The main marketing problem DLF Mall of India faced was that people had way too many choices when it comes to malls. Although the mall had very good rational reasons to draw shoppers in (like shorter drive time, better brands) people are not that rational when it comes to shopping. Because the other problem is that Mall Of India is a new mall,
others had planted their flags first, we lacked top-of-mind-recall.

So, the objective we were looking to fulfill was to create a campaign with a rational reason (focused on the short drive time, just 20 mins from South Delhi) that is so sticky in consumer minds that they find it hard to ignore and build on the association.

IDEA

The main idea was to create a campaign around the concept of Plenty20,
a play on Twenty20. It was designed to work at two levels.
1) To create intrigue around the concept with a teaser campaign
2) To build on the twin aspects of BREADTH of offerings (PLENTY)
and SHORT DRIVE TIME (20 mins)
3) Create sustenance by integrating #Plenty20 with digital/ social media,

Ananda In The Himalayas is one of the world's best known spas. It is a unique combination of spirituality and luxe. M&C Saatchi have handled the creative duties of this brand for over a decade and during this period the brand has been ranked the World's No. 1 Luxury Spa in the Conde Nast Rankings nine years running. The entire communication and its deployment requires meticulous attention to detail, not to mention consistency of design and writing.

In 2010 India had 225 malls. Today that number has more than doubled. Approx  570 malls, of which 40% are in the Delhi/NCR region.  It’s a highly competitive market with malls mushrooming in every nook and corner of urban India.

Now add to that yet another Big fat Mall. DLF Mall Of India. India’s LARGEST mall, spanning 1.9 million square feet (20 Lac sq ft). DLF Mall of India draws its inspiration from Dubal Shopping Mall and Mall of America. It was launched (by another agency) amidst big fanfare, touted as the largest attraction since the Taj Mahal.

However, the footfalls didn't add up and pretty soon they had some very nervous tenants. Our mandate was to change the perception among the immediate catchment area that Mall Of India was too pricey. Research told us that there was a perception problem.

We did a series of full-page spreads that turned this perception on its head and got the mall properly started.

Gaana.com's Diwali 2016 commercial was typically an emotional one, this time expanding its reach to mewling infants on airplanes. It was a situation where the product worked its way in seamlessly and went on to create the fuzzy, feel-good vibe that we all like to be part of, come festival time.

RESULTS & STATS

Overall a very successful campaign in terms of the growth in organic traffic and paid downloads. As of Jan 2017, Gaana is at about 2 mn DAUs on App and 10 mn MAUs on App. During the campaign Gaana added 4 users at the cost of 3 on Facebook (24% saving) and 3 users for the cost of 2 (35% saving) on Google Search. Organic – Gaana added 13k additional organic downloads per day (42k to 55k). 

Google Search Trends
Search Interest of gaana has doubled over Saavn at the end of the campaign. 

Acquisition Cost
Facebook – decreased by 24% (saved Rs 7 per user)
Google Search – decreased by 35% (saved Rs 12 per user)

Weekly Active Users
Android – 40% growth during campaign
iOs – 26% growth during campaign

Total Weekly Sessions
Android – 90% growth during campaign
iOs – 30% growth during campaign

Downloads
62.8% MoM Change in organic iOS downloads
16% MoM Change in paid iOS downloads
27.23% MoM Change in organic Android downloads
58.17% MoM Change in paid Android downloads

Monthly active users
19.26% increase

India’s transportation app future isn’t just about Uber and billion-dollar homegrown rival Ola. Shuttl, a startup that provides air-conditioned minibuses, hit the ground running in 2015.
It raised $20 million within 8 months of its inception on the back of it’s success in the Delhi market.

BRIEF

The brief to us was to build the brand ground up. Beginning with the livery and the identity to a comprehensive brand strategy that serves to create the category using carefully husbanded marketing budgets.

SOLUTION

The very first step was to ensure that the identity was aligned with the long term vision for the brand. After weeks of brand workshops we agreed to give the brand a new visual identity to reflect its positional stance.

In terms of communication, our first task was to introduce and educate the target audience. By focusing on category benefits we intended to take a market leader stance and attempt to put our flag on the entire category.

Since the word ‘Shuttle’ was a synonym for the category of commuting, and we had the advantage of a unique word which sounds like an English word, we looked at a launch strategy that focused on verbifying the word/brand Shuttl.

Our role was that of a problem solver. We provide a solution to one of the most distasteful aspects of our lives. Traffic. So we looked at highlighting the solution using the word ‘Shuttl’
and developed the tagline ‘Don’t stress it. Just Shuttl it.’

