GingerCup: A Start-up offering Out-Of-The-Cup Advertising

GingerCup is an advertising start-up headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. They take marketing up close and personal by advertising on paper cups. With paper cup advertising, brands can engage with their clients during tea breaks at offices, colleges, IT parks, tea stalls, railways, airlines, shopping malls, schools, etc. Cup branding helps brands to engage with their customer for nearly 3-5 minutes which is not provided by any other media. These cups are provided free of cost at various touch points which help them save a significant cost every month.

It was founded in 2015 by a husband-wife duo, Deepak and Devleena Bansal in Bangalore. Prior to the inception of GingerCup, Deepak was an occupant in the IT sector for 8 years. He also worked as ‘Tech Lead’ at Samsung Research Institute, Bangalore. On the other hand, Devleena was a marketing and HR professional for 6 years at an MNC. Both of them were well-settled in their jobs. Little did they know that they would soon establish their own company offering paper cups as an advertising medium.

The entrepreneurship journey for both of them was a rather interesting one. It all started with a subtle observation by Deepak during a casual office tea break. He noticed those office employees spent a lot of time discussing trending issues and random things that they saw around during their tea break. Upon giving more thought to this casual conversation during tea breaks, Deepak decided to delve into his observation.

He decided to bring in plain paper cups that are used to serve tea, coffee, water, and other beverages as advertising media in corporate offices, colleges, tea stalls, etc. He felt that a monotonous white paper cup could be turned into an effective advertising medium with a brand’s logo on it. This move could further initiate discussions on the advertising brand at various touch points where it has been distributed. This was the moment when he had nailed the concept of paper cup advertising in India. Back then, the concept was popular in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Deepak decided to give his discovery wings, and that is when he told his wife Devleena about it. She loved the idea but was a bit hesitant to take it up because at that point she was well-settled in her job and had two thoughts about taking a leap into entrepreneurship. However, she trusted her husband’s vision and decided to test the idea of cup branding.

To test the idea, Deepak and Devleena decided to distribute a few thousand of advertised paper cups with different health awareness messages printed on it. Post the test campaign, they were shocked to see the response they got. 90% of the consumers could relate and remember what was printed on the cups. This is when they cracked the code of unique advertising in India.

They have carried out campaigns for big brands across various segments such as Baahubali, BookMyShow, Uber, Hotstar, Clovia, ABP Live, Gillette, Brigade Developers, Pizza Hut, Hoichoi, etc. As per the requirement and target audience of their clients, they distribute these paper cups all over the campaign location. The feedback they receive for a unique advertising medium like this is very encouraging. Not just from their clients, but even from end-users, MNCs, colleges, and tea stall vendors, everybody thinks very highly of paper cup advertising. GingerCup also got a boost in its clientele due to word-of-mouth and repeat campaigns by existing clients.

They have their presence pan-India in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Noida, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Chennai and many more. They are also associated with some reputed airlines including Jet Airways, Indigo, and TruJet.

Their clients have always been supportive of all the campaigns they run for them. GingerCup owes all that they are today to their investors, clients, and team. They are open to advertising any kind of company that is open to OOH and unique marketing.

GingerCup’s business model is freemium wherein branded paper cups are distributed free to end-users but is chargeable to the advertising company.

Message to Entrepreneurs: “When you run a business, your most valuable asset is your mind and health. Give priority to self-care. Keep the spark of your creativity high, follow your passion. Let go of BUSY as a ‘Status Symbol’ and invest in CREATIVITY instead. You really need to have an uncluttered mind” – Devleena Bansal.