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>In an exclusive chat with Advertising and Media Insider, Bollywood actor <keyword id="383666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="varun-dhawan" source="Orion">Varun Dhawan</keyword> shares his thoughts on the state of advertising today, his latest brand association with OPPO and the advantages brands can draw from being active on digital platforms and targeting youth.</li><li>He further shares the parameters he uses to associate with different brands.</li><li>We also spoke to OPPO’s CMO, Damyant Singh Khanoria, to find out more about their ongoing campaign with Varun Dhawan and what lies ahead.</li></ul>Bollywood actor and entrepreneur Varun Dhawan, whose net worth is $25 million according to CA Knowledge, is known for his charming mass appeal and accessibility in the brandverse. He was last seen in Coolie No. 1 and is often called the ‘successor of Govinda’ who doesn’t shy away from serious roles. He rose from his niche after being a part of movies like October and Sui Dhaaga, which also helped add a diverse set of brands to his kitty and find a special place in his fans’ hearts. Over the years, he has worked with brands across categories such as smartphones, automobiles, FMCG, etc. Varun was recently appointed as the face of smartphone brand OPPO for the second time. In an exclusive interview with Ad and Media Insider, Varun told us about his screening process for brand associations and partnership with OPPO. “I put a lot of thought and research while selecting brands to be associated with. I always look out for brands that I can relate with and look for an association that not only helps me get closer to my fans, but also at the same time, help me learn about the latest innovations and trends in other industries,” shared Varun. In order to promote OPPO’s F19 series, Varun changed his Instagram account to <keyword id="12188168" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vroom-dhawan" source="Orion">Vroom Dhawan</keyword>. It soon caught everyone’s attention and generated a lot of chatter. A day later, OPPO dropped its campaign titled ‘Vroom Dhawan.’ He was seen giving out autographs to his fans with the alias ‘Vroom,’ making his fans curious again. The idea was to promote the new OPPO F19s which comes with a 33W VOOC flash charge, in a gold color that represents the mood of the ongoing festive season. <div type="Youtube" id="Eig8FyIoRAY" title="OPPO F19s | Vroom Dhawan | What's the secret?" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Eig8FyIoRAY/mqdefault.jpg"></div> To further keep the conversation going, OPPO launched a digital-led campaign featuring Varun in a triple role. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Telling us the idea behind the campaign, Damyant Singh Khanoria, CMO, OPPO said, “Fast Charging on the F19s is one of its key product differentiators. And ‘Vroom’, in addition the quirky wordplay with Varun, encapsulates the product benefit in a simple and memorable way. That was our key media strategy behind this - to create a unique Digital only campaign, focussing especially the top channel and high-affinity platforms for reference Instagram.” Brands look for endorsements and associations that help strengthen the connection with their audience. So, what sparked the partnership between OPPO and Varun. “At OPPO, we are committed to bringing industry-leading technology that make a meaningful difference in the lives of our consumers. Varun Dhawan is at the vanguard of the next generation of actors. His effervescent personality and ability as an actor made him the natural choice for the OPPO F series. We’re looking forward to a long association with him in positioning the F series as the smartphone of choice for the youth,” shared Khanoria. Telling us what inspired him to partner with OPPO, Varun added, “OPPO has always inspired me and through our association, I’ve amassed immense knowledge about technology, their commitment to India, and their promise to continuously bring the best of products for their customers. OPPO’s commitment towards their fans and customers is really commendable and this is one of the common grounds to which both of us pay most attention to.” When asked about the state of the advertising industry today and its future, Varun said that in order for brands to succeed in a digital world, they must adopt the digital-first approach. He said, “The advertising and marketing industry is huge and I believe that it has evolved a lot over the years. Every industry is integrating digital platforms in a bid to connect with its audience in a more organic manner. Digital consumption has gone up drastically in the past year and it is here to stay. I believe with the rise of user-generated content, consumers have also become a part of advertising, as they trust the opinions of their peers. OPPO has been at the forefront when it comes to connecting with its customers and delivering relevant and meaningful experiences and I am glad to be a part of this process.”

