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Facebook comes up with new ‘More Together’ campaign

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Social media major Facebook today launched a new phase of its consumer marketing campaign in India – ‘More Together’. This phase marks the first anniversary of Facebook’s consumer marketing journey in the country, a key strategic focus area for the company, and continues to celebrate the power of connections and communities, and how people can do more together than alone.

Avinash Pant, Director – Marketing, Facebook India, said, “Facebook is deeply entrenched in the cultural fabric of India. Every day we see different ways in which people across the country come together on our platform to create meaningful connections, fuel discovery, and help and support one another. This ability to connect and share with the world can lead to endless possibilities, and we feel humbled with the stories where our family of apps has provided this value to the people. Our consumer marketing journey over the past year has been focused on showcasing these diverse stories with the underlying belief that people can do more together than alone, and we continue to rally behind it.”

The 360-degree campaign has been conceptualized and executed by Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu Webchutney and will go live in multiple languages across TV, digital, print, radio and OOH.

Talking about the inspiration behind the campaign, Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu, explains, “People want to be more, experience more, inspire more, help more, relax more, shine more – it’s in our DNA, this need to do more for ourselves and indeed for the world we live in. Facebook is a means to that end – a place where people come together resulting in delightful, sometimes entirely unexpected outcomes. This campaign will capture many such stories and trace the trajectories of people like you and me, who shared something with the world and got so much more back in return.”

As part of the campaign, Facebook will leverage the power of its platform extensively to bring these inspirational stories to life and has partnered with Dentsu Webchutney to craft the creative strategy and communication across digital and social media including a digital campaign #FBPePoocho highlighting how people can get support and solutions by reaching out to their connections on Facebook.

Elaborating on the digital and social media approach to the campaign, GD Prasad, Vice President, Dentsu Webchutney, said, “On Facebook, everyone is just a conversation or comment away from unlocking the potential of achieving more together. With #FBpePoocho, we are celebrating the power of community. Our aim is to encourage people to activate their network, and in the process, help themselves and others grow. We’ve done this through interesting, everyday stories of people who’ve come together through the platform to realise impactful, incredible outcomes.”

ZinQ brings in ZQ-1200 wired keyboard-mouse combo at Rs 499

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ZinQ Technologies has been known to find elementary solutions to everyday tech problems. Its latest innovation continues that streak. The ZQ-1200 is a combination of a full-sized wired keyboard and an ambidextrous mouse. Rather than spending time and money on two separate devices, you get both at the price of one. If you’re a PC user, having a combo such as this one will aid you in various ways.

The ZinQ ZQ-1200 spill-resistant wired USB keyboard and mouse combo is one of the best options priced at Rs 499 that will help you set your desk space for work and play. Most mice and keyboards use wires because of the superior response times as you need accessories that can make you proactive and increase your overall output. This black coloured combo does exactly that, with its Plug & Play connectivity with a long wire, which makes it easy to move around your desk and work with it, providing no delays or lags, and an extremely fast connection.

The combo is more than it meets the eye. The simple-looking devices have a lot to offer. The keyboard itself provides such a balmy typing experience with its soft press keys that your fingers won’t undergo any soreness even if you’ve typed for hours. Moreover, the keys are noiseless, and that’s a win-win. To conserve your time, the keyboard has the pre-installed rupee symbol key. Even the mouse has equally engaging features that you can use to leverage your daily tasks. It has a 1600 DPI which is also an appropriate setting for gaming. It has a long USB cable that gives you ample space to adjust according to your comfort. The powerful optical sensor makes it surface-friendly. But its USP lies in its ambidexterity, i.e., it’s an equally utilitarian device for a left-handed user as it is for a right-handed user. Despite all of this, the combo has a 12-month warranty from the date of purchase.

“Efficiency is the key. ZinQ’s focus on lifestyle improvement via tech helps us to brainstorm in deducing answers to our consumers’ often raised queries. The ZQ-1200 is a combo that’s targeted towards those professionals who are conformed to desk jobs that require copious hours of PC usage. It (the combo) has been combined to reduce a user’s time spent online searching for the right pair of keyboard and mouse. There are a lot of features that one can use to his/her advantage,” adds Arnav Mutneja, Founder and CEO, ZinQ Technologies.

You can buy the ZinQ ZQ-1200 combo of wired keyboard and mouse from Amazon.

Noise ranked as India’s No.1 Wearable Watch Brand in 2020

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Noise, the Indian aspirational connected lifestyle brand, has been ranked as India’s no.1 Wearable Watch Brand in 2020 according to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, Q420 release.

