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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Headway's CEO shifted to an AI-focused strategy after a Silicon Valley trip in April 2023.</li><li>AI tools boosted Headway's marketing, achieving 3.3 billion ad impressions in early 2024.</li></ul>In the first weeks after OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in 2022, Anton Pavlovsky, the chief executive of the Ukrainian edtech startup <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://makeheadway.com/">Headway</a>, was wary of the artificial-intelligence hype.He decided his then-three-year-old company should adopt a defensive strategy, letting other companies take the lead in generative-AI investments, and reaping the benefits afterward, should they indeed come.But a business trip to Silicon Valley the following April completely changed Pavlovsky's thinking."I talked with so many very smart people with lots of experience, and those people said that this is definitely a paradigm shift," Pavlovsky said. "They said that it's akin to the internet, the world wide web, then the smartphone, and then AI."On his return, he implemented a companywide, four-month, hardcore focus on AI. The company also created a separate cross-functional team to help integrate AI-powered features into its various products.Pavlovsky said the use of AI tools has made a profound difference to the company's marketing performance.During the first six months of 2024, the company said AI-driven ads reached 3.3 billion impressions. The company said the use of AI tools had increased the return on investment from its video ads by 40% because it had helped lower the costs Headway would have previously spent on production. Headway declined to disclose its marketing budget but said it is in the "millions.""The biggest impact is on opportunity costs for people, it's freeing up so many resources on creative and more value-add endeavors for experimenting with crazy ideas," Pavlovsky said.Headway joins a growing number of marketers looking to harness AI tools, in part to reduce their advertising costs.The buy-now-pay-later firm <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/klarna-ceo-comments-ai-smaller-marketing-team-produce-more-savings-2024-5">Klarna made waves</a> when it said AI had helped cut its spend on marketing agencies by 25%. A recent <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/topics/ai-in-marketing">Gartner study</a> predicted that 30% of outbound marketing messages from large companies would be synthetically generated by 2025. The rapid adoption of the tools has the marketing industry excited about AI's prospects, but some are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-is-set-to-dominate-cannes-lions-ad-festival-2024-6">uneasy</a> about the consequences for agency jobs and question <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-has-marketing-problem-people-dont-like-hearing-about-it-2024-8">whether consumers are ready</a> for an influx of ads using or mentioning AI.<h2 id="5283ce02-8cac-4410-a913-fe59c246f13c">Headway is using AI tools like HeyGen, Rask, and Midjourney</h2>Founded in Ukraine in 2019, Headway operates a portfolio of educational apps that combined have been downloaded by more than 110 million users worldwide. The company continues to be headquartered in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, though most of its users are based in the US. (The company <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1018097949135255&amp;id=250289965916061&amp;set=a.351463732465350">previously said</a> after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it had helped the majority of its staff and families who wanted to move away from the country to do so, though some have since returned.)Its flagship app, Headway, offers 15-minute summaries of popular nonfiction books, as well as challenges and daily micro-learning sessions. Other apps in its portfolio include the brain-training app Impulse, the AddMile coaching platform, and its newest, Skillsta, which is a training app for soft skills like critical thinking and empathy. The company makes money through paid subscriptions.Headway has leaned heavily on advertising on digital platforms like Meta's Instagram and Facebook, Google, and TikTok in order to grow its user base.All of Headway's user-generated-content video ads are now produced using some element of AI technology, such as for subtitles or voiceovers, the company said. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-money-from-ugc-user-generated-content-ads">UGC ads</a> refer to those that blend in with other content on an app, such as vertical video ads on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and are often produced by creators rather than professional production teams. These ads account for 30% to 50% of the purchases of Headway subscriptions or signups to its 7-day free trials, according to the company.While Headway used to rely heavily on stock images for its static ads, around one in five of its paid downloads or trials are now driven by static ads that use AI-generated images, the company said.When the company launched the French version of its Headway app, it used the AI tools <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.rask.ai/">Rask</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.heygen.com/">HeyGen</a>, as well as the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.deepl.com/en/write">DeepL</a> translator, to translate a video ad featuring an English-speaking creator into a convincing ad for a French audience using AI voiceover and lipsync features.Elsewhere, Headway used tools, including HeyGen and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.d-id.com/photo-to-video/?utm_term=brand-ad&amp;utm_term=d-id%20ai&amp;utm_term=d-id%20ai&amp;utm_campaign=brand-eu&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;utm_content=611130303518&amp;hsa_acc=6149207258&amp;hsa_cam=17780208183&amp;hsa_grp=141566902480&amp;hsa_ad=611130303518&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=kwd-1687090777879&amp;hsa_kw=d-id%20ai&amp;hsa_mt=p&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw59q2BhBOEiwAKc0ijUa9IQQFD-hJJhliDHdxTzmgFcNRWdza6NQWHTILSDlqdRtPc6d2CxoCTMgQAvD_BwE">D-ID,</a> to animate characters in famous paintings like the Mona Lisa to make them "speak" in a YouTube Shorts ad to encourage users to "stop scrolling" and download its Nibble knowledge app.Headway also uses text-to-image tools like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.midjourney.com/home">Midjourney</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://leonardo.ai/">Leonardo AI</a>. In one example, it produced a static ad featuring an image of Marie Antoinette biting into a marshmallow to promote its concept of "bite-sized learning" for its Nibble app.<div type="image" title="An ad for the Nibble app featuring Marie Antoinette biting into a marshmallow." height="1350" width="1080" msid="113031413" hostid="261" sizebytes="116312"></div>Headway is also increasingly introducing AI features to its own products. The Headway app is currently testing an AI assistant that uses the OpenAI application programming interface, Google Cloud's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://cloud.google.com/generative-ai-studio">Vertex AI</a>, and its own vector database to answer user queries based on its library of books in a conversational format.Unexpectedly, some users are spending "hours per day" communicating with the AI assistant, according to Pavlovsky, which he said speaks to the success of the company's AI push."Maybe some legacy players that don't move fast won't have that kind of speed of adoption, but for startups, or digital natives, it's a no-brainer," Pavlovsky said.

