Brands
Unilever to cut ties with digital influencers
MUMBAI: While brands continue to engage in paid promotions through influencer marketing, consumer goods giant Unilever’s had enough. The world’s second biggest advertiser has decided to stop this practice to promote its products. Companies tend to rely on influencers to generate a buzz around their products on social media. But more often than not, followers of these influencers aren’t real people but fake accounts and bots.
Hence, Unilever, maker of Sunsilk shampoo, Dove and Lipton tea, wants to help make advertising more transparent and will cut ties with all digital influencers. Unilever spent US $8.9 billion on marketing last year.
The company’s chief marketing officer Keith Weed is said to pledge today at the on-going Cannes Lions that Unilever will never buy followers or work with influencers who buy followers.
“Trust comes on foot and leaves on horseback, and we could very quickly see the whole influencer space be undermined. There are lots of great influencers out there, but there are a few bad apples spoiling the barrel and the trouble is, everyone goes down once the trust is undermined,” Weed told Reuters.
It was only recently that Unilever threatened Facebook and Google that it will withdraw its advertising on the social media platforms if they fail to remove content that creates division in the society and promotes hate. Weed had said at the time, “As one of the largest advertisers in the world, we cannot have an environment where our consumers don’t trust what they see online.”
The move also comes as Unilever and Procter & Gamble are in the process of auditing their ad spends and agency relationship to function more efficiently as the industry sale for consumer packed goods has witnessed a drop. To cut down on the advertising and marketing costs, these multinational brands are now working with fewer agencies while creating some of the campaigns in-house rather than spending millions on an ad agency.
According to a report by Rakuten Marketing, some UK advertisers were willing to pay US$100,000 to celebrity influencers for a single Facebook post whereas a micro influencer with followers as low as 10,0000 earns as much as 15000 pounds for a single post.
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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.
