DDB Mudra Group has unveiled ‘Point of New’, an e-book comprising a collection of essays that examine lasting shifts in consumer behaviour, brought on by the pandemic.

Using the Group’s proprietary Signbanking process, over 600 Covid specific small signs of social change were aggregated over the course of 8 months. Authored by the Group’s strategy team, these 15 essays act as a guide in shaping decisions for the new world.

‘Point of New’ showcases the impact of new rituals in a post-Covid world on people, businesses and society at large. The essays discuss the new rules of the new world modelled on themes that keep the wheel of life in motion such as Being, Identity, Consuming and Parenting amongst others.

The research began by studying people's lifestyle and daily routines in their natural environment without intrusion. This anthropological approach to understanding consumer behaviour as it plays out in day-to-day lives helped predict larger cultural and behavioral shifts.

Elaborating on the why behind the book, Amit Kekre, National Strategy Head, DDB Mudra Group says, “The pandemic has forced us to consider a new and hopefully a better tomorrow. Just how much better this new world will be, depends on how we construct it. It depends on the choices we make on our path to the new. While a lot has been said about the pandemic from a quantitative point of view, ‘Point of New’ goes a step further. The essays contemplate what aspects of the new world could be truly meaningful and which might need us to exercise caution as brand and business owners.”

As part of the on-going series on Fever Network, the fourth chapter of Bounce Back Bharat premiered recently with former Indian cricketer Chetan Sharma.

Fever Network’s Bounce Back Bharat initiative is an attempt to support nation building and spread positivity via inspirational stories post the COVID-19 outbreak. The campaign features a series of webinars with the who’s who of the Indian corporate world along with top celebrities from the world of cricket and Bollywood. The first three chapters with Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh became a monumental success with more than 200K+ live views across social media platforms. The webinars have so far amassed more than 2.7MN views and the campaign has garnered 63MN+ impressions so far.

Chapter 4 saw top leaders like Siddhartha Mohanty (MD & CEO, LIC HFL), Siddharth Gadia (Founder, Zeno Health) & Dr. Kailash Katkar (MD & CEO, Quick Heal Technologies Limited) as part of the panel with Chetan Sharma where they talked about the how each of them reinvented the way business was to be done in the event of the biggest black swan event the world has seen. Quick thinking, faster GTM along with compassion towards their workforce helped them sail through these tough times.

Recalling his bounce-back moment, when he took a hat-trick in the 1987 World Cup match against New Zealand, Chetan Sharma said “Those were some tough times when I went through a rough patch. But the one thing I’ve realized is that to bounce back, the people around you play a huge role. Till the time you don’t get the support from your family, your coach, your mentor & your colleagues, then it won’t be possible to make a strong come back!”

Siddharth Mohanty, MD & CEO, LIC HFL spoke about his organization’s experience during the lockdown. He said, “When the lockdown struck, we were clueless. We had no idea what direction the world was moving in. Right before the lockdown, we had launched a mobile app HOMY, in the month of Feb. The app was a huge hit! We got more than 6,000 applications during the pandemic. Not just that, our loan disbursement has also been growing more than 50% since June!”

Siddharth Gadia, Founder, Zeno Health spoke about how they coped with the corona crisis. “We were a brick and mortar store delivering medicines to customers. When the pandemic hit, it was a big challenge in front of us but we were clear we had to serve our customers. To ensure smooth service, we plied taxies for 3-4 months to ensure our employees reach the store and provide medicines to our customers!”

Dr. Kailash Katkar, MD & CEO, Quick Heal Technologies Limited spoke about the importance of technology. He said, “We are a product company so we had no concept of work from home. Our IT department did a fantastic job on the announcement of the lockdown. The entire R&D team of 450 people were given the work from home facility in just 3 days. This was almost an impossible task! We also created a new revenue stream for our channel partners by making the product available to our customers via soft copies.”

The former Head of Brand & Media at Medlife & Head of Marketing Services at Kraft Heinz

ads2OTT under the aegis of 361 Degree Entertainment & Media Pvt. Ltd. is India’s 1st integrated OTT exchange medium has announced Rajneesh Chaturvedi (former Head of Brand & Media at Medlife & Head of Marketing Services at Kraft Heinz) as Co-Founder. In this capacity, Rajneesh will be responsible for Revenue Monetization, Product Development, Research and Marketing.

ads2OTT is a one-stop solution for brands to advertise across OTT platforms by supporting an open marketplace, which will connect advertisers and publishers to transact against any data set at scale with transparency, consistency and simplicity.