The CEO of edtech startup Headway breaks down how the company used AI tools to improve its ad performance by 40%

New Delhi, In a determined pursuit of a fair resolution, education technology giant <keyword id="6384897" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BYJUS" source="Orion">BYJU'S</keyword> finds itself pushing back against "unrealistic and unacceptable terms" made by its US lenders of Term Loan B (TLB) during the ongoing renegotiation of their contract. The lenders, employing the threat of litigation, have exerted pressure on BYJU'S to drastically alter the core of the contract, which had been agreed upon in 2021. Despite BYJU'S willingness to step up to a higher interest rate and offer partial payment of the principal, the lenders proceeded with litigation, intensifying the ongoing back-and-forth between the two parties. BYJU'S has maintained a flawless track record of meeting its interest payments without any defaults. The situation between BYJU'S and a group of its hawkish TLB lenders, who trade in distressed debt, highlights the challenges faced by startups navigating the complex and opportunistic world of finance, where negotiations can quickly turn adversarial. As a non-operative entity in the United States, BYJU'S Alpha, a subsidiary of BYJU'S, has become the target of the lenders' legal actions. BYJU'S Alpha was solely created as a borrowing entity, to facilitate the borrowing process of the TLB. "The genesis of this conflict lies in the renegotiation of the TLB contract, which was signed in good faith by both parties in 2021. However, the lenders' subsequent demands have been nothing short of egregious. As a global leader in <keyword id="1464841" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="edtech" source="Orion">edtech</keyword>, BYJU'S has decided to take a stand against these unreasonable tasks, demonstrating its unwavering commitment to safeguarding the interests of its stakeholders," explained a source close to the legal proceedings on the condition of anonymity. "This litigation is specific to BYJU'S Alpha, which is a non-operative US entity of BYJU'S with no employees. No Indian entity is a party to these proceedings," the source clarified. BYJU'S maintains that it has consistently met all its financial and fiduciary obligations. As evidence of its financial strength, BYJU'S recently concluded a successful funding round, securing a remarkable $250 million. The company is reportedly on the verge of closing an even larger funding round in the coming weeks, further solidifying its financial position. Recognising the importance of maintaining financial prudence and protecting the long-term interests of the company, BYJU'S recently offered to pay a much higher interest rate along with a partial payment of the principal. These concessions demonstrated the company's willingness to find a middle ground and maintain a constructive relationship with its lenders. However, the lenders remained unmoved, proceeding with litigation against BYJU'S Alpha. The litigants have also made a bewildering claim suggesting that BYJU'S "moved" $500 million from BYJU'S Alpha, alleging a breach of the existing arrangement. BYJU'S has vehemently denied this "baseless" allegation, emphatically stating that it has meticulously adhered to the terms of its contractual obligations, in complete compliance with the agreed-upon rights and responsibilities outlined in the contract. It is crucial to underscore that BYJU'S entered into the TLB agreement in 2021 with a clear and mutually-agreed upon objective of utilising the capital raised for driving growth and expansion in its global operations. The very essence of BYJU'S commitment to the lenders was to deploy the funds to fuel the advancement of its business objectives. The decision to file a case against a non-operative entity suggests a calculated move by the lenders, aiming to exert pressure on BYJU'S and potentially force them to capitulate to their demands. Industry observers view it as an attempt to intimidate BYJU'S and bring them back to the negotiating table on unfavourable terms. Flush with funds, BYJU'S is unlikely to accede to such tactics and remains steadfast in its commitment to pursuing fair negotiations that align with its long-term strategic goals. The event serves as a stark reminder of the potential pitfalls faced by Indian companies raising capital in the US and underscores the need for transparent and fair lending practices. The ability of the EdTech giant to emerge stronger in this renegotiation with its lenders will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the global growth trajectory of India's EdTech industry. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/battlegrounds-mobile-india-to-return-soon-company-receives-permission-from-government/articleshow/100346259.cms">Battlegrounds Mobile India is relaunching soon, but government says final call only after a 3-month trial</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/redmi-a2-and-a2-plus-with-android-13-go-edition-launched-starting-at-6299/slidelist/100352302.cms">Budget friendly Redmi A2 and A2 Plus with Android 13 (Go) launched at ₹6,299</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/news/virat-kohli-and-these-players-have-more-than-three-ipl-centuries/slidelist/100348738.cms">Virat Kohli and these players have more than three IPL centuries</a>

