameer Aggarwal has been made Chief Business Officer of Walmart India with immediate effect. 

Aggarwal, currently Chief Strategy & Administrative Officer, will now lead Strategy, Merchandising, Cost Analytics, E-Commerce, Technology, Marketing and Replenishment. He will continue to report directly to Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India. 
Prior to joining Walmart India in April 2018, Aggarwal was Chief Finance, Development & Supply Chain Officer for KFC, Thailand. Before KFC, he worked with Sainsbury’s in UK & China as Head of Strategy and Executive Assistant to the CEO. He also worked with McKinsey & Co, UK & Australia as an Associate Partner. He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the London Business School and is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. 

Anuj Singh has joined as Head - Category Merchandising of Walmart India and will lead Category Merchandising, Merchandise Planning & Execution and Private Brands development. Singh will report to Sameer Aggarwal. Singh comes with 23 years of experience in leading consumer goods organizations across India, Europe & Middle East. Before joining Walmart, Singh was Business Executive Officer responsible for Nestlé’s Food Services business in the South Asia Region. Earlier, he worked with organisations such as Philip Morris International, Hindustan Lever Limited, ITC Limited and Asian Paints. Singh holds Masters Degree in Business Administration from London Business School.

Meanwhile, Devendra Chawla, EVP & Chief Operating Officer - Merchandising, Marketing, and eCommerce, has decided to move on to pursue other opportunities outside Walmart India.

Announcing the changes, Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India said, “I am extremely pleased to announce Sameer Aggarwal as our Chief Business Officer. Sam joined Walmart India in April this year and within a short period of time he has developed a great understanding of our company and our culture. He has already made very good contributions to the business and also developed strong relationships internally and externally. He brings an international and strategic perspective to our business in India. His experience of supporting the governance functions at Walmart India will help us grow further in the right way. He is passionate about growing people and making them successful. I have no doubt he will lead and support his teams to strive for excellence in everything we do.”

I am very happy to welcome Anuj Singh into the Walmart India family. Backed with rich experience of 23 years in India and international markets, I am confident he would lead the business to achieve more success.”

I am very excited with the progress we are making in the country. We recently opened our 23rd Best Price Store and the second Fulfillment Centre in the country and are excited at the opportunity of continuing to create shared value for kiranas, resellers, small businesses, small farmers, associates, and the community at large. With our expansion, we are opening up our mission to more members and helping them save money to live better while enabling kirana/reseller members to prosper by efficiently managing their inventory and lowering their operational costs. While growing the business, we will set new benchmarks in the B2B Cash&Carry format, create thousands of local jobs and continue to invest in making our operations sustainable through renewal energy, waste management, water recycling and replacing single-use plastic with sustainable solutions in a phased manner.”

I wish Sam & Anuj the very best in their new roles. I would also like to thank Devendra Chawla for his contributions to the company, especially for making a difference to our Private Brand business. I wish him good luck in his future endeavours,” concluded Iyer.  
 

After a successful inaugural edition of Khelo India School Games, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports along with Star Sports kick started the countdown to Khelo India Youth Games, Maharashtra 2019 with an appeal to encourage India to play more - with the evocative ‘#5MinuteAur’ campaign.

The campaign has a strong call to action, taking the Khelo India movement forward, featuring - Manu Bhaker, Jeremy Lalrinnunga, Saurabh Chaudhary, Lakshya Sen, Esha Singh, Tababi Devi, Srihari Natraj and champions Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar amongst others bringing childhood playground memories to life. The #5MinuteAur campaign created this year has a simple insight, we are all born with an inherit instinct to play, kids and adults alike. 

In its inaugural edition, Khelo India had a strong message “Kheloge Kudoge Banoge lajawaab” encouraging more kids to play every day, it was an effort towards changing an age-old belief. Building on the core of this message through the #5MinuteAur campaign, Star Sports and the ministry want India to encourage kids to play for those extra 5 minutes.

The 5 minutes is symbolic, with an assumption that if each child plays a little bit longer, we will add a billion minutes of play every day that has the potential to translate into 50 medals for the country.

Portraying this five-minute agreement between a mother and a child, the aim with #5MinuteAur is to spark a fire in every enthusiast in India to strive for better through sports. Establishing the message that sports builds and defines our personalities, the more we play the better we get. The manifesto, “Hum Aaj Aur Khelenge Toh Kal Aur Jeetenge” is true not just for the sport we play, but for life itself. 

