MAM
Usha Intl’s seven year hitch with IPL’s Mumbai Indians
NEW DELHI: The pandemic and downturn in economic fortunes of companies can serve as a good excuse for them to lock away their coffers and pull the plug on advertising spending. Many an advertiser has resorted to that, in recent months. But consumer electronics goods firm Usha International does not belong to that tribe. Instead, it has decided to get into bed with the Mumbai Indians as an official partner once again for the seventh year in succession.
The Usha logo will be seen on the leading side caps and helmets of Mumbai Indians players and on the mat during the toss as part of the agreement. The stadiums will also have massive LED screens running across the perimeter, which will showcase brand Usha during a couple of overs of the game.
The company’s marketing team is also going the whole hog on digital. A series of activations straddling various digital platforms have been planned, including online contests on days when the Mumbai Indians team is out on the green, battling a rival. Through these contests, fans will get a chance to interact (read: meet and greet) with some of their favorite Mumbai Indian cricketers virtually. The brand will also launch a unique digital campaign, featuring select players.
Usha International head- sports initiatives &associations Komal Mehra believes that associating with IPL defines the strength of a brand during these tough times. “The current crisis gives us an opportunity to strengthen Usha’s brand salience,” she says. “The association is not just limited to creating awareness about our product portfolio but expounding Brand Usha and its ethos ‘Play.’“
Almost every product category that Usha is present in will be highlighted as part of the association – right from fabric care to climate control to heating solutions to sewing machines to water coolers to fans to cooking appliances.
“It is a great opportunity to strengthen our consumer and partner connect across categories through on-air and digital platforms,” reveals Mehra. “Contests, virtual meet and greet with select players, online polls are among some of the ways in which we intend to maximize reach across geographies.”
Mehra hopes that Mumbai Indians will go through at least 14 matches like the team has done over the years. “It is the days when the Mumbai Indians are on ground that will see the majority of the activities – like contests and polls. We are in the midst of fleshing out all the details with the MI team,” she adds. .
Even as the effort will be to create fresh content for all digital platforms to engage fans and consumers through the IPL, last year’s TVC will be given air play across all channels. It featured skipper Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Kieron Pollard having a great time with children at a 'learn and create' workshop with Usha sewing machines.
Mehra is quite confident that combined with the IPL, the coming festival period is going to rev up demand for its products in the home and kitchen appliances and lighting categories.
She explains: “Since work-from-home has now become the ‘new normal’ for people, it has made ‘multitaskers’ of each of us, leading to a need for products that make tasks easy while saving time as we work for home and from home. Exclusive consumer offers and finance schemes around the festive season will see a pent-up demand growing further. The festive period typically contributes almost 30-40 per cent to the annual sales for this business. Already, indicators are showing a very promising time ahead. We are confident of healthy sales in the coming quarter.”
Media observers approve. “Usha has almost become synonymous with the Mumbai Indians which has proved to be one of the top two teams in the IPL over the years,” says a senior media planner. “The company has also been further amplifying its association by running its TVCs featuring Mumbai Indians cricketers on various channels. Then this year’s initiative of focusing on digital initiatives and even a digital video campaign should get it an even greater return on its investment.”
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.