BYJU'S challenges lenders' unrealistic terms amid contract renegotiations

<ul><li>LEAD pays a rich tribute to School Owners for their Herculean effort over the lockdown</li><li>The campaign is conceptualised by <keyword id="1557667" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tbwa-india" source="Orion">TBWA India</keyword>.</li></ul>LEAD's latest digital film Out of Syllabus celebrates the unsung efforts of 'Future Line Workers' - school owners who acted as a mentor to teachers and an educator to students. On the occasion of Teacher's Day, it turns the spotlight on the challenges faced by school owners in these testing times as they continue to empower teachers, reassure parents and find innovative ways to help students adjust to their new learning environment. School owners often miss out on the reverence reserved for teachers. This film underlines the valiant work of school owners who placed the academic future of our children above everything, ensuring uninterrupted learning as far as possible. They have put the issues of others above their own - parents questioning school fees, teachers worried about their next salaries, students dealing with the glitches of online education. And managed to hold the entire ecosystem together to ensure uninterrupted online learning for millions of children, despite the changed circumstances caused due to the pandemic. They helped teachers resolve transitioning issues and managed the financial challenges of running a school. All this in the face of life's toughest exam where everything was out of syllabus, school owners have shouldered the burden of their new responsibilities with a smile and emerged as real heroes worthy of applause. LEAD's film thanks these Future Line Workers for all that they have done and in doing so disrupts the communication category just as it has disrupted ed tech. The film gives us a peek into the emotional journey of someone fighting an uphill battle during the lockdown of 18 months. The film also addresses the issue of over 15 lakh schools all over India shutting down due to the pandemic, affecting the academic future of millions of students. <div type="Youtube" id="JGiMnXcXUcQ" title="An Ode to The Future Line Workers | LEAD" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JGiMnXcXUcQ/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Commenting on bringing alive a disruptive initiative, <keyword id="1398302" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="govind-pandey" source="Orion">Govind Pandey</keyword>, CEO of TBWA\India said, “During the pandemic, we have had so many unexpected and unsung heroes who went out of their way to help others. Passionate school owners who understand that education is important and that every child deserves a good one are also such heroes. They did what they could despite all the odds because they know that education makes a huge difference to the kids futures and we couldn’t let the pandemic impact that. We call these school owners Future-Line Workers.” Talking about the initiative, Managing Partner of TBWA\India - Parixit Bhattacharya said, “School Owners are the wind behind the sails of the academic infrastructure of our country. And they needed to be celebrated. This is an effort to tip our proverbial hats to their massive efforts in ensuring the education of our children is never compromised. Out Of Syllabus plays into a never before cultural moment of our country when schools cautiously consider opening their gates to welcome back students after a hiatus of more than 18 months. Who better to bring home this message of hope other than LEAD - the organisation that is providing propulsive learning to thousands of children all over the country no matter which strata they belong to.” Chief Marketing Officer of LEAD, Anupam Gurani said, “We partner with 2,000+ schools across India and we have seen first-hand the commitment of these school owners in educating their students during the pandemic. Our new campaign, Out of Syllabus, is a salute to the indomitable spirit of all these future line warriors who have managed to create a seamless online learning environment by acting as an educator to students &amp; a mentor to teachers.”