Scheduled to take place at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune from January 9 to 20, 2019, Khelo India Youth Games, Maharashtra 2019 will see over 10,000 participants from 29 states and 7 Union Territories. The games will bring to life by over 6200 athletes, 1800 Technical Officials, 1000 volunteers and 1000 personnel working behind the scenes.Conceptualised to revive the sports culture in India at grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country, the upcoming season of Khelo India Youth Games will be held across 18 sporting disciplines in the Under 17 and Under 21 age categories. 

“The success of Khelo India School Games is a testimony to the hunger and multitude of sporting talent in India. Buoyed by the terrific response for Khelo India School Games and with an aim to increase participation in sports across all age groups, we have not just added two sports this year but have also increased the age limit to allow even more enthusiasts to participate and flourish. The ‘5 minute aur’ campaign is a reflection of the immense strides we’ve made and the journey that lies in front of us to make India a truly sporting nation. We hope it will inspire India to work towards incorporating sports as a way of life,” said Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs (IC). 

To support the Khelo India initiative by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Star India has doubled the level of promotion and broadcast coverage for Khelo India Youth Games, Maharashtra 2019. The coverage of the upcoming season will include live telecast in five languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English) and telecast of all 18 disciplines for both age groups. 

Sanjay Gupta, Managing Director, Star India said, “The first edition of Khelo India exceeded expectations and instilled an aspiration for sports amongst the youth in India and now, with ‘5 minute aur’, we are aiming to trigger more pro sport conversations to make India adopt sports as a way of life. The campaign calls for the Indian sports enthusiast to not only support their heroes, but also work towards emulating their feats.”

“Staying true to our commitment of bringing the best in class sports experience to the passionate Indian sports fan, we will broadcast Khelo India Youth Games in 5 languages this season along with LIVE telecast of 9 disciplines,” he further added. 

Khelo India Youth Games will telecast live across Star Sports Network and Hotstar.
 

Nabankur Gupta (NOBBY), a marketing industry veteran, was a master in adding a high level of professionalism wherever he went. Warmth, humility, kindness personified him.

I first met Nabankur Gupta when he was at Videocon. (I was with the ad agency). He developed strategies for sub-branding and multi-branding in the consumer durables business for the first time in India which won him international accolades. Advertising Age International, New York recognised him for this successful initiative by awarding him with the title of “Marketing Superstar” (amongst 20 recipients of this title in 1996 in the world).

Mr Gupta...a client first then my boss and above all a mentor...who I owe a lot to. He was always there to guide, support me. He initiated my move to Raymond.

Mr Gupta joined the Raymond Group (from Videocon) as the Group President and board member in 2000. During his tenure he acquired some highly synergistic companies to support the strategic growth plans - Color Plus, launched designer label Be among others. The retail presence of Raymond grew aggressively, adding new formats across smaller towns in India.
 
He re-launched the brands in the textile and apparel space and further reinforced Raymond’s leadership position. Brand building was his forte. New advertising campaigns like "Feels like heaven, feels like Raymond" were during his time. The “Baby” commercial was launched on the cricket platform “Champions Trophy”. He had an eye for guiding the work with a great sense of the brand core. He brought back the “Teacher”. He did the Father and Son, Father and Daughter, Man and Puppies ads and many more. The campaign contemporised “The Complete Man” making him more sensitive, younger. 

Media consolidation at Raymond and introducing the Corporate Communication cell was his vision. We did some amazing work together-he was always supportive on any path-breaking idea. Dressing TV anchors, owning news segments, print innovations, style guides, the much prized Haji Ali hoardings were in his time. It was 360 degree marketing solutions, including ET Awards for Corporate Excellence initiated by him to synergize with the Raymond core values of Excellence, Leadership, Innovation. 

Mr Gupta interacted with media – both the editorial with interesting insights and their marketing teams, ever ready to hear a new idea at a cost effective solution. As an advertising friend said, “The two of you were a formidable and good team.” Extremely soft spoken and well-mannered in his handling of difficult situations and he was truly a marketing genius. He represented Raymond on many industry bodies like MRUC, ABC delivering wisdom and experience. He was truly an industry leader. 

In 2005, he relinquished the post to start his own management consultancy “Nobby Brand Architects & Strategic Marketing Consultants”. He was on the Board of many companies, including Raymond.

A warm, good human being who was highly respected by all, irrespective of rank or creed. A gentle leader, a man of principles, a guide and mentor to many, humble, a great professional and a thorough gentleman. His warmth, his quiet demeanour was like none other!
Thank you Mr Gupta for being there!! 

At 70, he leaves behind his wife Nita, son Kaustabh and daughter Timira, and a very large family of indebted souls whose lives he touched. RIP. 

God, please give his family the strength to bear this immense loss.

