|In: DCMN|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Analytics has become an integral part of any online business. It is not only relevant to online business, even if you own a blog it becomes important to understand the impact of the posts, target audience, decision making, keywords relevant to the blog, etc. In naive terms, it helps in audience measurement and putting the buck at the right place since everything is ‘Measurable’.

However, the question is ‘Do we have any such solution for offline mode?’ e.g. If the advertiser is an e-commerce brand, can the brand figure out whether the consumer has downloaded the app after looking at the advertisement on TV or via some offline medium [Hoarding, Newspaper advertisement] or some other mechanism. Though advertising on TV is the best possible mechanism to reach maximum audience and generate brand awareness, its ROI is still not directly measurable!

DCMN, a Berlin based startup that is a leading full-stack growth specialist and marketing firm seems to have an effective solution where brands can leverage DCMN’s technological expertise to optimize a TV Commercial (TVC) for the best reach as well as for generating measurable results! DCMN executes campaigns across all media with services spanning right from creation and production, media planning and buying, to campaign optimization with one of a kind in-house technology.

We were invited for the Bloggers Meet in Bengaluru where we had an opportunity to interact with Bindu Balakrishnan, Country Head India, DCMN. The interaction revolved around the problem being solved by DCMN, change in Marketer’s mindset for shifting to performance-driven TVC’s, some technical aspects of DCMN, etc.

Bindu Balakrishnan [third from Left] with Bloggers from Bengaluru

She also touched upon their association with CARS24 where they helped CARS24 launch their newest performance-driven and optimized TVC, which aims at educating customers on how to use the second-hand automotive marketplace to get the best rate for their vehicles.

Drawing on its expertise as an international leader in performance-driven TV marketing, DCMN India recently won the mandate to produce the media strategy for CARS24. The company created a data-driven media campaign that allows tracking and optimisation based on DCMN’s in-house TV attribution technology, thus bridging the age-old gap between offline and online.

Following the successful first flight of the campaign that ran for about six weeks, DCMN delivered an in-depth optimisation and performance evaluation report, to analyse the TVC and work towards an optimised next flight.

In the first flight, DCMN tracked key KPIs for the client such as cost per visit, cost per call and Cost per booked appointment. In flight two, the media buying has been optimised in line with these KPIs with a focus on channels, dayparts, weekdays and spot length.

Consequently, while planning for the new spot, CARS24 approached DCMN at the initial storyboard level to help with optimising their media strategy

Bindu Balakrishnan, Country Head – DCMN India added

With this campaign, DCMN has given CARS24’s new TV spot a performance focus. Using our in-house TV attribution technology, we can optimise the campaign from the moment it goes to air, allowing us to focus on the best-performing genres, channels, days, and dayparts for optimal performance.

For the festive seasons, CARS24 has also decided to almost double their media spend for the second flight. DCMN recommended here including more infotainment channels, with programming similar to the History channel. The optimised media strategy included more business news channels, as well more Hindi news channels while further expanding the Hindi movies channel mix and focusing on the earlier dayparts.

The newest TVC is airing currently with a strong presence across genres, including Infotainment, Hindi News, Hindi Movies, English movies and English business news.

Vikram Chopra, CEO and Co-Founder, CARS24, added

Following a successful first flight with our previous TVC, we’ve optimised the campaign for even better performance. Our continued partnership with DCMN allows us to take advantage of their performance-driven approach, which ensures we can measure the direct response of the spot as it goes to air.

DCMN also counts more than 120 digital brands in its portfolio, including Indian brands CARS24, EaseMyTrip, Fynd and more. For more information, please visit DCMN

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

When Raman met Vandana for the first time, he knew that she was the one for him. He knew that she would be the only person who would stand with him through thick and thin. She was a perfect companion to Raman when things were rough. What attracted Raman to Vandana was the fact that she was a go-getter and always kept her family first. He knew that she would always make the best decision. Throughout their courting days, Raman knew that Vandana had one dream that was to make her wedding day special and to have a fairy tale wedding.

While Vandana had some savings, Raman knew that she was also taking care of her parents and fulfilling this dream would be difficult for her. While they hardly talked about the wedding expenses, Raman knew that this is something she wanted with all her heart but was not sure how to go about it without depleting her savings.

Once the dates were decided, Raman decided to surprise Vandana and started planning the wedding. From the smallest of details, Raman made sure that nothing was left out. He figured out how to get Vandana’s favourite flowers for the wedding. He even got her favourite aunt to flow in from the United States, as a surprise for her, for their honeymoon, booked a trip to Paris.

While Raman was trying to make Vandana’s dream come true, one aspect he overlooked was the budget. During the planning stages, he though all of the wedding expenses would fit in the budget that he had planned. However, as he crossed ever step, he figured out that he had overshot his budget.

