MAM
Kyoorius launches ‘Melt’; says not competing with Goafest
MUMBAI: “Today there is a lot of talk about digital media, technology and data, but ultimately ours is an “ideas” business. And it’s great ideas that build great brands,” announced GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas.
Clinging on the same lines has witnessed the birth of a festival of creativity – Melt 2015, at the convergence of advertising, digital, media, marketing and emerging technology.
Launched by Kyoorius in partnership with the three lords in the media and entertainment sector – D&AD, GroupM and Zee Entertainment Enterprises, the two day festival is an attempt to fill the gap, which addresses the blurred lines of advertising, marketing and digital space.
“We felt there is nothing happening in India that stimulates the entire marketing and communications industry at large. So while there is something happening for the marketing, advertising and digital independently, it does not happen at the convergence of all these three put together,” said Kyoorius CEO Rajesh Kejriwal.
Elaborating on choosing the name Melt for the event, Kejriwal said that the lines are blurring today. “The media company is also doing creative and digital work and then there are digital agencies that are doing creative work. Advertising agencies have opened their own digital houses. It has all become a melting pot and so the name.”
The festival doesn’t have sponsors, but has partners. These include: Hindustan Times, Happy Finish, Afaqs, Pepperfry, Future Laboratory, Hyper Island, The Partners, BrandMusiq, One Eyeland, Maxus, YouTube, Google, BARC and many more in the pipeline.
To be held on 21 and 22 May at Nehru Center and NSCI at Worli, Mumbai, the festival will be filled with seminars, exhibitions and workshops, which will culminate with the Kyoorius Advertising and Digital Awards Night on 22 May to be held at NSCI Stadium.
Kyoorius expects close to 5000 delegates and 60 speakers attending the event across the two days. The event could also see close to 25 partners. “Next year will be larger wherein people from South East Asia will also be participating,” informed Kejriwal.
A lot of research has gone into creating the festival. “We met a number of marketing people and understood their problems and the terms that they didn’t understand, which could range from content marketing to brand activation. Through the research we found that there was a common problem between the media and the marketing people and so we wanted to put content that addresses their core issues,” added Kejriwal.
The sessions will address all issues across platforms. Starting with a creativity conference, which is aimed at the advertising community, day one will also see learning for the media people, for Facebook and Twitter marketing, session on measurement with the coming in of new ratings body amongst others.
“Different partners have come onboard to curate content. There will be workshops like the Sonic branding workshop, YouTube workshop on launching a YouTube channel, on being a YouTube star etc,” informed Kejriwal.
According to GroupM’s Srinivas, the benefit of an event like this is that it can attract talent. “The biggest challenge as an industry is to be able to attract talent and then sustain them, because over a period of time advertising doesn’t remain an attractive career option. It is through events like these that we will bring the advertising sector back on the radar of young talented people and show them how attractive the sector is.”
Talking about the reason for GroupM’s association with Zee Melt 2015, Srinivas said, “We wanted to play a role in showcasing what the industry does overall, especially the creative side of the industry, to get the young talent excited about the industry and hopefully to improve the talent quotient of the industry.”
On Zee’s association with Melt 2015 Zee corporate brand head Roland Landers said, “When Kyoorius pitched the idea, we felt that it blended with what Zee does as a corporate brand.”
Zee currently boasts of two brand intellectual properties: Zee Leadership series, targeted at CFOs and Zee Mindspace targeted at the CMOs. “When we looked at the Kyoorius event, it looked like a longer version of the Zee Mindspace event,” reasoned Landers.
The network on day one will look at crowd sourcing of content. “We are a content company and we believe that anybody who has a good content idea can come to us with the idea. We will evaluate that through our screening process and the short-listed ones will be further evaluated by our senior team at the venue. If we like the idea, we can back it as well,” informed Landers.