Varun Dhawan on his latest brand association with OPPO, upcoming campaign and endorsement choices

<ul><li><keyword id="1731609" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Oppo">OPPO</keyword> ropes in <keyword id="10138" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni">Mahendra Singh Dhoni</keyword>.</li><li>Even after Dhoni’s retirement, he will always be a star from a small town like Ranchi who made it big in the industry.</li></ul>OPPO ropes in ace cricketer <keyword id="6354832" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ms-dhoni">MS Dhoni</keyword>, to inspire millions of people to try and be extraordinary and achieve their dreams. The association aims to inspire people to achieve more through their passion and push the envelope in a quest to #BeTheInfinite. MS Dhoni is an epitome of infinite possibilities created with dedication, persistence, and hard work - a message that has been in sync with OPPO’s purpose of being all along. MS Dhoni’s life is not just about adoring fans, cheering crowds, record-breaking performances, winning moments, and holding trophies but also acting as an inspirational figure for people to be the best version of themself. Being a cricket enthusiast from Ranchi, he didn’t give up on his passion for cricket and became one of the most successful skippers for the Indian Cricket Team. Dhoni’s journey resonates with thousands of people who are trying to explore the best version of themselves and #BeTheInfinite with their passion. Dhoni not only showcased his skills in the game to the world but also the infinite ways of outperforming oneself in every situation. He thrives to excel both inside &amp; outside the field. He stood out on top through sheer persistence and dedication for Team India. He has been an inspiration to many, to go beyond their limits to achieve their goals. OPPO is collaborating with him to reach out to such people across India. Commenting on the collaboration, MS Dhoni said, “I am very excited to be a part of a project which aims to inspire people to push their limits and follow their passion. It is a pleasure to collaborate with OPPO as they have been at the forefront of pushing their limits in technology and innovation.” OPPO’s latest #BeTheInfinite campaign, in association with MS Dhoni, aims to signify that through dedication, hard work, persistence, and will, anyone can achieve their dreams. Also see: <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="77587372" title="A look at Captain Cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni's brand associations" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

