TECNO’s Brand Campaign #ShineInAnyLight Strikes a Chord with Millions of Indians who have an Inspiring Story

TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand, recently launched its first brand campaign for the year named ‘Shine in AnyLight’. The campaign aims to establish the newly launched CAMON i4 smartphone with triple rear AI camera as a product for those who consider “Life is a performance” and ‘Shine’ in any condition. The integrated marketing campaign includes a series of three documentary-style films featuring Vicky Roy – A Rag Picker turned street photographer, Toshada Uma – A Fashion model with Alopecia, and Chandani Srivastava - A Street Dancer turned Choreographer.

Conceptualized and executed by CreativeLandAsia, each film craftily visualizes the ‘Shine in AnyLight’ ethos through the achievements of these individuals who believe life is all about living their passion and following their dreams, no matter the darkness.  Deep inside everyone, there exists a unique and extraordinary element, waiting to be seen. These can be discovered through TECNO’s ‘AnyLight camera’ lens, and made to shine in any circumstances.

The 360-degree marketing campaign consists of a TVC, a long-format documentary film for digital natives, social media campaign and on-ground activations, and partner outreach programme. 

TV Campaign consisting of 3 commercials

To build awareness and reach out to the core audience, the campaign includes three TV commercials with a duration of 20 seconds each.  The first TV ad from the series that went on air from 2nd May featured Vicky Roy, the Ace Photographer. The spots were running across some of the biggest reality shows on TV like The Kapil Sharma Show and Super Dancer on Sony, Little Champs on Zee TV, in addition to special shows like Salaam India on India TV. The next TV campaign, featuring Toshada – a fashion model with Alopecia, is all set to go on air from 25th May. The campaign will be present across 28 channels covering news, entertainment, and movies. These channels include Colors, Sony Sab, &TV, Sony Max and regional channels like ABP Bangla, and Star Jalsha to name a few.

Long format film for the 100% digital natives

The digital film is a 2-min documentary film on Vicky Roy, featuring his inspiring journey from a rag picker on the streets of Delhi to an internationally acclaimed photographer. The film translates into a message of living the passion and achieving success despite limited means, modest background and scarce opportunities. Over 5 million people have already seen the TV commercial in the past 15 days across digital platforms. Following this will be Toshada Uma’s documentary film.

Social media campaign

Vicky’s “Shine in Anylight” story is inspiring millions of budding photographers who have come forward to share their own stories. The campaign’s sweeping success is reflected on TECNO’s Instagram page, which hosts many such inspiring stories clicked from the lens of CAMON i4. TECNO aims to invite fans across the length and breadth of the country to share their ‘Shine in Any light’ story with the world, through a photography contest. The winners will get a chance to attend the Photography Workshop with Vicky Roy. Eligible fans will be showcased on TECNO’s social media channels and get a chance to score exciting gifts.

The campaign will be further amplified on Social and digital platforms. To help consumers get a first-hand experience of the “AnyLight” camera smartphones, the brand will carry on-ground activities covering 100+ towns enabling direct face-to-face engagement with over 1 million consumers on-ground, during the entire course of the campaign.

TECNO CAMON i4 is available in 3 variants – 2GB + 32GB @ INR 8999, 3GB + 32GB @ INR 10599, and 4GB + 64GB @ INR 11999.

Bangalore and Gurugram Among Top 5 Preferred Hubs for Tech Companies in APAC Region

Bangalore and Gurugram are among the top five preferred destinations in Asia Pacific to set up offices by technology companies because of better business conditions as well as the availability of engineers and real estate for growth, according to a report.

The report by property consultant CBRE said technology companies continue to fuel office demand in the APAC region, despite the absence of any principal city or cluster of the same status as Silicon Valley. Technology sector accounted for 23% of total leasing activity in 2018.

The study has ranked 15 cities of Asia Pacific in three categories based on their performance with regard to business conditions, innovation environment, and cost and availability.

Business conditions and innovation environment were each given a weightage of 40% while cost, a relatively less important consideration for tech firms, was given 20% weightage.

"Leading cities are Beijing, Bangalore, Shanghai, Singapore and Gurugram. These cities score highly in terms of business conditions and innovation environment, as well as providing costs and availability that are supportive for business growth," the report said.

These cities are preferred destinations for a wide range of traditional and new tech companies seeking to establish a base of operations in Asia Pacific.

Hyderabad figures in the list of five competent cities along with Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Tokyo and Seoul. These cities already host tech industry sub-sectors and demonstrate solid performance across most categories.

Five 'supplement cities' are Hong Kong, Hsinchu, Sydney, Taipei and Auckland. These cities rate favourably on certain important aspects, but their most appropriate role is to serve as host for specific functions to complement larger hubs elsewhere in the region.

"India is home to an increasing number of tech unicorns and Asia Pacific is increasingly defined as the region leading in the rapid adoption of disruptive technology.

"However, there is still room for growth in terms of identifying locations where business conditions, innovation and talent come together to form a globally competitive digital hub," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, of CBRE India.

The observations were made in CBRE's latest report titled 'Programming Asia Pacific’s Tech Cities as Global Tech Hubs'.

