Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul><li>Started out of a small bedroom 4 years ago, Indian Ethnic Co. owns three offices today and is growing by 200-300% YoY because of <keyword id="10959467" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="dance-marketing">dance marketing</keyword> and its ethnic products. </li><li>We speak to <keyword id="10959469" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="lekhinee-desai">Lekhinee Desai</keyword>, Co-founder, <keyword id="10959468" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-indian-ethnic-co">The Indian Ethnic Co</keyword>. to understand the importance of developing a voice and identity on social media, benefits of being involved in the marketing process as a founder and business goals for the brand.</li><li>Desai also tells us the inspiration behind their unique way of marketing.</li></ul>The co-founder of The Indian Ethnic Co. Lekhinee Desai has never really purchased an outfit in her life. Her mother, Hetal Desai, would visit popular exhibitions to find the best fabric in the market and stitch beautiful outfits for her. With no formal degree in fashion, Hetal continued stitching clothes and buying ethnic fabrics for her pure love for designing. Soon, the word spread and her neighbors and friends started approaching her. Four year ago, Lekhinee graduated from her business school and encouraged her mother to pursue her passion for designing. They put a team of artisians together and started The Indian Ethnic Co. in 2016 out of their bedroom. For two years, the brand just sold products through social media and in 2018, its website went live and the brand was official. According to technopak, the total Indian ethnic wear market is valued at Rs 70,000 crore and out of this, women's ethnic wear has an 85% (Rs 59,500 crore) share in the market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% till 2022. With the rising demand for ethnic wear and huge market potential for organised players, many international brands like Van Heusen, H&amp;M, Raymond and Peter England have also forayed into the ethnic market. So, to beat these giants, The Indian Ethnic Co. came up with a unique idea of marketing. Lekhinee decided to wear her own products and dance in them to portray how comfortable saris can be, to connect with consumers on a personal level. Lekhinee and her sister Twaraa Desai along with her childhood friends Apurva Dani and Charvi Budhdeo, are trained in classical Odissi dance forms. Lekhinee says she started dancing even before she started walking. She was also an assistant choreographer for the movie Ramleela. So, dance marketing came naturally to her and her dance marketing team. It was after Instagram introduced Reels in India that their videos started going viral. Their first reel itself garnered a million views. <div type="Video" msid="81619646" hostid="261" title="How dance marketing helped The Indian Ethnic Co. break the clutter and grow by 200-300%" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=81619646"></div> Telling us how the team came up with the idea of dance marketing, Lekhinee shared, “We were going to launch our Saris. We were known for our Kurtas and our fabrics before then. We wondered, how can we really break the clutter...My friends would come for the photoshoot because we always believed in showcasing real women (not models). So one fine day, my father suggested why don’t you start making dance reels with them? Dance is such a secondary nature to you and your friends, he said and mentioned how unique it would be to see women dancing effortlessly in saris. We thought it would also be so helpful to communicate the attributes of the product itself, because the saris that we sell are 100% handcrafted. They are made from such fine fabric in Mal, Kota Doria and cotton. So, we set up a tripod and shot ourselves dancing. The first reel was shot in five minutes and it got a million views. Our collection was sold out even before we could announce our launch.” The group’s first viral video on Instagram Reels was Kangana Re from the movie Paheli. The idea behind their dance marketing is to promote Indian ethnic culture, instil national pride and celebrate real beauty by featuring women of all sizes, age, shapes and colours. It also promotes sustainable fashion. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> According to Lekhinee, it is because of their company’s relatability factor and engaging content that they’ve been able to carve a niche for themselves. Telling us about the company's USP, she said, “I think what really separates us is the relatability factor that we've always tried to put in from day one. The idea is always to have real faces, and have real women of all body sizes and different age groups. My sister is 21. And even she wears a sari. And I am 29 and all the girls are within this range of age group. So, our videos also connect to the Gen Next of handcrafted clothing because they are not overexposed to wearing saris. We are also breaking so many stereotypes with the fact that we are young and showcasing the products in the way we are. This is not only helping us break the clutter but also helping us connect with the younger generation to adopt and wear sustainable fashion. Apart from that, the dance marketing format we’ve created, the overall industry is following that now.” Today, the Indian Ethnic Co. has three offices and one studio. It is about to hit a Rs 10 crore revenue mark because of dance marketing and its unique ethnic products. “When we officially started, I remember in 2018, we were doing 20 orders a week. And now we do close to 3000 orders a month, which is over 100 orders a day. That’s the kind of scale we’ve witnessed since we started. The turning point for us was the launch of the website. We started with an investment of Rs 50,000. And now we are close to touching a turnover of Rs 10 crores and we are seeing close to 200-300 times growth year-on-year since we started the website in 2018,” shared Lekhinee. When retail outlets shut down after COVID-19 hit India, The Indian Ethnic Co saw its second phase of growth and started flourishing on social media. Telling us about Indian Ethnic Co’s experience of sustaining through a global crisis, Lekhinee said, “Online sales boomed during the time of COVID and it has also pushed consumers to move to online shopping, even those who were not used to shopping online. We continued to advertise on Facebook and Instagram because our team is dependent on us. There are dyers, artisans, weavers -- they are all dependent on us. So, we took three orders during the lockdown and promised to deliver once it was uplifted. It ensured that all the artisans continued to get their income throughout the lockdown period. We also paid them an advanced salary so that their livelihood is not impacted. Once the lockdown opened, the artisans helped us in return. We were able to grow two and a half times in the matter of three months because retail outlets were shut. We didn’t have an office until the lockdown. In October 2020, we bought 3 offices and a studio.” To retain these customers, The Indian Ethnic Co. plans to expand its width and the depth of the products. It ultimately aims to become a lifestyle brand that offers everything a consumer needs. “The idea now is to create a library of sorts for all products handcrafted in India. So, currently, we have a range of fabrics, but now we want it to be a one-stop shop like an encyclopedia store of sorts, where all kinds of crafts and fabrics are available and anyone can come and shop from the Indian Ethnic Co. India has so many crafts to showcase and there are different kinds of artisans who are doing such great stuff. So, we really want the entire portfolio of everything handcrafted, that anyone can think of, to be on our website,” said Lekhinee. The Indian Ethnic Co. is also planning to launch a new range of products for men and kids.

