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Rohit Bhasin, president, retail liabilities, product and chief marketing officer at Kotak Mahindra Bank, ensures his team does not work on weekends. They are pulled in only in exceptional cases such as quarterly results or a board meeting, he told Storyboard18 in an interview.


With many meetings during the week, Bhasin barely gets time to think during the week. So he keeps a part of Saturday just to think about things on top of his mind and about who he wants to speak to. 


Edited excerpts:


The creator economy has taken the world by storm. Which influencers and trends are you following?


I'm a lot on Instagram, and I developed awareness about many influencers from their felicitation by PM Modi at the National Creators Awards ceremony. Post this event, I have begun following Ranveer Allahbadia aka BeerBiceps. I also follow RJ Karishma and Aiyyo Shraddha. With Aiyyo Shraddha, we did some work with her on Kotak in the past, and I had actually gone to attend a workshop with Meta. She was the MC there and did an amazing job.

Podcasts are something which have become extremely popular. I'm a lot on Instagram because that's where I pick up a lot of trends, and a lot of what is happening in popular culture. If you really want to see what is happening in popular culture, the place to go is Instagram.


I'm also on LinkedIn a lot and it is a great place to read good content, on marketing, on news, on what's happening in the world in terms of good pieces of creatives, especially what they have been inspired by. 


What marketing-related content do you consume in your free time?


I don't consume market-related content in my free time. I do a lot of that during my work time. If I'm on LinkedIn looking at content, I see what other brands have worked on.


Also, a lot of marketing content may feel like it's entertainment. But, to be a good marketer, one needs to really understand what is happening in popular culture. And if you don't understand popular culture very well, you will not really be able to feel the pulse of the country.


When you're trying to build a campaign and you think of insights, your insights will be very theoretical. So whether it's watching movies on OTT, going to cinemas to watch movies, you'll see so much of popular culture there.


So, for me, any and every place where I go is a place to just get insights about what's happening in this country. What are the aims and aspirations of people? What is the cultural fabric and social fabric of the country? What are people talking about? What are the insights? How is the new generation behaving?


I'll give you one example – the pre-wedding festivities of Anant Ambani. It was the world coming together to celebrate the pre-wedding of a couple from India's richest family. But for me, it was an amazing experience in earned media. My thought was process was that none of that content was paid media. But imagine how they would have thought about how we drive visibility? How do we make this event the most talked about event? And that happened.


And for me, a big insight as a marketer was when I think of my campaigns, ‘How do I really use the power of earned media to do something similar to that scale?’


That's my learning. If I can ever build a campaign of mine to that scale where it is the most talked about event on the weekend, I would have really done amazing as a marketer. So while people saw it as a means of entertainment, my biggest lesson was the amazing use of earned media to drive visibility about your campaign, and about your brand.


There’s a lot of talk of burnout, workplace toxicity and the hustle culture. What steps have you taken to avoid the always-on culture? And what advice would you give your peers, colleagues and next-gen marketers?


The lines are blurring between personal time and office time, which is good and which is bad. The good part is that you're always thinking about how you can get an insight from anybody and not switching off from that perspective. And, you're just learning.


But I'm on LinkedIn on the weekend. I'm learning something. So I may not be sending emails. But am I using it to become a better marketer and if I'm a better marketer, I can help drive better campaigns for Kotak. But what we have to be very careful of is to respect the personal time and personal spaces of people.


So as a practice, we don't work on the weekends and unless there is an unavoidable event like declaring annual results or quarterly results on the weekend, or a board meeting on the weekend, a media event or a media conference, then we work on a Saturday. But that should be an exception and not the norm. So therefore, everyone gets those two days to just unwind, spend time with friends, families, entertain themselves, play, and make sure that they're fit, and just come back recharged and energised on Monday. But at the same time, there are people who want to work on the weekends.


I have lots of meetings during the week and therefore, I do not get a lot of thinking time during the week. So I keep a part of my Saturday just to kind of do my thinking. What are the things which are on top of my mind? What do I want to do about some of those things? Who are the people I want to speak to? So that kind of gives me a clear direction when I come back to work on Monday, I'm very clear what I want to drive this week.


When I send out an email or a message to someone on the weekend, I'm very clearly telling that person that ‘I don't expect you to respond to this message. I may not have time to send emails on a working day.’ But I'm very clear that I want my team to respond at a time when it is feasible to you and there is no pressure on anyone to immediately respond to an email. 


When I was in Singapore, I had joined a badminton club and was a part of a group who would play badminton every morning on Saturday and Sunday and then sit down for a cup of tea after that. So, that was like a weekend ritual which really made me fit as well as got me bonding with a valuable set of friends.


I was an avid biker. I would kind of bike every alternate day or run to just spend a lot of time outdoors while I was in Singapore. I don't do a lot of that here in Bombay. But I kind of regularly go to the gym on alternate days. I do yoga twice a week which keeps me fit. It also channelises my mind and energises me.


What are you watching or streaming this weekend?


I have been watching the IPL (Indian Premier League) these days. My girls play cricket for Singapore and one of them is a CSK (Chennai Super Kings) fan. She loves Dhoni (MS Dhoni) and I'm a Mumbai Indians fan. So, we have a bit of a rivalry.

Other than that, we kind of share notes on IPL every day. So that's our common ground.

Any work hack or life hack you swear by?

I wish I could become a bit more disciplined with my time. I'm not very good with my time. For me, one work hack I always try to follow is to be prepared for a meeting. I always prefer to have a pre-read for a meeting so that I can read before I go to the meeting. I'm clear about what this meeting is for.


Then, I avoid people making presentations at meetings because I feel that when you get together as a group, you should spend more time discussing the issue and finding solutions rather than spend most of your time where people presenting to each other. 


I always basically ask a simple question: What does success look like for you in the meeting? And by the time you end the meeting, you should be able to ask the same person the question: ‘Do you think the meeting got you what you wanted?’


If the answer is yes, it's a successful meeting. Otherwise, we wasted everyone's time.


What happens in a workplace is you just get pulled into various meetings. And you need to make sure that meetings where you don't add value, you should try and cancel 50 percent of meeting. And use that time to do thinking and talking to people. That's a much better use of time. Secondly, have an agenda for the meeting, have a pre-read for the meeting, be prepared. And basically try and have expectations clear for the people who organise the meetings so that you can deliver those expectations. That's really my work hack.


The other work hack I always try to do is for every mail that you write back to a person, do you think you can have a better outcome if you pick up the phone and speak to that person?


