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<ul><li>In 2012, <keyword id="6354924" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="idea-cellular">Idea Cellular</keyword> wanted to talk about its pan-India presence, and wanted to come up with a campaign that would capture the fancy of people across geographies.</li><li>The '<keyword id="1477459" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="honey-bunny">Honey Bunny</keyword>' song was created in order to come up with a quirky, catchy song that had the potential of going viral.</li><li><keyword id="185767" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arun-Iyer">Arun Iyer</keyword> takes us behind the scenes of the ad and tells us all that went into its making.</li></ul> It was in 2012 that erstwhile Idea Cellular wanted to come up with a campaign that would establish it as a national player with a pan-India presence. For that, it needed to do something different, to make sure that it appeals to audiences across the country. That is how, its extremely hummable and catchy jingle, ‘Honey Bunny’, came into being. In the latest episode of BTS with Insiders, Arun Iyer, the brains behind the campaign, told us the story of how the song was created. It was that time in the brand’s history when it wanted to talk about its network. However, that is exactly what every other player in the segment was doing too. So how could Idea stand out? <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Telling us what it is that Idea wanted to achieve at that point in time, Iyer said, “Till that point, Idea was more a regional player and it wanted to now go national, and talk about the strength of its network. However, at that time, it was par for the course. Everybody had claimed network. All competition at that point had already said that they are present nationally and it was a parity claim. So the core of what we were saying wasn’t interesting enough, because that had become expected from the category itself. So we thought how do we say it that it really sticks with people?” At that point, the creative team had realized that a ringtone was a very effective way of knowing whether your network works. And then came the thought of creating a quirky ringtone that could go viral. That was the time when Iyer got together with music composer <keyword id="142520" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amit-Trivedi">Amit Trivedi</keyword> and lyricist <keyword id="27642" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amitabh-Bhattacharya">Amitabh Bhattacharya</keyword>. Interestingly, Bhattacharya had written a very different set of words that were in Bengali. “At that point we said, well you can’t get this tune out of your head but the words make no sense,” said Iyer with a laugh. It was during one session at Trivedi’s studio when Iyer along with members from his creative team including Ashwin Varkey and Subodh Menon were brainstorming and trying to come up with the lyrics for what he calls this ‘completely bizarre song’. “It was around 12:30 during our session that suddenly Ashwin said Honey and Subodh said Bunny and we said, ‘That’s It!’ From there, the rest of the song got written by itself. Everybody threw in a line here and there, said Iyer. It was decided that Bhattacharya would sing the song which was recorded at 2am. “We sat and chilled at the studio till 4:30 that morning and we just couldn’t stop singing the song, and that’s how we realized it has something in it,” added Iyer. While the song was complete, the shoot which was done across the country, proved to be a mammoth task. “We shot in almost every part of the country and it happened over 20-22 days. During the shoot, we took flights to and drove to places, the names of which I had never heard of. Parts of the ad have been shot in Sikkim. From there we were supposed to go to Kolkata in the next leg. However, at that point, Kolkata closed down due to a strike. The entire crew was holed up in Sikkim for three whole days. With nothing else to do, we were going to the movie halls, watching movies, just hanging out and it was great fun,” said Iyer. Right after the campaign went live, the ‘Honey Bunny’ page on the company’s website recorded over a one million visits during the first nine days of the campaign’s launch, according to media reports. The jingle also blew up everywhere with people using it as ringtones, or simply singing it. Till today, the song is considered to be one of the most catchy, quirky jingles and evokes a lot of nostalgia among people.

#BTSwithInsiders: The story of the creation of Idea Cellular’s Honey Bunny, with Arun Iyer