Ahead of Teacher's Day, LEAD turns the spotlight on the challenges faced by school owners in these testing times

<keyword id="14449508" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="upgrad-rekrut" source="Orion">upGrad Rekrut</keyword>, a 100 per cent subsidiary of online higher education platform major upGrad, on Thursday announced it has acquired recruitment and staffing firm <keyword id="14449497" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="wolves-india" source="Orion">Wolves India</keyword>, for an undisclosed sum. The Bengaluru-based Wolves <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> specialises in placing high-quality tech talent across startups, along with mid and large-sized organisations in India and overseas. "While with upGrad <keyword id="10437670" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="rekrut" source="Orion">Rekrut</keyword>, we saw our learners receiving record-breaking CTCs during FY22, the joining of Wolves India will give us an edge in the tech ecosystem," said <keyword id="258109" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mayank-kumar" source="Orion">Mayank Kumar</keyword>, Co-founder and MD, upGrad. With 70 professionals, Wolves India has closed over 5,000 placements in the technology and product roles. It has also been addressing complex hiring challenges across the aerospace segment through its proprietary product called 'Quasara'. Wolves India will continue to operate independently, said upGrad. "We will support upGrad to present world-class tech job opportunities to its learners and, together with upGrad Rekrut, create a market leader in tech hiring," said <keyword id="14449509" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="raghu-s" source="Orion">Raghu S</keyword>, Founder and Director, Wolves India. The tech industry in India will continue to observe steady demand for skilled talent and is expected to become a $350 billion market by FY26. upGrad said last month that it will onboard 1,000 employees in the next three months in India from more than 100 campuses, including <keyword id="6380225" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="metros" source="Orion">Metros</keyword> and tier 2 and 3 cities, as the pandemic hits the job market in the country. The <keyword id="1464841" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="edtech" source="Orion">edtech</keyword> leader said that it will also hire people from its own learners' talent pool through its subsidiary upGrad Rekrut. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/australias-health-minister-warned-that-millions-could-get-covid-19/articleshow/92866659.cms">Australia's Health Minister warned that "millions" could get COVID-19</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/mindtree-lampt-infotech-infosys-indusind-bank-and-other-hot-stocks-on-july-14/slidelist/92865161.cms">Mindtree, L&amp;T Infotech, Infosys, IndusInd Bank and other hot stocks on July 14</a>

