MAM
Saavn draws up marketing campaign to promote Tata Docomo music driven data plan
NEW DELHI: Leading Bolywood and south Asian music service Saavn is stepping it up in India. The company has rolled out a pop culture marketing campaign to complement its recent data partnership with Tata Docomo.
Docomo‘s target audience in India comprised more than 80 per cent youth, resulting in a conscious effort to roll out a marketing campaign featuring American artistes Justin Timberlake‘s and Daft Punk‘s music. Saavn and Docomo have made a joint initiative to run the campaign aimed at increasing awareness levels through various touch points. The campaign will include TV, in-store, social and a massive SMS marketing program.
The marketing drive is an extension of a deal between Saavn and Docomo that kicked off earlier this month, bringing Indian mobile users a music-integrated data plan for the first time ever.
Docomo‘s subscribers will now have access to Saavn’s catalog of 1.1 million songs via a special stream-anywhere data plan – no WiFi necessary. Three monthly plans are available for Docomo’s GSP prepay customers: 500 minutes, 1000 minutes and 2000 minutes.
Both companies believe the campaign and new data service will create more value for Indian consumers to adopt smartphone data services while enjoying free social music services.
With 700 million mobile users, India boasts one of the largest mobile phone user bases in the world. This partnership marks the first-ever streaming music and carrier deal in India following a global trend of similar deals in America, Brazil, Scandanavia and France. Slacker and Muve recently teamed with carriers in the US., and Spotify and Deezer have launched similar programs in Scandanavia and France respectively.
“In India, consumers need an emotional reason to purchase data plans – music is the answer,” says Saavn co-founder and MD Paramdeep Singh. “The combination of Docomo‘s stellar reputation as a carrier, our vast Indian music catalog, and the appeal of global pop brands like Justin Timberlake, Daft Punk, Pink, Michael Jackson and Rihanna will only amplify the benefits of a worldwide shift in the way mobile users consume data.”
Content-integrated data plans are emerging as a three-way win: content providers can win millions of users out of the deal, carriers further substantiate data packages and open themselves up to a mobile advertising market worth billions of dollars, while consumers retain the freedom to consume data without being penalized.
Saavn is already credited for driving 5 per cent of data consumed in India, which is 15 times the amount of data driven by other Indian music providers. The marketing campaign is currently live in India.
MAM
Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia deepens philanthropic push in India ahead of retirement
Entrepreneur backs gurdwara project and education for slum children as he expands charitable footprint in the country
LONDON: Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia is ramping up his philanthropic footprint in India. On a recent visit to the country, the UK-based entrepreneur stepped up support for religious and educational causes, signalling a deeper long-term commitment as he prepares to spend more time in India ahead of retirement.
Ahluwalia reaffirmed support for key social initiatives, including a donation to Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Kalgidhar Sahib in Gurugram and continued backing for a school in Faridabad for which he had earlier purchased the land.
The donation will fund the construction of the gurdwara, expected to be completed by mid-2028. Run largely by volunteers, the site will serve as a community hub and continue the Sikh tradition of langar — a community kitchen that provides free meals to all, regardless of faith.
Parallelly, the Faridabad school continues to deliver free, multi-year education to children living in extreme poverty in surrounding slums. The institution is part of the 12 educational facilities run by the Jagriti Sewa Trust, where Ahluwalia serves as chairman. The trust provides underprivileged students with free education as well as skill-development opportunities.
The latest support adds to Ahluwalia’s long record of charitable giving in India. In recent years, it included a £100,000 donation to the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation’s Justice for Every Child campaign, which provides legal and psychological support to vulnerable children and their families.
Through the Ahluwalia Foundation, the businessman regularly backs charities and non-profits in both India and the United Kingdom. The foundation focuses on projects linked to education, migration and the rights of children and women.
Ahluwalia’s philanthropic drive is rooted in personal history. Having fled to the UK as a refugee at the age of 13, he has long supported migrant-focused organisations, including the London-based Migration Museum, while also funding educational initiatives in India such as free schooling programmes in Hyderabad.
Now, as he gradually shifts more of his time to India, Ahluwalia’s charitable ambitions are expanding. Future plans include launching a classic car rally across the country to raise funds for causes he supports.
“Education and faith are very close to my heart,” Ahluwalia said. “For so many Indians, whether they live in India or abroad, a gurdwara or any place of worship is more than somewhere to practise faith. They are places of community and identity.”
Reflecting on the Faridabad visit, Ahluwalia added: “It was very special seeing the work of the Jagriti Sewa Trust firsthand. Knowing that disadvantaged children are receiving a free education — and that I had a small part to play in that — is deeply meaningful. Social status and economic background should not determine a person’s chances of success.”
