Latest news with #Acko
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Why Martech Is Now at the Heart of Customer Experience in BFSI?
The finance sector has traditionally operated with siloed systems, legacy processes and fragmented data, making it difficult to understand or respond to individual customer needs in real time. Personalisation was limited and experiences often felt transactional. Martech is now reshaping this landscape, enabling financial institutions to harness data, unify touchpoints and deliver tailored, meaningful interactions that build trust, improve retention and increase lifetime value. The Big Leap Martech Social, hosted by ETBrandEquity and CleverTap, brought together India's leading marketers for an exclusive conference on 8 May 2025 in Bengaluru. Speakers included Anchit Chandra, vice president and head of digital marketing and CRM, Muthoot FinCorp ONE, and Animesh Das, CEO, Acko General Insurance. The session was moderated by Subharun Mukharjee, vice president, CleverTap, and Krystyna Devina Lason, senior anchor and producer, The Economic Times. The discussions focused on how martech enables financial brands to go beyond transactions and build relationships through data-driven insights and contextual relevance. Chandra spoke about the challenge of serving a diverse customer base—ranging from grassroots individuals to ultra-high-net-worth clients. Each transaction is unique, whether it involves pledging different quantities of gold jewellery or applying for loans of varying sizes. He said this diversity is also what unlocks long-term value. 'With over 3,800 branches, each providing daily insights from walk-ins, we capture data from conversations, personalise offers and use localisation to reach different segments. Our martech stack helps us process that data and enrich it with secondary sources, allowing us to serve customers whose needs we may not directly capture,' he said. This strategy allows Muthoot FinCorp ONE to personalise interactions based on each customer's financial context. Whether it's assessing fluctuating loan eligibility or segmenting service delivery, the company aims to offer relevant and differentiated solutions. 'We're building a martech stack that delivers tailored offers daily, driving loyalty and improving retention,' said Chandra. Das recalled the early days of Acko and the limitations of traditional insurance. He said insurance had remained unchanged for decades, sold by agents door-to-door, based on paper-heavy, standardised products. The system lacked innovation and personalisation. Acko wanted to change that completely. 'Tech is usually seen as a way to gain efficiency. It shouldn't be. It should be the foundation of how you build the product, experience and distribution. This isn't about incremental changes, it's about rethinking the entire model.' Das said understanding the core consumer is more important than pushing broad campaigns. Precise targeting, he added, can cut marketing costs by a third. 'We ask: is the user already on the platform? Which channels do they use? Tools today allow us to reach users with accuracy and context.' He cited an example: 'If a customer has recharged a FASTag, I know they're likely travelling. I won't send a generic 'buy insurance' message. I'll say 'Hope you're travelling, see how our insurance can help.' That kind of sharp messaging only works when tech is central. It's not about scale, it's about reaching the right user smartly and efficiently.' Muthoot FinCorp ONE and Acko reflect how martech is reshaping financial services. From real-time data integration and targeted offers to smarter product development and communication, technology is now central to modern customer engagement.
