Influencer Marketing – Dutch Uncles

Why D2C Companies are Acquiring Online Content Platforms?

Shalmoli Sarkar — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 08:30:08 +0000

Honasa Consumer Private Ltd (HCPL) the parent company of popular D2C personal care brands Mamaearth and The Derma Co has recently announced its acquisition with female-oriented content platform Momspresso and associated influencer-engagement platform Momspresso MyMoney for an undisclosed amount.
Recently turned unicorn Good Glamm group has been on an acquisition spree since 2021. It has acquired popular content platforms like MissMalini, Popxo, Plixxo, and BabyChakra and two more startups Winkl and Vidooly, in the influencer management space for an undisclosed amount. With such aggressive acquisitions in the content platforms, it plans to develop a new venture under the name, Good Creator Co.
What is common in the above two acquisitions? These acquisitions have been made by a D2C company especially in the online content platform space.

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A report from RedSeer says that there are about 210 million monetisable internet users in India who consume content in vernacular languages.

Content platforms – A focused marketing strategy with Micro and Regional influencers

Most content platforms such as BabyChakra, Popxo, Mompresso, and Plixxo are driven by a strong community of women, regional content creators, and micro-influencers who through their innovative content styles have developed a niche that appeals to the vernacular audience which is large and growing in number. A report from RedSeer says that there are about 210 million monetisable internet users in India who consume content in vernacular languages.
Although it might seem that marketing through macro-influencers will maximise reach due to their huge follower base, but vernacular content creators hold a special place in their follower’s hearts. The followers tend to idolise them more due to regional inclination and connectivity and hence, are considered experts especially for topics on skincare, makeup, fashion, and styling.
Surprisingly, the number of followers for macro-influencers cannot promise a better engagement rate which is why these D2C companies are leveraging the strong network of women, vernacular, and micro-influencers as a part of their focussed marketing strategy to tap the vernacular-speaking masses and expand their product reach.
Similarly, GoodGlamm through its acquisition of Scoopwhoop wants to foray deeper into the male’s grooming segment that has remained underserved and limited over the years. Its new venture Good Creator Co in influencer management will form a symbiotic relationship with the influencers and content creators as it will provide brand campaigns, monetisation opportunities, as well as affiliate and creator commerce programmes.
On acquiring Momspresso and MyMoney, HCPL will enjoy from the platform’s existing 60,000 regional content creators, a strong women community of 30 million, and over 2 lakh micro-influencers owning a fan base of 50 million.

D2C brands will benefit from these online content platforms as they can market their products through regional targeting that will appeal to a larger audience by building a personal connection that offers these brands high reach and engagement.

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WhizCo, Benchmarking Digital Marketing Services

Aakash Sharma — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 03:35:08 +0000

‘Content is King’, and the pandemic induced rapid digitisation of all sorts of businesses has ensured this kingly status of content as it became synonymous with the digital presence of any business. The shift to online platforms was already underway; the COVID-19 pandemic only hastened its pace. The biggest industry that has virtually taken off with a boom during the last year is, without a doubt, the digital marketing services industry.

The foremost advantage for businesses in taking the digital marketing route is that the conversion percentage is very high, and therefore, the business growth is big. With brands witnessing the largely positive impact of their digital footprint, many have gone ahead with outsourcing their marketing campaigns to digital marketing firms that have the expertise in this new industry.

WhizCo, acing the digital marketing game

While traditional campaigns require spending a fortune without any distinct ROI, digital marketing services yield way more results than their conventional counterparts. And one digital marketing services company that has made great name recognition is Delhi-based WhizCo. WhizCo is a creative digital marketing agency based in Delhi. It provides services like SEO Performance, Social Media Marketing, and Influencer Marketing.

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WhizCo offers brands a robust portfolio of digital-first opportunities that drives consumer engagement and action through "powerful human connection".

Prerna Goyal, co-founder and chief marketing officer of WhizCo, is the driving force behind the company. Along with Aastha Goyal and Keshav Jindal, she seeks to redefine the country’s digital marketing space, which has traditionally relied on the strategy of uploading content on various social media with the hopes of recognition.

WhizCo began its operations in India and, over time, has expanded its reach to the global market. Some of the biggest brands this company has helped reach their potential include Maruti Suzuki, Cantabil, PayTM, and OYO among others.