Welcoming Rajneesh on-board, Arun Tyagi, Founder, ads2OTT says, “The demand for content streamed via OTT is increasing by the day in India. ads2OTT is committed to fulfil advertisers’ requirements for focused advertising. The exchange will specialise in helping brands, agencies and advertisers understand and navigate this revolutionary media landscape. As a successful Consumer Marketing Professional, Rajneesh knows what it takes to build scalable partnerships, connecting brands with consumers while generating ROI for advertisers across India. We are excited as we welcome Rajneesh on board to be a part of our dynamic team.”

“With the new normal and changing dynamics of advertising, the increasing video consumption at OTT platforms has presented a great opportunity for advertisers and brands alike. ads2OTT will be an exciting and challenging journey to showcase my experience in building, scaling and making business profitable across categories. I look forward to promising times, where we define the power of OTT media advertising ecosystem with ads2OTT enabling brands, agencies & media companies to engage with consumers,” says Rajneesh Chaturvedi, Co-Founder, ads2OTT

Prior to joining Medlife, Rajneesh was Head of Marketing Services at Kraft Heinz where he successfully launched the Kraft portfolio including Kraft Cheese in India. Also, he comes with a great experience while being associated with Top Global Communications Organizations- WPP Group and IPG Media brands at various leadership positions.

Rajneesh has been awarded the "Star Youth Achiever Award" by the Global Youth Marketing Forum & has also been featured on CNBC TV as the "Media Manager of Month"

The gusto around Makar Sankranti will be raised with an array of blockbuster movies in the Film Festival, titled Pyaar Ke Patang, starting11 January and culminate with ZEE Biskope Premiere ‘Main Sehra Baandh ke Aayunga’ on 15 January

The New Year brings with it an abundance of festivities, love and hope. Adding to the celebration is Makar Sakranti, the festival which rejoices harvest and love with utmost enthusiasm and exuberance. Holding immense significance to those from the Bhojpuri heartland, the festival depicts togetherness and love which is seen in prominence in many Bhojiwood movies. Leaving no stone unturned in rejoicing the festival with its passionate viewers, ZEE Biskope kick starts the new year on an entertaining note by presenting them a festive movie marathon titled, Pyaar Ke Patang. Each of these movies, with romance as its core theme, shall make the viewers fly high, like a kite amongst the clouds as they enjoy the emotions that the strings of love bring with it. This week-long movie festival, with every film, being telecasted on prime time at 6:00 PM, shall invite viewers to indulge in the warmth, blossoming romance between two hearts in this playful festival. The film festival will start from January 11 and will culminate with the exclusive ZEE Biskope Premiere of Khesari Lal Yadav’s ‘Main Sehra Baandh ke Aayunga’ on January 15.

The fete begins as audience soak in the fathoms of love with the romantic blockbuster ‘Mohabbat’ featuring Chintu Pandey and Kajal Yadav on January 11. Next in the line will be ‘NirahuaChalal London’ on January 12 starring Nirahua and Amrapali Dubey followed by ‘Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna’ featuring the superhit Jodi Khesari Lal Yadav and Kajal Raghwani on January 13. ‘Laagal Raha Bathasha’ starring Manoj Tiger and Amrapali Dubey will make its way to the screens on January 14. Wrapping up the film festival on a high note, the channel will premiere ‘Main Sehra Baandh ke Aayunga’, that stars superstar Khesari Lal Yadav and Kajal Raghwani, on January 15 for the very first time on the channel.

Speaking on the occasion, Samrat Ghosh, Cluster Head East, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. said, “As we welcome 2021, we continue to take the onus of entertaining our audience with specially curated programming that resonates topicality and the mood of the region. Our viewer’s belief in us as their one-stop source of unlimited Bhojpuri entertainment continues to motivate us to push boundaries and keep serving hyperlocal content. The coming year will be even more enthralling with lots of pleasant surprises for our avid viewers.”

Amarpreet Singh Saini - Business Head, ZEE Biskope & BIG Ganga, ZEEL said, “ZEE Biskope has always kept its viewers at the core. We are excited to roll out the first festival of the year themed around youthful romance that will appeal especially to our younger audience. The new year will bring in new hopes with revamped energies, setting in the celebratory mood through the lens of hyperbolic Bhojpuri entertainment. The brand will accentuate family viewing experience for viewers to rejoice festivities together.”

