We plan to get further aggressive to scale up our East biz: Swati Nathani, Team Pumpkin

Award-winning digital marketing & PR agency, Team Pumpkin, unveiled its newest office in Salt Lake, Bidhannagar, Kolkata in August 2023. The move comes as an effort for ease in servicing its Kolkata-based accounts. The agency already has offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurgaon. Team Pumpkin has roped in Rashi Garodia to lead the Kolkata branch as the business head.

The digital first agency has been the driving force behind over 1,000 successful marketing campaigns for its clients and has worked with national brands such as Axis Bank, Prega News, Mama Earth, ITC, APL Apollo, MamyPoko Pants.

In September 2023, Team Pumpkin launched its new vertical - D2CPro, caters to the marketing needs of D2C brands. D2CPro will offer end-to-end marketing solutions ranging from branding, website creation, tech integration, conversion rate optimisation, setting up their ecommerce platforms, as well as helping them expand their reach to international markets. Earlier this year, Team Pumpkin announced the launch of its specialised content and communications arm, HypeSquad.

In conversation with Adgully, Swati Nathani, Co-Founder and CBO, Team Pumpkin, speaks about the agency’s foray into the East market, building up the business in the East, future expansion plans, gearing up for the festive season, and more.

What are the major milestones achieved by Team Pumpkin in its 11 years of existence in the industry?

We have achieved some significant growth in the last 11 years. We started off as a 2-3 member team in a small flat and now have offices in four cities across India. Also, we started our journey as a social media agency, but now offer fully integrated marketing services. We have helped over 200 brands in their growth journey. In terms of people, we have grown to become a 250+ member team.

What are the approaches and strategies adopted by Team Pumpkin to expand its presence in the Eastern market?

We are not new to the Eastern market per sé. We have been catering to East-based clients for many years. It is now that we have onboarded a local team that understands the pulse of the people and their mindset there. In addition to that, we have a strong portfolio of brands that are based out of the eastern region, which works to our advantage whenever we initiate conversations with new prospects.

What is the significance of a personalised market approach and crafting smooth customer journeys?

Both these things have become essential in today’s day and time. They help you engage with your customers better by enhancing their experience and thus, giving you a competitive advantage. Further, it helps you utilise the marketing budget in an optimal manner. 

What are the expansion plans and future vision of Team Pumpkin for the East market?

We wish to grow our existing team as big as the other offices in terms of size and business. We already service legacy brands such as Tata Steel. We have been servicing them for years. Our business development efforts will focus on building on this momentum to get more business from the region.

What is the marketing strategy of Team Pumpkin for the Eastern market?

Localisation is a major factor that we are going for with regards to people catering to the region. We are making sure that a local team that understands the culture and psyche works on accounts from this market. We have our business development team dedicated to bringing new businesses from the market. Our SEO and advertising efforts are localised too. We are also building case studies of our existing clients from the East region. This includes work which shows that we understand the nuances of the market here.

What are the festive season plans of Team Pumpkin for the East market?

As we all know, Durga Pujo celebrations are big in the Eastern market. Our creative teams have already geared up with campaigns and activations for our clients in the region. We also hosted a very successful conclave recently, called ‘Brand Buzz: Festiverse’, which explored festive marketing strategies and seasonal trends such as the wedding season and cricket World Cup. Although the event was held in Gurugram, we saw delegates coming from across the country and have received several business enquiries.

How are the brands and media platforms gearing up for the festive season this year?

Brands are going all out this festive season with bigger budgets, they are willing to experiment. Tech integration and AI will play a bigger role this time. Brands are willing to go the extra mile. The media platforms want to capitalise on the higher spends by brands and are aggressively trying to appeal to the brands that use their services.

What are the marketing activities undertaken by Team Pumpkin till now in the East market?

So far, we have focused our business development initiatives to bring in more business. Along with that, our SEO and digital advertising efforts are targeted towards bringing in more enquiries. We have also produced a brand film, which talks about the different verticals and offerings of Team Pumpkin through the lens of Kolkata. This is just the beginning, we plan to get further aggressive to scale up our east region business.