All posts by Gouri Achary

Italian denim marquee, FREESOUL enters India with Myntra to indulge fashion-forward men in the country

National, April 28th, 2022: Myntra announces the launch of FREESOUL, a contemporary fashion brand hailing from the historic Vicenza region of Northern Italy, known for exquisitely crafted apparel with a timeless and trendy flair. Particularly revered by high-end denim connoisseurs globally, FREESOUL’s style comes to life through its limitless collection of looks that are both modern and classy, with an attention to detail that appears both sophisticated and expressive at the same time.

Founded in 1994, FREESOUL is a high-fashion brand with a category line-up that includes Denim, Athleisure, Sportswear, and Tailored garments, all influenced by the company’s multicultural background in art, innovation, travel, and design. The brand’s vision is to create a thoroughly contemporary modern look that extends beyond its legacy in denim into a full selection of signature garments, in which each piece is not only part of a limitless collection of curated looks, but also becomes an endearing object of desire on its own. FREESOUL defines its consumer as a modern, active, and ambitious male who leads a metropolitan lifestyle filled with an array of occasions that require different looks. He is defined more by his mindset than his age and has an elevated stylistic sensibility that seeks a juxtaposition of refined utility with a relaxed attitude, which is the DNA of the FREESOUL brand.

FREESOUL’S UNPARALLELED ASSOCIATION WITH MYNTRA

FREESOUL’s unparalleled association with Myntra will enable the brand to reach and engage with its diverse target audience in India and amplify its presence in the country towards fashion-conscious men, with affinity towards premium fashion brands, that look to Myntra for their fashion needs. As the preferred destination to access international brands in India, Myntra is all set to enable a dedicated FREESOUL brand store on the Myntra-Mall, the in-app experience for brands to showcase their best and assist consumers in brand and product discovery. FREESOUL is also slated to be featured on Myntra Studio and M-Live, Myntra’s much adored social commerce avenues that resonate with trend-first audiences in India, including fashion conscious millennials.

BEYOND DENIM

Shoppers will now have access to FREESOUL’s range of styles for men which go beyond denim and include trousers, jackets, shirts, crew necks, hoodies, joggers and shorts, all of which will be available on Myntra at affordable price points.

Speaking on the launch, Sharon Pais, Chief Business Officer, Myntra, said: “The launch of FREESOUL will enable fashion-conscious men across the country to access a rather niche line of finely crafted denims and more from Italy on our platform. Our first-of-its-kind association with FREESOUL immensely strengthens Myntra’s denim portfolio, which houses one of the largest collections of international brands in the segment, bolstering our position as the go-to destination for choicest brands from across the world.”

Touching upon the partnership, James Carnes, Chief Marketing Officer, FREESOUL, stated: “ We are excited to bring the FREESOUL brand to India and share our uniquely modern and timeless style with one of the most dynamic young audiences globally. We believe our ‘limitless’ approach to collections will enable shoppers to elevate their image and express their identity as they navigate their busy lives. Our partnership with Myntra provides direct and seamless access to one of the most digital savvy markets, and the platform will enable us to effectively interact and engage with trend-first audiences, and continuously enhance our offerings to accommodate their evolving styles.”

AkzoNobel India launches Dulux Simply Refresh a pioneering range of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) products for multiple surfaces

28th April 2022, AkzoNobel India, a leading paints and coatings company has today announced its foray into the growing Do-It-Yourself (DIY) paints category. After success in Europe, India drives the DIY phenomena for AkzoNobel as the first country in South Asia to launch the ‘Dulux Simply Refresh’ range.

A Dulux survey shows that 85% of consumers in India say that they will do DIY jobs. Dulux Simply Refresh proposition celebrates what new-age consumers want from a DIY range – effortless fun experience of refreshing homes in their personal style with a one-stop solution of quality products to meet all their transformation needs – from home makeover projects, upcycling wooden furniture, repainting metal artifacts to minor repair jobs.

“AkzoNobel India is delighted to announce its disruptive foray into the growing DIY segment of paints. Our new range ‘Dulux Simply Refresh’ merges the best of AkzoNobel’s global expertise with a complete range of quality Do-it-Yourself products. As consumers of today increasingly demand more from their homes, Dulux Simply Refresh is our invitation to Indian consumers to transform multiple surfaces (wood, metal or walls) at one go, with just one coat of paint, but without the hassles associated with a traditional paint or repair job,” says Rajiv Rajgopal, Managing Director, AkzoNobel India.