Delivering robust and result-driven marketing solutions by WhizCo

Providing a wide array of services, including Digital Strategy, Viral Marketing, Meme Marketing, Social Media Growth, Influencer Marketing, Account Management, and Hashtag Challenge, among others, WhizCo has tapped a widely expanding market that is set to grow substantially in coming years.

The digital marketing and advertising industry across India had a market size of around $2.68 billion in the financial year 2020, up from just $633 million in the financial year 2015. This is projected to go up to approximately $7.26 billion by 2024, indicating substantial growth in the industry.

Influencer marketing and the new era of content-driven outreach

The influencer marketing space has increased significantly since the start of the pandemic. Businesses across industries and domains, be it FMCG and retail players or entertainment and media, have rapidly adopted digital paths. The $53 billion vernacular content market of India has flourished immensely with massively increased social media usage resulting in unprecedented figures of content intake. Influencer marketing has moved out of traditional social media as it has also found space in short video platforms.

What can budding entrepreneurs learn from WhizCo?

Start-ups and upcoming entrepreneurs must learn to adapt to new trends and embrace technological change. In delving into the new era of marketing and brand promotion, they must create a massive pool of content assets across various social media and digital platforms. Businesses can leverage this to gain traction and help clients expand their outreach.

There’s a great market for digital marketing businesses as associations with brands across distinct verticals such as fashion, health and fast-moving consumer goods, among others, is possible, now that online shift has become necessary for all.

Moreover, for the success of any brand campaign, it is essential to have in place a collaboration of influencers rooted in varying short videos, social media, or other online modes. Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn this from WhizCo; it has amassed a strong cumulative base of nearly 7 million people and offers services that are not traditional digital marketing but focused more on content marketing and brand amplification.

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A Peek Into The Business Empires Of Businesswoman Kim Kardashian

DU Desk — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 05:35:08 +0000

When the world was sleeping and unaware of how glamorous and feminine business and entrepreneurship could be, one woman, Kim Kardashian single-handedly built a business empire for herself and her family. We are now coming to terms with solopreneurs, womenpreneurs, and mompreneurs. But Kim Kardashian had already built a multi-billion-dollar beauty and wellness empire when the rest of the world was still playing catch up.

Who is Kim Kardashian?

Kim Kardashian is a reality TV star, an ex-stylist and now a beauty Moghul. She has a glamorous brand persona, a star-studded net worth, and is one of the biggest international celebrities. Kim paved her way into the cosmetics, and fashion industry by leveraging the power of social media during its budding days.

Kim Kardashian’s Business Portfolio

Kim Kardashian has a very vast business portfolio centred around her stint as a producer to her family’s Reality TV Show. Her portfolio is spread out across exclusive media appearances, collaborations with the who’s-who of the beauty, fashion, and media world. Currently, her prominent business ventures include:

KKW Beauty

KKW (Kim Kardashian West) Beauty is a cosmetic and beauty brand famous for its body make up, body tape products, lip, and face make up products which is currently undergoing a rebranding exercise to adopt a more sustainable approach. It is estimated to be valued at $1 Bn.

Skims

Skims is a shapewear and undergarment brand famous for its inclusive bodysuits, and loungewear, estimated to be worth $1.6 Bn. Through the brand, Kim Kardashian is promoting body positivity since her products cater to men and women of all shapes and sizes.

Keeping up with the Kardashians

At the crux of Kim’s business portfolio is Keeping up with the Kardashians, a reality TV show she co-produced with her family for a long duration of 20 Seasons and which recently concluded. KUWTK has left behind a long legacy and has propelled Kim Kardashian to the pinnacle of stardom.

Endorsement Deals

Kim Kardashian endorses and collaborates with the top designers, make-up artists and brands of the fashion world including the likes of Chanel, Versace, and Mugler. She has appearances at top fashion events including the Met Gala and Paris Fashion Week.

Instagram Ads

Kim Kardashian does sponsored Instagram posts for luxury brands and products in beauty, health, wellness, makeup, jewellery, cosmetics, and apparel. She charges a tentative $1 Mn for each sponsored post.