He was not sure how he could manage to get more funds in such a short time. When he spoke to his father about this, he told Raman about personal loan.

While Raman was not sure how long it would take him to get the wedding loan, he decided to check for personal loan eligibility online. He found out that the process was rather easy and that he can opt for a wedding loan without any hassles, with just the right documentation. This made Raman heave a sigh of relief that he could now make this wedding a dream come true for Vandana without any hitch.

On their wedding day, Vandana was spellbound by the amount of effort and time Raman had put for the planning. This was the wedding of her dreams and Raman had made her every wish come true!

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

After a lot of back and forth, the GST bill was passed in April this year, and in what can only be called a true show of grit and determination, the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have worked hard to ensure a roll out as smooth as can be expected in country of a billion plus individuals with as many aspirations.

The two facts that really elucidate the benefits of GST the most are the increased employment because of the boost in production, stimulated by the increased demand for products nationwide, and reduced prices actuated by lower cost of interstate commerce [due to the abolition of interstate taxes] and increased competition among the small and medium businesses. Naturally, with the growth in demand and production, will come the growth in GDP – a growth that could be as much as 4.2%.

While the benefits of the GST are expected across the board, entities that stand to gain the most are the start-ups and the SMBs, which, for quite a long time, have been considered to be the chief development agent of the Indian economy. They are not only the leading source of employment, but also contribute more than half of the nation’s production and over 40% of its exports. Thus it’s a given that the advantages of actualising GST on SMBs will have a serious impact on India’s economy in the coming years.

To begin with, GST has made starting a business a whole bunch easier, simpler, more standardized by eliminating the need to register for VAT. VAT was particularly problematic for business with operations in multiple states, as it required registration in all the states where the business had operations. Moreover, online registration further eases and improves the efficiency of the process, while also making it a whole lot cheaper.

Secondly, while VAT required registration fee to be paid by all business with annual turnover of more than INR 5 Lacs, GST has increased this limit to INR 20 Lacs – meaning, any business making less than INR 20 Lacs per annum can enjoy exemption from the tax. While the monitory benefits of this are apparent, the benefit that is less apparent is that SMEs can now enjoy expedited delivery of goods at interstate check points, thus making interstate trading a lot less financially taxing. Considering the fees, octroi charges, logistics expenses, and customer charge-backs [for delayed deliveries] and DSO costs, an SME can now expect cost savings of as much as 20%.

Added transparency in the taxation process is another benefit that small businesses can expect after the GST roll-out. This will be enabled by the digitization of the compliance and refund process. By removing the more manual and complicated processes of the yesteryear’s, GST mandates all tax returns to be filed electronically, and all input tax credits and tax liability adjustments to happen automatically. This mandate will not only expedite the process, but will also improve liquidity for small businesses.

GST has also raised the bar on total amount of input tax credit that can be claimed in the year of the purchase itself from the earlier 50% to 100% now; a move that will help free-up much needed capital for small business. But the biggest advantage of them all, perhaps, is the clarity of what constitutes products and services. By removing the distinction between sales and services, the GST greatly simplifies simplifying the tax assessment process, which in turn boosts tax compliance.

About the only complication for the small and medium businesses that has increased because of GST is the number of filings that will now have to do in a year. It might seem like a lot of work at the first glance, and the draft GST return format provided by the government is not easily comprehensible by those who have little or no accounting knowledge. That said, at the end of the day, it is a compliance issue, and, besides, a lot of automation has gone into the system to make things easy for the small business. But a lot of people might still find the process cumbersome and confusing, and understandably so.

Experts at RevMyStartup have extensively studied the GST law, and will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have on GST Registration or GST Return Filing to ensure you are fully GST compliant. To know more, call RevMyStartup today to get your GST registration and filing done in the right and best manner, at reasonable prices.

About the Author – This article is contributed by Vaibhav Tripathi, content writer at RevMyStartup.

[If you would like to contribute to this blog as a Guest Writer, please email us at himanshu.sheth@gmail.com with the relevant content].

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Upon integration of its web and mobile app products with Truecaller’s mobile identity solution, Truecaller SDK, leading e-commerce healthcare start-up 1mg has witnessed an impact upside of 21% increase in their daily user registration.

This integration with Truecaller SDK enables new 1mg users to instantly sign-up in a simple and quick manner using auto-fill functionality and completely bypassing the SMS based OTP process, using their Truecaller mobile identity.

With the above impact, this integration has enabled 1mg to seamlessly on-board new users and appropriately connect with them for fulfilling key use cases in their platform like doctor consultations, diagnostic tests and last mile medicine ordering and delivery. The Truecaller SDK solution has been live on 1mg for about a year now and they have seen very encouraging results.

