Brands
Suzuki Motorcycle to spend around Rs 40 crore on Gixxer campaign
BENGALURU: Suzuki Motorcycles India Private Limited (SMIPL) announced the launch of its flagship 155cc bike Gixxer in Bengaluru.
SMIPL executive VP Atul Gupta said, “Loaded with exciting equipment, power, handling and trusted Suzuki quality, the Gixxer will make a statement without saying a word. It is an overall mix of elegant styling, classy on-road presence and promising performance, and will attract young bikers to rev up and ride. We expect Gixxer to create a strong foothold for itself in the market.”
He added, “Suzuki is keen on providing youth-centric products for the Indian customers at a very competitive price. Our track record of new launches iterates Suzuki’s legacy built on the ethos of credibility along with advanced, unmatched engineering. In tune with its endeavours to reach out to maximum potential buyers the motorcycle major is also coming up with a marketing campaign featuring the actor-endorser Salman Khan.”
The first phase of its TVC campaign has already begun, and will run until post the festival season. A TVC featuring the company’s brand ambassador Khan has been created by Hakuhodo Percept for Gixxer.
Industry sources reveal that the company will spend around 30-40 per cent of it’s approximately Rs 100 crore advertisement budget for FY-22015 on Gixxer.
“The company is targeting the 18-25 age group male, and apart from Colors TV channel in the HSM and the leading GECs in each of the regional markets, the Gixxer campaign will be aired on sports, lifestyle, music and niche channels,” said SMIPL national head of marketing Anu Anamika. Besides television, SMIPL is betting big on digital as well as print.
“We’d said that we would launch four products this year, Gixxer is the fourth one. Post Diwali we plan to launch a brand campaign. Our previous campaign had our brand ambassador Parineeti Chopra for our scooter Let’s,” added Anamika.
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