<ul><li>The Glitch's Varun Duggirala, Nirvana Films' Prakash Varma and Spring Marketing Capital's Arun Iyer share how the lockdown has been the biggest teacher. </li><li>They tell us what they have learnt in the past few months after being house arrested with their kids 24*7. </li></ul>The advertising industry is infamous for working the graveyard shift and always slogging way beyond working hours. Fathers in this industry are barely left with any time to spend with their families and themselves. This lockdown, albeit challenging, came with a silver lining. It provided them with an opportunity to spend more time with their kids and family. On the eve of <keyword id="15465" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fathers-Day">Father's Day</keyword>, we reached out to a few cool fathers of the ad world like Varun Duggirala, Content Chief and Co-founder, The Glitch, Prakash Varma, Director/Partner, Nirvana Films and Arun Iyer, Co-founder, Spring Marketing Capital to understand how the lockdown experience has been for them. Here’s what they had to say: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1268418343238635521/lelrmGKf_normal.jpg" favoritecount="5" retweetcount="3" status="#FathersDay | With #FathersDay almost here, @varunduggi of @followtheglitch shares with us about some parenting les… https://t.co/9iGtdWUlVY" createdat="1592641800000" id="1274258183909978112"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1268418343238635521/lelrmGKf_normal.jpg" favoritecount="7" retweetcount="1" status="#FathersDay | @aruniyer of @tweet2spring shares how working from home has changed work and how it is important to t… https://t.co/Aekx6FiYaL" createdat="1592715705000" id="1274568166526468099"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1268418343238635521/lelrmGKf_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="0" status="#fathersday2020 | On the eve of #FathersDay, #PrakashVarma of @NirvanaFilms shares his experience of spending all d… https://t.co/KS0CaJp1a0" createdat="1592649000000" id="1274288383666208768"></div>

Working fathers share some lessons they’ve learnt in parenting during the lockdown

<ul><li><keyword id="270001" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Surf-Excel">Surf Excel</keyword>'s 'Daag Acche Hain' was a unique proposition from a detergent brand back in 2005 when all other brands were simply talking about how to get rid of 'ziddi daag'.</li><li>The first 'Daag Acche Hain' ad featuring two siblings was conceptualized by <keyword id="274876" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lowe-Lintas">Lowe Lintas</keyword> and aimed at presenting a different proposition, in an attempt to stand out in the category.</li><li><keyword id="185767" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arun-Iyer">Arun Iyer</keyword>, the brain behind the ad, shares some heart-warming anecdotes from the making of the campaign. </li></ul>Over the years, Surf Excel has evolved its communication with changing times. While in the eighties, it was the iconic Lalitaji educating people about the perks of buying the detergent with ‘Surf ki khreedari mein hai samajhdaari’, the brand later came up with ads like ‘Dhundhte reh jaoge’ and ‘Surf Excel hai na’, that spoke about what made the brand special and most effective. It was in 2005 that we were introduced to the cute siblings, one of who slips on a puddle, and the other, who then punishes the puddle for hurting his sister. That’s when Surf Excel’s ‘Daag Acche Hain’ came into being. The brand already had a campaign ‘Dirt is good’ running globally, and ‘Daag Acche Hain’ was an extension of this proposition, while Indianizing it. In India, the campaign was conceptualized by Lowe Lintas. We spoke to Arun Iyer, the brain behind the campaign on our latest episode of #BTSwithInsiders, to unearth some never-heard-before stories behind the ad and he did not disappoint. While the campaign was launched in 2005, the groundwork had been done in 2004, shares Iyer, who was working on Surf Excel since 2003. “At that point of time, we were trying out a bunch of things because