Zee has in the past partnered with a number of events from Goafest to AAAI, but this one is too close to its heart. Landers explained, “In events like Goafest, we are merely a presenting sponsor or title sponsor but beyond that we don’t get an opportunity to use our creative talent anywhere. With Melt, we believe it is the partnership that will evolve because we are integrating our own IP into this.”
Many in the sector feel that the two day festival is in direct competition to the upcoming Goafest. When quizzed about the same, Kejriwal said, “There is a need for not just one or two but four such events.”
He added, “Goafest is a great event, but then we do need more such events. The industry has 25,000 people, Goafest gets some 2000 to 3000 people, Melt 2015 should get close to 5000 people, but there are so many more people and learning doesn’t stop.”
Kejriwal also feels that considering such events are targetted more at the younger lot, it is important to have an event of this scale in different parts of the country. “Not everyone can go to Goa and so we decided to keep it in Mumbai,” said Kejriwal while adding that since Delhi is a growing market, Kyoorius will be doing an event sometime next year in Delhi as well.
Echoing the same, Srinivas said that the industry can do with a lot more events like Goafest and Melt. “As an industry, we are still very young and there is a long way to go. We don’t see anyone competing with the other,” said Srinivas.
The list of final speakers and the public announcement with regards to the event will be done between 15-20 April.
Brands
Big Bowl appoints Lyxel & Flamingo as social and media partner
QSR brand eyes next growth phase after crossing Rs 100 crore ARR milestone
MUMBAI: Big Bowl, one of India’s largest bowl-format quick service restaurant brands from Lenexis Foodworks, has appointed Lyxel & Flamingo (L&F) as its social and media partner as it prepares for its next phase of growth.
The partnership comes after the brand crossed the Rs 100 crore annual recurring revenue milestone in 2025 and aims to help accelerate its journey towards Rs 150 crore ARR in its fifth year since launch.
Big Bowl currently operates more than 250 kitchens across 50 cities and has emerged as a major player in India’s organised bowl-format food segment. Built around hearty portions and delivery-first convenience, the brand offers a wide mix of Indian, Chinese and fusion bowls designed for quick, affordable and portable consumption.
As urban consumers increasingly gravitate towards easy-to-carry and value-driven meal formats, the company sees the bowl category as a scalable format aligned with modern eating habits.
With the appointment of Lyxel & Flamingo, Big Bowl plans to consolidate its social media and digital media operations under a single partner. The move is intended to sharpen its digital reach, strengthen youth-focused storytelling and improve performance marketing outcomes.
Lyxel & Flamingo, one of India’s largest independent digital-first agencies, manages more than 350 brands and oversees advertising spends exceeding $100 million across its network.
Under the mandate, the agency will handle Big Bowl’s social media strategy, content development, digital performance marketing, media planning and buying, as well as campaign amplification across platforms.
Commenting on the partnership, Lenexis Foodworks founder and director Aayush Madhusudan Agrawal said, “Big Bowl has scaled rapidly to cross Rs 100 crore ARR and established itself as one of the largest bowl-format brands in the country. As a delivery-first, digitally native brand, our next phase of growth will be driven by sharper performance systems and stronger brand storytelling. Consolidating social and media with Lyxel & Flamingo allows us to integrate data, creativity and media precision as we scale towards our next revenue milestone.”
Lenexis Foodworks marketing head Vikas Iyer, added that the delivery-led category requires content, media and performance marketing to work closely together.
“With Lyxel & Flamingo, we aim to build a sharper social voice, stronger acquisition systems and measurable impact, ensuring the brand scales not just in presence but also in precision,” he said.
Lyxel & Flamingo chief executive officer Dev Batra, said the agency will combine data-driven marketing with creative storytelling to support Big Bowl’s growth. “Big Bowl brings the flavour, and L&F brings the fire. Our strategy combines data-led performance with engaging storytelling to help build a strong digital brand presence while delivering measurable business results,” he said.
With this partnership, Big Bowl is looking to strengthen its position as a digitally driven QSR brand, blending brand-building with performance marketing as it scales within India’s rapidly growing organised food delivery market.
