MAM
MMA & Isobar India launch ‘The Voice Playbook’
Mumbai : MMA & Isobar, the digital agency from the house of dentsu international, have launched ‘The Voice Playbook’ for India to tap into the potential impact of voice on the global and Indian media and marketing industry.
The playbook allows marketers to understand how to use voice as a medium/platform to engage with their consumers.
“Voice technology will become the next great disruptor and India as a market is very receptive to voice as a medium and Isobar is extremely excited to help brands ride on this new wave,” said Isobar south Asia Group MD Shamsuddin Jasani during the launch. “Just like brands needed an internet strategy in the ‘90s, a search strategy in 2000, and a mobile strategy in 2010, we at Isobar believe now brands need a voice strategy.”
Powered by Slang Labs, ‘The Voice Playbook’ focuses on the key adaptations that will be required in the post-pandemic world, where consumers will have a voice option at self-checkout counters, ATMs, automobiles, elevators, and anywhere else touch is currently needed. It also highlights how voice technology will play a pivotal role in fuelling aided commerce growth as 82 per cent of smartphone users are using voice-activated technology. The growing adoption of voice technology in shopping online will leave voice assistants to suggest products to buy. Link to the report: https://go.mmaglobal.com/TheVoicePlaybook
Voice technology will become the next great disruptor and India as a market is very receptive to voice as a medium, opined Isobar India COO Gopa Kumar. “Consumers are very receptive to it, but there is still very little information on how voice tech will affect the various digital marketing platforms or the marketing mix. This playbook aims to decode that and will help to position yourself or your brand ahead of the curve,” he added.
Voice technology has also become integral to the entire value chain, especially after the pandemic – a fact which marketers have begun to recognise. “In post-pandemic times, contactless experiences, increased voice searches, consumption of vernacular languages, conversational commerce are riding the wave,” said MMA India country head Moneka Khurana.M
According to Slang Labs’ co-founder and Obsessive Dictator, Kumar Rangarajan brands are unable to capture the full potential of this huge market. “When Slang Labs started about four years ago, the marketing was still focused on the digital-savvy and majorly urban population of India. Post-Covid, even the non-digital savvy populations in urban and rural areas are getting on board the digital highway. This is where we see Voice Playbook 2021 enabling marketers to understand the key challenges faced by this huge untapped market and engage accordingly.”
Brands
Ujjwal Jain steps down from PhonePe’s Share.Market to start new chapter
Founder behind WealthDesk and OpenQ exits after decade-long fintech journey
BENGALURU: Ujjwal Jain, the entrepreneur behind platforms such as WealthDesk and OpenQ, has stepped down from his role as chief executive of Share.Market, the investing platform backed by PhonePe, marking the end of a decade-long journey in India’s capital markets space.
In a reflective note, Jain described his journey from launching WealthDesk in 2016 to building a broader ecosystem that eventually became part of PhonePe. Over the years, his ventures focused on bringing data-driven investing tools and model portfolios closer to retail investors, a space that has seen rapid evolution alongside the rise of discount broking.
WealthDesk introduced curated “WealthBaskets” to simplify portfolio investing, while OpenQ expanded access to quantitative research and analytics. Both platforms were later acquired by PhonePe, forming the backbone of Share.Market, which Jain helped scale as a mass-market investing product.
Calling the experience “brutal” yet deeply fulfilling, Jain credited colleagues, investors and industry partners for shaping the journey, highlighting the role of the PhonePe team in building Share.Market into a large-scale platform.
His exit comes at a time when artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape financial services globally. Jain indicated that his next move will focus on this shift, hinting at a renewed push into the intersection of AI and capital markets.
Prior to his entrepreneurial stint, Jain worked with MSCI Inc. on index products and technology, and with D. E. Shaw India Financial Services in algorithmic trading and high-frequency systems.
While he has not disclosed specifics of his next venture, Jain framed the move not as a departure but a reset, signalling that his next chapter will aim to tackle even larger challenges in India’s evolving investment landscape.
With one chapter closed and another underway, the focus now shifts to what Jain builds next in an increasingly AI-first financial world.
