MAM
14 percent of Valentine gifts were from men to men, says Bombay Shaving Company
MUMBAI: Valentine’s season is a great occasion for brands to make connections with the masses. For people, this day is about celebrating love, togetherness and experiencing butterflies in the stomach. But for Bombay Shaving Company, it was about experiencing a rush of orders and spike in sales. The company registered a growth of 120 per cent overall growth in number of orders in 2020 as compared to last Valentine’s Day.
Bombay Shaving Company, which is in the men’s grooming industry, offers men’s skincare, shaving, beard-care and bath-care products. While V-Day gifting did quite take off and ended on a high! What’s interesting was the kind of gift personalization requests the brand received from across the world.
*This trend report is based upon the anonymized and aggregated insights collected on Bombay Shaving Company platforms during Valentine's week. This information is made available by the company for educational purposes as well as to give out general information on the trends observed during Valentine’s week*
Bombay Shaving Company also mentioned aalsi, potato, chut*ya, shaktimaan and momo as the five most common words used as a nickname for a partner.
Pride rules
This Valentine’s season was all about expressing love regardless of any gender. 14 per cent of the gifts were ordered by men for men.
Celebrate being single
One out of six gifts were gifted from men to themselves #SelfLove
Getting into a committed relationship
1483 proposals through sending out personalized gifts.
Other interesting insights:
· 7 per cent of the customers sent gifts to multiple partners. Valentines can be heavy on pockets for them!
· Enticing, Tantalizing and Sensualizing summed up 5 per cent of the gift hamper cover visuals.
· 40 percent of the gifters seemed hardcore Bollywood fans – Tan Tana Tan Tan Tan tara, Tu Cheez badi hia mast mast , were some of the songs that got their space on the gift hamper cover.
Brands
Abhinav Rastogi named global marketing director for YouTube Shopping
Google veteran to scale creator commerce and expand shopping across global markets
SINGAPORE: Abhinav Rastogi has stepped into a new role as global marketing director for YouTube Shopping, marking the latest chapter in a more than decade-long career at Google.
Rastogi, who took on the position in February and is based in Singapore, will lead global marketing for YouTube Shopping, a platform designed to connect creators, viewers and merchants in a single ecosystem. His remit includes expanding the service into new markets and strengthening its positioning as a growth channel for both creators and brands.
In a reflective note on the transition, Rastogi pointed to a simple but powerful idea driving the role. For years, creators have quietly built trust with audiences through consistent and authentic content, and that trust often shapes purchasing decisions. What is changing now, he said, is the infrastructure around that behaviour. YouTube Shopping aims to make it easier for viewers to discover and buy products recommended by creators they already follow.
The scale is already significant. More than half a million creators have joined the programme, with recent expansion into Japan through a partnership with Rakuten signalling further global ambitions.
Rastogi believes the future of shopping on YouTube will be driven by a blend of creators, content and communities. In his view, it is the human voice behind the screen, not just the product, that ultimately builds trust and drives discovery.
Prior to this role, he served as director of marketing, YouTube Asia Pacific, where he led regional marketing across creator engagement, brand building and reputation. During that time, he played a key role in launching and scaling YouTube Shopping across eight markets in the region.
Earlier stints at Google include group product marketing manager, consumer apps, overseeing growth for products such as Search, Maps and Assistant across India and Southeast Asia, and product marketing manager roles spanning consumer apps and YouTube, where he contributed to launches including YouTube Music, YouTube Originals and YouTube Shorts.
Rastogi began his career in consulting with Boston Consulting Group and A.T. Kearney, before moving into the technology sector. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
Alongside his corporate role, he is also an active angel investor, backing early-stage startups in consumer technology and electric mobility across India and Southeast Asia.
As he settles into the new role, Rastogi is betting on a future where every video can double up as a storefront, and where commerce feels less like a transaction and more like a recommendation from a trusted voice.