That will also help you build a more personal equation with the person rather than sending two mails to and fro. So that's what I try to do. Of course, if it's one to many people, I write an email. But if it's one-on-one, the best thing is to pick up the phone and speak. So those are the two hacks which I try to follow. 


What are you reading? Any recommendations?


We got a new CEO and he gave us two wonderful books to read. One is called ‘The Secret Lives of Customers’. The second book is called ‘Competing Against Luck’. I've read the first one. It's a fabulous read. It takes a theoretical concept of jobs to be done. It lands on a simple philosophy that consumers have needs. They have jobs that they want to do. For those jobs, they hire brands.


If those brands and products do their job very well, they rehire those brands. If they don't, they fire those brands. So if you really want to be a preferred brand, you should understand what is the job for which the consumer wants to hire you and to be able to do that very well.


And that's really the concept of jobs to be done, which I learned at Unilever and brought here to Kotak, is beautifully explained in a very storytelling way. 


A piece of wisdom you would like to share?


As a marketer, always start with keeping the consumer at the heart of everything you do. Always start with understanding what are the needs of the customer – whether they are stated or latent. Be the voice of the consumer in the room. And build products and solutions which really answer those needs. 


If your product doesn't really answer the needs of the customer, then the customer is not going to buy it. 


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/honasa-consumers-anuja-mishra-when-you-go-to-work-like-youre-going-to-school-it-paves-the-way-to-enlightenment-15082.htm">Honasa Consumer’s Anuja Mishra: When you go to work like you're going to school, it paves the way to enlightenment</a>

Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Rohit Bhasin: Marketers must keep consumers at the heart of everything

For Upasana Taku, co-founder and CFO of MobiKwik, the biggest personal milestone has been to pay for her own education. When she got the chance to study at Stanford, her family definitely could not afford the expenses of that education. "I did not have any scholarship at Stanford; I had to either give that up or hustle. I decided to go to Stanford one month before college started. I stayed on the couch of my sister's friends and commuted every day by bus to Stanford, and met more than 100 professors, introducing myself and asking them if they had a position where they could offer me research assistantships or teaching assistantships. Just before college opened, I got a call back from one of the professors from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They ended up paying for my entire education for two years," says Taku.

The rest is history.

In an exclusive chat with Storyboard18, Upasana Taku, co-founder and CFO of MobiKwik shares her thoughts on receiving an award from the President for being the first woman to lead a payment startup, the need for diversity and inclusion but not at the cost of favouritism, artificial intelligence, the fintech landscape and more. 

In 2018, you received the award from the President of India. What are your thoughts on that?

It is not so hard to build a fintech company; at least, it's not as hard as being the first woman astronaut or first woman fighter pilot. Having said that, it feels great to be recognized and acknowledged. It's still a largely male-dominated environment. 

If I think about it from the perspective of tech startups or traditional finance banks, there's still a long way to go. It's good to see some familiar faces when one goes to industry events; it's lonely to be the only female leader there. So, it feels good that now we have some more. 

How is MobiKwik promoting diversity and inclusion in the ecosystem ? 

Given that one of the co-founders is a woman, we always wanted to make sure that there is no favoritism for women, but there is always inclusivity, whether it is our hiring process, our appraisal process, or our promotion process. We see roughly 30-35 percent female participation in our workforce, at both junior and other levels. Within the MobiKwik group, we have five subsidiaries, including MobiKwik, and every subsidiary has a woman executive director. We definitely have a seat at the table; we have had many women who joined us, in their mid to late 20s and during their six to seven years stints at MobiKwik, they have gotten married and had children. We have had fairly supportive and collaborative environments; it's not very hard to create an inclusive workforce and a company; it's just a little bit about having open minds.

Currently, what are some market trends and consumer insights that you have been noticing in the fintech space and how is MobiKwik leveraging them?

Fintech presents a very large opportunity in India. India is the third largest fintech market in the world, and it is also the sector which has seen the highest amount of foreign direct investment in the last five to six years. Today, India has about 400 million users i.e. around 30 percent of our population who are actively transacting via digital mediums.

By 2028, this number is expected to double. About 800 million plus people will be actively transacting digitally. Currently this market in India is about $1 trillion. That's why, we see so many banks, mutual fund companies and NBFCs in this play. By 2028, the market is expected to become a $4 trillion market from $1 trillion. While the customer base is expected to double in terms of the size of the opportunity, it's going to be 4X just in the next four to five years. Therefore, fintech continues to be a very exciting sector in India; both traditional financial institutions and pcoming technology companies like ours coexist.

We use our payments business as the foundation of our business. After we acquire both users and merchants, we enable them to make payments via QR code on the app via UPI or on the website. After they start transacting, we start assessing the data and decide what other financial products we can offer them; we resemble a bank in that sense as we offer credit products, investment products, insurance products and advisory products. Bear in mind that, we are the distributor and not the creator of these products. The creator is a bank, a mutual fund company or a NBFC. We are really good at curating the product and making it simple so that it can be delivered very easily over a smartphone. This is very important for a large market like Indi; getting that distribution and curation right is what fintechs are good at. 

Currently AI is a buzzword. How is MobiKwik leveraging that? 

We have used some elements of machine learning in our understanding of our users' data to figure out the propensity for which user to be interested in which financial product.

Also, we use AI as well as machine learning in our operations facing the consumers and the merchants. However, in terms of utilizing generative AIto the hilt, we are still working on building some of these applications and models that will help us in our overall business. Currently we are already using it in data to understand the users and for better profiling of our users and merchants, to understand their needs and also in our operations. We are working on the next level solution using Gen AI. 

Give us an idea about MobiKwik’s media mix.

We are a digital first company and we are fully focused on distributing our products via app stores as well as the web, whether it is Facebook, Instagram, email marketing, notifications-led marketing. All the digital channels like YouTube display are very important for us for user and merchant acquisition. 
 
We also look at all the traditional channels, including radio, television, and print. We go down the regional level in terms of tapping into the markets because most of our users are in the tier 2-3 cities of India. 

Can you take us through the demographic base of MobiKwik?

We are present in 99 percent of the pin codes in India, starting from Ladakh to Kanyakumari. Most of our users are in their 20s and 30s with 65 percent males and 35 percent females. Most of them are early adopters of technology; we are stronger in the northern states. Most of our users are either doing their first or second job or they are self-employed and doing their own business. The average earnings for them range between Rs. 25,000 to 50,000; 70-75 percent of our users are from Tier 2, 3 and 4. 