How dance marketing helped The Indian Ethnic Co. grow by 200-300% post-lockdown

How dance marketing helped The Indian Ethnic Co. break the clutter and grow by 200-300%

Every day after school growing up, Britt Taylor would hit the studio. When she wasn't dancing competitively, she was on the cheer squad or running track. Now 20 and in college, Taylor belongs to two gyms in her hometown of Boca Raton, Florida, and goes five or six times a week. Though she has a busy schedule as a student studying communications, fitness has become one of her top priorities.In a 2023 survey from McKinsey, more than half of Gen Z respondents said fitness was a very high priority for them. Forty percent of all respondents said the same.Like Taylor, these young people aren't just working out at home — they are helping drive up gym attendance. Surveys by the fitness organization Les Mills found that the share of adults who reported going to the gym increased to 32% in 2019 from 27% in 2013. Other surveys and data from companies like <a target="_blank" href="http://Placer.ai">Placer.ai</a> and ABC Fitness similarly suggest more people are going to the gym more regularly than they did several years ago. And the memberships of chains like Planet Fitness have exploded — that brand gained more than 4 million new members from 2019 to the end of 2023."As much as we think that our country is obese or unhealthy, there's another whole side who are into their fitness," Taylor said. "My generation is taking that to the next step."In particular, Gen Z loves to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-strongest-man-shares-best-exercises-for-building-muscle-2024-7">lift weights</a>. In a 2022 CivicScience survey, strength training was the most common type of workout cited by Gen Z respondents. And in a 2023 survey in the American College of Sports Medicine's journal, it was ranked the second-most-popular fitness trend of the year. Taylor told me that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-start-lifting-weights-2018-6">strength training</a> now makes up 90% of her routine. "There's a switch from my mom, who's been into cardio and being tiny and thin," Taylor said. "Now girls want big butts and big biceps."The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fitness-has-exploded-into-a-nearly-100-billion-global-industry-2019-9">quest to get swole</a> is one reason young people are showing up at the gym in droves: Weightlifting requires special equipment that is tricky to fit into a small apartment. But there are other pulls: At a time when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/irl-social-startups-combat-loneliness-among-millennials-gen-z-2024-5">meeting people can be challenging</a>, it's an easy way to put yourself out there and make friends. Gyms are quickly becoming Gen Z's favorite hangout spot — but there's just one problem with the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-americans-dont-exercise-mental-health-crisis-depression-anxiety-fitness-2024-6">fitness boom</a>. Chains like Planet Fitness rely on members never showing up; the gyms aren't built for Gen Z.Much of Gen Z's exercise bug comes from social media, where <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fitness-influencer-entrepreneurs-how-they-built-their-followings-customers-businesses-2020-10">gymfluencers have taken off</a>. YouTube said that the number of fitness videos on its platform <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9858650/">grew more than fivefold</a> in 2020 and that they've remained popular. Hundreds of personal trainers, amateur bodybuilders, and fitness-class instructors like Kayla Itsines (16 million followers) and Christian Guzman (1 million followers) have built loyal fanbases online by sharing their workout routines, swapping exercise tips, and showing off their tanned and toned muscles.While fitness-influencer culture is generally positive and aimed at educating people about their health, it can drift to the extreme. "Grindset" influencers, whose content converges the male-oriented online realm of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/manosphere-widening-ideological-gap-between-young-men-women-gender-genz-2024-2">the manosphere</a> with fitness-adjacent hustle-and-grind culture, have also exploded. Their mission? To self-optimize with routines like waking up at 4 a.m., running 18 miles fuelled only by black coffee, and listening to a business podcast at three times the speed.On the other end of the influencer spectrum are trainers like Whitney Simmons (4 million followers) and Simeon Panda (8 million followers) who have helped bust the