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Executive Summary Zepto, founded in July 2021 by Stanford dropouts Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, emerged as one of India's fastest-growing quick commerce platforms, promising grocery delivery in 10 minutes. The company's rapid ascent in a competitive market dominated by established players like Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit (formerly Grofers), and Zepto's ability to scale operations hinged critically on its underlying technology infrastructure. This case study examines Zepto'

March 2022, International Women's Day. While brands across India celebrated women with feel-good messaging and empowerment slogans, Prega News—Mankind Pharma's pregnancy detection brand—chose to confront a question that millions of working women grapple with in silence: Can I be both a mother and an ambitious professional, or must I choose? The answer came in the form of #SheCanCarryBoth, a campaign conceptualized by Team Pumpkin that would challenge one of India's most persi

In 2008, two IIT Delhi graduates stood in long queues at Bain & Company's cafeteria, frustrated by the time wasted finding restaurant menus. So they scanned menus, uploaded them to an internal website, and named it FoodieBay. Seventeen years later, that frustration became Zomato—India's largest food delivery platform with 58% market share, ₹1.95-2.2 lakh crore market cap, and over 1.5 million daily orders. This is the story of how Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah quit their

Executive Summary BharatPe, founded in 2018, disrupted India's merchant payments and lending ecosystem by integrating zero-fee UPI payment acceptance with data-driven credit products. The company's "QR Stack" model used transaction data from merchant payments to underwrite working capital loans, addressing two critical pain points for small merchants: payment acceptance complexity and credit access. This case examines BharatPe's business model, growth trajectory, and the stra

Last monsoon, I watched a small mithai shop owner in Pune do something brilliant. He noticed customers hesitating at his doorstep during heavy rains, reluctant to step inside with wet shoes. Within two days, he'd placed colorful umbrellas outside, set up a small shoe rack with towels, and created a "Monsoon Special" sweet box. His July sales jumped 40%. Meanwhile, a national FMCG brand spent six months analyzing the same monsoon consumer behavior, only to launch their campaig

Executive Summary HP India's "Umeed Ke Rang" (Colors of Hope) represents a multi-year corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative focused on education for underprivileged children, particularly girls, launched in collaboration with Smile Foundation. The program combines digital literacy, educational infrastructure development, and brand communication to position HP as a socially conscious technology brand in India. This case examines how HP India integrated CSR programmi

Executive Summary Kinder Joy, manufactured by Ferrero Group, represents a distinctive product format in the confectionery market that combines chocolate consumption with a toy surprise element. Launched globally in 2001 and introduced to India in 2011, the product has positioned itself at the intersection of confectionery and gifting, particularly targeting children aged 3-12 years with parental purchase decision-makers. This case study examines the publicly available informa

Executive Summary Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a subsidiary of Tata Sons, has built one of the world's most sophisticated global delivery models in the IT services industry. According to TCS's annual reports and investor presentations, the company operates across 55 countries with over 614,000 employees as of March 2024, serving clients in 149 countries. The Global Delivery Model (GDM) has been central to TCS's competitive strategy, enabling the company to deliver service

Executive Summary Netflix's entry and evolution in India represents a complex case of a premium global streaming platform attempting to establish itself in one of the world's most price-sensitive yet content-hungry markets. Launched in India in January 2016 as part of its global expansion to 130 countries, Netflix encountered a market fundamentally different from its established Western bases—characterized by low average revenue per user (ARPU), deep-rooted piracy habits, int

September 2022, Daughters' Day. While brands across India celebrated daughters with sweet messages and feel-good advertising, Dove India chose a different path. They released "The Beauty Report Card #StopTheBeautyTest 2.0"—a campaign that didn't celebrate daughters as much as it confronted the society that judges them. Created by Ogilvy Mumbai, this wasn't going to be comfortable viewing. It was meant to disturb, to provoke, to force India to look at an uncomfortable truth hi

In a country where visiting a doctor for pregnancy confirmation was the only option—often delayed, sometimes embarrassing, always inconvenient—Mankind Pharma introduced something revolutionary: privacy, convenience, and confirmation in just 5 minutes at home. Launched by a company that started with ₹50 lakh seed capital in 1995, Prega News today commands 82-85% market share in India's pregnancy detection kit category and generates significant revenue for what is now a publicl

Executive Summary Digit Insurance (Go Digit General Insurance Limited) represents India's attempt at building a technology-driven general insurance company from the ground up. Founded in 2016 by Kamesh Goyal, a veteran of the Indian insurance industry, Digit received its license from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) in 2016 and commenced operations in 2017. The company positioned itself as a "mobile-first" insurer, emphasizing paperless proc

Executive Summary Colgate-Palmolive India's "Smile Karo Aur Shuru Ho Jao" (Smile and Get Started) campaign represents a documented shift in the brand's communication strategy from product-centric messaging to behavior-focused emotional engagement. Launched in 2019, the campaign moved away from traditional functional benefit communication toward addressing psychological barriers that consumers face in daily life. This case study examines the strategic repositioning, creative e

Executive Summary ITC Limited, a diversified conglomerate, entered India's branded atta (wheat flour) market in 2002 with the launch of Aashirvaad. At the time of entry, the packaged atta market was nascent, with Pillsbury (later acquired by Godrej) being the primary organized player. ITC's entry was based on consumer insights gathered through extensive market research that identified specific unmet needs in the category. Within two decades, Aashirvaad became India's largest-

Executive Summary Uber Eats, the food delivery arm of Uber Technologies Inc., entered the Indian market in 2017 and exited in January 2020 by selling its operations to Zomato. This case examines a market exit strategy executed through an all-stock transaction that allowed Uber to maintain strategic presence in India's food delivery sector while discontinuing direct operations in an intensely competitive market. Market Entry and Context Uber Eats launched in India in May 2017,

Last month, I watched a chartered accountant from Pune completely transform his practice using nothing but 60-second Instagram reels. No fancy production, no celebrity endorsements, just him explaining GST changes while sitting in his small office. Today, he has 180,000 followers and a six-month waiting list for new clients. This is the power of micro-content, and it's rewriting the rules of professional authority in India. The Chai-Tapri Theory of Content Think about how inf

Executive Summary Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has evolved from a South Korean electronics manufacturer into one of the world's most valuable and recognizable global brands. According to Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2023 report, Samsung ranked as the fifth most valuable brand globally with a brand value of $91.4 billion, behind only Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. The company's brand-building journey spans multiple product categories including smartphones, televisio

Executive Summary The competition between PhonePe and Google Pay (GPay) represents one of the most significant product-led rivalries in India's digital payments ecosystem. Both platforms leveraged the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016, to democratize digital payments across India. This case study examines their strategies, execution, and market outcomes using only publicly documented information. Market Con

Executive Summary The Coca-Cola Company launched its "Open Happiness" campaign in January 2009, representing one of the most significant global marketing initiatives in the company's history. According to The Coca-Cola Company's public communications, this campaign marked a strategic shift in brand messaging, moving away from product-centric advertising toward emotional engagement centered on the universal theme of happiness. The campaign was implemented across more than 200

Executive Summary Dettol, owned by Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (now Reckitt), emerged as one of the most prominent hygiene brands during the COVID-19 pandemic. The brand's response to the crisis demonstrated how established trust, strategic communication, and product availability could be leveraged during a public health emergency. This case study examines Dettol's positioning strategy during the pandemic period (2020-2021) using only verified, publicly available information