Category: Media

“Zayeka” Food Fest Creates A Palate-Pleasing Culinary Extravaganza At iLEAD Group”

December 24, 2023

The Fairfield by Mariott witnessed a unique event on 23 December 2023. Employees of the iLEAD Group transcended daily boundaries to step into a world of flavors, aromas and culinary creativity to participate in ‘Zayeka 2023’.

Zayeka is an annual event conceptualized by the iLEAD Group to give a platform to its employees and their families to celebrate diversity, teamwork and the universal language of delicious food! Armed with cooking skills, secret recipes and unquenchable passion for food, employees are encouraged to form teams and compete to showcase their gastronomic talents.

The focal point of the event was the amiable competition where teams concocted an assortment of mouthwatering starters and desserts. From savory delights to sweet temptations, Zayeka true to its name, presented a tantalizing feast for discerning palates.

The first round kicked off with starters crafted around the theme of ‘India’s Breakfast Cook-Off.’ The delectable lineup included stuffed Idli, mughlai parantha, succulent green kebabs, and mouth-watering spiral rolls. This round challenged teams to blend cuisines from different cultures, to create fusion dishes that surprised and delighted.

Similarly, the dessert round was centered around ‘Celebrating Festivals Of India’. From winter favorites such as cupcakes and truffles, to traditional Indian delights like Halwa, Ghewar, and Indrani, this round was all about innovation, inviting teams to reimagine classic desserts, infusing them with unexpected twists and turns. The presentation of these sweet creations transformed the event into a true paradise for those with a penchant for all things sweet.

iLEAD Group brings together the combined talents of employees of Synapse XTL, Ecosystem Ventures and FinStack under its banner. The strength of iLead Group lies in this diversity and collaborative spirit.

Abhishek Sanghvi, the visionary Founder, partner and director of iLEAD Group, expressed his excitement and appreciation for the remarkable culinary talent within the organization as Zayeka 2023 unfolded. He remarked, “We are thrilled to witness our team members’ incredible talent and passion for food. Zayeka is not just a food competition; it’s a celebration of collaboration, diversity, and the shared success of our vibrant community. We’re already looking forward to the next one!”

Some of the key highlights of Zayeka 2023 were:

  1. Maasi ki Rasoi: A stall at the event showcased an enticing fusion creation called “Spiral Rolls,” seamlessly melding Indian fillings with zesty Chinese sauces to deliver a uniquely spicy and tangy culinary delight with an Indo-Chinese twist.
  2. Mishty Delights: For the Zayeka event, they embraced a Bengali theme with the delightful group name ‘Mishty Delights’, presenting the exquisite Bengali dish ‘Rasmalai’.
  3. Flame Kings: A compelling combination of Mughlai and Stuffed Parathas, delivering a crispy and mouth- watering experience. Their stellar performance earned them the distinguished 1st runner-up prize in the starter category.
  4. Indori Tummy: with a culinary flair that combined South Indian breakfast traditions and the distinctive flavours of Indore, it presented a delectable dish of roasted Stuffed Idlis.
  5. Nutcracker Noshers: The Nutcracker Noshers adorned their stall with a festive Christmas theme, showcasing a delightful pair of desserts – cupcakes and truffles. The cupcake flavors ranged from Butterscotch, Chocolate to Mango, Blueberry, and Strawberry. On the other hand, the truffle offerings included the delectable flavors of Oreo and coconut.
  6. Jai Shree Krishna: brought forth the divine sweetness associated with Lord Krishna through their offering of Prasadam. This delightful creation, Haandwi, is a sweet dish crafted with love and devotion in Gujarat. Comprising Milk, Ghee, Semolina, and an abundance of nuts, it paid homage to ShreenathJi and earned them the esteemed 1st runner-up prize in the dessert category.
  7. Jashn – e – Mithas: The participants crafted a homemade delight, Ghewar, an authentic Rajasthani dish bursting with flavours of saffron and cardamoms, bagging the first prize in the dessert category.
  8. Baa Ke Deekre: The stall proudly presented the culinary masterpiece “Haro Bharo Daado,” a nutritious Gujarati dish accompanied by a complimentary Paan shot. Their exceptional creation earned them the first prize in the starter category.