the brand’s growth had stagnated. The competition was coming down heavily, Ariel was doubling down on India and there was a lot of stuff happening in the category at that point in time. At the same time, ‘Dirt is Good’ had been launched in Brazil and there were attempts to bring it to India in various forms but it didn’t really resonate with people here because in India, dirt isn’t necessarily a good thing,” he shares. In 2004-2005, <keyword id="521074" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gopal-Vittal">Gopal Vittal</keyword>, who is now the CEO of Airtel, along with <keyword id="1557780" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sudhir-Sitapati">Sudhir Sitapati</keyword>, Executive Director, Foods &amp; Refreshment, Hindustan Unilever Limited, were a part of the brand. It was Vittal who said that talking about values could work because mothers want to instill values in children. “It is also during this time that children stop sharing what’s going on in their lives with their mothers.When they come back home, the stories are actually carried by the stains. You can make out what’s transpired through the stains. We realized that behind every stain there’s a beautiful story and that was the starting point,” says Iyer. However, it still took the team sometime to come up with the perfect story. “We came up with alot of stories until one day, it was around 8 pm when Preeti Nair, <keyword id="72976" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="R-Balki">R Balki</keyword> and I were sitting together in Balki’s office and there was this moment. Its classical, how we hit a table if I kid gets hurt by it. We reassure a child saying we will punish the table for what it has done to him. It’s a very innocent thing that people do and that was the behavioral insight we picked up. We thought why don’t we do this with stains? So this is how the story panned out,” he revealed. Once the idea struck, the creative team decided to share it almost immediately with the brand. “It was at 10:30 at night and Gopal was at a dinner with his team at Olive in Bandra. And Balki and I called him and told him we are coming there. The meeting was supposed to happen the next morning at 8 am but we drove down to Bandra at night and shared the script with him. Then Sudhir came over, we did a bit of research and that’s how the campaign saw the light of the day,” added Iyer. The film was directed by <keyword id="1874192" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="abhinay-dev">Abhinay Dev</keyword> and was shot by Hemant Chaturvedi in Ooty, and there was a reason for choosing the venue too. “In India, too much dirt is considered a bad thing. Too much interaction with dirt can lead to illnesses and that’s not something mothers are generally comfortable with. So we said it should be a place where even if you get dirty, it feels clean. A very innocent thought was, where was the place where if you dropped a chocolate, you could simply pick it up and eat it. That’s when Ooty came to our mind,” shared Iyer. However, in Ooty, for a child to play with a puddle full of water in the cold weather was a big challenge. The team had to think around this problem and they came up with an innovative solution. “While we were shooting there, it was really cold, muggy and was even raining a little. The shoot kept getting interrupted. And this was for the first time that the boy was acting in anything, and since it was really cold, he couldn’t take it after a point. So we devised a strategy and put hot water in the puddle. What happened after that was quite fascinating. After that, he just did not want to come out of the puddle because it was so warm and cozy in there,” laughs Iyer. It was perhaps this ad that helped the brand stand out in the category because while every other player was talking about how to get rid of stains, here was a brand saying something quite the opposite, that stains are good. And it has worked well for the brand as that still remains the brand’s core proposition and we have seen many more gems from the brand’s stable on similar lines over the years.