OPPO on-boards MS Dhoni to encourage people to follow their passion

<ul><li>Ahead of World Emoji Day which falls on July 17, we take a look at how emojis have become a very important part of our everyday digital conversations.</li><li>Brands have realised the emoji connect and many have been upping their emoji game on digital platforms to build a stronger connect with its target audience.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="1680920" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rishabh-Sharma">Rishabh Sharma</keyword>, Head - <keyword id="10538938" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="twitter-next">Twitter Next</keyword>, India who tells us how <keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> is innovating and offering more emoji fuel to brands to help them build more engaging campaigns for the platform.</li></ul>Over the years, emojis have become an important part of the language we use on digital platforms. Emojis are universal, they transcend languages and cultures, and bind us all together through the emotions that they often symbolise. If some studies are to be believed, around 92% of all people online use emojis to communicate. And why not, they help add color, emotions and at times even suspense to our conversations. Over the years, brands too have realised the power of emojis and many have experimented in different ways with emojis to build a stronger connect with their consumers. Platforms have also launched custom emojis to further drive personalization and strengthen connect with their audiences. Twitter is a platform that has, over the years, experimented with emojis. Many brands that have innovatively used emojis have found success on the platform too. Ahead of World Emoji Day, we caught up with Rishabh Sharma, Head - Twitter Next, India, to understand how the use of emojis on the platform has evolved over the years, and to take a look at the campaigns of a few brands that have got it right. He also shares a few tips to help brands get their emoji game right on Twitter. Excerpts: Q) Emojis have become an important part of how we communicate in the digital world today. How have brands been using emojis to build a connect with consumers? In order for brands to create thumb-stopping messages, visual expression is a key ingredient in the mix. How we communicate socially and express our emotions has drastically changed in the digital world and people using the Internet are driving the rise of this visual language. Emojis on Twitter are a big part of this. Today, brands across categories and markets are leveraging Twitter’s branded emoji to add visual personality to their campaigns, becoming part of the conversation. Our internal studies show that brands leveraging custom emojis garner higher receptivity and engagement on the campaign hashtag. Brands are investing in creating a fun, appealing creative element that is unique to their campaign, product or message, and in return receiving organic endorsement when the people on Twitter use the branded hashtags in the Tweets. Q) How have you as a platform been customizing emojis to help brands communicate better? Our focus remains on partnering with brands to understand the theme of their marketing campaign, the message they are aiming to communicate and then advise them on the use of a custom branded emoji. The creative canvas is wide open for all brands to create something unique and personal for their audience. Some of the ideas we’ve experimented with include launching custom emojis that are designed through crowdsourcing, creating intrigue by exploring dark mode emojis or even asking the people on Twitter to unlock content by pairing emojis together. Q) What are some of the most effective brand campaigns on Twitter that have been heavily driven by emojis and have seen success in the past few years? Through the years, we have seen varied usage of emojis as the format has now become staple for brands in the country. Whether you’re launching a new brand, product, app, message or promotion, adding a visual identity makes the hashtag come alive. <a href="https://twitter.com/OPPOIndia/status/1412684605468012548">Oppo India</a> is live with a custom branded emoji for their upcoming launch of Reno6, and the design highlights the core feature of glow in the model. Last month, we saw <keyword id="3194526" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Netflix-India">Netflix India</keyword> (<a href="https://twitter.com/NetflixIndia">@NetflixIndia</a>) creating a swell conversation on the timeline as they <a href="https://twitter.com/NetflixIndia/status/1400343251329163264">went live with an emoji</a> for the movie ‘<keyword id="8920548" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="jagame-thandhiram">Jagame Thandhiram</keyword>’ and created a connection with the audience in the south celebrating Dhanush. Amazon Prime Video (<a href="https://twitter.com/PrimeVideoIN">@PrimeVideoIN</a>) India recently launched <a href="https://twitter.com/PrimeVideoIN/status/1410848332084252675">‘The Tomorrow War’</a> campaign on Twitter, where our teams collaborated to delight the streaming fans with a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhiteSpikesHunt?src=hashtag_click">#WhiteSpikesHunt</a> emoji. An emoji that will only appear once you switch off the lights on Twitter a.k.a dark mode. Spotify India (<a href="https://twitter.com/spotifyindia">@spotifyindia</a>) continues to lead with a language of expression, as they activated the much loved branded emoji for two successive <a href="https://twitter.com/spotifyindia/status/1273971294875160576">World Music Day</a> campaigns across the year. Q) How are you as a platform also making