How Kim Kardashian became a successful Businesswoman

Kim Kardashian became a successful businesswoman due to her existing television show, the publicity and media coverage received from it. Also, due to her celebrity image and personal life which read like an open book, she has been a favourite among gossip blogs, and the paparazzi. This exposure has helped her business success immensely.

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At the crux of Kim’s business portfolio is Keeping up with the Kardashians, a reality TV show she co-produced with her family for a long duration of 20 Seasons and which recently concluded.

What’s in it for me?

Kim Kardashian’s business success is a lesson in branding for solopreneurs and mompreneurs. You need to build a solid brand image for yourself to move forward successfully in business. Learning from Kim Kardashian’s life, you need to capitalise on powerful outreach channels like social media, and digital platforms like YouTube to build your brand image.

Kim Kardashian has been an active user of Twitter since it was first launched. She has actively engaged with her followers and fans without failing to update them about her next move, her pursuits, and passion. Social media and digital platforms are strong branding tools which solopreneurs need to leverage since the exposure and outreach opportunities are at a global scale. Finally, Kim Kardashian’s success is also a lesson in women empowerment. Despite many naysayers and negative publicity received over the years, many of which were intensely sexist in nature, Kim kept pursuing her business ambitious and proved to the world that women can raise empires from the ground in business.

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Being a Part of YouTube, This is How SimSim Can Achieve its Mission

DU Desk — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 08:35:07 +0000

As smartphones and data plans become more affordable, the gambit of online shopping will penetrate deeper into the tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India. The new internet shoppers from India are craving an interactive seller-led experience resembling the offline e-commerce experience. The buying decisions of online shoppers today are largely influenced by product video demonstrations which are engaging. People find online videos to be the primary source of information regarding a product or service review, its functioning, etc.

To align with the new shopping behaviour, the e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart have introduced their respective ad-supported video streaming services where users can watch video content on products and services, translating to increased sales since consumers will buy what they see.

According to FICCI-EY Media and Entertainment Report 2021, the number of video viewers has increased by 15% in 2020 to reach 468 million and this number is expected to grow to 650 million by 2023.

Social commerce platforms like SimSim -a Google-backed firm, that targets shoppers from India’s small cities and towns are not behind in video-based shopping as well. The platform leverages the power of video content and micro-influencers to attract customers and has been recently acquired by YouTube.

YouTube acquiring Social Commerce Startup SimSim

Since consumer social platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube cannot meaningfully monetise through advertising finance models, this acquisition will benefit YouTube to build a new integrated shopping experience that will allow viewers to buy products they see in videos from trusted creators and will offer new revenue streams for micro-influencers that will increase retention on its platforms and expand the user base of YouTube.

SimSim in its short span of two years in 2020 has acquired $17 million in its Series B financing round.

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According to FICCI-EY Media and Entertainment Report 2021, the number of video viewers has increased by 15% in 2020 to reach 468 million and this number is expected to grow to 650 million by 2023.

How this Acquisition will benefit SimSim

Leveraging YouTube’s expansive reach of 450 million users in India, SimSim plans to help small sellers and brands by showcasing and selling their products using the power of content creators on YouTube’s platform will aid to increase the reach and customer base of SimSim in remote parts of India.

Video Marketing and Micro-influencers: The game-changers in e-commerce

Here are the reasons why social commerce platforms are widely using product videos and micro-influencers in their platforms:

Major Influencer in purchasing decision

Informative and demonstrative product videos will influence customers in making purchases due to the better representation of a product’s unique selling proposition.

Builds Customer trust and credibility

Appealing video content from micro-influencers builds trust and credibility among customers as the audience perceives them to be one of them and easily connects with their ideologies. This also increases a brand’s website conversion and traffic.

Niche Audience and Loyal Brand advocates

Micro-influencers, through their unique content creation style, target a narrower section of the audience, where the engagement rates are higher.

The best advertisement a brand can receive is from those individuals who are already using the products. Micro-influencers fall in these categories and this makes them loyal brand advocates. Sellers on social commerce platforms do not need to maximise efforts to develop the brand relationship from scratch.

What Lies Ahead for the Social Commerce Startups

According to a report from Bain & Company, the overall social commerce market is expected to grow to $16-20 billion by 2025 from a $2 billion market in 2020. The tailwinds to the growth of social commerce startups will be a deeper reach of the internet and increasing aspirations for a better life. Social commerce will leverage the emerging number of micro and vernacular influencers to showcase small sellers and business products on online platforms through interactive video content.