It’s early days yet. And brand and the service are growing like wildfire. First two quarters of 2016 we launched the brand in Pune and in Bangalore. More cities to follow. Watch this space.

Nova Play is a startup in the gaming space. They were looking at establishing themselves as a one-stop destination for both professional and casual gamers in India. Not only do the retail games at attractive prices, they also serve as a community, arranging key events to bring them together. Still in its nascent stages, we are looking to create a unique, vibrant and youthful brand personality that complements that of the gaming community.

Around the summer of 2014, the music streaming app Gaana had as its rivals Saavn and Hungama. Both of whom had launched high visibility campaigns and Gaana was in danger of being flanked by hyper-ambitious competition.

Solution

Since the brand name 'Gaana' was also the generic word for 'song', we planned a Trojan Horse strategy where we created and released this song (with the word/ brand name Gaana prominent in the lyrics) as an Amit Trivedi single on Radio Mirchi through the Times Music label (all owned, like Gaana, by TimesGroup).  And also on other music stations (including their competitor Saavn). Later we revealed the ads, and that the word "gaana" was actually the brand gaana.

Results

How many products are advertised and promoted by their biggest rival? Can you imagine Pepsi being promoted on the Coke website? Or KFC being sold at McDonalds? Well, this is precisely the miracle Gaana pulled off, when its jingle (in the guise of a song) was played on Saavn, Wynk and Hungama, topping their charts!

Within 3 weeks, Gaana was the number one music app on the iOS and Android. On iOS it was the 3rd most popular app across categories. The video has 15 million hits and counting.

Already a well established name in beauty circles, the Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic was, ironically, in need of a facelift. Especially with regards to packaging and identity.

Solution

Over three years we undertook a complete revamp of the brand. Beginning with a detailed category and brand research, brand strategy and then a redesign of their complete product portfolio. Well over a 120 products. Our creative involvement is deeply entrenched in Blossom Kochhar right down to retail design and exhibition stalls. We also helped them set up a presence in modern retail and online.

Results

Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic is now a national brand retailing across 650 touchpoints. Between the time we were appointed and now, their profits have increased by a factor of six.

We handle the digital creative communication for a variety of Amazon Products, including Social Media strategy, Content strategy and development and Digital Advertising communication.

One of the largest areas of focus for us is the launch and sustenance campaign for Amazon Now, a brand new product from Amazon in the highly competitive hyperlocal space.
 

RESULTS

The highly relevant, highly engaging campaign on Twitter garnered an immense response from our users, gaining a massive 18,000 followers on the page within the first month of its existence.

The product video gained massive popularity, despite being posted on the App Download page exclusively. Users began downloading the video and posting it from their own YouTube channels.

In an unexpected turn, a video meant only for App Promotions ended up being posted on the brand channel and garnering over 450,000 views!

In a country where one half of the people don't eat beef and the other half don't eat pork, chicken tends to do well. In fact, sometimes it's all a carnivore can hang on to when it comes to the tricky task of deciding where to eat out. 

As their marketing office in India and the ‘go to ‘ office between Johannesburg and us our role was to implement the agreed marketing strategy throughout India. Create communication keeping in mind Nando’s irreverent and cheeky tone, yet sensitive to the Indian customer.

From Local Restaurant marketing, to social media planning, Influencer marketing, to new restaurant openings, product launches, acquiring and retaining customers, to implementing global campaigns. We handled it all for Nando's during the critical years following their launch. 

Ananda In The Himalayas is one of the world's best known spas. It is a unique combination of spirituality and luxe. M&C Saatchi have handled the creative duties of this brand for over a decade and during this period the brand has been ranked the World's No. 1 Luxury Spa in the Conde Nast Rankings nine years running. The entire communication and its deployment requires meticulous attention to detail, not to mention consistency of design and writing.

Brief

To follow up from the success of this campaign we decided not to change our core creative strategy too much. Still base the campaign on a catchy tune but we tried to get a little deeper and looked for insights into our audience for this. And one insight which we felt was very powerful was the insight behind how music can bring two people together.


To elaborate, the first signs of true love happen when you discover a common interest. And one of the most telling signs of compatibility is if you love the same music. And ‘I love his playlist’ actually goes deeper than ‘I love his eyes’. And there’s truth in it. You can infer a lot from someone’s playlist. It indicates his general frame of mind, his outlook on the world, his personality.

