MAM
Orchard innovates with social media for Decathlon’s recruitment drive
MUMBAI: Orchard Advertising recently created a first-of-its kind digital recruitment campaign for Decathlon Sports India, a subsidiary of France based Decathlon Sports International.
The initial brief was to create a recruitment ad. Instead of doing the obvious thing i.e. recommend a print campaign that would reach millions of people and invite CVs, Orchard identified two key challenges and decided to tackle them in an out of the box manner.
The first challenge was that not many people outside Bangalore were aware of Decathlon, and so the response a print ad would generate was questionable. Secondly, Decathlon has a strong culture of hiring sports passionate people. Everyone who works at Decathlon, from the sales personnel, to the CEO himself, actively plays and promotes sport. Hence, a print campaign would never allow the recruiters to sieve out the sports-passionate people from among the respondents.
Orchard then decided to design a digital campaign that would (i) create awareness about Decathlon in India and (ii) get relevant enquiries from people who are passionate about sports.
The agency chose social networking website Facebook as a participation platform, with conversations being mirrored on Twitter and Linkedin. The target is to hire 100+ sports enthusiasts over the two-month campaign across departments – stores/IT/logistics/finance/legal /real estate across the country. The campaign started with an online teaser that ran for five days, which spoke of job opportunities for sports lovers. On the sixth day, the recruitment campaign was revealed through five short films, made specifically for the digital medium. The films showed various sports enthusiasts who were misfits in their current jobs, and were probably better off working for Decathlon where they can find like-minded people who appreciate their passion for sport.
The films, made by production house Nirvana Films, and released on YouTube, were posted for fans to see on Facebook. All people had to do was to like the “work for sport” page on the social networking website and click on the “Apply Now” tab. This was a special application created on Facebook, which allows one to see jobs available, job descriptions, requisite qualifications, and apply. In addition to this, applicants had to create a video of theirs’, expressing their passion for sport and Decathlon and post a link on the application. Mumbai-based digital agency WATConsult was hired to develop the application and manage the social media conversations over the two month of the campaign.
Orchard vice president and branch head Anish Daryani said, “The most exciting part about working with Decathlon is that they already have a strong Human Purpose – the democratisation of sports in India. It gives us an opportunity to exploit our creative ideas to tackle some key social issues pertaining to sports in India. We are in a timeline that calls for a change in human behaviour, and that’s exactly where the proprietary HumanKind® philosophy of The Leo Group comes into play. I think our ability to understand the Decathlon brand, and use this to think on new media opportunities, calls for a beginning of this great partnership. Moreover, in Decathlon, we’ve found a client that’s willing to try out new things, junk clichés, and open up to fresh ideas.”
Orchard chairman and national creative director Thomas Xavier added, “It is rare to get an opportunity to work on a brand that is so strongly inclined to bring about a social change. The strong ethos of the brand gives us an opportunity to push ourselves towards a larger cause.”
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.