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New ASCI Guidelines for Influencer Marketing

Shalmoli Sarkar — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 03:35:04 +0000

Past few years, influencer marketing has witnessed an unexpected rise in India thanks to the high consumption of social media, deluge of affordable smartphones, and data plans. According to digital marketing agency AdLift, India’s influencer market is pegged at $75-150 million a year, as compared to the global market of $1.75 billion. Marketers are increasingly shifting to invest in influencer marketing knowing that an influencer is armed with a huge follower base where brands can be amplified authentically.

Why ASCI had to set guidelines for influencer marketing ?

As more and more Indians get connected with the internet and social media they interact with a plethora of brands daily, which is somewhat erasing the lines between promotional content and user-generated content. People nowadays, especially the Gen Z generation, follow influencers with their heart and soul since, for many, their influence is a stark reflection of their personality and behaviour. When an influencer endorses the benefits of a brand or service in his/her social media handles, followers get swayed from the brand stories they create. Till date, influencers in their social media posts do not reveal that it is a paid activity, the content of the ad is being decided by the brand that might convey unrealistic claims to the audience via the influencer’s voice. Many alcohol brands have exploited this ‘unrevealing of paid media’ and have broken the cocoon of surrogate advertising to openly advertise their alcohol brands in collaboration with stand-up comedians. To safeguard the interests of consumers, influencers, and marketeers, influencer marketing has come under the scanner of advertising watchdog ASCI to set up guidelines for bringing transparency in communications.

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According to digital marketing agency AdLift, India's influencer market is pegged at $75-150 million a year, as compared to the global market of $1.75 billion.

What are the ASCI guidelines?

The Advertising Standards Council of India ( ASCI) was established in 1985, it is a self-regulatory voluntary organisation of the advertising industry in India. It is a non-Government body.Below are the ASCI guidelines for influencer marketing that will be effective from 14 June 2021:

Influencers are required to place disclosures in a manner that should not be hidden under a heap of hashtags or links.
If ads or videos are posted on Instagram stories or Snapchat, then putting a disclosure label superimposed over the content is compulsory. Disclosure terms such as advertisements, ads, sponsored, collaboration, partnership, employee, and gift can be used.
Videos lasting for 15 seconds or less, the disclosure label must stay for a minimum of 3 seconds.
For Videos lasting for two minutes or more the disclosure label must stay for the entire duration of the section in which the brand is promoted or its features and benefits are mentioned.
For videos of duration more than 15 seconds, but less than 2 minutes, the disclosure label should stay for one-third the length of the video.
A disclosure is required if there is any material connection or transaction between the brand and influencer. The material connection is not confined to money but if the brand offers any free or discounted products or services or other perks and then if the influencer mentions one of its products or services, disclosure is mandatory.

How the new ASCI guidelines on influencer marketing will impact the businesses?

When influencers do not reveal that promotion is paid, it gives brands the benefit to make it look like an earned media, which is synonymous with ‘word of mouth marketing’ showcasing that the influencer is willingly promoting the brand without being approached by the brand. Influencers smoothened the tone to make it look less of a promotion as it would reduce the engagement with content, which is bad news for influencers as well. According to a study by Neilsen, 92 percent of consumers trust earned media such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family or influencers over other forms of advertising. Since, the labels of disclosures were not mandated, brands had the power to dictate the influencer about the promotion content, therefore, disseminating exaggerated claims. Even though social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have in-built features to disclose if an influencer is posting sponsored content, influencers could easily get away by not revealing it as a paid activity.

The guidelines will help brands to do intent-based marketing. Influencer content showing the disclaimer of a brand promoted will help viewers to decide on a purchase. If they engage with your ad further it will imply, he/she has the purchase intent.

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Analysing Viewership Revenue of IPL: How will 2021 fare?

Smruthi Krishnan — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 00:35:04 +0000

The IPL is one of the most-attended cricket leagues in the world and was ranked sixth by average attendance among all sports leagues in 2014. The IPL was the first sporting event in the world to be broadcast live on YouTube. According to BCCI, the 2015 IPL season contributed ₹11.5 billion to the GDP of the Indian economy.