#BTSwithInsiders: Arun Iyer on how Surf Excel’s ‘Daag Acche Hain’ came into being

<ul><li>The skin in the game marketing capital firm aims at helping disruptive startup founders on their marketing journey.</li><li>The agency has already worked with 17 brands including Byju’s, Cars24, Epigamia.</li><li>The Spring team is currently formed of around 25 professionals from varied fields</li><li>Spring is looking at investing $1-2 million each on 15 startups within the next three years.</li></ul>Earlier this year, <keyword id="6616448" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raja-Ganapathy">Raja Ganapathy</keyword>, former Chief Marketing Officer of Sequoia Capital India, <keyword id="185767" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arun-Iyer">Arun Iyer</keyword>, ex-chairman of Lowe Lintas and <keyword id="321816" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vineet-Gupta">Vineet Gupta</keyword>, ex-group Chief Executive of DDB Mudra came together to form what they like to call a skin in the game marketing capital firm, <keyword id="7223115" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Spring-Marketing-Capital">Spring Marketing Capital</keyword>. Nine months down the line, the trio has already worked with an impressive roster of new-age disruptors, 17 to be precise, which includes brands like Byju’s, Cars24, Epigamia. Spring had already reached its target that it had set for the year, within its first six months of existence. Along with the three founders, the Spring team currently is formed of around 25 professionals from varied fields. Interestingly, most of them had already quit their previous jobs and come on board, even before the organization had a formal name, and even before they had received their offer letters. It is perhaps this eclectic bunch of professionals from varied backgrounds who have helped give the organization an edge, making it very different from other agencies out there. “It's very difficult to break down our organization into departments. It's almost like we are a bunch of 25 consultants, each specializing in certain fields, working together, which makes us unique. We are different from other agencies, in fact, we would fail terribly if we tried and behaved like an agency,” says Iyer with a smile. How it all came together It was almost two and a half years ago when Iyer and Ganapathy first discussed the idea that was fine-tuned over numerous weekends. Gupta came on board a year back and things slowly started falling in place. “The first idea that we discussed two and a half years back is nowhere close to where we are today, as typically what happens at any startup. It's only last year after Vineet came on board and we devoted a year of weekends to this task that the idea firmed up,” shares Ganapathy. Iyer has been a part of the advertising world for over 20 years, 16 of them were spent in Lowe Lintas. For the last six years out of the 20, he was the Chief Creative Officer and the Chairman of the company. So what prompted him to take the leap? “What helped me personally, is that by the end of it, I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new and growing. That hunger coupled with my interactions with Raja, Vineet and all the people who have come on board really helped me take that leap,” he says. For all three of them, a lot of the charm of the idea lay in the fact that they would be an intrinsic part of a new-age brand’s journey that was endeavoring to disrupt the segment. “While I was doing some parts of what I am doing here at Sequoia too, there I wasn’t able to see the entire journey. There, I was involved in problem identification, the business strategy and the go-to market and then someone like an Arun or Vineet would take over. Despite being a part of the process, I wasn’t in the room. Today, our involvement with these companies is far deeper. I’ve been working with Byju’s since 2015, but this year’s Disney campaign has been really special.” Agreeing to Ganapathy, Gupta adds, “There’s a huge difference in being able to solve a problem as an outsider and an insider. The way our previous organizations and relationships were structured, you were seen as an outsider. These brands actually see our entire team as an insider and they know we have their best interest, and that makes a lot of difference.” Spring’s Modus Operandi Having worked with close to 17 brands already, Spring is on a roll. However, the unique structure of the organization gives it an edge. It calls itself a marketing consulting firm with an investment arm. Spring works closely with founders and helps them on their marketing journey. They will also invest in these startups in their Series A or pre Series A stage. However, they will be co-investors, along with other VCs, instead of being primary investors. And till now, all the startups Spring has worked with have been in-bound. Either they have been approached by the founders or have been referred to by VCs. Explaining how their investment arm would work, Ganapathy says, “Right now we are a pure play consulting firm and the investments will happen next year. If I were to look ahead and predict, we are probably looking at five investments a year, leading to 15 investments over the next three years. We will look at investing between $1-2 million per company, which is around 10% of an investment round.” Why will they think the model, which does not still exists anywhere, will be a success? Ganapathy says, “There's genuinely a gap in the market for founders who have raised a series A or a Series B funding and are thinking of building a brand, embarking on a marketing journey for the first time. There is a gap in that space in terms of partners who are willing to do it. Secondly, the uniqueness of three different people like us coming together will help.” 
 <div type="Video" msid="71880167" hostid="261" title="Raja Ganapathy on what makes Spring Marketing Capital different" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=71880167"></div>


 The vision for Spring Currently, Spring is working closely with founders and aiming at addressing their marketing problems, using the medium that is best suited for each problem. Their mantra? No two pieces of work coming out from Spring should ever look similar. Gupta says, “A lot of people compartmentalize their teams but we’re not structured like that at all. We're very solution-focused and the solutions come from the nature of the problem. We will never push a solution because we are good at something.” “What excites us about this is that we are helping founders on their journey, giving their business a structure and process, and making sure that building the brand becomes a part of the journey they are in, from a business point of view. And that is at the heart of what we do,” says Ganapathy. So where do they want to take Spring in the next few years? “The honest answer to that is, we don't know,” confesses Ganapathy. “I know this sounds shocking because a fair number of people have trusted us but the truth is, what we are trying to do is something very unique. And it would be foolish to think that we will be doing this for the next two decades of our life. We will be doing some version of this. But it all depends on the success of this model, which we believe will evolve with time,” he add. “We want to hold on to the philosophy of being an insider and the skin in the game way of working. What forms it takes, we will know as we go along,” adds Iyer.