myths that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weight-lifting-better-than-cardio-body-builder-2023-12">lifting weights is only for men or that it just makes women bulky</a>. "If we think of the default approach to exercise, it almost always involves some form of cardio: walking, running, elliptical machines, spinning, cycling," the fitness influencer Casey Johnston wrote in her popular newsletter <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shesabeast.co/cardio-has-fallen-strength-training-is-the-new-gold-standard-for-exercise-you-must-do/">She's A Beast</a>, adding, "Now, emerging evidence suggests that, if anything, these exercise paradigms will soon be flipped." Johnston used to think the low-calorie, high-cardio lifestyle was the way to go — but she eventually got frustrated that she wasn't seeing the physical results she had hoped for. Weightlifting helped her feel and look strong without needing to sacrifice her diet.Sarah Ryan, a personal trainer for the fitness app Ladder, thinks the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/strength-training-better-cardio-burning-fat-2023-10">boom in weightlifting</a> simply stems from people learning that it's good for you. "Building muscle is going to favor a healthier body composition," Ryan said. "The more muscle mass you have, which is metabolically active tissue, the healthier you're going to be."That's partly what motivated Amrita Bhasin to try weightlifting. The 23-year-old first set foot in a gym when she moved from California to Portland, Maine, at the end of 2023. Previously, Bhasin played tennis, pickleball, and field hockey. But after moving to a colder climate, she could no longer rely on her usual outdoor exercise routine. "It didn't make sense for me to go to the gym just to run on the treadmill," she said. That would be boring. So, inspired and encouraged by her male friends who started strength training during the pandemic, Bhasin started experimenting with lifting weights. "I'd grown up knowing the benefits of it for bone density," she said, "but I don't have a whole lot of female friends who weightlift."The winter in Maine gave her the opportunity to learn. When she started seeing the number on the weights go up, she became hooked. "When you're 80, the people who will be the most mobile will be those who did strength training when they were young," she said."There never used to be this education around it, for women especially," she said, adding, "More women need to be doing this."Taylor also got into weightlifting after trying it out during the pandemic. "Strength training has the most return on investment," she told me when I asked why she likes it. "You need continuous commitment in order to see results."After seeing her biceps grow and her posture improve, Taylor started documenting her workout routines on a private Snapchat story for her friends. "I had a lot of people reaching out wanting to know what I do, what I eat. Then I thought maybe I need to showcase this more," she told me. Now Taylor posts her workouts and other fitness-related content on Instagram, where she has amassed over 30,000 followers. She also writes about health on her blog Biceps By Britt. "My goal is to show girls my age that it's good to lift heavy weights. It's good to eat high protein," she said.The health perks aren't the only reason young people are flocking to the gym — it's also one of the few places people regularly visit where they can meet new people. "It's where their friends hang out; there's a sense of community here," said Jim Thomas, the founder and president of Fitness Management USA, a management-consulting firm specializing in the fitness and health club industry.In a 2021 McKinsey survey, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/sweating-for-the-fitness-consumer">70% of fitness consumers</a> said they missed their health clubs as much as their friends and family during lockdowns. And in a 2023 survey by Les Mills, two-thirds of Gen Zers said the social aspect was something they looked for in a gym. "I rarely go to the gym alone anymore," Bhasin told me. "It's always either meeting other people there or going with other people." Where she lives in Portland, it's hard to find places to hang out with friends. "You go to a coffee shop, and even if you spend $8, there will be a sign there that says the maximum amount of time you can stay is two hours," she told me. Restaurants in her area also close early in the winter. "My gym is open 24 hours, so we don't feel that pressure to have to leave." She and her friends will hang out and catch up after their workouts or use the gym