MAM
Word, Visual and Viral – decoding Marketing to Millennials at The Quint’s new youth marketing platform
MUMBAI: India’s homegrown media brand focused on millennials, The Quint, recently launched a new youth marketing platform with the first edition of ‘Marketing to Millennials’held in Bangalore.Future editions are in the works for Delhi and Mumbai.
The highlight of the event was anengaging panel discussion featuring industry heavyweights, disruptors and respected content creators. The panel included Gaurav Jeet Singh, GM, Media Services, South Asia at Unilever, representing a media buyers’ perspective; Dhanya Rajendran, Editor in Chief, The News Minute and Umang Bedi, President at Daily Hunt, representing content publishers and aggregators; Siddharth Nambiar, Head, Amazon Prime Now, representing the e-commerce landscape; and Sudarshan Gangrade, Founder, Lo!Foods, and former CMO of Ola Cabs, representing disruptive start-ups trying to win loyalty among millennials.The panel was moderated by Ankit Dhadda, Head of Marketing for The Quint & BloombergQuint.
The discussion kicked off with a key concern that almost every product or service faces with millennials – how to build loyalty in this seemingly fickle target group with short attention spans. With a range of perspectives coming in, all voices seemed to converge in their opinions to state that loyalty was perhaps a bit overrated. Gaurav Jeet Singh used a very real example when he mentioned that even a simple product like body soap has never been a constant in his life. However, loyalty remains a vital aim for marketers and today needs to be viewed from the perspective of ensuring repeat purchases from the same buyer.
The discussion also touched upon touchy topics such as tackling social media backlash, what with the recent backlash against Surf Excel over a television spot; as well as topics like the role of Indic languages to create wider reach;understanding the realm of influencers in marketing, etc.
The key takeaway from the panel discussion was the fact that brands need to focus on producing original, fun and engaging content to truly capture the imagination of millennial audiences. Both Siddharth Nambiar and Dhanya Rajendran emphasized that if content is authentic and has great quality there is very little that needs to be added and embellished from that point on.
Summing up his forward mission based on the discussion, Umang Bedi said, “Connection with millennials has to be deep and impactful. Honest. Not based on time spent but in impact created.” He added, “To make something go viral one must create a connection that is common and transcends geographies, language, race and creed.”
Sudarshan Gangrade,formerly with Aadhar and Ola Cabs and who has now ventured into a start-up that focuses on the insight that the millennial generation is the most health-conscious in history said,
“Which channels to engage with millennials is a media and distribution problem. Solving it will always be difficult due to the multitude of channels, mediums and screens. The sheer number of channels to engage make it more important than ever that the brand has a simple, clear and single message and consistently at that.” He added that brand owners targeting millennials shouldn’t indulge in short term or frivolous content because millennials can see through fake messages. “Don't associate with social causes, just so that you can look good as a brand. Consumers see through it when the messaging changes from one brand manager to another.”
While small brands may have more room for experimentation than large, established brands, the professionals on the panel all seemed to agree that the basic tenets of marketing remain the same for all consumers – millennial or not.The hooks to engage a consumerremain the same – identify what is important to themand connect through that. The panelists also felt that understanding changing consumer behavior is getting extremely challenging not only because of a multitude of channels but also a natural evolution in how people communicate.
Commenting on the highly engaging panel discussion, Ankit Dhadda said, “The Quint’s Marketing to Millennials workshop had an exceptionally talented and experienced panel where everybody eagerly jumped in to address the challenges that are often put forth in board rooms across corporate India today. We are glad that our learning at The Quint & BloombergQuint is now compounded by the knowledge shared by our esteemed panelists. I’m looking forward to the next edition of Marketing to Millennials to continue this conversation.”
MAM
Ember Cookware appoints Amit Singh as chief of supply chain
10-year veteran to lead operations as brand scales across D2C, quick commerce and retail.
MUMBAI: Ember just handed its supply chain the perfect seasoning because when your cookware is non-toxic and non-stick, the operations behind it better be fast and flawless. Ember Cookware has appointed Amit Singh as chief of supply chain and Services, bolstering its leadership team at a pivotal growth phase. Singh brings over a decade of experience in supply chain strategy, operations and large-scale network buildouts.
He began his career at Singapore-based retail giant Giant Hypermarket before joining Pharmeasy in 2015, where he played a foundational role in building and scaling its pan-India supply chain across B2B and B2C channels. At API Holdings, he later led supply chain operations for North India, managing end-to-end execution across complex, multi-city networks.
In his new role, Amit will oversee Ember’s complete supply chain and service ecosystem including sourcing, manufacturing coordination, logistics, last-mile delivery, post-purchase support and workforce development. His mandate focuses on building cost-efficient, resilient operations that shorten fulfilment times, strengthen inventory management and deliver a consistently high-quality consumer experience as the brand expands nationally.
Ember Cookware co-founder & CEO Siddharth Gadodia said, “Supply chain is where growth either holds or breaks. As we scale across channels and geographies, we need operations that are efficient, resilient, and built for speed, without ever compromising on the consumer experience. Amit has done this before, at real scale.”
Ember Cookware co-founder & CMO Himanshi Tandon added, “As we scale, supply chain efficiency becomes as important as product and brand. Amit’s mandate is to build the operational foundations that make our promise consistent at scale.”
Amit Singh commented, “Ember is building something genuinely different, a category-defining brand with a clear purpose and the ambition to match. I’m looking forward to building supply chain infrastructure that doesn’t just keep pace with growth, but enables it.”
The appointment forms part of Ember’s broader push to deepen leadership across key functions as it invests in its Innovation Lab, proprietary material technologies and operational backbone to support national expansion.
In a kitchenware world where non-stick promises are easy but delivery is hard, Ember isn’t just cooking up products, it’s cooking up an operation that keeps every promise sizzling from factory to fork.