Arun Iyer, Raja Ganapathy and Vineet Gupta’s Spring Marketing Capital is helping build disruptive brands of the future

<ul><li>‘The Wall’ has been signed as the company’s first brand ambassador.</li><li>Conceptualized by <keyword id="7223115" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="spring-marketing-capital" source="Orion">Spring Marketing Capital</keyword>, the campaign is will be seen on digital media platforms across six metro cities in India.</li></ul>Practo, India’s leading integrated healthcare company, has unveiled <keyword id="2727" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rahul-dravid" source="Orion">Rahul Dravid</keyword> as its first brand ambassador with a campaign marking its foray into secondary care services. In the first phase of the ‘You are in safe hands’ campaign, the celebrated cricketer talks about the safe secondary care procedures under Practo Care Surgeries (PCS) in the hands of its team of experts. Maintaining good health is integral to all sportspeople in not only boosting their performance, but also helping them recover quickly from injuries that require expert medical care. Being a strong advocate of the importance of getting the right care from experts to live a healthy life, there could not have been anyone more suited to represent the company than the cricketer. The first ad film starts with Dravid speaking to a friend at a party who has been suffering from a secondary health condition. On being told that he always has access to expert care, Dravid introduces his friend to PCS that is designed to provide personalized, expert care to everyone. By walking him through the entire process - from the first consultation to post-surgery care - this film encapsulates how - and why - Practo is positioned to offer the best secondary care experience to patients. <div type="Youtube" id="fu2veykYpOs" title="Practo Care Surgeries | You are in safe hands x Rahul Dravid | End-to-end surgical solutions" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fu2veykYpOs/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Commenting on the announcement, cricketer Rahul Dravid says, “Practo has reimagined modern healthcare in India with its comprehensive digital services and integrated offline experience with Practo Care, helping us with our secondary healthcare needs . The company has earned a name for itself as a leader in delivering patient-focused care - anytime, anywhere - and I’m glad to be associated with them.” Seamless delivery of secondary care can be challenging given the lack of adequate support patients may get in terms of access to expert surgeons, right information, financial help and post-surgical support. Practo has attempted to find a solution to these with PCS. Speaking on the launch, Srikanth Pinninti, Executive Vice President - Marketing, Practo, says, “Dravid embodies Practo’s spirit of always being dependable and trustworthy. Built on this understanding, our association with him is a step towards improving awareness - and thereby access - to quality secondary healthcare. Given the superior surgical support that sports people routinely need, this endorsement conveys that the same is available to anyone today with Practo Care Surgeries.” Conceptualized by Spring Marketing Capital, and directed by Shlok Sharma of Absolute Productions, the ad film demonstrates that Dravid’s values as a dependable sportsperson with great command over his craft aligns with Practo’s vision of building access to quality healthcare on the back of the trust and expertise it has built over years. It covers key aspects of the new service, including the PCS Experience Centers, expert surgeons, use of latest surgical technology, and financial support. “Surgeries are considered a stressor for most patients, even though they can offer a lot of relief” says Arun Iyer, Founder and Creative Partner, Spring Marketing Capital. “Practo Care Surgeries combines easy access with medical expertise and state-of-the-art technology to offer patients an end-to-end experience,” he adds. The ad film will air on digital media platforms - including Disney+Hotstar during IPL, ZEE5, SonyLiv, Voot, MX Player, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram - across six key cities (Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad), where the ace cricketer will be seen promoting quality, convenient, and end-to-end delivery experience in secondary care with the help of expert surgeons on Practo. Credits: Spring Marketing Capital Arun Iyer – Founder &amp; Creative Partner Manish Karnatak – Creative Partner Manu Ambady – Creative Associate Chitra Balachandran – Portfolio Associate Production Production House: Absolute Productions Director: Shlok Sharma Executive Producer: Prafull Sharma Producer: Trisanku Kaushik

Practo names Rahul Dravid as brand ambassador; launches new campaign to spread awareness for its secondary care procedures

A non-Indian could easily watch the new commercial for Tanishq jewelery and miss all of the subtlety.
In it, a beautiful woman prepares for her wedding and puts on her Tanishq necklace. At the ceremony, her daughter impatiently calls out to her. She's asking if she can participate in the pheras, a ceremony in which the couple walks around a fire seven times as they say their vows. The groom is moved by the girl and scoops her up, filling his bride with emotion.
What's special about the ad is that a sharp viewer can tell the marriage is the second one for both the bride and groom. Historically, divorced or widowed men are outcasts in Indian culture, making the ad a sharp break from tradition. Indian viewers are also talking about the bride's relatively dark complexion, a turn away from <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/aug/14/indias-dark-obsession-fair-skin" title="light">the country's mainstream obsession with light-skinned lead actresses</a>.
Here's the ad:

