Brands
The Belgian Waffle Co’s National Waffle Day extravaganza draws massive crowds despite heavy downpour
Mumbai: On 19 July, The Belgian Waffle Co, India’s largest waffle brand, joyously celebrated the National Waffle Day, an initiative they introduced to India. Marking the same, the brand launched a captivating campaign that left waffle enthusiasts in pure bliss, making it an unforgettable and a heart-warming event. Over the years, the brand has been organizing an extraordinary waffle extravaganza across various regions in India, and this year’s celebration reached new heights of excitement and delight.
The three-phased campaign with a theme of #GetWaffling conceptualised by SoCheers, an independently-led creative digital advertising agency, commenced with an intriguing teaser phase, skilfully generating buzz across digital platforms, and outdoors, building anticipation for the grand event on 19 July. True to their tradition, the brand offered delectable waffles at a mere Rs 100, enhancing the excitement and engaging their audience on social media with clever throwbacks to the previous year’s celebration.
To further establish the importance of the day, the brand took to their digital to unveil how people began conjuring up creative and humorous excuses to secure a day off from colleges and workplaces on that day. This further piqued curiosity and amplified the campaign’s resonance among the target audiences. This thought of ‘giving excuses’ was taken alive across different campaign activities like influencers on Social Media and RJs on Radio, which helped in creating a consistent tone of voice for the campaign. Not, only this, but the brand’s employees too went on to their LinkedIn to post about excusing themselves from work on 19 July.
As the campaign momentum grew, The Belgian Waffle Co, seamlessly shifted the focus to the number ‘100’ to emphasise the offering of ‘any waffle at Rs 100’. A captivating Instagram video featuring a girl humorously encountering the number ‘100’ everywhere, further urged viewers to indulge in delicious waffles for just Rs. 100 on 19 July.
Taking the excitement to new heights, the brand created another video of a helicopter soaring above the breath-taking Mumbai skyline, displaying a banner highlighting the incredible offer. The share-worthy content pieces instantly hit a chord with brand’s GenZ target group and created a lot of conversations on social media.
And, all of this resulted into humongous success for the brand and made people literally queue-up outside the stores despite a heavy downpour in many cities, simply to relish their favourite waffles. The brand and agency left no stone unturned, resulting in a remarkable spike of 12K followers within a single day and an astonishing surge in sales, reaching an impressive three lakh plus footfalls across 434 active stores PAN India in just 1 day.
The Belgian Waffle Co executive director and CEO Ankit Patel shared his joy, stating, “We are overwhelmed by the heart-warming response to our National Waffle Day campaign, and it brings us immense joy to see how people relish our waffles with such enthusiasm even in extreme weather conditions. It’s a true testimony of our brand the product quality and our ability to deliver a superior product experience at scale through meticulous planning and exceptional execution. Driven by innovation and an intuitive understanding of consumer preferences, we have always embraced modern trends and digital marketing, effortlessly connecting with a new generation of food enthusiasts, particularly the vibrant and tech-savvy GenZ audience. And, the National Waffle Day campaign stands as a testament to the brand’s ability to create not just products, but genuine and shareable experiences that forge lasting memories.”
SoCheers head of digital marketing Rajni Daswani enthusiastically shared, “Titled, the #GetWaffling the campaign has exceeded all expectations, transcending the conventional boundaries of a product promotion to deliver an immersive experience. Witnessing the seamless conversion of digital engagement into tangible offline footfalls has been a great journey. The perfect synchronization of entertaining content that resonates with GenZ’s preferences, coupled with an irresistible offer, has proven to be a winning strategy, resulting in tremendous success for the brand.”
The National Waffle Day campaign proved to be a resounding triumph, embodying the spirit of unity, joy, and delectable indulgence as people across India celebrated the very essence of National Waffle Day on 19th of July. The Belgian Waffle Co along with SoCheers not only marked the occasion but also left an indelible mark in the hearts of waffle enthusiasts, promising even more delightful surprises in the years to come.
Brands
Microsoft faces worst quarter since 2008 financial crisis
Cloud giant battles soaring AI costs and fierce competition from nimble startups.
MUMBAI: When the tech titan starts looking a little wobbly, even the Magnificent Seven can feel the tremors because Microsoft is currently starring in its own sequel, “Clouds and Doubts.” Microsoft is on track for its worst quarterly performance since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to Bloomberg, as investors grow increasingly uneasy about rising capital expenditure and intensifying competition from nimble AI firms. The company has been pouring money into AI infrastructure, yet markets are questioning when these hefty investments will finally deliver stronger revenue growth.
At the same time, investors are shifting away from traditional software stocks amid fears that AI startups such as Anthropic and OpenAI are developing autonomous agents capable of replacing established products, including those from Microsoft. Jonathan Cofsky, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors, noted growing concern that customers may bypass Microsoft and deal directly with AI vendors, potentially disrupting its core business and putting pressure on pricing and margins.
Microsoft’s stock has tumbled 25 per cent in the first quarter, putting it on course for its largest drop since a 27 per cent fall in the fourth quarter of 2008. It has also emerged as the weakest performer among the so-called Magnificent Seven technology stocks, while a broader index tracking the group has fallen 14 per cent over the same period. The shares slipped a further 1.7 per cent after markets opened on Friday, marking a potential fourth consecutive session of declines.
Cofsky pointed out that Microsoft has become more capital intensive and that improved investor confidence will hinge on assurances that software growth will not slow materially. Despite the sell-off, the stock is now trading at less than 20 times projected earnings over the next 12 months, its lowest valuation level since June 2016. Its valuation remains slightly above that of the S&P 500 Index, although it has recently traded at a discount to the broader benchmark for the first time since 2015.
Bloomberg data shows Microsoft’s capital expenditure, including leases, is expected to surge to $146 billion in fiscal 2026, up around 66 per cent from $88 billion in fiscal 2025. Spending is projected to climb further to $170 billion in fiscal 2027 and $191 billion in fiscal 2028, based on average estimates. Investors are growing cautious about such levels of spending without clearer signs of stronger growth.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud division has reported a slight slowdown in growth compared with the previous quarter, while its Copilot AI product has seen limited user traction, prompting internal changes aimed at improving performance. Ben Reitzes, an analyst at Melius Research, warned in a March note that Microsoft’s upside in Azure could be constrained as the company works to address challenges related to its AI models and Copilot offering, adding that these issues are unlikely to be resolved in the short term.
Of the 67 analysts covering Microsoft, 63 maintain buy ratings, three hold ratings and one a sell rating. The average 12-month price target of $592 implies a potential upside of more than 64 per cent, the highest on record based on data going back to 2009. The stock is also trading below its 200-day moving average by the widest margin since 2009.
Reitzes suggested the dominance of buy ratings may indicate complacency among analysts, while highlighting risks in Microsoft’s productivity and business processes segment as well as its More Personal Computing division. In contrast, Tal Liani of Bank of America reinstated coverage with a buy rating, citing durable multi-year growth prospects across cloud and AI. Jake Seltz, portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, maintained that Microsoft retains strong long-term value and that its AI strategy is likely to be validated over time, viewing near-term concerns as a potential opportunity for longer-term investors.
The report highlights a growing divergence in market sentiment, with optimism around long-term AI potential weighed against immediate execution risks and investor uncertainty. In the world of big tech, even the mightiest clouds can have silver linings but right now, Microsoft’s investors are scanning the horizon for clearer skies.