as a meeting place before heading to other activities.Many gyms are responding to the demand by redesigning spaces with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/loneliness-epidemic-decline-in-third-places-friends-parks-community-2023-9">better hangout spots</a>. "Gyms have noticed that members also want a social aspect to the gym experience," said Renel Scarlett, a co-owner of The Works Health Club, an independent gym that focuses on building community, "whether that's running clubs, a coffee or refuel bar area where you can sit down and have a chat before class or after they train."Life Time, a national health-club chain, has leaned into this model in recent years. When its membership dropped during the pandemic, it pivoted its business model to prioritize luxury social amenities like coworking spaces and pickleball courts, charging members more for them. The chain has added about 65,000 new members since 2021, and in 2023 it grew its revenue by more than 20%.In some ways, it's a return to form. Fitness and socializing have long been combined. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-dont-like-country-clubs-membership-dues-evolution-2019-10">Country clubs</a>, whose original facilities included tennis courts, polo fields, racetracks, and baseball diamonds, were an important part of the American social scene in the 20th century. And local sports leagues and clubs have long filled the gaps left by the decline in other kinds of social groups. The only hang-up is that some gyms aren't prepared for the influx of patrons. In fact, many gyms actually depend on their members not showing up.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/planet-fitness-ceo-chris-rondeau-cash-keg-alcohol-2023-10">Planet Fitness</a>, the most popular gym franchise in the US, has on average 6,500 members per gym. But most of its gyms hold only about 300 people. In 2022, it told CNN that 60% of its members didn't visit the gym in a 30-day stretch. But they keep paying — the low monthly rate doesn't incentivize people to cancel, so the non-attendees subsidize the cost for those who do.However, this model is being stretched to its limit. Amelie Desai, a fitness and lifestyle influencer in California, attends her local gym up to six times a week. "Over the past three years I've noticed a significant increase, especially in young people, going to the gym," Desai told me. "The weight section and the treadmills are always very busy, whereas the other random machines, like the bicycles, no one's ever on those," she said. Scarlett, the Works Health Club co-owner, said most gyms he knows are increasing their weight areas because of demand. "I would say every five to 10 years, depending on what's trending, gyms will switch up the management layout," he told me.But even with a new layout, the low-cost, high-value gym model doesn't work when too many people start regularly attending the gym. Can you imagine if 6,500 people tried to show up at one Planet Fitness location all at once? Taylor got so frustrated at how crowded her last gym was that she ditched it for one with more space. "I would be waiting for the barbell for 30 minutes and just wasting my time," she said.A report from the Health &amp; Fitness Association said gyms with membership bases that exceeded their optimal capacity saw a 20% drop in member satisfaction from 2022 to 2023. "The churn rate for low-cost gyms can be as high as 40% annually," Bassem Mostafa, a lead market analyst covering the gym and fitness industry and the owner of GlobeMonitor Market Research Agency, told me, citing his company's research.Sometimes the math just doesn't add up. It could be why <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/planet-fitness-membership-fee-classic-card-15-26-years-inflation-2024-5">Planet Fitness is raising its price</a> for the first time in nearly 30 years. This summer, the chain bumped up its rate to $15 a month from $10 after it reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter revenue. Gen Z's love of the gym might just drive more gyms to rethink their business models.For this generation, the gym isn't just a place to simply shed a few pounds; it's a hub for improving their mental health, physical strength, and social connections. "It's not about how you look," Desai said. "It's about how you feel."Now it's on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-earnings-stock-price-problems-ceo-leaves-layoffs-fitness-fads-2024-5">fitness industry</a> to catch up.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/eve-upton-clark">Eve Upton-Clark</a> is a features writer covering culture and society.