Broadcasting in IPL via SONY

The IPL’s broadcast rights were earlier given to Sony Pictures Networks and World Sport Group, under a ten-year contract valued at US$1.03 billion. In the 2016 season, Sony MAX, Sony SIX, and Sony ESPN served as the domestic broadcasters of the IPL

Acquiring the IPL, a major television property within India turned Sony MAX into the most-watched television channel during the tournament. Their annual advertising revenue surpassed ₹12 billion by 2016. In the 2016 season, Sony’s broadcasts achieved just over 1 billion impressions jumping to 1.25 billion in 2017.

Star and Disney+ Hotstar

In 2017, Star India acquired the global media rights to the IPL under a five-year contract beginning in 2018 at ₹163.475 billion making it the most expensive broadcast rights deal in the history of cricket. The IPL sold the rights in packages for domestic television, domestic digital, and international rights.

Star tried to increase viewership targeting core cricket audiences by broadcasting at least two hours of IPL-related programming daily from January until the start of the season including televised announcements of player retention selections and new team captains, player auction, pre- and post-auction reactions and analysis. This increased viewership six-fold to 46.5 million. They also focused on the behind-the-scenes coverage of the IPL’s teams and expert analysis post matches.

Star broadcasts IPL matches live online in India via its over-the-top video streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar. Matches are also available on Jio TV and Airtel TV apps on smartphones. International streaming viewership on Disney+ Hotstar saw records, exceeding 10 million concurrent viewers multiple times in 2019 especially with the 2019 final peaking at 18.6 million concurrent streaming viewers.

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In 2017, Star India acquired the global media rights to the IPL under a five-year contract beginning in 2018 at ₹163.475 billion making it the most expensive broadcast rights deal in the history of cricket.

Previous Year Revenue from Viewership and 2021 Estimates

The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) earned Rs. 4000 crore revenue in IPL 2020 despite the pandemic and witnessed a total of 25 per cent increase in the viewership from the last year. It was a cash-rich league conducted in UAE due to COVID-19 protocol which for obvious reasons had no gate revenue. The majority of the revenue stream was from broadcast viewerships and the league was a successful one.

With the whole season shifting to broadcast revenue, TV ads were a major contributor to the revenue. Star India raised around Rs 2,600 crore in advertising revenue from TV and digital in 2020. According to BARC, last season saw a 23 percent growth in viewing minutes. It is estimated to increase further this year which will lead to a hike in ad rates ad advertisers know they have the viewership. IPL 2020 became the first sports tournament to cross the 400 billion viewing minutes as compared to 326 billion it had recorded in 2019.

With the country dealing with the post-covid normal, albeit a continual surge in COVID cases, IPL 2021 continues to be conducted in the new normal way. As states across the nation are going into lockdown and night curfews, going to the stadium to watch the match isn’t an option for the time being. The viewership and live streams is expected to increase given past statistics and will hopefully cross 400 billion viewing minutes once again and set a new record. The increase in viewership due to nationwide COVID protocol is clearly paving the path for an increase in revenue from broadcasting and advertising in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. The numbers are much less but fingers crossed as it’s a huge tournament, the BCCI did it successfully in Dubai and hopefully, we can do it this time as well.

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What Will be the Advertisement Rates this IPL Season?

Smruthi Krishnan — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 12:35:05 +0000

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in India usually contested by eight teams representing eight different cities or states in India. The league was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007 and is the most-attended cricket league in the world, ranked sixth by average attendance among all sports leagues in 2014.

In 2010 IPL also became the first sporting event in the world to be broadcast live on YouTube. Given the huge viewership in terms of audience and streaming platform viewers, the IPL is the golden opportunity for several companies and brands to advertise their products in order to expand reach and sales.

Star Sports and Disney Hotstar

Star India acquired the global media rights to the IPL in 2017 under a five-year contract beginning in 2018. The most expensive broadcast rights deal in the history of cricket, it was valued at ₹163.475 billion and included packages for domestic television, domestic digital, and international rights. The IPL is a very powerful property and can help advertisers and media channels to expand their reach far and wide and their reach only grows more and more.

Star broadcasts IPL matches live online in India via its over-the-top video streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar. In 2019, international streaming viewership on Disney+ Hotstar saw records, exceeding 10 million concurrent viewers multiple times. The 2019 final broke these records, peaking at 18.6 million concurrent streaming viewers.

