Brands
Shifting consumer communication strategies by brands during COVID-19
MUMBAI: The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented situation for everyone around the globe. As far as brands and marketers are concerned, they are unsure of what they should be communicating to consumers. Though there is no fixed strategy, companies are coping in different ways.
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To seek the answers, indiantelevision.com arranged a virtual panel discussion including Timex Group India Head market Ajay Dhyani, Duroflex Mattresses India VP-marketing Smita Murarka, Mirum India joint CEO Sanjay Mehta and FBB future retail CMO Prachi Mohapatra. The panel was moderated by Indiantelevision.com CEO, founder and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.
According to Mohapatra it is not a time for any brand to implement push or pull strategy but to stay relevant to its brand ideology and think from the point of view of a consumer. A lot of brands and agencies are taking help from influencers and social media to engage with consumers.
She also mentioned that from a brand perspective this is not a space to be marketing everything. Mohapatra also believes that before becoming marketers they are consumers. “For example, from a fashion perspective, all I am going to do is keep my customers engaged. There is no push or pull going to happen from the brand," she said.
Understanding the importance of fitness and mental health Timex group has found a perfect way to tell consumers how much the brand cares for them. It even extended the warranty period of its watches through a push notification.
“We have one segment of watches which is focused on health and fitness. The communication slightly shifted towards communicating with our consumers, talking more about health and fitness tips. There are a large number of applications installed on the handsets of our consumer. We also have an app for registering people with quarantine. Apps were used to give push notifications to our consumers, and inform them about health and hygiene,” said Dhyani.
Mehta said that they did not have very high exposure to some of the sectors which are more impacted like travel and hospitality. They have faced a huge loss from the revenue front.
He added that a lot of clients have had to cut down on media spends, which is a large vertical that took a hit. Some of the conversations were around retailers choosing to pause marketing completely.
Mehta points out that if something is going to resume it is going to be e-commerce and delivery of all products with digital enabling that change. He believes that there won't be many people mingling in the future.
Murarka notes that before the COVID situation, there was an influx of brands, discounting and sales mechanisms. For Duroflex Mattresses, Covid 19 has been a good time to talk about what the brand stands for: sleep solutions.
She added, “We started looking at people with an intention of what relevant communication we can make during this time. So, we stayed true to our purpose and without commercial gains. I think that is when the real hallmark of longstanding trustworthy brands happen when there is no commercial gain involved." It has also tied up with a influencers to create awareness about sleep solutions.
Brands
From AI to IPOs: Hurun rich list shows billionaire boom year
AI, China and Musk power record surge as global billionaire club crosses 4,020
MUMBAI: Money, it seems, has learned to multiply faster than rabbits. The world’s billionaire club has burst through the 4,000 mark for the first time, with fortunes swelling so rapidly that the planet minted two new billionaires every single day last year.
That is the headline finding from the Hurun Global Rich List 2026, which counted 4,020 US dollar billionaires, up 578 from last year, setting a new world record. Their combined fortunes jumped 28 per cent, reflecting roaring stock markets, the unstoppable momentum of artificial intelligence, and a renewed wave of global industrial expansion.
If wealth were an Olympic sport, Elon Musk would be running laps around the competition. The Tesla and SpaceX founder has reclaimed the title of the world’s richest person for the fifth time in six years, with his wealth soaring 89 per cent to an astonishing US$792 billion. The surge was fuelled by booming valuations for Tesla and SpaceX, the latter now valued at US$1.2 trillion as it prepares for what could be a record-breaking IPO.
Musk’s meteoric rise also places him on the brink of a historic milestone. According to Hurun Research, he could become the world’s first trillionaire as early as this year, far earlier than previous predictions of 2030.
Behind Musk, Jeff Bezos retained second place with US$300 billion, buoyed by Amazon’s dominance in AI-driven cloud computing and renewed excitement around Blue Origin’s space ambitions. Meanwhile, Larry Page stormed into the top three for the first time after his wealth surged 65 per cent to US$271 billion, powered by Alphabet’s explosive growth and the global adoption of its Gemini AI systems.