Time of India
19 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Beyond eye candy: A Cannes Lions Creative Data Special: BE Extraordinary
At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a wide spectrum of creative work is recognised, extending beyond Grand Prix winners to include notable campaigns that earn silvers and bronzes. In " BE Extraordinary ," a series collaborating with Harsh Kapadia, CCO, Grey India , we highlight work that warrants discussion for its execution and results. This segment focuses on campaigns that effectively utilised data to drive their creative strategy and generate significant outcomes. Acko - Acko Tailor Test - Leo India Acko, a digital insurance company in India, utilised a unique insight into local health behaviors for its "Acko Tailor Test" campaign, developed in collaboration with Leo India. The core premise was based on the medical insight that the difference between a person's waistline and hipline can serve as an indicator of potential heart conditions. Recognising a prevalent cultural behavior in India, particularly among lower-income segments, where regular visits to tailors for clothing adjustments are common, but doctor visits might be avoided due to cost or access, Acko integrated a preventative health screening into this existing routine. The campaign involved training tailors across the country to use a specific chart to accurately measure clients' waist and hip ratios. Based on these measurements, tailors were empowered to advise individuals if their ratios suggested a potential heart condition, recommending a consultation with a doctor for further assessment. This grassroots approach effectively leveraged an accessible and trusted community point of contact to deliver crucial health information, demonstrating a data-driven strategy for promoting preventative health and early detection. Efficient Way To Pay - Consul Appliances, DM9 São Paulo In Brazil, a common challenge faced by many households is their reliance on outdated and inefficient electronic appliances. While often a result of financial constraints, these older models paradoxically lead to higher electricity bills, hindering their ability to save for newer, more efficient replacements. Consul Appliances, in collaboration with DM9 São Paulo, developed the "Efficient Way To Pay" program to address this economic cycle. The campaign leveraged data on energy consumption to directly demonstrate that replacing older electronics with new, energy-efficient Consul appliances would result in tangible savings on monthly electricity bills. Consul then designed an innovative payment plan: these verified electricity bill savings could be directly allocated to pay off the cost of the new appliances. This initiative effectively established a novel ecosystem for appliance purchasing. By creating a clear, data-driven economic model, Consul Appliances empowered consumers to upgrade their household electronics, turning their ongoing energy expenses into a means of financing more sustainable and cost-effective solutions. So Many Dicks - ELF Beauty, New York ELF Beauty, an American beauty brand, utilised compelling data to drive its "So Many Dicks" campaign, focusing on corporate diversity. The campaign stemmed from research that revealed a significant majority of corporate board members were white men. Strikingly, the data further highlighted that more men named "Dick" held board positions than entire groups of underrepresented people combined. As a company that itself boasts a board composed of 78 per cent women and 44 per cent diverse individuals, ELF Beauty leveraged this data to create a viral campaign that directly called attention to the lack of diversity in corporate boardrooms. The campaign's aim was to spark conversations and actively promote change. ELF directly linked diversity to profitability through a "not so white paper" they released, and collaborated with organisations like the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) to facilitate the successful placement of diverse candidates on corporate boards. This data-driven approach allowed ELF Beauty to advocate for tangible change in corporate governance, grounded in both ethical considerations and demonstrated business success. Ikea Hidden Tags - Ikea (Portugal), Uzina Ikea in Portugal, in collaboration with Uzina, embarked on a campaign titled "Ikea Hidden Tags" to address a common perception among consumers that its furniture is not built for durability. The brand ingeniously utilised an existing, yet often overlooked, piece of internal product data: a small, hidden tag on every Ikea furniture item that indicates its precise manufacturing date. To directly counter the misconception about product longevity, Ikea launched a country-wide "Tag Hunt." This initiative invited customers to actively participate by locating these hidden tags on their Ikea furniture to determine its age. A significant prize was offered for the oldest piece of Ikea furniture found in Portugal. This campaign effectively transformed a simple internal product detail into an engaging, interactive contest. By encouraging customers to physically examine their furniture and discover its actual age, Ikea leveraged existing customer ownership and direct interaction with the furniture's embedded data to demonstrate the unexpected durability and longevity of its products firsthand. (At BE Extraordinary, a series about the winners at Cannes Lions in collaboration with Harsh Kapadia, CCO, Grey India, we peer outside the Grand Prix, and look at clutter breaking work that picked the silvers and the bronzes, but don't often get discussed.)
Economic Times
21 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
India tops last year's medal haul with additional wins at Cannes
India continued its success at Cannes Lions 2025, securing two more Bronze Lions on Day 4, bringing its total to 28 metals, surpassing previous years. Acko's 'Tailor Test' and Ogilvy India's 'Eye Test Menu' were among the winners in the Brand Experience & Activation Lions category. Day 4 also featured insights from David Droga, Amaury Guichon, and Bill Nye. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads India maintained a steady presence at Cannes Lions 2025 on Thursday, adding two more Bronze Lions on Day 4, following a standout haul of 14 metals on Day 3. The wins came from some of the festival's most prestigious awards were in the Brand Experience & Activation Lions category, which recognises brand building through innovative use of experience design, activation, immersive, retail, and 360° customer 'Tailor Test' by Leo India earned a Bronze in the Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility sub-category, adding to the Gold it picked up for the same campaign on India's 'Eye Test Menu' for Titan bagged another Bronze in the Brand-Owned Experiences sub-category, bringing its tally for the campaign to three Lions so far."Ogilvy's relationship with Titan as a brand is a deep and cherished one. They spared no effort in pursuing excellence on this dream project. It feels good to win for such meaningful work," said Sukesh Nayak, Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar, chief creative officers, Ogilvy four-day tally at Cannes Lions 2025 now stands at 28 metals - comprising 6 Gold, 8 Silver, 13 Bronze and one Grand Prix (as of press time)-already surpassing the country's overall totals from both 2023 and 4 also featured several high-profile speakers. At the Palais' Lumiere Theatre, advertising icon David Droga, who will be stepping down as CEO of Accenture Song in September, took centre reflected on the ideas behind some of the industry's most influential campaigns and, in an emotional moment, spoke about the passion and gratitude he holds for his work, crediting his mother as a key influence."I honestly care deeply about what I do, who I do it with, how it works. How I treat people, it doesn't mean I'm perfect, but I really care professionally about it. And that comes from my upbringing, from my mother, a poet and activist. And from the gratitude that I've been paid to have an imagination."He added that, as someone who didn't attend college but still run a $20 billion company, "you don't need to go to college to care".Elsewhere, world-renowned pastry chef and content creator Amaury Guichon shared insights on crafting a brand that commands attention, while educator and TV personality Bill Nye-popularly known as "The Science Guy"-spoke about the power of humour in breaking down taboos.
Economic Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Rohit Kapoor on Swiggy's food delivery slowdown; Group life insurance gains traction
Happy Tuesday! As the food delivery market cools, aggregators are scrambling to find growth avenues. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in the letter: ■ Krutrim AI's uptake struggles ■ ETtech Done Deals■ Tata Electronics' Malaysia foray Pushing value meals and 10-min food delivery to revive growth: Swiggy's Rohit Kapoor Rohit Kapoor, CEO (food marketplace), Swiggy As the food delivery market cools, Swiggy is turning to quick meals, affordable combos, and deeper city penetration to stoke demand. What's happening: In an exclusive interview with ET, Swiggy's food marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor said growth will now come from low-frequency users and category innovation, not merely from city expansion. He also called for a more open dialogue between platforms and restaurants on commissions. Swiggy is focusing on three key growth drivers in food delivery: Expanding delivery-friendly categories Drawing low-frequency users into the fold with value bundles Scaling 10-minute deliveries via its Bolt platform By the numbers: Swiggy's food delivery GOV grew 17.6% YoY in Q4 Bolt now accounts for 12% of Swiggy's delivery volumes Food delivery covers around 700 cities; density, not geography, is now the focus Also Read: How Swiggy and Zomato are dealing with the slowdown in food delivery Why it matters: With quick commerce eating into food delivery profits, Swiggy and Zomato are under pressure to revive their core businesses. Kapoor says there's latent demand to tap — but unlocking it depends on restaurant supply, better aggregator-partner dynamics, and faster fulfilment. On restaurant partners: Aggregators' ties with restaurant partners have been strained in recent years over the commissions rates. Kapoor acknowledged the need for more conversation, but argued the current narrative often overlooks the larger economic shift aggregators have enabled. Also Read: Swiggy Food CEO Rohit Kapoor sees Bolt as core future offering New-age