Tribal DDB India chalks out plans to take the digital road to success

Tribal DDB India’s good run continues. After winning accolades at the Asia Pacific Ad Fest, the Abbys, AAAI, and being appointed as British Telecom’s online branding agency, the agency has been appointed by Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group for 360-degree advertising for Reliance Net Connect and international calling cards.

Said CVS Sharma (Venke), Country Head, Tribal DDB India, “Our vision is to generate brand demand for our clients by innovatively interacting with consumers through the media that they frequent. We understand the importance of communicating to a consumer who is using a mobile while reading the newspaper and who surfs the Internet while watching TV.”

Tribal DDB India, a member of the worldwide Tribal DDB Network, has been steadily gaining momentum in the digital space since its inception three years back. What was earlier an advertising archive called Magindia.com to being known as an Indian Internet agency, Digital Branding Solutions is today a part of a global network offering end-to-end digital branding solutions such as strategic consulting through ideation, creative execution, online media planning and campaign management, and search engine optimisation.

Commenting on new media’s role in India, Venke said, “New media has been quite prominent in the last 10 years. India’s consumption habits are changing and we are seeing the emergence of people consuming media through the Internet, digital kiosks, mobile phones, and iPods. We are now also witnessing a fusion between traditional media and new media to reach out to more consumers.”

Venke added, “New media channels offer interactivity and is a medium that offers freedom to consumers. New media reaches even where traditional media fails to connect with consumers and is used for entertainment and providing real time information to consumers. Companies have to wake up to the fact that consumers get the first feel of a product on visiting the website. Also, new media can accurately measure ROI.”

Equally upbeat about Tribal DDB India’s role is Adam Good, Head, Tribal DDB Network-Asia Pacific. Good said, “The agency’s success is incredible, but not unexpected. The Tribal DDB India team is filled with very talented people. They have a full service interactive agency model offering an array of products and solutions. The agency has a very strong technology in source model that not only attracts local clients, but is always attracting international clients. This year, they have also won considerable amount of local and international creative and effectiveness awards. I think India and Australia are leading the way in our region with China and Korea gaining fast.”

Commenting on the digital medium’s role in effectively communicating with consumers, Good said, “I think we are all only just beginning to see the power of the digital medium. It’s really the start of a creative revolution. Digital is changing our lives and makes business innovation faster than ever before. In the advertising industry, we shouldn’t just look at digital as just a support to above the line advertising or just part of an integrated offering. Every brand and business needs to have a digital strategy and approach on how to use the medium throughout the organisation. It is not about looking at digital or online as a direct or brand building channel, it’s about first understanding how consumers use it than developing insights and ideas on how brands can be relevant in the space. Consumers ask questions on brands and as such they need to know the answers and speak back. Digital is the only medium to effectively deliver on this.”

Tribal DDB believes that one of the key features of digital communication is being user-friendly and informative. As MM Monippally, Professor at IIM Ahmedabad, said, “Tribal DBB re-designed the IIMA website and made it attractive, user-friendly, and contemporary. It was an extremely challenging job for Tribal DBB because IIMA has always believed in understatement, a rather difficult assignment for advertisers catering largely to commercial enterprises that believe in aggressive overstatement. Moreover, as a client, IIMA presented a spectrum of views that needed to be accommodated by the website designers. That also was handled deftly by Tribal DBB. As a result of the professional and creative design of the Institute website, a large number of visitors can now navigate it effortlessly and get the information that they need.”

Some of Tribal DDB India’s key clients include Sify, MSN, LIC, Citibank, Air India, Bank of Baroda, and Madura Garments, among others.

Commenting on the future of digital medium in India, Good said that Asia Pacific would remain the fastest growing advertising market over the next five years. Internet advertising will grow rapidly, fuelled by an expanding broadband subscriber base and ad formats geared to broadband, such as keyword search and full-motion video.

Good further said, “India has huge market potential, only 4 per cent of India’s population has been touched by the Internet, yet it already comprises 4 per cent of the world’s Internet usage (over 39 million users).The Internet market is in its infancy or ‘early market phase’ in India with uptake by a relatively few ‘early adopters’, yet it still represents the fifth largest market. The talent base is strong and as a culture it has always embraced innovation. It’s also a young population and as such it will skew to using online/digital channels very quickly.”

“Tribal DDB Worldwide sees the Asia Pacific as key region and as such is currently expanding the network operations. We have 10 offices in this region out of a total of 35 in the network. Besides the Indian offices, we also have offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, and the recently opened Shanghai office. Each office is developing a centre of excellence in the interactive discipline and in some markets we are already the leading interactive agency. India will be a primary driver in the Asia-Pacific region and will emerge as the fastest-growing media region in the world over the next five years. India is and will be very important to Tribal,” Good explained.

Meanwhile, Venke aims to make Tribal DDB India a globally recognised agency. “I do not see any reason why we cannot be as creative as agencies in the West. We at Tribal DDB India always believe that we are one of the best agencies and our recent wins are a reflection of this belief,” he added.

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