Easy to choose, Dulux Simply Refresh offers a complete range for DIY solutions under three categories – decorative paints, repair solutions and painting kits:

Decorative paints:

Dulux Simply Refresh Multi-Surface Paint: Whether it’s a feature wall, wood furniture or a metal chair, Dulux Simply Refresh Multi-Surface Paint is easy to use and gives the perfect finish to multiple surfaces in just one coat – an industry first from Dulux. This ready-to-use interior washable paint comes with special low drip and low splatter technology, meaning consumers can get their DIY job done in a fraction of time with less mess and less wastage. Another industry first from Dulux are the 800+ specially formulated DIY paint shades. Making it easy to express, Dulux has provided 10 curated colour palettes, ranging from passionate reds to energizing blues.

Dulux Simply Refresh Spray Paint: This convenient-to-use aerosol gives a superior gloss finish to all pre-painted surfaces. The quick drying formulation and water-resistance makes Dulux Simply Refresh Spray Paint easy to use, both indoors and outdoors, and comes in 11 striking shades.

Repair and protection:

Dulux Simply Refresh Fix & Grouts: This ready to use grouting solution fixes tile gaps and protects joints of tiles in bathroom, kitchens etc. Easily applied by hand, it is extremely resistant to water and fungal attacks.

Dulux Simply Refresh Wall Filler: While not all DIY projects require pre-work, in some cases, proper preparation of walls having visible cracks can make a world of difference. Understanding this, Dulux brings this ready-mix, high-performance crack filler with excellent adhesion properties, shrink-free formulation and superior hardness… so that you get the satisfaction of a job well done.

Painting kits to enable DIY projects:

Dulux Simply Refresh Painting Kit is specially designed for the first-time users who wish to do DIY paint jobs. The six elements of the kit ensure that painting is easy, so that consumers get more time to enjoy their makeover, rather than working on it.

Now, home makeovers are simply a click away! Dulux Simply Refresh is easy to purchase as the entire range is available online at Dulux brand store (Amazon.in). Offline, the range is available across Delhi-NCR and will be expanded to all leading paint stores across the country in the coming months.

ICICI Bank inaugurates its 500th branch in Rajasthan

Jaipur: ICICI Bank announced the inauguration of a branch at Khatu Shyam Ji in district Sikar. This marks the opening of the Bank’s 500th branch in Rajasthan, the most by any private sector bank in the state. Over 50% these branches serve rural and semi urban areas of the state.

The branch offers a 24X7 cash recycler machine to facilitate cash deposit and withdrawal by customers.

Shri Sumedhanand Saraswati, Member of Parliament, Sikar, inaugurated the branch in the presence of Shri Virendra Singh, Member of Legislative Assembly, Dantaramgarh (Sikar) and Mr. Raghav Singhal, Business Head, Branch Banking at ICICI Bank.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Raghav Singhal, Business Head, Branch Banking at ICICI Bank, said, “An expansive branch network is the foundation of our retail banking. We are very happy to open our 500th branch in Rajasthan. This demonstrates our commitment to serve the state. Our dedication to financial inclusion in the country is reflected in the fact that over 50% of our branches in the state are in rural and semi-urban regions. The new branch in Khatu Shyam Ji provides our customers improved access to all our banking services. “

The branch offers a comprehensive range of accounts, deposits and loans including savings and current accounts, term deposits, auto, home, gold, personal and business loans along with credit cards. The branch also offers locker facility and services for NRIs. It operates from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm on Monday to Friday and on the first, third and fifth Saturdays of the month.

Additionally, the branch will conduct programmes to propagate financial literacy about banking and finance, digital banking and cyber safety on every third Friday of the month.

ICICI Bank has an extensive footprint across the state with 680 ATMs and 500 branches, including three ‘Touch Banking’ branches in Jaipur. These are fully automated branches, helping the customers to get almost all banking services round the clock.

Gross absorption in industrial and warehousing facilities up 11% YoY; Grade A vacancy drops

India, 27 April 2022: Activity in Grade A industrial and warehousing facilities continues to be robust during Q1 2022 with gross absorption in the top 5 cities at 6.2 mn sq feet, an 11% increase from Q1 2021. The demand was led by heightened leasing in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. Vacancy across Grade A projects also declined during the quarter, indicating a healthy demand environment in the sector. Overall, the demand was steered by robust warehousing demand from third-party logistics players, amidst strong consumer demand across sectors.