Advertisement Rates IPL 2020

During the pandemic, with people being stuck at home, IPL 2020 turned out to be a huge success. People were looking for escapes from their mundane lives at home and since they could not attend the matches live, streaming platforms became the next big thing. As per BARC India, it surpassed the 2019 edition in terms of viewership.

Cumulative reach grew by 11% while viewing minutes have increased by 28% y-o-y. This was optimised by several companies who bidded huge amounts to get a few seconds on the broadcast to advertise their products.

Star Sports has hiked advertising rates for the last four matches of the tournament by about 15-20%. The individual ad rates for the IPL had been set at Rs 12-13 lakh for each 10 seconds. The broadcasters knew there would be higher viewership than normal so that did not reduce ad rates in 2020.

According to media buyers, about 85-90% of the inventory was sold at the start of IPL and 10-15% has been set aside for last minute sales. Star also hiked ad rates for Disney+ Hotstar from Rs 120 CPM per 10 seconds in 2019 to Rs 180-200 CPM/10 seconds.

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In 2010 IPL became the first sporting event in the world to be broadcast live on YouTube. Given the huge viewership, it is the golden opportunity for companies to advertise their products.

Ad Rates in 2021 and what is in it for companies looking to advertise?

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League starts April 9,2021 and Star Sports has raised ad rates for the IPL by 15-20 per cent this year, compared to last year. The buzz around the league has already started and the viewership and live streams are expected to only increase. IPL 2020 was a massive success, and the official broadcaster, Disney+ Hotstar, is thinking to soar that up. As per the reports, Disney Star India Network is already prepared to increase ad-rates by almost 25% for the IPL 2021.

The Ad-Rates for the upcoming IPL 2021 are expected to soar up to 14 to 15 Lakhs for just 10 Seconds. IPL 2020 witnessed an impressive viewership growth of 24 percent among women and 20 percent among children respectively and ad volumes soared by 4%. Thus, IPL is upping the stakes for advertisers to book their slots for advertisements.

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Marketing of IPL Explained

Shalmoli Sarkar — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 04:35:03 +0000

IPL’s signature trumpet tone in 2020 remained undeterred and blew at the highest pitch despite the global crisis. As per BARC India viewership, IPL 2020 had clocked a cumulative reach of 405 million viewers out of the total TV universe of 836 million across 21 channels that Star and Disney India aired the matches on. With a total of 400 billion viewing minutes on TV, IPL 2020 event experienced a spike of 23% over IPL 2019 and a 12.4% increase over ICC World Cup 2019 i.e.,356 billion minutes surpassing all the previous viewership records held by any broadcasting property in India.The 13th season of IPL 2020 began on a crust of uncertainties due to the pandemic, witnessed an online gaming start-up replacing a Chinese company taking the sole charge of title sponsorships and many other Indian start-ups associated with this seven-week cricket blitzkrieg. This was the first time in the history of IPL that sponsorship profile invited many homegrown start-ups and lesser-known brands. With slower out-of-home consumption and IPL being held overseas, meaning zero ticket sales and marketing through the stadium windows, the marketing of IPL in 2020 was indeed a challenge. However, despite the challenges, IPL 2020 received a record-breaking viewership. As per Boston Consulting Group, the Indian audience’s content consumption on OTT platforms skyrocketed by 55-60 percent in 2020 due to the work from home model. Aware of the fact that Indians spend close to 4 hrs on smartphones every day, this year’s marketing strategy of IPL was largely dependent on the digital medium where the IPL marketing content was amalgamated with the brand content for the top-of-mind recall.

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As per BARC India viewership, IPL 2020 had clocked a cumulative reach of 405 million viewers out of the total TV universe of 836 million across 21 channels that Star and Disney India aired the matches on.