your emojis more diverse and inclusive? Emojis are embedded in the conversational culture on Twitter - their usage has grown with conversations on the service. Over the years, we’ve introduced several customised emojis to support diverse conversations. For entertainment enthusiasts, we’ve released custom emojis for movies like <a href="https://twitter.com/twitterindia/status/898465872024444928?lang=en">#Mersal</a>, the<a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1318437648663339010?s=20"> 25th anniversary of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge</a>, and shows like <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/787602771000168448">Bigg Boss</a>. Sports conversations are massive on Twitter, and we’ve encouraged these with emojis for the <a href="https://twitter.com/cricketworldcup/status/1133846210622709762">Cricket World Cup</a> and for the <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1378378919858950146">IPL</a>. We’ve also introduced several emojis for festivals like Diwali, <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/926657299145400320?s=20">Guru Nanak Jayanti</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1135753458764591109">Eid</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/984705774738796544">Vishu and Puthandu</a> to cater to diverse audiences pan-India, and also for occasions of national importance like <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1353704564931715072">Republic Day</a>. We even <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_in/a/2016/we-launched-our-first-crowd-sourced-diwali-emoji-in.html">crowdsourced an emoji for Diwali in 2016</a>. Like many others, our recent <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1366698471638507520">#AssemblyElections2021</a> emoji could be activated with hashtags in multiple languages. Earlier this year, we released the <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1367758348083335173">#WeAreWomen emoji</a> on Women’s Day, to support conversations from the women community across the globe. When we look at branded emojis, we’re catering to and partnering with a dynamic set of brands across categories, ranging from <keyword id="1245953" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="OTT">OTT</keyword> and media &amp; entertainment category, BFSI, Auto, E-commerce, Fintech and more. For Uber India’s (<a href="https://twitter.com/Uber_India">@Uber_India</a>) Valentine’s Day 2019 campaign, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoveMovesForward?src=hashtag_click">#LoveMovesForward</a>, we partnered with the brand to introduce a <a href="https://twitter.com/Uber_India/status/1095367504543633408?s=20">Pride Heart emoji</a> to spearhead love and acceptance, and build on their broader mission of ‘Move Forward’. The conversations on Twitter are evolving, and we make sure that reflects in how we’re contributing to these conversations. Q) What are some of the most effective emoji-driven formats that brands have been using on Twitter? We’ve been experimenting with formats to help brands engage more meaningfully. We have partnered with a number of brands to create what we call an <keyword id="11653792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="emoji-engine">Emoji Engine</keyword> - and it has worked really well from an audience engagement lens. With the help of third party partners, we create a customised bank of emojis that serves people a personalised experience. When someone engages with an Emoji Engine campaign by Tweeting with an emoji, they’re rewarded with customised content that is tied to that specific emoji. Several brands have used the Emoji Engine to drive entire campaigns. <a href="https://twitter.com/bmwindia/status/1319284825140817923?s=19">BMW India</a> also gave people an exclusive peek into <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/The2?src=hashtag_click">#The2</a> through an Emoji Engine. <a href="https://twitter.com/NetflixIndia/status/1309482939101503488">Netflix India’s</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetflixMatchmaker?src=hashtag_click">#NetflixMatchmaker</a>, which was based on the insight that customers actively seek content recommendations on Twitter, shared binge-worthy recommendations that match the mood of the emoji Tweeted with the campaign hashtag. <a href="https://twitter.com/Flipkart/status/1315653182429618178?s=19">Flipkart’s </a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BigBillionDays?src=hashtag_click">#BigBillionDays</a> campaign also used an Emoji Engine - wherein each emoji Tweeted was rewarded with suitable discounts and offers available in the flagship e-sale. Q) How can brands further up their emoji game on Twitter? As we continue to innovate with upcoming formats, and experiment with the existing creative canvas on Twitter, few guiding principles below can always enable the brand marketing teams to amplify the usage of emojis on Twitter. <ul><li>Think Upstream. Emojis aren’t just symbols that add receptivity to a brand’s hashtag but have the potential to kick-start an idea, and integrate multiple media touchpoints for a brand to connect with the audience on and beyond Twitter.</li><li>Shareable Message. When a brand invests in activating an emoji, it's equally important to focus on launching this with a shareable Tweet copy or CTA formats to establish an organic connection with the audience.</li><li>Beyond Products. With the increasing usage of emojis across all campaigns, the opportunity always exists to go beyond product-specific designs and push the creative envelope to design for cues that are core to the theme, and how your audience might connect with the message.</li></ul>

