May 1-15, 2019 Volume 7, Issue 21 `100 8 COVER STORY PRASHAN AGARWAL CEO, Gaana
14 AQUAGUARD/BISLERI Spot the Difference They’re two brands, but have similar ads. 18
ZEE CINEMA Rebranding Exercise CMO Prathyusha Agarwal on brand positioning. 17
SUMANTO CHATTOPADHYAY Meet Adman ‘Sumo’ He runs online tutorials to GAANA: teach netizens English. MOST-VIEWED ADS THE FULL STORY Best Creatives 20 MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS As Times Internet’s music streaming app crosses a Who’s Where 22 milestone – 100 million monthly active users – we chat with the CEO of the platform about ‘the next 100 million’. e o l
This fortnight... Volume 7, Issue 21 here’s a handle on Twitter called @memannara that belongs to an actor named EDITOR Sreekant Khandekar T Mannara Chopra. You may not be familiar with this name, but the penny PUBLISHER May 1-15, 2019 Volume 7, Issue 21 `100 might drop if you read her bio on the social networking site; among other things, she Sreekant Khandekar 8 COVER STORY PRASHAN AGARWAL calls herself ‘the Gaana girl’, for she is the bubbly young lady in the blue dress in the EXECUTIVE EDITOR CEO, Gaana most memorable ad for the Times Internet-owned music app Gaana – ‘Bas bajna Ashwini Gangal
14 AQUAGUARD/BISLERI Spot the Difference ASSOCIATE EDITOR They’re two brands, but chahiye gaana... arrey gaana gaana gaana...’ goes the Amit Trivedi composed song. have similar ads. Sunit Roy 18 PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE This issue, we’ve got Prashan Agarwal, CEO, Gaana, on the cover. A former serial Andrias Kisku
ZEE CINEMA Rebranding Exercise entrepreneur, Agarwal joined Gaana three years back and is now the proud custodian CMO Prathyusha Agarwal ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES on brand positioning. of an app that boasts 100 million monthly active users. We spoke to him about where Shubham Garg 17 these users are from, the behaviour traits that characterise them, the kind of content they 81301 66777 (M) like, and, of course, everyone’s favourite projection-themed area – where the next 100 Apoorv Kulshrestha SUMANTO CHATTOPADHYAY Meet Adman ‘Sumo’ 9873824700 (M) He runs online tutorials to GAANA: teach netizens English. million are likely to come from... and psst: how many of them are likely to pay for what Noida MOST-VIEWED ADS THE FULL STORY Best Creatives 20 MOVEMENTS/APPOINTMENTS his app has to offer. Nikhil Jhunjhunwala As Times Internet’s music streaming app crosses a Who’s Where 22 milestone – 100 million monthly active users – we chat with 9833371393 (M) the CEO of the platform about ‘the next 100 million’. Mumbai Agarwal likened the process of acquiring users to building a house. It’s pointless [email protected] if the first few bricks leave as you focus on getting more. Yes, he was referring to the MARKETING OFFICE importance of user retention. B 3, Ground Floor, Sector 4, Noida -201301 Uttar Pradesh
The ecosystem Gaana is part of is a competitive and fascinating one; musically MUMBAI 302, Makani Center, 3rd Floor, speaking, India, which used to be a download market for years – (I recall downloading Off Linking Road, Bandra (W), Bollywood songs from a site called Cool Goose or Cool Toad, or some such, a long time Mumbai - 400050 back!) – suddenly became a streaming market. We know why. SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES [email protected] In India, besides Gaana, the segment comprises brands like Spotify, Saavn, Wynk Owned by Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Ltd and as well as Amazon Music and YouTube Music. Now, there must be a damn good Printed and published by reason YouTube – a platform that’s home to all kinds of stream-able content – saw merit Sreekant Khandekar, at 7-A/13, Ch. Ratan Singh Complex, in launching a separate app just for music. It’s a space poised to grow. Jawala Heri Market, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi-110 063.
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Ashwini Gangal [email protected] CONTENTS 6 16 PUBLICIS INDIA Cross-dressing Executives The initiative is part of Publicis India’s #AllEqual campaign. 10 NADIA CHAUHAN POINTS OF VIEW Delivering Twitter-Vistara Moments of Joy Lessons With Parle Agro just When brands face warranted announcing its summer E-COMMERCE 19 campaigns with Appy Fizz wrath on and Frooti, we chat with the Wooing Meat Lovers Twitter, should company’s Joint MD and The way urban India shops for they delete CMO. meat is slowly changing. or defend?