How is MobiKwik standing out from its competition?

MobiKwik is known for being one of the most capital efficient companies in the fintech sector. Companies like Zerodha specialize in one single vertical like investments; for Policybazaar, it's insurance. MobiKwik is running profitably at the PAT level since the beginning of the current financial year. 

We have achieved our current scale of revenue by having raised the least amount of capital as compared to all the other fintech companies. We probably have the lowest staffing, which itself is close to 1000 people as compared to all the other large fintechs in India. But even with that employee base, we are able to deliver more than a crore of revenue per employee.

MobiKwik's Upasana Taku: By 2028, 800 million plus Indians will transact via digital mediums

India is currently in the midst of two major events, especially from an advertising and marketing standpoint - the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Lok Sabha Elections. With these two events coinciding, brands have been spending either more on advertising or are allocating their spends on what they think will be the optimal option for them to gain reach. Either way, media agencies have their work cut out for them during this period. Storyboard18 caught up with Hema Malik, Chief Investment Officer, IPG Mediabrands India to understand what sort of shift there has been in ad spends in the last two months, the top spending categories, major reasons behind the AdEx surge and more. 

Edited excerpts. 

What is the kind of increase in ad spends that you are noticing this April due to the combined impact of IPL and elections?

We've observed a notable increase in ad spends, influenced by the concurrent occurrence of the IPL and the Lok Sabha Elections. While the IPL is an annual event, the simultaneous timing of both events is a unique phenomenon in over five years. However, both events captivate a similar audience, generating nationwide excitement. Comparatively, the IPL has shown better performance and increased advertiser participation compared to the previous year. Similarly, the upcoming elections have opened up a positive trend for advertisers. Our estimations suggest that the combined effect of both events could result in a 20-30 percent higher Adex quarter-on-quarter.

What are the top ad spending categories experiencing the biggest surge in AdeX due to the combined effect of IPL and the upcoming elections?

The upcoming elections have witnessed significant participation from various sectors such as Infrastructure, Banking and Finance, Consumer Durables, Automotive, and Retail. Similarly, the IPL has attracted considerable attention from traditional categories like Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Beverages, and Gaming.

What are the specific goals that brands are looking to achieve with their advertising campaigns during this period of heightened viewership?

Brands aim to capitalize on the increased viewership during this period to achieve broad reach and build awareness, especially through election-related specials. The IPL offers sophisticated advertising options that address brand objectives beyond the top funnel.

Can you tell us which genres of programming are performing best in terms of ad viewership during the IPL and election season?

GECs consistently perform well during this period due to their loyal family audience base. Additionally, there has been an increase in Pay homes, indicating significant contributions from Tier 2/3 cities across all three genres: News, Sports, and Entertainment.

How significant is the ad rate growth compared to usual periods, (or, this time last year) considering both IPL and election?

While the ad rates for the IPL have remained relatively flat, the expectations for news channel pricing, especially on critical polling and counting days, have surged. Bundled options combining election and non-election packages during this period are experiencing double-digit price increases.

Besides IPL and elections, are there any other upcoming events or trends that you anticipate will impact media buying strategies?

Anticipating future trends, we have our eyes on the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, set to take place in the USA. However, the scheduling of India games at 8 pm is a crucial factor to consider. Additionally, prominent properties such as Khatron Ke Khiladi, Bigg Boss, and Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) are also on the radar for festive planning.

IPL and elections combined could result in 20-30 percent higher Adex quarter-on-quarter: IPG Mediabrands' Hema Malik

MullenLowe Lintas Group has launched the ‘State of States’ thought-leadership initiative in collaboration with Quantum Consumer Solutions. Through the initiative, the group aims to partner with their clients in helping create deeper meanings for brands at a local/ethnic/cultural/sub-cultural level and win in the marketplace. 

India is one of the most diverse nations in the world and boasts a rich tapestry of cultures, traditions, and languages across its vast expanse. The dynamic nature of Indian society necessitates a comprehensive understanding of regional nuances to effectively engage with consumers.

Through ‘State of States’, MullenLowe Lintas Group intends to deconstruct the 30 different cultures in India to have a far deeper understanding of the respective culture codes, tensions, and shifts that are happening, to craft brands of the future. Storyboard18 caught up with S.Subramanyeswar, Group CEO – India and Chief Strategy Officer – APAC of MullenLowe Group to break down the initiative and understand its intricacies and how it will benefit India and its brands in the long run. 

Edited excerpts. 

State of States is an interesting initiative. Where did the idea for it come from?

‘State of States’ is an ambitious, one-of-a-kind thought-leadership initiative undertaken by MullenLowe Lintas Group with Quantum Consumer Solutions as a partner. There is a rise in ethnic nationalism or localism or even ultra localism in Indian culture (and in fact, it’s a global phenomenon too), in which identity is defined by perceived genetic, historic, religious, sub-culture or linguistic heritage beyond the democratic ideals or principles. 

The heterogenous ethnic fabric of our people as consuming audience is evolving at a frenetic pace today aided by technology and new media. We felt, it’s a phenomenal opportunity that calls for a granular understanding of the shifting codes to unlock and yield real, meaningful growth for brands/businesses.

How will brands benefit from this initiative and how will it enable brand building in India?

At MullenLowe Lintas Group, we believe, brands are a phenomenon of society, culture, history, and politics, and not mere marketing constructs. Brands are magnets of meaning, and they get built with deeper meanings when they are fuelled by the historical changes and innovations at a cultural/sub-cultural level than by better mousetraps of claims or degrees of comparative propositions.

Through ‘State of States’, we are deconstructing the 30 different cultures in India to have a far deeper understanding of the respective culture codes, tensions, and shifts that are happening to craft brands of the future. There are profound identitarian ideas on every single culture, stories that will change the way brands can connect, the way they can lead, and the impact they can have on the world. 

If Subbu was building a brand today, how would he leverage this initiative in his brand building process?

It’ll be a brand with flexible identity. Anchored in a timeless truth, but expressions that are timely and of terrain.

Storytelling seems to be a big part of this initiative. How important has storytelling become for a brand today and how does the State of States initiative enforce it?