Brands leveraging custom emojis garner higher receptivity and engagement on campaign hashtags: Rishabh Sharma, Twitter Next

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Etienne Oliveau/Getty ImagesLei Jun, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Technology and Chairman of Kingsoft Corp talks to journalists before the 2nd plenary session of the National People's Congress on March 9, 2016 in Beijing, China.</div></div></div>The "Apple of China" is in serious trouble.Sales of smartphones from Xiaomi, a once-red-hot Chinese hardware startup touted as the country's answer to Apple, dropped in China a whopping 38% in the second quarter of 2016 year-on-year, <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prCHE41676816">according to new data from research firm IDC</a>.Xiaomi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Xiaomi's phones are not yet available in Western markets - but it has developed a buzzy reputation in the tech press.The company launched in 2010, and enjoyed meteoric growth: By the end of 2014, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/xiaomi-becomes-worlds-most-valuable-tech-startup-1419843430">it was the officially the world's most valuable technology startup</a>, with a private valuation of more than $46 billion. (<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/most-valuable-startups-march-2016-2016-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">It has since been dethroned of that title by Uber</a>.)Specialising in cheap, high-quality smartphones, it had grown off the back of an unusually passionate fan base, which it was careful to cultivate. It liberally borrowed from Apple's playbook, including charismatic CEO keynote speeches. There is also a booming market in China for smartphones.The company set an ambitious target for 2015: Sell 100 million smartphones. But by July, as sales began to slow, it started to become clear that it just wouldn't happen.It ultimately sold "over 70 million," according to a company representative.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Jason LeeSome of Xiaomi's phones are very similar to Apple's, and Apple design guru Jony Ive has even accused the company of "theft," a charge it denies.</div></div></div><a href="http://fortune.com/2016/05/23/xiaomi-revenues-flat-2015/">Earlier this year, Fortune reported that all-in-all, Xiaomi's revenue's barely grew in 2015</a>. It pulled in 78 billion yuan ($11.9 billion) for the year, up 5% on 74.3 billion yuan ($11.3 billion) in 2014, but well short of a 100 billion yuan target for the year.Now, <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prCHE41676816">the latest figures from IDC suggest that Xiaomi isn't just standing still</a> - it's actually in freefall.It's worth noting that Xiaomi sells other products - from water-purifiers to hoverboards. But smartphones still make up the lion's share of the company's bottom line, with just 5%of its revenues in 2015 coming from over products, <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/05/23/xiaomi-revenues-flat-2015/">according to Fortune</a>.In Q2 of 2016, Xiaomi sold an estimated 10.5 million smartphones in China, down from 17.1 million a year prior. That's a drop of 38.4%.Meanwhile, rivals Oppo and Vivo have skyrocketed, enjoying year-on-year growth rates of 124.1% and 74.7%.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">IDC</div></div></div>What's behind Xiaomi's implosion? A slowing in growth, at least, was inevitable: In previous years, the company was perfectly positioned to take advantage of the rapid growth in China's smartphone market.This has now dropped off - but the Chinese market is still growing, 4.6% in Q2 year-on-year.IDC points to a failure of marketing as the cause.Xiaomi previously spent very little on marketing, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/xiaomi-vp-hugo-barra-at-mobile-world-congress-2015-2015-3">and was proud of it</a> - relying on word-of-mouth and user hype to spread word of its products. But this tactic is no longer viable: Competitors Vivo and Oppo are spending heavily, including using "brand ambassadors" to promote their smartphones, and without any concrete ways to differentiate its products, Xiaomi has been forced to follow suit."In the past, Xiaomi started the trend of selling its phones online and other vendors soon followed suit and created their own online brand. After vendors witnessed OPPO's success with its R9, they also started riding on the trend of hiring celebrity endorsers to represent their brand and appeal more to the young crowd,"IDC analyst Xiaohan Tay said."Hiring celebrity endorsers may help increase numbers in the short-term, but this alone may not be sufficient to drive numbers in the long run. As there is very little differentiation across products to warrant significant brand loyalty, vendors must constantly think out of the box to get people hyped up about their products."Xiaomi was once the head of the pack. Now it's playing catch-up - and losing. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lenses-can-distort-appearance-photos-camera-science-focal-length-hitchcock-2016-8">How different camera lenses affect how you appear in photos</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="5xcWY0NTE67sqfmyYhKmTRRkNX5dO3dF" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The Chinese answer to Apple is falling apart