Having been constantly ranked as India’s No.1 wearable brand from past three quarters by IDC, the latest report highlights Noise’s strong dominance as the leader in India’s wearable watch industry with a significant market share of 24.5% basis unit shipment.

Noise is one of the fastest growing tech lifestyle companies in India and has been catering to the growing demands of tech enthusiasts. In last one year, Noise has conquered 24.5% of the entire Indian wearable segment. The Indian originated brand has won the hearts of the customers with a wide range of intriguing smartwatches including ColorFit Pro series, ColorFit Nav, NoiseFit Endure, NoiseFit Evolve and NoiseFit Fusion. Noise has recently launched the third generation of ColorFit Pro and received an overwhelming response from the customers.

Amit Khatri, Co-founder at Noise said, “It is an honor to be the industry leader and recognized as India’s No.1 Wearable Watch Brand with 24.5% market share in the segment. The fact that a Homegrown Truly Indian brand has emerged as the leader with 1 in every 4 smartwatches sold in India being a Noise smartwatch fills me with gratitude to all the Noisemakers and patrons who have endowed their trust in our range of products and the company. Smart wearable is a very dynamic and aggressive industry which is burgeoned with several international brands. We are elated to see an Indian originated brand levitating in such a stalwart market quarter on quarter consistently for the whole year.”

The brand has aggressive plans to amplify the business across the nation with its new and exciting line up of upgraded products. Overall, Noise has been registering a huge uptick in customer database and sales from past one year, marking a growth trajectory of 30x.

Intex completes 25 years of operations – Celebrates selling 150 million products since inception

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Intex, one of the leading and most popular brands in Speakers, IT Accessories, consumer durables, home appliances, mobiles and mobile accessories celebrated its 25th anniversary on 14th February 2021 at its offices across India.

The company was founded on 14th February, 1996 by Mr Narendra Bansal, CMD with just one product – Ethernet card and has since grown to have the widest range of products in the categories it operates in. Presently the company sells its products through its channel partners across country & E-commerce platforms and has millions of happy customers enjoying its products.  The company prides itself on having made its products available to 150 million Indians, staying true to its vision of ‘improving the lives of the people’.

Narendra Bansal CMD said, “I started Intex with a vision to make technology affordable for masses and I am delighted that we have been able to realise this dream and made it to highest selling speakers and Accessories in India.  With a strong hold on technology and innovation, we are committed to bring the best features in the categories and segments we operate in and enhancing the opportunities for the people of India.”

Keshav Bansal, Director said “We feel humbled yet proud to be a leading Indian brand that has presence in almost every household in India throught its products.  Intex is at its prime of youth at 25 today and we are ready for the next leap by curating our products to match the changing needs and expectations of our customers.”

Intex currently employs over 1000 people in various offices and manufacturing units and a dedicated workforce is tirelessly working towards Making in India and atmanirbhar bharat.

Commemorating the occasion, the anniversary logo was unveiled along with the tagline #BiggerBetterEdgier. The company intends to use these elements in all its communication throughout the anniversary year.

Indian Gaming League announces the launch of IGL Championship Cup Season 1

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Indian Gaming League, India’s recognized competitive gaming and esports league and the one-stop hub for all the gaming enthusiasts has announced the launch of Indian Gaming League Championship Cup Season 1.

This will be a first of its kind tournament in the online gaming and esports segment aiming to boost the esports segment in India and to cater to the gamers increasing demand for innovative and interactive games.

The tournament that will witness users playing and competing in six thrilling games. The match is all set to commence from 15th March 2021 and will conclude on 28th April 2021. This is an open tournament and the users can directly register themselves from the official website to participate.

The users have a reason to rejoice as they also have an opportunity to win exciting prizes worth Rs.2.5 lakhs. The match will also be accompanied with the Indian Gaming League Awards, the first of its kind high-end virtual awards night to felicitate the winners of the championship. The gala event will be hosted by MTV’s fame Rannvijay Singha and Anusha Dandekar.

Yash Pariani, CEO, Indian Gaming League said, “E-sports has picked up pace and its future indeed seems promising. We are prepping up for the launch of IGL Championship Cup Season 1 and are anticipating a good response from the gamers. We are making concerted efforts to make this journey thrilling and exciting for the users. The Championship cup will be followed up with the first of its kind awards show. Which will be a star studded event with an aim to honour Esports and to motivate the youth to pursue Esports gaming. This will bring us closer to our broader vision of making Esports & IGL a household name.”