Marketing of IPL through Television

Star Sports was the official broadcaster of IPL 2020, which charged Rs 12.5 lakh for a 10-second ad slot. Aware of the fact that start-ups will be aggressively advertising in this IPL season for maximum presence, BCCI did not offer any Covid discount to Star Sports while purchasing broadcasting rights. Star Sports has roped in 18 sponsors before the beginning of the tournament and signed 117 advertisers. Among the associate sponsors were Dream11, PhonePe, BYJU’S, VI, and Amazon, while the co-presenting sponsors were Mondelez, ITC Foods, Polycab, Diageo, P&G, Coca Cola, Hero, Facebook, KP Group, Daily Hunt, Samsung, Cred, and AMFI. Star Sports has generated revenues worth Rs 2300 crores -Rs 2400 crores of advertising revenue from TV as compared to Rs 2000 -2100 crores in 2019. Brands through its commercial on TV marketed the IPL event. For instance, JIO came up with its commercial Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan ad that featured players from Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Delhi Capitals, including Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh shaking a leg. The TV commercials remain incomplete without Swiggy ads where they featured directors Tigmanshu Dhulia, Hansal Mehta ordering many Swiggy food bags showcasing the attractive discounts offered during the IPL as well as hygiene measures followed behind a funny cricket commentary background. EdTech platform Unacademy in its commercial ‘cracking the game’ showcased in an IPL match how various fundamentals of physics, chemistry, and biology such as magnetic induction, gravity, speed, etc. were visible and applicable.

Marketing of IPL through Start-ups/Apps

Trell – a lifestyle video app in association with Chennai Super Kings has launched a digital IPL campaign – #CSKMillionAnthem on its app where users can watch exclusive videos, cheer for their teams, shop exclusive offers on Trell and stand a chance to meet their favourite CSK team players virtually. Through such digital campaigns, Trell aims to bring offline excitement and stadium cheer online, where users can celebrate the spirit of cricket with online communities through the art of storytelling

Myntra in IPL 2020 had partnered with three IPL teams to create innovative social media campaigns and virtual contests around IPL matches. One of them is ‘virtual Wankhede’ that was organised in association with the Mumbai Indians team allowing Mumbai Indian fans to cheer their team virtually. Myntra although through such campaigns wanted to increase reach in tier-II and tier-III cities, meanwhile involving teams is marketing for IPL as well.

For the start-ups

Leveraging the digital medium, start-ups can create creative content that will align the marketing goals of the sports event as well as the brand offerings. This content strategy in marketing will help brands in gathering viewership, ensure virality and create a high recall value.

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Why are Celebrities Like Aishwarya Rai and Others Investing in Start-ups?

Roopali Kotwal — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 02:35:04 +0000

Practical aspect

Investing in start-ups mean there is potential in the business idea/product/service being offered.

Initially, only the belief and the return on investment are considered to invest in any start-up. But the biggest practical aspect is the availability of capital. Beyond doubt, risk-taking ability, the courage to bear the consequences if something goes wrong are the points to be considered for any investment.

Celebrities are paid well! Therefore, becoming an investor may not be the question but why in ‘Start-ups’ can be!

Psychological aspect

The psychosocial change is a part of the life span which will push a human being to think about ways to give back to society. The famous psychologist, Erikson named it ‘Generativity’ – act of performing meaningful work and reaching out to others to guide and give to the next generation.

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It’s not always the celebrities who reach out to invest. In fact, celebrities are often approached by start-ups for better reach of the product/service.

What motivates celebrities to invest?

Knowing the exact reasons may be unidentifiable until clarified. Here summarizing few for any celebrity to join the Investor league:

Additional Income

Risk-taking ability

Social responsibility

Conviction in the idea/product/service

Creative minds with lots of money and business acumen

Strong Presentation of a unique business model for a good return on their investment

Relatable cause and feel the need to encourage such businesses

Promote interests like healthy food, fitness, education and women empowerment

What’s in for me?

It’s not always the celebrities who reach out to invest. In fact, celebrities are often approached by start-ups for better reach of the product/service.

People relate to celebrities especially when they promote the cause close to their heart. Their belief in the product makes it realistic and relatable to the masses. It builds credibility, adds visibility and a large customer base. Availability of digital media platform even makes the process simpler and promotes the product in no time.

Celebrity involvement means attracting more investors. Thus, giving an opportunity to start-ups to stay in the game for long.

Primarily, it is the food, fashion and fitness brand which the celebrities promote like Hrithik Roshan (one of the fittest celebrities) has invested in ‘Cure fit’ (fitness chain). But few are breaking the stereotype and disrupting the market like Deepika Padukone who invested in ‘Furlenco’ and ‘Blue Smart’. And last but not the least, Aishwarya Rai’s investment in ‘Ambee’.