<ul><li>Since the beginning, BYJU’S secret has been to focus on engagement and effectiveness. It has made learning fun for students by adding videos, interactive media, and gamification on its platform.</li><li>It all started when Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, identified a gap between how the concepts are learned and how it should be learned by students in India. </li><li>BYJU’S plan now is to ‘expand to international markets, achieve scale and build a global brand while simultaneously working on creating learning programs in regional languages to provide access to quality content and teachers to the students even in the remotest parts of the country.’ </li><li>Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Sales and Marketing, BYJU’S shares his vision for making the platform an industry leader, content marketing mantra, and revenue goals for the year. </li></ul>For a relatively non-existent segment that started shaping up a decade ago, BYJU’S has come a long way in a short span of time. India has around 3500 edtech startups and BJYU’S has an edge for it is the fourth-highest valued company -- placed at $5.7 billion. BYJU’S added 40 million registered users onto its platform and 2.8 million paid subscribers this year; nearly doubling from 1.26 million in June 2018. It also became profitable in 2018 – cut down its losses by over 76% to ₹8.8 crore from ₹37.1 crore. It is now eyeing to be a ₹3000 crore brand by end of the fiscal year. It is all set to become the leader of edtech industry. The company plans to do so by adding more regional languages, spreading awareness around its platform with omni-channel approach, and deeper penetration across India. Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Sales and Marketing, BYJU’S – The Learning App shares the secret of achieving fame so soon, advantages of tying up with cricket tournaments, developing a brand from scratch on the back of strong marketing tools, leveraging the strength of population by going deeper in markets, revenue goals, and much more. Excerpts: How has the year been so far for BYJU’S? Earlier in the year you announced that you had become profitable, a first in the consumer internet start-up space. What helped you achieve this, which is no mean feat? At BYJU’S, we understood the challenges the ecosystem faces and one of the key challenges we could address immediately and effectively is the method with which students consume knowledge and information. We began the journey with conviction and understood the potential to bring in transformational change with respect to the format for interaction and learning. The core challenges traditional education formats face are (a) good teachers are hard to find at scale (b) ability for personalization is limited (c) format of learning (rote memorization vs. wanting to learn). Our approach from a content creation perspective has always been to focus on engagement and effectiveness i.e., if it will be useful to students and it will be used by students. We approach subjects by first identifying concepts and curriculum that need to be covered and then identifying the best mode to teach these concepts be it through video, gamification or interactive media. With over 40m downloads, 2.8m paid users, and average engagement time ~ 71 minutes, our approach, both in terms of engagement and effectiveness, has been received positively by students, parents and education providers which is helping propel our growth. We have been fortunate to reach scale relatively quickly due to our student and learning-focused approach and are increasing year-on-year which is helping us achieve progressively higher earnings, enabling us to invest more organically in improving engagement and effectiveness in the product. There is no real playbook for success here and our approach has been based on first principles, especially since this was a relatively non-existent segment a couple of years ago. Everything we learnt was first hand – from business model tinkering, expansion, to raising funds. BYJU’S has been aggressively marketing itself in the recent past, be it the advertising during this year’s world cup or replacing Oppo to find a place on the jerseys of Indian players. As a learning company, we have always recognised the critical role that sports play in a child's development. They teach you unmatched life-skills and crucial lessons like teamwork and collaboration. Cricket is the heartbeat of India and as a platform, gives us unmatched reach to even the deepest parts of the country. Our focus is to go deeper into India and make better learning experiences accessible to students who need it the most. We are thrilled about being the jersey sponsors of the Indian Cricket Team. Just as cricket inspires a billion budding dreams across India, we too as a learning company hope to inspire the love of learning in every child's heart. What kind of investments are you keeping aside for marketing this year? Your FY18 advertising spends was up 77% at Rs 188.5 crore. What kind of money did you spend in the current financial year? What was the percentage