Ronnie Screwvala's upGrad just acquired another recruitment company

<ul><li>The COVID-19 virus caused a nationwide closure of academic institutes which led to concerns about its consequences for students, parents, and educators as they had to adapt to digital learning overnight. </li><li>However, EdTech has been a game-changer in the <keyword id="12656644" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="academic-space" source="Orion">academic space</keyword>. </li><li><keyword id="10489232" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mahadev-srivatsa" source="Orion">Mahadev Srivatsa</keyword>, VP – Marketing and Brand Strategy, <keyword id="1326581" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="practically" source="Orion">Practically</keyword> looks back at the past year and a half of the pandemic and shares a few marketing lessons he learnt from his COVID experience. </li></ul>EdTech has been a game-changer in the academic space. The concept of online learning though new for Indians picked up pace rapidly during the pandemic owing to its features of accessibility and affordability. With the endemic now in sight, the blended learning scenario is very much looking like the norm, thereby establishing ed-tech as an essential part of our lives going forward. The COVID-19 virus caused a nationwide closure of academic institutes which led to concerns about its consequences for students, parents, and educators as they had to adapt to digital learning overnight. The onset of the pandemic was a watershed moment for the <keyword id="12086661" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="edtech-industry" source="Orion">EdTech industry</keyword>.When the pandemic struck, people were forced to work remotely. Several players mushroomed and almost overnight offered everything from e-learning tools to financing to high school management and many more niche solutions. According to the RBSA report, India received $2Bn investments in EdTech in 2020 alone, the highest in the last five years. With more emphasis on technology, corporates are inking partnerships with Edtech players for skilling and upskilling their employees to match global standards. They also sense the necessity of developing holistic learning to further attract investments and propel growth. This has now kick-started early consolidation in this sector, which will soon become a trendsetter. Today, an EdTech company has to establish and drive itself as a ‘Brand’. It has to be capable of generating awareness and offering credibility in its services and offerings. An e-lesson in branding is to live to tell the tale amid cutthroat competition.This has become essential to drive consideration amongst the TG in a super cluttered market. Precisely the reason why the marketing teams have had to work harder than ever to carve a niche for their own brands. Some adopted a wait and watch approach while many went digital in the last year..But a few were able to hold their fort with innovative features and a 360 degree integrated approach, which is the need of the current hour. For every brand and marketing enthusiast, Covid has caused a tectonic shift making it more exciting and challenging than ever to find new ways and optimally utilise communication channels to stay ahead of the curve. It also disrupted the traditional season/quarter-led marketing campaigns with Unlock taking centre stage for all activities. At the end of it all brands have learned and the current stint has only made marketeers tougher and more adaptable. The lessons learnt will only help brands in this space to either revisit or efficiently plan their way forward. Invest in brand building Education was never a brand but a reputation and heritage oriented space. From the famous Doon school to IIMs, these institutions have won admiration because of the learning culture they have cultivated. While this stands true for traditional institutions, the internet demands a completely different niche. Branding in the Edtech space becomes increasingly important because the consumer doesn’t have a tangible offline connection with you. From the colour of your logo to your narrative, build a consistent equity that consumers can recognize easily. This early investment and attention to details will set you apart. While building your brand, ensure that your creative articulation is true to your product deliverables. With the adoption barrier for ed-tech gone, consumers now are looking at quality and differentiated offerings and this is where a brand will help garner attention and eventually build trust. Understand Your Target Audience A thorough understanding of the end target audience is a must in the education space. To simplify, for a working professional most decisions are taken by them sans any need to consult parents but they are likely to rely on customer feedback or word of mouth before signing up for a program. However, they are the end decision makers and winning their confidence is important for the brand. On the other hand, for brands catering to children and young learners (K-12 audience), consumers and customers are different. The parents are customers and the children are consumers. A constant challenge here will remain to appeal to the students and win the trust of their parents. Often parents see services while kids look at the fun,engaging aspect of the product. And hence as a marketeer one needs to coin communication that appeals to both audiences. To ensure a foolproof campaign make note of your TG and address their specific need. Go beyond the Integrated Marketing jargon The most overused term doing rounds in the marketing vertical is ‘Integrated Marketing.’ Largely, it implies a mix of traditional, digital, OOH &amp; digital mediums to create enough buzz for consumers. Edtech is a largely sensitive space and overburdening your customers with thoughtless marketing will do more harm than good. Right at the beginning, plan the needs and objectives of your campaign. Are you launching a new product or introducing a new feature? Are you tackling pressing issues? Or simply creating a brand recall? In any case, go beyond a rote advertisement plan and rather find means to demonstrate the product to the consumer through strategy. Plan in advance to ensure that the campaign is released simultaneously and be meticulous about the choice of mediums. Any out of the box idea that makes the consumer aware and in a way engage with your product or feature directly will always cut the cake especially when you want to drive differentiation. For instance, the recent Scan Anything feature launch by Practically introduced consumers to the option of experiencing the feature right within the print ads in regional and national dailies making them understand its revolutionary prowess.. Result -3X scans came in on the day when print was released demonstrating the power of the idea. Seize The Moment The combination of being socially distant and homebound made us realise the importance of days and moments we take for granted otherwise. From Children’s Day to Women’s Day, plan a way to stay connected to your consumers, develop a communication strategy that isn’t pocket heavy but helps you show the consumers that you are aware and you care. Moment marketing if done right gets an organic positive buzz for the brand in the digital space at hardly any cost. Marketing as a function has to be flexible enough to adapt to any external or internal changes. In the harshest of times, marketing teams have been known to create revolutionary campaigns or come up with thought provoking ideas opening a pathway for others to follow. By the looks of it, Covid may seem like a daunting challenge for companies but in reality it has unlocked more possibilities of staying connected with the end consumer making the best use of online and offline mediums. And one will continue to see these strategies get more refined as we transition into the blended learning world facilitated by ed-tech.

