Appco Group India helps Sightsavers to tackle avoidable blindness

Appco Group India has entered into a partnership with leading global development organisation Sightsavers. The objective of the partnership is to help eradicate avoidable blindness by speaking to potential donors and spreading the message across the country. 

Fundraisers working with Appco Group India have signed up more than 2,000 regular-giving donors in just six months, which is a major accomplishment both for Sightsavers and for Appco. 

Acknowledging Appco’s contribution, a leading spokesperson from Sightsavers said the charity is impressed with Appco’s accomplishment to date and is looking forward to continuing a healthy and prosperous relationship with the company.

Sightsavers has been working in India since 1966 to eliminate avoidable blindness and to ensure that people who are irreversibly blind are adequately supported to lead lives of independence and dignity.

Appco India helps SOS increase regular-giving donors by 60%

Donors signed up to SOS Children’s Villages have increased by almost 60% each month thanks to fundraisers working with Appco Group India.

Appco’s proactive decision to expand SOS’s latest campaign to more cities in India and to increase the number of fundraisers working on the campaign has led to the charity experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of donor sign-ups.

The success was celebrated with an Appco-sponsored event for SOS, which recognised the fundraisers’ achievements.

Appco Group India has been working with SOS Children’s Villages since 2012, helping to raise funds for child welfare.

Appco India provides emergency aid to thousands of Kashmir flood victims

Appco Group India’s Charity division has helped secure more than US$45,000 in donations in a month from 10 September 2014 for the flood victims in Jammu and Kashmir.

Face-to-face fundraisers working with Appco Group India and Save The Children have signed up over 800 regular-giving donors while raising awareness of the cause in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Coimbatore
and Hyderabad. 

The donations raised will help Save The Children provide emergency relief for the victims of the Jammu and Kashmir floods, which devastated the region, claiming more than 250 lives.

Appco Group India helps double Tata Sky's customer database

Appco Group India’s Entertainment division has significantly increased its sales for client Tata Sky, almost doubling the monthly number of customers signing up for the client’s services.

Since January 2014, the number of sales representatives working with Appco Group India has also increased from 100 to 220, reflecting the dramatic rise in sales.

Dhananjay Uppoor, National Head, Tata Sky said: “Since January 2014, we have witnessed almost a 50% increase in customer acquisitions across 10 locations in India, which is a huge jump on all fronts.

"We are confident that we will double the customers acquired by December 2014 with Appco’s help. The quality of customers signed up to our services has been excellent.”

Sales representatives promote the different services Tata Sky has to offer and they have also been raising awareness for a new karaoke service, which has a library of Bollywood tracks.

Appco India secures thousands of new donors for children’s charity CRY

Appco Group India is working with charity Child Rights and You (CRY) to protect the basic human rights of underprivileged children across India.

Fundraisers working with Appco Group India have signed up more than 60,000 donors between 2013 and 2014 for the client.

The support from Appco-recruited donors means CRY has reached out to thousands of children and addressed a number of child rights issues, which include health, malnutrition, education, child labour and abuse.

Appco’s partnership with the charity over the past 12 years, has helped CRY extend its work to 11 cities across India.

“Appco has, over the years, not only raised substantial funds for us but has also helped us to bring in more and more donors to participate in the CRY movement in India,” said Puja Marwaha, CEO, CRY.

Anita Sharad, Director of Resource Mobilisation at CRY added: “We have experienced the partnership grow from strength to strength.

“As a result, CRY has been able to strengthen its focus on the different issues that deprive children of their rights – child labour, access to education, provision of health facilities and protection from abuse and exploitation – and therefore achieve our common goal of a happy and healthy childhood for India’s children.”

Appco praised for seven years of success with HelpAge India

Appco Group India’s seven-year relationship with HelpAge India has helped millions of elderly people get
the care they need.

Fundraisers working with Appco Group India have secured millions of regular-giving donors from across
the country.

The donations will support close to 1.5 million elderly people and have helped fund a number of
cataract operations.

Mathew Cherian, CEO of HelpAge praised the fundraisers’ hard work. He said: “Appco has very generously been communicating the message of HelpAge to thousands of people across the country. 

“We value the relationship and hope it will allow us to help more and more elderly people.”

HelpAge India also picked up the NGO Leadership & Excellence Award at the Global CSR Excellence and Leadership Awards in February to commemorate World CSR Day.