Gen Z loves the gym. That's a big problem for gyms. 

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>On a balmy August morning before the city began to fill with summer tourists, Estalyn Walcoff arrived at New York University. She was awaiting a spiritual experience.
Walcoff walked into what looked like a living room.
A soft brown couch with floral pillows sat in the middle; flowers and books rested atop wooden tables and lined the walls. "It seemed not study-like," <a href="http://vimeo.com/51254785">Walcoff said in a YouTube video.</a>
Despite its homely appearance, Walcoff knew she had arrived to the place where she was going to be studied for <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>.
Months before, Walcoff had volunteered to participate in <a href="http://www.nyucanceranxiety.org/">a study of how the psychedelic drug psilocybin</a> - the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms - affects the brain in cancer patients with anxiety and depression.
Walcoff, 65, had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer at 60 and struggled for years with debilitating anxiety. Even on good days, her constant feelings of worry and fear hung in the back of her mind like a dark curtain.
Inside the study area, Walcoff was greeted by two researchers, New York University psychotherapist Jeffrey Guss and New York University psychologist Seema Desai. The three of them sat and talked in the room for half an hour, going over the details of the study and what might happen.
Then, Walcoff received a pill. For study purposes, she couldn't know whether it was a placebo or psilocybin.
Walcoff swallowed the pill with a glass of water. Then she lay back on the soft brown couch and covered her eyes with eye shades as she'd been instructed to do.
<h3>An Other-Worldly Experience</h3>
Within an hour, Walcoff felt feelings of intense panic begin to well up inside her.
"I experienced great anxiety," <a href="http://vimeo.com/51254785">she said in the video</a>. "I experienced it as physical pain and then I began to see that it was actually a level of my mind. And underneath that I began to feel great emotional pain."
She sobbed for hours.
Then the pain began to ebb slowly away. As the pain left, Walcoff felt another, much more positive feeling take its place.
"The worst pain and the worst fear and the worst anxiety turned into something that has opened, which is the most previous thing I've ever known," said Walcoff. "And to think I wouldn't have known it - oh my gosh I can't believe I wouldn't have known it. It was a sense, I wish I could put it into words, but a sense of connectedness that runs through all of us."
<h3>Not Alone</h3>
Two years after Walcoff, 27-year-old Nick Fernandez took part in the same study. Perched atop the very same couch this March, Fernandez gradually felt "the blackness inside his head [turn] into a cascade of white dots that swiftly morphed into a kaleidoscope of geometric patterns - gears, stars, triangles, trapezoids - in all the colors of the rainbow," <a href="http://aeon.co/magazine/health/psychedelics-relieve-cancer-patients-despair/">he told Aeon Magazine</a>.
The experience wasn't simply a slideshow of colorful shapes and patterns, however. It was a physical journey as well.
In his mind, Fernandez was lead from a cemetery where he watched his own funeral to Grand Central Terminal, where he danced joyfully to symphonic music with his girlfriend. Shortly thereafter, he plunged again into darkness, this time into the labyrinthine depths of the New York City sewer system. Then he traveled skywards to the crest of the Empire State Building, where he watched the sun rise over the city.
Fernandez's experience is a fairly normal one for patients who participate in the NYU study, the project's lead researcher, New York University psychiatrist Stephen Ross, <a href="http://aeon.co/magazine/health/psychedelics-relieve-cancer-patients-despair/">told Aeon</a>.
<h3>What's Happening Inside The Brain</h3>
Research on psilocybin is beginning to let scientists understand what is going on inside the brains of people like Fernandez and Walcoff when they take psilocybin.
In a <a href="http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/101/20140873.full">new study</a>, scientists found that the drug appears to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/magic-mushrooms-change-brain-connections-2014-10">sprout new links across different areas of the brain</a> - regions that typically don't communicate with one another. As a result, the drug temporarily alters the brain's entire organizational framework. This is what that looks like on a brain-connection map:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>These new connections are likely what allow users to feel as though they see sounds or hear colors. The brain regions that detect and interpret color, for example, communicate with the brain region that processes sound.
Those same shifts could also be what appears to give the drug its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mushroom-trips-can-help-with-anxiety-2014-4">depression and anxiety-fighting qualities</a>.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mushroom-trips-can-help-with-anxiety-2014-4"></a>
"One of the characteristics of the depressed brain is that it gets stuck in a loop, you get locked into repetitive and negative thoughts," Kings College London Center for Neuroimaging Sciences researcher and the study's lead author, Paul Expert, told Business Insider. "The idea is that using psilocybin might help break the loop and change the patterns of functional connectivity in the brain."
More research on the drugs is needed, of course. Only recently has the US government begun to loosen its <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v14/n8/abs/nrn3530.html">restrictions on studying the medical uses</a> of psychedelics. Many scientists have argued these legal issues have made conclusive research on psychoactive drugs "difficult and in many cases almost impossible."

You Searched For "lekhinee desai dance videos" and got 4 results

How dance marketing helped The Indian Ethnic Co. grow by 200-300% post-lockdown

Karuna Sharma

How dance marketing helped The Indian Ethnic Co. break the clutter and grow by 200-300%

Business Insider India

Gen Z loves the gym. That's a big problem for gyms.

Eve Upton-Clark

Here's What It Is Like To Take Magic Mushrooms In A Lab For Science

Erin Brodwin

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides