Siyaram’s has recently launched its first influencer-led campaign with youth icon Aparshakti Khurana. The campaign was conceptualized to persuasively promote the brand's classy and in-style range among young adults who prefer to look their best anytime they attend a special occasion.

To portray it effectively, the brand adopted an interesting marketing route by 1st launching a teaser on the brand’s social media platform ‘Aparshakti is in a dilemma’ to instill curiosity about the news. Followed by the influencer video that captured the actor at his film set in an all-decked-up attire of Siyaram after completing a shoot for his cousin’s wedding as instructed by his mother. The video beautifully captures its communication about how the actor trusts Siyaram’s when it comes to looking "The Best" at any wedding or event.

Prashant Awasthi, General Manager Marketing, Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd, said, “Curiosity marketing has the potential to entice untapped audience segments in today's world. Similarly, our intent with this influencer-led campaign was to tap into the younger segment of our TG and persuade customers to learn more about our range and offerings. With this campaign, we aim to convey our message to the youth, by roping in Aparshakti Khurana as his synergy blends well with our brand. With this inquisitive marketing approach, we were able to launch the campaign in style and with an interesting angle.”

Aparshakti Khurana, Actor, said, “Siyaram’s is not a new brand for my closet, it has been my partner for multiple events and celebrations before. Collaborating with the brand for its first-ever influencer-led campaign was a great pleasure. It is a delight to see Indian-origin brands like Siyaram’s marking their presence felt global and excelling in the fashion industry with utmost dedication.”

D2C beauty brand SUGAR Cosmetics reported a 70 per cent growth in FY22 sales. In the current fiscal, it has logged in over 90 per cent growth. And to continue this momentum, the brand has planned to double its marketing budget in FY24, CBO Suchit Sikaria said in an exclusive chat with e4m.

“Our expectations are to see the revenue grow two-fold in FY24. We aspire for 70-90% growth in the next fiscal. To achieve that, our overall marketing budget may go double in the coming fiscal year,” Sikaria said.

As per media reports, Sugar posted Rs 222 crore of operating revenue during the fiscal year ending March 2022, a nearly 75% increase compared to FY21.

Digital AdEx share

Fintech occupies 10 per cent of Sugar’s digital AdEx, said Sikaria. “The AdEx on fintech should go up in the future in terms of percentage as this platform is more controllable and dynamic and this cost is pretty comparable to other platforms (Google and Meta),” he noted.

As per Sikaria, the brand’s biggest advantage is that it spends on marketing on fintech platforms and that no one channel has the ability to scale up and return consistently.

“Each platform has a threshold. You have to leverage all platforms according to your needs and changing consumer dynamics. Marketing is primarily a balancing act.”
Asked how much the company spends on Google, Meta and other platforms, Sikaria said: “I may not be able to share the numbers, but proportion wise Google and Meta get about 40 and 40 per cent shares in digital AdEx, respectively. Fintech platforms get 10 per cent of the company’s digital AdEx, the rest 10 per cent is spent on other channels.” The company spends a sizable amount of AdEx on telecom operators and its own eCommerce channel as well, he added.

All three platforms deliver almost similar ROIs, he further said.

On fintech apps, the company’s marketing strategy revolves around discounts, coupons and prizes. “We recently launched two jackpots on PayTm. Over 70 per cent of the participants in the jackpots were new customers. Surprisingly, some of the winners of our make-up kits were men,” he quipped.

Asked how the company is utilizing the fintech platform's data for personalization, Sakaria explained, “We try to understand our consumers based on their transaction data on fintech apps. Then the offers are launched based on consumer cohorts and their demographic profiles.”

TV for overall branding

Sharing insights on being an omnichannel brand with a presence in traditional and modern trade, he said: “We have our own retail stores and an eCommerce channel as well. A sizable portion of our marketing budget goes to TV, mainly to represent the brand overall, not for D2C revenue.”