Appco Group India helps government hit digital TV targets

Appco Group India’s Entertainment division is helping the government reach its target of providing 88 million households with a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service by December 2014.(source)

The division, which works with major DTH service providers including Tata Sky,has already helped more than 250,000 households switch from cable to DTH since 2012.

Appco Group India has also helped reduce costs for DTH customers with aone-time installation fee and customised TV packages. Customers can also save as much as 10% a year on their bills with a ‘pay what you watch’ service.

Harit Nagpal, CEO at Tata Sky said: “Since we started working with Appco, we have seen customer sign ups for DTH double and we are hoping that the numbers will increase by five or 10 times in the future.”

Bringing Glamour & Glitz at the 16th Appco Indian Rally 2014

The dates were blocked & the stage was set for the most important event of the year for Appco Group India. The 16th Annual Indian Rally 2014 commenced on the 6th of May at the North capital city Delhi; moving to the new venue city in the south Chennai on 8th May & finally reaching to the West zone metropolitan, Mumbai on 12th May 2014. The Rally, being the most coveted event for the Appco Group, was nothing short of being glamorous & noteworthy. This time of the year, when every professional associated with the Appco Group rejoices & celebrates the spirit of victory, success and oneness will go down in our history.

Tony Fernandez, the respectful Vice President & Country Head, India brought in the Rally at the all venues with much elan & welcomed more than 2000 Appco professionals from across all regions. He was accompanied by the key people in the Group to compeer the Rally, notably, Sai Prakash Kuckian, Vice President, Appco Group; Sukesh Khanna, Organizational Head, Nirvana; Amit Baid, Organizational Head, Velocity Org; and Kishore Tarachandani, Organizational Head, Phoenix Org. Attendees at the venues made their way to a day of celebrations, recognitions & awards. We saw hoards of our established Owners, upcoming leaders, existing professionals & also the new swamp of joinees who were ready to witness the grandeur of the Rally.

The event started with a grand opening ceremony followed by the key awards for the day presented by Tony & Sai, some of which included ‘Best New Office’, ‘Rising Star Awards’ and Admin awards. The winners & the teams receiving the awards was surely a proud & momentous sight for everyone present at the Rally.  As the day progressed, the music got louder with the dance competitions where different teams including Owners, crew leaders & admins, all dancing & competing as one. The dance & music surely enticed many from the audience to take spins in the auditorium. Such was the glitz at the Rally!

What followed these fun moments were many more crucial awards for the day which included quality awards, excellence awards, promotions & likewise. The Appco Advantage video, an inspiring testimonial video shot with our professionals also became the key highlight for the day.

The Appco Indian Rally 2014 received an overwhelming response from the audience. Although the winners took it all but the Appco celebratory spirit was exuded by everyone present in the auditorium! And just as gracefully the Rally 2014 would go down in history, we gear up to another year of a celebrations & success across all the regions. Cheers to the spirit!

Appco Group India: Launching the message of Appco Advantage

 Appco Group India has been an epitome of innovation & successes & as an Organization; we thrive on the people who define us, the products we represent & our practices we adopt. As we are expanding ahead, we seek to bring together every professional who joins us & all our stakeholders on a brand platform where we can convey our message to one & all. The message that we launched at our annual RnR meeting with our delegates is the platform of opportunities- the ‘Appco Advantage’

We at Appco, as an Organization foster a culture where we build the budding minds who join us in our business and are committed to empower them with a host of benefits and opportunities in their journey to success. Every professional who joins us enjoys a platform of opportunities where we seek to empower the careers & provide them a unique chance at excelling & advancing in this fast pace economy.

The Message to everyone associated with our initiative is to BUILD.EMPOWER.ENHANCE.

With this new brand entity, we will highlight the plus points of working with us, the upper hand in their careers & the support system that we provide to our people. This is designed with an aim to bring in a pride of oneness among all our teams from different zones on a message that is clear all across to everyone.

With a message that is highlighted by our key leaders with much pride & spirit, we aim to highlight our teams & educate them on Appco Advantage & bring in their valued support collectively from different geographies. 

Appco Group India: Strategize your Brand Awareness

A brand is what holds the most important aspect when it comes to advertising a particular product. All that the product advertises culminates as the brand image. Hence it becomes extremely important to form the brand’s pathway in the market and amidst many strategies that work and those that don’t, one thing is clear, companies would need to create an aggressive brand building atmosphere putting consumer as the king and the various strategies as the pawn.