Ashish Chowdhry, Director, Hindustan Talkies said, “The online gaming sector is at its prime in the present times. India possessing the largest youth population and witnessing a surge in smartphone usage combined with the availability of the internet will help in the growth and acceptance of e-sports. With this collaboration with Indian Gaming League, we at Hindustan Talkies wish to foray into the e-sports sector and connect with the vast and diverse audiences. We extend our best wishes to IGL for their championship league and are eagerly waiting for the awards night.”

Addverb Technologies sets up Rs 75 cr robots manufacturing facility ‘Bot-Valley’ in Noida

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Automation and robotics company Addverb Technologies, mentored by Jalaj Dani, has built its world-class manufacturing facility ‘Bot-Valley’ in the NCR town of Noida, with a vision to pioneer human-robot collaboration to touch human lives.

Bot-Valley is a creative workplace that inspires innovation and boosts collaboration among the best technopreneurs of the country. With the establishment of this facility, Addverb intends to create a self-sustaining ecosystem for the robotics industry in India that can also export innovative products and disruptive technology solutions to the world. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant felicitated the inaugural event as the chief guest and inaugurated Bot-Valley.

Spread over 2.5 acres of land, this new manufacturing unit is equipped with the best-in-class electronics and mechanical machines and has a capacity to manufacture more than 50,000 Robots of varied types in a year. This one-in-a-kind manufacturing hub will employ 450 workforces and provide equality and empowerment to both men and women. Established in 2016, Addverb Technologies has streamlined the process for many retail giants of the country through its innovative products & solutions. Not only this, just in a span of 4.5 years, Addverb Technologies established a global footprint by acquiring customers in Europe, South-East Asia & Australia and established 100% subsidiary companies in Singapore, Australia & Netherlands.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, said, “The past decade witnessed precipitous changes spanning from the way of life to the technologies that emerged. We have entered a nascent paradigm shift (industry 4.0) where technology will help Addverb meet the growing needs and demand of the present business ecosystem. Robotics holds huge potential in streamlining the processes across industries right from retail to healthcare and from warehousing to supply chain.”

Sangeet Kumar, Founder and CEO, Addverb Technologies, said, “This new facility will unleash the power of India on global fronts and will strengthen the overall robotics ecosystem of the country. Even with increased demand for automation, the penetration of robotics, especially in small and medium enterprises is still low in India compared to the global average. With the establishment of this world-class facility, we will be able to project India as an R&D epicentre of the world and share knowledge and encourage Indian manufacturers to embrace our game-changing technologies and become best-in-class manufacturers for local and global markets.”

India Wearables Market Sees Triple-digit Growth in 2020: IDC

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The India wearables market posted a remarkable 144.3% year-over-year (YoY) growth in 2020, exiting 2020 with 36.4 million unit shipments, according to the recent data from the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.

India was the only country in the top 20 to see triple-digit growth in wearables in 2020 and continues to be the third-largest wearables market globally. This growth was majorly driven by the increasing acceptance of earwear devices and upgrades to watches from wrist bands, both recording their highest annual shipments in 2020.

Earwear device shipments grew more than threefold in 2020 compared to the previous year, mainly driven by the affordable launches, and expanding use cases beyond entertainment like virtual meetings and e-learning requirements. Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) devices were the top gainer seeing a tenfold increase with shipments totaling 11.3 million units in 2020.

Anisha Dumbre, Market Analyst, IDC India said, “Hearables became one of the most sought-after electronic categories in 2020. The newer version of hearables are much better in managing the increased audio usages and improved aesthetic and design also made them the trendsetter. TWS category saw the much-needed price corrections with several vendors launching devices at more affordable price points leading to the drop in the average selling price of TWS to $45 in 2020 from $110 in 2019.”

4Q20 (Oct-Dec 2020) recorded the biggest quarter for wearables in India, maintaining triple-digit growth. Overall, vendors shipped 15.2 million units in 4Q20, growing 198.2% YoY. This was the first quarter when shipments of watches crossed the one million mark as vendors shipped 1.3 million units during the quarter. Noise’s Colorfit pro-2, Realme watch, Apple’s watch series 6, and new launches from Amazfit provided this strong growth for watches in 4Q20.

Wristbands declined by 34.3% YoY in 2020 since peaking in 2019 as the year ended with 3.3-million-unit shipments. After the introduction of wrist bands into the Indian market, 2020 has been the first year when the category reported a decline. The increasing popularity of watches at similar price points to that of wristbands is the main factor of the decline of wristbands. With 46.7% of the share, Xiaomi continued to lead the category in 2020. Realme, which entered the segment in 2020 finished second with a 12.3% category share.