SAP Concur Appoints Mankiran Chowhan As MD For India

SAP Concur, the world’s leading provider of expense, travel and invoice management solutions, today announced the appointment of Mankiran Chowhan as Managing Director of SAP Concur India, effective immediately.

Chowhan will be responsible for driving SAP Concur’s India business strategy and growth.  She will lead SAP Concur India in the next phase of the company’s development in the country. She reports directly to Andy Watson, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China.

With a wealth of experience addressing market growth and business development, Chowhan brings more than 17 years of extensive industry knowledge to SAP Concur.  Before joining SAP Concur, Chowhan served as Managing Vice President and Country Manager of Sales for Gartner India where she led the business and operations in India.  She has also held key sales management positions over the course of her 15-year tenure with the company.

SAP Concur serves 48,000 customers over 150 countries including over 75% of Fortune 100 and 500 companies, and more than 58.1 million end users who book their travel and process expenses worldwide with SAP Concur. According to Global Business Travel Association[1], India is the seventh largest business travel market in the world and is expected to be one of the fastest growing business travel markets over the next four years.

“The growth potential of India’s business travel market is enormous. We plan to leverage this opportunity by addressing local market needs and helping companies better manage spend across all categories and sources,” said Watson, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China. “We are pleased to have a leader of Chowhan’s calibre to drive continued momentum for our business and enable our customers in India to be at the forefront of a dynamic business travel landscape.”

“India is an important market for SAP Concur as organizations are undergoing technological shifts and digital transformations, spurred by the Digital India mission,” said Mankiran Chowhan, Managing Director, India, SAP Concur. “I am honoured to lead SAP Concur’s business in India.  I look forward to enhancing our customers’ experience and helping them gain broader insights into their spending as well as address the fast-changing market dynamics with agility.”

A winner of The Economic Times Top 20 Corporate Women Leader 2018 awards, Chowhan has fostered strong partnerships with CXOs across industries. Chowhan holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies.

TVS Motor Company Unveils TVS Apache RR 310 with ‘Race Tuned Slipper Clutch’ Technology

TVS Motor Company, a reputed manufacturer of two-wheelers and three-wheelers in the world, today launched the TVS Apache RR 310 equipped with a Race Tuned (RT) Slipper Clutch. This upgrade, born out of the rich racing heritage of TVS Racing, enhances the customer’s riding experience as it provides swift gear shifting with low hand fatigue and maintains vehicle stability at high speed during downshifts, especially in corners. The new variant also gets minor styling upgrades including a new colour – Phantom Black. The sharp edges and angular design of the bike complement the new colour.

Crafted for precision, the slipper function of the motorcycle allows rapid downshifts preventing wheel hop and chain whip. The system is also engineered with an Assist Function wherein the clutch plates lock tightly increasing the clutch engagement force thus resulting in reduced clutch effort. The new TVS Apache RR 310 RT Slipper Clutch is a powerful and a highly useful feature, which complements city, highway as well as track riding. Existing TVS Apache RR 310 customers can also enjoy this new technology as the Race Tuned Slipper Clutch will be available as a TVS Racing accessory, which can be retrofitted to their motorcycles. This facility is available at the select TVS Apache RR 310 dealerships across the country for a nominal price.

Commenting on the launch, K N Radhakrishnan, Director & CEO, TVS Motor Company says, “We are excited to introduce the Race Tuned (RT) slipper clutch on the TVS Apache RR 310 and I am confident that our existing and new customers will appreciate this performance upgrade. The super-premium motorcycle, which is seen as an ultimate track weapon, originates from our racing pedigree and boasts of industry-first features. Equipping it with this technology is a natural progression for the bike. We also want to expand this experience to our existing TVS Apache RR 310 customers, who will appreciate the enhanced racing dynamics. The new styling upgrades accentuate the racing stance of the motorcycle and create customer delight.” 

Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first proud owner of the TVS Apache RR 310 with ‘Race Tuned (RT) Slipper Clutch’.

Excited with the new motorcycle, Mahendra Singh Dhoni says, “I have been associated with TVS Motor Company for over 12 years and my relationship with the company has only strengthened

with each passing year. Being an avid bike enthusiast, I am excited to get the new TVS Apache RR 310 Slipper Clutch variant as it combines a stunning design with exhilarating performance. It is also a feeling of immense pride for me to own a super-premium bike from an Indian manufacturer. I wish the team all the very best for their future endeavours and look forward to hitting the road with my new motorcycle.”

TVS Apache RR 310 comes with a reverse Inclined DOHC (Double Over Head Cam) Liquid cooled Engine with additional oil cooling technology mated to a 6-Speed Gear Box, Race Inspired Vertical Speedo-cum-Tachometer, Bi-LED Twin Projector Head Lamps and Michelin Street Sport tyres. The motorcycle also includes upgrades that improves driveability, ride feel and reliability.  The upgraded variant will be available in two colours – Racing Red & Phantom Black.

The motorcycle is available at select dealerships across the country, priced at Rs. 2,27,000(Ex-Showroom, Delhi).