Practically's Marketing Vice President shares important marketing lessons EdTech learnt during the Covid era

<ul><li>Bengaluru-based <keyword id="1464841" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Edtech">edtech</keyword> startup <keyword id="6630114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unacademy">Unacademy</keyword> has been riding high. With a successful association with TVF on its show Aspirants and standout <keyword id="6354312" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> campaigns, the startup is ready with its <keyword id="6354839" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="marketing">marketing</keyword> plans for the IPL matches that resume in September.</li><li>We recently caught up with <keyword id="4878889" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karan-Shroff">Karan Shroff</keyword>, Chief Marketing Officer, Unacademy, to understand the brand’s marketing journey so far, how its strategies have worked to bring new users onto its platforms and how it is going about ensuring it becomes a household name in the next few years.</li></ul>The last one and a half years have been challenging for most businesses across the globe. However, India’s edtech sector has witnessed a boom. With students stuck at home, having to move to online classes, online learning became a way of life, and the Indian edtech ecosystem gained from this immensely. 2020 also made investors realize the opportunity in the segment and the year saw India’s edtech startups raise over $2.2 billion in funding. And it was during this otherwise difficult year that <keyword id="1727930" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gaurav-Munjal">Gaurav Munjal</keyword>'s edtech startup Unacademy became a unicorn. The startup raised $150 million in a round led by SoftBank, valuing it at $1.45 billion, making it the second unicorn in the space, after BYJU’s. It also made six acquisitions through 2020. Unacademy currently boasts of over 50,000 educators and close to 49 million learners on its platform, a number that is steadily growing. Recently, they also released a film to thank both the learner and educator community for bringing them where they are today. The film said the platform has over 5 million monthly active users, learners from over 10,000 cities from across the country. The platform sees over 150,000 interactive classes conducted every month, in 14 different languages. Recently, it also revamped the app to make it more intuitive and interactive, adding features like hand raising, study groups and live mentorship. <div type="Youtube" id="0gjFof0m6ow" title="Unacademy Believe" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0gjFof0m6ow/mqdefault.jpg"></div> When it comes to its marketing strategies so far, the platform has tailored its approach keeping its learner ecosystem at its core. A lot of its recent campaigns have also been about grabbing eyeballs and reaching their target audience, where they are. While we saw Unacademy ‘hijack’ the IPL commentary box earlier this year, a novel idea, we also saw the brand partner with TVF’s widely popular show Aspirants. The aim has been to raise awareness about the platform and tell learners how it is different. We recently caught up with Karan Shroff, Chief Marketing Officer, Unacademy, to understand the brand’s journey so far, how its strategies have worked to bring new users onto its platforms and how it is going about ensuring it becomes a household name in the next few years. Unacademy’s marketing story The last one and a half years have been difficult for businesses the world over but Unacademy has been riding high. Most of its marketing strategies have worked in its favor too. Unacademy is the official partner for IPL for three seasons. In the first year, Unacademy’s film ‘Cracking the Game’, was well-received and won several awards. This year too, its campaign in the form of a commentary box highjack helped it differentiate itself. The IPL associating has also helped the platform gain the necessary eyeballs as it can be believed that a lot of its target audience watches the league. So is Unacademy looking at this year’s IPL postponement as a speed bump? “I don’t think it is a bump. Once IPL restarts, we will continue being present. In fact, I see it as a good thing because IPL is a highly engaging event that runs nonstop for 55-60 days. So this year, the break I feel gives us a second boost,” explained Shroff. The brand has a few more campaigns planned for the second half of the event that will go live once the matches resume. On why it chose to associate with IPL, he said, “It was a strategic call to be a part of the league. IPL is the biggest cricketing league in the world, one that is watched by almost all of our country. The thought behind the association was that the Indian youth is entirely invested in the property, they love the intensity and energy of the league. With around 60 days of the league, it becomes difficult to miss a brand that advertises during the matches. We wanted to create awareness and become a household name. IPL has worked as a catalyst for us. With millions of people watching the league, we could leverage the reach and get the eyeballs but also it helped us build awareness and top-of-mind for the brand.” Unacademy had also launched an inspirational film titled ‘The Greatest Lesson’, taking viewers through the ups and downs of Sachin Tendulkar’s career, a film that was very well-received. The aim behind capitalizing on sports, especially cricket, has helped the brand stand out for many young people, after all the sport is still a religion in India. <div type="Youtube" id="7nYLfqkI8ZA" title="Unacademy | The Greatest Lesson" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7nYLfqkI8ZA/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Its latest partnership with TVF for Aspirants, through which it tried to target UPSC aspirants, has also worked in the brand’s favor. Unacademy wanted to deep-dive into the segment, bring up real stories, and tell the stories through relatable characters. Shroff also revealed that it is going to be a multi-season association with TVF and there will be more seasons to the show. So did the last one year throw no curveballs, when it came to its marketing plans? “One of the things we did when we started working from home with restricted physical access to each other from an office space perspective, we started making multiple plans, be it a shoot, a campaign or a simple social media post, we always had multiple plans and options to fall back on. We did this because it was a pandemic and nobody really knew what was in store and what lay ahead of us. So having a Plan B and C really helped us. And that has been one of our biggest learnings in these past months,” said Shroff. On driving differentiation According to estimates by <keyword id="50041" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KPMG">KPMG</keyword>, India today has over 3,500 edtech startups, so driving differentiation becomes critical ingredient in the recipe for success. On how Unacademy has been trying to differentiate itself, Shroff said, “Our thought-process is fairly simple, we keep the consumer or in our case, the learner, at the heart of everything we do. So everytime we build a campaign we sit back and think, why, when and how. Why is of course, always for the consumer. So if the ‘Why’ doesn't feel like its adding value to the learners, we usually don't go ahead with it. Everything that we do costs marketing dollars and as long as your focus is on learners and the consumers, they're at the heart of everything and you're sure that your communication is reaching them, its then just about crafting a good communication.” The vision for Unacademy Going ahead, Shroff wants to focus more on building the brand presence on various properties. On what his larger vision for the brand is, Shroff added, “It’s to become a household name, and while there is still some ground to cover, I think we are moving in that very direction. We want to build a legacy of sorts, the way brands like Colgate and Maggi have done. If you are known from a communication and awareness perspective, it makes it so much easier to become a part of the consumer’s life and that’s what we are aiming for.”