Along with spearheading various category first initiatives, ZEE Biskope has brought novelty to the category. The channel is motivated to build on this momentum and carry on this legacy as a way forward for the brand to remain as the Ultimate Bhojpuri Entertainer.

Zee Biskope offers a slew of robust content spread across an array of genres highly popular amongst Bhojpuri audience, such as romance, drama, action and comedy. The channel is available on Airtel (channel no 663), Tata Sky (channel no 1120), DEN Bihar(channel no 840), DEN Jharkhand (channel no 839), DD Free Dish (channel no 31), d2h (channel no 859), Dish TV (channel no 1555), Siti Cable (channel no 214), Darsh Digital (channel no 189) and GTPL (channel no 276). It’ll soon be available on all other major cable platforms.

Nielsen BASES released its highly anticipated Top Breakthrough Innovation Winners in India, for 2020. The release unveils successful innovations by brands across India, showcasing winners’ effective strategies and how they brought their plans to life.

“When it comes to evaluating innovations, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach anymore. It is critical to understand the business objectives and the innovation strategy. A key factor to also consider is the endurance of innovation over time in sync with revenue objectives and other criteria,” said Vidya Sen, BASES Leader, South Asia.

BASES uses different evaluation criteria for innovations that are meant to be mass vs others that target a more niche audience by strategy. This varies depending on whether the objective is to garner long-term revenue gain vs. short term, growing the category pie, gaining share within the category or just staving off competitive pressure. Nielsen BASES scrutinized more than 4,000 innovations across 85 categories with a minimum 18 months in market presence in FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and OTC (over-the-counter) and has released a list of 23 winners.

Consumers in India have prioritised health over the last few years, and this focus is fueling growing interest in natural and plant based products. In a study conducted in November 2020, 60% respondents indicated that natural products were more important to them today than a year ago.

“While naturals as a trend has been around for the past few years, it is really interesting to see how the nuances are changing over time and going beyond the goodness of nature”, said Sen. “New age brands are re-defining it as safe, fresh and focusing on homemade fresh, transparent processes and a clean label,” she added.

The BASES consumer study shows that sustainability for consumers is more about the tangible benefits of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ (66%) and organic and natural ingredients (58%). Fifty-six percent of the consumers contacted by BASES say they would definitely switch to an eco friendly brand, given a similar product experience as their current brand. Innovations that made it to the Breakthrough Winners list are very conscious of this shift in consumer behaviour and healthy, natural and sustainable are core to their product offerings.

Another trend that emerged in a BASES study conducted in April 2020, was concern for the family. Consumers ranked products that claimed to ‘protect their family’ over those that claimed to kill germs and bacteria, or boost immunity. This ask of emotional benefit of the innovation for consumers has been amplified by the onset of the pandemic earlier this year, with the lockdown and people at home.

Some winners have innovated in their go-to-market strategies with a ‘digital first’ strategy, moving from ‘mass marketing’ to ‘personalisation at scale’. These trends have led to launch and market in an accelerated and focused manner. Others have mapped online audience behavior to deliver personalised and relevant messages to their target group consumers. Their media strategy also then helped them to deliver the messages in an integrated manner across all the touchpoints of the consumer journey.

“As we look to identify innovation spaces for the future, marketers and brand managers would do well by taking note of shifts in consumer behaviour towards products offering a ‘Healthy for me’ and ‘Healthy for we’ promise,” says Sen. “‘Vocal for local’ is a trend that has picked up steam this year, and now innovations from local brands can be proudly vocal about their origin through their ingredients, packaging, and even brand name,” she added.

India 2020 Bases Breakthrough Innovation Winners

Product Name

Axe Ticket

Niine® Sanitary Napkins

Oral-B 123 Manual Toothbrush With Neem Extract

Britannia™ Treat™ Creme Wafers

Ghadi Machine Wash

Indulekha® Bringha Hair Cleanser

Lifebuoy Turmeric and Honey, Lifebuoy Neem and Aloe Vera

Pond’s® Starlight Perfumed Talc

Volini® Maxx

Cadbury Dairy Milk Tropical Mango

Colgate® Super Flexi Black Virat Signature Edition

Hershey’s Kisses

Horlicks Protein Plus

Nestlé NANGROW™

Gillette® Mach3® Start

Godrej Nupur Natural Henna Based Hair Colour

Godrej Protekt Magic Handwash

Mortein InstaTulsi

Whisper® Choice Aloe Cottony Soft

Cadbury Oreo Cadbury Dipped

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water

Garnier Serum Sheet Mask

mamaearth®