life insurance firms tap group products to boost business Acko, Go Digit and CreditAccess, three new-age life insurance players licensed in 2023, have completed their first full financial year in FY25. Industry data shows that in their initial phase, all three have leaned heavily on group insurance policies to drive early growth. Driving the news: Data sourced from the Life Insurance Council reveals sharp contrasts in their premium collections. Acko has written life insurance premiums worth Rs 63 crore. Go Digit has crossed Rs 1,000 crore. CreditAccess has processed close to Rs 200 crore in life insurance premiums. Different paths: Go Digit continues to scale rapidly in general insurance, while Acko is betting on a digital-first, direct-to-consumer model to disrupt traditional distribution. Beyond the numbers: Early trends suggest that the trio have focused on employer-employee group life products and credit-linked insurance policies. Why this strategy? It allows for quick ramp-up in premium volumes It helps test systems and processes for corporate sales, ahead of a retail push. It ensures a smoother claims settlement experience for customers. Challenges remain: While these players made waves in general insurance, industry insiders say life insurance will be a tougher battleground. Why is that? Trust takes longer to build in life insurance Higher ticket size products need more persuasion and often, physical intermediation. Claims settlement is complex and often requires last-mile human support Also Read: Go Digit General Insurance doubles net profit in Q4 FY25; posts third straight profitable year Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch! Why it matters: ETtech Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and employees. The opportunity: Reach a highly engaged audience of decision-makers. Boost your brand's visibility among the tech-savvy community. Custom sponsorship options to align with your brand's goals. What's next: Interested? Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@ to explore sponsorship opportunities. Krutrim finds few takers for its LLMs and cloud products Bhavish Aggarwal, founder, Krutrim In a setback to Bhavish Aggarwal and the broader Indian AI ambitions, several founders and investors told ET that Krutrim large language models (LLMs) and cloud offerings have received a lukewarm response from the market. Driving the news: Krutrim, the AI venture backed by the Ola group, became India's first AI unicorn in 2024, after raising $50 million at a $1 billion valuation. But the company has since faced product roadblocks and leadership churn. Founders cited poor documentation as a key issue with Krutrim's products. They also flagged a lack of technical maturity. Many startups continue to prefer established hyperscalers like Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. More than 20 employees have exited the company since 2024. Tell me more: Krutrim offers a chatbot and cloud services, but usability issues persist. Two founders reported difficulties simply logging into the chatbot. Similar issues surfaced with Krutrim AI model also suffers from high latency, which refers to response time, deterring potential users. In tests reviewed by ET, Krutrim's AI chatbot took 41 seconds to generate a response to a single prompt. In contrast, ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek responded in under 10 seconds. Also Read: Social media abuzz about toxic work culture at Ola Krutrim after employee's 'suicide' ETtech Done Deals Vaibhav Gupta, CEO, Udaan Udaan closes latest funding round at $114 million: B2B ecommerce platform Udaan has raised $114 million in a fresh funding round led by existing investors, M&G Prudential (UK) and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Round details: The round closed at a flat valuation of $1.8 billion and includes the previously disclosed $75 million investment from the same two investors, which founder and CEO Vaibhav Gupta announced at a town hall earlier this year. Furniture retailer Pepperfry raises Rs 43 crore: Omnichannel furniture and home goods company Pepperfry has raised Rs 43.3 crore from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, General Electric Pension Trust, Growth Equity Opportunity Fund, and Panthera Growth Partners, among others. Wealthtech startup Stable Money raises $20 million: Wealthtech startup Stable Money, which provides digital fixed-return investment products, has raised $20 million (Rs 173 crore) in a funding round led by Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani's Fundamentum Partnership. Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Tata Electronics eyes Malaysia foray via chip fab acquisition: Tata Electronics is in talks with several global semiconductor companies including X-Fab, DNeX and Globetronics to acquire a fabrication or outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant in Malaysia. Infosys paid CEO Salil Parekh Rs 80.62 crore as salary in FY25: Indian IT major Infosys chief executive officer (CEO) Salil Parekh received a 22% rise in his annual compensation to Rs 80.6 crore for the fiscal year 2024-25 ending March, the company's annual report showed. Nykaa shares drop over 5% despite strong Q4 performance: Shares of Nykaa parent FSN E-commerce declined as much as 5.11% to 192.85 a piece during Monday's trade. The scrip closed 4.33% lower at Rs 194.45 per share, compared to a 0.09% decline in the benchmark Sensex. The counter opened 1.1% lower at Rs 201, against the previous closing of Rs 203.25 on the BSE. Tesla unlikely to make in India: All you need to know | Electric vehicle maker Tesla, helmed by Elon Musk, is not keen on manufacturing in India despite the government wooing it aggressively through policy incentives. Global Picks We Are Reading ■ A Neuralink rival just tested a brain implant in a person (Wired) ■ 'Humanity deserves better': Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs on tech's next chapter (FT) ■ This giant microwave may change the future of war (MIT Technology Review) Updated On Jun 03, 2025, 07:21 AM IST
Time of India
03-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
New-age life insurance firms tap group products to boost business
New-age life insurers Acko, Go Digit and CreditAccess, all of whom received life insurance licences in 2023, are betting on group products to drive premium collection and the business. According to data from industry body Life Insurance Council, Acko Life Insurance 's premium collection almost doubled to Rs 63 crore in fiscal 2025, compared with Rs 36 crore in FY24. Go Digit Life recorded Rs 1,068 crore in FY2025 compared with Rs 426 crore a year back. Credit Access Life Insurance recorded Rs 193 crore in insurance premium compared with Rs 97 crore the previous year. This was the first full year of operations for these new-generation life insurance companies. Both Acko and Go Digit had the general insurance licence prior to that. While Go Digit is a publicly listed company now, Acko is privately held and was last valued at $1.4 billion in a funding round in 2023 . by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo 'Most of these new-generation companies have sold group life covers in their first financial year, which has helped them to bulk up premium collection quickly. It also helps set the internal and sales processes quickly,' a senior executive at an insurtech startup said on the condition of anonymity. Under group products, life insurance companies typically sell employer-employee life covers and also club insurance covers to credit customers. Live Events 'Our initial focus was on group products, leveraging the quicker setup of servicing and sales infrastructure. Today, we have a balanced mix of both group and retail products, with plans to expand both segments equally,' Go Digit Life Insurance chief executive officer Sabyasachi Sarkar said. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Go Digit Life has four retail products and three group products and is hoping to scale up both businesses in the coming quarters, Sarkar added. The new-generation insurance companies had adopted a retail-first approach for their general insurance business. Both Go Digit and Acko had focused on retail automobile insurance as the key product to scale up their business, but for life business they have gone the group business route. The industry executive cited earlier in the story pointed out that for the life insurance play, it is always easier to disrupt the group market because most of the business there is pricing driven and also is up for renewal every year. 'For products like life, customer trust is the key, building that takes time, hence one way of getting into the market is through employer-employee products where consumers will get to know the brand, experience the claims settlement process and eventually start trusting the brand,' the executive said. In general insurance, these startups had disrupted the business with strong use of technology and also by adding direct sales as a large part of their business, without depending fully on agents and broker networks. 'Employer-employee products are a focus area for us. Digit Life in its first full year of operations (FY25) has clocked over Rs 1,300 crore gross written premium,' Sarkar of Go Digit told ET. But these brands are likely to face much bigger challenges in the life business, according to industry insiders. 'I think new-age life insurance companies will need to invest heavily in customer experience, ensure smooth claim settlement processes to give confidence to customers and also work very closely with the regulator,' said Vivek Ramji Iyer, partner in charge of financial services at Grant Thornton Bharat. To quickly build trust during the purchase process, startups can invest in creating a claims settlement simulation process, Iyer said. 'They should also target rural areas to increase penetration of insurance cover, for that they can look to partner with common service centres in rural India.'