Watches grew significantly as demand for wrist bands declined during the year. Watches saw a 139.3% YoY growth with 2.6-million- unit shipments in 2020. Noise led the watch category with a 24.5% share in 2020 followed by Realme with a 15.7% share in the year. Smartwatches, which can run third-party applications on the device itself, accounted for a 24.5% share in the watch category, and Apple continues to lead the smartwatch category with a 51.0% share in 2020.

The Earwear category accounted for 83.6% of the overall wearable market share to hit 30.4 million unit shipments in 2020. BoAt emerged as the biggest player in the category, accounting for one-third of the category shipments. Samsung with its portfolio including JBL, Harman Kardon, Infinity finished second with a 14.5% share in 2020. BoAt also led the TWS segment with a 24.6% share, followed by Realme with a 13.5% share in 2020.

Jaipal Singh, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India said, “2020 was a year of transition in the audio segment from wired to wireless devices. In 2021, this category will further migrate to more sophisticated devices with enhanced audio experience being the central theme for all vendors,”. He further notes,” The high cost associated with wearable watches is not much of a challenge anymore. Also, the watch form factor is now seen as more appealing to the consumers, and vendors will leverage this shift by further expanding their watches portfolio in coming quarters.”

JBL announces new editions of its most beloved speakers- Boombox 2, Go 3 and Clip 4 in India

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Exciting news for those who enjoy powerful and portable sound as JBL has launched the latest versions of its most popular speakers – JBL Boombox 2, JBL Go 3 and JBL Clip 4 in India.

Each speaker will offer distinct features and upgrades from their last version, along with JBL’s legendary sound loved by consumers all over the world. All three products are now available on leading online and retail outlets across India.

The all-new JBL Go 3 is packaged in a stylish yet compact new form with great sound and long lasting battery that made it a universal favourite of young music enthusiasts. JBL Clip 4 speaker features a rugged, waterproof & dustproof design along with a vibrant fresh look for the adventure lovers who like to carry a compact and powerful sound everywhere they go. The party essential JBL Boombox 2 packs a solid punch with 24 hours of playtime and monstrous bass. The loudest Boombox ever also comes with JBL PartyBoost feature to create an even bigger sound by connecting other compatible JBL speakers.

Vikram Kher, Vice-President, Lifestyle Audio, HARMAN India said, “With epic sound and sleek design, our portable speakers have always been a favorite among on-the-move consumers. Since their launch, all three JBL speakers- Go 3, Clip 4 and Boombox 2 offer something new and unique yet promise the same quality and intensity that is guaranteed with JBL’s Bluetooth speakers. We are excited to announce the launch of next generation speakers in the 75th year of JBL’s existence and audio leadership across the world.”

The JBL Go 3 comes with new distinctive lifestyle design, great sound and compact size, it is also IP67 waterproof and dustproof, comes with 5 hours of playtime, has Bluetooth 5.1 and USB-C charging. It is priced at Rs 3999.

The JBL Clip 4 comes with great sound and compact size, upgraded integrated carabineer, it also has 10 Hours of playtime, IP67 Waterproof and dustproof, Bluetooth 5.1, and USB-C charging. The price of the speaker is Rs 4499.

The JBL Boombox 2 comes with loudest JBL Boombox ever with 24 Hours of Playtime, IPX 7 Waterproof, Monstrous bass you can feel, JBL PartyBoost, and Built-in powerbank. The price of the speaker is Rs 33999.

Galaktic launched with the aim of changing the consumer’s web search experience

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For a person who makes online searches frequently, finding what you need after seeing everything that you don’t across several web pages shouldn’t be the case. What’s the point in finding the search result in 0.64 seconds then? The next 10 to 20 minutes get wasted browsing unwanted content anyway.

Can this approach retain customers and users? Well, this is what is now set to change with the launch of the on-premise Galaktic search engine in India and its highly personalized, AI-driven approach.

The platform has on-boarded brands across various sectors including Square Yards (Real Estate), Tasaasia (Edu-Tech), Stockal (BFSI), and a leading business house building a marketplace for steel products. Galaktic has successfully increased the traffic of such clients by five times using its unconventional approach. It has further augmented the average time spent by visitors and search queries for the brands by 60% and 55% respectively. Galaktic plans to extend its reach to other industries including OTT (Over-the-top), Retail, Travel aggregator, Food aggregator, Online Classifieds, and Job Search Portals shortly.

