Brands
Wonder-la plans Rs15 crore marketing spends in 2014-15.
BENGALURU: Indian amusement park major Wonderla Holidays (Wonderla) plans to up its marketing spends by about 10 per cent during FY-2014-15 from the Rs13 crore it spent in the last fiscal. The company also will spent about 1 per cent of the total value of its IPO amounting to a maximum of Rs185 crore that opens on 21 April this year.
“Our mass media communications are season specific. We generally target people within a 300 kilometre radius from our amusement parks. We use radio, newsprint, outdoor and social media to a limited extent,” revealed a source in Wonderla to www.indiantelevision.com on the side lines of a press conference to announce the company’s IPO.
“For both our properties – the one in Bengaluru and the first one in Kochi, depending upon the season, we use around 80 to 100 billboards spread across each district of Karnataka and Kerala. Besides, periodically, we use local channels and cable networks, print and radio during seasonal times for mass media communications in our target catchment areas,” added the source.
“Typically we spend between 9 to 10 per cent of our topline towards marketing expenses, which includes payments to our agents in each district of the two states,” said the source. The company reported revenues of Rs139 crore in FY 2012-13.
“For our IPO, we will be spending around 1 per cent of about Rs185 crore or roughly about Rs 2 crore towards the mandated television and newsprint ads as well as on road shows and investor presentations,” revealed the source further.
The company’s creative duties are handled by Windowseat Communications and media buying by Mudra.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