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2021 Marketing Trends Dominating Ecommerce

Shalmoli Sarkar — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 02:30:07 +0000

Panic buying, reduced spending, quarantine, working from home, travel restrictions, pay cuts, supply chain irregularities, hoping for the vaccine to come are the words that perfectly encapsulated the year 2020. Times like these were equally challenging for the Ecommerce businesses since they had to quickly adapt to novel strategies to allay the fear existing people caused by the pandemic. The fear led to shifts in consumer behaviour and spending and suddenly increased the appetite for technology adoption that gave birth to many first-time shoppers. The Ecommerce marketing landscape that earlier focused on aggressive competition with its counterparts has changed to become a helping hand to the competition or collaborate with them. For instance, the Lifebuoy soap in its full print ad came out openly to speak that hygiene is assured whether it is their competitor’s soap or their soap. As there are multiple players in Ecommerce, the only point of differentiation that an Ecommerce can offer to its audience is through an enhanced consumer experience. Providing an enhanced consumer experience will be an amalgamation of consumer data and behaviour. Below are some marketing trends in Ecommerce that will rule 2021.

Mobile devices and the use of local languages

A recent report from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) states that there are 1.15 billion mobile phone users of which 520.1 million users are from rural India. Ecommerce companies to cater to the first-time users from rural India needs to lower the language barrier. Communicating in local languages increases the engagement with rural audiences since they can relate more and that presents a personalized user experience. As per KPMG, the user base for Ecommerce in local languages has a CAGR of 32 per cent and in the coming next five years, it will add 120 million users.

Since people consume digital content primarily on smartphones, the pay-per-click advertisements due to their cost-effectiveness and ability to adjust campaigns as required will be adopted more by Ecommerce companies. It enables companies to collect consumer insights based on campaign performance, conversion rates, level of engagement and ROI, etc.

Voice Commerce

Speaking takes less time than typing and also enables multitasking. With Google’s commercial featuring Gajraj Rao speaking the benefits of voice search, it is enabling Ecommerce marketers to consider voice search marketing as a part of SEO strategy. The use of keywords and phrases is slightly elaborate while we speak than type. Thus, including them will enable the brand to rank higher when the words are uttered.

Google says that currently, more than 20 percent of the search queries are from voice searches. Hence, voice commerce is emerging as one of the most promising marketing trends. The voice search strategy will prove to be beneficial to the rural masses who are not comfortable to type or read in English. They might use a voice search to search for a product, nearby hospital or restaurant, etc. Reliance Jio’s affordable handsets have a stronghold in rural India, that has the voice search feature even though it is not android.

Video Marketing

The emergence of short-form video apps like Josh and Moj, FB Live, and YouTube video channels has fueled the growth of consuming video content. Shoppable videos have started getting popular on platforms on Facebook and Instagram. The newly added short form reel feature on Instagram has a shopping option. With engaging and relevant content, it can strike the right chord with its target audience. YouTube is the second largest search engine, and what better can be for a company if they can bring up relevant content surrounding the products or service. The genre of the content can be entertainment, DIY, Tutorial, or educational which will offer an immersive experience. Any properly tagged video will rank higher on the search page.

Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence

The data is the asset and lifeline of any business. Under AI, tools such as collaborative recommendation suggests product to customers based on the historical data of past customers’ previous product purchases. The use of AI chatbots establishes seamless communication with customers instantly that gives companies adequate data to know and track consumer behaviour and provide personalized answers to address customer queries.

Using marketing trends like Machine Learning (ML), the e-commerce industry is going to reach new heights. Through ML, we can customize search results based on past purchases and browser history.

The era of influencers

Smartphones have given the power to Gen Z and millennials to convey their knowledge, opinion, and experiences to the masses. And with now everyone owning a smartphone, the creators are booming. As they already have an admiring fanbase who loves their authentic content creation, the e-commerce companies can push their products, for which they do not have to work extra to gather views. For instance, Myntra and Amazon are already utilizing marketing trends such as influencer marketing by roping in fashion influencers like Komal Pandey and Siddharth Batra to showcase their apparel and encouraging people to buy the look.

The previous year was about observing the new market changes, this year e-commerce companies will be capitalizing on the changes and developing a niche for themselves.

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