Idea

So for this campaign we decided to look at young love. But not just the initial attraction bit. We looked at all facets of love. Attraction/ Intimacy/ Estrangement/ Trust and Commitment. Go through all the emotions one experiences. From the initial adrenaline rush, to anguish and the euphoria of the reunion. And we decided to step back and look at this not like an ad campaign but to do it like a Bollywood movie about love. We went through a rigorous process befere we finalised the main leads - both of whom were already stars in their own right. The female lead, Piaa Bajpai is an established star in the South and has now signed several films for hindi movies with big banners. Our character for the boy called for a certain boyish innocence. Our brief in fact was to find someone like the young Rishi Kapoor in Bobby. Finally we found him in Miguel Herran, who happened to be Spanish. 

Results

We achieved 13.93 million new downloads while we were already the leader, all within the short campaign period of four months. 

4 million Youtube videos

1.5 million Facebook views

300,000 plays on Gaana.com

Facebook pages created for their protagonists got over 160,000 likes.

Rhea and Ayaan’s social media profiles became pivotal points to keep listeners interest in Gaana going with over 160,000 likes combined.

Finally, we got what we set out to achieve. Overall downloads grew by 79%, an 18% increase over our last campaign.

This is a prominent mall in Delhi’s premier shopping district with a focus mostly on women’s brands. We created a positioning which was distilled into the tagline ‘Always new’.

From an individualistic level, it says ‘My style is never out-of-date. I’m always current’. This doesn’t mean that I’m just about trends. Truly stylish people are always new. Take Jackie O’s glamourous sunglasses,  Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy dresses, Coco Chanel. The looks they carried off have never aged. Always New.

At the same time, the concept even works for up-to-the-minute fashion houses like Zara, who are quite literally, Always New. 'Always New' not just as an external facing mantra but even as an internal theme is a powerful statement of purpose.

Godfrey Phillips is an old-world tobacco company. They manufacture and market Philip Morris brands like Marlboro in India. They were going through a rather trying internal crisis - lack of communication, mistrust and low morale.

ABCD Campaign

Working together with their HR department, we developed four key areas - which we called 'culture pillars' and branded them the ABCD's of the company. It was corporate propaganda but our design brief was to turn these into a fun internal branding exercise which we could then spin off into memorable merchandise and activities. To do this, we used an art form inspired by street painters who paint on trucks in India.

This is a prominent mall in Delhi’s premier shopping district with a focus mostly on women’s brands. We created a positioning which was distilled into the tagline ‘Always new’. From an individualistic level, it says ‘My style is never out-of-date. I’m always current’. This doesn’t mean that I’m just about trends. Truly stylish people are always new. Take Jackie O’s glamourous sunglasses,  Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy dresses, Coco Chanel. The looks they carried off have never aged. Always New. At the same time, the concept even works for up-to-the-minute fashion houses like Zara, who are quite literally, Always New. 'Always New' not just as an external facing mantra but even as aninternal theme is a powerful statement of purpose.

A comprehensive packaging and rebranding exercise for an iconic British brand of tea, keeping Indian consumers in mind.

Solution

The newly designed Typhoo range is modern and simple, with a delicate colour treatment that pulls the line into a consistent brand presence and evokes a high-end feel.

The Black Tea range was the flagship range and the jewel in the Typhoo crown and we designed it keeping this in mind. With a signature ornamental pattern that invokes velvety Victorian tea parlours as well as intricate Indian mosaics.

The flavoured tea range, therefore, is designed to present the product as luscious and inviting. Simplified, uncluttered packaging is segmented by colour cues. Few, clean ingredients are listed above the visual; the prominent Typhoo brand identity is designed to dominate the pack.

For the Infusions range, we combined dynamic photography against a striking white background illustration to ensure that this packaging with have great shelf appeal in-store and counter-worthyness at home. 

MakeMyTrip.com is India's largest online travel booking company. Most of their business is a direct result of deals and offers which are showcased with all the subtlety of a flame thrower. However, after a brand audit, they found that they were slowly losing grounds to newer global players like Expedia, who were perceived as more upmarket. As a result margins were hit because they ended up looking "cheap". They came to us with a design brief - revamp their advertising, create a design language that allowed them to create impactful internet friendly promos that made them look like a top international player. Since travel deals were usually last minute, these creatives are generally created in-house within 15-30 minutes.

Solution

One of the key aims was to create a design family across different platforms. During peak season, you will be able to access an incredible range of content via a wide range of devices and it was important that the experience across each was joined up and consistent. We wanted a sense that they all form part of the same overall experience.  The design team's ambition was to create a simple, pragmatic look that can be turned out quickly with the aid of a bank of images and a design language to maintain consistency. Lucid, elegant and impactful.

It’s not often that you get a chance to build a brand from scratch. With All About You, we were involved with both owners - Myntra and Deepika Padukone right from the naming stage. We handled corporate identity/ print/ outdoor and coordinated digital and activation.

Typhoo Teas were one of the sponsors of India Fashion Week in Delhi 2015 and were alloted a space where they could promote their teas. Instead of the usual high tea, Victorian setup which most premium teas do, we opted for a younger, tea bar. Serving hip cocktails made with fruit infusions made by Typhoo. The entire project from concept to execution was done in a matter of two weeks.

Amplus was one of the fastest growing startups in the renewable energy space in North India. They were mostly a B2B business and largely driven by word of mouth publicity. Solar energy was still in the category creation stage so we created a communication platform that mainly showcased the various benefits of solar power from a business standpoint (and not just a treehugger point of view) and thus serve to differentiate Amplus from the others in the category.

SBI Cards is an account we've handled for over a decade. A partnership between GE and SBI, most of brand's communication is tactical in nature, revolving around various tie-ups and promos. Emailers are most preferred means, which invariably ends up being spam. Our effort throughout the partnership was to create simple, interesting and no-nonsense communication that got to the point very quickly without getting mired in gratuitous creative expression.

Already a well established name in beauty circles, the Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic was, ironically, in need of a facelift. Especially with regards to packaging and identity.

Solution

Over three years we undertook a complete revamp of the brand. Beginning with a detailed category and brand research, brand strategy and then a redesign of their complete product portfolio.
Well over a 120 products. Our creative involvement is deeply entrenched in Blossom Kochhar right down to retail design and exhibition stalls. We also helped them set up a presence in modern retail and online.

Results

Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic is now a national brand retailing across 650 touchpoints. Between the time we were appointed and now, their profits have increased by a factor of six.

A campaign explaining the basics of aromatherapy to build interest around the new Blossom Kochhar salon at Hauz Khas Village in Delhi.

A design project for GE in 2012

Too often people view lingerie photography superficially and fail to see the photographic beauty behind it. While this stereotype is unjust, it’s also understandable. Too many photos of this genre forego the beauty and focus solely on tasteless sensuality. When we won this business we approached this lingerie without thinking of the lingerie itself but rather the person wearing it. The lingerie comes after. Even if it was for a standard lingerie catalogue with lines highlighting product features, we ensured that the subjects showcased the vulnerable, beautiful and sensual aspects of modern women.

We handled digital and social media duties for Adidas Cricket during the 2010 World Cup. A year which went on to become an unforgettable part of India's sporting history. It was a year that was an emotional powder keg for India. From posts commemmorating the victory to Sehwagisms to the buildup to Sachin's 100th 100, we rode the wave to trounce Nike to the No.1 spot in the public eye. No mean task, considering we had a tenth of their budgets. 

Ameriprise is an American behemoth. Owned by AmEx, it is America’s No.1 Financial Planning company. We won the pitch in their second month of operation and rolled back the years to create a series of long copy ads. Even though long copy is long dead, the argument was that people looking for financial advice are pouring through the finance pages looking for information. So if you get them hooked, they would read. Hard to measure the success of this campaign since the client is cagey about numbers. But working on a financial category is always difficult. Somehow we even managed to have some fun.

Mother Dairy was set up in 1974 under the Operation Flood Programme, which made dairy farming India's largest self-sustainable rural employment generator. This was back in the day when India was a quasi-Socialist state. In 2012, Mother Dairy went in for an image makeover where we were instrumental in a complete overhaul of their packaging and their shopfronts. We created numerous campaigns for them.

Bonhomia is single-serve premium coffee compatible with Nespresso. B2B was already doing well. The big push was to educate and hook new consumers who are not aware of Nespresso-style coffee but are
attuned to it. And also support an extensive sampling exercise at the ground level with a larger view of single-serve coffee category creation and ownership.

With an extensive history and a loyal following in the country, Vishal Mega Mart is the Primark of India. Basically, high street fashion on the cheap. VMM wanted to explore reaching out to a younger, more internet-savvy audience for their fashion verticals using Social Media as a channel.  With a distinctive design and copy strategy, we turned their Facebook page into an engaging, fashion-first property reaching out to their exact target audience. Developing highly focused campaigns and online properties, we were able to establish Vishal Mega Mart as a strong, emerging player in the youth fashion category across the country.

It’s always fun to work on a Viacom property. It’s even more fun to launch one. That’s exactly what we did with Flyp @ MTV, a gastro-pub and co-working space property launched by Viacom in Delhi. We were responsible for the logo design and online branding, as well as management for their social handles. We amassed a loyal following on social media within a month of the venue’s launch.

We handle the communication for Aaj Tak, Headlines Today and Oye FM. Typically they are brash announcements and programme agendas briefed within a day’s notice. All par for the course in the media world in India.