MAM
Eatigo partners with CleverTap to boost dining reservations
Mumbai: Online restaurant reservation platform Eatigo, collaborates with CleverTap – the all-in-one engagement platform, to enhance customer engagement and boost reservations. Through CleverTap’s AI-powered recommendations engine, Eatigo was able to offer its users relevant and timely recommendations with precision, ensuring higher conversions. The platform’s orchestration and analytics capabilities enabled Eatigo to coordinate complex, multi-channel marketing campaigns at scale and track the performance of its campaigns.
Set up in 2013 with a mission to “connect empty tables with empty stomachs”, Eatigo has expanded rapidly, seating over six million diners, and accumulated over 6000 restaurants across Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
By harnessing CleverTap’s AI/ML-powered capability suite: Clever.AI, Eatigo was able to hyper-personalise its engagement through more than 10 automations and nearly 100 journeys. As a result, Eatigo’s users were two times more likely to make reservations. Additionally, CleverTap’s Liquid tag and journey features enable Eatigo to create omnichannel experiences that capture diner’s attention and drive reservations.
Commenting on the collaboration, Eatigo regional marketing lead Surakan Kittiperakorn said, “Collaborating with CleverTap has granted us access to their comprehensive and dynamic suite of capabilities, enabling us to achieve our goals and grow our business in the Southeast Asia region. Utilizing CleverTap for local campaigns has helped us craft personalized marketing campaigns and messaging that resonates deeply with our users. The precision and efficiency of their AI-powered recommendations have significantly boosted our engagement metrics, allowing us to connect diners with the perfect dining experiences. We are excited about the future and look forward to continuing to innovate and grow with the support of CleverTap’s robust platform.”
CleverTap chief revenue officer Sidharth Pisharoti said, “In today’s highly competitive restaurant industry, customer engagement and personalized experiences are crucial for success. At CleverTap, we understand the unique challenges faced by businesses in this sector and are committed to providing innovative solutions that drive growth and customer satisfaction. Our AI-powered platform enables companies like Eatigo to harness the power of data to create tailored marketing strategies that resonate with their audience. We are thrilled to support Eatigo in their mission to enhance the dining experience and are excited to see the impact our collaboration has had on their reservation rates.”
Eatigo leveraged CleverTap’s AI-based recommendation engine to tackle a few obstacles. When the customer cancels their reservation, the engine comes up with five other options to increase conversion rates. If another user scrolls through the options but doesn’t make a reservation, the engine offers custom suggestions to convince them. Furthermore, CleverTap’s engine proactively reaches out to customers who made their last reservation a month ago, via a multi-channel approach to increase the chances of their return to the app.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