The commercial has sparked a conversation on Twitter, prompting celebrities and politicians to weigh in. Parliament member and industrialist Naveen Jindal praised the bride's "dusky" skin tone and the non-traditional marriage:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A dusky bride with a daughter in an ad?Well done <a href="https://twitter.com/TanishqJewelry">@TanishqJewelry</a> for breaking stereotypes with grace &amp; power <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23tanishq&amp;src=hash">#tanishq</a> <a href="http://t.co/vfSyG5E87d">http://t.co/vfSyG5E87d</a>
- Naveen Jindal (@MPNaveenJindal) <a href="https://twitter.com/MPNaveenJindal/statuses/394807393348878336">October 28, 2013</a></blockquote>

<keyword id="1923275" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lowe-Lintas-India">Lowe Lintas India</keyword> created the ad with filmmaker Gauri Shinde. The team carefully chose the actors to ensure their couple would look like one of respectable equals, <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/3KipzmBH06Qqv2NDsSqy2K/New-Tanishq-ad-receives-bouquets-and-brickbats.html" title="mint">creative director Arun Iyer told Mint</a>. Traditional-minded Indians might otherwise have assumed that the woman was marrying the divorced or widowed man out of pity.
The creative team also wanted the ceremony to appear modest, because "We didn't want it to look like we were trying to make a point."
But they were, and they did.

This Jewelry Ad Might Seem Traditional To An American, But It's Causing A Huge Stir In India

New Delhi, Apr 14 () Donation platform GiveIndia on Tuesday said it has launched the 'India COVID Response Fund' (ICRF) with initial donations worth Rs 75 crore to support the on-ground COVID relief efforts being carried out by its network of verified non-profits.Some of the early donors to the fund include the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, Google.org, HSBC India, Omidyar Network India, UBS Optimus Foundation, Marico, Uber India (through Uber Care driver fund), Binny Bansal and A.T.E. Chandra Foundation.The fund will use a data-backed approach to identify the most critical areas of intervention and scale the relief efforts pan India, a statement said.The donation platform is aiming at creation of a larger corpus that can support up to 10 million people nationally, it added."Since we started fundraising for COVID relief work on March 22, we have received donations from more than 2 lakh people globally, raised Rs 75 crores, partnered with over 40 organisations, onboarded more than 100 non-profits, and these initial efforts will impact one million people," GiveIndia Director and ICRF Advisor Govind Iyer said.However, the on-ground requirement is much larger and the fund is an open platform for all to come together and support the most critical need of the hour, he added.Other partners in the collective are CSIP (Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy) from Ashoka University, Bridgespan, Indiaspora, Sattva, Dasra and IIFL Wealth, the statement said.An expert advisory group has been set up to guide fundraise and allocations, including Dr Devi Shetty, (Chairman, Narayana Health), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Chairman, Biocon), Sanjiv Mehta (Chairman, HUL), Surendra Rosha (CEO, HSBC India), Binny Bansal (Co-founder, Flipkart), Manoj Kohli (Country Head, Softbank) and Amitabh Chaudhry (CEO, Axis Bank).Shilpa Kumar (Investment Partner, Omidyar Network India), Ingrid Srinath (Director, CSIP, Ashoka University), Arun Seth (former Chairman-BT), Amita Chauhan (Chairperson, SVP Mumbai), Shailesh Haribhakti (CA), Haigreve Khaitan (Managing Partner, Khaitan &amp; Co), V Vaidyanathan (MD &amp; CEO, IDFC First Bank), Neeraj Aggarwal (Head APAC, BCG) and Karan Bhagat (MD &amp; CEO, IIFL Wealth) are also part of the effort."ICRF will focus on preventing the spread of the coronavirus, providing humanitarian aid, supporting our health workers and enabling the COVID-hit families to rebuild their livelihoods. GiveIndia will be working with and supporting non-profits across health, disaster relief, rural livelihoods, etc including Akshaya Patra, Goonj, HelpAge India, ActionAid, Oxfam, CRY, Srijan and many others through this fund," the statement said. SR RSN RUJ

