Author: Aashrey Baliga

The great Indian wedding season: Uber taps into the reality behind wedding reels

Uber has partnered with two couples whose wedding plans are always the talk of the town - Jasmin Bhasin & Aly Goni and Krishna Mukherjee & Chirag Batliwalla. Starring in their respective films, these reality-packed reels show the couples adding booking an Uber Rentals to their to-do list, so that “shaadi ke chakkar mein city ke jitney chakkar lagein” they don’t have to worry about driving or parking. It is pertinent to note here that both films have been received with a lot of delight and positivity from fans of the two couples, who love the real chemistry between the couples on reel.

Uber’s latest campaign is a topical take that uses the Indian wedding season to make a pitch, encouraging soon-to-wed couples to take a Rental Health Day together

Rana Daggubati slams Indigo: How impactful are celebrities’ negative reviews of brands?

Actor Rana Daggubati recently took to Twitter to post about his sour experience with Indigo airlines. The actor reportedly had a tough time at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad after the airline misplaced his luggage. He said it was ‘India’s worst airline experience'. (Image source: via Twitter - @Thyview)

Decoding the impact of criticism from a much-loved celebrity versus a common man’s review, on a brand’s reputation.

Brain Matters: Marketing, decision making and the psychology of smell

The psychology of smell reveals a lot about the way we interpret our environments and make decisions. Why is smell so primal? Maybe because it is the only sense that is more or less in a ‘developed’ state during our time in the womb. Our abilities of touch, taste, hearing are at the bare minimum. As for sight, we are yet to open our eyes at this stage. (Representational image via Unsplash)

From the sweet, sweet smell of success to the stink of a failure, we’ve always used our sense of smell to convey, in rich visual imagery, what’s going on in our mind. It begs to ask. To what extent does our sense of smell affect our decision making?

The rise of South Indian Cinema: How Southern movies are going national

An important factor contributing to the rise in its viewership is the way films are being marketed. For instance, KGF’s lead actor Yash travelled to different parts of India to promote the film. To further build the hype, he also engaged with bloggers and YouTubers. This was something the northern belt saw only happening for Bollywood films. Similarly, item numbers from these films also reached out to a much wider audience than ever before. Oo Antava Mawa from Pushpa, for instance enjoyed equal popularity among fans who loved and praised Arijit Singh’s Kesariya number from Brahmastra.

South Indian films now contribute more to overall box office collections than Bollywood offerings.

Don’t write off Twitter just yet

At $44 billion, Musk has overpaid for Twitter. Given the recessionary trends, he has aired fears of Twitter sliding into bankruptcy. But, as they say in Silicon Valley, only the paranoid survive. Many experts predict a 40 percent hit to advertising into 2024, meaning annual revenue of less than $3 billion. But Musk has made a good start with nearly 50 percent layoffs, saving nearly $1 billion in annual costs. With business innovation, and prudent financial management, Musk could smooth over the costs and expect more. (Representational image via Unsplash)

Twitter is going through an unsettling time, but Musk has a track record for turning organisations around.

Bharat Jodo Yatra and Brand RaGa: Will India see a Rahul 2.0 before 2024?

For Rahul Gandhi, in many ways, the Bharat Jodo Yatra is a discovery of India. For some reason the Gandhi scion has always had an elitist, touch-me-not image. The Yatra will surely give him more mass appeal and make him more familiar. Image source: bharatjodoyatra.in

With the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi is trying to shed his past image, says experts

How meat unicorn Licious is going regional and cracking Southern markets

Plant based meat is an interesting launch and obviously has taken a lot of people by surprise. The way Licious have positioned themselves on “Crave”, which is a plant based meat offering, is that there are days in a week when a lot of meat eaters refrain from consuming meat and Crave is meant to cater to that particular consumer segment so that anyone who has a craving for something like meat should not miss out for whatever reason.

Santosh Hegde, VP Marketing, Licious, talks about its evolving target consumer base, more women buying meat online and why customers in South India can be unforgiving when it comes to recreation of local delicacies.

This is a moment of reckoning for Indian brands: Vivek Gambhir, boAt CEO

"I believe that the future is even more exciting. So being paranoid, being humble, being agile, being obsessed with consumers, that's what keeps us going. We are market leaders, but at the heart, this is a company with a lot of hustle and a company that is continuing to be a challenger." - Vivek Gambhir, CEO, boAt

boAt’s chief executive officer, Vivek Gambhir speaks about the brand’s journey from challenger to leader and plans to become a global Indian brand.

Nitish Mittersain takes over as CEO of Nazara

Nitish Mittersain, the founder and joint managing director of gaming and sports media company Nazara Technologies is taking charge as the CEO.

The company also saw some other changes at the management level this year. Sudhir Kamath was appointed as Nazara Technologies’ new chief operating in October.