MAM
HSBC, OMG India & Tribes Communication launch futuristic lounge at GFF 2024
Mumbai: Tribes Communication, in collaboration with Omnicom Media Group India (OMG India) announced its successful orchestration of HSBC’s participation at the Global Fintech Festival (GFF) 2024, held at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai from 28 to 30 August. The Global Fintech Festival 2024, now in its fifth edition, serves as a platform for policymakers and industry leaders to discuss the fintech ecosystem.
As the event’s agenda partner, HSBC, a client of OMG India, presented global solutions focused on connectivity and innovation in the financial sector through AI. The banking institution’s lounge, developed with Tribes Communication and OMG India, offered insights into the future of finance, highlighting HSBC’s focus on digitalisation and AI integration.
Key elements of the HSBC lounge included the HSBC Live with Card experience on the Apple Vision Pro, showcasing the bank’s innovative offerings. Visitors could also engage with an AR photo booth and explore the Oculus Metaverse of HSBC’s NRI services via Meta Quest Pro. The Zing money transfer application was demonstrated, and an LED screen displayed customer service offerings accessible by scanning a QR code. Additionally, a Visa card demo launch and a large LED tree contributed to the lounge setup.
The event also introduced HSBC’s partnership with BookMyShow, enhancing the lounge experience and reinforcing HSBC’s role in digital finance solutions.
Speaking of the event, the brand’s agency on record – Omnicom Media Group India chief content officer Shailja Saraswati said, “Our partnership with HSBC over the years has been a stellar journey of creating memorable experiences and bringing extraordinary events to life. We are thrilled to have further raised the bar – driving deeper resonance to HSBC’s commitment to innovation and connectivity. With an immersive, digital-first lens catering to the brand’s vision and the flavour of the event, we’ve harnessed the power of storytelling and impeccable execution to create moments that resonate and inspire.”
The occasion not only highlighted HSBC and OMG India’s forward-thinking approach to orchestrating impactful marketing in financial services but also demonstrated Tribes Communication’s commitment to creating cutting-edge experiences that resonate with global audiences, and showcased an amalgamation of design and technology by bringing alive the 360-degree peripheral content at the lounge.
“Partnering with HSBC has allowed us to push the boundaries of what’s possible in terms of experiential design. Our goal was to create a space where visitors can not only see but feel the future of banking, which will be focused on responsible AI. This partnership reflects our dedication to delivering pioneering, tech-driven experiences for our clients and also echoes our core values of crafting a future that is inclusive, equitable and sustainable,” said Tribes Communication MD & chairman Gour Gupta.
MAM
Smytten appoints Shishir Varma as CEO of Pulseai Research
Rebranded AI platform scales with 150 plus clients and 30 million users.
MUMBAI: In a world obsessed with what consumers say, Smytten is betting on what they actually do. The company has appointed Shishir Varma as chief executive officer of Pulseai Research, signalling a sharper push into AI-led, behaviour-driven consumer insights. The move comes as Smytten rebrands its insights vertical from Smytten PulseAI to Pulseai Research, marking a shift away from traditional, project-based research towards a more continuous, intelligence-led model.
Varma brings over 30 years of global experience across APAC markets, including India, China and Japan. Most recently managing director, Insights at Kantar Japan, he has built and scaled consumer insight businesses across geographies, including playing a key role in establishing Millward Brown in India. His mandate now: turn Pulseai into a category-defining platform in a space still dominated by surveys and static reports.
The pitch is straightforward but ambitious. Instead of relying on claimed responses, Pulseai Research taps into observed behaviour leveraging Smytten’s ecosystem of 30 million users built over a decade of product discovery, trials and purchases. The idea is to close the long-standing gap between what consumers claim and how they actually behave.
The numbers suggest early traction. In under 18 months, the platform has onboarded over 150 enterprise clients across sectors, pointing to growing demand for faster, more reliable alternatives to legacy research models.
Under the hood, the platform blends behavioural data with AI and large language model-led analysis to deliver real-time sentiment tracking, scalable qualitative insights, faster quantitative studies and always-on brand intelligence. In practical terms, that means compressing research timelines from weeks to days without sacrificing depth.
The ambition extends beyond FMCG. Pulseai Research is positioning itself as a cross-category intelligence layer, spanning auto, education, gadgets and emerging consumer segments anywhere behaviour-rich data can sharpen decision-making.
For Smytten, the leadership hire is less about optics and more about direction. With Varma at the helm, the company is leaning into a simple but powerful premise: in the age of AI, insight isn’t just about asking better questions, it’s about watching more closely.