ZOYLO Unveils it’s Flagship Product "ZoyPlus" Health Card for Corporates

Zoylo Digihealth Pvt. Ltd. (Zoylo), in its latest expansion move, has entered the corporate wellness segment with its flagship product, “ZoyPlus Corporate Health Card” specially designed to benefit both employers and the employees. ZoyPlus is a unique health card with multiple benefits and value-added services that contribute to healthy employees and a productive workplace.

Mr. Vinod Kumar Reddy, CEO, Zoylo Digihealth said, “Employee wellness is a fast-emerging benefit category that is valued by employees as it ensures a systematic end-to-end health management for them.

ZoyPlus offers a complete healthcare solution for corporate workforce through a single card with exclusive benefits on the entire range of medical services which makes it a one-go health and wellness solution.”

With a core focus on preventive measures, ZoyPlus Health Card offers a complete wellness package that includes free master health checkup, online doctor consultations, dental checkup, hair & skin analysis along with free life insurance coverage and exclusive discounts on medicines, lab tests, doctor appointments, physiotherapy, home healthcare and other wellness services throughout the year.

The preventive healthcare aspects will help every employee to benefit from early detection of lifestyle diseases, especially NCDs like hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cancer. The solutions will help employees to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Zoylo is India`s first online healthcare ecosystem that brings together seekers of medical care and service providers on an integrated transparent platform. The first offline and online integrated healthcare platform comprises a huge network of 50,000+ doctors, NABL accredited diagnostic centres, wellness centres, and 3000+ hospitals offering 360o coverage of healthcare needs across 600+ locations in India.

Barracuda Deploys Machine Learning to Protect Organizations Against Automated Threats

Barracuda, a leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today announced the introduction of Advanced Bot Protection. Advanced Bot Protection uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help customers defend against the latest automated threats. It is available for both the Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service and Web Application Firewall platforms.

Web applications are the number one attack vector for hacks resulting in breaches, according to the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, and malicious bots pose a significant threat to application security. Bots have evolved from using simple scripts to using sophisticated tactics such as headless browsers and machine learning to break through traditional application security defenses. Organizations need an application security solution that can keep up with these evolving attacks.

According to Gartner: “The main types of bot attacks include distributed denial of service (DDoS), fraudulent purchases, web scraping, and vulnerability scans and exploits. Unsupervised ML can be used to learn the characteristics of typical human-driven traffic, allowing the detection of bots as anomalies. Supervised ML can be used to identify features related to automated behavior.”1

With Advanced Bot Protection, Barracuda WAF customers have access to functionality that includes:

Bot spam detection — Reduce referrer spam and block comment spam
Credential stuffing prevention — Block credential stuffing to stop account takeover attacks
Request risk scoring — Track incoming requests and use advanced behavioral analytics to detect attackers
Client finger printing — Track users with better fidelity than IP addresses
Dedicated bot mitigation UI — New user interface makes it easy to configure bot mitigation features

“In order to effectively protect their organizations against today’s evolving threats, customers need sophisticated bot mitigation capabilities,” said Tim Jefferson, SVP of Data Protection, Network and Application Security, Barracuda. “Traditional web application firewalls don’t all provide advanced bot protection, and some bot mitigation vendors only offer point solutions that aren’t integrated into WAFs. Advanced Bot Protection is fully integrated into Barracuda’s web application firewalls to provide a complete application security solution that is easy to deploy and manage.”

It is Time to Shine with Breathtaking Colour at Vivid Sidney 2019

Sydney will be awash with breathtaking colour and special effects for the next 23 nights, with the lights officially turned on for Vivid Sydney this evening by Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

The largest event of light, music and ideas in the Southern Hemisphere will transform the city into a colourful showcase of illumination, sensational sounds and creative thinking from 24 May to 15 June 2019.

Ms Berejiklian said Vivid Sydney is a key attraction in the NSW events calendar, boosting visitor numbers to Sydney and the State.

“Vivid Sydney is an incredibly important event drawing millions of visitors to the city in May and June each year, many of whom have gone on to explore regional NSW as well,” Ms Berejiklian.

Australia’s largest event brings Sydney to life, as well as to light, by encouraging locals and visitors to enjoy Sydney’s wonderful food, exciting attractions and excellent shopping during winter.

Minister for Tourism Stuart Ayres said the benefits of Vivid Sydney were significant for the local economy and jobs.

“Vivid Sydney is more than just a captivating light, music and ideas festival. Last year Vivid Sydney, with 2.25 million attendees across the 23 days, we saw a record 185,887 travel packages sold to domestic and international visitors which was a 37 per cent increase on 2017,” Mr Ayres said.

All eyes turned to the world-famous Sydney Opera House at 6pm tonight marking the start of the festival for the Lighting of the Sails, created by LA-based artist Andrew Thomas Huang and featuring a hypnotic tribute to Australia’s native plants Huang’s projection will be among more than 50 light installations and projections created by over 100 artists and collaborators from 17 countries. These will be seen across eight Sydney precincts including Barangaroo, Chatswood, Circular Quay, The Rocks, Darling Harbour, Luna Park, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Taronga Zoo.

Vivid Sydney 2019 program video content and images are available at: www.vividsydney.com/media-centre