AaramShop Grocery Festival - the power of many.

We have all seen "festivals and discount sales" being advertised by leading retailers on a month on month basis - and therefore it is quite obvious for folks to turn around and question the uniqueness associated with the AaramShop Grocery Festival which has been announced today for the next 8 days. 

The similarities end it being called a festival - the format is unique as it is probably the very 1st of it kind of multi-retailer, multi-brand format focused on FMCG / CPG brands.

The festival would run for 8 days at over a 1300 independently operating neighborhood grocers across New Delhi and 5 satellite towns catering to a population of over 22 million. 

AaramShop Grocery Festival is the largest unified consumer promotion created for small, independently operating retailers operating out of our neighborhoods.

The ASF is not designed as a "discount sale", but rather about creating pleasant surprises for shoppers when they buy any brand of groceries and daily essentials at their trusted neighborhood store. It is all about getting a little more than what the shopper had expected. The shopper gets to be part of the festival either by walking into the store or by ordering on the phone or by ordering groceries online from his neighborhood retailer using AaramShop.

The festival has been cleverly created to adopt to the varying business practices of the independent retailers and thus does not need modifications in the "business as normal", while at the same time helping the retailer grow his business.

The festival also helps brands connect with their consumers and retailers in a meaningful manner and therefore the festival has been partnered by some of the leading brands. The lead sponsor of the festival is Catch Salts & Spices (DS Group) & it is co-sponsored by Kohinoor Rice (Mc Cormick), Colgate Total (Colgate Pamolive), Saffola Oats (Marico), Red Label Natural Care (Hindustan Unilever), Sofit (Godrej Hershey) & Vanish (RB). 

 

The Delhi & NCR edition of the festival is the 1st of the series of festivals which would be held across the country and with the hope that the festival would have a positive impact on the businesses of the retailers over time and during the initiative. Contact us to know more about this initiative.  

Extending the print media. The New Standard.

It is wonderful to see the Augmented Reality (AR) integration with print media brought about by Times of India and Adstuck Consulting.

What sets this use of AR aside is that it is not designed as an one-off advertisement that has AR integration which are generally viewed as gimmicks, but rather is firmly planted as a standard feature on the morning newspaper on a daily basis and that will ensure its wide-spread adoption and usage in a short time.  

This technology has been around for years as QR code readers, but no newspaper in the world has used it editorially to delight its readers and create a new level of interactivity.

Believe this is how the future of not just newspaper but most print media would look in the era of convergence. The increase in the user base would have a huge and a positive impact on the usage of the technology for advertisers.

Download and test it from here and let me know what you think.

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10 Brand Marketing Trends that Should Dominate 2013

Came across this article in Forbes and I thought it was worth sharing - as these are the brand marketing trends that can open significant opportunities or create big challenges over the next 12 months.

What makes it even more interesting is that 7 of the 10 trends (to a lesser extent the other 3 as well) are significantly dominated by social media. Interesting to see that Susan has given traditional media a skip, other than stores that help create "brand experiences".

Wonder if brand's media marketing spends are going to follow the marketing trends.

Read more here

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A New Era For Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing has been around since the days of the traveling salesman. But with a strong assist from technology, it now it is re-emerging as the backbone of many branding plans.

Came across this wonderful article on CMO and felt it was worth sharing. 

The article captures the key changes and the fact that the empowered consumer has made experiential marketing a necessity in some areas, such as retail and electronics, where showrooming is turning products into commodities. 

And with the rise of online and mobile shopping empowering consumers to commoditize products, a tactile experience becomes a good way to set one product aside from another.

Read the full article here on CMO

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KLM Travelpredictions

Here is another great example of good use of digital by KLM. Using the digital footprints we leave on Facebook, KLM Travelpredictions is able to "predict" a future travel destination based on the interest graph. 

This was created by River. The service is launched in 25 markets and is now earning revenue from actual sales.

Try it here