(The author is the Strategic Advisor Paulomi Dhawan Advisory)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com.
 

Walmart India COO Devendra Chawla has quit after a 15-month stint, say reports. He is currently believed to be serving the notice period following an internal announcement on Friday.

Sameer Aggarwal, executive vice president, chief strategy and administrative officer Walmart India, is likely to take over Chawla’s role, say reports. Aggarwal, who joined Walmart India in April, currently leads finance, technology, legal, audit and strategy functions. An MBA from London Business School, he was earlier chief finance, development and supply chain officer at KFC Thailand and had worked with Sainsbury’s in UK and China. 

Chawla, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, was executive vice president and COO responsible for merchandising, marketing, procurement and omni-channel at Walmart India. He was also a director on the board.

Before joining Walmart India, Chawla was CEO of Future Consumer, and Future Group president for food, FMCG and brands. He also had a stint at Coca Cola India as Director. 
 

The ninth edition of exchange4media's India PR & Corporate Communications Awards 2018 is the most extensive and exhaustive awards to recognise the contribution and success of the PR Industry. With five categories and 22 subcategories, IPRCCA 2018 is the path-breaking initiative to salute and recognise the contribution of PR Consultancies and Corporate Communications.

The event is scheduled to be held on December 13 at The Leela Ambience in Gurugram. 

The event will also witness an all-day India PR & Corporate Communications Conference 2018. The theme for the conference this year is ‘The importance of integrated communications and its challenges’.

The topic for the seventh session at the conference is on ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Nation building; how communication supports in building blocks, bridging the gap between social responsibility and political governance’.

Our esteemed speakers Sameer Bajaj, Director - Corporate Communications and External Affairs, Discovery India and Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research, will discuss how brands are sensitive towards society and its development. Government initiative enforced brands commitment towards nation building through human capital. Role of communication person is to ensure CSR falls in line with brands business interest and the impact it has on people. The key is to define and device a key strategy which enhances brands reputation. Media, on the other hand, is a crusader in sensitizing the public about the issues and how corporate and nodal agencies are addressing those issues through their initiative.

Sameer Bajaj has over 20 years of work experience in strategic communications, advocacy, public relations, internal communications and CSR with global organisations across different industries. He is currently working with Discovery Communications India as Director – Corporate Communications & External Affairs. Prior to Discovery, Sameer has also led Corporate Communications verticals for Amway India and STAR Sports.

A renowned social activist and a prolific academician, Dr. Kumari is also the Chairperson of Women Power Connect. She has dedicated her life to empowering women across the South Asia region and is also a prolific writer of many well-known publications. 
Dr. Kumari went to school in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Her paternal grandfather, a freedom fighter, Pandit Vishwanath Sharma, was the founder member of the famous Kashi Vidyapith of Varanasi, which was the first modern University organised by Indians in British India. After finishing her schooling, she moved to Delhi and did her MA, MPhil, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Jawahar Lal Nehru University.

Her foray into social work was initiated by her concern for a dowry death that took place near her home in 1976. This led to her activism on world famous publication “Brides are not for Burning”.

She has served as the Coordinator of the South Asia Network Against Trafficking (SANAT) in Persons and is a member of the Central Advisory Board on “Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Tests Act, 2001”, as well as the Central Advisory Committee for Prevention of Trafficking in Women and Children. Some of her most passionate causes have been the participation of women in democracy and governance, the termination of dowry practices and dowry-related violence, and the abolition of female foeticide.

In the past, she was a member of the Task Force on Industrial Relations for The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva and worked as a senior professional at United Nations. Currently, she is a member of the Global Safety Advisory Board of Facebook. She is also a member of the Twitter’s Trust & Safety Council.

For the event, Ad Factors is the presenting partner of the IPRCCA and is co-Powered by Media Mantra & MSL. The gold partner is Kaizzen, PR Pundit & AvianWe. The urban mobility partner is Uber. The digital media partner is Media Value works. Policy Bazaar is the knowledge partner and is co-partnered by Text 100, The Publicist & Kommune. The lifestyle PR partner is ActiMedia, TV partner is NewsX, creativity partner is Webershandwick. The partner For IPRCCC is Pearl Academy.

For more detail, click here: https://e4mevents.com/iprcca-2018/

Marketing veteran Nabankur Gupta, popularly known as ‘Nobby’ Gupta, has passed away following a brief illness. According to media reports, Gupta (70) breathed his last on Friday.

Gupta was a marketing master with over three decades of experience in the industry. He had been associated with companies such as Raymond, Videocon Industries and Philips.  He was serving as an independent director on the boards of several companies.

Gupta was the first Indian to have been conferred the tittle of ‘Marketing Superstar’ by Advertising Age International, New York, in 1995. He retired as Group President of Raymond in 2005, after which he started his management consultancy, Nobby Brand Architects & Strategic Marketing Consultants.  

While the rest of the world is going gaga about the Black Friday and Single’s Day Sale, Indians will not feel left out, courtesy Brand Factory by Future Lifestyle Fashions. Announcing, Free Shopping Weekend (FSW) with a tongue in cheek humour, Brand Factory tells its customers #DontShopAtFSW if they like being rewarded only with discounts.

FSW is every shopaholic’s dream as they get to shop for more than 200 National and International brands for FREE! The 3rd season of Brand Factory Free Shopping Weekend will be held from 12th to 16th December 2018.

The last two years of Free Shopping Weekend saw great success, with lakhs of customers queuing up outside the stores. The wait this year was palpable, resulting in more than 1 lakh RSVPs online, on Day 1 itself. Brand Factory rolled out a 360-degree integrated campaign where #DontShopAtFSW campaign received an overwhelming response of over 1.2 million views on Facebook. The campaign is supported by print, TV, digital, OOH, radio along with corporate and student community tie-ups. This year, the event will be held on a scale larger than ever before with the increased store presence in Tier II and Tier III markets.

Speaking about the scale of the Free Shopping Weekend, Roch Dsouza, CMO, Brand Factory says, “This is one of our biggest property and we wanted our communication to not only be direct but also fresh and exciting. #DontShopAtFSW is not just an attempt to break the clutter but it’s backed by solid consumer insights. We took this route for our digital campaign and both the films bring out the true customer experience when they hunt for deals online or during EOSS of full price retailers. They are as direct and convey the message spot on. We backed this idea with content and we are already witnessing some crazy response.”

FSW is India’s only national ticketed shopping event conducted in 88 stores and 37 cities. Given the scale of the event, shoppers need to pre-book their entry passes at a minimal cost of Rs.250 (Premium passes for two: for early entry to the store from 8 am) and Rs.100 (Classic passes for two: for entry post 11am). Tickets can be booked via on brandfactoryonline.com, insider.in or by visiting the nearest Brand Factory store. You can also redeem the value of your pass on your next purchase during 18th to 31st December.

During the Free Shopping Weekend, you shop for MRP worth Rs.5000, pay just Rs.2000 and get that back too, in the form of free apparel worth Rs.500, gift vouchers worth Rs.1200, and another Rs.300 in your Future Pay wallet. Nobody would want to miss a shopping experience as big as this. Shoppers across the country unite, here’s an experience you cannot afford to miss!

Campaign video:

World-class cricket player, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has partnered with Indi, a digital word of mouth engagement and monetisation platform, to extend and enhance relationships with his global fan base. 

The Indi platform will enable Dhoni’s fans to become brand ambassadors for his Seven by MS Dhoni line of footwear, apparel and accessories while earning revenue on sales they generate.

“Dhoni’s reputation and ability to inspire 1.3 billion Indians has always amazed me. We are truly impressed with his motivation to give back to the fans who have given him so much. The chance to become a brand ambassador for Seven is a privilege indeed, and we are honored to be powering this groundbreaking opportunity for millions,” said Indi CEO Neel Grover.

Seven by MS Dhoni offers a range of quality lifestyle and athletic apparel at affordable prices. Fans, athletes and gym goers find a unique range of daily wear to cricket-specific products ranging from cricket shoes to sweat-resistant tees. The latest technology, classic designs and highest quality materials are crafted into the Seven catalog. 

“It’s a special opportunity to be able to empower my fans and Seven by MS Dhoni customers with opportunities to not only engage with my label but to also increase their income by earning referral fees on sales they make across social media,” Dhoni noted.

The Indi Brand Ambassador program for athletes offers a range of options for enhancing fan engagement including sponsorships, advertising, product recommendations, branded merchandise and two-way video on demand. The platform also provides detailed information on the athlete’s Indi fan base, social traffic and income generation.

Another way athletes can engage their fans on Indi is through challenges where fans create and post videos and photos. Challenge winners are then selected based on criteria such as the “best” post and the most Indi Buzz generated by those posts.

Arun Pandey, Chairman and MD of Rhiti Group, stated, “While we continue our aggressive push in growing the number of stores to 100 by end of this year, I am thrilled that we are in association with a leading brand like Indi in the digital space. I look forward to working with Indi.com and the founder’s wealth of experience at such a promising time in India’s e-commerce landscape to promote a healthy and fit lifestyle which Seven by MS Dhoni embodies.”