Some of the leading ways to form brand strategies are as below:

·        Know your product well before understanding its brand value:

o   Always understand the positives of the product, the attributes which can form the foundation for its brand image

·        Know your consumers well:

o   You cannot sell a product to the wrong audience. That’s a kill-situation for a brand. Understand the audience well and closely. Segregate them and understand the current buying patterns of the target audience. This is one of the areas where firms lose the focus.

·        Choose the right marketing channels and tools:

o   Decide on the budget and choose the marketing mode which will directly link your product to the target consumer and your awareness could be more appealing and visible to the target.

o   Rely on the current marketing tools to provide a good reach to the target consumers.

·        Engage the audience:

o   Engage your audience through the various marketing initiatives that can build a positive outcome for your brand.

·        Keep a tab on the competition:

o   Always keep an eye on the competition and the competitors activities. There may be an opportunity you can pounce on.

All in all, we can conclude by understanding the fact that a through product, consumer, market and advertising analysis would ensure a brands stands upto its promise.

Appco Group India: Brand equity Or Product attribute??

An era of advertising, which we live in, has opened the doors to brand building as never before. Today a particular product is better known with its brand image or brand element more than the actual product’s attribute itself. In a market situation like this, brand equities of different products will soar and fall in a flash. What remains is the brand awareness that the consumers have in their minds which is responsible for forming its equity.

However as the brand equity increases (classic/big brands), does the real attribute of a product get sidelined due to the marketing gimmicks, image and other advertising gimmicks! As a brand matures in the market, consumers start associating the product with its brand value or brand image. It’s no surprise that a food product gets identified with prefixes like ‘instant-meal’ or catchy phrases. The whole image of the product gets in the background and what survives is the brand association- all the factors that are associated with the brand like consumer’s perception, brand image, brand loyalty to name a few. The rise and fall of many brands have been a result of these factors.  We also come across many levels of a brand’s life cycle which is quite contradicting to that product life cycle. An age old or consumer favorite brand prevails irrespective of its market-age or even competition.

However many a brands falter in their lifecycle owing to many factors like competition, newer trends, market value etc and what impacts the brand equity more than anything else is the failed perception of the brand in the eyes of the consumer. Because it is the consumer ultimately who builds and collapses the brand equity in the market. In the long run, as far as the hype surrounding brand equity is concerned, it is up to the strategists to turn the tide towards the consumers and associate the product to their perceptions and preferences.

It can be fairly concluded that firms should revolve their strategies and focus around the brand and its association with the consumer for it serve as an effective medium to capture the consumer’s mind by recognizing the necessities and demands and recalling of the brand through various initiatives.

“A brand is as mature in the market as it is in the consumer’s mind”

Appco Group India: Role of Strategy in Business

For large and small business, Strategic innovation is the need of the hour! The pressures on the strategic front has off late increased and expanded to an extent that growth is being associated with the outcomes of planning. Earlier companies put emphasis on the short term goals and objectives to meet the business targets. This ideology, in today’s demanding ecosystem, doesn’t fit enough and why? The reason behind many business failures today has been a lack of vision and the proper direction to execute the same.

Take the example of product launches. The automobile sector in India is the perfect example of businesses struggling to make a blockbuster impact on the consumer. In India, on an average, 3 different models of the same company are launched in a year. Yet how many of them succeed in registering sales. The lack of vision and future sustainability is the result of such poor strategic direction. The real essence of Strategic planning comes with a blend of innovation, operational planning, directional planning, growth forecast and risk/crisis management. Many a times, due to growing market competition and change in market trends, some of the aspects of traditional strategic planning gets lost. In the wake of budding entrepreneurial environment and unplanned acquisitions and mergers, the company objectives fail to get conveyed to the expanded team. This creates a huge gap in understanding the real motive of having a strategy in business planning. FMCG/consumer goods industry has been a classic example where the throat-cut competition has generated some great products and equally led to the failure of the classic age-old brands.

The mantra for successful strategic planning comes from having a clear understanding of the business plan and defining the objective clearly to the managers and the consumers. And a clear and crisp understanding of the objectives comes from strong research and analysis. And it is no surprise that companies are now investing in research and business intelligence to tap the potentials the market has to offer.

Positively the downside of the current falling economy is the advent of many opportunities that companies can tap into and create long lasting impact on the market.

‘Real strategy comes from an insightful research that has tapped the untamed potentials of the market’

Appco Group India: Freshers at Work

Many companies in India have come forth to tackle the recruitment issues of freshers which have been plaguing the growing markets across various industries. We, at Appco, believe in the power of young minds who, when mentored correctly, can be an asset to the Organization. 