increase? During our campaigns around cricket matches, we have noticed a big spike in the number of downloads we see. In fact, our last set of advertisements with Shah Rukh Khan received the highest recall among celebrity endorsements during the 2019 ICC World Cup Cricket, according to a survey by the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB). Our daily organic downloads are close to 50,000-60,000 and the marketing expenditure has gone up over the year, on the back of an increase in revenue. However, the cost of customer acquisition has dropped to 25%. For digital, we use a combination of channels including display, banner besides advertising on YouTube. Additionally, we also use TV, print and outdoor. What role has advertising played in cementing a place in the hearts and minds of Indian consumers? Our advertisements celebrate the power of visual learning and is aimed at helping our end users understand how it could be beneficial for them. TV has helped us reach out to our primary and secondary customers - i.e.; children and their parents, across geographies. Advertising on TV has primarily helped us with customer acquisition, i.e. increased downloads, while we have specifically used print medium to explain the how and the why of the app to our target audience. From the very beginning, we were able to measure the ROI from our ad campaigns, through downloads, subscriptions, etc. Our campaigns were based solely on where the product stood at a certain time and if it made sense for us to scale up or reach out to a wider audience then. We are very paranoid about the performance of an ad; if we see it performing well, we are ready to invest. There is a direct link in how downloads spike with ad campaign releases. With regards to mediums, we have seen that TV when used simultaneously with social media amplifies our ROI. Hence, we also share timely and relevant communication across our social media handles to reach out to a large set of audience and create awareness about our brand offerings. Considering you had taken on Shah Rukh Khan as an ambassador pretty early on in your journey. You also roped in actor Mahesh Babu to target Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. How did this help in winning your consumer’s trust? It was great to have Mahesh Babu and Mohanlal associate with us and spread the message that conceptual and life-long learning is far superior to learning by rote. We believe that every region, especially in South India, is really unique and it is crucial that we customize our message to truly gain mindshare here. Both the ad campaigns highlighted evolving learning habits of students and celebrated the long-term benefits of conceptual understanding. Our TVCs were specially targeted at the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively to connect with parents and help them understand real, tangible benefits of technology powered learning. The core objective of our TVCs was to address the apprehension among parents and show them the real advantage of learning through a product like the BYJU’S Learning App. Mahesh Babu and Mohanlal’s immense popularity and credibility amongst parents and children in the respective regions made them a perfect fit for our brand. What kind of uptake has BYJU’S been seeing among parents and children? Can you share some user figures with us, and where do you aim to take this number to, in the next few years? Today we have over 40 million registered users and 2.8 million paid subscribers; nearly doubling from 1.26 million in June 2018. The average number of minutes a student spends on the app has increased from 64 minutes to 71 minutes everyday from across 1700+ towns/cities. More than 60% of our students are from outside the top 10 cities. But there is still a long way to go before we call this a learning revolution. India today has the largest K-12 education system in the world, with around 300 million school going population. Going forward, there will be a strong focus to further accelerate our reach and create awareness about digital learning in deeper parts of India. This is one segment where the real fun is not in creating a billion dollar company, but in creating a billion thinkers and learners. When you launched the platform, what was your vision? How has that vision evolved over the years? What BYJU’S stands for now for you and what is the BYJU’S of the future? The main idea behind starting BYJU’S was to make learning accessible, effective, engaging and personalized for everyone. We noticed that there was a huge gap in the way students learn and how concepts should be learnt. In a traditional, face to face learning set up, access to high-quality education and personalization of learning has always been an issue. In our system, children are still getting trained to solve questions and not ask questions. Learning happens because of fear of exams, and not for the love for learning. Students memorize and forget after exams. The need of the hour is for a product that brings the childlike curiosity back in students and makes them look forward to learning something new