Stories always have a huge value in business because they look in the right direction. At people. Brands are at their best or strongest when they serve up the story their audience expects. They delight beyond belief when the story delivers a new surprise, a touch of the familiar with a pinch of novelty. A deep and fundamental understanding of the cultures and their changing fabric in a contemporary world through ‘State of States’ will help us think in the language of a storyteller, living the proof of a culturally relevant or innovative idea, and the conversion of that idea into action – brand myths or narratives instead of or beyond strategic plans, story arcs for different forms and formats/platforms/surfaces instead of campaigns, thinking of audiences instead of consumers,  thinking of characters instead of products and spokespeople or influencers, and thinking of narrative settings instead of offline/online retail environments or domains for brands. Each serves a slightly different purpose, but all of the methods or ways of thinking will help us define and memorialise our brand narratives.

What does it mean when you say, ‘winning in many India’s’? And how do you look at this?

As one of the most diverse nations in the world, India boasts a rich tapestry of cultures, traditions, and languages across its vast expanse. The country, as we know, is home to several communities, each of whom has their own distinct culture, traditions, and identity. This dynamic nature of Indian society, that makes it unique and beautiful, necessitates a comprehensive understanding of regional/local nuances to effectively engage with consumers. 

The one size fits all approach to marketing or brand building does not seem to work anymore in the context of angularly rising ‘many India’s.’ We believe that at the root of every culture exists cultural gene codes and understanding the interplay between these codes and how they collide with events and narratives of today, present transformative opportunities for creating winning strategies or inspiring meaning systems for brands/businesses.

Is winning in many Indias essential for a brand to build a strong name for itself in the country today?

I believe it’s an idea whose time has come long back. It’s only getting more pronounced now as every part of the country is proudly wearing on sleeve its own culture, values, customs, and their way of leading life. This truth is here to stay and decisively shape the future of marketing and brand building in India. We are all joined together by an idea called India, but we are very different from state to state. While we are proud Indians first, we are also proud Mumbaikars, Bengalis, Punjabis, Delhiites, or Tamilians on the same plane at the same time. 

In a richly diversified market such as India, a culture/sub-culture led strategy to win in many Indias offers a powerful tool for anyone – from an established brand marketer to an entrepreneur seeking mainstream success. Localising products and brand appeal, connecting with the audience in their societal context and responding with a particular cultural expression takes a brand closer to that region and pays a huge dividend.

This ideology has long been understood better outside the business world. For politicians, artists, and social activists, this way of doing things is the name of the game. It’s time brands take a leaf out of them.

And the new world of digital and personalised media aided by technology can only be an indispensable catalyst for this kind of work, in advancing the way consumers confer local cultural values on the brands they use or brand experiences they engage with.  

How is Lowe benefitting from the State of States initiative? 

We find our fruits in our roots. Lintas has always been known for Thought Leadership. Over the decades, we took deep sense of pride in our ability to inspire and galvanize our own people and the clients we partner to think new thoughts, modify the way they have always done things, and embark on new behaviours, new paths, and new actions to drive change and transform the brands that we serve and the world at large, through deeply resonant conversations.

A seminal study like ‘State of States’ is an original and genuine understanding that uses the expertise, insight, and experience of several deep thinkers, cultural experts, sociologists, anthropologists and reputed thought leaders. The wisdom gained out of this groundbreaking work has changed the conversations internally and with our clients. This thought leadership initiative is all about us creating lasting value for our brands and the clients that we partner, building deep-seated knowledge, and taking a stand. 

We have finished 20 states so far and the rest will be done by the end of current quarter. Eventually, we envisage ourselves to becoming the ‘Cultural Portal’ of India that brands can tap into to power their growth.

Why now? Why is it the right time to launch this initiative now and why wasn’t it done before?

There is nothing like right time, in life or in business. There is just time and what you choose to do with it. As I had said, the axis of marketing and brand building is decisively shifting more and more towards regional/local. The new media fuels it further. By giving brands a creedal identity based on local/regional/ethnic creed or ideas, businesses can effectively engage with their audience and foster loyalty beyond reason.

If we could go back in time, this is where it all began. Therefore, the question of ‘why now’ actually is a quest for ‘how now’ for us. So ‘State of States’ is not a study or understanding with an end, but one that prompts a beginning.

How do you plan to popularise this initiative? What are the marketing strategies? 

Our clients are aware of this pointed work and are highly receptive to the learnings and application of those on the brands. We are already seeing the positive results of the work on some of our brands. Without getting into too many details, all I can say at this point of time is that this study will be our GPS to design a multi-India strategy for brands (and not just one-India strategy). For the brand’s destination in the market place and its destiny in the world, with the new culture maps of meaning.

Brands are at their strongest when they serve up the story their audience expects: MullenLowe Lintas' S.Subramanyeswar

Max Life Insurance has crossed the Rs1.5-lakh crore mark in assets under management (AUM) as of March 31, 2024. This reflects a growth rate of over 20 percent year-on-year. In the e-commerce market, Max Life holds the overall rank 2. The company has been leading the online protection market with a 28 percent share and ranks 2 in the savings market with an 18 percent share. Max Life's online channel continues to gain traction, with one out of every four new customers now acquired through this channel. Max Life maintains its leadership in the Claims Paid Ratio metric, with a ratio of 99.51 percent in FY23, as per the IRDAI Handbook on Indian Insurance Statistics 2022-23. 

In an exclusive conversation with Storyboard18, Rahul Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance shares what Bharosa means for Max, how the insurance company has been targeting women, GenZs, the LGBTQIA community and the insights that came out from the studies - India Protection Quotient and India Retirement Index Study.

Can you take us through the current consumer insights and industry trends at the moment?

When you look at the previous quarter from January-March, the category tends to see a good amount of seasonality. That’s also because of certain habitual moments which are there in the larger understanding of the category where there is a play of a tax phenomenon that kicks in towards the end of the calendar year. Every year, we have seen post festivals and specifically this year post festivals and after the euphoria of the World Cup, the category always tends to be in an upswing. There was an earlier heightened intent and interest in having the right kind of life insurance because of the pandemic.

We recently concluded the sixth edition rollout of the India Protection Quotient in partnership with Kantar. About 5000 odd respondents from 25 cities representing urban India were surveyed and we found out that the number of Indians serious about financial protection has increased. Currently, there is more awareness and knowledge about life insurance; people are understanding that having the right kind of life insurance with the right amount of insurance or cover is important.

There are various needs for which they’re picking up life insurance. Those needs could be around life’s goals, children and long-term savings as well. Therefore, if you look at the category as a whole, it’s fairly buoyant.

What role does Bharosa play for Max Life?

Life insurance per se has been fairly a passive conversation. The traditional narrative of life insurance largely has been attached to uncertainty and insurance makes an entry during the absence of the breadwinner due to an unforeseen scenario.

Max Life has tried to anchor itself on a positive narrative. India being a fairly young country and hence longevity being fairly high; the aspirations that that Indians have and as they grow in life, the risk they would also keep growing in that sense. Max Life is trying to anchor itself in celebrating the breadwinner in keeping the narrative fairly positive versus the burdensome narrative of the fear of death.

Secondly, Max Life is aiming to build a very proprietary narrative around trust because at the end of the day, our engagement and relationship with our present and potential customers is ideally for a fairly long duration. These relationships could start from five years running up to 40 years depending how soon do you end up buying life insurance or the right life insurance. Hence for Max Life, trust has been an important parameter to build itself on. We have tried to build out this entire narrative of Bharosa .

We rather try and land Bharosa in a fairly tangible way for our customers or consumers, and in the narrative, Bharosa gets manifested as the Bharosa of claims which is where Max Life Insurance is a beacon of trust where we have best in class claims paid ratio in the industry currently clocking a 99.51% as our claims paid ratio in FY 23, as per the recently introduced report from IRDAI. Second, in another category we would talk about the Bharosa of guaranteed returns which is again playing to this entire insight of Indians wanting better returns. On another long duration, looking at the lifelong income plans, we would speak about Bharosa of life-long income again when you try and look at your savings narrative running into retirement space.

For Max Life, Bharosa has to be delivered keeping an imagery which is fairly stemming from real life heroes which is why we realized that universally if Indians buy into the passion and the emotion of Cricket, we try and extend that into our brand as imagery and which why we partnered with real-life couple Rohit Sharma and Ritika Sajdeh. Max Life has ensured that this entire narrative which should appeal to a young family which believes in mindful financial planning is able to be projected on screen or in our storytelling using both Rohit and Ritika. 

Could you help us understand the study?

We are keeping the customer at the centre of our communication and we want to be able to ensure that we are able to talk about the larger narrative for India, through thought leadership. We articulated two specific thought leader platforms. One of them was anchored in this entire space of protection or in a product category called term insurance. six years back we institutionalized this platform called the India Protection Quotient which is a partnership between Max Life Insurance and Kantar Research, giving us a barometer of how Indians are feeling around financial protection.

India Protection Quotient (IPQ) gives us critical data relating to the financial behavior, the savings pattern, attitudes and behaviours, and it also tells us how urban Indians are looking at their own financial preparedness. The one that we have just recently released talks about a significant increase in the knowledge levels of urban Indian respondents from 57 to 61.

We do a similar exercise in the retirement space. We understand that while today we are a younger country, retirement planning is an activity that should be undertaken by all well in time. For the same, we institutionalize another platform called the India Retirement Index Study (IRIS) which is basically an eye into the future.

The last edition of IRIS revealed that 9 in 10 urban Indians who are more than 50 years of age regret not starting early for financial planning keeping the retirement in mind. Another insight which was interesting was that 1 in 3 believe that their savings will last for only five years post-retirement, which is why they need to be prepared in terms of having better financial planning. Like IPQ, IRIS is also one of those platforms which allows us to understand nuances around these critical spaces of protection and retirement in a better way, and our product solutions, our customer experience plans, etc. then anchored around the insights that stem from these kinds of thought leadership platforms.

How are you guys catering to a diverse demographic of customers like working women, the Gen Z, the LGBTQIA community and such?

If you were to look at our stated vision, our stated vision would be articulated as wanting to be the most admired life insurance company by protecting the financial future of ‘all’ of our customers. The reason that I emphasize on ‘all’, is to be able to highlight the inclusiveness that we have for these newer cohorts which are newer in terms of their participation in these conversations, but they’ve always been there.

For example, working women, Gen Z, and now going forward even LGBTQIA+ community. One of the reasons of why we embraced our partnership with both Rohit Sharma and Ritika Sajdeh on the brand was to ensure an active participation of the women representation in financial decision making.

Again, initiatives like IPQ and IRIS would have a complete double click of not only the demographics or gender pieces between male female or urban tier 1, tier 2, but it would definitely be able to give us deep insights around working women, millennials, Gen Zs. And specifically, if you talk about IPQ sixth edition, we’ve truly gone a step further to become more inclusive by also doing a specific module around the LGBTQIA+ community as well and insights for that are going to be rolled out sometime later this month.

We also went ahead and did this entire partnership with the Mumbai Indians Women Premier Leagues team. The idea again being that women as a partner in this financial planning journey and their role in decision making needs to be spoken about. 

How is Max leveraging new edge tech for better customer experiences? 

We have been able to ensure that the tech enablers have allowed us to look at creation of end-to-end personalized videos, and messaging among others to be able to ensure that when we are making the right representations to our customers, either directly or via our sellers, we have customized selling pitches available. Moments marketing happens to be again one of those big marketing use cases where this technology has allowed us to ensure that we get to a high degree of personalization.

If you were to look at our relationships with our customer, these are for fairly long drawn durations and to ensure that over this duration, we have a good engagement going in with our customers we want to be able to use these technologies of AIs and personalized videos to ensure that we are delivering differentiated experiences for them.

Again, vernacular for a mass retail brand like ourselves is important because we cut across all geographies and we always know that vernacular tends to play that much extra when it comes to engagement. So, all in all, we are ensuring that we try and use technology to not only become better at the backend, but also to be able to ensure that we take the right communication mix to our customers.

Max Life Insurance's Rahul Talwar on building a proprietary narrative around trust

Pragya Bijalwan, chief marketing officer of Crompton Greaves, believes in the power of the Pomodoro technique, which recommends working for 25 minutes and then taking a break. Then, after frequent intervals, take longer breaks. She says it helps because one can break away from monotony, but for those 25 minutes, one has to really focus on work.


She spoke to Storyboard18 about work pressures, how to get through the weekdays and weekends, and her hacks for the workplace and the home. 


Edited excerpts:


The creator economy has taken the world by storm. Which influencers and trends are you following?


Everyone is hooked on social media. In fact, Gen Z spends in excess of 240 minutes per day on social media. While I don't belong to Gen Z, I'm pretty much on social media to know about a lot of things.


I'm pretty much a fitness freak because I think it's very important to keep that side of your system alive. One person that I have followed over the years is Milind Soman. I don't follow many of them, but when I follow them I get quite inspired and there are no stereotypes.


You don’t have to hit the gym to be fit. What I've learned after seeing a lot of content is that you just need to be in your space and there is always room to exercise. I try to consume as much during the day, more so because I have a health regime. Secondly, if I don't practise health and fitness or exercise for a day, I feel guilty of not doing it… So, that keeps me a little bit alive and also motivated.


There's a lot of talk about burnout, workplace toxicity and hustle culture. What steps have you taken to avoid the adverse impact of the always-on culture on yourself and your colleagues and what advice would you give them?


There are so many things happening around that one wants to be everywhere. Marketers often have this fear of missing out. If there are 10 platforms, they think there is a need to be there on the 10 platforms. One has to make a frugal choice. Work is a lot different. Similarly, you have to make choices on the way you also operate.


So, one is that you define your work. Quite often, what happens is that when you really want to do everything, you get busy, you don't get effective. So, one is to think about getting effective rather than to get busy.


Just because you're working 12 hours a day, it doesn't mean that you're doing the best of the work. After four o'clock, I don't allow for anything. It's all pre-blocked for me, which basically says: No meetings after that from my side.


I have blocked lunch time, I have blocked reading time for myself, which helps me and my team members to divide the time and not stay just busy.


Secondly, it's very important to be realistic in your ambition. You have to define the top three things you have to go after and just stick to that.


One more important thing is don't overkill yourself with ambition. It is good to be a perfectionist sometimes, but it's also okay to lose that perfection sometimes for peace. If that 10 on 10 is not going to be sustainable each time, then you have to take a call for yourself.


Sometimes, when you get involved with your work, you get very emotional and passionate about it. Withdraw yourself at the right time – that will ensure your mental health or your mental capacity does not get exhausted.


Is there any sport or fitness routine you practice to steal a few minutes of me-time for yourself?


I work out late in the evening, after office hours. I directly hit the gym. Over the weekends, I have lately started playing squash, which requires a lot of strength. More than that, it requires a lot of mental agility because you focus so much on the game.


What does your weekend look like?


Like anyone else, I actually look forward to the weekend. I would say a little bit of work to the point that it adds on to my knowledge area. It is a cocktail of a lot of activities which provides me relaxation and also helps me see things outside of my work area.


So socialising with friends, going out, reading a lot of stuff, and also playing my sport. I also believe in mindfulness, so tranquillity to the extent that if I can sit and just close my eyes and focus on something for half an hour, I do that either on a Saturday or on a Sunday.


It's basically anchored towards a Sunday because Saturday goes into a lot of other things. So on a Sunday, I need to again clear my mind so that I can be ready for Monday.


Share one work hack and one life hack you swear by.


While a job requires us to attend meetings back to back and read a lot of stuff, I try to take breaks in between. Pomodoro technique says to work for 25 minutes and then take a break. Then after frequent intervals, take a longer break. I think that helps because you break away from the monotony. But for those 25 minutes, one has to really focus on work. The biggest distraction these days is your phone.


On the personal front, one hack which works is – and I think it's quite dated – is to have a to-do list. So, I think that's one thing that you can do is to have a look at your diary and then you can just go through what your week looks like.


I keep a diary and I maintain it every day in the morning when I land in the office between 9:00 and 9:30. Morning time is the best time for me, where I take on the most difficult task. Because if that gets sorted for me, which has been a pain for a little while, then the rest of the day looks easy. So, I try to eat the frog first.


What are you watching or streaming this weekend?


I've been watching One Day at a Time on Netflix. It's about an American-Cuban family and it is a comedy drama. The family members have battles with each other when they talk about what they want to do. They talk about people having different preferences in their life and how the family still works together in a different country.


What are you reading? Any recommendations?


There's a book called Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. So it talks about two systems about humans. System one is about intuitive systems. If there is a problem, my intuitive self says that this is what can work out. I am very quick in my response. I immediately react to it.


System two is about a delayed decision but a thought-out decision. And you apply all kinds of projects to arrive at that. Now it talks about how system one and two can work together to arrive at the right decisions. It also talks about cognitive bias.


A piece of wisdom you would like to share?


Life is not always the same. You'll see a successful person and will look up to him or her. But remember, that person has gone through a lot of downs as well. So I'm a big fan of resilience.


I keep saying this to my team because we have a lot of Gen Z crowd. We need to take care of the new-age trend. And these are the future of our target audience for us. Everyone wants to move really fast. But when failures come, it's very difficult for some of them to really absorb and learn from it.


It's very easy to see 10 things happening and say you're lucky. Nobody is lucky. They work through that. You haven't seen the failures behind it. So my mantra is that if you fall seven times you should stand up eight times.


Always plan your day because a lot of things are unpredictable. But be ready for that. Work around it. And if you persist and you have the resilience, you'll always see the right things happening at the end of the day. But don't lose that resilience. Because speed is one thing. But sustaining that speed is another thing.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/job-is-a-part-of-you-you-also-have-another-side-of-you-says-darshana-shah-aditya-birla-capital-29568.htm">Job is a part of you. You also have another side of you, says Darshana Shah, Aditya Birla Capital</a>

Crompton Greaves’ Pragya Bijalwan: If you fall seven times, stand up eight times & you’re sure to win

We aim to instill a sense of responsibility and agency among our users: BluSmart's Anirudh Arun

India is currently in the midst of two major events, especially from an advertising and marketing standpoint - the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Lok Sabha Elections. With these two events coinciding, brands have been spending either more on advertising or are allocating their spends on what they think will be the optimal option for them to gain reach. Either way, media agencies have their work cut out for them during this period. Storyboard18 caught up with Harish Iyer, EVP, Media and Investment, Interactive Avenues, the digital arm of IPG Mediabrands India to understand what sort of shift there has been in ad spends in the last two months, the top spending categories, major reasons behind the AdEx surge and more. 

Edited excerpts. 


What is the kind of increase in ad spends that you are noticing this April due to the combined impact of IPL and elections?

In April, we initially observed a slow start among advertisers and platforms, but there has been a notable uptick in ad spends recently. This surge can be attributed to the combined impact of the IPL and upcoming elections. Notably, key sectors such as beverages, e-commerce, automotive, BFSI, and consumer electronics are leading the charge in terms of increased ad expenditures. As user traction remains strong across both high-impact activities, advertisers are capitalizing on this opportunity to maximize their brand visibility and engagement.

 

What are the top ad spending categories experiencing the biggest surge in AdeX due to the combined effect of IPL and the upcoming elections?

The top ad spending categories include those mentioned earlier: beverages, e-commerce, automotive, BFSI, and consumer electronics. These sectors are strategically leveraging the heightened viewership during this period to amplify their advertising efforts and connect with their target audience effectively.