“As long as you get the ROI, you continue to invest in advertising and promotion. Instead of long-term investments, we have planned to spend in phases by figuring out what works and what does not for our products,” Sikaria explains.

WebEngage has announced that it has partnered with India’s newest and most dependable airline, Akasa Air. In line with its strategy to build a tech-first and customer-centric organisation, Akasa Air has deployed WebEngage’s marketing automation platform to enhance its customer engagement strategy.

WebEngage will collaborate with Akasa Air to deliver unparalleled customer engagement across its web and mobile channels with relevant, personalized and contextual communication.

Commenting on the partnership, Belson Coutinho, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, Akasa Air, said, “We are pleased to partner with WebEngage and leverage its cutting-edge marketing automation platform to build brand loyalty, increase customer engagement and drive conversions with one-on-one communication. Akasa is hyper-focused on customer centricity, and the platform will enable us to leverage real-time analytics to connect with users on a channel of their choice.”

Avlesh Singh, Co-founder & CEO, WebEngage, said, “Akasa Air has a unique approach towards its customers which stems from the brand’s values and a customer-centric approach. WebEngage’s retention platform will facilitate Akasa Air to replicate its on-ground and inflight experience across all its digital touchpoints through our smart, data-driven and fully automated retention platform. We believe that Akasa Air is here to transform customer experience for the airline sector and we are delighted to be their partners in this journey.”

Have you seen Sachin Tendulkar’s latest Goa pictures that took us back to 2001 when the movie “Dil Chahta Hai” was released? The master blaster took to Instagram to share an epic picture with Anil Kumble and Yuvraj Singh in Goa and wrote "Our Dil Chahta Hai moment in Goa! Who do you think is Akash, Sameer, and Sid?". The post took no time to go viral online and saw many brands and celebrities guessing if it was for an IPL campaign, a vacation, or something else.

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While it went viral, the curiosity amongst netizens about the pictures was decoded by Spinny sharing a post where Sachin is calling out to Yuvraj and Anil Kumble. While the full details are yet to unravel, it looks like Spinny has brewed something up with the trio on their throwback to “Dil Chahta Hai” moments.

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A post shared by Spinny (@myspinny)

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A post shared by Anil Kumble (@anil.kumble)

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A post shared by Yuvraj Singh (@yuvisofficial)

Nourish You, India’s maiden brand to get quinoa and chia to the country and consequently, the first homegrown superfood start-up, has announced that actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu has invested in the company.

As the first to retail homegrown quinoa and chia seeds in India, Nourish You continues to lead in promoting locally-sourced and sustainable superfoods. Samantha Ruth Prabhu's investment comes as part of Nourish You's seed funding round, which had earlier attracted pedigreed investors, including Y Janardhana Rao of Triumph Group; Rohit Chennamaneni, Co-founder, Darwinbox; Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder, Zerodha; Abhijeet Pai, Co-Founder, Gruhas Proptech; Abhinay Bollineni, CEO, KIMS Hospitals, among others.

Speaking on her investment in Nourish You, Samantha Ruth Prabhu said, "Investing in Nourish You was a natural progression since I have been consuming their products for a while. I was impressed by their story of bringing superfoods like Quinoa and Chia to India, growing them locally, and their product roadmap of millet based clean-label vegan superfoods. I believe that Nourish You can create value while making a positive impact on the health of consumers as well as the planet. I'm excited to partake in their innovative and sustainable approach to business."

In addition to her investment, Samantha has also launched Nourish You's first plant-based, vegan, and lactose-free milk alternative - Millet Mlk. The new product marks the company's foray into the alternative dairy category, and is an outcome of two years of research on innovative millet-based products undertaken by Nourish You. The United Nations had declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets and Nourish You is well-positioned to support the Government of India’s vision to make India a global hub of millets.

“We welcome Samantha to the Nourish You family; her thoughts on ancient foods are well aligned with ours. Her investment in the company is a testament to the products we have developed so far and the success we have achieved. We believe this partnership with Samantha will help us strengthen our position in the market as we unfold India’s superfood growth story.” said Krishna Reddy, Co-founder, Nourish You.