GiveIndia starts India COVID Response Fund with Rs 75 cr in initial donations

Raja Ganapathy on what makes Spring Marketing Capital different

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11892747" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, the world's largest democracy, has not explicitly condemned the invasion of <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword>.</li><li>It's distanced itself from Putin, but its social-media platforms are awash with <keyword id="11919168" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="misinformation" source="Orion">misinformation</keyword>.</li></ul>Arun Pudur, the founder of an Indian software firm, has 78,000 followers on Twitter. On <a href="https://twitter.com/arunpudur/status/1499178413445513216?s=20&amp;t=UmMUEWC1tNOiM4EoB_LlHg">March 3</a>, he tweeted that the Ukrainian army had captured Indian students and was "using them as Human shields" in its fight against Russia's invasion.This misinformation racked up hundreds of likes and retweets.<div type="image" title="Screengrab of tweet claiming the Ukrainian Army held Indian students hostage" height="767" width="654" msid="90491862" hostid="261"></div>The incendiary claim, which echoed untruths <a href="https://tass.com/society/1415491?utm_source=google.com&amp;utm_medium=organic&amp;utm_campaign=google.com&amp;utm_referrer=google.com">from Russian President Vladimir Putin</a>, drew a swift <a href="https://twitter.com/MEAIndia/status/1499221560657252356">rebuttal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government</a>. The Indian government's willingness to dismiss pro-Russia misinformation about Ukraine belies how complicated its position is on the issue. It abstained on a UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia. While its language on the war has hardened since the invasion, it's still the lone member of the 10 largest economies, other than China, that has yet to openly criticize Russia or join economic sanctions against the country.While India's position has been evolving, pro-Russia, pro-Modi false claims have had their uses. They can blunt criticism that New Delhi has faced domestically for its failure to evacuate the 18,000 students trapped in Ukraine sooner, at a time when Indians have gone to the polls in regional elections.Pudur, who did not respond to a request for comments from Insider, runs one of several thousands of Indian social-media accounts propagating Kremlin talking points about a conflict taking place more than 2,500 miles away. The failure to evacuate the students sooner sparked criticism of the Modi administration. In response, pro-government handles began promoting untruths that promoted New Delhi's efforts and supported Putin, according to fact-checkers.By March 9, #OperationGanga — the name of the Modi government's mission to rescue citizens from Ukraine — was the top-trending topic on Twitter in India, while #IStandWithPutin had more tweets than #StopPutinNOW. All of this played out as five Indian states voted for their legislatures through February and early March.<div type="image" title="Screenshot of a Twitter trending topics in India" height="2048" width="922" msid="90491863" hostid="261"></div>As India has come under international pressure to publicly condemn its longtime friend, Russia, pro-Modi handles have amped up efforts to defend that position, often relying on Moscow's untruths."Misinformation becomes most useful when you have to shape a new narrative, or — in the view of those peddling lies — correct a narrative," said Pratik Sinha, the cofounder of Ahmedabad-based fact-checking platform Alt <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">News</keyword>, which has busted many of the false claims."The government doesn't mind if it has to issue a denial later. By then, their narrative has taken hold."India's official position on the conflict has evolved. Before the invasion, its public statements emphasized a desire for a peaceful resolution and respect for "legitimate security concerns of all countries," a rhetorical concession to Russian President <keyword id="11899444" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vladimir-putin" source="Orion">Vladimir Putin</keyword>'s claims.Since February 25, though, its statements have instead underscored the need to respect the "sovereignty and territorial integrity" of all nations. Modi has spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy twice since the start of the war, and India is sending humanitarian aid to Kyiv.Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, the director of the Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank, told Insider that India's position was becoming "harsher and harsher toward Moscow" because "Russia has put India in a tough spot, and India isn't happy about that." India's willingness to counter Kremlin misinformation seemingly reflects this growing distance, even if it embarrasses pro-government social-media handles.Earlier this month, as the students trapped in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine pleaded for help from Modi, the Indian embassy there asked them to leave the besieged city within a specified window of time. Soon, a flood of tweets claimed Modi had managed to stop the war altogether for a few hours to enable the evacuation."India paused a war for 6-8 hours just to get Indians out - a war that nobody, not the US, not the EU, has been able to stop," the <a href="https://twitter.com/Iyervval/status/1499102818547822594?s=20&amp;t=ikywqzwfvSlbvGXxmn9xfQ">defense analyst and self-described "theologian of the Indian right" Abhijit Iyer-Mitra</a> tweeted, garnering nearly 10,000 retweets.<a href="https://twitter.com/mvmeet/status/1499217585766043650?s=20&amp;t=wmKL2ZQv_cJOK4B5r2mslA"></a><div type="image" title="Screengrab of false tweet claiming India 'paused the war in Ukraine for 6-8 hours'" height="341" width="614" msid="90491864" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://twitter.com/mvmeet/status/1499217585766043650?s=20&amp;t=wmKL2ZQv_cJOK4B5r2mslA">Mahesh Vikram Hegde,</a> the founder of an online platform called Postcard News and an emphatic Modi supporter, tweeted: "That's the power of Modi."<div type="image" title="Screengrab of false tweet saying Indian PM Narendra Modi negotiated a ceasefire in Ukraine." height="502" width="620" msid="90491866" hostid="261"></div>Official handles of the BJP, Modi's ruling political party, <a href="https://twitter.com/BJP4Maharashtra/status/1499392091247419393?s=20&amp;t=V1qll1cG5LhjPCcCVsZ31g">further amplified the claim</a>. Hours later, India's foreign ministry called it "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDZQiMmoICg&amp;t=1268s">absolutely inaccurate</a>."On March 14, Alt News busted another fake claim that <a href="https://www.altnews.in/no-these-arent-pak-and-turkish-students-who-used-indian-flag-to-escape-ukraine/">Turkish and Pakistani students</a> waved Indian flags to ensure safe passage. In February, it also busted a claim an <a href="https://www.altnews.in/air-india-flight-in-war-tone-ukraine-no-misinfo-believed-to-be-true/">Air India plane had braved Ukrainian airspace</a> alone to rescue them.Alt News identified more than 100 accounts that shared a fake image purporting to show this, including one called "Modi Once More" and another that said it showed "the power of new India."<div type="image" title="Screengrab of a tweet showing a screengrab of a map of Ukraine and one plane entering its airspace" height="885" width="605" msid="90491869" hostid="261"></div>At the time, Modi and his colleagues <a href="https://twitter.com/rssurjewala/status/1497805182180093953?s=20&amp;t=K1SYuTj8tLJAU2SGWdSUzA">were facing accusations from the opposition</a> of focusing on election campaigns and ignoring the trapped students.Srijit Das, a fact-checker with another anti-misinformation platform, Boom Live, told Insider that political leaders were trying to help Modi by encouraging the spread of pro-India misinformation about Ukraine."When the government was facing severe pressure from all across the country, some political leaders and party workers were actively working on their gadgets to distract people," Das said.The false claims aren't limited to India's evacuation effort. As India walks a diplomatic tightrope over the conflict, pro-Modi handles have continued to push pro-Russia misinformation justifying the invasion and underplaying the severity of the crisis. Footage from a climate-crisis protest was used to suggest that the <a href="https://twitter.com/PirateHeartArt/status/1498678466321035266?s=20&amp;t=0FFElVUry8M31EgYKQBGmg">war is a hoax.</a>Pudur has repeated unsubstantiated assertions that the <a href="https://twitter.com/arunpudur/status/1501401233319690240?s=20&amp;t=ZoAc2-2rGyrdQfMzo8CFdQ">United States provoked the invasion by funding dangerous biolabs</a> in Ukraine.The pro-Russian slant of misinformation doesn't surprise Somdeep Sen, an international-affairs analyst at Roskilde University, Denmark, who noted the majority of India's military equipment is sourced from Russia, forcing it into a tactical balancing act.Sen said the Indian government was on "the wrong side of history" over its response to the invasion of Ukraine but added that Modi's muscular nationalism prevented it from allowing "any narrative that indicates the folly of India's position on Russia." Alt News' Sinha said fact checks — and official denials from the foreign ministry — rarely reach as many people as the viral spread of misinformation."In reshaping the narrative, those spreading disinformation are winning," he said.

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