We want to become a household name and are already moving in the right direction: Karan Shroff, Unacademy

Mumbai, July 14 (IANS) With the aim of diversifying its portfolio beyond travel, online corporate travel platform Yatra.com on Tuesday said it had forged an alliance with upGrad Enterprise, the business-to-business arm of online higher education company upGrad. The development comes even as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global travel industry hard. This partnership will enable Yatra's corporate clients to deliver advanced learning and skill development for their employees, the company said. "In a tough economic climate, it is important to develop and reskill the workforce to overcome the challenges being presented," Dhruv Shringi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Yatra.com, said in a statement. "We are excited to join forces with upGrad to provide a platform to our clients who are looking to develop employees' potential specific to their businesses or a sector," Shringi added. From deployment-ready workforce within six months, to reducing employee attrition and aligning learning and development plans with business growth strategy, upGrad Enterprise will work closely with Yatra's corporate and SME clientele. The edtech major will be providing deep skilling programmes that align with the client's desired business outcomes to deliver impact at scale. Yatra.com said it services over 850 corporate and more than 20,000 SME clients. "The unprecedented rate of technology advancement is disrupting companies and jobs everywhere. Across verticals, enterprises face barriers to this adoption due to skill-gap in their talent pool," said Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder and MD, upGrad. "Such barriers can be crippling, hampering business growth. Our strategic partnership with Yatra, which is absolutely the first of its kind and creates a new milestone in the education industry, will be focused towards bridging this workforce skill-gap," Kumar said. --IANS gb/na

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