However, the people in the top management often mistake the freshers for being inexperienced and under skilled. This causes the gap where a lot of freshers out of business schools, colleges fail to make an impression despite good grades and confidence. At Appco, we have always vouched for our people. This belief is at the core of how we recruit. Our recruitment systems are much focused where we initiate the recruitment with a prior call to the candidate, a phone interview, a face to face interview and an Observation day test which helps us determine our ideal candidate. Although our process seems to be quite strenuous, but we never shy out from hiring freshers. We feel that a fresher is like molten iron which can be mould into the responsibilities by understanding their skills and giving them a fair chance to display what they are capable of. 

Adjusting to a new person in the team can be a risky task but with a little effort on employee engagement and understanding, companies can make sure that a fresher becomes an equally crucial part of the team. The most important quality required in an employee for sustainability is their ability to accept and adopt change. A fresher is the most adaptable and has more willingness to undertake change. Experienced employees, on the other hand have been reluctant to change. Freshers additionally come with their humongous bundle of energy and are mostly open to work hard. This forms their basis for learning. With proper induction and training from a supportive team, the freshers, as they advance in the coming months, achieve a sense of responsibility and gradually develop onto becoming a valued employee or team member.

The grooming and success of a fresher depends largely on his individual skills and abilities but to ensure they are recognized and put to use, companies need to drive recruitments on the entry level and expose the freshers to various management and technical positions to provide them an insight of what career responsibilities they are fit for in the future.

Appco Group India: Factors influencing employee performance

The importance of having a good performance is well debated across various platforms and even in companies from different backgrounds; the complete understanding of having progressive performance holds the same value. However, many companies and employees fail to realize the essential factors that influence the overall performance of an employee finally contributing to the overall performance of the business.

Of the many general and known factors that contribute positively to an employee’s performance, motivation holds the utmost importance and is an intangible factor that can go a long way. Motivation can come in various forms and through various sources however many employees lack the attitude to take motivation in their stride positively. Having clarity of individual and business goals and objectives will add a huge momentum for an employee to do better and contribute to the overall performance. The company needs to be clear of the goals and the objectives for the current situation and future prospects for ensuring a seamless atmosphere at the workplace.

Leadership and team building again are the important influencing elements where an employee forms trust with his peers and a sense of confidence is imparted. Arguably, an employee performs better in situations where he feels confident, supervised and led with a direction. However, this concept is not well executed in many organizations due to various factors involving ego, unfavorable working atmosphere, unsorted business hierarchy etc. 

Various organizational policies also go a long way in influencing and motivating the employees and giving them a sense of oneness and integrity. For example, a good HR practice which may involve handling grievances or addressing an individual or team issue. Having good policies and rules regarding employee safety and provisions to manage the same gains the trust of the employee and considerable makes the working environment favorable. 

While many companies aim to practice such measures to ensure employee satisfaction which directly leads to better performance, be it any function; yet few fail to attain the objective.   

Appco Group India: Surpassing targets, yet maintaining performance

Business targets are an essential part of the whole business terminology where the emphasis on achieving the targets surpasses the other management essentials. Experts have claimed that performance is many a time linked to achieving targets but the questions lies in the very fact that in a situation where good performance guarantees target achievement, do such targets guarantee a good performance? 

The whole essence of targets and achievements gives rise to a competitive environment where the sheer pleasure of performing well and consistently disappears in thin air. There is a matter of discrepancy when determining an over performer and an accurate performer which further more creates a gap in employee development. Target achievement is equally important for an employee as it is to have a consistent performance over time. Performance on the other hand is defined as an amalgamation of various elements like targets, averages, good conduct, development ratio and alike. Targets are one of the significant steps in having a benchmark performance which an average employee substitutes as performance. In sales, at the start of the career, an ambitious employee gets drawn towards factors which will lead to achievements of targets rather than developing his skills and learning and development. In the short run, his objectives become target based while in the long run, this creates a lag wherein his development takes a setback. This can disrupt the learning phase in an employee’s career to a considerable extent. The beauty of learning and developing the skills get secondary due to which a new employee gets branded as average and can have a hard time for development due to change in priorities and job responsibilities later in his career. The strategic and management ability in an employee remains undeveloped due to which he can experience problems in other responsibilities like leadership, team building etc. 

In a business environment where achieving targets become an extreme necessity, there should be a hint of skill development practices where apart from achieving targets, an employee gets exposed to the other functions of management. This can provide assistance in the long run for both the employee and the organization in terms of better career prospects and organizational growth alike.