Storyboard18 has learnt that Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola is likely to appoint a media agency to manage its media planning and buying. It may also be a global mandate, we have learnt from top industry sources. However, it is still unclear whether a media investments firm will have the mandate for all of the company’s services and products or just key entities like Ola Electric. The business is bound to run into hundreds of crores, making it one of the largest media accounts in the country. Storyboard18 has also learnt that Ola has finalised a large networked media agency but is yet to sign off on the deal.
Ola had awarded its media duties to Publicis Groupe-owned Starcom in 2018 after a competitive multi-agency pitch. Prior to Starcom, GroupM’s Motivator was Ola’s media agency.
ANI Technologies is the parent entity of Ola Fleet, Ola Financial Services and Ola Stores. Ola Electric is the EV manufacturing and selling arm.
At its recently held Sankalp 2024 event, ride hailing service Ola Cabs’ rebranding to Ola Consumer was announced. The move marks the leading homegrown firm’s growing ambitions. Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal announced the brand’s name change to Ola Consumer, in order to cover a wide range of consumer services.
Ola also showcased its automated dark stores – small retail warehouses that store goods for rapid deliveries. Asking the crowd whether they were excited about the tech-powered “containers” operated by Ola, Aggarwal revealed that robots will be installed in this dark stores to reduce human involvement.
Ola Electric Mobility made its stock market debut in August. The company also launched the ‘Roadster’ series, its first set of e-motorcycles, at a starting price of Rs 74,999, at Sankalp 2024.
During the launch, Aggarwal stated, “Today, we will reveal the future of our business across three companies and three distinct segments. Our ambition for the Ola Consumer business is to provide affordable, efficient, and accessible ride experiences across India. Just three years ago, Ola Electric was merely a dream. Today, we have become the leading EV company in the country and the largest two-wheeler EV manufacturer in the world. In fact, among all EV companies globally, we now rank as the fifth largest concerning the market capitalisation.”
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Aggarwal also announced that Ola is developing the next generation of battery technology with its 4680 cell. Aggarwal, who was sporting a white kurta with a tricolour pin, said the battery will be called the ‘BharatCell’ — the first cell to be built in India.
At Sankalp in August, the company also announced that Krutrim, the AI startup launched by Aggarwal, are now live with Ola Electric and Ola Cabs along with Krutrim’s AI customer care tool. Launched in 2023, Krutrim became the country’s first AI unicorn earlier this year after disclosing a $50 million financing at a $1 billion valuation.
Aggarwal has previously said, “The global EV revolution so far has been limited to the West and to China. To truly take the EV revolution to humanity scale, India will have to be the epicenter of change. Ola is committed to creating the EV paradigm for the rest of the world by building half of the vehicles that the world needs right here in India. Our international expansion not only means that we will as a company be able to serve customers in these similar regions, but it is also testament to the fact that India will lead the EV revolution for the world.”
The company’s grand vision is to transform India into a global hub for electric mobility by developing a comprehensive range of EVs. In an interview with CNBC-TV18 in 2023, Aggarwal outlined this vision: first scooters, then motorbikes and finally cars, with the development of the cell platform running in parallel.