The AI-powered on-premise platform builds on its site search technology that offers personalized search results. It is specifically designed to use Machine Learning that enables websites and mobile apps to deliver highly personalized search results, wherein the discovery of the relevant content is quicker than the usual approach. Galaktic is effective across multiple industries including BFSI, real estate, edu-tech retail, healthcare, news & broadcasting, fashion, and home alongside other e-commerce categories. It also comes equipped with multilingual capabilities that make it compatible across the globe. The state-of-the-art, on-premise solution addresses the key challenges that most search engines and e-commerce websites face while providing an engaging visitor experience.

The Galaktic suite works to enable e-commerce businesses to deliver results for natural language queries. This is accomplished via a library that contains thousands of natural language phrases. It works to continually optimize a website’s search functionality by leveraging a visitor’s past preferences as well as real-time interpretations of their current actions on the website. Some features of Galaktic include Predictive Suggest, Personalized Recommendations, Search Optimizations, Dynamic Filters, and Geolocation that cater to the needs of several industries.

Anirudha Khopade, CEO , Galaktic, said, “The launch of Galaktic in India has catapulted us into the future of search technologies that are natural language friendly, AI-powered, and driven by personalized recommendations based on visitor actions and intent. Galaktic is an affordable tool that can leverage the advanced off-the-shelf capabilities to increase visitor engagement. We are extremely optimistic about the effective changes that Galaktic will bring in terms of personalized search results and an overall engaging experience, especially in the e-commerce space. Most important the solution comes as SaaS based and even On-premise hosted for industries which are sensitive towards their consumer data”

Paytm Money becomes India’s growth enabler for wealth products, aims at 10 million users in FY’22

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India’s homegrown digital financial services platform Paytm, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary ‘Paytm Money’ is targeting over 10 million users and 75 million yearly transactions in FY’22.

The company has become the leading driver of wealth creation in the country with over 50 percent ‘new to wealth services’ users availing investment products including Direct Mutual Funds, Stocks, IPO, F&O, ETF, NPS & Digital gold on the platform. By allowing small ticket investments and allowing trading at 10 INR per order, Paytm Money is encouraging the masses to start managing their wealth actively and in a safe environment, thus promoting financial inclusion.

The company has made deep inroads into the country & now has customers in 99 percent of all pin-codes helping in democratising wealth products & services. It has over 7 million users and has also achieved over Rs 5000 crore in Direct mutual funds investments. Paytm Money aims to register over 150 percent increase in monthly new SIP registrations and a 200% increase in Total Monthly Investment volumes over the next few months. By offering Direct mutual funds users save ~1% in commissions as compared to regular mutual funds and combined with a simple product and 40+ AMCs, investing has become simpler.

The company’s stockbroking initiative is helping to bring in more active direct equity investors in an underpenetrated segment. Paytm Money aims to open over 3.5 lakh by year-end and expects 60% of users to be from small cities. By building a simple platform for investors and traders, making delivery orders free and intraday/FNO at 10 INR per order and ensuring the technology behind is stable & solid, active management of users wealth has become easier. Paytm Money is also enabling wealth creation with investments in Initial Public Offers (IPOs). It has made the process of IPO application completely digital & simple for retail investors across the country to apply for IPOs.

The company aims to retain its top position in the market when it comes to digital gold and is set to cross 6,000 kgs of Gold transacted through the platform. Digital Gold has become an important part of the wealth portfolio as its safe, 24kt pure, easy to buy from 1INR to 1Cr and a user can take delivery of the physical gold. The company has more than 60mn investors in digital gold with many opting for Gold SIP as a regular saving option.

While over 35% of investors are less than 25 years, 80% of investors are less than the age of 35 years of age and 90% are less than 40 years.

Apart from this, the company strives to bring in financial inclusion by educating the masses through initiatives such as Masterclass. So far the response for ETF Masterclass and Foundation Masterclass has been overwhelming. More than 2000 people attended these Masterclasses where experts taught the basics of trading and explained the importance of ETFs to the investors. Paytm Money aims to enable over 1 million Indians to trade and invest in capital markets through its education initiatives.

Varun Sridhar, CEO – Paytm Money said, “We strongly believe that wealth management in the country need to be democratised, embraced, and adopted by all. Technology innovation and a stable product have allowed us to bring direct mutual fund & gold to everyone and offer equity delivery for free and all FN/intraday orders as low as Rs. 10. With our 360-degree approach to providing investment solutions, we have become the leading driver of wealth creation in the country. We are humbled by the trust young investors have shown in Paytm Money, by making it their primary platform for all investments. The next 18 months of innovation, launch of new products and providing a stable platform is going to be our goal. This is just the start.”