On introducing Nourish You’s Millet Mlk, Sowmya Reddy, Co-founder, Nourish You further added “I have been lactose intolerant since birth, and always saw my mother struggle to find non-dairy alternatives that were nutritious, delicious, and of good quality.  This inspired me to join the development of Millet Mlk at Nourish You. The difficulties and challenges in finding dairy-free alternatives are significant even today and Nourish You’s Millet Mlk fills these gaps. The product is Nourish You’s commitment and answer to consumers like myself; it is nutritionally rich, tastes great, and 100% pure goodness.”

The next phase of e-commerce growth will come through personalisation, demand from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and the intelligent use of 1st party data. At the recently concluded HiveMinds E-commerce Conclave 2023, industry leaders from the e-commerce ecosystem in India came together to discuss what the consumers are looking for and how brands can deliver. The title sponsor of the event was Rocketium while the media partner was exchange4media Group (e4m).

In the panel on the ‘Importance of Data AI and tools in marketplaces’, Sripath Hariharan of Nivea India insisted that consumer trends cannot be overlooked. “In India, we will soon see the trends that are already prevalent in the global markets. Marketers should use the tools and Data AI to build campaigns and products for what tomorrow’s consumers will need”, he said.

Rocketium’s Karan Rao expressed that the consumers are now overloaded with information, so messages don’t register. He said the only way to get the message across is to personalise it and make it relevant for that user. He further added that data gives you the gift of time to study the trends and predict what will happen in the future.

In the other highly engaging debate on ‘Getting into the Mind of the Consumer’, Pooja Sahgal of Raymond Consumer Care said online marketplaces are a big brand-building opportunity. She opined that an integrated marketing strategy that intends to educate and engage a customer will go a long way in creating demand and fandom for online brands.

Rajeev Kohli, an e-commerce & marketing expert, mentioned how e-commerce platforms are now so important for fashion and beauty brands that marketers plan exclusive product launches exclusively for these platforms. “E-commerce can no longer be considered merely a platform to sell discounted products but rather a platform for learning about the future consumer”, Kohli said.

Abhishek Agrawal of Plum Goodness said that while the access and scalability of e-commerce marketplaces offer extended reach for a brand’s needs, for any brand, whether new or legacy, access to first-party data is paramount. It gives an insight into consumer and product feedback. Therefore, in his view, all CPG brands should focus primarily on their D2C website and m-sites. Brands’ digital assets are not only for selling but also for connecting with their users.

While discussing the impact of mega sales on e-commerce platforms on the panel ‘How to Get the Best Mileage from Online Sales’, CMOs of the leading appliance brands discussed the merits of launching innovative products during sale events.

Wonderchef’s Amit Tilekar pointed out that the data consumption per user has increased from 1GB per month per user to 13GB per month per user. “Continually exploring marketplaces is now a standard part of the user journey in buying appliances, so for brands heavily dependent on inventory planning, it makes sense to launch new products at least 45-60 days before sale events and observe consumer acceptance of products and cost. This way, such brands can better plan their inventory, sales targets, and marketing spends to maximise the impact during sale events”, Tilekar added.

However, e-commerce sales are not the answer to all scaling problems. Anand Dubey of Indkal Technologies noted that traffic on online platforms is significant during the festive season, and consumer intent to buy is even higher. Hence, the discovery-to-purchase journey becomes very short. He recommends that brands should invest during festive sales on e-commerce to convert users and build brand salience. He also reiterated the importance of inventory management: if a brand launches a new product during sales, predicting the demand and planning inventory becomes challenging.

Startup founders, marketing heads, and platform ad sales teams attended the event en masse. All delegates felt that the discussions, though very useful, were just conversation starters. There is a need for the industry to hold such debates more frequently to bring all stakeholders together to discuss and define the future of e-commerce in India.