 

What are the specific goals that brands are looking to achieve with their advertising campaigns during this period of heightened viewership?

Apart from seeking increased audience numbers to boost brand visibility and awareness, brands are also focused on driving engagement with viewers. Leveraging this engagement, they aim to foster brand loyalty among their audience base, thereby strengthening their market presence and customer relationships.

 

Can you tell us which genres of programming are performing best in terms of ad viewership during the IPL and election season?

In terms of ad viewership, news genres and live sports platforms are experiencing significant traction. Viewers are tuning in to stay updated on the latest developments surrounding the elections and other news events, making news programming a key avenue for advertisers to reach their target audience effectively.

 

How significant is the ad rate growth compared to usual periods, (or, this time last year) considering both IPL and election?

While there has indeed been an increase in ad rates, this increase is primarily viewed as a correction rather than an unprecedented surge. Advertisers are adapting to these adjustments in ad rates as they navigate the competitive landscape shaped by the IPL and elections.

 

Besides IPL and elections, are there any other upcoming events or trends that you anticipate will impact media buying strategies?

Following the conclusion of the IPL and elections, attention will shift towards the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the US and West Indies. Some advertisers are already strategizing for a full-quarter activation centred around sports and news, anticipating continued opportunities for engagement and brand exposure.

News and live sports platforms experiencing significant traction amidst IPL and elections: Interactive Avenues' Harish Iyer

Orient Electric Limited, part of the CK Birla Group, has launched a new TVC campaign to promote its premium range of BLDC fans. The TV commercial, featuring brand ambassador MS Dhoni in a never-seen-before avatar, takes the viewers on an electrifying journey through time to unveil the ‘Future of Fans’. Anika Agarwal, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer, Orient Electric shares what makes MS Dhoni the ideal brand ambassador for Orient Electric, talks about Orient being present for both IPL and general elections, and more. 

What led to the genesis of the campaign? What makes MS Dhoni the ideal brand ambassador for Orient?

The genesis of our campaign stemmed from a desire to reimagine fans in the context of modern homes, embracing cutting-edge technology with future-ready features, designs, and finishes. Today, fans have become integral to our lifestyle and home decor, reflecting consumers’ desire for smart, stylish, and technologically advanced solutions. Through our campaign, we wanted to not just showcase our premium BLDC fans differently but present an exciting narrative that encapsulates the evolving preferences of new-age consumers. We sought to break through the clutter of a heavy media investment period across categories, particularly within the fans category. 

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Now, why MS Dhoni, you ask? Well, it's a natural fit, as he has a longstanding association with Orient Electric. A legend in his own right, Dhoni is at the peak of his popularity and with his future in cricket sparking intrigue, we saw an opportunity to marry his iconic status with our concept of reimaging fans to come up with an interesting narrative around future of cricket juxtaposed with futuristic fans. Through our campaign, we're not just presenting a product, but showcasing a vision of the future, where premium Orient BLDC fans redefine the way we think about comfort, convenience, and style.

Take us through the behind the scenes and making of the campaign? How did the entire process pan out? 

The journey behind our campaign was a rollercoaster of excitement and challenge. While we were brainstorming ways to showcase the futuristic appeal of our fans for modern homes, the idea of intertwining it with cricket during the IPL season piqued our interest. When we decided to go ahead with the futuristic narrative for the campaign, the challenge became clear - creating a future world that’s not intimidating but captivating and one that resonates with cricket enthusiasts, ensuring engagement as IPL fever takes hold this summer. 

And then another creative conundrum emerged - how to maintain Dhoni’s iconic ‘Captain Cool’ persona while giving it a fresh, futuristic spin? It was a creative tightrope walk, blending the familiar with the novel to capture his charisma like never before. From brainstorming sessions to storyboard sketches, every detail was meticulously crafted to ensure that our message resonated with our audience. 

A significant aspect of our campaign was the extensive use of VFX, which brought the futuristic aspects of our narrative to life, resulting in a visually stunning depiction of the imagined future. As for the shoot, the energy on set was palpable, with everyone including MSD, super excited about the concept and the outcome. Through it all, we learned the transformative potential of storytelling in weaving captivating narratives that not only engage but also inspire viewers in exciting and innovative ways. 

Can you share some interesting market trends and consumer insights you are observing currently?

One key trend we're noticing is the increasing demand for premium and energy-efficient products across categories like fans, air coolers and kitchen appliances. Consumers are upgrading their lifestyles and are choosing to invest in high-quality, premium products that that enhance their living spaces while giving them the pride of ownership. Moreover, with the increasing environmentally conscious consumerism, the demand for energy-efficient products is also growing fast. With new-age consumers upgrading their lifestyles, brands that deliver innovative solutions resonate well with them. In this context, we at Orient invest heavily in research and development and continue to embrace emerging technologies and trends to deliver groundbreaking solutions that meet and exceed customer expectations.

From a content perspective, we're observing a notable surge in video content consumption, with short-format videos and influencer-generated content playing a pivotal role in shaping consumer preferences. Leveraging this trend, we'll continue to use it to drive consideration as shoulder content. Moreover, authenticity remains paramount, particularly for our digital-first audience. To cater to this need, we'll focus our efforts on platforms like native advertising and product reviews. 

We're a mass-premium brand in a heavily penetrated category and we employ an integrated marketing approach. While TV remains our primary reach medium, we're now allocating more than 25 percent of our total spends to Digital. E-commerce is integral to the customer journey, and so we’re using various digital channels including social commerce and DSPs to target younger audiences and women.

What's the crux of Orient's advertising and marketing strategies for the IPL this year?

The IPL holds significant importance for us beyond being just a media property. It's an impact property serving as a key platform for contextual conversations with our brand ambassador, MS Dhoni. Our advertising and marketing strategies during the IPL season are centered around leveraging the tournament's popularity to reach a wider and diverse audience, contextualize our campaign messages to cricket, and engage our audience with relevant digital content. In addition to the IPL, there's a substantial portion of consumers that has interest in general elections, which results in increased news consumption both online and offline. We'll maintain our presence across both these platforms, ensuring visibility in both digital and traditional media channels.

What's your media mix? Where is the business coming from the most?

Our media mix includes a healthy balance of offline and online channels. Considering the fact that a significant number of customer decision journeys start on digital today, we have done audience mapping across media and are using a healthy mix of TV, CTV, Meta, and OTT for broader reach for building top funnel awareness and consideration. For targeting customers who are actively looking for our products, we allocate search spends on Google, Amazon, and Flipkart. Additionally, we are exploring the potential of Q-commerce as a sales channel to provide our customers with quick and convenient shopping experiences. Our summer spends have gone up by 20 percent compared to last year. This increase is to target the premium audience interested in our BLDC Pro fans and to support the exciting media events planned for this season. 