Truecaller SDK is a developer toolkit for digital startups, app developers, and other online businesses. An efficient, secure and asset-light solution, Truecaller SDK is designed to minimize complexity in user on-boarding and verification process as well as helps businesses build more trust on their products, offer more personalisation and enables further evolution of the quality of users being served by them.

Commenting on the partnership, Priyam Bose, Director & Head, Global Developer & Startup Relations, Truecaller said

Our partnership with 1mg epitomizes the value we bring to the burgeoning integrated digital and mobile healthcare sector in India. Truecaller’s Mobile identity toolkit is enabling better personalization, more trust and seamless consumer experience, and predictable last mile service delivery. This in turn is leading businesses like 1mg to achieve better customer satisfaction and repeat engagements.

Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder, 1mg said

Truecaller enabled us to obtain verified user identities, right at the time of signup, significantly improving sign up rates while reducing hurdles associated with OTP based registration processes. For a mobile first country like India, Truecaller helped us bridge the chasm to giving users a seamless and automated mobile registration process thus reducing user drop offs and increasing engagement across the board.

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

BookMyShow witnessed its biggest ever blockbuster Diwali weekend and sold over 3.5 million movie tickets only for Golmaal Again, Mersal and Secret Superstar between October 18~22, averaging over 500 tickets a minute!

Golmaal Again drove the maximum ticket bookings on BookMyShow, followed by Mersal and Secret Superstar. However, actor Vijay’s popularity was evident in South India as the region contributed a majority share to the overall movie ticket sales.

High number of transactions were recorded across regions like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh along with metro and mini-metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad Chennai and Bangalore. Tier-II & Tier-III markets of Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Vadodara, Jaipur especially saw a surge in ticket purchase for movies.

During this festive period, viewers preferred show times between 6-8 pm and on an average bought over 3 tickets per transaction, indicating that they went out in larger groups.

Marzdi Kalianiwala, VP- Marketing and Business Intelligence, BookMyShow said

Movies were a big hit during the Diwali weekend. With three blockbuster releases, Golmaal Again, Mersal and Secret Superstar, audiences were definitely spoilt for choice and all three films saw tremendous response on the box office. Secret Superstar had the advantage of a head start and BookMyShow contributed to as high as 40% of the film’s opening weekend collection.

We alone sold millions of tickets for Golmaal Again, the highly awaited instalment of this zany movie series. Mersal is a typical revenge drama, and we expect it to have atleast a 2 week clear run owing to Vijay’s tremendous fan following. Together for these three blockbusters, BookMyShow is thrilled to have sold over 3 million tickets in a single weekend.

BookMyShow also ran its popular Blockbuster Week during this period that saw a phenomenal response from movie buffs across the country. As part of it, BookMyShow offered exclusive discounts on pre-booking F&B and cashbacks through Amazon Pay.

This month, Secret Superstar and Mersal also emerged as favourites on Jukebox, the audio entertainment service by BookMyShow. While almost half of the downloads for Mersal’s music on Jukebox happened from Chennai and Bengaluru, Secret Superstar’s music was popular across geographies including Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

Sitting idle does more harm than good. So is it with cash. Accumulating cash in your savings account and watching it grow over the years can give you a sense of security. But that can be deceptive. On closer scrutiny, you’d realise that you may be losing money without even realising it?

Idle cash loses value

Inflation eats into idle cash.

Consider the following scenario: A cup of tea costs Rs 10 today. You have Rs 100 with you. With this amount, you can buy 10 cups of tea. But you decide to save the money with your bank for a year. Fast-forward a year, a cup of tea costs Rs 12. That means you can buy no more than eight cups of tea. You realise that the value of a hundred-rupee note has diminished. This is the impact of inflation.

You might argue that the money in your savings account earns regular interest. But, that can be negligible in the face of inflation. If your savings account earns an interest of 3.5% and retail inflation is at 4%, you are actually losing money. To put it simply, you are losing the potential to earn more by letting cash sit idle.

Investing money in mutual funds

Just like you work to earn money, your money should work to earn money for you. You can put your money to work by investing it. There are multiple avenues where your money can earn higher returns for you. Mutual funds, for instance, is a good place to start. This is a good option for people who are new to the world of investments.

Benefits of investing in mutual funds

The advantages of mutual funds are aplenty. The risk level is quite low – especially in options such as debt mutual funds – and the returns are pretty good. For example, the interest rate on a fixed deposit is around 6.5~7.5%; saving account interest rates range between 3 and 6%. In comparison, mutual funds offer anywhere between 10-15%.

They also have the potential to earn you more as they dabble in a variety of financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, and other money market instruments.

