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If Swiggy’s ads feel personal while others fade into noise, it’s because one brand understands who you are—and the other is shouting at everyone. When Zomato launched Zomato Gold, it didn’t chase “people who eat out.” It zeroed in on young urban professionals in metros—frequent diners, experience-seekers, socially driven by FOMO. That precision wasn’t intuition; it was disciplined audience segmentation. The Audience Segmentation Canvas is built for exactly this shift. It repl

Executive Summary Raymond Limited, established in 1925, is India's largest integrated manufacturer of worsted suiting fabric with a significant presence in the branded apparel and retail segments. This case study examines how Raymond has navigated evolving cultural norms around formalwear consumption in India, particularly the shift toward casual and smart-casual dressing that accelerated during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis is based exclusively on verified pu

Executive Summary Founded in 2012 by Falguni Nayar, Nykaa (FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited) transitioned from a niche online beauty retailer into a dominant omnichannel force in India’s Beauty and Personal Care (BPC) and fashion markets. Strategically entering a fragmented BPC market with low online penetration, the company positioned itself as a trusted multi-brand platform focused on authentic products and content-led customer engagement. While starting as a digital-first e

Executive Summary Uber Technologies Inc., founded in 2009, revolutionized urban transportation through its ride-hailing platform that connects riders with drivers through a mobile application. Central to Uber's business model is its dynamic pricing algorithm, commonly referred to as "surge pricing," which adjusts fares in real-time based on supply and demand conditions. This case study examines Uber's surge pricing strategy using only verified, publicly available information

Executive Summary Ariel's "Share the Load" campaign, launched by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in India in 2015, represents a landmark example of purpose-driven marketing that addressed gender inequality in household labor distribution. The campaign evolved from a corporate social responsibility initiative into a sustained brand platform that combined social advocacy with commercial objectives. According to various marketing publications and industry reports, the campaign achieved s

December 31, 2019. As India prepared to welcome 2020 with fireworks and celebrations, Vivo India posted a tweet that seemed almost heretical for a smartphone company: "Your loved ones don't need a fancy gift this new year but your time. Switch off your phone, give a beautiful start to the year, give some time to your family. #HappyNewYear #SwitchOff #NY2020" It was a bold move—a smartphone manufacturer telling people to stop using smartphones. But behind this paradox lay a pr

In 1867 Switzerland, a premature baby boy named Wanner couldn't breastfeed. Doctors had no solution. Infant mortality rates were catastrophically high—mothers watched helplessly as their babies starved. Then a German-born pharmacist named Henri Nestlé fed the child his experimental creation: a mixture of cow's milk, wheat flour, and sugar called "Farine Lactée." The baby survived. Word spread rapidly. By 1874, the infant cereal was sold in 18 countries. Today, that formula—ev

Executive Summary McDonald's Corporation, the world's largest fast-food chain by revenue and restaurant count, has faced significant challenges since the early 2010s as consumer preferences shifted toward healthier eating options. This case study examines McDonald's strategic response to declining sales and changing market dynamics through menu innovation, ingredient transparency, and brand repositioning. The analysis focuses exclusively on publicly documented information fro

Executive Summary PhonePe, founded in December 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer, emerged as India's largest Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform by transaction volume and value. According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data from November 2024, PhonePe processed 7.04 billion UPI transactions worth ₹10.65 lakh crore, representing approximately 48% of total UPI transaction volumes in India (Economic Times, December 2024). The comp

Executive Summary Maggi Masala-ae-Magic is a seasoning product launched by Nestlé India as an extension of its flagship Maggi brand. While Maggi noodles have been a household name in India since 1983, Masala-ae-Magic represents the company's strategy to leverage brand equity into adjacent categories within the Indian culinary space. This case study examines the publicly available information regarding this product's positioning, market context, and strategic rationale within

During Diwali 2019, watching a "Ghar wali Diwali" advertisement moved me to tears—not because of the flight tickets it was selling, but because of the guilt it mirrored. Seeing an elderly mother surprised by her daughter highlighted every festival I had traded for career milestones and every hollow phone call used as a substitute for presence. It was a profound lesson in marketing: the most impactful communication doesn't simply inform an audience about a service; it transfor

Executive Summary Google Pay (GPay) India represents a strategic case of market entry and rapid scaling in India's digital payments ecosystem through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Launched in September 2017 as Tez before rebranding to Google Pay in August 2018, the platform leveraged India's public digital infrastructure to achieve significant market penetration without building proprietary payment rails. This case study examines Google Pay's market approach, competit

Executive Summary One97 Communications Limited, operating under the brand name Paytm, represents one of India's most significant digital transformation stories in the fintech sector. Founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm evolved from a mobile recharge platform to become India's largest digital payments ecosystem before facing regulatory challenges that fundamentally altered its business trajectory. This case study examines Paytm's journey from launching India's first

Executive Summary In January 2016, Axe (known as Lynx in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand) launched "Find Your Magic," a global marketing campaign that represented a significant strategic pivot from the brand's previous advertising approach. Owned by Unilever, Axe had built its brand identity over two decades on hyper-sexualized advertising featuring the "Axe Effect"—the premise that using Axe products would make men irresistible to women. The "Find Your Magic" cam

Executive Summary Procter & Gamble (P&G), founded in 1837, operates one of the world's most extensive consumer goods portfolios, with particular dominance in personal care. As of fiscal year 2024, P&G's Beauty segment, which encompasses much of its personal care portfolio, generated $15.6 billion in net sales, representing approximately 18% of total company revenue (P&G Annual Report 2024). The company manages over 10 major beauty and personal care brands globally, including

August 2022. In the offices of Iris, the creative agency behind some of Starbucks UK's most celebrated campaigns, a team was preparing to say goodbye. After five years of partnership—five years that had produced award-winning work like the gold Cannes Lion-winning "What's Your Name?" campaign—they were creating their final piece for Starbucks UK. The brand was in the midst of a pitch review process for its next creative agency, handled by Creativebrief, and Iris would not be

When Richa Kar told landlords in Bangalore she was starting an online lingerie company, they ended conversations mid-sentence. When she told her family, her mother refused to tell friends about it. When she launched the website, people made jokes. But five hours after going live on August 25, 2011, Zivame received its first order—₹7,000 from a man in Indore buying for his wife. Nine years later, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail acquired Zivame for approximately $160 million (₹

Company Background BharatPe was founded in March 2018 by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani as a fintech company focused on enabling digital payments and lending for small merchants in India. According to an interview with Ashneer Grover published in Inc42 in August 2019, the company's core value proposition was to provide merchants with a single QR code that could accept payments from multiple UPI apps without charging any merchant discount rate (MDR). The company positione

The year was 2016, and a relatively unknown payment app was about to change how India thought about digital transactions. But Paytm didn't just build a product—they built a narrative. When demonetization struck, they weren't scrambling to explain what they did. They had already positioned themselves as champions of a cashless future. That's the difference between having a megaphone and having a message that people actually want to hear. This is what I call the Thought Leaders

Executive Summary Brooke Bond Red Label, owned by Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), is one of India's leading tea brands. This case study examines the brand's communication strategy centered on promoting social harmony and inclusivity, particularly through its long-running advertising campaigns that address social issues. The analysis focuses on publicly documented campaigns and their strategic positioning in the Indian tea market. Company Background Hindustan Unilever Limite