While our majority business traditionally comes from general trade, we're experiencing a significant uptick in online sales, with digital channels now contributing to a double-digit share of our sales.

Take us through Orient's growth trajectory.

The growth has been faster than the market last year, driven by product portfolio expansion and the product availability in various designs and across price points, catering to varying consumer preferences. As a consumer-centric brand, we aim to unravel what consumers want and provide them with the right solutions that meet and exceed their expectations. We leverage data analytics to gain deeper insights into consumer behaviour which enables us to deliver innovative, differentiated, and first-to-market products. 

With a robust presence nationwide, we rank among the top-tier brands in most states. We are among the Top 3-4 players in the fans category and will continue to build market share across our preferred segments. 

How is Orient planning to grow and evolve?

Customer centricity, embedded in our DNA, guides everything at Orient, from product development to marketing strategies. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on differentiation within our portfolio, increasing accessibility across channels, enhancing customer experience, and building a robust digital strategy to guide consumers through their research journey, increasing consideration for our brand. 

As for marketing efforts, we deploy comprehensive 360-degree advertising support during the summer season to maximize our reach and impact. Alongside, we remain committed to investing in the growth of our other product categories including air coolers, water heaters, kitchen appliances and lighting. Our aim is to establish ourselves as a top-quartile player in Lighting and Appliances segments

Orient Electric's Anika Agarwal on importance of IPL and general elections, digital spends and more

The digital payments sector is witnessing rapid growth, driven by factors such as technological advancements, changing consumer preferences, and increasing digitization. Convenience, security, and the availability of innovative features has led to customers embracing digital payment solutions. 

There is a growing preference amongst consumers for convenience in payment methods. Customers are increasingly gravitating towards solutions that offer ease of use, quick transactions, and hassle-free experiences. Considering this, Amazon Pay had come out with 'Pay Karne Ka Smarter Way' featuring Ayushmann Khurrana highlighting the speed and convenience of Amazon Pay.

Anuradha Aggarwal, director, user growth and CMO, Amazon Pay India discusses with Storyboard18 about the genesis of the campaign, consumer insights that the digital payment service leveraged and more. 

What led to the genesis of Pay Karne Ka Smarter Way campaign? What was the rationale behind choosing Ayushmann Khurrana? 

We realized that customers are looking for convenient, secure, safe ways of making payments. And, it's not limited to just where they make payments or how they make payments, but across all touch points, across all payment instruments that they use, and across all use cases. Therefore, we decided to simplify bill payments for customers last year. 

We gave them simpler and smarter ways to make payments last year. This year, we discovered that while customers are using digital payments extensively, they are still suffering some pain points when they are making payments. Take the case of low lighting for example when scans take time, or don't scan at all, in the case of many parking lots. Then there are grocery queues where people are impatient. In such cases, you need fast and secure solutions.
Amazon Pay has this new feature called “auto torch”. We are the first ones on iOS to do an auto torch in low light, which allows us to pay even in low light area. 

Customers tend to have anxiety about whether the money will get refunded, the time it will take for the refund and the person of contact to solve their query. This is a key differentiator for our Amazon Pay wallet where the customer can actually make payments in one click. They can get instant refunds and they can connect with our customer service 24/7. That's what we want to communicate and let the customer know that there are smarter ways of making payments out there. 

Coming to why we chose Ayushmann as our partner for this campaign; it's due to his versatility which resonates with Amazon Pay’s versatility. He is not only charming and witty but also resonates with every other man. Amazon Pay being an accessible brand, we wanted to go for a celebrity who was not inaccessible.

What are some key consumer insights that you’ve been observing currently?

A lot of customers leave the house without their physical wallets, and the younger the customer, the more comfort there is around making a digital payment on any interface. Yet, not every customer realizes that there is interoperability and that they can scan with any QR code and they can receive money from any QR code in any app. This is one of the insights that we have used.

There is still some element of education that needs to be done, despite the fact that there is a huge amount of ubiquity of digital payments. Secondly, there is a proliferation of customer payment instruments and ways to pay; there's a real need for simplicity. And that is something that Amazon Pay is working very hard to solve for the customer.

We do realize that sometimes the choices can be overwhelming. Therefore, we want to simplify them; we want to put them in front of the customersaying here are the choices. They can simply make a choice between one instrument or the other basis what sorts of payment they want to make, or the rewards that they want to receive.

How is Amazon currently approaching advertising and marketing? 

A lot of our communication is for our visitors who come to shop. Our shoppers and payers are the people we want to talk to. We communicate with potential customers even as we go outside of Amazon customer base and speak to customers about how Amazon Pay is still a smarter way to pay. We are fundamentally approaching the Amazon customer who wants to shop on Amazon. 

We want to talk to customers who have fragmented their payment instruments across different apps; we want to encourage them about consolidating their payment instruments in one place. Ideally, we want customers to make payments for all their everyday payment use cases including bill payments, LPG cylinders, and mobile phone payments among others on Amazon Pay. We use a 360-degree approach for our mass media campaigns, but we do a lot of targeted communication to customers on the site itself.

How is Amazon innovating and evolving?

We constantly innovate, evolve, and improve our existing features while simultaneously working on more convenient payment solutions. We have enhanced our Scan & Pay feature with improved latency as well as enabling quick and seamless payments even in unfavorable environments including low light areas, low network areas. We have a miniscule payment failure record, even in such cases we facilitate instant refunds and enable 24X7 customer support for our users.

We are one of the first ones to launch the auto torch on iOS. We're also launching very large, diversified use cases; we just launched our Fastag proposition with ICICI bank which is connected straight to the Amazon Pay Wallet. 

The customer doesn't have to keep uploading their details; they can connect the details with the Amazon Pay wallet, allow auto pay and continue to pay from there. We have also come up with travel tickets where customers can do seat selection along while booking air travel. People can book their flight tickets on Amazon and hotels when they travelling. Other than that, Amazon Pay is widely accepted at over 10,000 online merchants, covering a wide range of services including cabs, food delivery, movie ticketing, bus ticketing, and travel bookings including merchants like Uber, Zomato, Swiggy, Dominos, ACT, Red Bus, Faasos, BookMyShow, Freshmenu, NetMeds, and MakeMyTrip.

CXO INTERVIEW