There are different types of mutual funds available such as debt funds, equity funds, balanced funds, sectoral funds and so on. You can invest in any of these funds based on your investment goal. For instance, if you are interested in long-term investment growth and high returns, equity funds are a suitable choice. Equity funds invest a major portion of the money in stocks.

Similarly, the core holdings in a debt fund are fixed-income investments. Since the main goal of debt funds is capital preservation and income generation, these funds are more suitable for those who are risk-averse.

Although some element of risk is involved in mutual funds, the threat of negative returns is not very high. That’s because fund managers invest in a range of stocks and bonds, rather than focus on just one. This enables fund houses to hedge its risks. Another upside is that the minimum investment in mutual fund is as little as Rs 500 per month.

To sum up

Cold cash is always important, but asset management is equally crucial. It is important to keep a chunk of money in your bank in case of emergencies. But, if you want to your money to expand, investing in financial instruments such as Mutual fund is a good option.

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

With Diwali just around the corner, there has been a lot of questions raised about the air quality after the Diwali festivities. Some cities like Delhi where pollution is at an all-time high, the sale of firecrackers has been curbed in Delhi-NCR as per the verdict from Supreme Court. Though the firecrackers ban has not been imposed in other cities, citizens are becoming more and more vigilant about pollution, air quality and the implications of bursting crackers on the environment.

Many brands are coming up with very innovative concepts so that Diwali can be celebrated in a manner that there is less (or no) noise pollution! Adding to the festivities this Diwali, Vodafone India, in hallmark style, has come up with an innovative concept to delight its customers. Vodafone is encouraging customers to walk into any Vodafone stores across India on 18th and 19th October to get a unique & differentiated Diwali experience and create a personalized Diwali GIF with Augmented Reality to wish an eco-friendly Diwali to their loved ones.

All Vodafone stores are decked with Diwali accessories and each customer would be greeted by traditionally attired Vodafone personnel, with a custom created offer, an opportunity to send a unique, personalized Diwali greeting (GIF) to their loved ones and a chance to take home a gift hamper. There would be on-going promotions on the MyVodafone App where customers can choose personalized plans.

With the help of store employees, Vodafone customers can create eco-friendly Diwali ‘phuljaris’ greetings for their loved ones, through a twist of Augmented Reality. The personalized GIF can then be sent to friends & family, through social media by tagging them. Each customer will also receive a special Thank You card from Vodafone.

Kavita Nair, Associate Director – Commercial Operations, Vodafone India, said

We, at Vodafone, have always been customer obsessed and believe in delighting our customers. This festive season, we invite them to visit our stores for an innovative Augmented Reality [AR] experience and use it to create their own, unique Diwali greeting for wishing their family and friends.

We walked into their Whitefield store and tried out this simple, yet effective AR solution to wish the dear ones ‘Happy Diwali’. It is an interesting way to promote e-Diwali, create more customer engagement and customized offers ensures that customers can make their Diwali more eventful 🙂

If you are Vodafone customer, you should definitely give this a spin to wish your dear ones ‘Happy Diwali’ 🙂 If you have already tried the Vodafone AR experience, do leave your experience in the comments section…

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Uber announced the launch of PREMIER,  a superior ride option at every day, affordable fares. Starting today, riders in Bangalore will be offered PREMIER as an in-app product option that serves as an upgrade to their current uberX experience. PREMIER is currently available in Mumbai and Pune.

Commenting on the launch, an Uber Spokesperson, said

At Uber, we strive to make every ride a great experience. With a focus on building products that will go further in replacing the need for personal mobility options, we are launching PREMIER in Bangalore. We are constantly listening to our riders’ and work towards enhancing their Uber experiences. PREMIER has been devised to deliver on rider expectations for in-city rides that takes the core experience further.

Whether its mid-day meetings or shopping sprees, outings with friends and family, hosting business partners or taking rides to the airport, the PREMIER experience has been crafted to better serve rider needs on-trip and continue to iterate via enhanced post-trip feedback and support. Riders have indicated the need and helped shape the product by sharing feedback through features such as Driver Compliments and Driver Ratings.

  • On average, these best-in-class driver-partners have completed 1000+ lifetime trips & acknowledged by riders via the Driver Compliments feature and Driver Ratings.
  • Riders themselves have consistently rated these driver-partners for their 5-star service, making them the top-rated driver-partners on Uber.

In Bengaluru, PREMIER will complement the current product range of POOL, GO & XL to serve unmet needs in the economy-plus and premium segments where there is immense scope to match a personal car experience.

When booking a PREMIER ride, one can expect

  • Rides in select, high-comfort, economy-range sedans every time
  • To be driven by best-in-class driver partners endorsed by riders
  • Enhanced customer support for a superior post-ride experience
  • Affordable, everyday fares