afaqs! Reporter, May 1-15, 2 0 1 9 5 e e
NADIA CHAUHAN Delivering Moments of Joy arle Agro has announced summer campaigns life sized ones and two miniature ones. The with Appy Fizz and Frooti. With Appy Fizz, entire idea of the miniatures leads back to when PSagmesiter & Walsh conceptualised a 360 we introduced the new Frooti packaging. That’s campaign starring Salman Khan and Jr. NTR. when we first created the entire miniature In a press release, Nadia Chauhan, Joint MD world. The reason for that is when we wanted and CMO, Parle Agro, said, “Appy Fizz, a 740 to introduce the new Frooti packaging in 2015, Core brand, has grown by 70 per cent in the last year. most companies that presented to us about how Witnessing this phenomenal acceptance from consumers we could possibly go about doing it, did it in a has fueled our desire to chalk an aggressive marketing manner where the packaging was in your face strategy and build this category to `4,000 crore. Both and the camera was totally focused on it. What Salman Khan and Jr. NTR have a huge fan base that these guys did was to make the packaging stand will help us connect with our consumers.” Jr. NTR out, they made everything else small. Such a joins Allu Arjun as the second celebrity from South simple idea ended up creating a whole world for India to be a brand ambassador for Parle Agro brands us. That’s unique to us. in the region. Frooti is a light hearted drink, and we want Appy Fizz holds nearly 99 per cent market share in to deliver moments of joy. That’s what we want the sparkling fruit drink category. In tandem, the total to do with our ad films too - deliver moments spends on media are about `200 crore this year across of joy and the whole miniature big version is to both Appy Fizz and Frooti, with the company claiming create the entire energy of a relationship. a 100 per cent increase in digital spends. This year onwards, Parle Agro’s digital mandate has been moved Can you tell us about the faces on your entirely to Sagmeister & Walsh, from Digitas. brand? We had the chance to catch up with Chauhan at We’ve been with Alia for the last year and her office. Some edited excerpts from the conversation: recently we brought Varun on board. The playful “Today, the `10 price point rivalry they have off screen is something that we How have you been driving growth in this were able to extend into our brand campaign sector? in the FMCG segment is so seamlessly. They enjoyed it so much that When you’re a category driven by impulse, one of the most powerful at one point, Varun was posting something to nothing is more important than top of mind Instagram to Alia and she was responding too… recall. If you create communication that is price points that exists... That wasn’t even part of our plan. fleeting and blends in with everything else that’s Nobody will break that Having more characters beyond celebrities going on, then you’ll never really be able to have gives us the leeway to do more on digital or that kind of top of mind recognition. price point.” anywhere. It’s becoming important for TVCs What this has really done in this journey in the to have a multi-platform adaptability as well last 10 years is that it’s created a very powerful NADIA CHAUHAN to create a great amount of engagement. If you top of mind recall for our brands and has led to have a 30-second spot, you make an edit, run it market share gain from 22-27 per cent. We’re would love to have products at that price point on digital, it doesn’t really work. at the #2 position a year after we’ve started the because the ease of transaction is the highest. As far as Appy Fizz is concerned, it’s brand entire journey. We’ve occupied the #1 position values have always focused on being macho and as well in Delhi, UP, Haryana, Kerala and our Can you tell us about the latest Frooti bold, and having a great attitude. The stars are aspiration is to grow to that position nationally. campaigns and how you’ve executed it? independent for each brand. For Allu Arjun, it Stop motion happens in India as well but the was quite well known. The kind of look we’re What does the `10 price point mean to a kind of craft that Sagmeister & Walsh actually creating with our stars, it’s quite important that marketer in the FMCG sector? invested in is something that you can’t see the brands need to complement each other. Today, the `10 price point in the FMCG anywhere in India. We’ve tried for so long to see Him, holding that position, he’s really taken segment is one of the most powerful price if we could do something like this in India, it’s very naturally to the entire world of Frooti. points that exists. It’s almost branded like the just unimaginable. When I went there and I saw That’s very critical because we’re using strong one diram price point in the Middle East - it, the entire film is shot on a table. The whole colours, a bold look and feel. That’s one aspect nobody will break that price point. Whether it’s process and everything is fascinating. It comes and the other is that he’s known popularly for `5 or `10, it’s to do with a lot of factors such as together beautifully in creating a unique visual his dance. circulation of currency and ease of transactions world for the brand. for consumers. `10 is a branded price segment We invested in the power of design, not just Can you tell us what it’s been like working that allows for distribution, penetration... Frooti in motion, but in static. Which is why we’re one with these actors? has almost 75 per cent market share in that of the companies in the category that invests For us, these are relationships that we really category in the `10 space. heavily even in outdoor. We really use outdoor value and these are big investments and both It’s a price point that we have not vacated to support the TVCs and really amplify the need to drive the brand in a certain direction. over the last 10 years. We’ve built on a visual world that we’re building. Every one of our stars, starting from Shahrukh tremendous level of efficiency and distribution to Salman to Alia and Varun… We don’t just and manufacturing just to ensure every year Why use miniatures to tell this story? Why want to sign a cheque, we want to join into a that we can stick to that price point in spite of not regular sized characters? partnership. n inflation and other factors. Most FMCG brands There are four characters in the film - two [email protected]
6 afaqs! Reporter, May 1-15, 2 0 1 9