Overall, Zayeka proved to be an outstanding success, sparking anticipation for the next delightful culinary experience. As the event concluded, children were treated to enchanting gifts from a beloved Santa, adding a touch of magic to the festivities. Here’s to the joyous blend of delectable cuisine, memorable moments, and engaging employee activities. The event concluded with a Christmas spirit and even saw Santa Claus bearing gifts for all the kids at the event. Zayeka 2023 was a testament to the power of collaboration and the magic that happens when all come together.🥂

6 Sins in Marketing

May 3, 2020
Potential mistakes by brands during and post the pandemic
Aravind Thippanaik
As countries and companies limp back to normalcy, consumer companies will go into overdrive to gain back lost ground. Instinctively, brands will try to latch on to the “flavors of the season” – Health (Immunity), Safety (Protection/Hygiene), Hope (Better tomorrow). Brands may stretch across some of these dimensions irrespective of whether they have a right to play or not, pressured by top line and bottom line deliverable. In the long term, this may erode years of brand building and consumer loyalty.
Brand managers will need to keep a check and watch out for the Six Sins in Marketing that their brands may be subjected to:

  1. Sin of the Herd: Instinctively, brands may be tempted to stretch their portfolio across themes of immunity, hygiene and protection to create new brands or stretch existing ones into new categories. Brands should evaluate right-to-win based on relevance, believability and synergy with their existing business. Hasty moves may risk existing brands to lose distinctiveness and new brands to fail.

Taking the example of a leading paint brand that recently launched hand-sanitizers, it would be important that they access the “right to win” given that this new business would require a different route to market and channels to sell (chemists, modern retail, HORECA, etc.).
2) Sin of Over-Promise: The temptation to overstretch the brand promise may be higher than ever. For example, believability for existing brands who play in categories such as chocolates, snacks and noodles claiming immunity benefits may be far-fetched in comparison to brands with health and wellness credentials.
3) Sin of Slumber: The pandemic has resulted in consumers having to replace some of their regular brands with a different one. Newer and smaller brands have had an opportunity to get into the consumer’s baskets. Consequently, consumers may reevaluate their brand choices. It would be unwise to assume that consumer perception of popular brands has not changed. Brands should track the shifts in consumer perception to know where they stand today.
4) Sin of Myopia: Given the impending economic downturn consumers will be more value-conscious than before. It is important to understand the consumer’s perceived value for a brand across ingredients, packaging and quantity before driving cost improvements. Personal care, food and beverage companies will need to be cautious about gm/ml reduction given that brand loyalty may be fickle.
5) Sin of Sorrow: Consumers are looking to get back to a sense of normalcy. Communication leaning heavily on fear marketing may impact brand choices. In the new normal, consumers may perceive fear advertising akin to “opening up old wounds”. Positivity in messaging will continue to build brand love.
6) Sin of Illusion: The pandemic has brought about many knee-jerk consumption behaviors. There will be a temptation for companies to latch-on to these trends, some of which will be short-lived. Brands should evaluate the possible consumption behavior in the new normal, the “real size of the prize” and clearly define the area of play. For example, the demand for products like hand-sanitizers, veggie-washes may not be sustainable in the long term, considering easy access to soap and water at home.
While business agility is important, the fundamentals of understanding consumer behavior through research is more important now than ever. Although, this a trying time for the FMCG industry, it is also a great time for innovation. Consumption and behavior shifts will always create new opportunities and hence new businesses.
In my view (and these are not exhaustive), some interesting themes to explore could be:

  • Immunity (e.g. Vitamins and Supplements for senior-citizens, lung health, etc.)
  • Hygiene & Protection (e.g. “On-the-go” hygiene -products such as soap strips, sanitizer sprays, travel-minis, institutional hygiene solutions, etc.)
  • Home Convenience (e.g. home- hygiene solutions; Ready-to-cook products, cooking-aid solutions, etc.)

For small brands, big barriers such as – access to consumers, trust, brand loyalty, are breaking down fast in some of the categories. Small brands that survive the economic turbulence may well emerge as the strong challengers to the Goliath brands in the new world.
Aravind Thippanaik is an independent Marketing & Sales consultant, a senior expert on the panel of McKinsey & Company & a part-time Ceramic Sculptor.

Journey Post Funding by Mr. Abhishek Sanghvi

October 18, 2019

Raising funds is one of the biggest milestones in the journey of a start up. From hundreds and thousands of new ideas, new teams, and new business models, less than a quarter are able to get support at the seed stage, and perhaps less than 5 percent end up with funding from institutional funds — VCs or angel networks.