Other big tech names continue to dominate the upper ranks. Sergey Brin sits fifth with US$247 billion, while Mark Zuckerberg, despite a modest rise to US$234 billion, slipped to sixth place. Europe’s lone representative in the top ten, Bernard Arnault of LVMH, held seventh position with US$178 billion following a rebound in luxury markets.
Perhaps the most striking new arrival in the top tier is Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, who entered the global top ten for the first time. His wealth climbed 34 per cent to US$172 billion after Nvidia briefly crossed a US$5 trillion market capitalisation, cementing its role as the backbone of the AI revolution.
Yet while tech titans surged, one legendary name slipped from the elite club. Bill Gates, after donating US$20 billion to philanthropy last year, dropped out of the top ten for the first time since the Hurun list began fifteen years ago, though he still retains a formidable US$115 billion fortune.
The geography of wealth has also shifted dramatically. After several years of decline, China has reclaimed its title as the world’s billionaire capital, with 1,110 billionaires, an increase of 287 in a single year.
The United States follows with 1,000 billionaires, up 130, while India remains firmly in third place with 308 billionaires, gaining 24 over the year.
Hurun researchers say China’s resurgence has been driven by industrial manufacturing, semiconductors and healthcare, sectors benefiting from Beijing’s push for technological self-sufficiency.
In India, the billionaire story is evolving rapidly. More than 80 per cent of Indian billionaires today were not on the list ten years ago, signalling a dramatic shift in the country’s wealth engines. Automobiles, financial services and food businesses led the charge.
At the top of India’s wealth ladder stands Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person, with US$109 billion, followed by Gautam Adani with US$83 billion.
At the city level, the title of world’s billionaire capital once again belongs to New York, which hosts 146 billionaires, up 17 from last year.
China’s Shenzhen surged into second place with 132, overtaking Shanghai, while Beijing ranked third. Mumbai, home to 95 billionaires, slipped to sixth place globally.
If one force defined wealth creation in 2025, it was artificial intelligence. The list identified 114 billionaires whose fortunes are tied to AI companies, including 46 newcomers, making AI the single biggest engine of new billionaire creation.
Companies like Anthropic, the creator of Claude AI, produced seven new billionaires after its valuation soared to US$380 billion. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s alumni network has become a billionaire factory, with 14 billionaires emerging from the ecosystem.
The youngest among the new wealth creators are the founders of AI recruitment startup Mercor. Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha, all just 22, debuted with fortunes of US$2.4 billion each, becoming the youngest self-made billionaires on the list.
The billionaire economy is also becoming more diverse. By sector, financial services remained the biggest source of wealth, accounting for 11 per cent of billionaires, followed by media and entertainment (10 per cent), retail (9 per cent), and consumer goods (8 per cent).
Industrial products saw the biggest influx of newcomers, adding 109 billionaires, while healthcare also produced a significant wave of fresh fortunes.
Even cryptocurrencies maintained a foothold, with 23 crypto billionaires led by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, worth US$29 billion, a 32 per cent increase.
Wealth is also spilling into unexpected arenas. A record 463 billionaires now own stakes in sports teams, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Golden State Warriors investors Peter Guber and Joe Lacob.
Celebrity fortunes also climbed. The world now counts 25 billionaire celebrities and athletes, reflecting a shift toward ownership of brands and intellectual property rather than performance income alone.
Despite the rise of young tech founders, billionaires remain an older club. The average age on the list is 65, though 196 members are aged 40 or under, including 36 under 30.
Women continue to gain ground, with 285 self-made female billionaires, though China still dominates the category with three quarters of them.
Meanwhile, migration continues to shape global wealth. Around 14 per cent of billionaires live outside the country where they were born, with the United States hosting the largest group of immigrant billionaires at 175.
In total, 3,201 billionaires saw their fortunes rise, including 726 newcomers, while 809 saw their wealth fall and 96 dropped off the list entirely.
Yet the overall trend is clear. The billionaire population has more than doubled in a decade, and the elite US$100 billion “11-zero club” now counts 18 members, compared with none less than ten years ago.
As Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of Hurun Report, puts it, the list tells the story of a rapidly changing global economy. “More than 70 per cent of today’s billionaires were not on the list ten years ago,” he noted.
Which means the real lesson behind the numbers is simple: in today’s economy, fortunes are no longer just built slowly. Increasingly, they are being engineered at the speed of innovation.