About 50% of the gross absorption was led by third-party logistics players, followed by the Engineering and Automobile sectors with a share of 17% and 12% respectively.

Trends in Grade A Gross absorption

Source: Colliers

Trends in Grade A Supply

Source: Colliers

“Demand for Grade A spaces remained robust with healthy take-up witnessed this quarter across key cities with NCR market leading the space take-up. Growing concerns about rising construction costs has exerted upward pressure on rents quoted for upcoming developments across markets. Developers are now looking to cater to build-to-suit demand keenly as opposed to speculative supply addition traditionally due to this increased input cost scenario. The trend is expected to continue in the next few quarters as Logistics and E-commerce players take up larger spaces in top cities as they scale up their operations in Tier-I cities”, said Shyam Arumugam, Managing Director, Industrial and Logistics Services, Colliers India.

Overall, grade A supply declined 16% YoY across the top five cities to about 6.4 million sq feet. Lower supply and robust leasing during the quarter led to a drop in vacancy. Grade A vacancy levels declined to 9.8% at the end of Q1 2022, from 11.8% in Q4 2021. This was largely led by strong leasing activity in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Pune.

Delhi-NCR dominated leasing activity with a share of 28%. The demand was led by large deals that accounted for about 91% of the total leasing. Deals by third-party logistics players led most of the activity through large deals. The majority of the activity was in the Luhari location. Pune accounted for 26% of the leasing. The automobile sector continued to lead the demand with a notable share of 43% in total leasing of the city, followed by Engineering at 20% share.

Large deals account for 80% of the leasing

Deals above 100,000 sq feet accounted for 80% of the total leasing. This was led by larger deals by third-party logistics players and e-commerce companies.

“We are seeing larger warehousing deals which has pushed up the average deal size by 30% to about 1.1 lakh sq feet. This shows that occupiers and third-party logistics players especially are increasingly taking up larger integrated warehousing space led by higher demand and shorter delivery timelines,” says Vimal Nadar, Head and Senior Director, Research, Colliers India. 

Leading PR firm ICCPL awarded as the Best PR and Communications Firm for the real estate sector

In a sparkling event put up by Exchange4media Group with leading PR agencies in attendance, Integrated Centre for Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.(ICCPL) bagged the award for the Best PR and Communication Firm for the real estate sector third time in a row on the 12th edition of the IPRCCA Awards.

ICCPL is one of the major PR agencies founded in 2011 by a young entrepreneur Dushyant Sinha. Currently, it is one of the top PR firms in India. For well over a decade, it has proved its place as one of the fastest-growing PR organisations in the country. The company has dedicated expertise in Real estate and its allied sectors since its formation. ICCPL has serviced over 300+ companies from across the country in their decade long existence. Breaking the barriers of traditional PR services, the agency has forayed into a wide range of services like innovative online services, including managing social media communication and online content management on search engines.

Apart from its expertise in real estate PR, ICCPL has a wide and diversified client base drawn from various sectors like education, health, agriculture, hospitality, travel like Gaurs Group, Best Agrolife Ltd., Pacific Group, Oyo Rooms, Gulshan Group Housing.com, DPS Schools, Central Park. It has established its niche in various industries and has successfully carried out inventive and out of the box campaigns to create brands.

“Our services have always been appreciated by our clients profusely, and we have witnessed an upscaling growth in our client’s networks. The right PR firm helps the brands to get the right traction and communication, and that’s where we have excelled,” said Dushyant Sinha, the Founder of ICCPL.

“We have always believed in team power and collaborative effort. That is why we pick and nurture deserving talent. Creating a good team is a significant responsibility for any agency so that the strategies can be implemented without any loopholes. Regular training, studying research materials, and working on on-ground media relations have helped us retain our clients for a longer period which eventually helped us expand our portfolio. Despite never having a dedicated sales team, we are amongst the rarest agencies to create one of the largest portfolios of clients across the country based completely on references,” he added.

The PR firm based out of Delhi/NCR has a wide presence in over 35 cities in India and plans to expand to more cities. Opening offices in UAE and EU might also be on the cards.