everyday. When we launched, learning was not actively taking place through digital media, even though children were browsing on the internet and watching videos online. This medium was not viewed as a reliable learning source. We have managed to change that and have created and established the ‘app learning’ segment. Our vision is to now be viewed as not just a ‘digital learning’ medium but the leaders of the ‘learning at home’ segment. By 2020, we would like to transform into a learning at home platform. Everything a student needs to learn at home, BYJU’s will be able to provide that. You are looking at expanding to international waters now. Can you throw some light on your strategy to navigate these markets? When can we expect you to launch and are there markets other than the US and the UK that you are considering currently? We are in the process of building a product for international markets. Our recent acquisition of Osmo, the US-based award-winning playful learning system, is also aimed at bolstering our international plans to innovate, explore and set new benchmarks for tech-enabled personalized learning solutions. Currently, there are no products like the BYJU’S learning app which can reach out to such a large number of students and create great engagement at the same time. We strongly believe that such a product can come out of India. The market opportunity is huge and we believe our product can create the kind of engagement one has never seen before What kind of growth have you been witnessing? What kind of growth do you hope to achieve this year and what are the factors that will help you achieve it? In terms of revenue, the company has been growing at 100% year-on-year for the last 3 years and have tripled our revenue to INR 1430 crore in FY 18-19 and also turned profitable on a full year basis. We are estimating a revenue of over INR 3000 crore this year. Today we have over 40 million registered users and 2.8 million paid subscribers. Our numbers and growth over the past few years speak for themselves. Where will the next phase of growth for BYJU’S come from? While our focus is to expand to international markets to help achieve scale and build a global brand, we are also working on creating learning programs in regional languages to provide access to quality content and teachers to the students even in the remotest parts of the country. We have also launched language switch option in Hindi, that will not only help in on boarding the platform but also help gain a better foothold in English. Going forward, there will be a strong focus to further accelerate our reach and create awareness in deeper parts of India. We are also working on creating learning programs in other regional languages. The availability of BYJU’S learning programs in multiple vernacular languages will make quality learning accessible for children in every nook and corner of the country and fulfill their aspirations of building better lives. Tell us a bit about your partnership with Disney and what more can we expect out to this partnership? Can we expect some more similar partnerships with other global players too? The Disney.BYJU’S Early Learn app is specially crafted for young children aged between 6 to 8 years old (classes 1- 3) in India. This app offers personalized learning programs while entertaining them with Disney’s timeless stories and characters from Disney Princess, Frozen, Cars, Toy Story franchises and more. BYJU’S pedagogy and content expertise are enhanced by the compelling storytelling of Disney in this app and provides a strong head start to the way young children learn their first concepts in India. The Disney. BYJU’S Early Learn App offers a first-of-its-kind integration of offline to online learning experience through BYJU’S acquired Osmo platform. Where do you want to see Byju’s three to five years from now? Our vision is to be one of the largest education brands in the world. While starting a mission company is easy, sustaining a mission-led organization is challenging. The market needs standardized education and new methodologies/formats to be introduced so as to engage students. To move from the traditional classroom system where teaching is one-way traffic to the one where teachers are facilitators of learning and also, mentors for discussions in classrooms is essential. At BYJU’S, we have made small strides in this direction and with increased traction we believe this is possible in the near future.

You Searched For "oppo brand endorser" and got 5 results

Varun Dhawan on his latest brand association with OPPO, upcoming campaign and endorsement choices

Karuna Sharma

OPPO on-boards MS Dhoni to encourage people to follow their passion

BI India Partner

Brands leveraging custom emojis garner higher receptivity and engagement on campaign hashtags: Rishabh Sharma, Twitter Next

Samarpita Banerjee

The Chinese answer to Apple is falling apart

Rob Price

BYJU’S envisions to become the leader of ‘learning at home’ category; targets ₹3000 crores revenue this year

Samarpita

Karuna

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides